South Africa: Hammanskraal residents warned against using tap water The City of Tshwane has warned residents from Hammanskraal and surrounding areas not to use water from taps for drinking following the outbreak of gastrointestinal infection or diarrhoeal disease in the area. The outbreak has claimed the lives of at least seven people with more than 60 receiving treatment at the Jubilee Hospital for the infection. It can be spread through contaminated water. While the water supplied by the city in Hammanskraal is not potablethe city does provide potable (drinkable) water through 52 water tankers to informal settlements three times a week and 40 water trucks to formal areas daily in Region 2. This is done to ensure that communities drink safe water The city regularly conducts tests on the quality of water provided to our communities, and following this outbreak, comprehensive tests will be done on the entire water distribution network. Water samples have been collected in the affected areas and taken for tests and results are expected on Wednesday to determine the cause of the outbreak. The city is eagerly awaiting the confirmatory test results from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) to establish the cause of the outbreak, the City said in a statement on Sunday. Officials from the citys health department are expected to collect further samples from water tankers that supply informal settlements. The Outbreak Response Teams (ORT) are on the ground conducting surveillance monitoring and doing sampling of the water. Communities are urged to present themselves to the nearest health facility immediately when they experience symptoms. Health facilities are on high alert to urgently attend to the patients with symptoms. The city would like to encourage residents in the affected areas to regularly wash their containers they use to draw water from the water tankers with Jik detergent, and to boil water drawn from other sources before drinking it. Communities are also urged not to conduct religious activities such as baptism in the rivers or streams, it said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2023-05-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Namibia welcomes first tourists from China in three years Xinhua) 10:41, May 21, 2023 Chinese tourists arrive at Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek, Namibia, May 19, 2023. Namibia welcomed the first group of tourists from China over the past three years on Friday evening following the disruption of travel by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua) WINDHOEK, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Namibia welcomed the first group of tourists from China over the past three years on Friday evening following the disruption of travel by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 20 tourists who departed from Hangzhou city in southeastern China made their first stop in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where they visited the Victoria Falls, one of the many world wonders before proceeding to Namibia. Namibia, like the rest of the world, was adversely affected by the pandemic and the government in February stressed the need to revive its tourism sector. During the week-long tour, the Chinese tourists will be hosted by Way-Way Travel Namibia and they will visit Namibia's Etosha National Park, the Quiver tree forest, and Sossusvlei, one of Namibia's most spectacular landmarks with its red dunes, white salt pan and Deadvlei, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park as well as the coastal area of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. "This is the biggest Chinese group we have received from China since China opened its tours for groups," said Lissy Lee from Way-Way Travel Namibia. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/looted-ancient-relics-return-to-greek-soil-after-lengthy-legal-tussle-1110500313.html Looted Ancient Relics Return to Greek Soil After Lengthy Legal Tussle Looted Ancient Relics Return to Greek Soil After Lengthy Legal Tussle Ancient artefacts spanning historical periods from Neolithic to Byzantine times are being repatriated to Greece after a legal battle, Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni announced on Friday. 2023-05-21T13:47+0000 2023-05-21T13:47+0000 2023-05-21T13:47+0000 greece artifacts parthenon elgin marbles british museum culture ministry acropolis beyond politics /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/15/1110500752_0:159:3078:1890_1920x0_80_0_0_8a9fdde525c91da4f27b3b0e1b2cae7f.jpg A batch of ancient artefacts spanning historical periods from the Neolithic to Byzantine era are being repatriated to Greece after a 17-year-long legal battle, Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni announced on Friday.The 351 antiquities in question include a white stone Neolithic-era statuette dating to the 4th millennium BC, an Early Cycladic figurine from between 3200 and 2700 BC, a bronze statue of Alexander the Great from the second half of the 2nd century AD.Without going into any specific details, Mendoni hailed the joint efforts by Culture Ministry officials, the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the countrys judiciary, and archaeologists to wrest the vast collection from the company of a UK antiquities dealer - Robin Symes Limited - which is undergoing liquidation at the moment.Symes is said to have put together the collection with the help of a sweeping network of illegal traders.The current repatriation comes after back in 2006 an investigation was launched into the company owned by the now-disgraced British antiquities' dealer. Acting in close cooperation, Italian and Swiss police in 2016 recovered archaeological artefacts, from Symes possession, found to have been stolen from Italy. Symes, once a famous London dealer in artefacts, was suspected of being in cahoots at the time with Italian tomb raiders. There has not been any clarification from Mendoni whether the batch of items coming home to Greece now is somehow linked to that discovery at the Geneva Freeport warehouse complex.Greece has been on a crusade to return looted artefacts across the globe. The most high-profile artworks in this case are the Parthenon Sculptures. Originally part of the temple of the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens, they were removed by British diplomat Lord Elgin during the Turkish occupation in 1802. They were brought to Britain and are now on display in the British Museum in London. The UK has long argued that Elgin was given permission to take them by local Ottoman rulers. Greece has consistently demanded the return of the sculptures on display in the British Museum, claiming they are "the product of theft." The campaign to return the artworks continue. Meanwhile, at a reunification ceremony in Athens, three fragments of the Parthenon were brought to the Greek capital and its Acropolis Museum from the Vatican. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230105/removal-of-greek-parthenon-marbles-likened-to-stripping-salisbury-of-stonehenge-by-uks-stephen-fry-1106060559.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230325/vatican-returns-three-fragments-of-parthenon-to-greece-1108775347.html greece Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko ancient artefacts, neolithic, byzantine, repatriated to greece, legal battle, greek culture minister, lina mendoni, uk british museum, greek government, ownership tussle, elgin marbles, parthenon carvings, removed from the acropolis https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/russian-investigative-committee-brings-charges-against-icc-prosecutor-judge-in-absentia-1110502879.html Russian Investigative Committee Brings Charges Against ICC Prosecutor, Judge in Absentia Russian Investigative Committee Brings Charges Against ICC Prosecutor, Judge in Absentia The Russian Investigative Committee said on Sunday that it filed charges in absentia against a prosecutor and a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and put them on the wanted list. 2023-05-21T13:19+0000 2023-05-21T13:19+0000 2023-05-21T13:19+0000 russia russia international criminal court (icc) russian investigative committee /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/107714/08/1077140885_0:163:3063:1886_1920x0_80_0_0_d008469d14dbf688a05d11b84aa10d02.jpg "The Russian Investigative Committee has charged a prosecutor and a judge of the International Criminal Court in absentia The investigation has now collected sufficient evidence to warrant the indictment in absentia of International Criminal Court prosecutor Khan Karim Asad Ahmad and International Criminal Court judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala," the investigative authority said, adding that the accused have been put on the wanted list. The charges against the prosecutor include bringing criminal proceedings against a person known to be innocent, combined with unlawfully charging a person with a particularly serious offense. The judge faces charges of knowingly unlawful remand in custody. Both have been accused of preparing to attack a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection, with the aim of complicating international relations. On February 22, Prosecutor Khan applied to Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC to obtain an arrest warrant for Russian nationals, the investigative authority said. ICC judges Aitala, Tomoko Akane, and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, which Moscow has slammed as unlawful. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230415/cash-for-justice-icc-flooded-with-western-government-funds-after-issuing-putin-warrant-1109544736.html russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian investigative committee, charges against icc prosecutor https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/russian-tsentr-group-of-forces-inflicts-damage-on-ukrainian-troops---mod-1110494267.html Russian Tsentr Group of Forces Inflicts Damage on Ukrainian Troops - MoD Russian Tsentr Group of Forces Inflicts Damage on Ukrainian Troops - MoD Russian forces have uncovered the movements of two Ukrainian brigades and one regiment and have inflicted fire damage on the enemy, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik. 2023-05-21T04:12+0000 2023-05-21T04:12+0000 2023-05-21T04:12+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine vladimir putin defense ministry russia ukraine smerch /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/0c/1110285682_0:0:1508:848_1920x0_80_0_0_2a501abbe611c7399193d17c26fd3210.png "... by means of intelligence of the Tsentr Group of Forces, the movement of personnel on the equipment of the 66th mechanized brigade, the 58th motorized brigade of the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] and the 15th regiment of the national guard of Ukraine was uncovered. As a result of the fire impact of artillery units of the Tsentr Group, the enemy suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that, in the Krasny Liman direction, the crew of the Smerch multiple launch rocket system hit the positions of the Ukrainian military in the region. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230506/over-170-enemy-targets-hit-in-krasny-liman-direction---russian-defense-ministry-1110135497.html russia ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian tsentr group of forces, russian defense ministry, ukrainian brigades https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/sinn-fein-clinches-majority-in-northern-irelands-local-government-1110494657.html Sinn Fein Clinches Majority in Northern Ireland's Local Government Sinn Fein Clinches Majority in Northern Ireland's Local Government The Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein won a majority of seats in Northern Ireland's local government for the first time in Thursday's elections in the region. The final results were announced on Sunday night. 2023-05-21T06:55+0000 2023-05-21T06:55+0000 2023-05-21T06:55+0000 world northern ireland ireland united kingdom democratic unionist party (dup) sinn fein /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/05/05/1095281891_0:125:3072:1853_1920x0_80_0_0_371b93adfd98bc796bc655fa26dd724f.jpg The Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, won a majority of seats in Northern Ireland's local government for the first time in Thursday's elections in the region. The final results were announced on Saturday. Sinn Fein, which favors Northern Ireland's secession from the United Kingdom, won 30.9% of the vote (a 7.7 percentage point increase from 2019) and the number of seats won by its members rose from 106 to 144. Supporters of unification with Ireland thus have a majority in both local councils and the regional parliament. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which backs unity with the UK, retained its previous position with 122 seats (23.3% of the vote, up from 24.1% four years ago).However, the Social Democratic and Labour Party and the Ulster Unionist Party lost about a third of their mandates.In May 2022, Sinn Fein, won the region's parliamentary election, the Northern Ireland Assembly.Ireland was partitioned into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the parliament in 1921. In 1922, Southern Ireland became the Irish Free State, which in turn became the independent Republic of Ireland in 1949. Northern Ireland has remained part of the United Kingdom. https://sputnikglobe.com/20220508/uk-has-never-been-under-greater-threat-amid-sinn-fein-victory-ex-northern-ireland-secretary-says-1095348397.html northern ireland ireland united kingdom Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International sinn fein, northern ireland's local government, majority of seats https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/uk-to-start-training-ukrainian-pilots-this-summer-1110498800.html UK to Start Training Ukrainian Pilots This Summer UK to Start Training Ukrainian Pilots This Summer UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed on Sunday that the United Kingdom would start training Ukrainian pilots this summer as Ukraine's donors appear close to a consensus to equip it with Western fighter jets. 2023-05-21T09:48+0000 2023-05-21T09:48+0000 2023-05-21T09:48+0000 military rishi sunak g7 f16 ukraine united kingdom /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/10/1110400993_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_78648274fd968136f2aad81ccaf59ff4.jpg "We are supporting Ukraine to develop the air force it needs for the future, with the UK training Ukrainian pilots starting this summer," Sunak told a press conference on the sidelines of G7 summit in Japan, adding that "we've made a real breakthrough at this summit." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, also attending the G7's summit in Hiroshima, vowed to continue training Ukrainian troops. On Friday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that US President Joe Biden had informed his G7 counterparts that the United States would support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s. Sullivan added, however, that the right time to introduce F-16s to the fighting in Ukraine was "not right now." US media have reported, citing officials, that Biden's administration has given its consent to its allies to deliver their US-made F-16s to Ukraine after almost a year of unwillingness to do so, which was presumably the result of pressure by Congress, the US' allies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This past Monday, the UK government pledged to provide training to Ukrainian pilots starting this summer, as well as send air defense weapons and drones, as a "key part" of an international coalition on providing Ukraine with F16s the fighter jet of its choice. An adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Yuri Sak, told media on Saturday that Ukraine was hoping to receive the first F-16s in late September-early October. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230519/what-could-shoot-down-ukraines-hopes-of-getting-us-f-16s-1110457442.html ukraine united kingdom Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International western fighter jets, ukrainian pilots, rishi sunak https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/western-balkans-phase-of-nato-defender-europe-2023-drills-starts-in-kosovo-1110501867.html Western Balkans Phase of NATO Defender Europe 2023 Drills Starts in Kosovo Western Balkans Phase of NATO Defender Europe 2023 Drills Starts in Kosovo NATO's largest international military exercise Defender Europe 2023 ongoing since April is arriving in Kosovo on Sunday to later expand to the broader Western Balkans region until June 2. 2023-05-21T12:11+0000 2023-05-21T12:11+0000 2023-05-21T12:11+0000 military kosovo nato balkans drills /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/08/1c/1080309616_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_2d4b5388eec6ae7ef6feac24cdd40a56.jpg "Our intentions are clear, the army of the Republic of Kosovo is ready to join the NATO family," Kosovo's defense minister, Armend Mehaj, said on social media. The opening ceremony in the center of Pristina lists Kosovo's highest-ranking officials among the attendees, including President Albin Kurti. The United States European Command (EUROCOM) will be leading the exercise. Over 7,000 troops from the United States and 17,000 from 20 allied and partner countries are expected to participate in the drills. Kosovo's media have reported that the former Serbian province's 1,300-contingent will be one of the largest. Defender Europe is an annual exercise aimed at increasing the combat readiness and interoperability between the armed forces of the US, NATO and partner states. Having started on April 22, Defender Europe 2023 is scheduled to take place at several locations in Europe until June 23. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230509/nato-airborne-units-arrive-in-estonia-for-swift-response-23-drill-1110220349.html kosovo balkans Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International western balkans, nato defender europe 2023 drills https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/what-is-the-fastest-missile-in-the-world-and-how-much-does-speed-really-matter-1110502411.html What is the Fastest Missile in the World and How Much Does Speed Really Matter? What is the Fastest Missile in the World and How Much Does Speed Really Matter? Russias Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missile made the news this week after destroying a Patriot radar station and five launchers in overnight strikes in Kiev on May 16. How did the Kinzhal get through? What other countries possess ultrafast missiles? Why is it that speed isnt always everything? Check out our explainer to find out. 2023-05-21T16:05+0000 2023-05-21T16:05+0000 2023-05-21T16:42+0000 military pentagon russia washington us hypersonic hypersonic missiles zircon hypersonic cruise missile hypersonic glider /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/107788/15/1077881536_0:31:1433:837_1920x0_80_0_0_c0b0690328307930d96887e8c9165d17.jpg According to independent US media, the Patriots fired off as many as 32 interceptor missiles at the Kinzhals targeting them in a desperate attempt to intercept them. The Pentagon went into damage control, mindful that admitting the missile defense systems weaknesses against Russian missiles would undermine global faith in the superiority of US weapons. Patriot missile maker Raytheon saw up to $10 billion shaved from its stock valuation over the news that its coveted weapons system had been hit.US officials claimed the systems were damaged, but assured that they had not been destroyed. Ukraines military, meanwhile, claimed that it shot down six Kinzhals without losing any Patriots. The Russian military offered no comment.But what else does Russia have in its missile arsenal?What is the Fastest Russian Missile? The Kinzhal is one of the speediest and most advanced missile systems in Russia's arsenal, but not the only one. The weapon is an air-launched hypersonic missile with a range of between 2,000 and 3,000 km, and a reported speed of Mach 10 (11,925km per hour) or even higher. The Patriots interceptors are significantly slower, capable of accelerating to Mach 2.8 (3,340 km/h) in the case of the PAC-1, and Mach 4.1 (5,000 km/h) in the case of its PAC-2 and PAC-3 variants.The Kinzhal is not the fastest missile in Russias arsenal, with the strategic RS-28 Sarmat, and the submarine-launched Bulava missiles capable of accelerating to speeds of up to Mach 20 (25,500 km/h) and Mach 24 (28,600+ km/h), respectively. And while these are not hypersonic missiles, but ballistic weapons which travel into space and then release warheads that fall to Earth, they are capable of maneuvering like their hypersonic cousins (Bulavas at their boost stage, Sarmat warheads as they approach targets, or Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles fitted aboard Sarmats), theoretically making their interception impossible. Theoretically, because these weapons have never been tested in actual warfare, and, hopefully, never will, because their use would likely signal the start of a Third World War.When it comes to missiles, speed isnt everything, and the lower intercept speed wouldnt be a problem if the Patriot were locking on to a traditional ballistic missile flying on a known trajectory. The problem is, missiles like the Kinzhal are capable of maneuvering in flight, making course corrections to make it more difficult to predict its trajectory and exact course.What is the Number One Fastest Missile in the World?Determining a missiles maximum speed depends on definitions. As stated above, strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles typically have the highest speed characteristics, with the US ground-based LGM-30 Minuteman having a rating of Mach 23 (28,200 km/h), and the UGM-133 Trident II submarine-launched missile a top speed of Mach 24 in its terminal phase). The Chinese DF-41 ICBM is reportedly capable of flying up to Mach 25 (30,600 km/h), making it perhaps the fastest ballistic missile in the world today. As for hypersonics, the Avangard glide vehicle appears to enjoys the coveted top spot, with a maximum boost speed of up to Mach 27 (32,200 km) in near-space conditions (although this falls to an estimated Mach 15-20 by atmospheric drag on descent).What is the BrahMos Missile, and Does Russia Use It?The BrahMos ramjet supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by Russia and India carries the distinction of the fastest cruise missile in the world, with a top speed of Mach 3.5 (about 4,175 km/h) fast enough to make short work of enemy vessels and ground-based targets and their air defenses. A new variant of the missile, the Brahmos 2, is under development, with an expected maximum speed of up to Mach 8 (9,800 km/h) thanks to innovative use of a scramjet air-breathing jet engine. The Brahmos 2 is a development of the 3M22 Zircon, a Russian scramjet-powered anti-ship cruise missile which entered into service in January.Why are High Speed Missiles So Important to Russias Deterrence Doctrine?Why does Russia seem to be at the top or near the top of most rankings when it comes to the capabilities of its hypersonic, ballistic, and cruise missiles? The answer is simple. Inheriting a massive head-start on advanced missile technology and the blueprints for the earliest hypersonic missiles from the USSR, which began work on them in the late 1960s, while missile tech was one of the areas where R&D investments was not totally curtailed in the 1990s.In 2002, after the United States unceremoniously pulled out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, President Vladimir Putin ordered work on existing projects to be accelerated, and for new ones to be laid down, amid concerns that the creation of a US strategic missile defense system could neutralize and render obsolete our entire nuclear potential. These efforts bore fruit, and in 2020, Putin said that for the first time in its modern history, Russia had come to possess the most modern types of weapons, which are far superior in terms of their force, power, speed, and, very importantly, in terms of accuracy compared to all which existed before them and exist today.These upgrades to Russias missile capabilities couldnt have been more timely, because at the same time that Washington scrapped the ABM Treaty, the Pentagon began working on "Prompt Global Strike" an ambitious, but highly dangerous, initiative proposing mass precision-guided conventional missile strikes to decapitate adversaries political and military leadership and missile deterrents, thus stripping them of the ability to retaliate to aggression.Basically, the possession of ultra-high speed missiles capable of maneuvering, evading missile defenses, and masking their destination provide Russia with a kind of missile "shield," allowing the countrys leadership to sleep soundly at night in the knowledge that surprise enemy aggression would be met with an inevitable and devastating response thereby deterring any itchy trigger fingers at the Pentagon and forcing it to keep ideas like Prompt Global Strike on the drawing board. https://sputnikglobe.com/20220522/russias-sarmat-icbm-can-change-trajectory-interception-hardly-possible-in-coming-decades-1095694819.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20221018/countries-around-the-world-keen-to-buy-new-brahmos-ng-missile-venture-head-says-1102005557.html russia washington Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov kinzhal, hypersonic, ballistic, missile, missile system, speed, maneuver, analysis https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/white-house-accuses-house-speaker-mccarthy-of-presenting-unacceptable-demands-1110492823.html White House Accuses House Speaker McCarthy of Presenting Unacceptable Demands White House Accuses House Speaker McCarthy of Presenting Unacceptable Demands House Speaker McCarthy's team has presented an offer that "was a big step back" in efforts to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, said the White House. Both groups said they are still open to negotiation. 2023-05-21T01:38+0000 2023-05-21T01:38+0000 2023-05-21T01:38+0000 americas us debt ceiling crisis debt ceiling us debt kevin mccarthy white house joe biden biden administration /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/04/15/1109721575_0:159:3075:1889_1920x0_80_0_0_71215fd21ab217d716f3cc050c397fce.jpg "On Tuesday, the President appointed a senior team to negotiate with the Speakers team. The President and Speaker agreed that any budget agreement would need to be bipartisan. Last night in DC, the Speakers team put on the table an offer that was a big step back and contained a set of extreme partisan demands that could never pass both Houses of Congress," Jean-Pierre said on Saturday. The press secretary emphasized that the team of US President Joe Biden is ready to meet any time and expects proposals that can pass in a bipartisan manner. On Thursday, McCarthy said that he saw a path to reaching an agreement with the White House on raising the US debt limit, but nothing had been agreed on yet. McCarthy further said he hoped an agreement could be reached by this weekend and lawmakers could bring legislation to the floor by next week. americas white house Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International kevin mccarthy, house speaker kevin mccarthy, white house, us debt ceiling, debt ceiling negotiations Homegrown reinsman Nick Graffam started Saturdays (May 20) Cumberland program needing just one victory to push him over the edge to the 1,000-win threshold. That moment finally arrived in the eighth race, where a horse named Four Finger Floyd put the Maine-native into the four-figure win category. I am grateful for every opportunity Ive had, everywhere I race. But I am glad [the 1,000th win] was at my home track, said the lanky 32-year-old. Born and raised just down the road at the historic Norton Farm, Graffam works with his parents Mike and Lori and sister Bethany at the familys iconic local stable and training center. He and his fiance Natalie live in a house right next to the farm. Growing up on the farm meant a lot of long days and hard work, said Graffam. But days like today feel really great when all that time and effort pays off. And it took some time and effort to get to the winner's circle today, as Graffam had driven in four races prior to hitting pay dirt. In that mile, Graffam sat a perfect pocket trip to draw off and win by two lengths in 1:57.2 with Four Finger Floyd. Trained by Karl Butterfield and owned by Jose Cerventes, the five-year-old son of Sportswriter paid $6.60 to win. One race later, Graffam came right back to get win number 1,001 with Black Hawk Down -- a wire-to-wire score in 2:01.3. The favoured five-year-old Kadabra trotting gelding was trained by Sara Harrington and owned by Robert and Beth Gibbs. He paid $3.60 to win. The featured $6,500 Fillies and Mares Winners-Over Pace was captured by Newsy N for driver and co-owner Ron Cushing (with Kevin Sywyk) and trainer Heidi Gibbs. Scoring in the opener in 1:55.3, it was the fourth seasonal victory for the six-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight. She paid $3.40 to win. Lydias Liberty finished second. Rys Red Rocket was third. In Maine Amateur Driving Club (MADC) action, Jason Bertolini continued his reign, winning the $4,400 event for the third straight week. Back behind Baileys Legacy, the horse he won with two weeks ago, Bertolini drove a tactically savvy race. He allowed his fellow competitors to tussle on the front before pouncing down the backside for the final time. Baileys Legacy scored in 2:00, a seasonal mark, for trainer Sherry Cushing and owner-breeder Bruce Inch. A six-year-old son of Western Maverick, he paid $5.40 to win. Jaxson R Brown finished second and A List was third. The MADC is faithfully sponsored by the Blue Seal Feed Stores of North Yarmouth and Windham. Dan Deslandes and Kevin Switzer Jr. both had driving doubles on the program, with the latter moving to the top of drivers standings with 18 trips to the winners circle -- one more than Bruce Ranger, who has 17. Taking the finale with Uptown Lover (2:01.3, $10.60), Aaron Hall moved to within one win of his 500th victory. Racing resumes Sunday, May 21 and features the $6,500 conditioned trot with post time set at 3:15 p.m. (EDT). Looking ahead to Friday, May 26 and Saturday, May 27, First Tracks Cumberland and the Maine Harness Horsemens Association will present Bruce Ranger Weekend at the fairgrounds. A special colour-cover program wrap will be filled with seven pages of old and recent photos of one of Maines favourite sons, along with interviews and autograph sessions with Bruce Ranger. Fans will not want to miss this opportunity to share in the Norton Farm drivers special ceremonies, which will honour his racing accomplishments including his recent 10,000th victory. In honour of Bruce Ranger Weekend, First Tracks Cumberland will offer a Free For All Pace with a lofty purse of $10,000. Horses that have made a purse start in the state of Maine this season will be given preference, with many of the aforementioned pacers likely to participate. See race secretary Rob Penningtons condition sheet for further details. Live harness racing continues at Cumberland throughout the spring and early summer months with regular racing on Friday and Saturday each weekend. First post is slated for 3:15 p.m. (EDT) during the extended pari-mutuel meeting, which runs through Aug. 5. (First Tracks Cumberland) Tab another victory in the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial for driver Brian Sears and another Grand Circuit trotting win for trainer Marcus Melander. The dynamic team of trotting overhauled an oversized field of 11 with new acquisition Venerate to take the $155,200 free-for-all stakes on Saturday night (May 20) at The Meadowlands. Sears settled into fourth with Venerate from Post 1 as Hillexotic bounded from Post 10 and to the lead towards a :26.4 first quarter. Rattle My Cage soon pulled off the pegs to take the lead into the backstretch, but promptly saw Hillexotic move to reclaim command before yielding the front to his stablemate and 7-5 favourite Its Academic all through a :54.4 half. Control belonged to Its Academic through the final turn as he continued on high throttle all while Sears patiently angled Venerate first over to ply his attack. Its Academic clocked three-quarters in 1:22.4 and came under strong urging as Venerate mounted serious pressure from steady Sears hands through the lane. Venerate glided by Its Academic in the final eighth going away and registered a two-length win in a lifetime-best 1:50.1. Rattle My Cage took third from Its Academic fourth. Star mare Bella Bellini the lone distaffer in the field levelled off from a second-over trip and finished fifth. Venerate is a five-year-old stallion by Love You now owned by Courant Inc., Holly Lane Stud East Ltd., Kemppi Stables Oy Inc. and Venerate Partners. Marcus Melander conditions the former Julie Miller pupil who changed hands in the 2022 Harrisburg Mixed Sale at the gavel slam of $410,000 last fall. We put together a group and bought him there, Melander said after the race. He was a nice horse and we didnt really have an Open trotter, so thats why we bought him. Hes a strong horse. He was very good in the qualifier, so I had high hopes for him in the race. The Cutler victory padded Venerate's millionaire status, with his account now worth $1,177,330. He paid $9.80 to win. The win was driver Brian Sears seventh in the stakes a record he held at six and added upon Saturday. Melander won for the second time in the Cutler, collecting his first victory in 2019 with North American export turned Swedish import Cruzado Dela Noche. Melander confirmed Venerate would likely next surface in an Open race at The Meadowlands to prepare for the Crawford Farms Open Trot on July 1. Up Your Deo Does In Big Favourite In Shocking NJSS Win Up Your Deo stunned a field scratched to 10 to win the New Jersey Sire Stakes (NJSS) second leg for sophomore trotting colts at 43-1. The Walner colt recorded his first victory defeating favourite Oh Well in a duel to the finish of a 1:52 mile. The field left the gate swiftly with trotters three-wide pushing for the lead. The trio of Dire Straits, Up Your Deo from the second tier and Kimmeridgian settled in a line past a :27.1 quarter. But, Oh Well demanded the top spot and soared through the backstretch to take control. Oh Well went smoothly through a :56 half and looked well enough to motor home while posting three-quarters in 1:25.2 until Up Your Deo took after him to pose a serious challenge down the stretch. Up Your Deo lunged forward continuously in the stretch to overpower Oh Well by a head in the shadow of the finish pole. Tactical Approach, the crowds second choice in the wagering, finished third and Celebrity Bambino, off a first-over push around the far turn, took fourth. Trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt, Suleyman Yuksel Stables, Deo Volente Farms and Van Camp Trotting Corp own Up Your Deo, whose winning share of the purse upped his bankroll to $82,687. The colts first win was worth $89.60 to his backers. Co-owner Mike Gulotta of Deo Volente Farms said he was not shocked that the colts first victory came in this race. He won his qualifier and [went] his last quarter in :27.1," said Gulotta. "Sarah [Svanstedt] said 'hes really, really good' and Ake said 'he's easy to drive [and] it's easy to look like a great driver when you have an easy horse to drive.' We bred him. We bought the mare for like $35,000 and bred it to Walner and got lucky. Up Your Deo was sold at Lexington for $100,000 and Gulotta was offered to buy in as an owner for 20 per cent. And I said, 'Sure, why not?' It's not too often you can stay in on a horse you bred. The connections had high hopes for Up Your Deo. At two, he went in 1:52.4 and was competitive in the Valley Victory and Kindergartens but was winless at the end of his freshman campaign. The first of two $30,000 divisions of the NJSS for the sophomore filly trotters went to Secret Volo. Brian Sears drove her to a 1:53.2 personal mark by a head over favourite Mambacita. Marcus Melander trains the Walner product. Heights Stable, Rick T. Wahlstedt and Kenneth Kjellgren share ownership. She paid $4 to win. Tactical Mounds finished third. Special Way with driver-trainer Ake Svanstedt won the second filly division by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:53.4. The Walner fillys ninth win in a row was worth $2.20 to win. Brittany Farms LLC, Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld are the owners. Walner Payton was second and Blonde Bombshell was third. A Little More Billy Clyde, a five-year-old son of Always B Miki-Jan It Jackson, made it five wins in his last six Meadowlands starts after emerging victorious in his first Big M outing since the middle of September in the overnight feature, a $25,000 Open 1 for pacers, hitting the finish in 1:50.3 after leading at every call. The Ray Schnittker trainee, who took his mark of 1:47.3 on Hambletonian Day last year, was driven by Mark MacDonald and returned $12 to win. Handle topped the $3-million mark as a total of $3,520,346 was pushed through the windows on the 14-race card. Andy McCarthy led the driver colony with three walks down victory lane while Melander and Ake Svanstedt were the top trainers with two winners apiece. Racing resumes on Friday, May 26 at 6:20 p.m. (EDT). (With files from The Meadowlands) Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Raphael Bourassa trainee Dreydl Hanover has started another win streak and continued dominance over the $7,000 claiming class with his fifth straight victory when winning at Hiawatha Horse Park on Saturday night (May 20). Driver Scott Wray settled Dreydl Hanover into third through a :28.3 first quarter and waited through a :58 half and 1:27.2 three-quarters while first-over Lyons Image bit into pacesetter Favaro Seelster through the mile. Once Lyons Image dropped anchor, opportunity rose for Wray to fire with the 1-2 favourite and Dreydl Hanover followed through to a three-quarter-length win in 1:57.3. Francois Morin owns Dreydl Hanover, a 13-year-old gelding by Cams Card Shark. The veteran now has 41 wins on his belt from 288 starts and earnings of $277,957. This five-race win streak comes just a few months after Dreydl Hanover nailed six in a row from the end of Nov. 2022 through January of this year. In his last 16 starts, Dreydl Hanover has visited the winners circle 13 times. To view Saturdays harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results Hiawatha Horse Park. The SBOA Stakes for Ontario-sired three-year-olds featured a quartet of entertaining finals on Saturday night (May 20) at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Part of Mohawk Parks Fireworks and Family Fun Night, the four finals were contested on a chilly evening in Campbellville, Ont. All four finals provided a strong glimpse at the upcoming Sires Stakes season. Write Me A Rose Edges Stockade Seelster In the $136,800 SBOA stakes final for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings, Write Me A Rose stole the spotlight from award-winner Stockade Seelster. The Kyle Fellows-trained Write Me A Rose blasted to the early lead to post a :26.3 opening quarter. Whatchulookin moved to the top in the second quarter to lead by the half in :55.1 and three-quarters in 1:23.2. Stockade Seelster left from post nine and essentially spent the entire mile on the outside. The Dr. Ian Moore trainee sat mid-pack and ended up second-over behind the live Moment Is Here. In the stretch, Stockade Seelster and Moment Is Here battled to the lead, but Write Me A Rose and Sylvain Filion found room to slide to the far outside and reach for the victory in 1:51.2. Stockade Seelster was edged by a nose, finishing second in his season debut. Moment Is Here finished third and Whatchulookin At fourth. A son of Sportswriter, Write Me A Rose is now three-for-four this season after winning three of nine starts last season. The Fellows trainee has now earned $259,300 for owner-breeder Windermere Stable LLC. Write Me A Rose paid $9.90 to win. Osceola Grabs The Gold Team McNairs Osceola sprinted home strong to hold off rival Hasty Bid for a 1:54.3 victory in the $144,800 three-year-old colt and gelding trot final. The entire picture of the sophomore trot final changed at the head of the stretch when leader Tuscan Prince switched to the pace while in full control. Osceola and Doug McNair sat second-over and was able to capitalize on the leaders miscue, powering to the lead to finish up in :28.1. Hasty Bid was on Osceolas back on the far turn and pressured to the wire to end up second by half a length. Passarino finished third, while Snowpiercer was fourth. A son of Muscle Mass, Osceola is now two-for-two this season following an up and down rookie campaign that saw him win three of 10 and earn more than $175,000. Gregg McNair trains and co-owns Osceola with Willow Oak Ranch and Paul Hawman. Despite winning his elimination, Osceola went off at 9/2 and returned $11.70 to win. Cheesy Smile Storms To Victory Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final champion Cheesy Smile rallied from eighth to win the $129,500 final for three-year-old pacing fillies. A hot early tempo of a :26.4 first quarter, :54.3 half and 1:22.4 three-quarters courtesy of Grandeur Seelster and first-up challenging Big Big Plans set things up for a closer. Despite that, Cheesy Smile was in a log-jam on the final turn back in eighth, but was fed a clear racetrack in the lane. The John Pentland trainee paced home in :28 through a headwind to pull off the impressive victory in 1:52.1 in rein to Bob McClure. Lyons Bettorday finished three-quarters of a length back in second, while Freshen Up and Illusion Seelster rounded out the Superfecta. A daughter of Betterthancheddar, Cheesy Smile is now one-for-two this season and six-for-12 overall. Her career earnings now vault to more than $380,000 for owners R C Molyneux Racing, Pentland, Peter Charlton and Archie Leach. Cheesy Smile paid $9.70 to win. Muscling Vegas Prevails For MacDonell Trainer/driver Paul MacDonell set up a perfect second-over trip to guide Muscling Vegas to victory in the $131,500 three-year-old filly trot final. After getting away fifth, Muscling Vegas was able to latch onto first-up challenger Shiny New Penny while Climb The Pole led the field down to three-quarters in 1:25.3. In the stretch, Muscling Vegas shot off cover and powered home to three-quarters of a length victory in 1:55.1. HP Extra Ice, who sat third-over finished second. Stonebridge Bravo was third and Baroness Hill was fourth. A daughter of Muscle Mass, Muscling Vegas is now two-for-eight this season for MacDonell. The sophomore filly improved her career numbers to three wins and more than $100,000 earned for owners Chris and Michael Storms. Muscling Vegas paid $16.60 to win. To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park. (With files from Woodbine) Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Kerry Knuth steers his sprayer across a field, occasionally craning his neck to watch his newest piece of equipment shoot fertilizer at the base of his growing corn. He purchased this equipment, called a 360 Y-Drop, and attached it to the boom of his sprayer so the corn can absorb nitrogen fertilizer more efficiently more nitrogen directly to the corns roots, less lost to the surrounding environment. The Y-Drop can save him money on fertilizer costs. And, by using less nitrogen fertilizer, he also may be reducing the risk that nitrate enters the groundwater, which supplies drinking water to 85% of Nebraskans. Nitrate, research shows, is linked to a variety of diseases, including pediatric cancer and birth defects. We dont relish the fact of polluting groundwater, whether its nitrates or chemicals, Angela Knuth, who farms with husband Kerry on family land near Mead, said. The states nitrate-in-groundwater problem is growing worse Nebraskas median nitrate level doubled between 1978 and 2019. But some Nebraska farmers and researchers are fighting back with technology. They are embracing new methods that can reduce nitrate leaching into groundwater, improve their soils health and also, they say, boost the bottom line. Some farmers have completely switched over to regenerative agriculture, a farming approach focusing on restoration of the environment, which advocates say also ultimately boosts farm productivity. Others are marrying traditional farming with precision technologies like soil testing and remote sensing, or using more efficient equipment like the Knuths do. Kerry Knuth can now put on fertilizer at ideal times, instead of having to time fertilizer application with center-pivot irrigation when the crops need water. Nitrate leaching is often worsened by heavy irrigation, which washes the chemicals down into the soil and ultimately into our water supply, experts say. The Knuths say they came to new farming technologies because they thought it was the right thing to do and because its what they want to teach their children. More than two decades ago, they used anhydrous ammonia, a cheaper but also more volatile form of nitrogen fertilizer thats more easily lost to groundwater. Kerry Knuth then switched to a liquid fertilizer. In 2018, he bought the Y-Drop system and started split applying supplying nitrogen to corn in multiple applications throughout the growing season rather than one full application. Since then, the family uses 15% less nitrogen fertilizer. As the Knuths equipment evolved, the science that helps farmers like them make decisions was also evolving. A formula developed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln agronomists has helped producers determine how much fertilizer they should use for decades. It now suggests that farmers use an average of about 1 pound of nitrogen per bushel of corn. Interestingly, new UNL research and field trials show that using way less nitrogen than the current UNL recommendation as much as 40 fewer pounds per acre doesnt significantly detract from profits, UNL agronomy professor Javed Iqbal said. The question hes trying to answer: How can we calculate nitrogen usage based on profit, and also environmental cost? Even though the trial fields produced less corn yield with reduced fertilizer input, the yield still hit the maximum economic profitability range, with savings from fertilizer costs, Iqbal said. Some farmers have sought natural solutions to cleaning up nitrate biologically. These innovative farmers are leaning into regenerative agriculture and focusing on soil health. Del Ficke was both figuratively and then quite literally breaking his back farming the traditional way on his familys homesteaded land near Lincoln about 25 years ago. It increasingly felt wrong to the then-young farmer. This isnt working, Im spending a ton of money and Im getting less and less. My soils getting worse, Ficke said. This revelation struck after Ficke quit farming following severe back pain and multiple surgeries. He went to college to study hospital billing and administration, then decided to return to farming, but with a drastically different approach. He downsized his operation, shifted his focus on cattle and used the cow manure to enrich his soil. Were 80% more profitable on 500 acres than several thousand, just because of our focus on getting the soil right. So less inputs, less equipment, he said. He uses 100% natural ingredients to boost soil nutrients: cattle manure and hydrolyzed fish. Ficke now also runs a group called Graze Master, focusing on grass-fed beef and providing consulting and other services to farmers. Others might call him a beef producer. He calls himself a grass farmer. A grass farmer title is pretty cool were looking at the forages first in sync with nature and we built a program around it, he said. Reducing inputs like fertilizer sits at the heart of regenerative agriculture, said Keith Berns, founder of Green Cover Seed and reducing inputs can make you more profitable. Berns helps farmers across Nebraska to find the right cover crops and then helps them time the growth of these crops. Cover crops are one way that many Nebraskan farmers use to manage the amount of nitrogen in their soil. Cereal rye, for example, is the most widely used cover crop that can scavenge any leftover nitrogen, Berns said, pulling nitrate out of the soil and reducing the risks of leaching. When the cover crops die and break down, their nutrients become available to the new crops after being cycled by soil microbes, Berns said. Regenerative farming needs to be coupled with better testing that more accurately accounts for nutrient availability within biologically active soils, Berns noted. One example: Farmers can apply less nitrogen when the new crop can utilize nitrogen released by soil microbes from crop residues and organic matter. Traditional soil testing doesnt accurately measure this. But a new test, called the Haney Test, does. Ward Laboratories, a soil and water testing lab in Kearney, became the first commercial lab in Nebraska to adopt the Haney in 2013. Haney tests take longer to conduct, said Ray Ward, the labs founder. But they also are worth it, he believes, because they often help a farmer save money while applying less nitrogen. It normally gives us between 20 and 40 pounds of extra nitrogen that our nitrate test has not measured. Thats a way to get at that better nitrogen recommendation or evaluation, he said. Another way to precision farm is to know when the crop needs nitrogen. Some farmers might tell you theyve mastered the science from a lifetime of studying the weather and corn growth. But farmers have another weapon: Remote sensing. Meet Jackson Stansell, a UNL graduate student who started the company Sentinel Fertigation. From his computer, he can advise producers how much nitrogen to use and when. The software he wrote pulls in satellite imagery and determines how much nitrogen is already in the crop based on its reflectance how green the leaves are. Then the software calculates and spits out recommendations on whether to apply more nitrogen now, or not. Stansells software makes these recommendations in real time. It offers serious precision, by varying fertilizer application rates in different spots in the cornfield. He is currently helping Nebraska and Kansas farmers manage nitrogen on roughly 19,000 acres of land. On average, his clients used 42 fewer pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre last year, Stansell said. Some produced 280-bushel corn while using less than half of UNLs recommended amount of nitrogen. When were able to execute the method, weve seen that farmers have been able to maintain high yields while reducing nitrogen, he said. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Friends and loved ones gathered at Williamson Chapel United Methodist Church in Mooresville on Thursday for the first ever butterfly release to remember lost loved ones. Compassionate Friends of Mooresville, which was formed in 2015 for people who lost children of all ages, hosted this inaugural event. Rhonda Hulton and Debbie Lindley thanked everyone for coming and opened the meeting with two poems about remembering their loved ones and compared the moment to releasing a butterfly. Everyone who attended stated their name and the person they were remembering before releasing their butterfly. Once all butterflies had passed around, smiles and joy were shared as everyone released their butterfly. After the release, dinner was provided, which allowed the members to socialize and enjoy one anothers company over a shared meal. After speaking to a few members of the Compassionate Friends of Mooresville, everyone appreciated having an opportunity and a space to talk, share, and listen to others who have gone through similar experiences. We can appreciate one another without judgements, said Kathy Watson. She shared that being a part of this community has created a space where there is no pressure to share feelings and have listening ears from those with similar experiences. Donna Luehrsen has been a part of Compassionate Friends of Mooresville for five and a half years. I feel connected to them, she said, talking about how being a part of this community has helped her with her loss. It has helped me get through six years since my son passed. Luehrsen also said as well that this community is her family and helping her spread the word helps with her grieving. Member Sarah Cook said that she has been a part of the community since it started. She said that being with others with similar experiences has helped her not feel so alone through her grieving process. Another member, Jocetta Brown, said, Sometimes you need to talk to someone who isnt family. Brown refers to how being around those with shared experiences has helped her and she wants to keep helping others too. Everyone here has a different story but at the end of the day we have all lost a child, she said. Annie Hinds said that she immediately joined the Compassionate Friends of Mooresville after her move from New York. Being involved in this community helps fill a hole in my heart, Hinds said, noting that having a place for people to listen to her is welcoming. Members of this community have remembered their child in different ways. Hinds said that she planted flowers for Easter for her child. Brown wrote a Valentines Day card for her child as well. Its a way of keeping them alive, Brown said, explaining how doing these activities helped her grieve but as well as being a part of Compassionate Friends of Mooresville. Everyone gathered helps support one another by creating a sense of belonging, understanding and open arms. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. After a debate for expanded vouchers was discussed on the North Carolina House floor, Rep. Jeff McNeely found himself apologizing for a remark to colleague Rep. Abe Jones. Jones accepted the apology from McNeely, but Jones said the entire situation was filled with thinly-veiled racism in his opinion. McNeely said he was caught up in the debate of House Bill 823 and didnt get his question out to Jones in the way he intended when he asked Jones about the nature of his acceptance into Harvard University. I understand you went into the public school and you went to Harvard and Harvard Law. Would you have been able to maybe achieve this if you were not an athlete or a minority or any of these things? Jones, a Black representative from Wake County, defended his academic background, pointing out his record in the classroom. When I graduated from Harvard I was in rank two, so I earned my place and I did well, Jones said. Later, McNeely apologized on the House floor. I want to deeply apologize to Rep. Jones and to this entire body. I respect Rep. Jones. I think hes a great legislator. I think hes a great man. What I tried to ask or say did not come out right, McNeely said. That happens a lot, and I apologize. I look forward to talking with Rep. Jones as soon as session is over to express my deep, deep sincere apology and I hope he accepts it. Jones said he felt the apology was sincere in an interview with WRAL News. McNeely said in a statement he didnt mean for his question to come out that way he hopes the voucher program legislation passed in the House improves education in North Carolina. There are times in life where we all misstep in unintentional ways, and this past Wednesday was one of those times for me. As a result, I want to again offer my sincere apology from the very bottom of my heart to Abe Jones, my fellow Representatives, and to the good people of Iredell County. Im sure there will be folks who think I am offering this apology in the interest of politics, but I assure you, that is not the case. It was never my intention to belittle or insult a friend who is a fine man on all accounts. I am very passionate about the legislation we were discussing, and that passion led me to put my words before my thoughts. My intent was to ask a question that would help me understand how we help more young people become an Abe Jones, because that is what we need in this world. I truly want every child to have the best opportunity to get a quality education. I should have framed the question in the appropriate way to express my desire to find ways to help all children succeed as Abe has done. In the future, I will work to be better prepared and more conscientious with my words. It is my hope that you will accept my apology and know that I work everyday to become better. Gods not finished with me yet. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Selling and serving alcohol is serious business. Thats why the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, in partnership with the Statesville ABC Board, is offering a free educational session through the Responsible Alcohol Seller/Server Training Program (RASP). This training on the laws and rules of selling and serving alcohol beverages products is open to all businesses holding an ABC permit issued by the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, the business owners, managers, employees, as well as potential permit holders and civic groups. Two training sessions will be held at the Statesville Civic Center on June 6. The morning session is 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The afternoon session is 2-4 p.m. The topics to be covered include preventing sales to underage and intoxicated persons, dram shop liability, acceptable forms of identification, fake, altered and borrowed IDs, hours for alcohol sales, employee age requirements and recent legislative updates. More information on the free training and how to register can be found on the Statesville ABC Board website at statesvilleabc.com. Questions should be directed to Mike Yates, information communication specialist for the N.C. ABC Commission, at 919-836-6104. Yates stressed the importance of the training, adding alcohol in the hands of minors and intoxicated persons can result in injury and even death. Together we will make a difference in our community to help keep alcohol out of the hands of underage persons and help keep drunk drivers off North Carolina roads. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A Floyd woman could go to prison for up to 15 years after pleading guilty to indecent acts with an 11-year-old girl. Melissa Elizabeth Gibson was originally charged with aggravated sexual battery of a minor under the age of 13, aggravated sexual battery of a child and object penetration of an underage minor. Gibson pleaded guilty to indecent acts with a child custodian and indecent liberties with a child in on May 9. The amended charges are felonies that bring up to five years in prison for one and 10 years for the other. She will be sentenced on May 23 after updated state sentencing guidelines are obtained. Commonwealths Attorney Eric Branscom said in court that in July 2022, Gibson would drink Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey embellished with methamphetamines and go into the girls room to touch her inappropriately. The county Department of Social Services notified the Sheriffs Office, and the school resource officer and chief investigator Rusty Stanley interviewed the victim, along with The Child Advocacy Office. Their reports led to indictments by a county grand jury on Jan. 3. Branscom said Gibson did not deny the actions but told in vestigators that she often blacked out during her drinking and drug sessions, and claimed she did not remember attacking the young girl. He said the victims interviews did not vary in details, and her descriptions fit with the actions of sexual abuse. Branscom also said he agreed to the plea deal to avoid the victim the trauma of having to testify publicly about the assaults on her. Gibsons attorney asked for a delay in sentencing to make sure the guidelines reflected the amended charges. In another child abuse case discussed May 9, Lorenzo Tiamzon Marshall of Willis, convicted of assault and battery of a family member and cruelty and injury of a child on Feb. 13, and his attorney raised questions based on recent court rulings that say corporal punishment is a parental right and not abuse. Judge Mike Fleenor took the motion under advisement and issued a ruling, finding the actions of Marshall guilty of violation of Virginia Code as charged. The judge listed several court rulings that he felt supported his decision. The judge gave Marshall a two-year suspended sentence, and his attorney, Jonathan Rogers, said his client would appeal the ruling. In other cases, heard May 9: April Elizabeth Akers of Floyd was sentenced for three months in jail for pleading guilty to possession of cocaine and methamphetamine, which was discovered by deputies executing a search warrant in April 2022. Abraham Paul Martin of Floyd pleaded guilty to possession of schedule I and schedule II drugs and was given a five-year suspended sentence for the charges. John Douglas Lemon of Floyd pleaded guilty to possession of firearms by a convicted felon and was given a three-year suspended sentence. The court also seized the firearms. Aaron Alexander Sexton of Pulaski pleaded guilty to possession/transportation of a firearm by a non-violent convicted felon and was given a three-year suspended sentence. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Earlier this week, the Washington State Legislature finally delivered that long-awaited Blake fix. The new law, Senate Bill 5536, replaces the prior statue on drug possession which was struck down by the Washington Supreme Court in 2021 as well as a temporary fix set to expire in July. The law was sent to Gov. Inslees desk the same day the legislative special session began. Were relieved the deal was finalized and there is once again a uniform drug policy across Washington state. There were a couple of weeks where it seemed like patchwork rules that varied from county to county might be our future. While there are some services, like funding firefighters or libraries, which benefit from varying on a town or county level, drug policy is not one of them. When you bring crime and punishment into the equation, everyone in your state must be on the same page regarding where the law stands. Inslee cited local flexibility as one of the main sticking points that sunk the last-minute attempt to pass this law during the regular session. One of the key elements to retaining that property is giving latitude to judges and prosecutors in the sentencing system, and were glad to see it respected in the new law. You dont have to look far to see the value of such programs; theres proof waiting over on First Avenue. Cowlitz Countys drug court program has been a resounding success, starting out with just two people enrolled back in 1999. Hundreds have graduated from the program since then. According to a 2018 study by the University of Portland, graduates from the program had a recidivism rate of 4.9%. This is a massive contrast to the 37.3% rate of those who drop out of the program, or the 30% rate given by the Washington State Department of Corrections. Programs like drug court are only possible when local courts are given latitude to prioritize treatment over punishment. Though treatment only works when people give it a chance, and so drug court is no silver bullet, a bit of leniency has proven its value to the people of our community. That flexibility in the court system to channel people into treatment instead of the prison system is also bolstered in the new law by $44 million in additional funding to treatment programs, as well as harm-reduction programs like mobile methadone clinics. Its easy to ask everyone to steer people towards treatment, but funding can empower those groups to make a real difference. As far as the rest of the bill? Its a classic compromise. Possession is back on the books as a crime, but it is now a gross misdemeanor rather than the felony it was originally or the misdemeanor it was in the temporary fix. Were happy with that, since both sides have valid points: people who are addicted to drugs have a problem and we should focus on helping them, not filling our prisons. But if someone repeatedly refuses help, there should be penalties. The clock isnt getting wound back to before the Blake decision, nor is Washington following Oregons lead in decriminalizing drug possession. Maybe thats what we needed to get the broad, bipartisan support that Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, correctly predicted when he spoke to The Columbian at the start of the session. With all that said, there is one big but coming up. Were glad to see the law get done so quickly, but we have to ask: Couldnt this have been done without a special session? Yes, there was a lot of work that needed to be done in the last legislative session. But this drug possession law was arguably the biggest priority, given that the law currently in place was set to expire in July. Were asking because, like almost everything, special sessions cost taxpayer money, and this one seems like it might have been avoidable. As Washington lawmakers are entitled to a per diem of up to $120 each day the Legislature is in session, thats a potential $17,640 for each day that lawmakers are in Olympia. Not all costs are optional, but this one can be. We arent going to claim that it is always wrong for lawmakers to claim a per diem. Traveling to Olympia and finding lodgings while the Legislature is in session can be expensive, especially if you have to travel from Spokane or Walla Walla. But in the case of this session, wed like to encourage the Legislature to follow the example of Sen. Braun. Braun has long declined all per diem payments, and will do so for this session as well. For a five-hour special session, wed like to see everyone follow his example and decline the payment, just this once. It would be a strong symbolic gesture that they realize this bill should have been passed during the normal session. Dont let the fact the drug law was finalized in special session detract from the valuable compromise that was struck. It was necessary and will mean positive change in our state. At the same time, let this be a reminder not to rely on special sessions to get things done, either. Tesla is offering discounts of more than $1,300 on some Model 3 cars in its U.S. inventory following even heavier discounts in Europe, according to a Reuters' review of its website, even as the electric carmaker has raised U.S. prices on most newly ordered cars this month. Facing economic headwinds and mounting competition, Tesla this year has aggressively cut vehicle prices in several regions and is resorting to the traditional automakers' tactic of offering incentives to clear inventory, analysts said. On Tuesday, CEO Elon Musk told shareholders Tesla will try advertising for the first time, a move analysts said could drum up demand. Musk warned Tesla was not immune to the global economy, predicting it will be difficult for the next 12 months. Tesla slightly raised prices of some new models twice this month in the U.S., although prices remain much lower than they were before the price cuts began this year. Tesla now offers discounts of more than $1,300 on some Model 3 cars, up from the $250 discounts earlier this month on some Model Y and Model 3 vehicles, according to the website. As of Friday, the $250 discount was no longer offered on Model Y. U.S. prices for Model 3 start at $40,240 and Model Y at $47,490. "Tesla is beginning to rely on incentives in the same manner traditional automakers have when their dealer inventories begin to spend too much time on the lot," said Edmunds.com director of Insight Ivan Drury, adding the incentives "signal that Tesla has begun to slightly oversupply the market." Tesla plans to launch a revamped version of its Model 3 sedan this year to refresh its aging product lineup. The price cuts to drive up sales volume reflect pressure Tesla faces from competition and an aging product lineup, rival Ford Motor Co CEO Jim Farley said last month. HEAVY DISCOUNTS IN EUROPE Tesla's U.S. discounts follow deep discounts in Europe this month as production from factories in China and Berlin outpaced demand. Tesla offers discounts of up to 3,490 euros ($3,841.79) for a China-made Model 3 and 3,660 euros ($4,028.93) for a Berlin-made Model Y, according to Tesla Info's list of global inventory. Other markets such as France, Germany, United Kingdom and Italy offer similar discounts. Tesla researcher Troy Teslike tweeted on Friday that Tesla solved its inventory problem in China by exporting from that market. "The problem is that the cars that are exported end up in inventory in Europe which is close to an all-time high. Now Europe has an inventory problem but not China," he said. Tesla did not respond to Reuters' request for comment, but Musk at the shareholder meeting said the company's approach is straightforward. "We see what the demand is and then we adjust pricing to meet the demand," he said. In the first quarter, Tesla had 15 days worth of global inventory, leaner than the industry norm but its highest in nearly three years. The industry average for inventory in just the United States is 35 days. Tesla also produced more cars than it sold, which analysts said pressured the company which lacks dealers to absorb excess inventory. When demand slows, inventory "starts to become a drain on cash very quickly," said Tyson Jominy, an executive with consultancy J.D. Power. ($1 = 0.9084 euro) This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A sign marks the entrance of the Micron Technology automotive chip manufacturing plant on Feb. 11, 2022, in Manassas, Va. Stepping up a feud with Washington over technology and security, China's government on Sunday, May 21, 2023 told users of computer equipment deemed sensitive to stop buying products from the biggest U.S. memory chip maker, Micron Technology Inc. Credit: AP Photo/Steve Helber, File Stepping up a feud with Washington over technology and security, China's government on Sunday told users of computer equipment deemed sensitive to stop buying products from the biggest U.S. memory chipmaker, Micron Technology Inc. Micron products have unspecified "serious network security risks" that pose hazards to China's information infrastructure and affect national security, the Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website. Its six-sentence statement gave no details. "Operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing products from Micron Co.," the agency said. The United States, Europe and Japan are reducing Chinese access to advanced chipmaking and other technology they say might be used in weapons at a time when President Xi Jinping's government has threatened to attack Taiwan and is increasingly assertive toward Japan and other neighbors. Chinese officials have warned of unspecified consequences but appear to be struggling to find ways to retaliate without hurting China's smartphone producers and other industries and efforts to develop its own processor chip suppliers. An official review of Micron under China's increasingly stringent information security laws was announced April 4, hours after Japan joined Washington in imposing restrictions on Chinese access to technology to make processor chips on security grounds. Foreign companies have been rattled by police raids on two consulting firms, Bain & Co. and Capvision, and a due diligence firm, Mintz Group. Chinese authorities have declined to explain the raids but said foreign companies are obliged to obey the law. Business groups and the U.S. government have appealed to authorities to explain newly expanded legal restrictions on information and how they will be enforced. Sunday's announcement appeared to try to reassure foreign companies. "China firmly promotes high-level opening up to the outside world and, as long as it complies with Chinese laws and regulations, welcomes enterprises and various platform products and services from various countries to enter the Chinese market," the cyberspace agency said. Xi accused Washington in March of trying to block China's development. He called on the public to "dare to fight." Despite that, Beijing has been slow to retaliate, possibly to avoid disrupting Chinese industries that assemble most of the world's smartphones, tablet computers and other consumer electronics. They import more than $300 billion worth of foreign chips every year. Beijing is pouring billions of dollars into trying to accelerate chip development and reduce the need for foreign technology. Chinese foundries can supply low-end chips used in autos and home appliances but can't support smartphones, artificial intelligence and other advanced applications. The conflict has prompted warnings the world might decouple, or split into separate spheres with incompatible technology standards that mean computers, smartphones and other products from one region wouldn't work in others. That would raise costs and might slow innovation. U.S.-Chinese relations are at their lowest level in decades due to disputes over security, Beijing's treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim ethnic minorities, territorial disputes and China's multibillion-dollar trade surpluses. 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. ORLANDO Walt Disney Parks Chairman Josh DAmaro told employees last week that the company is canceling plans to build a nearly $1 billion office complex in Florida which would have added more than 2,000 jobs to the state. In an email Thursday, D'Amaro informed employees that the company had decided not to move forward with the Orlando project due to "new leadership and changing business conditions." The announcement comes amidst a widening feud and legal battle between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney World Company. The plans for the massive office complex and expansion in Florida were announced in 2021 under Walt Disney Companys then-CEO Bob Chapek. The regional campus was slated to house some of the theme park divisions administrative offices and roughly 2,000 cast members, "Imagineers," and other company employees with average salaries north of $120,000. At the time, reports of the company's planned investmentcurrently estimated at over $1 billionwould not only bring significant changes to the operations of Disney but was also widely anticipated to spawn significant housing and commercial growth within the developing Lake Nona planned community. Last year, former Disney CEO Chapek took a public position at the encouragement of Disney staff against Gov. DeSantis proposed state law which sought to ban discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools for students in kindergarten through third grades. Chapeks public position on the matter elicited what the company has categorized as "retaliation" from the state government when, shortly after, DeSantis signed legislation to strip Disney of its special tax status, attempting to cut off the corporations ability to self-govern the roughly 2,525,000 acres where its Walt Disney World theme park complex is located. Late in 2022, Chapek stepped down as the companys CEO, and Bob Iger, who preceded Chapek as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, returned to the role of leading the media giant. Earlier this year, Florida lawmakers voted to restructure the 50-year-old Reedy Creek Improvement District, giving DeSantis the power to appoint members to the special district's governing board. However, before the new board could be officially installed, Disney reached a last-minute deal outlining the scope of development in the district and giving Disney the right to review any changes to properties within its limitslargely preserving its development rights. Following state officials attempt to void the governing authorities provided by the special development district, the feud climbed to new levels when Disney filed a lawsuit against Florida and accused DeSantis of "a targeted campaign of government retaliation." Thursdays announcement that Disney had canceled its planned development at Lake Nona came just a week after Disney CEO Iger made statements that the ongoing dispute with Floridas governor was giving the company pause over future investment in the state. NPR reported that during a conference call with analysts, Iger rhetorically asked, "Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?" In his email to Disney employees announcing the nixing of the previously planned business complex in Lake Nona, Disney's Chairman DAmaro wrote, "Given the considerable changes that have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions, we have decided not to move forward with construction of the campus." "I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business. We have plans to invest $17 billion and create 13,000 jobs over the next ten years. I hope were able to do so," DAmaros emailed memo noted. Walt Disney World president Jeff Vahle sent a letter later on Thursday publicly confirming the news. As of Friday afternoon, DeSantis hadn't commented on Disney's announcement, but the governors Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern hinted in a statement that the state had doubts that the Lake Nona project would be coming to fruition. "Given the company's financial straits, falling market cap, and declining stock price, it is unsurprising that they would restructure their business operations and cancel unsuccessful ventures," Redfern said in a statement. In February this year, Disney announced a sweeping restructuring plan that would cut 7,000 jobs amid the company's mounting losses. House Bill 1069 , expands upon the initial bill and places additional restrictions on lessons about "human sexuality" in grades K-3, up to 8th grade, with additional restrictions up through high school. The new law will take effect on July 1. LGBTQ advocacy groups have fiercely opposed the bills, arguing that they target the LGBTQ community and individuals' freedom while only further marginalizing vulnerable children. Some have criticized the measures as culture war fodder and a part of the governor's political strategy to secure the Republican presidential nomination. Although DeSantis has not officially announced his bid for the White House, a formal announcement appears likely in the coming weeks. Early Wednesday morning, the same day the governor signed the bills into law, an anti-gay hate message was programmed onto a digital traffic sign near Lake Nona in Orlando. The Orlando Sentinel reported Thursday that the Orlando Police Department was investigating the incident to identify the person, or persons, who programmed the lighted traffic sign at Lake Nona Boulevard and Nemours Parkway to read, "KILL ALL GAYS." Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. After hours of debate and multiple attempts to kill the legislation by Democrats on Friday, Texas is one step closer to banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public colleges and universities. In a 83 to 60 vote, the Texas House gave preliminary approval to one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patricks legislative priorities that would prohibit such offices, programs and any required diversity training. In an attempt to stop a deluge of amendments from Democrats opposing Senate Bill 17, lawmakers approved an amendment offered by the bills sponsor, Seguin Republican John Kuempel, that requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to conduct an annual study into the impact of banning DEI offices, allows universities to make reasonable efforts to reassign employees in DEI offices to new positions with similar pay, and shifts the day the bill goes into effect back by three months to Jan. 1. The coordinating board is the state agency that oversees higher education policy at public colleges and universities. This amendment was also an attempt to appease Democrats concerns that eliminating diversity offices and programs would put universities at risk of losing federal grants, one of the many reasons they kept filing amendments to try and delay the bills passage Friday night. Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, said the extension will give universities time to ensure current grants can still comply with any DEI requirements. The legislation still needs final passage before it heads back to the upper chamber where the Senate could accept the changes or elect to meet in a conference committee of lawmakers to hash out the differences. If the legislation becomes law, Texas would be the second state in the nation with such a ban, following Florida. DEI offices have become a mainstay on college and university campuses across the country for years as schools try to boost faculty diversity and help students from all backgrounds succeed. Proponents of these offices say they coordinate mentorships, tutoring and programs to boost the number of underrepresented groups in fields such as science and engineering, and spur efforts to increase diversity among faculty. They help departments cast a wide net when searching for job candidates and ensure that universities dont violate federal discrimination laws. House Democrats lamented that the legislation rolls back progress and jeopardizes investments the state has made in its universities. Those who support such offices argue that removing them or weakening their influence will make schools less welcoming places to work and study, turn back efforts to correct past discrimination against students who were not always welcome on campus and stall progress to make public universities student populations better reflect state demographics. This legislation is telling us that Texans fear diversity, said Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas. This legislation shows us that folks are so afraid of inclusive practices at public universities that theyre willing to go as far as defunding our public universities. But Kuempel argued that these offices are not helping to achieve the diversity everyone claims to want. There is virtually no evidence that DEI programs have closed the gap in terms of minority student outcomes, minority recruitment and faculty hiring, Kuempel told members when he laid out his version of the Senate bill on the House floor Friday. Critics also accuse DEI programs of pushing left-wing ideology onto students and faculty and say that these programs prioritize social justice over merit and achievement. Some Texas university students have rejected that criticism. I think they are upset with the fact that people who have historically been marginalized are getting opportunities that people who have been from majority groups have been getting forever, said Sameeha Rizvi, a student at the University of Texas at Austin who has been organizing against the legislation. So it just feels like a political attack on a very real entity that is meant to help all students. The compromising amendment offered to end the debate late Friday was not the only change lawmakers made to the House version of the bill. Earlier in the debate, Kuempel also successfully introduced an amendment that clarifies the legislation bans DEI offices that promote differential treatment, and ensures all hiring initiatives are color blind and sex neutral. Kuempels first amendment was an attempt to beat back an attempt from a fellow Republican, Rep. Matt Schaefer of Tyler, to restore language written by the Senate. The legislation now says any DEI policies, training or programs must be approved by university lawyers or the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and requires the state to audit the universities once every four years. If a school is found to violate the bill, they have 180 days to fix the issue or risk losing state funding. It also allows students and employees to sue a university that violates this law. It also replaced the changes Kuempel had originally made to the Senate bill that would have allowed for DEI programs if they were needed to comply with federal grants and accrediting agencies, a change that was viewed as an attempt to water down the Senates version. Instead, the House version of the bill now says that when applying for grants or complying with an accrediting agency, an employee can submit statements that highlight work in supporting first-generation college students, low-income students or underserved student populations. The House approved that amendment, but Democrats continued to hammer away with additional amendments until Republicans found a way to amend the bill to their liking. As originally introduced, the Senate version would have required universities to close their diversity offices, ban mandatory diversity training and restrict hiring departments from asking for diversity statements, essays in which job applicants talk about their commitments or efforts to build diverse campuses. When the Senate voted out its version of the bill, members added an amendment that the legislation would not affect course instruction, faculty research, student organizations, guest speakers, data collection or admissions. Faculty have repeatedly warned lawmakers throughout the legislative session that if this bill passes, it might put state universities at risk of losing federal and private grants because they often require applicants to show how they are considering diversity and equity in their work. On Thursday, Democrats successfully delayed the debate on the Houses version of a bill meant to change how faculty tenure works at public universities using a point of order that argued the bill analysis was misleading. The House Higher Education Committee has already voted that bill out of committee again, but it has not yet been scheduled to return to the House floor. Senate bills must receive preliminary approval from the House by Tuesday. 5/3 with room to spare! Super large lot, fenced and ready for outdoor fun. Space for everyone, fireplace, formal dining with vintage corner cabinets, flashy kitchen with small breakfast area, screened back porch and nice, spacious back yard. These bedrooms are large, 3 full baths in the house plus built in storage make this house ready for every day living too. Great location, close to historical Downtown Bryan, new Bryan Outdoor Sporting Park and Complex, Blinn College and Texas A&M University, shopping, health care, markets all at the same time, now that is location worth talking about. You really need to see this one! View More Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. StageCenter, the areas oldest community theater, unveiled an ambitious and varied 2023-24 season Friday night. It will be perhaps the most powerful season the Downtown Bryan theatre has presented in a long time. Weve got an amazing lineup of six shows that will blow your socks off. Weve carefully curated a mix of themes and styles that will keep you on the edge of your seat. And guess what? Weve got a special bonus holiday treat in store for everyone in December, StageCenter board president Tim Scott said. Prepare to be transported into a world of mesmerizing stories, incredible talent, and pure theatrical magic. This season, were bringing you the best of the best, and we cant wait to share it with our amazing community. Get ready to experience the thrill of live theater like never before. Here is a look at the upcoming season: Oct. 5 through Oct. 21, with a matinee on Oct. 15 Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Robin Sutton. Doubt received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2005 and earned the Tony Award for Best Play. Set in a fictional Catholic school in the Bronx, Doubt revolved around Sister Aloysius, the schools conservative principal, and the much more liberal parish priest, Father Flynn. The sister suspects the priest of having an unsavory relationship with one of the students. In the end, Sister Aloysius and the audience is left with her doubts about the priests guilt or innocence. Nov. 30 through Dec. 16, with a matinee on Dec. 10 On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson, also directed by Sutton. No doubt, audiences will recall the beloved 1981 movie starring Henry Fonda in his final film role, Katharine Hepburn and Jane Fonda. This is the 1979 play on which the film is based. On Golden Pond centers on an elderly couple, Norman and Ethel Thayer, who spend one more summer at their New Hampshire lake cabin. Norman is showing signs of memory loss, but he remembers well the fractured relationship with their daughter, Chelsea, who arrives with her husband-to-be Billy Ray and his early teenage son, Billy Ray Jr. Chelsea and Billy Ray head off for Europe, leaving Billy Ray Jr. to spend a turbulent summer with the Thayers. Dec. 21 A Holiday Sing-Along fundraiser for the theater, guaranteed to put you in the holiday spirit. Feb. 8 through Feb. 24, with a matinee on Feb. 18 Whose Life Is It Anyway? by Brian Clark, directed by Nancy Woods. Clarks 1978 play is based on his 1972 television drama about a sculptor who is paralyzed from the neck down in an automobile accident. Set entirely in his hospital room, the play deals with the pros and cons of euthanasia. April 4 through April 20, with a matinee on April 14 The Burial at Thebes by Seamus Heaney, directed by Kathryn Sutton. Nobel laureate Heaney based his 2004 play on Sophocles Antigone, although he sometimes takes great liberties with the original. The play deals with questions of state control vs. individual liberties and the discord between divine law and human law. May 30 through June 15, 2024, with a matinee on June 9, 2024 The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash, directed by Jay Thompson. Set in an unspecified location in the American West during the Great Depression, The Rainmaker is the story of Lizzie Curry, who keeps house for her father and brothers and is looking for a man to marry. Into her life comes a charming conman named Starbuck who promises to bring badly needed rain for $100. Along the way, Starbuck brings change to Lizzies life. Aug. 1 through Aug. 17, 2024, with a matinee on Aug. 11, 2024 Present Laughter by Noel Coward, directed by Jennifer Hargis. Written in 1939 but delayed by the start of World War II, Present Laughter is based on Coward himself. It is the story of Garry Essendine, an actor in stage comedies, who is preparing for an African tour, while dealing with complications handling the women in his life. Coward starred as his own doppelganger in the first British productions. StageCenter is located at 218 N. Bryan Ave. in Downtown Bryan. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, with matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets for Fridays and Saturdays are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and students. All tickets for Thursdays and Sunday matinees are $12. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A proposal that would allow Texas families to use taxpayer dollars to pay for private schools a legislative priority for both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is dead this weekend after the Texas House failed to advance it before a Saturday deadline. Abbott has already suggested hell call a special session to ensure it becomes law. Senate Bill 8, authored by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, passed the Senate in early April. However, it has not received a vote in the House Committee on Public Education. Bills must be approved in committee before being voted on in each respective chamber and the deadline for House committees to approve Senate bills was midnight Saturday, but the lower chamber did not meet and neither will most committees. Creighton didnt immediately respond to a request for comment but is expected to make a statement later this weekend. With the death of the bill, the House proves it is still a major hurdle for any legislation that would send taxpayer money to private schools. State Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, and chair of the education committee, drastically changed and limited the bills scope from the version passed in the Senate in an effort to get the votes needed in committee, but it seemingly wasnt enough. With already fierce opposition from the lower chamber, Abbott seemingly delivered the final blow for the bill when last week he voiced his disapproval of the House version of the bill, which significantly rolls back eligibility for the legislations proposed program. While the Senates bill wanted it to be available for most of Texas 5.5 million public schoolchildren, the Houses version would be for only certain groups of students, like those with disabilities or those who attended a campus that has recently received a failing grade in its state accountability rating. Abbott, who has made the legislation, known as education savings accounts, his top cause this session and has traveled across the state advocating for it, said he would call lawmakers in for a special session if the House didnt expand the scope of school choice this month. It begs the question of with this threat is this the legislation to move forward? Buckley told the Tribune on Wednesday. Things can change fast in the final days of a legislative session as leaders negotiate over an array of bills, so the fate of school choice an umbrella term for a host of suite of policies that allow families to send their students to a school other than their assigned public school school wont be sealed until lawmakers leave town. The legislations centerpiece was a voucher-like program known as education savings accounts, which parents who opt out of their local school district would be able to use to pay for private schools and other educational expenses with taxpayer dollars. Some Republicans for decades have tried to pass voucher-like programs with no success historically hitting a wall: the Texas House. But the bills supporters felt different this time around as they thought the theme of parental rights something Republicans have seized since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns temporarily closed schools would get them over the hump. In the House, Democrats and rural Republicans have formed a coalition to defeat such programs, fearing that would siphon funds away from public schools as Texas gives schools money per student. Texans have been fighting against these voucher scams for decades, said state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin. Im proud of the bipartisan coalition that defeated vouchers this session. We will continue defending our public schools in any special sessions that are called. Already this session, the House took two key votes that signaled that they would not budge on vouchers. When the lower chamber crafted its budget last month, it inserted an amendment that would prohibit state money from going to private schools. While it was largely symbolic it showed the lack of appetite for a voucher program. Then last week, when Buckley tried to vote on SB 8 in committee without a public hearing, the House voted to not allow the public education committee to vote, claiming that he was trying to push a large bill without public oversight. Buckley couldnt seem to craft a proposal that would both pass the House and please Abbott. In an effort to sweeten the deal, his version would have eliminated the highly debated State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness more commonly known as the STAAR program and replace it with a new test. The legislation also removes the requirement that high schoolers need to pass an assessment to graduate. Zeph Capo, president of Texas American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that the debate over school vouchers this session took valuable time from other issues such as school funding and teacher pay. The biggest school funding legislation House Bill 100, authored by Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, would infuse an extra $5 billion to school districts to increase school budgets and teacher raises, but its been stuck in the Senate Committee on Education, chaired by Creighton. This was a lost session for public education, Capo said. Texas legislators let a generational surplus slip through their fingers while ignoring the generational threat of teachers streaming out of classrooms. All to chase a voucher scam Texans did not want. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Whether it was the more than three dozen barbecue and smokehouse vendors or the all-day live musical event, the Troubadour Festival had it all for Aggieland on Saturday at Aggie Park. While it was not a competition or cook-off, the event presented the best in Texas barbecue and restaurants and homemade Texas goods. The barbecue vendors included Kristen and Steven Rossler of Rosslers Blue Cord Barbecue. The Rossler family of four, originally from Midland, started in 2016 and by the afternoon, they were visited by 3,000-plus people wanting to try their barbecue of smoked crab cakes, ribeye steaks and a bar-cuterie board. The bar-cuterie board is like a charcuterie board but filled with barbecue, Kristen told The Eagle on Saturday. It is a chance for all the pitmasters to eat when they have a break and get to try out all kinds of barbecue and enjoy the event. Kristen and her family have participated in the festival since its inception and they were grateful for the event to come to College Station for the first time. Our 5-year-old daughter had Field Day on Friday and since we are from West Texas, she wanted to wear her Texas Tech hat, and I told her, Do not wear your Texas Tech hat, Kristen chuckled. But all of the Aggie people have been like, No, its fine. The people here have been amazing, and the people running the park have been coming by and it has been really great, especially for a first year. Kristen said her favorite part about being able to serve good food in Texas has been seeing a large amount of people enjoying it. These barbecue [groups] are a very tight-knit family and when people get to actually see it, it is kind of unreal to see how everybody is, she said. And the paths that come along with it, it is a family barbecue reunion when we do this; the people that we get to meet and to see how they are and how they see us. Garrett Graham and Justin and Katherine Meyers are all founders of Bourne Brand Texas Hot Sauce, which is a likely pair to barbecue in Texas. Justin Meyers showcased three different hot sauces to each guest that visited his booth, including Green Jalapeno, Smokin Red and Habanero Rodeo hot sauce. This is our fourth Troubadour Festival as we are a part of the original crew from Celina, Justin said after his first time visiting Aggie Park. This is a very good set up and it has been a great day of fun. This has been a very good location and all of the pitmasters who grilled are happy with it. Justin said the Aggie Spirit is definitely all around, and was excited to meet more than 400 guests trying his hot sauce late into the evening. We have had fantastic feedback when they try our hot sauce, he recalled. I think we are different and unique, we are just a very flavorful hot sauce. We arent going to lighten people up, our sauces are just good and unique, different and they pair really well with barbecue. Betina Miller, director of operations for M&M Barbecue, said even though they were there to present their product that cooks the barbecue the pit they still wanted to serve some barbecue on their grills and give it out to everyone who walked by. Her familys company began in 2003 through her father-in-law, and Miller said being a part of a second-generation family business, is like no other. As original members of the first Troubadour Festival, Miller said customers love the ease of their barbecue pits. We build commercial barbecue equipment, so we have rotisseries, offsets, woodp-fire grills, and we are starting to break into residential as well, she said. We were serving brisket tacos, smoked beef tacos and pork belly tacos, so we have a lot of stuff going on for people to be able to eat. They can see firsthand the ease of use; as they are easy to use and efficient. Kyle Guinn, owner and operator of Texas Made Supply Company, said his company began in 2019 and they have been selling Texas-made apparel ever since. As another long-time vendor at the festival, Guinn said this one is the most warming and inviting event he has experienced. We are a clothing brand that started this out as a hobby, he said. I was able to quit my job and pursue this full-time. We have a brick and mortar in Georgetown. We do barbecue and sell clothing, and we offer our services to everybody else as well. Brad Jolly, manager of McKinney Hat Company of McKinney, said this is his groups first time being a vendor at the festival and he wanted to experience Aggieland. We are more than a hat shop. We customize them, brand them, shape them, and we do whatever the customer wants done to their hat, he said. We sell Stetson, Resistol and Charlie 1 Horse hats, and it has been busy and we love it here. At an event like this, the customers cant resist the Resistol and straw hats. With each sale, Jolly said the fitting of the hat is crucial to any cowboy or cowgirl. If you have a hat that fits you would be surprised how much more you actually wear it, he said. We custom fit them; and we shape them to fit your face, so it fits well and looks good on you. Angela Harpin and Tim Vanderhule, a recently engaged couple, were gifted festival tickets for Saturdays gathering and planned to visit every single vendor. My sister bought the tickets for us as a gift, Vanderhule said. My mom has been taking care of my uncle, who has been in the hospital, and we have been helping her a lot and as a thank you, since my sister knows I really like barbecue, she got us the tickets. For more information, visit troubadourfestival.com. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Texas community college advocates are cheering after the Senate unanimously approved a House bill Friday to fund the states community colleges based on how many of their students graduate with a degree or certificate or transfer to a four-year university. Currently, schools are largely funded based on the number of hours students spend in a classroom. While the Senate version included some changes, bill sponsor Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, told The Texas Tribune the House is likely to accept them and send the legislation to the governor, rather than kick it to a conference committee for lawmakers to discuss the differences between the two versions. VanDeaver served on a commission of lawmakers and community college presidents last year that recommended the changes, along with a long list of ways the state could better support the more than 642,000 students who attend Texas 50 community college districts. The Senate added language from seven smaller higher education bills to the legislation, nearly all of which have already passed out of one or both chambers. These include legislation to provide new grant funds for students and workforce development, legislation to ease the student transfer process between two- and four-year schools, and one bill dealing with student privacy. A new budget provision that is contingent on the legislation passing shows that in the next two years, the new funding model would direct about $2.2 billion toward public community colleges, compared with the old system, which would have provided $1.8 billion. Texas community colleges are primarily funded by local property taxes, student tuition and fees, and state money. While every community college receives a little over $1.3 million for core operations in each two-year budget, the rest of the money it receives from the state is allocated in two ways. The vast majority of that funding depends on how many hours of instruction students receive, called contact hours. The rest around 10% is awarded based on milestones like the number of students who complete their first year of math, earn 15 credit hours or graduate with an associates degree. But over time, the states share has not kept pace with other sources of funding and now accounts for less than 25% of community colleges budgets. School leaders say the state needs to rethink how community colleges respond to workforce demands and prioritize efforts to enroll more students in programs for industries that pay well but dont take a long time to complete. House Bill 8 would shift the funding balance so most of the money that schools get from the state is based on student outcomes. Schools would compete for funding against their own progress in those areas. Specifically, the legislation says the state would allocate funding to colleges based on metrics such as the number of credentials they award in high-demand industries, the number of students who earn 15 credit hours and then transfer to a four-year university, or the number of high school students who earn at least 15 credits through a dual-credit program. Instead of waiting for lawmakers to allocate a pot of funding each session, schools would be able to look at their data and determine what their funding levels would be. The new finance system will fundamentally shift how community colleges support their students, ultimately providing them with more valuable options as workforce programs receive as much of an emphasis as academic programs, said Renzo Soto, a policy adviser for Texas 2036, a nonprofit focused on improving Texas future through public policy. This all culminates into a greater focus on ensuring community colleges are delivering workforce returns for students, employers and the state through state funding tied to the student outcomes that matter most earning a credential of value that prepares them for the workforce. HB 8 lays out a road map for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to implement the new funding system, but it would require the state agency to determine many specifics such as the new formulas to calculate just how much money each college would receive. As the bill is written now, the state agency would have until Sept. 1 to put the new system in place. Texas Higher Education Commissioner Harrison Keller said that means the board would need to have the details decided by mid-July to get state approval. Keller called the legislation historic and said it was crucial that all the community college leaders across the state backed the change. We could not contemplate making such a dramatic change so quickly without that strong partnership and buy-in from community college leaders across the state, he said. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Birks Group (NYSEAMERICAN:BGI Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the stock. Birks Group Trading Down 0.2 % Shares of NYSEAMERICAN BGI opened at $9.82 on Thursday. The stocks 50-day moving average is $7.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.03, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 1.00. Birks Group has a 1-year low of $5.00 and a 1-year high of $10.02. Get Birks Group alerts: Hedge Funds Weigh In On Birks Group Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BGI. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Birks Group by 344.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 86,300 shares of the companys stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 66,900 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Birks Group in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Birks Group in the first quarter valued at about $144,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 0.40% of the companys stock. About Birks Group Birks Group, Inc engages in the designing of jewelry, timepieces and gift and operates jewelry stores. It operates through the Retail and Other segments. The Retail segment operates stores across Canada under the Maison Birks brand and retail locations in Calgary and Vancouver under Brinkhaus, Graff, and Philippe brands. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Birks Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Birks Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK Get Rating) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 936,095 shares of the transportation companys stock after buying an additional 2,454 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLCs holdings in Alaska Air Group were worth $40,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,331,247 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $561,068,000 after buying an additional 257,583 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,198,910 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $281,839,000 after buying an additional 36,486 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alaska Air Group by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,924,672 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $297,404,000 after buying an additional 455,784 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,611,712 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $155,085,000 after acquiring an additional 739,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,388,903 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $145,614,000 after acquiring an additional 59,639 shares during the last quarter. 77.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Alaska Air Group alerts: Alaska Air Group Price Performance Shares of ALK opened at $44.52 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.42. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.19 and a fifty-two week high of $53.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 96.78, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.64. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Alaska Air Group ( NYSE:ALK Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The transportation company reported ($0.62) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.33) EPS. Alaska Air Groups revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ALK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $91.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. Susquehanna raised 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. Raymond James upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Alaska Air Group from $71.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $63.86. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, Director J Kenneth Thompson sold 3,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total transaction of $170,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,882.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. About Alaska Air Group (Get Rating) 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. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ALK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Alaska Air Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alaska Air Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. B&M European Value Retail S.A. (LON:BME Get Rating) has received an average recommendation of Hold from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is GBX 476.43 ($5.97). BME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised B&M European Value Retail to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the company from GBX 460 ($5.76) to GBX 550 ($6.89) in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on B&M European Value Retail from GBX 350 ($4.38) to GBX 380 ($4.76) and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut B&M European Value Retail to a hold rating and set a GBX 500 ($6.26) price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Get B&M European Value Retail alerts: B&M European Value Retail Stock Performance Shares of BME stock opened at GBX 485.70 ($6.08) on Tuesday. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is GBX 481.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 451.34. B&M European Value Retail has a one year low of GBX 289 ($3.62) and a one year high of GBX 503.40 ($6.31). The stock has a market capitalization of 4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 1,245.38 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 269.40, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.38. About B&M European Value Retail B&M European Value Retail SA operates general merchandise and grocery stores. The company operates a chain of 701 stores under the B&M brand, and 311 stores under the Heron Foods and B&M Express brands in the United Kingdom; and 107 stores under the B&M brand in France. It also provides employment and property management services. See Also Receive News & Ratings for B&M European Value Retail Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for B&M European Value Retail and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI Get Rating) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $27.00 price target on the insurance providers stock. Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Old Republic International from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Old Republic International from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Get Old Republic International alerts: Old Republic International Stock Performance Shares of ORI stock opened at $25.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Old Republic International has a fifty-two week low of $20.27 and a fifty-two week high of $26.72. The stocks 50-day moving average is $24.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.80. The firm has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 0.80. Old Republic International Cuts Dividend Institutional Trading of Old Republic International The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.244 per share. This represents a $0.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 2nd. Old Republic Internationals dividend payout ratio is 49.75%. Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in Old Republic International by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 14,951 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Old Republic International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $456,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Old Republic International by 166.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 126,541 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $2,649,000 after acquiring an additional 79,041 shares during the period. Cadence Bank lifted its position in shares of Old Republic International by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 282,880 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $5,921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the period. Finally, Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Old Republic International by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 82,035 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $1,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.87% of the companys stock. Old Republic International Company Profile (Get Rating) Old Republic International Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the business of insurance underwriting. It operates through the following segments: General Insurance, Title Insurance, Republic Financial Indemnity Group (RFIG) Run-Off, and Corporate and Other. The General Insurance segment provides property and liability insurance primarily to commercial clients. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Old Republic International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Old Republic International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE:DD Get Rating) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 990,279 shares of the basic materials companys stock after selling 4,351 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of DuPont de Nemours worth $67,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DD. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of DuPont de Nemours by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 212,353 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $10,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,633 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in DuPont de Nemours by 74.4% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 13,196 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 5,630 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in DuPont de Nemours by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 71,255 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $3,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,806 shares during the period. Salvus Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in DuPont de Nemours by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,057 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in DuPont de Nemours by 1,767.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 19,070 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 18,049 shares during the period. 71.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get DuPont de Nemours alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In related news, insider Michael G. Goss sold 2,374 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.46, for a total transaction of $155,402.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,345 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $873,563.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders. DuPont de Nemours Stock Performance Shares of NYSE DD opened at $66.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $68.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.33. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. has a one year low of $49.52 and a one year high of $78.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 2.57. DuPont de Nemours (NYSE:DD Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. DuPont de Nemours had a return on equity of 6.34% and a net margin of 43.63%. The firms revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. Analysts anticipate that DuPont de Nemours, Inc. will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. DuPont de Nemours Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. DuPont de Nemourss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.49%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts have issued reports on DD shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on DuPont de Nemours from $85.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on DuPont de Nemours from $92.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Barclays dropped their price objective on DuPont de Nemours from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on DuPont de Nemours from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on DuPont de Nemours from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $78.36. DuPont de Nemours Company Profile (Get Rating) DuPont de Nemours, Inc operates as a holding company engaged in the development of specialty materials, chemicals, and agricultural products. It operates through the following segments: Electronics & Industrial, Water & Protection, and Corporate & Others. The Electronics & Industrial segment supplies differentiated materials and systems for a broad range of consumer electronics including mobile devices, television monitors, personal computers and electronics used in a variety of industries. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for DuPont de Nemours Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for DuPont de Nemours and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southern (NYSE:SO Get Rating) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning. Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 17th. VNET Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Finally, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM restated a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $73.07. Get Southern alerts: Southern Price Performance Shares of Southern stock opened at $71.41 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.51. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $71.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.84. Southern has a 12 month low of $58.85 and a 12 month high of $80.57. Southern Increases Dividend Southern ( NYSE:SO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 11.53%. The companys revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southern will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This is a boost from Southerns previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Southerns dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.32%. Insider Activity In other Southern news, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $3,758,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares in the company, valued at $63,705,014.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 27,426 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total transaction of $2,059,966.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,119 shares in the company, valued at $2,712,898.09. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $3,758,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $63,705,014.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 91,917 shares of company stock worth $6,889,527 in the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,652,372 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $6,436,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,612 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 76,360,768 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $5,192,533,000 after purchasing an additional 723,336 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,068,549 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,424,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,036 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.2% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,002,360 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,284,352,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 9.1% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,719,486 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,415,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,914 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.78% of the companys stock. About Southern (Get Rating) The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Southern Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southern and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Telstra Co. Limited (OTCMKTS:TLSYY Get Rating) crossed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.48 and traded as high as $12.65. Telstra shares last traded at $12.48, with a volume of 63,400 shares trading hands. Telstra Price Performance The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $12.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Get Telstra alerts: Telstra Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 2nd were paid a $0.5949 dividend. This is a positive change from Telstras previous dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 1st. This represents a yield of 6.13%. Telstra Company Profile Telstra Corporation Limited provides telecommunications and information services to businesses, governments, and individuals in Australia and internationally. It operates in four segments: Telstra Consumer and Small Business, Telstra Enterprise, Networks and IT, and Telstra InfraCo The company offers telecommunication, media and technology products and services in Australia using mobile and fixed network technologies, as well as operates call centers, retail stores, a dealership network, digital channels, distribution systems and Telstra Plus customer loyalty program. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Telstra Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Telstra and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD Get Rating) (NYSE:TD) had its price target cut by National Bank Financial from C$98.00 to C$94.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, The Fly reports. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Toronto-Dominion Banks Q2 2023 earnings at $2.08 EPS, Q3 2023 earnings at $2.19 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $2.11 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $8.62 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $8.88 EPS. TD has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Fundamental Research set a C$104.14 target price on Toronto-Dominion Bank and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on Toronto-Dominion Bank from C$102.00 to C$98.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 5th. CSFB dropped their price target on shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from C$97.00 to C$94.00 in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Barclays downgraded shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the company from C$101.00 to C$83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, CIBC upgraded Toronto-Dominion Bank from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from C$100.00 to C$97.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Toronto-Dominion Bank has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of C$96.36. Get Toronto-Dominion Bank alerts: Toronto-Dominion Bank Trading Up 0.1 % TSE TD opened at C$82.27 on Thursday. Toronto-Dominion Bank has a 12 month low of C$76.40 and a 12 month high of C$97.13. The company has a market capitalization of C$150.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$81.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$86.51. Toronto-Dominion Bank Dividend Announcement Toronto-Dominion Bank ( TSE:TD Get Rating ) (NYSE:TD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported C$2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$2.16 by C$0.07. The firm had revenue of C$12.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$12.12 billion. Toronto-Dominion Bank had a net margin of 31.78% and a return on equity of 14.29%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Toronto-Dominion Bank will post 8.7335456 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 6th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 5th. Toronto-Dominion Banks dividend payout ratio is currently 46.43%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, Senior Officer Riaz Ahmed sold 37,832 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$89.01, for a total value of C$3,367,426.32. Company insiders own 0.10% of the companys stock. About Toronto-Dominion Bank (Get Rating) The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S. Retail, Wealth Management and Insurance, and Wholesale Banking segments. The company offers personal deposits, such as checking, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Toronto-Dominion Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Toronto-Dominion Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Zip Code Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Hall County VFWA 1347 Eleven members of Hall County VFWA 1347 attended the May 2 meeting at the United Veterans Club. Junior Vice President and Past President Jean Seeley installed the slate of officers for the 2023-24 fiscal year. A thank-you note was received from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center for treats the Auxiliary supplied in April. Three members assisted with a recreation activity at the VAMC. LaVonne Catron gave a legislative report stating that everyone is waiting for a final signature to move forward the Grand Island Veterans Cemetery becoming a state veterans cemetery. The VFW Post has asked for the Auxiliary to assist distributing buddy poppies at the Memorial Day Services on Monday, May 29, at Memorial Park, east of the UVC. Those helping are asked to gather at 9 a.m. to get supplies assembled and begin greeting those attending. Billie Herron, historian and media chairperson, is continuing to post VFW and Auxiliary information on Facebook. She will begin including information about the Wreaths Across America Car Show Fundraiser scheduled for Oct. 14 in the west parking lot of the UVC. Emblem badges with magnetic backs are available for members. These badges may be worn when doing community activities, showing that the person is a VFW Auxiliary member. President Lori Skala attended the District 11 VFW meeting on April 24 in Broken Bow. District officers were elected. The charter was draped for Past Department President Gayle Beran. The next meeting will be at 1 p.m. June 6 at the UVC. Those wishing to eat together can meet at noon. Prairie Pioneer Quilt Guild The Prairie Pioneer Quilt Guild met May 11. Representatives of the Quilts of Valor Foundation were present and talked about their program. They were followed by a presentation and trunk show by Kelly Ashton of Overland Park, Kansas. The evening ended with a big Show and Tell by many members of the guilt guild. The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8, at St. Leos Catholic Church. A trunk show by guild member Julie Lechner is on the agenda. Visitors are always welcome. For more information, call President Anna Wood at 308-391-1953. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Primrose of Grand Island Named Community of the Year Primrose Retirement Communities has named Primrose of Grand Island the Community of the Year. The announcement was made on April 27, during the companys annual Leadership Retreat in St. Augustine, Florida. Primrose of Grand Island was selected to receive the 2022 Community of the Year award. said BJ Schaefbauer, president of Primrose Retirement Communities. Primrose of Grand Island consistently exceeds expectations related to our mission of creating happy and healthy living environments for our senior population. The Grand Island team has created a culture where residents thrive and staff enjoy coming to work each day. Out of 33 communities currently operating across the country, Primrose of Grand Island rose to the top and is very deserving of this award. Primrose Retirement Community of Grand Island consists of 36 independent living apartment homes and 32 assisted living apartment homes. Primrose Retirement Communities, headquartered in Aberdeen, South Dakota, provides independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the country which specialize in personalized services and resident-focused care. The mission of Primrose Retirement Communities is to create happy and healthy living environments for seniors. Since the opening of the first Primrose community in Aberdeen in 1991, Primrose has grown to include more than 33 locations in 17 states. Central City hospital earns honors CENTRAL CITY Merrick Medical Center received two awards from the Accountable Care Organization during the groups annual convention. The center was named the ACO Top Performer, as determined by a vote among peers within Bryan Health Connect ACO, the Bryan Health Connect team, and the ACO board. The award recognizes an entity that is a leader in value-based care, champions collaboration, and serves as a resource for other ACO members. It also received the Health Care Quality Improvement Leader Award, judged and voted on by their peers for a quality improvement project that was completed during the year. Merrick Medical Center increased Medicare annual wellness visit completion by 115.6% from 2020-2022 by completing a workflow analysis to identify gaps in the current process and create improved workflows for staff and providers. Ensuring that all members of the team were being appropriately utilized was a key step in improving completion rates and creating a more sustainable and efficient process. These workflows led to an increase in completed visits as well as increases in depression screenings and fall risk assessments. Provider engagement in the improvement efforts also resulted in early breast cancer detection for a patient who had an acute visit changed to an annual wellness visit when the care gap was identified. The Accountable Care Organization is a network of physicians and other health care providers who share financial and medical responsibility for patients. Together, they focus on quality of care, population health management, the patient experience and cost. ACOs collectively work to ensure that patients receive the highest quality of care at the lowest possible cost. IdeaBank chooses enCourage as recipient for IdeaThon 2023 HASTINGS IdeaBank Marketing will provide 24 hours of free marketing services to enCourage Advocacy Center during IdeaThon 2023 on June 8 and 9 at 701 W. Second St., Hastings. IdeaBank launched IdeaThon in 2021 to support area nonprofit organizations with strategic and creative marketing products and services that they would not otherwise be able to afford. In the first IdeaThon, IdeaBank created $36,875 worth of services and resources within 24 hours to help the Multicultural Coalition in Grand Island promote its Immigrant Story Walk. That resulted in an attendance increase of 63% for the coalition. IdeaBanks efforts also freed up time for the coalition to improve the events decor and silent auction and make the immigration simulation more realistic. For enCourage, IdeaBank will name the organizations inaugural signature fundraising event, as well as develop promotional materials. The event will take place on Feb. 2, 2024, at Blank Space/Blue Fork Kitchen. Based in Hastings, enCourage Advocacy Center addresses root causes of abuse and violence in Adams, Nuckolls, Clay and Webster counties. The organization also combats human trafficking while empowering survivors of abuse and sexual assault. We began IdeaThon as a way to support nonprofits in the communities where IdeaBank and its team members live and work, said Sherma Jones, agency principal. Were glad to be able to assist enCourage in the vital work it provides its clients and the community. More information about enCourage Advocacy Center is available at encouragecenter.org. IdeaBank Marketing has been providing comprehensive marketing and advertising services, including strategic marketing plans, social media marketing, traditional and online ad campaigns, corporate identity packages and public relations services, for a wide variety of businesses and industries in Nebraska for 40 years. AKRS Equipment announces new Oberlin facility OBERLIN, Kan. AKRS Equipment has announced it will be building a custom facility at a new location in Oberlin. This new facility will give our employees the space and tools to be more efficient and to better serve our customers in Oberlin and surrounding communities, said Mike Flint, operations director and one of the owners of AKRS Equipment. The new location will be more than 30,000 square feet in size, including more than 20,000 square feet for service areas, and will be located in northeast Oberlin at the corner of Highway 36 and County Road 491. This facility is not only exciting for AKRS customers and employees but also for Oberlin as a whole, said Greg Unger, Oberlin store manager. Our new facility shows the growth of AKRS and its commitment to the Oberlin community. We look forward to breaking ground on this project and moving our business to this new location. AKRS Equipment is the largest John Deere dealer in the Midwest, headquartered in Lincoln, with 27 locations across Nebraska and Kansas. The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. To sign-up for EZ-Pay, call us at (903) 785-6901 or e-mail us at circulation@theparisnews.com. We will use the information you provide to change your current billing to EZ-PAY. Your current subscription delivery schedule will not be changed. No refunds for early cancellations. Remainder of early cancellation funds will be donated to Newspapers in Education. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. SAN FRANCISCO Anti-trans legislation is roiling the nation. Bills prohibiting drag performances are cropping up in statehouses. Violence and vitriol are turning children's drag story hour events into headline-news protests. San Francisco fought back Thursday by naming the nation's first drag laureate, an ambassador-style position designed to represent the city's famous LGBTQ+ community at a time when rights are under attack. In a city known for its support of LGBTQ+ rights, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says it was a natural step to create a position that not only embraces drag culture but puts government resources toward it. D'Arcy Drollinger, a well-known drag performer and nightclub owner, will receive a $55,000 stipend in her 18-month role as the city's inaugural drag laureate. "My goals are to make San Francisco sparkle. I think drag performers bring a lot of sparkle and humor and glamor and silliness to the world. I think that is part of why drag is so successful," said Drollinger, a man who uses feminine pronouns when in drag. She expects to be in drag for the entirety of her role. "I'm going to be in drag pretty much 24/7 for the r next 18 months." She noted San Francisco's l drag community is already politically engaged and active. "There's a lot of power for M the drag community in San s Francisco," she said. "I feel p very honored to be able to t take that one more step." West Hollywood is on the verge of appointing its fi own drag laureate later this d month, though at a much o lower salary and with limited engagements. In New w York, where the Stonewall h riots marked a major turning point in the fight for t LGBTQ+ rights, a 2021 effort n to create such a position has s languished in a committee, reflecting the challenges of creating such jobs even in liberal cities. In San Francisco, Drollinger will inaugurate the role three weeks before Pride Month begins. Her duties will span from producing and participating in drag events to serving as a spokesperson for San Francisco's LGBTQ+ community to helping officials to ensuring the city's drag history is "shared, honored and preserved." The job posting sought someone who will "embody San Francisco's historic, diverse and inclusive drag culture, elevating the entire community on the national and international stage." The city's mayor called Drollinger a "bright star in San Francisco" for her advocacy and elevation of the city's drag community. "Whether it's through a tragedy or to celebrate an occasion, she really has been a leader in this community and supporter of so many others," Breed told The Associated Press. Drollinger said she felt both nervous and honored when she was told the job was hers, given the recent violence targeting drag performers, even in the Bay Area. "I know that there are a lot of anti-drag folks out there, and they are very loud, right? But I also don't want to live my life under the shadow of fear. I don't want to have intimidation stop me from growing," she said. "So, yes, I am a little nervous. But I got a lot of fabulous people and fabulousness behind me." Members of the Proud Boys sparked a hate crimes investigation when they protested and shouted slurs outside a Bay Area library hosting Drag Story Hour, where drag queens read to kids, last June. In Oregon last year, demonstrators some of them armed threw rocks and smoke grenades at each other outside a drag event. In November, a shooter at a Colorado Springs nightclub turned a drag queen's birthday party into a massacre, killing five people and injuring 17 more. The suspect was charged with hate crimes and murder. The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 474 anti-LGBTQ+ pieces of legislation in the U.S., including Tennessee's first-in the-nation law that essentially bans drag from public property or in the presence of minors. A federal judge temporarily blocked the measure hours before it was set to go into effect in late March. Jonathan Hamilt, executive director of Drag Story Hour, a global nonprofit event network that began in San Francisco in 2015, said he hopes other cities across the country will enact their own drag laureate programs. "It's just having that visibility and having that personal human connection having that social story of someone from your community that looks like you or someone that you see or interact with on a regular basis," Hamilt said. New York City Councilmember Kristin Richardson Johnson plans to keep pushing for a drag laureate in her city if the position doesn't win support this year. Jack McClatchy, the elected official's legislative and budget director, couldn't give a specific reason for why the effort has stalled, only noting that it's one of more than 1,000 bills before the council. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Shoppers at the new R61 Resale Boutique in Harrisburg are doing more than finding bargains; they also are helping in the fight against human trafficking. The new store, located on North Main Street, serves a variety of purposes, said Kara Doan, CEO of Restoration61, an anti-human trafficking group with offices throughout Illinois with a particular focus in the Chicagoland and Southern Illinois areas. The resale boutique has a primary purpose of supporting the work that we do. All of the proceeds go to helping the victims of human trafficking, she said, adding that some of those rescued from trafficking situations may work at the store to gain skill sets and work experience. The boutique is located not far from the organizations downstate offices just outside of Harrisburg. We are a non-profit and our main goal is changing or disrupting the cycle of human trafficking and we do that through victim services, advocacy, community education and building awareness, explained Sarah McHargue. The simplest way to describe it is that we are the people who show up and support and work beside others as the regain their lives. She said human trafficking includes sex trafficking and labor trafficking those who are lured into a job with promises and then held in that role through intimidation or other means. Often these are people who are not documented and there is always this promise dangled out there were going to help you get your documentation but the reality is that they live in slavery. The same goes, she said for those in sex trafficking, and, she said it is more prevalent even in Southern Illinois than many people realize. Its a widespread problem here. Many people tend to think that it is Chicago and Los Angeles where it is a big problem, but it is just as prevalent here; it just looks different, she explained. McHargue said the store is a revenue stream for the organization, supporting its efforts and to help fund a planned residential facility in the area. It also is a place where, if I have a client who has a clothing need, I can bring her down here, let her shop, and, of course, shes not being charged, she said. The business also will help build awareness of both the organization and the problem it battles. Signs throughout the store explain the shops mission. R61 is not the only thrift store in the region that helps to fund non-profit efforts. Other examples include the Finding Forever Animal Rescue Store in Marion and Two Bugs and a Bean Childrens Resale Boutique in Carbondale which supports area foster families. Items offered for sale at R61 including men and womens clothing and shoes, home decor, books and more. All of the items have been donated by area individuals. We accept clothing, shoes, toys and household items, McHargue said. We encourage people to bring items when they are cleaning out their closets and, of course, we take monetary donations, too. Doan invited shoppers to visit the store and make a difference in the lives of others. We want to make an impact in the community, she said. We have really nice a wide range of products, including high-end items at a very affordable price. R61 Resale Boutique is open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Thursdays, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Fridays and 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Saturdays. It is located at 1001 N. Main Street in Harrisburg. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. DENMARK Voorhees University President Dr. Ronnie Hopkins has been appointed president of the Association of Episcopal Colleges. A subsidiary of the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion, AEC consists of eight colleges and universities in the United States and abroad that are affiliated with the Episcopal Church. I am honored to serve at the helm of the association of our beloved Episcopal institutions in the United States and beyond, Hopkins said. The president of one of only two HBCUs affiliated with the Episcopal Church is looking forward to working with other presidents of the member institutions. I seek to work with my presidential colleagues to advance the Episcopal mission and approach to provide experiences that offer students an understanding of religion and faith, in addition to a lens through which to view the world, he added. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The South Carolina House of Representatives has recognized Clemson Cooperative Extensions Ag + Art Tour as a national example of a program that emphasizes agritourism to showcase the states farms and farmers. State Rep. Randy Ligon of Chester County read the resolution to the audience gathered at the tours kickoff banquet April 18 at the University of South Carolinas Russell House in Columbia before presenting a copy to Clemson Extension Senior Agribusiness Agent Will Culler, who serves as the tours director. The resolution was made to celebrate the annual Ag + Art Tour to be held throughout May and June 2023, to encourage all South Carolinians to patronize and enjoy this family-friendly event and to wish its organizers every success. This wonderful collaboration between the Clemson Extension and multiple local and state agencies allows artisans and farmers to work together in showcasing art and agriculture in the Palmetto State, the resolution reads. The South Carolina Ag + Art Tour is a free, self-guided tour of farms and markets featuring local artisans at every stop. The popular South Carolina Ag + Art Tour is a national example of a program highlighting farm and art collaboration, rural revitalization, farm experience and agricultural education, it adds. Full text of the resolution is available here. The South Carolina Ag + Art Tour is a free, self-guided tour of farms and markets featuring local artisans at every stop. During the tour, visitors can see first-hand where their food comes from, watch artists in action and purchase their works, enjoy the melodies of local musicians and learn more about rural life. The tour is the largest free farm and art tour in the nation with over 85,000 visitors participating since 2012. This tour is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the rich cultural heritage in our state and to celebrate our hard-working farmers, Culler said. South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers said the tour is a chance for people in the state to learn exactly where their food comes from and the beauties of agritourism. Blending in the art component to it, I just think thats fascinating. The variety of opportunities that families have now to do that and the way its grown with the number of counties involved is a clear example of how a collaborative effort gets the results in receives, Weathers said. The tours first official stop is May 6 in Lexington County, with numerous dates to follow from York County at the top of the state, to Colleton County near the bottom. For a full list of dates and locations, visit the official Ag + Art Tour website. Were learning that food does not come from the grocery store; it comes from farmers. Our farmers know that, of course, but not everybody in the state knows that. Its a connection to the land that, if were not careful, were only a generation or two away from losing, Clemson College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences Dean Keith Belli said. Rep. Mike Neese, of Lancaster County, said the tour was also a chance to expose young people to a childhood much like his own, growing up on a farm, being an Eagle Scout and participating in 4-H. But Neese added it could also teach the parents as much as the kids. Things that we take for granted having grown up in the agriculture community you know, theyve never touched a chicken, he said. Neese said he first attended the tour in 2013 with the Indian Land Farm Club. Im remembering that, here, 9 years later, were at this kickoff event and looking to expand and grow that much more, he said. The Ag + Art Tour began as a single-county tour in York County and has grown into a 13-county annual event. Many of the farms that joined the tour in 2012 still participate today, and many of the artisans return year after year to demonstrate their craft and sell their goods, said Melanie Cooper of the Arts Council of York County. One of our farmers retired several years ago and wound up selling their property to a family from Atlanta that had visited the years earlier, visited during the Ag + Art Tour and fell in love with York County and the farm itself. Watching the York County Tour grow from 11 tour sites and 25 artisans to 28 sites and more than 115 artisans in 2023 has been rewarding, Cooper said. Agritourism encourages people, especially the younger generation, to seriously consider farming as a viable career choice. Its a slowly shrinking industry that without which we would go hungry, she added. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Todays events Alcoholics Anonymous meetings: Noon and 5:15 p.m., Alano Inc., 590 Louis St., Orangeburg Church marks anniversary Jones Chapel Baptist Church, 2726 Kennerly Road, will celebrate its 127th anniversary at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 21. The public is invited. Wolfe-Geiger family reunion May 21 The 2023 Wolfe-Geiger Family reunion is planned for 12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 21, at the Sandy Run Community Center, 1792 Old State Road, Sandy Run. The family will be celebrating a milestone this year. Mae "Sis" Stabler Johnson will turn 100 later this year. Please plan to attend for food, fellowship and to celebrate the special occasion. Fire Commission meets The regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Orangeburg County Fire Commission will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 22, at the Orangeburg County Fire District Administration Building, 131 Firefighter Lane. The public invited. Bamberg Public Works meeting set A meeting of the commissioners of the Bamberg Board of Public Works will take place at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Calhoun school board meets June 5 The Calhoun County School District Board of Trustees will hold its regular monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 5, at Calhoun County High School. The public is invited. GSSM summer applications being accepted The South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics is accepting applications for its iTEAMS XTREME for rising sixth-, seventh- and eighth graders who would like to sharpen their technology and coding skills this summer. The summer camp will be held June 26-29 at Howard Middle School. Students who attend any Orangeburg County school will have their deposit, fees waived. For more information, call 843-383-3958. How to submit your events Please submit Community Datebook column items in writing. Items must be received no later than noon Monday through Friday. The T&D does not guarantee when items will run. Items may be submitted by: Email: news@timesanddemocrat.com; In person: 1010 Broughton Street. Mail: P.O. Drawer 1766, Orangeburg, SC 29116 (TBTCO) - Bo Nong nghiep va Phat trien nong thon va Ngan hang Nong nghiep va Phat trien Nong thon Viet Nam (Agribank) vua chinh thuc ky ket thoa thuan hop tac. Su kien nay se la tien e e tang cuong hon nua su phoi hop chat che giua Agribank voi Bo Nong nghiep va Phat trien nong thon cung huong en hien thuc hoa cac chu truong, chinh sach cua ang, Nha nuoc ve phat trien nong nghiep, nong dan, nong thon en nam 2030, tam nhin en nam 2045. You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The latest mining project announced as part of Wyomings rare earths rush comes with a lot of excitement and some question marks. Ramaco Resources revealed earlier this month that federal researchers had identified high levels of the most in-demand rare earths, a class of elements used in all sorts of modern technologies, in the seams and clay of its Sheridan coal mine. If the economics pan out, the metallurgical coal company plans to embrace the new venture. Its critics arent convinced. When Ramaco bought the Brook Mine in 2011, it intended to sell the coal to power plants. But U.S. coal demand was on the decline and the Powder River Basin export market never materialized, and eventually the company decided a new thermal coal mine didnt make much financial sense. So Ramaco forged a couple partnerships with national laboratories and shifted its focus to using its coal to manufacture products like carbon fibers and graphene. Until, in 2019, the National Energy Technology Laboratory chasing a hunch that rare earths levels would be high in parts of the Powder River Basin asked Ramaco for samples it could test for rare earths. The company complied, and the lab found what it was looking for. The samples that they had looked at contained unusually large concentrations of not only rare earths, but rare earths specifically with magnetic qualities, which are probably one of the more valuable parts of the rare earth spectrum, said Ramaco CEO Randall Atkins. So that led us then to begin a probably two-year exploration and chemical analysis effort. Following a third-party analysis of those results, the company felt confident enough in the data to announce its discovery. Atkins acknowledged, though, that the project still faces a long road to commercial success. Weve got a lot of work to do, he said. Well develop it on pretty much an incremental, step-by-step basis. I dont view that we would start off with a huge project all at once, particularly given the novelty of the resource as well as the processing techniques. Making the jump Ramaco plans to pursue commercialization for carbon products and rare earths at the mine simultaneously, Atkins said. He expects job creation there in the coming years to be measured in the hundreds, if not thousands. Rep. Cyrus Western, R-Big Horn, has backed the Ramaco project for a long time. He still does, he said, in large part because of the jobs it promises. I absolutely support our extractive industries, and I support folks who are out there to develop the natural bounty that Wyoming has, Western said. Whether its through coal or through rare earths, I think its a really good idea. But the Powder River Basin Resource Council, a landowners group that has battled Ramaco over the Brook Mine for years, has its doubts about this latest evolution. This is a company thats been looking for a way to make value out of something they bought many years ago, and they just havent found the right way to make profit yet, said Shannon Anderson, the groups attorney. And so here we go heres another attempt. The Powder River Basin Resource Council challenged the companys coal mining permit, which was ultimately issued, complete with a dozen conditions aimed at concerns ranging from sage grouse to land subsidence, in July 2020. Ramaco has said it will be able to tweak its existing permit to allow it to mine the rare earths that are concentrated in the coal and the surrounding clay. It expects to start mining at a small scale later this year and then ramp up operations, including processing, over the next two or three years. But according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, pivoting to rare earths could prove a little more complicated. Theres nothing in front of us from them in the sense of if they are going to actually do it, and how they would mine it, said Keith Guille, the agencys outreach manager. They may have to get additional permitting. But I just cant answer that now until we have something in front of us. Atkins, asked via email whether the company is certain its existing permit will suffice, declined to provide further comment. A crowded field Most known deposits of rare earths in the U.S., including the two others being studied in Wyoming, are encased in hard rock. Separating them can be energy-intensive and costly. The makeup of Ramacos could set the Brook Mine apart. Most of our deposits are found in clay and clay-like structures. They are easier to process, they are less expensive to process and they are, as a result, more valuable, Atkins said. Ramaco believes its project could house the largest known unconventional deposit of rare earths in the country. The key word there: unconventional. There are larger conventional deposits in Wyoming. So far, the company said, the data points to between 181,000 and 226,000 tons of magnetic rare earth oxides at the Brook Mine site. Rare Element Resources, which has been studying a rare earths deposit near Gillette for decades, has found signs of upwards of 300,000 tons of those same elements, while more recent arrival American Rare Earths may be sitting on over a million tons outside Laramie. The latter two projects target hard-rock, conventional deposits. The hope, for Ramaco, is that lower processing costs will set its mine apart. It is generally true that clay-related resources are easier to process than hard-rock-related resources, like the types of acids and the treatments, said Burt Thomas, a researcher at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. From the data that NETL has, and has seen, I think that it is possible that that outcome could be realized, he added, but Im not yet comfortable that we have closed the book on that. Nor can Thomas say for sure how long Ramacos project might top the list of unconventional U.S. deposits. Nobodys ever really looked for them before, he said. Which means it may well be No. 1 right now, at least as far as public information goes. That doesnt mean its the largest one well ever find, he said. And it doesnt mean its the only one thats out there. Photos: Wyoming's oldest architecture from mines to homesteads preserved on film Carissa Saloon, South Pass City, Fremont County Masonic Lodge, South Pass City, Fremont County Old Guard House, Fort Laramie, Goshen County The Cave, South Pass City, Fremont County Superior Coal Mines school building, Horse Thief Canyon, Sweetwater County Bar B C Ranch south barn, Moose, Teton County Rock Well Homestead, 15 miles southeast of Wright, Campbell County Powder River Bridge, Leiter, Sheridan County Queen Mine shafthouse, Centennial Ridge, Medicine Bow National Forest, Albany County Queen Mine outhouse, Centennial Ridge, Medicine Bow National Forest, Albany County Queen Mine, Centennial Ridge, Medicine Bow National Forest, Albany County Joker Mine shafthouse, Northwest of Keystone, Medicine Bow National Forest, Albany County Water tower, Guernsey, Platte County James H. Mangus Cabin, Moose, Teton County Golden Gate Viaduct, Lake, Teton County Clay Spur Bentonite Plant & Camp office, Osage, Weston County Hyde's Hall, Atlantic City, Fremont County Shoshone Episcopal Mission, Boarding School & Roberts Residence, Fort Washakie, Fremont County Shoshone Episcopal Mission, Fort Washakie, Fremont County Log structure with attached open shed, Miners Delight, Fremont County Grecian Bend Saloon, South Pass City, Fremont County Houghton-Colter General Store, South Pass City, Fremont County Commercial Building, South Pass City, Fremont County Clay Spur Bentonite Plant & Camp garage, Osage, Weston County Laramie River Bridge, Bosler, Albany County Ivinson Mansion, Laramie, Albany County Atlas Theatre, Cheyenne, Laramie County City & County Building, Cheyenne, Laramie County Exchange Bank & Recorder's Office, South Pass City, Fremont County Officer's Quarters A, Fort Laramie, Goshen County Magazine, Fort Laramie, Goshen County Trail Shop, Cody, Park County Old Faithful Inn Laundry-Boiler Building, West Thumb, Yellowstone National Park Roosevelt Lodge, Tower Junction, Yellowstone National Park Superior Coal Mines wood structure, Horse Thief Canyon, Sweetwater County Torrington Armory hay storage building, Torrington, Goshen County Carpenter's Hall, Atlantic City, Fremont County St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Atlantic City, Fremont County Sheep shearing shed, Moneta, Fremont County Dunlap Ranch, Gillette, Campbell County Here is your chance to own a piece of Caspers history! The Welker F. Henning Mansion has endless historical features to coincide with modern upgrades for the perfect balance. Custom patios on each side of the home, a magnificent master suite, the original bar, a guest house, heated garage with workspace and more! The attention to detail throughout every inch of this estate has been restored. To truly appreciate and feel how luxuriously preserved this home is call Jason Lewis for your personal tour! View More Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Its been four years since a Riverton police officer shot and killed a Northern Arapaho man in the parking lot of a local Walmart. The shooting drew considerable attention at the time. Many Native Americans who live in Fremont County expressed concern about law enforcements handling of that and other incidents. There was a much-publicized disagreement between the countys top prosecutor and the coroner, who disagreed over how the matter should be investigated. Family members held a vigil covered by the press. And yet for all of that focus, we are only now learning certain facts about the case that seem relevant. Authorities told the public that an altercation occurred between Anderson Antelope and the officer, that Anderson pulled out a knife and stabbed him, and that the officer shot Antelope man once, killing him. We know that the officer was wearing a rifle plate, which the knife did not penetrate. We also know that the prosecutor ruled the officer acted in self-defense. But a recording of the officers interview with a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent, which was obtained by the Star-Tribune this spring, offered several new details. We learned the identity of the officer, James Donahue, which had been kept private by authorities. We learned that Donahue had a previous line-of-duty death in his law enforcement career. And we learned another officer had actually been dispatched to the Walmart parking lot for a disturbance involving Antelope, but was getting a haircut during his shift. As a result, Donahue took the call instead. We also got a rare glimpse into the often-private work of a law enforcement agency that investigates other law enforcement agencies. In Wyoming, the Division of Criminal Investigation handles inquiries into police shootings. After the one in Riverton, a DCI agent, Donahue, another Riverton police officer and an unidentified woman gathered to hear Donahue describe what happened. But the conversation immediately turned to another question: Did the surveillance cameras at Walmart record video of the shooting? When the agent said that there was no video of the shooting, laughter could be heard in the room. Thats amazing, the woman says. Wow, another person remarks. Its impossible to say whether any of that would have influenced the outcome of the case. But its clear those revelations would have offered more context to the broader public discussion. A community discussing a controversial police shooting, for example, has a right to know that the officer who the call was originally assigned to couldnt respond because he was getting a haircut. Which begs the question: Why, in a case with so much public interest, are we only learning about these facts now? And even more importantly, why would anyone laugh or say amazing after learning that no footage existed of a shooting? We dont know those answers. But it suggests that authorities shared the information that bolstered their conclusions and kept private the details that didnt. A similar criticism was lobbed against DCI after the even-more controversial death of Robbie Ramirez, who was shot and killed by an Albany County sheriffs deputy who had been fired from his previous police job after he was accused of assaulting a videographer. For years, critics have noted that many of the agents at DCI once worked in local law enforcement, raising questions about their neutrality when an officers actions are examined after a line-of-duty death. DCI has, subsequent to Antelopes death, enacted a policy to prevent agents from investigating officers who live in the same towns as them. Thats a good start, but judging by the contents of the tape, more is warranted. First, theres the need for greater transparency. Thats a buzzword we hear a lot these days, but it often rings hollow. DCIs new director Ronnie Jones declined to talk to a reporter who asked about the audio recording. But doesnt he owe the public an explanation for why an interview conducted by his agency would include laughter in reference to the lack of video footage? Beyond that, Wyoming should consider using a truly independent entity to ensure that such inquiries are conducted with objectivity. That benefits officers as well as the public. If an independent oversight system decides that an officer behaved appropriately, that will add more credence to the conclusion, reducing the likelihood that a shooting is debated for years afterward. Lets not forget what gives legitimacy to the American system of criminal justice. Part of that legitimacy comes from our rule of law and our due process. But equally important is the fact that so much of our system operates in the sunshine, where citizens can draw their own conclusions. The Riverton case and others like it suggest a little more sunshine is needed. ENERGY Minister Stuart Young yesterday met with Woodside Energy officials on the progress that has been made on the deep-water hydrocarbon Calypso Project. Young held discussions with the Woodside Energy team which consisted of executive vice president international operations Shiva McMahon, president and country manager of Woodside Energy Trinidad and Tobago Juan Vazquez, project director Stacy Patrick, and corporate affairs manager Carla Noel-Mendez. Karishma Dhowtals life is rooted in Indian music, ever since she was a child. Whether its singing melodious bhajans or classical Indian songs, the two genres have won Dhowtal both accolades and fans. The 28-year-old comes from a musical family. Her maternal grandfather, Jameer Hosein, was a known and loved classical singer. When Dhowtal was seven, she was sent for vocal training with Ustad Aftab Ahmed Khan at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Cooperation (MGICC) for several years. She later trained with gurus Ruby Malik and Rasika Ekbote. Vote the United National Congress (UNC) into office and get more matters like Piarco Airport, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has told citizens. Though stating that Thursdays political meeting in San Fernando was not the launch of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) local government campaign, Rowley trained his guns on Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the UNC. With apologies to Shakespeare: the Judiciary doth protest too much. Come on, people. This is T&T. We all know whats going on. We know how easily the judicial process can be manipulated and stretched out for years and years while the only people who seem to end up benefiting are the ever-present attorneys (those who milk the cow) and their clientsthe good citizens who, according to Sparrow, are the architects of economic slavery. Among all the doctors, scientists and astronauts celebrated in todays childrens books, it can seem hard to find positive representation of manual labor and trades. However, there are plenty of picture books that depict non-STEM work. Sprouts Farmers Market anchors the shopping plaza on First Avenue near Wetmore Road, which is a short walk for residents of Verde Apartments, across the street. Except the sidewalks are more cracked than not, and traffic whizzes past with students heading to the University of Arizona and workers taking shortcuts to River and Oracle roads. Instead of walking, Verde Apartments residents are more likely to hop in their cars and take the short drive to the store. Just because something is in walking distance doesnt mean its easy to walk to. This concept, described as walkability, is often a marker for sustainability and health and isnt all that common in U.S. cities. Tucson scores 43/100 on walkability, according to Walkscore.com, a website that ranks and analyzes the walkability and pedestrian safety of cities around the world. Interestingly, it ranks as the 27th most walkable large city in the U.S., with the most walkable being San Francisco. Walkability has four themes, according to a paper published at Harvard University by Ann Forsyth, a professor of urban design: the physical ability to walk in an area, short distances between desirable destinations, safety (both criminal and traffic-related) and the enticing factor of the walkable area. Adriana Zuniga-Teran, a professor at University of Arizona with a doctorate in arid lands resource sciences, created a tool that measures walkability according to nine factors. The factors are connectivity, land use, density, traffic safety, surveillance, parking, experience, greenspace and community. This model can be applied to any community to determine the walkability. Zuniga-Teran applied this method to the Sam Hughes neighborhood in Tucson and found that for the most part, Tucson is a car dependent city, she said. This is largely because Tucson is a car-centric city that was commercialized after World War II, which really changed the paradigm of American cities, Zuniga-Teran said. The way the United States conceptualizes cities after World War II prioritizes the automobile much more than it does the pedestrian. We often equate like being able to drive with freedom, said Joey Iuliano, a professor in the UA College of Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture who specializes in urban planning and active transportation. Iuliano asks the question: If the citys only option to commute is to drive, is that really freedom? He believes that having the option to walk, bike, take public transit or drive is freedom. But how can cities like Tucson transition toward being more pedestrian-friendly? A great place to start is sidewalks and bike lanes. Paint is not protection, said Iuliano. Expanding bike lanes while narrowing and or removing lanes for cars is safer for both drivers and pedestrians. As for sidewalks, for them to be walkable, they must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning that they must be at least 3 feet wide and feature curb ramps that allow those with mobility devices to transition easily from the street to the sidewalk. In Tucson and many other urban sprawl cities, the farther you get from the city center, often the less continuous and smooth the sidewalks are. Many more rural areas dont even have sidewalks. With the lack of sidewalks also comes the lack of marked crossings, which can lead to pedestrian accidents. According to the City of Tucsons Traffic Safety Campaign, one in three Tucsonans killed in car crashes are pedestrians. But the City of Tucson is working to fix that. City propositions such as 407 and 411 are working to create safer, more complete streets for both pedestrians and drivers. Proposition 407 was approved in November 2018 and provides funding for projects such as ADA-compliant sidewalks, curb ramps, complete and connected sidewalks, enhanced street crossings, street lighting and landscaping for shade. One project being funded is the Fifth/Sixth Street pedestrian safety and walkability project. It will complete the street in hopes of making it safer all the way from Campbell Avenue to Alvernon Road. More than $5.3 million was set aside for the project from the voter-approved Prop 407, and the project is in the planning stages. Construction is scheduled to start in the summer of 2024, according to the project fact sheet. The city prioritizes areas with frequent pedestrian crashes, disconnects in safe bike lines and poor transit services, focusing on the most vulnerable users, according to Patrick Hartley, Complete Streets program coordinator for the City of Tucson. But walkability isnt just about the infrastructure, said Hartley. The Fifth/Sixth Street project is a perfect example of this, as the street has become a bustling community center with thriving businesses such as Floras Market Run and Tumerico, two cherished neighborhood restaurants. The street will be narrowed to one lane on each side, creating space for a 7- to 8-foot bike lane with additions of continuous sidewalks, two new HAWK pushbutton crossings, landscaping and better lighting. Itll improve walkability. Right now theres large gaps in the sidewalk network, said Ryan Fagan, the project manager. On April 20, the city held an event at Alvernon Park to meet with the public about the project, gathering community input. About 30 community members ranging from families to cyclists to older adults showed up to discuss the project. Similar projects have been done and planned around the city, such as the improvements to the crosswalks and bus stops near Sunnyside High School on Tucsons south side. I see the difference living in the community, said Sunnyside mother Magda Quiroga, who cites the better bus routes as the reason her son can get to and from school quicker and safer. The safety of the community is paramount in increasing the quality of life for Tucson citizens, drivers and pedestrians. These projects serve as a starting point in the investment toward a more sustainable community with more options for people to choose how they interact with their communities. The projects signal a move for the city to (show) our willingness to really invest heavily in safety and complete streets, said Hartley. PHOENIX Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed two measures that directly relate to issues raised in Kari Lakes ongoing challenge of her election win. Hobbs rejected House Bill 2305, which would have ensured that representatives of both major political parties could challenge decisions made by election workers determining whether a signature on an early ballot was valid. While it would have affected only future elections, it paralleled Lakes bid to overturn the results of the 2022 governors race. Lake, the Republican who lost to Democrat Hobbs by 17,117 votes in November, claims Maricopa County election workers verified invalid signatures. Current law does not permit political party observers who believe a signature does not match to force it to be reviewed by anyone other than the election worker. Separately, Hobbs vetoed a measure to force her successors as secretary of state to not perform any duties in that role in a race in which their name is on the ballot. That follows arguments by Republicans that the secretary of state, as the states chief elections officer, has an inherent conflict of interest. Lake charged that Hobbs, who was secretary of state until the end of last year, used her office to force supervisors in several counties to certify election results they had questioned. Courts upheld Hobbs actions. The two vetoes Friday were among 14 measures approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature that Hobbs found unacceptable and nixed that day. That brings her total up to 86 vetoes since the legislative session began in January. Signature verification More than a handful of Hobbs vetoes have involved changes in election laws. Rejected measures included making it easier to remove people from the active early voting list if they dont use it every election cycle, requiring all parts of election equipment to be manufactured and fabricated in the United States and codifying the standards for signature verification on early ballot envelopes. Hobbs veto of HB 2305 on greater oversight of the signature review process relates to the last issue. What we have seen with most of the elections we have had recently is a growing distrust from ordinary, regular people, not hyperpartisan, where the outcome for them becomes in question, Rep. Cory McGarr, R-Marana, told colleagues in pushing his legislation. Theres a severe lack of trust that can grow when you see an instance where someone literally draws a snowman and then that snowman passes as a signature when you see that signature right next to it, he said, though McGarr did not say where he saw that image. And so you can have instances where the public begins to doubt the circumstances of the voting process. Maricopa County officials dispute such claims. They said while a signature on a ballot envelope may not appear to match a voters registration form, their reviewers have multiple other examples of a voters signature to use for comparison purposes. And as a last resort, election workers in all counties can try to contact the voter to see if the person whose name is on the envelope is the person who sent in the ballot. Lake has claimed for months that her loss was tainted by mismatched signatures. At last weeks trial on her claim, however, Lakes attorneys did not present examples. Thats because her case is based not on specific bad signatures but on the larger contention it was not possible for election workers to have properly reviewed and verified them in the time taken. Lakes legal team said more than 240,000 signatures were verified in fewer than three seconds. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson is deciding whether that claim has any validity. The witness Lakes team hired as a witness used a report that was never admitted into evidence during the trial. Burdens, privacy concerns Hobbs, in her veto message, addressed none of that. She said HB 2305 creates unnecessary burdens for election administrators. She also said there are meaningful privacy concerns for Arizona voters. The measure was amended before it reached Hobbs to prohibit the observers that McGarrs bill would have allowed from noting, transcribing or disclosing the personal information they see, ranging from dates and places of birth to phone numbers, drivers license numbers and a mothers maiden name. But gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater, in explaining the veto, said that wasnt enough to satisfy Hobbs. We believe the bill still contains privacy concerns, even after the amendment, he said. Doing the job impartially Hobbs other election-related veto involved the role of secretaries of state. HB 2308 was sponsored by Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson. It sought to bar the secretary of state from personally performing any aspect of operations in an election in which that person is a candidate for office. The 2022 election was clearly on Jones mind. I think the optics of that, of a secretary of state running their own election for governor and then certifying that election, was a major concern to some of my constituents, she said. Jones acknowledged that the Republican-controlled Legislature never pursued similar measures when Hobbs predecessors all Republicans going back to 1995 were running either for reelection or a higher office. Her proposal comes as the current secretary of state, Adrian Fontes, is a Democrat. But Jones said those were different times. I think the environment then, I dont think it had become such a topic of conversation until after 2020, she said, when Donald Trump lost Arizonas 11 electoral votes for president to Joe Biden. There is a lack of confidence, all in all, in our election process, Jones said. During the 2022 race, Lake and other Republicans had called for Hobbs to voluntarily recuse herself. She declined. This has never been an issue until now, Hobbs said then. And Im not going to recuse myself from the job that voters elected me to do. In her veto message, the governor said the position is elected and that the duties make the secretary of state Arizonas chief election officer. PHOENIX Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs took major heat from many Democrats for negotiating a state budget package with Republican legislative leaders that did not include any changes to the states new universal school voucher program. But Republican Senate President Warren Petersen is heaping praise on Hobbs for the deal, saying she negotiated in good faith, kept her promises and made a rare bipartisan budget happen. And he pointed out that despite Democrats anger over school vouchers, that wasnt going to get on her desk because majority Republicans would never vote to curtail the program. Kudos to her, Petersen said about the governors direct negotiations with him and House Speaker Ben Toma, which unfolded with meetings multiple times a week over two months. She was reasonable, he said. And she would keep her word. Whenever she would say, I agree to that, she did it. The deal on the $17.8 billion state budget package for the fiscal year that begins July 1 came much earlier than many observers expected. Hobbs is the first Democratic governor since Janet Napolitano left office for a Cabinet post in the Obama administration in 2009, a shock for Republican lawmakers who have had 14 years of working with a GOP governor. Petersen sat down with Capitol Media Services for a wide-ranging interview as the yearly legislative session takes a virtually unprecedented one-month break called by Petersen, R-Gilbert, and Toma, R-Peoria. With the budget done and the only bills remaining needing major work before votes, they called a break in floor sessions to work on those issues. We literally have put everything up there that was ready for a vote, he said. And now Im not going to make people come down here if I dont have any floor work to do. Doling out money Petersen said he was the one who came up with the plan that doled out chunks of a big budget surplus to each of the 47 Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate. Minority Democrats got smaller amounts, and Hobbs also got a big chunk to control. What that earned was individual buy-in from GOP lawmakers who, for the first time, had ownership of a slice of the budget, Petersen said. Thats a huge difference from the way the budget has normally been done, with Republican leaders hammering out a deal with the governor and then presenting it to rank-and-file GOP lawmakers as a done deal. It came from the difference between communism and capitalism and the way things normally go and why we always have problems, Petersen said of his strategy. You normally have six people down here deciding how all the money gets spent, he said. And then those six people try to convince everybody else to vote for the budget. Giving each lawmaker a portion of the budget to allocate $20 million each for GOP House members, $30 million for each GOP senator gave them control they did not have previously. This time when we passed the budget everyone was actually smiling and happy, Petersen said. It was like literally the first time Ive been down here where people were happy. Normally, he said, people are angry, having had to get wrangled into it. Everyone went in ready to vote for this budget. Why? Because I gave them all a piece of the budget. Everybody got their own piece, and they owned it, Petersen continued. Even many Democrats voted for the plan, although many grumbled about how it was presented to them. Petersen blamed Democratic leaders for not adopting his formula with their members and for delaying giving him their budget asks. Road tax After the budget passed and was signed on May 12, whats left to decide is a series of top-tier legislative proposals that currently dont have consensus among Republican lawmakers, with the governor having the final word. The biggest issue is the extension of a half-cent sales tax in Maricopa County that pays for transportation projects. The 20-year, multi-billion-dollar tax expires in 2025 unless voters extend it. But the Legislature has to give its permission for the issue to be put on the ballot; its the only county that requires that step to ask voters to approve a transportation tax. Last year, lawmakers passed the tax extension proposal, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey. With an even more conservative Republican caucus this session, it faces tough scrutiny. Petersen said he and others have major problems with the proposal presented by the Maricopa Association of Governments, the entity that doles out the money for freeways, major roads, buses, light rail and clean air programs. And Petersen has little faith in the entity. MAG is completely unaccountable, he said. Theyre very, very insulated. On paper, the agency is led by mayors who are supposed to have some oversight. But not really, he said. These mayors are overwhelmed, busy. Petersen said the plans use of 44% of the funds for mass transit versus new highways and road construction is a non-starter. He said it creates what he called a $2 billion slush fund that he worries would be used to extend light rail despite promises thats not contemplated. And then theres the part that says air quality is a consideration in what to fund. If theyre just saying, we can use any measures we want, they need to define what air quality programs they want to do, he said. Without definitions, Petersen said MAG could potentially impose limits on gasoline-powered cars or adopt cap and trade programs or who knows what. If they want flexibility for future technologies, he said a mechanism for legislative oversight should be added. Believe it or not conservatives want clean air, Petersen said, including for themselves and their children. But they need to define what it is. And yeah, if its reasonable, we put that in. Petersen had just left a meeting with Hobbs when he sat for the interview in his office and said it sounds like she may want to be directly involved in the negotiations over Proposition 400, the tax extension. Rental taxes Other remaining issues include a revamped proposal to ban city-imposed taxes on home rentals. Hobbs vetoed that bill earlier this session, saying there was no mechanism ensuring renters facing rising housing costs will see the money. She also opposed the $270 million appropriation to compensate cities for the lost revenue for the first 18 months of the ban, saying it came outside the budget plan. Toma said recently that tying a signing of a rental tax ban and Proposition 400 in negotiations with the governor was a possibility. Petersen, however, said hes not doing that. I dont horse trade, he said. The other key battle remaining is a Republican proposal to override many city zoning laws in an effort to boost construction of lower-priced housing options. That measure has failed once this year. New versions pushed by Sen. Steve Kaiser, R-Phoenix, dont yet have the votes to pass, and the powerful League of Arizona Cities and Towns is strongly opposed, calling zoning a quintessentially local issue. Petersen said he does not know if that will get enough support to pass, and if it does not, thats OK. If he doesnt have the votes, he doesnt have the votes, Petersen said. Its really that simple. Another handful of bills are also in the mix before lawmakers can adjourn for the year. We probably have at least 10 bills that have loose ends on them that are really important for Arizona, he said. And were looking at if we can negotiate what to do with those by June 12, and the rental tax is one of them. Petersen, who became Senate president in January after a decade representing Gilbert in the House and Senate, said the unusually long break in legislative action is by design. He recalled frustration after years of coming into work, saying the daily Pledge of Allegiance and prayer at the beginning of floor sessions and then adjourning for the day because nothing was ready for votes. The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer: Perhaps I was not the only American viewing the folderol of the recent coronation of King Charles with a little more appreciation even a bit of wistfulness than we might have felt only a few years ago. Our nation was founded on the rejection of a monarch, of the idea of monarchy. I would guess that to most Americans monarchy seems a ridiculously expensive vestigial organ. But in the present moment, with our country so divided that it seems nothing but squabbling factions, some of us may be in a mood to appreciate monarchys express function as neutral, purely ceremonial space representing a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Couldnt we use something like that now? In theory the American presidency itself is supposed to serve that function. We have the word presidential to suggest exactly that quality: an above-the-fray, statesmanlike leadership of all the people. Most presidents at least give the concept lip service, proclaiming their intention to transcend their own party and represent all the people. But Trump seemed to take delight in trashing even the concept. Since the post-Trumpocracy presidency seems the last place to look for the symbol and embodiment of wholeness, we are left looking around for what or who else in our culture might play the role. The Supreme Court, which long seemed an august institution of solemn responsibility to the whole nation, is now widely seen as no more above politics than Congress. The New York Times was perhaps at one time regarded as such a high-minded, politically neutral institution. But the former highly respected paper-of-record for the nation is now fake news to millions. How about the professoriate and institutions of higher learning, that higher suggesting transcendence? But for a lot of Trump supporters those institutions are also coming to seem fronts for elites and manufacturers of fake news in academic disguise. As for human individuals to represent the whole, lacking ancient royal families, wed have to turn to celebrities. Walter Cronkite was once, I think, voted the most trusted person in the world or some such. He would have been good. (Clearly neither Rachel Maddow nor Tucker Carlson need apply). Hollywood could supply Morgan Freeman, who more than once has played God, the ultimate example of presidentiality. Or the universally beloved Tom Hanks. Or Meryl Streep, who can play anything. The Crown, the popular Netflix series about the career of Queen Elizabeth, makes a big point of the difficulty of maintaining the monarchys high and vital function, given the all-too-fallible material of designated royal human beings. The queen got pretty good at it. However flawed as a person, she was quite clear on the job description. It really isnt about being an exemplary person; the queen was criticized for being emotionally cold; she was biased in favor of horses and was buddies with the morally dubious horse-loving Sheikh of Dubai. (She was at least as far as we know not a murderer like a number of her ancestors.) But she was good at playing queen. Her majestys a pretty nice girl but she doesnt have a lot to say sang the Beatles; not having a lot to say was sort of the point. Her reticence worked for her in maintaining her queenly neutrality. Her son, the new king, has had a lot to say and thats a problem, even if some of his ideas are good ones. Cant open his mouth without alienating someone. Not clear how hell do at fulfilling the job description of playing a human flag. But it really isnt about the monarchs personal behavior. Polls show Brits very divided over whether they see royals as role models for leading their own lives. But they are clear that approve of the function. The royals have many of the defects of the ultra-wealthy elites and yet instead of being hated as elites in our country, their role as symbols transcends the foibles of their socio-economic status. None of the monarchs human frailty including, most likely, even Charles having, unlike his mother, ideas of his own finally matters in a country determined to have its ceremonial representative of the whole. Despite all the many books exposing the seamy underside of the monarchy Prince Harrys memoir just the latest a strong majority of Brits would not want to see the monarchy abolished. An institution that exists only to symbolize the country itself as a whole is apparently worth the money. Its expensive to go home especially when home is the Philippines. When I moved to the U.S., a lot of things were new to me. My sister and I didnt know anybody other than our dad, Kei Ann Mandanas says. When I got here, there was not many options in terms of Filipino food, or it may not be the version Im used to. I wanted to make something that would keep me connected to what is familiar to me and what I grew up with and what my family would be proud of. Mandanas grew up cooking alongside her grandparents in the Philippines, and then learning her way around the kitchen from her dad when she moved to Tucson in 2010. Her mom, dad and sister are all nurses. Owning her own at-home bakery, she may be the black sheep, but she doesnt seem to mind. Mandanas bakes treats with Filipino flavors chile mango, buko pandan, ube. Shes even dabbled with vegan lumpia. Ate Kei's Filipino Treats (ate means older sister in Tagalog) has treats in four cafes across Tucson and makes regular appearances at local markets. She knows Filipino food can be hard to find in Tucson her all-time favorite Filipino dish is one that cant be found here. In the Philippines, the pork dish Dinakdakan is cheap and accessible to everyone. If she wants it here, she asks her dad to make it. Coming from an immigrant background, you want that taste of home, she says. For me, some of the things I do remind me of cooking with my family and being with them. I want to be able to share that with people. Mandanas knows people in Tucson who are from the Philippines but havent had the chance to visit in many years. Part of it is because many people come to the U.S. to help their families overseas. Some of it is because its not cheap to fly thousands of miles away. Obviously the treats themselves arent going to fix anything, Mandanas says. But at least they bring you some comfort of where you came from. She often sets up at the St. Philips Plaza weekend markets, selling her treats and meeting all kinds of visitors. She met one person who had just moved to Tucson from the Philippines the week prior that person had found Ate Kei's Filipino Treats on Facebook and visited the market to say hello. Filipinos love feeding you guys, Mandanas says. Whenever you stop by my booth, I almost always have samples. Even if you dont buy anything, I just want you to try it and see what other Filipino flavors are out there. I dont want to be pigeon-holed into a certain flavor I want people to try all these different things I grew up with. Mandanas loves experimenting with food, creating new flavors in the kitchen. Her favorite treat at the moment is the chile mango cookie. She knew she wanted to bake something with the Philippines national fruit and she was inspired by the Mexican chile mango candies that she loves. The buko pandan cookies, inspired by the green Filipino dessert with jellies, reign supreme among customers, followed by her ube-flavored treats like cookies and vegan brownies. Ube is a purple sweet potato that's often described as vanilla-y and kinda nutty. This summer, she plans to launch Filipino drinks and ice scramble a pink milk-based smoothie-like frozen dessert with banana extract and toppings like marshmallows and sprinkles. In the Philippines, people would sell the treat outside of schools, from ice boxes attached to their bikes. Register for more free articles. Log in Sign up Its like really nostalgic for a lot of Filipino kids, especially growing up in the 90s, 80s, Mandanas says. Eventually, shed like to expand even further with items like vegan pancit and vegan lumpia. Mandanas sister is vegan, so its important that she gets to fall in love with the food, too. Thats the thing about Filipinos we want to cater to everyone so more people can try this food, Mandanas says. But until she can perfect those recipes, shes focusing on the baked sweets shes known for. My family engrained in me, dont put out stuff just to put out stuff, it has to be something you like and people would like, she says. I dont want to make something to slap a Filipino (label) on it I want my mom or my grandma to eat it and say it tastes really good. Although Mandanas treasures the street food in the Philippines, she really misses the community and her family. Filipinos, you can throw anything at them challenges, barriers for some reason we just find a way to laugh about it, she says. Thats how we get through tough situations. Where to find Ate Kei's Filipino Treats Ate Kei's Filipino Treats also makes appearances at local markets. Follow the bakery on Instagram or Facebook to see where they'll be next or to place an order of a dozen or more treats. Our Eat + Drink coverage is supported by: Great food and drinks start with great water Restaurants, breweries and coffee shops know that clean, pure water is crucial. You can get that at home too with Kinetico Quality Water. Kinetico removes more contaminants than any other system. Get up to $500 off a non-electric, high efficiency patented Kinetico system (restrictions apply). Visit KineticoTucson.com. What does "supported by" mean? Click here to learn more. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. ST. LOUIS (AP) Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Friday named Gabe Gore, a former assistant U.S. attorney, as the new chief prosecutor in St. Louis, three days after Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's sudden departure. Gore is a partner in the St. Louis law firm Dowd Bennett, served on the Ferguson Commission formed to examine the region's policing and courts after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, and previously worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office in St. Louis. Black clergy and others had urged Parson to appoint a Black person to the role, and Gore is Black. Parson and Gore were joined at the announcement by Democratic Mayor Tishaura Jones, Police Chief Robert Tracy and others. He said there was a unified front behind the new appointment, which runs through 2024. Gore said he hasn't decided if he will run for election to the office in the August 2024 Democratic primary. We must return stability and the rule of law to this office, Parson said. Gore said he comes into the office with two priorities: Building back the depleted staff that has seen massive turnover of assistant prosecutors in recent months, often forcing delays in court hearings; and building relationships with the community, police and others. My sole focus right now is to build a high-performing circuit attorney's office, Gore said. Gardner, 47, had been the subject of an ouster effort by Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who was at the news conference but did not speak. Simultaneously, GOP-led state lawmakers were considering a bill allowing Parson to appoint a special prosecutor to handle violent crimes, effectively removing the bulk of Gardners responsibilities. She also faced possible contempt of court after her office failed to have an attorney present for the start of a trial. Gardner announced on May 4 that she would resign effective June 1. Then unexpectedly on Tuesday, she announced her resignation was effective immediately. The announcement created some uncertainty as to who was in charge of prosecuting the hundreds of criminal cases pending in St. Louis. Gardner's office said St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell would take over, but Parson clarified later Tuesday that his general counsel would run the office with help from assistant attorneys general until he picked a permanent replacement. Gardner, a Democrat, became St. Louis' first Black circuit attorney after her election in 2016. She easily won reelection in 2020. She was part of a movement of progressive prosecutors who sought diversion to mental health treatment or drug abuse treatment for low-level crimes, pledged to hold police more accountable and proactively sought to free inmates who were wrongfully convicted. She butted heads with police and conservatives from the outset. In 2018, her office charged then-Gov. Eric Greitens, who at the time was seen as a rising star in GOP politics, with felony invasion of privacy, accusing him of taking a compromising photo of a woman during an affair. The charge was eventually dropped, and Greitens resigned in June 2018. The Greitens case drew scrutiny that led to the conviction of Gardners investigator. Gardner received a written reprimand for failing to produce documents and mistakenly maintaining that all documents had been provided to Greitens lawyers. Much of that scrutiny followed complaints by Greitens' attorneys who worked for the same Dowd Bennett firm where Gore has been a partner. The Rev. Darryl Gray, a leading Black activist in St. Louis, found that connection troubling. Not only have they destroyed her (Gardner), but they've replaced her with one of their own, Gray said. "Gore is going to have to overcome that. Hes going to have to meet with community leadership. Hes going to have to reach out and tell us how he sees justice. In 2019, Gardner announced an exclusion list of city police officers prohibited from bringing cases to her office. The nearly 60 officers were accused of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media. A series of events this year culminated with her departure. Bailey filed a lawsuit in February seeking Gardners ouster on three grounds: failure to prosecute existing cases; failure to file charges in cases brought by police; and failure to confer with and inform victims and their families about the status of cases. Gardner said Baileys attack on her was politically and racially motivated. A pivotal turning point came in February after 17-year-old Janae Edmondson, a volleyball standout from Tennessee, was struck by a speeding car after a tournament game in downtown St. Louis. She lost both legs. The driver, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, was out on bond on a robbery charge despite nearly 100 bond violations including letting his GPS monitor die and breaking the terms of his house arrest. Critics questioned why Riley was free despite so many bond violations. Even Mayor Jones, also a Democrat, questioned if Gardner should remain in office. This year also saw one of Gardner's biggest victories. In February, she convinced a judge to set aside the murder conviction of Lamar Johnson, who spent nearly three decades in prison. Johnson was convicted largely on the testimony of an eyewitness who later alleged he had been coerced into his statements. Last week, Gardner filed a motion seeking a hearing to vacate the sentence of another longtime inmate, Christopher Dunn, who has spent 33 years in prison for a murder that Gardner believes he didnt commit. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Ill never forget helping Robert from Virginia find $24,578 sitting in a bank account he didnt know existed. He heard me talk about how to find hidden money on my national radio show. These days, just about everything seems like a scam, but money might be yours, just waiting to be claimed. You need to know the legitimate places to look. Why is all this unclaimed money sitting around? You have to do some work to get it. Heres how. Dont hire a service for this Helping everyday citizens claim lost money is one of the duties of the U.S. Treasury Department. You are entitled to any of your or a deceased relatives old bank accounts, safe deposit box contents, uncashed checks, insurance policies, CDs, trust funds, utility deposits, stocks and bonds, wages, and escrow accounts. You dont need to hire a dubious service or spend money to make money. If anyone asks for payment to help you find unclaimed property, ditch them. You can easily do it yourself. Start in your home state Your search begins where you live. Each state has an independent treasury website with a special search function for unpaid dues. Skip Google scammers abound on searches like this. Just go to oktreasure.com to find Oklahomas unclaimed property program. Follow the step-by-step instructions, enter your information, and the database will do the rest. Often, the paperwork you need to complete to claim your money can be printed on these pages. You will also need to prove your identity and likely have signatures notarized. The time to collect depends on each government agency; it can take weeks or months, but it works. Pro tip: If you have a frequently misspelled name or have variations that are often confused, search for those misspellings on the unclaimed funds sites. Search for any former names or nicknames, too. Expand your search Your specific state search may lead you to a national database site, MissingMoney.com. If youve lived or done business in many states, this site will connect you to the correct treasury departments. MissingMoney is a free government search site. All the site asks for is your name and resident state(s). Living in several places does complicate your search, so you may have to sift through the results. Check for VA life insurance benefits The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs offers a search on its site for unclaimed insurance funds owed to current and former policyholders or beneficiaries. The search does not include funds from Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI) or Veterans Group Life Insurance (VGLI) policies from 1965 to the present. But its worth a shot. Simply search for your or your veterans last name on the VA.gov site. Forgotten retirement funds As you move from company to company in your career, its your task to see whether past benefits or retirement savings can be transferred or cashed out. You could have money sitting in a past 401k account you forgot. The National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits will help you find money being held from prior employers. To search, you will be asked to enter your Social Security number. The site is secure and promises to encrypt personal information and conduct regular security audits. It seems safe to me. Dont forget about closed banks and investments Banks close like other businesses. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) offers a specialized search to see if money in your name was left in any failed financial institutions. You can search the money left in credit unions at the National Credit Union Administration site. At TreasuryHunt.gov, you can look for any matured savings bonds that have stopped paying interest. Check for unclaimed tax refunds The Internal Revenue Service may owe you money. Every year, the IRS has millions of dollars in tax refunds that go undelivered or unclaimed. If you think the IRS might owe you money, you can file a claim to the IRS to update them about your new address. Additionally, if an employer withholds funds from you, the IRS gives you up to three years to submit a claim to collect your money. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The 2023 Black Wall Street Legacy Festival will begin Friday, May 26, with an event to mark the publication of Tulsa author Victor Luckersons new book, Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsas Greenwood District, Americas Black Wall Street. The event will be held at 7 p.m. at the Greenwood Cultural Center, 322 N. Greenwood Ave., and is presented in partnership with Fulton Street Books. Luckerson, a former writer for Time and The Ringer, relocated to Tulsa to work on this book, which endeavors to present a more comprehensive history of the Greenwood neighborhood of north Tulsa, going beyond the destruction of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to explore the indomitable spirit of the Tulsans who struggled against seemingly insurmountable obstacles to their enjoyment of the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Luckerson uses the Goodwin family, whose members include the founder and current owner of the Oklahoma Eagle newspaper, as well as member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, as a way of providing unique insight into a portion of Tulsa history that continues to be revealed to the rest of the world. The Black Wall Street Legacy Festival will continue with events through June 1, including an African Street Fest on Saturday afternoon; a concert featuring Tony Mason, Gerald Albright and Club Nouveau beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 27; panel discussions and community conversations on issues of race, reparations, social justice and economic empowerment; and more. For a complete listing of events: blackwallstreetlegacyfest.com. Discovery Awards The 2023 Discovery Awards, which honor the best musical theater students in state high schools, will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 25, at the Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St. Sponsored by the Tulsa PAC Trust and Celebrity Attractions, the Discovery Awards will feature ensemble and solo performances by 52 students who appeared in musical productions at 25 participating eastern Oklahoma and eastern region high schools. These students were chosen by a panel of adjudicators that attended all high school productions throughout the school year. The students will spend a week in Tulsa taking part in a seven-day workshop and rehearsal process to prepare for the awards show. One male and one female student will be chosen to be the states representatives to the Jimmy Awards, otherwise known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, which will take place June 26 at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City. Participating high schools include Augustine Christian Academy, Bentonville High School, Bentonville West High School, Bixby High School, Booker T. Washington High School, Broken Arrow High School, Cascia Hall Preparatory School, Charles Page High School, Claremore High School, Collinsville High School, Courtyard Theatre Productions, Edison Preparatory School, Fort Gibson High School, Glenpool High School, Jenks High School, Metro Christian Academy, Mingo Valley Christian, Owasso High School, Regent Preparatory School, Sapulpa High School, Stillwater High School, Union High School, Bishop Kelley High School, Lincoln Christian and Wesleyan Christian School. Tickets are $5-$10 and available online at tulsapac.com, by calling 918-596-7111 or at the Tulsa PAC ticket office, 101 E. Third St. It must be Love Tulsa actress Lisa Stefanic will star in a new, original cabaret show titled Love. Im Not Kidding, that will be presented 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 25, as part of the Thursdays in the Rainbow Room series at the Lynn Riggs Theater, 621 E. Fourth St. She will be accompanied by guitarist Randy Wimer and Broadway veteran Cathy Venable on piano. Tickets are $15-$20. okeq.org. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The last time Rachel Cope opened a restaurant in Tulsa, everything seemed to go perfectly. She had a concept that had already proven to be very successful in its original Oklahoma City location. She was serving a product that had garnered her and her staff national recognition in the food world. And she had an enviable location right next door to Tulsas iconic concert venue, the Cains Ballroom. There was just one small problem. The Tulsa location of Copes Empire Slice House, 417 N. Main St., opened on March 10, 2020. For the first five or so days, it was wonderful, Cope said, with a rueful laugh. The next nine months, on the other hand, that got a little tricky. Just days after opening its doors, Empire Slice House along with just about every business in the country had to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasnt until November 2020 that the restaurant was able to return to full service. The ongoing construction in the area, surrounding the long-awaited opening of the OKPOP museum and the condominium complex across the street from the restaurant, has created a whole new array of obstacles to overcome, Cope said. But people have found us throughout all of this, and Cains Ballroom starting to host events again has been a big boost for us, Cope said. On Wednesday, Cope officially opened the newest restaurant of her 84 Hospitality Group Empire Slice Shop, located at 1502 E. 11th St. Its the third Empire Slice Shop in the state (the other two are in Oklahoma City, where Copes 84 Hospitality Group is based), and the 10th restaurant Cope and her company has opened in its 10-year history. 84 Hospitality Group also currently runs three Empire Slice Houses (Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Edmond), as well as the Oklahoma City concepts Rev Tacos & Good Times, Goro Ramen, Burger Punk and the soon-to-be opened Ramen Remix. While the new restaurant will have a similar menu to the Empire Slice House, there are a couple of notable differences between the two establishments. Empire Slice House is a full-service restaurant, with full bar service, Cope said. We call our restaurants hangouts, and thats the vibe we wanted, where people could enjoy pizza and a beverage in a fun atmosphere. The Empire Slice Shop is counter-service concept that focuses more on to-go business, with pizza-by-the-slice, she said. Of course, if people want to dine in, we welcome that, too. And while we offer beer and wine at the Slice Shop, it doesnt have the full bar and cocktails that we have at the Slice House. Each day, five different pizzas are available by the slice at Empire Slice Shop. Cheese and pepperoni are the constants, while the other three change each day, and are drawn from the restaurants signature, pop-culture-named pies, such as the Notorious P.I.G., topped with four types of pork-based proteins; the Ghostface Killah, which has a sauce made with fiery ghost peppers; and the RBG Supreme, a vegetarian offering with spinach, bell peppers, roasted tomatoes and red onion. (Vegan cheese is available for a $1 upcharge.) Slices are $4.25 each, and Cope said that for many people, a single slice is enough. All Empire Slice pies are 20 inches in diameter. I say that a slice of our pizza is as big as your face, no matter how big your face may be, Cope said. Empire Slice Houses success led to it being named Independent Pizzeria of the Year in 2018 by Pizza Today, the pizza industrys leading publication. But for Cope, the best reward has been hearing diners from the northeast of the country say the pizza at Empire Slice is comparable to the best New York City pizza. For me, she said, thats maybe the best compliment we could get. Copes success in the restaurant is the result of what she calls a happy accident. A native of Ada, Cope and her family moved to Jenks when she was in the first grade. She graduated from Jenks High School, where she was a standout softball player, and in her senior year at Oklahoma City University helped the team win its eighth NAIA national title in 2007. She majored in political science and pre-law at OCU but decided to pursue other interests before starting law school. I started thinking about the things I was really passionate about, Cope said. That list included art, music, people, food and booze the order of importance might change from day to day, but those were pretty constant. So I started trying to think of something that would let me bring all these things together. That was about the time Cope entered a contest in Oklahoma City to take ownership of a former laundromat in the citys Plaza District. Her first proposal didnt make the cut, but when the winner wasnt able to reach an agreement, the contest people asked Cope if she had another idea. And I said pizza, she said, laughing. Of course, I had no idea how to make pizza. So I did an Internet search and found the Tony Gemignanis International School of Pizza in San Francisco. My family put up the money to get to San Francisco, and I spent a couple of weeks there learning everything I could. Two principles of pizza that Cope learned is using the best quality ingredients and making sure to have the crust just right. After all, what is pizza without the crust? she said. Its the foundation of everything, and if you dont have a great crust, you cant have a great pizza. Were using the same recipes for our crust and our sauce that weve had since day one. We get our tomatoes from a farm in California that hand-picks its crop, and we use only full-milk mozzarella, she said. Those two things are the most expensive items we use. I know there are cheaper alternatives out there, but we dont want to compromise our quality. Cope said she is considering bringing some of her other concepts to Tulsa and has her eye on another potential location that, like Empire Slice Shop, will be located on the midtown stretch of Route 66. Should that ambition be realized, Cope said the concept would not be the groups burger restaurant. Were all big Elliott Nelson fans, and Howdy Burger is just a block away, she said. Hes got the burger business along this stretch pretty well taken care of, but we have some other ideas that might work well here. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A nine-minute standing ovation followed the world premiere of the shot-in-Oklahoma film Killers of the Flower Moon at Cannes Film Festival. What can I say except that it felt like a very important moment, especially how the Osage community embraced us telling this story and gave us the trust in our adaptation of the novel, Leonardo DiCaprio, one of the films stars, said at a post-premiere Cannes press conference that can be accessed via social media and YouTube. And to have them here with us, side by side, to tell such a personal tragedy to their entire community was a beautiful moment. I just took a lot of mental pictures. It was something Im never going to forget. We took great pride in being able to tell this story as best we could and we were just incredibly happy they were here with us, side by side. Geoffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation, was literally alongside DiCaprio, filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro at the press conference. Early on, I asked Mr. Scorsese, how are you going to approach this story? Standing Bear told the news conference crowd. He said Im going to tell a story about trust trust between Molly and Ernest, trust between the outside world and the Osage and the betrayal of those trusts, deep betrayal. My people suffered greatly, and to this very day, those effects are with us. But I can say on behalf of the Osage, Marty and his team have restored trust and we know that trust will not be betrayed. Killers of the Flower Moon, based on a best-selling David Grann book, is about the serial murder of the oil-wealthy Osage in 1920s Oklahoma. Among press conference topics was how the film chose to tell a personal, Osage-centric story instead of focusing on the FBI riding in for a rescue. DiCaprio called it an important story that really was a reckoning with our past. So much has been learned in the last few years and this story, much like the Tulsa (Race) Massacre, has been something that people have started to learn about and started to understand, DiCaprio said. It was a part of our culture and it was a part of our history. DiCaprio said those involved with the film talked to the community to hear real stories so they could incorporate the truth as best as they could. Like DiCaprio and De Niro, Gladstone referenced the Black Wall Street tragedy and said why the hell does the world not know about these things? She indicated the communities impacted by the race massacre and the events of Killers of the Flower Moon need allies like those in the film industry. Standing Bear, Scorsese and actors talked about the lengths those involved with the film went to in order to make the movie authentic. Scorsese referenced pre-film encounters with the Osage, when he learned Osage values are about love and respect and loving the earth. Im not talking at this point about a political issue, but Im talking about really understanding how to live on this planet, he said. I found that the values were so important to me. It re-oriented me every time they spoke. Killers of the Flower Moon was shot in 2021. Pawhuska was a primary filming location. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Photos: See new images of actors in 'Killers of the Flower Moon' in Pawhuska Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Killers of The Flower Moon Flower Moon Labor Day sale: $1 for six months HIDE VERTICAL GALLERY ASSET TITLES Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Fumblerooski: U.S. Sen. James Lankford released his annual Federal Fumbles report, a compilation of what he considers particularly egregious examples of misspending. This years list includes the usual attention-getters, such as $20,600 for drag shows in Ecuador, $25,000 for a museum exhibit that involves putting broken china back together and $20,000 for teaching math in Egypt. Of course, a lot of questionable $20,000 expenditures would have to be eliminated to cover the $31.4 trillion national debt, and the report does get into more substantive (if less entertaining) recommendations, such as changes to federal expense reporting policies and better coordination and oversight of programs. It specifically mentions broadband expansion, for which the federal governments has more than 100 programs administered by 15 different offices, the reports says. One persons outrageous waste of money is anothers treasure, and a large share of the report is devoted to dismissing expenses related to Biden administration and Democrat policy priorities (climate change, abortion access) and offering Lankfords and Republicans ideas (more mining, no help with abortion access) as sensible alternatives. Nevertheless, the underlying theme of the report is something many believe should be a basic question of government. We ask the question, Lankford said on the Senate floor. Is this really what we need to spend for? In a nation thats keeping up with our infrastructure, our national defense, of education, so many different expenses, and things that are truly governmental, we ask the simple question: with $31.4 trillion in total debt, is that what we need to spend our dollars on? Debt dealing: First District Congressman Kevin Hern perked up at reports President Joe Biden might be open to work requirements for some Medicaid recipients as House Republicans try to pry spending cuts out of the administration in return for raising the nations debt ceiling. Bidens comments were a step in the right direction, Hern told the Washington Examiner. Im glad the president remembered that he has a long history of supporting work requirements for able-bodied adults. This is something every American can support, regardless of party, Hern said. In fact, the only people who dont support work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents are those currently abusing the system. Hern also wanted border control provisions included in any agreement. Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole, chairman of the House Rules Committee, said he doesnt think military and domestic spending carry equal importance. Threats set defense spending, Cole told NBC. Domestic priorities are wants and desires, but you dont necessarily get everything. Defense is, to me, a very different level of commitment. Testimony: Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready talked to a U.S. House subcommittee about the states attempt to regulate pharmacy benefit managers. Appearing before the Ways and Means subcommittee on Health, of which Hern is a member, Mulready said in prepared remarks that since Oklahomas law became effective on Sept. 1, 2020, we have received complaints of over 300,000 violations. We have issued fines of over $3.5 million and have reimbursed back to local pharmacists over $700,000. We have found ourselves at the tip of the spear on this nationally hot topic. From Russia, no love: Not that it was on his itinerary anyway, but 2nd District Congressman Josh Brecheen was among 50 new members of Congress banned from Russia, according to Politico. No reasons were given for the bans, which will no doubt be good campaign fodder for Brecheen and his colleagues. Besides the members of Congress, the latest banned in Moscow list includes Stephen Colbert, former President Barack Obama and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Dots and dashes: U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin requested $654.4 million in earmarks this year, Roll Call reported, including $427.5 million for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Lankford backed Republican legislation to create a specific crime for conspiring or attempting to kill or actually killing a federal judge or law officer. Mullin, speaking about illegal immigration on Fox radio, said the administration and the whole woke movement of political officials have their priorities completely messed up. Lankford, in a committee hearing, continued to hit on his complaint that Medicare Advantage plans being sold to rural Oklahomans often fail to provide promised access and services. Mullin, who with wife Christie has three adopted children, recently participated in a fundraiser for the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Oklahoma City. Randy Krehbiel Tulsa World The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Oasis Fresh Market celebrated its second birthday with a DJ, free ice cream and gift card giveaways for its customers. Man, we made it two years, Aaron AJ Johnson, Oasis Fresh Market chief executive officer, said in an interview with the Tulsa World. I am definitely grateful. It has definitely been hard. The business at 1725 N. Peoria Ave. opened in May 2021 with excitement from both area residents and government leaders, both eager to see a grocery store return to the area. After all, it had been about 3 years since a grocery store had been located near the corner of Pine Street and Peoria Avenue. Gateway Market, operating out of a former Albertsons grocery, had closed its doors after operating there for nearly eight years. Prior to that, Albertsons operated a business at the corner from 2003 to 2007. Named for its location within a food desert, Oasis Fresh Market was meant to be different than past tries. While the 16,500-square-foot grocery store project included government grants and philanthropic assistance to get it off the ground, the nearly $5.5 million project included a nonprofit aspect aimed at helping the community beyond what a regular, full-service grocery store would provide. Johnson said he has learned a lot in the past two years, such as that there are just a few super powers that control the food industry, making it difficult for small, independent grocers like Oasis that lack the bulk buying power of larger chains. Weve got a great community, Johnson said. The grocery store is doing well. We are grateful. Its hard being a single independent grocer in what seems to be a monopolizing industry. Still, Johnson said the grocery store is fulfilling one of its goals of providing fresh produce in an otherwise underserved community. Literally our produce numbers every month continue to go up, Johnson said. Were seeing a direct correlation to young families and young kids saying I want more kiwi and they havent had kiwi before. And so thats encouraging, we are doing our part to literally have food as medicine ... that matters in a world today where there are so much processed foods. The store was the first in the metropolitan area to participate in Double Up Oklahoma, which matches the value of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dollars spent on fruits and vegetables. Oasis, operated by the majority-Black-owned Eco Alliance Group, currently sees about 300 to 500 customers per day, Johnson said. Questions stall $30 million expansion Plans to expand the Oasis Fresh Market model have stalled, he said, after the state Legislature passed on a request for $30 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding. Oasis sought the funding to build four more Oasis locations in underserved areas. Rep. Jeff Boatman, R-Tulsa, co-chairman of a legislative working group tasked with recommending projects for ARPA funding, said Oasis is no longer under consideration. The project ran aground amid concerns regarding the nonprofits leadership structure. Some of those concerns were highlighted in an article published by the online publication Nondoc in February. The article noted some members of Oasis nonprofit arm were surprised to learn they were listed as board members, when contacted by the publication. Asked what he would say to those who might be still concerned, Johnson replied: Weve hired some of the best governance attorneys and nonprofit consultants, ... and we are well-positioned to continue being a flagship organization both on the for-profit and nonprofit side. And thats important for sustainability, having that governance and board and policies and procedures in place, Johnson said. And as a result of that, its really helped us learn even in the painful moments, weve learned so much that helps us give us the opportunity to be better positioned to serve people. Boatman agreed that the nonprofit has made strides since seeking the funding. Hes done a great job of getting some consultants and rectifying that and getting the structure that you ought to have as a nonprofit in place, Boatman said. He took the feedback and has done all the right stuff and hopefully he would be eligible for future opportunities at this point. But at the time that we made the decision and voted the bills through, there just wasnt enough nonprofit governance in place for the state to be comfortable putting that much of an investment over there. Johnson brushed away claims that nonprofit workers sometimes worked on the for-profit side of the grocery. The claims, by two former Oasis Fresh Market workers to the Tulsa World, were that employees of the nonprofit side, The Oasis Projects, sometimes were called upon to work on the for-profit side of the grocery. The former employees asked not to be identified out of concern it could hurt their search for another job. All of our cashiers and stockers are on the for-profit side, Johnson said when asked about the claims. Plans to open a demonstration kitchen in the grocery store, promised since the business opened, continue on course, Johnson said. The kitchen should be open by or before Labor Day, he said. Theres so much potential in our communities, and in communities like ours across the country that have just been underestimated that, if given the same opportunities as other communities, they would be also thriving communities, Johnson said. So were committed to continuing taking steps to serving people with our for-profit grocery store and also with our nonprofit providing wrap-around services. Above and beyond providing food Johnson said he was most pleased with the results from the projects nonprofit arm, The Oasis Projects, also known as the Oasis Fresh Foundation. The nonprofit, which offices out of the grocery store, provides services to the community including workforce training and assistance with rent and utility payments. Being the center of a community, we believe thats how you transform a community, Johnson said. We know its not just about groceries. Its equipping people for life. The nonprofit was able to help more than 3,400 people with rental and utility assistance through its administration of a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Johnson said. The program was apparently so popular that callers to the business are still greeted with a recorded message that funding for the program had run out and is no longer available. City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper, whose district includes the grocery store, said she is overjoyed with the project so far. I think Oasis has been a huge success, and now were working on improving it even more, Hall-Harper said, adding that more grocery stores are needed in her district. I think we have created a model that can address food insecurity in food deserts in disenfranchised communities, Hall-Harper said, who also led a fight against overproliferation of dollar stores in her district. Asked why this grocery has succeeded while others at this corner have failed, Hall-Harper said: Its the other things that they bring to the table to address the whole person. I think those things are very beneficial in ensuring that the community continues to support it. Hall-Harper said Oasis goes above and beyond providing food just for folks. She said Oasis and its workers have also developed a relationship with community members. I would say any business, when you develop a relationship with customers, then you are more apt to be successful, and I think thats what (is being) done at Oasis, Hall-Harper said. The grocery was built on land owned by the Tulsa Economic Development Corporation. The TEDC acquired the property and surrounding land from the Tulsa Development Authority for the construction of a shopping center. TEDC Chief Executive Officer Rose Washington-Jones said the Oasis project has been a success. I think from my perspective, Oasis has exceeded my wildest imagination, she said in an interview with the Tulsa World. We see financial statements every month, financials that include the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement, and so when you are a grocer, break-even is success for you and especially if you are a small operator, Washington-Jones said. And he is able to cover all of his costs and keep his employees paid and keep inventory on the shelves, she said. He has been able to do what a successful business owner does. I think AJ has done a fabulous job getting in there, connecting with communities, providing what was needed in a really tough economic environment. In addition to providing nonprofit services, Johnson said hiring from the community has benefits beyond now. Weve got a lot of high school students who work our afternoon and evening shifts, and its encouraging because now they say, AJ, now theres someone who looks like us doing something that we would have never known, Johnson said. The grocery store currently employs 27 full-time equivalent employees while the nonprofit employs nine on a full-time equivalent basis, Johnson said. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Hookin up: The Oklahoma Broadband Office is presenting an all-day workshop, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., on Wednesday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 577, 1109 E. Sixth St. The OBO said Internet for All will focus on access, adoption and use of high-speed internet across the state. OBO Executive Director Mike Sanders will attend, along with representatives with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, OBO staff, and tribal leaders and representatives. Too many Oklahomans lack the access they need to affordable and reliable high-speed internet service. The internet has become a necessity for education, commerce, government, and more, Sanders said in a press release. We want to ensure every Oklahoman understands how leadership is tackling this as a state and what funding and programmatic opportunities are available for improving and expanding internet access to all. Registration at https://oklahoma.gov/broadband/outreach.html is encouraged. On board: National school choice groups have signaled their approval of the the education deal struck last week by Republican lawmakers and Gov. Kevin Stitt. This development is truly transformative for Oklahomas education landscape, Jennifer Carter, an Oklahoma representative of Betsy DeVos American Federation for Children network, said soon after the agreement was announced. The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, one of the states longest-standing school choice/voucher advocates and for whom Jennifer Carters husband Ray Carter works has also been generally supportive. Over there: Oklahoma National Guard troops are among about 1,000 being deployed to Africa to serve until early next year, the ONG reports. Task Force Tomahawk includes soldiers from multiple units of the Infantry Brigade Combat Team, including two companies of a multistate battalion that includes elements of the Nebraska and Indiana Army National Guards. Holy book ban: The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation asked state Superintendent Ryan Walters to add the Bible to his list of books unfit for children. The foundation cites the Bibles pornographic view of sex and women, lewdness, depravity and sexual violence often ordered or countenanced by the biblical deity. These include sordid tales of victims forced to marry their rapists, graphic sexual depictions, and countless references to sperm, intercourse, menstruation, homosexuality, bestiality, adultery and whores. Tuck everlasting: A handful of Republican legislators, including new GOP State Chairman Nathan Dahm, have filed a resolution defending former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson and demanding Oklahoma boycott Dominion voting equipment which Oklahoma doesnt use anyway. Communications in which Carlson derided former President Donald Trump and cast doubt on Trumps claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election came to light as the result of Dominions libel suit against Fox arising from the networks coverage of the election and its aftermath. Carlson was fired after Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to keep the case from going to trial. Variety reported last week that dumping Carlson was a verbal part of the settlement agreement insisted upon by Dominion, but the companys executive vice president said Wednesday that isnt true. Other reports say the last straw for Fox board of directors was a text in which Carlson told a producer that three white men beating up an antifa kid is not how white men fight. The same group also filed a resolution calling for the elimination of all diversity, equity and inclusion training at the states public colleges and universities. Bottom lines: Cherokee Nation broke ground on its $35 million Salina medical clinic. Former U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft, wife of long-time Tulsa coal executive Joe Craft, was unsuccessful in her bid to win the Republican nomination for governor of Kentucky. Randy Krehbiel Tulsa World The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. OKLAHOMA CITY State lawmakers are making a record investment in public education this year and implementing new school choice policies. Gov. Kevin Stitt is expected to sign into law this week an education package that earmarks $625 million more in recurring revenue for public schools to provide teacher pay raises, increase Redbud schools funding, and help rural and economically disadvantaged districts through tweaks to the states school funding formula. Another $160 million in one-time funds dispersed over three years will allow the state to launch pilot programs aimed at improving school safety and childhood literacy. The increase in public education funding is tied to a new program that will allow parents whose children attend private school to collect tax credits of up to $7,500 per child. The tax credits will cost the state $150 million next year and $250 million in three years. How will the tax credits work? Who will qualify for teacher pay raises? The Tulsa World answers your questions. State leaders called this education plan historic. Is it really? The new money for public schools is the largest common education funding increase in state history, said Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. Its really game changing for public education, he said. Over the past six years, state leaders have put an additional $1.5 billion into funding public schools, a 59% increase, Hime said. Who will qualify for teacher pay raises? All certified employees in Oklahoma public schools will see their pay increase. That includes teachers, librarians, counselors, principals and school nurses. The pay raises will also apply to educators employed through the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, Office of Juvenile Affairs and state Schools for the Deaf and Blind. How much are the pay raises? Educators will receive pay raises based on their years of experience. The average pay increase will be $4,766, according to the OSSBA. The raises are: $3,000 for educators with four or fewer years in the classroom. $4,000 for educators with five to nine years of experience. $5,000 for educators with 10 to 14 years of experience. $6,000 for educators who have taught for 15 or more years. OSSBA estimates about 50,000 school employees will receive some sort of pay raise. The pay hikes will take effect for the 2023-2024 school year. Where will Oklahoma rank in regional teacher pay after these raises take effect? The pay raises will bring Oklahomas average teacher salary up to $60,307, but the state is likely to remain ranked fourth in average teacher pay within a seven-state region. These pay raises wont be enough to push Oklahomas average teacher salary above the average in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas. The only unknown is whether Arkansas will surpass Oklahoma in the rankings now that state leaders there approved a teacher pay raise on top of increasing to $50,000 the minimum salary for teachers. How will the school choice tax credits work? Oklahoma families could soon be eligible for a refundable tax credit if they homeschool a child or send their child to private school. The private school tax credits will vary based on household income. A parent or legal guardian can claim the tax credit for each child attending private school. The private school refundable tax credits are as follows: $7,500 for households earning $75,000 or less annually. $7,000 for households earning $150,000 or less. $6,500 for households earning $225,000 or less. $6,000 for households earning between $225,000 and $250,000. $5,000 for households earning more than $250,000. Preference will be given to the families making $150,000 or less. The total amount of tax credits will be capped at the following: $150 million for tax year 2024. $200 million for tax year 2025. $250 million for tax year 2026. Parents who homeschool their children could seek a $1,000 tax credit per child. The homeschool credits will be capped at $5 million annually. Who will oversee the tax credit program? The Oklahoma Tax Commission will be tasked with creating state agency rules to administer the tax credit program. Taxpayers will have to apply for the credit that will be granted upfront in two installments, with each amounting to half of the expected annual private school tuition and fees. Applicants will have to submit an affidavit from the private school confirming the enrollment of their child in order to receive a tax credit for the fall and spring semesters. Taxpayers will also be required to submit to the Tax Commission receipts of qualified expenses, such as private school tuition, textbooks, tutoring or fees for college admission tests and advanced placement exams. If the credit exceeds the tax imposed, the excess will be refunded to the taxpayer. What if someone wrongfully claims the tax credit? The Tax Commission will be able to claw back the credits if an audit finds a taxpayer claimed a student who no longer attends private school or if they claimed the credit for ineligible expenses. How many kids currently attend private schools? About 37,644 students already attend Oklahoma private schools. Thats roughly 5% of all children in K-12 schools, according to Private School Review. What is the average cost of private school tuition in Oklahoma? Private school tuition in Oklahoma costs, on average, $6,678 per year, according to Private School Review. The group says Global Christian Harvest School in Ardmore has the lowest annual tuition at $2,000, while Casady School in Oklahoma City costs the most at $23,225 per year. Annual tuition at Tulsa-area private schools range from $2,675 at Rejoice Christian School in Owasso to $15,250 at Cascia Hall Preparatory School, according to the group. How many kids are currently homeschooled? Approximately 22,866 Oklahoma students are homeschooled, according to the Coalition for Responsible Home Education. Does this education plan fund any new programs? Lawmakers earmarked $150 million for a three-year pilot program to improve school safety. Each school district will receive approximately $96,000 to upgrade their security infrastructure and hire school resource officers. The State Department of Education will receive another $10 million to create a literacy instructional team that will travel across the state to help students who are struggling to read. In a first, the state will also offer teachers six weeks of paid maternity leave, which is estimated to cost about $12 million per year. What is the Redbud Fund that will get increased funding? Lawmakers created the Redbud Fund in 2021 to direct a portion of the states medical marijuana revenue to districts and brick-and-mortar charter schools that receive below-average property tax dollars for construction and maintenance of school facilities. How much will Redbud funding increase? The amount of Redbud funds flowing to schools will roughly triple, going from $40 million this year to $125 million next year, said Hime, the head of the OSSBA. The funding increase means about 100 additional districts will qualify for Redbud grants. More schools qualify and then all the schools that qualified before will get more money per student, which means theyre able to plan for more renovations and building projects, Hime said. About 78% of districts will receive Redbud funds next year, said House Speaker Pro Tem Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. After years of picturing them mentally, seeing sites like Anne Franks house and Auschwitz concentration camp in person was an emotional experience for Sheila Jones. But, ultimately, she wasnt there for her benefit. I want to do anything I can to help my students really get into the teeth of what happened, said Jones, adding that her 2018 trip to Europe has been an asset in teaching about the Holocaust. Its all about helping them make connections connections between the past and our lives, community and our world today, said Jones, a longtime instructor at Tulsas Street School, an alternative school and counseling program. Thankfully, though, while the trip abroad was helpful, its not necessary in order to teach the subject well, Jones said. And there are opportunities much closer to home that can help educators do that. Jones is among a number of teachers who participate in an annual effort to promote Holocaust education in schools an effort that is expanding this year in hopes of reaching more teachers around the state. The World Must Know: 2023 Eva K. Unterman Conferences for Holocaust Educators will be held in two locations this year: June 15 in Oklahoma City and June 16 in Tulsa, with a deadline to register of June 1. Presented by the Jewish Federations of Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the workshops will be the same at both locations and are available to educators for free. Organizers are expanding the event in support of last years Senate Bill 1671, which calls for making Holocaust education available to every Oklahoma student grades 6-12. Event coordinator Nancy Pettus said: Instead of our past local teacher workshops, we have expanded to reach as many schools across the state of Oklahoma that we can. The goal is to encourage more teachers to incorporate Holocaust lessons into their classes. Participants will receive seven hours of professional development credit for attending, along with lesson plans that are easy to implement. Workshops are geared to both beginning and experienced teachers. Legally, the Oklahoma teaching standards have not changed in regard to teaching about the Holocaust, Pettus said, adding that Holocaust education is already part of the Social Studies curriculum. However, our goal is to expand Holocaust education to English language arts and visual arts. Jones, whos finishing up her 28th year at Street School, will be doing a teaching fellowship this summer at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Passionate about Holocaust education, shes been incorporating it into her 11th- and 12th-grade English classes for nearly two decades, she said. Jones said sometimes students at the alternative school, because of their own life experiences, can readily relate to aspects of the Holocaust. Sometimes its a little too close to home, she said. We are a trauma-informed school. Most of our kids have trauma. They have a hard time coming to terms with the amount of hate it took to carry out the Holocaust, Jones said. With the millions of lives affected, including an estimated 6 million Jews murdered, she tries to make the numbers personal by having students learn about individual historical figures. Tulsas most recent Interfaith Holocaust Commemoration provided an opportunity. It focused on the Ritchie Boys, an American unit of counterintelligence troops, many of them Jewish German-speaking immigrants, that proved pivotal in the defeat of Germany. Jones students wrote letters to some of the surviving Ritchies. One student got a letter back just last week. He was just thrilled, she said. He said, I cant believe he wrote me back. Jones has participated in the annual workshops, including as a speaker. Its a great chance to connect and collaborate with fellow Holocaust educators, and learn important lessons and new curriculum, she said. Pettus has been involved with Holocaust education for over 25 years, including 16 years teaching Holocaust studies at Jenks High School. She said one of the goals of the conference is to emphasize that the lessons from the Holocaust apply universally. Pettus said: We hope to equip and encourage teachers to use the important lessons of the Holocaust to combat hatred, prejudice, bullying and fear of the other to encourage respect and acceptance in our divided world. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Budget airline Vietjet has announced the launch of a direct air route connecting Vietnam and Hiroshima, Japan, making it the first direct route of a Vietnamese airline between the two destinations. This is Vietjets eighth air route linking the two countries. There will be two return flights per week, starting from July 19. The new air route will facilitate travel between Hiroshima and Vietnam, said Masahiko Tanabe, deputy governor of Hiroshima Prefecture. I look forward to more active cooperation in various sectors, including business, trade, and tourism, Tanabe added. Vietjet CEO Dinh Viet Phuong affirmed that the air carrier will continue expanding its network linking Japan and Vietnam and offering more bilateral and multilateral cooperation opportunities with more convenient flight options. Vietjet plans to provide 1.5 million seats on flights between the two countries this year, comprehensively connecting Japan's biggest tourism and economic hubs to attractive destinations across Vietnam and many other destinations, such as Australia, India, and Kazakhstan. The airline currently operates seven direct air routes connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Japanese cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. It also offers charter flights from Vietnam to Niigata, Shizuoka, Fukushima, and Ehime, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Vietnam welcomed over 128,000 Japanese tourists last year, some 10 percent of the pre-pandemic figure. Meanwhile, Japan attracted more than 284,000 Vietnamese travelers in 2022, accounting for 7.4 percent of its total international arrivals, news site VnExpress reported. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! MEXICO CITY -- At least 10 people were killed and nine injured in a shootout at a car show in northern Mexico's Baja California on Saturday, the municipal government reported. The attack occurred during an all-terrain car racing show in the San Vicente area of the city of Ensenada. Around 2:18 p.m. (2118 GMT) people with long guns got out of a gray van and began shooting at participants at a gas station, according to reports of 911 calls. Municipal and state police, the Marines, the Fire Department and Mexican Red Cross, among other agencies arrived at the scene. Mayor Armando Ayala Robles said state Attorney General Ricardo Ivan Carpio Sanchez commissioned a special group to investigate the shooting. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a little while at a session of the Group of Seven (G7) countries summit in Japans Hiroshima on Sunday. The meeting took place at the G7 session themed Toward a Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous World,' according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. PM Chinh at the meeting stressed that Vietnam attaches great importance to its traditional friendship with Ukraine. Commenting on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine military conflict, PM Chinh affirmed Vietnams consistent stance of respecting the UN Charter and international law, especially the principles of respect for independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of nations, without interference in internal affairs and with no use of force in international relations. Chinh expressed his hope that the parties involved in the military conflict should end it soon, resume dialogue, and settle their disputes by peaceful means. Vietnam, which was through many wars, thoroughly understands the values of peace. The Southeast Asian nation offered humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine and stands ready to support the parties in seeking long-term peaceful solutions on the basis of international law and respect for their legitimate interests. PM Chinh also expressed his gratitude to the Ukrainian government for supporting the Vietnamese community in Ukraine. President Zelensky showed his appreciation for the stance and humanitarian assistance of Vietnam. The two leaders agreed to adopt measures to tighten the Vietnam-Ukraine bilateral ties, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Vietnams PM Pham Minh Chinh said Vietnam stands ready to support the parties involved in the Russia-Ukraine military conflict in seeking long-term peaceful solutions on the basis of international law and respect for their legitimate interests. Photo: Vietnam News Agency The expanded G7 summit, scheduled for May 19 to 21, is aimed at strongly promoting the participation and contribution of developing countries, as well as bolstering the ties between the G7 nations and these countries in coping with global challenges. The expanded G7 summit this year is attended by eight guest nations, including Vietnam, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Comoros, the Cook Islands, and Australia. Six international institutions were also invited to join the summit, comprising the UN, the EU, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! China-Central Asia Summit: Neighboring countries eye peace, stability, development and prosperity CGTN) 11:13, May 21, 2023 President Xi Jinping (center) and leaders attending the China-Central Asia Summit head to a welcome banquet on Thursday evening at Tang Paradise in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. President Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, hosted a welcome ceremony and banquet on Thursday for the Central Asian presidents and their wives. After the banquet, Xi, Peng and the guests watched an artistic performance to mark the opening of the year of culture and art of the peoples of China and Central Asia as well as the China-Central Asia youth arts festival. HUANG JINGWEN/XINHUA As the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit drew to a close in Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Friday, overseas media and individuals hailed the gathering as a milestone in developing deeper cooperation in the region, as well as a major action towards building a closer community of shared future between China and Central Asia. Chaired by China's president Xi Jinping, the two-day summit held in the historic Silk Road city of Xi'an was attended by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They expressed confidence and determination to boost cooperation with China, and voiced their support for the China-proposed initiatives on global development, security and civilization. Meanwhile, ambassadors, think tanks and media worldwide have expressed their confidence in the beneficial outcomes of this summit, as it is projected to inject more positive energy into world and regional peace, stability, development and prosperity. Among the five Central Asian countries, China and Kyrgyzstan share a border of over a thousand kilometers, and people of the two countries have been interacting with each other since the days of the great ancient Silk Road, according to Aktilek Musaeva, Kyrgyz ambassador to China. In an interview with CGTN, Musaeva said that Xi's call for building a community with a shared future for mankind "deserves to be supported through concrete economic and cultural projects." "So we understand the initiative as it closely relates to us," she said. Adil Kaukenov, a research fellow from the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KazISS), said that the China-Central Asia Summit is a "major event" and holds great significance in the development of bilateral relations. Selcuk Colakoglu, the director of the Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, has long been focused on China's relations with the Central Asian countries. He said that the summit is a milestone in guiding new perspectives and policies in the post-pandemic world and further strengthening cooperation. An article published on Brazil's Forum magazine website pointed out that the meeting is considered a milestone in high-level interactions between leaders of China and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It also highlighted Xi's address at the virtual summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Central Asian countries in January 2022 that "the key to the successful cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries over the past three decades lies in our enduring commitment to mutual respect, good-neighborly friendship, solidarity in difficult times and mutual benefit." Deepening cooperation for development China and the Central Asian countries will take the 10th anniversary of Belt and Road cooperation as a new starting point and make efforts to build better synergy among development strategies to form a new cooperation paradigm featuring high-level complementarity and mutual benefit, Xi said Friday when meeting the press following the successful conclusion of the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit. China's trade with the five countries reached $70 billion in 2022, up over 100 times since diplomatic ties were established. The trade structure has improved over the years. Last year, China's imports of agricultural, energy and mineral products from the five countries jumped over 50 percent from a year earlier, while exports of mechanical and electronic products to them increased by 42 percent. Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of the Delovoy Kazakhstan newspaper, a leading Kazakh publication, reported on the two-day summit. He believes that the event will help open up a new chapter for the region, delivering broader prospects for cooperation between China and Central Asia, and pointed to the proposals for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway as an example of the strong cooperation potential that exists between all sides. "I would say the cooperation between China and five Central Asian countries is very important. They will enhance mutual trust in politics and in the economy and build closer connections." Korzhumbayev told China Media Group. "Kazakhstan's neighbors, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, also have an ambitious plan. They are working on a new logistics route, which is the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. I think the summit will touch on these important topics as the leaders of six countries gather here for this historical event," he said. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Saturday met with U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts from other countries at an expanded summit of the Group of Seven (G7) countries in Japan. The Vietnamese Cabinet leader told President Biden that the Vietnam-U.S. bilateral ties have increasingly shown positive signs, with economic and trade cooperation being the focus. Biden spoke highly of the outcomes of the phone talks with Vietnams Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. The two leaders also exchanged ideas on several measures to boost the bilateral ties as well as other international and regional issues of mutual concern. In addition, they agreed to maintain the exchange of all-level delegations. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden pose for a photo at the expanded G7 summit. Photo: Vietnam News Agency At the event, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son met with his U.S. counterpart Anthony Blinken. Son and Blinken exchanged views on measures to speed up the implementation of agreements signed by high-ranking officials of the two nations. The expanded G7 summit opened on Saturday afternoon in Hiroshima, Japan, with the participation of the leaders of the G7 countries, eight guest nations, and some international institutions. PM Chinh attended and gave two important speeches at the expanded sessions of the summit, receiving positive feedback from the country leaders. On Sunday, the G7 leaders were scheduled to join the third expanded session, themed 'Toward a Peaceful, Stable, and Prosperous World.' Apart from President Biden, the head of the Vietnamese government met with his counterparts from the UK, Germany, Australia, and Italy, namely Rishi Sunak, Olaf Scholz, Anthony Albanese, and Giorgia Meloni. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) meets with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni. Photo: Vietnam News Agency PM Chinh also met with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and President of the European Council Charles Michel. During the meeting between PM Chinh and the European Council president, the former requested Michel to push the parliaments of European Council member nations to soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement. Chinh also proposed the European Council raise its voice for the European Commission to soon remove its yellow-card warning related to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing against Vietnams seafood exports and continue to support Vietnam in the transition to a modern and sustainable fishing industry. The Vietnamese leader hoped that the EU and its member states would continue supporting Vietnam in attracting resources to execute the Statement on the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). For his part, Michel hailed Vietnams efforts in the corruption fight. As for the IUU yellow card, Michel affirmed that the EU strongly supports Vietnam in green transition and JETP implementation. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) shakes hands with President of the European Council Charles Michel. Photo: Duong Giang / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Three more people in Ho Chi Minh City have been hospitalized due to botulinum poisoning after two of them, who are siblings, ate cha lua (Vietnamese pork sausage) and the remaining man consumed fermented fish kept for a long time. Cho Ray Hospital and Gia Dinh People's Hospital are jointly treating the three cases, Dr. Le Quoc Hung, head of the tropical disease department at the former hospital, said on Saturday. The three patients live in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City. The two siblings, aged 18 and 26, ate bread with cha lua sold by a street vendor, while the remaining patient, a 45-year-old man, downed fermented fish on May 13. They developed the symptoms of digestive disorder, fatigue, headache, dizziness, and diarrhea the next day and became worse later with muscle weakness, dysphagia, and diplopia. The 18-year-old patient was the first to report the symptoms and was taken to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases. The 45-year-old man was rushed to Gia Dinh People's Hospital on Monday afternoon. The remaining patient suffered milder symptoms, so he visited Cho Ray Hospital himself. Gia Dinh People's Hospital took food samples for testing and found that they contained botulinum. Doctors decided to transfer the patient at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases to Cho Ray Hospital for treatment after a consultation. The 26- and 45-year-old patients have been put on ventilators. The remaining case may be also placed on a ventilator in the next few days, doctors said. Earlier, three siblings contracted botulism after eating cha lua in Ho Chi Minh City as well. They were saved after taking botulinum antitoxins shipped from central Quang Nam Province. The trio, aged between 10 and 14, and their aunt, residing in Thu Duc City, bought cha lua from a street vendor to eat with bread at 9:00 am last Saturday. The three siblings were taken to Childrens Hospital 2 in downtown Ho Chi Minh City for treatment the next day. The 10-year-old patient has suffered severer respiratory failure and currently needs endotracheal intubation, Childrens Hospital 2 said on Friday. Botulism is a serious illness caused by clostridium botulinum, a poisonous substance in the bacteria found in badly preserved food, according to the Ministry of Health. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Italian-flagged passenger cruise vessel Costa Serena brought more than 2,600 international guests to Phu Quoc, a popular island destination in southern Vietnam, on Sunday morning. This is the first five-star cruise to return to Phu Quoc City, which is an island off Kien Giang Province, after a long suspension induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also the first voyage by the Costa Serena to Phu Quoc City post-pandemic, said Le Thi Minh Thu, an advisor at Thien Y Marine Transport Services Company. The passengers on the ship, which carried a crew of over 1,000, are citizens of Thailand, Cuba, and some other countries. International cruise guests pose for a photo with a Vietnamese woman in 'ao dai' (Vietnamese traditional costume). Photo: Tuoi Tre The ship was scheduled to conduct a five-day and four-night voyage from Thailand to Cambodias Sihanoukville before heading to Phu Quoc, where the passengers will learn about the local culture and visit popular tourist attractions on the island. LyLy, a Thai visitor who was traveling to Phu Quoc with her family for the first time, said the island is stunningly beautiful. She shared that she got impressed by the warm welcome of the locality. International cruise guests are transported on a small boat to Phu Quoc Island of Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Bui Quoc Thai, director of the provincial Department of Tourism, said the arrival of the Costa Serena cruise ship showed that the local tourist industry is recovering. Phu Quoc is expected to serve some passenger cruise ships in the upcoming period, Thai continued. Thu added that the Costa Serena vessel will further bring international guests to the Vietnamese island early next year. To better service international cruise guests, the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang is ramping up efforts to develop its tourism infrastructure facilities appropriately while streamlining entry and exit procedures for visitors and vehicles. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! ABC Managing Director David Anderson has apologised to Stan Grant after the Q+A host said he felt unsupported by ABC management following ABCs Coronation coverage. Grant is standing down from the show following a tirade of abuse online. In a note to staff Anderson said, The experiences of ABC presenter and commentator Stan Grant following our coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III have been distressing and confronting for the ABC, as they should be for the entire media industry and the broader community. Racism must never be tolerated, and I am dismayed that Stan has been exposed to such sickening behaviour. Stan has our full support. And he has always had our full support. Stan makes an enormous contribution to conversations of national importance. The role of the ABC includes providing content and programs that contribute to a sense of national identity, inform and entertain, reflect Australias cultural diversity and represent the diversity of perspectives held across the community. Sometimes this means facilitating conversations that can be uncomfortable, challenging and even confronting. If we did not do this, we would not be doing our job. This can sometimes result in strong reactions. Unfortunately, it is increasingly drawing unacceptable abuse, particularly online and through social media. The ABC is never above scrutiny or criticism. However, the nature of the anti-ABC reporting from some commercial media outlets is sustained and vitriolic. This has real-world consequences for ABC presenters and journalists who are personally attacked and vilified. Anderson did not name those media outlets. In a column last Friday Grant said after being invited as a guest on the Coronation coverage, no one at the ABC had uttered one word of public support. Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I dont hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure, he wrote. Anderson acknowledged that supporting people in these moments is important. Stan Grant has stated that he has not felt publicly supported. For this, I apologise to Stan. The ABC endeavours to support its staff in the unfortunate moments when there is external abuse directed at them, he said. The Chair and Deputy Chair of the ABCs Bonner Committee have asked me to conduct a review to investigate and make recommendations about ABC responses to racism affecting ABC staff, and what we can do better to support staff who face it. I have accepted this recommendation and I will provide more details later this week when we have them. This review will build on our work as the first media organisation to have an Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan. The next version of this will be released in the coming months, as will our new Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Plan. ABC offers support to First Nations staff through several management roles and resources, with zero tolerance for racism, bullying, harassment, discrimination or any antisocial behaviour. Grant departs Q+A after hosting on Monday night. (Bloomberg) -- The extreme heat thats been scorching Asia in recent weeks has produced one clear beneficiary Russia. Most Read from Bloomberg As countries across the region scramble to make sure they have enough coal, gas and fuel oil to keep the lights on and air conditioners running, Russian energy being shunned by the West is looking increasingly attractive. What began as a push from the Kremlin to fund its invasion of Ukraine has now turned into a pull from Asian economies anxious about making sure their power generators are supplied with enough fuel in what could be the hottest year on record. The worst place to be right now amid these searing temperatures is South Asia, especially poorer nations like Pakistan or Bangladesh, said John Driscoll, director of JTD Energy Services Pte in Singapore. When you cant even take care of your peoples basic needs, its very hard to care too much about international affairs. To get Bloombergs Energy Daily newsletter direct to your inbox, click here. Russian exports to Asia of thermal coal and natural gas, the two fuels most often used for electricity generation, have grown markedly this year, figures from data intelligence firm Kpler show. Coal volumes jumped sharply to 7.46 million tons in April, about a third higher than a year earlier. Shipments of liquefied natural gas to Asia have also been growing in recent months after prices retreated from record highs that had made the fuel unaffordable for many poorer nations. Meanwhile, Asian imports of Russian fuel oil, a dirtier and cheaper alternative for power generation, had the two highest months on record in March and April, according to Kpler. The impetus for the region to buy more Russian energy is likely to increase due to an emerging El Nino weather pattern, which has already sent the mercury soaring in parts of the region. Vietnams prime minister has warned of power shortages this month, while Myanmar is struggling with worsening blackouts. Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels are trapping heat in the atmosphere. Thats warming the planet and is the primary driver of more extreme weather events, including heat waves. In India, heat-driven power demand will likely be satisfied mostly by coal, said Aniket Autade, power fundamentals analyst for Rystad Energy. Read More: A Billion Air Conditioners Will Save Lives But Cook the Planet China and India the most enthusiastic buyers of discounted Russian oil are also purchasing the most coal, gas and fuel oil. They took more than two-thirds of Russian coal sent to Asia last month, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Kpler data. South Korea, however, scooped up 15% of the shipments, while Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have also emerged as significant buyers. For fuel oil, China and India were again the biggest buyers from Russia, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also major importers, the Kpler figures show. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will probably import more Russian fuel oil for power generation, according to Emma Li, an analyst with Vortexa. The Middle East has also recently increased its imports, and thats likely to continue over the summer, she said. Pakistan said this month it was keen to pay for Russian oil imports with the Chinese yuan. The country has has placed an order for a single cargo of the crude, but is keen for a long-term deal to buy it in Chinese currency, its power minister said. Even Japan, a close ally of the US and therefore reluctant to increase imports from Russia, might expand buying within contractual limits, according to Chris Wilkinson, senior analyst for renewables at Rystad. Japan may consider purchasing more LNG from Russia under its existing long-term contracts, as it is more cost-effective than buying on the spot market, he said. For JTD Energys Driscoll, the increasing purchases of Russian energy by many Asian countries highlights both the White Houses declining clout and the perilous situation many nations find themselves in. [They] are asking themselves: would I rather risk falling afoul of the US or forgo steep discounts on energy?, he said. When theres a good deal on the table, how can poorer nations afford to say no? --With assistance from Aaron Clark. (Updates with climate change details in 10th paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Pig butchering among most convincing scams of 2023 so far. Photo: Getty A range of elaborate scams have driven the UKs fraud epidemic to new heights, with consumers losing thousands of pounds to fraudsters. Among the most convincing scam of the year so far is pig butchering, according to consumer body Which?. Pig butchering These scams get their name because the fraudster "fattens up" the victim by forming a romantic connection before executing the investment part of the scam. The scammer and victim typically meet on a dating site and the victim is "love-bombed" over a period of weeks by someone who appears to take a great interest in their life. The scammer will often encourage their victim to move from the dating platform to a private messaging service, thus removing them from any protections the dating site might offer. When the victim is sufficiently groomed, the scammer claims they have been having success investing typically in property or cryptocurrency and they offer to invest some of the victims money. If the victim agrees, they are sometimes shown a crypto trading platform controlled by the scammers, and encouraged to sign up and begin depositing funds. One UK victim, a former Somerset police officer, lost 107,000 to such a scam, believing she was investing in retirement apartments in Cyprus. Read more: Ruthless criminals using romance scams to con 8,000 from victims on average To avoid the scam, look out for signs of "love-bombing" where someone seeks to quickly obtain affection and attention by "bombing" with gifts, compliments, and affection attempts to move onto a private messaging platform, reluctance to meet in person and requests for money or a concerted effort to get the person to "invest". For those in an online relationship, it is worth checking in with a friend or a member of your family on how it is going, sometimes other people can help to spot warning signs and inconsistencies when we are too caught up in the moment. Fake missing person appeals There has been a spate of viral fake posts in community social media pages worldwide about missing children or elderly people. People are asked to share these Facebook posts more widely. Which?s experts know they are fake because you can find near-identical posts in community pages all over the world, simply with the location changed. Search "Robert Spall dementia" on Facebook and you will find the same post in pages for California, USA and Bogota, Colombia. Read more: Scam adverts still rife on Facebook and Instagram Comments are invariably turned off on the posts to avoid people pointing out the inconsistencies. After the post has gained a large number of likes, the contents are edited into something completely different, such as a straightforward investment scam. The large number of likes and shares that stay on the post will then lend credibility to the fraud. This scam relies on responsible citizens liking and sharing posts in an attempt to help which they do, in large numbers. While missing person posts can of course be genuine, it can be difficult to tell. To avoid perpetuating a scam or unwittingly participating in stalking or harassment, people are best off only sharing official posts, such as those posted by police forces or the Missing People charity (missingpeople.org.uk). Some regional police forces have warned that you should never like or share a post that has the comments turned off. PayPal scam This scam starts with people getting a money request from a genuine PayPal (PYPL) email address service@paypal.com. This might seem above board, but scammers are exploiting PayPals service to send out fake payment requests, often for high-value items, or posing as HMRC to demand "overdue" tax payments. In some versions of the scam, the fake invoice states the victims PayPal account has been compromised and urges them to call a phoney fraud hotline. Read more: Surge in advance fee scams costing victims 711 on average Which? has found it is easy to replicate scam emails from a genuine PayPal address. Which?s request claimed to be from HMRC and threatened the recipient with arrest if they did not pay. Acting as the recipient, Which? researchers were then able to pay the invoice without creating a PayPal account and without encountering any on-screen warnings about fraud. Consumers should never pay PayPal invoices they do not recognise, or call phone numbers in those invoices. Think about how to independently verify what is being asked. If the message claims to be from HMRC, contact the tax office via gov.uk. If the message claims PayPal has been hacked, contact its customer services at paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/contact-us. Fake app alert With 96% of UK mobile users downloading apps from the Apple App Store (AAPL) or Google Play (GOOG), you would probably assume that these stores are safe places to be, and that the apps on these platforms can be trusted. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. The stores do screen apps before they upload them, but that does not always stop malicious ones slipping through the net. These can install malware on phones, steal data and perpetuate scams. Read more: Fraudsters targeting students as impersonating scams cost victims 1,457 Last year, online security firm Praedo discovered a so-called security app on Google Play. Calling itself 2FA Authenticator, it actually stole users banking information and had been installed more than 10,000 times before it was discovered. In 2022, Facebooks parent company, Meta (META), found 400 Android and iOS apps stealing users Facebook login details. App stores do take steps to crack down on the problem, but this is an ever-present threat. When installing an app, click on the developers name and check what other apps it is made to see if these seem legitimate. Check reviews, but remember positive ones can be faked. Read the negative ones, too. The app will likely ask users for permissions: to use the camera, for example. These need to be relevant and proportionate to the functions of the app an app that only needs a rough location should not ask for a precise one. Watch: On Your Side: Protecting from identity theft Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday. The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate. State TV originally reported that six guards were killed but later said there were five fatalities. Two border guards were also wounded in the clash. It did not blame the attack on any group and no group immediately claimed responsibility. There were no additional details. The area is one of the least developed parts of Iran. The relationship between the predominantly Sunni residents of the region and Irans Shiite theocracy has long been fraught. On Thursday, the top leaders of Pakistan and Iran inaugurated the first border market as relations warm between the two countries. Located in the remote village of Pashin in Pakistans southwestern Baluchistan province, the marketplace is the first of six to be constructed along the Pakistan-Iran border under a 2012 agreement signed by the two sides. (AP) Read more on FRANCE 24 English Read also: Iran executes three men linked to Mahsa Amini protests Iran hangs two men for blasphemy as executions rise amid unrest Iranian guards killed on border with Pakistan Biden sees shift in ties with China 'shortly', says G7 wants to de-risk, not decouple By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday said the Group of Seven nations had agreed a united approach to China that called for diversifying supply chains to reduce dependence on one country, and hinted that he could speak with China's president soon. "We're not looking to decouple from China. We're looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China," Biden told a press conference after a three-day summit with G7 leaders. He said G7 nations were more unified than ever in terms of "resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers." G7 leaders outlined a shared approach to "de-risk, not decouple" economic engagement with China in a Saturday communique, prompting China's embassy in Japan to urged the G7 to stop creating confrontation and division. Despite the reaction, Biden said he expected a thaw in frosty relations with China "very shortly" after strains caused by an incident earlier this year when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon that flew over sensitive military sites. "We should have an open hotline," Biden said. He said he had agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia last year to keep communications open, but everything changed after "this silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars worth of spying equipment." Biden suggested a shift in U.S.-China relations could occur soon, echoing his comment to reporters before his departure. "In terms of talking with them, I think you're going to see that thaw very shortly," Biden said. On the issue of tensions between China and Taiwan, Biden said there was a clear understanding among most of the allies that if China were to act unilaterally against the self-governed island Taiwan, there would be a response. "We're not going to tell China what they can do," he said, "But in the meantime we're going to put Taiwan in a position where they can defend themselves." Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island. Biden reiterated that the United States and G7 allies would not trade in materials that would allow China to build weapons of mass destruction, but insisted that was "not a hostile act." He said he would not considering easing restrictions on China on those materials, but it was under negotiation whether to ease sanctions on Chinese General Li Shangfu, who was named in March as China's new defense minister. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt, writing by Andrea Shalal; editing by William Maclean and Grant McCool) Handout Just as the investigation into a 25-year-old cold case heated up this week, the prime suspectthe victims husbandcalled police and said he was going to kill himself. Jim Sweeten, 79, made good on that threat. Texas police showed up at his home in a Welasco, Texas, RV park on Wednesday, and found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a shed, authorities said. Two days earlier, the 1998 disappearance of Peggy Sweeten had jumped back into the headlines after police fished a 55-gallon barrel out of the water near the Oklahoma home she shared with Jim until she vanished. Law enforcement returned to the former Sweeten home Monday this week to conduct an underwater search and retrieve a metal barrel that was discovered a few weeks ago and could possibly have been a burn barrel that was noticed to be missing around the same time as Peggys disappearance, the Delaware County Sheriffs Office said. No human remains were found in the barrel, but detectives said they were more determined than ever to find out what happened to Peggy Sweeten and bring her presumed killer to justice, Fox23 reported. After Peggy, a 52-year-old special education teacher, disappeared two decades ago, Jim claimed she had run away with a paramour. But there was no evidence of that, and he stopped cooperating. He refused to submit to a polygraph test or property search and appeared to be deceptive and evasive, a detective later wrote in a search warrant application. As the years went by with no sign of Peggy, police assumed she was dead. Her husband, meanwhile, had quickly moved onmarrying his mistress and eventually settling in Texas. Numerous relatives, including Peggy and Jims son, Patrick, have long believed that he had a hand in whatever happened to her, but police were never able to charge him. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Londons Metropolitan Police said that specialist officers were called to the statue by Eric Gill at the BBCs Broadcasting House in central London. (Image: PA) A masked man was seen attacking a statue on the front of the BBCs Broadcasting House in central London with a hammer and chisel in the early hours of the morning on May 20. The attack came just days after repair work began on the previously-attacked Grade II listed statue. The statue of Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeares The Tempest was created by Eric Gill, who is said to have sexually abused two of his daughters. The man, wearing a Spiderman mask, was seen on scaffolding surrounding the sculpture on Saturday where he also strung up a banner criticising the corporation. Protester attacks Eric Gill statue at BBC HQ in London The statue has been on display at Broadcasting House since 1932 but was attacked last year amid calls for it to be removed. The Metropolitan Police were called at around 4.15am on Saturday to reports of a man climbing scaffolding at premises in Portland Place. News Shopper: A man wearing a Spiderman mask uses a hammer and chisel to damage the Prospero and Ariel statue by Eric Gill A man wearing a Spiderman mask uses a hammer and chisel to damage the Prospero and Ariel statue by Eric Gill (Image: PA) Speaking of the protest, a Met Police spokesperson said: The man was reportedly damaging a sculpture. Officers attended the location. It has not been possible to safely detain the man given the circumstances of the incident, including the height. Specialist officers have been called to the scene. On Tuesday, the BBC said after careful consideration taking into account the historical and cultural significance of the building and after discussions with leading cultural organisations such as Historic England, the repair work was agreed with all costs covered through the corporations insurance and not the licence fee. The scaffolding went up around the building on Tuesday with expert stonemasons beginning to restore the work, carved from Caen stone, a type of limestone quarried in north-west France. The broadcaster said the repair work would be used to provide additional context about the artwork and Gill, and that members of the public would also be able to access a QR code nearby. News Shopper: The Met Police were called out in the early hours of the morning. The Met Police were called out in the early hours of the morning. (Image: PA) The head of BBC History, Robert Seatter said: Broadcasting House is a building of historical and cultural significance and one of the foundations of modern-day broadcasting, both in this country and around the world. We have a responsibility to maintain and preserve the building for generations to come. Alongside this, Gills abusive behaviour and lifestyle are well documented and the BBC in no way condones his behaviour. So while it is right that the fabric of the building is restored, we must also ensure people are fully informed about the history connected to it. More than 3,000 people have signed a petition demanding the removal of the sculpture on the website of the political activist group 38 Degrees. The repairs had been set to be completed by the end of June. Thermal transfer compound comparison Review date: 13 March 2002. Last modified 07-Jan-2013 . Overclockers love grease. Thermal grease, to be exact. "Thermal transfer compound", if you want to be formal. It's the stuff you put between your CPU and your CPU cooler, to aid in the transfer of heat from the former to the latter. All modern PC CPUs produce enough heat that they need a heat sink. Almost all of them need a heat sink with a fan. Many heat sinks come with some sort of thermal transfer thingy pre-applied - a patch of grease, or a square of chewing-gum-like semi-solid material, or just a rubbery pad for the low performance units. Most CPUs don't produce enough heat that the stuff you put between the chip package and the heat sink matters very much, as long as the computer case has decent ventilation and the ambient temperature isn't sauna-like. There just has to be something between CPU and heat sink. The reason why there has to be something there is that the two mating surfaces of processor and sink aren't flat. They may look flat. They may have a mirror polish. But, on the microscopic scale, they look like a scale model of the Andes. And the mountains on one item do not match the valleys on the other. Without thermal transfer compound, everywhere heat sink metal doesn't mate with CPU package material is a teeny-tiny air gap. Air is a good thermal insulator. As long as your heat sink looks flat when you lay a ruler on it then there'll be a decent amount of actual contact, of course, but the amount of heat that'll actually make it around the air gaps may be surprisingly small. Hence, thermal compound. It's grease with lots of minuscule thermally conductive particles mixed into it, basically. It doesn't conduct heat as well as direct contact, but it's a heck of a lot better than air gaps. A popular view among those of us who've spent more time cleaning thermal grease off our hands than we'd care to remember is that it doesn't really matter much what kind of thermal grease you use. Plain cheap white zinc-oxide grease, fancy silver grease, ultra-fancy super-exotic better-than-the-stuff-NASA-uses grease; they're all much the same. As long as you apply the stuff reasonably sparingly, you'll be fine. I'd never actually tested this, though. Perhaps the marketing bumf for the current crop of exotic super-greases was right; perhaps they really are spectacularly better than plain cheap white thermal goop. Perhaps the fancy greases have advantages beyond their thermal performance, too. Since I'd recently received a few new super-goops for review, it was time for a comparison. The contestants Here we have offerings from Arctic Silver, Cooler Master and Nanotherm. And from, um, Woolworths Supermarkets and Kraft Foods. Of which more in a moment. Arctic Silver are the biggest name in exotic thermal goop, and they're up to the third formulation of their premium silver-loaded product. Silver is a superb thermal conductor, so you'd think it'd be a good choice for use in thermal goop. Arctic Silver 3 is now meant to be 70% silver by weight, and is now based on "a proprietary mixture of advanced polysynthetic oils that work together to provide three distinctive functional phases", rather than the usual silicone oil base. Silicone oil itself is a decent thermal conductor, and so, presumably, is the new Arctic Silver base. The manufacturers go on, thankfully, to explain that the advanced polysynthetic whatever means the stuff should fill gaps well when freshly applied, yet not go all dry and flaky after a long time. It is, indeed, somewhat runnier than the earlier Arctic Silvers, fresh from the syringe. It also has a faint art-supply smell that it didn't have before. AS3, like the earlier Arctic Silvers, is only trivially electrically conductive, though it's a bit capacitive. This means that an overlooked splodge of it across a couple of chip pins isn't likely to cause any problems, but painting your CPU with it is still a bad idea. The special polywhatchamacallit oils in AS3 could be quite useful, if they mean that this stuff really will stay soft as it ages. Cheap thermal compounds can dry out after a few thousand hours, which causes problems for a few reasons. First, wet compound that's dried out won't have the density, and thus the thermal conductivity, that it had when it was wet. These compounds aren't a solution, they're a mixture; remove the liquid from them and you end up with lots of little spaces where the liquid was, which is bad. Things can then get worse if you move the CPU cooler - which can happen, if the case gets dropped or bumped. Then you can end up with nasty lumps and ridges of compound in the gap between CPU and cooler, and an even lousier thermal connection. On the smaller scale, the natural vibration of a PC could reasonably be expected to open up larger air gaps in dry and powdery thermal compound. The stuff has to stay at least somewhat pliable in order to keep working well. At $AU19.80 for a three gram tube (delivered price from Aus PC Market; it's only $AU13.20 if you buy it with some other item), Arctic Silver isn't exactly a huge extra expense compared with the price of the rest of your fancy overclocking kit. 70% silver by weight multiplied by three grams of grease at the current $US4.50 or so price for a troy ounce of silver, by the way, means that a three gram tube of this stuff contains about 30 US cents worth of silver. So I wouldn't be hoarding Arctic Silver 3 in a safe, if I were you. Three grams is still rather more than most people are likely to need. I've gone through a few tubes of Arctic Silver 1 and 2 myself, but I'm not exactly a typical user. The manufacturers say that three grams is enough for "at least 20 to 30 small CPU cores, or 7 to 12 large CPU cores, or 3 to 6 heat plates", and I'll go along with that. If you magically manage to avoid wasting any grease then you could make one tube stretch a lot further, but anybody who's used thermal compound knows that more of it will end up distributed approximately evenly around the computer room, and the person applying it, than will end up where it's meant to go. People whose budget doesn't stretch to Arctic Silver can now buy a cheaper product, Arctic Alumina, based on aluminum oxide instead of silver. It's got the same advanced polysynthetic nuclear fish discotheque technology, but it doesn't work quite as well, or cost as much. A 1.75 gram tube of Alumina - still more than enough for most users - is $AU9.90 delivered from Aus PC Market. Cooler Master have comprehensively defeated the grease-all-over-your-shopping-bag problem, by blister-packing the syringes that their thermal grease comes in. There are two varieties of Cooler Master grease, melodically named PTK-001 and HTK-001. The PTK stuff is in the gold tube, and its quoted thermal conductivity is worse than that of the HTK stuff, which is in the silver tube. The grease itself is just grey and white, respectively, and most of the other specifications are pretty similar. PTK is supposed to be useable at 50 degrees below zero while HTK isn't meant for use below freezing, but only people living in Siberia or playing with liquid nitrogen are likely to care about that. The two Cooler Master compounds do have very different quoted viscosity; HTK is 300 Poise (between chocolate syrup and tomato sauce), while PTK is 1700 Poise (about 0.7 times as viscous as peanut butter). You get 1.6 grams of PTK, and two grams of HTK. The extra Cooler Master packaging has a purpose beyond avoiding premature grease ejaculation. Inside, there's a stick-on stencil sheet for small and large contact patch processors, a credit-card-esque piece of plastic, and instructions. The instructions tell you how to stick the appropriate stencil onto the bottom of your heat sink and squeegee a line of grease across the hole in the middle, to get a neat square of grease of sensible thickness onto the bottom of the cooler. Just like a bought one. If you've got your motherboard in front of you, then using the card to spread a smaller amount of grease on the CPU top itself isn't much harder. But this is still a neat feature for beginners. And it'll save you from getting grease all over your Visa card. ESG Associates's Nanotherm thermal compounds have "multisynthetic, non-silicone carrier fluid", much the same as the current Arctic goops, but Nanotherm did it first. The two Nanotherm varieties are Ice (white) and Blue (um, blue). They're the same stuff; the Blue variety is just cosmetically tinted. The tint may make it easier to judge the thickness of the layer of the stuff you're putting on an item. Apart from that, it makes no difference. Both Nanotherms give you two grams of goop in a syringe with a nifty shrouded tip that ought to reduce the amount of goop you get on your fingers, and then transfer to your nose/forehead/fly zipper. Both Nanotherms also have the usual list of good qualities. The only unusual thing on the list, from the point of view of PC users, is the claim that they allow "Fast, Easy Cleanup - No Mess". That's an attractive quality in a thermal goop, let me tell you; I've gone through quite a lot of naphtha lighter fluid (it's useful for so many things!) cleaning goop off CPU-related paraphernalia, and off bits of myself. Here in Australia, Technomancer are selling both Nanotherm flavours for $AU15.40, plus postage. Buyers from other countries can check out the ESG resellers page. And now, the ostriches running in the horse race. The toothpaste is... well, it's toothpaste, all right? Requests for me to also test brand name pastes and/or Tartar Control and stripey variants will be treated with all the respect they deserve. Vegemite, on the other hand, is an Australian thing. For those who haven't tried it (as food, not as thermal compound), it's not as weird as you might have heard. Even I, an Aussie raised on the stuff who puts enough on his sandwiches that the type of bread being used becomes difficult to determine, can appreciate that even a smear of Vegemite on a cracker may be a pretty intense culinary experience for people unaccustomed to the distinctive flavour of concentrated yeast extract. But there are most definitely worse things. It tastes as good as it looks, folks! Buy some today! Testing To test the different goops, I used my standard CPU-simulating heater-with-a-thermal-probe-in-it, but without the usual copper piece on top of it to simulate the contact patch of a real processor. With no copper in the way, the heater's contact patch is far larger than that of a real CPU, and I only have to use one layer of goop. Testing CPU cooling products on an actual CPU is good, because you're, well, testing on an actual CPU. But that's the end of the good news. CPU temperature probe calibration is unknown. If you've got a probe sitting under the CPU (as most Socket A systems still have) then that probe's reading will probably be related to the CPU's core temperature with a pretty simple curve, but you don't know what that curve is, and you also don't know whether the sensor is actually reporting badly skewed numbers, generally because of a bug in the computer's BIOS. These problems don't stop you making comparative measurements, of course, but they do stop you from being able to take one person's results and transfer them to another person's computer, even if that other computer has the same motherboard and processor. It's also difficult to standardise the heat output of a CPU; there's no way to just click it into maximum heat output mode. You can run a standardised benchmark, of course - a 3D game in timedemo mode using software rendering will do - but you still can't tell exactly how much of the CPU's specified maximum power rating is being used by that benchmark. And then you've got to allow for ambient air temperature - the warmer that gets, the warmer the CPU will be, all things being equal. And for the air flow reaching the CPU, which may stay constant or may not, depending on whether your CPU-fiddling moves cables around that influence the CPU's air supply. Plus, CPU sockets will only last for so many cooler attachment cycles. So I use my heater block. I stuck a Thermaltake Volcano 6Cu+ cooler on the heater - I review this cooler in my monster comparison here. It's got a round copper slug built into its base, and the copper stands slightly proud of the aluminium around it, which made it easy for me to standardise the contact area from test to test. Slight alignment changes from taking the cooler off the heater and putting it back on ought to make little difference to the amount of metal in contact with the heater plate. The copper slug also allowed me to apply the thermal compound to a neatly defined area of the bottom of the cooler, rather than slathering it all over the heater plate and increasing still further my contribution to the finances of Australia's paper towel manufacturers. By monitoring the voltage across the heater's 4.7 ohm power resistor I can tell how much heat it's outputting. And with a dual-input thermometer that lets me see the ambient air temperature, the temperature of the probe inside the heater, and the difference between the two (delta-T), I can tell how well the cooler's managing to get rid of the heater's output, without the result being polluted by changes in the ambient temperature. Divide the delta-T by the heater wattage, and you get a number in degrees Celsius per watt (C/W). The lower the number, the better. All of the results are still a bit on the high side, because the temperature probe inside my heater is rather close to the resistor's element. But they're repeatable, and good for comparison purposes. Results First up, no goop at all. Bone dry. The result - 0.66C/W. Next, some plain white zinc oxide thermal goop, as provided in little plastic sachets with, or pre-applied to the bases of, lots of cheap CPU coolers. I applied the white goop in the time-honoured fashion, with my index finger, and didn't make any particular effort to keep the layer super-thin. Whole copper slug covered deeply enough that you could no longer tell it was copper. Lots of fingerprint marks. Luvverly. The result was 0.50C/W. Next up was the Arctic Silver. I first applied it in the More Is Better style, lathering on a good half-millimetre layer of the stuff. Lots of people over-apply thermal grease, and I wanted to see what difference it might make. In the real world, over-thick grease layers are thinned out considerably by the pressure of the CPU cooler retention mechanism, at least if you're putting the cooler on a small-contact-area CPU. But there's only so much that even the strongest cooler clips can do with the giant pancake-syrup grease dollop that many people use. Anyway, the thick AS3 scored... 0.50C/W. Next, I scraped most of the grease off with my fancy Kyoto Ceramics Ceraplaner, which has seen a lot of service in my CPU cooler reviews. This scraper isn't any better than a credit card for the first few uses, but it's very, very hard and so can be used many, many times without losing its edge. A sharp edge is a good thing for a grease applying tool to have. Anyway, I greatly reduced the amount of grease on the bottom of the cooler and tested again, and now Arctic Silver 3 scored 0.48C/W. This is about as small a performance difference as my test rig can discern. But hey, the thinner layer did work better. On to Arctic Alumina, again applied in a thin layer. This white grease has the same oily consistency as the silver AS3, and is just as easy to spread. And it scored 0.50C/W. I began to see a pattern. Next, Cooler Master's gold-tube, grey-grease PTK-001. This stuff is a big contrast to the current Arctic greases; it's really thick and dry, in comparison. It's not easy to spread, as a result; I really don't think the supplied application kit would work properly, as the grease sticks to itself much better than it does to metal, and can't be applied with just one pass of a blade. The stiffness of this goop also means that an over-thick layer wouldn't squish out the sides of the contact patch nearly as well as thinner grease would. The stuff behaved like a cross between ordinary goop and chewing-gum-consistency pre-applied thermal interface material. The contact patch of my un-spacered test rig is bigger than the top of any CPU, so I didn't use the Cooler Master application kit anyway, but just applied a layer to the bottom of the 6Cu+, as before. Despite the grease's stiffness, it wasn't very hard to get the bottom of the 6Cu+ covered with a decently thin layer of PTK-001 grease. And it performed just fine - another 0.48C/W result. It wasn't any harder to clean away than the other greases, either. The Cooler Master HTK-001 compound looks like ordinary cheap white thermal goop. Much wetter than the PTK-001 compound, not as wet as the new-fangled non-silicone compounds. It scored 0.50C/W, just like the ordinary compound it resembles. The Nanotherm compounds are less fluid than the average, though not as dry as Cooler Master's PTK-001. Unlike the PTK-001, the Nanotherm compound sticks to metal well, and is easy to spread very thinly and quite evenly. If you're a fetishist about using the absolute minimum amount of thermal goop necessary, then Nanotherm should suit you very well. I tried an ultra-thin layer of Nanotherm Blue, which is what you'd want to use on really mirror-finished processors and coolers. The 6Cu+ is decidedly not a mirror-finished cooler, though; the smear of grease wasn't enough to completely fill the ridges on the bottom of the copper slug, and the score was only 0.56C/W. So I added more Nanotherm - and noted that the blue dye in the stuff wasn't evenly distributed, and the result was some rather fetching abstract stripes as I spread the stuff over the bottom of the cooler. Oddly, though, more Nanotherm didn't improve the 0.56C/W result. The reason for this seems to be that Nanotherm is meant to bed in better after it's had a couple of days of use. Some of it squishes out of the sides of the contact patch; what remains gets compressed. Fair enough, then. I turned off the 6Cu+'s fan, turned the heater down to six and a half watts to keep the junction warm and encourage the goop to settle, and left it overnight. The next day, it managed 0.51C/W. I then turned the fan off again and left the heater running at full power for a few minutes, until the heater temperature probe read 100C. Then I turned the fan on again, and now the reading settled to 0.50C/W. There's no reason to believe that it might not do a bit better again, if given more time. The large contact patch of my spacer-less heater rig means the oozing happens slower than it would with a real processor. So this goop also works pretty much as well as everybody else's for plain heat transfer; you just have to give it a moment to bed in, or else magically get just the right amount in there in the first place, which is easier said than done. As regards ESG's claims about the ease of cleaning Nanotherm up - well, it was a bit easier to clean up than the runnier pastes, but the difference wasn't anything to write home about. Naphtha Zippo fluid still did the job just fine. Ok, time to send in the clowns. First: Toothpaste. Depending on the labelling laws where you live, the only ingredient listed on the side of a tube of fluoride toothpaste may be sodium monofluorophosphate. Sodium monofluorophosphate or sodium fluoride are the only active ingredient, in the medicinal sense, in normal fluoride toothpaste. There's also stuff to give the paste the right consistency, stuff to help it foam up, a mildly abrasive polishing ingredient, probably dicalcium phosphate dihydrate, and stuff to make it taste less like chalk jelly. It's water based, which makes it inherently useless as a real thermal transfer agent, because it'll dry out quite quickly. It may also cause corrosion. There was nothing besides common sense stopping me from doing a quick test with the stuff, though, so I spread some on the 6Cu+'s base. The toothpaste I chose turned out to be slightly runnier than Arctic Silver 3, in case you care; it's pretty easy to spread it very thin. I put on a thicker layer, though; "optimising heat sink toothpaste application" is not something I intend to put on my curriculum vitae. Firing up my Minty Fresh Thermal Transfer Experiment produced, rather hilariously, an excellent score - 0.47C/W. That's right - Toothpaste Superior To Arctic Silver 3! Film At Eleven! This was only over half an hour, though. When I removed the cooler from the heater, the toothpaste that'd been squished out around the edge of the contact patch was already dry and crusty, and the rest of the paste would follow soon enough. It'd be just minty white dust inside a week, and probably wouldn't work much better than no thermal compound at all. Maybe worse. But in the short term, and assuming you don't bridge any contacts with it (it's sufficiently conductive to cause problems), it would seem that toothpaste works just fine as thermal compound. If you're almost out of genuine thermal goop, can't get any more right away, and know you're going to be reseating a processor cooler umpteen times as you fool around with whatever it is with which you are fooling around - well, you can probably make do with toothpaste. If you think I'm making some sort of guarantee that it won't cause unspeakably awful consequences, though, you're out of your mind. All care, no responsibility. Actually, not even very much care. On to the Vegemite. Vegemite's runny compared with thermal goop, as well; nearly all of the Vegemite I applied squished out around the edges of the contact patch once the heat was on, and it then started drying out rapidly, just like the toothpaste. But the stuff still delivered a solid 0.48C/W result. Vegemite is, of course, an even less sensible choice for real purposes than toothpaste. Since it's salty, it's an obvious corrosion risk. But since the whole concept of Vegemite as thermal goop is inherently grounds for committal to a special place where the staff are very calm and the dinner forks have corks on them, I don't think corrosion problems are the single factor that rules it out. By the way - after testing toothpaste and Vegemite back to back, and heating them up in the process, it strikes me that a toasted toothpaste and Vegemite sandwich would be an excellent thing to dare someone to eat. Anyway, it's clear that inappropriate substances like the above pair work fine for the simple task of passing heat from one thing to another, as long as the junction temperature isn't high enough to boil them. I wondered why this was. To see whether these substances work so well simply because they're wet, I tried some plain tapwater between the heater and the heat sink. And lo, it scored a magnificent 0.41C/W - possibly at least partly because, without any gelling material, it was free to move heat by convection as well as conduction. In such a thin film, though, convection is probably negligible; it's the water's own rather good thermal conductivity, and the thinness of the layer, that are more likely to be the significant factors. Of course, plain water's even less practical than toothpaste as a thermal material; once the water evaporates, there'll be nothing left in the gaps. It does, however, bring home the fact that thermal compound is not actually a really good thermal conductor. That's why you're not meant to put it on with a trowel, people. It would also appear that loading thermal compound with silver, or exotic oxides, or whatever the heck the thermal goop formulators come up with next, really doesn't seem to help much. Exotic thermal goop can easily be justified in situations where a lot more heat needs to be transferred across the junction than any PC requires. But computer CPUs that draw more than 150-odd watts are a rarity, and most CPUs draw a lot less than that most of the time. If you're heat-sinking a big amplifier, or the motor in a high-performance radio-controlled car, exotic goop could help a lot. If you aren't, not so much. Lying with statistics There are lots of computer-tweaking situations in which the difference a given tweak makes is small. Small enough that it doesn't matter. Thermal grease seems to be one of those situations. Other good examples are tweaking up processor or RAM clock speeds on motherboards or graphics cards, when the things you can't run any faster are what's actually limiting the system performance. This creates a problem for people who want to make such underwhelming tweaks sound exciting. As a general rule of thumb, anything that makes a less than 10% difference to system performance doesn't matter. Not a 10% difference to CPU performance, or disk performance, or any other individual thing - a 10% difference to the actual speed of the computer for a real task. Since one subsystem is not often the whole limiting factor for a given task, you're generally lucky if you see a 5% real-world speed gain from increasing the speed of some component by 10%. A 5% gain isn't likely to be noticeable. Because this fact doesn't make for a very good story, and because many people don't have much of a head for figures, it's easy to find situations where someone's found a small difference between things, but called it a big one. And made a graph to back up that claim. It's easy enough to do that. Take, for instance, this honest graph of three values: The values in this graph are 1023, 1060, and 5000. First two very much the same, last one much bigger. Let's say that the first two numbers represent the StudlyMark2002 scores of Chip the Junior Overclocker's begging-for-death Duron box with a GeForce2 MX, before and after he's changed the epsilon margin interleave tolerance that's been added to the hacked BIOS he just flashed. And let's say that the last number represents the score of the computer that belongs to Susan across the street, which is a brand-name boring-box, but a new, shiny, really expensive one. And let's say that Chip would like his mad tweaking skillz to look more impressive than they are, and Susan's computer to look as if it's only barely better. Here the same data are, after being put through the Mislead-O-Tron. Now the first two numbers look as if they differ by almost a factor of three; the last one still looks bigger again, but not by nearly as much as the real difference. That's because now the minimum Y axis value is just below the lowest value, and the maximum Y axis value is not that far above the middle value. So Chip's two numbers look different, and Susan's number shoots off the top of the graph and gives the viewer no real idea of how different it is from the others. Here's a similarly misleading view of the thermal paste results (click it for the legible full size image). Hey! What a big range of values! Here's the honest version. If all this is new to you, then I strongly recommend you get yourself a copy of How to Lie with Statistics . It's informative. It's useful. It teaches you exactly what the title implies, and along the way also teaches you how to use stats to tell the truth, should you for some reason wish to. While I'm on a roll, allow me to also recommend The Visual Display of Quantitative Information , which not only makes you look smarter than Yoda if you leave the hardcover lying on your coffee table, but is also approximately one million times as interesting than the title might suggest. Overall There are reasons to buy fancy thermal compound. Pose value isn't really one of them; unless you're one of the "There's still some left in the tube! And I can still almost see the RAM slots! Squeeze harder!" kinds of people, nobody will be able to tell what thermal goop you've used once you've put the cooler on the CPU. It is, however, good if thermal compound doesn't dry out. Ordinary cheap white grease will, in time. It's also good to get compound that comes in a neat little syringe instead of a hard-to-meter tube (which typically leaves you putting far too much of the stuff on and then having to clean it up again) or a treacherous little bag (which can explode inside the CPU cooler box before you even open it, as has happened with a couple of the coolers I've had for review). It's also good to get compound that's easy to apply, but they're all pretty much as bad as each other, really. The PTK-001 Cooler Master grease is about the worst I've seen in this regard, but even it isn't very bad. (It occurs to me that you may be able to make stiff, hard-to-work-with goop much more manageable if you add a couple of drops of solvent to it - naphtha lighter fluid, meths or what have you. If my results in these tests hold, diluted goop should if anything work better than straight goop, while that extra solvent is still evaporating.) If you know you're going to go through a lot of thermal goop, then you might as well buy the plain stuff in bulk. Here in Australia, Jaycar will sell you a 10-gram tube of plain white goop for $AU3.95, or a 50-gram syringe of the stuff for $AU9.95, or a monster 150-gram tube for $AU19.95. Electronics stores the world over stock similar stuff in similar quantities for much the same small price, and it's all over eBay too. The drying-out problem isn't, generally, a real issue - especially for overclockers, who probably aren't going to keep the same processor for a whole year anyway. Most people, however, only need a gram or two of goop. Any more than that will remain unused until, with any luck, technology advances sufficiently that computer assemblers don't need thermal grease at all any more. In a real-world situation, exotic compounds may well work better than basic goop. Smaller contact area, more pressure, more chance that peculiar formulations will do something remarkable in this somewhat unusual situation in which the thing being cooled must never get hotter than about the boiling point of water. And, compared with the performance of the solid rubbery thermal pads that still come on basic CPU coolers [note that I wrote this back in 2002; I don't think stock CPUs have come with that stuff on them for a while now], any grease will perform very well. Pre-applied chewing-gum thermal compound can work about as well as grease, but solid pads aren't nearly as good. If you think any particular grease is going to cause your CPU to run more than a few degrees Celsius cooler than any other grease, though, then assuming the grease is properly applied, you're dreaming. If your PC's so marginal that a CPU running three or four degrees Celsius warmer will crash it [or, for modern CPUs, cause the processor to auto-throttle itself and substantially reduce system performance], the solution is not to try to edge away from the precipice with better thermal compound. It's to make a big change to the cooling system, or just lower the darn clock speed. Such a computer will crash when the room ambient temperature rises a lousy four degrees. It will crash when its intake fan filter gets clogged with dust. If it has no intake filter, it'll slowly fill its innards with dust instead. That may not crash things outright, but it can, if a dust blanket insulates some other component and causes it to overheat. And, furthermore, if you know your computer will crash at CPU temperature probe reading XC, then allow me to assure you that running the CPU at temperature probe reading X-4C is not likely to give you a rock-solid stable machine at the best of times. Is fancy thermal goop as good as the manufacturers would like you to believe, and as various Junior Overclockers do believe? Nope. Is it, therefore, a complete waste of money? Absolutely not. Just be aware that it's not magic, and don't expect the most expensive stuff to work very much better than generic grease. Arctic Silver's site Buy Arctic compounds! Readers from Australia or New Zealand can purchase Arctic Silver 3 and Arctic Alumina from Aus PC Market. Click here! (if you're NOT from Australia or New Zealand, Aus PC Market won't deliver to you. If you're in the USA, try a price search at DealTime!) Cooler Master's site Cooler Master grease kindly provided by Rectron Australia. ESG Associates' site (makers of Nanotherm compounds) Nanotherm compound kindly provided by Technomancer. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky compared Bakhmut's "total destruction" after months of continuous battles and shelling to the Japanese city of Hiroshima after the nuclear strike of 1945. This comes following conflicting reports on the status of Bakhmut, as Russia claimed having taken the city while Ukraine denied it had fallen. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2). This live blog is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage on the war in Ukraine, please click here. 05:18am: Russia launches overnight air attack on Ukraine's Dnipro Russia launched an overnight air attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said early on Monday, with media reporting a series of blasts. It was not immediately known whether the blasts were air defence systems destroying their targets or Russian missiles or drones hitting their targets but the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, of which Dnipro is the administrative centre, praised defenders. "Thanks to the defence forces, we withstood the attack. Details will come in due time," the governor Serhiy Lysak, said on his Telegram messaging app, referring to Russian forces as "terrorists". 02:41am: Brazil's Lula says meeting fell through because Ukraine's Zelensky was late Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday he was "upset" he and Volodymyr Zelensky did not meet at the G7 summit, adding his Ukrainian counterpart seemed uninterested in negotiating peace with Russia. "Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia today," Zelensky told a press conference during the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Read more on FRANCE 24 English Read also: Russia's Prigozhin claims capture of Bakhmut; Ukraine says fighting continues Birds in a cage? Logistical challenges on cards when Ukraine gets F-16s Biden backs F-16 fighter jets, pilot training for Ukraine HA NOI Vietnam Electricity (EVN) recently approved temporary electricity prices for two wind power plants among 31 applications. EVN said that it received an application for negotiation for the procurement of electricity from 31 out of 86 transitional wind and solar power plant projects, totalling 1,956 MW in capacity but not yet in commercial operation (COD). In Particular, 16 investors have proposed to apply a temporary price during the negotiation period. EVN has met and reached a consensus on temporary electricity prices with six power plants, including Nam Binh 1 wind power plant, Vien An wind power plant, Hung Hai Gia Lai wind power plant, Phu My 1 solar wind power plant, Phu My 3 solar power plant and Hanbaram wind power plant. On May 10, EVN approved temporary electricity prices for Nam Binh 1 and Vien An wind power plants, while Nam Binh 1, Hung Hai Gia Lai, and Habaram were licensed. According to the Electricity Law, power projects can only be placed into operation after receiving an electricity activity license. However, only 13 transitional energy plants, accounting for 15 per cent of the total, have received electrical operation licenses from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. VNS HA NOI Viet Nam Poultry Association (VIPA) has submitted a petition to Government calling for solutions to remove difficulties for the poultry farming and save farmers and enterprises from bankruptcy. The association said that many enterprises and farms were on the verge of collapse with thousands forced to narrow down production scale or temporarily halt operation due to prolonged losses. Due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of input materials increased to a record high while the consumption market fluctuated, pushing the prices of useful poultry products down considerably. At some point in time, the selling prices of poultry products stayed at only two-thirds of the production costs, pushing the poultry farming industry into a lot of difficulties, the association said. VIPA said to rescue the domestic poultry farming industry, it was necessary to tighten the management of the imports of poultry products. The illegal transportation and trade of poultry and poultry products across the border into Viet Nam continued to be complicated in localities sharing the borders with other countries, especially in the central and southern regions. The association estimated that on average, dozens of thousands of discarded egg-laying hens are smuggled into Viet Nam each month, which not only increased the risk of disease infection but also seriously affected the domestic poultry industry. VAPI proposed the Government create non-tariff measures to limit the import of poultry products. It urged the Government to promptly ban the import of meat products from countries which had not banned the use of animal feed additives Ractopamine and Cysteamine and to tighten the import of by-products to protect consumers. From 2014, Ractopamine and Cysteamin were banded from 160 countries around the world, including Viet Nam. Statistics from the General Department of Customs showed that the import of chickens increased during the past five years and accounted for 20-25 per cent of the total consumption of chicken meat in the domestic market. It was necessary to reduce some quarantine fees and remove unnecessary administrative procedures to lower production costs, the association said, adding that the quarantine fee should be reduced by half. Viet Nam would also need a programme to promote the export of poultry products and policies to encourage investment in poultry farming and processing. As foreign invested firms were being provided with many incentives, VAPI called for similar policies to support domestic enterprises and farmers to enhance the competitiveness and be able to compete with foreign-invested companies. A fair and healthy business environment was important to promote the sustainable development of the poultry industry, the association said. The association urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance to enhance market supervision to prevent the dumping of husbandry products as unhealthy competition. Reducing costs Bui uc Huyen, Director of Viet Tin Nutrition Joint Stock Company said that lowering animal feed was critical to lower production cost of the husbandry industry. The Government should pay attention to developing a planning of raw materials for livestock and poultry farming, especially maize. Communication should be enhanced to encourage consumers to use healthy products and limit the import of meat, together with policies to promote the establishment of value chains for the farming industry, he said. Sharing the same viewpoint, deputy director general of CP Viet Nam Livestock Joint Stock Company Vu Anh Tuan, said that as animal feed accounted for a major part in the production cost of the husbandry industry, it was necessary to develop a project on rice planting specialised for the production of animal feed. The focus must also be placed on expanding the export markets for husbandry products and providing supports to enterprises to improve production to meet the quality requirements of the World Organisation for Animal Health. Negotiations should be continued to sign veterinary agreements with countries and territories which had high demand for poultry products such as Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Under the strategy on animal husbandry development for 2021-30 period with a vision to 2045, Viet Nam aims to maintain about 500-550 million chickens with egg production at around 23 billion and poultry meet accounting for 29-31 per cent of the total meat of all kinds. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung uc Tien said that its time to implement solutions to reduce productions costs through the development of raw materials areas for animal feed. At the same time, the imports of poultry products must also be tightened, Tien said, adding that the domestic poultry farming should also create products with competitiveness to gain the market. VNS HIROSHIMA Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met US President Joe Biden and President of the European Council (EC) Charles Michel on Saturday, within the framework of the expanded summit of the Group of Seven (G7). Chinh and Biden agreed to maintain the exchange of all-level delegations. PM Chinh held that bilateral relations have positively developed over the recent past, with the economic-trade cooperation being the focus. President Biden spoke highly of the outcomes of the phone talks with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. The two exchanged ideas on a number of measures to push up relations between the two countries and international and regional issues of mutual concern. Also at the summit, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son also met his US counterpart Antony Blinken, exchanging ideas on measures to accelerate the implementation of the agreements reached by the two countries high-level leaders. At the meeting between Chinh and Michel, the two sides expressed satisfaction at the positive progress in the Viet Nam-EU relations. Affirming that the EU is a partner of prime importance in Viet Nams foreign policy, PM Chinh suggested the two sides push up the exchange of all-level delegations, and maintain and bring into play the efficiency of cooperation and dialogue mechanisms in the framework of the Viet Nam-EU partnership and cooperation agreement. PM Chinh asked the EC leader to push the parliaments of member countries to soon ratify the EVIPA; and the EC to raise its voice for the EU to soon lift its yellow-card warning concerning the illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing against Viet Nams seafood exports. He also expressed his hope for the EU and member countries to continue supporting Viet Nam in attracting resources to implement the statement on the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The EC leader expressed his joy at the vigorous, intensive and extensive development in the Viet Nam-EU relations, and spoke highly of Viet Nams efforts in the corruption fight. He took note of the progress reached between the two sides in the yellow-card warning, and affirm the EUs strong support to Viet Nam in the green transformation and JETP implementation. The leader also expressed his hope for Viet Nams continued support for the EU in strengthening relations with the ASEAN. VNS THE HAGUE Viet Nam's permanent representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Pham Viet Anh, affirmed the country's commitment to fully and responsibly implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) while attending the Fifth Review Conference to examine the CWC operation held in The Hague from Monday to Friday. Anh, who is the Vietnamese Ambassador to the Netherlands, lauded the significant achievements obtained by member states in the destruction of declared chemical weapons and the OPCW's indispensable role as an important tool to maintain security and peace for a world without chemical weapons in particular and weapons of mass destruction in general. The ambassador reaffirmed Viet Nam's consistent stance on backing the non-proliferation of and complete and verifiable disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons. Viet Nam condemns any use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances and for any motive, he stated. The Vietnamese delegation proposed that all activities of the OPCW should strictly comply with the functions and tasks specified in the CWC; their publicity, transparency, and objectivity should be enhanced and politicisation prevented; and cooperation and dialogue should be promoted to resolve differences. Viet Nam urged the OPCW to promote its functions and capabilities to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of countries in developing the chemical industry safely and securely for peaceful purposes; facilitate the utilisation of human resources from developing countries, with a focus on geographical balance; and support the idea of building and scaling up regional centres to pool resources serving the implementation of the convention, including carrying out an initiative to establish an ASEAN regional centre on CWC implementation capacity building. Viet Nam also suggested promoting the role of the Centre for Chemistry and Technology (ChemTech) in supporting equipment and training staff for member countries and opening up more employment opportunities at ChemTech for officials from member countries, especially developing ones. The CWC was signed in 1993 and came into force in 1997. Viet Nam inked the convention from the first day January 14, 1993. So far, the OPCW has been operating for 26 years, and member countries have destroyed more than 99 per cent of the declared chemical weapons under its control. The US has committed to destroying the remaining weapons before September 30 this year. VNS UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that China's "means and intent to reshape the world order" makes it the greatest threat to international stability and economic growth of the present era. The British prime minister said that the leaders of the G7 had shown "unity and resolve" in the face of the challenges presented by Beijing. Despite France's concerns that the meeting should not be perceived as anti-Beijing, the G7 statement alluded to "de-risking" rather than "de-coupling" from their relationship with China. Still, according to The Guardian, Sunak elaborated on the dangers posed by China beyond what was included in the summit press release, seemingly placing China ahead of Russia as the greatest threat to global security. Sunak, addressing the issue from a peace center in Hiroshima, Japan, said, "We will work together as the G7 and other countries make sure that we can de-risk ourselves and the vulnerability of supply chains that we have seen from China, take the steps necessary to protect ourselves against hostile investment and do so in a way that doesn't damage each other." In the Face of Possible Threat Sunak was also questioned on whether or not the G7 nations had done enough to confront the potential danger posed by China. They released a statement blasting Beijing and pledged to form a new organization to combat "economic coercion" from China and other nations. In response to Beijing's rising hostility towards Taiwan, however, the countries only said they "strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion," with no further measures taken. Sunak disagreed, arguing that recognition of the structural threat China offers to the global order was a significant step forward. He said China is the only country with the resources and motivation to alter the current international system. Sunak added that talks had taken place to prevent sensitive security information from leaking to China. See Also: Ukraine to Receive F-16s from US, Allies For Long-Term Security Boost Urge Against Violence While the G7 statement portrayed relations with China as a challenge rather than a threat, it did not shy away from using strong language to urge China to refrain from intervention actions and to voice concern about alleged human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang. Concerns over territorial conflicts in the South China Sea were also expressed, and G7 nations encouraged Beijing to utilize its influence with Russia to get out of Ukraine. China was very dissatisfied with the G7's joint statement and filed a protest with Japan as the summit's host. Several Conservative backbenchers, notably former leader Iain Duncan Smith, are vocal opponents of Sunak's China policy and have been putting pressure on No. 10 to act. This week, BBC reported that former prime minister Liz Truss visited Taiwan, urging current leader Sunak to take a harder line with Beijing. See Also: US Debt Ceiling: Biden Administration, Republican Negotiators Talks Show Progress as Deadline Nears @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. HIROSHIMA During talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Sunday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested the two sides work together to promote a new wave of Japanese investment in Viet Nam in the fields of high-tech industry and energy transition. The two leaders discussed specific measures to promote the extensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new height as they held a talk on the sidelines of the expanded Summit of the Group of Seven (G7) in Hiroshima, Japan. The two PMs agreed to promote defence-security cooperation in war remediation, human resource training, defence technology transfer and cyber security. The two leaders highly appreciated the completion of procedures for the capital commitment of the new generation official development aid (ODA) programme for economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, which totals 50 billion yen (US$362 million). They also agreed to assign ministries and agencies to discuss the possibility of Japan providing new generation ODA with high incentives and simple and flexible procedures for large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects in Viet Nam. They included North-South high-speed railway, urban railway construction, climate change combat, digital transformation, green transformation and health. They agreed to direct the ministries and agencies of the two countries to accelerate the progress of several ODA cooperation projects such as Cho Ray Hospital 2, Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien urban railway project. Regarding the Nghi Son Oil Refinery project, PM Chinh suggested businesses of the two countries exchange in the spirit of harmonising benefits and sharing risks. PM Chinh called for the two sides to work together to help Viet Nam improve its production capacity and competitiveness to participate more deeply and widely in Japanese enterprises' and global supply chains. He also expressed his hope that Japan will support Viet Nam to increase the value chain of agricultural products through technology transfer and capacity building in distribution and processing. He also proposed that Japan create favourable conditions and simplify the procedures for granting visas to Viet Nam and in the future exempt entry visas for Vietnamese citizens to promote tourism cooperation between the two countries. Regarding the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) issue, the two leaders emphasised the importance of ensuring the security and safety of navigation and overflight, and resolving all disputes and disagreements by peaceful means based on international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as well as full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and move towards achieving a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC). The two leaders also witnessed the exchange of documents to sign three ODA cooperation projects with a total value of 61 billion yen (about $500 million), including a new generation ODA for post-COVID-19 socio-economic recovery and development, public transport infrastructure project in Binh Duong Province, and agricultural infrastructure development project in Lam ong Province. VNS MOSCOW The Viet Nam-Russia Traditions and Friendship Foundation and Herzen University has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support the operation of the Russian open education centres opened by the university in Ha Noi and HCM City. Addressing the signing ceremony in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, Rector of Herzen University Sergei Tarasov said the document would create practical conditions for developing the teaching of the Russian language in Viet Nam and the Vietnamese language in Russia. The chairperson of the foundation and the Oversea Vietnamese Association in Russia, o Xuan Hoang, said the increasing number of those knowing the Russian language helps expand communication and understanding between the peoples. The signing ceremony occurred in conjunction with the end of a Vietnamese Week programme the Saint Petersburg authorities held. Earlier, Sergei Tarasov had a working session with the Vietnamese delegation involved in the pact to discuss comprehensive cooperation and partnership development matters. Herzen University is expected to open the first classes teaching the Russian language to Vietnamese people in the fall of this year. VNS by Viet Dung HCM CITY A mastectomy bra is not only a helpful product that accommodates the condition of breast cancer patients, but is also an empowering item that reminds them to be proud and confident in their bodies. The Breast Cancer Network Viet Nam (BCNV) launched its Pinkmate bra line last week as part of its 10th anniversary, featuring a catwalk of women battling breast cancer and their loved ones strutting confidently in the bra. The audiences response could only be described as going wild with happiness and pride. Many breast cancer patients have to go through medical procedures that leave behind noticeable marks on their bodies, especially mastectomy, which removes a womans breast. Breast cancer patients require bras that accommodate their condition, but lingerie is treated as a sensitive topic in Viet Nam, and many Vietnamese women have been shy about describing their breast cancer condition, leading to difficulties in finding a right bra. People with uneven breasts have had to insert other types of fabric into their bras to maintain their appearance, while others have opted out of wearing a bra to be more comfortable, but then can receive insensitive remarks from other people. Their medical conditions have left them feeling uncomfortable about their own bodies. So it is no surprise that the women at the BCNVs event were deeply inspired by the models positive energy and felt proud of the models bravery. I understand the unique loss that women undergoing mastectomy have to endure, and I also really admire their bravery for removing a part of their body to keep on living," Nguyen Thuy Tien, co-founder of the non-profit BCNV, said. Regain natural womanly beauty The PinkMate bra line is made in Viet Nam, with bras for the general public and for breast cancer patients. Pinkmate mastectomy bras are designed to be soft and cover up skin conditions left by breast cancer surgery, as well as soft breast pads to help wearers regain their curves, according to the BCNV. The BCNV has researched and worked closely with breast cancer patients for many years to create Pinkmate bras, aiming to improve the life quality of such patients. Indeed, mastectomy bras are not just small pieces of underwear that are more comfortable to wear; many people see them as a symbol of empowerment, a way for them to regain their natural womanly beauty, and even a companion in their journeys against breast cancer. Ngoc Hong, a patient in HCM City who had her left breast removed, said that her Pinkmate bra was very comfortable to wear, and the fabric helps cover up incision marks and melanoma caused by radiotherapy. Huong Tra, another patient in HCM City and a member of the BCNV, said that bras highlight a womans beauty, especially when wearing a traditional ao dai (national costume). Mastectomy patients want a specialised bra so that they can go outside in confidence and feel beautiful, she said. Profits from the bra sale will be used to offer free bras to low-income breast cancer patients. Prior to this, the BCNV had also raised funds to buy mastectomy bras from Europe for 700 low-income women in Viet Nam. The BCNV has been helping over 2,600 breast cancer patients through a wide range of activities, including programmes to raise awareness of the disease, a library of free wigs for rent (with the help of hair donors), and activities to care for the mind and body of patients. It has been making great contributions towards raising the rate of early breast cancer detection and improving the lives of patients. 'Be more open about bra' Vietnamese culture typically considers lingerie and body parts such as breasts as sensitive and somewhat taboo, which leads to many people being uncomfortable with discussing them openly. Nguyen Phuong Linh, a woman residing in HCM City's District 1, told Viet Nam News that the sexualisation of breasts led to many undeserved awkward situations, such as how she feels uncomfortable when a male doctor examines her breasts, even though deep down she knows that is normal. Many Vietnamese women have been shy about going to doctors to check up on abnormalities in breasts or genitals, which usually leads to late detection of diseases. The BCNV has organised a contest where participants create online content (including text posts, drawings and videos) to encourage more light-hearted and open discussion about breasts and bras. Phuong Linh said that it was important for these topics to be de-sexualised, as people should try to view breasts and related topics in a more open, un-sexualised way, so that more people would be less shy about them. This would result in people being able to discuss medical conditions and lingerie shopping normally. In Viet Nam, statistics from the Global Cancer Observatory reveal that breast cancer accounts for 25 per cent of cancers in women with nearly 22,000 new cases and more than 9,000 deaths each year. It is important to encourage people to get breast cancer screenings early, as well as boosting the morale of breast cancer patients to have more confidence in themselves. Easy access to mastectomy bras or bras designed for breast cancer patients, as well as facilitating an open, positive dialogue regarding breast health and lingerie, are crucial in helping these people fight their battles. VNS by Luong Thu Huong Using a hypodermic needle and syringe to inject colour agents into a transparent layer of jelly, Tran Phuong Nga elaborately creates intricate flowers, leaves and other decorative elements that look incredibly lifelike: a whole jelly cake doubles as an edible work of art. The beauty of flowers, cute animals, beautiful love stories or romantic songs have become endless inspirations for Nga's three-dimensional canvas of transparent jelly. Savouring the cake is like enjoying an artwork, feasting both the eyes and taste buds. The Ha Noi-based artisan made her first 3D jelly art cakes in 2015 to please her son, as it was one of his favourite treats. Back then, the art was trendy in Viet Nam and prevalent in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Her first understanding of the making of jelly art cakes came from online videos in which international artisans showcased their techniques. Instead of using gelatin or agar like the foreign crafters, Nga came up with her own ingredients for the dessert creations, including jelly powder, pandan leaves and dragon fruit as natural dyes, and coconut milk and fruits to create flavour. Her first cake had a flowery pattern created with a straw instead of a hypodermic needle, and it took nearly three hours to finish. Though it was imperfect, it surprisingly received much praise from many of her Facebook friends, and encouraged her to continue to experiment with different methods. After many fails, she finally succeeded in developing her own recipe for the delicious and beautiful cakes. According to Nga, the basic tools to make a jelly art cake include a cake mould, one or two modified injection needles and syringes. The ingredients for her creations and their colours have natural origins that are easy to find, for example, yellow from pumpkin powder, green from matcha tea, blue from butterfly pea flower, or brown from chocolate. The making of a jelly cake includes several steps. The first is to create a jelly base, which must be transparent to craft a perfect cake. After preparing the colour agents from natural ingredients, the artisan will sculpt decorative patterns inside the base. Finally, the jelly will be poured into a cake mould and left to cool. All four steps are equally important. It is necessary to be meticulous and careful in each step to create a cake or a work of art that is both beautiful and delicious, said the 42-year-old cake-lover. As Nga is a flower lover, most of her creations are inspired by flowers, like chrysanthemums, roses, sunflowers or lotuses. Before embarking on a work, instead of practising drawing, she will study the flower carefully, from its petals, leaves and branches, or simply observe it until she can feel its beauty. Some flowers can be sculpted right away, while others take years to perfect. Besides popular themes like realistic looking flowers or animals, Ngas artworks also feature stories inspired by memories and songs. Each jelly art cake requires meticulousness and perseverance. The larger the cake, the more intricate it becomes. She has made many large cakes of up to 1m by 0.75m with designs of koi fish, lotus ponds, or lotus flowers, such as for the International Buddhist Festival in 2019 at Tam Chuc Pagoda. With a strong passion for edible art, she decided to quit her job of 12 years at a state organisation to wholeheartedly dedicate herself to her passion, and has never looked back. Since I started making 3D jelly art cakes, I have understood what passion means and the determination to let go of many things to pursue my dream. Being able to do what I love is freedom, and enjoying the work I do is happiness. Im fortunate to have both of these things, she said. This passion has also enabled Nga to travel to many places, meet people of the same interest and inspire others. Many netizens have been impressed by her artistic creations and inquired about her experience, which has motivated her to launch the first online 3D jelly cake making courses in Viet Nam. The courses have been attended by not only Vietnamese but also international learners from as far as Malaysia, Germany and the US. Nga has collaborated with various media agencies to livestream and record free instructional videos on social media. The number of her students now reaches the hundreds, and many have earned success from the culinary art. In 2017, her first student, based in Taiwan, won second-place in the international jelly art competition in Malaysia. One year later, the Vietnamese team, under Ngas instruction, won the first prize and many other major ones in a competition in Taiwan, while Nga herself was awarded with the title of Best Instructor. In the following years, she has been constantly invited to be a judge of some competitions held in South Korea, Malaysia and other countries. The cake crafter was even granted the title "Artisan of Culinary Culture of Vietnamese Traditional Village" in November 2020 as a recognition of her tireless dedication to the art. The artisan revealed that her first book about 3D jelly art cakes will be released this year, and she also hopes to launch the first international competition for the art in Viet Nam soon. VNS by Van Chau If you are a lover of beautiful beaches and are too familiar with famous ones in Phu Quoc Island, Cam Ranh Bay or a Nang, and are looking for beaches that still retain their wild and idyllic beauty, then do not miss Phu Quy Island in the southern central province of Binh Thuan. As Phu Quy is quite far out, situated about 120km off Phan Thiet City, it has that remote, wild allure. At the moment, its mostly young Vietnamese travellers who visit. So this is an up-and-coming destination thats worth visiting while it remains rather undiscovered. The small island (1618sq.km) is home to approximately 30,000 people. That's why it remains quite untouched by commercial tourism, so its less developed than other islands around the country. But it has good accommodations such as some affordable small guesthouses and homestays, abundant seafood and friendly locals. Other reasons to visit include stunning seascapes, remote natural beauty, and rustic charm. Think big bays, volcanic-rock cliffs, crystal-clear waters, sacred sites, flourishing orchards and primeval forests. Hikers and snorkelers will be in heaven here, as there are viewpoints to climb to and coral reefs to explore. Read on to discover what to eat and do on the island. In recent years, Phu Quy Island has become a more popular destination on the travel list. Tourists have learned about Phu Quy only over the last two years, due to its location. The numbers of travellers remain at a high number, and are mostly backpackers. During the Reunification Day holidays (April 29 to May 3) of this year, Phu Quy welcomed about 10,000 tourists, a third of the island's population. In the whole year of 2022, the number of visitors to Phu Quy was about 93,000 people, the highest ever. Nguyen Thi Tu, who is from Phu Quy and works in HCM City, said: "After more than three years of not returning to my hometown, on this holiday I went back and I was very surprised by the thousands of tourists there." "The restaurants on the island are all overcrowded, and the roads are many times busier than before. Hundreds of colourful rental motorbikes move on the island. I was so surprised at this change," she said. Huynh Van Mao, owner of a local restaurant, said: "When I first opened the restaurant, the customers were mainly locals. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has been controlled, Phu Quy tourism has developed rapidly. My restaurant has doubled its tables to 50, serving about 300 guests, but during national holidays, there are still not enough tables for guests." Attraction of untouched beauty Nguyen Van Linh, deputy director of the Phu Quy Island Tourism Cooperative, said: After the COVID-19 epidemic was under control, the travel trend changed. Tourists now tend to go to beaches that still retain their wild features rather than travelling in famous cities like Phu Quoc, Nha Trang or a Nang. If you travel in Phu Quy, you should not miss attractive landmarks like Ganh Hang Cliff, Trieu Duong Bay, Linh Quang Pagoda, Phu Quy Flagpole, Phu Quy Lighthouse, Mo Thay Temple, Bai Nho Beach and more. Surrounded by the deep blue ocean, the most distinctive characteristic of Phu Quy Island is the gorgeous beaches and bays. The water there is the best and clearest among the many islands of Viet Nam. Bai Nho Beach and Ganh Hang are in the southwest of the island and can be accessed via a steep and grassy path from the main road. In the shadow of the Phu Quy Flagpole, Bai Nho Beach looks like a slice of black rock and white sand with bright-blue water. This spot is not suitable for swimming but its a good idea to hike along the rugged cliffs that stretch on both sides of the beach. Ganh Hang is one of the most beautiful beaches of Phu Quy with a crescent shape hemmed in by rock outcroppings. The beach is small but very good for swimming. The sea here is blue year round. This is an ideal place for tourists who want to immerse themselves in nature. There is a large cliff facing the sea, creating a majestic scenery. Trieu Duong Bay is another good place for swimming spot where you can spend a whole day. It boasts a long, wide stretch of white sand beach with casuarina forests in the background. Their shade is perfect for indulging at a lazy, peaceful picnic. To enjoy more sparkling seas and soft sands, take a boat trip to some of the small islets around Phu Quy [which consists of more than 10 islets]. These include Hon Tranh, Hon Den, and Hon Hai. For an all-round memorable sea experience, get your host to arrange a tour where you catch fish to eat on a raft house for lunch. At 106m above sea level, the sacred mountain top of Cao Cat is one of the highest spots on the island. Over time, the volcanic rocks have eroded to form deep grooves featuring visually arresting horizontal lines. Climb to the top to see why its dubbed, the Grand Canyon of Viet Nam. This is also the location of the Linh Son Pagoda, a monastery boasting a particularly majestic statue of Buddha. People often go on a pilgrimage here to pray for peace. But there are plenty of benches and lookout points for simply enjoying an epic sunset. Another stunning vantage point is from the lighthouse at the foot of Cam Mountain west of the port. Climb the stairs to enjoy the kind of sweeping views that make you marvel at the vastness of this beautiful world. Entry is free. But be sure to leave a donation to contribute to the upkeep of this attractive landmark. Delicious seafood Going to the island, the famous dish that no one can ignore is seafood. Seafood on Phu Quy Island includes the famous 'moon' crab, which is very tasty with fragrant meat. Some other delicious dishes to try are king crab, grouper, red grouper, and snail salad, so if you are seafood lover, come here and you will find the best ones in Viet Nam. The most famous dining option in Phu Quy is fresh, delicious and affordable seafood straight from the ocean. Sea cucumbers and crabs are among the most popular seafood on the island. Tourists can find informal local seafood restaurants set around the island. Tran Hung ao Street in Tam Thanh Commune is the gathering point of bigger restaurants. Another option for seafood is floating restaurants clustered just offshore at Bai Phu Bay. These places are set up on open-air terraces and offer a relaxing atmosphere. Phu Quys street food may not be varied but has still a decent selection. Street food vendors can be seen along the main streets, but the busiest places are Vo Van Kiet Street in Tam Thanh Commune and around Long Hai market. The most popular street foods here are savoury pancakes filled with freshly caught shrimp and pork, fresh spring rolls filled with herbs, fish cake and pork, rice vermicelli with fried tofu and shrimp dipping sauce. VNS Get to Phu Quy Island The only way to go to Phu Quy is by speed boat. So you need to get to the port in Phan Thiet to catch a boat to the island. Depending on the type of boat, the journey will take 2.5 to 3.5 hours. Theres no airport in Binh Thuan Province. However, the nearest airports to Phan Thiet are from Cam Ranh Airport (about 195km), and Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City (about 210km). The option of flying to Tan Son Nhat Airport then continuing the journey to Phan Thiet is most popular among backpackers because there are plenty of buses and trains operating the route between HCM City and Phan Thiet. It will take about two to three hours to get to Phan Thiet by bus or train from HCM City or Cam Ranh City. Travellers prone to seasickness are advised to take motion-sickness medication beforehand. On the island, you can rent a bicycle or motorbike with a cost of only about VN150,000-200,000 (US$6.5-8.5) per day. The best time of the year to explore Phu Quy is during the dry season, between December and June. But the ideal swimming months are March through April, when the seas are calm. On the island, there are currently no resorts or high-class hotels. Its only motels, inns and hotels. For regular days, you can comfortably book a hostel or homestay. But if you come here on public holiday seasons, you should book in advance. Also, staying in a homestay is the most interesting option, and will bring you close to local people and you will learn a lot. The price of hotels and motels on the island is from VN100,00 to 800,000 (US$4.3 to 34) per day. Despite looming concerns over a shortage of electricity this summer, many completed wind and solar power projects have yet to be connected to the national grid, given protracted pricing problems. Multibillion-dong investments remain on hold amid soaring electricity demand. As electricity producers are unable to benefit from their investments and consumers face potential power undersupply, the energy industry seems to be in a dilemma about how to get out of the woods. Electricity consumption is on the rise According to EVNs subsidiary HCMC Power Corporation (EVN-HCMC), the city used 94.8 million kWh of power on May 6, the highest daily electricity consumption level ever. It was over 400,000kWh more than the previous record established only the day before, May 5, at 94.4 million kWh. This was the fourth time this year that HCMC had set a new record for the daily consumption of electricity. On April 21 and 25, data hit record highs of 93.5 million kWh and 93.6 million kWh, respectively. In Hanoi, the power consumption has also increased due to soaring temperatures. The citys peak electricity use was 72 million kWh in April, but it jumped to 78.2 million kWh on May 5. Elsewhere in Vietnam, hot weather has led to a spike in the demand for power. Total electricity usage reached 1.6 billion kWh between May 1 and 7, an increase of 3.43% weekly, as reported by Northern Power Corporation, the EVN electric power supplier of 26 northern provinces and cities, excluding Hanoi. The highest data was reported on May 6, reaching 282.1 million kWh. According to weather experts, Vietnam is expected to have more heat waves in the summer. The northern and central regions are likely to experience heat from May through August, peaking between June and July. According to EVN-HCMC, the soaring demand for air conditioning and cooling equipment could overload the electricity grid and cause power outages in certain areas. During the hottest summer days, the company recommended using energy efficiently and being aware of fire risks. A shortage of electricity In a recent report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, EVN warned of an emergency given the potential shortage of electricity supply, especially in northern Vietnam. As a result of the El Nino phenomenon, water levels of reservoirs in northern Vietnam were 70-90% of the average during the first four months of the year. Overall, the remaining capacity of reservoirs to generate electricity is 4.5 billion kWh, which is 4.1 billion kWh less than the same period in 2022. Meanwhile, growing material prices have hindered the operations of local coal and gas-fueled thermal power plants. Since April 17, the National Load Dispatch Center, an EVN subsidiary, has been generating electricity from diesel-fueled turbines, with the highest output of 2,498MW set on April 21. EVN said from May through July, power use could increase by 15% annually, and the northern region may experience a power shortage of up to 1,600-4,900MW. The firm has thus planned to pursue a twofold strategy, which aims to maximize the local hydroelectric power plants capability and enhance power transmission from the central region to the North. In addition, EVN will start negotiations with its partners in China and Laos to increase electricity imports. Vietnams largest power company has sought to make deals with the Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant and other power facilities to boost the electricity supply in the coming months. Obstacles in operating renewable power projects According to Decision No. 13 in 2020 of the prime minister on the incentive mechanism for solar power projects, EVN was responsible for purchasing the entire electricity produced from solar power projects with the 20-year preferential feed-in tariff scheme. However, due to the impacts of Covid-19 and difficulties in the investment process, many investors were unable to sell energy under the preferential pricing policy because their commercial operation date was after the deadline of December 31, 2020. In addition, hundreds of additional wind and solar projects have been completed since the relevant regulations expired. The projects investors are now waiting for the new electricity pricing framework to operate their facilities. However, given the obstacles in pricing negotiations, nearly 5,000MW designed output of the 85 so-called transitional wind and solar power projects, which include those waiting for electricity prices and the unfinished projects, have yet to be connected to the national grid. In late April, 23 solar and wind power project developers proposed the Government seek help negotiating power prices with the Electric Power Trading Company (EVN-EPTC), another EVN subsidiary. Although investors have filed the documents required for electricity pricing negotiations with the firm, the talks have made little progress due to a lack of legal documents detailing electricity pricing negotiations. According to an EVN proposal dated April 26, the maximum purchase price was suggested at VND592.45 per kWh for ground-mounted solar plants, VND754.13 per kWh for floating solar farms, VND793.56 per kWh for inland wind power plants and VND907.97 per kWh for offshore wind farms. Yet, investors questioned whether the price was sufficient to cover operational spending and the opportunity cost of waiting, not to mention interest and depreciation costs. In addition, doubts have been raised over potential legal and financial inefficiencies, leaving huge investments at risk of loss and investors prone to bankruptcy. Therefore, investors proposed that the prime minister direct the Ministry of Industry and Trade to issue guidelines for the negotiations between the buyer (EVN) and the seller (investors) to avoid the wastage of resources caused by a lengthy negotiation process. For now, it is less likely that the huge power output generated from transitional wind and solar power projects will be able to help with energy needs this summer. Investments totaling thousands of billions of Vietnam dong will remain on hold as providing a sufficient legal framework that harmonizes the interests of relevant stakeholders does not seem to happen overnight. More importantly, protracted pricing negotiations, in the long run, could hinder the growth pace of Vietnams renewable power projects, impacting energy security and the Governments strategy to achieve the net-zero commitment by 2050. According to experts, it is critical to remove the current regulatory constraints while encouraging investment in the energy production industry. While negotiations between investors and the relevant authorities continue, the aim is to ensure that the suggested price is sufficient for firms to keep their facilities running smoothly. For example, EVN might consider connecting eligible projects to the national grid and seeking approval for a price of 50% of the ceiling set by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. At the very least, the effort would support local investors in paying operational costs and preventing equipment from becoming a huge waste. The investors proposed using one of the three following options during the provisional mobilization of electricity from their projects. Firstly, EVN pays the investors an amount equal to 90% of the ceiling price of the electricity price framework pursuant to Decision 21 until the relevant parties mutually reach an agreement on electricity prices without a retroactive effect. This means the agreed-upon prices would be applied from the date of mutual agreement by the two parties rather than from the commencement date of the provisional mobilization of electricity. Secondly, EVN pays the investors an amount equal to 50% of the ceiling price of the electricity price framework pursuant to Decision 21 until the relevant parties mutually reach an agreement on the electricity prices, with a retroactive effect. This means the agreed-upon prices would be applied from the commencement date of the provisional mobilization of electricity. Secondly, EVN pays the investors an amount equal to 50% of the ceiling price of the electricity price framework pursuant to Decision 21 until the relevant parties mutually reach an agreement on the electricity prices, with a retroactive effect. This means the agreed-upon prices would be applied from the commencement date of the provisional mobilization of electricity. Thirdly, if the price for temporary mobilization accounts for half of the ceiling price of the electricity price framework pursuant to Decision 21, the provisional period would not be included in the 20-year contract term officially agreed between EVN and the investors. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) After experiencing the taste of Japans creamy nama chocolate while traveling abroad, Ella Livingston said, she quickly became a chocoholic and decided to turn her passion into a business that would help her native Ghana. Since she created Cocoa Asante in 2018, Livington has continued as a math teacher in Hamilton County while trying to build her startup venture. But that has quickly changed in the past couple of months. Sales of Livingtons luxury chocolates made from cocoa beans grown in Ghana surged March 11 when TikTok star Keith Lee gave Livingstons business a glowing review on his account. Lee has more than 5 million followers of his food-review videos, according to analytics tracker SocialBlade, and his endorsement of Cocoa Asante propelled sales overnight. Within 45 minutes of Lees post on TikTok, Livingston said, her stock of chocolates was completely sold out. Cocoa Asante daily sales revenue skyrocketed from just under $1,000 to $24,719 in one day. Last week, Livingston got another major boost for her growing business by winning the top prize in this years Idea Leap competition from the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union. From among nearly 100 local small businesses that applied for the Idea Leap grant competition this year, Cocoa Asante won first place in the Chattanooga competition, taking home a $30,000 grant awarded Thursday. I have entered the competition for each of the past three years and to win this grant is an amazing moment for me and a tremendous boost for our company, Livingston said in a telephone interview Monday. Since the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union started the Idea Leap grants in 2018 to help local startup businesses, the credit union has awarded about $500,000 in grants and scholarships. The program was expanded this year to include new competitions in Cleveland, Tennessee, and North Georgia, where the credit union also operates. Todd Fortner, president and CEO of the credit union, said applications for next years program will open in November. Livingston won the top prize this year, but the credit union also awarded another $135,000 to small businesses judged to be the most promising for future growth. Livingston, 30, said she will use her grant to buy more cooking equipment to grow Cocoa Asante. She gave up her teaching post this spring to work full time on her business, which now has three full-time and another couple of part-time workers. Livingston, who moved to the U.S. at age 3, was lured to Chattanooga by the Project Inspire program designed to promote more science, technology, engineering and math teaching in schools with a preponderance of minority students. She started her business in her own home, later moving to a commercial kitchen and then the Hamilton County Incubator as the company expanded. The $30,000 we won means a lot to us because it means well be better able to meet the demand we already have and hopefully build our business even more, she said. Livingston said she is also preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for more equipment and staff to continue to grow the company. Cocoa Asante is committed to becoming bean-to-bar, and eventually Livingston hopes to move the candy production to Ghana to help boost her native country, which grows the biggest share of cocoa beans but gets only a small share of chocolate sales. This means that we will control the entire production process from the cocoa bean to the final chocolate bar, she said in a statement on the Cocoa Asante website. Doing so will allow us to invest more into the communities that grow our cocoa beans, and it will ensure that our customers get the highest quality chocolate on the market. Tommy Nix, vice president of business and commercial services at the credit union, said Cocoa Asante is among dozens of companies that have been aided by Idea Leap, which was created six years ago and is funded by the credit union from proceeds generated by Idea Leap loans made to small businesses. For the first time ever, we expanded the Idea Leap grant program by hosting three separate competitions in the Chattanooga, Ocoee and Northwest Georgia areas, Nix said in a statement Monday. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Progress is visible to visitors on a set of major construction projects at Cameron Park Zoo that are set to make a new place for endangered penguins in a little more than a year. Builders working under John W. Erwin General Contractor have begun construction on the new veterinary hospital and education building near the zoos main entrance off Fourth Street, and Jacobe Brothers Construction has site preparation underway for a new penguin exhibit. We are very excited to have the work on track for the penguin exhibit to be open in summer 2024 and the veterinary hospital able to support it, interim Zoo Director Duane Hills said Friday. From the parking lot outside the main entrance at the zoo, the future location of the veterinary hospital and the education center can be seen. A concrete retaining wall in the past week or so has emerged from its wooden forms, giving a sense of how the split-level facility will take shape. Supply chain delays have not held up construction on the veterinary hospital or the education center, city facilities project manager Derrick Oltmann said. The contractors have slowed the work a bit due to the recent rains, but so far these delays have been on track with weather delays built into the schedule, Oltmann said Friday. We are on track to have the animal hospital ready for the penguins when they arrive next summer. When the builders get far enough along with construction of the education building, which is at the same level as the parking lot, then they will shift their focus to completing work on the animal hospital, which will be built a few feet up a small hill, behind a retaining wall, Oltmann said. When the veterinary hospital is finished, it will have space to quarantine new animals when they arrive at the zoo, as well as areas for evaluation, treatment and even surgery for the animals, Hills said. One of the key requirements for the penguin exhibit is to have the veterinary hospital sufficiently constructed to receive these animals, take them through the quarantine process and provide any care they may need, Hills said. Funding for all aspects of each project is now in place, Oltmann said. Construction at the zoo went on hold during the pandemic, and by last summer the price tag for four bond-funded projects had grown from $15.3 million to between $22 and $25 million. Voters countywide approved a $14.5 million bond for the projects in 2019, which was expected to cover the cost alongside about $1 million in private donations. The first and by far smallest of the four bond-funded projects, a hoofstock barn, is already complete, with the trio of projects now underway representing the bond packages headliners. In September, McLennan County Commissioners Court approved a deal with the city to provide $3.9 million that would benefit the zoo projects. The city and the Cameron Park Zoological and Botanical Society found the additional money needed, and officials held a groundbreaking for the vet hospital, education center and penguin exhibit in December. The penguin exhibit will house black-footed South African penguins, an endangered species well suited to the hot dry summers in Waco. The exhibit will include a large pool and indoor areas where guests can observe the penguins, as well as a pavilion for black-footed cats, a family restroom and a small retail space to sell merchandise. The education and veterinary centers will be under the same roof, but employees needing to walk from on to the other will have to go outside and walk around the building because no doors or hallways will connect them. Surgical suites, a pharmacy and spaces tailored for various kinds of animals, including aquatic animals, reptiles and others that require controlled environments, will all be included in the veterinary hospital. The education center will house animal ambassadors, including some snakes and small reptiles. It will also contain classrooms, offices and multipurpose spaces available for rent. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Waco Fire Station No. 4 could find a new home on La Salle Avenue by 2027 as the Waco Fire Department looks to upgrade its 63-year-old facility near Baylor University. Design is also coming along for the planned Station No. 15 on Panther Way, meant to improve Wacos response times at the southwest edge of the city. Waco Fire Chief Gregory Summers said Station No. 4s current facility at 1002 Speight Ave., built in 1960, is a small and outdated building on a lot with little room for expansion. The property with about 3,500 square feet of living area and 4,000 square feet of paved area, according to the McLennan County Appraisal District is too small to upgrade to meet the growing departments needs and only has room to house one firetruck, he said. We have to move it off that property because the property is not big enough to update like we need to update for a present-day fire station, Summers said. The new station is planned for a lot on La Salle Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets that the city bought from Baylor last year. Summers said it would have three bays able to house vehicles for the multi-company operation, with room for a fire engine, ladder truck and a third company vehicle. The three-bay setup is similar to the proposed design for Fire Station No. 15. Also in line with current designs, Station No. 4 will upgrade to Jack-and-Jill bathrooms to support separate living quarters for male and female firefighters, Summers said. Its not new in the fire service, but the older your fire stations, less likely they are gender-friendly, he said. Each new station will be equipped with large washing machines made to extract carcinogens from firefighters gear, which Station No. 4 does not currently have the plumbing capacity for, he said. A request to start the design phase will go to city council late this year, with selection of a design firm slated for April or May of next year, according to a presentation Summers gave to the council last month. The project has a preliminarily budget of about $7 million, with substantial completion slated for 2027. The building on La Salle Avenue will sit next to the former Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce site, which Council Member Alice Rodriguez said is still occupied by the owner, Cen-Tex Community Projects Inc. She said she likes the mission revival-style architecture presented last month, with stucco walls and a tower, to keep the consistency of the look of buildings in the La Salle Avenue corridor. Summers said the fire department does not have plans for the existing facility on Speight Avenue and he is not yet sure if it will house other city operations or if it will be sold. At this point I dont know what those plans are, but theres nothing that we can do with it in its current location or condition that its in, he said. And its not a bad fire station. Its just outdated. Fire Station No. 15 Summers said Station No. 15 at 10905 Panther Way, next to a city water tower along Ritchie Road, will take priority over Station No. 4s relocation, given a lack of coverage in the area. He said the new facility is almost out of its design phase. The closest fire station to the new location is No. 14 in Speegleville or No. 11 on Imperial Drive. Taking Imperial Drive to Hewitt Drive is a straight shot into the area that Station No. 15 would cover, but response times vary and lag from their goal of 6 minutes, depending on traffic, Summers said. The response time for Station 11, which are more than likely to be the first station to get there, is anywhere from 6 to 10 minutes, and it varies depending on traffic, the time of day, he said. We have not had an issue. I dont anticipate us having an issue in getting there, but if were going to cover the city like it needs to be covered, then we need to make sure we have adequate protection. The area near Hewitt and Woodway has seen rapid residential growth in recent years, including the 1,000-home Park Meadows subdivision. The new location was chosen with input from the Insurance Services Office, a third-party entity that ranks fire departments based on their performance on a 100-point scale, Summers said. The ISO assesses how prepared a community is to respond to fires and determines where fire stations are needed. Its ratings affect property insurance rates. When they looked at our city, they identified that we need a fire station out here, he said. And so we began to look at putting that into the budget process to make the city aware of where we need a fire station. The department as a whole is scored out of 50 points, looking at how many firefighters the department has, how many trucks it has, what kind of equipment it has and the amount of training done monthly. For 40 points ISO scores the departments water supply, and 10 points are allocated for dispatch. Waco scored about 97 points, sitting in the highest rank, Class 1, Summers said. Station No. 15 should have a finalized design this month, with a request for proposals going out for contractors next month and construction starting by the end of the year. The department is looking to move into the new facility in early 2025, he said. According to Summers presentation to the city council, the construction projects budget is $5.46 million. Summers said the department has started the hiring process for firefighters to staff Station No. 15, seven already hired and working in Waco with five more on the way in October. When the station opens it will be fully staffed with trained firefighters, and promotions for a captain, two lieutenants and three drivers will come from within the department, he said. Taking salary, benefits and uniforms into account, hiring one firefighter costs about $93,000, totaling some $1.1 million to staff the new station, Summers said. An Irish regulator is getting ready to sanction Meta-owned Facebook for its misuse of user data by issuing a fine of over 746 million ($807 million) and ordering the social media platform to halt data transfers to the US. This was initially reported by Bloomberg and is anticipated to be verified as soon as Monday, May 22. The punishment will be the largest ever for a violation of the EU's general data protection law, surpassing the 746 million slapped on Amazon by Luxembourg in 2021. Meta vs. EU As the primary EU privacy regulator for Facebook and its owner Meta, Ireland's Data Protection Commission's ruling is expected to block data transfers from Facebook's European users to the US. The Guardian said the verdict probably will not go into effect right away. There will likely be an appeals process, and Meta will be allowed more time to comply with the judgment, which might extend any suspension until the fall. Concerns that European users' data is not properly secured from US spy agencies when transported over the Atlantic were at the center of the legal challenge launched by Austrian privacy advocate Max Schrems. Meta's policy leader, Nick Clegg, wrote in 2020 that blocking data transfers based on standard contractual clauses (SCC; a technique used by Facebook and others) may have "a far-reaching effect on businesses that rely on SCCs and on the online services many people and businesses rely on." According to Meta's most recent quarterly results, the firm would be unable to provide some of its most important products and services in Europe without SCCs or other alternate modes of data transfers. Notably, according to Reuters, Meta already warned last year that a prohibition on its data transfer mechanism from Europe to the US may compel it to discontinue Facebook services in Europe. Also Read: TikTok Ban in Montana: How It Impacts Data Privacy Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and advocate for stricter protection of internet users' data, has said that a fine of more than 746 million would not be enough to force Facebook to modify its economic model, which is dependent on user data. "A billion-euro parking ticket is of no consequence to a company that earns many more billions by parking illegally," he argued. If the politically agreed upon new data transfer agreement between the US and EU is put into effect, any suspension would be null and void. Speaking for Meta, a representative stated, "This case relates to a historic conflict of EU and US law, which is in the process of being resolved via the new EU-US Data Privacy Framework. We welcome the progress that policymakers have made towards ensuring the continued transfer of data across borders and await the regulator's final decision on this matter." Meta, also the parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp, has been fined about 1 billion ($1.08 billion) by the Irish data authorities since September 2021. Apple, Google, TikTok, and other digital platforms with EU headquarters in Ireland are governed by the same body. Also Read: Twitter Accuses Microsoft of Data Policy Breach, Raising Concerns over Privacy and Accountability @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This beautiful New Orleans style home in historic Castle Heights shows quality in every detail! Built by a prominent Waco citizen in 1939 it is even more lovely today than it was when it was built! Current sellers are only the 2nd people to own this home. The spreading oak trees, and large beautifully landscaped double lot provide the perfect setting for playing, entertaining, relaxing and enjoying life to it's fullest! The outside of this home sets it apart from all others, but when you enter the lovely foyer, the full beauty of the home starts to truly unfold. At one end of the foyer is an expansive formal living area with a light filled sunroom at the far end. At the other end of the foyer is a large formal dining room that has plenty of space for celebrations around the table. Off the dining room is an open, well designed kitchen that offers a large island and plenty of workspace for a dedicated cook. The kitchen is open to a great table space for informal dining and then steps down into a grand den that was added for the comfort and flexibility of the home. Fireplaces in the formal living area as well as in the family room add warmth and hospitality to those areas. Both fireplaces have a gas jet and can be wood burning but are currently set up with gas logs. Enjoy sitting at the informal dining table in the bay window of the kitchen as a favorite spot to watch the neighborhood activites while enjoying the comforts of home. Also on the main floor is a private room perfect for an office or library space. There are 5 bedrooms and 3 & 1/2 bathrooms in the home. One bedroom and bathroom is attached to the garage with a separate entrance from the outside and an entrance from the garage making this a very private guest room, retreat or flex space. There are too many other amenities in this beautiful home to list them all, but following are a few. In addition to the two car garage attached to the home, there is a one car porte cachere at the end of the driveway. This space also includes a huge store room that is large enough to hold all the holiday and party decorations you could possibly desire. The driveway has an electric iron gate for full privacy. In the upstairs master suite, open the French doors to step out onto the upstairs balcony for a treetop experience. The exquisite partially covered New Orleans style brick patio in back extends out to a fountain and large open tree shaded brick patio area. Two extra pull-in parking spaces are just off the driveway in front for off the street guest parking. There is a basement to the home that has a sump pump and houses the mechanicals. Truly a one of a kind home in Waco! View More Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WATERLOO Randy Miller has been working on a project he believes is the first of its kind in the state of Iowa. An active member of AMVETS Post 31 in Evansdale, Miller spearheaded an effort to retire U.S. flags in a healthier and environmentally safe way: by burying them. The AMVETS Post, along with other veterans and community members, attended the burial of more than 500 retired American flags on Friday at Elmwood Cemetery. Seeing it take off its kinda heartfelt, Miller said. Hes been doing flag retirement ceremonies for 50 years. U.S. flags are typically retired through a burning ceremony. Miller said retirement by fire has been the process for more than 100 years, but flags in years passed were usually made of cotton. Now, flags are made from synthetic materials such as polyester and nylon. He said when those materials are burned it causes huge plumes of black smoke that affect ceremony attendees lungs as well as the surrounding wildlife. Even after burning, the remains of the flags are hard as coal, Miller said, and then sometimes thrown away. To throw it in the garbage doesnt seem practical or wise to me, he said. The ceremony started with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, led by Bill Quibell. Miller then explained how the flags are folded for burial and what the shape means. He said the triangular fold represents revolutionaries, by mimicking the shape of their hats such as the one Paul Revere wore. The three sides also stand for many things such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the flags colors; the three branches of government; the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights; and the Holy Trinity of the Bible. After the explanation, a prayer was read and the Honor Guard performed a three-volley salute, which is a ceremonial act at military funerals. Taps was then played. The spent shells from the salute were also buried with the flags. The burial plot is located at the front entrance of Elmwood Cemetery. It is marked by a monument, donated by Hagarty Monument of Waterloo, and marble posts donated by the cemetery. The cemetery also donated the plot for the buried flags. Next year, Miller said, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, located along West Fourth Street, will be the site of the retirement ceremony. The cemetery donated a vault to be put inside a mausoleum. Miller said anyone who wants to donate a flag for retirement can do so by visiting the post at 706 Colleen Ave. At the post there is a drop box for flags. Flags that are retired are deemed unserviceable due to age, wear and tear. Photos: Flag Burial, May 19, 2023 051923jr-flag-burial-1 051923jr-flag-burial-2 051923jr-flag-burial-3 051923jr-flag-burial-4 051923jr-flag-burial-5 051923jr-flag-burial-6 051923jr-flag-burial-7 Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WATERLOO The city and its partners will host a ribbon cutting and dedication of the Veterans Way Walk of Honor banner installation along East and West Fourth Streets downtown. The event will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday in Lincoln Park. It will begin with the presentation of colors by East High School Junior ROTC, singing of the National Anthem and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance led by Frank Magsamen. Comments will be made by Mayor Quentin Hart and Black Hawk County Veterans Affairs Director Yolando Loveless. The ribbon cutting will be led by the Grow Cedar Valley Ambassadors and Main Street Waterloo. Attendees at the event will be encouraged to walk the 16 blocks along Fourth Street to view the banners. Guides from the Exchange Club of Waterloo will be on hand to assist those looking for a specific veteran. Printed guides will also be available. In addition, a QR code is on display along the route linking to a website showcasing each honoree with a brief bio of their military history. The banners will stay in place through Veterans Day on Nov. 11. At that time they will be presented to those who purchased the banner. Applications for the 2024 Veterans Way Walk of Honor banners will go on sale in the fall of 2023. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. CEDAR FALLS The finalists for the Cedar Falls fire chief job will meet the public from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at the Public Safety Center, 4600 S. Main St. Chris Ledeker, former fire and emergency medical services chief of the Arkansas City Fire Department in Kansas, will be available Monday, and Acting Fire Chief John Zolondek will be there Tuesday. Both will talk about their backgrounds, answer questions and discuss issues one-on-one. Theyll interview with several public safety and community members before the city administration makes a recommendation for retired John Bostwicks replacement to the City Council by the end of the month. Ledeker has been involved with various fire and EMS operations since 1995. Zolondek has been serving in the Cedar Falls fire division since 2008, but was originally hired as a police officer in 2007, after having been a military police officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 2002 to 2008. Whomever is selected to be the second assistant to Public Safety Director Craig Berte and receive a salary between $91,203 and $148,218, according to the job listing. The other assistant is Police Chief Mark Howard. Editor's note: An version of this story incorrectly stated Ledeker was currently the chief of the Arkansas City Fire Department. Photos: Flag Burial, May 19, 2023 051923jr-flag-burial-1 051923jr-flag-burial-2 051923jr-flag-burial-3 051923jr-flag-burial-4 051923jr-flag-burial-5 051923jr-flag-burial-6 051923jr-flag-burial-7 Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WATERLOO After 41 years, the annual Fourth Street Cruise is Still the One. Waterloos favorite Memory Lane will be lined with spectators downtown on Saturday as hundreds of classic and custom cars rev their engines and roll off side-by-side for an afternoon of motoring, music and fun. This years cruise is from noon to 4 p.m. There is no admission charge. Last year, we counted at least 800 cars cruising down Fourth Street. The Park Avenue Bridge is still closed, so well use the same route that had the cars cruising side by side. That worked really well, and people loved it, said Teri Lynn, community relations coordinator for NRG Media and KOKZ 105.7 radio. Were definitely keeping our fingers crossed for excellent weather. KOKZ will be broadcasting music throughout the cruise. All you have to do is tune your radio to 105.7. There will be sound systems set up along Fourth Street so the public can hear the music, too, as the cars rumble past, Lynn said. Fridays Show and Shine will get the weekend started from 5 to 9 p.m. on the National Cattle Congress grounds. Exhibitors can drive onto the grounds, make a freewill donation to the Waterloo Exchange Club and show off polished chrome fenders, fins and bumper bullets to car enthusiasts and lookie-loos. A limited number of dash plaques will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Gate admission for the public is $5. Johnny Rogers will perform a Tribute to Buddy Holly and Beyond, and food and beverages will be available to purchase. On Saturday, staging for cars begins at 9 a.m. under the overpass at Washington and Fourth streets. There is no registration; just show up with your classic car or truck, a valid drivers license and vehicle registration. East and West high school Junior ROTC color guards will lead off the cruise. The route will take cars across the Fourth Street Bridge, with a right turn on Mulberry Street to Fifth Street, and across the Fifth Street Bridge to Jefferson Street, then Fourth Street to repeat the loop. Spectators are encouraged to line Fourth Street. Were also encouraging people to stop in and shop at local businesses and dine at downtown restaurants to show their support, she said. Food and beverage vendors will be set up along the route, as well. A limited number of $25 Still the One T-shirts will be available to purchase while supplies last. They can also be ordered online at stores.inksoft.com/23-4thstcruise/shop/product-detail/1001217. The 12-member planning committee, including cruise founder Pat Derifield, work hard every year to make sure the tradition continues without a hitch or stalled engine. Its about community, family and togetherness. Its a tradition for many people and brings them back into downtown to family gatherings and class reunions or getting together with friends, Lynn explained. Recently, she made sure a 41st annual Cruise T-shirt was delivered to a man who requested one on his deathbed. His dying wish was to have a Still the One T-shirt. His family got it to him, and he was ecstatic. He put it on and went to sleep and didnt wake up. Ive been in radio a long time, and thats a first for me. It shows you how important this event is to people, the family ties and how it connects people to the community. KOKZ loves being a part of it, she said. Lynn also expressed her thanks to the city of Waterloo for its support, especially the police department because the cruise is a big undertaking. We want everyone to be courteous, follow the laws, no burn-outs or peel-outs and have a great time just kicking back and hanging out with family and friends. Photos: "40th on 4th Street Cruise" in downtown Waterloo Fourth Street Cruise 1 Fourth Street Cruise 2 Fourth Street Cruise 3 Fourth Street Cruise 4 Fourth Street Cruise 5 Fourth Street Cruise 6 Fourth Street Cruise 7 Fourth Street Cruise 8 Fourth Street Cruise 9 Fourth Street Cruise 11 Fourth Street Cruise 12 Fourth Street Cruise 13 Fourth Street Cruise 14 Fourth Street Cruise 15 Fourth Street Cruise 16 Fourth Street Cruise 17 Fourth Street Cruise 18 Fourth Street Cruise 19 Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The U.S. Department of Agricultures most recent World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report confirmed that a freight train of grain is barreling toward 2023/24 markets and farmers everywhere need to prepare for the rockier prices sure to follow in its wake. The report was succinctly summarized by DTN market analysts shortly after its release May 12: USDA projects farmers are in the midst of planting the countrys largest corn crop on record at 15.265 billion bu. (bb) and a record soybean crop at 4.51 bb. As every grain market participant knows, the double corn/soybean production record is a double-edged sword because the records will lead to larger, price-flattening carryovers. Again, per DTN: The huge crops mean 2023/24 new crop ending stocks for corn (are) projected at 2.22 bb and soybeans pegged at 335 million bushels (mb). The corn carryover is 805 mb higher, or 68%, than the 2022 carryover and the soybean carryover is 119 mb higher, or 55% larger. The projected corn crop, which USDA forecasts will top 2016s record 15.1 bb, will slap the coming years average price down to $4.80 per bu., a profit-clipping $1.80 below this years average price. Likewise, this years likely record soybean crop means its projected average price will slide from $14.20 per bushel to $12.10, or $2.10 per bu. While $1.80 per bu. lower for corn and $2.10 per bu. lower for beans sound modest, the declines taken across the record production for both crops mean a chunky, multi-billion drop in gross U.S. corn income and a smaller but still substantial drop in gross U.S. soybean revenue. And thats if either or both projected record crops hit their forecasted targets. If good weather boosts either crops final production a hard number not known until November carryover will climb even higher, average prices will fall, and farm income will slip even lower. In the middle of all this good-news-is-really-bad-news data for U.S. corn and soybeans farmers, American wheat farmers couldnt tell if their section of the WASDE was a pat on the back or a kick in the pants a distance, the all-but-sainted former USDA chief Earl Butz liked to remind audiences, is only 18 inches apart. The headline to the wheat forecast, Bloomberg blared, was that Americas wheat fields have become so plagued by drought that farmers are now poised to abandon crops at the highest rate in more than a century. In fact, the news service went on, Producers are expected to harvest about 67% of their planted acres (that) if realized would be the lowest ratio since 1917. So, the shorter U.S. crop means taller U.S. prices, right? Bloomberg said thats a rock solid, ah, well, maybe: The acreage abandonment to lower levels than analysts were expecting could keep domestic prices elevated, even with rival producers such as Canada and Argentina likely to boost output. USDAs wheat price projection, however, did not agree. Indeed, government forecasts didnt say could at all. Instead, drought or no drought, the WASDE pegged 2023/24 wheat prices at $8 per bu., or 85-cents lower than last years average price. Which just goes to show the world why Americas farmers continue their more than a generation-long love/hate relationship with wheat: they just cant catch a break with it. For example, strong 2022 pricesbuoyed by both lower U.S. acres and the Ukrainian/Russia warencouraged hesitant growers to sow 10% more wheat this marketing year. Last summers drought, however, continued into winter, then spring, to deliver holy cow record acreage abandonment, normally a booster rocket for prices. But, no, Chicago July wheat futures continue their sleepy, slow slide. On Dec. 30 July futures closed at $8.03. By mid-May, though, the July contract had slipped below $6.50 per bu. and now has the grease to slide more. Given 2023s soaring production-sinking price forecast, maybe Old Earl the Pearl had it right with his back patting-back side kicking wisecrack. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Theocracy: government by a person or persons claiming divine authority. i.e. Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vatican City, to name a few. It seems here in the good old USA. We seem to have a handful of states promoting this type of government. What are they thinking? What happened to separation of church and state? Rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God things that are God's? Unless you have been living on Mars you should realize how destructive this form of government can be to those who are governed by it. Ask any woman in Afghanistan, Iran etc. You can search the world, and you will find no better democracy than ours. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves" Cassius in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." 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The annual classic car and truck show in Wisconsin Dells was back for its 37th year over the weekend. Automotion returned to Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park for the third weekend in May and its third event since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic-induced hiatus. From 1960s and 70s muscle cars to pickup trucks and some vehicles dating back nearly a century, the show Saturday and Sunday attracted the usual visitors and exhibitors from all across the United States. Elm Street Plaza, which is set to hold a grand opening ceremony on Friday, also hosted a small event over the weekend with classic vehicles featuring decorations related to former television shows and other inspirations. Cars at the main show included a 1923 Ford T-Bucket, 1976 Ford Mustang Cobra II, 1966 Impala Super Sport Coupe and a 1972 Chevrolet Silverado among many others. An area Veterans of Foreign Wars post raised the American flag at noon Saturday. Food vendors and merchants offering car-related merchandise surrounded the vehicles on the Mt. Olympus parking lot. Vehicles had to be from 1989 or earlier to be part of the show. Matt Polacek has brought various General Motors classics to the show for 12 years and is the owner of the 1966 Impala Super Sport. He has owned the two-door muscle car for four years and has had it candy painted, had air ride suspension and 18-inch rims installed, and reconfigured the interior. Brian Coffman, a Waukesha resident who owns the 1923 T-Bucket, ordered the century-old convertible from Indiana and has largely kept the vehicle in its factory condition. The vehicles and their owners at Mt. Olympus comprised the actual event, but Automotion weekend featured visitors from many different areas bringing customized vehicles of all vintages. Pedal pulling was available for children on Saturday, and the Kilbourn Fire Department in the Dells exhibited one of its trucks. Awards for the show were presented just prior to closing on Sunday. Automotion is widely considered to be the start of the tourism season in the Dells area. Law enforcement agencies from all over the state joined the Lake Delton and Wisconsin Dells Police Departments in patrolling the activity. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a recommendation on Saturday, May 20, advising its members and the general public to not travel to Florida. The travel advisory stated, "On a seeming quest to silence African-American voices, the Governor and the State of Florida have shown that African Americans are not welcome in the State of Florida," as reported by The Hill. 'Do Not Travel to Florida' According to the NAACP Board of Directors, Governor Ron DeSantis is making a concerted effort to eradicate Black history and limit diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives in Florida schools, which prompted them to issue this warning. In a report by ABC 11, the group's official notice declares, "Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color." Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement that Florida has grown unfriendly to African-Americans and antithetical to the democratic principles on which the nation was formed under Governor Desantis. He added that those who believe in and fight for democracy will eventually win. Johnson assured that his organization would not back down. Instead, they are encouraging their supporters to join them in the fight for the "soul" of the state. The Florida immigrant coalition and the Florida LGBTQ civil rights group, named Equality Florida, have also issued identical warnings on behalf of their respective underrepresented communities in the state. Equality Florida's recommendation was released last month in response to the passing of bills that it claims are unfriendly to the LGBTQ community. The group said the new rules limit access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety regulations, incite racial prejudice, and assault public education by banning books and censoring curriculum. See Also: Ron DeSantis To Launch 2024 US Presidential Campaign Next Week: Reports Governor Desantis' Moves Reportedly, Governor Desantis has been preventing high school students from enrolling in a new Advanced Placement (AP) course on African American studies since it was introduced earlier this year. Politico previously reported how the governor stood by the state's decision to deny students admission to an AP African American studies course despite criticism from Black leaders. The Stop WOKE Act was also signed by Florida's governor. Apparently, it establishes restrictions on how topics of race may be addressed in the context of mandatory training and education. In a statement to ABC News, a representative for Governor DeSantis said, "We aren't going to waste our time worrying about political stunts. We will continue doing what is right for Floridians." See Also: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs New Foreign Ownership Bill To Limit Chinese Land Ownership, Use of TikTok at Schools @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TOWN OF TRENTON A 42-year-old Markesan man was flown to UW Hospital in Madison on Saturday after his motorcycle collided into a forage wagon that was attached to a tractor traveling down Jersey Road near Breezy Point Road. An initial investigation found a farm tractor pulling a forage wagon, operated by a 38-year-old Waupun man, was southbound on Jersey Road when it began to turn left into a farm driveway. A southbound motorcycle, driven by the Markesan man, was attempting to pass the farm equipment when it collided with the forage wagon. The motorcycle operator sustained life-threatening injuries and was taken to UW Hospital in Madison by the Flight for Life helicopter. The motorcycle operator was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. The operator of the farm tractor was not injured. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Columbus Area Historical Society 1973 Former Journal Republican publisher-editor Lowell Larson was honored by the Wisconsin Press Association for his many years of service in the weekly newspaper field. Columbus High School junior pitcher Cal Meier struck out 20 of 23 batters he faced in a shutout win over Beloit Turner. Leading hitters for Columbus were Paul Hermanson, Kim Meister, and Mike Drolshagen. 1983 Anticipating a possible land purchase providing for future expansion the Hillside Cemetery the Columbus City Council approved a resolution terminating the Hillside Cemetery Association Perpetual Care Fund transferring the funds into a municipal trust account. The Columbus Rural Electric Cooperative Board of Directors announced $22,000 in credits returned to members receiving electric service, reported Douglas Eickelman, Cooperative manager. 1993 The annual meeting of the Columbus-Fall River Cooperative Oil Company was held in Fall River with 150 in attendance. The Columbus Fall River Coop was formed in 1931, and offered a complete line of petroleum products, fuel oil delivery, burner service, and a full service station. Earl Gray and Donald Huebner were reelected to the Board of Directors. American Packaging Corporation gave the Hampden School money to purchase books for their library. 2003 Girl Scout Troop 476 celebrated Arbor Day by transplanting a white oak tree at Firemans Park. The tree named Morton was named after Julius Sterling Morton, the founding father of Arbor Day. Jeff Mroz conducted his final concert at the Fall River School District. Mroz devoted his teaching career to establishing an outstanding band program. A reception followed the concert. Follow on Facebook at Columbus, WI Historical Society, email columbuswiareahistory.com or visit columbuswiareahistory.com. The Columbus WI Area Historical Society is looking for a home for its museum. If anyone has ideas on where to locate, contact David Komarck-Bennett, society president. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form FILE - Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O'Neill speaks to the media at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast, on May 9, 2022. Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein is set to take the most seats in Northern Ireland's local elections and repeat its success from last year's assembly elections, when it became the region's largest party for the first time. With about 400 of 462 local government seats counted Saturday, Sinn Fein, which seeks unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, took 128 seats and made breakthroughs in some areas. It was predawn dark on a day in November 2004, and I was at Albuquerques classical music radio station, KHFM-FM (95.5), then located at 4125 Carlisle Blvd. NE. In those days, I was a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune and I was working on a story about KHFMs 50th anniversary. As I sat quietly nearby, pen and notebook in hand, Kip Allen, at the time KHFMs program director and morning-show host, spoke softly into the microphone as if it were the ear of a wife he was waking with whispers. Good morning. The time, five minutes before 6 oclock. Time to join our birds. Recorded calls from geese and cranes at Bosque del Apache spilled out of radios in Albuquerque and other parts of the state, kicking off KHFMs day back then, just as bird songs continue to do at the station now. As the bird sounds receded on that 2004 morning, Allens soothing voice returned to the air waves. Its Thursday morning. Veterans Day. You are tuned to A Joyful Noise. I noticed a tremor in Allens hand as he set some CDs aside. He noticed that I noticed. Ive got Parkinsons, he said. After many years of resisting the disease with style and courage, Allen died last month. He was 78. Survivors included Roxanne, his wife of 56 years; their son, Jesse; daughter-in-law Irene; and grandchildren Ryan and Genevieve. Kip personified having a friend on the radio to drive along with you, or to be with you while you were making breakfast in the kitchen, said Mike Langner, former KHFM general manager. He had an amazing ability to make his humanness and spirit come out of the speaker. It was like having Uncle Kip there with an armload of records. Fun, silly, kind Allen, whose father was in the U.S. foreign service, grew up in Virginia, Denmark and Ecuador. His mother was a painter, an accomplished flutist and also played cello and, later in life, jazz piano. My parents house, especially in Denmark, became sort of a meeting place for musicians and painters Niels Bohr, the (Danish) physicist, was a friend of the family and everyone would kind of just drop in, Allen told me during an interview for a Tribune piece in 1991. Roxanne, Allens wife, said famed cellist Pablo Casals wrote a musical piece for Allens mother. But as a youngster, Allen himself was into rock music and played the drums. He knew every word to every 50s rock n roll song, said Lindy Gold, former KHFM promotions director and Allens friend. Allen received a bachelors in English literature from Swarthmore (Pa.) College and a masters in theater from the University of California at Davis. Roxanne met him at Swarthmore when they were both cast in a college theater production. His first words to me were, Hi, there. Im your husband, Roxanne said. He was referring to their roles in the play, but Roxanne said that at the time she was turned off by the remark. She got over it. He was fun, she said. He could be silly, but you knew there was more to him than that. He was kind. The Allens moved to Albuquerque in 1973 and Kip taught theater at the University of Albuquerque from 1973 to 1983. He directed and acted in plays at U of A and also appeared in productions with the New Mexico Repertory Theatre. One of his favorite roles was that of the vain and foolish Sir Andrew Aguecheek in a New Mexico Rep production of Shakespeares Twelfth Night. He had an incredible memory for lines of plays he did. Even late in life, Roxanne said. One of the last things he said in the hospital was from Shakespeare. Empty chair Allen worked for KHFM for more than 20 years, leaving the station in 2008. I just knew every time I turned the radio on and Kip was on, I was going to enjoy the music, Langner said. He wasnt about musical exercises, and he was not out to show you how much he knew. He wanted to play the music people enjoyed. He said the morning birds were Allens idea. He seemed to think it was a good idea, and the audience loved it, Langner said. Allen had a knack for connecting with others, even strangers. When we would do radio promotions and people he had never met came up to him, they were instant friends, Langner said. He just had a magnetic personality. David Oberg, who directed the late Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque for 29 years, met Allen not long after Kip joined KHFM. Kip and I could talk about classical music at length, even though our backgrounds in the music were different, Oberg said. He cared deeply about people and art and how they intersected, how art affected people at a very deep level. He was an institution and we became friends. Kip and I and two other friends would have coffee every third Saturday. Now, theres an empty chair. Gift of music Gold said Allen had an impetuous and amusing nature. He would sing Irish drinking songs he knew, she said. Once when we were waiting to be seated at a restaurant, he broke into a soft shoe. She remembers fondly the April Fools Day programs Allen did at KHFM. He would play something by anyone who had done something funny, she said. One time he played a woman yodeling the classics for three hours. Gold and Allen created and worked together on KHFMs Music is Instrumental program, which urged listeners to donate unused but usable music instruments so they could be given to students who could not afford to purchase instruments. Kip really came alive doing something musical, something for the kids, Gold said. Pamela Chavez said Allen and Gold, seeking funds to repair some of those instruments, approached her when she was vice president of community and public relations at Wells Fargo. We were delighted to support such an amazing project, she said. Chavez recalled the day the instruments were collected at the American Home Furniture parking lot at Carlisle and Menaul. KHFM listeners not only brought their instruments, but also incredible stories of their cherished pieces and their own musical backgrounds, she said. Kips gentle spirit, love of sharing music and sheer joy at watching the synergy shone throughout it all. A joyful life Roxanne said that in recent years, even as Parkinsons tightened its grip on his life, Kip enjoyed woodworking. He enjoyed putting oil on wood and seeing it come alive, she said. He was a regular at Lowes. He made dozens of cutting boards for friends. He made furniture. Oberg said that when his backyard gate fell apart, Allen turned up. He showed me how to do all these things, and we mostly Kip built my gate back. There will be a gathering celebrating Allens life at 6 p.m. June 12, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Go to salazarfunerals.com for details. I will remember how gracefully and with good humor he handled his disease even as it progressed, Oberg said. Gold said Allen was much like his morning KHFM show, A Joyful Noise. I never ever saw him have a bad day, she said. Even when his Parkinsons was advanced, hed say, I am not going to let it define who I am. He made you joyful when you were with him. Jewelry artist Anthony Lovato (Kewa/Santo Domingo Pueblo) pours molten silver into carved tufa casts to conjure glittering symbols of his beloved culture. That work can be found in Down Home, open at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture to celebrate his winning the 2023 Living Treasure award. Lovato also will be selling his pieces at the annual Native Treasures Art Market taking place Memorial Day weekend, Friday, May 26, through Sunday, May 28, at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. About 185 artists will be selling jewelry, pottery, weavings, sculpture, paintings, fashion and photography. Jewelry flowed through Lovatos DNA. His grandfather, father and brother all made it. I was set up for this, he said. Im a fourth generation jeweler. Santo Domingo is known for its arts and crafts, he continued, all the way back to Chaco Canyon. Of course, they found jewelry back there, so personal adornment has always been there for the pueblo. A graduate of Bernalillo High School, Lovato attended Santa Fes Institute of American Indian Arts, where he focused on metalwork and museum studies. He also worked at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff in exhibition design. I always knew the processes of my work, but I wanted to go back to school to learn more technique, he said. His trademark corn, horse and hand motifs river back to the petroglyphs and ancient sites such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Horses date back to the Spanish invasion, Lovato said. We used to have 14 horses. Now were down to eight, he said. Some Spanish things have been incorporated into our culture. Corn is my clan sign, Lovato continued. The hand denotes human presence. He does not draw out his designs. First he travels 300 miles west onto the Hopi Tribe reservation in Arizona to harvest the tufa sandstone. I pull it out of the ground myself, Lovato said. He slices the tufa into Cracker Jack-sized boxes with a hand saw. We carve a design into the sandstone, he said. Then we pour molten silver into the block. It cools in five minutes. Carving it takes more than a day, Lovato said. The best part is it relates to pueblo history. People say my pieces talk to them. I say I talk to them so they can talk to people. He creates no multiples; everything is one-of-a-kind. The necklace Corn Clan Child shows a mother cradling her child while carrying a pueblo pot on her head. The baby is made of citrine. The pottery symbolizes growth and nourishment. Cosmic Corn, another necklace, nods to Lovatos clan with stalks of corn and night sky symbols. Thats a whole celestial scene, with the stars and the moon and the clouds, he said. I refer back to what we know. At Chaco, there are paintings of Halleys Comet. Im also fascinated by what the archaeologists found in those areas. Its all there; I just put it all together like a cook. I put things in silver while my ancestors put it in rock. At first, a gold corn ring seems like an anomaly. But Lovato calls it a happy ring. A divorced customer asked him to turn an old wedding ring into something new. Im a jewelry surgeon, I guess, Lovato said. I kind of know what people are looking for. Theyre looking for their spirit that theyve lost. Major art markets have showered Lovato with awards, including the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Red Earth Nation Show, the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos show, the Heard Museum Guild Indian Market and more. A fourth generation jeweler, he cites his major influences as Allan Houser, Charles Loloma, his grandfather Leo Coriz and his mother Mary Coriz Lovato. Its a double dancing weekend when the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet School recital hits the stage, followed by the Folklorico recital at Santa Fes Lensic Performing Arts Center. On Saturday, May 27, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet School students will show off their talent, skills and artistry in the annual school recital. This performance showcases the hard work and dedication of over 160 budding young dance artists. The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklorico and Flamenco students are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to shine in their annual recital on Sunday, May 28. This performance celebrates the cultural diversity of our community, and the culmination of the students year-long dedication and hard work. Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklorico enriches the lives of children through free, after-school instruction in Mexican folkloric dance. The company founded Folklorico in 1998 with a goal of engaging the community with high quality arts outreach. Folklorico now directly impacts the lives of 240 students, grades K-12 in Basalt, Carbondale and Santa Fe public schools. The award-winning Folklorico ensemble performs regularly across the region. The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet School serves more than 500 students through a network of satellite locations in Colorado and New Mexico. It instills the appreciation of dance and encourages first-hand participation. Founded by longtime Aspenite Bebe Schweppe in 1991, the school formed the genesis of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and continues to act as the organizations core and foundation. Students learn in small classes in a supportive environment that fosters confidence and individual accomplishment as well as technique and artistry. World-renowned master teachers are regularly invited to teach. School alumni have gone on to train at some of the nations most prestigious schools: School of American Ballet, Jacqueline Onassis School, Joffrey School, Bolshoi Ballet School, North Carolina School for the Arts, and Interlochen. Others pursued professional careers with New York City Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, The Julliard School, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. The University of New Mexico Art Museum is a recipient of the 2023 Frankenthaler Prints Initiative. As one of 10 university art museums selected, the UNM Art Museum will receive a group of Helen Frankenthaler prints and a one-time grant of $25,000 to develop a project or program for the study, presentation and interpretation of the editions. These resources will be used to support student education in the visual arts and art history. Grantees are selected based on demonstrated commitments to prints as significant collection areas and teaching tools, according to Elizabeth Smith, executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. This gift to the University of New Mexico Art Museum acknowledges the museums distinguished history of collecting prints, photographs and works on paper. It dramatically enriches the museum and will provide our student body and faculty with access to one of the great American artists of the 20th century, said Arif Khan, UNM Art Museum director. This year marks the second phase of the Frankenthaler Prints Initiative. The first cycle was launched in 2018 by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to enrich academic institutions collections and resources while promoting scholarly research on Frankenthalers contributions to the field of printmaking. James Bluemel doesnt back away from a challenge. What the filmmaker does is step back and evaluate what needs to be done to get a project done correctly. As the series director of the five-part Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, Bluemel and his crew had to climb uphill to tell this story. The series runs chronologically from the beginning of the Troubles in the late 1960s to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998 the 25th anniversary of which was just celebrated. The series combines unfiltered personal accounts with archival footage to tell the story of the people and communities that had to live with conflict daily and are still dealing with its legacies today. It begins streaming on the PBS app on Monday, May 22. The BBC and PBS collaborated for the series. Bluemel interviewed men and women whose lives were changed forever by the conflict. He says it gives voice to the people who lived through Northern Irelands violent past by sharing intimate, unheard testimonies from all sides of the conflict. The process to get people to sit down in that room and sit in a chair and really open their past, he says. This isnt something that people dont tend to do without a lot of though and that does take time. We were lucky we had the time to put into that. From the son whose widowed mother is kidnapped by the IRA (Irish Republican Army), to the man from a loyalist estate whose family secret challenges his beliefs, and the woman who agrees to plant firebombs, the contributors recall historic events and personal memories, including: Anne Marie, aged 10, throwing bottles at British troops during a riot in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1981. Bluemel wanted to take on Northern Ireland history because it was the next step in his filmmaking journey. Prior to the Northern Ireland project, he had done a series in Iraq. Hearing stories from Iraqis of how their friendships, families and neighborhoods were ripped apart by sectarian killings, made me think about another sectarian conflict, one which was much nearer to home, he says. Northern Ireland was always on the news when I was young bombs, violence, murder and pain seemed to be ever-present there. As an adult, I might have understood the broad politics behind the events, but I realized I had no idea how anyone in Northern Ireland really felt about living through that turbulent history. Online Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland begins to stream on the PBS app on Monday, May 22. President Joe Biden urged House Republicans to change their position on debt ceiling discussions. He highlighted that their conditions alone could not result in an agreement to avoid a catastrophic default. To restart the discussion, President Biden scheduled a conversation with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy after he returned from the Group of Seven summit in Japan. During the event, global leaders voiced alarm about the catastrophic global repercussions if the US fails to meet its financial commitments. Joe Biden emphasized at a press conference that Republicans must face the fact that a bipartisan agreement could not be reached purely based on their party terms, CNBC reported. He recognized his attempts to increase the borrowing ceiling by proposing large budget cutbacks. Biden now expects the Republicans to soften their position on the debt ceiling issue. Right now, Republican legislators are standing by their expectations for significant expenditure cuts and rejecting other deficit reduction plans proposed by the White House. While President Biden was at the G7 conference in Japan, leading congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy accused the White House of regressing in discussions due to the Democratic Party's socialist wing. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said that the Republican leadership, not President Biden or Democratic leadership, threatens to put the United States into default with their extreme political demands, according to CNA. Read Also: California Lawmakers Reject Bill Allowing Citizens to Sue Oil Companies Notwithstanding the Biden administration's worry that millions of Americans may lose Medicaid coverage, Republicans demand work requirements. The GOP also limited the capacity of states to waive work requirements in high-unemployment regions by cutting food assistance. GOP legislators also want the White House to embrace portions of their immigration plan and reduce IRS funding. In response, the White House has suggested maintaining both military and nondefense expenditures at their current levels for the next fiscal year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and $1 trillion over a ten-year period. Yellen Warns Major Banks During a private conversation with key bankers, including Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen emphasized the effects of a hypothetical debt limit default outside of the banking sector. Yellen advised against last-minute deals and underlined the early June X-Date. To put pressure on congressional Republicans to increase the nation's $31.6 trillion debt limit before June, senior Biden officials are leading this initiative, per Axios. Some Biden administration officials are somewhat dissatisfied that the business sector hasn't done more to convince Republicans to take measures to raise the debt limit. However, it's unclear how much business organizations or the markets influence some of the US Congress' conservative legislators. Related Article: China To Skip G20 Meeting in India @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Cheyenne Anderson and Isabel James are finishing the ninth grade at Bosque School. At the same time, the two 15-year-olds are furiously finishing up a months-long labor of love outside of class. Cheyenne and Isabel are the proofreaders, editors, layout designers and publishers of the soon-to-be-released large-format book South Valley. The main goal of the book is that kids see the (Albuquerque South Valley) community in a light that is positive and that it shouldnt be bounded by the negative stereotypes that are put on our community, Cheyenne said. She wants readers, especially young people, to view the books art and poetry as works of beauty. The book contains images of paintings by Bill Mohr, a South Valley neighbor of Cheyenne and her family. He looks at details that most people pass over and he brings out the beauty in them, Cheyenne said of Mohr. Some are buildings, some are street scenes. They are recognizable places in the South Valley. Places like El Paisa Taqueria, Chavez Martial Arts and Five Points Beauty Salon. Cheyenne and Isabel, a former South Valley resident, chose the Mohr paintings and the poems that are in the book. Most of the poems were written by elementary school youngsters living in the South Valley and by Bosque School students. And theres a bonus work by three famous poets Albuquerques Jimmy Santiago Baca, Luis J. Rodriguez of Los Angeles, and the late Mary Oliver. Cheyenne said in an email that Baca is a friend of her father, Lonnie Anderson, and that Rodriguez is a close friend of her uncle, Albino Garcia, director of La Plazita Institute, a grassroots community organization in the South Valley. Cheyenne is a longtime volunteer at La Plazita, one of many of her community activities. Oliver, who died in 2019, was a favorite poet of her fathers and grandfathers, she said. We felt it would be a more powerful experience if these young writers could have their poems published alongside famous and well-known poets they might not otherwise have access to, Cheyenne said. Cheyennes father said Baca and Mohr have been supporters of the book project from the get-go. Bosque School is helping Cheyenne and Isabel promote the book but it is not paying for the printing, he said. (Cheyenne and Isabel) are fundraising and using some of their own money for the short printing run at first, Anderson wrote in an email. They figured out a way to print a few books at a time inexpensively through an online photo book printing site. They hope to show other students how to self-publish their books. Cheyenne said she and Isabel want to place copies of the book in libraries of schools in the South Valley and at Little Free Libraries. From there, they want to widen the placement of the book to other schools in the Albuquerque area. Those placements, she said, take priority over selling the book. Cheyenne said they hope to organize readings of the book at public libraries. Jessie Barrie, Bosque Schools head of school, wrote in an email that Cheyenne and Isabel have beautifully showcased the sense of curiosity, academic excellence and creativity that we hope to foster at Bosque School. Two of our core values are cultivating community and learning from place, and their book is a wonderful manifestation of both. Besides celebrating their beloved South Valley community and uplifting its stories and people, Barrie said, the book is a gift to all of Albuquerque and shows that age doesnt limit ones potential or reach. Pheladi MacDonald, a third-grader at Mountain Mahogany Community School, is one of the younger South Valley poets in the book. In it is her short poem Outside: Summer breeze, / Winter freeze, and / Everything from above / Trees rustle and bees / Buzz, all when everybodys / Humming along. Cheyenne said the project is inspiring her to pursue publishing more books. One may be a photography book about a Two-Spirit Initiative in the South Valley that links Native youth and LGBTQ+ youth. For more information about the South Valley book project go to @southvalleybook on Instagram. Extending the school year will just give schools more time to be mediocre. Two basic changes need to be made that only involve going back to the old days. The end of homogeneous grouping in classes goes back to the 1970s. Mixing kids at all stages of their learning makes teaching to the group very difficult. With students at widely varying stages of development and learning in one class where do you aim your teaching? Grouping students by their stages of learning notice I said stages of learning, not intelligence allows the teacher to develop lesson plans that suit the students in that group. It also allows those students who need more help to be in smaller classes. My fifth grade class had 45 students. Another class had 30. Some claim that slower learners were tracked; doomed to be in slower classes forever and dismissed as having little academic potential. That would only happen with lazy teachers and administrators. At my school there was a lot of movement between the three levels at each grade. That means the teachers were evaluating students and trying to place them in the most appropriate setting. With students coming from a second K-6 school there were five seventh and eighth grade classes. Again, grouped by ones stage of learning. Again, the most advanced class was considerably larger than the slowest class. I look back and I see college graduates and skilled workers in who came all the classes. They could go on and do well in high school and beyond because they were not expected to learn things they were not ready to learn. The second problem is more recent. The expectations of what kids should be able to do before starting kindergarten is ridiculous. Back in the old days kindergarten was about learning to sit still, listen, follow directions, share, and socialize with other kids. No one went to preschool. I read a list of what kids are now expected to be able to do before starting kindergarten and was stunned and dismayed. Count to 30? Recognize the letters of the alphabet? Sound out simple words? Write their name? Yes, some kids can do these. Other kids are not developed enough. By expecting every kid to learn what a few others can learn is just setting them up for frustration. That frustration can carry on year after year until the student decides, Im just not very smart and largely gives up on school. When I taught high school math we gave a placement test to incoming freshmen who were recommended by the middle school to be in either Algebra 1 or Intro to Algebra. One year at the insistence of the administration we placed all those students together. We tested after three weeks and split the classes into Intro and Algebra 1 classes. Immediately after the split a student in one of my Intro classes said, Im glad those guys (the Algebra 1 students) are out of here. Other students agreed. Simply having more time in the classroom will not result in improved outcomes. Spending more money like paying for all the aides now in nearly every classroom will not solve the problem. The only solution is to make basic, structural changes and to have realistic expectations for each student. In Bernalillo County government, the buck stops at the desk of County Manager Julie Morgas Baca, at least on paper. The five elected county commissioners hired Morgas Baca in September 2015 to run the countys day-to-day operations. If theyre dissatisfied, the commissioners can terminate her contract or place her on paid administrative leave. Its the same governmental structure used in other New Mexico counties. In some areas, county managers serve for decades. In others, only until the next election of county commissioners. It takes just a narrow majority of county commissioners to oust any county manager, at any time. The commission-manager structure has pros and cons. County managers have no term limits, enabling long-term planning and implementation of policies. An unelected county manager also has a degree of independence and impartiality. But without majority support from the governing body, she or he can quickly be rendered powerless and ineffectual. Two Albuquerque city councilors have suggested gutting the mayors powers and reverting to a structure similar to the county commission-manager system a system Albuquerque jettisoned nearly 50 years ago. Councilors Louie Sanchez and Renee Grout are co-sponsoring a City Charter amendment that would fold the mayor into the City Council and transfer most of the mayors current executive duties to a council-chosen city manager, including powers to appoint the police chief and other department directors. The City Council voted 9-0 last Monday to defer action until June 5. At least six of the nine city councilors must agree to put the measure on the Nov. 7 local election ballot. It would then be up to city voters to decide. Sanchez and Grout contend electing a new mayor every four to eight years disrupts progress. But shouldnt city voters be able to vote on whether they support that progress or want the city to go in a different direction? Supporters also say cities with weak mayor structures including Las Cruces, Rio Rancho and Roswell function more efficiently with a council-manager form of government. Thats debatable. Sanchez and Grouts legislation would render the mayor as a figurehead of city government for all ceremonial purposes. The mayor would preside over City Council meetings and be empowered to vote, but only when theres an exceptionally rare tie vote. Mayor Tim Kellers administration understandably opposes the measure. A mayoral spokeswoman noted the proposal would place all city powers in the hands of a committee and an unelected city manager. Do we really want a city government like that to tackle crime, homelessness and taxes? The council-manager structure isnt suited for large cities that can require immediate and decisive action by one individual who is then held accountable by voters. Think decisions regarding rioting or natural disasters. The current system also has checks and balances. The nine-member council can veto the mayors actions with six votes. Gutting mayoral power in Albuquerque would have other negative consequences, as Timothy Krebs of the University of New Mexico pointed out in a guest column published Thursday. The political science professor says voter engagement lags in cities with council-manager systems. Among large U.S. cities with the lowest average turnout in mayoral elections, seven of eight have council-manager systems Austin, Oklahoma City, El Paso, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Fort Worth and Dallas. The reason for this has to do with where power is concentrated, Krebs wrote. In systems where appointed officials have governing power, the public disengages. In systems where elected officials have it, the public does the opposite. Krebs also notes most cities over 500,000 have strong mayor systems beause administrative functions are assigned to a chief administrative officer answerable to the mayor, these systems benefit from technically competent management as well. Former Mayor Jim Baca says reverting to a council-manager form of government would be a giant step backward. And hes correct. City Councilors Renee Grout and Louis Sanchez want to turn Albuquerque City government into a clone of Bernalillo County where no one is in charge, Baca told the Journal. The county just spent $100 million on a new office building and there was no one to hold responsible for the cost overruns. Albuquerque has had a mayor-council government since 1974 when voters by a runaway 19,458-to-5,246 tally approved Proposition 3 on Feb. 26, 1974, establishing a full-time paid mayor as the citys chief executive, and a part-time, districted nine-member City Council as the citys legislative body. The proposition, which passed in all 63 precincts, was endorsed by a wide range of organizations and community leaders. The city had been governed by an at-large City Commission since 1917. (T)he charter election and its outcome mark the beginning of a new and exciting era in Albuquerque municipal government, stated the Journal editorial of Feb. 28, 1974. Just how severe the changes may be will be determined largely by the character and qualifications of those to be elected to serve as mayor, the citys chief executive office, and those who will fill the nine districted council seats to exercise municipal legislative authority and direct municipal policy. How true all that turned out to be. Character counts. The last thing Albuquerque needs now is to neuter the only citywide elected office and go with leadership by committee and an unelected bureaucrat. At least four of the nine current city councilors need to vote against this. 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. West Mesa High School has been at the center of most of Cynthia Martinezs familys lives. Martinez, 44, graduated from the school in 1997. All five of her children have attended West Mesa at one time or another, and three have graduated from there. But as reports of guns being found on campus, violence in the area, and shelters in place have all mounted, Martinez says shes so worried about the safety of their youngest child, Sophia, she plans to send her to a different school next year. Its pretty scary, Martinez said about sending her daughter to West Mesa every day. It puts us at a crossroads are we willing to drive across town to get to what we hope is a safer school? Or do we risk our childs life every day? This year has been so terrifying, she added. Were tired of it. Were scared for our daughter. On Saturday, more than 100 people among them students, teachers, parents, school board members and Martinezs family turned out to march against guns in schools. To the beat of marching drums, they patrolled the school grounds, shaking cow bells, holding signs reading such things as graduations not funerals, and chanting Two, four, six, eight stop the violence, stop the hate! Just a couple of weekends ago, I lost my cousin to gun violence, Martinezs daughter, Sophia Herrera, told the Journal. So wanting change in this community is just all I want. So far this school year, at least three guns have been seized at West Mesa the most of any Albuquerque Public Schools campus. Across the metro area, 17 guns in total have been reported or confiscated this year though its not entirely clear where all the students who brought guns to school got them from, or how much authorities are doing to trace their origins. I think a lot of people are tired of having guns on our campus. Its scary to come to work sometimes, Principal Michele Torres said. She did highlight more support from the district in terms of security, which has included moving an additional school resource officer to the school, as well as cooperation with Albuquerque police in improving surveillance systems in and around the school. In February 2022, West Mesa student Andrew Burson was shot and killed just off campus by another teenager Burson accused of stealing his gun a day Torres said shell never forget, and still has trouble talking about. Its taken over a year for his father, Al Burson, to be able to talk about what happened to his son. But on Saturday, he said he felt he needed to, to help raise awareness for other parents, and spoke to marchers about what he and his family endured that day. I just dont want anybody else to go through that, he told the Journal. Preventing students from bringing them isnt as simple as flipping a switch, though, 18-year-old West Mesa student Lanae McConnell pointed out. This area is not safe. It is not, she said. Students some of them have ( a gun) for protection. Instead of just being criminalized, McConnell said, students in such situations should get more help from the school from counselors, administrators or even just crossing guards, who could help make the walk to school that much safer. Teacher Theresa Illgen has often made the point that West Mesa students need more counselor support. But at the end of the day, guns should not be in schools, she said, and that was the point of Saturdays march. The message couldnt have been more clear, Illgen said. We dont want guns on our school campus. A woman is accused of allowing her 2-year-old daughter to die from an apparent drug overdose last week at a Northeast Albuquerque home where several people were reportedly smoking crack and fentanyl. Kreshenna Delaney, 46, is charged with one count of child abuse in the May 19 death of Nayisha Delaney. She is also facing two counts of child abuse for having her other young children in the home. Delaney was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Friday. It is unclear if she has an attorney. Prosecutors filed a motion to detain Delaney until trial, saying her daughter died from consuming fentanyl after she exposed the children to drugs. Court records show Delaney has a history of drug-related offenses dating back to 2001 and served several years in prison for trafficking. In 2014, her sister was granted guardianship of an older son while, according to court records, Delaney was battling an addiction and failed to meet the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Departments requirements to change her environment and get the boy back. Court records show Delaney had three children since then and her 6- and 8-year-old sons were taken into CYFD custody after their sisters death. The Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office responded on Tuesday to a child experiencing a fentanyl overdose at the hospital, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Deputies traced the incident to a home in the 3700 block of Arno NE, near Edith and Candelaria, where several people told deputies they smoked crack cocaine. Deputies said Delaney told them she went to get the children ready for school and found her daughter unconscious and brought her to the hospital. Delaney, who kept nodding out in front of deputies, said her daughter may have ingested some type of drug. Deputies told Delaney they found cocaine in the girls system and she asked how much telling them everyone at the trap house does drugs, according to the complaint. Delaney said she sells crack but didnt give any to her daughter, suggesting someone else may have dropped drugs the girl got into. Deputies said they searched the home and found paraphernalia for smoking crack and what appeared to be cocaine. During the search Delaney was being extremely inappropriate and making sexual comments toward a detective. Hospital surveillance showed Delaney was slow to park her vehicle and stayed in the car for a few minutes before walking in, holding her unconscious daughter, with absolutely no sense of urgency, according to the complaint. Deputies said they found paraphernalia used to smoke crack in Delaneys vehicle and a drug test came up positive for cocaine in her system. Her daughter was pronounced dead early Friday morning. Court records show Delaneys other two sons, ages 6 and 8, are now in the custody of CYFD since their sisters death. Delaneys sister who still has custody of Delaneys older son filed for emergency guardianship of the boys, wanting the three brothers raised together. The aunt wrote in the petition that she initially cared for the other two boys as well until CYFD allowed the younger pair back with Delaney at some point. SANTA FE The 2024 race for the New Mexico Senate could be a wild one. Redistricting created two open seats one covering parts of Rio Rancho and northwestern Albuquerque, the other stretching from Isleta Pueblo to the Arizona line. Retirements and primary challenges also have the potential to shake up the chamber next year, with at least a handful of House members weighing plans to run for the Senate. And Albuquerque, as usual, is shaping up as a battleground. Four of the five most closely divided Senate districts lie in Albuquerque or Rio Rancho. The fifth is in Valencia County. Were confident we have some opportunities, especially in the metro area, Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca, R-Belen, said in an interview. We have a slew of issues that New Mexico faces that I think Republicans really have the answers to. Democrats have plenty of territory to protect. They hold a 27-15 majority in the Senate and will be defending competitive seats in Albuquerque and elsewhere. But they have pickup opportunities, too, including the newly reshaped district covering Isleta, Laguna and Acoma pueblos. I think its fair to say Senate Democrats are feeling very good about the 2024 cycle, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said. We have a string of significant legislative victories that have happened in our current term. A year out from the primary election, however, theres plenty of uncertainty about the landscape. Lawmakers who havent decided yet whether to seek reelection such as Democratic Sen. Bill Tallman of Albuquerque and Republican Sen. Gay Kernan of Hobbs have no reason to announce anything soon. And, of course, the selection of presidential nominees and other factors will shape the broader political environment by the time voters start casting general election ballots. Brian Sanderoff, a nonpartisan analyst and president of Research & Polling Inc., the states redistricting contractor, said its too early to say which party will face political headwinds. Its going to be challenging for the Republicans to make massive inroads, he said but, of course, we wont know until we see what happens with the national mood. The 2024 ballot in New Mexico will include races for president, a U.S. Senate seat and all 112 seats in the Legislature. Members of the state Senate stand for election every four years, and House districts are on the ballot every two. Swing seat on West Side Next years elections will be the first under the new Senate map adopted in a bitter special session in 2021. A new seat perhaps Republican-leaning, but competitive emerged in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho as lawmakers took the district now represented by Democrat Gerald Ortiz y Pino in Downtown Albuquerque and moved it to the West Side. Ortiz y Pino, now his 19th year in the Senate, isnt seeking reelection. The new version of District 12 will extend from the Paradise Hills area of Albuquerque north into Rio Rancho. Republicans have outperformed Democrats by 6 percentage points in the precincts that make up the new district, according to an analysis by Research & Polling. The analysis examined elections over a recent 10-year stretch. Democrats, however, have found increasing success in Albuquerque the last few election cycles. Wirth, the Democratic leader, describes District 12 as a 50-50 district. Democrats, he said, have a strong record to run on, including the repeal of an anti-abortion law, the expansion of early childhood funding through a constitutional amendment and the legalization of cannabis. Republicans see the seat as a prime pickup opportunity. The district has already drawn two high-profile GOP candidates former state Sen. Candace Gould and Jay Block, a Sandoval County commissioner who ran unsuccessfully for governor last year. Native voting strength Democrats have a chance to flip the other open seat. The new map takes District 30 now represented by Republican Joshua Sanchez of Veguita and stretches it from the Manzano Mountains to the Arizona line. The change is expected to boost the influence of Native American voters. District 30 will encompass Isleta, Laguna and Acoma pueblos and the Alamo Navajo reservation. Native American residents make up 35% of the adult population, and the district will have a substantial Democratic lean. The boundary changes paired Sen. Sanchez with Baca, the Republican leader, in nearby District 29, meaning theyd have to move or run against each other to keep a seat in the chamber. Baca said he had nothing to announce on that front. But he noted that Sanchez flipped the district in 2020 and is well-positioned to appeal to voters in the new boundaries of District 30. More broadly, Baca said, Republican senators have plenty to offer the electorate, especially on crime, the border and economic growth. Even while outnumbered by Democrats, he said, Republicans played a key role in crafting fixes to the states medical malpractice law. The two seats opened by redistricting are certain to be a priority of both parties in 2024. Theyre the two districts most likely to flip, Sanderoff said. Retirements The Senate is home to the longest-serving members of the Legislature, and both parties have retirements to prepare for. But who will opt against reelection isnt entirely clear yet. In April, Republican Sen. Cliff Pirtle of Roswell said he would forgo reelection, citing redistricting changes. The announcement also came a month after sheriffs deputies responded to a verbal argument involving Pirtle and his wife, who said shed caught him with another woman. Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, said she plans to run for Pirtles seat. Its a heavily Republican area covering a chunk of southeastern New Mexico. Tallman, a Democrat whose district stretches through much of the Northeast Heights in Albuquerque, said he hasnt decided yet whether to seek reelection. His district leans Democratic but has been competitive. Kernan, a Republican from southeastern New Mexico, said she is considering her options. Her district is the most heavily Republican area in the state, according to the Research & Polling analysis. Rep. Larry Scott, R-Hobbs, said he is considering a run for the Senate if Kernan opts for retirement. Meanwhile, the longest-serving legislator, Sen. Stuart Ingle of Portales, said he plans to run for reelection. But if he doesnt, state Rep. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell, plans to run. I would never run against Stuart, Nibert said in an interview. But if he doesnt run, then I will be running for it. Primary challenges The Senate, of course, could change substantially even without the partisan makeup moving much. In 2020, for example, five Democratic incumbents lost their primaries to more left-leaning challengers, and two conservative Republicans defeated GOP incumbents. State Rep. James Townsend, R-Artesia, is among the House members weighing a campaign for the Senate a race that would set up him to challenge Republican Sen. Ron Griggs of Alamogordo. Whether Griggs runs for reelection, Townsend said, wont be a factor. If I decide to run, Ill run because I believe Id bring more to the table, Townsend said. Griggs and Townsend described themselves as friends. Its a heavily Republican district. Griggs, for his part, said he plans to seek reelection. He said he respects Townsends decision and noted that politically, we see almost everything the same way. Next steps The races will come into focus after lawmakers meet next year for a 30-day session, ending in February. Candidate filing day is in March, and the primary election is June 4, the general election Nov. 5. Every lawmaker even those in districts safe for one party or another is adjusting to the reshaped boundaries. All of us are getting used to having new constituents, Wirth said. Instagram Celebrity The Brooklyn rapper eats the bugs along with his friends in his mom's home country of Mexico by putting a large glob of what appeared to be guacamole and another spice on them. May 21, 2023 AceShowbiz - 6ix9ine a.k.a. Tekashi 69 continues his bug-eating habit and he's proud of it. When visiting his mom's home country of Mexico, the "TROLLZ" rapper ate a tarantula and showed it off to the world. Making use of Instagram on Thursday, May 18, the 27-year-old emcee shared a video of him grabbing the bugs and putting a large glob of what appeared to be guacamole and another spice on them. The rapper was joined by his friends in the clip. 6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, boasted about his antics in the caption. He simply wrote, "I ATE DIRTY P***Y BEFORE THIS AINT NOTHING." That aside, 6ix9ine recently became the butt of the jokes on the Internet. Many poked fun at the hip-hop artist for bearing an extremely strong resemblance to a gay porn star. Though he was not the one who was in a now-deleted NSFW video, social media users mocked 6ix9ine by sharing a photo of him kissing another man on the cheek. It eventually led to talks about the Brooklyn native's sexual orientation. One in particular was 6ix9ine's response to Lil Durk's invitation to settle their issue on the ring. After Durk told him, "I don't want you hurt or dead you a kid from the burbs I got 50 million my own money without help to fight you on tv in dubi, we can double the money 3 rounds," 6ix9ine offered to fight his nemesis in a hotel room instead. You can share this post! Universal Pictures Movie The 'Aquaman' actor insists it's the right decision to withhold the showdown between his villainous character and the male lead Dominic Toretto in the tenth 'Fast and Furious' movie. May 21, 2023 AceShowbiz - Jason Momoa is glad that "Fast X" withheld a dramatic showdown between himself and Vin Diesel. The 43-year-old actor stars as sadistic villain Dante Reyes in the new "Fast and Furious" movie and is pleased that film bosses held back on a confrontation between Dante and Vin's character Dominic Toretto. "We had a big fight scene planned for me and (Dom), and we've seen that we've done that. They don't need to get into the showdown of fighting each other," Jason told Screen Rant. "He constantly has the upper hand on Dom." "And it's not true that we don't want to see them fight because that showdown's going to come and that'll be violent, especially with someone who just adores pain and is probably already dead inside. It's scary when someone's getting off on that pain. I wanted that to be there and, through that, his humour." Momoa also delved into Dante's backstory and his motivation to destroy Dominic Toretto. The "Aquaman" star said, "You come from a crime family. My father was taken from me and then everything was taken from me. Not only that, but all our money. He was left to fend for himself in Brazil." "He just spent a good part of his life obsessing about Dom and having that revenge, so someone who's had everything taken from them just wanted to hurt him in the worst way and take away that legacy of his. Obviously, it's his child and to break his family apart." Jason added, "I feel like if you studied someone that much, you actually want to be them. You love them, and you want to wear their skin and become that. You just kind of play it that way and, emotionally, anything can come out. It can be funny; it can be sexy; it can be scary. But at the root of it, I'm going to wear your skin." You can share this post! Cover Images/Faye's Vision Celebrity According to 'Vanderpump Rules' star Ariana, her former boyfriend yelled at her and 'threw a beer can' after she learned of his affair with their co-star Raquel. May 22, 2023 AceShowbiz - Ariana Madix has alleged Tom Sandoval led a "double life" during their relationship. The 37-year-old TV star broke up with Tom after she learned that he had affair with Raquel Leviss, and Ariana has now opened up about his suspicious behaviour. "He was very good at concealing his double life and hiding all of the evidence," the "Vanderpump Rules" star said during an appearance on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen". Ariana also revealed that Tom turned on her after she learned about his affair. She shared, "From the moment I found out, he was screaming at me. We were in the backyard and he threw a beer can ..." "He was more concerned about people hearing at TomTom than how I felt at all. I think there's some part of him that's really loving the attention that this has brought him and as long as people continue to give him that attention, he will be happy about it." Ariana doesn't intend to forgive Tom or Raquel for their affair. Asked why the story has resonated with so many viewers, she replied, "It's so layered. It's the manipulation, it's the narcissism, it's the double life. There's so many layers to it. Everybody has experienced one of those things and can relate to it." Meanwhile, Raquel previously took to social media to issue a public apology to Ariana. The 28-year-old beauty admitted there was "no excuse" for what she did. She wrote on Instagram at the time, "I want to apologize for my actions and my choices foremost to Ariana, and to my friends and the fans so invested in our relationships. There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I must own my actions and I deeply regret hurting Ariana (sic)." You can share this post! General Secretariat FDHA Geneva, 21.05.2023 - Alain Berset, president of the Swiss Confederation, has opened the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva and congratulated the World Health Organization on its 75th anniversary. In his address, Alain Berset underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation and the central role of the WHO in global efforts to improve pandemic preparedness. This year's World Health Assembly will take place from 21 to 30 May. Switzerland has been nominated for a seat on the WHO Executive Board from May 2023 to May 2026. In the WHO's 75th anniversary year, the theme of the World Health Assembly is 'WHO at 75: Saving lives, driving health for all'. In his opening address, Swiss President Alain Berset emphasized the importance of WHO as a multilateral organisation in the global health architecture and its role in global efforts to improve pandemic preparedness. The president of the Swiss Confederation advocated strengthening the International Health Regulations (IHR) and enhancing multilateral cooperation in order to better tackle global health crises. He added that the pandemic had shown that the rapid and reliable exchange of information is crucial for the monitoring and early detection of dangerous diseases. He also called for sustainable financing of WHO so that the organisation will continue to have the necessary funds to meet the high demands of its Member States and be able to play a coordinating role in the prevention and control of global health crises. Global Health for Peace Initiative Switzerland supports the Global Health for Peace Initiative (GHPI), developed in collaboration with Oman. The GHPI aims to strengthen universal health coverage. A roadmap for the implementation of the initiative is to be approved at this year's Assembly. For example, WHO is active in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings where it works closely with ministries and partners to better protect the health of the population. It focuses, for example, on protecting hospitals, ensuring universal access to healthcare facilities, training doctors and nurses to work in difficult conditions, and providing psychological support for young people who have experienced violence. Corresponding programs are currently under way in various countries, including Colombia, Somalia and the Central African Republic. At this year's World Health Assembly, Switzerland is organising an event in collaboration with Oman to present specific examples. Switzerland to take a seat on the Executive Board The World Health Assembly (WHA) elects the members of the WHO Executive Board. It is composed of representatives of 34 Member States. Switzerland was nominated for a seat on the Executive Board for the period from May 2023 to May 2026. The WHA is the highest decision-making body of the WHO. Each year, delegates of WHO Member States meet in Geneva in May to review the organization's thematic priorities and financial and organizational policies, and to discuss and approve proposed programmes. Address for enquiries Gianna Blum, Head of Communications, FDHA +41 (0)58 465 09 51, gianna.blum@gs-edi.admin.ch Publisher General Secretariat FDHA http://www.edi.admin.ch Federal Office of Public Health http://www.bag.admin.ch Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky secured fresh military aid from the United States during his visit to Hiroshima for the G7 summit. He previously visited Saudi Arabia to garner support from the countries of the Arab League. US President Joe Biden promised $375m assistance to the war-torn country, saying that the US was doing all it could to bolster Ukraine's war against Russia. The aid package consists of ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles, and training. Earlier in the summit, the US permitted the transfer of US-built F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as the country is preparing to mount its spring counter-offensive. "Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine's back, and I promise we're not going anywhere," Biden said. Fall of Bakhmut Russia's defense ministry announced on 20 May they had completed the "liberation" of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in the highly-contested Donetsk oblast. Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin also claimed the capture of the city. According to Russian media, Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian forces for capturing the city after nine months of fighting. However, Ukraine claims that the fighting for the city's control continues. Deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said that the situation in Bakhmut is "critical," with only "certain industrial and infrastructure facilities" under Ukrainian control. Meanwhile, Biden claimed that Russia suffered "over 100,000 casualties" in Bakhmut, including mercenaries from the Wagner Group. The battle had also exposed the division within Russian forces, particularly between Prigozhin and the Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu, in relation to the Wagner Group's request for ammunition. While the Battle of Bakhmut status produced mixed pronouncements, western officials and military analysts say that the Russian capture of the city is more of a symbolic victory than a strategic or operational success if confirmed. However, Bakhmut is also considered a strategic point as the city is located along the E40 highway, connecting the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don with Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv. The capture of Bakhmut would allow Russia to move on to Kramatorsk and control the rest of the Donetsk region. Brazil's reservations, India's caution In its final communique, the G7 called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a "brutal war of aggression" threatening the world and its core values. In line with the statement, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted that Russia "must withdraw" its troops in Ukraine in order for peace talks to commence. While the group stated their full support for Ukraine, not all of the G7 leaders warmly welcomed Zelensky in Japan. For one, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has not confirmed if he would meet with his Ukrainian counterpart. Meanwhile, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi had a meeting with Zelensky and called for a ceasefire in Ukraine for the sake of the people suffering because of the war but fell short of condemning the Kremlin. French President Emmanuel Macron hoped the summit would convince Brazil and India to support Ukraine, calling Zelensky's visit to the summit a "game-changer." However, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the G7 summit as a way of isolating Russia and China. He said that the summit not only wants to defeat Russia on the battlefield but also to "eliminate [the country] as a geopolitical competitor." Bakhmut's similarity with Hiroshima When asked about Bakhmut, Zelensky said that there is "nothing left" of the city. "Bakhmut is only in our hearts," the Ukrainian president said. Zelensky also commended Ukrainian forces in and around Bakhmut for their dogged defense of the city. In addition, Zelensky's visit to Hiroshima, the first city destroyed by a nuclear weapon in 1945, reminded him of Bakhmut. Hiroshima is the hometown of Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida. He also represents the city at the Japanese parliament. @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Life, as interrupted and upside down as it is, must go on. My kids cant do everything they used to with some places still closed, but they can pursue living outside of other peoples comfort zones. So they do. Being thankful for happy celebrations is easy. Being thankful to be living in a world where the new normal is anything but normal takes effort. When I look at whats going on in the news and hear how others are living in fear, I see a world that I dont recognize anymore. Society seems to have lost its mind with a novel virus thats got a pretty high recovery rate. Terrified of humans and interacting with them, Ive never seen anything like it in my life! No matter their ages, though, lifes always been busy for us. Some of the busy is good it keeps us out of the house and active in our community. Some of the busy can sometimes be overwhelming, for both the kids and for me. For each of us, this year has had more stressors thanks to COVID19. Despite those stressors, well, and because of those, its been one of the most trying years ever. When lifes been flipped upside down, especially by someone or something else, it makes it hard to move in a forward direction. Getting to celebrate a happy birthday in the middle of one of our busiest weeks put the biggest smile of my face. That time to pause, to focus on life, and to celebrate it (with cake!) put things into perspective for me. Note: Cathy is celebrating her daughter's COLLEGE graduation today and has the day off. How the years have flown by. Last week was Mother's Day, but today's Best of is a tribute to all Moms, written by one of the best. Our Cathy. By Cathy Jameson In the beginning, we all felt a little rebellious going against the hive mind. Television doctors told us to stay home. Politicians told us to stay home. Neighbors told us to stay home. We did that. Until we didnt. Now, and for several months, weve gone into stores, into Church, and into restaurants because those places, too, believe that life must go on. Sure, online shopping, curbside pick-up and virtual Mass on Sundays could save us some time and energy, but humans need other humans. My children need their friends. I need my friends, too! It isnt the old normal, but tiptoeing back into places we knew were healthy places and hanging out again with people we love was exhilarating. Were, of course, cautious when we need to be, and were honest at all times about how things are going in case we encounter someone who is fearful of catching an illness we dont have. None of us like the extra talk of mandates and or losing more freedom when those conversations start. Those are tough moments all around. Nevertheless, we understand that not everyone thinks like us. Some people prefer restrictions and lockdowns, and they blindly trust television doctors who push experimental vaccines. We do not. Several restrictions are still part of some of day-to-day activities and do hamper some of the things we want or need to do. But that hasnt stopped us from living completely. If anything, its made our family more creative in how we get things done. The kids have morphed when theyve needed to, and weve been flexible in how we parent also. Both of us, the kids and myself, have gotten compliments when we do go out to the stores, restaurants and to Church. People tell my children how well behaved and happy they look. They tell me what a good job Im doing despite all the stressors that exist. My favorite moments are when someone, many times a complete stranger, tells my kids what a great mom they have. They smile shyly, and I beam. I tell them thank you and that I appreciate them noticing how hard I work for my kids and their health. Nodding toward me, they tell me to keep at it. I promise them that I will. I know that what works one day certainly may not work the next, but thats true no matter whats going on in the world. The world can be nutty, these days more so than ever before. But not all of it is on the brink of despair. Even though COVID19 changed a lot of things, and potentially still will in the future, I cant let that get to me. I cant let that grip my kids lives right now either. Like always, I will look for people who are positive and who can help us. I will look for places that are welcoming and that treat their customers masked or unmasked, vaccinated or unvaccinated with respect. I will make sure my children, all five of my teenagers, know to look for that as well. Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism. ### Here's a Mother's Day Hat Trick of Skyhorse Publishing books from Helena Hjalmarsson. Already Whole: Discovering the Sacred Within Many of us have made our lives so noisy, overwhelming, sensory craving and data driven that we have somehow missed the most fundamental part about ourselves and our lives. Learning how to work with every process, every situation, every relationship intuitively; learning to love what is, to let go, to have faith and find stillness; to foster ones intuition and become creative in our own lives is something we can all achieve. To illustrate these concepts, Hajlmarsson calls on her decades of experience and work as a psychotherapist. But most significantly, her life as an autism parent, accounted for in her previous books, Finding Lina 2013 and Beyond Autism 2019, which has taught her where to find that elusive freedom and harmony: inside herself. Hjalmarsson believes that the solution to life's chaos, this freedom and harmonythis loveis accessible to all. Finding Lina: A Mother's Journey from Autism to Hope Lina was a precocious toddlercharming, chatty, joyful. At the age of three, in the aftermath of her second MMR vaccine, first came a seizure, and then, to her parents horror, the loss of Linas ability to play, use language, and control her impulses. Over the next few years they continued to lose Lina. She communicated her acute discomfort by biting, screaming, hitting, laughing maniacally, and throwing violent tantrums. As a single mother, with the help of her ex-husband, Helena Hjalmarsson tirelessly pursued every possible avenue to find a diagnosis, and more importantly a treatment, for her daughter, and the search continues to this day. Beyond Autism: My Life with Lina A Passionate Memoir about Life with a Teenage Daughter with Severe Autism, Following the Progress of Acclaimed Book, Finding Lina. Like her passionate first book, Finding Lina, about her daughter with severe autism, Helena Hjalmarsson brings an intensity of purpose and love to her second memoir about Lina, Beyond Autism. Linas world is one of excruciating challenges. Helenas world is the same, but with her own insights, indominable spirit, and amazing clarity she sheds light and hope for other parents, siblings and caretakers of children with autism, as well as the children with autism themselves. Alabama softball handled its opening two games of the Tuscaloosa regional but dropped its third to Middle Tennessee State, 4-1, to set up a win-or-go-home scenario on Sunday afternoon. A late home run by catcher Ally Shipman, though, broke the pitchers dual in game two and gave Alabama a 1-0 win behind another excellent start from Jaala Torrence. Heres how it happened. RELATED: Montana Fouts throws bullpen Friday, Alabama unsure about availability Alabama softball survives Middle Tennessee State, advances to NCAA super regional Game 2 7TH INNING Top: Thats the hit Alabama has been waiting for. Ally Shipman drives one to deep left and is mobbed at home plate. UAs biggest swing of the season gives it a late lead. The Crimson Tides next two batters reached base but a cross-field double play kept it a one-run game. Alabama 1, Middle Tennessee 0 Bottom: 6TH INNING Top: Preuitt reached first on an infield single hit to second base. Alabamas first hit since the second inning. Yet, two more pop-outs brought the small contingent of MTSU fans sitting behind a dugout to their feet. The tension is building in Rhoads Stadium. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 Bottom: Torrence allowed a leadoff single but responded with a seventh strikeout. Shipman then threw out Echols on a steal attempt. A two-out single was also wasted as Torrence has now gone 17 innings without allowing a run. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 5TH INNING Top: The wind is now blowing in from left field and its prevented a handful of home runs for both sides. Broadfoot takes one to the wall to start the inning but it was caught. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 Bottom: Three more outs for Torrence, who recorded her sixth strikeout despite a single by Behabetz. Fouts is no longer throwing in the bullpen. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 4TH INNING Top: Alabama isnt sustaining good at-bats as Prange, Dowling and Shipman are each retired to keep Carchichs outing grooving along. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 Bottom: Torrence, meanwhile, keeps answering with swings-and-misses. Shes thrown 60 pitches (38 strikes) through four innings and has five strikeouts, matching a season-high set on Friday. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 3RD INNING Top: Carcich has matched Meads strong performance from earlier today so far. She works another quick inning, sitting down the bottom of Alabamas lineup to bring Torrence back out to the mound. Bottom: First sign of trouble for Torrence as she allowed a single to Savannah Behabetz and walked Echols. A coach came to the mound to talk to Torrence before she faced Mealer, whos killed this series. It went to a full count, but Torrence got a swing-and-miss and brought the crowd to its feet. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 2ND INNING Top: Dowling started the inning as the latest Alabama hitter to just miss a home run. Singles from Shipman and Cahalan gave an opportunity to Heivilin, whos already hit two home runs this weekend. Yet, Heivilin cant drive them in as she popped out to right field. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 Bottom: Torrence recorded her third strikeout and generated some soft contact from the Blue Raiders bats. Fouts spent some time in the bullpen during the last few innings, but Torrence appears to be in control for now. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 1ST INNING Top: Alabama is the road team for this one and MTSU is rolling with Kamryn Carcich (1.99 ERA in 134.0 innings). Carcich retired all three batters as Prange drove one to the warning track in center field. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 Bottom: The Crimson Tide is also riding with a new starting pitcher in game two with Jaala Torrence on the mound. The junior has pitched 11.2 scoreless innings so far this weekend. She continued her hot stretch with a pair of strikeouts, one swinging and one looking. Alabama 0, MTSU 0 Alabama softball player Ashley Prange (29) and Jordan Stephens (25) high-five pregame against Long Island University at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa, AL on Friday, May 19, 2023. Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics Game 1 7TH INNING Top: Salters worked a scoreless top of the seventh, retiring three batters in order. Bottom: Kenleigh Cahalan grounded out to shortstop for the first out. A pop-out by Kali Heivilin and a grounder by Kristen White sent Rhoads Stadium to a winner-take-all region final. FINAL: MTSU 4, Alabama 1 6TH INNING Top: MTSU added an insurance run thanks to a double by Julia Garcia and an RBI single by Blevins. Esman was eventually knocked out of the game as the next two batters reached base. Right-hander Alex Salters entered for Esman with two on and two out. Echols walked to load the bases but Salters drew a ground ball to end the threat. MTSU 4, Alabama 1 Bottom: Two more flyouts for Alabama to start the inning, one to second base and another to right-center field. Another starter was warming for MTSU a few innings ago, but she stopped as Mead has continued to work efficiently. Dowling was left stranded after a two-out infield single. MTSU 4, Alabama 1 5TH INNING Top: Alabama got a break when the umpires ruled MTSUs Lauren Mealer left first base early and wiped away a leadoff single. Esman nearly conceded another home run but Anyce Harvey flew out to the warning track. MTSU 3, Alabama 1 Bottom: Kristen Whtie reached first after she was hit by a pitch while attempting to bunt. The call was reviewed and upheld, but the Tide couldnt capitalize. 4TH INNING Top: Esman pitched her first 1-2-3 inning of the day and received a post from Dowling who made a catch near the wall in foul territory for the first own. Esman then kept Echols off base for the first time today by getting her to ground out to third. MTSU 3, Alabama 0 Bottom: Preuitt snuck one under the glove of Echols for Alabamas second hit. Prange responded with her second double of the game, nearly in the same spot as the first, and gave the Tide its best scoring chance of the day. Shipman converted one batter later with a sacrifice fly, driving in Preuitt. Yet, the three pop-ups were only enough to score one run. MTSU 3, Alabama 1 3RD INNING Top: Echols singled for the second time in as many at-bats when she pushed one by Keneleigh Cahalan. Laura Mealer then lifted one over the wall in left field to give MTSU a 3-0 lead. It was Mealers second home run against the Tide this weekend. Amaya Harris followed up with a double slapped into the right field corner. MTSU would get runners on second and third with two outs, but Esman responded and retired Blevins. MTSU 3, Alabama 0 Bottom: Alabama continued to struggle to find grass against Mead. Despite some hard contact from Kali Heivilin and Kristen White, the Crimson Tide has just had one baserunner in its first 10 batters. 2ND INNING Top: Ansley Blevins gave the Blue Raiders another early base-runner as Esman clipped her forearm with a pitch. Esman then knocked down a line drive up the middle to get an out at first as Blevins moved to second. Esman got MTSUs nine-hitter Ava Tepe to pop out and escape the jam. MTSU 1, Alabama 0 Bottom: Mead didnt face Alabama yesterday, but saved MTSUs season against Central Arkansas a few hours after. The graduate student hasnt allowed a run in her 14 innings of work this weekend after retiring Alabama in order in the second. 1ST INNING Top: Like yesterday, Alabama started the game trailing. Shelby Echols signed, stole second and then scored on an RBI single by Anyce Harvey. Alabama nearly had a play at the plate but Ally Shipman was late on the tag. Senior Lauren Esman, making her regional debut, got out of the first following a replay review. MTSU 1, Alabama 0 Bottom: Both Jenna Johnson and Larissa Preuitt popped out off MTSUs Gretchen Mead to start the inning. Ashley Prange extended the inning with a double that rolled to the wall, but Bailey Dowling failed to get the clutch hit shes delivered a few times this postseason and flew out to left. MTSU 1, Alabama 0 Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com. Just in time for swimsuit season, Publix has released eight new ice cream flavors. Available in quart-size containers (as long as supplies last), these limited edition flavors include: Marry Me Strawberry (described in a press release as strawberry ice cream with ribbons of strawberry-flavored sauce, studded with pieces of white chocolate-flavored strawberry pecan bark); Nuts About Pistachio (pistachio ice cream loaded with pieces of real pistachios); Buckeyes & Fudge (peanut butter ice cream loaded with chocolatey-covered peanut butter buckeye candies and swirls of thick fudge); Pina Colada (coconut-flavored ice cream with pineapple-flavored pieces throughout:); Hazelnut Amaretto Biscotti (rich chocolate hazelnut-flavored ice cream swirled with amaretto-flavored cookie crumbles and dark chocolate flakes); Lemon Berry Bliss: (lemon creme-flavored ice cream with lemonade-flavored flakes and blueberry-flavored swirls); and Mocha Mud Pie (rich mocha-flavored ice cream with a decadent hot fudge swirl and pieces of cookies and cream). Headquartered in Lakeland, Florida, the Publix supermarket chain has around 1,300 locations across seven states. Past Publix limited edition ice cream flavors have included the likes of Bananas Foster, Deep Dish Apple Pie, Eggnog and Snickerdoodle. According to Publixs press release, their next batch of limited edition ice creams will drop this fall. According to a report from Tampa based Fox TV affiliate Channel 13, many of Publixs ice cream flavors start at the companys Lakeland dairy plant. We rely on trends research, Tarisha Gray, the plants product development manager told Fox 13. We rely on our suppliers as well to tell us whats trending in their regions. When you create, youre not creating for yourself or your own palette, youre creating for the masses. Publixs Lakeland dairy plant produces more than 20 million cartons of ice-cream each year, according to the facilitys general manager, Greg Rudolph. To generate that output, the production line runs 80 hours a week. Lead that may have been used to poison a Decatur chiropractors wife was found in the X-ray room of his Sixth Avenue office, a Hartselle police investigator told the court this week. Brian Thomas Mann, 34, a Hartselle resident with a chiropractic business in Decatur, was arrested Sept. 2 after being indicted for the attempted murder of his wife. He was released from jail after posting a $500,000 bond, with conditions that include a requirement that he report back to Morgan County Jail every weekend. In a search warrant application submitted to the Morgan County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Hartselle police Lt. Alan McDearmond said he was contacted by the Morgan County Department of Human Resources on Jan. 26, 2022, and advised that Manns wife was unresponsive at UAB Hospital and was a possible victim of intentional lead poisoning. McDearmond said investigators questioned Mann at the time about any lead sources that his wife could have ingested. Brian told investigators he only knew of (his wife taking) one vitamin capsule, one prescription pill, one gummy and one prescription powder, McDearmond wrote. Investigators unsuccessfully searched the Hartselle home of Mann and his wife for a lead source and on Jan. 28, 2022, the Alabama Department of Public Health took samples from the home and all the samples were negative for lead. McDearmond said Manns children tested negative for lead. All efforts to find a source of lead that could have been used to poison Manns wife were unsuccessful, McDearmond said, until speaking with a subject that said he installed lead in the walls of an X-ray room at Advanced Chiropractic, Manns business. The contractor said he had thought about the possibility of the lead being used to poison (Manns wife) and wanted to report it to the police, McDearmond said. McDearmond said the contractor installed eight rolls of lead in the walls of the X-ray room about a year before Manns wife was hospitalized. According to the contractor, McDearmond said, there was lead left after the job was completed and the lead was left with Brian Mann. McDearmond requested a search warrant of Advanced Chiropractic so he could take samples of the lead that had been installed. Investigators have lead taken from the body of (Manns wife) while she was in the hospital, McDearmond wrote. Investigators wish to compare the lead taken from (Manns wife) to lead located at 2112 Sixth Ave. S.E., at Advanced Chiropractic. Circuit Judge Charles Elliott authorized the search of the building, which McDearmond said appeared to be vacant, and the investigator filed a search warrant return Wednesday advising that he had removed lead from the X-ray room wall. In a previously filed subpoena of Manns medical records, McDearmond said he believes the medical records indicate Brian intentionally ingested lead to provide the impression he was also being poisoned. According to a pending divorce case filed by his wife, Mann intentionally poisoned her with lead particles, leading to her hospitalization from Jan. 18, 2022, to March 3, 2022. Mann has denied the divorce allegations and pleaded not guilty in the criminal case. Through her lawyer, Jerry Knight, Manns wife filed a discovery document asking Mann to admit 32 separate facts. Manns lawyer, Britt Cauthen, in March asserted his clients Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself in declining to answer 26 of the requests for admission. Knight responded by asking the court to deem each of the unanswered requests to be declared as facts for the purpose of the divorce case. According to Knight, Mann had effectively admitted that he was the beneficiary of $1.3 million of life insurance on his wife, whereas his wife was the beneficiary of only $52,000 of life insurance on Mann. In supporting his claim that these facts had been admitted, Knights motion said Manns previous lawyer had turned over documentation of the life insurance policies, thereby waiving any Fifth Amendment privilege. Mann denied requests for an admission that his wife ingested vitamins or food supplements in capsules provided to her by Mann for several months prior to her hospitalization. After Manns arrest Sept. 2 on the attempted murder charge, he was released on $500,000 bond Sept. 7 with conditions that included wearing an ankle monitor and surrendering his passport within 24 hours of his release. Mann failed to turn in his passport and failed to alert Community Corrections or the court that he could not find it, leading Elliott to revoke his bond Sept. 14. On Jan. 11, Elliott who is the judge in both the criminal and divorce cases allowed Mann to be released again on $500,000 bond with conditions that include returning to jail every weekend from 4 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday. On weekdays, he is not permitted to leave his house after 6 p.m. or before 8 a.m., compliance with which is ensured through a GPS ankle monitor. Manns lawyer on May 3 filed a motion asking the judge to discontinue the requirement that he return to jail every weekend. Mann, according to the motion, has passed each and every drug screen, has not violated his curfew, and has not otherwise given the Court any reason to suspect that the Defendant is attempting to avoid his responsibilities with the Court. Manns ankle monitor, the motion continued, would be sufficient to maintain 24/7 supervision over the Defendant. Elliott on Tuesday responded to the motion with a one-word order: Denied. The jury trial in the attempted murder case is scheduled for Aug. 14. (c)2023 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at www.decaturdaily.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A housekeeper encountered a deadly sight Wednesday afternoon in Naples, Florida, authorities say, and helped get a suspect behind bars. According to a police report from the Collier County Sheriffs Office, at around 2:30 p.m., the maid was called by one of her clients, Anthony Michael Corrado, who asked her to come clean up a real mess at his grandparents home. When she arrived to the house in the suburb of Golden Gate Estates, she noticed Corrado, 34, was covered in blood. The woman went into the bedroom, heard heaving breathing and saw a large, blue tarp on the floor, with something moving underneath. She began to unwrap the tarp and found Corrados grandmother with a plastic bag over her head, according to the report. When she attempted to remove the bag, Corrado told her to stop because she would get blood everywhere. Corrado then told the woman to help her get rid of his grandmothers body before his grandfather got home from the grocery store, and disable the security cameras. The housekeeper insisted they call 911, but Corrado, who has a long rap sheet, told her no because he didnt want to go back to prison, the arrest affidavit said. Frightened, the housekeeper told Corrado that she needed to get cleaning supplies from her car and left to get help. She flagged down a Collier County deputy in his patrol vehicle a short distance away. Deputies then went to the house and saw Corrado, still wearing blood-spattered clothes, in the driveway next to a car with the trunk open. In the bedroom, the grandmother, 82, was found dead, with injuries from blunt head trauma. The 74-year-old grandfather, who had returned from the store, was still alive and wrapped in a blanket, the report said. The second victim, who also had injuries consistent with blunt head trauma, was taken by helicopter to the Gulf Coast Medical Centers trauma unit in Fort Myers. Deputies continued to search the home and observed blood on the walls and floors, and a heavy hammer with smeared blood on the kitchen countertop. Corrado was arrested and booked into the Collier County jail. He is facing charges of second-degree murder and aggravated battery on a person over 65 years of age. This individual is in our custody thanks to the swift response by deputies and the quick-thinking reporter who was able to get herself out of the residence and alert law enforcement, Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said. Corrado did not appear at his bond hearing where a judge set no bond based on probable cause; the judge also ordered him to have no contact with his grandfather, whose medical condition is unknown. According to property records, the house belongs to married couple Anthony and Mary Schiavone, the victims of the attack. Anthony and Mary were devoted grandparents and they helped their grandkids a ton, second cousin Mike Schiavone, who is based in Pittsburgh, told NBC-2. The horror of the entire situation was overwhelming. Collier County court records show that Mary Schiavone had a protection order against Corrado, dating back to 2018. _____ 2023 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. One man is dead and another in custody on a murder charge following a shooting at the Cullman City parking deck early Sunday morning. Later Sunday, Christopher Dean Eugene Brown, 20, of Empire, was located and apprehended by the Walker County Sheriffs Office and charged with the death of Roberto Juarez Ramos, 23, of Blountsville. Around 2:40 a.m. Sunday, Cullman City Communications received a call concerning a shooting at the Cullman City parking deck. Responding officers found Ramos deceased there. Photos of Brown at the time of his arrest show him shirtless and wearing gray sweatpants. In announcing Browns arrest on social media, the Cullman Police Department thanked Walker County Sheriffs Office and their own Cullman Police Department Patrol Division and Investigation Division for their work on the case. A federal judge late Friday night denied a request that would have allowed a transgender student at a Mississippi Coast high school to wear a dress to receive her diploma at a Saturday graduation ceremony. Judge Taylor McNeel issued the ruling after hearing hours of testimony from the Harrison Central High student, the superintendent of the Harrison County School District and others in federal court in Gulfport. The emergency injunction hearing was scheduled for Friday after the ACLU on Thursday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court asking a judge to allow the Harrison High student to allow her to dress as she wished instead of being forced to wear boys clothes and shoes. The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of L.B. and her parents, Samantha and Henry Brown. ACLU attorneys McKenna E. Raney-Gray, Joshua F. Tom and Linda S. Morris are representing the student and her family. Harrison County School District, the school board, Superintendent Mitchell King and Harrison Central High Principal Kelly Fuller are named as defendants in the complaint. L.B., her mother, and King testified Friday. L.B. said she learned the School District wouldnt allow her to wear a dress to the ceremony on May 9 during a meeting with Fuller. By then, she and her mother had already bought the white dress and shoes she planned to wear under her cap and gown at the ceremony. The news left her distraught and depressed, she said, because she had already dressed as a transgender girl throughout her four years at Harrison Central High. It felt like I had worked so hard to get to this moment, and now I cant enjoy it, she said. After she learned the news, L.B. called her mom crying. It hurt to know it hurt my daughter, her mother said Friday, adding she was stunned the school made the decision at what seemed like the last minute and long after the family had invited friends, relatives, and others to a graduation after- party to celebrate L.Bs accomplishments. The School Districts attorney, Wynn Clark, argued the mother and daughter duo had signed a dress code form for graduation that outlined how girls had to wear white dresses and certain shoes and boys had to wear a shirt and tie and boys shoes. They said because L.B. was born a biological male, she had to dress like a boy. The school district backed up its decision for not allowing L.B. to wear a dress at graduation by citing the Harrison Central High graduation dress code that says girls must wear a white dress and dress shoes and boys must wear a white button-down shirt, black dress shoes, black dress pants, and a tie or bow tie. L.B. has identified as trans her entire high school career and has worn dresses and other womens clothing to school for four years. She said in court papers that she would miss the Harrison Central graduation ceremony if she couldnt wear a dress. Despite the mandate, the graduation dress code at the school does not prevent L.B. from wearing makeup, womens jewelry and other accessories. She is not allowed to wear womens heels. School districts response to lawsuit The school district denied L.B.s claim that she had very little notice about having to wear boys clothes to graduation by citing the graduation dress code thats been in place for more than two years. Additionally, the parents sign a commencement agreement two-and-a-half months before graduation, part of which acknowledges the dress code. L.B.s filing left little time for a full briefing, the response to the complaint, filed by Wynn E. Clark, said. But the District has done its best to respond on short notice. Wynn also argued that since L.B. is already done with high school, she is technically no longer a student and must comply with the dress code, and the districts decision does not infringe on protected rights or justify extraordinary injunctive relieve. The Sun Herald reviewed the commencement ceremony dress code that is available online and found that there is no mention of transgender or LGBTQIA students, and it does not say that students must be dressed by the sex they were assigned at birth. The regular Harrison Central High School dress code also does not mention gender markers or say students must abide by their sex assigned at birth. However, King testified that the school relies on birth certificates to identify the gender of students and not based on ones alleged gender identity. No rational to justify school districts decision The schools policy, shared via Facebook on April 22, does not explicitly discuss sex or gender and does not say students must dress according to their sex assigned at birth. Defendants have offered no rationale that could justify the severe and ongoing deprivation of Plaintiffs constitutional and statutory rights to be free from gender discrimination, the lawsuit says. It further alleges that the school declining to reconsider and allow L.B. to dress as she chooses during the final and perhaps most important event of her high school career serves no legitimate interest or justification. The lawsuit alleges gender discrimination as a violation of constitutional rights and federal law, specifically Title IX, the First Amendments freedom of expression clause, and the Fourteenth Amendments equal protection clause. According to the lawsuit, the temporary restraining order asks the court to prohibit the district from taking action for alleged noncompliance with its graduation dress code policies. Superintendent King allegedly was behind the decision to prohibit the student from wearing a dress at her graduation. A timeline of the events According to the complaint, the student first realized something was wrong on May 4 when Harrison Central High Assistant Principal Christopher Spencer told L.B. that Fuller would be reaching out to discuss a matter. But it wasnt until May 9 that Fuller called L.B. to the principals office and asked what she planned to wear to graduation. When L.B. said she planned to wear a dress that she and her mother picked out, Fuller told her she would have to wear boys clothes to graduation. Fuller, the complaint said, told L.B. the meeting with her was prompted by King, who called and asked what trans students would be wearing to graduation. The next day, Samantha Brown, L.B.s mother, called King to ask about the dress code rule. King told her L.B. would be unable to participate in graduation if she wore a dress and heels. Samantha Brown also claims King said L.B. is still a boy and that he needs to wear pants, socks, and shoes, like a boy. On May 11, L.B. was handed the graduation dress code on the principals letterhead that outlined the policy when she picked up her cap and gown. Lawyers tried to get the MS School District to reconsider The complaint says the Browns hired lawyers for the ACLU, who emailed the school districts attorneys on May 16 and asked that they reconsider their stance. After reaching out again on May 17, the school district said they would not reconsider, prompting the call for an emergency injunction and, ultimately, the hearing Friday in U.S. District Court. The Sun Herald reached out to the School District for comment but did not receive a response before Fridays hearing. According to an ACLU press release, the district has not taken any action to check the planned outfits of any other students. ___ (c)2023 The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) Visit The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) at www.sunherald.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Sign up for Roy S. Johnsons newsletter: Enter your email to subscribe to Roys weekly newsletter, The Barbershop: Malena Cunningham Anderson flipped this script: She played a retired television news anchor home-bound in Atlanta during the COVID-19 shutdown, settled into blissfully married life with an attorney husband, and shuttling her aging mother to three-days-a-week dialysis treatments and doctors appointments. It was a role of necessity, a caring role, though not a role the longtime real-life multi-Emmy winning anchor and reporter at Birminghams WVTM 13 wholly relished. Two years ago, I was sitting on my back porch, she shared recently. I said, God, I cant take this another day. Youre gonna have to find me something to do. Im about to go crazy. Cunningham walks by faith. She walked away from television news in 2004 and into a successful role as an author, consultant, and business (fitness center) owner in Birmingham. She walked into a role managing communications for Faith Chapel Church, while still handling her varied businesses. She walked away from Birmingham in 2014 for love and a move to Pennsylvania, near her new husbands law practice and family. [He] asked me not to work for a year, she says. I thought he was gonna have to put me in an asylum because I had never not worked. That was crazy for me. After retiring as a long-time news anchor at Biringham's Ch. 13, Malena Cunningham found a new role as an actress. She (they) soon walked back south to be closer to her mother in South Carolina, who was becoming ill and would eventually move in with her daughter and son-in-law in Atlanta. She walked onto that back porch in that COVID spring of 2021and prayed out loud. You have to speak things, she says, that be not. What Cunningham spoke that day find me something to do was not. Not yet. Within a week, she received a random email (which wasnt random, she says) that proved to be, shall we say, the opening credits for a new script, a new real-life storyline. It was from a casting coming looking for folks to work in the background on the set of The First Ladies, a Showtime series with Oscar-winner Viola Davis portraying Michelle Obama. I dont know how they got my email, Cunningham says. It wasnt a whole lot of money, but I said, Shoot, Im sending my picture in. Anything to get me out of the house. She got the initial background gig and was on the set with iconic long-time actress Michelle Pfeiffer. I was actually in a scene with her, but it got cut, Cunningham says. The very next day, that same casting company texted and said, Can you do background on the set of Cobra Kai? I was like, What the ? Fast forward to 2023; like really fast. In an unusually short span in the fickle and frustrating ecosystem that is Hollywood, Cunningham is a working actress. This month she appears in five of eight episodes of the upcoming series Judge Me Not, which is slated to premiere Thursday, May 25 (on the ALLBLK streaming service) and is loosely based on the life of creator, writer, and executive producer Judge Lynn Toler (Divorce Court). Cunningham portrays the main characters mother, making her a lead supporting character. In Night Nurse, a Lifetime production, Cunningham, 64, also plays the mother of the main character. After retiring as a long-time news anchor at Biringham's Ch. 13, Malena Cunningham found a new role as an actress. I share her age because a) she unabashedly shares it and b) she perceived it as a barrier to acting, even as opportunities began to manifest. On the Cobra Kai set, she met a young actor who mistook her for an actor on a Tyler Perry project. I said. No sweetheart I dont even know what Im doing. Its my second day doing background, she says with a laugh. I just go where they tell me. The actor offered to connect Cunningham with his agent. Nobody does that, she says. While on set, Cunningham launched a text. It read: Hey, Im sitting here with Joseph. He said I need to meet you. The agent asked for pics; Cunningham sent selfies. Whats your background? the agent responded. I said, Well, Im a retired news anchor. She said, Call me tomorrow. A week later, Cunningham signed with the agencythough still with trepidation. She told the agent: Im old. Im in my 60s. and Ive never acted. She said, Do you know how many times I get calls from producers and casting directors looking for someone who could play a news anchor who used to be a news anchor? I need you. And look at television. You are the age range of mom, grandma, doctor, lawyer, judge, and teacher. Id never thought about that. Soon after the Cobra Kai gig, she was booked as a, yeah, news anchor on the quirky Hulu film Honk for Jesus, starring Sterling K. Brown (This is Us) and popular comedic actress Regina Hall. I got paid for two days because when I showed up on set, [they] forgot to shoot my scene, Cunningham says. They apologized profusely and said they would write a part for me, so Can you come back tomorrow? Former Birmingham TV anchor/reporter Malena Cunningham has found a new season in acting. Here she is with Reginal Hall and Sterling K. Brown while filming Hulu's "Honk for Jesus." The next day, Cunningham was an employee in a hat store where Halls character was looking to make a purchase. So, I was on set with Regina for like four hours shooting the scene, says Cunningham. She was fabulous. You wouldve thought we went to high school together; we got along that well. She told me her journey of how she wanted to be a news anchor but ended up dropping out of school and acting and I said, Well that kind of worked out for you. Cunningham three times auditioned for a role in Queen Sugar, the award-winning OWN drama by filmmaker Ava DuVernay and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey. It aired for seven seasons. Unfortunately, I didnt get the role, she says. But thats a big deal to get to audition for somebody like Ava DuVernay. Remember, Im still a new actor, and Im auditioning for these kinds of people. Cunninghams first network role was as a reporter in Foxs The Resident, which aired last year. She was rebooked to return as an anchor the following season. Although they had no scenes together, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, of The Cosby Show fame, was a castmate. We were in hair, makeup, and the green room together, she says, He was extremely nice and a big intellectual. After retiring as a long-time news anchor at Biringham's Ch. 13, Malena Cunningham found a new role as an actress. Castings can be clandestine. Actors, Cunningham says, often dont know the title of the project for which theyre auditioning. An acting classmate once asked her if she knew someone who could play a reporter, that a friend was working on a film and needed someone for such a role. Cunningham assumed it was a student film. Yeah, for sure, Ill do a student film, she thought to herself. I dont mind doing that. She met the casting director at an Atlanta Starbucks, which she found odd because this was still during amid the throes of COVID-19 and auditions were rarely held in person. Even odder, once she arrive, it was clear the person was not a student. I meet this middle-aged white guy, she recalls. Im looking at him like, Okay, maybe he has a second career too because Im not a spring chicken and Im just getting started. At a juncture, the guy pulls out an iPad and says, Lets step across the street because there are some woods there. Im looking at him funny, Cunningham says. I just want the woods to be behind you, he says. On the iPad was a scene calling for a news reporter. Theres breaking news, the guy says. These girls are missing the search on. What would you do? I went into news reporter breaking news reporter mode, Cunningham says. I did that a couple of times, then he asked me to interview him like I was interviewing a family member of a missing girl. Easy. Well get back with you, the guy said, A couple of weeks later, Cunningham auditioned again; she got the role. Then I found out it was not a student film, she says. In October, Cunningham is slated to appear in the 50th-anniversary remake of The Exorcist, starring Leslie Odom Jr. Okay, Cunningham says with a laugh, So, this is whats been happening with me and my two-year acting career. She credits much of her success to her 23 years behind the scenes and on camera in television newsand faith. After retiring as a long-time news anchor at Biringham's Ch. 13, Malena Cunningham found a new role as an actress. You have to be spiritual, she says of this new journey. Ive been on set with people who swear Ive been acting ten or twenty years. Youre a natural, they say. You never mess up. It comes from being a news anchor. I was live every night. We dont get to go, Oops, let me start over, Take two. Its one and done. I dont know how to mess up. Yet surely knows how to flip a script. More columns by Roy S. Johnson United Methodist member recalls effort in 1970s to merge Black and white congregations Instead of forcing kids to hear the Star-Spanged Banner, they should study it Questioning parenting after youth violence is real, but does not absolve lawmaker inaction Why are our Black children shooting our Black children? Tell me why, Republicans; or do silence and gun deaths speak for you? I got it wrong; Republicans actually do want us to vote Im a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary and winner of the Edward R. Murrow prize for podcasts: Unjustifiable, co-hosted with John Archibald. My column appears in AL.com, as well as the Lede. Stay tuned for my upcoming limited series podcast Panther: Blueprint for Black Power, co-hosted with Eunice Elliott. Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter, The Barbershop, here. Reach me at rjohnson@al.com, follow me at twitter.com/roysj, or on Instagram @roysj Tensions arose in Georgia as protestors gathered in front of a hotel after hearing that relatives of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were staying there in contravention of sanctions. Police had to evacuate the demonstrators, as reported by national television First Channel. Increasingly Violent Protests On Saturday, May 20, members of the opposition United National Movement party rallied outside the Kvareli Lake Hotel in Georgia's far northeast. This comes as tensions are already high due to this week's resumption of flights between Georgia and Russia after a four-year hiatus, CNN reported. Georgia, which gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has had to tread carefully between the desires of its pro-European population and the sway of its larger neighbor Russia. Reporters on the scene stated Saturday was "tense" as demonstrators threw eggs at a van carrying Russian visitors as it departed the hotel. Videos of police officers violently seizing demonstrators outside the hotel circulated online. Officers may be seen grabbing an activist by the neck in one clip. See Also: Georgia Police Found Mother of 'Baby India,' the Infant Found Alive Inside Plastic Bag in Woods Sanctioned Russian Nationals in Georgia Protests broke out after news outlets in Georgia reported that Lavrov's daughter, Ekaterina Vinokurova, had attended the wedding of her husband's brother. Vinokurova's husband is Alexandre Vinokourov. In a Saturday conference, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said she had been notified by her Minister of Internal Affairs, Vakhtang Gomelauri, that Lavrov's family had departed the country. She did not say when exactly the relatives flew into or out of Georgia. British, American, and Canadian sanctions have been placed on Vinokurova, while EU sanctions have been placed on her husband, Vinokourov. Reportedly, President Zourabichvili was shocked to learn that Georgia's government had been unaware that "the daughter of the highest-ranking official, from Putin's immediate circle, who is under sanctions" had entered the country. She emphasized that they must identify everyone who enters the nation for security purposes. She also suggested that the government use the list of Russian persons sanctioned by Georgia's allies as a means of defense. In addition to sanctioning Lavrov, the UK government also blacklisted Polina Kovaleva last year, calling her Lavrov's stepdaughter even though the Russian foreign minister is not legally married to Kovaleva's mother. It came after the Anti-Corruption Foundation, headed by Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, reported that Kovaleva had purchased a $5.8 million property in London's wealthy Kensington area at age 21. After a year of restrictions, direct flights between Russia and Georgia resumed on Friday, May 19. Tensions quickly flared anew in Georgia this week. See Also: Russia Bans '500 Americans': Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert, and More @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. May 21, 2023 by Amy Gold Music legend Stevie Wonder will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters at Fordham University's 178th Commencement on May 20 at Rose Hill. Wonder will offer the Class of 2023 some words of heartfelt gratitude to be counted among its members.https://t.co/6M1sEwAfFL Fordham University (@FordhamNYC) April 28, 2023 During the week of May 14, 2023, Stevie Wonder was awarded an honorary doctorate from Fordham University in New York City at the commencement ceremonies that took place on May 20. After his speech, the music legend performed his 1973 smash hit, "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life." The Pointer Sisters' catalog was recently sold to BMG Rights Management GmbH, an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. Assets include the rights to the original masters of albums the group made from 1978-1988 that include such hits as "I'm So Excited," "Automatic," and "Jump (For My Love)." A special world premiere screening of "Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture" is scheduled for July 3 at London's Eventim Apollo Hammersmith to commemorate the 50th anniversary of David Bowie's final show as Ziggy that took place at this venue on July 3, 1973. This event will be livestreamed in theaters in the U.K. and Europe, with worldwide screenings planned throughout July. For more info and tickets, visit davidbowie.com. Also that week, it was announced that "Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90" will be coming to theaters on June 11, 2023, with encore presentations on June 13 and 14. This movie captures highlights from the country legend's onstage 90th birthday celebration that took place April 29 in Los Angeles featuring performances by Tom Jones, Keith Richards, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and more. For more info and tickets, visit willienelson90experience.com. Finally, Rockaway Records in Los Angeles recently acquired a massive collection of Rolling Stones memorabilia with over 10,000 items that include numerous rare vinyl recordings, t-shirts, promo and concert posters, and more. For more info, visit rockaway.com. Tours & Shows: (Band/Artist - Event(s) - Location - Dates) Newly-Announced Recordings: (Band/Artist - Title - Format - Release Date) Yusuf/Cat Stevens - All Nights, All Days (single from "King Of A Land") - digital download, streaming - May 18, 2023 Eric Clapton - Knockin' On Heaven's Door (single from "The Definitive 24 Nights") - digital download, streaming - May 18, 2023 Graham Nash - Now - CD, vinyl, digital download, streaming - May 19, 2023 KISS - Alive III (limited-edition 30th anniversary reissue) - vinyl - June 2, 2023 Yusuf/Cat Stevens - King Of A Land - CD, vinyl, digital download, streaming - June 16, 2023 Eric Clapton - The Definitive 24 Nights - CD, vinyl, digital download, streaming - June 23, 2023 Willie Nelson - The Great Divide (2002 album reissue) - vinyl - June 23, 2023 Gordon Lightfoot - At Royal Albert Hall - CD, vinyl, digital download, streaming - July 14, 2023 Willie Nelson - Teatro (1998 album reissue) - vinyl - August 4, 2023 Willie Nelson - Milk Cow Blues (2000 album reissue) - vinyl - September 15, 2023 Willie Nelson - Spirit (1996 album reissue) - vinyl - October 20, 2023 New & Upcoming Books: (Author - Title - Publisher - Publication Date) Scott G. Shea - All The Leaves Are Brown: How The Mamas & The Papas Came Together And Broke Apart - Backbeat - June 1, 2023 Martin Popoff - KISS At 50 - Motorbooks - October 10, 2023 (For more information about the above news items, please see below for a list of sources with links.) Music legend Stevie Wonder will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters at Fordham University's 178th Commencement on May 20 at Rose Hill. Wonder will offer the Class of 2023 some words of heartfelt gratitude to be counted among its members.https://t.co/6M1sEwAfFL Fordham University (@FordhamNYC) April 28, 2023 Music News: Huge collection of Rolling Stones memorabilia & vinyl comes to Rockaway Records #musicnews #abcnews https://t.co/coKc9MU4mM SuperHits103.7COSYFM (@cosyfm) May 15, 2023 Willie Nelson 90th birthday concerts, with Neil Young, Keith Richards and more, hitting theaters https://t.co/KFjGliwxRG 96.9 The Rock (@969TheRock) May 16, 2023 English News China-Central Asian countries pragmatic cooperation yields fruit Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 19 Mai 2023 "Since the China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base was put into use, the Chinese and Kazakh sides have worked hand in hand to strengthen trade exchanges between Kazakhstan and other countries," said Azi, vice general manager of Lianyungang China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Co., Ltd., adding that the "golden channel" has played an important pioneering role in deepening China-Kazakhstan win-win cooperation. By Yu Yichun, Wang Jintao, People's Daily The key to the successful cooperation between China and Central Asian countries over the past more than three decades lies in their abiding commitment to mutual respect, good-neighborly friendship, solidarity in trying times, and mutual benefit. As the two sides make continuous efforts to advance high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), they have reaped fruitful results in their intensive exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction, education and logistics. In April this year, Bekhzod Musayev, who heads the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan, visited a village in Tianjiahe township, Weiyuan county, Dingxi, northwest China's Gansu province, where he witnessed how poor adobes have been replaced by neatly built brick houses connected to flat asphalt roads. He called it "drastic changes." The once-impoverished village has turned into a modern and populous one with thriving businesses and sound environment. The Uzbek official noted that he would learn from the effective measures and advanced experiences of China in poverty reduction and promote them in Uzbekistan in accordance with Uzbekistan's actual conditions. Poverty reduction cooperation has grown into one of the highlights of China-Central Asian countries cooperation over the recent years. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said he was inspired by China's practice, stressing that Uzbekistan is willing to learn from China's development experiences, especially in poverty reduction. He has sent Uzbek experts and officials to China for learning, so as to advance poverty reduction in Uzbekistan. The second Shanghai Cooperation Organization Poverty Reduction and Development Seminar was held at the Southwest University in southwest China's Chongqing municipality January this year. It was joined online by 15 experts and officials from Tajikistan's government departments. The first Seminar was hosted by the university for experts and officials from Uzbekistan in June 2022. According to Tan Lin, Party head of the School of Continuing Education, Southwest University, the training curriculums of the Seminar were tailored by Chinese experts based on the actual demands of different countries. Tan noted that the curriculum for Uzbekistan included China's practices in poverty alleviation by securing basic needs through social security, while that for Tajikistan included e-commerce marketing strategies in the era of new media. Under the framework of the BRI, the cooperation and exchanges between Chinese and Central Asian universities and scientific institutions have been constantly deepened. Li Chunlin, vice dean of the School of International Cultural Exchange, Lanzhou University in Gansu province, told People's Daily that the university has trained over 600 senior professionals in various sectors for Central Asian countries, and they are currently playing an active role in their countries' economy and trade, education, politics and law, communication, geography, literature and art and other fields. On May 12, 1,700 tons of polyester chips manufactured by an enterprise in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu province departed from China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base in Lianyungang for Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which heartened Nurlan, who runs a factory in Uzbekistan. About half a month before the departure of the polyester chips, Nurlan's factory was in short supply of raw material and thus placed a rush order of polyester chips to the Wuxi enterprise. If the polyester chips couldn't arrive by the end of May, Nurlan's factory would face astronomical compensation due to delivery failure. Under the joint efforts of the shipper and receiver, the customs clearance plan of this batch of polyester chips was prioritized. The polyester chips were sent to the China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base on May 1 and departed for Tashkent 11 days later. "We had already made preparations for the compensation. It was totally out of my expectation that the Wuxi enterprise was able to ship the cargo in half a month," Nurlan said. The China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base is a joint venture between China and Kazakhstan. It has opened routes to all major logistics sites in Central Asia since starting operation in May 2014. Su Liyang, manager of the multimodal transport department of Lianyungang China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Co., Ltd. that operates the logistics base, told People's Daily that working to build both domestic and international logistics circles, the company has gradually established multimodal logistics plans that cover Southeast Asia and East Asia, which can ship Central Asian cargos to a third-party country via freight trains. "Since the China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base was put into use, the Chinese and Kazakh sides have worked hand in hand to strengthen trade exchanges between Kazakhstan and other countries," said Azi, vice general manager of Lianyungang China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Co., Ltd., adding that the "golden channel" has played an important pioneering role in deepening China-Kazakhstan win-win cooperation. Dans la meme rubrique : < > Mines on Ningxia's Helan Mountain turn green, contribute to better ecology China's foreign trade sector strives for steady, high-quality growth Hainan works to promote high-level opening-up Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) English News Flagship factories of foreign companies in China indicate country's optimized structure of foreign investment attraction Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 19 Mai 2023 A 6-billion yuan aircraft lifecycle service center of Airbus is currently under construction in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province. A drink production base of Thai TCP Group with total investment of about 2 billion yuan has completed about three quarters of construction. Tesla recently announced that it will build an energy-storage mega factory in Shanghai. By Kong Dechen China's actual use of foreign capital in high-tech industries grew 18 percent year on year to 156.71 billion yuan ($22.34 billion) in the first quarter this year. More and more multinational corporations have invested in Chinese high-tech industries and established their global flagship factories in the country, which mirrored the importance they attach to China and the strength of China's high-end manufacturing. In Tesla's Shanghai plant, electric cars are rolling off production lines one after another for quality check. The two-storey factory, which looks like a mechanical puzzle cube, have long production lines that stretch beyond one's eyesight. Auto parts there are handled by robotic arms. Different from this super large plant, the factory of Siemens Energy in Shanghai is smaller and more "delicate." The products manufactured in the factory are customized by its clients, with each of them requiring different assembling techniques, which decides that massive production is not an option for the factory, said Zheng Feng, head of the Siemens Energy factory. Though covering a small area, the factory features fine-tuned and efficient production, and is a world-leading manufacturer of its type, Zheng told People's Daily. At present, factories of foreign enterprises in China are marching toward digitalization and fine-tuned production. It indicates higher-quality foreign investment into China and a constantly optimized structure of foreign investment. "China has become an innovative country and its economic structure is being adjusted rapidly. The developments of new businesses, models and growth drivers are powered by high-tech industries, which promotes the optimization of the structure of foreign investment," said Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Steering Committee of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. The fast growth of high-tech industries, especially high-tech manufacturing, not only indicates the huge potential of China's manufacturing industry and a complete ecosystem of high-tech manufacturing, but also proves that new comparative advantages of China are taking shape, Zhang added. China's increasing appeal for foreign investment also comes from the optimization of business environment in the country. Zhang noted that the Chinese government has issued a series of favorable policies and reform measures, which have created a sound environment for the development of foreign enterprises in China. According to him, China's progress in intellectual property right protection and relevant laws and regulations has ensured stable development of foreign enterprises in China, too. Digitalization, intelligence and greening are features of the flagship factories of foreign companies in China. An executive of Tesla's Shanghai plant told People's Daily that the factory's automatic production lines are covered by a reliable industrial network, which offers complete online services for equipment automation, wireless connection of production equipment, production data collection, human-machine interaction and smart decision making. Recently, Siemens High Voltage Switchgear Ltd. Shanghai under Siemens Energy was listed as a green factory by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. "Green factory is one that achieves intensive land use, utilizes environmentally friendly raw materials, adopts clean production, recycles waste materials and relies on low-carbon energy," said an executive of the switchgear manufacturer. According to the executive, by developing new solutions of green energy, the factory has established an energy structure in which different types of energy complement each other and thus promoted refined management of energy. Top-notch foreign-funded projects have been implemented in China this year, as regions across the country have actively launched new measures and policies to attract foreign investment and worked vigorously to better business environment. A 6-billion yuan aircraft lifecycle service center of Airbus is currently under construction in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province. A drink production base of Thai TCP Group with total investment of about 2 billion yuan has completed about three quarters of construction. Tesla recently announced that it will build an energy-storage mega factory in Shanghai. Shu Jueting, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce noted that over 300 new foreign investment projects have been signed since the outside of this year, involving key sectors such as biomedicine, advanced manufacturing, chemical industry, energy and modern services. Dans la meme rubrique : < > Mines on Ningxia's Helan Mountain turn green, contribute to better ecology China's foreign trade sector strives for steady, high-quality growth Hainan works to promote high-level opening-up Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) English News To build even closer relations between China, Central Asian countries Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 18 Mai 2023 The Central Asian region is China's first neighboring cluster of strategic partners. China is the largest trading partner of Central Asia. Central Asia is where the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was initiated and the first stop of the Belt and Road to the West. The China-Central Asia gas pipeline is the world's longest of its type. By Guo Jiping, People's Daily Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province on May 18 and 19. The event is the first summit held offline by the heads of state of China and Central Asian countries since establishing diplomatic ties 31 years ago. The summit will mark a significant milestone in the development of relations between China and Central Asian countries. This summit marks the official establishment of the heads of state meeting mechanism of China+Central Asia (C+C5). It will exert important and profound impacts on the relations between China and Central Asian countries, the revitalization of the six countries and regional peace and stability. Under the guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, the political mutual trust and comprehensive cooperation between China and Central Asian countries have reached an unprecedented height. China has established comprehensive strategic partnerships and signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with all the five Central Asian countries. Together, they have blazed a new trail of good-neighborly friendship and win-win cooperation, and set a good example of fostering a new type of international relations. China is ready to assist Central Asia to build itself into a bridge linking Western and Eastern civilizations, and to work with the region to jointly pursue national development and rejuvenation. Since the two sides established diplomatic ties, China has always treated Central Asian countries as equals at the political level, fully understood their legitimate concerns and practically accommodated their demands, winning respect from these countries. China and Central Asian countries enjoy strong momentum in economic and trade cooperation. Trade between the two sides has a strong complementarity and has maintained long-term stable growth. In 2022, China-Central Asia trade reached a record high of $70.2 billion, which effectively reinforced the resilience of regional industrial and supply chains. China is willing to share with Central Asian countries its vast market, complete industrial system and advanced technologies. The two sides have been committed to optimizing trade structures and will work together to promote high-quality economic development of the region. China and Central Asian countries have made historic and groundbreaking landmark achievements in their cooperation. The Central Asian region is China's first neighboring cluster of strategic partners. China is the largest trading partner of Central Asia. Central Asia is where the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was initiated and the first stop of the Belt and Road to the West. The China-Central Asia gas pipeline is the world's longest of its type. These remarkable achievements come from the key to the successful cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries, which lies in their abiding commitment to mutual respect, good-neighborly friendship, solidarity in trying times, and mutual benefit. Central Asia is a demonstration zone of BRI achievements. The Qamchiq Tunnel of the Angren-Pap railway line in Uzbekistan has completely changed the way of transport for millions of people. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway is like an artery of international transport that crosses mountains. Chinese and Central Asian railway systems were a vital contributor to international cooperation amid COVID-19. Today, there are more and more bridges for China-Central Asia cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The two sides have forged 62 pairs of sister provinces, regions and cities, and are seeing hundreds of thousands of people traveling between them each year. Thirteen Confucius Institutes have been set up in Central Asia and the first Luban Workshop in Central Asia has been inaugurated in Tajikistan. Many renowned Chinese universities have research centers of studies on Central Asian countries and offer majors of Central Asian languages. China and Central Asian countries share broad common interests and similar positions on many international and regional issues. The two sides have constantly enhanced cooperation in international and regional organizations such as the UN, the WTO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to safeguard common security and development interests, making contributions to improving global and regional governance. The building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future is a common aspiration of the people in both China and Central Asian countries, and will enjoy broad space for development. China and Central Asian countries will build on the good momentum and strive shoulder-by-shoulder, to make contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind and to promoting world peace and development. Dans la meme rubrique : < > Mines on Ningxia's Helan Mountain turn green, contribute to better ecology China's foreign trade sector strives for steady, high-quality growth Hainan works to promote high-level opening-up Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) English News Xi'an summit to usher in new chapter of China-Central Asia friendship Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 19 Mai 2023 The two countries will strengthen strategic communication and policy coordination, actively join the construction of China-Central Asia mechanisms, and promote the healthy and stable development of cooperation in various fields, to build an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future. By Zhang Xiao The China-Central Asia Summit will be held in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province on May 18 and 19, which is expected to bring new historical opportunities to the development of relations between China and Central Asian countries. In 1992, China established diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries, opening the window of exchange and cooperation. Over the past 31 years, the two sides have witnessed leapfrog development in their relations and successively formed strategic partnerships, which has not only promoted their own prosperity, but also safeguarded regional peace and stability. They have set an example for a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation. In 2022, trade volume between China and Central Asian countries hit a historic high of $70.2 billion, an over 100-fold increase since diplomatic ties were established. From January to April, this year, China's trade with five Central Asian countries increased 37.4 percent year-on-year. China's direct investment stock in the five countries was nearly $15 billion as of the end of 2022. In January last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a summit via video link to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and five Central Asian countries. The summit adopted and released the Joint Statement Between Leaders of China and the Five Central Asian Countries on the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Ties, which stressed that the relations between China and Central Asian countries have entered a new era. According to the statement, the six countries are determined to jointly build a strategic partnership featuring rich substance, fruitful results and enduring friendship and build a China-Central Asia community with a shared future. During the third China + Central Asia (C+C5) foreign ministers' meeting in June 2022, all parties agreed to establish a mechanism for the heads of state to hold summits in the "C+C5" format. Consensus was also reached that the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit would be held by China. China and Central Asian countries will take the summit as an opportunity to bring their relations to a new level. The six countries will give full play to the strategic guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, gradually establish cooperation platforms in key areas, and improve the mechanisms for their cooperation. Following the principles of mutual respect, good-neighborly friendship, solidarity and win-win cooperation, they will resolutely safeguard their sovereignty, security and development interests, offer each other firm support on issues concerning each other's core interests, firmly oppose external interference in domestic affairs and build a solid foundation for political mutual trust. They will uphold a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, follow a coordinated approach to safeguarding traditional and non-traditional security, and work together to combat separatists, religious extremists and terrorists, as well as drug-trafficking and organized cross-border crimes, so as to build a strong fortress for regional peace and stability. The six countries will uphold the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, pursue high-standard cooperation to improve people's livelihood and promote sustainable development in Belt and Road construction, and jointly write a splendid chapter of the BRI. They will strengthen exchanges between parliaments, political parties and non-governmental organizations and exchanges between women, young people and people with disabilities to build stronger momentum for cooperation. They will work together to implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, follow true multilateralism, oppose protectionism, hold dear humanity's shared values, safeguard international equity and justice, and enrich the connotation of international collaboration. China and Kazakhstan, connected by mountains and rivers, are good neighbors, good friends and good partners with a shared future. China-Kazakhstan relations have progressed by leaps and bounds and reached the high level of permanent comprehensive strategic partnership, making important contributions to promoting regional peace, stability, development and prosperity. The two countries will strengthen strategic communication and policy coordination, actively join the construction of China-Central Asia mechanisms, and promote the healthy and stable development of cooperation in various fields, to build an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future. Xi'an is one of the cities where the Chinese civilization is rooted. It is also the starting point of the ancient Silk Road. The China-Central Asia Summit to be held in the city will surely usher in a more splendid chapter of friendly cooperation between China and Central Asia. (Zhang Xiao is the Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan.) Dans la meme rubrique : < > Mines on Ningxia's Helan Mountain turn green, contribute to better ecology China's foreign trade sector strives for steady, high-quality growth Hainan works to promote high-level opening-up Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) If we learned anything this week, weve learned that the continued life of this Constitutional Republic is in grave danger from the cabal of sociopaths in critical positions of power, and that it is because scaremongers and a supine press and judiciary have permitted enactment of dangerous legislation and illegal conduct to go on and on unpunished. Worse, the perpetrators are being richly rewarded for their violation of law and public trust. FISA Friday the FISC (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ) released a report that was written and kept under seal since last year. It found that: The FBI continued to abuse a powerful digital surveillance tool even after the Bureau promised reforms following its Trump-era abuses, according to a newly-unsealed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court document. The FBI misused Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) more than 278,000 times, the Washington Post reported, including against crime victims, January 6 riot suspects, and people arrested at protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. In one particularly egregious case, they reportedly relied on Section 702 to spy on 19,000 donors to a congressional candidate. Section 702 is a provision of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 that permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the United States, with the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers, to acquire foreign intelligence information. The law, created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, allows National Security Agency and FBI employees a to search a vast database of electronic communications and other information. The FBI is authorized to search the Section 702 database only when agents have reason to believe such a search will produce information relevant to foreign intelligence purposes, or evidence of crimes, according to the Post. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees Section 702, stated in the memorandum opinion that the FBI has shown a pattern of conducting broad, suspicionless queries that violate the requirement that its queries of unminimized Section 702 information be reasonably likely to retrieve foreign intelligence information. The FBI had earlier promised to fix the problems. It clearly did not. The Act which the FBI has continually violated comes up for reauthorization in the next congressional session and should be allowed to expire. In another context -- the COVID-19 responses of the government and judiciary -- Justice Neil Gorsuch makes a compelling case on how fearmongering has led to great intrusions on civil liberties: The FISA is another example, in my opinion. Mark Wauck makes a strong case that in the absence of jailing FBI violators or repealing the Act we should just refuse to reauthorize it. I agree with the late Judge Robert Bork that FISA is almost certainly unconstitutional. Repeal of FISA will only return the situation to the constitutional status quo, which always allowed for warrantless domestic spying based on appeals to national security -- regardless of what principled constitutional conservatives may mistakenly believe. That position has never been rejected in court. Warrantless national security surveillance was not illegal before FISA and will not be illegal if FISA is repealed. What is illegal is intentional violation of civil rights. The crazy idea that by passing a law we can alter fundamental human behavior is as foolish as the idea that by adopting a written constitution we can institute a system of governance that will be impervious to human flaws and will be self-executing. Consider -- whatever happened to the war making power that has been, as far as I can tell, completely usurped by the ruling oligarchy. The only remedy for abuses of government authority is active and informed public participation in the electoral process, coupled with aggressive legislative oversight. The effect of a law like FISA, as Judge Bork presciently pointed out, is: It provides an excuse for our elected representatives to look the other way most of the time; It provides a platform upon which our elected representatives can grandstand and signal their own virtue to the general public -- that was largely what FISA was all about in the first place, and Congress left themselves a convenient loophole for emergency surveillance; It offers the perpetrators of the abuses a ready excuse and ensures that they will, ultimately, remain unpunished and free to continue as before, based on the plea of ignorance and incompetence; The result will always be the bandaid approach that leads to a repetition of all the above. Retaliation Against Whistleblowers Hearings this week revealed the Agency took draconian measures against three agents who, as the law permits them to do without retaliation, were brutally treated by the FBI for protected reporting of misconduct. The FBIs Washington Field Office (WFO) pressured a field office in Boston, Massachusetts, to open investigations on 138 individuals who traveled to Washington, D.C., to exercise their First Amendment rights on January 6, 2021, with no specific indication that these people were involved in any way in criminal activity. The only basis for investigating these people was that they shared buses to Washington with two individuals who entered restricted areas of the Capitol that day. Rather than limiting the investigation to just the two people who entered restricted areas, the WFO instructed the Boston Field Office to open investigations on all 140 individuals who attended the political rally. In response to the WFOs pressure to open investigations into all 140 individuals, the Boston Field Office asked the WFO for more evidence, including video from the Capitol, to properly predicate the investigations. The WFO provided pictures of the two individuals inside the Capitol; however, the WFO refused to provide video evidence from the Capitol out of fear it would disclose undercover officers or confidential human sources inside the Capitol. Shortly after the events of January 6, 2021, Bank of America (BoA) provided the FBI with confidential customer data -- voluntarily and without any legal process. BoA gave WFO a list of individuals who had made transactions in the Washington, D.C. area using a BoA product between January 5 and January 7, 2021. Individuals who had previously purchased a firearm with a BoA product were reportedly elevated to the top of the list. [snip] FBI leadership pressured agents to reclassify cases as domestic violent extremism (DVE), and even manufactured DVE cases where they may not otherwise exist, while manipulating its case categorization system to create the perception that DVE is organically rising around the country. The FBI dispenses cash bonuses to local field office leadership for meeting certain arbitrary metrics and performance goals. This bonus structure creates perverse incentives for the FBI to utilize law-enforcement tools and resources where they may not be needed or appropriate in order for FBI leadership to benefit financially. These FBI employees have come forward to blow the whistle at great personal and professional risk. Each of these whistleblowers described retaliatory conduct that they have faced after making protected disclosures about what they believed in good faith to be wrong conduct. A recurring theme is that the FBI has violated federal whistleblower protection laws and abused its security clearance review process to hamstring the brave agents who exercise their right to make protected disclosures to Congress or who dared to question agency leadership. For example: Special Agent [Garret] OBoyle made protected disclosures to his Supervisory Special Agent about potentially illegal activity, and the FBI transferred him to a new unit that required him to move his family across-country. When OBoyle arrived for his first day, the FBI placed him on unpaid, indefinite suspension, effectively rendering his family homeless and leaving them without any personal effects -- including his young childrens clothing -- because these items were in FBI storage. Likewise, in Special Agent [Steve] Friends case, the FBI suspended his security clearance after making protected disclosures. This suspension rendered Friend unable to fulfill his duties as a special agent -- thus, the FBI suspended him indefinitely. While on suspension, the FBI refused to allow Friend to obtain outside employment, leaving his family without income. In Staff Operations Specialist Allens case, the FBI suspended his security clearance for simply performing duties of his job -- conducting case-related research using open-source news articles and videos and sending his search results to his task force colleagues. The FBI leaderships trend toward political partisanship in recent years has disturbed the ranks of front-line FBI agents like OBoyle, Friend, and [George] Hill. In the words of one whistleblower, the current state of the FBI is cancerous as the Bureau has let itself become enveloped in this politicization and weaponization. This testimony supplements earlier disclosures from whistleblowers, highlighted in the Committees November 2022 report, in which whistleblowers described the FBIs Washington leadership as rotted at its core and having a systemic culture of unaccountability. This only underscores the observations about the likelihood of unpunished violations of citizens rights expressed above by Judge Bork and Mark Wauck. The Congress has ceded too much power to the Agency, repeated legal violations go unpunished, and the violations only become more egregious as a result. The Durham Report The Durham Report is a damning indictment of the Mueller report which preceded it. It makes clear that the collusion probe failed to investigate how the collusion probe began as a dirty trick by the Clinton campaign and how the FBI went along for the ride. The report includes evidence that those engaged in the FBIs initial Crossfire Hurricane probe and Democratic attorneys used their positions on the Mueller investigating team to cover up the FBI mess Mueller hired for his team FBI agent Peter Strzok, FBI analyst Brian Auten, and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, the very people who were main figures in the Crossfire fiasco. The Wall Street Journal uses as an example the fact that the Mueller team never were allowed to interview Democrat Charles Dolan, reportedly a source for the Steele dossier, an unfounded document that supposedly was a predicate for the investigation of collusion. Durham found that the Russians may have compromised Steeles sources even before he began to write and peddle to the Democrats' press lackeys the preposterous dossier. That was not all: Durham found that the FBI knowingly relied on Igor Danchenko. Danchenko had been undercover as a possible Russian spy yet he was hired to investigate whether Trump colluded with Russia. The notion that Mueller was compromised, drunk, or demented when he headed this investigation is hard to dismiss. No Consequences Professor Jonathan Turley likens the Durham findings to Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express: They all did it -- the Clinton campaign, the FBI, and the media It was a plot that required everyone to take a hand in derailing a duly elected president and effectively shutting down his administration for three years of investigations and prosecutions. In this conspiracy there were dozens of key participants in the campaign, the government, and the media. Durhams operation, however, was not without its flaws. Hired as a prosecutor, he prosecuted only one member of the cabal. He never even subpoenaed key figures like Comey, McCabe, and Strzok. (I suspect because he knows the courts and jurors in the District of Columbia operate as another branch of the Democratic party -- recall that the Ken Starr team announced they believed Hillary Clinton had committed perjury but declined to indict her because they believed no D.C. jury would convict her.) Former attorney general William Barr praised the report, saying that Durham was not charged to prosecute the wrongdoers, only to investigate and find the truth, which he did. Not only were the cabalists not prosecuted, theyve grown rich thanks to their roles in this outrage from book deals, academic slots, and back pay from the government. Uniparty propagandist and Deep State shill Bill Barr is waddling from one television studio to the next to tell audiences that the feds will almost certainly indict Donald Trump by late summer for mishandling classified documents. The Cheka FBI has been outed as a criminal enterprise engaged in subverting elections and spying on the American people, but sure, let's get all worked up about whether the president of the United States in whom the Constitution's Article II executive powers are vested has somehow inexplicably infringed his own declassification authority. Although Augustus Gloop Barr can barely conceal his joy, this tiring new chapter in the never-ending "get Trump" saga comes off as yet another manifestation of Bizarro World, in which a group of criminals running the American government get to pretend that nobody is "above the law." Walrus Barr enjoys playing the "scolding father" who "knows best" in a worn-out daddy routine alongside scripted corporate news hosts performing for the cameras. Although he remains a consummate Deep State stooge who will do anything to prevent Donald Trump from returning to the Oval Office, he also spends a great deal of TV time burnishing his "I'm the only adult in the room" bona fides. He has called out New York State's vindictive lawsuits against President Trump as a "political hit job" and "gross overreach." He has excoriated Democrat district attorney of New York Alvin Bragg's Trump indictment as an "abomination" that "makes us look like a banana republic." He acknowledges that the Durham probe proves that "Russiagate" has not only been a "grave injustice" to Trump, but has also "vindicated" the president's accurate denunciation of the Clinton-Obama Russia Hoax conspiracy as a "witch hunt" from the very beginning. Barr readily admits, in other words, that state and federal prosecutors have shamelessly pursued Trump for recklessly and maliciously partisan reasons that have threatened both the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power in the United States. After broadly recognizing the seriousness of the Deep State's crimes and the depth of its depravity, though, loyal palace guard Barr then sweeps these horrific State crimes to the side, shakes his head in disgust, and instead blames his former boss for being "his own worst enemy." Right. How dare the guy who has been doggedly persecuted for seven years fight back against Intelligence Community villainy? How dare the same guy who has been framed by agents of the Stasi FBI and DOJ now distrust those corrupted agencies? How dare Donald Trump call out the new batch of criminal investigations as part and parcel of the longstanding political "witch hunt" against him when Barr begrudgingly concedes that the "witch hunt" is real? The more Barr excuses or ignores the long list of government criminals who have suffered no repercussions for betraying their offices, the more he looks like a willing co-conspirator. The more Barr chooses to look past the most grievous crimes committed against a duly elected president while sensationalizing Trump's supposed document infractions, the more ludicrously corrupt and farcically politicized the criminal "justice" system appears to be. In other words, if Barr's principal concern is to maintain the illusion of government evenhandedness and legal impartiality, then Barr is his own worst enemy! The Durham Report confirms that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the U.S. Intelligence Community framed Donald Trump as a Russian spy in a criminal conspiracy to topple his presidency. That's a pretty big deal. In another age in which the thick ooze of State propaganda and censorship had not already blinded too many Americans from seeing clearly, the Obama-Clinton-I.C. plot to depose a sitting president would have been rightly understood not only as a politically destabilizing event with far-reaching consequences, but also as an unprecedented crime demanding heads to roll. Instead, the illustrious culprits behind this veritable coup not only walk freely but also do so while Barr and other Deep State sycophants shrink from speaking their names. Meanwhile, the Durham Report also confirms that FBI leadership sabotaged multiple criminal investigations into the Clintons during that same time period, corroborating Americans' suspicions that there is no law or justice only politically motivated persecution. Additionally, even though the State-controlled press corps and federal law enforcement agencies have worked to bury overwhelming evidence of Biden family quid-pro-quo bribery schemes rendering the current White House occupant beholden to the blackmail of foreign governments, a majority of Americans have still managed to see through these orchestrated cover-ups and conclude that China Joe has committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" while in office. Of course, because Americans are also very much aware that they now live under a two-tiered system of "justice" that specializes in propaganda and censorship, only a small minority expect Dementia Joe to be impeached or suffer any legal consequences. All this obvious government malfeasance is enough for Congresswoman Harriet Hageman from Wyoming to conclude, "[FBI director] Christopher Wray and [Attorney General] Merrick Garland are corrupt. They know it, we know it, and the American people know it." A rare exception proving the general rule that the federal government is run by vermin and swine, Hageman has been blunt: "[a]s the DOJ and FBI have become more political, they have amassed more power. And as they have amassed more power they have become more political." Yet even now, while this avalanche of federal corruption and political persecution is obvious to all but the willfully blind, Bill Barr still expects Donald Trump to be arrested and tried for possessing documents that he alone, while president, was entirely empowered to declassify. Actually, according to the illegal leaks to the press, Special Counsel Jack Smith will most likely pursue Trump not for possessing the documents, but rather for somehow "obstructing" the federal government's investigation into whether he possessed the documents. So once again, the State political police have made President Trump a criminal target for opposing an investigation that should have never begun in the first place. Hillary can willfully destroy evidence without consequence; Obama can organize a coup d'etat of his successor without fear of punishment; the FBI and DOJ can get caught illegally spying on Donald Trump, fabricating evidence, and lying to the press about his criminal culpability yet it is Trump whose efforts to oppose the Deep State mean he must be jailed. Just as the Durham Report proves that an elaborate government conspiracy existed to frame, depose, and criminally imperil President Trump, the same Department of (in)Justice complicit in those crimes will now seek an encore. And because the criminal conspirators continue to be rewarded for their crimes, the criminal victim, Donald Trump, will continue to be persecuted. In 2016, Democrats accused candidate Trump of being a wannabe dictator for accurately noting that had anybody else stored top-secret communications on an unsecured, home-brew bathroom server as Hillary Clinton had done that person would already be in jail for having violated a bevy of national security laws. Earlier that summer, thenFBI director Jim Comey had laid out the compelling case against Hillary, before concluding that "no reasonable prosecutor" would dare try for a conviction. The lesson to the public was clear: the feds would not go after Clinton or other prominent Democrats even when the evidence for wrongdoing was overwhelming. Going into the 2024 election, though, corrupt Democrat prosecutors from New York, Georgia, and the federal government are inventing crimes to use against Trump that have never and would never be attempted against any other politician. They prove who the real dictators are. In Bizarro World, the criminals run free, and the innocent are imprisoned! A tyrannical Deep State engages in propaganda, censorship, and political repression. And large Bill Barr largely stays silent. Image via Flickr, public domain. Democrats have long claimed to be supporters of the people, especially the poor and underprivileged. Yet, when their actions are examined even a little closely, you find that they are only interested in using these people as pawns, to increase and solidify their power. Rarely do their policies actually help the working classes, and even those they purport to be helping are beginning to see the light. While there are numerous examples of Democrat failures to support their target voting blocs, Ill just mention a few. According to their website, The Democratic Party and women share common values and priorities, including supporting our families, protecting our country, and advancing the issues that matter most to women of all ages and ethnicities. However, they refuse to protect womens sports, pushing policies that allow men to compete as women. Large percentages of college-educated women (educated does not necessarily mean smart) continue to support Democrats and now the Democrats are working hard to erase women by recognizing biological males as woman of the year in various venues (e.g., USA Today). Similarly, much of the Democrat agenda is destructive to families (e.g., support for transgender affirmation even without parental knowledge). But, despite their stated position above, you can always count on them to support abortion and extreme positions against life, common sense, and the family. Most Catholics identify as Democrats. Cardinal Timothy Dolan discussed the start of this shift in 2018. While lamenting the extreme Democrat position on unrestricted abortion, Dolan also noted that the needs of poor and middle-class children in Catholic schools, and the right to life of the baby in the womb have largely been rejected by the party of our youth. And now the FBI has been found to be targeting traditional Catholics as radical extremists and self-proclaimed Catholic politicians, like Tim Kaine, even back them up. As noted by Cardinal Dolan, Democrats fight against school choice routinely, claiming public education controlled by the teachers unions is the way to ensure education for all. However, school choice actually benefits those in poorer school districts with failing schools. Thus, by not supporting school choice, they prevent those who need it most, Black and underprivileged Americans, whom they claim to champion, from getting the help they need. They have further harmed all students with their unmitigated support of the teachers unions. These unions have failed the children of America and, while bewailing the loss of learning, especially during the COVID pandemic when they worked against reopening the schools, they then placed severe restrictions on students when reopening occurred. At the same time, it was well known that young people were at the least risk of contracting COVID and were least likely to transmit the disease. Biden claimed that he would be a unifier, but his policies continually pit one part of the population against another. His idea of diversity is diversion and division. Identity politics versus performance -- although this is the objective of CRT, the woke agenda, attacks on basic freedoms, and corrupt power grabbing. While claiming to be advocates of native Americans, African Americans, and other minority groups (but not Asian Americans), to the point of speaking against cultural appropriation, they are masters of invoking it when it suits their purposes. Many on the Left tried to suppress kids enjoying ethnic-based dress-up on Halloween. Yet no one on the Left seems to get upset when Elizbeth Warren or Elizabeth Hoover do it to further their own personal standing. The emphasis on identity politics and other woke ideals is adversely affecting our security as well. Democrat-run cities have steadily declined for decades. One of the solutions many of them have touted has been a defund the police attitude and budgetary policies. These cities claim the police are inherently racist against African Americans, but this same portion of the population would actually prefer more police presence. The elites are undeterred, and crime continues to increase in those cities, so much so that many businesses, not just small ones, are closing stores in these cities. Walmart closed four stores in Chicago as well as other locations (ostensibly for underperformance) , Whole Foods and Nordstrom are closing stores in San Francisco. On top of that, these Democrat-run cities and states are seeing a significant exodus of people moving to other states. But the security concerns go beyond the cities to the national and international realm. A significant contributor to our influence in the world is our military prowess. While Democrats purport to support the military, their actions have resulted in a lessening of confidence in the military and has affected recruitment. We regularly see the Jewish population overwhelmingly support Democrats at election time, yet the Democrats repeatedly show their anti-Semitic colors through their actions and their working to diminish or deny support to Israel, all while favoring Palestinians who continually launch rocket attacks into Israel. Many Democrat cities that made a big deal of virtue signaling their support for illegal immigrants are now recognizing the negative impact that is now reaching their own backyard. It was okay and even opportune to denounce Republicans when it only affected mostly Republican states hundreds of miles away, but now that it is reaching their territory the sky is falling. And, while we have always known that Democrats have little respect for the military and veterans, these blue states are kicking homeless veterans, funded by charitable organizations, out of hotels to house illegal immigrants funded by the government (which means, of course, by taxpayers). Space prohibits going into other key areas like the green agenda and its damage to the planet, unions, and the economy and the erasure of the middle class. But the bottom line is this: in the eyes of the Democrats, diversity equals division. They are into the politics of pitting people against each other. Their actions and their shifting and often contradictory favoring one group over another, as long as it keeps them from remembering they are all Americans, serves only to keep the populace divided. This is why it is so important to them to ensure people can be offended at the slightest trigger, as long as by it they can claim to be for everybody even though they are actually for nobody but themselves. Rather than be woke, the nation needs to wake up and smell the excrement resulting from these leftist policies (and not just that on the streets of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco). Image: Tambako The Jaguar Why do we actually have synagogues or churches, what are their purposes, and what is antithetical to those actual purposes? Do orgies and drag queens belong in houses of worship? In these challenging times when religiosity is being attacked by the secular through politics and media, it may be more important than ever to evaluate these questions, look at how so many houses of worship are acting, and whether their behavior is actually consonant with God and religion, or if they are just trying to appeal to the lowest common denominators of humanity in order to increase membership and finances. As a Rabbi, the majority of this examination will be in the Jewish world, although we find parallels in both the traditional teachings and current practices in the Christian world as well. Although there are examples earlier, synagogues truly grew to prevalence after the destruction of the Second Temple in the first century. Local houses of worship were needed to replace the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. Called temples, synagogues, or shuls, they were created so that Jewish communities would be able to worship and study together in a sacred space. As time went on, temples became social gathering places as well, but always with the intent of maintaining a holy space. The Union for Reform Judaism, the official organization for Reform Judaism, the most liberal denomination of Jewish practices, defines a temples purpose as a place to make Gods presence noticeable. It is to be holy and consecrated to Gods teachings as found in the Torah and subsequent universally accepted texts such as the Talmud, Shulchan Aruch, and Mishneh Torah. A temple is to be a physical place that embraces Jewish values such as ritual observance, Torah study, charity, and religious practices that inspire the congregation to live those values. And yet, here are some recent examples of programming being offered by temples in Southern California, some of which are actually financially sponsored through grants given by longstanding philanthropic organizations like the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. (However shocking, these are the actual names of some of the programs recently offered.) Boobies and Blowjobs, a Purim celebration Tu bAv: Tantric Judaism and Polyamory Clothing Optional Co-Ed Pre-Yom Kippur Mikvah (a mikvah is the traditional cleansing bath done by observant Jews, and never with members of the opposite sex present) Tantric Counting the Omer and The Big O: Spiritual Foreplay to Sinai Drag Queen Bingo These disturbing programs revolving around sex -- (tantra is sexual techniques from the East, and have nothing to do with Judaism, which prohibits polyamory) and drag queens -- are not being offered by fringe synagogues, but by mainstream congregations that are often funded through grants. Similar programming is being offered by churches nationwide, and it is equally inappropriate there. Why would any house of worship offer programs that are clearly antithetical to Jewish law and practices? There is a simple two-part answer, and both parts are equally disturbing. While our synagogue never closed its doors during the pandemic, we were, sadly, unique in California in that respect. And for those temples that did close, many of their congregants did not return to temple, having been told that streaming online was just as good as live services. As a result, more synagogues have closed or merged in the last two years than any time in American history. The first part of the answer to this outrageous programming described above is financial fear. These temples are willing to prostitute themselves, literally and figuratively, in hopes of raising more funds for their financial survival. They are willing to try anything, no matter how distasteful, in order to try to acquire more funds. The second part of the answer is even more disturbing. The rabbis and leaders of these congregations have lost all sense of boundaries and religious ethics, and have chosen to reject Judaism in favor of the secular craziness of drag queens, orgies (a co-ed naked bath?), ugly public sexuality, etc. What someone does in their own home or at an adult cabaret is their right but pushing drag queens and co-ed nudity are inappropriate as public activities in a house of worship. This is especially true where minors may be present. To quote Gays Against Groomers, a pro-LGBT organization opposed to sexual grooming of any type that affects children, there is no such thing as an all ages drag event. No matter what any secular Jew or extremist liberal rabbi may say, drag queens are forbidden in Judaism. Not only is a man forbidden from wearing a womans garment (Deut. 22:5), but he is forbidden from any of the adorning practices of women (Talmud, Shabbat 94b, Targum Onkelos). This prohibition is unquestionable and repeated for centuries. Public nudity and sexuality are also forbidden, as is anything that might lead to sexual relations outside of marriage. And yet, there are progressively more temples (and churches) offering programs that include open sexuality and drag queens. Programming that is expressly forbidden by Jewish law, and especially in a house of worship that is supposedly dedicated to Jewish (or Christian) values and practices. But what can we do? We live in a free nation, and each persons individual rights should be protected. But an individuals rights should not be able to determine practices in the public forum, and certainly not in houses of worship that are to hold the ethical standards of a religion. Our hands are not tied, and we can and must act. For the survival of our religions, and the preservation of our culture. Dr. King famously said that religion is the conscience of the state. Just because it is not a violation of secular law does not mean that unethical behavior should be permitted, let alone propagated in a house of worship. And so, there are a few basic things that we need to do in response to this outrageous behavior being found in temples and churches. First, we need to make sure that this type of behavior is not welcomed in our personal houses of worship. If your temple or church leaders insist on having these types of programs, then leave that institution and find one that takes religious values more seriously. Let the organization know why you are leaving, and that you are taking your donations with you. Clergy often work within an echo chamber, and only are aware of the loudest voices. We need to make our voices heard by clergy and church leadership that we are unwilling to compromise religious ethics in favor of inappropriate programming. We also need to publicly expose any temple or church that is prostituting itself out with this type of programming. Let everyone know (especially people you personally know that may be members of that temple or church) that their organization has chosen to embrace values that are directly antithetical to any interpretation of religious practices, even as defined by the most liberal of religious organizations. Go to the philanthropic foundations that may be supporting this type of congregational programming and let them know that you are withdrawing your donations if they continue to support congregations that offer these types of activities. Foundations dont like bad publicity, so let them know that you will go to the local press if they continue to financially support congregations that offer open sexual behavior or family events with drag queens. Most importantly, and for our own souls benefit, we must get as far away as possible from any temple or church that offers these types of activities. The great Rabbi and philosopher Maimonides taught almost one thousand years ago (Mishneh Torah, Ishut 15:18) that we should distance ourselves from that which is ugly (the Hebrew word means indecent, ugly, and/or scandalous), and from that which is even somewhat like indecency. Few things can be thought of that are more indecent than a house of worship becoming a house of polyamory, open sexuality, or drag queens. King Solomon wrote, He who walks with the wise will become wise, while one who associates with fools will suffer. (Prov. 13:20) We all know what is wise and what is dangerous for a temple or church in these matters. Let us all have the courage and strength to stand up and help houses of worship return to ethical behavior and reject the ugliness that has pervaded secular society. Rabbi Michael Barclay is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Ner Simcha in Westlake Village, CA. (www.NerSimcha.org) and the author of Sacred Relationships: Biblical Wisdom for Deepening Our Lives Together. He can be reached directly at Rabbi@NerSimcha.org Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for adults on Saturday, May 20, when senators voted to support a measure that will legalize the recreational use of cannabis for anyone over 21. The bill has passed the House and will soon be sent to Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who has promised to sign it into law. Promoting Public Health and Safety The bill's proponents said that it would promote public health and safety and advance social fairness, while its detractors claimed it would have the opposite effect. Possession, usage, and cultivation of marijuana for personal use would be decriminalized starting on August 1. It would likely take at least a year for retail sales to begin at dispensaries, as reported by CBS News. Possession of cannabis flower is restricted to 2 pounds at home and 2 ounces in public, and there is an additional 10% tax on cannabis goods on top of current sales taxes. Other limitations include no more than 800mg of THC in candies or other sweets or 8g of cannabis concentrate. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension estimates that it will take until August of next year to complete all of the requests to delete the records of Minnesotans who have been convicted of misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor possession. Criminal records might be wiped or penalties lowered for those whose only offense was selling marijuana or a more severe but nonviolent violation involving marijuana. The number of dispensaries and their distance from schools would be subject to greater negotiation with local governments, although they may not be banned entirely. See Also: Minnesota House Passes Recreational Marijuana Bill With 71-59 Vote After Delays Conflicting Viewpoints However, Fergus Falls' own Republican state senator, Jordan Rasmusson, spoke out against the bill on the Senate floor on Saturday. The bill's proponents, according to him, have been motivated by a desire to mold a new business to suit their philosophy. According to AP News, Rasmusson said the bill was motivated by corporate interests, gave "bonus points" to those with prior drug convictions, and failed to sufficiently address law enforcement concerns regarding possession limitations. Burnsville Democrat Lindsey Port replied that legalizing and regulating marijuana would safeguard children from the destructive impacts of the black market, eliminate threats to public health and safety, and reinvest in areas hurt by earlier marijuana policies. "Minnesotans are ready. Let's legalize, regulate and expunge," Port stated. This measure was approved on a party-line vote of 34 to 32. Opinion Polls on Marijuana Use The public's view of marijuana usage seems to be shifting as the legalization of recreational use spreads. The majority of respondents (53%) to an April CBS News survey considered open marijuana use acceptable in society. In the same survey, 64% of voters say recreational marijuana usage should be allowed in their state. Quest Diagnostics, a medical lab, presented the findings of their yearly review of workplace drug testing data this week. They discovered that the proportion of general US workers testing positive for cannabis in 2022 was the highest level ever recorded by Quest since they started tracking such data in 1988. Quest reported that 4.3% of over 6,000,000 urine tests in the last year tested positive for cannabis. See Also: Germany Curbs Cannabis Legalization Following EU Talks @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Politicians often choose private flights over commercial flights for travel. But why do they do it? Is it just for the convenience and luxury, or is there more to the story? From security concerns to the demand for privacy and the practicality of private travel, we're going to explore the politics of private jets. Security and Privacy Security is crucial when it comes to elected officials. Given the sensitive nature of a politicians job and the potential risks they face, ensuring their safety is a top priority. On a very basic level, private flights offer enhanced security measures that are harder to achieve on commercial flights. This includes more rigorous pre-flight security checks and avoiding the risks associated with large crowds at public airports. Additionally, privacy is a critical factor for politicians. There's a lot of confidential and classified information that needs to be discussed and dealt with during their travel. Private flights provide a secure space where these conversations can take place away from potential eavesdroppers. So, when you see a politician stepping off a private jet, remember that it's not just about traveling in style -- it's about ensuring their safety and the integrity of the office they hold. Avoiding Public Scrutiny Let's face it, in today's hyper-connected world, our politicians are under the microscope more than ever. Every move they make and every word they utter can be instantly shared and scrutinized across social media. Now imagine adding the unpredictability of commercial air travel to that mix. Delays, cancellations, lost luggage, or even a heated debate with an outspoken constituent in the economy class -- these are potential pitfalls that can quickly turn into a public relations nightmare. Flying private offers politicians a way to sidestep these issues. It provides a controlled environment, free from unwanted attention or confrontations. This isn't about avoiding accountability or shirking from public interaction. (Most politicians are more than capable of handling that.) It's about managing risks and maintaining focus on the work at hand. After all, they have a nation (or state) to run, and they can't afford to be sidetracked by unnecessary distractions. To be clear, it's not about dodging the public. It's about ensuring they can serve their constituents effectively and without unnecessary disruptions. Practicality of Private Travel Now, let's talk about practicality. When you're a politician, especially one holding national office, your time is incredibly valuable. The nation's business doesn't stop, and neither can you. This is where private flights truly shine. Imagine trying to align the demanding schedules of our leaders with the timetables of commercial airlines. It's not a pretty picture, is it? But with private flights, politicians have the flexibility to fly on their own schedule. This means they can respond to urgent matters more swiftly and attend multiple events in different locations on the same day. For example, if a politician is in Orlando in the morning, he can grab an Orlando private jet charter and be in Atlanta for an afternoon event, and New York City by evening. Furthermore, private flights aren't just about transport. They're essentially flying offices. On these flights, politicians can continue their work, hold confidential meetings, or catch up on their rest, preparing for the rigorous schedule waiting at their destination. So, while private jets might seem like a luxury, they're a practical tool for efficient governance. It's about getting our leaders where they need to be, when they need to be there, and ensuring they can work effectively along the way. Debunking Common Criticisms We've all heard the criticisms. Politicians flying private is a waste of taxpayer dollars. It's bad for the environment. It's just elitist. And interestingly, these critiques often come loudest from our left-leaning friends, even as they themselves frequently take to the skies in private jets. Let's debunk these arguments, shall we? To start, lets point out that the cost of private flights for official business is often covered by the politician's campaign funds, not taxpayer dollars. These are funds willingly donated by supporters who understand the demands of political life and the practicality of private air travel. As for the environmental impact, yes, private jets do have a larger carbon footprint per passenger than commercial flights. But many politicians, even those on our side of the aisle, are actively addressing this issue. They're investing in carbon offset programs and advocating for advances in cleaner, greener aviation technology. It's not necessarily a perfect solution; however, it's a step in the right direction. And lastly, flying private isn't about elitism; it's about pragmatism. As we've discussed, private flights offer politicians the security, privacy, and flexibility they need to serve their constituents effectively. So, let's not be too quick to judge our leaders for choosing private jets. After all, their job is to lead, not to conform to an unrealistic standard. The Irony of Private Air Travel in Politics As we delve deeper into the politics of private jets, we can't ignore the irony that often surrounds this issue. Despite the frequent criticism from the left about the use of private aircraft, it's interesting to note that many liberal and progressive politicians also choose to fly private. It seems private aviation is a bipartisan necessity, even if it's sometimes a partisan talking point. Why do these critics do the same thing they critique? Well, the reasons are likely similar to those we've already explored: security, privacy, efficiency, and the demands of their role. It's a classic example of the saying, "Don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes." Or in this case, flown a mile in their private jet. This isn't about finger-pointing or 'gotcha' politics. Its about recognizing that despite our ideological differences, the practical challenges of political life are universal. And whether you're right-leaning or left-leaning, the benefits of private flying are hard to ignore. Putting it All Together As we've unraveled the politics of private jets, it's clear that the reasons for politicians choosing to fly private extend far beyond the perceived luxury. Security, privacy, practicality, and desire to avoid unnecessary scrutiny all play a significant role. Flying private, for many politicians, isn't about privilege or elitism -- it's a practical solution to the unique challenges they face in their demanding roles. It's also important to note the irony that exists within the realm of private flying in politics. Many of those who criticize the practice also partake in it, a testament to the practical necessities that transcend political lines. All said and done, our leaders have a job to do. And if private flying enables them to do that job more effectively, then it's a tool worth utilizing. We elected them to lead, to make tough decisions, and to serve our nation to the best of their ability. If a private flight helps them do that, then perhaps it's time we view this practice as a necessity. Image: Matt Blume, Executive Charter Flights The conservative media has been talking about Nebraska state senator Machaela Cavanaughs hysterical way of showing her solidarity with the so-called transgender activists outside the Nebraska statehouse. Her version of solidarity was to say the same three sentences repeatedly, working herself from a sweet smile to a fit of frenzied anger. The video is worth watching because it highlights the madness of white, college-educated, leftist women. Its also a pure display of Orwells two minutes of hate. Ill start with Orwell. As you may remember from your high school or college years, in 1984, Orwell describes how Winston Smiths workplace has a daily Two Minutes Hate, during which employees gather to vent their anger at Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People. Orwell describes how the workers begin with vague dislike for Goldstein, before lashing themselves in a fury: There were hisses here and there among the audience. [snip] Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room. [snip] In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of their voices in an effort to drown the maddening bleating voice that came from the screen. [snip] The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. Mindless, lunatic rage. Machaela Cavanaugh is a credentialed woman. According to her webpage, she obtained her Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Bachelors Degree in Sociology from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Shes also a privileged young woman. Her father, John, also a Democrat, served in the House of Representatives in the late 1970s. Machaela now lives in Omahas Peony Park neighborhood, where houses sell in the mid-six figures. Its not one of Omahas fanciest neighborhoods, but its clearly nice. Politically, Machaela, like her dad, is a Democrat. Her webpage shows that shes a pro-abortion fanatic. Thats what powers her engine. What all these facts suggest is that Machaela, like so many white, college-educated, leftist women, probably suffers from cognitive dissonance: As a woman, shes a victim; as a white person, shes an oppressor. Cognitive dissonance makes people crazy. And that gets me to the viral video. Machaela got her chance at the podium in the Nebraska state house while so-called transgender activists were protesting (violently) outside: Troopers arrested six people at the Nebraska State Capitol building today for various offenses, including this incident caught on a security camera in which a person punched a Trooper. No injuries to anyone involved. Details: https://t.co/QMzTjpAt6u pic.twitter.com/6ceBTA3UGz Nebraska State Patrol (@NEStatePatrol) May 20, 2023 Machaela, however, found the protesters inspiring. Trans people belong here. We need trans people. We love trans people, she began, smiling and soft-voiced, as she quoted what theyre saying out there. At this point, one might expect Machaela to explain why so-called transgender people belong anywhere specific (The street? The legislature? The city?), why anyone needs them, and why we should love them. But she didnt. Instead, in a frenzy that would have fit perfectly into Orwells Oceania, Machaela repeated the three phrases over and over, stirring herself up into a mindless, screaming passion. And yes, she wasnt saying hateful words, but the passion, clearly, came from her hatred for those who dont agree with her. Its entirely possible that Machaela is mentally ill, and were seeing the sad spectacle of a woman decompensating right before our eyes. However, shes not unique. This is what leftists, especially white leftist women, do: They operate from a place of pure, furious emotion. Like my dog when he wants his dinner, theyre convinced that the more loudly they bark, the stronger their argument is. Its amusing when my dog does it, disturbing when a legislator does it, and frightening when a mob does it. Image: YouTube screen grab. I must admit that I havent taken much interest in the Durham Report. Thats because its mostly a compilation of things conservative news junkies already knew. Additionally, Durham did exactly what Comey did vis-a-vis Hillary in 2016: He laid out a long list of wrongful behaviors and then said, Never mind. Without recommended indictments, the report is a meh. Whats heartening, though, is a poll that says that a majority of Americans are finally figuring out that theyve been victims of the big lie. The Democrat-affiliated mainstream media have been downplaying the Durham report. Because it doesnt recommend indictments, the spin is that theres nothing to see in the report. Whats amazing, though, is that, despite this news blackout, Americans know that the Russian collusion claim was a hoax, that Hunter Bidens laptop is real, and that the FBI has become a dangerous institution that colluded with the Bidens to cover their influence peddling. Americans also arent buying the MSMs insistence that Biden is a functional human being: To start: Majorities of Americans say it's *false* that Trump colluded with Russia. The the Steele Dossier is also "false." In other words, they view the story the US media aggressively centered for 3 years as a hoax and a fraud, yet NBC and CNN won't even air this view. pic.twitter.com/wqULHK4Rd9 Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 21, 2023 Majorties of Americans also believe: * Hunter Biden engaged in criminal influence peddling using his father's name. * The FBI is not investigating these crimes. * Joe Biden participated in Hunter's illegal influence peddling and profiteering schemes. pic.twitter.com/HJP4sSfogw Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 21, 2023 Large majorities of Americans have serious doubts about Biden's mental fitness to be President, and believe he is too old. Unsurprisingly, then, Trump leads Biden by 7 points for 2024, and Kamala Harris by 11 points. Can the media be more out-of-touch? pic.twitter.com/UypeQhYmvG Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 21, 2023 Only 40% of Dem voters say they intend to vote for Biden *in the Dem primary." For whatever reason, the poll excluded the challenger near 20%: RFK, Jr. But even many Dems say Biden lacks mental fitness and they don't want to vote for him. pic.twitter.com/dynoAw045M Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 21, 2023 What's so striking here isn't that the corporate media relentlessly advocates views and ideologies that majorities of Americans - often large majorities - reject. It's that the views held by majorities are all but banned on NBC, CNN, NYT and WPost. Thus, this is not a mystery: pic.twitter.com/Xm3lh0HUzv Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 21, 2023 The poll is obviously good news for Trump, who was the Democrats primary target. Even if Americans arent thinking of the word coup, they are grasping that a coup is what took place. However, the poll is good news in another way. Once people realize theyve been the victim of lies, they become usefully cynical. Its like the saying, Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Americans, if theyre thinking rationally, should never be able to look at the mainstream news in the same way, especially considering that the COVID lies are unraveling as well, whether about masks, lockdowns, or vaccinations. Just as importantly, that dawning cynicism may generally affect the publics willingness to accept the medias and other leftists ideas about America and politics. After all, if the mainstream media spent three years lying non-stop about Trump, the Bidens, and COVID, isnt it possible that theyre lying about such things as climate change, the economy, the southern border, etc.? In Shakespeares Othello, Cassio exclaims, Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation! That reckoning is exactly what should be happening to the mainstream media and, indeed, the entire Democrat party. (And, unlike Cassio, neither of those institutions has the excuse that it was an unwitting pawn.) With Americans growing awareness that Democrats in and out of the media lied relentlessly, those institutions are fast losing their reputations, and Americans are finally seeing that what remains is truly bestial. Image by Pixlrs AI generator (edited). An upstate New York printing company on a no-bid contract mailed out voter registration cards to New York's Nassau County voters ahead of the June 27 primary -- and somehow, everyone who got one is now a registered Democrat. That's weird stuff given that 60% of the registered voters in that county are Republican. Well, now they are all Democrats, at least until "corrected" registration cards can be mailed out. Hey, just a flub, they're saying. Nothing to see here, move along. According to the New York Post: An upstate printer has once again screwed up downstate election materials, this time by mailing registration cards to Nassau Countys nearly 1 million voters identifying them all as Democrats. Its a terrible error. People are upset. People are angry. There is a lot of confusion, GOP County Executive Bruce Blakeman seethed at a Tuesday press conference. Democrats make up about 40 percent of the countys 972,000 voters, according to state Board of Election records from February. Blakeman, though, who runs the Republicans, is a piece of work. He can be heard dismissing his own party voters' concerns as emotionalism and assuring everyone else that there's nothing to see here, just a little printer error that doesn't involve elected officials (who gave that company its no-bid contract): He sounds like a very naive man at best, an odd thing for a guy from street-and-corruption-savvy New York who has equally street-and-corruption-savvy voters to answer to. "I don't think the Democratic Party is engaged in a conspiracy to ummm create havoc in their own primaries." I've lived in New York and I know what those people, including the Long Islanders, are like. I can hear the catcalls on that one. Actually, there are plenty of things worth investigating here. Perhaps the Dems don't want to create havoc in their own primaries but we do know they might like to create havoc in Republican primaries, when no one can vote in them. Is that what's going on, or is this an anti-Trump move from the GOPe? Is the fix in for some favorite in one of the races, to keep the Trumpsters at bay, Blakey? Or is this switch in voter registration a bid to shake out the GOP base and leave the lo-fo, half-commited voters that both parties have, into the Democrat column as new Democrats, the better to harvest their votes? Blakeman is remarkably incurious, resembling the same sort of GOP election officials we've seen in Georgia and Arizona. All kinds of stuff could be going on with this one and it's striking that Blakeman wants to excuse everyone before the matter can even be investigated. To start, funny how this printing company keeps making mistakes in its relatively simple task to program correctly and proofread what they're printing. That right there is a red flag. They're two for two on the mistake front, having made a different "mistake" in the 2020 election in nearby Brooklyn, sending ballots with one name on them accompanied by mail-in envelopes with another name on them. According to Gothamist, in a piece dated Sept. 29, 2020: On Tuesday, the New York City Board of Elections announced a plan to print and mail new absentee ballots to nearly 100,000 voters who received erroneous envelopes in their absentee ballot packages. The decision comes after an unknown number of Brooklyn voters received absentee ballots with the wrong name and address printed on the return envelope. It is essential that confidence be established in this process and that we make certain that all of the voters who potentially have a problem have a full and fair opportunity to remedy that problem, said Michael Ryan, the executive director of the New York City Board of Elections. It is also essential to point out that this is a vendor error, he added, noting that the Rochester-based company, Phoenix Graphics, has agreed to pay for the cost of the additional printing of the ballots, while the Board will ensure those new ballots are processed appropriately. This sounds like the kind of trickery we've seen described by Jay Valentine in his accounts of all the rigging shenanigans voting officials pull to get loose ballots floating around out there for ballot harvesters to get their hands on. Then-governor Andrew Cuomo actually spotted that that may have been what was going on, asking that Phoenix Graphics only mail out new envelopes, not new ballots. Otherwise, voters would have been left with two valid ballots and one envelope, something that could have enabled some to vote twice, perhaps by mail as well as in person, or else left a lot of unmarked valid ballots in trash cans for the harvesters to get hold of and fill out. The request was ignored either by the company's decision or elected officials' decision (I could not verify) and Phoenix mailed out new ballots along with new envelopes. A second red flag is that all the foofaraw around the first mistake was supposed to be "fixed" by having county officials go to the printing plant to double-check and supervise the activity to make sure no mistakes happened again, as well as end no-bid contracts. Ryan told the Kings County Democratic Committee the BOE plans a new approach going forward, with plans to bid out the absentee ballot work for the next election and possibly send staff to oversee the actual printing and distribution of ballots. Somehow, that didn't happen. Why? A third red flag is the money factor, starting with the contract. The company was awarded a very controversial no-bid contract that shut out other vendors, including minority and women-owned businesses, who could have done the same job at a cheaper cost, according to a local paper, Bklynr, and that didn't have a benign history. A 2015 audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli criticized the BOEs prior no-bid contract with Phoenix, finding taxpayers would have saved $2.4 million had the board sought competitive proposals. So they seem to be getting inflated contracts, which may have extended to 2023 even as they keep blithely making "mistakes." Another money factor is that these "mistakes" come at tremendous cost to the company -- $300,000 for the latest mistake in Nassau, $10,000 for the earlier one in Brooklyn. What independent printing company can handle losses like that except if they are being handsomely overcompensated? Was that what was going on? They seem to have an abnormally large cushion for "mistakes." Yet another money factor from the local presses is that the company donates to Republicans in the main, but that looks incomplete as information and could be misleading. Does it matter that Phoenix Graphics was a major recipient of printing projects from the now-late Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Rochester-area Democrat who was one of the most flamingly Bush-deranged leftwing pro-abortion congresswomen in memory, and very close to the Democrat establishment? Were the Phoenix donations ideological at all or was something else going on? Were they straw donors to weak Republicans in the primary to ensure that certain favored Democrats got elected in the general? These games have happened in San Diego -- they may be happening elsewhere, too. And who did the top guys donate to? That I have not been able to find out, but it might be relevant as to why the "mistakes" keep happening. The primary will be held on June 27, and the voting pattern in District 3 of Nassau County is interesting. Wikipedia reports: It was one of 18 districts that voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election while being won or held by a Republican in 2022. There's also District 4 in Nassau County, with the same pattern: NY-04 is the second-wealthiest congressional district in New York, and among the wealthiest nationally.[4] It was one of 18 districts that voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election while being won or held by a Republican in 2022. It is also the most Democratic district in the country to be held by a Republican, with a partisan lean of D+5. Really? The old coat with no coattails in that area? Seems like a prime area for paying very close attention to fraud given that voters motivated to vote don't usually split their tickets, though it's possible, what with the Long Island housewives said to be Trump-averse, yet somehow, no one knows why that happened. Who's on the ballot may have clues, too. Based on the official state list of certified candidates, it appears they are all just local judges. One name in Nassau County that sticks out, though, would be from the congressional race that will be decided in 2024: George Santos, who represents District 3. He's a GOP rep under indictment for various frauds and says he won't run again in 2024. His victory in the 2022 midterm was said to have come as a surprise. Obviously, Democrats want that seat back badly, so given the voter composition, any little rigging to give the Dems a voter registration boost could probably push them over the top. That couldn't be operative here, could it? It could be a state or local race a 'mistake' could boost, or it could even be a trial run for a national race. Anything could be behind this odd little mistake of casting every voter as a Democrat, but to insist that nothing untoward is going on -- in Nassau's volatile swing districts -- is a bit strange for a Republican to be assuring about. One final factor: "Mistakes" tend to occur in multiples, in clusters -- as we have seen in Colorado, Riverside County, California, and Arizona. Why do those 'mistakes' always happen in the same places? In this age of voter distrust of elections, every angle must be investigated in this Nassau County case. That may mean getting rid of these RINO Republicans who play Mr. Magoo any time something potentially corrupt happens that could undermine the GOP's capacity to win. There's no ratdog in them for spotting inevitably malign Democrat intentions or historic practices, they've always got the Spirit of George Bush in them, never suspecting that Democrats may want their won seats for themselves and seek to shrink the GOP's already miserably low House majority, or other offices. It's wretched stuff to see the GOP trying to excuse these 'mistakes' which always go in one direction. They've got to start roaring like a lion or they'll be field mice for the big cats among the Dems whose operating principle remains 'by any means necessary.' Image: Maximilian Dorrbecker (Chumwa) via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0 Glenn Beck and Mark Levin have compiled a report that catalogues many of the crimes committed by the Biden family. The two broadcaster/journalists have put together a stunning list of the violations committed by the criminal first family. There's a good bit of old news here; Hunter Biden can go through hookers and cocaine like a fat kid goes through cake, but there are other, more damning revelations. In addition to Hunter's personal pleasure pursuits, it is also demonstrated that the Bidens repeatedly violated the FARA regulations, requiring agents for foreign governments to register as such. Multiple violations of this act by Hunter and his associates have gone uninvestigated and, thus, unprosecuted. The U.S. government did manage to use these laws to go after former Trump adviser Paul Manafort and find him guilty and sentenced him to seventy-three months in prison. Far greater wrongdoing on the part of Hunter and his associates remains unprosecuted. Chinese elites have paid approximately $31 million to Hunter, who distributed the funds throughout the family, including payments to "the big guy." Joe Biden met with at least 14 of Hunter's business associates while vice president. He continues to insist he never was involved with his son's business dealings, in effect daring us to call him a liar. After all, whom should we believe the president or our lying eyes and ears? But in an outrageous display of political corruption, thenvice president Joe Biden bragged in a video of threatening to withhold a billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine unless a prosecutor investigating Ukrainian energy corporation Burisma, of which Hunter and at least one associate were board members, was fired. The V.P. got his wish. From 2014 on, Hunter and his associates received millions from the Ukrainian government, reportedly because the U.S. chose to leave Burisma alone. Hunter, his father insists, is the finest man he has ever known, despite records showing that his son repeatedly met surreptitiously with foreign officials and then later met with his father to follow up. It is even claimed that Hunter had a mole in the FBI to tip him off in the event of any investigation. There is little, if anything, we can do to alter the fact that the Bidens, father, son, and all the rest, are despicable human beings. They have repeatedly shown themselves to be liars, plagiarizers, and worse. Nothing demonstrates their collective lack of character and basic human decency more effectively than the denial of a DNA-proven granddaughter's right to be recognized as a Biden grandchild. In the long run, not being associated with the Biden clan may prove to be the best thing that ever happened to the child. On the other hand, there is plenty that can be done about the lawlessness of the "first family." Beck and Levin have meticulously listed the various crimes by location and provided contact information for those responsible for prosecuting and bringing these criminals to justice. I urge anyone living in one of these jurisdictions to follow the directions given to contact the prosecutors and follow up on seeing to it that they have their day in court. The journalists urge citizens not to take no, or no reply, for an answer. Press the prosecutors to do their jobs. Hunter would have been far better off had he listened to Marie Antoinette and just eaten the fat kid's cake. Had he avoided hookers, cocaine, and FARA violations, as well as foreign bribes, he would not be looking at hard prison time. And if Hunter is truly the finest man that Joe Biden has ever met, we are seeing the after-effects of too much time spent in his basement. He should have gotten out more. Bill Hansmann is a dentist and dental educator with over fifty years in the profession. He continues to teach and write political blogs and semi-mediocre novels while living with his wife and cats in Florida. Image: LisaRedfern via Pixabay, Pixabay License. I have long noted that the Left has essentiallyand effectivelycompleted its promised long march through the institutions. And now that these erstwhile radicals control the government, including the CIA, FBI, DOJ, and even the military, they no longer savage them. Indeed, they champion them. Or, as Victor Davis Hanson has noted, the establishment is the revolution now. And those who comprise it have established themselves as tyrannical frauds. It is abundantly clear that the only thing progressives/leftists/Marxists/statists care about is power. And, sadly, they have hit upon an effective way of achievingand now enhancing and preservingthat power: obfuscate and lie -- and do so by accusing your opponents/targets of doing just what you are doing, of having done precisely what you have done. They are hypocrites most high, paragons of prevarication, masters of mendacityexemplars of evil. Thomas Jefferson, who many consider to be the founder of the Democrats party, once stated: I have sworn, on the altar of God, eternal hostility to all forms of tyranny over the minds of man. By contrast, the New Jacobins (todays Democrat party) mantra, based on words and actions, appears to be: We have sworn, on Gaias sacred ground, eternal hostility to all forms of freedom -- and dissentfrom our ideology and rule. For ours is The One Objective Truth, The Lone Real Light, and The Only Way. Open-minded? Welcoming? Inclusive? Tolerant? Just the opposite, of course. The Founders were actual revolutionaries, albeit classically liberal oneswhich is to say conservative in todays parlance. Many of the 1960s hippie strain of radicals have joined with actual Marxistscultural and economicto counter the American Revolution that established and ensconced the idea of inalienable individual rightsand ushered in an era of unprecedented freedom and prosperity. It is well past time for those of us who are not of a Marxist bent to stridently and effectively counter the counterrevolutionaries. We owe it to our Founders. We owe it to all those who served, fought, sacrificed, and died for liberty. We owe it to ourselves. And we owe it to posterity. Not sure about that? Did you like the Third Reich? The Soviet Union? Do you like whats happening in Russia today? China? North Korea? Or what has transpired recently in Venezuela, Brazil, Iran? Or even in Denmark or Canada? It is time to Make America Great Again. Again. And once again unfurl the Gadsden flag to the rest of the world. Graphic credit: Pixabay license Andrea Bocellis Music for Hope performance at the height of the worldwide COVID lockdowns garnered 25 million views. Performing at an empty Milan cathedral, it was the cutaway shots to empty cities that were the most gut-wrenching: Empty streets in Rome and Madrid, empty highways in Warsaw, not even a fly sitting under the Eiffel Tower, Trafalgar Square enveloped in a post-nuclear-war-like stillness, and Cape Town, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, and New York following suit. For many of us who watched it live, there was nothing hopeful about it. You wanted to crawl under your bed and die in a quiet desperation worse than anything Thoreau could imagine. Those are the moments we must never forget -- when the globalists stopped the world from spinning and then victoriously shoved our noses in it. Where did those 25 million video viewers go? Three years later, the third International COVID Summit in Brussels only gets a couple of hundred thousand views. It seems nobody wants to take the time to listen to the truth about why all those streets were empty. The top comment under the COVID Summit YouTube video states, Never forget what they did! All those who went along with the COVID fascism need to be held accountable! (Hat tip to Juznik.) Apparently, as Dr. John Campbell points out, the European Parliament seems to allow more freedom of expression concerning the realities of COVID than most countries. (Ive written about the importance of Dr. Campbells COVID coverage here and here.) Referring to the COVID Summit, Campbell asks Why is there no media coverage of this at all? Why is it being ignored? Its quite incredible really. The International COVID Summit III was held earlier this month in Belgium, and bills itself as a safe haven for doctors, lawyers and professionals from all over the world to unite and discuss their experiences with COVID-19 and everything related to it. (The Wikipedians have apparently decided not to create an article about the summits.) At the conference, they point to October 2021 as being a pivotal point in many peoples views of everything COVID, from lockdowns to jabs. I have to say I believe that is when most folks I know began to question the narratives as well. MEP Cristian Terhes begins the after-summit press conference by explaining that the presenters consisted of researchers and professionals who were analyzing and dealing with the coronavirus for many years. At the core, they were professionals presenting their findings. He soon turns the microphone over to Dr. Robert Malone, who some might recognize as the berated COVID misinformation star who was disparaged by the New York Times and labeled a conspiracy theorist by Forbes. Others may recognize him as the voice of reason. Dr. Malone didnt pull any punches at the press conference. Speaking unscripted, he said of the COVID jabs: I would like to emphasize one of the key findings that ran all the way through the presentations, which is that in fact there are people who are vaccine-injured. This is something that has been suppressed by all channels of corporate media and governments -- that there are these individuals who are in fact vaccine-damaged and they have not been allowed to speak. They have had their experiences suppressed, they have been demeaned, they have been gaslit and they are damaged in large part consequent to the rush of this product without adequate testing. He goes on to say that by actively bypassing European medical agencies, the U.S. FDA, and others, they had incurred unfortunate consequences. He continued speaking about the vaccine-injured, and had a request for those in attendance: I now ask for Europe and the European Parliament to please consider that these individuals who have been subjected to so much -- they've not only been damaged by the mandated products and the vaccine passport requirements in order to just engage in their daily activities to be employed or in lieu of not being vaccinated they've lost their jobs their livelihoods I strongly encourage that we acknowledge these individuals, that we work together and that the European Union might provide leadership in helping to discover and identify potential treatments and therapies so that they can be made whole and that they be compensated for the damages they've incurred as a consequence of the policies that have been implemented throughout the EU, the United States, Canada, New Zealand Australia and across the world. So that's my plea. Malone then called the World Health Organization (WHO) an abysmal failure as he condemned them for seeking money and control via their proposed pandemic preparedness treaty. (In a must-see interview with GBNews Neil Oliver, Malone discusses the WHO treaty and the threat to national sovereignty. In an environment in which a government feels it is acceptable to deploy advanced PSYOPS on their citizens, the concept of sovereignty becomes obsolete. You can see the complete interview here.) The 23-minute press conference at the conclusion of the international summit, including Dr. Malones courageous comments, can be seen here. With the ongoing work of organizations like the International COVID Summit, theres a good chance we may we never again be forced to watch the unprecedented images of a world silenced by tyranny. Susan D. Harris can be reached at www.susandharris.com Image: Screen shot from GBNews video, via YouTube Sadly, moral and ethical confusion reign supreme today, and reason and sanity appear on the way to extinction. Case in point: according to a nationwide student survey recently conducted by Inside Higher Ed, college students are claiming that difficult course materials and exams, required attendance -- and deadlines-- are all acting as impediments to their college success. Moreover, when asked what professors could do to help them be more successful, a majority of young scholars responded that flexible deadlines would be helpful, while a large minority said flexible attendance and participation policies would be helpful, as well. Students also wished professors would experiment with new teaching styles and discuss available wellness resources in class. Yes, kids, youd all be much better off with no time constraints, easy exams, and if-you-please attendance. Youd be much readier for the real world, right? Oh, you dont want to compete in the world-at-large? Youd prefer a universal basic income (UBI) and cradle-to-grave care? In that case, you arent humans, youre cattle. Or worse, non-viable tissue masses ala the clumps of cells or fetuses so many of youd like to see aborted. Case in point number two: According to The New York Post, the Hochul administration is trying to gin up support for a complete ban on the sale of all tobacco products in the state within ten years. To that end, the Empire States state Health Department commissioned a new survey aimed at gauging support for an all-out prohibition. Ironically, New York has done everything it can to legalizeand encouragethe use of todays ultra-potent THC-laced marijuana, a substance containing more carcinogens than most tobacco products, and one that, unlike tobacco, is mind-altering and can cause paranoia. The Big Apple fairly reeks of marijuana today. It has literally gone to pot. Case in point number three (and proof that it isnt just Americans who have lost their minds): Gender Museum Denmark, previously known as The Womens Museum, has recently attracted significant attention for an exhibit pushing woke gender ideology. In the museums main hall now stands an 11-foot-tall statue of a naked man with male features and genitalia who is also depicted as having female breasts. The man is shown holding and breastfeeding a baby. A museum originally built to honor women, has been renamed and repurposed to be inclusive of all genders-- and features a statue of a nude man breastfeeding a baby? How apropos! What a perfect symbol of the times, and the dying of the West! Surely the museum will soon sport a statue of a woman with a penis in the act of attempting to impregnate a man with a vagina. Is it possible to mock God/Genesis/Creationor even evolutionin a more egregious way than this?! I will close as I opened: moral and ethical confusion reign supreme today, and reason and sanity appear on the way to extinction. Photo credit: YouTube screengrab (cropped) When a potential GOP presidential candidate has a brilliant track record -- so attractive that new residents flee Dem-ruled areas to his state by the hundreds of thousands, and he turns a narrow first term victory into a double-digit rout for re-election -- the Dems realize they have a major problem looming. Its time to roll out charges of racism using the current approved terminology, white supremacy, as signaled by Joe Biden at his Howard University commencement speech. Naturally, being racists themselves and in command of the academic hierarchy, they need a talking head who is both black and the holder of academic credentials to launch the charge. Enter MSNBC and Dr. Basil Smikle Jr.: [a] political strategist and policy advisor for almost 20 years with local, national and international experience. He lectures at Columbias School of International and Public Affairs, Teachers College and was most recently the Distinguished Lecturer of Politics and Public Policy at the City University of New Yorks School of Labor and Urban Studies. He holds a PhD in Politics and Education and an MPA from Columbia University, and received a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University. On a panel for The 11th hour Friday night denouncing DeSantis, Smikle use his camera time to level the ridiculous and unsubstantiated yet grave charge, as Newsbusters reports: Prof. [sic] Basil Smikle then turned the conversation towards race, Right, but thats why I always say it's not really about being anti-woke, it's about being pro-racial hierarchy. That's what he's selling and hes selling it to a very After Liesman interrupted, asking Smikle to explain himself, he continued It's leading to the sort of pro-white supremacy, right? It's like, we want to teach, we want to make sure that our version of history is taught, not your version. Nobody on the panel ever provided any evidence that disagreeing with them is somehow white supremacy. Smikle tried, It's a very specific type of versionof history that's being taught in a very specific way. If you look at DeSantiss battles against the College Board. Smikle (hes not a professor, hes a lecturer, and in academia these titles are regarded as very important trust me, I used to teach at Columbias School of International and Public Affairs, too) is apparently conflating opposition to critical race theory with white supremacy, a charge that cannot stand under even the mildest scrutiny. But Smikle has academic credentials and is black, and so among a certain type of people, that settles the matter. Watch the entire disgraceful smear campaign being below on a Grabien video: Photo credit: Grabien video screengrab Wall Street Journal weekend columnist Peggy Noonan checked in, May 20-21, with post-Durham Report commentary called Unanswered Questions About Trump and Russia. The column started off by saying that the Reports conclusions, including partisan hostility against Donald J. Trump [s]ounds about right, but immediately followed with this: Yet I still dont know what to think of Trump/Russia and Im not satisfied well ever fully understand it. The Trump-loathing Noonan follows that bit of inculpatory innuendo with more: Certain aspects of the overall Trump story fed the Trump/Russia saga. (And to make sure readers get the Trump-loathing message, the column is accompanied by a photo of President Trump and President Putin shaking hands.) After several paragraphs suggesting that experienced people in positions of authority understand what Trump is all about. but not normal America -- a euphemism, obviously, for deplorables -- Noonan cites, for invidious purpose, the Steele dossiers discussion of a perverted incident claimed to involve Trump in the presidential suite in Moscows Ritz Carlton hotel. Immediately following the recitation of the dossiers account of the incident, Noonans next paragraph begins: Anything is possible... This anti-truth bias here is typical of the kind of journalism practiced by the Trump-loathing crowd: In the aftermath of The Durham Report, they are, as Jack Nicholson once said in A Few Good Men, people who cant handle the truth. The falsity of the alleged presidential suite incident is explained at page 146 of the Durham report: [t]he [Durham Special Counsel] Office obtained records from the Ritz Carlton Moscow that reveal that Trump was a guest at the hotel in 2013, but did not stay in the Presidential Suite then or at any other time. [Emphasis added.] Why did Noonan refer to the alleged presidential suite incident and not acknowledge, per Durham, that Citizen Trump never stayed in that suite? Perhaps she did not bother to wade through the online version of the Report. But could she not have googled to learn that Donald Trump never stayed in the presidential suite of Moscows Ritz Carlton? See, for example, this May 16 story, from the U.K. Daily Mail: Special Counsel John Durhams report identifies Irish-born PR exec and Clinton ally Charles Dolan as the likely source of the infamous golden showers rumor about Donald Trump in the discredited Steele dossier that ended up in the FBI directors very awkward briefing on potential kompromat days before he took office. Durhams 300-page report contains new information about the possible source of the discredited salacious claim and puts together a detailed map of how the information may have come to light. Noonan did not mention in her column that the presidential suite incident was baseless. More likely than not, that was because she prefers dangling a false accusation against Mr. Trump. No-truth Noonan also mentioned the Buzzfeed January 2017 report on the Steele fabrication without acknowledging that the intrusively-partisan FBI knew, months before Buzzfeed issued its false report, that Steele was a purveyor of anti-Trump material assisting the Clinton campaign. The Buzzfeed story effectively lit the fuse to the Mueller probe that originated in hopes of ousting President Trump. Noonan makes it clear that it is acceptable to raise questions about Trump and Russia because Trump has not denounced Vladimir Putin to her satisfaction. Diplomacy by denunciation? Noonan cannot handle the truth that it was not until Biden was installed in the White House that Russia attacked Ukraine. And so she includes a John McCain insult at Trump for not being sufficiently anti-Putin. Left unmentioned by Noonan was the late Arizona senators adventure in Kyiv in December 2013 where he stirred up the Maidan protests that succeeded in ousting duly-elected Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, leading to the present Ukraine-Russia war. Before her columns end, Noonan lambastes the former president for having had the temerity to imply, during his presidency, that the FBI was incompetent or corrupt.. But that, of course, has been established by the report Noonan strains to resist -- as she strained, like a good Never-Trump, to resist the Trump presidency. The truth is, the FBI and intel leadership have become corrupt -- a very inconvenient truth for the Trump-loathing crowd. I would suggest that the words extremely troublesome at the end of this paragraph found at page 303 of the report are euphemism for indicative of corruption. Throughout the duration of Crossfire Hurricane, facts and circumstances that were inconsistent with the premise that Trump and/or persons associated with the Trump campaign were involved in a collusive or conspiratorial relationship with the Russian government were ignored or simply assessed away. Indeed, as set forth in Sections IV A.2 and 3, from even before the opening of Crossfire Hurricane, some of those most directly involved in the subsequent investigation had (i) expressed their open disdain for Trump, (ii) asked about when they would open an investigation on Trump, and (iii) asserted that they would prevent Trump from becoming President. As discussed throughout this report, our investigation revealed that the stated basis for opening a full investigation to determine whether individual(s) associated with the Trump campaign [were] witting of and/or coordinating activities with the Government of Russia 1746 was seriously flawed. Again, the FBIs failure to critically analyze information that ran counter to the narrative of a Trump/Russia collusive relationship exhibited throughout Crossfire Hurricane is extremely troublesome. And Noonans failure to critically analyze information that [runs] counter to her anti-Trump bias questions her own standing as a serious journalist. Image: Twitter screen shot Greece held its general elections on May 21st, a few weeks before the 300-seat Hellenic Parliament was set to be dissolved. While voters will choose from over 30 parties, the race highlighted the ruling New Democracy party (ND), headed by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the main opposition Syriza party, headed by former prime minister Alexis Tsipras. As of the close of voting centers at 19:00 Greek time (16:00 UTC), Mitsotakis's ND party is leading the polls with 36% to 40% of the vote to Syriza's 25% to 29%. However, recent changes to the Greek electoral system would mean having a clear winner during the first round of voting is highly unlikely. According to political analyst Panos Koliastasis, changes in the voting rules mean the leading party must win over 45% of the electorate to create a single-party government. If they fail to do so, they have nine days to form a coalition with one or multiple parties. In the event of a no clear majority after nine days, Greeks will return to the polls by late June or early July. Mitsotakis leads the polls, Tsipras's return as PM unlikely Mitsotakis's government has been plagued with several issues, including the Tempi train crash in February and a wiretapping scandal targeted at socialist PASOK party leader Nikos Androulakis. After casting his vote, Mitsotakis urged his countrymen to vote for "a stronger country with an important role in Europe and protected borders." Despite this, the ND party retains the lead and has to create a coalition if it wants to stay in power. The election campaign of opposition leader Alexis Tsipras and his left-wing Syriza party has been focused on taking Mitsotakis's government to account regarding the Tempi train crash, which killed 57 people, and the Androulakis wiretapping incident. With early projections showing ND's dominance in this year's elections, Syriza is projected to occupy the opposition bench for another term. Young voters favoring smaller parties Meanwhile, there is an emerging trend among younger Greeks to vote for smaller parties out of dissatisfaction with the larger parties. One of the parties that contested in this year's election is MeRA25, headed by former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who left Syriza in the aftermath of the 2015 Greek bailout referendum. According to independent political thinktank MacroPolis co-founder Nick Malkoutzis, younger voters call for greater accountability and transparency as a result of their disappointment with politicians, regardless of who is the ruling party. "Young people have very little faith in the major parties and mainstream politics," he said. "This pushes them toward the outer fringes of the political system." Cost of living remains a key issue Aside from political scandals and transport safety woes, Greeks remain distressed by the cost of living in the country as a result of its debt crisis in 2015 and the three-year bailout program that followed it. Parties have campaigned to convince voters of the promises of increasing the minimum wage and creating jobs. Whoever wins this year's election has to do more to increase the country's GDP while, at the same time, minimizing the need to raise taxes. @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Democrats have a Senator Feinstein problem. To say the least, it's quite different from the one that inspired a young Paul Anka to write a song that went like this: "Oh, please stay by me, Diana." The Democrats are singing a different song because their "I'm so young and you're so old" love makes their 51-49 majority a bit lame. How do you tell a loyal and elected Democrat to quit and go home so the party can move on? It's a problem, to say the least. This is a good point by Li Zhou: Were Feinstein to resign voluntarily, California Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint a new person to serve out her term until 2025. Newsom has already pledged to nominate a Black woman for the Senate, and many have speculated that it could be Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who has already declared her candidacy for the role. Manley notes that as Senate leader, Schumer may be one of the few people who could use his sway to speak with Feinstein. As the New York Times reported, however, Feinstein appeared determined to return to the Senate in recent calls the majority leader had with her while she was recovering from shingles. A Schumer spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding potential next steps from Democrats. Beyond a voluntary resignation, the Senate also has the ability to expel members, though that's an exceedingly rare maneuver that hasn't been used since the Civil War. In the past, the Senate has only ever expelled 15 members, 14 of which were related to their decision to join the Confederacy. A supermajority of senators would also have to vote to take this route, something that's not likely to happen given the support and deference that many Democrats continue to have for Feinstein, and the unprecedented nature of such an effort. "She's got an enormous well of support in the caucus," says Manley. "Anyone who's paying attention sees that any attempt to shove her aside is doomed to failure." Feinstein is known for being a groundbreaking lawmaker, and was first elected in the 1990s. She's been a champion for legislation like the Violence Against Women Act, a key voice for gun control, and a longtime defender of abortion rights. Given this history, some lawmakers might be reluctant to push her out. Although multiple lawmakers including Khanna and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have urged her resignation, other Democrats have been more circumspect in their comments. What a mess. Do you agree? I saw Senator Lindsey Graham on TV and he avoided this like the plague. It's obvious that he respects the California senator and does not want to mess with Senate traditions. Of course, the other problem is the senator from Pennsylvania, who keeps embarrassing himself every time he reads a statement. Add to this angry Senator Manchin and Senator Tester, who remembers every six years that he represents Montana, not San Francisco, and the majority may be a bit complicated. PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos. Image: Dianne Feinstein. Credit: Senate Democrats via Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Offers of 8 countries to Italy request for pump equipment EU responds through European civil protection (ANSA) - ROME, 21 MAG - Italy has activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to request, in particular, high-capacity pumping equipment. Following the request, the European Commission says, Brussels "mobilized offers from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia to help Italian authorities cope with the heavy flooding" in Emilia-Romagna. "The European Emergency Response Coordination Center has been in constant contact with the Italian authorities, who are currently evaluating the offers, the EU stands ready to provide further help if needed." The EU's Copernicus service, the commission adds, has also provided emergency satellite mapping of the affected areas, following a request from the Italian civil protection department on May 16. (ANSA). Copyright ANSA - Tutti i diritti riservati The Prime Minister has been urged to show some backbone and order an investigation into claims Suella Braverman asked civil servants to help her secure a special arrangement after being caught speeding. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has written to Rishi Sunak setting out a series of questions any inquiry into the allegations should seek to answer. The Home Secretary is alleged to have asked Home Office officials to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course as she sought to avoid incurring points on her licence. Officials refused the request so Mrs Braverman allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. Labour said Mrs Braverman may have breached the ministerial code if the reports, which first appeared in The Sunday Times, are correct and is calling for Mr Sunaks independent adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Laurie Magnus, to investigate. Mr Sunak refused to back Mrs Braverman when asked for his opinion at a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan, where he had been meeting with G7 leaders. But No 10 has since said he does have full confidence in his Home Secretary, who is likely to face queries about the reports when she comes before MPs at Home Office questions in the Commons on Monday. In her letter to Mr Sunak, Labours Ms Rayner said the Prime Minister should order an investigation without delay. She added: Members of the Cabinet are subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and any attempt to direct civil servants to obtain special treatment in this matter would clearly amount to an unacceptable abuse of power and privilege by the Home Secretary. Ms Rayner, in a separate statement, said: The Prime Minister must show some backbone and order his ethics adviser to investigate the Home Secretary to get to the bottom of this episode without further delay. The public have a right to know whether the minister responsible for law and order sought to abuse her position in an attempt to gain preferential treatment to avoid a speeding fine. This Conservative Cabinet appear to think they are above the laws that govern the rest of us. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has written to the Prime Minister about the allegations surrounding the Home Secretary (James Manning/PA) Mrs Braverman was appointed to her Home Office role by Mr Sunak in October only six days after she resigned as home secretary during Liz Truss premiership for sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission. In his first speech after entering Downing Street, Mr Sunak vowed to lead an administration with integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level. Ms Rayner continued: Rishi Sunak was too weak to deal with Suella Braverman the last time she broke the ministerial code, and his reluctance to order an investigation right away speaks volumes on how seriously he takes his promise to bring integrity to Government. The senior Labour MPs letter says Sir Laurie should probe whether Mrs Braverman asked civil servants to help her enlist in a private driving course. She suggested that to have done so could breach paragraph 1.3 of the ministerial code which states that ministers must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service and not ask civil servants to act in any way which would conflict with the Civil Service Code. The code by which civil servants must abide states that public servants must not misuse [their] official position [] to further [their] private interests or those of others. Ms Rayner also asks whether Mr Sunak knew about the alleged request to civil servants to help her arrange a special course and whether Mrs Braverman informed the Cabinet Office and Home Office permanent secretaries. A source close to Mrs Braverman told PA news agency that she notified the Cabinet Office after being handed the speeding ticket, having reportedly been caught driving too fast on a road outside of London last summer. A spokesman for the Home Secretary said she regrets speeding and has since accepted the points and paid the fine. Separately, the Liberal Democrats are calling on Mr Sunak to make a statement in Parliament about the claims surrounding his Cabinet minister. The partys chief whip, Wendy Chamberlain, said: Rishi Sunak is so weak he cant even make sure his own ministers maintain the very basic level of integrity. The least he can do is come to Parliament and explain this farce. After yet another day of Conservative sleaze and scandal, we need to see the Prime Minister take some responsibility. The head of a committee that advises ministers on migration issues has said his panel supports curbing the amount of time overseas university students can stay in Britain. Professor Brian Bell, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), told The Sunday Telegraph that his independent body thought it unnecessary for foreign students to be permitted to work in Britain for two years after completing their masters degree. It comes as ministers brace themselves for fresh net migration statistics next week which are expected to show that at least 700,000 people a record high came to the UK last year. That is despite the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto promising that overall numbers will come down from the level of 226,000, as they were that year. A significant factor behind the swell in numbers in recent years has been an increase in foreign students and their dependents arriving, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). ONS data shows that people arriving on study visas accounted for the largest proportion (39%) of long-term immigration of non-EU nationals in the year to June 2022, at 277,000 people. That was up from 143,000 in the previous 12 months. Prof Bell, a professor of economics at Kings Business School at Kings College London, told the newspaper that the graduate visa had allowed foreign students pretty much unrestricted rights to work for two years after studying for a one-year masters. A graduate visa allows masters students to bring spouses and children to the country with them, with the family permitted to stay on with them for 24 months after their course is over. Prof Bell told The Sunday Telegraph the MAC had found students who stayed after graduating were often in low-skilled and low-earning jobs. An offer to do anything you want for two years seems unnecessary to us, so personally Ive never been massively in favour of the graduate route, he told the newspaper. It follows reports that ministers are planning to stop family members joining overseas masters students at UK universities as part of efforts to reduce legal migration figures. The plan, first reported by the Financial Times earlier this month, is said to involve curbing the number of dependents who come to the UK with overseas masters students, often from India and Nigeria. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said legal migration should be reduced (Victoria Jones/PA) Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been publicly pushing for lower immigration, saying more Britons should be trained to be lorry drivers and fruit pickers to plug demand. In a speech to the National Conservatism conference last week, Mrs Braverman said Britain must not lose sight of the importance of controlling legal migration, as well as clamping down on unlawful entries. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been taking a more pragmatic approach with the economy in mind, having made clear to farmers that more seasonal fruit pickers will be allowed into the UK if they are needed. During his trip to Japan for the G7 leaders meeting, Mr Sunak conceded that he thinks immigration into the UK is too high but would not spell out what he believes is an acceptable level. He told Sky News he was committed to bringing down the levels of migration that I inherited. A Home Office spokeswoman, asked about Prof Bells comments, said: The public rightly expect us to control our borders and we remain committed to reducing overall net migration, while ensuring we have the skills our economy and public services needs. We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to continue to strike a balance between welcoming people who contribute to the UKs academic institutions and reducing overall net migration over time. A protest is being held on Monday against the Governments controversial legislation on minimum levels of service during strikes, which unions warn could lead to workers being sacked for legally voting to take industrial action. Union leaders involved in the current wave of strikes will speak at the event in Parliament Square and will criticise the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which returns to Parliament for MPs to discuss amendments put forward by the Lords. The TUC has warned that the right to strike of one in five workers is at risk, as the Bill means that when workers lawfully vote to strike in health, education, fire, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning, they could be forced to attend work and sacked if they do not comply. The TUC said MPs have been given few details on how minimum service levels will operate, adding that the legislation has faced a barrage of criticism, including from employer groups. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak told the PA news agency that Conservative MPs should vote with their conscience and oppose the Bill. He warned that the legislation would worsen industrial relations and prolong strikes. Do MPs really want to see teachers, nurses or railway workers sacked for taking lawful industrial action? This draconian legislation is a step too far. Its undemocratic, unworkable and if it gets onto the statute book very likely unlawful, and it will poison industrial relations and exacerbate disputes rather than help resolve them. Its no surprise that politicians, employers and rights groups are queuing to condemn this spiteful Bill. Mr Nowak said the TUC will explore every possibility of mounting a legal challenge to the legislation when it becomes law. Ministers must step back from the brink, ditch this draconian Bill for good and protect the right to strike. He warned of a huge reaction if and when the first worker is sacked under the legislation. Mick Lynch (Peter Morrison/PA) Labour has promised to repeal the Bill if it wins the next general election. The House of Lords put forward a number of amendments, including ensuring that failure to comply with a so-called work notice under the legislation was not a breach of contract so a worker could not be sacked. The Lords also want an amendment that unions do not have any responsibility or obligation to ensure their members comply with a work notice. Speakers at the protest will include Mr Nowak and Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which has been embroiled in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: The UK already has the most restrictive anti-union laws in the developed world and the result of this is that we have suffered from falling wages and sharper exploitation. An inspiring wave of resistance has swept the country in the past year, but instead of negotiating with workers, this Government of millionaires is seeking to have key workers sacked and victimised. They want to drive wages down even further so their big business backers can cash in. There is a growing movement of resistance to this legislation and the FBU is committed to building a mass movement of non-compliance if it becomes law. We are seeing a workers revolt against hard-right government with no mandate for its policies. That revolt will continue whatever happens today. The Prime Minister will consult with his ethics adviser over claims the Home Secretary asked civil servants to help her avoid incurring points on her licence after being caught speeding. Rishi Sunak is due back in the UK on Monday following his trip to Japan for the G7 leaders meeting. The Conservative Party leader is expected to speak to Home Secretary Suella Braverman upon his return, along with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, following reports she requested Home Office officials set up a private speed awareness course for her. Downing Street confirmed on Sunday that Mr Sunak would also speak with his independent adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Laurie Magnus, about the matter. No 10 insiders stressed that the Prime Minister would be seeking initial advice from Sir Laurie and that it was not certain that an inquiry into whether the ministerial code had been breached would be ordered. Sir Laurie cannot launch an investigation without Mr Sunaks prior approval, but a breach of the code can be a resignation matter. The Prime Minister has always followed the proper process in these matters, and will consult the independent adviser upon his return to London, a No 10 source said. Facing questions about reports surrounding Mrs Braverman during a press conference in Hiroshima to mark the end of the G7 gathering, Mr Sunak showed his frustration at having to deal with domestic ministerial queries while on the world stage. Did you have any questions about the summit? he asked. Mr Sunak refused to back Mrs Braverman when asked for his opinion at the press briefing but No 10 later said he retained confidence in her. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have urged Mr Sunak to order an investigation into the claims. According to The Sunday Times, Mrs Braverman asked Home Office civil servants to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course as she was keen to avoid having three points on her licence for a speeding offence. Officials are said to have refused the request so Mrs Braverman allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. A spokesman for the Home Secretary said she regrets speeding and has since accepted the points and paid the fine. The speeding offence reportedly took place on a road outside London last year when Mrs Braverman was serving as attorney general when Boris Johnson was prime minister. Her request for support from officials was made while she was home secretary under Liz Truss brief premiership, The Sunday Times said. Labour and the Lib Dems have urged the PM to order his ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, to investigate Suella Braverman (David Parry/PA) After being reappointed to the Home Secretary position by Rishi Sunak in October, only six days after she had resigned from the same position for sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission, she reportedly dropped the idea of attending a course and opted to accept the points. Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC the Prime Minister needed to put his money where his mouth is and have an immediate investigation under the ministerial code. His party has highlighted that the ministerial code states that ministers must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service and not ask civil servants to act in any way which would conflict with the Civil Service Code. The code by which civil servants must abide states that public servants must not misuse their position to further private interests or those of others. It comes as an expert said Mrs Braverman had done nothing untoward in wanting a private course but that she had shot herself in the foot by not asking a lawyer to set it up. Nick Freeman, known as Mr Loophole for winning celebrities cases on legal technicalities, told PA news agency: If she got a lawyer to do it nobody would be any of the wiser, shed have done the course, the course provider wouldnt leak her information and the lawyer wouldnt either. Shes the author of her own misfortune. Rishi Sunak declined to publicly back Home Secretary Suella Braverman after allegations she asked civil servants to help her avoid incurring points on her licence for speeding. The Prime Minister was facing renewed calls on Sunday to launch an investigation into the Cabinet minister after he declined to set out whether he will order a probe. Mr Sunak did not express support for Mrs Braverman when asked three times at a press conference in Hiroshima, where he attended talks with G7 leaders and Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky. I dont know the full details of what has happened nor have I spoken to the Home Secretary, Mr Sunak said. I think you can see first hand what I have been doing over the last day or so but I understand that shes expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine. However, a No 10 spokeswoman later insisted he does of course have full confidence in his Home Secretary, responding to a message: Yes, he does. Mr Sunak, who left the press conference to fly back to London as planned, is expected to speak to Mrs Braverman as well as Cabinet Secretary Simon Case after his return. He expressed his frustration at being asked whether he would ask his ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate the claims. Did you have any questions about the summit? he asked. The Sunday Times reported that Mrs Braverman asked Home Office aides to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course. Officials refused the request so Mrs Braverman allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. She was caught speeding outside London while she was Attorney General last summer. The newspaper reported that a number of requests were made to a speeding awareness course provider by an aide, including asking if the senior Conservative minister could do an online course, but use an alias or have her camera switched off. Mrs Braverman ultimately chose instead to accept three points on her driving licence. Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry said there are definitely questions to answer over the use of civil servants. He told the BBCs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: You shouldnt do it in the first place but if you do get caught, you just take the medicine. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper demanded an urgent investigation by Sir Laurie to see whether Mrs Braverman breached the ministerial code. After Mr Sunaks press conference, the Labour MP said: Not good enough Prime Minister. The Home Secretary is alleged to have tried to abuse her position to avoid a legal penalty. Are you really too weak to even set up an investigation? Liberal Democrat home affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said every second Mrs Braverman is not under investigation is another blow to the integrity of this already sleaze-ridden Prime Minister. Sir Laurie cannot launch an investigation without Mr Sunaks approval but a breach of the ministerial code is often a resigning matter. A source close to Mrs Braverman told the PA news agency the speeding ticket and subsequent arrangements for dealing with it were reported to the Cabinet Office at the time. They said she was keen to arrange a course because of concerns her insurance premium potentially could increase. According to the Sunday Times, she approached civil servants about the issue after she was made Home Secretary by Liz Truss. Mrs Braverman resigned in October after sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission. But Mr Sunak reappointed her just six days later when he entered No 10. A spokesman for the Home Secretary said: Mrs Braverman accepts that she was speeding last summer and regrets doing so. She took the three points and paid the fine last year. A motorist can be banned from driving if they have 12 or more penalty points on their licence. A promised law to pressure killers to appear in court for their sentences is at risk of being shelved after Rishi Sunak refused to commit to the legislation before the next election. Dominic Raab had committed to prevent those convicted of the most serious crimes refusing to appear before the families of their victims after a series of cases provoked outrage. He promised to act while under pressure over the killers of nine-year-old victim Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa before resigning as justice secretary after being criticised in a bullying inquiry. But Mr Sunak, while insisting the commitment remains in place, refused to say whether the legislation will be introduced before the next general election, expected in 2024. Cheryl Korbel, (centre) mother of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel (Peter Byrne/PA) Asked by reporters during a trip to the G7 summit in Japan, the Prime Minister said: What happened to Olivia in the summer my daughters are of a similar age and its absolutely shocking. With regards to that weve got a commitment in place. It requires legislation and so well have to wait for the legislative opportunity but the commitment that we made stands. Pressed whether it will come before the nation goes to the polls, Mr Sunak said: We havent published the fourth session legislation yet so I wouldnt make any I dont comment on tax policy, Im in a zone now where I wont comment on any legislative things either until we actually publish. The Government must hold a general election before the end of January 2025 and the Conservatives are currently trailing Labour in the polls. Thomas Cashman was jailed for life imprisonment with a minimum term of 42 years for fatally shooting Olivia at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, while pursuing a fellow drug dealer. Sex attacker Jordan McSweeney murdered 35-year-old law graduate Ms Aleena as she walked home in Ilford, east London, and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted the commitment remains in place, but refused to say whether the legislation will be introduced before the next general election (Alastair Grant/PA) Koci Selamaj received life with at least 36 years for murdering primary school teacher Ms Nessa after travelling to London to carry out an attack on a random woman. Each of the men refused to appear in court for sentencing, with the judgments being handed down in their absence. Olivias mother Cheryl Korbel has called for the law to be changed to ensure criminals are in court for sentencing, saying Cashmans absence was like a kick in the teeth. As recently as April, Mr Raab said he was going to change the laws to compel spineless offenders to face court to prevent them prolonging victims and families suffering. How it would be done was unclear, but could have been by giving judges the power to impose longer terms on those who stay in their cells. Labour has called for new laws to tackle the issue but has accused the Government of having dragged their feet and failed to act. Suella Braverman is facing allegations that she asked civil servants to help her avoid getting points on her licence for speeding. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to launch an investigation into the claims. During two stints as home secretary, Mrs Braverman has attracted criticism. Here are some of her controversial moments: Speeding points The Sunday Times reported Mrs Braverman asked Home Office aides to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course after being caught speeding last summer while attorney general. Officials refused the request, so the Home Secretary allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. The newspaper said multiple requests were made to a speeding awareness course provider by an aide, including asking if the senior Conservative minister could do an online course, but use an alias or have her camera switched off. Mrs Braverman ultimately chose instead to accept three points on her driving licence. Labours shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper was among those demanding an investigation to see whether she breached the ministerial code. Email about civil servants In March, an email sent out to Conservative Party members in Mrs Bravermans name blamed an activist blob of left-wing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour Party for blocking previous attempts to tackle illegal migration. An email in Mrs Bravermans name hit out at civil servants (Victoria Jones/PA) She was accused of potentially breaking ministerial rules by questioning the impartiality of public servants after the publication of the Governments Illegal Migration Bill. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union which represents senior civil servants, said the email amounted to a direct attack on the integrity and impartiality of those working in the Home Office. The Prime Ministers press secretary told reporters Mrs Braverman did not see, sign off or sanction the email, which she said was sent in error. Sacking and reappointment Liz Truss forced Mrs Braverman out as home secretary in October 2022 after she breached the ministerial code by sending an official document to a Tory backbencher from a personal email. Mrs Braverman, who had been in the role six weeks, said she made a mistake which she conceded was a technical infringement of the rules. Six days later, after Ms Truss resigned as prime minister, her successor Mr Sunak reinstated Mrs Braverman. Rishi Sunak reinstated Mrs Braverman as Home Secretary (Phil Noble/PA) Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats raised national security concerns and demanded a Cabinet Office investigation. Outburst against tofu-eating wokerati Just before being sacked, Mrs Braverman accused opposition parties of being a coalition of chaos when discussing the Public Order Bill to crack down on disruptive protests. She told the Commons: Its the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today. Ms Cooper said Mrs Bravermans words were astonishing, adding: The home secretary actually talked about a coalition of chaos we can see it in front of us as we speak. Rwanda comments The Home Secretary attracted criticism when talking about migration during a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in October last year. Mrs Braverman said she would love to be here claiming victory, I would love to be having a front page of the Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, thats my dream, thats my obsession. She said it would be amazing if the first UK flight carrying migrants to the African country could take off by Christmas, but added: If Im honest, I think its going to take longer. Clashes with Downing Street On at least two occasions while Ms Truss was prime minister, she expressed views which put her at odds with Government policy. Ms Braverman said she had reservations about relaxing immigration controls as part of any trade deal with India, telling the Spectator magazine she had concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India because I dont think thats what people voted for with Brexit. Her comments were reported to have provoked a furious reaction from ministers and officials in New Delhi. She also faced criticism from a senior Government source for calling on the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, who said: Her personal views are contrary to Government policy and if she wishes to make those views known within Government she should do so in a more appropriate setting. The Prince of Wales has joined the crew of a team of Royal Navy submariners who have taken on a Transatlantic rowing challenge to raise money to support the mental health and wellbeing of their colleagues. William, Commander-in-Chief of the Submarine Service, has released a YouTube video of his visit to the members of the HMS Oardacious crew as they took part in a training session on Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire. HMS Oardacious was set up in 2019 to fundraise through submariners taking on the challenge of rowing across the Atlantic with 110,000 being raised so far. Chatting everything from teamwork to food rations and just what it takes to look after your mental health when rowing across the Atlantic. https://t.co/WcqXAMBfWr pic.twitter.com/4fhoE2TPOy The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) May 21, 2023 In January 2020, four serving Royal Navy submariners became the fastest military team in history to row across any ocean, spending 37 days, 6 hours and 40 minutes battling across the North Atlantic to reach Antigua as part of the annual Atlantic Challenge. In the short film, William meets co-founders, Lieutenant Commander Callum Fraser and Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs, as well as Chief Petty Officer Jon Norfolk who took part in the 2022 team and Lieutenant Isobel Rawlinson who is looking to captain an all-female team in 2024. The prince takes to the water and does his bit rowing as he chats to the members of HMS Oardacious which have crews lined up for this years event and for 2024. A Kensington Palace spokesman said: Together they discuss the importance of managing our mental health and how exercise can be used as a tool to help manage it. The crew also share their experiences of crossing the Atlantic, the challenges they faced and the impact it had on both their physical and mental health. The Prince of Wales with members of the HMS Oardacious crew as they took part in a training session on Dorney Lake, Windsor in Buckinghamshire (Kensington Palace Copyright: The Prince and Princess of Wales/PA) Back in the boathouse, William hears from the crew in more depth about how they manage their mental health, the support they provide to each other as a team, and the work HMS Oardacious does to raise awareness and combat the stigma associated with talking about mental wellbeing. Speaking during the film, William said: Understanding our support networks is crucial because a lot of people dont have those support networks and being able to form close bonds and realise that the only way we are going to get through all of this is to support each other and pull each other through. The video has been released as part of Mental Health Awareness Week which runs until Sunday, May 21, and follows visits by the Princess of Wales to The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in Bath and the Anna Freud Centre in London to highlight the event. Xi sends congratulatory letter to Rehabilitation International Centennial Celebration Xinhua) 13:10, May 21, 2023 BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the Rehabilitation International Centennial Celebration on Sunday. On China's 33rd national day of assisting disabled persons on Sunday, Xi extended his greetings to all individuals with disabilities, their relatives, and the dedicated personnel serving them across the nation. He also expressed gratitude to all international organizations and personages from all walks of life who demonstrate care and support for the cause of empowering people with disabilities in China. Rehabilitation International is an international organization of great influence in regard to the cause of persons with disabilities, and has worked tirelessly in safeguarding the dignity of such individuals, protecting their rights and improving their well-being, said Xi. He added that China actively supports the organization's work. China pays particular attention to the well-being of people with disabilities in the country, Xi said, noting the country will continue to improve the social security and service systems for these people and promote the all-around development of relevant programs. China is willing to join hands with all countries worldwide to promote international exchanges and cooperation on disability, and continue improving the health and well-being of humankind, Xi said. Hosted by Rehabilitation International and organized by the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the centennial celebrations of Rehabilitation International kicked off in Beijing on Sunday. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) May 20, 2023: Information Clearing House -- " Anti War " -- The US with its EU vassals in tow has carried out a two-pronged attack on Russia. The first is Joe Bidens cruel proxy war on Russia, with its cynical use of Ukrainians as cannon fodder. The second prong is the sanctions war designed to destroy Russias economy. The economic war is a failure. Russia has won. This verdict comes not from a Russia-friendly source but from two well-known British publications. One is the UKs oldest political magazine, The Spectator. The other is The Daily Telegraph, a British broadsheet that supports the Ukraine war and has always endorsed Conservative candidates. Boris Johnson was once the editor of the former and a columnist for the latter. This writer, no follower of the British press, was made aware of both pieces by Alexander Mercouris who discussed the articles on his own YouTube channel both here and, together with his partner Alex Christoforou, on The Duran Channel here. (I cannot recommend these sites highly enough for their daily posts on geopolitics, with a focus on the crisis in Ukraine and Europe.) Get Our Free Newsletter The Spectator Admits Failure in the Economic War on Russia The first, the Spectator article, titled bluntly "Why the economic war against Russia has failed," reads in part: "The other prong, though, has turned out to be blunt: the plan to wage economic war with Moscow, unleashing financial shock and awe on a scale never seen before. Russia was to be cut off almost entirely, with sanctions and boycotts on all imports and exports save for humanitarian ones such as medicines. Putins Russia, went the theory, would be impoverished into surrender." (The brutality of the phrase "impoverished into surrender" slips so easily onto the page of this piece, because it is standard Western imperial behavior, now normalized. ~ jw) "Few people in the West are aware of how badly this aspect of the war is going. Europe has itself paid a high price to effect a partial boycott of Russian oil and gas. ." "It soon became clear that while the West was keen on an economic war, the rest of the world was not. As its oil and gas exports to Europe fell, Russia quickly upped its exports to China and India both of which preferred to buy oil at a discount than to make a stand against the invasion of Ukraine. Worse, some of the Russian oil exported to India appears to have been siphoned back to Europe, with a rise in the number of ships taking refined oil from India through the Suez Canal. "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 (sic!) 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. The Russian economy has not been destroyed; it has merely been reconfigured, reorientated to look eastwards and southwards rather than westwards." The Telegraph Article Admits Failure in the Economic War on Russia The second article, this one in in The Daily Telegraph paints an equally grim picture: "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. "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 $73 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." Mercouris describes the tone of these articles as bitter. And indeed, it seems that the Anglo-Saxons have got the taste of some very bitter fruits of defeat. After Three Economic Assaults by the US, Russia Heads East This is the third time since the end of Cold War 1.0 that the US has tried to destroy the Russian economy. The first was carried out by Bill Clinton in the 90s and resulted in a deeper and longer lasting Depression than the worldwide Great Depression of the 1930s, with a declined of GDP of 43% and a shortening of lifespan by four years. Such is the cruelty of economic warfare. The second came after the US-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014 and the shelling of the Donbas with the subsequent referendum in Crimea and its reincorporation into Russia, providing the perfect excuse for brutal sanctions against Russia. Russia learned how to handle those sanctions, one reason why it has succeeded in evading the present ones. The present failure is the third. It is hardly surprising that Russia has had quite enough and has turned decisively to China and the other dynamic economies of East Asia. Both articles, but especially the one in the Telegraph, blame China for Russias successful evasion of the Western imperial maw. The Telegraph article is titled, "Xi Jinping is running out of time and he knows it." On this view, although China (leading the rest of the Global South) was the Great Enabler allowing Putin to pivot to the East, its time is running out. Soon China will reach its peak and start to descend, a prediction we have heard repeatedly for the last quarter century but is yet to be realized. In this telling Russia always comes out as a haplessly colonized nation with China as the cunning overlord. The only possibility is a win-lose outcome, which tells us more about the Wests world view than anything else. The idea of a win-win multipolar world with respect among nations as sovereign equals is simply not in the vocabulary of the West. Lets hope that changes before we consume ourselves in nuclear war or in so busying ourselves with war and conflict that we fail to address the looming threats to our survival. John V. Walsh, until recently a Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, has written on issues of peace and health care for the San Francisco Chronicle, EastBayTimes/San Jose Mercury News, Asia Times, LA Progressive, Antiwar.com, CounterPunch and others. Volodymyr Zelenskys visit to the G7 summit in Hiroshima had historic significance, Rishi Sunak said as he hailed a real breakthrough on getting Ukraine advanced fighter jets. The Prime Minister said that any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia must usher in a just and lasting peace rather than a ceasefire that handed land to Vladimir Putin. The presence of the Ukrainian president at the conference in Japan shows a powerful message to the Russian leader, Mr Sunak said. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, because their security is our security, he added. We must and we will show that violent territorial aggression does not reap rewards. There could be no more fitting place to discuss the urgent need for peace than Hiroshima. The Prime Minister said he was deeply moved by visiting the memorial to mark the city being the first place to experience the devastation of a nuclear bomb. What we saw there was haunting. A childs tricycle, twisted by the blast. School uniforms bloodied and torn, he said. And with those images in our minds, we resolved never to forget what happened here. Mr Zelensky addressed the G7 leaders in meetings on Sunday after meeting Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who has maintained neutrality over the Russian invasion. Pictures of the Ukrainian president shaking Mr Modis hand would not be images that Mr Putin wants to see. It was unclear whether Mr Sunak, who has spoken of the need to speak to Mr Modi about his position, discussed Ukraine with him when they met on Sunday. The accounts given by both London and New Delhi failed to mention the war. During the summit, US President Joe Biden gave the approval for western allies to hand over their F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv to bolster Ukrainian defences. Mr Sunak said: Were supporting Ukraine to develop the air force it needs for the future with the UK training Ukrainian pilots, starting this summer. Rishi Sunak and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky meet during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan (Stefan Rousseau/PA) And weve made a real breakthrough at this summit, thanks to President Bidens support for an international coalition to provide F-16 jets. Mr Zelensky, who met Mr Sunak after touching down, appeared to acknowledge a setback over Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city that Moscow has claimed to have captured after months of fierce fighting. You have to understand that there is nothing, he said, of the city which is not believed to have a major strategic importance. They destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. But at a later press conference, the Ukrainian war leader suggested the Kremlins troops and Wagner mercenaries had not completely taken the city. Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of those words, Mr Zelensky told reporters. The Biden administration has approved the discharge of student loan debt for more than 615,000 borrowers since October 2021 under temporary changes to the public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) program. The discharged amount totals $42 billion in debt and is a big increase from the previous administrations record, which approved just 7,000 borrowers under the PSLF program or only 2% of PSLF applicants, leading to the basis for the expanded program eligibility. The changes known as the PSLF waiver allowed previously denied borrowers to reapply, expanded who qualifies to apply for forgiveness, and counted payments that were otherwise not eligible for the original program. The Biden-Harris Administration has worked relentlessly to fix a broken student loan system, including by making sure we fulfill the promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness for those who have spent a decade or more serving our communities and our country, Miguel Cardona, US Secretary of Education, said in a press release. To date, the Biden-Harris team has kept that promise for more than 615,000 teachers, nurses, social workers, servicemembers, and other public servants by approving a combined $42 billion in student loan debt forgiveness. In this May 20, 2013 file photo, graduates pose for photographs during commencement at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) Employees who have worked at least 10 years in the public service jobs with federal, state, local, or certain non-profit organizations are eligible for the public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) program including military service members who dont qualify for other military loan forgiveness programs. Under the normal PSLF program, borrowers must work at least 10 years with a qualifying employer and have made at least 120 full on-time payments in a standard payment plan to be eligible. Also, only Direct Loans qualified for PSLF. But after more than 98% of borrowers who applied for the PSLF program were denied loan forgiveness by the Education Department under former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the American Federation of Teachers among others sued the department for how it managed the program. The PSLF waiver was enacted as part of the 2021 legal settlement of that lawsuit with the Education Department. The changes it enacted expired October 31, 2022, as part of that settlement. PSLF Timeline from NBER Other PSLF improvements Additionally, the Education Department announced improvements to the PSLF Help Tool that borrowers use to apply for the program. In the past, borrowers complained about the amount of paperwork, having to mail documents, and the lack of an easy online process. The PSLF Help Tool now allows borrowers to complete the entire PSLF application process online, and submit e-signatures for themselves and request e-signatures from their employers will significantly decrease processing time, according to the department. Credit: Getty Images This will significantly reduce the time it takes for borrowers to get certification from employers, a necessary step for the PSLF eligibility process. Another major improvement is the ability to digitally track the status of the PSLF form in the My Activity section of borrowers StudentAid.gov account. FSA is making the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program as easy as possible so all public servants can finally get the loan forgiveness they have earned, Richard Cordray, Federal Student Aid (FSA) chief operating officer, said in the press release. The improved PSLF Help Tool is another step forward to modernize and simplify the process for people who rely on us to carry out the law effectively. Ronda is a personal finance senior reporter for Yahoo Money and attorney with experience in law, insurance, education, and government. Follow her on Twitter @writesronda Read the latest personal finance trends and news from Yahoo Money. Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Flipboard, and LinkedIn. The ongoing costs of child-rearing can be hard to size up and digest. The average cost to raise a child in the U.S. is $20,813 annually. By understanding what to expect to pay for a childs needs, parents can better plan for their familys financial future. With this in mind, SmartAsset set out to calculate the cost of raising one child in 381 metro areas across the U.S., considering the extra costs of food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation and other necessities when a two-adult household adds a child. Key Findings Annual food costs for a child come in between $1,768 and $2,111. Theres relatively little variation in this cost based on location. It averages $1,890 annually, while transportation costs come in slightly higher at $2,116. Couples with one child spend an average of $3,407 on housing than childless couples. The Santa Cruz metro has the most expensive additional housing costs for a child at $12,636 per year. Meanwhile, housing for a child in Fayetteville, NC costs one tenth of that $1,252 per year. South Carolina has some of the most affordable places to raise a child. Five of the 10 metro areas with where costs are lowest are located in the Palmetto State: Sumter, Columbia, Florence, Hilton Health Island-Bluffton and Spartanburg. However, the absolute most affordable place to raise a child is Morristown, Tennessee. Raising a child costs more than $32,000 per year in these California and Massachusetts areas. In San Francisco, Santa Cruz and San Jose, it costs more than $33,000 annually to raise a child. Barnstable Town and Boston follow with a child costing above $32,000 per year. Childcare costs an average of $9,051 annually. Childcare is the largest cost of having a child, accounting for nearly 50% of the annual cost of raising a child, on average. Childcare costs as much as $22,154 in Ann Arbor, MI, and as little as $4,807 in Sumter, SC. Most Expensive Places to Raise a Child San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA In one year, couples with one child in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area spend $10,499 more on housing than childless couples. Thats no surprise considering the median value of a home in this part of California is over $1 million. Meanwhile, the cost of child care is also particularly high in the Bay Area ($16,317). After accounting for other expenses, including food and medical care, the total one-year cost of parenting one child in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley is $35,647. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Raising a child costs an extra $33,877 per year in this metro area, which is located about 70 miles south of San Francisco. Parents with one child in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville area spend $12,636 more per year on housing than two adults with no children the most across all 381 metro areas in our study. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Raising a child in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area is only slightly less expensive than in nearby San Francisco and Santa Cruz, costing $33,228 annually. Childcare in this part of the Bay Area averages $15,785 per year. Meanwhile, parents with one child spend $8,612 more per year on housing than childless couples. But the cost may be worth it to some parents, considering the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro is home to the three highest-rated public school districts in California. Barnstable, MA The Cape Cod town of Barnstable may be great for summer vacations, but its an expensive place to raise a child. Parents with one child in the Barnstable metro area can expect to spend $18,094 per year on care. Meanwhile, housing costs an additional $7,572 annually when a child is added to the mix. Add in medical care, food and other expenses, and the total cost of raising a child in Barnstable is $33,184 per year. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Raising a child in the greater Boston area will cost you an extra $32,307 per year. Like in Barnstable, the average couple with one child in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area spends $2,054 more on food than childless couples each year. They also spend $6,897 more than their childless counterparts. Ann Arbor, MI Raising a child in Ann Arbor costs $31,670 per year, making this college town the sixth-most expensive place. Child care ($22,154) comprises a massive chunk of that annual expense. However, Ann Arbor has one of the top-rated public school systems in the state. Trenton-Princeton, NJ Raising a child in the Trenton-Princeton metro area in Central Jersey costs $31,314 per year. While parents have to contend with some of the highest annual child care costs in the country ($17,437), they also typically spend $1,509 more each year on medical care than childless couples. But housing costs are significantly lower than in parts of California and Massachusetts. A couple with one child typically spends $6,492 less on housing annually than a childless couple. Kalamazoo-Portage, MI The Kalamazoo-Portage metro area in southwestern Michigan is home to the second-highest child care costs at $19,853 per year. However, a couple raising a child typically spends just $3,997 more than two adults living together without any children. Raising children in Kalamazoo also has a unique financial benefit: the Kalamazoo Promise program provides graduates of the local school system free tuition to any in-state public college or university. Napa, CA Located about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, the Napa metro area is the ninth-costliest place to raise a child. The additional cost of housing one child averages $8.712. In total, a child costs couples an extra $30,412 per year in the Napa area. Volunteers from the Sidewalk Project hand out boxes of Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spend hundreds of millionsof dollars in the next four years to provide Narcan, the nasal spray with naloxone that can yank someone out of an opioid overdose, to combat the deadly rise of fentanyl in California. But many community groups that routinely hand out the lifesaving medication fear their workers could soon be facing layoffs, with the disappearance of a key grant that helped pay for day-to-day expenses at "harm reduction" organizations across the state. If that grant money goes away, "we're dead," said Tom Ewing, executive director of the Sierra Harm Reduction Coalition in El Dorado County. Such groups hand out clean syringes and other supplies to help people who use drugs avoid dangerous and deadly infections. In California, they have played an outsized role in handing out Narcan and injectable naloxone to the people most likely to use it: As of early May, they had received 31% of the free doses allotted through a California program, but accounted for 60% of the overdose reversals using that medication that had been reported. "It's clear that they're the best people to do it," said Mary Sylla, director of overdose prevention policy and strategy for the National Harm Reduction Coalition, an advocacy group that received some of the funding to assist grantees. If California does not ensure funding for people who routinely get naloxone to those who need it, the risk is that "we're going to end up with a lot of Narcan sitting on shelves in Sacramento." The California Harm Reduction Initiative grant program provided $15.2 million to support dozens of programs after state lawmakers approved the money four years ago. The median annual grant was $112,500 nearly half the median budget for groups that received the money, an analysis by the research group RTI International found. Many harm reduction programs across the state have relied on the grants to pay for staff and other day-to-day expenses. In El Dorado County, Ewing said the state grant was the only funding that the Sierra Harm Reduction Coalition had gotten, save for small donations. It has just two employees, including Ewing himself, who works part time as its executive director. "It made us into a viable organization that effectively supported our community," providing mobile services such as Narcan distribution at least five days a week, Ewing said. "I am now giving out probably 2,000 to 3,000 doses of Narcan a month. I'm giving out 120,000 syringes a year" and collecting used ones to prevent litter, he said. The group has helped scores of people annually who decided they wanted to stop using drugs entirely and seek treatment, regularly assists people with getting health insurance, and has found places for them to live, Ewing said. It also provides test strips for people to check their drugs for fentanyl. "We take care of people every single day," he said. "We are the people on the street who actually listen to what's going on." Community programs that got the grant money trained more than 22,000 people to prevent deaths with naloxone between 2020 and 2022, according to the California Department of Public Health. They handed out naloxone to 73% more people than programs that did not get the state money, the RTI analysis found. That grant money runs out later this year, and Newsom has not suggested any new funding to replace the program in his budget plans. That is "counterproductive," said Braunz E. Courtney, executive director of the HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda County. His organization has used the grant money to pay workers for its Black Drug Users Health Hub, which connects people to a range of services including medications to help with addiction treatment. The result would be "to cut programs that are already funded to do overdose prevention, education and naloxone distribution," Courtney said. In the face of the overdose crisis, the governor has proposed spending more than $220 million over four years on the state program that provides free naloxone; putting $30 million into efforts to develop a cheaper, generic version of the nasal spray; andadditional spending to expand access to test strips that detect fentanyl, among other efforts. The governor is working closely with the legislature to develop this years budget and fight the ongoing opioid epidemic," Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards said in a statement, pointing to a plan unveiled by the governor earlier this year to tackle the opioid crisis. When asked about concerns that harm reduction groups that hand out naloxone may have to cut employees because of the loss of the grant money, Richards pointed to state investments in training and supporting healthcare workers, including those focused on substance use disorders. Newsom ramped up his proposed spending on naloxone significantly when he revised his budget plan in May, compared to his initial proposal in January. As California stares down a budget deficit, Newsom has proposed paying for such programs with money from legal settlements with opioid manufacturers. Harm reduction groups rallied in Sacramento this month, arguing that the California Harm Reduction Initiative funding must be extended to save lives. To sustain harm reduction programs, the National Harm Reduction Coalition is pushing for California to devote $61 million to the community groups over four years, possibly by tapping the opioid settlement funds. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is one of the lawmakers championing the $61-million budget request. "I'm really appreciative that the governor is proposing to invest aggressively in Narcan," Wiener said, calling it "incredibly important." But "we need to get Narcan into people's hands. And you do that through community infrastructure" such as staff "that can push the Narcan out." Other groups and agencies do get free Narcan to hand out through the state distribution program, including police and fire departments and schools. But harm reduction groups have a specific mission of serving people who use drugs, aiding them without judgment, which helps them reach people reluctant to go elsewhere, said Jenna Haywood, co-chair of the End the Epidemics coalition, which is focused on HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis and overdoses. "Stigma is the No. 1 barrier for a lot of people to enter into any kind of service, to receive healthcare, or to get resources like naloxone," Haywood said. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. California's Sen. Dianne Feinstein, seen Thursday at a Judiciary Committee meeting, has faced greater adversity than the pressure to retire, biographer Jerry Roberts notes. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Other than family and close friends, few people have a longer history with Dianne Feinstein or a better understanding of California's ailing U.S. senator than Jerry Roberts. The former political writer and newspaper editor now host of Santa Barbara's singular broadcast "Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts" first covered Feinstein nearly 50 years ago. She was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; Roberts was a reporter for the city's alternative paper, the Bay Guardian. In 1994, he published the biography "Dianne Feinstein: Never Let Them See You Cry." It remains a must-read for students of the 89-year-old lawmaker, who faces intense pressure to quit amid doubts about her mental and physical health and capacity to do her job in the Senate. Our conversation about Feinstein, past and present, has been edited for length and clarity. Start with a few words to describe the senator. Tough. Independent. Persistent. Courageous. Driven. She's had a remarkable career. But her life hasn't always been easy or happy, starting with an awful childhood. Her father was a very prominent surgeon at UC San Francisco. They were well-off and, outwardly, sort of this perfect family. But her mother was abusive, both emotionally and physically. She was an alcoholic. She used prescription drugs. And Dianne, as the oldest, was kind of put in the role of protecting hertwoyounger sisters. There were a lot of incidents that her sisters described to me, one of which involved her mother trying to drown the youngest one in the bathtub when she was about 5 years old. Within the walls of the house there was a lot of trouble. But it was a secret no one was ever supposed to hear about. Feinstein's first marriage, at a young age, ended in divorce. Her second left her a widow in her 40s. Her second marriage was to a widely regarded surgeon, Bert Feinstein, whose name she has kept her whole life. That was a very happy marriage, but he died of colon cancer in 1978. He was really, I think, the singular love of her life, so that was difficult for her. That same year Feinstein was ready to quit politics, after two unsuccessful runs for mayor. Then she was thrust into the job, as board president, when Mayor George Moscone was assassinated. How do you think all the drama and tragedy shaped Feinstein? I'm not a psychiatrist, but I think it certainly steeled as well as gave her kind of an armor. That was the reason I called the book "Never Let Them See You Cry." It was actually a suggestion she made in a piece written for a women's magazine about how to succeed in the workplace. She always put on a very brave, professional and very polished public image, even when she was experiencing a lot of anguish and private pain. How do you think that background informs this particular moment? Independence is probably Feinstein's most salient character trait. But also a belief in herself to the point of stubbornness, where nobody is going to tell her what she can or cannot do. She has tremendous belief and confidence in her own strength and her own ability. And in fact, the best way to get her to do something is to tell her that she can't. That really goes back to her first election to the Board of Supervisors in 1969, when everyone told her including her father, whom she idolized a woman can't win. I think that just really made her dig in to prove people wrong. She was never what you would call a movement feminist, but she was a feminist in that she always wanted an equal opportunity to do stuff. And she wanted equal treatment. Do you think this pressure will make Feinstein even more resistant to quitting? She's always been an independent political force. She's never been a party regular, go-along person. So to have people say, "Well, the Democratic Party wants her to do this" it's silly. I mean, it doesn't matter what the Democratic Party wants or doesn't want in terms of what Dianne has decided she's going to do. Is there anyone in this world who could push her out, or would even try? Not that I know of. I think another thing that's contributing to this whole situation that doesn't get mentioned much is the death of Richard Blum. Herthird husband, whom Feinstein married in1980, passed away in February 2022. It was not an easy time. He was sick for a long time. She was flying back and forth across the country to be with him. She listened to his advice, both politically and personally. They were very much a team. But beyond that, I don't see anyone else that I'm aware of whose counsel she would seek on this. She's 89 years old. She's gone to a lot of funerals. A lot of advisers, a lot of counselors, a lot of allies aren't around anymore. You spoke of Feinstein as a feminist. Do you believe sexism is behind efforts to push her aside? Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has certainly made that point, and I find it hard to disagree with. Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was absent for months after being diagnosed with brain cancer, and I don't recall anyone saying, "Oh, Ted Kennedy should resign." And there's lot of other examples as well. So I think there's an element of that. I think there's also an ideological element. The left wing of the Democratic Party tried to get rid of Feinstein in 2018, when she ran for reelection and they endorsed Kevin de Leon. So when you see people like Reps. Ro Khanna and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stepping out there and calling for her to resign, that's a part of it. Will this sad ending tarnish Feinstein's legacy? Should it? I don't think it should. Look at all the things she accomplished politically as well as culturally. Look at the generations of women politicians that have come out of the Bay Area the vice president of the United States; the former speaker of the House; Sen. Barbara Boxer; women members of Congress. They all followed in Dianne's footsteps. Her work in the Senate desert protection, exposing the government use of torture to fight terrorism, the 10-year assault weapons ban speaks for itself. The role she played on complicated California issues: water, immigration, many things. There's a recency bias to this. People are seeing what's happening today and a lot of times don't really know everything she's accomplished. It will be a couple of lines in her obituary. But that's it. Pelosi's eldest daughter, Nancy Corinne Prowda, has been a constant at Feinstein's side. Some see politics at work, since Pelosi is backing Rep. Adam B. Schiff to succeed Feinstein. But you don't buy it. Start with the fact that Pelosi and Feinstein lived across the street from each other for 30 years. Nancy and Dianne have a personal relationship that predates their political relationship. Dianne knows all her kids. It was the two of them that really brought the Democratic National Convention to San Francisco in 1984. When Rep. Sala Burton died in 1987, Dianne briefly thought about running for Congress, but deferred when Nancy decided to run. If Feinstein were to quit, there's speculation that Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint Rep. Barbara Lee, a Schiff rival, as her successor, giving Lee an advantage in the 2024 election for the Senate seat. I don't see any politics. It's trying to be too clever by half, connecting dots. The idea this is all a plot to elect Adam Schiff seems the silliest kind of speculation. Agreed. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. British director Steve McQueen knows his documentary Occupied City, which premiered on the first day of this year's Cannes Festival, may not be what people expect. From him, or from a documentary. The form is well represented at this year's festival there are three in competition but none is as epic in scope or avant-garde in structure as McQueen's. Based on the Dutch-language book Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940-1945, by his wife, Bianca Stigter, it is a four-plus hour-long, street-by-street, building-by-building chronicle of what happened in Amsterdam during the German occupation and what each of those places looks like now. As the camera captures modern scenes of specific locations all over Amsterdam, narrator Melanie Hyams describes how each figured in the invasion, occupation and deportation of 80% of the citys Jewish residents, many of whom were murdered in concentration camps. It is a challenging film to watch and not just because of its subject matter, or even its length. The normality of the modern scenes, gorgeously shot on 35 mm, inevitably offers a disturbing contrast with the narration a busy school that served as a torture center, a cozy apartment where a Jewish family was discovered and sent to a camp, people ice-skating on frozen canals where the bodies of those who died in hiding were dumped and many committed suicide. One contrast after another after another pits your eyes against your ears until it is difficult to keep the images from distracting from the text, and vice versa, to know how to process the information. Are we supposed to be concentrating on the trees or the forest? This is precisely the effect McQueen planned. The way Bianca wrote the text was very factual, so I knew I wanted that not uncompassionate but matter-of-fact, and then were moving on, he said. The weight of what happened was so heavy you cant hold it in your head forever. If you forget things thats OK because of the magnitude.... Its a lot to juggle. Like a classical concert, you drift away in one place and come back into another and thats part of the experience. Occupied City is an experience." Not a history lesson, an experience, Stigter said. Seeing the film, you are aware of the past that is around you. You cannot activate it all the time, but sometimes its interesting to see past and present colliding. The two have joined me in the restaurant of the Martinez Hotel just off the Croisette. A power couple by any standards, they are thrilled by the film's reception at Cannes, and happy to be where, as McQueen says, "films are having conversations with each other." "Occupied City" was born of their shared, and separate, experiences; Stigter is a native of Amsterdam; McQueen has lived there for 25 years. Growing up in London, an unoccupied city, he said, it was a change to be living in Amsterdam, looking around on a day-to-day basis and realizing, 'Oh, heres where that happened.' It wakes you up. Steve McQueen in Amsterdam in 2021. (Chantal Heijnen/For The Times) The book, and by extension the film, began with a question from Stigters father. I was studying history and he wanted to know what actually happened when the Germans came to Amsterdam. How did they know where to go, what to do? And I didnt know the answer. Although Anne Frank: A Diary of a Young Girl made Amsterdam one of the wars most famous occupied cities and the house in which the Franks hid is now a museum, Stigter was surprised at how little information was available. I realized there were only a few places [where] people knew what happened during the war. I thought Id write a travel guide book, house by house, floor by floor. She took on the daunting task piece by piece, reading a lot of books, going into archives of documents kept by the Germans as well as those of the Jewish Council, which included a 1943 guidebook detailing hiding places, council members' homes, headquarters of clandestine newspapers and other key locations of the Resistance. As she was writing, McQueen first thought: Wouldnt it be interesting to get footage from the '40s and contrast it with today? Then I thought, how great to have the past as text and the living as presence. Our daughters school was headquarters of the SS the whole point, to have living and dead in same frame, to get the present to connect to the past. He began shooting in 2019 and, like the rest of the world, was locked down for a time by COVID-19. Indeed, much of the footage serves as a chronicle of the pandemic a city shutting down, early vaccination stations, anti-vaccination protests, and people partying in defiance. It seemed like in that three years, everything was going on, he said. Black Lives Matter, climate change, the Ukraine, COVID itself. At certain points of the film, the sight of police controlling protesters strikes an alarming contrast to the narration detailing how, in that very spot, Jews and others were rounded up for deportation. Thats what happened, McQueen said, objecting to the notion that he was in some way comparing the two things. Things change. You have people protesting and you cut to police standing around. The narrative has changed. You get to decide that its not the same, said Stigter. Our liberty did not come cheap, McQueen added. There is an amnesia about what happened for our freedom. This is to remind people of that. McQueen and his crew shot for three years, amassing 36 hours' worth of video that he says he will use for another presentation somewhere else. (Stigter is also hoping to publish an English-language version of her book.) Many scenes take place in peoples homes, often with the residents present in one a woman dances in her kitchen, in another a person works out on an exercise bike. Most of the people McQueen approached were happy to participate. They were interested in the subject matter, he said, especially the famine that struck the Netherlands during the last winter of the war. The hunger winter is not something people know about outside of the Netherlands. My grandmother had a recipe for tulip bulb soup, Stigter interjected. Its in the book. Only a few of those approached declined. Some people didnt want to know what happened in their house, McQueen said. Some people like to put blinkers on. But life is not Disneyland. All three of us, he said, including me in his statement, got here through blood and tears. Thats how we came to this table. A lot of beautiful things happened too, but we mustnt forget the blood and tears. Though not defined by blood and tears, McQueen has never shied away from them. Best known for "12 Years a Slave," he first came to Cannes in 2008 with "Hunger," a film about Bobby Sands and the 1981 hunger strikes in Northern Ireland; his 2021 docuseries "Uprising," made with James Rogan, examined the 1981New Cross fire and how it illuminated and sparked racial tensions in Britain. In "Occupied City," however, he is not challenging us to remember so much as to recognize the inextricable relationship between the past and the present. It is not easy to reconcile the ordinary sight of a jogger running through a park, tourists milling in front of a museum, or even a peaceful protest with the constant cataloging of families being yanked from their homes, groups of Jewish men being shot and babies being torn from their parents. Even with an intermission, four-plus hours of horror take a toll. Its the weight of the situation, its too heavy, and thats part of the experience, he says. Film as a form isnt done. You could do your normal documentary, but Im using the material to see what I can do with it, pushing the form to communicate in a different way, to get people to engage. It shows you that the past is not stable, Stigter said. Its quicksand under us. If you can rest easy, Im not doing my job," McQueen agreed. "Because I dont want you to rest easy. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Rosa Duran, who lived on the streets for more than three years, shows off her new apartment in PATH Metro Villas, a supportive-housing development for homeless individuals in Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) From Venice to downtown Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe program moved some 1,200 homeless people out of encampments into motels and hotels during her first four months in office. But only 70 people have moved from those temporary accommodations into permanent housing, Bass said recently. Thats a number she rightly finds disappointing. Of course, its not entirely surprising; Los Angeles has a crippling shortage of housing for homeless people and affordable housing in general. But the pace at which Inside Safe participants or any homeless person eligible for a rent voucher are housed should pick up when, as the mayor said, we have hundreds of vacancies in permanent supportive housing. New permanent supportive-housing developments are generally not sitting half-empty. Developers know when a property will open. Service providers and homeless services officials can start lining up prospective tenants in advance. The vacancies Bass is talking about are created, mostly, when tenants in permanent supportive housing leave their unit or die. But some of those empty units stay empty for quite awhile, according to developers and city housing officials. Why? Because even when a homeless person is deemed eligible for a rent voucher connected to an available housing unit, it can take weeks and sometimes a few months for the prospective tenant to obtain the necessary documents to be approved for the voucher and the unit. Homeless applicants need a drivers license or other government-issued identification, a Social Security card, proof of their income (usually a very small amount from county-funded General Relief or a larger amount from Supplemental Security Income for people who are disabled or older), a form filled out by a case manager certifying that they are homeless, proof of citizenship or legal residency in the U.S., and a criminal background check. All of these items are time-consuming to collect. Many homeless individuals need the help of a case manager to take them to government offices and help them fill out applications for these documents, which can take hours at a time. Then, once they have their documentation in order, they need to fill out an application to the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles for the available unit. Then the unit needs to be inspected. Those processes add to the wait time as well. Yes, people can start trying to get their documents before anyone ever tells them theres an available apartment. In fact, they may have started, helped by an outreach worker, when they were living in a tent. Sometimes a homeless person gets all the documents before being considered for permanent housing, but those materials can be lost during the wait. Imagine going from encampment to encampment carrying your birth certificate and Social Security card in a Ziploc bag and hoping they dont get stolen, one service provider said. Or the documents get thrown away by sanitation workers during a sidewalk cleanup. Or damaged by a fire. All these things have happened to homeless people, which means they have to start over. Maybe a homeless individual was able to get these documents together a few months before they were matched to an apartment. But by the time an apartment becomes ready, some of the documents for income certification and homelessness status expire after 60 days, and some people may have to start the process over again. This is absurd. Its bad enough that Los Angeles doesnt have enough apartments for homeless people. But when the city does have available apartments, they sit empty while people document their existence? Most of this documentation is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for people getting federally subsidized rental vouchers. So Bass has written to HUD officials asking them to expedite the leasing process by giving these would-be voucher holders presumptive eligibility. Her request supports a letter already submitted by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Development Authority. Why do we have to spend weeks and weeks and weeks trying to get IDs and having somebody prove that theyre poor? Bass said. If HUD officials sign off on her request, homeless people would be able to self-certify their income and submit documentation within four months of getting the housing voucher. Similarly, they could provide proof of their Social Security numbers, date of birth and citizenship status after they are in the housing. All this makes sense. We want homeless people to get permanent housing as soon as possible. And its easier to collect or update personal records when a person is in a stable home. Some of these requirements were waived during the pandemic, and service providers found that the leasing process went faster. Last week, Los Angeles, the state of California and four other regions were selected by the White House and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness to be part of an initiative called ALL INside, which is intended to support and speed up efforts to house homeless people. The first thing the federal government can do is stop making homeless people run an obstacle course before they get to move into apartments that are available. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Updated May 22, 2023 at 8:55 AM Fresno Fire responded to its fourth structure fire in roughly the past 24 hours after a fire broke out Saturday night at a central Fresno apartment complex. It happened at 9:42 p.m. Fresno Fire crews were on scene near the intersection of Marks and Dakota avenues, and a third alarm was dispatched to 2640 W. Robinson Ave. When crews arrived, they found that three apartments were heavily involved in the fire, but went in rescue mode because they were told people were trapped inside, Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Brian Price said. A search was done and no one was inside. Price said the three apartments were badly damaged, displacing 17 adults and 13 children in seven units. No injuries were reported. The Red Cross is assisting displaced residents. The fire is under investigation, but Price said the fire mightve started in the exterior of an apartment. A three-alarm fire broke out Saturday night near Marks and Dakota in Central Fresno. One victim was transported from the scene on a gurney. Earlier in the day, fire crew went to the scene of a commercial fire on the 1200 block of North Avenue, between Highways 41 and 99. And late Friday night, Fresno Fire worked on a residential fire on the 2900 block of East Gettysburg Avenue and another at East California and South East avenues. WASHINGTON The trillions of dollars Congress approved since 2020 for fighting the coronavirus pandemic were piled onto the federal deficit as an emergency need that didnt have to be offset with spending cuts or revenue hikes. Now that the emergency is over, House Republicans want to take back the less than 1% of remaining funds. Its one of the demands theyve made in exchange for agreeing to avoid a default on the nations debt, which could happen as soon as June 1. And its something President Joe Biden has said hed take a hard look at it. We dont need it all, Biden told reporters earlier this month. Its on the table. But mayors are still counting on transit funding and other help. Some nursing homes say they still need their relief payments. And public health advocates worry rescinding funds will hurt efforts to prepare for the next virus and take money away from a persistently underfunded public health system. Its pennywise and pound foolish, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist who served on Biden's COVID transition team. Because there will be additional pandemics. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the money was intended for the COVID-19 pandemic which he said is over. "If the money was authorized to fight the pandemic but was not spent during the pandemic, it should not be spent after the pandemic is over, he said last month. Comparing plans Debt limit crisis has Biden and GOP divided. Here's how their plans to fix things compare. President Joe Biden walks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as he departs the Capitol following the annual St. Patrick's Day gathering, in Washington, Friday, March 17, 2023. The federal public health emergency declared at the beginning of 2020 ended May 11, though Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra emphasized fighting COVID-19 remains a public health priority. That includes protecting those at highest risk and monitoring the latest variants, Becerra said when the emergency declaration expired. The amount of funding remaining from six laws passed during the public health emergency is a moving target. When the GOP-controlled House passed a bill in April to raise the debt limit in exchange for cutting various types of spending, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated clawing back pandemic funding would save about $30 billion. The bean counters excluded $316 billion in remaining funds that the government is legally obligated to pay out. An additional $16 billion that CBO estimated would be committed before any deal was finalized was also excluded. The remaining $30 billion is dwarfed by the more than $31 trillion in debt the nation owes. But it would still help, says Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group. I don't think there's any scenario where one should dismiss $30 billion as not real money, she said. Even though much of the money would go to incredibly important causes, MacGuineas said, the pandemic is no longer an emergency so lawmakers should find a way to pay for the spending as part of the regular budget process. One of the largest pots of remaining funds is in a Department of Health and Human Services account to address a wide range of natural and man-made public health threats. House Democrats say the money is still needed to keep the Strategic National Stockpile full of essential medical supplies, to shore up hospitals and nursing homes, and to develop vaccines and treatments for future variants. A registered nurse fills a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a pop-up vaccination site in the Staten Island borough of New York, April 8, 2021. You dont stop funding the fire department when there havent been any fires, said Dr. Alonzo Plough, chief science officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the former public health commissioner for Boston and Seattle. Theres so much more to do that we cannot declare victory in protecting the public health around emergent threats and erode the funding. Even if the funds arent rescinded, the nations public health system would not have enough money, said Dr. Shelley Hearne, a professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University. Were cutting unspent funds that are absolutely needed, she said. We have shortchanged public health for over 20 years. The 14th Amendment explained Can Biden declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional? Katie Smith Sloan, the president and CEO of LeadingAge, the largest association for nonprofit nursing homes, said its wrong to equate unspent with unneeded. Nursing homes continue to struggle to recruit and retain workers while managing rising operating costs, she said, and the millions of dollars Congress approved in COVID-relief payments are critical. But a spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association, the nations largest trade group for nursing homes, said her organization is less concerned about the fate of the remaining provider relief funds and more focused on whether House Republicans and the White House can reach a compromise before the Treasury Department is unable to pay its bills. Nursing home residents primarily rely on Medicaid and Medicare, and any disruption of these lifeline reimbursements will result in devastating consequences for our nations most vulnerable, said Rachel Reeves, senior vice president of public affairs. In addition to HHS, the Transportation Department also has a large chunk of the remaining COVID funding. A program to protect aviation manufacturing jobs during the pandemic still had $2.3 billion of its original $3 billion left at the start of the year, according to a White House budget document obtained by USA TODAY. The document states the program is largely over. An additional $2.5 billion remained in grants to transit agencies, though the DOT was still processing applications totaling $1.1 billion. While most of the transit programs nearly $30.5 billion in relief funding has gone out the door, a spokesperson for the American Public Transportation Association said transit agencies are relying on the remaining dollars to address ongoing COVID impacts, such as restoration of ridership and farebox revenues. Albert Dowdell, wears a protective mask on a bus during the COVID-19 outbreak in Detroit, Wednesday, April 8, 2020. Detroit buses will have surgical masks available to riders starting Wednesday, a new precaution the city is taking from the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) ORG XMIT: MIPS102 An Emergency Connectivity Fund was intended to aid remote learning during the pandemic but is still distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to schools and libraries. Just this week, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District received $4.2 million its using to get about 3,000 people a years worth of free Wi-Fi from Cox Communications. Connectivity is not just a utility, said Kelvin Watson, the districts executive director. Its a necessity in todays time. Pandemic relief funding the district previously received paid for 2,000 Chromebooks, some of which were distributed to people living in low-income housing and residents going through the librarys literacy program. April 21, 2023; Alexandria, VA, USA; Daisy Andonyadis, a third grade teacher at Cora Kelly School, observes her students in the library Friday, April 21, 2023.. Mandatory Credit: Josh Morgan-USA TODAY [Via MerlinFTP Drop] Rental assistance and community development programs would also take a hit, according to CBO. The head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors said House Republicans plan would unravel cities ongoing pandemic recovery efforts. No debt limit increase should undermine the federal commitment to American cities, said Tom Cochran, the groups CEO and executive director. The White House declined to elaborate on Bidens comment that not all of the unspent funds are needed. Osterholm, the former member of Bidens COVID transition team, said some public health experts are hearing its all on the table. While Osterholm is worried that a rescission would hinder efforts to develop new vaccines and treatments, he said he understands the difficult spot the administration is in as it tries to avoid a default that would devastate the economy. Theyre basically stuck with very unfortunate choices, he said. So Im glad Im not in their position. 'The luxury of shuttle diplomacy' McConnell could use ties to McCarthy and Biden to end debt fight This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden open to GOP debt-limit demand to rescind COVID funding TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Irans foreign ministry has summoned Switzerland's envoy in Tehran for a social media post showing Iranian protest icon Mahsa Amini, local reports said on Sunday. Months of anti-government protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Amini in September, after Iranian morality police detained her for allegedly violating the countrys strict Islamic dress code. A website affiliated with Irans state television called YJC.ir reported that the Swiss ambassador, Nadine Lozano, was summoned after a Twitter account affiliated with the embassy in Tehran published a photo featuring Amini. The Twitter account linked with the Swiss embassy in Tehran also posted an image of Iran's pre-revolutionary flag before its current theocracy came to power. The post added that the Swiss foreign ministry strongly condemned the recent execution of three Iranian protesters. Iran announced Friday the executions of Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi, without saying how the deaths were carried out. Authorities alleged they have killed a police officer and two members of the paramilitary Basij group in the city of Isfahan in November during the demonstrations. Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused Western powers of fomenting the unrest, without providing evidence. By James A. Gagliano May 20, 2023: Information Clearing House -- " NYP " -- The FBI that agents like me were once so proud to be a part of is gone. Its been destroyed by wokeness and outright politicization. This weeks release of the Durham report shows senior leaders either manufactured evidence or purposely ignored established protocols to pursue the solely political Crossfire Hurricane farce probe into Trump-Russia collusion. Then on Thursday three FBI whistleblowers, including a combat vet and a decorated Marine FBI professional-support employee, testified before the House, laying bare the bureaus retaliation against them after they came forward to describe politically partisan decision-making and the weaponization of a once rigidly apolitical agency. No surprise, then, that recent polling reveals that only 40% of Americans believe FBI agents are fair. It comes down to this: The drift away from core FBI tenets and its embrace of wokeness and politics has compromised its mission and sacrificed public trust. Think about it: Tradition in the FBI has always been one of its hallmarks. Get Our Free Newsletter The mythologized image of the G-Man had nothing to do with skin tone or gender but reflected the single standard of excellence and adherence to our enduring motto: Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity. Those tenets have been sidelined pushed aside in favor of identity and a focus on our differences, rather than on what once made us all proud Feds. James Comeys tenure as FBI director, in particular, saw a noticeable abandonment of tradition. In his 2018 book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, Comey describes how he met with FBI headquarters employees on his first day as director. He was seated on a stool, wearing a tie, blue shirt and no jacket. Why mention that? Because the man who Comey succeeded, Robert S. Mueller III, proudly wore a white shirt, tie and jacket to work every day as did his five predecessors dating back to Hoover. Tradition. Per Comey, I thought that shirt color was one early, small way to set a different tone. We see this change-the-culture fever across our entire great nation, whose motto once drew scores of immigrants captivated by the notion of e pluribus unum out of many, one. Assimilation is no longer the goal; its now focusing on ones perceived identity that counts most. Once a fairly conservative agency, the bureau now competes to align itself with activists for wokeness. And division. Comeys blue shirt is emblematic of whats seemingly become most important to the FBI. Dont believe me? Check out the 2023 FBI editions Diversity, Equity and Inclusion webpage. The bureau once attracted eager, qualified applicants to hunt down terrorists, dismantle violent street gangs and stymie Chinas spying. Now FBI 2.0 lures aspiring crimefighters with its Diversity Advisory Committee and Employee Resource Group. Long gone are the days of special agents being instructed at Quantico that they were but a small, unified bunch striving to do right at the premier law-enforcement agency in the world. You didnt own an identity. You were part of the FBI, and blessed for it. Now the DAC highlights all the distribution lists where you can align with causes to divide up as employees: American Indian and Alaska Native Advisory Committee, Asian Pacific American Advisory Committee, Black Affairs Diversity Committee, Bureau Equality, Hispanic Advisory Board, Near and Middle East Advisory Committee, Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee, Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and the Womens Advisory Committee. The ERG adds more fissures to the workforce; groups tied to it include: Blacks in Government, FBI African American Millennials, FBI Family, FBI Jewish Americans, FBI Latinos for Empowerment Advancement and Development, FBI Pride, Federal Asian Pacific American Counsel, Federally Employed Women, From Boots to Suits and the Toastmasters Club (where the jokes write themselves). For so many retired FBI agents, these gratuitous DEI efforts are beyond shameful contributing to the pedestal-toppling of an FBI we sweated for and bled to honor. As the bureau reels under its now oh-so-tarnished reputation, maybe well be invited back for its upcoming Happiness Seminar sponsored by its newest, coolest diversity groups, Save the Earth from A to Z and We Are One Family, on May 30. There well relax, lament the melting polar ice caps and find our inner peace as terrorists, gangbangers and hostile nation-states enjoy the demise of a once-proud agency. James A. Gagliano is a retired FBI supervisory special agent and doctoral candidate in homeland security at St. Johns University. He serves on the board of directors for the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys last-minute participation Sunday in the Group of Seven summit has brought intense global attention to Russia's invasion of his nation. But it has also worried atomic bomb survivors who said the high-profile visit overshadowed a rare chance to push world leaders to focus on nuclear abolishment. Zelenskyys inclusion at the G7 gathering of the richest democracies and his pursuit of more weapons and other support for Ukraine, rather than a diplomatic pursuit to end the war sends the wrong message, activists and victims said. Zelenskyys visit is not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city, said Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945. Many Hiroshima residents hope that understanding the city's tragic past will push leaders to "take up the abolition of nuclear weapons as an urgent political issue, not an ideal, she said. But support for nuclear deterrence has persisted, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, seems to have justified it further. Yuta Takahashi, a Hiroshima-born activist, believes that Zelenskyys visit threatens to send a message "that justifies the need for nuclear deterrence in order to save Ukraine from becoming another Hiroshima, he said. It only makes us feel that Hiroshima was merely used by nuclear states to send a peace message. The summit started with a G7 leaders visit to a peace park and a museum dedicated to those who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bombing, and a similar visit of leaders from eight guest nations Sunday. After wrapping up all summit programs later Sunday, Kishida held a separate tour for Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy, asked at a news conference if he thought he took away attention from other important summit issues, including cooperation with so-called Global South nations, said only, "I need to be here. Earlier Sunday, Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol prayed at a memorial dedicated to Korean victims of the atomic bombing. The neighbors are trying to improve ties that have been strained by disputes stemming from Japans brutal colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wanted to highlight the G7 commitment to nuclear disarmament and a condemnation of Russias threats to use atomic weapons. But he has been faulted by survivors for refusing to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Kishida says its unworkable because no nuclear state has signed. Kishida has pledged to serve as a bridge between nuclear and non-nuclear states, but critics say his promise is hollow because Japan relies on its U.S. ally's nuclear umbrella for protection and has been rapidly expanding its military. Kunihiko Sakuma, who was exposed as a baby to radiation from the bombing, said that G7 leaders should focus more on diplomatic efforts to end the war. The G7 leaders issued a joint statement on nuclear disarmament that calls for the continued non-use of nuclear weapons, transparency and dialogue between nuclear and non-nuclear states, but it justifies nuclear weapons meant to serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war and coercion. Zelenskyy has consistently called for Western fighter jets to bolster his countrys defenses. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain Russian President Vladimir Putins war effort. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a coalition of non-governmental organizations that received a Nobel Peace Prize for working on the 2017 adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, said G7 leaders have failed to meaningfully acknowledge the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons or meet the demands of the bomb victims, called hibakusha, for concrete steps to eliminate nuclear weapons. Instead of rising to meet the urgency and weight of this moment, the G7s inaction is an insult to the hibakusha, and the memory of those who died in Hiroshima, the group said. MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican prosecutors announced Saturday night that they are withdrawing a case against a woman who was sentenced to six years in prison for killing a man as he raped and attacked her. In a ruling last week that touched off a public outcry, a court in Mexico State said that while it agreed 23-year-old Roxana Ruiz was raped in 2021, it found her guilty of homicide with excessive use of legitimate defense. It also ordered Ruiz to pay more than $16,000 in reparations to the family of her attacker. Feminist groups, which have supported Ruiz's defense, angrily protested, saying the ruling was criminalizing survivors of sexual violence while protecting perpetrators in a country with high levels of gender-based violence and femicides. Protesters in Mexico City carried signs reading Defending my life isn't a crime." Ruiz, an Indigenous woman and single mother, told reporters after the court's ruling that she had received death threats because of the case and that she worried for her family's safety, particularly the life of her 4-year-old son. This isnt justice, she said. Remember I am the one who was sexually assaulted by that man, and after he died because I defended myself because I didnt want to die by his hands. Responding to the outrage, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said during a morning press briefing that he would seek to pardon Ruiz. But her lawyers said accepting a pardon would be admitting Ruiz committed a crime and that she is completely innocent. In a press release Saturday night, the state Prosecutor's Office said it had examined the case taking into consideration that Ruiz is part of a vulnerable group and found she was exempt from guilt. It added that the Prosecutors Office believes she acted in self defense. The announcement was celebrated by Ruizs defense lawyer, Angel Carrera, though he noted that he had not been formally notified of the charges being dropped. It means that theyre recognizing her innocence, Carrera told The Associated Press. Its a recognition that she simply defended herself. In May 2021, Ruiz was working selling french fries in Nezahualcoyotl, one of the 11 municipalities in Mexico State, a state that borders Mexico City on three sides and continues to have posted alerts warning women about femicides and the forced disappearances of women. The defense said Ruiz had a drink with a friend and a man she knew around the neighborhood. The man offered to walk her home, later asking to stay the night because it was late and he was far from home. While she slept on a separate bed, the man attacked and raped her. Ruiz fought back and he threatened to kill her, then in the struggle, Ruiz managed to kill the man in self defense, Carrera said. The court said the man was hit in the head and knocked unconscious, saying that was enough for Ruiz to defend herself. Carrera said that claim was totally false, saying it had not been determined that the attacked was rendered unconscious. Carrera said that in a panic, Ruiz put the mans body in a bag and dragged it out to the street, where passing police arrested her. Despite Ruiz telling police she had been raped, a forensic exam was never done, a crucial step in prosecuting sexual violence cases, Carrera said. Instead, an officer responded that she probably wanted to have sex with the man at first and then changed her mind, the lawyer said. Nearly half of Mexican women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, government data say. In 2022, the Mexican government registered a total of 3,754 women an average of 10 a day who were slain, a significant jump from the year before. Only a third were investigated as femicides. Carrera said he hopes the announcement of the case being dropped sets a precedent for other gender-based violence cases to be more thoroughly investigated and treated with deeper sensitivity. The Associated Press does not normally identify sexual assault victims, but Ruiz has given her permission to be identified and participates in public demonstrations led by activists who support her. ___ Associated Press journalist Fernanda Pesce contributed to this report. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday. The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate. State TV originally reported that six guards were killed but later said there were five fatalities. Two border guards were also wounded in the clash. It did not blame the attack on any group and no group immediately claimed responsibility. There were no additional details. The area is one of the least developed parts of Iran. The relationship between the predominantly Sunni residents of the region and Irans Shiite theocracy has long been fraught. On Thursday, the top leaders of Pakistan and Iran inaugurated the first border market as relations warm between the two countries. Located in the remote village of Pashin in Pakistans southwestern Baluchistan province, the marketplace is the first of six to be constructed along the Pakistan-Iran border under a 2012 agreement signed by the two sides. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also inaugurated an electricity transmission line, which will provide some of Pakistans remote regions with Iranian electricity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Saturday in Japan for talks with the leaders of the world's most powerful democracies, a personal appearance meant to galvanize global attention as the nations ratcheted up pressure on Moscow for its 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for what's seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyy's in-person visit to the G7 summit comes just hours after the United States agreed to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Host nation Japan said Zelenskyy's inclusion stems from his "strong wish" to participate in talks with the bloc and other countries that will influence his nation's defense against Russia. "Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today," Zelenskyy tweeted upon his arrival on a plane provided by France. A European Union official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. One session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. Another will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on "peace and stability." SEE MORE: US will support training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, President Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. "It is necessary to improve (Ukraine's) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots," Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. Russia's deputy defense minister, Alexander Grushko, accused Western countries of "continuing along the path of escalation," following the announcements that raised the possibility of sending F-16s to Kyiv. The G7 vowed to intensify the pressure in its joint statement Saturday. "Russia's brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace," the group said. G7 leaders have faced a balancing act as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine. China, the world's No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 on Saturday said they did not want to harm China and were seeking "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing, "recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China." SEE MORE: Russia bans 500 Americans from entry, from politicians to celebrities They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and "support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace." North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology," the leaders' statement said. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. "We've reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward," Sullivan said. President Biden's decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, President Biden told leaders. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the G-7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. "The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor. As a matter of fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the world alignment will also be to suppress a competitor. Look at the decisions that are now being discussed and adopted in Hiroshima, at the G-7 summit, and which are aimed at double containment of Russia and China," he said. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida separately held one-on-one talks with leaders, including Modi, who is hosting the gathering of G20 world leaders later this year. India, the world's largest democracy, has been measured in its comments on the war in Ukraine, and has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. The leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni will skip the last day of the G7 because of floods earlier this week in northern Italy, which claimed at least 14 lives and devastated dozens of hamlets and towns. "Biden, who scrapped plans to travel on to Papua New Guinea and Australia after his stay in Japan so that he can get back to debt limit talks in Washington, is also meeting with leaders of the so-called Quad partnership, made up of Japan, Australia, India and the United States. The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union. HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a battlefield victory that was quickly disputed by Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was committed to strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also spoke one-on-one with several leaders. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the Russian claim that forces of the Wagner private army and Russian troops had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely bloodiest of the war. Comments by Zelenskyy earlier in the day in English suggested that the Russians had finally taken the city. But he and other Ukrainian officials later cast doubt on that assessment, with Zelenskyy telling reporters in Ukrainian that "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. U.S. President Joe Biden announced new military aid worth $375 million for Ukraine, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere, Biden said. Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. While Ukraine dominated the summit, the leaders of Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. And Biden sought to reassure world leaders that the U.S. would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan furthered efforts to improve ties colored by lingering anger over issues linked to Japans brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, said a U.S. official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Yoon promised to provide South Korean demining equipment and ambulances to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war. He briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the worlds largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. Zelenskyys presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they cant, said Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. The G7 has vowed to intensify pressure on Russia, calling its assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Sunday denounced the G7 as "fixated on comprehensive confrontation with Russia ... The leaders of the G7 countries brought to their meeting the chief of the Kyiv regime, who is controlled by them, and ultimately turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show. The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the worlds No. 2 economy. The leaders said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Were not looking to decouple from China, were looking to de-risk and diversify, Biden said. He also vowed to help Taiwan defend itself against a potential attack by China, saying that there is an understanding by the U.S. and its allies that if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response. Chinas Foreign Ministry for its part urged G7 members to "focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host city's symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyy's inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leaders' visit was not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city. Protesters carrying No War No G7 banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing in a program meant to offer countries an alternative to Chinas investment dollars. __ Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers at the Group of Seven meeting in Hiroshima on Sunday, hoping to add to the momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a symbolic victory on the battlefield. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance during the final day of the summit underscored the centrality of the war for the bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from many of the other priorities, ranging from security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Zelenskyy was holding two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders only and a second with the group and a host of invited guests including India, South Korea and Brazil. He also held one-on-one talks with several of the leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden on Sunday announced a new military aid package for Ukraine during his meeting with Zelenskyy, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere, Biden said. Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the support. We are very thankful. We will never forget. Thank you, he said. Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday aboard a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. His visit closely followed the United States agreeing to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the claim by Russia's Defense Ministry that forces of the Wagner private army, backed by Russian troops, had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city is the longest and likely the bloodiest of the war. Asked if Bakhmut was still in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said he thought that Russian forces had taken the city after a months-long siege that destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place, Zelenskyy said. But the Ukrainian leader said that the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of dead Russians. Ukraine is the overwhelming focus of the summit, but the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, are also working to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japans brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on a host of issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue posing for photos in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, a US official said. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. It is necessary to improve (Ukraines) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots, Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the worlds largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Summits like the G7 are a chance for leaders to put pressure on one another to align or redouble their diplomatic efforts, according to Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. Zelenskyys presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they cant, he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the G7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor. As a matter of fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the world alignment will also be to suppress a competitor. Look at the decisions that are now being discussed and adopted in Hiroshima, at the G7 summit, and which are aimed at the double containment of Russia and China, he said. The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure. Russias brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, the group said in a statement. Another major focus of the meetings was China, the worlds No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Chinas Foreign Ministry said that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to ... focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, the leaders statement said. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Kishida has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to Chinas investment dollars. __ Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi contributed reporting. HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fight for the city of Bakhmut is continuing, the Ukrainian military's general staff said in a statement on Sunday evening. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. "Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. ___ Elise Morton reported from London, and Susie Blann from Kyiv, Ukraine. Elaine Kurtenbach and Adam Schreck contributed to this report from Hiroshima. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Half the world is still open to trade with Russia (EPA) By now, Russia should be in economic ruin. So much so that public pressure would have demanded a negotiated settlement with Ukraine. It simply hasnt happened. Instead, the countrys economy is ticking along, and has done so pretty much ever since Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine. The rouble fell at first, then soon bounced back. Russia has been able to take advantage of higher oil and gas prices, caused by its own aggression. Imports dipped for a while, but now theyve returned to their pre-war levels. Russia has suffered military setbacks and lost substantial numbers of troops, but unless theyre directly affected, for most Russians life is pretty much the same as before. Thanks to this, and Putins repression of internal dissent, there is no groundswell calling for withdrawal. Provided it can continue to access military supplies, Russia can carry on pursuing the conflict. Yet, the US government in March 2022 was predicting the economy would soon contract as much as 15 per cent, and that the raised living standards enjoyed by Russians over the past two decades would be wiped out. The exodus of more than 400 multinationals, many of them in consumer goods and hospitality, would deny Russians the items and luxuries theyd come to take for granted. The application of sanctions was meant to bring Russia to its knees. Its a policy that has not worked at least not to the degree that was intended. Since 2014. when Russia attacked Crimea, there have been 10 rounds of punitive measures. This weekends G7 Summit sees number 11. Castellum.AI, which monitors embargoes against Russia, says that prior to the G7 meeting in Japan, 12,616 sanctions were issued post the invasion, on top of the 2,695 imposed from 2014. Nearly 10,000 are against individuals. Russian gas, coal and oil exports are restricted, along with travel, the sale of luxury goods, professional services, access to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank funds, sovereign debts, and Russian banks use of the international payments system, Swift. Some $300bn of Russian assets have been frozen. At the G7, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak persisted with the tough rhetoric, saying he wished to ensure Russia pays a price for the war in Ukraine. Russian diamonds, copper, aluminum and nickel imports would be added to the barred list. In all a further 300 Russian entities, including individuals, ships and aircraft, will now be blacklisted. The G7 leaders said: We are imposing further sanctions and measures to increase the costs to Russia and those who are supporting its war effort. Sanctions have long been the weapon of choice of political leaders wishing to curb a rogue countrys behaviour. It is much more preferable to the sight of troops returning home in body bags. The problem is, they rarely work. One example often cited is the banning by the United Nations of South African trade during apartheid. In reality, it was not the economic isolation, which was endured for years, that made a difference, but internal demands for the suffering and bloodshed to cease. In that case, the ban was applied by the UN. With regard to Russia, bans have been implemented by the US, EU, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, but not by the UN, and not by the rest of the world; the Global South, which comprises South America, Africa, Middle East, India and Pakistan, China and the rest of Asia. The result is that half the world is still open to trade with Russia. Putin has been able to sell oil and gas to China and India. Members of his close circle, the oligarchs, hit by individual measures, have relocated from London, New York and Paris to the likes of Dubai and carry on enjoying their super-rich lifestyles. Probably, too, the influence of the oligarchs on Putin has been exaggerated if they have complained, their moans have fallen on deaf ears. Local entrepreneurs, many of them former staff, have taken over the businesses in Russia of the departed foreign firms. Countries that arent bringing sanctions have nipped in with their own products, replacing those now barred. At the same time, parallel imports illicit sales to Russia from the West via a third country have exploded. Armenia is one such hub, Kazakhstan and Serbia are others. In 2021, Kazakhstan exported no washing machines to Russia; this year it will send 100,000. Serbia used to export less than $10,000 worth of mobile phones to Russia; now its shipments are totaling tens of millions of dollars. While sanctions are not achieving the desired result, they are having some impact. Theyre certainly an inconvenience, and over time the Western companies will be missed. Likewise, the oligarchs do not have the total freedom they once did. They might not be the magic cure, but it is possible that sanctions are preventing Putin from expanding his military push. Hes left locked in a stalemate and, so the thinking goes, will eventually call a halt. Theres some distance, and doubtless still more sanctions to be applied, before that point is reached. Chris Blackhurst is an award-winning writer and commentator, and a former editor of The Independent. He is the author of The World's Biggest Cash Machine, due to release later this year A wet holiday weekend could be in the cards for parts of the Northeast as AccuWeather meteorologists look ahead to the next chance for rain across the generally dry area. After a very dry mid-May, the weekend was soggy for some across the Northeast, but especially in New England. Rainfall amounts in excess of 1 inch fell on Saturday and were widespread from eastern New Jersey to New Hampshire and Maine. Some areas even reported closer to 2 inches of rain. After a mainly dry morning on Saturday, Boston reported 1.94 inches of rain in the afternoon and through Saturday night, while Portland, Maine, reported 2.16 inches of rain. One of the highest rainfall reports was in Providence, Rhode Island, where 3.02 inches was reported, a value nearing the historical average for the entire month of May, which is 3.37 inches. Sunday was the start of yet another spell of dry weather for the area, which will last through the first half of the week for many. "Prior to the weekend rain, rainfall had been 10% of the historical average or less in a number of major cities in the Northeast including Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C. Rainfall for much of the region as a whole is generally 25% of the historical average or less," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. The recent dryness is also reflective in the drought status across the eastern U.S., where half a dozen pockets of abnormally dry areas can be found, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Have the app? Unlock AccuWeather Alerts with Premium+ While mostly dry conditions are likely to persist this week, AccuWeather meteorologist caution not every location will be rain-free. A few waves of atmospheric energy will push into the Northeast during the first half of the week. The air mass in the region will be so dry that it will be hard to get much rain. During the afternoon and early evening hours through Tuesday, "a few stray showers and thunderstorms could pop up in the higher elevations of Pennsylvania, New York and southwestern New England" said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham. Additionally, a front is expected to sweep from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Coast on Wednesday, bringing areas of showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms that could put an and to the dry stretch over a larger region. Behind the rainfall, a new Canadian air mass will move into the region, bringing another round of dry air, but also noticeably chillier conditions. Temperatures both Thursday and Friday are forecast to be below historical averages for late May. High temperatures in Pittsburgh are expected to be in the upper 60s F. Similar temperatures are expected for cities such as Syracuse and Albany, New York. Early morning low temperatures across the region may be the most extreme. Widespread temperatures in the upper 30s and lower 40s are likely Thursday and Friday morning from western Virginia to Michigan and Maine. Still, some spots could see temperatures approaching freezing at least one of the two mornings. It's not out of the question that some of the normally colder spots could see areas of frost or freeze in the final days of May. "Residents across the Northeast who have already planted more sensitive vegetation may need to protect their crops and flowers," warned Buckingham. While a bit of frost is possible late Wednesday night to Thursday morning over the northern tier of the Northeast, frost is likely from parts of the central Appalachians to central and northern New England late Thursday night to Friday morning. A moderation of temperatures is forecast as the week closes out and the holiday Memorial Day weekend approaches. However, the impending warmup does not mean the holiday weekend will stay dry for those celebrating. The same coastal storm, and possible tropical system, that is forecast to bring rounds of drenching rainfall to the southeastern U.S. and Florida this week is likely to track northward over the Memorial Day weekend. Just how close to the coast this disturbance travels will dictate how wet the holiday weekend will become. Should the storm stay closer to the East Coast, rainfall will be more likely to douse beaches from the mid-Atlantic to southern New England. If the storm were to track farther east, the majority of the East Coast could stay dry for the holiday weekend. Those hoping to make outdoor plans for Memorial Day weekend are urged to keep checking back with AccuWeather as meteorologists monitor the weather forecast for the holiday. 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. A Timely Call for Peace in Ukraine by U.S. National Security Experts by Medea Benjamin - Nicolas J. S. Davies May 20, 2023: Information Clearing House -- On May 16, 2023, The New York Times published a full-page advertisement signed by 15 U.S. national security experts about the war in Ukraine. It was headed The U.S. Should Be a Force for Peace in the World, and was drafted by the Eisenhower Media Network. While condemning Russias invasion, the statement provides a more objective account of the crisis in Ukraine than the U.S. government or The New York Times has previously presented to the public, including the disastrous U.S. role in NATO expansion, the warnings ignored by successive U.S. administrations and the escalating tensions that ultimately led to war. The statement calls the war an unmitigated disaster, and urges President Joe Biden and Congress to end the war speedily through diplomacy, especially given the dangers of military escalation that could spiral out of control. Click to Support Independent Journalism This call for diplomacy by wise, experienced former insiders U.S. diplomats, military officers and civilian officials would have been a welcome intervention on any one of the past 442 days of this war. Yet their appeal now comes at an especially critical moment in the war. On May 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he is delaying Ukraines long-awaited spring offensive to avoid unacceptable losses to Ukrainian forces. Western policy has repeatedly put Zelenskyy in near-impossible positions, caught between the need to show signs of progress on the battlefield to justify further Western support and arms deliveries and, on the other hand, the shocking human cost of continued war represented by the fresh graveyards where tens of thousands of Ukrainians now lie buried. It is not clear how a delay in the planned Ukrainian counter-attack would prevent it leading to unacceptable Ukrainian losses when it finally occurs, unless the delay in fact leads to scaling back and calling off many of the operations that have been planned. Zelensky appears to be reaching a limit in terms of how many more of his people he is willing to sacrifice to satisfy Western demands for signs of military progress to hold together the Western alliance and maintain the flow of weapons and money to Ukraine. Boris Johnsons Role Zelenskys predicament is certainly the fault of Russias invasion, but also of his April 2022 deal with the devil in the shape of then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson promised Zelensky that the U.K. and the collective West were in it for the long run and would back him to recover all of Ukraines former territory, just as long as Ukraine stopped negotiating with Russia. Johnson was never in a position to fulfill that promise and, since he was forced to resign as prime minister, he has endorsed a Russian withdrawal only from the territory it invaded since February 2022, not a return to pre-2014 borders. Yet that compromise was exactly what he talked Zelensky out of agreeing to in April 2022, when most of the wars dead were still alive and the framework of a peace agreement was on the table at diplomatic talks in Turkey. Zelensky has tried desperately to hold his Western backers to Johnsons overblown promise. But short of direct U.S. and NATO military intervention, it seems that no quantity of Western weapons can decisively break the stalemate in what has degenerated into a brutal war of attrition, fought mainly by artillery and trench and urban warfare. An American general bragged that the West has supplied Ukraine with 600 different weapons systems, but this itself creates problems. For example, the different 105 mm guns sent by the U.K., France, Germany and the U.S. all use different shells. And each time heavy losses force Ukraine to re-form survivors into new units, many of them have to be retrained on weapons and equipment theyve never used before. Leaked Pentagon Document Despite U.S. deliveries of at least six types of anti-aircraft missiles Stinger, NASAMS, Hawk, Rim-7, Avenger, and at least one Patriot missile battery a leaked Pentagon document revealed that Ukraines Russian-built S-300 and Buk anti-aircraft systems still make up almost 90 percent of its main air defenses. NATO countries have searched their weapons stockpiles for all the missiles they can provide for those systems, but Ukraine has nearly exhausted those supplies, leaving its forces newly vulnerable to Russian air strikes just as it prepares to launch its new counter-attack. Since at least June 2022, Biden and other U.S. officials have acknowledged that the war must end in a diplomatic settlement, and have insisted that they are arming Ukraine to put it in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table. Until now, they have claimed that each new weapons system they have sent and each Ukrainian counter-offensive have contributed to that goal and left Ukraine in a stronger position. But the leaked Pentagon documents and recent statements by U.S. and Ukrainian officials make it clear that Ukraines planned spring offensive, already delayed into summer, would lack the previous element of surprise and encounter stronger Russian defenses than the offensives that recovered some of its lost territory last fall. One leaked Pentagon document warned that enduring Ukrainian deficiencies in training and munitions supplies probably will strain progress and exacerbate casualties during the offensive, concluding that it would probably make smaller territorial gains than the fall offensives did. How can a new offensive with mixed results and higher casualties put Ukraine in a stronger position at a currently non-existent negotiating table? If the offensive reveals that even huge quantities of Western military aid have failed to give Ukraine military superiority or reduce its casualties to a sustainable level, it could very well leave Ukraine in a weaker negotiating position, instead of a stronger one. Meanwhile, offers to mediate peace talks have been pouring in from countries all over the world, from the Vatican to China to Brazil. It has been six months since the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley suggested publicly, after Ukraines military gains last fall, that the moment had come to negotiate from a position of strength. When theres an opportunity to negotiate, when peace can be achieved, seize it, he said. It would be doubly or triply tragic if, on top of the diplomatic failures that led to the war in the first place and the U.S. and U.K. undermining peace negotiations in April 2022, the chance for diplomacy that Milley wanted to seize is lost in the forlorn hope of attaining an even stronger negotiating position that is not really achievable. If the U.S. persists in backing the plan for a Ukrainian offensive, instead of encouraging Zelenskyy to seize the moment for diplomacy, it will share considerable responsibility for the failure to seize the chance for peace, and for the appalling and ever-rising human costs of this war. The experts who signed The New York Times statement recalled that, in 1997, 50 senior U.S. foreign policy experts warned President Bill Clinton that expanding NATO was a policy error of historic proportions and that, unfortunately, Clinton chose to ignore the warning. Biden, who is now pursuing his own policy error of historic proportions by prolonging this war, would do well to take the advice of todays policy experts by helping to forge a diplomatic settlement and making the United States a force for peace in the world. At the Regina Caeli prayer, Francis renewed his appeal for Sudan and the victims of wars; "let us not get used to conflicts," he said. On World Communications Day, journalists are invited to carry out their work "in the service of truth". The pope also expressed his closeness to the people of flood-stricken Emilia-Romagna. Vatican City (AsiaNews) Pope Francis spoke to the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square for the Regina Caeli prayer on the Solemnity of the Ascension, which is celebrated today in Italy and in other countries. In his address, the pontiff said, I like to think that Jesus prays like this in front of the Father making him see his wounds. Speaking about todays solemnity, Francis asked: Why celebrate Jesuss departure from the earth? It would seem that his departure would be a sad moment, not exactly something to rejoice over! [. . .] Second question: What does Jesus do now in heaven? Why is it important for him to be there. Because with the Ascension, something new and beautiful happened: Jesus brought our humanity, our flesh, into heaven this is the first time that is, he brought it in God. That humanity that he had assumed on earth did not remain here. [. . .] He will be there in God. Today represents a sort of heavens conquest. But, above all. what does Jesus do in heaven? He is there for us before the Father, continually showing our humanity to him showing him his wounds. [. . .] In a word, Jesus intercedes. He is in a better place, before his Father and ours, to intercede on our behalf. Before the Father, there is someone who makes him see his wounds and intercedes. May the Queen of heaven help us to intercede with the power of prayer. At the end of the Marian prayer, the pope spoke about the violence that has torn Sudan apart for the last month or so, appealing to the international community to spare no effort to get the parties to lay down their weapons. "Let's not get used to conflicts and violence, the pope said; let us not get used to war. Let us stand by the martyred people of Ukraine." Today the Church also marks World Communications Day, and so Francis addressed his greeting to journalists and communications workers. "I hope that your work will always be in the service of truth and the common good," he told them. Finally, citing Laudato Si' Week, which is dedicated to the care of creation, the pope expressed again his closeness to the people of Emilia-Romagna. "These floods remind us of the need to bring together expertise and calamities, to care for our common home". by Giorgio Bernardelli Father Fabio Favata is a PIME missionary and trained psychologist, whose doctoral thesis focuses on how seminaries in mainland China train candidates to the priesthood. Despite declining vocations and major difficulties, building a future is still possible. Milan (AsiaNews) The scandals associated with sexual abuse have led the Church to closely look into human and emotional development in seminaries. In different parts of the world, various approaches are being tried to train students for the priesthood. How is the Catholic Church facing this issue in China given its very particular situation? This is the sensitive yet extremely topical subject that Father Fabio Favata, a PIME missionary in Hong Kong, had the opportunity to examine in his doctoral thesis in psychology, which he earned from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His study is based on individual interviews and online tests carried out with about 30 seminarians and their teachers who live in two of the "official" theological seminaries where future priests are trained in mainland China. The experience also provided more general yet valuable insight into young people and vocations in China today. As Father Favata notes in the introductory part of his thesis, seminaries play a key role in the troubled history of Chinese Catholicism, from Mao's revolution to the present day. Communist authorities began shutting them down in the 1950s for more than two decades, ordaining new priests was impossible. Even after they reopened in 1982, they remained under major political constraints. Nevertheless, seminaries were also places of progress over the past few decades, thanks to the patient work of many missionaries who both local and foreign took every possible path to lend a hand. One name that stands out is that of Father Tommy Murphy. An Irish member of the Missionary Society of Saint Columban, he passed away last 6 January, but for a long time and in various capacities, he helped develop training activities in China. At the same time, many Chinese seminarians and priests attended courses in Rome and other theological academies in the West, before returning to their own dioceses. From 2007 to 2013, Father Favata lived in Beijing, studying psychology at Beijing Normal University; his work is part of the collaborative efforts that are so important for PIME. From my teacher, Father Giancarlo Politi, I learnt that in China, if you keep a low profile, a way can eventually be found. And then you can do a lot of things, Father Favata said. Of course, even in China, seminaries face certain problems today, starting with a drop in vocations to the priesthood. "If you just look at the figures, considering both official seminaries and underground communities, from minors to theology, the number of seminarians has gone from 2,400 in 2000 to an estimated 420 in 2020, Father Favata explained. This is also a consequence of Chinas one-child policy, which was imposed by the government until a few years ago to limit family size. However, this is not the only reason. Today, Exercising the priestly ministry is also more demanding given a wide generational gap between young priests and confreres ordained before the Cultural Revolution. While external pressures can in some cases strengthen the faith, in others, they favour leaving the ministry. What is more, being young today in China has changed, with new opportunities offered by the digital world, but also the unease vis-a-vis certain forms of religiosity anchored in the traditions and devotions of Catholicism of the 1950s. Also for this reason, I was interested in looking at how much focus there was on human and emotional development in today's seminaries in China, said the PIME missionary. I discovered that people are aware of the importance of this challenge, and that they have to deal with many concrete difficulties, starting with overcrowded seminaries and the extremely small number of teachers. While today dioceses all over the world are increasingly conscious of the need for individualised paths, with small communities of young people training for the priesthood with greater direct contact with parish life, in China for contingent reasons the opposite is happening with few overcrowded seminaries. In one case, about a hundred seminarians are in the same place. With pandemic restrictions (which were slowly lifted later on), the opportunities to study abroad were greatly reduced. The number of teachers is also small and rapidly changing. The result is that they are unable to follow young candidates for the priesthood as they would like, Father Favata explained. While teachers are generous and well aware of the problems, and in terms of human development, for example, have introduced courses that address the topic of emotional development, they lack proper training and can count on inadequate means. Thus, "seminarians find it hard to trust, and tend to be inward-looking, which is not good at all for this type of journey. Everything related to the sphere of sexuality remains taboo. Sometimes, past wounds create mistrust between different groups. For this reason, however, it becomes even more important today not to leave seminarians in China and their teachers alone, which is what Father Favata plans to do. In fact, he insists on this very crucial aspect of the human development of future priests, and is already working on it in cooperation with the Diocese of Hong Kong. "In the future, it will be important to train Catholic psychologists who can help seminaries in China. The work of mediation between China and the outside world is crucial; some priests have been doing this in recent years after they had the opportunity to study outside the country. The important thing today is to be there, whichever way one can. Crusades are of no use to anyone." ECCLESIA IN ASIA IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN ASIA. WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE IT EVERY SUNDAY VIA E-MAIL? SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER HERE. I'm fine, as I'm very fortunate to own my home I own, but I'm feeling the pinch on my mortgage with other inflation costs I rent and it's expensive, but it could be worse I'm seriously considering leaving the valley if something doesn't give Vote View Results Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. San Angelo, TX (76909) Today Scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low 67F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. May 20, 2023: Information Clearing House -- An open letter calling for a swift diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine was published on Tuesday in the New York Times. The letters 14 signatories consisted mostly of former U.S. military officers and other national security officials, including Jack Matlock, Washingtons former ambassador to the Soviet Union; Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former diplomat; Matthew Hoh, a former Marine Corps officer and State Department official; and Ret. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powells Chief of Staff. Many are longtime critics of U.S. foreign policy and post-9/11 war policies. The letter calls the war an unmitigated disaster and cautions that future devastation could be exponentially greater as nuclear powers creep ever closer toward open war. While condemning Vladimir Putins criminal invasion and occupation, the letter, which notes the serial invasions of Russia by foreign adversaries, encourages readers to understand the war through Russias eyes. Click to Support Independent Journalism In diplomacy, one must attempt to see with strategic empathy, seeking to understand ones adversaries, according to the letter. This is not weakness: it is wisdom. Since 2007, Russia has repeatedly warned that NATOs armed forces on Russian borders were intolerable just as Russian forces in Mexico or Canada would be intolerable to the U.S. now, or as Soviet missiles in Cuba were in 1962, the letter reads. Russia further singled out NATO expansion into Ukraine as especially provocative. The missive, which appeared on page 5 of the Times print edition, lays out the history of warnings by key U.S. national security officials, politicians, and others about the dangers of NATO expansion in the late 1990s, and again in 2008 when then-U.S. Ambassador to Russia and current CIA director William Burns cautioned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice against pushing for NATO membership for Ukraine. Accompanying the text is a timeline of the deterioration in relations between Moscow and the West that begins in 1990, when Secretary of State James Baker assured Russia that NATO would not expand eastwards, until Russias invasion in February of last year. NATO expansion, in sum, is a key feature of a militarized U.S. foreign policy characterized by unilateralism featuring regime change and preemptive wars, according to the letter, which suggests that Washingtons failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been two of the results. President Joe Biden has vowed that Washington will continue to aid Kyiv as long as it takes. The letters signers fear that this is a recipe for escalation that could result in catastrophe. As Dan Ellsberg has warned courageously and unceasingly, we the world are at the nuclear brink again, perhaps closer to the edge than ever before. It only requires one step to go over and then our steps end forever, Wilkerson said in the statement released by the Eisenhower Media Network, which funded the full-page advertisement. If thats not sufficient reason for a return to diplomacy, our extinction is at hand; the timing is all that is in question. To date, the United States has sent $37 billion worth of military aid to Kyiv. High-level discussions with officials in Moscow have been rare, and a number of other entities, including China, Brazil, and the Pope, have taken on the mantle of pushing for a diplomatic solution. What Washingtons role will look like going forward is more uncertain, with recent reporting as well as revelations from Pentagon leaks suggesting that the administration will continue supporting Ukraine through the anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces before possibly reassessing, although officials have disputed that narrative. The letter, entitled The U.S. Should Be a Force for Peace in the World, urges the Biden administration to pivot towards pursuing a negotiated solution to end the war speedily. This reality is not entirely of our own making, yet it may well be our undoing, the letter concludes, unless we dedicate ourselves to forging a diplomatic settlement that stops the killing and defuses tensions. Waze Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution Tidal WeatherRadar Photo: Weather Radar Pocket Casts Photo: SpotHero SpotHero As such, it's no surprise that Android Auto has become a common feature in new cars, as customers are particularly interested in phone projection support when ordering a new model.In fact, Apple's numbers support this trend. The iPhone maker says nearly 80 percent of new car buyers in the United States wouldnt even consider getting a vehicle that doesnt support CarPlay. The same should also be valid for Android Auto, as cars that run CarPlay also ship with support for Google's app.By default, Android Auto comes with a pre-loaded app lineup that should help users run the essential tasks behind the wheel. The navigation experience is powered by Google Maps, while YouTube is in charge of music playback. Google Assistant is integrated into Android Auto to power the hands-free interaction with the app.However, while some users would stick with the default set of apps just fine, the Android Auto experience can be significantly enhanced using third-party solutions available on the Google Play Store. Here are the top five applications every Android Auto user must try out right now.Google Maps is the native navigation app on Android and Android Auto, but Waze is, without a doubt, the top alternative right now.Thanks to the crowdsourcing system that allows users to send traffic reports , Waze finds faster routes to the destination while also making the road more predictable.The big difference between Google Maps and Waze is the traffic reporting system. Users can flag the location of a wide array of incidents, such as accidents, traffic jams, roadkill, and potholes. The other motorists are then getting warnings when going through the same spots.Waze does not support offline navigation, as it needs a permanent Internet connection to download traffic data and generate alternative routes. Waze already supports the Coolwalk interface, so you can run it side by side with other apps on the multi-app view screen. Waze can also run in the smaller tile on Coolwalk when another app, such as Spotify, uses the main card.While YouTube Music is the recommended music streaming service and Spotify is the top alternative, Tidal is, without a doubt, a solid choice.The impressive audio quality sets it apart from the crowd, as Tidal supports up to 9216 kbps audio as part of the HiFi Plus tier.It includes over 100 million songs and offers an ad-free and offline experience. Users can skip as many songs as they want if they have a subscription.More often than not, Tidal is also available at lower prices than Spotify and YouTube Music. A HiFi Plus subscription in the United States costs $19.99 per month if no promo is active. A free version with up to 160 kbps quality and ads is also available.While most Android Auto users need nothing more than a solid navigation tool and a music app, WeatherRadar proves the app ecosystem keeps growing at a very fast pace.WeatherRadar is the first full weather app available on Android Auto, providing users with access to the forecast right from the dashboard.The feature lineup includes everything you'd need, starting with the current temperature and ending with chances of rain and a radar.The number of podcast apps on the Google Play Store might be overwhelming at first, making it difficult to pick the right one for Android Auto.After trying out way too many such apps, I figured out Pocket Casts is one of the best, as it offers pretty much everything you'd need to listen to your favorite podcasts.You can subscribe to shows, automatically download them, discover new ones, and resume from where you left off. The best feature for Android Auto users is the sync option, so you can listen to an episode on your phone and then resume the playback on Android Auto.Another must-have app for Android Auto is a parking assistant. SpotHero is currently one of the leading names in this particular app category, offering a very easy way to see your parking reservation and then get navigation to its location.SpotHero doesnt yet offer full Android Auto integratio n, meaning that you won't be able to book a spot from the dashboard. The whole thing happens on the mobile device, but you can do this before leaving on a new trip.Once the spot reservation is complete, you can launch the SpotHero app on Android Auto to see the booking and tap it to launch Google Maps for navigation instructions. Paying for a parking spot isn't currently possible on Android Auto, but the parent company says it's already working on additional features for the car, so expect news on this front sooner rather than later. Photo: ESA Photo: ESA But NASA's efforts of making Moon landers for the future are not the only ones. Space agencies from all over the world are doing the same, their dreams fueled by the successful first flight of the new American lunar exploration program.One of the agencies to keep an eye out is ESA. Already involved knee-deep in Artemis, the European Space Agency is planning its own missions to the Moon, and all the dedicated pieces of hardware needed for that. Including landers, some not meant for humans, but cargo.ESA's missions are not envisioned as stand-alone steps towards the colonization of the Moon, but support activities meant to advance the goal of existing programs. That means delivering supplies (anything from food to pieces of hardware, like rovers) to astronauts and installations that will soon make their way up there. Meaning everything needed for these missions to succeed in their goals.That is why ESA's lander, named Argonaut, is fully autonomous, needing just a rocket to send it on its way, and a stretch of lunar real estate to land on. It could become, if you will, an important logistics component for Artemis, and it will of course be capable of backing independent science missions to our planet's natural satellite as well.In essence, there will be little this lander won't be capable of carrying to the Moon. Launching atop an Ariane 6 rocket, it can carry with it to the Moon some 2,100 kg of cargo (4,630 pounds). For reference, that's the weight of your average car. The thing is not all that small, measuring 4.5 meters (14.7 feet) in diameter and six meters (19.7 feet) tall. When empty, it weighs here on Earth 10,000 kg (22,000 pounds).Said cargo can be comprised of literally anything, from supplies needed for the survival of lunar astronauts (food, water, air) to various pieces of equipment, including rovers and other large machines, and even power stations, lunar telescopes, or production facilities for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).Once at its destination, the Argonaut will be able to land virtually anywhere on the Moon where its presence is required. It is up to the lunar descent element of the Argonaut to fly to the Moon and land on target, with an accuracy of between 50 and 100 meters (164 to 328 feet) of its designated area.That's possible thanks to the fact the Argonaut will be connected to the ESA Moonlight constellation of communication and navigation satellites, planned for deployment in the coming years.We're talking about a collection of hardware that would really put the Moon on the world map, sort of speak, by making stuff like fast streaming of video and audio, and even direct Earth-to-Moon phone calls "using your roaming data allowance," a reality for the people there. Separately, the volume of data sent back and forth would increase dramatically compared with what's possible now.Once on the ground, the contents of the lander can be unloaded and transported to where they are needed. But once there, its role would not end, as if need be it could be converted into a sort of survival kit to be used by "the explorers of our new frontier" exactly how that would work was not entirely explained.The European Space Agency says a mission of the Argonaut would vary greatly, depending on its profile - the duration, for instance, could vary from anywhere between a week to a full month.The name of the lander is said to continue the tradition of previous and ongoing Moon exploration programs, being inspired by Greek mythology. There, argonauts were the sailors of the Argo ship that set out to look for the golden fleece.But ESA will take all of that one step further and announced plans for each of the missions to be named after each of the sailors in the myth and there were 50 of them, the most famous being Jason, the leader of the bunch.The Argonaut lander is still in its early stages, having just been approved back in 2022. Plans are though to have it ready in time to complete at least five missions over the next decade. An exact date as to when we can expect it was not provided, but the first landing should occur before 2030.ESA has been for a long time a solid partner for NASA's space exploration efforts, but it's kind of refreshing to see it does plan its own hardware for what may come ahead. In fact, there's an entire European space exploration vision being developed. It's called Terrae Novae, and we'll talk about it in an extensive coverage next week. Needless to say, many users rushed to download and install the update, but now that a substantial part of the iPhone user base received the new version, it looks like it's not all just milk and honey in the Apple world.iOS 16.5 appears to break down steering wheel media control buttons in some cars, so adjusting the volume, muting the sound, or playing and pausing music no longer works at all. The only way to do all these things is to turn to the media receiver in your car and use the built-in buttons.The steering wheel controls stopped working when Apple released the very first iOS 16.5 release candidate. As it turns out, several users reported the bug, but somehow, it still escaped unfixed. The glitch continued to be present in iOS when the second release candidate received the go-ahead for testing devices and then also made its way to production builds.As such, some users who install iOS 16.5 on their devices lose the ability to control music playback from the steering wheel.From what I can tell right now, based on information I collected from reports online, the issue happens mostly in Toyota cars. Prius and RAV4 seem to be affected, though chances are the same behavior also happens in other Toyota-branded models.It's not exactly clear if iOS 16.5 is the culprit or if the bug happens because of a compatibility issue with Toyota's infotainment units, but for now, the only workaround is to downgrade to the previous operating system version. Of course, such a solution isn't exactly convenient, especially because iOS 16.5 addresses vulnerabilities exploited in the wild.Apple hasnt obviously commented on the glitch, so you'd better not hold your breath for a fix just yet.If you, too, experience the same issue, you should know that the downgrade to the previous version of iOS is allowed only for a limited time. Apple typically stops signing older operating system versions to keep users on the latest builds, and I expect this to happen with iOS 16.4.1 in the coming days as well.Apple is already test-driving iOS 16.6 with the very first beta build, but at this point, it's not yet clear if this bug is resolved or not. But given how things happen in the Apple world, a fix is unlikely to land before this new operating system receives the green light for production devices. Based on Apple's schedule, a new update should be released to devices in June.As such, if steering wheel controls are critical for your driving experience and you want CarPlay on the dashboard , you should think twice before installing the new OS version. Photo: Royal Navy Archives Photo: Wings of Steel Foundation Let us paint the picture for you. It's September 1945, and Germany has been under control by the joint victorious Allied nations for around four months by this stage. Meanwhile, the British Pacific Fleet in the Far East of Asia is returning to British ports triumphant over Imperial Japan thanks in no small parts to two atomic bombings by the United States and a seemingly impromptu human wave attack by the Soviets in North Japan. All the while, almost all the economy and infrastructure across the British Isles seemed somewhat bleak compared to their American allies.But while train stations, bus terminals, and city buildings continued the arduous rebuilding process, the Royal Navy still needed to keep its aerial fighting force as contemporary as possible. Though the superiority of German technology strictly in regards to air power is somewhat embellished, it's safe to say that Luftwaffe tech was somewhere in the five-to-ten-year range more advanced than allied aerial technology and only then in regards to experimental aircraft. Among the scattered ex-German engineers poached after the war via Operation Paperclip, these minds were put to great use working for NATO In all of this mix, the Royal Navy of late 1945 was keen to stay on the cutting edge of aerospace development and to keep pace with the Americans, Canadians, the West Germans, and, most importantly, the Soviets. Among the mix of rolls to fill in the early-Cold War Royal Navy was a turboprop-powered anti-submarine-warfare (ASW) specialist capable of detecting enemy undersea vessels and hunting them down with an assortment of weapons, including depth charges, guided and unguided bombs, and high-explosive-yield torpedoes.Under British Air Ministry requirement GR.17.45, King George VI's government ordered two domestic aerospace companies to submit design proposals to satisfy the Royal Navy's request. These two are the Fairey Aviation Company of Hayes, Heaton Chapel, in Southeast England, and Blackburn Aircraft of Brough, the Northeast of England. At the heart of both aircraft sat the British's answer to the next generation of propeller-driven aeronautical engines, the Armstrong Siddeley ASMD.1 Double Mamba.Essentially two Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprops welded together with a shared transmission, the approach shared considerable parity with the American attempt at a similar engine, the Allison T40. In the earliest models of the Fairey Gannet and the three examples of the Blackburn B-88, the Double Mamba jetted a healthy 2,950 shaft hp. By the time the upgraded ASMD.8 found its way into the Gannet AEW.3, that figure increased to 3,875 shaft hp. As a stumpy lummox of an airframe with an iconic dopy-looking front grille with two octo-bladed propellers mounted on its front, later production-spec Gannet's gained an iconic weird-looking third canopy for an extra crew member specializing in anti-sub warfare.In the meantime, the first prototype Gannet first took off from a Fairey-owned runway on September 19th, 1949, almost four years to the date of the end of the Second World War. Doing so almost a full calendar year before Blackburn's B-88 was ready. Soon after, testing of the Gannet's aircraft carrier capability began, featuring the first successful landing of a turboprop-powered naval aircraft on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier aboard the Royal Navy's lead ship, the HMS Illustrious (87). On top of carrier takeoffs and landings, the Royal Navy tested the grit of the Gannet's intricate double-folding wing system designed to take up as little space onboard an aircraft as possible.Though ostensibly ugly as sin, Royal Navy pilots grew to admire the Gannet's smooth, silky control surfaces and easy-riding flight characteristics afforded by thick, straight wings and dual sets of winglets on either side of the aircraft's elevator control surfaces. In every way that isn't the Gannet's lack of autocannons, this plucky side of British beef was the spitting image of American attack planes like the Douglas AD Skyraider and A2D Skyshark . In fact, it was the Gannet that was selected to replace the Skyraider in Royal Navy service as an airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft fitted with beefier ASMD.8-spec Double Mamba engine mentioned above, plus a litany of new avionics and radar equipment to intercept incoming airborne threats like bombers and fighters.Over the course of its service life with the Royal Navy, the West German Deutsche Marine, the Indonesian Navy, and the Royal Australian Navy, the Gannet was even used as a handy impromptu Carrier onboard delivery (COD) system a-la the American Grumman C-2 Greyhound in a pinch. It's unclear if the Gannet ever saw combat with any of the Naval units which employed them, although artistic depictions of Indonesian Gannets strafing ground targets do exist. The type was removed from Royal Navy service in 1978, roughly four years before the start of the Anglo-Argentine Falklands War.In fact, it was lessons learned from flying the Gannet that taught Royal Navy personnel that the path forward for AEW vehicles during the Falklands conflict would be dedicated not to fixed-wing aircraft but helicopters instead. For this reason, British license-built copies of American helicopters like the Sikorsky S-61 Sea King became stalwarts of photographs and video footage of that particular conflict. Proposals to upgrade the AEW-specialized variant of the Gannet to roughly the same specifications as the American Grumman E-2 Hawkeye ultimately never materialized, and the type has since been relegated to museum service.Today, upwards up two-dozen Fairey Gannets are on display at museums across the globe, from Australia to Germany, of course, the U.K., and even the United States. One even remains in airworthy condition under the ownership of the Wings of Steel Foundation in New Richmond, Wisconsin. And yes, she has a name; it's Janet. Stop snickering, will you!? EV Photo: Terra Bikes kW Photo: Terra Bikes Folks, back in 2020, the Founder and CEO of Terra Bikes, Dylan Brown, founded a small e-motorcycle brand in the Rocky Mountains. Fast-forward to about a week ago , and their results started to seep into social media and news outlets. What was all this news about? Nothing more than their handbuilt Terra Prime "electric enduro bike." Let's dive in and see what we can get our hands on for $12,000 (11,000 at current exchange rates). Yes, this is the asking price for this scrambler-style, but is it worth it? That's precisely what we're going to explore.Now, quite a bit of capability is wrapped up in each Prime. But one reason we're being asked to dish out $12K for one of these babies is how they're built. We've already established that they're built by hand, but beyond that, several artisans work closely together to bring each Prime to life. This also means everyone needs a cut.Overall, each frame is crafted from 1 in chromoly steel (CrMo) tubes, and since it's an electric machine , all the space that would otherwise be reserved for an engine, now holds nothing more than a massive battery pack. Standard, each Prime is equipped with a 42 Ah battery, but an upgrade is available that bumps the battery capacity up to 65 Ah. Be sure to dish out a few extra bucks for this upgrade. With the base battery, the manufacturer brags about a range that exceeds 60 mi (96.5 km). That's almost twice the distance the average American drives in a single day.Range and battery aside, let's dive into this thing's power. If you look closely at the Prime, you'll notice another component housed in that "engine compartment," a motor. You can see it at the bottom of the frame, right behind the footpegs. Do you see what I'm talking about? Well, you're looking at a 3brushless motor with mid-mounted drive functionality, with a 14T front cog pulling a chain through a 58T rear cog. It's not clear just how much torque this puppy can squeeze out , but apparently, it's enough for hill climbs. Best of all, it can hit a max speed of 55 mph (88.5 kph).But, there is a catch here, and one that can be proven to be useful. If you're a rider that doesn't have a motorcycle license, you'll be riding along at speeds upwards of 28 mph (45 kph) only! While that may seem like a downside, if you're at a stage where you're looking to learn how to ride a bike, it comes across as a perfect fit for this purpose. Best of all, once you finally get that license, Prime will be there, waiting to deliver more power and speed. Then again, what Mama doesn't know can't hurt her; I think you know what I'm talking about here. Considering three ride modes are available, it's quite easy to shift down and get your story straight in the process Another essential aspect to consider about the Prime is its suspension. As standard, we're looking at a front fork with 8 in (20 cm) of suspension and, at the rear, another 6 in (15 cm) of plushness for your bottom. Terra Bikes even goes so far as to mention that Prime is a beast forged in the mountains of Colorado, so you can be sure that it's going to perform. Speaking of performance, this machine operates with DOT-approved lights and indicators. In short, it's all road-legal, baby! The rest of Prime is completed with an LCD display and even USB connectors to recharge your smartphone on the go.Finally, let's take a look at another crucial aspect of any e-motorcycle that pops up on the market these days, styling. You heard me mention the word scrambler earlier, and all that's more than clear. The "gas tank" comes across as boasting a rather modern look and blends beautifully into a long leather saddle, while the headlamp does a wonderful job of completing the picture. The tube framing also helps sustain the scrambler feeling. But the wheels are out of place. Considering this bike's birthplace, and the need for ground clearance, it makes sense to see what we do.Now, I understand it's impossible to figure out just what this machine may feel like to ride from where you're standing. Suppose you want to take things further. In that case, you need to dish out a $250 reserve deposit and hang on tight until Terra Bikes throws your machine into the build cue , at which time you'll need to pay up the remaining difference. What if you don't like what you get? I guess we'll find out. Or, you can always wait to see other folks riding these babies around town and hope for a test drive. Something to think about for this year's rides. And the set that came out is absolutely fantastic, completely epitomizing the entire culture associated with these ostentatious rides. Where lowriders have their roots with Latin-American youths who want to express their creativity, LEGO does the same, with this build being a great example.But creativity is not the only thing this set has going for it, as the quality of the design screams passion. Everything seems to be oozing with details, from features to functionality and even the choice of vehicle for this unique display set.And it all starts with the car itself, which, although not based on any specific vehicle , screams the 60s from the top of its lungs. It's also wild and wacky, with a pink paint job and a pair of horns as a hood ornament. Add to that the rocket-like tail lights and a mock-up brown leather soft top, and this is precisely the kind of vibe that's needed for a set like this, making it unique and fascinating.Then there are the funky minifigures on the baseplate. There's the driver, who has a mullet, joined by a guy with a boombox, and another spectator dressed in a flannel plaid shirt, which is almost synonymous with the LA rap scene, just like Lowriders.But form is nothing without function, and this LEGO set is meant to do more than just be thrown onto a shelf for display and forgotten about. The LEGO Ideas user designed it to be played with and enjoyed by both kids and adults.The build process is meant to be enjoyable and teach kids how simple mechanisms work. And the result of having fun and learning a lesson is getting a Lowrider LEGO sets that actually works. There is a hand-cranked mechanism at the back of the baseplate that, combined with the car's suspension, can make this Lowrider jump up and down. On top of that, the baseplate itself is part of the build, acting as scenery with a bit of road and two streetlights.Granted, that's not LEGO Technic levels of functionality, but this is a tiny yet sleek set that aims to bring some funk to your collection. It's meant to spark creativity and self-expression among LEGO enthusiasts of all ages and bring to light an extremely colorful part of car culture. Considering how unique this set is and what it stands for, it's definitely worth showing some support In China, for example, the partnership with a local software company makes more sense for Volkswagen, especially given the sometimes aggressive push for domestic solutions in the auto world and in every little side of the industry.As such, the German carmaker reportedly decided to team up with none other than Huawei, so HarmonyOS will be the operating system powering Volkswagen cars sold in China.At some level, the decision is fairly surprising for a global carmaker like Volkswagen, but on the other hand, it makes perfect sense for its Chinese strategy.Huawei's legal nightmare started in May 2019 when the United States government decided to ban the company from using any type of solution owned by American companies. Due to the sanctions, Huawei was forced to abandon key software and hardware products from its products, including Android.At that point, Huawei was one of the world's leading phone makers, planning to become the number one company in the industry in the long term. Android was the operating system powering its devices worldwide.Once the sanctions gained more traction and other governments across the world also adopted them, Huawei had no other option than to start the development of in-house solutions supposed to replace everything ever touched by an American company. HarmonyOS became the all-in-one platform supposed to replace Android and power a wide array of devices, including vehicles. Huawei developed its own set of alternatives to Google services, such as Petal Maps to replace Google Maps.Huawei's strategy focused mostly on China, as its international expansion continued to be blocked by the U.S. sanctions. Eventually, it became a top software supplier for the local automotive industry and is now catching the attention of bigger names, including Volkswagen.This doesnt necessarily mean Huawei isn't aiming to rebecome a global player in the mobile automotive market, especially as its rivals in the tech world keep expanding their businesses to new sectors. Apple and Xiaomi are living proof in this regard, as both are currently working on their own vehicles.Xiaomi will unveil its car first, as the company plans to take the wraps off an electric vehicle in 2024. Apple will follow in its footsteps in 2025, though the iPhone maker will likely stick with a more conventional approach than originally planned. A second Apple Car could launch with full self-driving capabilities later this decade, but the plan could always change if something doesnt go as planned.Apple has so far remained completely tight-lipped on everything, with official confirmation expected this year or in 2024. We've had this bike around, in its current incarnation , since 2021. It was unleashed by the Milwaukee company as a means for it to create the Sport category of bikes that now also includes the two Nightsters, and return to a segment it ignored for a while.That means the bike has been on the market for the past two years, and in the motorcycle industry two years is more than enough time for a model to become a solid base of custom crews. To be fair, we've already lost track of how many custom Sportsters we've seen, but we can safely claim we'll never get tired of them.The latest such proposition comes from Lithuania, where a custom crew going by the name Killer Custom activates. These guys are first and foremost makers of custom parts for Harley-Davidsons, but not long ago they ventured into assembling their own rides for everyone to see.Killer's portfolio doesnt comprise more than six motorcycles at the moment, but each of them is special in its own way. And they all have something interesting in common: they are not at all expensive builds.The two Killer rides we've already discussed, the Rebel Boy and Black Mustang, both wear custom bits that are not worth more than 5,000 euros. That's about $5,400 at today's exchange rates, and a literal bargain compared to what else is out there.True, Killer Custom leaves the most expensive parts stock (things like the wheels and exhaust system), and that surely helps in keeping prices down. But a custom bike that wears just 1,800 euros ($1,900) worth of custom bits and still looks amazing is something we almost never come across.Yet here it is, a custom Sportster S , short and stubby as we know it, yet much more aggressively visible than the regular variant. And that look was achieved solely by means of custom graphics with a lot of orange, loads of custom covers, a new front fender, and the fitting of a fairing over the headlight.What it means is that, in essence, one can achieve the looks you see here for as little as under $20,000. That amount includes the $16,399 Harley is asking for a brand new, 2023 Sportster S, the $1,900 for parts as seen on the Orange Bullet, and pay for a few man-hours.Not at all expensive for a great bike with a custom look, meant to make it stand out in a gathering of similar rides, don't you think? 21 May 2023 12:30 (UTC+04:00) By Akbar Hasanov US President Joe Biden sent a congratulatory letter to the head of our state, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of May 28 - Independence Day. And in this letter, not only its fact is important, but also a number of conceptual points that you should pay special attention to in order to understand the essence of the message of the head of the American state. "The partnership between Azerbaijan and the United States has ensured development in the region. Together we fight terrorism, take measures against drug trafficking and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction," Biden said in a letter. And this is a very subtle and clear message. To whom? First of all, Iran. To be convinced of this, it suffices to recall the March statement by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, made during a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Azerbaijan has a long border with Iran, which needs to be protected," he said then, arguing for the suspension of Article 907 and the US military assistance to Azerbaijan. This statement by Blinken proved the understanding of the importance of Azerbaijan in the United States and was bad news for both Armenia and Iran. And now, we have seen that exactly the same is said in the congratulatory letter sent by Joe Biden. Yes, he did not openly mention Iran, but according to various estimates, the IRGC and its affiliated companies control between a third and a half of Iran's economy. And, what is especially important in this context, the IRGC also has huge incomes from drug trafficking. According to the information we have, the IRGC established a warehouse for the storage and transit of drugs in the Jabrayil region of Azerbaijan during the period of the Armenian occupation of these territories. For many years, it was to this warehouse that members of the international drug traffic brought drugs. All this is probably known in the United States. They also know that Azerbaijan demonstrates an example of a competent and truly independent foreign policy, which was reflected in the opening of our country's embassy in Israel, in the development of relations with the Jewish state. Plus, the United States is well aware of the fact that Iran, which is under US sanctions, is comprehensively developing relations with Armenia. And this fact not only nullifies any arguments about any possibility for Armenia to follow the path of developing relations with the United States and with the West in general. This fact clearly hints that Armenia can be involved in Iranian projects to spread drugs in the world. Let me remind you that recently the Italian financial guard found 2,734 kilograms of cocaine in containers in the port of Gioia Tauro (Calabria). The cargo was heading from Ecuador to Armenia through the Georgian Batumi, and the narcotic substance was hidden in boxes with bananas. Armenian experts have already calculated that the total turnover of drugs in Armenia has reached about 4 tons, which is about $1 billion. They emphasize that this process is "protected" by the Armenian authorities. Accordingly, at a time when US President Biden emphasizes the crucial role of Azerbaijan in curbing drug trafficking in the world, Iran and Armenia, on the contrary, are helping to deepen this problem and profit from drug trafficking. There is another important point in Biden's letter to the head of our state, Ilham Aliyev. "During Russia's brutal war against the Ukrainian people, we were together in ensuring the energy security of Europe," the letter says. Azerbaijan has always openly, clearly, loudly declared its support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Moreover, the other day the visit of Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Olena Kondratyuk took place in Baku. While in Baku, she repeatedly expressed her gratitude to Azerbaijan, which from the first days of the war provided Ukraine with assistance - about $ 20 million in various humanitarian aspects: food, medicine, medical equipment, generators, transformers and other types of support. In addition, assistance is provided in the field of rehabilitation - Azerbaijan received 87 children last year for rehabilitation. Let me also remind you that since the first days of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the SOCAR representative office in Ukraine has taken important measures in support of Ukraine. In particular, more than 200,000 liters of fuel were donated to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. All this, of course, is seen and appreciated not only in Ukraine, but also in the United States. The United States also notes the most important role of Azerbaijan in ensuring the energy security of Europe. This is what strengthens the position of our state in the world, proving Azerbaijan's readiness and ability to pursue a truly independent foreign policy. This is especially evident against the backdrop of news about how Armenia is helping Russia avoid Western sanctions, for which sanctions are already being imposed against Armenian companies. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 10:40 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan's Economic Zones Development Agency and the industrial cluster of Russia's Tatarstan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC), Azernews reports. According to the agency, the MoC was signed within the framework of the international "Russia Halal Expo" exhibition in Russian Kazan. The document provides for establishment of cooperation relations between entrepreneurs of the two countries and supports the development of entrepreneurship, the implementation of joint projects in the field of industry, the organization of business trips, as well as joint development of projects of mutual interest. The memorandum was signed by Chairman of the Executive Board of Economic Zones Development Agency and Chairman of the Board of the Tatarstan Mechanical Engineering Cluster Sergey Mayorov. The international "Russia Halal Expo" exhibition is organized within the framework of the 14th International Economic Forum, Russia-Islamic World: KazanForum. The purpose of the two-day exhibition is to support manufacturers from the CIS and other countries in presenting their halal products and services, and to help buyers and sellers with finding new markets and reliable suppliers. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Is the United States Moving Its Capital to Jerusalem? American Politicians flock to Israel while dismembering the US Constitution in deference to Jewish power By Philip Giraldi May 20, 2023: Information Clearing House -- It would seem that American politicians and media think that the entire world should rightly conform to the marching orders emanating from Washington, even though that pretense has become a bit shopworn after more than twenty years of pointless wars initiated and sustained by a serious of clueless presidents and Congress. Increasingly, the international community is looking for a way out of the tight embrace offered by the White House, a growing sense that a multipolar world would be much better than rule of law dictated by any self-proclaimed superpower. Recently there have been indications that rather than Washington being the center of the universe that title should rightly belong to Jerusalem as an extremist-led Israel has demonstrated its power over the self-anointed idiots who fancy themselves to be the leaders of the United States of America. Why do I think that? I truly believe that there have been several interactions lately involving US politicians and the Israelis that illustrate just how ignorant and self-absorbed Americas governing class actually is. The most egregious example of the wag the dog syndrome whereby Israel says jump and the fawning American government representatives beg to ask How high? comes from none other the newly appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who spoke before the Israeli Knesset on May 1st. McCarthy made it a point to flatter his Israeli hosts by emphasizing that traveling to Israel was his first foreign trip as speaker, underlining the value of the relationship, and observing that he was also only the second speaker invited to make the trip to the Jewish state to address the Knesset. Click to Support Independent Journalism McCarthy was accompanied by the usual cast of congressional toadies who flock to Israel during every recess. The group was bipartisan and included the loathsome Steny Hoyer of Maryland who has made and even led the groveling entourage more than twenty times. The ambition-driven McCarthy, who has never been accused of having a great deal of brain power, delivered a predictable speech that produced the pro forma standing ovations from the audience, but I would call attention to one part of it in particular where he said the following: This is the foundation of our special relationship: We are the only two countries in history that were conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that we are all equal. Our values are your values. Our heritage is your heritage. Our dreams are your dreams. America is grateful for our friendship with Israel. We are a better nation because of it. And we must never shy away from defending it As long as I am speaker, America will continue to support fully funding for security assistance in Israel. Nearly every line in this part of the McCarthy speech is basically either an out-and-out lie or a twisting of reality to such an extent that it is incomprehensible. Palestine, by the way, was not mentioned by McCarthy, but how Israel can claim to be conceived in liberty with the proposition that we are all equal when it has been engaged in genocide and expulsion as well as government endorsed violence directed against its Christian and Muslim subject population? And if American and Israeli values are identical, can we expect in the US different laws based on religion. And our common heritage? Israeli Jews claim to be chosen, dont they? And finally, how on earth does McCarthy claim that the United States is a better nation because of its ties to Israel? It is ridiculous and insulting, but it leads to the punchline that McCarthy is making an unconstitutional pledge to defend Israel, no matter what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his band of criminals do, presumably to include attacking Iran. McCarthy should be impeached. Or even better he should magically become a Palestinian and spend a couple of months under the Israeli occupation. He might change his tune. McCarthy continued his exaltation of Israel campaign after his return to Washington. On May 9th, he blocked an effort by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to host a gathering at the Capitol Visitor Center that would have included least nine groups for an event entitled Nakba 75 and the Palestinian People. Nakba in the title of Tlaibs canceled event is the Arabic word for catastrophe, which would have meant the speakers would be describing the founding of the state of Israel as a catastrophe for the Arab inhabitants of historic Palestine, which it was with hundreds of thousands left homeless, many winding up in refugee camps. McCarthy announced in a message that he was shutting down the event, tweeting that This event in the US Capitol is canceled. Instead, I will host a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the US-Israel relationship. McCarthy announcement was in response to a letter from Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to him which said ADL had concerns that some of the organizers of the Nakba event have a record of rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel, as well as dangerous stereotypes about Israels supporters. Apparently free speech relating to a historic event is not even allowed to congressmen in todays Zionist-occupied America. If more evidence of the slime that is at the heart of the American political class is needed, I would cite another event which took place in Jerusalem on April 27th as both shameful and a disgrace. And no I am not referring to the Israeli police and army shooting dead more Palestinian teenagers on and around that date before stealing their family homes and destroying their livelihoods. I am referring to Floridas governor and presidential aspirant Ron DeSantiss groveling performance in bowing to Jewish power and money during his own trip to Israel. His abhorrent crawling before his masters culminated in his signing a new state law that will inter alia exploit the hate mechanism to criminalize nearly all criticism or even skepticism regarding Israeli apartheid, of the co-called holocaust narrative, or of the behavior of Jewish groups and individuals. At the signing, DeSantis boasted how We are doing what we can do in Florida to enhance the ability to hold people accountable when that really crosses the line into threatening conduct. We are fighting back. He also made clear that the legislation was as much about Israel as about Judaism, arguing that rejecting Israels right to exist is antisemitism and adding that the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is DOA in his state. He also bizarrely described Irans pursuit of nuclear weapons as an existential threat to the state of Israel and to the United States of America. Perhaps DeSantis should have checked with the CIA and even Mossad before commenting on Iran as both have confirmed that the Iranians do not currently have a nuclear weapons program. Unsurprisingly DeSantis claims that Florida is the most Israel-friendly state in the country and as long as Im Governor, we will continue to stand with the Jewish community. In that he is no doubt correct. Twenty-six other states have penalized anyone seeking to either boycott Israel or promote doing so, sometimes to include denial of government jobs or benefits, but there is no doubt that Florida is currently number one in its deference to the Jewish state and its claimed interests. The bill (HB 269/SB 994), which passed unanimously in both chambers of the Florida legislature, attempts to criminalize what it perceives as anti-Semitism. Even though its language avoids identifying Jews as the protected class, the clear intent of the document is to do just that. It accomplishes that by transforming what would have once been seen as trivial incidents into hate crimes, which are felonies. It includes to litter a yard with a flier, harass people, disrupt schools or religious services, deface graves and certain buildings, or project images on someone elses property as possible actions rendered felonious based on racial or ethnic prejudice, making them hate crimes. It might mean, for example, that if someone laughs at another persons clothes and if the attire is considered ethnic or religious that person can be arrested and charged with a third-degree felony as a hate crime. Or if a student in a college history class disputes the standard largely fabricated narrative relating to the founding of Israel, a Jewish student can feign distress and demand that the offender be arrested. One of the bills co-sponsors State Representative Randy Fine, who was present at the signing in Jerusalem, explained how There is no First Amendment right to conduct. If you graffiti a building, it is a crime now, but if your motivation is hate, it will be a third-degree felony and you will spend five years in prison. If you want to litter, its a crime right now, but if you litter and your motivation is a hate crime, it will be a third-degree felony and you will spend 5 years in jail. After the bill passed the Senate, Fine tweeted that the bill was the strongest antisemitism bill in the United States adding To Floridas Nazi thugs, I have news: attack Jews on their property and youre going to prison. Never again means never again. Another co-sponsor Mike Caruso warned If we do nothing, we are going to have 1933s Nazi Germany all over again. DeSantis, who is seeking Jewish money and media support for his run at the presidency, turned in something of a repeat performance of his inaugural trip to Israel back in 2019. At that time, he boasted, like Kevin McCarthy, that his first foreign trip was to good friend and perpetual ally Israel. He took his entire gubernatorial cabinet with him to celebrate his election and theatrically signed an earlier bill (HB 741) in Jerusalem that sought to criminalize ordinary political speech by making religion as a protected class similar to racism to be included in hate crime legislation. The new designation specifically included attempts to demonize Israel. The Florida bill also included the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, similar to that which is favored by the office of the US Department of States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, maintaining that anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jewish people, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jewish people, rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism directed toward a person, his or her property, or toward Jewish community institutions or religious facilities. Under the bill, the BDS movement was defined as a terrorist hate group no different than the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) or the Islamic State in Syria (ISIS), which at that time prompted some civil libertarians to question if criticism of the behavior of the Jewish state could be deliberately mischaracterized as being an anti-Semitic hate crime that should or might be construed as criticism of the Jewish people and their religion. HB 741 amended Floridas hate crime statute to include such antisemitic acts as: Calling for, aiding, or justifying violence against Jews. Alleging myths about a world Jewish conspiracy or that Jews control the media, economy, government, or other institutions. Accusing Jewish people as a whole of being responsible for real or imaginary wrongdoing by a single Jewish person, group, or the state of Israel, or for acts of non-Jews. Accusing the Jewish people of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust. Accusing Jewish citizens of countries other than Israel of being more loyal to Israel than their own nations. Demonizing, applying a double standard to, or delegitimizing Israel. DeSantis has long nurtured political ambitions and, recognizing the power and wealth of those who are passionate about Israel, he harbors a particular sensitivity to Jewish and Israel issues as a means to help him move onwards and upwards. When he was a congressman, survivors from the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American seamen who lived in his district in Florida report that they sought to meet with him to discuss the possibility of opening a new inquiry into the incident. Even though DeSantis is a former Navy officer, he refused to meet with them. The power of international Jewry has been most observable in the largely successful attempts to silence criticism of Israel by making such activity describable as motivated by anti-Semitism. Former Israeli government minister Shulamit Aloni has even described the practice of labeling all critics as anti-Semites as Its a trick. We always use itthe suffering of the Jewish people is routinely used to justify everything we do to the Palestinians. A number of European countries have also criminalized what is described as holocaust denial and in Germany and France have imprisoned those who violate the laws, even when that denial only consists of questioning some of the facts that are employed in the standard accepted narrative of the event. The most recent country to climb onto the hate speech express is Ireland, where new legislation is being considered by the countrys parliament. Interestingly, the debate over what one is allowed to say without criminally offending someone else has largely focused on transexuals and gender identity, but it has also been observed that the law would impact on supporters of the Palestinian cause who would perforce criticize Israel, the Jewish state. That might easily be construed as anti-Semitism and lead to heavy fines or even prison time. Interestingly, the bill even criminalizes the mere possession of material considered to be hateful. In any event, the domestic war dedicated to stamping out what is referred to as anti-Semitism continues and grows in the United States, even when it is trivial, largely imaginary, or even fabricated by hate groups like the ADL headed by the hideous Jonathan Greenblatt. And if free speech and honest inquiry have to be sacrificed along the way, so be it. On May 10th the Biden Administration used its United Nations Security Council veto to block a report on Israels war crimes in targeting civilians while bombing Gaza, which has killed 25 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Unsurprisingly, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan responded to the development by declaring their unwavering support for Israels right to defend itself. Clearly, for the vast majority of politicians in Washington and even at the states level, allegiance and subservience to Israel and its interests are more important than protecting constitutional rights or managing a sane and responsible foreign policy. One wonders whether Ron DeSantis, if elected president in 2024, just might hold his inauguration in Jerusalem, just as he did when he became governor. It would actually be something of a relief at last the ultimate acknowledgement of who is really in charge back here in America. Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org. 21 May 2023 11:10 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijani MPs Fazail Aghamali and Jala Aliyeva will attend the commission meetings of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS) in St Petersburg, the Russian Federation, Azernews reports. MP Fazail Aghamali will participate in the meeting of the CIS IPA Standing Commission for State-Building and Study of Local Self-Government Experience. The meeting will feature discussions on ensuring and protecting the state's electoral sovereignty, observing electronic voting, the activities of local self-government bodies on ensuring and protecting the rights of citizens in the digital environment, implementing the state's environmental policy at the local level, and others. MP Jala Aliyeva will join the meeting of the CIS IPA Standing Commission for Agrarian Policy, Natural Resources and Environment. The participants of the meeting will consider a number of draft model laws, including the draft concept of the model law On organic agriculture, On atmospheric air protection, On soil protection, On environmental monitoring and other issues. The visits will run until May 25. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 12:55 (UTC+04:00) The Azerbaijani delegation including Milli Majlis members and Azerbaijans mission to NATO has attended the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Luxembourg, Azernews reports. The event brings together delegations from 31 NATO member states, as well as delegations of partner countries. The session features discussions on developments in Ukraine, re-shaping of transatlantic economic relations and sustainability, food and energy security, conflicts and other topics. The session is scheduled to be held on May 19-22. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 13:25 (UTC+04:00) A delegation led by Chairman of Azerbaijans Food Safety Agency Goshgar Tahmazli, who is visiting France to attend the 90th Annual General Session of the World Assembly of Delegates of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), has met with a Qatari delegation led by Minister of Municipality and Environment Abdulla bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, Azernews reports. During the meeting, the Azerbaijani side provided insight into the institutional reforms carried out in the country as well as the formation of a unified food safety system, and the mission and activities of the agency established for that purpose. Tahmazli noted that significant work is underway in Azerbaijan to ensure food safety and provide people with healthy and safe food products. Qatar`s Minister of Municipality and Environment Abdulla bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie hailed the activity of the unified agency for food safety control in place in Azerbaijan as well as the results achieved, emphasizing the importance of exchanging experience in this field with Qatar in the future. The meeting also saw discussions on the issues concerning the agreement of veterinary certificates, export procedures for animal products, implementation of cooperation on products with export potential as well as exchange of electronic certificates in the near future. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 15:10 (UTC+04:00) President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva have sent a letter of condolence to former President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus. The letter says: It is with deep grief that we have received the news of passing away of your wife, dear friend Alma Adamkiene. We share your sorrow over this grievous loss, and extend our deep condolences to You, all your family members and wish patience. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 08:00 (UTC+04:00) Tatarstan's head of state Rustem Minnihanov said Russia's relations with the Islamic world are gaining special importance with the growing share of international trade, Azernews reports, citing foreign media outlet. Speaking at the plenary session of the 14th International Economic Forum "Russia the Islamic World: KazanForum" held in Tatarstans capital city of Kazan, Minnihanov said "against the backdrop of cardinal shifts in the international arena and the big challenges for our country, relations with the Islamic world are gaining special importance." Minnihanov reiterated close ties between Russia and Muslim countries and pointed to Russia's intention to become a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC). "Today Russia is an observer of the OIC and the organization itself is the most important state institution of the Islamic worldRussia is striving to strengthen the comprehensive cooperation with member countries of OIC, respecting their public and political structure and spiritual values," he said. Since 2009, Kazan Forum, of which Anadolu is the global communication partner, enables the participating countries to discuss issues of cooperation and the implementation of joint projects, to strengthen trade, economic, scientific, technical, social and cultural ties between the regions of Russia and the countries of the OIC. Minnihanov said the forum creates platforms for new models of business interaction, "which decreases the technological vulnerability of every country." Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Friday also highlighted the "significant role" of Russian Muslims in expanding his countrys international contacts and said Russia is seeking new partners to promote agricultural and industrial cooperation, and create transport and logistics chains. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 07:30 (UTC+04:00) Moscow has prohibited entry to Russia for 500 US citizens, including former President Barack Obama, Azernews reports, citing foreign media outlets. The Russian Foreign Ministry published the list on Friday, saying the decision was made in response to a new package of anti-Russian sanctions, announced by the White House on May 19. "In response to the anti-Russian sanctions, regularly introduced by (President) Joe Biden's administration, which are designed, according to Washington's plan, to cause maximum damage to Russia, personally affecting officials and ordinary citizens of our country, as a countermeasure, the entry into the Russian Federation is closed for 500 Americans," the ministry said. The ministry noted that the list includes current heads of various levels of executive power, ex-officials, lawmakers elected for the first time in November 2022, public figures, and heads of companies supplying weapons to Ukraine. In addition, Moscow blacklisted people in government and law enforcement agencies "who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called 'Capitol Attack'." The diplomatic service also announced that it once again declined the request of the US Embassy in Moscow to visit journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, in response to Washington's decision to reject applications for US visas of Russian journalists, who were going to accompany Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during his trip to the UN headquarters in April. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 18:30 (UTC+04:00) President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov proposed to continue work on the implementation of new projects related to the supply of Turkmen natural gas to China, Azernews reports with reference to the Turkmen media. The head of state said this while speaking at the first Central Asia-China Summit, which is being held on May 18 through 19, 2023 in the Chinese city of Xi'an. According to him, one of the main areas of economic partnership between the Central Asian countries and China is the fuel and energy sector. He noted that taking into account Turkmenistan's energy policy based on the diversification of supplies of Turkmen energy resources to international markets and in case of interest of the parties, the country could continue to work on the implementation of new projects related to the supply of Turkmen natural gas in the Chinese direction. Furthermore, Berdimuhamedov stressed that a real and positive example of concrete cooperation in this area is the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, thanks to which Chinese partners are currently developing their industry, meeting the needs of the Chinese population in natural gas. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2023 19:20 (UTC+04:00) Kazakhstan plans to increase the production capacity of Shymkent Oil Refinery from 6 million tons to 12 million tons per year, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the Central Asia-China Summit in Xi'an, Azernews reports via the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan. He noted that there are significant reserves for cooperation in the energy sector, in particular in the oil and gas sector. "Due to the increase in the consumption of petroleum products, it is also planned to increase the production capacity of the Shymkent Oil Refinery from 6 to 12 million tons per year. The priority direction for Kazakhstan is also the development of gas processing capacities and the gas transportation system," the president added. Moreover, he also said that as part of increasing Kazakh oil exports, the country plans to increase the capacity of the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline. The issues of increasing the capacity of the existing Atyrau-Kenkiyak and Kenkiyak-Kumkol oil pipelines are also on the agenda. "In this regard, the construction of the second line of the Beineu-Bozoy-Shymkent main gas pipeline, as well as the construction of a gas processing plant at the Kashagan field with a capacity of 4 billion cubic meters per year are of great importance to us. We hope for the further support of our Chinese friends in promoting these significant projects on a regional scale," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Robert Price is a reporter for KGET-TV. Reach him at RPrice661@gmail.com or via Twitter: @stubblebuzz. The opinions expressed are his own. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. From left, actor Leonardo Dicaprio, director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro arrive for the screening of the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" during the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, Saturday. AFP-Yonhap Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese were set for a victory lap at Cannes on Sunday after their Native American crime epic, "Killers of the Flower Moon" scored rave reviews, while the festival prepared to bow down before Jude Law as King Henry VIII. Scorsese's latest opus, about a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s, was showered in words like "searing," "triumph" and "masterpiece" by critics who scored the Cannes Film Festival's hottest ticket on Saturday night. Based on a non-fiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio as a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage woman and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle, played by Scorsese's other long-time muse, Robert De Niro. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives "his best-ever performance", while The Guardian awarded five stars for a "remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America." The stars were due to address reporters later on Sunday. But the festival was already set for another glitzy premiere later in the day, with "Firebrand" starring Jude Law as 16th-century English king Henry VIII alongside Alicia Vikander as his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr. American actresses Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore attend the photo call for "May December" at the 76th Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, southern France Sunday, AFP-Yonhap 'Drives me crazy' While Scorsese's Apple-funded film had an out-of-competition slot at the festival, "Firebrand" is in the increasingly close race for its top prize Palme d'Or, to be announced on May 27. Among the entries is Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's new film "May December" which received positive reviews after its Saturday premiere. The tale of a woman who caused a tabloid scandal by marrying a schoolboy and the actress who enters their lives years later to research a role was described as "deliciously campy" by IndieWire. Portman told AFP she liked seeing women "behave in morally ambiguous ways." "It always drives me crazy when people are like, oh, if only women rule the world, it would be a kinder place. No, women are humans and come in all different complexities," she said. Arguably the current favorite for the Palme is British director Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest", a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Critics were near-unanimous in their praise, Variety calling it "chilling and profound." It was partly inspired by a book of the same name by British novelist Martin Amis, who died on Saturday at 73. Also well received was "Four Daughters," a heartbreaking documentary about radicalization within a Tunisian family that is both inventive and engaging. That may go down well with jury president Ruben Ostlund, last year's winner for "Triangle of Sadness", who likes his arthouse films with some lighter touches. A total of 21 films are in the main competition, with entries from past winners Wim Wenders, Ken Loach and Nanni Moretti still to come. Actor Harrison Ford poses for photographers with his honorary Palme d'Or at the photo call for the film "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday. AP-Yonhap After two recesses and four hours of discourse, Kern County officials approved the new system and rates Tuesday for the countys trash collect The Beaufort County Board of Education voted recently to adopt a new math curriculum for Beaufort County schools. It passed 7-2 the all the incumbents voting yes and two newly elected conservatives voting no. Newly elected Gary Carlton voted yes. We were disappointed that the Board of Education adopted the Bridges math curriculum. But even more disappointed that newly elected Gary Carlton voted for the motion. There has been significant evidence produced that the Bridges program in infused with too much wokeism. To our knowledge there has not been a valid field test in any Beaufort County schools and that is shortsighted. No such expensive adoption should be implemented system-wide until some pilot school(s) have used the program for a year or so. That is true no matter what the subject matter is. The Superintendent and staff made very weak presentations of the reasoning for picking this program over some of the others approved by the State Board of Education. Such decisions should be research-based and not simply because a particular group advocated for it. We wanted to see a comprehensive plan for improving student performance in math, including the curriculum, but also the relative cost of various programs, including the cost of staff development, including the number of days teachers will be pulled out of their classrooms for such staff development. Such was not presented by the Superintendent. At a minimum he should have proposed testing the new curriculum in three classrooms using the Bridges program with results compared to the scores in an equal number of control groups. As is, they are proposing to spend nearly a half million dollars without a rational evaluation of how effective this program might be in Beaufort County. We really need a better curriculum review and adoption process. It is the duty of the Superintendent and his staff to develop this and present it to the School Board with adequate provision for public input. Therefore, we hope the board will reconsider its action which passed 7 to 2 and delay full implementation until the pilot results are in. The bottom line is that Bridges is another radical left-wing wokeism program that is loaded with CRT, social justice and ESL (emotional, social learning). Our school board should be vigilant to keep this wokeism out of our schools. Right away, those of us with common sense, could see a lot of red flags flying high. We are talking about the teaching of mathematics in the public schools, grades one thru five. Let us distinguish between what public school students need for mathematics and that of a theoretical physicist. The skill set of mathematics required by the general public encompasses principles developed during the past 5,000 years. This does not include calculus, differential equations and math theory. These subjects are usually taught from the junior of year of college thru the masters and PhD programs. A well educated public school graduate should be able to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions and percentages. The Real Basics. Unless mastered, or until mastered, a student should not be promoted to the next level nor have their time consumed learning concepts other that the Basics. Those who demonstrate mastery of the basic concepts could be exposed to algebra, plane geometry, trigonometry, and coordinate geometry. They could balance a check book and understand the benefits and downside of compound interest. The basics of these parts of mathematics have been in use for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. So, how do we get intervention into a math program? Why do we need intervention? The Bridges web site explains it. It says things like: We need a framework for Equity in the Mathematics Classroom. The words equitable mathematics instruction are used several times. Another statement used in the discussion by Bridges personnel includes .systemic racism, systemic oppression and privilege, and ways in which mathematics can disrupt those systemic issues Talk like this has no place in mathematics education and no place in public K-12 education at all. Back to everyday mathematics, if the basics of mathematics have been in place for hundreds of years, should not mathematics books for use in the public schools be useful and used until the covers fall off? It is incredible to us that no one asked, What is wrong with the text books we are now using.? The same is true of grammar, history, art, biology and science books. We understand the argument about keeping up with the latest information. To that we say; Unless you know the basics and the history of the subject, the latest information has no intellectual value. We believe there is no need for these canned curriculums in public school education. Any teacher should be able to prepare lessons to teach to the intent of the State Standard Course of Study within their major or minor course of study if they are competent to teach. Considering what the university systems are turning out and calling educated, there may be problems in the university system. It is the job of the principals and superintendents to make sure their teachers are competent. With the time lost to Covid and the culture in each community, a one size fits all program can not be created. There is not time for Woke indoctrination to be included in any class being taught today. If a teacher teaches ten minutes of diversity that is 10 minutes that can never be applied to basic understanding of fundamental math. In order to bring our students up to grade level, we will need basics taught that they can build on, and math presented at a level that the parents can assist those that are behind. Common Core has proved to be a failure and the infiltration of Socialism and Gender neutrality has set our entire school system back several years. We need common sense leadership and this seems to be lacking on our school board and in our administration. During the Board discussion it was admitted that there were elements of common core and critical race theory in the Bridges books. Some genius made the statement that teachers did not have to use these woke teachings, they could just go around them. Sounds like eating road kill, just eat around the tire track. The concept of canned curriculums in public education is a recent invention. It originated from the minds of those who want to dominate, control and indoctrinate the public to socialism and communism. Canned curriculums did not come from open minded, free speech people who understand that the major part of education involves student exposure to principles, practices, and accurate history so he could analyze and question both his and others beliefs. Canned curriculums are full of woke teachings, that divide us as individuals. Canned curriculums force students to believe that we are all NOT created equal. This is precisely what the socialists and communists want us to believe. They, then, have an excuse for the government to address whatever the feeling of fake unfairness may be. Gary Carltons vote is a disappointment and a setback to the conservative movement on the school board. Several people testified that Carlton was firmly set to vote against the Bridges Intervention purchase up to two days before the School Board Meeting. Who got to him? Was he faking us out all the time? Is Gary Carlton one of those people who are influenced by the last person he talked to before he votes. If Carlton made an honest mistake, he has a way to make things right. As a person who voted for the prevailing motion, he can make a motion for the issue to be voted again (Motion To Reconsider). He can then vote correctly and regain his reputation. The social studies curriculum is still on the table, awaiting some major decisions about that. You will see this disease of wokeism raise its ugly head in that debate. If you have contact with Mr. Carlton urge him to hold the line against wokeism and get our students focused on the basics. We offer him these facilities for him to explain his reasoning for his vote on Bridges. He voted contrary to the way an overwhelming majority of people who voted for him would have voted and he owes them an explanation. There is a lot of work to be done in our public school system. To that end, people with strong character, a knowledge of the Constitution of the United States, the State of North Carolina and the Bill of Rights are needed to run for election in the 2024 elections. There are five seats open. We do not recommend approaching either the Democrat or Republican Parties about running for an office. It is better to approach a political figure you trust or the Beaufort County Conservative Club. For far too long we have not had competitive elections for school board seats. Some of these board members are there simply because nobody ran against them. We need to change that in 2024. Remember this vote on the math curriculum. Those who sold us out are: Gary Carlton, TW Allen, Eltha Booth, Carolyn Walker and Mac Hodges, Terry Williams, and Terry Draper. Allen, Booth, Walker, Hodges and Drapers terms will expire in 2024. To boil all this down, We The People are going to have to stand up to this wokeism nonsense. The most effective way to do this is monitor how each board member votes. Those who do not have the character to fight it should be replaced in the next election. Folks, we do not want to be seen as radical alarmists, but it is clear to us that the future of our nation is at stake in this issue. Public schools are doing a less that satisfactory job of teaching the basic skills. Beaufort County has more students performing below grade level in the basis subjects. If we do not correct this now the problem will grow to the point of no return and we will not be able to stop it. Social theories are fine to be taught in a comparative process at the university level, but they have no place in public classrooms. This is an existential problem for our traditional culture. It is time to put and immediate end to this nonsense and return our school curriculum back to the traditional basics in the core subjects. If we dont do so within a few years it will be too late. The El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors has censured longtime board member Julia Miller following allegations of repeated disrespect toward El Camino Health employees, Mountain View Voice reported. The action took place during a special meeting of the board on May 16. Board members censured Ms. Miller "in the strongest possible terms" for her conduct, according to Mountain View Voice. She also lost her title as board chair and is prohibited from serving on board committees. Additionally, she cannot hold any officer position through the end of her elected term, which expires in November 2024. El Camino Health has two hospitals, one in Mountain View, Calif., and another in Los Gatos, Calif., according to its website. The El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors oversees the assets of the ECHD, including El Camino Hospital. It is separate from the 10-member governing board of El Camino Hospital, which manages El Camino Hospital operations. Ms. Miller was elected for her first term on the ECHD board in 2012, reappointed in September 2016, and re-elected in November 2020. The recent censure of Ms. Miller follows complaints the hospital received in September and October 2022, which allege that Ms. Miller "engaged in harassing and unprofessional behavior" toward three employees during separate incidents, including at a social event sponsored by the hospital in August 2022, Mountain View Voice reported, citing an investigative summary. The investigation into alleged violations of the board's standards of conduct was conducted by a third party, Arnold & Porter law firm. Findings were released to board members, who discussed the issue during its May 16 meeting. "The investigation found that director Miller communicated in an unprofessional and disrespectful manner," the investigative summary states, according to Mountain View Voice. "This was inconsistent with the district board's standards of conduct requiring directors to 'communicate with respect and behave professionally.'" Allegations that Ms. Miller's behavior toward two of the employees was based on race, age and ethnicity were not substantiated by the investigation. The newspaper reported that Ms. Miller apologized in a letter to board members prior to the May 16 meeting, saying, "I am writing to you individually to express my sincerest apologies for my behavior that was outside the code of conduct ... I am truly sorry. I hope we can move forward for the district and the hospital." Ms. Miller also had the opportunity to respond during the May 16 meeting. According to Mountain View Voice, she said during the meeting, "Yes, I made a mistake. I can guarantee all of you I was not rude, I was not disorderly, there were no inappropriate behaviors." Ms. Miller also submitted letters of support from community members and elected officials ahead of the May 16 meeting, accused fellow board members of bullying and betrayal, and threatened legal action, the newspaper reported. To read the full Mountain View Voice report, click here. Jamie Dimon, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., speaks during an interview with Reuters in Miami, Florida on Feb. 8. Reuters-Yonhap By Anna J. Park Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., is slated to visit Korea early next month, drawing market attention as to what the most powerful banker in the world might do during his visit. According to the investment banking industry and media reports, Dimon's itinerary in Korea is expected to start on around June 5 and be short. During the visit, Dimon is expected to meet heads of major financial groups and key institutional investors, to discuss market outlooks of the region and mutual investment projects. JPMorgan has maintained strong networks with the National Pension Service (NPS), one of the world's largest institutional investors, and the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), the country's sovereign wealth fund. Jamie Dimon, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., left, shakes hands with President Yoon Suk Yeol at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Jan. 18. Newsis Made In Chelsea stars Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo can be seen celebrating their marriage with family and friends in a new wedding video. Laing posted the video on his Instagram on Sunday which captures special moments from their lavish second wedding ceremony held in Spain. The couple previously tied in the knot in a smaller ceremony in London last month ahead of the more extravagant celebrations on Saturday. In the short clip, Laing and Habboo can be seen sharing private moments together and getting ready for the big day with their own bridal parties. Habboos wedding dress featured delicate lace sleeves and a bellowing train which she paired with a long veil clipped into a bun hairstyle. Meanwhile, her bridesmaids wore cream dresses in various styles and cuts and carried white bouquets of flowers. Laing donned a traditional black tuxedo for the day and at one point in the video he says: I feel super emotional. The TV star and fellow Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews can also be seen giving speeches during the grand outdoor reception. Later in the video, Laing and Habboo can be seen dancing and laughing with their guests as the sun sets. Alongside the video, Laing wrote: It happened.. To find true Love you must first find a true Friend. What an amazing night. I want to say thank you to all of our family and friends who came and have had to put up with all of our content over the past year He also thanked their wedding planners, their musicians and their videographer for putting the piece together overnight. Also among the celebrity guests were fellow Made In Chelsea stars Sam Thompson and Oliver Proudlock and former Love Islander Zara McDermott. Thompson, who was previously in a relationship with Habboo before she was with Laing, also posted a throwback clip from the reality show to mark the day. In the video he can be seen confronting Laing about dating his ex Habboo, telling him: I wish youd gone and married the girl because at least then Id be like at least it was for something. The clip then cuts to Thompson witnessing Laing and Habboo being declared husband and wife with a proud look on his face. Some things in life are meant to be. Congratulations to you both, and heres to happily ever after, he wrote alongside the post. Laing and Habboo announced their engagement on Instagram in 2021, revealing Laing popped the question at the London hotel where they had their first date. Police are appealing for information following a petrol bomb attack in Newtownards on Saturday. At approximately 10.25pm, police received a report that a petrol bomb had been thrown through the back window of a property in the Talbot Street area. Officers attended however the fire had already been extinguished. A police spokesperson said: Luckily no one was injured in what can only be described as a reckless attack that could have resulted in more serious consequences. This is being treated as arson endangering life with intent and officers are investigating a number of lines of enquiry in relation to the fire. Police have asked anyone with information to contact them via 101. A DUP MLA has accused the Secretary of State of a bullying attitude as he insisted the party will not be pressured into returning to powersharing. Jonathan Buckley said there had been a gang-up from other political parties and a media narrative seeking to blame the DUP for the political impasse in Northern Ireland. It follows a dramatic local government election which has reshaped the political landscape here. Read more At a glance: The story of the election in one table and two charts Sinn Fein emerged as the largest party in local councils for the first time after making large gains across the 11 areas. But the DUP vote also held up strongly, reinforcing its position as the dominant force in unionism by winning 122 seats, the same number as in 2019. Mr Buckley said voters had endorsed his party's position of keeping the powersharing institutions down until concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol are addressed. The Upper Bann MLA said holding the same number of seats had been a "extraordinary result" for the DUP. He said: "We see a bullying attitude from the Secretary of State, a gang-up from other political parties and a media narrative which laid all blame at the DUP's door. "Evidently, the voters have come out and backed the DUP and backed them strongly." Mr Heaton-Harris has been contacted for a response to the comments. Appearing on the BBCs Sunday Politics, Mr Buckley said the DUP wanted to see a return of Stormont, but it needed to be on a "sustainable" basis. He said: "It was the number one issue on our campaign manifesto, to restore devolution on a sustainable and long term basis and that requires nationalist and unionist consent, because it serves nobody's interests if we have stop-start devolution on a short-term basis. "We have stood up to the bullying and bad deals, we have put ourselves forward to get a fair and balanced outcome that can restore devolution on a long-term and sustainable basis. As long as it takes, it's about getting it right." Mr Heaton-Harris congratulated the new councillors, and also called for the restoration of the Executive. He said: Stable and accountable local government is the best way of delivering on the issues that matter most to the people of Northern Ireland. Alongside the new councils, it remains my hope to see the Assembly and Executive return to work, as laid out in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. "I remain in close contact with the parties and will continue to do everything I can to facilitate the restoration of the Executive. With all 462 council seats filled, Sinn Fein emerged with 144 seats, an increase of 39 from the last council election in 2019. The republican party has also replicated its result in the Assembly election last year when it became the largest party at Stormont. Sinn Fein emerges as largest party at end of marathon council elections count Mr Finucane said voters delivered a message that they wanted to see hard-working councillors, but also that they wanted to see a return to powersharing at Stormont. The North Belfast MP told Sunday Politics: "Where we should go now is there should be an acceptance that the people have spoken now twice within the past 12 months. "The voice is getting louder, the British and Irish governments need to pay attention to that voice and they need now to take action to prioritise the restoration of our Assembly." He added: "The British and Irish governments need to realise they are guarantors of an agreement and they need to play an active role in getting the Assembly back up without delay because the people that we are here to represent do not have the luxury of time." Alliance MLA Eoin Tennyson said it had been a fantastic election for his party and said the message was that the Assembly must return. He said: "Almost 75% of people who cast their first preference votes voted for parties who want to get back to work and I think it is time the DUP reflect on that, listen to what the public are telling them and move on. "What people want is the Assembly restored and delivering for them, that needs to happen on Monday morning." Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says unionism must take long, hard look at elections strategy despite strong DUP performance Counting continues at Belfast City Hall on day two for the Belfast City Council as part of the Northern Ireland Council elections (Presseye). Counting continues at Belfast City Hall on day two for the Belfast City Council as part of the Northern Ireland Council elections. (Press Eye) Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle ONeill (left) and President Mary Lou McDonald at Belfast City Hall as the results come in for the Northern Ireland local elections (Liam McBurney/PA) Liam McBurney Derry City and Strabane District Council Mayor, Sandra Duffy who topped the poll and has been re-elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council. Picture Martin McKeown. 20.05.23 DUPs Ruth Brooks (third from right) poses with her husband David Brooks MLA (fifth from right) and supporters after she topped the poll in Titanic at Belfast City Hall during in the Northern Ireland council elections. Liam McBurney/PA Wire Lilian Seenoi Barr becomes the first ever black candidate to be elected in Northern Ireland's council elections (Garrett Hargan) DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson speaking to the media at Belfast City Hall during in the Northern Ireland council elections. (Liam McBurney/PA Wire) Liam McBurney/PA Wire Sinn Feins Michelle ONeill arrives at the Foyle Arena on Saturday where the Derry City and Strabane District Council election count is taking place. Picture Martin McKeown. 20.05.23 The final seats have been declared in the council election, with Sinn Fein emerging as the biggest party for the first time in local government. Counting finished just after midnight, with People Before Profits Michael Collins in Belfast the 462nd and last councillor to be returned. The final tally saw Sinn Fein finish with 144 councillors, up 39 from the last council election in 2019, with the DUP second with 122 (unchanged). Alliance was third with 67 seats (up 14). Michelle O'Neill hailed it as a "momentous" election result for the party. NI council election hub Full results Sinn Fein secured a series of gains across the 11 councils and saw a surge in first preference votes to take 30.9% of the total vote up 7.7% from 2019. Ms ONeill said it followed a "positive campaign" by candidates and activists. She said tonight: Historic change is happening, and Sinn Fein is leading that change right across Ireland. Calling for the return of powersharing at Stormont, she added: The boycott of the Assembly cannot go on and an Executive must be formed. It is time to make politics work for all right across this island. Belfast City Council was the final local authority to declare its results, with Mr Collins elected in the Collin district electoral area at 12.15am on Sunday, holding off the SDLPs Gerard McDonald for the last seat. Read more Just 17 of Belfasts 60 seats now held by unionists Sinn Fein are the largest party at City Hall, with 22 councillors. The DUP have 14, with Alliance third on 11. Sinn Fein are also the largest party in Mid Ulster, Derry and Strabane, Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon and Newry, Mourne and Down. They will also have overall control of Fermanagh and Omagh after winning 21 out of 40 seats. The DUP will be the largest grouping in Lisburn and Castlereagh, Mid and East Antrim, Causeway Coast and Glens and Ards and North Down. They also have the largest number of councillors in Antrim and Newtownabbey. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it was a strong performance in challenging circumstances. He said the partys vote had held up extremely well throughout Northern Ireland. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says his partys vote has held up extremely well throughout Northern Ireland Speaking in Belfast, Sir Jeffrey said unionism had to take a long, hard look at how it manages elections, citing the splintering of the unionist vote and turnout in some unionist heartlands. These are issues that we do need to address and I am happy to sit down with my fellow unionists and examine these issues and look at how greater cooperation can beat a pathway towards more success for unionism in general, he said. But it was a bad election for the UUP and the SDLP, who saw a series of losses across the council areas. The UUP finished with 54 seats (down 21) with the SDLP on 39 (down 20). UUP leader Doug Beattie admitted the election had been brutal for his party at times. Speaking in Bangor, Mr Beattie said they had lost some truly outstanding councillors. 'It was brutal at times' - Doug Beattie reflects on the election results for the UUP You can see it within that difficult result that weve got - and Ive said this is brutal at times - but within that difficult result you can see where we need to go, he said. One of the key things I wanted to do in this election was to get some new faces back into the Ulster Unionist Party as councillors and we are getting it now. He said the UUP had to be representative of the society that we want to vote for us which meant more female, younger members. Meanwhile, Colum Eastwood conceded the SDLP had a "difficult" election and says he takes "responsibility" but stressed he has no plans to leave his position as leader. It was also a bad election for veteran PUP councillor Billy Hutchinson, who became the second party leader to lose his seat in Belfast, following Green Party NI leader Mal O'Hara's failure to get elected. The turnout for the election was 54%. Heres how the count unfolded: The state of the parties in Belfast Less than a third of seats at Belfast City Council are held by unionists after an election that saw Sinn Fein strengthen its position as the biggest party. This was the last of the 11 councils to finish counting, with the final councillor elected just before 12.15am on Sunday morning. Sinn Fein were up by four seats, with 22 councillors returned. Unionism has just 17 of 60 seats in the capital 14 for the DUP, two for the UUP and one for the TUV. The other big story was big losses for the Greens, People Before Profit and the PUP. Green Party NI leader Mal OHara lost his seat on Friday, with PUP leader Billy Hutchinson also failing to get re-elected. They were followed on Saturday with the DUP losing its council group leader George Dorrian. People Before Profits Fiona Ferguson also failed to make it over the line on Saturday, after colleague Matt Collins lost his seat on Friday night. Michael Collins is now the partys only representative at City Hall, and was the last of Northern Irelands 462 councillors to be elected. Sinn Fein end up gaining four seats compared to 2019s council poll, followed by the DUP with Alliance taking 11 seats, an increase of one seat from 2019. The SDLP lost one seat, leaving the party with five Belfast councillors. One independent councillor and one TUV councillor were elected. Full Belfast results across 10 wards The state of the parties in Belfast With Anthony Flynn and Aine Groogan elected on Saturday, the Green Party have three councillors in Belfast. Brian Smyth got over the line on Friday. The UUPs Sonia Copeland got over the line and party colleague, veteran councillor Jim Rodgers, kept his seat, however his running mate Carole Howard lost out. This has left the UUP with two representatives at City Hall. The SDLP lost its Oldpark seat after its candidate Charlotte Carson was excluded, with former SDLP councillor in the district electoral area (DEA) Paul McCusker being elected as an independent. Mr McCusker resigned from the SDLP prior to the election. "It was a big decision to walk away from the SDLP, but it certainly has been a big response in terms of people coming out to support me, Mr McCusker said. "I am delighted and looking forward to getting stuck back in to help the people of North Belfast. "The people in North Belfast have many challenges and I am going to continue to fight on behalf of the people who need my support. "Im really thankful to everyone who came out and showed their support." First over the line on Saturday was the SDLPs Gary McKeown in the Botanic DEA. He said he was delighted with the result and thanked everyone who voted for him. Its an honour to get those votes and be able to represent Botanic for another four years, he said. I think Belfast has huge potential, but we dont always do what we can to maximise that potential. For me its about making Belfast somewhere where people want to live and want to stay, because we do know that theres been a bit of a brain drain. Were focused on City Hall, and we have good support here. If you have good, hardworking candidates and if you go out and talk to people, youll get the votes. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson stopped by City Hall to congratulate his team on their performance. He said he was pleased with the DUPs Belfast vote, but, looking across Northern Ireland, said there were issues for unionism in general in how the bloc manages elections. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says his partys vote has held up extremely well throughout Northern Ireland We will wait until all the results are finally declared - we are still doing well across a number of councils in Northern Ireland, he said on Saturday afternoon. Of course Sinn Fein have also polled well - there is no getting away from that. The DUP vote has held up extremely well throughout Northern Ireland. We are winning seats in places we havent won seats before, and its a strong performance, in very difficult and challenging circumstances. Sir Jeffrey said unionism must take long, hard look at how it approaches elections, citing the splintering of the unionist vote and turnout in some unionist heartlands. These are issues that we do need to address and I am happy to sit down with my fellow unionists and examine these issues and look at how greater cooperation can beat a pathway towards more success for unionism in general, he said. One of the last seats was won by Sinn Feins Ryan Murphy in the Oldpark ward, where the party also gained a seat. Its been an amazing day for Sinn Fein, not only in Belfast, but right across the board, he said. We ran a positive campaign and people responded to it. Now well be going back here to City Hall to hit the ground running and working to deliver first class services for everyone. A former SDLP MLA has called for Colum Eastwood to quit, saying the party is sinking into oblivion. Richie McPhillips said it was time to go time after an election that saw the party suffer losses across Northern Ireland. Mr McPhillips son Garbhan was elected as an SDLP councillor in Fermanagh and Omagh at the weekend. Richie McPhillips also served as MLA for Fermanagh-South Tyrone between 2016 and 2017. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Posting on Twitter, the ex-MLA said Mr Eastwood had overseen a series of disasters in his time as leader. He said so many good councillors had lost their seats, with the SDLP losing a third of its representatives across Northern Ireland. Taxi for Eastwood, time to go time, he posted on Sunday morning. "Too many disasters over this last seven years, the loss of MPs, MLAs and now so many good councillors right across the North. He added: The SDLP are sinking into oblivion. We have to see if there is another way to rescue it. The SDLP finished with 39 seats, down from 59 recorded at the last council election in 2019. On Saturday Mr Eastwood conceded the party had a "difficult" election and said he takes "responsibility" but stressed he has no plans to quit. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Eastwood said the party were aware their difficulties were "coming for the last few weeks". "This is a reassertion of the Assembly election result last year," he said. "They [Sinn Fein] have totally cannibalised much of the nationalist electorate. They deserve the victory they have today. "They [the results] are bad but they are good in some places, where we have embraced change. In Belfast we were told we were going to be wiped out that absolutely did not happen." Sinn Fein emerges as largest party at end of marathon council elections count Asked whether he would consider his position as leader, Mr Eastwood suggested he was still the best man for the job. "I am the leader therefore I take responsibility, I blame nobody else, he said. I have been in politics now since my teens. I have no interest whatsoever in titles or positions and if I thought the best course of action was to step down I would absolutely do it in a heartbeat." Asked about Richie McPhillips Tweet on Sunday, SDLP MP Claire Hanna said: Of course people are upset, it has been very, very difficult, people have been through a real slog. "But we are turning around years, possibly decades, of failure to modernise and that requires all hands on deck. Thats not a one-person job. Ms Hanna said it had been a tough election, after setbacks at the 2022 Assembly poll. "I can tell you we have done a lot of thinking and weve done more modernisation in the SDLP over the last six months than I think we have in the last six or maybe 16 years, she told Sunday Politics. There are positive stories we held up in Belfast, in places like South Belfast our vote is up, and in Derry as well. "But we are turning around a tanker. We needed to get better at listening and we needed to get better frankly at winning elections and modernising. We knew that we werent going to be able to do all of that in that challenging political context in a year. Suella Braverman is facing allegations that she asked civil servants to help her avoid getting points on her licence for speeding. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to launch an investigation into the claims. During two stints as home secretary, Mrs Braverman has attracted criticism. Here are some of her controversial moments: Speeding points The Sunday Times reported Mrs Braverman asked Home Office aides to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course after being caught speeding last summer while attorney general. Officials refused the request, so the Home Secretary allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. The newspaper said multiple requests were made to a speeding awareness course provider by an aide, including asking if the senior Conservative minister could do an online course, but use an alias or have her camera switched off. Mrs Braverman ultimately chose instead to accept three points on her driving licence. Labours shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper was among those demanding an investigation to see whether she breached the ministerial code. Email about civil servants In March, an email sent out to Conservative Party members in Mrs Bravermans name blamed an activist blob of left-wing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour Party for blocking previous attempts to tackle illegal migration. An email in Mrs Bravermans name hit out at civil servants (Victoria Jones/PA) Victoria Jones She was accused of potentially breaking ministerial rules by questioning the impartiality of public servants after the publication of the Governments Illegal Migration Bill. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union which represents senior civil servants, said the email amounted to a direct attack on the integrity and impartiality of those working in the Home Office. The Prime Ministers press secretary told reporters Mrs Braverman did not see, sign off or sanction the email, which she said was sent in error. Sacking and reappointment Liz Truss forced Mrs Braverman out as home secretary in October 2022 after she breached the ministerial code by sending an official document to a Tory backbencher from a personal email. Mrs Braverman, who had been in the role six weeks, said she made a mistake which she conceded was a technical infringement of the rules. Six days later, after Ms Truss resigned as prime minister, her successor Mr Sunak reinstated Mrs Braverman. Rishi Sunak reinstated Mrs Braverman as Home Secretary (Phil Noble/PA) Phil Noble Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats raised national security concerns and demanded a Cabinet Office investigation. Outburst against tofu-eating wokerati Just before being sacked, Mrs Braverman accused opposition parties of being a coalition of chaos when discussing the Public Order Bill to crack down on disruptive protests. She told the Commons: Its the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today. Ms Cooper said Mrs Bravermans words were astonishing, adding: The home secretary actually talked about a coalition of chaos we can see it in front of us as we speak. Rwanda comments The Home Secretary attracted criticism when talking about migration during a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in October last year. Mrs Braverman said she would love to be here claiming victory, I would love to be having a front page of the Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, thats my dream, thats my obsession. She said it would be amazing if the first UK flight carrying migrants to the African country could take off by Christmas, but added: If Im honest, I think its going to take longer. Clashes with Downing Street On at least two occasions while Ms Truss was prime minister, she expressed views which put her at odds with Government policy. Ms Braverman said she had reservations about relaxing immigration controls as part of any trade deal with India, telling the Spectator magazine she had concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India because I dont think thats what people voted for with Brexit. Her comments were reported to have provoked a furious reaction from ministers and officials in New Delhi. She also faced criticism from a senior Government source for calling on the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, who said: Her personal views are contrary to Government policy and if she wishes to make those views known within Government she should do so in a more appropriate setting. William takes up the oars alongside members of the HMS Oardacious crew as they took part in a training session on Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire (Kensington Palace Copyright: The Prince and Princess of Wales/PA) Kensington Palace The Prince of Wales has joined the crew of a team of Royal Navy submariners who have taken on a Transatlantic rowing challenge to raise money to support the mental health and wellbeing of their colleagues. William, Commander-in-Chief of the Submarine Service, has released a YouTube video of his visit to the members of the HMS Oardacious crew as they took part in a training session on Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire. HMS Oardacious was set up in 2019 to fundraise through submariners taking on the challenge of rowing across the Atlantic with 110,000 being raised so far. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content In January 2020, four serving Royal Navy submariners became the fastest military team in history to row across any ocean, spending 37 days, 6 hours and 40 minutes battling across the North Atlantic to reach Antigua as part of the annual Atlantic Challenge. In the short film, William meets co-founders, Lieutenant Commander Callum Fraser and Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs, as well as Chief Petty Officer Jon Norfolk who took part in the 2022 team and Lieutenant Isobel Rawlinson who is looking to captain an all-female team in 2024. The prince takes to the water and does his bit rowing as he chats to the members of HMS Oardacious which have crews lined up for this years event and for 2024. A Kensington Palace spokesman said: Together they discuss the importance of managing our mental health and how exercise can be used as a tool to help manage it. The crew also share their experiences of crossing the Atlantic, the challenges they faced and the impact it had on both their physical and mental health. The Prince of Wales with members of the HMS Oardacious crew as they took part in a training session on Dorney Lake, Windsor in Buckinghamshire (Kensington Palace Copyright: The Prince and Princess of Wales/PA) Kensington Palace Back in the boathouse, William hears from the crew in more depth about how they manage their mental health, the support they provide to each other as a team, and the work HMS Oardacious does to raise awareness and combat the stigma associated with talking about mental wellbeing. Speaking during the film, William said: Understanding our support networks is crucial because a lot of people dont have those support networks and being able to form close bonds and realise that the only way we are going to get through all of this is to support each other and pull each other through. The video has been released as part of Mental Health Awareness Week which runs until Sunday, May 21, and follows visits by the Princess of Wales to The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in Bath and the Anna Freud Centre in London to highlight the event. Yevgeny Prigozhins Wagner Group military company members wave a Russian national and Wagner flag atop a damaged building in Bakhmut, Ukraine. The head of the Russian private army Wagner claims his forces have taken control of the city of Bakhmut after the longest and most grinding battle of the Russia-Ukraine war, but Ukrainian defense officials have denied it. In a video posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP) Uncredited Russias defence ministry has said that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut(AP Photo/Libkos) LIBKOS Using the citys Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said: In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials about the latest claim. In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday on Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. After the video appeared, Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraines eastern command, told The Associated Press that Mr Prigozhins claim is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut. In a statement on Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff said that heavy battles for the city of Bakhmut do not stop. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that this is not the first time Prigozhin has said we seized everything and are dominating. He suggested that the Wagner chiefs statement was aimed at drawing attention away from Mr Zelenskys recent highly visible trips overseas, including to the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Saturday. From left, Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kim So-young, BC Card CEO Choi Won-seok, chairperson of the Interbank Processing Center Kanykei Jamangulova, and presidential aide for economic affairs Almaz Isanov, pose during a business agreement signing ceremony at the presidential office in Kyrgyzstan on May 19. Courtesy of Financial Services Commission FSC vice chief wraps up visit to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan By Anna J. Park The vice chief of Korea's top financial regulator wrapped up a four-day visit to two countries in Central Asia, facilitating overseas business expansions by Korean financial firms and joint investments in the region. According to the Financial Services Commission (FSC) on Sunday, Kim So-young, vice chairman of the financial authority, visited Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan during the past week, supporting local financial firms' business deals and partnership initiatives with the countries. In Kyrgyzstan, BC Card, Smartro Korea-headquartered electronic payment settlement company and the Interbank Processing Center (IPC), a state-run subsidiary of the Kyrgyzstani central bank, signed a business agreement at the presidential office of the central Asian country on Friday, aiming for joint investment to establish an electronic payment infrastructure. Along with the FSC vice chief's attendance at the ceremony, Kyrgyzstan's presidential aide for economic affairs as well as the vice chief of the central bank also joined the ceremony to support the joint business venture. Through the agreement, the Korean financial firms will support the sophistication of the Central Asian country's payment systems, while planning to export local electronic payment systems and various verification technologies related to such financial payment infrastructure to the country. As it is the first cooperative agreement in the field of electronic payment infrastructure between the Korean financial industry and the counterparts from the Central Asia, it is expected to induce many more of such digital-based financial partnerships with other countries in the region to follow suit in the future. "We hope to see an expansion of mutual exchanges between financial authorities as well as deepened partnership in the area of financial infrastructure of the two countries," FSC Vice Chairman Kim said during the signing ceremony. Financial Services Commission (FSC) Vice Chairman Kim So-young speaks to local media in Kyrgyzstan on May 19. Courtesy of Financial Services Commission Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacts during a meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Susan Walsh Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Sunday that Russia has taken control of the city of Bakhmut after a bloody eight-month battle by Moscows Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, that has left it in ruins. Speaking alongside US President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Mr Zelensky said the Russians had destroyed everything. You have to understand that there is nothing, he said. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place. Mr Zelenskys comments came as Biden announced 375 million dollars (301 million) more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the US), Mr Zelensky tweeted later. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Russias defence ministry had said early on Sunday that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized Bakhmut. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Using the citys Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said, In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan (Susan Walsh/AP/PA) Susan Walsh Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlins press service as saying President Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk. In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday on Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. Wagner Group military company members wave a Russian national and Wagner flag atop a damaged building in Bakhmut, Ukraine (Prigozhin Press Service via AP/PA) Uncredited Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Mr Zelensky underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but would not prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraines industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 34 miles north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial centre, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was also known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group military company, holds a Russian national flag in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut (Prigozhin Press Service via AP/PA) Uncredited Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smouldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Mr Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticised. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Mr Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive further into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian forces are not occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscows claims that the eastern Ukrainian city has fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Mr Zelensky said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die, Mr Zelensky said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the G7 summit (Louise Delmotte, Pool/AP) Louise Delmotte The fight for the city of Bakhmut is continuing, the Ukrainian militarys general staff said in a statement on Sunday. Oleksandr Syrskyi, a spokesman for the militarys eastern command, said Ukrainian forces control the outskirts of the city, and defence forces continue offensive actions on the flanks near Bakhmut. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Mr Zelenskys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Mr Zelensky said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing. Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Mr Zelenskys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defence and military officials also said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Ms Malyar said. Military medics give first aid to wounded Ukrainian soldiers at a medical stabilisation point near Bakhmut (Roman Chop via AP) Roman Chop That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the south-western part of the city. Heavy fighting is under way, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmuts Soviet-era name. Russias Defence Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G7 in Japan, Mr Zelensky stood side by side with US President Joe Biden during a news conference. Mr Biden announced 375 million dollars (301 million) more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery, and vehicles. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the US), Mr Zelensky tweeted later. The new pledge came after the US agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Mr Biden said on Sunday that Mr Zelensky had given the US a flat assurance that Ukraine would not use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late on Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday on Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut (Prigozhin Press Service via AP) Uncredited Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Mr Zelensky underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but would not prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a pre-war population of 80,000 and was an important industrial centre, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was also known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately city centre with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smouldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. School and flats in Bakhmut on May 8 2022, top, and the same buildings demolished on May 15 2023, bottom (Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies/AP) Uncredited When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Wagner Group members in Bakhmut (Prigozhin Press Service/AP) Uncredited Mr Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticised. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Mr Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers, according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive further into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. The Snow Patrol guitarist (42), who recently released his first solo album, The Strange Order Of Things, has been reflecting on joining the band and the album that propelled the group to fame. Final Straw, which included hit songs Run and Chocolate, is being re-released in August to mark its 20th anniversary. He told The XS Noize Podcast: Its mad that it was 20 years. It doesnt feel like it, bar starting to go a bit grey. Although you see pictures and its like, Wow, we were babies. You kinda thought you knew it all. I was probably a little cockier and less good. Im a little better now and less confident. Thats age, though, isnt it? The band had previously recorded Songs For Polarbears and When Its All Over We Still Have To Clear Up and their third album was their final chance to crack the charts. Gary Lightbody and Nathan Connolly of Snow Patrol WireImage Nathan only joined the band just before they started recording it. He explained: I met the guys in 2001... They were looking for someone permanent. They said, Are you up for it? Come over [to Scotland]. They happened to be DJing in Belfast at the time and said, When can you come over? And I said, Tomorrow? And they said OK and they picked me up and I moved to Glasgow [in 2002]. I think it was about a year later that I did my first show, in August 2003, and by this stage we had recorded Final Straw in London. It was my first proper major record and I was 21. I was excited to be in there doing this. Unbeknownst to me, it was This is our third chance and it might be over. And that record changed our lives. And then we went on to do Eyes Open, which took us even further and was even more successful. But I think Final Straw was arguably more important. It changed everything our lives as a band, but also individually. At one point, Gary was selling his record collection! It changed so much for us. Nathan is set to play a UK and Ireland tour next month, which includes London, Glasgow and a hometown show in Belfasts Limelight 2 on June 18. But he assures his fans that despite the solo album, Snow Patrol will return with a follow-up to their 2018 album, Wildness. He added: Hopefully next year is the plan. Weve done some recording. We need to get our ducks in a row. We are just making sure everything is right. We are taking our time. Although the time between Wildness and Fallen Empires was too long. I know there was Covid and theres plenty of people who made albums during it. I did. Some songs have been recorded and Im excited about the songs. Next year is the plan. Certainly by me releasing a solo record doesnt mean Im going anywhere. Tickets are still available for Nathans show at Limelight 2, Belfast, from Ticketmaster Lilian Seenoi Barr (SDLP) who has been re-elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council for the Foyleside DEA Father and son Sammy and Davy Douglas elected for the DUP PA Lewis Boyle makes history as Northern Irelands youngest councillor (left) and Green Party leader Mal OHara failed to get re-elected This election saw a return to the local political coalface for some MLAs who lost their seats in last years Assembly election. But it also saw some high-profile councillors crash out and candidates who were dogged by controversy managing to take seats despite coming under fire in the press. A notable comeback was former DUP finance minister Mervyn Storey, who topped the poll in his old stomping ground of Ballymoney DEA in the Causeway, Coast and Glens Borough Council. NI Council Election Results Hub Mervyn Storey after the count Speaking to the BBC after his election, Mr Storey said: I am feeling okay, Im glad to have it over in one sense, like every election campaign it has been a challenge and I know more than most given the outcome from last years Assembly elections. The DUP had a unique success in Belfast with father and son, Sammy and Davy Douglas, both winning seats. Father and son Sammy and Davy Douglas elected for the DUP PA Its only openly gay candidate, Alison Bennington, was returned to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council for the Glengormely Urban DEA. Alison Bennington was re-elected for the DUP Belfast saw a big loss for the Greens in the shape of party leader Mal OHara who failed to get re-elected in the Castle DEA and the PUP with leader Billy Hutchinson missing out in the Court DEA. Billy Hutchinson at the count PA Ex-PUP turned UUP hopeful Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston also failed to win in the Castle DEA in Belfast. The SDLP also had to swallow a bitter pill in the city as Paul McCusker was returned as an independent in Oldpark having first been elected there for the party in 2016. Ex-SDLP man Paul McCusker celebrates victory as an independent PA Anne Smyth, the mother of BBC NI director Adam Smyth, failed to win a seat for the TUV in the Titanic DEA polling 564 first preference votes. Green Party Ex-MLA Rachel Woods secured her place in electoral politics after winning one of the five seats in the Holywood and Clandeboye area of Ards and North Down Borough Council. She lost her North Down Assembly seat in last years election and returned to work at her local pub. Ms Woods had been co-opted onto the council last September and held the seat with 1,134 first preference votes. Lilian Seenoi-Barr, who had previously been co-opted on to Derry City & Strabane council, became the first black person to be elected as a politician in Northern Irelands history. She said: Its deeply humbling to get a vote of confidence from the residents of Foyleside. "Ive worked very hard to keep this seat. When I was selected in 2021 I made a commitment to SDLP members that I will retain the seat and I think it is clear to see that hard work has been rewarded. Lilian Seenoi Barr (SDLP) who has been re-elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council for the Foyleside DEA DUP veteran Alan Graham is back on the same council, taking one of the other seats in the same DEA having lost out in 2019. Mr Graham made international headlines when he told Rihanna to put more clothes on while she filming a music video in one of the fields on his farm in North Down. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Lewis Boyle made history as Northern Irelands youngest councillor when he was elected with 977 first preference votes in the Ballyclare DEA of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council. He is due to sit his A-level exams next week. DUP man Marc Collins has been elected in the Knockagh DEA in Mid and East Antrim despite being suspended from Mid and East Antrim Borough Council for eight months last year for tweets about Sinn Fein MP John Finucane. DUP councillor Marc Collins Tyler Hoey was also elected for the party in the Bannside DEA of the council on 838 first preference votes. He came under fire before the election for social media posts which appeared to mock the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in a lorry and liking a post glorify the UDA Greysteel massacre. Ian McLoughlin who came under fire before the election over his past links to the UDA-aligned UPRG was elected councillor for the DUP in west Belfast. Serial drink-driver and veteran UUP councillor Derek Hussey was once again elected to Derry City and Strabane Council for the Derg DEA. He was disqualified from serving as a councillor in July 2019 after being convicted of drink-driving for a third time in March 2016, relating to offences the previous year. The UUP's Derek Hussey at the count Ex-Sinn Fein MLA Catherine Kelly, who resigned over links to a Covid grant scandal exposed by Sunday Life, also got elected to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. Catherine Kelly The wooden spoon for the lowest number of votes goes to independent candidate Geoffrey Wilson who managed just 18 votes in the Court DEA in Belfast. Geoff Dowey defiantly matter-of-fact about life as Russia steps up its bombardment Geoff Dowey in Kyiv at the start of the war A Newtownabbey man who settled in Kyiv with his Ukrainian wife has told how life in the city is carrying on as normal despite the surge in Russian missile attacks. Noel Gallagher has said he felt demonised growing up in the Irish community in Manchester due to IRA bombings, The Oasis star has recalled coming home to Manchester in the mid-1970s after family summer holidays at his grannys house in Mayo and having the family car searched by British soldiers with sniffer dogs. The musician, whose new album Council Skies with his band, Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds is released in June, said: When youre with your parents, you feel safe. But when theyre taking your Uncle Paddy out of the car, and then you go off into a room and the sniffer dogs come out and theyd have mirrors underneath the car? I didnt really realise then what they were searching for. The 55-year-old, who recently split from music publicist wife Sara MacDonald, said: I was too young to understand. I was old enough to hear it on the news but young enough not to completely understand it. Obviously, I know more about it now than I did then like the Birmingham Six and all that. The Irish community in Manchester circled the wagons, because the Irish community were demonised. I felt that at the time. But I would only have been six, seven, eight when it [the IRA bombing campaign of mainland Britain] was going on in 1974 and 1975. I was born in 1967. His Belfast-based pal Davie Holmes has worked on his new album including doing a remix of Im Not Giving up Tonight. He also produced the last album, 2017s Who Built The Moon? Belfast is a great European city. Its funny to think of the history of violence in that city, Gallagher told the Sunday Independent. But I dont get to see any of it. I whizz in, do the gig, its all great and then you come out again. I was going to Davids house one day. It was through an area that was full of Union Jacks. The pavements were painted red, white and blue. I was a bit: Oh, f**king hell! And the opposite side of it as well, he says, presumably meaning the tricolours in republican areas of the city. You come in on the plane and you see the places that are walled off, its like, Jesus. Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds release Council Skies on June 2 and play Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, on August 27. Check out www.noelgallagher.com The nurse was sexually assaulted while on duty (Stock image) Getty Images/Maskot A prolific rapist who grabbed a nurse between the legs after asking if she liked it kinky has been warned to prepare himself for prison. 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. China's exports to North Korea soared in April from a year earlier, with wigs and fertiliser among major shipments, Chinese customs data showed on Saturday. Chinese outbound shipments to the isolated country surged 69% year-on-year to $166 million in April, data released by China's General Administration of Customs showed. The top export items in terms of value were processed hair and wool used in wigs, worth about $11.6 million, and diammonium hydrogen phosphate, a widely used fertiliser, worth $8.84 million. Pyongyang purchased $5.07 million of rice from China in April. In January-April, Chinese exports to North Korea leapt to $603 million from $270.59 million a year earlier, according to the customs data. North Korea has long suffered from food insecurity and South Korea's DongA Ilbo newspaper reported in mid-February that Pyongyang's food crisis may have deteriorated. The country has been under U.N. sanctions for its missile and nuclear programmes since 2006. (Reuters) John 3:5 Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee Explaining somewhat more clearly, what he before said: except a man be born of water and of the Spirit: these are, (twnv) (twlm) , "two words", which express the same thing, as Kimchi observes in many places in his commentaries, and signify the grace of the Spirit of God. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, "the Holy Spirit", and so Nonnus; and who doubtless is intended: by "water", is not meant material water, or baptismal water; for water baptism is never expressed by water only, without some additional word, which shows, that the ordinance of water baptism is intended: nor has baptism any regenerating influence in it; a person may be baptized, as Simon Magus was, and yet not born again; and it is so far from having any such virtue, that a person ought to be born again, before he is admitted to that ordinance: and though submission to it is necessary, in order to a person's entrance into a Gospel church state; yet it is not necessary to the kingdom of heaven, or to eternal life and salvation: such a mistaken sense of this text, seems to have given the first birth and rise to infant baptism in the African churches; who taking the words in this bad sense, concluded their children must be baptized, or they could not be saved; whereas by "water" is meant, in a figurative and metaphorical sense, the grace of God, as it is elsewhere; see ( Ezekiel 36:25 ) ( John 4:14 ) . Which is the moving cause of this new birth, and according to which God begets men again to, a lively hope, and that by which it is effected; for it is by the grace of God, and not by the power of man's free will, that any are regenerated, or made new creatures: and if Nicodemus was an officer in the temple, that took care to provide water at the feasts, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, and as it should seem Nicodemon ben Gorion was, by the story before related of him; (See Gill on John 3:1); very pertinently does our Lord make mention of water, it being his own element: regeneration is sometimes ascribed to God the Father, as in ( 1 Peter 1:3 ) ( James 1:18 ) , and sometimes to the Son, ( 1 John 2:29 ) and here to the Spirit, as in ( Titus 3:5 ) , who convinces of sin, sanctifies, renews, works faith, and every other grace; begins and carries on the work of grace, unto perfection; he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; and unless a man has this work of his wrought on his soul, as he will never understand divine and spiritual things, so he can have no right to Gospel ordinances, or things appertaining to the kingdom of God; nor can he be thought to have passed from death to life, and to have entered into an open state of grace, and the kingdom of it; or that living and dying so, he shall ever enter into the kingdom of heaven; for unless a man is regenerated, he is not born heir apparent to it; and without internal holiness, shall not enter into it, enjoy it, or see God. This will not end until there is mass nonviolent noncompliance with an illegitimate Federal government, the UN, WEF, CFR, CIA, FBI, IRS, WHO, Rockefeller and Gates nonprofits, et al., and the various One World Government apparatchiks like John Kerry. There is no climate emergency. There is insufficient atmospheric CO2 at 421ppm. There is only a technocratic eugenics depopulation agenda in PSYOP-CLIMATE-CHANGE. by Baxter Dmitry Small farms are significant emitters of nitrogen, according to Bidens climate czar John Kerry who is pushing for the U.S. federal government to crack down on farming in America to combat global warming. Kerry insists that the United States must massively reduce farming to meet the radical green agenda goals laid out by World Economic Forum (WEF) and the United Nations (UN). According to the former Secretary of State, the world cant tackle climate change without first addressing the agriculture sectors emissions and farmers in the US are front and center of his plans. A lot of people have no clue that agriculture contributes about 33% of all the emissions of the world, he said during his keynote address. We cant get to net-zero, we dont get this job done unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution. So all of us understand here the depths of this mission. Delivering these remarks at the Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) for Climate Summit held in Washington, D.C., Kerry neglected to acknowledge the undeniable fact that the agriculture industry plays a vital role in providing sustenance and ensuring the survival of all approximately 8 billion people worldwide. In recent months, leaders in Western countries have significantly intensified their criticisms of the farming sector. In the Netherlands, regarded as a testing ground for the World Economic Forums anti-farming agenda, the Dutch government has been implementing initiatives to seize farmland. The Dutch governments proposal to confiscate and close down numerous farms to comply with the objectives outlined in the global climate agenda has received support from the European Union (EU). The unelected European Commission in Brussels has endorsed a plan by Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is a contributing member of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Recently, the governing body of the European Union officially endorsed measures to compel farmers to vacate their lands as part of the EUs Natura 2000 scheme, which categorizes farms as significant emitters of nitrogen. Under the plan, farmers would be offered 120 percent of their farms value through a buyout program. However, those who decline this offer would face the risk of being forcibly removed from their land without any financial compensation. If this plan proves to be successful, it is likely to be replicated in other countries due to its alignment with the WEFs global environmental agenda. They want you dead. Do NOT comply. Authored by Hans Mahncke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Researchers at the Department of Defense wrote a devastating takedown of the Proximal Origin study, which was used by Dr. Anthony Fauci as proof that the COVID-19 virus had come from nature. The takedown, dated May 26, 2020, was written in the form of a working paper called Critical analysis of Andersen et al. The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. It was authored by Commander Jean-Paul Chretien, a Navy doctor working at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and Dr. Robert Cutlip, a research scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency. The paper came to light on May 15, when it was leaked to the public via virus origins search group DRASTIC (Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19). The working paper forensically dismantles the natural origin case made in Proximal Origin and concludes, The arguments that Andersen et al. use to support a natural-origin scenario for SARS-CoV-2 are based not on scientific analysis, but on unwarranted assumptions. The existence of this internal Pentagon paper is crucial, as it proves that government officials were well aware in the early months of the pandemic that there was no evidence in support of a natural origin of the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, given the crushing discrediting of Proximal Origin, Pentagon officials would also have been aware of Faucis efforts to seed a false narrative about the origin of COVID-19. Proximal Origin was initially conceived by Fauci during a secret teleconference held on Feb. 1, 2020. The ostensible purpose of the teleconference was to deflect attention from a possible lab origin of COVID-19 and to shift the focus to a natural origin theory. Fauci directed a number of scientists, led by Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research and Robert Garry of Tulane Medical School, to pen a study that could be used to discredit the lab leak theory. Despite being directly involved in the inception of the paper, as well as in shaping its arguments, Faucis role was concealed from the public. Fauci later bestowed Andersen and Garry with lavish taxpayer-funded grants. The defects in Proximal Origin were immediately noticed by reviewers at science journal Nature. This fact only became known late last year from emails obtained via the Freedom of Information Act by independent journalist Jimmy Tobias. However, with the help of Jeremy Farrar, who now is the chief scientist of the World Health Organization and who had helped Fauci shape the natural origin narrative, Proximal Origin was accepted for publication in Nature Medicine on March 17, 2020. It boldly concluded that no laboratory-based scenario is plausible. On April 17, 2020, President Donald Trump confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic likely started in a Wuhan laboratory in China. On the same day, while attending a White House press conference, Fauci categorically dismissed the possibility of a lab origin of COVID-19, citing Proximal Origin as corroboration. Fauci feigned independence, telling reporters that he could not recall the names of the authors. What was not known at the time was that Fauci not only knew the authors well, but had personally led the effort to have Proximal Origin written. Proximal Origin became the medias go-to natural origin authority, repeating Faucis claim that the paper provided dispositive proof that COVID-19 had come out of nature. It also became the most-read article on COVID-19 and one of the most cited academic papers of all time. Yet, while the public was being told by Fauci and the media that Proximal Origin had settled the origin debate, Pentagon researchers came to a very different conclusion. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci waits for the beginning of a hearing before the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies of Senate Appropriations Committee at Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 17, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Chretien and Cutlip found that COVID-19s features, which Proximal Origin ascribed to natural evolution, were actually consistent with another scenario: that SARS-CoV-2 was developed in a laboratory, by methods that leading coronavirus researchers commonly use to investigate how the viruses infect cells and cause disease, assess the potential for animal coronaviruses to jump to humans, and develop drugs and vaccines. Read more here... Once again, the police state is up to its old tricks, stoking tensions over whether or not the government is forced to shut down, even partially, due to a default on the national debt. Yet while these political games dominate news headlines, send the stock market into a nosedive, and put federal employees at risk of having to work without pay, nothing about these high-handed theatrics will diminish the immediate and very real dangers of the American Police State with its roadside strip searches, government surveillance, biometric databases, citizens being treated like terrorists, imprisonments for criticizing the government, national ID cards, SWAT team raids, censorship, forcible blood draws and DNA extractions, private prisons, weaponized drones, red light cameras, tasers, active shooter drills, police misconduct and government corruption. Default or not, war will continue. Drone killings will continue. Surveillance will continue. Censorship and persecution of anyone who criticizes the government will continue. The governments efforts to label dissidents as extremists and terrorists will continue. Police shootings will continue. Highway robbery meted out by government officials will continue. Corrupt government will continue. Profit-driven prisons will continue. And the militarization of the police will continue. Indeed, take a look at the programs and policies that will not be affected by a government default on its debt leading to a possible shutdown, and youll get a clearer sense of the governments priorities, which have little to do with serving taxpayers and everything to do with amassing money, power and control. Surveillance will continue unabated. On any given day, whether youre walking through a store, driving your car, checking email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be sure that some government agency, whether the NSA or some other entity, is listening in and tracking your behavior. Police have been outfitted with a litany of surveillance gear, from license plate readers and cell phone tracking devices to biometric data recorders. Technology now makes it possible for the police to scan passersby in order to detect the contents of their pockets, purses, briefcases, etc. Full-body scanners, which perform virtual strip-searches of Americans traveling by plane, have gone mobile, with roving police vans that peer into vehicles and buildings alikeincluding homes. Coupled with the nations growing network of real-time surveillance cameras and facial recognition software, soon there really will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Global spying will continue unabated. The NSAs massive surveillance network, what the Washington Post refers to as a $500 billion espionage empire, will continue to span the globe and target every single person on the planet who uses a phone or a computer. The NSAs Echelon program intercepts and analyzes virtually every phone call, fax and email message sent anywhere in the world. In addition to carrying out domestic surveillance on peaceful political groups such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and several religious groups, Echelon has also been a keystone to the governments attempts at political and corporate espionage. Egregious searches will continue unabated. Under the pretext of protecting the nations infrastructure (roads, mass transit systems, water and power supplies, telecommunications systems and so on) against criminal or terrorist attacks, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) task forces (comprised of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and explosive detection canine teams) will continue to do random security sweeps of nexuses of transportation, including ports, railway and bus stations, airports, ferries and subways. Sweep tactics include the use of x-ray technology, pat-downs and drug-sniffing dogs, among other things. The undermining of the Constitution will continue unabated. Americas so-called war on terror, which it has relentlessly pursued since 9/11, has chipped away at our freedoms, unraveled our Constitution and transformed our nation into a battlefield, thanks in large part to such subversive legislation as the USA Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act. These lawswhich completely circumvent the rule of law and the constitutional rights of American citizens, re-orienting our legal landscape in such a way as to ensure that martial law, rather than the rule of law, our U.S. Constitution, becomes the map by which we navigate life in the United Stateswill continue to be enforced. Militarized policing will continue unabated. Thanks to federal grant programs allowing the Pentagon to transfer surplus military supplies and weapons to local law enforcement agencies without charge, police forces will continue to be transformed from peace officers into heavily armed extensions of the military, complete with jackboots, helmets, shields, batons, pepper-spray, stun guns, assault rifles, body armor, miniature tanks and weaponized drones. Having been given the green light to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, all with the general blessing of the courts, Americas law enforcement officials, no longer mere servants of the people entrusted with keeping the peace, will continue to keep the masses corralled, under control, and treated like suspects and enemies rather than citizens. SWAT team raids will continue unabated. With more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans for relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched raids and related casualties will continue to rise. Nationwide, SWAT teams will continue to be employed to address an astonishingly trivial array of criminal activity or mere community nuisances including angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession. Overcriminalization will continue unabated. The government bureaucracy will continue to churn out laws, statutes, codes and regulations that reinforce its powers and value systems and those of the police state and its corporate allies, rendering the rest of us petty criminals. The average American now unknowingly commits three felonies a day, thanks to this overabundance of vague laws that render otherwise innocent activity illegal. Consequently, small farmers who dare to make unpasteurized goat cheese and share it with members of their community will continue to have their farms raided. The shadow government a.k.a. the Deep State, a.k.a. the police state, a.k.a. the military industrial complex, a.k.a. the surveillance state complexwill continue unabated. This corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials will continue to call the shots in Washington DC, no matter who sits in the White House or controls Congress. By government, Im not referring to the highly partisan, two-party bureaucracy of the Republicans and Democrats. Rather, Im referring to government with a capital G, the entrenched Deep State that is unaffected by elections, unaltered by populist movements, and has set itself beyond the reach of the law. These issues are not going away. As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, they are the backbone of an increasingly aggressive authoritarian government, formed by an unholy alliance between the mega-corporations with little concern for the Constitution and elected officials and bureaucrats incapable or unwilling to represent the best interests of their constituents. Whether or not the government runs out of borrowed money, it will remain business as usual in terms of the police states unceasing pursuit of greater powers and control. Source: https://bit.ly/42StLGW ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org. Clockwise from top left: Franklin Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover, Harry S Truman, and Joseph McCarthy The turn of the last century brought an age of revolutions, industrial warfare and nearly instantaneous communications across long distances. With these developments came an emphasis on another method of war: information war. This was the type of fight waged with what World War II Deputy Director of the Office of Censorship, Theodore F. Koop, called Silent Weapons, in a wartime memoir he published in 1946. Wrote Koop: The censors shears were bayonets that not only formed a rear-guard national defense but also struck hard at the enemy in all three phases of warfaremilitary, economic, and psychological. Koop would go on to run CBS News in Washington, DC. Well-known as a powerful media figure, he was also a trusted one, the man who hired Walter Cronkite. Less well-known was that in 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked him to run a secret national censorship program intended for use in Cold War emergencies. He accepted the offer while still a network news executive, serving in that contingency role under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. The methods of censorship had changed over time, matching changes in the communication technology. During World War I, the United States Government used the Postal Service, the Comstock laws and the reliance on publications reaching subscribers by mail as a wedge. When radio and television broadcasts became pre-eminent, the newly formed Federal Communications Commission began using its authority as stewards of the public airwaves to watch over content. Under the FCC Act of 1934, ostensibly private corporations like CBS, ABC and NBC were allowed to use the public airwaves only under license, acquiring revenue and learning the power of shaping the discourse from the nascent field of advertising. Though it all, one thing has been remarkably consistent. Government targeted for special attention journalists who reported accurately on the ugly truth of American foreign policy, such as John W. Powell. Powell was an American journalist based in Shanghai who wrote a series of articles for the China Monthly Review (later, the Weekly Review), which said the Chinese government claimed the United States was using biological weapons in the Korean War. He was put on trial for sedition in 1959. The case dragged on in federal court in San Francisco for five years before the charges were dropped. It was enough to make him leave journalism forever. The impulse to use censorship, and call all information that doesnt square with the official narrative disinformation, is a bipartisan impulse, at least historically. Both Republican and Democratic administrations during the Global War on Terror sought to expand and refine the power of what we now call the Censorship-Industrial Complex. The latter was built, piece by piece, over a century of legislation, executive action, and regulation. A little less than a century after the passage of the Espionage Act, Barack Obamas administration used it aggressively to target leakers. By that time, computers, the internet, and social media were all new platforms for communication and ripe targets for information suppression. In an era where cultural memory is short and resources for learning about the inconvenient past are becoming more scarce, its useful to look at this century-plus progression in chronological order. A CENTURY OF CENSORSHIP June 15, 1917: As the United States enters World War I, the Espionage Act of 1917 is enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, the first academic to become President, prohibiting obtaining information, recording pictures, or copying descriptions of any information relating to the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information may be used for the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation. The Act also made obstructing enlistment in the armed forces or causing insubordination or disloyalty in military or naval forces an illegal act. Wilsons administration also decided that any publications violating the act were non-mailable matter, and this rationale was used to suppress dissenting views by aggressively enforcing the postal codes so no subversive publications could reach their subscribers. At least 74 newspapers were denied mailing permits at this time. Milwaukee socialist Victor Berger, convicted of the Espionage Act in 1914 May 16, 1918: The Sedition Act of 1918 extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover more offenses, making it a crime to: incite disloyalty within the military; use in speech or written form any language that was disloyal to the government, the Constitution, the military, or the flag; advocate strikes on labor production; promote principles that were in violation of the act; or support countries at war with the United States. As the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University notes, The targets of prosecution under the Sedition Act were typically individuals who opposed the war effort, including pacifists, anarchists, and socialists. December 13, 1920: The Sedition Act is repealed. May 24, 1936: Roosevelt assigns J. Edgar Hoover to investigate subversive activity. According the FBIs own historical timeline, President Roosevelt called Director Hoover to a morning meeting to discuss his concerns about subversive activity in the United States. He asked Hoover to report on the activities of Nazi and communist groups. The FBI made these investigations at the request of the Secretary of State for the President. In 1939, according to the same document, Roosevelt formally assigned responsibility for investigating espionage, sabotage, and other subversive activities to a series of agencies and departments, including the FBI, the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department (MID), and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). May 26, 1938: The House Un-American Activities Committee is formed. Created as part of a special investigative committee, and reorganized from previous incarnations as the Fish Committee and the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, HUAC had license to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of Americas private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties. Because of its investigations of prominent intellectuals, entertainers, and politicians, HUAC is one of the few bodies on this list that has become a fixture in American pop culture, featured in movies like The Front and Trumbo. HUAC hearing of New Deal economist Charles Kramer, 1948 June 9, 1938: The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt. June 29, 1940: The Alien Registration Act, a.k.a. the Smith Act, is enacted, setting criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government by violence or force, requiring all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government. Hundreds of communists in America would later be tried under this act. 1940-43?: FBI begins to liaise with an NSA predecessor agency, the U.S. Signals Intelligence Service, which in 1943 was re-named the Signal Security Agency, later became the Army Security Agency, and eventually was absorbed into the NSA. Again according to the FBIs own internal timeline, the Bureau sometime before 1947, when the NSA would be formed, began a working relationship with the Signals Intelligence Service. This association would bear fruit in the late forties: Began a close liaison with the U.S. Army Signals Intelligence Service, the National Security Agencys predecessor, on the exploitation of Soviet messages that were being decrypted and decoded by military intelligence personnel. The FBI and the NSA were able to identify several hundred persons connected with Soviet intelligence work against the US and its allies. The project continued until 1980 when it was shut down. Among the prominent cases to come from these messages was the Judith Coplon case, the Klaus Fuchs case, and the Rosenberg case. July/August 1940: Captain John V. Grombach publishes The Invisible Weapon in the United States Armys Infantry Journal on the covert applications of radio technology in warfare and espionage. Previewing ideas that would become popular in the future, Grobach wrote of mass communication as a weapon: Propaganda and the protection of military secrets are vital both to participants and to nations near the brink of involvement. Thus a mighty power in the struggle for world dominion by nations, forms of government, and ideals is radio. International radio is just now beginning to be evaluated adequately as the powerful though invisible weapon it is. Just as dominance in the air by plane may be the key to victory on land and sea, so the use of the ether waves may be the most potent means for mastery of the minds and hearts of men, without which no nation or ideal can survive. Charles Grombach as a West Point Cadet (CIA photo) December 19, 1941: Twelve Days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8985, Establishing the Office of Censorship under the War Powers Act. February 16, 1942: U.S. Army intelligence creates a secret spying outfit called The Pond, to compete with and spy on the newly commissioned Office of Strategic Services. The aforementioned Grombach is selected to direct the new organization, which operates primarily through commercial cover enterprises like insurance agencies. Members of The Pond. (CIA photo) April 14, 1942: The Second Class Mail permit for Social Justice, a weekly newspaper founded by fascist and anti-semitic radio personality Father Charles E. Coughlin, was suspended by Postmaster General Frank Walker on the recommendation of Attorney General Francis Biddle. Social Justice reproduces, in this country, Biddle said, the lines of the enemy propaganda war being waged against this country from abroad. The Espionage Act of 1917 is designed to defeat this attack. February 1, 1943: The VENONA Project, a secret high level code-breaking program run by the Army and later the National Security Agency in cooperation with FBI, commences. It is kept secret from the President by the Army Chief of Staff, Omar Bradley. 1946: The Assistant Director of the Office of Censorship, Theodore F. Koop, publishes Weapon of Silence: Secrets, Censors, and Spies. In it, he notes that then-Director of the Office Byron Prices assurance that press and radio were reverting to peacetime freedom had proved to be premature. Focused now on clamping down on discussion of the development of the atomic bomb, the department issued a manifesto: All individuals, groups and organizations connected with the Manhattan Project will continue to comply with present security regulation. Loose talk and idle speculation, particularly by individuals now or formerly connected with the project, jeopardize the future of the Nation. It is the duty of every citizen, in the interest of national safety, to keep all discussion of this subject within the limits of information disclosed in official releases. Koop wrote, The censors shears were bayonets that not only formed a rear-guard national defense but also struck hard at the enemy in all three phases of warfaremilitary, economic, and psychological. Then, in a mildly chilling preview of what was to come, he added: For a single country, censorship can be a potent weapon. But when the censorships of a group of nations are linked into a world-wide network, the power is increased to the Geographic Spread. August 1946: Congress passes the Atomic Energy Act. Henceforth, the FBI is responsible for investigating the backgrounds of persons who were to access restricted nuclear data and for investigation of criminal violations of this act. January 1, 1947: the civilian Atomic Energy Commission takes over Manhattan Project operations. One result is a decision to keep information on the plutonium injections secret, for reasons not pegged to national security, but public relations and legal liability concerns. Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, who oversaw the Manhattan Project March 21, 1947: President Harry S Truman issues Executive Order 9835, a.k.a. Prescribing Procedures for the Administration of an Employees Loyalty Program in the Executive Branch of the Government. A key provision of the latest loyalty-oath scheme is the creation of a Central Master Index: There shall also be established and maintained in the Civil Service Commission a central master index covering all persons on whom loyalty investigations have been made by any department or agency since September 1, 1939. Another key provision is the formation of a Loyalty Review Board, under which the Department of Justice would furnich the names of each foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group or combination of persons which the Attorney General, after appropriate investigation and determination, designates as totalitarian, fascist, communist or subversive. Trumans own administration would eventually be targeted by his bureaucratic creation. The DOJ was also responsible for supplying names of people identified as having adopted a policy of advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny others their rights under the Constitution of the United States, or as seeking to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means. July 26, 1947: The National Security Act of 1947 is signed into law by President Harry S Truman. Among other things, the Act establishes the United States Air Force as a separate branch of the military, and the Central Intelligence Agency as a separate government entity, under the executive branch. January 27, 1948: The US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, better known as the Smith-Mundt Act, is passed. The Act is designed to regulate the broadcasts of propaganda to foreign audiences under State Department guidance, while prohibiting that same propaganda on domestic broadcasts. The ban on domestic propaganda would be repealed in 2013. June 18, 1948: President Harry Truman approves NSC 10/2, which creates the Office of Special Projects, the brainchild of George Kennan, director of State Departments Policy Planning Staff and author of the famed Long Telegram, considered a foundational document establishing decades of Cold War policy. The office name is later changed to Office of Policy Coordination and Frank Wisner is chosen as the Director. This Office, staffed mostly by OSS veterans, will be the center covert branch of American political action, until it is incorporated into CIA. 1950s: The Term Disinformation begins to be widely used in American and British circles, formed on the pattern of Russian dezinformatsiya. February 9, 1950: Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin gives his infamous Communists in Government Service speech. In a Lincoln Day address to the Republican Womens Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy produced a piece of paper and announced: The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department. April 1951: Truman establishes the Psychological Strategy Board. They will prove instrumental in funding the 1954 Hollywood Production of George Orwells Animal Farm. January 10, 1953: Mary Dublin Keyserling, wife of former Truman economic adviser Leon Keyserling, is cleared after a Loyalty Review Board case was brought against her by McCarthy. January 22, 1953: Arthur Millers The Crucible is published, one of what would become a long series of artistic/metaphorical commentaries on dangerously controversial topics. Its rumored that the character of Elizabeth Proctor is based in part on Mary Keyserling. Left, Mary Dublin Keyserling. August 24, 1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs The Communist Control Act of 1954. Eisenhower explains: The new law which I am signing today includes one of the many recommendations made by this Administration to support existing statutes in defeating the Communist conspiracy in this country Administratively, we have in the past 19 months stepped up enforcement of laws against subversives. As a result, 41 top Communist leaders have been convicted, 35 more are indicted and scheduled for trial, and 105 subversive aliens have been deported. Eisenhower complained of witnesses who invoked Constitutional privilege against self-incrimination and boasted his law would provide a new means of breaking through the secrecy which is characteristic of traitors, spies and saboteurs. April 5, 1955: Koop, now Director of Washington News and Public Affairs for the Columbia Broadcasting System, writes President Eisenhower to say hes, honored to accept the Censorship assignment measured in your letter of March 21. I greatly prize your confidence in me. I can assure you that I shall do my utmost to prepare for an eventuality which I hope will never arise. I would deem it a privilege to talk with you at your convenience, as you suggested. PREVIEW OF THINGS TO COME? Left, Theodoore Koop of CBS. Right, Koops letter to my dead Dwight Eisenhower, accepting a sub rosa censorship role. June 26, 1958: The construction of DC-01, the first SAGE NETWORK (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) building in the United States, is completed at Maguire Air Force Base in New York. The SAGE NETWORK would be a series of large computers and networking machines that coordinated data from Radar Sites to produce a single image of airspace. The funding and construction of the SAGE network cost more than the Manhattan Project, and was the backbone of American Air Defense networks until the 1980s. Connected by modems, telephones and fax machines, the SAGE NETWORK laid the groundwork for the ARPANET and Internet. January 26, 1959: American journalist John Powell is charged with sedition for a series of articles in the The China Monthly Review, where he wrote that the US military used biological warfare against North Korean and Chinese soldiers, incorporating lessons learned from Imperial Japans Unit 731. The case would drag on for five years, the government would drop all charges, and Powell would be blackballed from American journalism forever. March 28, 1960: The current Special Envoy and Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center, U.S. Department of States James Rubin, is born in New York City to Harvey Rubin, who would go on to be an executive at the Satra, the Soviet American Trade Corporation, and Judy Rubin, an art therapist who would make regular guest appearances on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. March 12, 1963: BROADCASTING MAGAZINE features an item in the Closed Circuit section about how the U.S. government is thinking of re-opening a World War II-style office of censorship, after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The item reads: Censorship ahead? There is no censorship in present national emergency, White House News Secretary Pierre Salinger was at pains to explain to news media chiefs last week, but plans are going forward and may be announced shortly for Office of Censorship similar in many respects to one operated under ex-AP chief Byran Price during World War II. Remnants of old Office of Censorship have survived during intervening years under leadership of Prices right hand man, Theodore F. Koop, (CBS vice president) with some of original executive personnel kept on standby basis. Present crisis finds Koop out of the country on vacation, but some other executive reserves have been in Washington for consultation. 1965: Then-Director of Central Intelligence, Vice Admiral W.F. Raborn, whod made his name in the Government by delivering the Polaris nuclear missile system three years early and under budget using the program evaluation and review technique, writes a letter to Clark Clifford, then the head of the Presidents Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, warning of a major foreign disinformation operation whose aim is the destruction, break-up and neutralization of CIA: What are disinformation operations? Dezinformatsiya, in Soviet terminology, is false, incomplete or misleading information that is passed, fed or confirmed to a targetted (sic) individual, group or country. Propaganda as it is defined by Free World students, may be used as a support element of dezinformatsiya, but propaganda per se lacks the precision and bite of disinformation. Raborn writes that a purpose of the unit is to sow distrust and create grounds for subversion and revolt against the U.S. in the Western Hemisphere and among the new nations of Africa and Asia These purposes and objectives, it must be emphasized, have been established by the highest elements of Party and Government in the Soviet Union. April, 1967: Ramparts magazine reports that the National Student Association received funding from CIA. September, 1968: Following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Prague to suppress the Czech Spring, Major Ladislav Bittman, former deputy head of head of Czech Intelligences Department D for active measures, (their Secret Service department in charge of Black Propaganda and disinformation defects to the United States by way of West Germany. Bittman later changed his name to Lawrence Martin and taught journalism at Boston University. He founded the Program for the Study of Disinformation in the mid 1980s, this is the first academic center in the US to focus on disinformation. December, 1968: The Stanford Research Institute (SRI) issues a report A Study of Computer Network Design Parameters to the Advanced Research Projects as part of the development of ARAPANET, the forerunner to the internet. June 30, 1971: In a 6-3 Ruling, the Supreme Court rules in favor of the New York Times in New York Times Co. v. United States, which allowed the newspaper to publish extracts from a purloined classified Pentagon history of the Vietnam war. The case is a landmark verdict on press freedom and the burden of government prior restraint. The famed Pentagon Papers case. January 15, 1977: SATRA, The Soviet American Trading Company where Harvey Rubin is vice president, is awarded broadcast rights to the 1980 Moscow Olympics January 4, 1978: The ARPANET Completion Report is published, signaling the birth of the modern Internet. 1981: The Reagan administration founds the Active Measures Working Group, an interagency detail led by Department of State official Mark Palmer. Shedding a years-long disinclination to discuss disinformation openly, the new group begins to publish papers countering Soviet propaganda and Soviet-tied rumors, beginning with a paper in 1981 purporting to debunk stories about U.S. responsibility for the the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the killing of a Panamanian leader, and other tales. The first Active Measures Working Group paper, 1981 September 20, 1983: The Director of Central Intelligence, William Casey, briefs the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: On the covert side, Moscow has developed a vigorous program of active measures that is carried out in large part by a growing overseas presence that includes diplomats, Aeroflot employees, and the representatives of Soviet trade and news organizations Casey warns that Soviet active measures include media manipulation and disinformation, as well as agents of influence and other subversive activities. July 24, 1985: The CIA Delivers a report on its Conference on Contemporary Soviet Propaganda and Disinformation, writing: The report will be given broad dissemination by the State Department. A number of the conferees suggested that a list of participants would be useful to keep each other informed and to involve each other in related work as time passes. Some saw this as a first step in helping to create a network of specialists interested in disinformation issues. In another past example of media cooperation with intelligence goals, the former editor of Commentary Magazine and US Information Agency adviser Norman Podhoretz is mentioned. Podhoretz delivered the keynote address to a CIA Dis-information conference, an address titled, Causes of Western Vulnerability due to semantic manipulation. 1985: As a result of a series of high profile espionage arrests, 1985 is characterized in media as the Year of the Spy. Lawmakers claim the RESTRICT Act the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act would give Congress new powers to mitigate national security threats posed by adversaries technology products, but critics called the bill a dangerous substitute for comprehensive data privacy legislation. Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free. U.S. lawmakers are considering a bill that would grant the U.S. government vast new powers to surveil and censor U.S. citizens. The RESTRICT Act the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, or Senate Bill 686 would give the federal government new powers ostensibly to mitigate national security threats posed by technology products from countries that the U.S. deems adversarial. The bill would grant the U.S. secretary of commerce the authority to identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate national security risks associated with technology linked to a foreign adversary. There are only six countries on the foreign adversary list China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia and Cuba but the bill allows the secretary and Congress to add any other country if it became necessary. The bill does not stipulate the criteria for adding a country. Additionally, the bill would give the commerce secretary the power to negotiate, enter into, impose and enforce any mitigation measure in response to national security risks. The bills broad and vague language puts a great deal of power into the hands of the executive branch, according to critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. The EFF called the bill a dangerous substitute for comprehensive data privacy legislation. Meanwhile, the White House applauded the bill, stating that it would empower the United States government to prevent certain foreign governments from exploiting technology services operating in the United States in a way that poses risks to Americans sensitive data and our national security. The bill which has yet to be scheduled for a vote would create a legal framework through which the U.S. government could ban TikTok. TikTok is regarded as a national security risk by some U.S. lawmakers who fear that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, might share sensitive information from the more than 150 million U.S. TikTok users with the Chinese Communist Party. U.S. Big Tech companies including Facebooks parent company, Meta, and Googles parent, Alphabet, are expected to benefit from an expanded market share if the U.S. government bans the Chinese-owned TikTok. Mechanism for a massive, sweeping surveillance and censorship overhaul However, according to investigative reporter Jordan Schachtel, This bill is no mere TikTok ban, it is a mechanism for a massive, sweeping surveillance and censorship overhaul. Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D., author of Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom, agreed. He told The Defender: The RESTRICT Act is not only aimed at the activities and expression of companies and individuals from nations deemed inimical to U.S. interests; it is a backdoor means through which the federal government can oversee the opinions and activities of all U.S. citizens, increasing the states powers of surveillance and abrogating citizens first amendment rights. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also had harsh words for the proposed legislation: Many on both the Left and Right have criticized the bill, calling it the Patriot Act on steroids or the Patriot Act 2.0. Weeks after the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which the American Civil Liberties Union said was an overnight revision of the nations surveillance laws that vastly expanded the governments authority to spy on its own citizens, while simultaneously reducing checks and balances on those powers like judicial oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government searches in court. Critics fear the RESTRICT Act would expand those powers even further. EFF condemned the bills potential threats to free speech, noting that the bill doesnt require the executive branch to justify its restrictions on expressive technologies like TikTok and that it limits lawsuit challenges to the restrictions it sets. Due to undefined mitigation measures coupled with a vague enforcement provision, the bill could also criminalize common practices like using a VPN or side-loading to install a prohibited app, EFF said. There are legitimate data privacy concerns about social media platforms, but this bill is a distraction from real progress on privacy. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who co-sponsored the bill, said in remarks on the Senate floor that the bill would not allow the government to surveil Americans online content or access any Americans personal communications device. However, the RESTRICT Acts broad language could potentially be interpreted to address satellite and mobile networks, cloud services and storage, internet infrastructure providers, home internet gear, commercial and personal drones, video games and payment apps, CNN said. Instead of passing this broad and overreaching bill, Congress should limit the opportunities for any company to collect massive amounts of our detailed personal data, which is then made available to data brokers, U.S. government agencies, and even foreign adversaries, China included, EFF concluded. Also on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/672129/shots-eugenics-to-pandemics?start=true%C2%A0 Shots puts an amusing spin on the little-known history of eugenics. It traces the genocidal, anti-ethnic eugenics movement which resulted in the sterilization and elimination of millions. It exposes how the wealthiest families financed the evolution of eugenics into Nazi Germany, and pushed America into perpetual wars. These families further influenced the government's elimination of financial liability for vaccine manufacturers while simulating run-ups to the 2020 pandemic. By that year the wealthiest had bought and controlled the media, and censored medical experts that criticized government actions. Shots illuminates how the government censored effective therapeutics, financially incentivized hospitals to adopt misleading reporting practices and deadly treatments, doubled global deaths with lockdowns, bankrupted small businesses, and allowed the most unsafe vaccines in a century. This photo, provided by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, shows the country's first homegrown space rocket, Nuri, being assembled at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, 328 kilometers south of Seoul, eight days ahead of its third launch, May 16. Yonhap Korea will wrap up the assembly of its homegrown space rocket Nuri on Sunday, with three days to go before the planned third launch, coming about a year after its successful test launch, the science ministry said. Nuri, or KSLV-II, is set to lift off from the Naro Space Center in the country's southern coastal village of Goheung on Wednesday, and officials will complete its assembly and make final inspections Sunday, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The process for the assembly and other preparations has been progressing without a hitch, they added. Nuri is the core part of Korea's 1.9 trillion-won ($1.44 billion) project to launch 1.5-ton satellites into a low Earth orbit by its own space rocket between 2010-2023. In 2021, Nuri successfully flew to its target altitude of 700 kilometers but failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit, as its third-stage engine burned out earlier than expected. On its second attempt in 2022, Nuri successfully completed its flight sequence and deployed dummy satellites at the target altitude of 700 kilometers as planned. This time, Nuri will perform a mission to launch practical satellites into orbit and will carry eight satellites, including the country's second next-generation small satellite and four microsatellites developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, codenamed SNIPE. It is the first time that Nuri is tasked with handling separate multiple satellites in one flight, officials said. (Yonhap) Protesters have lifted their blockade at a hotel being used to house asylum seekers in Co Clare. Magowna House Hotel in Inch has been at the centre of a dispute this week. Locals claimed they were not consulted about plans to house migrants in the hotel and had formed a blockade at the entrance. It involved parking cars and tractors across the road that leads to the hotel. I welcome the decision of the residents to remove the blockade at Magowna House. pic.twitter.com/h7OUg00b7v Joe O'Brien TD for Dublin Fingal (@joefingalgreen) May 21, 2023 Protesters said this was to stop a second bus that was expected to bring another 30 asylum seekers to three holiday homes on the grounds of the hotel building. Following a meeting earlier this week with the Minister of State for Integration, Joe O'Brien, the residents have now agreed to remove the blockade and maintain a peaceful protest. Advertisement Mr O'Brien welcomed the decision. My meeting with the residents on Thursday, in Ennis, was an honest, open discussion and I am pleased that that engagement has helped bring some improvement to the situation, he said in a statement on Sunday. I look forward to working with the provider and my officials to develop a programme of education, training and other supports for the people residing in Magowna House. I look forward to returning to Magowna in four weeks as agreed. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his conservative party have won a clear lead in Greeces parliamentary elections, exit polls show. But they indicate he does not have enough votes to form a government, meaning a second election is likely unless he can form a coalition with another party. Exit polls showed Mr Mitsotakiss main rival, 48-year-old former prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his left-wing Syriza party, in second place. The polls projected New Democracy winning between 121 and 125 seats in the 300-member parliament, with Syriza at between 86 and 89 seats. Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition Syriza party, greeting his supporters at a polling station in Athens, Greece (Michael Varaklas/AP) A total of six or seven parties are projected to make it past the threshold of 3% of the vote to enter parliament. Advertisement If confirmed by official results, Mr Mitsotakis will have up to three days to seek coalition partners, before the mandate to try to form a coalition government is handed to Mr Tsipras. But Mr Mitsotakiss New Democracy party indicated it would prefer to seek a clear win in a second election and be able to govern on its own. We have said that we want to govern outright because that would ensure stability and the way forward. So we have the right to ask the Greek people for that in the next election, public order minister Takis Theodorikakos said on Skai television shortly after polls closed on Sunday evening. Sundays election is Greeces first since its economy ceased being under strict supervision by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during the countrys nearly decade-long financial crisis. The election was held under a new law of proportional representation, which makes it particularly difficult for any one party to win enough parliamentary seats to form a government on its own. But the law will change again for the next election, shifting to a system that rewards the leading party with bonus seats and making it easier for it to win a parliamentary majority. Advertisement Mr Mitsotakis, a 55-year-old Harvard-educated former banking executive, had been steadily ahead in opinion polls in the run-up to the election. Supporters of Greeces prime minister and leader of New Democracy watch the exit poll at the headquarters of his party in Athens, Greece (Petros Giannakouris/AP) But his popularity took a hit following a February 28 rail disaster that killed 57 people after an intercity passenger train was accidentally put on the same rail line as an oncoming freight train. It was later revealed that train stations were poorly staffed and safety infrastructure broken and outdated. The government was also battered by a surveillance scandal in which journalists and prominent Greek politicians discovered spyware on their phones. The revelations deepened mistrust among the countrys political parties at a time when consensus may be badly needed. But New Democracy celebrated its strong showing in Sundays vote. (The exit polls) show a clear victory for New Democracy and a clear renewal of the mandate to continue the major changes sought by Greek society, said government spokesman Akis Skertsos. Greeces once-dominant Pasok party is likely to be at the centre of any coalition talks. Overtaken by Syriza during Greeces 2009-2018 financial crisis, exit polls showed the socialist party garnering around 35 seats in parliament. Advertisement Election representatives count the ballots at a polling station in Athens, Greece (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP) Its leader, Nikos Androulakis, 44, was at the centre of the wiretapping scandal in which his phone was targeted for surveillance. But Mr Androulakiss poor relationship with Mr Mitsotakis, whom he accuses of covering up the wiretapping scandal, mean a deal with the conservatives would be difficult. His relationship with Mr Tsipras is also poor, accusing him of trying to poach Pasok voters. In power since 2019, Mr Mitsotakis has delivered unexpectedly high growth, a steep drop in unemployment and a country on the brink of returning to investment grade on the global bond market for the first time since it lost market access in 2010, at the start of its financial crisis. Debts to the International Monetary Fund were paid off early. European governments and the IMF pumped 280 billion euros (243 billion) into the Greek economy in emergency loans between 2010 and 2018 to prevent the eurozone member from suffering bankruptcy. In return, they demanded punishing cost-cutting measures and reforms that saw the countrys economy shrink by a quarter. An extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians. The visit by national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his second known visit since becoming a member of Israels most right-leaning government ever, drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israels neighbour Jordan, which acts as the custodian of the site. Neighbouring Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation. I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people, Mr Ben-Gvir said during his early morning visit to the site, with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, according to video released by his office. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it proves who is in charge in Jerusalem. Advertisement Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Mr Ben-Gvirs visit a blatant attack on the mosque. Jordans Foreign Ministry called it a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation. The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israels capturing of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalems Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine, including a low-level minister from Mr Ben-Gvirs party, but not Ben-Gvir himself. Later on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Cabinet is expected to hold a special session to mark the occasion near the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray and a remaining exterior wall of the biblical Temples. Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the hilltop site is the holiest in Judaism and home to the ancient biblical Temples. Today, it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. The ultranationalist Mr Ben-Gvir, along with a growing movement of activists, has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site. Advertisement Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel seizing control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there. Israels national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, centre, attending a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP/PA) Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel launched near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed 33, many of them militants but also women and children, and two people were killed in Israel by militant rocket fire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Sunday that Russia has taken control of the city of Bakhmut after a bloody eight-month battle by Moscows Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, that has left it in ruins. Speaking alongside US President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Mr Zelensky said the Russians had destroyed everything. You have to understand that there is nothing, he said. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place. Mr Zelenskys comments came as Biden announced 375 million dollars (301 million) more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the US), Mr Zelensky tweeted later. In the framework of the participation in the #G7 Summit in Hiroshima, I met with the President of the United States @POTUS. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to from , which totals $37 billion, and for the new military assistance package announced by Advertisement (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023 Russias defence ministry had said early on Sunday that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized Bakhmut. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Using the citys Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said, In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan (Susan Walsh/AP/PA) Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlins press service as saying President Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk. In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday on Saturday. Advertisement He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. Wagner Group military company members wave a Russian national and Wagner flag atop a damaged building in Bakhmut, Ukraine (Prigozhin Press Service via AP/PA) Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Mr Zelensky underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but would not prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. Advertisement The provinces of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraines industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 34 miles north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial centre, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was also known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group military company, holds a Russian national flag in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut (Prigozhin Press Service via AP/PA) Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smouldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. Advertisement The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Mr Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticised. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Mr Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive further into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Scientific decoupling from China will be costly: Dutch expert Xinhua) 13:13, May 21, 2023 THE HAGUE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A strict ban on China will cost the Netherlands "dearly in science," a Dutch expert has warned. The Netherlands' international position in technology and innovation will be seriously damaged by "cutting our scientific links with China on a large scale," said Ingrid D'Hooghe, coordinator and senior researcher at the Clingendael China Centre, a Dutch think tank, in an article published on the think tank's website. "In addition, it will further restrict our understanding of developments in China, which is a key economic, political and scientific player that we cannot ignore," she said. "However complex it may be, we need scientific cooperation with China," said the expert, adding that "now more than ever we need knowledge about and cooperation with China. Decoupling is therefore the worst of all options for scientific cooperation." D'Hooghe described China as "a scientific powerhouse and a leading player" in many fields such as biotechnology, 5G and 6G, nano-materials and electric batteries. She also noted that China's investment in scientific research ranks second in the world, and it has a large number of talents in the field of natural sciences. "Ignoring or excluding these Chinese scientists means that we will increasingly come to lag behind in technological sectors," D'Hooghe said. Joint research in areas where China has a lot of knowledge and experience to offer, such as cancer treatment, personalized medicines and circular economy and sustainability, contributes to not only Dutch scientific progress but also to social welfare, she said. In other areas, it is vital to bring together Chinese and Dutch high-quality knowledge to address global challenges on a large scale such as environment and food safety, the expert said. Without scientific cooperation with China, D'Hooghe concluded, "the prospects for solving societal and global problems and for the Dutch leading position in science and technology may quickly take a turn for the worse." (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, second from left, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, second from right, first lady Kim Keon Hee, left, and Kishida's wife, Yuko, right, pay tribute in front of a cenotaph for Korean victims of the Hiroshima atomic bombing at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21. Yonhap Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid tribute to Korean victims of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing on Sunday in a symbolic move demonstrating their commitment to improving bilateral ties. The two leaders made a joint visit to a cenotaph honoring the Korean victims at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, marking the first visit by a Korean president and the first joint visit by leaders of the two countries. Yoon was joined by first lady Kim Keon Hee, while Kishida was joined by his wife, Yuko. Around 50,000 Koreans fell victim to the atomic bombing, including 30,000 killed, after many were brought to Japan to work as forced laborers during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, according to the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association. Yoon, who arrived in Hiroshima on Friday to attend a Group of Seven summit, met with a group of Korean survivors that day. The cenotaph was erected in 1970 with the funding of Korean residents in Japan and was initially located outside the park. In 1999, it was relocated to its current spot at the request of Korean residents and Japanese civic groups. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian forces are not occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscows claims that the eastern Ukrainian city has fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Mr Zelensky said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die, Mr Zelensky said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the G7 summit (Louise Delmotte, Pool/AP) The fight for the city of Bakhmut is continuing, the Ukrainian militarys general staff said in a statement on Sunday. Advertisement Oleksandr Syrskyi, a spokesman for the militarys eastern command, said Ukrainian forces control the outskirts of the city, and defence forces continue offensive actions on the flanks near Bakhmut. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Mr Zelenskys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Mr Zelensky said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing. Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Mr Zelenskys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defence and military officials also said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. Advertisement The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Ms Malyar said. Military medics give first aid to wounded Ukrainian soldiers at a medical stabilisation point near Bakhmut (Roman Chop via AP) That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the south-western part of the city. Heavy fighting is under way, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmuts Soviet-era name. Advertisement Russias Defence Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G7 in Japan, Mr Zelensky stood side by side with US President Joe Biden during a news conference. Mr Biden announced 375 million dollars (301 million) more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery, and vehicles. In the framework of the participation in the #G7 Summit in Hiroshima, I met with the President of the United States @POTUS. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to from , which totals $37 billion, and for the new military assistance package announced by (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023 I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the US), Mr Zelensky tweeted later. The new pledge came after the US agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Mr Biden said on Sunday that Mr Zelensky had given the US a flat assurance that Ukraine would not use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late on Saturday. Advertisement The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday on Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut (Prigozhin Press Service via AP) Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Mr Zelensky underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but would not prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Advertisement Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a pre-war population of 80,000 and was an important industrial centre, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was also known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately city centre with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smouldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. School and flats in Bakhmut on May 8 2022, top, and the same buildings demolished on May 15 2023, bottom (Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies/AP) When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Wagner Group members in Bakhmut (Prigozhin Press Service/AP) Mr Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticised. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Mr Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers, according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive further into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. A year ago, Clive Palmer spent $116 million of his hard-earned mining money getting a single senator Victorian realtor Ralph Deej Babet elected to parliament. Babet hasnt exactly set the upper house on fire since. In between ranting about drag queens, hes made it clear parliamentary duties are getting in the way of him selling more real estate, complaining that he was taking a pay cut by trading in the property game for a senators circa $200,000 salary. Featured prominently on the social media accounts of Babet Brothers, the real estate company he co-owned with his brother, Bertrand Babet (a business known as Nude Fit Nutrition until 2020), the senator seems firmly committed to the side hustle. But recent parliamentary register of interest disclosures and filings with the corporate regulator reveal that Babet has stepped away from his directorship of the family company, leaving us worried he may have lost his zeal for the property game. Not a chance. Babet told CBD on Sunday while he was absolutely still working for the business and turning up at inspections around the Melbourne mortgage belt every weekend, hed handed over sole directorship to his brother because hes too busy being a senator. When polling commissioned by this masthead showed that support for the Voice had slipped by five points down to just 53 per cent, powerful people on the Yes side decreed that the poll was a bit of an outlier. Any campaigner can tell you that polls sometimes bounce around. But minimising the trend, which the most recent track of polling continues, is foolish. The Voice referendum is on track to fail. Now is a good time for the Yes campaign to panic, before its too late to change the trajectory. Conservative Yes supporters are panicking strategically. They are on a mission to save the Voice. They believe that the current wording will fail at referendum and that changing it is the only way to save the Voice. They face a closing window of opportunity. Veteran pollster Jim Reed has said no amount of advertising is going to sell a product that people arent sure about. Credit: Illustration by Matt Davidson Over the next few weeks, the report from the joint committee investigating the proposed constitutional alteration will be debated in parliament and in the Senate. The final report, from the Labor-dominated committee, recommends preserving the existing wording. By some estimates, the window for change will close as soon as this coming week when the government will be faced with the choice to compromise or press ahead. Optimistically, others identify the Senate process, ending on June 22, as the last realistic opportunity to modify the words that Australians will vote on. Residents of Sydney, the Hunter and the Illawarra have been told to brace for hazardous surf over the next few days as strong winds gusting at more than 100 km/h whip up seas along the coast. Swells of three to four metres were due to hit Sydney later on Sunday following strong winds, the Bureau of Meteorology said, while dangerous waves brought the potential for erosion in parts of the coast further north. The hazardous conditions could linger into Wednesday, senior meteorologist at the bureau Neale Fraser said, even as the waves become smaller. Powerful surf could threaten coastal areas including Wamberal on the NSW central coast, seen here after storms in 2020. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer They are deceptively powerful waves, he said. Theres a lot of energy in them. Two students at Shore School have been suspended after a video emerged of a fight in a classroom, where one pupil was filmed using a table to physically attack a classmate. In a letter to parents, headmaster at the private boys school, John Collier, said the school had taken decisive action after the incident between a group of students last week, and that police would work with the school to educate our students about the inappropriateness of violent behaviour. Headmaster at private boys school Shore says the school will work with police to educate students about the inappropriateness of violent behaviour. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone We are also exploring additional sanctions, as deemed necessary, to reinforce the gravity of the situation and send a strong message that such conduct will not be tolerated within our school community, he wrote. Collier said the fight between year 10 students had taken place on school grounds last week, and was witnessed by several other students and videoed by some of them on mobile phones. A First Nations man has been shot dead by police after a reported domestic violence incident with his father at a home in Brisbanes north on Sunday. Police said the shooting happened on Days Road in Grange about 2.15pm, after they responded to reports of an altercation between the 29-year-old and his 53-year-old father. Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said when officers arrived at the scene, they found the father with a shoulder injury and a stab wound to his left hand. Two officers went to the back of the property, where they found the 29-year-old, who they said was armed with a knife. Four other officers were also on the scene as back-up. Location scouts for the next James Bond movie should check out the Eiger Express, I think to myself as I arrive at the base terminal. They probably havent had the chance yet. The new, technologically advanced cableway opened at the end of 2020, but is only now getting into its stride as visitors return to Switzerland. The Eiger Express gets you as close as youll ever get to the north face of the Eiger without being an experienced climber. The base station alone would provide a wow moment on the big screen. Nearly a half-billion Swiss francs ($830 million) buys you a lot of glamour and clever architecture that soaks up huge mountain views through every enormous pane of glass. It proves that concrete can look chic, and everything still has that satisfying sheen of new buildings. Its bar, where you can squint between backlit bottles and see chalets and snow peaks, would be just the place to flirt with a sultry spy. For those on an alpine day out rather than a mission to save the world, the terminal matches pizzazz with Swiss practicality. It connects to the train line from Interlaken in the valley below. It has a well-stocked supermarket for picnic supplies, or a soup-noodle bar if you cant be bothered. In winter, you can store your ski boots in heated lockers overnight. Should you be overcome with the need for a cowbell, expensive watch or Lindt balls with unusual flavours, souvenir shops indulge you. The cable car has heated seats and impeccably polished windows. The VIP cabin has seats in red leather that swivel between view and champagne bar. You could have another flirt here, or grapple with a villain. The background scenery would look epic on the silver screen: cow-clanked pastures, cliffs, ice-encrusted mountains. Hiroshima: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has used his surprise appearance at the G7 to call for all governments to deliver arms to Kyiv, and to demand global unity in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. In a fiery speech, Zelensky used the setting of Hiroshima where the first atomic bomb was dropped in 1945 to warn our lives will equally burn to ashes as his country reels from the bombing of Bakhmut. He described the eastern Ukrainian city, once home to 73,000 as a scorched wasteland of houses turned to rubble. The President took aim at neutral countries India and Brazil and accused them of being fooled by Russian President Vladimir Putins propaganda. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a powerful speech at the G7 Leaders Summit in Hiroshima. Credit: Christopher Jue Zelensky said he did not have any proof that Brazil, China or India were sending any weapons to Russia but said he had been in touch with certain leaders to try to convince them of the Ukrainian cause. Imagine your house is on fire. The fire service arrives and commences a very professional job of extinguishing the flames, saving many of your possessions. But then, halfway through the job, the firemen and women turn off their hoses and then stand and watch your house, and your treasured possessions, burn to the ground. Such a scenario is difficult to conceive. But it is exactly what Australia has done with its support for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese crossed paths at the G7 Summit in Japan. Credit: AP In 2022, Australia was a significant provider of military assistance to the government of Ukraine. Bushmasters, armoured personnel carriers, weapons and other military material were dispatched to help the Ukrainian military stem the Russian onslaught that sought to extinguish their young democracy. Australias aid was generous, and very much appreciated by the Ukrainian people. But as 2022 turned to 2023, and other nations decided to turn up the spigot on aid to support spring offensives by the Ukrainian army, Australia has done an about face. This year, the Australian government has made no major contributions to the defence of Ukraine with the exception of a small consignment of uncrewed aerial vehicles. That, and a couple of selfies by parliamentarians in Parliament House. There is a term for this. Bystander behaviour. It is a type of behaviour also described in psychology as the bystander effect that the Australian military takes extraordinarily seriously. It has even defined it as anyone who becomes aware of a situation that is a serious contravention to our values, has an adverse impact on morale, wellbeing or discipline and who fails to report an incident once they become aware of it. Our nations new strategy for Ukraine has shifted from support Ukraine to strategic bystanding. London: Richard Bell never tires of London. It is, as he describes it, the heart of the beast. The centre of empire. The first half a dozen times he visited, he found himself staring, fascinated and overwhelmed, at its famous buildings, pondering how many died building them or paying for them. Artist Richard Bell outside the Tate Modern gallery where his installation Embassy is on display. Credit: Andy Hall It really bothered me, says Bell, who turns 70 this year. I had to learn to come to terms with that. But travelling the world keeps him sane and helps to keep the fire burning inside. Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shake hands during their summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 20. Yonhap Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed hope Saturday to expand cooperation in nuclear power, technology and other areas, the presidential office said. Yoon and Sunak met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima and discussed a wide range of issues, including bilateral relations, strengthening practical cooperation, international affairs, and cooperation on the global stage, according to the presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon. Yoon said he found his first summit with Sunak meaningful and requested the prime minister's interest in expanding bilateral cooperation in nuclear power, establishing a digital partnership and strengthening cooperation in cyber security. Sunak expressed his strong agreement, saying he hopes for close cooperation with South Korea in energy, including nuclear power, defense and semiconductors, according to Lee. Sunak also called for deepening the two countries' ties as they mark the 140th anniversary of the beginning of exchanges this year, saying he plans to make Korea the most important partner in the Asia-Pacific region and proposes crafting a detailed plan and agreement on Korea-Britain cooperation at the earliest possible date. Yoon replied by calling for close communication between the two countries' national security and economic teams, Lee said. (Yonhap) In this section First Published: May 21 2023 | 3:33 PM IST Valuation discomfort not as acute as it was 6 months ago: Prashant Khemka EV subsidies flawed and unfeasible, says Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj PNB Housing well capitalised to support loan growth in FY24: Girish Kousgi Very strong India story will play out going ahead: JSW Steel Joint MD & CEO Google's move to make app makers use its new billing system faces backlash Google Bard: What we know so far about generative AI chatbot in the works Pixel 7a review: Google's entry-level phone is mixed bag of hits and misses HC gives Matrimony.com breather in legal fight with Google over billing Matrimony.com captured media attention recently for fighting a lone battle against tech giant Google, both at the Competition Commission of India and the Madras High Court, highlighting the alleged misuse of its monopoly by the global major. The Chennai-based companys founder and chief executive officer,, talks toabout the Google battle, evolution of the Indian marriage market post Covid, and his firms roadmap for the future. Edited Excerpts: It all started with Apple in the United States. Because Apple is a closed eco-system, it initially said that its game developers need to use only the Apple Billing Payment system, giving 30 per cent revenue to Apple. Google introduced a similar policy in India. It has a monopoly in India, To read the full story, subscribe to BS Premium now, at just Rs 249/ month. Key stories on business-standard.com are available only to BS Premium subscribers. Already a BS Premium subscriber?LOGIN NOW Register to read more on Business-Standard.com Airports Authority of India (AAI) is back in the black, raking in a profit of Rs 3,400 crore in the fiscal ended March as surging domestic air traffic boosted its financial performance, according to a source. AAI has reported a profit for the first time after the coronavirus pandemic that had significantly impacted air traffic and the aviation sector as a whole. In the financial years -- 2021-22 and 2020-21 -- AAI had reported a loss. While the loss was Rs 803.72 crore in the fiscal ended March 2022, the same stood at Rs 3,176.12 crore in the financial year ended March 2021. These figures excluded exceptional and extraordinary items and tax. The source in the know told PTI that AAI has recorded a profit of Rs 3,400 crore for the 2022-23 financial year. Also Read Tamil Nadu says won't transfer land ownership to AAI for Coimbatore airport GST not applicable on transfer of Jaipur Int'l airport biz to Adani group Adani group entity operating Guwahati airport gets aerodrome licence Delhi airport congestion: AAI asks DIAL to explain "deficiency in services" Number of operational airports in country rises to 140 from 74 in 2014 A new fintech world is upon us amid funding drought, lower valuations SpiceJet insolvency row: DGCA's early warnings reveal brewing trouble For Air India, goodbye to state control doesn't mean Tata to troubles Deloitte India announces opening of three offices in Pune, Chennai, Kolkata Six entities under lens for suspicious trading in Adani shares: SC panel This is a provisional figure and the final figure will be known after the audit of the financial results. The source also said the good performance was mainly due to the high growth in domestic air traffic. In 2022, domestic air passenger traffic surged 47.05 per cent to 12.32 crore compared to 8.38 crore in the year-ago period. Further, the passenger numbers soared 51.70 per cent to 3.75 crore in the first three months of this year as against 2.47 crore in the same period a year ago, as per official data. In 2021-22, AAI had a meagre profit of Rs 8.76 crore, including exceptional items and tax. Meanwhile, in the fiscal ended March 2022, the government had waived compulsory dividend payment requirement. AAI had requested the waiver in lieu of waiving Air India's that was done prior to the sale of the loss-making carrier by the government to the Tata Group in January 2022. AAI manages 137 airports, including 24 international and 80 domestic airports. It also provides Air Traffic Management Services (ATMS) over entire Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas. India's domestic tourism growth will continue to be strong and will be further fuelled by inbound travels through the country's presidency of G20, conferences and exhibitions that are now increasingly held here, according to Thomas Cook (India) Chairman and Managing Director Madhavan Menon. On the other hand, long-haul outbound travels from India are also expected to pick up with the onset of summer in Europe and the US, he told PTI. "Domestic tourism is here to stay and the reality is that we're going to see more and more activity in the domestic space without a doubt," Menon said when asked if the strong growth in domestic tourism witnessed post COVID would sustain. One of the main reasons for the surge in domestic tourism is the changed consumer behaviour after the pandemic, believing in living for today and not worrying about tomorrow, coupled with their strong confidence in the economy, he added. "The pandemic has brought about a change in human behaviour. You're seeing more people operate from home. The tendency to spend more time with the family has increased, as a result of which the need to take frequent breaks is what the domestic market is driving," Menon said. He further said,"Now, my expectation is that people earlier would have done one international trip and maybe another domestic trip. Today, it has completely changed. We're now talking of multiple domestic trips, even short weekend (trips)". Also Read Thomas Cook India's Q4 total income rises 150% to Rs 1,300 crore Crisis in multilateralism affecting developing nations most: PM at G20 meet Thomas Cook India's arm, Kanoo Travel to form joint venture in Saudi Arabia G20 meet will help India maximise its potential in tourism sector: Minister G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting: Guests welcomed with dance performance Walmart looking at sourcing toys, shoes, bicycles from Indian suppliers SC panel report suggests Adani probe will only produce heat, not light All that's problematic about Hindenburg report and the allegations in it Sameer Jain gets print, Vineet broadcast, digital as Times Grp splits: Rpt Delhivery to make a strategic investment in retail tech firm Vinculum Menon, however, added,"But that doesn't take away from the fact that you will see Indians travelling both short-haul and long-haul. I think we are witnessing the so-called saver becoming a spender is another important thing." All of this, he said, "stems from one fact of their confidence in the economy. This is not coming from anywhere. It is not just pandemic driven. It is also the fact that people are confident that the economy is growing, their jobs are secure, and they expect that things will improve from here." The rapid development of infrastructure, building of more airports and hotels across the country is also driving the growth, Menon added. Another factor that will drive India's tourism is the emergence of the country as an economic power and hosting important global events. "G20 is just one other government event, and going forward as India emerges as an economic power that it is today positioning itself as, you're going to see more travel to India. I think that is going to be significant. India is going to be in the limelight and it is going to attract more tourists to India," Menon said. The other important segment with a lot of activity is international travel to India to attend government conferences and exhibitions, he added. "In the past, most people travelled to other countries to attend exhibitions. Now these exhibitions are being held in India also because we have the infrastructure to do it," Menon said, citing examples of Pragati Maidan in the national capital and the Jio World Centre in Mumbai. When asked about outbound travels from India, he said there have been a lot of short-haul travels of up to three-and half-hours to destinations like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Mauritius, Malaysia and Thailand. "The longer-haul is only starting now because it was winter through January to March in Europe and the fact that visas were not easy to obtain," Menon said, adding a spike in long-haul travel was expected in the ongoing quarter. "An outlier that we witnessed in the first quarter was travels to Japan and Korea. We used to send on average 200 passengers at the most every year to Japan. This year we've seen close to 1,300 passengers travelling during a month to Japan. So we are seeing different trends," he added. Overall, he said group travel, which was slow to take off, is now picking up and customised travel is growing in all segments without exception. The order on Monday would decide if lessors are allowed to take possession of the aircraft or if the planes remain under the airline's control. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) is set to pass orders on the plea by four lessors of Go First against the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Delhi order admitting the airlines insolvency plea. Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the airline, had told NCLAT that an impression was being created that there was something wrong and malicious about voluntary insolvency. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said on May 18 that the airlines insolvency matter is "not a great thing for aviation" and the ministry is committed to helping the cash-strapped airline. The NCLAT is set to hear SMBC Aviation Capital, SFV Aircraft Holdings, GY Aviation Lease, and Engine Leasing Finance appeal against the NCLT order. The Delhi Bench of the NCLT had earlier accepted Go Firsts insolvency plea, resulting in the airline being put under a moratorium in accordance with the IBC. Also Read NCLAT to hear SMBC Aviation's plea against NCLT order on Go First today Go First seeks interim moratorium, NCLT says no such provision under IBC NCLT sends notice to SpiceJet on lessor's insolvency plea, seeks reply NCLT admits Go First's insolvency plea, puts it under moratorium Zee Entertainment insolvency: NCLAT to hear Punit Goenka's appeal today From electronics to semiconductor, MNCs in search of policy stability Need more Indian brands selling local tea globally: VAHDAM CEO Bala Sarda AAI back on profitable runway; reports Rs 3,400 profit in 2022-23 fiscal A new fintech world is upon us amid funding drought, lower valuations SpiceJet insolvency row: DGCA's early warnings reveal brewing trouble Meanwhile, SFV Aircraft Holdings had said, They may tinker with our planes, may use parts from my planes to service other planes. SMBC Aviation Capital had told the tribunal that the insolvency application by Go Air is 'malicious' and a 'smokescreen'. They also said that the aircraft in the possession of Go First are their assets, which they are not able to access. The airline had told the NCLT it had won an arbitral award in Singapore against Pratt & Whitney (P&W), directing P&W to supply 10 serviceable engines by April 27 this year and 10 serviceable engines each month till December 2023. The resolution professional of Go First had told the appellate tribunal that if the airline was allowed to operate, around 80 engines from Pratt & Whitney would change the fortunes of the company. Thanks to a 173-page report by a six-member panel appointed by Indias Supreme Court, we now have a fairly good idea of where the countrys probe into the Adani Group is headed: Nowhere. By Andy Mukherjee But just who are they? A year-and-a-half before a New York-based short-seller put the spotlight on a couple of them and their alleged connections with the founders of the Ahmedabad, Gujarat-based conglomerate, Indias government had announced most of these names in parliament in response to a lawmakers question. The Adani Group issued a strong rebuttal to Hindenburg Researchs Jan. 24 report and said that innuendoes that any of the public shareholders are in any manner related parties of the promoters are incorrect. It has never been too hard to look under the hood of the foreign investors that have propped up the infrastructure behemoth over the years. As many as 12 funds and one overseas financial firm owned a combined stake of between 14% and 20% in five out of the six publicly traded Adani companies in March 2020, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of Indias own submission to the committee. The entities may be opaque, but they have all disclosed their beneficiary owners. They include an Alastair Guggenbuhl-Even in Switzerland; a Jan Scheelings in the Netherlands; a Raj Bhatt in the UK; a Yajjadeo Lotun in Mauritius; and an Adel Hassan Ahmed Alali in the United Arab Emirates. The Supreme Court had set up the committee in March, under one of its former judges, to look into any regulatory lapses in the wake of the short-sellers report. The panel has gone back and told the court that it will not be possible for it to return a finding of regulatory failure. Adani stocks rose after the report became public Friday. The business group is yet to comment. Its entirely possible that these people are tangential, or even irrelevant, to the Adani saga. Their control over the offshore structures makes them beneficial owners as per Indias anti-money-laundering law. But the real persons of interest may be those who own the economic interest. According to the committee, the SEBI has been following the money trail of the 42 investors who have contributed capital into these funds to figure out if theyre mere fronts for the tycoon Gautam Adani and his family. Its a suspicion the SEBI has investigated for years before the Hindenburg report, says the panel of experts. If theres any substance to those doubts, then one or more of the groups publicly traded companies may not really be public as per securities law. Also Read Adani woos bankers: Invites them for a trip to restore confidence MSCI drops Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas from India index Gautam Adani lost Rs 3,000 crore a week in 2022-23: M3M Hurun report Adani Group stocks lose $10 billion in value as MSCI exclusion weighs Adani Group stocks sink up to 20%; CLSA sees limited risk to banks All that's problematic about Hindenburg report and the allegations in it Sameer Jain gets print, Vineet broadcast, digital as Times Grp splits: Rpt Delhivery to make a strategic investment in retail tech firm Vinculum Weekend Bites: Tesla, Rs 2,000 note, and it's dog-eat-dog in food delivery JSW Steel plans to raise up to Rs 17,000 cr; $1 bn from int'l markets Thats because if you dig into any of the names among the 42, belonging to Cayman Islands, Malta, Curacao, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Ireland and the UK, you may find another hard to-decipher company, or offshore fund. Dig deeper, and youll be presented with another inscrutable structure. It would be a humongous task to figure out who the ultimate beneficial owner is, the experts say in their report. Not being able to reject the null hypothesis doesnt invalidate the alternative, though. A more powerful scrutiny by lawmakers might have yielded a different finding. Ill have more to say on that in a bit, but for now its interesting to take note of the panels characterization of the SEBIs ongoing probe into the 42 contributories in the 13 funds that helped propel Gautam Adani to near the very top of the global wealth league before the precipitous fall in the last four months. It is potentially a journey without a destination, it says. The SEBI has already asked Adani if investments by these foreign funds into his publicly traded companies have been funded by his group. He has denied it. In response to Hindenburgs allegations, the conglomerate has said what it always has: A listed entity does not have control over who buys/sells/owns the publicly traded shares or how much volume is traded, or the source of funds for such public shareholders nor is it required to have such information for its public shareholders under laws of India. The court has asked the regulator to wrap up its investigation by Aug. 14. While the committee doesnt explicitly say it, three more months or even 30 may not help. As a rule maker, the SEBI has gone soft, frustrating its own enforcement wing. In 2019, the regulator dropped from its rule book the very provision dealing with "opaque structure. After that tweak, it was no longer necessary for a foreign fund to be able to disclose every ultimate natural person at the end of the chain of every owner, the expert panel says. In other words, even if Adani has violated the minimum 25% public shareholding norm, the SEBI may never be able to prove it. Not when the other Indian investigating agencies that the regulator has approached for help dont seem too keen to get involved. Minimum public shareholding was the most promising investigative lead among the three that the court had asked the SEBI to pursue. When it comes to non-disclosure of related-party transactions, the regulator has already scored another own-goal by being so exhaustive in specifying who it considers to be a related party that anyone can slip between the rules and yet stay within the law. The third line of inquiry, which pertains to stock-price manipulation, is a dead end. Or thats my read of the expert panels description of where the investigation is currently at. Before Hindenburg came along, SEBI had hit a wall, says the panel. Even now, a breakthrough is unlikely. To not be able to peer into the identity of the unnamed 42 investors or those bankrolling them means that the 13 funds they have invested in must also remain a black box. Perhaps the most telling part of the report is the committees own unwitting acknowledgement of its powerlessness. It had asked JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley to come and present. None of the international securities firms and banks were desirous of engaging in the matter, it said in its submission to the court. Why should a Wall Street bank with an important emerging-market franchise to protect go anywhere near a political hot potato unless its compelled? Having dealt with the immediate questions, the committee goes on to make some longer-term recommendations, such as assembling a multi-agency task-force with a short shelf-life to carry out super-crucial investigations. Thats highly unrealistic. In the Adani episode, while Hindenburgs focus was on the groups dealings in the stock market, Indias opposition parties have pounced on the report and made it all about Prime Minister Narendra Modis close links with the businessman from his own state. Adani denies having benefited from these connections. Modi has refused to even talk about them. A systemically important investigation that involves not just the financial but also the political system cant possibly be run as the expert panel recommends under the aegis of the Financial Stability and Development Council, which is headed by the finance minister. The Gevra Mega project is currently the largest coal-producing mine in the country and is in second position in the Asia-pacific region. The Centre plans to increase the capacity of the Gevra Mega project in Chhattisgarh of South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) from 50 million tonne of coal production in a year to 70 million tonne, making it Asia's largest coal-producing mine in Asia. In a statement released on Saturday, the coal ministry informed that the meeting deliberated on issues related to SECL's operations including environmental clearances, forest clearances, land acquisition, cooperation from the state government for rehabilitation and resettlement for SECL's mega projects like Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda On his two-day visit to Raipur, Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena held a high-level review meeting with top officials of the Chhattisgarh government. The meeting was focused on the evacuation of coal from the Korba and Mand-Raigarh coalfields. Senior functionaries from both SECR and SECL were also present during the discussions. The need for time-bound completion of the projects with effective coordination with the state government and other stakeholders was especially emphasised by the coal secretary. Also Read Chhattisgarh govt charts plan to take on stubble burning threat Gevra coal mine in Chhattisgarh's Korba district makes history Cess on public sector coal production set to rise to fund pension corpus Expensive coal imports, logistics may result in higher electricity bills Coal pensioners protest in capital, demand review of pension scheme Discoms' dues down by 3rd soon after enforcing Late Payment Surcharge Rule FMCG makers expect sustained recovery with price reduction in FY24 Govt planning to introduce amendment bill for minerals mined offshore FPIs bring in Rs 30,945 cr in May on strong economic fundamentals Investors, startups welcome proposed angel tax norms amid funding winter The Centre plans to make the Gevra Mega project into Asia's largest coal-producing mine. The Gevra Mega project is owned by SECL. SECL is a state-owned miniratna company and Coal India is its parent company. The officials also discussed issues pertaining to SECL's coal dispatch, availability of railway rakes, rail projects of SECL, among others, in detail. Indonesia's Sangatta Mine in East Kalimantan, was the largest surface coal-producing mine in the Asia-Pacific region, producing approximately 49.2 million tonnes of coal and an estimated 51.4 million metric tons per annum (mmtpa) of Run-of-Mine (ROM) in 2021. The number of new subscribers that joined the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) increased by 5.8 per cent to 11,498,453 in FY23 from 10,865,063 in FY22, a Business Standard analysis of the payroll data showed. This is the highest number of new subscribers joining the social security organisation in a year since FY19, when 13,944,349 new subscribers had subscribed to it. After suffering a massive jolt in the wake of the Covid pandemic, labour markets in India show signs of a steady recovery as fresh formal job creation grew for the second straight year to reach a four-year high in FY23. These are the findings from the latest payroll data released by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Saturday. Besides, the net payroll addition, which is calculated by taking into account the number of new subscribers, the number of subscribers who left, and the return of erstwhile subscribers also rose by 13.21 per cent to 13.85 million in FY23. This is the greatest net addition seen by the EPFO in a year since FY19, from the time it started releasing the payroll numbers in April 2018. The EPFO data is part of the governments effort to track formal-sector employment generation in the country by using payrolls as an instrument. More women are now gaining formal employment as their share among new subscribers has grown steadily over the last five years to 26 per cent from 21 per cent in FY19. However, the net monthly payroll numbers are provisional and often undergo revision. That is why the new EPF subscriber figure has greater certitude than net additions. Also Read International Labour Day: Celebrations, history, and all you need to know TMS Ep314: Adani expansion, job creation, Indian equities, climate What explains wide rural-urban divide despite more job creation? Top CEOs got an average hike of 9% in 2022, workers' wages fell 3%: Oxfam Foxconn deal: Karnataka labour laws in focus, Tamil Nadu may follow Half a dozen stalled refinery expansion plans come under PMO radar India plans start-up exchange programme with Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan Public sector banks' total profit crosses Rs 1 trn-mark in 2022-23 Centre plans to make Chhattisgarh's Gevra Asia's largest coal mine Discoms' dues down by 3rd soon after enforcing Late Payment Surcharge Rule Meanwhile, the share of young subscribers (18-28 age group) among net payroll additions has dipped significantly to 62.9 per cent in FY23 from 76.8 per cent in FY19, reflecting that young subscribers find it difficult to regain formal employment, once they decide to switch jobs. It may take quite some time before they regain formal employment. Similarly, the share of young people (18-28 age group) getting formal jobs has also risen steadily, to 66.5 per cent in FY23 from 62.1 per cent in FY21. This is crucial because subscribers in this set are usually first-timers in the labour market, and this metric reflects its robustness. Meanwhile, the 29-35 age group and more than 35 age group had seen a steady decline among the new subscribers in the same period. Job creation is still a challenge in the Indian labour markets. Though EPFO numbers are encouraging, they cover a very small fraction of the Indian working class. The vast swathes of the country are engaged in low productivity, low-paying, low-skilled jobs in the vast informal sector, which is not covered by these [surveys] and is thus not reflected in the official figures. It is imperative that the government facilitates and kick-starts meaningful job creation in core sectors like manufacturing, construction, services etc so that the vast majority of young people actually gain meaningful employment, a labour economist said, requesting anonymity. Last time, during demonetisation in November 2016, a large amount of money was abroad with people, firms, and in our missions which could not come within the deadline and exemptions were given for such money. In several Latin American countries and Pacific island missions, such as Fiji and Trinidad, many Indians pay for visa fees in Indian rup A source close to the development said since many Indian citizens and Indian missions abroad keep Indian currencies, a window has been kept open beyond September to avoid any inconvenience that was caused in 2016 when the legal tender status of then Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was ended immediately, as part of the demonetisation exercise. The RBI in its press release has made it clear that the public can deposit Rs 2,000 banknotes into their bank accounts and/or exchange them into banknotes of other denominations at any bank branch. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced that it has withdrawn Rs 2,000 notes from circulation, and asked bank customers to deposit the notes or exchange them at any bank branch before September 30, 2023. But what to do if a bank refuses to accept or exchange the currency note? "The Deposit into bank accounts can be made in the usual manner, that is, without restrictions and subject to extant instructions and other applicable statutory provisions, said RBI. However, if the bank does not respond within a period of 30 days after lodging the complaint or if the complainant is not satisfied with the response/resolution given by the bank, the complainant can lodge the complaint under the Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021 at the Complaint Management System portal of RBI (cms.rbi.org.in). The bank cannot go against the RBI directive and refuse to accept your currency note. If you face such a problem then the first thing you can do is file a complaint at the concerned bank. Also Read RBI hikes repo rate by 35 bps to 6.25%, cuts FY23 GDP forecast to 6.8% RBI MPC: Here is what experts have to say about the policy announcement MPC lowers projection for inflation, raises growth outlook a bit in FY24 RBI Monetary Policy: Repo rate up by 25 bps, FY23 inflation pegged at 6.5% Xiaomi launches Redmi Note 12 5G series smartphones in India: Details here Public sector banks' total profit crosses Rs 1 trn-mark in 2022-23 Here's what RBI's decision to scrap the Rs 2,000 note mean for the economy Here's why RBI has withdrawn Rs 2,000 notes and what you should do next Top Headlines: Rs 2,000 notes withdrawn, firms on wait-&-watch mode & more 'Rs 2,000 notes withdrawal will help curb black money to great extent' One can file complaint under the One Nation One Ombudsman Scheme in 4 ways: Raise a complaint by dialing the toll-free number 14448 between 9:30 AM and 5:15 PM. Write an email at CRPC@rbi.org.in Send a physical complaint through post to the address: 'Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre', Reserve Bank of India, 4th Floor, Sector 17, Chandigarh - 160017 in accordance with the format available on the website. Register a complaint online at https://cms.rbi.org.in Steps to file a complaint online: 3) Enter your name and mobile number. 1) Visit the official website (https://cms.rbi.org.in) and click on the 'File a complaint' icon on the homepage2) Enter the Captcha code in the tab that opens after clicking on 'File a complaint'. 5) Enter your email ID and select the right 'Complainant Category' from the drop-down menu and fill in your details. 4) Click on the 'Get OTP' option and enter the OTP you receive on your mobile phone. 7) Select the name of the regulated entity from the drop-down menu, against which you intend to raise the complaint. 6) Select your state and district of residence from the drop-down menu and enter your address and pin code. 9) Upload a scanned copy of the complaint you raised with the bank. And mention if you got a reply or not and other details regarding your complaint. 8) Give more details about your complaint. Answer the question regarding your complaint. 11) Pick the suitable Complaint Category, Complaint Sub-category 1, and Complaint Sub-category 2 from the drop-down menu. After filling up all the information you will need to click on 'Next' again. 10) Enter your ATM/Debit/Credit Card number or Loan/Deposit account number and click on 'Next' People gather for Story-telling Night, an event held in the courtyard of the Swiss Hanok in western Seoul, May 15. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu By Bereket Alemayehu The Embassy of Switzerland hosted Story-telling Night on May 15 in the courtyard of the Swiss Hanok, a new building just west of downtown Seoul that presents a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Korean houses known as hanok. Running on the PechaKucha storytelling-presentation format, the event featured eight speakers sharing their stories with over 250 invited participants, Korean and foreign alike. Marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Switzerland, the event came during Swiss-Korean Innovation Week, an annual lighthouse event launched in 2018 , with the aim of facilitating research and innovation collaboration between the two distant countries. Various related events have been taking place in Seoul until May 23. Themed "Celebrating Ideas that Matter," the Story-telling Night was an informal, open event to interact with the public in Seoul, according to Miguel La Plante, deputy head of mission at the Swiss Embassy. "The idea is to open the space for the public and give a platform for different stories to be told about innovation, design and projects that are interesting in Korea and abroad," he told The Korea Times. "Our platform allows Koreans to speak in Korean and international guests to speak in English as well." Miguel La Plante, deputy head of mission at the Swiss Embassy, introduces Story-telling Night, an event held in the courtyard of the Swiss Hanok in western Seoul, May 15. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu All speakers had to follow the PechaKucha 20x20 presentation format. PechaKucha involves a web-based format, in which a presenter narrates a slide show of 20 images, with each slide auto-advancing after 20 seconds. It's non-stop, allowing each presenter only 400 seconds to tell their story guided by the visuals. PechaKucha was created in Japan in 2003 by renowned architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. The word "PechaKucha" is Japanese for "chit-chat." The speakers from various backgrounds shared their personal stories under the broad spectrum of innovation, design and arts. The first presenter was Patrick Reymond, a Swiss-born architect, designer and co-founder of Atelier Oi, a multidisciplinary architecture and design company founded in 1991 in La Neuveville, Switzerland. After his presentation, Reymond said he thinks we need to find a life balance, a little bit of shame, and must redefine the meaning of leisure and work. Patrick Reymond, co-founder of Atelier Oi, speaks at Story-telling Night, an event held in the courtyard of the Swiss Hanok in western Seoul, May 15. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu Gyo Yoon, a Korean graphic designer and digital curator who founded Mooi Seoul studio, said she found Reymond's presentation the most interesting because she is also from the same field, working at Mooi Seoul founded in Yeouido in 2021. "I asked him if he gets inspiration from digital patterns, whether he get inspired by digital technology also, because that's my work," she said. She recalled a month-long stay she had in Switzerland, describing it as a beautiful country with amazing natural wonders and clean streets. "Currently we have a project with Switzerland called Video City," she said. "What we do basically is we promote videos and video artists all over the world. I was invited by the Swiss Embassy to this event because the embassy was supporting our Video City project this year. As a graphic designer and creative artist, I am personally very much interested in listening to creators' various perspectives. I was so impressed how relaxed the presenters were, how many people got together, and I was also speaking freely about innovation, design and arts with others. Usually, I don't meet people in such large groups who connect with me in something creative and the evening was so at ease and friendly." Laurens Bohlen, from the University of Zurich, had nice things to say about the event as well. "I have been in Korea only for two weeks," he said. "I love it, everything is great, it's an impressive and amazing country. Tonight's event was amazing. This wasn't my first time at the embassy but I didn't imagine this many great speeches with such an impressive format, meeting different people from the design field, academia and company CEOs overall, it was fantastic." Laurens Bohlen from the University of Zurich in Switzerland attends Story-telling Night, an event held in the courtyard of the Swiss Hanok in western Seoul, May 15. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu The third Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting of the G20 will be held in Mumbai from Sunday with aspects of blue economy as its focus, officials said. The three-day meet will commence with a side event on beach clean-up in Juhu, followed by the Ocean 20 Dialogue. The Ocean 20 platform, launched during the Indonesia Presidency Dialogue, is aimed at advancing ideation and action for ocean solutions. To ensure continuity and build on the initiative, the Indian Presidency is demonstrating active leadership by anchoring the Ocean 20 Dialogue in the 3rd ECSWG, which will focus on three significant pillars of blue economy, said a statement from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The sessions on the first day of the meeting will cover various aspects of blue economy and the first session will be on science, technology and innovation. The subsequent session will be on policy, governance and participation, and the concluding session on establishing blue finance mechanisms for blue economy. Also Read Twitter removes legacy blue ticks for thousands; all you need to know G20: First Environment and Climate Sustainability meeting begins today End to Twitter's legacy blue checkmarks; Pope losses tick, LeBron retains India set to announce compliance details of carbon trading market in June Over 62,016 ha forest land diverted, 1.95 mn trees cut for Odisha projects Khelo India University Games to promote UP tourism too, will begin May end Water samples near ethanol plant in Ferozepur unfit for drinking: CPCB G7 Summit: PM Modi holds meeting with Brazil's President Lula da Silva Noida emerges as hub of hawala deals in the guise of CSR in last few months PM Modi, British counterpart Sunak review bilateral strategic ties The deliberations will be aimed at working towards the wellbeing of oceans and the need to make conscious efforts towards reversing damage to them and protecting marine resources. The 3rd ECSWG will involve discussions on the draft ministerial communiqu with deliberations tuned towards achieving a consensus amongst the G20 countries. The closed-door sessions will conclude on a way forward note for the fourth ECSWG. A patrolling party of the Army opened fire on Sunday after noticing suspicious movement in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district. Officials said that a patrolling party of the Army fired a few shots after noticing suspicious movement in the Keri-Gulutha area of Mendhar tehsil in the district at 3.30 a.m. "There was no retaliation. "Searches are still on in the area," the officials said. Further details are awaited. --IANS Also Read Poonch terror attack: Names of five soldiers killed released by Indian Army Indian Army holds Iftar party at Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch on Ramzan Army launches search operation along LoC in J-K after suspicious movements Two terrorists shot dead along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch Armies, police bust terrorist hideout in Jammu-Kashmir's Poonch district Top headlines: Centre may delay ECGC IPO; G7 sets net zero target at 2050 PM Modi set to receive many 'rare' honours during his 3-nation tour 3rd G20 ECSWG meeting in Mumbai to focus on aspects of blue economy Khelo India University Games to promote UP tourism too, will begin May end Water samples near ethanol plant in Ferozepur unfit for drinking: CPCB sq/dpb The Hurriyat Conference on Sunday said holding international events in Jammu and Kashmir is not a substitute to the need to address the conflict in the region for ensuring peace and development. Conducting international summits in Jammu and Kashmir to push a certain narrative will not change the reality of the need to address and resolve the lingering Kashmir conflict peacefully, through dialogue among stakeholders, if peace and development of J-K is the goal, it said in a statement here. The Kashmir Valley will host a three-day G20 working group meeting on tourism starting from Monday. China has already refused to attend the meeting in Srinagar. The Hurriyat, headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, also paid tributes to Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and former separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone, who both fell to the bullets of militants on this day in 1990 and 2002, respectively. In the martyrdom of Mirwaiz Farooq, the nation lost a great selfless leader, the guiding force of whose beliefs and actions was safeguarding the concerns and interests of his people. His approach to addressing them was dynamic rather than rigid. He believed that inclusiveness and dialogue was the best way to address concerns and resolve conflicts, the separatist amalgam said. Paying tributes to Lone, the Hurriyat said he was a far-sighted and fearless leader who sacrificed his life for his belief in a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. Also Read HC seeks NIA's stand on Hurriyat leader's challenge to framing of charges Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar likely to host G20 event: Govt official Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury seeks discussion in parliament on Jammu-Kashmir Unfortunate that no G20 meetings were scheduled in Jammu: Farooq Abdullah JK Bank records highest-ever net annual profit of Rs 1,197 crore in FY23 Govt to geo-tag drains along Ganga to prevent discharge of solid waste Jewellers getting inquiries for gold after RBI withdraws Rs 2,000 notes Three Maoists arrested in Chhattisgarh's Kanker; IED recovered, says police No form or identity proof required for exchanges of Rs 2,000 notes Section 144 imposed in Guwahati to ensure peaceful public movement Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday paid tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 32nd death anniversary here. Kharge offered floral tributes to the former Prime Minister here at the Veer Bhoomi. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi also offered floral tributes to the former Prime Minister, who was assassinated on May 21, 1991. ...Read More Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US next month will celebrate the "deep partnership" between the two countries, America's top diplomat said on Sunday as he met his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar here. Modi will embark on his state visit to the US next month on an invitation by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The US president and the First Lady will also host Modi at a state dinner on June 22. His visit to the US comes ahead of the G20 Summit being hosted by India in September. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had a "great discussion" with External Affairs Minister Jaishankar on the margins of the G7 summit. "We look forward to hosting Indian Prime Minister @NarendraModi in June, whose visit will celebrate the deep partnership between the United States and India," Blinken tweeted on Sunday. Jaishankar thanked Blinken and said he was looking forward to the visit. "Thanks @SecBlinken. Was great to catch up! Looking forward to PM @narendramodi's visit," tweeted Jaishankar, who accompanied the Prime Minister on his visit to Japan. Also Read China violated sovereignty of nations across 5 continents: Antony Blinken Cheated his father and Congress: KPCC chief on Anil Antony joining BJP Israeli-Palestinian tensions test US diplomacy as Antony Blinken visits Antony Blinken expresses concern over China collecting DNA of Tibetans G20 meet: EAM Jaishankar meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Covid pandemic highlighted many gaps in global health architecture: PM Modi Ensure prompt redressal of people's complaints: Adityanath to officials G20 buzz raises hopes for industry in Kashmir; security tightened Significant percentage of Indians fall victim to online travel scams: Rpt CBI quizzes Sameer Wankhede for over 5 hours on 2nd day in bribery case On Saturday, Prime Minister Modi and President Biden shared a tight hug as they greeted each other here at the G7 Summit in this Japanese city. After becoming Prime Minister in 2014, Modi has made more than half a dozen trips to the United States for bilateral and multilateral meetings with all three American presidents, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Biden. This is for the first time Modi has been invited for an official state visit, a privilege accorded to America's close friends and allies. His last visit to Washington was in September 2021 at the invitation of President Biden for a bilateral meeting. He had also attended the first in-person Quad Leaders' Summit hosted by Biden. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Sunday reviewed the progress of the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations and agreed for their trade teams to continue at pace towards an ambitious deal, Downing Street said. Modi and Sunak met on the sidelines of the summit of the G7 advanced economies here in Hiroshima. In their second in-person meeting since the G20 Summit in Indonesia last November, the two leaders are said to have discussed the deep ties shared between the nations. In relation to India's G20 presidency, Downing Street also indicated that the British Indian leader's first visit to India is expected to be for the G20 Summit in New Delhi later this year. The leaders reflected on the deep ties between the UK and India, rooted in our human connections, and the vital importance of democracy and fair and open trade, said a Downing Street spokesperson. "They discussed progress on a UK-India Free Trade Agreement. The leaders agreed that their teams would continue to work at pace to finalise an ambitious and mutually beneficial deal, the spokesperson said. Also Read Rishi Sunak scores as UK vote winner over Boris Johnson in new survey Sixth round of India-UK free trade agreement talks to begin from Dec 12 India-Australia FTA to help bilateral trade cross $70 bn in next 5 years India, EFTA trade pact to boost commerce, investment, job creation India-Australia trade agreement to greatly benefit MSMEs: Piyush Goyal G20 meet in Srinagar an opportunity to show changes in J-K: Jitendra Singh Holding events in J-K no substitute to dialogue needed to address conflict Govt to geo-tag drains along Ganga to prevent discharge of solid waste Jewellers getting inquiries for gold after RBI withdraws Rs 2,000 notes Three Maoists arrested in Chhattisgarh's Kanker; IED recovered, says police The leaders discussed the wider objectives of the G7 Summit and the Prime Minister [Sunak] committed his strong support for India's G20 Presidency, which comes at a crucial time for global security and prosperity. He looked forward to working closely with Prime Minister Modi ahead of a successful Summit later this year," the spokesperson added. Modi is also said to have passed on his warm congratulations to Sunak on the Coronation of King Charles III earlier this month, where India was represented by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) readout of the meeting echoed similar outcomes of the in-person meeting between the two leaders, as they reviewed the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in the India-UK FTA negotiations. The two nations last month concluded the ninth round of FTA negotiations with detailed discussions across a range of policy areas. Recently, Britain's Chief Negotiator for the FTA Harjinder Kang was appointed the country's new Trade Commissioner to South Asia and Deputy High Commissioner for Western India, based in Mumbai. According to official UK government statistics, India was the UK's 12th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022, accounting for 2.1 per cent of total UK trade. They also agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationship. During discussions on India's G20 presidency, Prime Minister Modi said he looked forward to welcoming Sunak to New Delhi for the G20 Summit in September. The G7 Summit concluded in Hiroshima this weekend after wide-ranging discussions between leaders from the largest economies of the world. India was invited as a guest nation to the Group of Seven, which includes the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy, with the European Union (EU) as a non-enumerated member. On his three-nation visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to receive many 'rare' honours which make the trip even more special. Currently, PM Modi is in Japan's Hiroshima to attend the Group of Seven or G7 Summit. And surprisingly, India is getting back-to-back invitations for the G7 summits. After Japan, PM Modi will travel to Papua New Guinea, which is his first tour, as well as the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister to the Indo-Pacific country. Today, the PM of Papua New Guinea will come to receive PM Narendra Modi upon his arrival in the country. Normally, Papua New Guinea doesn't give a ceremonial welcome for any leader coming after sunset. But the nation is set to make a special exception for PM Modi, and a fully studded ceremonial welcome will be given to him. During his Papua New Guinea visit, PM Modi will co-chair the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) on Monday. Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape will also be there. Also Read Bank of Baroda Q4 preview: PAT may soar up to 2x YoY on healthy loan growth Bob Iger to receive $27 million yearly for return as Walt Disney CEO EAM Jaishankar inaugurates Indian Embassy in Dominican Republic RBI MPC: Here is what experts have to say about the policy announcement PM Modi, Kishida discuss cooperation in green hydrogen, semiconductors 3rd G20 ECSWG meeting in Mumbai to focus on aspects of blue economy Khelo India University Games to promote UP tourism too, will begin May end Water samples near ethanol plant in Ferozepur unfit for drinking: CPCB G7 Summit: PM Modi holds meeting with Brazil's President Lula da Silva Noida emerges as hub of hawala deals in the guise of CSR in last few months The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues. FIPIC had been launched during PM Modi's visit to Fiji in 2014. Apart from the FIPIC engagements, PM Modi will also have bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae, Prime Minister Marape and some of the other PIC Leaders participating in the Summit. After his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will travel to Sydney at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. PM Modi will also interact with the Indian community at a special event in Sydney along with the Australian PM. The Harris Park area in Parramatta will be also known as 'Little India'. This will be also announced during PM's community event. According to the Australian government website, Harris Park is home to a large Indian community and is well established as a unique destination for Indian cuisine, Indian owned and operated small to medium businesses. As a result, the area is informally referred to as 'Little India'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday wrapped up his "fruitful visit to Japan," and departed for Papua New Guinea. "It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and the people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while," tweeted PM Modi. The PM of Papua New Guinea will receive PM Modi, James Marape upon his arrival at Port Moresby, where he will be accorded a full ceremonial reception. The Prime Minister is on a six-day visit to three countries -- Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24. This tour comprises the G7 and Quad summits in Hiroshima, bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and hosting the third summit for the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) in Papua New Guinea. "Wrapping up an action-packed visit! PM @narendramodi concludes his visit to Japan following two days of intense bilateral & multilateral engagements with key partners. PM now departs for Port Moresby for the next leg of his visit," tweeted the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. Also Read Guest nations at G-7 worries over China's threats to Taiwan, Russia's war IT rule tweaks, Musk's snap at Twitter, social media hits reset in 2022 PM Modi, Kishida discuss cooperation in green hydrogen, semiconductors PM Modi meets French President Macron to discuss trade, economic ties Ambassadors blow conch shells at Andaman; India G20 presidency begins Dec 1 What is the 10-point action plan PM Modi gave at G7? All you need to know Army's patrolling party opens fire after suspicious movement in Poonch Top headlines: Centre may delay ECGC IPO; G7 sets net zero target at 2050 PM Modi set to receive many 'rare' honours during his 3-nation tour 3rd G20 ECSWG meeting in Mumbai to focus on aspects of blue economy PM Modi also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday and held bilateral talks with other member states. Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskyy invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and also thanked him for supporting the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy said, "Had a meeting with Prime Minister of India @narendramodi in Japan. I briefed the interlocutor in detail on the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and invited India to join its implementation. I spoke about Ukraine's needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals. I thank India for supporting our country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organizations, and for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine." In the meeting, PM Modi assured that he will do whatever is possible to help in resolving the Ukraine conflict. "India and I will do whatever we can for resolving the conflict," PM Modi said. Zelenskyy said that he believed that India will participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need. Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy shared a video where he said, "I spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I gave an update on the progress of our peace formula. We have already passed many stages of presenting the formula to leaders and countries from different parts of the world. The day before the formula was successfully presented to the participants of the Arab League Summit." "I believe India will participate in restoring the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need," he added. Earlier today, he discussed the India-UK free trade agreement, innovation and science with UK PM Rishi Sunak. The two leaders reviewed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade & investment, science & technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationship, read the MEA press release. They also discussed India's ongoing G-20 Presidency and PM Modi welcomed Sunak in New Delhi for the G-20 Summit. PM Modi wore a jacket made of recycled material at the G7 summit in Japan on Sunday. The leaders of the world's most powerful democracies have come together in deliberations on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and vouched for peace via diplomacy too. The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva, center, and Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pose for a photo during a G7 working session on food, health and development during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20. AP-Yonhap The head of the World Trade Organization will visit Seoul this week to discuss changing global trade circumstances and ways to recover the multilateral trading system amid the intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry, Korea's industry ministry said Sunday. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will arrive in Seoul on Monday for a three-day stay, during which she will highlight the importance of "re-globalization" and the recovery of the multilateral trading system, a key mechanism behind Korea's economic growth, through the reform of her organization and active roles by Korea and major member nations, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It will be the first visit to Korea by the WTO's top official since 2014. Okonjo-Iweala is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo for talks on fast-changing global economic and trade situations, and roles of the WTO and Korea to restore the multilateral trading system, which has been threatened by great competition between the United States and China, deepening geopolitical concerns amid the Ukraine-Russian war and the subsequent protectionism. Han is expected to ask for the WTO's leading role in restoring the global order to promote international trade and ensure stable global supply chains. The WTO chief also plans to meet with Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun, Foreign Minister Park Jin and Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong. She will deliver a lecture and have a discussion session with experts on the WTO principles. She also plans to visit internet portal giant Naver Corp. to meet with young business persons in the digital sector to discuss the future of digital and service trade, the ministry said. "Korea will use her visit as a chance to express our strong support for the recovery of the rules-based multilateral trading system. Her visit is also expected to boost Korea's roles and status within the organization," the ministry said in a release. Okonjo-Iweala is the seventh director-general of the WTO. She took office in March 2021, becoming the first woman and the first African to serve in the post. Her term of office will end in August 2025, according to her office. (Yonhap) The Tamil Nadu water works department is in the process of preparing a comprehensive report on water management in the line of Japanese water management techniques. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is supporting the efforts of the Tamil Nadu water works department. JICA is compiling a report on flood mitigation in Tamil Nadu while the water works department is in the process of bringing out a permanent flood mitigation programme. Officials of the water works department were in Tokyo and other parts of Japan to have a direct input on the flood mitigation techniques employed in that country. The Japanese usage of proper legal frameworks in handling water supply will also be incorporated by the water resources department, officials said. An official of the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department, who was in Japan from May 6 to May 17 as part of the JICA-supported initiative of an onsite study of water mitigation programme, told IANS that it was a great learning experience. The official said, "As per Japanese technology of flood mitigation, water is pumped from downstream areas and diverted to sea through pipelines." The official also said that Japan had introduced several market-based initiatives, including water tariffs, private sector participation contracts, water subsidies, water trading and special purpose tax. Also Read Haryana govt initiates climate-smart agriculture in 1,669 villages Tamil Nadu govt launches drive for solid waste management awareness Kerala to end energy-intensive irrigation practices, says Agri Minister Tamil Nadu Governor returns bill on prohibition of online gambling Wabag bags Rs 4,400 cr seawater desalination project in Tamil Nadu PM Modi wraps up 'fruitful visit to Japan,' departs for Papua New Guinea What is the 10-point action plan PM Modi gave at G7? All you need to know Army's patrolling party opens fire after suspicious movement in Poonch Top headlines: Centre may delay ECGC IPO; G7 sets net zero target at 2050 PM Modi set to receive many 'rare' honours during his 3-nation tour In Japan, both the government and private players are selling water to a minimum price for industrial purposes, including to farmers who are into high-end commercial farming. Sources in the Tamil Nadu water works department told IANS that the state government would be having a detailed discussion on the water taxing process as well as charging a minimal amount for water supplied to industries. However, sources said that this could be discussed at several levels before bringing it into the public for a discussion as this could have a backlash. Sources in the Waterworks department told IANS that the JICA would be providing financial support to the Tamil Nadu government for water management programmes. --IANS aal/dpb Top venture capital investors and startups have welcomed the governments proposal to make changes to the angel tax rules. They said the move is expected to help startups deal with the current "funding winter". The government also notified foreign entities which will be exempted from the tax provisions. These entities include government and government-related investors such as central banks, sovereign wealth funds, international or multilateral organisations or agencies including entities controlled by the government or where direct or indirect ownership of the government is 75 per cent or more. Read more... Water samples drawn from 29 borewells near an ethanol plant in the district were found unfit for drinking and had an unpleasant odour, a report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has said. Total dissolved solids (TDS), boron and sulphates were found in high concentrations beyond acceptable limits in the water samples, according to the report submitted to the National Green Tribunal. Water samples taken from two borewells located inside the plant contained huge amounts of heavy metals, including arsenic, chromium, iron, manganese, nickel and lead, it said. In January, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ordered the immediate closure of the plant after agitation against the unit by villagers. An inspection team also found that 10 borewells and six piezometers were installed on the plant premises allegedly without obtaining permission from the CGWB (central ground water board) or the PWRDA (Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority). The CPCB report said two of these borewells were installed at a distance of a few metres, in violation of guidelines. Also Read Govt gives in-principle approval to nine ethanol blending projects Centre holds review meeting on 12% ethanol blending with petrol for 2022-23 PM to inaugurate India Energy Week, open HAL's factory in Karnataka today Ethanol blending in petrol hiked from 1.5% to 10% since 2013-14: Govt NGT asks panel to take remedial action in illegal groundwater extraction G7 Summit: PM Modi holds meeting with Brazil's President Lula da Silva Noida emerges as hub of hawala deals in the guise of CSR in last few months PM Modi, British counterpart Sunak review bilateral strategic ties Heatwave in 18 UP districts till Monday, warning issued: IMD official BSF shot down Pakistani drone carrying narcotics near border in Punjab The samples drawn from the piezometers and the three borewells located in the plant were found to be free from heavy metal contamination. However, two borewells installed in the same plant were found contaminated with high concentrations of heavy metals, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and colour, which as per the report, indicates the injection of contaminated wastewater through reverse boring or pumping into a particular zone tapped in these two borewells. The CPCB team has recommended an investigation to establish the contaminated zone and take remedial action. It has also directed the Punjab Pollution Control Board to consider the alleged violations and take necessary remedial measures for the decontamination of the affected sites. The CPCB has told the PPCB to undertake a detailed environmental site assessment by engaging a professional agency having expertise in the assessment and remediation of contaminated groundwater and soil. The PPCB was further told to ensure that the plant administration submits a detailed project report for the remediation of groundwater in contaminated areas. Moreover, CPCB has asked the PPCB to impose environmental compensation (EC) or initiate legal action for causing injury to the surrounding environment and contamination of groundwater. Despite several laws having been promulgated in the country to protect the rights of women, often they are unable to reach out and take benefit of that, claimed Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court. Justice Gangopadhyay was speaking at a seminar on the great Indian social reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, whose 251st birth anniversary will be celebrated on Monday. As an example Justice Gangopadhyay, who had been recently in the national headlines because of his verdict in the school recruitment case in West Bengal, referred to the law regarding maternity leave to substantiate his argument. "There is a specific law on this count. But in many cases women, especially coming from the financially backward sections, do not get benefit out of it. The reason is poverty and lack of awareness. This discrimination continues among the financially backward sections," Justice Gangopadhyay said. On this matter, he also reminded that it took as long as 11 years to introduce the law on maternity leave since the discussions to introduce the same started in 1950. Justice Gangopadhyay also referred to the delayed introduction of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, commonly known as the PoSH Act. Also Read T20 World Cup Final Highlights: Australia complete 2nd hattrick of titles Women's T20 World Cup: India fail again, lose to AUS by 5 runs in semifinal Women's T20 World Cup Semis: South Africa create history, qualify for final Calcutta HC Bar Association divided over attending Justice Mantha's bench Women's T20 World Cup final: Australia vs South Africa live stream in India Wankhede at CBI office for questioning in connection with Aryan Khan case Tamil Nadu govt to emulate Japanese water management techniques: Report PM Modi wraps up 'fruitful visit to Japan,' departs for Papua New Guinea What is the 10-point action plan PM Modi gave at G7? All you need to know Army's patrolling party opens fire after suspicious movement in Poonch "Even verbal abuse or attacking a woman on personal matters is equivalent to harassment. A woman facing such things has the right to approach the law enforcement authorities concerned. But unfortunately many in our country are not aware of the concept of women's dignity. The implementation of law as regards to mental harassment against women is much more in Europe and USA," Justice Gangopadhyay said. As regards to PoSH Act, his observation was that while women subordinates at offices often hesitate to report cases of sexual harassment, there are also incidents that some women misuse the provisions of that Act. --IANS src/dpb Uttar Pradesh has surpassed Maharashtra in sugar production in the current season even as 118 sugar mills operated in UP during the period compared to 210 mills that were operational in the western state. UP's Cane Development and Sugar Mills' minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary told PTI, "UP is ahead of Maharashtra as far as production of sugar is concerned along with a number of other factors." Elaborating further, Chaudhary said, "The total sugar produced by Uttar Pradesh in sugar season 2022-2023 is 107.29 lakh tonnes (which includes 3.05 lakh tonnes of Khandsari (physically extracted sugar from liquid jaggery), as compared to 105.30 lakh tonnes by Maharashtra. The area under cane cultivation in Uttar Pradesh is 28.53 lakh hectare (maximum in India) as compared to 14.87 lakh hectare in Maharashtra." The sugarcane crushing season runs from October to June. "The sugarcane production in UP has been 2,348 lakh tonnes, while in Maharashtra it was 1,413 lakh tonnes," Chaudhary said. He added that total cane crushed by sugar mills in UP in the 2022-2023 season was 1,084.57 lakh tonnes, whereas it was 1,053 lakh tonnes in Maharashtra. The UP minister also informed that 19.84 lakh tonnes of sugar was diverted to ethanol in Uttar Pradesh, while in Maharashtra, it was 15.70 lakh tonnes. Pointing towards the number of installed sugar mills in both the states, the UP minister said that as compared to 246 installed sugar mills in Maharashtra, there are 157 installed sugar mills in UP. Also Read Decent upside in select sugar stocks as business prospects turn sweeter Sugar industry MSME margins hit by flat product prices: CRISIL SME TRACKER India likely to keep lid on sugar exports as output dips: Reports BPCL plans to shut Bina refinery in June for a month for maintenance Rosneft planning to build greenfield refinery in India with state refiners Murugappa's Coromandel International plans Rs 2K cr investment by 2025 The government can't stop use of herbicide on GM crops, say activists Farmer groups flag crop loss risk if 27 popular pesticides banned Summer crops sown in 6.92 mn ha till May 12, down slightly from a year ago Sugar production declines 9% in 2022-23 season due to low recovery As many as 210 sugar mills operated in Maharashtra as compared to 118 in Uttar Pradesh, he said. He added that in the 2022-23 season, a payment of Rs 28,494.32 crore has been made to the farmers, and there are about 80 sugar mills, which have made 100 per cent payment within a week of closure. "Under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath jee, in the last six years, the sugarmills have made a payment of Rs 2,11,700 crore (to the farmers). In the tenure of the previous governments, 12 sugar mills were sold, while 18 sugar mills were shut down. After coming to power, we have opened new mills and increased the capacity of some mills," Chaudhary said. Sharpening his attack on the previous governments, Chaudhary said, "The payment made to cane farmers during the Bahujan Samaj Party regime (from 2007 to 2012) was Rs 93,000 crore, while in the Samajwadi Party government (from 2012 to 2017), it was about Rs 95,215 crore." The cane development minister said that the UP farmers' earnings from all other crops is almost equal to the amount they get in their bank account by selling just sugarcane. He also said that instructions have been issued to the sugar mills to remain operational till June 15. Meanwhile, when contacted, Maharashtra's Cooperation Minister Atul Moreshwar Save told PTI, "The production of sugarcane this year was less, so less amount of sugarcane reached the sugar mills as compared to last year, and hence there is the difference. However, next year, the capacity (of the sugar mills) will increase. The Centre recently announced a reduction in FAME II subsidy on electric two-wheelers to Rs 10,000 per kWh from Rs 15,000 per kWh and the maximum subsidy cap of 40 per cent to 15 per cent. After the Centre's move to cut FAME-II subsidy on electric two-wheelers, the electric vehicles (EV) industry is looking to make changes in products and prices to stay competitive, reported Economic Times (ET). As the uncertainty over the continuation of the FAME scheme prevails, the experts from the EV industry believe that continued support from Centre through such a scheme will increase EV penetration across the country. Currently, the presence of electric 2 and 3-wheelers stands at just 5 per cent. Policy support from the Centre can help increase the penetration to over 60 per cent. This change in subsidy is likely to impact the input cost for producers, raising prices for consumers. Keeping this in mind the leading players are planning to bring in lower-spec variants with smaller batteries and changed features to adjust prices and cover costs. According to Vahan portal the monthly sales for electric 2-wheeler in May stands at 39,000 units and 3-wheelers at 23,527 units. The sales of electric 2-wheeler has been falling since April after record monthly sales of 85,793 units in March 2023. Also Read Govt catching up, plans to develop infra to assess new-tech vehicles FAME investigations: Subsidy crunch hurting electric two-wheeler makers FAME subsidy row: Centre to return Rs 800 cr to ex-factory price defaulters FAME: Electric 2-wheeler manufacturers deny allegations of non-compliance Centre likely to discontinue second phase of Fame-II scheme after FY24 Siemens board agrees to sell low voltage motors, gears biz for Rs 2,200 cr China overtakes Japan to become world's biggest car exporter in Q1 2023 Why is Tesla so confused about Indian market? Challenges and opportunities Hyundai, Shell sign MoA to expand charging network for electric vehicles Realtors buy 2,181 acre land since Jan 2022 for about Rs 26,000 cr: Report Rajaram explained that when the subsidy was provided in June 2021, many EV makers increased the battery size to 2.5 to 3 kW. The cut in subsidy may lead to smaller size batteries ranging from 1.5 to 2 kW he said. Venkat Rajaraman, CEO of lithium-ion battery pack maker, Cygni Energy, told ET that subsidies should continue as they are important to compete with ICE vehicles. The report also added that there are several industry experts who feel that there is no need for more subsidies on EVs, as already more than a million EVs have already been subsidised. Sulajja Firodia Motwani, chief executive of Kinetic Green told the ET that the industry needs FAME II for at least 3 more years to ensure accelerated EV penetration in the country. The Centre started implementing the FAME II subsidy in October 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns took a significant toll on the EV industry. Taking off with much fanfare and crash landing has been the regular feature one sees in the Indian aviation sector ever since it was opened up. NEPC Airlines, Damania Airways, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Deccan Aviation, Paramount Airways, are some of the several 'aya rams and gaya rams' or those who came and went. Not only did the airlines go down, they also took down the huge sums lent to them by the government owned banks as well as the investments made by public shareholders. It is a different matter that State Bank of India (SBI) had lent thousands of crores to Kingfisher Airlines against trademarks/brand value. For a long time Air India and Indian Airlines (later merged with Air India) were able to stay afloat as they were owned by the Indian government. Only recently the Tata group has acquired Air India. Also Read Jet Airways looks into abyss as JKC fails to renew its flying permit Jet airways revival hits new snag as banks push back on funding What challenges could emerge from the Air India-Vistara merger? Jet Airways revival hits new snag as more employees quit amid uncertainty India emerging as key aviation market, air travel grows: IATA report Realty firms may complete nearly 558,000 homes in 2023 across top 7 cities FMCG makers expect sustained recovery with price reduction in FY24 Walmart looking at sourcing toys, shoes, bicycles from Indian suppliers Ease of doing business improved; still long way to go in many areas: CII Investment opportunity of $30 bn in petrochemical sector: Hardeep Puri Be that as it may, now two airlines are hitting the news pages for financial problems are -- Go Airlines (India) Ltd and SpiceJet Limited. Belonging to the Wadia group's Go Airlines early this month voluntarily landed at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) with an insolvency petition which was later admitted an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) got appointed. The officials of Go Airlines said it was done to protect its fleet from being taken back by the lessors. Go Airlines blamed the engine supplier Pratt & Whitney for its problems as nearly 50 per cent of its fleet of 54 aircraft is grounded due to engine faults and the latter refusing to supply spare engines. On the other hand, the Ireland-based aircraft lessor Aircastle Ltd has moved the principal bench of NCLT to launch a bankruptcy process against the airline. So, is the Indian aviation sector a story of 'aya ram and gaya ram' or is it set for a change? It is said the growing middle class offers great opportunities for low cost carriers (LCC). On the question of low cost airline a viable business proposition as several airlines have crash landed, Kaushik Khona the CEO of Go Airlines told IANS that the company was profitable from 2009-10 till 2019-20. Only from January 2020 the Pratt & Whitney engine problem aggravated and the company faced problems as an airline has a huge fixed cost. Khona said only low cost airline business could be profitable. The Indian government is also focusing on building new airports which in turn would increase air connectivity and higher passenger load for the airlines. While that is for the future credit rating agency ICRA's report gives a different picture for the industry. In its latest sectoral report ICRA said the industry is likely to cut down its losses to about Rs.50-70 billion in FY24 owing to a healthy passenger traffic and the ability to shore up their yields. It is said the LCC segment is bogged down due to high costs and low ticket prices. A high aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price coupled with depreciation of Indian rupee against the US dollar affects the bottomline of airlines. "While the ATF prices have witnessed a sequential decline over the past four months, they still remain at elevated levels as compared to the pre-Covid era," said Suprio Banerjee, Vice President & Sector Head-Corporate Ratings, ICRA. According to ICRA, the average ATF price stood at Rs. 121,013/Kl in FY2023 and Rs 99,506/KL in April 2023 compared to Rs 64,715/ Kl in FY2020. Fuel cost accounts for about 30-40 per cent of the airlines' expenses, while about 35-50 per cent of the airlines' operating expenses -- including aircraft lease payments, fuel expenses and a significant portion of aircraft and engine maintenance expenses - are denominated in US$ terms. Further, some airlines also have foreign currency debt. While domestic airlines also have a partial natural hedge to the extent of earnings from their international operations, overall, their net payables are in foreign currency. According to ICRA, the Indian airline sector reported a net loss of about Rs 110-130 billion FY23 due to high ATF prices and rupee depreciation. With domestic passenger air traffic on the uptrend now and sizable number of aircrafts grounded due to engine problems and Go Airlines out of air, the revenue of the airlines have improved owing to higher load factor and better pricing. The domestic passenger traffic for April 2023 is estimated at about 129 lakh, similar to about 128.9 lakh in March 2023, though 22 per cent higher in comparison to about 105 lakh in April 2022 and 17 per cent higher than pre-Covid levels of about 110 lakh in April 2019, ICRA said. In April 2023, the passenger load factor (PLF) for domestic airlines was about 91 per cent against about 81 per cent in April 2022. According to ICRA, the net loss for the Indian airlines is expected to go down to Rs 50-70 billion in FY24 owing to higher passenger traffic and pricing discipline. On the financial strength of airlines, Air India, Vistara and AirAsia have the backing of Tatas and for some the liquidity will be under stress for some time but better than past years. ICRA said capacity addition in FY23 has been limited to around 10 per cent of the FY22 fleet of airlines, which was close to around 700 aircraft. There are large aircraft purchase orders announced by various players in the industry. As per the indicative numbers, the total fleet deliveries pending are close to about 1,100, which is about1.5 times the fleet currently under operation. However, these will be delivered over the medium to long term and a large part of these will be towards replacement of old aircraft with new fuel-efficient ones, said ICRA. Even though many Indian airline brands take to the skies, only three passenger airlines -- InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (brand Indigo), SpiceJet, Jet Airways -- and one helicopter service company Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd are listed on the bourses. Among the listed as well as the unlisted ones, InterGlobe Aviation is the market leader with 55.7 per cent market share and SpiceJet with 6.9 per cent as per the figures released by India's Ministry of Civil Aviation for the period Jan-March 2023. Jet Airways is not operational now owing to financial problems. Coming to the question whether the Indian aviation sector is set for stability with players continuing for a reasonable period of years, it seems the answer is yes. The Tata group is set to merge Vistara and AirAsia with Air India. As of now the combined market share of the three airlines is 25.1 per cent (Air India 9 per cent, Vistara 8.8 per cent and Air Asia 7.3 per cent). Post merger and with fleet expansion, Air India's market share should increase if all things are on proper track. On the other hand, InterGlobe Aviation should not be experiencing any turbulence given its market share. Further with the passenger traffic increasing and better yields, the Indian airline sector should fly high. (Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannathan@ians.in) --IANS vj/dpb The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and tightening of monetary policy by important central banks internationally may have an adverse impact on the valuation of the state-run company if the IPO is brought at this time. The initial public offering (IPO) of Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd. (ECGC) may be pushed to the next financial year due to the prevailing uncertainty in the export market conditions, the Economic Times (ET) reported. At present, the Centre's focus is on divesting its stakes in IDBI Bank, NMDC Steel, Shipping Corporation of India and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, the ET report said. The Centre proposed the ECGC's public listing in September 2021. The listing that was due in 2022-23 was to bring Rs 4,400 crore into the company over a period of five-years. ECGC's net profit surged 90 per cent year-on-year in 2021-22 to Rs 875 crore. Its net worth increased to Rs 7,841 crore, as of March 2022, against Rs 6,365 crore a year earlier. At present, ECGC has 85 per cent share in India's export credit insurance market. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal had announced the cabinet's decision to bring in ECG IPO in September 2021 and asserted that the company has recorded continuous surplus along with making dividend payments to the government for two decades. Goyal expressed confidence that given its track record the ECGC's IPO will be well received in the market. Also Read RBI MPC: Here is what experts have to say about the policy announcement RBI hikes repo rate by 35 bps to 6.25%, cuts FY23 GDP forecast to 6.8% RBI MPC: When and where to watch policy announcement by Shaktikanta Das RBI Monetary Policy: Repo rate up by 25 bps, FY23 inflation pegged at 6.5% 71% IPOs of 2022 at premium; will retail investor euphoria sustain in 2023? Onus of preventing front running, insider trading to fall on AMCs Market regulator Sebi plans to shorten IPO listing timeline to three days Sebi proposes to cut down IPO listing timeline to 3 days from 6 days Sebi asks AMCs to set up control systems to identify market manipulation Rs 2,000 note withdrawal: It'll be business as usual for mkts, say analysts Domestic quarterly earnings, global trends and foreign fund trading activity would dictate the movement in equity markets, which may face volatility amid the scheduled monthly derivatives expiry this week, analysts said. Equity markets took a breather last week. The BSE Sensex declined 298.22 points or 0.48 per cent and the Nifty dipped 111.4 points or 0.60 per cent. "Global and domestic macroeconomic data, crude oil prices, global market trends, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) activity will be monitored this week. "Earnings season will continue to be in focus with companies like BPCL, Ashok Leyland, NMDC, Hindalco, Oil India, LIC, Vodafone Idea, BHEL, ONGC, and many more will be declaring their results this week," Arvinder Singh Nanda, Senior Vice-President at Master Capital Services Ltd, said. Globally, investors would continue to focus on the US debt ceiling negotiations, Nanda added. US President Joe Biden's administration is reaching for a deal with Republicans as the nation faces a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise the country's borrowing limit, now at USD 31 trillion, to keep paying the nation's bills. Also Read Positive trend ahead for Nifty IT, bearish on metal index: Ravi Nathani Our goal will be to go public within the next three years: Mohit Batra Nifty outlook and two stock picks by Vinay Rajani of HDFC Securities RIL, Dr Reddy's Labs: 5 Nifty500 stocks cross 200-DMA, defying weak trend Bank Nifty may not hold recent gains; advise selling on rally: Ravi Nathani Mcap of top valued firms erodes by Rs 70,487 cr; RIL, TCS biggest laggards ITC's stock rally has more legs; analysts remain positive after strong Q4 Nexus Select Trust, country's first pure-play REIT, rises 4% on debut Sebi proposes framework for AIFs to strengthen corporate governance rules Sebi imposes Rs 55 lakh on 11 entities for indulging in non-genuine trade Domestic markets faced headwinds last week due to weak cues from the global markets, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said. Equity benchmark indices found firmer ground on Friday after a three-session losing streak amid a positive trend in global markets and unabated foreign fund inflows. "We expect choppiness to remain high this week too due to the scheduled expiry of May month derivatives contracts. Meanwhile, global markets performance and consistency in the foreign fund flows will remain on the participants' radar for cues," Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research at Religare Broking Ltd, said. Market participants are waiting for the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, scheduled for May 24, said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst at Swastika Investmart Ltd. Over the near term, the markets may be expected to be volatile, led by stock-specific movements as the earnings season goes underway in full swing, Joseph Thomas, Head of Research at Emkay Wealth Management, said. In this section First Published: May 21 2023 | 10:01 PM IST G20: India asks IMF, FSB to draft new technical paper on crypto assets LIVE: Blinken asks for 'contact' with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov G20 foreign ministers' meeting today: Schedule, agenda, other details here Crisis in multilateralism affecting developing nations most: PM at G20 meet India holds the presidency of two important inter-governmental forums this year the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the much larger Group of 20 for which the leaders summits are scheduled for July and September, respectively. Set against this background, Prime Minister Narendra Modis participation in the outreach sessions of the 49th G7 summit in Hiroshima over May 19 to 21, was significant in terms of establishing credible positions for Asia (in the absence of China) and the Global South vis-a-vis the seven rich Western powers of the G7. Inevitably, Russias invasion of Ukraine dominated the discourse the G7 Hiroshima Leaders Communique prominently reflected this concern. In this respect, Indias independent diplomatic position could well have been a major point of contention. It is notable, however, that pre-summit protests from the European Union over Indias exports of petroleum products refin Your browser does not support the audio element. PM Narendra Modi unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima To read the full story, subscribe to BS Premium now, at just Rs 249/ month. Key stories on business-standard.com are available only to BS Premium subscribers. Already a BS Premium subscriber?LOGIN NOW Register to read more on Business-Standard.com President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and their spouses bow at the monument to South Korean victims of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Japan, Sunday. Yonhap Yoon, Kishida pay tribute to S. Korean victims of Hiroshima atomic bombing By Nam Hyun-woo HIROSHIMA, Japan President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday paid tribute to South Korean victims of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in a symbolic gesture to transcend the two countries' historical issues and normalize their ties. During a summit that followed, just two weeks after their previous meeting in Seoul, the leaders agreed that their visit was "a courageous act toward the future" and the two countries should cooperate to tackle various global challenges. "Today, I and Prime Minister Kishida together paid a tribute to the monument," Yoon said during the summit. "It was about paying condolences to the South Korean victims of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and at the same time will be remembered as the prime minister's courageous act toward a peaceful future." Kishida also said they were able to pray before the monument and it was "important not only for the relations between the two countries but also for world peace." The summit was the third meeting between Yoon and Kishida in the past three months, and the prime minister said it "clearly shows the progress of the two sides' relations." The leaders and their spouses visited the monument in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park at around 7:30 a.m., with Kishida and his wife waiting for Yoon and his wife in front of the monument. After the arrival of the latter, the four bowed together and laid flowers before the 4.5-meter stone monument, which faces toward the Korean Peninsula. Ten South Korean survivors of the atomic bombing also paid their respects at the monument behind the leaders. After observing a moment's silence, the leaders bowed to the survivors. The visit came amid Yoon's attendance at the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Hiroshima. It was the first time for the two leaders to jointly pay tribute at the monument, and Yoon is the first South Korean president to do so. Kishida is the second sitting Japanese prime minister to pay tribute at the monument. During the summit, the two leaders affirmed that the trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan should be strengthened amid the grave regional tensions of North Korea's escalating nuclear and missile threats, according to presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon. The leaders also agreed that Seoul and Tokyo, which share universal values, should cooperate on various global agendas, and enhance such efforts on the occasion of the G7 Summit. "The leaders stressed the importance of free and open international order based on rules of law, and called for countries cherishing freedom to join their efforts," Lee said. Yoon and Kishida's visit to the monument came as a gesture that symbolizes they are seeking to move past their countries' spats over history and set bilateral relations on a future-oriented course. After taking office in May last year, Yoon has been making relentless efforts to restore relations with Japan for economic benefits through bilateral trade and a trilateral security cooperation involving the United States to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. The bilateral relations began to thaw after Seoul proposed a plan to let a South Korean public foundation compensate the South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor without the direct involvement of the responsible Japanese firms. Since then, Yoon and Kishida have visited each other and appear to be making attempts to transcend their respective countries' historical issues. Kishida, during his visit to Seoul earlier this month, drew attention when he said that his "heart aches" for Koreans who suffered under Japanese colonial rule. "During the previous visit, Prime Minister Kishida said his heart aches for the forced labor victims who suffered painful and sorrow experiences under a harsh environment, and it echoed across the South Korean people," Yoon said during Sunday's summit. "I believe the prime minister's courage and decision of showing sincerity are very precious." After the summit, the two leaders joined G7 leaders to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their summit at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Japan, Sunday. Yonhap The Congress won the Karnataka assembly elections by promising free electricity, free ration and unemployment allowance in its poll manifesto, taking cue from the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday. He said the AAP has succeeded in its efforts to bring some change in the country's political discourse as other parties are also now seeking votes on issues like education and health. He was addressing AAP leaders who won seats in just-concluded Uttar Pradesh local body elections. "The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has tried to change the narrative of the country's politics. If you look at Karnataka polls, the Congress party has won on our manifesto," Kejriwal said. "We said we will provide free electricity, they (Congress) also said so. We said we will provide unemployment allowance, free ration, and Rs 1,000 (per moth to women, They also said so," he said. The BJP is also now making such promises, he said, adding, political parties earlier used to seek vote on the basis of caste and religion. Also Read Karnataka elections: Here's what all Congress has promised in its manifesto Operation Sheesh Mahal: Why do BJP and Congress want Delhi CM to resign? Karnataka Assembly polls: Rahul Gandhi promises Rs 2 hike in milk subsidy MCD polls: AAP working against interests of common man in Delhi, says Nadda Cong's manifesto vows old pension scheme, 50,000 new jobs in Tripura Reworking the casts: Lesson from Karnataka poll outcome for the BJP Political fortunes: Here are the average assets of re-contesting MLAs Siddaramaiah's anti-urban bias may well become the chink in Cong's armour With Karnataka win, Congress gets a template for other Assembly polls Will ask govt to stop funds if Bengal doesn't rename fishery scheme: Oppn The AAP won three Nagar Palika chairperson seats, six Nagar Panchayat chairperson seats and six Nagar Nigam councillor seats besides several wards in the urban local body polls that were held in Uttar Pradesh in two phases on May 4 and May 11. More than half of the AAP's victorious candidates belonged to the minority community, according to the poll results available on the state election commission's website. Kejriwal congratulated the AAP's Uttar Pradesh unit leaders, saying it was a "difficult" election as the state is considered a BJP stronghold. "You worked hard and defeated the BJP, the SP and other parties." Kejriwal said the AAP leaders' victory in several seats in the local body elections is an indication that people of Uttar Pradesh "are ready for change". "They want good governance and development in the state," he added. He said the AAP will now focus on expanding its foothold in Uttar Pradesh and contest the next assembly polls with full strength. "We will build our organisation with the help of Sandeep Pathak (AAP national organisation secretary). We will form active committees of 10 members in every village and booth. Once our organisation is built in Uttar Pradesh, no one can stop us," he said. Kejriwal asked the elected representatives to work for the people in various sectors like health and education so that the AAP is strengthened in the state. "All of you have got more responsibility now If you do good work in Uttar PRadesh that fragrance will spread across the state. We will get an entry in Uttar Pradesh through you," he added. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday called for opposition unity to take on the BJP as the JD(U) leader met the AAP convenor at his residence here and extended "complete support" to him in the ongoing face-off with the Centre over the control of administrative services. Kejriwal said he would meet leaders of various parties to ensure that any bill brought to replace the recent central ordinance, which virtually negated the May 11 Supreme Court order that ruled in favour of his government, is not passed in Rajya Sabha and also urged Kumar to reach out to them to rally support on the issue. If the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out a message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he claimed. "It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," the AAP national convenor told reporters outside his residence after meeting Kumar and his deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. Kejriwal will be meeting the chiefs of the TMC, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP this week seeking their support. Kumar said the Centre's actions were "strange" and "baffling". "How can you take away an elected government's power," the Janata Dal (United) leader asked. He said Kejriwal is doing good work in Delhi and it's surprising that his government is being stopped from doing its work. "That's why we are saying that all (opposition parties) in the country should come together," he said. Also Read Nitish Kumar backs Kejriwal over CBI summon, says people respect him Operation Sheesh Mahal: Why do BJP and Congress want Delhi CM to resign? Nitish Kumar reprises role played by George Fernandes in formation of NDA Ex-JD(U) president RCP Singh joins BJP, attacks Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Nitish meets Kejriwal, assures support to AAP govt amid tussle with Centre Kejriwal should follow Dikshit model of engaging with officers: Ajay Maken Nitish Kumar should stop 'daydreaming' about becoming PM, says BJP BJP seeks votes in name of cows, but has never served them: Chhattisgarh CM Kerala's govt progress card factually incorrect, full of hypocrisy: Oppn Rajiv Gandhi laid foundation of young India, says IYC chief Srinivas The BJP hit out at both Kumar and Kejriwal, saying the Bihar chief minister should pay attention to his state which is being pushed into "anarchy" instead of daydreaming about becoming the prime minister. Addressing a press conference, the party's six MPs from Delhi said Kejriwal was seeking the support of opposition leaders who he once branded as corrupt. "There was a time when Arvind Kejriwal used to carry a list of political leaders and considered them as symbols of corruption. But today he is ready to hug Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav," BJP leader Manoj Tiwari said. Kejriwal's priority is not to eliminate corruption, but to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the MP from North East Delhi said and alleged that the AAP chief "is ready to stoop to any level to save his empire of corruption." The Centre promulgated the ordinance on Friday to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. This came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. The Centre has also filed a review plea in the apex court against the verdict. Kejriwal had on Saturday said that the ordinance was "unconstitutional" and they will challenge it in the apex court. Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Sunday, Kejriwal said he will personally reach out to the chiefs of all opposition parties to seek their support in the matter so that any bill brought by the Centre to replace the ordinance is defeated in Rajya Sabha. "Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said. "I have also requested Nitish Kumar ji to talk to all the (opposition) parties in this regard," he added. According to AAP sources, he will meet former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on May 25. An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. The Aam Aadmi Party has 10 MPs in Rajya Sabha and one MP in Lok Sabha. The Bihar chief minister said that he will make efforts to bring opposition parties together in support of Kejriwal. "We will hold further meetings. We are trying to ensure that the maximum number of opposition parties come together and a nationwide campaign is launched to demand that laws are followed and there is mutual harmony and brotherhood in the country. "Efforts are being made to create conflicts among people. Such things should be stopped," Kumar said. Replying to a query, Kumar said he will also speak to the Congress leadership on the issue of the ordinance. "I don't think anybody will oppose it (supporting Kejriwal). We will talk to them," he said. Kejriwal was among the few non-BJP chief ministers not invited by the Congress to the swearing-in ceremony of its new government in Karnataka on Saturday, an event seen as a show of unity by opposition parties. Kumar, on the other hand, had attended the event. Extending his party's support to Kejriwal, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Yadav alleged the Centre is "continuously troubling and harassing" non-BJP governments in different states. "We have come here to extend our support to Kejriwal. The BJP government is doing injustice to him," he said. "There is a clear threat to democracy. They want to change the Constitution and we will not let that happen at all," he claimed. Sunday's meeting was the second between Kumar and Kejriwal in over a month. Kumar had earlier met Kejriwal here on April 12 as part of his efforts to bring opposition parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With Kejriwal's relations with the Congress far from smooth, Kumar has the task of building a working relationship between the two as he also sees the grand old party as a critical player in any Opposition unity bid. The AAP has grown in Delhi and Punjab by occupying the space once largely seen as Congress territory. A section of Congress leaders believe that reclaiming the constituency is the key to the party's revival in these states and any compromise on it can hamper their plans. Kumar has been meeting regional satraps as part of the unity exercise which is yet to take a concrete shape. Prem Shukla, the BJP's national spokesperson, said meeting other leaders is Kumar's right but he has not been paying attention to his own state. "He is daydreaming of becoming the prime minister. Instead, he should discharge his duties as Bihar chief minister, his constitutional responsibility," he said. Sanjay Mayukh, a BJP MLC in Bihar, said Kumar should come out of his "dream world" as there is no vacancy for the prime minister's post. People of the state will never forgive him for pushing it deeper into crime and corruption, he claimed. The Congress-led UDF opposition in Kerala on Sunday said the progress card of achievements released by the ruling Left front in the state was "factually incorrect" and "full of hypocrisy". Countering the allegation, the LDF government said the opposition only sees fraud in everything the administration was doing and asked the UDF to show proof in support of its accusations. A day after the Congress-led UDF on Saturday laid siege to the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram against the alleged misrule and corruption of the Left dispensation, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly V D Satheesan termed the LDF administration a "failure". Satheesan alleged that every department of the government was failing to function properly. "Even the Home Department under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is a failure. There is in-fighting among its officials. The outcome is the sacrifice of an honest police officer by suspending him," the LoP claimed. He was referring to the recent suspension of senior IPS officer P Vijayan, the former head of the state's ATS unit, in connection with the alleged leak of information regarding transportation of the Elathur train arson case accused from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Kozhikode district of the southern state. Also Read LDF Govt comes out with "Real Kerala Story" ad on 2nd anniversary day Left Democratic Front wins 14 seats in local body bypolls in Kerala Fuel price hike comes into effect, UDF observes 'black day' in Kerala Congress asks PM to sack WFI chief after scuffle; Rahul slams hypocrisy If there is 40% commission in Karnataka, its 80% in Kerala: Congress Rajiv Gandhi laid foundation of young India, says IYC chief Srinivas TMC's Abhishek Banerjee to be summoned by CBI again, BJP predicts President, not PM, should inaugurate new Parliament building: Rahul Services row: Kejriwal to meet Mamata, Pawar, Uddhav to seek support Cong insulted OBCs, but BJP gave 1st PM from this community to nation: Shah Satheesan also alleged that the CM has no response to the allegations of massive corruption in the government and his alleged proximity to the same, like in the matter of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras scam. "Merely saying we are spreading lies is not enough. He (CM) has to respond to our specific allegations," he said and reiterated the alleged irregularities regarding the installation of the AI cameras under the Safe Kerala project. Vijayan, on Saturday, had said that the opposition front was trying their best to defame the Left government. "If there are any lapses on part of the government, they (UDF) can point it out. But in the last seven years, they (opposition) are unable to find any mistakes and now they are spreading lies against us," he had said. Satheesan, speaking to reporters here. also contended that the state government's claim that it created 3 lakh jobs in Kerala was false. Satheesan alleged that the previous LDF government had not fulfilled even 100 of its 600 poll promises, but claimed to have fulfilled around 570 of them while campaigning for the 2021 elections in the state. "We had challenged them even back then to give details of the promises fulfilled, but they did not respond. Their latest progress card is also factually incorrect and full of hypocrisy," he contended. Countering his allegations, State Education Minister V Sivankutty said Satheesan sees fraud in everything the government does ever since he became the LoP. "He should specifically mention what are the frauds, instead of making general statements," the minister said. He also termed the UDF protest of Saturday at the Secretariat as a "defeat", saying that most of the people who had turned up left before noon due to the heat. "People are not interested in being part of such protests. Else there should have been 10,000-20,000 persons laying siege to the Secretariat," the minister said. Sivankutty also took a dig at the Congress, saying that its leaders were competing with each other to see who makes the most number of allegations. "The competition is between Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala," he contended. If you make allegations, show proof of the same or go to court, he said. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal at the latter's residence here and extended "complete support" to him in the AAP government's ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services. Kumar was accompanied by his deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. The Centre promulgated the ordinance on Friday to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. This came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Kejriwal said he will personally reach out to the chiefs of all opposition parties to seek their support in the matter so that any bill brought by the Centre to replace the ordinance is defeated in Rajya Sabha. "Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said. Also Read Ex-JD(U) president RCP Singh joins BJP, attacks Bihar CM Nitish Kumar 2 more deaths reported in Bihar hooch tragedy; toll in Saran rises to 28 Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to skip 'Namami Gange' event chaired by PM Modi Nitish Kumar reprises role played by George Fernandes in formation of NDA Toll in Chhapra hooch tragedy soars to 39, minister vows strict action 'Those who gathered Rs 2,000 notes illegally are crying over withdrawal' Party in power at Centre concerned about itself, rather than nation: Cong Siddaramaiah-led govt will work for people in Karnataka, says Sachin Pilot PM Narendra Modi pays tributes to Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary Kerala CM releases progress report of LDF government for last 2 years "I have also requested Nitish Kumar ji to talk to all the (opposition) parties in this regard," he added. An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. "It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," the AAP national convenor told reporters. The National Capital Civil Service Authority will comprise the chief minister of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as its chairperson, along with chief secretary and principal secretary, home, who will be the member secretary to the authority. "Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the National Capital Civil Service Authority shall have the responsibility to recommend the transfers and postings of all the Group 'A' officers and officers of DANICS serving in the affairs of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi but not officers serving in connection with any subject matter," the ordinance read. Kumar criticised the Centre for promulgating the ordinance after the Supreme Court verdict in the matter and assured that he will make efforts to bring opposition parties together in support of Kejriwal. When asked, the Janta Dal (United) leader said he will also speak to the Congress leadership on the issue. "I don't think anybody will oppose it. We will talk to them," he said. Kejriwal was among the few non-BJP chief ministers who were not invited by the Congress to the swearing-in ceremony of its new government in Karnataka on Saturday, an event which was seen as a show of strength by opposition parties. Kumar, on the other hand, had attended the event. Extending his party's support to Kejriwal, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Yadav alleged the Centre is "continuously troubling and harassing" non-BJP governments in different states. "We have come here to extend our support to Kejriwal. The BJP government is doing injustice to him," he said. Yadav said the way the Centre is harassing the Kejriwal dispensation in Delhi and governments of other parties in different states is not justified at all. "There is a clear threat to democracy. They want to change the Constitution and we will not let that happen at all," he claimed. "The more they (Centre) trouble and harass Kejriwal, the stronger he will become. I can say with full confidence that the BJP will never return to power in Delhi," he added. Sunday's meeting was the second between Kumar and Kejriwal in over a month. Kumar had earlier met Kejriwal here on April 12 as part of his efforts to bring all opposition parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With Kejriwal's relations with the Congress far from smooth, Kumar has the task of building some kind of a working relationship between the two as he also sees the grand old party as critical to any Opposition unity bid. The AAP has grown in Delhi and Punjab by occupying the space once largely seen as Congress territory. A section of Congress leaders believe that reclaiming the constituency is the key to the party's revival in these states and any compromise on it can hamper their plans. Kumar has been meeting regional satraps as part of the unity exercise which is yet to take a concrete shape. The Congress in Kerala on Sunday lashed out at the BJP, alleging that the party in power at the Centre is more concerned about itself rather than the country, a sharp contrast to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who put the nation first before everything. The view was expressed by veteran Congress leader and former Union Defence Minister A K Antony while speaking on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary. "When he (Rajiv Gandhi) was Prime Minister he put the country first before the interests of the party. However, the party (BJP) in power at the Centre is more concerned about itself than the nation. "They are not concerned if the country burns, if there is communal violence or if there is any other form of unrest. They are only concerned with ensuring they remain in power," Antony alleged at the remembrance ceremony held at Indira Bhavan here. He claimed that when Rajiv Gandhi was PM, he ensured peace in Punjab, Assam and Mizoram at the cost of the Congress's power in those states. Antony also claimed that the late PM of India was behind women empowerment in the country. "His decisions as PM were also responsible for political empowerment of Dalits and adivasis." Antony said that had Rajiv Gandhi's life not been cut short, and he had another stint as PM, the face of the country would have changed for the better. Also Read The Kerala Story gets 'A' certificate from censor board, 10 scenes deleted Congress to file review petition in SC on release of Rajiv case convicts LDF Govt comes out with "Real Kerala Story" ad on 2nd anniversary day BJP CEC meeting today to finalise candidates for Karnataka Assembly polls Cong to file review petition in SC on release of Rajiv murder convicts Siddaramaiah-led govt will work for people in Karnataka, says Sachin Pilot PM Narendra Modi pays tributes to Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary Kerala CM releases progress report of LDF government for last 2 years Projects around Rs 16,000 cr completed in 4 years in Gandhinagar: Shah Priyanka to kickstart Cong's MP poll campaign from Jabalpur on June 12 Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and MP K Sudhakaran, who also spoke on the occasion, alleged that the then government in power had removed the SPG protection given to Rajiv Gandhi despite being aware of the threat to his life. "The current government has removed the SPG protection of Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and her daughter Priyanka. If there is anyone who needs SPG protection, it is them. One can only guess the reason behind removal of their SPG protection," Sudhakaran said. The Congress also pledged to observe the day as Anti-Terrorism Day. Rajiv Gandhi, who was India's prime minister between 1984 and 1989, was assassinated by LTTE terrorists on this day at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 1991 during an election campaign. If Jai Ram Thakur, cherry-picked by the BJPs central command, got the position even after losing the last election in Himachal Pradesh, in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the brass moved in swiftly to bring in new faces as LoP instead of handing it to the CMs who brought the party to defeat. In Rajasthan, Gulab Chand Kataria initially became LoP, and once he was appointed Assam governor, Rajendra Rathore, a seven-term MLA, succeeded him. In Chhattisgarh, former chief minister Raman Singh, who was still not out of favour with New Delhi The Karnataka elections done and dusted with a Congress chief minister in place, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will have to appoint the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state legislature. There is no precedent to establish that Basavaraj Bommai, (pictured) former chief minister, will get the LoPs post by right, as it were. Each state where an incumbent BJP government was unseated followed a different norm. Locked in a bitter tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will meet the chiefs of the TMC, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP this week seeking their support. Kejriwal on Sunday said he would meet his West Bengal counterpart and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Tuesday. And, according to AAP sources, he will meet former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on May 25. Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met Kejriwal at his residence here and assured their "complete support" to him on the issue. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, JD(U) leader Kumar assured that he would urge other opposition parties also to come in support of Kejriwal in the matter. The Centre promulgated an ordinance on Friday to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. This came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. Also Read Not involved in talks between Uddhav and Prakash Ambedkar: Sharad Pawar Ajit Pawar's future bright with NCP, he will not join BJP, says Sanjay Raut Won't be in govt if Pawar joins BJP with NCP group: Shiv Sena spokesperson Criticism of Uddhav in Sharad Pawar's book is wrong information: Raut Will fight for democracy: Thackeray after meeting with Congress' Venugopal Cong insulted OBCs, but BJP gave 1st PM from this community to nation: Shah Centre's ordinance on Delhi services insult to judiciary: Akhilesh Yadav Cong preps for next round of assembly polls; Kharge calls meeting on May 24 Withdrawal of Rs 2,000 note political decision like demonetisation: Soren Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call, can happen anywhere: Mufti An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. For which, the Centre will have to bring a bill for its passage in both Houses of Parliament. Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. "It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," the AAP national convenor told reporters. Kejriwal told reporters that he will personally reach out to the chiefs of all the opposition parties to seek their support in the matter so that any bill brought by the Centre to replace the ordinance is defeated in Rajya Sabha. "Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said. "I have also requested Nitish Kumar ji to talk to all the (opposition) parties in this regard," he added. The BJP on Sunday predicted that TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will be summoned by CBI in the coming days in connection with scams ranging from school jobs to alleged coal and cattle smuggling in West Bengal. Leader of opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, told reporters on the sidelines of a state executive meeting that Banerjee might have felt angry for being interrogated for over nine hours by CBI on Saturday but that does not matter. "He seemed to be upset for being questioned by CBI for so many hours. But as the probe into the SSC scam, coal smuggling cases is gaining momentum with more arrests, if he is summoned for such grilling again in the coming days, he should not cry. He has to prove his innocence before the investigators. This is a court-monitored probe," the Nandigram MLA said. Echoing him, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar told reporters, "After the interrogation for nine hours Abhishek Banerjee's body language and reaction indicate that the questions were sharp and he is frightened. "This is just the beginning and many more calls are waiting from CBI and ED". BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said, "We will come to know about the outcome of the interrogation of Abhishek Banerjee soon and his future destination." Reacting to BJP's tirade against Banerjee, TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, "A vindictive government at the Centre, after the debacle of its party in West Bengal assembly elections, is using central agencies to harass and intimidate our leaders like Abhishek Banerjee on trumped up charges. Also Read India seized 833 kg gold worth Rs 405 cr in FY22, highest from Myanmar CBI calls TMC's Abhishek Banerjee as part of school jobs' scam probe Cattle smuggling: Delhi court sends TMC's Anubrata Mandal to ED custody TMC's Abhishek welcomes SC decision on reassigning hearings in school scam Finance ministry looks to curb smuggling of top-end mobile phones President, not PM, should inaugurate new Parliament building: Rahul Services row: Kejriwal to meet Mamata, Pawar, Uddhav to seek support Cong insulted OBCs, but BJP gave 1st PM from this community to nation: Shah Centre's ordinance on Delhi services insult to judiciary: Akhilesh Yadav Cong preps for next round of assembly polls; Kharge calls meeting on May 24 The CBI called the TMC leader for questioning on a day's notice and he complied, but despite nine hours of grilling they could not scare him, Ghosh said. The more BJP uses such a gameplan, the more people of Bengal will fight unitedly against these forces. We are not shaken, the BJP is shaken by seeing the massive support of people for Abhishek Banerjee and Mamata Banerjee," the TMC state spokesperson said. Turning to a different issue, BJP's Dilip Ghosh said the dates of the panchayat polls were yet to be announced though 80 per cent of people of the state live in rural areas. If the panchayat election is not held in time, all the development work will be stalled," Ghosh said. At the executive meeting, the leaders decided to embark on Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan' from the end of this month in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to reach out to the people. "Our meetings will witness the real 'jan jowar' (sea of crowd), not the 'jan sanjog yatra' (mass outreach programme) of Bhaipo' (nephew)," Adhikari said. Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister's nephew is referred to as 'Bhaipo' by BJP leaders. CBI officers questioned Banerjee, who appeared before them Saturday as part of the agency's probe into the school jobs scam, for more than 9 hours before letting the young politician off. Banerjee told newspersons keeping vigil outside the CBI's office at Nizam Palace here, that the questioning was a waste of time for both him and the investigative agency's officers, but that he "cooperated in all that was asked". After emerging from Nizam Palace, he claimed the real reason why he was called in was because he had refused to be a "pet dog of Delhi's bosses" and that is why he has been "targeted". Banerjee's name cropped up in a complaint filed by Kuntal Ghosh, a local businessman and an accused in the school jobs scam, where he alleged that central investigating agencies were pressuring him to name Abhishek Banerjee in the case. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who is visiting Karnataka, on Sunday appreciated the people for voting out a "fascist" BJP government in the state, but also cautioned people about the recent developments in Delhi, saying it was a wake-up call for everyone as it can happen anywhere in the country. Mufti was referring to an ordinance passed by the President on Friday, May 20, giving overriding powers to the Delhi's Lieutenant Governor -- a union government nominee -- to oversee the transfer, posting and disciplinary proceedings against civil servants in Delhi. The ordinance was brought in just a week after a Supreme Court Constitution Bench had ruled that powers over the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in the national capital lay with the Delhi government and not the Central government. The apex court had made it clear that the Central government cannot take over governance of elected state governments. "Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call for everyone. Whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country," Mufti said at a press conference here. "BJP doesn't want to have any opposition. The Delhi government has been disempowered. This is going to happen to everyone," the PDP chief added. Stating that the people of Karnataka had given a ray of hope to the entire country by defeating a "fascist, communal and divisive" BJP in the recently-concluded Assembly election, Mufti said, "Karnataka people have shown us the way, that the might of power agencies and institutions can be defeated with your vote in a democracy. Also Read Pakistan instability, uncertainty will affect India: Mehbooba Mufti Karnataka Assembly poll results has shown a ray of hope: Mehbooba Mufti Delhi HC allows Mehbooba Mufti to withdraw plea challenging PMLA provision Karnataka Election Results 2023: Here is how tally looks like at 11:30 am Karnataka Election Results 2023: Here is how tally looks like at 12:30 pm Challenge to fight powers inciting social and communal divide: Pawar Nitish meets Kejriwal, assures support to AAP govt amid tussle with Centre 'Those who gathered Rs 2,000 notes illegally are crying over withdrawal' Party in power at Centre concerned about itself, rather than nation: Cong Siddaramaiah-led govt will work for people in Karnataka, says Sachin Pilot "I also thank them for bringing most of the opposition parties who believe in the Constitution, democratic values and secular culture of this country and, above all, believe in the idea of India, together," she added. She alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and everyone in the BJP had used religion to fight the Karnataka elections but still the people voted them out. According to the former CM, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra had laid the foundation for Congress's victory in the Karnataka Assembly election. "Last five years a lot of hatred, communal and divisive politics was played in Karnataka, which must have caused a lot of wounds to the secular fabric of this place. So, I am sure that the Congress government along with Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar will be able to heal those wounds that have been inflicted in the last five years," the PDP chief said. Speaking about her state, Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir was the first victim of the "fascist forces". Despite being a Muslim majority state and despite all odds, Jammu and Kashmir had taken a decision to align with the idea of India when the whole subcontinent was burning with communal fire at the time of independence, she pointed out. Jammu and Kashmir was given special status, which was the best example of cooperative federalism, according to her. "But unfortunately with the onslaught of the BJP government in 2019, we saw that the state was dismantled, dismembered and disempowered by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian constitution," she rued "Today, ours is the most militarised state in the world. You can't imagine the kind of surveillance, frisking and harassment that are happening in the name of security," the former CM alleged. She said she spoke about her state to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and others during the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Karnataka CM on Saturday. "I want people to pay attention to what has happened in J&K. All our passports have been confiscated. If this can happen to a family where I was a CM, and my mother is wife of Late Mufti Mohammed Syed, a former CM and former union minister, it can happen to everyone," the PDP chief said. Stating that Jammu and Kashmir has become an open-air prison, Mufti alleged that China is now interfering in its affairs, which only Pakistan used to do earlier. "This is what the BJP has done by abrogating Article 370," she lamented. Mufti also said she will not contest the Assembly election till Article 370 is restored in her state. However, her party PDP will fight the election. On a question about Congress not inviting many opposition parties' chief ministers during the swearing in ceremony of Siddaramaiah yesterday, such as BRS's K Chandrasekhar Rao, YSR Congress's Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and CPI(M)'s Pinarayi Vijayan, Mehbooba Mufti said the Congress has to sacrifice more; "otherwise there are no other options". The extreme heat thats been scorching Asia in recent weeks has produced one clear beneficiary Russia. By Yongchang Chin What began as a push from the Kremlin to fund its invasion of Ukraine has now turned into a pull from Asian economies anxious about making sure their power generators are supplied with enough fuel in what could be the hottest year on record. As countries across the region scramble to make sure they have enough coal, gas and fuel oil to keep the lights on, Russian energy being shunned by the West is looking increasingly attractive. When you cant even take care of your peoples basic needs, its very hard to care too much about international affairs. The worst place to be right now amid these searing temperatures is South Asia, especially poorer nations like Pakistan or Bangladesh, said John Driscoll, director of JTD Energy Services Pte in Singapore. Also Read IndianOil, Adani-Total, Shell lap up Reliance's KG-D6 gas; IOC top bidder CNG, piped gas prices to be cut but no clarity on deregulation: Analysts Kirit Parikh panel may recommend price caps to help moderate CNG rates CIL coking coal production sees quantum leap of 8MT, rises by 17% in FY23 Ukraine needs more than a $30 billion arsenal for counterstrike on Russia Ukraine at centre of last day of diplomacy, G7 looks to punish Russia Quad meet: US, Australian leaders spoke to PM Modi about requests they got Debt limit standoff brings little action, world leaders watch for progress G7 Summit: PM Modi holds meeting with Brazil's President Lula da Silva G7 urges China to press Russia to end Ukraine war, respect Taiwan's status Coal volumes jumped sharply to 7.46 million tons in April, about a third higher than a year earlier. Shipments of liquefied natural gas to Asia have also been growing in recent months after prices retreated from record highs that had made the fuel unaffordable for many poorer nations. Russian exports to Asia of thermal coal and natural gas, the two fuels most often used for electricity generation, have grown markedly this year, figures from data intelligence firm Kpler show. Meanwhile, Asian imports of Russian fuel oil, a dirtier and cheaper alternative for power generation, had the two highest months on record in March and April, according to Kpler. The impetus for the region to buy more Russian energy is likely to increase due to an emerging El Nino weather pattern, which has already sent the mercury soaring in parts of the region. Vietnams prime minister has warned of power shortages this month, while Myanmar is struggling with worsening blackouts. China and India the most enthusiastic buyers of discounted Russian oil are also purchasing the most coal, gas and fuel oil. They took more than two-thirds of Russian coal sent to Asia last month, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Kpler data. South Korea, however, scooped up 15% of the shipments, while Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have also emerged as significant buyers. In India, heat-driven power demand will likely be satisfied mostly by coal, said Aniket Autade, power fundamentals analyst for Rystad Energy. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will probably import more Russian fuel oil for power generation, according to Emma Li, an analyst with Vortexa. The Middle East has also recently increased its imports, and thats likely to continue over the summer, she said. For fuel oil, China and India were again the biggest buyers from Russia, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also major importers, the Kpler figures show. Even Japan, a close ally of the US and therefore reluctant to increase imports from Russia, might expand buying within contractual limits, according to Chris Wilkinson, senior analyst for renewables at Rystad. Pakistan said this month it was keen to pay for Russian oil imports with the Chinese yuan. The country has has placed an order for a single cargo of the crude, but is keen for a long-term deal to buy it in Chinese currency, its power minister said. For JTD Energys Driscoll, the increasing purchases of Russian energy by many Asian countries highlights both the White Houses declining clout and the perilous situation many nations find themselves in. Japan may consider purchasing more LNG from Russia under its existing long-term contracts, as it is more cost-effective than buying on the spot market, he said. [They] are asking themselves: would I rather risk falling afoul of the US or forgo steep discounts on energy?, he said. When theres a good deal on the table, how can poorer nations afford to say no? Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, third from left, front row, poses with other world leaders during a group photo at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20. Yonhap Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol voiced support for the inclusion of the African Union (AU) in the Group of 20 (G-20) on Sunday, his office said. Yoon expressed the support during a meeting with Comorian President Azali Assoumani on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, according to presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon. Azali currently serves as the chairperson of the AU. "The president stressed that African nations in the Indian Ocean, such as the Comoros, are important partners in our Indo-Pacific Strategy, and said our partnership with the African community of 54 states is becoming more important," Lee said in a written briefing. "The president said Africa's role is important in the G-20, which discusses sustainable development and economic growth, and officially stated his support for the AU's accession to the G-20," he said. Azali thanked Korea for its support and called for strengthening cooperation between Korea and the AU. He also expressed his country and Africa's strong wish for Korea's assistance in improving their food situation, cooperation in manufacturing, education and training, and responding to climate change. Yoon invited Azali to the inaugural Korea-Africa summit next year and Azali thanked him for the invitation, expressing his wish to work together for a successful summit. The two leaders also discussed "blue economy" cooperation for the sustainable use of maritime resources and other issues of mutual interest, and agreed to further strengthen their countries' friendly relations. Azali said he will support Korea's bid to serve as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council next year and promised his country will stand with Korea for world peace. The meeting, the first Korea-Comoros summit since 1987, is expected to become an important milestone for bilateral relations and for strengthening Korea's partnership with Africa in regional and global fora, Lee said. (Yonhap) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a battlefield victory that was quickly disputed by Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was committed to strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also spoke one-on-one with several leaders. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the Russian claim that forces of the Wagner private army and Russian troops had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely bloodiest of the war. 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But he and other Ukrainian officials later cast doubt on that assessment, with Zelenskyy telling reporters in Ukrainian that "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. US President Joe Biden announced new military aid worth USD 375 million for Ukraine, saying the US would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That pledge came after the US agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraine's back and we're not going anywhere, Biden said. Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. While Ukraine dominated the summit, the leaders of Japan, the US, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. And Biden sought to reassure world leaders that the US would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two US allies South Korea and Japan furthered efforts to improve ties coloured by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean Peninsula. Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave labourers, of the August 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of US power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, said a US official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Yoon promised to provide South Korean demining equipment and ambulances to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war. He briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. Zelenskyy's presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they can't, said Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. The G7 has vowed to intensify pressure on Russia, calling its assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Sunday denounced the G7 as "fixated on comprehensive confrontation with Russia ... The leaders of the G7 countries brought to their meeting the chief of the Kyiv regime, who is controlled by them, and ultimately turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show. The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the world's No. 2 economy. The leaders said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. We're not looking to decouple from China, we're looking to de-risk and diversify, Biden said. He also vowed to help Taiwan defend itself against a potential attack by China, saying that there is an understanding by the US and its allies that if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response. China's Foreign Ministry for its part urged G7 members to "focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with US sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host city's symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyy's inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leaders' visit was not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city. Protesters carrying No War No G7 banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to USD 600 billion in financing in a program meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Brazilian President Lula da Silva on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On the third day of PM Modi's Japan visit, he visited the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitor's book. It is pertinent to mention that PM Modi is the first Indian leader to visit Hiroshima, the world's first atomic-bombed city, since India successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 1974, according to Kyodo News Agency. PM Modi along with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other leaders paid tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. Other than the Brazilian leader, today, PM Modi also met UK's counterpart Rishi Sunak. Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to May 21. Also Read Bolsonaro denounces violence after supporters storm Brazil's govt buildings Fifa World Cup: Aboubakar helps Cameroon beat Brazil; Swiss reach last 16 Fifa World Cup Highlights: Portugal, Brazil win as Uruguay draw vs Korea Fifa World Cup, BRA vs KOR Highlights: Brazil into qf courtesy easy 4-1 win Fifa WC, CRO vs BRA Highlights: Croatia win shoot-out, send Brazil packing G7 urges China to press Russia to end Ukraine war, respect Taiwan's status PM Modi, British counterpart Sunak review bilateral strategic ties 2,000-year-old financial record unearthed on Jerusalem's pilgrimage road Warring factions in Sudan agree to temporary ceasefire: US-Saudi mediators PM Modi, other G7 leaders pay tributes at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park On Saturday, PM Modi held a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. PM Modi participated in the session on "Working Together to Address Multiple Crises" where he presented suggestions for improving global food security. Speaking at a session," PM Modi said, "The priority should be given to the creation of an inclusive food system focused on the world's most vulnerable people, in particular marginal farmers," making it clear that India's focus remains on the developing countries of the so-called Global South when he speaks at key international forums. PM Modi stressed 10 point call to action at the G7 Summit comprising developing inclusive food systems that protect the most vulnerable, including marginal farmers; adopting Millets: path to nutritional and environmental benefits; stopping food wastage from strengthening food security; depoliticizing global fertilizer supply chains; developing an alternative model to fertilizers; developing resilient healthcare systems; promoting holistic healthcare, pursue traditional systems of medicine; promoting digital health to ensure global universal health coverage; ensuring mobility of healthcare professionals and building development models inspired by needs of developing countries, not driven by consumerism. The G7 Summit is an international forum held annually for the leaders of the G7 member states of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada (in order of rotating presidency), and the European Union (EU). Japan under its G7 Presidency has invited leaders from Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam. President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Republicans in the US House must move off their "extreme positions" on the now-stalled talks over raising America's debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default only on their terms. It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms," Biden said in Hiroshima, Japan, where he attended the Group of Seven summit. Biden said he had done his part in trying to raising the debt ceiling so the US government can keep paying its bills. Now it's time for the other side to move from their extreme position, he said. Biden and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., were expected to talk later Sunday, likely as Biden flew home on Air Force One after cutting short his trip in light of the strained negotiations. My guess is he's going to want to deal directly with me in making sure we're all on the same page," Biden said of McCarthy, adding that he believed a compromise remained possible. GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits. Also Read Debt limit talks start, stop as Republicans, WH face 'serious differences' Prez Biden, top lawmakers to discuss debt limit at White House May 9 US Prez Biden, Speaker McCarthy to discuss debt limit in talks on Wednesday Republicans request Intelligence 'damage assessment' of Biden documents My career of 280 years': Biden jokes off 2024 US prez poll age concerns Zelenskyy denies Ukrainian city of Bakhmut occupied by Russian forces PM Modi strongly calls for reform of United Nations and Security Council Zelenskyy seeks support from leaders of G7 countries on Ukraine conflict Pakistan receives 38% lower inflows in financing in 10 months: Report Quad issues principles for critical tech, clean energy in Indo-Pacific Republicans want work requirements on the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The GOP also introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states' ability to wave work requirements in places with high joblessness. That idea, when floated under President Donald Trump, was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits. GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts to IRS funding and asking the White House to accept provisions from their proposed immigration overhaul. The White House has countered by keeping defense and non defence spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and USD 1 trillion over 10 years. I think that we can reach an agreement, Biden said. Republicans had also rejected White House proposals to raise revenues in order to further lower deficits. Among the proposals the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs and the closing of a dozen tax loopholes. Republicans have refused to roll back the Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Biden's own budget has proposed. For months, Biden had refused to engage in talks over the debt limit, insisting that Congress was trying to use the borrowing limit vote as leverage to extract other policy priorities. But with the US Treasury Department saying that it could run out of cash as soon as June 1 and Republicans putting their own legislation on the table, the White House launched talks on a budget deal that could accompany an increase in the debt limit. The United Nations and the Security Council will remain just a "talk shop" if they do not reflect the realities of the present world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, strongly pitching for reform of the global body. In an address at a G7 session in Hiroshima, Modi wondered why different forums have had to deliberate on issues relating to peace and stability when the UN was formed to deal with these challenges. "It is a matter of analysis, why do we have to talk about peace and stability in different forums? Why is the UN, which was started with the idea of establishing peace, not successful in preventing conflicts today? Modi asked. "Why, even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN? If one introspects, one thing is clear. The institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the twenty-first century," he said. The prime minister said the UN now does not reflect the current realities of the world. "They do not reflect the realities of the present. That is why it is necessary that reforms should be implemented in big institutions like the UN," Modi said. "They will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will only keep talking about ending the conflicts. The UN and the Security Council will remain just a talk shop," he said. Also Read Your voice is India's voice: PM Modi at Voice of Global South summit India will give direction to world in 'Amrit Kaal': PM Modi in Rajya Sabha India committed to furthering sustainable development, says PM Modi PM holds meeting with top ministers to discuss strategy for Budget session Govt alone cannot be successful, people's participation needed: PM Modi Zelenskyy seeks support from leaders of G7 countries on Ukraine conflict Pakistan receives 38% lower inflows in financing in 10 months: Report Quad issues principles for critical tech, clean energy in Indo-Pacific El Nino on the horizon, could wipe out $3 trillion of world economy Polls open in Greece's first election since international controls ended New Delhi has been strongly pressing for reform of the UN. India has been eyeing a permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC). At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the UN. The five permanent members are Russia, the UK, China, France and the United States and these countries can veto any substantive resolution. There has been growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect the contemporary global reality. India, Brazil, South Africa, Germany and Japan are strong contenders for permanent membership of the UNSC which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Biden heaps praise on Modi During the Quad meeting, US President Joe Biden asked PM Modi for his autograph. Biden said hes been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the program of PM Modi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Japan to attend the annual summit of the G7 grouping, on Sunday paid floral tributes at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park built in memory of those who died in a nuclear attack on the city at the end of the second World War. Besides the Indian prime minister, other leaders attending the G7 Summit in Hiroshima also paid their respect at the park. Tweeting photos of Modi's visit to the museum at the memorial site, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "A tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims. PM Narendra Modi begins his day by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitor's book." He also tweeted a group photo of the world leaders attending the G7 Summit and said, "The leaders also paid their respect at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park." Modi is visiting Hiroshima from May 19 to 21 primarily for the annual summit of the G7 advanced economies in which he is expected to speak on challenges facing the globe, including food, fertiliser and energy security. He is expected to hold bilateral meetings with some of the world leaders attending the Summit. The G-7 bloc comprises Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy as well as the European Union. Also Read Fact check: Did Asle Toje call PM Modi biggest contender for Nobel Prize? US Prez Biden tours 1,400-year-old shrine in Hiroshima with G7 leaders LIVE: PM Modi pays floral tribute at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan PM Modi meets Ukranian President Zelenskyy in Hiroshima on G7 sidelines World frightened even today when it hears word Hiroshima: PM Modi LIVE: PM Modi pays floral tribute at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan Quad leaders express concern over humanitarian consequences of Ukraine war G7 calls majors economies to commit to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 G7 meet: Climate change, energy security biggest challenges, says PM Modi G7 summit: Ukraine President meets leaders, group sharpens China policy We're not looking to decouple from China. We're looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China," Biden told a press conference, adding that G7 nations were more unified than ever in terms of resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers." But the US president, speaking after a three-day meeting of G7 leaders, said he expected a thaw in frosty relations with China very shortly after strains caused by an incident earlier this year when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon that flew over sensitive military sites. "We should have an open hotline," Biden said. US President Joe Biden on Sunday said the Group of Seven nations had agreed to a united approach to China that called for diversifying supply chains to reduce dependence on one country, and hinted that he could speak with China's president soon. Operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing products from Micron Co, the agency said. Meanwhile, China's government told users of computer equipment to stop buying products from the biggest US memory chipmaker, Micron Technology Inc. Micron products have unspecified serious network security risks that pose hazards to China's information infrastructure and affect national security, the Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website. On the issue of tensions between China and Taiwan, Biden said there was a clear understanding among most of the allies that if China were to act unilaterally against Taiwan, there be a response. Biden said he had agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia last year to keep communications open, but everything changed after "this silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars worth of spying equipment." Biden suggested a shift in US-China relations could occur soon, echoing his comment to reporters before his departure. Also Read New Nokia C12 Plus debuts in India with Android 12 Go Edition, 2GB RAM Does China plus one strategy mean advantage India? Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review: Packs quite a punch in slender form factor China casts long shadow over US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington President Biden offers $450 mn for clean energy projects at coal mines US President Joe Biden talks 14th Amendment to override Congress on debt China tells manufacturers to stop using Micron chips, steps up feud with US G7 ends with Ukraine in focus as Prez Zelenskyy meets world leaders South Korean, German leaders agree to cooperate on supply chains, N. Korea It's time to reform the Security Council, says UN Secy-General Guterres Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island. We're not going to tell China what they can do, he said, "But in the meantime we're going to put Taiwan in a position where they can defend themselves. Biden reiterated that the United States and G7 allies would not trade in materials that would allow China to build weapons of mass destruction, but that was "not a hostile act." World leaders ratcheted up pressure on Sunday on Russia for its war against Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the centre of a swirl of diplomacy on the final day of the Group of Seven summit of rich-world democracies. Zelenskyy's in-person attendance at one of the world's premier diplomatic gatherings is meant to galvanise attention on his nation's 15-month fight against Russia. Even before he landed on Saturday on a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow and hamper its war-fighting abilities. Ukraine is the overwhelming focus of the summit, but the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, are also working to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. Two US allies South Korea and Japan continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave labourers, of the August 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Also Read Volodymyr Zelensky to visit Japan to attend G7 summit this weekend: Report Ukrainian President Zelensky meets Canadian FM on defence cooperation Zelenskyy arrives in Berlin day after Germany announces military package Ukraine is not attacking Russian territory, says President Zelenskyy Zelenskyy accuses Russia of 'crimes against humanity' in UN speech Quad meet: US, Australian leaders spoke to PM Modi about requests they got Debt limit standoff brings little action, world leaders watch for progress G7 Summit: PM Modi holds meeting with Brazil's President Lula da Silva G7 urges China to press Russia to end Ukraine war, respect Taiwan's status PM Modi, British counterpart Sunak review bilateral strategic ties Washington wants the two neighbours, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of US power in the region, to stand together on a host of issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for what's seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyy's visit to the G7 summit closely followed the United States agreeing to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, which lays the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today, Zelenskyy tweeted after his arrival. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. It is necessary to improve (Ukraine's) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots, Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. While India maintains close ties with the United States and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Summits like the G7 are a chance for leaders to put pressure on one another to align or redouble their diplomatic efforts, according to Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. Zelenskyy's presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they can't, he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticised the G7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor. As a matter of fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the world alignment will also be to suppress a competitor. Look at the decisions that are now being discussed and adopted in Hiroshima, at the G7 summit, and which are aimed at the double containment of Russia and China, he said. The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure. Russia's brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, the group said in a statement. Another major focus of the meetings was China, the world's No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons programme, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognising the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Xun Hou, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries' internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to ... focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology", the leaders' statement said. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. We've reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward, Sullivan said. Biden's decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organisations across 20 countries have been hit with US sanctions. Kishida has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to USD 600 billion in financing for the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. Sudan's warring factions have agreed to a new short-term ceasefire, US and Saudi mediators announced on Saturday, after several previous attempts to broker a truce that holds have failed. Meeting in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces signed off on a seven-day ceasefire that is due to take effect on Monday 9:45 pm local time in Sudan, the US and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement. The ceasefire could be extended if both sides agree. "Both parties have conveyed to the Saudi and US facilitators their commitment not to seek military advantage during the 48-hour notification period after signing the agreement and prior to the start of the ceasefire," it said. The talks in Jeddah had previously produced an agreement between the two sides on protecting civilians and easing the flow of humanitarian assistance to those affected by the conflict. But, earlier ceasefire deals have foundered amid accusations by both of violations. "It is well known that the parties have previously announced ceasefires that have not been observed," the US-Saudi statement said. "Unlike previous ceasefires, the Agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism." The Monitoring and Coordination Committee is to be made up of three representatives each from the US and Saudi Arabia and three representatives from each party. Also Read Saudi, Omani delegation hold peace talks in Yemen with Houthi leaders Baghdad mediated talks with Iran reported stalled over protests in Iran How the world backed two generals, and put Sudan on the path to war Stampede at Ramadan charity distribution in Yemen kills at least 80 Yemen's Houthis release 77 pro-govt detainees including patients & elderly PM Narendra Modi pays floral tributes at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park LIVE: PM Modi pays floral tribute at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan Quad leaders express concern over humanitarian consequences of Ukraine war G7 calls majors economies to commit to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 G7 meet: Climate change, energy security biggest challenges, says PM Modi All the allies and partners have achieved a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, adding that "Democracy needs more." Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy said, "Together with all of our allies and partners, we have achieved such a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected. There have been attempts to ignore and disregard what we value. But now it is impossible. Now our power is growing. Anyone who might want to wage aggression against a democratic country sees what the response will be." "And the more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russia's insane path. But is this enough? Democracy needs more. I think we need the clear global leadership of democracy. This is the main thing that we provide with our cooperation," he added. Ukrainian President arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UK PM Rishi Sunak, and Canadian leader Justin Trudeau. During his meeting with PM Modi, Zelenskyy invited him to join the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and also thanked him for supporting the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy said, "Had a meeting with Prime Minister of India @narendramodi in Japan. I briefed the interlocutor in detail on the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and invited India to join its implementation. I spoke about Ukraine's needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals. I thank India for supporting our country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organizations, and for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine." Also Read Zelenskyy says war with Russia ends with Ukraine's sovereignty restored 'Ukraine is alive and kicking', says Zelenskyy in address to US Congress Ukraine's economy fell 30.4% in 2022, largest annual drop in 30 years Signs of fighting in Ukraine after Russia says unilateral truce in force Killed 800 Russian soldiers in a day, claims Kyiv; France promises tanks Pakistan receives 38% lower inflows in financing in 10 months: Report Quad issues principles for critical tech, clean energy in Indo-Pacific El Nino on the horizon, could wipe out $3 trillion of world economy Polls open in Greece's first election since international controls ended 'Over my dead body': Musk tells investor on paying Twitter office rent Meanwhile, in the meeting, PM Modi assured that he will do whatever is possible to help in resolving the Ukraine conflict. "India and I will do whatever we can for resolving the conflict," said PM Modi. This is the first meeting between the two leaders since the Russia-Ukraine conflict that began last year on February 24. "For the past 1-1.5 years we have had telephonic conversations, but after Glasgow, we are meeting after a long time," said PM Modi. The Ukrainian President is attending the summit on an invitation by Japan, the current chair of the powerful grouping. Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho met with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming on Friday to discuss economic ties and other bilateral issues, his office said. During the meeting, Choo expressed hope that South Korea and China can continue economic cooperation based on mutual respect and interests, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The finance minister also requested China's support for the preparation of the bilateral economic ministerial meeting scheduled to be held this year in Seoul. The previous meeting was held virtually in August last year between Choo and his counterpart, He Lifeng. (Yonhap) A British-themed luxury resort reopened in Macao Thursday, with a grand opening featuring celebrities such as soccer star David Beckham. The Londoner Macao, formerly known as the Sands Cotai Central integrated resort, had undergone renovation since 2021. With nearly 6,000 rooms, the upgraded resort now comprises five hotels, including two award-winning flagships, The Londoner Hotel and Londoner Court May 26, 2023 06:44 PM Floor796 is an animated website that was developed entirely by one web programmer who maintains it in his free time. The website depicts, in incredible detail, life on a space station. The scene is on a 60-frame loop that repeats every five seconds. The characters, props, and sets are heavily inspired by pop culture from the 1980s through today, and its easy to get lost navigating the 32 rooms that make up the scene. That number, 32, is not fixed. In fact, the sites developer Pavel Sannikau is always working on new rooms for floor796. Sannikau is a 36-year-old web programmer living in Belarus with no education or training in illustration or animation. Hes just a die-hard fan. He started drawing brief animated clips in 2012 as a hobby. Before that, he briefly fooled around with game development in Adobe Flash but eventually switched to drawing animated gifs like those seen here. His interests and the pressures of the real world pushed Sannikau into software development, and for nearly five years he stopped drawing altogether until he had the idea for floor796. We recently reached out and asked Sannikau to talk us through developing the tools he uses to create the sites animation, what goes into creating on of the space stations rooms, and how he picks his subject matter. Pavel Sannikau, floor796 Creator: Inspiration I wanted to draw, and I wanted to program. I thought about creating a game, but now the world of game development is too complicated and there is a lot of competition, so I decided to do something completely new. Thats how the idea came up to create a project in which there will be a lot of small animations with a common style and meaning, with new pieces constantly being added. From the Ground Up Before this project, I worked with various graphic editors such as Adobe Flash, 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, etc. All of them are wonderful, but they are paid and dont last forever. By nature, I try to be less dependent on others. For example, in programming, I try to use less dependent libraries. Since I decided to make a project that will endure for years to come, I decided to write my own animation editor as its basis, which will specialize in exactly the style that this project needs: projection, color palette, tools, number of frames, transformations, etc. Thanks to the development of my editor, I can quickly draw in the desired style. In any other editor, I would have to do a lot of extra work to maintain such a projection and style. Creating the tool took me about one year. I did it as a pet project in my free time. But from time to time, I still make improvements on it depending on what I think I will need in the next block Im planning. For example, when I started drawing a block with a pool, I needed a tool to create a wave effect. Here is a link to a demo of the tool. For this project, I developed my own video format and my own format for storing drawn scenes. My video format is the best for this animation because it works with this color palette, frame rate, and other animation features. You can read more about how the video format is built in this article (although it is in Russian). Alas, this editor in its current form cannot be used for other purposes than drawing scenes in the floor796 project. However, if desired, the work can be modified and exported to any popular format (gif, webp, apng, mp4, etc.). The Process To start, this project has no forward planning. As a rule, in the process of drawing one scene Im thinking about what I will draw next. This is how this project continues, step by step. Most often, whatever comes to my mind will be drawn further. The entire animation is divided into equal-sized sections (rooms). I call them blocks. I expand the project each time I add another block to a different side of the overall scene. Thus, the floor of the space station gradually expands in all directions. I try to make each block with its own theme: a hospital, a kitchen, a park, a gym, and so on. Now Im drawing a block with a small power plant, and then I want to draw a double block with a police station. It takes an average of one month to draw each block. So far, Ive finished 32 blocks. As a rule, I start drawing a new block from a sketch. I plan what will be in it, what characters will appear, and where they will be positioned. Then I draw the walls, the floor, and the equipment. After that, I start drawing the characters in phases and work on how they interact inside the block. As soon as Im finished drawing a character or group of characters, I do an update of the main page. Thus, the project is updated every 2-4 days. The finished animation, which is shown on the main page, is built in the following way: Individual block elements are drawn: characters, walls, floor, etc. All of them are saved as separate scenes with their own layers. Currently, there are more than 6000 layers in the project. All elements of one block are combined into one scene, which in the end is a block. All layers of the block are merged together and the final set of frames of one block is rendered in PNG format. All rendered blocks are combined into one common scene which is what can be seen on the main page. This larger scene is cut into 508406 pieces, and each piece is packed into a special video format. In the browser, each fragment is separately loaded and rendered to the screen in a separate CPU thread. Picking A Subject When Im thinking about which characters to include has been difficult from the start. I had to synchronize various animations with each other. But after drawing maybe my first 50 characters, it became much easier and now I almost dont think about synchronization at all or how to loop the plot in 60 frames. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. U.S. President Joe Biden, left, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, and Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol pose ahead of their trilateral meeting during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima on May 21. AFP-Yonhap U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday invited the leaders of Japan and South Korea to formal three-way talks in Washington, a senior U.S. administration official said. The leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the G7 summit, to which host Japan invited South Korea as long-frosty ties between the neighbours thaw. Tokyo and Seoul, both key U.S. allies, have long been at odds over issues related to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea, including sexual slavery and forced labour. But South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have made active efforts to restore soured ties since Seoul announced a plan to compensate those affected by wartime forced labour without Tokyo's involvement. Biden praised the pair's "courageous work to improve their bilateral ties," the White House said in a statement. The three leaders also discussed "new coordination" over North Korea's "illicit nuclear and missile threats," the statement added. The official said the timing for the meeting would be worked out "soon," and there were no further details immediately available. Earlier, Yoon and Kishida made a historic visit Sunday to a memorial for Koreans killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It was the first time leaders of the two countries have jointly visited the memorial, and only the second time a Japanese prime minister has done so. "This will be remembered as a courageous action by Prime Minister Kishida that paves the way for a peaceful future while expressing grief for the Korean victims of the atomic bombing," Yoon said at a bilateral meeting after the visit. (AFP) Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for the first time in Hiroshima on Sunday, Yoon's office said. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, a day after Zelenskyy arrived in the city to rally international support for his country's fight against Russia's invasion. It also came only days after Yoon met with Zelenskyy's wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, in Seoul and pledged to provide active assistance to her country in close coordination with the international community. Korea has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine but rejected Kyiv's requests for lethal weapons. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close The Cherokee Nation is helping distribute $600 payments through the U.S. Department of Agricultures Farm and Food Workers Relief Program. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, shakes hands with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit on the sidelines of the 2023 G7 Hiroshima Summit, western Japan, Sunday. Joint Press Corps By Nam Hyun-woo HIROSHIMA, Japan Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday asked President Yoon Suk Yeol for South Korean companies' proactive participation in the Southeast Asian country's capital relocation project, during their summit on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. During their bilateral summit, Jokowi underscored that cooperation between South Korea and Indonesia has significance for his country, and asked for Seoul's proactive investments in Indonesia in the fields of agriculture, electric vehicles, ICT and small modular nuclear reactors, according to Seoul's presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon. Especially, Jokowi stressed that he expects South Korean companies possessing advanced technology and experience to participate in making Indonesia's future capital of Nusantara a purpose-built city. During last year's summit between Yoon and Jokowi in Seoul, the two sides agreed to work together on the relocation project. At the time, Yoon said, "South Korea's experience of constructing Sejong City will be a good reference for Indonesia," referring to the city of Sejong, located 144 kilometers south of Seoul, now an administrative capital of the country. During Sunday's summit, Yoon said he is pleased to see the two countries' cooperation expediting after Jokowi's visit to Seoul last year, and expressed his gratitude for the Indonesian president's attention to bilateral investments, infrastructure and defense cooperation between the two countries. "Yoon said the South Korean government prioritizes its cooperation with Indonesia, which is a key partner of future industry, and asked for President Jokowi's continued support of South Korean businesses there," Lee said. Meanwhile, President Joko Widodo expressed his strong support for the South Korean government's "Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI)," a plan for its cooperation with ASEAN. Yoon reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening cooperation with ASEAN for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. The summit was held as the leaders were celebrating the 50th anniversary of bilateral ties. Pixabay/JR As a compassionate response to the senseless massacre in a Texas shopping mall, the Suncreek United Methodist Church planned a gathering to offer spiritual solace to the traumatized community. The interfaith event, "Love Takes Action," will reportedly be conducted on Monday, May 22. Texas Mall Shooting The 33-year-old suspect in the neo-Nazi sympathizer attack jumped out of a silver automobile on Saturday afternoon, May 6, and began shooting people, cars, and glass shops in a rain of bullets from an AR-15-style weapon. AP News reported that the rifle was one of eight lawfully acquired firearms officials say he took to the mall. During the chaos that ensued as customers ran for cover and business, employees herded customers into the rear rooms and closed the metal gates to protect them. Witnesses claimed to have heard dozens of rounds fired. As mentioned, security guard Christian LaCour had just helped somebody get to safety and was attempting to escape others when he was brutally killed, Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said at a news conference on Tuesday, May 9. Investigators have stated that "countless lives" were spared because an Allen police officer in the area at the time of the shooting could kill the gunman within four minutes of the shooting's beginning. However, three members of a Korean American family, two young sisters, and an Indian engineer were among those who lost their lives in the attack. Moreover, NBC News reported that the shooter, a resident of Dallas, was armed with a handgun in addition to the tactical vest he was wearing. One of the officers noted that the investigation had led authorities to assume that the shooter acted alone, which included speaking with his acquaintances and family members. Additional firearms and ammo were also discovered in his vehicle. During the gunman's attack, he reportedly had a patch on his chest that read "rwds." According to one of the senior law enforcement sources, the authorities believe that the letters stand for "right-wing death squad," a word used in online areas associated with the far right. They also stated that the preliminary assessment of what is thought to be the shooter's social media accounts revealed hundreds of posts that included racially or ethnically driven violent extremist speech. These posts included material such as neo-Nazi literature and material supporting white supremacy. Also Read:Church Leaders Grieve Following Tragic Shooting That Killed 6-Year-Old Boy Interfaith Event The Gun Violence Archive tracked 199 gun violence incidents in the US since 2023, including the Allen shooting. By Monday, May 15, the website had compiled a list of 224 mass shootings that have taken place in the United States. As per the Baptist News, a mass shooting is an event in which four or more persons are killed. The Suncreek United Methodist Church held a prayer service on Sunday, May 7, in the evening to launch their interfaith initiative called "Love Takes Action." This event was arranged by the church's music director, Tyler Ferguson, to provide the wounded community of Allen an opportunity to gather together for spiritual solace in the aftermath of the massacre. In addition, Suncreek's senior pastor, Barry Hughes, announced at the opening of the service that the church had produced a QR code that would link people directly to a webpage on the church titled "Love Takes Action," which had been set up in response to the massacre that had taken place. On the page, an announcement is made about an interfaith gathering that will take place on Monday, May 22. Citizens of Allen are asked to attend the event, where they will begin dialogues about potential solutions to the outbreaks of gun violence and mass shootings in their neighborhoods and around the US. "We're trying to create a space, an ongoing conversation where people can be equipped to do whatever it is that they feel led to do. We feel that the time is now to mobilize people of goodwill to make clear to our elected leaders that we do not accept the violence of mass shootings as a normal part of our life," the pastor noted. Related Article:Park City Presbyterian Church in Texas Holds Prayer Service to Mourn a Victim of Nashville School Shooting Unsplash/Quino Al A "Pride Prom" event hosted by the LGBTQ advocacy group Grayson County Pride at the First United Methodist Church in Sherman, Texas, has drawn support and disapproval from the neighborhood. The event was moved from Pecan Grove Park to the church because of its reputation for inclusivity. Activities at "Pride Prom" included a drag show staged by Alex Gemini and open-mic karaoke. The event's suitability for families sparked a contentious issue despite being advertised as family-friendly, which resulted in widespread protests. Family-Friendly Drag Show at Texas Church Sparks Controversy and Protest In the article shared in Fox News, it is said that drag shows are NEVER for kids, according to a flyer distributed online by the conservative advocacy group "Protect Texas Kids," and the Catholic group "The New Columbia Movement" were among the loudest opponents. Protect Texas Kids organized protesters at the church and voiced concerns about "churches hosting these disgusting shows." They captured footage of attendees entering the venue, including children, drag queens, and an adult wearing a furry costume. At the demonstration, there were also counter-protesters in attendance. Some of them were decked out in pro-liberty and inclusivity symbols, such as a "gay Spiderman" waving a rainbow flag and a Gadsden flag bearing the message "Don't tread on me." The Sherman police stated that off-duty officers would be present at the event to ensure everyone's safety. The First United Methodist Church has not yet released a formal comment regarding the "Pride Prom" event and the protests it had ignited. Also Read: Faith Church Invites Children to 'Family Friendly' Drag Show Event Despite Restrictions of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick New Braunfels Drag Show Sparks Local Controversy Amid Larger Texas Debates Another recent show and topic of drag performances and their appropriateness for children came up at a family-friendly drag event in New Braunfels, Texas, which sparked a local debate. According to the article in KSAT, while some locals welcomed the event as a kid-friendly art display, detractors contended that it was dangerous for kids because of its perceived sexualization. Three drag queens performed in the concert, which was held in a nearby church as a benefit for at-risk adolescents. By demonstrating the inclusivity and harmlessness of drag culture, the church hoped to dispel preconceptions about it. However, these objectives were met with opposition outside the theater, with detractors raising questions about the suitability of drag performances for young audiences. This occurrence takes place in the midst of bigger legal discussions in Texas, where legislators have put up legislation to limit "sexually oriented performances." Security was tightened up for the event because of the issue and rising tensions. Prior to the performance, the performers had received numerous internet threats. Despite these obstacles, the pastor who was sponsoring the event emphasized the value of personal expression and condemned the maltreatment of the artists. In a published story here in Christianity Daily, two United Church of Christ congregations have come under attack from far-right organizations for supporting drag events. Threats forced the cancellation of a fundraiser at the Loomis Basin Congregational UCC in California, and a Molotov cocktail attack occurred at the Community Church of Chesterland in Ohio. The UCC General Minister offered his support to the congregations and promised to provide funds to ensure their safety. The churches are staunch in their support of LGBTQ+ rights despite frequent assaults and theft of pride flags. Law enforcement agencies are organizing increased security measures for planned events in reaction to the attacks. Related Article: Churches Under Attack: Ohio, California Congregations Targeted for Supporting Drag Show Unsplash/ Pieter van de Sande Friday saw the approval of L.B. 574, a sweeping bill by Nebraska's conservative lawmakers restricting both abortion and healthcare access for transgender youths. The was originally a two separate pieces of legislation, in which it was consolidated in the face of a persistent filibuster by Democrats as the legislative session drew to a close. The revised bill passed with a 33 to 15 vote and imposed less stringent restrictions than what the Republicans initially proposed. After failing to pass a six-week abortion limit, a subsequent proposal restricting abortions to 12 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, and medical emergencies, gained acceptance. Nebraska Legislators Curtail Abortion and Transgender Healthcare Access As reported by the New York Times, some of the Democrats have expressed outrage on what they believe is an impulsive and quick decision to move to restore abortion restrictions, while Republicans considered the plan a compromise. Following the vote, protesters gathered outside the chamber, chanting "Shame," according to Nebraska Public Media News. The original Nebraska bill aimed to prevent minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries. However, after extensive deliberation and negotiation reported by the Associated Press News, the Republicans eased their stance to gain the necessary support. The final bill prohibits surgeries for those under 19 and assigns the state's chief medical officer the task of determining criteria for the administration of puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The passed legislation is said to be effecting starting October 1 this year. Republican State Senator Ben Hansen, who suggested merging the abortion limit with the bill limiting transgender healthcare, viewed the process as a sign of efficient governance. He praised the capacity to listen to opposing views, exercise restraint, and adopt a compromise. However, Democrats in Nebraska's unicameral legislature, which leans heavily Republican, disagreed. They fear that the state's top medical officer, chosen by the Republican governor, could impose strict limitations on hormone and puberty blockers. Refuting the claim that the revised bill was a compromise, Democratic Senator John Fredrickson of Omaha said, "I don't see this as a compromise in any way, shape, or form," adding, "This has the potential to be a back door to a full ban." Also Read:Nebraska Conservatives Take Risk by Merging Abortion, Trans Health Bans in Legislation Nebraska Joins Trend of States Limiting Healthcare Access Nebraska's actions place it among states restricting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people. According to an Axios article, the American Civil Liberties Union have released a report that over 100 bills across the nation propose to limit this type of care. Sixteen states have enacted such legislation, although many are mired in legal disputes. Meanwhile, Nebraska's lawmakers adopted a ban on abortions after 12 weeks, a move closely mirroring the North Carolina legislature's recent decision to override the governor's veto on a similar law. Both restrictions have become markedly less severe following the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, with some states under GOP control implementing nearly total abortion bans. Related Article:Nebraska Conservatives Take Risk by Merging Abortion, Trans Health Bans in Legislation Pexels/Mikhail Nilov In an extraordinary turn of events, in a recently filed complaint, Bishop Michael Olson of the Fort Worth Diocese has been accused of acting in "pure evil" by a small order of nuns, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Arlington. In accordance with the lawsuit, Bishop Olson allegedly searched the monastery, questioned the nuns, and shut down the monastery after seizing computers and a phone. He is also charged with stopping priests from saying daily mass at the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity and preventing 50 to 60 parishioners from regularly attending. Bishop Accused of Unjust Actions by a Group of Nuns in Arlington The ongoing dispute, which commenced on April 24, has purportedly caused emotional trauma and psychological distress, as stated in an affidavit from Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes. According to the article shared in NBC DFW, the Reverend Mother "violated her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth," the Diocese of Fort Worth asserted in a counter-statement on its website. The Diocese's spokeswoman made no further remarks about the complaint. In the article shared in CBS News, in a statement sent on Thursday, the Diocese's legal team argued that the lawsuit ought to be dropped because it would force the civil court to address church doctrine and jurisdiction matters. Attorney Michael Bobo asserted on their behalf that the nuns are battling to reclaim their way of life and that they directly report to the Vatican rather than the regional bishop. Let them confess, he commanded. They are not harming anyone, so let them engage in their daily thoughtful prayer. After that, let the canonical process take its course. In 1958, the Carmelite Nuns were founded in Arlington on a wooded parcel of land. Except for medical attention, they stay put and spend their days working and praying on the grounds. According to the claim, Olson arrived at the monastery on April 24 with only 30 minutes notice, which was exceedingly rare, according to Bobo. According to the lawsuit, the bishop and three other people came and demanded that Mother Agnes hand up her phone, iPad, and computer. The lawsuit also asserts that after Mother Agnes underwent surgery, Bishop Olson insisted on questioning her despite being sedated and on painkillers. Bishop Olson apparently disapproved of the nuns' request for legal assistance and chose someone else to represent them instead. The sisters got a new phone after theirs was taken. According to reports, Bishop Olson replied in writing, saying that he was aware of the new phone and that it had been being used for texting. Also Read: Dutch Nuns Seeking Help to Sell 64,000 Bottles of Wine Investigation Launched into Potential Chastity Violation by Reverend Mother at Texas Monastery Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, O.C.D., of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Texas, was accused of possibly breaking the chastity rule by Bishop Michael Olson in April 2023. According to the statement released in Complicit Clergy, according to a report, she may have broken the sixth commandment, which is usually connected with adultery, with a priest who served outside the Fort Worth Diocese. On April 24, mass continued at the monastery as an ecclesiastical investigation got underway. Bishop Olson and the Diocese are the targets of a lawsuit brought by Mother Teresa Agnes. During this issue, parishioners are instructed to pray for the monastery. Related Article:Nuns Unite Communities in the Aftermath of Monastery Controversy with Bridge-Building Efforts Pixabay/Bjorn Eichenauer The Pastor of Global Glorious Church, Jerome Fernando, recently shared his thoughts about Buddhists and other religions. However, arguments became heated, which resulted in Buddhist organizations calling for the pastor's arrest. Seeking Arrest of Global Glorious Church's Pastor Over 17 million people live in Sri Lanka, and most of them adhere to the Buddhist faith. A report from UCA News stated that while Pastor Jerome Fernando was speaking to a congregation of members of his Born-Again Christian church at a gathering streamed live on social media, the pastor was accused of uttering disrespectful words about Lord Buddha. During his talk, Fernando asserted that all Buddhists are in desperate need of Jesus, claiming that Buddha was searching for light and, as a result, was searching for Jesus. He also pointed out that Muslims are not permitted to refer to Allah as their father, and he questioned the rationale behind the Hindu practice of adoration of animals. Some of Pastor Fernando's detractors claimed that the pastor had denigrated the beliefs of Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus. Moreover, the Buddhist monks demanded that the pastor issue a public apology to all the Buddhists in the country, guaranteeing that he would not make statements of this nature in the future. As per Asia News, Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo has entered into the debate to clarify that the evangelist in question is not a Catholic priest and has no connections to the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. On Tuesday, May 16, Card Ranjith pondered why the government " have not investigated those who contaminate the minds of people with false religious beliefs." On the other hand, complaints against Jerome Fernando were reportedly submitted to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) by the New Buddhist Front (Nawa Bikshu Peramuna) and the Pure Hela (Sinhala) Heritage (Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, PHU) party. Both parties demanded that Fernando be arrested without delay. Furthermore, the CID proceeded to the Fort Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, May 16, to get a foreign travel restriction for the pastor. However, before the ban was issued, he had already fled the island on Sunday, May 14. Despite this, Fernando announced to the people who follow him on Instagram that they should meet him at his church in Colombo the following Sunday, May 21. Also Read: Victor Ticay Arrested For Reporting During Holy Week in Nicaragua; Organizations Demand His Release Pastor Jerome Fernando's Alleged Money Laundering Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, a political group opposed to the government, has demanded that authorities look into allegations that Christian Pastor Jerome Fernando was involved in the laundering of illicit funds, Daily FT reported. According to Iranga Mendis, the party's Propaganda Secretary, the party has acquired credible information indicating that more than 3 billion rupees or over $36,000 were spent on constructing the Miracle Dome. "How did he get his hands on those funds?" Mendis questioned. It was brought to his attention that Fernando delivered his sermons in English, which is evidence of the origin of the money. Accordingly, Mendis also mentioned in his dispute that Fernando is scheduled to return to the island on Sunday, May 21. His supporters looked to cheer him on as he made disrespectful comments against other religions. He warned that the assembly of such people under Fernando's leadership could disrupt the country's religious and communal unity, which would inevitably lead to an uncomfortable scenario. Related Article: Skillet's John Cooper Criticizes Christian Left For Being 'Silent' Over Roe v. Wade Leaked Opinion Pixabay/JEROME CLARYSSE On Thursday night, a person thought to have mental health issues rammed a car through a Vatican gate, sped past Swiss Guards, and into the Apostolic Palace courtyard before being caught by police. After the car rushed the gate, Vatican gendarmes shot at the car's front tires, but it was still able to move forward. The incident took place after 8 o'clock at one of the main gateways to Vatican City in Rome, the Santa Anna gate. The driver, a 40-year-old guy who was in a "serious state of psychophysical alteration," was detained at a Vatican barracks after being apprehended by gendarmes in the Apostolic Palace's San Damaso Courtyard. Car Crashes Through Vatican Gate in Rare Security Breach According to the article in ABC 13, it was unclear right away if Pope Francis was close to the incident. The Pope would typically have dinner and get ready for bed at the Santa Marta hotel, where he resides, around that hour. The main gate barring entrance to the square in front of the Pope's hotel was quickly closed when the gendarmes raised the alarm. Swiss Guards and gendarmes on duty at several checkpoints defend the Apostolic Palace, which includes the papal apartments, reception areas, the Vatican archives, and offices, around the clock. The Vatican City State, which is often off-limits to the general public, especially at night, was only sometimes violated by this incident. An individual with evident psychiatric concerns has made a commotion at the Vatican before. Pope Benedict XVI remained unhurt, although a cardinal in the procession suffered a broken hip as a result of the commotion after a lady scaled the St. Peter's Basilica fence and attempted to assault the pontiff during the 2009 Christmas Eve Mass. Simone Baldovino, a guy with a history of drug use, has been named as the individual who violated security at the Vatican on Thursday evening by the Italian news agency ANSA. According to the article shared in Catholic Register, before being caught by Vatican police, Baldovino was able to outrun Swiss Guards and enter the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. This security lapse is not a one-off occurrence. While people were gathered for the Pope's Sunday Angelus in June 2022, Italian military police had to shoot out the tires of a car that was rushing toward St. Peter's Square. The Swiss Guard at the time shuttered the Vatican's entrances as a precaution, although they ruled out terrorism as the cause. Also Read:Caritas Internationalis of Vatican Appoints New Leadership Following Papal Dismissals Security Measures at the Vatican City State According to another source, The Guardian shared that Simone Baldovino's Thursday security breach at the Vatican was an extraordinary event because much of the Vatican City State, an independent city-state located inside Rome, is off-limits to the general public, especially after dark. During regular business hours, visitors are welcome to visit St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums. Additionally, visitors to the Vatican pharmacy must have a valid prescription from a physician. However, a specific permit is needed to enter certain structures within the enclave. One such structure is the Apostolic Palace, which includes a number of offices, the Vatican archives, important reception rooms, and papal apartments. The Swiss Guards and Vatican gendarmes, who are posted at several checkpoints across the property, are always watching over this palace. The event with Baldovino is an exceptional breach of the Vatican's generally protected setting because of the rigorous security Related Article:Vatican Investigates Potential Miracle at Connecticut Church Pixabay/ Gerd Altmann A post from Keller's Twitter account has announced that renowned Christian author and pastor Tim Keller passed away at 72 on Friday morning, May 19, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Keller's son, Michael, shared that his father's final moments were spent peacefully with his beloved wife as he took his last breath. The Passing of Tim Keller KCRA reported that Keller, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2020, received chemotherapy treatments while continuing his ministry and literary work. Despite the challenges he faced, Keller remained a source of inspiration for many, and his unwavering faith touched the lives of countless individuals. The news of Keller's passing has brought sorrow to the Christian community worldwide. Redeemer City to City, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Keller, expressed their condolences in a statement on Twitter. They honored Keller's significant contributions, highlighting his role as the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, his authorship of several influential books, and his dedication to sharing the message of Christianity. As mentioned, a live stream worship service will be held in the coming weeks to commemorate Keller's life and legacy, allowing his followers and admirers to honor his memory. Moreover, former President George W. Bush, who had the privilege of knowing Keller personally, expressed his condolences. Bush recognized Keller as a leading Christian thinker and preacher, emphasizing his significant contributions to the church building, remarkable literary achievements, and profound philosophical insights. The former President and his wife, Laura, sympathized with Kathy Keller and their children during this difficult time. Furthermore, the passing of Tim Keller has undoubtedly left a void in the Christian community. Still, his legacy as a prominent Christian author and minister will continue to inspire and guide believers worldwide. His teachings, marked by wisdom and profound understanding, have influenced countless lives, leaving an indelible impact on the hearts and minds of those who have had the privilege of learning from him. Keller's contributions to Christianity will be remembered and cherished for generations. Also Read:Tim Keller Discusses Impact of Cancer Diagnosis on Prayer Life Keller Under Hospice Care Keller has entered hospice care at his home as he bravely faces his battle with pancreatic cancer. The news of Keller's transition to hospice care was first reported in an article on Fox News and has since garnered attention and support from the Christian community. In a heartfelt tweet from Keller's account, his son Michael shared the family's gratitude for the prayers and support they have received. The tweet also included Keller's poignant words expressing his eagerness to meet Jesus and be embraced by eternal peace. Keller's unwavering faith and hope have inspired many, even as he confronts the final stages of his illness. In addition, the Christian Headlines reported that the decision to move Keller into hospice care signifies a shift in focus toward ensuring his comfort and quality of life during this challenging time. Hospice care, known for its compassionate approach to end-of-life care, aims to provide emotional and physical support to patients and their families. Tim Keller has demonstrated unwavering faith, resilience, and trust in God's plan. His journey serves as a testament to the enduring power of belief and the transformative influence one individual can have on the lives of others. Related Article: Tim Keller Battling Side Effects Of Cancer, Family Asks For Prayers Pixabay/Walkerssk The Vatican has withdrawn a newly issued postage stamp honoring the upcoming World Youth Day in Portugal in 2023. This action was done in response to objections regarding the stamp's controversial depiction of a monument from the middle of the 20th century, which is seen by some in Portugal as a sensitive matter. The Vatican Philatelic Service first released the stamp on May 16. It featured Pope Francis leading a group of kids up the Monument to Discoveries. This monument was built in Lisbon in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the passing of illustrious Portuguese explorer Henry the Navigator. Vatican Recalls Controversial Stamp Celebrating World Youth Day 2023 According to the article in Catholic News Agency, however, Pope Francis stands in for Henry the Navigator at the ship's prow in the stamp's design. The goal was to exemplify "a ship that guides young people and the Church towards the future." The Governorate of the Vatican City State withdrew this imagery as a result of the unfavorable reactions it elicited. The design, according to detractors, uncomfortably resembled propaganda used by the Salazar dictatorship, under whose rule the monument was constructed. According to the Associated Press, the regime's goals during that time were to support Portugal's colonial ambitions in Africa and promote nationalist sentiment., The Vatican has come under fire over a World Youth Day stamp, with some claiming it references "a colonial past" in contrast to Pope Francis' message of international fraternity. The stamp was deemed "in bad taste" by Portuguese Bishop Carlos Moreira Azevedo. A representative for World Youth Day defended the stamp by highlighting the need to concentrate on fundamental goals and dismissing social media issues as commonplace. The stamp, which costs about 3.10 euros, helps the Vatican make money, a large portion of which comes from its numismatic and philatelic office. According to the National Catholic Register, the Pope is expected to attend the international Catholic event World Youth Day in 2023, which the Vatican is planning to commemorate with a new stamp. The event, which was originally slated for 2022, will now take place in Lisbon from August 16, 2023, after being postponed for a full year because of COVID-19. Also Read:Caritas Internationalis of Vatican Appoints New Leadership Following Papal Dismissals WYD Lisbon Foundation Defends Vatican's Withdrawn Stamp Amid Criticisms The WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation has defended the artwork in the midst of controversy regarding a postage stamp that the Vatican recently revoked. The representative for the organization, Rosa Pedroso Lima, has provided her opinions on how Pope Francis is portrayed on the divisive stamp. As per the report in Aleteia, the stamp, according to Lima's statement, has "an image of the Pope on a Lisbon monument, symbolizing, in a kind of allegory, St. Peter's boat and the Pope leading young people and the Church into a new era." She stressed that there are many different ways to interpret any piece of art, even stamps. She stated that the goal of this reading is to promote World Youth Day and the Vatican is doing this. Lima pointed out in her speech that any interpretations that depart from the clear objectives of the Vatican are unjustified. She said that Pope Francis is committed to fostering respect, removing obstacles, extending boundaries, and fostering communication between many groups of people, cultures, and religions. The core of the Pope's message, she emphasized, is his commitment to inclusivity. Lima stressed that this dedication to harmony and inclusiveness would be clearly visible throughout the World Youth Day celebrations. Related Article:Vatican Investigates Potential Miracle at Connecticut Church The American belief has long been that each generation will have a better lifeeconomically, technologically, socially, personallythan the previous one. But this idea of linear historical progress did not exist in most other cultures. All ancient culturesChinese, Babylonian, Hindu, Greek, and Romanhad different views. Some saw history as cyclical, and others saw history as a slow decline from past golden ages. The idea that history was moving in the direction of continual progress and improvement in the human condition simply did not exist. Then, however, came Christianity. As Robert Nisbet writes in his book History of the Idea of Progress, Christian thinkers gave to the idea of progress a large and devoted following in the West and a sheer power that the idea could not have otherwise [in the absence of Christian beliefs] acquired. The Greeks thought that the accumulation of human knowledge led to a mild, temporary improvement in the human conditionbut only between conflagrations. But Christian philosophers endowed the idea of progress with new attributes which were bound to give it a spiritual force unknown to their pagan predecessors. Christianity, then, offers unparalleled resources for cultural hope. (We are not for the moment talking about individual hopehope for life after death. We are talking about corporate hope, social hope, hope for the future of society, of the human racehope for a good direction to history.) Looking at the arc of history through the lens of Christs resurrection, we can make four broad statements about the nature of Christian hope: It is uniquely reasonable, full, realistic, and effective. Christian hope is reasonable First, there is formidable historical evidence that the resurrection of Christ actually happened. This makes Christian hope different from any other variety. N. T. Wright explains that the resurrection of Christ presents evidence that demands explanation from historians and scientists. It cant simply be dismissed. He writes, Insofar as I understand scientific method, when something turns up that doesnt fit the paradigm youre working with, one option is to change the paradigm. We are not to exclude the evidence just because our old paradigm cant account for it, but we are to include it within a new paradigm, a larger whole. A failure to provide a historically plausible alternative explanation for the eyewitness accounts and the revolutionary, overnight worldview change of thousands of Jews is not being more scientificit is being less so. Article continues below Various kinds of Western progressivism believe history is moving toward more individual freedom or class equality or economic prosperity or technologically acquired peace and justice. But these views are not hypotheses that anyone can test. They are hope so hopesbeliefs that are not rooted in the empirical realm. The resurrection of Christ, however, includes powerful evidence from the empirical realm and, while still requiring faith, provides a highly reasonable, rational hope that there is a God who is going to renew the world. Christian hope is full Every religion has offered people a hope for a life after death. Our secular culture, in radical contrast, is the first in history to tell its members that both individuals and world history will end in ultimate oblivion. In the end, we go to nothing, both as a civilization and as persons. Other religions are ultimately spirit-ist in the sense that they believe matter is unimportant and in the end all that will exist is spirit. Secularism, of course, is materialist in its belief that there is no soul or supernatural reality, that everything has a scientific, physical cause. Christianity differs from both. It does not merely offer the prospect of a wholly spiritual future in heaven. The resurrection of Jesus, to cite the Greek New Testament, is arrabon, a down payment, and aparche, the firstfruits of a future physical resurrection in which the material world will be renewed. It will be a world where justice dwells, every tear will be wiped away, death and destruction are banished forever, and the wolf will lie down with the lamb; these are lyrical, poetic ways of saying that this world will be mended, made new, liberated from its bondage to death and decay (Rom. 8:1823). This is the fullest possible hope. The resurrection of Christ promises us not merely some future consolation for the life we lost but the restoration of the life we lost and infinitely more. It promises the world and life that we have always longed for but never had. Christian hope is realistic The philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel has long been highly influential for Western thought. Hegel taught that history was proceeding through a dialectic in which, in each age, conflicting forces reached a new, greater synthesis. This meant that every age was better than the one before and history was moving upward in a series of unbroken steps. That, as we have seen over the last century, is simply unrealistic. Christianity offers an infinitely greater and more wonderful destiny for human history and society, but it does so realistically. Article continues below If we look to the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus, we see a very different divine model. His life was not in any way a series of upward steps. He emptied himself of his glory and came and died, yet this descent led to an ascent to even greater heights, because now he rules not only the world in general but also a saved people. It was only through his suffering and descent that he was able to save us and ascend. This is not the Hegelian merger of equal and opposite forces. Jesus did not synthesize holiness with sin or life with death. He defeated sin and death through death. But neither are Jesus life and ministry the random sequence ruptures described by the postmodernists. Jesus goes through darkness to eventually bring us to greater light. History is moving toward a wonderful destiny, but not in a series of successively better and better eras, going from strength to strength. That is not how God works. The secular idea of progress is naive and unrealistic. It is wrong to base a society on the assumption that every generation will experience more prosperity, peace, and justice than the one before. But the postmodern alternative robs us of any hope. Christianity, however, gives us a noncynical but realistic way to see history. Christian hope is effective Finally, Christian hope works at the life level, the practical level. The New Testament uses the word hope in two ways. When it comes to hoping in human beings and ourselves, our hope is always relative, uncertain. If you lend to someone, you do so in the hope that person will pay you back (Luke 6:34); if we plow and thresh, we do so in the hope that there will be a harvest (1 Cor. 9:10). We choose the best methods and wisest practices to secure the outcome we want. We insist to ourselves and others that we have it sorted and under control. But we do notwe never do. This is relative, hope so hope. But when the object of hope is not any human agent but God, then hope means confidence, certainty, and full assurance (Heb. 11:1). To have hope in God is not to have an uncertain, anxious wish that he will affirm your plan but to recognize that he and he alone is trustworthy, that everything else will let you down (Ps. 42:5, 11; 62:10), and that his plan is infinitely wise and good. If I believe in the resurrection of Jesus, that confirms that there is a God who is both good and powerful, who brings light out of darkness, and who is patiently working out a plan for his glory, our good, and the good of the world (Eph. 1:912; Rom. 8:28). Christian hope means that I stop betting my life and happiness on human agency and rest in him. Article continues below A person who gets a diagnosis of cancer will rightly put relative hope in doctors and medical treatment. But the main source of dependence must be upon God. We can have certainty that his plan and will for us is always good and perfect and that the inevitable destiny is resurrection. If a cancer patients main hope lies in medicine, then an unfavorable report will be devastating. But if that hope is in the Lord, it will be like a mountain that cannot be shaken or moved (Ps. 125:1). Isaiah 40:31 says that those who hope in the Lord are not anxiously holding on but always renewing their strength and even soaring. Hope in God leads to running and not growing weary and walking and not being faint. Jesus has secured this for us by his death and resurrection. When this assurance abides in us, our immediate fateshow the current situation turns outcan no longer trouble us. Hope comes from looking at him. Timothy Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. This article is adapted from HOPE IN TIMES OF FEAR, by Timothy Keller, published by Viking, an imprint of the Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright 2021 by Timothy Keller. [ This article is also available in Francais and . ] 99% of Evangelicals believe in healing power of spiritual disciplines: report Ninety-nine percent of Evangelical Protestants believe that engaging in spiritual disciplines such as prayer, reading the Bible and having a strong Christian faith positively impacts their mental and physical health, according to a recent report by Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts. The report, titled "Faith and Wellness: Evangelical Insights on Healing and Physicians," reveals that only 1% of Evangelicals do not share this belief in the potential improvement of mental and physical health through spiritual practices and stronger faith. The report also found that 96% believe a strong Christian faith contributes to positive physical health; the same proportion said the same about reading the Bible. For prayer, 98% affirm this belief. In an interview with The Christian Post, Ron Sellers, founder and president of Grey Matter Research and a contributor to the report, expressed surprise at the high percentage, stating that achieving such a level of agreement among any group is uncommon. Sellers, a Christian himself, attributes the widespread belief to teachings from various sources, including churches, Bible studies, parents, Christian television and ministries. "To see such a nearly unanimous belief on this was really surprising, Sellers said, noting that his own Christian faith compels him to agree with the 99% in the report. Sellers emphasized that the findings should not be misconstrued to suggest that 99% of Protestant Evangelicals deny the existence of mental or physical illnesses. Rather, the belief centers around the idea that spiritual disciplines can alleviate symptoms associated with these struggles. Sellers clarified that this belief also does not imply that all individuals in the 99% expect miraculous cures for mental or physical ailments. The focus of the report, he said, was on positive mental and physical health and the potential benefits of prayer, Bible reading and strong faith, rather than claiming these practices can cure specific diseases or eradicate suicidal ideation. The research is not saying that anyone believes that prayer is the cure to suicidal tendencies or, 'If you pray, you'll never have suicidal tendencies,' or anything like that. That's not at all what people are talking about when they answered the question," he said. Sellers cautioned against misinterpreting the report by placing blame on individuals for their mental or physical health struggles within the Church. He also discouraged attributing these struggles solely to insufficient prayer, Bible reading or weak faith. There are people out there who twist what the Bible has to say, or what [ministry leaders] have had to say over the years for their own purposes. There are undoubtedly going to be people who will twist something like this to do their own purposes, Sellers said. Despite the high percentage of Evangelicals finding agreement on this topic, Sellers noted that the findings do not mean that all of those who agree are actively practicing spiritual disciplines themselves. The report also found that among the 99% of Evangelicals who said a strong Christian faith can benefit them mentally and physically, 59% reported having moderate or low engagement in spiritual practices. Sellers stressed that the report shows that merely acknowledging the potential benefits does not ensure that individuals are actually engaging in these practices to experience the positive effects, he said. He compared this phenomenon to other areas of life where people know certain behaviors are beneficial or harmful but fail to follow through. For example, many individuals continue smoking despite knowing its detrimental effects, and a significant percentage of Americans are considered clinically obese despite the knowledge of its impact on health. For the people who strongly believe, for instance, that reading the Bible can have a positive impact on their physical and mental health, six out of 10 aren't reading it every day, he said. So here's just another case of things that we know to be good for us and we're not doing. And that's not even yet approaching the topic of what impact the Bible, prayer and strong Christian faith may have on our spiritual health. But, we're not doing these things as we should be. The report's collaborative contributor, Mark Dreistadt, president and CEO of Infinity Concepts, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the need for greater alignment between belief and action within the Evangelical community. "I think Evangelicals, mentally, consciously, recognize the value of prayer and the importance of faith in our overall search for wellness. Secondly, there is somewhat of a disconnect between what people believe and what they live out. And I think that's probably true in almost every aspect of life. What we believe in and what we do there's not always 100% alignment," Dreistadt said. Dreistadt expressed a desire to see more research conducted on the correlation between faith and medicine, highlighting the complementary nature of these areas. He observed a lack of adequate research on how Christianity and health intersect and advocated for building a bridge between the fields of wellness, medicine and faith. "If you're in the field of wellness and medicine, you often don't talk about faith. And people who are in the world of faith and spiritual life tend not to talk about medicine," he said. "I think there's a bridge there that needs to be built. And I think research and having good solid information about the relationship between the two will help build that bridge." Dreistadt said he hopes that the report would inspire individuals to engage in frequent prayer, noting biblical encouragement to pray for one another and the promises of divine response and healing. He acknowledged that while healing may not occur in every instance, there are significant testimonies that support the fulfillment of scriptural promises within the walk of faith. "There's significant anecdotal information that underscores the fact that when people pray, oftentimes, God will respond and that healing will take place. But, that doesn't mean that every time we pray, everyone will be healed. That's one of the great mysteries of faith," Dreistadt said. "But, I do believe there are significant testimonies and stories and anecdotes that illustrate that the scriptural admonition and scriptural promise is indeed being fulfilled in our walk with God." Submarine steams in the sea China Military Online) 13:16, May 21, 2023 Two towboats attached to a naval submarine flotilla under the PLA Northern Theater Command are about to tow a submarine to bear off a port during a training exercise on May 6, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Shi Jialong) A submarine attached to a naval submarine flotilla under the PLA Northern Theater Command steams in the sea during a training exercise on May 6, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Shi Jialong) (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacts during a meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21. AP-Yonhap Korea's land minister left for Poland on Sunday to explore ways for Seoul to take part in Ukraine's post-war reconstruction projects, his office said. During a three-day stay, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong will meet with senior officials of Poland and Ukraine and discuss Korea's envisioned participation in projects to rebuild Ukraine after its war with Russia, according to the ministry. The minister is scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine's infrastructure ministry, which calls for Korea's sharing of know-how and development platforms regarding a smart city, IT-based traffic network and advanced industry complexes. Ukrainian officials have voiced expectations for Korean companies' major role in various recovery projects, such as building two new nuclear reactors, and infrastructure for hydrogen and electric power generation. Those envisioned reconstruction projects are forecast to cost around $900 billion. Gunmen open fire on churchgoers in series of attacks in Sudan In a series of attacks on places of worship in Sudan, gunmen opened fire on churchgoers before looting a Coptic church and ousting all clergy from another church last weekend, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported. Six assailants arrived by car and opened fire on four churchgoers, including Priest Arsenius and his son, at Al-Masalma Coptic Church in Omdurman last Saturday, CSW said in a statement, adding that the churchs guard was stabbed during the two-hour looting spree. The wounded victims, however, have reportedly recuperated following treatment at a private medical facility. Access to the areas largest hospital remained blocked due to its current occupation by the Rapid Support Forces (formerly known as the Janjaweed militia). In a separate incident, the RSF ousted all clergy from Marys Coptic Orthodox Church, including Bishop Elia of Khartoum and South Sudan, last Sunday. This forceful eviction was reportedly to convert the church premises into a military base, CSW said, adding that the RSF had allegedly subjected the church to a week-long intimidation campaign before enforcing the eviction. Earlier, on May 3, a similar incident occurred at the Coptic Church in Khartoum North. Meanwhile, mosques have not been spared the surging violence, with the Al Zareeba mosque in El Geneina, West Darfur, suffering a bombing on Sunday. The area, witnessing particularly severe fighting, has seen 280 fatalities and over 160 injuries between May 12-13, according to the Preliminary Committee of the Sudan Doctors Trade Union. Reports also note bombings at mosques in Alazhari and Burri Al Daraisa in Khartoum, leading to a fatality in the latter. Rival sections of Sudans military government the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been involved in an armed conflict since April 15, leading to skirmishes in several cities. The strife around the capital, Khartoum, and the volatile Darfur region has been most intense. As the hostilities persist, the casualty count has been alarming. The conflict has claimed the lives of up to 1,000 individuals and caused injuries to thousands of others. About 200,000 people have fled Sudan, and another 700,000 have been internally displaced by the conflict, according to The Guardian. In response to the escalating crisis, the United Nations Human Rights Council expanded the mandate of the designated Expert of the High Commissioner on human rights in Sudan last week. The enhanced directive includes a comprehensive assessment and documentation of all purported human rights violations since the military coup of Oct. 25, 2021. On the same day, SAF and RSF representatives pledged to protect Sudanese civilians, signing a Declaration of Commitment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The agreement includes provisions for the secure delivery of humanitarian aid, restoring essential services, evacuating military forces from hospitals and ensuring respectful burials for the deceased. CSWs Founding President Mervyn Thomas strongly denounced the attacks on religious sites, stating, The intentional attacks on clergy, the bombing of houses of worship, and seizures of religious buildings for use as military bases violate international human rights and humanitarian law, and are among a litany of violations which may amount to war crimes. Thomas commended the signing of the Jeddah commitment but insisted that its adherence was critical. He called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and stressed that achieving a peaceful democratic transition was the only effective political solution for Sudan. This, he added, could be accomplished through the promotion and protection of human rights, along with the meaningful involvement of civil society in transition negotiations. Indias Christians fear rise in violence by Hindu extremists as BJP wins 4 states Christians in India fear that persecution of their communities will intensify after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party won elections in four states, which will be seen as an overwhelming endorsement of the partys anti-minority stance. As per the results announced this week for elections in five states, the BJP retained power in four states, including the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the northern state of Uttarakhand, the southwestern state of Goa and the northeastern state of Manipur. In northern Punjab state, the BJP lost the election. Uttar Pradesh state witnessed at least 102 incidents of violence against Christians in 2021, according to a report by the United Christian Forum. Days before the announcement of the results, Hindu nationalists had warned some Christians that the community in the state might face extermination, The Telegraph reported. A Hindu leader has already threatened us that they are waiting for the election results and after that they will exterminate Christians from Uttar Pradesh, a local Christian, Emmanuel Singh, from the states Jodhikapur village, was quoted as saying. Nandu Nathanael Singh, Singhs father and a Christian minister, was attacked recently. As he was reading a chapter from the Bible at a prayer meeting with 25 other Christians, he heard chants of Bring the traitor out. A mob of Hindu nationalists, accompanied by the police, had gathered outside his home, accusing them of forced conversions of Hindus. The mob also chanted, Free India of Christian priests. Within hours, Nathanael Singh and his wife, Savita, were arrested and falsely charged with unlawful conversion, criminal intimidation and intentionally insulting religion. They were released five months later. Ten states in India, including Uttar Pradesh, have passed anti-conversion laws, which presume that Christians force or give financial benefits to Hindus to convert them to Christianity. While some of these laws have been in place for decades in some states, no Christian has been convicted of forcibly converting anyone to Christianity. These laws, however, allow Hindu nationalist groups to make false charges against Christians and launch attacks on them under the pretext of the alleged forced conversion. The law states that no one is allowed to use the threat of divine displeasure, meaning Christians cannot talk about Heaven or Hell, as that would be seen as forcing someone to convert. And if snacks or meals are served to Hindus after an evangelistic meeting, that could be seen as an inducement. The return of the BJP to power means more trouble for us," Emmanuel Singh was quoted as saying, about Uttar Pradesh. "With the BJP in power, the attacks on Christians will increase in the next five years. We are worried because they hate our faith, our religion. The BJP government doesnt tolerate any other faith except Hindu. Open Doors USA, which monitors Christian persecution in over 60 countries, has also reported that persecution against Christians and other religious minorities has increased since the BJP took power at the federal level in 2014. For Indias Christians, 2021 was the most violent year in the countrys history, according to the report by the UCF, which recorded at least 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution in the year. The UCF attributed the high incidence of Christian persecution to impunity, due to which such mobs criminally threaten, physically assault people in prayer, before handing them over to the police on allegations of forcible conversions. Police registered formal complaints in only 34 of the 486 cases, according to the UCF. Often communal sloganeering is witnessed outside police stations, where the police stand as mute spectators, the UCF report states. Hindu extremists believe that all Indians should be Hindus and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam, an Open Doors fact sheet explains. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background. Christians are accused of following a foreign faith and blamed for bad luck in their communities. Christians make up only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%. Indias Manipur remains tense weeks after 400 churches were burned, 60 Christians killed View Photos The northeastern Indian state of Manipur remains in a tense state of unease weeks after a devastating spate of violence led to the deaths of at least 73 individuals, most of them Christians, and the burning, damage or destruction of nearly 400 churches. Kuldeep Singh, a security advisor to the Manipur Government, told reporters Saturday that 488 weapons and about 6,800 rounds of ammunition looted amid the strife had been retrieved, Ukhrul Times reported. The Assam Rifles additionally recovered 22 pounds (10 kg) of explosives and 2,000 BIPL detonators. The largely Christian tribals belonging to the Kuki-Zo communities, who reside on the hills of Churachandpur district, say two groups of the predominantly Hindu Meitei community Arambai Tengoll, also known as black-shirts, and Meitei Leepun were behind the violence. Meiteis are primarily settled in the Imphal Valley. The violence, which began on May 3, primarily engulfed the Imphal Valley and Churachandpur, causing at least four days of turmoil. The region remains fraught with tension as authorities fear possible reprisal attacks due to the significant accumulation of weapons within both involved communities. The Indian Express earlier reported that over 1,000 weapons and 10,000 rounds of ammunition were stolen from the Manipur Police Training College, two local police stations, and an IRB battalion camp in Imphal by members of the Meitei ethnic group. The report also noted, without stating specific figures, that police stations in Churachandpur were attacked and looted by the Kuki community. During this period of hostility, the escalating violence has not only claimed a minimum of 73 lives, out of which about 64 were Christian tribals, but also left 200 people injured. More than 1,700 residences suffered damage, complete destruction or saw their homes set ablaze. The turmoil has forced about 50,000 individuals to abandon their homes, of whom roughly 35,000 belong to Christian tribal communities. The houses of Meiteis in the Christian tribal-majority Churachandpur have also been damaged or destroyed. A local source informed The Christian Post that the violence and ensuing tensions have caused a complete exodus of tribal residents from the Imphal Valley. Similarly, all Meiteis previously residing or working in Churachandpur, including government and police officials, have fled the area. According to the source, Christian organizations in the area have recorded the burning, damage, or destruction of 397 churches and six Christian institutions amid the wave of violence. Significantly, these churches primarily served as places of worship for Meitei Christians. It is alleged that these structures were primarily targeted and destroyed by Meitei Hindus. Archbishop Dominic Lumon of Imphal, whose jurisdiction covers the entirety of Manipur, has launched an appeal for funds to assist those impacted by the violence. He warns of a general sense of hopelessness and desperation throughout the region, acknowledging that all communities, regardless of their affiliation, are affected by the ongoing strife. Fr. Varghese Velikakam, Vicar General of the Diocese of Imphal, criticized local police for their failure to prevent the attacks and questioned the lack of guards after attempted assaults. Videos of the violence show police looking on or participating in the violence on tribal people. Despite the apparent targeted nature of these attacks, Fr. Varghese advised the Church to act cautiously, maintain neutrality and promote peace and unity. Northeast India has had long-standing ethnic tensions. In Manipur, the Meiteis and the tribal communities have long been at odds over issues such as land ownership and affirmative action policies. After winning the 2017 state election, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, reclassified the majority of tribal settlements as reserved forests, effectively treating them as illegal immigrants. This move, along with the Meiteis ongoing quest for recognition as a tribal group, has significantly exacerbated tensions between the two groups. Manipurs highest courts recent instruction to the government last month to consider the Meiteis demand for legal recognition as a tribal group has further stirred anxiety among the tribal communities. The recent outbreak of violence was triggered when a tribal student group protested against this demand. The Hindu Meiteis and Christian tribals each constitute approximately 42% of the states population. Despite this balance, the Meiteis have historically held dominance in the states political and economic spheres. Critics also point to Chief Minister Singhs past orders to demolish churches in Imphal, under the allegation of illegal construction on government-owned land, as a significant strain on inter-community relations. The widespread violence and targeted attacks against the Christian community have raised concerns about the potential escalation of religious conflict in the region. As these communities grapple with the aftermath, Manipur remains under a dark cloud of uncertainty, its future dictated by both the governments ability to quell tensions and the communities willingness to engage in peace-building efforts. Pope Francis adds 21 Coptic martyrs killed by ISIS to Catholic calendar In an extraordinary move bridging a historical rift dating back to 451AD, Pope Francis has added the 21 Coptic Christians martyred by Islamic State terrorists on a Libyan beach in 2015 to the Roman Catholic Churchs calendar, declaring them saints. The pontiff announced the decision during a recent meeting in Rome with Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, the Coptic Patriarch, marking a significant step in resolving doctrinal disputes between the Roman Catholic and Coptic Churches, which have viewed each other as fundamentally heretical for over a millennium, The Telegraph reported. The meeting, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VIs meeting with Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, signified a commitment to overcoming the deep-rooted theological differences that emerged in the fifth century. The 451 AD schism was based on differing views of the nature of Christ, which resulted in the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church going separate ways. The Coptic Orthodox Church had already venerated the martyrs, 20 of whom were Egyptian workers and one Ghanaian, Matthew Ayariga. They were killed in a gruesome spectacle orchestrated by ISIS. Dressed in orange jumpsuits and forced to kneel in the sand, the men were beheaded, their executioners shrouded in black and filmed against a backdrop of the sea. Images of the martyrs have since been used to create religious icons. ISIS labeled those killed as People of the Cross, alleging they were idolaters, not worshipers of God. Ayariga, in his final moments, affirmed: I am a Christian. I am like them. His precise church affiliation remains unknown. A week after the brutal killings, Pope Tawadros II declared all 21 martyrs as saints. In 2018, their burial place was discovered, allowing the bodies of the 20 Egyptian victims to be returned to their homeland, followed by Ayarigas in 2020. Francis spoke of the martyrs baptism of blood, a belief tracing back to the early years of the Church that admittance to Heaven can be granted through martyrdom, even without symbolic, traditional water baptism. According to an op-ed piece by Christopher Howse in The Telegraph, historically, the Copts, representing more than 10% of Egypts 110 million population, were seen as Monophysites in the West, believing that the divinity of Jesus was paramount, somewhat undermining His humanity. And, for their part, Copts perceived Western Christians as heretics, likening them to Nestorian Assyrians. "In practice I suspect good Copts and good Assyrians believed the real Christian teaching about Jesus as God and man," Howse adds. During last weeks meeting, Pope Tawadros II presented Pope Francis with a relic of the martyrs as a symbol of gratitude, a gesture that was warmly received. Pope Francis said of the martyrs, These martyrs were baptized not only in the water and Spirit, but also in blood, a blood that is the seed of unity for all of Christs followers, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The popes recognition of the 21 men as martyrs killed not because of their specific denomination but because they were Christians, relates to a statement he made in 2013 when he said, In some countries they kill Christians for wearing a cross or having a Bible and before they kill them they do not ask them whether they are Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox. This move toward unity and mutual recognition comes as religious persecution worldwide intensifies, with Francis noting that more Christians have been martyred for their beliefs in the past century than in all of the early centuries combined. The addition of the Coptic martyrs to the Catholic calendar signifies an unpreceded step in the ecumenical efforts of the Catholic Church. Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, described this as a first in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. An important, decades-old reminder for the Church from 2 influential gay activists We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade, a momentous event in the pro-life movement and one on which we continue to build legislatively. This is positive and encouraging. At the same time, many laws are being passed that push back against radical trans-activism. This too is positive and encouraging. But there is a very important lesson we must always keep in mind: changing laws without changing hearts will never bring about long-term social and moral progress. The changing of hearts must accompany the changing of laws. Otherwise, there will only be resentment, anger, and ultimately, rebellion, leading to the reversal of the good laws. The short-term gains will become long-term losses. I was reminded of this when reading some old reviews of the watershed, 1989 gay activist book After the Ball: How American Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s. It was written by Marshall Kirk, a neuropsychologist, and Hunter Madsen, an advertising executive. And while its importance has often been downplayed by gay leaders over the decades, its influence is undeniable. The argument has been that only Christian fundamentalists really paid attention to the book, while the LGB community largely ignored it. (For an example of Christian leaders pointing back to this book, see here.) As stated on Wikipedia, Legal scholar Didi Herman writes that, despite being widely criticized and non-influential within lesbian and gay communities, the book has been strategically used by members of the Christian right as proof of a secretive gay agenda to subvert American Christianity and traditional definitions of the family. The reality is that the strategies put forth by Kirk and Madsen were wildly successful to the point of dramatically surpassing their stated goals. As for the idea that there was actually no such thing as a gay agenda, that seems utterly laughable today now that so much of it has been implemented. After the Ball was actually a bestseller in its day (who was reading it, if not for largely gay-identified Americans?) and it was reviewed in significant outlets such as the Los Angeles Times. The review noted that, One out of 10 Americans is gay, according to Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen in After the Ball, and these 25 million men and women are forced to cower and skulk like a German Jew of the 30s. They are the victims of a national sickness that manifests itself in the fear and hatred of homosexuality. The only appropriate response from the gay community and the only way to put an end to their oppression is ice-cold, controlled, directed rage. But After the Ball is not a call to the barricades; rather, it is a curious call to the story boards and 30-second spots of Madison Avenue, a kind of sanitized upscale media radicalism that finds mass demonstrations to be ghastly freak shows and prefers highway billboards that earnestly propound appealing truisms, the safer and more platitudinous, the better. As the authors readily admit: Were talking about propaganda. And that propaganda worked wonders, just as the authors envisioned. A review in the Orlando Sentinel had this to say: Some gays, living in their progressive urban environments, think America is tolerant and there is no need to build greater public support. They feel the way now is only through the courts and the legislatures, says Madsen. They are all good tactics, but they are reversible, as soon as someone usually on the religious right fans the flames of public disapproval. In order, then, to go beyond the courts and legislatures, since those rulings could be reversible, it was necessary to change hearts and minds. The authors goal was the conversion of the average Americans emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media. As stated at the beginning of the book, the authors called for a campaign of unabashed propaganda, firmly grounded in long-established principles of psychology and advertising. This propaganda even included the spreading of what they knew to be falsehoods, such as the idea that 1 in 10 Americans were gay (they admitted plainly that this number was inflated). But, in their view, spreading such falsehoods was only fair since all kinds of negative falsehoods had been spread about their community over the years. As to the success of their strategies, which reflected some of the thinking of other key gay activists and organizations, not even Kirk and Madsen believed that marriage would be redefined. Not a chance. That wasnt even one of their goals. But even that sacred institution was outrageously redefined in 2015 by the Supreme Court primarily because the thinking of so many Americans had already been changed. Without that massive cultural shift, it is much more unlikely that the Court would have ruled as it did. In the view of many legal pundits, the cultural shift provided sufficient wind in their sails for the justices to make the change (at least, for someone like Anthony Kennedy, who was the swing vote). To be sure, some of the shifts in American views towards gay and lesbian-identified people have been positive, recognizing the many positive qualities they may have as individuals or couples and embracing our shared humanity. Many of the other shifts have been disastrous, contributing to millions of Americans losing their moral and societal bearings. Our children and grandchild are paying the price today, with as many as 40% identifying as somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. The takeaway from all this is that, while we labor tirelessly to enact pro-life, pro-family legislation and we should we must never take our eyes off the greater prize: the conversion of the hearts and minds of Americans, not by the spreading of propaganda but by the propagation of truth, grounded in the love, goodness, and justice of God. We have the ultimate, lasting, winning argument. How Iran is pioneering a new era of oppression In another attempt to rein in the increasing number of women defying Irans mandatory dress code, Iranian authorities have begun installing facial recognition cameras in public places and thoroughfares to identify and penalize unveiled women. Its a major setback for activists following months of protests for womens rights and regime change. Iranian official Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani said the new surveillance is based on the July 5, 2022, order by President Ebrahim Raisi to enforce an updated hijab and chastity law. It is the first time that an official in Iran has publicly admitted the presence of facial recognition technology in public locations. For a brief period, there was a hint of softening the hijab laws, but its clear the Iranian government is not giving up full power over the people anytime soon if ever. They have violently shut down the protests and Mahsa Movement by arresting over 20,000 people, killing them in the streets or hanging many of them in public. They feel like they have control once again, as evident by their weaponization of Chinese AI technology to hunt down women who stand up for their human rights. Those who oppose the Islamic regime are very concerned about the use of cameras combined with violence to suppress dissent and enforce the will of the state. Its next-level surveillance that effectively ushers in a new era of oppression and persecution. Sadly, women and Iranian Christians will be most affected. In general, the goal of the Islamic government is to identify all who oppose it and arrest them one-by-one to bring fear and intimidation to all their opponents. Aside from the violent crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini last year, 2023 is poised to be another year in which Iranian women, those who support women and Iranian Christians will face harassment, arrests and imprisonment only for exercising their faith and protesting for freedom. The protests were primed in small part by economic distress and human rights violations. Ultimately, the upheaval was about suppressed anger and a desperate need for hope. Iranians are thirsty for truth, peace and salvation, opening the door for many of them to pursue a better understanding of Christianity. Ironically, the best evangelist for Jesus was Ayatollah Khomeini, who revealed the true face of Islam. After 40 years under Islamic law, Iranians have experienced the worst devastation in the 5,000-year history of the country. Today, the primary threat to the Iranian governments stranglehold of fear is the growth of Christianity. As Iran pioneers the modern surveillance state with the use of facial recognition cameras, the persecution of Iranian Christians will increase right alongside its young women. The government will follow through with the threats it has made against the underground church in Iran, such as arrest, imprisonment and even death. For the last few years, Irans underground church has been the fastest-growing Christian church in the world. It has no property, no buildings, no central leadership, and unlike the west, its predominantly led by women. This group of people who have been rejected, abused and told they have no value for their entire life is clinging to Jesus for hope. Theyre at tremendous risk of severe persecution, yet they continue to practice their Christian faith. They know they daily face the threat of rape or death anyway, so why not die standing up for their Savior, which means something? Theres an incredible spiritual awakening happening in Iran. The people are disgusted by militant Islam and more open to Christianity than ever before. Iran will be a Christian nation someday, but not without a fight. Theres never a big victory without a war. As the Church grows in Iran, so will the persecution. We must have compassion for those who are fighting for their lives, their rights and their faith. Stand up for them and support them in their tribulations, but also be inspired and learn from their boldness in the face of adversity. 5 tributes to Tim Keller (CP) Pastor and author Tim Keller died on Friday, after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer and shortly after it was announced that he was being put in hospice care. "Timothy J. Keller, husband, father, grandfather, mentor, friend, pastor, and scholar died this morning at home," Keller's son, Michael, shared in a public post on Facebook Friday. "Dad waited until he was alone with Mom. She kissed him on the forehead, and he breathed his last breath. We take comfort in some of his last words, 'There is no downside for me leaving, not in the slightest.' See you soon, Dad." Since the news broke, many pastors, writers, church groups and others have offered their condolences and shared how Keller's influence impacted their lives and ministries. Here are five tributes to Keller. They include comments from ministries that he was involved in, as well as remarks made Thursday evening when news first broke that he was leaving the hospital to return home under hospice. The staff at the Gospel Coalition, a theology website that Keller helped to found in 2005 and served as a board member until his death, shared their condolences over the passing of the notable pastor and author. "Tim Keller was a once-in-a-century sort of person. There is no pastor I know, in the last 100 years, who did what Tim Keller did to take the Reformed faith to the street, to the church, and to the academy," said TGC Interim President Sandy Willson, as quoted in the condolences. "He will be remembered among this generation's most effective Christian pastors, apologists, and evangelists. Tim not only made the most articulate arguments for the Christian faith; he also demonstrated our faith with his humble and gracious spirit and his relentless passion to see the lost come to know the Lord he so loved." TGC Co-Founder Don Carson was also quoted in the statement, comparing Keller to an Old Testament prophet: "Tim didn't hesitate to address the culture and the nation and to call for justice as well as for contrition." "He was jealous for the glory of God. He was quick to see how the trajectories of Scripture, the structure of biblical theology, drove thoughtful readers, again and again, back to the gospel," Carson added. Grammy award-winning artist Lecrae took to his Facebook page to give his condolences over the death of Keller, saying that the notable pastor was there in times of spiritual pain and "he changed my life." "His words have been a light in dark places for me. I've never expressed how he brought me thru the worst seasons of my life, how his refusal to be a part of the Evangelical Industrial Construct was empowering for my soul," Lecrae said. "When racism and cancel culture detoured me, Tim Keller was a consistent voice and for a season in 2017 he was the only non person of color I could listen to. He welcomed me to so much and brought me through so much." Lecrae also pointed to how he had been a contributing author to one of Keller's books, and that he considered Keller to be a "modern day hero of the faith." "He pastored with no scandals and will be regarded as a scholar and leader for a generation. I'm honored to have known you sir. Rest in Jesus," he added. Tony Reinke, senior writer at the theology website Desiring God, uploaded an "Ask Pastor John" podcast episode in which he talked about Keller, who had been a guest on the podcast on nine separate occasions. "I'm thankful for the time he invested with us," said Reinke. "Cancer, for Dr. Keller, was an old nemesis. Back in 2002, he was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer, a battle he would fight between 2003 and 2004. God would heal and restore Keller, but not before thyroid surgery knocked him out of the pulpit for three months." Reinke recalled how years after his first battle with cancer, "Keller preached a sermon on boldness in the face of death and recounted what he learned during that first cancer battle, opening up about his fears as he was rolled into the operating room." "In that moment, he caught a glimpse of something otherworldly. He saw the sheer magnitude of God's glory and God's joy beyond this world of pain and suffering and cancer and death," Reinke added. Andrew T. Walker, a Christian ethics professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, expressed his gratitude for the life of the influential pastor in a post on social media. "For me, he stands out as a Christian leader for whom ideas mattered," tweeted Walker. "I can distinctly recall being in college and reading the Reason for God and being struck at the utter reasonableness of the case he made for Christianity. Rest in Christ." In another tweet, Walker added that he admired how Keller "made non-theatric preaching acceptable and even cool," noting that this was another thing "I will miss about Tim Keller." "He was even a cerebral preacher and he did it unbelievably well. There was an authenticity to his preaching that made it more than just head knowledge, though," Walker added. Actress and filmmaker Bethany Joy Lenz took to Facebook when news first broke of Keller being moved to hospice care on Thursday, crediting Keller with having kept her from leaving Christianity. "This man changed my life," she stated. "The only reason I'm still a Christian today is because, after many years of faith being used against me as a tool of manipulation, Tim Keller taught me how to re-build my faith using reason and logic." "A belief system that fully engages my mind while still leaving room for wonder and mystery. I am so much more confident and secure in my faith now than I've ever been because of Tim Keller's teachings." Lenz went on to describe Keller as "a trustworthy, humble, rational and compassionate voice that God once used to bring me out of a pit of despair, walk me through intense healing and into the glorious freedom of Christ." "I will forever be grateful for the day I walked into Redeemer Presbyterian church on the Upper East Side in 1999," she added. "Thank you for everything, Tim." The Christian Post Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center rear, joins G7 world leaders at a working session on the final day of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. From left to right are: Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Zelenskyy, European Council President Charles Michel, Gianluigi Benedetti, Italian ambassador to Japan, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's President Emmanuel Macron. AP-Yonhap By Lee Hyo-jin The leaders of seven of the world's most powerful countries condemned North Korea's nuclear ambitions and called on the reclusive regime to refrain from conducting further nuclear tests using ballistic missile technology. "We strongly condemn North Korea's unprecedented number of unlawful ballistic missile launches, each of which violated multiple UN Security Council Resolutions," read a joint statement announced by the Group of Seven (G7) leaders during their summit held in Hiroshima, Japan, Saturday. "We demand that North Korea refrain from any other destabilizing or escalatory actions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, which undermine regional stability and pose a grave threat to international peace and security." The seven major states vowed swift, united and robust international measures against Pyongyang's "reckless actions," which would include further significant measures by the UN Security Council. The leaders also urged North Korea to accept repeated offers of dialogue from neighboring countries, including South Korea, Japan and the United States. World leaders from G7 and invited countries, top row from left to right, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, France's President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Joe Biden, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, bottom row from left to right, South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, pose for a group photo of leaders of the G7 and invited countries during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Saturday. AP-Yonhap Such calls from G7 leaders come amid the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's efforts to enhance international cooperation to deal with the North's increasing belligerence. South Korea has been scaling up military cooperation with the U.S. and Japan to respond more effectively to Pyongyang's evolving nuclear threats. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, widens his stance to put himself at a similar height to the Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, during their meeting at the National Assembly, Seoul, May 17. Yonhap By Lee Hae-rin Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's "manner legs" pose with his stance widened to match the eye level of the Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo last week triggered contrasting reactions from media here and abroad. During his three-day visit to Korea last week in celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Trudeau spent his second day in Korea, May 17, at the National Assembly to deliver a speech at the plenary session and met with Kim and lawmakers. While having their photos taken, both were standing upright initially. However, in a playful move, Kim, who is reportedly 170 centimeters tall, stood on his tiptoes to match Trudeau's height. The Canadian Prime Minister towers over the Korean National Assembly speaker by almost 20 centimeters. In response, Trudeau bent his knees to align with Kim's height. He then proceeded to widen his stance to level his gaze with the Korean delegate for the photos. The gesture, dubbed "manner legs" in Korea, is a common practice among tall Korean male celebrities. They utilize this pose to match the height of those who are shorter, such as their makeup artists, interviewers, fellow actors and fans. The posture, which momentarily makes them appear shorter for certain camera angles, is seen as a gesture of respect towards the shorter individual. Trudeau's pose went viral in Korea and abroad, earning praise from the local media as a kind gesture. Chosun Ilbo reported on May 17 that it was a "heartwarming scene," where "the 20-centimeter difference in their height has unexpectedly created a cordial atmosphere," and noted that the lawmakers and officials in the room "burst into laughter." Local broadcaster YTN also reported the Canadian PM to be "as caring as he is tall." Canada's daily news media Toronto Star reported, May 19, that the "wide stance Trudeau assumed is a sign of respect, according to Korean culture, and a way to discreetly lower one's height." "Popular among Korean celebrities, the stance is a sign of respect and a way to accommodate for an individual's tall height," it said, quoting a Korean Canadian Lee Young-mi's explanation that his attempt to match eye level could be considered appropriate in Korean culture. On the other hand, some international media outlets regarded the Canadian PM's distinctive posture as inappropriate for a formal occasion. The incident made "some Canadians accusing Trudeau of embarrassing Canada while abroad once again," conservative outlet True North Canada reported May 18, quoting Canadian online user Amy Eileen Hamm who said, "He's experimenting with new ways to make us look like a joke of a country." This is not the first time the Canadian PM's interactions with political leaders have received attention. Back in 2017, he was the first to successfully dodge former U.S. President Donald Trump's notably forceful handshake, which had left a multitude of world leaders and political rivals bewildered. AKRON, Ohio Its only fitting that LeBron James, the NBAs all-time leading scorer, would celebrate the premiere of his new movie, Shooting Stars in the town that he credits for his success. The new film, which airs on Peacock on June 2, was shown throughout the day on Saturday at James House Three Thirty for LeBrons I Promise Program families, Akron St. VincentSt. Mary High School students and staff, and LeBron James Family Foundation community partners. ORANGE, Ohio Grand theft vehicle: Stonebrooke Oval, Blossom Lane Police investigated the overnight thefts of two cars on adjacent streets May 10, both of which were unlocked and with the keys inside. A resident on Blossom reported that she parked her 2023 Mercedes-Benz C300 in her driveway about 9:30 p.m. the previous night, and when she came out in the morning it was gone. She called Mercedes-Benz about possible GPS tracking but learned that she had never activated that service prior so the car could not be tracked, although it was recovered later the same day on Glendale Avenue in Cleveland near the Lee-Harvard shopping center. Over on nearby Stonebrooke Oval, a resident reported in the same time frame that he had parked a 2018 Audi Q5 in his garage, rented from Enterprise in Warrensville Heights, around 5 p.m. May 9, unlocked and with the key fob left on the passenger seat. At 8:30 a.m. the next day, it too was missing. Stationary traffic cameras in East Cleveland showed it being driven southbound on Shaw Avenue near East 133rd Street at 3:32 a.m. (May 10). Complaints (juvenile), carrying a prohibited weapon: Orange Place While patrolling the parking lot at the Courtyard by Marriott at 3:49 a.m. May 14, an officer saw what appeared to be a group of juveniles in a Lincoln station wagon with Maryland plates. They said they were at a nearby party and the officer smelled raw marijuana coming from their car, asking them to get out. One juvenile, no age given, remained inside and appeared to be moving things around, handing the officer a small bag of marijuana when he got out. On the rear floorboard near his seat, police found a Glock 23 .40 caliber handgun that he also said was his, as a report was forwarded to the juvenile prosecutors office, the gun was kept as evidence and the boy was later turned over to his mother, a Euclid woman. Other juveniles were turned over to adult siblings believed to be from Maple Heights and transported home. Theft: Orange Place An employee at Courtyard by Marriott reported around 7:15 a.m. May 15 that he had just worked an overnight shift where hed been away from the front desk, returning to find the cash register drawer open and all of the money missing. Security video showed that shortly after 4 a.m., two women got out of a red Ford Fusion parked by the front doors, one of them walking behind the front desk and playing with the computer and cash register. Both of them then walked into the back office area. At 4:15, a male wearing a black facemask came in while talking on his cell phone and also walked behind the front desk, taking all of the cash out of the drawer and placing it in his hoodie pockets on the way back out the front doors, appearing to leave on foot. Police also checked vehicle identification cameras in the area and found the Ford arriving in the area from Harvard Road around 3:42 a.m., but no further sign of when it left. Disorderly conduct, obstructing official business, resisting an officer, indecent exposure/public indecency: Park Avenue Responding to a report of a man abusing a woman near The Last Page at Pinecrest around 7 p.m. May 11, police found a Cleveland woman, 32, on a park bench. Witnesses pointed to a Cleveland man, 33, with the same address, standing in front of Firebirds. He refused to allow police to check him for weapons and instead dropped his shorts to his ankles, exposing himself to the patrons watching from inside. He assumed a fighting stance with an officer who then threatened to whip out his Taser. This was enough to subdue the suspect slightly although there was still some resistance getting him into a cruiser. The woman told police it was only a verbal argument and she was not physically assaulted, although he still landed in the Solon jail as a result of the disturbance. Turn signals, driving in marked lanes, drunk driving, open container: I-271, Harvard Road A patrol officer noticed a northbound 2008 Chevy Sedan going about 50 mph on the interstate at 1:30 a.m. May 12, at first not using a turn signal, then signaling left while merging right and getting off at the Chagrin Boulevard exit ramp. Police found an open container of tequila on the rear floorboard, although the University Heights man, 24, said hed only had one shot, along with a few Angry Orchards. He registered just over the Ohio legal limit of .08 blood-alcohol content after being taken to the Solon jail. Attempted suicide, personal welfare: Orange Place First responders were dispatched to the Extended Stay South on the evening of May 12 after a Warrensville Heights man, 40, said he felt suicidal earlier in the day and then wrapped a cord from an iron around his neck in an attempt to kill himself -- posting the image on Facebook as well. He was conveyed to Ahuja Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation. Fraud: Lander Road A couple reported that back on Sept. 1, 2022, they wrote and sent a $10,000 check to the Internal Revenue Service for taxes due, along with their Social Security numbers on the check, as the IRS requires. Then they were notified recently they were still delinquent on those taxes. When the wife went back and checked her Chase Bank account, she found that the check was cashed last Sept. 7 but had been altered to be paid to someone else. She contacted the bank and the IRS who put a fraud alert on those Social Security numbers and advised her to file a police report if any further incidents occur. Receiving stolen property, driving under suspension: Orange Place, Chagrin Boulevard Police were alerted to a stolen 2023 Mazda CX7 with Florida registration heading east on Chagrin at 11:19 a.m. May 10, locating it unoccupied a short time later at the Village Square in Woodmere. The driver, a Bedford man, was arrested when he returned to the car, saying he was renting it from month to month and had no idea it was stolen. It was impounded, his belongings were turned over to a friend and he was taken to the Solon jail. Get police blotters by email every weekday for free with our new Police Blotter newsletter. Sign up at cleveland.com/newsletters Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Mayor Justin Bibb, City Council President Blaine Griffin and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne head up a group of civic leaders taking a direct flight on Aer Lingus to Dublin, Ireland. They might want to directly land next to Leprechauns with pots o gold still needed for additional upgrades at the West Side Market and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home court of the Cavs. Though Cleveland City Council recently approved $10 million of American Rescue Plan Act dollars for the West Side Market, it was $5 M. less than Mayor Bibb had requested and $23.5 M. less than the basic capital the market still needs according to Jessica Trivisonno, the citys senior strategist for the West Side Market. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The midges have made their 2023 debut. On Saturday and Sunday, many Northeast Ohioans found their homes and garages covered in the tiny flying insects. Midges hatch from Lake Erie when the water reaches about 60 degrees. Lake Erie is currently between 51-59 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The warmer temperatures make it more comfortable for the flies to emerge from their pupal stage, while closer to the waters surface. Then, they enter a dormant state before the insects transition from larvae to an adult. And though many may find the swarm of insects a nuisance, they are a pivotal food source for fish, birds and even other bugs-- so there are probably many happy spiders out there today. Several midges unfortunately land on a spider web in Rocky River.Laura Johnston, The Plain Dealer The National Weather Service also shared a photo of the swarm of midges showing up on weather radar. Midges are harmless to humans and do not bite. As larvae, they love eating algae and rotting plants at the bottom of the lake, experts say. They move tiny bits of nutrition up the food chain while becoming food themselves for fish, larval and adult amphibians, turtles, birds, and a myriad of other insects, Martin J. Calabrese, a naturalist at Cleveland Metroparks, previously told cleveland.com. Calabrese also noted that the insects brief life can make for a stressful existence. Their goal is to reproduce, Calabrese said. The clock is ticking, for they have just a few days to mate before they die. President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. Joint Press Corps Ukrainian leader looks forward to further cooperation with S.Korea By Lee Hyo-jin President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to swiftly provide additional non-lethal aid to war-torn Ukraine, such as mine clearing equipment, during his first summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sunday. The bilateral meeting was held on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The summit, which came at the request of the Ukrainian leader, lasted for about 30 minutes, according to the Korean presidential office. "President Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for South Korea's timely provision of humanitarian support, such as medical aid, generators and computers used for educational purposes, and hoped for further assistance in non-lethal equipment," Lee Do-woon, the presidential spokesperson, said in a statement distributed to reporters. "In response, President Yoon vowed efforts to swiftly provide other equipment that are in urgent need, such as mine clearing vehicles and ambulances," he added. Yoon reiterated his support for and solidarity with Ukraine, pledging further diplomatic, economic and humanitarian assistance, according to the presidential office. In his tweet uploaded following the summit, Zelenskyy said he expressed gratitude to Yoon for South Korea's humanitarian and non-lethal assistance to his country, referring specifically to demining vehicles. "I look forward to continued cooperation," he wrote, welcoming Seoul's attention to the projects presented earlier by his wife Olena Zelenska. Last week, the Ukrainian first lady visited Seoul as a presidential envoy, during which she asked Yoon for the participation of South Korean businesses in Ukraine's post-war reconstruction efforts. She also requested the provision of air defense systems as well as non-lethal military equipment such as mine detectors. During his speech at the G7 expanded summit, Yoon expressed objection to efforts to change the status quo by force, in an apparent condemnation against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "In Ukraine, there is an ongoing attempt to change the status quo by force, leading to killings and serious violations of the freedom and prosperity of the people of Ukraine. This is a clear violation of international norms and the rule of law," he said, without directly mentioning Russia. Sunday's summit between Yoon and Zelenskyy came amid growing international attention on whether South Korea will offer military aid to Kyiv, which would be a departure from its current stance of providing only humanitarian and economic support. During an interview with foreign media in April, Yoon said South Korea could provide arms to Ukraine depending on the direction of the war. His remarks drew warm welcomes from western nations, while triggering a furious reaction from Moscow. However, discussions on the provision of lethal weapons were not included in the South Korean presidential office's statement on the summit between Yoon and Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader attended the G7 summit amid the 15-month-old war in Kyiv. In a joint statement, the G7 leaders condemned Russia "in the strongest terms" for invading Ukraine, which has cost thousands of lives and inflicted immense suffering on its people. President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, on the sidelines of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting. Joint Press Corps CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two infants were found dead on Saturday evening on Clevelands southeast side. Authorities were called to investigate two infant fatalities around 7:20 p.m. on Ludlow Road in the Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood, police said. Cleveland polices homicide unit is investigating the deaths, as it does with all child fatalities, according to a police spokeswoman. Police had provided no further details as of Sunday afternoon. No arrests have been made at this time, but an investigation is ongoing. Guest columnist Elaine Schleiffer is a co-founder of Responding with Empathy, Access and Community Healing (REACH NEO), a grassroots coalition with the aim of establishing a care response program for broad use in Northeast Ohio and diversifying the resources available to our community in moments of crisis, conflict and poor health. Guest columnist Bree Easterling is Policy Matters Ohios Public Safety Fellow. They are helping to develop a non-police care response for people in crisis due to mental health issues, substance abuse, being neurodivergent or unhoused. We dont call the police when someone is having a heart attack, so why should we have to call law enforcement for a loved one experiencing a mental health crisis? Thats the question advocates are asking as mental and behavioral health crises rise across Northeast Ohio. The opioid crisis and pandemic have disrupted many families, with especially severe impacts on those who are already facing poverty. Northeast Ohioans need additional tools to create better outcomes for people experiencing behavioral health crises. Elaine Schleiffer Experts, advocates and people with first-hand experience have developed care response as a humane and effective way of responding to certain nonviolent 911 calls, such as mental health crises, substance use or withdrawal, or suicidality. A complete continuum of crisis services must include three types of response: cop response by officers trained in crisis intervention, such as specialized Crisis Intervention officers; co-response by police officers who are accompanied by a social worker, paramedic or crisis intervention specialist; and care response, when social workers, paramedics and crisis interventionists respond without a police presence. All three types of crisis response are necessary for a complete toolbox of crisis services. Bree Easterling, policy fellow at Policy Matters Ohio. Today, Northeast Ohios continuum of crisis services is a two-legged stool. The overwhelming majority of crisis calls are responded to by police officers, only some of whom are trained in crisis intervention. In Cleveland and Shaker Heights, a limited number of mental health crisis calls receive a co-response. There is no healthcare-based response for such crises in Northeast Ohio. Care response can solve many problems at once: Short-staffed local police departments no longer need to act as social workers or crisis interventionists, reducing overall resource strain and empowering police to respond to the calls where their expertise is needed most. People in crisis can be connected to healthcare services by healthcare-based responders, without the added stress, fear and danger of an encounter with armed police. A peer-response program and wraparound care services mean that community members are less likely to become frequent fliers at emergency rooms and other crisis programs. Improved crisis response programs help us respond better to those who are most in need. Each unique crisis can receive a right-sized solution based on that individuals needs. In his recent State of the City address, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb celebrated the citys work to develop a care response model. For that work to live up to its potential as a model for communities all over Northeast Ohio, it should include: Meaningful, long-term community engagement, so care responders can earn community trust as a non-police resource in times of crisis. A focus on equity and diversity, so every community member feels safe when working with a care response team, and care responders can feel that they directly contribute to the health of their community. Coordination with the new City of Cleveland Health Departments crisis services strategist, so everyone in the public safety system understands what kind of calls should get a care response. Ongoing infrastructure improvement, so care response can be folded into upgrades already taking place, like the implementation of 988, OhioRISE and MRSS. We need our CIT officers and our co-responders, and we need care responders too. This complete continuum of services will help connect people to services that address root causes of crisis, rather than punishing community members who raise their hand asking for help. Learn more about the movement for care response in Northeast Ohio at REACHNEO.COM. Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Ann Norman at anorman@cleveland.com. Essays must include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting todays topics are also welcome. CINCINNATI -- Robert Smith and Jan Van Galen were living at the Wesleyan Senior Living Facility in Elyria when they met at breakfast in 2005. Neither man realized they would travel back in time that morning to 60 years earlier and the final days of World War II. Plain Dealer reporter Stan Donaldson wrote on May 18, 2008, about the powerful historical connection the two men discovered. In May 1945, Smith was a U.S. Air Force pilot and Van Galen was living in the Nazi-German-occupied part of the Netherlands. Tragically, food shortages were occurring during the Dutch famine or Hunger Winter of 1944-45. People were dying of starvation daily. Van Galen was one of those in danger. The United States and the Allies were moving toward defeating Germany, but the starving people of the Netherlands needed help right away. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, organized a plan for food drops into the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. The food drops were arranged after cease-fire negotiations with the German forces, and began in late April 1945. The codename for the U.S. food drops was Operation Chowhound. The Royal Air Force called their part of the air drops Operation Manna. Operation Chowhound began on May 1, and Robert Smith was one of the heroic pilots. Tons of food were dropped into the Netherlands on a daily basis. Van Galen was one of the Dutch civilians receiving this life-saving food from the sky. A soon-to-be famous actress, Audrey Hepburn, was also a recipient of the Allied food drops. Daily reports from Eisenhower to the Netherlands government-in-exile in London brought the good news of hundreds of successful food-drop missions. Van Galen and millions of others were saved from starvation by Smith, who died in 2016, and the other pilots. Joseph Schwab of North Olmsted, who died in 2015, was another area officer in Operation Chowhound. Soon, all of the Netherlands would be liberated, as Germany surrendered by V-E day on May 8, 1945. Eisenhower backed up Operation Chowhound with food truck convoys led by the Canadian army. This was food stockpiled in the liberated section of the Netherlands where my father and his Army Engineers unit were serving at the end of World War II. Sixty years after Operation Chowhound, as reported by Donaldson, both Smith and Van Galen ended up living in Northeast Ohio. And soon, both men would become residents at the Wesleyan Senior Living Facility where they would finally meet. Once Van Galen realized Smith had been a pilot in Operation Chowhound, he told him, Let me shake your hand, you saved my life. As we mark Military Appreciation Month for service members past and present, Van Galens and Smiths story shows that the feeling of appreciation is timeless. Its important we remember Operation Chowhound today as famine threatens Somalia. Cindy McCain, the director of the U.N. World Food Program, recently tweeted, What I have seen in #Somalia is heartbreaking and unacceptable. Conflict & drought are devastating millions of lives. 6.5 million people face extreme hunger. Nearly 500k children are at risk of dying right now. We cannot turn our backs on the Somali people. Lives are at stake. William Lambers is a Cincinnati author who writes frequently on world hunger. We can save lives in Somalia and other countries by supporting the World Food Program, CARE, Save the Children, Marys Meals, UNICEF, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services and other charities. The U.S. Congress must support global food aid in the budget and in the farm bill. Operation Chowhound reminds us that we can fight hunger abroad, even amid difficult circumstances. In 1945, the United States organized food drops into the Netherlands while trying to defeat Germany and fight the war against Japan. Imagine the relief of Van Galens family and many others to see that precious food falling from the sky. They were saved from the relentless foe of hunger. Operation Chowhound shows us that we can fight famine today, if we have the will. William Lambers is a Cincinnati-based author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the 2009 book, Ending World Hunger: School Lunches for Kids around the World. Have something to say about this topic? * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this opinion column to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com CLEVELAND -- In Afghanistan, Mohammad (not his real name) was an ally to the United States who provided essential aid to American troops, but when Kabul fell in 2021, Mohammad knew that his familys lives were in grave danger. They fled Afghanistan and found refuge in Northeast Ohio. With the help of Global Cleveland, Mohammad found steady work, allowing him to provide for his wife and three young children. In just two years, Mohammad is at risk of losing his work authorization, and his family will no longer be protected against deportation. When 77,000 Afghan evacuees were resettled in the United States, they should have been provided with refugee status or a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). However, these statuses have strict criteria and take far too long to process, especially in an emergency evacuation situation. In lieu of refugee status or an SIV, Mohammad and over 70,000 others were given humanitarian parole, which has no path to permanent status and limited benefits. Humanitarian parole is a bandage, meant to help address emergencies, but not to act as a permanent solution. In past cases of mass evacuation involving U.S. allies, such as after U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam, Congress passed bills that provided protections and a path to permanent status for evacuated individuals. In August 2022, a bipartisan group of senators and U.S. House representatives introduced the Afghan Adjustment Act to do the same for our Afghan allies. Yet, as of now, the Afghan Adjustment Act has failed to pass in Congress, unjustly leaving tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees questioning their futures. Fortunately, the Biden administration announced earlier this month an extension of protections for Afghans brought to the United States for at least another two years. While appreciated, this is yet another attempt to put a bandage on a much larger wound. The United States has failed to process thousands of applications for asylum and SIV. As of February 2023, fewer than 5,000 Afghan applicants have been approved. For Mohammad and the tens of thousands of other Afghans who were admitted to this country, their futures are still uncertain. They are in legal limbo, constantly questioning whether the government will continue to protect their ability to legally live and work in the United States, and how many extensions and delays will be made before a solid solution is reached. No Afghan evacuee should be asking themselves: Will I still be able to work here and support my family? Will we be deported in two years? Nearly 700 Afghan evacuees have begun rebuilding their lives in Northeast Ohio. They are members of our workforce; their children are students in our schools; and they are part of our community they are Northeast Ohioans, and they deserve our support and ally-ship. We owe it to our Afghan evacuee brethren to support their stay here, and we owe it to those U.S. allies who are trapped in Afghanistan to support their evacuation to safety. Thankfully, the proposed Afghan Adjustment Act includes measures that will expand and improve on our efforts to protect Afghans left behind. The Act also includes measures that establish thorough vetting requirements for evacuees seeking permanent status, addressing fears surrounding safety that opponents of the bill have expressed. Gwendolyn Kochur is the marketing and graphic design director for Global Cleveland. We ask that our members of Congress remember that the nearly 77,000 Afghans resettled in our country have experienced horrors unlike any that we may ever see, and that they have finally found safety in our beautiful country. We ask that they recognize that this refuge is being threatened by Congress indecision and inaction. We ask that they remember the bipartisan camaraderie that allowed the passage of adjustment acts in the past. Finally, we ask that members of our community join us in backing our Afghan brethren by expressing support for the Act to their elected officials and encouraging them to reintroduce and pass the Afghan Adjustment Act. Gwendolyn Kochur is the marketing and graphic design director for Global Cleveland, a nonprofit dedicated to welcoming and connecting international people to opportunities and creating a more inviting community for those seeking a place to call home. Have something to say about this topic? * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this editorial to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday called for North Korea to cease ballistic missile tests after he visited the fortified border between North and South Korea ahead of a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul. Scholz, who is visiting South Korea after attending the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, called the missile tests a sign of a "still dangerous situation" on the Korean peninsula. "This is a threat to peace and security in this region," he said at a military base after a visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the Koreas. Germany's history as a divided nation had been overcome, he said, but division persists on the Korean peninsula. Both Scholz and Yoon left Japan on Sunday after joining the G7 summit. South Korea was invited as an observer. G7 leaders signaled they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, and outlined a shared approach towards China, looking to "de-risk, not decouple" economic engagement with a country regarded as the factory of the world. (Reuters) See also: Parrots, paperclips, and safety vs ethics: Why the artificial intelligence debate sounds like a foreign language Here's a list of some terms used by AI insiders: AGI AGI stands for "artificial general intelligence." As a concept, it's used to mean a significantly more advanced AI than is currently possible, that can do most things as well or better than most humans, including improving itself. Example: "For me, AGI is the equivalent of a median human that you could hire as a coworker, and they could say do anything you would be happy with a remote coworker doing behind a computer," Sam Altman said at a recent Greylock VC event. AI ethics describes the desire to prevent AI from causing immediate harm, and often focuses on questions like how AI systems collect and process data and the possibility of bias in areas like housing or employment. AI safety describes the longer-term fear that AI will progress so suddenly that a super-intelligent AI might harm or even eliminate humanity. Alignment is the practice of tweaking an AI model so that it produces the outputs its creators desired. In the short term, alignment refers to the practice of building software and content moderation. But it can also refer to the much larger and still theoretical task of ensuring that any AGI would be friendly towards humanity. Example: "What these systems get aligned to whose values, what those bounds are that is somehow set by society as a whole, by governments. And so creating that dataset, our alignment dataset, it could be, an AI constitution, whatever it is, that has got to come very broadly from society," Sam Altman said last week during the Senate hearing. Emergent behavior Emergent behavior is the technical way of saying that some AI models show abilities that weren't initially intended. It can also describe surprising results from AI tools being deployed widely to the public. Example: "Even as a first step, however, GPT-4 challenges a considerable number of widely held assumptions about machine intelligence, and exhibits emergent behaviors and capabilities whose sources and mechanisms are, at this moment, hard to discern precisely," Microsoft researchers wrote in Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence. Fast takeoff or hard takeoff A phrase that suggests if someone succeeds at building an AGI that it will already be too late to save humanity. Example: "AGI could happen soon or far in the future; the takeoff speed from the initial AGI to more powerful successor systems could be slow or fast," said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a blog post. Foom Another way to say "hard takeoff." It's an onomatopeia, and has also been described as an acronym for "Fast Onset of Overwhelming Mastery" in several blog posts and essays. Example: "It's like you believe in the ridiculous hard take-off 'foom' scenario, which makes it sound like you have zero understanding of how everything works," tweeted Meta AI chief Yann LeCun. GPU The chips used to train models and run inference, which are descendants of chips used to play advanced computer games. The most commonly used model at the moment is Nvidia's A100. Example: From Stability AI founder Emad Mostque: Guardrails are software and policies that big tech companies are currently building around AI models to ensure that they don't leak data or produce disturbing content, which is often called "going off the rails." It can also refer to specific applications that protect the AI from going off topic, like Nvidia's "NeMo Guardrails" product. Example: "The moment for government to play a role has not passed us by this period of focused public attention on AI is precisely the time to define and build the right guardrails to protect people and their interests," Christina Montgomery, the chair of IBM's AI ethics board and VP at the company, said in Congress this week. Inference The act of using an AI model to make predictions or generate text, images, or other content. Inference can require a lot of computing power. Example: "The problem with inference is if the workload spikes very rapidly, which is what happened to ChatGPT. It went to like a million users in five days. There is no way your GPU capacity can keep up with that," Sid Sheth, founder of D-Matrix, previously told CNBC. Large language model A kind of AI model that underpins ChatGPT and Google's new generative AI features. Its defining feature is that it uses terabytes of data to find the statistical relationships between words, which is how it produces text that seems like a human wrote it. Example: "Google's new large language model, which the company announced last week, uses almost five times as much training data as its predecessor from 2022, allowing its to perform more advanced coding, math and creative writing tasks," CNBC reported earlier this week. Paperclips are an important symbol for AI Safety proponents because they symbolize the chance an AGI could destroy humanity. It refers to a thought experiment published by philosopher Nick Bostrom about a "superintelligence" given the mission to make as many paperclips as possible. It decides to turn all humans, Earth, and increasing parts of the cosmos into paperclips. OpenAI's logo is a reference to this tale. Example: "It also seems perfectly possible to have a superintelligence whose sole goal is something completely arbitrary, such as to manufacture as many paperclips as possible, and who would resist with all its might any attempt to alter this goal," Bostrom wrote in his thought experiment. Singularity is an older term that's not used often anymore, but it refers to the moment that technological change becomes self-reinforcing, or the moment of creation of an AGI. It's a metaphor literally, singularity refers to the point of a black hole with infinite density. Example: "The advent of artificial general intelligence is called a singularity because it is so hard to predict what will happen after that," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an interview with CNBC this week. A folksy investor who modeled his entire company after Warren Buffett's conglomerate just came back from a trip to Omaha, Nebraska that may have partly been an attempt at also luring loyal Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Thomas Gayner , CEO of Markel Corp. , held a brunch Q & A one day after Berkshire's annual meeting, the so-called Woodstock for Capitalists that attracted nearly 40,000 attendees from around the world. Even though Markel is based in a Richmond, Virginia, suburb, it's been a tradition for years to hold the event in the hometown of Buffett, from whom Gayner mimicked his business model running a growing insurance operation by acquisitions, while managing an equity portfolio partly by capturing the float. The float , a valuable source of funds, consists of monies collected as insurance premiums before it's paid out for claims. Gayner answered questions from both investors and shareholders-to-be, all of whom lined up at the microphones after enjoying delicate pastries and breakfast sandwiches. Exuding a down-to-earth, cheery charm similar to Buffett's, a quick-witted Gayner regularly ignited rounds of applause and laughter. The 61-year-old CEO even filmed a get-well video with the audience for one of his employees who was sick and was unable to attend. When asked about his succession plan, Gayner said he plans to work forever, jokingly promising investors that he's not going to work for 20 years and run for president. Founded in 1930 and with a market value today of $18 billion, Markel is first and foremost a specialty insurance company focused on niche markets like livestock and dude ranches. It tapped into the reinsurance business, insuring other insurers, in 1997. But Markel is also a mini-conglomerate that owns whole businesses outside of insurance, via Markel Ventures. Some of the deals it has done in recent years include buying automobile transport equipment maker Cottrell, luxury handbag company Brahmin and plants retailer Costa Farms. Beyond insurance and subsidiary businesses owned outright, Markel also runs a big equity portfolio, with a market value of nearly $8 billion at the end of the first quarter. Its two biggest holdings at the end of March were Berkshire's Class A and B shares, with a combined value of nearly $1 billion. Markel also counts tech names such as Amazon and Alphabet , as well as retailer Home Depot among its top holdings. Some Wall Street analysts have praised Markel's recent performance against both peers and the broader market. Markel has returned 16.1% annually over the past three years while the S & P 500 has returned 12.4%, according to FactSet. (Berkshire has returned 24.5% a year.) "Underwriting results remain solid, investment income is surging and Ventures continues to deliver very strong results (both top & bottom line)," RBC analyst Mark Dwelle said in a recent note. "We remain at Outperform and see valuation as attractive versus peers." Janney reiterated a buy rating on Markel after its stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings. "We believe Markel's shares will outperform the S & P 500 over the long term," Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Robert Farnam said in a note. "Given the favorable insurance market conditions in many of MKL's product lines, we believe the company's P/B multiple may expand if it can maintain solid profitability." Markel also has its appeal to Berkshire, which took a $600 million stake in Markel in early 2022. It's unclear if it was Buffett who purchased the stock or one of his investing lieutenants, Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, who oversee about $15 billion each for Berkshire. Shares of Markel are up about 3% so far this year, after rising 7% in 2022. U.S. President Joe Biden holds a press conference at the conclusion of the G7 Summit, in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023. As a possible debt default looms just 11 days away, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will meet in person at the White House on Monday to resume negotiations around the debt ceiling, NBC News reports. McCarthy told reporters that he had a "productive" call with Biden on Sunday, and that staff members for both parties will resume talks later that same day. A White House spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that staff would restart negotiations at 6 p.m. Sunday, and that Biden and McCarthy will meet on Monday. It is not yet known what time the meeting will begin, according to NBC News. Lifting the debt ceiling is necessary for the government to cover spending commitments already approved by Congress and the president in order to prevent default. Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize new spending, but House Republicans have said they will not lift the limit if Biden and lawmakers do not agree to future spending cuts. As a result, the on-again, off-again deliberations on Capitol Hill have been tense. Biden said earlier Sunday that Republicans "need to move from their extreme position" during a press conference ahead of his departure from the Group of Seven Summit in Japan. After negotiations stalled late Saturday, Biden said he planned to call McCarthy on his way back to Washington. "It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms," Biden said. McCarthy told reporters Sunday after arriving at the Capitol that he is glad the president is returning to the U.S. "I think he's got to get away from the socialist wing of the Democratic Party and represent America. And that means both sides have to have compromise," McCarthy said Sunday. "I've been there the entire time." Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that "hard choices" will need to be made about which bills will go unpaid if the debt ceiling is not raised. Yellen reaffirmed her warning that the United States could default on its debt as early as June 1, which she has said could cause widespread "economic chaos." There will be no good outcome if Congress fails to take action, she said. "We're focused on raising the debt ceiling, and there will be hard choices if that doesn't occur," she told NBC's "Meet the Press." "There can be no acceptable outcomes if the debt ceiling isn't raised, regardless of what decisions we make." At the Independent Community Bankers of America Capital Summit on Tuesday, Yellen said the White House Council of Economic Advisers found that a default could lead to an economic downturn as bad as the Great Recession, with 8 million Americans losing their jobs and the stock market's value falling by about 45%. She also noted a Moody's Analytics report which found similar numbers, with more than 7 million Americans out of work and $10 trillion in household wealth evaporated. Yellen also warned that a debt ceiling breach could affect essential government services. Biden said Sunday he thinks an agreement can be reached with Republicans, but that it is not certain. "I can't guarantee that they wouldn't force a default by doing something outrageous," he said. South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida greet each other ahead of a trilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol wrapped up a three-day visit to Hiroshima on Sunday after taking new steps to improve relations with Japan, pledging to do more for the global community and holding his first-ever meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Yoon was invited to Hiroshima to attend a Group of Seven (G-7) summit as the leader of one of eight guest nations, making him the fourth South Korean president to attend a G-7 leaders' gathering. The three-day summit set the stage for a flurry of diplomacy, as Yoon held bilateral summits on the sidelines with leaders from Australia, Vietnam, India, Britain and other countries, and also held his third summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in two months. Relations between South Korea and Japan have warmed significantly since March, when the Yoon administration offered to resolve a row over wartime forced labor by compensating the Korean victims without asking for contributions from Japanese firms. The solution led to the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" between the two countries' leaders after 12 years, with Yoon visiting Tokyo in March and Kishida reciprocating with a visit to Seoul earlier this month. In Seoul, Kishida said his "heart aches" over the suffering of the wartime forced labor victims, who were made to work in Japanese factories when Korea was under Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule, in what was seen by some as an expression of remorse long sought by the victims and other Koreans in generals. South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, shakes hands with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, during the "G7 + Partner Countries + Ukraine" meeting on the sidelines of the final day of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (C-Rear) joins G7 world leaders at a working session on the final day of the G7 Summit on May 21, 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan. The Group of Seven (G-7) rich nations signalled to Russia their readiness to stand by Ukraine for the long haul while giving President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a chance to win over countries such as Brazil and India on the last day of a summit in Japan. Distrust of China as a trading partner and determination to help Ukraine repel Russia's invasion were the key messages delivered by the world's leading democracies at the gathering in the city of Hiroshima. But even as the G-7 leaders began wrapping up their three-day meeting on Sunday, Russia claimed to have finally captured the battered eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, following a months-long siege that marked the bloodiest battle of the war. The leaders of the G-7 nations the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada have debated how to respond as the conflict that began in February last year drags on. Potential joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 warplanes was a message to Russia that it should not expect to succeed in its invasion by prolonging conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday. Ukraine has not won commitments for delivery of the planes, but President Joe Biden and senior U.S. officials told G-7 leaders Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said the summit was an opportunity to convince big emerging states such as India and Brazil to come off the fence and put their support behind Ukraine. Macron made the comment to reporters a day after calling Zelenskiy's surprise visit at the summit a "game changer". Shortly after Zelenskiy arrived in Japan, Russia claimed victory in Bakhmut. Hours before the claims from Moscow, Ukraine had rejected a claim by Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin that his Wagner fighters had completed the capture of the city. The price of being a people-pleaser can be steep especially for your mental health. People-pleasers are especially prone to burnout at work, says Debbie Sorensen, a Harvard-trained clinical psychologist based in Denver. "They tend to be very kind, thoughtful people, which makes it that much harder for them to set boundaries, not take on too much work or get emotionally invested in their jobs," says Sorensen. And being a constant yes-person is a double-edged sword: You might feel guilty telling others "no," and resentment every time you say "yes." You don't need to let go of your people-pleasing tendencies entirely to avoid burnout past research has shown that being polite, friendly and supportive at work are all important traits that can help you be more productive and happier in your job. The difference, Sorensen explains, is that people-pleasers tend to have difficulty setting boundaries, which can be "really exhausting" and lead to "chronic stress," she warns. watch now Europe may have done a good job in reducing its dependency on Russian oil and gas and mitigating an energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine but it's "not out of the woods" yet, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) told CNBC. "Europe was able to transform its energy markets, reduce its share of Russian gas to less than 4%, and its economy still didn't go through a recession," Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director told CNBC's Martin Soong on Sunday. "Europe emissions have declined and gas storage is at very decent levels," Birol said, speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Russia has traditionally played a pivotal role in the world's energy complex, but Western nations' reliance on the country's energy has been severely reduced as they continue to unveil new sanctions to punish Russia for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. "Europe countries did a good job... last winter," the IEA chief said, highlighting that the region managed to successfully keep the lights on and kept a winter crisis at bay, thanks in part to a milder than expected winter. Birol warned that the region's energy market still has three main hurdles to overcome this year, however. 1. Rising demand from China The world's energy supply was abundant last year when China was still under lockdown and bought less oil and gas due to a slowdown in economic activity. However, the same cannot be said now and Europe may face a more challenging winter this year. LNG (liquefied natural gas) demand from China is expected to pick up in the second half of the year, Birol said, adding that gas imports to the country is a "key determiner" of demand for natural gas markets. But Birol believed there could be a silver lining prices could be milder than predicted and he does not expect to see a "big boom" of imports from China. watch now Nonetheless, there is a different narrative playing out for the country's oil story, he said. China's exit from its zero-Covid policy in December has caused energy demand to increase, with the IEA forecasting that global oil demand will increase by more than 2 million barrels per day this year. It's no surprise that China, the world's second biggest oil importer after the U.S., will account for nearly 60% of the rise in demand, Birol noted. 2. U.S. debt default Global energy market participants are also keeping a close eye on fractious negotiations between the White House and Republicans over the U.S. debt ceiling. Without a deal, the U.S. could face default in early June although this is seen as unlikely. Negotiations were paused while President Biden attended the G-7 summit in Japan but he's due to return to Washington, D.C. on Sunday. The president said at a press conference at the summit that he's "not at all" concerned about the negotiations and that "we'll be able to avoid a default and we'll get something decent done." Birol said a U.S. debt default would cause oil demand and prices to drop, but agreed that such a scenario was unlikely. "I would avoid giving you a precise number, but we could expect a significant drop in the oil price if we see such a default." "This issue in the United States will be dealt with and common sense will prevail. And I don't see a major risk for the global oil markets. But of course, oil markets are always involved with risks." he added. Oil prices rebounded on Friday from losses of more than 1% the previous day as investors turned cautiously optimistic that the risks of a U.S. debt default were easing as talks continued. 3. Reliance on Russia still remains Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville. DeSantis used the event to sign bills into law that increase penalties for offenses involving sexual battery on children and drug trafficking targeting children, and a third bill involving pretrial release and detention. The NAACP on Saturday issued a travel advisory for Florida over Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' "aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion programs" in the state's schools, the organization said in a statement. "Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals," the NAACP said. "Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color." The advisory comes after DeSantis' administration in January blocked an Advanced Placement course in African American Studies from being offered in Florida high schools. In a letter to the College Board rejecting the course, the administration said: "As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value." NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement that "failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all." Under DeSantis, "the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon," Johnson added. The College Board, a nonprofit organization that oversees the AP program nationwide, moved to revise its framework for the curriculum after state officials said they rejected it because of six areas of concern "Black Queer Studies," "Intersectionality," "Movement for Black Lives," "Black Feminist Literary Thought," "The Reparations Movement" and "Black Struggle in the 21st Century" and for its including works by Kimberle W. Crenshaw, bell hooks, Angela Davis and other Black authors. Although the College Board and many of the academic experts consulted about the course framework insisted that they would not cave to political pressure and that the revisions had long been planned, the changes made concessions that directly address conservatives' concerns. The revised syllabus removed the names of several Black authors identified as problematic by Florida officials, substantially revised sections about intersectionality and removed a section about the Movement for Black Lives. The NAACP's travel advisory for Florida was initially proposed to the board of directors by the organization's Florida State Conference, which voted unanimously in favor of it in March. DeSantis, who is expected to soon launch a 2024 presidential campaign, has made education and other social issues a large focus of his administration. Last year, he signed into law legislation dubbed the "Stop WOKE Act," which restricts how race and gender are discussed in classrooms. DeSantis' office and the NAACP did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the travel advisory. The Missouri chapter of the NAACP had issued an advisory in 2017, urging Black people "to travel with extreme CAUTION" because "race, gender and color based crimes have a long history" in the state. The advisory came three years after the killing of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, by a white police officer sparked days of unrest in Ferguson. Smoke rises above buildings in Khartoum on April 15, 2023, amid reported clashes in the city. Sporadic fighting between Sudan's warring factions could be heard in the capital Khartoum on Sunday, residents said, after a Saudi and U.S.-brokered deal for a week-long ceasefire raised hopes of some let-up in the five-week conflict. The ceasefire deal, signed by the army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah, is due to come into effect on Monday evening with an internationally supported monitoring mechanism. It also allows for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Repeated ceasefire announcements since the conflict started on April 15 have failed to stop the fighting, but the Jeddah deal marks the first time the sides have signed a truce agreement after negotiations. Analysts say it is unclear whether army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan or RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, are able to enforce a ceasefire on the ground. Both have previously indicated they are seeking victory in the war, and neither of them travelled to Jeddah. The war has seen 1.1 million people flee their homes, moving either within Sudan or to neighbouring countries, fuelling a humanitarian crisis that threatens to destabilise the region. It has left those still in Khartoum struggling to survive amid mass looting, a collapse in health services, and dwindling supplies of food, fuel, power and water. Witnesses reported the sound of clashes in central and southern Khartoum on Sunday. Safaa Ibrahim, a 35-year-old Khartoum resident, told Reuters by phone that she hoped the deal could bring an end to the conflict. "We're tired of this war. We've been chased away from our homes, and the family has scattered between towns in Sudan and Egypt," she said. "We want to return to normal life and safety. Al-Burhan and Hemedti have to respect people's desire for life." Armored infantry carrier going to the front line at the front south of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast', Ukraine on May 17, 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporter's question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today." "We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors." The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasion's longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyy's response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut was interpreted by many as saying the city had fallen to Russian forces. When asked if the city was in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said: "I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, They've destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's tragedy." "But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians," he said. Zelenskyy's press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops "took the city in a semi-encirclement." "The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city," Malyar said. "That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemy's presence in Bakhmut." And the spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. "The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. "Our military keeps fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway," he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state news agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated "Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk," which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units "completed the liberation" of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. "I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.)," Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a "flat assurance" that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is "not tactically or operationally significant," a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas "does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations," nor to "defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks." In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called "fortress Bakhmut." Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. "We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels," Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters "marched on the bodies of their own soldiers" according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Chinas export market was driven by its strong demand for electric vehicles, which accounted for 40 percent of all its exports. China shipped 380,000 EVs to various countries in Q1 2023, with Belgium, Australia and Thailand being the top-3 destinations. China has overtaken Japan as the worlds largest exporter of automobiles in the first quarter of 2023, thanks to its booming electric vehicle sales and its trade ties with Russia. According to Nikkei Asia's latest report, China exported 1.07 million vehicles in the first three months of 2023, a 58 percent increase from the same period last year. Japan, which held the top spot for years, exported 950,000 vehicles in Q1 2023, a 6 percent increase from last year. Chinas export market was driven by its strong demand for electric vehicles, which accounted for 40 percent of all its exports. China shipped 380,000 EVs to various countries in Q1 2023, with Belgium, Australia and Thailand being the top-3 destinations. Papa New Guinea's prime minister James Marape received PM Modi at the airport, where the former touched his feet as a mark of respect. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea on Sunday. This is his maiden visit and he will also be hosting a key summit between India and 14 Pacific island countries on Monday to boost bilateral ties. PM Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea from Japan, where he was attending the G7 summit and held bilateral meetings with quite a few world leaders. Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea on the second leg of his three-nation tour is the first ever by any Indian prime minister. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) EXOs Sehun and Chanyeol are glad to finally meet their international fans live as they embark on their Back to BackBack to Back tour in Manila. The duo also known as EXO-SC made their debut in 2019 with their hit single What a Life. Chanyeol said that its been a long time since they performed in front of a live audience. Because of the pandemic, we were not able to have a tour in almost four years. So basically, its like almost my first time in four years to be on a tour and I really enjoy it because I can feel your energies when we interact with one another, he said during the press conference on Saturday. Sehuns and Chanyeols last live performance was their "EXO Planet #5 EXplOration" concert tour in 2019, where they also made a stop in Manila. As a subunit, EXO-SC's first fan meeting in 2020 was only held virtually due to the pandemic. Sehun, on the other hand, shared that when he first heard about it, he couldn't believe that they will be forming a subunit. At first, I cant believe that our boss was serious when he told us that we will form a subunit. But it was really serious, and we are very much looking forward to the future activities and projects we can do more in the future, he said. The duo had released two albums from 2019 to 2020 - What a Life and 1 Billion Views. After their last album release three years ago, Sehun and Chanyeol focused on their personal careers. Sehun had a number of acting gigs, while Chanyeol enlisted in the military in 2021. Now that they are back as EXO-SC, Chanyeol is just grateful to have Sehun on his side. When we are on tour, Im not bored. I have someone whom I can exchange jokes with and Im not lonely anymore, said Chanyeol. Another thing, Sehun has a different view and interpretation of music. He widens my understanding. EXO-SC also made stops in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore for their tour. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) Majority of farmlands in the country have low soil fertility, or the ability to sustain plant growth, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported Saturday. Bureau of Soil and Water Management chief agriculturist Karen Bautista said 82% of farmlands in the country have moderate to low levels of soil fertility, based on the agencys National Soil Fertility Mapping Project. Ten years ago, nasamoderate levels of soil fertility iyong ating mga kalupaan. So, patuloy po na nadi-degrade, nagkakaroon po ng degradation over the years due to some unsustainable agricultural practices, Bautista said in a statement. [Translation: Ten years ago, the soil fertility of our lands was at moderate level. So, it continues to degrade. There is a degradation over the years due to some unsustainable agriculture practices.] She added that the countrys farmland soil lacks major nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Bautista stressed that the improper use of imported synthetic fertilizers has contributed to soil acidity. Yung ating imported synthetic fertilizers nagko-contribute po iyan sa acidity ng ating lupa kung mali ang paggamit hindi right time, hindi right amount, hindi right rate, Bautista said. [Translation: Imported synthetic fertilizers contribute to the acidity of soil of our farmlands if used improperly not in the right time, right amount nor right rate.] To address the problem with the farmland soil, the agriculture department urged farmers to use a combination of organic fertilizers and biofertilizers through a balanced fertilization strategy and crop diversification. President Yoon Suk Yeol and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shake hands during their summit held at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap President Yoon Suk Yeol and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed Sunday to quickly establish a military secret protection agreement to help strengthen supply chains in the defense industry. Yoon announced the agreement after holding a summit with Scholz, saying the two leaders agreed to boost bilateral cooperation to match the changing environment of the times. "We agreed that it is important to expand cooperation between the two countries in defense and arms," he said during a joint press conference at the presidential office. "We will quickly establish a military secret protection agreement between South Korea and Germany, and work together for the smooth operation of supply chains in the defense industry," he said. The two leaders also agreed to expand the strong trade and investment relationship to cutting-edge industries, such as in hydrogen, semiconductors, bio and clean energy, Yoon said. In the face of global economic instability, geopolitical conflicts and the realignment of global supply chains, the two countries will strengthen their supply chain partnership, he added. South Korea and Germany mark the 140th anniversary of bilateral ties this year. Scholz is the first German chancellor to make a bilateral visit to South Korea in 30 years. The two leaders agreed to work together also on the climate crisis, Yoon said, noting his government's decision to join the Climate Club established by the Group of Seven and led by Scholz. On North Korea, Yoon said Germany understands and relates to Korean Peninsula issues as a country that experienced reunification 33 years ago. "We will make clear that North Korea has nothing to gain from its unlawful provocations, send a consistent message to the international community and work closely together for North Korea's denuclearization," he said. (Yonhap) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) A fishers' group has denounced Japans plan to release more than 1.3 million tons of nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) warned that the wastewater may damage the Benham rise, and may affect the countrys fisheries, especially during the northeast monsoon or Amihan. Kung matutuloy ang pagpapakawala ng nuclear treated wastewater at mako-kontamina ang ating mayamang karagatan, magbubunga ito ng malawakang sakuna sa lokal na industriya ng pangisda, the organization said in a statement. [Translate: If the release of the nuclear treated wastewater proceeds and our rich ocean is contaminated, this will result in a widespread disaster in our local fishing industry.] Tiyak na milyun-milyong mangingisda sa ating bansa ang mapeperwisyo ang kabuhayan bunga ng nakalalasong kemikal na pakakawalan sa mayamang karagatan, it added. [Translate: For sure, the livelihood of millions of fishermen in our country will be affected because of the toxic chemicals to be released in the ocean.] In a media forum, PAMALAKAYA National Spokesperson Ronnel Arambulo said they are linking up with environmental groups and experts to study the ecological impact of radioactive water to marine environment and resources. Similar to many nations in Asia, we vehemently express our strong opposition to Japans plan to release more than 1.2 million tons of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, Arambulo said Saturday. In 2011, a 15-meter tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing high radioactive releases. The tsunami was caused by a magnitude 9 earthquake that hit east of the Oshika Peninsula in Japan. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, the plants operator, said the release of treated radioactive wastewater will free up space for radioactive water in its facilities. It added that the plant's tanks are currently 96% full. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) House Speaker Martin Romualdez wants authorities to build a strong case against those behind an alleged onion cartel in the country. I call on the concerned authorities like the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine Competition Commission, and the Department of Agriculture to work together to stamp out this cartel and spare our people from further suffering caused by their unscrupulous trade practices, Romualdez said in a statement Sunday. The extensive hearings conducted by the House have already provided good leads which our authorities can follow to build an air tight case and prosecute those involved, he added. The House Committee on Agriculture and Food held nine hearings on the issue. Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo alleged that Lilia "Lea" Cruz was behind the artificial increase in onion prices through companies involved in all levels of the value chain. "Leah Cruz operates the biggest onion cartel in the country. She does this through a SEC-registered corporation called Philippine VIEVA Corporation," Quimbo said. Cruz denied she had a hand in the soaring prices of onion, which went up to 700 per kilogram in 2022. Romualdez said unfair trade practices may carry a fine of up to 100 million and prison time of up to seven years if it is proven that businesses took part in anti-competitive agreements. The fine could be tripled if the practices involved agricultural products named in the Price Act. Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, said there could be succeeding hearings on the issue to tie up loose ends in the probe. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) Cadet First Class Warren Leonor, the top graduate of the Philippine Military Academy's (PMA) Madasigon Class of 2023, remembered his batchmates Cadet Darwin Dormitorio and Cadet Mario Telan Jr., on their graduation day. "To our dear mistahs who have departed, Cadet Darwin Dormitorio and Cadet Mario Telan Jr., you will forever be a cherished part of the Madasigon Class of 2023," Leonor said in his valedictory speech before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and military officials at Fort Del Pilar. Dormitorio and Telan would have graduated with Leonor and the rest of their mistahs or batchmates on Sunday, had they not died from hazing and drowning, respectively, during their freshman year. In September 2019, Dormitorio died after he was brought to the PMA hospital after losing consciousness, vomiting, and complaining about stomach pains. Police later found he died of hazing-related injuries and was maltreated by his upperclassmen. READ: A month of maltreatment: Dormitorios last days Two months after Dormitorio's death, Telan was found at the deep end of the 15-foot campus pool and was declared dead on arrival at the PMA hospital. Police confirmed that he had drowned. READ: Irregularities in PMA drowning incident? Swimming instructors, fellow cadets face probe Leonor, fellow graduates ready to serve The top graduate also expressed gratitude to their underclassmen for "providing [them] the opportunity to grow as leaders." Leonor also looked back at his experiences at the PMA and thanked his mentors and family. He called on his fellow graduates to "relentlessly pursue the welfare of others" and recognize that "there is always an opportunity to serve." "To the Filipino people, we are ready to serve you," he said. Three hundred ten members of the graduating class braved the rigorous physical and mental training of the country's premier military school to officially join the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Of these graduates, 158 will become part of the Philippine Army, 75 will join the Philippine Air Force (PAF), and 77 will enter the Philippine Navy. Leonor is among those who will join the PAF. In addition to the Award of Excellence, Leonor also received the Presidential Saber, Philippine Air Force Saber, and the Joint United States Military Assistance Group Saber, among others. READ: 'True battles' begin now: Marcos vows to work closely with PMA 2023 grads Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, front, pauses as he speaks as Sandy Phillips, second from right, and her husband, Lonnie, who lost their daughter in the mass shooting at a theatre in Aurora, Colo., look on before Polis signed four gun control bills into law during a ceremony Friday, April 28, 2023, in the State Capitol in Denver. Colorado Politics is published both in print and online. Our website features subscriber-only news stories daily, designed for public policy arena professionals. Member subscribers also receive the weekly print edition of our award-winning newspaper, containing outstanding features and news stories, in their mailboxes every Saturday. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Clayton Vickers is a graduate student at the University of Missouri Journalism School, and through his education there he aspires to become a public-affairs journalist of great renown. Clayton is working in Jefferson City to cover the ongoings of the state legislature and the stories within the community that matter to Missourians. He hopes to utilize his political science background to step into government-accountability reporting that places power into the hands of constituents (at any scale). Clayton will graduate with his master's degree in Spring of 2024 after completing an internship with a reputable publication. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. U.S. President Joe Biden, left, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, second from left, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and French President Emmanuel Macron, second right, stand with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they pose for a photo before a working session on Ukraine during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21. AP-Yonhap World leaders ratcheted up pressure Sunday on Russia for its war against Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the center of a swirl of diplomacy on the final day of the Group of Seven summit of rich-world democracies. Zelenskyy's in-person attendance at one of the world's premier diplomatic gatherings is meant to galvanize attention on his nation's 15-month fight against Russia. Even before he landed Saturday on a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow and hamper its war-fighting abilities. Ukraine is the overwhelming focus of the summit, but the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, are also working to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, and nuclear proliferation. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on a host of issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for what's seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyy's visit to the G7 summit closely followed the United States agreeing to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets , which lays the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. "Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today," Zelenskyy tweeted after his arrival. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, joins G7 leaders at a working session during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, May 21. AFP-Yonhap U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. "It is necessary to improve (Ukraine's) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots," Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. While India maintains close ties with the United States and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the G-7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. "The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor. As a matter of fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the world alignment will also be to suppress a competitor. Look at the decisions that are now being discussed and adopted in Hiroshima, at the G7 summit, and which are aimed at the double containment of Russia and China," he said. Yoon, Ukraine president meet for first time in Hiroshima Japanese atomic bomb survivors worry Zelenskyy's G7 visit overshadows nuke disarmament message Russia says supplying F-16 jets to Ukraine would carry 'colossal' risks for West The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure. "Russia's brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace," the group said in a statement. Another major focus of the meetings was China, the world's No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and were seeking "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing, "recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China." They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and "support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace." North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology," the leaders' statement said. President Joe Biden, right, walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of a working session on Ukraine during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21. AP-Yonhap The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. "We've reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward," Sullivan said. Biden's decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. The leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni will skip the last day of the G7 because of floods earlier this week in northern Italy, which claimed at least 14 lives and devastated dozens of hamlets and towns. Fear grows for missing Indian-origin Everest climber from Singapore; sitarist Anoushka Shankar joins plea for help Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya, Indian-origin Everest climber from Singapore, has been missing for nearly 48 hours now, and every passing hour makes his family more fearful. Shrinivas is married to the noted Carnatic vocals artiste Sushma Soma, which is why the music fraternity, including sitar player Anoushka Shankar, has joined the plea for help. In a Twitter post late last night, Anoushka, daughter of the late sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar, urged people to sign a Change.org petition, saying that her friend Sushmas husband was lost on his descent after climbing the Everest, and that the signature campaign was necessary to mobilise a search party. As per reports, it is the sherpas (Nepali mountain guides) who are searching for Shrinivas. But there are no reports of a major helicopter-led search and rescue operation, the kind that was seen on Mt Annapurna recently, when several Indian climbers went missing (and were found later). In fact, carrying out a helicopter search and rescue anywhere near the summit of Mt Everest (8,846.86 metres) is next to impossible. Modern copters may be able to fly up to that altitude, but the air is thin and there is almost no place to land safely. The record altitude for a helicopter rescue on the worlds highest mountain is 7,800 metres, carried out in May 2013 nearly 10 years to the day when Shrinivas went missing by Simone Moro, Italian climber and helicopter pilot. He, accompanied by two other rescue experts, carried out a longline rescue, where the line is lowered from the helicopter to the mountaineer who needs the rescue, and then the helicopter carries the mountaineer hanging from the line to a safer point, and lowers him/her at that point. The altitude at which Shrinivas went missing probably explains the absence of an aerial rescue attempt. The Change.org petition, started by the family of Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya, aged 39, said that he had left Singapore last month and went to Nepal to climb Mt Everest. He was supposed to return to Singapore by June 4. He did reach the summit of Mt Everest, but on the way down, he was affected by frostbite and altitude sickness. This resulted in Shrinivas getting separated from his group, and he fell at around 8,000 metres, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain. This happened sometime on Friday, and the sherpas began their search yesterday. Shrinivas was last heard from at a height 8,500 metres, from where he spoke to the Everest base camp. Through the petition, the family is trying to get the attention of any and all the government agencies that can help. The news outlet Channel News Asia quoted a family member as saying, This matter needs to be brought to their attention on an urgent basis. We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain as well as to ensure that this whole rescue operation is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork. Various news sources reported that Shrinivas told Sushma on satellite phone that he had summited Everest, but that he was finding it difficult to descend, because he was suffering from high-altitude cerebral edema, which can be fatal. Sushma found out around 2am yesterday that her husband was missing. Local authorities in Nepal, the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi, and the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs are reportedly in touch with the family. Shrinivas is an executive director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle in Singapore. His wife Sushma Soma recently performed at the SIFAS Festival of Arts in Singapore. Suspecting the call was a ruse, Stern goaded Clay, probing him with questions that insinuated that he was abused and neglected. Unbothered by Sterns antics, Clay very calmly described his weapon of choice (a hammer), his ideal locale (the side of the road) and his desire to do the whole sending clues and baffle people bit that serial killers really love. Stern was able to coax a surprising amount of information out of Clay, one detail in particular being that he resided in New Orleans. All of which made it plausible that Clay was the Storyville Slayer, a serial killer who murdered at least 24 women in New Orleans between 1991 and 1996. Advertisement That said, it wasnt a certainty either. For starters, the man the FBI believes to be the perpetrator was arrested for soliciting drugs from an undercover cop on August 4th, two weeks before the phone call to Sterns show. This caveat led to the credibility of the call being questioned, with some suggesting that Stern faked the call in an effort to boost his ratings. Advertisement Still, theres at least some validity to the notion that the Storyville Slayer called into Sterns show, as no official arrest has been made in association with the murders. For now, though, police are sticking to the belief that there were multiple killers involved Clay or no Clay. President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of their three-way talks in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, on the sidelines of the G7 Summit. Joint Press Corps US president invites leaders of S. Korea, Japan to Washington for talks By Nam Hyun-woo HIROSHIMA, Japan President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed Sunday to upgrade their trilateral cooperation to a new level during a meeting held on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The meeting, which took place briefly and did not generate practical deals and tangible outcomes, is widely seen as an attempt to show unity between the three allies to curb North Korea's nuclear threats and China's rise in the Indo-Pacific region. In an apparent bid to continue their discussions on how to contain North Korea's missile and nuclear threats and challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, Biden extended an invitation to his South Korean and Japanese counterparts for another trilateral meeting in Washington, according to media reports. The latest trilateral meeting came six months after the three leaders sat down together during the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia last November. This time, the trilateral meeting took place in the form of short conversations between the leaders that lasted for approximately five minutes, due to the time constraints of the multilateral event. Yoo Guk-hee, head of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, speaks to reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on May 21, before leading a team of experts to Fukushima, Japan, for a safety inspection of a nuclear power plant damaged by a 2011 earthquake. Yonhap A team of Korean experts arrived in Japan on Sunday for an on-site inspection ahead of the planned release of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. The inspection the first independent one by Korean experts is a follow-up to the summit between Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul earlier this month. The two leaders also met in Hiroshima earlier in the day, their third meeting in two months as bilateral relations thaw. Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairperson Yoo Guk-hee, who is leading the 21-member team, said easing safety concerns of the Korean public is part of his team's job description. "If we take a scientific approach to explain what we saw and what we need to confirm further, then I think people will have more trust in us," Yoo told reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. "We have experts with decades of experience in safety regulations in radiation and nuclear power plant facilities. They are extremely knowledgeable in their areas of expertise," he added. The team which includes 19 other experts in the nuclear reactor and radiation sectors and one expert in radiation in the marine environment will review the safety of the discharging process and check Tokyo's capability in analyzing radioactive materials. They are due back home Friday. The Korean officials will first meet with representatives from relevant authorities in Japan on Monday, including the Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the plant, as well as the industry ministry and the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Those meetings will be followed by an inspection of the plant on Tuesday and Wednesday. Based on their visits, the Korean team will have in-depth discussions and QA sessions with Japanese officials Thursday. During the examination, the delegation will have an opportunity to examine the plant's custom purification system, known as ALPS, and assess the results of the water purification process through ALPS. "Since we have a team of the finest experts, we will check on the safety of the process based on scientific foundation and standards, without tilting in any particular direction," Yoo said. "We are thoroughly prepared, and we will leave no stone unturned." Yoo Guk-hee, center, head of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, speaks to reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on May 21. Yonhap Volodymyr Zelensky put it most poignantly. Its a pity, its a tragedy, but for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts, the Ukrainian president said yesterday. The vicious battle for this eastern Ukrainian city appears to be more or less over for now. On Saturday, Yevgeny Prigozhin the shaven-headed boss of Russias notorious Wagner mercenary group boasted that Bakhmut had been captured. Flanked by some of his goons and leering into the camera, he claimed Wagner now controlled the city. A day later, Vladimir Putin himself announced that Russia had won the battle for Bakhmut. Russian forces alongside Wagners hired killers have been trying to capture the city since last year. It has been the longest battle of the war, and certainly the bloodiest. Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured) claimed his forces have full control Bakhmut - which Kyiv denies - in a video recorded in front of destroyed buildings as explosions are heard in the distance Russian mercenaries declared victory in the city of Bakhmut When I was there earlier this year, the city was a smouldering ruin. Buildings were cratered by shells, roads strewn with the scars of rockets and drones. Now, Mr Zelensky says, Bakhmut once home to 75,000 souls is utterly destroyed. Putin and Prigozhin may be gloating but they know what a Pyrrhic victory this truly is. Even if the city has fallen and I am reliably told that Ukrainian resistance continues fiercely the battle exposes two truths about this war: The insanity, chaos and total disregard for human life at the heart of Putins unprovoked invasion; and the ferocity and growing tactical intelligence of Ukraines defence. Bakhmut has no real strategic value, but Russia has been sending its men to die there for almost ten months. Why? For no other reason than Putin is determined to make good on his fantastical promise to take the entire Donbas region. This is madness. But it is a madness the Ukrainians have exploited. In recent weeks, under the brilliant generalship of their commander, Oleksandr Syrsky, they have recaptured several kilometres of territory there. It was in Bakhmut that Syrsky pioneered what he calls active defence using the resistance of the city to grind down Russian troops, killing as many as possible and tying up the rest so they cannot be deployed elsewhere. Inevitably, this has given the Ukrainians more badly needed time to prepare for their imminent counter-offensive to recapture conquered lands. Last night, Mr Zelensky said that Bakhmut now resembled the Japanese city of Hiroshima after it was hit with an atomic bomb in 1945. But he added that the battle was not over. Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia Federation as of today, he insisted. Smoke rises from buildings in this aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Western officials estimate between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the meat grinder of Bakhmut. As one officer told me: Every Russian we kill here is one less my comrades have to kill elsewhere. And thats not all. Bakhmut has also been useful in exposing the vicious internal clashes between Prigozhin and the Russian army, laying bare the tensions and contradictions at the heart of Putins strategy, such as it is. In recent months, Prigozhin has launched a series of obscenity-laden diatribes against Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov and minister of defence Sergei Shoigu, accusing them of failing to provide enough ammunition for his troops, and of serial incompetence. If the might of the Russian army has been exposed as a lie in the city, so has its political unity. In more ways than one, then, Bakhmut has become the graveyard of Russian ambitions. Now the Ukrainians are better-placed to counter-attack across the south and east. And in Bakhmut, they are preparing what the army spokesman calls the conditions ... to push [the Russians] back. Kyivs troops are hiding in the suburbs, making it almost impossible for the Russians to occupy the city properly. Yesterday Igor Girkin, Russias former federal security service officer who was key to both the 2014 annexation of Crimea and later the war in Donbas gave a brutal assessment on his blog. The battle for Bakhmut was unnecessary and its victory is hollow, he wrote. Russian forces are now reduced to salvaging an empty success as propaganda. The Ukrainians, meanwhile, stand ready to strike in several places, where they will likely be met by weakened Russian resistance. This is Syrskys active defence writ large and buttressed, of course, by the fact that much-needed F-16 fighter jets may soon be on their way to Ukraine following the G7 meeting in Japan last week. The fall of Bakhmut may look like a disaster, then. But in this event may lie the keys to Ukraines ultimate triumph. If this is what a Russian victory looks like, the Ukrainians might be willing to see more of them. David Patrikarakos is UnHerds foreign correspondent and the author of War In 140 Characters Moments showing Xi's care for people with disabilities Xinhua) 14:56, May 21, 2023 BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China celebrates its 33rd national day of assisting disabled persons on Sunday. Showing particular concern for people with disabilities in China, President Xi Jinping has pushed for society-wide support efforts. Over the years, the Chinese government has been striving to meet the essential needs and raise the quality of life of people with disabilities. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has shown his support on many occasions. HEARTWARMING ENCOURAGEMENT Ahead of the Spring Festival in 2014, when visiting a welfare home for orphans and children with disabilities in Hohhot, the capital city of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xi learned some words in sign language from Wang Yani, who has hearing impairment, and encouraged the girl to pursue excellence in her school years and chase her dreams. Wang has since realized her dream of becoming a teacher in a special education school, and she intends to pass on the skills she has learned to children with hearing or visual impairments so they too can go out into the world and serve society. "KEEP UP WITH GOOD WORK" At a ceremony honoring role models with disabilities in Beijing in May 2014, Xi met honoree Hu Lin, a painter who lost his arms at a young age. Hu bent forward in lieu of a handshake, but Xi reached out and clasped him with both hands, patted his shoulder, smiled and said, "Hu Lin, keep up with the good work!" Hu said he was surprised that the general secretary had referred to him by name. Greatly motivated, he said he would be more diligent and self-reliant in the future, and redouble his efforts to support other people with disabilities. INCREASING CONFIDENCE During a 2016 visit to Tangshan City in north China's Hebei Province, Xi spoke to residents of a paraplegic rehabilitation center, saying that if people without disabilities can lead brilliant lives, people with disabilities can do likewise. Yang Yufang and his wife Gao Zhihong, both residents of the center, said they gained strength from the general secretary's words. Encouraged, they not only worked hard to generate an income, but also supported impoverished students by making crafts for charity sales, trying their best to help the people around them. LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND In June 2017, Xi trekked through mountains in north China's Shanxi Province to inspect Zhao Jiawa Village, which is located in a contiguous poverty-stricken region of China. Local Wang Sannyu led a hard life, working to raise her grandson and granddaughter, who both have disabilities, by herself. Xi brought her daily necessities, including rice, flour and cooking oil, and told local officials to ensure her grandchildren get special education. By the end of 2020, China had lifted all rural poor population under the current standard out of poverty and removed all poor counties from the poverty list. "THANK YOU" During a community visit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in 2018, Xi bent down to shake hands with Du Chengcheng, a community worker and wheelchair user, and thanked her for her services interpreting movies since 2010 for people with visual impairments. Not expecting thanks from Xi, Du burst into tears. "Although I have encountered many difficulties in the past years, the general secretary's thank you has made me determined to move forward and encouraged me to do better," Du said. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) By Yi Woo-won Yunhyeok is the only child of my third daughter Jukyeong. I have four grandsons, one each from my three daughters and one from my only son. But, strangely, I seem to have a deeper affection for Yunhyeok and so did my late wife. This was probably because we sort of raised him for a few years after he was born. Both Jukyeong and her husband majored in art in college and had just started to run a private art academy in Daegu. Shortly after Yunhyeok was born, my wife of an impetuous disposition went out to find a professional name-maker to give him the most auspicious name he could find. After consulting his books of Chinese divination and numerology against four pillars or elements of the child, the fortune teller finally came up with Yunhyeok meaning literally "Sincerity and Brightness." She was overjoyed when he assured her that the child would enjoy health, wealth, fame and longevity. Despite the prophecy of his good name, my grandson's beginning in life was sadly inauspicious. He became suddenly ill when he was barely three months old. We took him to our pediatrician but his medicine didn't work. Then we took him to other doctors in town, including an acupuncturist whom we knew fairly well, but none of them seemed to know the name or cause of the illness. In the meantime, his condition was getting worse and worse. Then, one night about a week after the onset, I saw my daughter crying helplessly, rocking the baby in her arm. I was terrified when I thought the child was having convulsions with high temperature. At 2 a.m. I was behind the wheel rushing him to the emergency room of the Fatima Hospital where he was born. He was hospitalized immediately in the intensive care unit. It was heartbreaking to see the little baby going through multiple painful tests. I turned my face when they were taking blood from his tiny arm. After hours of checkups and examinations, they came to the conclusion the next day that the cause of the problem he had been suffering from was calcium deficiency. We were so relaxed and enormously relieved. Unbelievably, my little grandson was so strong and agile. In spite of the terrible ordeal that night, he had not only recovered his health fully, he started to walk now. He toddled about everywhere in the house, staggering and tumbling when he was in an awful hurry. He was really cute with great big eyes like those of his mother's when she was a child. I always had a camera ready to snap his handsome, innocent looks when he was seriously absorbed in doing something alone. Surprisingly still, he had a wonderful taste in music for a child. When he heard music on TV or from the radio, he started dancing quite rhythmically, waving his hands in the air, bending and unbending his knees. It was so funny and amusing that we soon joined him with cheers. There were times when I was left alone to look after him full-time on weekends. He was now growing fast physically and mentally as well. He moved around constantly to explore his world of curiosity in the house. I was fully alert to make sure the hyperactive child wasn't doing something wrong. He loved to play with electric appliances by turning their switches on and off and enjoyed the beeps and alternating lights. When I finally took his hands off from the switches, saying "no-no," he screamed in protest. He knew that "no-no" and head-shakings were very bad and unfriendly to him. When he was extremely upset about my disapproval, his protests suddenly turned into a wild babbling, and I thought he was swearing at me. Yunyheok is now 28 years old, tall, handsome and dignified. He's currently living in the United States, studying at a technical college in Washington to pursue his American dreams. He promised he would invite me over as soon as he was ready a visit that I have yearned for so long, but has regretfully been neglected too long. Yi Woo-won (yiwoowon1988@gmail.com) lives in Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province, and has been writing since 1986. If you looked into most of the violence in this country, you would likely find that drugs were at the bottom of it. And the lawless maiming and killing of road users by dangerous drivers is definitely a form of criminal violence. What a contrast it is to the carefully promoted image of marijuana as a 'harmless high' to see the tangled metal, flames and life-ruining carnage of a road accident and to realise that has very probably been brought about by the use of this substance. Drug-driving is at least comparable to the knife crime that is such a terrifying problem in London and other cities. And as Rebecca Camber reports, the amount of drug-driving has now surpassed the amount of drink-driving in this country. After almost 60 years of pretending that drugs were not really a problem, and only concerned puritan old fogeys, we find that these substances ruin and end lives. Yet even then, the enforcement of a law against this menace is inadequate, with dangerous criminals being caught and then let off because it is a bit difficult to proceed against them. (Stock Image) The astonishing thing is that illegal drugs, which on paper attract heavy prison sentences, should be doing so much damage, while we do so little about them The police of this country long ago decided it was not worth their while to do much about the huge and growing use of dangerous, illegal drugs Actually there is a much wider problem with drugs. In almost all cases of highly publicised terrorist violence, here and abroad, the culprits have been found to be users of mind-altering drugs. This does not mean that marijuana turns people into terrorists (though in some cases it surely does). It means that in the few cases where the media spotlight is turned on the culprit's life, there is a striking link between violence and long-term drug use. The ceaselessly updated website 'Attacker Smoked Cannabis' records scores of hideous violent crimes in which allegedly peaceful marijuana has been a feature. But in a country far too used to such crime such events are these days only reported locally. Yes, alcohol is also a dangerous drug and, given the impossibility of banning it after thousands of years of legality, we should try a lot harder to control it as we did until the 1980s. But the astonishing thing is that illegal drugs, which on paper attract heavy prison sentences, should be doing so much damage, while we do so little about them. By far the best way of making our roads safer would be to do as they do in Japan and South Korea, and prosecute and punish the possession of illegal drugs. That would stop this problem at its source. (Stock Image) The policy started with marijuana, a highly dangerous drug whose use is linked with severe mental illness, but which years of skilful PR falsely portrayed as 'soft' The police of this country long ago decided it was not worth their while to do much about the huge and growing use of dangerous, illegal drugs. They achieved this by simply ignoring the laws they are paid to enforce. They then pretended that crime was falling, when in fact they had just stopped paying attention to it. The policy started with marijuana, a highly dangerous drug whose use is linked with severe mental illness, but which years of skilful PR falsely portrayed as 'soft'. READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE Drug driving overtakes drink driving Advertisement Then it moved on to the bogeyman drugs such as cocaine and heroin, and all the rest of these idiotic poisons. We pay the price of this police arrogance every day. I am sorry if this upsets you. I too would much prefer to respect and admire the police. But here's the proof: in February 1994, the former head of Scotland Yard's legendary Flying Squad, John O'Connor, wrote a newspaper article in which he admitted the stark truth: 'Cannabis has been a decriminalised drug for some time now. 'Although still illegal, somebody found by police in possession of a small amount for their own use will probably just get away with a caution these days.' Please note again, this was in 1994. A few years later, after yet another elite 'report' into the drug laws (all these reports want to soften the law) this arrangement was formalised across England and Wales. Chief police officers, without troubling to consult Parliament, invented their own 'Cannabis Warning', a non-punishment, not even centrally recorded, which would be applied to most cases of marijuana possession. Not long after that, they more or less totally gave up doing anything at all, and large parts of urban Britain now reek of dope, especially in the summer months. Are you surprised, in the light of this, that so many people drive while drugged? In 2012, in a carefully researched book, The War We Never Fought, I explained that this was a long one-way process, dating to the 1960s. The police are not totally to blame. Politicians, civil servants, judges and magistrates have all worked together to undermine the law of the land. They do not believe drugs are really bad. But if we want them to enforce the laws then the people of this country must reject and reverse the long liberal campaign to soften the drug laws, and make our political leaders act to ensure that the drug problem is stifled at its source the irresponsible individuals who buy and take these poisons. Labour's attack dogs have long snarled at any Tory MP who dared to have a second job. Now the party is castigating ex-Cabinet ministers for bagging plum TV presenting roles. Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries also a Daily Mail columnist has a show on Murdoch-owned TalkTV, while former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg presents his own show on GB News. Labour vice chairman Chris Elmore MP shrieks: 'While Tory MPs are feathering their nests with lucrative media jobs, ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet, pay their mortgages and even put food on the table thanks to the Conservatives and the cost of living crisis.' All very worthy, I'm sure. But has Elmore forgotten that his own esteemed colleague, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, has banked more than 240,000 since 2019 from his outside interests? Lammy's LBC radio show has earned him some 128,000 of that fortune. Has Elmore forgotten that his own esteemed colleague, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy (pictured), has banked more than 240,000 since 2019 from his outside interests? As for Elmore, he's gladly accepted 2,000 worth of freebies from Channel 4. How's that for 'lucrative'? Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker is mulling over a new policy. 'I'm thinking about only giving interviews to journalists I've sky-dived with,' he says. Baker has leapt from planes more than 300 times and has just completed another jump for two mental health charities in his Wycombe constituency. Well, it's one way to ensure Government policies don't fall flat. Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker has leapt from planes more than 300 times and has just completed another jump for two mental health charities in his Wycombe constituency Lesley-Anne Down, who plays Mrs Thatcher in an upcoming biopic of Ronald Reagan, is the latest to join the campaign for a Damehood for Glynis Johns, 99. 'I am blessed to have worked with Glynis in a not-terribly-good touring production of The Marquis,' says Down. 'She was a star in every sense and inspired my desire to emulate her decorum.' Channel 4 boss Ian Katz sounded decidedly cocky when he addressed the Wales Screen Summit in Cardiff last week. 'Two prime ministers, three chancellors and a new king later, Channel 4's ownership is one of the few things about our island that hasn't changed,' boasted the ex Guardian journalist. You could say the same thing about his outlet's programming: Gogglebox, Come Dine With Me and Grand Designs, all on endless repeat. London Mayor Sadiq Khan ploughing on with expanding his hated Ultra Low Emission Zone scheme will plug his book Breathe at the Southbank Centre on Wednesday. Tickets are 15 to 35. Resellers are flogging them for just 6.50. Maybe the 12.50 Ulez charge to drive there is putting people off. After protesters disrupted last week's National Conservatism Conference in London, Tory MP Danny Kruger thanked organisers, quipping '. . . even though they're as good as the UK Border Force in keeping people out'. Ever wondered what a Prime Minister and an editor of the BBC's Sunday morning political chat show might talk about in the Broadcasting House lift together? Very little, it seems, at least when David Cameron was in No 10. According to Rob Burley, the BBC's ex head of political programmes, Cameron was 'aloof, eschewing eye contact'. Burley recalls thinking: 'I know you're the Prime Minister, there's no need to be a d*** about it.' Rumours swirl that Boris Johnson's third child with wife Carrie his eighth overall is part of an electoral strategy. Broadcaster David Baddiel cheekily asks: 'Is [his] plan to have enough children to eventually return him to power?' PS: Boris is not even the most prolific Prime Minister. Whig Charles Grey, PM from 1830 to 1834, had 16 children while abolishing slavery in the Empire and inventing Earl Grey tea. How did he find the time? Many top fashion brands are known for their unusual products, from Balenciaga's 1,470 'trash pouches' which resembled plastic bin bags to Loewe shoes which appeared to be covered in grass. But Louis-Gabriel Nouchi's fashion brand LGN has taken things a step further with their new daring design. The Parisian brand has just released t-shirts and crew neck jumpers with printed-on sweat stains. The grey t-shirts have large darker grey 'sweat rings' around the neck and armpits. The t-shirts cost a massive 150, while the crew neck jumper will set you back 280. Louis-Gabriel Nouchi's fashion brand LGN just released t-shirts and crew neck jumpers with printed-on sweat stains The items are described on the fashion brands website as: 'Round neck sweatshirt with sweat stains printed on it.' The item is described to have a round neck, dropped shoulders, ribbed edges and a regular fit. Its made in Portugal of 100 per cent cotton, and has instructions to wash gently, presumably because you might accidentally wash off the sweat stains you paid the premium for, and have to make your own. LGN was founded in Paris in 2017 by Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, reflecting its founders lifetime passion for reading, each collection pays homage to a book or writer who has inscribed their vision on the world. One person took to Twitter saying: 'errr nope Look Undeniably Hot This Summer With High-Fashion Labels Sweat Print Shirts.' It comes after Balenciaga was blasted last year for selling 1,470 'trash pouches' which resemble plastic bin bags. The grey T shirts have large darker grey 'sweat rings' around the neck and armpits. The T shirts cost a massive 150, while the crew neck jumper will set you back 280 People weren't too impressed with the ensembles with one person saying it will make customers look 'undeniably hot' The luxury Spanish fashion house sold the drawstring calfskin pouch, which the brand called a 'trash pouch', in four different colours including black, white, blue and yellow. Many people took to Twitter to question whether the brand was conducting a social experiment, or simply trolling the masses. On the Balenciaga website the label revealed: 'The Trash Pouch is inspired by a garbage bag.' The piece first debuted as part of the opening look from Balenciaga's Fall 22 show during Paris Fashion Week in March. The heartbreaking narrative for the show evoked the million-plus Ukrainians fleeing the war. Demna Gvasalia, Balenciaga's creative director, who was once a child refugee himself, said the headlines 'triggered the pain' for him. Therefore, he wanted the show to pay homage to the victims resistance and to focus on the 'victory of love and peace.' When asked about the controversial product Demna, told WWD: 'I couldn't miss an opportunity to make the most expensive trash bag in the world, because who doesn't love a fashion scandal?' It's 2.15pm on a Friday and I'm walking through Finsbury Park in North London, heart thumping in anticipation. A cheerful green-and-white awning swings into view, and I'm surprised to find my eyes prick with tears. After 23 years, I'm back! And judging by the crowds of 30-something women gathered outside, I'm not the only millennial who couldn't resist one last visit to the Sylvanian Families shop. Sylvanian Families originated in Japan and launched in the UK in 1987. The toys swiftly built up an army of fans, hooked on the adorable anthropomorphic characters who live in a world of horse-drawn ice-cream carts and canal boats run by bunnies. In 1992 Simon and Angela Harwood (who prefer to be known by their Sylvanian alter-egos, Taylor and Rose Timbertop) established the only independent Sylvanian shop in Europe on Mountgrove Road in London, and it quickly became a hit, with people travelling far and wide to see its captivating displays. In 1992 Simon and Angela Harwood established the only independent Sylvanian shop in Europe on Mountgrove Road in London Shoppers would discover glass cabinets full of fantastically detailed scenes windmills, country mansions, village stores, all inhabited by a cutesy bunch of woodland animals while at the centre of the store stood the piece de resistance, a circular display case where the whole population of Sylvania appeared to be living it up in a vibrant village scene. For any Sylvanian fan, this was utopia the dream vision of what a dedicated collector might achieve. This spring, however, Taylor and Rose Timbertop retired, and the world's most magical shop closed its doors for the last time. As a result, for the past few months my Instagram and TikTok feeds have been filled with videos of people mainly women in their 20s and 30s making their final pilgrimages to this childhood haven. Childs play: the iconic green-and-white awning of Sylvanian Families, in Finsbury Park The toys swiftly built up an army of fans, hooked on the adorable anthropomorphic characters who live in a world of horse-drawn ice-cream carts and canal boats run by bunnies. Dr Jean Menzies, who normally posts TikTok videos about ancient history, took a diversion from normal proceedings to share the 'incredibly sad news' that Sylvanian Families would be closing, and filmed her last visit to the store, racking up nearly 200,000 views. 'For any Sylvanian Families fan this place is a little bit of heaven,' she said, wistfully. There are more than 1,000 Instagram posts location-tagged at the shop, many from adults documenting their goodbye trips, plus their swag. I'm not at all surprised by this outpouring of nostalgia. For many, the shop represented the ultimate innocence, a physical space embodying all those memories of childhood escapism. When I was a kid, nothing brought the magical world of Sylvania to life quite like the Sylvanian Families shop. I still remember catching the train from South Wales to London in 1995. MY EYES PRICK WITH TEARS. AFTER 23 YEARS, IM BACK! It was possibly the highlight of my seventh year, especially as I came home bearing a Meadow Croft Thatched Cottage, complete with a pair of dungaree-clad rabbits to oversee the place. On entering the shop, Ben Miller-Poole, the shop manager for 19 years, says people normally react 'with awe there are gasps and squeals of delight, and that's just the adults!' I manage to grab five minutes with him on the shop's penultimate day. He admits he will 'definitely cry when it closes [on 22 April]'. He's not the only one. Such is the level of Sylvanian mania there are dedicated social media accounts. See @sylvaniandrama on TikTok, where videos of Sylvanians involved in ludicrous, soap opera-style storylines that must take hours to make are lapped up by 2.3 million followers. In 2017, businessman Jacc Batch, from Kettering, claims the Guinness World Record for largest Sylvanians collection: 3,489 items, costing 250,000 (pictured) Why do people love Sylvanians so much? For me, as a kid, it was the make-believe element It was all a bit less high-tech when Ben, like me, became a Sylvanian obsessive in the 90s. As well as setting up the shop, the Harwoods also ran a Sylvanian Families Collectors Club, and Ben was one of their early customers. 'I corresponded with Rose Timbertop by post as a child, and then later via email as an adult,' he explains. TOY STORY: HOW A BRAND WAS BORN 1985 Sylvanian Families is created in Japan, with a house, 11 pieces of furniture and nine families. 1987 The brand launches in the UK, which becomes its third biggest market after the US and Japan. 1989 The Sylvanian Windmill is launched. One rare first edition was recently listed on Ebay for 1,100. 1992 The Sylvanian Families shop opens in Finsbury Park, London. 2009 The Sylvanian Gardens attraction opens in Japan atthe Grinpa theme park, featuring replicas of the houses as well as buildings from the toy line. 2017 Tatler features Sylvanian Families on a list of 'what posh people keep in their nurseries'. 2017 Businessman Jacc Batch, from Kettering, claims the Guinness World Record for largest Sylvanians collection: 3,489 items, costing 250,000. 2023 The Sylvanian Families shop shuts, but you can still buy online: sylvanianstorekeepers.com has been taken over by Taylor and Roses daughter Daisy. Advertisement 'When they needed someone knowledgeable about the brand to take over running the shop for them, they asked me. I was delighted.' He even got his own Sylvanian name as part of the deal: Rocky Babblebrook. Starting work in the shop was 'wonderful' says Ben, 'like stepping back into my childhood safe place whenever I came to work'. Over the past two decades, he has built strong bonds with many 'kindred spirits'. 'New product day is always the best,' says Ben. 'When a highly anticipated new release family comes into stock there is always a rush of orders.' The old classics are still winners, though he says the bestselling and longest-running Sylvanian purchase is the Hedgehog Family, a few of whom are currently residing in my mum's attic in Wales. Ben says there is a 'certain amount of sadness' around the shop closing, but after three decades of success the mood is 'celebratory and commemorative'. He's right; that sense of paying homage is certainly palpable among my fellow shoppers. I get chatting to Emma and Lucy, 29-year-old friends from London in the queue in front of me. 'We couldn't not come and see the shop one last time before it shut,' said Emma. 'It's so bound up with my childhood. I remember thinking this place was heaven when I was little.' Both squeal with delight as they press their noses against the first display case, in which a mother cat puts her triplets to bed and a jauntily dressed elephant appears to be hosting a barbecue. For others, visiting the Sylvanian Families shop has been a bucket-list goal. I get chatting to US-based Nicole, who runs accounts celebrating her love of Sylvanians on Instagram (@nicolet0ys) and TikTok (#nicolet0ys). 'When they announced the closure, there was no question: I was going to fly over here,' she says. 'I'm in London for three days, and on two of those I'm here in the Sylvanian shop.' Impressive dedication, for sure, but apparently Nicole hasn't travelled the furthest to be here one eager fan flew from Australia last month. I take my purchases to the till, where shoppers are spending hundreds of pounds on vast Sylvanian hauls. I pretend the two little sets I'm buying are for my three-year-old daughter, although of course they are just as much for me immediately I send excitable photo messages to my mum and sister. Why do people love Sylvanians so much? For me, as a kid, it was the make-believe element. I saw this play out recently with my daughter when we retrieved the Sylvanians from the attic and she was putting the baby ducks merrily to bed within seconds. For adults, I imagine, it's more the satisfaction of creating a cute, nostalgic world where there's no Brexit or cost of living crisis to worry about. World-building is something this shop has done rather successfully in its 30 years. There are the detailed, breathtaking displays, but also more a whole global family of people for whom this corner of Finsbury Park will forever hold the magic of Sylvania. And for that Rose, Taylor and Rocky can give themselves a pat on the back. Broadway fans are billing a new 'dark and twisted' play as 'deeply disturbing,' with one audience member saying they were 'scared out of my seat.' The terrifying show, which is currently in previews, stars Roseanne alum Laura Metcalf and She Hulk actress Tatiana Maslany. It tells the story of a couple who are forced to stay at an isolated cabin after their car crashes in the mountains. At first, the cabin's residents are welcoming of their new guests, but their stay stretches out over several days as they remain trapped by a blizzard. The new Broadway play, Grey House, is causing quite a stir even before it opens, with fans describing it as 'deeply disturbing' and 'dark and twisted' It tells the story of a couple who are forced to stay at an isolated cabin after their car crashes in the mountains before things start taking an unsettling turn Soon the couple start to notice things are amiss with their hosts and their temporary home. Over the weeks leading up to opening night on May 30, Broadway lovers have been heading to New York City's Lyceum Theater for previews of the play. And it's left people creeped out and terrified. 'Grey House is the first horror play I've ever seen. It's creepy and very funny. Highly recommended for all horror hounds! Laurie Metcalf, Tatiana Maslany, and Paul Sparks are great in it,' one person wrote on Twitter. 'As a huge horror fan, this show was one of my most anticipated and WOW. GREY HOUSE had me jolting in my seat, but more so pondering the themes and show as a whole (not a bad thing!). Definitely unique and thought-provoking and a little bit terrifying!' another added. 'My favorite part of seeing Grey House on Broadway yesterday was hearing the guy sitting next to me mutter, "What the F***?!" during a pivotal scene,' a third comment read. 'First time being scared out of my seat at a Broadway play lol Grey House was pretty wild. Tatiana Maslany, Laurie Metcalf, Sophia Anna Caruso freaking killed it some of them literally,' one fan wrote. Someone else on Twitter described it as 'very creepy.' The terrifying show, which is currently in previews, stars Roseanne alum Laura Metcalf and She Hulk actress Tatiana Maslany Among the reviews, one person said they were 'scared out of my seat' On New York theater review site Show Score, one theater goer described it as a 'mindf***.' Another wrote: 'See it if you like complicated storyline, freaky and deeply disturbing imagery/stories, jump scares, great acting. Closer sitting to stage + intense.' A third reviewer said the show would cater to a 'dark and twisted person who loves dark and twisted shows.' 'Many layers. Great actors. What does it mean? Who is real? What?!' they said. During the play's 2019 run, the Chicago Tribune described it as 'legitimately terrifying.' It comes as Netflix viewers were left unable to finish Soft & Quiet because of its frightening plot. Written and directed by Beth de Araujo, it has been described as 'intense' and 'daring.' On New York theater review site Show Score, one theater goer described it as a 'mindf***' The twisting plot, starring Stefanie Estes, Olivia Luccardi, Eleaonore Pienta, and Dana Millican, follows an elementary school teacher who organized a mixer for white supremacist women. However, a terrifying chain of events is unleashed when a mysterious person from her past re-enters her life. One posted: 'It's literally the only movie I have rented and then refused to finish. It's also the only movie I want to send to hell in the express lane.' 'We turned on Soft & Quiet and I did not think this movie was gonna be like this... I'm highly disturbed.' King Charles wants Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to 'grow up as normal as possible' so they avoid making the 'same mistakes he made', a royal expert has claimed. Chandrika Kaul, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, appeared on the new documentary The Fab Five: The King's Grandchildren, which aired on Channel 5 last night. The expert claimed the newly-crowned monarch wants nothing more than for George, nine, Charlotte, eight and Louis, five, to have the confidence to go after what they want. Professor Kaul said: 'I think King Charles is very keen that his grandchildren don't make the mistakes that I think he feels he made, particularly when it came to matters of the heart.' In 1994, Charles admitted to being unfaithful to Princess Diana with his now wife Queen Camilla when his first marriage had 'irretrievably broken down' in an interview with Jonathan Dimbleby. Channel 5's The Fab Five: The King's Grandchildren dives into the Monarch's relationship with the children of his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as his step grandchildren from his second marriage to Queen Camilla As such, the expert said King Charles has learnt from his past and doesn't want history to repeat itself with the younger generations of royals. She continued: 'What I think he wants to do is try and help these young grandchildren grow up in as normal a way as possible and create more fully rounded human beings who are unafraid of their emotions and who are able to have the confidence to marry whom they want. 'And to have a happy, successful and fulfilled personal life.'. Scottish broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika suggested that helping the younger royals find their own path within the Institution will also ensure the future of the Monarchy. She said: 'Charles, as a good grandfather, will have to explain to the other two that they're not just spares, they're not just surplus to requirement.' Ailsa Anderson, who worked as a press secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth reflected on Princess Charlotte's special role as the third-in-line to the throne. She said: 'It appears to me that Princess Charlotte has no qualms at all about being in the spotlight on public events.' Editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward added: 'Charlotte has got an absolute terrific personality. Speaking on the show, which aired yesterday, Scottish broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika said that the Monarch should pay particularly attention to Prince Charlotte, eight, and Prince louis, five, pictured during the Big Help Out on May 8 'She's brave, she's quite forceful, she certainly lords it up over her older brother,' she added. Simon Vigar, royal correspondent for 5News, added: 'I remember George being quite bossy but I think the dynamic's changed. Recently during public events, we've seen Charlotte taking charge and ordering George around.' Last year, the Prince and Princess of Wales moved away from London to rural Berkshire - where their children have been enrolled at the 21,000-a-term Ladbrook school. Earlier this month, royal fans went wild over George, Charlotte and Louis' 'normal' moments during their day of volunteering in Slough. Following on from the Coronation concert on Sunday night, the family spent hours renovating some Scouts huts for local members to use. Afterwards, clips from the family's day out were posted on social media - and fans were in awe of how George, Charlotte and Louis seemed like any other 'normal kids' their age. Princess Charlotte pictured picking up a piece of biscuit from her smore before popping it in her mouth at yesterday's event in Slough The Daily Mail's royal editor Rebecca English accompanied the family to the Scouts base yesterday and shared a heartwarming clip of Prince Louis, five, happily digging into a smore. As the Princess of Wales assembled Louis' snack for him, Princess Charlotte was seen enjoying hers in the background. However, eagle-eyed royal fans noticed that Princess Charlotte accidentally dropped some of her biscuit on the grass behind her brother. The video - which has amassed over 68,000 views - shows the couple's second child crouching down to grab the piece she had dropped. As she watched her little brother being given his sweet treat, Charlotte then discreetly popped the biscuit in her mouth. Although Louis' animated reaction to his smore was the focus of the clip, royal fans pointed out how Charlotte had followed the 'five second rule' in the comments. One replied: '[He]s gorgeous but did anyone notice what his sister did in the background? Prince George was pictured using the car window as a mirror to fix his hair after the engagement ended Prince Louis, five, and Princess Charlotte, eight, pictured tucking into Smores at the Scouts event in Slough Princess Charlotte was seen leading her brothers into the car while Prince Louis continued eating his smores 'When she bit her biscuit a piece fell on the grass, she quickly picked it up. After a couple of seconds, it went in her mouth. Love! Kids are all the same.' Another added: 'Yes, demonstrating that even royal children follow the five second rule!' It came two days after Prince George stepped into his role as second-in-line to the throne during his grandfather's Coronation, where he was a page. George was one of four Pages of Honour for his grandfather, a ceremonial position which required the young boys to attend to King Charles, largely by carrying his heavy robes. It was a long day, but nine-year-old George remained professional throughout, appearing by the King's side for the religious ceremony, the Royal Salute and on the Buckingham Palace balcony. There were even a few poignant moments where Charles was seen whispering to his grandson, who will one day attend the coronation of his father Prince William - and his own. George with Nicholas Barclay and Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, 13, and Ralph Tollemache, 12 on the day of the Coronation Prince George, the second in line to the throne, was a page boy durinh his grandfather King Charles' Coronation on May 6 His brother Prince Louis and sister Princess Charlotte were not so involved in the momentous royal occasion, sitting with their mother and father in the pews inside Westminster Abbey. Meanwhile, George was stood close to the King as he was crowned - joined by his fellow Pages of Honour: Nicholas Barclay and Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, both 13, and Ralph Tollemache, 12. Page of Honour is a ceremonial position within the Royal Household that only requires attendance on State occasions, like Saturday, when the four boys were tasked with carrying the King's robes. Another four boys - the Queen's grandsons and great-nephew - attended to Camilla. The King's pages looked the part in a traditional style of dress that was first seen at the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902: scarlet tunics decorated with gold lace trim and blue velvet cuffs. These specific outfits were designed by Ede and Ravenscroft during the reign of the late Queen. Prince George began his duties at Westminster Abbey early on Saturday, when he was seen deep in conversation with his grandfather in the moments before they entered the church. He and his fellow Pages of Honour then carried the King's robes through the Abbey, and stayed close by his side to be on hand for whenever Charles needed to move his position. George was the picture of professionalism throughout the coronation ceremony, which kept him on his feet for over two hours. But his duties did not end when the King departed Westminster Abbey. For the rest of Saturday, wherever King Charles went, his grandson was close behind. He, Nicholas, Oliver and Ralph were on hand as the King received a Royal Salute from the British Army, and later helped Charles navigate the Buckingham Palace balcony. The Prince of Wales joined Royal Navy crew for a rowing trip as he marked the start of Mental Health Awareness week with a slick new video. The six-minute clip - which was uploaded on the Prince and Princess of Wales' YouTube account today - opens with the royal arriving at Dorney Lake in Windsor to meet members of the HMS Oardacious. The campaign was founded in 2019 to provide mental health support to those working in submarines. The father-of-three, 40, met with Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs and his team who are crossing the Atlantic in their new eco-friendly boat this December. The group included marine engineer and submariner Izzy Rawlinson, who will lead the first all-women's team to cross the Atlantic next year. The Prince of Wales, 40, met with HMS Oardacious crew members. The campaign was founded in 2019 to provide mental health support to those working in submarines William was also introduced to marine engineer Jon Norfolk and Lieutenant Callum Fraser, who joined Hugo in rowing the Atlantic four years ago. After being introduced to the group, William happily boarded the new boat to row along the lake. However, the bashful royal joked that he might not be able to keep up with the professionals and may accidentally 'slap oars' with one of them. Although Hugo assured William that the boat should remain upright at all times, William laughed: 'If we capsize, we're going well!' Before stepping foot in the boat, William asked the team what they eat on their longer journeys at sea. Looking back on his Atlantic trip, Hugo said: 'We took 50 odd days' worth [of food] - which means we could really tuck into the Haribos and Percy Pigs.' This then promoted William to joke that the team's snack supply had probably been demolished by 'day two'. Recently, the team raced against 42 other teams to cross the Atlantic - where they faced 40-foot waves and tropical storms. Prince William speaks with Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs outside Eton College Rowing Club Pictured: The Prince of Wales threw himself into the rowing but joked he might accidentally 'slap oars' with one of the professionals While rowing alongside them, William asked: 'Was it the physical toll or the mental toll? What was the hardest thing for you guys to manage?' Callum replied: 'The physical toll tends to be one of those things where everything gets slightly harder each day. 'But the thing we really have to work at is how we work together as a team and that mental challenge around it.' Hugo then added: '[It's] understanding each other's vulnerabilities and showing empathy. 'That was how we got past the real psychological hurdles and just being really open with our emotions like that. I think that was something we were really good at.' As a result of their various challenges, Hugo's team have helped to raise over 600,000 for military charities and organisations that support veterans and their families. Pictured: Lieutenant Callum Fraser (left), marine engineer Jon Norfolk (centre) and submariner Izzy Rawlinson (right) Pictured: the new eco-friendly boat the team will be using to compete in competitions to raise money for military charities and organisations that support veterans and their families Following their excursion on the late, the group returned to Eton College's Rowing Centre - where William asked the rowers about how they mentally cope with the stresses of their jobs. Hugo said: 'We focus so much on our physical health but actually, acknowledging that psychological health is the same. 'Everyone gets anxiety to various degrees. If you engage with it and have things in your back pocket to address those things one by one, you're in a much better position to [show] your potential.' Showing his understanding of their demanding occupations, William continued: 'Submarine service, you have to have a certain mentality to do your job. 'You're in a metal tube for months on end. Lots of your life's pleasures are away - you don't have sunlight or fresh air.' Hugo added: 'You go from being a civilian to this whole new world where you're working with ship mates and a whole new dynamic.' Speaking from his own experience, the royal added: 'Understanding our support networks is crucial because a lot of people don't have those support networks. 'I think in the military, we're very good at forming close bonds and realising the only way we're going to get through all this is by helping each other.' On Friday, the Prince and Princess of Wales published a short trailer for a video marking Mental Health Awareness Week. The short 15-second clip showed the merest glimpse of the Prince of Wales preparing to push off with mental health charity HMS Oardacious from a serene-looking riverbank with a four-man Royal Navy Submariners crew. The caption accompanying the cameo clip reads: 'A special video for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek coming this Sunday' accompanied by a pair of eyes and a boat emoji. HMS Oardacious's Royal Navy Submariners row oceans to raise money for mental health charity projects. Posting shortly after, the charity wrote on Twitter: 'Such an honour to be part of this. #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.' In the video, the Prince is seen sat, wearing shades and blue rowing gear with his hands on the oars of the vessel. Rowing royal: Prince William is seen in the short teaser clip in a four-man boat as he joined mental health charity HMS Oardacious for a trip on the river The royal doesn't speak, but a voice from a fellow crewmember can be heard saying: 'Let go of the lines, push off when you're ready.' The clip opens with a calming river view, as the vessel is prepped for the outing, with ropes unfurled and oars dipped. It's the latest in a high-production clip shared by Kensington Palace; following the Coronation, the Prince and Princess of Wales released a stunning behind-the-scenes video of theme at the historic event. The video, released by the Wales's official YouTube account, showed William and Kate meeting crowds of royal fans on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace the evening before the coronation. It also showed the family getting ready in their Kensington Palace apartment - number 1A - on the day. Prince William, 40, and Kate, 41, live with their children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, in the private home when staying in London. The Prince and Princess of Wales have shown their commitment to mental health causes this week: Kate Middleton , 41, was beaming as she greeted royal fans at Anna Freud's London base on Thursday Mental Health Awareness Week began tomorrow, with the Prince and Princess of Wales annually showing their support for the awareness week. The Princess of Wales said she believes emotions should not be 'over medicalised', particularly among young people who tend to 'latch onto labels of any sort'. Yesterday, the Princess of Wales chatted to young people about their anxieties during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre last week. Kate, 41, was beaming as she arrived at Anna Freud's London base on Thursday, where she joined a series of roundtable discussions about the mental health challenges facing youngsters today. She told officials: 'In the caveman ages our worlds were quite small so we were able to deal with that fight or flight response..." By comparison, she suggested that modern society and the effect of social media had a notable effect on mental health and wellbeing. Instead she said children should be encouraged to learn mental health skills that will help them not just in school, but in all aspects of their lives. Wearing a 3,000 green Suzannah teadress with Alessandra Rich two-tone heels and a pair of Accessorize earrings costing around 8, the Princess spent time at the centre with a group of secondary schoolchildren who have been taking part in interactive activities that explore how to deal with their own anxious feelings. As she chatted about her work on mental health, she added: 'The more you learn, the more you read, the more interesting a perspective you get... it's great to keep up to date.' She went on: 'I've learnt a huge amount. And then you go down into fields of philosophy, as well as psychology and neuroscience.' The Princess noted that there was "so much synergy" between conversations on all aspects of mental health and that no individual element could be considered alone. She then joined a round table discussion involving sector experts who chatted about how to better support the mental health of future generations. Star boasts 508,000 Instagram followers thanks to her body positive campaign Instagram model Sophia Hadjipanteli dazzled as she walked the Cannes red carpet last night in a show-stopping rhinestone gown. The Cypriot, 25, cut a glamorous figure in a plunging V-neck dress to attend the premiere of the Killers Of The Flower Moon. The social media starlet - who has amassed over 508,000 followers thanks to her body positive #unibrowmovement campaign- choose a navy frock with a fully-beaded bodice for her red carpet appearance. The dress, which had built-in sequined gloves, also had two thigh-high slits up the front to give a flash of leg. Sophia finished off her outfit with a pair of sheer tights and black pointy heels with a bejewelled strap. Sophia Hadjipanteli, 25, dazzled in a navy sequin gown to attend the Killers Of The Flower Moon premiere in Cannes last night What's more, the Instagram model proudly accentuated her unibrow by opting for a brown smokey eye and cat-eye flick. The star swept her red hair out of her face into a low ponytail and then completed her makeup with a nude lipstick. The University of Maryland marketing graduate grew up in Cyprus before later emigrating to the US with her family. In 2018, Sophia revealed on Good Morning Britain that she delights in people's 'shock reactions' to her bold unibrow. During her interview with Richard Madeley and Ranvir Singh, the social media star jokingly revealed that she had even nicknamed her brow 'Veronica'. She added that her ancestors and cultural heritage inspired her to grow her brows out to achieve the unibrow she's now famous for. Sophia said: 'Ive always been known to change my look and do whatever I really wanted 'And I guess that sort of stubbornness and rebelliousness has made me do literally whatever I want.' The model accentuated her unibrow by opting for a brown smokey eye and a flick of liquid eyeliner Sophia pictured posing on a staircase before taking to the red carpet. The model opted for a show-stopping dress with a mermaid fit Sophia Hadjipanteli grew up in Cyprus before later emigrating to the US with her family. The star previously joked that she has named her unibrow 'Veronica' Although Sophia is comfortable in her own skin, the model says her brow is met with mixed reactions in public. She continued: 'I think for me its about being able to walk outside on a busy street in London with something that I know people will have negative, shocking, positive, cringeworthy, uncomfortable reactions to, and still be able to be strong with who I am, and just walk down the street. 'At the end of the day I left my house loving the way I looked and try to be true to who I am.' The natural blonde, who used to shape her thick brows, said that the striking appearance of her brows was enhanced when she tried tinting them and accidentally dyed them black. Sophia (pictured in 2019) previously explained how the striking appearance of her brows was enhanced when she tried tinting them and accidentally dyed them black But she was glad she was able to find a way to stand out: 'Ever since I was little Ive always been quite different, just either my style or the way I acted. 'I was always on my own in terms of school and growing up. I was very quirky and with all of that I just wanted to push some sort of boundary. I did this before anyone really knew who I was really and it was nothing to do with getting attention or anything like that.' And despite being told by trolls to pluck her brows by online trolls who labelled her 'disgusting' and 'ugly', she refuses to bow down to any sort of pressure to pluck them, even applying castor oil to help them grow. With every post on her Instagram, Sophia adds the hashtag #UnibrowMovement to encourage others to accept it. 'This unibrow movement is really not about just letting everything go, if you want to that is totally what you can do, for me its about doing what really makes you happy.' An expectant mother has sparked debate online for sending her daughter to nursery - even though she is off work on maternity leave. The anonymous woman, from the US, explained in a Reddit post that she has no plans to pull her daughter out of daycare while she is on her six-month leave from work. Defending her decision, the soon-to-be mother-of-two said she would otherwise have to spend her maternity leave trying to keep her toddler out of her husband's home office. She explained: 'On maternity leave with baby number two. Its 24 weeks long (about the best you get in America).' 'The thought didnt even cross our minds to pull our toddler out of daycare while Im on leave. And no, I dont feel guilty about it. An American woman took to Reddit to explain why she wouldn't be pulling her eldest daughter out of nursery while she was on a six-month maternity break (stock image) 'When people question it, I give the following answer: she would lose her spot in school if we pulled her, and she likes going. Her friends are there and she loves to play all day.' What's more, the mother said her daughter would get 'way less attention and stimulation' if she didn't go to nursery.' She added: 'Also my husband works from home, so the house would be chaos and Id be constantly trying to keep the toddler out of his office.' But above all, the woman says she's enjoying spending some time alone in this pregnancy - even though her own mother has questioned her decision. She said: 'What I dont say (for fear of judgment) is that Im really enjoying this time spent with my baby, and my days are a million times easier without my toddler being home.' 'Ive gotten so many of our house projects and family To-Dos completed in the past weeks. Its incredible.' The mother-of-two later edited the post, adding that she suspected the people who questioned her decision didn't have kids or were stay-at-home parents. She continued: 'I think most people with a toddler understand! And for those asking, I work at a large consulting firm. They work us hard (average 50-80 hour weeks), but they give us a lot of time off too!' The mother-of-two incited a debate after confessing to 'enjoying' her time at home while her daughter was away at daycare A number of fellow parents sympathized with the mother's need for peace while bonding with baby number two One person wrote: 'A kids life is already upended when a new baby comes home. Why would you want to disrupt their routine even more? This is the best situation for everyone involved.' Another added: 'Precisely! My 19-month-old daughter loved her preschool and her friends, why would I take her away from them to stay home with a fussy newborn and a sleep-deprived mommy?' A third wrote: 'People question this? We will be doing the same come my maternity leave this fall and I never thought twice about it. 'Why would I continue to pay for a spot at daycare and not have her go? It also affords me one on one bonding time with my new baby.' Someone else reassured her: 'Absolutely NOTHING wrong with this for all of the reasons you mentioned and any number of others not thought of. 'I remember way back when my oldest was in day-care and my wife would be surprised when I'd tell her I'm taking a day off and leaving him in day-care. I told her why wouldn't I? He had more stimulation, social interaction, and quite frankly fun there than I could ever provide on the home front.' UWC Atlantic College in Wales is no stranger to royalty - but this year, they've counted not one, but two royal graduates. Both the Royal Families of Spain and Netherlands celebrated the graduation of Princess Leonor and Princess Alexia, both 17, this weekend. The school, which was founded in German educationalist Kurt Hahn, is situated at the 12th century St Donat's Castle on the country's south coast. With school fees for a two year course costing a whopping 67,000, courses on offer include Tai Chi, the theory of knowledge and Tibetan literature. Queen Maxima, 52, and King Willem-Alexander, 56, travelled to the prestigious school in South Wales and beamed as they posed for a picture with their second daughter. Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, 17, posed with her parents, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Mazima, during the Leavers Celebration King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Princess Sofia all made the journey from Spain to congratulate Princess Leonor, 17, who is the heir to the throne, as she has just completed her education at UWC Atlantic For her big day, Princess Alexia opted for a chic white linen suit which she teamed with some burnt orange high heels. Meanwhile, proud mother Maxima stunned in a brown ombre silk dress with a pleated skirt, which she paired with a brown blazer and suede heels. What's more, King Felipe VI, 55, Queen Letizia, 50, and Princess Sofia, 16, all made the journey from Spain to congratulate Leonor, who is the heir to the throne. In one picture, Leonor could be seen proudly showing her graduation certificate up in front of her. The freshly graduated royal picked a hot pink jacket dress for the ceremony - which had cut-outs on the sleeves. Letizia looked effortlessly elegant in a white suit which she paired with a silky blush pink top while Felipe was dapper in a black suit. One sweet snap showed Sofia, who was wearing a powder blue dress - hugging her big sister close. In another picture, media savvy Letizia gives the camera her best pout as the family pose for a selfie. The Spanish royal family were beaming and took a selfie to mark the occasion of Leonor's graduation A selfie taken by Queen Letizia was shared by the royal family, with the Queen, her two daughters and her husband beaming with pride The images was shared by the Spanish royal court on Twitter to announce the heir-to-the-throne's graduation. They captioned the post: 'The King and the Queen, the Princess of Asturias and the Infanta Sofia, after the graduation ceremony for the Princess of Asturias at the UWC Atlantic College of Wales, the educational institution where she completed her International Baccalaureate studies.' A social media post shared on the Dutch royal family's social media to mark the occasion read: 'Princess Alexia has completed the International Baccalaureate exams at the United World College of the Atlantic. 'Today the school marks the end of the exam period with the traditional Leavers Celebration. The results of the exams are expected at the beginning of July.' Although the royal couples didn't post photos together, it is likely that they would have rubbed shoulders at the event - having met on several state occasions in the past. Queen Letizia and Queen Maxima have met several times over the years - including when they travelled to the UK in 2019 for the Order of the Garter Service in Windsor READ MORE: Why euroroyals love the Welsh Hippie Hogwarts! Advertisement While Alexia's future studies are not yet known, Princess Leonor is set to start her military training before the end of the summer in August. Whereas many of her peers will go off to university, the eldest daughter of King Felipe and Queen Letizia will return to Spain to begin training. Tatler reported that Spanish defence minister Margarita Robles confirmed Princess Leonor of Asturias's next move earlier this week. The training will include stints in the armed forces, the Spanish navy and the air force. Speaking in March, Ms Robles confirmed: 'In due course, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces will be a woman, and in recent years we have been making a very important effort to incorporate women into the armed forces.' The Princess will begin her training at Army Military Academy in Zaragoza before going to naval school, and will complete her three years at the General Air Academy. In September last year the Spanish palace announced that Princess Leonor will go to university to study law once her three years of military training have been completed. While Leonor's choice of university is unknown, the Princess's academic background already bears a resemblance to that of her father King Felipe. After graduating from high school at Lakefield College in Canada, Felipe returned to Spain and attended the General Military Academy of Zaragozo, and went on to study at the Naval Military School in Marin. He ended his training with a stint at the General Air Academy in San Javier. His also completed his military training with a stint on the shop Juan Sebastian Elcano aged 18 in 1987, and went on to study law at the Autonomous University of Madrid. Currently, Leonor, who is understood to speak four languages including Mandarin, juggles her life as a young princess with her work as a student at the Welsh boarding school, dubbed 'Hippie Hogwarts' thanks to its progressive approach to education and picturesque castle setting. Previous students at the school include Belgian Princess Elisabeth, Princess Raiyah bint Hussein of Jordan and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. By Robert Neff John Baptiste Bernadou, a 24-year-old ensign in the United States Navy temporarily assigned to the legation in Seoul, may have been one of the earliest Western pathfinders between Seoul and two former Korean capitals (Gaeseong and Pyongyang) but his narrative was often lacking. This is extremely frustrating as he was so meticulous with his annotations of material collected while on his travels. Perhaps after a hard day of trekking in the mud and his constant upset stomach, he just did not have the energy to devote to writing in detail about the seemingly mundane villages he passed especially so early in his journey. He briefly noted that in the immediate vicinity of Seoul, the soil was poor and provided only light crops, but after some 20 kilometers, "the character of the country changes, and from here on it is wonderfully fertile." He explained, "Great stretches of wheat and rice fields are to be seen, and beans and peas are grown in quantity. The country is cut up into a series of small valleys by low ranges of hills; these are cultivated nearly to their summits, and there is little waste ground. In the vicinity of tombs, however, the land remains untouched; these are of frequent occurrence, and are built in groups on the hillsides." As we have earlier seen, Bernadou had a great interest in grave sites. "[On] the side of a steep hill, in a dense grove of pines, have been erected two huge stone figures. They stand side by side, the heads tower above the trees and may be seen at a distance of at least five miles. The bodies are carved in relief out of the rock face; the heads, huge stones, skillfully put in place, are of five layers, the two lower in each forming the face; the three upper the hat. In one figure the hat rim is round, in the other square; these are said to be symbolical of heaven and earth. The [Koreans] say, however, that the figures are of Buddhist origin, and that there are many throughout the country. According to his Korean guide, there was an even larger statue in the south said to be the largest on the peninsula that stood more than 21 meters tall. Bernadou never managed to visit it but his rival, Ensign George C. Foote, did . Although Bernadou passed through Paju, he did not write about it. So once again, we are forced to rely upon the narratives of his peers. A Korean market at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries Robert Neff Collection Ensign George C. Foulk, an American naval officer, wrote: "[Paju] county town is 14 miles from [Goyang] and is a first class county in the province, presided over by an officer called moksa, two grades higher than that of [Goyang] (hunsu). The town contains about 300 houses of the same wretched description as those in [Goyang], with some population of shops the whole contents of which might be purchased for four or five dollars; at one or two places some Chinese trinkets in colored silks were sold and the smallest amount of cotton piece goods. [Paju] is above the average Corean large town in importance and size yet there no evidences of trade or town government as we understand them, worth noting. It is but the official residence of the officer who collects the revenue of the valley, surrounded by the bulk of the peasants who cultivate it. The Yong-mun or official residence, seems very imposing as compared with the flat brown, paintless area of huts about it." A cloth merchant carries his goods on his back. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection A guide post, photographed by Pierre Louis Jouy in the mid-1880s. Annual Report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institute (1891) We've all seen pictures of female A-listers on the red carpet. Glossy hair, gym-honed bodies and skin so smooth and glowing that you'd swear it was computer-generated. I've never had glossy hair and gave up on achieving a perfect body long ago, but I always had nice skin. Then menopause struck and my once peaches-and-cream complexion became more strawberry and custard. Today, no matter how much cream I slap on it, my skin is always horribly dehydrated and has also become super-sensitive in recent years. Can I ever recapture that youthful glow? A new 'skincare retreat' thinks so. In March, the Glass House Retreat, in the Essex countryside, launched a four-night stay delivering bespoke skin treatments that they say will leave me with a red-carpet glow. It's basically a spa break that focuses on the face guests stay in the ultra-modern wellness centre and enjoy facilities that include a gym, sauna, pool and countless fitness classes and therapies, and undergo daily skin treatments tailored just for them. So could a stay restore my glow? Claudia Connell reviews the Glass House Retreat, in the Essex countryside - which is 'basically a spa break that focuses on the face' DAY ONE: MY WRINKLES GET SCORED I ARRIVE to a welcome wheatgrass shot (to flush out toxins) and relax in the plush lounge area before having my consultation. The Skin Analysis System is a high-tech machine now widely used in the beauty industry to assess skin on a deeper level. Using special imaging, it can detect skin problems within the epidermis (top layer of skin) and dermis (deeper layer). With all my make-up removed and hair scraped back, I put my face into the scanner. My therapist, Zoe, warns me not to be too alarmed by the results. Great. She starts with my pores, which score a lowly 36.5 per cent (the lower the score, the poorer the skin). The image that appears on screen makes me look as if I have a bad case of measles. My face is a mass of purple and red dots, the red ones indicating enlarged pores. They may look bad on screen but are invisible to the naked eye, so I'm not going to lose sleep over things nobody can see. I get similarly poor results on scans that analyse skin texture, pigmentation, bacteria and UV damage. My lowest score of all, 31 per cent, is for my skin hydration levels, which comes as no great surprise. Only my wrinkle score of 57.3 per cent bumps me up and as far as I'm concerned, that's the important one. I'll take a low wrinkle count over enlarged pores any day. Overall, I score 40 out of 100 and my skin age is given as 57, which is my actual age. From the images the scan was pumping out, I'd half expected it to age me as 103. In March, the Glass House Retreat launched a four-night stay delivering bespoke skin treatments that they say will leave customers with a red-carpet glow Claudia reviewed the experience, which saw her undergo a series of treatments that focus on the face To finish, the scanner reveals a picture of the haggard old crone I might one day resemble if I don't do something about my skin, followed by one depicting the impossibly smooth-faced beauty I might become if I do. Which is where the Glass House Retreat comes in. Based on my scan results, Zoe devised a skin treatment plan. First I'm sent for a session of whole-body cryotherapy. Favoured by athletes, cryotherapy is an extreme cold treatment said to help with injuries, reduce inflammation and relieve anxiety. When it comes to the skin, the increase in blood flow helps rejuvenate its appearance. Looking somewhat bizarre in a swimming costume, Crocs and woolly gloves, I enter the first cryo chamber, where the temperature is minus 85c, for one minute. This is positively Mediterranean compared with the second chamber, where it's minus 110c (about 30 degrees colder than the Antarctic!). I do three minutes, by which time my limbs have gone completely numb. As a meat-eater, I was dreading the exclusively vegan menu but I needn't have worried. My Mexican enchiladas are delicious and chef Miguel Gouveia may have even found an authentic-tasting vegan cheese. I end my first day with a sound bath experience, which apparently can help to achieve a sense of deep relaxation and improve sleep. Lying on a yoga mat, I meditate while bathed in sound waves from a range of gongs, bowls and rattles that are played by therapist Dot. For the first time in decades, I'm in bed by 9pm and sleep for a solid ten hours. DAY TWO: I'M PUT IN THE FREEZER AGAIN! On waking, I notice the redness in my cheeks and around my nose has been reduced by the cryotherapy. Every day at the Glass House Retreat starts with an optional one-hour guided walk in the countryside at 7.45am. So I don my wellies and hit the fields before a vegan breakfast of a green smoothie and avocado on toast with roasted tomatoes. It's delicious but I'm horrified to discover there is no caffeine. Alcohol-free I expected, but no coffee?! I usually start my day with two strong flat whites but all that's on offer is herbal tea, which I hate. After breakfast I have another cryotherapy session, building up to four minutes. I try a blast of turbo fan for the final minute, reducing the temperature to minus 140c, but I can tolerate it for just ten seconds. I warm up with a yoga class before heading for a mindfulness session. When our bodies relax, the stress hormone cortisol reduces. High levels of cortisol can, over time, break down collagen in the skin so mindfulness and meditation can keep us looking younger. Sadly, it doesn't stop me thinking of coffee. The retreat also featured things like yoga classes and mindfulness sessions - as when our bodies relax, the stress hormone cortisol reduces The food consisted of an exclusively vegan menu, which Claudia praised and greatly enjoyed despite being a meat eater Later it's time for my first skin treatment a bespoke facial with the aim of super-hydrating my parched face. In my experience, facials are just a therapist slapping on a cream, then wiping it off again over the course of an hour. But I'm prepared to be converted. The treatment starts with a double cleanse. First, a plant stem cell deep clean to nourish and soothe; then one with a cleansing oil to help rebuild the skin barrier. A brightening exfoliating powder follows, before a mask containing wrinkle-fighting peptides and plant cells to moisturise is applied for 15 minutes. After it is removed, a facial oil with a hyaluronic enhancer (for hydration) is massaged in. We finish with an eye cream, a lip oil and yet another layer of cream to lock in the moisture. If that lot doesn't help my dry skin, nothing will. My face looks slick with oil but as my only plan for the evening is to eat my vegan courgetti bolognese in a white robe, it doesn't matter. DAY THREE: I BRAVE A PEEL After another sound sleep (if sleep really is anti-ageing, then I should look 14 by the end of this retreat), I wake up and gaze in the mirror. My face looks glowing and is no longer flaking around the nose and chin. It's a promising start. If you don't have 1,400 to spare . . . The Glass House Retreat's spa manager, Bethany Cable, offers her five best tips for glowing skin . . . Wearing an SPF every day is vital. The sun's harmful rays can cause premature ageing, even on overcast days. A broad-spectrum SPF such as Image Skincare's Prevention+ Daily Hydrating Moisturizer SPF30 (49.58, amazon.co.uk) is ideal; doubling as your daily moisturiser to hydrate and protect your skin. Retinol really does everything; it reduces lines and wrinkles by increasing our cell turnover and stimulates our collagen and elastin production. Ideally, incorporate it once or twice a week in your routine. Exfoliate twice a week to remove dead skin cells and leave skin looking dewy. Follow with a serum containing vitamin C to even skin tone and give antioxidant protection. Hands off! Touching your face can spread dirt, oils and bacteria, which lead to clogged pores and breakouts. Don't forget the skin on the rest of your body. Avoid drying soaps in the shower and opt for gentle body washes instead. Always nourish the skin afterwards with a dry oil such as Germaine de Capuccini Phytocare Firm & Tonic Oil (53.55, thebeautiful.co.uk), which sinks in quickly while hydrating and firming the skin and smells divine. Advertisement Post walk and vegan breakfast, I inspect the classes on offer (the retreat runs about seven a day including aerial yoga, box fit and circuits) but they all look rather energetic, so I do some meditation before my second skin treatment. This time it's an Image O2 Lift, also referred to as the 'red carpet' facial as it's the one celebrities often turn to before a big event. Jennifer Lopez and Victoria Beckham are said to be fans. If anything is going to transform me it's this, as the oxygen should deliver a glow as well as some much-needed tightening. But it includes a peel and I can't stop thinking about that scene in Sex And The City where Samantha has one which makes her skin start falling off in chunks. Thankfully this peel, which contains fruit enzymes, is particularly gentle. Next comes the oxygenated mask to purify, brighten and plump. We finish with a plant stem cell enhanced facial oil. Once again, I look thoroughly greasy but tell myself it's for the greater good. I've found myself loving the vegan food. This morning's buckwheat pancakes are delicious and I've ordered handmade sushi for lunch. But I can't get the thought of coffee out of my mind, so after my facial I take myself off to the nearby Lakeside shopping centre for a flat white. It's so heavenly, I instantly follow it up with another two. Perhaps I should feel guilty but I don't. At dinner, some of the other guests tell me my skin is looking amazing. One is so convinced I must be wearing foundation, she makes me wipe a napkin over my cheeks to prove her wrong. DAY FOUR: CRYSTAL CLEAR SKIN? My final treatment is a Mesoboost facial, which I'm anxious about as I fear it will trigger my sensitive skin. Therapist Beth reassures me that, unlike micro-needling, it's not invasive, using 'electroporation transdermal microchip technology' to deliver skincare deep into the dermis via a little gizmo that looks a bit like a shower head, filled with microcrystals. It sounds impressive but will it make a difference? Over the course of an hour, a rejuvenating and lifting serum is stamped into my face and neck. It mostly feels like a gentle tapping, apart from on my jawline where it stings a little but if it helps with the jowls, it's a pain worth tolerating. When the stamping stops, a soothing cream is massaged in and I'm good to go. I expected my face to be red raw but it just looks flushed, as if I'd run for a bus. DAY FIVE: BARE-FACED BEAUTY I awake early next morning and race to look at my face in the bathroom mirror, hoping my skin isn't hanging off. Instead, it looks dewy, youthful and refreshed. I'm so pleased, I don't bother putting on any make-up for the journey home. Five days on and my complexion still feels velvety smooth. A four-night stay in a standard room, with all treatments included, is 1,410 it's not cheap to get your glow back. But, then again, I've paid 300 for a moisturiser that did nothing. The facials I had would cost around 400 in a salon, but at the Glass House I'm also getting a luxury room, three meals a day and wellness centre treats. The combination of bespoke treatments, good sleep, meditation and nutritious food have left my skin looking the best it has in years. And, should Brad Pitt need a plus one for his next premiere, I am very much red- carpet ready. glasshouseretreat.co.uk You might consider yourself a foodie, but there's nothing more embarrassing than holding forth about your knowledge - only to pronounce the names of your favourite dishes and ingredients wrongly. From Bruschetta to Pho, the names of delicious treats from other nations can be total tongue-twisters for British diners. Italian dishes, like Gnocchi and Bolognese, are some of the most commonly mispronounced, while French words like charcuterie can also cause people to stumble. Sauces are not exempt, with many finding it hard to nail the pronunciation of many condiments, from sriracha to aioli and even Britain's own Worcestershire sauce. Here, FEMAIL reveals how you should really say these foods names if you want to avoid being left red-faced at the dinner table. Britons can't seem to pronounce this popular food items correctly - so do YOU know what the right way to say them is? Bruschetta Whether it's tiramisu or antipasti, Italian cuisine is full of dishes that have proved a hit with Britons. But while pronouncing 'pizza' and 'pasta' is pretty straight forward, other terms have left some foodies scratching their heads. In recent years, bruschetta, a starter made of toasted bread doused in garlic, olive oil and tomato, has become a staple on the menus of gastro pubs and Italian restaurants, which have seen many patrons trying their best to pronounce it right when ordering. Many people pronounce the word 'brushetta,' with a 'sh' sound, however, this is wrong. The correct way to pronounce the started name is to say it as 'broo-skeh-tah.' Gnocchi Gnocchi has also left some diners stumped, with some unsure how to pronounce the 'gn' at the beginning of the word. According to Daily Italian Words, most Brits incorrectly pronounce it 'naw-key.' However, the site explained that Brits trip on the word because the 'gn' sound doesn't exist in English. They said the two consonants should be pronounced as the 'n' in 'pinata', which produces a 'ni' sound. Meanwhile, the 'cchi' at the end of the word is not pronounced 'shee' but 'key.' For this reason, the correct pronunciation of 'gnocchi' is 'knee-oh-key' or 'ni-oh-key.' Prosciutto Prosciutto, the Italian name for dried or cured ham from, is another tongue-twister for some. According to Buzzfeed, some believe that it's pronounced 'Pro-shoot.' However, the correct way to say the word is actually 'pro-shoot-toe.' Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Pho is not pronounced 'foe' but 'Fu' as in 'fun.' Charcuterie Charcuterie platters are also increasingly popular in well-heeled wine bars, but even the most refined patrons have struggled to nail the pronunciation of the term. The 'r' sound is particularly difficult to pronounce for English speakers, as it doesn't exist in their native language. Some people also pronounce the 'cut' sound as in the verb 'to cut,' which is not correct. The Spanish sausage chorizo has also tripped a few people and is so divisive that it even left MasterChef viewers arguing on Twitter in 2017. A voiceover described a dish as: 'Iberico pork with grilled calamari, served with chuh-REE-thoh jam, a chuh-REE-thoh and tomato puree, Asian pear and a dressed fennel salad.' Meanwhile, the dish's creator, Michelin-starred chef Shaun Rankin pronounced it 'shu-REE-zoh,' leaving viewers confused. Martha Figueroa-Clark, a linguist in the BBC pronunciation unit for more than 10 years, commented on the correct way to say the word at the time. She said the usual pronunciation in English is 'chu-REE-zoh,' however,'chorr-EE-zoh and 'chorr-EE-soh' are also certified as pronunciations in British dictionaries. But she noted that in Central and South American countries speaking their own varieties of Spanish, the 'z' can be pronounced as 's', as in 'sit.' Now THAT's how you say it! Bolognese Bruschetta Ceviche Chorizo Hummus Gnocchi Acai Pho Quinoa Rooibos Prosciutto Aioli Sriracha Worcestershire sauce Focaccia Charcuterie Nutella Espresso Mascarpone Poke Caprese Crepe Chipotle Bouillabaisse Manchego Maraschino Bouillon Nicoise BoLuhNayz Broo-SKEH-Tah Say-Vee-CHAY ChuhReeZow HuhMuhs Knee-Oh-Key Ah-Sigh-EE Fuh KEEN-Wa Roy-Biss Pro-Shoo-Toh AH-Yoh-Lee SEE-Rah-Cha Woos-Tuh-Shure Fuh-Kaa-Chuh Shaar-Koo-Tuh-Ree New-Tell-Uh ESS-Press-Oh Mass-Car-Pon-AY Poke-Ay Kuh-Pray-Zay Kr-Ehp Chi-Poat-Lay Boo-Yah-Behss Man-Chay-Go Ma-Ra-Skeeno Bo-Yon Ni-Swaz Advertisement Acai The South American berry Acai took the world by storm in the 2010s, soon becoming a breakfast staple for many. But some aficionados have struggled to correctly utter the word, which should be pronounced: 'ah-sah-ee' with the 'c' in acai pronounced like the 's' in 'simple.' Rooibos Hailing from South African, Rooibos tea has also been a challenge for some. Maybe tea enthusiasts have been pronouncing the variety as 'ROY-buhs,' which is wrong, according to PronounceItRight.com. Written down, the word should be pronounced 'roy boss,' however, the 'oh' is closer to a hissing sound, which, according to Webster Tea, should be pronounced 'biss,' making the correct pronunciation: 'roy-biss'. Sauces Condiments are not safe from enunciation hazards. Even the mighty Worcestershire sauce has been leaving Brits - and visiting foreigners - scratching their heads. It shouldn't be pronounced as: 'Worst-cest-er-shire,' because the 'cest' is silent, just like in 'Leicestershire.' For this reason, the sauce's name is pronounced: 'Woos-tuh-shure.' The popular sauce aioli, which is made of olive oil and garlic, has also proven difficult. The condiment hails from the Mediterranean coast, and finds its roots in France, Spain and Italy. Some have been pronouncing it 'eye-oh-lee' but the pronunciation starts with a softer 'ah' sound. The whole word should be pronounced as 'ah-oh-lee,' according to PronounceItRight.com A 67-year-old Australian model who was told she was 'too old' for the industry when she was just 33 is now landing campaigns with some of the biggest brands in fashion and beauty. Heather Inwood was 62 and nearing retirement from her career in retail and hospitality when she took the plunge into modelling again after seeing an ad on TV about an agency that represents models aged over 30. In the five years since, Heather has had her face splashed on advertisements all over the world. The mature-aged model from NSW hopes her images are making older women feel confident, represented and more comfortable experimenting with modern-day fashion trends. Heather Inwood (pictured) is making waves in the fashion industry as a mature-aged model fronting campaigns for big name brands Heather was told she was 'too old' for the modelling industry when she was just 33 years old and struggled to land jobs because of her petite 5-foot-two frame After spending more than 50 years in and out of the fashion industry, Heather said she is glad to see attitudes towards older models change. 'Senior age women, in particular, have been labelled as seen and not heard, as if we no longer matter and have no place in the world of advertising,' Heather told FEMAIL. 'Finally the demand for mature-age models is forging ahead thanks, in part, to the demand from the public for diversity in all aspects of advertising and to advertisers for being brave enough to make the change. I celebrate the changes.' The demand for diversity has come a long way since Heather, who is originally from New Zealand, did her first modelling job at just 16. The five-foot-two beauty posed for a photographer as part of an art exhibition but she couldn't find an agency to represent her as she said they had 'little interest in petite, shorter women'. Heather started modelling at 16 but couldn't find an agency to represent her as as she said they had 'little interest in petite shorter women' 'By the time I reached my early thirties, I was told I was too old, Still I wouldn't listen,' she said. After being rejected by agencies, Heather 'reluctantly' decided to shelve her modelling career 'I could never understand this as all women no matter how tall can model hats, blouses, makeup and beauty products,' she said. 'So I decided to freelance, which gave me the freedom to confidently work within my comfort zone. By the time I reached my early thirties, I was told I was too old. Still I wouldn't listen.' After being knocked back by yet another agency, Heather 'reluctantly' shelved her modelling career. Through the 1970s and 1980s, she managed fashion boutiques then moved into hospitality before flipping houses with her husband. As she was about to retire, Heather saw an interview on TV about Silverfox Management, an agency that represent models over the age of 30 and decided to give modelling another shot. At 62, Heather applied at Silverfox management, an agency that represent models over 30: 'My passion for modelling had been stirred up so I took the leap, applied and was accepted' A highlight of Heather's new-found modelling career was a shoot for Sydney-based global fashion brand Meshki set in The Pinnacles in Western Australia 'I was inspired at the thought of really pushing the boundaries for senior-aged women. We had been ignored in the advertising industry for too long. I wanted an interest that would challenge me,' she said. 'My old passion for modelling had now been stirred up so I took the leap, applied and thankfully I was accepted on the books.' Heather has modelled for big name brands including Mecca Beauty, Sephora Beauty, Camilla & Marc, The Iconic, and Camilla. 'I try to have fun on all of my campaigns. Laughing relaxes me and I have been lucky to work with many crew members, stylists and photographers who genuinely enjoy their work,' she said. A highlight of Heather's new-found modelling career was a shoot for Sydney-based global fashion brand Meshki set in The Pinnacles in Western Australia. Heather has also been seen in beauty campaigns in Singapore, New Zealand and across Asia which she said has been 'very surreal' In late 2022, she walked for The Iconic's Runway X show which celebrated 'self expression in all its forms' - an experience Heather described as 'pure fun' Heather hopes women seeing her in advertisements will feel inspired and not fear ageing. 'I want senior women not to be afraid of their retirement years but embrace them' The images were later used on billboards in LA and Heather has also been seen in beauty campaigns in Singapore, New Zealand and across Asia which she said has been 'very surreal'. Aside from print, she's also walked the runways for fashion shows. Senior-age model Heather Inwood shares her best beauty tips 'My routine is very simplistic. No makeup when at home, only moisturiser. Outdoors I use sunscreen and lip gloss. I use a face scrub twice a week. I cleanser off my makeup with micellar water and use tea tree oil for cleansing.' Advertisement In late 2022, she appeared in The Iconic's Runway X show which celebrated 'self expression in all its forms' - an experience Heather described as 'pure fun'. And while Heather exudes an positive attitude and self-assurance, she said she can sometimes struggle with confidence. 'My biggest challenges are hurdles I put in place myself. I am very unforgiving of myself and I want to be sure to do my best for each campaign,' she said. 'Confidence can be hard to find for so many of us but I think if you never give yourself a chance then you will be miserable. For me, I need to know that I have made an effort, even if I have failed.' Heather hopes women seeing her face in advertisements will help them embrace rather than fear ageing. 'I want senior women not to be afraid of their retirement years but embrace them' she said. 'It's a time to free yourself and enjoy all the things you want to do for yourself, to remember those hobbies from your youth and relive them.' Two dentists with limited knowledge of the fashion industry founded a multi-million dollar luxury leather goods brand that sells one product worldwide every minute. Maison de Sabre is a brand born out of necessity when its founders were forced to put their lives on hold after their father was diagnosed with leukemia. New Zealand natives Omar, 32, and Zane Sabre, 29, launched the label in 2017. At the time, Omar was working full-time as a dentist and Zane was studying dentistry in Queensland, Australia. Zane had no access to government loans as an international student, and the family had already spent over $400,000 on his education when their father was diagnosed. 'It was a very difficult time,' Zane told FEMAIL. 'My options were to find a way to pay it off or forfeit all the money and my degree.' New Zealand natives Omar, 32, and Zane Sabre, 29, first started the brand in 2017 after the duo learned that their father had been diagnosed with cancer - leaving the family in financial strife New Zealand natives Omar, 32, and Zane Sabre, 29, launched their brand in 2017. Since then, it has grown into a global company adored by consumers in 150 countries with millions of products sold Zane was two years away from graduating from a seven-year-long university course when he decided to put this studies on hold and fly back to be with the family. 'It was so devastating,' Omar revealed. 'We'd never dealt with cancer in our family and having to go through our dad's diagnosis was the most heartbreaking and challenging thing we've ever done.' The family spent days on end fixating on what the future would look like and how they could possibly recover if their father died. 'As doctors, we tried to be as realistic and possible and have a positive mindset,' Omar said. 'We kept wondering if there were ways we could use our education to help him understand what was happening.' 'It took a lot of mental strength,' Zane added. 'Our parents are our everything, and seeing them like that was very difficult.' The family spent days on end fixating on what the future would look like and how their family could possibly recover if their father lost the battle with his leukemia (pictured with their dad) The brothers also revealed that while their parents have always supported their dreams, the family was initially a bit skeptical about Maison de Sabre 'We were racked with anxiety and stress while also trying to build a brand,' Omar said. And while their parents have always supported their dreams, the family was a bit hesitant about their new career path. 'We come from a very traditional household, our parents wanted us to excel in careers like engineering or medicine,' Omar said. 'They were skeptical at first but there hasn't been a moment our parents haven't supported us on this journey.' At the time of the brand's conception, Omar (right) was working full-time as a dentist and Zane (left) was studying dentistry in Queensland, Australia The brand has since grown into a global company adored by consumers in 150 countries. Zane and Omar made Forbes' 30 under 30 list just two years after starting Maison de Sabre. 'It's amazing how we pulled off running a full-time business while still working and studying full-time during the first year,' Omar said. Zane was able to resume his studies and graduate from medical school once his father had completed chemotherapy two years later, but both have now quit dentistry all together to focus all their time and energy on Maison de Sabre. The brothers originally pooled $40,000 to begin selling one product: a leather phone case with customisable gold lettering. The brand made several million dollars after their first year and the brothers were able to pay off their loans. Maison de Sabre sells phone cases, backpacks, handbags, briefcases, wallets Maison de Sabre was amongst the first to offer easily customisable leather products - with several celebrities like Kara Gerber, Dakota Fanning, and Addison Rae flaunting their beautiful phone cases with gold lettering Maison de Sabre sells phone cases, backpacks, handbags, briefcases, wallets, and notebooks. Their bespoke leather backpacks have just overtaken their popular phone cases as best-sellers. The brand was amongst the first to offer easily customisable leather products - with several celebrities like Kara Gerber, Dakota Fanning, and Addison Rae flaunting their beautiful phone cases with gold lettering. 'We're really focused on our passions and we're glad we're able to do something that feels so innate,' Omar told FEMAIL. It is marketed as an anti-ageing product and a way to treat hair loss. But customers buying trendy and expensive stem cell treatments may not be aware that in some cases they could cause more harm than good, a leading scientist has warned. Exosome therapy, feared to become the 'new Botox', is being advertised as a way to achieve youthful skin, alongside images of celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian. But experts warn research is not yet clear whether the treatment, costing up to 16,000, works. There are also fears it might lead to bacterial infections including, in extremely rare cases, life-threatening sepsis. Dr Darius Widera, an associate professor in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Reading, said: 'Customers are paying large amounts of cash for treatments that don't work or are even dangerous. Exosome therapy, feared to become the 'new Botox', is being advertised as a way to achieve youthful skin, alongside images of celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian 'The vast majority of stem cell treatments offered are not yet, and may never be, backed by research that supports therapeutic use.' Dr Widera, who published a study on the exosome industry in the Stem Cell Research & Therapy journal, concludes that 'tight regulations and monitoring' are needed. He identified 114 companies in 28 countries charging up to 16,000 for injections of exosomes. Adult stem cells have been proven to help regenerate ageing cells. But, rather than injecting stem cells, it is possible to use the molecules the cells produce, which have a similar effect. These molecules are exosomes parcels largely made up of fatty acid, proteins and a type of genetic material called microRNA which can dial down ageing by reducing inflammation. But there is not yet evidence they have a visible anti-ageing effect when applied to the skin. Dr Widera also believes there is little chance exosomes can regenerate hair follicles in balding men. He said: 'The hype means there is a real danger it will become as popular as Botox.' Researchers found stem cell products were being sold, mainly in the US, for up to 16,000. Ms Kardashian, who reportedly used an exosome face serum, was featured in some clinic advertisements. The study found five clinics offering the treatment in the UK, although some have closed and more have sprung up since the snapshot study between July and November 2022. The therapy is also being sold abroad for conditions such as Parkinson's, dementia and autism raising concerns it could offer false hope to vulnerable people. Experts warn research is not yet clear whether the treatment, costing up to 16,000, works Scientists say there is no evidence yet that stem cell products like these can help regenerate cells lost in serious illnesses, such as brain cells in cases of dementia. It is also unclear which regulator could monitor the therapy in the UK, because it is not a medical treatment. Commenting on the study, Dr Alena Pance, senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, said: 'I don't think there is clear evidence for exosomes having therapeutic potential. Companies are able to commercialise unproven treatments without being required to provide full information about their products.' Professor John Hunt, an expert in medical technologies from Nottingham Trent University, said: 'It is important people do their research, due diligence and talk to those offering the treatment.' When approached, the only UK company named in Dr Widera's study declined to comment. A menopause drug that 'switches off' hot flushes in just days could be available by the end of the year. The 'game-changing' drug, called fezolinetant, works directly on the brain and could be a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of women who cannot take hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Earlier this month the US approved fezolinetant, which is the first non-hormonal menopause drug. Its makers describe it as a therapy 'based on our understanding of the biology behind hot flashes'. The drug works by blocking a brain protein called neurokinin 3, that plays a role in regulating body temperature in menopausal women. A menopause drug that 'switches off' hot flushes in just days could be available by the end of the year (file image) The 'game-changing' drug, called fezolinetant, could be a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of women who cannot take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) (file image) A large trial published this year showed that 12 weeks of taking the pill once a day reduced the frequency of hot flushes by about 60 per cent in women with moderate or severe symptoms, compared with a 45 per cent drop in those on a placebo. Women also reported a reduction in the severity of hot flushes and better quality of sleep. 'This is going to be a completely blockbuster drug,' Professor Waljit Dhillo, an endocrinologist at Imperial College London, said. 'It's like a switch. Within a day or two the flushes go away it's unbelievable how well these drugs work. 'It's going to be completely game-changing for a lot of women.' Fezolinetant, made by Japanese firm Astellas Pharma, is now being assessed by the European Medicines Agency. A decision is expected this year, with the UK following a few months later. The drug does not affect oestrogen levels which decline steeply during the menopause and so will not tackle symptoms of fatigue and mood swings as HRT does. But HRT is not suitable for everyone, including those with a history of breast or ovarian cancer. 'If you can't take HRT there isn't much in the way of really effective options,' said Professor Annice Mukherjee, a consultant endocrinologist at the University of Coventry. 'Women need options.' A pledge to renationalise energy firms does not feature on Sir Keir Starmer's to-do list if he wins the election at least not yet. Some of the heat no pun intended may come out of the issue of energy bills, which are likely to fall significantly when Ofgem unveils its summer price cap this week. The hit to households will reduce because wholesale gas prices are down. But the underlying dysfunction in the energy market remains, and this is a gift to those like the Unite trade union, the Labour party's biggest financial backer, that want nationalisation back on the agenda. Seizing energy assets, including the big domestic suppliers and North Sea oil and gas operators would, of course, be bonkers. Unfortunately, this might not stop it from appealing to voters. Unite claims nationalisation would end the 'scandal of energy company profiteering' at the expense of customers. This ignores a number of inconvenient truths, the first of which is that the price of energy on international wholesale markets will not magically change following nationalisation in the UK. Feeling the heat: An underlying dysfunction in the energy market remains Prices are coming down anyway because Europe is learning to cope without supply from Vladimir Putin. Hard to credit perhaps, but the UK domestic energy supply sector as a whole is not profiteering, but loss-making. And if the UK is to achieve net zero by 2050, we will need investment running into the hundreds of billions of pounds in renewables, hydrogen and new nuclear. A nationalised industry would fight for funds with the NHS, schools and the rest when the public purse is overstretched. But under private ownership the vast resources in UK pension funds could be tapped, alongside capital from overseas investors. Yet the mess in the energy market, which has provided a happy hunting ground for chancers, means the likes of Unite will probably get a better hearing than they deserve. Ofgem, in the name of competition, let thinly capitalised firms enter the market and allowed these businesses to run risky business models reliant on customer credit balances as a source of working capital. Predictably, some so lacked financial resilience that they imploded at the first whiff of difficulty. Even less palatable, several founders emerged from the wreckage millions of pounds richer, including those of Pure Planet and the couple behind failed supplier People's Energy, who appear to have held on to 50m despite the collapse. A serious concern is that a very large chunk of the domestic market is in the hands of two businessmen, Stephen Fitzpatrick at Ovo and Greg Jackson at Octopus. Their firms supply heat and light to more than 11million households, but as private companies they are not as transparent and accountable as one would like. They have been consistent loss-makers. Octopus says it could have booked a 9m profit last year had it not chosen to spend 150m on keeping customers' bills down. Both grew through the acquisition of customers from other suppliers. Octopus took on 1.5million via its rescue of Bulb and Ovo gained 3.5m from SSE in 2020, and both are reported to want Shell's UK retail energy business a significant further expansion. The risk is that they seem to have no path to sustainable profits, but are too big to fail. Tougher rules on capital and ring-fencing customers' money are needed. Why were these not put in place? Could some suppliers not pass such a stress test? The Government should consider replacing Ofgem with a more robust regulator. But there are no easy routes out of the energy market mess. As the saying goes, you wouldn't start from here. Warning: President Joe Biden President Joe Biden has further dented hopes that a deal over the US debt ceiling can be achieved in the coming days calling Republican offers 'unacceptable'. Republicans and Democrat politicians have been arguing over whether to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, which sets how much money the government can borrow. US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen warned last week that if they did not reach a deal, the government could run out of cash by June 1. But talks last Friday ended without progress. Speaking at the G7 meeting in Japan yesterday, Biden said of the Republicans: 'Much of what they've proposed is simply unacceptable. 'It's time for Republicans to accept there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely on their partisan terms. They have to move as well.' The Democratic leader also suggested that some Republicans would use the disastrous economic impact of a US economic default to undermine his chances of re-election next year. Harry Armstrong Evans was one of at least 11 students at Exeter University to take their lives in six years - and the second on his course in four years - when he died aged 21 in June 2021. His parents have accused educational establishments of a 'cover up' as new research finds just 40 per cent of universities disclose the number of students who took their own life while studying. And more than half have no record of the number of their pupils who died by suicide. Alice made her way into her son's room on the morning of June 24 2021 - waking him up and letting the family cat roam across his sleep-crumpled bedding. Having spent the morning busy with admin, she chatted to him about his Covid jabs. Harry Armstrong Evans was one of at least 11 students at Exeter University to take their lives in six years - and the second on his course in four years - when he died aged 21 in June 2021 Harry's mother Alice Armstrong Evans (pictured together when he was 3) wrote to 140 universities and 600 MPs - gaining the support of prominent government figures Harry Armstrong-Evans was a smart, gentle 21-year-old who excelled at rowing - something he learnt among the ducks on a pond next to the family's Cornish watermill home. But, according to his mother, the Physics with Astrophysics student would far rather be playing chess or working on his computers. Later in the day she asked him to collect the post - which is not delivered directly to their rural house. She never expected these to be the last words she would ever say to him. Two years on from his death, she said: 'We were preparing supper and so we went to look for him. And he was in a barn. 'It was so shocking we just screamed. We just didn't know what to do - you don't know what to do when you come across that. 'We could not believe it. We just could not believe it. 'He was gentle, and kind. I know Harry would never have done that to one of his students. 'I know that he would always have tried to help someone.' Less than a month before he died, Mr Armstrong Evans emailed his tutor and the wellbeing service detailing his isolation during lockdown and his declining mental health, which he said had affected his exam performance. Pictured: Harry, second from left, with sister Freddy, left, brother Archie, second from right, and baby sister Matilda, right Over the last five years there have been seven student suicides at Exeter (pictured), according to the university Two years after his suicide, Alice is accusing universities of a 'cover up' as she and Harry's dad Rupert try to make it compulsory for them to record suicide rates within their student body. A student at Exeter University, his inquest in October 2022 found the institution failed to respond to his 'cry for help'. Alice, 63, and Rupert, 73, say the tragedy would never have happened if the university had published their suicide rates. It comes as new research finds just 40 per cent of universities disclose the number of students who took their own life while studying. And more than half - 54 per cent - have no record of the number of their pupils who died by suicide. Last month the parents of an undergraduate who took her life at the University of Bristol on the day she was due to give a presentation visited No. 10 to hand over a petition urging Westminster to give universities a 'duty of care' for their students. Nearly two years after Harry's death his mother Alice said: 'The year before Harry started university someone on the same course took their life. 'We should have known about that. We should have had that information. 'And I know if we had had that information we would not have lost Harry. It's a cover up.' On the day Harry died, his mother had woken him up, bringing the cat into his room and having a chat Harry was a good rower, having learned the skill on the pond next to their house surrounded by ducks In November last year the couple launched a petition for new rules regarding the suicide of higher education students - called 'Harry's Law'. Battling for a mechanism by which universities must record and publish their suicide rates, the petition was closed with just over 5,100 signatures. Alice also wrote to 140 universities and 600 MPs - gaining the support of prominent government figures. Over the last five years there have been seven student suicides at Exeter, according to the university. His father Rupert, who works as a water engineer, added: 'How could any MP or any university Vice Chancellor actually stand up and say we don't want information about suicides shared and recorded. 'Could anybody actually say that when everybody's talking about transparancy and making things better? 'The starting point for making things better is to understand what's actually happening.' Their plea was echoed by Helen Hartery-Brown, whose son Ben died while in his final year at Loughborough. The first time the 22-year-old's parents heard that he was struggling in his studies was during his inquest. Gregarious and outgoing Ben, who was on an army scholarship, had spent the evening before his death having a barbeque with his housemates and chatting with his family on Zoom. Helen, 57, says that while she does not think it would have changed whether her son killed himself, it is important for universities to be transparent. Gregarious and outgoing Ben Brown (pictured), who was on an army scholarship, had spent the evening before his death having a barbeque with his housemates and chatting with his family on Zoom Helen, 57, left, says that while she does not think it would have changed whether her son, right, killed himself, it is important for universities to be transparent She said: 'I don't think if those figures had been published we'd have taken any notice of them because it was never going to happen to my son. 'There is no transparency. Most universities do not know how many students they've lost to suicide. It is absolutely shocking. 'I do not blame the university - it was Ben's decision. 'I'm hoping lessons were learned. But if they're not recording suicide then there's going to be no lessons learned. 'I think the publishing or even the university keeping a note of suicide should be investigated. It should be far more transparent.' Ben died in his fourth year at university while resitting his third year in the lockdown of 2020. Helen continued: 'As a parent of a young adult going off to uni if I was looking at different universities and one had a significantly higher suicide rate I would just be more aware. 'And I think that is just invaluable information. 'I don't do social media too much these days because it's too full of "happy" and I'm not happy anymore. 'But I have friends who are posting: "I'm sending my child off to university, how dreadful!" 'And I just want to post: "how dreadful when they never come home." 'It did not enter my head that my son may never come home from university. I'd never considered that, ever.' Ben (pictured) died in his fourth year at university while resitting his third year in the lockdown of 2020 The highest numbers of student suicide for any that responded was the University of Manchester (pictured), where 12 have taken their own lives since 2018 - half of which were on campus property. It is also the third largest university in the UK, with more than 45,000 enrolled students Of the 134 UK universities contacted with freedom of information requests, 39 disclosed the number of suicides among their student body. According to their figures 123 took their own lives over the last five years, although coroners reports are still being released. READ MORE: Bristol University moves to appeal against court ruling that it discriminated against student, 20, with chronic anxiety who killed herself ahead of presentation Natasha Abrahart is pictured with her parents Robert and Margaret Abrahart Advertisement For the 28 universities that responded to a separate request, it can be revealed that 44 per cent of these happened on campus. The highest numbers of student suicide for any that responded was the University of Manchester, where 12 have taken their own lives since 2018 - half of which were on campus property. It is also one of the largest universities in the UK, with more than 45,000 enrolled students. Research by the Office of National Statistics suggests figures may be far higher - estimating 319 students in higher education died by suicide between the academic years 2016-17 and 2019-20. Equivalent to 3.9 deaths per 100,000 students, the median age of death was 22 years. On April 24 the parents of Natasha Abrahart gave No 10 a petition signed by nearly 130,000 people calling on the government to make universities responsible for student welfare. Robert and Margaret Abrahart took legal action against the University of Bristol after the death of their daughter, who suffered from severe social anxiety. The judge ruled the university discriminated against her and failed to accommodate her mental health disability, with the university having to pay 50,000 in damages. Olly Parker, Head of External Affairs at mental health charity YoungMinds, said: 'The reasons why a young person might feel suicidal are often complex and unique and every suicide is an individual tragedy. 'University can be a difficult time for young people as many navigate leaving home for the first time and might not have access to their usual support networks. 'Young people in this age group are also facing enormous pressures, while those who went to university during the pandemic might have felt even more isolated. Physics student Natasha Abrahart, 20, was found dead in her flat in April 2018, the day before she was due to take part in a group presentation in a 329-seat lecture theatre 'Universities have a duty of care to their students and its vitally important young people have access to mental health support when they need it. 'Collecting data on young peoples mental health can help to identify trends and support preventative measures. Mental health support in universities is generally improving, but theres still a long way to go to ensure all students can get help when they need it most. 'Were calling for a network of early support hubs across the country. This would ease the pressure on other services and mean all young people up to the age of 25 have somewhere they can go to get advice and support quickly.' In Harry's inquest Assistant Cornwall coroner Guy Davies blasted Exeter University, saying there was a 'total absence of personal engagement' from the university towards Mr Armstrong Evans and there had been a 'catalogue of missed opportunities along with system failures'. In his final year, over lockdown, the student's results had fallen off a cliff edge. Less than a month before he died, Mr Armstrong Evans emailed his tutor and the wellbeing service detailing his isolation during lockdown and his declining mental health, which he said had affected his exam performance. Mr Davies described this as a 'cry for help' but said it did not lead to any direct engagement between the university and Mr Armstrong Evans, or his parents Rupert and Alice Armstrong Evans. Cornwall Coroner's Court heard that Mr Armstrong Evans's exam results were good in his first two years but by the third year were 'falling off a cliff edge'. Harry also voiced his worries about his family's financial situation, Cornwall Coroner's Court heard The inquest heard Mrs Armstrong Evans had made three attempts to contact the wellbeing service at Exeter University (picured), but no one got back to her due to IT system failures By May, he was emailing his tutor and the wellbeing service about his options for deferring his summer exams and resitting others, but they said there was nothing in what he had told them that they described as a 'red flag'. He also voiced his worries about his family's financial situation, Cornwall Coroner's Court heard. His personal tutor, Professor Matthew Browning, said university policy prevented him from discussing his welfare with his parents, but the coroner said there was a 'misunderstanding' of this policy and he had overlooked 'exceptional circumstances'. READ MORE: Student, 21, who took his life in lockdown was one of eleven in just six years at Exeter University, as his parents claim that staff did not do enough to help Advertisement The inquest heard Mrs Armstrong Evans had made three attempts to contact the wellbeing service, but no one got back to her due to IT system failures. The university spent 11,610 for legal services relating to Harry's death - with other legal support provided by internal teams. This money covered the preparation of evidence bundles and detailed statements as requested by the Coroner, in order to assist the inquest, and to support the University in giving evidence to the inquest. Alice continued: 'I had just lost my son. I just felt there was a brick wall and I couldn't get the information. 'Whenever we speak to anybody about it they can't believe that coroners don't send that information to universities. They can't believe that universities don't keep records and they can't believe that they aren't published. 'When your child goes off to university, you don't think they're going to kill themselves. It never crossed our mind that he would take his own life.' On the day Harry died, his mother had woken him up, bringing the cat into his room and having a chat. The last time she saw him she had asked him to fetch their mail, and his family found him later after looking for him at supper time. He was a good rower, having learned the skill on the pond next to their house surrounded by ducks. Kind and gentle, the Physics with Astrophysics student had just failed an exam after struggling to upload it during lockdown But his parents say he preferred chess and croquet, and he had a passion for computers. She continued: 'If we had spoken to Harry about suicide, we'd have told him: "Your degree doesn't really matter, you matter. If you stack shelves in Tesco for the rest of your life it really doesn't matter. But no degree is worth taking your life over." 'Just a few words and he would have understood that. But he just didn't communicate with us and we didn't know. 'He was gentle and kind. He wanted to do well and I think that this just threw him. It was the first time he had had such bad results.' A spokesperson for Universities UK said: 'Universities recognise the profound impact that suicide has upon families and friends, as well as the wider university community, and the need to act with transparency and compassion. 'ONS analysis indicates that students in higher education are less likely to take their own lives than their equivalents in the wider population, suggesting that university support services are having a protective effect. Nonetheless, we believe it is essential that universities continue to prevent avoidable deaths through suicide. 'Ultimately it is for the coroner to determine and record the cause of death. Those decisions are in the public domain. Universities UK is working with government to develop a national reporting system for all student deaths including those by suspected suicide.' A spokesperson for the University of Exeter added: 'We are deeply saddened by Harrys death and his family's loss. We are grateful for the Coroners careful consideration of the circumstances of, and issues arising from, this tragedy. We addressed in detail the concerns that were raised in the Coroners letter, setting out the ways in which we are responding to each of these. 'We are acutely aware of the current mental health challenges for young people. We have invested significantly in student welfare and wellbeing support in recent years and will continue to do so. 'Following the Coroners Inquest, we have undertaken a detailed review of the many ways in which we support student mental health and wellbeing, and we have introduced further enhancements across our University community. 'These include developing additional structured training provision for staff, and investing in further out-of-hours support to ensure there is additional capacity within our trained team, who can proactively support students at their time of need. 'The team can be accessed directly by students, or by others who may be concerned for a students wellbeing. 'We are also working with key external partners in order to ensure the best possible support to our students. Further work is taking place to agree data sharing policies with relevant key statutory organisations including GPs, NHS mental health care teams and the police. 'We are updating our policies, ensuring that the considered use of the trusted contact is part of our support provision. We have undertaken a robust review of our Case Management System, which has seen additional mitigation measures installed, including a welfare tracker to track case progress. We are also investing in an enhanced system this year. 'We have welcomed and support the recent Universities UK guidance on suicide prevention, and we had already introduced a significant number of the recommendations prior to the outcome of the Inquest into Harrys death. 'We will continue to engage with best practice in student mental health and wellbeing, which will remain our highest priority, and we will work with sector bodies and external partners to ensure our support is continually enhanced.' Dr. Simon Merrywest, Director for the Student Experience at the University of Manchester, said, 'We have always advocated candour and transparency of information relating to student suicide and this summer we will begin publishing information about our rates of suicide as part of an annual student mental health report. 'Although, very sadly, we have experienced 12 confirmed suicides in the last 5 years, the rate of suicide at our university has fallen over this same period. Noting that not all universities provided data for this article, attempting a direct comparison between suicide numbers at different universities, in the absence of the wider context of each case and institution, is seldom helpful. 'Any death by suicide is by definition a tragic event and the University puts considerable weight on the need to evolve continually its understanding of and response to students at risk of suicide. We have a comprehensive suicide strategy, which focuses on prevention, intervention and a focus on review and learning from the past in order to inform the future. Our approach to suicide prevention is a key element of our wider student mental health and wellbeing offer, which we have expanded significantly in recent years, with recent innovations including the pioneering Greater Manchester Student Mental Health Service, a General Practitioner service, 24-hour access to support from mental health practitioners and a social prescribing offer.' Hundreds of defibrillators have been smashed up or stolen by criminals, putting cardiac arrest victims at a heightened risk of dying unnecessarily. Between 2020 to 2022, police data collected and analysed by freebets.com show vandals targeted the life-saving devices 93 times. Crime reports tell of how yobs kicked and punched public-access defibrillators, as well as using bricks and traffic cones to smash them up. Police also recorded 155 thefts of the medical devices, with that number having nearly doubled each year from 28 incidents in 2020 to 43 in 2021 to 84 in 2022. It is incredibly disheartening to hear cases of defibrillators being damaged or stolen, as it means these life-saving devices then cant be used in situations where theyre needed most, said Estelle Stephenson, Head of Health Partnerships and Community Resuscitation at the British Heart Foundation. The number of damaged and stolen defibrillators from the years 2020 to 2022 has been revealed, after police data was collected and analysed by freebets.com The police force where there was criminal damage of defibrillators (blue) and Stolen defibrillators (pink) between the years 2020 to 2022 In South Wales, police said offenders pulled a defibrillator out of its protective box and threw it into a river. Durham Constabulary received a report of sick pranksters supergluing shut a defibrillator box outside a community centre. A thief in Northumbria stole a defibrillator from the side of a church after tricking North East Ambulance Service into handing over the code to unlock the case. And Greater Manchester Police recorded a case of a defibrillator being stolen from an unattended ambulance. The devices which sell for as much as 2,500 come with voice instructions to guide the rescuer through each step. Once the pads are placed on the casualtys chest, the device checks their heart rhythm and dispenses a shock if needed. Ms Stephenson, of the British Heart Foundation, said: Research shows that early CPR and the use of a defibrillator can double the chance of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest. In an emergency, nearby access to a defibrillator can literally mean the difference between life or death, providing a lifeline until the ambulance service arrives. Defibrillator which sell for as much as 2,500 come with voice instructions to guide the rescuer through each step. Once the pads are placed on the casualtys chest, the device checks their heart rhythm and dispenses a shock if needed (File image) South Wales Police recorded a table-topping 15 cases of defibrillators being vandalised and 21 being stolen over the last three years. In second place was Devon and Cornwall Police, recording 13 incidents of criminal damage and 15 thefts of the medical devices between 2020 to 2022. The Metropolitan police, as well as a number of other forces, refused to disclose the data. That means the surveys figures which were collected using Freedom of Information requests certainly understate the scale of vandalism and thefts of defibrillators across the country. Songmi Han delivers a speech at the 15th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on May 17, in Geneva. Courtesy of Casey Lartigue By Songmi Han My mom gave me two lives. First, when she gave birth to me in 1993. Second, when she rescued me from North Korea in 2011. If there's a hero in my story, it's her. North Korea might be the worst place on earth to raise a child, but North Korean mothers are brave and they will do anything they can to save their children. My name is Songmi Han. I was born in rural North Korea to an affluent family, but when I was 3 years old, my father started beating my mom. Finally, she divorced him and I ended up attending elementary school for only one year. We lived in a barn with cows for two years. But I have fond memories of that time because I developed such a deep relationship with my mom. Two days before my twelfth birthday, my mom said she had to leave but she'd be back by October 10th. She wrote down a multiplication table for me to memorize. I studied hard, but October 10th came and went. I started to panic. Where was she? I stayed at my auntie's house. When I heard a train approaching, I would run to the station asking strangers, "Have you seen a lady who looks like this?" I wasn't the only one the train stations were filled with homeless children. Many couldn't even recall their mother's face. Eventually, Mom sent us a letter just wait a little longer, she would return to me, she said. So I waited. But life in North Korea was miserable. My grandfather starved to death. One of my uncles starved to death. Another uncle threw himself in front of a train. I would walk down the street and see dead children and dead adults. Many times, I was on the verge of starvation and I considered suicide. Three different times my mom sent brokers to rescue me. But my aunt warned me that I could get sold in China, or they could harvest my organs. So, I stayed. When I was 15 years old, I saw my first public execution. They forced everyone in our area, including the woman's husband and 4-year-old daughter, to watch as they tied her up and shot her three times. I will never forget hearing the gunshots and watching her tumble forward. I was so, so scared. When I was 17, I remember thinking, "I just don't have a future in North Korea. And I really miss my mom." I had memorized the phone number of the second broker my mom sent years before, so I called him and whispered, "I'm ready to go there." He asked, "Are you sure this time?" I said, "Yes." I couldn't tell anyone. The broker wouldn't let me sit with him on the train. I was so scared. Then, a guard checking IDs asked me, "Where are you going?" I lied and told him I was visiting my grandma in Hyesan. "No, you're not," he said, "I know you're going to China!" He started beating and kicking me. Then he took me to the police office in the train station and a different guard tried to rape me. I pushed him away and ran until I saw a group of soldiers. "Please help me! He's trying to do strange things!" They scared the guard away. I asked a soldier if I could have some money to call my grandma. I ran to a payphone and called the broker. This time, we made it to the border. I followed two smugglers across the freezing cold water of the Tumen River. The guards shot at us, but luckily, they missed and we made it to China. The next morning, the broker called my mom. I was so happy. I thought I would get to see her for the first time in six years! But she said she was in South Korea. I followed the brokers through China, Laos and Thailand, and arrived in South Korea on May 20th, 2011, my mom's birthday. Reuniting with my mom was the happiest moment of my entire life. I couldn't stop crying. But my mom was confused! "Are you sure you're my daughter? You're so short!" she said. My aunt had told her that I had grown tall. It's taken me years to start healing from a lifetime of trauma. As I was preparing to give this speech, my mom showed me her diary. On August 26, 2006, my mom sold herself as a wife to a Chinese man and then she ran away to South Korea, so she could work and save money to rescue me. I hope North Korean children waiting for their moms can hear this. They need to know they're in their mother's heart forever and they will do anything they can to save them from this horrible regime. I tell my mom all the time, "Thank you so much, Mom. You are so brave!" And my mom tells me, "No, Songmi. You're brave. I'm so proud of you." The writer delivered this speech at the 15th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on May 17, 2023. She is co-author with Casey Lartigue of her memoir "Greenlight to Freedom: A North Korean Daughter's Search for Her Mother and Herself." 158 fires from the vehicles broke out in the capital since the start of last year London Fire Brigade deals with explosion from e bike or scooter every two days London firefighters have put out blazes from faulty e-bikes and e-scooters every two days since the start of this year, figures have revealed. Statistics from London Fire Brigade show there were 158 fires caused by the vehicles since the start of last year. Meanwhile across Britain, e-bike and e-scooter fires have killed eight people since 2020 and been linked to 190 injuries, The Times reports. And there have been 48 e-bike fires and 12 e-scooter fires in the capital since the January 1 alone - at a rate of more than three a week. In January, an e-bike left charging overnight ignited at the home of Rab Shearer, 60, in Litherland, Merseyside. Mr Shearer was killed in the blaze while his son Gary, 23, died in hospital two weeks later after trying in vain to save him. London firefighters have put out blazes from faulty e-bikes and e-scooters every two days since the start of this year Sofia Duarte, 21, died in a flat fire caused by a converted e-bike battery which burst into flames Gary Shearer (right) has been named locally as the son of Rab Shearer (left) who died in a house fire in Litherland earlier this month On New Year's Day, Sofia Duarte, 21, was asleep at her home in Old Kent Road, south London, when a modified electric bike in her flat exploded. The 'fun-loving' daughter of Portuguese immigrants, who enjoyed dancing, spending time with friends and travelling, is believed to be the first person to be killed in London due to an e-bike fire. Mobile phone footage from a passer-by showed fireballs emerging fromt he shattered windows, as people in the street screamed. While her flatmates leapt from the second-storey window, Ms Duarte - who was disorientated and had worked a nightshift - attempted to flee using the stairwell. Her friend Alda Simoes, 45, said: 'Sofia was confused and instead of going throught he window, she went through the door. 'The fire brigade were there within a couple of minutes but there was nothing they could do. The bikes were at the entrance. 'Some of the neighbours were trying to break down the door because they knew Sofia was inside but they couldn't go past the fire. She was there for I don't know how long.' Sales of e-bikes in the UK have soared to 160,000 over the past year and are the choice transport method for many workers in the gig economy, particularly low-paid commuter and food deliverers. An e-bike from a high street brand will typically cost between 1,000 and 3,000 or a regular bike can be modified using a kit for around 400. While these products meet safety standards, far cheaper imports are available online and often have few safety check. Hundreds of rental e-scooters which were damaged after a blaze broke out in Bristol on New Year's Day last year Batteries for e-bikes can be bought on the internet for as little as 175 and have been known to overheat or short-circuit. Fire and rescue services have particular worries over the number of e-scooters and e-bikes kept in flats and shared homes, where they are regularly spotted being charged in communal hallways - potentially blocking fire exits. Dell Williams, from Brent, saw his e-scooter burst into flames in a horrifying explosion - despite paying 450 for it and only owning it for a fortnight. Had the 37-year-old not just got a puppy, called Digger, he says the blaze would have happened in his room. He believes he could have died. Williams - a security guard - said: 'It was mind blowing. I'm lost for words that I'm still here. I can't believe I'm still here. 'If this was in my room charging and it sparked off like how it did in the kitchen then I wouldn't be here to tell the story. Dell Williams and his 12-week-old pup Digger, without whom the scooter would have been in his room 'I'm traumatised still from it all. If anyone got injured in the building - other tenants kids or even the parents - I would have that on my conscience. 'I would know that it was my scooter that did that.' A self-confessed 'scooter-freak', he has owned others before but says this has put him off. He said: 'I love scooters, but I've only got one life.' Williams is now in emergency accomodation as the apartment is looked at. But now - after the incident - he doesn't think he would be able to go back. He continued: 'It's affected my anxiety and mental health. I'm in a safe place now but at the same time I'm more alert. 'I turn off switches - anything that doesn't need to be used in the house that's electric I unplug it.' Jamie Jones (pictured above), 17, died after crashing into a telegraph pole while riding his e-bike he had purchased four days earlier He now thinks there need to be more health and safety measures in place for people who buy electric scooters. The London Fire Brigade has spoken to firms Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats about the risk to delivery riders, who could modify the bikes and they keep them in the bedrooms. The University of Cambridge has banned the vehicles from being stored on its sites, unless parked in a designated spot. In guidance to students, the university stated: 'When the battery cell heats up and ruptures, it releases a highly toxic and flammable vapour cloud. This is swiftly followed by ignition in the form of intense directional flames. 'Due to the chemical composition of the batteries, they produce their own oxygen and heat, making them almost impossible to extinguish, even with professional fire-fighting equipment and techniques.' Heywood, 47, has been at the centre of a 'dole bludger' row Jeremy 'Jez' Heywood was in no mood to talk on Friday An unemployed graphic designer accused of making excuses for not working for six years has refused to answer questions about the 'union for the unemployed' which he controls. Jeremy 'Jez' Heywood, 47, ordered Daily Mail Australia to leave his parents' home in a well-to-do Melbourne suburb on Friday - despite being invited inside by his mum - before storming out and raising his middle finger. Mr Heywood then returned to his granny flat behind his parents' house and took to his favourite medium, Twitter, to tell Daily Mail Australia to 'absolutely get 'f***ed'. Mr Heywood, or 'JobSeeker Jez' as he's become known, says he's been out of work for more than a decade, which triggered a 'considerable mental breakdown' in 2019. Neighbours say he rarely leaves the granny flat, where he spends hours firing off tweets bemoaning what he claims is the unfairly low rate of welfare in Australia. Mr Heywood is president of the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union, a charity which is running a campaign to raise the rate of JobSeeker. He is the face of the union's 'Raise The Rate' campaign, claiming the $2.85-a-day rise trumpeted in the Budget will not keep those on dole above the poverty line. Jez Heywood didn't want to answer questions about his 'union' in Melbourne on Friday (above) 7 KEY QUESTIONS THE AUWU WON'T ANSWER Daily Mail Australia tried for several days to ask AUWU office-bearers and media spokesman several important questions about the union without any reply before confronting Jez Heywood. What was the outcome of the investigations into the 'irregularities' it notified the Charities Commission about? Why has the not-for-profit charity run up profits of more than $114,000 over the last two years? Why hasn't that money been spent on the unemployed? Why did it have more than $178,000 stashed away in its bank account? What will it do with that cash? The AUWU told the Charities Commission it handed out $2500 in grants last year. Why does not show up in its detailed annual expenditure? Why did it spend around a third of its entire expenditure over the last two years on 'online/IT assets' and 'consulting and accountancy' fees and who did that work? Have any current or previous members of the AUWU's committee of management, or businesses linked to them, been paid for work for the AUWU? Advertisement Daily Mail Australia can reveal the union is surprisingly well-funded, having $178,194 in its bank account, mainly collected from donations, many of them from other unemployed Australians like Jez. Mr Heywood rose to prominence after becoming embroiled in a fiery bust-up with 2GB's breakfast host Ben Fordham. Mr Heywood demanded to appear on the top-rating breakfast show after Fordham challenged him to stop complaining about dole payments and instead get a job. He took to the show on Wednesday for an eight-minute chat, which Fordham said would be a chance for Mr Heywood to find a job. When Fordham asked if he was willing to do labouring, Mr Heywood said he did not have the physical capacity to do so. The broadcaster then asked if he would take a part-time job in a pub. 'The problem with those kind of situations is, I have a cousin who runs a supermarket and once I asked him if he'd employ me, and he said he wouldn't because I have a postgraduate degree in graphic design and 20 years' experience,' Mr Heywood said. The interview sparked uproar among Fordham's listeners, with many calling in to accuse Mr Heywood of 'making excuses' not to work. 'Just go out and flip burgers, to do something is better than nothing,' one caller said. 'I'm 71-years-old, I'm just leaving for work now so he can get an extra $40 a week from my taxes, I'll call him a dole bludger,' another said. Fordham then questioned whether his mental health issues were brought on by the fact he was not working. A tracksuit clad Jeremy 'Jez' Heywood, 47, wasn't in the mood for talking on Friday Mr Heywood films Daily Mail Australia in preparation for firing off a tweet telling the reporter to 'get f**ked' (above) The Australian Unemployed Workers' Union - which says it aims to to 'alleviate poverty' - is led by president Jeremy 'Jobseeker Jez' Heywood, 47, who says he's been branded a 'dole bludger' His registered not-for-profit charity has more than $178,000 stashed away in its bank account, mainly from donations, and many from the unemployed The union's latest financial statement to the Australian Charities Commission shows they handed out an unspecified $2,500 in grants in 2022, about two per cent of the charity's total income. The details of those grants are not revealed anywhere in the breakdown of operating expenses, which accounts for every single cent of expenditure. While the union claims to have 16,000 members nationwide, its latest official filling as an Incorporated Association shows they actually have just 54. All its members also had to work unpaid for the organisation for at least six months before they were allowed to vote at its AGM under the AUWU constitution. Its financial overview to the Australian Charities Commission for 2022 shows a $2,500 grant as part of its $31,756 expenses No $2500 grant - nor anything similar - appears in the expenditure breakdown which reaches the same final $31,756 expenses figure as the broad overview The union claims to have more than 16,000 members nationwide - but its latest official filing as an Incorporated Association shows the real figure is actually just 54 'JOBSEEKER JEZ'S' LONG HUNT FOR A JOB AUWU president Jez Heywood, 47, lives with his elderly parents in a granny flat behind their detached bungalow. He says he's been trying to find a job 'for more than a decade' and has applied for 'thousands of jobs, usually competing with a few hundred others'. But he says in all that time, by 2021, he had just six interviews and only three job offers. One made him redundant, he quit another because it was 'toxic' and another was at a company going out of business, he said. He admits he had a 'considerable' mental breakdown in 2019 as a result of his long-term unemployment - but is now too traumatised to work a full working week. 'It's hard to find things that my brain can handle,' he told 2GB's Ben Fordham on Wednesday. 'I can't consistently commit to something. My brain just gets so incredibly exhausted.' He was invited on air after lashing Fordham as a bully and a coward for implying he was a 'dole bludger'. But he admitted the best thing that had ever happened to him was when the JobSeeker rate was doubled during Covid. Advertisement Since registering as a charity two years ago, the AUWU has spent $62,234 on expenses from income of $177,053 to make a net profit of $114,820, boosting its savings to $178,194. The charity's biggest expense over the last two years has been the acquisition of 'IT assets' - believed to be its website, content and imagery - which cost $10,901 in 2021. AUWU secretary Daniel Levy on Tuesday hailed the input of president Jez Heywood for being behind the look and feel of their website. 'It's definitely worth pointing out right now that if you've seen AUWU graphics in the last 3 or so years and thought 'wow they look good', that was Jez,' he tweeted. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Heywood was paid for the work, but he and other office-bearers declined to discuss the union or how they will use the money. In a note to the Charities Commission, the union admitted it has been rocked by an internal split which saw a previous management committee resign after questions were raised over finances, including their new website. 'The matter is being investigated along with several other irregularities detailed in the annual report,' it added. The union then spent another $10,058 on legal expenses in the wake of the row, which made up a third of their total expenses in 2022. The registered charity also signed off $7,272 on unspecified 'consulting and accounting fees' and spent more than $3,000 on travel and accommodation over the last year, along with another $2,126 on more online assets. No further details are available about the recipient or recipients of the $2,500 grant the union made in 2022. The nearest it comes to specifying any kind of a grant is a $700 'Honorarium' which is usually a fee paid for work done voluntarily. Despite the charity's $178,000 surplus, AUWU treasurer Jeremy Poxon has previously slammed governments for having 'modern surplus fetishism' which was 'deeply insulting' to the unemployed. '[A] government's 'We're going to achieve a huge surplus!' rhetoric effectively translates to 'Look at this giant pile of money we've inexplicably chosen to withhold from you,' he told Junkee in 2019 'After all what bloody good is a budget surplus if it condemns Australians to a life in poverty? A surplus is nothing to celebrate...' Daily Mail Australia sent a detailed list of questions to AUWU - and Mr Heywood - without any response. AUWU treasurer Jeremy Poxon hailed the graphics done by former designer and AUWU president Jez Heywood on the union's website (pictured). The union has paid more than $13,000 for 'IT and online assets' over the past two years Sitting in a freezing car in your kid's school carpark for seven hours, terrified you can't afford the fuel to drive to and from home - only to later go without dinner to ensure your children are well-fed. It's an image almost unimaginable in 21st century Australia, a country with a GDP of $2.3billion and with 2.2million millionaires, but for some it's a daily reality. Families have been sharing their gruelling stories of surviving on the poverty line, with some existing on just $6-a-day for essential living costs including housing, food and bills. One is a mother who lost 40kg in less than a year because she can't afford to feed her children as well as herself. The 55-year-old mother is just one of many struggling to keep a roof over their heads and get food on the table as basic costs of groceries, fuel and living expenses soar. A new Salvation Army report has found Australians are doing it tougher than ever due to the cost-of-living crisis (stock image) The Salvation Army's latest research found that out of 1,700 people who use the foundation's services, 93 per cent were struggling to afford basic living necessities. 'I have lost 40kg in the last nine months because all my money goes on keeping a roof over my kids' heads and trying to keep them in a safe place,' the 55-year-old mother explained. Another mum, 29, revealed they were in a similar boat. 'I eat the leftover food from my child's meal, if there is any, or I just don't eat,' she said. 'I wait at the school car park from drop-off until pick-up if I'm short on fuel. I have sold most of my own clothing to buy my children clothes.' From those using the charity's services, 50 per cent can't afford essential healthcare, and just over half are skipping meals. More than three in four people included in the report are living on incomes below the poverty line. Meanwhile, nearly 90 per cent had either struggled to pay bills, skipped meals, sought financial assistance or had to sell their own possessions just to make ends meet. The report found that 80 per cent of those living off Centrelink payments were below the poverty line (pictured man enters a Centrelink branch in Adelaide) The same figure were relying on welfare payments and 80 per cent of those receiving Centrelink were living in households below the poverty line. 'A typical person receiving the JobSeeker Payment did not have enough money to cover their basic household expenses, while those on the Parenting Payment were left with $25 a week or less than $4 a day,' the report said. The poverty line in Australia based on 50 per cent of median household income ranged from $489 per week for a single person to $1,027 per week for a couple with two children, according to a report from the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) and UNSW. The majority of respondents in the Salvation Army report said they found it hard to afford groceries, fuel, transport, clothes and healthcare, as well as paying their electricity and gas bills. Rising rental prices have also taken a toll with one quarter unable to pay their rent or mortgage, with three in five saying their rent is unaffordable. Half of the 1,700 interviewed couldn't afford basic medical care like dentists or even prescribed medication. JOBSEEKER PAYMENTS FROM MARCH 20, 2023 Situation: Single, no children Single, with a dependent child or children Single, 60 or older, after 9 continuous months on payment Partnered Single principal carer granted an exemption from mutual obligation requirements for any of the following: - foster caring - non-parent relative caring under a court order - home schooling - distance education -large family Your maximum fortnightly payment: $693.10 $745.20 $745.20 $631.20 $949.30 Advertisement As a result of parents struggling to put food on the table, many vulnerable Australians are also experiencing issues with their mental health. 'Over one-third of all respondents (37%) experienced persistent loneliness in the past year, and more than half (54%) identified feeling lonely and socially isolated as one of their greatest challenges in the past year,' the report said. Two thirds of parents said their mental health had affected their daily lives with 37 per cent saying their emotions had affected their ability to care for their family. Salvation Army Secretary for Mission, Captain Stuart Glover, said donations to the foundation's Red Shield Appeal were needed now more than ever. As a result of parents struggling to put food on the table, many vulnerable Australians are also experiencing issues with their mental health (stock image) 'Everyone is doing it tough at the moment but for those who were already struggling, the cost-of-living crisis is making it almost impossible for them to survive without help,' he said. 'We have seen a significant increase in everyday Australians who have fallen through the cracks over the last year. In many instances, we are seeing those who used to volunteer or donate money and time to help the Salvos now coming to us for help.' Meanwhile within NSW alone, there are one million people living below the poverty line, according to research from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling. Among those include one in every seven children. Australians most at risk of falling into poverty include renters, single parents, women, students, the unemployed and people with disabilities. A conservation charity has warned holiday-makers to be cautious as they plan their summer holidays - with a map laying bare the horrifying sewage discharges along scenic hotspots. The Rivers Trust have told customers to check where waste is being let out into the sea and rivers - and make sure you don't bathe downstream of one. It comes as anger boils against water companies - who will have to end sewage dumping by 2050 under new government targets. Experts at the environmental organisation have compiled an interactive map - showing where sewage is dumped and overflows into rivers, hoping it will help people avoid the human waste polluting our waterways. The Rivers Trust Comms & Advocacy Director Tessa Wardley said: 'People are rightly looking forward to exploring the beauty on our doorstep in the British Isles this summer including our rivers, lakes, and beaches, so it's sad to think there could potentially be discharges happening across the land that stops people enjoying them. The Rivers Trust have told punters to check where waste is being let out into the sea and rivers - and make sure you don't bathe downstream of one The shocking graphic lays bare more than 380,000 spills for nearly 2,350,000 hours of treated sewage and overflows of untreated sewage in England and Wales in 2022 alone. It includes popular seaside desinations, beauty spots and once-celebrated rivers. Pictured: Stock image of sewage pipe 'The big difficulty for the public is that live data on sewage discharges isn't widely available at the moment (Thames Water being the exception), so in most places the safest thing to do is to avoid swimming downstream of a known outfall point, particularly if there's been recent rain. READ MORE: Water bosses issue grovelling apology after millions of tons of sewage is dumped in Britains rivers and coasts Advertisement 'If all water companies made their live data available, it would be much easier for the public to identify safer water spots for them to enjoy swimming, paddling, or fishing on their holidays.' The shocking graphic lays bare more than 380,000 spills of nearly 2,350,000 hours of treated sewage and overflows of untreated sewage in England and Wales in 2022 alone. And this doesn't even include all the data - with the charity still waiting for spill data from Hafren Dyfrdwy (Severn Trent) in Wales and the map accounting for 15,210 of 16,791 british storm overflows. It includes popular seaside desinations, beauty spots and once-celebrated rivers. The water industry issued a grovelling apology on Wednesday for dumping millions of tons of sewage in British rivers amid widespread public outrage over the continuing scandal. In Bristol water-lovers have been left disgusted at the state of the river. The Avon - which flows through the maritime city - is tracked by 85 sewer storm overflows along its main stretch They have overflowed at least 1511 times in the last year - for more than 1,523 hours Brian Stacey, 70, a retired Environment Agency engineer, said people are 'frightened' to go swimming - and he will only do it in a wetsuit The Avon - which flows through the maritime city - is tracked by 85 sewer storm overflows along its main stretch. They have overflowed at least 1511 times in the last year - for more than 1,523 hours. And one - just off the harbour's mouth out at sea - has spilled 99 times in the last year for nearly 750 hours. Brian Stacey, 70, a retired Environment Agency engineer, said at Bristol harbour: 'I did a lot of work in my 52-year working life for the Environment Agency and as soon as there is a storm, the water companies release the sewage. 'The waste sewage works can't cope with it so they just let it go. It shouldn't be allowed but there is a law that lets them release it if the sewage works is full. 'They've got away with it for years and years and years. 'Me and my wife used to swim at Clevedon in the open water and I never liked it because I always knew there was pollution. 'It does spoil it and people are frightened to go in. I go swimming every week, it's a wetsuit job now, definitely.' Gap year student Ninns Lines, 18, from Bristol, was warned not to get water in her mouth when she did sailing lessons in the harbour Pete Saundersson, 45, an engineering manager at Dyson, claimed people get ill on days that sewage alerts come in Gap year student Ninns Lines, 18, from Bristol, said: 'It's mental. 'I used to do sailing lessons here in the harbour and they used to say: "don't get the water in your mouth". It was so smelly. 'I also used to do a bit of paddleboarding with my family as well but not more recently. 'Actions mean more than words and I feel like government people lie a lot.' Pete Saundersson, 45, an engineering manager at Dyson, said: 'In the rivers here people get ill on days when there are sewage alerts coming from the companies. 'There is an impact all over the region. 'I only go wild swimming in Wales up in the mountains. I wouldn't swim in Bristol because of the danger of the water now. 'I would have done a couple of years ago but I just don't think it's a possibility here anymore. Paulo da Silva, 28, a chef, spoke from his partner Caitlin's leisure cruise narrow boat on Bristol harbour Caitlin joked that while it is her job to keep people safe on the boat - if they go overboard it is every man for himself READ MORE: Anger boils over sewage-filled river in holiday hotspot Lyme Regis as shamed water boss is forced to turn down her 450,000 bonus Locals and tourists have been warned to stay out due to the 'shocking' levels of E-coli Advertisement 'I think at the moment all we can do is damage limitation reversing the damage we have already done.' Paulo da Silva, 28, a chef, said from his partner Caitlin's leisure cruise narrow boat on Bristol harbour: 'The water here is definitely polluted. 'The way people treat the environment here in the city centre is not good. People are so ignorant. 'I'm from Portugal and I love my water but I would never swim in the harbour here.' Caitlin, 27, added: 'I'll tell you this now, my job is to keep people safe on the boat but if you end up in the water I am not coming in after you. 'I will try and get you out in any other way but I am not going to risk myself in that.' Ezra Friesner, 21, a deck hand, said: 'The pollution is naff. Just look at the water. You can hardly see down to the bottom. 'I am not planning on going in there any time soon. 'I am a keen swimmer but I do not want to swim in it for fear of coming out with a disease hitherto unknown to man.' Water UK's new boss, the former Labour Cabinet minister Ruth Kelly, promised on Wednesday water companies would, if the regulator Ofwat allows it, increase investment in sewage infrastructure by 10billion over the next five years, on top of an existing 3.1billion in a new National Overflows Plan affecting 350,000 miles of sewage pipes. Water UK said the investment was 'the biggest modernisation of sewers since the Victorian era'. Deck hand Ezra Friesner, 21,called the pollution 'naff', saying you can hardly see the river's bottom Water UK's new boss, the former Labour Cabinet minister Ruth Kelly, promised on Wednesday water companies would, if the regulator Ofwat allows it, increase investment in sewage infrastructure by 10billion over the next five years But water bills could increase for up to 100 years to pay for preventing sewage being released into the UK's rivers and oceans, the head of the industry's trade body revealed the day after. It said it would install tanks equivalent in capacity to thousands of Olympic swimming pools to hold rainwater surges, increase the capacity of sewage works and replace concrete with grass and ponds to reduce rainfall run off. It would also create new reed beds and wetlands to help treat overflow spills that do enter rivers, and enlarge the sewer network. The plan would reduce the number of sewage spills each year, from 403,170 in 2020 to 263,170 by 2030, Water UK said Gorleston-on-Sea - named Britain's Best Beach by Tripadvisor - has been victim to 48 sewage overflows in the last year for a total of more than 29 hours. And in the Lake District's Windermere a zoologist has campaigned for the body of water to be granted extra environmental protections, warning the rise in sewage being dumped there is the 'epitome' of the problems facing all of Britain's waterways. There are two sewer storm overflows in the lake and the river feeding it. Tripadvisor named Norfolk beach Gorleston-on-Sea, as being the best in the UK and the 12th best in Europe Matt Staniek, a 26-year-old conservationist claimed his black Labrador Bo fell ill after swimming in the UNESCO protected Lake Windermere One, at the centre of the famous beauty spot, has spilled 17 times for more than 52 hours in the last year, while a second, near Ambleside, overflowed 57 times for nearly 800 hours. Matt Staniek, a 26-year-old conservationist, raised the alarm over toxic algal blooms and vanishing wildlife at the 'dying' UNESCO-protected beauty spot in the Lake District. He claims England's largest lake is on the brink of annihilation, owing to sewage works pollution, local agriculture and the near 2,000 private septic tanks that line the iconic rural hotspot. He is now calling for Windermere to be granted protected scientific status, fresh investment from water firm United Utilities to tackle the dumping of sewage there, and more regulation to curb leaks in the catchment. Rock, in Cornwall, is famed for being a holiday favourite of Prince Harry - who first started visiting the resort in the 1990s. Dubbed Britain's St Tropez, even the exclusive resort has seen a sewage overflow of over an hour, with idyllic Padstow - which is just acoss the bay - enduring 36 overflows for more than 130 hours in 2022. At iconic Whitby sewage overflowed 136 for more than 172 hours - more than a week solidly. At iconic Whitby sewage overflowed 136 for more than 172 hours - more than a week solidly In cosy Welsh seaside village Mumbles, near Swansea, there were 302 overflows for more than 1600 hours - a combined total of more than nine weeks - in the last year And in cosy Welsh seaside village Mumbles, near Swansea, there were 302 overflows for more than 1600 hours - a combined total of more than nine weeks - in the last year. Swimming in water polution could lead to infections and illnesses caused by bacteria and viruses in the water. Surfers Against Sewage warned Brits not to swim in dozens of beaches in March after heavy raindall let to sewage being discharged into the water. And analysis shows water companies dumped sewage on to English Blue Flag beaches more than 1,500 times in 2022. The dumping took place over 8,497 hours on beaches marked as safe and environmentally friendly, raising fresh concern for swimmers and beach-goers. Blackpool Sands in Devon saw more than 1,000 hours of sewage discharge across 63 dumpings and is the worst offender on their list. The other most affected beaches include the sheltered cove of Meadfoot Beach, in Torquay, Sidmouth Beach and Exmouth Beach, all in Devon. On May 9 the bosses of three water companies have decided to waive their bonuses as pressure mounts over the ongoing scandal of sewage dumping in rivers. Water firms dumped sewage on England's cleanest beaches more than 1,500 times last year Blackpool Sands, in Devon, was the Blue Flag beach worst affected by the dumping and more than 1,000 hours - 42 days - of sewage was released there in 2022 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. 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. 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 Britain's privatised water and sewage companies will face increased penalties from 2025 for using faulty or broken equipment to measure pollution from storm overflow pipes. Australians with a six-figure salary can consider themselves among the nation's richest earners while most Sydney homeowners are part of the global elite, it has been revealed. The top 10 per cent of earners make $122,664 or more, tax figures show, with average coal miners ($124,550), school principals ($130,142) and dentists ($131,773) scraping into the upper echelon. Home owners are rich too with global real estate group Knight Frank regarding anyone with $1.5million in assets a 'high-net-worth individual' - meaning someone who owns a house just above Sydney's $1.25million median is considered wealthy in global terms. To be among Australia's wealthiest one per cent requires $8.3million of assets - the third highest figure in the world behind only Monaco ($18.7million) and Switzerland ($9.95million). The figures have been converted to Australian dollars from US dollars, as reported in the Knight Frank wealth report Owning a typical house in Vaucluse in Sydney's east - where $8.14million is the median price - would put an Australian among the top one per cent for wealth What makes you rich in Australia TOP ONE PER CENT FOR WEALTH: Assets worth $8.3million. This could include owning a median priced $8.14million house in Vaucluse in Sydney and a $161,000 Porsche Macan TOP ONE PER CENT FOR INCOME: A salary of $352,719 which would include anaesthetists on $388,814 TOP TEN PER CENT FOR INCOME: A salary of $122,664 which would include a coal miner on $124,550 Sources: Knight Frank, Australian Taxation Office, CoreLogic Advertisement The Wealth Report 2023 also found Australia's mega-wealthy are among the richest one-per-centers in the world. To be among Australia's wealthiest one per cent requires $8.3million of assets - the third highest figure in the world behind only Monaco ($18.7million) and Switzerland ($9.95million). Owning a typical house in Vaucluse in Sydney's east - where $8.14million is the median price - would put an Australian among the nation's wealthiest one per cent - if they also drove a $161,000 Porsche Macan SUV. This means the likes of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who lives in a Point Piper mansion on the harbour, would be among Australia's top one per cent. But other baby boomers who bought a house in Sydney during the 1980s or 1990s, when homes were more affordable compared with incomes, are also rich by world standards. Knight Frank includes someone's principal place of residence in their 'high net wealth individual' definition of $US1million - or $A1.5million. Sydney's mid-point house price was $1.25million in April, CoreLogic data showed. Below Australia, New Zealand was the fourth hardest place to be a one-per-center, with the top one per cent having $7.8million in possessions. The United States - the world's richest economy - requires assets of $7.7million ($US5.1million) for someone to be among the very wealthiest. The top 10 per cent of earners make $122,664 or more, tax figures show, with average coal miners ($124,550), school principals ($130,142) and dentists ($131,773) scraping into the upper echelon Only 3.6 per cent of income earners, on more than $180,000, pay the top marginal tax rate of 45 per cent, with this threshold rising to $200,000 on July 1, 2024 when the stage three tax cuts come into effect What you get back under stage three $45,000: Nothing $60,000: $375 as tax burden falls to $10,692 from $11,067 $80,000: $875 as tax burden falls to $17,192 from $18,067 $120,000: $1,875 as tax burden falls to $29,992 from $31,867 $150,000: $3,975 as tax burden falls to $39,592 from $43,567 $200,000: $9,075 as tax burden falls to $55,592 from $64,667 $250,000: $9,075 as tax burden falls to $79,092 from $88,167 $300,000: $9,075 as tax burden falls to $102,592 from $111,667 Tax liabilities for 2024-25 compared with 2022-23 and 2023-24 Advertisement At least it's easier to be among the top one per cent of income earners in Australia, going by tax office data. The figures cover taxable incomes, which is salary minus deductions for work-related claims. Australia's 113,850 individuals making more than $352,719 are among the top 0.8 per cent of income earners, beating 14,844,740 others. That means anaesthetists, with an average taxable income of $388,814, are among the elite - but not backbenchers in federal Parliament on a base salary of $217,060. To be among the top 10 per cent of Australia's 14,958,590 income earners, someone would need to earn $122,664 - based on 2019-20 Australian Taxation Office data, the latest available figures. A coal miner, with an average salary of $124,550, scrapes in among the top 1,480,055 income earners but not a television journalist on $107,918. Only 3.6 per cent of income earners, on more than $180,000, pay the top marginal tax rate of 45 per cent, with this threshold rising to $200,000 on July 1, 2024 when the stage three tax cuts come into effect. Those on more than $120,000 now pay 37 cents in the dollar but this will fall to 30 cents, when the number of tax brackets is slashed from five to four for the first time since 1984. This new tax bracket will cover those earning $45,000 to $200,000. The top one per cent of income earners, on more than $300,000, will pay $9,075 less tax as their tax burden falls to $102,592 from $111,667. Those in the top 10 per cent, on more than $120,000, will see their tax bill fall $1,875 to $29,992 from $31,867 Advertisement Picture the scenario: Far out of sight of land, in the remotest parts of the North Sea, a fleet of miniature submarines and frogmen slip unnoticed from the decks of Russian spy ships and make their way to the seabed. Here they find the arteries that keep the UK alive: Cables and pipes that carry everything from gas to electricity, banking data to military communications. Then, all at once, the links are cut. It may seem far-fetched, but fears are growing that the Kremlin is preparing for just such an attack after Russian vessels were caught snooping on Britain's shores earlier this year, with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warning on Thursday that Russia has 'the intent and the ability' to sabotage the West's critical infrastructure. And experts warn such an attack would be 'disastrous' for the UK, putting lives at risk as hospitals lost power, wiping billions off the economy as banks were unplugged from the global system, cutting off remote communities, and potentially sparking riots. Fears are growing that Russia could target British energy cables and data cables, effectively cutting it off from the global grid and putting lives in the United Kingdom at risk as hospitals lost power, wiping billions off the economy as banks were unplugged from the global system, cutting off remote communities, and potentially sparking riots Dr Dwayne Ryan Menezes, of the Polar Research & Policy Initiative, said: 'Damage to undersea telecommunications and power cables could prove disastrous for the UK. '[It could] cause internet outages and power blackouts; affect homes and businesses; cut off communities; disrupt telephone, mobile and internet services, public transport, emergency services, hospitals, schools and universities, and local governments. '[It could] render it impossible to make international financial transactions; and have significant adverse consequences for the UK's economy and London's standing as the world's most international and connected global financial centre. 'As damage to cables can take days or weeks to fix, it could even lead to potential civil unrest and riots.' Costs, though difficult to estimate, could certainly run into the billions, he added. Meanwhile, as he launched a new security partnership with Norway, Defence Secretary Wallace warned that Moscow has submarines and spy ships designed to attack underwater energy and communication lines. 'What we know is the Russians have a work programme, they have a specific naval programme designed to both look at and potentially sabotage or attack critical national infrastructure belonging to its adversaries,' he said. 'It has a number of submarines and other pieces of equipment and spy ships and everything else specifically designed for that purpose.' He added: 'Russia has the intent and the capability to target the West's critical national infrastructure. We have to have the intent and the capability to defend it.' Russia's underwater threat is nothing new, and researchers have been warning about potential sabotage attacks since at least 2015. But back then the main concern was undersea internet cables, through which 95 per cent of the world's internet traffic and $10trillion of financial transactions pass every day. In 2017, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - then a backbench MP - wrote a report warning of the 'existential' threat faced by the UK in the event of a coordinated attack on these cables, most of which are no thicker than a hosepipe. The pipes are poorly protected, would take only basic skills to find and break, and have no backup system because satellites cannot handle the volume of data they carry. 'Short of nuclear or biological warfare, it is difficult to think of a threat that could be more justifiably described as existential than that posed by the catastrophic failure of undersea cable networks as a result of hostile action,' Mr Sunak wrote. Fears are growing that the Kremlin is preparing for an attack on Britain's infrastructure after Russian vessels were caught snooping on Britain's shores earlier this year, with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warning on Thursday that Russia has 'the intent and the ability' to sabotage the West's critical infrastructure Six years on, fresh fears are now growing as the threat has evolved. Russia has since invested heavily in sea-bed warfare technology and owns ships and submarines capable of operating mini-subs and robots to work at great depth, that could potentially carry out sabotage attacks. And in October last year, Ministers ordered an urgent survey of undersea power and internet cables amid fears Russia may have already targeted them with mines. This came a month after three quickfire explosions tore open the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and destroyed the main gas links between Russian and Europe in September. Many suspected Kremlin sabotage, and in April a team of investigative journalists from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland claimed to have uncovered evidence that at least three Russian vessels were operating in the area in the lead-up to those blasts. One, a research vessel called the Sibiryakov which has extensive underwater capabilities, allegedly toured the northern blast zone in late June last year. A second, a tugboat called SB-123, was tracked to an area between the northern and southern zones in late September having earlier set off as part of a six-vessel Russian navy mission from Kaliningrad. A third unidentified ship was in the same area as the Sibriyakov in early June. Separately, the same team of investigators tracked another vessel - the Admiral Vladimirski - as it scouted infrastructure in the North Sea, including the locations of UK wind farms. It was the first time analysts had seen such behaviour, and means that vital energy infrastructure is now a potential target along with internet links. Havard Gulldahl, one of the journalists, was left in no doubt that Russia intends to sabotage those links 'should the current conflict [in Ukraine] escalate.' Being an island, the UK is particularly vulnerable to such attacks and will only become more vulnerable as time passes. Around a third of the gas we use each year comes to the UK via a pipe from Norway that runs under the North Sea. This is set to increase in the coming years as our own gas fields run dry. Last September, three quickfire explosions tore open the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipes and destroyed the main gas links between Russian and Europe. Pictured: The gas leak at Nord Stream 2 is seen from a Danish helicopter in September 2022 Pictured: An grab from video filmed by an underwater drone shows the damage to one of the Nord Steam pipelines A team of investigators tracked a Russian vessel - the Admiral Vladimirski - as it scouted infrastructure in the North Sea, including the locations of UK wind farms. Pictured: British wind farms are seen off the coast of Blackpool (file photo) Five undersea energy cables also link us to the likes of France, Belgium and the Netherlands - with a sixth cable to Denmark due to open this year. Meanwhile Britain is set to increase its dependence on offshore wind fivefold over the coming years, accounting for a full third of the energy we use by 2030. All of which is now in Russia's crosshairs - though Moscow denies any such plot. Dr Menezes added: 'In October 2020, a 20-mile subsea power cable connecting the Western Isles and mainland Scotland was cut, resulting in power outages that affected 18,000 around homes, as well as wind farms and hydro projects. 'Scottish and Southern Energy Networks stated that the old cable could not be repaired, and that commissioning and laying a new one - which would be necessary - would take 6-12 months. 'In October 2022, two subsea communications cables [on the Shetland islands] were cut within the span of a few days, resulting in communication outages: telephone, mobile and internet services were severely disrupted, affecting families and businesses, emergency services, as well as Sumburgh airport. 'While the incident was attributed to a UK-registered fishing vessel or trawler, a Russian 'research' ship Boris Petrov - believed to double as a surveillance and intelligence gathering ship - happened to be sailing past critical undersea infrastructure in the North Sea. '[It also] sailed close to Shetland a day after the second subsea sable was cut, prompting concerns that Russia might have been behind the cable incident.' The Royal Navy is buying two dedicated subsea surveillance ships which are due to be operational this year to combat such a threat. And, at a summit in Belgium last month, nine ministers including UK energy secretary Grant Shapps vowed to increase the use of drones to monitor offshore turbines and cables. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations in Pyatigorsk, Russia May 19. Fears are growing that the Russian president could launch an attack against British infrastructure in retaliation for its military and financial support of Ukraine They also pledged to share intelligence on undersea threats as a deterrent to Putin. An MoD spokesperson said at the time: 'Our priority will always be maintaining our national security. 'That is why we increased Royal Navy presence patrols after the Nord Stream incident and have invested 65m in the first of our two Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance ships. 'We continue to review all our investments and activities against the full range of threats and risks.' Netflix viewers say they have been unable to sleep after watching the movie Viking Wolf, which tells the story of a teenage girl who is bitten by a medieval werewolf. Viking Wolf is a fairly low-budget Norwegian horror film that was released on Netflix in February. It didn't get rave reviews and scores 50 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.2/10 on IMDb. It is set in a rural Swedish town suddenly plagued by what seems to be a werewolf soon after Thale, 17, moves there from Oslo with her mother. But those who watched the film have said the experience was so harrowing they were left unable to sleep. Viking Wolf is a Norwegian horror movie about a teenage girl bitten by a medieval werewolf while attending a party in the woods The film's protagonist is a teenage girl named Thale, who is attacked by a werewolf Thale moves to the town of Nybo after her father is killed. She struggles to fit in and initially holds a grudge against her mother, whom she holds partly responsible for her father's death. Things start to look up when she is invited to a party by a high school friend. But the party does not end well - a beast kills a girl and attacks Thale, leaving her with a wounded shoulder. Thale then starts her own transition into a werewolf. The film has a number of disturbing scenes. At one point Thale devours her friend after transforming into a werewolf during a full moon. Fans have taken to Twitter to react to comment on the film. 'My 8 yr old sister thought she was smart and snuck watched the Viking Wolf on Netflix. She has been slinking into my room round midnight as the nightmares are nightmaring.' He was dropped off by an Uber in Santa Monica on November 30, 2021 and was never seen again - his remains were found earlier this month The fiance of late tech executive Beau Mann, whose remains were found earlier this month, a full 18 months after he was last seen, slammed authorities for dropping the ball when investigating his disappearance. The 39-year-old's body was found just 1,000 feet from his last known location in Santa Monica, California. He vanished in November 2021 after being dropped off close to an apartment building. Mann's fiance, Jason Abate, told the US Sun that law enforcement 'didn't even handle it.' 'I think that's because they assumed he was just a drug addict and gay and they didn't care,' he said. Mann was an LA based businessman who ran a company called Sober Grid, an app that provided resources for those attempting to be sober all over the world. Beau Mann (left) and his fiance Jason Abate, who said the LAPD dropped the ball on the missing persons investigation into the deceased CEO whose remains were found earlier this month Mann was last seen here, in the courtyard of an abandoned property along the 2900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica Beau Mann was last seen at around 2pm on November 30, 2021, on camera at a 7-Eleven near the offices of Sober Grid. Mann then got in an Uber, and while inside the vehicle he texted 911. He was dropped off in Santa Monica and never seen again. Earlier this month, Santa Monica police confirmed that human remains found in an abandoned apartment building were those of Mann. His cause of death remains unclear. Nearly a year and a half later, human remains were discovered in an abandoned apartment building by a homeless man, according Abate. After months of being involved with an online amateur detectives, Abate received an anonymous tip that he then reported to Crime Stoppers. Shortly after the tip was reported, officials were able to determine that the skeletal remains found in Santa Monica were Mann's. Abate expressed fury that it took the police more than a year to discover the body that was just 1,000 feet away from where the tech CEO had been dropped off. 'It didn't seem like they took it very seriously at all,' Abate said, adding that missing persons cases are not prioritized by law enforcement. The run down Santa Monica apartment building where Mann's remains were found earlier this month The abandoned complex is reportedly a popular meeting spot for the area's homeless and drug addicted population The dilapidated area was just 1,000 feet from Mann's last known location The Santa Monica Police Department has now taken over the case and told The sun that they are investigating all potential possibilities, including homicide. 'SMPD detectives are in the process of combing through all the evidence collected as of today and exploring the possibility, as we always do,' said SMPD's Erika Aklufi. 'We owe it to victims and their families and friends to make sure that our work is done correctly and completely.' While the circumstances around Mann's death remain mysterious, Abate admitted that his fiance may have relapsed. However, he added that the drugs Mann used did not often cause overdoses unless they were laced. 'Beau was very careful if he relapsed. He took himself to the hospital,' said Abate. 'Beau was a scaredy-cat. While he would help anybody I know, he would not wind up in a situation, in a place, that he was found at his own doing,' added Abate, saying that his partner would not likely have ended up in the run down building of his own accord. A private investigator hired by the Mann family believes the tech CEO consumed drugs that proved fatal and died shortly after arriving in Santa Monica Abate, on the other hand, alleged Mann was responsible when he relapsed, and would check himself into a hospital A private investigator hired by the Mann family believes the tech CEO consumed drugs that proved fatal and died shortly after arriving in Santa Monica. Abate has said that he last spoke with Mann the night before he returned to Los Angeles and disappeared. He had spent Thanksgiving 2021 with family in Texas. Abate, who lives in Michigan, raised the alarm when Mann suddenly stopped replying to his calls and messages. He said it was not unusual for the busy tech executive to go a day or so without replying, but when time passed, he became alarmed. Abate called the LAPD, who met Mann's assistant at his apartment to do a wellness check. The assistant filed a missing persons' report on December 4, 2021. A young mum and her 22-year-old friend have died after the caravan they were sleeping in caught fire. Emergency crews rushed to a rural property on Galvin Road in Upper Brookfield, in Brisbane's west, at about 4.30am on Saturday, and found the caravan engulfed in flames. Jane Strong, 26, from Rosedale, north of Bundaberg, and a 22-year-old male from Lowmead were found dead in the charred ruins. Ms Strong's partner Carl Weiss suffered burns to his hands, neck and shoulders and was taken to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in a stable condition. Brisbane region duty officer Inspector Karl Hahne said Mr Weiss' burns suggested he either tried to escape or break in to help those inside the caravan. New mum Jane Strong, 26, (pictured with her Partner Carl Weiss and their baby girl) was identified as one of the victims. A 22-year-old male was also found dead inside the caravan Emergency crews rushed to Upper Brookfield in the early hours of Saturday morning where they found a caravan engulfed in flames (pictured) A young mum and her 22-year-old male friend were found dead inside the caravan. A crime scene has been declared at the property (pictured) 'The burns are consistent to trying to escape the fire or potentially alert people to the fire,' Inspector Hahne told 9News. The couple's baby girl, who was born last year, was sleeping in a neighbouring home on the property during the fire. She was found alive and unharmed. It's understood Ms Strong and Mr Weiss were staying on the property ahead of the Brookfield Show. Inspector Hahne said several others were also staying on the property, which he described as a series of structures including sheds and shipping containers. 'There were a number of people staying at the premises over night and the alert was that there was two people unaccounted for,' he said. 'Obviously some of them witnessed the fire so it's been quite traumatic but we are systematically going through, speaking to those people, getting their versions to understand what occurred in the early hours of this morning.' He added the blaze broke out in the caravan which was parked underneath a semi-permanent structure with a tin roof. The flames reduced the caravan and the surrounding shed to rubble, with fire fighters able to contain the blaze before it spread to a house just metres away. Carl Weiss was taken to Brisbane's Royal Women and Children's hospital in a stable condition for treatment for burns he suffered to his hands, back of his neck and shoulders (pictured, Jane Strong and Carl Weiss) Police said Carl Weiss' burns were consistent with trying to escape the fire or break in to help those inside the caravan (pictured, Carl Weiss with his partner Jane Strong and their baby) Queensland Fire and Emergency Services acting superintendent Tim Burchmann said fire was 'coming out of all sides' of the caravan when emergency crews arrived at the scene. Mr Burchmann said it was unknown if the caravan had a smoke detector, but explained the device is not a requirement for caravans. He added the devastating fire would hit the tight-knit community 'very hard' and encouraged neighbours to look to each other for support. 'It's very tragic, the circumstances surrounding this incident are going to hit the community very hard,' Mr Burchmann told The Courier Mail. 'We encourage everybody within the community to look after each other and be there and support each other.' Police and the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services declared the property a crime scene and are investigating the cause of the fire. A man has been charged with murder after the body of his friend was found wrapped in plastic inside a metal cabinet that had been dumped in a creek. Zachary Richard Fraser, 22, was arrested at his Peakhurst home, in southern Sydney, on Monday. His arrest came after police launched an investigation into the death of alleged drug dealer Darcy Schafer-Turner, 22, The Daily Telegraph reported. Fraser was taken to St George Police Station where he was charged with murder. Zachary Richard Fraser (pictured), 22, was arrested at his Peakhurst home in southern Sydney and charged over the alleged murder of Darcy Schafer-Turner whose body was found dumped in a creek inside a metal filing cabinet Detectives found Mr Schafer-Turner's body last Friday in a large metal cabinet that had been dumped in Warrell Creek in Macksville, on the Mid North Coast. Police discovered the body after launching a search for Mr Schafer-Turner was missing. They had been investigating the alleged supply of drugs in the Caringbah region, in southern Sydney, at the time. According to court documents, Fraser allegedly murdered Mr Schafer-Turner between April 27 and 29. Detective Acting Superintendent Virginia Gorman, Homicide Squad Commander said on Sunday: Police will allege that he was assaulted and that assault was quite violent but that the ultimate cause of his death was probably suffocation. Police will allege the motivation (for the crime) does relate to drugs. Darcy Schafer-Turner's body was found last Friday in a large metal cabinet that had been dumped in Warrell Creek in Macksville, on the Mid North Coast It is alleged that a Brisbane businessman acted as 'The Cleaner' and helped sanitise the crime scene and dispose of Mr Schafer-Turner's body. Charles Dennis Le Marchant Turnbull, 33, was arrested in Brisbane on an outstanding warrant for accessory to murder. Turnbull, who owns AAG Group and works in the transport industry, allegedly flew to Sydney where he bought chlorine, coveralls, duct tape, gloves and cleaning material from Bunnings. Police alleged he then went to the Peakhurst property where Mr Schafer-Turner's body lay. Turnbull allegedly made another trip to Bunnings, in the deceased's ute, to buy a large metal cabinet, drill, zip ties and rolls of black plastic. Charles Dennis Le Marchant Turnbull (pictured), 33, allegedly acted as 'The Cleaner' and helped sanitise the crime scene and dispose of Mr Schafer-Turner's body It was alleged in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday that Turnbull and the other men then cleaned the crime scene and wrapped Mr Schafer-Turner's body in plastic and placed it in the metal cabinet which was then placed in the deceased's ute. Turnbull then allegedly purchased a trailer and aluminium boat in Port Macquarie on Facebook marketplace which he then drove north to Warrell Creek, south of Macksville, where he dumped the body. 'Hes been called in on this instance to clean up but I dont have any information to suggest that was the normal occupation for him,' said Detective Acting Superintendent Gorman. The court heard that Turnbull was in debt related to drugs and he had been told he could clear some of that debt if he helped out. Turnbull was refused bail and he will remain in Queensland until he is extradited to NSW to face the accessory to murder charge. Fraser was refused bail and his next hearing will be at the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday 17 August. Detective Acting Superintendent Gorman added: The family (of the victim) are horrified by the circumstances and the lack of concern for the young boy even after he died to just dump him in a creek in a locker, hoping hell never ben found is awful. This image illustrates trade between Korea and China. Korea Times file Korea has asked China to defer the application of its mandatory product certification rules for lithium-ion batteries used in mobile phones, the industry ministry said Sunday. The Korea Agency for Technology and Standards under the ministry called on China to give a grace period to Korean companies regarding the China Compulsory Certificate (CCC) required for lithium-ion batteries and battery packs, mobile power supplies and power chargers for telecommunication terminals used in electronic and electrical products, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The CCC will go into effect in August, and products that fail to receive the certification may be banned from exports, imports and use in China starting in August 2024, it added. Korea made the request to help its companies better adjust to the changing rules during a committee meeting on technical batteries to trade (TBT) under the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) held in Beijing last week. China also asked the Seoul government to ease the "Korea Certification" regulations on its electric items, the ministry said. The FTA-TBT committee meeting has been held on an annual basis, except for in 2018, since 2015, when the bilateral trade deal came into force. (Yonhap) Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden have committed Australia and the US to pooling their resources in the fight against climate change. The Australian Prime Minister and US President made the historic deal as they met on the sidelines of the G7 summit of world leaders being held in Japan. Under the deal, the two nations will jointly develop solar, wind and storage technology, cooperate on supplying critical minerals and foster the emerging market for hydrogen. In a separate agreement Mr Biden signed off on Australia being considered a domestic source for the massive US defence industry, which opens up a vast market in military supply. Mr Albanese and Mr Biden also agreed to establishing a new US space station in Australia and to be part of joint council to combat child sexual exploitation. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured left) has reached a historic agreement on climate change with US President Joe Biden (pictured right) In a joint statement the two leaders said 'Australia and the United States will deliver sustainable, resilient and secure critical minerals and clean energy technology to the world'. 'We're going to establish climate and clean energy as the third pillar of the Australia-US Alliance,' Mr Biden said, with the other pillars being defence and economic cooperation. A climate change action plan will be developed by the end of the year and new ministerial-level dialogue will be established between Australia and the US with the goal of reaching net zero emissions. The US will also support Australia's bid to host the COP31 climate change summit in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific Islands. At their meeting Mr Biden apologised to Mr Albanese for cancelling his intended visit to Australia next week to take part in the Quad summit of leaders, which would have also included the prime ministers of Japan and India. A looming economic disaster at home caused Mr Biden to scrap his visit. The US is rapidly approaching its 'debt ceiling' an upper limit set by Congress on how much the country can borrow, which unless it is lifted means the nation faces the catastrophic prospect of defaulting on loans. ' I truly apologise to you, for having you to come here rather than me being in Australia right now,' Mr Biden said. Mr Albanese said in Mr Biden's shoes he would have done the same thing. Mr Biden said he looked forward to hosing Mr Albanese in Washington DC within the next six months. At a reconvened meeting of the four Quad leaders in Japan they agreed to boost digital connectivity in the Pacific Islands with an Open Access Radio Network and to streamline clean energy supply chains. The four leaders also agreed to develop training fellowships for 1,800 infrastructure experts, cooperate on protecting critical undersea communication cables. Mr Albanese said the agreements 'take forward the Quad's work on climate change and clean energy, infrastructure and connectivity, health security, and critical and emerging technology'. Under the new deal the US and Australian will cooperate on developing renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines (stock image pictured) 'The Quad Leaders coming together in-person sends a strong message about Quad unity and what the group is able to achieve together,' Mr Albanese said praising the other leaders for their flexibility in rescheduling the summit. 'Australia is always better off when we work together with our close friends and partners, and engage openly and constructively.' Despite commentary this week suggesting that the scrapped Quad would mark the downfall of the alliance, Mr Biden was able to meet with Mr Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a 36-point joint statement that did not mention China by name, the four leaders took aim at its growing authoritarianism and its ongoing territorial claims in the East and South China Seas. '(In the East and South China Seas) we express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coastguard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities,' the joint statement read. 'We emphasise that disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, without threat or use of force.' The leaders together said their vision was for a 'peaceful and prosperous, stable and secure' region that was 'respectful of sovereignty' and free from 'intimidation and coercion'. 'Conscious that ours must not be an era of war, we remain committed to dialogue and diplomacy,' the leaders said. In the context of Ukraine, the leaders said the international security environment was under strain, and the international rules-based order under threat. In a bid to counter China's rising influence in the region, the leaders committed to build and manage infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific, strengthen undersea cable networks, and develop an Open Radio Access Network with Palau. (From left to right) US President Joe Biden, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold a quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Leaders' Summit Their commitment stands in contrast to China's multi-billion dollar investment into regional infrastructure. Mr Albanese said he was pleased to have convened the meeting 'to discuss pressing challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region, and deepening the Quad's co-operation'. 'The Quad Leaders coming together in-person sends a strong message about Quad unity and what the group is able to achieve together. Australia is always better off when we work together with our close friends and partners, and engage openly and constructively,' he said. 'I am proud of what we have delivered through the Quad so far, and I will continue to work closely with my Quad colleagues in support of an open, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, where sovereignty is respected.' In a joint media appearance, Mr Biden thanked his fellow Quad counterparts for accommodating the change of plans; but said the mission remained the same. 'That is to advance our vision of a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and to demonstrate the capacity of democracies to deliver in a shared reason,' he said. 'I think people are going to look back at this Quad in ten, twenty, thirty years from now and say it changed the dynamic not only of the region, but the world. ' ... I think a great deal of the future of our world is going to be written here in the Indo-Pacific.' A police commissioner has come under fire a second time after a 95-year-old great grandmother was tasered by a senior constable at an aged care home. Clare Nowland, a dementia sufferer who is 157cm tall and weighs just 43kg, was tasered by a senior constable at Yallambee Lodge at Cooma, in NSW, on Wednesday. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb first sparked outrage on Saturday after she claimed it was 'not necessary' to view body cam footage of the incident. Her response came after questions were raised about the use of force by police on an elderly woman who required the assistance of a walking frame to move around. Ms Nowland was 'armed' with a steak knife and had been moving at a 'slow pace' before she was tasered and left in a critical condition. Commissioner Webb has come under fire for a second time over her comments made about police responding to incidents at aged care homes. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb (pictured) said it was 'rare' for police to be called to a nursing home after 95-year-old dementia suffered Clare Nowland was tasered on Wednesday But aged care expert and consultant Paul Sadler (pictured) cast doubt over Commissioner Webb's comments, claiming it was 'more common than perhaps the police commissioner was aware of' At a press conference on Saturday, Commissioner Webb said it was not common practice for police to attend a nursing home to help staff with their residents. 'In my experience, it's quite rare that we would be called to a nursing home,' Commissioner Webb said. 'It's not something we come across regularly.' Her claims have been savaged by an aged care expert and consultant, who said calling police was 'standard protocol' for staff when there was a reported assault. Paul Sadler, former chief executive of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association, appeared to cast doubt on the commissioner's claims. 'It's more common than perhaps the police commissioner was aware of,' Mr Sadler told the ABC. 'That's usual protocol where there's an instance of a reported assault.' Police are reviewing body-worn camera footage of the 'confronting' incident. Officers claim Mrs Nowland was approaching police 'at a slow pace' when she was blasted with the Taser by a senior constable with 12 years' experience. The taser jolt caused her to fall and hit her head, with the great-grandmother now receiving end-of-life care in Cooma District Hospital while surrounded by her family. Commissioner Webb provoked fury when she said she had no intentions of viewing the body-worn camera footage of the incident. 'I don't really intend to, no,' she told reporters on Saturday. 'I have heard what is in the body worn, and I don't see it necessary that I actually view it.' she said. Andrew Thaler, a spokesperson for Ms Nowland's family, told Daily Mail Australia that Commissioner Webb has an 'obligation' to see the footage. 'I don't accept that she doesn't have to, the buck stops with her,' Mr Thaler said. Ms Nowland (pictured), a dementia sufferer, was Tasered by the senior constable at 4am on Wednesday as she slowly approached a team of officers 'armed' with a steak knife and on a walker at the Yallambee Lodge aged care facility near Cooma, in the NSW Snowy Mountains 'She can't hide, she has to stand up and take responsibility and ensure that the community and family get answers. 'The whole situation is so egregious.' Speaking on behalf of the family, he said they wanted the Commissioner to view the bodycam footage of the incident with Mrs Nowland's family. Mr Thaler said seeing the footage would be difficult but better in the company of Commissioner Webb. On Saturday afternoon Mr Thaler revealed that Mrs Nowland's condition had not changed but that her breathing had become 'shallower'. The incident has made headlines around the world and has thrust Cooma, a town an hour south of Canberra with a population of 6,800, in the spotlight. Mr Thaler added that he was in Cooma on Friday and said none of the media he spoke to knew Commissioner Webb had traveled there to speak to the family. 'The top cop thinks she can sneak in and out but we need more,' he said. 'The family wants answers, the friends want answers, the community and world wants answers. I called on the commissioner to come down and she did but she also has an obligation to the community as well as the family.' Cops were called to the nursing home (pictured) after being told she had a kitchen knife. Ms Nowland was tasered while standing next to her walking frame Greens justice spokesman David Shoebridge has criticised the handling of the incident and said the bodycam vision should be released if Ms Nowland's family consented to it. 'There needs to be an urgent and public review of this incident by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) that includes, after consultation with the family, the release of the video from the Taser,' he said. 'Tasers are a potentially deadly weapon and need to be treated as such, but when the system sends in police that's too often what they reach for. 'The structural failing here is dispatching police to the incident when an emergency mental health team should have been available to de-escalate and treat an older woman in distress.' The officer in question remains off-duty while an investigation is underway. Asked why the officer had been stood down, Commissioner Webb would not divulge any further details. 'He is not in the workplace but I can't articulate the reasons why he is not in the workplace,' she told reporters. Almost two decades of Google searches have revealed Utah to be the nation's most closeted state. Utah comes in top spot for most searches for terms such as 'Am I gay?', 'Am I lesbian?', and 'Am I trans?' according to data collected between 2004 and 2023. Conversely, the state did not come in the top five states for residents searching 'How to come out' and 'non-binary.' Oklahoma and Vermont took out the top respectively for googling how to reveal your sexual preferences. The Google Trends data was analyzed by the Cultural Currents Institute (CCI) which studies trends in public opinion. Supporters hold a pro-gay marriage rally outside the Utah State Capitol in 2014. In June 2015, the Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage legalizing it in all states The findings also revealed searches relating to sexual and gender identity questions have went up by 1,300% since 2004 nationwide. According to the CCI, the analysis suggests that Utah might be the 'most closeted state' in America. Such a high level of searches over sexual and gender identity could suggest an internal struggle between personal feelings and societal expectations among internet users in Utah. The organization suggested that other socially conservative states also showed a similar amount of tension between social attitudes and the private thoughts obtained by search engine results. In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalizing it in all fifty states. People hold signs and cheer at a same-sex marriage celebration in Utah in October 2014 After Utah the states of Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia and New Hampshire made up the top five of users asking if they were gay. For those questioning whether they might be lesbian, the states of Connecticut, Kentucky, Washington and Colorado rounded out the top five. And for those wondering if they were trans, Kentucky, Colorado, Michigan and Washington came top of the search rankings over the last 19 years. Social attitudes around sexual orientation and gender identity over the last two decades has evolved. The shift in public conversation and awareness has also given rise for many to ask questions about their own sexual and gender identity. A notorious activist whose noisy protests disrupt Westminster every week may finally be silenced. The Home Office and Met Police are understood to be considering a range of approaches to stop Steve Bray, known as 'Stop Brexit Man', from using a sound system to blast music outside the Houses of Parliament and major Whitehall departments for eight hours at a time. Mr Bray torments MPs and civil servants with pop songs played at 90 decibels, which also often break into TV broadcasts. One possible tactic to stop Mr Bray is a Community Protection Notice a written warning followed by a 100 on-the-spot fine or prosecution if it is breached. For this, Labour-run Westminster Council would have to work with authorities and be persuaded Mr Bray's activities are not a genuine political protest. His actions have so far been deemed by council staff to be protected by human rights law. NUISANCE: Steve Bray blasts music outside Westminster for hours at a time (file image) Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson called on the council to act. He told the MoS: 'If he rocked up to their offices with his music blaring out, they would move him on.' Other options include tightening the law on 'one-man protests' to cover the cumulative effect of weeks of noise. A Met spokesman said: 'This is an area of considerable protest. Where that reaches beyond reasonable boundaries, we will take appropriate action.' A former minister said he could easily be dealt with under existing laws. 'He is waging a campaign of targeted harassment and intimidation against democratically elected politicians. 'The law is clear on harassment, and on the unedifying disruption and nuisance he brings to Westminster which the police should stop.' And one MP added: 'It's not a genuine political protest - he's just trying to making a living from being a public nuisance.' Civil servants are also considering tightening up parts of a law passed last year that were intended to deal with one-man protests such as his. Mr Bray torments MPs and civil servants with pop songs played at 90 decibels Section 79 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 imposed conditions on 'one-person protests', allowing police officers to impose conditions on them if they believe 'that the noise generated by the person carrying on the protest may result in serious disruption to the activities of an organisation which are carried on in the vicinity of the protest'. But the Metropolitan Police has not used the powers conferred by the law since it was passed last June, even though Mr Bray has set up his sound system on a traffic island at the end of Parliament Street almost every Wednesday since then to coincide with Prime Minister's Questions. It is believed that police do not think the noise his protest makes does not reach the threshold for an offence under the act, so the Home Office is considering amending it to make it clear that 'serious disruption' can include a cumulative effect from weeks of noise rather than just a one-off. Police are also said to be concerned about Mr Bray's increasingly aggressive behaviour towards MPs. He often harangues Conservative backbenchers and even ministers, chases them down the street and films them as they walk through Westminster. One possible tactic to stop Mr Bray is a Community Protection Notice a written warning followed by a 100 on-the-spot fine or prosecution if it is breached (file image) In March his antics online also got him into trouble after he shared an image of Home Secretary Suella Braverman laughing that had been doctored to show her standing outside Auschwitz (file image) When Boris Johnson gave his farewell speech outside No 10, Mr Bray tried to drown him out by playing the Benny Hill theme tune (file image) When Boris Johnson gave his farewell speech outside No 10, Mr Bray tried to drown him out by playing the Benny Hill theme tune and a parody of the pop song Bye Bye Baby. In one recent clip posted on his Twitter account, he told Environment Secretary Therese Coffey as she got out of a Range Rover near Downing Street: 'You're an absolute disgrace to this country. You'll be out of a job soon, thankfully.' Mr Bray regularly clashes with Mr Anderson and earlier this year reported him to the police for supposedly swiping his distinctive top hat although he was told that no crime had been committed. In March his antics online also got him into trouble after he shared an image of Home Secretary Suella Braverman laughing that had been doctored to show her standing outside Auschwitz. Although Mr Bray did have his equipment seized last June, raising hopes that he would be kept quiet under the new anti-protest law, police used powers under an older act but they later gave the two amplifiers back to him. He told a magazine: 'A few weeks later, they're calling me up saying they're clogging up their evidence room, and can I come and collect them.' Last night a spokesman for the Met said: 'This is an area of considerable protest, and where that reaches beyond the boundaries of what is reasonable, we will take appropriate action.' The baby, who authorities named India, is now happy and healthy, according to Sheriff Ron Freeman Almost four years after a newborn baby was found abandoned in a plastic bag in the woods in rural Georgia, deputies have arrested a woman they believe to be the child's biological mother and charged her with attempted murder. Karima Jiwani, 40, was taken into custody by one of the sheriff's deputies who had helped rescue the newborn almost four years ago. She was charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, reckless abandonment, cruelty to children in the first degree and several other charges, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office. Authorities found the infant in Cumming, Georgia, after a 911 call came in on June 6, 2019, when two teenagers heard a noise that sounded like a baby crying and convinced their father to investigate. She was named India - a name given to her by authorities - and placed in the care of a foster family approved by the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services. At the time, the sheriff's office released video of deputies finding the newborn in the hopes that it would lead to information about the baby's identity. Karima Jiwani, 40, was arrested on Thursday for abandoning her infant daughter in the Georgia woods in 2019 The infant was named India - a name given to her by authorities - and placed in the care of a foster family approved by the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services. The video showed a deputy ripping open a plastic bag to reveal the baby girl still covered in fluids from birth with the umbilical cord attached. She was then taken to a local hospital. The baby's survival was called miraculous by Sheriff Ron Freeman: 'Back then I called it divine intervention and I truly believe that, still today.' 'If you look at everything that had to happen for this little girl to survive, for alert people to hear a sound in the woods that they thought was a wild animal, but two teenage girls who couldn't let it go because they thought it sounded like a baby crying,' Freeman said Friday. The two teens convinced their father to go out in the middle of the night into the woods to try and locate the origin of the sound. The big break in the years- long case came 10 months ago when the sheriff's office was able to identify Baby India's father using familial DNA. The biological father was reportedly unaware of the pregnancy and is not facing charges. After thousands of hours of the investigation, Jiwani was arrested on Thursday and was subsequently denied bond. 'I told you four years ago we would find 'em and my cuffs would be on 'em, and they were,' said Freeman during a news conference. 'How a parent, and I happen to be one too, can do such a callous thing, is both incomprehensible, to all of us, and infuriating,' he continued. 'Im dumbfounded by any reasoning that could be there and how someone can have the ability to leave their own child to die.' Sheriff Ron Freeman said the arrest came after thousands of man hours from his deputies India was found in a plastic bag in the Georgia woods and miraculously still alive after being abandoned hours after her birth Freeman said evidence suggests Jiwani gave birth in her car and drove around 'for a significant period of time' before depositing the infant in the woods. 'This child was tied up in a plastic bag and thrown into the woods like a bag of trash. I can't understand that, I truly wish I could. I struggle, but I don't know how you can understand that. It literally is one of the saddest things I've ever seen,' he said. The sheriff's office also alleges that Jiwani has a 'a history of hidden and concealed pregnancies and surprise births' and had been aware of her pregnancy for 'a fairly considerable period of time and went through extremes to conceal' it. According to Freeman, baby India is currently happy and healthy. Sheriff Freeman said baby India is now happy and thriving During a Saturday morning court appearance, Jiwani's attorney told the court that the woman suffered from postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis like 'millions' of other women across the country. He also pointed out that Jiwani has no criminal record and is a homeowner and stay-at-home mom to three children. District Attorney Penny Penn rebuked the claim, saying that postpartum depression doesn't set it until a length of time after a child's birth and that Jiwani is accused of dumping the newborn within hours of her birth. Penn added that Jiwani admitted to authorities that she intended to kill her child in an interview after her arrest. Jiwani's next hearing is set for June 13. Ministers are planning to sweep away EU restrictions on vineyards to herald a post-Brexit boom in British winemaking. After weeks of backbench Tory criticism over the Government's failure to axe thousands of Brussels laws, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Environment Secretary Therese Coffey today vow to 'uncork the potential of our British wine industry' by removing the 'protectionism' of the EU. The UK industry is still bound by a raft of EU laws that regulate vineyard sizes, practices and critically protected designations of origin (PDOs), which protect products made in specific areas. But the Ministers say in today's Mail on Sunday that the new Retained EU Law Bill will allow UK-specific wine rules to be introduced. They write: 'The European wine industry is at the pinnacle of protectionism upon a mountain of EU red tape. Our wine growers have learnt lessons from the best of our neighbours and are producing some of the best wine in the world. Ministers are planning to sweep away EU restrictions on vineyards to herald a post-Brexit boom in British winemaking The British wine industry is centred on the counties of Kent and East and West Sussex (pictured: Chapel Down Winery in Kent) 'By reforming old EU law, our new rules will allow more creativity to build on the fast rise of our domestic producers; enabling them to introduce new blends, low and no alcohol wines, and put new products on sale alongside the traditional, great European wines.' The British wine industry is centred on the counties of Kent and East and West Sussex, with estates such as Chapel Down and Balfour already deemed to be producing wines on a par with some of the best in the world. There are just over 890 vineyards in the UK, with the area planted increasing by 70 per cent in five years. More than nine million bottles of UK wine are sold every year and just 4 per cent of British bottles are exported. By reforming PDO rules, the Government says there will be a wider choice of 'more climatically and disease resistant' grapes, offering the potential for less pesticide use and furthering the ability to survive more erratic weather. Under EU rules, English wine is registered as a PDO with the term allowed to be used only for wine produced in conformation with EU standards and using grapes grown in England at a maximum altitude of 220m above sea level. Well let British talent pour forth by Kemi Badenoch and Therese Coffey One of the most compelling benefits of Brexit was winning back the freedom to create and implement our own rules. The European wine industry is at the pinnacle of protectionism upon a mountain of EU red tape. Our wine growers have learnt lessons from the best of our neighbours and are producing some of the best wine in the world. By reforming old EU law, our new rules will allow more creativity to build on the fast rise of our domestic producers; enabling them to introduce new blends, low and no alcohol wines, and put new products on sale alongside the traditional, great European wines. The Retained EU Law Bill going through Parliament will ensure for the first time in a generation the UK does not recognise the supremacy of retained EU law. Earlier this month, we made an important change to the bill so that we can be clear about which EU laws will fall away at the end of the year on top of the around 1,000 already reformed and 500 further pieces of EU law to be repealed in other bills. This change will provide certainty for business and make space for genuine reform of EU rules to give the UK that competitive advantage. We are committed to reducing burdens on business and unlocking economic growth whilst maintaining our high standards for the environment. And today we can set out new rules that will uncork the potential of our British wine industry. However, despite our changes to the Retained EU Law Bill and deregulation agenda being warmly welcomed by business and Brexit supporters, last week the House of Lords defeated the Government in four votes in an attempt to slow our ability to rid our statute book of inappropriate retained EU law. We want Mail on Sunday readers to know we remain committed to our manifesto pledges to take back control of our statute book. This Government will overturn these unacceptable amendments. Of course we welcome genuine and productive scrutiny as the bill passes through Parliament. It is crucial that MPs, Peers and the public are able to hold the Governments feet to the fire on this. A theatre in east London has been accused of setting a 'dangerous precedent' after urging white people to stay away from a play so that the audience is 'free from the white gaze'. The Theatre Royal Stratford East has warned white visitors against attending the July 5 performance of Tambo & Bones - a production which explores 300 years of African American history. Those running the event said they are hosting the one-off 'Black Out' event during the play's month-long run in a bid to create a 'safe, private' space for an 'all-black-identifying audience' to look at race-related issues. Although organisers said on the theatre's website that 'no one is excluded', it has been made clear on promotional material that white people are not wanted at the production that night. 'A Black Out night is the purposeful creation of an environment in which an all-black-identifying audience can experience and discuss an event in the performing arts, film, and cultural spaces free from the white gaze,' an advert for the show said. The Theatre Royal Stratford East has warned white visitors against attending the July 5 performance of Tambo & Bones. Pictured: Rhashan Stone (left) and Daniel Ward who are starring in the play The Theatre Royal Stratford East has been accrued of setting a 'dangerous precedent' by hosting the Black Out event Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Festus Akinbusoye, Britain's first black PCC, condemned the event, claiming it set a 'poor and dangerous precedent'. Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Akinbusoye 'strongly urged' organisers to cancel the Black Out event. 'Society is richer and stronger when an understanding of each other's cultures and stories are shared and heard,' he told the publication. 'However I believe the Black Out concept runs contrary to this education and enrichment ethos.' The Bedfordshire PCC said that he himself is a lover of the theatre - and having recently attended Hamilton, he enjoyed 'being able to share this with people of all races and cultures.' But he said he would not have watched the show, which features a majority black or ethnic minority cast, if it had been a Black Out performance. He added: 'This also sets a poor and dangerous precedent, in my view, and is not something I would support.' While former No 10 race adviser Samuel Kasumu endorsed Mr Akinbusoye's comments '100 per cent', former politician Sir Trevor Phillips described the Black Out as 'completely lawful'. Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye (pictured), Britain's first black PCC, condemned the event, claiming it set a 'poor and dangerous precedent' 'I think it's fine, for several reasons,' he told The Telegraph. 'There is not a 'ban' on white attendees. It's completely lawful. It is one night out of many. There are other performances designated for specific audiences.' Sir Trevor, a writer and broadcaster, admitted he might attend the performance to see how it works. He believes it could be interesting to see how theatregoers from different backgrounds react in comparison to a predominantly black audience. Tambo & Bones, which explores African American history through businessman Tambo and hustler Bones, first opened in the US last year. Split into three sections, it follows the pair's misfortunes before they become rappers and finally members of the Black Lives Matter movement. Matthew Xia, who directs the UK production of Tambo & Bones, also referred to the 'white gaze' and doubled down on the need to have a Black Out performance. Leading up to the play, he has written: 'Over the last few years, a number of playwrights and directors in the US and the UK have created private and safe spaces for black theatregoers to experience productions that explore complex, nuanced race-related issues. 'I felt that with a play like Tambo & Bones which unpicks the complexity of black performance in relation to the white gaze, it was imperative that we created such a space.' A spokesman for the Theatre Royal Stratford East told The Telegraph: 'Black Out night is an initiative which started on Broadway and has been taken up by several London theatres, the spirit of which is congregation, celebration and healing. Sir Trevor Phillips (pictured) described the Black Out as 'completely lawful' and said that he might attend to see what it's like 'Tambo & Bones, staged at Stratford East, is a bold new play, a satire which actively explores race and what it is to be black. 'We have chosen to embrace this initiative for one performance, during the play's month-long run, as a space for black audiences to experience the play as a community.' MailOnline has contacted the theatre independently for comment. A severe weather warning has been issued for multiple states across Australia's southeast with 'destructive wind gusts' developing ahead of a chilly cold front. Damaging winds of up to 125km are expected to lash parts of Tasmania on Sunday morning as the blustery cold front sweeps across the country's southeast, including the Western Tiers, Deloraine, and Shefield areas. The Bureau of Meteorology issued similar warnings for parts of eastern Victoria which could see wind gusts in excess of 90km on Sunday morning - particularly in coastal or higher-up areas - before receding in the afternoon. Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales will be lashed with 'destructive wind gusts' of up to 125km The Bureau of Meteorology issued severe weather warnings for the three states ahead of a chilly cold front Winds will develop further in the state's far east near the coastal areas including a Mallacoota. A gale warning is also in place for the Central Gippsland Coast, East Gippsland Coast and Central Coast. Winds generally increase in speed over higher terrain and exposed coasts, which puts these locations at risk of damaging winds more often. The NSW snowfields are forecast to receive a lashing of up to 100km, with the damaging winds also whipping across the state's south coast, central and southern tableland, and Illawarra districts on Sunday morning. Areas which could be affected including Wollongong and Nowra on the coast, as well as Natoomba, Bombala, and Nimmitabal. The strong gusts are due to a high-pressure system passing over southern Western Australia, as a cold front also passes over the east of Tasmania. The strong gusts are due to a high-pressure system passing over southern Western Australia, as a cold front also passes over the east of Tasmania The NSW snowfields are forecast to receive a lashing of up to 100km, with the damaging winds also whipping across the state's south coast, central and southern tableland, and Illawarra districts (pictured) Surfers, rock fishers, and all boat users have also been warned that gale force winds could lead 'very heavy surf' and large waves across the NSW coastline, including the Illawarra, Sydney, and Hunter coasts regions - namely Seal Rocks and Nelson Bay. Sydney will be shielded from much of the wild weather with a forecast of partly cloudy conditions and a top of 19C. The nation's capital will likewise dip to a maximum temperature of 14C, with wind gusts between 20-30km. While the state's northeast is largely expected to escape the worst of the wild weather, BOM forecasters have issued a strong wind warning for marine areas of the South East Gulf of Carpentaria, Peninsula Coast, Cooktown Coast, and Moreton Bay. Brisbane ifs forecast to be sunny with winds up to 40km in the morning cooling down before a top of 22C. Winds will ease across Tasmania, Victoria, and NSW in the afternoon as the cold front. Running a close second to legendary rocker Jeff Becks love of music was his enthusiasm for motoring. Now a guitar that combined his twin passions and which he gave to a girlfriend as a present is set to fetch up to 80,000 at auction. Beck, who died earlier this year aged 78, commissioned the Fender Stratocaster known as the graffiti yellow model in the exact colour of the iconic car featured in the hit film American Graffiti. He later presented the custom-made instrument to pilot Suzy OHara during a two-year relationship in which she taught him to fly, in exchange for him teaching her the guitar. The pair first met at Becks 50th birthday party. I went rather reluctantly along to his 50th with a friend who was teaching me saxophone in my spare time, but who was along playing at the party, recalled Ms OHara, who retired as a long-haul pilot with Virgin last February. Id never heard of Jeff Beck. He came bounding up to me and we had a long and affable chat. A week later his manager rang the flying club at Biggin Hill [in Kent] and asked if I could personally give him flying lessons. Jeff Beck performs at the Melkweg on July 3, 2001, in Amsterdam Pilot Suzy O'Hara with Beck's yellow custom Fender Stratocaster guitar Beck with Ms OHara, who retired as a long-haul pilot with Virgin last February He used to play the guitar down the phone to me while I was studying for my commercial airline licence. It was a lovely relationship. We used to fly to Le Touquet in France a lot. Beck, who won eight Grammy awards, remains best known for his 1967 hit Hi Ho Silver Lining, and is credited as one of rocks most influential guitarists. He turned down an invitation to join the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason has said that the group wanted to recruit him but admitted: None of us had the nerve to ask him. Beck ordered the guitar for a 1986 tour and insisted its colour matched the yellow of the Ford Standard Coupe from American Graffiti the 1973 film that effectively launched the careers of Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford. Beck himself owned a replica model of the car. The auction will be at Bonhams in London on Wednesday. A British man is offering tourist holidays to Afghanistan despite Government advice against all travel to the country. Freelance cameraman Joe Sheffer is charging 4,000 per person for the tours through his company Safarat Tours, which he founded with former colleague Noori Qadtullah. The pair took their first group of tourists to Afghanistan last October and Mr Sheffer says a 'bigger group' is set to travel in the coming weeks. Mr Sheffer, right, said this tour will include 'a mix of people, some for whom it's a bucket list item, others have been engaged with Afghanistan for a while'. He said that he had been able to get insurance cover irrespective of the advice against travel issued by the Foreign Office. Freelance cameraman Joe Sheffer is charging 4,000 per person for the tours through his company Safarat Tours The 'meat of the trip' will be Kandahar and Helmand. Pictured: Taliban eradicate a poppy field in Washir, the district of Helmand province last year The 'meat of the trip' will be Kandahar and Helmand, in the Taliban's heartland in southern Afghanistan, Mr Sheffer said. He also plans to take a big group in the autumn, including a photographer from the New York Times. Last night, Tory MPs and security officials criticised the trips as reckless. Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the defence select committee and a former captain in the British Army, said people in the tour group would 'not be treated as visitors or tourists but as spies reconnoitring Taliban strengths and capabilities and therefore would very likely be executed'. One former security official, who fled the Taliban for his own safety, urged the British Government to prevent Sheffer from running the tours. The Foreign Office declined to comment. Kumho America Technical Center in Akron, Ohio / Courtesy of Kumho Tire By Kim Jae-heun An affiliate of Kumho Tire, Kumho America Technical Center, has made it to Rubber News' "Best Places to Work" list in 2023, the company said Sunday. Rubber News, the conductor of the survey, is a prominent media outlet that reports on the North American rubber industry. A total of nine companies were selected as the most worker-friendly from a survey of some 1,000 businesses with 15 or more employees which engage in rubber production and manufacturing or other related sectors in North America. "The key to corporate competitiveness is the ability to attract talented individuals," Kumho Tire's R&D Division head Cho Man-sik said. "We will maintain good working conditions and employee-friendly corporate culture to get the best out of Kumho America Technical Center (KATC) employees and position ourselves as a trusted and reliable global brand." The survey chose qualified organizations by evaluating them against a comprehensive set of criteria, including environmental factors such as company policy and practices and the experience and attitude of individual employees with respect to their companies. KATC, which has been put on the list of the most employee-friendly companies, started in Akron, Ohio, in 1990 and has since strived to create products geared toward the U.S. market. It collects and analyzes market trends and information on new technologies to develop tires tailored to the needs of North American consumers. KATC also performs activities such as international sales support. To congratulate Kumho Tire on the selection of KATC as a "Best Place to Work" in North America on behalf of Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, officials from Team NEO, a business development partner based in Northeastern Ohio, visited the Kumho Tire Central R&D Center located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Team NEO is a non-profit organization in Ohio that works with major companies, foundations, chambers of commerce, and other business development organizations to attract investment from businesses and help them grow. Kumho Tire and Team Neo discussed ways to recruit engineers in Ohio, train employees, develop internship programs, and secure tax benefits and logistics subsidies for the purchase of new research-related equipment. "Kumho Tire produces engineers in line with global trends and offers programs designed to ensure the right balance between work and life, which leads to high work satisfaction levels and great research outcomes. We are thrilled to see these efforts recognized and have us selected as a best place to work in North America," Managing Director at KATC Rick Cunat said. Governor of Louisiana John Bel Edwards also visited the Kumho Tire headquarters in Seoul on March 10, to announce the expansion of its partnership with the company in connection with the establishment of a distribution center in New Orleans. Through the addition of warehouses in the U.S., Kumho Tire expects to better respond to changes in the global logistics environment, expand its sales network in the U.S. market, and strengthen its logistics competitiveness. The Queen has inspired a Jane Austen parody to be performed at her inaugural literary festival. Comedy group Austentatious will don period costume to improvise a play based on a fictional Austen title dreamt up by Camilla as a centrepiece of the Queen's Reading Room Festival at Hampton Court Palace next month. Organisers promise the event will be 'a literary festival like no other' and will break from the stuffy convention of 'authors plugging their own books'. The Queen has been 'hands on' in organising the day-long extravaganza on June 11. The festival will also honour the life and work of Wolf Hall novelist Dame Hilary Mantel, despite the late author's controversial relationship with the Royal Family. The play will be a a centrepiece of the Queen's Reading Room Festival at Hampton Court Palace next month. Pictured: Queen Camilla speaks with pupils as she launches the 'Coronation Libraries' Initiative at Shirehampton Primary School, on May 18, 2023 in Bristol In a 2013 speech, described by critics as 'venomous', Dame Hilary referred to the Princess of Wales, then the Duchess of Cambridge, as having been 'designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindle of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished'. Dame Hilary's 'life and legacy' will be celebrated in a special event with actors Ben Miles and Dame Harriet Walter and the authors Philippa Gregory and Kamila Shamsie It is hoped the festival will become one of Camilla's 'legacy' projects by inspiring more people to take up reading. Vikki Perrin, chief executive of the Queen's Reading Room, said: 'The Queen is so passionate about books and sharing reading recommendations', adding that whenever she went to see her she would be 'sitting in an armchair literally surrounded by books. Comedy group Austentatious (pictured 2019) will don period costume to improvise a play based on a fictional Austen title dreamt up by Camilla 'We hope that this is the start of something really special that will grow, rather than just a one-off.' Also taking part is one of the King's favourite writers, Robert Harris. The Queen launched The Reading Room, which recommends four books four times a year, on Instagram in January 2021. A transgender butcher who abducted and sexually assaulted a schoolgirl should never serve time in a women's prison, the First Minister finally admitted yesterday. Last week Andrew Miller, who also identifies as Amy George, confessed to dressing as a woman when he kidnapped a schoolgirl in February this year and subjected her to a horrifying ordeal while holding her captive in his home. In the immediate aftermath of the court case, Humza Yousaf refused to say if the 53-year-old would serve his prison sentence in a men's or women's jail. However, when questioned by The Scottish Mail on Sunday yesterday three days after Miller admitted his vile crime Mr Yousaf appeared to have clarified his position. He said: 'So Andrew Miller is being housed in the male estate. If he is sentenced I would not expect that to change.' The First Minister said: 'So Andrew Miller is being housed in the male estate. If he is sentenced I would not expect that to change' Last week Andrew Miller, who also identifies as Amy George, confessed to dressing as a woman when he kidnapped a schoolgirl in February The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is reviewing its policy on transgender inmates but the current position is that men who identify as women should not be held in a women's prison if they have committed violent or sexual crimes against female victims. Mr Yousaf signalled that he wanted the policy to be extended permanently. He said: 'I think it's a good policy, I think the policy is working well, there's a conversation to have with SPS about whether or not we make it a permanent policy. I think the policy is working as it should and I would expect Andrew Miller, frankly, to stay in the male estate.' In the immediate aftermath of the court case, Humza Yousaf refused to say if the 53-year-old would serve his prison sentence in a men's or women's jail The Scottish Mail on Sunday can also reveal that police tore apart Miller's house in the Borders after it emerged he had used a concealed room, accessible via a wardrobe, to hold his young victim. A full 'excavation' of the site was ordered, down to its foundations. However, it is understood no items deemed of 'relevance' to any criminal inquiries were found. Miller, who is transitioning to female but chose to be interviewed by police as a man, is awaiting sentence in HMP Edinburgh. His case is the latest to spark controversy following that of Isla Bryson, who is also in HMP Edinburgh after initially being remanded in Cornton Vale women's prison after his conviction. Bryson raped two women in Clydebank and Glasgow in 2016 and 2019 while known as Adam Graham before changing gender while waiting to stand trial. The move sparked outrage and led to a review by the SPS. It has since introduced the interim policy preventing transgender prisoners with a history of violent or sexual offending towards women from going to a female prison. At the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, Miller admitted charges of abduction, sexual assault, watching pornography in the presence of the child under the age of 13 and possessing more than 240 indecent images of children. Last night campaigners demanded that male-born criminals should never be housed in the women's estate. Professor of criminology at Reading University Jo Phoenix said: 'No male-bodied people should be in a female prison. 'The Scottish Prison Service are tone deaf to what's going on. The fact they're still reviewing the policy is a shocker to me.' The SPS declined to comment on the future policy. As tax time approaches, many Australians are wondering how they can maximise their return amid the cost of living crisis. From claiming working from home expenses to knowing when the best time is to file your refund, there are a few tips that tax agents use to get the biggest return. Below is a list on how Australians can make the most of their tax return. As tax time approaches, many Australians are wondering how they can maximise their return amid the cost of living crisi DON'T USE THE PRE-FILLED OPTIONS Tax agents say you are unlikely to get the highest return by relying on the pre-filled data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Though it might be the quickest way, taxpayers should know that the pre-filled information is not always the most reliable according to H&R Block's director of tax communications Mark Chapman. 'During July in particular, many taxpayers are shocked to notice plenty of their income information doesn't show up when they download data from the ATO,' he said. 'This is because many third parties don't pass on the data they are legally required to provide until well into July and in some cases August.' Mr Chapman urged Australians to use their own income statements rather than just relying on the ATO's data, as the legal burden is on the individual to make sure the information is correct. However, there are also new rules that come with those changes that may catch some people out, according to managing director of Impact Taxation and Financial Services Brenda Ferguson WORKING FROM HOME If you spend a lot of time working from home, there are also a number of items you'll be able to claim, these include phone and internet expenses, stationary, printer paper, ink, and even office furniture. However, the ATO has changed how people can claim their working from home expenses, which may affect how much you can get back. For expenses incurred from March 1 this year, you'll be able to claim 67 cents per hour while working from home, an increase from the standard rate of 52 cents per hour. However, there are also new rules that come with those changes that may catch some people out, according to managing director of Impact Taxation and Financial Services Brenda Ferguson. 'The major change is that people actually need to a really detailed daily diary, if they don't do that, then they won't be able to use the fixed rate method,' she said. The diary must also be kept while the person is working, so you won't be able to go back and create it at a later date. However, those who fill out time sheets or have rosters will be able to use those as evidence that they were working from home instead of a diary. Not only do the new rules change the documentation requirements, they also change what can be claimed on the side. 'Also the new fixed rate method already includes a mobile phone and internet so on top of that they can't claim mobile phone and internet consumables,' Ms Ferguson said. 'One other thing is, the old method included wear and tear of office furniture, but the new 67 cents per hour method doesn't include office furniture, so that's actually a little bit of good news for taxpayers because that means they can claim home office furniture separately on the top.' For expenses incurred from the end of last year's tax season until March 1, it will revert to the standard rate of 52 cents per hour. From claiming working from home expenses to knowing when the best time is to file your refund, there are a few tips that tax agents use to get the biggest return Though it might be the quickest way, taxpayers should know that the pre-filled information is not always the most reliable according to H&R Block's director of tax communications Mark Chapman HOW TO CLAIM YOUR EXPENSES The tax expert also cautioned people not to inflate their expenses, reminding people that they are only entitled to what they have incurred - if you overdo it, you could get into trouble with the taxman. 'However, if you actually have incurred a work-related expense, and you have the substantiation to prove it, don't hesitate to claim it,' Mr Chapman said. If you've purchased anything for your work or business in the past 12 months, those items may ensure you get the highest return possible. Things like power or hand tools, computers, phones, and tablets can be claimed, at least in part, if you use them for work. The whole cost of items under $300 can be claimed for the financial year the item was purchased in, while the depreciation cost of more expensive items can be deducted over several years. The conversion therapy ban will not affect parents, teachers, religious leaders or health professionals having exploratory or even challenging conversations with young people about gender, the Mail On Sunday has been told. Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch has vowed that the long-awaited legislation, expected to be published as early as next week, will neither inadvertently criminalise nor have a chilling effect on such therapy or discussions. Ms Badenochs assurances come after the Government announced in January that it would legislate to ban conversion therapy relating to gender identity as well as sexuality. This pledge came after Boris Johnsons government signalled the year before that it was dropping plans to include transgender people in the bill due the complexities involved in this area. Conversion therapy is defined as attempts to change or supress someones sexual orientation or gender identity. Kemi Badenoch, Minister for Women and Equalities, speaks to the media during her work visit in Bern, Switzerland LGBT lobby groups such as Stonewall have vociferously campaigned for gender identity as well as sexuality to be covered in the planned ban, arguing that transgender people are one of the highest risk groups of conversion practices in the UK. But psychologists and other medical practitioners have warned that if this happens it risks criminalising anyone who conducts exploratory therapy with young people confused about their gender. They argue that the legislation would leave these therapists open to accusations of trying to convert patients by questioning their desire to change gender and have a chilling effect on their approach. Parent groups and church leaders have also expressed fears they too could fall foul of this proposed law if they dare challenge the idea that a child is transgender. Last night those who opposed the inclusion of gender identity in the conversion therapy ban welcomed Ms Badenochs commitment to protect the right to explore why an individual may want to transition. Bob Withers, of Thoughtful Therapists, a group of psychotherapists who have been vocal critics of the mooted bill, said: I am certainly pleased to hear Ms Badenochs promises, although of course we have to see the detail of the bill. The scandal of the Tavistock shows what can go sadly wrong if parents, teachers and religious leaders are not allowed to explore with a gender questioning young person or even an older person what the possible origins of their discomfort might be. There is a real danger that those people will end up having medical treatment they come to regret which is irreversible. People take part in a protest outside Downing Street in London, over transgender people not being included in plans to ban conversion therapy Thats why its so important that these practices are not criminalised so people dont get harmed by unnecessary medical treatment. Stephanie Davies-Arai, head of Transgender Trend, a parent-led group concerned at the sharp rise in the numbers of young people identifying as trans, added: This bill is a good opportunity for the Government to really protect parents, teachers, social workers, clinicians being allowed to have challenging conversations with young people about gender. Were glad to hear that ministers are giving thought to areas where a policy of gender affirmation has become entrenched and people are afraid to challenge this. Maya Forstater, founder of sex-based rights campaign group Sex Matters, was equally positive but sounded a word of caution. She said: We welcome the governments assurance that any legislation would protect parents, therapists and religious believers, but we are concerned about the chilling effect of criminal legislation. We are already hearing exploratory therapy with gender-questioning children and young people being called conversion and doctors afraid to do anything but affirm. The conversion therapy ban was first promised by Theresa May in 2018. After a series of delays a draft bill is expected to be published imminently before going through pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has come up with a crafty way to fund her legal fight against a Greens senator who she told to 'p*ss off to Pakistan'. Six jumpers and one cardigan knitted by Senator Hanson are being auctioned to defend the legal action brought against her for suggesting in a tweet that Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi return to her homeland. Bidding started at $500 for each of the differently coloured garments being offered on the One Nation website under the label 'Pauline Hanson's winter collection'. A smiling Senator Hanson models the yellow, red, purple, mauve, green, blue and teal knitwear pieces herself. 'Each one is hand-knitted over a period of approximately 60 hours or more by the founder and leader One Nation, Senator Pauline Hanson herself,' the website reads. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson models one of her hand-knitted jumpers that she is selling to fund a legal battle The website promises that up until the auction ends on June 11 bidders have 'the exhilarating opportunity to purchase one of these exclusive hand knits by Pauline Hanson, unless you can make an offer we can't refuse before the end of the auction'. 'All proceeds will go into the Pauline Hanson's One Nation Fighting Fund to fight for our rights to freedom of speech, democracy with regard to allegations made by Mehreen Faruqui (Greens Deputy Leader), which is now before the courts,' the website reads. As an extra incentive the website says winning bidders might be the 'lucky person to have your jumper/cardigan hand delivered by Pauline Hanson herself'. The advertised fit of each garment is a large 10 to a small 14. The red jumper appears to be the most popular with the highest of two offers being $1,010. The yellow jumper is faring the least well with with the item of clothing currently listed at $530. The remaining jumpers and a cardigan are currently fetching between that price and $730. Senator Hanson is accusing the Greens of trying to bankrupt her by accusing her of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act. 'The Greens are trying to silence me because I spoke out against their deputy leader, Meereen (sic) Faruqi, for her disgusting attack on Queen Elizabeth II, made on the very day of her passing,' Senator Hanson said. At the time of writing the red jumper was the knitwear with the highest bid of $1,010, which is more than double its reserve price of $500 Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi is taking legal action against Senator Hason's tweet that advised her to 'p*ss off to Pakistan' 'I'll be blunt. The Greens are taking me to court because they want to bankrupt me and kick me out of parliament. But I won't let them.' Senator Faruqi claims Senator Hanson violated the Racial Discrimination Act by advising she 'p**s off back to Pakistan'. The exchange happened in September after Senator Faruqi shared her republican views following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Senator Faruqi's lawyers argue Senator Hanson's tweet 'did offend, insult, humiliate and intimidate' their client and 'other people who share attributes' with her. In early May Senator Hanson sold The Pourhouse boutique craft beer bar in the NSW Hunter Valley town of Maitland, which also has a three-bedroom holiday apartment. The $1.1million price tag meant Senator Hanson had more than doubled her money in the 11 years after she bought the property for just $449,000. A Georgia state representative has lashed out at her fellow Democrats in a scathing video posted to Twitter in which she accuses them of putting migrants over children living in inner-city areas. Mesha Mainor has been serving in the Georgia House of Representatives for District 56 since January 2021 and criticized those Democrats who turned against her. Mainor noted the irony of hearing slogans such as 'Black Lives Matter' during every election cycle yet continued to witness the prioritization of other minority groups, including migrants coming over the southern border, over those of black children living in poverty who struggle with reading. 'It's ironic. I'll say every election year, I hear 'Black Lives Matter.' But do they? I see every other minority being prioritized except Black children living in poverty that can't read,' Mainor went on. Mainor criticized the allocation of $1 million for immigrant services at the border saying that communities at home are already being neglected. 'We'll send $1 million to the border for immigrant services. But Black communities, not even a shout-out. I'm sorry, I don't agree with this,' she added. Mesha Mainor, a Georgia state representative posted a video criticism her fellow Democrats who she claims prioritize migrants over children in inner-city areas Mainor declared her strong support for parents to be able to have school choice and emphasized her commitment towards marginalized children who struggle in traditional school settings. 'I support school choice, parent rights and opportunities for children to thrive, especially those that are marginalized and tend to fail in school,' she began in the video posted to Twitter. 'The Democrats at the [Georgia State] Capitol took a hard position and demanded every Democrat vote against children and for the teachers union. I voted yes for parents and yes for children, not failing schools.' The idea behind school choice, advocates say, is to give all parents the ability to choose whichever school or learning environment best meets their child's needs, regardless of whether it's public or private. Mainor explained how Democrats at the Georgia State Capitol have taken a firm stance against such ideals, demanding that every Democrat 'vote against measures benefiting children and in favor of the teachers' union.' Despite fellow party members voting one way, Mainor voted in favor of parents and children to improve their chances of a better education and to avoid failing schools. Mainor justified her position by highlighting the low reading proficiency rates, some as low as 3 percent, at some schools within her district. Many children also struggle with basic math. 'Let's be real. Parents do not want their child trapped in a failing school. If you listen to the people working so hard to push me out of office, you'd think I actually did something wrong. But in reality they're [fellow democrats] upset they didn't do what they demanded.' Mainor expressed her support for school choice and called attention to the amount of funds being allocated for assisting migrants instead of going towards local schools Migrants are seen at the Zaragoza international bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Mainor criticized the allocation of $1,000,000 for immigrant services at the border saying that communities at home are already being neglected Acknowledging the backlash against her, Mainor revealed how some colleagues had been stooping to low levels and offering $1,000 checks as an incentive to anyone who would run against her. But Mainor is holding firm stating that she would not apologize for her voting choices simply because of her colleagues' disapproval. 'I recently found myself in the crosshairs of my Democratic caucus. I represent a solidly blue and highly diverse district. I haven never hesitated and will never hesitate to vote for the best interest of the communities I represent, over party politics. 'I have a few colleagues upset with me to the point where they are giving away $1,000 checks to anyone that will run against me,' Mainor stated. 'I'm not apologizing because my colleagues don't like how I vote when my community loves the fact the someone is finally sticking up for them and holding these systems accountable.' Mainor also said that parents are upset with politicians who prioritize the teachers' unions and donors over their constituents' concerns. A teacher from California has been arrested after being accused with having sex with a student. Tracy Vanderhulst, 38, who taught at Yucaipa High School, was taken into custody on Thursday and booked into the San Bernardino County detention center. Vanderhulst is accused of engaging in sexual activity with a 16-year-old male student. She has been charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Her bail has been set at $30,000. Vanderhulst, who had been named 'Teacher of the Year' at the school in 2017, is married in 2007 and has two children with her husband, Justin. California teacher from Yucaipa High School, Tracy Vanderhulst, 38, has been arrested on allegations of engaging in sexual activity with a student Vanderhulst, pictured in her mugshot, is married with two kids and had been honored as 'Teacher of the Year' in 2017 Vanderhulst was a teacher a Yucaipa High School, taken into custody and booked into the San Bernardino County detention center on $30,000 bail A school YouTube video featuring Vanderhulst titled 'In The Classroom' is still online where she can be seen teaching a maths honors course to mostly freshman. In a now-deleted tweet, the school said she 'offers up a rigorous mathematics curriculum and deep caring for her students.' Upon receiving her award in 2017, Vanderhulst received her commendation with high praise. 'She epitomizes the educator so many desire to be- she is the kind and innovative teacher from whom we hope our children will grow; the educator who strives to engage all of her students from her intervention classes to her honors classes,' the school's principal wrote. Authorities say the Yucaipa Calimesa Joint Unified School District have been cooperative during the investigation. A school YouTube video featuring Vanderhulst titled 'In The Classroom' is still online where she can be seen teaching a maths honors course to mostly freshman Detectives are looking into the possibility that there may also be additional victims in the case and have released her picture in the hope more may come forward. Yucaipa High School is pictured The Yucaipa Calimesa Joint Unified School District put out an official statement on Friday. 'The safety and well-being of our students is our absolute priority, and we take these allegations very seriously. 'Prompt action shall be taken against the offending parties, as well as any other persons knowledgeable of the allegations who may have failed to act. We want to assure you that should the District receive future allegations of this against one of its employees or any affiliated persons, such allegations shall be promptly reported to law enforcement, as all District personnel are mandatory reporters.' Detectives are looking into the possibility that there may also be additional victims in the case and have released her picture in the hope more may come forward. This is the third time in less than ten years that a female teacher at Yucaipa High School has been found to have had a sexual relationship with a student. In one instance, in 2015, a teacher had a sexual affair with a student who was dating her daughter. Yucaipa, located 10 miles east of San Bernardino, in San Bernardino County, California is a deeply conservative town. Anyone with tips was urged to contact Detective Rachel Young of the Specialized Investigations Division, Crimes Against Children Detail at (909) 890-4904. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463). Nebraska state lawmakers on Friday passed a bill that bans transgender medical care for minors, over the furious objections of demonstrators and a Democratic lawmaker who chanted in protest on the floor of the chamber During her allotted speaking time on the floor, State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh repeatedly shouted in protest: 'Transgender people belong here, we need trans people, we love trans people.' In March, Cavanaugh embarked on an epic three-week filibuster to oppose the bill on gender-affirming care, winning her national media attention and a coveted profile in Vogue, but also drawing criticism that she was blocking all legislative business in Nebraska. In her remarks on Friday, Cavanaugh vowed that she would not give up her fight on behalf of transgender constituents, saying: 'You matter. You matter and I am fighting for you. I will not stop.' The measure that passed bans 'gender-altering surgery' and places restrictions on hormone therapy for transgender people under 19, as well as banning abortions after 12 weeks of gestational age, after the two issues were combined in a single bill. Nebraska state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh protested the bill banning trans procedures for minors. saying: 'Transgender people belong here, we need trans people, we love trans people.' Protesters gathered Friday to oppose LB574, which limits gender-affirming care for trans youth and bans abortions after 12 weeks of gestation Fridays debate was briefly halted when protesters in a chamber balcony stood and yelled obscenities at conservative lawmakers while throwing what appeared to be bloody tampons onto the floor. The Nebraska State Patrol cleared both balconies and said at least six people were arrested. Authorities confirmed that a state trooper was assaulted during the incident after a woman punched him in the chest when he prevented her from pushing past him. As lawmakers began voting, hundreds of protesters packed into the Capitol rotunda shouted, 'Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!' just outside the chamber. Hundreds of businesses and medical professionals signed letters warning that both the abortion ban and the trans health restrictions would prompt corporations and doctors to leave the state. A letter submitted Friday and signed by more than 1,200 Nebraska medical professionals called the bill 'a direct attack on the medical community of our state.' Senator Kathleen Kauth, who authored the trans health measure, has repeatedly referred to an increase of children who identify as transgender as 'a social contagion.' She said the measure is aimed at protecting children from doing something they might later regret. 'It does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that we hate them,' she said. 'Quite to the contrary: We love them.' Benjamin Buras, 40, and Sara Crawford, 33, (circled) were both arrested in connection to the incident involving the trooper Footage on social media shows police clashing with other protesters outside the chamber whose chants of 'Shame, shame!' could be heard by voting lawmakers Conservative lawmakers called in a visibly ill colleague so they would have enough votes to end a filibuster and pass a bill with both measures. Nebraska's single-house legislature, dominated by Republicans, voted 33-15 to pass the bill, known as L.B. 574. Republican Governor Jim Pillen, who pushed for the bill, has promised to sign it into law. Nebraska's 12-week abortion ban includes exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. Opponents of the measure unsuccessfully sought an exception for fatal fetal anomalies and to explicitly protect doctors from criminal charges for performing a contested abortion. The bill also will prevent transgender people under 19 from receiving any gender-confirming surgery. In Nebraska, people younger than 19 are considered minors. It would also restrict the use of hormone treatments and puberty blockers in minors, putting the state's chief medical officer - a political appointee who is an ear, nose and throat doctor - in charge of setting the rules for those therapies. The Nebraska Legislature voted 33-14 to end debate on a bill that bans abortion at 12 weeks and gender-affirming care for minors Abortion and gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender youth are at the heart of the so-called culture war raging in American politics, with Republican-dominated legislatures across the country banning or putting sharp restrictions on both. Republicans have introduced more than 500 bills affecting LGBTQ people in 2023, with at least 49 passing, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ rights group. North Carolina also passed a 12-week abortion ban this week, among a slew of restrictions enacted in states after the US Supreme Court last year struck down the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established a nationwide right to abortion. Fourteen US states now have near-total bans on abortion at any point in a pregnancy. President Joe Biden wrapped an arm around Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support ahead of their one-on-one meeting as the Ukrainian president met with leaders at the G7. Zelensky will address the summit on Sunday, asking for diplomatic and military support in his campaign to end the Russian invasion of his country. Ahead of his remarks, he held a photo spray with the heads of state. In a striking contrast, the leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies wore suits and ties; while Zelensky wore his signature military greens. The heads of state were eager to show their support, taking time to chat with Zelensky after the photo was complete. Biden put his arm around Zelensky's shoulder as the leaders left the room. The stakes are high for the Ukrainian president, who needs the military might, economic muscle and cold hard cash of Western allies to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin and his forces from his country. He will hold a one-on-one meeting with Biden later Sunday as part of his campaign to shore up support among the allies ahead of his planned Spring offensive to try and drive Putin out. President Joe Biden puts an arm around Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky Zelensky hit the ground running. He landed in Hiroshima on Saturday afternoon and jumped straight into a series of meetings, including with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European leaders. Biden 'looks forward' to the meeting, a senior administration official told reporters. 'The president will continue to reiterate the United States' firm and resolute support for Ukraine going forward,' the official said. Zelensky arrived in Japan shortly after Biden reversed course and gave European allies the green light to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in its battle against Russia. The embattled war president said the jets would not help the war effort immediately, but the decision was 'great.' 'I'm very happy,' he said Saturday at the summit. 'It really will help our society, our people to save houses, families.' Zelensky, who made his furthest foray from Kyiv since Russia's invasion began 15 months ago, arrived on a French plane at the heavily guarded Hiroshima airport. He also met with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 summit site. While he was in Japan, Russia upped its war campaign in the Ukraine. The Wagner mercenary group and the national army attacked the city of Bakhmut and declared victory there. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (enter) poses with G7 leaders for a family photo Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at Hiroshima Airport on Saturday Zelensky is seen through the airport fence as he gets into his motorcade President Biden and President Zelensky will hold a one-on-one meeting at the G7 on Sunday Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured) claimed his forces have full control Bakhmut - which Kyiv denies - in a video recorded in front of destroyed buildings as explosions are heard in the distance Kyiv denied Russia had a victory there. But Putin offered his congratulations. 'As a result of offensive actions of the Wagner assault units, with the support of artillery and aviation of the 'Southern' unit, the liberation of the city of Artemovsk was completed,' Russia's defence ministry said, using the Soviet-era name of Bakhmut. 'Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault units of Wagner as well as all servicemen of units of the Russian armed forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate' the city, the TASS news agency said the Kremlin said. The now largely-destroyed city is not a strategically important location for Russia, but Ukraine has poured large amounts of resources in defending it. Western estimates say between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Bakhmut, while Ukraine's military has also suffered heavily. Meanwhile, Zelensky had a busy schedule his first day at the G7 summit. For Zelensky and Modi, it was their first in-person meeting since Russia invaded the Ukraine some 15 months ago. India has close ties to Russia - it is a major purchaser of Russian weapons and Russia crude oil, which is helping to fund Putin's war. And while Modi's government has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has abstained from UN resolutions calling for Russia's withdrawal and condemning the invasion. Before he arrived at the G7, Zelensky stopped in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to address the Arab League Summit. In his remarks, he accused some Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of Russia's invasion of his country. 'Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here, among you, who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations,' he said, urging them to 'take an honest look' at the war. Ahead of Zelensky's arrival, Biden, facing pressure from Europe to help Ukraine end the conflict, agreed to allow European countries with F-16s to transfer some of the war planes to the embattled nation. 'President Biden informed his G7 counterparts the United States will support the joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation fighter aircraft including F-16s,' National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday. 'Over the past few months we and our allies and partners have really focused on providing Ukraine with the system's weapons and training needs to be able to conduct effective offensive operations this spring,' he said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) at the G7 President Zelensky met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday President Volodymyr Zelensky travels in a motorcade as he arrives at the G7 summit The plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky makes its decent Ukraine is planning a massive counter offensive to retake its territory and attempt to drive out Putin's forces. But the delivery of F-16s - and the training to operate them - will take months. 'I welcome the historic decision of the United States and @POTUS to support an international fighter jet coalition. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky,' Zelensky wrote on Twitter. Zelensky was in Europe this week to meet with leaders from France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany to shore up alliances and ask for more aid. Early in the conflict Biden had resisted sending the advanced military fighter plans to Ukraine out of fears they would use it to strike into the heart of Russia, provoking the Kremlin to expand the conflict outside of Ukraine's borders. But several European countries have F-16s in their arsenals in wanted to send them to Kyiv but need American permission to give them to a third-party because of the advanced U.S. technology on the planes. Sullivan argued 'nothing has changed. Our approach to the provision of weapons, material, training to the Ukrainians has followed the exigencies of the conflict.' 'Now that we have delivered everything we said we were going to deliver,' he added, 'we put the Ukrainians in a position to make progress on the battlefield through the counter offensive.' President Zelensky with French President Emmanuel Macron Japan roled out the red carpet to welcome Zelensky Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky walks through the corridor of the Grand Prince Hotel where the G7 summit is taking place Zelensky flew to Hiroshima on a French plane F-16 fighter jets have long topped Ukraine's wishlist The F-16 training will be done by U.S. personnel in the coming weeks. The timeline for that training remains unclear bu American officials previously estimated it could take up to 18 months. 'As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them and how many,' Sullivan said. The U.S. Air Force has two F-16 air wings in Europe: the 31st Fighter Wing at the Aviano Air Base in Italy and the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. The U.S. also routinely sends F-16 fighters in and out of Europe on a rotational basis in smaller groups. So far, Ukraine has been relying on much older MiG fighters, 27 of which have been given to them by Poland and Slovakia. Only a few European countries have a supply of F-16s, including the Netherlands which has 40 and Denmark which has 30, in addition to Poland and Norway. F-16s have been at the top of Ukraine's weapons wishlist since it was handed main battle tanks from the likes of the US, United Kingdom and Germany. Western allies have taken even harsher measures against Russia in at attempt to pressure Putin to end the war. G7 leaders announced another round of sanctions on Friday, targeting Russia's energy sector and military complex. Moscow, in response, has upped its bombing campaign in Ukraine. Disturbing footage has captured the moment a brawl erupted with a man allegedly punched before dropping to his knees. The 34-year-old man had just left the pub when he was attacked on Station Road in Auburn, western Sydney, on Friday night. Police said the 34-year-old had kicked a white Holden Commodore before the driver stepped out and confronted the man. A fierce brawl which erupted outside a Sydney pub sent a man (pictured in the beige jacket) to his knees after being punched - but there's a major twist to his tale of woe CCTV footage showed several officers huddled around the man after he collapsed on the pavement Footage shows the 34-year-old speaking to a man before he picks up an orange bread crate resting on the ground nearby. He is then rushed by another man before he is dropped to the ground. Several officers are seen huddling around the man after he collapsed on the pavement. The man was treated at the scene by paramedics and was taken to Westmead Hospital. The driver of the Holden Commodore then left the scene in their vehicle. Police are appealing for anyone who recognises the man in the footage to come forward. Children pose at a photo zone after experiencing "Yonggari AR Dino Museum," an augmented reality exhibition held at the Seodaemun Museum of Natural History in western Seoul, on Sunday. The event hosted by local food firm Harim, showcases 16 dinosaur models including Tyrannosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Pterosaur. A total of 1,500 participants visited the exhibition between Saturday and Sunday and were given a free snack box of Yonggari chicken, branded with Harim's popular animated dinosaur-like character launched in 1999. The exhibition will run until July 9. Courtesy of Harim First lady Jill Biden peeled off from President Joe Biden to speak to graduating high school seniors at a U.S. military base Sunday in Japan. The first lady addressed seniors from Matthew C. Perry High School, located at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi, Japan - the base where both she and the president flew in for their trip to Hiroshima for the G7 summit. 'Pump it up maroon!' she exclaimed to the crowd of seniors, dressed in maroon caps and gowns. When they yelled it back she uttered in relief, 'Thank goodness you said that, I was worried.' Dr. Biden also participated in a 'clap out' with the group, where audience members - including young kids - clapped and high fived the seniors as they walked to the risers. 'You are better prepared to face the future than almost anyone your age,' she told the students. First lady Jill Biden peeled off from President Joe Biden to speak to graduating high school seniors at a U.S. military base Sunday in Japan She acknowledged that it's hard to be a military kid: 'Your world has never been a sitcom on black and white TV.' Dr. Biden noted how they've experienced, 'Walking in a lunchroom and not seeing a familiar face.' She applauded the students who have decided to enlist. 'I know that you will keep serving your country in your own way,' she told the others. She ended with a poem by Walt Whitman. 'I'm sure you all know it,' she joked. The first lady's stop at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni is part of her Joining Forces initiative, which she started with first lady Michelle Obama when she was serving as second lady. She rejuvenated it when the Bidens arrived at the White House in January 2021. Dr. Jill Biden listens to the Japanese and U.S. national anthems at a ceremony for graduation seniors from Matthew C. Perry High School, located at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi, Japan Dr. Biden left for D.C. after spending 15 minutes shaking hands and talking to members of the audience - leaving her husband in Japan, as he still had a meeting with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky and a press conference on his G7 schedule. The first lady traveled separately as she stopped in Alaska for an event on her way over to Japan. For her portion of the trip, she mainly spent time with the G7 spouses. She spent the last two days with the wife of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murty, the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Yuko Kishida, the wife of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britta Ernst and the husband of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Heiko von der Leyen. Brigitte Macron, who Dr. Biden has spent substantial time with, didn't make the trip with her husband, French President Emmanuel Macron. Dr. Biden kicked off the three-day summit by accompanying President Joe Biden to Hiroshima's Peace Park and Memorial Museum. She participated in a separate spouses wreath-laying ceremony, had tea with the spouses and then addressed local students at the Next Generations' Symposium Friday evening. First lady Jill Biden (second from left) participated in a wreath-laying ceremony alongside (from left) wife of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murty, wife of Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Yuko Kishida, wife of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britta Ernst and husband of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Heiko von der Leyen On Saturday the spouses took a trip to Miyajima island and posed for photos with umbrellas at the Itsukushima Shrine The spouses watch a demonstration at the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima island located just outside of Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday 'Today we gather just a few steps away from the monument that memorializes part of the deadliest war yet known to mankind,' she said when it was her turn to speak. 'We must teach this history, so that we can understand the choices in front of us.' 'Choose creation over destruction, innovation over inhumanity, peace over bloodshed, democracy over autocracy,' she continued. She told the young people that they are 'the builders of democracy.' And she praised the next generation for 'leading movements for change' including 'working for climate justice.' She was running about 10 minutes late to the event and was joined by granddaughter Maisy, who graduated college earlier this week from the University of Pennsylvania. While the G7 leaders gathered at the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima island Friday night, the spouses toured the landmark Saturday. They did a photo shoot posing with umbrellas in front of the iconic floating gate. Dr. Biden had lunch on the island with the other G7 spouses and then rejoined her husband for Friday night's dinner at Hiroshima's Grand Prince Hotel. Donald Trump claims that CNN employees are revolting and want his former staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin fired because 'they can't take the radical left heat' after she appeared to praise the network's decision to have the former president on a controversial Town Hall. Griffin formerly worked in the Trump administration as the director of strategic communications and has since become one of the Republican frontrunner's sternest critics. The former White House staffer also serves as one of the co-hosts of the liberal talk show The View on ABC. Griffin spoke out defending CNN's controversial Town Hall which was hosted by Kaitlin Collins - but only because it 'lost votes' for Trump and exposed him as 'radioactive for independents and moderates' in her estimation. 'Wow! Word is that they are revolting at the 'View' and CNN, and want Farrah OUT! Much more to come,' Trump posted on his TruthSocial platform on Saturday night. Donald Trump has lashed out at his former White House staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin, calling her a 'loser' and a 'backbencher' in a post on his Truth Social network Griffin, Trump's former director of strategic communications, is now a co-host of ABC's The View and a political commentator for CNN, and has heaped scorn on her former boss Trump then referred to back to a previous interview that Griffin did while he was still in the Oval Office in which she heaped praise on the 76-year-old. He used that footage to call her a 'phony' in light of her more recent criticisms adding that there was 'much more to come.' Trump went on to say that he believes management would cave in to their staff and fire Griffin because 'they can't take the left heat.' He compared her situation to that CNN CEO Chris Licht, who has taken the brunt of the criticism for the Town Hall. 'Just as CNN wants to fire the 'boss' because of the absolutely lovely Town Hall they just put on. One of their biggest ratings nights in years, & they are begging for mercy. CNN, let's do another one?,' Trump wrote. Following Trump's Town Hall, Griffin had said that it was good for CNN to have him as a guest but that it would have a negative impact on the former Apprentice host's 2024 prospects. 'America got to see who he is last night: a ranting, raving lunatic, who sided with Vladimir Putin,' Griffin said of her former boss. Trump fired back, sharing a video of Griffin gushingly praising him while she worked in the White House, claiming without evidence that execs at CNN and The View were under pressure from 'radical left' staffers to fire Griffin. 'Backbencher in the Trump Administration, Alyssa Farah, like so many other sleazebags, had only glowing reviews of the Trump Administration until long after she left. A loser then, and a loser now!,' wrote Trump in his Truth Social post. 'She tried to delete out her words, but we got them ALL. I don't see how she lasts because this 'stuff' shows what a phony she is,' added Trump, apparently referring to the video he earlier shared of Griffin praising him. 'One of their biggest ratings nights in years, & they are begging for mercy. CNN, let's do another one?' Trump concluded. At CNN, the internal controversy over the May 10 town hall has spilled over into public, with some of the network's top personalities loudly criticizing the decision to interview Trump in front of an audience of his cheering fans. Moderator Kaitlan Collins was given 'an impossible task' according to her colleagues, who are now furious with bosses In an internal call with CNN staff members last week, Licht noted that people in the town hall audience represented a large swath of America. 'The mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist,' he said. 'Just like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists.' Earlier this week, veteran correspondent Christiane Amanpour became the most prominent CNN journalist to publicly criticize her network over the town hall. Amanpour told a group of graduating students at Columbia University's graduate school of journalism on Wednesday that she would have 'dropped the mic at 'nasty person,'' a reference to when Trump lobbed that insult at moderator Kaitlan Collins. She criticized CNN for hosting Trump at the live event in New Hampshire, where the 2024 presidential candidate repeated lies about the last election before a mostly adoring audience. Licht has defended the town hall as newsworthy and important, and Amanpour said she had a 'robust discussion' with him about it. Everyone knows Trump tries to seize the stage and dominate at such events, said Amanpour, the chief international correspondent who has worked at CNN for 40 years. 'No matter how much flak the moderator tries to aim at the incoming, it doesn't work,' she said. During the infamous appearance, Trump repeated a slur he used often on the 2016 campaign trail when he referred to Collins, the new anchor of the network's 9pm slot, as 'nasty.' In a back-and-forth about the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Trump and Collins were talking over each other and Trump at one point declared: 'You're so wrong. You don't know the subject.' 'I do know the subject,' she retorted. The special aired the day after Trump was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages. Trump faced aggressive questioning from CNN's Kaitlan Collins The jury rejected her claim of rape and instead found Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse, which Trump denied, saying he never encountered Carroll at a 1996 department store and did not know her. Trump, when asked by Collins about the verdict, said his poll numbers went up and repeated his statements that he didn't know Carroll, though at least one photograph has surfaced of them together. 'I don't know her. I never met her. I had no idea who she is,' he said. Trump launched into a recounting of Carroll's claims in a mocking voice, drawing laughs and claps from the live audience. Collins tried to interrupt but Trump continued and called it 'a fake story' and referred to Carroll as 'a wack job.' She asked Trump about his comments in the infamous 'Access Hollywood' video in which he bragged about grabbing women's genitals without asking permission. The video was played in the trial and Collins asked him Wednesday if he stood by his remarks. People protest outside a building on the campus of Saint Anselm College hosting a CNN televised town hall gathering with former President Donald Trump Trump supporters outside the hall where the town hall will take place Trump defended his comments, saying he had said women let him grab their genitals without permission because he was a star. 'I can't take that back because it happens to be true,' he said. He repeated his lies about the 2020 presidential election and his unfounded claims of election fraud. Striking a more muted tone than he usually uses onstage before his cheering supporters, Trump called it a 'rigged election' and a 'shame' before Collins cut him off, correcting his statements and asking him to publicly acknowledge his loss to Biden. Trump did not, immediately returning to his false claims. As Collins continued to try to fact-check Trump, he interrupted again, calling for honest elections and then pivoting to other subjects like immigration. He came back to his claims at other points in the town hall, sprinkling the lie into answers on unrelated subjects and prompting Collins to interrupt him and correct him. Donald Trump and CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the start of the town hall Trump had until then largely avoided sitting for any tough questioning about the lies he spread about his 2020 election loss that spurred the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The former president boasted about the size of the crowd he spoke to before some began marching on the Capitol and said the attendees believed the election was 'rigged. 'They were there proud. They were there with love in their heart. That was unbelievable and it was a beautiful day,' Trump said. Collins pressed Trump on why he didn't ask his supporters to leave the Capitol or send help to disperse the protesters, and he deflected, trying to cast blame on then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He at one point pulled out printed copies of his Twitter posts that day in which he finally, hours after the attack on the Capitol began, asked his supporters to leave the Capitol. He said he was inclined, if elected president again, to pardon many of those convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack. More than 1,000 people have been charged and more than 600 have been convicted so far. The NAACP's national board of directors has issued a formal travel advisory for Florida, warning black and LGBTQ people against visiting the state due to Governor Ron DeSantis' policies. 'Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,' states the advisory issued on Saturday night by the civil rights group. 'Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color,' it adds. The NAACP said the advisory was 'in direct response' to the Florida governor's 'aggressive attempts to erase black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.' DeSantis, who is expected to announce his presidential campaign later this week, previously responded to the proposal of an NAACP travel advisory against Florida by calling the idea 'a joke'. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson (left) slammed DeSantis (right) over his laws on education as the civil rights group issued a travel advisory against visiting Florida The travel advisory appears to be a reaction to several related measures that DeSantis recently signed into law. Last Monday, DeSantis signed a bill into law which bans the state's public colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. 'DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,' DeSantis said at the bill signing on the campus of New College of Florida The Republican governor also backed a measure to block the Advanced Placement African American studies course in public schools, saying the course 'lacks educational value.' DeSantis has championed a number of other measures that restrict how schools deal with subjects such as race and gender, with the governor arguing that he is challenging inappropriate liberal ideology in the classroom. His critics argue the measures are heavy-handed violations of free speech, and an attempt to restrict educators from teaching important topics. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement: 'Let me be clear - failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all.' 'Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon,' he added. 'He should know that democracy will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand up and fight. We're not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the battle for the soul of our nation,' said Johnson. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs legislation on Monday banning state funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at Florida's public universities 'DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,' DeSantis said at the bill signing on the campus of New College of Florida. LGBTQ rights supporters protest against DeSantis last year. DeSantis has championed a number of measures that restrict how schools deal with subjects such as race and gender DeSantis says that he is challenging inappropriate liberal ideology in the classroom. His critics argue the measures are heavy-handed violations of free speech DeSantis has not yet publicly responded to the travel advisory, but slammed the idea when it was first floated in March, when the Florida chapter of the NAACP first asked national leaders to consider the measure. 'What a joke,' he said at the time, according to Florida Politics. 'Yeah, we'll see, we'll see how effective that is.' The Governor likened the proposal to people who traveled to Florida when pandemic restrictions predominated elsewhere, where 'they would end up being spotted on the beach somewhere vacationing.' 'This is a stunt to try to do that. It's a pure stunt and fine, if you want to waste your time on a stunt, that's fine. But I'm not wasting my time on your stunts,' DeSantis added. Tourism is a major industry in Florida, and last year the state welcomed 137.6 million visitors, the highest number of visitors in the state's history, according to data from Florida's official tourism marketing corporation. In 2021, Florida visitors contributed $101.9 billion to Florida's economy and supported over 1.7 million Florida jobs, the group said. Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota is seen in a file photo. Tourism is a major industry in Florida, and last year the state welcomed 137.6 million visitors NCAA Board Chair Leon Russell said in a statement that the travel advisory is part of a 'fight to protect ourselves and our democracy'. 'Once again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people,' said Russell. 'Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority,' he added. 'We will not not allow our rights and history to be held hostage for political grandstanding' The travel advisory was initially proposed to the NAACP national board of directors by NAACP's Florida State Conference in March. 'What a travel advisory is that it allows us the NAACP to warn other blacks across the country to not come to Florida, not send their children to Florida, not vacation in Florida if you're black,' James Muwakkil, the Lee County NAACP branch president told WINK-TV at the time. 'The bullseye has been put on black people's back by this governor,' he added. 'And so through this, if getting permission, we're going to tell the rest of the world that we will not tolerate second-class citizenship,' Muwakkil said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said the city of Bakhmut has been reduced to rubble with 'nothing left of it' but 'a lot of dead Russians.' But Zelensky spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov later clarified that Ukraines president was not saying Bakhmut had fallen ; he was refuting Russias claim that its forces had captured the city. In his one-on-one meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7, Zelensky said: 'Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing.' Zelensky was asked 'is Bakhmut still in Ukraines hands? The Russians say they have taken Bakhmut.' 'I think no,' Zelensky said. But then went on to say there was nothing left to the city. 'But you have to understand that there is nothing. They destroyed everything,' he said. 'Bakhmut is only in our hearts. there is nothing in this place just ... a lot of dead Russians.' Zelensky's words were not a concession, his office said. The eight-month battle for the eastern city was the longest and likely the bloodiest of the war. While Zelensky was in Japan to meet with G7 leaders, Russia upped its war campaign in the Ukraine. The Wagner mercenary group and the national army focused their fire on the city of Bakhmut and declared victory there. And Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his congratulations to the mercenaries on their victory. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and President Joe Biden take part in a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit The now largely-destroyed city is not a strategically important location for Russia, but Ukraine poured large amounts of resources in defending it. Western estimates say between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Bakhmut, while Ukraine's military has also suffered heavily. Meanwhile, Biden, in his sitdown with Zelensky, announced a new round of aid - additional $375 million in ammunition and equipment - for the embattled nation as it fights off Putin's forces. He said the 'next tranche of US factories which includes more ammunition, artillery, vehicles. And the United States continues to help Ukraine respond, recover and rebuild. We're also supporting peace.' 'We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere,' Biden said. Zelensky thanked Biden for the support. 'We are very thankful. We will never forget. Thank you,' he said. The Ukrainian president was holding two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders only and a second with the group and a host of invited guests including India, South Korea and Brazil. He also held one-on-one talks with Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other leaders. Earlier in the day, Biden wrapped his arm around Zelensky in a show of support ahead of their one-on-one meeting as the Ukrainian president met with leaders at the G7. Russian mercenaries declared victory in the city of Bakhmut Ukrainian servicemen fire a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system towards Russian troops attacking Bakhmut President Joe Biden puts an arm around Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky Zelensky addressed the summit on Sunday, asking for diplomatic and military support in his campaign to end the Russian invasion of his country. Ahead of his remarks, he held a photo spray with the heads of state. In a striking contrast, the leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies wore suits and ties; while Zelensky wore his signature military greens. The heads of state were eager to show their support, taking time to chat with Zelensky after the photo was complete. Biden put his arm around Zelensky's shoulder as the leaders left the room. The stakes are high for the Ukrainian president, who needs the military might, economic muscle and cold hard cash of Western allies to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin and his forces from his country. Zelensky hit the ground running on Saturday, his first day at the summit. He landed in Hiroshima in the afternoon and jumped straight into a series of meetings, including with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European leaders. Zelensky arrived in Japan shortly after Biden reversed course and gave European allies the green light to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in its battle against Russia. The embattled war president said the jets would not help the war effort immediately, but the decision was 'great.' 'I'm very happy,' he said Saturday at the summit. 'It really will help our society, our people to save houses, families.' Zelensky, who made his furthest foray from Kyiv since Russia's invasion began 15 months ago, arrived on a French plane at the heavily guarded Hiroshima airport. He also met with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 summit site. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (enter) poses with G7 leaders for a family photo Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at Hiroshima Airport on Saturday Zelensky is seen through the airport fence as he gets into his motorcade President Biden and President Zelensky will hold a one-on-one meeting at the G7 on Sunday Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured) claimed his forces have full control Bakhmut - which Kyiv denies - in a video recorded in front of destroyed buildings as explosions are heard in the distance Zelensky had a busy schedule his first day at the G7 summit. For Zelensky and Modi, it was their first in-person meeting since Russia invaded the Ukraine some 15 months ago. India has close ties to Russia - it is a major purchaser of Russian weapons and Russia crude oil, which is helping to fund Putin's war. And while Modi's government has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has abstained from UN resolutions calling for Russia's withdrawal and condemning the invasion. Before he arrived at the G7, Zelensky stopped in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to address the Arab League Summit. In his remarks, he accused some Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of Russia's invasion of his country. 'Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here, among you, who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations,' he said, urging them to 'take an honest look' at the war. Ahead of Zelensky's arrival, Biden, facing pressure from Europe to help Ukraine end the conflict, agreed to allow European countries with F-16s to transfer some of the war planes to the embattled nation. 'President Biden informed his G7 counterparts the United States will support the joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation fighter aircraft including F-16s,' National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday. 'Over the past few months we and our allies and partners have really focused on providing Ukraine with the system's weapons and training needs to be able to conduct effective offensive operations this spring,' he said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) at the G7 President Zelensky met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday President Volodymyr Zelensky travels in a motorcade as he arrives at the G7 summit The plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky makes its decent Ukraine is planning a massive counter offensive to retake its territory and attempt to drive out Putin's forces. But the delivery of F-16s - and the training to operate them - will take months. 'I welcome the historic decision of the United States and @POTUS to support an international fighter jet coalition. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky,' Zelensky wrote on Twitter. Zelensky was in Europe this week to meet with leaders from France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany to shore up alliances and ask for more aid. Early in the conflict Biden had resisted sending the advanced military fighter plans to Ukraine out of fears they would use it to strike into the heart of Russia, provoking the Kremlin to expand the conflict outside of Ukraine's borders. But several European countries have F-16s in their arsenals in wanted to send them to Kyiv but need American permission to give them to a third-party because of the advanced U.S. technology on the planes. Sullivan argued 'nothing has changed. Our approach to the provision of weapons, material, training to the Ukrainians has followed the exigencies of the conflict.' 'Now that we have delivered everything we said we were going to deliver,' he added, 'we put the Ukrainians in a position to make progress on the battlefield through the counter offensive.' President Zelensky with French President Emmanuel Macron Japan roled out the red carpet to welcome Zelensky Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky walks through the corridor of the Grand Prince Hotel where the G7 summit is taking place Zelensky flew to Hiroshima on a French plane F-16 fighter jets have long topped Ukraine's wishlist The F-16 training will be done by U.S. personnel in the coming weeks. The timeline for that training remains unclear bu American officials previously estimated it could take up to 18 months. 'As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them and how many,' Sullivan said. The U.S. Air Force has two F-16 air wings in Europe: the 31st Fighter Wing at the Aviano Air Base in Italy and the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. The U.S. also routinely sends F-16 fighters in and out of Europe on a rotational basis in smaller groups. So far, Ukraine has been relying on much older MiG fighters, 27 of which have been given to them by Poland and Slovakia. Only a few European countries have a supply of F-16s, including the Netherlands which has 40 and Denmark which has 30, in addition to Poland and Norway. F-16s have been at the top of Ukraine's weapons wishlist since it was handed main battle tanks from the likes of the US, United Kingdom and Germany. Western allies have taken even harsher measures against Russia in at attempt to pressure Putin to end the war. G7 leaders announced another round of sanctions on Friday, targeting Russia's energy sector and military complex. Moscow, in response, has upped its bombing campaign in Ukraine. Rishi Sunak put himself on a new collision course with his China-sceptic backbenchers today as he said Britain was 'de-risking, not de-coupling' its relationship with Beijing. The Prime Minister used a press conference at the G7 to accuse the communist state of posing the 'biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity'. But he insisted the UK still had to engage with the regime, because of China's expanding economic might. 'We will work together as the G7 and other countries make sure that we can de-risk ourselves and the vulnerability of supply chains that we have seen from China, take the steps necessary to protect ourselves against hostile investment and do so in a way that doesn't damage each other,' he said. It came as he faces pressure to take a harder line on China, which is acting increasingly belligerently in the Pacific and has targeted British MPs for sanction. There are deepening concerns over the independence of nearby Taiwan, which has seen an uptick in tensions with its neighbour China - which claims its territory - in recent months. In a wide-ranging press conference he also hailed Ukrainian President Zelensky's attendance amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Rishi Sunak told reporters that China is the 'biggest challenge of our age' in terms of global security Earlier this week, former UK PM Liz Truss spoke at Taiwan's capital Taipei, where she called China a 'threat' to Britain. President Zelensky of Ukraine embraces the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Japan Earlier this week, former UK PM Liz Truss spoke in Taiwan's capital Taipei, where she called China a 'threat' to Britain. She warned that the West is already embroiled in a new Cold War with China as the communist state continues a massive military build-up alongside its economic might. The former PM used her controversial visit to make a punchy speech about confronting and countering Beijing's political and economic might. Mr Sunak last week backtracked on a pledge made during his 2022 leadership bid to shut down 30 Chinese state-sponsored Confucius Institutes across the UK. In his unsuccessful campaign - before he entered No 10 after winner Ms Truss' disastrous mini-Budget sank her short-lived premiership - Mr Sunak had promised to close all 30 of Beijing's institutes in Britain. But on Wednesday, the Government confirmed that a decision had been made that it would be 'disproportionate' to ban the institutes. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has threatened to annex the island by force. Pictured, president Xi Jinping After Nancy Pelosi, then-speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan last year, China staged a naval and air force blockade of Taiwan Mr Sunak added Mr Zelensky's presence at the summit sends a 'very powerful' message to Russia. He said: 'We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes because their security is our security. 'We have made a real breakthrough at this summit, thanks to President Biden's support for an international coalition to provide F-16 jets. 'Any peace settlement must be on Ukraine's terms.' President Zelensky had a series of one-to-one meetings with the world's largest economies this weekend, including the UK and Canada. Meanwhile Rishi Sunak and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi discussed a post-Brexit trade deal, according to a Downing Street account of their meeting at the G7 summit which does not mention Ukraine. A Downing Street statement said: 'The leaders reflected on the deep ties between the UK and India, rooted in our human connections, and the vital importance of democracy and fair and open trade. 'They discussed progress on a UK-India Free Trade Agreement. The leaders agreed that their teams would continue to work at pace to finalise an ambitious and mutually beneficial deal. 'The leaders discussed the wider objectives of the G7 Summit and the Prime Minister committed his strong support for India's G20 Presidency, which comes at a crucial time for global security and prosperity.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, poses with G7 world leaders on the final day of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, western Japan Rishi Sunak and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi discussed higher education, the Indian government's account of their meeting said. It did not reference Ukraine. 'The two leaders reviewed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations,' the statement said. 'Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people to people relationship.' Mr Sunak spoke on immigration, saying it is a global issue but affirmed that the British Government will decide on who enters the UK. 'We must stop the boats and stop the business model of the criminal gangs,' he said. In response to a question about legal immigration, Mr Sunak said he thinks the numbers 'are too high and I am committed to bringing them down'. He then added: 'I think the British people are very keen to see action on illegal migration. 'You should expect me to keep bringing this topic up at international forums like this and to keep making progress with our allies so that we can tackle this issue together.' When asked about Suella Braverman's speeding fine Mr Sunak asked the reporter whether he had any questions about the summit before answering. 'I don't know the full details of what has happened nor have I spoken to the Home Secretary,' he said. 'I think you can see first hand what I have been doing over the last day or so but I understand that she's expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine.' This is a breaking news story and is being updated. A man has been shot dead by police after reports of a domestic violence incident in Brisbane's north. Police were responding to a call about 2:15pm that a man, 29, had stabbed another male - understood to be his father - at a house on Days Road in Granger. Upon arrival police found several family members at the scene and a man suffering knife wounds to his left hand. Shortly afterwards a man, who police believe is responsible for the stabbing, lunged at officers with a knife and was shot by a constable three times. CPR was started immediately but the29-year-old succumbed to his injuries. The older man is in hospital being treated for non-life threatening injuries. Footage by 9News from the scene shows a woman outside the home screaming to emergency responders 'you shot my son' and 'my son's dead because of you'. 'That's just a horrific incident,' Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said on Sunday afternoon. '[It's unfortunate] our officers being confronted with a situation where they saw it fit to use a level of force that would result in GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm) or death. 'That is not a decision that anyone can take lightly.' Det Supt Massingham said that tasers were not deployed during the incident. He also revealed children were at the scene at the time of the incident and that officers' first priority was 'to get them assistance and to a place of safety'. Police were responding to a call about 2:15pm that a man, 29, had stabbed another male understood to be his father, at a house on Days Road in Granger (scene pictured) Several family members were at the residence at the time of the incidence, police said Police and Queensland Ambulance Services had visited the address a day earlier in relation to mental health concerns for the deceased. 'This is indeed a tragedy,' Det Supt Massingham said. The six officers at the scene are being questioned by ethical standards, and officers of the crime scene division will oversee the circumstances surrounding the incident. Bodycam footage of the incident is also being reviewed. Investigations are ongoing. Who is Lily-Rose Depp's girlfriend 070 Shake and what is her real name? Artist who has worked with Kanye West has been dating the actress for months A brave Ukrainian soldier who was caught on camera storming a Russian trench and surviving a grenade blast near the city of Bakhmut has vowed to keep fighting Putin's forces. Sergeant Stanislav, a 22-year-old soldier known as Stas, was blasted off his feet on Wednesday. The moment was captured on a helmet camera. In the clip, a Russian soldier throws a grenade as he is cornered by the Ukrainian fighters, before the shrapnel tears through Stas's hand. Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, still wearing his bloodstained trousers, Stas said: 'Im not a hero. I didnt do anything heroic. If I die I will be a hero.' He added that the only reason the war has been contained to Ukraine is 'because we are standing here and fighting here'. In the clip, a Russian soldier throws a hand grenade as he is cornered by the Ukrainian fighters, before the shrapnel tears through Stas's hand Sergeant Stanislav, a 22-year-old known as Stas, was blasted off his feet on Wednesday. The moment was captured on a helmet camera 'People in Europe need to know this war is very close,' he added. This was Stas's third time being injured while fighting in Bakhmut, the 'destroyed' city he described as a 'meat-grinder'. But the fighter says he will continue to fight there to preserve other parts of Ukraine. 'We have to keep fighting in Bakhmut, even though it is totally destroyed, because if not there, then where?' He added: 'Russia never stopped in a territory where it had a chance to keep advancing.' The helmet footage shows Stas fall back in pain after the blast. His hand then comes into shot, gushing with blood. READ MORE: Wagner chief Prigozhin says he will pull his mercenaries out of Bakhmut in four days and hand over control to the Russian military after months of fighting - as President Zelensky concedes Putin now has control of the city Advertisement Stas's comrade runs out of ammo so he throws him his loaded rifle. His comrade then charges at the bunker shooting, giving Stas time to dash into an open trench to find a medic. Stas wants to go back to his job on the frontline as soon as he is fit, but admitted he is scared. 'Of course I am afraid, everyone is,' he said. 'But fear makes us better, it makes us sharper than our enemy, and it helps us to stay alive.' The battle of Bakhmut has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of troops, with almost every building destroyed. Stas fled his home of Henichesk last year when it was captured by Russia on the first day of the invasion. Stuffing his military papers in his shoe, he drove through 14 Russian checkpoints. He joined the 24th Aidar Battalion and was deployed to Bakhmut last summer - where he was shot in the backside on August 24 and hit by mortar shrapnel in March 10. As his hand continues to bleed, Stas's comrade runs out of ammo so he throws him his loaded rifle The helmet footage shows Stas fall back in pain after the blast then his hand comes into shot, gushing with blood He said on arrival in Bakhmut the city was 'in bloom, with electricity, internet, open shops' but in his time there he has seen it 'absolutely destroyed'. However, Stas insists the ruin is 'absolutely worth it'. Stas arrived in Bakhmut last year, just as Russia's Wagner Group came to support Putin's forces. It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed today that Russia has taken control of the city after the bloody eight-month battle by the Wagner private army. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private army, has now said his troops will leave the city on Thursday and hand it over to the Russian military. 'Until May 25, we will completely inspect it, create the necessary defense lines and hand it over to the military so that they can continue to work, and we ourselves will go to field camps,' he said. The Wagner group was heaped with praise by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces have been targeting Bakhmut for eight months, CNN reports. Mr Zelensky said he thought Ukraine had lost the city, but added: 'You have to understand that there is nothing. They [the Russians] destroyed everything.' 'For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts,' he said. 'There is nothing in this place.' A paranoid schizophrenic who drowned an angler at a members-only fishing lake while suffering a psychotic episode has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. Kieran Hayes, 33, was caught by police running barefoot near Oxspring Dam, a private pond in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on June 16 last year. Divers had just pulled the body of father-of-three Kevin Hodkinson, 50, who once represented Great Britain in an angling contest, out from the water. Mr Hodkinson had been reported missing after members noticed his equipment and car were abandoned. Hayes - who hallucinated that the victim had attacked his mother - was charged with murder, but prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Father-of-three Kevin Hodkinson, 50, was reported missing after members of a private fishing club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, noticed his equipment and car were abandoned Kieran Hayes (pictured), 33, drowned Mr Hodkinson while hallucinating - wrongly mistaking the father-of-three for a person he believed had attacked his mother Hayes was given an indefinite hospital order at Sheffield Crown Court earlier this week. The court heard Hayes, who lived near the fishery, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He began to hallucinate that Kevin was another person who he wrongly believed had assaulted his mother, the court was told. He then pushed him into the lake and drowned him. Hayes was seen acting strangely by another man, who then called the police. At a hearing on Friday, the Recorder of Sheffield Jeremy Richardson KC said Hayes remained a risk to the public. The judge said: 'This was an entirely deliberate act. But for the mental condition of the defendant this would have been a clear case of murder. 'The conduct of the defendant amounted to an intention to kill the deceased. 'It's pertinent to note that the defendant, it appears, had taken crack cocaine at the relevant time. 'There's no doubt that he was in a delusional state as a result of paranoid schizophrenia. Kevin Hodkinson (pictured), 50, was rushed from the pond off Herries Road in Shirecliffe to hospital by paramedics and died a short time later The scene at Oxspring Dam, a private pond in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on June 16 last year 'There can be no doubt whatsoever that the defendant will need life-long treatment. 'In my judgement, there is really only one just conclusion in this case...that this defendant should be detained in a mental institution. 'This is wholly likely to be a life-long order. Indeed, at present, I cannot envisage the circumstances when this man will be safe to release into the community. 'The public should be, therefore, reassured that this highly dangerous man will be kept out of harm's way.' Kevin, who had represented Great Britain as a junior angler, was described by his heartbroken family as a devoted father, uncle and grandad. Paying tribute to his 'baby brother', Mark Hodkinson said: 'He was a quiet, personal person with a dry witty sense of humour and was incredibly kind and caring to his family and friends. 'Those who knew him and were lucky enough to have him as a friend had the most loyal friend you can ever wish for. Tributes were paid to Kevin by his family who say he was a 'much loved' son, father, grandfather, brother, partner, uncle and friend. Pictured: The scene after his death Police divers recovered Mr Hodkinson's body from the water in Oxpring Dam, after he was drowned by schizophrenic Kieran Hayes 'We all miss him dearly and will never again see his cheeky smile, hear his voice, share new memories and laughter, or enjoy his unwavering love, support and friendship he gave us. 'He was caring, kind and outgoing to all who met him. We love and miss Kevin every day, from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep.' Speaking after sentencing, detective chief inspector Emma Knight, of South Yorkshire Police, said: 'Kevin Hodkinson was a skilled fisherman and had represented his country at a sport he loved. 'His untimely death in such tragic circumstances has devastated his family and my thoughts are with them today following this court hearing. 'Kieran Hayes has accepted responsibility for his actions in causing the death of another and has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which has been accepted by the court.' Hayes was given an indefinite hospital order under Section 37 and Section 41 of the Mental Health Act. Said letting them work here for two years after graduating was 'unnecessary' Rishi Sunak is facing increasing pressure over legal immigration after the head of a committee that advises ministers called for tighter curbs on graduate students. Professor Brian Bell, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), said it was 'unnecessary' for foreign students to be permitted to work in Britain for two years after completing their masters degree. It comes as ministers brace themselves for fresh net migration statistics next week which are expected to show that at least 700,000 people - a record high - came to the UK last year. That is despite the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto promising that 'overall numbers will come down' from the level of 226,000, as they were that year. Home Secretary Suella Braverman is said to have clashed with ministers including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan over legal migration levels. They are said to back existing rules for foreign students and risk making the UK unattractive to the best minds from abroad. But Prof Bell told The Sunday Telegraph the MAC had found students who stayed after graduating were often in low-skilled and low-earning jobs. 'An offer to do anything you want for two years seems unnecessary to us, so personally I've never been massively in favour of the graduate route,' he told the newspaper. Mr Sunak was asked about immigration at the G7 in Hiroshima. He told a press conference the numbers 'are too high and I am committed to bringing them down'. Prof Bell told The Sunday Telegraph the MAC had found students who stayed after graduating were often in low-skilled and low-earning jobs. Mr Sunak was asked about immigration at the G7 in Hiroshima. He told a press conference the numbers 'are too high and I am committed to bringing them down'. He then added: 'I think the British people are very keen to see action on illegal migration. 'You should expect me to keep bringing this topic up at international forums like this and to keep making progress with our allies so that we can tackle this issue together.' A significant factor behind the swell in numbers in recent years has been an increase in foreign students and their dependents arriving, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). ONS data shows that people arriving on study visas accounted for the largest proportion (39 per cent) of long-term immigration of non-EU nationals in the year to June 2022, at 277,000 people. That was up from 143,000 in the previous 12 months. Prof Bell, a professor of economics at King's Business School at King's College London, told the newspaper that the graduate visa had allowed foreign students 'pretty much unrestricted rights to work' for two years after studying for a one-year masters. A graduate visa allows masters students to bring spouses and children to the country with them, with the family permitted to stay on with them for 24 months after their course is over. It follows reports that ministers are planning to stop family members joining overseas masters students at UK universities as part of efforts to reduce legal migration figures. The plan, first reported by the Financial Times earlier this month, is said to involve curbing the number of dependents who come to the UK with overseas masters students, often from India and Nigeria. Ms Braverman has been publicly pushing for lower immigration, saying more Britons should be trained to be lorry drivers and fruit pickers to plug demand. In a speech to the National Conservatism conference last week, Mrs Braverman said Britain 'must not lose sight of the importance of controlling legal migration', as well as clamping down on unlawful entries. But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been taking a more pragmatic approach with the economy in mind, having made clear to farmers that more seasonal fruit pickers will be allowed into the UK if they are needed. A Home Office spokeswoman, asked about Prof Bell's comments, said: 'The public rightly expect us to control our borders and we remain committed to reducing overall net migration, while ensuring we have the skills our economy and public services needs. 'We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to continue to strike a balance between welcoming people who contribute to the UK's academic institutions and reducing overall net migration over time.' Labour expects net migration to come down and 'it should come down', a shadow health minister has said. Asked what Labour's position on net migration is and whether it should come down from 500,000, Liz Kendall told Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: 'I expect it to come down and it should come down.' Asked what Labour's position on net migration is and whether it should come down from 500,000, Liz Kendall told Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: 'I expect it to come down and it should come down. 'I think the real issue here is this: in Labour's points-based immigration system, we have to tie up what we're seeing in terms of a skills gap in our population and actually put in place the programmes to deal with that so that we don't have to have the work visas that we are seeing at the moment. 'I mean, just look at health and social care, that is the area where the highest number of visas are being issued at the moment, but what does the Government do? It cuts medical school places this year by 3,000, denying opportunities for bright young Britons to have a fantastic job in our NHS.' She added: 'Where we have skills gaps, Labour said we will set up Skills for England to identify where those problems are and put in place those proper training programmes.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens as President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. AP-Yonhap U.S. President Joe Biden "looks forward" to meeting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Hiroshima on Sunday on the sidelines of a G7 summit in the Japanese city, the White House said. A senior Biden administration official told reporters Saturday that the meeting was "scheduled for a little bit after" 2:00 p.m., Sunday. "The president will continue to reiterate the United States' firm and resolute support for Ukraine going forward," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. Earlier, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Biden "looks forward to the opportunity to be able to sit down face-to-face" with Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president arrived in Japan on a French government airplane Saturday after an earlier stop in Saudi Arabia. The surprise appearance of Zelenskyy at the meeting of the world's richest democracies came right after the White House finally announced it would permit allied countries to supply Ukraine with American-built F16 fighter aircraft. Ukraine has been pleading for the advanced planes to replace its aging and war-battered Soviet-era fleet, but Biden had previously said the U.S. would not approve transfers. Washington had expressed concern over provoking Moscow and becoming more directly involved in the war. Sullivan said the F16 transfers would not upset the key balance Washington wants in supporting Ukraine "in a way that avoids World War III." He said the powerful warplanes would be used only for defense. "The United States is not enabling or supporting attacks on Russian territory," he said, "and the Ukrainians have consistently indicated that they are prepared to follow through on that." 'Muscle movement' Responding to criticism that the United States waited too long before giving allies the green light to send Ukraine their F16s, Sullivan said the Ukrainians do not need the planes for an expected offensive to drive Russians back in the coming weeks. Instead, the F16s and accompanying training for pilots will be part of a long-term rebuilding of the Ukrainian airforce. "We've reached a moment where it's time to look down the road and to say 'what is Ukraine going to need... to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression?'" "F16s, fourth-generation fighter aircraft, are part of that mix. The obvious first step there is to do the training and then to work with allies, partners and the Ukrainians to determine how to do the actual provision points as we move forward." The senior U.S. official would not confirm U.S. media reports that the government will announce a new package of weapons for Ukraine on Sunday. However, he said that future shipments would likely continue to focus mostly on artillery shells, small arms ammunition and possibly HIMARS multiple rocket system ammunition. The official said that getting Ukraine F16s and training pilots would still take time. "We don't have the answers to all that right now. But the muscle movements are in place and the discussions are happening," he said, saying the breakthrough was "the result of an awful lot of work." G7 countries further turned the screws on Russia during the Hiroshima summit by agreeing to tighten already sweeping economic sanctions on Moscow. (AFP) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at Hiroshima Airport to attend the Group of Seven (G7) nations' meetings in Hiroshima, western Japan, Saturday, May 20. AP-Yonhap Penny Mordaunt has been hailed by the cast of Game of Thrones for her sword carrying role during the service of King Charles III's Coronation. The Leader of the House of Commons carried a sword at the historic event as Lord President of the Privy Council, a role she has undertaken since September last year. Dressed in a teal blue dress with gold detail and a matching cape, Ms Mordaunt carried the 4ft 17th-century Sword of State into the Abbey before presenting it to the King in his throne. It was the first time a woman has performed this role. Since the event, Miss Mordaunt has become a social media hit, with many political figures also praising her efforts. And she now has reportedly received plaudits from the cast of Game of Thrones - a show set in a magical medieval world with dragons and fierce political rivalries. Tory MP Penny Mordaunt carried a sword at the historic event as Lord President of the Privy Council Ms Mordaunt carried the 17th-century Sword of State into the Abbey before presenting it to the King in his throne A Westminster insider said: 'Penny has been flooded with fan mail and letters from all over the world after her performance at the Coronation - including from people at Game of Thrones. 'It is incredible how the world has really taken to the moment. The Coronation was an incredible spectacle,' they said according to the Sun on Sunday. After carrying the Sword of State at the ceremony, Miss Mordaunt was then presented with the Jewelled Sword of Offering, a smaller item decorated with silver, diamonds, rubies and emeralds. The sword was blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury before Ms Mordaunt then presented it to the King, who clipped it into his girdle. It was eventually returned to Ms Mordaunt who in 2014 featured on ITV's diving show Splash! and was named 'Britain's sexiest MP' in a poll and she carried it again as she walked ahead of the King following his crowning. Miss Mordaunt revealed after the big day that she had undergone a training regime involving press-ups, as well as practising with a weighted replica of the 7lb 5oz sword originally made for Charles II. Asked about being around the King with a 'big pointy sword', Ms Mordaunt admitted she did feel 'a terrible weight of responsibility'. Dressed in a custom-made teal outfit with a matching cape and headband with gold feather embroidery, Mordaunt held the pieces for the majority of the service. Ms Mordaunt is pictured here holding the Sword of State and walking ahead of the King in his full regalia Dressed in a 2,000 designer dress, Ms Mordaunt holds the Sword of State She 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-lis emblems. Notable figures including a number of fellow MPs praised her, with Labour MP Emily Thornberry tweeting: 'Got to say it, @PennyMordaunt looks damn fine! The sword bearer steals the show.' Author and columnist Caitlin Moran also commented on the social media buzz around Ms Mordaunt's role, saying: 'Penny Mordaunt's sword is the 'Pippa Middleton's Bum' of the Coronation.' Labour MP Chris Bryant said in a tweet: 'The Penny is mightier than the sword.' Ms Mordaunt, who is also the Leader of the House of Commons, explained: 'The Lord President of the Council is really the chairman of the King's Privy Council. 'It used to be the executive for the King, and it still does a lot of business and it's an important part of our constitution and the authority that we have in Parliament. 'On the day I am representing the King's authority, and I am going to be doing a number of things.' A failure to fix the UK's broken apprenticeship system has left British companies forced to 'rely on immigration,' a new Policy Exchange report has said. Apprenticeship funding should instead be linked to the UK's visa policy, to ensure British firms are able to train up local talent instead of hiring lower paid foreign workers, it says. The shake-up would see money used to fill jobs listed on the UK's 'shortage occupation list,' that lets companies hire overseas staff for below the going rate. Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi backed the calls as the think-tank's David Goodhart said the failure to reform apprenticeship had left the UK 'hooked on cheap foreign labour'. The report also reveals that 4.3 billion raised through Britain's apprenticeship levy has gone unspent, as it claims a lack of flexibility has hindered uptake of the schemes. Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi (pictured) backed the call as he argued employers should be able to 'train up home grown talent' instead of 'being forced to rely on immigration' It in turn calls for cash from the UK's 'apprenticeship levy' to be spent on a wider range of courses, including coding bootcamps and HGV driving courses. Introduced in the financial year 2017/18, the UK's 'apprenticeship levy' is a tax on companies that is used to fund on-the-job training schemes. The levy sees all firms that pay out wages of more than 3 million each year taxed 0.5%, with the money used to finance a variety of training schemes. The paper argues funding from the 'apprenticeship levy' should be linked to Britain's visa policy, by using it to fill jobs listed on the UK's 'shortage occupation list.' Britain's 'shortage occupation list' lets companies hire workers from overseas at rates 20% below those normally required to obtain a 'skilled worker' visa. Jobs listed on the 'shortage occupation list' include welders, engineers, lab technicians, and care workers. Nadhim Zahawi MP said 'employers should be able to use the levy to train up home-grown talent... instead of being forced to rely on immigration to fill these vacancies.' (Stock image) The report calls for an overhaul of the UK's apprenticeship system to boost uptake by making the schemes more flexible to include short courses The think-tank's David Goodhart said: "Failure to reform the apprenticeship system and train young people has left Britain hooked on cheap foreign labour. 'Policy Exchanges proposal to link the apprenticeship levy to immigration policy would allow businesses to train up our own workforce to fill jobs,' he said. The Policy Exchange report also reveals that since 2018, a sum of 4.3 billion, that was raised through the UK's levy, has not been spent on apprenticeships. It claims the failure is due to a lack of support for shorter courses, as it says small business should be paid 3,000 to train up apprentices. The report warns that uptake of apprenticeships by 19-24 year olds has dropped by 31 per cent since 2015/16, as it claims more must be done to boost accessibility. In a bid to boost access to the schemes, apprentices should also be paid the UK's minimum wage, and provided with free public transport, it says. It adds that academic requirements, requiring apprentices to pass Maths and English GCSEs, should also be scrapped to ensure the schemes are more accessible. Cobra Beer founder Lord Bilimoria urged to government to 'listen to this report and implement its recommendations,' including by supporting small companies and 'increasing opportunities for young people'. The mother of a one-year-old girl killed by a charging giraffe last year was also left paralysed from the waist down as she tried to shield her children. Nicole Panos, 25, tried to save toddler Kaia after they were charged at by the animal in her native South Africa in October. Her four-year-old son Kayden suffered skull fractures in the tragic incident, in the Kuleni Game Park, but survived after curling up in a ball in the sand. Sadly one-year-old Kaia died as a result of a traumatic head injury. The heartbroken mother was holding her in her arms. Speaking for the first time, Ms Panos told The Sun her world 'completely shattered the day Kaia died'. Nicole Panos, 25, tried to save toddler Kaia (both pictured) after they were charged at by the animal in South Africa in October Ms Panos was parlysed from the waist down in the attack. She spent more than three weeks in hospital, 16 days in intensive care The family believe the giraffe was protecting a calf. Ms Panos said she felt confused as they hadn't been threatening towards the animal. But as a mother Ms Panos said she understands the 'instinct that kicks in to protect your children'. 'My last thought before she charged at us was that of worry, 'Where is her baby?', but she took mine from me,' she added. Ms Panos and her husband Jason live at the family-run luxury game park with their children. It is a popular holiday destination. She worked at the nature training business as a marine facilitator, student mentor and aspiring birth doula. That tragic day, Ms Panos had been due to met a student and arranged for her children to stay with their grandparents. READ MORE: Petition demanding Met Police be held accountable for shooting dead dogs Marshall and Millions hits one million after stand-off when officers also Tasered their homeless owner Advertisement After a relaxing morning laying with her children, she left her house to walk them the short distance to her parents' home. In the distance, Ms Panos saw a male and female giraffe. However, she could not see the animals' calf. The female giraffe was watching the family, but Ms Panos said this was not unusual as she was often curious. She did however think it strange that the calf was not there. 'I was carrying Kaia in my arms, Kayden was walking ahead of me,' she said. 'Suddenly, I heard this noise behind us and I turned around and I saw her coming at us.' Ms Panos said the animal's head was down and she was headed straight for them, 'running really fast'. She screamed at her son Kayden to run, while Kaia was in her arms, before feeling a thud on her back and being knocked unconscious. Ms Panos awoke to see the giraffe heading for Kayden but she could not move to help him. Again she passed out and when she woke up, her mother was holding little Kaia. She thought both children were alive before again blacking out. Her four-year-old son Kayden (left) suffered skull fractures in the tragic incident, in the Kuleni Game Park, but survived after curling up in a ball in the sand The children were rushed for urgent medical care - Kayden was sent to hospital while Kaia went to a local doctor. Kaia died there in her grandfather's arms. Ms Panos's spinal injuries meant she had to wait for four hours before being airlifted to hospital. Her family tried to keep the tragic news of Kaia's death from her until after her surgery but Ms Panos's motherly instincts new. 'I asked them to tell me the truth and we all broke down,' she said. 'From that point I have been in survival mode, and I probably will be for the rest of my life.' Kayden has struggled with the loss of his sister, as Ms Panos says he would go and 'greet her every morning with this huge hug'. Ms Panos was in hospital for more than three weeks, 16 days of which were in intensive care. As well as being paralysed she had multiple rib fractures and damage to internal organs. Of her daughter, Ms Panos said: 'She was the most wonderful, funny, beautiful soul, who loved everything and everyone. She loved life. 'She felt, and still feels, like sunshine. She radiated happiness.' A GoFundMe page was set up to help Ms Panos and Kayden recover. It has so far raised more than $33,000. Residents are celebrating after an eco-conscious council has scrapped a new low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN). More than 600 people who live in Dulwich Village, south London, said they did not support the introduction of a sixth LTN in the affluent area. In an official survey there was an overwhelmingly negative response to the plan, with 1,242 residents saying they found 'limited support' for the road closure, and only 33 per cent appeared to back it. LTNs were created in a move to make air quality cleaner and roads quieter, prioritising the movements of cyclist and pedestrians over cars - but the schemes come frequently under fire, with many LTNs being destroyed by furious residents across the country. The proposal by the Labour led council was to close a busy junction between Turney Road and Dulwich Village. It claimed the LTN would allow for pedestrians and cyclists to feel safer in an area with a 'more village feel'. Residents are celebrating after an eco-concious council has scrapped a new low-traffic neighbourhood. Pictured: The LTN at the junction of Carlton Avenue and Dulwich Village More than 600 people who live in Dulwich Village said they did not support the introduction of a sixth LTN in the affluent area. Pictured: The LTN at the junction of Carlton Avenue and Dulwich Village Motorists who are blue badge holders were not going to be exempt from the proposed new traffic zone, causing disabled residents to become increasingly more frustrated. The council has now backtracked completely and quashed the proposal after the official consultation was pelted with disapproving responses from angry residents. It is reportedly the first time that a Labour council has thrown out an idea of an LTN, according to the Sunday Telegraph. The council also came under fire in January after one of its bosses in charge of a the scheme accused disability campaigners of 'mansplaining' as they asked for a blue badge holder exemption. The fiery row erupted between the Labour councillor and residents as they discussed a junction in the village, which was closed with planters to become an LTN during the first lockdown. This has meant disabled motorists, with blue badges were also forced to drive through alternative, and often longer routes. Two local campaigners attended Southwark Council's December cabinet meeting to present local politicians with a petition, signed by 600 locals in the area, which called for a blue badge exemption. Clive Rates told councillors that after the LTNs were implemented in 2020, a large number of people with disabilities in the area now 'find themselves trapped in their homes'. Labour councillor Catherine Rose (pictured), who oversees the LTN scheme, accused two disability campaigners of 'mansplaining' while they called for a blue badge holder exemption He said: 'Is it really a benefit for society that vulnerable and disabled people find themselves unable to leave their homes?' Mr Rates went on to relay the effect the scheme had had on local bus routes had been 'extremely deleterious not just for vulnerable people but for everybody'. The campaigner's comments provoked a visibly angry response from councillor Catherine Rose, who oversees the LTN scheme under her role as the council's cabinet member for streets and clean air. The councillor shouted in response: 'Have you finished mansplaining to me? 'That's exactly what you have been doing for the last five or ten minutes. 'Thank you very much, I speak to thousands of people.' In 2021, Dulwich council raked in 6.6 million of fines from LTNs. In the past three years, LTNs have cost Londoner's 100 million in fines. RAC data shows London has the schemes in Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Hounslow, Lambeth, Newham, and Waltham Forest. These are all Labour led apart from Croydon, which has no overall control. In March this year, vigilantes in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, torched a number of planters used to close roads to may way for LTNs just hours after they were installed. Footage shows the boxes completely destroyed, with locals online praising the 'freedom fighters' for acting against the low-traffic measures. Frustrated residents in Oxford have also taken action against the schemes, with a video emerging of a driver confronting eco-zealots policing an LTN blockade and refusing to let her pass on her way to work. They have no authority to stand guard at the blockades. The motorist was angrily telling the protesters to move out of the way, although Twitter users commenting on the video pointed out that a 'no motor vehicles' sign could be seen on the planter. Emergency services were called in Rochdale after LTN planters were set alight and removed The now-destroyed planters prohibited vehicles from using certain roads across Rochdale The trial was implemented across Rochdale in Greater Manchester on Boundary Street, Durham Street, Leicester Street, New Barn Lane, Salkeld Street, and Whitby Street Last month, an 'anti-vandal' bollard was sawn off overnight by vigilantes after wooden designs replaced plastic posts which were vandalised more than 20 times in Oxford. Oxfordshire County Council had spent thousands of pounds replacing the controversial bollards in its LTN scheme after furious residents repeatedly damaged them. Bollards in the city have been driven over, pulled out of the ground and even set on fire since they were installed in May last year. The LTNs have divided neighbourhoods in Oxfordshire, with many drivers furious they can no longer drive down residential roads. Some residents have praised the scheme for cutting crime and traffic, but others have repeatedly damaged the bollards in protest. The new 'anti-vandal' wooden bollards had only been erected for ten days before one on Clive Road in the city was sawn off, leaving only a stump behind. A wooden bollard in Oxford has been sawn off overnight in an ongoing row over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods The council said the latest vandalism to the LTN 'presents a significant safety risk to road users, pedestrians and cyclists alike' Also in March, the Daily Mail reported how Ministers were under growing pressure from their own MPs and campaigners to scrap 'preposterous' and 'dangerous' LTNs. It came as figures showed nearly 240 ambulances were delayed from reaching potentially life-threatening callouts due to the schemes. Experts said the recorded incidents would be 'the tip of the iceberg' as they relate only to London and there were hundreds more LTNs in other cities. There is also opposition to established or planned schemes in Hereford, Brighton, Bath, St Andrews, Jesmond in Newcastle upon Tyne, Warrington in Cheshire, Southsea in Portsmouth and Leith in Edinburgh. Many councils have hailed LTNs as a success in tackling congestion and pollution, with 300 already set up or planned nationwide. The schemes include pop-up cycle lanes, wider pavements and closing streets to cars while policing the new rules with warning signs, CCTV cameras and fines for drivers breaking them. But critics say they are often poorly thought out, built at short notice with little consultation and accuse council chiefs of using them as 'cash cows' to clobber motorists. They also say traffic is simply pushed elsewhere, creating worse congestion and pollution on other main roads during their commute to work or the school run. Dozens have been torn up after councils pressed ahead with them wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds despite local opposition. Millions have been handed to councils for creating LTNs as part of a Government promise, made by then-chancellor Rishi Sunak, to spend 2billion by 2025 on cycle lanes and encouraging other forms of active travel such as walking by 2025. President Joe Biden blamed the spy balloon incident on deflating relations with China, but predicted they would be better soon during his press conference Sunday night in Hiroshima. The president agreed that the U.S. and China should have an 'open hotline' adding that was something he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on during their meeting last fall in Bali. 'And then this silly balloon carrying two freight cars worth of spy equipment flew over the United States and it got shot down and everything changed in terms of talking to one another,' Biden told reporters. He added, 'I think you're going to see that begin to thaw really shortly.' Biden also explained in simple terms the G7 countries' view on China: 'We're not looking to decouple from China. We're looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China,' he said. President Joe Biden blamed the spy balloon incident on deflating relations with China, but predicted they would be better soon during his press conference Sunday night in Hiroshima A U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the United States on February 3 He talked of this in terms of supply chains, with the U.S. wanting to be less reliant on China and other foreign countries in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the press conference, Biden also reiterated that the U.S. was still abiding by the 'one China' policy in terms of relations with Taiwan. And he also pushed that he didn't believe there would necessarily be a showdown between China and the U.S. and its allies. 'I don't think there's anything inevitable about the notion that there's going to be this conflict between the United States and the West and/or Japan and Korea and the Quad,' Biden said. He argued that the world was more secure currently, despite China building up its military, pointing to how the U.S. and its allies collectively decided against selling parts to China that allow the country to build up a nuclear arsenal or 'weapons of mass destruction.' 'But that's not a hostile act that's an act that says we're going to make sure that we do everything we can to maintain the status quo,' the president said. The saga of the Chinese spy balloon captured the attention of the nation over a few days in late January and February. The balloon floated over most of the continental U.S. before Biden ordered it shot down over water with the Air Force sending an F-22 fighter jet armed with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to do the job. Republican foes barked at Biden for not shooting it down soon enough, while the White House contended that the size of the balloon's package - equivalent to the size of a jetliner - made the Pentagon wary of shooting it down over land. China was supposed to a central issue at this year's G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan and be front-and-center at the Quad summit, which was supposed to take place later this week in Sydney, Australia. But the president's domestic woes - the ongoing debt crisis - led him to announce that the Australia and Papua New Guinea portions of the trip would be canceled. Quad leaders - those from Australia, Japan, India and the U.S. - instead met on the sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima Saturday night. In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's surprise in-person appearance at the summit turned a lot of the conversation to the war in Ukraine. A grandmother who went missing on holiday on a Greek island three weeks ago has been found dead in a remote area. Susan Hart, 74, from Bath, went missing on Sunday April 30 after taking a ferry from Kalymnos to the remote island of Telendos with her husband, Ed. She planned to wait at the front of the island while her partner went off rock climbing with a friend. When they returned, she had disappeared without a trace. For more than two weeks, the family from Bath were joined by officials and volunteers in an extensive search of the island. Her daughter Ruth Landale has now confirmed she was identified by her stepfather, and the family are left 'heartbroken'. Her body will be repatriated to Switzerland, where she was living, after a port-mortem is carried out by Greek authorities. Susan Hart, 75, went missing after taking a ferry to the island of Kalymnos on April 30 Kalymnos is an island in the Aegean Sea, to the east of Greece and to the west of Anatolia Susan (pictured) planned to wait at the front of the island while her partner went off rock climbing with a friend. When they returned, she had disappeared without a trace Susan Hart was a former employee of the World Health Organisation. She was living with her husband, Ed, in his native Switzerland. According to The Mirror, the couple had been regularly visiting the larger island of Kalymnos for around the last eight years. Telendos is a smaller island about 0.6 miles (1 kilometre) off the coast of Kalymnos, and an administrative part of the larger body. The tiny island is shaped like a semi-circle. There is a single, steep, flat-top mountain whose sides drop directly down the sea. The only settlement is based at the southern tip of the island, where the land is flat. After making the ten-minute ferry trip from Kalymnos, Susan Hart planned to read a while before heading over to a local restaurant while her husband went climbing. She reportedly decided to sit out due to health problems, according to The Sun. But when Ed returned, Susan had vanished - and nobody in the restaurant had seen her. Her three daughters Bethan, Ella, 43, from London, and Ruth, 45, who was in Australia, kept up the search for her mother following her mysterious disappearance. Previously speaking to The Mirror, Bethan said: 'How does someone just disappear without a trace? The hopes of finding her alive are diminishing by the day and my sisters and I do not know what to do next.' Image shows climbing on the island of Kalymnos, about a kilometre from the coast of Telendos (pictured in the background) Susan's husband paid privately for search and rescue dogs to join the search after local police failed to make arrangements after eight days of looking. Ruth wrote on Facebook on Saturday: 'Someone, somewhere must have seen something. People don't just vanish with no trace in such a small community. 'Mum has dementia and is very vulnerable. We need to find her. Please help us.' Bethan also said she worries that her mother was suffering from memory loss before her disappearance, though said she had not had a formal dementia diagnosis. After battling for access to CCTV footage of Susan walking away from the restaurant, the family is now desperately trying to access video from the other side. They said at the time that footage from behind the restaurant might help 'settle something playing on our minds', that Susan took the ferry back to Kalymnos. Bethan disputed previous reports that Susan had been found dead at the bottom of a cliff. A flyer shared by the family described Susan as having short dyed brown hair and blue eyes. She was said to be wearing a brown hat, grey Bermuda shorts, a light brown cardigan, a grey short-sleeved top, grey hiking boots, a grey sweatshirt and her wedding ring on the day she went missing. Susan is mother to three and grandmother to four children. Anybody with further information can contact the Greek Silver Alert Service at SOS 1065 or the British Vice Consulate at +30 22410 22005. The Foreign Office said: 'We are providing consular assistance to the family of a British woman who has been reported missing in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities.' Three people are dead and two others are in hospital after a shooting at a bar in Kansas City, Missouri, in the early hours of this morning. The shooting happened at Klymax Lounge on Indiana Avenue shortly before 1:25 am. One victim is said to have died inside the bar while the second was shot dead outside the building, Kansas City Police Department Officer Donna Drake told the Washington Post. A third person died in hospital. One of the injured people is in a critical condition and the other is stable, according to cops. The victims were all adults, police said, but their ages and identities were not immediately available. Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte tweeted images from the scene of the police cordon outside Klymax Lounge in Kansas City Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte shared an image of the police response after three people were killed and two people injured in a shooting at Klymax Lounge in Kansas City on Sunday Klymax Lounge in Kansas City where five people were shot - three fatally - in the early hours of Sunday morning Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators were at the scene early Sunday. The club, which is located in a residential area, was formerly known as Club 42 before changing its name to Klymax Lounge. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he got personal assurance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the F-16s that America approved for use in the war would not be used in Russia itself. Biden had been reluctant to approve the delivery of the military fighter planes to Ukraine via European countries. Because the F-16s have sensitive spy technology, America must approve any third-party sale. But, under pressure from European allies who want to see Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine to end, he approved the transfer. 'I have a flat assurance from Zelensky that they will not, they will not use it to go on and move into Russia geographic territory but wherever Russian troops are in Ukraine in the area, they would be able to do that,' Biden said at a press conference at the end of the G7 summit. He also said he didn't expect the F-16s to take part in the Spring counter offensive that Zelensky has planned because of the time it would take to train Ukrainians to use the advanced military jets. American personnel will do the training. Zelensky said at a Sunday night press conference that he was confident Ukraine was getting the jets - even though some details haven't been worked out yet - but couldn't give a number. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he got personal assurance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the F-16s that America approved for use in the war would not be used in Russia itself Zelensky said at a Sunday night press conference that he was confident Ukraine was getting the jets - even though some details haven't been worked out yet - but couldn't give a number 'I cannot tell you how many,' he said. 'Russia will feel when we have a counteroffensive,' Zelensky also offered. Zelensky traveled to Hiroshoma to meet with the leaders of the world's biggest democracies to make his case for military and diplomatic aid for his plans to push out Putin's forces. But the Ukrainian president caused a kerfuffle when he appeared to indicate that Russian mercenary forces captured the city of Bakhmut, only for his government to walk it back. When asked about it at a Sunday evening press conference, being held concurrently with Biden's, he gave a roundabout answer on Bakhmut before telling reporters: 'Bakhmut is not occupied by Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of those words.' He used the press availability to thank the Japanese hosts and draw connections between Hiroshima and the Russian assault - especially the 'evil and stupidity' of the Russians for fighting around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 'Russia has trampled on everything that is civilized,' Zelensky said via a translator. In his one-on-one meeting with Biden on the sidelines of the G7, Zelensky said: 'Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing.' He was asked 'is Bakhmut still in Ukraine's hands? The Russians say they have taken Bakhmut.' 'I think no,' Zelensky said. But then went on to say there was nothing left to the city. 'But you have to understand that there is nothing. They destroyed everything,' he said. 'Bakhmut is only in our hearts. there is nothing in this place just ... a lot of dead Russians.' Zelensky's words were not a concession, his office said. His spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov later clarified that Ukraine's president was not saying Bakhmut had fallen; he was refuting Russia's claim that its forces had captured the city. The eight-month battle for the eastern city was the longest and likely the bloodiest of the war. While Zelensky was in Japan to meet with G7 leaders, Russia upped its war campaign in the Ukraine. The Wagner mercenary group and the national army focused their fire on the city of Bakhmut and declared victory there. And Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his congratulations to the mercenaries on their victory. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and President Joe Biden take part in a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit The now largely-destroyed city is not a strategically important location for Russia, but Ukraine poured large amounts of resources in defending it. Western estimates say between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Bakhmut, while Ukraine's military has also suffered heavily. Meanwhile, Biden, in his sitdown with Zelensky, announced a new round of aid - additional $375 million in ammunition and equipment - for the embattled nation as it fights off Putin's forces. He said the 'next tranche of US factories which includes more ammunition, artillery, vehicles. And the United States continues to help Ukraine respond, recover and rebuild. We're also supporting peace.' 'We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere,' Biden said. Zelensky thanked Biden for the support. 'We are very thankful. We will never forget. Thank you,' he said. The Ukrainian president was holding two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders only and a second with the group and a host of invited guests including India, South Korea and Brazil. He also held one-on-one talks with Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other leaders. Earlier in the day, Biden wrapped his arm around Zelensky in a show of support ahead of their one-on-one meeting as the Ukrainian president met with leaders at the G7. Russian mercenaries declared victory in the city of Bakhmut Ukrainian servicemen fire a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system towards Russian troops attacking Bakhmut President Joe Biden puts an arm around Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky Zelensky addressed the summit on Sunday, asking for diplomatic and military support in his campaign to end the Russian invasion of his country. Ahead of his remarks, he held a photo spray with the heads of state. In a striking contrast, the leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies wore suits and ties; while Zelensky wore his signature military greens. The heads of state were eager to show their support, taking time to chat with Zelensky after the photo was complete. Biden put his arm around Zelensky's shoulder as the leaders left the room. The stakes are high for the Ukrainian president, who needs the military might, economic muscle and cold hard cash of Western allies to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin and his forces from his country. Zelensky hit the ground running on Saturday, his first day at the summit. He landed in Hiroshima in the afternoon and jumped straight into a series of meetings, including with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European leaders. Zelensky arrived in Japan shortly after Biden reversed course and gave European allies the green light to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in its battle against Russia. The embattled war president said the jets would not help the war effort immediately, but the decision was 'great.' 'I'm very happy,' he said Saturday at the summit. 'It really will help our society, our people to save houses, families.' Zelensky, who made his furthest foray from Kyiv since Russia's invasion began 15 months ago, arrived on a French plane at the heavily guarded Hiroshima airport. He also met with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 summit site. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (enter) poses with G7 leaders for a family photo Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at Hiroshima Airport on Saturday Zelensky is seen through the airport fence as he gets into his motorcade President Biden and President Zelensky will hold a one-on-one meeting at the G7 on Sunday Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured) claimed his forces have full control Bakhmut - which Kyiv denies - in a video recorded in front of destroyed buildings as explosions are heard in the distance Zelensky had a busy schedule his first day at the G7 summit. For Zelensky and Modi, it was their first in-person meeting since Russia invaded the Ukraine some 15 months ago. India has close ties to Russia - it is a major purchaser of Russian weapons and Russia crude oil, which is helping to fund Putin's war. And while Modi's government has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has abstained from UN resolutions calling for Russia's withdrawal and condemning the invasion. Before he arrived at the G7, Zelensky stopped in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to address the Arab League Summit. In his remarks, he accused some Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of Russia's invasion of his country. 'Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here, among you, who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations,' he said, urging them to 'take an honest look' at the war. Ahead of Zelensky's arrival, Biden, facing pressure from Europe to help Ukraine end the conflict, agreed to allow European countries with F-16s to transfer some of the war planes to the embattled nation. 'President Biden informed his G7 counterparts the United States will support the joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation fighter aircraft including F-16s,' National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday. 'Over the past few months we and our allies and partners have really focused on providing Ukraine with the system's weapons and training needs to be able to conduct effective offensive operations this spring,' he said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) at the G7 President Zelensky met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday President Volodymyr Zelensky travels in a motorcade as he arrives at the G7 summit The plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky makes its decent Ukraine is planning a massive counter offensive to retake its territory and attempt to drive out Putin's forces. But the delivery of F-16s - and the training to operate them - will take months. 'I welcome the historic decision of the United States and @POTUS to support an international fighter jet coalition. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky,' Zelensky wrote on Twitter. Zelensky was in Europe this week to meet with leaders from France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany to shore up alliances and ask for more aid. Early in the conflict Biden had resisted sending the advanced military fighter plans to Ukraine out of fears they would use it to strike into the heart of Russia, provoking the Kremlin to expand the conflict outside of Ukraine's borders. But several European countries have F-16s in their arsenals in wanted to send them to Kyiv but need American permission to give them to a third-party because of the advanced U.S. technology on the planes. Sullivan argued 'nothing has changed. Our approach to the provision of weapons, material, training to the Ukrainians has followed the exigencies of the conflict.' 'Now that we have delivered everything we said we were going to deliver,' he added, 'we put the Ukrainians in a position to make progress on the battlefield through the counter offensive.' President Zelensky with French President Emmanuel Macron Japan roled out the red carpet to welcome Zelensky Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky walks through the corridor of the Grand Prince Hotel where the G7 summit is taking place Zelensky flew to Hiroshima on a French plane F-16 fighter jets have long topped Ukraine's wishlist The F-16 training will be done by U.S. personnel in the coming weeks. The timeline for that training remains unclear bu American officials previously estimated it could take up to 18 months. 'As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them and how many,' Sullivan said. The U.S. Air Force has two F-16 air wings in Europe: the 31st Fighter Wing at the Aviano Air Base in Italy and the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. The U.S. also routinely sends F-16 fighters in and out of Europe on a rotational basis in smaller groups. So far, Ukraine has been relying on much older MiG fighters, 27 of which have been given to them by Poland and Slovakia. Only a few European countries have a supply of F-16s, including the Netherlands which has 40 and Denmark which has 30, in addition to Poland and Norway. F-16s have been at the top of Ukraine's weapons wishlist since it was handed main battle tanks from the likes of the US, United Kingdom and Germany. Western allies have taken even harsher measures against Russia in at attempt to pressure Putin to end the war. G7 leaders announced another round of sanctions on Friday, targeting Russia's energy sector and military complex. Moscow, in response, has upped its bombing campaign in Ukraine. This is the moment the G7 summit of world leaders was hijacked by a riot in the host city of Hiroshima, Japan, as police wrestled a group of protesters to the ground. Footage taken yesterday shows officers grabbing hold of activists waving placards and pinning them down. The chaotic scenes occurred after a brawl broke out involving demonstrators, the BBC reports. Japanese broadcaster NHK stated that the protesters had accused the G7 nations - the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - of escalating the war in Ukraine. In the minute-long clip, widespread shouting can be heard as a throng of riot police jostle with a protestor angrily lashing out at them. A small group of anti-G7 protesters clash with police at a shopping district in Hiroshima A young man is pinned to the ground while protesting outside the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, yesterday The group lurches to one side, as two protestors are eventually pinned down. One of the pair, a young man, is then filmed angrily talking to the camera after being released. The leaders of the world's richest democracies said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut - something Kyiv denied. The summit took a dramatic yesterday with the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who flew in on a French government plane to canvass for greater support against Russia's invasion. Zelensky, who earlier laid flowers at the cenotaph to victims of the world's first atomic bombing of a city, said photographs of Hiroshima's destruction during World War Two reminded him of Bakhmut and other destroyed Ukrainian cities. He also told a press conference there were still soldiers in Bakhmut and the city had not been captured by Russia. Earlier, he told reporters on the sidelines of the summit that the battered eastern city, the focus of fighting in recent months, was destroyed. 'It is tragedy,' Zelenskiy said. 'There is nothing on this place' - what remained was 'a lot of dead Russians.' Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and President Joe Biden take part in a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit President Joe Biden puts an arm around Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky During the final day of the three-day G7 summit, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a $375 million package of military aid, including artillery and armoured vehicles, for Ukraine. He told Zelenskiy the United States was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine's defence against Russia. 'Together with the entire G7 we have Ukraine's back and I promise we're not going anywhere,' Biden said. Putin hailed what he said was a victory for his forces, describing it as the 'liberation' of Bakhmut in a statement on the Kremlin's website. The assault on the largely levelled city was led by troops from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. Other leaders of the G7 - the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada - echoed Biden's sentiments. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that his country would back Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary. Biden told G7 leaders Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s warplanes, although Kyiv has not won commitments for delivery of the fighter jets. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) at the G7 President Zelensky met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday The potential for such training on U.S.-made F-16s was a message to Russia that it should not expect to succeed in its invasion by prolonging conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said training would start this summer and Ukraine would get the air force it needed for the future. It was 'significant' that the G7 nations showed solidarity in their intention to uphold international law and order during a summit attended by Zelenskiy as a guest, said the prime minister of host nation Japan, Fumio Kishida. Scholz said that while the immediate priority was supporting Ukraine's defence, security guarantees for Ukraine needed to be established once the war was over. Both Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to stand with Ukraine in opposing any notion of the war becoming a 'frozen conflict,' or any proposal for peace talks without Russian troops withdrawing. As Moscow's 15-month-old invasion has dragged on, several analysts and diplomats have floated the idea that it could become frozen like the conflict on the Korean Peninsula. North and South Korea remain technically at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended with a ceasefire. 'Peace should not make Ukraine a frozen conflict because that would lead to a war in the future. It needs to resolve the problem,' Macron said. The Hiroshima summit also gave Zelenskiy a chance to lobby for support from other attendees, like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil's Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have remained uncommitted. While determination to help Ukraine repel Russia's invasion was a key message from the G7 summit, the other was distrust of China as a trading partner. Biden met the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday to discuss military interoperability and the economic coercion they face from China, a U.S. official said. A day earlier, the G7 leaders outlined a shared approach towards China, looking to 'de-risk, not decouple' economic engagement with a country regarded as the factory of the world. In a statement the G7 also reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, where Chinese military exercises have raised concerns over the security of Taiwan, the democratic, self-governed island that China regards as part of its territory. China's foreign ministry issued a complaint to Japan expressing firm opposition to the G7 statement, saying it disregarded China's concerns, had attacked it and interfered in its internal affairs, including Taiwan. A man has been arrested for the murder of a woman in western Texas more than a week after she disappeared after a night out. The arrest of Mario Juan Chacon, 24, on Saturday afternoon came just hours after the body of Madeline Pantoja, 20, was found in the morning, police said. Mario Juan Chacon, Jr. is now being held without bond as of Saturday night at the Midland County Jail, according to county jail records. Pantoja was last seen on May 10 at her home at around 11pm, but neighbors say they heard her arguing with her ex-boyfriend hours later at 1.30am. Pantoja's phone, purse and dog were still in her apartment when she was reported missing on May 11. Mario Juan Chacon, 24, is pictured after his arrest on Saturday for the murder of Madeline Pantoja, 20 Madeline Pantoja was last seen on May 10 and reported missing on May 11, triggering a frantic nine-day search On May 20 her body was found southeast of Midland, approximately 3 miles east of County Road 190 and County Road 1160, police said. 'At approximately 3.30pm today, Midland Police Department detectives arrested Mario Juan Chacon,' MPD reported on Saturday. The investigation into Pantoja's death is ongoing and an autopsy will be performed in Dallas County, Midland Police said. News of Pantoja's death shocked the community, which had been trying to assist with the search since her disappearance. A Facebook page that had been posting 'search dates and info' had nearly 30,000 likes as of Sunday morning. The number of citizens looking to involve themselves in the investigation caused the police to warn that criminal action would be taken against anybody interfering. Nonetheless, on Friday before Pantoja was found dead, Midland Mayor Lori Blong announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Pantoja (pictured) was said to have been arguing with her ex-boyfriend the night she disappeared Midland Police Department said that during the search it soured more than 60 square miles of land 'I cannot imagine the stress and the concern and worry of Madeline's family and friends as they've gone through this ordeal,' she said at the time. She said there was no reason to believe there was a public threat to Midland. Chief of police in Midland Seth Herman said during Friday's conference that since the initial report, his department worked 24 hours a day to find Pantoja. He said officers searched about 60 square miles with the aid of drones and manned aircraft. He said also had over a dozen search warrants and had interviewed 25 people. U.S. fighter aircraft F-16 performs aerobatic maneuvers on the last day of Aero India 2019 at Yelahanka air base in Bangalore, India, Feb. 24, 2019. The U.S. has once again buckled under pressure from European allies and Ukraine's leaders and agreed to provide more sophisticated weapons to the war effort. This time it's all about F-16 fighter jets. AP-Yonhap Western countries will run "colossal risks" if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Saturday. Grushko was responding to a question about the implications of providing the jets, which Ukraine has been requesting from NATO countries. It has not yet won commitments for delivery of the planes, but U.S. President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, senior U.S. officials said. "We see that Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves colossal risks for themselves," Grushko was quoted as saying. "In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the goals we have set." The number of listeners tuning in to Classic FM has plummeted to its lowest-ever audience levels leading to accusations that the station is 'turning their backs' on traditional classical music fans instead seeking younger listeners. New figures show the commercial station lost 426,000 listeners in the last quarter, with 4.5 million people listening each week as of March. This compared to 4.9 million listeners in the three months leading up to Christmas. It is the smallest audience the channel has had since the quarterly figures were published. Those listeners over the age of 65 saw the sharpest drop off in the most recent statistics. The drop comes as the channel launched a show dedicated to video game music, a show called Pet Classics to calm animals and a positivity series. The number of listeners tuning in to Classic FM has plummeted to its lowest-ever audience levels after being accused of 'turning their backs' on traditional classical music fans. Pictured: Host Charlotte Hawkins during this year's Pet Classics show One industry source told The Telegraph: 'This feels just like the BBC. While diversity and variety on the radio is of course important, stations if they keep turning their backs on that core audience.' David Taylor, a leading classical music consultant, wrote on his blog: 'There is now an overall trend of decline for Classic FM, having posted record lows for five of the last seven quarters, including dropping under 5 million listeners for the first time.' In recent months, the station has launched a show about video game music called High Score, hosted by Eimear Noone who writes scores for various games. In January, Classic FM also rolled a 'positivity series' with the former Love Island star Dr Alex George who would give 'practical advice and tips on living every day in a positive way'. Classic FM host Charlotte Hawkins also began another show in November called Pet Classics where music would be played to help 'keep anxious pets - and their owners - calm and relaxed during firework season'. The station remains the UK's most popular classical music channel with 2.6 million more listeners than its next rival The station remains the UK's most popular classical music channel with 2.6 million more listeners than its next rival. In comparison BBC Radio 3 grew by 64,000 listeners from 1.87 million to 1.93 million while Scala Radio grew 33,000, from 233,000 to 266,000. Boom Radio, which targets a baby boomer audience, has doubled its audience in a year to 635,000. Global declined to comment. Climate activists in Italy were dragged out of Rome's famous Trevi Fountain on Sunday after a protest against the continued funding of fossil fuels, saying floods that have killed 14 people in the country's northeast this week were 'a warning'. Seven activists from the anti-climate change organisation Last Generation climbed into the landmark fountain and poured a vegetable-based charcoal dye into it at 11:30am (10:30am GMT) to turn the water black. Hundreds of people who were visiting the fountain stopped to watch the protest before police arrived and began arresting and escorting away those involved. The Trevi Fountain's most iconic moment saw Swedish actress Anita Ekberg go for a dip in Federico Fellini's film 'La Dolce Vita'. The protest came as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Emilia Romagna to visit areas devastated by floods described as the worst in a century after six months' worth of rains fell in 36 hours. Environmental activists are removed from the famous Trevi fountain by police officers Seven activists entered the fountain at 11:30am local time on Sunday Over 36,000 people have been displaced by the disaster, with costs already in the hundreds of millions of euros. Protesters at the fountain on Sunday held banners reading 'let's not pay for fossils' and shouted 'our country is dying'. Police pulling protestors out of the water confiscated the banners as tourists either applauded or booed. Activist Charlie, 18, said: 'I'm taking my first non-violent civil disobedience action to get institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels. 'Flood disasters and drought and extreme heat events have triggered fear, anxiety, and anger in me.' They added they expect to be punished for their actions by the Italian government, but said: 'By now, however, it should be clear that we are not the real ecovandals, the real barbarians are those who continue to accelerate the environmental devastation underway for mere economic profit.' Mattia, 19, who did not give his last name, was cited as taking part 'because the horrible tragedy experienced in these days in Emilia Romagna is a forewarning of the black future that awaits mankind'. He highlighted figures that one out of four houses in Italy is at risk of flooding, representing an estimated annual cost of 3 billion. Uniformed police waded into the water to take away the activists, with many tourists filming the stunt and a few of the onlookers shouting insults at the protesters, video footage showed. The environmental group said the carbon liquid used for the protest did not damage the fountain, but Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri said the clean-up would 'cost time, effort and water, because this is a fountain which uses recirculating water'. 'We now have to empty it, and throw away 300,000 litres of water,' he said. Uniformed and ununiformed police waded into the water to take away the activists Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri condemned the protest, the latest in a series of acts targeting works of art in Italy Activists were transported from the tourist site to waiting police cars Activists held up banners and chanted, but tourists were not impressed by their behaviour Last Generation began carrying out peaceful but disruptive protests in Italy last year ahead of the general election In a statement, Ultima Generazione called for an end to public subsidies for fossil fuels and linked the protests to deadly floods in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna in recent days. Roberto Gualtieri condemned the protest - the latest in a series of acts targeting works of art in Italy. 'Enough of these absurd attacks on our artistic heritage,' he wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited flood-hit areas of northern Italy on Sunday after returning early from the G7 summit in Japan to lead the response to the disaster. Read more: Death toll from Italy's devastating floods climbs to 13 as rescue teams attempt to reach towns blocked off by landslides Advertisement Meloni's plane landed around lunchtime in the Adriatic city of Rimini and she began to visit towns in the Emilia-Romagna region where the floods have killed 14 people and caused billions of euros worth of damage. Agriculture has been hit hard in an area which grows fruit such as peaches, kiwis and apricots, as well as corn and grain. The rain had stopped on Sunday and rescue teams and local volunteers were trying to pump out buildings and sweep away mud caking the streets before it could set hard under the sun. Meloni had left the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima a day earlier than scheduled, saying her conscience would not allow her to stay away longer. The Italian government will hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to decide on measures to help people to cope with the emergency. Last Generation began carrying out peaceful but disruptive protests in Italy last year ahead of the general election, urging politicians from all parties to make climate change their priority. The protests in Italy are part of a series of actions across Europe to focus attention on climate change. Activists have thrown soup, cake, mashed potatoes or washable paint at heritage and culture sites and artworks in museums. The husband of a missing mom in small-town Colorado had been 'friendly' with local cops prior to his wife's disappearance, an insider has claimed - suggesting the friendship is what spurred officers to mishandle their investigation in the first place. Speaking about the case surrounding still-lost Suzanne Morphew, the source with knowledge on the probe into her death painted a grim picture as to why her husband, 55-year-old Barry Morphew, was acquitted last year. At that point, the owner of a lucrative Denver landscaping business had been the sole suspect in the case, arrested for murder almost a year to the day after Suzanne, 49, suddenly vanished while on a bike ride in their native Salida. The mom-of-two's disappearance happened on Mother's Day 2020, and sparked a national furor for the better part of year after her body was never found. The outcry looked to alleviate with Morphew's arrest in May 2021, but unraveled last year when prosecutors dropped all charges against the Salida dad. The decision, delivered by a local judge, came after the local district attorney's office was sensationally over violations during discovery. Speaking about the case surrounding still-lost Suzanne, a source with knowledge on the probe painted a grim picture as to why 55-year-old Barry was acquitted - claiming he had been 'friendly' with cops prior to his wife's disappearance, who then purposely botched the probe The insider went on to add that 'Suzanne was [also] friends with some of the wives' of officers on the force, including Sheriff John Spezze (seen here). The retired Denver cop has declined to comment on his office's now-three-year-long probe, which has failed to garner a conviction Speaking to The Sun Sunday, the insider - as well as an unnamed resident of the town of 5,800 - laid blame on sheriffs for the probe falling apart, claiming the Chaffee County force purposely 'botched' the investigation. 'They botched the investigation in the first few days by failing to treat that home as a crime scene,' said the tipster, who spoke under the condition of anonymity. That said, the source did confide that he used to work in local law enforcement, during which time he witnessed a chummy dynamic between the town's police force and Morphew - a volunteer at Chaffee County's fire house. 'I know Barry was friendly with a lot of people in the sheriff's department through his work volunteering at the local fire department,' the insider said, less than three weeks after Mophew filed a federal lawsuit against Chaffee County Sheriff's office for 'irreparably' tarnishing his 'name and reputation' after his arrest in 2021. The insider went on to add that 'Suzanne was [also] friends with some of the wives' of officers on the force, including Sheriff John Spezze. Spezze, 62, has headed the force since 2015, after retiring from the city of Denver's Police Department, where he worked as an officer for 27 years. He, along with a cohort of local officials, are named in the sensational civil lawsuit filed by Mophew over his arrest - and subsequent five months of incarceration. In the 185-page filing - which demands $15million in damages - accused Spezze and figures such as Undersheriff Andy Rohrich, and 17th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley of 'conspiring to withhold and fabricate evidence for a crime he 'didn't commit.' Sheriff Spezze has since declined to comment on the case and all matters surrounding it, saying only that his department's probe - three years later - remains 'active and ongoing.' Morphew was arrested last May before being released on bond and ordered to wear an ankle monitor as a condition of his release 'It's the sheriff's office who should be investigated,' said one outraged local of the repeated flubs that saw a judge drop all charges against Morphew without prejudice - meaning they can be refiled at any time In comments made to The Sun, the source said Spezze's drawn out probe has been by design - because of the Morphew's previous good standing with the department. 'They were all swimming in the same social circles,' the insider said of the couple, who have two daughters. 'That's why it took them so long to charge him in the first place.' Several other locals in the tight-knight community a two hours' drive east from Colorado Springs agreed with the insiders' assessment that members of Spezze's department purposely mishandled their probe into Suzanne's disappearance to give their then-friend a break. 'It's the sheriff's office who should be investigated,' said one outraged local of the repeated flubs that saw a judge drop all charges against Morphew, without prejudice - meaning they can be refiled at any time. 'They're corrupt and they've been that way for years,' the citizen alleged. Attempting to standup his theory, the unnamed insider pointed to recent assertions from Spezze's department that insisted officers were 'close' to finding Suzanne's remains on a mountain not far from where she vanished - but needed to wait for a snowpack to melt. Those comments were made more than a year ago, and Suzanne's body has yet to be found. The source told the Sun that this is because the department was lying. 'And this whole thing about them being close to finding her body was bulls**t. It's all lies. You can't trust a thing they say."' Suzanne vanished without a trace on May 10, 2020 after setting off from her home on a Mother's Day bike ride Suzanne and her husband had two daughters together. She vanished on Mother's Day in 2020 Meanwhile, Morphew is still considered a suspect in the case, according to Prosecutor Mark Hurlbert - who is also named in the sensational civil lawsuit filed a few weeks ago. The 185-page complaint claims that the authorities conspired to wrongly arrest Morphew, that they fabricated evidence, concealed exculpatory evidence and conducted a reckless investigation, all which led to Morphew being wrongly prosecuted. 'As result of the Defendants' conduct Barry was charged, arrested, and prosecuted, and his property seized, for a crime he did not commit,' the lawsuit says. 'As result of the Defendants' conduct Barry spent five months in jail, approximately 6 more months wearing a GPS ankle monitor with severe restrictions on his movement, and almost a year defending against the criminal charges. To this date, Barry's property remains in the CCSD's possession.' The lawsuit claims that Morphew's 'name and reputation has been irreparably tarnished in Colorado and all around the country.' Those named in the lawsuit including Chaffee County, the sheriff's office and board of commissioners, 11th Judicial District Attorney Stanley and her staff, and Colorado Bureau of Investigation and FBI agents. Last month, Morphew's attorney Iris Eytan filed a complaint against Judge Stanley and her office, accusing the prosecutors of misconduct and unethical behavior during the case. 'Barry suffered the indignity of being wrongfully arrested, jailed and prosecuted for a crime he did not commit,' Eytan said in a statement Tuesday. 'We will not rest until those responsible for this miscarriage of justice are held accountable.' Morphew leaves a Fremont County court building in Canon City, Colo., with his daughters, Macy, left, and Mallory, after charges against him in the presumed death of his wife were dismissed, Tuesday, April 19, 2022 Morphew was sentenced to 32 hours community service and order to pay a $600 fine after taking a plea deal Barry Morphew (pictured in his booking photo last May) pleaded guilty Thursday to casting a mail-in ballot for Donald Trump in his missing wife's name in October 2020 The complaint alleged that six prosecutors pursued 'a political agenda of locking up Mr. Morphew in response to a media frenzy that prosecutors themselves helped create' after Suzanne's disappearance. Morphew's lawyers also asked for the prosecutors to face punishment up to and including disbarment. They said a decision was made to arrest Morphew in 2021 even though DNA from an unknown male was found in Suzanne Morphew's SUV. They also cited Stanley's appearances on true crime podcasts such as 'Profiling Evil' to talk about the case. The office had opened an investigation into Stanley last year because of complaints arising from the Morphew prosecution, and the lawyers complaint will now become part of that investigation, attorney regulation counsel Jessica Yates said. However, another prosecutor in the office, Mark Hurlbert, who is one of those named in the complaint, said he had not seen it yet. 'We will fight it vigorously because we did nothing wrong,' he said. After his wife's disappearance, Morphew issued a series of tearful pleas for her return but soon became embroiled in the police investigation, with DailyMail.com reporting that Colorado Bureau of Investigation officials had descended on the home just three days after she went missing. He had claimed to be on a landscaping job in Broomfield, Colorado, when his wife vanished but as DailyMail.com revealed in September 2020, co-workers were suspicious of his movements and said he had left his Holiday Inn hotel room stinking of bleach. He also left a trash can filled with shredded correspondence that was later turned over to the CBI. Morphew began the legal process of having Suzanne's assets and their joint property transferred to him shortly after she vanished. In November 2020, he cast a vote for Donald Trump in her name claiming she would have done it anyway. Investigators later said Morphew had told them he did it 'just because I wanted to vote for Trump to win. I just thought, 'Give him another vote.' 'I figured all these other guys were cheating. I figured she (Suzanne) was going to vote for Trump anyway.' A year after Suzanne disappeared, Morphew would be arrested and charged with her murder - and despite his recent acquittal in court, remains a key suspect. A hearing in September 2020 shredded Morphew's description of his marriage to Suzanne as being a happy and loving one, with investigators revealing she had been having a long-running affair with married dad-of-six Jeff Libler. Investigators long suspected the area of the Garfield Mine near Salida as a possible location for Suzanne's body, after Morphew admitted taking a detour there around the time of her disappearance Morphew is accused of murdering his wife, Suzanne, right, who went missing on Mother's Day in 2020. Her body has never been found Libler, who has never spoken about Suzanne, was due to testify at Morphew's trial and received Suzanne's final photo a bikini selfie taken on May 9, 2020 in the garden of her $1.3m home. The court also heard how spent tranquilizer cartridges were found inside the laundry room at the Morphew home, that Morphew had scratches on his arms in the days after Suzanne's disappearance and that she had complained of his controlling behavior to her family. A series of text messages revealed how anguished Suzanne had discussed ending her marriage in conversations with friends and called Morphew 'a Jekyll and Hyde character'. His defense attorneys spent most of the hearings attempting to pick holes in the prosecution case pointing to unknown male DNA discovered in the glove box of her car and suggesting a link to a sex offender arrested in Arizona. Morphew's case was then scheduled for a full trial beginning May 1 but it was dramatically halted a week before it was due to start when prosecutors announced they were tossing the case. The move came after the judge due to preside over the trial banned the prosecution from using a series of witnesses on the grounds of discovery violations, while police said they were close to finding Suzanne's remains and were waiting for the snow to melt. The case was then dismissed without prejudice, despite objections from the defense, which means it could still be re-filed should new evidence come to light. More than a year later, Suzanne Morphew's body has still not been found. Her husband and daughters last week broke their silence three years after she vanished during an appearance on ABC News' Good Morning America, during which Morphew insisted Suzanne had made a series 'bad decisions' while struggling with drugs and chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma that eventually led to her disappearance. Her husband and daughters last week broke their silence three years after she vanished during an appearance on Good Morning America , during which Morphew insisted Suzanne had made a series 'bad decisions' that led to her disappearance "It's very hurtful to lose your reputation and your integrity." Barry Morphew and his daughters speak out for the first time since filing a $15 million lawsuit after murder charges against him were dropped. @eriellereshef has more. pic.twitter.com/v0Fh9LD4Ri Good Morning America (@GMA) May 15, 2023 'I know that she was going through chemotherapy for the last couple years before her disappearance,' the father-of-two said, flanked by he and his wife's two teenage daughters. 'I know she was going through some hard things and made some bad decisions. She was really having trouble with the chemotherapy and the drugs.' Barry said that his heart was 'broken' when he found out his wife was having an affair with a man who she went to high school with. Holding back his tears, he told ABC News: 'My heart was broken. I didn't believe it.' When asked how the ordeal has left them, her daughters Mallory and Macy told ABC: 'Very very sad. Very confused. So traumatic. Literally our worst nightmare.' DailyMail.com has reached out to the Chafee County Sheriff's office for comment. A woman in her sixth month of pregnancy was found dead along with her two-year-old son in a town in Idaho after a suspected murder-suicide. Elizabeth Lawley, 33, was found dead in her father's home with her son on Wednesday evening both deaths were caused by gunshot wounds, sheriffs said. Officers received reports that their bodies were found in a room of the home in Wallace, Idaho, at around 8.30pm. Lawley's father had returned to his home around 6pm but initially thought his daughter and the child were taking a nap in a different room, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported. Hours later when he went to check the other room he discovered the bodies Lawley and the boy. Elizabeth Lawley, 33, was found dead in her father's home at 152 King Street in Wallace, Idaho (pictured) Sheriff Holly Lindsey of Shoshone County Sheriff's Department said in her 19 years of service she had never seen the office so somber Wallace is a small town east of Coeur d'Alene along Interstate 90 in the north of Idaho in Shoshone County. The sheriff's office shared news of the incident the following day via a press release on its Facebook page. Sheriff Holly Lindsey said in her 19 years of service in Shoshone County, she had never seen the sheriff's office so somber and devastated. 'Today was an extremely difficult day for the family, for our office, and for this community. And I can only imagine what the family is going through,' the Facebook post read. 'Speaking honestly, in my 19 years of service for Shoshone County, I've never seen the SCSO so somber, so devastated; we shared a lot of hugs, and we shared a lot of tears. Today was an extremely difficult day for the family, for our office, and for this community. And I can only imagine what the family is going through.' 'The preliminary investigation indicates that Lawley likely killed her son and then killed herself,' she wrote. The department said that deputies were at the house at 152 King Street from 8.30pm until the early hours of the morning after obtaining a search warrant. Captain Jeff Lee with the sheriff's office told the the Coeur d'Alene Press that the scene and evidence heavily suggested that it was a murder-suicide and that Lawley's father was not being investigated as a suspect. 'Not only the community, but the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office is extremely saddened and shocked at the incident,' Lee said. 'We are continuing the investigation and awaiting the complete processing of all of the evidence, as well as the medical examiner's report and all of their findings.' Animal rights campaigners brought Saturday night to a standstill for many diners by staging sit-in protests at six restaurants across the UK. Eco-warriors from Animal Rising - which has links to Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion - targeted six high end restaurants in Bristol, Birmingham, Lancaster, Glasgow, Southampton and London. Five smartly-dressed activists were arrested at the Michelin-starred Cali Bruich restaurant in Glasgow, where meals typically start at a price of 140 per person from a menu that includes pigeon, pork, squid and caviar. The group sat down at tables - holding up placards showing conditions inside UK farms alongside a manifesto imagining a world free from animal farming. After the activists refused to leave, police arrived at the restaurant on Glasgow's Great Western Road and arrested them. Animal Rising protestors staged six-in protests, including the Michelin-starred Cali Bruich in Glasgow, occupying tables Animal Rising activists were pictured being detained by police at the Cali Bruich restaurant in Glasgow Animal Rising later took to Twitter to hail the actions of those who took part. The group stated: 'Like you and I, these people taking action care deeply about animals, nature and the future of our planet. 'We must stand (or sit!) together. There is strength in numbers when calling out our destructive food system and this action was six cities strong! Animal Rising is growing faster than we could have hoped.' Elsewhere, the group's protest at The Cow & Sow steakhouse in Bristol followed an almost identical formula. Daniel Juniper, 28, an early years practitioner, praised Animal Rising's activities just a day before, when the group occupied Grange Dairy Farm in Dorset, and found nearly 1,000 calves who had been separated from their mothers, some only weeks old. Mr Juniper said: 'No animal deserves to be torn away from their mother and no animal deserves to be turned into a sensory pleasure for other animals. 'So we are today disrupting The Cow & Sow in Bristol - a steakhouse with an extensive selection of meat. Animal Rising activists staged protests at six restaurants across the UK, holding up placards showing conditions inside UK farms alongside a manifesto of a world free from animal farming 'In a time where the public opinion is changing about how we view animals, this type of restaurant is outdated and destructive. 'So I and eight other supporters of Animal Rising are here to disrupt their Saturday night service. To sound the alarm and call for change. There is an alternative and it is kinder and loving.' Animal Rising describes itself as a social movement to create a new relationship with all beings and give us a chance for a safe ecological future. The group primarily calls for the transition to a safe and secure plant-based food system, alongside a mass rewilding programme. It has also promised a 'summer of Animal Rising' during which the group will be 'disrupting high-profile racing events, occupying farms; openly rescuing animals; and taking action to shine a light on our animal, climate, and ecological emergencies'. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'Around 7.55pm on Saturday, 20 May, 2023, officers were called to a business address on Great Western Road, Glasgow following reports of a peaceful protest within. 'The group were given advice and asked to leave the premises. When they refused, five people were arrested and removed. 'Enquiries are ongoing.' A Florida man got a nasty shock when nipping to the toilet as he came face to face with a furious iguana. John Riddle, 58, was about to use the bathroom at his Hollywood home when he noticed it was already occupied - by the gigantic reptile sitting inside the toilet bowl. The scaled intruder seemed as stunned as Riddle as it began to hiss angrily at him, turning its head towards his camera for a menacing photo. 'I walked in my bathroom and found Godzilla in my toilet,' Riddle said. 'He didnt seem at all pleased and started splashing and hissing at me.' The Godzilla-like iguana hissed at Riddle before he fished it out with a net The iguana John Riddle, 58, found loitering in his toilet bowl before it started hissing angrily at him Quick-thinking John grabbed a net he uses to clean his swimming pool to remove the unwelcome visitor who was visibly irate Before Riddle could finally do what he came into the bathroom to do, he grabbed a net he uses to clean out his pool and removed the unwelcome visitor. 'I guess I wont be leaving the door open for the dogs anymore,' he added. The giant lizards are not native to Florida, and the animals have been blamed in recent years for causing damage to buildings and power outages. The reptiles are native to Central America and some eastern Caribbean islands, and they first arrived in Florida in the 1960s. Since then, their population has been steadily rising. Iguanas are known to get into sewer systems and are strong swimmers, so it's not uncommon they sometimes wind up in someone's toilet. Wildlife experts warn iguanas can transmit salmonella to pets and cause erosion near lakes and canals, and when temperatures fall, the National Weather Service in Miami has been known to issue falling iguana advisories. Iguanas dropped paralyzed from trees in Florida as the Sunshine State experienced its coldest weather in more than a decade in January 2022 An iguana lying motionless on the ground during a cold snap in Florida in January 2022 When it gets cold, below 40 degrees, the critters go into a sort of suspended animation mode and fall to the ground. They usually wake up in the sun's warmth. Last January, paralyzed critters dropped from the trees after the Sunshine State experienced 37 degree temperatures - its coldest weather in 12 years. The unusually cold weather was triggered by nor'easter further up the coast, forcing Floridians to bundle up against the near-freezing temperatures. Rebecca Nguyen said she was keeping her beloved gown at her father's house A Southern California woman is desperately searching for her beloved wedding gown after it was accidentally donated to Goodwill by her father. Rebecca Nguyen was keeping the dress she wore down the aisle in 2017 at her parents' house until she realized her father was clearing the property ready to sell it, after he had split from her mom. In a panic, she called him only to find out that everything - including the stunning floor-length gown that had brought her Marine husband to tears on their special day - had been donated to the Goodwill in Brea, California. Nguyen has spent the days since calling around to locations in Orange County and making posts on Facebook and TikTok begging others in a bid to get her dress back. 'I honestly didn't think I'd be this attached to it,' she told NBC 4 LA. 'But then when I found that dress, I put it on, and I just felt like the most beautiful version of myself.' Rebecca Nguyen of Orange County, California is desperately searching for her beloved wedding gown after it was accidentally donated to Goodwill by her father The SoCal woman has taken to TikTok and Facebook to help spread the word about the dress Nguyen (left) with her parents. The woman had been keeping the dress at their home According to Nguyen, her dress has been at her parents' home since her August 2017 wedding and she had never worried about it going missing. When her parents split, however, she realized that her father was clearing out the house before selling it and began to worry over the dress' status. 'And he's like, "There's nothing left," and I was like, "Oh, my gosh,"' Nguyen said. The dress was ultimately handed off to Goodwill sometime in late April or early May. 'Unfortunately, things were being donated to Goodwill, and my wedding dress was accidentally donated with some of the other stuff,' she told NBC4. She immediately jumped into action, calling the original Goodwill where the dress was dropped off. That did not prove to be fruitful. 'We called Goodwill right away, and then they said, "Well, unfortunately, we don't sell wedding dresses at this location,"' she said. It's possible that the dress was sent to a warehouse and then redistributed to another Goodwill location in the area for sale. Since that initial call, she has communicated with several other stores in hopes that they may be able to find it. 'They're helping out,' she said. 'All the Goodwill stores have a photo of the dress and an email with my information in it. So we're doing as much as we can.' This is the Goodwill in Brea, California where the dress was accidentally donated The stunning dress has lace accents from top to bottom Nguyen and husband Jesse Sanchez were married in August of 2017 On top of her calls to Goodwills in the Southern California region, she says she has been proactive on social media, sharing her story in Facebook groups and on TikTok. 'I posted, I don't know, I wanna say like 30 to 40 Facebook pages. Like every local page I can find, you know, wedding pages, things like that,' she said. In one TikTok video she posted, she shares photos of the dress along with a plea to anyone who may have seen it or purchased it to let her know immediately. The TikTok video has received nearly 30,000 views and hundreds of comments. 'People are being really amazing and sharing,' she said. One commenter remarked that it would take someone with a big heart who has already purchased it to end up giving it back. Nguyen said she knows it's possible someone already bought it and would just want to work with that buyer to get it back eventually. 'There's a high likelihood that somebody has the dress already, and I understand that they're probably in love with it because, I was in love with it, and finding it at a Goodwill is such a score,' she said. 'I'm ok with whoever has this wedding dress, like wearing it to their wedding. But, you know, if I could pay them to have it back, that would be, that's just really all I'm asking for,' the SoCal woman continued. 'It could be sitting at the warehouse, still waiting to get sorted through,' said Chris Sewitsky, the retail director at the Brea Goodwill One Goodwill representative who spoke with CBS Los Angeles said that there's still the chance the dress hasn't been sorted at all. 'It could be sitting at the warehouse, still waiting to get sorted through,' said Chris Sewitsky, the retail director at the Brea Goodwill. 'It just depends where and what time of day it came in. That store is a very busy store. Some stuff does stay at that store, some stuff comes back to main distribution,' Sewitsky continued. 'So, we're hoping we can find it because it is such a unique item,' he said. As she continues to search, she told NBC4 she has hopes that this will end happily and that it's just a funny story to tell her grandkids one day. 'Oh, I was on TV, and it was this big manhunt and we found the dress,' she joked. Anyone with more information on the missing dress can reach out to Goodwill in Brea by calling (714) 255-1099. Cruz also called for investigation into whether underage drinkers were targeted The company should have 'stood by its decisions' and not backed down, it said The country's largest advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights has suspended its equality and inclusion rating for Bud Light over its poor handling of the backlash that followed from a partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Last week the Human Rights Campaign told the Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch that it had suspended its Corporate Equality Index score - a tool that rates companies' friendliness to LGBTQ employees. The suspension of Anheuser-Busch's CEI score means the company 'no longer has the right to use the 'Best Places to Work' distinction,' HRC's letter says. Before the suspension, Anheuser-Busch had a CEI score of 100, the group's top rating. The rating is also linked to the financial health of a company - 15 of the top 20 Fortune-ranked companies received 100 percent ratings from HRC last year, according to its own data. HRC's move comes as Senator Ted Cruz called for a federal investigation into whether Anheuser-Busch breached regulatory guidelines 'prohibiting marketing to individuals younger than the legal drinking age'. Last week the Human Rights Campaign told the Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch that it had suspended its Corporate Equality Index score. Pictured is Dylan Mulvaney with a can of the beer Bud Light sales fell for the fifth successive week following the controversial collaboration and they were down by nearly 24 percent in the week ending May 6 In a letter dated May 9, the Human Rights Campaign notified the beer company of its decision to rescind its rating. 'Anheuser-Busch had a key moment to really stand up and demonstrate the importance of their values of diversity, equity and inclusion and their response really fell short,' wrote Eric Bloem, HRC's senior director, in the letter, which was first seen by USA Today. Criticism for the management of the controversy was reiterated by Bloem. 'What we're seeing play out here is an example of companies making a decision to have and construct inclusive marketing, which is great - but a business should be standing by those decisions,' he told The Associated Press. A badge produced by the Human Rights Campaign for companies to use to exhibit a 100 percent score in the Corporate Equality Index 'The Anheuser-Busch (case) is a textbook example of what not to do.' Since the controversial partnership, Bud Light has ironically alienated much of the demographic it initially hoped to appeal to by collaborating with Mulvaney. Bloomberg said the brand's failure to stand by the partnership set a 'new low in corporate courage'. 'Kicking a political hornet's nest for clicks and giggles before running away is no way to elevate a brand or promote a cause,' wrote Ben Schott, the publication's advertising and brands columnist. Others said its failure to continue championing the trans cause made the original gesture appear insincere. In the wake of the controversy, both Budweiser and Bud Light released a number of patriotic commercials in an apparent ploy to win back the conservative market. In an April 26 letter, seen by the AP, HRC called on Anheuser-Busch to issue a public statement expressing support for Mulvaney as well as transgender customers, shareholders and employees. The group also asked the company to hold a 'meaningful conversation' with LGBTQ employees about their concerns and recommended actions for leadership. HRC said it received no response from Anheuser-Busch resulting in the May 9 letter informing the company of its CEI score suspension. The company is seemingly facing outrage and potential boycott, ironically from all sides of the political spectrum Eric Bloem (pictured), Human Rights Campaign's senior director, wrote a letter to Anheuser-Busch saying its 100 percent 'CEI' score would be rescinded Ted Cruz on May 17 sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch CEO demanding an invitation into whether the company was marketing beer to those below the legal drinking age through partnering with Dylan Mulvaney Cruz and Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee on May 17 sent Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth a letter calling for a probe. In it, they claimed the company should have considered that some proportion of Mulvaney's audience was under the legal drinking age and that the partnership was therefore inappropriate. Notably, it suggested that the name of Mulvaney's series, 'Days of Girlhood', should have been a sign that her content was targeted more at girls than women. 'An objective survey of Dylan Mulvaney's content clearly presents a faux, pre-pubescent girl persona that is created and presented to specifically appeal to young viewers,' he wrote. It also directly cited a comment made before the partnership in which Bud Light's VP of Marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, said: 'This brand is in decline, it's been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light.' The letter suggested that the comment served as proof that Bud Light was targeting an excessively young market. Jeffrey Epstein used his knowledge of Gates' affair with a bridge player in an apparent attempt to blackmail him after he wouldn't invest in a fund Jeffrey Epstein used his knowledge of Bill Gates' 2010 affair with a Russian bridge player to threaten the Microsoft billionaire, a bombshell new report claims. The pedophile, who killed himself in 2019, wanted Gates to invest in a multibillion-dollar charitable fund back in 2013 but he would not oblige. Epstein later sent him an email implying he was aware of his affair with bridge player Mila Antonova and that he could reveal his infidelity, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Gates, who has said that bridge is one of his favorite hobbies, allegedly met Antonova at a tournament in 2010 and had an affair with her at around the same time. He was 55 and she was in her 20s. Epstein met her later in around 2013 when she was looking to raise money to start an online bridge platform. Though he did not bankroll the project he did later pay for her to attend a software coding school. The 'threat' was not made until 2017 when Epstein wrote to Gates asking for reimbursement for Antonova's coding school in a tone that implied he knew about the affair and could expose it. Bill Gates and Mila Antonova pictured in 2010 after they met at a bridge tournament Pictured: Jes Staley, Larry Summers, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Gates and Boris Nikolic. Nikolic in the right of the frame was an advisor to Gates and the person who introduced Mila Antonova to Epstein in 2013 when she was trying to raise funds for an online bridge platform Gates has said those fees were not paid. 'Mr. Gates never had any financial dealings with Epstein. As Bill has said before, it was a mistake to have ever met him,' his spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Sunday. A spokesperson for Gates separately told the Journal that he did not pay for the cost of Antonova's coding school, which according to the Journal was 'immaterial for the two men'. 'Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes. Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates,' said a spokeswoman for Gates to the Wall Street Journal, who first revealed the connection. A picture of Gates and Antonova together was shown in a YouTube video from 2010 in which she gives a presentation about the card game and talks about meeting the billionaire at the tournament. 'I didn't beat him but I tried to kick him with my leg,' she said in the video. According to the Journal the affair happened at around the same time in 2010 when Gates was married to his ex-wife Melinda Gates. Then in 2013 Antonova was introduced to Epstein through an advisor to Gates, Boris Nikolic, in order to help her raise money to fund the online bridge business, called BridgePlanet, according to documents seen by the Journal. She was hoping to raise $500,000 for the venture, the mission of which was to 'promote bridge by creating quality tutorials for beginners and advanced players'. In a YouTube video from 2010, bridge player Antonova discussed meeting Bill Gates in 2010 and displayed a picture of the pair together Mila Antonova (right) is pictured attending a different bridge tournament in 2013, the same year she met with Epstein to discuss the funding of her venture BridgePlanet After failing to secure funds for BridgePlanet, she shifted her focus to becoming a software developer and Epstein agreed to pay for her education. 'Epstein agreed to pay and he paid directly to the school. Nothing was exchanged. I don't know why he did that,' she told the Journal. 'When I asked, he said something like, he was wealthy and wanted to help people when he could.' Antonova also told the Journal that the next year in 2014 during a trip to New York City she stayed in an apartment provided to her by Epstein but did not meet him. The Journal's report also suggests that Gates was meeting independently with Epstein starting in 2011. The pair had 'more than a half dozen meetings scheduled', some of which were dinners at Epstein's townhouse, according to documents. When they met, Epstein had already spent a year in prison for soliciting child prostitution, but he was welcomed back into the upper echelons of New York society. Starting in 2011 Gates met with Epstein multiple times. Gates attended dinners at Epstein's house in New York City (pictured), the Wall Street Journal reported Bill and Melinda Gates reunited last week to celebrate their daughter Jennifer's graduation from Columbia University. Gates was married to his ex-wife at the time of his alleged affair in 2010 DailyMail.com previously reported that after their first meeting, Gates sent an email to colleagues saying of Epstein: 'His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me.' Gates is also accused of making a trip from New Jersey to Florida on Epstein's private jet in 2013. At the time Epstein was trying to set up a multibillion-dollar charitable fund with JPMorgan and wanted Gates on board. The plans to set up that fund also implicated a number of the world's wealthiest people. A civil suit brought by the US Virgin Islands last year has implicated Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, former Disney executive Michael Ovitz and Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker, among others. Epstein was trying to solicit Gates for investment into the JP Morgan fund, and in a number of emails seen by the Journal, Epstein claimed to be a Gates advisor, though Gates was not included in those emails. JPMorgan nor Antonova immediately responded to a request for comment from DailyMail.com. The Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has said she is 'pretty fed up' with water companies and that it was right for the sector to have apologised for not tackling sewage spills quickly enough. Water firms in England last week announced a 10 billion plan to reduce the number of sewage discharges into rivers and seas, with over 300,000 instances last year alone, while also apologising for the pollution. But Ms Coffey appeared to accept that bill-payers will have to pick up 'a lot' of the cost of improving infrastructure designed to prevent sewage entering seas and waterways. She added that fines that private companies are ordered could see bill-payers reimbursed, and that penalties would be paid by the private companies. Campaigners and opposition parties expressed their anger that consumers may be charged more to foot the bill for investments, with Labour calling for the government to 'make the polluter pay'. Therese Coffey has said she is 'pretty fed up' with water companies and that it was right for the sector to have apologised for not tackling sewage spills quickly enough There were 301,091 sewage discharges in 2022 in England which amounted to 1.75 million hours of discharge. Picture shows a jetty beneath which raw sewage had reportedly been discharged after heavy rain on August 17 last year in Seaford, England It comes after Anglian Water said last week that customer bills were likely to rise by 91 per year to pay for the 10 billion of industry investment, with 12 of that relating to storm overflow upgrades. Storm overflow outlets, of which there are 15,000 in England, currently release excess sewage and rainwater when under strain, to prevent sewers becoming overloaded and backing up into homes. Ms Coffey, asked on Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme whether it was correct to say consumers would foot the bill for the improvement works, said: 'It's going to be a combination. 'Of course penalties and fines are paid for by the company, not by the bill-payer. 'But in terms of general payments, I think you're right to say that a lot of this investment gets repaid through bills.' The Environment Secretary said the 10 billion announced by the private sector would feed into an overall UK Government 56 million storm overflow plan. She has called on water firms to have an action plan for 'every single storm overflow' on her desk by the end of next month. Campaigners, including Surfer's Against Sewage, have called on water companies and the government to do more to stop the pollution There were 301,091 sewage discharges in 2022 in England which amounted to 1.75 million hours of discharge, according to Environment Agency figures, though they do not include the volume of sewage. The Government's storm overflows discharge reduction plan, published in August 2022, aims to eliminate sewage dumping by 2050 while cutting discharges close to 'high priority' areas by 75 per cent by 2035 and 100 per cent by 2045. READ MORE: Water bosses issue grovelling apology after millions of tons of sewage is dumped in Britains rivers and coasts Advertisement Ms Coffey used an interview on the BBC to criticise the record of other countries within the UK on dealing with sewage leaks. She told the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: 'Frankly, we would not even know about this if it wasn't for a Conservative Government insisting on the monitoring and the publication of that data. 'We're not seeing that in Scotland. And frankly on average, the frequency of sewage flows is happening far more in Wales than it is in England.' Monitoring stations for Welsh Water, a non-profit organisation, show the company discharged sewage for 602,987 hours in 2022, while publicly owned Scottish Water recorded 14,008 spills in 2022 amounting to 113,230 hours. Northern Ireland is not required to produce the same data Put to her that the European Environment Agency ranked UK bathing waters the worst on the continent, Ms Coffey said that was 'not true'. 'We now have 92.9% of our bathing waters designated good or excellent - that was last summer,' she said. Ms Coffey used an interview on the BBC to criticise the record of other countries within the UK on dealing with sewage leaks 'That's up from 70% in 2010. There has absolutely been investment and work to make sure that our bathing waters are getting cleaner and cleaner.' Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Jim McMahon, has criticised Ms Coffey and the government's record today in a series of scathing tweets. 'The Tories have the power to force an end to the #SewageScandal and to make the polluter pay,' he wrote following Ms Coffey's interview. Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Jim McMahon, has criticised Ms Coffey and the government's record today (file image) Referring to the Water Quality bill introduced by Labour earlier this month, he added: 'They voted down a Labour plan to do just that, and for all the talk it's business as usual - bumper dividends, bills up and decades of dumping. It stinks.' The Liberal Democrats have called for Ms Coffey to issue her own apology for the number of sewage discharges being permitted on the Tory Government's watch. The party's environment spokesman Tim Farron said: 'The sewage scandal is a damning verdict on the Government's failure to protect our treasured rivers and lakes. 'While the water companies have apologised, Therese Coffey has still failed to. 'She oversees a Government that continues to let water companies dump outrageous amounts of sewage into our rivers.' The Peace Monument with a figure of Grief weeping on the shoulder of History is seen in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 19. AFP-Yonhap Debt limit talks between the White House and House Republicans stopped, started and stopped again heading into a weekend where President Joe Biden and world leaders watched from afar, hoping high-stakes negotiations would make progress on avoiding a potentially catastrophic federal default. In a sign of a renewed bargaining session, food was brought to the negotiating room at the Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later. No meeting was likely Saturday, according to a person familiar with the state of the talks who was not authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Biden's administration is reaching for a deal with Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. The sides are up against a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise its borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, so the government can keep paying the nation's bills. Republicans are demanding steep spending cuts the Democrats oppose. Negotiations had come to an abrupt standstill Friday morning when McCarthy said it was time to "pause" talks. Then the teams convened again in the evening, only to quickly call it quits for the night. Biden, attending a meeting of global leaders in Japan, tried to reassure them on Saturday that the United States would not default, a scenario that would rattle the world economy. He said he felt there was headway in the talks. "The first meetings weren't all that progressive, the second ones were, the third one was," he said. The president said he believes "we'll be able to avoid a default and we'll get something decent done." Negotiators for McCarthy said after the Friday evening session that they were uncertain on next steps. "We reengaged, had a very, very candid discussion, talking about where we are, talking about where things need to be, what's reasonably acceptable," said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. was asked if he was confident an agreement over budget issues could be reached with the White House. He replied, "No." As the White House team left the nighttime session, Biden counselor Steve Ricchetti, who is leading talks for the Democrats, said he was hopeful. "We're going to keep working," he said. A poster on a bus shelter showing the national debt is seen in Washington, D.C., on May 19. AFP-Yonhap An autistic woman from New Mexico suffered 'torture' before she died at the hands of her caregivers, who were paid by the state to care for her in their own home, according to officials. Mary Melero, 38, had lacerations and bruises across her body and bed sores so severe they exposed her bone when she was discovered in the back of a van at the port of entry in El Paso on February 27, as her caregivers tried to take her to Mexico for treatment. Authorities also described marks on her body that were consistent with being restrained for a prolonged period of time, and she was alleged to have spent three days in a bathtub with her own feces and urine before she was taken to the border. Weeks after being found in the van, Melero died at University Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, on April 7. Three women were arrested and charged Wednesday with abuse and neglect following an investigation that began with the stop at the U.S.-Mexico border. 'The abuse and neglect that she endured was horrific and the injuries she sustained are among the worst I have seen in my career as a prosecutor,' Attorney General Raul Torrez said. The van where federal agents at the port of entry in El Paso found Mary Melero drugged and severely injured on February 27 before she died weeks later on April 7 in a Texas hospital Angelita Rene Chacon (center) , Patricia Hurtado (right), and Luz Scott (left) were arrested after Melero was found unresponsive in a van at the El Paso port of entry into Mexico 'This was torture. There's really no other word for it.' Caregiver, Angelita Rene Chacon, 52, along with her girlfriend, Patricia Hurtado, 42, both of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, are facing counts of abuse or neglect of a resident resulting in death, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. Luz Scott, 53, of Clovis, an acquaintance of the women, was also charged with false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, Torrez revealed at a press conference on Thursday. According to the attorney general's office, Chacon and Hurtado were receiving about $5,000 a month under the waiver program to care for Melero. They contracted with At Home Advocacy, based in Albuquerque, and three other contractors to provide supplemental care for the woman through a special program meant to offer an alternative to institutional care. Prosecutors say a preliminary review of available business records indicate that At Home Advocacy received nearly $250,000 to care for Melero in the three years before her death. Records show the company last visited the home on January 25, just over a month before the victim was found at the port of entry in El Paso. According to court records, a supervisor with At Home Advocacy told FBI agents the company conducted monthly wellness visits at Chacons home but that 'body checks' were not conducted during those visits and that no injuries were seen. Authorities at the border said Melero was severely dehydrated and drugged with numerous open wounds, bedsores with exposed bone and bruises and lacerations on various parts of her body when she was found in the van in February. Melero was crying but unresponsive, lying on the floorboard wrapped in a blanket with dirty bandages covering her open wounds, according to an arrest affidavit for Chacon seen by USA TODAY. Chacon told investigators Melero had spent three days in a bathtub with her own feces and urine, which investigators suspect may have contributed to the infections that led to her death, according to the affidavit. She also told investigators Melero had recently thrown a portable stereo at Chacon and she 'threw' it back at the victim, hitting her in the face and causing her lip to get 'busted.' The affidavit states that rather than taking Melero to a doctor, Chacon asked a friend, who was not a medical professional, to stitch up the victim's lip. Melero was also in septic shock due to infection and Torrez said she suffered cardiac arrest at the hospital, being intubated until her death. 'Based on the numerous injuries covering (the victim)'s body, medical staff deduced she was the victim of a pattern of abuse and neglect,' the affidavit said. New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez speaks during a press conference in regards to the State of New Mexico vs. Angelita Chacon at the The Clyde Hotel in Albuquerque, N.M., Thursday, May 18, 2023. Standing behind Attorney General Torrez is Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office Melero's case has since spurred a statewide review of New Mexico's entire developmentally disabled waiver system. Social workers spent weeks conducting individual wellness checks on thousands of developmentally disabled people who receive care through the federally-funded waiver program. More allegations of possible abuse and neglect were turned up, and the state Health Department canceled contracts with four providers in the Albuquerque area, including At Home Advocacy. Democratic Gov. Micelle Lujan Grisham and top health officials had warned that any caregivers who mistreat and abuse developmentally disabled or otherwise vulnerable people would be held accountable. Republican legislative leaders also requested that the federal government investigate, saying an independent inquiry would ensure transparency and might prevent such cases in the future. Both Torrez and Raul Bujanda, FBI Albuquerque agent in charge, called the case 'a wake-up call' about the treatment of developmentally disabled people in New Mexico. Melero 'could easily have been our loved one,' Bujanda said. 'You expect, you demand that your loved one is taken care of in such a way that... the only thing youll ever worry about is making to time to go and see them.' Torrez urged the governor and lawmakers to overhaul protocols at the state Department of Health. His suggestions included increased staff and training, mandatory inspections every 90 days and new civil and criminal penalties for companies and providers. He tallied 12 'auditors' for more than 6,000 sites statewide and faulted administrators and the Legislature for relying on care providers to self-report problems. 'That's one of the fundamental problems that has arisen in this case,' Torrez said, suggesting that lucrative contracts with the state provide no incentive for providers to police themselves. State Health Secretary Patrick Allen said Thursday that an independent investigation is ongoing to identify any systemic flaws that would allow for abuse or neglect to go unchecked. He also said the agency will continue to refer any other cases of suspected abuse and neglect to law enforcement. 'Persons with disabilities often rely on others for their day-to-day living. They literally entrust their caregivers with their lives,' Allen said, adding that when their care is covered by a state program 'everyone is accountable, and we must ensure their health and safety needs are met.' Messages seeking comment from Daniel Lindsey, an attorney listed for Scott, were not immediately returned. Court records didn't indicate whether Chacon and Hurtado had lawyers yet. The women were scheduled to make their first court appearances Friday. A gang of dozens of youths terrorised motorists and attacked a bus and police car as they drove through Wembley, north-west London, yesterday. Police have arrested two suspects and were forced to issue a dispersal order as a large group of teenagers were seen gathering on Engineer's Way, just outside Wembley Stadium. Shocking videos have flooded social media showing teenagers causing chaos as they ran onto the road at around 7.10pm, blocking traffic and kicking cars as they tried to drive away. One of the clips shows hooded youngsters gathering around a double decker bus before kicking and climbing on to the back of it, clinging on as it moved away. In other footage, boys were even seen hurling objects at a police van as it drove away, before one clambered onto the back of it while it was moving as another ran alongside. One of the clips shows hooded youngsters gathering around a double decker bus before kicking and climbing on to the back of it Crowds were seen gathering round as a group of young people ran into the road and jumped on multiple cars Youngsters chased the double decker bus as it drove off with several clinging on to the back Teenagers, some of whom were hooded and masked, were seen filming the chaotic scenes Crowds were seen gathering around as a group of young people kicked an Ocado van and took turns to jump on multiple cars which were driving down the busy road. Teenagers, some of whom were hooded and masked, were seen filming the chaotic scenes. Munni Trivedi, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, said: 'We were watching from the other side. Could not believe it. 'The pictures don't truly reflect the reality of how awful it was. The boys were so lucky they didn't get hurt and I really hope there was no damage to any cars. Not big. Not clever. Very sad.' Two males were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and assault on police, the Metropolitan Police said. The gang of young people was seen kicking and climbing on an Ocado van as it made its way down the road Dozens of young people were seen on the road on Engineer's Way in Wembley last night There were no reports of any serious injuries following the incident, which was said to last over an hour. Police said they were called at approximately 7.10pm on Saturday to reports of a number of youths engaging in disorder and damaging vehicles. A section 35 dispersal order was put in place and officers dispersed the group. The Met said they are still making enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the disorder. The call came a day after feds rebuffed a subpoena requesting the still-unseen report. The request was sent by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer Appearing for an interview Sunday, the rep offered some insight as to what transpired between him and Christopher Wray during the promised Friday call Kevin McCarthy has declared the FBI is poised to hand over a potentially damning document involving Biden - after a call with the bureau's director Speaker Kevin McCarthy has declared the FBI is poised to hand over a potentially damning document involving President Joe Biden - after an impassioned phone call with the bureau's director. Appearing for a televised interview Sunday, the California rep offered some insight as to what transpired between him and director Christopher Wray on the Friday call, which came a day after feds rebuffed a subpoena requesting the still unseen report. The official request was sent by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, and pertained to a prospective financial form that several GOP lawmakers claim lays out an 'alleged criminal scheme' involving Biden and an unnamed foreign national. However, almost immediately afterward, the bureau's acting assistant director of congressional affair penned a letter to Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, informing him the agency would not immediately provide the form in question. McCarthy, 58, promptly issued his own statement decrying the response, in which he decried the official reply from Assistant Director Christopher Dunham as 'unacceptable'. Scroll down for video: Speaker Kevin McCarthy has declared the FBI is poised to hand over a potentially damning document involving President Joe Biden - following what he said was an impassioned phone call with the bureau's director on Friday Speaking to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo (left), the 58-year-old speaker confirmed the call had taken place, and said he was hopeful the document - whose contents have allegedly been substantiated by a 'highly credible' whistleblower - would soon be in House hands Speaking to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo two days later, the speaker confirmed that call had taken place, and said he was hopeful the document - whose contents have reportedly been substantiated by a 'highly credible' whistleblower - would soon be in House hands. 'I wanted to be clear with the FBI director,' McCarthy began, speaking for the first time about the promised call between him and Wray. 'Congress has a right, and we have the jurisdiction, to oversee the FBI. 'This is one piece of paper that a chairman of committee has requested to see,' the conservative continued, toward the end of a roughly seven-minutes spot that saw him also address his latest negotiations with Biden over the debt ceiling. He said of the subpoenaed document: '[Dunham] hasnt even acknowledged if he has this document - he hasnt even provided it'. Citing Congress' status as a body that oversees the FBI and other federal agencies, McCarthy recalled to Bartiromo of how he tore into the agency boss on Friday by confronting him with the fact that Dunham's refusal constituted not only a breach of ethics, but the law as well. 'I explained to the director that we will do everything in our power, and [that] we have jurisdiction over the FBI - that we have the right to see this document,' the Republican recounted. 'I believe, after this call, we will get this document.' Apart from that assertion, the GOP operative refrained from commenting on the contents of the form - which, according to Comer and Iowa's Chuck Grassley, is a FD-1023 form that details 'an alleged scheme involving then-Vice President Biden.' Such form are typically used to document unverified information obtained from confidential sources - and in this case, the GOP reps claim, pertains to Biden's alleged dealings with 'a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.' Neither man has revealed any other details about the document in question, nor has McCarthy. McCarhty spoke with FBI director Christopher Wray (pictured) during the Friday call, which came a day after feds serving under the bureau boss rebuffed a subpoena requesting the report - which lawmakers say lays out an 'alleged criminal scheme' involving Biden and a foreign national The request was sent by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (pictured), and pertained to a prospective financial form filled out when Biden was vice president. Republicans have conceded they do not know if the claims are accurate, putting further pressure on the FBI Last week, Senator Grassley - who also issued the subpoena along with Comer - Grassley conceded that he and other Republicans do not know whether the claims are accurate, putting further pressure on the FBI. However, the official demand failed to sway Dunham, who immediately after sent a letter to Cormer explaining why the agency would not immediately provide the document. 'An FD-1023 form documents information as told to a line FBI agent. Recording the information does not validate the information, establish its credibility, or weigh it against other information known or developed by the FBI,' Dunham wrote to the Kentucky conservative 'The mere existence of such a document would establish little beyond the fact that a confidential human source provided information and the FBI recorded it,' he added, arguing the unnamed insiders' claims should not immediately warrant a federal investigation. 'The FBI regularly receives information from sources with significant potential biases, motivations, and knowledge, including drug traffickers, members of organized crime, or even terrorists,' he further pointed out. Comer, meanwhile, remained unconvinced - arguing in a statement sent in retaliation that the agencys letter alone proves the document exists, and that it is being shielded from Congress by bureau officials. '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 explained. Assistant Director of the FBIs Office of Congressional Affairs Christopher Dunham rejected the subpoena due to a lack of evidence - a maneuver the GOP has since slammed as 'unacceptable', and spurred McCarthy on Friday to vow to speak with the fed's superior '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 FBIs position is "trust, but you arent allowed to verify." That is unacceptable.' The declaration came two days removed from an earlier assertion from Comer , in which he said his panel 'will report to you only facts when they are verified and indisputable' - referring to any foreign money transferred to businesses linked to the Biden family and their associates, He added: 'This committee will not pursue witch hunts, or string the American people along for years with false promises of evidence that is beyond circumstantial evidence.' Grassley, meanwhile, sniped in a statement Friday of the FBI's refusal to hand over the document: 'Todays letter from the FBI raises additional questions, including whether the FBI has an open investigation based on these allegations.' As of Sunday, the bureau has yet to confirm whether any of the aforementioned claims involving the prospective financial form are true. It is not yet clear if the agency has begun to vet those assertions. Republicans have yet to lay eyes on the document. Rishi Sunak will today come under pressure to launch a sleaze probe into Suella Braverman's alleged attempts to hide a speeding fine. The Prime Minister will discuss with his ethics watchdog claims that the Home Secretary asked civil servants to arrange a private speed awareness course for her so that she would not be seen by other motorists. He will deal with the crisis after flying back to the UK from Japan, where he had initially refused to say whether she would face an investigation. Aides said he had been too busy at the G7 summit to speak to Mrs Braverman directly yesterday but would do so this morning. He will also hold crucial discussions with Sir Laurie Magnus, his independent adviser on ministers' interests. They will discuss whether Mrs Braverman breached the ministerial code by asking officials to arrange a one-to-one speed awareness session after being caught speeding outside London last summer when she was attorney general. Suella Braverman , 43, was caught speeding last summer and is said to have asked civil servants to help her arrange a one-on-one driving awareness course Rishi Sunak will consult his adviser after he returns from the G7 summit in Japan (pictured on May 21) Her allies say the story is a political smear and she merely asked for advice then dealt with the matter herself, accepting a fine and three points for going over a 50mph limit. The controversy revealed by The Mail on Sunday is set to dominate Westminster today with Labour expected to demand ministers answer an urgent question. Mrs Braverman was already scheduled to appear in the Commons to answer Home Office questions. Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said: 'The Prime Minister must show some backbone and order his ethics adviser to investigate the Home Secretary to get to the bottom of this episode. Did Ms Braverman seek to claim before? It is not the first time Suella Braverman has shown an interest in the handling of a speeding ticket. The Home Secretary has also been accused of trying to find out whether she could bill taxpayers for a motoring fine by claiming it back on her parliamentary expenses. And she is said to have been so interested in the possibility that she raised it on her first day as an MP. Her alleged behaviour was revealed by a fellow Conservative member of the 2015 intake, William Wragg, last month. He wrote in a series of late-night messages on Twitter: This evening, having kept quiet for a while, I was struck by the lamentable hopelessness of the Home Secretary, remembering particularly her first week or so as a Member of Parliament. He said during a presentation from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which handles MPs pay and allowances, she asked the question. And officials told her it was not possible to claim for the fine. Mrs Braverman, who has not responded to the allegation, has never been far from controversy. And last October she was forced to quit after breaching the ministerial code by sharing an official document with a fellow MP using her personal email account. She used her resignation letter to express concerns about the direction of this Government, then led by Liz Truss. Just a week later she was reappointed by Rishi Sunak. Since then she has risked angering No 10 with her outspoken views on immigration. Advertisement 'The public have a right to know whether the minister responsible for law and order sought to abuse her position in an attempt to gain preferential treatment.' Whitehall sources said they expected the PM to stand by Mrs Braverman unless her story started to unravel. But they warned he had not had time to fully examine the matter. Tory MP Miriam Cates said: 'Suella has done nothing wrong. Around 1.5million people take speed awareness courses every year so it's hardly a news story. 'In smearing the Home Secretary like this, someone is clearly seeking to play the man not the ball. It's underhand and undermines democracy.' Home Secretary Suella Braverman, 43, was caught speeding last summer and is said to have asked civil servants to help her arrange a one-on-one driving awareness course. The one-to-one session would have allowed her to avoid the three penalty points on her license and avoid being spotted by other motorists on a group course after breaching the limit in a 50mph zone last summer. It is understood that after the officials refused to co-operate on the grounds that Civil Service rules prevented them from dealing with personal matters a political aide then contacted the course provider instead, but was unsuccessful in arranging a course. The Home Secretary later accepted the points and a fine. Sources said she had been concerned about her insurance premiums and favoured doing a speed awareness course for that reason. On Sunday, the Prime Minister declined to say whether he would be ordering an inquiry when questioned at the Japanese summit or confirm that he backed the Home Secretary, although a Downing Street spokeswoman said later that 'of course' he did. Opposition parties have demanded an immediate inquiry and Ms Braverman also faced warnings from Conservative colleagues on Sunday that she had a 'case to answer'. Sir Jake Berry, a former minister, highlighted the fact that several high-profile public figures had recently accepted points and fines for speeding, including The Archbishop of Canterbury, Manchester City Region mayor Andy Burnham, and ministers Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat. He told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: 'You shouldn't do it in the first place but if you do get caught, you just take the medicine.' Sir Jake said he did not know whether Mrs Braverman had breached the ministerial code as he did not have enough information on the case. Therese Coffey, the Environment Sectary, told the Sky News Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme that: 'I'm not in the business of phoning people at 7.20 in the morning to try and get chapter and verse from a colleague. 'What is clear is that Suella now has those three points on her licence and she's getting on with the job of tackling illegal migration.' Road traffic lawyer Nick Freeman, known as Mr Loophole for winning cases for celebrities on legal technicalities, said on Sunday evening: 'My own view is that if you commit an offence of speeding or any offence, it's a private matter and you should deal with it on a private basis and you shouldn't be using tax-funded employees to help you out with that private problem. 'So that's the potential for political fallout for her, but not in asking or requesting a course on a one-to-one basis - there's nothing improper about that at all. 'If you don't ask, you don't get.' The lawyer told Sky News that she was eligible for a one-to-one, so that she was not a distraction for other attendees. Mr Freeman said she had 'shot herself in the foot' by not coming clean about the speeding immediately. 'If she got a lawyer to do it nobody would be any of the wiser, she'd have done the course, the course provider wouldn't leak her information and the lawyer wouldn't either. 'She's the author of her own misfortune; one for speeding, two for speaking to civil servants about arranging the course, three for not getting a lawyer to deal with it for her and four for not coming out straight away and holding her hands up.' At a press conference on Sunday, Rishi Sunak had refused to back the Home Secretary amid calls from opposition parties for an official inquiry. Ms Braverman is set to face questions in the Commons on Monday. It is understood that the Prime Minister was not aware of the fine or that the Home Secretary had asked for the help of civil servants until the story was broken in The Sunday Times. Mr Sunak declined to answer multiple questions about Ms Braverman, who was caught exceeding the limit last summer when she was Attorney General, at a G7 press conference in Japan. Suella Braverman received a speeding fine and then asked civil servants to help arrange a private driving awareness course to avoid points on her licence Asked whether he had full confidence in Ms Braverman at a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Mr Sunak said he did not know the 'full details' and has not spoken to her yet. Sir Jake, a former minister, highlighted the fact that several high-profile public figures had recently accepted points and fines for speeding He expressed his frustration at being asked whether he would ask his ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate the claims. 'Did you have any questions about the summit?' he asked, before being further quizzed on Ms Braverman at a press conference in Hiroshima. Sir Laurie can only begin an investigation into potential breaches of the ministerial code if requested to do so by the Prime Minister. Asked whether he had full confidence in Ms Braverman, Mr Sunak said he did not know the 'full details' and had not spoken to her yet. But he noted she had 'expressed regret' for speeding. A No10 spokeswoman later insisted that he did have full confidence in her. One option being pursued by Ms Braverman was for her to join a virtual group, but with her camera turned off against the usual rules which require attendees to be in view for the full duration of the session. After the request was refused, Ms Braverman opted to take the points and pay the fine for going just over the limit in a 50mph zone. The Mirror reported that a senior aide to Ms Braverman had repeatedly denied that she had been done for speeding. The aide said: 'There's nothing like that,' when asked on April 4 whether the Home Secretary had been fined over the driving offence. Colleagues accused her of trying to avoid the negative publicity that the case would have attracted. A source said: 'It looks like her first instinct was an attempt to cover up the fact that she had a speeding fine.' Other sources said Ms Braverman opted to take the points because she was 'too busy' to do the course in her new role. They said that she was also concerned about her insurance premium going up as a result of taking the points. A source close to the Home Secretary said: 'Ms Braverman accepted three points for a speeding offence which took place last summer. The Cabinet Office were notified of this, as requested by Ms Braverman. She was not and is not disqualified from driving.' Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'As Home Secretary Suella Braverman is responsible for upholding the law, yet this report suggests she tried to abuse her position to get round the normal rules, so it is one rule for her and another for everyone else.' Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said the Prime Minister was 'so weak' he couldn't 'even make sure his own ministers maintain the very basic level of integrity'. Mrs Braverman becomes the third Home Office Minister in recent months to have committed a driving offence. Last month, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick was handed a six-month driving ban and a fine after being caught speeding on the M1 while Security Minister Tom Tugendhat was last year banned for six months after pleading guilty to using his phone while driving. The Home Office is responsible for the police, speeding offences and penalty notices. Ivanka Trump was welcoming in summer-like weather in Miami this weekend, taking a stroll with her son Joseph while he rode his scooter through the city. Trump, 41, appeared to be in high spirits as the duo made their way through a downtown park. The former First Daughter wore an ankle length white belted dress with polka dots and sandals. Her son Joseph, 9, wore a tee shirt, shorts and a helmet while carrying his skateboard. Eventually, they were joined by husband Jared Kushner, 42, alongside son Theodore, 7, and daughter Arabella, 11. The ex-senior advisors to the president have been active in their adopted home in recent weeks, dining alongside Jeff Bezos and attending Miami Heat playoff games. Ivanka Trump (pictured right) was welcoming in summer-like weather in Miami this weekend, taking a stroll with her son Joseph (pictured left) The former First Daughter wore an ankle length white belted dress with polka dots and sandals The family relocated to Florida in January 2021 after Ivanka's father, former President Donald Trump, left the White House. Ivanka and Jared have spent the past two years living at Arte Surfside, a luxury condominium building nestled between Miami Beach and Bal Harbour. They are close to finishing the renovations on their $24 million waterfront mansion on Indian Creek, an exclusive island known as the 'Billionaire Bunker.' The couple bought the fixer-upper a little over a year after they dropped $31.8 million on a two-acre plot of land on the island in 2020. They plan on moving into the spatial 8,500-square-foot abode with their children once it is finally completed. Ivanka and Jared's current rental at Arte Surfside is set to hit the market for $18.8 million sometime this year. She has been living a life of leisure since she officially quit politics in November, but she's not free of Washington, D.C. or her family's legal woes just yet. In March, she asked for a delay in bringing New York Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million fraud lawsuit against The Trump Organization to trial. She left the Trump Organization in 2017 to join her father's White House administration. Ivanka and husband Jared have left politics to raise their young family in Florida Eventually, they were joined by husband Jared Kushner (pictured right), 42, alongside son Theodore, 7, and daughter Arabella, 11 Son Joseph, 9, wore a tee shirt, shorts and a helmet while carrying his skateboard Ivanka and Jared have spent the past two years living at Arte Surfside, a luxury condominium building nestled between Miami Beach and Bal Harbour The family relocated to Florida in January 2021 after Ivanka's father, former President Donald Trump, left the White House Ivanka's lawyers argued the fraud complaint 'does not contain a single allegation that Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed, or certified any of her father's financial statements.' She and Jared were also both issued subpoenas in February by the special counsel investigating Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the January 6 Capitol riots. The former First Daughter was in the White House during the Capitol riot and urged her father to address his supporters. She was also in the Oval Office when the then-president asked Pence to block or delay the congressional vote to certify the election. Ivanka and Jared had both served as political advisors to former president Donald Trump back when he was in the White House. But when he announced back in November that he would once again seek the highest office in America, Ivanka and Jared released a statement saying: 'I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. Ivanka and Jared's current rental at Arte Surfside is set to hit the market for $18.8 million sometime this year Ivanka has been living a life of leisure since she officially quit politics in November, but she's not free of Washington, D.C. or her family's legal woes just yet. In March, she asked for a delay in bringing New York Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million fraud lawsuit against The Trump Organization to trial She left the Trump Organization in 2017 to join her father's White House administration Trump has been active in her adopted home in recent weeks, dining alongside Jeff Bezos and attending Miami Heat playoff games 'I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.' She has distanced her father in recent months, but she did make a statement about her father's historic indictment in late March, a few days before his arrest. 'I love my father and I love my country. Today I am pained for both,' she wrote in a brief post that appeared on her Instagram Stories. 'I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.' Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree after he surrendered to authorities in New York City on April 4, making him the first U.S. president to be charged with a crime. He pleaded not guilty to the charges involving three different payments, including a $130,000 payment Trump's then-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ministers must stop 'sneering' at the millions of mothers who would rather look after their children than hold down jobs, a think-tank urged last night. Official polling shows that almost one in three working women (29 per cent) with children under 16 would give up their jobs if they could afford it, said Civitas. More than half (58 per cent) would prefer to do fewer hours. Less than half (44 per cent) of stay-at-home mothers of under-16s said they would like to get a job if they could find convenient, reliable and affordable childcare. Among mothers of pre-school children, the figures are even more stark with a third wanting to give up their jobs and nearly two-thirds wanting to do fewer hours. (Stock Image) Official polling shows that almost one in three working women (29 per cent) with children under 16 would give up their jobs if they could afford it, said Civitas Based on official figures suggesting there are 7.2million women with children under 16 in the UK, Civitas estimates that 3million would prefer to be at home more. The think-tank's analysis warns that Government policy is wrongly focused on getting more mothers into work while the state pays to look after their children. Last night Frank Young, of Civitas, said: 'Forget the sneers, miserable mums make up most parents in the workplace. 'The Government's data shows most women want to be mothers, a lot more than they want to be in the modern workplace. 'These mothers are the most ignored voters in Westminster, almost no one on either frontbench will speak up for them or even recognise they exist. 'Childcare policy is the wrong way round 'we will pay anyone to look after your child but you' and it's not what women want.' Mr Young urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to listen to MPs calling for family tax rules to recognise the contribution of mothers. Some were alarmed at moves in March's Budget to expand the scheme currently offering 30 hours of free childcare a week to three and four-year-olds to apply when babies are nine months old. A Treasury spokesman said: 'The UK's high childcare costs are widely recognised to be a barrier for many parents, particularly mothers, who want to return to work or take on more hours. 'This intervention means those parents who want to work aren't held back.' He added the changes are set to lead to 75,000 more parents joining the workforce. ABC breakfast radio presenter Patricia Karvelas has been tipped as the frontrunner to be the new host of ABC's Q&A as Stan Grant prepares for what could be his final episode. The veteran journalist with Indigenous heritage will step down from the role for an unknown period after Monday night's program, citing exhaustion and persistent racial abuse. After ten months in the role, Grant announced on Friday he's taking leave after being subjected to 'relentless racial filth'. The sudden departure has left ABC officials scrambling to find an interim host with a week's notice. As Grant considers his future, it's understood RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas could be the initial replacement for a minimum of two episodes from May 29, The Australian's Media Diary reported. Patricia Karvelas has been named as the frontrunner to replace Stan Grant in the interim ABC Radio Melbourne host Virginia Trioli's name has also been thrown around, having previously worked as an interim host in 2021 following Hamish Macdonald's shock switch to Network Ten. However, Trioli isn't considered a long-term replacement due to ongoing 'family issues', which saw her take time off earlier this year. Insiders host David Speers is unlikely to be considered, despite being in the role previously as a rotating host. 'The circumstances which saw Grant's Indigenous heritage become part of the online vitriol directed towards him mean that Speers, as a white male, is unlikely to be considered for the role even on an interim basis,' Nick Tabakoff wrote. It comes after Speers hosed the broadcaster's coverage of King III's coronation earlier this month alongside Grant, who has received 'relentless' racial abuse since, which sparked his decision to step away. Grant is rumoured to say more about his departure on Monday night's program. Fran Kelly and The Drum co-host Dan Bourchier could also be considered, the publication reported. Dozens of media identities have publicly expressed their support for Grant in recent days, including Karvelas and Trioli. Stan Grant (pictured) will take time off after Monday night's Q&A program ABC Radio Melbourne host Virginia Triolim (pictured) is also in the running 'I like many have felt sick about the racial abuse Stan Grant has experienced and the bullying from media that should know better. Stan and I have often talked about how hostile it is to be identified publicly through the lens of your diversity. The hate has to stop,' Karvelas tweeted. Trioli added: 'I'm appalled and saddened that Stan Grant, a brilliant broadcaster and thinker, has been forced from the ever-crucial contest of ideas. If this country can't have a civil debate about recognition, racism and the legacy of colonialism then we are lost. I hope he returns soon. Meanwhile ABC managing director David Anderson has apologised to Grant after the journalist claimed he didn't feel supported by executives. 'I am writing this because no one at the ABC - whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest - has uttered one word of public support,' Grant wrote in his column. ABC Radio National host Patricia Karvelas (pictured) is among a host of media personalities who has public expressed support for Stan Grant 'Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I don't hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure,' he added. Mr Anderson apologised two days later. 'Stan has our full support. And he has always had our full support,' Mr Anderson wrote in an email to ABC staff. 'Stan makes an enormous contribution to conversations of national importance.' A 95-year-old great grandmother with dementia who was tasered by a police officer in a NSW aged care facility is peaceful and comfortable as she receives end-of life care. Clare Nowland remains in Cooma District Hospital surrounded by her distraught family after she was critically injured when tasered last Wednesday morning. Priest Father Mark Croker visited Mrs Nowland on Sunday and held a Catholic mass at her hospital bedside. A mass dedicated to Mrs Nowland was also held at the local St Patrick's church where she was previously an active member of the parish and local community. 'She looks peaceful, she's not conscious but she certainly looks comfortable,' Fr Croker told The Daily Telegraph. Body-worn video footage shows dementia sufferer Clare Nowland (pictured) walking slowly with her eyes fixed on the officer before she was tasered and fell backwards Father Croker also recalled his most recent conversation with Mrs Nowland one week earlier when she was in hospital with minor illness. She was knitting to pass the time and was in very good form, according to the priest. 'The thing with Clare is the dementia hadn't completely taken hold, you could still have a conversation with her she might get a bit confused, but that's an age thing'. It's understood she'd unconscious and that her eight children and their families were taking turns speaking to her. 'They are a big family, so they're coming in and out but they're speaking to Clare, they say the last of your senses to go is your hearing, so we know she can hear us,' Fr Croker said. Staff at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home called police early last Wednesday morning after Ms Nowland, who has dementia, is 43kg and uses a walking frame, took a serrated steak knife from the kitchen into a small treatment room. Police and ambulance officers tried to get her to drop the knife before a senior constable fired his taser once as she slowly approached them, Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter said on Friday. She fell and her head struck the floor. The officer who fired the electric shock weapon joined the force 12 years ago and has been taken off active duty. The critical incident investigation has been elevated to 'level one' because of Mrs Nowland suffering an injury that could lead to her death. Detectives from the State Homicide Squad and Law Enforcement Conduct Commission are investigating what happened and if the forced used was appropriate. Clare Nowland is surrounded by her family as she receives end-of-life care at Cooma Hospital It has emerged that Ms Nowland was missing for an hour before the tragedy happened at Yallambee Lodge (pictured) at Cooma in southern NSW NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb wouldn't comment on the possibility of charges being laid. 'The best detectives in NSW are on this case,' she said. 'I have every confidence it is being handled in the appropriate manner.' Commissioner Webb said it was not common practice for police to attend a nursing home to help staff with their residents. 'In my experience, it's quite rare that we would be called to a nursing home,' she said. 'It's not something we come across regularly.' Commissioner Webb - whose own mother has dementia and lives in a nursing home - also sparked fury when she said she had no intentions of viewing the body-worn camera footage of the incident. 'I don't really intend to, no,' she told reporters. 'I have heard what is in the body worn, and I don't see it necessary that I actually view it.' Andrew Thaler, a spokesperson for Ms Nowland's family, told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday night the Commissioner has an 'obligation' to see the footage. 'I don't accept that she doesn't have to, the buck stops with her,' he said. 'She can't hide, she has to stand up and take responsibility and ensure that the community and family get answers. The whole situation is so egregious.' Speaking on behalf of the family, he said they wanted the Commissioner to view the bodycam footage of the incident with Ms Nowland's family. Clare Nowland (pictured skydiving) is peaceful and comfortable, according to a local priest NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb first sparked outrage on Saturday after she claimed it was 'not necessary' to view body cam footage of the incident Police guidelines say an officer can use a stun gun when violent resistance is occurring or imminent, or when an officer is in danger of being overpowered. But the guidelines also list a range of situations where a Taser should not be used 'unless exceptional circumstances exist'. These include using the weapon on an elderly or disabled subject, or on a subject of particularly small body mass. Police initially described the incident as 'an interaction' between officers and Mrs Nowland, but Ms Webb on Friday stressed the force understood the gravity of the situation. NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Josh Pallas said police should not be using Tasers on vulnerable people experiencing dementia or a mental health crisis. The incident was a tragic example of the need for healthcare workers to receive compulsory dementia care training, Dementia Australia said. 'We have received calls and emails from people living with dementia, their families and carers expressing their anger and sadness for Ms Nowland and her family.' The Snowy Monaro Regional Council, which runs Yallambee Lodge, said staff had followed procedure and support was being provided to them and residents. Next month, the newly crowned King will board a plane to a land that holds a special place in his heart. This journey will not, as some might have expected of our new monarch, be a mission of State. Nor will it be a family visit his wife, Queen Camilla, will remain at home. No, this will be a personal pilgrimage, one that underlines the deep passions that have shaped the life of Charles III. The destination? Transylvania, specifically an idyllic corner of the Zalan valley, 1,500 miles from Windsor in Romania. Here, rolling wildflower meadows and pine forests meet the winding foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The destination? Transylvania, specifically an idyllic corner of the Zalan valley, 1,500 miles from Windsor in Romania Here, rolling wildflower meadows and pine forests meet the winding foothills of the Carpathian Mountains A three-hour drive from the nearest airport, it is a land of dirt roads where farmers still rely on horse and cart. The King's decision to visit seems curious, but perhaps less so when you consider the many idiosyncratic interests and passions of our monarch. For it is here or at least to these parts that he has been drawn time and again since first visiting Romania in 1993. Why? 'He's a man at peace in Transylvania,' says botanist John Akeroyd. 'He has a little place where he sits outside; you sometimes see him sitting there writing and it is just wonderful. He's probably working jolly hard, but he is able to relax there.' John is certainly well-placed to know he's visited Transylvania with Charles almost every year for two decades. He has been called the 'King's favourite botanist', though he baulks at the suggestion. For it is here or at least to these parts that he has been drawn time and again since first visiting Romania in 1993 'The first time I met him, we were on a walk together. He went off the path and I followed him and he just looked out over the countryside and said: 'This is the landscape of my children's books.' It really is Brothers Grimm a mosaic of forest, meadow, pasture and arable fields.' There could also be a genetic pull to the country for Charles. He has a distant kinship with Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. As he once memorably quipped: 'I have a bit of a stake in the country.' He can trace his lineage back through his greatgrandmother, Queen Mary, the consort of George V, to Vlad IV, the half-brother of the notorious ruler. No wonder that for much his life, he seems to have been preoccupied with Romania. In the late 1980s, during the brutal Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, Charles was horrified to learn of the dictator's plans to cut down forests and raze traditional villages. He famously dispatched one of his 'black spider' letters in 1989 to then Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe. And he declared in an extraordinary speech: 'It is difficult, I find, to remain silent as the peasant traditions and ancient buildings of a fellow European society are bulldozed to make way for a uniform, deathly mock-modernity.' The dictator was overthrown and executed in the same year. But the love affair between Charles and Romania was just beginning. He bought his first Transylvanian home in 2002, in the village of Viscri a property he still owns, but is now an exhibition space. More than 20 years later, residents of Viscri are vocal fans of their royal visitor, not least because, when he learned the village sewage system was on the verge of collapse, he quietly paid 2 million for a new ecological wastewater treatment plant. It was through local landowner and great friend (and another relative of Vlad) Count Tibor Kalnoky that Charles came to own the property formerly known as HRH Prince of Wales's guesthouse now The King's Retreat. Listening to Charles describe his dream of a secluded bolthole, the count realised he knew just the property. It was a rundown farmhouse which needed serious renovation work, located in Zalanpatak, population: 120. The King and his entourage slept on truckle beds and used outdoor loos while renovations were ongoing. It was worth it, for today the guesthouse opened in 2010 boasts an air of understated, comfortable authenticity. This house is where Charles will stay next month, in a simple wooden bed. It bears no resemblance to the stately homes in his glittering property portfolio. Neither fortified nor grand, it is even available to rent for 143 per person a night all-inclusive when the King is away. But peace and tranquillity are the driving force. No television, no radio, but plenty of books perfect for the King who enjoys spending an evening reading. When staying here, Charles enjoys simple pursuits: books, painting watercolours. But these visits are not without a deeper purpose, underlined by the creation of The Prince of Wales's Foundation Romania in 2015, focusing on community skills programmes, heritage preservation and finding ways to help farmers meet new markets. 'His people arrange for him to go and see projects like a church rebuilding or someone making tiles and also some of the food producers,' says John. But above all, John explains that Romania's wildlife is a constant source of fascination for the King: 'It's a great privilege to go around with him and point out the flowers. He knows most of the names and has a terrific knowledge of botany. He doesn't just like flowers, he knows about them. 'He recognises why wildflower meadows are important; he understands the links between plant-rich landscapes and the production of good-quality, healthy food. That's been a theme in his life. 'Romania gets a bad press, but it's a very beautiful country, with its traditions and culture rooted in the countryside.' Among the rich biodiversity that flourishes here is one of Europe's rarest, most spectacular orchids, the lady's slipper, along with more than 200 species of butterfly. As well as wolves, there are more brown bears in Romania's forests than anywhere else in Europe. The website for the King's guesthouse even warns they can sometimes be found 'crossing the backyard'. In the UK, more than 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows have disappeared since World War II, but not in Transylvania. The region's abundance of flora is thought, in part, to have inspired the Coronation Meadows Initiative, launched by Charles to mark his mother's 60th year on the throne. He even planted a meadow at Highgrove with seeds from Transylvania, but it failed to bloom. Nevertheless, honey from Transylvania is still sold at the Highgrove shop. Botany, horticulture and conservation are passions we have long associated with the King. That's why his visit to Romania so soon after the Coronation should come as no surprise. Even so, John wasn't sure Charles would make it this year, but he's pleased about his timing. 'I used to tease him that he went at the wrong time he would go in early-to-mid May and miss most of the flowers,' he says. Charles should be luckier in June as far as the flora is concerned. However, in early summer this remote corner of Europe is prone to rainfall, which may explain why the annual retreat is one King Charles makes without his wife. 'I once had the honour of flying out with the royal party,' says John. 'She wished me luck at the end and said: 'I hope the weather is all right.' Then she and her mates got back on the plane and went down to Greece on holiday!' A husband has filed a lawsuit against a North Carolina police department after a high-speed chase led to a crash that left his 70-year-old innocent wife with injuries so severe she is no longer able to take care of herself. The chase saw Terry Harris fleeing from an officer in the small town of Spring Hope, northeast of Raleigh, after a cop tried to pull him over for speeding. Harris was driving at 57 mph in a 35 mph zone at the time but things soon escalated to vastly more dangerous speeds during the March 2021 incident. The chase went on for another 30 miles, with speeds reaching 120 mph - and only ended after Harris ran a red light and smashed into Carolyn Bonner's car. Carolyn, 70, was left with several serious injuries that need constant care. Al Bonner from North Carolina is taking legal against a police department after a high-speed chase resulted in a collision leaving his wife Carolyn with debilitating injuries Police in the small town of Spring Hope, northeast of Raleigh, went on a car chase at speeds of up to 120mph before the suspect crashed into Carolyn's car The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of Officer Lashawn Lucas and his superiors in continuing the high-speed pursuit. Pictured, one of the damaged vehicles from the crash She suffered extensive injuries, including a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord damage and saw her spend 88 days in hospital. More than two years later, she still struggles with speech, mobility, and responsiveness. 'It just breaks my heart. When I saw that situation, I had no strength. It's from that point to now that we have been living off the grace and love of God,' said Carolyn's husband, Al Bonner. He has now filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court against Officer Lashawn Lucas, the Spring Hope Police Department and the Town of Spring Hope. The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of Officer Lucas and his superiors in continuing the high-speed pursuit. 'Officer Lucas breached his duty of care by initiating and continuing a lengthy, high-speed chase because of a routine speeding offense [and] by failing to stop the chase when it became readily apparent that the chase was likely to endanger the lives and safety of innocent civilians,' the lawsuit states. Andrew DeIonno, the town manager of Spring Hope stated: 'Officer Lucas has not faced disciplinary action during his tenure as a police officer.' Carolyn, center, used to live an active life where she would volunteer and care for her mom 'She was extremely, extremely active so this is a complete 180. I know she's looking out the window and hoping and thinking her life is totally different than what it was,' Al said Carolyn, 70, suffered extensive injuries, including a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord damage and saw her spend 88 days in hospital. Al, who has been married to Carolyn for 31 years, has turned to his faith in order to make it through to this point. 'When I witnessed that situation, I was overcome with sorrow. From that moment until now, we have relied on the grace and love of God,' he said. 'She always used to say that God is a restorer when she witnessed others facing challenging situations. So now, we repeat those words back to her.' Before the life-changing accident, Carolyn had a job, volunteered and looked after her elderly mother. Since the crash, Al has now taken on the responsibility of caring for his wife together with the help of home health nurses available around the clock. 'She was extremely, extremely active so this is a complete 180. I know she's looking out the window and hoping and thinking her life is totally different than what it was,' Al said. Despite her bleak outlook, Al hopes and prays for a miracle that her condition might gradually improve. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family deal with medical expenses. Although the town has not responded publicly, the town's attorney has denied any allegations of negligence and argues that Spring Hope should not be held liable for any damages. The town asserts its protection under governmental immunity that shields police departments from liability arising from the performance of their duties. Philip Miller, the Bonner family's attorney, emphasized that their lawsuit challenges the concept of governmental immunity. Carolyn now requires round-the-clock medical care from a team of nurses following the crash Terry Harris was driving at 57 mph in a 35 mph zone but things soon escalated to vastly more dangerous speeds before he crashed into Bonner's car 'We fully appreciate the difficulty of the legal challenges we face,' Miller told WRAL. 'The governmental immunity defense is a huge hurdle. However, we also firmly believe that this police chase that ended with Carolyn Bonner suffering catastrophic and life changing injuries should never have happened in the first place.' Al said he hopes his lawsuit might deter similar high-speed police pursuits in the future. 'Major decisions have consequences, and we are living with those consequences,' Al said. 'What we would hope for is a major reduction of not having to go through what we have to go through.' Harris, meanwhile, was carrying about $8,000 worth of marijuana in his vehicle at the time of the crash. He was charged with multiple charges, including assault with deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, felony speed to elude arrest, felony possession of marijuana with intent to sell, maintaining vehicle for distribution of a controlled substance and careless and reckless driving. Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut, an eastern city where fierce battles against Russian forces have been taking place, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 15. AP-Yonhap Russia's defense ministry said early Sunday that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Using the city's Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said, "In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk." There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials about the latest claim. Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlin's press service as saying President Vladimir Putin "congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk." In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. In this grab taken from video released by Prigozhin Press Service, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company shakes hands with his soldiers, in Bakhmut, Ukraine, May 20. AP-Yonhap After the video appeared, Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine's eastern command, told The Associated Press that Prigozhin's claim "is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut." In a statement on Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff said that "heavy battles for the city of Bakhmut do not stop." Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that "this is not the first time Prigozhin has said 'we seized everything and are dominating'." He suggested that the Wagner chief's statement was aimed at drawing attention away from Zelenskyy's recent highly visible trips overseas, including to the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Saturday. Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. In this handout photo taken from video and released by Prigozhin Press Service, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group military company speaks holding a Russian national flag in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut, Ukraine, May 20. AP-Yonhap A protester wearing a dress in the colours of the Ukrainian flag staged a dramatic demonstration on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival tonight, pouring fake blood over herself before being dragged away by security. In an apparent show of support for the war-torn country, the unidentified young woman doused herself in a red substance at the premiere of Just Philippot's film 'Acide'. The woman appeared on the red carpet alongside A-listers in a floor-length blue and yellow ballgown. She then appeared to reach into her dress before pulling out a capsule of fake blood, raising it above her head, and bursting it as she smiled for the cameras. The demonstration came after the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today compared the Russian invaders' violent destruction of parts of his country to the devastation seen in Hiroshima. The woman was pictured pulling a red substance out of her dress at the premiere of the film 'Acide' The protester then raised what appeared to be a capsule of fake blood above her head The package then burst over the woman's head, releasing the fake blood over her head The woman was quickly hauled away be security at the red carpet event Entirely doused in fake blood, the woman appeared unfazed as she was dragged off the red carpet Horrifying images out of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, have today shown the extent of destruction wrought by Vladimir Putin's forces in the country. During the 15 months of fighting, protesters around the world have regularly drawn attention to the bloodshed being faced by the Ukrainian people. Tonight's protest in Cannes saw security at the star-studded Festival drag a protester, who was entirely doused in fake blood, off the carpet. It is not yet confirmed whether the shocking demonstration was a condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine or why it took place at the premiere of the French director's film, 'Acide'. A similar protest was staged by a Ukrainian at last year's film festival, when a woman took to the red carpet to send a damning message about the action's of Vladimir Putin's forces. The protestor crashed the red carpet fully-clothed, reports said, before stripping off to reveal she was wearing body paint that read 'Stop raping us'. Pictured: A protester crashed the red carpet at Cannes last year during the 'Three Thousand Years Of Longing' premiere She was also plastered with a Ukrainian flag and had the word 'Scum' written across her back. The woman staged her protest during the premiere of George Miller's Three Thousand Years Of Longing on the fourth day of the prestigious event. READ MORE: Horrifying photographs show the scale of Putin's destruction in Bakhmut Pictures released today show burning buildings in Bakhmut Advertisement Before the festival opened this week, Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux told press that the festival stands in solidarity with Ukraine and pointed to a Ukraine flag pin on his lapel. Last year, President Zelensky opened the festival in a speech livestreamed from Kyiv. In it, he called on the global film industry to take a stand against Russia's aggression in Ukraine, saying 'Cinema must not be silent.' The festival also put in place a blanket ban on Russian delegations or film companies connected to the Putin government from partaking. The ban still stands this year. Today's protest came as the eyes of the world are on the southern French city, which has seen glamorous celebrities flock to red carpets for the 76th annual film festival. This year's festival is taking place against the backdrop of protests amid unrest across France following Emmanuel Macron's decision to raise the state retirement age. Police in Cannes last week announced they would be cracking down on all forms of protest in the area around the festival to 'guarantee public order'. The festival has historically served as a backdrop for protest, but authorities are determined to stamp out any trouble before it has even started amid ongoing unrest over pension reforms nationwide. A protestor wearing body paint that reads 'Stop Raping Us' in the color of the Ukrainian is removed from the red carpet at the premiere of the film 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' In an unusual move, all demonstrations and gatherings were banned on the public highway for the duration of the Festival by the region's Alpes-Maritimes Prefecture. The ban on demonstrations by local authorities in the city, covering May 16 to 27, was posted by the prefecture on its website last Friday. It said it was necessary in order 'to guarantee public order during an exceptionally big and international event'. It covers the Rue d'Antibes, the Palais des Festivals, the Croisette and the Promenade de Pantiero alongside the Marche du Film's International Village. Rishi Sunak yesterday said he was unequivocal about the need to cut net migration as ministers finalise plans for a crackdown on student visas. The Prime Minister said he was committed to bringing the numbers down and was looking at a range of measures to curb the number of people coming to this country. Ministers are braced for net migration to reach a record 700,000 when official figures for the last year are published this week. Mr Sunak has refused to set a net migration target but said last week he was committed to reducing the level from the 504,000 he inherited. This figure is double the level at the last election when the Tory manifesto pledged to reduce overall numbers. Speaking at a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima yesterday, the PM ducked questions about whether the Government owed the public an apology for failing to control migration levels. But he acknowledged the number of arrivals was now too high. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference following the G7 summit on May 21, 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan Ministers are braced for net migration to reach a record 700,000 when official figures for the last year are published this week Responding to a question from the Mail, he said: On the topic of legal migration, let me be clear the numbers are too high. We are obviously considering a range of measures to bring the numbers down and Ill have more to say on that shortly. But let me be unequivocal, I think the numbers for legal migrations are too high and I am committed to bringing those numbers down. Mr Sunak also said he had made progress in recent days on tackling the Channel migrant crisis, citing new talks on a border deal with the EU. The PM also discussed the issue during private talks with Emmanuel Macron at the G7. The PMs comments come as ministers consider a crackdown on student visas in response to public concern about soaring immigration levels. Whitehall sources said ministers were likely to agree restrictions on the ability of foreign students studying one-year post-graduate courses to bring their dependants with them. But Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are resisting plans by Home Secretary Suella Braverman for a wider clampdown, arguing it would hurt the economy and damage the university sector which is reliant on foreign students. New proposals are expected within the next month. Surging student numbers are a key factor in the rise in migration levels in recent years, according to the Office for National Statistics. Its data shows those arriving on study visas accounted for the largest proportion (39 per cent) of long-term immigration of non-EU nationals in the year to June 2022, at 277,000 people. That was up from 143,000 in the previous 12 months. Meanwhile Labour continued to flip-flop on the issue. After party chairman Anneliese Dodds said on Friday that net migration should increase in the short-term to fill job vacancies, health spokesman Wes Streeting told The Sun it is already at a level the country will not be able to cope with. Then yesterday care spokesman Liz Kendall told Sky News: I expect it to come down. It's widely regarded as the national drink of England, but despite arriving on our shores back in the 1650s, one question remains: should you put milk in before you make a cup of tea, or afterwards? Now, scientists claim to have settled the debate, just in time for International Tea Day. Professor Alan Mackie of Leeds University claims that pouring milk on a tea bag before adding the boiling water is the way to get the tastiest cuppa. His controversial claims are based on research which found putting milk in first helps counteract hard water - an issue that plagues more than half of Britons. Professor Alan Mackie of Leeds University says people living in regions with hard water should consider using the milk first method. It's widely regarded as the national drink of England, but despite arriving on our shores in the 1650s, one question remains: should you put milk in before you make a cup of tea, or afterwards? The great British scone debate is SETTLED: ChatGPT reveals whether you should put jam or cream first - READ MORE Fact-box text Should you put the cream or jam on your scone first? Advertisement Research carried out in conjunction with INTU, a manufacturer of boiling water taps, found there are minerals in hard water which inhibit flavour compounds forming. But proteins in the milk lower the mineral content of the water, Professor Mackie says, and gives a brew extra flavour, especially when the water is hard. 'Flavour by and large is produced by the different compounds in tea including tannins in particular,' Professor Mackie says. 'The more minerals present in water the more difficult it is for these compounds to develop the flavour - resulting in the dull cuppas you get in hard water areas. 'Making tea the traditional way - steeping a bag in hot water before removing it and adding milk - results in the tannins turning into solids before they can develop the flavour properly. 'But, if the milk is added at the start of the steeping process then its proteins can bind to the tannins and other minerals in the water - preventing them from turning solid - which in turn gives you a far superior flavour.' Hard water, such as that found in London, is rich in calcium and magnesium, whereas soft water is purer and bereft of these harmless pollutants. Water is naturally soft when it falls as rain but gathers impurities as it makes its way through the rivers and treatment centres. Professor Alan Mackie (pictured) of Leeds University says people with hard water should consider using the milk first method Water increases in hardness as the level of minerals increases, with more than 350 parts per million deemed to be 'aggressively hard', according to Aquacure . Anything below 100ppm is considered soft, and water above 101ppm is hard, to varying degrees. Pictured, dark blue are parts of the UK where water is hardest, and the lightest blue is soft water. The royal blue regions are in the middle Water increases in hardness as the level of minerals increases, with more than 350 parts per million (ppm) deemed to be 'aggressively hard', according to Aquacure. Anything below 100ppm is considered soft, and water above 101ppm is hard, to varying degrees. Kieran Taylor-Bradshaw, Managing Director of hot tap manufacturer INTU Boiling Water Taps, said: 'A decent cuppa brings joy and brightens the day, but for too many it remains a distant dream, with hard water to blame.' He adds that INTU is 'delighted to be able to bring an end to the misery that blights millions of lives'. The study comes shortly after the British Standards Institution's (BSI) official guidelines revealed that milk should be put in the cup first - at least when a pot is being brewed. It also explained that to gain the institution's approval, the pot must be made of porcelain, there must be at least 2g of tea for every 100ml and the water must not exceed 85C (185F) when served. The study comes shortly after the British Standards Institution's (BSI) official guidelines revealed that milk should be put in the cup first - at least when a pot is being brewed A robot which could work as a nurse or barman, and which can pick up objects with its human-like arms is already at work in the U.S., the CEO of a company funded by OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT has revealed. Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Bernt Bornich, CEO and founder of 1X, says that his companys humanoid EVE robot has been working since April this year - and that it is going better than we thought. It's the first truly humanoid android to find a place in the workplace in human history - outpacing Elon Musk's hyped Tesla robot. At present, the robot is working as a security guard at two industrial sites: unlike other security robots, it has a head, a face, two arms, and can navigate autonomously. Bornich with EVE - 10 robots are being produced every month (1X) Pictured above is the EVE robot opening a window Security guards control a fleet of patrolling EVE androids, which are made at two sites in Norway and Dallas, and if anything happens to one of the units, they can step into the androids body through virtual reality. Youre there in a second as if you were there, Bornich says. He hopes the robots will also soon find work as carers for elderly people. Bornich says, We have this grand vision, we want to solve the problem of the labour shortage. We have visibility on how to solve it - but we need a lot of data. I think we will have a completely different society, where we dont think about labour scarcity, where we have sustainable energy creation which can be converted into any product and service. We could get there in five years, if we dont hit any roadblocks, or within this decade. Its going to be an exciting future. Robots that are not humanoids resembling the shape of humans have been deployed for security purposes for years. They include the egg-shaped K5, made by California-based Knightscope, and the two-wheeled robot made by start-up Ascento which has been patrolling railway depots in Switzerland. But unlike the others, the new humanoid robot has manipulators a sort of robotic hand that enable it to open doors, windows and pick up items. Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Mr Bornich said: 'Previous generations of androids worked in the lab, but not in the real world. With our security guards, we are solving a real problem and giving them a service that is better quality and more affordable.' The EVE robot is working at two sites in Europe and America, and has also been tested as a nurse or carer robot for elderly people. Mr Bornick said that unlike previous android robots which he described as 'gimmicks' his will actually serve a real function in society. He added that, during tests, people tended to get out of the way of the wheeled robots. They have been tested at sites including retail, logistics and healthcare centers. Starting with guarding made sense, Mr Bornich said. It has the least amount of tasks. 'Everything you do helps to train the system, so it gets better at doing those tasks, so you dont need to intervene because it knows how to do it. Asked about the advantage of the devices, he said they could help 'solve' labor shortages in as little as five years. The robot stands at five feet nine inches (1X) Next year the company hopes to release NEO, a bipedal robot (1X) Elon Musk's rival Tesla robot is not at work yet Other security robots already in operation include the Ascento Robot in Switzerland (left) and the K5 autonomous security robot in Charlotte, North Carolina The company is already working on an alternative robot dubbed NEO which would be bipedal, walking like a human. Currently, 1.1 million people work as security guards in the US. Mr Bornich said: We have this grand vision, we want to solve the problem of the labor shortage. We have visibility on how to solve it - but we need a lot of data. I think we will have a completely different society, where we dont think about labor scarcity, where we have sustainable energy creation which can be converted into any product and service. We could get there in five years if we dont hit any roadblocks, or within this decade. Its going to be an exciting future. The launch of the company's robots as security guards put 1X previously known as Halodi ahead of Elon Musk's Tesla. The $564billion company is also working on its own humanoid robot which would be similar to EVE and was revealed in a video this week, but it is yet to be rolled out into the real world. The EVE robot is controlled by human security guards via virtual reality - but can travel around and even open doors and ride lifts on its own, using its robot hands. We could get there in five years, if we dont hit any roadblocks, or within this decade. Its going to be an exciting future. The Eve Robot has an LED 'face' which can show reactions to people, and operators can 'speak through' the robot. The company launched in 2015, and has two offices; one in Moss, Norway, and one in Dallas, and 10 EVE robots are being produced every month. The androids have also been tested in pilot schemes in retail, logistics and health care, Bornich says - but the company opted to put them to work first as security guards. The robot can pick up objects with its manipulators and even work as a barman Using EVE in a real-world job will provide data which will help train the android for other jobs - such as being a carer for elderly people. Security guards already use camera systems and alarm sensors and motion sensors, so theyre used to dealing with technology, Bornich says. Now the same guards pilot a fleet of EVE robots. Its like a screwdriver makes you more effective at putting in screws, Bornich says. This makes you more effective. Gives you an amplification of your labour capability. Bornich says that previous attempts to do android robots have been sold as a gimmick - but hes determined to create a product that adds real value. Bornich says that putting the robots to work as security guards means that 1X can harvest data which will help put the androids to work elsewhere. Starting with guarding made sense, Bornich says. It has the least amount of tasks. Everything you do helps to train the system, so it gets better at doing those tasks, so you dont need to intervene because it knows how to do it. The next generation of robots will work in assisted living, looking after elderly people and others, Bornich says. Bornich says, The robots are not just something that does labour, but also something that helps you as a companion. The unique approach taken by 1X is to study how humans and animals interact with the world - and try to replicate it. The company builds Androids like EVE and their upcoming two-legged NEO from the bottom up - with their own unique motor technologies and tendons, drive trains which work like muscles, as well as sensor software and AI. We mimic how nature moves and how animals interact with their environment, says Bornich. We use these synthetic ropes which are very similar to muscles pulling tendons. This allows us to be capable and strong but still very safe. OpenAIs Startup Fund led an investment round which raised $23.5 million for 1X robots. This also means that the company gets early access to OpenAI technology. What we are doing is basically embodied AI, says Bornich. Bornich describes the robot as 'embodied AI' Bornich says that the company is also working on language models so that the robot can take commands. Thats like our space, he says. You can say, Youre a robot, heres your tasks for today. Pick up something, go through the door and pick that up.And the robot is actually doing these tasks in the real world and understanding how these tasks are carried out. Its pretty magical. The robot EVE has manipulators which can pick up objects - and is designed to work alongside human beings. Bornich says that a humanoid form makes it easier for EVE to work alongside people - or in elderly peoples homes. He says, I challenge you to come up with a system that is general enough to be able to do most tasks in a home, and which doesnt look like a human. Little things like scuffling your feet together to get between the couch or the table, or picking up something, or leaning over to close the window - it helps to be human-shaped to do all these things. Bornich says that the company has leant towards the human form because if EVE was human-like but had four legs for example, it would get scary. Bornich says that he has wanted to do robotics since he was a small child. He said, I was inspired by robots like Asimo and everything that happened in the early 90s and 200s. Having worked in product development for a medical tech company and on big data and AI, Bornich got the opportunity to start 1X (then called Halodi). We started with the big question: Where did all the robots go? At this point, 20 years later, you're like, expecting us to have robots all around us doing everything in our life and being our companions? Right? But why didnt this happen? Where are they? 1Xs EVE and NEO might soon provide an answer. The EVE robot is controlled by human security guards via virtual reality - but can travel around and even open doors and ride lifts on its own, using its robot hands. Bornich says that he has wanted to do robotics since he was a small child Security guards control a fleet of patrolling EVE androids, and if anything happens to one of the units, they can step into the androids body through virtual reality. Youre there in a second as if you were there, Bornich says. He hopes the robots will also soon find work as carers for elderly people. Bornich says, We have this grand vision, we want to solve the problem of the labour shortage. We have visibility on how to solve it - but we need a lot of data. I think we will have a completely different society, where we dont think about labour scarcity, where we have sustainable energy creation which can be converted into any product and service. We could get there in five years, if we dont hit any roadblocks, or within this decade. Its going to be an exciting future. The Eve Robot has an LED 'face' which can show reactions to people, and operators can 'speak through' the robot. Bornich says that in the companys tests, people tend to get out of the way of the wheeled, battery-powered machines (which can return to their charging points on their own). The company launched in 2015, and has two offices; one in Moss, Norway, and one in Dallas, and 10 EVE robots are being produced every month. The androids have also been tested in pilot schemes in retail, logistics and health care, Bornich says - but the company opted to put them to work first as security guards. Using EVE in a real-world job will provide data which will help train the android for other jobs - such as being a carer for elderly people. Previous generations of androids worked in the lab, but not in the real world, says Bornich. With our security guards, we are solving a real problem and giving them a service that is better quality and more affordable, says Bornich. Security guards already use camera systems and alarm sensors and motion sensors, so theyre used to dealing with technology, Bornich says. Now the same guards pilot a fleet of EVE robots. Its like a screwdriver makes you more effective at putting in screws, Bornich says. This makes you more effective. Gives you an amplification of your labour capability. Bornich says that previous attempts to do android robots have been sold as a gimmick - but hes determined to create a product that adds real value. Bornich says that putting the robots to work as security guards means that 1X can harvest data which will help put the androids to work elsewhere. Starting with guarding made sense, Bornich says. It has the least amount of tasks. Everything you do helps to train the system, so it gets better at doing those tasks, so you dont need to intervene because it knows how to do it. The next generation of robots will work in assisted living, looking after elderly people and others, Bornich says. Bornich says, The robots are not just something that does labour, but also something that helps you as a companion. The unique approach taken by 1X is to study how humans and animals interact with the world - and try to replicate it. The company builds Androids like EVE and their upcoming two-legged NEO from the bottom up - with their own unique motor technologies and tendons, drive trains which work like muscles, as well as sensor software and AI. We mimic how nature moves and how animals interact with their environment, says Bornich. We use these synthetic ropes which are very similar to muscles pulling tendons. This allows us to be capable and strong but still very safe. OpenAIs Startup Fund led an investment round which raised $23.5 million for 1X robots. This also means that the company gets early access to OpenAI technology. What we are doing is basically embodied AI, says Bornich. Bornich says that the company is also working on language models so that the robot can take commands. Thats like our space, he says. You can say, Youre a robot, heres your tasks for today. Pick up something, go through the door and pick that up.And the robot is actually doing these tasks in the real world and understanding how these tasks are carried out. Its pretty magical. The robot EVE has manipulators which can pick up objects - and is designed to work alongside human beings. Bornich says that a humanoid form makes it easier for EVE to work alongside people - or in elderly peoples homes. He says, I challenge you to come up with a system that is general enough to be able to do most tasks in a home, and which doesnt look like a human. Little things like scuffling your feet together to get between the couch or the table, or picking up something, or leaning over to close the window - it helps to be human-shaped to do all these things. Bornich says that the company has leant towards the human form because if EVE was human-like but had four legs for example, it would get scary. The company aims to bring out a bipedal robot NEO next year, as a follow-up to the wheeled EVE. Bornich says that he has wanted to do robotics since he was a small child. He said, I was inspired by robots like Asimo and everything that happened in the early 90s and 200s. Having worked in product development for a medical tech company and on big data and AI, Bornich got the opportunity to start 1X (then called Halodi). We started with the big question: Where did all the robots go? At this point, 20 years later, you're like, expecting us to have robots all around us doing everything in our life and being our companions? Right? But why didnt this happen? Where are they? 1Xs EVE and NEO might soon provide an answer. The video has gone viral with users praising Esther for sharing her helpful tips Stewardess shares a TikTok explaining what she looks for when she stays in hotel There are few who travel as frequently as flight crew, and staying overnight in hotels is just par of the course. But an air stewardess has now revealed one routine she always does when entering her hotel room for the first time - and that's checking for spy cameras. Esther Sturrus, 22, who has been a flight attendant since 2019, took to TikTok to explain how she scans her room for prying digital eyes. And it may sounds rather overdramatic but social media users have praised her for sharing the 'great tip'. In the video, which has already gone viral with more than 3.7million views and 480,000 likes, Ms Sturrus explains exactly what she does. Esther Sturrus, 22, has been a flight attendant since 2019 - working for both TUI and KLM With travel a key part of her job, Esther often finds herself checking into hotels across the globe for the night. But to ensure her safety, there's one thing she always does: check for hidden cameras The flight attendant, who has worked for both TUI and KLM, explained that as part of her job she often finds herself constantly checking into hotels for the night. And in order to ensure she is safe, Esther checks her room for hidden cameras before tucking herself in for the night. She captioned her video: 'What I first do when I come into my hotel room now: check for hidden cameras.' In the video, she begins by checking the mirrors in her bathroom. She does this by pressing on the glass to see if anything shows up, or if there is a band in the glass. Next, Ms Sturrus, who is from the Netherlands, checks the shower and the fire alarm edges as she scans along them with her phone torch. And finally, she goes into her room and does a thorough search - including looking behind and around the curtains, inside the drawers and the TV. Thousands of social media users commented on the video, with many leaving their tips and hacks too. One person said: 'My mom has a camera detecter device for when we stay in a hotel or airb&b.' Ms Sturrus has also shared other places that she checks - which include alarm clocks and clock radios, smoke detectors, lamps and lights, mirrors and thermostats She has also shared other hotel hacks with her followers, including how to close the curtains when they're not properly shutting and what other uses a shower cap has And another commented: 'I do too! And for anything else that should not be in the room. Travelers can never be too cautious or aware of your environment.' A third said: 'I ALWAYS do the mirror test!' One person simply put: 'Thats smart.' While another person suggested: 'Bed bugs you gotta check for those.' And a second person said: 'Turn the lights off and point a flashlight at the clock to see cameras too,' while another recommended she, 'Try looking in the vents.' Ms Sturrus has also shared other places that she checks - which include alarm clocks and clock radios, smoke detectors, lamps and lights, mirrors and thermostats. She has also shared other hotel hacks with her followers, including how to iron your outfits when you don't have one, how to close the curtains when they're not properly shutting and what other uses a shower cap has. Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore made sure to capture attention as they led the arrivals at the May December screening in Cannes on Saturday. The stunning actresses put on very glamorous displays as they joined the star-studded guest list at the premiere in celebration of the Cannes Film Festival. Actress Natalie, 41, exuded elegance in an unusual blue and white maxi dress with petal detailing as she posed in front of cameras at the lavish event. The strapless number sported white beads across the white top half, which emphasises her enviable collarbone and slender neck. The dress which shaded from a pristine white on her bust to smatterings on blue around the edges of the petal detailing - billowed out from the hips with pretty petal like layers adding even more glamour to the already show stopping piece. Breathtaking: Natalie Portman stunned on Saturday night as she led the arrivals for the May December screening in Cannes She's got style: The unusual garment hugged the petite star's incredible figure - and the strapless element showcased her collarbone perfectly Natalie stunned in the Christian Dior gown as it perfectly hugged her incredible figure - and accessorised the elegant ensemble with just a pair of diamond drop earrings. She accentuated her striking features with a dewy make-up palette and appeared in jovial form at the star-studded bash as she smiled and waved to the crowd. Natalie was joined at the event by actress Julianne Moore, 62, who showed off her chic style in an emerald, green Louis Vuitton dress with a high-neck and pleated cape-style sleeves. Her signature red locks hung loosely over her shoulders and she styled the ensemble with just a simple pair of silver hoops. Elsewhere Will Ferrell put on a cosy display with his Swedish wife Vivica Paulin as they appeared to be as loved-up as ever. The comedy actor who met the actress in 1995 and has been married for 23 years put on a dapper display in a black suit and bowtie. The May December movie is centered when a couple, whose romance was previously the source of tabloid fodder due to their age gap, welcome twins and are being faced with the prospect of having a film made about their lives. When an actress from Hollywood visits the two to learn more about the wife, the family dynamic begins to unravel. Taking centre stage: The Black Swan actress made sure all eyes were on her with the petal like detailing and diamond drop earrings Made you look: As she turned around and smiled for the cameras, Natalie pictured here with co-star Charles Melton showed off the backless detail to the already stunning dress All smiles: Actress Julianne Moore, 62, was also in attendance as she stars in the upcoming May December film which is currently being shown at Cannes Having a laugh: She who wore an emerald, green dress with pleated sleeves which really complimented her infamous red locks Cool Cannes: The cast and crew pictured L - R: Cory Michael Smith, Julianne Moore, Director Todd Haynes, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton posed for pictures at the May December red carpet Perfect pair: Comedy actor Will Ferrell who is one of the producers also stepped out for the screening with his Swedish wife Vivica Paulin who he has been with since 1995 Screen queens: Natalie Portman will star in the film May December as Elizabeth Berry alongside Julianne Moore Natalie will portray the actress, Elizabeth Berry, while Moore and Melton are set to play the couple. The V For Vendetta actress also acts as one of the film's producers, alongside figures such as Will Ferrell. Todd Haynes serves as the project's director, and Samy Burch penned its screenplay. The filmmaker gave a statement where he expressed via Deadline that he was particularly impressed by the movie's screenplay. He said: 'What so appealed to me about Samy Burch's exceptional script was how it navigated potentially volatile subject matter with a kind of observational patience that allowed the characters in the story to be explored with uncommon subtlety.' Ciara flashed the flesh in a sizzling set of behind-the-scenes footage she just shared from her Luisa Via Roma cover shoot. The 37-year-old could be seen leaning against the hood of a car decked out in a black Saint Laurent gown with peekaboo accents to hint at her taut midriff. Another one of her looks included a slinky Versace gown with a daringly high thigh-slit that allowed her to display her vertiginous legs to full advantage. Her video showed her strutting her stuff by a sun-dappled swimming pool while swathed in a billowing Carolina Herrera cape top. She teamed the luxurious number, which spilled out into a train, with a pair of gleaming black latex leggings by Wolford. Busty bombshell: Ciara flashed the flesh in a sizzling set of behind-the-scenes footage she just shared from her Luisa Via Roma cover shoot When you got it: The 37-year-old could be seen leaning against the hood of a car decked out in a black Saint Laurent gown with peekaboo accents to hint at her taut midriff Use it or lose it: Another one of her looks included a slinky Versace gown with a daringly high thigh-slit that allowed her to display her vertiginous legs to full advantage Mrs. Russell Wilson also let her more than 34 million followers get a glimpse of her in a crimson Ferragamo net dress with a beguilingly open weave. The shoot allowed her to blow through a string of glamorous ensembles, including a tan Gucci coat with thigh-high Amina Muaddi boots. Inside the magazine, she shed some light on the process of raising her three children - Future, nine, Sienna, six, and Win, two. Ciara shares Future with the rapper of the same name - who now has eight children with as many women - and the younger two with Russell. 'It's beautiful when our blended family all comes together. Its so cute to see their bonds even when they play the "mine" game,' she said. 'When they are having a chaotic day, I say: "I'm gonna call my friend candy." It just takes that to get them in line,' Ciara quipped. She also took the opportunity to plug her various business ventures including Ten to One Rum, which she began with ex-Starbucks VP Marc Farrell. 'The first time I drank a spirit, it was rum. With this product, we are reimagining the idea of it beyond a daiquiri or a pina colada,' she trumpeted. Details: Inside the magazine, she shed some light on the process of raising her three children - Future, nine, Sienna, six, and Win, two Hello, gorgeous: Her video showed her strutting her stuff by a sun-dappled swimming pool while swathed in a billowing Carolina Herrera cape top Only the best: She teamed the luxurious number, which spilled out into a train, with a pair of gleaming black latex leggings by Wolford Lady in red: Mrs. Russell Wilson also let her more than 34 million followers get a glimpse of her in a crimson Ferragamo net dress with a beguilingly open weave Terrific: The shoot allowed her to blow through a string of glamorous ensembles, including a tan Gucci coat with thigh-high Amina Muaddi boots Entrepreneur: She also took the opportunity to plug her various business ventures including Ten to One Rum, which she began with ex-Starbucks VP Marc Farrell 'We stand out in the category, and its an experience I hope everyone tastes. You can play with rum, and when you say "free drinks," everyone shows up.' She also spared a mention for her skincare line OAM, while confessing that she used to be 'the girl who used body wash and lotion all over my face.' Ciara began paying more attention to her skincare routine at the exhortation of her 'box of wisdom' makeup artist Yolonda Frederick-Thompson. 'I didnt always take it to heart or follow through,' Ciara admitted. 'Then I got to a point and noticed how she looks: she takes care of herself, and it shows.' It looks like actress and model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley might have to seek forgiveness from the Catholic Church after apparently breaking the rules during a visit to the Vatican last week. The 36-year-old took a tour of the Sistine Chapel and was so overawed with the beauty and majesty of Michelangelo's Renaissance artwork that she took a picture to share with her 18 million Instagram followers. However, photography and even the use of mobile phones is strictly prohibited in the 15th Century chapel, as many of her fans were quick to point out. Some suggested the Marks & Spencer model may have used her celebrity status to bend the rules. Her team told me she was given permission to snap the artwork while on a private tour of the chapel. However, a spokesperson for the Vatican Museum tells me: 'The visit took place during the normal opening hours to the public. We confirm that photos and videos cannot be taken in the Chapel.' It looks like actress and model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley might have to seek forgiveness from the Catholic Church after apparently breaking the rules during a visit to the Vatican last week SNAP JUDGMENT: Rosie posted this illicit photo of Michelangelo's Sistine fresco Rosie was in Rome for the premiere Fast X, starring her husband Jason Statham, when she visited the Vatican and took the picture of Michelangelo's fresco, The Last Judgment, on the back wall behind the altar. She is not the first celebrity to fall foul of the rules. Actors Russell Crowe and Jason Momoa have also been criticised for doing the same after receiving private tours of the building. Aquaman star Momoa later apologised, saying: 'If you ever felt that I disrespected your culture, that wasn't my intention.' Married At First Sight star Jules Robinson has revealed her plans to undergo in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) if she and husband Cameron Merchant fail to conceive naturally. Speaking to Kidspot's podcast The Juggling Act, mother-of-one Robinson, 41, candidly discussed her fertility struggles. The discussion started after co-host Melissa Wilson brought up the topic of fellow media personality Fifi Box's IVF journey. Robinson, her husband Merchant, 39, and their son Oliver, two, are currently preparing for a professional project in the UK. 'We have decided that as soon as my campaign is done over there, we will go hammer and tong and really try [to conceive naturally],' Jules said on the podcast. Married At First Sight star Jules Robinson, 41, (left) has revealed her plans to undergo in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) if she and her husband Cameron Merchant, 39, (right) fail to conceive naturally 'And if it doesn't happen by September, when we're back, we will be doing IVF.' Robinson said she's optimistic about conceiving naturally, but acknowledges that time is of the essence. She also admitted that the hormonal side-effects caused by IVF are daunting, as she considers herself to be 'already sensitive'. Speaking to Kidspot's podcast The Juggling Act , mother-of-one Robinson (pictured with husband Merchant and their son Oliver) candidly discussed her fertility struggles 'I think I don't have time on my side, so I think if we can just speed it up as quick as possible, I'm OK with [IVF],' she added. Robinson and Merchant conceived their son naturally and welcomed him into the world in October 2020. IVF is a medical procedure in which a woman has an already-fertilised egg inserted into her womb to become pregnant. 'I think I don't have time on my side, so I think if we can just speed it up as quick as possible, I'm OK with [IVF],' she said It is used when couples are unable to conceive naturally, and a sperm and egg are removed from their bodies and combined in a laboratory before the embryo is inserted into the woman. Once the embryo is in the womb, the pregnancy should continue as normal. The procedure can be done using eggs and sperm from a couple or those from donors. The success rate of IVF depends on the age of the woman undergoing treatment, as well as the cause of the infertility (if it's known). Don't expect to see Sonia Kruger with grey hair. In a column for the Herald Sun, the television presenter, 57, said she's committed to keeping her trademark blonde locks. The Voice Australia star praised other woman who embraced their natural colour but said it's not something she's open to. Sonia said: 'Massive respect to all the ladies out there who rock the grey. Liz Ellis, Andie MacDowell and Jamie Lee Curtis are beautiful, sexy and intelligent women. They're also far braver than me.' 'I would rather have a molar extraction than see my natural hair colour. That might sound extreme but I'm incredibly vain and also in denial about a lot of things.' Sonia Kruger, 57, (pictured) has revealed she won't let her hair grow grey, while praising the 'brave women' who embrace their natural hair colour She went on to say her sister Deb, a hairdresser, has helped her 'create the perfect beachy, biscuit blonde' to disguise her greys. 'It's a lot of maintenance, though, and if you're not related to a professional, all that salon time can be crushingly expensive, so I completely understand why a lot of women step away from the peroxide at some point in their lives,' she said. It comes after Sonia recently enjoyed the school Easter school holidays in Bali with her eight-year-old daughter Maggie. 'I would rather have a molar extraction than see my natural hair colour. That might sound extreme but I'm incredibly vain and also in denial about a lot of things,' the veteran presenter wrote in a column for the Herald Sun this week The TV presenter was spotted arriving at Denpasar airport last month holding hands with her adorable youngster as they prepared for a beachside getaway. The Big Brother host shares Maggie, who was born in 2015, with TV executive Craig McPherson. She conceived via IVF treatment and a donor egg at the age of 49, after several natural pregnancies had ended in miscarriage. The TV host has been very open about her journey to parenthood, and told Stellar magazine two years ago that she worried if bonding with a child that wasn't biologically hers would be difficult. 'That's the beautiful thing about having a child in your life whether you've adopted them or had them by surrogate, or it's a foster child,' she said. 'You grow to love them and, in my case, it was pretty instantaneous. She grew in my tummy so she's a part of me and I look at her and can't imagine loving her any more than I do.' Digital technologies expand China's foreign trade 15:18, May 21, 2023 By Wu Huimin ( People's Daily Rwandan Ambassador to China James Kimonyo recommends a tea drink from Rwanda to Chinese consumers via livestreaming. (Photo from Hainan Television) China's consumption scenarios of foreign trade have been constantly widened thanks to the development of digital technologies, such as AI-assisted real-time translation, remote equipment trouble-shooting and traceable technology in production, packaging, shipping and sales processes. Experts believe that digital trade, as a new form in the trade sector, is expanding new space for foreign trade upgrading In an exhibition area of an intelligent international freight system of Cainiao, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, a batch of digital services is displayed. Visitors can get a clear path of an express parcel from China to its overseas destination by just typing a few parameters into the system. All important logistics nodes are marked along the path on the screen. An employee of Cainiao told People's Daily that with this system, every logistics link has become traceable, from domestic warehouses to ports and overseas warehouses, and in end-range delivery. The 133rd China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, was recently held in south China's Guangdong province. Apart from arranging offline booths, many exhibitors also set up live broadcasts in the venue, interacting with their clients via livestreaming. "We have opened online business on international trade sites including Alibaba, and promoted our operations on overseas social media platforms. Thanks to these efforts, our business is constantly expanding," said Wang Li, founder of exhibitor Shenzhen Maiqijia Home Co., Ltd., an early player in the e-commerce sector. The launching ceremony of the Silk Road E-commerce Carnival is held in Shanghai, May 10. The event aims at promoting e-commerce between Shanghai and countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, introducing more overseas products to the Chinese market. (Photo from the official account of the management committee of the Shanghai Hongqiao International CBD on WeChat) Over recent years, digital technologies have opened up new arenas, constantly contributing to the high-quality development of China's foreign trade. Sun Yuning, vice minister of the General Administration of Customs of China, noted that cross-border e-commerce has become a new engine of the country's foreign trade development and an important part of China's high-quality development, with its volume doubling from 1 trillion yuan ($142.12 billion) in 2018 to 2.11 trillion yuan in 2022. While expanding its volume, the sector has also witnessed a huge improvement in its quality, with more and more commodities manufactured in China entering the global consumer market through cross-border e-commerce, Sun added. Regions across China are actively engaging in the development of digital technologies, embracing new business forms of foreign trade. Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province has built an AI innovative development pilot zone, a national financial technology innovation and development pilot zone and a world-class demonstration center for cross-border e-commerce. Jiangsu province, which neighbors Zhejiang, launched measures to promote digital trade, vowing to establish a digital trade sector for its international trade single-window system and build a statistical system for digital trade. Today, more and more foreign products are entering Chinese families thanks to the application of digital technologies. A number of ambassadors, consuls and counselors to China have joined livestream marketing activities in the country since 2020, recommending products from their countries to Chinese consumers. The transformation and upgrading of China's foreign trade not only benefits the country itself, but also brings opportunities to the rest of the world. A worker sorts commodities in a warehouse of e-commerce giant JD.com in Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang province. (Photo by Hu Xiaofei/People's Daily Online) So far, China has signed the Digital Silk Road memorandums of understanding for cooperation with over 10 countries and advanced the Silk Road E-commerce bilateral cooperation mechanism with more than 20 countries. This indicates the deepening cooperation on digital trade between China and other countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative. China is the world's largest market of digital consumption. The digital economy has profoundly changed the ways of work and life of the Chinese people, and introduced new visions to the rest of the world. Experts believe that the implementation of the Digital Silk Road will promote the development of cross-border e-commerce and is conducive to making employment more diversified and flexible in relevant countries. China's development in digital trade has brought dividends to many countries around the world. More and more countries are expecting to cooperate with China in the sector. An official with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) noted that China enjoys huge potential in e-commerce development, and cross-border e-commerce is able to further improve the openness and inclusiveness of the market. The SCO hopes to strengthen cooperation among its members, especially in the fields of e-commerce and digital economy, by sharing China's practical experiences, the official added. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) Members of the Group of Seven rich nations will ensure big investments in China continue even as they pare risky exposure to the world's second-largest economy, Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday. G7 leaders are wrapping up a three-day summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where they sent signals to China over everything from semiconductors to "economic coercion" and lending practices. But while they agreed to "de-risk," they said they would not "decouple" from China. Speaking to German broadcaster ZDF on the sidelines of the Hiroshima summit, Scholz said big investments would still continue, as would supply chains and exports to China. He said that while the countries wanted to limit their risk exposure, no one had an interest in curbing growth in China. (Reuters) Loved up couple Millie Mackintosh and Hugo Taylor were among the guests at Sophie Habboo and Jamie Laings lavish second wedding on Saturday. The parents of two walked hand in hand into the venue at Sotogrande in Andalusia, Spain, with Millie, 33, radiating summer in a light yellow maxi dress with a plunging neckline. With her cross body bag placed over her shoulder, Millie completed her look with a pair of embellished wedges and an understated necklace. Her husband, Hugo, 36, oozed sophistication in a green velvet double breasted blazer and black trousers. The pair, who themselves married in July 2018 after a 12-year on-off romance, both wore sunglasses to keep the glare from the sun out of their eyes. Loved up: Millie Mackintosh and Hugo Taylor walked hand in hand as they arrived for Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo's second wedding in Spain Sophisticated: Millie, 33, opted for a yellow maxi dress for the occasion, with husband Hugo, 36, looking dapper in a velvet green blazer Former Made In Chelsea stars Sophie, 29, and Jamie, 34, tied the knot in front of friends and family for the second time this afternoon. The television stars, who got married in front of their loved ones at Chelsea Registry Office in London last month, wed in a grand ceremony after their legal ceremony The couple's NearlyWeds podcast Instagram account posted a video of the guests celebrating, and sweetly announced: 'We did it!!!!!!' Sophie looked sensational in an embroidered white wedding dress for her big day. She accessorised her look with a huge lace veil, which was held up by her bridesmaids. Plenty of their showbiz friends attended the big day, including Love Island's Zara McDermott, 26, was also in attendance with her boyfriend Sam Thompson, 30. Zara opted for a floor-length blue dress with a thigh-high split and ruffled detail. Former Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, 34, reunited with Jamie in Spain this week after Jamie failed to invite him to his UK wedding to Sophie in London last month. Sunny day: Both former Made In Chelsea stars kept the sun out of their eyes with sunglasses Big day: Jamie tied the knot for the second time to Sophie after previously wedding at a Chelsea registry office last month Spencers wife Vogue Williams, 37, recently opened up about how hurt Spencer was to be snubbed from the original nuptials. Speaking on Jamie and Sophie's NearlyWeds podcast, she said: 'He was very upset, I have to be honest, I've never seen him like that,' Vogue said. 'He was genuinely upset over something and then it was getting worse and worse because I saw the personalised stuff. And I thought "Oh s*** you really thought about this".' Jamie took full responsibility for the oversight, saying: 'I f****d up. We had our wedding, our civil ceremony in the UK. It was a hectic process. Finally invited: Spencer Matthews, who was snubbed from Jamie's first nuptials, flashed a huge grin ahead of the ceremony Big hugs: Jamie was pictured greeting guests as they arrived for his second wedding ceremony to Sophie in Sotogrande 'Amongst the hectic-ness of getting people there and things like that, I thought Spencer and Vogue were away. 'Spencer got upset - which is fair enough. So I sent Vogue a message hoping to get a bit of support and then she replied "To be honest Jamie, it's not good." And I was like f***.' Jamie then explained that Sophie asked if Spencer and Vogue were coming to their special day, to which Jamie explained that he failed to send them an invite because he knew they would be in Portugal on their family holiday. Spencer said: 'To be honest, Jamie, like you're my best friend in the world. Which is why I think it hurt so much. 'Like if it was anyone else. For your wedding - I would fly three times around the world to come to it because I care about you so much.' Megan Thee Stallion was treated to the sight of not one, but two wax figurines of herself at the Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas. The 28-year-old rap star, who famously coined the phrase 'hot girl summer,' was on hand for the unveiling of the waxworks on Saturday. She posed for an eye-popping Instagram album with the two figures, which were placed on either side of a metallic sculpture of a rearing horse. Decked out in a summery net dress that showcased her figure to full advantage, Megan was the image of delight in the new pictures. 'I honestly wanted to kiss myself,' she declared in the caption, before offering warm words to her fans: 'hotties we are officially legendary.' Looking fab: Megan Thee Stallion was treated to the sight to not one, but two wax figurines of herself at the Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas Making it happen: The 28-year-old rap star, who famously coined the phrase 'hot girl summer,' was on hand for the unveiling of the waxworks on Saturday One of the Megan wax figures was a tribute to the look she modeled on Instagram when announcing her first album Good News in 2020. She was decked out in a skintight jumpsuit splashed all over with newsprint, including one headline of the album title. Megan, who originally hails from Houston, has a marked fondness for cowboy hats, as demonstrated in the headgear that matched her newspaper ensemble. Whilst stood behind that waxwork, Megan playfully picked up its luxuriously long braid and threw it over her own real-life shoulder. The second wax figure also had a cowboy hat, only this time the rest of the outfit consisted of a flesh-flashing metallic bikini. Dripping with showgirl fringe to lend the proceedings an extra dash of glitz, the saucy two-piece was teamed with matching jewelry. Instagram commenters were left thunderstruck at how uncannily the waxwork designers were able to approximate Megan. 'If I havent seen her w/ the big hair lately, I wouldnt know which one was fake . They did great,' one of them wrote glowingly. Stunning: She posed for an eye-popping Instagram album with the two figures, which were placed on either side of a metallic sculpture of a rearing horse Such fun: Decked out in a summery net dress that showcased her figure to full advantage, Megan was the image of delight in the new pictures Self-love: 'I honestly wanted to kiss myself,' she declared in the caption, before offering warm words to her fans: 'hotties we are officially legendary' Fan service: One of the Megan wax figures was a tribute to the look she modeled on Instagram when announcing her first album Good News in 2020 Details: She was decked out in a skintight jumpsuit splashed all over with newsprint, including one headline of the album title 'Not me thinking you were one of the wax figures,' wrote another, while a third exclaimed 'Girl what I thought this was 3 pics of you edited together.' 'U might have the most realistic wax figure in history. legit couldnt figure out which one was you,' a commenter marveled. 'These the best they ever done!!! I only knew the real you by the current hair!' wrote celebrity makeup artist Priscilla Ono. 'They NIALED IT.. theyve been doing such a great job over the past few years. This is amazing!!? Congratulations and a well deserved honor,' read another comment. Anne Hathaway and Erin Walsh both stepped out in near-identical outfits You could be forgiven for thinking you were seeing double when actress Anne Hathaway and her stylist, Erin Walsh, stepped out in near-identical outfits in Venice last week. The close friends dodged puddles and downpours in the Italian city's famous piazzas in matching beige trench coats, striped La Ligne jumpers and sunglasses. And the pair recently dubbed 'fashion's new double act' by style bible Vogue put on a cosy display. They had their arms around each other for much of their stroll, talking intently and taking photographs of the sights. At one point, they held hands. Oscar-winner Hathaway, 40, was in Venice to attend a glamorous party hosted by jewellery brand Bulgari at the city's Palazzo Ducale. There she commanded attention in a delicate gold and silver Versace sequined dress, slashed daringly to the thigh, with a Bulgari necklace featuring large pink gemstones. Hathaway and her stylist, Erin Walsh recently dubbed 'fashion's new double act' by style bible Vogue put on a cosy display in Venice last week Oscar-winner Hathaway, 40, was in Venice to attend a glamorous party hosted by jewellery brand Bulgari at the city's Palazzo Ducale It was a far cry from her role as the long-suffering, badly-dressed fashion magazine assistant she played in the blockbuster 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada. READ MORE HERE: Anne Hathaway dazzles in a gold hooded gown with racy thigh-high split and HUGE diamond necklace at swanky Bulgari party in Venice Advertisement Ms Hathaway has noticeably revamped her style in recent years, crediting Ms Walsh for helping her make more daring fashion choices, including a pink Valentino minidress for the Italian house's runway show last summer, and a rainbow polka-dot trouser suit and bustier for a US talk show appearance in March. Ms Walsh, who has just been named one of Hollywood's most powerful stylists, recently began posting TikTok videos about Hathaway's style. In one interview about her relationship with the star, Ms Walsh said: 'We have so much fun with fashion and aren't afraid to experiment. It's about achieving that balance of effortless cool without rules I call it 'incidentally fabulous'.' And Hathaway has said of their partnership: 'I've never had this much fun and it's supposed to be fun, right? Erin sees my idiosyncrasies as a strength. 'Maybe there was initial confusion with me because I was introduced to the world as a teenaged princess [in 2001 comedy movie The Princess Diaries], but I never actually connected to things that are "sweet" and "pretty" no shade at all for those wonderful options. I love the right risk, as does she.' According to British Vogue, the pair met when the actress was pregnant with her second child, Jack, in 2019. Hathaway has been married to producer Adam Shulman since 2012. Kirsten Dunst and her husband Jesse Plemons made a stylish pair as they attended the Killers Of The Flower Moon premiere during the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival in France on Saturday. The Marie Antoinette star, 41, wowed in a strapless black gown with a silver necklace and black heels. The Screen Actors Guild Award winner's blonde hair was parted to the side and fell naturally with a bit of a curl. The Irishman actor, 35, meanwhile looked handsome in a black tuxedo with his hair short and messy. The couple have been together for seven years and share two sons: five-year-old Ennis and two-year-old James Plemons. They tied the knot last year in Jamaica. Lovely couple: Kirsten Dunst and her husband Jesse Plemons made a stylish pair as they attended the Killers Of The Flower Moon premiere at Cannes festival in France on Saturday Dashing duo: The Marie Antoinette star, 41, wowed in a strapless black gown with a silver necklace and black shoes The A-list actors were joined on the red carpet by Robert De Niro, 79, Leonardo DiCaprio, 48, and Martin Scorsese, 80. The film explores the harrowing true story of the 'reign of terror' that left two dozen Native Americans dead. Set in the 1920s, it centers on the FBI's investigation into a string of murders after several members of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma were slaughtered. Jesse plays the role of Texas Ranger Tom White, who investigated the deaths of tribe members killed after oil was discovered beneath their land. The rich deposits earned the tribe more than $30 million in annual revenue at the peak of the boom, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mineral deposits earned royalties that were paid to the tribe as a whole - with each allottee receiving one equal share also known as a headright that outsiders could only legally obtain if they married into the tribe. It was during this time that rancher William K. Hale (De Niro) a native of Greenville, Texas, encouraged his subservient nephew Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) to wed Osage member Mollie Kyle (later Mollie Burkhart). The plot of the film is centered around Hale convincing his weak-willed nephew Burkhart to marry one of the daughters in the tribe in a plot to eventually murder them and inherit their wealth from oil. Looking good: The Irishman actor, 35, looked handsome in a black tuxedo with his hair short and messy Co-stars: The couple starred opposite one another in the 2021 Netflix drama Power Of The Dog, which saw them play husband and wife Lovely: The duo have been together for seven years and share two sons: five-year-old Ennis and two-year-old James Plemons. They tied the knot last year in Jamaica Co-star: The A-list actors were joined on the red carpet by Robert De Niro , 79, Leonardo DiCaprio , 48, and Martin Scorsese, 80 Signing on: The Breaking Bad actor was previously cast in the project in February of 2021 Coming soon: Plemons plays law enforcement officer White alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the film, set to premiere on October 6 The film is set for a limited release in select cinemas on October 6, with a wider release in the US on October 20 by Paramount Pictures. It will eventually have a streaming release on Apple TV+. Kirsten and Jesse started dating back in 2016 after meeting on the set of Fargo, and they became engaged the following year. The couple starred opposite one another in the 2021 Netflix drama Power Of The Dog, which saw them play husband and wife. They were both nominated for Oscars for their roles. Maya Jama showed us once again that she's among the best dressed celebrities to grace the planet as she stunned in an off the charts black gown at the Vanity Fair x Prada Party on Saturday night. The Love Island presenter, 28, showed off her svelte hourglass frame at the star-studded bash during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, and posed up a storm in the figure-hugging number. Her eye-popping ensemble, which sat off her shoulder and ran all the way to the floor, was sheer in parts, with glimpses of her thighs and midriff on display. Accessorising the show-stopping look with a pair of mesh gloves and dangling silver earrings, Maya made sure to command attention. But that's not all, as the television personality also fashioned her hair in a creative up do while opting for striking eye make up and a painted lip. Sex appeal: Love Island presenter Maya Jama (left) showed off her svelte hourglass frame as she joined Sabrina Elba (right) at the Vanity Fair x Prada Party on Saturday Fashionista: The 28-year-old television star posed up a storm in the figure-hugging number as she posed for snaps at the bash during the Cannes Film Festival Maya was snapped hanging out with Idris Elba's wife Sabrina Elba, who shimmered in a glitterball-inspired maxi dress, with flared long-sleeve detailing. Sabrina, who has been married to Luther actor Idris since 2019, wore statement silver drop down earrings, which gave her look an extra pop. This isn't the first time Maya has enjoyed a night out with Sabrina, as the pair enjoyed a soiree together at 22 Grosvenor Members club last June. Maya's appearance at the party comes just weeks after Leonardo DiCaprio denied rumours that they were dating. The television presenter and actor were spotted leaving a club in Paris together last month, and a source later claimed the pair were seeing each other. However, a rep for Leo told the DailyMail.com that rumours he and Maya were secretly dating were untrue. She was previously engaged to partner Ben Simmons, though the relationship came to an end last year. More recently, however, Maya has been linked with her ex-boyfriend Stormzy, with recent reports claiming that they are back in regular contact with a possible reconciliation on the cards. Friends: Maya was pictured hanging out with Idris Elba's wife Sabrina, who stunned in a sparkly silver gown Eye-popping: Ashley Graham wowed in a glistening see-through Prada dress for the occasion Amazing! She certainly set pulses racing in her sexy party look Sex bomb! Petra Nemcova flaunted her incredible abs in a plunging silver bralet and a white trouser suit Amazing! She kept her blonde tresses slicked back in a classic wet-look style Partygoers: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was joined by his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez and Vanity Fair Editor-In-Chief Radhika Jones at the bash Celeb sighting: Brie Larson was pictured arriving at the Martinez hotel in France Maya's team previously shut down relationship speculation after they were linked last year insisting at the time they were just friends, but insiders now claim they have been enjoying spending time together at his house. Elsewhere at the party, which was hosted at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France, Ashley Graham also wowed in a glistening see-through Prada dress. The model, 35, oozed sex appeal with the garment worn over a black strapless balconette bra and high-waisted pants. She accessorised her look with a dainty Prada bag Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, 59, was also pictured in attendance with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, 53, with the couple posing for photographs alongside Vanity Fair Editor-In-Chief Radhika Jones, 50. Elsewhere, American actress Brie Larson, 33, looked sophisticated as she stepped out in a chequered oversize blazer at the Martinez hotel. Guy Pearce is slated for a surprising return to Neighbours, reprising his role as Mike Young in the Channel 10 show's upcoming reboot. Executive producer Jason Herbison confirmed on Saturday that Pearce would reprise his role on the Channel 10 show, which was rebooted in April, and is being filmed Melbourne. 'We are delighted that Guy is returning to continue Mike and Jane's reunion, it was a highlight of last year's finale and (there is) definitely more story to tell for these much-loved characters,' Herbison said in a statement to The Sun Herald. Pearce, 55, returned to Neighbours for the show's finale in July last year, playing Mike Young. Guy Pearce, 55, (pictured) is slated for a surprising return to Neighbours, reprising his role as Mike Young in the Channel 10 show's upcoming reboot His character, along with Jane Harris (portrayed by Annie Jones), was seen purchasing a home on Ramsay Street during the show's last episode. In light of the show's revival, Pearce confirmed during Nine's Good Weekend podcast that he would be returning to the series, shedding light on Mike and Jane's story arc involving their home and romantic relationship. Rekindling his on-screen relationship with Jane Harris, played by Annie Jones, Pearce's character Mike played a significant role in the show's final episodes. Executive producer Jason Herbison confirmed on Saturday that Pearce would reprise his role on the Channel 10 show, which was rebooted in April, and is being filmed Melbourne. (Pictured: Pearce presenting at the AACTA Awards, December 2022) By the end of these episodes, his character had bought a house and returned to Ramsay Street. Despite Pearce's soaring career since his debut on Neighbours as a 17-year-old novice, his return to the show was a remarkable display of goodwill. However, when Amazon and Ten disclosed that they had collaborated to revive the show only four months later, Pearce's magnanimity had unintended consequences. 'We are delighted that Guy is returning to continue Mike and Jane's reunion, it was a highlight of last year's finale and (there is) definitely more story to tell for these much-loved characters,' Herbison said in a statement. (Pictured: Pearce and co-star Henrietta Graham, July 2022) Pearce expressed his surprise at this development during an interview for the Good Weekend Talks podcast. He and Jones discussed the situation, and even though Jones was confirmed for the show, Pearce was still uncertain about his storyline. Although he admitted feeling somewhat ambushed by the offer, Pearce expressed contentment in returning to the show, describing it as the 'gift that keeps on giving.' Speculation surrounding an Oasis reunion is ramping up, with Liam and Noel Gallagher reportedly flirting with the idea. It is claimed an idea has been put forward by Liam's agents Wasserman for four huge concerts to take place at the 125,000 capacity venue Knebworth in Hertfordshire in 2025. The gigs would be the first time the band has played together since V Festival in the summer of 2009. Brothers Liam, 50, and Noel, 55, performed in front of 250,000 at Knebworth in 1996, and Liam returned to the location to take to the stage for 170,000 in 2022. A source told The Sun: 'Its very early days for the plan, and the proposed dates are a long way off. But if all members agree to do it, history will be made. Born to perform: Speculation surrounding an Oasis reunion is ramping up, with Liam, 50 (pictured), and Noel Gallagher, 55, reportedly flirting with the idea (pictured in June last year) Shows: It is claimed an idea has been put forward by Liam's agents Wasserman for four huge concerts to take place at the 125,000 capacity venue Knebworth in Hertfordshire in 2025 (Noel pictured in June last year) 'Tickets would sell like hot cakes and fans would rejoice in seeing the band together again. 'It would be the perfect way for Oasis to come back together again and wouldnt involve a tiresome touring schedule.' Both Liam and Noel are currently working on their solo albums and are each due to tour next year. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Liam and Noel for comment. It comes after Blur's Damon Albarn said he was willing to 'put money' on Britpop rivals Oasis reuniting. The Parklife hitmakers have themselves reunited and released their comeback single The Narcissist this week. They also have a slew of intimate warm-up gigs before two huge comeback shows at Wembley Stadium this July. And frontman Damon, 55, has insisted he's confident that feuding siblings Liam and Noel Gallagher will put their estrangement behind them to reform and have a much bigger reunion than them. End: Oasis split in the summer of 2009, following a backstage bust-up between frontman Liam and guitarist Noel (pictured in 2005) Damon told The Sun: 'I can guarantee theyre going to reform. In fact, Ive put money on it. 'Theyre brothers and it would be wonderful to see them reconcile.' He quipped: The only funny thing is that our two nights at Wembley will be dwarfed by their SEVEN!' Oasis split in the summer of 2009, following a backstage bust-up between frontman Liam and guitarist Noel. Liam has been calling for an Oasis reunion for years but with no budging from his arch-nemesis brother. Noel recently raised the hopes of fans when he urged his younger sibling to 'get his people to call my people'. Speaking in a radio interview in France on France Inter, Noel said: 'Theres something in the papers back in England today. '[Liam] should get his people to call my people; they know who they are, they know where we are. Stop talking on the f****** internet, and lets see what youve got to say.' 'It would be wonderful to see them reconcile': Blur's Damon Albarn has revealed he's 'put money on Oasis reforming' after his own rock band announce their reunion tour The reporter then asked if that's all it would take to reunite Oasis, to which he replied: 'You would think, right? You would think. Hes got my number, hes got my managers number, call us. But you know what? He wont call.' Noel had admitted earlier this year that he'd 'never say never' to a reunion. He told BBC Radio Manchester: 'You should never say never, [but] it would have to take an extraordinary set of circumstances. 'That's not to say that those circumstances would never come about.' The Champagne Supernova hitmaker was then asked how he and Liam are getting on these days, to which he seemingly sarcastically replied: 'Oh, brilliantly, yeah. Genuinely, yeah.' The band isn't reuniting to mark the 30th anniversary of their debut album Definitely Maybe this summer. Dates: Blur (pictured in 2015) will be reuniting on stage for their 35-anniversary this summer, kicking off the tour on June 1 in Spain before their final concert in Japan at the end of August However, Noel has put together previously lost songs from the recording sessions for the landmark 1994 LP. He told the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera: 'In the Sony archives weve found tapes dating to those sessions. 'We thought they were lost, but they were mislabelled. They are wonderful versions of those songs, some acoustic versions. 'There wont be a tour we wont come back to play them together.' Helena Christensen and her ex, Norman Reedus, reunited to celebrate their son Mingus' graduation from New York University in the star's latest Instagram post uploaded on Saturday. The Danish model, 54, who enjoyed another recent reunion with fellow nineties supermodels Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, uploaded a photo as she posed with her 23-year-old son, and The Walking Dead actor, also 54. The former couple notably dated from 1998 until their split in 2003, and welcomed Mingus in October 1999. The stunning beauty could be seen wearing a short-sleeved, black and blue-striped sweater for an adorable family photo. Her brunette locks were parted to the side, and brushed her shoulders in light curls. Norman sported a long-sleeved, black dress shirt while Mingus was seen wearing a white, button up that was left partially unfastened around the collar. Celebration! Helena Christensen, 54, and her ex, Norman Reedus, 54, reunited to celebrate their son, Mingus', 23, graduation from New York University in a new Instagram post uploaded on Saturday Biggest supporters: The beauty also uploaded a separate selfie onto her Instagram stories as she sat next to Norman during their son's graduation ceremony to cheer on Mingus The trio flashed cheerful smiles towards the camera with the supermodel penning in the caption to her son, 'You did it!' She also uploaded a short clip to her 1 million fans and followers that captured Mingus wearing his purple graduation gown as he raised an excited hand into the air alongside his father as they strolled towards her. Social media users jumped to the comment section to offer their congratulations to the 23-year-old upon his milestone, such as Norman's fiancee, Diane Kruger, and Hannibal actress, Julianne Moore. Helena's close pal, Cindy Crawford, typed out, 'Bravo!' while Chrissy Turlington added a slew of purple heart emojis in reference to New York University's school color. The beauty also uploaded a separate selfie onto her Instagram stories as she sat next to Norman during their son's ceremony to cheer on Mingus. Christensen penned in a caption added towards the bottom of the snap, 'Amazing ceremony for @nyutisch 2023 graduates,' referencing to the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Mingus has begun to follow in his mother's footsteps, and has walked the runway for brands as well as appearing in campaigns. He recently strutted for the Versace Spring/Summer 2023 Menswear show in Milan. Late last year in October, he also joined his mother for the Marcell Von Berlin and posed alongside Helena in 2021 for the Victoria's Secret Mother's Day campaign. Excited! She also uploaded a short clip to her 1 million fans and followers that captured Mingus wearing his purple gown as he raised an excited hand into the air alongside his father Special day: In the caption of the latest Instagram post, the Danish supermodel penned, 'You did it' for her son Monumental milestone: Mingus graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts Throwback: The former couple notably dated from 1998 until their split in 2003, and welcomed Mingus in October 1999; Pictured in 2002 Since their split in 2002, both Helena and Norman have maintained a friendship and healthy co-parenting relationship. The two also reunited to celebrate their son's high school graduation back in 2018. Last year in March, Mingus was sentenced to private counseling after he pled guilty to disorderly conduct, following allegations that he punched an unknown woman in the face at the San Gennaro festival in Manhattan. Shortly before the exciting festivities over the weekend, the Danish-born star had the chance to have a reunion with fellow nineties supermodels, Cindy Crawford and also Christy Turlington. The beauty uploaded an Instagram photo series that had captured the fun moment, and wrote, 'Lifelong friendships. So beyond grateful for these women, love them and our kids so much,' followed by a white heart emoji. Along with a slew of photos of the stunning models, Helena also uploaded a photo of their children: Mingus, Crawford's daughter, Kaia Gerber, and Christy's daughter, Grace Burns. Turlington sweetly typed out in the comment section of the post, 'That was such a lovely end to a long day! Thanks @helenachristensen for always capturing these occasions that dont happen often enough!' Brooke Shields also sent her thoughts, adding, 'I love this so much!! I was never a member of this group but I loved every one of you from a far to start.. and now from closer life proximity. Im thankful for all of it.' Fellow supermodel, Naomi Campbell, typed out, 'LOVE,' while Kaia Gerber wrote, 'such special memories. love you!!!!!' In his mother's footsteps: Mingus has begun to follow in his mother's footsteps, and has walked the runway for brands as well as appearing in campaigns; seen walking for Calvin Klein in 2017 Back together! Shortly before the exciting festivities over the weekend, the Danish-born star had the chance to have a reunion with her fellow nineties supermodels, Cindy Crawford and also Christy Turlington Family: Along with a slew of photos of the stunning models, Helena also uploaded a photo of their children: Mingus, Crawford's daughter, Kaia Gerber, and Christy's daughter, Grace Burns Helena, who notably rose to prominence in the 90s and graced the covers of numerous magazines, such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, also embraces her passion of photography. Some of her work has appeared in publications such as Elle and Marie Claire, and the model recently told Hello! Magazine in an article published last month in April, 'Photography is how I breathe, there is no way I could live without it.' 'It is insanely important to me to see and discover everything to be curious about things. And modelling is also such a big part of my life,' she expressed to the outlet. 'I hope I can continue to be all of that, because it creatively inspires me and I am so grateful to have that gift in my life not everybody is able to feel so passionate about something.' Kim Kardashian several snaps and a video from the SKIMS pop-up at Rockefeller Center on her Instagram account on Saturday. The 42-year-old entrepreneur appeared to be making the most of her time at the event, which served to promote her shapewear brand's summer-centric offerings. The social media personality, who opened up about crying herself to sleep during a recent interview, donned a nearly all-black outfit that included a sleeveless zip-up top that showcased her sculpted arms, as well as a slight portion of her upper chest. Kardashian paired her top with a matching pair of wide-legged pants during her time at the pop-up. The reality television mainstay added a bit of color to her look for the day with a pair of bright pink high-heeled shoes. An inside look: Kim Kardashian shared several snaps and a video from the SKIMS pop-up at Rockefeller Center on her Instagram account on Saturday Doing the most: The 42-year-old entrepreneur appeared to be making the most of her time at the event, which served to promote her shapewear brand's summer-centric offerings. Her dark brunette locks were tied into a lengthy ponytail that ran down her back at the event. The entrepreneur also shared a look into the pop-up's main area, which stood out against the tones of the surrounding buildings. Several offerings from the brand, including a collection of bra tops and matching shorts, were also on display. Kardashian also shared a video to show off her brand's packaging for the event. The entrepreneur previously founded SKIMS in June of 2019, and the brand was initially known by the name Kimono. However, its title was changed after the influencer was faced with accusations of cultural appropriation. The reality television personality, as well as several other Kardashian family members, have appeared in promotional photos for the brand over the years. The model previously discussed her work on SKIMS during an interview with Vogue UK, where she opened up about why she wanted to start a shapewear company. A breath of fresh air: The entrepreneur also shared a look into the pop-up's main area, which stood out against the tones of the surrounding buildings Showing off: Several offerings from the brand, including a collection of bra tops and matching shorts, were also on display There it is: Kardashian also shared a video to show off her brand's packaging for the event In the past: The entrepreneur previously founded SKIMS in June of 2019, and the brand was initially known by the name Kimono 'I wanted to create a brand that could be relied on as a true solution for how people dress today. In doing this, it was especially important that we were size-inclusive and offered a range of colors,' she said. Kardashian went on to speak about how she used to modify her own shapewear and why that inspired her to found a line with a wide variety of sizes. 'All this experimenting made me notice a gap in the market and realize that there hadn't been any innovation in this space for so long,' she stated. She added: 'It felt like the perfect time to bring a fresh perspective to the shapewear industry that would feel relevant for today.' She is never one to shy away from the camera when it comes to her style. And Alessandra Ambrosio continued to flaunt her model physique as she attended a Campari event at The Martinez Hotel during the 76th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday. The former Victoria's Secret Angel, 41, showcased her incredible figure in a sexy black cut-out top in a slew of images from the evening. Alessandra flashed her toned abs in the revealing black top, embellished with silver jewels, a dramatic collar and some racy ties that were wrapped around her back. The Brazilian beauty opted for a leather-look black maxi skirt with strappy heels to complete the eye-catching ensemble. Gorgeous: Alessandra Ambrosio continued to set pulses races as she posed for a slew of pictures at a glitzy event during the 76th Film Festival in Cannes Showstopping: The 41-year-old model showcased her incredible figure in a revealing black cut-out top Glimpses of her incredible long legs could be spotted through the nearly see-through fabric. Her chestnut tresses were styled into a slicked back do to allow the high-neck collar to receive all the attention it deserved. A black smokey eye added to the sultry feel of the entire look. Talking to Harper's Bazaar last year, Alessandra told the publication that she 'didn't think modelling would last.' She added that despite bing one of the most recognised models, fame has not changed her much. She said: 'In my personal life, I keep things simple. Im a Brazilian girl, even though I now live in LA, swimsuits and simple beachwear is my style. 'I love fashion but I dont have to go crazy with buying items. Im happy with what makes me comfortable.' This year's Cannes Film Festival promised to be a Cote d'Azur buffet of spectacle, scandal and cinema. Wow: The former Victoria's Secret Angel showcased her toned abs in the revealing black two piece which featured a daring cut-out top and a dramatic leather look skirt Stunner: The model swept her brunette tresses back and completed the outfit with matching thin-strapped heels Say cheese: While enjoying a night out in France, Alessandra posed for a snap in the dark looking suggestively into the camera Cheers: She flawlessly applied a full face of make-up to enhance her natural beauty Star-studded: The Cannes red carpet is springing to life again as the 76th Film Festival gets underway which Alessandra has been a part of Stars have been flooding the red carpet for the glitzy premieres, despite there being a backdrop of labor unrest in the country. Protests that have roiled France in recent months over changes to its pension system are planned to run during the festival, albeit at a distance from the festival's main hub. Meanwhile, an ongoing strike by screenwriters in Hollywood could have unpredictable effects on the French Riviera festival. But with a festival lined with some much-anticipated big-budget films, including James Mangold's Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, the party is sure to go on, regardless. The world's biggest film festival will conclude with the Closing Ceremony on May 27. Leaders of the Group of Seven nations attend a session with other guest countries including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the G7 Hiroshima Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21. Reuters-Yonhap Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy secured more arms, munitions and "unwavering" diplomatic support from G7 allies in Hiroshima Sunday, as Russia claimed victory in the battle for a devastated eastern city. Meeting leaders from a bloc of rich democracies, Zelenskyy won a commitment from US President Joe Biden to provide yet more "ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles" on top of access to F-16 jets. Top Zelenskyy aide Andriy Yermak said the U.S. package included additional ammunition for HIMAR rocket launchers, artillery shells, anti-tank guided missiles and thermal imaging systems worth $375 million. Zelenskyy's surprise trip to Japan has been a major diplomatic coup, putting his country and Russia's 15-month-long invasion firmly at the top of the agenda. But success in the negotiating rooms contrasted sharply with difficulties on the ground, as he reflected on the months-long battle for Bakhmut and new Russian claims to have taken control of the eastern city. Asked about the fate of the former salt-mining town of 70,000 people, Zelenskyy was notably downbeat, saying "you have to understand there is nothing" there. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he said. Ukrainian forces have tried for months to keep a toehold on the town, forcing Moscow to commit significant numbers of troops there in the process. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated mercenaries from the Wagner organisation and regular units for the operation to "liberate" the town. Zelenskyy's invitation to visit Hiroshima, a city synonymous with the horrors of nuclear war, was a "deeply meaningful" symbol of support, according to host Fumio Kishida, Japan's prime minister. "By inviting President Zelenskyy to Japan, we demonstrated the unwavering solidarity of G7 with Ukraine," he said. As well as securing backing from allies, the visit afforded Zelenskyy a rare opportunity to win over a handful of nations who have pointedly offered little or no condemnation of Russia's invasion. Leaders from India, Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia were among those invited to attend the summit as non-members. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21. AP-Yonhap Billie Lee was seen walking Tom Sandoval's dog on Saturday for the second time this week. The Vanderpump Rules alum, 39, took the pooch out for an afternoon stroll after spending a few hours at Sandoval's pad Friday night. Billie's quality time with Tom and his dog couldn't come at more opportune time, since old rumors of a past fling between her and Sandoval recently turned up the heat on the explosive season 10 VPR finale. On Saturday afternoon, Lee wore ripped jeans and a gray T-shirt as she tried to fly under the radar in dark shades and a 'vegan babe' black ball cap. She wore a similar look the night before when she was seen slipping out of Tom's house and driving away in her car. Walking into Scandoval: Billie Lee, 39, was seen walking Tom Sandoval's dog on Saturday for the second time this week Sandoval's ex-girlfriend Ariana reportedly intends on keeping the dog Billie was seen walking following the end of their relationship earlier this year, according to People. Billie's name was dropped on the jaw-dropping finale, which focused on the fallout after Sandoval's affair with Raquel Leviss. But apparently that wasn't the only time he stepped out on Madix. During a confrontation with Scheana Shay, Sandoval confessed to sleeping with 'Miami Girl' and one other person. Elsewhere in the show, Lala Kent gave viewers a clue as to who the potential affair partner might have been, as she re-visited old rumors about him cheating with Billie. 'A few years ago, I heard the rumors that Tom and Billie Lee go off and do whatever they go and do,' she said. 'We need to open that case back up. It went cold and I dont think it needs to be cold no more.' Lee has not appeared on the show since season 7, but they have been spotted with Sandoval on a number of occasions. Most recently the duo were seen at his home in Los Angeles in April. Earlier that month, Sandoval and his former castmate were seen going out for drinks together before she was seen leaving his house in the same clothes the next morning. Vegan babe: On Saturday afternoon, Lee wore ripped jeans and a gray T-shirt as she tried to fly under the radar in dark shades and a 'vegan babe' black ball cap Back for the drama: Lee has not appeared on Vanderpump Rules since season 7, but she has been spotted with Sandoval on a number of occasions Late night: The Vanderpump Rules alum also spent a few hours at Sandoval's pad Friday night and was seen leaving barefoot Another affair? Sandolval (R) confessed to having another affair on the explosive Vanderpump Rules finale on Wednesday, and Lala Kent hinted that it may have been with Lee (L) Happier times: Tom and Billie pictured with Sandoval's ex Ariana Madix before 'Scandoval' in 2019 Billie's dog walking services and late-night companionship come on the heels of Leviss parting ways with Sandoval. The VPR vixen is said to have 'dipped out' from her romance with the wannabe rockstar after realizing that he was 'not the one for her.' 'I don't buy that at all,' scoffed Ariana during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live. The scorned heroine went on to claim that Leviss 'was sending letters to my house like four days ago.' Madix told host Andy Cohen that she didn't open the letters but they were 'addressed to him and in her handwriting.' Sarah Jessica Parker paid tribute to her husband Matthew Broderick on their 26th wedding anniversary. On Saturday, the Sex And The City actress seemingly shared some of the details of how the couple celebrated their marriage milestone in an Instagram post that featured the simple photo of a champagne cork. 'Happy 26th anniversary, my husband,' Parker, 58, began in the caption. 'That sure was a nice celebration and a real nice bottle of champagne. And a gorgeous walk home.' She ended the special post by reflecting back on the many years they have shared: 'Oh the miles we have strolled together. I love you. XOX, your SJ.' The couple first met back in November 1991 when her brothers Pippin and Tobey Parker co-founded the Naked Angels Theater Company in New York City, and Broderick was hired to direct one of the plays, according to People. Marriage milestone: Sarah Jessica Parker, 58, paid tribute to her husband Matthew Broderick, 61, on their 26th wedding anniversary on Saturday; pictured in 2022 Founded in 1986, Naked Angels would 'soon became the 'it' place for rising young actors and playwrights that also included the likes of Marisa Tomei, Mary Stuart Masterson, Gina Gershon, Helen Slater and Rob Morrow, among many others. About five-and-a-half-years later, the couple decided to make their union legal and tie-the-knot, but they didn't let their 1000 guest know ahead of time. Wanting to surprise everyone, they sent out a standard party invitation, which ultimately led to them exchanging their vows at the Angel Oresanz Synagogue on the Lower East Side of Downtown Manhattan. The intimate civil ceremony was followed by a reception full of show tunes that continued into the overnight hours, according to Brides. In a move to avoid attracting attention to their surprise wedding, the fashionista would reveal she wore a ruffled, black Morgane Le Fay dress for her wedding, and confess that it was the first thing she saw when she bought it off the rack. 'I was too embarrassed to get married in white, and both Matthew and I were reluctant to have people pay so much attention to us,' the Nelsonville, Ohio native told Marie Claire in 2006. A few years later the And Just Like That... star revealed she would wear white if she ever has a chance to renew her vows. During their 26 years of marriage, the couple welcomed three children: son James, 20, and twin daughters Tabitha and Marion, 13. Cheers: The Sex And The City actress seemingly shared some of the details of how the couple celebrated their anniversary in an Instagram post that featured a photo of a champagne cork Destiny: After meeting in November 1991 at the Naked Angels Theater Company in New York City, the couple decided to tie-the-knot with a surprise wedding on May 19, 1997 Surprise wedding! In order to keep their wedding a surprise, Parker and Broderick sent out a standard party invitation to about 100 friends, which ultimately led to them exchanging their vows at the Angel Oresanz Synagogue on the Lower East Side of Downtown Manhattan Bride in black: Parker revealed she wore a ruffled, black Morgane Le Fay dress for her surprise wedding, and that it was the first thing she saw when she bought it off the rack; the couple are pictured in 1997 around the time they exchanged their vows Family matters: During their 26 years of marriage, the couple welcomed three children: son James, 20, and twin daughters Tabitha and Marion, 13; Pictured in 2022 In an interview last year, Broderick, 61, confessed that he knew right away that he would marry Parker. 'Oh, the first time I met her,' the Ferris Bueller's Day Off star told Andy Cohen while on Watch What Happens Live, adding, 'I saw her walking down the street and thought "That's it."' When asked what he admires the most about his wife, the Tony Award winning actor responded, 'Humor and wisdom.' Parker is set to return to the Sex And The City sequel series, And Just Like That... when season two premieres on HBO max on June 22. As for the latest on Broderick's career, the New York City native stars in the upcoming coming of age comedy film, No Hard Feelings, alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman, that premieres in theaters on June 23. P.E Nation co-founder Claire Tregoning has purchased a property in Byron Bay after selling her $6.45million Avalon Beach home. The 42-year-old activewear designer spent $1.51million on the 'fixer-upper', The Daily Telegraph reported. The 1980s home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and original features such as exposed wood beams and VJ walls. The property, which also has its original kitchen, sits on a 650sqm block. The purchase comes after Claire sold her luxurious Avalon Beach home following her split from her filmmaker husband Timothy, 40. P.E Nation co-founder Claire Tregoning (pictured) has purchased $1.5million 'fixer-upper' in Byron Bay following her recent split from husband Timothy The former couple, who share two children, kept their break-up under wraps for most of last year. But in February, Claire broke her silence and said they 'still love each other'. 'It is very amicable, we still love each other, we are co-parenting and he remains a great friend,' she told The Sydney Morning Herald. 'Things change and that's just what happened for us, but we are getting through that with a lot of respect and support for each other.' The activewear designer spent $1.51million on the 'fixer-upper', The Daily Telegraph reported Rumours emerged last November that the pair had quietly split after they deleted each other from Instagram and stopped posting loved up pictures. They spent most of their marriage renovating their family home in Avalon and raising their two kids. From relaxing family weekends to lavish trips away, the businesswoman was constantly tagging her cinematographer husband in Instagram posts with their kids as she sported her own P.E Nation brand. On Father's Day last year, Claire posted an image of Timothy and their kids eating croissants together on the deck of their $1.2million renovated 'shack' - gushing about how he's a 'beautiful chaotic loving dad' to their 'crazy cubs'. The 1980s home has original features such as exposed wood beams and VJ walls The property, which also has its original kitchen, sits on a 650sqm block 'The love you shower our crazy cubs in is endless. Your journey and growth as a father has been an inspiring one to watch. We love you,' she wrote. It was the last time he featured on her feed. Since then, Claire has been on holidays to Tasmania and Los Angeles, a ski trip to New Zealand, and two jaunts to London - splashing her getaways on Instagram, tagging friends and family members each time. Her husband, however, had been notably absent from her photos. Claire founded PE Nation with socialite Pip Edwards in 2016. Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson has officially graduated from high school. The 17-year-old reality television personality received her diploma from Wilkinson County High School in McIntyre, Georgia, during a graduation ceremony that took place on Saturday. The media figure, whose relationship was recently defended by her mother, was joined by several of her loved ones during the celebratory event, including her sister, Lauryn 'Pumpkin' Efird, and 'Mama' June Shannon. Efird, who received full custody of Thompson last year, shared a post to her Instagram account that included two photos of her embracing her younger sister. The 23-year-old reality television star also included a video of her sibling walking the stage and receiving her diploma. Congratulations! Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson has officially graduated from high school Walking the stage: The 17-year-old reality television personality received her diploma from Wilkinson County High School in McIntyre, Georgia during a graduation ceremony that took place on Saturday The media personality also wrote a lengthy message directed at her sister to express her feelings about the achievement. Efird wrote: 'To say im proud would be an understatement. To be there a witness this next chapter I'm amazed. Amazed at how much you've grown, how beautiful your soul is, & most importantly how far youve come against all odds.' The reality television figure also wrote that she would remain a constant supporter of her younger sister well into the future. 'To hear your name be called & to watch you walk im honored truly. I cant wait to see what this next chapter in your life holds. Please always know im your biggest fan & always & forever gonna be screaming the loudest for you. I love you lana,' she wrote. Shannon, 43, also shared a video of Thompson walking the stage to her Instagram account. The controversial figure wrote a short message in her post's caption to express that her family 'was hollering the whole time.' She also wrote a comment on her own post and added: 'Yall know I screamed work it smoochie one last time.' Thompson's older sister Jessica, 26, posted a video to her Instagram account to show her support for her younger sister on her special day. Special occasion: Efird, who received full custody of Thompson last year, shared a post to her Instagram account that included two photos of her embracing her younger sister Sharing her thoughts: The media personality also wrote a lengthy message directed at her sister to express her feelings about the achievement Letting everyone know: The reality television personality previously publicized her graduation by sharing an Instagram post last month Claim to fame: Honey Boo Boo first gained fame while appearing on T.L.C.'s Toddlers & Tiaras Child star: She later got her own show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, in 2012, which followed her along with the rest of her family. The show was cancelled two years later The reality television personality previously publicized her graduation by sharing an Instagram post last month. The former dancer included several shots of herself posing around her school's campus while preparing for the end of her days as a student. She also penned a short message in her post's caption to express her feelings about starting a new chapter in her life. 'I am so proud of myself and how far I have become there were points that I didnt even think I would make it this far but I made it,' she wrote. Jennifer Coolidge has revealed one of the biggest changes to her lifestyle since reaching superstardom. Speaking in the upcoming issue of Harpers Bazaar Australia on which she graces the cover, the White Lotus star said she's now sent free clothes from fashion houses. 'The difference between struggling and being where I am now is that the clothing improves one million per cent,' she told the magazine. Jennifer has worn custom gowns by Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent and Dolce & Gabbana to name a few. 'When big fashion houses offer you a dress and you put it on and it's the best you've looked in your life, you just can't believe it,' she added. White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge (pictured) has revealed the biggest change to her lifestyle since she went from struggling actress to global celebrity is being given free designer clothes Jennifer's career is running hot at the moment with her adding she has more projects in the works. 'Some very cool things are happening,' she added. 'But I'm a little bit frozen. Because I have to make some big decisions about the next move.' The Legally Blonde star is coming to Australia to headline Vivid at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Darling Harbour on June 10. She will speak about her decades of experience in Hollywood and give the audience a glimpse into her glamorous life. 'The difference between struggling and being where I am now is that the clothing improves 1 million per cent,' she told the magazine. Pictured in White Lotus 'When big fashion houses offer you a dress and you put it on and it's the best you've looked in your life, you just can't believe it,' she added The American actress will also talk about the huge success of The White Lotus along with its writer and director Mike White. Jennifer has featured in movies such as Legally Blonde and American Pie which made her a household name. However, afterwards her career stalled, until her her role in The White Lotus has catapulted her back into the spotlight. Her role as Tanya McQuoid in the series has been globally recognised, as she won awards at the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards. She was also recognised at the Critics Choice Awards and SAG Awards. Jennifer Hawkins looked every inch the model mum on Friday when she was spotted at Sydney Airport with her husband Jake Wall and their two children. The former Miss Universe Australia, 38, could not wipe the smile off her face as she lovingly doted over her one-year-old son Hendrix as they strolled through the terminal. The stunner showed off her long slender legs in tiny shorts teamed with a designer black jacket and white sandals. The blonde beauty's hair was styled in loose waves around her shoulders. Jennifer Hawkins looked every inch the model mum on Friday when she was spotted at Sydney Airport with her husband Jake Wall and their two children. All pictured The former Miss Universe Australia, 38, could not wipe the smile off her face as she lovingly doted over her one-year-old son Hendrix She added that extra oomph to her look with a large beige carry bag. Jennifer stayed close to her husband Jake Wall, 40, who carried their daughter Frankie, three, on a luggage cart. Jake rocked a matching all-black outfit to his wife. The stunner showed off her long slender legs in tiny shorts teamed with a designer black jacket and white sandals The blonde beauty's hair was styled in loose waves around her shoulders She added that extra oomph to her look with a large beige carry bag Hawkins and Wall dated for eight years before they tied the knot in a Bali ceremony in June 2013. The lovebirds, who both hail from Newcastle, have recently begun construction on a new Whale Beach mega-mansion. Aerial photos of the building site taken in December showed the grand scale of the home, which will be worth $30million upon completion. Jennifer stayed close to her husband Jake Wall, 40, who carried their daughter Frankie, three, on a luggage cart Jake rocked a matching all-black outfit to his wife Hawkins and Wall dated for eight years before they tied the knot in a Bali ceremony The property, which the couple have already reportedly sold to an undisclosed buyer, appears at least three times bigger than its neighbours, with its size reminiscent of Chris Hemsworth's Westfield-inspired mansion in Byron Bay. The block, once owned by the late Joan Sutherland, was purchased by Jennifer and Jake in 2020 for $6.95 million. The couple have since demolished the existing 1950s house in preparation for the new build. The lovebirds, who both hail from Newcastle, have recently begun construction on a new Whale Beach mega-mansion Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon received a rapturous nine-minute standing ovation when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night. And as early reviews for the three and a half hour epic roll in, it's safe to say the iconic director's first ever Western will go down as a 'triumph'. A wide array of film critics have already given the Leonardo DiCaprio led movie five stars across the board, with one even hailing it as the best of its genre. Words like 'searing and 'masterpiece' were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket to the first screening. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives 'his best-ever performance', while The Guardian awarded five stars for a 'remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America'. Three cheers! Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon received a rapturous nine-minute standing ovation when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night (pictured) Smash hit: And as early reviews for the three and a half hour epic roll in, it's safe to say the iconic director's first ever Western will go down as a 'triumph' There were some dissenting notes, with The Times calling it 'a damp squib'. Scorsese unveiled Killers of the Flower Moon at Cannes, debuting a sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese's latest - starring DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro - is one of his most ambitious. Adapting David Grann's nonfiction bestseller, it stretches nearly three and a half hours and cost Apple $200 million to make. Nothing has been more anticipated at this year's festival than Killers of the Flower Moon - a bitter crime film and a Great Plains Western - which appeared to meet those expectations. It drew a lengthy standing ovation and repeated cheers for Scorsese, 80, who premiered his first film at Cannes since 1985's 'After Hours.' Addressing the crowd after the screening, he said: 'We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. It's taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us.' The red carpet drew a wide spectrum of stars. Along with the film's expansive cast, attendees included Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as actors Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Paul Dano and Isabelle Huppert. Reviews: Words like 'searing and 'masterpiece' were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket to the first screening Though Grann's book affords many possible inroads to the story, Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth center their story on Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio, in his seventh collaboration with Scorsese), a WWI veteran who falls for Mollie Brown (Gladstone), the member of a wealthy Osage family. The movie sees DiCaprio play alongside Scorsese's other long-time muse De Niro, and charts a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI It marks DiCaprio's first film on the big screen since 2019 Quentin Tarantino Flick Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. He also starred in 2021 film Don't Look Up which streamed on Netflix. Set in the 1920s, it centers on the FBI's investigation into a string of murders after several members of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma were slaughtered. Ouch! There were some dissenting notes, with The Times calling it 'a damp squib' Killers of the Flower Moon focuses on a little-publicized chapter of American history involving the Osage Nation. In the 1920s, the Osage tribe became wealthy almost overnight after oil was discovered beneath their land, earning them more than $30 million in annual revenue at the peak of the boom, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. Subsurface minerals within the Osage Nation Reservation were tribally owned and held in trust by the government. Mineral leases earned royalties that were paid to the tribe as a whole - with each allottee receiving one equal share also known as a headright. But these headrights could only legally be attained by outsiders if they married into the tribe. It was during this time that rancher William K. Hale, a native of Greenville, Texas, encouraged his subservient nephew Ernest Burkhart to wed Osage member Mollie Kyle (later Mollie Burkhart). After hours of waiting in the rain that has drenched the French Riviera town all week, fans went wild as the trio arrived for the premiere alongside several native Americans in traditional outfits. Plot: Scorsese unveiled Killers of the Flower Moon at Cannes, debuting a sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma Co-star Jesse Plemons arrived with his wife Kirsten Dunst, while Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire were also present. Based on a nonfiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio play a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage Indian and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle (De Niro). Killers of the Flower Moon was screening out-of-competition in Cannes. It is the first time Scorsese, who won the Palme in 1976 for Taxi Driver, has presented a film here since 1985, though he served as jury president in 1998. It is set to debut in limited theatres on October 6, with a wide release scheduled for October 20. Melissa McCarthy has become quite fond of Australia after spending time Down Under filming the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers in Byron Bay. And she was back in town this week, ahead of The Little Mermaid premiere in Sydney on Monday night. The Bridesmaids actress was looking chic in a boho ensemble as she headed to lunch at The Butler in Potts Point. The 52-year-old wore a ruffled maxi dress in a snake print which she cinched in at the waist with a wide, black leather belt. She kept things casual with a pair of black and white sneakers and added a pair of designer sunglasses. Melissa McCarthy (pictured) has become quite fond of Australia after spending time Down Under filming the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers in Byron Bay She was back in town this week, ahead of The Little Mermaid premiere in Sydney on Monday Melissa added to her accessories with a pair of petite hoop earrings and carried a tan envelope clutch. For makeup, she opted for a clean look with a slick of pale gloss, while pulling her brunette locks off her face in a sleek do. She recently shared her dream of moving to Australia permanently, after temporarily relocating Down Under to film two television shows during the Covid pandemic. The Life of the Party star also named her favourite Australian destination - Byron Bay. The Bridesmaids actress was looking chic in a boho ensemble as she headed to lunch at The Butler in Potts Point The 52-year-old wore a ruffled maxi dress in a snake print which she cinched in at the waist with a wide, black leather belt She kept things casual with a pair of black and white sneakers and added a pair of designer sunglasses The American actress is an ambassador for Booking.com and is currently promoting the website's Travel Sustainable badge, an award given to environmentally conscious hotels. 'My favourite travel destinations have given me so many wonderful memories, especially the time spent with family and friends immersing ourselves in the local culture,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'So I am a huge advocate for ensuring we preserve these special destinations (and all destinations) so that we continue to have a world worth exploring,' she added. The Hollywood star also shared some recommendations for her favourite places to stay in Byron Bay, including Cape Beach House, Cape Byron Retreat, and Buhwi Bira Byron Bay. Melissa added to her accessories with a pair of petite hoop earrings and carried a tan envelope clutch For makeup, she opted for a clean look with a slick of pale gloss, while pulling her brunette locks off her face in a sleek do She recently shared her dream of moving to Australia permanently, after temporarily relocating Down Under to film two television shows during the Covid pandemic Back in March 2021, Melissa told InStyle Magazine she'd fallen in love with Australia after filming Nicole Kidman's hit Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers in Byron Bay. 'I am connected to Australia in a way that I didn't anticipate. I could very easily live here for the rest of my life. I'm in love with it,' she said at the time. 'Everyone is so chatty. I'm a Midwestern gal who lives in L.A., where no one wants to talk to you. And here I'll be in the grocery store, and I can't go down a single aisle without talking to somebody. It's wonderful,' she added. Melissa also spent time in Byron Bay, Ballina and Lismore filming her new Netflix series God's Favorite Idiot in early 2021. Rylan Clark has announced he is stepping away from his BBC Radio 2 show for a few weeks to do 'other bits and bobs' this weekend. The news comes just hours after Phillip Schofield, 61, revealed he has has quit This Morning, with sources claiming he and 'feuding' Holly Willoughby have called a truce in a private chat with a deal which will ensure he gets a new solo-presenting gig. TV and radio host Rylan, 34, hosts his own show on Saturday from 3pm until 6pm, however the star revealed he won't be on air for the next few weeks. Revealing he would be taking time away from the show, Rylan told his listeners: 'This is where I should say ladies I won't be catching up with you next week. 'Because I am off to do some other bits and bobs so I'm not going to be here for a fair few weeks.' Something to share? Rylan Clark has announced he is stepping away from his BBC Radio 2 show for a few weeks to do 'other bits and bobs' this weekend He added: 'I just want to say whoever is looking after this seat for a fair few weeks can you please make sure you look after Couch Potatoes.' Rylan did not reveal the exact reason he will be taking time away, but it came very close after Phil shared his news about his future on This Morning. The former X Factor star has previously co-hosted the show with Holly and other presenters and is a valued member of the This Morning family. Rylan has a particularly close relationship with former Friday hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, who he refers to as his 'TV mum and dad'. It comes following reports Phillip believes he was 'hung out to dry' by This Morning bosses after he dramatically announced he was leaving the role on Instagram on Saturday, following his feud with co-host and former best friend Holly. The veteran presenter finally agreed to the network's ultimatum that he quit after 21 years hosting the daytime programme amid a fallout with his co-star - who is said to have told ITV she would leave if he remained on the show. He issued a pointed statement on social media thanking fans for their support, but failed to mention Holly at all, as sources say he told friends the channel has 'hung him out to dry'. Phil who was understood to have fled on holiday yesterday to visit his mother in Cornwall now has just 'tatters' of his friendship with Willoughby left after he failed to tell her about his brother's child sexual abuse case. New moves: The news comes just hours after Phillip Schofield, 61, revealed he has has quit This Morning, with sources claiming he and 'feuding' Holly Willoughby have called a truce in a private chat with a deal which will ensure he gets a new solo-presenting gig Not the first time! Rylan has a particularly close relationship with former Friday hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, who he refers to as his 'TV mum and dad' An ITV source told the Mirror: 'Phil's fate was decided on Friday. It was a unanimous decision that he had to go. 'He was upset, but firm that if he was going to walk away he wanted to keep his roles on The Cube, the British Soap Awards, and Dancing on Ice crucially, with or without Holly. 'It has all been worked out in the smoothest way possible, but behind the scenes he has told friends he has been hung out to dry. And his friendship with Holly is now in tatters. Moving on: It comes following reports Phillip believes he was 'hung out to dry' by This Morning bosses after he dramatically announced he was leaving the role on Instagram on Saturday, following his feud with co-host and former best friend Holly 'It is hard to see how it could recover. The fact he chose to pointedly thank people who supported him and the viewers without mentioning her says it all.' The once inseparable pair had increasingly grown apart in recent months, but the split became final after Mr Schofield failed to tell Ms Willoughby, 42, about his brother's child sex abuse trial. Phillip left the show after frantic meetings with his representatives and ITV's most senior chiefs. They agreed a trade-off in which he was promised he would be able to host a new show solo and that conversations around existing shows would continue, The Mirror reported. It is not clear exactly who will present the show tomorrow but it will be someone from the This Morning team. Elyse Knowles and her fiance Josh Barker have welcomed their second child. The model shared a video to Instagram on Sunday announcing the arrival of the little one - but did not disclose if they had a boy or a girl. 'Zaii Barker. To love and protect. 18th May,' Elyse wrote in her caption alongside a clip of the tot in a crib, explaining her baby was born a few days prior. The name Zaii is often used for baby girls, but some sources claim in Malaysian it means 'little boy', while other sources say it means 'reign' in Japanese. The former star of The Block announced that she was expecting her second child in January, sharing a series of photos of her growing baby bump. Elyse Knowles and her fiance Josh Barker have welcomed their second child. Pictured with their two-year-old son, Sunny The model shared a video to Instagram on Sunday announcing the arrival of the little one - but did not disclose if they had a boy or a girl The 30-year-old also posed alongside her son, Sunny, two, who she also shares with Josh. 'Very, very grateful for baby number two,' the model wrote excitedly in her caption. She further explained she was 'halfway' through her pregnancy, and that Sunny was excited to become a big brother. Elyse went on to document her growing baby bump on social media as her pregnancy progressed. 'Zaii Barker. To love and protect. 18th May,' Elyse wrote in her caption alongside a clip of the tot in a crib, explaining her baby was born a few days prior The name Zaii is often used for baby girls, but some sources claim in Malaysian it means 'little boy', while other sources say it means 'reign' in Japanese Josh and Elyse, who rose to fame when they were crowned winners of The Block in 2017, welcomed Sunny in February 2021. They announced the birth of their first child shortly after revealing they had secretly become engaged. The former reality stars moved from Melbourne to Byron Bay in 2019 seeking a quieter life. In May 2020 purchased a $2.3million beach house in the New South Wales coastal town, which they renovated. The former star of The Block announced that she was expecting her second child in January, sharing a series of photos of her growing baby bump alongside son Sunny Elyse went on to document her growing baby bump on social media as her pregnancy progressed Elyse revealed to Stellar magazine that she was crippled by anxiety following the birth of her son. 'I got quite anxious leaving home for the first time. My heart was racing. I didn't know if I could do it,' she told the publication. 'Having [Sunny], having our dogs and getting out there... And Sunny was screaming in the car and it made me quite scared.' 'I found it hard to breathe and I had to tell myself, "It's fine, what could go wrong? Everyone has babies... you just have to go for it," Elyse added. Josh and Elyse welcomed first child Sunny in February 2021. They announced the birth shortly after revealing they had secretly become engaged 'It took a couple of times to feel confident. But I'm not going to lie, it was hard at the start.' She also told Body+Soul Magazine that she and Josh avoid using mobile phones around Sunny. 'I don't want him picking it up. I don't want him playing on it at all,' the media personality said. Josh and Elyse have been together for nine years, and engaged for two, but are yet to marry. U.S. President Joe Biden, left, walks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of a working session on Ukraine during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a symbolic victory on the battlefield. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. "G7 reaffirmed our commitment to continue our strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also held one-on-one talks with several of the leaders. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the Russian claim that forces of the Wagner private army, backed by Russian troops, had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely bloodiest of the war. Asked if Bakhmut was still in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said he thought that Russian forces had finally taken the city. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place," Zelenskyy said, adding that the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of "dead Russians." U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package worth $375 million for Ukraine during his meeting with Zelenskyy, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That fresh pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. "We have Ukraine's back and we're not going anywhere," Biden said. Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the support, adding that "we will never forget." U.S. President Joe Biden holds a press conference at the conclusion of the G7 Summit, in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. Reuters-Yonhap Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. While Ukraine dominated the summit, the leaders of Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. And Biden sought to reassure world leaders that the U.S. would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan furthered efforts to improve ties colored by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims , many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, said a U.S. official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Yoon promised to provide South Korean demining equipment and ambulances to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war. He briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. "Zelenskyy's presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they can't," said Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, shakes hands with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, as they take part in the "G7 + Partner Countries + Ukraine" meeting on the sidelines of the final day of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. "The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor," he said. The G7 has vowed to intensify the pressure, calling Russia's assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community." The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the world's No. 2 economy. The leaders said they did not want to harm China and were seeking "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing, "recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China." They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and "support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace." China's Foreign Ministry for its part urged G7 members to "focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries." The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology." The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida lay flowers at the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb in the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, on the sidelines of the G7 nations' meetings in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday. Yonhap Maggie Beer is set to make a special guest appearance on The Great Australian Bake Off, after leaving the show last year. The celebrity chef, 78, revealed on Sunday she will return as a guest judge to share her expert culinary knowledge with the new contestants. 'Returning to the Bake Off set was a delight. The new team extended a warm welcome. It was exciting to see the talented contestants,' she said in a statement. 'The Bake Off is home to such positive energy and warmth, something that I am proud of having contributed to for the last five seasons.' New judge Darren Purchese added it was an honour to have Maggie return to the set. 'Being a Bake Off judge is a dream come true, and sharing this experience with Maggie is indeed special,' he said. The celebrity chef, 78, revealed on Sunday she will return as a guest judge to share her expert culinary knowledge with the new contestants Earlier this month, Maggie paid tribute to MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo who died on May 1. Beer said she was 'terribly shocked' to hear of the 46-year-old's passing, after she tragically lost her daughter at the same age. Sharing a photo of Zonfrillo in his chef uniform to Instagram, Beer captioned it with some heartfelt words. 'Returning to the Bake Off set was a delight. The new team extended a warm welcome. It was exciting to see the talented contestants,' she said in a statement Earlier this month, Maggie paid tribute to MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo who died on May 1. Pictured with MasterChef judges Andy Allen, Zonfrillo and Melissa Leong 'So terribly shocked and so very sad at Jock's passing,' she began. 'A truly unique creative chef with a big heart and big ideas will be so missed by many. My heart goes out to his family and friends. Maggie.' Tragically, Maggie's daughter Saskia also unexpectedly died in her sleep at the age of 46 in February 2020. The Great Australian Bake Off will premiere Tuesday, June 13 on Foxtel Victoria Beckham enjoyed a wild night out with her close friends in New York on Saturday. The 49-year old fashion designer took to her Instagram stories to share glimpses of her night out. In one of the pictures, Victoria held a phone to her ear and wrote, 'It's me Posh,' while another showed her holding up a peace sign with her fingers, channelling her Spice Girls era. In another photo, Victoria posed with a shot of tequila in her hand, while her friend Ken Paves made a goofy face drinking the beverage. She quipped in the caption: 'Yep it was one of those nights.' It's Posh on the line: Victoria Beckham enjoyed a wild night out with her close friends in New York on Saturday, sharing snaps on her Instagram of the fun evening A shot of NYC: In another photo, Victoria posed with a shot of tequila in her hand, while her friend Ken Paves made a goofy face drinking the beverage 'It's a wrap NYC!!! Great night out with my girls and @kenpaves,' wrote Victoria alongside another snap she posted. In an accompanying caption, the wife of David Beckham wrote her iconic tag line, 'kisses NYC.' Before the night out the former Spice Girl shared some snaps of herself looking very different with a short blonde pixie cut while getting glammed-up. Recently, Victoria revealed in a clip on her Instagram stories that her husband David, 47, who she has been married to for 24 years, has never seen her natural eyebrows. 'This is the first time I have ever let anyone see me without my brows on. Even my own husband never sees me without my brows on,' she confessed. Victoria admitted she is 'self-conscious' about her eyebrows, saying she feels the hairs are sparse after years of over-plucking. She said: 'It's just my thing, it's something I'm almost quite self-conscious about. Over-plucking has left me with quite gappy brows if you can see, a few missing either side. 'Like I said, too much plucking has really left me quite self-conscious about my brows to be completely honest.' 'I want you to see how gappy my brows really are, I have so many missing hairs. I have nothing on these brows at the moment, but you can see how much I have to fill them in and level them out.' Peace out: The 49-year old fashion designer took to her Instagram stories to share glimpses of her night out, which included a series of pictures of the gorgeous lady dressed up in an all black attire Night out: 'It's a wrap NYC!!! Great night out with my girls and @kenpaves,' wrote Victoria in another snap she posted They have jetted to Marbella to celebrate the marriage of their former co-stars and friends Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo this weekend. And during some downtime from the celebrations, Millie Mackintosh and her husband Hugo Taylor were seen kicking back by their hotel pool. The former Made In Chelsea star, 33, showcased her killer physique in a tiny brown bandeau bikini, which highlighted her ample assets. The skimpy two-piece displayed her washboard abs as she topped up her tan beside the pool during their romantic getaway. Millie was seen puckering up her lips and leaning in for a smooch with Hugo, 36, who is the father of their two daughters, Sienna, three, and Aurelia, 18 months. Holidaying: Millie Mackintosh and her husband Hugo Taylor were seen kicking back by their hotel pool in Marbella over the weekend Aw! Millie was seen puckering up her lips and leaning in for a smooch with Hugo, 36, who is the father of their two daughters, Sienna, three, and Aurelia, 18 months Millie wore her highlighted blonde locks loose before sweeping them up into a messy bun, while accessorising with a pair of fun shades. The mother of two styled her poolside look with an oversized white linen shirt and wore a pair of simple fan flip flops on her feet. Millie, who carried her essentials in a raffia beach bag, was busy tapping away on her phone and was listening to something through her Apple Airpods. Meanwhile, Hugo opted for a chic summer look as he sported a pair of printed shorts with a white linen shirt and a pair of circular sunglasses. The loved-up couple were among the guests at Sophie and Jamie's lavish second wedding on Saturday. They were spotted arriving at the luxury venue in Sotogrande in Andalusia, Spain, with a host of other star-studded guests ahead of the ceremony. Millie radiated summer chic in a light yellow maxi dress with a plunging neckline. The pair themselves married in July 2018 after a 12-year on-off romance. Celebrate good times! They have jetted to Marbella to celebrate the marriage of their former co-stars and friends Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo this weekend Woah! The former Made In Chelsea star, 33, showcased her killer physique in a tiny brown bandeau bikini, which highlighted her ample assets Hot stuff: The skimpy two-piece displayed her washboard abs as she topped up her tan beside the pool during their romantic getaway Beach babe: Millie wore her highlighted blonde locks loose before sweeping them up into a messy bun, while accessorising with a pair of fun shades Former Made In Chelsea stars Sophie, 29, and Jamie, 34, tied the knot in front of friends and family for the second time. The television stars, who got married in front of their loved ones at Chelsea Registry Office in London last month, wed in a grand ceremony after their legal ceremony The couple's NearlyWeds podcast Instagram account posted a video of the guests celebrating, and sweetly announced: 'We did it!!!!!!' Sophie looked sensational in an embroidered white wedding dress for her big day. Relaxation: Millie, who carried her essentials in a raffia beach bag, was busy tapping away on her phone and was listening to something through her Apple Airpods Love! Former Made In Chelsea stars Sophie, 29, and Jamie, 34, tied the knot in front of friends including Millie and Hugo The couple's NearlyWeds podcast Instagram account posted a video of the guests celebrating, and sweetly announced: 'We did it!!!!!!' She accessorised her look with a huge lace veil, which was held up by her bridesmaids. Plenty of their showbiz friends attended the big day, including Love Island's Zara McDermott, 26, was also in attendance with her boyfriend Sam Thompson, 30. Zara opted for a floor-length blue dress with a thigh-high split and ruffled detail. Former Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, 34, reunited with Jamie in Spain this week after Jamie failed to invite him to his UK wedding to Sophie in London last month. Inside look! The loved-up couple were among the guests at Sophie and Jamie' s lavish second wedding on Saturday (pictured the reception) Pals: Plenty of their showbiz friends attended the big day, including Love Island's Zara McDermott, 26, was also in attendance with her boyfriend Sam Thompson, 30 Poolside glam: The mother of two styled her poolside look with an oversized white linen shirt and wore a pair of simple fan flip flops on her feet Jennifer Lawrence cut a stylish figure as she attended the photocall for her new documentary Bread and Roses in Cannes on Sunday. The actress, 32, has produced documentary Bread and Roses, which explores the lives of three Afghan woman following the Taliban's takeover in Kabul. Jennifer put on an elegant display as she joined her co-producer Justine Ciarrocchi at the 76th annual Film Festival ahead of the documentary premiere. The Joy star wore a chic knit dress, which was backless and featured strappy detailing, teamed with a pair of heeled sandals and some diamond earrings from Alison Lou - the same jewelry designer behind her engagement ring. Jennifer wore her dark blonde hair in a low chignon and opted for a natural pallet of make-up, accentuating her pretty features. Sleek: Jennifer Lawrence cut a stylish figure as she attended the photocall for her new documentary Bread and Roses in Cannes on Sunday Big project: The actress, 32, has produced documentary Bread and Roses, which explores the lives of three Afghan woman following the Taliban's takeover in Kabul Bread and Roses is directed by Afghan Sahra Mani and captures the experiences of her country women living under the Taliban since they took control of Kabul. The film will later premiere as a Special Screening in the festival. The arrival of the militant political movement in Kabul in 2021 had a disastrous effect on women's rights in the country. They were immediately stripped of any right to an education as well as limits on employment and their access to public spaces. The tale of resilience is described as a 'a raw, un-sanitized depiction of the female plight in Afghanistan.' It particularly focuses on three women, who endeavour to recover their identity and autonomy as viewers see the experience through their eyes. Director Mani fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took power in the summer of 2021 and is living now in Europe. Elsewhere at the festival, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese were set for a victory lap after their crime epic, 'Killers of the Flower Moon' scored rave reviews, while the festival prepared to bow down before Jude Law as King Henry VIII. Details: Jennifer wore her dark blonde hair in a low chignon and opted for a natural pallet of make-up, accentuating her pretty features Team: Jennifer put on an elegant display as she joined her co-producer Justine Ciarrocchi at the 76th annual Film Festival ahead of the documentary premiere Plot: Bread and Roses is directed by Afghan Sahra Mani and captures the experiences of her country women living under the Taliban since they took control of Kabul Scorsese's latest opus, about a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s, was showered in words like 'searing', 'triumph' and 'masterpiece' by critics who scored the Cannes Film Festival's hottest ticket on Saturday night. Based on a non-fiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio as a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage woman and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle, played by Scorsese's other long-time muse, Robert De Niro. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives 'his best-ever performance', while The Guardian awarded five stars for a 'remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America'. But the festival was already set for another glitzy premiere later in the day, with 'Firebrand' starring Jude Law as 16th-century English king Henry VIII alongside Alicia Vikander as his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr. Tayla Winter has come out swinging at Channel Nine, claiming that during her time on Married At First Sight she was misrepresented and trapped in her hotel. The TV bride, who appeared on the 2023 season, told The Daily Telegraph she didn't recognise herself on the show due to the way she was edited. 'You prepare yourself for an unfavourable edit, however you still think you're somewhat in control of how you're portrayed,' she said. 'When context is removed, your audio is cut and pasted to create conversations,' Tayla went on. 'Your facial expressions and your reactions are something completely different to what actually happened'. Tayla Winter (pictured) has come out swinging at Channel Nine, claiming that during her time on Married At First Sight she was misrepresented and trapped in her hotel. Tayla also claims she was not allowed to leave Sydney's Sky Suites during portions of the filming schedule. 'For the first three days in Sky Suites, I was told I wasn't allowed to leave the apartment. I felt like I was going crazy,' she said. The 27-year-old claims she called her mother to tell her she was locked down in the hotel due to the 'controlled' filming schedule. 'She said, "Tayla you can leave, they can't physically hold you there,''' she explained. Among her allegations, the reality star says that producers asked her 'make certain facial expressions' that were then edited out of context. The TV bride, who appeared on the 2023 season, told The Daily Telegraph she didn't recognise herself on the show due to the way she was edited She also alleges that contestants were not protected from online bullying and harassment and was left 'gagged' as the network took control of the contestants' social media accounts. A Nine spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph that psychological support was on offer for all contestants. 'Nine also have an additional service for participants should they like or need further individual and confidential psychological support,' they said. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Channel Nine for further comment. In April, Tayla went rogue and allowed cameras into her Sydney hotel to film her at her most vulnerable just hours ahead of the series finale. Tayla also claims she was not allowed to leave Sydney's Sky Suites during portions of the filming schedule. 'For the first three days in Sky Suites, I was told I wasn't allowed to leave the apartment. I felt like I was going crazy,' she said. Pictured on the show In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Australia, the Hobart-based nurse opened up about her heartbreaking experience on the show, being isolated by her co-stars and the truth about the sexting scandal with Cam Woods. Sitting on her hotel bed makeup free, Tayla broke down as she revealed her anguish. 'I'm icing my face because I'm so swollen from crying all night,' she said through tears. 'This show, this experiment... I can't do it. It's cruel. My mind just doesn't feel like it's okay after it. 'I'm not an emotional person. I don't break down. What they've done is unreal. I don't how they can...' In April, Tayla went rogue and allowed cameras into her Sydney hotel to film her at her most vulnerable just hours ahead of the series finale Sitting on her hotel bed makeup free, Tayla broke down as she revealed her anguish. 'This show, this experiment... I can't do it. It's cruel. My mind just doesn't feel like it's okay,' she said Visibly distressed and fighting off a panic attack, Tayla confided, 'I just don't know what the storyline is that they're going for... and if everyone is gonna come for me about this stupid thing [alleged scandal with Cam].' She emphasised her strong moral compass and honesty throughout the show, even when it led to backlash. The star revealed that some participants would act differently on and off-camera, which left her feeling confused and betrayed. Tayla said the hardest struggle on MAFS was the manipulation and twisting of her words, leaving her feeling unable to trust anyone. 'That constant feeling of not knowing if I can trust anyone or say anything because it's going to get manipulated. And that's what happened to me a lot,' she explained. 'It was like completely taken out of context or like rumours would start from absolutely nothing. And it was hard because I just felt like I couldn't even project what I wanted to say half the time.' She attended the Bread and Roses photocall earlier in the day. And following a quick outfit change, Jennifer Lawrence was seen hitting the red carpet at the premiere for the documentary during Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. The American actress, 32, looked incredible in a dramatic red gown with a full skirt as she swept along the carpet in a show-stopping fashion. Jennifer's dress was strappy and sleeveless, aside from two lengths of fabric which draped over her arms like a shawl. She added a touch of sparkle to the look with a delicate diamond necklace. So glam! Jennifer Lawrence was seen hitting the red carpet at the premiere for the documentary Bread and Roses during Cannes Film Festival on Sunday Glowing: The American actress, 32, looked incredible in a dramatic red gown with a full skirt as she swept along the carpet in a show-stopping fashion The mother of one wore her blonde locks in a sleek, loose style and highlighted her pretty features with a soft pallet of make-up. Earlier in the day, Jennifer cut a stylish figure as she attended the photocall for her new documentary Bread and Roses in Cannes. Jennifer has produced documentary Bread and Roses, which explores the lives of three Afghan woman following the Taliban's takeover in Kabul. Jennifer put on an elegant display as she joined her co-producer Justine Ciarrocchi at the 76th annual Film Festival ahead of the documentary premiere. The Joy star wore a chic knit dress, which was backless and featured strappy detailing, teamed with a pair of heeled sandals. Jennifer wore her dark blonde hair in a low chignon and opted for a natural pallet of make-up, accentuating her pretty features. Bread and Roses is directed by Afghan Sahra Mani and captures the experiences of her country women living under the Taliban since they took control of Kabul. The film will later premiere as a Special Screening in the festival. Radiant: Jennifer's dress was strappy and sleeveless, aside from two lengths of fabric which draped over her arms like a shawl Lady in red! She added a touch of sparkle to the look with a delicate diamond necklace Beautiful: The mother of one wore her blonde locks in a sleek, loose style and highlighted her pretty features with a soft pallet of make-up Film: (4th L to R) Director Sahra Mani, Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrocchi and guestsattend the "Anatomie D'une Chut Here they are! The group posed for a snap while another photographer captured them from behind The arrival of the militant political movement in Kabul in 2021 had a disastrous effect on women's rights in the country. They were immediately stripped of any right to an education as well as limits on employment and their access to public spaces. The tale of resilience is described as a 'a raw, un-sanitized depiction of the female plight in Afghanistan.' It particularly focuses on three women, who endeavour to recover their identity and autonomy as viewers see the experience through their eyes. Director Mani fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took power in the summer of 2021 and is living now in Europe. Elsewhere at the festival, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese were set for a victory lap after their crime epic, 'Killers of the Flower Moon' scored rave reviews, while the festival prepared to bow down before Jude Law as King Henry VIII. Sleek: Jennifer cut a stylish figure as she attended the photocall earlier in the day Big project: She has produced documentary Bread and Roses, which explores the lives of three Afghan woman following the Taliban's takeover in Kabul Details: Jennifer wore her dark blonde hair in a low chignon and opted for a natural pallet of make-up, accentuating her pretty features Team: Jennifer put on an elegant display as she joined her co-producer Justine Ciarrocchi at the 76th annual Film Festival ahead of the documentary premiere Plot: Bread and Roses is directed by Afghan Sahra Mani and captures the experiences of her country women living under the Taliban since they took control of Kabul Scorsese's latest opus, about a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s, was showered in words like 'searing', 'triumph' and 'masterpiece' by critics who scored the Cannes Film Festival's hottest ticket on Saturday night. Based on a non-fiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio as a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage woman and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle, played by Scorsese's other long-time muse, Robert De Niro. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives 'his best-ever performance', while The Guardian awarded five stars for a 'remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America'. But the festival was already set for another glitzy premiere later in the day, with 'Firebrand' starring Jude Law as 16th-century English king Henry VIII alongside Alicia Vikander as his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr. Maura Higgins was pictured leaving a night out over the weekend with a hunky new man after partying at Marylebone's Chiltern Firehouse. The Love Island star, 32, was spotted with Chris Hemsworth's stunt double Bobby Holland Hanton as they headed home after the night out. In pictures obtained by the Sun, the glamorous reality personality was seen getting into a taxi with Bobby and heading off to a new location. Maura was looking incredible in a black belted blazer, which she teamed with a pair of knee-high boots. Meanwhile, Bobby looked handsome in a white striped shirt with a pair of dark-coloured trousers and white trainers. New man? Maura Higgins was pictured leaving a night out over the weekend with a hunky new man after partying at Marylebone's Chiltern Firehouse Hotting up? The Love Island star, 32, was spotted with Chris Hemsworth's stunt double Bobby Holland Hanton as they headed home after the night out Before jumping into a taxi together, onlookers told the publication that Maura and Bobby were seen chatting closely outside the venue. According to his website, Bobby has performed as a stunt double in 50 full feature films, working closely with Chris Hemsworth as his stunt double for 10 years. Speaking to Hit Mid North Coast's Krysti and Bodge in 2020 Bobby revealed what the Thor star is really like. The UK-based athlete told the Australian radio hosts that he has 'a great relationship' and 'understanding' with Chris. 'The actors I work with work really hard, especially Chris,' Bobby said. Bobby went on to reveal how Chris does most of the stunts, unless a dangerous move could see the actor risk an injury, leading to a delay in production. 'Chris will say, "Bob, you jump in and do this", because if Chris was to pick up an injury by doing it, it's not that he can't do it, it's if he picked up an injury by doing it, then it would mean the production would have to stop. 'That obviously costs a lot of money so it's a knock-on effect.' Home time? In pictures obtained by the Sun, the glamorous reality personality was seen getting into a taxi with Bobby and heading off to a new location Meanwhile, back in 2018, Bobby told Daily Mail Australia just how far he pushed himself while filming several Hollywood blockbusters. 'During [films] Green Lantern and Thor Ragnorak, I ruptured my [spinal] L4, L5, S1 discs which caused drop foot on both sides [an inability to lift the front part of the foot],' Bobby explained. He has also worked on films with Tom Cruise, Christian Bale, Harrison Ford, Robert Downey Jr, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Charlize Theron, Johnny Depp, and Leonardo di Caprio. Bobby began his career as a gymnast and competed as a National Squad Member and National Gold Medalist. In February, Maura appeared to have set her sights on a new man as she has been seen cosying up to an American toyboy while on holiday in Mexico. She was seen looking loved-up alongside 24-year-old Yisroel Solomon during a recent holiday to Tulum. Yisroel, from Los Angeles, is based in New York City and works as a transfers manager. He is also a licensed real estate agent and has a degree in marketing, according to his LinkedIn profile. Pals: According to his website, Bobby has performed as a stunt double in 50 full feature films, working closely with Chris Hemsworth as his stunt double for 10 years (pictured) He attended the private YULA Boys High School in Los Angeles where tuition costs $39,000 per year. The pair posed for an Instagram snap while in Mexico where Yisroel was seen giving Maura a kiss on the cheek as they wrapped their arms around each other. In another photo, Maura grinned from ear to ear as she cosied up to Yisroel while enjoying a glass of wine. It comes after the Irish beauty was pictured enjoying a very amorous moment with Joey Essex at the Pride Of Britain Awards in October. In January, Joey, 32, finally broken on his silence on their passionate clinch. Speaking to heat magazine, the reality star seemed to get himself in trouble with his PR when he began to open up about the moment. Asked what had happened with the Love Island star, Joey confessed: 'I don't know! I can't even remember.' He added: 'I mean all I remember is her tongue being down my throat to be honest!' at which point heat notes that his PR jumps in to wrap up the chat. During the glitzy Pride Of Britain event, Joey and Maura were seen getting close as they caught up at the Red Bar in London's Grosvenor House. An excited Maura could be seen smiling with her eyes closed as she leaned her head close to Joey's, while Joey was also seen edging closer to the beauty. Maura later joked about the encounter by licking pal Krystal Dawn's face, and teasing: 'It's how I greet people!' Steamy: Maura appeared to have set her sights on a new man as she has been seen cosying up to an American toyboy while on holiday in Mexico Cosy: She was seen looking loved-up alongside 24-year-old Yisroel Solomon during a recent holiday to Tulum She touched down in Cannes earlier this week for the 76th annual Film Festival And Irina Shayk proved just why she has such esteemed model status when she was spotted out about the French town on Sunday afternoon. The Russian model, 37, added a splash of colour to the pavement in a red and white check mini dress, that had sparkly silver buttons running up one side. A small slit on one side showed off her long pins and she teamed the whole look with a pair of black trainers and white ankle socks to add some edge. Irina wore her long brunette locks in loose and waves and opted for some oversized black shades. Stepping out: Russian model Irina Shayk proved her model status when she was spotted in a stylish red houndstooth mini dress on the streets of France after night at Film Festival Working it: Large sparkly buttons could be seen up one side of the dress whilst a small slit accentuated her enviable legs How it's done: The 37-year-old teamed the whole look with a pair of black trainers and white ankle socks along with a jacket draped over her shoulder to add some edge She carried a large black bag with rounded handles in one hand and draped a black coat over her shoulders to finish the ensemble. The outing comes just hours after Irina stepped out onto the red carpet at the glam film festival for the premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon where she looked enchanting in a very plunging navy semi-sheer netted gown. Irina wore a haute couture Giorgio Armani Prive gown with full skirt in crinoline, mesh and dotted tulle embroidered with crystals, and jewellery by Messika. Also spotted putting her best fashion foot forward on Sunday was Julia Garner. The Ozark star who was spotted kissing her co-star Marli Su earlier this month while shooting scenes for Apartment 7A - looked stylish as she made her way out of her hotel. The 29-year-old actress looked effortlessly cool donning a pair of black trousers and black top, with a black leather jacket. The Emmy-winning actress paired the ensemble with some gold jewellery, a patent black bag and oversized sunglasses after celebrating one of the film industrys biggest nights. Meanwhile model Petra Nemcova was snapped outside the Martinez hotel. Breathtaking: The night before Irina stepped onto the red carpet wearing a Giorgio Armani Prive gown with full skirt in crinoline, mesh and dotted tulle embroidered with crystals Cool as a cucumber: Ozark star Julia Garner looked effortlessly stylish on Sunday afternoon as as she made her way out of her hotel in Cannes Beaming: Czech model Petra Nemcova was all smiles as she was snapped outside her hotel Dressed down: Looking typically gorgeous she wore light wash jeans paired with pumps and a blazer Petra, 43, opted for a white scoop-neck t-shirt tucked into a pair of light wash jeans, with a black wrap around blazer, and a pair of pointed pumps. To accessorize, she went with a simple gold chain around her neck, a gold bracelet on one of her wrists, and a pair of sunglasses on her flawless visage. Her sun-kissed hair was slicked back and left down. For makeup, she went with a relatively clean face, most of which was covered by her sunglasses. All the women looked jaw-dropping in the series of ensembles, ranging from plain black to a bold carnival of colours. They were part of the star-studded Cannes Film Festival line up, which saw Killers of the Flower Moon receive a rapturous nine-minute standing ovation when it premiered on Saturday night. A wide array of film critics have already given the Leonardo led movie five stars across the board, with one even hailing it as the best of its genre. Ekin-Su Culculoglu has revealed that she 'loves' reading hateful comments online. The former Love Island star, 28, admitted that receiving messages from trolls has boosted her self-esteem. Consequently, she has learnt from it, labelling it a 'reverse psychology game'. Speaking to The Sun, she explained: 'When people criticise you, it makes you stronger. I like trolls and I like reading comments I'm not joking, I really love them. 'The more I see them, the more I want to be more confident. It is a reverse psychology game.' Candid: Ekin-Su Culculoglu has revealed that she 'loves' reading hateful comments online Ekin-Su has found herself at the centre of attention since appearing on the ITV reality show in 2022 where she ended up with Davide Sanclimenti. In their series of the show, the couple got together early in the show after Ekin-Su entered as a bombshell - but their romance was not without its ups and downs. One particularly stormy moment in the show saw Davide label Ekin-Su a 'liar and an actress' and dump her after she snuck a kiss with newcomer Jay. Even though they were unhappy with each other, they still flirted with each other a lot during the next episodes. Eventually, they found their way back together in a recoupling which saw Ekin choose Davide instead of Charlie Radnedge. Despite some other tricky situations and stolen kisses, Davide and Ekin-Su finally went official, going on to win their series of Love Island. It comes after Love Island's Indiyah Polack has revealed the truth about her co-star Ekin-Su and Davide's relationship following 'fling' rumours. Ekin-Su, who won the show with beau Davide, also 28, reportedly lashed out at a love rival in a foul-mouthed rant over her suspected fling with the Italian hunk. Confident: The former Love Island star, 28, admitted that receiving messages from trolls has boosted her self-esteem Drama: Ekin-Su has found herself at the centre of attention since appearing on the ITV reality show in 2022 where she ended up with Davide Sanclimenti The couple have since appeared to have overcome the rumours and jetted away on a holiday to Spain almost one year after they met in the Palma de Mallorca villa. Speaking in a new interview with The Sun Indiyah, 24, addressed Ekin-Su and Davide's recent drama. She revealed: 'Last week me and Dami were at Davide and Ekin's house, they are doing really well - every couple have their ups and downs but they are doing amazing.' 'They are back on track. Theyre not going to split,' Indiyah confirmed. Last month, Ekin-Su is said to have branded Harriet Wilson, 24, a 'f***ing s**g' after she accused her of sleeping with boyfriend. According to The Sun on Sunday, she is also said to have called the model 'disgusting' and fumed 'youre finished' in angry messages after finding texts from her on Davide's phone. The publication reports that the Turkish TV star also lashed out at a second woman, Phoebe Wintle, after also discovering her texts on his mobile. Ekin-Su's alleged outburst came after she returned from a trip to Belfast and had feared that Davide had hooked up with Harriet and Phoebe. In messages reportedly seen by The Sun on Sunday, Ekin-Su is said to have ranted: 'You f***ing s**g. Sleeping with my boyfriend! Disgusting. Why would you do that? Rumours: It comes after Love Island's Indiyah Polack has revealed the truth about her co-star Ekin-Su and Davide 's relationship following 'fling' rumours Busy: Ekin-Su who won the show with beau Davide, also 28, reportedly lashed out at a love rival in a foul-mouthed rant over her suspected fling with the Italian hunk 'You and Phoebe are gonna be shown to everyone slags. Pretending nothing happened. Just wait for it. You cow. Youre finished mate.' A source is said to have told the publication that Harriet was 'taken aback' by the Instagram messages, adding: 'What makes it worse is that they knew each other before this all kicked off. They continued: 'Harriet used to keep an eye on Davide for Ekin-Su on his nights out in Manchester and report back to her.' The couple headed off on a make-or-break trip to Amsterdam last week, and while Davide shared a snap of the beauty at breakfast, she failed to upload an image of him. Television personality Ekin-Su posted a number of cryptic social media messages, including a tweet which appear to mock Harriet's Instagram snaps. The post, which has since been deleted, read: 'No man will ever take u seriously with just half naked pictures of u in a bikini and lingerie'. Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender were the latest stars to bring some Hollywood glamour to the red carpet at Cannes on Sunday. The couple were attending the screening of Firebrand during the 76th annual Cannes film festival. Swedish native Alicia, 34, made sure all eyes were on her as she cut a glamorous figure in a custom-made Louis Vuitton ensemble. Alicia turned heads in the blush pink gown which featured silver jewels and sequins from the French luxury fashion house. She had her brunette tresses gathered away from her face in sleek half up half down do, with a soft pink lip and smokey eye look. Happy couple: Actress Alicia Vikander arrived on the arm of supportive partner Michael Fassbender for the Firebrand screening at Cannes Michael, who looked dapper in a black dinner suit and a matching bow tie She added a pair of round hoops to the glamorous ensemble, as she kept the rest of her accessories to a minimum. Meanwhile, her handsome husband Michael, 46, was also dressed to impress in a custom Louis Vuitton black tuxedo at the star-studded event. The Irish hunk teamed his outfit with a crisp white shirt and a black bow tie, rounding off his smart look with black shoes. The couple met in 2014 on the set of their film The Light Between Oceans, in which they played onscreen husband and wife. They later married in Ibiza in October 2017, and have since welcomed one child together a son named Mark, who was born in 2021. Earlier this year Michael participated in the European Le Mans Series - a car racing endurance series which took place in Barcelona, Spain. After he shared his passion for the sport, the owner of Dempsey Racing and former Le Mans driver contacted the heads of Porsche Motorsport Marketing and kickstarted Michaels racing career. Alicia and Michael, who currently live together in Lisbon, Portugal, are known for being notoriously private. Dreamy: The couple could be seen staring into one another's eyes as they posed on the red carpet while they rested their hands in the smalls of each other's backs Loved-up: The notoriously private couple looked in good spirits as they posed on the red carpet ahead of the Firebrand screening in which Alicia plays the lead Simply stunning: Alicia stole the spotlight in a sweeping, sequin embellished gown as she greeted onlookers on the French Riviera Telling the tale: Firebrand is based on the 2013 novel Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle, with the story focussing on Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, played by Alicia Directed by Karim Ainouz, Firebrand was receiving its first official screening as it plays in-competition for the prestigious Palm d'Or at this year's ceremony. A screenplay by Jessica and Henrietta Ashworth, Firebrand is based on the 2013 novel Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle. It focuses on the story of Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, who was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Alicia plays Catherine Parr, while Jude Law stars as Henry VIII. In May last year, Sam Riley was announced as Thomas Seymour, Eddie Marsan as Edward Seymour, Simon Russell Beale as Stephen Gardiner and Erin Doherty as Anne Askew. Filming for the movie started in April last year, with production taking place in Hadden Hall in Bakewell, Derbyshire until June. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a news conference at the Group of Seven (G7) nations' meetings in Hiroshima, western Japan, May 21. EPA-Yonhap Russia's Foreign Ministry on Sunday dismissed the G7 summit in Japan's Hiroshima as a "politicized" event that it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements and accused the forum of undermining global stability. Moscow lashed out after the leaders of the world's richest democracies said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, something Kyiv denied. In a statement posted on Telegram, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the G7 had "irreversibly deteriorated" and that the forum had become "an 'incubator' where, under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxons, destructive initiatives that undermine global stability are prepared". The statement accused the G7 of fanning anti-Russian and anti-Chinese "hysteria". Russia used to be a member of the G7 club of industrialized democracies, which was previously known as the G8, until Moscow was excluded after its the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy was present at the Hiroshima summit as a guest, an opportunity he used to encourage member nations to maintain arms supplies and diplomatic support for Kyiv amid its war with Russia, something Moscow still calls "a special military operation." The summit gave Zelenskiyy a chance to lobby for support from other attendees, like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil's Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have remained uncommitted. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in the same statement, accused the G7 of "flirting" with non-Western states in an effort to stymie the development of their ties with Moscow and Beijing. It said it was convinced though that the forum was incapable of reflecting the interests of the Asia-Pacific region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Latin America. (Reuters) Advertisement Jennifer Lopez put on a red hot show as she joined her husband Ben Affleck and their blended family at his youngest daughter Seraphina's school play in Los Angeles on Saturday evening. The 53-year-old Bronx native managed to upstage everyone involved by showing a lot of leg in a red-ruffled maxi-dress, matching purse, and patent leather platform heels. The 50-year-old actor opted for basic black attire as Jennifer strolled behind him with her 15-year-old son Maximilian and a pal wearing a tiara. Lopez shares Max and his fraternal twin Emme with her ex husband Marc Anthony. The Mother producer-star was also seen chatting away to her eldest stepdaughter Violet, who towered over her despite wearing flat sneakers. Affleck's ex wife Jennifer Garner also attended the performance, but her presence was decidedly more low key. The Alias star, 51, wore mom jeans, sneakers, a T-shirt and simple black jacket for her daughter's big night out. Family first! Two-time Grammy nominee Jennifer Lopez and her fourth husband, two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Ben Affleck, stepped out to attend his youngest daughter Seraphina's school play in Los Angeles on Saturday evening Leggy look: The 53-year-old Bronx native managed to upstage everyone involved by showing a lot of leg in a red-ruffled maxi-dress, matching purse, and patent leather platform heels Casual: Seraphina, 14, was joined by her famous mother, four-time Emmy nominee Jennifer Garner (L), who kept her look low-key in mom jeans, a black jacket and sneakers While Lopez and Garner weren't seen interacting, the singer certainly seemed at ease with Affleck's children. At one point, Lopez and the bespectacled 17-year-old affectionately wrapped their arms around each other in a show of just how close the blended family has become. Seraphina - sporting a jean jacket and red cargo shorts - triumphantly emerged from the theater holding two bouquets for her performance. Garner - who divorced Ben in 2018 after a decade of marriage - seemed equally excited to embrace Seraphina's gal pal, but there was no sign of their 11-year-old son Samuel. On May 11, Lopez opened up about how guilty she feels about the attention her children receive just by their nepotistic association to celebrity. 'They didn't choose that. And I haven't talked to them a lot about this, but they have just started letting me know how people treat them,' Lopez told Audacy. 'So when they walk into the room, that's what people are thinking about. They're not seeing them for who they are. And I think that has to be a really hard thing for them. So I would love to have been able to protect them from that.' The On My Way songstress continued: 'But also, I'm being judged. Everybody has to deal with being bullied. It doesn't matter who you are, you could get bullied. But being judged by people you don't even know in a way is I think really difficult for them to kind of grow up and be themselves. Focused on their kids: The Berkeley-born, Cambridge-raised 50-year-old opted for basic black attire as Jennifer strolled behind him with her 15-year-old son Maximilian Muniz (2-L) and a mystery girl wearing a tiara Their dad is perpetually on tour: Lopez mothered Max and his fraternal twin Emme Muniz (L) during her third marriage to Marc Anthony, which ended in 2011 after seven years Dressed for comfort: The Mother producer-star was also seen chatting up her eldest stepdaughter Violet (M), who towered over her despite wearing flat sneakers PDA: At one point, Jennifer and the bespectacled 17-year-old affectionately wrapped their arms around each other in a show of just how close the blended family has become Following in her parents' footsteps? Seraphina - sporting a jean jacket and red cargo shorts - triumphantly emerged from the theater holding two bouquets for her performance Amicable ex: The Texan-born, West Virginia-raised 51-year-old - who divorced Ben in 2018 after a decade of marriage - seemed equally excited to embrace Seraphina's gal pal, but there was no sign of their 11-year-old son Samuel 'They didn't choose that': On May 11, Lopez opened up about how guilty she feels about the attention her children receive just by their nepotistic association to celebrity Jennifer told Audacy: 'So when they walk into the room, that's what people are thinking about. They're not seeing them for who they are. And I think that has to be a really hard thing for them. So I would love to have been able to protect them from that' The On My Way songstress continued: 'But also, I'm being judged. Everybody has to deal with being bullied. It doesn't matter who you are, you could get bullied. But being judged by people you don't even know in a way is I think really difficult for them to kind of grow up and be themselves' Jen added: 'They know that there's a lens on them, and that's hard. Probably not a very relatable thing to say, because a lot of people don't understand it. And they're like, "Okay, so you're famous and your kids are blah blah, right?" But it is hard for them, I think, and I did that to them' Time has flown by! Lopez and Affleck - who previously dated between 2002-2004 - will celebrate their first wedding anniversary on July 16 Love story: The couple formerly known as 'Bennifer' started texting each other again in February 2021, two months before she ended her engagement to Minnesota Timberwolves co-owner Alex Rodriguez 'They know that there's a lens on them, and that's hard. Probably not a very relatable thing to say, because a lot of people don't understand it. And they're like, "Okay, so you're famous and your kids are blah blah, right?" But it is hard for them, I think, and I did that to them.' Lopez and Affleck - who previously dated between 2002-2004 - will celebrate their first wedding anniversary on July 16. The couple formerly known as 'Bennifer' were reportedly in contact again in February 2021, two months before she ended her engagement to Minnesota Timberwolves co-owner Alex Rodriguez. The Air director-star and his BFF Matt Damon are currently producing William Goldenberg's drama Unstoppable which stars Jennifer as Judy Robles, the tattoo-sleeved mother of one-legged champion wrestler Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome). The Emmy-nominated pop diva will next release her ninth studio alum This Is Me... Now on July 21, and at least nine of the 13 tracks appear to be written about Ben including 'Dear Ben Pt. II.' On November 18, Lopez wrapped the titular role in Brad Peyton's AI thriller Atlas - premiering later this year on Netflix - alongside Simu Liu and Sterling K. Brown. Collaboration: The Air director-star and his BFF Matt Damon are currently producing William Goldenberg's drama Unstoppable which stars Jennifer as Judy Robles, the tattoo-sleeved mother of one-legged champion wrestler Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) Hitting shelves July 21! The Emmy-nominated pop diva will next release her ninth studio alum This Is Me... Now, and at least nine of the 13 tracks appear to be written about Ben including 'Dear Ben Pt. II' 'We had a good time!' On November 18, Lopez wrapped the titular role in Brad Peyton's (L) AI thriller Atlas - premiering later this year on Netflix - alongside Simu Liu and Sterling K. Brown 'REUNITED Bruce and Arthur!' Audiences can next catch Affleck reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman opposite Jason Momoa (R, pictured July 28) in James Wan's long-delayed sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which hits US theaters on December 20 and UK theaters on December 29 'We had a good time,' Jennifer - who boasts 383.3M social media followers - said on Instagram Live at the time. 'This is a beautiful movie about the future, but it's also about letting people in.' The former Fly Girl also keeps busy running her cosmetics company JLo Beauty and Revolve clothing company JLo. And audiences can next catch Affleck reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman opposite Jason Momoa in James Wan's long-delayed sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which hits US theaters on December 20 and UK theaters on December 29. Lady Victoria Hervey continued to make sure all eyes were on her at Cannes Film Festival as she stepped out in yet another show stopping outfit. The socialite, 46, put on a very daring display in a shimmery purple dress, with a neckline that plunged to just above the navel as she left her hotel during the 76th Cannes Film Festival. The dress had cuts outs on the arms baring even more flesh and a racy thigh high split at the back. The blonde beauty wore her tresses in a half up bun and left the rest cascading down her shoulders in bouncy waves. As for glam, she opted for dark eyeshadow, a touch of blush, and subtle pink lipstick on her pout. Made you look: Lady Victoria Hervey continued to make sure all eyes were on her as she stepped out in yet another revealing outfit during Cannes Film Festival Baring all: The socialite, 46, flashed the flesh in a sparkly purple dress which had cut out sleeves, a thigh-high split at the back and a plunging neckline down to the navel Victoria accessorised her look with long sparkly rhinestone earrings. In one snap she was seen posing side on and revealing her unusual black heels, which had thick black bows on either side of her ankles. This isn't the first time Victoria has bared half her chest for a crowd of photographers though. The English TV personality who is the daughter of the late 6th Marquess of Bristol, has never been shy of injecting a bit of sass to her outfits. A number of times she has been spotted teasing major cleavage and drawing attention to her chest. The outing comes after Victoria attended the premiere of Killers Of The Flower Moon on Saturday night, which received a nine minute standing ovation. The film is an American epic Western crime drama film directed by Scorsese, with Leonardo Di Caprio serving as an executive producer. The upcoming movie, which is based on the best-selling 2017 non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, revolves around a series of Oklahoma murders in the 1920s, committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. Leggy lady: Her daring dress showed off her slender pins and and her strappy heels showcased her bright pink pedicure Stunning: The socialite slipped into the plunging figure-hugging piece adorned with glitter which shimmered as the sun caught it Looking good: Victoria wore her blonde locks in soft waves and opted for a dark make up palette to really stand out from the crowd The official synopsis reads: 'At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. 'The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. 'Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal.' Leonardo is joined by an all-star cast, which includes Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, 54, John Lithgow, 77, and Jesse Plemons, 35. Actress Lily Gladstone, 36, plays his on-screen love interest Mollie Kyle. Newly-single Toni Garrn showed off her impeccable style on Sunday as she attended the Firebrand premiere in Cannes. The German model, 30, made sure all eyes were on her in a figure-hugging brown dress, which featured a diagonal cut-out along her waist, accentuating her incredible figure all the more. The floor length Michael Kors gown included a high neck and a racy slit along her leg, as well as an asymmetrical sleeve. The beauty added inches to her enviable frame with a pair of silver strappy heels and showcased her toned pins. Toni wore a stunning palette of make up for the occasion, including a swipe of nude lipstick. Wow! Newly-single Toni Garrn showed off her impeccable style on Sunday as she attended the Firebrand premiere in Cannes She styled her blonde locks slicked back from a centre parting, accentuating her natural cheekbones. Accessorising, Toni wowed with silver drop earrings and a collection of stunning rings. The mother of one posed for a slew of snaps on the red carpet before heading inside to watch the highly- anticipated film. It comes after Toni announced she has split from her husband Alex Pettyfer. The model took to social media to share the news, admitting it was a 'very difficult' decision for the couple of five years. Since tying the knot in 2020 and meeting two years prior, the couple share a daughter Luca Malaika, who is set to turn two in June. The couple also decided to marry for a second time last year, saying I Do in front of their little one. Revealing the news, Toni shared to her 4.6M Instagram followers: 'Alex and I have made the difficult decision to divorce.' Gorgeous: The German model, 30, made sure all eyes were on her in a figure-hugging brown dress, which featured a diagonal cut-out along her waist, accentuating her incredible figure all the more Beauty: The floor length Michael Kors gown included a high neck and a racy slit along her leg, as well as an asymmetrical sleeve Incredible: The beauty added inches to her enviable frame with a pair of silver strappy heels and showcased her toned pins Jaw-dropping: Toni wore a stunning palette of make up for the occasion, including a swipe of nude lipstick Directed by Karim Ainouz, Firebrand was receiving its first official screening as it plays in-competition for the prestigious Palm d'Or at this year's ceremony. A screenplay by Jessica and Henrietta Ashworth, Firebrand is based on the 2013 novel Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle. It focuses on the story of Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, who was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. The project is Karim Ainouz's first directorial work in the English language. Firebrand was announced during the 2021 American Film Market, with Michelle Williams first due to star alongside Jude in the lead roles. However, Alicia later replaced Michelle as Catherine Parr in March 2022, while Jude plays Henry VIII. In May the same year, Sam Riley was announced as Thomas Seymour, Eddie Marsan as Edward Seymour, Simon Russell Beale as Stephen Gardiner and Erin Doherty as Anne Askew. Filming for the movie started in April last year, with production taking place in Hadden Hall in Bakewell, Derbyshire until June. All smiles: She styled her blonde locks slicked back from a centre parting, accentuating her natural cheekbones Dream team: Toni joined friend Jon Kortajarena for snaps on the star-studded carpet Details: Accessorising, Toni wowed with silver drop earrings and a collection of stunning rings Strike a pose: The mother of one posed for a slew of snaps on the red carpet before heading inside to watch the highly- anticipated film The official synopsis reads: 'In blood-soaked Tudor England, Katherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, is named Regent while tyrant Henry is fighting overseas. 'Katherine has done everything she can to push for a new future based on her radical Protestant beliefs. 'When an increasingly ailing and paranoid King returns, he turns his fury on the radicals, charging Katherines childhood friend with treason and burns her at the stake. 'Horrified and grieving, but forced to deny it, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival. Conspiracy reverberates through the palace. 'Everyone holds their breath for the queen to slip up, for Henry to take her head like wives before. 'With the hope for a future free of tyranny at risk, will Katherine submit to the inevitable for the sake of King and country?' This year's festival promises a Cote d'Azur buffet of spectacle, scandal and cinema set to be served over the next 12 days. It's unspooling against the backdrop of labor unrest. Protests that have roiled France in recent months over changes to its pension system are planned to run during the festival, albeit at a distance from the festival's main hub. Meanwhile, an ongoing strike by screenwriters in Hollywood could have unpredictable effects on the French Riviera festival. But with a festival lined with some much-anticipated big-budget films, including James Mangold's Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, the party is sure to go on, regardless. . Leonardo DiCaprio reunited with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese at the Killers of the Flower Moon photocall in Cannes on Sunday. The Hollywood actor, 48, cut a dapper figure in a brown suit jacket and matching trousers, teamed with a black shirt. Robert, 79, who recently announced the birth of his seventh child, donned a grey blazer and a beige polo top. Martin, 80, who directed the new film, stood out in a cream suit jacket and a blue shirt. Martin's Killers of the Flower Moon received a rapturous nine-minute standing ovation when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night. Outing: Leonardo DiCaprio reunited with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese at the Killers of the Flower Moon photocall in Cannes on Sunday Impressive: Martin's Killers of the Flower Moon received a rapturous nine-minute standing ovation when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night And as early reviews for the three and a half hour epic roll in, it's safe to say the iconic director's first ever Western will go down as a 'triumph'. A wide array of film critics have already given the Leonardo led movie five stars across the board, with one even hailing it as the best of its genre. Words like 'searing and 'masterpiece' were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket to the first screening. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives 'his best-ever performance', while The Guardian awarded five stars for a 'remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America'. There were some dissenting notes, with The Times calling it 'a damp squib'. Scorsese unveiled Killers of the Flower Moon at Cannes, debuting a sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese's latest - starring DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro - is one of his most ambitious. Adapting David Grann's nonfiction bestseller, it stretches nearly three and a half hours and cost Apple $200 million to make. Nothing has been more anticipated at this year's festival than Killers of the Flower Moon - a bitter crime film and a Great Plains Western - which appeared to meet those expectations. It drew a lengthy standing ovation and repeated cheers for Scorsese, 80, who premiered his first film at Cannes since 1985's 'After Hours.' Addressing the crowd after the screening, he said: 'We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. It's taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us.' The red carpet drew a wide spectrum of stars. Along with the film's expansive cast, attendees included Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as actors Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Paul Dano and Isabelle Huppert. Dashing: The Hollywood actor, 48, cut a dapper figure in a brown suit jacket and matching trousers, teamed with a black shirt Looking good: Robert, Martin, Lily Gladstone and Leonardo posed for a group snap Handsome: Leo added a pair of stylish shades to complete his look Dapper: Robert, 79, who recently announced the birth of his seventh child, donned a grey blazer and a beige polo top Fun: The actor put on an animated display while having his picture taken Dapper: Martin, 80, who directed the new film, stood out in a cream suit jacket and a blue shirt Plot: The movie sees DiCaprio play alongside Scorsese's other long-time muse De Niro, and charts a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI Career: It marks DiCaprio's first film on the big screen since 2019 Quentin Tarantino Flick Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. He also starred in 2021 film Don't Look Up which streamed on Netflix Successful: A wide array of film critics have already given the Leonardo led movie five stars across the board, with one even hailing it as the best of its genre Though Grann's book affords many possible inroads to the story, Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth center their story on Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio, in his seventh collaboration with Scorsese), a WWI veteran who falls for Mollie Brown (Gladstone), the member of a wealthy Osage family. Killers of the Flower Moon plot Set in the 1920s, it centers on the FBI's investigation into a string of murders after several members of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma were slaughtered. Killers of the Flower Moon focuses on a little-publicized chapter of American history involving the Osage Nation. Based on a nonfiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio play a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage Indian and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle (De Niro). Advertisement The movie sees DiCaprio play alongside Scorsese's other long-time muse De Niro, and charts a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI. It marks DiCaprio's first film on the big screen since 2019 Quentin Tarantino Flick Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. He also starred in 2021 film Don't Look Up which streamed on Netflix. Set in the 1920s, it centers on the FBI's investigation into a string of murders after several members of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma were slaughtered. Killers of the Flower Moon focuses on a little-publicised chapter of American history involving the Osage Nation. In the 1920s, the Osage tribe became wealthy almost overnight after oil was discovered beneath their land, earning them more than $30 million in annual revenue at the peak of the boom, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. Subsurface minerals within the Osage Nation Reservation were tribally owned and held in trust by the government. Mineral leases earned royalties that were paid to the tribe as a whole - with each allottee receiving one equal share also known as a headright. But these headrights could only legally be attained by outsiders if they married into the tribe. It was during this time that rancher William K. Hale, a native of Greenville, Texas, encouraged his subservient nephew Ernest Burkhart to wed Osage member Mollie Kyle (later Mollie Burkhart). After hours of waiting in the rain that has drenched the French Riviera town all week, fans went wild as the trio arrived for the premiere alongside several native Americans in traditional outfits. Leading man: Leonardo cut a dapper figure as he walked the red carpet for the premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon at the Cannes Film Festival wearing an Alexander McQueen suit Hollywood legends: Leonardo was joined by director Martin Scorsese, 80, and fellow cast member Robert De Niro, 79 Smile and wave: The trio signalled to the cameras and the crowds of adorning fans Smash hit: And as early reviews for the three and a half hour epic roll in, it's safe to say the iconic director's first ever Western will go down as a 'triumph' Co-star Jesse Plemons arrived with his wife Kirsten Dunst, while Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire were also present. Based on a nonfiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio play a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage Indian and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle (De Niro). Killers of the Flower Moon was screening out-of-competition in Cannes. It is the first time Scorsese, who won the Palme in 1976 for Taxi Driver, has presented a film here since 1985, though he served as jury president in 1998. It is set to debut in limited theatres on October 6, with a wide release scheduled for October 20. Bre Tiesi has revealed she doesn't need child support from her son's father Nick Cannon - who has twelve women with six women. The Selling Sunset star, 31, welcomed her baby boy, who is named Legendary Love, in June with Nick - who claims to makes about $100 million a year. Speaking on an episode of the new Netflix series, Bre explained: 'There's no legal agreement. We don't have any of that. I take care of myself.' 'If my son needs something or we do, I ask, that's all I have to do. I know he's a good dad and, like, Nick is not my sugar daddy.' Bre added: 'I've worked my ass off to be where I'm at. I did this all by myself. And of course, my son is even more of a motivation. I want to give him everything from me. Not from my partner.' Independent: Bre Tiesi has revealed she doesn't need child support from her son's father Nick Cannon - who has twelve women with six women. Following the airing of the episode, Bre's lawyer Neama Rahmani refuted Bre's statements to People: 'Nick, or any father, is obligated to pay child support under California law regardless of the number of children he has' Neama said: 'Courts consider the parents' income, the cost of child care, and the amount of time the child spends with each parent. Judges do not cap child support after a certain number of kids.' In the new Selling Sunset trailer, Bre was introduced by strutting her stuff in a string of glamorous, busty ensembles and promising to 'show the caliber of houses I can sell.' But it was her unconventional love life that drew attention from Chelsea, who said crisply: 'As a Christian, I find Bre's relationship rather off-putting.' Nick has 12 children with six different women, with five of them arriving in 2022 alone amid his open relationship with Bre. He has children with: Mariah Carey, LaNisha Cole, Brittany Bell, Bre Tiesi, Alyssa Scott, and Abby de la Rosa. 'Who I have children with is my business,' Bre defiantly said in the new trailer for Selling Sunset. 'I don't need a judge and a jury.' Family: The Selling Sunset star, 31, welcomed her baby boy, who is named Legendary Love, in June with Nick - who claims to makes about $100 million a year Baby time: He welcomed his eighth child, Legendary Love, with Bre on June 28 At one point Bre said of one of her co-stars, who remained unnamed in the trailer: 'She just can't take accountability for what comes out of her mouth.' Even early on in the trailer, as Bre is being introduced, Chelsea was seen to remark: 'People say there's something alluring about mystery. I can't stand it.' Chelsea throughout the trailer remained open about her judgements of the way her castmates on Selling Sunset conduct themselves. 'Over lies, over falseness, over things that I don't understand or agree with, that's what triggers me,' Chelsea declared. First rumblings that Cannon was expecting an eighth child with Bre came in January of last year before she was a Selling Sunset cast member. The couple was spotted attending a gender reveal to celebrate the news that they were having a baby boy. Bre revealed in a candid post that their baby had arrived in an 'all natural unmedicated home birth', while heaping praise on Nick for 'showing the f up' and being 'an amazing and supportive partner'. 'I did it,' she wrote, while sharing several black-and-white photos taken during her labor and birth. 'An all natural unmedicated home birth.' Ready to rock: The trailer introduced Bre strutting her stuff in a string of glamorous, busty ensembles and promising to 'show the caliber of houses I can sell' She added, 'Daddy showed the f up for us... I couldnt [have] done it without you. I cant believe hes here.' Images taken during the birth show Nick caring for his partner during her labor, even taking a bath with her at one point, possibly to try and ease her contraction pain. A photo of the proud mom and dad with their newborn baby also shows Nick cutting their son's umbilical chord, while wrapping a protective arm around his son and partner Bre, who also shared video footage from her birth on YouTube. Bre documented her experience of labor in a YouTube video and shared clips of herself trying to work through the pain of her contractions and impending delivery - with Nick by her side the whole time. The Hollywood cavalcade descended on Cannes Saturday for the premiere of Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's Native American crime epic, 'Killers of the Flower Moon' which received rave reviews. The three-and-a-half-hour movie sees DiCaprio play alongside Scorsese's other long-time muse Robert De Niro, and charts a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI. After hours of waiting in the rain that has drenched the French Riviera town all week, fans went wild as the trio arrived for the premiere alongside several native Americans in traditional outfits. Co-star Jesse Plemons arrived with his wife Kirsten Dunst, while Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire were also present. Dicaprio's performance in particular in the latest Scorsese epic has received positive reviews Scorsese joned longtime collaborator Robert De Niro on the red carpet at Cannes Based on a nonfiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio play a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage Indian and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle (De Niro). Words like 'searing', 'triumph' and 'masterpiece' were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives 'his best-ever performance', while The Guardian awarded five stars for a 'remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America'. There were some dissenting notes, with The Times calling it 'a damp squib' and Little White Lies saying Scorsese 'guts the story of anything that might sully the high seriousness of the subject matter'. - Frontrunners - 'Killers of the Flower Moon', funded by Apple, was screening out-of-competition in Cannes. It is the first time the 80-year-old Scorsese, who won the Palme in 1976 for 'Taxi Driver', has presented a film here since 1985's lesser-known 'After Hours', though he served as jury president in 1998. Elsewhere, the race for the festival's top prize Palme d'Or was heating up. More Hollywood royalty walked the red carpet for Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's new film 'May December,' which looks at the relationship between an older woman and a schoolboy, still married years after their relationship became a tabloid scandal. Natalie Portman stars in competition entry 'May December' An early front-runner is British director Jonathan Glazer's 'The Zone of Interest', a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Critics were near-unanimous in their praise, Variety calling it 'chilling and profound, meditative and immersive, a movie that holds human darkness up to the light and examines it as if under a microscope'. It was partly inspired by a book of the same name by British novelist Martin Amis, who died on Saturday at 73. Also well received was 'Four Daughters', a heartbreaking documentary about radicalisation within a Tunisian family that is both inventive and engaging. That may go down well with jury president Ruben Ostlund, last year's winner for 'Triangle of Sadness', who likes his arthouse films with some lighter touches. A total of 21 films are in the main competition, which concludes on May 27, including previous winners such as Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda, Germany's Wim Wenders and Britain's Ken Loach. - Ageing icons - The weather has been untypically wet this year, but Cannes has had no shortage of splashy moments since kicking off on Tuesday with the controversial appearance of Johnny Depp, playing French king Louis XV in 'Jeanne du Barry'. The festival saw an emotional appearance from Harrison Ford, receiving an honorary Palme d'Or at the world premiere of 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'. And at the risk of turning the event into a festival of ageing Hollywood males, there was also an honorary Palme for Michael Douglas, and an appearance from Sean Penn as a grizzled New York paramedic in 'Black Flies'. In a move that would make the decentralised renewable energy (DRE) livelihood applications such as solar dryer, solar or biomass powered cold storage/chiller, solar charkha, etc affordable, the Government is mooting a mechanism wherein banks will dole out finance for purchase of such solutions which are not only energy efficient but also economically viable. If a family wants to own a solar dryer, they should be able to get financing from the banks we will work towards it. Manufacturers and users of DRE for livelihoods are pioneers and now the government will scale it up to the next level, said Union Power Minister RK Singh at the national summit on powering sustainable livelihoods held recently. He said that a new scheme for distributed applications of renewable energy (RE) is on anvil. There is already major work happening on the ground and our scheme could benefit lakhs of families across the country. However, for that government will, however, need large scale-manufacturing and standardising of distributed applications of RE to lower prices and expand the sector. We have seen the potential of grid-scale solar power; India will scale up distributed applications of renewable energy for livelihoods. Just like we have a large programme on rooftop solar and solar irrigation, we will create a large programme for DRE livelihoods, said Singh. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Adient (NYSE:ADNT Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday. ADNT has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Adient from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Adient from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Wolfe Research cut Adient from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Adient from $54.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Adient from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Adient currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.43. Get Adient alerts: Adient Stock Down 1.6 % Shares of NYSE ADNT opened at $35.44 on Wednesday. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $37.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.05. The company has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 295.33 and a beta of 2.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Adient has a 12-month low of $27.15 and a 12-month high of $47.50. Institutional Trading of Adient Adient ( NYSE:ADNT Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $3.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. Adient had a return on equity of 4.99% and a net margin of 0.08%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.13) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Adient will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Adient by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the companys stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Adient by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 27,890 shares of the companys stock valued at $968,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. FourThought Financial LLC increased its stake in Adient by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. FourThought Financial LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the companys stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in Adient by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 24,156 shares of the companys stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Adient by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 42,962 shares of the companys stock worth $1,760,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. 93.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Adient Company Profile (Get Rating) Adient plc manufactures automotive seating systems. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, EMEA, and Asia. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Plymouth, MI. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Adient Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Adient and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AECOM (NYSE:ACM Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning. Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of AECOM from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AECOM from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of AECOM from $103.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AECOM from $94.00 to $102.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $99.00. Get AECOM alerts: AECOM Trading Down 0.7 % Shares of ACM opened at $79.28 on Wednesday. AECOM has a twelve month low of $60.74 and a twelve month high of $92.16. The company has a market cap of $11.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $81.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.85. AECOM Dividend Announcement AECOM ( NYSE:ACM Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The construction company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.38 billion. AECOM had a net margin of 2.75% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AECOM will post 3.69 EPS for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 5th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 4th. AECOMs payout ratio is currently 27.17%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On AECOM Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AECOM by 693.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 242,706 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $16,594,000 after purchasing an additional 212,131 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in AECOM by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,077 shares of the construction companys stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in AECOM by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 37,435 shares of the construction companys stock worth $3,179,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in AECOM by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 8,675 shares of the construction companys stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in AECOM by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,093 shares of the construction companys stock worth $772,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. 84.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About AECOM (Get Rating) AECOM engages in the design, manufacture, financing, and operation of infrastructure assets for governments, businesses and organizations. It operates through the following segments: Americas, International, and AECOM Capital. The Americas segment deals with planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design and construction management services to commercial and government clients in the United States, Canada and Latin America in major end markets such as transportation, water, government, facilities, environmental and energy. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for AECOM Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AECOM and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Chesnara plc (LON:CSN Get Rating) insider David Rimmington sold 30,153 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 276 ($3.46), for a total value of 83,222.28 ($104,249.38). Chesnara Trading Up 2.1 % Shares of Chesnara stock opened at GBX 286 ($3.58) on Friday. The companys fifty day simple moving average is GBX 284.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 284.02. The company has a market cap of 430.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -440.00 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 9.18, a quick ratio of 38.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 64.01. Chesnara plc has a 1 year low of GBX 259 ($3.24) and a 1 year high of GBX 334.40 ($4.19). Get Chesnara alerts: Chesnara Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 6th will be paid a GBX 15.16 ($0.19) dividend. This is an increase from Chesnaras previous dividend of $8.12. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.42%. Chesnaras dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -4,615.38%. About Chesnara Chesnara plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the life assurance and pension businesses primarily in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Sweden. It operates through CA, Movestic, Waard Group, and Scildon segments. The company underwrites life risks, such as death, disability, health, and accident; and provides a portfolio of investment contracts for the savings and retirement needs of customers through asset management, as well as general insurance products. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Chesnara Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chesnara and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Holly Energy Partners (NYSE:HEP Get Rating) in a report released on Wednesday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the pipeline companys stock. Separately, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Holly Energy Partners from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Get Holly Energy Partners alerts: Holly Energy Partners Trading Up 0.2 % Holly Energy Partners stock opened at $17.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Holly Energy Partners has a one year low of $15.12 and a one year high of $20.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 0.90. The businesss fifty day moving average is $17.06 and its 200 day moving average is $18.05. Holly Energy Partners Dividend Announcement Holly Energy Partners ( NYSE:HEP Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. Holly Energy Partners had a return on equity of 24.44% and a net margin of 39.39%. The business had revenue of $143.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $124.62 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Holly Energy Partners will post 2.06 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 1st were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 28th. Holly Energy Partnerss payout ratio is 79.10%. Institutional Trading of Holly Energy Partners A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HEP. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC increased its stake in Holly Energy Partners by 246.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 1,797 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Holly Energy Partners during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Credit Suisse AG bought a new position in shares of Holly Energy Partners during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 4,787 shares of the pipeline companys stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Holly Energy Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $170,000. Institutional investors own 25.30% of the companys stock. About Holly Energy Partners (Get Rating) Holly Energy Partners LP engages in the business of operating a system of petroleum product and crude pipelines, storage tanks, distribution terminals, and loading rack facilities. It operates through the Pipelines and Terminals, and Refinery Processing Unit segments. The Pipelines and Terminals segment includes petroleum products, crude pipelines and terminal, tankage, and loading rack facilities. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Holly Energy Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Holly Energy Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Coca-Cola HBC AG (LON:CCH Get Rating) insider Zoran Bogdanovic bought 167 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 2,572 ($32.22) per share, for a total transaction of 4,295.24 ($5,380.48). Zoran Bogdanovic also recently made the following trade(s): Get Coca-Cola HBC alerts: On Monday, April 17th, Zoran Bogdanovic purchased 183 shares of Coca-Cola HBC stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 2,345 ($29.37) per share, for a total transaction of 4,291.35 ($5,375.61). On Thursday, March 30th, Zoran Bogdanovic sold 35,000 shares of Coca-Cola HBC stock. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,230 ($27.93), for a total value of 780,500 ($977,702.62). On Wednesday, March 22nd, Zoran Bogdanovic sold 28,408 shares of Coca-Cola HBC stock. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,192 ($27.46), for a total value of 622,703.36 ($780,036.78). On Thursday, March 16th, Zoran Bogdanovic bought 206 shares of Coca-Cola HBC stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 2,109 ($26.42) per share, for a total transaction of 4,344.54 ($5,442.24). On Friday, February 24th, Zoran Bogdanovic sold 30,000 shares of Coca-Cola HBC stock. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,145 ($26.87), for a total value of 643,500 ($806,087.94). On Tuesday, February 21st, Zoran Bogdanovic sold 7,267 shares of Coca-Cola HBC stock. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 2,090 ($26.18), for a total value of 151,880.30 ($190,254.67). On Friday, February 17th, Zoran Bogdanovic bought 206 shares of Coca-Cola HBC stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 2,071 ($25.94) per share, for a total transaction of 4,266.26 ($5,344.18). Coca-Cola HBC Stock Performance LON:CCH opened at GBX 2,538 ($31.79) on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 2,341.72 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 2,119.39. The company has a market cap of 9.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,563.64, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 101.01, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.24. Coca-Cola HBC AG has a fifty-two week low of GBX 1,660.50 ($20.80) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 2,582 ($32.34). Coca-Cola HBC Increases Dividend Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be given a dividend of 0.78 ($0.85) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.67%. This is an increase from Coca-Cola HBCs previous dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 25th. Coca-Cola HBCs dividend payout ratio is presently 6,969.70%. A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CCH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a neutral rating and set a GBX 2,200 ($27.56) target price on shares of Coca-Cola HBC in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Coca-Cola HBC from GBX 2,580 ($32.32) to GBX 2,545 ($31.88) and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a GBX 2,800 ($35.07) price objective on shares of Coca-Cola HBC in a report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Numis Securities reaffirmed an add rating and issued a GBX 2,200 ($27.56) price objective on shares of Coca-Cola HBC in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a GBX 2,270 ($28.44) price objective on shares of Coca-Cola HBC in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of GBX 2,452.50 ($30.72). Coca-Cola HBC Company Profile (Get Rating) Coca-Cola HBC AG engages in the production, distribution, and sale of non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages worldwide. The company offers sparkling soft drinks, hydration drinks, juices, ready-to-drink tea, energy drinks, coffee, water, plant-based drinks, premium spirits and flavored alcoholic beverages, and snacks. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Coca-Cola HBC Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Coca-Cola HBC and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY Get Rating) (NYSE:RY) National Bank Financial lowered their Q2 2023 EPS estimates for Royal Bank of Canada in a report issued on Wednesday, May 17th. National Bank Financial analyst G. Dechaine now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $2.88 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.98. The consensus estimate for Royal Bank of Canadas current full-year earnings is $11.55 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Royal Bank of Canadas Q3 2023 earnings at $2.96 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $2.84 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $11.78 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $12.82 EPS. Get Royal Bank of Canada alerts: Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY Get Rating) (NYSE:RY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The financial services provider reported C$3.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$2.92 by C$0.13. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 29.76% and a return on equity of 14.23%. The company had revenue of C$15.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$13.07 billion. Royal Bank of Canada Stock Down 0.6 % Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on RY. Barclays cut shares of Royal Bank of Canada from an overweight rating to an underperform rating and cut their price target for the company from C$151.00 to C$124.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. CIBC cut shares of Royal Bank of Canada from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and cut their price target for the company from C$147.00 to C$142.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. National Bankshares cut their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$145.00 to C$142.00 in a report on Thursday. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$153.00 to C$151.00 in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, CSFB cut their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$151.00 to C$149.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$142.20. Shares of TSE RY opened at C$127.19 on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada has a 52 week low of C$116.75 and a 52 week high of C$140.18. The firms fifty day moving average is C$130.68 and its 200 day moving average is C$132.33. The company has a market cap of C$176.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10, a PEG ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.74. Royal Bank of Canada Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $1.32 per share. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canadas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.24%. Insider Activity at Royal Bank of Canada In other Royal Bank of Canada news, Director David Ian Mckay sold 4,130 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$136.88, for a total transaction of C$565,320.60. About Royal Bank of Canada (Get Rating) Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company. The company operates through five segments: Personal & Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Insurance, Investor & Treasury, and Capital Markets. The Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions, as well as indirect lending, including auto financing; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Royal Bank of Canada Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Royal Bank of Canada and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Jefferies Financial Group restated their buy rating on shares of Shell (LON:SHEL Get Rating) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a GBX 3,000 ($37.58) target price on the stock. Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada set a GBX 2,900 ($36.33) target price on Shell in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an overweight rating and set a GBX 2,950 ($36.95) target price on shares of Shell in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Shell from GBX 3,200 ($40.09) to GBX 3,100 ($38.83) and set a top pick rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Credit Suisse Group restated a top pick rating on shares of Shell in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Shell from GBX 2,987 ($37.42) to GBX 2,854 ($35.75) in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of GBX 2,875.82 ($36.02). Get Shell alerts: Shell Price Performance LON SHEL opened at GBX 2,409 ($30.18) on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of 164.53 billion, a PE ratio of 501.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.54, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.47. The businesss fifty day moving average is GBX 2,377.78 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 2,397.42. Shell has a fifty-two week low of GBX 1,908.60 ($23.91) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 2,613.50 ($32.74). Shell Announces Dividend Insider Transactions at Shell The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.99%. Shells dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 1,916.67%. In other news, insider Wael Sawan bought 7,213 shares of Shell stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 2,482 ($31.09) per share, with a total value of 179,026.66 ($224,259.88). Insiders own 0.06% of the companys stock. Shell Company Profile (Get Rating) Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver gas to market. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Shell Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Shell and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 32,013 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,239,000. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Conagra Brands by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,457,547 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,842,209,000 after purchasing an additional 640,197 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Conagra Brands by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,151,241 shares of the companys stock valued at $788,055,000 after purchasing an additional 401,379 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Conagra Brands by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,716,615 shares of the companys stock valued at $292,616,000 after purchasing an additional 841,538 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Conagra Brands by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,387,795 shares of the companys stock valued at $273,694,000 after purchasing an additional 57,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Conagra Brands by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,009,966 shares of the companys stock valued at $228,735,000 after purchasing an additional 897,524 shares during the last quarter. 81.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Conagra Brands alerts: Conagra Brands Price Performance NYSE CAG traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $35.84. The companys stock had a trading volume of 4,016,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,133,816. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.56. Conagra Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.01 and a 1-year high of $41.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The companys 50-day moving average is $37.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.22. Conagra Brands Dividend Announcement Conagra Brands ( NYSE:CAG Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 5th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.08 billion. Conagra Brands had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 6.59%. Conagra Brandss quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Conagra Brands, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. Conagra Brandss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.04%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Conagra Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set a hold rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Conagra Brands from $35.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on Conagra Brands from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, March 31st. StockNews.com cut Conagra Brands from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Conagra Brands from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $41.00. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Conagra Brands news, COO Thomas M. Mcgough sold 45,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.66, for a total transaction of $1,739,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 104,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,053,848.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Conagra Brands news, EVP Charisse Brock sold 7,036 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.04, for a total transaction of $260,613.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,511,466.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Thomas M. Mcgough sold 45,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.66, for a total value of $1,739,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 104,859 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,053,848.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Conagra Brands Company Profile (Get Rating) Conagra Brands, Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of processed and packaged foods. It operates through the following segments: Grocery and Snacks, Refrigerated and Frozen, International, and Foodservice. The Grocery and Snacks segment includes branded, shelf stable food products sold in various retail channels in the United States. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CAG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Conagra Brands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Conagra Brands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sandy Spring Bank lifted its holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE Get Rating) by 364.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,157 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after purchasing an additional 4,830 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Banks holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities were worth $897,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ARE. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 8.6% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 4,377 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 242.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,499 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $906,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 14.4% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 4,753 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 11.7% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,903 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 7.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.81% of the companys stock. Get Alexandria Real Estate Equities alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research analysts recently weighed in on ARE shares. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $155.00 to $144.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $180.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $198.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. StockNews.com raised Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $164.00. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Trading Down 0.9 % Shares of NYSE ARE opened at $115.80 on Friday. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.94 and a 12 month high of $172.65. The company has a market cap of $20.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.42. Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.15 by ($1.71). The company had revenue of $700.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $686.70 million. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a net margin of 28.01% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 8.95 EPS for the current year. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Investors of record on Friday, March 31st were paid a $1.21 dividend. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. Alexandria Real Estate Equitiess dividend payout ratio is currently 106.84%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, Chairman Joel S. Marcus sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 351,354 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $42,935,458.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the companys stock. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Company Profile (Get Rating) Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc engages in the business of providing space for lease. The firm is also an owner, operator, and developer of life science, agrotechnology, and technology campuses in Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ARE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Alexandria Real Estate Equities Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alexandria Real Estate Equities and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the pipeline companys stock. A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Capital One Financial reaffirmed an equal weight rating on shares of Antero Midstream in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Antero Midstream from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Antero Midstream in a research note on Wednesday, May 10th. They set a buy rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Antero Midstream currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $12.33. Get Antero Midstream alerts: Antero Midstream Price Performance AM stock opened at $10.69 on Thursday. Antero Midstream has a one year low of $8.56 and a one year high of $11.61. The companys fifty day moving average price is $10.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49 and a beta of 2.36. Antero Midstream Dividend Announcement Antero Midstream ( NYSE:AM Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. Antero Midstream had a net margin of 34.62% and a return on equity of 17.56%. The firm had revenue of $241.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $235.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Antero Midstream will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th were paid a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.42%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 25th. Antero Midstreams dividend payout ratio is currently 130.43%. Insider Activity In other news, Director David H. Keyte bought 10,000 shares of Antero Midstream stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $10.01 per share, with a total value of $100,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 79,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $794,523.73. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Michael N. Kennedy sold 300,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.47, for a total value of $3,141,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,060,730 shares in the company, valued at $11,105,843.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David H. Keyte purchased 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.01 per share, for a total transaction of $100,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 79,373 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $794,523.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.80% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AM. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Antero Midstream by 58.7% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 33,613 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,431 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Antero Midstream by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 99,908 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 10,513 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Antero Midstream by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 76,529 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $829,000 after acquiring an additional 13,493 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Antero Midstream during the 1st quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Antero Midstream by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 171,400 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $1,889,000 after acquiring an additional 18,435 shares in the last quarter. 52.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About Antero Midstream (Get Rating) Antero Midstream Corp. is a growth-oriented midstream energy company, which owns, operates, and develops midstream energy assets to service Antero Resources production and completion activity. It operates through the Gathering and Processing and Water Handling segments. The Gathering and Processing segment includes a network of gathering pipelines and compressor stations that collect and process production from Antero Resources wells in West Virginia and Ohio. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Antero Midstream Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Antero Midstream and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM Get Rating) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,998 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 3,161 shares during the period. Exxon Mobil makes up approximately 0.9% of Berkeley Capital Partners LLCs holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Berkeley Capital Partners LLCs holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $2,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 7,909 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Income Solutions Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 1st quarter valued at about $275,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 318.8% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 17,163 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 13,065 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC increased its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 15,843 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 7,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the 1st quarter valued at about $237,000. Institutional investors own 57.49% of the companys stock. Get Exxon Mobil alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on XOM shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $118.00 to $122.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $136.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $128.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Scotiabank lowered shares of Exxon Mobil from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Exxon Mobil from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $144.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $125.30. Exxon Mobil Trading Up 0.5 % XOM traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $106.26. The company had a trading volume of 13,359,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,519,954. The stock has a market cap of $429.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.19, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.72. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 52 week low of $80.69 and a 52 week high of $119.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The oil and gas company reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.18. Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 31.48% and a net margin of 15.06%. The company had revenue of $86.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Exxon Mobils revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 9.64 EPS for the current fiscal year. Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 15th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Exxon Mobils dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.64%. Insider Transactions at Exxon Mobil In other news, VP Darrin L. Talley sold 2,500 shares of Exxon Mobil stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.11, for a total transaction of $290,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,272 shares in the company, valued at $3,398,771.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the companys stock. About Exxon Mobil (Get Rating) Exxon Mobil Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and distribution of oil, gas, and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical. The Upstream segment produces crude oil and natural gas. The Downstream segment manufactures and trades petroleum products. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding XOM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Exxon Mobil Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Exxon Mobil and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. SVB Wealth LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY Get Rating) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 198,467 shares of the technology retailers stock after selling 10,814 shares during the quarter. SVB Wealth LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Best Buy worth $15,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BBY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Best Buy by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,161,759 shares of the technology retailers stock worth $1,657,087,000 after purchasing an additional 131,280 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Best Buy by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,350,936 shares of the technology retailers stock worth $664,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169,374 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Best Buy by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,945,507 shares of the technology retailers stock worth $439,930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,099,663 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 6.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,720,949 shares of the technology retailers stock valued at $338,235,000 after acquiring an additional 236,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Best Buy by 4.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,672,121 shares of the technology retailers stock valued at $333,796,000 after acquiring an additional 168,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.48% of the companys stock. Get Best Buy alerts: Best Buy Trading Down 3.4 % BBY opened at $70.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $15.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.97. Best Buy Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.78 and a fifty-two week high of $93.32. Best Buy Increases Dividend Best Buy ( NYSE:BBY Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The technology retailer reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.52. Best Buy had a net margin of 3.06% and a return on equity of 55.81%. The firm had revenue of $14.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.73 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Best Buy Co., Inc. will post 6.19 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a boost from Best Buys previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. Best Buys dividend payout ratio is presently 58.51%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, EVP Damien Harmon sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.21, for a total transaction of $402,655.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,489 shares in the company, valued at $3,037,409.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jason J. Bonfig sold 10,963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.95, for a total value of $854,565.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,250 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,605,187.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Damien Harmon sold 5,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.21, for a total transaction of $402,655.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,489 shares in the company, valued at $3,037,409.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 57,774 shares of company stock worth $4,477,413. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group cut shares of Best Buy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, February 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Best Buy in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Best Buy from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on shares of Best Buy from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Best Buy from $99.00 to $96.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $80.00. Best Buy Company Profile (Get Rating) Best Buy Co, Inc engages in the provision of consumer technology products and services. It operates through two business segments: Domestic and International. The Domestic segment includes operations in all states, districts, and territories of the U.S., operating under various brand names, including Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Napster, and Pacific Sales. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Best Buy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Best Buy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS Get Rating) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 422,438 shares of the companys stock after selling 8,319 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. ILs holdings in TreeHouse Foods were worth $20,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 32,412 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 1,607 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 51,469 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,660,000 after buying an additional 4,405 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,652 shares of the companys stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 72.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 36,709 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,198,000 after buying an additional 15,386 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 52.8% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 28,727 shares of the companys stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 9,923 shares during the period. Get TreeHouse Foods alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research firms have recently commented on THS. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on TreeHouse Foods in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a hold rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on TreeHouse Foods from $49.00 to $57.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on TreeHouse Foods in a report on Thursday. They set a hold rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on TreeHouse Foods from $60.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TreeHouse Foods currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $56.20. TreeHouse Foods Stock Performance Shares of THS stock opened at $50.77 on Friday. TreeHouse Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.82 and a 1 year high of $55.30. The stock has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of -22.27 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 1.07. TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.28. TreeHouse Foods had a positive return on equity of 5.90% and a negative net margin of 3.23%. The company had revenue of $894.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $850.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.15) earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that TreeHouse Foods, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Transactions at TreeHouse Foods In other news, Director Ann Sardini sold 5,083 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.89, for a total value of $253,590.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,800 shares of the companys stock, valued at $89,802. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.93% of the companys stock. TreeHouse Foods Profile (Get Rating) TreeHouse Foods, Inc engages is the manufacture and distribution of private label packaged foods and beverages in North America. Its product portfolio includes snacking, beverages, and meal preparation products, available in shelf stable, refrigerated, frozen, and fresh formats. The firm operates through the following segments: Meal Preparation, and Snacking and Beverages. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding THS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for TreeHouse Foods Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TreeHouse Foods and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Broadleaf Partners LLC decreased its position in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX Get Rating) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,143 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 507 shares during the quarter. Broadleaf Partners LLCs holdings in Chevron were worth $385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Laffer Tengler Investments increased its position in Chevron by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments now owns 28,273 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $5,075,000 after acquiring an additional 6,513 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $353,000. ProVise Management Group LLC increased its position in Chevron by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 14,092 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in Chevron by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 8,995 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Network Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Chevron in the 4th quarter valued at about $232,000. Institutional investors own 69.37% of the companys stock. Get Chevron alerts: Chevron Stock Up 0.8 % Chevron stock opened at $155.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Chevron Co. has a fifty-two week low of $132.54 and a fifty-two week high of $189.68. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $162.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $294.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.16. Chevron ( NYSE:CVX Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The oil and gas company reported $3.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.14. Chevron had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 23.15%. The firm had revenue of $50.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.36 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 14.16 EPS for the current year. Chevron declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 25th that authorizes the company to repurchase $75.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to buy up to 21.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the companys board believes its stock is undervalued. Chevron Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 19th will be paid a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 18th. Chevrons payout ratio is currently 32.61%. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research firms have weighed in on CVX. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $203.00 to $196.00 in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $193.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Chevron from $185.00 to $170.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Chevron in a research report on Thursday. They set a hold rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Chevron from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $193.65. About Chevron (Get Rating) Chevron Corp. engages in the provision of administrative, financial management, and technology support for energy and chemical operations. It operates through the Upstream and Downstream segments. The Upstream segment consists of the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas, the liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas, the transporting of crude oil by major international oil export pipelines, the processing, transporting, storage, and marketing of natural gas, and a gas-to-liquids plant. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CVX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Chevron Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chevron and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Callon Petroleum (NYSE:CPE Get Rating) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at Citigroup from $40.00 to $36.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, The Fly reports. Citigroups target price indicates a potential upside of 11.91% from the companys current price. A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CPE. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Callon Petroleum from $56.00 to $58.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. StockNews.com began coverage on Callon Petroleum in a report on Thursday. They set a hold rating on the stock. Mizuho cut their price target on Callon Petroleum from $65.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Callon Petroleum from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Callon Petroleum in a report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Callon Petroleum has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $56.13. Get Callon Petroleum alerts: Callon Petroleum Stock Performance NYSE CPE traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.17. The companys stock had a trading volume of 874,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,603,734. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.37. Callon Petroleum has a 52 week low of $28.91 and a 52 week high of $64.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 2.73. Insider Activity at Callon Petroleum Callon Petroleum ( NYSE:CPE Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.96 by ($0.02). Callon Petroleum had a return on equity of 27.29% and a net margin of 46.15%. The business had revenue of $560.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.43 EPS. The businesss revenue was down 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Callon Petroleum will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. In other Callon Petroleum news, Director Steven A. Webster purchased 10,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.24 per share, for a total transaction of $302,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 592,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,926,997.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Callon Petroleum news, Director Steven A. Webster purchased 10,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.24 per share, for a total transaction of $302,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 592,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,926,997.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven A. Webster purchased 20,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $31.63 per share, for a total transaction of $632,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 562,824 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $17,802,123.12. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 30,250 shares of company stock worth $944,795 over the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPE. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Callon Petroleum by 1,893.2% in the 1st quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 138,543 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $4,633,000 after purchasing an additional 146,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Callon Petroleum by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 936,280 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $31,309,000 after purchasing an additional 39,777 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Callon Petroleum by 110.8% in the 1st quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 144,952 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $4,847,000 after purchasing an additional 76,195 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in Callon Petroleum in the 1st quarter worth approximately $235,000. Finally, Aventail Capital Group LP boosted its stake in Callon Petroleum by 848.2% in the 1st quarter. Aventail Capital Group LP now owns 229,216 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $7,665,000 after purchasing an additional 205,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.60% of the companys stock. About Callon Petroleum (Get Rating) 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. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Callon Petroleum Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Callon Petroleum and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Trelleborg AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:TBABF Get Rating) and GUD (OTCMKTS:GUDHF Get Rating) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability. Profitability This table compares Trelleborg AB (publ) and GUDs net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Get Trelleborg AB (publ) alerts: Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Trelleborg AB (publ) N/A N/A N/A GUD N/A N/A N/A Dividends Trelleborg AB (publ) pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.8%. GUD pays an annual dividend of C$0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Trelleborg AB (publ) pays out 29.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. GUD pays out 85.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Trelleborg AB (publ) is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio. Analyst Recommendations Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Trelleborg AB (publ) 0 2 1 0 2.33 GUD 0 1 0 0 2.00 This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Trelleborg AB (publ) and GUD, as reported by MarketBeat.com. GUD has a consensus price target of C$9.95, suggesting a potential upside of 62.05%. Given GUDs higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe GUD is more favorable than Trelleborg AB (publ). Insider and Institutional Ownership 41.0% of Trelleborg AB (publ) shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.5% of GUD shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. Valuation & Earnings This table compares Trelleborg AB (publ) and GUDs top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Trelleborg AB (publ) N/A N/A N/A $7.66 3.39 GUD N/A N/A N/A C$0.42 14.55 Trelleborg AB (publ) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GUD, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Summary Trelleborg AB (publ) beats GUD on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks. About Trelleborg AB (publ) (Get Rating) Trelleborg AB engages in the development of polymer technology system. It operates through the following segments: Trelleborg Industrial Solutions, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, Trelleborg Wheel Systems. The Trelleborg Industrial Solutions segment provides fluid handling solutions, industrial antivibration solutions and niche applications in sealing systems. The Trelleborg Sealing Solutions segment includes precision seals for industrial, aerospace, and automotive applications. The Trelleborg Wheel Systems business area offers wheels and wheel systems for high load materials handling vehicles such as tractors, forklift trucks, and agricultural and forestry machinery. The company was founded by Henry Dunker in 1905 and is headquartered in Trelleborg, Sweden. About GUD (Get Rating) GUD Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and importation, distribution, and sale of automotive products, pumps, pool and spa systems, and water pressure systems in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea, France, and the United States. It operates through Automotive, Auto Pacific Group, and Davey segments. The Automotive segment offers automotive and heavy-duty filters for cars, trucks, and agricultural and mining equipment; and fuel pumps and associated products for the automotive after-market. The Auto Pacific Group segment manufactures and markets towing, trailering, functional accessories, and associated products for the automotive aftermarket and original equipment manufacturer customers. The Davey segment provides pumps and pressure systems for household and farm water; water transfer pumps; swimming pool products; spa bath controllers; and pumps and water purification equipment. The company was incorporated in 1958 and is based in Altona North, Australia. Receive News & Ratings for Trelleborg AB (publ) Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Trelleborg AB (publ) and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Coral Products PLC (LON:CRU Get Rating) shares crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of GBX 16.60 ($0.21) and traded as low as GBX 16 ($0.20). Coral Products shares last traded at GBX 16.75 ($0.21), with a volume of 119,623 shares traded. Coral Products Stock Performance The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 66.82. The firms 50-day moving average is GBX 16.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 16.42. The stock has a market cap of 15.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,675.00 and a beta of 0.56. About Coral Products (Get Rating) Coral Products plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells plastic injection, extruded, vacuum formed, fabricated products in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company also resells and distributes a range of trigger sprays and nozzles; and designs, packages, and distributes lotion pumps, trigger sprays, and aerosol caps, as well as operates as a trade molder for other U.K. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Coral Products Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Coral Products and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the oil and gas companys stock. A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on CLB. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Core Laboratories from $24.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $21.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Citigroup raised their price target on Core Laboratories from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Core Laboratories from $18.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Get Core Laboratories alerts: Core Laboratories Stock Performance NYSE:CLB opened at $21.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $21.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.09. Core Laboratories has a twelve month low of $13.19 and a twelve month high of $31.42. Core Laboratories Announces Dividend Institutional Inflows and Outflows The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 5th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.18%. Core Laboratoriess payout ratio is 8.00%. Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CLB. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC purchased a new stake in Core Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at about $49,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Core Laboratories by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,393 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 2,898 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Core Laboratories by 112.8% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 81,636 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $1,800,000 after acquiring an additional 43,266 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Core Laboratories by 1.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,280,545 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $28,243,000 after acquiring an additional 24,399 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of Core Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $544,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.44% of the companys stock. Core Laboratories Company Profile (Get Rating) Core Laboratories NV engages in the provision of proprietary and patented reservoir description, production enhancement, and reservoir management services to the oil and gas industry. It operates through the Reservoir Description segment and Production Enhancement segment. The Reservoir Description segment encompasses the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock, fluid, and gas samples and provides analytical and field services to characterize properties of crude oil and petroleum products. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Core Laboratories Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Core Laboratories and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Entergy (NYSE:ETR Get Rating) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $119.00 to $107.00 in a research note issued to investors on Sunday, The Fly reports. Bank of Americas target price would suggest a potential upside of 6.41% from the companys current price. ETR has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Entergy from $131.00 to $117.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Entergy from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Entergy from $128.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of Entergy in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. They set a buy rating and a $116.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Entergy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $119.00. Get Entergy alerts: Entergy Stock Down 0.9 % Shares of ETR traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $100.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,933,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,069,166. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $106.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.60. The company has a market cap of $21.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a PEG ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.65. Entergy has a 1-year low of $94.94 and a 1-year high of $122.46. Insider Buying and Selling Entergy ( NYSE:ETR Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.80 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Entergy will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current year. In related news, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $1,326,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,129 shares of the companys stock, valued at $968,586.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 300 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.96, for a total value of $31,188.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,269 shares in the company, valued at $339,845.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $1,326,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,129 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $968,586.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,092 shares of company stock worth $1,821,838 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.39% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 75.2% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 1,019.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 235 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in shares of Entergy in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Entergy in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 1,618.8% during the 4th quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 275 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.98% of the companys stock. About Entergy (Get Rating) Entergy Corp. is a holding company, which engages in electric power generation and distribution. It operates through the following segments: Utility and Entergy Wholesale Commodities. The Utility segment includes the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric power and the operations of a natural gas distribution business. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Entergy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Entergy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the industrial products companys stock. Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Seaport Res Ptn reaffirmed a neutral rating on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, May 8th. Barrington Research reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $229.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Kadant from $182.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Get Kadant alerts: Kadant Stock Performance KAI stock opened at $198.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.56. Kadant has a fifty-two week low of $154.19 and a fifty-two week high of $221.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Kadant Dividend Announcement Kadant ( NYSE:KAI Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $229.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $221.63 million. Kadant had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 17.12%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Kadant will post 9.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 13th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 12th. Kadants dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.58%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Kadant news, CFO Michael J. Mckenney sold 2,335 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.73, for a total value of $485,049.55. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,653 shares in the company, valued at $5,121,167.69. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Kadant news, CFO Michael J. Mckenney sold 2,335 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.73, for a total transaction of $485,049.55. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 24,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,121,167.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Mckenney sold 1,301 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.07, for a total value of $260,291.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 23,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,672,034.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,780 shares of company stock worth $1,179,960. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of Kadant Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Kadant by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 56,403 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $11,762,000 after buying an additional 2,542 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 568,020 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $118,444,000 after purchasing an additional 66,701 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kadant in the 1st quarter valued at about $635,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 257,604 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $53,716,000 after purchasing an additional 11,228 shares during the period. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 22,025 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $4,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.84% of the companys stock. Kadant Company Profile (Get Rating) Kadant Inc is a global supplier of critical components and engineered systems used in process industries worldwide. The firms products, technologies, and services play an integral role in enhancing process efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in resource-intensive industries. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Kadant Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kadant and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.92. Several brokerages recently weighed in on KIM. Mizuho cut their target price on Kimco Realty from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on Kimco Realty from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Kimco Realty in a research report on Thursday. They set a hold rating for the company. Compass Point reduced their price target on shares of Kimco Realty from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 27th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Kimco Realty from $24.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, May 15th. Get Kimco Realty alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Kimco Realty In other news, Director Frank Lourenso sold 9,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total transaction of $199,341.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 212,424 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,397,176.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimco Realty Kimco Realty Stock Performance Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KIM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimco Realty by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,285,767 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,864,671,000 after buying an additional 834,436 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Kimco Realty by 4.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,149,815 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,233,316,000 after buying an additional 2,463,808 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kimco Realty by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,220,642 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,092,250,000 after acquiring an additional 7,126,475 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in Kimco Realty by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 39,900,736 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $734,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resolution Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Kimco Realty by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd now owns 25,922,985 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $549,049,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,241 shares during the period. 92.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. NYSE:KIM opened at $18.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.44. The firms 50 day moving average is $18.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.52. Kimco Realty has a fifty-two week low of $17.34 and a fifty-two week high of $23.89. The company has a quick ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Kimco Realty Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 8th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 7th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.02%. Kimco Realtys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 383.35%. Kimco Realty Company Profile (Get Rating) Kimco Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) headquartered in New Hyde Park, N.Y., that is one of North Americas largest publicly traded owners and operators of open-air shopping centers. As of December 31, 2018, the company owned interests in 437 U.S. shopping centers comprising 76 million square feet of leasable space primarily concentrated in the top major metropolitan markets. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Kimco Realty Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kimco Realty and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of LCI Industries (NYSE:LCII Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock. Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of LCI Industries from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $120.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of LCI Industries from $125.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Roth Capital restated a buy rating and issued a $114.00 target price (down from $137.00) on shares of LCI Industries in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Roth Mkm lowered shares of LCI Industries from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the company from $137.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of LCI Industries from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $118.14. Get LCI Industries alerts: LCI Industries Price Performance LCI Industries stock opened at $110.75 on Thursday. LCI Industries has a 52 week low of $89.28 and a 52 week high of $139.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $109.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 1.45. LCI Industries Dividend Announcement LCI Industries ( NYSE:LCII Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.31. LCI Industries had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 14.83%. The business had revenue of $973.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.71 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 40.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that LCI Industries will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 1st. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. LCI Industriess payout ratio is currently 52.04%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of LCI Industries by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,427 shares of the companys stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in LCI Industries by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,269 shares of the companys stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in LCI Industries by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 17,707 shares of the companys stock worth $1,637,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in LCI Industries by 120.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 251 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergawealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in LCI Industries by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Ergawealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,809 shares of the companys stock worth $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 99.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. LCI Industries Company Profile (Get Rating) LCI Industries engages in the manufacture, supply, and distribution of components for the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) of recreational vehicles and manufactured homes. It operates through the OEM and Aftermarket segments. The OEM segment offers components for buses, trailers used to haul boats, livestock, equipment and other cargo, trucks, pontoon boats, trains, manufactured homes, and modular housing. Read More Receive News & Ratings for LCI Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for LCI Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.00. A number of research firms recently weighed in on MET. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MetLife from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MetLife from $79.00 to $65.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on MetLife from $83.00 to $76.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of MetLife from $82.00 to $74.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Get MetLife alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, EVP Bill Pappas sold 2,857 shares of MetLife stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.96, for a total value of $202,732.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,471,008.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On MetLife MetLife Price Performance Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MetLife in the 4th quarter worth approximately $444,205,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of MetLife by 41.1% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,165,769 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,225,676,000 after purchasing an additional 5,876,930 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MetLife during the 4th quarter valued at $234,761,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of MetLife by 92.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,264,670 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $319,989,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.15% of the companys stock. Shares of MetLife stock opened at $51.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.05. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.03. MetLife has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $77.36. MetLife (NYSE:MET Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.33). MetLife had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 2.80%. The firm had revenue of $16.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $16.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that MetLife will post 7.91 EPS for the current year. MetLife Increases Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 8th. This is an increase from MetLifes previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. MetLifes dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.69%. MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the companys leadership believes its stock is undervalued. About MetLife (Get Rating) 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. See Also Receive News & Ratings for MetLife Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for MetLife and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co lowered its stake in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX Get Rating) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,160 shares of the shipping service providers stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Cos holdings in FedEx were worth $547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in FedEx by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,220 shares of the shipping service providers stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its stake in FedEx by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 2,659 shares of the shipping service providers stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc lifted its stake in FedEx by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc now owns 2,490 shares of the shipping service providers stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in FedEx by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,597 shares of the shipping service providers stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BerganKDV Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in FedEx by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. BerganKDV Wealth Management LLC now owns 612 shares of the shipping service providers stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.02% of the companys stock. Get FedEx alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at FedEx In other news, Director Amy B. Lane bought 830 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $232.88 per share, for a total transaction of $193,290.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,359 shares in the company, valued at $549,363.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Rajesh Subramaniam sold 11,125 shares of FedEx stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.01, for a total transaction of $2,569,986.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,483 shares in the company, valued at $9,120,967.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amy B. Lane acquired 830 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $232.88 per share, with a total value of $193,290.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,359 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $549,363.92. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,486 shares of company stock worth $34,001,009 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 8.62% of the companys stock. FedEx Stock Down 0.6 % Shares of NYSE FDX traded down $1.35 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $229.08. 1,584,100 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,575,007. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $224.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $199.66. FedEx Co. has a one year low of $141.92 and a one year high of $248.76. The company has a market cap of $57.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. FedEx (NYSE:FDX Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 16th. The shipping service provider reported $3.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.74. FedEx had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 17.71%. The firm had revenue of $22.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.59 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that FedEx Co. will post 14.93 EPS for the current fiscal year. FedEx Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 12th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. This is an increase from FedExs previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 9th. FedExs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.72%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of FedEx from $170.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Friday, March 17th. Argus upped their target price on shares of FedEx from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st. Melius assumed coverage on shares of FedEx in a research report on Monday, March 27th. They set a hold rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of FedEx from $241.00 to $263.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of FedEx from $240.00 to $282.00 in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $243.81. FedEx Company Profile (Get Rating) FedEx Corp. provides a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services under the FedEx brand. It operates through the following segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Services, and Corporate, Other & Eliminations. The FedEx Express segment consists of domestic and international shipping services for delivery of packages and freight. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FDX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for FedEx Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FedEx and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its stake in shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:EEM Get Rating) by 1,414.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,233 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after buying an additional 22,633 shares during the quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Cos holdings in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF were worth $918,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EEM. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF in the 1st quarter valued at $146,000. AMI Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,268 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 62.5% in the 1st quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 65,005 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $2,935,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 8,965 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 892,269 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $40,286,000 after purchasing an additional 76,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.29% of the companys stock. Get iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF alerts: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Stock Up 0.1 % NYSEARCA:EEM traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $38.98. The companys stock had a trading volume of 26,847,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,594,634. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.94 and a 200-day moving average of $39.06. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has a 12 month low of $33.49 and a 12 month high of $43.23. About iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, formerly iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (the Fund), seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded equity securities in global emerging markets, as measured by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the Index). Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New South Capital Management Inc. cut its position in Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM Get Rating) (TSE:BAM.A) by 85.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 139,563 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 840,089 shares during the quarter. New South Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Brookfield Asset Management were worth $4,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fortis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Brookfield Asset Management by 2.8% in the third quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC now owns 8,250 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Brookfield Asset Management by 1.0% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 26,295 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in Brookfield Asset Management by 3.2% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,307 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in Brookfield Asset Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,412 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Brookfield Asset Management by 0.7% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 38,228 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Get Brookfield Asset Management alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes BAM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Asset Management in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Brookfield Asset Management to an underperform rating in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Brookfield Asset Management in a report on Thursday. They set a hold rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Asset Management currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $43.57. Brookfield Asset Management Stock Up 0.0 % Brookfield Asset Management Announces Dividend BAM stock opened at $31.20 on Friday. Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $26.76 and a fifty-two week high of $36.50. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $32.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.31. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, Director Multi-Strategy Mast Brookfield sold 24,744 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 21,104,923 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $252,414,879.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.00% of the companys stock. About Brookfield Asset Management (Get Rating) Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. provides alternative asset management services. Its renewable power and transition business includes the ownership, operation, and development of hydroelectric, wind, solar, and energy transition power generating assets. The company's infrastructure business engages in the ownership, operation, and development of utilities, transport, midstream, data and sustainable resource assets. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BAM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM Get Rating) (TSE:BAM.A). Receive News & Ratings for Brookfield Asset Management Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brookfield Asset Management and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SD Get Rating) declared a dividend on Friday, May 12th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be given a dividend of 2.00 per share by the oil and natural gas company on Wednesday, June 7th. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 23rd. SandRidge Energy Stock Down 0.6 % SD stock opened at $17.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $634.68 million, a P/E ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 2.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.29. SandRidge Energy has a 52 week low of $12.62 and a 52 week high of $29.28. Get SandRidge Energy alerts: SandRidge Energy (NYSE:SD Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 15th. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $56.11 million for the quarter. SandRidge Energy had a net margin of 96.37% and a return on equity of 37.95%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On SandRidge Energy Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Credit Suisse AG lifted its holdings in shares of SandRidge Energy by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 41,404 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of SandRidge Energy by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,514 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of SandRidge Energy by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,522 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SandRidge Energy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 83,948 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $1,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SandRidge Energy by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC now owns 33,582 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536 shares during the last quarter. 17.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of SandRidge Energy in a report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. SandRidge Energy Company Profile (Get Rating) SandRidge Energy, Inc is an oil and gas company. It engages in acquisition, development, and production activities. The company was founded by Noah Malone Mitchell in 1984 and is headquartered in Oklahoma, OK. Read More Receive News & Ratings for SandRidge Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SandRidge Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SD Get Rating) declared a dividend on Friday, May 12th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be given a dividend of 2.00 per share by the oil and natural gas company on Wednesday, June 7th. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 23rd. SandRidge Energy Price Performance NYSE SD opened at $17.20 on Friday. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $14.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.29. SandRidge Energy has a 1 year low of $12.62 and a 1 year high of $29.28. The company has a market cap of $634.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 2.34. Get SandRidge Energy alerts: SandRidge Energy (NYSE:SD Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 15th. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter. SandRidge Energy had a net margin of 96.37% and a return on equity of 37.95%. The business had revenue of $56.11 million for the quarter. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Institutional Investors Weigh In On SandRidge Energy Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on SandRidge Energy in a report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SandRidge Energy during the first quarter worth about $50,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank purchased a new position in SandRidge Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. UBS Group AG increased its position in SandRidge Energy by 5,147.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,615 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 5,508 shares during the period. Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new stake in SandRidge Energy during the 4th quarter worth $94,000. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc purchased a new position in SandRidge Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $132,000. 17.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. SandRidge Energy Company Profile (Get Rating) SandRidge Energy, Inc is an oil and gas company. It engages in acquisition, development, and production activities. The company was founded by Noah Malone Mitchell in 1984 and is headquartered in Oklahoma, OK. See Also Receive News & Ratings for SandRidge Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SandRidge Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sandy Spring Bank grew its stake in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF (BATS:IBMP Get Rating) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,205 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 4,370 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Banks holdings in iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF were worth $808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF by 86.1% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 35,920 shares of the companys stock worth $901,000 after acquiring an additional 16,615 shares during the last quarter. Arrow Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 9,857 shares of the companys stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,815 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 13,696 shares of the companys stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,644 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. acquired a new position in iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $597,000. Get iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF alerts: iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF Trading Down 0.4 % Shares of BATS IBMP opened at $24.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.19. iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF Company Profile The iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF (IBMP) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks the investment results of an investment-grade U.S. municipal bonds index expected to mature or be redeemed before mid-December 2027. IBMP was launched on Apr 9, 2019 and is managed by BlackRock. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. raised its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT Get Rating) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,390 shares of the retailers stock after acquiring an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.s holdings in Target were worth $5,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TGT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Target by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,833,900 shares of the retailers stock worth $6,356,122,000 after buying an additional 358,425 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Target by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,191,786 shares of the retailers stock worth $5,073,719,000 after buying an additional 852,361 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Target by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,177,540 shares of the retailers stock worth $1,213,466,000 after buying an additional 1,401,559 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Target by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,093,983 shares of the retailers stock worth $759,207,000 after buying an additional 300,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Target by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,500,093 shares of the retailers stock worth $530,570,000 after buying an additional 269,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.86% of the companys stock. Get Target alerts: Target Stock Performance TGT stock opened at $152.28 on Friday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $160.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $70.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $137.16 and a 1-year high of $183.89. Target Announces Dividend Target ( NYSE:TGT Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 17th. The retailer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.29. Target had a return on equity of 24.49% and a net margin of 2.49%. The firm had revenue of $24.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.19 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 17th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 16th. Targets dividend payout ratio is 73.59%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Target in a report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on Target in a report on Monday, January 23rd. They set an outperform rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Target from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Raymond James raised their price target on Target from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen 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 an average price target of $181.69. Insider Buying and Selling at Target In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 35,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.98, for a total value of $5,564,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 191,272 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $30,408,422.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.29% of the companys stock. Target Profile (Get Rating) Target Corp. engages in the operation and ownership of general merchandise stores. It offers food assortments including perishables, dry grocery, dairy, and frozen items. The company was founded by George Draper Dayton in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TGT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Target Co. (NYSE:TGT Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Target Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Target and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities providers stock. A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SR. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Spire from $73.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Spire from a buy rating to a hold rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Spire from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $70.00. Get Spire alerts: Spire Trading Up 0.3 % NYSE SR opened at $68.00 on Thursday. The stocks 50 day moving average is $69.15 and its 200 day moving average is $70.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.49. Spire has a twelve month low of $61.52 and a twelve month high of $78.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Spire Announces Dividend Spire ( NYSE:SR Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $3.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $887.98 million. Spire had a return on equity of 9.75% and a net margin of 9.69%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 27.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 5th. Investors of record on Monday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 9th. Spires dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.41%. Institutional Trading of Spire A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 2.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 5,345 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 15.2% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,593 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 9.0% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,826 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Spire by 4.8% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 26,019 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in Spire by 13.0% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 61,725 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,635,000 after purchasing an additional 7,086 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.86% of the companys stock. Spire Company Profile (Get Rating) Spire Inc operates as a public utility holding company, which provides natural gas service through its utility operations while engaging in non-regulated activities. It operates through the Gas Utility and Gas Marketing Business segments. The Gas Utility segment includes the regulated operations of Laclede Gas Company and Alabama Gas Corporation. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Spire Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Spire and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the stock. Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Spirit Airlines from $28.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $24.14. Get Spirit Airlines alerts: Spirit Airlines Stock Down 1.2 % NYSE:SAVE opened at $15.59 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stocks fifty day moving average is $16.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.88. Spirit Airlines has a 52 week low of $15.27 and a 52 week high of $25.67. Spirit Airlines Dividend Announcement Spirit Airlines ( NYSE:SAVE Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.89) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.35 billion. Spirit Airlines had a negative return on equity of 6.24% and a negative net margin of 8.50%. The firms revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.60) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Spirit Airlines will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 23rd. Institutional Trading of Spirit Airlines Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Spirit Airlines by 27.2% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 657,171 shares of the companys stock valued at $12,369,000 after buying an additional 140,599 shares in the last quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. grew its holdings in shares of Spirit Airlines by 125.1% during the third quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. now owns 75,650 shares of the companys stock worth $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 42,050 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its holdings in shares of Spirit Airlines by 7.1% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 102,865 shares of the companys stock worth $1,936,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801 shares during the last quarter. TIG Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spirit Airlines by 147.5% during the third quarter. TIG Advisors LLC now owns 1,233,447 shares of the companys stock worth $23,213,000 after purchasing an additional 735,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intrepid Financial Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spirit Airlines by 12.2% during the third quarter. Intrepid Financial Planning Group LLC now owns 19,714 shares of the companys stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. 67.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Spirit Airlines (Get Rating) Spirit Airlines, Inc engages in the provision of air transportation services. Its operations are concentrated in markets such as South Florida, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Northeast and Northern Midwest regions of the United States. The firm offers travel insurance, carry-on and checked baggage, online booking, and other services. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Spirit Airlines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Spirit Airlines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hilltop (NYSE:HTH Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services providers stock. Separately, Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Hilltop in a report on Friday, April 21st. Get Hilltop alerts: Hilltop Trading Down 3.0 % Shares of NYSE:HTH opened at $30.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.79 and a beta of 1.05. Hilltop has a 1-year low of $24.18 and a 1-year high of $34.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.52. Hilltop Dividend Announcement Hilltop ( NYSE:HTH Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $353.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $277.55 million. Hilltop had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 8.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hilltop will post 1.68 EPS for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Hilltops payout ratio is currently 36.78%. Insider Transactions at Hilltop In other news, CEO Jerry Schaffner sold 40,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total transaction of $1,333,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,558,310.79. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Jerry Schaffner sold 40,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total transaction of $1,333,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,558,310.79. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Hill A. Feinberg sold 9,001 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.39, for a total value of $291,542.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 600,135 shares of the companys stock, valued at $19,438,372.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,501 shares of company stock worth $1,671,272. 22.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hilltop Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTH. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Hilltop by 71.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 58,807 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 24,537 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Hilltop by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 17,046 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Hilltop by 57.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 34,727 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 12,608 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Hilltop by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 176,100 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $5,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in Hilltop by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 52,418 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 6,465 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Hilltop (Get Rating) Hilltop Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of business and consumer banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment includes business banking, personal banking, wealth and investment management. The Broker-Dealer segment includes the following lines of business: public finance, capital markets, retail, structured finance, clearing services and securities lending. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Hilltop Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hilltop and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been criticised for presiding over a controversial deal that saw Zimbabwe acquire 32 helicopters from Russia worth a staggering US$320 million without following laid down procurement procedures amid allegations the prices for the choppers were inflated. Mnangagwa took delivery of 18 out of the 32 Kazan Ansat helicopters from Russia under a public-private partnership (PPP) deal last week. Former Finance minister Tendai Biti yesterday accused Mnangagwas administration of unlawfully purchasing the helicopters as procurement procedures were not followed. The US$320 million deal has been shrouded in secrecy. According to a search, the helicopter costs US$2.5 million each when new but indications are that Zimbabwe bought second hand choppers. Government said the choppers would be used as air ambulances, search and rescue, and air policing while sources said they would also be used for VIP transport and the Air Force. Biti told The Standard that the procurement was illegal and it should be challenged. Remember all expenditures are approved in Parliament, but this expenditure was never approved in the budget, Biti said. It means that its an unlawful purchase. The countrys procurement law makes it very clear that there has to be competitive bidding during a procurement process and certainly this was not done. The state should challenge the immorality of this. Why are they buying helicopters when civil servants are not properly paid? He accused the government of being corrupt and having misplaced priorities. US$320 million is a lot of money and their bigger priority is buying helicopters, Biti remarked. Its now self-evident that the prices are inflated, this also means that the brand new helicopter will cost US$2,5 million yet we are being sold a second hand helicopter at almost the same amount. The problem that we have as a country is that we now have a kleptomaniac government, so anything that happens they are just thinking about money, corruption and the bottom line of their self-aggrandisement. Biti said he would raise the matter in Parliament and ask the relevant committee to investigate the matter. Commentators and observers also questioned why government prioritised helicopters when hospitals and clinics did not have painkillers and other medical accessories. "The sidelining of Parliament in procurement is a step backwards and a shot on the same foot, Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) programmes manager John Maketo said, adding that the deal showed lack of political will to fight corruption. Mnangagwa promised to fight graft when he assumed office. However, massive corruption scandals involving the first family and other government ministers and Zanu PF officials have been exposed. The public anger on the procurement of helicopters is genuine because the priority is not good looking at the current situation in the country where hospitals have no medicines, Maketo said. Political analyst Kundai Jirira said the decision was tantamount to misappropriation of funds. They should stop stealing public funds and attempting to sell a stupid idea, Jirira said. The situation in urban areas also mirrors the rural areas but the government is hereby acquiring ambulance helicopters worth more than US$320 million. Mnangagwa has been under the spotlight following an attempt to smuggle a law that would have seen procurement processes in the Health ministry being hidden away from the prying eyes of the public and anti-corruption watchdogs. General Notice 635 gazetted on May 5 was criticised as a looting law and was later withdrawn following a public outcry. Mnangagwa repealed the controversial law in an extraordinary Government gazette last week. Standard StockNews.com began coverage on shares of M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the construction companys stock. A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on MDC. Wedbush reiterated a neutral rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on M.D.C. from $30.50 to $27.50 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $27.50. Get M.D.C. alerts: M.D.C. Trading Down 2.4 % NYSE:MDC traded down $1.03 on Thursday, hitting $42.42. 748,608 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 723,179. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 6.30 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 9.12, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.19 and a 200-day moving average of $36.04. M.D.C. has a fifty-two week low of $27.04 and a fifty-two week high of $43.66. M.D.C. Announces Dividend M.D.C. ( NYSE:MDC Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The construction company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.64. M.D.C. had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 8.99%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $887.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. The firms revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that M.D.C. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 9th. M.D.C.s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.72%. Insider Activity at M.D.C. In related news, Director David E. Blackford sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $165,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,587 shares of the companys stock, valued at $754,925.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other M.D.C. news, CFO Robert Nathaniel Martin sold 13,226 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.55, for a total transaction of $549,540.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 299,962 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $12,463,421.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David E. Blackford sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $165,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $754,925.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 337,609 shares of company stock valued at $13,923,750. Insiders own 23.30% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 70.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 901 shares of the construction companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 665.3% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 949 shares of the construction companys stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 86.2% in the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the construction companys stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 239.9% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,074 shares of the construction companys stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of M.D.C. in the 1st quarter worth approximately $72,000. Institutional investors own 82.21% of the companys stock. About M.D.C. (Get Rating) M.DC Holdings, Inc engages in proving homebuilding and financial services. It operates through the following business segments: West, Mountain, and East. The West segment includes operations in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. The Mountain segment refers to the operations in Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. See Also Receive News & Ratings for M.D.C. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for M.D.C. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Realty Income Co. (NYSE:O Get Rating) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,912 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLCs holdings in Realty Income were worth $2,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in O. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC acquired a new position in Realty Income during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new position in Realty Income during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Realty Income during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Realty Income by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 727 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Old North State Trust LLC acquired a new position in Realty Income during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the companys stock. Get Realty Income alerts: Realty Income Stock Down 0.2 % O stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.97. 3,425,227 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,984,908. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market cap of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.80. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $61.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.78. Realty Income Co. has a 1-year low of $55.50 and a 1-year high of $75.11. Realty Income Dividend Announcement Realty Income ( NYSE:O Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $888.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $840.57 million. Realty Income had a return on equity of 3.12% and a net margin of 25.72%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 29.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Realty Income Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently announced a may 23 dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a yield of 5.1%. Realty Incomes dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.49%. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of Realty Income from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and set a $69.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Realty Income from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Realty Income from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Realty Income from $71.00 to $71.25 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Realty Income in a research note on Thursday. They issued a sell rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Realty Income presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $71.63. About Realty Income (Get Rating) Realty Income Corp. is a real estate company, which engages in generating dependable monthly cash dividends from a consistent and predictable level of cash flow from operations. The company was founded by William E. Clark, Jr. and Evelyn Joan Clark in 1969 and is headquartered in San Diego, CA. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Realty Income Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Realty Income and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO Get Rating) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 411,688 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 8,559 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLCs holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $26,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,258,425 shares of the companys stock valued at $20,349,737,000 after buying an additional 3,864,004 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.7% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 301,952,085 shares of the companys stock valued at $16,915,357,000 after buying an additional 4,994,047 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 171,570,198 shares of the companys stock valued at $9,685,693,000 after buying an additional 885,816 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Coca-Cola by 2.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 51,570,921 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,197,397,000 after buying an additional 1,301,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 41,213,079 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,308,758,000 after purchasing an additional 462,803 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.74% of the companys stock. Get Coca-Cola alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KO shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $69.00 target price on Coca-Cola in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Coca-Cola from $61.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $67.80. Insider Buying and Selling Coca-Cola Stock Performance In related news, CEO James Quincey sold 150,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.33, for a total transaction of $9,649,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 442,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,468,984.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link . In other Coca-Cola news, SVP Nancy Quan sold 74,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.71, for a total value of $4,344,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 219,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,903,870.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . Also, CEO James Quincey sold 150,000 shares of Coca-Cola stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.33, for a total value of $9,649,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 442,546 shares of the companys stock, valued at $28,468,984.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold 540,473 shares of company stock worth $33,992,699 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders. KO traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $62.83. The companys stock had a trading volume of 14,251,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,063,508. The stock has a market cap of $271.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $54.01 and a twelve month high of $65.47. Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.03. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.96% and a net margin of 22.69%. The company had revenue of $11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year. Coca-Cola Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Coca-Colas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.70%. Coca-Cola Company Profile (Get Rating) The Coca-Cola Co engages in the manufacturing and marketing of non-alcoholic beverages. It operates through the following segments: Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, Global Ventures, and Bottling Investments. The company was founded by Asa Griggs Candler on May 8, 1886 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding KO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Coca-Cola Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Coca-Cola and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the insurance providers stock. Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group from $92.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, 888 restated a reiterates rating on shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given 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 target price of $86.15. Get The Hartford Financial Services Group alerts: The Hartford Financial Services Group Trading Down 0.2 % HIG stock opened at $71.23 on Thursday. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $69.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The Hartford Financial Services Group has a 52-week low of $60.17 and a 52-week high of $79.44. The firm has a market cap of $22.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The Hartford Financial Services Group Dividend Announcement The Hartford Financial Services Group ( NYSE:HIG Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.68. The Hartford Financial Services Group had a net margin of 8.33% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Hartford Financial Services Group will post 7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The Hartford Financial Services Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.26%. Insider Activity In other news, EVP Robert W. Paiano sold 14,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total value of $1,125,259.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,629 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,608,152.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Amy Stepnowski sold 336 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.59, for a total value of $26,070.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,844 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $298,255.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Robert W. Paiano sold 14,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total transaction of $1,125,259.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,629 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,608,152.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,944 shares of company stock valued at $7,549,248 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.80% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Hartford Financial Services Group A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HIG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,773,081 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $1,878,543,000 after purchasing an additional 5,638,368 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $277,618,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $215,742,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in The Hartford Financial Services Group by 425.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,004,275 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $27,060,000 after buying an additional 1,622,525 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The Hartford Financial Services Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $88,128,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.93% of the companys stock. The Hartford Financial Services Group Company Profile (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. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for The Hartford Financial Services Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for The Hartford Financial Services Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. VAALCO Energy, Inc. (LON:EGY Get Rating) declared a dividend on Tuesday, May 9th, Upcoming.Co.Uk reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share on Friday, June 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 23rd. The official announcement can be seen at this link. VAALCO Energy Stock Performance Shares of VAALCO Energy stock opened at GBX 300 ($3.76) on Friday. VAALCO Energy has a one year low of GBX 300 ($3.76) and a one year high of GBX 667.97 ($8.37). The company has a market cap of 322.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 576.92 and a beta of 1.59. The businesss 50 day moving average price is GBX 355.60 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 388.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.11, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.23. Get VAALCO Energy alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on VAALCO Energy from GBX 715 ($8.96) to GBX 700 ($8.77) and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. About VAALCO Energy VAALCO Energy, Inc, an independent energy company, acquires, explores for, develops, and produces crude oil and natural gas. The company holds Etame production sharing contract related to the Etame Marin block located offshore in the Republic of Gabon in West Africa. It also owns interests in an undeveloped block offshore Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. See Also Receive News & Ratings for VAALCO Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for VAALCO Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BAKHMUT - Ukraine - The leader of the Wagner group has claimed that the crucial city has fallen to Russian forces. Yes, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the rabid Orc master of the Wagner mercenary group is playing a weird game of cat and mouse with his videos, but these days it is hard to tell the truth from any video or news announcement, especially from renowned liars and propagandists like Prigozhin. Only last week, Yevgeny Prigozhin was lamenting the lack of ammunition supplies in one of his angry videos denouncing even Putin, who he called grandad, but yesterday he produces a video saying he has taken Bakhmut? Even if his forces have taken Bakhmut, which is turning out to be a symbolic city much like Hitler saw Stalingrad, the Ukrainian forces will most certainly take it back, and are relaying news that Bakhmut has not fallen. Who to believe? Well, thats the thing in wars where the smoke and mirrors are out in force, and actual real news is hard to come by. Even today, in a modern news-gathering environment with up-to-date satellite information, there is still doubt in the air. To have one of Putins dogs barking away in the background is not evidence enough that this is a victory for the Russian Orcs. Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus thought he took Stalingrad, practically pushing the Soviets into the Volga in 1942, but was eventually surrounded by the Red Army even as Hitler, like Putin, was delivering victory speeches in Berlin. In this sense, there is some similarity to Stalingrad, as Putin Hitler pats his dog Prigozhin on the back for a well-fought victory in Bakhmut. Prigozhin is not as principled as Paulus, and says he is pulling his group of mercenaries out of Bakhmut to be replaced by the useless Russian army regulars and reserves. He knows very well that staying behind is a suicide mission for his men, therefore he is letting the regular army take the eventual defeat from the Ukrainian counteroffensive. By pushing through to Bakhmut, the Russians will be surrounded eventually by the Ukrainian forces, a repeat of what happened to Paulus and his 6th Army at the hands of the Red Armys Operation Uranus. Ukraine, the bread basket of the world, must be defended from the imperial army of Putin at all costs. It is imperative that the Ukrainian military is given all the support it needs from NATO nations, and supplied with the highest grade weaponry and F16 jets. Union minister Jitendra Singh. (Photo: PTI) NEW DELHI: Union minister of state in the Prime Ministers Office Jitendra Singh said that the three-day G20 meeting in Srinagar, which begins on Monday, is an opportunity for India to showcase the changed scenario in Jammu and Kashmir, which was earlier under the shadow of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. "The G20 delegates will be the true messengers of not only Kashmir, but also India as has been envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Dr Singh said in an interview with a news agency. The third meeting of the G20 Tourism Working Group will be held on Monday to finalise the communique for the ministerial meeting in Goa later this year. The G20 meeting would also give the delegates an opportunity to see for themselves the transformation that has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir and try to correlate with the projections in the international media by self-styled commentators. "This is an indication of the fact that now Jammu and Kashmir as a whole and the Kashmir Valley, which a few years ago was believed to be a kind of a nerve centre of terrorism and Pak-sponsored militancy, is now in the same streamline of activity as any other city in the country. Be it the G20 in Hyderabad, Gurgaon or elsewhere. It is the same way happening in Srinagar," he said. The minister noted that it is also an opportunity for India to showcase the changed scenario of Jammu and Kashmir under Modi because of his very committed approach and courage of conviction. With at least 60 foreign delegates likely to attend the meeting amidst tight security, the hosts are hoping that the three-day event will stimulate J&Ks economic growth in many ways. "International speakers and guests and those from various parts of India would be attending the event. There will be group discussions amongst them and this and other engagements of the invitees will help in boosting up J&Ks economy and its vast potential of tourism," said the event coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla at a press conference here on Sunday. A senior official sought to shrug off the decision of China and Turkiye not to attend the meet and Saudi Arabia and Egypt too likely staying away, saying, "I dont think the absence of a couple of nations will make any big difference. G20 is a group of the Worlds 20 major economies." We have invited at least nine non-member nations and various international organisations also and most of them are participating." "The change has also happened at the level of the common man walking on the streets of Srinagar. He now wants to move on. He has seen two generations sacrificed at the altar of terrorism, he is not prepared to do so anymore," Dr Singh said. He mentioned that the youth in Kashmir is highly aspirational, well informed, intelligent and fully aware of the enormous avenues the Prime Minister has made available to the region. "The Kashmiri youth does not want to miss the bus and wants to be a part of the changes taking place in the region. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are looking forward to the G20 meeting with great enthusiasm. A few years ago, it was almost a taboo to visit Kashmir. Such events (conferences and meetings) had virtually come to a halt since 1990. But this year, maximum excitement has been generated by the venue of Srinagar as far as all the G20 meetings put together are concerned," Dr Singh said. On Chinas decision to skip the G20 meeting at Srinagar, the minister said that it would be appropriate for the Ministry of External Affairs to comment on the matter. Zanu PF is said to have bought 800 more top-of-the-range vehicles after dishing out at least 210 all-terrain cars to its 2023 parliamentary election candidates. The spending spree by the ruling party on the eve of the harmonised elections expected at the end of August comes at a time Zimbabwes economy is tanking and the majority of citizens are sinking deeper into poverty. Zanu-PF is said to have spent a staggering US$200 million on the luxury cars amid questions about its source of funding as the party's finances are in shambles. Sources in Zanu PF said President Emmerson Mnangagwa was living no stone unturned to retain power after purchasing another fleet of cars recently. The party has bought another fleet of about 800 vehicles, an insider said. The vehicles might benefit central committee members, district coordinating committee members and even chiefs. The distribution of the cars has been met with mixed reactions, with some people criticising the party for spending such a huge amount of money on cars at a time when the country is facing economic challenges. Zanu PF director of information Tafadzwa Mugwadi defended his party for spending big for its election campaigns when contacted for comment yesterday. Zanu PF has purchased its regalia, printed its manifesto and empowered its 210 candidates with vehicles to assist them in campaigning, Mugwadi said. What Zanu PF purchased internally using its own funds has nothing to do with the government because the party does not even share a bank account with government. The needless drive to garner granular details about Zanu PF internal administration issues; let me assure you that is not an easy task. Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) deputy spokesperson, Gift Ostallos Siziba yesterday said Zanu PF was practising politics of patronage. Siziba, however, said the opposition party was set to start its fundraising campaign to finance its machinery. We are going to launch our e-membership targeting also the diaspora support, Siziba said. We are aware what Zanu PF is going to say about the diaspora support. We have built a credible alternative and well-oiled machinery to capacitate and support and protect all deployees also in local authorities. Patronage has poisoned the entire politics in Zimbabwe, thanks to Zanu PF's ideologically bankrupt politics." Mnangagwa is set to announce dates for the harmonised elections before monthend. Standard Published on: May 21, 2023 | Updated on: May 21, 2023 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and his son Raihan Vadra pays tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, at his memorial 'Veer Bhumi', in New Delhi, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (PTI Photo) New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and members of the Gandhi family on Sunday paid homage to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among a large number of party leaders who paid their tributes at Veer Bhumi, the memorial of Rajiv Gandhi. Sharing a video of his father on Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, "Papa, you are with me, as an inspiration, in memories, always." Kharge also shared a video on the former prime minister's life on Twitter. "Rajiv Gandhi was a great son of India. Through multiple interventions such as lowering of voting age, strengthening Panchayati Raj, Telecom & IT revolution, and sustained peace accords, he transformed India, propelling it in 21st century. Our humble homage on his martyrdom day," he said in a tweet. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said one of the last major accomplishments of Rajiv Gandhi before his assassination on this day, 32 years ago, was the finalisation of the Congress party's manifesto for the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. He spent many hours on it. "In July 1991, when Dr Manmohan Singh as FM was criticised for ushering in economic reforms, he would quote frequently from this manifesto, which in many ways bore Rajiv Gandhi's personal imprint. "His contributions for taking India into the IT age were also distinctive contributions. He wooed GE and Texas Instruments to kickstart software exports. As also his battle for giving Constitutional status to panchayats and nagarpalikas a truly transformational move," Ramesh said on Twitter. Several other leaders also remembered the former prime minister on his death anniversary. India's prime minister between 1984 and 1989, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE terrorists at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 1991 during an election campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his British conterpart Rishi Sunak during a meeting, in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (PTI Photo) London: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Sunday reviewed the progress of the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations and agreed for their trade teams to continue at pace towards an ambitious deal, Downing Street said. Modi and Sunak met on the sidelines of the summit of the G7 advanced economies here in Hiroshima. In their second in-person meeting since the G20 Summit in Indonesia last November, the two leaders are said to have discussed the deep ties shared between the nations. In relation to India's G20 presidency, Downing Street also indicated that the British Indian leader's first visit to India is expected to be for the G20 Summit in New Delhi later this year. The leaders reflected on the deep ties between the UK and India, rooted in our human connections, and the vital importance of democracy and fair and open trade, said a Downing Street spokesperson. "They discussed progress on a UK-India Free Trade Agreement. The leaders agreed that their teams would continue to work at pace to finalise an ambitious and mutually beneficial deal, the spokesperson said. The leaders discussed the wider objectives of the G7 Summit and the Prime Minister [Sunak] committed his strong support for India's G20 Presidency, which comes at a crucial time for global security and prosperity. He looked forward to working closely with Prime Minister Modi ahead of a successful Summit later this year," the spokesperson added. Modi is also said to have passed on his warm congratulations to Sunak on the Coronation of King Charles III earlier this month, where India was represented by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) readout of the meeting echoed similar outcomes of the in-person meeting between the two leaders, as they reviewed the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in the India-UK FTA negotiations. The two nations last month concluded the ninth round of FTA negotiations with detailed discussions across a range of policy areas. Recently, Britain's Chief Negotiator for the FTA Harjinder Kang was appointed the country's new Trade Commissioner to South Asia and Deputy High Commissioner for Western India, based in Mumbai. According to official UK government statistics, India was the UK's 12th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022, accounting for 2.1 per cent of total UK trade. They also agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationship. During discussions on India's G20 presidency, Prime Minister Modi said he looked forward to welcoming Sunak to New Delhi for the G20 Summit in September. The G7 Summit concluded in Hiroshima this weekend after wide-ranging discussions between leaders from the largest economies of the world. India was invited as a guest nation to the Group of Seven, which includes the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy, with the European Union (EU) as a non-enumerated member. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during a press conference, in New Delhi, Sunday, May 21, 2023. Bihar Dy CM Tejashwi Yadav and AAP MP Sanjay Singh are also seen. (PTI Photo) New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal at the latter's residence here and extended "complete support" to him in the AAP government's ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services. Kumar was accompanied by his deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. The Centre promulgated the ordinance on Friday to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. This came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Kejriwal said he will personally reach out to the chiefs of all opposition parties to seek their support in the matter so that any bill brought by the Centre to replace the ordinance is defeated in Rajya Sabha. "Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said. "I have also requested Nitish Kumar ji to talk to all the (opposition) parties in this regard," he added. An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. "It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," the AAP national convenor told reporters. The National Capital Civil Service Authority will comprise the chief minister of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as its chairperson, along with chief secretary and principal secretary, home, who will be the member secretary to the authority. "Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the National Capital Civil Service Authority shall have the responsibility to recommend the transfers and postings of all the Group 'A' officers and officers of DANICS serving in the affairs of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi but not officers serving in connection with any subject matter," the ordinance read. Kumar criticised the Centre for promulgating the ordinance after the Supreme Court verdict in the matter. "How can you take away an elected government's power," the Janata Dal (United) leader asked. "Look at the Constitution and see what is right. Whatever he (Kejriwal) is saying is right. We are completely with him," he said. Kumar said Kejriwal is doing good work in Delhi and it's surprising that his government is being stopped from doing its work. "That's why we are saying that all (opposition parties) in the country should come together," he said. The Bihar chief minister assured that he will make efforts to bring opposition parties together in support of Kejriwal. "We will hold further meetings. We are trying to ensure that the maximum number of opposition parties come together and a nationwide campaign is launched to demand that laws are followed and there is mutual harmony and brotherhood in the country. "Efforts are being made to create conflicts among people. Such things should be stopped," he said. When asked, Kumar said he will also speak to the Congress leadership on the issue of the ordinance. "I don't think anybody will oppose it (supporting Kejriwal). We will talk to them," he said. Kejriwal was among the few non-BJP chief ministers who were not invited by the Congress to the swearing-in ceremony of its new government in Karnataka on Saturday, an event which was seen as a show of strength by opposition parties. Kumar, on the other hand, had attended the event. Extending his party's support to Kejriwal, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Yadav alleged the Centre is "continuously troubling and harassing" non-BJP governments in different states. "We have come here to extend our support to Kejriwal. The BJP government is doing injustice to him," he said. Yadav said the way the Centre is harassing the Kejriwal dispensation in Delhi and governments of other parties in different states is not justified at all. "There is a clear threat to democracy. They want to change the Constitution and we will not let that happen at all," he claimed. "The more they (Centre) trouble and harass Kejriwal, the stronger he will become. I can say with full confidence that the BJP will never return to power in Delhi," he added. Sunday's meeting was the second between Kumar and Kejriwal in over a month. Kumar had earlier met Kejriwal here on April 12 as part of his efforts to bring all opposition parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With Kejriwal's relations with the Congress far from smooth, Kumar has the task of building some kind of a working relationship between the two as he also sees the grand old party as critical to any Opposition unity bid. The AAP has grown in Delhi and Punjab by occupying the space once largely seen as Congress territory. A section of Congress leaders believe that reclaiming the constituency is the key to the party's revival in these states and any compromise on it can hamper their plans. Kumar has been meeting regional satraps as part of the unity exercise which is yet to take a concrete shape. Erika Bogar King, Global Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of VXI Global Solutions met with IT and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao in Houston. Houston: Hyderabad once again exemplified its status as a premier destination for global investors seeking a conducive ecosystem and boundless opportunities. One more name added to the list of marquee companies which made Hyderabad home. IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao's trip to the US has resulted in yet another huge investment by a global firm. A leading provider of innovative customer care and customer experience (CX) solutions, Bain Capital-owned VXI Global Solutions, announced its entry into Hyderabad. The tech giant will set up a delivery center in the City with the potential to create employment opportunities for 10,000 people. The investment was announced after Erika Bogar King, Global Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of VXI Global Solutions met with Minister K.T. Rama Rao in Houston. During the meeting, Minister KTR explained how Telangana became an investment magnet in the last nine years. "Telangana, known for its progressive policies, robust infrastructure, and skilled workforce, has consistently attracted investment from both national and international companies. Guided by CM Sri KCR's vision, we fostered an environment conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship, nurturing the growth of various sectors," the Minister said. The Minister emphasized that out of the 4.50 lakh jobs created in the IT industry across the country last year, 1.5 lakh were in Hyderabad. "The announcement by VXI firmly places the city as a favorite destination for IT companies and job seekers," Minister KTR added. Founded in 1998, VXI Global Solutions has 40,000 employees in more than 42 locations in North America, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. VXI Global Solutions has established itself as a trusted provider of customer experience solutions to the world's leading brands. Backed by private equity investor Bain Capital, VXI is recognized as one of the fastest-growing privately held business services organizations in the United States. The decision of VXI Global Solutions to set up a delivery center in Hyderabad with 10,000 employees underscores the strength of Hyderabad's dynamic business ecosystem. The city, known for its talented workforce and favorable business environment, was the natural choice for VXI. About 5,000 employees would be added in the first two to three years itself. The establishment of VXI's delivery center in Hyderabad will not only create employment opportunities for 10,000 professionals but also contribute to the city's economic growth. Principal Secretary of IT and Industries Departments, Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, Special Secretary, Investment Promotion & NRI Affairs, Mr. E Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, Director of Telangana Digital Media Wing, Mr Konatham Dileep and Chief Relations Officer, Mr. Amarnath Reddy Atmakuri were present in the meeting. US President Joe Biden, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold a quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Leaders' Summit. (Photo by JONATHAN ERNST / POOL / AFP) NEW DELHI: In a thinly-veiled message aimed at China and its military assertiveness in the region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in Hiroshima on Sunday, asked the world to "raise your voice together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo", adding that "India has always been of the opinion that any tension, any dispute should be resolved through peaceful means, through dialogue". Referring to his meeting earlier on Saturday with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Modi reiterated that he (Modi) "does not consider the current situation as an issue of politics or economy, but rather a matter of humanity and human values". Speaking at yet another working session on Sunday at the Hiroshima G-7 summit entitled "Toward a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous World", Modi called for "all countries to respect the UN Charter, international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries", a comment seen as support for Ukraines territorial integrity without naming Indias time-tested friend and close strategic partner Russia. Modi also lashed out at the United Nations for its failure to prevent conflicts and strongly pressed for reform of the world body, adding that if this was not done, the UN and its Security Council would just become a "talk shop". Reiterating that dialogue and diplomacy was the only way to end the Ukraine conflict, Modi pointed out that "global peace, stability, and prosperity is our common objective", adding that "developing countries are the worst affected" due to the "food, fuel, and fertiliser crisis". He referred to Lord Buddhas teachings that enmity should be replaced with affinity. In his address, Modi said: "It is necessary that all countries respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. Raise your voice together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo. India has always been of the opinion that any tension, any dispute should be resolved through peaceful means, through dialogue. And if there is a solution from the law, then it should be accepted. And it was in this spirit that India resolved its land and maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh." Modi further said: "We heard President Zelenskyy today. I also met him yesterday. I do not consider the current situation as an issue of politics or economy. I believe that this is a matter of humanity, a matter of human values. From the very beginning, we have maintained that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And we will make every possible effort to contribute, in whatever way India can, for resolving this situation. Global peace, stability, and prosperity is our common objective. In today's inter-connected world, crises in any one region affect all countries. And the developing countries, which have limited resources, are the worst affected. In the current global situation, these countries are facing the maximum and most profound impact of the food, fuel and fertiliser crisis." The PM said: "It raises the question as to why we are facing the need to discuss matters of peace and stability in distinct forums. The United Nations was established with the very purpose of establishing peace why does it often fail to prevent conflicts today? Why, even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN yet? If introspection is done, then one thing is clear. The institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the twenty-first century. They do not reflect the realities of the present. That is why it is necessary that reforms should be given concrete shape in big institutions like the UN. It will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will just keep talking about ending conflict. The UN and the Security Council will become just a talk shop." Modi, referring to the teachings of Lord Buddha, said: "There is no such problem in the modern age whose solution we cannot find in the teachings of the Buddha (who had) given the solution centuries ago to the war, unrest, and instability that the world is facing today". He added: "Lord Buddha had said: Enmity does not calm enmity. Enmity is pacified by affinity. It is in this spirit (that) we should move forward together with everyone." PM Modi with US President Joe Biden (ANI) New Delhi/Hiroshima: US President Joe Biden said in jest during the Quad Summit earlier on Saturday that he should take Prime Minister Narendra Modis autograph as he was "too popular". According to news agency reports citing officials, it all started when the US President walked up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Quad meeting and referred to the large number of requests he (President Biden) was getting from prominent citizens to attend PM Modis programmes during his state visit to Washington DC in June. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese too joined the conversation and said he too was finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests he is getting for a community event in Australia, where Modi is scheduled to speak on Tuesday even though the Sydney venue has a capacity of 20,000, officials were cited by these reports as saying.. Albanese then apparently recalled how at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad in March this year, more than 90,000 people welcomed him during the victory lap. PM Modi and PM Albanese were in the Gujarat stadium to watch an India-Australia test match then and had taken a lap of honour. President Biden, presenting a similar problem to Modi, was quoted by various news reports from Hiroshima as having said, "I should take your autograph." The US President continued in jest, "You (PM Modi) are causing me a real problem. Next month we have a dinner for you in Washington. Everyone in the whole country wants to come. I have run out of tickets. You think I am kidding? Ask my team. I am getting phone calls from people I have never heard of before. Everyone from movie stars to relatives. You are too popular." The US President then told PM Modi, "Mr Prime Minister, you have made a significant impact on everything, including what we are doing in the QUAD. You also made a fundamental shift in climate change. You have influence in the Indo-Pacific. You are making a difference," he added. As part of his ongoing three-nation visit to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, Modi is scheduled to arrive in Australia on Monday and will address the community event on Tuesday in Sydney. Modi will travel to the US next month on an official State visit during which he will be hosted at a State Dinner on June 22 by US President and First Lady Jill Biden. This will be the first official state visit by Modi that includes a state dinner and it is this that distinguishes it from Modis previous official visits to the US in the past nine years. It also comes at a time when India is holding the Presidency of the G20 grouping and will host the G20 Summit in September in the Capital. Iran on Sunday executed three men convicted on drug trafficking charges, the judiciary said, the latest of hundreds of people hanged in the country since the start of the year. The three men, described as members of a "drug cartel", were hanged after being convicted of "corruption on earth" for producing nearly 40 kilogrammes (88 pounds) of heroin, the judiciary's Mizan Online news website said. The executions come one day after a man was hanged following a conviction over leading a human trafficking and prostitution ring. Also Read | Iran executes convicted human trafficking ringleader On Friday three other men were executed for killing members of the security forces in November during protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Iran saw waves of nationwide protests following the September 16 death of 22-year-old Amini, an Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for an alleged breach of the Islamic Republic's strict dress rules for women. During the protests, which Tehran described as foreign-instigated "riots", thousands of Iranians were arrested and hundreds killed, including dozens of security personnel. Friday's executions were denounced by Western countries and human rights groups based outside Iran. Iran executes more people a year than any other nation except China, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International. The country hanged 75 per cent more people in 2022 than the previous year, the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in a joint report in April. At least 582 people were executed in Iran last year, the highest number of executions in the country since 2015 and well above the 333 recorded in 2021, the two groups said. But the pace of executions this year has been even higher so far, with IHR now counting at least 260 executions since the start of the year. The United Nations and the Security Council will remain just a "talk shop" if they do not reflect the realities of the present world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, strongly pitching for reform of the global body. In an address at a G7 session in Hiroshima, Modi wondered why different forums have had to deliberate on issues relating to peace and stability when the UN was formed to deal with these challenges. "It is a matter of analysis, why do we have to talk about peace and stability in different forums? Why is the UN, which was started with the idea of establishing peace, not successful in preventing conflicts today? Modi asked. Also Read: PM Modi leaves for Papua New Guinea after G7 trip in Japan "Why, even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN? If one introspects, one thing is clear. The institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the twenty-first century," he said. The prime minister said the UN now does not reflect the current realities of the world. "They do not reflect the realities of the present. That is why it is necessary that reforms should be implemented in big institutions like the UN," Modi said. "They will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will only keep talking about ending the conflicts. The UN and the Security Council will remain just a talk shop," he said. New Delhi has been strongly pressing for reform of the UN. India has been eyeing a permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC). At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the UN. The five permanent members are Russia, the UK, China, France and the United States and these countries can veto any substantive resolution. There has been growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect the contemporary global reality. India, Brazil, South Africa, Germany and Japan are strong contenders for permanent membership of the UNSC which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared Sunday to confirm the loss of Bakhmut to the Russians, adding there was "nothing left" of the city. Asked if Ukrainian forces were holding on or if Russia had captured the city, Zelenskyy was not entirely clear, but said "you have to understand there is nothing" there. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts." The Russian military announced on Saturday the capture of the city, which had turned into the bloodiest battle of the war. Its loss would be hugely symbolic for the Ukrainians, who held on for months there, ignoring US advice behind the scenes to put their focus elsewhere given the city's lack of strategic importance in the wider war. Zelenskyy, sitting alongside US President Joe Biden at a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, reflected the difficulty of discussing Bakhmut with a lengthy, emotional answer. Also Read | Putin congratulates Wagner, Russia army on capturing Bakhmut Asked if Ukrainian forces were holding on or if Russia had captured the city, Zelenskyy was not entirely clear, answering: "I think no." He then appeared to suggest Bakhmut was a only pyrrhic victory for the Russians, and that there was nothing left of the city for the Ukrainians to lose. "There is nothing in this place... just ruins and a lot of dead Russians," he told reporters. "But they came to us," he said of the Russians. He said that Ukrainian soldiers did "strong work" and "we appreciate their great job". At the meeting, Biden announced a new package of weapons for Ukraine, which is expected to launch a large-scale counteroffensive soon to push Russians back from parts of the territory they occupy. The package would include "ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles", Biden said, days after giving allies the green light to transfer advanced American-built F-16 jets to Ukraine. Biden said "the United States continues to help Ukraine respond, recover and rebuild. We're also supporting peace." The one-day All-India Tribal Convention, held in Andhra Pradesh's port city Visakhapatnam on Sunday called for a new Tribal Policy to ensure the development of tribal languages, cultures and the setting up of a tribal history academy. Inaugurated by Vasavi Kiro, renowned tribal author and activist from Jharkhand, the convention highlighted tribal medicine, cuisines and other knowledge, including the chanting of 'Sonot jooaar long live nature; Ootey abuwa - this land is ours, Bir aabuwa the forests are ours and Disum aabuwa Desh (country) is ours and Jai Joohar. Kiro stressed that adivasis (tribals) should organise themselves to fight for their rights, noting that forces led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are allegedly dividing the tribals and creating rift, according to a press release. She observed there were more than 700 million indigenous people in the world with 200 million residing in India while alleging that out of these tribes 7,000 indigenous cultures are being ignored and repressed 75 years after independence. "Adivasis in India suffer because of state policy which is based on 'development induced displacement', loot of forests and natural wealth, land alienation, degradation of nature, failure to recognise their indigenous religions like Sarna, attempts to forcefully assimilate them into Hindu religion and failure to implement their Constitutional and legal rights," Kiro said. Besides amplifying other pressing needs of the tribals, the convention has also passed four resolutions: Condemning repression of tribals in Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other parts of India; demanding the arrest of BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, condemning alleged RSS-sponsored violence in Manipur and the gangrape of a tribal woman by paramilitary forces at Vakapalli in Andhra Pradesh. More than 600 delegates from 11 states attended the convention and approved the formation of a 15-member Forum Committee as well. The civic body in Madhya Pradesh's Indore organised a farewell 'poha' party on Sunday to make people aware of the ill effects of single-use plastic. The civic body of the cleanest city in the country served 'poha', a local snack, to dignitaries and citizens to create awareness against single-use plastic. Read | Indore's 'jeerawan' added to list of prohibited hand baggage items on flights Talking to reporters at Dussehra Maidan, mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava exuded confidence that Indore will be the cleanest city in the country for the seventh time in a row. The Indore Municipal Corporation has carried out many campaigns against single-use plastic, but it is observed that the material is still in use largely. Considering this, we have organised a farewell party for single-use plastic to create awareness among people of Indore, Bhargava said. Citizens were informed about the ill effects of single-use plastic during the programme, he said. Indore MP Shankar Lalwani, state cabinet Minister Tulsiram Silawat and several public representatives were present in the function to bid farewell to single-use plastic. A 27-year-old woman was killed and 24 people were injured when a Rajasthan-bound bus carrying Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims overturned in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday, officials said. Additional Director General of Police of Jammu zone Mukesh Singh, quoting eyewitnesses, said the accident occurred when the driver lost control of the speeding vehicle due to a sharp curve, rubbishing the claim by some terror groups on social media that it was a terror act. Also Read | Samruddhi Expressway sees 39 deaths in accidents since its launch in Dec 2022; road hypnosis among causes The accident took place near Moori on the outskirts of Katra, the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the famous shrine atop Trikuta hills, around 1 pm, the officials said. A total of 30 passengers, including women and children, were travelling in the vehicle on their return journey after offering prayers at the shrine. Rescuers comprising local volunteers and police teams rushed to the spot immediately after the accident and evacuated the injured to Community Health Centre Katra, where Nitika of Jaipur was declared brought dead, the officials said. They said 11 of the 24 injured persons were later referred to the Government Medical College Hospital Jammu for specialised treatment. In a message, ADGP Singh said, "Some terror groups on social media sites are claiming it as terror incident. There is no terror angle. As per the version of driver and passengers/eyewitnesses, the driver lost control of the vehicle due to a sharp curve and overspeeding resulting in the accident." By now, its well established that theres no place like Derry for live music at the weekend. Yesterday saw the legendary Daddy Long Legs in Sandinos and the day before featured Cosmic Treacle playing Bennigans. This weekend sees two more brilliant gigs, this time taking place in the beautiful St. Augustines church. On Friday night, the venue plays host to Mairead Carlin (for more information, see last weeks column) and the following night features the legendary Kieran Goss and Annie Kinsella. The later has already sold out and theres a very good chance that, by the time youre reading this, Mairead Carlin will have done the same. Recently, I had the chance to speak with Kieran Goss, and we talked about his history in Derry, his current tour with Annie Kinsella and his thoughts on the local live music scene, among other topics. One of the first things we spoke about was the recent resurgence of live music here in the town. Kieran says that something exciting is happening here, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Kieran Dunlop and his company Music Capital, who have been bringing so many brilliant artists to the town in recent years. Kieran (Goss) told me that hes played Derry quite a bit over the years, but it looked for a while like the arch had fallen out, in terms of gigs taking place. Kieran Dunlop, he says, has taken up the challenge and is helping to get it back on its feet. This is due, in part, to Kieran (Dunlops) modern way of promoting gigs. Kieran (Goss) says that a decade ago, it was hard to sell out Irish gigs, but that social media has played a big part in changing that. Kieran Goss is certainly no stranger to Derry audiences. Over the years, hes played gigs in Union Hall, the Guildhall and the Millennium Forum, to name a few. Now, he is, along with Annie Kinsella, adding St. Augustines to that list, with special guest Bernard Heaney, who, Kieran tells me, has never played a solo gig before, despite being a well-known figure on the local scene for many years. This will be Kieran and Annies first time playing Derry in a while (thanks, partially, to that wee worldwide Lockdown we had recently). Their most recent trip to the city saw them in the Playhouse. He tells me though, that 99% of what we do is abroad and that they do a huge amount of professional work outside the country. Prior to the aforementioned Lockdown, Keiran and Annie had planned on playing 156 dates around the world to promote their album, Oh, the Starlings (released in 2019). The gig this weekend, he tells me, will feature songs from the album, as well as some new ones and, of course, numbers from their brilliant back catalogues. The duo have also just returned from a sold out Danish tour. The fact that they continue to sell out wherever they play is, Kieran says, not something we take for granted. Kieran Goss and Annie Kinsella play their sold-out gig in St. Augustines church this Saturday, the 27th May, with special guest Bernard Heaney. They can be found on Instagram @kierangossandanniekinsella and (solo) @kierangoss and @anniekinsellamusic. For more information on upcoming gigs in the town, follow Music Capital on Facebook and Instagram @musiccapital. And Now for Something Completely Different For those not lucky enough to get tickets for Kieran and Annies gig this weekend, Link 48 is offering something that is, well, not at all similar: Link 48 is proud to announce its newest and most exciting addition to its line-up of event-AURA! Get ready to experience the ultimate fusion of disco, house, and funk music, every Saturday starting from May 27th. With resident DJ Jay Quigley at the helm, you're guaranteed an unforgettable night of non-stop dancing and fun. But that's not all. Weather permitting, the party spills out onto the stunning terrace, where you can dance the night away under the stars and enjoy the disco house funk vibes with the best view in town. Bring your friends and make unforgettable memories at Link 48, whether you choose to dance indoors or out. And if that wasn't enough, there are also bottle deals available on the night! Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to experience the newest and most vibrant night in town. AURA is a 20+ event, and doors open at 10 PM sharp. Get your tickets now and be part of the most exciting party in town! For more information, check out Link 48 on Facebook and Instagram @link48derry. Also this Saturday, MAI is launching their debut single 'Hologram Halo' in the Nerve Centre, with support from Klyda, Humanitas and Black Rose. It's sure to be a great night and is free entry. Tickets can be found on the Nerve Centre website. Doors open at 7pm and the first act takes the stage at 8pm. Meta has been known to have been working on a Twitter alternative for some time now. Even those unaware of the same could guess that Zuckerbergs company would be cooking up something to take on Twitter. Historically, the company has cloned a lot of its competitors and primarily added the key feature(s) of the rival app to Instagram. This time it is going to release an Instagram app for text-based conversations, according to a leaked marketing slide shared by Lia Haberman. Metas been briefing creators on its upcoming text-based app now looking at a possible late June launch. Details are in my newsletter but Ill list some highlights pic.twitter.com/KYqqXjrRmD Lia Haberman (@liahaberman) May 19, 2023 Instagrams Twitter alternative: What we know so far In her ICYMI newsletter, Ms Haberman says Instagrams Twitter-like app will be here by the end of June. The company is yet to give it an official name. However internally, it is being called P92 or Barcelona. You will have to sign in to the new app using your Instagram username and password. Your handle, verification, bio, and followers will automatically migrate from Instagram. Even those whom you have blocked on the main app wont be here to bother you in this app. Meta will apparently incorporate a solid moderation policy equipping you with settings to control who can reply to you and mention your account. The UI of the app consists of text posts and threads like Twitter but the heart, comment bubble, and paper plane-shaped share icons are comparable to Instagram. It is said to support up to 500 characters, along with the ability to attach photos, videos, and links. Another highlight of this app is that there will be a decentralized facility to connect with people on other similar platforms like Mastodon. You could be looked up and followed on these other decentralized apps thanks to the underlying ActivityPub architecture. Meta considers this app as a way for creators, public figures, and probably regular users of Instagram to share their interests. Instagrams Twitter alternative: Possible strengths and weaknesses Strengths 1. Meta is a giant in the social media landscape and it can channel its existing userbase into this new Twitter alternative app. 2. Since its a new app, Instagram could give it new and unique features and benefits. Weaknesses 1. Since this is one of the many apps or features the company has to focus on, it might not get the exclusive attention that Twitter gets from its team. 2. This could attract regulatory concerns and restrictions as Meta is behind it. 3. People might not take the new Meta app in good faith or it would turn out to be a dud like Instagram Notes. Twitters problems could be an opportunity for Meta while the growing number of competitors like Mastadon and Bluesky could be a threat to its ambitions. Should Twitter be worried? 1. For all of the aforementioned strengths and opportunities of Meta, the new Instagram app for text-based conversations is a threat to Twitter. 2. If Metas app turns out to be even decent, it could attract Twitter users and many of these users are likely to already have an Instagram account. So the transfer may be seamless. 3. Instagram is already a bigger advertising platform and it could take ad dollars from Twitter. Now although only time can tell if all of these things turn out as we predict or assume. But, it will be careless of Twitter to ignore the potential threat it has from this Instagram app. Google search engine is the default search engine for most of us and is therefore the biggest player in the market. Its dominance cant be easily contested by competitors like Bing and Neeva. The latter learned that the hard way. Heres what happened: Neeva Search Engine closes shop Neeva has announced its closing down its search engine on June 2. Before we learn about why Neeva had this unfortunate end, you should know the search engine came across a promising alternative to Google search engine because it was ad-free and more privacy-friendly. Also, showed visual elements and human-created information over the top 10 blue links that you see on the Google Search Engine Results Page. Now, it offered this service behind a paywall. Well, there was a 3-month trial period after which users had to pay $4.95 (~410) a month. Even with the promise of a better search engine UX, it had to convince people to try it. That was possible only if people knew or cared about changing the default search engine on their device browsers. Google is mostly the default search engine on various browsers or devices because it has eye-watering deals with the device manufacturers like Apple and Samsung (more on this soon). Also, we underestimate how spoiled we users are. We dont want to bother with even the few steps and clicks it takes to read Are you sure you want to change? and select a different search engine option. And so its like the companys co-founders Sridhar Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan said in a recent blog post, Throughout this journey, weve discovered that it is one thing to build a search engine and an entirely different thing to convince regular users of the need to switch to a better choice. Google retains the default search engine position on Galaxy phones According to a new WSJ report, Samsung has walked back on its plans to swap the default search engine on its phones. A few weeks back there were rumours of Samsung thinking of using Bing as the default search engine. But fearing the effect it will have on its relationship with Google and the market perception about the whole ordeal made Samsung continue its deal with the top dog in the field. For the unversed, Google has about 8.5 billion daily searches and covers 8696% of the worldwide search engine market share (Source: Kinsta). Its a key source of its revenue and with the potential addition of AI features, the Silicon Valley giant is likely to stand its ground. Ireland has a moral duty to honour its commitments to those who seek asylum and refuge, President Michael D Higgins has said. The president was addressing the National Famine Commemoration which took place in Milford, Co Donegal. The ceremony also included military honours and a wreath-laying ceremony in remembrance of all those who died during the Irish famine of the mid-19th century. Mr Higgins told the event it was an opportunity to remember the tragedy and how it might influence our contemporary lives and the lives of others. He added: Its legacy is one of involuntary emigration, cultural loss, demoralisation and loss of confidence, both in terms of population and in terms of its impact on the Irish language and the marks this would have on the country, and in particular on Irish society. Given this foundational part of our near historical experience, it is easy to understand how the continuing issues of food security and food sovereignty in our contemporary world resonate profoundly with us as a people and must feature in our ethical reflections and our responses as we commemorate the period of An Gorta Mor (The Great Famine). The strong commitment of the Irish people to humanitarian aid and relief is, of course, strongly related to our own past struggle with hunger, engrained in our collective memory. It is an example of the Irishness we wish to be known by, one grounded in decency, in ethical principles, taking our share of global responsibility. The president continued: We have a moral and ethical responsibility to support our global family in dire need, to help with sustainable solutions to ending all famines, wherever they occur on our shared, vulnerable planet, and to provide a decisive response to climate change which itself is leading to an increased incidence of famines globally. The parallels with An Gorta Mor and the mass displacement it caused 175 years ago must not be lost on us. We have a moral duty to continue to honour our commitments to those vulnerable and displaced who seek asylum and refuge on our shores. Japan undermines regional interests by provoking bloc confrontation 15:23, May 21, 2023 By Zhong Sheng ( People's Daily To hype the so-called "China threat" is a "script" written by Japan, the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven (G7), for the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Recently, the leader of Japan once again made irresponsible remarks during an interview, saying China is seeking unilateral changes to the status quo by force. Making use of the G7 Hiroshima summit, the Japanese side has repeatedly fanned up the so-called "China threat" to demonstrate its "leadership" and the "solidarity" of the G7, which is indeed facing a number of problems. Such practice of instigating bloc confrontation for private interests will only make Japan's neighboring countries in Asia more vigilant and further reveal to the international community the disgraceful role played by Japan. Taiwan's return to China is a component of the post-war international order. It is written in black and white in the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. Japan, as a country whose militarists once launched wars of aggression, should have exercised caution in its words and deeds. However, for some time, some forces in Japan have vigorously advocated that "Any contingency for Taiwan is a contingency for Japan," and even erroneously identified Taiwan as "important for Japan's security and the stability of the international community," trying to make the Taiwan question an international issue. By provoking China on issues concerning the country's core interests, Japan has grossly interfered in China's domestic affairs and blatantly challenged the post-war international order. Despite the remarks by the leader of a European country that Europe should not get involved in the Taiwan question, Japan is trying to kidnap all other members of the G7 with the Taiwan question, which is a disrespect to them. By hyping the so-called "China threat," Japan hopes to find excuses to break free from the military restrictions imposed on it over crimes of aggression committed by Japanese militarism in history. Its written in the Potsdam Proclamation released in 1945 that Japan will eliminate militarism and establish a peaceful government. Following the exclusively defense-oriented strategy, the ban on the right to collective self-defense and giving up the right to launch wars are promises made by Japan to the rest of the world. However, the country has been revising its defense strategy over the recent years to break free from the Peace Constitution. In December last year, Japan updated three security and defense-related documents including the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the Defense Buildup Program, declaring that it has acquired the "counterstrike capability," or "enemy base strike capabilities." This meant that Japan abandoned the "exclusively defense-oriented" strategy and deviated from the Peace Constitution. By taking China as an "unprecedented strategic challenge" and fanning up the so-called "China threat," Japan is trying to get rid of the restrictions from the Peace Constitution and find excuses to expand its military strength. As an Asian country, Japan is passionate about being a "pioneer" in protecting American hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, which seriously threatens regional peace and stability. The United States announced that it will "shape the strategic environment in which China operates," and Japan just fell into line with the United States and did the United States' bidding. Japan has completely forgot the humiliation of being forced to accept the Plaza Accord and turned a deaf ear to the rational voices in the country to oppose the constitutional revision and military build-up. Japan intends to spearhead NATO's foray into the Asia-Pacific. Last year, the country took part in a NATO summit for the first time, and now it is planning to open an NATO office in Tokyo, which clearly reveals its intention to introduce the alliance to the Asia-Pacific. Asia is one of the most peaceful and stable regions in the world and a promising land for cooperation and development. It's not an arena for geopolitical contest. Japan's remarks and practices have alerted the international community, especially countries in the Asia-Pacific. Japan has ulterior motives by roping in other G7 members. It is eager to shake off the institutional restrictions formed after the World War II and become a "normal" country. Hosting the G7 summit is considered an opportunity for the country to demonstrate its "big-country ambition." However, as a Japanese media outlet analyzed, the global influence of the G7 today is not as big as it used to be. It's ill-conceived for Japan to embolden itself by roping in other G7 members. If Japan really wants to become a responsible member of the international society as it has claimed, it should take concrete actions to win trust from its neighboring countries in Asia and the rest of the international community, rather than giving empty slogans. Japan also has the intension to have other G7 members endorse its plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. During a press conference of the G7 Ministers' Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment held last month, the Japanese side claimed that the steady decommissioning progress including the release of treated water into the ocean "will be welcomed." However, Steffi Lemke, Germany's Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, slammed the claim, saying she "cannot welcome the release of the treated water." The Japanese plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea violates the international obligations of Japan. The country will only make itself more distrusted if it keeps asking for endorsement from other countries. In history, Hiroshima once shouldered huge trauma as a result of the war of aggression waged by Japanese militarists. Today, Japan is turning a blind eye to history and playing dangerous geopolitical games when the world is facing challenges, which is extremely irresponsible for the Japanese people and the international community. The Japanese government should listen carefully to the voices of justice from its people. They don't want Hiroshima, a city once took an atomic bomb, to be utilized politically, and don't want Japan to be an accomplice of war. (Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.) (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) A 13-year-old boy has died after the tractor he was driving overturned in Co Mayo. Irish police are appealing for witnesses following the single-vehicle traffic collision on Saturday. Shortly after 8:15pm, Gardai and emergency services were alerted after a tractor overturned on a road at Scarduane near Claremorris. The driver and sole occupant of the tractor, a 13-year-old boy, was treated at the scene for serious injuries and removed to Galway University Hospital. The boy was subsequently transferred to Temple Street Hospital, Dublin where he passed away on Sunday. A technical examination of the scene was conducted by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators and the road at the crash site has since fully reopened to traffic. Police are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Claremorris Garda Station on (094) 937 2080, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station. Louth Family Resource Centre marked 25 years of the Family Resource Centre Programme in Ireland at a special event in Dublins Mansion House on Tuesday, 9th May. At the event the Family Resource Centre National Forum, the national representative body for Family Resource Centres (FRCs) in Ireland, called for an additional 3.34 million in core funding to ensure they can continue to support children, families and communities throughout Ireland. The Family Resource Centre programme is the largest community-based family support programme in Ireland. There are 121 Family Resource Centres in Ireland, and according to Fergal Landy, CEO of the FRNCF, an increase in core funding is vital to ensure continuity of support. Last year, in partnership with our core funder Tusla, the FRCNF identified a figure of 166,400 as a minimum level of core funding required to operate an FRC. A significant number of FRCs 83 of 121 - are not currently receiving this minimum level of funding which is having a significant impact on future planning to ensure sustainable service provision. We have identified that applying a 4% sustainability increase FRCs like Connect FRC need a minimum level of core funding of 173,000 for 2023, a total additional investment of 3,344,637 from 2022. While this is not a reflection of the true cost of delivering an FRC, it would allow FRCs currently receiving less than the minimum core funding to increase their capacity to deliver support to their respective communities. This funding will mean more children, families, individuals, and communities in Louth will be supported and empowered, and more resources will be accessed for those communities through the leveraging of other potential funding opportunities. The FRCNF also launched its 2022 annual report at the event. Also speaking on Wednesday was Louise Moran, Chair of the FRCNF, who said: Despite a number of challenges in 2022, the FRC programme remains Irelands largest national family and community-based support programme of its kind, operating a human rights-based approach to community development and family support across the life-course. During the Covid-19 pandemic, and more recently during the response to people displaced by the war in Ukraine, FRCs have been to the fore in leading community-based initiatives that have formed a vital part of the States overall response in each instance. Examples of the support provided by FRCs in 2022 includes: 60,000 counselling sessions for children, adolescents, adults, couples and families were delivered; 30,000 adults and children benefited from food bank initiatives; There were 90,000 adult and child beneficiaries of community-based initiatives; 26,000 education courses and initiatives were provided; and 30,000 adults received admin support such as interview skills training and IT support. In 2023, the FRCNF will launch its 5-year Strategic Plan which will guide the FRCs towards their collective future. Mr Landy concluded: The National FRC Programme is now again at a pivotal point. We believe that the important space we occupy between communities and the wider system represents a valuable counterbalance to the State model of service provision and an important strategic opportunity to weave informal and formal supports to empower communities to achieve their optimal wellbeing. Key to the continuation of this support is an increase in funding to ensure that FRCs around the country can continue to deliver their vital work. Further information on the FRCNF is available here: www.familyresource.ie. THE Catholic bishop of Cork and Ross has said the future of the Catholic Church in the diocese will require lay people and priests to work closely together in new ways. Last year the diocese of Cork and Ross, which is geographically the largest in the country, introduced a new system of resource management which reflects changed circumstances for the Catholic Church in Ireland. Under the new arrangements, parishes will work together in groupings, with priests ministering across the family of parishes and lay people playing a greater role in parish life. Speaking to The Echo, the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Fintan Gavin, said it was important that the narrative around the introduction of the family of parishes innovation would reflect an opportunity for lay people to take a greater role in the church. This isnt about the shortage of priests, this is about the lay participation, priests and people working together, Bishop Gavin said. If we keep looking to an older model, were always going to be disappointed. We have restructured in such a way that we do have enough priests to work but that means that it does mean that all of us who are baptised, all of us who are members of the church, need to take another level of responsibility that has been taken for too long by our priests, he said. Weve kind of gone beyond saying Weve not got one for here or there, were looking at the bigger picture, we have 12 families of parishes there, were looking at four more coming on board, Im actively working on populating them and putting structure on them now for the summer. The bishop said that two gatherings to discuss the challenges facing the diocese are planned for the weekend of Pentecost Sunday, 28 May, one in Cork and one in Ross. Part of what the Pentecost weekend is really about doing is bringing it beyond the priests to the people, and that was always the vision I would have put out in the pastoral this time last year, its priests and people working together, its our church, he said. Its just the demographics and how were trying to build the families of parishes to bring that equity, something that maybe we never did since the parishes were formed, we just had so many priests in each and now were looking at populations and needs and how they can just be served with the resources we have, one of which we have is the challenge of a diminishing number of priests. The bishop said the challenges of the future would offer greater opportunities for lay people and faith communities to work together in the disocese. Its that co-responsibility, collaborative ministry, not helping Father to run his parish, but were running the parish with Father, and I think people get that, Bishop Gavin said. Parishioners will be invited to attend a gathering on Saturday 27 May in the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery or on Sunday 28th May in Clayton Silversprings Conference Centre, Tivoli, with pre-registration is required. Each gathering will begin with tea/coffee at 2pm and the meeting takes place from 2.30pm 5.30pm. THE findings of a study conducted by the Health Research Board (HRB) into premature death among people experiencing homelessness doesnt surprise Catriona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners in the slightest. The Health Research Board published a report of premature deaths among people experiencing homelessness on Wednesday, May 17. The report used 2019 mortality data among people known to be homeless from closed files in the Coroners Service, with a total of 84 premature deaths recorded nationwide. The study confirmed that 7% of homeless deaths occurred in Cork in 2019. The report was commissioned by the Department of Health to improve understanding of premature mortality among people who are homeless and to inform healthcare policy and services for this cohort. The report stated that the majority of those who died had a history of drug and alcohol use, and the deaths were primarily the result of the social determinants of health, including inadequate accommodation, poverty, lack of employment, child and adult trauma, and imprisonment. Catriona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners said the findings of the report didnt shock her. This report doesnt surprise or shock me one bit because we know that this is going to happen. Sometimes we can see nearly who it is going to happen to next because their demise is very visible. "The numbers seeking help are growing. They are very vulnerable. A lot of them may become addicted to drink or drugs because of the pain they are suffering. One person that dies on our streets is one too many, she said. Caitriona Twomey, at Cork Penny Dinners, Little Hanover Street, Cork.Picture: Jim Coughlan. Ms Twomey said a model that works to enhance the situation facing homeless people in society must be implemented by the relevant authorities. We need housing, treatment centres, stepdown facilities for people coming out of treatment centres and prisons and wraparound supports. The pandemic had a lot to do with peoples mental health. "There was nothing put in place to help people cope with that. We just need a plan of action and a model that works. One death is one too many. If homeless people are going to die, the word homeless speaks for itself. We need action now. It is absolutely tragic to know we are losing people like this. The loneliest way to lose a person must be on the streets. They are really isolated and alone, she added. 'VERY DIFFICULT READING' This report makes for very difficult reading, said Minister Hildegarde Naughton. It is a desperately sad state of affairs that vulnerable people have died in such circumstances. Government is working hard to assist people in vulnerable situations and this important work is a priority. "I am very conscious that behind every statistic is a human story. Commenting on the report, HRB Chief Executive Dr Mairead ODriscoll said: This evidence can be used to inform policy and develop harm reduction strategies to support and protect those currently living with homelessness. A SPECIAL Mass to acknowledge the ending of the Christian Brothers permanent presence at the North Monastery will be celebrated by the Most Reverend Fintan Gavin, the bishop of Cork and Ross, at the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Anne at 11.30am on Monday. The ceremony is being organised by the North Monastery Past Pupils Union to celebrate the contribution of the Christian Brothers to education in Cork from the period of 1811 to 2020. Retired Christian Brothers will join with representatives of schools and community leaders at the Mass, which will also be attended by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Deirdre Forde. The North Monastery was founded on 9 November, 1811, when Christian Brothers Jerome O Connor and John Baptist Leonard were given charge of a school at Chapel Lane, on the northside of the City. Some 17 students are recorded as having attended school on that first day the Christian Brothers provided education in Cork. In 1814, a fourteen acre site was donated nearby by a wealthty Catholic businessman, Sir George Gould Bart, and there grew the North Monastery Campus which has survived across the centuries to provide education to thousands of Cork people. On that campus and across the centuries, a community of Christian Brothers have lived and worked in fulfilling their vocations as educators, and following from the foundation of the North Monastery, other Christian Brothers monasteries were established in the city and beyond. The Brothers would go on and educate the communities that they served, forever shaping and empowering those communities in the spirit of their founder, the Blessed Edmund Rice. The contribution of the Christian Brothers to education in Cork could be considered immeasurable. In May 2020, during Covid-19 Public Health restrictions, the last Christian Brother left the residential house at Fair Hill, Cork, ending the long and distinguished presence of the Christian Brothers on the North Monastery Campus. Two juveniles have been charged with a string of offences including a serious assault on one teenager, as well as harassment and intimidation. Four people in total appeared before a recent sitting at Bandon District Court in relation to a number of alleged incidents and all were released on bail subject to strict conditions, including that they do not associate with each other and that they do not contact the alleged injured parties or their families. They must also stay away from a shopping centre and a playground and are also prohibited from loitering in their town. Judge John King heard that a male juvenile who faces 21 charges was arrested last Thursday morning. Those charges include a serious assault on a young person as well as harassment and intimidation. He was released on his own bail bond of 50 to appear before the court again next month, subject to adhering to strict bail conditions which include a curfew from 9pm to 7am. Another juvenile also arrested on Thursday morning faces 17 charges. He too was released on bail to appear again before the court next month, subject to conditions which include staying away from other named individuals, specific places in the town and observing a curfew. An older male was also before the court on two charges, including a serious assault, and released on bail on similar conditions, bar the curfew, on his own bond to 400 to appear again before the court next month. In his case, the Director of Public Prosecutions has indicated summary disposal of the charges against him in the district court on a guilty plea only. He was released on bail on his own bond of 400. A woman related to one of the juveniles was also brought before the court on one charge and must also adhere to bail conditions, on her own bond of 300, and will return before the court next month. The court heard there were serious charges and Judge John King said at the next scheduled appearance by the defendants the issue of jurisdiction would be decided. It is alleged the charges involve ongoing intimidation and harassment, threatening behaviour and a violent assault. A HUNDRED years ago next week, on May 24, 1923, Frank Aiken, Chief of Staff of the anti-Treaty IRA, issued an order: The arms with which we fought the enemies of our country are to be dumped. The foreign and domestic enemies of the Republic have for the moment prevailed. That same day, Eamon de Valera issued a proclamation to the Soldiers of the Republic, Legion of the Rearguard in which he said: Military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic. Other means must be sought to safeguard the nations right. With these albeit defiant words, Irelands Civil War was finally over, after 10 months, three weeks and five days. It was a war that had pitted brother against brother, sister against sister, and parent against sibling. Around 2,000 people are thought to have died. Here is how the events of 1923 panned out up to that point... ****** On New Years Day, 1923, Saorstat Eireann, the Irish Free State, was only one month old. However, its future was in doubt as it was also facing into the seventh month of a bitter Civil War fought between the forces of the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the pro-Treaty National Army. In his New Years message, William T. Cosgrave TD, President of the Executive Council of the Free State, talked of his hope of peace, order and goodwill. In its editorial the next day, the Cork Examiner stated peace will assuredly come. Despite these words, the Civil War would last for another five months. During that time, and in the months after, people and places throughout Cork would find their way into the history books as the country moved from war to peace. At the start of 1923, the National Army occupied most cities and towns in the Free State. It outnumbered and outgunned the IRA and had the support of the majority of the Irish people. In addition, 21 republican prisoners, including Dick Barrett from Ballineen, Co. Cork, had been executed by the National Army. While all this had an adverse impact on the IRA, it was still a force to be reckoned with. On the night of January 4, more than 60 Volunteers stormed into Millstreet and attacked the towns National Army positions. Though three positions were taken and a number of prisoners were captured, after six hours of fighting the IRA was forced to withdraw. Three members of the National Army were killed and a number of others were wounded in this incident. Four days later, an IRA unit attacked National Army positions in Ballineen, but after heavy fighting, it too had to retire. While similar operations took place in other parts of the country, some senior IRA officers now realised the war couldnt be won. One was Liam Deasy. Born in Bandon on May 6, 1896, he was commander of the IRAs 1st Southern Division. On January 18, he was captured at Tincurry, Co. Tipperary. Though sentenced to death, he successfully requested a stay of execution so he could issue an appeal to the IRA leadership to end the war in order to avoid further bloodshed. Liam Lynch in his coffin lying in state at Clonmel on April 10, 1923. From The Irish Civil War In Colour, by Michael B. Barry and John OByrne, published by Gill Books. This was rejected by IRA Chief of Staff Liam Lynch, but it soon emerged other members of the organisation supported Deasy. On February 16, the Examiner published a notice from more than 600 republican prisoners held in Limerick which stated: After many months waste of blood and the loss of valuable lives to the Nation, the cry to halt has gone forth. It called on republicans to do the big thing. Stop the fight and leave Irelands future in the peoples keeping. That very day, General Richard Mulcahy, Minister for Defence and commander of the National Army, made an amnesty offer to all persons now in arms against the government, who, on or before Sunday, February 18, 1923, surrender with arms to any officer of the National Forces or through any intermediary. Another group then trying to end the war was the Neutral IRA. Formed the previous year, this consisted of members of the IRA who refused to take part in the Civil War. Among its leading members were Sean OHegarty, former commander of Cork No.1 Brigade, and the units former adjutant, Florence ODonoghue. On February 16, the organisation issued a letter calling for a months truce so that negotiations to find a way to end the war could take place between leaders of both sides. Unfortunately, like the other initiatives, this one would also fail. Though many IRA officers now accepted a military victory was impossible, others were determined to continue the fight for an Irish Republic. By now, however, the organisation was only able to conduct minor military operations against the National Army. At the same time, it continued its strategy of targeting prominent supporters of the Treaty and their property. On the night of March 8, an IRA unit forced its way into the home of Mary Collins Powell, sister of Michael Collins, on Sundays Well in Cork, doused it with petrol and set it alight. Before the fire spread, Commandant Patrick Scott, National Army commander of the 10 Infantry Battalion in Michael (now Collins) Barracks, arrived. When he knocked at the door, the IRA unit opened fire, wounding him in the arm. A gunfight then developed between the IRA and Scotts military escort. While most of the IRA unit managed to escape, Volunteer William Healy, a 21-year-old native of Lackabane in Donoughmore, and a member of E Company, 1st Battalion, Cork No.1 Brigade, was captured. That same night, an unsuccessful attempt was made to burn the home of Miss Peg Duggan in Blackpool. A prominent member of the pro-Treaty Cumann na mBan in Cork, she was one of the first to arrive at the home of Lord Mayor Tomas Mac Curtain after he was shot dead by the Royal Irish Constabulary in March, 1920. Soldiers of the Irish Free State Army take over a ruined Michael (Collins) Barracks at Old Youghal Road, Cork at the end of the Civil War in 1923 Over the next four days, Healy was tried, found guilty of conspiring to kill Commandant Scott, and sentenced to death. At 8am on March 13, he was executed in the grounds of Cork Prison. Healy was the last man to be executed there - one of 81 republicans who suffered that fate in the Civil War. His remains were buried in the prison grounds, but in 1924, were exhumed and interred in the Republican Plot of St Finbarrs Cemetery. Before he died, Healy wrote a letter to his father, stating: If I had told on one of the boys, I would not be executed, but, as you know, I would not have it said that there was a spy in our family, because, as you know, I was out for a Republic and I sincerely hope it will be got some day. He forgave the members of the firing squad and encouraged other republicans awaiting execution to do the same. Healys execution would have a bloody sequel. At around 7pm on March 16, two men shot and seriously wounded Cork businessman William Beale outside his home at Elm Grove, on the Ballyhooley Road. As they fled, one assailant was heard to say the shooting was a reprisal for the execution. Beale was taken to the South Infirmary and died there on March 20. Republicans emigrating to Canada from Cobh after their defeat in the Civil War, raedy to board the SS Ausonia. From The Irish Civil War In Colour, by Michael B. Barry and John OByrne, published by Gill Books. A day later, on St Patricks Day morning, the National Army put on a major show of strength when 600 soldiers, led by the band of the 10 Infantry Battalion, marched from Michael Barracks to the North Cathedral to attend a military Mass said by their chaplain, Fr Joseph Scannell. A native of Cork city, Fr Scannell served as chaplain during World War I with the Irish Guards and was awarded the Military Cross and the French Croix de Guerre. He returned to Cork after the war and was made chaplain to Michael Barracks in 1922. When Mass finished, the troops marched back to the barracks to be presented with a new regimental colour - a tricolour flag of Irish poplin that included the symbol of the Sacred Heart. This had been made for Fr Scannell by members of La Societe des Oeuvres de Sacre Coeur Lyon in France. After the ceremony, Fr Scannell blessed a National Flag that had been placed on an altar of drums. It was then raised over the barracks by Major General David Reynolds, the General Officer Commanding the Southern Command. While such ceremonies may have been good for morale, the National Army still had a war to fight. On April 2, the IRA attacked a National Army unit guarding the Cork Electric Power House on Albert Road. One soldier was mortally wounded. Then, six days later, Margaret Dunne, a member of the anti-Treaty Cumann na mBan from Adrigole, was killed in a gun battle between the National Army and republicans in that locality. She was one of three members of the organisation killed by the National Army during the war. Dunnes funeral took place on April 10. That day, Liam Lynch was meeting the IRA executive neer Goatenbridge, Co. Tipperary. In the early hours, scouts spotted a large National Army column approaching. Hearing this, Lynch and the others tried to escape up the Knockmealdown mountains but were spotted by their opponents who fired shots in their direction, one of which hit Lynch in the stomach. In severe pain, Lynch told the other officers to leave him and make good their escape. He was taken prisoner and moved to St Josephs Hospital in Clonmel. Here, at 8.45pm, the man who once stated We have declared for an Irish Republic. We will live by no other law, passed away. Before he died, he asked to be buried close to Michael Fitzgerald, commander of the 1st Battalion, Cork No.2 Brigade of the IRA, who died on hunger strike in Cork Male Prison on October 17, 1920. His request was honoured and he was buried in Kilcrumper Cemetery, Co Cork, not far from his former comrade. After Lynchs death, the IRAs will to continue the fight faded away. On April 20, the IRA executive met and elected Frank Aiken as chief of staff. It also asked Eamon de Valera, as head of the republican movement, to explore the possibility of making peace with the Free State government. Seven days later, de Valera and Aiken ordered the IRA to suspend its operations by April 30. Negotiations for a settlement over the next two weeks failed but, as the National Army continued operations against the IRA, leaders of the republican movement met on May 13 and 14. But rather than surrender, they opted to order the IRA to cease fire and dump its arms. On May 24 came the two announcements by Aiken and de Valera, and the Civil War was over. ****** Now the fighting had stopped, many opponents of the Treaty sought to continue the struggle for an Irish republic by political means. Although they ran on an abstentionist platform, in the general election held on August 27, republican candidates still managed to secure 29% of the vote and 44 seats (four in Cork). Cumann na nGaedheal, the new pro-Treaty party led by William Cosgrave, would form a government after winning 41% of the popular vote and 63 seats (six in Cork). The party would go on to dominate Irish politics for nine years. Before 1923 was out, Irish republicans also embarked on a different type of struggle. Months after the order to dump arms, thousands of republican prisoners were still interned in prisons across Ireland. In an effort to secure their own freedom, around 7,000 began a hunger strike on October 14. One of those who joined the protest was Commandant Denis Barry from Cork No. 1 Brigade. Commandant Denis Barry Born in 1883 at Riverstick, he was a founding member of the Cork Brigade of Irish Volunteers and commander of the Republican Police in the city. He was arrested in Courtown Harbour on October 6, 1922, and incarcerated in Newbridge Internment Camp. On November 20, 1923, he died in the Curragh Camp Military Hospital on the 34th day of his fast. Initially, the government refused to release his remains to his family and they were interred in the Curragh. However, this decision was subsequently reversed and on November 27, they were exhumed and handed over to his family at Newbridge. Next morning, a Mass for Barry was said in the Dominican Chapel in Newbridge and that afternoon, his remains were placed on a train to Cork. Barrys family had hoped to have them taken to the South Parish Church for a funeral Mass before burial. But their plans were shattered when Bishop of Cork, Dr Daniel Cohalan said he would refuse Barry a Christian burial. Thus, when his remains arrived in Cork on the night of November 28, they were taken to the Sinn Fein offices at 56, Grand Parade, where large crowds paid their respects. The next morning, thousands lined the city streets as Barrys funeral procession made its way to the Republican Plot in St Finbarrs Cemetery, where his remains were buried alongside Tomas Mac Curtain and Terence MacSwiney. Newspapers reported that members of the National Army and Civic Guard on duty saluted as Barrys Tricolour-draped coffin passed them. In a long statement in the Cork Examiner on November 28, Bishop Cohalan set out his case, mentioning the political situation and Canon Law, which stated anyone who took their own life should be deprived of a Christian burial. He also accused Mary MacSwiney of not being a real republican and someone who gambled with the life of her brother Terence while he was on hunger strike. The bishop also singled out Sean OHegarty, as someone who told Cork TDs that if they voted for the Treaty, they would do so at their own peril. These accusations were immediately refuted by MacSwiney and OHegarty in letters that appeared in the newspapers. MacSwiney pointed out the bishop had no difficulty presiding at the funeral of her brother, who also died on hunger strike. She added that another republican hunger striker, Andrew OSullivan, had recently been given a Christian burial in Mallow. Bishop Daniel Cohalan, who clashed with Mary MacSwiney and Sean OHegarty Cavan-born OSullivan went to Mallow in 1915 to work as an agricultural inspector, subsequently joined the IRA, and became a captain in the 5th Battalion, Cork No. 4 Brigade. He died on November 22, after 40 days on hunger strike and a day before the protest was called off. On November 27, large crowds turned out to pay their respects as he was buried in St Gobnaits Cemetery in Mallow. The day OSullivan died, George Bourke, of the 2nd Battalion, Cork No.1 Brigade, was released from Newbridge Internment Camp. Born at 93, Bandon Road, Cork, in 1894, he was arrested in September, 1922, and incarcerated in Newbridge, where he embarked on a 15-day hunger strike. After his release, his health deteriorated and he passed away on December 22. Bourkes funeral took place on Christmas Day and he was buried in the Republican Plot in St Finbarrs Cemetery. He would be the last Cork fatality of the year who had a link to the Civil War. As 1923 passed into the history books, the people of Cork could look back on a tumultuous nine years during which they had witnessed the Great War, the Rising, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the War of Independence, and a Civil War. Hundreds across the county had lost a loved one as a result of those events. Countless others suffered physical and emotional wounds. Many buildings and bridges had been damaged or destroyed. But the country was now at peace, and in the years that followed, people would have the time to repair, rebuild, and perhaps most importantly, to heal. I AM a woman who loves a good milestone. I remember dates far beyond birthdays. I like to remember little details. I enjoy recalling what I was doing a decade ago and beyond. For example, Ill always remember my night on stage in the school musical on December 6, 2001, our debs was September 10, 2004, I left for my adventures in Galway on September 7, 2009. I met David on March 18, 2012, all of our official anniversaries and dates are common knowledge but Ill always remember the day he looked me straight in the eyes. There are countless other examples but I would only send you to sleep! The one thing that all the dates I mention have in common is that all of them featured in my column in WoW! Last week when I saw the cover with a cake celebrating 20 years of the publication so close to my heart, I couldnt help but smile. I didnt know I had started so close to the beginning of WoW. I will be writing my column 20 years at the end 2023. It has been such a constant for all of my adult life. The supplement sheds light on important issues impacting on the women of Cork but also tells us the stories of women making waves in business and in life and contributing to our city. The human interest stories are the best of all. I started writing my column before I did any qualification in journalism. One of the first things we were taught was that we had to be hard-nosed and tough. Thanks to years of readers speaking to me and writing to me with such kindness, I knew this to be untrue. I knew emotion and connection and interesting stories could mesh beautifully together. That first week, I remember thinking, if all I ever do is continue to write in WoW! at home in Cork, thats totally fine, its where I belong and in these lines I can be true to myself as a disabled woman. WoW! was promoting inclusion from the very start and I feel very proud to be part of it all. I have always sent my column in by email and rarely interact with the team behind the scenes in person. I know, however, that they are working hard to bring the paper together every day and every week and the dedication pays off. Features editor John Dolan has worked with me from the very beginning and I have always felt supported, included and most importantly understood. Ive worked with a few deputy editors over the years and love the friendship I now have with Deputy Features Editor Elaine Duggan. People are behind the print and 20 years of ups and downs is a great achievement. I am just a tiny link in a chain of very talented people who I have worked with through the years, all of us journalists with hearts. For me, it all started when Maurice Gubbins put his business card in my palm, just like something out of a film, and told me to give him a call about possible work. My teenage brain didnt know what to think but I bit the bullet and Im so delighted I did and so grateful for all that had happened since. I wish Maurice a happy retirement and will always feel so fortunate that he took a chance on me 20 years ago. Thank you for getting this far and for reading WoW!, because without readers we wouldnt have a reason to tell any story. I love this story! Perth, AustraliaAirway health is an important but often overlooked area of medicine, and studies have connected poor airway health to sleep, cognitive, behavioral, and physical problems. Dr. Shereen Lim is breaking new ground in this field with her book Breathe, Sleep, Thrive, a comprehensive guide to breathing and airway development. It covers the issues that can arise from poor airway health to what steps can be taken to prevent and reverse damage, focusing on children's development in particular. "It is so exciting to finally have a science-based, patient friendly, comprehensive book covering airway health. Dr. Lim does a magnificent job blending stories from her personal life, educational journey, and practice experience to make this an entertaining read" Jeff Rouse, DDS, Private Practice Prosthodontist, USA, and Resident Faculty Spear Education As one of Australia's first dentists to obtain a qualification in dental sleep medicine, Dr. Lim has seen the effects first-hand of poor airway and dental development. She shares on her website that "common issues children experience such as snoring, poor attention and concentration, ADHD-symptoms, difficulties with emotional regulation, recurrent ear infections, speech or feeding concerns, teeth grinding, crooked teeth, and more, can often be symptoms of a bigger, underlying problem. These can all be symptoms of dysfunctional breathing and unrestorative sleep" Her holistic approach seeks to solve the root cause of health issues, rather than only treating the symptoms. "Shereen is one of the leading personas in this field and Breathe, Sleep, Thrive sheds light on a topic seldom taught or understood by most physicians, pediatricians and dentists. This book will definitely help parents grow a healthier generation" Eyal Botzer, DMD, Director of Pediatric Dentistry at Tel Aviv Medical Center, Israel This book is divided into three main parts: an overview of airway health, early childhood influences on airway development, and pathways to restore airway health. From both research and personal experiences, she lays out the most important factors that affect airway health, including mouth breathing, infant feeding habits, tongue-ties, and jaw and teeth development. From there, she proposes solutions to each issue. This ranges from creating healthy habits during childhood to surgery to correcting problems as an adult. The book is filled with charts, lists, photos, and references to back up the data. "Dr. Lim perfectly synthesizes complex scientific principles with easy-to-read language that makes this book a must-read for parents and medical professionals alike"Bobby Ghaheri, MD, Otolaryngologist at The Oregon Clinic, Portland Breathe, Sleep, Thrive set out to spread awareness of overlooked health problems and provide potential solutions based on scientific research and first-hand experience. For parents of developing children, healthcare professionals, or those seeking to better understand their own health, Dr. Shereen Lim's book dives deep into an important aspect of well-being: breathing. Breathe, Sleep, Thrive, ISBN 9780645553215 (Paperback) and 9780645553208 (eBook), $14.99 Paperback, $9.99 Kindle, 195 Pages, Sparkle Publishing, 2022. Available on. For more information visit www.drshereenlim.com.au. About Dr. Shereen Lim: She is an Australia-based dentist with a post graduate diploma in dental sleep medicine from the University of Western Australia. She was one of Australia's first handful of dentists to obtain a qualification in dental sleep medicine. She has been involved in managing snoring and obstructive sleep apnea for over a decade and has seen the physical, developmental, mental, and emotional problems that are often associated with these breathing disturbances throughout the lifespan. Her mission is to highlight root causes and promote airway health, or a shift from managing disease and symptoms towards ensuring healthy nasal breathing and good airway development from infancy. She works in private practice and has a special focus on unlocking greater health and wellness through addressing tongue ties, oral dysfunction (during infant feeding, swallowing, breathing, chewing, and speech), and guiding good jaw development during childhood. Media Contact: For a review copy of Breathe, Sleep, Thrive or to arrange an interview with Shereen Lim, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Reach Lorenz on Twitter @abookpublicist. Fairfield, MT (59436) Today Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 46F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 46F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. BIG TIMBER, Mont. - A Tennessee woman was killed in a crash in Sweet Grass County near Big Timber Friday afternoon. Around 21:30 pm, a Lexus RX3 was driving westbound near Sweet Grass when the driver overcorrected and stuck the median. Montana Highway Patrol reports the car overturned multiple times before coming to a rest on its wheels in the eastbound lanes. Debris from the crash also caused minor damage to an unrelated Subaru Outback. A 21-year-old woman from Afton, Tennessee was driving the Lexus and was killed in the crash. She was reported to be wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Both passengers in the Subaru were uninjured. Alcohol and speed are suspected factors in the crash. Article updated to reflect the crash happened in Sweet Grass County, near Big Timber. Melissa McCarthy says living through lockdown helped her identify with her Little Mermaid characters crazed mental state. Melissa McCarthy identified with her Little Mermaid character due to her crazed mental state The Bridesmaids actress, 52, plays evil sea witch Ursula in the new live-action remake of Disneys 1989 The Little Mermaid animation and said she has loved the villain for years. She told The Observer: Having just gone through Covid, I was like, aha, this is a character who has been in isolation for long enough that she is not in the healthiest mental state. I started to love her in a whole new way. And shes also been alone for years with two eels? Shes not solid on her tentacles, so to speak. Melissa used to watch The Little Mermaid before bedtime while working as a nanny in New York in the 1990s, and said she always thought: My God, Id like to have a drink with Ursula. The actress, who has daughter Vivian, 16, and Georgette, 13, with her actor husband of 18 years Ben Falcone, 49, added she despised the race-hate backlash against the new version of The Little Mermaid after black actress Halle Bailey, 23, was cast as Ariel. She said: I hate any kind of injustice. And people attacking someone for just trying to be who they truly are. What does it matter to them? Do no harm, be kind if everyone just followed those two rules, wed be fine. Not, You cant read this book, You cant talk about certain histories. I dont have any patience for all that. Melissa added: Can you imagine if everybody was just kind for one week? The difference would be so unbelievable I dont even know how it would feel. And the weird thing is, its just not that hard to do? Next Story : FMBI S2: Celebrate Creators for Good With Femina Mamaearth Beautiful India Arjun Kapoor is known not only as a stellar actor but also for his commendable work as an animal welfare activist. Despite his success in the film industry since 2012 and his consequently frenetic life, Arjun has remained humble and has a heart full of love for animals.During the peak months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arjun handpicked items from his personal wardrobe and put them up for sale, with the proceeds going towards animal welfare organisations and shelters, an act of kindness that showcased his dedication towards the well-being of animals. He has also served as a social ambassador for India at the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and has been seen initiating efforts to conserve rich biodiversity areas such as the Sundarbans. Arjun has also worked towards making the surroundings a better place for animals, especially during the Earth Hour event.His selfless and inspiring efforts toward animal welfare have made him a real-life hero, and his actions continue to inspire others. So it comes as no surprise that the powerhouse of talent won the Trendsetter of The Year at FMBI Season 2. Cannes 2023 Diary Day 5: Saturday (May 20) turned out to be a blockbuster day at French Riviera as leading celebs graced the 76th edition of Cannes Film Festival. While many tinsel town stars made waves with their stunning looks, our Bollywood stars stole all the limelight at the gala event. Diana Penty seems to be channeling her inner Pooh as her mantra at Cannes 2023 has been all about 'Good looks, good looks and good looks'. CANNES 2023 DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS Day four of the Cannes Film Festival 2023 was all about extraordinary style statement as the Hollywood and Bollywood slayed the red carpet looks. While the first three days of Cannes 2023 were power-packed in terms of B-town representation, all eyes were on the fifth day as Diana Penty made a glittery start before walking down the red carpet. In case you had a busy day and couldn't keep a tab on the developments at Cannes 2023, you need not worry. Grab a bowl of popcorn and check out the main highlights from day five of Cannes film festival 2023. DIANY PENTY CANNES 2023 LOOK The Cocktail actress, who started things on a high in French Riviera, took it a notch higher with her second appearance. Diana Penty stunned in a chic black dress featuring tassels, making waves with her hot avatar. She opted for black smokey lips, which only added to her beauty. Be it her swag or OOTD, Diana ruled the roost before killing it at the Cannes 2023 red carpet. NAOMI CAMPBELL IS A GODDESS ON THE RED CARPET Mama mia! The supermodel was dressed to impress as she donned a red-cut dress that featured a cape. She oozed panache while striking a pose for the camera, giving us several picture-perfect moments. We cannot help but gush over her beauty as she owned the red carpet like a lady boss. As she arrived for the Killer of the Flower Moon premiere at Cannes 2023, the 53-year-old flaunted her model physique, proving why she is the queen of the ramp walking. LEONARDO DICAPRIO IS A TRUE GENTLEMAN AT CANNES 2023 RED CARPET Trust Leo to pull off a tuxedo with ease at any event. The Titanic star graced the Cannes red carpet for the premiere of Killers Of The Flower Moon, which is his seventh film with Martin Scorsese. The likes of Robbie Williams, Mia Regan, Irina Shayk also walked down the red carpet at the premiere. Montee des Marches / Red Steps KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON de/by MARTIN SCORSESE Avec/With Leonardo DiCaprio, Tantoo Cardinal, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Cara Jade Myers & Lily Gladstone#Cannes2023 #OfficialSelection #OutOfCompetition #HorsCompetition pic.twitter.com/YVdLQ1aeUe Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 20, 2023 We cannot wait for Anushka Sharma's grand debut at Cannes 2023. Hoping that Virat Kohli's spouse sets the internet on fire with her look at the event. Keep watching this space for more updates. Priyanka Chopra's Citadel Makes A Sexual Joke At Kate Middleton: Headlined by Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden, the Amazon Prime spy series is under fire for making a sexual joke against the Princess Of Wales, Kate Middleton. PRIYANKA CHOPRA'S CITADEL TAKES A BRUTAL DIG AT KATE MIDDLETON In the third episode of the series, PeeCee's character, Nadia Sinh has a conversation with her partner, Mason Kane/Kyle Conroy (essayed by Richard Madden) via an earpiece. She instructs him to meet the crime boss, Balduino Basto (Sen Monro) to negotiate a deal with the military. After which, Balduino takes a diss at Kate, as he says, "The chief of armed forces? You might as well have asked me how to get between the legs of the Duchess of Cambridge." The controversial statement in the series has put Priyanka on the receiving end of Twitterati, as she is said to be sharing a close bond with Meghan Markle, who is Kate's sister-in-law. And Meghan and Kate are said to be each other's rivals. It is noted that neither Prime Video nor Chopra Jonas has addressed the remarks against Princess Kate. The Duchess of Cambridge has also not reacted to the issue. Netizens seem to be divided on the stance as some feel Priyanka Chopra should be kept out of it as neither she was in the scene nor she uttered the dialogue, whereas others slammed her for the 'vile and gratuitous' statement. Meanwhile, Citadel's Indian counterpart, which is a spin-off to Priyanka and Richard's ongoing series will star Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan in the lead. The series will be headlined by The Family Man's director duo, Raj and DK. PeeCee recently revealed the news and said that "Raj and DK are so amazing, so talented and they'll bring their own spin to the Indian installment. So, I'm very excited." Mohanlal's Birthday Celebrations: Today is Malayalam's favourite actor Mohanlal's birthday. Malayalis from all over the world are wishing their beloved Lalettan a happy birthday. Mohanlal's photos, videos, and wishes are everywhere on social media. Now the photos shared by Mohanlal on this occasion are capturing everyone's heart. Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 5: Who All Will Make It To The Top 5? Evicted Contestant Sruthi Lakshmi Predicts Mohanlal can be seen in the photos celebrating his birthday with the children of a shelter home. Mohanlal celebrated his birthday with the children of Angels Hut, a shelter home run by the HUM Foundation. Mohanlal celebrated his birthday by cutting the cake and also handing over gift packs to the children. 'A humble birthday celebration with the blessings of little angels', Mohanlal wrote along with the photos. Netizens are now praising the actor for his kind gesture. Mohanlal's note: "A humble birthday celebration with the blessings of the little angels of Angelz Hut, a shelter home run by the HUM Foundation! The project nurtures girls from underprivileged communities, empowering them for a great future. Thank you for this day, Zon Edamuttath!" Mohanlal's Upcoming Films Meanwhile, Mohanlal has a line-up of big-budget films this year. The main one is Malaikottai Valiban, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery. The shooting of the film is progressing in Chennai. This is also the film where Lijo and Mohanlal team up for the first time. The first schedule in Rajasthan was recently completed. Bigg Boss Malayalam 5 - Sruthi Lakshmi Breaks Silence After Eviction: I Have Never Been Fake In... There are unconfirmed reports that the second part of Lucifer, Empuraan, directed by Prithviraj, will be shot soon. It is reported that the set construction will start this week. It is also reported that the shooting will start soon after this. It is reported that Prithviraj Productions and South India's leading production company, Hombale Films, are teaming up with Aashirvad Cinemas for the film. Lucifer was produced by Aashirvad Cinemas. Mohanlal's directorial venture, Barroz, is also expected to release this year. Olavum Theeravum, Jeethu Joseph's Ram, Vrishabha, Bhadran movie, Anoop Sathyan movie, and Tinu Pappachan movie are the other films on the list. Mohanlal On His Birthday Gets A Special Gift: Today is the birthday of Mohanlal, one of Malayalam's all-time favourite stars. Mohanlal received a very special gift from Asianet on his birthday this year. The special gift was announced on the stage of Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 5. It was announced that Mohanlal's handwriting will now be available in digital font form. Bigg Boss also announced on stage that the font will be known as 'A 10'. Bigg Boss Malayalam 5 - Sruthi Lakshmi Breaks Silence On Linkup Rumours With Rinosh: I've Seen Him... On the stage of Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 5, Mohanlal's birthday was celebrated in the presence of Disney Star India Country Manager and President K. Madhavan. At the same time, the photos shared by Mohanlal celebrating his birthday with the children of a shelter home are capturing everyone's heart. Mohanlal celebrated his birthday with the children of Angels Hut, a shelter home run by the HUM Foundation. Mohanlal celebrated his birthday by cutting the cake and also handing over gift packs to the children. 'A humble birthday celebration with the blessings of little angels', Mohanlal wrote along with the photos. Netizens are now praising the actor for his kind gesture. Mohanlal's note: "A humble birthday celebration with the blessings of the little angels of Angelz Hut, a shelter home run by the HUM Foundation! The project nurtures girls from underprivileged communities, empowering them for a great future. Thank you for this day, Zon Edamuttath!" Mohanlal's Upcoming Films Meanwhile, Mohanlal has a line-up of big-budget films this year. The main one is Malaikottai Valiban, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery. The shooting of the film is progressing in Chennai. This is also the film where Lijo and Mohanlal team up for the first time. The first schedule in Rajasthan was recently completed. Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 5: Who All Will Make It To The Top 5? Evicted Contestant Sruthi Lakshmi Predicts There are unconfirmed reports that the second part of Lucifer, Empuraan, directed by Prithviraj, will be shot soon. It is reported that the set construction will start this week. It is also reported that the shooting will start soon after this. It is reported that Prithviraj Productions and South India's leading production company, Hombale Films, are teaming up with Aashirvad Cinemas for the film. Lucifer was produced by Aashirvad Cinemas. Mohanlal's directorial venture, Barroz, is also expected to release this year. Olavum Theeravum, Jeethu Joseph's Ram, Vrishabha, Bhadran movie, Anoop Sathyan movie, and Tinu Pappachan movie are the other films on the list. Bigg Boss OTT 2 Contestants: After the conclusion of Bigg Boss 16 in February, viewers have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of another captivating reality show. Disappointingly, the postponement of Kangana Ranaut's Lock Upp 2 left fans wanting for more. However, there is good news for reality show enthusiasts as Bigg Boss OTT 2 is reportedly in the works following the immense success of its first season, hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar. According to the ongoing buzz, the show is expected to premiere next month, and the producers have already begun reaching out to well-known celebrities. FAHMAAN KHAN APPROACHED FOR BIGG BOSS OTT 2? One potential participant for the upcoming season of Bigg Boss OTT is Fahmaan Khan. As per a recent report by India Forums, Fahmaan has been approached for the reality show, although he has not confirmed his participation yet. Interestingly, this development coincides with Fahmaan Khan's television Pyar Ke Saat Vachan Dharampatnii nearing its conclusion. Reportedly, the actor will be shooting the last episode of the show on May 20, which is set to end on June 9. Uss Raat Ko Bohot...: Fahmaan Khan Reveals Breaking Down While Shooting A Day After Actor-Brother's Death Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Mein: Satya Wants DIVORCE From Sai For THIS Shocking Reason; SaiRat Reunion On Cards? Meanwhile, the latest reports indicate that the shooting for Bigg Boss OTT 2 will commence by the end of this month. Contrary to the previous season, where Karan Johar was the host, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is rumored to replace the filmmaker this time. It is speculated that Salman Khan will begin shooting for the show on May 29. Furthermore, insiders suggest that Bigg Boss OTT 2 will run for a duration of six weeks. However, an official confirmation is still awaited. LIST OF OTHER RUMOURED CONTESTANTS OF BIGG BOSS OTT 2 Earlier, there were also reports about Rajeev Sen, the brother of Sushmita Sen, being approached for Bigg Boss OTT 2. Additionally, Munawar Faruqui, a stand-up comedian and winner of Lock Upp season one, has reportedly been roped in as a contestant. There are also rumors about Gulshan, the brother of Bigg Boss 16 finalist Archana Gautam, being a potential participant. However, no official announcements have been made regarding the final list of contestants thus far. Keep watching this space for more updates! Raj Of Raj-Koti Music Duo Dies Photo Credit: Twitter Music director Raj, who predominantly worked with composer Koti, as 'Raj-Koti,' died on Sunday, March 21 in Hyderabad. The Telugu film fraternity expressed deep shock at the sudden demise of Raj. Condolences have been pouring in for the veteran. Friends-turned-musicians Raj and Koti have worked on several blockbuster films which have sensational records exclusively for their music and albums. Raj Of Raj-Koti Dead According to the available information, Raj breathed his last during the afternoon hours on May 21, in Hyderabad. He reportedly died due to prolonged illness. Raj-Koti's Sensational Collaboration The duo worked on the background score and tunes for films like Hello Brother, Muta Mestri, Bangaru Bullodu, Govinda Govinda, Lankeswarudu, Mechanic Alludu, Pokiri Raja, and other such films which count to 180. The duo recorded about 3000 songs and among them, 2500 songs were sung by legendary late SP Balasubrahmanyam and KS Chithra. Raj's Early Life & Background Raj, born Thotakura Somaraju to TV Raju, who is a popular Telugu film music composer as Saluri Rajeswara Rao, who also was an ace musician of the TFI. Since childhood, Koti and Raj were also friends and they first collaborated to make music for films and private albums in the year 1982. The duo won Nandi Award for Best Music for Hello Brother in 1994. They worked together as musicians for over a decade successfully. Raj-Koti Rift While the duo were working day in and day-out for their projects at the peak of their career, Raj suddenly wanted to quit working together for some reason. Since then, Koti continued to rule the industry with his work for the decades to come while Raj remained behind professionally. Also, in one of the recent interviews, Koti elaborated on their tiff saying that Raj was uncomfortable with producers and directors coming to Koti more frequently while they sidelined Raj, which angered the latter. However, the duo reconciled in 2012, but they didn't work together later on. Official Partner of Festival de Cannes, Campari, hosted its 'Discover Red' event on the heart of the Cannes Croisette, with a guest list including Charles Melton, Luke Evans and Alessandra Ambrosio. CANNES, France, May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, Campari, the iconic Milanese, red aperitivo returned to the 76th edition of the world-renowned Festival de Cannes, as an official partner and hosted its Discover Red event attended by Charles Melton, Luke EvansandAlessandra Ambrosio. The event was attended by actor, Charles Melton, ahead of his premiere for May December at the 76th Annual Festival de Cannes. During his time in Cannes, Charles has also received a breakthrough talent award at the Variety Golden Globes Awards for his role in the film. Also in attendance was acting legend, Luke Evans, and iconic model with Italian heritage, Alessandra Ambrosio. During each stage of Discover Red, guests invited to experience a series of unforgettable creations from two Michelin Star Chef, Christian Sinicropi, Head Bartender of Camparino in Galleria, Tommaso Cecca; each of whom are icons within their own fields and elevated the night to take it beyond the expected. The scene was set at the Martinez Hotel, inspiring guests with a night that brought Campari's longstanding heritage in cinema to life. Guests were immersed in a four-part multi-sensory dining experience curated by two icons of mixology and gastronomy. Chef Christian Sinicropi used his limitless skill as a two Michelin Star Chef to curate each course paired perfectly with Campari cocktails, curated by Tommaso Cecca, the head bartender at Camparino in Galleria, which provides legendary service in Milano and is a symbol of the aperitif par excellence. Creating an enhanced dining experience, when guests arrived at the dinner, a seemingly regular dinner table transformed into a fully immersive display inspired by the Festival de Cannes Red Carpet, the Cannes Riviera, the power of imagination and Campari's place at the heart of cocktail culture. The four dining chapters each began with an iconic Campari cocktail that inspired an unforgettable dish, stimulating the senses, while guests were guided through the evening by a narrator to accompany the audio-visual display. No star-studded event would be complete without viral celebrity content creator and Red Carpet regular, Cole Walliser. Having captured celebrities at the Oscars, The Grammys, Golden Globes and Emmys, Cole is best known for his slow-motion edits of talent at high profile events. Campari Group's Head of Global Marketing, Julka Villa comments: "As this is the second time we have been an Official Partner of Festival de Cannes, the aim of Discover Red was to curate a night that brought together the icons of Campari and cinema, each of which inspire the unforgettable. As one of the most celebrated global film festivals, our event took inspiration from the aspirational allure of Festival de Cannes, pushing it to the next level delivering the elevated experience that people expect from both Campari and the Festival. To do this, each moment of Discover Red captured the unique relationship between Campari, cinema and the Festival, immersing guests in this world through all senses and the night was yet another great example of Campari going beyond the expected." Throughout the night, cocktails were expertly served by Camparino in Galleria, providing the legendary service of the historic Milanese bar located in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Camparino is a symbol of the aperitif par excellence; it brings to Cannes its strong connections with both Milano, the birthplace of Campari, and the artistic and cultural context of the 20th century. The Camparino team served a selection of iconic Campari cocktails to guests, including the Negroni, Campari Spritz and the Negroni Sbagliato. Alongside these classic cocktails, the Camparino team served the Red Carpet - Cannes Edition: a fresh tasting and salty cocktail inspired by the Cannes Riviera. Please follow Campari's social media channels for further information @campariofficial. CampariCinema Cannes2023 FestivalDeCannes EnjoyResponsibly www.campari.com https://www.youtube.com/EnjoyCampari https://www.facebook.com/Campari https://instagram.com/campariofficial ABOUT FESTIVAL DE CANNES The Festival de Cannes is an event that brings together the world's film professionals around an official competition and an International Film Market, whose highly media-oriented aspect makes it one of the first annual international events, contributing to the world cinematic influence. ABOUT CAMPARI Campari, the iconic, unforgettable Italian red spirit sitting at the heart of some of the world's most famous cocktails. Campari was founded in Milan in 1860 by Gaspare Campari, and pioneered by his son, Davide, who created something so distinctive and revolutionary that its secret recipe has not been altered since. Vibrant red in colour, Campari's unique and multi-layered taste is the result of the infusion of herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. As well as being unique and distinctive, Campari is extremely versatile, offering boundless and unexpected possibilities. As a source of this passionate inspiration since its creation seen through its founders' creative genius, artists in different fields and the world's best bartenders, Campari stimulates your instincts to unlock your passions, inspiring limitless creations. ABOUT CAMPARI GROUP Campari Group is a major player in the global spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, spreading across Global, Regional and Local priorities. Global Priorities, the Group's key focus, include Aperol, Appleton Estate, Campari, SKYY, Wild Turkey and Grand Marnier. The Group was founded in 1860 and today is the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry. It has a global distribution reach, trading in over 190 nations around the world with leading positions in Europe and the Americas. Campari Group's growth strategy aims to combine organic growth through strong brand building and external growth via selective acquisitions of brands and businesses. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Campari Group owns 22 plants worldwide and has its own distribution network in 22 countries. Campari Group employs approximately 4,000 people. The shares of the parent company Davide Campari-Milano N.V. (Reuters CPRI.MI - Bloomberg CPR IM) have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001. For more information: http://www.camparigroup.com/en Please enjoy our brands responsibly. ABOUT CAMPARINO Camparino in Galleria is the legendary bar opened by Davide Campari in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in 1915. The bar was opened opposite to Caffe Campari, the establishment opened by Gaspare Campari - Davide's father and the creator of the bitter liqueur - in 1867. An instant hit with the people of Milan, the bar became synonymous with the city's aperitivo tradition and in 2015 marked its 100th anniversary. Following a renovation project, the bar reopens to the public in autumn 2019 with a refreshed identity and food and drink offering designed to consolidate its status as one of the most influential establishments in the world for lovers of mixology and gastronomic innovation. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2081775/Alessandra_Ambrosio.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2081776/Luke_Evans.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2081777/Charles_Melton.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2081778/Cole_Walliser.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2081779/Event_Set_Guests.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/campari-hosts-a-night-of-unforgettable-moments-at-76th-festival-de-cannes-301830267.html In his bid to create a united opposition against the BJP, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi. The meeting comes just a day after Kumar attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar as the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Karnataka. The Bihar CM discussed the contentious topic of the Delhi vs Centre row on having the capitals sovereignty. He also talked about the Centres plan to bring about an ordinance to give the control of services back to Delhis Lieutenant Governor. How can powers given to an elected government be taken away? Its against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal. We are trying to bring together all opposition parties in the country, Kumar told reporters. As per sources, Kejriwal sought support on the matter from Kumar in Rajya Sabha. The Delhi CM said, Today, in a meeting with Nitish Ji, he said that he stands with the people of Delhi, on the issue of the Centre bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi. In case the Centre brings this ordinance as a bill, if all non-BJP parties come together it can be defeated in Rajya Sabha. If such a thing happens, it can send a message that the BJP govt will be out in 2024 The meeting is also being attended by Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, Sanjay Jha, Lalan Singh and Manoj Jha are also present. There is an appeal to the opposition parties to oppose this in the Rajya Sabha, I will personally talk to all the opposition leaders regarding this. Such a law cannot come that destroys democracy, no such law can come that attacks the basic structure of the Constitution. It is now a matter of battle between the Supreme Court and the Central Government, Kejriwal said on Saturday. The meeting between both leaders is underway at the Civil Lines residence of his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital. Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar has been meeting Opposition leaders to strengthen the bloc against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Ukraine said on Sunday that it was still fighting for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said earlier that the city remained only in our hearts. Asked before a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Japan if the city was still in Ukraines hands after the Russians said they had seized it in its entirety, Zelenskiy told reporters, I think no. He added: For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. Zelenskiys press secretary later clarified that the leader was responding to a different part of the question. Reporters question: Russians said they have taken Bakhmut, Sergii Nykyforov wrote on Facebook. Presidents reply: I think no. He added in Ukrainian: In this way, the president denied the capture of Bakhmut. Russia claimed on Saturday to have fully captured the smashed eastern Ukrainian city, which if true would mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war. It is tragedy, Zelenskiy said. There is nothing on this place. The assault on the largely levelled city was led by troops from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier in the day that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Prime Minister Narendra Modis popularity on the global stage seems to be reaching new heights. At the Quad meeting, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to PM Modi with messages from citizens of their respective countries requesting to attend the Indian leaders programmes. Biden said that prominent American citizens have requested the president to allow them to attend Modis programmes during his visit to Washington DC next month. While Albanese, echoing a similar view, said that he too is finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests he is getting for a community event, where Modi will speak on Tuesday, even though the Sydney venue has a capacity of 20,000. Albanese remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium more than 90,000 people welcomed him during the victory lap. To this, Biden told Modi in a lighter vein that he should take his autograph. Modi and Albanese were in the Gujarat stadium to watch an India-Australia test match in March this year and had taken a lap of honour. Modi is expected to visit Australia on Monday as part of his three-nation visit. At the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, PM Modi highlighted the importance of the group of nations US, Australia, India, and Japan in the contemporary world. Addressing Quad leaders US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, PM Modi said, There is no doubt at all about the fact that the Indo-Pacific region is the engine for global trade, innovation and development. We agree that the security and success of the Indo-Pacific is important, not just for this region, but, for the entire world. He also said that Quad has emerged as a key platform to ensure peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the coalition is moving forward on the basis of constructive agenda and democratic principles. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. G7 Summit: French President Emmanuel Macron asserted on Sunday that the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan is a chance to persuade important developing nations like India and Brazil to support western nations on the Ukraine issue. After a meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the margins of the G7 Summit on Saturday, Macron called the unexpected visit of Zelenskiy, a game changer during a press conference on Sunday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak held a dialogue on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japans Hiroshima. At the Peace Memorial Museum, where he also looked at the recorded exhibits and signed the visitors book, PM Modi started his day by presenting flower tributes. Along with PM Modi, other world leaders, such as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, paid their respects. PM Modi arrived at the Group of Seven Leaders (G7) summit on Saturday at the invitation of Fumio Kishida. Since then, he has held talks with various world leaders. On Saturday, PM Modi met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Hiroshima and discussed ways to enhance India-Japan friendship across different sectors including trade, economy and culture. PM Modi also held a dialogue with his Vietnam counterpart Pham Minh Chinh on Saturday and discussed various aspects of bilateral ties including in defence. (With agency inputs) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak held bilateral talks on Sunday along the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japans Hiroshima. PM Modi began his day by paying floral tributes at the Peace Memorial Museum where he also observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitors book. Other leaders including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also joined PM Modi in paying their respects. PM Modi arrived at the Group of Seven Leaders summit yesterday at the invitation of Fumio Kishida. Since then, he has held talks with various world leaders. Meanwhile, PM Modi also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since the war broke. Modi conveyed Indias clear support for dialogue and diplomacy to find a way forward. We will continue extending humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine, he told Zelenskyy. Prime Minister Modi reviewed the full range of relations between India and Japan during his bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida earlier on Saturday. The two leaders also discussed the focus areas of Indias G20 Presidency and Japans G7 Presidency towards making the planet better. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sending Russia a message from Japan, the Group of Seven Nations has vowed to stand by Ukraine for the long haul. Also, Zelenskyy has the chance to seek the support of countries like Brazil and India on the last day of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. Leaders of the worlds leading democracies got together to express distrust of China as a trading partner and conveyed their determination to help Ukraine thwart Russian forces. In the latest update on the Ukrainian border front, Russian armed forces have claimed to capture the key eastern city of Bakhmut following a months-long siege that marked the bloodiest battle of the war. The leaders of the G7 nations the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada have debated how to respond as the conflict that began in February last year drags on. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that the joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on the US-made F-16 jets sent a clear message to Russia that it should not expect to succeed in its invasion by prolonging the conflict. Although US President Joe Biden has not made any commitments to deliver the warplanes, senior US officials assured G7 leaders about Washingtons willingness to join the training programmes. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated that the G7 Summit is a good opportunity for Ukraine to convince big emerging countries like India and Brazil to support Kyiv in its war efforts. Biden is planning to roll out a $375 million military aid package for Ukraine in Japan as well, according to a US official. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the package will include artillery, ammunition and HIMARS rocket launchers. Zelenskiy has pushed the countries to go further on both economic and military measures. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Amid tight security, Jammu and Kashmirs Srinagar has been spruced up for the three-day G20 working group meeting on tourism beginning Monday. Stringent security arrangements are in place across the Kashmir Valley to ensure that the high-profile event passes off peacefully, officials said on Sunday. The route from Srinagar airport to Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) the venue of the meeting has been given a massive facelift with the G20 logo painted on walls and hoardings installed to welcome the delegates, they said. The officials said Gulmarg tourist resort in north Kashmir, where a meeting is also scheduled, has been beautified too. Authorities are taking no chances and have beefed up security across the valley in view of the G20 meeting. Elite NSG and Marine Commandos are helping the police and the paramilitary forces to secure the venues of the event, the officials said. They said massive sanitisation and area domination exercises have been carried out in the areas around the venues, along the route and in vulnerable spots of the city. Security forces have been deployed in large numbers to ensure an incident-free event, the officials said. Scanners and sniffer dogs have been pressed into action to check for any explosives or IEDs, they added. Vehicles passing through the city are being randomly checked to ensure that no subversive elements manage entry into the city, the officials said. The administration is pulling out all stops to put on a grand show, they said. (With inputs from PTI) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Amid Russias ongoing invasion in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden on Sunday announced a new weapons package for Kyiv, as he met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Hiroshima. Biden said the package would include ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles days after giving allies the okay to transfer advanced F-16 jets to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Zelensky appeared to confirm the loss of Bakhmut to the Russians, adding there was nothing left of the city. Asked if Ukrainian forces were holding on or if Russia had captured the city, Zelensky was not entirely clear, but said you have to understand there is nothing there. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts, he said. (With inputs from AFP) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. US President Joe Biden has invited Japan and South Korea leaders to formal three-way talks in Washington, a senior US administration official said. The leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the G7 summit, to which host Japan invited South Korea as long-frosty ties between the neighbours thaw. Tokyo and Seoul, both key US allies, have long been at odds over issues related to Japans brutal 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea, including sexual slavery and forced labour. But South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have made active efforts to restore soured ties since Seoul announced a plan to compensate those affected by wartime forced labour without Tokyos involvement. Biden praised the pairs courageous work to improve their bilateral ties, the White House said in a statement. The three leaders also discussed new coordination over North Koreas illicit nuclear and missile threats, the statement added. The official said the timing for the meeting would be worked out soon, and there were no further details immediately available. Earlier, Yoon and Kishida made a historic visit Sunday to a memorial for Koreans killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It was the first time leaders of the two countries have jointly visited the memorial, and only the second time a Japanese prime minister has done so. This will be remembered as a courageous action by Prime Minister Kishida that paves the way for a peaceful future while expressing grief for the Korean victims of the atomic bombing, Yoon said at a bilateral meeting after the visit. (With inputs from AFP) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. With focus on aspects of blue economy, G20s third Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting will be held in Mumbai from Sunday, officials said. The three-day meet will commence with a side event on beach clean-up in Juhu, followed by the Ocean 20 Dialogue. The Ocean 20 platform, launched during the Indonesia Presidency Dialogue, is aimed at advancing ideation and action for ocean solutions. To ensure continuity and build on the initiative, the Indian Presidency is demonstrating active leadership by anchoring the Ocean 20 Dialogue in the 3rd ECSWG, which will focus on three significant pillars of blue economy, read a statement from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The sessions on the first day of the meeting will cover various aspects of blue economy and the first session will be on science, technology and innovation. The subsequent session will be on policy, governance and participation, and the concluding session on establishing blue finance mechanisms for blue economy. The deliberations will be aimed at working towards the wellbeing of oceans and the need to make conscious efforts towards reversing damage to them and protecting marine resources. The 3rd ECSWG will involve discussions on the draft ministerial communique with deliberations tuned towards achieving a consensus amongst the G20 countries. The closed-door sessions will conclude on a way forward note for the fourth ECSWG. (With inputs from PTI) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said United Nations and the Security Council will remain just a talk shop if they do not reflect the realities of the present world. He has strongly pitching for reform of the global body. Addressing a G7 session in Hiroshima, PM Modi wondered why different forums have had to deliberate on issues relating to peace and stability when the UN was formed to deal with these challenges. It is a matter of analysis, why do we have to talk about peace and stability in different forums? Why is the UN, which was started with the idea of establishing peace, not successful in preventing conflicts today? Modi asked. Why, even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN? If one introspects, one thing is clear. The institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the twenty-first century, he said. The prime minister said the UN now does not reflect the current realities of the world. They do not reflect the realities of the present. That is why it is necessary that reforms should be implemented in big institutions like the UN, Modi said. They will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will only keep talking about ending the conflicts. The UN and the Security Council will remain just a talk shop, he said. New Delhi has been strongly pressing for reform of the UN. India has been eyeing a permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC). At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the UN. The five permanent members are Russia, the UK, China, France and the United States and these countries can veto any substantive resolution. There has been growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect the contemporary global reality. India, Brazil, South Africa, Germany and Japan are strong contenders for permanent membership of the UNSC which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. (With inputs from PTI) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday confirmed the fall of the key eastern city of Bakhmut to the Russians. When asked whether Russians have captured the city of Bakhmut or not, Zelenskyy said, You have to understand there is nothing left. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. The Russian military claimed on Saturday that it has successfully captured the much-contested eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhins Wagner Group led the all-out offensive in the city. Earlier in the day, Prigozhin said that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. BREAKING: Wagner Group chief claims his forces have taken control of Bakhmut pic.twitter.com/GSMfgpnq8l The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) May 20, 2023 Bakhmuts capture would translate into the first major victory for Russia in the 10-month-long conflict. The Russian defence ministry said in a statement, As a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Wagern group and the national army for the victory. Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault units of Wagner as well as all servicemen of units of the Russian armed forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk (the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut), TASS agency quoted the Kremlin saying. Prigozhin said in a video statement, Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken. We completely took the whole city, from house to house. The claims come a week after Prigozhin threatened to pull out his troops from Bakhmut unless the group was provided with arms and ammunition. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Ukraine War: China appears to have emerged as a big winner of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Since the conflict between Russia and West-backed Ukraine, China has acquired access to unanticipated geographic areas like the Vladivostok port and its auto industry has grown rapidly. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has reached a standstill, and despite Moscows claims of victory in Bakhmut, NATO nations and Russia are pooling their resources to keep the upper hand in the conflict area. China has maintained its neutrality in this while prioritising its own national interests. China has become the dominant partner in the relations by fully utilising Russias isolation as a result of its assault against Ukraine. From June 1, the Russian Vladivostok port will be operational as a Chinese Transit Port. Located on the Pacific Ocean, the port sees annual container traffic of nearly one million twenty-foot equivalent units. The city has been home to the Russian Pacific Fleet. In 1860, the port was ceded to the Russian Empire by the Chinese Qing. With the opening of the port, the northeastern interior of China will gain access to the sea. By reaching this seaport via rail, products from Northern China will be further shipped to Southern China by ship. The Vladivostok port, historically known as Haishenwai under the Qing era, will offer cross-border transit for shipments for internal trade in the Jilin region of northeastern China. Without any fanfare, the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) made this announcement on its website. Beijing claims that the action is consistent with its national strategic plan to re-vitalize Northeast Chinas industrial base and facilitate the cross-border transport of domestic trade goods with the use of overseas ports. Through historical rights, China has in the past asserted a claim to the port of Vladivostok. The inclusion of Vladivostok Port in the Chinese economic system is now referred to by China as a manifestation of high-level strategic mutual trust between China and Russia. Russias dependence on China will inevitably rise as a result of the Western sanctions that are harming its economy. According to the GACC, bilateral commerce between China and Russia totaled $73.15 billion USD in the first four months of 2023, increasing 41.3 percent year over year. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin recently signed a government order approving an intergovernmental agreement to supply natural gas to China via the Far East gas pipeline route, which ends in Vladivostok. With the opening of Vladivostok port, China and Russia can engage in more cooperation in port construction and logistics, further enhancing the economic vitality of northeastern China and development in the Russian Far East, Song Kui, head of the Contemporary China-Russia Regional Economy Research Institute was quoted in the Global Times. The opening of Vladivostok port for China will reduce Jilin and Heilongjiangs land transport distance to the sea, which will greatly enhance their manufacturing competitiveness. The transportation cost for goods will be greatly reduced as Vladivostok is only 200 km away from these Chinese cities. Shipping goods from northern to southern China via the foreign port of Vladivostok will not only cut costs but also help China strengthen its industrial and supply chains with its neighbors, a Global Times report said. Northeast Asia, where China, North Korea, Japan, and Russia converge, is home to Vladivostok. It serves as a crucial transportation hub connecting all of Europe to Asia. It is significant for Russias geopolitics in addition to being a major commercial route. The four southern Kuril Islands, which the Soviet Union had taken at the close of World War II, have been claimed by Japan. The islands are positioned well, dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Okhotsk. They create a crucial point of exit for the Vladivostok-based Russian Pacific Fleet. Japan imposed sanctions on the nation and halted economic cooperation in the region when Russia invaded the Ukraine. In retaliation, Russia put a halt to negotiations for a peace treaty involving the Kurils Islands and even carried out military drills near the island aimed at fending off an invasion. In reality, Vostok 2022, a combined naval drill with China, was also carried out there. The fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping broke with his nations long-held policy of neutrality in regard to bilateral disputes and asserted that Beijing doesnt accept Japans claim to the four disputed islands is evidence of the development of ties between Russia and China. China eclipsed Japan as the top auto exporter in the first quarter of 2023 because to higher sales to Russia and rising demand for electric vehicles. The economic sanctions that drove the big international players out of Russia have devastated the Russian auto industry, which has benefited the Chinese auto industry. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers recently revealed data showing a staggering increase in automobile exports of 58 percent between January and March of the previous year. During the quarter, 1.07 million units were shipped, compared to Japans 950,000 car exports. The top export markets for all Chinese-made automobiles were Russia, which replaced Belgium, Australia, and Thailand as the top destinations for electric vehicles from China. To 140,000 units, exports to Russia increased thrice over the previous year. In the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, and other major automakers closed their operations there and left the country. Chinese automakers, in particular Chery Automobile and Great Wall Motor, extended their operations in Russia to fill the need. According to reports, organisations connected to Chinese city governments fund Chery Automobile. Nearly 30,000 trucks that may be used for military purposes were also supplied from China to Russia. The amount compared to last year is roughly seven times more. In 2009, China has surpassed the US as the largest market for brand-new automobiles worldwide. Given that the Chinese government has provided tax incentives to support the expansion of the local Electric Vehicle industry, the growth spurt in Chinese vehicle exports is anticipated to continue in the current quarter. Government assistance helped make electric vehicles widely used. Chinese auto exporting has increased as a result of the switch to electric vehicles. Exports of new energy vehicles, which include EVs, increased 93% year over year to 380,000 units in the first quarter. The percentage of new energy cars in Chinas total auto exports was about 40%. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The debt ceiling talks between the two sides White House and the Republican opposition appeared at an impasse as both traded accusations, while time runs out to avoid a potentially catastrophic US default. A Republican offer made late Friday was a big step back and contained a set of extreme partisan demands that could never pass both Houses of Congress, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Saturday. It is only a Republican leadership beholden to its MAGA wing not the President or Democratic leadership who are threatening to put our nation into default for the first time in our history unless extreme partisan demands are met, she said, referring to the far-right of the Republican Party. The White House, determined not to let Republicans blame Democrats for the situation in the eyes of the public, even sent a memo to newsrooms detailing the proposals. Meanwhile top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy tweeted Saturday to say the White House was moving backward in the talks. Unfortunately, the socialist wing of the Democrat Party appears to be in control especially with President Biden out of the country, he wrote, referring to Bidens trip to Japan for the G7 summit. With the Treasury Department warning that the US government could run out of money as early as June 1 triggering massive economic disruption in the worlds biggest economy and likely around the globe the political battle in Washington has see-sawed without any clear sign of resolution. Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, are demanding steep budget cuts as a price for allowing an extension of the governments borrowing authority. The White House is seeking to whittle down those demands, while arguing that the traditionally uncontroversial annual debt ceiling increase is being weaponized for political gain. Hopes for a settlement took a blow Friday when Republicans walked out of negotiations, declaring a pause. However, the talks had restarted hours later, leading Jean-Pierre to say we are indeed optimistic. Biden, who has expressed a willingness to be patient and said he was not worried, leaves Japan for Washington on Sunday, cutting short a trip that had been set to take him to Papua New Guinea and Australia next week. More borrowing is required by the US government just to meet expenditures already made, meaning failure to strike a deal to lift the debt ceiling would leave Washington unable to pay its bills, triggering an array of economic shockwaves. Were making 0 demands to avoid default. Youre the only ones with a hostage, tweeted White House spokesperson Andrew Bates late Saturday, accusing Republicans of seeking to trigger a recession. (With inputs from AFP) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. G7 Summit: US President Joe Biden has apparently turned out to be a fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During a QUAD meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Joe Biden asked PM Modi for his autograph after discovering how he has been managing large crowds in India. According to an ANI report, during a QUAD meeting on Saturday, US President Joe Biden came up to PM Modi and told that hes been facing a challenge after receiving a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend a program organised due to be attended by the Indian prime minister. The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was also present, responded to Joe Bidens comments by saying that despite Sydneys community receptions 20,000 capacity, he is still unable to satisfy all of the demands he is receiving. PM Albanese and President Biden both complained to PM Modi about their specific difficulties. PM Albanese also recalled how PM Modi was received by over 90,000 spectators at the Narendra Modi stadium during the winning lap. To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, I should take your autograph. PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. The prime minister is attending the G7 Summit in the East Asian country at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida. In its capacity as the G7s current chair, Japan is hosting the summit. PM Modi will be in Hiroshima from May 19 to May 21 for the G7 conference. On Saturday, Prime Minister Modi stated that India would be open to hosting the 2024 QUAD Security Dialogue gathering. We will be happy to host the Quad summit in India in 2024, PM Modi said in the opening remarks of the Quad meeting held on the sidelines of a Group of Seven Summit (G-7) meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. PM Modi was speaking to the leaders of the US, Australia, and Japan, which together with Japan make up the informal strategic group known as the Quadrilateral Grouping. The Quadrilateral Groupings main goal is to work for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, prosperous, and inclusive. The QUAD will continue to make efforts towards global good, welfare of the people, prosperity and peace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. Due to continuing debt limit negotiations in Washington, US President Biden withdrew from the scheduled Quad QUAD earlier this week, which was due to be held in Sydney. The White House, however, decided on Friday (local time) to convene the meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. After President Biden had to postpone his trip to Australia, the Quad leaders agreed that they would hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quads progress over the past year. So tomorrow, in addition to the G7, President Biden will participate in the third in-person Quad Leaders meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, read a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Joe Biden cancelled both a historic trip to Papua New Guinea and a planned trip to Sydney. In light of the USs rivalry with China in the Indo-Pacific, the decisionwhich led Albanese to postpone the planned Quad summitwas viewed as a self-inflicted setback to ambitions for a more noticeable US presence in the area. US Vice President Biden congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese of Australia, and Fumio Kishida of Japan for agreeing to take part in the Quad conference that was held here in conjunction with the G7 summit. In a statement released on Friday (local time), the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the Quad leaders decided to have their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could meet to celebrate the Quads achievements over the previous year. Along with sharing strategic assessments, the leaders will welcome new forms of Quad cooperation on secure digital technology, submarine cables, infrastructure capacity building, and maritime awareness, the statement added. (With agency inputs) Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape on Sunday touched the feet of PM Narendra Modi and sought his blessings upon the latters arrival in Papua New Guinea. PM Modi arrived in the Indo-Pacific country on the second leg of his three-country visit. Upon PM Modis arrival, the Indian national anthem was played and the two prime ministers stood still in respect. PM Modi was also accorded a guard of honour on his arrival. This is PM Modis first tour to PNG, as well as the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister to the Indo-Pacific country. Usually, Papua New Guinea doesnt give a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after sunset. But the nation made a special exception for PM Modi, and a fully studded ceremonial welcome was given to him. A traditional folk dance performance was also staged outside the airport to welcome PM Modi to PNG. During his Papua New Guinea visit, PM Modi is set to co-chair the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) on Monday. PM Modis Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape will also be there. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues. FIPIC was launched during PM Modis visit to Fiji in 2014. Apart from the FIPIC engagements, PM Modi will also have bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae, Prime Minister Marape and some of the other PIC Leaders participating in the Summit. After his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will travel to Sydney at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. On Sunday, PM Modi wrapped up his fruitful visit to Japan and departed for Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister is on a six-day visit to three countries Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24. This tour comprises the G7 and Quad summits which were held in Hiroshima and the ensuing bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and hosting the third summit for the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) in Papua New Guinea. With inputs from ANI Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Russian military claimed on Saturday that it has successfully captured the much-contested eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhins Wagner Group led the all-out offensive in the city. Earlier in the day, Prigozhin said that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. BREAKING: Wagner Group chief claims his forces have taken control of Bakhmut pic.twitter.com/GSMfgpnq8l The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) May 20, 2023 Bakhmuts capture would translate into the first major victory for Russia in the 10-month-long conflict. The Russian defence ministry said in a statement, As a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Wagern group and the national army for the victory. Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault units of Wagner as well as all servicemen of units of the Russian armed forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk (the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut), TASS agency quoted the Kremlin saying. Prigozhin said in a video statement, Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken. We completely took the whole city, from house to house. The claims come a week after Prigozhin threatened to pull out his troops from Bakhmut unless the group was provided with arms and ammunition. Ukraine denies claims This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut, said Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi. Saturdays claims came as Kyiv prepared its counteroffensive, the next major phase in the war after six months during which it kept its forces on the defensive while weathering Russias big offensive. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attended the G7 summit of major industrial powers in Japan on Saturday, winning pledges of support including a signal from Washington that it would now back the training of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 warplanes. Previously, sending combat aircraft had been taboo. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. World Meets Chinese Tea Culture | South Korean tea ceremony 12:28, May 21, 2023 By Ha Jung-Mi, Wang Can, Wu Sanye, Su Yingxiang, Zhang Wenjie ( People's Daily Online South Korean tea culture has a history spanning more than 1,000 years. Its origins are traced back to the 7th century when tea seeds were introduced from China to the Silla Kingdom. Initially favored by monks and nobles, the drink gradually evolved into the tea culture we recognize in South Korea today. The South Korean tea ceremony melds China's Zen, Taoist cultures, and Confucian with traditional South Korean etiquette. And it has evolved to encompass its own distinctive characteristics. Although the manifestations of tea culture in China and South Korea differ, Their core values harmony and respect have subtly influenced both societies, fostering qualities deeply valued by both peoples. (Web editor: Zhang Wenjie, Du Mingming) UK Men Are Very Stingy, They Don't Give Shishi - UK-based Nigerian Lady Laments (VID) kacylee at 21-05-2023 10:00 PM (6 days ago) (f) A Nigerian lady residing in the United Kingdom has expressed her belief that Nigerian women back home have a better experience when it comes to receiving financial support from men. A Nigerian lady residing in the United Kingdom has expressed her belief that Nigerian women back home have a better experience when it comes to receiving financial support from men. Anike Banks, an entrepreneur, asserted that Nigerian ladies living in their home country are lucky but they dont realize it. In contrast, she claimed that men in the United Kingdom are generally stingy and do not freely give money to women. Anike humorously stated that if she were fortunate enough to receive 20 from someone, she would gladly introduce him to her parents, highlighting the rarity of such gestures in her current environment. In her own words; Nigerian women living in Nigeria dont understand how lucky they are. UK men didnt give anything. Awon stingy kokoshi. If someone dares squeeze 20 in my hand, Ill invite him to come meet my parents See below; Nigerian women living in Nigeria don't understand how lucky they are. UK men didn't give anything. Awon stingy kokoshi. If someone dares squeeze 20 in my hand I'll invite him to come meet my parents. https://t.co/0GbLk4KeQA AnIke. (@anikebanks) May 19, 2023 Anike Banks, an entrepreneur, asserted that Nigerian ladies living in their home country are lucky but they dont realize it.In contrast, she claimed that men in the United Kingdom are generally stingy and do not freely give money to women.Anike humorously stated that if she were fortunate enough to receive 20 from someone, she would gladly introduce him to her parents, highlighting the rarity of such gestures in her current environment.In her own words;See below; Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 21-05-2023 10:00 PM (6 days ago) | Addicted Hero ficull at 21-05-2023 10:53 PM (6 days ago) (m) Why would they give? You women wanted equality in all aspects of life. You have your hands, go and make your own money Posted: at 21-05-2023 10:53 PM (6 days ago) | Gistmaniac Why would they give? You women wanted equality in all aspects of life. You have your hands, go and make your own money Reply gogoman at 21-05-2023 11:05 PM (6 days ago) (m) Uk is all of una problem!! go to America u will see fool wey go just dey give u money ODE omo shi, omo ale!! omo jati jati Posted: at 21-05-2023 11:05 PM (6 days ago) | Grande Master Uk is all of una problem!! go to America u will see fool wey go just dey give u money ODE omo shi, omo ale!! omo jati jati Reply Dopybadass at 22-05-2023 03:33 AM (5 days ago) (m) Ashawo work harder maybe u will see,UK is somehow different,that was before but now they know most Nigeria ladies out there are ashawo Posted: at 22-05-2023 03:33 AM (5 days ago) | Gistmaniac Ashawo work harder maybe u will see,UK is somehow different,that was before but now they know most Nigeria ladies out there are ashawo Reply Boi2Man at 22-05-2023 03:44 AM (5 days ago) (m) Do you give kpekus for free? Posted: at 22-05-2023 03:44 AM (5 days ago) | Gistmaniac Do you give kpekus for free? Reply 4element at 22-05-2023 05:41 AM (5 days ago) (m) Jn Uk and other Europeans country, you can take a lady out for dinner but you dont give ladies money in cash, instead you can buy her a gift, like flower. moreover European Ladies are independence not depended like Nigeria ladies. . Posted: at 22-05-2023 05:41 AM (5 days ago) | Newbie Jn Uk and other Europeans country, you can take a lady out for dinner but you dont give ladies money in cash, instead you can buy her a gift, like flower. moreover European Ladies are independence not depended like Nigeria ladies. . Reply 4element at 22-05-2023 05:43 AM (5 days ago) (m) Jn Uk and other Europeans country, you can take a lady out for dinner but you dont give ladies money in cash, instead you can buy her a gift, like flower. moreover European Ladies are independence not depended like Nigeria ladies. . Posted: at 22-05-2023 05:43 AM (5 days ago) | Newbie Jn Uk and other Europeans country, you can take a lady out for dinner but you dont give ladies money in cash, instead you can buy her a gift, like flower. moreover European Ladies are independence not depended like Nigeria ladies. . Reply Kormeijama at 22-05-2023 08:07 AM (5 days ago) (m) Never knew men are by default piggy banks for women. Eating your cake and having it are two wrongs it won't work sis . Posted: at 22-05-2023 08:07 AM (5 days ago) | Gistmaniac Never knew men are by default piggy banks for women. Eating your cake and having it are two wrongs it won't work sis . Reply KDoinspire at 22-05-2023 10:39 AM (5 days ago) (m) Stupid girl. Why would you be expecting money from a man when you have your hands to work money. Your Ashawo never still leave you. Posted: at 22-05-2023 10:39 AM (5 days ago) | Upcoming Stupid girl. Why would you be expecting money from a man when you have your hands to work money. Your Ashawo never still leave you. Reply Samsung Halts Plan to Replace Google Search with Bing Search News oi -Kabir Jain We recently reported that Samsung was contemplating replacing Google Search with Microsoft's Bing Search in order to capitalize on the latter's infusion of AI smarts through the integration of ChatGPT. Well, it looks like Google can take a breather as the South Korean giant has put a halt on its plan to switch, for now. Samsung's Decision to Halt the Plan Samsung has decided not to pursue the idea of replacing Google with Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine on its mobile devices, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Concerns about Market Reaction and Relationship with Google The company has chosen to halt internal discussions regarding this potential switch due to concerns about the market's response. Additionally, Samsung was uncertain about the potential impact such a switch could have on its future relationship with Google. Google's Introduction of Bard and Generative AI Google's recent introduction of Bard, its own generative AI, into its search engine could've also played a role in Samsung's decision to pause the plan. With Google incorporating its own AI capabilities into its search engine, there might be less urgency for Samsung to switch to a new search provider like Bing. The idea of ensuring Google remains the dominant search engine on phones has raised concerns in the past. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice initiated an antitrust investigation into Google's agreements with smartphone manufacturers. It was revealed that Google paid Apple billions of dollars to maintain its position as the primary search engine on iOS devices. While Samsung's payment from Google is substantial, it is not on the same scale as Apple's. Samsung's Ongoing Concerns With Google Although Samsung has decided to keep Google as its default search engine for now, the company still has concerns about its heavy reliance on Google's software. Samsung is interested in diversifying its phone software and exploring new offerings to reduce its dependence on a single provider. Samsung's Ban on AI Tools Samsung's interest in generative AI is not new. The company recently issued a memo to its employees banning the use of AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's Bard. This decision came after an engineer accidentally submitted sensitive company source code to the AI chatbot. The ban applies to both company devices and personal devices if sensitive documents are present. Google's Focus on AI in the AI Wars The competition in the field of AI has intensified due to the emergence of technologies like ChatGPT. To stay ahead in what is being referred to as the AI Wars, Google is actively prioritizing AI development. This focus on AI was clearly demonstrated at the annual Google I/O event, where the company showcased its impressive AI capabilities. Throughout the presentation, AI took center stage, to the extent that a video was made compiling Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, saying "AI" over 140 times during the two-hour event. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications OnePlus Pad Review: A Swing and a Home Run Reviews oi -Carlsen Martin OnePlus recently launched its first Android tablet in India. The OnePlus Pad arrives as a powerful mid-range Android tablet that will look to challenge offerings from Xiaomi, Samsung, Lenovo, and Apple. The OnePlus Pad arrives with a MediaTek chipset, a super-smooth display, large battery, fast charging, and solid software support. The OnePlus Pad price in India is set at Rs 37,999 for the base 8GB/128GB model, while the 12GB/256GB variant will set you back Rs 39,999. So let's see how OnePlus fares at its first attempt at a tablet in my full OnePlus Pad review. OnePlus Pad Review: Design & Build The OnePlus Pad features an eye-catching design and features a slim factor, measuring a mere 6.5mm thick. The pad also weighs little over half a kilo and is light considering its glass and aluminium build. The screen is adorned with edge-to-edge glass with uniform bezels, which are large enough to ensure your fingers don't disturb the content on the display. The OnePlus Pad comes in a single Halo Green shade, which looked sharp but was prone to smudges. OnePlus appears to design the tablet for horizontal use, with both front and rear cameras placed on the sides as opposed to the top of the device. The Pad has two volume buttons on the right and a power button on the top, while pogo pins to attach the keyboard sit on the left. Additionally, there's a USB Type-C port for charging on the bottom. Overall, I found the OnePlus Pad extremely comfortable to use considering its size. OnePlus Pad Review: Display & Audio The OnePlus Pad opts for an 11.61-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2800 x 2000 pixels. The display has a unique 7:5 aspect ratio and can hit 500 nits of peak brightness. The screen is super smooth with a fast 144Hz refresh rate that can scale between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz. Furthermore, there's a 144Hz touch sampling rate as well. The display also supports a range of HDR formats including HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision. It is worth noting that the HDR support on the OnePlus Pad is very limited, even on popular apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. However, you can expect that to change soon. You can currently test the tab's full HDR potential on YouTube. The screen pushes out punchy colours with deep blacks, although colours don't appear as accurate. The display here is not quite as good as an OLED panel, but it comes pretty damn close. The screen was also easily visible outdoors and had excellent viewing angles. The OnePlus Pad packs quad stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support. The speaker system here is engineered to give you the best possible sound regardless of the orientation you use the tablet in. The speakers get loud enough to fill a small room with good vocal clarity. The overall audio experience on the OnePlus Pad is good but it does lack a headphone jack. OnePlus Pad Review: Performance The addition of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 all-but guarantees flagship performance on the OnePlus Pad. Furthermore, the tablet is paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The MediaTek chip can easily handle multitasking as well as any title you throw at it. I tested Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo Immortal on high settings at 60fps, which the tablet ran with little effort. In Geekbench 6, the OnePlus Pad managed a single-core score of 1102 points and a multi-core score of 3401 points. It is safe to say that the OnePlus Pad is the best-performing tablet in the segment. OnePlus Pad Review: Cameras For optics, the OnePlus Pad gets a single 13 MP camera on the back with autofocus and an LED flash and an 8 MP ultrawide front camera with fixed focus. The rear camera can capture video in up to 4K resolution at 30fps, while the front camera is limited to 1080p at 30fps. The camera software is quite basic here, more of a stripped-down version of the software from OnePlus smartphones. There are a few toggles including HDR, aspect ratio adjustment, AI enhancement, and 2x digital zoom. There's also a night mode and you can use background blur on the selfie camera. It also features panorama, slow-motion, and time-lapse modes. The rear camera reproduces decent images in good light, like most tablets in the range. The front camera works well indoors when taking video calls, although I don't recommend using it in low light. The 4K video looks lackluster but it is a nice option to have and does a fairly decent job outdoors in bright conditions. OnePlus Pad Review: Battery OnePlus' first Android tablet packs a 9510 mAh battery with 67W SUPERVOOC charging support. The OnePlus Pad boasts some impressive battery life, capable of delivering over 10 hours of heavy usage on a single charge. A three-hour movie using the tablet's speakers at 60% volume and screen at 70% brightness drained 25 percent of the battery. The OnePlus Pad also offers excellent charging support, delivering a full charge in around 90 minutes with the included 100W adapter. This is easily the fastest charging we've seen on an Android tablet. Together, the battery life and charging speed on the OnePlus Pad are second to none, particularly in the segment. OnePlus Pad Review: Software The OnePlus Pad runs on Android 13 out of the box with the OxygenOS skin on top. The software experience on the OnePlus Pad is average at best but this feels more like an Android problem rather than a OnePlus problem. However, there are a few useful features like the multi-window function, gesture navigation to move between apps, a floating window mode, and basic split-screening. Additionally, only a few apps can take advantage of the larger screen. On the flip side, there's always room for improvement and the OnePlus Pad has a bright future ahead of it down to its three years of OS updates and four years of security patches. The overall software experience is average for Android tablets, although OxgenOS feels a little too cluttered. OnePlus Pad Accessories OnePlus sent us the Stylo, and Magnetic Keyboard along with the Pad. The OnePlus Folio Case price is set at Rs 1,499 and comes with a kickstand, while the OnePlus Stylo and OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard will set you back Rs 4,999 and Rs 7,999, respectively. All three accessories are sold separately. The Magnetic Keyboard does feel a little cramped but that is primarily down to size constraints of the OnePlus Pad or tablets in general. The trackpad on the keyboard was surprisingly roomy considering the size of the keyboard and supports multi-finger gestures, making it delightful to use and nearly replicating that laptop feel. The keys feature good tactility, although it could have used some backlighting. There are pogo pins located in the centre of the keyboard to attach it to the Pad. The keyboard does lack support for shortcuts but that is a general criticism for Android apps in general. While the keyboard does turn the Pad into a laptop substitute while stationed on a desk, it is a far cry from the real thing. The OnePlus Pad also comes with a stylus, which was responsive and gave a natural feeling of writing on paper. The pressure sensitivity and palm rejection on the stylus was excellent, although I didn't like the fact that it attached magnetically on the Pad. OnePlus Pad Review: Final Thoughts For a first attempt, OnePlus have got it spot on with the OnePlus Pad. The Android tablet features some of the best hardware on paper and combines it with solid software support. If you are looking for a premium tablet experience under Rs 40,000 and aren't interested in getting an iPad, then the OnePlus Pad is just about as good as they come. In my OnePlus Pad review, I noticed that it offered the best performance, software support, and battery life in the segment. OnePlus may have substituted an OLED display for an LCD panel, but the high refresh rate and resolution make an extremely good screen. Camera performance was in-line with most other tablets in the segment. The overall design and build of the tablet were solid, although the back does attract smudges. However, the Pad was very comfortable to use, particularly thanks to its lightweight design. It was hard to find fault with the OnePlus Pad, although its accessories are its Achilles Heel, although that will improve with time. The OnePlus Pad is easily the best Android tablet under Rs 40,000 in India and should be your got-to tablet in the segment. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. 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Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe FBI routinely accessed Americans' private communications: Report Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 7:16 AM The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) routinely exploited a restricted database of Americans' private communications to search for names of crime victims and participants in Black Lives Matter protests and the 2021 Capitol attack, documents released Friday showed. According to declassified opinions from the secretive Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court, the database contained private emails, text messages, and other communications and was used to access internal cases. The FBI can access the National Security Agency (NSA) database only when investigating a foreign intelligence issue. Still, the newly released documents show that they did so on a regular basis for domestic investigations. The database was accessed at least 278,000 times by the FBI throughout recent years in an unexplained manner and to run random searches in domestic drug and gang investigations, the 2020 protest over the police murder of George Floyd, and the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters. In each of the cases, there was no foreign intelligence or domestic crime justification for the FBI accessing the database, the court said. The documents were made public as Congress considers renewing Section 702, an enactment that lets the NSA access US-hosted internet accounts in order to spy on foreign intelligence targets. In 2008, Congress passed Section 702 allowing the CIA and NSA only to target non-United States persons who are reasonably believed to be located outside the United States. After Congress passed Section 702, it allowed the NSA to access US-hosted accounts. Several lawmakers suggested it needed to go through revisions to better handle the personal information of Americans. Intelligence agencies are concerned that this might limit their operations, but Democrats and legal rights experts said the revelations show the need for reforms. "The government has dramatically expanded its spying under Section 702 in ways never contemplated by Congress, but it's refusing to tell Americans what it's doing," said Patrick Toomey of the Americans Civil Liberties Union. A steadfast opponent of Section 702, Senator Ron Wyden claimed that the intelligence court records revealed "shocking abuses" of the law. "If Section 702 is to be reauthorized, there must be statutory reforms to ensure that the checks and balances are in place to put an end to these abuses," Wyden said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address LANPAC 2023: Army faces most 'disruptive' period since World War II By Joe Lacdan, Army News Service May 19, 2023 HONOLULU -- As the world's militaries modernize and upgrade their capabilities in multiple domains, Army Future Command's top leader said that U.S. forces must continually adapt to keep pace with constant change. Speaking during the 2023 Land Forces Pacific Symposium May 18, Gen. Jim Rainey, AFC commander, said the Army and partner land forces face a pivotal time in military history unlike any since the years between World War I and World War II. "I think this is probably the most disruptive period of time in terms of the character of war the most rapid and fastest change," said Rainey who has led AFC from its headquarters in Austin, Texas, since October 2022. Speaking to an audience that included military representatives from 30 nations, Rainey said that in order for militaries to prepare for future operations they must first identify what remains constant. He said that war at its core remains the same; a test of will between human beings. He added that land is a decisive element of war because it harbors the most assets and it is where populations live. Rainey said that land serves as the foundation for most multi-domain capabilities. Next, Rainey said that the U.S. Army's people and the quality of its non-commissioned officer corps gives American forces an edge over adversaries. The Army has continually prioritized its people since introducing its People Strategy in 2019 which changed the way the service acquires, develops and retains talent. Additionally, the Army must be "ruthless" in its training, Rainey said. The Army, particularly in U.S. Army Pacific Command, has continually challenged Soldiers and partner nations in its training including the recent creation of the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Hawaii and Alaska. "I've been blessed, I've never lost a fight in combat, but I've got my butt kicked [at] every training center we have," Rainey said. Next, Rainey said that armies must win the "pre-conflict conflict," by focusing on deterrence. The Army must shape long distance weapons by consolidating offensive and defensive fires into one system. Rainey said that delivery of cross-domain fires will be integral to a defensive approach to deterrence. "Nobody's going to win a war between nuclear-equipped superpowers, somebody will prevail, I'm confident that it would be us," Rainey said. "But at a cost; it'll just be horrific and change our ways of life fundamentally. So this is ultimately about deterring people deciding that it is not in their interest to fight." Rainey said that systems warfare and developing one that operates at a speed faster than the enemy will be key to gain leverage over adversaries. "So not only have we got to be better, but 10-12 times faster," Rainey said. Rainey, who leads the Army's modernization efforts, said while upgrading the force with cutting edge technologies remains important, the service should not lose sight of technological capabilities already available. "The technology that exists today, combined the right combination of human beings and machines not replacing humans with machines, but we should be optimizing our men and women for decision-making, values-based behavior on the battlefield the things that machines are never going to do." Finally, Rainey advised Army leaders to remain vigilant while building the Army of 2030 and beyond. U.S. Army Pacific commander, Gen. Charles Flynn said Rainey's knowledge as the leader of the Army's future modernization efforts will help guide Army leaders as they weigh the long-term effects of their choices. "Leaders have to live in the future," Flynn said. "Because we are accountable for that future. The decisions we make, impact young Soldiers." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK troops test rapid reinforcement of NATO battlegroup in Estonia NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 19 May. 2023 Dozens of British Royal Marines landed on a beach north of Tallinn on Friday night (19 May 2023) testing the Allies ability to rapidly deploy reinforcements to NATO forces in Estonia. The Royal Marines contingent is part of a 900-strong British force deployed to Estonia especially for exercise "Spring Storm 2023". Spring Storm is the largest annual military exercise in Estonia, involving around 14,000 personnel from 11 NATO Allies and partners, including Estonia, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers, as well as fighter aircraft, helicopters and patrol, minesweeping and landing vessels take part in the drills. At the 2022 NATO Summit, Allies committed to the deployment of additional robust, combat-ready forces on NATO's eastern flank. The goal is to scale up from the existing battlegroups to brigade-size units, when and where necessary. This commitment is backed by rapidly available reinforcements, prepositioned equipment, and an enhanced command and control system. Also in May, exercise "Griffin Shock" successfully tested rapidly moving US forces across borders and reinforcing the NATO battlegroup in Poland from a battalion to a brigade. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Airstrikes hit Khartoum's outskirts as Sudan crisis enters sixth week Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 9:41 AM Airstrikes thumped outer areas of the Sudanese capital Khartoum overnight and on Saturday morning, as the conflict between political rivals which has displaced more than a million and killed hundreds entered its sixth week. According to eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, airstrikes were reported in the region, while some strikes landed at a place near the state broadcaster in Omdurman, the eyewitnesses said. "We faced heavy artillery fire early this morning, the whole house was shaking," Sanaa Hassan, a 33-year-old living in the al-Salha neighborhood of Omdurman, told Reuters by phone. "It was terrifying; everyone was lying under their beds. What's happening is a nightmare," she said. The conflict, which began on April 15, has now entered its sixth week and has led to a mass refugee crisis in the region, displacing almost 1.1 million people and killing some 705 people, according to the World Health Organization. Clashes have erupted once again in the Darfur region and in the cities of Nyala and Zalenjei in recent days. In the Nyala clashes, both sides have blamed each other for initiating the fight in one of the country's largest cities. Ever since the war broke out, the rivals - Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - have blamed each other for starting the conflict, which has led to a collapse in law and order throughout the country. A local activist said on Saturday morning that there were occasional gun battles near the city's main market, which falls near the army's headquarters. The war in the northeast African country broke out in Khartoum over a disagreement to integrate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the army and over the strong winds under an internationally backed deal of turning Sudan into a democracy from its current autocratic state. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Every Midwife Is Afraid': Worrying Signs Over Maternal Deaths In Afghanistan By Ahmad Hanayish, Sahar Lewal, Michael Scollon May 20, 2023 Giving birth is a life or death struggle for women in Afghanistan, where roughly one mother is believed to die every two hours from preventable pregnancy and childbirth complications. Even mothers who survive face the stark reality that their newborns may not, with the Taliban's Health Ministry estimating 22 children die for every 1,000 live births. "Why would a woman need to go to the hospital?" 31-year-old Zia Gul, a resident of the northern Parwan Province, recalled her husband saying during her difficult pregnancies. "There are only men at the hospital; there are no female doctors." Gul told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that her husband's refusal to let her see a doctor contributed to the loss of two of her newborn children. Gul's experience is in line with those of many Afghan women, particularly in conservative rural areas, who are bound by the Islamic custom of mahram. The practice prohibits women from leaving their home without a male relative, bars them from being treated by male doctors, and gives them little say in their own health decisions. But the traditional customs enforced by Gul's in-laws, who allowed no discussion on the matter, are just one of the many factors that contribute to high maternal mortality in Afghanistan's deeply patriarchal society. Years of political upheaval, economic woes, the exodus of medical professionals, low literacy and public awareness on health issues, poor infrastructure, and the lack of access to medical care in remote areas all add up to astonishingly high maternal mortality rates. Among The World's Worst According to statistics compiled by the World Bank, the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA), and other UN agencies, 1,450 mothers were dying for every 100,000 live births by 2000, shortly before the Taliban was ousted from power. Over the course of the next 20 years, due to increased funding and attention paid to maternal health care and awareness by the UNPFA, international aid agencies such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and the Afghan government, that number was cut by more than half to 620 deaths by 2020. The Taliban's seizure of power in August 2021 raised fears that the extremist group would reimpose the draconian policies of its first stint in power from 1996-2001, including the banning of female education and employment as it enforced mahram. Many of those fears have been realized. Girls above the sixth grade have been barred from attending school, women are banned from pursuing university education, and women are no longer allowed to work for international aid agencies. Marham is also more prevalent, with women officially required to wear the all-encompassing burqa and remain at home unless accompanied by a male relative. Once again, according to Aleksandar Sasha Bodiroza, the UNFPA's representative in Afghanistan, women's ability to freely access health facilities to seek maternal and newborn care has been restricted. No outside nationwide statistics have been made available since 2020, but the Afghan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, citing recent figures from the Taliban-led government's Health Ministry, told Radio Azadi that the maternal mortality ratio has risen only slightly under Taliban rule. While the figure, 638 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, is the same number recorded by the international community in 2017, it is still high enough to rank Afghanistan among the world's 10 worst in terms of maternal mortality. That the situation has remained relatively stable is also difficult to fathom, considering the vast numbers of doctors who fled the country as the Taliban regained power, the country's dire economic situation and multiple humanitarian crises, and the increased pressures on aid workers and on Afghan women. The state health-care system, propped up by foreign aid for two decades, has also suffered from a dramatic drop in international funding since the Taliban takeover. Health workers and outside agencies say the damage done to the health sector is undeniable. "The system has changed in our country. Naturally, it had an impact on the country's economy and the services that the government provides to the people," Hamid Jabari, an Afghan physician who was expelled from the country by the Taliban, told Radio Azadi. "The negative effects are being felt, including the lack of professionals in government, especially the health sector." Some of the losses are offset by the continued involvement of outside organizations, including private hospitals, the UNFPA, and MSF, which have been able to continue to employ women despite the Taliban's ban on women aid workers due to an exemption for health workers. But tremendous obstacles remain. Bodiroza said in written comments that "despite the exemption of the health sector from the ban on female humanitarian workers, the sector is also suffering from the ban as there are NGOs that indirectly support efficient delivery of health services -- not as frontline health workers but as back office staff, for example." Afghan women health-care workers, in turn, told Radio Azadi they are being prevented from carrying out their work or expanding their expertise, even as the contributing factors to maternal mortality become more severe. The result is that newborns or pregnant women are now at greater risk of preventable deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, and in the first few weeks after childbirth. "Many pregnant women can't access antenatal or postnatal care, and the health system struggles to treat women who experience complications in pregnancy," Tomas Bendl, field communications manager for MSF in Afghanistan, told RFE/RL in written comments. "A shortage of qualified female health-care staff also affects access to health care, as maternity and sometimes pediatric wards are women-only spaces." Dangers At Home Hussain Sayer, a doctor from Parwan Province, told Radio Azadi that childbirth should ideally take place at a maternity hospital under the care of an obstetrician. He said it was a "bad custom" for women to be denied access to health facilities during their pregnancies and warned that the only available option for many women -- home birth -- carries great risk. In the event of births taking place at home, he said, they should be supervised by a trained midwife. But while great emphasis was made over the past two decades to increase the number of professional midwives in Afghanistan capable of providing medical assistance during pregnancies, deliveries, and postnatal care, many Afghan women who entered the profession say they are unable to help. Nadia, a midwife who spoke to Radio Azadi on condition that only her first name be used, said many of her colleagues who specialized in gynecology and obstetrics are "unemployed and stay at home" since the Taliban takeover. Another midwife, who declined to give her name due to security concerns, said fear prevents many of her colleagues from working. "Midwives don't go from place to place to assist with births -- that's why the problems have increased," she told Radio Azadi. "Every midwife is afraid for her life." Restrictions on women's mobility have had a harmful effect on efforts to educate communities on women's health in remote areas of the country, according to the UNFPA's Bodiroza. Even when male family members do allow women to visit health-care facilities, the difficulties in reaching them in rural areas limits the number of visits and can mean help is often administered too late. "I took my wife to the clinic by motorcycle," Abdul Samad, a resident of the southeastern Ghazni Province told Radio Azadi, explaining he lived far from the nearest village with maternity facilities. While Samad managed to get his wife to a doctor, shortly after he left to retrieve her mother, he received bad news. "Half an hour later, I received a call saying my wife was in agony," he said. "When I returned, I saw they were right" -- both his wife and their newborn child had died. Continuing Efforts It is difficult to assess where Afghanistan truly stands in terms of maternal mortality, but the benefits of continued outreach efforts and on-the-ground medical aid are obvious. Bendl said MSF operates two projects in Afghanistan that focus on maternal health care, among other things, and employ more than 1,700 medical professionals in Afghanistan, of whom more than half are women. Last year, MSF assisted in more than 42,700 deliveries, more than 8,000 of which were marked by obstetric complications. In Lashkar Gah, capital of the southern Helmand Province, MSF's support for a hospital resulted in an average maternal mortality rate of 0.1 percent. In the southeastern Khost Province, where MSF operates a maternity hospital, the mortality rate was 0.02 percent. Bodiroza of the UNFPA said the agency continues "to deliver a full range of maternal health services in Afghanistan" and supports facilities and delivers essential reproductive health supplies in 32 out of the country's 34 provinces. Despite the positives, those involved in providing health services in Afghanistan say much more needs to be done. Bodiroza said the UNFPA estimates that without immediate and sustained support for reproductive health services, the situation could lead to an additional 51,000 maternal deaths by 2025. Adding that "reproductive health services are therefore more critical than ever," Bodiroza said the UN agency is aiming to reach 10.6 million people -- including 6.8 million women and girls -- in remote areas with reproductive health support. Bendl said that "there is no doubt that a dysfunctional health system, widespread poverty, and increased restrictions placed on women are at the heart of the current humanitarian crisis." "If we want the situation to improve," he said, "policymakers, donors, and local authorities must urgently focus on strengthening primary medical care." And women, he said, "must be allowed to pursue further education and employment opportunities, to raise income for their families and to ensure there are sufficient female health workers in the country to meet the needs." Written and reported by Michael Scollon, with additional reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents Ahmad Hanayish and Sahar Lewal Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-maternal- mortality-rate-midwives/32419238.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sudanese Rivals Agree to Humanitarian Ceasefire From Saturday - Reports Sputnik News 20230520 DOHA (Sputnik) - Sudan's conflicting parties have agreed a week-long ceasefire that will allow for humanitarian access to conflict zones starting Saturday, Qatari media reported. Negotiators of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Force struck the deal in the Saudi city of Jeddah, according to Al Jazeera news network. The agreement can be prolonged. "The parties to the conflict pledged to open humanitarian 'corridors' to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilian population. They reaffirmed their commitment to withdraw their forces as far as possible from hospitals and medical institutions," an informed source told Sputnik after the talks in Jeddah concluded. Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Sudanese Armed Forces chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan to discuss progress in Jeddah talks. "The Secretary urged flexibility and leadership. The Secretary again condemned the violence by both parties... underscoring that agreement in Jeddah would allow the provision of humanitarian assistance and essential services," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. 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. The parties have since introduced a number of temporary nationwide ceasefires, but the conflict has not been settled yet. The World Health Organization estimates that some 705 people have been killed and at least 5,287 others injured in fighting since mid-April. Both sides have traded blame for the ensuing humanitarian crisis, with dire shortages of food, water and fuel, and limited power supply. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Agreement on a Short-Term Ceasefire and Humanitarian Arrangements US Department of State Joint Statement May 20, 2023 We, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (hereinafter the "Parties"), Reaffirming our unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and unity of Sudan and its territorial integrity; Reaffirming the commitments and principles agreed upon in the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan of 11 May 2023; Recognizing that the conflict in Sudan threatens civilian life and the long-term political and social stability of the country; Further recognizing the severe personal and economic impacts of the conflict, which increase the longer the conflict continues; Respecting the need to strengthen protection of civilians; Determined to promote full respect for human rights and comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law; Reaffirming commitments to reach a short-term ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid; Welcoming the support and generosity of humanitarian actors in providing and delivering humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan, in accordance with international best practices, international humanitarian law, and cooperation with the Parties; Hereby agree as follows: I. General Provisions The Parties agree that the purpose of this agreement is to achieve a short-term ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance and restoration of essential services. The Parties hereby incorporate by reference the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan and reaffirm all commitments therein including to vacate and refrain from occupying, as well as to respect and protect all public facilities such as hospitals, medical facilities, and water and electricity installations and refrain from using them for military purposes. This Agreement shall enter into force upon signature of the Parties; the short-term ceasefire period shall begin forty-eight (48) hours after signature and entry into force of this Agreement. The Parties may agree to renew or update this Agreement for additional periods. To renew this Agreement: either Party may notify the Monitoring and Coordination Committee, not later than 48 hours prior to the expiration of this Agreement, that it is prepared to agree to a renewal and, in the event of a renewal, to propose updates; if both Parties agree, the Agreement shall be extended for the agreed upon duration; the Agreement may be further extended for additional periods by means of the same procedure; the agreement expires upon a failure to renew it. II. Short-Term Ceasefire The Parties agree to a short-term ceasefire, as provided for herein, to take effect forty-eight (48) hours after entry into force of this agreement. The Parties commit to using the time between the entry into force of this Agreement and the start of the short-term ceasefire period to: inform their respective forces of the terms of this Agreement; instruct them to comply with the short-term ceasefire. The short-term ceasefire period, which begins forty-eight (48) hours after signature and entry into force of this Agreement, shall remain in effect for seven (7) days. Each Party shall implement this Agreement in full and in good faith and shall ensure that all forces under their command and control observe this Agreement at all times and in full. The short-term ceasefire shall apply throughout all of Sudan. The Parties shall communicate the short-term ceasefire to the civilian population through print, radio, and all possible means of communication. The Parties shall provide accurate information concerning the short-term ceasefire to the media. During the short-term ceasefire period, the Parties shall guarantee the freedom of movement of civilians throughout the country and to protect civilians from violence, harassment, recruitment, or other abuse. The Parties shall ensure that all forces under their control halt and refrain from the following prohibited acts, which shall constitute a violation of this Agreement: all violations and abuses of international human rights and violations of international humanitarian law; attacks and offensive actions, including attacks by snipers; aerial attacks and the use of military aircraft, drones, or any heavy weapons; firing on any civilian or humanitarian aircraft; torture or other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment, including sexual, gender-based, and discriminatory violence of all kinds; targeting civilian infrastructure or population centers; acquiring, fortifying defenses, resupplying, or distributing arms or military supplies, including from foreign sources; attempts to occupy or occupying new territory or sites, including civilian infrastructure or population centers; movement of troops, weapons, or resources, except as provided for under the permissible acts provided for in this Agreement; recruitment, enlisting, or mobilization of soldiers; harassment, assaults, hostage taking, or unlawful arrests of civilians, including humanitarian workers; looting or seizure of properties, resources, or humanitarian supplies; restricting or obstructing the movement of civilians, including humanitarian personnel, and humanitarian goods; making threats to use force or inciting violence; obstruction of any monitoring and verification of the short-term ceasefire; acts of espionage by air, ground, or sea; using civilians as human shields; occupying hospitals and essential infrastructure facilities, including water, electricity, and fuel installations; occupying civilian residences; using medical transports, such as ambulances, for military purposes; forcibly disappearing or arbitrarily detaining persons; looting, ransacking, and ravaging; the use of propaganda or incitement against either party or use of any tribal or ethnic groups; the use of official communication channels to disseminate dis-, mis-, or mal-information about the short-term ceasefire; impeding access to persons deprived of their liberty or humanitarian organizations' access to them. The Parties may engage in the following permissible acts: Facilitating repair and restoration activities for essential services and infrastructure, such as electricity, water, and communications facilities; Medical evacuation and movement of unarmed individuals who are in need of medical care; Supplying non-combat materials, such as food, water, medicine, fuel, lubricating oils, stationary, clothing, and related administrative needs and movements, within the parties' respective areas of control; Enable humanitarian action by facilitating the flow of relief and humanitarian assistance in accordance with the agreed regulations; The Parties shall remain bound by the terms and commitments of this Agreement until the expiration of the short-term ceasefire. The Parties agree to an in situ short-term ceasefire at the time of entry into force of this short-term ceasefire. In the event both Parties are in direct contact and/or are along designated humanitarian corridors, the Parties shall disengage their forces; forces of both Parties who are in direct contact in such areas will stop firing and position themselves in a defensive posture. III. Humanitarian Arrangements The Parties shall uphold the commitments and principles of the Jeddah Declaration in all their conduct, and it is considered as an integral part of this Agreement, recognizing that the Parties also have existing obligations to uphold international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which the provisions of this Agreement seek to reinforce and complement. The Parties shall, in accordance with the Jeddah Declaration, create conditions favorable to supplying emergency relief and provide security guarantees for safe, unhindered access by humanitarian agencies. The Parties shall secure and provide free passage and unimpeded road access along designated corridors or routes for humanitarian assistance delivery. The Parties shall commit to ensuring the continuation of free, immediate, and unhindered humanitarian access, including access for the relevant utilities to repair essential civilian infrastructure and services and the non-obstruction of the flow of humanitarian assistance from within Sudan or across borders for the affected populations. The Parties shall commit to ensuring the safety and protection of humanitarian workers, their equipment, and their property. The Parties shall commit to protecting and securing humanitarian assistance from looting, theft, corruption, and ransacking. The Parties shall take comprehensive measures to guarantee the movement and protection of humanitarian assistance convoys, including ensuring safety without interfering with humanitarian actors. The Parties shall abide by the principles and spirit of international humanitarian law while implementing the short-term ceasefire. The Parties shall provide the ICRC with relevant information regarding all detainees and prisoners who were detained or withheld as a consequence of the conflict to enable it to carry out its duties. IV. Monitoring and Coordination Committee for the Short-Term Ceasefire and Humanitarian Assistance The Parties agree to the creation of a short-term ceasefire and Humanitarian Monitoring and Coordination Committee ("Monitoring and Coordination Committee") to monitor short-term ceasefire compliance and adherence with this Agreement. The Monitoring and Coordination Committee shall be comprised of three (3) representatives each of the facilitators to this Agreementthe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of Americaand three (3) representatives of each Party. The Parties shall name their representatives and share them with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States facilitators upon the signing of this Agreement. The Monitoring and Coordination Committee shall maintain regular direct contact with SAF and RSF leadership and designated focal points for all necessary coordination of short-term ceasefire implementation and humanitarian assistance. The Monitoring and Coordination Committee will receive communications from the SAF, the RSF, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United States, and international humanitarian actors such as UNOCHA and ICRC operating in Sudan regarding short-term ceasefire violations or any behavior that may otherwise endanger the short-term ceasefire or the provision of humanitarian assistance, including actions by other parties. The Monitoring and Coordination Committee shall convene its meetingsin person and/or virtuallyfor purposes of coordination, information sharing, addressing allegations of violations, and defining the committee's internal procedures. The Monitoring and Coordination Committee shall provide a platform for receiving complaints and resolving disputes regarding allegations of violations, and to the extent possible investigate or verify allegations of violations, identify the parties involved in any violations, and mediate disputes or disagreements between the Parties. In the event of the Monitoring and Coordination Committee determining that a break or violation of the provisions of this Agreement has occurred, the Monitoring and Coordination Committee shall define the appropriate measures, which include, but are not limited to: Notifying the Party that committed, or is accused of committing, the violation; Publicly identifying the Party having committed the violation; Calling for accountability for perpetrators of violations, especially for any grave crimes or abuses. The Monitoring and Coordination Committee shall help facilitate coordination with relevant humanitarian actors, including UNOCHA and ICRC, in making arrangements for immediate, full, and unhindered humanitarian access and delivery of assistance and repair of essential civilian infrastructure and services, including but not limited to: ensuring all actors respect international humanitarian law; ensuring the protection of civilians and their freedom of movement; ensuring all actors fully respect the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence; ensuring full, safe, and unhindered movement for all humanitarian organizations, civil society groups and community organizations in the short-term ceasefire area, to enable those entities to provide timely, needs-based assistance to those affected by the conflict and repairs of essential infrastructure and services; maintaining and empowering focal points from each Party, who will be the primary liaisons for humanitarian operations and coordination; guaranteeing the protectionwith respect for the impartiality of humanitarian actionof humanitarian personnel, resources, operating space, and corridors as required and requested; removing any bureaucratic or security impediments to humanitarian access and action, to allow for the rapid and efficient humanitarian action and repairs of essential services; ensuring unfettered humanitarian access to allow for the safe resumption of humanitarian aid activities and repairs of essential civilian infrastructure and services; upholding obligations to displaced persons, as well as the respect to refugees, under international law, and implementing appropriate measures to ensure the protection and safety of all refugees in Sudan. 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G7 Communique Amps Up Pressure on China, Russia By Patsy Widakuswara May 20, 2023 The Group of Seven industrial powers Saturday amplified its denunciation of China's rising military and economic security threats, while urging Beijing to press Russia to stop its military aggression and withdraw its troops from Ukraine. In a communique of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, the group criticized China for its use of "economic coercion," militarization of the South China Sea and "interference activities" aimed at undermining the safety of diplomats, the integrity of democratic institutions and economic prosperity. Again, the G7 vowed to "support Ukraine for as long as it takes in the face of Russia's illegal war of aggression." The group, which is made up of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the European Union, said its approaches are not designed to harm China nor thwart its economic progress and development. It called on Beijing to engage with the G7 on climate, debt restructuring of vulnerable countries, global health and macroeconomic stability. "We are not decoupling or turning inwards," the communique said. "At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying. We will take steps, individually and collectively, to invest in our own economic vibrancy. We will reduce excessive dependencies in our critical supply chains." The group reiterated concerns about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and it encouraged Beijing to support a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace" in Ukraine. The statement marks the strongest criticism of Beijing by the group since the 2021 G7 summit in Cornwall, U.K., when China was mentioned for the first time. The relatively mild language calling for a "peaceful solution" and opposing "unilateral attempts to change the status quo" in Taiwan, however, showed a compromise between G7 members some of whom are uncomfortable about being too pointed on this issue, including French President Emmanuel Macron. "The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction," Macron said in April. Economic coercion Earlier Saturday G7 leaders unveiled the "Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion," a new framework for countering the use of punitive trade practices for political goals. The framework is understood to target China without specifically naming the country. In a statement, the G7 said the framework will increase the group's "collective assessment, preparedness, deterrence and response," to "explore coordinated responses, deter and, where appropriate, counter economic coercion," in accordance with their respective legal systems. "These economic security tools will include steps to build resilience in our supply chains. They will also include steps to protect sensitive technology like export controls and outbound investment measures," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Saturday during a press briefing in Hiroshima. The framework targets the most advanced technologies rather than placing broad restrictions on Western technology exports. From Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Friday responded to the planned measures. "If the G7 summit wants to discuss the issue of economic coercion it might as well first discuss how the United States coerces the other six member states," he said. In a statement released Saturday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin criticized the G7 joint statement out of Hiroshima and complained to host Japan. "The G7 makes high-sounding claims about 'promoting a peaceful, stable and prosperous world,' but what it does is hindering international peace, undermining regional stability and curbing other countries' development," Wang said in the statement. "As for 'economic coercion,' the massive unilateral sanctions and acts of 'decoupling' and disrupting industrial and supply chains make the U.S. the real coercer that politicizes and weaponizes economic and trade relations. We urge the G7 not to become an accomplice in economic coercion." Belt and Road alternative On the sidelines of the summit, G7 leaders and invited guests, including President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, President Azali Assoumani of Comoros, and Prime Minister Mark Brown of the Cook Islands, participated in the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, or PGII, event. The global infrastructure plan to support lower- and middle-income countries was initially launched as "Build Back Better World," at the G7 Cornwall as an alternative to China's development juggernaut Belt and Road Initiative. The plan was relaunched as PGII at the G7 summit in Elmau, Germany, in 2022. Under PGII, G7 countries aim to mobilize $600 billion in global infrastructure investment by 2027. Global South Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, Indonesia, South Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam were invited by summit host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as part of his outreach effort to the Global South. Many countries in the Global South are dealing with unsustainable debt levels, much of it from high-interest Chinese infrastructure loans. When the high-debt levels are coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising food and energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine, many observers worry these conditions could lead to a financial collapse in some countries. Their inclusion is indicative of the group's realization that this can't just be a narrow G7 conversation on sanctioning Russia, said Sheila Smith, Council on Foreign Relations expert on Japanese foreign policy. "It has to be a larger conversation on the global systemic consequences of Russia's aggression," Smith told VOA. Without having to get "everybody to condemn Russia or to buy into sanctions," she noted. Kishida also invited prime ministers of India and Australia and convened them for the Quad meeting, which originally was scheduled early next week in Sydney but was preempted by negotiations in Washington to avoid a U.S. default and raise the country's debt ceiling. VOA's Paris Huang contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Quad Summit at G7 Reaffirms Support for Indo-Pacific By Carolyn Presutti, Patsy Widakuswara May 20, 2023 U.S. President Joe Biden met on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting Saturday in Hiroshima with the other three heads of state at the Quad Leader's Summit. The Quad leaders from the United States, Australia, Japan and India quickly rescheduled their talks originally slated for next week in Sydney so Biden could return to Washington for federal debt limit negotiations. In opening comments, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese depicted the region as one "where sovereignty is respected and all countries, large and small, benefit from a regional balance that keeps the peace." The Quad supports infrastructure, security, climate, health and technology for the Indo-Pacific region. It mainly weaves together cooperation between groups to solve the region's problems. Among other initiatives, it announced Saturday a partnership with the Georgetown University Law Center to provide fellowships to design infrastructure projects. Another initiative to develop undersea internet connectivity cables has Australia designing the $5 million program and the U.S. overseeing technical and security aspects. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida referenced the ongoing war in Ukraine. "Russia's violent acts have continued, and the security environment is all the harsher. A free and open international rules-based order is under threat," he said. Sheila Smith is the senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She noted that while one member of the group, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has not been comfortable with past Quad denunciations of Russia, "Modi's continued investment in the Quad demonstrates its importance." Smith went on to underscore the Pacific Islands are receiving more attention "given China's open attempt to court support and security cooperation there," and this year's agenda is "technology driven." She said she expects future goals to be quite detailed. Biden spoke of the area's global impact: "A great deal of the future of our world is going to be written here in the Indo-Pacific, and together I think that we're going to continue to ensure that the future provides more opportunity, prosperity and stability." Suzanne Loftus, a research fellow with the pro-diplomacy Quincy Institute, said a strong signal was sent to Russia and China as both the G-7 and the Quad groups met at Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic bomb attack. Loftus predicts "a more confrontational direction with the West on one side, and China and Russia on the other," as both sides compete for control of the Global South. This was the fifth time the Quad leaders have met. Prime Minister Modi will host the next Quad summit in India in 2024. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address G7 Agrees on Ukraine Jets, China 'Economic Coercion' Statement By Patsy Widakuswara May 20, 2023 The United States and its allies are planning to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots to fly them, the White House said Friday, a turnaround from President Joe Biden's monthslong refusal of requests from his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for the aircraft. In a statement provided to VOA, a senior administration official said on Friday Biden informed G-7 leaders that the United States will support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian air force. The training, set to begin in the coming weeks, will take place at sites in Europe and require months to complete, said the official. "As the training unfolds, in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them and how many," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a Saturday press briefing in Hiroshima, Japan, where the G-7 summit is being held. Sullivan said the fighter jets will not be used for a planned counteroffensive against Russia. Zelenskyy welcomed Biden's decision, saying in a tweet it would "greatly enhance our army in the sky." Describing the plans to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jet fighters as a "historic decision," Zelenskyy said he would discuss the details with Biden when they meet on the sidelines of the G-7 summit Sunday. Confirmation of Zelenskyy's in person attendance came as G-7 leaders from United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union, reaffirmed their "commitment to stand together against Russia's illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine." In a statement, the group pledged to "mobilize all our policy instruments and, together with Ukraine, make every effort to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine as soon as possible," underscoring that it cannot be realized without "the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops." China economic coercion Measures are set to be announced later Saturday to respond to what the group calls China's "economic coercion" - the use of punitive trade practices to coerce countries over political disputes. "These economic security tools will include steps to build resilience in our supply chains. They will also include steps to protect sensitive technology like export controls and outbound investment measures," Sullivan said in the same briefing. Sullivan said that the communique set to be released later Saturday will note that each country has its own independent relationship and approach to Beijing but all are united and aligned around a set of common concerns. It will indicate that G-7 countries seek to cooperate with China on matters of mutual interest. G-7 members are "looking to de-risk not de-couple from China," he said, referring to efforts to limiting reliance and vulnerability on Beijing. From Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Friday responded to the planned measures. "If the G-7 summit wants to discuss the issue of economic coercion, it might as well first discuss how the United States coerces the other six member states," he said. Alternative to Belt and Road The G-7 statement in Hiroshima shows a growing alignment by members on how to deal with Beijing, beginning with the group's 2021 summit in Cornwall, U.K., when China was mentioned for the first time. In Cornwall, the group adopted a plan to support lower- and middle-income countries in building better infrastructure called "Build Back Better World," as an alternative to China's development juggernaut the Belt and Road Initiative. At the 2022 G-7 summit in Elmau, Germany, the plan was relaunched as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. Under the relaunched plan, G-7 countries aim to mobilize a total of $600 billion by 2027 in global infrastructure investments. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Remarks by President Biden, Prime Minister Kishida, Prime Minister Modi, and Prime Minister Albanese at the Third In-Person Quad Leaders' Summit May 20, 2023 8:43 P.M. JST PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, good evening, everyone. I'm very honored to be convening the third in-person Quad Leaders' Summit here in Hiroshima. And I want to thank, particularly, Fumio, but also President Biden and Prime Minister Modi as well for showing how we are indeed an outcomes-focused grouping that can get things done and can be flexible to make sure that we achieve these outcomes. PRESIDENT BIDEN: (Laughs.) Well said. PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: It's an example it's an example of our resolve and also, I think, a clear statement of how important we regard the Quad as being an essential component. My first act one year ago tomorrow, indeed, was after being sworn in as prime minister was to fly to Tokyo to represent Australia in Japan at the second Quad Leaders' Summit. And I will never forget the very warm and generous welcome that I had after my election. I can't think of any better way to begin a prime-ministership than a gathering of such important friends from our region. One year on, I'm absolutely delighted to be amongst close friends again here in Japan to continue our important work, standing together for an open, stable, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, a region where sovereignty is respected and all countries large and small benefit from a regional balance that keeps the peace. Respect for the leadership of regional institutions, including ASEAN, the Pacific Island Forum, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association is central to our approach. And our vision statement that we will release tonight sets out the principles for our engagement in the region. Through the Quad's positive, practical agenda, we are taking action to address shared challenges. Together, we are leveraging our collective strengths and offering support to the region, which will be enhanced by the outcomes that we hope to agree on tonight. So, thank you, everyone, for gathering. And I will now hand to Prime Minister Modi for his opening comments. PRIME MINISTER MODI: (As interpreted.) Your Excellencies, Prime Minister Albanese, Prime Minister Kishida, and President Biden: I am very pleased to be taking part in this Quad summit today and to be among friends. The Quad group has established itself as an important platform for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. There is no doubt at all about the fact that the Indo-Pacific region is the engine for global trade, innovation, and development. We agree that the security and success of the Indo-Pacific is important not just for this region but for the entire world. We are moving forward with a constructive agenda based on shared democratic values. Through our shared efforts, we are giving a practical dimension to our vision for a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Climate action, disaster management, strategic technologies, reliable supply chains, health security, maritime security, counterterrorism are examples of areas in which our positive cooperation is increasing. Today, several countries and groups are announcing the Indo-Pacific strategic strategy and vision. During our meeting today, we will have the opportunity to discuss subjects related to the inclusive and people-centric development of this entire region. I believe the Quad will continue to work for global good, for the welfare of mankind, and for peace and prosperity. I commend and congratulate Prime Minister Albanese for successfully chairing this summit. We will be pleased to host the Quad Leaders' Summit in India in 2024. Thank you. PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, thank you very much, Prime Minister Modi. I now turn to Prime Minister Kishida. PRIME MINISTER KISHIDA: (As interpreted.) Thank you, Anthony. The Chair mentioned that one year has passed since our summit in Tokyo. During this one-year period, Russia's outrage has continued, and the security environment has become even more severe. Free and open international order based on the rule of law is under threat. All the more so because we live under such harsh situation, it is meaningful that we get together to demonstrate to the world once again the solidarity of the Quad and our strong commitment to our common vision towards a free and open Indo-Pacific FOIP that we would like to drive the world towards an international community of cooperation and not of division and confrontation. Without striving together with regional countries, FOIP cannot be attained. We will listen to the voices of regional countries of the ASEAN, South Asia, and Pacific Island states to engage in practical cooperation which delivers true benefits to the region as a force for good. I hope today's discussion will give us another momentum to further spur our efforts. Thank you. PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Thank you very much (inaudible). PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, gentlemen, thank you for accommodating the change of location particularly you, Mr. Prime Minister. I Prime Minister Albanese, especially for your impressive leadership of the Quad this year and your gracious flexibility in holding the meeting here again, in Japan. The you know, while our setting today is different than our our mission remains the same. And that is to advance our vision of a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific and and to demonstrate the capacity of democracies to deliver to deliver on the shared in a shared region. I think people are going to look back at this the Quad in, God willing, 10, 20, 30 years from now and say it changed the dynamic not only of the region, but the world. And while while the setting today is different, you know, in our last two years, we made enormous progress, in my view. We're now launching new initiatives to keep that progress going, from projects to build secure telecommunications in the Pacific region, to strengthen our cooperation in submarine cables, new joint efforts between our private sectors to invest in infrastructure and clean energy projects in the region. And I'm also proud that of the work we've done with our partners of the of the ASEAN and Pacific Islands. Matter of fact, I was with one of our counterparts today at the larger meeting, and he's part of the ASEAN countries and he said, "I think the Quad is a very good idea." Remember, at the beginning, it was how it was going to be greeted. But and so, it's I feel good. I think a great deal of the future of our world is going to be written here in the Indo-Pacific. And together, I think we're going to continue to ensure that the future provides more opportunity, prosperity, and stability than anything else. So I want to thank you again for your strong partnership and friendship. And I apologize again for the change in plans. But thank you for accommodating this, and I look forward to our conversations tonight. Thank you. PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Thank you, Mr. President. We will now move to a closed meeting. 8:53 P.M. JST NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Quad Leaders' Joint Statement May 20, 2023 20 May 2023, Hiroshima Today, we Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. of the United States met for the third in-person Quad Leaders' Summit, hosted by Prime Minister Albanese. Together, we reaffirm our steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient. The global strategic and economic environment is changing rapidly - with direct impacts on countries in the region. We believe we should navigate this time of uncertainty and opportunity together, working closely with our Indo-Pacific partners. We believe all countries have a role in contributing to regional peace, stability, and prosperity, as well as upholding international law, including the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the rules-based international order. We seek a region where no country dominates and no country is dominated - one where all countries are free from coercion, and can exercise their agency to determine their futures. Our four countries are united by this shared vision. As Indo-Pacific countries, Quad partners are deeply invested in our region's success. Harnessing our collective strengths and resources, we are supporting the region's development, stability, and prosperity through the Quad's positive, practical agenda. Our work is guided by regional countries' priorities and responds to the region's needs. We are and will continue to be transparent in what we do. Respect for the leadership of regional institutions, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), is and will remain at the centre of the Quad's efforts. The Quad Leaders' Vision Statement we have issued today sets out our shared vision for the Quad and the Indo-Pacific region based on these principles. Today we reaffirm our consistent and unwavering support for ASEAN centrality and unity. We are committed to ensuring the Quad's work is aligned with ASEAN's principles and priorities and continues to support implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). We underscore ASEAN's regional leadership role, including in the East Asia Summit, the region's premier leader-led forum for strategic dialogue, and the ASEAN Regional Forum. We strongly support Indonesia's 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship and its Chair theme "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth". We will continue to strengthen our respective relationships with ASEAN and seek opportunities for greater Quad collaboration in support of the AOIP. We recommit to working in partnership with Pacific island countries to achieve shared aspirations and address shared challenges. We reaffirm our support for Pacific regional institutions that have served the region well over many years, foremost the PIF, and warmly welcome Cook Islands assuming the PIF Chair in 2023. We continue to support the objectives of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, and commit to working with partners, including through Partners in the Blue Pacific, to support engagement with these objectives. We welcome the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation and the U.S. - Pacific Island Forum meeting, both to be held in Papua New Guinea in coming days. We also applaud Japan's longstanding engagement with Pacific island countries through the Pacific Islands' Leaders Meeting (PALM), and Australia's deep and enduring commitment to the Pacific as part of the Pacific family, including as a founding member of the PIF. In these efforts, Quad Leaders will listen to and be guided at every step by Pacific priorities, including climate action, ocean health, resilient infrastructure, maritime security and financial integrity. In particular, we acknowledge climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific and applaud Pacific island countries' global leadership on climate action. We remain committed to strengthening cooperation in the Indian Ocean region. We welcome the work of IORA as the Indian Ocean region's premier forum for addressing the region's challenges. We recognise India's leadership in finalising the IORA Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (IOIP) and express our support for its implementation. We thank Bangladesh for its term as IORA Chair and commit to working with Sri Lanka and India as they assume the roles of IORA Chair and Vice Chair respectively this year. We, the countries of the Quad, will work together to be a global force for good. We will bring our combined resolve to support each other's international leadership in 2023 including Australia's hosting of the Quad, Japan's G7 presidency, India's G20 presidency and the United States' APEC host year. The Quad's positive, practical agenda We recognise the urgent need to address the climate crisis, which poses tremendous environmental, social, and economic challenges for our region. Today we underline our dedication to taking significant action on climate change - individually and collectively. We will continue to support climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience efforts in alignment with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement as well as regional architecture, including ASEAN, the PIF, and IORA. We will continue to collaborate on green shipping and ports, disaster risk management, exchanging climate information, and capacity building support for Article 6 implementation of the Paris Agreement. Under the Climate Information Services Initiative, we plan to coordinate our collective resources to support early warning systems in the Indo-Pacific, including through the Pacific-led Weather Ready Pacific initiative and the longstanding leadership of the Pacific Meteorological Council. We also intend to provide support through global partnerships such as the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and its Infrastructure for Resilient Islands States (IRIS) initiative. We recognise that achieving sustainable consumption and production is a key component of global efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), environment and climate ambitions. We will work together to seek meaningful outcomes on climate action and the clean economy transition in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report makes clear that rapid and far-reaching transitions are needed across all sectors and systems. As we move to a net zero world, we underscore that it is critical to strengthen our cooperation to ensure better access to affordable, reliable and secure clean energy in the Indo-Pacific. We will work together to increase the region's access to climate finance and climate smart technology. Under the Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP), launched in 2022, we continue to work together and with Indo-Pacific partners to enhance climate and clean energy cooperation as well as promote adaptation and resilience. In this regard, we welcome the Sydney Energy Forum and the Quad Clean Hydrogen Partnership meeting hosted by Australia and India respectively in July 2022. Building on those foundations, today, we are issuing a Statement of Principles on Clean Energy Supply Chains in the Indo-Pacific, which provide a basis for our engagement in the region on clean energy supply chain development. The principles are designed to promote diverse, secure, transparent and resilient clean energy supply chains and support a sustainable, and inclusive clean energy transition. We also announce a Clean Energy Supply Chains initiative designed to accelerate the Indo-Pacific's clean energy transition. Working with Indo-Pacific partners, the initiative will facilitate research and development and feasibility study projects to lower clean energy manufacturing and deployment costs, enhance regional energy security, and expand and diversify the regional production of necessary materials and technologies. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how important health security is to our societies, our economies, and the stability of our region. In 2021 and 2022, Quad partners stepped up to help meet the region's most pressing need, delivering more than 400 million safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to Indo-Pacific countries and almost 800 million doses globally, bilaterally and in partnership with COVAX. Today, we announce the evolution of our Quad Vaccine Partnership into a broader Quad Health Security Partnership. Through this partnership, we will strengthen our coordination and collaboration in support of health security in the Indo-Pacific. We plan to implement a suite of activities to build the region's capacity to detect and respond rapidly to outbreaks of diseases with epidemic and pandemic potential. These activities include support for health workforce development, disease surveillance, and electronic health information systems and coordination of outbreak responses, such as the Quad Pandemic Preparedness Exercise. We will continue cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners to meet the region's infrastructure priorities. Delivering on our commitment at the 2022 Quad Leaders' Summit, we will continue to support access to quality, sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure investments in our region. We aim to ensure the investments we support are fit for purpose, demand driven and responsive to countries' needs, and do not impose unsustainable debt burdens. We will build on ongoing programs for Indo-Pacific countries including training and capacity-building focused on digital and economic connectivity, clean energy, and climate resilient power sector infrastructure. We continue to strengthen capacity to manage debt issues, including under the G20 Common Framework and promote debt sustainability and transparency. Today, we announce a new initiative to boost infrastructure expertise across the Indo-Pacific: the 'Quad Infrastructure Fellowships Program'. The initiative aims to empower more than 1,800 of the region's infrastructure practitioners to design, build and manage quality infrastructure in their home countries. The Quad is committed to improving the region's connectivity through the development of resilient infrastructure. We recognise the urgent need to support quality undersea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific, which are key to global growth and prosperity. Today we announce a new 'Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience'. The Partnership will strengthen cable systems in the Indo-Pacific, drawing on Quad countries' world-class expertise in manufacturing, delivering and maintaining cable infrastructure. Quad partners' export credit agencies make an important contribution to the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. We welcome ongoing efforts to enhance cooperation among Quad partners' export credit agencies: including through a Memorandum of Cooperation between ECGC Limited of India, Export Finance Australia (EFA), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) of Japan, and Export-Import Bank of the United States (USEXIM). We recognise the transformative power of technology, including digital public infrastructure, to support sustainable development in the Indo-Pacific and deliver economic and social benefits. We are stepping up our efforts to strengthen supply chain resilience and improve the region's digital connectivity through access to critical and emerging technologies and advanced telecommunications technology, including 5G networks. Today, we announce cooperation with Palau to establish a deployment of Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN), the first in the Pacific. The Quad is committed to ensuring regional countries are not left behind as telecommunications markets and network architectures evolve. We support access to innovations, such as Open RAN, that enable greater vendor choice for countries to expand and modernise their telecommunications networks. We also welcome the release of the Open RAN Security Report which is expected to promote industry investment in approaches to telecommunications that are demonstrably open, interoperable, trusted and secure. The Quad International Standards Cooperation Network and the Quad Principles on Critical and Emerging Technology Standards, released today, reflect our support for industry-led, consensus-based multi-stakeholder approaches to the development of technology standards. We welcome the launch of the private sector-led Quad Investors Network (QUIN), which aims to facilitate investments in strategic technologies, including clean energy, semiconductors, critical minerals, and quantum. We intend to support joint research to advance innovation in agriculture through emerging technologies designed to empower farmers everywhere to increase yield and resistance. We reaffirm our commitment to a more secure cyberspace and to fostering an international digital economy that works for everyone. Quad partners will continue collaborating to enhance regional capacity and resilience to cyber incidents and threats. We welcome the first Quad Cyber Challenge, held earlier this year to promote cyber awareness and empower participants across the Indo-Pacific to protect themselves online. We also welcome the Quad Joint Principles for Secure Software and the Quad Joint Principles for Cyber Security of Critical Infrastructure, and efforts to develop a guiding framework for ensuring supply chain security and resilience. These principles are designed to strengthen our region's defences against cyber threats to the software supply chain and critical infrastructure and services. We recognise the importance of space technologies and space-related applications in responding to climate change and disasters, and enhancing the sustainable use of oceans and marine resources. We reaffirm our commitment to supporting capacity building for countries in the region. The Quad Space Working Group will explore avenues to deliver Earth Observation data and other space-related applications to assist nations across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen climate early warning systems and better manage the impacts of extreme weather events. We commit to open sharing of civil Earth Observation data. We will continue to consult each other and the region on the peaceful, safe and sustainable use of outer space. We announce our intention to share expertise and experience in space situational awareness. We commit to strengthening our commercial space cooperation, including convening a commercial space business forum in 2023. We are pleased the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), announced at the 2022 Tokyo Quad Leaders' Summit, is underway in its pilot phase. Through IPMDA, we are providing near-real-time, integrated and cost-effective maritime domain data to maritime agencies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and will expand coverage to partners in the Indian Ocean region in the coming months. This supports our regional partners in combatting a wide range of illicit maritime activities, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and responding to climate-related and humanitarian events. We are committed to deepening engagement with regional partners to support maritime safety and security and uphold international law. At the 2021 Quad Leaders' Summit in Washington, we launched the Quad Fellowship. This year, we welcome the first cohort of Quad STEM Fellows, who will begin their studies in the United States in August 2023. Our one hundred Quad Fellows from all four Quad countries represent the best and brightest of our next generation. The diversity and dynamism of this inaugural class will help to ensure our nations remain at the forefront of innovation and we wish them well. Global and regional issues We remain fully resolved to uphold peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain. We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion. We emphasise the importance of adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the maintenance of freedom of navigation and overflight, in addressing challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including those in the East and South China Seas. We express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coastguard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities. We emphasise that disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, without threat or use of force. Together, with our global and regional partners, we will buttress international institutions and initiatives that underpin global peace, prosperity and development. We reiterate our unwavering support for the United Nations (UN) Charter and the three pillars of the UN system. In consultation with our partners, we will work collectively to address attempts to unilaterally undermine the integrity of the UN, its Charter and its agencies. We seek to strengthen and reform the multilateral system so it may better reflect contemporary realities and meet aspirations of the Indo-Pacific region. We remain committed to a comprehensive UN reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the UN Security Council. We reaffirm our commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We underscore the importance of achieving the SDGs in a comprehensive manner without selectively prioritising a narrow set of such goals, and reaffirm that the UN has a central role in supporting countries in their implementation. We stand for adherence to international law, peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for principles of the UN Charter, including territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states. In this context, today we express our deep concern over the war raging in Ukraine and mourn its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences. We recognise its serious impacts on the global economic system including on food, fuel and energy security and critical supply chains. We will continue to render humanitarian assistance to Ukraine for its recovery. Conscious that ours must not be an era of war, we remain committed to dialogue and diplomacy. We support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace consistent with the UN Charter. In this context, we concur that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is serious and inadmissible. We condemn North Korea's destabilising ballistic missile launches and pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs). These launches pose a grave threat to international peace and stability. We urge North Korea to abide by all its obligations under the UNSCRs, refrain from further provocations and engage in substantive dialogue. We urge North Korea to resolve the abductions issue immediately. We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula consistent with relevant UNSCRs and call on all countries to fully implement these UNSCRs. We stress the importance of addressing proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to North Korea in the region and beyond. We remain deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in Myanmar and again call for an immediate cessation of violence. We call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, unhindered humanitarian access, resolution of the crisis through constructive dialogue, and the transition of Myanmar towards an inclusive democracy. We reaffirm our consistent support to ASEAN-led efforts, including the work of the ASEAN Chair and Office of the Special Envoy. We call for full implementation of all commitments under the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus. We unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism. We are committed to international cooperation and will work with our regional partners in a comprehensive and sustained manner to strengthen capability to prevent, detect and respond to threats posed by terrorism and violent extremism, consistent with international law. We are committed to working together to promote accountability for the perpetrators of such terrorist attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks, including the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and in Pathankot, and our commitment to pursuing designations, as appropriate, by the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee. We will strengthen our cooperation through the new Working Group on Counterterrorism announced during the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in March 2023. We endorse the outcomes of the 3 March Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi and the Ministers' Joint Statement committing to deepening practical and positive cooperation for the benefit of the Indo-Pacific region. India will host our next in-person Quad Leaders' Summit in 2024. We, the Quad Leaders, remain firm in our resolve to meet the challenges facing our region and clear in our vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific that is stable, prosperous and inclusive. In doing so we are committed to working in partnership with Indo-Pacific countries - large and small - in deciding our future and shaping the region we all want to live in. ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Quad Leaders' Summit Fact Sheet May 20, 2023 Hiroshima, 20 May 2023 President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India met in Hiroshima on May 20, 2023 for the fifth convening of the Quad Leaders' Summit. The Quad is committed to supporting the region's development, stability, and prosperity to benefit the people of the Indo-Pacific. The leaders' ambitious efforts include major initiatives on infrastructure, maritime security, public-private partnership, climate, health, critical and emerging technologies, and space. INFRASTRUCTURE The Quad leaders are committed to delivering results for the region. Infrastructure - from roads to electricity to internet connectivity - is key to these efforts to meet the needs of the people in the region. The leaders welcome the launch of three major infrastructure initiatives to provide training, capacity, and resources to improve ongoing and future infrastructure projects. Quad Infrastructure Fellowship The program will provide at least 1,800 scholarships, work exchanges, and other executive programs to government officials on best practices surrounding the design, delivery, and management of high-standard infrastructure projects. The U.S. Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program has partnered with Georgetown University Law Center to develop a 3-week executive legal certificate program designed for government attorneys drafting and negotiating complex infrastructure programs. These fellowships will improve capacity and deepen professional networks across the region to design, manage, and attract investment in infrastructure projects. Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience Undersea cables are a critical component of communications infrastructure and serve as the foundation for internet connectivity. The Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience will bring together public and private sector actors to address gaps in the infrastructure and coordinate on future builds. Under this partnership, Australia will establish a new Indo-Pacific Cable Connectivity and Resilience Program to share best practice and provide technical assistance to Indo-Pacific governments. The United States is providing technical assistance and capacity building on the security of undersea cable systems through its $5 million CABLES program. This partnership will improve access to develop trusted and secure cable systems and establish better internet connectivity and resiliency in the Indo-Pacific. INVESTMENT The Quad leaders are deeply committed to a prosperous Indo-Pacific which enhances the lives of its citizens. Fostering investment will aid economic development in the region now and for the future. Quad Investors Network (QUIN) The QUIN, a network of investors and executives across Quad countries that seeks to foster co-investment in critical technologies, was officially launched today. The Quad welcomes [LINK: https://quadinvestorsnetwork.org/blog/the-quad-investors-network-launches-with-advisory-board-expert-groups] the QUIN and its focus on strategic partnerships and investments to increase resilient supply chains for critical and emerging technologies by Quad nations. The QUIN will facilitate access to capital and facilitate technology partnerships through the establishment of an Advisory Board of business leaders and expert working groups to advance the prosperity and security of the Indo-Pacific Region. Export Credit Agencies MOC Quad countries seek to establish a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between the export credit agencies of the Quad governments aims to strengthen collaboration for the promotion of trade, financing of trade-enabling projects, economic development, and knowledge-sharing with respect to the export of goods and services. The MOC acknowledges the importance of the economic development of the Indo-Pacific region and of increasing business opportunities, particularly in the areas of emerging and critical technologies, digital connectivity, social development including gender equality and equity, clean energy power generation and distribution, and critical minerals. CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY As technology evolves, the Quad is committed to ensuring that it is leading the innovations of the future and that the benefits of new and emerging technologies are shared throughout the region. Commercial Open RAN Deployment in Palau The Quad will partner with the Government of Palau and the Palau National Communications Corporation (PNCC) to design, implement, and operationalize the deployment of Open RAN capabilities. This initiative will modernize Palau's national mobile network, establish an Open RAN deployment in partnership with local stakeholders, and support its sustainable operation. The United States Trade and Development Agency will fund a technical assistance grant to scope the size and scale of the project, the Australian Government will support the project and Quad partners may provide further support. This Open RAN deployment will advance more secure, trusted, resilient, adaptable, and cost-effective connectivity in Palau while maintaining service for users. This deployment will strengthen Palau's status as a regional leader in ICT and digital connectivity, with this being the first deployment of the technology planned in the region. Open RAN Security Report The Quad welcomed a new in-depth report [LINK: https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/open-ran-security-report] outlining cybersecurity considerations associated with using Open RAN as an approach to developing network architecture. The report demonstrates that Open RAN offers important cybersecurity advantages, that risks sometimes attributed to Open RAN are common to traditional RAN deployments as well, and that these risks can be mitigated and managed through the recommendations presented in the report. The report will inform Quad members' domestic and shared approaches to Open RAN security priorities and will also serve as a global resource to support adoption of open, interoperable, and trusted network architectures. Advancing Innovation to Empower Nextgen Agriculture (AI-ENGAGE) Through AI-ENGAGE, Quad science agencies from the United States, Australia, India, and Japan are identifying joint funding opportunities to encourage collaborative research between Quad partners on how to leverage the latest science and technology advances to benefit farmers. Quad research collaboration will leverage joint funding, expertise, infrastructure and other resources to deliver scientific advances to increase crop yield and resilience. By collaborating on cutting edge research and innovations in areas such as AI, robotics, communications, and sensing, and disseminating research findings, AI-ENGAGE can transform agricultural approaches to empower farmers throughout the Indo-Pacific region and the world. Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum The Quad successfully launched the inaugural [LINK: Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum Outcomes (amazonaws.com)] Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum in Sydney, Australia in December 2022. The forum laid the foundation for enhanced private-public collaboration across our governments, industry, investors, academia, and civil society on critical and emerging technologies. The United States will host the next Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum in Fall of 2023. MARITIME The Indo-Pacific region comprises 65 percent of the world's oceans and countries throughout the region depend on the free movement of goods and people for their livelihoods. The Quad has made significant steps in enhancing maritime domain awareness. Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) Launched at the Tokyo Summit on May 24, 2022, IPMDA is now bringing cutting-edge satellite-based radio frequency (RF) data to partners around the region, enhancing their maritime domain awareness, and equipping them to better monitor their waters. Quad partners are supporting three pilot programs across the region in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the Indian Ocean Region - and discussions are underway to provide this enhanced capability to additional partners in the coming months. Through greater transparency, IPMDA is supporting our regional partners in their efforts to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific by improving their ability to: counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; respond to climate change and natural disasters; and enforce the law near their shores. EDUCATION The Quad is a partnership not only among governments, but among our people - and none more so than the next generation. The Quad is committed to fostering future STEM innovators to build the foundations of tomorrow's successes today. Quad STEM Fellowship Quad leaders are proud to announce that the first class of diverse, dynamic, and inspiring Quad fellows will begin their studies in the United States in August 2023. Announced on September 24, 2021, the Quad Fellowship sponsors 100 American, Australian, Indian, and Japanese students to study in the United States each year for graduate studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Administered by Schmidt Futures [LINK https://www.quadfellowship.org/], the Quad Fellowship brings our four countries closer together by empowering exceptional STEM graduate students to advance research and innovation throughout their careers and across the Indo-Pacific. In future years the Quad Fellowship is expected to expand to include educational and professional opportunities in Australia, India, and Japan, as we continue to grow the ties among our next generation of innovators. CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY Indo-Pacific nations are at the epicenter of the climate crisis and bear many of the most damaging impacts of climate change. The Quad aims to help countries mitigate the effects of climate change and strengthen their climate resilience. Clean Energy Supply Chain Principles and Diversification Program The Quad will work together to identify and address gaps in our manufacturing capacity for critical clean energy materials and technologies. In particular, the program will focus on the supply chains for solar photovoltaics (PV), hydrogen electrolyzer, and electric vehicle battery technologies. Quad partners are contributing funding, technical expertise, and in-kind support to the supply chain assessment efforts and subsequent investment decisions. The Quad also established joint principles for clean energy supply chains. [LINK: https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/quad-statement-principles-clean-energy-supply-chains-indo-pacific] The QUIN will convene a public-private Quad Clean Energy Supply Chain Conference to showcase Quad country incentives and public financing opportunities, promote investment in vertical clean energy supply chains and identify and address non-financial barriers to accelerated clean energy deployment. Over the long term this initiative will transform the way we invest in clean energy supply chains throughout the region. Climate Information Services Initiative (CIS) The Quad's Climate Information Services (CIS) Initiative commits to building capacity, cooperation, and information-sharing mechanisms for climate data in the Indo-Pacific. These tools and information will help Pacific Island countries better adapt to climate change. The United States will review the interoperability of Quad countries' services and provide technical assistance to Pacific Island countries to increase their capacities to anticipate and prepare for current and future climates, including early warning systems and sea-level rise vital to informing decision-making. India 's Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is working with climate vulnerable nations, including through its Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) Initiative. Japan has highlighted possibilities to improve climate data interoperability through the Asia-Pacific Climate Change Information Platform (AP-PLAT). Australia is working to enhance climate-related meteorological capabilities in the South Pacific through Weather-Ready Pacific effort. will review the interoperability of Quad countries' services and provide technical assistance to Pacific Island countries to increase their capacities to anticipate and prepare for current and future climates, including early warning systems and sea-level rise vital to informing decision-making. 's Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is working with climate vulnerable nations, including through its Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) Initiative. has highlighted possibilities to improve climate data interoperability through the Asia-Pacific Climate Change Information Platform (AP-PLAT). is working to enhance climate-related meteorological capabilities in the South Pacific through Weather-Ready Pacific effort. This coordination will reduce transaction costs for Pacific Island countries in accessing timely and authoritative climate data and tools while establishing early warning and other climate information systems. Quad Indo-Pacific Oceans Research Alliance (QIPORA) QIPORA is an ocean research alliance which will link lead ocean research agencies in India, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Led by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the QIPORA will expand ocean research and cooperation between scientists and build science and technology pipelines to enhance the resilience of Indo-Pacific nations. This new collaborative scientific network will exchange data on the Indian and Pacific Oceans and their influence on regional and global climate variability, and how sea level rise and climate change are impacting marine ecosystems and Quad member resources. HEALTH As the world continues to recover from COVID-19, the Quad recognizes the importance of strengthening health security and the Indo-Pacific's ability to handle future health crises. Quad Health Security Partnership Launched at the 2023 Quad Leaders' Summit, the Quad Health Security Partnership builds on the success of the Quad Vaccine Partnership. The first activities will be a package of concrete initiatives to strengthen prevention, detection, and response to outbreaks of disease with epidemic or pandemic potential. Quad partners are pooling efforts to expand and integrate surveillance for key pathogens, increase workforce training for pandemic preparedness and response, expand virtual training and telemedicine capacity, strengthen vaccine data systems, strengthen diagnosis and treatment capacity of core hospitals. Quad partners plan to conduct a second pandemic preparedness exercise to increase coordination and information sharing. This partnership will support field epidemiology and outbreak responder training, boost disease surveillance, improve data systems, and build the capabilities of national health emergency operations centers, allowing experts to offer faster and better-informed solutions to outbreaks and other health challenges affecting the Indo-Pacific. The Quad will use this partnership to address critical gaps across the Indo-Pacific region in prevention, preparedness and response to outbreaks. TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS The Quad leaders are committed to establishing shared principles and standards for the benefit of our citizens as technologies continue to develop and evolve. Joint Principles on Critical and Emerging Technology Standards The Quad Principles on Critical and Emerging Technology Standards affirm our support for private sector-led, consensus-based, and multistakeholder approaches to international standards development that foster interoperability, compatibility, and inclusiveness. Quad members are working together with industry, academia, and the private sector to develop standards and welcome all other nations to join us in pursuit of this shared vision for the development of technology standards, guided by these Principles. The Quad Principles [LINK: https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/quad-principles-critical-and-emerging-technology-standards] provide a baseline for how the Quad members work together to foster the development of critical and emerging technologies that make the lives of our citizens more secure, prosperous, and rewarding. They should promote interoperability, innovation, trust, transparency, diverse markets, security-by-design, compatibility, inclusiveness and open trade. The Quad International Standards Cooperation Network (Q-ISCN) The Q-ISCN is a standards information sharing network wherein Quad members share information on key technical standards developments. This information sharing network extends the reach of the Quad to monitor more standards developments than ever before, including in international standards bodies, and identify opportunities to work together with our private sectors on standards that will enhance security while facilitating access to new technologies for our citizens. CYBER From cybersecurity to critical infrastructure to software, the Quad is committed to advancing a secure and resilient cyber ecosystem. Cyber Challenge The Quad Cyber Challenge was held for the first time this year to promote cyber awareness and empower participants across the Indo-Pacific to protect themselves online. An estimated 85,000 people across the Indo-Pacific took part in the challenge, and nearly 600 different schools, universities, companies and non-profits took action to protect themselves and their communities. For the United States' capstone event, the National Security Council and the Department of Education invited students and administrators to the White House to hear from a panel of leading cybersecurity professionals about career paths and opportunities in the field of cybersecurity. This Challenge enabled people in the Indo-Pacific region to develop a knowledge base of best practices for cybersecurity, so they are better equipped to protect themselves online. Critical Infrastructure Principles Cyber attacks against hospitals, schools, electricity and telecom systems are occurring regularly around the world. It is imperative to secure such systems against these threats and these principles provide key guidelines for to improve our defenses against cyber threats to critical infrastructure and services . Quad partners developed joint principles for cybersecurity of critical infrastructure, designed to strengthen the Indo-Pacific's defenses against cyber threats to critical infrastructure and services. Software Security Principles Software drives our lives - from our phones to the systems that deliver clean water and electricity and protect our national defense. Quad partners developed joint principles to collectively improve software security [LINK: https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/quad-cybersecurity-partnership-joint-principles-secure-software] by promoting minimum cybersecurity practices for governments to guide their development, use, and procurement of software. These joint principles help ensure that Quad governments use our purchasing power to drive the development of safer and more secure software. SPACE As interest in the space domain continues to grow, Quad countries are increasing cooperation on civil and commercial activities, including improving information sharing on climate and space situational awareness data. Extreme Precipitation Events Climate change has resulted in an increase in global extreme precipitation events. The Quad Space Working Group Extreme Precipitation Steering Committee has hosted two workshops to strengthen collaboration between Quad countries to build capacity in the region to monitor and respond to extreme precipitation events more effectively. We will promote the use of earth observation data and other space-based tools to monitor and respond to climate impacts and aid emerging space faring Indo-Pacific nations in accessing and using these resources. Commercial Space Cooperation The commercial space industry in each Quad country is growing, innovative, and entrepreneurial. Through Quad cooperation, we hope to further grow our respective space sectors to support good-paying jobs in the Quad, enhance the resilience of our space supply chains, and lead the region in setting responsible standards. Quad partners commit to strengthen cooperation on commercial space activities and will convene a commercial space business forum in 2023. Space Situational Awareness The Quad will cooperate in leveraging space situational awareness and space traffic coordination capabilities for spaceflight safety and sustainability of the outer space environment, including increased international collaboration on standards for data sharing and global norms for sharing of satellite operator data and best practices. Such efforts will contribute to the long-term sustainability of the space environment, including helping us to avoid collisions in outer space that could generate debris that is dangerous to crewed flight as well as satellites. ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sudan's army, paramilitary RSF sign seven-day ceasefire agreement Iran Press TV Sunday, 21 May 2023 1:52 AM Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have signed a seven-day ceasefire agreement, following six weeks of relatively incessant fighting that has claimed hundreds of lives. The deal, which was mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States, was inked by both sides to the conflict on Saturday, and is scheduled to enter into force within 48 hours at 9:45 p.m. Khartoum time (1945 GMT) on Monday. The conflict in the North African country represents a power struggle between army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the RSF. The armed conflict between the army and paramilitary forces has so far killed more than 700 people, wounded at least 5,287 others, and displaced more than a million. The ceasefire's mediators said in a joint statement that the deal was reached following talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, adding that the ceasefire "shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the agreement of both parties." The statement noted that the new agreement will be enforced by a US-Saudi and internationally-supported monitoring mechanism. It said subsequent talks "will focus on additional steps necessary to improve security and humanitarian conditions for civilians such as vacating forces from urban centers, including civilian homes, accelerating removal of impediments to the free movement of civilians and humanitarian actors, and enabling public servants to resume their regular duties." The new agreement came after multiple previous instances of truce between the two sides have been violated since the fighting broke out. Later on Saturday, Sudan's Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), a coalition of political parties supporting democratic rule in the country, welcomed the truce deal. "We call for full commitment to Jeddah 'Declaration of Principles' and to the short-term ceasefire agreement as well as humanitarian arrangements" the FFC said in a statement. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 20 May 2023 - Day 451 Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 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 in the last four days, Russia has highly likely redeployed up to several battalions to reinforce the Bakhmut sector. This follows Ukrainian tactical gains on the flanks of the contested Donetsk Oblast town through mid-May and publicly aired doubts about the commitment of Wagner Group forces to continue fighting in the sector. With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command. Russia's leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of May 20th, Russian forces launched 3x missile and 56x air strikes, carried out more than 40x MLRS attacks. The civil infrastructure was destroyed. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among civilians, private houses and other civilian infrastructure have been destroyed. The threat of missile and air strikes remains high across Ukraine. Russia is concentrating main efforts on the Kup'yans'k, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mar'inka axes. During the day, 39x combat clashes took place on the specified areas of the front. The fiercest battles are fought for Bakhmut and Mar'inka. Volyn' and Polissya axes: the operational situation has not changed significantly. Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: during this day, Russian forces carried out an airstrike in the area of Nesterne settlement of the Kharkiv Oblast, carried out mortar and artillery strikes on the settlements of Galaganivka in the Chernihiv Oblast; Golyshivske, Volfine, Kindrativka, Yunakivka, Uhroidy of the Sumy Oblast, as well as Udy, Kozacha Lopan', Ternova, Hatyshche, Vovchans'k, Pletenivka, Pokalane, Nesterne, Budarky, Zemlianka, Ustinivka, and Hatne in the Kharkiv Oblast. Kup'yans'k axis: during the day, the Russian forces did not conduct offensive operations. They carried out airstrikes in the districts of Kislivka and Kotlyarivka of the Kharkiv Oblast. Topoli, Figolivka, Novomlyns'k, Dvorichna, Zapadne, Masyutivka, Kislivka, Kotlyarivka, Tabaivka and Berestovka of Kharkiv Oblast and Stelmakhivka of Luhansk Oblast were shelled by artillery and mortars. Lyman axis: during the day, Russian forces did not conduct offensive operations. Russian carried out airstrikes in the areas of Yampil' and Spirne settlements. Makiivka, Nevs'ke, Belogorivka of the Luhansk Oblast; Tors'ke, Verkhn'okam'ians'ke and Spirne of the Donetsk Oblast were hit by artillery fire. Bakhmut axis: the Russian troops continue to conduct offensive actions. Heavy battles for the city of Bakhmut do not stop. In addition, the Russian invaders conducted unsuccessful offensive actions on the axis of Bila Hora. Delivered missile strikes on the areas of Slov'iansk and Druzhkivka, and air strikes on the areas of Slov'iansk, Druzhkivka, Bakhmut, Ivanovs'ke, Bila Hora and Torets'k. Vasyukivka, Orihovo-Vasylivka, Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Bakhmut, Ivanovske, Chasiv Yar, Stupochki, Predtechine, Bila Hora of the Donetsk Oblast were shelled by the Russian forces. Avdiivka axis: the Russian forces conducted offensive actions in the vicinities of Novokalynovy, Avdiivka, Severny, albeit without success. During the day, they carried out an airstrike near Avdiivka, and conducted artillery shelling near the settlements of Novokalynove, Berdychi, Stepove, Avdiivka, Tonenke, Pervomaiske, Karlivka and Nevels'ke of the Donetsk Oblast. Mar'inka axis: Ukrainian armed forces repelled numerous Russian attacks in the area of the city of Mar'inka. Russian forces launched an air strike in the Krasnohorivka area. At the same time, Hostre, Heorgiyivka, Mar'inka and Pobeda of the Donetsk Oblast got under Russian fire. Shakhtars'k axis: the Russian forces carried out unsuccessful offensive operations in the Novomykhailivka area. At the same time, they carried out airstrikes near Vugledar and Prechistivka. russians shelled Paraskoviivka, Kostyantynivka, Novomykhailivka, Novoukrainka, Vugledar, and Prechistivka. Zaporizhzhia and Kherson axes: Russian forces are on the defensive. They carried out airstrikes on Poltavka settlement in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Beryslav and Kindyka in the Kherson Oblast. At the same time, they shelled more than 30x settlements. Among them are Vremivka, Novosilka, Zelene Pole, Novopil' of the Donetsk Oblast; Ol'hivske, Hulyaipole, Biloghir'ya, Mala Tokmachka and Kam'ians'ke of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast; Nikopol', Dnipropetrovsk Oblast; Zolota Balka, Vesele, Lviv, Antonivka, Dniprovs'ke, Veletens'ke of the Kherson Oblast and the city of Kherson. Russia continues to use civilian medical facilities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine for their own purposes. Thus, the Russian occupiers turned the upper floors of the Lutuginsky District Territorial Medical Association into a military hospital, and to cover it up, they left a children's ward on the first floor. Currently, about 100x Russian soldiers with injuries of varying degrees of severity are being treated at the medical facility. This number is the peak of the military hospital's capacity. At the same time, medical assistance to the civilian population is not provided by the personnel of the military hospital. Ukrainian Air Force per day carried out 8x strikes on manpower and military equipment concentration areas. Ukrainian missile and artillery units hit 4x areas of weapons and equipment concentration, 1x ammunition depot, 4x artillery units at firing positions, 1 air defense system and 1x more important Russian target. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that In Kupyansk direction, the attacks, launched by aviation, as well as the artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces, have resulted in the neutralisation of the enemy units close to Peshotravnevoye (Kharkov region), and Stelmakhovka (Lugansk People's Republic). The actions of one Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group have been disrupted close to Kislovka (Kharkov region). The AFU losses were up to 55 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles and one D-20 howitzer. In Krasny Liman direction, Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, as well as the artillery of the Tsentr Group of Forces, have neutralised the enemy close to Ploshchanka and Kusmino (Lugansk People's Republic). In addition, two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups have been neutralised close to Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic) and Kremennaya (Lugansk People's Republic). The enemy losses were over 60 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, two pickup trucks, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and one D-30 howitzer. In Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault units continue fighting to liberate the western part of the city. The units of the Yug Group of Forces provide cover and containment of the enemy on the flanks. Operational-Tactical, Army aviation and artillery have hit the enemy units close to Bogdanovka and Yagodnoye (Donetsk People's Republic). The Russian aviation have made 6 sorties in this area during the day. The Group's artillery has performed 73 firing missions. The enemy losses were over 95 Ukrainian servicemen and mercenaries, one tank, one armoured personnel carrier, three pickup trucks and one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system. In Donetsk direction, as a result of artillery fire and active actions of the Yug Group of Forces, the enemy suffered losses up to 210 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, five motor vehicles, one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery system, and one D-20 howitzer. In addition, two ammunition, rocket and artillery weapon depots of the AFU 110th Mechanised Brigade have been destroyed close to Avdeevka (Donetsk People's Republic). In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the units of the Vostok Group of Forces have hit the enemy units close to Ugleda (Donetsk People's Republic). The enemy losses were up to 85 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles and one Msta-B howitzer. In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were over 30 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles and three motor vehicles. Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 72 artillery units of the AFU at their firing positions, manpower and military hardware at 89 areas. One U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-50 counterbattery warfare radar has been destroyed near Kopanki (Kharkov region). Air defence facilities have intercepted 12 HIMARS multiple rocket-launching system projectiles, Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, and one U.S.-manufactured GBU-32 guided air bomb. Moreover, 8 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been intercepted close to Verkhnetoretskoye, Novoandreevka, Sladkoye (Donetsk People's Republic), Kremennaya, Ploshchanka and Novodruzhesk (Lugansk People's Republic). In total, 428 airplanes, 234 helicopters, 4,236 unmanned aerial vehicles, 423 air defence missile systems, 9,236 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,100 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,859 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 10,322 special military motor iehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address LANPAC: Army commander leads USSPACECOM against space domain threats By Joe Lacdan, Army News Service May 19, 2023 HONOLULU -- Adversaries have continually found ways to threaten the Army and U.S. forces, not only from the land air, and sea but through space. "The threat is growing," said Army Gen. James Dickinson commander of U.S. Space Command at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. "It's [rising] in numbers and more complexities than ever before, and the joint force must have relevant and timely [assets] for space superiority." USSPACECOM, comprised of Soldiers and members of each military branch, enables the Army's access to space while also defending the joint force from space attacks. To combat celestial threats and achieve space superiority, USSPACECOM has explored incorporating non-traditional sensors such as the Army Navy/Transportable 2 radars, a missile defense radar that can detect, track and disrupt ballistic missiles, and ships that have robust military defense capabilities such as Aegis Ballistic Defense Missile System vessels. Additionally, Dickinson outlined how USSPACECOM plays a critical role in U.S. forces' goal of outpacing adversaries in all domains during the 2023 LANPAC Conference in Honolulu March 16. The command connects air, land and sea capabilities to those in cyber. Dickinson, who spoke to an audience with militaries from 30 nations, said partner countries aid U.S. forces in deterring adversaries through shared capabilities in space. The command currently has 175 situational and space agreements with partner nations. In addition, USSPACECOM has memorandums of understanding agreements with the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, deepening relationships with those nations, Dickinson said. "Quite frankly I think integration is the key to all-domain dominance," said Dickinson, who has served as USSPACECOM commander since August 2020. "And we cannot discuss integration without including our allies and partners." "Our mission partners expand our warfighting capability and capacity, creating dilemmas for potential adversaries." USSPACECOM has liaison and exchange officers from Japan, Canada, the UK, France and Germany stationed at its headquarters. Combined with its commercial partnerships, cooperation with ally nations help the command integrate the joint force and forms the basis for all-domain dominance. In August 2022, Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler, commander of Space and Missile Defense Command, Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, Army Cyber Command and Lt. Gen. Jon Braga, leader of Army Special Operations Command, formed the Army's "influence" triad. The three Army commands integrated their capabilities together to influence multi-domain operations while augmenting the joint force's ability to see, stimulate and sense. Dickinson said as a result of that combined effort, and the Army's annual series of joint, multi-domain experiments, Project Convergence, the Army has seen rapid growth in training and concept development. "At USSPACECOMM, we see this relationship as critical for synchronizing actions across the joint, and allied and partner force," Dickinson said. "Not only are our space operations global, they're also multi domain. The first engagements of a conflict with a peer competitor may occur across the space architecture." The combined efforts will help the command achieve all-domain dominance while presenting multiple dilemmas to the enemy. "Our ability to hold adversaries at risk across the spectrum of conflict is key to deterring aggression, and winning in the competition phase," Dickinson said. "Especially in ... space, cyber and special operations. Capabilities can generate nuanced effects anywhere in the world, below the ... threshold of war." In addition to partnering with the other 10 combatant commands, USSPACECOM maintains close ties with NASA, the Department of Commerce and each of the nation's military branches. The command serves as the Defense Department's manager for space flight support, assisting in the recovery of space capsules landing at sea. USSPACECOM participated in the recovery of the NASA Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft, which landed in the Pacific's waters near Baja California, Mexico, in December 2022. Airmen and Sailors from USSPACECOM participated in the effort. "[It] was a very complicated military operation to train, synchronize and execute," Dickinson said. "But it was critical." Dickson said that the command will continue to support ongoing Artemis missions. USSPACECOM, collaborates with NASA on space traffic management and space domain awareness. For example, USSPACECOM studies the potential impacts of debris and other objects in space on the International Space Station. The command currently monitors 40,000 pieces of space debris. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Australia-United States Joint Leaders' Statement - An Alliance for our Times May 20, 2023 We, Prime Minister Albanese and President Biden, meet at a uniquely consequential time for our Alliance, the Indo-Pacific, and the world. Our partnership reflects more than one hundred years of trust, respect, friendship and shared sacrifice. Our relationship is founded on a shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and a peaceful, inclusive and rules-based international order based on respect for international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. It is anchored in shared values of democracy, the rule of law, and the protection and promotion of human rights. Today we renew these bonds as we enhance the Alliance to respond to evolving challenges. Addressing Climate and Biodiversity Action, and Clean Energy Transition Today we have signed a statement of intent to advance our climate cooperation through the Australia-United States Climate, Critical Minerals, and Clean Energy Transformation Compact. We are taking urgent action to elevate global climate ambition, accelerate the global clean energy transition, and support mitigation, adaptation and resilience efforts in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. The Compact affirms the position of climate and clean energy as the third pillar of the Alliance, alongside our defence and economic cooperation. Under the Compact, Australia and the United States intend for our private sectors, resources, and industrial strength to drive innovation and accelerate the establishment of a responsible, secure, and inclusive global clean energy economy. We intend to coordinate to spur the diversification and expansion of clean energy supply chains, address the growing energy demands of the Indo-Pacific, and enhance the Indo-Pacific's role as a primary driver of global prosperity. The newly-established Australia-U.S. Forum on Clean Energy Industrial Transformation and Taskforce on Critical Minerals will allow both our countries to deepen cooperation to deliver sustainable, resilient, and secure critical minerals and clean energy to the world and reduce emissions. Our countries are committed to halting and reversing environmental degradation, including via environmental economic accounting and reporting, nature-based solutions, preventing pollution, and protecting and restoring biodiversity on both land and in water. The United States applauds Australia in creating Environment Protection Australia, its national environment protection agency, and plans to support efforts to share information and best practices through a forthcoming memorandum of understanding between our environmental agencies. The United States and Australia share a proud tradition of working together to improve ocean health and using science for sustainable development and conservation of the ocean. This collaboration is being enhanced through a new arrangement to advance Pacific Ocean exploration and mapping between the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Geoscience Australia, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. These three leading science agencies are working together in consultation with Pacific islands countries to conduct new hydrographic mapping activities, provide technical exchange and expertise of ocean characterisation, and conduct joint exploration expeditions and campaigns across the Pacific to accelerate our understanding of the ocean to advance climate solutions, the new blue economy, and stewardship priorities. Building our Defence Capability We welcome the progress being made to provide Australia with a conventionally-armed, nuclearapowered submarine capability, and on developing advanced capabilities under the trilateral AUKUS partnership to deter aggression and sustain peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific. We are prioritising improving information sharing and technology cooperation mechanisms required to advance our defence and security collaboration, including through AUKUS. The President plans to ask the United States Congress to add Australia as a "domestic source" within the meaning of Title III of the Defense Production Act. Doing so would streamline technological and industrial base collaboration, accelerate and strengthen AUKUS implementation, and build new opportunities for United States investment in the production and purchase of Australian critical minerals, critical technologies, and other strategic sectors. We also acknowledge the work under way to implement Australia-United States Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation, including accelerating Japan's involvement in force posture related activities. Harnessing Emerging Technologies Australia and the United States stand ready to seize the opportunities of quantum and advanced technologies, building upon our Joint Statement of Collaboration on Quantum, signed in November 2021, and the release of Australia's National Quantum Strategy. We are determined to deepen cooperation on initiatives to be delivered in the coming year, and to work bilaterally and with partners to drive innovation and responsible norms and standards for emerging technologies as we lead the quantum revolution. The United States also appreciates the collaboration with Australian counterparts on promoting telecommunications supplier diversity, including Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN), given its strong potential to advance resilience, competitiveness, and diversity priorities shared by many bilateral and multilateral partners with regard to telecoms network infrastructure. We acknowledge the importance of facilitating the free flow of data across borders through an open, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet and reiterate our shared commitment to participating in multilateral fora such as the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum, which was established to support the free flow of data and effective data protection and privacy globally. Reaching New Frontiers in Space Space collaboration is a rich opportunity to build high-skilled, well-paying jobs and increase investment between our countries. Australia and the United States have reached agreement in principle, subject to final domestic authorisations, on the Technology Safeguards Agreement, to allow for the controlled transfer of sensitive US launch technology and data while protecting US technology consistent with US nonaproliferation policy, the Missile Technology Control Regime and US export controls. As founding signatories to the Artemis Accords, and building on more than 60 years of cooperation in lunar exploration, we intend to establish a new Australia-based ground station supporting NASA's Artemis program that will provide near-continuous communications support to lunar missions. Securing Peace and Future Prosperity We are committed to upholding a global order based on international law, including the fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. Russia's war violates international law, including the UN Charter, and is driving global food and energy insecurity - the effects of which are reverberating in the Indo-Pacific region. We once again call on Russia to immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw its forces from within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine. As part of our continuing, coordinated actions to impose costs on Russia for its appalling actions in Ukraine, Australia and the United States both imposed a further tranche of sanctions and trade measures on Russian entities and individuals on 19 May whilst at the G7 Summit. We reiterate our commitment to the global non-proliferation regime, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as the cornerstone of the non-proliferation and disarmament regime. We reaffirmed our commitment towards the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons. Both leaders applauded Japan's hosting of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, and its contribution to promoting an inclusive and rules-based international order. The Quad Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima will demonstrate the Quad's enduring contribution to the development, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific through its positive, practical agenda. We look forward to the next Quad Leaders' Summit being held in India. We strongly support India's G20 presidency under the theme of 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' and its overarching focus on sustainable development, in addressing the most pressing global challenges together. We are working through the Pacific Islands Forum and other long-standing Pacific regional institutions to listen to and partner with the countries of the Pacific to meet the region's needs. We intend to pursue joint financing to help modernise and secure infrastructure in the region, including by working with regional organisations and mechanisms like the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility and other initiatives such as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment that promote and maintain high standards, including on labour and environmental practices. Australia welcomes the US commitment to explore new grant funding for infrastructure projects in the Pacific, and its intent to further develop sovereign financing capacity to meet critical infrastructure needs in the Pacific. Australia welcomes the US commitment through USAID to pre-position disaster response stores with Australia's managed supplies in Brisbane and Papua New Guinea to improve response times. The United States Coast Guard plans to deploy a US Coast Guard Cutter to the Pacific in early 2024, to provide an enduring humanitarian presence in the region, complementary to Australia's Pacific Support Vessel. We welcome the growing partnership between the United States Coast Guard, the Australian Defence Force, and Australian Border Force with Pacific partners to enhance the maritime security of the Blue Pacific and address the challenge of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This includes through the delivery of training coordinated with Australia's Pacific Maritime Security Program. We are committed to exploring options to support enhanced US Coast Guard engagement in the region, including logistics. We reiterate our enduring commitment to deepen our respective engagement with Southeast Asia. As Comprehensive Strategic Partners of ASEAN, we reaffirm our commitment to ASEAN centrality and ASEAN-led regional architecture. We express our strong support for Indonesia's priorities as the 2023 ASEAN Chair, including its leadership of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta this year. We look forward to furthering trilateral cooperation with regional partners, including both Japan and the Philippines. We emphasise the importance of all states being able to exercise rights and freedoms in a manner consistent with international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, including freedom of navigation and overflight. We strongly oppose destabilising actions in the South China Sea, such as the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation. We are also concerned about the People's Republic of China's excessive maritime claims that are inconsistent with international law and unilateral actions that may raise tensions in the region. We resolve to work with partners to support regional maritime security and uphold international law. We reaffirm the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and our shared opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo. We call for the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues through dialogue without the threat or use of force or coercion. Building Cyber Capacity and Protecting Children Online The United States and Australia recognise the importance of supporting the Pacific to adopt and adapt to new digital technologies, and to manage the risks that accompany these, in order to ensure a more peaceful, prosperous, and resilient region. We commit to working together on cyber security capacity building objectives, approaches, and policies in the Pacific, and to listen to Pacific partner countries' priorities to inform future cooperation. Online child sexual exploitation and abuse is increasingly prevalent, commodified, organised, and worsened by the speed, scale, and scope of digital technologies. We are steadfast in combatting all forms of child exploitation and abuse in our communities, online and internationally. For this reason, we have decided to take steps to establish the Australia-United States Joint Council on Combatting Online Child Sexual Exploitation. The Council will develop and facilitate the implementation of a joint, multidisciplinary work plan which includes cooperation in the Indo-Pacific; driving a trauma-informed and victim and survivor-centred approach; research and development; operational opportunities; policy and legislation; prevention, awareness, and outreach; and Safety by Design. Fostering Free and Fair Trade and Strengthening Economic Resilience We are committed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the shared values upon which it is based, including fair competition, openness, transparency and the rule of law. We intend to work together to improve the system through reform, including so that it can better achieve the WTO's foundational objectives and help address global challenges. We reaffirm the commitment of Ministers at the Twelfth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference to work towards necessary reform of the WTO to improve all of its functions, including to conduct discussions with the view to having a fully- and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024. We also plan to work with the Pacific to help maintain access to enduring banking services, including correspondent banking relationships which are vital to facilitate trade, remittances, and investment. We reaffirm our ongoing efforts to strengthen our shared economic security, including via the Australia-United States Strategic Commercial Dialogue, which will convene in Detroit later this week. We look forward to seeing one another again in San Francisco this November for the APEC Economic Leaders' Week, to advance sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the region. We also look forward to working together to deliver tangible benefits under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity by the end of this year. ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Remarks by President Biden and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia Before Bilateral Meeting May 20, 2023 Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima, Japan 2:26 P.M. JST PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, Mr. Prime Minister, it's wonderful to see you. I'm sorry this meeting is not taking place in your country, Australia. And I deeply appreciate the flexibility in meeting me here at the G7 meeting. And that's because we've got a lot to discuss. Together, we've delivered historic a a historic year, the both of us. And it's between our a the meeting between Australia and the United States. In March, in San Diego, we a we stood together. Prime Minister Sunak was also here, you a I might add a (laughs) a to announce the generational commitment to a shared security through our a our AUKUS trilateral partnership. Australia and the United States have stood together to defend our shared domestic values, including supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia's brutal aggression. And together, we've expanded our cooperation across a range of challenges, from space to emerging technologies, while advancing our shared vision to a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific. And we're launching a new joint initiative to accelerate a transition to clean energy, including by building more resilient critical mineral supply chains. This is a huge step, from our perspective a a huge step forward in our fight against the climate crisis. And I want to thank you for your strong leadership and your partnership in this challenge. I'm looking forward to our conversation today and hosting you for a official state visit this year in Washington, D.C. And again, I truly apologize to you for having you to come here, rather than me being in Australia right now. But we have a little thing going on at home I got to pay attention to. So, thank you very much. And the floor is yours, sir. PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. And, certainly, I understand the circumstances that led us to hold the Sydney Quad meeting in Hiroshima later this evening, but also to catch up with our bilateral that we had scheduled for a few days' time. We appreciate the alliance as our most important relationship. And today, what we've done is add a new element to that alliance up front, very clearly, unequivocally: climate action. Because climate action, of course, is a national security issue. And it is good that we've been able to show the nature of the Quad is that it's a pragmatic gathering, which is about outcomes. And we're getting those outcomes. I'm sure we'll be successful later today. But also, we've had important outcomes with the agreement that we've just signed a the statement of intent. And I want to say that I appreciate very much the issue that I raised with you in San Diego has been progressed really a your support for Congress in showing that Australia is a domestic source under the Defense Production Act. That's really important. I went to the UK recently for the coronation and went up to Barrow to look at the nuclear-powered subs that are being built there. And AUKUS is progressing between our three countries as well. And it's important that we progress pillar two as part of that implementation. I'm saddened that you are unable to a to come down next week, but I understand the circumstances that you're dealing with, and I would have done exactly the same thing. All politics is local, as a as you and I both understand. And I look forward at some time in the future to you a you visiting. You would always be a very welcome visitor in Australia, as you have been in the past as a as Vice President. And I'm very much looking forward to the state visit as well, as is a as is Jodie. We're really looking forward to a to visiting D.C. and to continuing to build on the relationship that just goes from strength to strength. PRESIDENT BIDEN: And it has. And all politics may be local, but our friendship is permanent. PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Absolutely. PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, all. Q Mr. President, how concerned about a are you about the debt talks at home? PRESIDENT BIDEN: Not at all. (Cross-talk by reporters.) Q Are Republicans negotiating in good faith? PRESIDENT BIDEN: This a this goes in stages. Q Mr. President a PRESIDENT BIDEN: I've been in these negotiations before. It started off a Q Mr. President a PRESIDENT BIDEN: Shush up, okay? Thank you. The a it goes in stages. And what happens is the first meetings weren't all that progressive. The second ones were. The third one was. And then, what happens is they a the carriers go back to the principles and say, "This is what we're thinking about." And then, people put down new claims. I still believe we'll be able to avoid a default and we'll get something decent done. Thank you. 2:32 P.M. JST NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Over 1,500 Political Prisoners in Belarus US Department of State Press Statement The Secretary of State May 20, 2023 On the eve of the Day of Solidarity with Belarusian Political Prisoners, we condemn the Lukashenka regime in Belarus for unjustly holding over 1,500 political prisoners. These men and women have been arrested and incarcerated for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms in pursuit of Belarusian democracy, for protesting a fraudulent election, or for opposing Russia's war against Ukraine. Many of their trials were held behind closed doors, shielded from public scrutiny or accountability. Their families, friends, coworkers, and others live every day with the thought of their loved ones suffering in jail. Recently, Belarusian authorities have resorted to shutting off any contact with the outside world for political prisoners like Viktar Babaryka, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, Mikalai Statkevich, Maria Kalesnikava, Maksim Znak, Ales Bialiatski, and Ihar Losik. For many, their families and legal representatives have been unable for several months to communicate with them or to confirm where they are being held. Sadly, most political prisoners' names are not well known. The United States stands with the people of Belarus as they seek a future based on the rule of law, respect for human rights, and an accountable, democratically elected government. We reiterate our strong desire to see the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners held by the Lukashenka regime, and we call on Belarus to meet its international legal obligations, as well as its commitments as a participating State of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. The United States is committed to promoting accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations in Belarus and to raising the costs associated with their abuses, including by imposing visa restrictions and sanctions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau May 20, 2023 Hiroshima, Japan Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, on the margins of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The two leaders welcomed this first meeting and congratulated each other on the recent establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. They discussed addressing climate change and promoting sustainable oceans management as well as potential to collaborate on renewable energy and biodiversity projects. They agreed to continue working together to address the critical impacts of climate change faced by Pacific Islands Countries. Prime Minister Trudeau expressed support for the Cook Islands assuming the Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum. He also underscored Canada's commitment to expanding engagement in the Pacific Islands region as part of Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy. The leaders looked forward to working together in the future. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with United Nations Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau May 20, 2023 Hiroshima, Japan Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), AntAnio Guterres, on the margins of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. They discussed the Prime Minister's role as Co-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates group along with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley. The Prime Minister noted the success of the SDG Advocates meeting this past April and looked forward to the 2023 SDG Summit in New York City in September. The leaders discussed the need for a reform of international financial institutions to improve access to climate, biodiversity, and development finance - not only to successfully achieve the SDGs but also to provide support to the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Both leaders expressed their concern over the political, security, and humanitarian crises in Haiti. Prime Minister Trudeau highlighted Canada's efforts to support the Haitian National Police and advance a Haitian-led solution. He also raised the importance of sanctions to put pressure on those responsible for the ongoing violence and instability. The leaders agreed to remain in close contact on stabilization efforts in Haiti. The Prime Minister and the Secretary-General looked forward to working closely together leading up to the UN SDG Summit and the UN General Assembly in September. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with European Council President Charles Michel Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau May 20, 2023 Hiroshima, Japan Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the European Council President, Charles Michel, on the margins of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The leaders expressed concern regarding rising insecurity and instability around the world, noting in particular the political, humanitarian, and socio-economic crises in Haiti. Prime Minister Trudeau emphasized the importance of coordinated responses, including through the use of sanctions, to address the situation in Haiti. The Prime Minister also commended the President on his role supporting Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks, noting Canada's recent commitment to participate in the EU Mission in Armenia. Prime Minister Trudeau and President Michel agreed to stay in close contact ahead of the next Canada-EU Leaders' Summit. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with President of Indonesia Joko Widodo Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau May 20, 2023 Hiroshima, Japan Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, on the margins of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Canada welcomed Indonesia's participation at the Summit, and both leaders discussed the ongoing work at the G7 to enhance meaningful engagement with emerging and developing economies. Prime Minister Trudeau thanked President Widodo for Indonesia's leadership as Chair of the G20 last year and of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year. The leaders discussed continued efforts to strengthen Canada-ASEAN relations and welcomed the decision to convene a Summit to launch the ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership on the margins of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September. Prime Minister Trudeau and President Widodo also discussed ways to enhance Canada-Indonesia trade to benefit the people in both countries and create good middle-class jobs. They talked about the ongoing Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations and welcomed progress made to date. The leaders also highlighted the importance of ongoing Canada-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement negotiations. The leaders discussed Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy. Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated Canada's intent to deepen diplomatic, economic, and defence partnerships in the region to achieve common environmental objectives as well as inclusive, sustainable development. Both leaders expressed concern over the worsening security situation in Myanmar and welcomed continued ASEAN efforts to resolve the crisis. The Prime Minister and the President agreed to stay in touch and looked forward to seeing each other again. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau May 20, 2023 Hiroshima, Japan Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, on the margins of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Canada welcomed Vietnam's participation at the G7 Summit, and both leaders discussed the ongoing work of the G7 to enhance meaningful engagement with emerging and developing economies. The prime ministers noted that 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Canada-Vietnam diplomatic relations, and they celebrated the deep and long-standing people-to-people ties between our two countries. The leaders welcomed significant and growing trade links between Canada and Vietnam, and committed to further deepening trade moving forward, including through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and an eventual Canada-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) free trade agreement. Both leaders welcomed the ASEAN leaders' decision to convene an ASEAN-Canada Summit to launch the ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership on the margins of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September. Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Chinh discussed the ongoing implementation of Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Canada-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership. They underlined areas for enhanced cooperation, including regional security, climate change, clean energy, consular issues, human rights, gender equality, and education. Both leaders also committed to deepen cooperation through ASEAN. The two leaders discussed the importance of meaningful action to continue the fight against climate change. Prime Minister Trudeau welcomed Vietnam's efforts to transition away from coal, and highlighted Canada's willingness to support clean and sustainable energy. Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Chinh committed to maintain the close relationship between their two countries. They looked forward to continuing to work together to advance their mutual interests in the Indo-Pacific. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address G7 slams China 'militarization', says seeking 'stable' relations Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 1:26 PM Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) have condemned China's economic and military activities, claiming they are seeking to keep the door open to cooperation and avoid further inflaming tensions between China and the West. In a statement on Saturday, the G7 leaders said there was "no legal basis for China's expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and we oppose China's militarization activities in the region." However, they claimed they are ready for "constructive and stable" relations with China. "We stand prepared to build constructive and stable relations with China, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China," the group said. "Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart China's economic progress and development," the statement continued, adding that the G7 countries are not "decoupling or turning inwards." "Economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying," they said, pledging to "reduce excessive dependencies in our critical supply chains." The leaders also accused China of undermining the "rules-based international order," saying a growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest. The statement also urged China to pressure its strategic partner Russia to end its war with Ukraine. "We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine," It said. The G7 includes Japan, this year's host of the leader's annual summit, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union. Hundreds of people had protested in Hiroshima where the US-led Group of Seven leaders met to stiffen sanctions on Russia, provide further support for Ukraine and discuss growing tensions with China. China warns against 'geopolitical games' as US announces Blinken trip to Papua New Guinea China on Friday warned against the introduction of "geopolitical games" in the South Pacific following the announcement that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Papua New Guinea next week. The US administration has made putting a greater focus on the Pacific region central to its global outreach, largely to counter China's growing influence there. "China has no objection to normal exchanges and cooperation between relevant parties and Pacific Island countries, and has always advocated that the international community should pay more attention to and support the development and revitalization of the island countries," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing. Taiwan president vows to keep cross-strait 'status quo' While marking the seventh anniversary of her governance amid high tensions with China, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen vowed to "maintain the status quo of peace and stability" across the Taiwan Strait. "War is not an option," Tsai said in a speech in the presidential office on Saturday, vowing to defend her country's freedom and democracy. She also accused China of pressuring Taiwan, saying Taiwan will not "provoke and will not bow to Chinese pressure." "Neither side can unilaterally change the status quo with non-peaceful means." She said. "Maintaining the status quo of peace and stability is the consensus for both the world and Taiwan." She added. Tsi described her country as being surrounded by risks, saying they are a "responsible risk manager" rather than a "risk maker." "We are a responsible risk manager and Taiwan will stand together with democratic countries and communities around the world to jointly defuse the risks," she said. Tsi stressed the global importance of Taiwan's supply chain, which produces most of the world's advanced semiconductor chips, and vowed to keep the most advanced chip technologies and research and development centers in Taiwan. She also said Taiwan officials are in discussions with US President Joe Biden's administration on sending $500 million worth of weapons aid to Taiwan, adding that the aid was meant to address deliveries of weapons delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations are mulling a "peaceful resolution" to issues on Taiwan. Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations agreed they were seeking a peaceful resolution to issues on Taiwan. Kishida said on Friday, while hosting the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Taiwan is gearing up for a key presidential election in mid-January, with China tensions set to top the campaign agenda. Tsai visited New York in March in a controversial trip to the United States, as China had threatened to "resolutely fight back" if she met House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy. China has sovereignty over Taiwan and under the "One China" policy, almost all countries, including the US, recognize that sovereignty, which requires them not to establish direct diplomatic contact with the self-proclaimed government in Taiwan. China has rebuffed calls for talks from Tsai since she took office in 2016, believing her to be a separatist. The previous speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in August last year, in a highly controversial trip that drew fury from Beijing and brought the United States and China to the brink of a military crisis. China launched a series of military drills, summoned the US ambassador and halted some imports from Taiwan in a display of anger against her visit. Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, has not ruled out the use of force to achieve reunification. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister's participation in the Quad Leaders' Summit India - Ministry of External Affairs May 20, 2023 Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the third in-person Quad Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan on 20 May 2023, along with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Joseph Biden of the United States of America. The Leaders had a productive dialogue about developments in the Indo-Pacific which affirmed their shared democratic values and strategic interests. Guided by their vision for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, they reiterated the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes. In this context, they released the Quad Leaders' Vision Statement - Enduring Partners for the Indo-Pacific" which articulates their principled approach. To strengthen the resilience and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific the Leaders announced following initiatives which would complement the development priorities of the region: A. Clean Energy Supply Chains Initiative which would facilitate research and development and support the Indo-Pacific's energy transition. In addition, the Quad Principles of Clean Energy Supply Chains were approved to guide engagement with the region on clean energy supply chain development. B. 'Quad Infrastructure Fellowships Programme' to support policy makers and practitioners in the region to design, build and manage sustainable and viable infrastructure in their countries. C. 'Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience' to leverage Quad's collective expertise in design, manufacturing, laying and maintenance of undersea cables to secure and diversify these critical networks. D. Quad support for a small-scale ORAN deployment in Palau, the first in the Pacific region. They also released the ORAN Security Report to support industry investment in open, interoperable and secure telecom platforms. E. Quad Investors' Network has been launched as a private sector led platform to facilitate investments in strategic technologies. F. The Leaders welcomed progress of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, announced at their Summit last year in Tokyo. They noted that data sharing with partners in South East and the Pacific under this programme is underway and would soon include partners in the Indian Ocean Region.Prime Minister highlighted how India's approach to demand-driven development cooperation with the region was contributing to these efforts. The Leaders agreed on the need to preserve the integrity of the UN, its Charter and its agencies. They agreed on continuing their efforts to strengthen and reform the multilateral system, including through an expansion of the UNSC membership in both permanent and non-permanent categories. Prime Minister emphasized the importance of consolidating Quad's constructive agenda and delivering tangible outcomes for the region. The Leaders agreed to continue their regular dialogue and maintain the momentum of Quad engagement. In this context, Prime Minister invited Quad Leaders to India for the next Quad Summit in 2024. Hiroshima May 20, 2023 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister's meeting with the President of the Republic of France India - Ministry of External Affairs May 20, 2023 Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic of France, on 20 May 2023 in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit. 2. Prime Minister thanked President Macron for the invite as the Guest of Honour for Bastille Day on 14 July 2023. 3. The leaders reviewed with satisfaction the progress in their Strategic Partnership in various areas, including cooperation in trade & economic spheres; civil aviation; renewables; culture; co-production and manufacturing in defence sector; as well as civil nuclear cooperation. They agreed to expand the partnership to newer domains. 4. Prime Minister thanked President Macron for France's support to India's G20 Presidency. The leaders exchanged views on regional developments and global challenges. Hiroshima May 20, 2023 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister's meeting with the Prime Minister of Vietnam India - Ministry of External Affairs May 20, 2023 Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met H.E. Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Vietnam on 20 May 2023 in Hiroshima on the sidelines of G-7 Summit. 2. The two leaders noted the steady progress achieved in bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. They agreed to enhance high level exchanges and deepen bilateral trade and investment ties. 3. They also discussed opportunities in the fields of defence, building resilient supply chains, energy, science and technology, human resource development, culture & people to people ties. 4. The leaders had a positive exchange of views on regional developments. They also discussed ASEAN and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. 5. Prime Minister briefed Prime Minister Chinh about India's G-20 Presidency and the primacy given by India to highlight the perspectives and concerns of the Global South. Hiroshima May 20, 2023 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister's meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea India - Ministry of External Affairs May 20, 2023 Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met H.E. Mr. Yoon Suk Yeol, President of the Republic of Korea on 20 May 2023 in Hiroshima on the sidelines of G-7 Summit. 2. The leaders reviewed the progress of India - Republic of Korea Special Strategic Partnership and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation, particularly in areas of trade & investment, high technology, IT hardware manufacturing, defense, semiconductors and culture. 3. The leaders noted that both countries are celebrating 50th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year, and agreed to enhance their cooperation further. 4. President Yoon Suk Yeol appreciated Prime Minister's leadership of the G-20 and conveyed his support. Prime Minister looked forward to President Yoon's visit to India for the G20 Leaders' Summit in September this year. 5. Prime Minister welcomed Republic of Korea's Indo-Pacific strategy and the importance attached to India in it. 6. The leaders also had a positive exchange of views on regional developments. Hiroshima May 20, 2023 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC continuously monitoring movements in southern waters: Cmdr. IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2023 Bandar Abbas, IRNA -- All vessels entering the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf in southern Iran are under the round-the-clock control and monitoring of the Iranian forces, according to Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy's First Zone Rear Admiral Abbas Gholamshahi. Gholamshahi said on Saturday that vigilance and intelligence in providing maritime security is a prominent feature of the IRGC Navy forces stationed in the Persian Gulf. He said that the IRGC Navy has a full control over all vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. The commander said the IRGC Navy had closely monitored the movement late on Friday of the American vessel 'Paul Hamilton' which was reportedly carrying three top commanders of the American, English, and French naval forces. He said the vessel was monitored by IRGC reconnaissance drones and patrol vessels of the Zulfiqar Brigade. 3266**2050**4261 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's 86th flotilla back home after historic mission IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2023 Tehran, IRNA -- Iranian Army's Navy 86th flotilla, which has successfully completed its historic circumnavigation of the world for the first time in the country's history, has ended its sail after docking at the southern port of Bandar Abbas. Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani attended a ceremony on Saturday in Bandar Abbas to welcome the flotilla. Admiral Irani congratulated the Iranian Army on its historic success of sailing around the world. The 86th flotilla comprises Dena, a warship equipped with anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes, and naval cannons, and Makran, a floating military base that can carry five helicopters and is employed for providing logistical support for combat warships. It set sail from Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 20 last year for a global voyage that took it to the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. The mission was aimed at expanding Iran's naval presence in international waters. 1483**7129**4261 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taliban must be held accountable if they ignore Iran's water rights: Diplomat IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2023 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's special envoy to Afghanistan and caretaker head of the country's embassy in Kabul Hassan Kazemi Qomi has reiterated that the Taliban must be held accountable for its refusal to deliver Iran's water rights if it is proven that there is enough water in dams built on Helmand River in Afghanistan. Kazemi Qomi told Iranian state TV late on Friday that nearly two billion cubic meters of water flew to Godzareh Lake last year contrary to what Taliban officials have said about the shortage of water in Helmand River. The diplomat said that the Taliban officials know if they want to establish a stable government in the country, they must have constructive relations with neighbors, including with Iran. He also reminded the ruling group in Kabul that Iran has provided assistance to the people of Afghanistan more than any other country over the past decades. 4208**4261 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Leader felicitates 'successful' return of Iranian Navy's 86th flotilla Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 4:31 PM Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has congratulated the "successful" return of the Iranian Navy's 86th flotilla of warships to the territorial waters after a round-the-world voyage. In a message on Saturday, Ayatollah Khamenei extended his felicitation to the country over the return of the brave naval forces from a grand maritime mission. "I congratulate the courageous forces of the 86th flotilla of warships of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army on their great and successful voyage," the Leader stated. "Beloved! Welcome home; Good luck," Ayatollah Khamenei said. The Iranian Navy's flotilla, comprised of domestically-manufactured Dena destroyer and Makran forward base ship, entered the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 17, after sailing 63,000 kilometers of sea routes over eight months and a circumnavigation of the globe in 360 degrees. The 86th naval fleet set sail on a mission around the world from Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 20, 2022. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC confirms monitoring US naval commanders in Strait of Hormuz Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 4:03 PM The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has confirmed its forces have been monitoring the moves of the commanders of the US, British and French navies transiting the Strait of Hormuz aboard the USS Paul Hamilton warship. Commander of the IRGC Navy's First Zone Brigadier General Abbas Gholamshahi said on Saturday that drones and vessels had been engaged in a precision mission in that regard. Gholamshahi said the IRGC Navy monitors the movement of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf "round-the-clock." The IRGC commander said patrol vessels and the IRGC Navy's Command Control Center in the Strait of Hormuz have in the past detected and monitored the American warship while entering the zone. According to the Associated Press, IRGC forces riding speed boats stood by uncovered machine guns on their decks, while sailors aboard the Paul Hamilton similarly stood by loaded machine guns as others shot photographs and video of the vessels. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who oversees the US Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet, said Iran's IRGC ships came within 915 meters of the Paul Hamilton on Friday. In May, the IRGC Navy seized an intruding foreign oil tanker in the country's territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz. Following the IRGC Navy's seizure of the vessel, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States would make a series of military moves in the Persian Gulf. Iran has made it clear that it views US military vessels lurking in the waters of the Persian Gulf as a threat to its national security and a source of tension and instability in the region. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly vowed to give a decisive response to any hostile move by Washington that would disrupt the security of the strategic waterway. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq undertakes commitment to expel anti-Iran terrorists: IRGC commander Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 3:54 PM Iraq has undertaken a commitment to disarm and expel anti-Iran terrorists operating in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, says a high-ranking commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). "We are waiting for the government of Iraq to honor its commitments, and have offered them an opportunity (to flush out the terrorists). Otherwise, and if no action is taken, the IRGC's strikes will persist," IRGC Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said on Saturday. Asked by Tasnim if the Baghdad government has a deadline of months or days, the general said the Iraqi government itself knows the given time. Since September 24, 2022, the IRGC has launched several rounds of airstrikes against the positions of the terrorists who are holed up in Iraqi Kurdistan. The IRGC has urged the central government in Iraq and authorities in Kurdistan to meet their commitments toward Iran and take necessary measures to secure the border. On November 21, 2022, positions of anti-Iran separatist and terrorist groups in northern Iraq came under combined attacks using missiles and kamikaze drones. The strikes targeted the positions of the notorious 'Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan' (PDKI) and the Komala Party in northern Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran's Arabic-language al-Alam television news network reported at the time. According to the network, one attack saw four missiles being fired against a PDKI position in the town of Koy Sanjaq in Erbil Province. A separate attack featured kamikaze drones smashing into another site belonging to the group near the Baharka village. Simultaneously, kamikaze drones struck positions associated with Komala across two locations near the city of Sulaymaniyah. Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units or Hashd al-Sha'abi, said the attacks set off warning sirens at the United States' Consulate in Erbil. Local Kurdish sources said the attacks killed as many as 26 members of the terrorist groups. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian envoy asks Taliban govt. to supply Iran with its share of water within a month Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 3:02 PM A senior Iranian official has urged Afghanistan's Taliban government to commit to a major water treaty signed between the two countries nearly half a century ago and supply Iran with its share of water from the Hirmand River, also known as Helmand, within a month. Iran's special representative for Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, made the remarks on Friday, reiterating that the Taliban must be held accountable for their refusal to deliver Iran's water rights if it is proven that there is enough water in dams built on the Hirmand River. He went on to say that the Taliban officials are well aware that if they want to establish a stable government in the country, they must have constructive relations with their neighbors, including Iran. The Hilmand River, the longest watercourse in Afghanistan, rises in the Hindu Kush Mountains west of Kabul and flows in an arc southwest until it empties out into the Hamoun wetlands, located in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Qomi further noted that nearly two billion cubic meters of water flew to Godzareh Lake last year due to the dam's condition contrary to what Taliban officials have claimed about the shortage of water due to drought and technical issues. He added that Taliban technical officials say that over time, the dam's reservoir is filled with 60 percent of mud, arguing that this means the capacity of this dam is about 1.7 billion cubic meters, and if this water were to flow, Iran could have its share of water. "Now the claim is that there is 60% mud. This should be seen by our technical experts," he stressed. Qomi also reminded the ruling administration in Kabul that Iran has provided assistance to the people of Afghanistan more than any other country over the past decades. Iran and Afghanistan have been locked in a long-running dispute over shared water resources. At the heart of the dispute is the Helmand River, which flows 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) south before flowing into Hamoun wetlands, located in Sistan and Baluchestan province. The two countries signed a treaty in 1973, under which Iran is entitled to receive 820 million cubic meters of water from the river annually. But the treaty was never implemented in full and negotiations never advanced, as Afghanistan plunged into decades of instability and various governments adopted different policies toward Iran. Since taking control of the country in August 2021, the Taliban government has vowed to implement the terms of the water agreement with Iran. However, Iranian officials and lawmakers have time and again complained the country is not receiving its due share of water from the river. Taliban ministers have blamed drought and technical issues for the low supply of water to Iran in the past months. Afghanistan has also built dams on the Hirmand which have constricted the water flow into Iran. Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has already ordered the Foreign Ministry as well as the Energy Ministry to seriously pursue the dispute with Afghanistan over shared water resources. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran says US, Europe lack legal, moral authority to comment on human rights issues Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 2:46 PM Iran says the United States and Europe lack the legal, judicial and moral competence to comment on human rights-related issues in other countries. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani on Saturday slammed new meddlesome statements of some American and European officials about human rights in Iran. "Instead of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and trying to portray a humanitarian face, Western politicians had better heed the grievances of their own citizens and spend time on their own human rights and citizenship demands," Kan'ani said. He said the United States and Europe are using human rights as a means to promote their own "illegitimate political objectives." The Iranian official said the widespread violation of the basic rights of Western citizens, including the right to freedom of expression, and the use of excessive force by the police against the protesting people in Europe and the States as well as the issuance of political statements about the internal regulations of other countries "clearly prove the instrumental use of human rights." Kan'ani said it is "very ridiculous" that those who have violated human rights of other nations and are openly breaching the rights of their own citizens while keeping silent on the heinous Israeli crimes against the Palestinians are commenting about the judicial punishment given to killers and promoters of violence against the Iranian people's lives, peace and security. The Iranian spokesman made the remarks in response to meddlesome comments made by a number of Western and American officials expressing concern about the execution of three men in Iran. The three individuals, convicted of launching a deadly terrorist attack against security forces in Iran's central city of Isfahan during foreign-backed riots last year, were executed in the country early Friday. The European Union condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the execution. "The EU urges the Iranian authorities to refrain from applying the death penalty and carrying out future executions," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell's office said in a statement. And in Washington, Vedant Patel, the principal deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, said ahead of the executions, "We join the people of Iran and the international community in calling on Iran to not carry out these executions. The execution of these men...would be an affront to human rights and basic dignity in Iran and everywhere." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian Navy to deploy for first time 86th flotilla to Antarctic 'in near future' Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 10:44 AM The Iranian Navy has announced plans to deploy one of its flotilla of warships to the Antarctic for the first time ever "in the near future." The deployment of Iranian warships to the Antarctic was apparently one of the main goals of a recent mission by the 86th flotilla, which returned to the country a few days ago after a round-the-world voyage, Iran's Tasnim news agency said. The naval fleet, comprised of domestically-manufactured Dena destroyer and Makran forward base ship, entered the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Wednesday, after sailing 63,000 kilometers of sea routes over eight months and a circumnavigation of the globe in 360 degrees. The 86th flotilla broke the record for the distance an Iranian flotilla has ever sailed in international waters and crossed the Strait of Magellan a the nearest region to the South Pole a during its mission, a main purpose of which was to test the strength of the steel hull of the Dena destroyer in cold waters. Antarctica is one of the most important strategic regions in the world, with 30 countries having 70 active research centers there. "Presence in Antarctica is important from various scientific, legal and political, geostrategic, economic aspects, and this region in the future will be a major issue on the international arena," Tasnim quoted Abolfazl Saleh, head of the Marine Science Research Institute of Iran's National Institute for Oceanography, as saying. The news agency added that the establishment of a permanent base by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the South Pole in order to increase the strategic depth of the country has received a lot of attention over the past years. The 86th naval fleet set sail on a mission around the world form Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 20, 2022. At one point, the naval fleet passed the coasts of Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, finally anchoring in the port of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, which coincided with the 120th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Iran and Brazil. Dena is a Mowj-class destroyer that joined the Iranian Navy in June 2021. The military vessel is equipped with anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes and naval cannons. Makran is a forward base ship weighing 121,000 tons. The warship can carry five helicopters and is employed for providing logistical support for the combat warships. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address HRW Calls for Halt to Rohingya Repatriation from Bangladesh to Myanmar By Shaikh Azizur Rahman May 20, 2023 As Bangladesh and Myanmar gear up to repatriate about 1,100 Rohingya refugees in a pilot project, rights group Human Rights Watch, or HRW, says conditions in Myanmar's state of Rakhine are still not favorable for sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees. "Bangladesh and Myanmar are organizing returns of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar's Rakhine State without consulting the community or addressing the grave risks to their lives and liberty," the HRW statement released on May 18 said. "Donor governments and United Nations experts should call for a halt to any Rohingya repatriation until conditions are in place for safe and sustainable returns." One Rohingya refugee, who was in a group that visited Myanmar earlier this month to see the resettlement camps, told VOA that none of the refugees would be willing to live in the detention-like camps authorities have built for the Rohingyas in Rakhine. The refugee, who does not want to be identified fearing reprisals, said, "None in our Rohingya team is satisfied seeing the situation on the ground in Rakhine. We will not return to Myanmar until the government agrees to accept our conditions, including the return of our full citizenship rights." Third repatriation attempt To escape persecution and violence in Myanmar, minority Rohingya Muslims have for decades fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where more than 1.2 million of them now live, in congested shanty refugee colonies. After some 750,000 Rohingya crossed over into Bangladesh in 2017 following a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine, international pressure forced Myanmar to agree to take back the Rohingya refugees. But efforts to repatriate the refugees failed in 2018 and 2019 after they refused to return home, saying they still felt unsafe living in Rakhine and that Myanmar authorities had not accepted their demands, including restoration of their full citizenship rights. Currently, in a China-backed initiative, Myanmar and Bangladesh are making another effort to restart repatriation of approximately 1,100 Rohingya refugees in a pilot project before the monsoon season begins in June-July. On May 5, Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities took 20 Rohingya refugees from the Cox's Bazar refugee camp on a guided tour to Rakhine to see the resettlement facilities built for them. The refugees who toured Myanmar this month said on their return that they were not in favor of the government-planned repatriation because under current conditions Rakhine is still unsafe for them. "[The Myanmar officials] didn't answer our questions about whether we would ever be given back our land," one of the refugees who toured Myanmar told HRW. "Rohingya refugees have consistently said they want to go home but only when their security, access to land and livelihoods, freedom of movement and citizenship rights can be ensured," the HRW statement said. The refugee who toured Rakhine earlier this month and spoke to VOA privately, noted, "In the resettlement camps, movements of the Rohingyas will be heavily restricted, and it will make the livelihood-related activities suffer badly. The military is in power in Myanmar. Life in these camps is not going to be safe and peaceful." Htway Lwin, a Cox's Bazar-based Rohingya community leader and human rights defender, said he had an extensive discussion with many refugees, and they all said that they do not want to return to Rakhine under current conditions. 'Not yet safe' "Their overwhelming sentiment is a desire to return to their homeland as soon as possible, but they feel that it is not yet safe to do so due to the lack of a secure environment in the Rakhine State. This reluctance stems from the fact that the Military Council still refers to Rohingya as Bengalis and intends to issue national verification cards [NVCs] that would effectively render them illegal immigrants in Myanmar," Lwin told VOA. After a controversial Citizenship Law stripped the Rohingya of their citizenship rights in 1982 and made them stateless, the authorities have been forcing the community members to accept NVCs. Rohingyas have widely rejected the NVC process, however, because it effectively identifies them as foreigners and restricts their movement and livelihood-related activities. In the HRW statement, Shayna Bauchner, the organization's Asia researcher, said authorities in Bangladesh "shouldn't forget the reasons why Rohingya became refugees in the first place and recognize that none of those factors have changed." "Bangladesh is frustrated with its burden as host, but sending back refugees to the control of a ruthless Myanmar junta will just be setting the stage for the next devastating exodus," she wrote. Rohingya refugees want to go back to their homes in Rakhine one day, "but only when they can be safe and free in Rakhine," Bauchner emphasized in an email to VOA. "Those conditions don't exist today, with Min Aung Hlaing, who orchestrated acts of genocide against them, sitting in Naypyidaw, buying arms from Russia and carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes around the country," she said. The director of rights group Fortify Rights, John Quinley, said the Rohingya continue to face persecution by the junta in Rakhine. "The junta is an illegal regime that is brutalizing its people, including the Rohingya. It continues to create conditions designed to be destructive against the minority Muslim community. What the junta is doing is genocide by attrition. Until the perpetrators are held accountable, atrocities will continue against the Rohingya," Quinley told VOA. "Rohingya are indigenous to Myanmar. They should be welcomed back, and all their rights restored unconditionally." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Response speech by Head of the Russian delegation and Permanent Delegate of the Russian Federation to UNESCO Rinat Alyautdinov at a plenary meeting of the 216th session of the UNESCO Executive Board, Paris, May 16, 2023 19 May 2023 15:55 969-19-05-2023 Madam Chairperson, I would like to use the right of reply to respond to the sweeping accusations against Russia that were made in a number of speeches. I'll start with the strike on Kiev, which the Ukrainian representative mentioned. He didn't mention that it was a military facility that came under attack, and the fact that Ukrainian artillery fired shells daily at cities in the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic; people, including children, were being killed and cultural, historical and religious sites were being destroyed. In the DPR and the LPR alone, 103 such sites have been destroyed or damaged, including theatres, religious buildings, and monasteries. The representative of Ukraine failed to mention the fact that on May 3, Kiev launched a premeditated attack on the Moscow Kremlin which, in addition to being the President of Russia's residence, is included on the World Heritage List. The Ukrainian representative failed to mention that Kiev's state policy includes the glorification of Nazism. Hitler's henchmen are cast as fighters for Ukrainian independence, streets are renamed in their honour, and monuments are built to commemorate them. Over 500 streets were named in honour of the well-known Nazi collaborator and leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, Stepan Bandera, and about 50 monuments to him have been built around Ukraine. Neo-Nazi units operate in the country, and military personnel wear chevrons with the Nazi insignia. I will now briefly go over the cultural sites. According to UNESCO, not a single site on the World Heritage List was damaged in Ukraine during Russia's special military operation. The coordinates of these sites were provided by ICOMOS Russia to our Armed Forces in advance. The Defence Ministry of Ukraine refuses to provide UNESCO with written guarantees that it will not use cultural sites and contiguous grounds for military purposes. Truth be told, this refusal is not surprising, as we are aware of their habitual practice of deploying military positions inside or near the sites dedicated to religion, education, art, science and history, which is a violation of international law. I would like to close by addressing those who advance accusations against us. Look at yourself and think back to 2003 when an unjustified and unprovoked war was unleashed by the Western coalition in Iraq and vast numbers of cultural sites and values were destroyed or moved out of that country. According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities of Iraq, over 130,000 cultural and historical objects were taken out of the country in 2003-2004 alone. The same scenario unfolded in Syria. Madam Chairperson, we are convinced that the "end-to-end" Ukrainisation of UNESCO's agenda and using this platform for addressing fleeting geopolitical issues that are imposed on it by a minority of member states is harmful to UNESCO. Thank you. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview for "The Path to the Islamic World" documentary, May 19, 2023 19 May 2023 18:10 974-19-05-2023 Question: The Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group was created in the mid-2000s. Why was it important to create the group at that particular point in time and why was it created in the first place? Sergey Lavrov: Every moment in history comes at its own time. I witnessed how it all started. President Vladimir Putin visited Malaysia in 2003 to participate in the 10th meeting of heads of state and government of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now known as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation). Before that, our President was in New York where I was serving as Permanent Representative, and he asked me what I thought about this proposal by the Malaysian leadership, which was hosting the summit. I said we definitely should accept it because it would be consistent with the multi-vector nature of our foreign policy and its openness to building up partnerships with the countries of the Global South. This term did not exist back then, but there were countries representing several continents. I mean the Islamic world. We accepted this invitation. President Putin attended the event. Two years later, Russia was given observer status at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which was good for promoting inter-civilisational and interreligious accord. The organisation is in favour of bringing conflict-free solutions to the many international and regional issues and forming a more just, democratic and secure international order. These goals fully meet the Russian Federation's interests and goals in the international arena. Russia obtained observer status with this organisation. It was critically important to reinforce political rapprochement by promoting mutually beneficial undertakings in the economic and humanitarian spheres between Russia and Islamic multilateral international organisations. It was important to secure the support of influential public circles, the clergy and the business community. In 2006, as an observer and upon the initiative of Yevgeny Primakov and Mintimer Shaimiev, and with the consent of our international Islamic partners, Russia established the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group which was charged with bringing objective information about the status of one of the leading world religions (Islam) in modern Russia to the international Muslim community and identifying new areas for cooperation. Importantly, in the mid-2000s, the historical West began to ramp up its efforts to impose unipolarity and to aggressively promote ultra-liberal values that are unacceptable to most of the peoples of our planet. During this historical period, Russia and the Muslim world began to consistently and steadily build mutually respectful partnerships. Question: Why did the news of creating the group catch a portion of the international community off guard? How was the news received internationally? Sergey Lavrov: Most importantly, we didn't want the creation of the group to stir rejection or suspicion among our OIC friends and partners. In fact, they strongly and enthusiastically supported this rapprochement. The fact that prominent political and public figures and spiritual leaders joined the group made understanding its true goals easier. We weren't hiding them. We created it and continue to work within its framework transparently and in full compliance with the principles of international law. It may make some people in the West feel edgy, and some may even reject the idea, but this is their problem. The West is unwilling to accept any initiative that isn't in line with its strategic plans. The plans entertained by current Western leaders who are toeing the line of diktat imposed by the United States do not include good, close or strategic relations between Russia and the Islamic world. But this state of affairs does not depend on Washington or other Western capitals. We have agreements within the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group and we are moving forward with them. Notably, the group's capabilities have expanded significantly following the organisation's reshuffle, which was spearheaded by the current chair of the group and Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. With more than 15 years of interaction within the Strategic Vision Group, our foreign colleagues could see for themselves and on multiple occasions that its activities are marked by a truly equitable and mutually respectful dialogue, avoidance of bloc mentality and lecturing, as well as a sincere and mutual willingness and an interest in developing common approaches to current issues. Question: Today, looking back at almost 20 years of the group's activities, what do you think is the main achievement of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group? Sergey Lavrov: The widespread recognition by the Islamic world of the fact that Russian Muslims are full participants in Russia's political, economic, cultural and spiritual life and stand shoulder to shoulder with other Russians as they bravely and selflessly defend our country's security of which the special military operation is a compelling example. Islam in Russia is living through a renaissance and an unprecedented rise, as it continues to harmoniously coexist with other traditional religions. Our joint work revealed largely overlapping assessments of the inter-civilisational and interreligious issues that are being discussed in our country and internationally. We stand united in upholding spiritual and moral values, rejecting Islamophobia, Christianophobia or any other forms of religious intolerance. Our OIC partners are well aware of Russia's successful experience of building a multiethnic and multi-religious state which has been highly praised and recognised by the Islamic world. Important practical recommendations have been expressed to counter terrorism and extremism, including at the ideology level, which is important in a situation where terrorist and extremist ideologies are trying to make inroads into this sphere. Like our other initiative, the Russia-Islamic World: KazanForum international economic forum, the Strategic Vision Group provides a platform for public and civic initiatives seeking to expand cooperation with Muslim countries and identify new areas for joint efforts. Trade and economic cooperation and efforts to identify new and promising areas for joint investment by Muslim business people from Russia and other countries is one such area, and its importance is growing. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia to impose sanctions on 500 Americans, including Obama IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2023 Tehran, IRNA -- Russia's foreign ministry has said that some 500 US citizens, including former President Barack Obama, would be slapped with sanctions in what is seen as Moscow's response to the latest round of sanctions announced by Washington. "Washington should have learned a long time ago that not a single hostile attack on Russia will go unpunished," the ministry said on Friday. The measure came hours after the United States announced sanctions against more than 300 targets related to Russia's military operation in Ukraine. The new round of US sanctions had been regarded as an intensification of one harshest sanctions efforts ever implemented by the US. 6125**4261 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, China express 'strong dissatisfaction' with G7 communique Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 6:47 PM Russia and China have expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the final statement issued at the end of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, a city that was destroyed by the US atomic bombing in 1945. In a joint statement on Friday, which was revised on Saturday, the G7 -- consisting of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy -- targeted both Russia and China with threats and disparaging remarks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that decisions taken at the G7 summit were aimed at the "double containment" of Russia and China. Lavrov, in a televised conference, reiterated Moscow's viewpoint that the West is using Ukraine as a tool to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. "The task was set loudly and openly - to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor," Lavrov noted. "Look at the decisions that are being discussed and adopted today in Hiroshima at G7 summit of the Seven, and which are aimed at the double containment of Russia and China," Russia's top diplomat stated. Lavrov said Moscow enjoyed the support of its many allies and Russia will weather the hardships despite the West's efforts to put pressure on countries to cut trade and economic ties with the Russian nation. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the West was trying to break Russia up into dozens of different states. The US-led West is driving a wedge between different ethnic and national groups in Russia and breaking the country up into dozens of different states, Putin warned. Beijing, in a similar approach, showed its strong disapproval of the G7 for smearing and attacking the Chinese nation. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it has lodged stern representations to the G7 summit's host, Japan, and other relevant parties after the group criticized Chinese policies in regard to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet. The group advocates "promoting a peaceful, stable and prosperous world," but what it does is hinder international peace, undermine regional stability and curb other countries' development, the statement said, adding that it simply shows how little international credibility means to the G7. The Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement pointed out that Taiwan is China's Taiwan and resolving the question is a matter for the Chinese. It reiterated that the one-China principle is the solid anchor for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Despite emphasizing on cross-Strait peace, G7 said nothing about the need to oppose "Taiwan independence," which in effect constitutes connivance and support for "Taiwan independence" forces, and will only result in a serious impact on cross-Straits peace and stability, according to the statement. The Chinese statement said no one should underestimate the determination, resolve and capability of the Chinese people in safeguarding China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The issues related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet are purely China's internal affairs and China firmly opposes interference by any external force in those affairs under the pretext of human rights, the statement noted. It urged the G7 to stop pointing fingers at China on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet and take a hard look at their own history and human rights record. The statement reminded the G7 nations that the East China Sea and the South China Sea have remained overall stable, and it called for other countries to respect the regional countries' efforts to uphold peace and stability and stop using maritime issues to drive a wedge between regional countries and incite bloc confrontation. The statement also noted that the massive unilateral sanctions slapped by the United States and acts of decoupling and disrupting industrial and supply chains make the US the real coercer that politicizes and weaponizes economic and trade relations. It urged the G7 not to become an accomplice in the Americans' economic coercion. China is the only nation among the five nuclear weapon states that pledged "no first use" of nuclear weapons and always kept its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required by national security, the statement noted, adding that China's position on the matter should not be distorted or denigrated. As a responsible major country, China firmly upholds the UN-centered international system, the international order underpinned by international law and the basic norms governing international relations built around the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, it said, adding that the Chinese nation will never give in to the so-called rules imposed by the few. "The international community does not and will not accept the G7-dominated Western rules that seek to divide the world based on ideologies and values, still less will it succumb to the rules of exclusive small blocs designed to serve 'America-first' and the vested interests of the few," the statement said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the G7 to stop engaging in closed and exclusive "small circles," stop containing and suppressing other countries, stop creating and provoking confrontation and return to the right path of dialogue and cooperation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian FM Lavrov Says G7 Summit's Decisions Aimed at Containing Russia, China Sputnik News 20230520 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The decisions made at G7 summit in Japan's Hiroshima are aimed at containing China and Russia amid the ongoing confrontation with the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday. "We have entered a phase of acute confrontation with an aggressive bloc composed of the United States, the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance," Lavrov said at an assembly of Russian think tank Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, adding "Look at the decisions being discussed and taken today in Hiroshima at G7 Summit which are aimed at the dual containment of Russia and the People's Republic of China." Earlier in the day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that with many developing countries being allegedly disappointed with China and Russia, G7 should seize the window of opportunity and strengthen ties with them. Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, the Russian foreign minister said that the US has used the Ukrainian crisis to consolidate its Western allies in a manner appearing as their subjugation to Washington's will. "Washington used the Ukrainian crisis to consolidate its camp, we can see that. But this consolidation is more like a total subjugation of everyone else to its will," Lavrov noted. At the same time, there is a "fault line" emerging between the collective West on one hand and the countries of the Global South and the East, comprising the global majority, on the other hand, Lavrov said, adding that the countries of the Global South were ready to "resist the diktat" of the West. Western countries stepped up sanctions pressure on Moscow after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The EU has since imposed ten packages of sanctions against Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the policy of containing and weakening Russia is the West's long-term strategy, and the restrictions have affected the entire global economy. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Pat-S' Self-Propelled Howitzer Getting Revived in Russia - Developer Sputnik News 20230520 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Kurganmashzavod manufacturing company, which is part of Russia's state-owned defense corporation Rostec, is working on modernizing the 152-mm "Pat-S" self-propelled artillery installation, a company spokesperson told Sputnik. "Modernization of self-propelled artillery installations based on the modified BMP-3 [infantry fighting vehicle] chassis is underway. These vehicles, equipped with a 120-mm gun ...and a 152-mm gun, are capable of significantly increasing the efficiency of motorized rifle units," the spokesperson said. The "Pat-S" is an experimental 152-mm self-propelled artillery mount developed in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, based on the BMP-3 chassis. It was not mass-produced, only one prototype was made. "Pat-S" is the world's first large-caliber howitzer capable of overcoming water obstacles afloat by itself. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Retired U.S. military generals attend tabletop war games: Source ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2023 06:51 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) An observation group composed of retired United States generals attended the five-day tabletop war games phase of Taiwan's annual Han Kuang military exercises this past week, a source told CNA on Saturday. They came as observers and to provide their suggestions on the tabletop war games, which simulated the armed forces' defensive response to various attack scenarios, the source said, without going into detail. As in previous years, this year's Han Kuang exercises are being held in two stages. The tabletop war games phase was held from Monday to Friday and the live-fire exercise component is scheduled for July 24-28. Su Tzu-yun (ece), a research fellow at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that while Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) has never confirmed the presence of observation groups, retired U.S. military personnel have come to watch war games in Taiwan for many years. With the U.S. becoming more open about arms sales to Taiwan and pushing initiatives friendly to Taiwan, it was not a surprise that the group's members this year consisted of many high-ranking retired officers, Su said. In late April, a MND official said the computerized war games this year would be conducted using the U.S.-built Joint Theater Level Simulation (JTLS) platform to simulate joint, combined, and coalition civil-military operations at the operational level. The JTLS is highly informative because the system incorporates data from the actual combat experiences of the U.S. and NATO, Su said. The parameters obtained from the recently concluded tabletop war games, he added, will be put into practice in the live-fire Han Kuang drills in July and will be used to refine and modify future exercises. The Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan's major war games, have been held annually since 1984, in the form of live-fire drills and computerized war games, to test Taiwan's combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion. This year will mark the 39th edition of the annual exercises, which are Taiwan's most important military drills that include all branches of the armed forces. (By Matt Yu and Ko Lin) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan thanks G7 for stressing importance of cross-strait peace ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2023 09:51 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expressed its gratitude on Saturday to the Group of Seven (G7) nations for their joint communiquA that reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. "MOFA welcomes and sincerely appreciates the concrete actions taken by G7 member countries for three consecutive years, demonstrating their concern for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," MOFA said in a statement after the G7 leaders issued a joint communiquA Saturday. In the communiquA, the G7 leaders, who met in Hiroshima this week, expressed concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas and said they "strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion." "We reaffirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as indispensable to security and prosperity in the international community," according to the communiquA. It said the G7 members had not changed their basic positions on Taiwan, including stated one-China policies, adding that "we call for a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues." In response, MOFA said China has frequently used military and economic means to intimidate Taiwan and neighboring countries in recent years, posing severe threats and challenges to the security of the Taiwan Strait, the Indo-Pacific region and global security. This has raised grave concerns within the international community, including at the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in April this year and at the U.S.-Japan Summit and the Japan-U.K. Summit on May 18, which all reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, MOFA said. The concerns highlight the fact that Taiwan's security has become a global concern and the international community has reached a consensus on countering the authoritarian expansion led by China and Russia, the ministry said. Meanwhile, on May 18, when asked about China's response to the prospect of "cross-strait peace and stability" appearing in the G7 joint communiquA, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin () accused countries such as the United States and Japan of "colluding with and echoing Taiwan independence forces" and bearing responsibility for the tensions in the Taiwan Strait. He claimed that merely talking about maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait without opposing Taiwan independence would only embolden those forces and cause greater damage to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. (By Matt Yu and Christie Chen) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tsai vows to maintain peace across Taiwan Strait ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2023 02:12 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (ee) on Saturday vowed to make maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait one of the top priorities for the end of her second and final term in office. Speaking in a news conference to mark seven years since her May 20, 2016 inauguration, Tsai said peace was the only option for Taiwan in terms of ties with China, and was an issue that had become key to global peace and prosperity. Despite China's provocative military action and attempts to diplomatically isolate Taiwan, the country's people have been able to react in a calm and reasonable manner instead of rashly and aggressively, demonstrating its characteristics as a free and democratic country, Tsai said. Tsai said the efforts to maintain its status quo were the bottom line for Taiwan, adding that the country opposed any unilateral changes. "Taiwan will keep its promise to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait and stand firmly by the 'four commitments' to protect the interests of the people in Taiwan," Tsai told reporters. "But Taiwan will not yield to any pressure, while trying hard to avoid any conflicts and seeking dialogue (with China) to build consensus and solve the cross-strait problems." The four commitments were presented by Tsai in her Oct. 10 National Day speech in 2021, referring to the commitment to a free and democratic constitutional system, the commitment that the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's formal name, and the People's Republic of China should not be subordinate to each other, the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon Taiwan's sovereignty, and the commitment that the future of Taiwan must be decided in accordance with the will of the Taiwanese people. Tsai said Taiwan had turned over a new leaf since she became the president seven years ago after years of building its military strength. With a prototype of Taiwan's first domestically manufactured submarine set to be launched in the second half of this year, the world will witness Taiwan's determination to defend itself, Tsai added. At the G7 Summit held from Friday through Sunday in Hiroshima in Japan, the leaders of the seven industrial countries have placed emphasis on the situation across the Taiwan Strait, according to Tsai. Prior to the G7 Summit, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated their "resolve to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait" after the two leaders met on Thursday. Citing Kishida's recent comments, Tsai said the Taiwan issue has come under spotlight in the international community and is a critical part of global peace. As a result, Taiwan cannot look down on itself but must take the responsibility to work with its like-minded allies to push for regional peace. "Although Taiwan is at risk, it is never a risk maker but a responsible risk controller," Tsai said. "Taiwan will stand with all democratic countries in the international community to resolve the risks." "The ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan should unite themselves to safeguard the ROC, although they tend to compete each other to score a victory in elections," Tsai said. "Only when Taiwan is safe will the world be safe." In addition to the peace issue, Tsai said Taiwan will also continue to cement its critical role in the global supply chain, in particular as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing was on the rise, adding Taipei, which has commanded the lead in high tech development, is able to make a breakthrough under such circumstances. Through the implementation of the forward-looking infrastructure projects and the efforts to push for "Six Core Strategic Industries," Tsai said, Taiwan has commanded an irreplaceable status in the global supply chain, citing a government statistics which pointed to news foreign investments topping NT$2 trillion (US$65.15 billion) in the seven years she led Taiwan as a president. In 2020, Taiwan launched the Six Core Strategic Industry initiatives to boost global competitive edge by prompting digital technology, cyber security, medical technology and precision health, green and renewable energy, national defense and strategic industries, and strategic stockpile industries. Tsai said while Taiwan had just started to build its own green energy industry when she took office seven years ago, she anticipates the efforts in developing renewable energy in Taiwan will attract about NT$1 trillion worth foreign investments by the end of this year under Taiwan's goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Tsai also boasted the government's New Southbound Policy, which targeted 18 countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia, as well as Australia, and New Zealand to expand economic, cultural and political ties with them and reduce dependence on China, saying Taiwan's exports to the 18 countries hit a new high of US$96.9 billion in 2022. In terms of the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade, the first phase negotiations of which have been concluded with the first agreement expected to be signed in coming weeks, Tsai said the agreement is expected to serve as the most detailed trade pact signed between Taiwan and the U.S. since 1979 and will turn a new page in the trade ties between Washington and Taipei. The areas in the first agreement will cover customs and trade facilitation, regulatory practices, domestic regulation of services, anti-corruption practices, and small and medium-sized enterprises. (By Wen Kuei-hsiang, Lai Yu-chen, Matt Yu and Frances Huang) Enditem/ASG NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address KMT presidential candidate vows to protect Taiwan's freedom, democracy ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2023 03:10 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The main opposition Kuomintang's (KMT) newly selected presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih () on Saturday pledged to protect Taiwan's freedom and democracy amid "geopolitical" tensions. At the KMT's headquarters in Taipei, where dozens of the party's executives and local government leaders rallied in a show of support, Hou vowed to adhere to the Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's official name, and preserve the free and democratic way of life in the country. Hou, who is currently mayor of New Taipei, Taiwan's most populated city, said the country must take into account increasing "global geopolitical pressure" and "full-fledged competition between strong powers." "In the face of all kinds of threats, [Taiwan] must upgrade itself" and make "the others" incapable of waging a war, the 65-year-old said, without mentioning China, which has in recent years doubled down military pressure on Taiwan against the backdrop of strained cross-Taiwan Strait relations. "Even more important is that we need to engage in dialogue and exchanges in order to navigate our way towards maintaining the stability of the region," he added. Hou has until recently rarely commented on cross-strait relations and global affairs, partly due to his lack of experience in handling matters beyond domestic issues. Trained as a police officer, Hou worked his way up to serve as National Police Agency (NPA) chief and then head of the Central Police University before entering politics. In 2010, Hou was handpicked by then-New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (), who currently chairs the KMT, to serve as one of his deputies. Hou won the New Taipei mayoral seat in 2018 and again in 2022, defeating candidates from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) both times with wide margins, thus making him a preferred KMT candidate for the country's top job as the party seeks to return to power. He successfully secured the party's presidential candidacy on Wednesday without going through a primary, even though Terry Gou (), founder of the Hon Hai Technology Group, or Foxconn, had also sought the KMT's nomination. Gou, who has pledged his support for Hou after being forced out of contention, did not attend Saturday's event at the KMT headquarters. In his remarks, Hou criticized Vice President Lai Ching-te () of the DPP -- his main rival in the presidential race -- for "dividing" the Taiwanese society and "tearing apart" the nation. Lai, who secured the DPP's nomination in April as a presidential candidate after an uncontested primary selection process, is expected to continue President Tsai Ing-wen's () cross-strait policy should he be elected president next January. Hou rebuted Lai's claims that the 2024 presidential race would be a fight between democracy and autocracy, by saying that "democracy and freedom have been in Taiwanese' DNA." "Freedom and democracy have taken roots in the ROC for the past four decades," he said, while suggesting that the presidential election be a vote on either unity or division and on either peace or war. The ROC lifted martial law on Taiwan proper in 1987 and on the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu in 1992, and did not hold its first direct presidential election until 1996. In addition, Hou said if elected, he would "accept the monitoring of all the people" in Taiwan by giving reports on the state of the nation at the Legislature, a promise Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je () also made the same day. According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, the Legislature "may hear a report on the state of the nation by the president" when it convenes each year. In other words, such practice has a legal basis but is not compulsory, and whether or not a president can address the Legislature requires approval from lawmakers. Over the past two decades, none of Taiwan's previous and incumbent presidents has given a report at the Legislature because of opposition from either the ruling or opposition parties. (By Teng Pei-ju) Enditem/ASG NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese mainland rebukes Taiwan's DPP for seeking foreign favor People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 11:39, May 20, 2023 BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Friday rebuked Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for "leveraging all of the island's resources to win the favor of a foreign country," saying the "shameful act" is doomed to failure. Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to a media inquiry about the DPP's announcement that it would sign the first agreement with the United States under the "U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade." "We strongly oppose any agreements with sovereignty implications or an official nature signed between the United States and the Taiwan region of China," Ma said, urging the United States to adhere to the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques through concrete actions. The spokesperson criticized the DPP for its pursuit of political gains at the expense of the interests of the enterprises and people on the island. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM meeting with President Yoon Suk-Yeolof: 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk-Yeol, at the G7 Summit today. 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk-Yeol, at the G7 Summit today. In the 140th year of diplomatic relations, the leaders reflected on the deep and historic partnership between the UK and Republic of Korea. The Prime Minister expressed admiration for Seoul's global leadership, particularly on defence, security and technology. They discussed North Korea's deeply destabilising regional activity and agreed on the importance of the DPRK abiding by its international commitments. The Prime Minister set out the UK's foreign policy focus on the Indo-Pacific, as demonstrated through our accession to CPTPP, AUKUS agreement and ASEAN dialogue partner status. The leaders agreed to work at pace towards a much deeper partnership between the UK and Republic of Korea, focused on defence, cyber, technology - including semiconductors - and economic growth. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM Meeting with President Widodo of Indonesia: 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met President Joko Widodo of Indonesia at the G7 Summit in Japan this morning. 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met President Joko Widodo of Indonesia at the G7 Summit in Japan this morning. The leaders discussed the significant opportunities to grow trade and investment between the UK and Indonesia, particularly in renewable energy and new solar and hydrogen projects. The Prime Minister welcomed Indonesia's recent progress in addressing deforestation and their active participation the Forest & Climate Leaders Partnership launched at COP27 in Glasgow. The leaders also discussed increasing UK engagement in the Indo-Pacific, including coordination with ASEAN, and wider regional security issues. The Prime Minister welcomed President Jakowi's assured leadership of the G20 last year and looked forward to their continued collaboration on issues like Ukraine, as they look ahead to the next G20 Summit in India. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM meeting with President Macron of France: 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima today. 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima today. The leaders welcomed the strong unity of purpose at the G7 on issues including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and our collective approach to the economic threat posed by China. They discussed how the UK and France can continue to support Ukraine's defence, including providing military aid and longer-term security assistance, and agreed to remain in close contact ahead of the NATO Summit. The Prime Minister and President Macron highlighted progress on joint work to tackle illegal migration in the Channel, building on the successful UK-France Summit earlier this year. They committed to delivering all elements of the ambitious package agreed in March to help stop the boats and tackle people smugglers preying on the vulnerable. Following discussions earlier in the day at the G7 on economic security, the leaders also discussed online safety and emerging technologies. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister's meeting with President of Ukraine India - Ministry of External Affairs May 20, 2023 Prime Minister met H.E. Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine on 20 May 2023 in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit. 2. Prime Minister noted that the conflict in Ukraine has had a significant impact on the whole world. He, however, stressed that for him, this is not a political or economic issue but an issue of humanity, of human values. 3. Prime Minister appreciated Ukraine's cooperation in the safe evacuation of Indian students and welcomed the decision by Ukrainian institutions to hold examination in India for the students. 4. Prime Minister conveyed India's clear support for dialogue and diplomacy to find a way forward. He said that for a resolution of the situation, India and Prime Minister personally would do everything within our means. 5. Prime Minister said that India will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine. 6. President Zelenskyy briefed Prime Minister on the current situation in Ukraine. 7. Both sides agreed to remain in touch. Hiroshima May 20, 2023 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia warns West taking 'colossal risks' with potential supply of F-16s to Ukraine Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 3:30 PM Russia has slammed the West's plan to supply the US-manufactured F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Moscow on Saturday warned the countries that are reportedly planning to supply F-16s to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, of the "colossal risks." "We see that Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves colossal risks for themselves," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Russia's semi-official TASS news agency, in response to a question on the possible supply of American-made jets to Ukraine. "In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the goals we have set," he added. US President Joe Biden had announced that the United States would not supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. However, Biden on Friday told leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries gathered in Japan that Washington was prepared to help train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets donated to the former Soviet state. The United States gave the green light to its allies to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, saying it is set to hold joint training courses for the Ukrainian pilots to fly the aircraft. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has been requesting F-16s from the West but has not yet won commitments to deliver the jets from any country as no government has so far confirmed it will supply Kiev with warplanes despite the push by the US, the UK and the EU officials to send weapons to Kiev. In this regard, till now the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada have only all announced programs to give Ukrainian pilots training on F-16s. However, the US shift is a diplomatic victory for Zelensky, who is currently in Hiroshima to push for more military support as he attends the G7 summit. The US shift clears the way for the other Western nations to send their existing stocks of F-16s to Ukraine because countries cannot resell or re-export American weapons and munitions without US consent. Although it seems increasingly likely that Ukraine will eventually receive the advanced jets as it did the tanks and air defense systems that were initially not given to Kiev. The Western alliance has so far "focused on providing Ukraine with the systems weapon and training it needs to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer", US National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in Hiroshima, Japan. He said the recent announcement by the US president was part of Washington's "long-term commitment to Ukraine's self-defense". "As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many," he said. In related news, Russia announced that its air defenses intercepted 12 HIMARS rockets and Storm Shadow cruise missiles in the past day, as well as a US-made GBU-32 bomb supplied to Kiev by its Western backers. "Air defenses intercepted 12 HIMARS rockets and Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles in the past 24 hours, as well as a US-made GBU-32 guided munition," Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday, TASS reported. Konashenkov said 18 Ukrainian drones were destroyed near Verkhnetoretskoye, Novoandreyevka and Sladkoye in the Donetsk People's Republic, and Kremennaya, Ploshchanka and Novodruzhesk in the Lugansk People's Republic. Russian officials have repeatedly warned against flooding Ukraine with weapons, insisting the massive shipments of armaments to Kiev will only prolong the bloody conflict. The West has supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of various weaponry since the onset of the Russian military campaign in February 2022 as a security measure against persisting eastern advance of the US-led NATO military alliance and the protection of Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine from abusive treatment by Kiev forces. Western weapons supplied to Kiev include advanced missile systems, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems. Long-range attack drones were also added to the list of Western weapons supplied to the Ukrainian forces fighting against Russian troops. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US allows allies to send F-16 warplanes to Ukraine Iran Press TV Saturday, 20 May 2023 7:50 AM The United States has given the green light to allies willing to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and is set to help train Ukrainian pilots to fly the aircraft, paving the way for one of the most significant improvements to Kiev's military capabilities since the beginning of the war. US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington would support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots and later equip the country's air force with F-16s and other fourth-generation fighter jets, a US official said. The US shift is a diplomatic victory for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will push for more military support as he attends the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Zelensky welcomed the "historic decision" of the White House. "This will greatly strengthen our military in the sky," he said on Twitter. Washington sees the effort as part of ensuring Ukraine has what it needs to strengthen its capabilities and defend itself in the long term. It is unlikely that the US will provide its F-16s to Kiev. "As the training takes place in the coming months, our coalition of nations participating in this effort will decide when to actually get the jets, how many and who will provide them," a senior administration official said. Denmark to train Ukrainian F-16 pilots Meanwhile, Denmark will help train Ukrainian pilots on the US-made F-16 fighter jet, the country's defense minister said Friday after Washington announced its support for such an initiative. Denmark's acting defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said the Scandinavian country "will now be able to move for a collective participation to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16." He added that Denmark will prioritize cooperation with its allies to support the plan and welcomed Biden's decision to approve the scheme. Lund Poulsen, however, did not mention whether Denmark will be among the countries that will provide fighter jets to Ukraine or not. The Danish Air Force has about 40 F-16s, of which about 30 are operational. The country recently began taking delivery of newer F-35 fighters. It is despite the fact that Washington has so far rejected the supply of F-16 jets to Kiev, arguing that the action is currently impractical due to training requirements and the possibility of the jets being shot down by Russian air defense systems. Biden's fresh military package for Ukraine Biden unveiled his $375 million military aid package for Ukraine in Hiroshima, Japan, a US official said on Friday. The package will include artillery, ammunition and HIMARS rocket launchers, the official said on condition of anonymity. The moves show strong support for Kiev ahead of an expected counteroffensive that Ukrainians hope will recapture more Russian-held territory. Moscow has bombarded Ukraine with missiles in recent weeks, but Kiev has claimed success in neutralizing attacks with new Western air defenses such as the Patriot missile system. Zelensky heads to G7 Meanwhile, Zelensky traveled to Hiroshima on Saturday to join the Group of 7 talks after seeking US support for access to advanced F-16 fighter jets and training for Kiev pilots. The rare long-term trip is an opportunity to hold talks with allies such as Biden and to attract key non-aligned powers to the summit, including India and Brazil. Zelensky's surprise appearance came after a stop in Jeddah to talk about the Arab League, as well as a breakthrough in his long-running campaign to convince Washington of Ukraine's need for F-16s. The West has supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of various weaponry since the onset of the Russian military campaign in February 2022 as a security measure against persisting eastern advance of the US-led NATO military alliance and the protection of Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine from abusive treatment by Kiev forces. Weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West include rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems. Russian officials have repeatedly warned against flooding Ukraine with weapons, insisting the massive shipments of armaments to Kiev will only prolong the bloody conflict. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Zelenskiy Set To Meet With Biden In G7 Diplomatic Push As Bakhmut Situation Called 'Critical' By RFE/RL May 20, 2023 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to continue his diplomatic push in Japan on May 21 as he bids to bolster support for his country's defense against the Russian invasion following vows by Western allies to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets and amid conflicting claims surrounding the monthslong battle in and around Bakhmut. Key on Zelenskiy's agenda is a planned bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit that has brought together the leaders of the world's leading economic powers. Zelenskiy, who arrived in Japan on a French government plane after visiting the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, met on May 20 with several key leaders, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The Ukrainian leader said he thanked Sunak for his support in forming a coalition that has vowed to deliver F-16 jets to Kyiv in the upcoming months and to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the sophisticated U.S.-made fighters starting in the next few weeks. "I thanked him for the leadership in developing our capabilities in the sky," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Zelenskiy also met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council. Michel told Zelenskiy that "the EU will work with G7 partners to target every pillar of the Russian economy to ensure Putin's war machine fails," according to Michel's spokesman. The spokesman added that Michel supports a multiyear financial aid plan for Ukraine, one that would highlight the EU's long-term commitment to the country. Zelenskiy also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, briefing him on the peace plan he has put forward that calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine before any negotiations can be held. "Serious talk. I gave an update on the progress of our Peace Formula. I believe India will participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need," Zelenskiy wrote. India is among the nations that have not joined the international condemnation of Russian aggression following Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Late on May 20, the G7 issued a communique with a vow to step up sanctions on Russia for its unprovoked invasion. "Russia's brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules, and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace," the G7 said. The G7 leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands of people who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation, dropped by the United States in World War II. On the Ukraine battlefield, conflicting claims again surfaced around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut, scene of brutal fighting over the past several months. Reuters reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, claimed that Russian fighters had taken full control of the Donetsk regional city. The report could not be independently confirmed, and Prigozhin has made similar claims in the past only to backtrack later. Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatiy told Reuters that "this is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut." However, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported "heavy fighting in Bakhmut" and said that "the situation is critical." With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, AP, Reuters, and AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-air-strikes- kyiv-zelenskiy-hiroshima-g7/32420082.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'It Will Perish When I'm Gone': Russian Language Usage Plunges In Wartime Ukraine By Aleksander Palikot May 20, 2023 KYIV -- Intensified air attacks on the Ukrainian capital following a drone strike on the Kremlin that Russia blamed on Kyiv forced Iryna, Svitlana, and Olya to spend their Ukrainian-language transition class in a cafeteria opposite the National Opera instead of the usual venue nearby, which was closed once the air alert went off. The three women, hailing from Sevastopol, Enerhodar, and Donetsk -- cities in Ukraine's south and east occupied in various stages of Russia's aggression -- spent 90 minutes together with more than a dozen students, most of them women and also displaced, trying to elevate their Ukrainian and, as some said, to "break free" from their Russian. Iryna has a son in the Ukrainian Army. She left her native Crimea, she said, because she "couldn't live next to the Black Sea fleet firing missiles at our country." She wants to switch to Ukrainian to "relieve herself of a sense of guilt." Svitlana came to Kyiv just two months ago. Her husband stays in Enerhodar, where he works at the Zaporizhzhya power station, Europe's largest nuclear plant, captured by Russians at the beginning of their invasion. She is learning Ukrainian to "forget the months of occupation." Olya left Donetsk in 2014, the year a separatist war fomented by Moscow broke out in that region and neighboring Luhansk, hoping to return within several months. Now, after eight years away from her home in the Donbas, she is switching to Ukrainian because she decided to "focus on the future." Millions of similar stories make up the most rapid shift away from using the Russian language in Ukraine's recent history. The number of Ukrainians who use Ukrainian exclusively or most of the time in their everyday life increased from 49 percent in 2017 to 58 percent in 2022, and the corresponding number for Russian dropped from 26 percent to 15 percent, according to a study conducted in December 2022 by prominent Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Kulyk and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. The trend is even stronger in the public sphere, with 68 percent opting for Ukrainian and only 11 percent for Russian at work and during education. The transition is most significant in the south and east of the country, traditionally more Russian-speaking than western and central Ukraine, where switching to Ukrainian became the widespread sign of resistance to the occupiers. The reality behind these numbers is more complex due to the nature of Ukrainian bilingualism, with almost everyone passively knowing both Ukrainian and Russian and many speaking their mixture, Surzhyk, minority languages such as Crimean-Tatar or Hungarian, and new trends, most notably the five-million-strong population of refugees who are developing new language practices abroad. But while many Ukrainians continue to use both languages in everyday life despite the anger at Russia that the invasion has ignited, the rapid shift from Russian to Ukrainian is apparent everywhere in Ukraine: in the streets, social media, bookstores, and, perhaps most significantly, private spaces. Many in Ukraine celebrate the ongoing language shift, but the process, accelerated by Russia's renewed attempts to erase Ukrainian culture and sow divisions in the country it is attacking, is far from painless. 'Language Of Clarity' "The Russian Federation, the federation of murderers and rapists, declared war on my homeland, citing protection of the Russian-speaking population as its rationale," Ukrainian writer and Donetsk native Volodymyr Rafeyenko told RFE/RL. "They used my very existence to justify their war." Since the beginning of the conflict in the Donbas Russian President Vladimir Putin has been repeatedly and falsely accusing Kyiv of carrying out a "genocide" against the Russian-speaking population of the region. Rafeyenko, a novelist and poet who wrote exclusively in Russian and was part of the Russian literary scene for most of his career, has a very different recollection of the status of the Russian language in his native land. "My parents and my grandma spoke Russian, as did everybody else around me. I knew Dostoyevsky and Chekhov by heart by the time I turned 20, I studied to become a Russian philologist, and I never thought I would actively use Ukrainian until I found myself in a train from Donetsk to Kyiv in 2014, after my city was captured by the 'separi,'" he said derisively, referring to the Russia-backed forces and in some cases Russian forces who seized parts of the Donbas after Moscow fomented separatism across eastern and southern Ukraine. The war that broke out in 2014 prompted Rafeyenko, now 53, to sever his ties to the Russian literary world. But he wrote his successful 2017 novel The Length of Days: An Urban Ballad, which depicts the bitter irony of life in the surreal Donbas "City of Z" -- a weird and unsettling foretelling of the meaning the Z letter acquired in 2022 -- in Russian. He was, he explained, positioning himself as a bilingual author at that point. In 2019 he published his first Ukrainian-language novel Mondegreen: Songs About Death And Love, which grapples with issues of memory, language, and identity through the prism of a story of a refugee from the Donbas region. By the time of Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Rafeyenko, himself an exile from Donetsk, was living in a village between Bucha and Kyiv that soon came under Russian occupation -- a time he does not want to remember. "Since February 24, an obsessive thought that I want to go home has been haunting me," he said, pausing for some time before adding: "But I have no home." Rafeyenko swears he will never come back to the "obscene" and "compromised" Russian language, neither in his writing nor in public or private life. "Perhaps my complete rejection of Russian says more about my trauma than any broad philosophical ideas," he said, adding that no matter how he tries, he cannot fully break free from the books he read and the life he lived. "It is part of my personality; it will perish when I am gone." Switching to another language is a long, painstaking and sometimes exhausting process for him as a writer, Rafeyenko -- who has six dictionaries on his writing desk -- said, but it is a "self-therapeutic effort that comes with a prize". "Ukrainian opens up new possibilities and forces me to speak plainly," he said. "It's a language of clarity that lets us feel responsible for ourselves and the world." 'An Imperial Relic' The voluntary transition to Ukrainian -- like in the case of Rafeyenko or the women at the language class in Kyiv -- though on the rise now, is part of a larger process with both bottom-up and top-down dynamics. The public was reminded of this in January when Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, one of Ukraine's oldest and most esteemed universities, banned the use of the Russian language on its premises. Teaching at the university has been conducted in Ukrainian and English for over thirty years; thus, the new ban concerned private conversations between students, teachers, and administration. "We did not expect it to cause such resonance," Serhiy Kvit, the university's president, told RFE/RL referring to a wave of both supportive and critical reactions that swept through social media. The prohibition, he said, was unequivocally supported by representatives of all university members and does not foresee any form of punishment: "It is an expression of our corporate culture primarily aimed at the newcomers." The legality of the ban in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was questioned, but it doesn't go much further than the current language policy in Ukraine. A 2019 law made the use of Ukrainian compulsory in numerous spheres of public life, including administration, education, media, and even in restaurants and shops. After the large-scale invasion in February 2022, additional restrictions were placed on Russian books and music. According to Kvit, the ban should be viewed in the context of the damage that the ongoing war imposes upon Ukraine's culture and the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. "Some of the university's students and lecturers remain [at home in areas] under occupation. Some have joined the army. Eleven students and graduates have been killed since the invasion began," he said. In the university's old buildings, the walls of corridors dating back to the 17th century are covered with posters urging students to obtain a military education. For Kvit, who is also a literary critic, the ongoing war is "yet another chapter of the centuries-long suppression of the Ukrainian nation and its culture." He argues that there should be no place for Russian language in Ukraine, calling it "an imperial relic," and "a weapon of the Russian state." At the same time, he noted that, despite the ban, Russian books are to remain in the university's library. "We must defend ourselves, but we are not going to burn books. We are not Russians, and we see freedom as central to our political culture," he said. 'Linguicide' Ukrainian scholars say the first burning of Ukrainian books -- or, more precisely, books written in a Ukrainian version of Old Church Slavonic -- took place in 1627, in a period when Russian and Ukrainian were emerging as separate languages. They say the Patriarch of Moscow, Filaret, ordered the burning of Didactic gospels published in Kyiv in the vernacular version of Cyrillic to ensure Moscow's monopoly on print. Visitors to the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy can learn about that episode from a memorial plaque placed next to the university in the capital's historic Podil district. Across the historical center of Kyiv, plaques like this were put up last summer and autumn by activists with Linguicide, a commemorative project meant to trace what its initiators describe as the "history of manipulation" by imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Valentyna Merzhyievska, an educator from Kyiv who initiated the project, herself switched from Russian to Ukrainian after the 2004-05 Orange Revolution, in which a more Moscow-friendly candidate's election victory was overturned amid huge protests over evidence of fraud, and after her first child was born. "I have long felt deceived as a Russian-speaking Ukrainian, but I did not fully understand how deep this manipulation goes," she said, adding that switching from one language to another is "above all a challenge for one's identity." Through centuries of Russian political domination over Ukraine, despite the dissent of successive generations of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, Russian was widely cast as a "high" language associated with power and social status, while Ukrainian was portrayed as a "low" language of the countryside. These dynamics started to change not long ago. Merzhyievska's father switched to Russian after resettling in the late 1960s from a smaller town to Kyiv, where he married her Russian-speaking mother. When she started to speak mostly Ukrainian in her early twenties, she often met with hostility or a lack of understanding. But today, her two teenage sons have limited knowledge of Russian and hardly ever use it in their daily lives. The plaque put up most recently has the year 2022 written on it. It is dedicated to Russification policies that Kyiv and eyewitnesses say Russia is implementing in the areas it occupies, including looting museums, stealing cultural artifacts, demolishing Ukrainian memorials, reinstalling statues of Russian cultural and historical figures, and Russifying education at schools. Out With It These acts are not going unanswered. Every week, Syayvo Knyhy, one of Kyiv's oldest and biggest bookstores, collects about 2 tons of books in Russian and ships them away to be recycled. The money received in exchange is donated to the Ukrainian Army. "There were weeks when we were collecting some seven tons and had to carry boxes of books out several times per day," Hlib Malych, the bookstore's 27-year-old director, told RFE/RL. Syayvo Knyhy, the only state-owned bookstore in Kyiv, runs other programs, too -- such as promoting readership among children and retirees and holding meetings with emerging authors -- and aims to become a hub for veteran literature, which is booming in Ukraine. Malych said that people of all ages and backgrounds bringing their collections of Russian-language books to be recycled reflect the fact that more and more Ukrainians agree that any Russian content is useless and potentially dangerous to Ukraine. Still, Russian has retained a portion of its status in Ukraine, in part because with about 258 million speakers worldwide, it operates within a market for cultural goods -- such as television, music, or books -- that is far larger than Ukrainian. Within Ukraine, this imbalance has been changing gradually since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But recently, due to restrictions on Russian content and the nationwide shift toward Ukrainian, the opposite situation is becoming the new status quo. Fashionable independent bookstores popping up in Kyiv despite the ongoing war are a visible sign of this change. One can find popular contemporary Ukrainian authors such as Serhiy Zhadan or Oksana Zabuzhko there, new editions of Ukrainian classics, history books that are now in high demand, and increasingly more available Ukrainian translations of foreign literature. Nonetheless, experienced bibliophiles in Kyiv say that the biggest chances to get rare and niche titles are at the Petrivka open-air book market. The legendary spot is the biggest place to buy books in Ukraine and a destination where book lovers can be found browsing for hours at a time. One of the market's biggest bookshops is kept by Oleksandr Drobin, a 78-year-old ex-soldier. High rows of thematically categorized books, both in Russian and Ukrainian, create a labyrinth only he knows how to navigate through. He is here almost every day, helping customers and chatting with his friends as tranquil jazz plays in the background. "No one knows how many books there are here, and no one will ever know," he told RFE/RL on a recent morning. The biggest single category in his collection, he added, is specialized books, as he is an engineer by education, although many people come to buy world literature in Russian translations as well as Ukrainian classics. Drobin spent much of his life serving at Soviet Army bases in Belarus, Poland, Germany, Russia, and Afghanistan. He was raised in the Russian Far East after his grandparents were deported from Ukraine's southern Mykolayiv Region during Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's rule. "If I were younger, I would go to fight, especially given that our boys fight so beautifully," he said after he finished a telephone conversation with an acquaintance on the front line. Drobin -- who had not heard about the Syayvo Knyhy campaign -- said he sees no point in destroying Russian books, arguing that the Russian-speaking population needs to be "secured with books." The only books that are thrown away from his shop at the Petrivka book market, he added, are those that have gotten wet from rainwater pouring through the stall's old roofs. He said that Russian invasion forced him to close his shop briefly, but after two months he was back at Petrivka. "I thought the war would ruin my business, but it turned out that people need spiritual nourishment even more now," Drobin said. "They also need to get away from the brutality of war." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-language-use- plunges-wartime-ukraine/32419351.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address G7 Leaders Urge China To 'Press Russia' To Withdraw From Ukraine By RFE/RL May 20, 2023 The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) leading economies have urged China to "press Russia" to end its invasion of Ukraine and withdraw its forces from Ukrainian territory. In a communique issued on May 20, the G7 leaders, who are meeting for a summit in Hiroshima, Japan, said they "encourage China to support a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, including through direct dialogue with Ukraine." The statement came as a French aircraft delivered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Japan to participate in the meetings. Zelenskiy held bilateral talks with G7 members on May 20 and will participate in a summit session on May 21. He also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and was due to meet with the leader of Brazil, two countries that have not joined the international condemnation of Russian aggression. The G7 statement added that the bloc seeks "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing and reaffirmed its "stated one-China policies." The G7 urged Beijing to pursue "a peaceful resolution" of its relations with Taiwan. It also rejected China's militarization of the South China Sea and its territorial claims there. China has claimed control over almost the entire South China Sea, including areas claimed by Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In reponse, China late on May 20 slammed the group communique, saying the G7's "approach has no international credibility whatsoever." "The G7 insisted on manipulating China-related issues, smearing and attacking China," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said the statement was "totally straightforward." "It is not hostile," Sullivan said. "It's just direct and candid." In another statement, the G7 urged Iran to stop supplying drones that Russia uses "to attack Ukraine's critical infrastructure." Moscow and Tehran have denied that Iran has supplied such drones, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. The G7 includes the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and Canada. With reporting by AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/g7-leaders-china- russia-ukraine-withdrawal-communique/32420155.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India's Modi Holds First Meeting With Zelensky Since Start of Russia's Military Operation Sputnik News 20230520 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the start of Russia's special military operation in February 2022, on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima on Saturday. "Met President [Zelensky] in Hiroshima. Conveyed our clear support for dialogue and diplomacy to find a way forward. We will continue extending humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine," Modi tweeted. Modi and Zelensky were invited to the summit as special guests. The tweet also showed both leaders shaking hands and holding talks in an expanded format, with the participation of Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Zelensky said on Twitter that he briefed Modi in detail on Kiev's "peace formula" and invited him to join its implementation. The president also spoke about Ukraine's needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals and thanked India for "supporting our country's territorial integrity and sovereignty" and providing humanitarian aid. Earlier on Saturday, Zelensky also met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, thanking him for London's leadership in the coalition of countries willing to supply Kiev with fighter jets and discussing the development of bilateral relations between the two countries. The Ukrainian president also met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and spoke about Rome's defense and political support for Ukraine, including the need to improve Ukraine's air defense capabilities and flight training for pilots. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Forces Take Full Control Over Artemovsk Sputnik News 20230520 The hotly contested Artemovsk (Bakhmut), located north of the city of Donetsk, has been the center of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine for months. Head of Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that Russian forces had fully gained control of Artemovsk. "On May 20, 2023, today, at noon, Artemovsk was entirety taken," Prigozhin announced in a video posted on Telegram. According to him, from 25 May Wagner will start withdrawing its units for rest and retraining. The group's fighters will also create "necessary defensive lines". Control over the city will be handed over to the Defense Ministry, Prigozhin explained. He thanked Generals Sergei Surovikin and Mikhail Mizintsev, who "made it possible to carry out this difficult operation". "And thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for giving us this opportunity and the high honor of defending our homeland," Prigozhin stressed. On May 19, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine lost up to 130 military and mercenaries in the Donetsk direction, and over 70 soldiers in the Artemovsk direction in the past 24 hours. The Russian Defense Ministry said on May 5 that a bridge near Chasov Yar, which the Ukrainian military had used in attempts to supply soldiers in Artemovsk with ammunition and deploy additional troops, has been destroyed. Artemovsk is north of the large city of Gorlovka. The city is an important transport hub with many crossroads for Donbass and served as a vital center for supplying Ukrainian troops stationed in the region at the beginning of the military operation launched by Russia in Ukraine over a year ago. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Air Defense Intercepts 12 HIMARS Rockets, Storm Shadow Missiles - MoD Sputnik News 20230520 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian air defense units have intercepted 12 US-made HIMARS rockets and UK-made Storm Shadow missiles over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. "Air defense forces intercepted 12 rockets of HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, as well as one US-made GBU-32 guided aerial bomb over the past day," the ministry said. A total of 18 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been destroyed in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR). The Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 210 troops in the Donetsk direction over the past day, as well as eight units of military equipment, including one tank, five vehicles, a Polish-made Krab self-propelled tracked howitzer and a D-20 howitzer. This is in addition to over 300 Ukrainian troops destroyed in other combat areas, according to the Russia ministry's statement. Furthermore, two depots with ammunition as well as Ukriainian rocket and artillery weapons have been destroyed near Avdiivka village in the DPR, the ministry added. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM Meeting with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine: 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met Ukraine's President Zelenskyy this evening at the G7 Summit in Japan. 20 May 2023 The Prime Minister met Ukraine's President Zelenskyy this evening at the G7 Summit in Japan. The Prime Minister welcomed President Zelenskyy's visit to the G7 as an historic moment and a demonstration of the international community's steadfast support for Ukraine against Russian aggression. Following their discussion at Chequers earlier this week, the Prime Minister reiterated that the UK would continue to provide Ukraine with the military assistance needed to win the war and secure a just peace. The Prime Minister updated President Zelenskyy on the very positive progress at the G7 so far, including new sanctions against Russia and the provision of fighter jets. The leaders looked forward to progressing talks with G7 countries and other partners on support for Ukraine and action against Russia's destabilising and illegal behaviour. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address During visit to Japan Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Emmanuel Macron President of Ukraine 20 May 2023 - 15:48 As part of a working visit to Japan to participate in the G7 Summit, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron. The Head of State thanked France for important decisions regarding military and humanitarian support for Ukraine. Zelenskyy noted the importance of France's support for the fighter jet coalition and the country's participation in the training mission for Ukrainian pilots. The President of Ukraine emphasized the priority of implementing the Ukrainian Peace Formula and involving as many countries as possible in this process. He briefed the President of France on his fruitful visit to the Arab League summit. Zelensky thanked Macron for starting the implementation of the agreements reached during his visit to France on May 13 and continuing defense cooperation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Ukraine meets with President of the European Council in Japan President of Ukraine 20 May 2023 - 14:36 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of his working visit to Japan to participate in the G7 Summit, held a meeting with President of the European Council Charles Michel. The parties discussed the course of implementation of the European Commission's recommendations for opening negotiations regarding our country's accession to the European Union. At the meeting, particular attention was paid to the export restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products by some European Union states and the inadmissibility of their extension after June 5. Zelenskyy and Michel discussed concrete ways of implementing the Ukrainian Peace Formula and consolidating world support for Ukraine's peace initiative. The leaders coordinated their positions on the eve of the G7 Summit. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Ukraine holds meeting with Prime Minister of India in Japan President of Ukraine 20 May 2023 - 14:04 As part of a working visit to Japan to participate in the G7 Summit, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. The President thanked India for supporting our country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organizations. The Head of State also thanked India for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine. "The war brought many crises and suffering. Deported children, mined territories, destroyed cities, destroyed destinies," Zelenskyy said. The President spoke about Ukraine's needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals. The Head of State briefed Narendra Modi in detail on the Ukrainian Peace Formula and invited India to join the implementation of this initiative. For his part, the Prime Minister of India thanked for the help provided to Indian students during the evacuation from Ukraine because of the full-scale Russian invasion. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds meeting with Prime Minister of Italy in Japan President of Ukraine 20 May 2023 - 13:10 As part of a working visit to Japan to participate in the G7 Summit, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Prime Minister of the Italian Republic Giorgia Meloni. The parties noted the importance of continuing the dialogue between Ukraine and Italy on important issues of bilateral relations. Zelenskyy and Meloni also discussed the first results of the visit of the President of Ukraine to Italy, which took place on May 13. During the meeting, the defense and political support for our country from the Italian Republic was discussed. The President of Ukraine emphasized the need to improve the air defense capability, including flight training for our pilots. The leaders coordinated their positions on the eve of Zelenskyy's participation in the G7 Summit. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Ukraine meets with Prime Minister of the UK in Japan President of Ukraine 20 May 2023 - 12:42 As part of a working visit to Japan to participate in the G7 Summit, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak. The Head of State thanked the British Prime Minister for the leadership of the United Kingdom in the international fighter jet coalition. The parties discussed the further implementation of the agreements reached during the visit of the President of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, which took place on May 14. Zelenskyy and Sunak exchanged views on the development of bilateral relations between Ukraine and the United Kingdom and coordinated their positions on the eve of the participation of the Ukrainian Head of State in the G7 Summit. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Latest in Ukraine: Battle Over Bakhmut Grinds On in Ukraine By VOA News May 20, 2023 New developments: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Wagner Group, which claimed it took the besieged city of Bakhmut. Hours earlier, Ukraine said it still held part of the city, but it has not commented about the Wagner claim. Russia warns Western alliance they will face "colossal risks" if they provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Saturday. The Group of Seven rich nations announced support Saturday for gas investments, calling it a "temporary" step as they divest from Russian energy. The plan has dismayed climate activists, who say it may hurt climate objectives. The member states of the International Criminal Court expressed deep concern Saturday about Russia's decision to place ICC's prosecutor Karim Khan and several judges on a wanted list. The Kremlin's move came after The Hague-based ICC charged President Vladimir Putin in March with the war crime of illegally deporting children from Ukraine. Ukraine says fighting in Bakhmut continues to rage on, rejecting claims Saturday by Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin that his fighters have occupied the besieged city. In a video on the Telegram messaging app, Prigozhin claimed his forces fully captured the destroyed Ukrainian city. "Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken," he said. "We completely took the whole city, from house to house." Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated troops on capturing the city, Russia's state news agency said, citing the Kremlin's press service. The Wagner chief appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. Responding to Prigozhin's claims, Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters, "This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut." Kyiv, which had denied Prigozhin's claim earlier on Saturday, did not immediately respond to the Russian defense ministry's statement. Earlier, Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar called the situation in Bakhmut "critical," with the Ukrainian troops maintaining a defense in the southwestern part of the city. "As of now, our defenders control some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector," Maliar said on Telegram. Longest, bloodiest battle For almost 15 months, Bakhmut has been the focus of the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia's war in Ukraine. However, Prigozhin claimed his forces had full control of the city and insisted Wagner fighters would hand over Bakhmut to the regular Russian army by May 25. The Wagner boss also mockingly addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden, who are participating Saturday at the G-7 summit in Japan. "Today, when you see Biden kiss him on the top of his head, say hi to him from me," he said. British Defense intelligence said Saturday on Twitter that Moscow appeared to be sending reinforcements around Bakhmut, even though Russian troops are in short supply elsewhere. Moscow has indicated it views a Bakhmut victory as a springboard toward deeper advances into the Donbas region. But Prigozhin has acknowledged the eastern industrial city with a prewar population of 70,000 has little strategic significance, despite its key symbolic importance because of its large scale of losses in Europe's bloodiest ground battle since World War II. Russia threatens allies Russia threatened Western allies with "colossal consequences" if they provide F-16 jets to Ukraine. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko issued this warning Saturday while responding to a question about the implications such a move, the Russian state-run news agency Tass reported. The G-7 announced it will provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots to fly them. In a statement provided to VOA, a senior administration official said Friday that President Biden informed G-7 leaders the U.S. will support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian air force. French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this week when he and Zelenskyy met in Paris that France is ready to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s. Media reports said the training would likely take place in Europe and begin within weeks. Zelenskyy meets with G-7 Ukrainian President Zelenskyy arrived in Japan on Saturday to attend in-person diplomatic talks with the leaders of the seven wealthiest industrial nations. In a tweet, Zelenskyy wrote "Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine," and added "Peace will become closer today." U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Biden and Zelenskyy would meet at the G-7 Summit on Sunday. "It is necessary to improve [Ukraine's] air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots," Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By SA Commercial Prop News Murray & Roberts CEO Henry Laas says his group may have to try a second time to fix the leaking tunnels at Gautrain but has no idea how much the work will cost. The costs of repairing water ingress at Gautrain tunnel will be split between the partners in the Bombela Civil Joint Venture in which the lead contractor Murray & Roberts (M&R) has a largest shareholding. The JSE-listed construction and engineering group, Murray & Roberts may have to try a second time to fix the leaking tunnels but has no idea how much the work will cost, group CEO Henry Laas said last week on Thursday. He was speaking at a hastily convened conference call for company "stakeholders" after Wednesdays news that the arbitration process over water seepage on two sections of the tunnel had gone against the company. Mr Laas said it was the "objective of Bombela and the province to not interrupt the service if possible" but he could not rule out the possibility. But he stressed the tunnels safety was not compromised, repeating that the tunnel was "fit for purpose". The problem of "water ingress" has haunted the Gautrain project since the tunnels were completed four years ago. This weeks ruling by the Arbitration Federation of South Africa ended the fight between the Gautrain Management Agency, which manages the train on behalf of Gauteng, and Bombela. The federation agreed with the province that water seeping into the train tunnels does not meet the contractual specifications. The affected parts are between Park Station and E2, the emergency exit near the Wilds and between Marlboro and Rosebank. Mr Laas said "there is no obvious technical solution and for that reason our experts will now engage with government experts to see what can be done". Bombela must also cover the legal costs of the 15-month long arbitration battle over the interpretation of contractual requirements regarding "water ingress". Mr Laas said he did not know how much this would cost. The last time Murray & Roberts and its partners in the Bombela civil joint venture (which includes Bouygues and SPG) tried to halt the rate at which water was pouring into the tunnel, it cost R200m. The tunnel has been designed to allow for water to drain through it but it is doing this at a higher rate than the 10 litres per 10m a minute allowed for in the contract. Mr Laas said Murray & Roberts had not made any provision for the potential liability that could come from "water ingress" but the company was hoping to have greater clarity on the scope of the provision it would need to carry by February, or possibly June, depending on how quickly the work began with the province on finding a solution. The arbitration tribunal ruling had suggested that a financial settlement may be appropriate for the water ingress problems in the section of tunnel between Rosebank and Marlboro, he said. Murray & Robert hosted a separate call for analysts and investors earlier in the day. Avior Research analyst Dirk Noeth said it sounded as if the group would try to reach a financial settlement for both sections of tunnel that were identified as problematic. He said the risk of attempting to repair the tunnel was that it could have the same outcome as before, making a financial settlement more attractive. "If you listen to (Mr) Laas, he seems of the opinion they are going to go for a settlement rather than try to work through it even if they go and try to fix it, they might still not be able to. If you go and try to regrout it you are not guaranteed you will be able to manage the water ingress to the contracted level," he said. NEW YORK, May 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE) Lifshitz Law PLLC announces an investigation into possible breach of fiduciary duties in connection with the merger of OKE and Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. Under the terms of the proposed merger, each Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. unitholder will receive $25.00 in cash and 0.6670 shares of OKE common stock for each common unit of Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. owned. If you are an OKE investor, and would like additional information about our investigation, please complete the Information Request Form or contact Joshua Lifshitz, Esq. by telephone at (516)493-9780 or e-mail at info@lifshitzlaw.com . Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE: MMP) Lifshitz Law PLLC announces an investigation into possible breach of fiduciary duties in connection with the merger of MMP and ONEOK, Inc. Under the terms of the proposed merger, each MMP unitholder will receive $25.00 in cash and 0.6670 shares of ONEOK, Inc. common stock for each common unit of MMP owned. If you are a MMP investor, and would like additional information about our investigation, please complete the Information Request Form or contact Joshua Lifshitz, Esq. by telephone at (516)493-9780 or e-mail at info@lifshitzlaw.com . Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM) Lifshitz Law PLLC announces an investigation into possible breach of fiduciary duties in connection with the merger of NEM and Newcrest Mining Ltd. Following the merger, pre-merger Newmont shareholders are expected to own approximately 69.0% of the outstanding equity of the combined company. If you are a NEM investor, and would like additional information about our investigation, please complete the Information Request Form or contact Joshua Lifshitz, Esq. by telephone at (516)493-9780 or e-mail at info@lifshitzlaw.com . ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2023 Lifshitz Law PLLC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Lifshitz Law PLLC, 1190 Broadway, Hewlett, New York 11557, Tel: (516)493-9780. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. Contact: Singapore, May 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We are advised by Metagame Industries that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, "Web3 Game Studio Metagame Industries raises Strategic Funding Round at a Nearly $100 Million Valuation" issued May 19, 2023 11:32 ET, over GlobeNewswire. NEW YORK, May 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers and acquirers of the securities of Stem, Inc. f/k/a Star Peak Energy Transition Corp. (NYSE: STEM, STEM.WT, STPK.U): (i) pursuant and/or traceable to the offering documents issued in connection with the merger (Merger) consummated on April 28, 2021 by and among the Company, STPK Merger Sup Corp. (Merger Sub), and Stem, Inc., (Legacy Stem); and/or (ii) between March 4, 2021 and February 16, 2023, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), of the important July 11, 2023 lead plaintiff deadline. SO WHAT: If you purchased Stem securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Stem class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=16161 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 11, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. DETAILS OF THE CASE: Throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, the offering documents and defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Legacy Stem suffered from material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting related to accounting for deferred cost of goods sold and inventory, certain revenue recognition calculations, and internal-use capitalized software calculations; (2) the Company had overstated Legacy Stems and its own post-Merger business and financial prospects; (3) Stems software revenue did not make up 100% of the Companys services revenue; (4) Stem had overstated the benefits expected to flow from its AP partnership; and (5) as a result, the offering documents and defendants public statements throughout the Class Period were materially false and/or misleading and failed to state information required to be stated therein. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Stem class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=16161 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. ------------------------------- Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 lrosen@rosenlegal.com pkim@rosenlegal.com cases@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com By SA Commercial Prop News Elim Shopping Mall in Limpopo Province Following the approval of a R175 million finance deal by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, the more than 80% of people within the Elim catchment area who currently shop in other cities, will soon enjoy shopping convenience on their doorstep. A new community shopping centre, Elim Mall, will bring comprehensive, targeted convenience and fashion shopping to the residents of Elim in the Limpopo province. The new mall, being developed by Twin City Development, is ideally located on the bustling intersection of the R578 and Levubu main roads the cross roads to Louis Trichardt, Giyani and Levubu. Situated across the road from Elim Hospital, the mall will take centre stage in the area in which all commercial activity in Elim and surrounding areas is currently focused. Featuring 18 627m2 of gross lettable area (GLA) of retail space, the R202 million Elim Mall will be anchored by a 3 500m2 Shoprite store and a 2 300m2 Boxer store. The first phase, set to open in April 2013, will feature around 50 stores. The mall will also offer 884 parking bays, a new taxi rank with 72 bays serving over 110 taxis, as well as a bus drop off and collection area and will provide easy access for local commuters. In addition, the development will encompass a well-positioned Engen service station as well as a KFC Drive-Thru. The acquisition of adjacent land by Twin City enables it to extend the centre up to 45 000m2 GLA to satisfy future retail demand. "Drawing on its expertise and experience as the market leader in the commercial property finance industry, Nedbank Corporate Property Finance tailored a custom-made finance deal for Twin City Developments, enabling the company to proceed with this exciting new development," says Ken Reynolds, regional executive: Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, Gauteng. "Twin City Development pioneered retail in previously disadvantaged townships and has achieved unrivalled success. They are well-respected in the industry for their ability to deliver projects of this magnitude and we are pleased to be their finance partner of choice for this development. We believe that Elim Mall, with its mix of market-matched retailers, will create a relevant and appealing retail option for Elim residents as well as others in the catchment area, and will be yet another successful development for Twin City Development and for Nedbank Corporate Property Finance as its finance partner." Twin City Development owns retail developments such as Blue Haze Mall in Hazyview, Twin City Mall in Burgersfort and Twin City Mall Bushbuckridge. The impressive development team assembled for the Elim Mall project includes stalwarts in the local property development industry, including Matla QS & Project Managers, Leon Jacobs Architects (Pty) Ltd, KBK Engineers (Pty) Ltd, Pretocon, RPC Electrical, as well as Ikotwe Construction and Developlan. Retail Network Services is the appointed retail leasing company. "Nedbank Corporate Property Finance is proud to be part of this significant property development, which will extend the limited retail offerings currently available in Elim and thus keep retail spend in the town. This will contribute to ongoing job creation and to economic empowerment of the community. In addition to the jobs created for the ongoing operation of the mall, a centre of this size also generates many retail job opportunities. Given the superb location on a bustling intersection, with high traffic volumes and excellent exposure, and the strong development team, we believe that this development will bring a significant economic boost to the local community, benefitting and empowering all stakeholders involved," concludes Reynolds. Sarkodie, high school tour & critics Arnold Asamoah Baidoo Showbiz News May - 21 - 2023 , 07:39 WHEN you sit on that pedestal as a venerated and most decorated artiste in Ghana, every step, every endeavour of yours is placed under some scrutiny. It therefore comes as no surprise that Sarkodie embarks on a high school tour and it elicits a deluge of sentimentsmost being negative and discouraging. Sarkodie is collaborating with High School Clique and Eagleplug Ghana to venture into a space where most A-list entertainers are failing to explore and exploit, especially in their prime. In the current dispensation where fan base has become a necessary evil, even when one artiste is on an exemplary and laudable cause, they are ridiculed instead of being applauded and unfortunately, such vitriol are shared and trumpeted by ignoramuses who are on the prowl to criticise. Critics Say When Sarkodie announced the High School Tour, it was met with some ambivalence and then cynicism, which got worse when he actually started the tour. The commencement of the tour coincided with the staging of the renowned international fashion gathering, the MET Gala, which was attended by Nigerian music stars, Burna Boy and Tems. While some were chiding Sarkodie for going to the High Schools instead of gracing the MET Gala platform like his contemporaries, others were scolding him for stooping low to perform for teenagers. Their argument stems from the fact that, with his status, pedigree and acclaim, Sarkodie ought to be performing to audience at bigger venues and not to minors at Elementary Schools. High School Fans Matter Sarkodie is one of the most popular artistes in Ghana and across Africa. He has such an inestimable influence and commands an enviable following across the country. He has sold millions of albums, topped the charts and has been producing hit songs for the past 13 years. From toddlers through to teenagers to the old folks, the artiste is popular and his songs have resonated in households for years. Interestingly, these teeming teenagers in High School are fans of Sarkodie too and have been bumping to his fans as long as they have lived. The adoration and admiration they have for the artiste was evident as he has performed in two or so schools thus far. The teenagers sang along and bellowed every chorus with such enthusiasm and vervemore animated than the VIP guests Sarkodie performed to at the just-ended VGMA. Any artiste, regardless of pedigree and class would envy the level of attention and zest these teenagers have shown thus far during this tour. They surely matter! A Cause, A Business On paper, Sarkodie and his collaborators are tackling a critical matter with the tour. Aside the musical element that comes with it; the Take A Stand initiative aims at encouraging students to take good advantage of todays Internet and walk on paths devoid of its negatives. Clearly, the Gen Z are heavy on the Internet, which comes with both positives and negatives and as youngsters, its imperative to guide them to tap into the positives to better themselves and whatever endeavours they choose to tinker with. Subtly, the artiste is also taking advantage of zealous consumers of music and selling his songs and brand to them in such a good way. According to www.headphonesaddict.com, 70 percent- 90 percent of music lovers who are likely to stream music across the world are in the age bracket of 13-23 across the world. The same research indicates that 61 percent of millennials (age 25-34) are the most likely to pay for a music streaming subscription while 60 percent Gen Z (age 13-23) are the most likely to pay for a music streaming. Only a business savvy artiste and a proactive team would see such an opportunity and exploit it. Nothing New Under The Sun It is quite laughable to see and hear some ignoramuses debase Sarkodie over the tour when they couldnt expend minutes of their time to check if such a move is abhorrent in any creative industry. In 2009, Jay-Z has had a string of chart-topping hits and had released the album The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse and unexpectedly, he decided to promote it in a unique wayat a time when most artistes at the height of their career would normally spend time playing concerts at large venues to further promote their music. What he did was to tour high schools with an initiative he called, Principal for a Day tour. Last year, rapper Jack Harlow visited several high schools in the US, to showcase his music and test the popularity of his brand. From Highland Middle School, Atherton High School, all the way to Fern Creek High School, the rapper toured close to 10 high schools to hang out with the teenagers. The same year, Chance the Rapper announced touring 20 schools; to project his tech summit/brand engagement session while dishing out chart-topping songs from his catalog. Support After 13 years on top, Sarkodie is still clearly in his prime and has the potential of stretching his fan base even to newborn babies. He has proven to be an astute business man who has such grasp on the business that shrouds the music industry. He knows exactly what works for his brand. After Yaa Asantewa Girls, St. Marys Girls and Aburi Girls School, he is expected to do Mfantsiman Girls, Achimota School, St. Theresas School and Ghana National College. That is not all though. After his American tour, SarkNation, High School Clique and Eagleplug Ghana will put together more schools to have a feel of the Take A Stand initiative. Way to go, King Sark! Artificial Intelligence Mainstreaming in our Society: Is Ghana Prepared? Kwami Ahiabenu, II (Ph.D.) Opinion May - 21 - 2023 , 08:05 Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most profound innovations of our time. Artificial Intelligence can be described as an inanimate object's ability, such as a machine, to display intelligence akin to human behaviour and intellect. In this direction, a machine can perform speech recognition, solve complex problems, undertake translations and interpretations, perform high-level computations, and make decisions without human intervention. AI can be classified based on what it can do; we can have Narrow AI, also known as weak AI, which performs a narrowly defined set of specific tasks without any thinking ability. Another type of AI is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), also called strong AI, where machines can think and make decisions similar to humans. There are currently no existing examples of Strong AI; however, it is believed that we will soon be able to create machines as smart as humans. The most advanced form of AI is known as Artificial Super Intelligence ( ASI), where the capabilities of machines are expected to surpass human intelligence; currently, it is a future and hypothetical proposition. According to Grand View Research the global artificial intelligence market size is USD 136.55 billion in 2022. Also it is estimated that AI can contribute over US$1.5 billion to Africa's GDP by 2030. Ghana, like the rest of the world, is also deploying AI in various facets of its society. However, we are yet to record any revolutionary application of AI, although there is a beehive of activities around AI in Ghana, including training, policy formulation initiatives (National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2023-2033), startups focusing on AI solutions provision and Ghana is the home of Googles first artificial intelligence (AI) lab in Africa. All over the world, countries are racing to put in mechanisms which can ensure they can leverage the power of AI as a strategic tool for enhancing their national vision. As this happens, the European Union is developing an AI law, which when approved, will be the worlds first attempt at creating rules to govern AI. The provision in the AI Act includes bans on biometric surveillance, emotion recognition, predictive policing AI systems, tailor-made regimes for general-purpose AI and foundation models like GPT, and provision of a complaint mechanism about AI systems. The goal of this new AI law is to ensure a human-centric and ethical development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Europe, based on risk-management rules for AI systems. Regarding AI preparedness, Ghana is taking baby steps to ensure it is not left behind in the AI race. The fundamental challenge remains in key areas, such as how to take AI conversations to the grassroots level, enabling a bottom-up approach to AI mainstreaming, thereby creating the environment for AI to be made more inclusive and part and parcel of our society. That being said, situating AI policy in typical tech government ministry will constrict Ghanas ability to mainstream AI into every fabric of society significantly because AI is much more complex and multidisciplinary in nature. It would be prudent for policy makers to take a distributed policy approach whereby all sectors of the economy are part and parcel of AI policy development with the office of the president playing a coordinating role while working hand in hand with the legislative and judiciary arms of government. The establishment of a well-resourced independent AI Commission for Ghana can become an impetus to drive Ghanas vision of using AI as a tool for development. The success of the AI commission will be based on its ability to create distributed offices integrated into Ghanas local government machinery. Also, a critical enabler of rapid AI solutions development in Ghana is the facilitation of the nexus of education, private sector, research and government working hand in hand to ensure innovative AI applications instead of working in silos. Ghana could establish itself as the centre of excellence in AI capacity building for Africa and the rest of the world, but as yet there are a myriad of skills and knowledge needing to be built for Ghana to attain this status. Further, AI requires specialised technological infrastructure to drive its uptake. This infrastructure is quite expensive to acquire and operationalize for a country such as Ghana, although the country can rely on third-party infrastructure elsewhere, it must ultimately invest in cutting-edge AI infrastructure to ensure seamless development of home-grown AI solutions. In conclusion, AI is evolving at the speed of light, and the country needs to accelerate its policy-making process, set up enabling legislative environment, create a conducive ecosystem for AI applications to strive, develop its human capital in AI and, more importantly, ensure responsible, ethical and humane application of AI to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to AI. The writer, Dr Kwami Ahiabenu, II is a Technology Innovations Consultant Chief Justice inaugurates 2 courts in Greater Accra Benjamin Xornam Glover, Justice Agbenorsi & Jemima Okang Addae May - 20 - 2023 , 11:08 The Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, has inaugurated two courts in the Greater Accra Region to expand access to justice in the region. They are a complex housing a High Court and a Circuit Court at Gbetsile in the Kpone Katamanso Municipality, and a District Court at Gbese in the Accra Metropolis. All the courts were funded through the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and are part of a project by the government to build 120 courts and 150 bungalows for the judiciary throughout the country to address the infrastructure deficit of the judiciary and also bring justice delivery to the doorsteps of the people. The land for the Gbetsile court complex was provided by the Gbetsile Traditional Council, while the Gbese Mantse and Adonten of the Ga State, Nii Ayi-Bonte II, provided the land for the court at Gbese on behalf of the stool. With the inauguration of the court at Gbese, proceedings at the Adjabeng District Court in Accra Central will now be heard at the new court to pave the way for renovation works. Gbetsile court The court complex at Gbetsile, which houses a High Court and a Circuit Court, will handle cases within the Kpone Katamanso Municipality and surrounding communities. Hitherto, people had to travel long distances to Tema and Ashaiman for judicial services. Justice Anin Yeboah expressed appreciation to the Kpone Katamanso Municipal Assembly and all stakeholders, including the Gbetsile Traditional Council, for their contributions to addressing the challenges of access to justice in the municipality. He said the court facility in the area would not only ensure access to justice but also attract businesses to the municipality as investors and businesses would have easy access to courts to help resolve disputes. Justice Anin Yeboah urged the Judicial Service staff who would be manning the court to exhibit a high sense of professionalism in the delivery of their mandate. The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, admonished the traditional authorities and the general public to patronise the courts and desist from settling cases that have to be properly adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction. He also asked the judicial service to collaborate with the municipal assembly to ensure strict enforcement of sanitation bye-laws to help facilitate the Operation Clean Your Frontage campaign by the Greater Accra Coordinating Council. Gbese court At Gbese, Justice Anin Yeboah bemoaned the unavailability of land in Accra for the construction of the courts. He, therefore, commended Nii Ayi-Bonte II, for providing the land for the project The Judiciary, he said, was committed to building a system of justice that assured litigants of efficiency and timely delivery of justice. Nii Ayi-Bonte II commended the Chief Justice for spearheading the projects and gave assurance that the Gbese stool would provide land for administrative structures such as police stations, courts and hospitals. For her part, the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Elizabeth K Sackey, said violence should not be an option in seeking redress to disputes or disagreements. Fire destroys stores at Circle Graphic.com.gh May - 21 - 2023 , 19:05 Fire has destroyed a number of stores at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra. The fire is reported to have started around 1pm Sunday, May 21, 2023. Personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service with support from the police are currently on site dousing the fire. An Officer from the Public Relations Department of the at the GNFS Headquarters, Assistant Divisional Officer (ADO) II, Alex King Nartey, who spoke to Graphic Online said, the fire team was doing their best to extinguish the fire. "As a service, when we come on site our main priority is to reduce damage and where the stores are situated, there is a fuel filling station close by so we are doing our very best to prevent the fire from reaching that side," he said More to follow..... NDC primaries, matters arising Dr John Osae-Kwapong Politics May - 20 - 2023 , 11:14 Last Saturday, May 13, 2023, Ghanas main opposition political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), held its primaries to select a flag bearer and parliamentary candidates for the 2024 election. A few days before the scheduled date, it was not certain whether the primaries would proceed as planned or not. One of the contestants in the flag bearer race, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, sought an injunction to restrain the party from moving ahead with the primaries till a number of concerns raised by his campaign team were resolved. Following a meeting with the partys leadership and representatives from the various campaign teams in the flagbearer race, the Electoral Commission (EC) announced that they would not supervise the elections until all legal challenges had been resolved. In the end, the suit was withdrawn. Not only that; Dr Duffuor withdrew from the race. The EC proceeded to supervise the primaries which were generally conducted peacefully and successfully. Mahama In the lead-up to the primary, I pondered what the NDC party delegates would be seeking in a flag bearer. Firstly, I believed that as delegates considered their options, the overriding question was, Which candidate is best positioned to lead the party to victory in the next election? To answer this question, delegates needed to weigh the political assets and liabilities of each of the candidates. Among the three well, ultimately two choices delegates had, former President John Mahama stood tall because of one crucial political asset - experience. He entered the race with both executive (as a president, vice-president and minister) and legislative experience as a former Member of Parliament. He had, therefore, participated in the governance of the country from two important institutional vantage points of leadership. Another important political asset he brought to the race was his commitment to the party which he had maintained in good and bad times. As a keen observer of Ghanaian politics, it was quite remarkable to see the mileage accumulated by his campaign as he visited all regions and constituencies, cultivating the necessary relationships with party members. Clearly, the relationships he was cultivating, and deepening went beyond his desire to win the primary. More importantly, it served as an indication of a commitment to present a party read/y to wrestle power from its main political rivals. The public discourse compared the flag bearer race to a coronation. Be that as it may, as a candidate waiting for his coronation, he surely did not take the party delegates for granted. Nevertheless, he had to contend with his history of leading the party into elections as its flag bearer one win (2012), one accepted loss (2016) and one disputed loss (2020). I must however note that the political landscape he had to contend with in 2016 and 2020 were different and will be different in 2024. Save for a miracle, I did not see anyone emerging as the partys flag bearer and truly when it was all over, the former president won 98 per cent of the votes cast. Now the question is, who will the NPP select to run against him? In November, we will know the answer. Parliamentary races Often in primaries, the flag bearer race tends to overshadow the parliamentary primaries. This year, however, I observed that the parliamentary primaries took on a different level of importance. Considering the almost evenly matched parliament, and the near contentious nature of trying to pass key legislation, ensuring a solid majority, and having the right candidates to do that, was surely on the minds of delegates. Some incumbents went uncontested, some retained while others were replaced. Ultimately, the hope of the party, I am certain, is that the parliamentary candidates who prevailed are those who can guarantee it the needed solid majority to win the 2024 election. Next phase Indeed, party primaries are very competitive. Inadvertently, the competition may produce some grievances in the process which can linger on when the contest ends. I always say to political parties that manner in which these grievances are addressed post-primaries is crucial. Every party wants one thing unity as they go into an election. However, there are things that can chip away at that unity. Hopefully, with the primaries over, the party can march forward in unison as it tries to unseat the incumbent in the 2024 general election. This is where the onus is on the party leadership to smoothen any rough edges that may have emerged during the primaries. As the flag bearer said,from today, right here, in this hall of the University for Development Studies, I declare that the internal competition for the Flag bearer position is over and proceeded to advise We must flip the coin from competition to cooperation. We need cooperation to build a better Ghana and a better NDC. Kudos to the NDC for a successful primary. The writer is a fellow of Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana). World Meets Chinese Tea Culture | China, the home of tea 13:21, May 21, 2023 By Chang Sha, Xian Jiangnan, Peng Yukai, Du Mingming, Su Yingxiang ( People's Daily Online China, the home of tea, enjoys a time-honored tea culture. For thousands of years, Chinese people have been planting, picking, making and drinking tea. Tea producers have developed six categories of tea: green, yellow, dark, white, oolong and black teas. Together with reprocessed teas, such as flower-scented teas, the number of tea products comes to over 2,000. In China, every step of the process, from picking tea leaves to taking in the tea aroma, has its own tradition. Brewing tea requires subtle control of water temperature, quality, volume and timing. Savoring tea begins with taking a deep breath of the tea aroma. Then, you observe the tea color, take a sip of the tea, and finally examine the remaining tea leaves. Today, giving tea to guests remains an essential part of Chinese etiquette. In ancient times, Chinese tea travelled to different corners of the world through routes like the ancient Silk Road and the ancient Tea Horse Road. Today, it still serves as an important bond between China and the rest of the world, and between the past and the present. (Web editor: Zhang Wenjie, Du Mingming) by Gamini Weerakoon Moves for the resurrection of the Lotus Bud Party (Pohottuwa) of the Rajapaksas are already under way. Stories about international conspiracies even involving superpowers are many to exculpate former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who abdicated his power without a word to his constituents. Gotabaya is projected as an innocent, well intentioned man who fell victim to this conspiracy. Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rakapaksa, brothers served as President of Sri Lanka [ File Photo of Sri Lanka Guardian] Explanation has also not been forthcoming from the political patriarch of the Lotus Bud Party (Pohottuwa), Mahinda Rajapaksa who swept the polls in 2020, after brother Gotabayas victory, polling 59 percent of the votes and 145 seats in parliament and was the Prime Minister. Gotabaya, his propagandists still keep reminding us, polled 52.25 percent of the votes cast. He polled 6.9 million votes, we are told. Before considering the international conspiracies which are as entertaining as the best-selling thrillers of well-known writers, it would be logical to call upon both brothers President and Prime Minister for their reasons on why they quit office without even telling the mat they were sleeping on (Paduratawath kiyanne nethuwa) as the Sinhala aphorism goes. The party and government spokesman for the Ranil-Rajapaksa regime, Bandula Gunawardene has come out with a sketchy description of an international conspiracy while claiming that the Sri Lanka media had failed to expose the conspiracy against his Lotus party regime hatched by the aragalaya. Never mind if the government media spokesman arrived at the truth one year after the event. He should also go back to the time Gotabaya was mapping out his strategy to win the presidential election. There was the much publicised manifesto under the grandiose heading: Visions of Prosperity (Saubagya Dekma) in which it was said that these visions of prosperity were formulated after detailed research conducted by his think tanks like Vyath Maga. Whatever happened to these visions after the 19th Amendment with which he vested himself with executive powers that no Sri Lankan leader has had ? Did Gota, the former Lt. Col of the Sri Lankan army drop proposals of his think tanks and imagined he was viewing a military parade where those in uniforms react spontaneously like zombies to commands barked out at them. Those on parade, in his vision may have appeared to be the citizens of Sri Lanka. When he told an audience of provincial administrators that they need not wait for administrative orders to come down to them through official channels but the pronouncements he made to them verbally were sufficient, he appeared to be like that Corporal of the Kaisers army on becoming the leader of the Nazi Socialist Party, ranting away. And what happened to the Lotus Bud party visionary, Mahinda Rajapaksa with his Mahinda Chintanaya who was his Prime Minister? He went along with his brother all the way, taking along other family members who held key cabinet portfolios, till the day of reckoning. Answers to these questions are needed from the mouths of the two horses who galloped Lanka into disaster, not the vague theory of Bandula Gunawardene, which is hard to discern. Why did the former Lt.Col. who was not known to be slow on the draw, as was evident at the Rathipaswela shooting, not order a crackdown on a group of unarmed protestors disturbing him at the Presidential Secretariat for weeks? Why did he not retaliate when his private residence was besieged and the Presidents House overrun by the masses and finally flee the country to apparently nowhere? Was there a crack in the unity of the Rajapaksa family that led to its downfall? Are brothers Rajapaksa now no longer united? How come they are united to keep the family party intact? Are the brothers Rajapaksa at loggerheads and demanding that Gota be made the scapegoat? Why did his loyal army not move to his rescue when besieged and why was the loyal War Winning General in the Land of Hanuman and not at home at this most critical moment? Did intervention of foreign powers result in his debacle? These are questions which both the former President and former Prime Minister are committed to provide answers to the millions who voted for them to make real their Visions of Prosperity before attempting to stage a political resurrection. Gamini Weerakoon is a former editor of The Sunday Island, The Island, and consultant editor of the Sunday Leader. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) at the University of Bayreuth. The interdisciplinary research of nanostructured functional materials is expected to revolutionize the performance of batteries, solar cells, fuel cells and photocatalysts, thereby opening new perspectives for a sustainable energy economy. The starting point for material-based innovations is a holistic view of the transport of electrons, ions, molecules and heat, and their interactions in the materials. The new CRC 1585 MultiTranswill receive a total of around 11 million from the DFG over the next four years. The CRC 1585 MultiTrans (an abbreviation for Structured functional materials for multiple transport in nanoscale confinements) is based on the observation that the structuring of materials on the nanometer scale has a decisive influence on how electrons, ions, molecules and heat travel within them. Initially, the research will focus on these four important carrier types, which flow simultaneously but not necessarily in the same direction. Nanostructuring generates a variety of interactions between the carrier flows, the materials, and the involved interfaces. Such interactions, which have by far not been understood, are the focus of the CRC. The synergistic research within the endeavor that relates the behaviour of electrons, ions, molecules and heat is expected to lead to a vital and fundamental understanding of transport in tailored environments. The latest scientific methods, e.g. from the field of artificial intelligence, will support these analyses. The long-term vision of the CRC is to be able to control all transport streams in nanostructured materials in a targeted and coordinated manner. The CRC MultiTrans pools expertise in natural sciences and engineering spanning nine research disciplines at the University of Bayreuth. Research partners at the University of Augsburg, the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Ulm complement this rich spectrum of knowledge. The CRC is establishing a Transport Academy to strengthen the synergies between the researchers. It will guide and support the coordinated work within the multidisciplinary research groups. In addition, it will analyze and evaluate new research findings in relation to the overarching research goals of the CRC. A special focus is on fostering scientific talents in cooperation with the University of Bayreuths WiN Academy, which offers a broad range of services to support scholars at all individual career stages from doctoral studies to junior professorships. At the core of the CRC's support for Early Career Researchers is a new Research Training Group on the topic of Transport in Structured Materials: It will strengthen scientific excellence and subject-related soft skills, but also the personal development of doctoral students. It is integrated into the Bayreuth Graduate School for Mathematics and Natural Sciences (BayNAT) and thus is part of the University of Bayreuth Graduate School. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is coming in late July according to latest reports and there's already a good amount of information about it, so we decided to organize it here. Some things about the Galaxy Z Fold5 are a given at this point. It's going to be a book-style foldable with two 120Hz-capable displays, a triple camera on the back, the best possible chipset inside, and IPX8 waterproofing. New hinge Let's start off with the design. The biggest complaint when it comes to the Galaxy Z Fold is the gap that's left when you close the phone. Reports claim that Samsung is finally ready to fix this with a new hinge design that will close down flat. The new gapless design is more or less confirmed at this point. And, the new hinge addresses the other complaint with the Galaxy Z Fold series (and most of its competitors) - the crease in the middle of the display. The new hinge mechanism will see the folding display form a droplet shape inside the hinge when folded, eliminating the need for a crease. Weve already seen similar approaches with the Moto Razr and Oppo Find N series. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 Body and displays Those that are hoping for a more compact Galaxy Z Fold5 compared to the Z Fold4 are seemingly out of luck. Reports suggest that the new foldable will have very similar dimensions to the ongoing one. Z Fold5 will measure 154.9 x 129.9 x 6.1mm in its unfolded state and 154.9 x 67.1 x 13.4 mm when folded. The upcoming device is said to weigh 254 grams which is 9 grams less than the Z Fold4. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 Multiple reports peg the external display to retain the 6.2-inch diagonal as that of the Galaxy Z Fold4. Whether it will have the same tall and narrow aspect ratio remains to be seen. There's still no word on the specs of the inner display but there's good reason to believe it will be a 7.6-inch panel as the current one. The same cover screen No S Pen slot It's very much certain that the Galaxy Z Fold5's internal screen will support S Pen input, but the phone won't have a built-in slot for the stylus. Fitting one would require a drastic redesign and the Fold5 is clearly shaping to be more of an evolutionary step. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 will use the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Last year, the S22 Ultra had an Exynos 2200 or a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, while the Galaxy Z Fold4 used the more efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, it seems this year there won't be a discrepancy in chipsets. Cameras Samsung will most likely stick with the 50MP ISOCELL GN3 sensor from the Galaxy Z Fold4 as the main unit for the Galaxy Z Fold5. That leaves room for speculation whether Samsung will make improvements on the two selfie cameras, the ultrawide, and the 3x zoom. The sights, sounds and smell of Micronesian pride permeated throughout the expansive Great Lawn at Honolulus Bishop Museum, host again this year to the annual Celebrate Micronesia Festival on Saturday. As youths in bright yellow skirts with red sashes tied around their waists chanted in rhythm while pounding wooden poles on stage under the main tent, a few yards away the smoke from Jeremy Quengas grill wafted up and over into the crowd, luring festivalgoers to the Jeramiahs Island Fusion booth with the alluring aroma of Guam barbecue. Quenga took a moment from filling plates with red rice, barbecue, and hagun suni to share why hes attended several of the festivals over the years: We love to introduce the local people of the Hawaiian Islands to Chamoru style food. We love to come out and support our Micronesian islands and put on our culture at the end of the day and show love through our food. More than 500 people had shown up by 11:30 a.m. and more were expected before the events closing at 3 p.m., according to Taylour Chang, museum director of public programs and community engagement. Today we are hosting all of our cousins from the Pacific, many of them are here today from Micronesia especially but also from Melanesia as well, said museum CEO Dee Jay Mailer. Its something about our Pacific people, we all hang out together, we all collect together in order to do wonderful work. Today were going to be looking at all kinds of different talents from the different parts of Micronesia. The museum hosts the event in partnership with East-West Centers Pacific Islands Development Program, which is led by Guams Mary Therese Perez Hattori. Were very happy this year to have some new elements to this festival: a group of weavers who are from Kona, originally from the Marshall Islands we also have a group from Kona and Hilo representing Yapese communities Remathau, the people of the sea (of Yaps outer islands), and the four islands of Yap proper, Hattori said. Joining the Marshallese and Yapese craftswomen at the weaving tent were Kacey Bejado and Arisa Barcinas, who were doing double duty as representatives of Guahan at the Marianas booth under the main tent and as demonstrators to festivalgoers who wanted to learn weaving techniques. Its nice being at the Marianas tent and representing Guam there because we can talk about how Guam is part of the Marianas; some people kind of dont get that, Bejado said. Another CHamoru participating in the festival is Haani Lucia Falo San Nicolas, an East-West Center Foundation Scholar and poet who was scheduled to take the stage to share works that highlight her experience as a CHamoru and Samoan woman. Several of the poems are featured in publications by the University of Guam Press and the Academy of American Poets, according to the Celebrate Micronesia Facebook page, while others are part of her future collection as a 2023 Hawai'i Review artist in residence. Other CHamorus from the Marianas also were in attendance, including Liana Hofschneider of Saipan, who was answering questions about the region at the Marianas booth. Im so happy to be here to share our culture as a CHamoru, Hofschneider said. This is a good engagement to educate some of the people around our region that our neighbors (to) talk about some of our issues, our successes and our challenges. The service of fallen local, federal and military law enforcement officers were remembered by family, friends, colleagues and others, during the 2023 Peace Officers Memorial Service and Wreath Laying Ceremony held in Hagatna on May 15, 2023. by Tisaranee Gunasekara Not only our actions, but also our inactions, become our destiny. ~ Heinrich Zimmer (The King and the Corpse) This week marked the 14th anniversary of the ending of the long Eelam War. This week also saw the re-emergence of BBS head-honcho Galgoda-Atte Gnanasara to save the nation from that enterprising entrepreneur-of-cloth, Pastor Jerome Fernando. Much verbal thundering was heard warning of a new religious war. Later in the week, a bunch of Sinhala-Buddhist extremists crashed into a ceremony at the Borella Cemetery held in the memory of all the war-dead. They condemned the event as a commemoration of the Tigers, probably on the grounds that those Tamils who died in the war (especially in the Rajapaksas Humanitarian Operation with zero-civilian casualties) were Tigers, right down to babies and toddlers. The week ended with another group of lay-and-monk warriors gathering by the Buddha statue outside the Fort Railway Station, pledging to protect rata, jathiya, and agama. Fortunately, ordinary Lankans, immersed in the real struggle for economic survival, ignored these theatrics, turning what could have been explosions into damp squibs. The ending of the long Eelam War brought neither peace nor prosperity even for the triumphant Sinhalese. The much awaited peace dividend was swallowed by a defence establishment that continued expanding. The Rajapaksas treated the entire Tamil population of the North and parts of the East like enemy aliens, locking up every man, woman, and child in open air prison camps called Welfare Villages (Indian and international pressure eventually compelled them to abandon this policy of mass incarceration). When the cry of the Undead Tiger failed to impress the South, the regime sought other enemies, flirting with alien Christians before settling on Encroaching Muslims. The harvest of that toxic seeding was reaped in April 2019, three weeks short of the 10th anniversary of Eelam Wars ending. The war was unnecessary, preventable. Every step towards it was motivated not by national necessity or even popular demand. The motive force was the hellish union between political opportunism and religio-racial extremism. As the events of the last week indicate, that union is far from dead and its current partners are waiting impatiently to return to political mainstream. Unchastened by our blood-soaked history, they want to repeat it. Until 1955-56, Lankan politics was cleavaged by class. That classic divide left little electoral space for SWRD Bandaranaikes ambitions. His newly formed SLFP had challenged the UNP and lost in 1952. In the 1953 Hartal that shook the nation and forced a government to flee, he was an onlooker. The left had a real chance to form a government at the next election, especially if its fractured components could bring themselves to work together. Had Lanka taken that path, there would have been no Sinhala Only, no Sri riots of 1958, no Black July, and no 25-year war. SWRD Bandaranaike was clever enough to know that in a political battlefield divided along class lines he couldnt prevail and unscrupulous enough to adopt the noxious race+religion=nation equation as his signature policy. He accepted the Buddhist Commission report in toto. Monks formed Eksath Bhikshu Peramuna and engaged in house-to-house campaigning to ensure his victory. Our tragedy is littered with paths not taken. The Buddha Jayanthi of 1956 could have been celebrated by focusing on what the Buddha taught, and by commencing a process of spiritual renaissance. Instead, under the guise of restoring Buddhism to its pre-colonial glory, Tripitaka was abandoned for Mahawamsa and the core Buddhist values of compassion, non-violence, and moderation replaced with hate, violence, and extremism. Buddhists monks in Colombo, Sri Lanka [ Photo: Xinhua] The Buddhist Commission Reports title was The Betrayal of Buddhism. The real betrayal had come from within, the work of monks and kings. A universalist teaching had been ghettoised into the exclusive preserve of a single race. A teaching that explicitly rejected caste has been distorted by embedding caste discrimination into its very heart. The Buddhist Commission report could have chartered a course to return debased Lankan Buddhism into what the Buddha taught by ridding it of the twin perversions of race and caste. Instead it ignored the division of a single monkhood into caste-based nikayas (a distortion created by a Kandyan king) and focused on entrenching the racial ghettoisation of Buddhism. 1956 might have become a year of true nation-building. Buddhism, cleansed of distortions, could have become a binding agent for a nascent Lankan nation. Instead, an unholy alliance of monks and politicians turned Buddhism into an agent of division. 67 years later, that spectre continues to haunt us. Fiction and Unfiction In January this year, an outcry was heard about a fake Temple of the Tooth being built in Pothuhera in Kurunegala by a man who called himself a Bodhisatva (a future Buddha a tad like Prophet Jerome). People were donating money and jewellery to fund this edifice, the media claimed. Donations were pouring in from here and abroad. The prelates of Malwatte and Asgiriya together with the Diyawadana Nilame of the Temple of the Tooth wrote to the president seeking political intervention against this fakery. (Incidentally, the chief prelates of other two nikayas did not sign the letter as caste bars them from playing any role in rituals surrounding the tooth relic). The facts were telling. An enterprising individual thought to build another Temple of the Tooth. There were enough Buddhists willing to believe his claim that once the edifice was complete, the tooth relic would come to him. The entire sorry tale demonstrates how far a rational teaching which accepts the law of cause-and-effect (hethu-pala-vadaya) had degenerated into a myth-ridden superstition in which relics could perform miracles and trees grant wishes. In this version of Buddhism, men are arrested for insulting the Buddha (or his relics) while those who claim to be his robed-disciples violate his teachings on a daily basis. The Buddha, in his final major sermon, set out the path for the sasanas survival and expansion (https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html). He mentioned seven conditions, seven further conditions, seven good qualities, seven factors of enlightenment, seven perceptions, and six further conditions. If monks adhere to these 41 stipulations, the sasana would flourish. He made no mention of state patronage, of his pristine teachings surviving only in an island called Lanka, of rituals or relics. His sole focus was on the conduct of the monks themselves. And in what passes for Buddhism in Sri Lanka today, almost every single one of those conditions are violated daily and in plain sight. Those violations are ignored while talking about them is being turned into a non-bailable crime. In 2019, the writer Shakthika Sathkumara was arrested under the ICCPR and held without bail. The arrest was the outcome of a complaint made by a group of monks about a short story he wrote (Ardha Half). The story is about life in a fictional monastery and contains a hint about the abuse of young monks by senior monks. According to a police spokesman, A group of monks complained that the reference to homosexual activities among the clergy insulted Buddhism. Vinaya pitaka refers to sexual misconduct by monks and specifically lists the masturbation of one monk by another as a serious offence. The Buddha obviously understood that becoming ordained will not free a person from human desires. Only the stream-enterers would be free of such yearnings. Since there are no known stream-enterers in Sri Lanka, the kind of misconduct the Buddha made rules against is likely to be present here. The arrest of several monks for suspected child abuse (including sexual abuse) this year alone indicates that what Shakthika Sathkumaras fiction alleges is present in real life. Unfortunately, in todays religious universe, the crime is less offensive than talking about it. A new trend among political monks is to refer to the saffron robe as Arahat dajaya (the standard of enlightened monks). This new myth is a marker in the ongoing attempt to place monks above scrutiny and criticism. This is reminiscent of the kind of blind veneration and unthinking obedience rife in many parts of Catholic Europe until a few decades ago and is present in some Charismatic churches even today (in a remake of the Jonestown horror, the head of Good News International Church in Kenya persuaded his followers to die of starvation to meet Jesus fast. Many did. The pastor is alive and well and currently out on bail). Walter Benjamin in One Way Street, provides an example, something he experienced during a visit to Naples, Italy, in the 1920s. a priest was drawn on a cart through the streets of Naples for indecent offenses. He was followed by a crowd hurling maledictions. At a corner a wedding procession appeared. The priest stands up and makes the sign of a blessing, and the carts pursuers fall onto their knees. This is where we headed. A monk does not have to adhere to the teaching. All he has to do is to wear the robe, just as all that Neapolitan priest had to do was to make the sign of the cross. Superstition can be dismissed as silly. But it stems from the same irrationality which accepts the perversion of a teaching based on compassion and loving kindness to all living beings into one which rewards the killing of unbelievers with heavenly bliss. It also opens the floodgates of stupidity, enabling such political machinations as the Kelani Cobra. In the infamous Mahawamsa story which debuts the justification for a holy war there is a marker for a different path. In the story, King Dutugemunu is saddened by the human costs of his victory. How shall there be any comfort for me.since by me was caused the slaughter of a great host numbering millions? he laments. And the deaths he is mourning are not even of civilians in the enemy territory but of enemy combatants. The call of his conscience is closer to the Buddhas teaching than the supposed advice given to him by monks. It would also provide a better path to a lasting peace, and a more effective counter to the triumphant return of politics of religio-racial addiction. The Salvation Mania In 2019, almost seven million Lankans ignored the evidence before their eyes and elected an economic ignoramus as president, believing that he could guide them to the promised land of development painlessly and fast. Gullibility has become a national characteristic, something that unites us across racial, religious, class and other lines. Pastor Jerome Fernando who calls himself a prophet and runs an extremely lucrative religious enterprise seems to epitome that specifically American construct: charismatic preacher who lords it over a fief and turns it into a profit-making venture. Such preachers embody in their teaching and practice the brashness of a certain strand of American capitalism and the anti-intellectual, anti-rational tendencies inherent in unadulterated Lutherism. Martin Luther rejected the concept of free will totally and advocated salvation via sola fide, faith alone. Fortunately for the world, Protestantism evolved into a more tolerant and rational faith due to active mediation by great humanists such as Philip Melanchthon. The American style charismatic preachers are outside this mainstream, advocating political and social stances that are often retrogressive. The role played by this outcrop of Protestantism in propping rightwing populist leaders from Trump to Bolsonaro is well-documented. Pastor Jerome can perhaps be best understood by looking at the former Pitiduwe Siridamma thero who reinvented himself as Arhat Sri Samanthabadra and built another excellent religio-commercial enterprise, Umandawa. The one is as much of a follower of Christ as the other is a disciple of the Buddha. Both and others of their ilk work on vulnerabilities of people in uncertain times, turning fear and ignorance into lucre. On October 3rd, 2002 a group of American Evangelical pastors wrote a letter to President George W Bush supporting a war against Saddam Hussein. The Land Letter (named after its prime mover, Pastor Richard D Land) gave seven reasons why an invasion of Iraq would be a Just War. When Bob Woodward (of Watergate fame) asked President Bush if he consulted his (far more intelligent) father before invading Iraq, the younger Bush replied, He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice There is a higher father I appeal to (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/woodward-shares-war-secrets/). The world is still living with the horrors that divinely-mandated war, each unnecessary death a living reminder of what happens when religious irrationality bleeds into political irrationality. Pastor Jerome cannot insult the Buddha even if he tries to. The Buddha was accused of worse and to his face, and his response was that since he refused to accept the insults, they would return to the ones making them. The danger Pastor Jerome represents is the same danger political monks and other politically active religious figures represent (including the Catholic Cardinal). Their words and deeds further exacerbate societal gullibility and social irrationality, making another 2019 and national follies of that order far more likely. But the battle that must be waged with such purveyors of blind faith and unquestioning obedience has nothing to do with law and incarceration. It is a contestation of ideas and ideals over the kind of future we want for Sri Lanka. A secular country where faith is a private matter and every citizen is free to follow a religion or not cannot be built on persecution and intolerance. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero has placed Guam in Condition of Readiness 2 at 8 p.m. this evening. At COR 2, the government of Guam, with the exception of essential services, will not be operational and will remain closed until COR 4 is announced. As of 5 p.m. today, Tropical Storm Mawar was located about 255 miles west of Chuuk, 475 miles south-southeast of Guam, and 555 miles south-southeast of Saipan. It is moving north at 8 mph with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. A typhoon watch remains in effect for Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. A typhoon watch means that typhoon conditions are possible, with tropical storm force (sustained winds of 39 mph and greater) conditions arriving within the next 48 hours. There is an increasing likelihood for tropical storm to typhoon force impacts around midweek. The anticipated timing is expected between late Tuesday to early Thursday. Heavy rainfall is likely much of this week, with 9 to 15 inches remaining a possibility through the end of this week. School updates: The Guam Department of Education (GDOE) Central Office operations and school sites will be closed: There are no GDOE classes Monday. GDOE schools that have been identified as emergency shelters will be operational for shelter by 5 p.m. Monday. The Guam Education Board Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 23 has been rescheduled to May 30, 5 p.m. DoDEA schools will remain open on Monday. The Archdiocese of Agana, Catholic School classes have been canceled for Monday, and the Catholic schools will remain closed until COR 4 is announced. The University of Guam will be closed Monday, and will not be open until COR 4 is announced. The Guam Community College will be closed Monday and will not be open until COR 4 is announced. Shelter information will be provided tomorrow: The GDOE is preparing to open certain emergency shelters at 5 p.m. on Monday. More information regarding locations, rules and regulations will be provided tomorrow morning. Emergency shelters will not be open until tomorrow. Do not attempt to go to any emergency shelter until the designated opening time. Guam Legislature operations closed tomorrow: Upon declaration of COR 2, the Guam Legislature will be closed for public services until COR 4 is restored. Judicial court closed tomorrow: The Judiciary of Guam announced the closure of the Judicial Branch upon declaration of COR 2 this evening, until the declaration of COR 4 by the Governor of Guam. All hearings, jury trials, jury selections, and grand jury proceedings will be rescheduled. GSWA update: The Guam Solid Waste Authority will continue operations with trash pick up tomorrow. Assessments will be made after tomorrow and an update on GSWA operations for the remainder of the week will be provided. United flights operational tomorrow: United flights will operate as scheduled on Monday, and the United City Ticket Office will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. United customers who are scheduled to depart May 23 and May 24 are encouraged to check united.com or the United app for the most current flight information as a result of Tropical Storm Mawar. Correction to Guam Memorial Hospital Authority update: On Monday afternoon, Guam Memorial Hospital Authority will announce the time that pregnant mothers may begin coming to the hospital. When that time is announced, GMHA will begin receiving pregnant mothers who are 36 weeks or more along and all high-risk pregnant mothers who are 24 weeks or more in their pregnancy. Correction to GRMC update: The Guam Regional Medical City will maintain regular operating and visiting hours until 8 p.m. on Monday. Should weather conditions worsen within 24 hours after the announcement of Condition of Readiness 2, GRMC will then announce the suspension of visiting hours. The GRMC Lung and Infectious Diseases Clinic has converted physical appointments to Telehealth until further notice. All other outpatient appointments and elective surgeries scheduled on Monday will be contacted for rescheduling accordingly. During suspension, all visitors, except patient watchers, will be asked to leave the hospital. All admitted patients may have one patient watcher. Patient watchers must obtain an approved emergency patient watcher badge from Customer Relations in the Main Lobby. Note, patient watchers are encouraged to bring food (that does not require refrigeration) for the duration of the storm. Meals will only be provided to patients. For more information, contact GRMCs Marketing & Communications Department at (671) 687-5572 or (671) 971-1347 or via email at marketing.mailbox@grmc.gu. What should you do: The community is advised to finish the following preparedness actions by tomorrow: Stay up to date monitor local news, National Weather Service and the Joint Information Center; Put up shutters. Do not wait for winds to increase by Tuesday; Clear loose debris around your yard and store any items that may become airborne with heavy winds such as canopies, tarps and trampolines, before inclement weather arrives; Keep emergency preparedness kits readily available, with battery operated radio, flashlights and extra batteries; Secure important documents such as birth certificates, tax papers, and insurance documents and keep copies in a water-proof bag; Unplug all appliances and ensure energy breakers are switched off once damaging winds approach; If you live in an area prone to flooding, cover beds and furniture with plastic to prevent water damage; Ensure pets are part of your emergency plans (i.e. have enough supplies, bring them indoors, plan to keep them with a loved one or family member); Do not camp, park, or hike along streams, rivers, and creeks. These areas can flood quickly and with little warning; Gas your vehicles and get fuel for your generators now while the weather is clear; When youre done securing your homes and you know someone elderly, living with a disability, or who will otherwise need help, please see how you can help them. If you know a neighbor or family member who has no way of getting information about the storm, please let them know the updates. Visit the following links for the latest advisory information: This list provides updates and cancellations of upcoming events, meetings and school schedules due to Tropical Storm Mawar, as Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero anticipates placing Guam in Condition of Readiness 2 at 8 p.m. Sunday evening. The list will be updated as more changes and updates are announced. GDOE Central Office and school sites The Guam Department of Education central office and school sites will be closed for services and operations on Monday. Although the GDOE central offices and school sites are closed for services, all GDOE staff must report Monday to offices and school sites to secure. The GDOE leadership team encourages all families to stay up to date with the latest news from local media outlets, National Weather Service Station, and the Joint Information Center and to prepare for inclement weather. For more information, email Michelle A.T. Franquez at matfranquez@gdoe.net. Catholic schools Archdiocese of Agana schools will cancel classes on Monday, May 22. Catholic schools follow the AOA Catholic School Policy which states that when Typhoon Condition of Readiness 2 is declared by the governor of Guam, classes will be suspended, and students sent home. Protocols for securing buildings will be followed according to guidelines established by each school. When GovGuam and public schools close with COR 2, archdiocese Catholic schools are to close as well. Catholic school administrators are communicating to their respective parents/guardians/students and school communities through their information systems. The Catholic Schools Office asks all parents and guardians to please monitor reports by the JIC and island media regarding the status of the storm. The archdiocese will also issue advisories through island media. Judiciary of Guam Chief Justice Robert J. Torres has issued Administrative Order No. ADM23-003 directing the closure of the Judicial Branch. The closure will take effect immediately upon the governor of Guams declaration of Condition of Readiness 2 and continue until further notice. The decision prioritizes the safety of the public and Judiciary of Guam staff in the face of the impending storm. During this closure period: All hearings, jury trials, jury selections, and grand jury proceedings will be rescheduled. Magistrate hearings will resume following the declaration of COR 4 by the Governor of Guam. Jurors are advised to monitor the jury recording system after 5:00 PM following the COR 4 declaration. Check-ins, drug testing, and appointments with the Probation Services Division will be rescheduled. Individuals under pretrial or probation supervision, including juveniles, should await further instructions from their probation officers and continue to comply with all other requirements. If a court filing is due while the court is closed, the time for filing is extended until the end of the first accessible day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. The Guam Law Library and the Judicial Education Center will be closed and will reopen under the direction of the Chief Justice. All Judiciary employees are urged to prepare for the tropical storm and stay informed through court management and public communication channels for updates. For more information, contact Sarah G. Elmore-Hernandez at sehernandez@guamcourts.gov. Guam Legislature The Guam Legislature will be closed for public services except for essential services, until COR 4 is restored by the governor. Legislative hearings and all other legislative events scheduled for Monday and all dates thereafter until the island is returned to COR 4, are postponed until further notice. Guam Legislature central staff and essential staff shall report to the director, and senatorial office staff shall report to senators for further instruction. If any questions, call Mr. Joe San Agustin, Executive Director of the Guam Legislature, at 671-686-4046. Guam Education Board The Guam Education Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m. is postponed. The GEB monthly meeting has been rescheduled to May 30, 2023. For more information, you may send an email to the Guam Education Board at geb@gdoe.net or send an email to Tia Lynn Salas at tlssalas@gdoe.net. United Airlines United flights will operate as scheduled on Monday and the United City Ticket Office will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. United customers who are scheduled to depart on May 23 and May 24 are encouraged to check united.com or the United app for the most current flight information as a result of Tropical Storm Mawar. Cheers from proud families and friends greeted the 306 University of Guam graduate and undergraduate students who received their diplomas during the graduation ceremony Sunday at the UOG Calvo Field House. University faculty and representatives of the islands government spoke about the important work graduates have ahead of them, but that their education, perseverance and lessons learned from living in Guam have prepared them for the future. The young minds coming from Guam are really going to contribute to the world, said Fanomnakan 2023 commencement speaker Fleurdeliza de Peralta, an engineer who spent most of her childhood in Guam. De Peralta is a Senior Advisor in the Risk and Environmental Assessment Group in the Energy and Environment Directorate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. Take any chance you might have to use your talents, your knowledge, and your values to lift up your islands community or any community that you serve, said UOG President Thomas Krise. Britney Sison, class valedictorian under the chemistry-biology duel degree track said she has always had a love of science but what made her stick with the program is the faculty and her fellow students who motivated her. After graduation she plans to attend a post-baccalaureate research program at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor Maine. Eventually, I hope to apply to medical school and become a physician and come back to Guam to really serve our island as a doctor and scientist, said Sison. Hunter and Madison Orland, sisters and both valedictorians in the fine arts program, are looking forward to planning and putting on an art show this year at the Lees-Reyes Art Gallery in Tumon Sands Plaza and are considering pursuing graduate school art degrees. MBABANE The joint resolution on Eswatini would require support from 356 members of both US Senate and House of Representatives, it has been established. At least 66 senators would have to pass the joint resolution. There are 100 members of Senate with voting powers. In the House of Representatives, 290 members should vote in support of the joint resolution. The House of Representatives is made up of 435 elected members, divided among the 50 States in proportion to their total population. It must be said that voting powers rest with the 435 members. At least, two-thirds of the total membership of the Chambers should vote in favour of the resolution. It is not clear when the joint resolution on Eswatini will be debated and put to a vote. In addition to the number of voting members in the House of Representatives, there are six non-voting members, representing the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and four other territories of the United States -American Samoa, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. joint resolution Joint resolutions are designated H.J. Res. or S.J. Res. and are followed by a number. Like a Bill, according to the Senate literature, a joint resolution requires the approval of both Chambers in identical form and the presidents signature to become law. On April 27, 2023, Senators Chris Coons, James Risch, Cory Booker and Tim Scott introduced the joint resolution on Eswatini. It condemned the human rights record of the Government of Eswatini and the killing of Eswatini Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko in January 2023. The four senators urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen to consider targeted sanctions against any individuals or entities committing gross human rights violations in Eswatini. Additionally, they called on the Government of Eswatini to conduct a transparent and thorough investigation into the assassination of Maseko. There is no real difference between a joint resolution and a Bill. The joint resolution is generally used for continuing or emergency appropriations. They are also used for proposing amendments to the Constitution and such resolutions must be approved by two-thirds of both Chambers and three-fourths of the States, but do not require the presidents signature to become part of the Constitution. Joint resolutions are different from concurrent resolutions and simple resolutions. Concurrent Resolutions Information sourced from the Senate library is clear that concurrent resolutions must be passed in the same form by both houses, but they do not require the signature of the president. They do not have the force of law. It must be said that concurrent resolutions are generally used to make or amend rules that apply to both houses. They are also used to express the sentiments of both of the houses. For example, a concurrent resolution is used to set the time of Congress adjournment, according to the US Senate report. It may also be used by Congress to convey congratulations to another country on the anniversary of its independence. Another important use of the concurrent resolution is for the annual congressional budget resolution, which sets Congress revenue and spending goals for the upcoming fiscal year. Simple Resolutions Simple resolutions address matters entirely within the prerogative of one House, such as revising the standing rules of one Chamber. Simple resolutions are also used to express the sentiments of a single house, such as offering condolences to the family of a deceased member of Congress, or it may give advice on foreign policy or other executive business. They neither require the approval of the other house nor the signature of the president. Basically, they do not have the force of law. Bills Bills are prefixed with H.R. when introduced in the House and S. when introduced in the Senate. They are followed by a number based on the order in which they are introduced. The vast majority of legislative proposals are in the form of Bills. Bills deal with domestic and foreign issues and programmes, and they also appropriate money to various government agencies and programmes. The Times SUNDAY has learnt that public Bills pertain to matters that affect the general public or classes of citizens, while private Bills affect just certain individuals and organisations. benefits In the US, a private Bill provides benefits to specified individuals (including corporate bodies). Individuals sometimes request relief through private legislation when administrative or legal remedies are exhausted. Many private Bills deal with immigrationgranting citizenship or permanent residency. They may also be introduced for individuals who have claims against the government, veterans benefits claims, claims for military decorations, or taxation problems. If a private Bill is passed in identical form by both houses of Congress and is signed by the president, it becomes a private law. When Bills are passed in identical form by both Chambers of Congress and signed by the president (or re-passed by Congress over a presidential veto), they become laws. In their joint resolution, the senators alleged that Eswatinis Government remained repressive as human rights defenders faced repression and persecution. They said Thulani Maseko, a prominent Human Rights Lawyer in Eswatini, was shot and killed by an unknown gunman on January 21, 2023. According to the resolution, Eswatini authorities have failed to announce progress on an independent investigation to identify those responsible for this crime and bring them to justice. They said human rights advocates believed that Maseko was killed by pro-government forces because of his agitation for human rights. criminal investigation Thulani Maseko was a champion of social justice and human rights in Eswatini, one of the worlds last absolute monarchies. I strongly condemn Thulanis brutal killing and the Eswatini Governments failure to undertake a full, transparent, and impartial criminal investigation into his assassination, said Senator Coons. I join my colleagues in introducing a bipartisan resolution condemning the human rights record of the government of the Kingdom of Eswatini and the murder of Maseko on January 21. Senator Risch, who also signed the resolution, said it was an important signal from Congress that they have not forgotten the assassination of Maseko. They said it was also a signal that they were aware of the dire human rights situation in Eswatini. The United States must continue to call for an independent and credible investigation into Masekos murder and accountability for those responsible, Senator Risch said. Senator Booker mentioned that human rights defenders in Eswatini and countries around the world have faced repression and persecution for many years. He said they should speak out when those human rights defenders were under threat. In addition to bringing attention to the unresolved death of Eswatini Human Rights Lawyer Thulani Maseko, this resolution underscores the deterioration of human rights in one of the worlds last absolute monarchies, he stated when motivating the joint resolution. Senator Scott also had something to say about the issue. He said speaking up for those who could not speak for themselves is a constant reminder in scripture for the role of any public servant. deep concern That is why I join my colleagues in expressing deep concern over the worsening cycle of political violence and suppression of free speech in Eswatini. Transparency and accountability must be restored with respect to public officials complicit in extrajudicial killings, torture, and other egregious human rights violations, Senator Scott said. Meanwhile, the principal mover of the joint resolution, Senator Coons, is Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations (SFOPS), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and co-chair of the Senate Human Rights Caucus. On a matter that is similar or almost similar to the Eswatini case, 53 groups in the USA urged passage of Senate 502B resolution on Saudi Arabia. They expressed their support of the resolution on April 3, 2023. The organisations wrote to express their strong support for Senator Chris Murphy and Senator Mike Lees resolution requesting a report on human rights conditions in Saudi Arabia under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act. Govt blasts resolution The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini warned that Senator Christopher Coons should not become a political conduit for the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM). In a statement in response to a US Senate resolution on alleged violation of human rights in Eswatini, government said the senators could not and must not succeed in becoming the MDMs political conduits. Members of Parliament of Western countries such as Senator Christopher Coons of the United States Senate, cannot and must not succeed, in becoming political conduits for the so called mass democratic movement which is seeking to overthrow the obtaining political system of the Kingdom of Eswatini through the use of violence, destruction, intimidation, revolution, and of late and as proposed by Senator; the use of illegal sanctions as a political weapon against individuals citizens of our country, stated Alpheous Nxumalo, the Government Press Secretary. Neither should senators or members of Parliament of the calibre of Senator Coons, be allowed to succeed in running a targeted campaign of retaliation against the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini by the Government of the United States of America. Nxumalo said genuine and highly reputable political internationalists should base their arguments or resolutions on political facts and realities. He warned against basing resolutions on political fictions, theories or even perceptions emanating from singular or biased political lobbying. If this trend of blindly buying into political revolutionaries in the name of calling genuine political reforms continues unabated, it will destroy the moral political fiber and the worldwide positive influence wielded by the Congress of the United States of America around the globe, stated Nxumalo. wrong statement He said government found it difficult and almost impossible to logically respond to the resolution of Senator Coons, because it was based on wrong statement of facts. He said the principles of natural justice demanding or warranting that one should be given an audience before judgment, was completely overlooked and ignored in this situation. And we all know that this is not only un-American but also a traverse of justice. These are the political fault lines that are destroying the body politik (politics) of Washington DC, Nxumalo said. Politik is a German word meaning the politics of realism. Nxumalo said the existing cordial diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Eswatini and the United States of America have endured many political storms in the past. He said these relations have reached a matured stage where there was no room for agitation or sabotage of each others interests within the international system through illegal sanctions. He mentioned that every opportunity, challenge or misunderstanding has a room for consistent friendly engagement and diplomatic negotiations. Senators and/or members of Parliament around the globe whose political consciousness and sense of right and proper political judgment have been auctioned to their highest bidder of those who were peddling conspiracies and winter or summer resolutions against the country should stop mimicking the political vocabulary, terminology and language of the so called pro democracy or democratic mass movement in the country, the government press secretary said. diplomatic relations He said the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini maintained an open mind and door policy of engagement. As a result, he said any person who might have an interest in the kingdoms affairs and Statecraft should be free to approach the government directly or through its respective diplomatic mission stations around the globe for information and assistance. The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini, hereby, reiterates her good standing and warm diplomatic relations between the two countries, he said. The government spokesperson said government assured all emaSwati that resolutions taken by other nations or States about the country remained unbinding. He said they were not applicable to the country because laws of the kingdom were not enacted in the other countries but only within the Monarchy itself. He said application of such laws or any other investigative processes were also not driven from other countrys various capitals but only from within the Kingdom of Eswatini. Haiti - Migration : 22,444 Haitians repatriated to Haiti by air and sea In 2022, from January to December, a total of 22,444 migrants were repatriated to Haiti by air and sea. The World Organization for Migration (IOM) provides assistance to returnees upon arrival and also conducts surveys to learn about their profiles and needs to help inform migration governance strategies and policy-making. . In 2022, IOM conducted these surveys with 11,011 returnee households. Main conclusions in figures: 46% of Haitian migrants were repatriated by the United States, 20% by Cuba and 18% by the Bahamas;. 65% of returnees were men and 35% women; 20% of migrants were children; Insufficient income (27%) and lack of employment (23%) were the main reasons for leaving the country; 34% of migrants indicated a willingness to try again to leave Haiti within 6 months of this survey, due to violence and insecurity in the country. 67% of migrants said they would no longer want to leave Haiti if they found a job; The basic needs of the returning migrants interviewed differed according to their district of origin. However, households tend to agree on three main needs which are: - Financial support (mentioned by 72% of migrants) - Employment (32%) - Safety and security (32%). HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Cholera : Daily bulletin #185 May 11, 2023: (latest data available, previous Ministry bulletin May 10 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39581-haiti-cholera-daily-bulletin-184.html Data calculated since the first confirmed case (October 3rd, 2022) Total suspected cases: 44,005 cases +15 in 24 hours, the day before +270 in 24 hours Total confirmed cases: 2,678* cases +0, the day before +0 in 24 hours Total hospitalized cases (suspected and confirmed): 38,435 cases +15 cases in 24 hours, the day before +211 in 24 hours Total deaths: 685** deaths ((460 institutional (+0) and 225 community (+0)) +0, previous +1 *No test results published by the MSPP Laboratories (information no. Updated by the MSPP for 21 days) **Not updated for 2 days Partial assessment of cholera in Haiti according to data from the Department of Epidemiology, Laboratories and Research of the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP). Distribution of suspected cases, total since October 3: Partial and incomplete updating of the Ministry Less than 1 year: 1.010 (+1) 1-4 years: 8,791 cases (+8) 5-9 years: 6,330 cases (+3) 10-14 years old: 3,154 cases (+0) 15-19 years old: 2,318 cases (+1) 20-29 years old: 5,676 cases (+1) 30-39 years old: 4,832 cases (+0) 40-49 years old: 3,578 cases (+0) 50-59 years old: 2,708 cases (+0) 60-69 years old: 1,915 cases (+0) 70-79 years old: 1,111 cases (+1) 80 years and over: 450 cases (+0) Men: 54.40% men (=); Women 45.60 (=) Positivity rate by age segment: Number of tests performed: 7.606* +0 in previous 24 hours +0 in 24 hours Positivity rate: 35.20%, previous 35.20% *No test results (confirmed case) published by the MSPP Laboratories. Information not updated for 22 days Departments with confirmed cases: Artibonite, Centre, GrandAnse, North, North West, Nippes, North East, West, South and South East Previous bulletin: https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39581-haiti-cholera-daily-bulletin-184.html List of Treatment Centers for acute diarrhea (including Cholera): https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-37939-icihaiti-flash-list-of-acute-diarrhea-treatment-centers-including-cholera.html Definitions: Suspected cases: Anyone with acute watery, profuse diarrhea with or without vomiting and dehydration Confirmed case: Any suspected case with a positive culture for Vibrio cholerae or presenting an epidemiological link with a confirmed case of cholera Hospitalized case: Any suspected or confirmed case that spends at least 24 hours in a care centre Institutional death: Any suspected or confirmed case who dies in a treatment center. Community death: Any suspected case that dies outside of a caring institution. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38148-haiti-humanitarian-the-un-and-its-partners-launch-a-flash-appeal-of-$1456m-for-haiti.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-37816-icihaiti-cholera-entry-ban-on-cooked-food-from-haiti-on-the-dajabon-market.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37807-haiti-flash-cholera-the-who-is-sounding-the-alarm.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37803-haiti-flash-already-7-dead-from-cholera-and-dozens-of-suspected-cases.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37795-haiti-flash-cholera-back-in-haiti-fear-of-epidemic-the-un-ready-to-intervene.html HL/ HaitiLibre By William Schwartz | Published on 2023/05/20 For the first time, a film from actor Song Joong-ki has been invited to the Cannes Film Festival. While better known for his work in television dramas rather than film, Song Joong-ki is making a play at a serious performance in "Hopeless" where he plays the leader of a local criminal gang, seeking to mentor a teenager played by Hong Xa-bin. Notably, Hong Xa-bin is the credited lead for the project, though whether Song Joong-ki can really be described as the story's villain is an ambiguous question. Advertisement Cannes Film Festival programmers were impressed by the work enough to add it to the Un Certain Regard section, and "Hopeless" will make its world premiere there on May 24th, with two more screenings to follow on May 25th and May 26th. Song Joong-ki has indicated that he will appear on the Cannes red carpet with his wife, further boosting anticipation. After finishing shooting for "Hopeless" late last year, Song Joong-ki said that he wanted to make a project with finishing quality. Song Joong-ki claimed to have had a thankful heart in regard to being able to participate in the film. He claimed to have expected some enthusiasm from a lower level production like this but that his expectations were quite exceeded. No South Korean release date for "Hopeless" has yet been announced although it is expected to be made available to the public sometime this year. Song Joong-ki is currently filming for the Netflix series "My Name Is Loh Kiwan" based on the novel of the same title. Written by William Schwartz MBABANE PUDEMO Spokesperson Maxwell Dlamini has dismissed allegations of victimisation on supporters of Mandla Hlatshwayo. Hlatshwayo fiercely challenged incumbent President Mlungisi Makhanya for his position in the recently held 10th General Congress. He contended for the position of president and was favoured to take over as he presented a new programme of reform for the political party. Makhanya emerged victorious, while the organisation was left divided into two groups. Sources close to the organisation alleged that members who supported Hlatshwayo during the elective conference were now victimised by the current leadership. It is also an unspoken truth that many of those that supported Mandla Hlatshwayo were being persecuted, purged and ostracised. Those that voiced concerns about the issues that went against the established constitutional framework were misinterpreted as being opposed to progress and labelled as stumbling blocks. These could be some of the key factors that might have led to the mass resignation as it is now. I also believed in the leadership of Mandla and I felt he was needed to reform PUDEMO, to rebuild its image and reposition it as a party of choice for the masses. I firmly believe that a constructive and inclusive approach, one focused on genuine youth empowerment and advancing collective objectives, is crucial for SWAYOCO to effectively contribute to the nations development, alleged the source. elective conference Though the source could not present substantive evidence on the allegations, the Spokesperson of the organisation confirmed that PUDEMO was trying all they could to deal with the aftermath of the elective conference. He said it was possible that some of their members were still disappointed by the outcome, hence the possibility of the feeling that they were being targeted. He said the organisation was currently working on ways of unifying all the members and ensuring a healthy healing process after a gruel election process. There is no target for those who supported and preferred Mandla Hlatshwayo for president. All our comrades have accepted the outcome of the PUDEMO congress and now support the new leadership as led by President Mlungisi Makhanya. PUDEMO National Executive Committee (NEC) noted the gruelling contest for leadership that we experienced for the first time in the history of the movement, and some comrades may still feel disappointed in the outcome, which is humanely acceptable and expected. Hence, PUDEMO NEC resolved in the process of healing and unifying the movement by reaching out to those who contested and supported candidates and individuals who didnt win, said Dlamini. He added that the renewal programme, which was initiated by the PUDEMO leadership, was ongoing. He said its four-year programme of action was adopted and conceptualised around organisational renewal. more organised We are happy that Mandla Hlatshwayo is contributing to this renewal programme and agenda, and we urge all other comrades to do so in building a strong and more organised organisation, he added. Hlatshwayo requested not to comment on the matter but mentioned that the PUDEMO reform was a programme that should be embraced by all members of the organisation. South Africas leading political party, the African National Congress (ANC), has also faced a similar situation where some members preferred former president Jacob Zuma, while others favoured the Cyril Ramaphosa leadership. In an attempt to deal with intra-party conflicts, the ANC adopted new policies on lobbying, the use of resources in internal elections, and improper conduct in political meetings during the 2012 conference. How does Apple Valley Band get to Carnegie Hall? This school year has been an exciting adventure for the Apple Valley Middle School Band. The band achieved a record-setting year for the number of students selected for the All-County and All-District bands. The band also received a Superior rating from the North Carolina Bandmasters Association. They went on to participate in the WorldStrides Heritage Festival in Williamsburg, Virginia, where they earned a Gold rating, first place and the Adjudicators Award. Along with the awards, the band was invited to participate in the 2024 WorldStrides Festival of Gold, which takes place in cities across the country including Chicago, Nashville and San Francisco. While the students are proud of their achievements, one opportunity tops them all. The band has been invited to participate in the 2024 Carnegie Hall Invitational Music Festival in New York City. "We are extremely honored to receive this invitation," Band Director Ryan Summers said. "Performing in Carnegie Hall will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for our students. While all of the band members families are excited, they also know this will be an expensive trip. They are going to start raising money for the trip immediately. The first campaign will be to raise enough money to pay for the bus to New York. If you are interested in helping the AVMS Band get to NYC, contact Summers at Apple Valley Middle School. AN author from Sonning Common has written a book about the villages hardware store. Tom Fort was inspired to write about Heath & Watkins in Wood Lane after his daughter-in-law, Sharona Fairweather, took it over in 2018. His book, called Rivets, Trivets and Galvanised Buckets: Life in the Village Hardware Shop, tells the history of the shop with tales of memorable visitors and owners. Mr Fort, a former BBC journalist, said: I always knew it was a good, quirky story but I couldnt see a way to do it without writing about the customers and I didnt want to do that because they all know me and it would be really hard to do that without offending somebody. Then my agent told me: Dont identify the people, think about whats in the shop. Write about the familiar objects you find in a hardware shop and tell the histories of them. I thought that would work. Ive used a lot of stories of what people say in the shop but only in the shop and I dont identify who said them. The book discusses and explains the history of tools and shed staples ranging from the hammer to the trivet. Mr Fort also writes about the rise of the DIY phenomenon. He said: Im not a DIY person, although Ive done loads of it really badly in my time. But I was interested in finding out more about the story of where hammers and screwdrivers came from. Heath & Watkins was set up in 1938 by Ted Watkins and Jack Heath, who were engineers at the Metac Wireless Company in Caversham and specialised in radio and cycle repairs. They spent two years establishing the business before being called up to the navy and RAF respectively during the Second World War. While they were away, the shop was looked after by a volunteer from Emmer Green. The shop was originally on the north side of Wood Lane but it relocated to its current site in 1958. Mr Heath passed away in 1960 but Mr Watkins kept the shop going with his son James, who took over when he retired. He sold the business to Brian Hoare in the late Eighties or early Nineties. Four years later, it was taken over by Mick Wells, who ran it until 2018, when Ms Fairweather bought the business. Mr Wells died the following year. Mr Fort said: Mick had cancer and said one day he couldnt do the shop anymore, so it would have had to close. I thought, What an amazingly ludicrous idea and thought of Shro. It was a dream come true for her. It wasnt like she had always wanted to own a shop she had a clerical job with the Ministry of Defence but she is a very creative, nurturing kind of person. When Mick became ill, the shop became pretty rundown. I suggested the idea of taking it over to Shro and she jumped at it. She is an amazingly conscientious, innovative and imaginative shopkeeper and is always looking at ways to make things better. Mr Forts wife Helen and daughter Rosie, who both work part-time in the shop, helped him find anecdotes about some interesting characters of years gone by. His favourite story is about a parrot owner and his bird that was unsure of its identity. Mr Fort said: This man has a parrot called Humphrey and he takes it everywhere with him. Rosie was engaged in a conversation with him and he explained how he used to have German shepherd dogs but they dont last too long, whereas parrots were very low maintenance and lived forever. Rosie asked Does he say anything much? and the guy said, Well, no, but every now and then he says: My name is Humphrey and Im a vulture and thats how the book ends. Another anecdote features a woman who had been given a full-sized glass-fibre cow by her husband. She came to the shop to find materials with which to repair one of the cows horns, which had fallen off. Mr Fort said: Id come in to give Helen her lunch and they were on their hands and knees talking about it and finding materials. In the end, the woman bought filler, wire wool and a wooden skewer and explained the convoluted way she was going to put this horn back together. While she was paying, I said to her, That sounds like a very tricky operation to which she replied: Oh no, itll be quite easy. I used to be a dentist. For his research, Mr Fort went to the library at the Museum of Rural Life in Reading, which he has used for several of his previous books. He said: It has a massive resource of books about country life and trades. I wanted to see what sort of things were featured in a Victorian magazine called the Iron Monger and the adverts for what tools you could buy in 1890 and suchlike. The museum is one of the few places that has a pretty much complete run of this unbelievably boring journal from long ago. A huge amount of material is available online but you have to be quite canny about finding it. Theres an American website called Trivetology, which had just about every conceivable piece of information I wanted and a great deal I didnt want. The thing about the internet is that if youre researching obscure things, someone has always researched them before. Ive got a section in the book about hardware shops in fiction, film and poetry and it is very short. But I found this academic, who had compiled this monstrous website. He quotes from more than 120 novels with references to hardware shops, including one I used, which was in 50 Shades of Grey, where characters have these appallingly meaningful conversations about rope and clamps. I got in touch with him to say: I hope you dont mind my borrowing all your work. I loved it. He was so sweet. He said, Help yourself to whatever you like. Im delighted to find someone who can make use of it. Mr Fort, a former parish councillor, spoke to James Watkins to find out more about the history of the store. He said: He was really helpful and a most delightful man. He also discovered that there are still more than 5,000 hardware shops in the UK. Mr Fort said: You read about the demise of the hardware shop but the numbers have remained pretty stable for nearly a decade. Quite a bit of the book covers local shopping, why people go to where they go to buy what they need. Lockdown had a massively positive impact on us. People couldnt go to the chain shops, which shut down, so those who live here and in the outlying villages needed a shop where they could buy stuff to enable them to have something to do at home, like painting, making things, repairing things; projects that they had thought about for ages but never got around to doing because they were too busy. Then those people who were stuck at home, not going to work, came to us and we were able to meet some of those needs and the shop became very precious to people locally. After lockdown finished, many of those people continued to come. Rivets, Trivets and Galvanised Buckets: Life in the Village Hardware Shop (22) is available from the Bell Street Bookshop in Bell Street, Henley. MBABANE Crisis! The youth league of the Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) seems to be in a crisis, after the resignation of senior members in its leadership structure. It has been ascertained that this has been influenced by disgruntlements stemming from PUDEMOs 10th General Congress, which was held in February in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The youth league, which is popularly known as the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), suffered a collective resignation of one of its very active regional structures, the Hhohho Regional Executive Committee (REC). The committee resigned en masse through a letter dated April 14, 2023 and addressed to the Secretary General (SG) of SWAYOCO. Coincidentally, the SG, Mciniseli Nkanyezi Vilakati, also filed his own resignation letter the next day. Vilakatis letter, which was addressed to whom it may concern, stated that he was resigning from the office of SG and was grateful to have served SWAYOCO since April 2022. tendered my resignation This serves to inform you that I have tendered my resignation as the secretary general of Swaziland Youth Congress as per the outcome of the 10th National General Congress. I am a young person who subscribe to the values of cohesion and collectivism and multi-faceted activist who is dedicated to the overthrow of the oppressive regime. I am a product of student activism as I was groomed through the trenches, unlike other populists that thrive on Facebook likes. My passion for social justice, making a tangible difference in the community is what kept me strong even when I experience slandering from my own comrades (sic), reads Vilakatis letter. Vilakati was called to verify if the letter was indeed authored by him, and he confirmed that all the contents were his written words. However, he requested not to expand on the contents of the letter and said a lot was happening behind the scenes, and it eventually led to his resignation. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry regarding my resignation as the SG of SWAYOCO. I can confirm the contents of the letter as authentic and also confirm that I have resigned from the youth league of PUDEMO. Unfortunately, I cannot expand on the contents as you have requested, because I was advised against it, so I would request that you respect that. I remain a loyal and committed member of the PUDEMO and I still firmly believe in PUDEMO, the idea. I will continue with my activism as a young, disciplined cadre, because the task ahead needs all hands on the deck. There is a myopic assumption by many that for one to be actively involved in the struggle, s/he (sic) must occupy a certain position. The PUDEMO I joined taught me that leadership was about influence and ideas. I will continue working in the trenches and put all my effort where it would yield the much desired and needed outcomes, he said. Sources close to the matter revealed that issues of micromanagement by PUDEMO as the mother-body of SWAYOCO were highlighted as a persistent challenge within the youth league. The sources said it appeared that the focus on the youth league was more geared towards being a voting fodder for PUDEMO leaders as compared to championing the concerns and aspirations of young people in the struggle for national democratic revolution, as outlined in PUDEMOs strategy and tactics. The resignation of the entire REC of the Hhohho region, including Vilakati, was a consequence of the mother-bodys interference to the autonomy values of the youth league without substantiated political justification. It is worth noting that the Hhohho Region was one of the most organised of all the structures, with clear plans and available resources. Regrettably, as Vilakati said, populism has taken precedence within the youth league, overshadowing the substantive work that should be the priority. Slander, gossip, and mudslinging have become the norm, hindering meaningful engagement and impeding the progress of the organisation, said the source. Another source close to PUDEMO said Vilakatis assertion that there was lack of organisational cohesion and a shared understanding of objectives between SWAYOCO and PUDEMO had been a significant concern. She said authority lines were blurred, and decision-making was not consistent, as the PUDEMO would constantly assume powers that were constitutionally designated to SWAYOCO NEC. In a letter signed by Regional Secretary Setsabile Mdlovu and five other members, the Hhohho REC did not state their reasons for resigning en masse, except that the decision was made after a sequence of events. resign as a collective This letter serves to inform all relevant structures of the movement that, following a sequence of events not of our will, we have reached an unfavourable decision to resign as a collective from the REC SWAYOCO Hhohho Region. Having assumed the regional executive office from February 12, 2022, we had an experience of a lifetime leading young people of Hhohho during this era of rebuilding SWAYOCO. In order for the Youth league to emerge stronger even in our region, we believe it is in the best interest of the organisation that we hand over the region to more capable leaders, reads the letter. The resigned REC affirmed that they would remain firm in the foundational principles of the movement to fulfil its generational mission. PUDEMO Spokesperson Maxwell Dlamini confirmed that the SG of SWAYOCO had resigned. Dlamini said Vilakati cited personal reasons and informed them that he wanted to focus on other personal endeavours. accepted the resignation SWAYOCO has accepted the resignation and wishes him well. PUDEMO salutes the commitment exhibited by the former SG of SWAYOCO and his contribution to mobilising and organising the youth around the liberation programme of PUDEMO. PUDEMO is cognisant that leading SWAYOCO or any of the structures of PUDEMO is not an easy task and takes a heavy toll on the individuals and comrades who avail themselves to this task; hence, we salute and appreciate them for sacrificing their time and resources in serving the movement, poor and marginalised, said Dlamini. He further stated that PUDEMO was currently in talks with the SWAYOCO Hhohho REC that had also resigned. He said the Hhohho REC cited challenges in working with PUDEMO REC in the region. He added that they mentioned the issue of micromanagement by the PUDEMO REC and said they were currently engaging them in an attempt to find a solution. PUDEMO is currently engaging with the SWAYOCO REC of the Hhohho region, which has resigned, citing challenges in working with PUDEMO REC in Hhohho, including micromanagement issues. PUDEMO NEC has established a team to engage and work with both RECs of Hhohho to find the problem in that region. Hence, PUDEMO and SWAYOCO leadership have not yet accepted the resignation of Hhohho SWAYOCO REC, he said. Dlamini urged members of the organisation to remain calm as the NEC was dealing with the issues caused by the aftermath of the congress. MBABANE Veteran and founding member of thePeoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), Mandla Hlatshwayo, has challenged the mass democratic movement (MDM) to earn the trust of the nation. Speaking to the Times SUNDAY on the current state of affairs in the MDM, Hlatshwayo highlighted that he documented all his sentiments and had shared them with the public and other organisations. Hlatshwayo said it was not enough for the MDM to expose the failures of the current government without improving on its own integrity. He said the political opposition needed to conceive and articulate a vision and a strategy to advance a people-centred agenda for development. He said there was a need for accountable and constitutional governance within political parties calling for change. Furthermore, he stated that it was a common weakness in political and civil society organisations to dismiss the issue of internal democracy, accountability and good governance standards as foreign liberal views. struggle Hlatshwayo said the MDM had a duty to fight their Eurocentric approach to democratic leadership in order to win the hearts of the people. He added that political activists should defend the fundamentals of the peoples political struggle, even within their organisations. The PUDEMO veteran said the MDM risked creating their new Eswatini on quicksand if they failed to build their unity with the people on rock-solid principles and values. He added that political education and the development of members of the MDM was crucial and should be made a major priority for all organisations. He averred that political formations should thrive to bring hope to the nation first to acquire deliberate engagement skills, including more listening than preaching. Furthermore, he said there was a need for a refined conception and purpose of political organisations for a new society that valued and respected all citizens. Some of the worst hypocrites, who do not respect the truth or the people they aspire to lead, hide in the churches and political organisations. We must avoid the temptation to think that, by merely standing in opposition to the tinkhundla regime, we are automatically equipped to do the right thing. Otherwise, we risk producing a leadership culture similar to the ruling class and becoming organisations without a soul or conscience. offering We must fight the system while at the same time offering solutions to the people. Just as the organised trade union movement must lead the struggle for the liberation and improvements of the conditions of workers in the country, organised labour must offer the best examples of empowering their members. We must endeavour to demonstrate a higher level of political acumen, organisation, and capacity to imagine better alternatives and demonstrate an intentional commitment to make a clean break away from the culture of mediocrity, corrupt governance, and bad leadership that has led the country down and Africa in general, he said. Hlatshwayo said there was no need for the MDM to wait for democracy before developing internal programmes to capacitate their leadership. He added that it was paramount for all political organisations to demonstrate to the people the kind of society they wanted to build. We must have a clear agenda for the youth, to empower them to succeed in school and out of school, engender a culture of self-determination and refuse to allow the spirit of the nation to be broken. If the society produced by tinkhundla is sexist, immoral, patriarchal, incompetent, corrupt and visionless, then the new people we must build in the belly of the old society are the complete opposite of these traits. We must not wait until we have reached our end goal of achieving the Swaziland we want, before we start the discipline and internal programmes of reforming our organisational culture, he said. worried Hlatshwayo added that African people were ingenious, creative and capable of finding solutions within their own environment. He said the MDM should be worried whether they were making any positive contributions to the communities as part of projecting the values of the struggle or they were focused on the core business of demonstrations, mobilisation and protests against the government. He further challenged the new generation of activists to command a higher moral and be responsible citizens in the society. There must be a broad appreciation that to build a new society, the inner core of the revolution must be the bearer of a higher political calling, command the political competence, higher moral and ethical standards in society. This should include an agenda to deliver superior outcomes for people with a conscious appreciation of the deep historical damage to the culture and psychology of the nation. This is an enormous task because it means transforming the political playing field at an industrial scale. This is a job that requires the development of the finest activists, and patriots of the struggle, who understand that we cannot just shout tinkhundla to reform. Instead, we must build the capacity of the people to be pillared on the correct values and principles so that change can be both empowering and transformative. Anything short of that will be a stolen revolution, where the new elite will rise to replace the old aristocrats with revolutionary-sounding slogans, he averred. renewal Hlatshwayo called for a leadership renaissance to build a new culture of leadership, societal organisation and renewal within the MDM. He said the revival should cover all sectors of civil society organisations, from trade unions to the church and non-governmental organisations, as well as the political organisations aspiring to lead the country. History tells us that a struggle founded on the legitimate grievances of the people, galvanising and unifying all sectors of society, can never be defeated. It cannot be denied that the MDM and the opposition parties have serious homework to do if the struggle of our people is to rise. This calls for us to learn to listen, respect, know the issues, ask questions, and validate our people as the sovereign authority in the country. This must be our general line of action. While political ideology matters in sharpening the tools of analysis and crafting appropriate policies, it should not escape the new generation of leaders that ordinary people are fighting for material benefits, to live a better life and in peace. People want to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children as averred by Amilcar Cabral, he said. He narrated that it was also paramount that an activist language of communication and the narratives of the struggle be derived from the peoples grievances. He said the narratives should reflect the hot-button issues that the people know and understand. Hlatshwayo added that the MDM should embrace the idea of renewal and allow it to find expression in all organisations. underestimate We must not underestimate the depth of rot, moral decay, and dysfunction that has been going on. This will not be reversed by a mere leadership change without a conscious agenda to build something new. Therefore, the idea of renewal must go beyond the confines of party platforms to every sphere of society. To embrace the renewal idea is to accept that we are all born of a backward political system and that, wittingly and unwittingly, we espouse its values and ethics. I often cringe when I hear young comrades insulting in protest their opponents and the regime using the private parts of their mothers, sisters, and female comrades. This culture smacks of patriarchy. This, therefore, calls for the development of political and civic organisations steeped in a different value system to the present tinkhundla system, said Hlatshwayo. He said the MDM was not ready to lead a new society if they were not willing to reject their old value system and lacked revolutionary morals, ethics, and willingness to be the servant of the poor. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) this week announced a major decision to withdraw the 2000 currency denomination from the circulation, which triggered a second wave of demonitsation in the country. However, the central bank announced that the exchange facility will be open till September 30. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed panel has given a clean chit to the Gautam Adani led Adani group over the allegations of stock price manipulations or violation of Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norms. Adani group chairman Gautam Adani and 2000 denomination. Check out more news from business world that came this week. RBI to withdraw 2000 currency note from circulation The Reserve Bank of India on Friday withdrew 2,000 currency notes from circulation. The central bank has asked banks to provide deposit and exchange facilities for 2,000 notes until September 30, 2023. Read more SC panel puts six entities under lens for alleged trading in Adani shares Six entities including four foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are under lens for suspicious trading in Adani group shares prior to the release of the damning Hindenburg report, the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee has said. Read more 'Prima facie no manipulation by Adani Group': Supreme Court panel on Hindenburg report The Supreme Court-appointed expert committee to look into regulatory failure by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and alleged breach of laws by the Adani Group, has informed the Supreme Court in its report that allegations of stock price manipulations or violation of Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norms by Adani group companies cannot be proved at this stage. Read more 6 reasons why RBI withdrawing 2,000 notes is a good move, explains former CEA Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian, who was the chief economic advisor from 2018 to 2021, said the move to withdraw 2,000 notes is overall a good one. Read more Govt clarifies payments abroad for up to 7 lakh will not be taxed The government issued a clarification on Friday stating that a 20% Tax Collection at Source (TCS) will be applicable only to overseas credit card transactions exceeding 7 Lakh. Read more Cash-strapped Go First extends suspension of flight operations till May 26 Crisis-hit Go First on Wednesday extended the suspension of flight operations till May 26, citing operational reasons and expressed hope that it will be able to resume bookings shortly. Read more Hinduja Group chairman SP Hinduja passes away at 87 in London Srichand Parmanand Hinduja, the eldest of the four Hinduja brothers and chairman of Hinduja Group, died in London on Wednesday. He was unwell for some time. He was 87. Read more Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs in 3 years as new CEO seeks simpler organisation British mobile giant Vodafone is to axe 11,000 jobs over three years in the latest cull to hit the tech sector, as new boss Margherita Della Valle slammed recent performance. Read more The State Bank of India on Sunday said that the customers can exchange their 2,000 denomination bank notes up to 20,000 at the branches without obtaining any requisition slip. Also, no identity proof shall be required to be submitted by the tenderer at the time of exchange of notes. A woman holds 2000 notes as she exchanges demonetised notes at a bank in Chennai.(AFP File Photo) Read here: No need to rush for exchange: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on 2,000 note ban The bank's statement clarification comes amid rumours and misinformation being circulated on social media asking tenderers to submit a form along with identity documents such as Aadhaar card. The Reserve Bank of India on Friday had withdrawn 2,000 notes from circulation and has asked people to deposit these notes into their accounts or exchange them at the nearest bank branches till September 30 this year. The central bank has asked the people to approach the banks for their deposit and/or exchange from May 23 so as to give the banks enough time to prepare for the process. ALSO READ: What you should do with your 2,000 notes now The 2,000 notes will continue to be in use for transactions and other payments. However, it is advised to exchange the withdrawn notes by the end of September, the RBI said. The 2,000 denomination bank note was introduced in November 2016, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of legal tender status of all 500 and 1,000 bank notes that were in circulation at that time. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail Jewellers in India, the world's second largest gold consuming country after China, have started receiving more inquiries for purchase of gold or silver immediately after the Reserve Bank's announcement to withdraw 2,000 notes from circulation. A cashier displays the new 2000 Indian rupee banknotes inside a bank in Jammu.(REUTERS) However, there is no panic buying of the precious metal unlike the situation witnessed in 2016 during demonetisation, jewellers body GJC said on Sunday. In fact in the last two days, the actual gold purchase has been less in exchange of 2,000 notes due to strict Know your Customer (KYC) norms although sources said some jewellers have started charging a 5-10 per cent premium, taking the gold prices to 66,000 per 10 grams level. Currently, gold prices have corrected to around 60,200 per 10 grams level in the country. "There have been a lot of inquiries about purchasing gold or silver with 2,000 notes, hence the higher footfalls on Saturday. However, due to strict KYC norms actual purchase has been less," apex industry body All India Gem And Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) Chairman Saiyam Mehra told PTI. There is "no such panic" and footfalls have also settled down as the RBI has kept a larger window of four months as the deadline for withdrawing the pink notes from the market, he said. On May 19, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced withdrawal of 2,000 currency notes from circulation but gave public time till September 30, to either deposit such notes in accounts or exchange them at banks. It has asked banks to stop issuing 2,000 notes with immediate effect. Mehra further said implementation of goods and services tax (GST) and Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS)' hallmarks has encouraged jewellery manufacturers to become organised and carry out formal business. "Large-denomination currency notes are normally required to deal in cash, which has now become insignificant in India's jewellery industry and consumers are more inclined towards digital formats. Therefore, the withdrawal of 2,000 currency notes will not have a major impact on India's gold and jewellery business," he added. However, according to sources, many jewellery retailers did sell gold on Saturday against 2,000 notes and that too at a premium rate. PNG Jewellers Chairman and Managing Director Saurabh Gadgil said, "The practice of taking 2,000 notes in lieu of gold at a premium rate is something that may exist only in the unorganised sector. The organised jewellery players stay miles away from such things." Nemichand Bamalwa & Sons partner Bachhraj Bamalwa said, "There are some inquiries, but there is no rush for gold buying. It should increase from tomorrow." Jewellers are selling gold complying with KYC norms as per the income tax as well as ant-money laundering laws, he said. Commtrendz Research co-founder and director Gnanasekar Thiagarajan said that in the demonetisation has always led people to gold. However, the difference this time is that there are a lot of compliances in place. Unlike the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 notes in 2016, the number of people holding 2,000 notes are less as the RBI had stopped printing them in 2018-19 and they were rarely in circulation. Any purchase of gold, silver, jewellery, or precious gems and stones below 2 lakh does not require a permanent account number (PAN) or Aadhaar of a customer as mandatory KYC document. Six entities including four foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are under lens for suspicious trading in Adani group shares prior to the release of the damning Hindenburg report, the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee has said. The logo of the Adani Group is seen on one of its buildings in Ahmedabad.(REUTERS) There was a build up of short positions in the Adani scips prior to the January 24 release of the Hindenburg report, and substantial profits were booked thereafter as stocks crashed, the 178-page report said. A "short" position is generally the sale of a stock one does not own. Investors who sell short believe the price of the stock will decrease in value. If the price drops, they can buy the stock at the lower price and make a profit. Hindenburg's report claimed that the Adani empire was the "biggest con in corporate history" engaged in a "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme". Shares of Adani Group, which denied all allegations, likening the US investment firm's report to an attack on India, fell after the Hindenburg report was published on January 24. As the report stirred a political row and petitions were filed for a probe into the empire helmed by billionaire Gautam Adani, the Supreme Court on March 2, constituted the expert committee to investigate if there was any failure to disclose transactions with related parties and if stock prices were manipulated. The expert committee headed by former SC judge AM Sapre found no regulatory failure during the sharp rise in prices of Adani group companies between March 2000 and December 2022 and their dramatic meltdown after January 24. "While there was no adverse observation with respect to Adani scips in the cash segment, suspicious trading has been observed on the part of six entities. These are four FPIs, one body corporate and one individual," the report said. The report did not name any of the six. "The trading pattern here is suspicious because of the build up of short positions by these entities in the Adani scrips prior to the Hindenburg report, and substantial profits earned by them by squaring off their short positions after publication of the Hindenburg report on January 24, 2023," the expert committee said. A detailed investigation is being carried out in respect of the trading of the six entities. "These being matters under investigation, and the factual findings at this stage being prima facie in nature, the Committee is not delving into the details and names of these persons, or commenting upon the quality of the prima facie evidence. "The committee wishes to ensure that the position of the respective parties, including SEBI, is not compromised either way when investigations are pending," the report said. Financial crime-fighting agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) "found intelligence about potentially violative and concerted selling by specific parties just ahead of the publication of the Hindenburg report, and this may lead to credible charges of concerted destabilisation of the Indian markets, and Sebi ought to be probing such actions under securities laws," it said citing a response from ED. The report said an analysis in trading of apples-to-port group's flagship firm, Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) shares in four patches between March 1, 2020 and December 31,2022, a month before publication of the Hindenburg report and meltdown of Adani shares, showed the state-owned LIC was the biggest loser as it sold offs 50 lakh shares of the company when prices hovered around 300 and bought 4.8 crore shares when the prices ranged between 1,031 and 3,859. After a detailed scrutiny of the movement of prices of Adani shares and their sale and purchase by different entities, the committee found no evidence of price manipulation of stocks by firms linked to the Adani group. Trading in AEL shares was analysed in four periods - March 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020 (Patch-1), September 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 (Patch-2), October 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 (Patch-3) and April 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022 (Patch-4). Stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) informed the committee that "while the price of AEL shares rose significantly, there was no evident pattern of manipulative contribution of price rise which could be attributed to any single entity or group of concentrated entities." MG has showcased police car and fire rescue vehicle variants of its Comet EV in Indonesia, where the car is sold as Wuling Air EV. The auto giant showcased these variants at the 2023 Periklindo Electric Vehicle Show (PEVS) in Jakarta. MG Comet EV in police car and fire rescue vehicle avatars (Image courtesy: MG) Comet EV was launched in India in April, and is available here at a starting price of 7.98 lakh (ex-showroom). Bookings, too, have been opened. MG Comet as police car Given a blue and white exterior paint finish with Polisi (police) stickers at the front, side and back, Wuling Air EV as a police vehicle is already being used in several Indonesian cities, including in Jakarta, the country's capital. The police in Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD), a posh area in the metropolis, is using it as their intra-city patrolling car. In terms of its exterior, there is not much, except for the Blue LED strobe lights. Also, it does not have an infotainment screen. MG Comet as fire rescue vehicle Just like the regular fire brigades, this, too, is painted in red, and has Damkar (firefighter) stickers on its sides. A Fire Rescue sticker is at the rear and front. This version of Wuling Air EV, surprisingly, does not have a large water tank. There are, however, flashing red and white LED strobe lights on top, warning drivers of a fast-approaching vehicle. Rear seats have been done away with, and instead, it gets firemen uniforms, a pair of extinguishers, and a hose pipe to connect to a hydrant. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The new deputy chief minister of Karnataka and state Congress boss DK Shivakumar appealed to the party cadre to maintain calm and work for the 2024 general elections. He also stressed that the members of the party need to be disciplined and focus on the right things at a crucial time. Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar. (PTI) Speaking at a tribute ceremony of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in Bengaluru, DK Shivakumar said, Let me confess you all something. I am not happy with the 135 seats we achieved in the assembly polls. Our focus needs to be in the right place and that is the upcoming general elections. The Congress party should perform well in every poll from now on, and we all need to work hard. This is just a beginning and do not get lazy with just one win. The senior Congressman also urged the party cadre to maintain peace in the state. Do not gather at my house or Siddaramaiahs house for any reason. We need to maintain peace in the state, and we need to give a strong administration for the next five years. Whatever happens to any leader, the party should be the primary priority and working for the party will only fetch the results, he added. This came after a few of DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah followers demanded the CM post for their favorite leader when the two leaders were in Delhi, before the official announcement on the CM face. Siddaramaiah on Saturday took oath as the chief minister of Karnataka and DK Shivakumar as his Deputy chief minister. Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) secured 19 seats in the results declared on May 13. The politically powerful Jarkiholi family in north Karnatakas Belagavi district is back to its past glory as Satish, one of the brothers, has been inducted in the cabinet of Siddaramaiah-led Congress government. Jarkiholi family returns to political glory as Satish Jarkiholis gets ministerial berth (PTI) The family which enjoyed powerful positions in all the governments since 1998, had a setback for about two-and-a-half years over the resignation of Ramesh, who landed in the alleged sex scandal in 2021. Except the last two years, the Jarkiholi family has enjoyed ministerial berths in all the governments. For the first time in the last 25 years my family was out of political power for about two years. Now, with the induction of my elder brother Satish, we are back to being the power centre, Lakhan Jarkiholi said. Lakhan, elected as an independent member to the state legislative council said, The peoples mandate might have changed the government in the state, but the Jarkiholi family known as the king maker has always protected the political interests of our family. Though divided politically, the brothers remain in support of each other during critical times and ensure each others victory in the election. Ramesh and Balachandra are in the BJP, Satish is in the Congress and Lakhan is an independent legislator for the council. Except Lakhan, the other three were ministers in all the governments since 1998. The family also has a record of not being defeated to any outside candidate in the election since 1998. However, Lakhan and Bhimasi lost the election against their elder brother Ramesh from Gokak constituency earlier. Except this, no one has defeated Ramesh, Satish and Balachandra. Lakhan said that his family is closely knitted and stays united even in the face of adversity. Not only us four brothers but each and every member of our family stood by each other when our elder brother Ramesh landed in a sex scandal, he said. Lakhan who unsuccessfully contested the election against Ramesh from Gokak constituency in the last decade said whatever the outcome of the contest, they ensure that at least one person from the family is in a powerful position in the government. The Gokak based Jarkiholi family, except from 2021 to till date, has enjoyed the ministership in all the governments from 1998. Ramesh Jarkiholi who was the irrigation minister in Basavaraj Bommai government resigned after he was allegedly caught in a sex scandal in 2021. The Jarkiholi family, for the first time which was out of the power is now back in action with the entry of Satish. Now, Satish, who was the forest and environment minister in the previous Congress government has assumed oath as minister in the Siddaramaiah government. The change in power has neither disappointed nor caused any celebration in the family. We are not bothered who gets what position, we just want one among us in power, said MLC Lakhan, the youngest among the five brothers in the Jarkiholi family. Satish, known as the master mind of the family, whom the family respects and honors his decisions, said that his family has an unwritten rule that no one in the family should ask for any favour from the one in the government, unless it is a public related work. Tamil Nadus Bharatiya Janata Party Chief K Annamalai predicted that the new Karnataka government will collapse like a pack of cards in the next one year. He also took a jibe at state CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar, saying that they will be given Nobel peace prize, if they dont fight in the term. Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai. (ANI) Speaking with the news agency ANI, The Congress party in Karnataka is divided into two camps. Both Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar have support of their own camps which will result in ignoring the governance. I am sure that the new government of Karnataka will collapse like a pack of cards by next year. No minister in the cabinet will have an accountability over anything and it will only lead to chaos in the administration. Also Read - Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah cabinet gives in-principle approval for 5 promises Annamalai also took a potshot at the Congress party and alleged that it is trying to portray an inorganic bond between DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. If Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar do not fight and finish the term, they must be given a Nobel peace prize. We have seen anti BJP parties coming to the swearing in ceremony and their unity is restricted to a dinner in Bengaluru. From the next day, the leaders will indulge in petty politics for power. We have already seen this happening many times, he added. Siddaramaiah on Saturday took oath as the new chief minister of Karnataka and DK Shivakumar as his Deputy chief minister. Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) secured 19 seats in the results declared on May 13. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday hailed the people of Karnataka for giving a ray of hope to the entire country by defeating a "fascist, communal and divisive" BJP in the recently-concluded Assembly election. Karnataka has shown ray of hope by defeating BJP: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti She, however, cautioned people against the developments that happened in Delhi, saying that it was a wake-up call for everyone as it can happen anywhere in the country. Mufti was referring to an ordinance passed by the President on Friday, May 20, giving overriding powers to the Delhi's Lieutenant Governor -- a union government nominee -- to oversee the transfer, posting and disciplinary proceedings against civil servants in Delhi. The ordinance was brought in just a week after a Supreme Court Constitution Bench had ruled that powers over the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in the national capital lay with the Delhi government and not the Central government. The apex court had made it clear that the Central government cannot take over governance of elected state governments. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, she said, "Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call for everyone. Whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country." The PDP chief added, "BJP doesn't want to have any opposition. The Delhi government has been disempowered. This is going to happen to everyone." Mufti also said she will not contest the Assembly election till Article 370 is restored in her state. However her party PDP will contest the election. "Karnataka has given a ray of hope to the entire country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and everyone in the BJP were using religion in the Karnataka elections but still people voted them out," she said in a press conference here. According to her, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra had laid the foundation for Congress' victory in Karnataka Assembly election. "Last five years were hit by hatred and communal politics. Divisive politics was played here also in Karnataka. Now Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar will heal the wounds," the PDP chief said. Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir was the first state to be hit by the "divisive and communal politics" but the people of Karnataka voted BJP of of power. Talking about her state, she said Jammu and Kashmir was given special status, which was the best example of federalism, but "the state was dismembered, disintegrated and disempowered by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian constitution". "Today ours is the most militarised state where everyday harassing and frisking are happening in the name of security," the former chief minister pointed out. She said she spoke about the her state to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and others during the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Karnataka CM. "I want people to pay attention to what has happened in J&K. All our passports have been confiscated. If this can happen to a family where I was a CM, and my mother is wife of Late Mufti Mohammed Syed, a former CM and former union minister, it can happen to everyone," the PDP chief said. Stating that Jammu and Kashmir has become an open-air prison, Mufti alleged that China is now interfering in the its affairs, which only Pakistan used to do earlier. "This is what the BJP has done by abrogating Article 370," she lamented. On a question about Congress not inviting many opposition parties' chief ministers during the swearing in ceremony of Siddaramaiah yesterday, such as BRS's K Chandrasekhar Rao, YSR Congress's Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and CPI(M)'s Pinarayi Vijayan, Mehbooba Mufti said the Congress has to sacrifice more; "otherwise there are other options". MBABANE While his image is used to promote elections boycott message, jailed MP Mthandeni Dube has encouraged the electorate to register and vote in the national election. Dube is currently in jail facing charges under the Suppression of Terrorism Act, 2008 for allegedly inciting the public to revolt against a constitutional government. He is facing the charges together with his colleague Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza of Hosea and their co-accused, former Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane, is still on the run. An audio of the jailed Ngwempisi Member of Parliament (MP) that was secretly recorded by a member of the mass democratic movement (MDM) during a visit to his mother surfaced on social media this week. transpired In the recording, the incarcerated MP was encouraging a group of women from the MDM, who were visiting his sickly mother at Ngwempisi. This was towards the end of November 2022. It transpired that during the visit, Dube made a call to his wifes cellphone from a public phone at Matsapha Maximum Correctional Facility. After sharing pleasantries with his wife, the phone was passed on to his mother, who then introduced the group of women who had come to check on her. Dube subsequently requested to be put on loudspeaker, so he could talk to all of them. He went on to have a four-minute long conversation with the group of women, where he encouraged them to ensure that they register for the national elections. He told them that they should avoid boycotting the elections because it had been proven that to abstain from voting yielded no fruits in the calls for political change. desired Dube said many organisations had tried boycotting the elections in the past, but failed to achieve their desired results. He said it was no longer important to boycott the elections as the system had proven that each election year, more people were elected to the august House. He stated that his only wish was for people to go to the polls in numbers to vote for brave men and women who would not be afraid to challenge the government. One thing I would appreciate would be for us all to go and register for the elections so that we can vote for the right people to go and represent our sentiments in Parliament and challenge the system from within. Hhayi lentfo yekutsi singayi elukhetfweni. Ayisebenti lentfo leyo, (not this thing of boycotting the elections, it does not work). This thing has been practised for so many years and has yielded no results; the people have not benefitted anything from boycotting the elections, so let us all go and vote. It has been proven that corruption and bad governance can be resolved better that way, he said. orchestrated Dube said he was aware that the dialogue would be delayed, and further alleged that the delay was orchestrated to keep him and his co-accused in jail until the elections pass. This will pass, just be strong because we know that the dialogue is going to happen even though they might delay it, but it will happen. They will delay it so that we remain inside jail during the elections process, but what I want is that once they open the polls, you all must go and register to vote. Let us vote for people who will condemn corruption and challenge the way government is running its business. If the three of us did not speak in Parliament, the government would not be on its toes as it is now; that is why it is important for you to register and vote for the right people, so that they can continue where we left off. When this people challenge the government, there will be pressure to deliver, and then our people will benefit in that way. As for me, I am begging you to remain united, go register and vote for people who will be brave to go inside and challenge the government, even though we might not be there, but they can continue the calls for a better life, he added. anticipated Dube further predicted that he was not going to be released in January 2023, as anticipated and said he would be kept in jail so that he would not be eligible to stand for the elections in his constituency. His wife, Hazel Dube confirmed that the MP made such utterances and the audio recording was authentic. She said the MP called through her phone and requested to speak to the group of women that had come to check on his mother. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday hit out at the BJP for claiming that Congress supports terrorism despite the assassination of party leaders like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. After paying tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 32nd death anniversary, the newly-elected CM slammed PM Modis statements on terrorism and added that no BJP worker has ever lost their life to a terror attack. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar pay tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 32nd death anniversary, in Bengaluru on Sunday. (DK Shivkumar Twitter) "PM Modi speaks about terrorism, no one from BJP has ever lost their life due to terrorism. BJP keeps saying that we support terrorism but many Congress leaders like Indira Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi died in terror attacks," he said. In a series of tweets, he wrote, Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi were victims of terrorism. Since the beginning, Congress has been fighting to eliminate terrorism that destroys the peace of the people. Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar on Sunday paid homage to the former PM in the Congress office in Bengaluru. Siddaramaiah added that ending the politics of hatred would be the real tribute to Rajiv Gandhi. As long as there is BJP, there will be no peace and harmony in the society. The poor, Dalits and backward people are living in anxiety in many parts of the country, he lashed out at the opposition. Lauding Rajiv Gandhi for introducing decentralisation of democracy, he asserted that the current PMs and Nehru, who was the founder of democracy, cannot be compared. Earlier in the day, Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge paid tributes at Vir Bhumi in Delhi. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also paid respects to their late father. Rajiv Gandhi took over the charge of the Congress in 1984 following the assassination of his mother and then PM Indira Gandhi. He served as the PM till December 2, 1989. He was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. (With inputs from agencies) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 23-year-old woman drowned after a car she was travelling in with her family got stuck in neck-deep water at KR Circle underpass in Bengaluru on Sunday. The victim, identified as Banurekha, worked in Infosys. Banurekha's family members, who were travelling with her, were rescued by personnel from the fire department. Siddaramaiah visits the hospital where the deceased's body was kept, and meets family members.(Twitter/ CM of Karnataka) The woman was touring the city along with her family members, who had come to the IT Capital from Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah announced a compensation of 5 lakh to the family of the deceased woman. Siddaramaiah, who visited the spot of the incident, said the family was out sightseeing in the hired vehicle. "The family from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh had hired a car and come to see Bengaluru. Bhanurekha works in Infosys. Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have," Siddaramaiah told reporters. Those present at the spot said the car driver tried to zoom through the water, but ended up getting the car submerged. An FIR has been registered at Halasuru Gate Police Station in Bengaluru's Cubbonpete in the matter. The FIR has been registered on the complaint filed by the woman's brother. Heavy rainfall lashed parts of Bengaluru on Sunday leading to severe waterlogging. Due to the downpour and hailstorm, the water level in the underpass started increasing. As the family started crying for help, people nearby rushed to their rescue, news agency PTI reported. They threw sarees and ropes to help them keep afloat. Those entrapped tried to climb up but failed. While two of them were dragged out by swimmers of the emergency services personnel, others were brought out using a ladder. The survivors were rushed to the hospital where they found Bhanurekha dead. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative for his alleged involvement in the terror conspiracy case in Jammu and Kashmir. NIA arrested a Kupwara-based Jaish operative. (HT File) The arrest comes as part of the crackdown on terrorist organisations active in the region. The accused, identified as Mohd Ubaid Malik of Kupwara district, was in constant touch with a Pakistan-based JeM commander, according to the NIA investigation in the case. Sharing details in an official statement, the agency said, Investigations have revealed that the accused was passing on secret information, especially regarding movement of troops and security forces, to the Pakistan-based commander. NIA also recovered from the accuseds possession various incriminating documents showing his involvement in the furtherance of terror activities in J&K, It is related to the conspiracies hatched by cadres and over-ground workers (OGW) of various proscribed terrorist organisations in cohorts with their commanders based in Pakistan. It involves collection and distribution of huge consignments of narcotics, cash, weapons, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including remote control operated sticky bombs/magnetic bombs. The IEDs and explosives are often being delivered over drones and are also being assembled locally. The attacks are mainly targeted at the minorities and security forces personnel, the statement said. A case has been registered. On the concluding day of United Nations Road Safety Week, city police carried out a cycle rally on Sunday that saw the participation of as many as 2,500 cyclists. Participants during the cycle rally organised by traffic police in Ludhiana on Sunday. (HT Photo) Traffic police had also collaborated with various cyclists groups who also participated in the rally, which was flagged off by commissioner of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu. Officials of city police also participated in the rally that started from the stadium at police lines and culminated at South City. The residents were encouraged to follow traffic rules for their own safety and for others. The United Nations Road Safety Week is celebrated between May 15 to May 21 each year. Schools take part in the awareness campaign In a bid to create awareness regarding the traffic rules among the students, government and private schools were also participating in painting and essay-writing competitions on the theme of road safety. In its directions, the Punjab State Road Safety Council stated that the chairpersons of District Road Safety Committees are also requested to select the best paintings and essays. The top three selected entries will be sent to the Punjab State Road Safety Council and displayed at road safety events. A poster-making competition was also organised by Safe Drive Stay Alive, a non-governmental organisation that also saw the participation of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Charanjiv Lamba. A cyclist was killed after being mowed down by a reversing local bus near Mandi ground in Sector 29 in Chandigarh on Saturday. The victim was rushed to GMCH-32 where he succumbed to his injuries. The accused was taken into Chandigarh Police custody and was later released on bail. (Getty images) Police arrested the bus driver identified as Rajan Thakur of Solan in Himachal Pradesh. Police said the deceased cyclist Joginder of Sector 30, was behind the bus when the accused reversed the vehicle, crushing him under the rear tyre of the bus. The victim was rushed to GMCH-32 where he succumbed to his injuries. The accused was taken into custody and was later released on bail. Police have registered a case under Sections 279, 337 and 304A of IPC at the Industrial Area police station. In another incident, a 24-year-old man was killed after being hit by an unknown car near Sector 17/18 Chowk, in the wee hours on Sunday. The victim, identified as Deepak (24) of Jagatpura used to drive a rented auto and was under the influence of alcohol or drugs as he was found standing in the middle of the road, police said. Police rushed the victim to GMSH-16 where he was declared dead. The post-mortem will reveal more details about the victim. We are also checking the CCTV cameras to identify the accused, cops said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Preparations for the Ground of 20 (G20) round of meetings, being billed as the biggest international event being hosted in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, are set to crescendo as the event kicks off on Monday. Srinagar has been decked out in G20 banners and murals, while personnel from different security forces are camping in the city to ensure smooth sailing. (Wassem Andrabi/HT) The meetings, under Indias presidency, will largely be hosted at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar amid multi-tier security arrangements. Over 180 delegates, including 60 from various G20 countries, are expected to attend the event. The itinerary Additional secretary tourism Rakesh Kumar Verma said the meeting will open with a ceremonial session on May 22, followed by a presentation on the draft tourism ministers declaration. On the sidelines we will have very important events, one of film tourism and another of ecotourism, Verma said. On the second day, parallel to the tourism working group meeting, will focus on Indian industry and promoting incredible India through film tourism. The delegates will partake on an excursion on 24 May, visiting local sites. We also have two cultural events, a gala dinner on May 22 and a farewell on May 24. We are also planning to present a one-district one-product souvenir to highlight products from this region, Verma said. The delegates were also expected to visit the ski resort of Gulmarg, but there is no clarity on the same. A unique opportunity Addressing a press conference in Srinagar on the eve of the event, Union tourism secretary Arvind Singh said, It is important this is the only working group meeting that is happening in Srinagar as part of G20 efforts. We have seen excellent response from all the member countries and the invitee countries and international organisations. The G20 event at Srinagar presents a unique opportunity to highlight the tourism potential and cultural richness of the region, he added. In terms of participation, the highest numbers have registered and taken accreditation to attend the working group meeting compared to the last two rounds, Singh said, adding, We are expecting encouraging attendance and have foolproof arrangements, he said. Countries including China and Turkey are yet to register for the G20 meeting, the last date for which is May 22. Chinas decision is apparently linked to objections by its close ally Pakistan to hold the meeting in a disputed territory, while Turkey has criticised Indias handling of the situation in Kashmir in the past years, sources familiar with the developments said. Several other countries, both G20 member states and guest countries, meanwhile are expected to have low-level participation at the meeting. Earlier this week, India strongly rejected the assertions of UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes who said massive human rights violations are ongoing is lending support to attempts by India to normalise the brutal and repressive denial of democratic and other rights of Kashmiri Muslims and minorities. The permanent mission of India in Geneva called it baseless and unwarranted allegations, saying, As G20 president, its Indias prerogative to host its meetings in any part of the country. Security prep, facelift in overdrive The UT administration has been in an overdrive to ensure security and complete the work undertaken to give the city a facelift in the run up to the event. While Srinagar has been decked out in G20 colours, the road from Srinagar Airport to the venue at SKICC has also been spruced up with the walls being painted with murals and paintings. Even the security bunkers have been given a new look. Harsh Vardhan Shringla, chief coordinator of G20 said the meeting in Srinagar has entailed planning a year and a half prior to the actual event. The UT has gone out of way and taken it as a matter of pride and took the G20 as an opportunity, he added. Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, meanwhile, in a statement, dubbed the event a historic opportunity for Jammu and Kashmirs 13 million residents to showcase their culture, heritage, tourism and warm hospitality. A multi-tier security apparatus has been put in place particularly around SKICC on the banks of Dal Lake. Indias Marine and National Security Guard commandos have been carrying out security drills across the city over the last few days. River and lake domination has been done with the deployment of marine commandos (Marcos) to ensure the water bodies around the meeting venue are safe, while Central Reserve Police Force commandos have been conducting mock drills on the lake since Friday. A new hope Tourism players in Kashmir have expressed hope of the event helping Kashmir in lifting travel advisories in various countries. There are travel adversaries in various countries against visiting kashmir. The delegates of 20 countries will themselves see the situation here and help lift those advisories. I hope LG will also intervene, J&K Hoteliers Club chairperson Mustaq Chaya said. Traffic movement on the Boulevard road will be diverted from Monday and the traffic department issued an advisory saying there will be a restricted access to the SKICC from Nehru Part and Gupkar to Kraksangri. A large number of delegates from India and abroad are expected to attend. In order to avoid congestion, the advisory is issued to avoid any inconvenience, senior superintendent of police (traffic) Muzaffar Shah said. Neither the scenic hill stations nor other relatively inexpensive holiday destinations in the country seem to impress the government school teachers as the trend among the staffers seeking ex-India leaves to visit abroad, especially Canada, continues to be on the rise. Education department staffers include master cadre teachers, lecturers, principals, and other officials in clerical posts. (HT File Photo) According to the data given by the district education department, around 500 applications for ex-India leave during summer vacations were received from teachers in Ludhiana. Out of these, a total of 121 applications have got approval from the state education department. Harjit Singh, district education officer (secondary) said, It is compulsory for the government staffers to seek approval from the department before leaving their station. He said that the ex-India leaves are only issued during the summer vacations in normal cases. As the international travel restrictions which were imposed due to Covid have eased globally, the number of applicants has risen from the previous years, he said. Education department staffers include master cadre teachers, lecturers, principals, and other officials in clerical posts. According to the district education department officials, the applications started pouring in from the month of January and will continue till the end of May. Most of the staffers in their applications mention that they want to visit their children and other family members abroad to spend time with them. Out of the 121 total applications which have been approved, around 100 applications are for Canada, an official in the department requesting anonymity said. He said that the process has been completely centralised for the last four years and the files are prepared at the district level after which they are forwarded to the state education department, which is the final authority. At times, the applications face rejections due to discrepancies and lack of required documents and the applicants reapply for leave with the required documents, the official said. The duration of the leaves which are sought by the applicants ranges between 30 and 60 days. The applicants also have to sign an undertaking that they will not prolong their stay in the country they are visiting and will join their duty on the date mentioned in the application. A Principal at one of the government schools in the city, who has also applied for the ex-India leave, said, Both of my children, a son and a daughter have completed their professional studies and work in Canada. As they are in the initial stage of their career, it will be hard for them to take a break and visit us. So, I along with my wife, who is also a government school teacher, our children to spend the summer break with them. He said that due to the holiday season, flight tickets also get 20 to 50% expensive. Rules made stringent With the increasing number of government school teachers applying for ex-India leaves, the education department has also, over the years, made the rules for the leaves stringent. While the teachers seeking leave are required to furnish a complete list of documents, the purpose of the visit, and the period during which they can apply for the leave, have also been fixed. Noting the toll on regular education at schools with teachers, including school heads on ex-India leave, the education department had issued an order in June 2022 stating that the ex-India leaves will be only approved during the summer and winter vacations. In its orders in December last year, the director of education department (secondary education) had directed the district education officers and school heads across the state to not approve the leave applications by teaching and non-teaching staff at the government schools for foreign travel and childcare. A school principal, requesting anonymity, said that the department has also tightened the noose around the teachers who prolong their stay and become permanent residents abroad. Passports of employees are thoroughly checked before issuing them increments or retirement benefits. He said that the employees are required to provide pictures of each page of their passport and an undertaking from the staffer who will be handling the duties in their presence. He said that the process should be made easy for genuine applicants. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said he would examine the veracity of the allegations that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has levelled against his former principal officer on special duty (OSD) Neeraj Daftuar regarding a shady land deal and reiterated the state governments zero-tolerance resolve to corruption. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar (File photo) I am seized of this matter. Though I was out of station for the last two days, I have sought the details and summoned the record from the concerned department, said Khattar in a news conference here, responding to a question about AAP accusing Daftuar of using influence to facilitate financial gains for his family through a contentious land deal which took place in 2022. One thing is crystal clear, neither have we tolerated corruption in the past nor will my government tolerate it in future. Khattar said there would never be any slackness in the anti-corruption movement of the state government, weather the person involved in corrupt practices is holding a top position or any other low level post in the government. Reiterating that he has taken cognizance of the issue which AAP has raised, Khattar said he would be able to shed more light on the subject later. Asked that AAP was threatening to disrupt his scheduled public engagements in Mahendragarh, the CM said: Police will act as per the law if they create disturbance in my programmes. Khattar said as nobody has the right to disrupt programmes of the CM, in the same manner it is the duty of the state government to ensure that no one disturbs programmes of the Opposition political parties. The contentious land deal Haryana AAP leader Anurag Dhanda at a Friday press briefing had alleged that the family members of Neeraj Daftuar (former principal OSD to the CM) were at the centre of a contentious land deal which took place in 2022. The AAP leader demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter. The land which was bought by A.N.A Real Logistics two months ago for 2.73 crore was handed over to Daftuar family along with the company for 75 lakh only. In fact, A.N.A Real Logistics actually belonged to Neeraj Daftuar from Day One. He had formed this company to invest his ill-gotten money, the AAP leader alleged. Dhanda had alleged that A.N.A Real Logistics applied for a change of land use (CLU) permission on April 15 last year for setting up a non-agro warehouse on 36,396.41 square metre (about 8.99 acre) and a letter of intent for grant of CLU was issued by the Town and Country Planning Department on May 4 last year, in mere 12 working days. The AAP leader further said two days before the CLU was issued, A.N.A. Real Logistics and all its properties were transferred under a legal agreement to Neeraj Daftuars wife Anupam Daftuar and their son Aditya Daftuar for a mere 75 lakh. When this deal took place, Neeraj was working as the principal OSD to the CM. The spokesperson of the company had dismissed as false the allegations of the AAP. The state government is committed to making the commuter on roads across Himachal Pradesh a safe and seamless experience, a spokesperson of the transport department said on Sunday. Himachal Pradesh is set to invest in technology to make state roads safer. (HT File) The spokesperson highlighted the heterogeneous mix of traffic that includes high-speed vehicles sharing the road space with vulnerable road users as well as unsafe vehicles that are in poor condition and tough hilly terrain as major reasons for the high fatality rate. Violation of traffic laws by most drivers is another big concern, the spokesperson said, adding that road safety was an area where the state was taking various steps to ensure safety. The state has already notified the Road Safety Policy and Himachal is the first state in India where the Road Accident Data Management System was launched and implemented successfully for scientifically analysing the accident data, he said. In order to ensure a better traffic system and road safety on the national highways, the state has decided to set up three new traffic-cum-tourist-police stations on the Kiratpur-Manali four-lane highway. These police stations will be opened in Bilaspur, Mandi and Kullu districts. It will be operated with Intelligent Traffic Management System with Control Room at each police station. The same is expected to ensure quick police assistance in case of accidents. Emergency call boxes, CCTV cameras, automatic traffic counter-cum-classifiers, vehicle actuated speed displays and overhead driver feedback systems, variable message signs, video incident detection system and MeT devices are also being installed. All these initiatives will go a long way in making travelling in Himachal Pradesh more safe, secure and enjoyable, the spokesperson said. Despite having difficult terrain, Himachal Pradesh has developed a well-connected road network having the highest road density among all the other hill states of the country. Home Minister Anil Vij on Sunday ordered action against an Ambala cop for an alleged lapse in taking action in a theft case. Home Minister Anil Vij (File photo) The minister transferred assistant sub-inspector Rakesh from Mahesh Nagar police station to district police lines. A statement from Vijs office said the action was ordered while he was in Rampur village and locals forwarded a complaint alleging that despite the fact that they had handed over the thief to the cop, no action was initiated. The minister also ordered the SHO to ensure that illegal mining, primarily during night, along the Tangri river is stopped and action against those involved is taken. MBABANE Have you ever asked yourself this question: What could possibly stop His Majesty the King and Her Majesty Indlovukazi from registering for elections and voting? Since the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) is currently taking questions about the elections as part of its ongoing civic and voter education exercise, it elected, this time, to respond to queries from the Times SUNDAY. The question goes: Does the country have a law in its statutes that prevents the King and Indlovukazi from voting? Consensus was reached by all the experts interviewed that there is no such law. Prince Mhlabuhlangene, the Chairman of the EBC and lawyer by profession, first said: You are asking a very interesting question that I, in turn, have asked myself. In his knowledge, he said there was no legislation precluding Their Majesties from registering and voting under the existing laws of the country. Sipho Gumedze, a well-respected attorney in constitutional law and human rights, concurred with the EBC chairman that there was no law barring the King and Indlovukazi from voting. Back to the prince, he said: By virtue of fitting the eligibility criteria, being natural persons, or nationals above 18 years of age, while they are not legal subjects of the realm or territory called Eswatini, through being the sovereigns, they are, if I may say, the first citizens or natural nationals of our statehood, by virtue of being the nationals in whom the Monarchical Sovereignty of the kingdom and country vests. natural law He said the countrys authorities fully possessed the requirements in common law for a possessor of legal rights, be they legal rights in terms of natural law or legal rights in accordance with positive law. The EBC chairman said positive law was largely made up of statute law that regulated the election registration and voting in question. As such, according to the law of persons under common law, he said the King and Her Majesty have the legal capacity should they choose to register and/or vote in the country. However, what I presume accommodates for this political legal right of the sovereign is the constitutional and statutory law grant of the power to appoint the 10 members of Parliament and the 20 in the senate. I should, however, declare that, this latter point is my own personal constitutional law opinion, Prince Mhlabuhlangene said. He further stated: This to me is the trade off or offering in lieu of the sovereign exercising their legal right to register and vote in the elections. But, in more correct constitutional law language, he explained that it would seem that this right of the sovereign was regulated by convention, not to exercise it, notwithstanding the fact that they possess it fully. Sipho Gumedze, the Human Rights and Constitutional Lawyer, said it should not be politically or legally correct for the King and Queen Mother to vote or register for the elections. He said he was aware that there was actually no law barring them from exercising this right. direct voting Since the King is a hereditary Head of State, Gumedze advised that his participation in direct voting might influence public perception, with people being influenced to pose questions on where he would register for the election. Public interest can be generated as to where the King would vote is he going to vote at Mayiwane because he has a residence at Buhleni or Lugongolweni because of the Mpumalanga Royal Residence? he wondered and further opined: Others will say he will vote at Mbabane West as Nkoyoyo Palace falls under that constituency or at Ludzeludze since Ngabezweni falls under it; and there are some people who may say he must vote under Lobamba because of Ludzidzini Royal Residence. He was in doubts that the King would want to throw the people into a state of confusion and unnecessary perception about the centre under which he might choose to vote. Percy Simelane, the Director of Communications at the Kings Office, said he believed the King and the Queen Mother, as parents-in-chief in this country, would want to see all their candidate-children voted for by them. But, he said, the election laws dictated that only once could a person vote. So, for fairness sake, the King and Queen Mother are morally better out of vote-casting, Simelane said. A well-respected liSwati said there was to be nothing untoward for the King or Indlovukazi to lead by example by registering for the election. Preferring to address the issue on condition of anonymity, he said the King is the defender of the Constitution, which prescribes the election. He said there was to be nothing wrong with him choosing one voting centre because he also elected to align with Inyatsi regiment. He said the other regiments did not complain about the King being a member of the regiment. vote He can cast his vote under Mbabane West or Motshane and exercise his right in another centre in the next election. There is nothing wrong here, he said. In terms of Section 106 of the Constitution, another liSwati mentioned that the King is, by extension, the supreme MP. He based his theory on Section 106 (a), which provides that the supreme legislative authority of Eswatini vests in the King-in-Parliament. Section 106 (b) states that the King and Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good government of Swaziland (Eswatini). If Their Majesties were to put up a legal argument over their right to vote, experts said they could invoke Section 20 (2), which reads: For the avoidance of any doubt, a person shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, or social or economic standing, political opinion, age or disability. The well-respected liSwati argued: Their social standing and birth shouldnt preclude them from voting. They cannot be voted to Parliament because of the Head of States status as the King-in-Parliament. It is not clear whether Kings in other countries cast their votes. However, Moroccos King Mohammed VI voted in a polling station in Rabat on the Friday of July 1, 2011. The King voted in the referendum on the new Constitution he had proposed. The Constitution gave more powers to Parliament and the prime minister. Presidents in other countries do vote. In the year 2000, the late Zulu King Zwelithini publicly declared that he would not vote in the local government election to prevent disparity among his people. His former Spokesperson, TC Mamela, said the King had not voted in the last election or any of the previous elections. He said the King was concerned that he had subjects in all political parties. eligibility The Kings five wives would also not vote by virtue of being members of the royal family. In Britain during the general election in 2017, there were discussions on the eligibility of the then Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, to vote. An article by Newsweek stated that there was nothing in written British law barring the Monarch from voting in an election. But, as the Brits might say, it just isnt done, the publication wrote. Although the Monarch is not prohibited by law, the UK Parliament website says: It is considered unconstitutional for the Monarch to vote in an election. Meanwhile in Eswatini, it is not clear if Princess Sikhanyiso, the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, will vote. Despite diligently contributing a portion of their limited salaries to the Employee State Insurance (ESI) scheme, labourers in the city have to face deplorable conditions at the ESI hospital at Bharat Nagar Chowk. Even the patients grappling with serious ailments such as paralysis, cardiovascular issues and respiratory problems are forced to wait in queues to obtain essential medications. Patient waiting in queues outside the hospital in Ludhiana on Sunday. (HT Photo) Although the hospital opens at 9 am, beneficiaries start lining up at around 5 am to get timely appointments. I arrived here around 5.30 am and was surprised to see that people were already here, said Mohit Yadav, a 55-year-old patient seeking medications for a skin ailment. He added that he could only leave the facility at 3.30 pm after getting his medications. Additionally, the labourers also need to be referred from their local ESI dispensary to avail the facilities of the hospital. Shakuntla Devi, standing in line with her two toddlers, said We cannot directly come here referred from the local dispensary. The dispensary is not near our house. After getting the referral, we have to spend hours here to get the necessary treatment and medications. Patients say despite reaching early, the medicine window is closed by the time they are checked at the OPD. This forces them come back the next day. They say that this wastes their time and wages, on top of the transportation costs they have to bear. I took two autos to reach here and the round trip will cost me 80. I have also taken a day off from work to see the doctor. If I am fortunate enough to make it to the medicine window today, the prescribed medicines may not be available, which is a common occurrence, said Nitin Mishra, another patient. The only one in the states largest district, the 300-bedded hospital caters to nearly 16 lakh workers and their families covered under the ESI corporation. Talking about the issue, medical superintendent Dr Bhairavi Deshmukh said, The number of patients exceeds the sanctioned staff and facilities. Expansion projects for facility are in the pipeline and being formulated at the ministerial level, but it is too early to provide further details. She added that the hospital encourages the patients to visit dispensaries or seek online consultations to manage the workload. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Caught consuming liquor in open, three men allegedly assaulted a cop, who was part of the PCR motorcycle squad, with a beer bottle near GLADA park in Moti Nagar, police said on Sunday. The complainant said that they asked the accused to stop drinking in the open and started questioning them about their whereabouts. (Getty Images) The accused escaped after leaving ASI Sukhwinder Singh of Mundian Kalan injured on Saturday. The Moti Nagar police lodged an FIR against unidentified accused. ASI Sukhwinder said that he, along with constable Nahar Singh, was on patrolling duty in Moti Nagar area when at around 9:30 pm they were crossing by the GLADA park and noticed three men consuming alcohol in open. The complainant said that they asked the accused to stop drinking in the open and started questioning them about their whereabouts. The accused got offended and attacked them. One of the accused smashed a beer on his head. He suffered an injury on his right ear. Thereafter, the accused manhandled him and escaped. The ASI had noted down the registration number of the bike. ASI Vijay Kumar, who is investigating the case, said that the police have lodged an FIR against three unidentified accused under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC at Moti Nagar police station. Four men who were involved in illegally sending Indians to live in foreign counties, including the United States, have been arrested from west Delhi neighbourhoods, the Delhi Polices crime branch announced on Sunday. The arrests and seizures were made from the beginning of this month till late last week, after the crime branch began focusing on such syndicates due to the rapid surge in such frauds. (Representational image) Officers aware of the case said the men ran the racket in the guise of a tour and travel company operating out of west Delhis Tilak Nagar. Police identified the arrested men as Girish Bhandari, Himanshu Mehta, Gagan Sharma and Ramesh Arya. Bhandari is the mastermind of this syndicate, and he began it some 12 years ago by opening a tour and travel business so that the polices attention wouldnt be drawn, Ravindra Singh Yadav, special commissioner (crime branch), said. Yadav said the syndicate had agents in Delhi, where all embassies are located, sub-agents in other parts of the National Capital Region (NCR), and had associates in countries such as El Salvador and Mexico. Seizures from them include 80 passports of various countries, and a host of stamps of various companies and forged documents of all kinds used in the racket, said the officer. The arrests and seizures were made from the beginning of this month till late last week, after the crime branch began focusing on such syndicates due to the rapid surge in such frauds. Yadav said the syndicate primarily used two routes to send Indians to the US Baku-Istanbul-El Salvador, and Europe-Mexico. According to police, Bhandari and his men allegedly used high-end computer applications and editing software to prepare forged documents such as bank statements and income tax returns. The members of this syndicate used encrypted apps for communication, Yadav said. The police are trying to identify people who have made it to foreign countries through the help of this syndicate. In the first route, the syndicate would send four-five people in a single batch, the police said. The racketeers would book flight tickets from Delhi or Jaipur to Baku in Azerbaijan, via Sharjah in UAE. Since the visa of Baku can be obtained in just 30 minutes and is valid for 30 days, the passenger would stay in Baku for seven to 10 days until further tickets were available, said Yadav. However, Azerbaijans visa requirements stipulate that a return journey is booked in advance. Hence, Yadav said, the return ticket would be booked through Turkish Airlines. The Turkish Airlines route from Baku to Delhi is via Istanbul. At Istanbul, the passenger is told to deliberately miss the connecting flight to Delhi, Yadav said. Fresh tickets from Istanbul to El Salvador were then arranged for the passenger. This fresh Turkish Airlines flight goes to Panama City from where they take a new flight to El Salvador, the officer said. In El Salvador, the passenger would stay for two-three days until they were allegedly contacted by people named Max and Gary Max the syndicates agents there. Max and Gary Max arrange taxis for the passengers to reach Mexico border at Tapachula, said Yadav. From Tapachula, the Indians would allegedly be taken to one of two main border points with the US Tijuana or Mexicali where their illegal entry into the US would be facilitated by the agents, Yadav said. Giving details of the second route used by the syndicate, Yadav said the passengers would get a Schengen visa that is valid in 27 European countries. When the passenger lands in a Schengen country, they usually wait there for three-four days. Some end up extending their stay in certain European countries such as Portugal, which allow prolonged stays by paying extra taxes, said Yadav. Others bound for the US depart from the Schengen country to Mexico City, where Mexico facilitates tourist visas on arrival, said Yadav. From there, the passengers are taken to the two border points with the US, where agents facilitate their entry, the officer said. Nearly 200,000 students appeared for the Common University Entrance Test for undergraduate admissions (CUET-UG) on Sunday, hoping for admission to undergraduate courses in universities across the country. However, some candidates reported facing glitches during the exam an issue that had marred the first edition of the test last year. CUET candidates go through a security check before appearing for the exam on Sunday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo) According to officials from the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the CUET-UG, 265,248 students were scheduled to appear for the two-hour exam on Sunday, which was held across three time slots 8.30am, 12pm and 3.30pm. The first shift of the test was conducted in 271 cities and 447 centres, in which 87,879 candidates were scheduled to appear. The second shift was conducted in 272 cities and 448 centres, with 87,903 candidates scheduled to take the exam. Shift three was held in 271 cities and 458 centres, with 89,466 candidates scheduled to appear. At the end of the day, officials said the NTA recorded an overall attendance of 76%. This was lower than the 85% attendance recorded on the first day of the test in 2022, but considerably higher than the overall CUET-UG attendance of 62% in 2022. In the first two shifts, attendance was 77% and in the third shift it was 76%. In 2% of centrers (approximately 12 out of 450 today), the exam started later than scheduled but was successfully completed. The exam started late due to a couple of reasons, such as power fluctuations in some centres and, in others, students needing to follow staggered entry. Students were informed in the admit cards to enter the centre in a staggered manner. But in a few centres, since they came late, there was crowding and subsequent delay in the start of the exam, said M Jagadesh Kumar, chairperson of the University Grants Commission (UGC), who is monitoring the CUET with NTA. Kumar requested the student to enter in a staggered manner in future exams and added that steps had been taken to avert such situations. We have now taken administrative measures to prevent such situations in the future. In many cities, we have also taken help from the traffic police to minimize traffic jams around the centres, he said. Candidates and their parents were also regularly informed about the steps taken and the exam start status in the centers where there was a delay in starting the test, added Kumar. Prachi Gupta, who travelled to her centre in Delhis Sarita Vihar alone, said students went through a number of security checks before being allowed to appear for the exam. We were asked to remove our shoes for checking during frisking. Our biometrics were also checked. Some students were also asked to remove earrings It would have been convenient if they allowed us to keep our phone somewhere, she said. However, officials noted that as per the CUET-UG 2023 bulletin, candidates are not allowed to carry any metal items to the examination hall. Saloni, who only shared her first name, said she appeared for the exam in five subjects and appeared for the exam in two different slots the first and the third. A resident of West Delhis Nangloi, she had to leave her house at 5am to reach her test centre at Sarita Vihar on time. Meanwhile, many parents complained that arrangements outside the centre were not sufficient for the sweltering weather. There is no place for parents to sit. Children had to queue up outside the centre in this scorching heat, said Baldev Singh, who accompanied his daughter to an examination centre. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Gurugram: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday announced that the Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway will be removed in next two-three months, adding that his government is considering proposals for its removal. Gurugram, India-May 21, 2023: Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister of Haryana at Raahgiri day organised by District Administration Gurugram, Gurugram police and Raahgiri foundation at sector-79 near Mount Olympus school, in Gurugram, India, on Sunday, 21 May 2023. (Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times) Khattar made the announcement on the side lines of an event in Gurugrams Sector 79, and said that he spoke to Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday in this regard. The state government is working towards removal of Kherki Daula toll plaza and I had a discussion on this regard with Union transport minister on this matter. The main problem at this toll is that there is congestion and traffic jams, which causes heavy pollution. Paying the toll fees is not an issue with most of the people and removal of toll barriers is under active consideration. This shifting will be carried out on next two to three months, said Khattar. The CM added that the toll plaza will be either shifted to Panchgaon or to the Dwarka Expressway. Khattar also said that the highway ministry is planning to implement a satellite-based technology, whereby there would be no need for physical toll plaza at Kherki Daula. On Thursday, Gadkari had said that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is working on a GPS-based technology, which would enable the collection of toll fees directly through FaSTags. When asked about the removal of toll plaza, Gadkari reiterated that commuters will have to pay a toll on highways as the NHAI needed to generate resources to maintain the roads. There is strong resentment among Gurugram residents over the Kherki Daula toll plaza, as the concession agreement of 15 years which was signed by the private operator to collect fee on the highway expired in January this year. Thereafter, the concessionaire was given an additional two months time as compensation for the loss suffered it due to Covid-19 pandemic, and the toll plaza was handed over to a private toll operator in March. After the completion of the concession agreement, the Union transport ministry notified the Kherki Daula toll plaza as public funded toll plaza. City residents have been demanding that the toll plaza should be removed and shifted, as the concessionaire agreement is over and residents have paid toll for 15 years. Pravin Malik, president of the United Association of New Gurugram, said it was unfair for residents of Gurugram to continue paying the toll as the concession agreement was over, and the cost of construction and capital employed had been recovered. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The civic poll defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in Lakshman Ghat ward in Ayodhya, where the Yogi Adityanath government has been organising Deepotsav celebrations since it came to power in the state in 2017, is the topic of discussion not only in the temple town but also in the state capital. BJP flags at party head quarter in New Delhi. (HT Representative Photo) The Deepotsav celebrations have been organised at the majestic Ram Ki Paidi ghat in Ayodhya which comes under the Lakshman Ghat ward. Here, Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Priya Shukla defeated BJP candidate Bindu Pandey by a margin of 1,199 votes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was chief guest at Deepotsav celebrations held on the eve of Diwali festival in Ayodhya last year. BJPs defeat in Lakshman Ghat ward has been humiliating. Even the state leadership of the party has taken note of this defeat. Till date party leaders are talking about this defeat, said a senior BJP leader of Ayodhya. The most surprising victory in this civic poll in Ayodhya was that of independent candidate Sultan Ansari from Abhiram Das ward which houses Ram Janmabhoomi. Ansari was in thick of controversy in the land purchase deal carried out by the Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust in June 2021. Ansaris victory holds more significance as Muslims only comprise 11 percent in the Abhiram Das ward. According to the electoral roll, the ward has 440 Muslim voters and 3,844 Hindu voters. In this civic poll, 2388 voters exercised their franchise in this ward. Out of it, Ansari bagged 895 votes. Another independent candidate Nagendra Kumar got 553 votes and stood second while BJP candidate was placed at third position. The BJP might have pulled a stunning victory on mayoral seat in Ayodhya but the Samajwadi Party gave it a tough fight in wards, nagar panchayat and nagar palika seats, said a BJP leader of Ayodhya. BJPs defeat in Abhiram Das and Lakshman Ghat wards has been shocking. Partys overall performance in 60 wards is poor. Defeat in wards has been overshadowed by stunning victory on mayoral seat, the BJP leader added. Mahant Girishpati Tripathi of the BJP won the mayoral seat by bagging 77,494 votes while his SP rival Ashish Pandey polled 41,856 votes. Out of 60 wards in Ayodhya, BJP won in 27 wards, Samajwadi Party on 17, 10 independent candidates, BSP on three, Peace Party, AAP and RLD in one ward each. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a significant boost to the healthcare infrastructure of Uttar Pradesh, 100 more specialist doctors have joined government hospitals. In a first, these doctors were shortlisted through the reverse-bidding system. Earlier in February, the state had advertised for vacancies against 1,199 posts. (HT Photo) Earlier in February, the state had advertised for vacancies against 1,199 posts. Notably, U.P. has 2,166 vacancies for specialists. However, only 900 doctors are working, leaving 1,266 positions vacant. The bidding was open for all specialist doctors to apply with the salary they want, up to a maximum 5 lakh and place of work they would like to join. With more than one doctor applying against one post, the health department negotiated (reverse bidding) with doctors and settled mutually on a salary. In 53 days of process of reverse bidding, 2,371 applications came in and among those, 391 were selected for document verification. Those who demanded a salary of less than 1 lakh will be screened in the next round, said a senior official in the health department. The specialists selected include -- cardiologists, orthopaedic surgeons, consultant medicine, anaesthetists, gynaecologists, microbiologists, pathologists, physician, radiologists, paediatrician, general surgeon, and chest physician. Postings have been given in different districts under various programmes -- including mother and child health, national programme, and trauma centres. Since postings have been given in district/place of choice, the doctors shall work with commitment, said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general association of international doctors. These doctors have been given postings at workplace they had opted. The state has a total 19,000 sanctioned posts of doctors in 75 districts. What is reverse biding? Under the reverse bidding process, doctors put up their salary bid within upper limit (of 5 lakh in this case) and apply for post of their own choice. If more than one doctor applies for a post, the health officials initiate a negotiation keeping in view the possibility of hiring the most experienced/qualified doctor as priority. With 298 Haj pilgrims on board, Uttar Pradesh on Sunday flagged off its first flight to Medina from the Amausi international airport in Lucknow. District magistrate Surya Pal Gangwar was present on the occasion. Special arrangements are in place at the airport for the convenience of the pilgrims. (Deepak Gupta/HT) Special arrangements are in place at the airport for the convenience of the pilgrims. The airport will handle over 45 flights from May 21 to June 6 to ferry over 14,000 people to Medina. The special flights for Haj will be operated by Saudia airlines, an airport spokesperson said. Earlier, welfare minister Danish Azad Ansari and state Haj Committee chief Mohsin Raza flagged off the pilgrims bus from Haj House in the city. I wished all pilgrims on their journey and told them that the BJP government will keep working for the benefit of Muslims in the state, he later said. Nadeem, 54, who was one of the 298 people who left for Medina, said at the airport, I am happy with the arrangements at Haj House and the airport. A separate baggage screening facility has been created in coordination with the immigration, CISF and customs officials. Separate areas are earmarked for religious activities by Haj passengers such as a wazu khana and separate sections for men and women namazis. Mumbai: The vacation bench of the Bombay high court (HC) recently directed the Customs department to give an update on the well-being of 3,332 seized animals being illegally exported to Dubai for Eid celebrations. HT Image The animals, including goats and sheep, were being brought from Ahmedabad in a ship, the Customs department swung into action after receiving specific information and with the help of the coast guard seized the vessel on April 21 and brought it to Angre port in Ratnagiri. After the seizure, the magistrate court in Ratnagiri on April 25 directed the Customs department to tag the animals and hand them over to Dhyan Foundation, an animal welfare NGO. However, after the beneficiary- an export firm intervened, the magistrate order was reversed by the chief judicial magistrate court on May 10. The HC was informed that out of the 3,398 animals that were seized on April 21, around 1,379 animals died due to lack of proper care till May 10 and another 240 had died till May 15 when the petition was heard by HC. The NGO through advocates JS Kini and Raju Gupta informed the bench that the death of the animals had occurred as they were not provided proper care after they were seized and had not tagged the animals as directed by the magistrate court. The petition by the NGO further stated it had approached the HC under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and sought directions for custody of the animals. The Customs department through advocates Jitendra Mishra and Dhananjay Deshmukh informed the bench that they had abided by the magistrate court order and had got the animals checked by a veterinary officer. The HC was further told that Dr D S Jagdale the deputy director of animal husbandry had informed the Customs department on May 4 that as the animals were under travelling stress, further tagging for identification could increase the stress and hence the animals should not be ear tagged at this point. The procedure was postponed up to the health recovery of the animals. After hearing the submissions, the single judge bench of justice Gauri Godse sought a status report on the condition and health of the remaining animals. The petition will be heard on June 13. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON HT Correspondent UP cops to arrest an Umesh Pal murder accused, after his release from Bihar jail (Pic for representation) allahabad.htdesk@hindustantimes.com Prayagraj: An assailant involved in murder of lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police guards had surrendered before Sasaram court in Bihar about one and a half weeks after the February 24 killings. The assailant, identified as Mohd Armaan, had surrendered in some old case in which he was wanted and the Prayagraj police are now striving to secure his custody in connection with the February 24 murders. Police officials said Armaan may soon be released in the case in which he has surrendered and went to jail in Sasaram. Prayagraj police will arrest him after his release, a police official said. Police officials said that questioning from Armaan may provide more details about Umesh Pal murder case and others who were involved in the murders. Police are investigating reports that the roadside eatery which Armaan used to run in Civil Lines is still functional. In the CCTV footages that went viral after Umesh Pals murder, Armaan is seen riding a bike with Guddu Muslim sitting behind him. While Guddu is hurling crude bombs, Armaan can be seen firing shots on the car of Umesh Pal and is later caught on camera fleeing from the spot, with Guddu riding pillion. Police believe that Armaan fled to Sasaram, Bihar, where he originally belongs to, after the sensational day light murders in Prayagraj. In Sasaram, Armaan had reportedly surrendered before police in an old case against him. He has been in jail since. Police had issued lookout out notice against Shaista Parveen and assailants Sabir and Guddu Muslim few days back. Shaista is wife of mafia-politician Atiq Ahmed, who along with his brother Ashraf were killed in police custody in Prayagraj sometime after Umesh Pals murder. Police said Armaan is a close aide of Atiq Ahmads henchman Ashiq aka Malli. He came in contact with Atiqs sons through Malli and started working for the gang. In some of the viral videos Armaan is seen with Shaista Parveen while she was canvassing for the post of mayor. In other photographs Armaan is seen with Sabir and other members of Atiqs gang, police said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Global standards, internationally agreed processes and industry best practices are critical in addressing cyber threats effectively, a high-level media roundtable concurred. As such, building and implementing an end-to-end global cybersecurity and privacy protection assurance system is one of Huaweis key strategies, the roundtable, hosted in parallel with GSMA M360 EURASIA 2023 conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, was told. In compliance with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates and international standards, Huawei has created an effective, sustainable, and reliable cybersecurity and privacy protection assurance system by referring to the requirements of regulators and customers and industry best practices. Common challenges Huawei believes cybersecurity and privacy are common challenges that all stakeholders including governments, industry and standards organisations, enterprises, technology suppliers, and consumers have a shared responsibility to confront. Huawei actively works with governments, customers, and industry partners to address cybersecurity and privacy challenges, thereby reinforcing the need to treat cybersecurity as a team sport and maintaining an open and collaborative environment that encourages innovation and transparency. Through these efforts, Huawei advocates for cybersecurity to be viewed as the key to protecting our digital assets and leveraging it to support business, said Huawei Middle East and Central Asia as it joined a high-level media roundtable on day two of the GSMA M360 EURASIA 2023 conference to discuss the latest telecom cybersecurity trends, innovations, and contribute methods to tackle the associated threats among industry actors together. Aligning priorities The open discussion aimed at aligning strategic priorities for the region, deepening engagement and steering collaborative efforts in the industry to advance collective action for cyber stability in the telecom industry. Under the theme of Build more secure and resilient telecom networks to efficiently support the future digital economy, participants in the panel discussed various topics, including collaborations among network operators and their partners, suppliers and customers in defending against telecom cybersecurity, how regulators could promote local telecom industrys cybersecurity development, and the role that cybersecurity plays in safeguarding critical information infrastructure and the digital economy, among other topics. Dr Tural Mammadov, Director of Director of the Azerbaijan Computer Emergency Response Centre (CERT), was joined in the panel by Dr Mohammad Khaled, Director, Business Development and Strategic projects, e& enterprise, Dr Haitham Hilal Al Hajri, Sr. Executive Cyber Security Projects, Oman National CERT, Dr Elvin Balajanov, Chairman of the Board, Azerbaijan Cybersecurity Organisation Association and Dr Aloysius Cheang, Chief Security Officer, Huawei Middle East & Central Asia. Vital role The telecom industry has become an integral part of modern society and is recognised as a critical infrastructure industry (CII). It plays a vital role in connecting people, businesses and governments, facilitating communication, information sharing and commerce on a global scale. However, as telecom networks become more complex and interconnected, they become more vulnerable to cyber threats. Cybersecurity of telecoms is a critical component of national security, and therefore, it is essential to bring together telecom stakeholders to promote the development and optimisation of telecom cybersecurity. This includes working closely with telecom service providers, equipment manufacturers, government agencies, and other stakeholders to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks, develop and implement best practices, and raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity in telecom. Dr Mammadov thanked the organisers, participants and sponsors for arranging the event in Baku while reiterating the countrys commitment to the highest cybersecurity standards. We join the international community in highlighting the risks posed by cybercrime. Likewise, we want to work with our global partners towards joint actions in defending telecom networks, which is critical in leveraging all the digital economy opportunities. Securing networks Dr Khaled said: As an operator, securing our networks against cyber threats and creating safe digital cyberspace remains one of our most important tasks, especially as we enter a new era of connectivity and cognitive technologies. We realise that cyber threats are global in nature and solutions must be as well. We are therefore proud to be here, joining other partners and stakeholders in finding joint outcomes to a common threat. Dr Al Hajri said: Today, the progression towards an interconnected cyber world has become a reality. Unfortunately, this has increased the threats from malicious actors and protecting our digital assets is a concern for all countries. Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility and national security agencies, telecom providers and ICT industry players should work together to achieve a more robust cybersecurity posture, so telecom providers can continue to deliver cutting-edge digital services unimpeded by cyber threats. Dr Balajanov said: We are proud to host our partners and friends here in Azerbaijan as we address the cyber risks that threaten the health of our networks and, by extension, our socioeconomic growth. Safeguarding our critical information infrastructure is a key government priority in Azerbaijan as these critical systems possess functionality that, if disrupted, can pose significant harm to the interests of the state, society, and citizens. Therefore, it is crucial that telecommunications providers implement appropriate safeguards, protocols, and technologies to mitigate risks and protect our critical information infrastructure. Strict compliance Dr Cheang said: We need to consider how to meet the increasingly strict compliance requirements of regulators on the one hand and how to provide secure and trustworthy products and services that fulfill our commitments to customers on the other. We must also embrace a defense-in-depth approach to provide better security, ensure business continuity, resiliency, improve efficiency and customer experience while always protecting user privacy. NESAS/SCAS is an ideal example of global collaborative efforts in addressing cybersecurity. It offers a standardised cybersecurity assessment mechanism jointly defined by GSMA and 3GPP, the telecom industrys leading standards-setting organisations) and GSMA 5G Cybersecurity Knowledge Base to provide useful guidance on 5G security risks and mitigation measures. Huawei has been proactively involved in the telecom cyber security standardisation activities led by GSMA ITU-T, 3GPP, and IETF etc., and has joined security organisations such as OIC-CERT, FIRST and partnered with mainstream security companies to ensure the cyber security of its customers and promote the healthy development of industries. Better life Huawei is committed to fostering a better life for all in the future digital world by offering secure and trustworthy products, solutions, and services where personal data is lawfully used and always protected. The company has in-depth experience collaborating with its customers on advanced tech and industry 4.0 solutions for major industry verticals. Its products and solutions are developed and delivered by observing security-by-design and privacy-by-design principles that will allow its customers to safeguard their digital future.-- TradeArabia News Service Four days after a 30-year-old woman police officer was killed in a mysterious road accident, the Assam police on Saturday said it has decided to hand over the investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) due to public sentiment and for an impartial probe. Junmoni Rabha. (File Photo) Junmoni Rabha, a sub-inspector in-charge of Morikolong police outpost in Nagaon district, was killed in a suspected road accident on the early hours of May 16 when her private car, which she was believed to be driving, had a collision with a truck coming from the other direction at Jakhalabandha in the same district. Also Read: Assam Police woman officer killed in road accident We reviewed the case on Friday and apprised chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma about it. He expressed anguish and displeasure at the developments. At present, we have four cases related to the death and as police chief I have decided to recommend transfer of all these cases to CBI, director general of police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh told journalists in Guwahati. The four cases that would be transferred to CBI are, one related to fake currency registered at Nagaon on May 5 in which Rabha was the investigation officer, another lodged at Lakhimpur district on May 15 against Rabha on charges of extortion and dacoity, the third lodged on May 16 related to the accident in which she died, and the fourth registered on May 19 by Rabhas mother alleging that she had been murdered. These cases have been transferred to CBI based on two grounds. First, public sentiment desires and demands that, and second, since one of our own police officers have lost life it is appropriate that the case is investigated by a neutral agency. In addition to that, we have decided that all officers connected to Nagaon and Lakhimpur districts shall be transferred on Saturday, Singh said. The DGP said that he was informed about Rabhas death, the case registered against her and the one being probed by her only after her death on May 16. He said had they been aware of them (the two cases lodged prior to the accident) earlier, Rabhas death could have been avoidable. On Thursday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had stated that if Rabhas family wasnt satisfied with the CID probe, the case would be handed over to CBI. The Opposition Congress had also demanded that the case should be given to the central agency. Following her death, her family members had alleged that there was foul play and it was a premeditated murder. On Friday, Rabhas mother Sumitra lodged a first information report (FIR) alleging the same. Suspicion grew after an eyewitness claimed that Rabhas car was stationary when it was hit by the truck. Later, the postmortem report suggested injury marks on back of her head, and a leaked phone call of a police driver suggested that she might have been killed prior to the accident. Following her death, the case was handed on Tuesday to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Assam Police to probe the death as well as another case of alleged extortion, dacoity, wrongful confinement and criminal conspiracy lodged against Rabha at Lakhimpur district a day prior to her death. CID has been investigating the case since May 16 and will continue to do so till CBI formally starts their investigation. The decision to hand over the case to a central agency doesnt question the professional capability of CID. Since the case is being handed over to CBI, it would be improper to comment on the investigations till date, Singh said adding that the state government would accept the outcome of the CBI probe. The DGP said that senior police officers including the police chiefs of Nagaon and Lakhimpur districts, Leena Doley and BM Rajkhowa, and all officers involved in the cases would be removed from their posts in the interest of a fair probe. On Friday, four officials from both districts who were connected to the cases had been reserve closed (meaning they wont be able to carry out professional duties while investigations against them are on. Rabhas death had revealed the existence of big rackets involved in fake Indian currency notes (FICN) and of duping people with fake gold and alleged police involvement in the nexus, which Rabha was also stated to be probing. Singh said that a massive exercise will be undertaken to root out both crimes. On Friday night, we arrested 71 people involved in both these rackets from across Assam and recovered some cash and fake gold. I assure people of Assam that in the next 30 days both these crimes will be completely decimated from the state, the DGP said. I have a message to all police personnel across the state. I shall be ruthless against any police officer found involved in any activity which is criminal in nature. If anyone is involved in such acts, its their own responsibility, he added. Singh said that the role of Runa Neog, the additional superintendent of police of Lakhimpur district, in the alleged nexus between fake currency and fake gold traders with police, is being probed separately by inspector general (law and order) Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan. Following Rabhas death it had come to notice that Neog was in the same post for the past eight years. On Saturday, DGP Singh stated that within the next few days all police officers who have been posted at one place for three years or more will be transferred to new places. Rabha was in the news last year after she was arrested on charges of corruption and financial irregularities. This happened after she got her fiance arrested in May last year accusing him of cheating. Rabha was later granted bail and she resumed regular duties. The police officer was in the news in January last year as well when she alleged that a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, Amiya Kumar Bhuyan, had threatened her over phonean audio clip of the conversation had got leaked and went viral on social media. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A higher secondary school principal has been suspended while a case under the Protection of Children from the Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl at the school campus, police said. (Representative Photo) Police said that incident took place a few days ago and a complaint against the principal was lodged at Badarpur police station on May 18. According to the minor girl, the principal called her in-between regular classes and assaulted her sexually. He also threatened to fail her in all subjects if she reveals the incident to anyone, police said. Karimganj district superintendent of police (SP) Partha Pratim Das told HT that the principal is absconding since Friday and a search operation has been launched to nab him. Also Read: Assam: Man gets 25 years rigorous imprisonment for forcibly marrying minor Ordering the suspension of the principal, director of secondary education, Assam, Mamata Hojai, wrote that the inspector of schools, Karimganj, submitted a report regarding the alleged sexual harassment following which the department has suspended the accused principal. Report regarding involvement in sexual exploitation of a minor girl has been published in the media which has maligned the image of our department. There is a demand from the public and the guardians of students for immediate departmental action against him, Hojai wrote. Considering this, the departmental proceeding was called for (against the accused principal). He has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 6(1) of the Assam Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1964, the letter further read. The director added, During the suspension period, he will receive subsistence allowances as per the rule as admissible. He is suggested not to leave the district without prior permission of the competent authority. Meanwhile, police said that the girl has been sent for medical examination after recording her statement. A special court in Assams Hailakandi district on Saturday sentenced a 30-year-old man to 25 years of imprisonment for allegedly abducting and forcibly marrying a 13-year-old girl in January last year. (Representative Photo) Police have identified the man as Bijoy Bin, a resident of Dholaisit village in Hailakandi. According to police records, a case was registered against Bin on January 18, 2022, in this regard following which he was arrested but later granted bail after a few months. According to the family members of the minor girl, she had gone to a religious event in the nearby village on January 16, 2022, but did not return home. Also Read: Haryana govt teacher booked under POCSO Act Police said that two days later, the family members found the minor girl at Bins house, and the girl said that were married, following which the family filed a complaint with the police. Police said a case was registered against Bin at that time based on the complaint from the family members under section 366 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for abducting and forcibly marrying the minor. On January 20, 2022, police arrested Bin and further registered cases under section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) against him. According to public prosecutor advocate Monika Deb, the accused was granted bail after five months and 13 days in custody. However, considering the victims family members appeal, the court decided to hear the case on a fast-track process. Within one year and four months, the special court completed all hearings and issued its verdict. This is one of the rare examples, said the prosecutor. Deb said special judge Sanjay Hazarika sentenced Bijoy to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment under the POCSO Act. Under 366 IPC, he received five years of rigorous imprisonment, a total of 25 years. Moreover, the court advised him to pay 10,000 each in both cases. Deb said during the hearing, five witnesses, including the charge police officer, recorded their statements, and a special team examined the girl. In the medical examination of the victim, the special team found that the allegations are true and she went through sexual intercourse. She admitted that Bin abducted her and forcibly married her, said advocate Deb. Assam government in recent months took strict actions against child marriage with chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announcing a zero-tolerance policy against such activities. In the past few months, the Assam government began a crackdown on child marriage and arrested thousands for their involvement. The chief minister also requested the courts to proceed with such cases on a fast-track basis. Sarma recently said that this drive will continue till the issue is resolved completely. The Odisha Cabinet led by chief minister Naveen Patnaik is set for a minor reshuffle on Monday with at least three ministers likely to take oath, people familiar with the matter said. Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. (File Photo) Last week, Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha, school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash, and labour minister Srikant Sahu had tendered their resignation. Arukha, who was appointed Speaker in June last year, resigned from his post citing personal reasons but added that he is open to joining the ministry. Sahu and Dash had to resign after getting embroiled in a case of sexual exploitation of a woman Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and suicide of a party zilla parishad member, respectively. Revenue minister Pramila Mallick has been given the additional charge of School and Mass Education and Labour departments by the chief minister. The CM had earlier allocated the additional charge of Health and Family Welfare department to finance minister Niranjan Pujari following the murder of Das on January 29. Official sources said the new ministers are likely to take oath at 9.30am on Monday at the convention hall of the Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar. At present, three ministerial berths are lying vacant in the state Cabinet. Governor, Professor Ganeshi Lal, who is in Haryana now, is scheduled to return to Odisha on Sunday after cutting short his visit. Among the faces that may be inducted are Dipali Das, newly-elected MLA of Jharsuguda and daughter of slain BJD minister Naba Das. The names of Susanta Singh and Sarada Nayak from western Odisha are in the race too. Senior MLAs like Debi Mishra, Prasanta Muduli and Umakanta Samantaray are also among those in the race for a ministerial berth. Former chief minister of Tripura and incumbent Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb on Sunday said that a section of outsiders and people with infiltrator mentality are influencing and destroying the prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. BJP leader and former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb (File Photo) Deb said that he has already informed the partys top leadership about it and expressed his willingness to do any job in any capacity entrusted to him under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is a disciplined party. We shall run the party under the leadership of Modiji and Amit Shah (Union home minister). But a section of outsiders is influencing the party. I have already informed our top leadership. I have full faith in Modiji and I shall work given to me in any capacity, the former CM said. Also Read: Karnataka government will collapse like a pack of cards in next one year, BJPs Annamalai The BJP does not belong to any one particular person, said Deb, who is also the party in charge in Haryana, after arriving in Agartala from his 20-day visit to Delhi and Haryana. He further said that the party has support from the people and would win both Lok Sabha seats from the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP stormed to power for the first time in 2018 in Tripura in alliance with the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), a regional party, by eradicating the Marxist government that reigned for more than two decades. Deb was made the chief minister but last year, he was replaced by Manik Saha, once his close aide, a few months before the Assembly polls. Since then, his presence in political events has reduced. The party formed its second-term government under the leadership of Manik Saha this year. Union home minister Amit Shah will arrive in Assam on May 24 for a two-day visit to attend a programme in Guwahati where the Assam government will distribute 45,000 appointment letters to the newly recruited candidates of various government departments, officials said. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Union home minister Amit Shah (File Photo) Shah will also lay the foundation stone of the National Forensic Science University, they said. On completing two years in government, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma planned this event on May 11, however, it was postponed amid unrest in neighbouring Manipur. Sarma on Saturday inspected arrangements in Guwahatis Khanapara stadium ahead of the home ministers visit. According to Sarma, this will be the largest-ever appointment letter distribution ceremony in the state. Also Read: Shah talks of use, misue of artificial intelligence at MHAs second Chintan Shivir Assam education minister Dr Ranoj Pegu on Sunday wrote on Twitter, On May 25, Home Minister Amit Shah will grace the ceremonial distribution of appointment letters approximately to 45,000 candidates. He will also take part in the foundation stone laying ceremony of the National Forensic Science University in Kamrup. Attended a review meeting chaired by the chief minister in the presence of cabinet colleagues at Janata Bhawan, Guwahati. We had an in-depth discussion on the smooth conduct of both events. Senior officials of all the departments of GoA [government of Assam] were also present in the meeting, he further wrote. According to Biswa Sarma, various departments including police, forest, excise, education, and others, have conducted examination for various posts and the list of new recruits have been finalised. They have been asked to prepare the appointment letters which will be distributed on May 25. The new recruits will join on June 1, Sarma said. The Assam government on May 9 celebrated BJPs second term in the Northeastern state under the leadership of chief minister Himanata Biswa Sarma. On Sunday, Sarma wrote on Twitter, In last 2 years, we have struck at the roots of militancy and firmly put our State on the highway of peace and progress. Insurgency has been completely eliminated in tribal areas and 2,927 youngsters have returned to the mainstream. Assams Cachar police on Sunday arrested a young couple, a Bangladeshi woman and an Indian man, for illegal border crossing, officials said. Apara Namasudra at Gumra police outpost in Assams Cachar district after the arrest on Saturday (HT Photo) Police said while the woman belonged to the Zakiganj area of neighbouring Bangladesh, her husband is a resident of Teliakhalerpar village in Assams Karimganj district. Police said the couple, identified as Dipankar Namasudra and Apara Namasudra, are in their teenage years. According to the police, the woman entered India without any legal documents with help from her Indian husband. Upon interrogation, Dipankar revealed that he crossed to Bangladesh from the Indian side to meet Apara, who he met on social media about six months ago and stayed in Bangladesh, where he worked as a carpenter. Also Read: Five Rohingya immigrants arrested in Tripura for illegal border crossing After the marriage, he, along with Apara entered India. However, on Saturday, locals in the Gumra area of Cachar district noticed the couple and informed the police. Their movements were suspicious, hence we stopped them and called the police, a local resident said. The police reached the area and brought them to the local police station. This is a case of love marriage. It seems they dont have any other intentions, said the superintendent of police of Cachar district, Numal Mahatta. Mahatta said that upon interrogation it was found that the girl entered India without documents. Since the boy is from Karimganj and, according to him, he crossed the border from that district, we have handed them Karimganj police, he added. During interrogation, Dipankar informed that they spent 4,000 to cross the international border. He said that some officials also helped them but did not reveal their identity, said the SP. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON PATNA: An accused in the 2013 Gandhi Maidan blast case was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Bihar Police from Darbhanga on Saturday after he was on the run for 10 years, police said on Sunday. Security officials at the site of the blast at Gandhi Maidan in Patna in October 2013. Six persons were killed and 82 people were injured in the incident. (HT Archives) According to police, the accused, identified as Mehre Alam, had escaped from the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Muzaffarpur on October 29, 2013, and a case was lodged by the NIA against Alam on October 30, 2013. He was arrested from his residence under the Ashok paper mill police station in the district, police said. According to officials aware of the matter, Alam who is being interrogated, is said to be close to one Monu, another accused in the bomb blast. Serial blasts rocked the Gandhi Maidan on October 29, 2013, during the Hunkar Rally of then BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi. Six persons were killed and 82 people were injured. In November 2021, the NIA court convicted 9 people out of which four were sentenced to death and two were awarded life imprisonment. Two got 10 years sentence and one seven years. PUNE: While the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Pune district administration have been continuously making efforts to prevent/reduce the number of accidents on the deathly stretch between New Dari Pul Bridge and Navale Bridge Chowk, they have now installed digital boards along the entire stretch warning drivers in various regional languages not to shut down their vehicle engines or change to neutral gear. As per the information shared by NHAI Pune, new digital boards have been installed at the beginning of the tunnel and near the New Dari Pul Bridge alerting drivers in different regional languages. (RAVINDRA JOSHI/ HT) As per the information shared by NHAI Pune, new digital boards have been installed at the beginning of the tunnel and near the New Dari Pul Bridge alerting drivers in different regional languages. According to the NHAI, these boards are particularly for the benefit of drivers from south India and other parts of the country who do not understand Hindi or English. Whereas the NHAI has also installed a speed gun camera to take action against vehicles speeding on the slope along this stretch. The natural slope makes it difficult for speeding vehicles to suddenly press brake and reduce the speed. As such, most commuters are now taking the old route of the Katraj Ghat section to travel to Pune city since the last few weeks. Aditya Mohite said, I regularly travel between Pune and Satara for my work. Last month when I was travelling from the New Dari Pul Bridge bypass highway road, I got an online challan of Rs2,000 due to the speed gun camera. However, that is the wrong spot to install a camera to take action against vehicles. It is equally risky to slow down the vehicle on the slope and there are chances of accidents when small cars suddenly slow down. A traffic police constable at Katraj Chowk on condition of anonymity said, From the last two weeks, we are seeing a sudden increase in the number of vehicles coming from the Katraj Ghat section especially on weekends. When we caught one of the drivers for not wearing a seat belt and asked why they were taking this route, the driver said that they get fined for speeding on the bypass highway so they avoid taking that route. Over the last few years, accidents have been regularly occurring on this stretch and over 100 people have lost their lives while many others have been injured. This is a vulnerable spot as heavy vehicles come speeding from the new Katraj tunnel after which there is a slope on the highway and the vehicle speed increases. Most drivers shut down their engines or change into neutral gear but as they approach Navale Bridge Chowk where there is an exit to the service road, the vehicle tends to go out of control or the brakes dont work leading to accidents. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bahrain's Oil & Gas Holding Company (nogaholding) has announced that it has successfully priced $750 million international trust certificates with a maturity date of May 25 and a profit rate of 6.625%. This transaction marks nogaholdings successful return to the international capital markets. The new 10-year senior unsecured Sukuk Al Ijara/Murabaha is rated B+ by top ratings agency Fitch and has priced at a spread of 306.1bps over US Treasuries, said the statement from nogaholding. The trust certificates will be issued under nogaholding Sukuk Limiteds $3 billion trust certificate issuance programme. The Bahraini energy major said it also announced a tender offer for cash on its outstanding $750 million notes maturing in 2024, which is intended to proactively manage its balance sheet and maturity profiles, starting with the 2024 maturity. nogaholding received strong interest from regional and international investors, across Bahrain and the other Gulf countries, as well as Europe and Asia. The sukuk was more than five times oversubscribed, with participation from investors demonstrating sustained, strong and valued support to nogaholding and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Arab Banking Corporation, Citigroup Global Markets, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC Bank, JP Morgan Securities and National Bank of Bahrain acted as joint lead managers and bookrunners with respect to the issuance. Lazard acted as the sole financial advisor. On the new issue, Group CEO Mark Thomas said: "We are very proud of and welcome the support of the international investors to our continued efforts to support Bahrains energy strategy. We value the confidence of our investors, highlighting our strong credit and transition into an integrated energy company." "The new issue will contribute to nogaholdings strategy of proactively managing its debt profile moving forward, in line with its capital structure and corporate strategy," he stated. The issuance of the trust certificates is expected to close and the trust certificates are expected to be issued on or May 25, subject to customary closing conditions, he added.-TradeArabia News Service According to Pune based cooperative banks management, acceptance of 2,000 note will be a hassle-free exercise as the denomination is still in practice. It may be recalled that since the last demonetisation exercise, eight district cooperative banks in Maharashtra continued to face the challenge of preserving 112 crore in old currency notes amid the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) refusal to accept them even after six years of demonetisation. All banks shall provide deposit and/or exchange facility for 2,000 banknotes until September 30. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC) Pune district Central Cooperative Bank chairman Digambar Durgade said, Accepting 2,000 at the bank is not a challenge as it is still a legal tender till September 30, and there is no specific instruction by the government that it wont be a legal tender thereafter. As far as old currency is concerned, our case is being heard in the Supreme Court. Subhash Mohite, president of Pune Urban Cooperative Bank Association said, 2,000 note is still a legal tender and the banks have been instructed to accept them from May 23 to September 30 in the customers bank account or exchange them for other denominations. The bank further stated that to complete the exercise in a time-bound manner and to provide adequate time to the members of the public, all banks shall provide deposit and/or exchange facility for 2,000 banknotes until September 30. . SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON PUNE: According to police, the accused was involved in the distribution of forged Secondary School Certificate (SSC) mark sheets from Maharashtra State Open School, which issued over 2,739 forged SSC certificates. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC) Pune city police have arrested two more persons including a home guard from Mumbai Railway Police for allegedly distributing fake SSC certificates, police officials informed. The accused, identified as Jamal Sheikh, and Mahesh Vishwakarma, were arrested by the Pune city police Crime branch on Thursday. Police informed that Vishwakarma, who has been deputed as a home guard at Mumbai Railway Police, distributed fake certificates to over 35 people. In the first week of May, the police unearthed the racket by arresting four people involved in the distribution of bogus mark sheets. The accused have been identified as Imran Sayad, Altaf Sheikh, Krishna Sonaji Giri and Sandeep Kamble. Reacting to the latest arrests, Amol Zende, DCP (Crime) Pune city police said, During an interrogation of prime accused Imran Sayad, we learnt that Imran used to operate this racket through 15 agents across various parts of the state. We have already detained three agents and while following up remaining 12 agents we arrested two more agents. Zende went on to say that they got police custody of both accused till Monday and interrogation regarding fake certificates is underway. According to police, the accused was involved in the distribution of forged Secondary School Certificate (SSC) mark sheets from Maharashtra State Open School, which issued over 2,739 forged SSC certificates. The 76th Cannes Film Festival, which began on May 16, will see another Indian celebrity in attendance. Actor Anushka Sharma will be making her debut at the prestigious festival this year. However on Sunday, Anushka was spotted at Mumbai airport as she left for Bengaluru. Also read: Anushka Sharma to make her Cannes Film Festival debut later this month, will honour women in cinema with Kate Winslet Anushka Sharma at Mumbai airport on Sunday. (Picsl Viral Bhayani) For the travel, Anushka wore a white T-shirt and matched it with black pants. She also wore dark sunglasses and a matching cap as she walked inside the airport gate. The actor also showed the thumbs-up sign as she entered the gate. She was joined by her team. Reacting to a video of Anushka shared on Instagram by a paparazzo, fans said they could not wait for the actor to walk the Cannes red carpet. A person wrote, "Can't wait to see her look!!" One fan wrote, "So cute." Another said, What will she wear at Cannes?! When she finally flies to France, she will honour women in cinema along with Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet. She is expected to walk the red carpet at Cannes this year. French Ambassador to India, Emmanuel Lenain, had announced Anushka's attendance at Cannes earlier this month. The ambassador posted a picture from their meeting and revealed that the actor will be attending Cannes Film Festival 2023. Emmanuel Lenin tweeted a photo, and wrote, "A pleasure meeting Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma! I wished Virat and Team India all the best for the upcoming tournaments, and discussed Anushka's trip to Cannes Film Festival." Anushka also happens to be a brand ambassador of the cosmetic giant L'Oreal and will most likely be representing the brand at the film festival. Last year, she shot for the brand's adverts in Paris and shared glimpses from her time there on social media. The desi representation at the film festival has been strong this year. The Indian attendees thus far included Aishwarya Rai, a Cannes veteran, who has been making back-to-back appearances at the film festival, as well as celebs such as Sara Ali Khan and Mrunal Thakur, both of whom made their Cannes debut this year. Manushi Chhillar, Esha Gupta, Urvashi Rautela, Anurag Kashyap, and Guneet Monga are some of the other Indian celebs to grace the Cannes Film Festival 2023 red carpet. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Diana Penty's first red carpet pictures from the 76th Cannes Film Festival are here. On Saturday, the actor attended the world premiere of May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Diana Penty walked the red carpet in a black cropped jacket paired with a matching black bottom. She wore minimal makeup. The actor also wore a little black dress for a party she attended on Saturday at Cannes 2023. Also read: Internet says Diana Penty's Cannes look is better than Aishwarya Rai and Sara Ali Khan's Diana Penty at Cannes Film Festival 2023 on Saturday. Pictures of Diana in her stunning black looks were shared on fan pages with many applauding her fashion choices. For her party look, the actor wore a short black tassle dress with a pair of matching black heels. Diana tied her hair in a bun. Reacting to her photos shared on Twitter, a fan wrote, "Looking too good in black." Another one called her party look 'the epitome of grace and glamour'. From Cannes veteran Aishwarya Rai to Sara Ali Khan, Manushi Chillar, Urvashi Rautela and Esha Gupta, a host of Indian celebs have walked the Cannes 2023 red carpet. Actor Anushka Sharma, too, is expected to make her Cannes red carpet debut soon. Many have reacted to Diana's Cannes looks, so far, and lauded her style. Diana had made her red carpet debut at Cannes Film Festival 2019 in a beige-coloured off-shoulder gown. On Saturday, Diana had shared photos of herself from Cannes 2023, in which she was dressed in a crop top and matching skirt by designer duo Falguni and Shane Peacock. She wrote in her caption, "All that glitters" She wore a glittering nude outfit embellished with colourful stones. She also gave a glimpse of her poker-straight hairstyle in one of the photos. "Gorgeous!" a fan commented on her post. Another one said, Simply stunning! Diana, who began her career as a model, had made her Bollywood debut with Cocktail (2012), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan. She was last seen in Selfiee alongside Akshay Kumar and Emraan Hashmi. Nushrratt Bharuccha was also a part of the film. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On Sunday, Navya Naveli Nanda, who is the granddaughter of veteran actors Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan and daughter of Shweta Bachchan and Nikhil Nanda, shared photos of 'old town Ahmedabad'. She shared a series of photos of the Gujarat city by the night, showcasing everything from its old buildings to bustling markets. Many loved seeing the old part of Ahmedabad through Navya's eyes. Also read: Navya Nanda drives tractor during Gujarat trip, shares video Navya Nanda has shared pictures from Ahmedabad. Navya Naveli Nanda, who is co-founder of Aara Health, a women-centric health tech company, is in Gujarat since the last couple of days. After sharing a glimpse inside her recent village trip, where she also drove a mini tractor, she is now in Ahmedabad. Making the most of her visit to the city, she documented her Saturday night out in a new Instagram post. In one of the pictures, Navya sat on a swing inside a heritage building featuring green pillars and intricately-carved wooden windows. She was at Manek Chowk in Ahmedabad. Navya wrote in her caption, "Old town Ahmedabad by night (moon emoji)." While filmmaker Zoya Akhtar asked her "when are you back," others were happy to see Navya exploring Gujarat. One wrote, "Please come to Vadodara too!!" Another one said, "The candy shop (heart emojis)." A comment also read, "Missed you by minutes I guess. I was at Manek Chowk at around 11." Manek Chowk is a famous city square in old Ahmedabad, which is surrounded by historical structures and busy markets. One person also commented on Navya's post. "My favourite place Manek Chowk." Another wrote, "Wow! Never knew Ahmedabad could look so beautiful (heart eyes emoji)." Earlier on Saturday, Navya had shared a video of herself and her team's visit to Ganeshpura in Gujarat. Navya was dressed in a white printed suit in the Instagram Reels as she met women at a meeting organised by Aara Health. They all sat on cots under a tree as they held discussions. Navya was born in December 1997 to Shweta Bachchan and businessman-husband Nikhil Nanda, who is the cousin of actors Kareena Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. She had spoken about not being interested in acting as a career in a 2023 interview with Brut India. Her younger brother Agastya Nanda will soon be making his acting debut. He will be seen alongside Suhana Khan and Khushi Kapoor in Zoya Akhtar's The Archies, which will reportedly be released this year on Netflix. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor-author Jugal Hansraj has opened up on how he faced criticism and was attacked personally, when his films didn't work. In a new interview, Jugal said that dealing with the failure of his films was 'incredibly difficult'. He also opened up on being called 'jinxed' and how people mocked him, when his projects didn't take off. The actor shared that it made him cry, but he 'grew immune to such disappointments'. (Also Read | Jugal Hansraj shares pics, videos with wife from their vacation across Italy as he celebrates 50th birthday with her) Jugal Hansraj talked about the failure of his projects. Jugal started his career as a child actor in Shekhar Kapur's Masoom (1983). As a child actor, he was also part of films such as Karma (1986) and Sultanat (1986). Jugal made his acting debut as an adult with Aa Gale Lag Jaa in 1994. He also featured in Papa Kehte Hai (1996), Mohabbatein (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Salaam Namaste (2005), Aaja Nachle (2007) and Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh (2016). In an interview with Times of India, Jugal said, "I won't deny that it hasn't been tough. Dealing with the failure of my movies was incredibly difficult. Not only did I face criticism from media reviewers, but they also attacked me personally. I've been called various names and labeled as a jinx. Moreover, the numerous films that never even started production led people to mock me. They would make comments like, 'Oh, it's about time Jugal attends mahurats of his own films', when I attended events for other movies. Initially, when my projects were shelved, it would bring me to tears when I was 18 or 19. However, over time, I grew immune to such disappointments." He added, "When I received calls saying that the film I had signed and was supposed to start soon was no longer happening, I would simply say, 'Thank you' and hang up. I became numb to it. Nevertheless, it remains challenging when you work hard and face unkind comments about your work. Sometimes people take it personally, which is unnecessary. It's just a movie, and one can either like it or not without resorting to personal attacks. The industry is tough, and people can be harsh and cruel, but that's the reality one must accept when entering this field. It was challenging because even the people you consider friendly or nice to you can change based on the success or failure of your movies." Jugal was last seen in Shiv Shastri Balboa, a comedy-drama film directed by Ajayan Venugopalan. The film also stars Anupam Kher and Neena Gupta. He was also part of the Netflix series Mismatched. Fans will see him in the anthology, NRI WIVES. Directed by Gunjan Kuthiala, the movie also features Bhagyashree, Raima Sen, Samir Soni, Kiku Sharda, Aditi Govitrikar, Hiten Tejwani, Gaurav Gera and many more. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Parineeti Chopra on Sunday evening returned to Mumbai, days after her engagement with Aam Aadmi leader Raghav Chadha. Their engagement ceremony took place in Delhi. Parineeti who is frequently seen travelling with her fiance, was seen arriving at the airport without Raghav. Also read: Parineeti Chopra's father cries in an unseen pic from her and Raghav Chadha's engagement Parineeti Chopra at Mumbai airport. (Photo: Varinder Chawla/ Viral Bhayani)(Varinder Chawla/ Viral Bhayani) In a paparazzi video, Parineeti is seen smiling as media spot her outside the airport gate. She wore a white t-shirt, paired with a beige jacket and denim pants. She also wore black sunglasses and was carrying a bag. She was stopped by fans who requested selfies with her. She happily posed with fans and walked towards her car. Before getting into her vehicle, one of the photographers asked her, Pari Ji shaadi kab hai (When is the wedding)? While the actor did not reply to the question, she thanked the media who congratulated her. Parineeti said, Thank you guys, thank you so much for all your wishes. She also blew a kiss before closing the door of her car. Parineeti and Raghav got engaged at his Kapurthala House in New Delhi on May 13. They held a traditional Sikh ceremony, which was attended by friends, family members and several politicians. Raghav and Parineeti were rumoured to be dating after they were seen together on several occasions in the past few months. They finally made their relationship official post the engagement ceremony with their first pictures from the engagement day. It read, Everything I prayed for... I said yes! Later, Parineeti thanked those who congratulated the couple on the engagement. She wrote, "Raghav and I are overwhelmed with the love and abundance of positivity we have received over the past few weeks, particularly on our engagement. We both come from different worlds, and it's amazing to know that our worlds also unite with our union. We have gained a bigger family than we could have ever imagined. We are so touched by everything we have read/ seen, and we cannot thank you all enough. We embark on this journey knowing that you all are standing with us. A special shout-out to our amazing friends in the media. Thank you for being there through the day and cheering for us. Love, Parineeti and Raghav, she concluded. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Amber Heard, the actress at the center of the high-profile legal battle with Johnny Depp, has finally emerged from months of seclusion in Spain. In her first interview since the trial, Heard refused to address the controversy surrounding her and Depp, opting instead to focus on her newfound happiness and love for her new home in Madrid. Amber Heard, the actress at the center of the high-profile legal battle with Johnny Depp, has finally emerged from months of seclusion in Spain.(Instagram) Following the highly publicized trial in 2022, which saw Depp emerge victorious and Heard facing intense scrutiny, the actress decided to step away from Hollywood and seek solace in Spain. The barrage of online hate and meme culture that surrounded her after the trial proved to be overwhelming, prompting her to make a drastic change in her life. During her recent interaction with the media, Heard exuded joy and contentment, expressing her deep affection for the vibrant country she now calls home. The 37-year-old actress appeared in high spirits, graciously posing for pictures with fans who approached her. However, when pressed about her life in Madrid and the trial, Heard tactfully redirected the conversation, saying, "I love Spain so much. I hope I can get to stay here, I love living here. I hope you are good, it was a pleasure meeting you. I have to move forward, huh? That's life." While Heard deliberately avoided delving into the details of the legal battle that captivated the world, the internet remains abuzz with ongoing discussions about the case and its outcome. Opinions are divided, with some offering support to Heard and others standing by Depp, ensuring that the controversy continues to linger in the public eye. Also read | Amber Heard leaves Hollywood behind, moves to Spain with daughter Oonagh Heard's decision to keep silent on the trial has sparked further curiosity among her supporters and critics alike. Many wonder if she will eventually open up about her experiences and share her side of the story. As she embraces her new life in Spain, only time will tell if Heard will choose to break her silence and address the events that have shaped her recent past. In a surprising twist, Priyanka Chopra Jonas' new series, Citadel, has raised eyebrows with a crude joke about none other than Princess Kate. The spy thriller, which premiered on Prime Video, centers around the lives of two former spies played by Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden as they navigate their past and confront a notorious crime organization. Burned! PC's show Citadel takes a royal dig at Kate amid friendship with Meghan. In the third episode of the series, Chopra Jonas' character, Nadia Sinh, instructs her partner Mason Kane to meet with crime leader Balduino Basto to negotiate a deal with the military. During this crucial scene, Basto throws a jab at Princess Kate, implying that seeking an audience with the chief of armed forces is as futile as attempting to gain intimate knowledge of the Duchess of Cambridge. The chief of armed forces? You might as well have asked me how to get between the legs of the Duchess of Cambridge The controversial joke has sparked speculation and controversy, with neither Prime Video nor Chopra Jonas addressing the matter. Princess Kate, who became the Duchess of Cambridge upon her marriage to Prince William in 2011, has remained silent on the issue. What adds fuel to the fire is Chopra Jonas' close friendship with Meghan Markle, Kate's sister-in-law. The actress, who attended Meghan's wedding to Prince Harry, has been a vocal supporter of the Duchess of Sussex, praising her as a relatable, ambitious, and influential role model. While Meghan has found solace in her friendship with Chopra Jonas, rumors of tension between her and Kate have persisted. In his memoir, Prince Harry hinted at the strain caused by constant media comparisons between the two women, suggesting that it made Kate uneasy. He also recounted an uncomfortable moment when Meghan borrowed Kate's lip gloss, revealing a subtle discomfort between the two. Also read | No kings in America! Backgrid USA sarcastically refuses to surrender car chase footage to Harry and Meghan As the controversy continues to swirl, Princess Kate has not responded to the speculation surrounding her relationship with Meghan or the crude joke made at her expense in Citadel. The question remains whether this incident will further fuel the alleged feud between the two duchesses or be dismissed as a passing jab in the tumultuous world of Hollywood. (Source: US Weekly) NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has asked the countrys military scientists and other officials to ensure strict cyber discipline, steer clear of avoidable interactions on social media and not entertain calls from unknown numbers, including those from outside the country, to safeguard critical information related to Indias security in a new advisory, government officials aware of the matter said on Sunday. Pradeep Kurulkar (File photo/ANI) Also Read | DRDO scientist arrested in Pune on espionage charges This follows the arrest of a senior DRDO official in Pune in early May on the charges of allegedly supplying confidential information to a female Pakistani agent in a suspected honey trap case. The advisory aims to prevent such incidents, the officials said, asking not to be named. Such advisories are issued from time to time to sensitise people from falling into traps. The latest one was prompted by the Pune case, said one of the officials cited above. A special court in Pune on May 16 remanded DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar in judicial custody till May 29. Kurulkar, a director at one of the DRDO labs in Pune, was arrested by the Maharashtra polices Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on May 3. DRDO has already sacked the 59-year-old scientist who was to retire in six months. Also Read | Meet DRDO scientist honey trapped by PIO The DRDO is working on a raft of important projects related to air, land and naval systems. Kurulkar was first produced before the special court on May 4. His custody was given to the ATS till May 9. It was again extended till May 15 and a one-day additional custody was also granted later. The court remanded him in judicial custody again till May 29. There is zero tolerance for such cases as it involves national security, and the defence ministry has also taken a strict view, said a second official. Also Read | Pakistan operative in touch with DRDOs Kurulkar also contacted IAF official The cyber domain and social media have become the place for such kind of activities. There is a need for people holding sensitive positions to be extremely careful, and always be on the guard. These activities have severe security implications, said Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), director general, Centre for Air Power Studies. The ATS earlier informed the court in Pune that it was conducting a cyber investigation into the social media accounts used by the Pakistani intelligence operative, Zara Dasgupta, and analysing call details of the number used by her. Six months ago, the DRDOs vigilance team in Pune, where Kurulkar played a key role in the design, development and production of Akash launchers and mission-critical ground systems, started tracking his movements and communication. It suspected the scientist was in touch with a Pakistani operative and later told the ATS that it seemed to be a honey trap case. After the DRDO complaint, a team of the ATS began tracking Kurulkar and found that he was in touch with a female Pakistani operative through audio and video messages over Whatsapp. The ATS also claimed that the scientist shared sensitive security and defence related information with her. The agency believes that Kurulkar first came in contact with her in September 2022 and was in touch with her for six months before blocking her number. At the time of his arrest on May 3, Kurulkar was officiating as the head of Research & Development Establishment (Engineers), a premier systems engineering laboratory of DRDO based at Dighi near Pune. His area of specialisation, according to the DRDOs website, is design and development of missile launchers, military engineering equipment, advanced robotics and unmanned systems for military applications. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON South Africa: DIRCO Deputy Minister arrives in China for Official Visit International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister, Candith Mashego-Dlamini, is on an official visit to the Peoples Republic of China. The Deputy-Minister is expected to co-chair the 12th South AfricaChina Strategic Dialogue with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deng Li. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. The Strategic Dialogue was established in 2008 as a platform for a review of bilateral political and economic relations between the two countries at Ministerial level. The Strategic Dialogue Mechanism forms part of the South Africa-China Bi-National Commission (BNC) and provides a framework for the implementation of the comprehensive strategic partnership. The previous Strategic Dialogue was last held in 2021 virtually. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the Deputy Minister to continue with the momentum of positive bilateral relations, particularly in the context of South Africa and China celebrating 25-years of diplomatic relations, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said in a statement. The department also explained the importance of the Asian nation to South Africas economy. Formal bilateral relations between South Africa and China were established in 1998 and are underpinned by the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in 2010 as well as the new 10 Years Strategic Programme on Cooperation between South Africa and China (2020-2029). China is South Africas largest global trading partner, which has increased from less than R1 billion in 1998 to R544 billion in 2021. By the end of 2022, the total volume of bilateral trade stood at R614 billion. There are approximately 42 South African companies invested in China in various sectors, the statement read. During the visit, Mashego-Dlamini is expected to also host a tourism workshop to promote South Africa as a tourist destination of choice and also visit Shanghai where she will chair a meeting with South African and Chinese companies which aims to explore new investment opportunities between the two countries. Meanwhile, DIRCO Minister Dr Naledi Pandor is expected to host a meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Relations next month. The mid-term meeting provides an opportunity for BRICS Foreign Ministers to reflect on regional and global developments. Minister Pandor, as the Chair of the BRICS Ministerial Meeting, will continue with the policy of inclusive engagement by inviting 15 Foreign Ministers from Africa and the global south to a Friends of BRICS meeting to be held on 02 June 2023. The ministerial meetings will be preceded by the meeting of Sherpas and Sous- Sherpas from 29-30 May 2023, the department said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2023-05-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. New Delhi/Port Moresby, May 21 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea on Sunday evening, on the second leg of his three-nation visit. He was greeted with a 19-gun salute, a guard of honour and ceremonial welcome, and as a special gesture PM James Marape received PM Modi at the airport. As Prime Minister Modi alighted from the aircraft on to the tarmac, PNG Prime Minister James Marape warmly shook hands with the PM and bent down to touch his feet in respect. PM Modi then embraced his PNG counterpart in a warm hug. This is PM Modis first visit to Papua New Guinea. Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that Prime Miniser Narendra Modi has worked tirelessly to enhance Indias position in the world. The prime minister is on a three-nation tour since May 19. Union home minister Amit Shah addresses a Modi community function, in Ahmedabad, Sunday. (PTI) During the inauguration of various development projects by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation worth over 360 crore on Sunday, Shah said, The prime minister has worked tirelessly to enhance Indias position in the world... He has held meetings with esteemed [global] leaders. The level of respect our prime minister receives is remarkable. People request his autograph, seek his blessings, and even touch his feet. This honour belongs not only to the prime minister but also to the 1.3 billion people of our country, particularly the Gujarati community, Shah said in his address. During a Quad meeting in Hiroshima, US President Joe Biden reportedly requested PM Modis autograph, after observing his crowd management skills. Furthermore, upon his arrival in Papua New Guinea for the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation summit, PM was greeted by James Marape, the Papua New Guinea PM, who touched his feet. On the second day of his two-day visit to his home state, Shah also inaugurated a modern organic testing laboratory of Amul Dairy in Gandhinagar. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress for copying the Aam Aadmi Partys pre-poll promises in the Karnataka assembly election. He claimed that the reason for the Congress's resounding win could be attributed to the AAPs manifesto. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi(File photo) Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, The Aam Aadmi Party has tried to change the entire narrative of politics in the country. If you see, the Congress has won the Karnataka election on our (AAP) manifesto. The AAP chief made the comments on a day he met with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and appealled for the opposition unity to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election amid the ongoing tussle over the Centres ordinance overturning the Supreme Court verdict on control of services. A comparison between AAP and Congress's poll promises in Karnataka While the AAP had released its list of guarantees on March 30, the Congress released its manifesto on May 2. The AAP focused mainly on 10 announcements, which included 300 units of free electricity per month, 80 per cent reservation to locals in jobs, 33 per cent reservation to women in government jobs and free city bus rides. Every below poverty line woman above 18 years would also be entitled to 1,000 per month as empowerment allowance, if the AAP was voted to power. In comparison, the Congress also mainly targeted women and youth. Notably, Siddaramaiah's new cabinet featured no women ministers. The five main pillars on which the party campaigned were - 200 units of free power to each household, 2,000 to each woman head of the family under the Gruha Lakshmi project, a sum of 3,000 for two years to unemployed graduates and 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders every month for two years (in the 18-25 age group); and Shakti, free travel for women in ordinary public transport buses across the state. In the agriculture sector, the Congress had proposed Krishi Sarvodaya Nidhi, under which it will allocate 1.50 lakh crore in five years for modernisation, subsidy, loan and insurance. Along with high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in every village panchayat, the party promised to invest 50,000 crore in five years to improve drinking water, sanitation, basic education, health and all-weather roads in villages. The AAP had promised to bring in the MSP based on the Swaminathan Committee report, 12-hour free power and free health care services, Delhi-model mohalla clinics in every locality, and doorstep delivery of ration and government services. Despite the similarity in manifestos, the AAP, which received the national party tag recently, and had fielded 208 candidates, failed to open its account in the state. The Congress registered a thumping victory in the May 10 poll after winning 135 seats in the 224-member assembly. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bharatpur: The Rajasthan police on Sunday named 21 people, including Bajrang Dal member Monu Manesar, in the abduction and murder of two Muslim men, whose remains were found inside a charred vehicle in Haryanas Bhiwani district on February 16, a senior officer said. Mohit Yadav alias Monu Manesar said he would appear before the police in Bharatpur whenever called upon for the ongoing investigation in the Bhiwani murder case. (HT Archive) The investigation against all 21 suspects is being carried under Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Bharatpur superintendent of police (SP) Shyam Singh said. Also Read | Bhiwani killings: How pride intertwines with fear, gau raksha in Haryana We have named 21 accused in the FIR [first information report], including Monu Manesar, for abduction, assault and murder of Junaid and Nasir, Singh said. All of them are accused of destroying evidence and providing financial help and shelter as well as guiding others to abscond. The charred bodies of Junaid and Nasir both cousins were found inside the four-wheeler in Bhiwani district on February 16. The families of the deceased, both residents of Ghatmika village in Rajasthans Bharatpur district, alleged that they were abducted, beaten and murdered by members of the Bajrang Dal, a claim rejected by the Hindu right-wing outfit. Mohit Yadav alias Monu Manesar, who heads the cow vigilante wing of Bajrang Dal in Haryana, had denied his involvement in the case. Two Hindu mahapanchayats in Haryana had also backed his claim. We will detain Monu Manesar for questioning soon, said the SP. Hours after being named in the FIR, Monu Manesar said he would appear before the police in Bharatpur whenever called upon for the ongoing investigation in the case. I am ready to give my complete cooperation in the case. However, I am nowhere involved in the case. Last time, I had sent Bharatpur police a letter through court for detailed investigation in the case regarding my non-involvement in the case. I had provided them supporting evidence too, he said. The suspects arrested in the case so far by police have also denied his involvement, he claimed. With arrest of more suspects, it will become clear that I have no role in the killings, he added. Meanwhile, Ajit Singh, Gurugram district president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the parent organisation of Bajrang Dal, alleged that Monu Manesar was being targeted as part of a politically motivated step of the Rajasthan government as the western state will go to assembly elections later this year. Rajasthan police had earlier said they have not found involvement of Monu in the case and now they are behind him again, Singh said. They just want to appease a section of society. If needed, VHP will launch an agitation in Haryana, Rajasthan and other states too for targeting innocent in the murder case with political gains. Also Read | Monu Manesar, others still under lens in Bhiwani murders: Rajasthan Police On February 22, Bharatpur police had named nine accused Rinku Saini, Anil and Srikant Pandit from Nuh, Kalu Jaat from Kaithal, Kishore from Karnal, Monu and Gogi from Bhiwani, Vikas and Sashikant Sharma from Jind. Monu Manesars name was not on the list. That organised gangs of cow vigilantes continue to operate with ease is a scathing indictment of the law and order apparatus in several areas of the country. The vigilantes proudly post social media videos of dangerous high-speed chases they routinely undertake on highways to nab cattle transporters, often shooting at tyres of trucks, endangering the safety of road users and the livestock being ferried, and in worse cases simply executing people in cold blood. None of this would be possible without political patronage and the police looking the other way. In fact, in many cases, police have admitted to taking help from such vigilantes to catch cow smugglers, practically giving these gangs the status of a parallel arm of the state machinery without any accountability. So far, three accused have been arrested in the Bhiwani case, which drew widespread media attention. The Rajasthan police arrested Monu Rana and Gogi on April 14 while Rinku Saini, a resident of Ferozepur Jhirka (Haryana), on February 17. On May 16, police filed a charge sheet against the three arrested accused in Kamans court. They have been charged under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance), 365 (kidnapping), 367 (grievously hurt after kidnapping), 368 (wrongfully keeping in confinement), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) among others of Indian Penal Code, said the SP. On Sunday, the police named 21 accused in the case Mohit alias Monu Manesar from Gurugram; Lokesh Singla from Nuh; Vishal Jebli from Charkhi Dadri; Badal from Nuh; Shivam from Karnal; Tushar from Nuh; Rajveer from Jind; Pravesh and Ravindra from Charkhi Dadri; Sukhwinder from Jind; Ashu from Rewari; Ramesh alias Mesa from Sisar; Bhola, Manoj from Gohana; Yogendra Acharya and Azad Acharya, Deepak, Sanjay Parmar, Navneet, Bholu and Devi Lal from Haryana. Earlier, the forensic report confirmed that the charred bodies and the blood stains found in the SUV recovered from a cow shelter in Jind were those of Junaid and Nasir. Based on initial investigation, police said Junaid died in Firojpur Jhirka, while the accused strangulated Nasir in Bhiwani. They burnt the bodies and the SUV on the intervening night of 14-15 February, the SP added. The highest number of cybercrimes in the country over the last three years originated from Bharatpur district in Rajasthan. Data obtained from the home ministry indicates that the Mewat region comprising Bharatpur and Alwar in Rajasthan, Mathura district in UP and Nuh in Haryana, has replaced Jamtara in Jharkhand as Indias newest hub for cybercriminals. HT Image While Bharatpur leads the chart of infamy, Mathura and Nuh are number two and three, respectively. Gurugram in Haryana and Alwar are at number six and seven, respectively. The data shows that 54.1% of total cybercrimes registered in India now originate from this area around the National Capital Region. Separate from the home ministry data over the three years leading up to March 2023, accessed by HT, the National Crime Records Bureau too registered a sharp spike in the number of cybercrimes. The NCRB data showed that 52,974 cases of cybercrimes were registered in 2021, an increase of 11.8% as compared to the previous year. No cybercrime data for 2022 has been released by the NCRB as yet. This is the first time the Union home ministry has tried to establish points of origin of cybercrimes and identified the worst 10 spots. This is especially important since very often the victim of cybercrime and the perpetrator are in two different locations separated by hundreds of miles. Officials who parsed the data said 16% of the cybercrime cases emerged from Bharatpur, followed by Mathura (14%), Nuh (12%) and Jamtara (12%). Cumulatively, these top 10 places identified by the home ministry account for 81% of cybercrimes registered across India. While the Mewat region, spread across three states, has emerged as a new hub for cybercriminals, it is Jharkhand that remains the single-largest state where 26% of the countrys cybercrimes originate. In addition to Jamtara, enshrined in popular imagination as a haven for cybercriminals, three other districts and one block in the state now feature in the home ministrys top 10 list. These are, Deoghar with 10% cases, Bokaro with 2.4% cases and Giridih with 2.4%. Karmatand which is an administrative block in Jamtara district is in the ninth place on the list. Jharkhand is followed by Haryana where 22.1% of all cybercrimes originate while Rajasthan is at the third spot where 20.1% of all cybercrimes originate. Law enforcers say harsher punishments and public awareness are key in combating rising cases of cybercrimes. Recently, a court in Deoghar granted life imprisonment to cyber criminals, this was the first such verdict and it created an immediate impact. We analysed data from the national helpline 1930 and the number of calls had dropped considerably in the few days following the conviction, said S Karthik, superintendent of police, crime investigations department (CID) in Jharkhand. A burgeoning underground cybercrime and scam landscape is an unwitting side-effect of Indias tech revolution for several reasons. First, not everyone in a country of diverse educational and economic backgrounds is aware of how best to protect themselves, creating a mass of millions of people who can be fooled into sharing their one-time password (OTP) or identity documents. Second, many of these geographical hot spots are large population centres with inadequate employment creating the perfect set of circumstances in which many break the law, often to earn a living. Third, law enforcement, especially in tier 2 and 3 cities, is not nimble enough to keep up with new methods of scams, making prevention and investigations difficult. To protect the gains of Indias tech revolution, these three factors must be addressed, whether by technology design, policy interventions in adjacent problems such as employment or police training. The Nuh district police officials said at least 28,000 cyber fraud cases from across country, involving frauds worth 100 crore, were solved by Nuh police. In all, 1,346 cases were registered against these suspects from Nuh from across the country. We coordinated with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre of the union home ministry and requested information on fake bank accounts, SIMs, mobile phones etc. used by the suspects and traced them on the basis of sim cards, said Varun Singla, superintendent of police, Nuh. He added around 5,000 policemen were involved in carrying out raids in 14 villages and 125 men were arrested. SP Karthik says people who have been targeted by cybercriminals should use the 1930 helpline. If the victim reaches the 1930 helpline within the golden hour, it will help us freeze the movement of the money from one account to another. In last one year, this 1930 helpline has helped seize and recover 3 crore. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chennai: Bharatiya Janata Party s Tamil Nadu unit president K Annamalai on Sunday met governor R N Ravi with a party delegation and sought removal of two ministers from the DMK-led government over hooch deaths. K Annamalai said the BJP will release a white paper in the next fortnight with a plan for how Tamil Nadu can close down 80% of shops of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation which has a monopoly over wholesale and retail liquor sales. (ANI) Following 22 deaths in the twin hooch tragedies, the BJP sought the dismissal of minister for minorities Gingee KS Masthan alleging that he is closely associated with the supplier of the spurious liquor, and minister for electricity, prohibition and excise Senthil Balaji for not discharging his duties and for his alleged role in the cash-for-jobs scam. For the past one week the opposition BJP and their ally AIADMK have mounted pressure on the state government on the hooch deaths in Villupuram and Chengalpattu and minister Balaji. On Sunday, the BJP for the first time also made allegations against minister Masthan. The governor has already sought a report from chief secretary Irai Anbu on the 22 deaths and 50 others who are undergoing treatment in various hospitals. Six accused have been arrested in both cases, police said. The prime accused, in this case, is related to DMK, Annamalai alleged on Sunday. The man arrested in Chengalpattu is the brother of DMKs mandal vice president. Maruvoor Raja, the primary source of supply of illicit liquor, has constantly appeared alongside Tamil Nadu minority affairs minister Thiru Gingee MasthanYour Excellency, we request your kind intervention on this matter. Thiru Gingee Mastan and Thiru Senthil Balaji have failed to discharge their duties; they have to be removed from their ministerial position immediately, Annamalai said in a memorandum. Balaji has also been facing the heat after the Supreme Court last week allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to continue its probe against him in a case in which he is accused of taking bribes to provide jobs when he was the transport minister (2011-2015) in the previous AIADMK government. After becoming the minister (in May 2021), he has been pulling strings to get rid of the case, Annamalai accused him. The BJP chief also claimed that a man, Kuppusamy, died in Thanjavur due to illicit liquor on Sunday. The government has suspended senior police officers from Villupuram and Chengalpattu over the deaths. Deputy inspector general Ziaul Haque, who on May 15 was posted as the new DIG in the Villupuram range, on Sunday warned that strict action will be taken in this case. Balaji had previously said that the deaths were unfortunate and that he would cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the investigation of the cash-for-jobs scam. Masthan has not reacted to the developments. Annamalai said the state BJP unit will release a white paper in the next fortnight with a plan for how Tamil Nadu can close down 80% of shops of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) which has a monopoly over wholesale and retail liquor sales. We will conduct a conference in Villupuram because thats where the most number of deaths have occurred, Annamalai said. As many as 16 people in Villupuram district and six in Chengalpattu district died after they drank spurious liquor on May 13. The AIADMK will go on a statewide protest on Monday and the party general secretary and leader of opposition Edappadi Palaniswami will march towards the Raj Bhavan to submit a list of complaints against the state government. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Lucknow/Patna/Jaipur: The demand for bullion saw a sudden jump on Saturday, which dealers in various parts of the country said was expected to continue till people offloaded a bulk of their 2,000 banknotes for gold and silver, even as a rush to exchange the high-value currency notes is expected at banks from Monday. A notice at a Hyderabad petrol pump says 2,000 notes will be accepted only for transactions above 1,000, after the RBI announced withdrawal of the high-value banknote. (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said it was withdrawing from circulation 2,000 currency notes introduced seven years ago after demonetisation, resulting in a rush to use the banknotes. People scrambled to buy gold and silver in bulk in bullion markets, leading to increase in prices, dealers in several states said. Also Read: Why RBI decided to withdraw 2000 notes within 7 years The sale of bullion has shot up after the withdrawal of 2,000 currency notes was announced, said Vinod Maheshwari, a bullion dealer at Lucknows Chowk Sarrafa market. Traders were selling gold and silver at 10% higher rates to those paying with 2,000 notes, he said, adding that there was no significant increase in the rates of jewellery. There was a 10% to 20% increase in the sale of jewellery since Saturday, according to Siddharth Jain of Jambu Jewelers at Chowk Sarrafa. He expected the demand to remain high in the next few months because people would try to offload their 2,000 notes. People are coming with more 2000 notes and they want to buy gold biscuits and jewellery, Jain said. Big jewellers in Kolkata said many people came with 2,000 notes to buy bullion and jewellery on Saturday. The rush was expected, said I Chowdhury, owner of a family-run jewellery business. We have taken down the details of the buyers and, if the government wants, we have to share the information with them. All licensed jewellery shop owners are accountable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, he added. The gold jewellery market has picked up (after the news), said Kailash Mittal, president of Jaipurs Sarafa Traders Committee. The jewellery business has gone up by 20%. Also Read: Big deposits of 2,000 notes in Jan Dhan accounts will draw tax scrutiny Sourabh Jain, owner of a jewellery store in Jaipur, said prices of 24 carat gold have risen from 63,000 per 10 grams to 66,000, which was not good for jewellery sales. The fluctuating price isnt good for sale of jewellery as people tend to wait for a stable market, he said. There was also an increase in cash transactions using 2,000 notes in several places on Saturday. A railway official and another at local electricity bill collection centre in Kolkata, who declined to be named, said many people had come with the high-value banknotes. At a Kolkata petrol pump, an employee said that till Sunday afternoon he had got a huge number of 2,000 notes. I accepted around 20 notes since morning. Petrol pumps should not face any problem immediately because the cash from sales is deposited in banks to prepare drafts for buying the next consignment from oil companies, said Jatin Haldar, an employee of a Bharat Petroleum outlet. In Patna, markets and banks are yet to see the rush for getting rid of the 2,000 currency notes, although shops dealing in jewellery and consumer and electronic goods saw a substantial increase in visibility of the pink notes. Sales with 2,000 notes have increased, according to Anuj Kumar Singh, general manager at Aditya Vision, a popular retail chain of electronic goods and consumer products in Patna. The increase could be due to the rise in temperatures also, which might have propelled the sale figure of air-conditioners, coolers and refrigerators, said Singh, adding that sales had gone up by 10% in the past two days. Meanwhile, banks are preparing to tackle a rush from the coming week. The bank will start accepting the currency notes from May 23. Customers can exchange their 2000 banknotes up to 20,000 at all branches without requisition slips or identity proof, said S Muralidharan, chief general manager at the State Bank of India in Lucknow. Special counters have been set up to exchange the notes, a bank officer at a leading bank in Lucknow said, requesting anonymity. Since my branch is located at the business district of Bhawanipore, our manager has asked us to be prepared for rush of customers at the teller counters from Monday onwards, an employee of a nationalised bank in Kolkata said, declining to be named. A Bank of Baroda official in Patna said although they do not expect a rush seen during the demonetisation in 2016, preparations have been made to deal with people coming to exchange 2,000 currency notes. Kolkata Police has stepped up vigil at bullion markets to keep a tab on hawala traders. We have stepped up vigil on hawala operations as well, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation at Tirunelveli issued a circular that bus conductors should not accept 2,000 notes from passengers. Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari earlier this week said that Dwarka expressway, India's first eight-lane access controlled expressway would be completed by April 2024, thus relaxing the pressure of on the Delhi Gurugram expressway (NH48). Dwarka expressway is being constructed into four packages. (Twitter/ @nitin_gadkari) Read here: Dwarka expressway to be completed by December-end: Gadkari The 34-meter wide expressway, being built at a cost of 9,000 crore, is being constructed on a single pillar, covering 18.9 km in Haryana and 10.1 km in the national capital. Four level road network: Gadkari informed that the expressway, which will start from Shiv Murti on NH48 and will terminate at Kherki Daula Toll plaza, consists of a four-level road network, incorporating flyovers, tunnels, underpasses, grade roads, elevated roads, and flyovers. Furthermore, a three-lane service road is being constructed on both sides of the expressway. Moreover, the entire expressway will incorporate an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) facility, enhancing the overall transportation experience. India's widest 8-lane tunnel: The minister further informed that the countrys widest 8-lane tunnel, spanning 3.6 km, is being built on this expressway, thus will improve the connectivity between Haryana and West Delhi to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Connect IGI airport and other e-ways: The minister said the expressway, will help connecting Indira Gandhi International Airport from Dwarka. Once completed, the expressway will link the upcoming India International Convention Centre in sector 25 of Dwarka. It will intersect Pataudi Road (SH-26) near Harsaru and Farukhnagar (SH-15A) near Basai, and will also cross the Delhi-Rewari rail line near Gurugram Sector-88 (B) and UER-II at Bharthal. He said it will also connect Gurugram Sector 21 with Sectors 88, 83, 84, 99, 113 and Dwarka to Global City. Construction updates: The minister shared the glimpses of the inspection of the under-construction 29.6 km long Dwarka expressway on Twitter. While sharing the development updates, Gadakari said, "The expressway is the part of the Bharatmala project and is being built as a bypass to decongest the National Highway 48 between Delhi and Gurugram". "Divided into four packages, the first, 5.9 km-long from Shiv Murti near Mahipalpur to Dwarka is about 60% complete. The second package from 4.2 km-long Dwarka Urban Extension Road (UER) to Bajghera is about 82% complete while the third package, 10.2 km-long from Bajghera to Basai rail overbridge (Delhi-Haryana border) is about 93% complete. The fourth package 8.7 km-long from Basai ROB to Kherki Daula is about 99% complete." Read here: This new highway to cut travel time between Noida to Delhi-Mumbai expressway by 3-4 hours: Details Automated tolling system: The expressway will feature a fully-automated tolling system, wherein vehicles will be connected with the GPS and toll tax will be deducted directly from the bank account after the distance is calculated. 12,000 trees transplanted on e-way: Gadkari also informed that two lakh metric tonnes of steel is being used in the construction of the expressway, which is 30 times more than the steel used in the Eiffel Tower. Two million cubic meters of concrete is being used in the construction of the expressway, which is six times more than the concrete used in Burj Khalifa. For the first time in the country, 12,000 trees have been transplanted on this expressway. India believes dialogue and diplomacy is the only way to deal with the Ukraine conflict and will do everything possible to contribute to resolving the situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday at a session of the G7 Summit attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape greets Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Port Moresby on Sunday. (PTI) Speaking a day after his first meeting with Zelensky since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Modi told the outreach session of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima that crises in one region affect all countries in todays inter-connected world, and developing countries with limited resources are grappling with the profound impact of a food, fuel and fertiliser crisis. Zelensky sat between Modi and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the session with the theme Toward a peaceful, stable and prosperous world. Besides leaders of the worlds seven largest economies, the session was attended by the heads of eight guest countries, including India, Indonesia and Australia. We heard President Zelensky today. I also met him yesterday. I do not consider the current situation as an issue of politics or economy. I believe this is a matter of humanity, a matter of human values, Modi said, speaking in Hindi. From the very beginning, we have maintained that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And we will make every possible effort to contribute, in whatever way India can, for resolving this situation, he said. Modi made a similar commitment on Saturday at his meeting with Zelensky, who updated the Indian leader on his 10-point peace formula and sought New Delhis cooperation in demining operations and medicine. India has played a constructive role in conflict resolution so far, deftly balancing its economic interests and geopolitical compulsions with the increasing global expectation on New Delhi to lead peace efforts as an emerging superpower that can exert influence on Russia to come to the negotiating table. Instead of being a blind follower of any one side, India has carved its own path by not discontinuing its trade partnership with Moscow and at the same time helping Ukraine with medical and other humanitarian aid, stressing all along that this is not an era of war. India has not publicly criticised Russias invasion of Ukraine or voted in favour of resolutions at UN bodies denouncing Moscows actions. It has insisted that a solution to the conflict must be found at the negotiating table, and called for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states. New Delhi has also repeatedly highlighted the fallout of the conflict on developing countries, especially in the context of food and fuel security. At his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan last September, Modi nudged him to end hostilities. In todays inter-connected world, crises in any one region affect all the countries. The developing countries, which have limited resources, are the worst affected. In the current global situation, these countries are facing the maximum and most profound impact of the food, fuel and fertiliser crisis, Modi said at the G7 session. Modi said it is necessary for all countries to respect the UN Charter, international law, and sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states. Raise your voice together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo. India has always been of the opinion that any tension, any dispute should be resolved through peaceful means, through dialogue, he said. And if there is a solution from the law, then it should be accepted, he said, pointing out it was in this spirit that India resolved its land and maritime boundary disputes with Bangladesh. Modi was critical of the United Nations failure to prevent conflicts in the current era and to tackle terrorism, saying institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the 21st century. He said, It raises the question as to why we are facing the need to discuss matters of peace and stability in distinct forums. The UN, which was established with the very purpose of establishing peace, why does it often fail to prevent conflicts today? Why has even the definition of terrorism not been accepted in the UN as yet? Global bodies do not reflect the realities of the current era and this is why reforms should be given concrete shape in institutions such as the UN. It will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will just keep talking about ending conflict. The UN and the Security Council will become just a talk shop, he said. Modi concluded by citing Lord Buddha, saying he had provided the solution centuries ago to the war, unrest and instability facing the world today. Enmity does not calm enmity. Enmity is pacified by affinity, he quoted from Buddhas teachings and said everyone should move forward together in this spirit. In a message about the outreach session posted on his Telegram channel, Zelensky said Ukraine has proposed its peace formula to the world and will not sit at the negotiating table with Russia as long as Russian invaders remain on our land. The coloniser must get out. And the world has enough power to force Russia to restore peace step by step, he said. Zelensky added: We have developed the peace formula in a way that ensures each of its points is backed by UN resolutions. And in a way that everyone in the world can choose the track they can contribute to. From Japan to the Arab countries, from Europe to Latin America, we find support for our formula. In a separate video message, Zelensky said he had a serious talk with Modi at their meeting on Saturday. I gave an update on the progress of our peace formula. We have already passed many stages of presenting the formula to the leaders and countries from different parts of the world... And we will do everything so that the involvement of the world in our peace initiative is the fullest possible, he said. Zelensky said he believes that India will participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India believes dialogue and diplomacy is the only way to deal with the Ukraine conflict and will do everything possible to contribute to resolving the situation, prime minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday at a session of the G7 Summit attended by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at G 7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan (Twitter@ANI) Speaking a day after his first meeting with Zelenskyy since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Modi told the outreach session of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima that crises in one region affect all countries in todays inter-connected world and developing countries with limited resources are grappling with the profound impact of a food, fuel and fertiliser crisis. Zelenskyy sat between Modi and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the session with the theme Toward a peaceful, stable and prosperous world. Besides leaders of the worlds seven largest economies, the session was attended by the heads of eight guest countries, including India, Indonesia and Australia. Also Read: Quad leaders express deep concerns over consequences of Ukraine war We heard President Zelenskyy today. I also met him yesterday. I do not consider the current situation as an issue of politics or economy. I believe this is a matter of humanity, a matter of human values, Modi said, speaking in Hindi. From the very beginning, we have maintained that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And we will make every possible effort to contribute, in whatever way India can, for resolving this situation, he said. Modi made a similar commitment on Saturday at his meeting with Zelenskyy, who updated the Indian leader on his 10-point peace formula and sought New Delhis cooperation in demining operations and medicine. India has not publicly criticised Russias invasion of Ukraine or voted in favour of resolutions at UN bodies denouncing Moscows actions. It has insisted that a solution to the conflict must be found at the negotiating table and called for respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states. The Indian side has also repeatedly highlighted the fallout of the conflict on developing countries, especially in the context of food and fuel security. At a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan last September, Modi nudged him to end the hostilities by saying this was not an era of war. In todays inter-connected world, crises in any one region affect all the countries. The developing countries, which have limited resources, are the worst affected. In the current global situation, these countries are facing the maximum and most profound impact of the food, fuel and fertiliser crisis, Modi said at the G7 session. Modi said all countries must respect the UN Charter, international law, and sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states. Raise your voice together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo. India has always been of the opinion that any tension, any dispute should be resolved through peaceful means, through dialogue, he said. And if there is a solution from the law, then it should be accepted, Modi said, pointing out it was in this spirit that India resolved its land and maritime boundary disputes with Bangladesh. Modi was critical of the United Nations failure to prevent conflicts in the current era and to tackle terrorism, saying Institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the 21st century. He said, It raises the question as to why we are facing the need to discuss matters of peace and stability in distinct forums. The UN, which was established with the very purpose of establishing peace, why does it often fail to prevent conflicts today? Why has even the definition of terrorism not been accepted in the UN as yet? Modi questioned. Global bodies do not reflect the realities of the current era, and this is why reforms should be given concrete shape in institutions such as the UN. It will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will just keep talking about ending the conflict. The UN and the Security Council will become just a talk shop, he said. Modi concluded by citing Lord Buddha, saying he had provided the solution centuries ago to the war, unrest and instability facing the world today. Enmity does not calm enmity. Enmity is pacified by affinity, Modi quoted from the Buddhas teachings and said everyone should move forward together in this spirit. Also Read: Its time to reform Security Council: UN chief at G7 summit In a message about the outreach session posted on his Telegram channel, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has proposed its peace formula to the world and will not sit at the negotiating table with Russia as long as Russian invaders remain on our land. The coloniser must get out. And the world has enough power to force Russia to restore peace step by step, he said. Zelenskyy added: We have developed the peace formula in a way that ensures each of its points is backed by UN resolutions. And in a way that everyone in the world can choose the track they can contribute to. From Japan to the Arab countries, from Europe to Latin America, we find support for our formula. In a separate video message posted on the Telegram channel, Zelenskyy said he had a serious talk with Modi at their meeting on Saturday. I gave an update on the progress of our peace formula. We have already passed many stages of presenting the formula to the leaders and countries from different parts of the world...And we will do everything so that the involvement of the world in our peace initiative is the fullest possible, he said. Zelenskyy said he believes that India will participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need. New Delhi/Hiroshima, May 21 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday concluded two days of hectic bilateral and multilateral engagements with key partners in Hiroshima, including attending the G7 Summit, and left for Papua New Guinea for the Third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit. Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet that his visit to Japan has been fruitful and he met several leaders during the G7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. "Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. The MEA spokesperson in tweets said: Wrapping up an action packed visit! PM @narendramodi concludes his visit to Japan following two days of intense bilateral & multilateral engagements with key partners. PM now departs for Port Moresby for the next leg of his visit. "After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour. PM @narendramodi is on his way to Port Moresby to chair the 3rd Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit. UNI RN An Indian-origin Singaporean climber has gone missing after reaching the summit of Mount Everest, his family has said and called for urgent attention to his situation. Shrinivas, 39, set out from Singapore to Nepal to climb the world's highest peak last month.(Change.org) Read here: Double amputee ex-Nepalese soldier summits Mt Everest with artificial limbs According to a petition on the website change.org, Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya set out from Singapore to Nepal last month to climb the world's highest peak. His cousin Divya Bharath wrote in the petition that on the way down, Shrinivas seemed to have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness. This probably might have resulted in Dattatraya getting separated from the rest of his group, and "fell at around 8,000 metres, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain". A Singaporean news channel on Saturday cited Bharat as saying that a team of sherpas began search operations for Dattatraya on Saturday morning. He was reportedly last in contact with base camp officials at around 8,500 metres. In the petition, Bharath wrote that the family has reached out to the governments concerned. "This matter needs to be brought to their attention on an urgent basis. We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain as well as to ensure that this whole rescue operation is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork," Channel News Asia quoted Bharath as saying. She added that Shrivinas' family was devastated but did not want to lose hope. Shrinivas, 39, who is an executive director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, left for Mount Everest on April 1. He was due to return home on June 4. According to a report by The Straits Times, Dattatraya last sent a text message to his wife on Friday saying that he has reached the summit of Everest but was not likely to make it back down. His wife Sushma Soma said that she last heard from him at 3.30 pm on Friday. "Through his satellite phone, he told me that he had made it to the summit. But then followed with bad news. He said that he would not be able to make it down," The Straits Times quoted Soma as saying. She added that Shrinivas had told her he was down with high-altitude cerebral edema, a severe type of high-altitude illness that could prove fatal. Soma learnt at 2 am on Saturday that the two Sherpas her husband was with and another person in the group made it down from the mountain but Shrinivas never did. Read here: Inspirations from Mt Everest: Move from base camp to reach the summit According to Channel News Asia, the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi has been in close contact with Shrinivas' family, local authorities in Nepal and emergency medical services since Friday evening. Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to monitor developments and render the necessary consular support to the family during this difficult time, the channel cited the ministry as saying. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Sunday reviewed the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries and took stock of progress in negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). Prime minister Narendra Modi and British PM Rishi Sunak meet on the sidelines of G7 Summit (Twitter/@narendramodi) Sunak was among the world leaders with whom Modi held meetings on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. The two leaders also discussed Indias G20 presidency, and Modi said he looked forward to welcoming Sunak to the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September. Sunak committed his strong support for the G20 presidency, which he said comes at a crucial time for global security and prosperity. A statement from the external affairs ministry said, The two leaders reviewed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. According to a readout from the UK Prime Ministers Office, the two leaders agreed that their teams would continue to work at pace to finalise an ambitious and mutually beneficial trade deal. Modi and Sunak also agreed to deepen cooperation in a range of areas, including trade, investment, science and technology, higher education, and people-to-people relations. Also Read: Mazboot dosti: British High Commission after Sunak, Modi share hugs at G7 summit Modi also met Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for the first time on the margins of the G7 Summit on Sunday and reviewed the strategic partnership between the two sides. The two leaders also discussed ways to deepen cooperation in defence production, trade, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, dairy and animal husbandry, biofuels and clean energy, the external affairs ministry said. Modi and Lula noted this year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations and emphasised the need to organise a high-level meeting of business leaders from both sides. The leaders also exchanged views on regional developments, the importance of cooperation in multilateral platforms, and the long-standing need for reforming multilateral institutions. The talks with President @LulaOficial were productive and wide-ranging. India and Brazil will keep working together to deepen trade ties, Modi wrote on Twitter. Modi joined other leaders attending the G7 Summit to visit the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitors book. The leaders paid floral tributes at the cenotaph for the victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War 2. From Hiroshima, Modi embarked on the second leg of his three-nation tour that takes him to Papua New Guinea, where he will co-host the third Summit of the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation with Prime Minister James Marape at Port Moresby on May 22. Launched in 2014, the forum brings together India and 14 Pacific Island countries, including Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Solomon Islands. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a self-styled chief of proscribed Naxal outfit People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) in the national capital. Dinesh Gope alias Kuldeep Yadav alias Badku, hailing from Khunti district of Jharkhand, was chargesheeted by the central probe agency in a case related to the recovery of demonetised currency worth 25.38 lakh from PLFI operatives. According to NIA, Gope used to extort money and carry out attacks through his PLFI team members to terrorise businessmen, contractors and public. According to NIA, Gope has been booked in more than 102 criminal cases in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha. Most of the cases are related to murders, abductions, threats, extortion and raising funds for the Naxal outfit formed in 2007 in Jharkhand. The NIA had also declared a 5 lakh reward for leads on Dinesh Gope, in addition to the reward of 25 lakh announced by the Jharkhand government. The Naxal commander had been absconding for almost two decades. NIA had also declared a reward of 5 lakhs for leads on Dinesh, in addition to the reward of Rs. 25 lakhs announced by the Jharkhand Government. He had been absconding for almost two decades. On February 3 last year, an encounter had taken place between a Dinesh Gope-led PLFI gang and security forces in forest area under Gudri police station of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. During the gunbattle, several rounds were fired before the Naxals sneaked into the forest and Gope managed to escape. On the run, he was making efforts to re-established PLFI's stronghold in Jharkhand. According to NIA, Gope used to extort money and carry out attacks through his PLFI team members to terrorise businessmen, contractors and public. He was involved in depositing the demonetised currency in a bank account at a Petrol Pump, to be later collected through levy/extortion. The illegal money was then invested through banking channels and dubious shell Companies in the name of close associates and family members of the accused Dinesh Gope. A case was registered on November 10, 2016 at Bero police station in Ranchi and re-registered by the NIA on January 19, 2018. The police had first chargesheeted four people on January 9, 2017. The central agency filed the first supplementary chargesheet in the case against 11 accused, including Dinesh Gope. The NIA filed the second supplementary chargesheet in the case on July 23, 2022 against five individuals and three private limited companies. It had also attached 14 bank accounts and two cars, alongwith cash and immovable property worth more than a crore, in the case. Known previously as Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT), PLFI is responsible for hundreds of terror incidents in Jharkhand, including several murders using firearms, as per the NIA probe. The outfit used to lure unemployed youth by providing them motor bikes, mobile phones and easy money and after imparting training, used to equip them with lethal weapons to carry out terror incidents. Extortion is the outfit's major source of income and it has been targeting coal traders, railway contractors and various private entities involved in developmental projects in various districts of Jharkhand. The Naxal outfit had also formed alliances with different criminal gangs in order to spread their nefarious activities, and executed several incidents of murders and arson in Jharkhand. Dinesh Gope was part of a criminal conspiracy to channelise the extorted funds collected from the contractors/businessmen engaged in the developmental projects in Jharkhand. He was said to be involved in investing these funds in dubious shell companies formed in partnership with other PLFI associates and his family members. The extorted money was also being transferred from Jharkhand to other places through a network of hawala operators, the NIA stated. In July 2007, Masi Charan Purty, a renegade of the CPI-Maoist, along with several of his followers, had joined Gope in order to raise PLFI as a Naxal outfit. Though Purty was subsequently arrested, the PLFI spread its activities under Gopes command. He used to collect huge amounts of extortion money, which was further used to procure sophisticated weapons, including AK 47s and foreign made Rifles, such as HK 33. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shishir Gupta Author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize by Israel. ...view detail BJP's Amit Malviya said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has not read the May 11 verdict of the Supreme Court on the Centre vs Delhi government case as the ordinance -- at the centre of a massive political row -- is in tune with the judgment. "There is no reason for so much energy to be spent on the Ordinance brought in by the Central Govt with respect to Delhi. Had Arvind Kejriwal read the Supreme Court judgement, he would have known that the said Ordinance, to be later taken up as a Bill by the Parliament has its origin in the Constitution Bench (CB) Judgment itself," Malviya tweeted. Read | Centre vs Delhi on bureaucrats reaches Supreme Court again, day after ordinance BJP versus Kejriwal on who controls Delhi as Centre brings an ordinance to give more power to the LG. On Friday, the Centre introduced the ordinance empowering the LG on services matters starting a fresh tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government as AAP announced that it would challenge the ordinance in the Supreme Court. Several opposition leaders including former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah condemned the ordinance. Read | 'What's next?' Raghav Chadha asks if Centre will control all non-BJP states BJP said the ordinance was necessary accusing the Kejriwal government of intimidating officers after the Supreme Court verdict. According to the LG office, eight officers alleged "blatant harassment" by the Kejriwal government -- two complaints received earlier and six after the Supreme Court verdict, reports said. Apart from services secretary Ashish More, chief secretary Naresh Kumar, special secretaries Kinny Singh, YVVJ Rajasekhar, and power secretary Shurbir Singh complained against the Kejriwal government. Rajasekhar was overseeing the case of Kejriwal's residence renovation. Explained: Ordinance must pass test of legislative competence Amid the tussle, Malviya said the Supreme Court verdict made provision for a law to modify the executive power of the Lieutenant Governor. "The Constitution Bench judgment at Para 95 expressly mentions, 'However, if Parliament enacts a law granting executive power on any subject which is within the domain of NCTD, the executive power of the Lieutenant Governor shall be modified to the extent, as provided in that law. Furthermore, under Section 49 of the GNCTD Act, the Lieutenant Governor and the Council of Ministers must comply with the particular directions issued by the President on specific occasions," Malviya tweeted. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The upcoming meeting of the Niti Aayogs governing council on May 27, where all chief ministers will participate, is likely to set the stage for parleys between chief ministers of opposition parties with an eye on the 2024 parliamentary elections. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar meets his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, in New Delhi on Sunday. (ANI) The council will deliberate on issues related to agriculture, economy and health, but many opposition chief ministers, some of them leaders of their parties, will meet on the sidelines for crucial discussions on the general elections. Also Read: Oppn show of strength likely on Karunanidhis birth centenary in TN Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, one of the key interlocutors of the opposition, met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday to express solidarity after the Centre promulgated an ordinance to restore its power over services in the national capital. On Tuesday, Kejriwal will meet West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee will reach Delhi on May 25. While she has not fixed the agenda, political meetings are expected during her visit, a Trinamool Congress functionary said on condition of anonymity. Similarly, meetings between some chief ministers and the Congress high command are also in the pipeline. Consultations with Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Nitish Kumar and other like-minded CMs are being planned during their stay in Delhi, a Congress leader said, declining to be named. The talks assume importance in the backdrop of the proposed meeting of the all opposition parties in Delhi. When asked about the proposed Opposition meeting, a Left leader who plays an important role in bringing different parties together, said: We were waiting for the swearing in of the Siddaramaiah government. Over the next few days, we will discuss with possible schedule and agenda with the opposition constituents. Also Read: Oppn show of strength takes stage at Karnataka swearing-in ceremony While the Congress and like-minded parties are aiming to create a common understanding for a Congress-led post-poll front, Banerjee might focus on meeting some of the non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party chief ministers to develop a non-Congress, non-BJP front. After winning the 2021 state elections in West Bengal, Banerjee spoke about brining non-BJP, non-Congress parties together. Among the opposition chief ministers, Jagan Mohan Reddy, K Chandrashekar Rao, Communist Party of India (Marxist)s Pinarayi Vijayan, and MK Stalin of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are expected to come. Some of the these leaders, especially Stalin and Raos availability in Delhi, are important as they are expected to reach out to a number of leaders. While the Congress is fighting against Raos Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana, during the last budget session of Parliament, BRS leader K Keshava Rao had advocated a meeting of all opposition parties in Delhi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On his three-nation visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to receive many 'rare' honours which make the trip even more special. Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File Photo) Read here: China was the elephant in the room in Quad summit in Hiroshima Currently, PM Modi is in Japan's Hiroshima to attend the Group of Seven or G7 Summit. And surprisingly, India is getting back-to-back invitations for the G7 summits. After Japan, PM Modi will travel to Papua New Guinea, which is his first tour, as well as the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister to the Indo-Pacific country. Today, the PM of Papua New Guinea will come to receive PM Narendra Modi upon his arrival in the country. Normally, Papua New Guinea doesn't give a ceremonial welcome for any leader coming after sunset. But the nation is set to make a special exception for PM Modi, and a fully studded ceremonial welcome will be given to him. During his Papua New Guinea visit, PM Modi will co-chair the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) on Monday. Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape will also be there. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues. FIPIC had been launched during PM Modi's visit to Fiji in 2014. Read here: Modi unveils 10-point call to action at outreach session of G7 Apart from the FIPIC engagements, PM Modi will also have bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae, Prime Minister Marape and some of the other PIC Leaders participating in the Summit. After his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will travel to Sydney at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. PM Modi will also interact with the Indian community at a special event in Sydney along with the Australian PM. The Harris Park area in Parramatta will be also known as 'Little India'. This will be also announced during PM's community event. Read here: US president Joe Biden asked PM Modi for an autograph? What report claimed According to the Australian government website, Harris Park is home to a large Indian community and is well established as a unique destination for Indian cuisine, Indian owned and operated small to medium businesses. As a result, the area is informally referred to as 'Little India'. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded a successful visit to Japan Sunday, where he attended the summit of the G7 advanced economies on an invitation by his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. PM Modi, in a tweet, expressed his gratitude to PM Kishida and the people of Japan for their warm welcome and hospitality during his stay. He also informed that he would be leaving for Papua New Guinea shortly. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, front right, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, front left, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, back left, and U.S. President Joe Biden walk as they hold a Quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit, at the Grand Prince Hotel in Hiroshima, Japan, Saturday.(AP) Taking to Twitter, PM Modi wrote, It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while. The G7 summit was held in Japans Hiroshima, where PM Modi met several world leaders, including the United States president Joe Biden, UK PM Rishi Sunak, war-ravaged nation Ukraines head Volodymyr Zelensky, among others. On the sidelines of the G7 Summit, he also participated in the Quad summit, joined by other member nations US, Australia and Japan. PM Modi hailed the Quad coalition and highlighted its importance in ensuring peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. In Hiroshima, he also unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, a symbol of Indian values of non-violence. During his visit, he interacted with the Indian diaspora in the island nation and met with a prominent Japanese artisan and a linguist, who promote Indian culture through their work. The group of seven (G7) represent the world's richest democracies. It comprises of the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan. Under its G7 presidency, Japan invited India and seven other countries to the summit. On his three nation tour over a span of six days, PM Modis next destination is Papua New Guinea, where he will host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on Monday jointly with the island country's PM James Marape. On the final leg of his trip, PM Modi will set out for Australia, where the Quad meet was initially supposed to happen but was slashed after Biden cancelled his trip due to the stalled domestic debt ceiling negotiations. PM Modi will anyway proceed with the trip to hold bilateral talks with his counterpart Anthony Albanese. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The two leaders decided to continue working towards an ambitious deal during the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. UK PM Rishi Sunak and PM Modi met on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. (Twitter) The two nations last month concluded the ninth round of FTA talks with detailed discussions across a range of policy areas. In their second in-person meeting since the G20 Summit in Indonesia last November, Modi and Sunak also reportedly spoke about innovation, science, and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Sharing details of the meeting, Modi tweeted a series of images of his interaction with the British PM. He wrote, Productive discussion with UK PM @RishiSunak on the sidelines of the Hiroshima G-7 Summit. The official Twitter account of the British High Commission in India retweeted the post adding more pictures of the leaders sharing a hug with the caption,Ek mazboot dosti (a strong friendship). Notably, after Sunak's first ever meeting with Modi in 2022, he posted a photo of them hand-in-hand with the same caption saying, United by friendship. An official statement by the Ministry of External Affairs read, Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade & investment, science & technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationships. With respect to India's G20 presidency, Downing Street also indicated that the British Indian leaders first visit to India is expected to be for the G20 Summit in New Delhi later this year. PM Modi said he looked forward to welcoming Sunak to Delhi in September. The leaders reflected on the deep ties between the UK and India, rooted in our human connections, and the vital importance of democracy and fair and open trade. The leaders discussed the wider objectives of the G7 Summit and the Prime Minister [Sunak] committed his strong support for Indias G20 Presidency, which comes at a crucial time for global security and prosperity. He looked forward to working closely with Prime Minister Modi ahead of a successful Summit later this year, said a Downing Street spokesperson. Modi is also said to have passed on his warm congratulations to Sunak on the Coronation of King Charles III earlier this month, where India was represented by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. According to official UK government statistics, India was the UKs 12th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022. The G7 Summit concluded in Hiroshima this weekend after wide-ranging discussions between leaders from the largest economies of the world. India was invited as a guest nation to the Group of Seven, which includes the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy, with the European Union (EU) as a non-enumerated member. (With inputs from PTI) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Quad leaders on Saturday expressed deep concern at the Ukraine war and backed efforts to find lasting peace through dialogue and diplomacy while asserting that the threat of the use of nuclear weapons is serious and inadmissible. From left to right, Australian PM Anthony Albanese , US President Joe Biden, PM Narendra Modi, and Japans Fumio Kishida (Twitter Photo) A meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian and Japanese counterparts, Anthony Albanese and Fumio Kishida, and US President Joe Biden on the margins of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima endorsed Indias position that this must not be an era of war. They said the Quad stands for adherence to international law, peaceful resolution of disputes, and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states. The Quad Leaders Summit unveiled several new initiatives to boost their collaboration in crucial areas such as telecommunications, including 5G and 6G, critical and emerging technology standards, cybersecurity, joint principles for secure software, and clean energy supply chains in the Indo-Pacific. Though left unstated, most of these initiatives were aimed at countering Chinas growing influence in the region. Also Read: Quad condemns Pathankot,26/11, denounces terrorism In his televised opening remarks at the meeting, Modi said the Quad has established itself as an important platform for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. The groups cooperation is increasing in key areas such as climate action, disaster management, health security, strategic technologies, reliable supply chains, maritime security and counter-terrorism, he said. There is no doubt at all about the fact that the Indo-Pacific region is the engine for global trade, innovation and development. We agree that the security and success of the Indo-Pacific is important not just for this region but for the entire world, Modi said, speaking in Hindi. We are moving forward with a constructive agenda based on shared democratic values. Through our shared efforts, we are giving a practical dimension to our vision, he said, adding that India will host the next Quad Leaders Summit in 2024. The Quad Leaders Summit was hurriedly convened in Hiroshima after the original plan to hold it in Sydney on May 24 fell through because Biden called off a planned visit to Australia due to a debt ceiling crisis in the US. A joint statement issued after the summit said the four countries expressed deep concern over the war raging in Ukraine and mourn its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences, while also recognising the conflicts serious impacts on the global economic system including on food, fuel and energy security and critical supply chains. The statement added: Conscious that ours must not be an era of war, we remain committed to dialogue and diplomacy. We support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace consistent with the UN Charter. In this context, we concur that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is serious and inadmissible. The Quad stands for adherence to international law, peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for principles of the UN Charter, including territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states, the statement said. The members of the Quad will also continue to render humanitarian assistance to Ukraine for its recovery. In an apparent reference to Chinas growing assertiveness across the Indo-Pacific, the joint statement said: We seek a region where no country dominates and no country is dominated one where all countries are free from coercion, and can exercise their agency to determine their futures. Our four countries are united by this shared vision. Albanese said the Quad members stand together for an open, stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, where sovereignty is respected and all countries, large and small, benefit from a regional balance that keeps the peace. Kishida said the Quad is committed to cooperation and not division and confrontation, and that the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific needs the support of ASEAN, South Asia and Pacific Island states. Biden said the Quad will advance a vision of a free, open and secure region while demonstrating the capacity of democracies to deliver for a shared region. Biden highlighted the outcomes of the summit, especially in secure telecommunications, submarine cables, infrastructure and clean energy. A great deal of the future of our world is going to be written here in the Indo-Pacific and together we are going to assure that the future provides more opportunity, prosperity and stability, he said. The Quad leaders reiterated the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes, and released the Quad Leaders Vision Statement Enduring Partners for the Indo-Pacific, which articulates their principled approach in this context. The clean energy supply chains initiative will facilitate research and development and support the Indo-Pacifics energy transition. The Quad approved principles to guide engagement with the region on the development of clean energy supply chains. Also Read: PM Modi thanks Japans Kishida for G7 invite as first leg of 3-nation tour ends In the realm of telecommunications, the Quad will support the deployment of a small-scale open radio access network (O-RAN) in Palau, the first in the Pacific region. The Quad also released an ORAN security report to support industry investment in open, interoperable and secure telecommunications platforms a move apparently aimed at countering Chinas lead in this field. The Quad Infrastructure Fellowships Programme will support policy-makers and practitioners to design, build and manage sustainable and viable infrastructure in their countries, while the Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience will leverage Quads collective expertise in design, manufacturing, laying and maintenance of undersea cables to secure and diversify these critical networks. The Quad Investors Network was launched as a private sector-led platform to facilitate investments in strategic technologies. The Quad leaders also welcomed progress in the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, which was announced at their last summit in Tokyo in 2022. They noted that data-sharing with partners in Southeast Asia and the Pacific under this programme is underway and will soon include partners in the Indian Ocean Region. Modi emphasised the importance of consolidating Quads constructive agenda and delivering tangible outcomes for the region. The leaders agreed to maintain the momentum of the Quad engagement and Modi invited the other leaders for the next Quad Summit in India in 2024. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhis death anniversary Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi paid an emotional tribute to his late father by sharing a heartfelt video gracefully capturing his remarkable political journey. Along with the over two-minute video, Rahul penned a heartfelt caption that said , , , , ! (Father, you are always with me, as an inspiration, forever in my memories). Congress leader Rahul Gandhi paying tribute on the 32nd death anniversary of late Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi at Vir Bhumi, New Delhi, Sunday.(Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo) Today marks the 32nd death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber in 1991. The incident had taken place during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Earlier today, ex-Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the late Congress leaders memorial site Vir Bhumi in New Delhi and paid their respects. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge was also present. Taking to Twitter, Kharge also remembered the contributions of the great son of India in nation building. He said Through multiple interventions such as lowering of voting age, strengthening Panchayati Raj,Telecom & IT revolution, and sustained peace accords he transformed India, propelling it in the 21st century. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath and other party members and workers also remembered Rajiv Gandhi and echoed similar sentiments that his sacrifice will always inspire the Congress party members to work towards nation building. Rajiv Gandhi, the youngest PM of India to date, assumed office from 1984 to 1989. Coming from the politically powerful NehruGandhi family, he took charge of the country following the tragic assassination of his mother and former PM, Indira Gandhi, in 1984. Born in 1944 in Bombay, Rajiv Gandhi entered politics after the demise of his brother Sanjay Gandhi in a fighter plane crash in 1980 and a year later, secured a win in the Lok Sabha elections from his brothers parliamentary constituency of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. Before becoming the PM, he also served as the Congress general secretary. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New Delhi, May 21 (UNI) The Third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit, being held at Port Moresby on Monday, is being jointly hosted with Papua New Guinea. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will co-chair the Summit with Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea. Indias engagement with the 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs) is part of Indias Act East Policy. A major part of Indias engagement with PICs is through development assistance under South-South Cooperation that is mainly in the form of capacity building (training, scholarships, grant-in-aid and loan assistance) and community development projects. A landmark initiative launched under the rubric of the Act East Policy for the PICs is the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). Prime Minister Modi hosted the First FIPIC Summit in Suva on November 19, 2014 during his historic visit to Fiji, with participation of all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs). The FIPIC II Summit was held in Jaipur, India, on August 21, 2015 again with all 14 PICs taking part. During the two FIPIC Summits, India announced initiatives across a wide array of areas to assist the PICs in facing challenges and achieving aspirations for the well-being and development of its peoples. Development partnership has been extended to PICs for socio-economic progress, through community development projects such as solar electrification, supply of agricultural equipment, computers and LED bulbs for schools, sewing machines, dialysis machines, portable saw mills, boats and pick-up trucks, vehicles, construction of sea wall, and coral farms, etc. PICs have been appreciative of developmental cooperation with India. Initiatives in the region have included the setting up of Information Technology Labs in the PICs. Centres for Excellence in IT (CEITs) have been established in various PICs. All the PICs countries are vulnerable to climate change and to the effects of rising sea levels. Initiatives like International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) complement our relationship with PICs. Under the CDRI framework, India, along with Australia, the UK and small island developing states (SIDS) launched the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) on the sidelines of the COP26 at Glasgow on November 2, 2021 to assist the SIDS from disasters and to mobilize technology, finance, and necessary information for Pacific islands and CARICOM nations in the Indo-Pacific region. Initiatives have been taken in meeting challenges of climate change that threaten all the PICs. A project for solar electrification of 2,800 houses in 14 PICs has been undertaken under which 70 women solar engineers (called Solar Mamas) have been trained and electrification process is underway. This project, while addressing climate change and goals of sustainable development, also aims to provide livelihoods to women Development partnership with PICs has included support to infrastructure development, with a focus on sectors of education, health and culture. Other community development projects have included revamping of libraries and school buildings, renovation of colleges and provision of IT infrastructure to educational institutes, apart from setting up of digital libraries. India has also supplied indelible ink to Fiji and Papua New Guinea for use in their general elections. A landmark programme in the health sector has been the Jaipur Foot Camp fully funded by Government of India organized in Fiji in collaboration with the Fijian Ministry of Health and Medical Services. Customized prosthetic limbs were provided to around 600 Fijians during the Camp. India has been providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) to the PICs from time to time. India has assisted various PICs with supply of Covid-19 Vaccines and Medical supplies during the pandemic. Apart from bilateral engagements, the India-UN Development Partnership Fund was created in 2017. It aims to support demand-driven sustainable development projects in developing countries, focusing on LDCs and small island developing states. PICs have been beneficiaries of this fund. UNI RN Former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday hit out at the BJP government over the G20 summit which will be held in Jammu and Kashmir from May 22-24. Mufti said, G20 is an event for the country but BJP has hijacked it, they have even replaced the logo with Lotus, the logo should have been something related to the country, not a party...it is the SAARC that will establish the leadership of our country within this region...why not have a SAARC summit and address our problem... Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti (PTI) In November last year, the government at the centre unveiled the logo for the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir. The logo also had a lotus flower in it. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress broke into a war of words over the use of the lotus flower in the logo at that time. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, Over 70 years ago, Nehru rejected the proposal to make Congress flag the flag of India. Now, BJPs election symbol has become [the] official logo for Indias presidency of G20! While shocking, we know by now that Mr Modi & BJP wont lose any opportunity to promote themselves shamelessly! Responding to him union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, Congress leaders should carefully listen to #PMModi Ji on why Lotus is part of #G20Logo. It symbolises Indias ancient heritage, faith & thought a symbol of hope in such tough times. Lord Buddhas message for freedom from war, Mahatma Gandhis solutions in the face of violence. The G20 meeting will be held in Srinagar from May 22 to 24. The Border Security Force (BSF) has tightened security along the International Border ahead of the meeting. The special water wing of BSF has also increased its patrolling along the Chenab River. Sameer Wankhede, former Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau chief, was questioned for more than five hours for the second straight day on Sunday by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly demanding 25 crore bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case, news agency PTI reported. Former Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede at the Bombay high court for a hearing on the Aryan Khan case in Mumbai on Friday.(ANI) Wankhede didn't respond to queries from media persons waiting outside the CBI office but only said, Satyamev Jayate (truth only triumphs). The Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer reached the CBI office in the Bandra-Kurla Complex around 10.30am. While entering the office, Wankhede told the media he has faith in the judiciary. During the questioning, Wankhede was allowed a lunch break, an official told PTI, adding the IRS officer left the CBI office for the day around 4.30pm. Sameer Wankhede questioned on Saturday too On Saturday, the CBI questioned Wankhede for over five hours. Wankhede along with his family members visited the Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi in Mumbai after the questioning on Saturday. Allegations against Sameer Wankhede The CBI booked Wankhede and four others on May 11 for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion, besides provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). On Friday, Wankhede got a relief from the Bombay high court which directed the CBI not to take any coercive action, such as arrest, against him till May 22. Seeking quashing of the FIR, Wankhede alleged before the HC that the "draft complaint" in the 2021 drugs-on-cruise case named Aryan Khan as an accused, but it was later replaced and Aryan's name was dropped. Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, following the alleged drug seizure on board the Cordelia cruise ship. He was granted bail by the high court three weeks later as the anti-drugs agency failed to substantiate its charges against him. Wankhede had denied allegations against him. His petition in the high court provided transcriptions of phone chats with Shah Rukh Khan during the period Aryan was in NCB custody. It cited Khan as pleading with Wankhede to be kind to his son and praising the officer for his uprightness. (With inputs from agencies) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON IRS officer Sameer Wankhede's purported chats with Shah Rukh Khan which Wankhede produced in the court in his defence are against the conduct rules, NCB insiders said as the investigating officer can not engage with the family members of the 'accused', news agency ANI reported citing NCB sources. The purported chats were presented in the court and Sameer Wankhede never informed his seniors about the conversation and he did not even provide the phone on which he chatted with Shah Rukh Khan. Sameer Wankhede never informed the investigators about his purported chats with Shah Rukh Khan, NCB officials said. "Sameer Wankhade giving chats in the court is against the conduct rules of NCB. How an investigating officer can have such chats with the family of the accused?" NCB officials said. Sameer Wankhede, the former NCB Mumbai zone chief, has been accused of demanding a 25 crore bribe from Shah Rukh Khan when his son Aryan Khan was arrested in the drugs-on-cruise case. The bribe was negotiated through KP Gosavi, an independent witness of the case, who was allegedly given a free hand by Wankhede. An amount of 50 lakh was given to KP Gosavi, the CBI alleged in the FIR against Wankhede, filed two years after the drugs-on-cruise case. The investigation against Wankhede continued while his term as the NCB Mumbai zone chief ended in 2021 and his next posting was in Chennai. In the FIR, CBI said the person who had drugs was let off, while Aryan Khan was arrested for a bribe. Wankhede dismissed these allegations and produced the purported chats with Shah Rukh Khan where Shah Rukh Khan requested Wankhede to be kind to Aryan and also praised his integrity. Sameer Wankhede has been granted relief from arrest till Monday by the Bombay high court. On Saturday, he was interrogated by the CBI for five hours. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday met Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and said if all the opposition parties come together against the ordinance, then the bill can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha. Then it will be a semifinal before 2024 and the message that the BJP will be defeated will be clear. "Nitish Kumar said he stands with us and will fight against the injustice that the Centre did to Delhi. Nitish Kumar is now uniting the opposition across the country. I told him that if all non-BJP parties come together against the bill, then it can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday met Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav. (PTI) LG indulging in 'dirty politics,' complaints by officers fake, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Nitish Kumar said the Delhi ordinance move of the Centre is very surprising. "We of course support Kejriwal. We are trying to unite the opposition parties in all states and end the environment of hate and conflict," Nitish Kumar said. "Eight days ago, the Supreme Court gave all powers to the elected government in Delhi, the Centre introduced an ordinance to incapacitate the Delhi government. Now the ordinance gives all power to the LG; he will rule Delhi. The Supreme Court verdict was unanimous and it's unconstitutional that the judgement has been overturned," Kejriwal said. The AAP has already decided to approach the Supreme Court against the ordinance which was brought by the law ministry on Friday. The Centre has also filed a review plea in the Supreme Court on the earlier order. As the decade-long tussle between LG and the Delhi government gets stoked, the BJP said the ordinance is necessary to maintain Delhi's dignity as the AAP government resorted to hooliganism after Supreme Court's order. The authority over the government officials posted in Delhi is the bone of contention here. After the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi government has the power to transfer the officers, the AAP government transferred services secretary Ashish More. IAS officer More, on the other hand, complained against minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and said the minister had a personal vengeance against him. LG's office claimed complaints were received from chief secretary Naresh Kumar, special secretaries Kinny Singh, YVVJ Rajasekhar, and power secretary Shurbir Singh. Rajasekhat was overseeing the case of Kejriwal's residence renovation. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir is all set to host the third tourism working group meeting of G20 countries in capital Srinagar from Monday to Wednesday, with multi-tier security arrangements in place to successfully host its first major international event since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Preparations are underway on the eve of the G20 meeting, in Srinagar on Sunday. (ANI) The meeting, under Indias presidency, will be held at Sheri Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the banks of the Dal Lake. More than 180 delegates, including 60 from G20 countries, are expected to attend the event. Also Read: J&K G20 meet marks a new era of prosperity The G20 event at Srinagar presents a unique opportunity to highlight the tourism potential and cultural richness of the region, Union tourism secretary Arvind Singh said at a press briefing in Srinagar. The senior IAS officer said that the key deliverables of the meeting are Goa roadmap for tourism as a vehicle for achievable development goals and G20 ministerial declaration. The final meeting of G20 tourism ministers will be held in Goa in JuneIn that context the meeting here assumes significance because the draft which will be adopted by ministers will be finalised in Srinagar, Singh added. In terms of participation, Singh said, this working group meeting will have one of the highest numbers compared to the last two editions of the event. We have very encouraging attendance which has really encouraged us to make fool proof and adequate arrangements for the meeting, he added. Also Read: Covered in G20 colours, Srinagar primed to take centre stage Some member countries have not registered yet, but the last date for doing it is May 22. People familiar with the development said that China and Turkey are yet to register for the G20 meeting. Chinas decision is apparently linked to objections by its close ally Pakistan to hold the meeting in a disputed territory while Turkey has criticised Indias handling of the situation in Kashmir in past years. Meanwhile, a multi-tier security apparatus has been put in place particularly around the venue at SKICC. Marine and NSG commandos have been making security drills for the past few days in the city. River and lake domination has been done with the deployment of marine commandos (Marcos) to ensure the water bodies around the meeting venue are safe. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commandos have been conducting mock drills on the lake since Friday. Also Read: Kashmir artisans pin hope on G20 Summit in Srinagar A three-tier security system is in place. We are also putting in place air anti-drone technology with the assistance of the NSG and Army, and for the water body Dal Lake we have the Marcos team in place in addition to the police, additional director general of police, Vijay Kumar, had said on Friday. For a peaceful and peaceful event...police, BSF, CRPF, and SSB personnel are being deployed on the ground. The Union territory administration has made efforts to give Srinagar a major facelift in the run-up to the G20 event. As we drive around, we see a completely transformed city. We have gone to markets, to riverfront lake areas, and many other places, as compared to last time, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, chief coordinator of G20, said. Srinagar today is vastly more beautiful, its facilities and amenities are much greater. Also Read: G20 will boost tourism in the region, says lieutenant governor On Day one (Monday), there will be a meeting of the tourism working group with an inaugural session. In the second session, there will be a presentation on the draft tourism ministers declaration and then the feedback from participants, said additional secretary, tourism, Rakesh Kumar Verma. On the sidelines we will have very important events, one of film tourism and another of ecotourism. We will also unveil a draft national strategy on film tourism followed by feedback and then panel discussion, he said. On the second day, there will be side events focused on Indian industry and states. This is about promoting incredible India through film tourism. There will be more sessions on this, Verma said. On May 24, the delegates will have an excursion while going local for tourism offerings in the city. We also have two cultural events one is the Gala dinner on May 22 and the second is the farewell dinner on the last day. We are also planning ODOP (one district one product) souvenirs to highlight products from this region, he added. J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha hailed the upcoming event as a historic opportunity for 13 million residents of the UT to showcase priceless culture, heritage, tourism and warm hospitality. All the citizens should come forward and be a part of this memorable event, Sinha said in a statement. The G20 members represent around 85% of the global GDP, over 75% of the global trade, and more than 60% of the world population. Such gathering will accelerate socio-economic development of Jammu Kashmir. In view of the global event, traffic movement on the Boulevard road will be diverted from Monday and there will be restricted access to the SKICC from Nehru Park and Gupkar to Kraksangri, the traffic department said in an advisory. A large number of delegates from India and abroad are expected to attend. In order to avoid congestion, the advisory is issued to avoid any inconvenience, SSP traffic Muzaffar Shah said. Tourism players in the Valley expressed hope that the event will help Kashmir in lifting travel advisories in various countries. There are travel adversaries in various countries against visiting Kashmir. The delegates of G20 countries will themselves see the situation here and help lift those advisories. I hope LG will also intervene, said J&K Hoteliers Club chairperson Mushtaq Chaya. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashpal Benam on Saturday cancelled his daughter's marriage to a Muslim man in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal with "mutual consent" with the groom's family after the wedding invitation card's picture went viral on social media, triggering a "controversy". The marriage ceremony of the BJP leader's daughter was scheduled to be held on May 28. (Getty Images) (Representational Image) The marriage ceremony of the BJP leader's daughter was scheduled to be held on May 28. Also Read | Punjab and Haryana HC refuses to grant protection to Muslim man, second wife "The wedding to be held on May 28 now has been cancelled," the BJP leader told media persons on Saturday. "Being a public representative, I did not want my daughter's marriage to take place under the protection of the police and the administration. I respect public sentiments," he added. Benam said that the marriage was agreed upon the consent of both families, but had to be called off after certain things came to the fore. Also Read | Ex-BJP MLA issues veiled threats towards Muslim community "My daughter was going to get married to a Muslim youth. Keeping in view the happiness and future of the children, both families had decided to get them married, for which the cards were also printed and shared. But after the invitation card for the wedding went viral on social media, many types of things came to the fore objecting to the wedding," he said. Also Read | Fadnavis orders SIT probe into Muslim group forcing way into Trimbakeshwar temple, police file FIR "After the controversy erupted, with mutual consent, both families decided not to carry out the marriage rituals for the time being," the BJP leader added. However, he said that the decision regarding his daughter's marriage to the same man would be taken together with the family, well-wishers and the groom's side. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bhavnagar, a historic city known for its majestic palaces and iconic architectural landmarks including a marble-made 'monument of love' built by a king in memory of her queen, has turned 300. Three-day celebrations were held recently here to mark the tercentenary of the city that was founded in 1723 by Maharaja Bhavsinhji I of the Gohil dynasty, whose legacy lives on in public buildings and institutions created during its rule. Three-day celebrations were held to mark the tercentenary of the city that was founded in 1723 by Maharaja Bhavsinhji I of the Gohil dynasty.(Pinterest) Brijeshwari Gohil, a scion of the erstwhile royal family of Bhavnagar, says Bhavnagar State was the first princely state to accede to the Union of India soon after Independence. The city located in an eponymous district in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat is about 170 km from Ahmedabad with several tourist attractions. As Bhavnagar clocks 300 in its eventful journey, Gohil talks about the legacy of her royal ancestors who built the city over a period of more than two centuries, erected magnificent public buildings, built grand parks and railways, and raised a monument in white marble that draws symbolic parallel with the Taj Mahal of Agra. "It's a glorious occasion and a time to pause and look back and assess how much of Bhavnagar's heritage is still preserved in times of rapid urbanisation. It's also a time to acknowledge the contributions made by the Bhavnagar rulers since the city was founded in 1723 and include preservation in our future roadmap," she told PTI in an interview. Born in 1994 in Mumbai, Gohil says it saddens her when she reads about heritage buildings in many Indian cities either being demolished or lying in a state of decay for want of restoration. "Many old private buildings in Bhavnagar have been lost over time, but most of the public landmarks are thankfully standing, even though some new structures might have been built near them, dimishing their architectural glory, or some structures in need of immediate restoration," she rues. Gohil helms both the Bhavnagar Chapter of Delhi-based heritage body INTACH, and the Bhavnagar Heritage Preservation Society. Armed with a bachelor's degree in archaeology and art history from the University of Nottingham and a master's in heritage management and conservation from Durham University, she helps her family in running a heritage hotel housed in the 19th century Nilambag Palace. Built in 1878 by Bhavnagar State Engineer Richard Proctor-Sims and German architect T J Kenosky, the palace is also home to the royal family, Gohil says. Old building constructed with stones, bricks and traditional ones with large shares of wood in the facade dominante many squares and roads in this heritage city, many of these albeit shorn of their glory. "At least they are not demolished, but a lot needs to be done to revive the heritage fabric of our 300-year-old city," Gohil says. Other prominent landmarks in the city include the grand Darbargadh -- the erstwhile seat of the Bhavnagar State, old Alfred High School, old court building, Barton Library, old Samaldas College building, Sir Takhatsinhji General Hospital, old Bhavnagar station, Ganga Deri and Crescent Tower that sits in the centre of a Crescent Circle. Ganga Deri is a memorial in form a mable pavillion, situated on the banks of Gangajaliya Talao in Bhavnagar. "Ganga Deri is a monument of love, built in memory of Maharani Majirajba by Maharaja Takhatsinhji, a former ruler of Bhavnagar. It was designed by Sir John Griffith, and took 16 years (1877-1893) to build, the same number of years it took to build the Taj Mahal in Agra. So, it's like 'our Taj' in Bhavnagar," Gohil says. Darbargadh and Ganga Deri are state-protected monuments, she says, adding, "we (her family) are in the process of signing an MoU for restoration and maintenance of the monument". Also, a Town Hall is there in Bhavnagar that was built for my great grandfather's (Krishnakumar Sinhjis) marriage as a reception hall. It has recently been restored, the royal scion says. According to Gohil, prior to establishment of Bhavnagar, the capital of the dynasty was in Sihor, but after repeated attacks on it, the capital was shifted by Bhavsinhji to a place 20 km away from Sihor, near Vada village and, named Bhavnagar. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Few plurilateral groupings in recent decades have achieved as much as Quad has in a short span. Yet the grouping of India, United States (US), Japan and Australia often confronts deep scepticism, with questions about its sustainability, strategic logic, messaging and delivery. Some of these questions stem from past baggage. After all, Quads first avatar collapsed rapidly, but the second avatar is more solidly rooted in shared strategic anxieties about Chinas rise, even though it is not explicitly spelt out. Others stem from assessments that overplay divergences and underplay convergences among Quad members. This ignores how bilateral relations between each of the Quad countries is better than ever. And yet other doubts, encouraged by Beijing and Moscow, stem from a desire to see Quad fail by delegitimising it in Southeast Asia. PREMIUM Confounding the sceptics, despite Joe Biden cancelling the Australia leg of his visit, Quad quickly adapted as its leaders met in Hiroshima on Saturday. (PTI) Confounding the sceptics, despite US president Joe Biden cancelling the Australia leg of his visit, Quad quickly adapted as its leaders met in Hiroshima on Saturday. The shift in venue is a footnote in the larger diplomatic story, but shows the nimbleness of the group that hasnt let rigid bureaucracies cripple it yet. No one let ego come in the way. But this large-heartedness is also coming from a place of calculated self-interest. The four countries bridged differences on Ukraine, issued a set of principles on the Indo-Pacific which embeds a vision distinct from China, emphasised the role of Asean and Pacific Island countries, and advanced a practical agenda of cooperation. If improving infrastructure and handling the climate crisis is the foremost priority, Quad is building an agenda around it. If diversifying clean energy supply chains will determine who controls the technology of the future, Quad is working on it. If Covid-19 exposed the fragility of the world, Quad is kicking off a health security partnership. If the trifecta of disruptive emerging technologies, development of standards, and instituting stronger cyber security measures is key to the future, Quad is discussing each of them. If the group can deliver a fraction of what it is promising, it will be a transformative force. To get a pay rise at Microsoft, people must work to make the company's stock go higher, said chief marketing officer (CMO) Chris Capossela, with his message coming at a time when employees are angry with the tech giant over its move to freeze salary hike for full-time workers. Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela (File Photo/Business Today) The most important lever for almost all of our employees' compensation upside is the stock price. So, great quarterly results contribute to making the stock attractive, which, in turn, drives everyone's total compensation up, Fortune quoted Capossela as saying in an internal communication to employees. Microsoft still continues to invest heavily in its people, and its data centre capacity, to hopefully position it well for the artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, said Capossela. A slap in the face Earlier this month, CEO Satya Nadella broke the news in an internal email to employees. The move was necessary to help navigate macroeconomic ructions, and to generate enough yield to invest in the major platform shift towards AI, noted Nadella. Though we will maintain our bonus and stock award budget again this year, we will not overfund to the extent we did last year, bringing it closer to our historical averages, he wrote in the email. In a now-deleted tweet, Isabel Moreira, a senior software engineer at Microsoft, had denounced its decision as a slap in the face. Microsoft layoffs Also, in January, the Bill Gates co-founded organisation announced it will terminate 10,000 workers accounting for less than 5% of its then overall staff strength. This was done to align its cost structure with revenue, and with its projected customer demand. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON President Joe Biden plans to call Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy Sunday on the US debt ceiling crisis once he has wrapped up the G7 summit in Hiroshima, the White House said. President Joe Biden. "The president directed his team to coordinate with Speaker McCarthy to schedule a call... following his meetings at the G7," a White House official said. Manila, May 21 (UNI) Philippine troops killed five suspected rebels in a series of clashes in the central Philippines on Saturday, a military spokesperson said. Lieutenant Colonel Israel Galorio of the Visayas Command said the first fighting broke out around 5 a.m. local time Saturday, followed by two more clashes in Negros Occidental province, resulting in the death of five New People's Army (NPA) members. No soldier was killed or wounded in the clashes, Galorio said, adding the troops recovered assault rifles, homemade shotguns, pistols, grenades, and ammunition. NPA rebels have been fighting the government since 1969. They concentrate their attacks on rural areas and have skirmishes with the military. Military data showed that the NPA is estimated to have 2,000 members, significantly lower than its peak strength in the 1980s. UNI/XINHUA GNK Leaders of Group of Seven (G7) nations meet in Hiroshima, Japan: The 49th G7 Summit concluded in Japan's Hiroshima on Sunday. During the summit, the world leaders spoke on different matters including that of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the need for cooperation with China. They also emphasised the need to assess the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI). The leaders called for the development of technical standards to keep artificial intelligence (AI) trustworthy. World leaders at G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan(Reuters) PM Modi meets Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima on Saturday. This was the first time that both leaders met since Russia launched its military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022. "India, and I, personally would do whatever it takes to stop the war in Ukraine," Modi told Zelensky. Russia claims capture of Bakhmut, Ukraine denies': Russia's Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Saturday announced that his fighters had captured the Ukrainian town Bakhmut. However, Ukraine did not confirm the claims. A day after President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and private mercenary group Wagner for having taken the city in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky's spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov said, The president denied the capture of Bakhmut. Prince Harry and Meghan Markles New York car chase: The infamous car chase involving Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has been making headlines for a few days. With time, more details are coming to light about the catastrophic car chase incident. Reportedly, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were chased by a group of paparazzi on their way back from an awards ceremony in New York on Tuesday night. Boris Johnson to embrace fatherhood for the eighth time: Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson is set to become father for the eighth time. Carrie Johnson, the wife of the former British prime minister Boris Johnson, announced her pregnancy on Instagram and said that their baby would arrive in a "few weeks." Boris Johnson and Carrie are already parents to two children. Johnson has four children from his previous marriage to Marina Wheeler. US President Joe Biden announced a new $375 million package of military aid to Ukraine on Sunday and told President Volodymyr Zelensky that the United States was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine's defense for the war with Russia. US President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during the G7 Summit. (Reuters) Meeting with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the G7 summit of world leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden said the military aid package included ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles and training. Read here: Vladimir Putin's weak army cannot even defend Kremlin: Ex-Russian commander "Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine's back and I promise we're not going anywhere," Biden told Zelensky. In the meeting, Biden stressed his country's readiness to help build Ukraine's long-term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression, the White House said. To that end, Biden discussed US support for a joint effort with allied and partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-16, it said. Zelensky thanked the United States for the new package, and for the financial assistance of $37 billion to date, his office said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought global support on Sunday for Kyiv's plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, telling G7 leaders it was "an obvious expression of rationality". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (AP) Zelensky, who is attending the G7 summit in Japan in person, has in recent months been promoting what his administration has billed as a "peace formula". Read here: Biden announces new military aid for Ukraine "We're united by one more principle rationality," he said in a speech to the leaders, the text of which was posted to the president's website. "We always act practically protecting our values. And the Ukrainian Peace Formula is an obvious expression of rationality. I thank you for supporting our Formula." In a separate social media post, Zelensky said he had presented the plan to G7 leaders at the Hiroshima summit. "We have developed the Peace Formula in a way that ensures each of its points is backed by UN resolutions," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "And in a way that everyone in the world can choose the track they can contribute to. From Japan to the Arab countries, from Europe to Latin America, we find support for our Formula." Read here: Kiss Biden on his head: Russia's Wagner chief mocks Zelensky on Bakhmut Zelensky has pushed Western allies and other countries to go further on both economic and military measures to support Kyiv as Russia's 15-month invasion drags on. An inquiry has been opened into the possible poisoning of exiled Russians after a journalist and an activist reported health problems following a Berlin meeting of dissidents, German police said Sunday. German police have initiated an investigation into possible poisining of Russians in exile.(AP Photo) "An investigation has been opened. The probe is ongoing," a Berlin police spokesman told AFP, confirming a report in Die Welt newspaper. Russian investigative media outlet Agentstvo this week said two participants who attended a April 29-30 meeting of Russian dissidents in Berlin experienced health problems. The meeting was organised by exiled former oligarch turned Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky. One participant, identified as a journalist who had recently left Russia, experienced unspecified symptoms during the event and said they may have started earlier. The report added that the journalist went to the Charite University Hospital in Berlin -- where opposition figure Alexei Navalny was treated after being poisoned in August 2020. The second participant mentioned was Natalia Arno, director of the NGO Free Russia Foundation in the United States where she has lived for 10 years after having had to leave Russia. Arno had attended the Berlin meeting of dissidents before travelling to Prague, where she experienced symptoms and discovered that her hotel room had been opened, Agentstvo reported. Leaving the next day for the United States, she contacted a hospital there as well as the authorities. Arno discussed her problems -- "sharp pain" and "numbness" -- on Facebook this week, saying the first "strange symptoms" appeared before she arrived in Prague. She said that she still had symptoms but felt better. In recent years, several poison attacks have been carried out abroad and in Russia against Kremlin opponents. Moscow denies its secret services were responsible. European laboratories confirmed Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-made nerve agent. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prince Harry said he "felt sick" after Prince William turned down a request with a four-word excuse the night before his to Meghan Markle. In Spare, Prince Harry revealed that a tense chat with best man Prince William. In the book, Prince Harry recalled enjoying drinks with friends at Coworth Park Hotel, where he stayed the night before his wedding. Prince Harry: Britain's Prince William and Britain's Prince Harry are seen.(AP) Then his elder brother had just become a dad for the third time, and Prince Harry claimed he had been due to join the group but canceled at the "last minute" citing "Kate and the kids". When Prince Harry reminded William that on the night before his wedding to Kate, Princess of Wales, the brothers had dinner together before greeting the crowds, William shot back saying, Why are you even saying hello to the crowds, Harold? But William eventually had a change of heart and did join Prince Harry to meet the crowds before his big day, with the Duke of Sussex wondering, "Maybe Granny intervened". Prince Harry said that he even pressed his brother about having dinner together and staying the night. Eventually, Prince William relented and agreed to dinner, but wouldn't be staying over, reportedly telling Harry: Sorry, Harold. Can't. Kids. This comes as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary this week. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Joe Biden, the current US president, is facing mounting pressure to address concerns about his age and health as he considers seeking a second term in office. The left-leaning Washington Post has recently published an opinion piece challenging Biden to be forthright about these issues, acknowledging that while age may not be the decisive factor, it is a legitimate concern that voters have a right to be worried about. U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (not pictured), during the G7 Summit at the Grand Prince Hotel in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023.(REUTERS) The editorial board of the Washington Post argues that the public deserves to know details about Biden's physical and mental well-being and what measures he is taking to maintain his health. Although Biden's doctors have declared him in good health, the newspaper warns that there could be serious challenges in a potential second term, potentially even leading to the invocation of the 25th amendment, which deals with presidential infirmity. This critical piece from a traditionally supportive paper comes as a blow to Biden and reflects the views of a significant portion of voters, including Democrats. Recent polling data shows that 68 percent of Americans believe Biden is too old for another term, while only 44 percent think the same of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who is four years younger than Biden. Despite Trump's unpopularity, the majority of respondents view him as mentally sharper and physically healthier than Biden. Biden's occasional gaffes, such as confusing the Black and Tans with the All-Blacks rugby team during a recent visit to Ireland, have further fueled doubts about his ability to serve a second term. The Washington Post argues that there is a rational basis for concerns about Biden's age, pointing out that while his verbal slips may be attributed to forgetfulness and multitasking difficulties common among healthy seniors, they are nonetheless a cause for concern. The emergence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination, also reflects the unease within the party. Though considered a fringe candidate, Kennedy Jr., son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, has garnered the support of up to a fifth of Democrats in recent polls. While his chances of winning the nomination are slim, his presence could pose a potential embarrassment to Biden during the campaign. In addition to concerns about Biden's age and health, the president faces challenges on other fronts. Talks with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling have hit an impasse, leaving the US at risk of defaulting on its debts. To avert this crisis, the Biden administration is exploring the possibility of invoking a clause in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which states that the "validity of the public debt of the United States" shall not be questioned. Constitutional scholars argue that this clause could provide Biden with the authority to raise or ignore the debt ceiling without congressional approval. Also Read | Trump dominates GOP field in latest poll: Biden and DeSantis struggle to keep up As Biden attends the G7 summit in Japan, he faces a growing chorus of concerns and challenges. The Washington Post's less-than-loyal support underscores the need for him to address the legitimate worries about his age and health, while the debt ceiling deadlock adds further complexity to his administration's efforts to navigate crucial economic issues. The coming months will undoubtedly test Biden's ability to address these concerns and maintain confidence among voters and within his own party. Gunmen in Ecuador opened fire in a restaurant in a beach town popular with tourists, killing at least six people and wounding six more, prosecutors said Sunday. The attack happened in the town of Montanita on the Pacific coast. (Representational Image)(File photo for representation) The attack happened in the town of Montanita on the Pacific coast, the prosecutors' office said on Twitter. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Brushing aside the concerns of human rights groups, Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir has said that authorities have initiated a legal process of trial under stringent military laws against those involved in recent attacks on military installations following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan. Pak clashes: Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan's party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives.(Reuters) Gen Munir made the disclosure on Saturday during his visit to the Punjab province capital Lahore, the worst hit city by the violent protests. According to a late-night statement by the Army, Gen Munir chief addressed the garrison officers and soldiers at the Corps Headquarters. He said that the legal process of trial against planners, instigators, abettors and perpetrators involved in the May 9 tragedy has commenced under the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secret Act as per existing and established legal procedures derived from the Constitution of Pakistan. On May 9, violent protests erupted after the arrest of Imran Khan by paramilitary Rangers from the premises of the Islamabad High Court. His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander house), Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time. Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan's party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives in the firing by security personnel. Thousands of Khans supporters were arrested following the violence that the powerful Army described as a dark day in the history of the country. General Munir was briefed on the events of May 9. He also visited Jinnah House and other army installations blatantly attacked and vandalised by politically motivated rioters. The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) emphasised that the armed forces draw strength from people and any effort to create a wedge between the Army and the people of Pakistan is an act against the state which is neither tolerable nor condonable under any circumstances, the statement said. "Hostile and inimical forces and their abettors have been trying hard to create confusion through fake news and propaganda but all such designs of the enemy will be defeated with the support of the nation, he said. General Munir also visited Qurban Lines and met with police officials and appreciated the professionalism and restraint exercised by them during the riots and vandalism, He assured the Armys full support to the law enforcement agencies for their capacity enhancement, intelligence sharing and training. Six Iranian border guards were killed Sunday during clashes with an armed group in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, local media reported. Iranian police at the border with Afghanistan near Zabol, Sistan-Baluchistan, Iran. (Reuters) The guards were killed in Saravan, near Iran's border with Pakistan, the judiciary's Mizan Online website quoted local prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying. Poverty-stricken Sistan-Baluchistan, which also borders Afghanistan, is a flashpoint for clashes with drug smuggling gangs as well as rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni Muslim extremist groups. Sunday's attack was carried out by "a terrorist group that was seeking to infiltrate the country" but "fled across the border after the clash", Fars news agency reported. The attack was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months. On March 11, two policemen were shot dead during clashes with "criminals" in the same region, the state news agency IRNA reported at the time. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON US president Joe Biden appeared to struggle with his umbrella as he visited Japan, sparking mockery on social media. As the president arrived in Japan at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni ahead of the G7 summit, the incident was captured on camera. Joe Biden: US president Joe Biden arrives in Japan. The nearly one-minute video which has been widely shared on social media showed Joe Biden walking down the stairs from Air Force One in the rain, while fumbling with a large black umbrella. Joe Biden is then greeted by Kenji Yamada, Japan's state minister for foreign affairs, and other dignitaries, while he is seen holding the umbrella under his arm following his inability to use it. Noticing that the US president was getting wet in the rain, others around him hold their umbrellas over Biden. The US president finally is able to open his own umbrella. On Twitter, a user shared the video, noting, "Biden struggles with umbrella after landing in Japan." Oh no! Umbrella gate! How awfulllllll! Maybe large Marge [Marjorie Taylor Greene] can add this to her articles of impeachment, another wrote while some defended the US president. He focused on the people before messing with the umbrella. This is called manners, which is probably why you were so stumped by the scene, a user commented. Joe Biden has announced plans to seek reelection in 2024, despite polls showing that over two-thirds of Americans believe that he will be too old to serve for a second term. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New Delhi, May 21 (UNI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the newly constructed Parliament building should be inaugurated by the President of India instead of the Prime Minister. The statement of the former Congress president comes days after the Lok Sabha Secretariat in a communique said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the new Parliament building to the nation on May 28. "President should inaugurate the new Parliament building, not the PM," Rahul wrote in a tweet. US President Joe Biden on Sunday invited the leaders of Japan and South Korea to formal three-way talks in Washington, a senior US administration official said. President Joe Biden poses for a photo with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. (AP) Read here: Biden to call House speaker McCarthy on debt ceiling after G7 summit: W. House The leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the G7 summit, to which host Japan invited South Korea as long-frosty ties between the neighbours thaw. United States President Joe Biden seemed irked' on Saturday after being interrupted by a reporter during an interaction on his countrys domestic debt ceiling negotiations. Shush up, ok? Biden told the reporter on being interjected as he was making a case for himself that hes handled these talks before as well. U.S. President Joe Biden during the G7 Summit at the Grand Prince Hotel in Hiroshima, Japan.(REUTERS) Biden's reaction followed during a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japans Hiroshima. On being asked about the debt talks at home, which appear deadlocked as the Republican lawmakers and the White House battle over spending cuts, the US president downplayed the impasse. This (talks) goes in stages...I have been in these negotiations before, he said, just as a reporter interrupted him for a query. Shush up, ok? Biden responded, followed by a small chuckle after which he continued to explain the process. What is the US debt ceiling crisis? Simply put, the debt limit is the maximum amount of money that the US government can borrow to meet its financial obligations. The borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, needs to be increased so the government can keep paying the nations bills. The deadlock between the White House and House Republicans raises concern over a potential federal default, which can have serious implications for the US economy and in turn for the world. The point of contention is that the Republicans want deep cuts to non-defence spending, while insisting on increasing funding for the Pentagon. This can potentially impact domestic programs such as education and health, which the Democrats are opposing. The White House has countered by keeping defence and non-defence spending flat next year, through which it aims to save $90 billion in fiscal 2024 and $1 trillion over 10 years, news agency AP reported. While both parties blame each other for being unreasonable, the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the US could lose its ability to pay all its bills by June 1. In a bid to clear the deal, Biden on Sunday directed his aides to fix a call with top Republican and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, after the latter accused the White House of backtracking in the negotiations. The threat of a debt default could trigger recession, however, Biden expressed confidence that the default could be avoided. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a recent interview on the MeidasTouch Show, Mary Trump, the niece of former President Donald Trump, made shocking allegations about her uncle's supporters. Mary, known for her outspoken criticism of the ex-president, did not hold back when discussing the Republican party's numbers, labeling a significant portion of her uncle's supporters as "white supremacists," "Christian nationalists," "misogynists," or "anti-Semites." Mary Trump labels Trump supporters as "white supremacists," "Christian nationalists," "misogynists," or "anti-Semites." (AP) During the interview with host Ken Harbaugh, Mary expressed concern about the state of democracy and the impact of the Electoral College. She argued that if the Electoral College didn't exist, the conversation about election results would be less worrisome. Mary pointed out that the Republicans only need to focus on a few key states and questioned the fairness of a system where candidates can ignore the majority of states. Mary Trump delved into the topics of gerrymandering and voter subversion, suggesting that these practices played a significant role in her uncle's rise to power and his victory in the 2016 election. She asserted that voter subversion can result in illegitimate electoral wins for the right. Expressing her frustration with the media, Mary criticized what she perceived as their normalization of Donald Trump as a candidate. She argued that the media's treatment of him as a regular candidate failed to acknowledge his two impeachments, his incitement of an insurrection, and his perpetuation of the "big lie" about election fraud. She also warned against normalizing his followers, emphasizing that their relationship with Trump is far from normal. Mary Trump concluded her passionate remarks by expressing her belief that liberal democracy should provide a barrier between the 25 to 28 percent of individuals she referred to as "white supremacists, Christian nationalists, misogynists, and anti-Semites." Her comments shed light on her perception of a divided electorate and her concerns about the ideologies within her uncle's fanbase. Also Read | Trump dominates GOP field in latest poll: Biden and DeSantis struggle to keep up As Donald Trump sets his sights on the 2024 Republican Primaries and a potential rematch with President Joe Biden, his niece's accusations add fuel to an already contentious political landscape. While Mary's assertions about her uncle's supporters may be controversial, they underscore the deep divisions and ongoing debates surrounding Trump's presidency, his policies, and his impact on American society. As the 2024 election cycle approaches, the American public will undoubtedly continue to grapple with the legacy of Donald Trump and the political ideologies that his movement represents. The dynamics within the Republican Party and the wider political spectrum will undoubtedly be shaped by these ongoing discussions and debates, making the upcoming primaries and general election all the more intriguing. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's UK home would be a "cold shower" for Prince Andrew, a royal biographer claimed. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage by the King earlier this year. Reportedly, during Prince Harry's brief stay in the UK for his father's coronation, the property was used by him. King Charles III had evicted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from Frogmore Cottage, their residence in Windsor. Following this, King Charles wants his brother Prince Andrew to move out of the Royal Lodge and move into Frogmore Cottage. Royal commentator Tom Bower said that Prince Andrew "needs to come to terms with his fate". I think the King is right. Hes got to slim down the number of houses in the royal portfolio and Andrew has got to come to terms with his fate. He can no longer live like a duke. Frogmore will be a cold shower for him, but hes just got to take it," Tom Bower said. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were given use of the five-bedroom Frogmore Cottage by Queen Elizabeth as a wedding present in 2018. The couple have barley lived in the residence over the last three years as they moved to the United States after stepping down from royal duties. The Sussexes were reportedly given just several weeks to pack up their belongings from their UK home. However, after negotiations, it was agreed they would have it until after the coronation to move out, UK media reported. Earlier, a spokesperson for the Sussexes confirmed the couple have been asked to leave their UK house, saying: "We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage." SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a surprising move, a New York Christian university has sparked controversy by terminating two employees for a seemingly harmless act of including pronouns in their email signatures. Raegan Zelaya and Shua Wilmot, former residence hall directors at Houghton University, were allegedly instructed by administrators to remove the pronouns "she/her" and "he/him" from their signatures, leading to their refusal and subsequent dismissal just weeks before the end of the semester. A New York Christian university has sparked controversy by terminating two employees for including pronouns in their email signatures.(Shutterstock) According to reports, Houghton University defended their actions by citing a new school policy that supposedly deemed the inclusion of pronouns as a violation. However, Zelaya and Wilmot maintain that their decision to include pronouns was driven by their gender-neutral names, which often resulted in being misgendered in written communication, as well as their personal ethics. Their firing has raised concerns about the university aligning itself with religious conservatism and its potential impact on LGBTQ+ inclusivity. Houghton University's shift towards more conservative practices, akin to renowned Christian colleges like Liberty University and Hillsdale College, has become increasingly evident. The institution closed its multicultural student center two years ago and no longer recognizes a student LGBTQ+ group that refused to adhere to more conservative ideologies surrounding gender and sexuality. Critics of the university argue that these recent actions indicate a lack of respect for the diverse theological and ethical views held by faithful and active Christians. In fact, approximately 600 Houghton graduates signed an online letter this spring expressing their concerns and protesting the firings of Zelaya and Wilmot. Also read | Texas poised to become largest state to ban medical treatments for Transgender Children The university's spokesperson denied that terminating employees solely based on pronoun usage was their intention, stating that the removal of extraneous elements from email signatures, including Scripture quotes, has been a longstanding requirement. However, the dismissals have raised questions about Houghton's commitment to inclusivity and its potential desire to convey an exclusive stance to prospective students and parents. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement and wedding photographer received a call to cover the ceremony, he thought it was a prank. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex married at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018. Prince Harry- Meghan Markle: Harry and Meghan are seen. (Instagram) The couple first met in the summer of 2016 after being set up by a mutual friend. Then in November 2017, Harry proposed to Meghan, before the couple married six months later. Professional photographer Alexi Lubomirski thought he was being pranked when he received a call to shoot their engagement photos. When I got off the phone, I said, 'I think Kensington Palace just called me?' Two days later I was sitting in front of Harry and Meghan talking concepts, he said. The British photographer said he was inspired by an iconic photoshoot of Audrey Hepburn's husband Mel Ferrer wrapping her in his coat and asked Prince Harry to do the same with Meghan Markle. It just popped in my head because I saw his overcoat and I said, 'Can you put that on?' And then everything just starts folding together, the photographer said. In one photo from the shoot, Meghan is all smiles as she shows her engagement ring. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prince Harry and Meghan Markle demanded a photo agency to hand over the footage snapped by paparazzi after their near-catastrophic car chase. Prince Harry-Meghan Markle: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex are seen.(AP) We hereby demand that Backgrid immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos, and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours, their lawyers said in a letter to the agency Backgrid, TMZ reported. The agency's lawyers wrote back, In America, as Im sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do. Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the Crown were rejected by this country long ago. We stand by our founding fathers. The agency refused to hand over the footage and denied the claims of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as well. According to the photographers present, there were no near-collisions or near-crashes during this incident, Backgrid USA told Page Six, adding, The photographers have reported feeling that the couple was not in immediate danger at any point. It is important to note that these photographers have a professional responsibility to cover newsworthy events and personalities, including public figures such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the agency said, noting that it values transparency and ethics in journalism. Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and Meghans mother, Doria Ragland, were extremely upset and shaken after being chased for two hours in a near-catastrophic incident, it was reported. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a bold move, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has announced his acceptance of Bitcoin donations for his campaign, making him the second candidate in the 2024 US presidential race to do so. Speaking at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami, Ramaswamy urged supporters to "make the 2024 election a referendum on fiat currency." Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center in Maryland. (AFP) During his speech, Ramaswamy showcased a QR code that, when scanned, redirects users to a payment gateway offering various donation options, including Bitcoin and satoshisthe smallest denomination of Bitcoin. Eligible US citizens and permanent residents can contribute up to $6,600 to his campaign, and upon donating, they will receive a nonfungible token (NFT) as a token of appreciation. Ramaswamy's decision to embrace Bitcoin for campaign donations follows the recent announcement by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who became the first US presidential candidate in history to accept Bitcoin donations. This move by political candidates signals a growing recognition of the influence and potential of cryptocurrencies in shaping the future of finance. The entrepreneur-turned-politician believes that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies offer an alternative to traditional fiat currencies, especially amid concerns about the strength and stability of the US dollar. By accepting Bitcoin donations, Ramaswamy aims to demonstrate his support for the digital currency and his belief in its potential to transform the financial landscape. However, Ramaswamy clarified that he does not plan to issue his own NFTs for personal profit or campaign fundraising. He emphasized that his focus is on policy and providing supporters with the option to contribute to his campaign using Bitcoin, emphasizing that he is not threatened by the digital currency's rise. One of the core principles of Ramaswamy's proposal is to ensure the freedom to mine Bitcoin in the United States. In recent years, the US has become a prominent location for Bitcoin mining, surpassing China after Beijing restricted mining operations due to energy consumption concerns. However, the Biden administration recently proposed a 30% tax on electricity used by cryptocurrency mining operations. Ramaswamy vehemently opposes this tax, stating that it is wrong, unfair, and an inappropriate exercise of federal power. Also Read | US Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy reacts to reports of eviction of veterans from New York hotels To solidify his stance, Ramaswamy plans to unveil his Bitcoin policy at the Bitcoin 2023 conference. His proposal aims to prevent Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies from being treated as securities, allowing them to function as parallel currencies. Ramaswamy believes that this move will enable the stabilization of the US dollar as a unit of measurement and restrict the Federal Reserve's mandate to focus solely on currency stabilization. While Ramaswamy's Bitcoin acceptance and policy proposals may appeal to crypto enthusiasts and those skeptical of traditional financial systems, the wider implications and feasibility of such measures are subject to debate. As the 2024 presidential race unfolds, it will be interesting to see how Ramaswamy's embrace of Bitcoin resonates with voters and whether other candidates will follow suit in recognizing the growing influence of digital currencies in the political sphere. King Charles' personal fortune is almost double than that of his late mother Queen Elizabeth's, according to figures from the Sunday Times Rich List. The monarch's wealth currently stands at 600million, while the Queen's was at 370million before her death last September. King Charles III during a special industry showcase event hosted by the British Fashion Council (BFC) at 180 Studios, London.(Reuters) However the royal family's fortune has dwarfed compared to those in top 10 in the list as King Charles only appeared at number 263 on the list. It was reported earlier this year that King Charles has managed to accumulate wealth from his property assets and building housing developments. The two most valuable properties owned by the monarch are Sandringham and Balmoral, which are estimated to be 20,000 acres and 50,000 acres of land each respectively. Sandringham was earlier valued at 55million, but the whole estate could be worth up to 245million according to estate agent Strutt & Parker. Balmoral Castle is worth 60million, with each of its surrounding worth between 600 and 1800 a piece, it was reported. Both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are owned by the Crown, unlike Sandringham and Balmoral which are King Charles' personal possessions and can be passed down through the family. Earlier this week, it was also revealed that Queen Elizabeth's funeral cost the UK taxpayer 162million, with the biggest bill being footed by the Home Office which paid 74million. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport spent 57million, Treasury's chief secretary John Glen said describing her death and the country's period of national mourning as a "moment of huge national significance". SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prince Harry and Meghan Markle first met in 2016. After texting back and forth, the pair arranged their first date at Soho House in London where they chatted over drinks (beer for him, a martini for her), according to the authors of Finding Freedom, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, who wrote in their book: They asked each other questions about their work. Nibbles may have been out on the low table in front of their oversize chairs, but neither touched the food." Prince Harry-Meghan Markle: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen. They were also too engrossed in their conversation, and too involved with each other, to notice the rather rude wallpaper featuring photos of womens private parts that adorned the walls. No one expected what happened next," the authors noted. Prince Harry later confessed to a friend his 10-word review of the evening, Wow. The most beautiful woman Ive seen in my life. After this, Prince Harry contacted Meghan Markle after their date, authors wrote, His messages were often short and full of emojis, in particular the ghost emoji, which he often used instead of a smiley face. For what reason? Nobody knows. But Meghan found his texting etiquette funny and adorable, just like the prince. He definitely didnt hide the fact that he was keen. He wanted her to know he was very interested, a friend of Meghan's added. It was as if Harry was in a trance, another friend said. Almost immediately they were almost obsessed with each other, a friend told the biographers. On the other hand, Meghan Markle called a friend after the first date, asking, Do I sound crazy when I say this could have legs? The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also recalled their romantic first meeting during their Netflix series Harry & Meghan in which Meghan said, He was just so fun. Just so refreshingly fun. And that was the thing, we were like childlike together. Prince Harry said, We had a great chat for about an hour. Meghan revealed she called Harry that evening, asking whether he wanted to grab dinner the next day. That was when it just hit me. Okay, this girl, this woman is amazing, is everything that Ive been looking for. And shes so comfortable and so relaxed in my company, he said. The authors wrote, A friend said, She came back smiling and just completely spellbound. Her phone was full of photos the nature they had seen, candid snaps of herself, and selfies with Harry. According to the friend, if Meghan didnt have to return to Canada for work and Harry to his life in London, they would have happily spent the entire summer there together. Meghan said that she and Harry talked so much, about things she rarely shared with anyone. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit King Charles must "grow closer to the people" to ensure the royal family survives his reign, a royal commentator claimed. Royal commentator Antonio Caprarica noted that King Charles already echoed his mother when he pledged he came "not to be served but to serve" his people. Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.(AP) He said the pledge was "necessary" but noted that the new King is likely to face a bigger pushback from the public compared to his mother. The idea of service is, naturally, nothing new it was already at the basis of the long reign of Elizabeth II who, at the time of her coronation, declared that she wanted to serve the country until the end of her days, Antonio Caprarica said. The fact that Charles wanted to take up this desire and underline it indicates the renewed intention to be a point of reference for the people and certainly to show and appear closer to people's destiny and citizens' expectations, the commentator added. This choice is clearly necessary if he wants to 'save' the monarchy of the 21st century, he asserted. I think the majority of English people are still largely in favour of it because it encapsulates the nation's history, traditions and identity. The monarchy can clearly no longer present itself in the imperial form that still embodied Elizabeth II, it must certainly be leaner and more popular, the commentator explained. On the anti-monarchy protests that unravelled in the days before the coronation, Antonio Caprarica said, "Now citizens have a ruler who is not a living monument, but a human being. For this reason, the anti-monarchists do not encounter major obstacles in their demonstrations, but in terms of broad consensus, around 20 percent of those entitled to vote remain." SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The elite around Russian president Vladimir Putin are looking for ways to escape the sinking ship, a former United States ambassador to Ukraine told Newsweek. Russia-Ukraine War: Russian President Vladimir Putin.(Reuters) "At a minimum, since last September, the fissures in Russian elite society have become apparent," the senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center John Herbst said referring to clashes between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia's defense minister Sergei Shoigu. Prigozhin has threatened to withdraw over an apparent lack of ammunition for his fighters several times. "The thing about authoritarian regimes, is that they seem stable, but they are completely unstable," John Herbst said, adding, "The sharp criticism lies within the Club of Angry Patriots...criticizing all the leadership including Putin." The former envoy said that senior regime officials also distanced themselves from Putin's "partial mobilization" order last September. All those are signs of a sinking ship, and [they are] wondering how they get off. That doesn't mean the regime will collapse tomorrow. But it does mean that the obvious failure in Ukraine is placing a significant and growing strain on Putin's regime, he said. Earlier, the ISW assessed in December that Putin is "likely concerned" over the lack of support for his war in Ukraine among Russian elites. A year ago, [Putin] had lost the battle for Kyiv and the battle for Kharkiv. But his forces had regrouped and were making slow but notable progress in Donbas [in] April, May of 2022. There's no real Russian counteroffensive this year, and Ukraine is preparing for another counteroffensive. Moscow is doing even worse now than it did then. A year ago, analysts greatly overestimated Russian strength, John Herbst said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Russia's Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin announce that his fighters had completed the capture of Bakhmut. Although the claim was promptly denied by Ukraine with military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi saying, This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut, Prigozhin posted a video apparently from the frontline while his fighters held Russian flags and Wagner banners. This video grab shows Yevgeny Prigozhin holding a Russian national flag in front of his soldiers holding Wagner Group's flags in Bakhmut.(AFP) Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken. We completely took the whole city, from house to house, Prigozhin said. The battle for control over Bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest fight in Ukraine. The Wagner group's chief said that his forces would withdraw from Bakhmut from May 25 for recoupment and hand over the control to the Russian army. As Wagner chief made the announcement. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and US president Joe Biden met in Japan's Hiroshima on the sidelines of Group of Seven (G-7) summit. Taunting Volodymyr, Prigozhin said, "Today when you see Biden, kiss him on the top of his head, say hi to him from me." For the Russian army, Prigozhin repeated his grievances saying that his forces suffered far heavier losses because of the inadequate support and ammunition supplies. Owing to the "whims" of Shoigu "five times more guys died than they should have", he said. Earlier, UK intelligence noted that it was "highly likely" that Russia had deployed up to several battalions to reinforce Bakhmut sector. This represented a "notable commitment by the Russian command". "Russia's leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict," it said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former Russian commander Igor Girkin said that president Vladimir Putin's military is currently not strong enough to defend the Kremlin. Girkin was reportedly instrumental in Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and was also responsible for commanding Russian military in Ukraine's Donbas region. Russian President Vladimir Putin.(AFP) Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, shared a translated clip of Girkin on Twitter. "If we keep fighting like this, we won't be able to hold [the southern Russian city] Rostov-on-Don in a year," Girkin said, according to Gerashchenko's translation. "Terrorist Girkin-Strelkov is very gloomy in his evaluation of the Russian army, just like Prigozhin," Gerashchenko wrote in the caption for this tweet, referencing Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. Girkin said that "right now they're not that strong" adding that "in the long run, if we go on fighting like we are fighting now, we won't be able to hold anything." "We won't even hold the Kremlin back in time," he said. Talking of the alleged drone attack on Kremlin earlier this month, the former commander criticized Vladimir Putin for what he characterized as lack of an appropriate response. The Kremlin palace has already been attacked, and we have no reaction to it. If it doesn't even make the president, the commander-in-chief, become the performer of his constitutional functions, then what are you talking about here?, Girkin said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Three people were killed and two others wounded including one critically in a shooting at a Kansas City bar early Sunday, police said. Representational Image Multiple officers responded to the shooting at Klymax Lounge that was reported just before the bar's 1:30 am closing time. They found multiple victims and immediately began providing medical aid, Kansas City police said in an email. Police said two of the victims died at the scene one was found inside the bar and the other was outside the building in Kansas City, Missouri. A third victim died at the hospital. Details about the circumstances that led to the shooting were not immediately available, and it wasn't immediately clear where the victims were when they were shot. Police said the victims were all adults, but their ages and identities were not immediately available. But family members identified one of the victims. The bar featured a performance by a local rap artist Saturday night who performs under the name Nutty Still Gassin. He posted a live video from the club earlier in the night before the shooting happened on his Facebook page. No one answered the phone at the bar Sunday after it was scheduled to open. Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators were at the scene Sunday morning, gathering evidence and talking to potential witnesses, police said. Honystye Chancellor told the Kansas City Star that her stepfather, 41-year-old Jason McConnell, was killed in the shooting while working security at the door of the bar. After she rushed to the bar, Chancellor said, people in the crowd told her that the rapper had finished performing and was just leaving when the shooting happened. Chancellor said McConnell was well known at the club because he was friendly and could talk to anyone. He also worked at a diner and managed a wireless communications store in the area, according to Chancellor. Chancellor told the newspaper that McConnell encouraged her to turn away from violence after she got into fights often as a kid, and he was good and nice and always trying to keep us on the right path. She said McConnell was a sneakerhead who likely owned over 100 pairs of shoes and also had a 15-year-old son. Chancellor said she and her brother spent the night curled up in bed together with their mother after she returned from Klymax after they got the news. (AP) VM The United Kingdom is set to face unprecedented heat wave conditions as meteorologists predict the arrival of the African Plume which would result in "record-breaking" temperatures. The high-pressure system is swiftly approaching the country and will cause severe heat conditions within the UK by the end of May. Temperatures are set to reach as high as 35 degrees Celsius, Independent reported. UK Heatwave: People walk in front of the Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as Big Ben in London, Britain.(Reuters) The meteorological phenomenon is characterised by a mass of hot air moving from the Sahara desert to Europe. It causes a lengthy period of exceptionally high temperatures which may last for days or weeks. The intensity can vary each year, depending on the atmospheric conditions, the report said. "During an African plume event, southerly or southeasterly winds carry the hot and dry air across the Mediterranean Sea towards the British Isles. As the air mass moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean, it absorbs heat and moisture, further intensifying its warmth and humidity," it was reported. Meteorologist Honour Criswick told the outlet that there is "a greater than normal chance" of heatwaves this summer in the UK consistent with our warming climate as with any longer-term forecast, there is some uncertainty. This comes as scientists said that global temperatures could breach a critical temperature barrier for the first time in the coming years. There is now a 66 per cent likelihood that the world will exceed the 1.5C global warming barrier between now and 2027, researchers said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail President Volodymyr Zelensky denied Bakhmut had fallen to the Russians, his spokesman said Sunday, while admitting there was "nothing left" of the flattened city after the longest battle of the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy(AP) A day after President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and private mercenary group Wagner who claimed to have taken the symbolic target, Zelensky suggested it would be a pyrrhic victory for Moscow in a lengthy, emotional answer. "You have to understand there is nothing" there in Bakhmut, he said, sat next to US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts." Zelensky's spokesman had to clarify that the Ukrainian president did not confirm the loss of Bakhmut to Russian troops. "The president denied the capture of Bakhmut," spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov said on Facebook. The loss of Bakhmut would be hugely symbolic for the Ukrainians, who had held on for months, ignoring US advice behind the scenes to focus elsewhere given the city's lack of strategic importance in the broader war. Zelensky was not clear in his reply when asked: "Is Bakhmut still in Ukraine's hands? The Russians say they have taken Bakhmut." He said: "I think no." "There is nothing in this place... just ruins and a lot of dead Russians," he told reporters. Saturday's announcement from the Russian army came hours after Kyiv said the battle was continuing, while admitting the situation was "critical". Bakhmut, a salt-mining town that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest fighting in Moscow's more than year-long Ukraine offensive. The fall of Bakhmut, where both Moscow and Kyiv are believed to have suffered huge losses, would allow Moscow to bring home a key victory after a series of humiliating defeats. It would also come before a major counteroffensive that Kyiv has been preparing for months. Zelensky himself has warned that the city's loss would open the way for Russian troops to capture more of the Donbas region. "As a result of offensive actions of the Wagner assault units, with the support of artillery and aviation of the 'Southern' unit, the liberation of the city of Artemovsk was completed," Russia's defence ministry said, using the Soviet-era name of Bakhmut. "Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault units of Wagner as well as all servicemen of units of the Russian armed forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate" the city, TASS news agency quoted a Kremlin statement as saying. - Backdrop of ruins - Wagner's boss Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier claimed Bakhmut had fallen to his mercenaries in a video posted on Telegram against a backdrop of ruins. "Today on May 20, around midday, Bakhmut was taken in its entirety," Prigozhin said, adding that Wagner fighters would search the city before handing it over to the Russian army. "By May 25 we will completely examine (Bakhmut), create the necessary lines of defence and hand it to the military," Prigozhin said. Artillery fire could be heard in the background of Prigozhin's video. Ukraine, which this month claimed successes in and around Bakhmut, had said Saturday that the battle was not over. "Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical," deputy defence minister Ganna Malyar posted on Telegram. She said Ukrainian troops were "holding the defence" in the city's "Airplane area". "As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area," she said. It was not possible for AFP to verify either claim. Zelensky made a surprise appearance Saturday at the Hiroshima summit -- another diplomatic coup a day after he attended the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia. In Japan, Biden, who has spearheaded Western backing of Ukraine with sanctions and supplies, announced a new package of weapons for Kyiv. The package would include "ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles", Biden said. The Ukrainian president met not just G7 leaders in Japan but those from other key international players such as unaligned powers Brazil and India. The fruits of his diplomatic efforts have already paid off, with the US announcing Friday it would allow Kyiv to acquire F-16 fighter jets, the most sophisticated material yet supplied by the West. - 'Meat grinder' - Prigozhin meanwhile continued his running battle with Russia's military establishment. "The operation to capture Bakhmut -- the Bakhmut meat grinder -- lasted 224 days," Prigozhin said, wearing a camouflage uniform. Moscow's losses would have been far smaller if it was not for incompetent generals, he added. Wagner is believed to have suffered huge losses in the months-long storming of the city. Prigozhin has long complained about Wagner not being given appropriate amounts of ammunition. "There was only Wagner here (in Bakhmut)," he said in the video. "We fought not only the Ukrainian army here, we fought Russian bureaucracy." He blamed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov for turning the offensive into "their own amusement". The two camps are now awaiting a counteroffensive announced by Ukrainian authorities. Zelensky said recently that his army needs more time before launching the assault. US President Joe Biden asked PM Narendra Modi for his autograph after finding out how the latter has been managing large crowds, news agency ANI reported quoting unnamed sources. PM Modi arrives in Hiroshima, Japan.(PTI) The interaction, according to ANI, happened during a Quad meeting. Joe Biden came up to PM Modi and told that he's been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the program of PM Modi. To this, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was also present on the occasion added that there is a capacity of 20,000 for the community reception in Sydney but he is still not able to accommodate the requests he is getting, the report claimed. As Joe Biden and Anthony Albanese complained to PM Modi, the latter remembered how during his visit to India, he saw PM Modi easily navigate huge crowds. To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, according to ANI, "I should take your autograph." This comes as PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit. "We will be happy to host the Quad summit in India in 2024," PM Modi said in the opening remarks of the Quad meeting. "Quad will continue to make efforts towards global good, welfare of the people, prosperity and peace," he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON US President Joe Biden said Sunday that ties between Washington and Beijing should thaw "very shortly", after the United States shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon this year. US President Joe Biden (R) and China's President Xi Jinping (L) (File)(AFP) Biden said relations had deteriorated in the months following his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali in November. Also Read | China was the elephant in the room in Quad summit in Hiroshima Washington's decision in February to shoot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon that overflew the United States sparked a diplomatic spat between the world's two largest economies. A visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that had been billed as a chance to improve relations was cancelled over the incident. On Sunday, at a press conference following the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden was asked why a planned hotline between the United States and China was not in operation. "You're right, we should have an open hotline. At the Bali conference, that's what President Xi and I agreed we were going to do and meet on," he said. "And then, this silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars worth of spying equipment was flying over the United States," Biden added. "It got shot down and everything changed in terms of talking to one another. I think you're going to see that begin to thaw very shortly." Biden's administration has also infuriated China by targeting trade in advanced microchips, citing risks of military use. The president defended those actions on Sunday, a day after the Group of Seven leading economies warned China over its "militarisation activities" in the region. "It is building its military, and that's why I've made it clear that I am not prepared to trade certain items with China," he said. "We've now got commitment from all of our allies that they're not going to do that either, provide that kind of material. "But that's not a hostile act, that's an act that says, 'we're going to make sure that we do everything we can to maintain the status quo.'" Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday drew a parallel between the destruction of Bakhmut and the horror of Hiroshima, evoking the symbolism of mass destruction as he wrapped up a surprise appearance at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a news conference at the Group of Seven nations' summit in Hiroshima.(AP) The Ukrainian president's arrival in Hiroshima on Saturday afternoon on a French government plane marked a dramatic turn as U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders strengthened their call for Moscow to end its invasion, announcing new sanctions and increased military assistance. In one of its most strongly worded messages on China, the G7 communique took aim at Beijing over "economic coercion" and said the group would pare back exposure to the world's second-largest economy in everything from chips to minerals to supply chains. In describing twin threats of Russian aggression and Chinese bullying, the leaders called on non-aligned countries such as India, whose Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the summit, to give full support to Ukraine . "I'll tell you openly: Photographs of ruined Hiroshima absolutely remind me of Bakhmut and other similar settlements," Zelenskiy told reporters after laying flowers at the cenotaph to victims of the world's first atomic bombing of a city. "Nothing left alive, all the buildings ruined." Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile hailed what he said was a victory for his forces in Bakhmut, describing it as a "liberation" in a statement on the Kremlin's website. On the final day of the three-day summit, Biden announced a $375 million package of military aid for Ukraine, including artillery and armoured vehicles. "Together with the entire G7 we have Ukraine's back and I promise we're not going anywhere," Biden told Zelenskiy. NO 'FROZEN CONFLICT' Biden's support for Ukraine was echoed by all the leaders of the G7, which alongside the United States and summit host Japan includes Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. Biden earlier confirmed that Washington supports allied training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 warplanes, although that did not include commitments for delivery of the jets themselves. The offer of such training should make clear to Russia that it should not expect to succeed in its invasion by prolonging conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said training would start this summer and Ukraine would get the air force it needed for the future. G7 leaders were at pains to underline some of the key messages intended by the carefully choreographed meeting. It was "significant" that the G7 nations showed solidarity in their intention to uphold international law and order during a summit attended by Zelenskiy as a guest, said Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida. Scholz said that while the immediate priority was supporting Ukraine's defence, security guarantees for Ukraine needed to be established once the war was over. Both Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron signalled they were against the war becoming a "frozen conflict," or any proposal for peace talks without Russian troops withdrawing. As Moscow's 15-month-old invasion has dragged on, the summit gave Zelenskiy a chance to lobby for support from other attendees, like India's Modi. But he didn't meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva due to scheduling issues. 'DE-RISK' FROM CHINA If determination to help Ukraine repel Russia's invasion was the key take-away, the other was distrust of China as a trading partner and as a potentially unsettling influence in the world. "China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity. They are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad," UK's Sunak told reporters. Biden met the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday to discuss military interoperability and the economic coercion they face from China, a U.S. official said. A day earlier, the G7 leaders outlined a shared approach towards China, looking to "de-risk, not decouple" economic engagement with a country regarded as the factory of the world. In a statement the G7 also reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, where Chinese military exercises have raised concerns over the security of Taiwan, the democratic, self-governed island that China regards as part of its territory. China's foreign ministry issued a complaint to Japan expressing opposition to the G7 statement, saying it disregarded China's concerns, had attacked it and interfered in its internal affairs, including Taiwan. Dwight Garner in The New York Times: Martin Amis, whose caustic, erudite and bleakly comic novels redefined British fiction in the 1980s and 90s with their sharp appraisal of tabloid culture and consumer excess, and whose private life made him tabloid fodder himself, died on Friday at his home in Lake Worth, Fla. He was 73. His wife, the writer Isabel Fonseca, said the cause was esophageal cancer the same disease that killed his close friend and fellow writer Christopher Hitchens in 2011. Mr. Amis published 15 novels, a well-regarded memoir (Experience, in 2000), works of nonfiction, and collections of essays and short stories. In his later work he investigated Stalins atrocities, the war on terror and the legacy of the Holocaust. He is best known for his so-called London trilogy of novels Money: A Suicide Note (1985), London Fields (1990) and The Information (1995) which remain, along with his memoir, his most representative and admired work. More here. " " Richard Proenneke at his cabin in Twin Lakes, Alaska. NPS photo taken by Richard Proenneke and donated by Raymond Proenneke In the mid-19th century, Henry David Thoreau gained fame after sequestering himself for two years at a small cabin on Walden Pond. A century later, a man named Richard "Dick" Proenneke took the same idea to an extreme he plunked himself down in the icy wilds of Alaska and lived there alone for 30 years. In doing so, he became an icon of survivalist grit and conservationism. The house he built for himself from scratch is now on the National Register of Historic Places. So how did he get there? Born in Iowa in 1916, Proenneke (pronounced "prin-ecky"), was swept into the Great Depression as child, an event that molded his sense of extreme frugality. In 1941, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Notably, he signed on as a carpenter's apprentice. Advertisement Struck by rheumatic fever that laid him low for half a year, he was given a medical discharge from service in 1945. After the war, he trained to become a diesel mechanic and also tinkered with sheep ranching in Oregon. But it was a visit to a Navy buddy in Alaska that gave him the wilderness bug and he couldn't shake it. Eventually he became a heavy equipment operator at the naval base at Kodiak Island in Alaska. In 1962, Proenneke encountered the area that's now called Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage. Its wild beauty struck a chord with Proenneke. "Twin Lakes is a spectacular glacially carved set of lakes nestled against the jagged Neacola Mountains of the Alaska Range," emails Megan Richotte, program manager for interpretation, partnerships, and public affairs at the park. "Open boreal forest in the surrounding area ensures ready firewood and building logs as well as good hiking." Proenneke thought the area was a perfect place to settle. FEMA Awards Over $5.2M to Mass DESE for COVID-19 Test Kits BOSTON The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $5.2 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse the state education department for the cost of providing test kits to students and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic to help keeps schools open. The $5,239,327 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for the cost of purchasing and distributing 154,532 at-home COVID-19 diagnostic tests to education facilities across the commonwealth between December 2021 and July 2022. "FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with these costs," said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. "Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation." FEMA's Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency. So far, FEMA has provided more than $1.7 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses. Author Ana Reyes, Cultural Development Director Jennifer Glockner, and Berkshire Athenaeum Director Alex Reczkowski stand near the Reading Terrace. New York Times Best Seller Comes to Pittsfield PITTSFIELD, Mass. Book enthusiasts gathered on the Reading Terrace at the Berkshire Athenaeum last week to meet author Ana Reyes, known for her New York Times best seller "House in the Pines." While writing her book, it felt natural to set the tale in the Berkshires due to Reyes' strong connection to Pittsfield. "I just have a very strong connection to Pittsfield and when I wrote my first book, it just felt very natural that this was where I was going to put it. There was never any question," Reyes said. The tale follows Maya as she attempts to piece together the truth behind the death of her best friend, Aubrey. Seven years following the death of her friend, Maya is living in Boston as she attempts to cope with the memories. She is forced to face her past when she comes across a video of a young woman who suddenly dies under similar circumstances. Maya returns to her hometown in the Berkshires to uncover the truth behind what killed her friend years ago. Throughout the novel, Reyes references iconic Pittsfield places including Wally at the Berkshire Museum, Berkshire Athenaeum's terrace, Park Square, Patrick's Pub, the YMCA and the Popcorn Wagon. "When people from Pittsfield tell me that they've read the book and that they like my portrayal of it I just feel very honored because when I was writing the book, I was thinking about would the people who live there agree with my portrayal of it, so I'm just really grateful that so many people here have connected to it," Reyes said. Reyes lived in Pittsfield for 2 1/2 years with her family and attended Sacred Heart Elementary and Stearns Elementary School. "I just feel very, very comfortable here, very much at home. My family has moved away from here, but we still have a strong connection to the area." Although her time in the Berkshires was brief, the memories she created in Pittsfield have continued to influence her. "Pittsfield has a very strong place in my heart, because my grandparents are from here, I grew up coming for Christmas every year here and I've always come back here regularly because it's my mom's hometown," Reyes said. Reyes has fond memories of sitting on the terrace reading books like the Fear Street Book series or by American author Christopher Pike. During her time in Pittsfield, she wrote a short story titled "Annamarie Goes Back in Time" for the Berkshire Athenaeum's Annual Short Story Writing Contest, which earned her an honorable mention. The story can still be found in the library's archive of their past short story competitions. Although she did not write much immediately following the contest, the contest gave her the push to get her started. "I think that it really sort of set the stage for I can do this, this is something I can do if I'm motivated, I can sit down and write a story, she said. "I think just the fact that the library gave me that push by having the contest. Berkshire Athenaeum Director Alex Reczkowski said the Berkshires has a strong community of book lovers and having opportunities where residents can interact with the author is a great way to bring people together. "Having an event like this is important for students and people of all ages because it gives residents a chance to get a look behind the scenes of the writing process and provides residents an opportunity to ask the writer anything," the city's Cultural Development Director Jennifer Glockner added. Berkshire County provides residents with access to world-class artists like Reyes, Reczkowski said. "[Artists are] so accessible here. We're so lucky with that accessibility. We really work hard to break down barriers, whether it's that direct connection at Mass MoCA with all of their artists residencies, or having international dance folks at Jacob's Pillow. There's this immense access," Reczkowski said. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Martin Scorseses Killers of the Flower Moon received a nine-minute standing ovation at Cannes on Saturday (20 May), with critics hailing his sweeping American epic as a masterpiece. The US directors latest work, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro and stretches to a running time of three and a half hours, is an adaptation of David Grann's nonfiction bestseller. Centred on the Osage murders in 1920s Oklahoma, it cost streaming service Apple $200m (160m) to make. It was undoubtedly the most anticipated movie to premiere at Cannes this year, and has, according to the majority of early reviews, lived up to the high expectations. Following the screening, Scorsese, 80, and his cast were met with a standing ovation and loud cheers from attendees, among whom were stars including Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Isabelle Huppert, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. Its taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us, Scorsese said, addressing the crowd after the screening. There was lots of grass. Im a New Yorker. Killers of the Flower Moon follows Granns character Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio, in his seventh collaboration with Scorsese), a First World War veteran who falls for Mollie Brown (Gladstone), the member of a wealthy Osage family. Since finding oil reserves on their land, the Osage were then the richest people per capita in the country, with their wealth losely controlled by appointed white guardians. A series of murders prompts increased panic among the Osage, who were preyed on by a host of greed-driven killers. Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio were praised for their performances in Killers of the Flower Moon (2023 Invision) In a five-star review for The Independent, critic Clarisse Loughrey observed how Killers of the Flower Moon carries Scorseses tradition fixations: the rotted core of mans heart; how power breeds the impulse for destruction; the myths of cowboys and outlaws and the dirty truth to them. She also singled out Gladstones performance as Mollie Kyle, who marries DiCaprios character Ernest Burkhart, as one of the most extraordinary... by a woman in any of Scorseses movies. Read more reactions from critics here. Killers of the Flower Moon is being released on 6 October, before streaming globally on Apple TV+. Additional reporting by Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Indian Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter warplanes in the wake of an air crash in western Indias Rajasthan killing three civilians present at the spot of the accident. The measure taken by the air force is to carry out checks as per the standard protocol, officials said. As per the standard procedure, one-time checks are going on for which the fleet was grounded after the crash. Aircraft are back in the air as the checks progress, an Air Force official said on Saturday, reported Indian daily The Hindu. The customary checks of the entire fleet are expected to be completed very soon, the official added. This comes two weeks after a MiG-21 Bison aircraft crashed in Rajasthans Hanumangarh village after taking off from Suratgarh air base. It crashed while flying on a routine training sortie. The IAF pilot also suffered minor injuries in the crash, prompting the officials to launch an investigation into finding the exact cause behind the accident. Grounding of aircraft fleet is a standard practice to carry out checks in the aftermath of an incident due to technical reasons. At present the IAF has around 70 Mig-21 aircraft and 50 Mig-29 variants. The first fleet of the MiG variant was inducted into the IAF in 1963. In subsequent years, India procured over 700 variants of the aircraft but the country is now on the verge of phasing them out. While it has been an integral part of the IAFs fighter aircraft and has been a top choice for frontline fighter jet deployment, MiG-21 aircraft has also earned the nickname of Flying Coffin due to the high rate of accidents. According to the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) data, at least 170 pilots have been killed in accidents involving the aircraft. Since 2010 more than 20 aircraft have crashed and 38 aircraft crashed between 2003 and 2013. Several inquiries have also been conducted into the poor safety record of the aircraft. The Indian air force is now looking to introduce indigenous aircraft including the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark 1A and LCA Mark 2 along with the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, reported NDTV. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has assured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of whatever is possible to find a solution to bring an end to the continuing war amid Russias full-scale invasion as the two leaders met in Hiroshima along the sidelines of the G7 summit. Over the past one-and-a-half years, we have spoken on the phone but after a long time, we have an opportunity to meet. The war in Ukraine is a very big issue for the whole world. It has had many different impacts on the whole world, Mr Modi told the Ukrainian president as the two leaders sat down for their first face-to-face talks with their delegation on Saturday. Mr Modi added: But I dont see this as a political or economic issue, for me this is an issue of humanity, an issue of human values. You know more than any of us what is the suffering of war, he told the Ukrainian delegation. The Indian leader cited the experience of Indian students who returned from the war-hit nation after the full-scale invasion began and said that their description of the circumstances shared by them made the prime minister understand the pain felt by Mr Zelensky and the Ukrainian citizens. I wish to assure you that India and I, in my personal capacity, will do whatever is possible to find a solution to this (conflict), Mr Modi said on Saturday. The Ukrainian president also briefed Mr Modi on Ukraines peace plan under which the besieged nation has demanded a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before proceeding to sit for negotiations and peace talks. Had a meeting with [the] prime minister of India in Japan. I briefed the interlocutor in detail on the Ukrainian peace formula initiative and invited India to join its implementation. I spoke about Ukraines needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals, Mr Zelensky said in a tweet shortly after. I thank India for supporting our countrys territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organisations, and for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, he added. However, the statement shared by New Delhi did not mention backing Ukraines territorial integrity and sovereignty. PM said that India will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine. President Zelensky briefed the PM on the current situation in Ukraine. Both sides agreed to remain in touch, a statement by the ministry of external affairs said, adding that Mr Modi lauded Ukraines cooperation in the safe evacuation of Indian students and welcomed Kyivs decisions to hold exams in India for students. More than 17,000 Indians, including mostly students, were evacuated from Ukraine in February last year after the full-scale invasion started on 24 February. Ukraine was a popular choice for several Indian medical students who had to seek transfer to universities in other nations to resume their higher studies. Both leaders, Mr Zelensky and Mr Modi, have spoken to each other four times over phone after the Russian invasion but this was the first in-person meeting. A top ally of Russia in terms of defence imports, Indias position on the continuing war has been criticised for not backing Ukraine. India has abstained at least six times at the United Nations General Assembly voting held for condemning the Russian invasion over its 15-month course, with the latest abstention recorded in February this year. Additionally, India has emerged as the largest buyer of Russian oil from almost negligible imports before the war. Russia diverted a majority of its oil exports to its Asian allies, India and China, at discounted rates after Western sanctions plugged the Kremlins huge earnings from the oil trade. The G7 summit has offered the chance for fence-sitting nations to have a direct channel to rally for supporting Ukraine in the invasion. It was an opportunity to convince big emerging states such as India and Brazil to come off the fence and put their support behind Ukraine, said French president Emmanuel Macron. He made the comment to reporters a day after calling Mr Zelenskys surprise visit at the summit a game changer. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Shell is to face a tense annual general meeting that could be dominated by clashes over climate action after the oil major saw a record year of profits. The company will probably see conflicting pressures at the meeting on Tuesday as investors look to capitalise on record oil and gas profits while shareholder activists push for faster action on climate crisis issues. Protesters are also expected to gather outside the venue at the Excel Centre in east London. Investors will vote on pay packages for 2022, including that of outgoing chief executive Ben van Beurden, who took home 9.7m, including a 7.5m bonus a jump of more than 50 per cent from the previous year. As long as investors enable Big Oil to cause climate breakdown with their votes against Paris-alignment, oil majors will hang on to their fossil business model as long as possible Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This It will also be the first time that new boss Wael Sawan, who has worked at Shell since the 1990s, deals with shareholders as chief executive. Meanwhile, shareholder activist group Follow This has filed a resolution calling for Shell to tighten its 2030 reductions targets for emissions on the products it sells. The resolution has been backed by proxy adviser PIRC, which has also called for shareholders to vote against reappointing the companys chair, Sir Andrew Mackenzie, and oppose its annual report for failing to address climate risks by setting adequate targets. PGGM and MN, who are leading engagement with Shell on behalf of Climate Action 100+, the worlds largest climate-focused investors group, has also recommended votes for the resolution. Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, said: As long as investors enable Big Oil to cause climate breakdown with their votes against Paris alignment, oil majors will hang on to their fossil business model as long as possible, invest in fossil fuel extraction far outside the boundaries of the Paris Accord, lobby against climate legislation, not invest in alternatives at scale, and even ignore court rulings, like Shell is largely ignoring the Dutch court ruling to reduce all emissions this decade. However, proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis have recommended votes against the Follow This resolution. We trust a vast majority of shareholders will agree on the need to collaborate in balancing the supply and use of energy to accelerate the energy transition, while reducing the social costs Shell Shell said it strongly disagrees with the activist resolution and the organisations which have recommended supporting it and welcomes the position of ISS and Glass Lewis. A Shell spokesperson said: We trust a vast majority of shareholders will agree on the need to collaborate in balancing the supply and use of energy to accelerate the energy transition, while reducing the social costs. The Follow This resolution is unlikely to receive enough votes to pass but will pile pressure on the board and the new chief executive. The oil major is coming off an eventful year for the business where record profits led to a lot of political pressure. Shell made $84.3bn (68bn) in core profit last year, the company revealed in February, the highest in its 115-year history. It comes after the war in Ukraine caused global energy prices, but specifically European gas prices, to soar as Europe and the Kremlin started sanctioning each other. This meant that the supply of Russian gas to Europe dried up, meaning that other suppliers, such as Shell and its rival BP, could profit. In response, and under pressure from the opposition, the government announced a new windfall tax on oil and gas producers who operate in the UKs North Sea. However, the tax, which was made more onerous in the autumn, still left a loophole which allowed companies to write off their North Sea investments against it. There are still calls from Labour and the Liberal Democrats to close this part of the law. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City resumed operations on Saturday after flights were suspended due to volcanic ash. The ash was the result of activity in the nearby Popocatepetl volcano, according to Reuters. "After removing the volcanic ash, checking the runways and verifying favorable wind conditions, we resumed takeoff and landing operations starting at 10.00am," the airport reported on Twitter. "Check with your airline the status of your flight." Operations at the airport ceased around 4.25am, leaving flights suspended for more than five hours. Some flights were delayed while others were canceled. The volcano is approximately 45 miles (72km) from Mexico City. It has been active since 1994, and is regularly monitored by scientists due to its proximity to the 22 million residents in Mexico City and the surrounding region. Airport officials were not the only ones closing up shop due to the volcanic activity - 11 villages in the region were forced to cancel school due to the falling ash, according to the Associated Press. The volcano known as "El Popo" locally became active in 1994 after a long period of dormancy. Since then, it has occasionally launched toxic fumes and rock into the air during periods of activity. The monitor team uses a network of sensors and cameras to keep watch over Popocatepetl. That system includes 12 seismological monitoring stations, six cameras operating 24 hours a day, and a command centre in Mexico City staffed by 13 scientists who work on shifts. The command centre is run by the nation's National Disaster Prevention Centre CENAPRED and is the first line of defense for the city. Unlike earthquakes, which strike without warning, the monitoring team can use readings from the volcano to predict when there might be trouble like flight-disrupting ash clouds and issue warnings to city officials. The Popocatepetl Volcano spews ash and smoke as seen from Puebal, state of Puebla, Mexico, on May 18, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images) The city uses a "stoplight" method to alert residents to the threat level posed by the volcano on a given day. Green means safety, yellow is a warning of potential activity, and red means the volcano poses a danger. The stoplight has typically been in a "yellow" state since it was introduced. CENAPRED and the National Autonomous University of Mexico issued a statement on Wednesday saying they were anticipating increased activity at the volcano, noting the activity was not necessarily indicative of anything especially worrisome. The explosions taking place inside Popocatepetl are a normal phenomenon and not necessarily indicative of increased volcanic activity, the institutions said in a joint statement, according to Mexico Daily News. Elephants may be closer than they appear. That was my first lesson of forest lore in Gabon, as a one-tusked creature slowly shuffled towards me. His name is Emile, explained Ghislain Bouassa one of the first local guides to be trained after the creation of Gabons national parks network in 2002. Hes on his own quite a lot, he added, pointing at Emiles damaged foot. The injury was slowing down the six-tonne animal. On foot in the muggy Pongara National Park and clutching my increasingly moist camera, Im frankly closer to the ambling Emile than I would like to be, but Ghislain was unfazed. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing whatever your hay fever symptoms, its no surprise if youve had a flare-up recently. During spring, both tree and grass pollen is released into the air. If youre allergic to the proteins they contain, your nose, eyes, throat and sinuses can become swollen, irritated and inflamed. Many people are suffering from hay fever just now because the pollen count is high, thanks in part to climate change, says Dr Nisa Aslam, GP from Typharms Skin Life Sciences Foundation. Plus the pollen season is getting longer. The immune function plays an important role in an allergic reactions, she explains. People who suffer from hay fever often have a family history of not just hay fever, but also skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis, which can often be borne out of problems with the immune system. The weather can also be a contributing factor in how badly youre affected. Some hay fever sufferers may be experiencing a sudden spike in their symptoms a bit earlier than usual, this may be due to the recent prolonged wet and windy weather, says Claire Nevinson, superintendent pharmacist at Boots. On a daily basis, rainfall tends to decrease pollen, but over a period of months, intermittent wet days tend to produce a more severe hay fever season overall. Conditions could be about to get even worse. A recent study by the University of Worcester, published in the Science of The Total Environment journal, warned that it could be one of the worst seasons for birch pollen on record. The severity is due to two things. Firstly, higher than average temperatures last June, when the pollen is produced, allowed greater potential for high pollen levels, says Dr Beverley Adams-Groom, senior pollen forecaster at the university. Secondly, birch trees have a biennial pattern of pollen production, one mild year and one severe year, and this year was already expected to be a high year. So what can you do if your hay fever is much worse than usual at the moment? The first step is to avoid exposure to the pollen that affects you the most. Allergens responsible for hay fever include grass pollens and tree pollens [spring and summer], weed pollens and fungal mould spores, says Dr Aslam. Watch the daily pollen forecasts. Dont go outside when the pollen count is high and keep all windows shut. Preventive medicines can help to reduce symptoms if you know in advance when youre going to be exposed to pollen. This can be a steroid nasal spray one to two weeks before symptoms start, says Dr Aslam. Alternatively, natural nasal sprays can help to prevent the symptoms of hayfever and other types of allergic rhinitis by forming a protective film in our inner nose, stopping allergens that we breathe in from trying to enter our respiratory system, she says. Similarly, ointments like Vaseline can act as a pollen trap. Apply a barrier balm of petroleum jelly around your nose to trap the pollen and help relieve dry and uncomfortable skin from repetitive nose blowing, Ms Nevinson says. Shower and change your clothes after you have been outside to wash pollen off and wear wraparound sunglasses to stop pollen getting into your eyes. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Kanye Wests partner Bianca Censori has confirmed that she is married in a new video. Censori, an architectural designer, has been romantically linked with the rapper and fashion designer since January, two months after his divorce from Kim Kardashian was finalised. She is credited as the head designer for Yeezy, Wests fashion brand. Censori, 27, is rumoured to have married 45-year-old West earlier this year in a non-legally binding ceremony. The couple were recently seen holding hands in California. On Friday (19 May), TikTok influencer gratefulboynuee posted an interaction with Censori in which she confirmed that she was married. The 26-second-long clip features Censori only, as gratefulboynuee asks her questions about her day. After complimenting the video-maker compliments her level of eye contact, Censori laughs and says: Thanks! Are you just shopping around? Later in their short conversation, the TikToker asks: Can I get your number? to which Censori replies: Im married! Bianca Censori and Kanye West (TikTok / Getty) Yea Married To Kanye, reads the videos caption with a raised eyebrow emoji. The Independent has reached out to a representative for Kanye West, known as Ye, for further comment. In the comments, fans have shared their thoughts on the small insight into Censoris personality. Shes stunning, good energy as well, I like her already, remarked one follower, while another added: She is so adorable and cute and edgy to me! A different fan wrote: I didnt imagine her personality being so nice and outgoing and authentic lol. Earlier this week, Censori shocked fans after modelling a risque outfit for the fashion brand, Mowalola. The outfit, designed by former Yeezy employee Mowalola Ogunlesi, showed her wearing black thigh-high heels and black body tape in the shape of a cross that covers her crotch and derriere. A square of body tape also covers her breasts. One critic asked: Where is the fashion? while a second joked: Its giving Brazilian wax, but make it fashion. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A rail worker was left with a serious brain injury after he was attacked in London in the early hours of Sunday morning. The worker was knocked unconscious at the gates of Harrow on the Hill underground station around 12.15am on Sunday morning, police said. He was taken to hospital after suffering a bleed on the brain and a fractured skull. He remains in hospital for further assessment. British Transport Police has released a CCTV image of a man they are trying to identify, who they believe may have information that could help their investigation. Officers said they are doing all we can to trace the person responsible for the appalling and unprovoked attack. Police are urging witnesses of the attack to come forward to identify the man in the CCTV image. Detective Sergeant Mike Blakeburn said: This was an appalling and unprovoked act of violence on a member of staff simply doing their job, and we are doing all we can to trace the person responsible. We know a number of people witnessed the incident at the time and I would urge them to come forward to assist our investigation. I would also ask anyone who recognises the man in the image to get in touch with us as soon as possible by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 12 of 21/05/23. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} An Afghan colonel who fought alongside British troops and fled to the UK on a small boat has been threatened with deportation to Rwanda, in a new betrayal of heroic soldiers who supported coalition forces. The war veteran, who was part of joint operations with UK forces in Helmand province during some of the fiercest fighting of the Afghan war, was left in fear of his life and claims he was not helped in any way after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021. Recovering from a wound sustained during combat, he left his wife and children behind in Afghanistan to find safety and, after a perilous journey across 11 countries, arrived in the UK on a small boat in September last year. But, like the Afghan pilot who has been the subject of a campaign by The Independent that calls on the government to grant him asylum, the colonel received a notice of intent from the Home Office threatening him with deportation to Rwanda. The notice came after he applied to the Ministry of Defences resettlement scheme, also known as Arap (the Afghan relocations and assistance policy), towards the end of 2021, while he was still in Afghanistan. He says he received a follow-up call from a British official but that he has heard nothing since. The colonel is one of a number of Afghan veterans who have had to resort to illegal routes to get to the UK because of the restrictions and delays plaguing the governments dedicated Afghan resettlement schemes. Former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West of Spithead, said Britain has a moral obligation to those Afghans who fought on our side and fought with us. They are at risk in Afghanistan, and that is why they have to get out, he said. A former head of the army, General Lord Richard Dannatt, said: This is another example whereby people have tried to do the right thing by applying for the Arap scheme but have been ignored or let down. People like this colonel, and the pilot, should have their cases examined as a matter of urgency and, if genuine asylum seekers, be allowed to remain here as if they had come via the Arap scheme. The Afghan colonel shakes hands with four-star US general and then head of Nato forces in Afghanistan, Austin Scott Miller (The Independent/ Supplied) Shadow defence secretary John Healey MP said the defence secretary must urgently fix the failing Arap scheme. We must fulfil our moral duty to protect and assist these Afghans who are at grave threat from the Taliban, he said. Speaking to The Independent, the Afghan veteran who says he has been injured more than 20 times in his combat career described how the uncertainty of the situation had left him stressed and anxious. The whole situation is affecting me mentally now. I am worried for my family. If my situation gets better here, then I will be able to make plans for them. But until that happens I am very stressed, he said. The colonel, who is being supported by charity Care4Calais, is living in Home Office accommodation in the UK and is given 9 per week for living expenses by the government. Like many other veterans, he came to the UK because of the fond memories he had of the British forces he worked alongside specifically those he was stationed with in Helmand province. The Afghan colonel pictured during his time in the special forces (The Independent ) He said: From school days, I was seeing the soldiers and fighting in my country. I was interested in the army, and so, when the foreign forces came, I joined the [police training] academy. I worked first for many years as part of the Afghan National Police special forces, and in that role I was involved in operations, shoulder to shoulder with the mainly British and American forces, in Helmand province. He explained how he and his colleagues would often go on joint operations and night patrols with the British after receiving information about an enemy presence in a certain location. Obviously it was scary. We are at risk of being killed at any time, either from landmines being everywhere or being fired at, he said. The Afghan colonel shakes hands with the Afghan president at the time, Ashraf Ghani (The Independent) The Independent has seen photos and certificates that document the colonels time in Helmand province serving alongside the International Security Assistance Force. Multiple photos show the colonel with British armed forces personnel based there at the time. One photo taken during his time in the Afghan national army shows the colonel shaking the hand of four-star US general Austin Scott Miller, the final commander of the Nato and American forces in Afghanistan. Another shows him with Afghanistans then-president, Ashraf Ghani. Following his career in the Ministry of Interior Affairs, he was made a regiment commander in the Afghan national army and moved up the ranks. Describing one particular mission during this time, he said: There was a blockade made by the enemies, so we had to go and clear the route and defeat the enemies. The next morning, on my way back, my tank was ambushed. The drivers neck had been cut off or chopped as a result of his injuries. I was injured on my stomach on the side. When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, the colonel said he witnessed the governments collapse from a bed in a military hospital. He says he spent around 20 days recovering from being shot in the leg while in the south of the country. A well-known senior army chief, he knew he would have to flee his homeland within days or face being hunted down by terrorists. He said: Unfortunately, towards the end, everything that happened, it left us with a feeling of abandonment and being left behind. No one cared what happened to us, the military personnel and the country as a whole. Towards the end, even the ammunition was cut off; the dead soldiers were left behind. The Independent has launched a petition calling for the UK to support Afghan war heroes who served alongside Britain He managed to flee from the military hospital with the help of friends and go into hiding, before going by car to the Iranian border to make the crossing by foot. The colonels journey to the UK took him across at least 11 countries in a trip that would be plagued by illness as the stress of the journey took its toll on his leg injury. He explained: I was in Iran for around two months, and I had to stay for a while because of the swelling in my leg. There was an Afghan doctor in a hospital there, and he was able to do an operation on my leg. I then made my way to Turkey and stayed there for a while longer. I tried many ways to try and leave Turkey, but I was not lucky. I didnt have enough money to pay for the boat. I tried once to cross over to Greece, but that was a difficult experience. I had severe beatings on that occasion. I tried to cross over to Bulgaria several times. The colonel pictured with a member of the British armed forces (The Independent) The beatings I received from border force in Bulgaria made my wound swell again, and I was hospitalised in Turkey for two nights on that occasion. On my last attempt, I was successful to cross into Bulgaria, and I walked for 21 days in a row until I could cross over into Serbia. With the help of a smuggler, the colonel was able eventually to make his way to Germany. I had to stay there for a while because of my leg injuries, and I thought about where I should be going to. The UK came up as the better option than any other ones, because of my involvement with the British forces back in my service. The Home Office notice, sent in February this year, says that officials are considering whether his journey through multiple European countries would make his asylum claim inadmissible. It adds that he could receive assistance should you wish to withdraw your asylum claim and return to your country of origin. Speaking about the threat of removal to Rwanda, the colonel said: I thought I had got to somewhere safe, but this is a worry now. My concern is what is going to happen to the family in case I am being sent to Rwanda; will I be stuck there? Though the colonel has applied for the governments Arap scheme, defence minister James Heappey said this week that members of the Afghan armed forces would not qualify in principle for the scheme. Guidance on the governments website says that Arap is for Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK government in Afghanistan in exposed or meaningful roles. However, its remit is in fact far more narrow. A member of the British armed forces whom the colonel worked alongside during his time at the Ministry of Interior Affairs (The Independent) Steve Smith MBE, CEO of charity Care4Calais and a former British army colonel, said the system had been intentionally designed to prevent refugees from seeking sanctuary in the UK. It is leaving Afghan veterans with no safe route to claim asylum in the UK, and its time ministers intervened, withdrew their deportation threats, gave them asylum in the UK, and reunited them with their families who remain in danger in Afghanistan. A growing number of senior military chiefs, politicians and celebrities have backed The Independents campaign to stop the Afghan pilots threatened deportation to Rwanda. Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer, former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Hollywood director Guy Ritchie, music legend Sting, and former head of the UK armed forces General Sir David Richards have all called for the government to stand by those Afghans who supported the British mission. A Home Office spokesperson said no one should be risking their life by crossing the channel or taking dangerous and illegal routes to reach the UK. We continue to work with like-minded partners and countries neighbouring Afghanistan on resettlement issues, and to support safe passage for eligible Afghans, they added. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Personal finance guru Martin Lewis has warned that despite record-high energy prices being forecast to fall in the months ahead, households wont feel any real benefit. In less than two years, the price cap set by regulator Ofgem has rocketed from 1,162 a year for a typical household in August 2021 to its current level of 3,280, having briefly reached 4,279, with the pandemic and Russias war in Ukraine having both served to push up wholesale prices. Customers have been partly shielded from the most recent rise by the governments Energy Price Guarantee which limits annual energy costs to 2,500 for the average household. But that is set to finish at the end of June and a government minister on Sunday appeared to rule out further support. New forecasts by energy consultancy Cornwall Insight predict that Ofgems cap will fall dramatically to 2,054 in July, saving households an average of 446 a year. This forecast remains well above pre-pandemic levels, and Cornwall Insight warned this week that these higher prices may become the new normal, as it predicted the cap would remain at similar levels until at least January 2024. Despite the predicted fall, Mr Lewis warned that there are monumental questions hanging over the system governing consumer energy bills in the UK and accused those in charge in recent years of having been asleep at the wheel. Asked about the price cap changes expected to be announced on Thursday, the Money Saving Expert founder told the BBCs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: In practical terms what you pay from July will drop by somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent were pretty sure its in that ballpark. Then the next price cap comes in October. The current prediction and the further out you go, the more crystal ball gazing it is is that it will drop a little bit more and then go up a little bit in January, but still be roughly the same amount it is now. Martin Lewis appeared on the BBCs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show (screengrab) It is an improvement, [but] its not the biggest improvement, Mr Lewis said, pointing to the fact that the 400 of government support handed out universally during the winter also came to an end in April. In practical terms, people arent going to be feeling any real benefit. Theyre going to be paying the same that they were over winter, and next winter will be as expensive as the winter just gone which is over double what we always thought. The standing charge the roughly 300 paid each year by households for merely accessing gas and electricity is unlikely to fall, Mr Lewis said. We have monumental questions about consumer energy bills coming forward theyre too expensive, theyre badly structured, theres no competition in the marketplace. Clearly, the people who have been in charge have been asleep at the wheel for the last few years, and things need to change. On the issue of standing charges, environment secretary Therese Coffey said she expected the government will continue to look at the different ways that those charges are put through to bill payers, claiming that there is considerable support being given to households struggling with soaring bills. Environment secretary Therese Coffey failed to say whether the government would provide further support with bills (screengrab) Only those in receipt of means-tested benefits, pensioners and those with disabilities are currently set to receive further help with their energy bills, amounting to 900, 300 and 150 respectively. Responding that the 2,000 price cap is unaffordable for households living just above the threshold to qualify for the existing support, Mr Lewis asked Ms Coffey whether there would be any help for those people. The minister said: The chancellor set out our plans several months ago on what was happening there and I am conscious there is only a limited amount going to every bill payer. But I think that the critical thing that people will be expecting from the government is getting that electricity pipeline flowing within our own country rather than constantly being reliant on aspects of the link to the gas prices in the world. Arguing that the governments Energy Price Guarantee is set to end nine months earlier than predicted, having cost tens of billions of pounds less than expected, Mr Lewis said: There is money [available to the government] to help those on lower and middle incomes. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A British grandmother has been found dead more than a fortnight after she went missing on a tiny Greek island, her family has said. Susan Hart, a 74-year-old from Bath, and her husband Ed both of whom are keen rock climbers are reported to have been visiting the popular climbing destination Kalymnos for eight years, and in April returned for the first time since the pandemic. Three weeks ago, on Sunday 30 April, the couple took a 10-minute ferry to neighbouring Telendos, an island not even two square miles in size, with only a tiny port and no road network. Mr Hart and a friend decided to go climbing but Mrs Hart stayed behind to read a book and they agreed she would wait for them at a restaurant in the port, her daughter Bethan Blackwell told the Mirror. But when he returned, there was no sign of his wife, and upon asking in the restaurant they were told she had not dined there and nobody could recall seeing her. A search was launched, helped by volunteers, the coastguard and search and rescue dogs. Ms Blackwell and her two sisters, Ella, 43, from London, and Ruth Landale, 45, who reportedly flew from Australia. Ms Landale has now told the BBC that Ms Harts body has been found and was identified by her stepfather. The family is now waiting for her body to be repatriated to Switzerland, where Ms Landale a former World Health Organisation employee had been living, with a post-mortem examination expected to be carried out in Greece. Susan Hart, who lived in Switzerland with Ed, her husband of 25 years, has four grandchildren (Handout) Ms Landale said that her mother had been showing symptoms of dementia in the past few years, but had not yet received a formal diagnosis. Its been a stressful and distressing time for the whole family, she told the broadcaster. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: We are providing consular assistance to the family of a British woman who has been reported missing in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Education leaders have called for the Government to reopen pay discussions following reports that an independent pay review body has recommended a 6.5% wage rise for teachers this year. The School Teachers Review Body (STRB) has recommended teachers get a pay rise two percentage points higher than that offered by the Department for Education (DfE) this year, according to the Sunday Times. Sources told the paper that the advisory body said the education sector needed a bigger increase to keep it on a stable footing. The Government is yet to disclose the recommendation publicly. Last week, the National Education Union (NEU) said teachers would hold fresh strikes in July if their long-running dispute over pay has not been resolved by mid June. Unions previously rejected an offer from the Government of a 4.3% pay rise and a one-off payment of 1,000. NEU general secretaries Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said: Teachers and school leaders overwhelmingly rejected Gillian Keegans last offer both because it was too low and because it wasnt fully funded. Since that rejection, she has sought to hide behind the STRB, saying that she is leaving it to them to make the decision on teacher pay. She now has the report and can no longer hide behind the STRB. The Government is out of touch and that its position is no longer credible Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT They added: She must invite the teacher and leader unions into the DfE and be absolutely clear about whether, and when she intends, or not, to implement the STRBs recommendations in full, or, as we would argue, to go beyond them. Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders union NAHT, said a 6.5% increase would be progress but warned of deep recruitment and retention issues. He said: The Government needs to fully fund the award and resolve the pay dispute for the current financial year, as well as making big changes to ease workload and inspection pressures. It must now urgently reopen serious negotiations. Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) general secretary Geoff Barton said the recommendation appears to be a step in the right direction but said the Government must make sure every school has enough money to afford to pay their teachers without making cuts. He added: The education unions have had a number of discussions with Department for Education officials over the last couple of weeks about what would need to be in place to ensure that every school could afford any increase in pay. We would encourage the Government to restart formal pay negotiations as soon as possible, in order to prevent further likely industrial action this term and next. Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers union, said the STRB report is evidence the Government is out of touch and that its position is no longer credible. He added: Our message to the Secretary of State is that she has the opportunity to prevent further industrial action by agreeing to work with us to secure a deal for this year and next year that our members are willing to support. A DfE spokesperson said: As part of the normal process, the independent School Teachers Review Body has submitted its recommendations to Government on teacher pay for 2023/24. We will be considering the recommendations and will publish our response in the usual way. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Rishi Sunak has been accused of taking a page from the "Boris Johnson playbook" by dragging his feet over demands for an investigation into his Home Secretary. Suella Braverman stands accused of asking civil servants to help her avoid points on her driving licence for speeding, a possible breach of the ministerial code. But Mr Sunak has so far resisted opposition calls for a probe into his colleague's behaviour while a Cabinet minister was sent out to insist on Sunday morning television that government ministers do not think they are above the rules. Appearing at a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima Mr Sunak declined to say he had full confidence in his embattled minister but said he had not spoken to Ms Braverman and did not know the details of her case. But he appeared visibly frustrated at repeated questioning by journalists on the issue, asking reporters: "Did you have any questions about the summit?" Labour and the Liberal Democrats have both called for a probe into Ms Braverman's conduct, led by Mr Sunak's ethics advisor. The Sunday Times newspaper says the Home Secretary asked officials to organise a private driving awareness course for her which would have allowed her to avoid both points on her licence and appearing in public with other lawbreakers. By refusing to set up an investigation immediately, Rishi Sunak is stealing page one from the Boris Johnson playbook," Ms Braverman's Liberal Democrat counterpart Alistair Carmichael said. "Time and time again Sunak has put Conservative politicians, who think they are above the rules, in his cabinet and every time they have taken the British people for fools." Boris Johnson stepped down as prime minister after concerns about his handling of a series of sleaze allegations regarding Tory MPs. Labour shadow minister Liz Kendall meanwhile pointed out that Ms Braverman had already had to resign once as Home Secretary for breaching the rules, but been reappointed by Mr Sunak anyway. I think Rishi Sunak should launch an investigation into it. He should ask his independent adviser whether she has breached the standards of the ministerial code here," she told Sky News's Sophie Ridge on Sunday programme. "I think a lot of people watching this program will think, why is it always one rule for them and another rule for everybody else?" Ms Kendall suggested that Ms Braverman was in post because Mr Sundak "had to keep the right wing of his party on board", adding that there was "no point him getting all tetchy at the G7 Press Conference". UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 23 May 2023 An aerial view of a yellow rapeseed field in Hemel Hempstead, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 22 May 2023 Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show AP UK news in pictures 21 May 2023 People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St Johns College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a childs jacket during a photo call for the Chinas hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at 60,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Marys Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britains Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking "Trump Force One" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 Englands flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Womens Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international womens rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul OGrady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwolds Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the Online safety bill PA UK news in pictures 18 April 2023 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Tree Orchard at Alnwick Gardens in Alnwick, Northumberland Reuters UK news in pictures 17 April 2023 A pelican sits in St Jamess Park, London PA UK news in pictures 16 April 2023 People take part in the Nagar Kirtan procession through the city centre in Southampton, during Vaisakhi celebrations to mark the birth of the Khalsa and to celebrate the spring harvest and the solar new year PA UK news in pictures 15 April 2023 Former Chelsea players and fans show the Samaritans' 24-hour helpline number 116 123 on the back of their shirts during the launch of the TalkMoreThanFootball campaign from Three, during halftime of Chelsea v Brighton at Stamford Bridge, London PA UK news in pictures 14 April 2023 Protesters outside York Magistrates Court, where Patrick Thelwell is charged with threatening behaviour after eggs were thrown at King Charles III during his visit to York in November PA UK news in pictures 13 April 2023 British milliner Justin Smith, from J. Smith Esquire, with a crown he has created using 319 Scrabble tiles to mark Scrabble's 75th anniversary and King Charles III's coronation PA UK news in pictures 12 April 2023 US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on business development at Ulster University in Belfast AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 11 April 2023 People take part in a rally in Trafalgar Square in London, in support of striking NHS junior doctors, as the British Medical Association holds a 96-hour walkout in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 10 April 2023 Masked people attack a police vehicle with petrol bombs in Derrys Creggan area on on 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement Getty UK news in pictures 9 April 2023 People taking part in the annual procession in Glasgow as part of the Sikh Vaisakhi celebration to celebrate the Birth of the Sikh Nation PA UK news in pictures 8 April 2023 Visitors dressed in costumes during the Star Wars Celebration at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 7 April 2023 Lorries queue to enter the Port of Dover in Dover, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 April 2023 Seating being erected on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, central London, ahead of King Charles IIIs Coronation. PA UK news in pictures 5 April 2023 Police officers stand guard outside the home of Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon in Glasgow, Scotland Getty UK news in pictures 4 April 2023 Workers protest outside Google London HQ over the treatment of staff facing redundancies PA UK news in pictures 3 April 2023 Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union on the picket line outside the Passport Office in east London, as more than 1,000 members of the PCS working in passport offices in England, Scotland and Wales begin a five week strike as part of the civil service dispute PA UK news in pictures 2 April 2023 Coaches wait to enter the Port of Dover in Kent after extra sailings were run overnight to try and clear the backlog which has left passengers stuck in Easter traffic for hours PA Mr Sunak, who pledged a government of integrity, has already lost three high-level ministers in seven months with deputy prime minister Dominic Raab the most recent to quit, following bullying allegations. Environment secretary Therese Coffey, who represented the government in broadcast media on Sunday, said she was not aware of the details of the case. But pushed on Ms Braverman's actions, she said: "I don't think Government ministers do think they are above the rules. "There are people, that I think were referred to earlier, who have recently lost their licence, some people are getting fines. "We've seen that across all walks of public life. I think what has been written in the newspapers is there, that's the detail that has been shared with the public so far." But she added: "I don't have any more details than that. Pretty much everybody has the option to pay a fine, take points or go on a course. The precise aspects about the course is what you're trying to speculate, but I don't have any more details than that." Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Rishi Sunak will consult his ethics adviser over whether Suella Braverman broke government rules by allegedly asking civil servants to help her avoid speeding points, as calls for an official inquiry mount. Former Conservative Party chair Sir Jake Berry said the home secretary clearly had questions to answer, while another former Tory minister told The Independent that the allegations were the final straw. Labour and the Lib Dems have called for an investigation into whether Ms Braverman broke the ministerial code and told the PM to come to parliament on Monday to explain what he knew about the claims. Follow the latest updates here Appearing at a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Mr Sunak declined to back his embattled minister. He said had not spoken to Ms Braverman, and did not know the details of her case. The PM appeared frustrated at repeated questioning by journalists on the issue, asking reporters: Did you have any questions about the summit? A No 10 spokesperson later insisted Mr Sunak had full confidence in Ms Braverman. On Sunday evening, Downing Street confirmed Mr Sunak would consult his ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, when he returns to the UK on Monday from the G7 summit in Japan but stopped short of announcing an official inquiry. Sir Laurie can only begin an investigation into potential breaches of the ministerial code if requested to do so by the PM. According to a report in The Sunday Times, the home secretary asked officials to organise a private speed-awareness course for her, which would have allowed her to avoid both the points on her licence and the PR disaster of appearing in a public class with other lawbreakers. The Daily Mirror also reported that Ms Bravermans team had denied she had been caught speeding when the newspaper approached her about the offence six weeks ago, and that they had claimed at the time that enemies in Westminster were spreading misinformation about her. Jake Berry, a Tory MP who previously chaired the Conservative Party, told the BBCs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: I dont think weve seen enough about this story yet. It certainly brings into question, I think, the use of civil servants, so I think there are definitely questions to be answered. Lets see what is said. I guess it will be in the House of Commons, an urgent question or statement about it on Monday lets see what is said there. Sir Jake said people should not speed, but that if they did, and were caught, then you just take the medicine. The senior Conservative said he did not know whether Ms Braverman had breached the ministerial code because he did not have enough information about the case. Home secretary Suella Braverman reportedly asked civil servants to arrange a bespoke speed-awareness course for her in an effort to avoid having points on her licence (PA Wire) Another former minister warned that the scandal was both the excuse people have been looking for and the final straw for Ms Braverman. Environment secretary Therese Coffey, who was sent out on television on Sunday morning to speak for the government, insisted to the BBC that government ministers do not think they are above the rules. But Labour shadow minister Liz Kendall pointed out that Ms Braverman had already had to resign once as home secretary for breaching the rules for sending a government document from her personal email before being reappointed by Mr Sunak days later. In a letter to Mr Sunak on Sunday, Labours deputy leader Angela Rayner urged the PM to show some backbone and called for an investigation to look at whether the home secretary breached the ministerial code, whether she asked civil servants to breach the civil service code, and what Mr Sunak knew about the episode. The public have a right to know whether the minister responsible for law and order sought to abuse her position in an attempt to gain preferential treatment to avoid a speeding fine, she said. This Conservative cabinet appear to think they are above the laws that govern the rest of us. Rishi Sunak was too weak to deal with Suella Braverman the last time she broke the ministerial code, and his reluctance or order an investigation right away speaks volumes on how seriously he takes his promise to bring integrity to government. Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said Mr Sunak was so weak he cant even make sure his own ministers maintain the very basic level of integrity, adding: The least he can do is come to parliament and explain this farce. And the partys Alistair Carmichael accused Mr Sunak of stealing page one from Boris Johnsons playbook by refusing to set up an investigation immediately. Time and time again Sunak has put Conservative politicians, who think they are above the rules, in his cabinet and every time they have taken the British people for fools, he said. Mr Sunak, who pledged to oversee a government of integrity, has already lost three high-level ministers in seven months with deputy prime minister Dominic Raab the most recent to quit, following bullying allegations. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Rishi Sunak has declined to back Suella Braverman amid allegations that she asked civil servants to help her avoid getting points on her driving licence for speeding. The prime minister was asked by reporters whether he had full confidence in the Home Secretary but replied that he did not know the "full details" of events and had not spoken to her. Mr Sunak, who is attending the G7 summit in Hiroshima, would not say whether he would launch an investigation into Ms Braverman as demanded by opposition parties Labour and the Liberal Democrats. "I don't know the full details of what has happened nor have I spoken to the Home Secretary," Mr Sunak said. "I think you can see first hand what I have been doing over the last day or so but I understand that she's expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine." Pressed on whether whether he would ask his ethics advisor Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate the Home Secretary, Mr Sunak appeared riled, responding: "Did you have any questions about the summit?" The Sunday Times newspaper reports that Ms Braverman asked officials to organise a private driving awareness course for her. This would have allowed her to avoid both points on her licence, as well as the alternative of appearing in a public class with other motorists. But civil servants refused the request, and the Home Secretary is said to have turned to a political aide to assist her. Ms Braverman, who is responsible for law enforcement as Home Secretary, was caught breaking speed limits while driving outside London while she was attorney general last summit the highest ranking government law officer. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St Johns College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a childs jacket during a photo call for the Chinas hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at 60,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Marys Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britains Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking "Trump Force One" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 Englands flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Womens Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international womens rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul OGrady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwolds Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the Online safety bill PA UK news in pictures 18 April 2023 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Tree Orchard at Alnwick Gardens in Alnwick, Northumberland Reuters UK news in pictures 17 April 2023 A pelican sits in St Jamess Park, London PA UK news in pictures 16 April 2023 People take part in the Nagar Kirtan procession through the city centre in Southampton, during Vaisakhi celebrations to mark the birth of the Khalsa and to celebrate the spring harvest and the solar new year PA UK news in pictures 15 April 2023 Former Chelsea players and fans show the Samaritans' 24-hour helpline number 116 123 on the back of their shirts during the launch of the TalkMoreThanFootball campaign from Three, during halftime of Chelsea v Brighton at Stamford Bridge, London PA UK news in pictures 14 April 2023 Protesters outside York Magistrates Court, where Patrick Thelwell is charged with threatening behaviour after eggs were thrown at King Charles III during his visit to York in November PA UK news in pictures 13 April 2023 British milliner Justin Smith, from J. Smith Esquire, with a crown he has created using 319 Scrabble tiles to mark Scrabble's 75th anniversary and King Charles III's coronation PA UK news in pictures 12 April 2023 US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on business development at Ulster University in Belfast AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 11 April 2023 People take part in a rally in Trafalgar Square in London, in support of striking NHS junior doctors, as the British Medical Association holds a 96-hour walkout in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 10 April 2023 Masked people attack a police vehicle with petrol bombs in Derrys Creggan area on on 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement Getty UK news in pictures 9 April 2023 People taking part in the annual procession in Glasgow as part of the Sikh Vaisakhi celebration to celebrate the Birth of the Sikh Nation PA UK news in pictures 8 April 2023 Visitors dressed in costumes during the Star Wars Celebration at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 7 April 2023 Lorries queue to enter the Port of Dover in Dover, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 April 2023 Seating being erected on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, central London, ahead of King Charles IIIs Coronation. PA UK news in pictures 5 April 2023 Police officers stand guard outside the home of Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon in Glasgow, Scotland Getty UK news in pictures 4 April 2023 Workers protest outside Google London HQ over the treatment of staff facing redundancies PA UK news in pictures 3 April 2023 Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union on the picket line outside the Passport Office in east London, as more than 1,000 members of the PCS working in passport offices in England, Scotland and Wales begin a five week strike as part of the civil service dispute PA UK news in pictures 2 April 2023 Coaches wait to enter the Port of Dover in Kent after extra sailings were run overnight to try and clear the backlog which has left passengers stuck in Easter traffic for hours PA UK news in pictures 1 April 2023 Waves crash against the lighthouse in Seaham Harbour, County Durham PA UK news in pictures 31 March 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with Darlington Council leader Jonathan Dulston, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and Darlington MP Peter Gibson in Firth Moor during a visit to Darlington, County Durham PA UK news in pictures 30 March 2023 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner travel by train to the launch of the Labour Party's campaign for the May local elections in Swindon PA She ultimately decided to take the speeding points for the driving offence. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it appeared the Home Secretary had tried to abuse her position to get round the normal penalties, branding her actions one rule for her and another for everyone else. But Cabinet minister Therese Coffey, who was appearing on the Sunday morning media round for the government, declined to be drawn on the allegations. Stonewalling when repeatedly questioned about the matter, she told Sky Newss Sophie Ridge on Sunday programme: I've scanned the newspapers myself this morning before coming on the show. I'm not in the business of phoning people at about twenty past seven in the morning to try and get chapter and verse... Im just not aware of the details. What is clear is that Suella now has those three points on her licence and she's getting on with the job about tackling, particularly, illegal migration, but also the wide security elements of our country. When Mr Sunak took power he pledged a government of integrity though he has already lost three cabinet ministers in the first seven months of his premiership. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Britains support for Ukraine will never waver, Rishi Sunak has pledged after meeting Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The prime minister said he was glad the group of allies have agreed on the importance of providing the Ukrainian president with the advanced military equipment he needs as he pushes for F-16 fighter jets. Mr Zelensky will address the leaders of the major Western democracies during meetings on Sunday. He is on course to receive the boost of being donated advanced jets after US President Joe Biden authorised Western allies to transfer them to Kyiv. Mr Sunak updated Mr Zelensky on the very positive progress on fighter jets when they met in the Japanese city, Downing Street said. In a statement, Mr Sunak said: The G7 was once the G8 Russia was expelled in 2014 for its illegal annexation of Crimea and flagrant abuse of human rights and the rule of law. Nine years on, it sends an incredibly powerful message to have my friend and Ukraines President Zelensky with us in Hiroshima today. It tells the world that the G7 stands united with the people of Ukraine, in the face of a terrible onslaught. And it demonstrates that brute force and oppression will not triumph over freedom and sovereignty. From providing Challenger tanks to long-range missiles and pilot training, the UKs support for Ukraines defence will never waver. I am delighted that the G7 has agreed on the importance of giving President Zelensky the advanced military equipment needed to win this war and prosper as a free and democratic nation. The pair shared a warm informal meeting on Saturday after Mr Zelensky landed in Japan. Good to see you, the Prime Minister said, slapping him on the back after they greeted each other with an embrace. You made it. Asked by reporters if it was a good day for Ukraine, Mr Zelensky smiled, nodded and said thank you so much. Mr Zelensky tweeted: Peace will become closer today. G7 leaders vowed to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and to increase the costs to Russia and those who support its war. They also used their joint statement to be critical of China, saying they remain seriously concerned about the aggression shown towards Taiwan. Giving an account of Mr Sunaks meeting with the Ukrainian leader, No 10 said: The Prime Minister updated President Zelensky on the very positive progress at the G7 so far, including new sanctions against Russia and the provision of fighter jets. The leaders looked forward to progressing talks with G7 countries and other partners on support for Ukraine and action against Russias destabilising and illegal behaviour. Moscow warned that the escalation carries enormous risks for the countries involved. Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko told the Tass news agency: We can see that Western countries continue to stick to an escalation scenario, which carries enormous risks for them. In any case, we will take it into account when making plans. We have all the necessary means to achieve our goals. Mr Biden informed his allies at the conference in Hiroshima that he will give legal authorisation to allow the American-made planes to be donated to Kyiv. The US president, who is attending the G7 with other members France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada, as well as the EU, also announced training for Ukrainian pilots. The Prime Minister welcomed the decision, having pressed allies to provide the Ukrainian president with the jets he has been calling for. Mr Sunak tweeted: Ukraine, were not going anywhere. The RAF does not have any US-manufactured F-16s. Washington must legally approve their export. Mr Zelensky met Indias Narendra Modi on Saturday and will potentially come into contact with Brazils Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Both have not supported Ukraine like their Western allies. Neither are G7 members, but India is being represented at the summit because it is the current G20 chair, while Brazil has been invited as a guest. Mr Sunak will meet Mr Modi on Sunday before addressing the media at a press conference. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Prince of Wales has joined the crew of a team of Royal Navy submariners who have taken on a Transatlantic rowing challenge to raise money to support the mental health and wellbeing of their colleagues. William, Commander-in-Chief of the Submarine Service, has released a YouTube video of his visit to the members of the HMS Oardacious crew as they took part in a training session on Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire. HMS Oardacious was set up in 2019 to fundraise through submariners taking on the challenge of rowing across the Atlantic with 110,000 being raised so far. In January 2020, four serving Royal Navy submariners became the fastest military team in history to row across any ocean, spending 37 days, 6 hours and 40 minutes battling across the North Atlantic to reach Antigua as part of the annual Atlantic Challenge. In the short film, William meets co-founders, Lieutenant Commander Callum Fraser and Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs, as well as Chief Petty Officer Jon Norfolk who took part in the 2022 team and Lieutenant Isobel Rawlinson who is looking to captain an all-female team in 2024. The prince takes to the water and does his bit rowing as he chats to the members of HMS Oardacious which have crews lined up for this years event and for 2024. A Kensington Palace spokesman said: Together they discuss the importance of managing our mental health and how exercise can be used as a tool to help manage it. The crew also share their experiences of crossing the Atlantic, the challenges they faced and the impact it had on both their physical and mental health. Back in the boathouse, William hears from the crew in more depth about how they manage their mental health, the support they provide to each other as a team, and the work HMS Oardacious does to raise awareness and combat the stigma associated with talking about mental wellbeing. Speaking during the film, William said: Understanding our support networks is crucial because a lot of people dont have those support networks and being able to form close bonds and realise that the only way we are going to get through all of this is to support each other and pull each other through. The video has been released as part of Mental Health Awareness Week which runs until Sunday, May 21, and follows visits by the Princess of Wales to The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in Bath and the Anna Freud Centre in London to highlight the event. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Volodymyr Zelenskys visit to the G7 summit in Hiroshima had historic significance, Rishi Sunak said as he hailed a real breakthrough on getting Ukraine advanced fighter jets. The Prime Minister said that any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia must usher in a just and lasting peace rather than a ceasefire that handed land to Vladimir Putin. The presence of the Ukrainian president at the conference in Japan shows a powerful message to the Russian leader, Mr Sunak said. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, because their security is our security, he added. We must and we will show that violent territorial aggression does not reap rewards. There could be no more fitting place to discuss the urgent need for peace than Hiroshima. The Prime Minister said he was deeply moved by visiting the memorial to mark the city being the first place to experience the devastation of a nuclear bomb. What we saw there was haunting. A childs tricycle, twisted by the blast. School uniforms bloodied and torn, he said. And with those images in our minds, we resolved never to forget what happened here. Mr Zelensky addressed the G7 leaders in meetings on Sunday after meeting Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who has maintained neutrality over the Russian invasion. Pictures of the Ukrainian president shaking Mr Modis hand would not be images that Mr Putin wants to see. It was unclear whether Mr Sunak, who has spoken of the need to speak to Mr Modi about his position, discussed Ukraine with him when they met on Sunday. The accounts given by both London and New Delhi failed to mention the war. During the summit, US President Joe Biden gave the approval for western allies to hand over their F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv to bolster Ukrainian defences. Mr Sunak said: Were supporting Ukraine to develop the air force it needs for the future with the UK training Ukrainian pilots, starting this summer. And weve made a real breakthrough at this summit, thanks to President Bidens support for an international coalition to provide F-16 jets. Mr Zelensky, who met Mr Sunak after touching down, appeared to acknowledge a setback over Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city that Moscow has claimed to have captured after months of fierce fighting. You have to understand that there is nothing, he said, of the city which is not believed to have a major strategic importance. They destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. But at a later press conference, the Ukrainian war leader suggested the Kremlins troops and Wagner mercenaries had not completely taken the city. Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of those words, Mr Zelensky told reporters. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill has called on the British and Irish governments to deliver a plan to restore the Stormont powersharing institutions. It came as her party delivered a stunning success in the council elections, becoming the largest party in local government in Northern Ireland for the first time. Ms ONeill said there now needed to be an urgent meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to plot a route to restore the Assembly. DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said voters had endorsed his partys position of keeping the powersharing institutions down until concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol are addressed. Following a lengthy count process stretching into Sunday morning across 11 council areas, Sinn Fein emerged with 144 seats, an increase of 39 from the last council election in 2019. The republican party replicated its result in the Assembly election last year when it became the largest party at Stormont. The DUP has reinforced its position as the dominant force in unionism by winning 122 seats, the same number as in 2019. The cross-community Alliance Party increased its representation on councils by winning 67 seats, an increase of 14. It was a disappointing election for the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP, with both parties suffering significant losses. Sinn Fein secured 30.9% of first preference votes, ahead of the DUP on 23.3%, 13.3% for Alliance, 10.9% for the Ulster Unionists and 8.7% for the SDLP. The elections took place against the backdrop of the Stormont stalemate, with the powersharing institutions not operating as part of a DUP protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements. We suspected from early on that we would do well given the response that we were getting from the voters, but obviously we have gone on to have a momentous election result, Ms ONeill told RTE. She added: We havent had powersharing now for a year-and-a-half. The DUP walked away because they said they wanted to influence the (Northern Ireland) Protocol discussions and negotiations. Those negotiations are now complete, so there is no rhyme nor reason for them to stay out of having a locally-elected Assembly and executive delivering good public services for people. I am now calling on both governments, as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, the Irish Government and the British Government, to come together to establish a meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference to come up with a plan for the restoration of the Assembly because all the while when the DUP stay out of the Executive and the Assembly public services are suffering, the public are suffering because of austerity, because of cuts that are coming directly from London. It is not a tolerable situation, there shouldnt be any more delays and I want to see a plan on the table as to how we are going to get back around the table to make politics work and to have a locally elected Assembly. She added: Top of the DUP manifesto in this election was that they wanted to restore the Executive, they asked people to vote for them to get back into the Assembly. Now there shouldnt be any delay; lets do that. Mr Buckley said holding the same number of seats had been a extraordinary result for the DUP. He told the BBC: We see a bullying attitude from the Secretary of State, a gang-up from other political parties and a media narrative which laid all blame at the DUPs door. Evidently, the voters have come out and backed the DUP, and backed them strongly. He added that his party wanted to see a return of Stormont but it needed to be on a sustainable basis. He said: It was the number one issue on our campaign manifesto, to restore devolution on a sustainable and long-term basis, and that requires nationalist and unionist consent, because it serves nobodys interests if we have stop-start devolution on a short-term basis. We have stood up to the bullying and bad deals, we have put ourselves forward to get a fair and balanced outcome that can restore devolution on a long-term and sustainable basis. As long as it takes, its about getting it right. Mr Buckley said the nationalist vote was coalescing around Sinn Fein and added that unionist voters wanted to see their parties working together to maximise results. Alliance MLA Eoin Tennyson said it had been a fantastic election for his party and said the message was that the Assembly must return. He said: Almost 75% of people who cast their first preference votes voted for parties who want to get back to work and I think it is time the DUP reflect on that, listen to what the public are telling them and move on. What people want is the Assembly restored and delivering for them, that needs to happen on Monday morning. SDLP MP Claire Hanna said her party had suffered a disappointing result but was in a process of modernisation. She said: There isnt any politics around at the moment in the absence of an Assembly, we are not talking about changing peoples lives, about bread and butter issues, and we believe that when governance and outcomes return to politics that that context will better favour the SDLP. We are turning around years, possibly decades, of failure to modernise and that requires all hands on deck. A different leader couldnt have got the DUP back into government, a different leader couldnt have really matched the financial resources of other parties. She added: We know what needs to happen. The DUP need to take their courage, they need to lead and to give the people of Northern Ireland what they want, and that is governance. Ulster Unionist councillor Philip Smith said the challenge for unionist parties was the low turnout of voters. He said: The two key statistics of this election were when you compare 2019 unionism had 44% of the vote, that has now dropped to 39% and nationalism is on a par with unionism and I think we need to reflect on that, we need unionism as a whole to think how it grows its offering. There is definitely a pro-union majority still in Northern Ireland, the challenge is it is not coming out for political unionism. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister is being urged to order an investigation following claims the Home Secretary asked civil servants to help her avoid incurring points on her licence for speeding. Suella Braverman allegedly requested that Home Office aides help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course after she was caught speeding last summer as she looked to swerve accepting points on her licence. According to The Sunday Times, civil servants refused the request, leading Mrs Braverman to turn to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. The newspaper reported that a number of requests were made to a speeding awareness course provider by an aide, including asking if the senior Conservative minister would be able to undertake an online course, but be allowed to use an alias or have her camera switched off. This report suggests Suella Braverman has tried to abuse her position to get round the normal penalties so it is one rule for her and another for everyone else Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper The suggestions were said to have been refused, with Mrs Braverman later choosing to forgo the course altogether and accepting three points on her driving licence. Labour and the Liberal Democrats are calling for Mrs Braverman to face a probe by the Prime Ministers adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Laurie Magnus. The rules currently mean that Rishi Sunak would have to commission his ethics tsar to look into the allegations, which Labour has suggested could breach the ministerial code a set of rules all ministers must abide by or face sanctions, including potentially being sacked. A source close to Mrs Braverman told PA news agency the speeding ticket and subsequent arrangements for dealing with it were reported to the Cabinet Office at the time. They said the Home Secretary was keen to arrange a course, rather than take the points, due to concerns around her insurance premium potentially increasing. Mrs Braverman was reportedly issued with a speeding notice by police after being caught driving faster than the speed limit on a road outside London when she was attorney general in the summer of 2022. She was offered the choice of paying the fine and receiving three points, attending the course in lieu of points and the fine, or challenging the speeding notice. The Sunday Times said it was after being appointed home secretary by former prime minister Liz Truss that she attempted to engage civil servants in the Home Office about trying to secure a special arrangement for a driving course. Mrs Braverman resigned on October 19 as home secretary after sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission. She was, however, reappointed Home Secretary by Mr Sunak only six days later when he entered No 10. It was at this point that she decided to drop her pursuit of a driving awareness course, instead taking the points, the newspaper reported. Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the reports were shocking. She said: As Home Secretary, Suella Braverman is responsible for upholding the law, yet this report suggests she has tried to abuse her position to get round the normal penalties so it is one rule for her and another for everyone else. Weve had 13 years of the Tories trying to dodge the rules for themselves and their mates. Enough is enough. The Home Secretary and the Prime Minister need to both urgently explain what has been going on, including what the Prime Minister knew when he reappointed her. Rishi Sunak was too weak to deal with her the last time she broke the ministerial code, is he still too weak to take action now? Mrs Braverman accepted three points for a speeding offence which took place last summer A source close to Home Secretary Suella Braverman The Prime Minister has promised integrity, professionalism and accountability, yet it appears his Home Secretary is blatantly flouting all three. We need an urgent investigation into what has gone on here, starting with Laurie Magnus seeing how this is possibly compatible with the ministerial code. Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dems home affairs spokesman, said: Once again for the Government its one rule for them and another for the rest of us. Suella Braverman should be urgently investigated by the ethics adviser and add her name to the near endless list of ministers who have had to undergo the same. Time and time again we are seeing a conveyor belt of Conservative politicians run roughshod over the rules and drag our politics into the gutter. Now, the buck stops with Rishi Sunak himself to stop the endless headlines of sleaze and scandal. A source close to the Home Secretary said: Mrs Braverman accepted three points for a speeding offence which took place last summer. The Cabinet Office was notified of this as requested by Mrs Braverman. She was not and is not disqualified from driving. According to the Governments website, a motorist can be banned from driving if they have 12 or more penalty points on their licence. The Sunday Times said that civil servants, before refusing Mrs Bravermans request for them to set-up a bespoke driving course arrangement for her, contacted the Cabinet Office for advice. A Cabinet Office spokesman, asked to confirm the report, said: It would not be appropriate to comment on the existence or content of advice between Government departments. A spokesman for the Home Secretary said: Mrs Braverman accepts that she was speeding last summer and regrets doing so. She took the three points and paid the fine last year. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Suella Braverman is facing allegations that she asked civil servants to help her avoid getting points on her licence for speeding. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to launch an investigation into the claims. During two stints as home secretary, Mrs Braverman has attracted criticism. Here are some of her controversial moments: Speeding points The Sunday Times reported Mrs Braverman asked Home Office aides to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course after being caught speeding last summer while attorney general. Officials refused the request, so the Home Secretary allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. The newspaper said multiple requests were made to a speeding awareness course provider by an aide, including asking if the senior Conservative minister could do an online course, but use an alias or have her camera switched off. Mrs Braverman ultimately chose instead to accept three points on her driving licence. Labours shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper was among those demanding an investigation to see whether she breached the ministerial code. Email about civil servants In March, an email sent out to Conservative Party members in Mrs Bravermans name blamed an activist blob of left-wing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour Party for blocking previous attempts to tackle illegal migration. She was accused of potentially breaking ministerial rules by questioning the impartiality of public servants after the publication of the Governments Illegal Migration Bill. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union which represents senior civil servants, said the email amounted to a direct attack on the integrity and impartiality of those working in the Home Office. The Prime Ministers press secretary told reporters Mrs Braverman did not see, sign off or sanction the email, which she said was sent in error. Sacking and reappointment Liz Truss forced Mrs Braverman out as home secretary in October 2022 after she breached the ministerial code by sending an official document to a Tory backbencher from a personal email. Mrs Braverman, who had been in the role six weeks, said she made a mistake which she conceded was a technical infringement of the rules. Six days later, after Ms Truss resigned as prime minister, her successor Mr Sunak reinstated Mrs Braverman. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats raised national security concerns and demanded a Cabinet Office investigation. Outburst against tofu-eating wokerati Just before being sacked, Mrs Braverman accused opposition parties of being a coalition of chaos when discussing the Public Order Bill to crack down on disruptive protests. She told the Commons: Its the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today. Ms Cooper said Mrs Bravermans words were astonishing, adding: The home secretary actually talked about a coalition of chaos we can see it in front of us as we speak. Rwanda comments The Home Secretary attracted criticism when talking about migration during a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in October last year. Mrs Braverman said she would love to be here claiming victory, I would love to be having a front page of the Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, thats my dream, thats my obsession. She said it would be amazing if the first UK flight carrying migrants to the African country could take off by Christmas, but added: If Im honest, I think its going to take longer. Clashes with Downing Street On at least two occasions while Ms Truss was prime minister, she expressed views which put her at odds with Government policy. Ms Braverman said she had reservations about relaxing immigration controls as part of any trade deal with India, telling the Spectator magazine she had concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India because I dont think thats what people voted for with Brexit. Her comments were reported to have provoked a furious reaction from ministers and officials in New Delhi. She also faced criticism from a senior Government source for calling on the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, who said: Her personal views are contrary to Government policy and if she wishes to make those views known within Government she should do so in a more appropriate setting. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Nearly $100,000 has been donated to a GoFundMe campaign for a hospital worker in New York after a video of her arguing with a man over a rental bike was posted on social media. Sarah Comrie, a physicians assistant at Bellevue Hospital, was placed on leave by her employer after the clip of her arguing with a man over a Citi Bike appeared online and was widely shared. A GoFundMe page was launched by Bob Roe, who described himself as her uncle. He wrote that Ms Comrie, who is white, had been "unfairly painted" as a "racist Karen. The man who Ms Comrie was allegedly trying to take the bike from is Black. The man involved in the argument has not spoken publicly about the incident or been identified since the video went viral. The fundraiser's goal was set at $96,000 but had reached close to $98,500 on Sunday. The new goal for the fundraiser is $120,000. Mr Roe said that the facts supported that his niece was right to take the bike but that the "damage has been done" to her reputation. "She does not wish to become a cause celebre, but the legal bills to save her livelihood and her reputation obviously are mounting," Mr Roe wrote. He added that Ms Comrie, who is pregnant, has received "multiple threats" and ongoing harassment on social media. Ms Comrie's lawyer said that she has a receipt showing she rented the bike, according to The Messenger. In the 90-second video, Ms Comrie can be seen straddling the bike while arguing with a man who says it is his rental bike. She yells out for help from a passerby while the man repeats, "this is not your bike". She claims in the video that the man is touching her and potentially putting her "unborn child" at risk. The video does not show the man touching her. Ms Comrie grabs a phone from the man, which he demands back. During the short video another man, wearing medical scrubs, comes over and tells Ms Comrie to take another bike at which point she does. The events surrounding the video are unclear but Ms Comrie's lawyer insisted that the situation has been taken out of context. "Every part of that story is incorrect starting with my client is not a racist. Two, my client did not take anyone elses bike," lawyer Justin Marino told NBC New York. Mr Marino threatened legal action if Ms Comrie is fired from her hospital job. "There was nothing other than the difference in skin color that suggests race had anything to do with it," he said. "Were hoping that her employer will not violate her rights, if they do, they will be added to the list of people that we sue." Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A convicted drug dealer, given a second chance after a pardon by former President Barack Obama, has been arrested for attempted murder in a shooting which left a woman with traumatic brain injuries, police said. Alton Mills, 54, had his life sentence commuted in 2015 after serving 22 years. In the early hours of Sunday, a group of friends in a car leaving a nightclub overtook Mr Mills SUV at a red light in Posen, near Chicago, according to Assistant States Attorney Kathryn Morrissey. Mr Mills then allegedly sped up to the other car, lowered his window, and fired three shots. One bullet struck a woman who was sleeping in the back seat of the car, and doctors have said they do not expect her to survive her injuries. Her name has not been released. The driver of the vehicle pulled into a fire station to dial 911, and Illinois State Police tracked down Mr Mills. Investigators said that Mr Mills admitted to firing the shots. He was charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and is being held without bond at the Cook County Jail. Police subsequently searched Mr Mills home and found 40-caliber bullets that matched those used in the shooting. His vehicle also tested positive for gunshot residue. Mr Mills was arrested on federal conspiracy charges in 1993 for selling cocaine, and was later convicted. Although he was found with less than five grams of crack cocaine in his possession, prosecutors sought a charge enhancement that boosted his sentence to life in prison, according to The Daily Mail. Alton Mills, 54, is charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder (Illinois State Police) The push for Mr Mills to be pardoned began with Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. He requested his sentence be shortened, noting that Mr Mills' first two drug convictions did not result in jail time. Mr Mills case was rolled into a broader initiative by the Obama administration to grant clemency to non-violent offenders jailed during the US war on drugs in the 1990s, which disproportionately targeted Black people. Senator Durbin argued at the time that Mr Mills has shown personal growth during two decades in prison, and that he had community support waiting for him in Chicago. Once he was released, Mr Mills began working as a mechanic in Chicago before taking a job as a janitor. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Three people were killed and two others were wounded in a mass shooting at a nightclub in Kansas City, Missouri in the early hours of Sunday. The fatal incident is at least the fifth mass shooting in the US this weekend and brings the total number of mass shootings in America to more than 230 this year, or at least one every day in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Police in Kansas City responded to the shooting at Klymax Lounge at roughly 1.25am during a performance by the rapper Nutty Still Gassin, according to officials. Three victims were transported by emergency responders to nearby hospitals, police told The Independent. Two victims were pronounced dead at the scene. One victim was found outside the lounge and the second was discovered inside, according to police. A third victim died in hospital. At least two other people were injured. One person remains in critical condition and another is in stable condition, police told The Independent. Law enforcement have not publicly identified a suspect, and events surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear. All of the victims are adults, according to police, though officials have not yet released their names and ages. One man, identified by family members as 41-year-old Jason McConnell, was reportedly fatally shot while working as a security guard at the club, his family told The Kansas City Star. He was remembered by his stepdaughter Honystye Chancellor as good and nice and always trying to keep us on the right path, she told the newspaper. One woman who lives near the club told The Star that she woke up to the sound of 10 gunshots followed by another five. A womans body could be seen at the doors to the club, and two other bodies at the base of a nearby street lamp, the woman told the newspaper. The fatal shooting in Missouri appears to have happened at roughly the same time that four people were wounded during a shooting outside a bar in Birmingham, Alabama. On Saturday, four people were injured in a shooting near a luxury high-rise apartment building in Los Angeles, while four others were shot at a party in Thomson, Georgia. Three teenagers and one adult were also shot in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday. This weekends violence comes in one of the deadliest years for mass shootings in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The organisation and gun reform advocacy group, Everytown for Gun Safety, consider incidents in which at least four people are killed or wounded as a mass shooting. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A woman who was reported missing from her home in west Texas was found dead on Saturday, and a man has been arrested in connection to her death, police said. Madeline Pantoja, 20, was reported missing on 11 May. Her keys, phone and car were still at her home in Midland when police arrived to follow up on her disappearance. After an investigation by Midland Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, Ms Pantojas body was found on Saturday in a rural area outside the city limits. Hours after her remains were discovered, police arrested Mario Juan Chacon Jr, 24, on suspicion of killing Ms Pantoja. He has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bond at the Midland County Jail. Police did not provide further details on Ms Pantoja's death however it is believed to be a homicide, pending autopsy results. Ms Pantoja was last seen around 11pm on 10 May after she spent the evening out with her friends in Midland. After family and friends were unable to reach her the following day, she was reported missing, prompting police to visit her home. Her friends told police that they believed a recent ex-boyfriend could be behind her disappearance. Ms Pantojas neighbors also told police that they heard a man and a woman arguing inside her residence on the night of her disappearance. Police have not said whether or not Mr Chacon Jr was Ms Pantojas ex-boyfriend. The young womans disappearance sparked a search using drones and multiple law enforcement agencies. Mario Juan Chacon, Jr in a booking photo. He has been charged with first-degree murder connected to the death of Madeline Pantoja (Midland County Sheriffs Office) Ms Pantoja's loved ones were reportedly frustrated by the pace of the search, which led to approximately 100 people protesting outside Midland Police headquarters on Thursday. They called for "justice" over the "lack of investigation," according to local outlet KTSM. Midland Mayor Lori Blong said on Friday that law enforcement agencies searching for Ms Pantoja were working tirelessly in searching and in gathering information and evidence on her whereabouts. A man claiming to be Ms Pantojas older brother, Christian, established a GoFundMe page to generate reward money for information in his sisters disappearance. On Sunday, the page had raised approximately $27,000. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A shoot-out at a car show in northern Mexico has left at least 10 people dead and nine others injured, the municipal government said on Saturday. Gunfire erupted during an all-terrain car racing show in the San Vicente area of the city of Ensenada, the Baja California state attorney generals office said. People with long guns were seen getting out of a van and shooting at the participants around 2.18pm local time, reported Reuters. Municipal and state police, the Marines, the Fire Department and Mexican Red Cross were among the agencies who responded to the scene. Video footage of the shooting was posted on social media and showed people running after gunfire erupts in the arena. Several figures can be seen lying on the ground. The wounded were transported to hospitals in northern Baja California by Mexicos Red Cross, reported Fox8. The director of the Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias said that the mass shooting was due to a fight between the CJNG (cartel) and the Sinaloa cartel, citing unnamed sources, according to theTimes of San Diego. The organisers of the two-day event shared a message of sympathy following the shooting and said that unfortunately, what happened during the tour was not in our hands. We are as baffled as all of you since we have nothing to do with what happened, the message read. Attorney General Ricardo Ivan Carpio Sanchez commissioned a special investigation into the shooting. The identities or nationalities of the victims have not been identified. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Alumni are criticising a small New York Christian university for firing two employees who refused to remove gender pronouns from their email signatures. In April, Raegan Zelaya and Shua Wilmot, residence hall directors at Houghton University, were fired from their positions, after they put she/her and he/him on their emails. In a widely-circulated termination letter to Ms Zelaya, the school wrote that it fired her shortly before the end of the semester as a result of your refusal to remove pronouns in your email signature and because she criticised the decision in the student newspaper. Mr Wilmot said he was also accused of making a threat towards the general superintendent of the Wesleyan Church. The university is affiliated with the conservative branch of the Methodist Church. Mr Wilmot had written what he described as a constructive letter to Superintendent Wayne Schmidt about the churchs views on gender identity and expression, saying they were outdated and problematic. A spokesperson for the university told The New York Times this week that the school has never terminated an employment relationship based solely on the use of pronouns in staff email signatures. Over the past years, weve required anything extraneous be removed from email signatures, including Scripture quotes, a spokesperson said. In a video last month explaining the incident, the ex-residence hall directors, neither of whom is transgender, said their decision to put pronouns in emails was meant both as a gesture of inclusivity, and because people often werent able to tell their genders from their first names over email. It is pretty standard industry practice ... to include your pronouns in your email signature, Ms Zelaya said, in the video. They explained that pronouns are often shared during conferences, interviews and other professional events. Its professional courtesy I can offer, and its a way I can show care and dignity for others, she added. Calling people by the name they like to be called, using the pronouns that they use, thats just a way to dignify them and humanize them, Mr Wilmot continued. By normalizing the visiblity of pronouns in an email signture, I can play a small role ... in empowering others to also share their pronouns in an email signature, thus it normalizes a less emotional labourious way for gender-expansive people to out themselves. Houghton University is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church, which teaches that gender confusion and dysphoria are ultimately the biological, psychological, social and spiritual consequences of the human races fallen condition and views adult gender nonconformity as a violation of the sanctity of human life. Mr Wilmot also defended his decision to speak out in a Facebook post last month. I would just like to express how profoundly grateful I am to have enough privilege to stand up for truth and justice at the expense of a job, he wrote. If any of you are ever in a position where you believe your employer is asking you to do something unjust or unethical, please reach out to me and others for encouragement and empowerment. In April, an open letter with nearly 600 signatures of Houghton University alumni criticised the employees firings as part of a seemingly broader turn against multiculturalism at the school. The letter highlighted the recent closure of a multicultural student centre. Our overall concern is that these recent changes demonstrate a concerning pattern of failure on the part of the current administration to respect that faithful and active Christians reasonably hold a range of theological and ethical views, and in turn, failure to allow for genuine dialogue about these differing views. In this way, Houghton is not living up to its own ideals, the alumni wrote. In a response earlier this month, university president Wayne D Lewis Jr defended closing the student centre for budgetary reasons, and didnt explicitly mention the firings. While we require that all Houghton employees be active Christians, our employees come from a range of Christian traditions, his letter reads. We do, however, require as a condition of employment that all employees be respectful of the positions, doctrine, and beliefs of the university. However, Houghton unapologetically privileges an orthodox Christian worldview, rooted in the Wesleyan theological tradition. At the time of their appointment and again annually, every Houghton employee affirms his or her understanding of and agreement to these commitments. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Over the past week, a story alleging that homeless military veterans were booted from New York hotel rooms being used as temporary shelters to make way for newly arrived migrants dominated right-wing networks and tabloid newspapers. The front page ofThe New York Post ran with VETS KICKED OUT FOR MIGRANTS on 13 May, and the story was picked up by Fox News and Newsmax, where former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin claimed that our veterans again are being kicked to the curb. Republican officials immediately seized on the story as purported evidence for the crisis at the US-Mexico border and in Democratic-led US cities. But that story was false. The claims appear to have originally come from founder of a veterans advocacy group, according to The Mid Hudson News and The Times Union of Albany. Recommended Eric Adams weakens shelter mandate as New York City anticipates more migrant arrivals after Title 42 expires The storys unraveling has also placed that woman, Sharon Toney-Finch, and her nonprofit, Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, under the scrutiny of state investigators and raised questions about her own military history. Over the last year, New York Citys Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has struggled to find shelters and long-term housing for hundreds of migrants who are being bused north from Republican border states. Earlier this month, the Adams administration reportedly clashed with officials in Orange County, upstate New York, over his plans to send two buses of migrants to the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh. That plan was paused on 10 May. On 12 May, The New York Post ran a story alleging that nearly two dozen struggling homeless veterans have been booted from upstate hotels to make room for migrants. Ms Toney-Finchs group was cited as the source for the information. But reporters from The Times Union and Mid Hudson News, two outlets based in upstate New York, could not find any of the allegedly displaced veterans, and Crossroads, the hotel at the centre of the controversy ,said it did not have any records of veterans recently staying there. Homeless men told The Times Union that they were approached by unidentified recruiters at a shelter in Poughkeepsie, New York, taken to a diner, offered money and bags of toiletries, then transported to a nearby veterans centre to pose as veterans who were kicked out of a hotel. Asked by the Associated Press about the alleged scheme, Ms Toney-Finch did not say whether the claims were fabricated but stated that we should have verified better. The Independent has requested comment from Ms Toney-Finch and the foundation. New York Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the apparent scheme, telling reporters that people seeking asylum were sent there with a legal contract between the city of New York and a hotel owner. They are allowed to contract that way and if people want to fabricate stories to undermine the whole process, I think its reprehensible, she added. New York Attorney General Letitia James is looking into the allegations, her office told Politico. Yerik Israel Toney Foundation works to help homeless and low-income military service veterans in need of living assistance, according to the groups website. Ms Toney-Finch was inducted into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame in 2022 and is listed in the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor. Last week, she was honoured by New York State Senator Rob Rolison as a woman of distinction, who also noted that she is a Purple Heart recipient. However while Ms Toney-Finch has received several military honours, there is nothing to indicate that she is a Purple Heart recipient, according to a review of her military records by The Daily Beast. The fake story played into the right-wing outrage that has reached fever pitch since the expiration of Title 42, a Trump-era border policy, that Republican officials and pundits predicted would result in immigration chaos. Prominent New York Republicans used the apparent story to condemn Democratic officials. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik sharedThe Posts front cover on social media on 13 May. Bidens America. Kathy Hochuls New York. Eric Adamss New York City, she wrote. A disgrace. Congressman Mike Lawler called the alleged incident a debacle. If Mayor Eric Adams had a shred of decency, he would drive up to Orange County tomorrow and apologize to these veterans himself, he said, in a statement on 12 May. It was later removed from his website. Mr Lawler later called the bogus story and Ms Toney-Finch appalling. Her decision to exploit our veterans and the genuine admiration and love our community has for them could have turned an already tense situation into something much worse, he said in a statement. Brian Maher, a Republican state assembly member, told Fox News on 15 May that the claims were a slap in the face to veterans, to citizens of New York in this country, who are really being cast aside to allow for asylum seekers to come here. He later apologised for spreading the foundations false claims and distanced himself from the group. While I believed Sharon was telling the truth, I do want to apologize for those that have been negatively impacted since this news broke, he said. Mr Maher also called for investigations by the New York State Attorney General and the Orange County District Attorney into the incident. Mayor Adams has repeatedly pressed for federal assistance while continuing to search for housing options for tens of thousands of people who have arrived in New York in the past year. With the end of Title 42, the state is preparing for several thousand additional people seeking shelter each week, according to the governors recent emergency order. [U]pwards of 500 people arrived each day as the city prepared for the end of Title 42, according to the mayors spokesperson Fabien Levy. In 2022, NYC agencies sheltered more than 61,000 asylum seekers, with roughly 37,500 people in city shelters and emergency housing. New York City shelters house more than 75,000 people on any given night, while countless remain on the streets, according to Coalition for the Homeless. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} An attorney working Donald Trumps legal team has quit, citing in-fighting among the former presidents inner circle. Timothy Parlatore left his role this week, according to The New York Times, after working for Mr Trump for at least a year. In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Mr Parlatore explained that the reason for his departure was ongoing friction with Boris Epshteyn, another legal adviser to Mr Trump. Mr Epshteyn, according to Mr Parlatore, has been stonewalling the legal team in their attempts to ascertain whether all presidential records that Mr Trump took with him when he left the White House had been turned over to the National Archives. The removal of official presidential records by Mr Trump led to the Justice Departments raid of his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, last fall. Mr Epshteyn attempted to interfere with attorneys efforts to search Mar-a-Lago for more documents, Mr Parlatore said. The advisor also served as kind of a filter to prevent us from getting information to the client, feeding Mr Trump his own opinions instead, Mr Parlatore told CNN. The real reason is because there are certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be. In particular, there is one individual who works for him, Boris Epshteyn, who had really done everything he could to try to block us, to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president, said Mr Parlatore. In my opinion, he was not very honest with us or with the client on certain things, he added. Mr Trumps team denied Mr Parlatores characterisation of the events leading to his departure. Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team. His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false, a spokesperson told CNN. The legal issues of Mr Trump remain under intense scrutiny after he announced his third presidential campaign for the White House in 2024. Earlier this month, Mr Trump was found liable in a civil lawsuit over the sexual abuse of the writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s. At one point during his deposition, Mr Trump appeared to confuse an image of Ms Carroll with his ex-wife, Marla Maples after previously claiming that Ms Carroll was not his type. Mr Trump is facing a host of other legal battles, both criminal and civil, which threaten him and his business empire. New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating a civil fraud case against the Trump Organization and the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting him for hush payments he allegedly directed to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. In Georgia, Fulton Countys District Attorney Fani Willis is deliberating whether to prosecute Mr Trump or members of his team for their attempts to overturn the states presidential election results in 2020. Close Donald Trump Jr accidentally says his father has the charisma of a mortician in bungled attack video Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Prosecutors in Mr Trumps criminal case in Manhattan have shared a recording of the former president speaking to a witness with Mr Trumps legal team, according to CBS News. The witness hasnt been identified, a document made public by the prosecutorial office on Friday stated. The document is known as an automatic discovery form and outlines the charges that a defendant is facing and also provides an overview of the evidence gathered against Mr Trump thats set to be put forward at trial or at a preliminary hearing. Meanwhile, as competition builds for the Republican Partys 2024 presidential nomination, Mr Trumps other legal woes continue to mount as a maintenance worker has made a shocking claim about the handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The worker recalled helping to move boxes into a storage room just one day before the Department of Justice visited Mar-a-Lago seeking the papers, reported The New York Times. The worker didnt know what the boxes contained at the time. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A mountain climber has reportedly gone missing after reaching the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, his family said on Saturday. Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya, an Indian-origin man set out on an expedition from Singapore where he resides to climb the highest peak in the world last month. On Friday, when he climbed the summit, his family said that he had gone missing. According to reports, Mr Dattatraya seemed to have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness. The change.org petition, made by one of his cousins Divya Bharath, states that on the way down, Mr Dattatraya got separated from the rest of the group he was travelling with, and resulted in him having fallen down at around 8,000m, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain. Ms Bharath said that a team of sherpas began the search operations on Saturday morning but we realise we have got to do more and act faster. The petition, titled Lets bring Shrinivas back states that he had been preparing himself rigorously in the past year. It adds: We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain, as well as to ensure that this whole rescue op is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork (given Tibet, Nepal). It further states that only with their support can we ensure that Shri is found as soon as possible. Channel News Asia reported that Mr Dattatraya was part of an expedition organised by Seven Summit Treks, a Nepalese company that offers guided climbs on Mount Everest and other mountains. News site BNN said that on the way down, he disappeared from the site. His sherpa guide, however, managed to reach the final camp situated between Mount Everest and Lhotse mountain, at 8.00pm on Friday. According to Nepals tourism department, more than 400 climbers have already reached the top since last Saturday. Mr Dattatrayas wife, Sushma Soma shared on her Instagram story: Guys I need your more than ever. My husband is missing at Everest and we are racing against time to get the rescue efforts moving. She shared the Change.org petition and urged followers to please sign this petition and spread it to your circles. Ms Soma, 36, told The Straits Times: Through his satellite phone, he told me that he had made it to the summit. But then he followed with bad news, saying he would not be able to make it down. She added that he told her he had come down with high-altitude cerebral oedema (Hace), a severe type of high-altitude illness that could prove fatal. CNA also reported that the authorities have been in close contact with the climbers family, local authorities in Nepal and emergency medical services since Friday evening. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Six NSW police officials used two sets of handcuffs on a distressed 81-year-old woman battling dementia at her nursing home in Sydney, bodycam footage has revealed. Rachel Grahame reportedly took a lanyard from a staff member at her Sydney nursing home in October 2020. Bodycam footage of police officials has revealed that the officers surrounded Grahame and handcuffed her late at night at St Basils aged care home in Randwick on 31 October 2020. The crying and howling woman can be seen asking the officials why they are handcuffing her. Visibly in distress, she cries out to one of the officers and calls him a big brute. The family of Grahame later sued the NSW police and the police settled the lawsuit in November 2021. Now Rachels daughter, Emma Grahame has spoken publicly about the distressing incident. In an interview with the Guardian, she said: It just showed me that the police have learned nothing from the actions that we took against them. Her comments come in the wake of revelations that police used a Taser on 95-year-old dementia patient, Clare Nowland in Cooma recently. This is one of the reasons I am happy to go public now, to point out that this is not the first time that this has happened. It might bring other people out as well, she said. The six officers physically restrained Grahame by holding her arms and legs, the bodycam video shows. Grahame later needed to be taken to a hospital. Ms Grahame obtained the video and police notes of the incident using the states freedom of information regime, Guardian reported. The notes said that the care staff at the nursing home told police that Grahame was aggressive and was forcefully sat in a chair by multiple nurses. Police notes say that when they arrived, she struck out at one officer with her arm, striking the officer on the arm twice. Police also recorded that Grahame was trying to bite, kick and strike police while they held her arms and legs. The notes say police were unable to reason with her and that she was speaking incoherently throughout the encounter. Emma Grahame said her mother received no apology from the police. The point is really, that they shouldnt be there in the first place, she said. Meanwhile, Ms Nowland remained in critical condition after police used a Taser on her last week. Close G7 summit: Zelensky and Fumio Kishida lay wreaths at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Russia is plotting a large-scale provocation at a nuclear power station it occupies in the south-east of Ukraine to disrupt a looming counteroffensive, Kyivs military intelligence has said. A statement from the intelligence directorate of Ukraines Defence Ministry claimed Russian forces will strike the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, and report a radioactive leak in order to trigger an international probe that would pause the hostilities and give them the respite they need to regroup. In order to make that happen, Russia disrupted the rotation of personnel of the permanent monitoring mission of the UNs International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that was scheduled for Saturday, the statement said. It did not offer evidence to back up any of the claims, while the IAEA said it did not have any immediate comment on the allegations, and Russian officials did not immediately comment. This comes after Dmitry Medvedev, who is Russias security council deputy chairman, alleged the West was not fully realising the threat of nuclear war. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky said at least one person was killed and 15 were injured in a Russian missile strike on a clinic in Dnipro on Friday. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Police are investigating the suspected poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference in Germany organised by a high-profile Kremlin critic. Detectives in Berlin said a file had been opened after two women reported symptoms suggesting a possible poisoning, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported, citing Russian investigative media group Agentstvo. The conference was arranged by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oligarch-turned-dissident who was once one of Russias richest men. Police gave no further details, citing ongoing investigations. The media reports said one of the women was a journalist and her symptoms may have already appeared before the conference on 29 and 30 April. She went to the Charite hospital in Berlin. The second woman was Natalia Arno, director of the NGO Free Russia Foundation. She wrote on her Facebook page that she found the door to her hotel room had been left ajar. She also wrote: I woke up at 5 am, suffering sharp pain and strange symptoms. Several poison attacks have been carried out abroad and in Russia against Kremlin opponents in recent years. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was treated in Russia and later in Germany for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia in 2020. The government in Moscow has denied accusations. The gathering was organised by Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Getty) Mr Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany. He was arrested in January of that year and has been in prison since. Mr Khodorkovsky, who made his fortune during the Yeltsin era, had his wings clipped by Russian president Vladimir Putin for criticising the regime in the early 2000s. He was arrested on tax fraud charges after attempting to sell a stake in his oil company Yukos to ExxonMobil, the US oil and gas giant. He was jailed in May 2005 and not released until December 2013. He later moved to the UK. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The leader of a Russian mercenary group has said he will pull its fighters from Bakhmut after claiming to have captured the Ukrainian city. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk-Oblast region, had been captured by his private army on Saturday afternoon - a claim Ukraine continues to dispute. Volodymyr Zelenskys deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar instead claimed Ukrainian forces have partly encircled the besieged eastern city along the flanks and still control a part of the city. Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy, she wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Therefore, the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls. Members of Wagner group waving a Russian national flag in Bakhmut (Telegram @concordgroup_official/AFP) Mr Prigozhin had earlier said on Telegraph that his soldiers would completely inspect Bakhmut and create the necessary defence lines before handing the city over to Russian soldiers in four days. We ourselves will go to field camps, he added. The mercenary leader posed with fighters on Saturday afternoon after claiming to have captured the city. Ukraine immediately denied the claim but admitted the situation in the Bakhmut was critical. Prigozhin says his troops will leave city by Thursday (AP) There was confusion on Sunday morning amid reports Mr Zelensky appeared to confirm Bakhmut had been captured while speaking at the G7 summit in Japan. But his spokesman later clarified that he did not say the city had fallen. Speaking alongside US president Joe Biden at the G7 gathering in Hiroshima, the Ukrainian president said the Russians had destroyed "everything" in Bakhmut and there was nothing left. "You have to understand that there is nothing," he said. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place." Russian president Vladimir Putin meanwhile hailed what he claimed was a victory for his forces, describing it as the "liberation" of Bakhmut in a statement on the Kremlins website. During the final day of the three-day G7 summit on Sunday, Mr Biden announced a $375 million package of military aid, including artillery and armoured vehicles, for Ukraine. Zelenksy with Biden at the G7 summit in Japan (AP) He told Mr Zelensky that the US was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraines defence against Russia, assuring the Ukrainian leader that the United States was not going anywhere, and would have Ukraines back. Other leaders of the G7 - the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada - echoed Mr Bidens sentiments. Mr Biden told G7 leaders Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s warplanes, although Kyiv has not won commitments for delivery of the fighter jets. The potential for such training on U.S.-made F-16s was a message to Russia that it should not expect to succeed in its invasion by prolonging conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. British prime minister Rishi Sunak said training would start this summer and Ukraine would get the air force it needed for the future. With reporting from agencies Joe Biden pledged a shared and unwavering commitment to stand with Ukraine during his speech at the G7 summit. The US president said: This morning I once more shared and assured President Zelensky together with all G7 members and our allies and partners around the world that we will not waver. Putin will not break our resolve, as he thought he could two years ago, almost three years ago. Mr Bidens speech in Japan has been dominated by Russias illegal invasion of its neighbour. Click here to sign up for our newsletters. Volodymyr Zelensky and Fumio Kishida laid wreaths at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. The Ukrainian president and Japanese PM paid tribute to victims of the WW2 atomic bomb attack which killed about 140,000 people. Ukraine has been the main focus of the summit. The G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Russia after 15 months of the invasion of Ukraine. Click here to sign up for our newsletters. In spite of layoffs, the tech giants remain great places to work A man walks past the construction site of a microchip manufacturing facility on Intel's Leixlip campus in Co Kildare NurPhoto via Getty Images A view of the entrance to Google's European headquarters building on Barrow Street, in Dublin's Grand Canal area Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The jury is still out on working in the office or from home Getty Images Tech firms are still the favoured destination for many graduates Getty Images The last six months have been the toughest for tech firms in almost a decade. So does that mean theyre less decent places to work? Are there any other signals we can take from this years Best Employers data to indicate whether Irelands love affair with tech giants is waning? Do they still remain a good bet for someone leaving school or college? Despite near-universal rounds of job layoffs in recent months, tech firms still dominate this years top 10 (with five entries, including first and second). There are eight in the top 15. A salary of 100,000 for someone in their 20s is not out of the ordinary To understand why, a closer look at Dublins flagship multinational tech employer, Google, is worth considering. In the last 12 months, the tech giant moved down one place, from first to second. At a time when it is laying off 240 people about 5pc of its staff here thats not a bad return. Like other tech multinationals in Dublin, Google has a few things that have kept both its own staff and those of competitors ranking it above almost every other private employer in the State. Pay and conditions are still toward the top of the market. A salary of 100,000 for someone in their 20s is not out of the ordinary. Food and other perks remain excellent compared to other companies in the market. The jury is still out on working in the office or from home Getty Images There has also been a solid commitment to high-end office buildings, throughout the re-emergence from Covid. In a world where some companies are starting to make people work from generic third-party hubs, or trying to sell them the freedom of working from their box room or their parents house, this is a draw for some younger workers. And theres still the draw of working on something you can commonly see in use, as most of Googles products or services are whether its ads or YouTube or Search or Android. Theres decent lateral movement around the company, too. Aside from a relative openness about moving between groups, Google has a large office in London and several across the US. Those who work there feel that theyre not hemmed in or facing a dead-end, no matter which part of the business they work in. While some of the other tech firms in the top 15 have similar infrastructural attractions Linkedin (1) and Microsoft (13) come to mind many dont. US tech firms have been a couple of years ahead of other sectors But what they lack in the best location or the finest free food, they often make up for in culture, the nebulous term that older workers sometimes scoff at but which can be very influential in attracting or retaining staff. Most professional Irish workers under the age of 35 have not known a difficult job market, and for many years have had their pick of employers. That has encouraged firms to compete for them, not just with salary, but with a more agreeable work atmosphere. US tech firms have been a couple of years ahead of other sectors, which is why they still often score higher than non-tech counterparts. Tech firms are still the favoured destination for many graduates Getty Images All that said, not all tech firms did as well this year as theyre used to. Intel barely scraped onto the list of top 150 companies, falling a whopping 89 places in the last 12 months. Putting so many workers on temporary unpaid leave even as an alternative to avoiding redundancies has obviously hit morale at the Kildare-based chip manufacturer. Salesforce fell even further, dropping 108 places (from 26th to 134th), a slide that is probably not unrelated to its own significant layoff announcements. SAP, PayPal and Amazon all fell out of the top 100, while Dropbox just about hung on, at number 100. IBM, Zendesk and Dell all slipped, though not by as much as some others. Ireland remains a country that is still fairly content to be working for tech companies Meta, which has had two separate layoff rounds in recent months and is generally considered to be more challenged than most top-tier tech multinationals based here, dropped out of the top 150 altogether, having placed 47th last year. And home-grown tech heroes such as Stripe and Intercom dont even make the top 150 list. That has to be balanced against the tech or tech-adjacent companies who entered the top 150 for the first time, or who returned to it after missing out last year. Those include some traditional telecoms firms such as Three (25), BT (28) and Sky (39), as well as online giants like Hubspot (60th) and TikTok (67th). Irish tech firms such as ESW (formerly known as eShopWorld) in 46th, Microchip Technology (15th) and Intact Software (83rd) are also either new entrants or big gainers. So overall, while some of the biggest tech employers have seen their position slip a little, Ireland remains a country that is still fairly content to be working for tech companies. It is still, for now, the tech companies who generally offer the best salaries Is there anything that could influence this either positively or negatively? Other than job cuts, the big development in tech this year has been the breakthrough of popular artificial intelligence systems into real life, such as Open AIs ChatGPT. This has already shaken some of the tech firms up, with Meta recently putting its own enhanced AI to use in how its ad placement system works. AIs most fearful critics say it could significantly affect the make-up and numbers of those in employment right now. AI will become a threat to many roles Getty Images Most of the tech firms mentioned above are likely to be in the first wave of employers who try out versions of the technology whether thats in recruitment, finance, or customer-facing roles. Optimists point out that such new systems typically spur new roles and jobs at tech companies, or new firms come in that specialise in their creation. Microsoft, for example, is ChatGPTs biggest investor, with a $10bn commitment. Thats likely to mean more of the tech being included in some of its core products and services, some of which are worked on at its Irish office. Otherwise, college graduates know that it is still, for now, the tech companies who generally offer the best salaries and the quickest upwardly mobile career paths. That looks unlikely to change anytime soon. Legal Businessman John Purdy has been appointed chairman of Johnson Hana, an ambitious alternative legal services provider. Purdy co-founded Irish cloud and managed-services company Ergo in 1993 and grew it to a 100m business with over 500 employees. He also spun off a fintech called Fenergo, which achieved unicorn status in 2021 after raising over $600m (557m) in funding, valuing the company at $1.1bn. Purdy was named EY Industry Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014. He takes over from the current chairman, Tony Keohane, who will move to an advisory role. Company recently secured 10.5m in funding from AIB Johnson Hana specialises in supporting in-house legal teams with legal process work. Using technology, process improvement, and a unique pricing model, Johnson Hana aims it to help clients reduce legal spend and improve operational efficiency. Founded in 2017 by brothers Dan and Alex Fox, the company is tapping into the significant change seen by in the industry in recent years, with an increasing split between legal advice and legal process work. Alternative legal services providers (ALSPs) undertake legal-process work which involves high-volume activity, such as contract management, litigation support and securitisations. Purdy was named EY Industry Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 Johnson Hana recently secured 10.5m in funding from AIB to assist in the rapid expansion of the business. It plans to grow its headcount to 500 by early 2024. In relation to the appointment of Purdy, CEO Dan Fox said: "His wealth of experience in building and scaling innovative businesses will be invaluable as we continue to grow and expand operations both domestically and internationally. "His bold and visionary business mindset will help guide us as we continue to challenge the status quo in the industry." Purdy said: Johnson Hana is a true disruptor in the legal-services industry, and I look forward to working with the team to continue driving innovation and challenging the traditional ways of working in the sector." Johnson Hana has also appointed Darragh Fitzpatrick, formerly of Rollworks (NextRoll Group) as its new Chief Revenue Officer. Fall in wholesale gas price should push household bills down as much as 20pc Toyota eyes the future as the electric era gains traction Steve Tormey was a reluctant recruit to join Toyota Ireland, which is now celebrating 50 years, but he has never regretted taking his father-in-laws bait Steve Tormey Chief Executive of Toyota Ireland says that hybrids may be more than just a stop-gap. Photo: Steve Humphreys Fearghal OConnor Sun 21 May 2023 at 03:30 The rock star opens up to Barry Egan about life in lockdown and why his new record was born out of a reflective period of change Noel Gallagher is remembering going home to Manchester in the mid-1970s after family summer holidays at his grannys house in Mayo. If the IRA had bombed somewhere in England when the Gallaghers were away, the family would notice a distinct shift in mood on their return. On one such occasion, Gallagher remembers the family car being searched by British army soldiers with sniffer dogs. The barricade erected by protesters to keep asylum seekers out of a county Clare accommodation centre has been lifted, Integration Minister Joe OBrien has confirmed. The protesters erected a blockade of roads near Magowna House in Inch, Co Clare, last week amid news asylum seekers were to be moved into the disused hotel. The move has caused division and saw political leaders call for its end. "I welcome the decision of residents to remove the blockade. My meeting with the residents on Thursday, in Ennis, was an honest open discussion and I am pleased that that engagement has helped bring some improvement to the situation, Minister OBrien said. Mr OBrien said he has agreed to return to the centre in four weeks, which he agreed with locals. He told Inch residents in Co Clare on Thursday that no new additional International Protection (IP) applicants will be brought to Magowna House over the next four weeks in an attempt to end the blockade. In Ennis on Thursday evening, Minister OBrien said that he made the proposal to a residents delegation as part of a bid to have the road barricades erected by locals to and from the former Magowna House hotel removed. The barricades have remained in place since 33 IP applicants arrived at Magowna House on Monday evening. A statement from the Inch Community Group said they have decided to continue our peaceful protest at both ends of the Magowna road. We welcome the engagement with the Minister over the past few days, and, for now, we will remove the so-called blockade as he has requested. We remain convinced that this location is totally unsuitable for the purpose of asylum seeker accommodation. We look forward to further discussions in the coming days. Inch community will not protest at Magowna House, the statement said. Clare senator Timmy Dooley said it was a very difficult week for locals and for new residents of Magowna house and that the news that the blockade would end was welcome. "So the lifting of a blockade, I'm hopeful, will reduce the tension, will de-escalate the situation and will allow people time and space to engage with each other in that area, and come to accept that their fears that they may have held or that they still hold over time, may not be as as relevant as they have been for the past six days and are still currently, Senator Dooley told RTEs This Week show. Mr Dooley agreed there were lessons to be learned around communicating with communities who are receiving asylum seekers but added that forward communication was not a panacea for all the issues around immigration. "There are some people who will have a problem with the principle in the first instance. So communication whilst it's helpful in my view, because you get the facts out, youre seen to be transparent, and it takes one issue off the table. It would be foolhardy and foolish to think that early communication will make all these issues go away, Mr Dooley said. The Clare senator added it was governments expectation that the Magowna residence would eventually welcome the full complement of 62 asylum seekers that it can house. He said Minister Joe OBrien made no concessions on this when meeting with locals this week. Meanwhile, Fine Gael Clare Senator Martin Conway said earlier today: I am very pleased to learn that protestors at Inch who had blocked to the hotel which is housing refugees say they will lift the barricade. This will bring to an end almost a week of disruption and protest to the area and will undoubtedly be welcomed by everyone in the locality. The barricade had brought a very unwelcome focus to Clare over the past six days and highlighted the importance of communication between all stakeholders when accommodating refugees. While I acknowledge communities right to express concerns, it is not right that anybodys movements should be restricted, impeded or stopped by any other party, and I see this move as a very positive sign and a direct result of the engagement that has taken place between community representatives, Government representatives and members of an Garda Siochana. I wish to pay tribute to all who involved themselves in the discussions over the past week for entering into them with a genuine desire to resolve differences. I would hope that all parties have learned from their negotiations and that as we move forward with future plans, any similar scenario will be avoided, Mr Conway said. Clare hotel blockade: We welcome new people to Ireland this just isnt the place for them Frustrated locals deny there are any undertones of racism to their blockade at Magowna House Gardai speak to staff outside Magowna House, Inch, Co Clare . Photo: PA PA Wayne O'Connor Sun 21 May 2023 at 03:30 An action against the Beacon Hospital taken by a barrister who was previously attacked by a major criminal will continue despite the legal professionals death last year. Sharon Byrne is chairperson of the Irish Bookmakers Association (IBA) There is an ongoing criminal investigation into suspected breaches of competition law. Photo: Getty Getty Images/Image Source The Meath home of the chairwoman of the Irish Bookmakers Association (IBA) was searched last month by officers from Irelands competition watchdog and from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, as part of a criminal investigation. Labre Park, home to Senator Eileen Flynn, has long been plagued by stigma and prejudice, writes Rodney Edwards A Traveller all his life, Paddy only ever rests here in his makeshift workshop at Labre Park, off the Kylemore Road in Dublin, Irelands oldest Traveller housing development. There are all kinds of bits and pieces piled up on shelves or along the floor a framed photograph of the Virgin Mary found in a skip, an old pram that he restored, colourful lamps, and a radio sat in the corner. Sometimes I suffer from mental health problems and I come in here, he says. If I am not in good spirits I come here to get away from everyone. Ill light the stove and make a cup of tea. I turn on the radio and fix a few things, but I dont want anyone tormenting me, I want peace. A sign above his head reads Home is a Happy Place. For Paddy and his neighbours, this is not just their happy place, it is their only place. But it comes at a cost. Earlier this month Senator Eileen Flynn told how a taxi she caught in the city centre refused to take her to her house in the Ballyfermot halting site. Senator Eileen Flynn exposes discrimination faced by Travellers That is nothing new, says Paddy, Flynns cousin and neighbour. But at the moment the discrimination that is facing Travellers feels like it is the worst ever. He cites the prevalence of racism in Ireland and says even ordering a takeaway meal for delivery is difficult. When they ask for the address, they say they cant deliver, or they tell you to meet them along the roadside instead. Taking refuge in his workshop, he says he yearns for the day when all people, regardless of their background, are treated as equals. I thought we were living in modern Ireland, we felt like the shield was coming off, like we were all equal. We dont feel like that now. We all need to be treated as one. The Traveller is more Irish than the majority of people in Ireland. Inequality, he says, is also prevalent at Labre Park, which was the first-purpose-built local authority Traveller scheme. Many of the caravans sit on uneven ground and next to Paddys, which is one of 20 caravans on the site, is the remains of a fire that was not cleaned up. That is a caravan that went on fire and as you can see, there is a bit of everything, he says, pointing to a burnt washing machine, bicycles, lawnmowers and bottles. If kids walk into the caravan in that, her mat is ruined, he says, turning to his wife Mary. A burnt site at Labre Park. Photo: Mark Condren For her, there is still a struggle for acceptance. Sometimes you go to the shops and you could have a group of security following you up and down because you are a Traveller. I am scared. She says worrying about the safety of her and her family keeps her up at night. My kids are facing discrimination right now, she says. She points at her son Isaac, who is nine. Tell him what it is like for you, Mary asks her son. It is not very nice, he replies. I feel bad because my friends can go into certain places for food and I cant, because Im a Traveller. I just want to eat with my friends. Senator Flynn, the first Traveller to become a member of the Oireachtas, speaks of systematic racism and discrimination and wants the State to recognise the Travellers as an indigenous community. I want them to apologise for all the wrongdoing that they did to us, such as the segregation. This Government continues to fail the Traveller community and it needs to recognise that how they treat us is wrong. What happened the other week set me back, big time. Her twin sister Sally says Labre Park, where she lives too, has long been plagued by stigma and prejudice. The two sisters are the youngest of nine children born and reared here. Prejudice is a pre-judgment; racism is you dont want a Traveller living beside you, she says. There is a huge difference between the two, but that stigma has become normalised. Eileen and I have seen it our entire lives. Sally says many of her neighbours suffer from mental health problems, and blames the discrimination that we face every day. The mental health issues are among the worst we have seen. Suicide is a big issue here, too, with many of our neighbours losing their lives. Travellers are no different to anyone else, we have the same challenges as well. As I am leaving Labre Park I meet Tommy, who keeps horses in a field nearby. He says discrimination is the biggest problem for Travellers today and believes things have to change, because it is a joke right now. What happened to Eileen happens to us all. Something needs to be done. Revealed: Government repeatedly rejected offers of thousands of beds to accommodate refugees last year Thousands of beds were turned down by officials over concerns about trade, tourism, infrastructure and safety in Irelands ports Cruise ships and other vessels were repeatedly offered to the Government last year Getty Images Hugh O'Connell Sun 21 May 2023 at 03:30 Revealed: Nicola Gallaghers father sent five emails to GAA about Rory Gallaghers alleged abuse Internal audit blames a deactivated address for failure to respond to Gerry Rooneys allegationsThe address was still Derry GAAs main point of contact on their website until a few days ago In an interview last week Nicola Gallagher, above with journalist Rodney Edwards, said the GAA 'knew about all of this, 100pc'. Photo: David Conachy Rodney Edwards Sun 21 May 2023 at 03:30 A Kildare residents association has reported Roderic OGorman to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) over his award of a contract to a company to house 80 international protection applicants in a protected structure. Ryevale Lawns Residents Association in Leixlip made a report to Sipo earlier this month with 10 complaints about the Integration Minister over his handling of matters at Ryevale House, which was turned into an international protection centre on March 30. The residents complain that Mr OGorman has breached planning law by interfering in a case where Kildare County Council has issued an enforcement notice against the contractor. It demands the building be returned to a single occupancy home from the current 80-bed facility, which it said was transformed in alleged breach of planning rules for a protected structure. The stately house was bought for 1.6m last year by Me Liberer Ltd, which residents are told is owned by developer Ronan Mallon. The council has written to the projects developer to say it could face fines or imprisonment for failing to comply with a notice to return the house to its previous condition. Mr OGorman has previously expressed his displeasure at the decision of the new owners to remove a number of trees from its grounds. However, he told the Dail on April 18 that his department was assured by the projects planning consultant that the house did not require planning permission to change its use. The minister had already been warned by Ryevale residents that Kildare County Council had written to the projects managers in March to warn that developing the house for international protection applicants could be an unauthorised development. In the letter of complaint to Sipo, the residents said that in the performance of his duties in this case, the association believes the minister has acted unlawfully, and has brought his office, his department and public administration in general into disrepute. The residents accuse the minister of having undermined the impartiality, authority and effective operation of both the public procurement process and planning administration in Ireland. This residents association believes the minister bears responsibility for an utterly absurd and deeply damaging example of unauthorised development, it said. They say the ministers decision to award a significant state contract here was legally and morally wrong and a blatant contradiction of international legal principles. The letter said Ryevale House now looks more like one of the dreadful institutions of the not-too-distant past, which caused so much pain in Ireland, than the grand period home it was until a matter of months ago. A spokesman for the minister said: The enforcement proceedings on Ryevale House will be addressed between the provider in Ryevale House and Kildare County Council. The Department will ensure that the minister is informed of all developments regarding these proceedings and, in due course, will consider any implications that may arise. Last week, Mr OGorman told the Dail that Ryevale House had to be used given the very real and immediate pressure the state accommodation system is currently experiencing. (from left) Sinn Feins Ryan Murphy, JJ Magee, Nichola Bradley, and Tomas O Neill hold up four fingers after all four won seats in Oldpark at Belfast City Hall during the Northern Ireland council elections (Liam McBurney/PA) Liam McBurney Sinn Fein has emerged as the largest party in local government in Northern Ireland for the first time after making large gains in the council elections. Vice president Michelle ONeill described her partys victory as momentous and said the result sent a message that Stormont should return. However, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said that his party had polled strongly but conceded unionism needed to learn lessons from the election. The election count crept into a third day with the last of 462 seats to be filled across 11 councils going to People Before Profit shortly after midnight on Sunday at Belfast City Hall. At the end of the count Sinn Fein emerged with 144 seats, an increase of 39 from the last council election in 2019. The republican party has also replicated its result in the Assembly election last year when it became the largest party at Stormont. The DUP has reinforced its position as the dominant force in unionism by winning 122 seats, the same number as in 2019. The cross-community Alliance Party increased its representation on councils by winning 67 seats, an increase of 14. Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle ONeill (left) said the partys result in the council elections was momentous (Liam McBurney/PA) Liam McBurney But it was a disappointing election for the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP, with both parties suffering significant losses. The UUP has ended up with 54 seats, and the SDLP 39, with smaller parties and independents taking the remaining 36 seats. Sinn Fein will be the largest party in six local government areas, including Belfast, while the DUP will have the largest representation in five councils. Sinn Fein secured 30.9pc of first preference votes, ahead of the DUP on 23.3pc, 13.3pc for Alliance, 10.9pc for the Ulster Unionists and 8.7pc for the SDLP. The turnout for the election was 54pc. It was the first electoral test for the parties since last years Assembly elections and took place against the backdrop of the Stormont stalemate, with the powersharing institutions not operating as part of a DUP protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said unionism had to learn lessons from the election (Liam McBurney/PA) Liam McBurney Sinn Feins Stormont leader Michelle ONeill described the results as momentous. She also said the boycott of the Stormont Assembly by the DUP cannot go on. Ms ONeill said: The onus is now on the British and Irish Governments to get together and focus their efforts on the immediate restoration of the Executive and Assembly. We expect to see an early meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference. The boycott of the Assembly cannot go on and an Executive must be formed. Sir Jeffrey said his party had increased its vote share from last years Assembly elections. But he added: I think if truth be told, there are lessons to be learned for unionism in its broadest sense. We need to do better. The DUP has had a good election but unionism needs to do better, we need to be winning more seats. Im happy to sit down with my fellow unionists and examine these issues and how greater co-operation can lead a pathway towards more success for unionism in general. Sinn Feins John Finucane (left) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie speaking at the Northern Ireland council elections at Belfast City Hall (Liam McBurney/PA) Liam McBurney UUP leader Doug Beattie said he was disappointed with the result but stressed he had no plans to resign his position. He said: I made it quite clear that the party elected me and I am the party leader, and I am going absolutely nowhere. Itll be the party that decides my fate one way or the other. So those people who are a little bit shaky because weve had a bad election, they can stay shaky because Im on absolutely rock solid foundations and Im going nowhere. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood (Brian Lawless/PA) Brian Lawless SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Sinn Fein had cannibalised the nationalist vote. It has been very clear when we have been speaking to people that people are really annoyed at the DUP, that they want the executive back up and running and they wanted to send a message, he said. Sinn Fein asked them to send that message, and they sent it. Northern Irelands councils are responsible for setting rates, planning and waste collection as well as leisure services and parks. We found that the grey squirrel is oblivious to the threat of the pine marten and doesnt know well enough to stay away from this novel predator. Theyre basically just easy prey for the pine marten and they get wiped out very quickly, "says Dr Colin Lawton, senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Galway. Photo: Getty Getty Images/iStockphoto A 13-year-old boy was killed in an incident in which the tractor he was driving overturned in Co Mayo this weekend. Gardai are appealing for witnesses following a single vehicle collision, which happened on Saturday evening. Shortly after 8.15pm Gardai and emergency services were alerted after a tractor overturned on a local road at Scarduane near Claremorris. The driver and sole occupant of the tractor, a 13-year-old boy, was treated at the scene for serious injuries and removed to Galway University Hospital, according to Gardai. The boy was subsequently transferred to Temple Street Hospital, Dublin where he died on Sunday. A technical examination of the scene was conducted by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators and the road at the crash site has since fully reopened to traffic. Local Fine Gael councillor Tom Connolly from Claremorris said the local community is devastated by the tragedy. He said the boy is from the townland of Scardunane, outside of Claremorris. Its a very tight-knit community and everyone is shocked and devastated by the news, he told Independent.ie. Its a very sad case. The family and the local community is devastated by this awful news, he said. I want to send my sincere condolences to his family. Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the collision to contact them. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Claremorris Garda Station on (094) 937 2080, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station. The attack in Navan focuses attention on mental health The very first line of a report in one Irish newspaper last week warned the world is hurtling headlong into a catastrophe, after the World Meteorological Organisation declared it almost inevitable that one of the next five years would be the warmest on record. Billy Keane: Thank you, Ryan, you were the keeper and governor of our central bank of kindness The Sinn Fein tidal wave which has swept Northern Ireland can be traced back to maternity wards in the years after the Good Friday Agreement in which Catholic births dramatically overtook those of Protestants. Demography is not destiny. A growing Catholic population does not inevitably mean nationalist parties will triumph; young voters are more politically open-minded and many resent the idea they must share the political views of their parents. Yet the facts show Catholic voters are far more likely to vote for nationalist parties and this election has been the outworking of Sinn Feins unparalleled success in persuading such voters to back it, rather than the SDLP. The scale of Sinn Feins victory in Northern Irelands council elections is historic. Never has a nationalist party won the most seats, yet here Sinn Fein did so handsomely. So handsomely that at the time of writing there are still 68 of the 462 seats left to be declared and already Sinn Fein has 130 seats far more than its 105 last time, and far above the 122 which in 2019 made the DUP the biggest party. While nationalist distaste for the DUPs veto of Stormont has swollen the Sinn Fein total, it is no fluke. The direction of travel has been clear for more than a decade. Sinn Fein first became Northern Irelands biggest party in a European election in 2009, it won the most votes (but not seats) in a Westminster election in 2010, the most first preference votes (but not seats) in a council election in 2014, and last year it won an Assembly election for the first time. This time, the scale of its victory is even greater than last year; its vote is up from 29pc to 30pc. The DUP wasnt even competitive here, languishing on just over 23pc. For years, many unionists yearned for unionist unity. If only the parties could all get together recreating the Official Unionist Party which built Northern Ireland unionism would be on top once more, the theory went. Some still believe that but theyre the ones who cant read the data. The numbers not only arent there any more; theyre not even close to being there. And with each year that passes, the numbers are getting worse. This isnt just that Sinn Fein is eating further and further into the SDLP vote, it is attracting a growing number of new voters fresh out of school. In this election, Michelle ONeill dodged the hard broadcast interviews, instead focusing on smiling selfies and short video clips on social media. The party is likely to try to replicate this in the next Dail election even if it is trickier in a more competitive political landscape. In a recent LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph, Sinn Fein was beating the DUP in every age category from 18 to 55; it is only among the oldest voters that the DUP is winning. Bluntly, more of the voters who die are unionist; more of the voters who join the electoral register are nationalist. This is a structural problem for unionism which it is not even beginning to address. Writing in the Dublin Review of Books two years ago, the Belfast academic Paul Nolan observed that a new situation of three minorities Catholics, Protestants and others was emerging, with Protestants behind Catholics. When that realisation sinks in there is likely to be a sense of existential threat to the community that, 100 years ago, had a state created that was designed to make them a majority forever, he wrote. Dr Nolan went on to highlight how even two years ago there were only two of Northern Irelands six counties which had unionist majorities, only one of the five cities has a unionist majority, neither of the universities has a Protestant majority, and the workforce has a solid Catholic majority. This challenge for unionism was not insurmountable. Many Catholics have been happy with the status quo and even now would support the Union in a border poll, fearing the uncertainty inherent in bringing about Irish unity. But rather than preparing for this looming challenge, instead the DUP embarked upon supporting Brexit, and then swaggeringly boasted of its ability to use its Westminster leverage to secure a hard Brexit. That involved precisely the constitutional instability which many apathetic voters detest. And even unionist voters could see the unrepentant ineptitude of a strategy which delivered an Irish Sea border and undermined the union, while the DUP said it had no regrets about backing Brexit. As recently as Friday night, the DUP was banging the age-old drum of unionist unity, decrying its rivals for "splitting the unionist vote. The DUP knows theres a hole in the drum. In the last council election, the total vote for unionist parties was 44.5pc; this time its less than 39pc. Before Brexit, unionism pulled in more than 51pc. Northern Ireland is a land where change is glacial and for revolution to happen that rapidly demonstrates the scale of the misjudgments by Arlene Foster, Jeffrey Donaldson and other unionist leaders. Perhaps most worryingly for unionism is that voters were offered a liberal unionist alternative. UUP leader Doug Beattie is the most liberal leader his party has ever had yet its vote collapsed to record depths. None of this means the union is immediately threatened. In a border poll many, despite the unionist parties, will still back the union. But the threat is growing and those who failed to spot this problem are still leading unionism. The Dublin-born statesman Edmund Burke once observed: We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature. Sinn Fein has done so by abandoning a host of republican positions. Unionist parties will either adapt or wither. The right to peaceful protest is protected, and so too is the right of international protection applicants to live peacefully. Having made a point at Magowna House in Inch, Co Clare, local people who are blockading access to and from the proposed location for asylum-seekers should immediately withdraw in favour of a negotiated resolution. In this newspaper today, one local person argues: We welcome new people to Ireland. This just isnt the place for them. It isnt suitable to be landed in here. Theres no jobs, no shop, nothing to do. Whats here for them? At a minimum, there is peaceful sanctuary from the war, strife and the extremely difficult living circumstances from which many of these unfortunate people are fleeing. Such arguments have become a routine: We welcome refugees, but not here. In fact, the authorities had planned to provide a regular shuttle bus service for those taken to Inch, to access whatever services would be required. The disquieting scenes in Co Clare last week hardly spoke to Irelands reputation as a country of a hundred thousand welcomes. There are further reports that some of the 34 asylum seekers brought to three holiday homes on the site of the disused hotel are now abandoning the location in the face of local opposition and making their way back to Dublin city centre. As another local person, who welcomes the refugees to Clare, also states today: Its better than Sandwith Street, where you could be burned out of a tent. This was a reference to the disgraceful scenes in Dublin city centre last week which saw protesters, agitated by the organised far-right, force asylum-seekers from a makeshift camp. There are currently around 500 such people sleeping rough on the streets. The overall situation has become very difficult for the authorities to manage. Nearly 100,000 people have been given refuge and shelter in Ireland in the past year, the majority being Ukrainians fleeing Russias brutal war of aggression. In the vast majority of cases, asylum seekers from Ukraine and elsewhere have been accepted into local communities and engagement has gone well. In the context of such extraordinary demand, the Government and society in general has done its best to meet its obligations. As this newspaper also reports today, the Government is now reconsidering other solutions to the situation which had been previously ruled out, such as the provision of cruise ship vessels, which would seem to be among the least satisfactory outcomes. Protests against the location of asylum seekers and refugees is being driven by dehumanising discourse online which, as columnist Colin Murphy points out, the authorities here need to do more to counteract. A strong case can be made that many of those seeking refuge could and would be willing to contribute to the country in terms of taking up employment. The Government should consider shortening a delay of six months before refugees are allowed to work. No country in Western Europe has taken in as many people from Ukraine as Ireland, as a percentage of our population. In time, Ireland should be able to look back with pride at how it embraced those seeking refuge at this traumatic time. A positive contribution would be the lifting of the blockade in Clare. Transport authorities must explore further options to incentivise taxi drivers to work more evenings and nights, a Fine Gael TD has said. Deputy Emer Higgins said that the lack of available taxis has become a major issue in Dublin in recent months. She is now urging transport authorities to incentivise taxi drivers to work more evenings and nights to ensure safe travel for passengers. Deputy Higgins said: Its particularly difficult to access a taxi in the evenings, regardless of whether its a weekday or weekend. People have reported spending long times waiting on the streets after a night out trying to flag a taxi in person or through an app, often when hundreds of people are vying for a couple of taxis at any one time. Figures show an increase in drivers working morning and afternoon hours up to 4pm, and a decrease in those working evenings and in the early hours of the morning. A 2022 National Transport Authority (NTA) study highlighted that only 29pc of cab drivers work nights. The survey showed the primary reasons for not working nights, included concern for personal safety (48pc). Meanwhile customer behaviour and extra cleaning costs were the reason for 40pc not wanting to work nights. Deputy Higgins said that recent measures have been taken to increase the number of taxis available to passengers, especially for people getting home at night. These included a 12pc increase in fares for premium hours, including weekend nights, Sundays and bank holidays and also an extension on eligibility limits on vehicle age limits. Figures provided to me show that in the period to end of March this year, a total of 1,303 new SPSV driver licences were granted, which is a 58pc increase compared to the previous 12 months (April to March 2022) and 63.8pc of those relate to new drivers in Dublin, she said. From January to December last year, 4,618 drivers renewed their licences - a rise of 82pc from 2019. Up to the end of March, there were 14,754 Dublin licensed (SPSV) drivers, while the number of SPSV licensed vehicles nationally were 19,229. The improvement in licence renewals and licences granted is encouraging, Deputy Higgins said. But theres a fall-off in drivers working at peak evening periods, which is concerning as we come into the busy summer and tourist season. Deputy Higgins said an advisory committee on SPSVs had recently ruled out enabling the transfer of SPSV licences potentially between family members as a solution to boosting taxi numbers. She said this decision was based on the principle that a licence should have no monetary value and should indicate a persons suitability as a taxi driver, as decided by Revenue, An Garda Siochana and the NTA. I would therefore call on the NTA to go back to the drawing board in examining options to boost accessibility to taxis during peak periods and evenings, while acknowledging there should be no further increase in charges due to the pressure members of the public are facing with the cost of living. Neither drivers nor passengers are to blame for the lack of supply, and we need all stakeholders to come together to explore ways of boosting taxi accessibility, Deputy Higgins added. Taiwan will maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait despite Chinese provocations, as going to war is not an option, said president Tsai Ing-Wen said yesterday. China is the world's busiest executioner, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the USA. No figures are available for North Korea Getty Images Image Credit: PIB Raipur: The government is focussing on expanding the capacity of the Gevra Mega project in Chhattisgarh further to 70 million tonnes (MT) per annum. The expansion would establish the Gevra Mega project as the largest coal-producing mine in Asia. The mine operated by South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first mine in India to produce 50 million tonnes of coal annually. During his visit to Chhattisgarh, Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena conducted a comprehensive review meeting with senior officials of the Chhattisgarh government in Raipur. The discussions primarily focused on various operational aspects of South Eastern Coalfields (SECL), including environmental clearances, forest clearances, land acquisition, and cooperation from the state government for rehabilitation and resettlement, particularly concerning SECL's major projects such as Gevra, Dipka, and Kusmunda. A statement released by the Ministry of Coal on Saturday highlighted the key points addressed during the meeting. During the meeting, the coal secretary stressed the importance of completing the projects within specified timelines and promoting effective coordination with the state government and other stakeholders. He also held discussions with officials from the South East Central Railway (SECR) at the SECL headquarters in Bilaspur, where he reviewed the progress of the Chhattisgarh East Railway (CERL) and Chhattisgarh East West Railway (CEWRL) rail projects. The secretary inaugurated the 'Chhal' rail siding in SECL's Raigarh area and assessed the advancements of two rail corridors that are being developed under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) model in the state. The Coal Secretary, along with the General Manager of South East Central Railway (SECR) and the CMD of SECL, convened a meeting at the SECL headquarters to discuss coal evacuation from the Korba and Mand-Raigarh coalfields. The meeting delved into various aspects related to SECL's coal dispatch, availability of railway rakes, and progress on rail projects. Notably, senior officials from SECR and SECL were also present during the discussions. On the second day of the visit, the Coal Secretary inspected the railway line being constructed from Gevra Road to Pendra Road under Chhattisgarh East West Railway Limited (CEWRL) project in SECL's Korba coalfields. He along with SECL CMD Dr. Prem Sagar Mishra and SECL Functional Directors inspected bridge no. 3 of Urga Kusmunda Connectivity Line. This project will play an important role in the transportation of coal from SECL's mega projects operating at Korba coalfield. The project is 191 km long which includes the work of 135.3 km of main line. The project includes Gevara Road, Surakachhar, Dipka, Katghora Road, Bijhara, Putua, Mateen, Sendurgarh, Puttipakhana, Bhadi, Dhangawan and Pendra Road stations. Passenger facilities will also be developed at these stations along with the railway line in the entire corridor. The total cost of CEWRL project is about Rs. 4970 crore and land acquisition and forest clearance for its main line has been completed. The project is likely to be completed by December next year. Image Credit: The Shillong Times Shilliong/IBNS: Meghalaya's State Government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), successfully organized an investors roundtable in Shillong. The main objective of the event was to showcase the emerging investment prospects in Meghalaya and the Northeast Region. The roundtable was a resounding success, with attendance from various government officials, industry leaders, and investors, reporetd The Shillong Times. FICCI, EY, and Invest India were the industry, knowledge, and investment facilitation partners, respectively. During the event, Chief Secretary D. P. Wahlang highlighted the positive outlook for entrepreneurs in Meghalaya, emphasizing the government's commitment to attracting new investments. He mentioned that there are immediate investment opportunities available in sectors such as tourism, urban development, international schools, medical tourism, thermal-power generation, and information technology. The government aims to support investors through improved infrastructure, better connectivity, and a willingness to facilitate business dynamics. R. M. Mishra, Secretary and Executive Chairman of the State Investment Promotion Board, expressed gratitude for the fruitful meeting of minds and the enthusiasm of investors. He stated that the commitment of start-ups, businesses, and stakeholders will contribute to changing the investment ecosystem in Meghalaya. Dr. Joram Beda, Commissioner & Secretary of the Planning, Investment Promotion and Sustainable Development Department, highlighted the advantage factors of investing in Meghalaya. The state has implemented reforms to improve the ease of doing business, including initiatives like the Single Window System (SWS), which promotes a business-friendly environment in sectors such as tourism, agriculture and food processing, sports, health, education, handloom, handicrafts & textile, and IT/ITES. Lok Ranjan, Secretary of the Ministry of DoNER, emphasized how states like Meghalaya are driving development in the Northeast region. He mentioned the region's potential for investors, supported by government initiatives and improved infrastructure in roadways, airways, railways, and IT infrastructure. Harpreet Singh, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of DoNER, highlighted the potential of the northeastern states to attract investors across various sectors. He expressed optimism that investors would continue engaging with the state government and the Ministry of DoNER, providing opportunities for investment beyond the focus sectors. Overall, the investors roundtable in Meghalaya showcased the state's investment prospects, highlighted government support, and emphasized the conducive business environment in the Northeast region, encouraging investors to explore opportunities in various sectors. Representational image (Credit: wikipedia.org) Tuticorin/IBNS: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Saturday busted an ambergris smuggling gang racket and seized 18.1 kg of ambergris, valued at around Rs 31.67 crore in the illicit market, at Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin coast. Ambergris is a product of sperm whales, which is a protected species listed under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and prohibited for possession/export/transport. Ambergris, ambergrease, or grey amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales, highly valued by perfume makers as a fixative that allows the scent to endure much longer. Based on specific information that a gang would be attempting to smuggle ambergris out of India through the sea route near the coast of Harbour Beach, Tuticorin to Sri Lanka during the night hours of May 18, DRI Officers intercepted a vehicle along with five persons and recovered 18.1 kg of ambergris from the front seat of the vehicle, said Ministry of Finance in a statement. The occupants confessed to the smuggling attempt. The DRI officials seized ambergris with the vehicle used for transporting the prohibited item. Four persons from Kerala and Tamil Nadu actively involved in this smuggling attempt of ambergris were arrested and remanded under judicial custody, the statement said. Further investigation is under progress. In the last two years, DRI has seized around 40.52 kg of ambergris valued at Rs 54 crores in the international market, attempted to be smuggled out of India from the Tuticorin Coast, it added. DRI in its endeavour to protect and safeguard the flora and fauna from such smuggling attempts has intensified its vigil and surveillance in the coastal areas, the ministry said. Image Credit: Twitter/Narendra Modi Hiroshima/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday held bilateral talks with his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima, during which the two leaders reviewed the bilateral strategic partnership and also took stock of the progress in the India-UK FTA negotiations. PM Modi in a tweet said the meeting with the UK PM, their first in-person interaction, was a very fruitful one. The meeting with PM @RishiSunak was a very fruitful one. We discussed boosting cooperation in trade, innovation, science and other such sectors. The meeting with PM @RishiSunak was a very fruitful one. We discussed boosting cooperation in trade, innovation, science and other such sectors. pic.twitter.com/FI9nI1gc9V Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a tweet said the two leaders held productive talks and agreed to deepen cooperation across trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people-to-people ties. A boost to India-Great Britain Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. PM @narendramodi held productive talks with PM @RishiSunak of UK in Hiroshima. The two leaders reviewed their Strategic Partnership, including took stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade & investment, science & technology, higher education, and people to people relationship, the tweet read. A boost to - Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. PM @narendramodi held productive talks with PM @RishiSunak of UK in Hiroshima. The two leaders reviewed their Strategic Partnership, including took stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. pic.twitter.com/LPoacejFyF Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 21, 2023 They also discussed India's ongoing G-20 Presidency. Prime Minister Modi said he looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Sunak in New Delhi for the G-20 Summit. Image Credit: Twitter/Narendra Modi Hiroshima/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday concluded two days of hectic bilateral and multilateral engagements with key partners in Hiroshima, including attending the G7 Summit, and left for Papua New Guinea for the Third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit. In a tweet, PM Modi said that his visit to Japan has been fruitful and he met several leaders during the G7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth, he tweeted. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in tweets said: Wrapping up an action packed visit! PM @narendramodi concludes his visit to Japan following two days of intense bilateral & multilateral engagements with key partners." PM now departs for Port Moresby for the next leg of his visit. After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour. After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour. pic.twitter.com/09o7UT3NBP PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 21, 2023 PM @narendramodi is on his way to Port Moresby to chair the 3rd Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit. UNI Srinagar: Srinagar is all set to host the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting from Monday and all preparation has been put in place for the first major international event after Jammu and Kashmir's special status was scrapped in 2019. The three-day mega event is being held at the picturesque Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC), on the banks of the Dal Lake, amid unprecedented security arrangements. SKICC has been decked like a bride for the G20 delegates from May 22 to 24. All the preparations for the G20 meeting to be held in Kashmir valley have been completed, an official said and added the roads leading to the venue including shores, parks and buildings have been provided absorbing looks to welcome the delegates. Three-tier security arrangements have been made in Srinagar city to thwart any militant plans to disrupt the meeting. The venue has been sanitised for the event and elite forces have been keeping an eye on the situation. Security forces have been put on high alert. All roads right from the Srinagar International Airport to the SKICC where the function is being held were searched with metal detectors and sniffer dogs were also pressed into service to ensure no untoward incident happens during the event. Officials say that the meeting will portray Jammu and Kashmir's tourism sector - especially the potential of the Kashmir Valley, where the event is being held - to the world. The stretch from the Srinagar International Airport has been given a facelift to enhance the aesthetic value of the existing structure. Roads were macadamised and several projects completed under the Srinagar Smart City Project have been inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha recently. Viewpoints, hoardings, signboards were put up and plantations have been done along the roads from Srinagar Airport to SKICC. There is hope among the people related to the tourism sector from the G20 meeting. The hospitality of Kashmiris is amazing and people are waiting to welcome the guests, said a houseboat owner. He said with this meeting not only tourism will be promoted at the international level but also the development of Jammu and Kashmir will come to the forefront. Officials said that on May 22 and 23 Film Tourism for Economic Growth and Cultural Preservation will be organised focusing on strategies to promote film tourism. The event will witness the participation of G20 member countries, invited countries, international organisations, and industry stakeholders. A draft National Strategy on Film Tourism will be unveiled to provide a roadmap for harnessing the role of films in promoting tourist destinations. A panel discussion featuring esteemed speakers from G20 Member countries, and Invited countries will shed light on country-specific enablers and challenges in promoting destinations through films. A national-level side event will be organised along with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) which will focus on Promoting Incredible India through Film Tourism, offering states and union territories an opportunity to share their policies and best practices that have facilitated the development of film tourism. Industry stakeholders will also provide suggestions on encouraging filmmakers to shoot in various locations across the country. The Ministry of Tourism has also planned a side event along with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Ecotourism as a Vehicle to Achieve Sustainable Development Goal which will explore effective strategies, best practices, and synergy between the public and private sectors to accelerate efforts towards sustainable development goals. Noteworthy presentations will be given by experts and representatives from wildlife organisations, and industry associations during the event. Delegates will also have the opportunity to experience the local attractions. During the 3rd Tourism Working Group meeting, the delegates will also visit the Art and Craft Bazaar organized by the state government showcasing local handicrafts, the work of artisans, signifying the importance of community participation. The delegates will also have hands-on experience through DIY (Do It Yourself) Activities at the Craft Bazaar. This G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar aims to strengthen economic growth, preserve cultural heritage, and promote sustainable development of the region The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has welcomed the participation of delegates from G20 member countries, invited countries, and international organizations to collectively work towards advancing the tourism sector and achieving the UN sustainable development goals 2030. (With UNI inputs) Image: twitter.com/narendramodi Port Moresby: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, on Sunday, continuing his three-nation tour. He received a warm welcome upon his arrival, with Prime Minister James Marape showing respect by touching his feet. The two leaders then shared a hug, symbolizing a friendly gesture. #WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his three-nation visit after concluding his visit to Japan. He was received by Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape. pic.twitter.com/U94yUQ2aCl ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 Prime Minister Modi was also introduced to other officials present during the visit. PM Modi was greeted with a grand welcome by the Indian diaspora in Papua New Guinea, who cheered and enthusiastically interacted with him. They expressed their joy by clicking selfies with the prime minister and cheering him. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi thanked the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea for welcoming him at the airport personally. "This is a very special gesture which I will always remember," he wrote. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday concluded two days of hectic bilateral and multilateral engagements with key partners in Hiroshima, including attending the G7 Summit, and left for Papua New Guinea for the Third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the 3rd Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit at Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Image: Wikimedia Commons Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dulloo recently flagged off the Aalav awareness van from Lal Chowk area in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar city. He said the initiative will ensure the progress of farmers. A statement said that the program aims to raise awareness about the Holistic Agriculture Development Plan (HADP) in the region, reports ANI. The initiative will ensure progress and prosperity of farmers in Jammu and Kashmir, Dulloo was quoted as saying by the news agency. Atal Dulloo, who also serves as Vice Chairman of the J&K Advisory Board for Development of Kisans, flagged off the awareness vehicle marking the commencement of the ambitious Aalav programme, the statement said. During the ceremony, Heads of Departments of Agriculture and allied sectors as well as board members were present at the event. Image: Antony Blinken Twitter page Hiroshima: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the sidelines of the G7 meeting and said he had a great discussion with the Indian leader. "I had a great discussion with Indian Minister of External Affairs @DrSJaishankar on the sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima. We look forward to hosting Indian Prime Minister @NarendraModi in June, whose visit will celebrate the deep partnership between the United States and India," Antony Blinken tweeted. Jaishankar said: "Thanks @SecBlinken . Was great to catch up!" He said he is looking forward to PM Narendra Modi's visit to the USA. "Looking forward to PM @narendramodis visit," he said. Indian PM Narendra Modi also visited Hiroshima to attend the G7 Summit. He met several world leaders during the meeting. Image: UNI Una: The BJP is all set to win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of India for the third time in succession, senior leader and Union Minister Anurag Thakur said. Anurag Thakur made the remark during a party function here on Sunday. Rajiv Bindal, the new party chief and local LA, Sat Pal Satti were also present in the function in which workers pledged to work unitedly to bring the party to power in succession. Speaking on occasion, he said the party will be carrying out a number of public meetings to garner public support. Speaking to reporters, Thakur said, Modi governments nine years will be completed on May 30. On this occasion, BJP will be garnering peoples support through public meetings. The state unit president will inform all the workers about the programs to be held in the next one month. Our Una MLA Satpal Satti ji was the state BJP president for the last nine years. We will continue to get his guidance as well. Our new organization minister Siddharthan ji has also arrived in Una today. We welcome and congratulate him too. Today every countryman feels that Modi hai to Mumkin hai. If we can reach this far in 9 years, then imagine how far the country and Himachal can go in the next 5 years. In the next two years we are going to become the third largest economy of the world, so imagine what will happen after 5 years, he added. Accusing the Congress party of doing appeasement politics, the Union Minister said that the party had won state elections before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well, but couldnt match the results in the general elections. The BJP leader further accused Congress of humiliating BR Ambedkar and stated that he got the respect of PM Modi. The Congress party humiliated and tortured Babasaheb Ambedkar, who made Indias constitution. It was Modi Ji who gave him his due respect after coming. His Panchtirth was developed in all five places; Nagpur, Mau, Mumbai, Delhi, and London. Our government also started celebrating November 26 as Constitution Day, he said. Thakur added, It was Modi ji who declared Babasahebs birth anniversary as a holiday on April 14. Scholarships worth Rs 7000 crore have been given to Scheduled Tribes. From every scheme of the Modi government, SC, ST, backwards and minority families have benefited the most. He said,Those who have given nothing to the country except hatred, nepotism and the strategy of divide and rule in their whole life, should not be talking about love and harmony." "Congress has always done politics of appeasement. Even after ruling the country for 60-65 years, today they talk about rewadis. Even before the 2019 general elections, the Congress had won in some states, but you all have seen what happened in 2019, Anurag Thakur said. He added, The Hamirpur-Dharampur-Mandi is also being widened at a cost of Rs 1200 crores. The road from Hamirpur to Bilaspur has also been widened at a cost of Rs 300 crore. The road from Mataur to Hamirpur-Bilaspur-Shimla which was more than 200 km will now get reduced to 180 kms, and instead of six hours now it will only take three hours." (With UNI inputs) Mumbai: Kumar Mangat Pathaks Panorama Studios and Koreas Anthology Studios on Sunday announced a partnership for the remake of Drishyam franchise in Korea. This announcement was made at the India pavilion in Cannes Film Festival, in presence of Kumar Mangat and Jay Choi. Anthology Studios is founded by former Warner Bros local Korean production head, Jay Choi, Parasite fame actor Song Kang-ho and acclaimed director Kim Jee-woon. This would be the first ever collaboration between an Indian and a Korean studio and the first time a Hindi film is being officially remade in Korean language. Drishyam is an Indian franchise that has delivered success in every Indian language (Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi) in which it has been made. A Hindi sequel, directed by Abhishek Pathak, opened on November 18, 2022. It grossed over Rs 360 crore worldwide. Also noteworthy is the Chinese remake of Drishyam, titled as Sheep Without a Shepherd, which grossed nearly 200 million US dollar, worldwide. The 2015 edge-of-the-seat crime thriller, directed by the late Nishikant Kamat, revolves around Vijay Salgaonkar whose simple world splinters after an accidental death involving his family and his desperate measures to shield them from the law. With applause-worthy performances from Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Kamlesh Sawant, the film was a huge success. Kumar Mangat Pathak acknowledges that Drishyam today has become a critically acclaimed and commercially successful franchise with last year's sequel being particularly close to his heart. Im excited that Drishyam franchise is being made in Korean, a first for a Hindi film. This will not only increase its reach outside India but will also put Hindi cinema on the global map. All these years, we have been inspired by Korean fare, now they have found a muse in one of our films. What can be a bigger achievement for the Indian film fraternity, said Pathak. Jay Choi is equally upbeat about the collaboration. He says, We are thrilled to have an opportunity to remake a massively successful Hindi film with a touch of originality from Korean cinema. And the remake has greater significance as the first major co-production between Korea and India. Through our partnership, we will be able to bring the best of both Indian and Korean cinema and make a meaningful remake that is as excellent as the original". Also of note is the involvement of US-based Jack Nguyen as Executive Producer. He was previously a 30 year executive at Warner Bros in Los Angeles and worked with Kumar Mangat on the WB produced comedy hit, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, and with Jay Choi and his team producing a slate of Korean films including 2016's critically acclaimed blockbuster drama, Age of Shadows. "I have history with and the utmost respect for these highly-regarded producers so it was a natural fit for me to bring them together to collaborate on a great story in Drishyam. I'm excited to help them make history with this first-of-its-kind Indian-Korean co-production, shared Nguyen. Pointing out that the film keeps you hooked with its twists and turns, Kumar Mangat Pathak is confident Drishyam franchise will find an audience in Korea and the rest of the world too. This is the beginning of a valuable cultural exchange between both countries and their film industries, he added. (With UNI inputs) Image credit: axiomspace.com Cape Canaveral: A private space mission organised by Axiom Space is scheduled to launch from Florida, carrying the first two Saudi astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, will make history as the first Saudi woman to travel to space, accompanied by Ali Al-Qarni, a fighter pilot. The crew, known as the Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) crew, will embark on their journey aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 5:37 pm (2137 GMT). The team for the Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) also includes Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut with extensive experience, who will be making her fourth flight to the ISS. John Shoffner, a businessman from Tennessee, will join the mission as the pilot. The crew is expected to spend approximately 10 days aboard the ISS, and they are scheduled to arrive at around 1:30 pm on Monday. "Being the first Saudi woman astronaut, representing the region, it's a great pleasure and honor that I'm very happy to carry," said Barnawi at a recent press conference, reported AFP. The mission is not Saudi Arabia's first foray into space. In 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an air force pilot, participated in a space mission organized by the United States. However, the upcoming space mission involving a Saudi woman represents a significant milestone for the oil-rich Gulf kingdom. Saudi Arabia has been making efforts to transform its ultraconservative image, particularly since granting women the right to drive a few years ago. As part of this transformation, the kingdom established the Saudi Space Commission in 2018 and initiated a program last year aimed at sending Saudi astronauts into space. During their time on the International Space Station (ISS), the four-member team is scheduled to conduct some 20 experiments. One of these experiments will investigate the behaviour of stem cells under zero gravity conditions. The four-member team will join the current seven astronauts already on board at the International Space Station (ISS). This includes three Russian astronauts, three American astronauts, and Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, who recently became the first Arab national to conduct a spacewalk. The latest mission to the ISS marks the second collaboration between Axiom Space, a private space company, and NASA, the key holder of the ISS. Axiom Space offers exclusive space voyages often in the millions of dollars. Image: Pixabay Singapore: Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong and Bhutans Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Loknath Sharma reaffirmed their commitment to global climate action today and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on carbon credits. "The MOU will strengthen cooperation between Singapore and Bhutan on carbon credits aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to cooperate to achieve emissions targets set out in their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) while promoting sustainable development and high environmental integrity," read a statement issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore. Under the MOU, Singapore and Bhutan agreed to work towards signing a legally binding bilateral agreement that sets out a framework for the international transfer of correspondingly adjusted carbon credits by end-2023. Both countries will also identify mutually beneficial Article 6-compliant carbon credit projects that will support both countries in achieving their NDCs. Minister Gan said, Effective partnership between countries is important in addressing the global climate challenge. This is the first MOU that Singapore is signing with a carbon-negative country. Representative Image: Andre Klimke/Unsplash Kabul: Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence on Sunday said a helicopter of the air force crashed while patrolling in the northern Samangan province which left at least two pilots killed, media reports said. The defense ministry said that the air force helicopter faced a technical problem after colliding with a high-voltage power line in the Khulm district of Samangan province, which resulted in the death of its two pilots, reports Khaama Press. An investigation into the matter has been ordered. Afghanistan is currently ruled by the Taliban forces. The group took control over the country on Aug 15, 2021. Since the Talibans takeover of power in Afghanistan in 2021, several air force helicopters have crashed due to unknown reasons, reports Khaama Press. Image: Pixabay Washington: Three people were killed following a shooting at a bar in Kansas City in the U.S. state of Missouri early Sunday, local media reported, citing police sources. Two of the victims were killed at the scene, and a third victim died later at a hospital, said Kansas City police. According to the police, two other injured people have been taken to the hospital. (With UNI inputs) 1. Want To Meet SRK Before I Die, Says Actors Fan Who Is A Cancer Patient & Its Too Emotional Har Pal Yaha Ji Bhar Jiyun, Jo Hai Sama, Kal Ho Naa Ho When Shah Rukh Khan sang this on-screen, we climbed the mountain of relatability. The realisation of the fact that life is short and we shall live every bit of it is too harsh but its the reality. One of the actors fans is currently counting her days and hopes to meet King Khan before she onboards her journey to heaven. Read More! Indiatimes 2. Nawazuddin Siddiqui Says Depression Is An Urban Concept, People Remind Him Of Farmers' Suicides One of the finest actors in the industry, Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently said that depression is an urban concept. He said that he has only learnt about it and bipolar disorder and anxiety after coming to the city. He also said that if he would tell his father that he was depressed, he would get a tight slap. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was trolled for calling depression an urban concept. Read More! Indiatimes 3. 'Don't Touch Me': Yells Aahana Kumra As Fan Allegedly Tries To Hold Her Waist At An Event Encounters between fans and celebrities are another multiverse. Where some are heartwarming, others are just annoying. In a recent instance, Aahana Kumra was seen yelling dont touch me at a fan who allegedly tried to hold the actress from the back in order to get a picture clicked. Kumra was seen angrily walking off as the man seemingly left her distressed. Read More! Indiatimes 4. Sushmita Sen Pens An Empowering Note As She Reminisces 29 Years Of Her 'Miss Universe' Win While Bollywood stars are flaunting their extravagant gowns at the Cannes Red Carpet, do you know that Sushmita Sen brought India its first-ever Miss Universe in a gown that was made from fabric bought from Sarojini Nagar? Furthermore, she got it stitched by a local tailor who stitched it in a garage. "Itne paise nahi the ki hum designer kapde pehen ke stage par jaye. Char costumes chahiye the... Read More! Indiatimes 5. Heartwarming; Girl Dancing On Chogada In Crutches At A Wedding Leaves Internet Teary-Eyed A viral video that has caught our attention is where a beautiful young woman is seen dancing her heart out in crutches. Dressed in a dazzling parrot green gown, a woman named Anjaly Benny can be seen grooving to Bollywoods popular track Chogada from the movie Loveyatri. Anjalys choreography is absolutely apt and will make anyone groove to her enthusiasm. This video is a must-watch recommendation from us! Indiatimes For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below. Among the first issues in the international news are the elections that are being held today in Greece Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has advised hopefuls vying for leadership positions in the 10th National Assembly (NASS) to respect the All Progressives Congress (APC) zoning formula. Speaking on Saturday at a book launch in Kaduna State, Wike asked the hopefuls to consider national interest above their ambitions and submit to the leadership of the Party. Recall that the APC had nominated Tajudeen Abbas, a member of the House of Representatives, and Godswill Akpabio, a former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, as candidates for the Speaker and President of the Senate. The ruling party also picked Barau Jibrin, senator representing Kano North, as Deputy Senate President, and Benjamin Kalu, current house spokesperson, as Deputy Speaker. Moreso, some Party stakeholders and aspirants in the NASS leadership race have protested against the selection of the four candidates. The governor further urged the aspirants to accept the Partys zoning decision and withdraw from the race. No president can do very well if he does not have that leadership that will corporate with him, he said. READ ALSO: Im Not One Of Those Politicians That Make Promises Without Fulfilling Them Wike Boasts Of Completed Road Project According to him, President Muhammadu Buharis performance in the first term was affected by the tussle between the leadership of NASS and the administration. Recall that Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara served as senate president and speaker of the house of representatives from 2015 to 2019. They defied the partys zoning arrangement at the time to emerge as presiding officers of the National Assembly. You remember what happened in 2015 that affected the performance of the present administration. I think for the interest of Nigeria, let them respect the leadership of their party and the president to move the country forward, Wike added. He furthered that he believes the President-elect will set up the best team to get the country running after he takes the oath of office, come May 29. I believe that he means well for this country. I have that belief that he is ready for the job, Wike said. Nigerias former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has called for a review of the National Youth Service Youth Corps (NYSC). The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a statement on Sunday who said, the establishment of the NYSC is one of the greatest policies ever conceived in the country, however stated that the scheme needs to be reviewed to reflect current realities. Atiku in the statement issued by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe to mark the 50th anniversary of the NYSC also praised General Yakubu Gowon for introducing the policy for national unification. According to Atiku, We must acknowledge and give credit to General Yakubu Gowon for introducing this brilliant idea aimed at consolidating national unity after the bitter memories of the tragic Nigerian civil war. Unity which is also my personal agenda as a politician, is essential to building a strong country because a divided country is a weakened country. For decades our youths and children have been infected with hate and prejudice. They cant think for themselves; they judge others unfairly because they didnt interact with others to understand them. Interaction with others is one of the best ways to independently and objectively judge them, thereby changing our notions about other people. READ MORE: Provide Adequate Resources For NYSC, Or Make It Voluntary Former INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega Tells FG Atiku added that; Indeed, the NYSC went a long way to neutralize the impact of prejudice through interaction with other people, and in fact, even encouraged inter-marriages. The history of this great policy will be incomplete without a mention of the remarkable role played by Gowon and his administration in the success of this programme. The former Vice president also called on politicians, religious leaders, and other opinion leaders to continue to encourage unity among the people, warning that disunity feeds hate which in turn, feeds conflicts. We should at all times make utterances that promote love and unity and avoid statements that stoke up bitter divisions and intolerance, he added. Former Presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for building Nigerian military power to a near-global standard in the last eight years in office. Garba in a tweet via his Twitter handle on Sunday, said Buhari has recovered the Ajaokuta steel company including the Mambila power plant, and most of the power sector infrastructure in the country from alleged western strangulation. The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that the President was able to pass the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) into law despite their mounting opposition, and was able to recalibrate the countrys foreign policy. Garba added that Buhari was able to pass the Solid Mineral Development Fund into law and establish a government agency that will buy gold and shore up the value of the naira. He wrote: What do you expect from @BBCWorld? The Western media will always find a reason to condemn great African leaders like President Muhammadu Buhari. Not surprising! This is the President that recovered Ajaokuta, Mambila, and most of the power sector infrastructure from western strangulation. Was able to pass PIA into law despite their mounting opposition, and he was able to build Nigerian military power to a near-global standard. READ MORE: Dont Be Late To Inauguration Adamu Warns APC Senators-Elect On Repeat Of Saraki Coup Media Aide to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daniel Bwala, has condemned the corrupt allegation of the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle against the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa. Information Nigeria had reported that Matawalle, in an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation Hausa, claimed that the EFCC boss was investigating him because he didnt offer the EFCC boss the $2 million bribe he demanded from him. The anti-graft agency, however, dismissed the claim, stressing that it would not be drawn into a mud fight with a suspect under its investigation for corruption and unconscionable pillage of the resources of his state. READ ALSO: EFCC Boss, Bawa Requested $2m Bribe From Me Gov. Matawalle Bwala, in reaction to the development via Twitter on Sunday, decried it as an attempt to blackmail the EFCC Chairman, arguing that the move is a shameful one. He tweeted: If you want to remove Bawa as EFCC chair, at least be honourable about it and do that honorably. The idea that outgoing governors and cabinet people are being investigated so you instigate one of the suspects to blackmail him is, to say the least, shameful. Bawa, apart from improving upon the successes of Magu, has taken the commission to a more professional outfit where he draws accolades from far and near and deserves honor, not blackmail. If you have evidence against him, follow the due process of the law rather than blackmail. The government of Kano State has cautioned the public against the mischievous and misleading attempts made in the social media regarding a purported phone conversation between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and Ibrahim Masari, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The conversation allegedly involved their political relationship with President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his (Tinubu) meeting with Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party. State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, in an official statement released on Saturday, denounced it as the work of paid agents who seek to sow discord between the two prominent political figures. It is clear that certain individuals who are not comfortable with the long-standing cordiality between Tinubu, Ganduje, and Masari are exploiting this situation to their advantage, said Garba. READ ALSO: Tinubu Abandoned Us After Working For Him Ganduje Laments President-Elects Meeting With Kwankwaso The commissioner further emphasised that both Ganduje and Tinubu have recognised the mischievous attempt and are committed to preserving their strong working relationship, especially during this critical time. We will not allow the diligent work and cooperation between Governor Ganduje and President-elect Tinubu to be destroyed by self-centered individuals, he added. Garba however called upon members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the general public to disregard such attempts and maintain their loyalty and calmness in support of the Party. Urging them to focus on ensuring the successful inauguration of the President-elect, Kano State government said the fabricated audio clip will not affect the political collaboration between Ganduje, Tinubu, and Masari. Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State, has attributed the recent massacre in parts of the State to his near exit from office. He, however, said his administration has in the last eight years addressed security challenges in the State to it barest minimum. The governor disclosed this to newsmen on Saturday shortly after being conferred with an honorary doctorate degree at the 4th convocation ceremony of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Niger State. Lalong added that notwithstanding his administration is capable of handling the criminals who were beginning to perpetrate evil in communities across the State before he vacates office come May 29, 2023. Information Nigeria reports that Lalongs reaction stems from recent attacks by unknown gunmen in Mangun Local Government Area of the State which left over 117 people dead, several people injured and 20,000 people displaced. READ ALSO: 29 Killed As Gunmen Attack Two Villages In Plateau He declared that his government would not fold its hands to see its citizens killed, maimed and displaced, adding that in the past eight years, I have restored peace in the Plateau; unfortunately I am taking my exit and the criminals are beginning to rear their heads again, and I am capable of handling them before I take my exit and I will continue to pray for peace in Plateau. Speaking on the measures so far taken, the governor said: We have nipped insecurity in the bud. Our security agencies are already addressing the recent issue of insecurity. The IDPs are being taken care of and we have jets flying all over the affected communities and local government areas. Conclusively, Lalong appreciated the state government for honoring him and other awardees with the prestigious doctorate degrees, saying that they would be good ambassadors of the institution, and would continue to uphold themselves with dignity, integrity and excellence. South South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari, to set the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, free before he hands over to the President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu on May 29. Clark made the appeal in a statement he issued in Abuja yesterday, as he wondered why Buhari would reappoint a former Inspector General of Police, who was sacked by former President Goodluck Jonathan. He said: I advise President Buhari to obey court rulings, including that delivered on Nnamdi Kanu. As he winds up his tenure, I advise him to re-examine his actions. He lamented that Buhari who pledged to uphold the laws of Nigeria was breaching them. Clark said: It is quite disturbing that the same man who swore to uphold the laws of the land, is flagrantly breaching them. A case in point is the recent re-appointment of Suleiman Abba as Chairman, Board of Trustees, Nigeria Police Trust Fund on May 5, 2023. READ MORE: Buhari Govt Plotting To Assassinate Nnamdi Kanu U.S. Congressman Alleges Suleiman Abba is from Jigawa State, in the North-west; former Secretary of the Fund, Mr. Abdullahi Bala is from Sokoto State, also from the North-west. The previous Secretary who resigned his post to contest gubernatorial election is also from Sokoto State, northern part of the country. One expected that if the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the police fund is from the northern part of the country, the Secretary should come from the South and vice versa, because this is one of the ways of keeping Nigerias unity. Mr. Suleiman Abba is a former Inspector General of Police. He joined the Nigeria Police Force as a graduate in 1984 and rose to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police in February 2012. For him to be made IG, many senior officers and about seven Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) including Mike Zuokumor, who hail from Bayelsa State as Jonathan, were forced out when they were retired from service. Jonathan did not want to appoint Mike Zuokumor, who was qualified by merit because they were from the same state/region. With such a huge concession made by Mr. President Jonathan to appoint Suleiman Abba IG, many of us thought Abba would serve the country, the Nigeria Police Force and the President Jonathans administration with all diligence and truthfulness as Inspector General of Police. This is in consideration of him having regard to how close President Jonathan was with the traditional ruler who recommended Suleiman Abba for the appointment. So, we were shocked and disappointed to hear of the roles he played during the 2015 presidential elections which took place between 28th and 29th March, 2015, especially in Kano State. Buhari disregarded the provisions of the Federal Character as enshrined in the countrys Constitution. He has a penchant for doing this. And this is very unfortunate. Clark said the nepotistic nature of Buhari was one of the reasons why the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum, which I lead, took the Federal Government to court for breaching the constitution. Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), and the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government (FG) on the industrial action that began on last week. Recall that NARD had lastweek embarked on the five-day warning strike to press their demand for improved conditions of service. Olajide Oshundun, spokesman of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, stated on Saturday in Abuja that the MoU was signed at the office of the minister, Chris Ngige, on Friday. According to him, the meeting of Friday directed officials of the NARD to present the outcome to members of the association in an emergency meeting to be held within 48 hours. This is with a view to suspending the strike, he stated. Oshundun disclosed that in the MoU reached, Ngige noted parties agreed that health is on the Residual List and not on the Concurrent List of the constitution, hence, the Federal Government cannot compel State Governments to effect payment of salaries and allowances in the health sector. He furthered that the NMA and NARD were advised to embrace more persuasion and social dialogue at the state level. Ngige said the Federal Ministry of Health had taken the perennial non-payment of salaries of doctors in Abia State to the National Council on Health, adding that the council had asked the State to pay the doctors on strike for several months for robust health delivery to the people. He argued that the FG could also not compel State Governments to domesticate the Medical Residency Training Act and pay the same salaries as the federal government. READ ALSO: Be Ready To Forfeit 5 Days Pay, Well Employ Ad-hoc Staff FG Warns Resident Doctors Against Planned Strike The ministry advised NARD to reach out to states that are not paying and negotiate with them, even if the rates are lower than that of the federal government. The meeting also discussed the bill on the bonding of doctors for five years before licensing, sponsored by Rep. Ganiyu Johnson (APC-Lagos State). It was agreed that the executive arm of government could not interfere with it being a private members bill and not an executive bill. The meeting resolved to await the public hearing on the bill, where the doctors will deal with it through the NMA to ensure it does not see the light of day, Oshundun stated. At the meeting, it was recorded that the recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Healths Brain Drain Committee on exited doctors had been forwarded to the Office of Head of Service of the Federation (OHSF) for further action. The Minister said the OHSF was directed to engage all stakeholders on the matter by May 24 to ensure the approval of the implementation plan on or before June 5. The plan, he added, would be transmitted to teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centres for implementation. On the payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund, Ngige disclosed that the funds had been taken care of in the 2023 budget, adding that it would begin when the operation of the budget begins. He revealed that the budget office requested a comprehensive list of all resident doctors in federal tertiary health institutions from the Federal Ministry of Health and that the Post Graduate Medical College of Nigeria had sent the list through the Federal Ministry of Health for payment. The meeting resolved that NARD should re-present the list of doctors omitted in the payment of Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustment to the ministry on May 22. Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State says he would continue to sack workers, and embark on the demolition of houses and bad structures in the State until the eleventh hour of his administration. El-Rufai stated this at a book launch in the State on Saturday, where Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State praised his courage for telling truth to power. According to him, he would layoff any bad person needed to be sacked in his government Any bad thing we find we will remove so that the next governor does not need to do it again. Watch out till the eleventh hour when we shall quit office we will continue to sack bad persons and remove bad things. In a message to the occasion, the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who donated N20 million for the book launch, represented by a former Chairman of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Kashim Imam, described Governor El-rufai as a hardworking person. Give El-rufai any task, he will deliver it, he said Governor Wike who was guest speaker at the occasion, also said he has never seen a fearless and outspoken Nigerian, like El-Rufai. The Governor of Rivers State said people who can speak truth to power in the country were not easy to come by, and that only Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-rufai had the temerity and courage to do so, even to the ruling party he belonged. He said, El-Rufai, for me is one leader that whos greatness defies categorisation. Governor El-Rufai embodies character, commitment and hard work. He is bold. Hes courageous and daring with a strong spirit of Justice, equity, and fairness. He (El-Rufai) is socio-politically assertive and unbending in his loyalty to principles. Governor El-Rufai is never known to be sycophantic. I could remember his controversial letter to President Muhammad Buhari, especially the one written in March 2017 that challenged him to deliver the peoples expectations to avoid falling on the wrong side of history. READ ALSO: El-Rufai Orders Demolition Of Nine Companies Belonging To Ex-Gov Makarfi I dont know how many governors will have the courage to write a seating president of his party to say, Look do the right thing being the expectations of the people so that you will not be on the wrong side of history. It takes men of courage; it takes men of character. No sycophantic person can do that. I dont know people who can even look at the presidents face. Everything that Mr. President do is right. Mr. President does no wrong. Thats not El-Rufai for you. His loyalty to principles is not for not telling the truth. And that is what leadership and the kind character that we required for this country today. Those who will look at you eye ball-to-eye ball, not an insulting way, but to advice you, this is not right. And that is why some of us have no choice but to relate to him. You remember what happened in this country. El-Rufai was one of the APC governors who came out boldly to say look for the unity of this country; for this country to move forward, let the presidency go to the south. After all, he has all it takes to say, to also say he will vie for the presidency of this country. You cant say no. But he said this is the country we are building together, we want unity to move forward. I dont know how many people that can set aside their selfish interests and come out to say let us go to the South. And thats why we will say agreement is agreement. El-Rufai believes that agreement is agreement. Keep to what we have agreed. Thats why when I saw the invitation, this morning, it was raining heavily, I said if it likes, let there be flood everywhere, I must be here today, to participate, honour a man who has shown character; who has shown that service is not all about getting to be elected. Its a privilege to render service to your people. That is why he has chosen the people first; he has put Nigeria first. You are on the right side of history. Information Nigeria reports that the book titled, Putting The People First, authored by a veteran journalist and public commentator, Emmanuel Ado, was written about him (El-Rufai) and his administration in Kaduna State. The book was reviewed by a former Nigerian Television Authoritys ace newscaster, Eugenia Abu. Abdulmumin Jibrin, member-elect of the House of Representatives says President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu, consulted Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State before accepting to meet with presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in France. Recall that, reports emerging after the meeting caused controversies in the APC camp after Ganduje was heard in a leaked conversation lamenting how Tinubu had abandoned him and the Party stakeholders to meet with a presidential candidate from the opposition party. It was however reported that Tinubu met with Kwankwaso intending to bring him into his cabinet. Lamenting the development, Ganduje expressed reservation saying the President-elect was unfair to him to have decided to see Kwankwaso, his estranged benefactor, as an alternative. In the leaked audio with former Vice-Presidential Placeholder of the APC, Ibrahim Masari, Governor Ganduje had said Tinubu ought to consult or invite him to the meeting with Kwankwaso. But, speaking to journalists on Saturday, Jibrin, a chieftain of the NNPP, said Ganduje consented to the meeting that President-elect held with Kwankwaso in France. He said: Like every other Nigerian, I was very shocked when I listened to that audio, but I think the most important thing is that I want to confirm to you that Governor Ganduje was consulted. READ ALSO: Tinubu Abandoned Us After Working For Him Ganduje Laments President-Elects Meeting With Kwankwaso And he himself confirmed this to me, told me in clear words that the President-elect invited him and told him that he is planning a meeting with Kwankwaso and asked Ganduje if he had any objections to it, and Ganduje told me that he told the President-elect that he has no any objection. So it is extremely unfair for the president-elect to be portrayed in bad light before the public by Governor Ganduje who knows very well that the president consulted him before that meeting because he confirmed that to me clearly. It is very very unfair to the president-elect, and I do not believe that the Mr president will abandon anyone who supported him but again, what is paramount is national unity, cohesion and development, Daily Trust quoted Jibrin as saying. Similarly, the former director-general of the Bola Tinubu Support Group, told Politics Digest that Ganduje informed him of the matter before the Paris meeting. They were friends for decade but I personally told the governor that he is guilty of same and they can sort things out themselves while promising to convey his message to Kwankwaso. Ganduje personally informed me that president-elect Bola Tinubu consulted him about the meeting and asked whether has an objection but he told him No. It is therefore unfair for Ganduje to try to portray the president elect in a bad light, Jibrin added. Amy Vedder (left) and her husband, Bill Weber (right), spoke and received honorary degrees at Swarthmore College's commencement on Sunday. They met at Swarthmore, married on campus, and went on to careers in conservation, helping to save the mountain gorilla in Rwanda from extinction. They are cofounders of the Mountain Gorilla Project, now known as the International Gorilla Conservation Program. Read more When Amy Vedder was a student at Swarthmore more than 50 years ago and went on strike to protest the Vietnam War, the refrain from the college was one of support: Go do something about it. Vedder and her husband, Bill Weber, also a Swarthmore graduate, took that lesson to heart as they pursued their careers and went on to become conservationists, she an ecologist and he a social scientist. Their interdisciplinary work together, stemming back to the late 1970s, helped to save the mountain gorilla from extinction in Rwanda. The couple helped the community see the benefit in turning Rwanda Volcanoes National Park into an ecotourism site that now generates $25 million a year in revenue, with people eager to go and see the majestic beauty of the gorillas. For their efforts which are emblematic of a Swarthmore education aimed at turning out graduates passionate about making a difference in the world the couple, both 72, received honorary doctorate degrees at the colleges commencement Sunday. As for the gorillas, their population has more than doubled to nearly 700 now and still climbing, Weber told the more than 400 graduates and their family members, who applauded, so much so, he had to pause his speech for a moment. The couple, cofounders of the Mountain Gorilla Project, now known as the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, received the degrees jointly and delivered the speech in tandem, taking turns at the podium. Standing on the campus sun-splashed Parrish Lawn, not far from where they first met as undergraduates and eventually married each other, they talked about their journey. Advertisement Vedder, a 1973 alumna from Palatine Bridge, N.Y., majored in biology and was enrolled in Swarthmores vigorous honors program, where she said she was taught to explore and think deeply and broadly. I learned it was OK to ask questions, to not have answers, she said. To test ideas. Weber, a psychology major from Skaneateles, N.Y., told the audience he wasnt near the student that Vedder was, though motivated by Swarthmores Quaker activist roots. Ultimately, my father lost a $100 bet to my brother that I was ever going to make it through college, the 1972 alumnus said. By the end of Vedders freshman year he was a year ahead of her they were dating and the day before his graduation practice, they got married on campus. Then they both entered the Peace Corps in Africa for two years, where they first saw gorillas and began to think about careers in conservation. They went on to get doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin Madison he in land resource management and she in zoology. Someone had heard them speak about conservation and the importance of working with the local community and suggested they go to Rwanda, Weber said. At the time, Rwanda Volcanoes National Park with the mountain gorillas was only bringing in about $5,000 a year, Weber said, and the number of gorillas, some of whom had fallen victim to poaching, had dwindled to about 270. They worked in the park at a research camp run by Dian Fossey, the primatologist whose story was featured in the 1988 movie Gorillas in the Mist, starring Sigourney Weaver. Weber said they never worked directly with Fossey and noted that her views on conservation were different. She at times aggressively fought off poachers and feared tourism would hasten the gorillas demise because they are susceptible to diseases. Fossey was murdered in Rwanda in 1985, and the case has not been solved. She saw the local people as the enemy, Weber said in an interview. We found that the large majority of people thought the gorillas should be protected, too. Hardly any of them had anything to do with the poaching. The couple learned there were plans for a cattle-ranching project that would have destroyed much of the gorillas habitat. After 2,000 hours of direct observation of the gorillas, Vedder was convinced their numbers could be restored and the animals could benefit the local community. Weber and Vedder helped to convince the Rwandan government to at least give ecotourism a try. The couple, who describe their work in their book In the Kingdom of Gorillas, said spending time with the mountain gorillas, who are vegetarians and generally gentle unless provoked, is a powerful experience, one that has moved them to tears. Theres nothing like gazing into the eyes of a wild mountain gorilla, Vedder told Swarthmore graduates. Gorillas opened my eyes and my heart to ... the wonder and awe of life on this earth. Tourism overall in Rwanda now generates more than $400 million in revenue annually, more than coffee, tea, and mineral exports combined, according to an article in Mongabay, a conservation news site. It has created thousands of jobs and helped to rebuild the country after the genocide in 1994, Weber said. The silverback, a mature male gorilla, appears on the 5,000 Franc bill in Rwanda. The couple, who currently live in the Adirondacks, in upstate New York, estimate they have spent eight years total in Rwanda over three periods, and they still go regularly. They are lecturers at the Yale School of the Environment, and every year one of them accompanies a small group of masters and doctoral students on a nearly monthlong trip to Rwanda, where they observe the gorillas. Vedder flew in from Rwanda late last week so she could speak at the commencement, and shes heading back there on Monday. While the excitement of the day for most students was getting their degrees, Alexa Bartlett, 21, a physics major from Austin, Texas, said she was also interested in what Vedder and Weber had to say. I appreciated how they talked about their work being at the intersection of science and social science, and how the local communities were integrated into and also very important to their conservation efforts, Bartlett said. Vedder told the graduates about the gender discrimination she faced as a woman in the sciences, so much so that she hid the awe and wonder she felt from her work, fearing it would erode her scientific credibility. It took me decades to let that out, she said, to let the humanity in my work be visible. I encourage you, dont wait decades, ... let who you are into your work from the get-go. In a way, Weber said todays graduates face far more challenges, such as climate change. Great complexity, said Weber, who has been married to Vedder for 51 years, brings endless opportunities for action. Pick a field, follow your passion, engage and do so with genuine openness, openness to different perspectives ... to mutual collaborations and hopefully long-lasting partnerships. Republican Doug Mastriano candidate for Pennsylvania Governor thanked the supporters as they wait until all the votes are counted while the supporters are celebrating at his election night party in Camp Hill, PA. Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Read more State Sen. Doug Mastriano plans to make an announcement next week about his decision on whether he will run for the U.S. Senate, in what he teased as crazy good news. Mastriano (R., Franklin), an ultra-conservative who lost his 2022 gubernatorial bid to Democrat Josh Shapiro by 15 percentage points and 800,000 votes, said Saturday at a Lebanon County event that he will disclose his decision about entering the 2024 primary on Facebook Live. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) is up for reelection next year, and at least one other Republican, former U.S. Senate candidate and financier Dave McCormick, is angling to challenge Casey. Mastriano has been considering a run in recent months. READ MORE: Mastriono was defeated by Josh Shapiro by 15 percentage points Advertisement If we do run for U.S. Senate, its ours to lose in the primary, Mastriano said in an Inquirer interview at the Walk as Free People event in Lebanon County. I dont think we can be stopped, noting his ongoing grassroots support around the state. Mastriano made a surprise appearance at the event and was met with cheers from an audience of 20 to 25 people. Our teams are alive and well in all 67 counties, Mastriano added Saturday. People are ready to go. So well see you next week. However, several of his core supporters at the potluck event Saturday said they were unsure whether Mastriano should run in another statewide race, especially one that would take him out of Harrisburg. But they will support him in whatever he decides. READ MORE: Trump was a staunch Mastriano supporter in 2002. This tiime around? Others were more excited to support Mastriano in another statewide election. After Mastriano addressed the group from the Millcreek Township barn filled with American flag decorations, one supporter yelled, Now U.S. Senate! to claps from the group. Mastriano noted that he and former President Donald Trump were front-runners up by 18 points in a March poll of Pennsylvania Republicans conducted by Public Policy Polling, a Democrat-affiliated polling firm. A Franklin and Marshall College Poll from April shows McCormick as a more competitive candidate than Mastriano in a general election against Casey, though both poll behind the incumbent Democrat. Some Republican party officials say they believe that a Mastriano run for U.S. Senate would end any chance they have at flipping Caseys seat and, potentially, controlling the U.S. Senate. Even Trump has privately expressed concerns about Mastriano potentially appearing on the top of the Pennsylvania ticket with him in the 2024 primary, Politico reported last month. Trump is reluctant to endorse Mastriano this time around, after going against the Republican establishment last year to endorse him just before Pennsylvanias gubernatorial primary, three people close to Trump told Politico. Mastriano said hes spent time with McCormick and his wife, former Trump adviser Dina Powell. He likes McCormicks military experience and Powells life story. I like his background, but for us, and I hate to say it this way, but no one else is gonna beat my drum. Its going to have to be myself, Mastriano added. Im a once-in-a-lifetime candidate for this. Mastriano also referred to his top-secret clearance as a U.S. Army colonel and his 30 years military experience, at least 10 of which he spent abroad, which he said uniquely prepares him to work on international foreign policy. READ MORE: Casey has announced he's running for another term Ive spent a lot of time developing plans with our Baltic allies Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania to defend against Russian aggression, even before [the invasion] of Ukraine. ... To have that kind of depth and understanding, I think, would be beneficial to have in the U.S., but youll find out whats going on next week, said Mastriano, who retired from the Army in 2017. No matter his decision on a U.S. Senate run, Mastriano said he wants to use his grassroots movement to give birth to a new generation of leaders and make sure that the [next] generation can live life how you want to and not how some governor or some president says you should. Im not an opportunist. I didnt want to do politics. I did it out of necessity, Mastriano added. Whether I think Im more effective in Harrisburg right now, Ill stay in Harrisburg. If I can be more effective in D.C., then Ill go to D.C. So my heart is: Where can I best serve the people of Pennsylvania? Mister Ewok, a border terrier, sits by Myles Ragin as the wedding party of Marisa Savic and Dave Song take photos before the ceremony at the Bok Building in South Philadelphia on Saturday, May 13, 2023. Ragin, who is from Philly, and business partner Don Valentine from Pittsburgh operate Bow Wow Wedding, where they tend to the dogs involved in a wedding party, including dressing them, getting them down the aisle and keeping them well-behaved throughout the day and night. Read more The course of true love never did run smooth, said the bard Billy Shakespeare. And so on the day of David Song and Marisa Savics ultimately fabulous wedding, gray clouds were threatening rain on their outdoor Bok Bar venue, two of the groomsmen ran late, and over in the reception staging area, the wedding planner had to spring into Plan B: The iceman did not cometh. But one part of this nuptial was steadfast: Mr. Ewok. Best pooch and ring dog, the couples scruffy-but-stoic little terrier was on time and looking fine in his navy and lime doggy tux, PetSmart coiffure, with precious wedding band cargo in tow. Advertisement Hes doing a great job, said Myles Ragin.in would know. Hes the Philly half of Bow Wow Weddings, a service that will do whatever it takes to have your canine be part of your special day. Chauffeur, personal attendant, overnight minder. You name it, the Bow Wow guys have your dog covered. Ragin, 28, cofounded the business in December 2021 with Don Valentine, 27, a Pittsburgh buddy who had been a fellow accounting major at Robert Morris University. By the time they were upperclassmen, the friends realized a bit late, granted that maybe they didnt want to crunch numbers for the rest of their lives. So they told each other if the right business idea came along, theyd do it together. A few years ago, Valentine was thinking about proposing to his then-girlfriend, so he started checking out wedding groups online. People kept bemoaning they wanted their dogs at their weddings but had no one to help them. Somebody was trying to coerce their Uber driver to do it, Ragin said. Donnie said, Maybe we can do this. In the end, Valentines own wedding didnt happen, but the Bow Wow Weddings idea had legs and a tail. The men still have their accounting jobs, but theyve been busy on weekends, on the western and eastern sides of the state, plus New Jersey, Delaware, and, in time they hope, New York. Ragin and Valentine, both dog lovers, tailor their services to whatever couples need photo assistance, including dressing dogs and wrangling them for the camera; ceremony help, like aisle escorting or minding them at the reception, and pet sitting the night before or after the wedding. They have several packages, ranging from the Chihuahua (overnight pet sitting, plus photo, ceremony, and reception assistance) to the Great Dane for destination weddings. Their minimum charge is $350, and packages run from $599 to $1,299. No one has asked yet, but theyd even pack a bag and help out on the honeymoon. As with any job, there are challenges. Like Gracie the pit bull who wouldnt go for a crown but accepted a tutu. Or the poor panting pug at a beach wedding. Ragin now always packs a portable fan on warm days, and the Bow Wow guys make it a point to get acquainted with their canine clients and their quirks before the big day. The gig has lots of rewards. Barry and Jessica Garozzo of Bala Cynwyd really wanted Porterhouse, their mini dachshund, to be in their wedding photos, taken on the plaza outside Philadelphia City Hall. But, they probably couldnt have done it without a service like Bow Wow Weddings. A lot of people want their dogs involved, but I dont think they realize, as a bride and groom, how busy youre going to be and how much work your day is, Barry said. Sometimes, having a dog around changes the feeling of the day. Thats how it was with Pepper, Miranda and James Gormans Samoyed. As flower dog, it was hard to see the blossoms under all her long, white fluff, but the Northern Liberties pooch was the belle of the ball. And no one was happier to have her there than Miranda and James. Its such a big occasion, Miranda said. You want them there for the pictures, to stand by your side as youre up there. Were not like crazy dog people, but shes very much a part of our family. Marisa Savic says she probably never would have gone out with that interesting guy she saw online if she had realized he lived in Jersey. But she didnt know. So she met her person, Dave Song. And she never cared much for dogs too hyper. But then she met Daves Mr. Ewok. Im not a dog person, but Im completely head over heels for him, said Marisa, 32, a psychiatric nurse-practitioner. Dave, 39, a Deptford resident who works in finance, adopted Mr. Ewok from a rescue a few months before he met Marisa. Hed been looking for a dog for a while when the 6-year-old border terriers photo turned up. He looked like an Ewok. For Dave, a big Star Wars fan, he was perfect. The rescue let him bring home the dog May 4, the official holiday for Star Wars fans (May the Fourth Be With You.) It was fate. When they decided to get married, Dave and Marisa knew they wanted Mr. Ewok there. On the morning of their May 13 wedding, Ragin picked up Mr. Ewok from the home of one of the couples friends. His black Mobile Dog Gear backpack was filled with snacks, water, Ewoks clothes, and whatever other needs the day might bring. For the next few hours, Ragin escorted the dog to photo shoots, giving Ewok moral support and obliging the wedding party and some guests with some cell phone snaps. When the afternoon started getting a little muggy, he whipped out the portable hand fan. And then it was showtime. Ragin handed off Mr. Ewok to his bridal party partner, Eliana Zimmerman. As the wedding music played, dog and 14 human attendants proceeded across the Bok rooftop. In a very lovely ceremony, the bride and groom both cried and laughed, and Mr. Ewok got his own mention by the wedding officiant. As the couple exchanged vows, the little dog gazed their way intently. When it was over, Ragin picked him up and took him to a doggy friends house for his own party, just as cocktail hour was about to begin. Newlywed Dave Song said he was so glad Mr. Ewok had been there: We wouldnt have it any other way. Jamila Winder and Neil Makhija won the Democratic primary for Montgomery County commissioner. They will run together on a ticket in the general election for two seats leading the three-member board of commissioners. Read more The Montgomery County Democratic machine isnt broken. But it may need some maintenance work. Attorney Neil Makhija of Lower Merion, who pushed for a contested primary election in the commissioners race over the objections of party leaders, won a spot on the ballot in Novembers general election. Commissioner Jamila Winder, who had the partys endorsement, won the most votes and will run on a ticket with Makhija in the general election. But after years of carefully orchestrated local campaigns, Makhijas victory Tuesday in a messy five-candidate primary disrupted party leaders plans for an orderly candidate selection process. The partys system this year was led in part by Democrats affiliated with law firms that raise money for the party and get government contracts. The question going forward is whether that system is likely to reform in response to criticism from party activists or shake off the loss and reassert itself. Advertisement This is a repudiation of party politics as usual in Montgomery County, said Ryane Sophia Kilmer, a Democratic activist from Cheltenham. It represents the committee people taking back our power and helping elect a rising superstar in the Democratic Party in Neil Makhija. There were still signs Tuesday of the partys influence. The decisive victory for Winder, who was appointed to the three-member Board of Commissioners earlier this year to fill a vacancy, showed the power of the partys backing. And in the contested primary for register of wills, the candidate with the most establishment support Tina Lawson defeated rival Hilary Fuelleborn. The Montgomery County Democratic Committee in February endorsed Winders campaign for a full term meaning her name appeared on sample ballots distributed to voters at the polls and in mail. Given that advantage, Winder was widely seen as a heavy favorite. Obviously, the party endorsement, of course, helped. Despite the challenges that existed in the party this primary season, I feel the party rallied behind me, and really worked to get voters to know me, and learn about me, Winder said. I also think getting the appointment I hit the ground running. Ive been crisscrossing the county with Commissioner [Ken] Lawrence, meeting various stakeholders, understanding the issues. I think Ive demonstrated I can do the job. Winder and Makhija will run together in the general election and are favored to win, given Democrats voter registration edge in the county. Open primary Even as the party endorsed Winder, a 44-year-old executive with an education company, activists rejected party leaders recommendation to endorse a second commissioner candidate, State Rep. Tim Briggs, with some activists citing an Inquirer article that scrutinized the selection process. Makhija, 36, was the only candidate who pushed for such an open primary participating in Zoom meetings with activists before the party convention while visiting his 100-year-old grandmother in Mumbai. Its pretty extraordinary to think it came down to that one night, Makhija said. If it had gone the other way, and the committee said were just gonna pick our people and thats it, I wouldnt have had a shot and neither would anyone else who was considering running. After the party convention, three other Democrats jumped in the race: Kimberly Koch, a teacher and Whitpain Township supervisor whom Winder tapped as her running mate; Tanya Bamford, a marketing executive and Montgomery Township supervisor; and Noah Marlier, the county prothonotary and a municipal lawyer. Koch got a boost from her association with Winder, with whom she shared a campaign committee and much of the same campaign literature. And Koch had support from many state and local elected officials, including House Majority Leader Matt Bradford. But discontent among some activists with the party apparatus offered an opportunity for a candidate to emerge as an alternative. Trump back in the news Makhija was able to pull it off through a combination of fundraising, key endorsements, and a message that connected his experience as a lawyer and activist to the job responsibilities of county commissioners. He highlighted his background as a lecturer of election law at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as his work leading an Indian American civic group that promotes voting rights and helps elect Democrats across the country. With Donald Trump running for president again, Makhija campaigned on using his background in election law to help Montgomery County administer the 2024 election and protect against Trump-inspired attacks on the election process. That resonated with everybody, said Makhija campaign manager Eric Stern, who was previously a top aide on U.S. Sen. John Fettermans winning Senate bid. People are seeing Trump and DeSantis in the news. If youre a Democrat, and you want your vote counted and other peoples votes counted, thats terrifying. Makhija raised more than $1 million in three months far more than his rivals tapping a network of donors hed cultivated through his activism. His television ads highlighted his background as the son of Indian immigrants who made it to Harvard Law School. And they featured prominent Democrats backing his campaign such as former Gov. Ed Rendell, former U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, and former State Sen. Connie Williams. Late in the race, he got another lift from an endorsement by The Inquirers editorial board, which operates separately from the newsroom. Kobe numbers Makhija initially faced skepticism from some Democratic activists given that he was relatively new to Montgomery County, having moved to Lower Merion from Philadelphia in 2021. He used those questions to share more about his life story about how he grew up in Carbon County, Pa., where his parents were able to get green cards. He worked for a Philadelphia law firm after law school, and moved to Lower Merion, close to his wifes parents. Im the first in three generations that has ever had a choice, really, of where to live and where to raise my family, he said during an April forum. Supporters of some of his rivals tried to portray him as a political opportunist, pointing to his unsuccessful campaign for a Carbon County-based state House district in 2016. Makhija responded that he wanted to take one for the team by running in a rural district Republicans had won years earlier. Thats also when he met Fetterman, who was then running his first primary campaign for Senate. Fetterman backed Makhijas campaign for commissioner. While some might have seen me as a newcomer, the reality is Ive been very much active in support of Democratic efforts for almost the last 20 years, Makhija said. On election day, Makhija likely benefited from the fact that candidates hometowns are printed next to their names on the ballot. Lower Merion is the biggest municipality in the county, and home to a lot of Democrats. Makhijas vote margins in Lower Merion and Narberth were roughly equal to his total margin of victory countywide. Neil being from there, we needed him to put up Kobe numbers there, and thats exactly what he did, said campaign adviser Dan Kane, referring to Lower Merion High Schools most famous alumnus. Push for reform Makhija and Winder will face Republicans Tom DiBello and Liz Ferry in the general election. The bigger test facing Democrats may be over the future of their own party. During the campaign, some committee members criticized party chairman Jason Salus for what they saw as overly aggressive enforcement of party bylaws. For example, he investigated allegations that party official Joyce Keller had violated the bylaws by allegedly supporting non-endorsed candidates in Facebook posts and fundraising efforts. A complaint sought the committee members removal from the party organization. And many objected to the composition of screening committees the party used to vet candidates for endorsements, saying the process lacked transparency. Salus has defended the process as rigorous and said endorsements send important signals to voters, many of whom dont have time to research candidates in local elections that dont get much news coverage. Committee members in recent days have been circulating a letter to party leaders asking them to establish a panel to review the selection and endorsement process to ensure it is fair, democratic, and prevents even the appearance of any conflicts of interest. Nancy Kleinberg, a committee member whos helped circulate the petition, said she hopes it will provide a unified voice for Montco Democrats to advocate for a more open, transparent, and democratic endorsement process. I am proud of our ability to embrace positive change so we can continue to fight for important issues, she said. Dozens of committee members have signed the letter including Salus. I do want us to collectively think through what the format of that effort looks like, he wrote in a May 15 email to the partys executive committee that was reviewed by The Inquirer. Regarding the complaint against Keller, he added in the email that the party was obligated to undertake an investigation but that hes not recommending her removal from any position. The party was scheduled to hold an event aimed at promoting unity Friday evening at Von C Brewing in Norristown. Our party is a dynamic and growing organization, and I am committed to continuing to reassess our processes as we move forward, Salus told The Inquirer. This will be an ongoing effort to adapt and change in keeping with the input our members have provided. Jamila Winder, chair of the East Norriton Board of Supervisors, will be appointed to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Read more A leadership shake-up is coming to Montgomery County. With Commissioner Val Arkoosh resigning to join Gov. Josh Shapiros administration and Commissioner Ken Lawrence not seeking reelection, the Democratic-led governing board is about to change for the first time in years. The first step came Monday, when a judge appointed Jamila Winder, an elected official in East Norriton Township and an executive for an online learning platform, to serve the remainder of Arkooshs term. Shell be the first Black woman to serve on the Montgomery County board. And Montgomery County Democrats are already looking ahead to the race to succeed Lawrence party leaders met Sunday to coalesce behind State Rep. Tim Briggs. Both commissioner seats will be on the ballot in the May primary election. Advertisement Its a turning point in Montgomery County politics. Democrats took control of the board for the first time in 2012 under-then Commissioner Shapiro, and over the years the county has become a key turnout machine in statewide races. Montgomery County needs to have leaders that reflect the diversity of our neighbors, Winder, 44, said in her application to Common Pleas Court, which handles vacancies. Not just in race or gender, but in lived experiences. My experiences caring for elderly parents, as a working mother with a young family, as a woman of color, and as someone from the middle (working) class, I represent many residents and can relate to their needs based on lived experiences. Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn T. Carluccio signed an order Monday appointing Winder. Jason Salus, chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee, described Winder as a historic pick. She just wowed us, he said in an interview. Very impressive professional background, deep roots in the community, and service to her community. Party also backs Rep. Tim Briggs for another seat In addition, Democratic Party leaders are backing Briggs for another spot on the three-member board, Salus said. He will run this year to succeed Lawrence, who has said he wont seek reelection. One board seat is reserved for the minority party. Republican Joe Gale is also up for reelection this year. Having both positions open is an opportunity to redefine and energize what the Democratic Party is in Montgomery County, Briggs said in an interview. Montgomery County Democratic leaders met Sunday to consider the matter, Salus said. Theres broad consensus and strong support for Rep. Tim Briggs to be Jamilas running mate, Salus said. He brings a wealth of experience from the legislature and an understanding of how government works. The partys convention is scheduled for Feb. 16, and Briggs endorsement isnt official. Other candidates could challenge both Winder and Briggs in the May primary election. Briggs, of King of Prussia, was first elected to the state House in 2008. He said he was humbled to have the support of U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean and other party leaders and looks forward to working to earn the support of the entire Democratic committee. A top priority for the board next year will be administration of the 2024 election. Weve made some advances with our delivery of the election system, but we have to continue to make improvements, Briggs said. Under the county code, Common Pleas Court is required to fill a vacancy on the commissioners board by appointing a resident of the same political party as the resigning member. In this case, that meant the court had to pick a Democrat. The county Democratic Party interviewed most of the applicants and recommended the court appoint Winder a member of the partys executive board to the position. The court received more than 20 applications, records show. Winder is chair of the East Norriton Board of Supervisors and previously served as a director of the Norristown Area School District. Shes a vice president at Lecturio, a global online learning platform, responsible for the companys U.S. operations. I felt there was more that I could do, between my service governing, my knowledge of the county, and my private-sector experience, Winder said in an interview. I said, Why not me? Theres never been a woman of color to serve in that capacity. For the longest time growing up in Montgomery County, I havent seen a lot of people who look like me in key leadership roles. Winder, who has two elderly parents, said she wants to protect services for seniors and improve programs for people struggling with addiction and mental health. She also hopes to strengthen partnerships between organized labor and contractors. Her appointment came despite lobbying from influential Pennsylvania Democrats backing another candidate: Neil Makhija, a lawyer and executive director of the nonprofit Indian American Impact. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, State Sen. Vince Hughes (D., Phila.), and State Rep. Patty Kim (D., Dauphin) all wrote letters of recommendation to the court on Makhijas behalf. Ive had people reach out to me saying they wish there was an open primary, said Makhija, who would be the first Asian American on a county commissioner board in Pennsylvania. If we had an opportunity to elect the most diverse ticket in our commonwealths history to leadership, wed inspire young people, people of color, those whove been a critical base to the Democratic Party, we should take that opportunity. Members of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee stand to vote on a point of order as they hold their endorsement convention for local elections at Colonial Middle School in Plymouth Meeting on Thursday. Read more Montgomery County Democrats voted Thursday not to endorse candidates in two local elections this year, after party activists bucked the recommendation of their leadership. That means there will likely be contested primary elections in May for county commissioner and register of wills. The vote of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee came after some party activists pushed back on a candidate vetting process they saw as opaque, but which Democratic leaders described as rigorous and fair. READ MORE: Ashamed: Montco Democrats are facing backlash over their county commissioner succession plan Advertisement That process began in earnest after Democrat Val Arkoosh resigned last month as chair of the county Board of Commissioners to join Gov. Josh Shapiros administration, and fellow Democratic Commissioner Ken Lawrence Jr. announced he wouldnt seek reelection to the three-member board. Their departures amount to the largest leadership shake-up since Democrats took control of county government in 2012. Montgomery County is the states third largest by population, behind only Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, and voter turnout there has become key for statewide races. East Norriton supervisor Jamila Winder, 44, was appointed to serve the last year of Arkooshs term. Party officials also coalesced behind state Rep. Tim Briggs, 53, of King of Prussia, to succeed Lawrence. But while rank-and-file Democratic activists voted at the partys convention Thursday in Plymouth Meeting to endorse Winder in the May primary election, they declined to do the same for Briggs defying the recommendation from party leadership. An endorsement requires a 60% vote under the partys rules. Instead, a majority of almost 500 committee members voted to hold an open primary for the seat meaning no candidate will get the partys endorsement. While an endorsement doesnt guarantee a candidates success, in practice it discourages others from running. The vote was seen as a victory for Neil Makhija, a 36-year-old lawyer from Lower Merion who is also vying for commissioner. I think people really respected our hustle, willingness to show up in every corner of the county, make literally hundreds of phone calls, and show up in dozens of Zooms over recent weeks, Makhija, who teaches election law at the University of Pennsylvania and runs an Indian American civic group, said in an interview Friday. Because they believe in the democratic process and they respect a candidate whos willing to go out there and fight for every vote. Briggs on Friday said hes very proud of my record of fighting for the county I love and raised me, and I look forward to continuing that fight. I have a 30-year track record of serving the party, 15 years of public service, Briggs said. To have my intentions questioned it was a challenge. The party on Thursday also voted not to endorse in the race for register of wills. The incumbent, D. Bruce Hanes, isnt seeking reelection. Party officials had recommended attorney Tina Lawson, 59, of Fort Washington, for an endorsement, but rival attorney Hilary Fuelleborn, 42, of Jenkintown, had enough support among the full committee to get an open primary. Party chair Jason Salus had warned against open primaries. In an email Thursday to committee members before the vote, Salus said the gathering would be perhaps our most consequential endorsement convention in the modern Montgomery County Democratic Party. The choices we make tonight will say a lot about who we are and what values we espouse, Salus wrote in the email, which was viewed by The Inquirer. Open primaries, he said, leave a wide opening for rich self-funders, perhaps people who have not yet even announced their candidacy, and special interests to come in through the back door. Montgomery County Republicans are set to hold their endorsement convention on March 1. One person who says hes prohibited from attending: Commissioner Joe Gale, the lone Republican on the county governing board. (One seat is reserved for the minority party.) Gale, 33, of Plymouth Meeting, announced his reelection campaign Friday, saying he has served as a watchdog for families and taxpayers of all political affiliations who feel disenfranchised by the stranglehold of big spending, far-left Democrats. First elected in 2015 without his partys support, Gale said the county GOP would love to return to the days in which a lapdog for the Democrat majority occupied the Republican County Commissioner seat. Former Montgomery County GOP chair Liz Preate Havey said four people have indicated they would like the support of our 650 committee people for the position of county commissioner. Joe Gale is not one of them, she said. Havey said Gale declined an invitation to seek the endorsement. Nicolas O'Rourke addresses a crowd at a rally outside of Hahnemann University Hospital in 2019. He ran for Council that year and lost, but he's planning to run again as a member of the Working Families Party, the progressive third party aiming to oust Republicans from local government. Read more Kendra Brooks shocked Philadelphias political world in 2019 when she was elected to City Council as a member of a progressive third party, seizing a seat that had been held by Republicans for nearly 70 years. Now the Working Families Party is trying to replicate that historic victory next year perhaps multiple times over. Brooks intends to run again alongside the Rev. Nicolas ORourke, who also sought an at-large seat in 2019 but lost. ORourke will officially launch his campaign Wednesday for the seat held by Councilmember David Oh, a Republican who is expected to run for mayor. Citing former President Donald Trump and the election denial movement, ORourke said in an interview that the modern Republican Party doesnt deserve governing power. Advertisement The progressive movement has never been stronger, said ORourke, who is also the organizing director for the Working Families Party in Pennsylvania. The momentum has been building since Kendras election. Now were primed and ready and believe its possible. How non-Democrats win elections in Philly Winning as a third-party candidate remains an expensive and challenging proposition that takes a large voter-education apparatus. Council has seven at-large members who represent the entire city, but under the city charter, voters can only pick five candidates, and each party can only nominate five people. It basically guarantees two seats are reserved for members outside the dominant party. The citys heavily Democratic electorate has meant that five Democrats and two Republicans would win the seats until Brooks victory. For a third party to beat a Republican, they generally need to siphon away some voters who usually pick five Democrats to instead select fewer Democrats and vote for one or two third-party candidates. (This notably frustrated Democratic Party officials in 2019.) Brooks did it successfully, leaving Republicans stunned. She said shes confident her status as an incumbent with a legislative record to run on will help lift the Working Families Party to take both seats. Theres no reason we couldnt take both, and I think the time is ripe right now, she said. My record is proof that the Working Families Party is able to deliver for Philadelphia. ORourke, a pastor at Living Water United Church of Christ in Oxford Circle and a mainstay on the citys progressive activist circuit, said third parties are increasingly attractive to voters who are disillusioned and disenchanted with politics. They see two dominant parties and dont see themselves, he said. We have seen again and again that when you have candidates of, and for, the working class, you can cut through the cynicism. Republicans are gearing up for a fight GOP leaders say theyre not taking Councils minor-party seats for granted and are employing a new strategy this cycle. The partys ward leaders last month made a handful of early endorsements six months ahead of the primary in an effort to coalesce around the candidates they think can withstand the challenge posed by the ascendant Working Families Party, said Vince Fenerty, chair of the Republican Party in Philadelphia. Fenerty said he refuses to let the GOP get our butts kicked by the Working Families Party because we arent awake. So ward leaders endorsed Drew Murray, a longtime civic leader in Center City, and Jim Hasher, a real estate agent and bar owner both of whom unsuccessfully ran for Council in a special election held last month. Democrats were widely expected to win the seats, given registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the city 7-1. READ MORE: Philly City Council results: Democrats sweep four open seats in special elections Fenerty said Republicans were attempting to clear the primary field and now have a year to campaign for Murray and Hasher. While the party will endorse three more candidates later in the process to put forth a full slate, he said it will encourage Republican voters next November to select only Murray and Hasher with the hopes of lifting them to victory. Murray, a former Democrat, said he plans to tell voters that Working Families Party representation on Council draws the body leftward on policy. I know a lot of people are frustrated with the state of the city, he said. They believe that we need more balance on Council. And Hasher said attempts to portray the Republicans in the race as extreme will fall flat. Our politics and our problems are local, he said. Im going to keep centered on the problems at hand. Besides Oh, the only remaining Republican on Council is Brian ONeill, whom the party also endorsed and who has represented his Northeast Philadelphia district for more than 40 years. WFP candidates want other seats, too The Working Families Party may also vie for seats elsewhere in municipal government. Jarrett Smith, an organizer who has ties to progressive labor unions, is fund-raising to run as a Working Families Party candidate for the City Commissioners seat currently held by Seth Bluestein, the only Republican on the three-member elections board. The Working Families Party hasnt endorsed Smith or any candidate for commissioner. Bluestein declined to comment. But hes widely understood to be considering running and has also won the endorsement of the city GOP. Under state law, commissioners are required to recuse themselves from the elections board when they officially become a candidate for office. Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, nominated Bluestein earlier this year to take over the seat that had been held by his boss, former Republican commissioner Al Schmidt, who resigned to head the good-government group Committee of Seventy. Progressive organizations, including the Working Families Party, attempted to derail the nomination and said Kenney could have nominated a third-party candidate to fill the seat. A handful of Democratic elected officials joined the effort and called for Council to reject any Republican (though two quickly abandoned that position). If a Trump Republican commissioner were to get into that seat through appointment or the 2023 municipal elections we believe it is not an exaggeration to say the balance of democracy may fall in their hands, ORourke said at the time. This is not something Philadelphia can afford. Council approved the nomination. Brooks was the only member to vote against it. Inquirer staff writer Jonathan Lai contributed to this story. This weekend, Ryan Tubridy will present his final Late Late Show. He walks away safe in the knowledge that he has left an indelible mark on both his guests and his audiences as well as a legacy of great memories. Whatever your views of the show, there is little doubt that despite an ever-changing media landscape, it has managed to maintain its special place in Irish society and culture. It most certainly still has kudos as a programme, says broadcaster Henry McKean. Ive been at a few dinner parties recently and the only thing that people wanted to talk about was who the next presenter was going to be. People still love it or secretly love it. "I think Irish people feel ownership of it. Going on the show was really quite a special experience. Henry first appeared on The Late Late Show in 2012 when he was invited to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of being a single man on that years Valentines special. I got a call out of the blue asking me to talk about romance with Holly Carpenter and someone from The Apprentice. It was really strange. I had been working in radio for about 10 years at that stage but when you go on The Late Late, there is obviously something a bit different about it so when I said it to friends I never had such a reaction. They couldnt believe it. Though he didnt find romance that night, Henrys life took an unexpected twist on his second appearance. Henry McKean met his wife during a Late Late Show appearance. Picture: Jason Clarke They had me on a panel again, he recalls. This time it was to talk about happiness. As we were waiting in the green room, I got talking to a book publicist who was there with another guest. I had met her a few weeks before on Grafton St but we had a bit more time to talk in the green room. A few weeks later, I asked her out, and Helen is now my wife. Neil Delamares memories of The Late Late Show green room arent quite as romantic. The comedian has been a regular on the show since he first appeared at the tail end of Pat Kennys reign. I think the most famous person I met in the green room was probably Mr Big from Sex in the City; the actor Chris Noth, says the comedian. And I remember telling him that I had a friend who had seen him in a play on Broadway in which he stripped naked. It turned out that he hadnt. That was a bit awkward. For Neil, this friendly, if slightly scarlet-for-ye, encounter with Noth reflects the shows sometimes organic and often anarchic qualities. It will be interesting to see if it stays live or will it be recorded like so many others in the USA and UK, he says. I think there is more risk and the possibility for revelation on The Late Late and because of that, I think its better. You get more out there stuff. Francis Brennan says he won't be going for The Late Late Show gig Indeed, who can forget Linda Martins run-in with Aslans Billy McGuinness, Ryans reaction to that exploding bottle of Fanta, or Francis Brennans tussle with some unruly bedding? Oh dont mention the duvet episode, says Francis. That wasnt the only one. I remember the time I cleaned the windows with the newspaper and I couldnt see a thing because of the lights in the studio. I couldnt see if they were clean or dirty. So I had to wing it. That was very often the case for everyone on set when Francis came on The Late Late with his unique blend of storytelling, household tips, and life hacks. Im never nervous going on The Late Late, says the hotelier, because I know it can go anywhere and Ryan is brilliant at adapting to the situation in hand. I remember doing a show with Ellen DeGeneres years ago and everything was formulaic." Now that Francis has put his hotel up for sale, there are rumours he might take the show on himself. Rumours that he was very quick to take a duster to. I wouldnt want his job for all the tea in China, he says. Everyone thinks you just rock up and have a chat. But its not like that at all. The amount of work that goes into it is unbelievable. You have to keep up to date on everything. Even stuff you are not interested in at all. I do wish whoever takes it on the very best, says Francis. Its a very important programme in Irish society. And one thing that people often miss about it is that it educates as well as entertains and I hope that doesnt change. Rosanna Davison says Ryan Tubridy is empathetic and engaging on and off the screen. Model and author Rosanna Davison can testify to that side of the shows offering. The former Miss World has appeared on the show no fewer than five times and has had the honour of telling her stories at some really important times in her life. In one of her most recent appearances, she spoke to the nation about her experience of surrogacy. We had just welcomed our little girl Sophia a few months before, recalls Rosanna. I went on to talk about how I was told that I couldnt naturally carry my child. I was nervous about telling such a private story and I remember he [Ryan] came backstage just before I went on. He gave me a little gift for Sophia and he hugged me and he reassured me that he was going to be gentle and that it was my story to tell and nobody elses. He was really supportive and kind. And thats my memory of Ryan Tubridy. I think its a reflection on him as a person and his upbringing. Ive always found him to be as engaging and as empathetic and as friendly off screen as on screen and I think thats part of his success and why so many guests return. It is a positive experience. Rosanna got quite the surprise just a few weeks after her appearance on that show when she discovered she was pregnant with twins. Though The Late Late cant take responsibility for that particular life-affirming moment, it can claim many others. We all remember where we were when the wonderful Adam Kings wonder and gratitude first graced The Late Late and nobody will ever forget Sergeant Graham Burke jumping out of a Christmas hamper to the elation of his children. Michael Moloney and Dermot Kennedy perform Giants on The Late Late Toy Show in 2020 Michael Moloney was just 14 when he appeared on the show to perform a cover of We Used to Be Giants by his hero Dermot Kennedy on the Toy Show. Initially, I thought his voice was just part of the backing track that they had forgotten to take out or something, recalls the now 16-year-old. So I was trying to cast it aside and just keep singing. Then I turned around and he was standing there. I was already in a type of out-of-body experience but this was like what is happening? The teenager, who releases two new singles later this summer, remained professional and remarkably composed. If anything, it was Kennedy who seemed most likely to let the emotion get the better of him. Between adrenaline and excitement I kept singing, recalls the Mayo troubadour and I was having such fun I didnt want to stop singing. It was unreal. It was probably the best moment of my life and it has changed my life since then. It has opened so many doors. Thats almost 14 years of opening doors, facilitating dreams, and giving the rest of us great memories. Tubs will be a tough act to follow. Did you know there was a Butter Exchange in Cork, up by Shandon? It was the largest butter market in the world and operated from 1770 to 1925, buying butter from farmers as far away as Listowel and transporting it all over the world, so that Cork Rose Butter was regarded as a premium product, like cheese from Parma or wine from Bordeaux. 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. Maybe you knew all this. But I was oblivious until I did the tourist thing and visited the Butter Museum on the north side of Cork City, as part of a quest to see how Id get on as a tourist in a place I lived in for 22 years of my life. The plan was to stroll around Cork, literally, starting at Georges Quay, following the river west to St Fin Barres Cathedral before heading north, passing St Als, and then across to the North Mall before turning east for Shandon and the Butter Museum. From there, it was on to McCurtain St for a hipster sandwich, before veering south and back to Georges Quay. I found it hard to stroll at first, lacking that sense of being slightly lost and uncomfortable that you get from tourists in a strange town. I knew where I was going, on a route I pounded every day during covid to get away from my family for an hour. My two-hour stroll around Cork was going to take 45 minutes if I kept up this pace. And then St Fin Barres Cathedral took my breath away. Not in a good way its looking really shabby now, the spires could do with a clean. I did a piece recently with Richard Quest when he visited Cork during his travel show for CNN. He mentioned off-camera that the place was looking a bit tired and could do with a lick of paint. I was a bit cranky, you dont want someone with an English accent telling you your city isnt up to scratch. But, looking up at the moss on the spires of the cathedral, I had to admit he might be right. To be honest, I had started to think about it a few minutes earlier, on Georges Quay. The glad rags that Cork put on 10 years ago were wearing a little thin. If I could see this, so could a tourist. I turned into the grounds of the cathedral and found myself seduced. The old gravestones standing straight against a wall, the new labyrinth under a few trees, the timeless feeling that it wasnt 9.30am on a Friday morning anymore. Pat Fitzpatrick gets the measure of the Shandon Bells, Shandon, Cork City. Picture: Eddie O'Hare A SENSE OF PLACE You know what you cant be a proper tourist in your home city. There are some things only a visitor can see. While I was fussing about a bit of moss on the spires, tourists were soaking up the huge vaulted ceilings inside. Forget my problems with a closed-down gelato shop on the quay they were grabbing an eyeful of the weird skyline that suddenly comes into view in this part of the city, where the spires of Shandon and the North Cathedral whisk you away to a medieval mountain-top town in Tuscany, without the sunshine. Then I bumped into Nigel Dunne, Dean of Cork, who recognised me from my other life, where I pretend to be a millionaire from Blackrock Road. On a quick tour around the inside of the cathedral, he told me that the outside had been cleaned as recently as 2011, before an explosion in the number of diesel cars along with climate change conspired to spoil it all again. Nigel headed off to preside at a funeral, leaving me to stroll around the old place, contemplating the end of human life on the planet and the fact you cant beat a bit of local knowledge when youre pretending to be a tourist. I left the grounds with a spring in my step and headed back down to the river. Its spruced up around here now because there is money in student accommodation. Pat Fitzpatrick visits The Butter Museum, Shandon, Cork City. Picture: Eddie O'Hare Like any tourist, Im starting to get a sense of the place. Cork has always been a bitty city faded glory jammed up against the new thing. Nothing stands still. I crossed the river (twice obviously, welcome to Cork) and arrived at the North Mall. It took my breath away, always does, its like a slice of somewhere else. The understated wooden sign above the door said that the Franciscan Well is a Brew Pub. It rankled that they used a hipster American term, but Im 56 now and theyre looking for a younger class of tourist. The first gaggle of visitors were arriving around Shandon and the Firkin Crane. There is a rule in city break tourism that you have to climb the dank steps of an old tower whether you want to or not. I made my maiden voyage up the dank steps of Shandon Tower the view from the top was a letdown, Cork is best experienced at street level. But climbing those steps in my home city felt different to all the other towers Ive climbed on holidays. It connected me to the place. I didnt play the bells on the way down it wasnt yet noon and there was at least one student half-asleep with a hangover nearby who didnt need to hear me murdering Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Pat Fitzpatrick visits The Butter Museum, Shandon, Cork City. Picture; Eddie O'Hare FILLING IN THE GAPS Then I met Dominic from the Butter Museum. Again, it always helps if you find a guide. Just like Nigel and the cathedral, Dominic had the low-down on butter and Cork. It basically meant money the Butter Exchange drawing farmers along the butter roads from as far away as Kerry and Limerick so they could swap a few barrels for cash. And then the creameries took over and it disappeared, leaving the old exchange building unloved and unkempt to the north of the museum. Its a waste, but creates a mood too, of time moving on. A quick word for Blarney here. Its growing on me. I went up and kissed the Blarney Stone for the CNN piece I thought it would be awful, but all I remember was the bonhomie and good craic with the Americans in the queue. The grounds of the castle are gorgeous and there is a great buzz around the village, even during a recent visit on a Sunday morning. We should be thankful for Blarney it lets the Yanks indulge an upmarket version of Diddly-Ireland and keeps that whole shillelagh business out of the city centre. Back to my walking tour, which ended with a pastrami on sourdough sandwich on McCurtain St, along with one of the best coffees I ever had in my life. It was the good side of hipster nice friendly service, people of all ages appreciating quality food that was a pipe dream in Cork 10 years ago. In another city, plodding around museums and climbing up towers is how I put down time before its time to go out and get a bit drunk over dinner. Its all a bit samey. In my hometown, its like filling in the gaps in your sense of an old friend. Id highly recommend it, as long as you can find a person or two to point you in the right direction. Criminal barristers will meet in Dublin on Monday to discuss their concerns that cuts made to legal aid fees during the recession have not been reversed. The meeting at the Criminal Courts of Justice follows a meeting in Cork last Tuesday, as well as a virtual meeting held on Thursday. More than 300 barristers across the country are affected by the cuts which were introduced at a number of different points between 2008 and 2011 under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Fempi). The council of The Bar of Ireland wrote to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe last week outlining once again the additional reforms and changed practices that our members have delivered since 2002 as part of their public service to the criminal justice system. In the letter, the chair of the council of The Bar of Ireland, Sara Phelan, SC, said: The Bar of Ireland will, of course, always be a willing and engaged participant in any discussions on reform and improvement of the criminal justice system and the administration of justice and we are happy to engage in discussions on those issues. But there should be no misunderstanding of the present position. The bar has already provided flexibility and efficiencies comparable to those provided by other groups in return for reversal of cuts and has long ago satisfied the relevant front-line departments of that. She said the cuts ranged from 28.5% to 69%. Restoration, not increases Cork barrister Tom Creed says the aim of the meetings is to find out what do our members want to do. He pointed out that barristers are self-employed, so any decision of any action would have to be done on an individual basis. He said criminal barristers are frustrated that other sectors have had the cuts imposed under Fempi restored while they have not. He said they do not want to impact on either victims or jurors adding: We dont want to discommode anybody. But he said measures that were taken by barristers to deliver efficiencies into the criminal justice system are not being reciprocated by the lifting of cuts. We are not looking for increases we want restoration. He said two thirds of criminal barristers leave the criminal bar after six years and that the cuts imposed in different stages have resulted in fees being brought back to the same levels as 2002. In reply to a recent parliamentary question on the issue, Justice Minister Simon Harris said: The issue of criminal legal aid fees is, I understand, being considered by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform, as the department with responsibility for any restoration of barrister fees arising from the Fempi cuts. The department recognises the important role played by barristers in undertaking criminal legal aid work. This department supports the reversal of Fempi cuts for those in the legal profession in line with action taken to restore the pay of public and civil servants impacted by the Fempi cuts, and continues to engage with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform in relation to fees paid under criminal legal aid. Mr Harris added: State Solicitors who are engaged by the DPP to work on criminal prosecutions have had a process of pay restoration implemented since 2017 by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. Gardai sent a request to Dublin City Council for the removal of occupied tents at the entrance to Phoenix Park just days ahead of US president Joe Bidens visit in April. Dublin City Council internal correspondence released under Freedom of Information shows an email which has a subject line reading Joe Biden Visit was sent to the councils waste management department. The email was sent on April 7, just five days before Mr Biden arrived in the Republic, and shows that Bridewell Garda Station sought advice from Dublin City Council on how to remove the tents ahead of the visit. As people are currently living in these tents [they] would like them removed as gently as possible before the presidential visit, a staff member wrote to waste management. The staff member said a public order may be required to remove the tents with the Garda Station requesting someone on-site to remove them ahead of Mr Bidens visit to Aras an Uachtarain on April 13. The tents which were removed on April 9 were occupied by at least six people until then and had been in the area for three months. The email ends with a request to waste management to make contact with Bridewell Garda Station with any help or ideas about how to remove these tents for the visit. The thread of the email shows that it was forwarded from waste management to a Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DHRE) staff member. An email was sent to Dublin City Council just five days before Joe Biden's visit, requesting the removal of tents. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: The email attached was sent to a staff member who was on leave and was therefore not received by the DRHE until after the individuals at that location had moved. The DRHE offers assistance to persons found sleeping rough, including those that were at this location, through the provision of emergency accommodation, through the Housing First programme which offers permanent homes and the Dublin Region Outreach Service, they said. Documents received under Freedom of Information also show Dublin City Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty questioning the operation after it unfolded. Mr Moriarty told the Irish Examiner: The callousness of how this seems to have been dealt with is very disturbing. You have correspondence here, released under FOI, where you have DCC talking to waste management about peoples tents where they are living and sleeping talking about removing them like litter on the street. A Garda spokesperson said An Garda Siochana said statutory agencies had been engaging with those living in the tents over a number of weeks, adding that three had previously voluntarily left the area before gardai and council staff arrived. Gardai engaged with three remaining persons, one of whom, has been re-accommodated. US president Joe Biden with President Michael D Higgins and his wife, Sabina, during his visit to Aras an Uachtarain in APril. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin The remaining persons removed their own belongings and tents and were further provided with advice and contact information for support agencies and accommodation services and left the area. Dublin City Council staff also attended the scene and removed waste left behind, the spokesperson said. Streetlink Homeless Support CEO Padraig Drummond described the requests as shocking but added he is not surprised. Its the failure upon the Government. They dont want to have conversations with a visiting president about the housing crisis, even though homelessness is rife within the States itself and for the same reasons, he said. A man has been charged following the discovery of more than 2m worth of cannabis at Dublin Port. The seizure came on Saturday afternoon, with Revenue officials making the discovery after a vehicle was stopped and searched. A medically supervised injection centre may be considered for Cork after a delegation from Cork City Council, the HSE and An Garda Siochana travelled to Lisbon to learn from the drug policy there. But any decision on introducing such a facility will come after data has been collected and will only be progressed if the evidence supports it, local stakeholders say. According to drug and homeless charity Merchants Quay Ireland, one person dies every day in Ireland from drug abuse. A man in his 30s died of a suspected overdose on Thursday morning in Cork. His body was found in St Francis Church on Liberty Street behind Cork Courthouse. Heroin use has been decreasing in younger age cohorts in Cork, with only 6% of people presenting for treatment who are under 25 now using heroin. But the HSE has been alerted to an increase in cocaine injecting. Smoking of crack cocaine has also been increasing. Addiction can also fuel crime and antisocial behaviour and can result in used needles and other drug detritus being dumped on the street. A law passed in 2017 allows for the establishment of medically supervised injection centres and planning has been granted for one to open in Merchants Quay in Dublin. Opening of this Dublin facility is also in the Programme for Government. But drug injecting is also a problem in Cork and decision makers in Cork City joined forces to work cross-party and cross-discipline in a bid to find a solution to the problems associated with drug addiction. International evidence suggests that supervised drug injection facilities save lives, link users in with necessary health and social services and reduce drug paraphernalia on the streets. Portugal's stance Portugal has adopted a health-led approach, where a drug users addiction is treated medically rather than criminally. It has led to a reduction in overdose deaths and a reduction in illnesses like HIV and hepatitis. In 2001, Portugal became the first country to decriminalise personal supply of all drugs, including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Drugs are not legal in Portugal, but possessing 10 doses or less, or a 10-day personal supply, does not incur criminal sanctions, although possession of more or selling drugs can be prosecuted. The policy was introduced in response to a public health crisis. The country was suffering a HIV/Aids epidemic with half of all cases due to drug injection. Portugal had the highest rate of HIV among injecting drug user in the EU in 1999. Read More What does it mean to decriminalise drugs? Drug abuse was also burdening the criminal justice system, taking up police and court time, and costing the state in legal and prison costs. Both overdose deaths and HIV rates fell after the country adopted a health response, endeavouring to treat rather than criminalise addiction. Portugal now has one of the lowest drug-related death rates in Western Europe and drug use among young people is below the European average. Under the model, instead of being charged and receiving a criminal record, police direct users to the Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction to meet with psychologists and social workers for help. Health intervention Dr Nuno Capaz of the Lisbon Dissuasion Commission said that by 1994, drugs had been identified as the countrys biggest problem. Cross-party talks were held in government and delegations went to countries like the US, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland to learn about how they had tackled the drug problem. It was decided that drugs should remain illegal but possession should be downgraded from a criminal to an administrative offence, something facilitated by the Portuguese legal system, which Ireland does not have. Drug possession would not incur criminal sanction but drug users caught by police would have to go to the Dissuasion Commission for a health intervention and other sanctions like fines or community service, could also be applied. Drug use would be treated as a health issue under the Ministry for Health. Lisbons 1m population is served by one Dissuasion Commission, operated by nine people. They complete 2,500 to 2,800 dissuasions per year. A study in 2011 found that a Dissuasion Commission intervention costs 280 per procedure while dealing with a similar offence in court 15 years ago would have cost at least 470, saving the state money, saving people from a criminal conviction, and linking people in with health and social services to prevent problems from escalating. Some 90% of drug use in Portugal is not problematic, but 10% of users struggle with addiction, Dr Capaz said. Irish data indicates that some 80% of drug use is not immediately problematic but approximately 20% struggle with addiction and drug abuse. Providing a health intervention to this 10% or 20% of drug users is vital, Dr Capaz said. How the commission works The Dissuasion Commission grades a persons drug use as low, medium, or high risk and that assessment is then augmented with a 25-40 minute interview to more accurately assess the risk level of the persons drug use. If someone is assessed as low risk with no problematic drug use, health information about drug use is passed on, risks are highlighted and there usually is no further sanction. If someone is caught again, there may be a sanction, like a fine, on the second offence. If someone is assessed as being of medium risk, information is passed on to the user and they may be referred to counselling. They may also be referred for help with any related issues like a dual mental health diagnosis or homelessness. Someone considered at high risk is drug addicted and they may be referred for treatment to address their dependency. Courts are by definition a coercive structure. You get a penalty doing something wrong. But drug users do not perceive what theyre doing as wrong so the punishment does not work, Dr Capaz said. Professor Eamon Keenan, national clinical lead with addiction services in the HSE National Social Inclusion Office, said Irelands legal system would not currently accommodate downgrading drug possession offences to a non-criminal offence like Portugal as we do not have the category of administrative offences. But Ireland can establish medically supervised injection facilities to reduce drug deaths and improve the health of drug taking cohorts and it can increase efforts to funnel users away from the courts and into medical treatment. He said locating any potential medically supervised injection facility where people are already injecting drugs is vital. Studies have found that people using drugs on the street are fearful for their own safety, they can be particularly vulnerable to attack or robbery after using. Attending an injection centre can improve peoples safety and reduce fear. But they can also protect peoples dignity, allowing people a quiet space off the streets where they can inject without being watched and judged and feared by passersby. Injecting becoming popular Injecting as a way of ingesting drugs has decreased, Paul Griffiths of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said. But Regina Reis who runs a supervised injection centre in Lisbon, has seen a small but worrying increase in injecting since the pandemic and spiraling cost-of-living crisis, increasing from 20% to 21% of drug users. Injecting delivers drugs straight into the bloodstream, providing a stronger high than other delivery methods, leading to increased use of the method during times of financial hardship, she said. Its a small increase, but any increase is concerning. Injecting brings more health challenges than smoking, Ms Reis said. Regina Reis who runs a supervised injection centre in Lisbon, has seen a small but worrying increase in injecting since the pandemic and spiraling cost-of-living crisis. Social inclusion specialist and head of drugs and alcohol services in Cork and Kerry for the HSE, David Lane said the HSE is aware of some 150 people who inject drugs in Cork, many of whom are very vulnerable with complex needs. The HSE already has a needle exchange programme with two needle exchange workers in Cork who have been critical for gaining a deeper understanding of emerging drug trends, along with outreach workers from homeless charities like Cork Simon. They have seen an increase in cocaine use on the streets and an interagency team is being established in the coming days to look at emerging drug use trends in homeless hostels. An increase in cocaine or stimulants presents different behavioural challenges than heroin use, often bringing an increase in aggression and violence. Naloxone, a drug which reverses or reduces the effects of opioids, saving people from overdose deaths, was administered 21 times so far this year in Cork and 44 times in 2022. Eighty-five people were trained to administer Naloxone in Cork last year and 29 more people have been trained so far this year. Prof Keenan hopes to see Naloxone distributed to users from Irelands medically supervised injection facility, when it is up and running. How do the injection centres operate? Medically supervised injection facilities are professionally supervised healthcare facilities where drug users can inject, pre-obtained illicit drugs, under medical supervision in a safe, hygienic environment. The centres provide clean injecting equipment, good lighting, clean surfaces, and sharps disposal. Staff are trained to provide assistance and emergency care in cases of overdose. Medically supervised injection facilities are associated with reductions in injecting risk behaviour such as syringe sharing, and public drug use. They facilitate individually tailored health education, and promote access to healthcare and drug treatment. Some 96 supervised drug consumption facilities now exist in Europe in Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland, according to European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction data published in March. Centres in Ireland The Misuse of Drugs (supervised injection facilities) Act 2017 provided the legal framework and permission to establish medically supervised injection facilities in Ireland. It aims to reduce harm to people who inject drugs by providing for the establishment, licensing, operation and regulation of these injection centres in a bid to reduce harm to people who inject drugs. The act provides for the establishment, licensing, operation and regulation of supervised injection facilities to reduce harm to people who inject drugs. Some sections of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 will not apply in licensed injecting facilities. Irelands first MSIF has been granted planning for Merchants Quay Ireland in Dublin. But it has been a long road to get to that point. A working group was first set up in 2016 which included representative from the HSE, Department of Health, Dublin City Council, gardai, and potential service users. Extensive research and data collection began. Injecting drug user deaths were mapped, overdose callouts to the ambulance service were mapped as were drug-related litter hotspots. A survey of 84 opioid-dependent people, of whom 33% were homeless and 73% were male, found that 94.4% of respondents with a history of intravenous drug use would be willing to use a medically supervised injection centre. The survey found: The mean age of respondents was 38.3. Among people who were actively injecting drugs, 46.7% said that they injected drugs in public places like streets, public toilets and parks. Ninety per cent of those surveyed found injecting under supervision to be acceptable. One hundred per cent said that washing hands before injecting was acceptable. However 56.7% said it would be unacceptable to allow pregnant women in the facility to inject drugs and 66.7% said under 18s should not be allowed. Another survey found that 100% of potential service users wanted at least a brief intervention with staff when they arrived. An invitation to tender for a medically supervised injection centre was first opened in August 2017, and in February 2018, Merchants Quay Ireland was awarded the tender and a planning permission application was submitted. Delays In December 2019, An Bord Pleanala granted planning permission to Merchants Quay Ireland. But in July 2021, following a judicial review launched by neighbouring St Audeons primary school, the High Court overturned that planning permission. The court ruled the planning body had failed to take into account the concerns of the school in its decision to grant permission. In November 2021, the High Court sent the decision back to An Bord Pleanala for assessment under a new inspector. In December 2022, An Bord Pleanala granted planning to Merchants Quay Ireland for the injecting centre. Construction work has not commenced yet on the Merchants Quay Injection Facility. This will be subject to a tendering process, due to commence once the relevant stakeholder negotiations have been completed, a spokesperson for the HSE said. The HSE will work with Merchants Quay Ireland and engage with all relevant stakeholders throughout the project. We want to ensure that the medically supervised injection facility, the first of its kind in Ireland or the UK, will operate to the highest standards and provide appropriate care to one of the most marginalised groups in our society. Where such facilities have been established elsewhere there has been a reduction in drug related deaths associated with injecting and a reduction in injecting paraphernalia in the surrounding areas. The facility will provide medical interventions to those who present and will signpost them into other health and social services as appropriate. Fianna Fail Councillor Colm Kelleher, whose brother has struggled with heroin addiction, said that something must be done to save lives and tackle the drug problem. Colm Kelleher has spoken openly about his brother's struggle with drug addiction. Picture: Alison Miles/OSM PHOTO Ive seen open drug dealing and drug taking in Patrick Street. Theres a dignity piece in it, people injecting in their groin on the streets. These are peoples sons and daughters. A health approach to tackle the problem is needed. The method weve dealt with it up to now from a criminal perspective has failed. I dont think enough is being done to tackle the problem at the moment. But the fact that were out here [in Portugal], have broad stakeholder support, were going in the right direction. Cork GP and Fianna Fail councillor John Sheehan said that the Lisbon trip had been a good fact-finding visit. One of the learning points from this was about having your data and facts in terms of location, demand, numbers, substances but particularly the structures and governance of these centres and the complexity thats involved in the wraparound services. Dr John Sheehan said the trip to Lisbon has been a good fact-finding trip. Picture: Dan Linehan As a city we have a lot of work to do in getting our data, looking at our data, putting all the sources of data together on drug abuse, particularly [intravenous] drug abuse, which will inform our decisions as to what is the best model of care that we can provide vulnerable people which is the ultimate aim. Local residents have lifted their almost week-long blockade of the new asylum centre at the Magowna House hotel in Co Clare. However, they have confirmed this morning that protests will continue outside the asylum-seeker centre. A peaceful protest will continue and we will continue to have dialogue with the government until a resolution is found. Our position is this property is not suitable for this purpose, one local man who would not give his name said. Residents are due to hold further talks with officials in the coming days. Integration Minister Joe OBrien met with locals as well as residents at the hotel on Thursday. Locals met in Kilmaley last night to discuss his intervention. Mr O'Brien welcomed their decision to lift the blockade. My meeting with the residents on Thursday, in Ennis, was an honest open discussion and I am pleased that that engagement has helped bring some improvement to the situation. I look forward to working with the provider and my officials to develop a programme of education, training and other supports for the people residing in Magowna House. I look forward to returning to Magowna in four weeks as agreed, Mr OBrien said. Hoof prints from prehistoric cows. An ancient coastal defence network. Walnut pollen suggesting a European association with Medieval monks in Kerry. Tree stumps from the Bronze Age. 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. These are just some of the remarkable discoveries unearthed by archaeologists and environmental scientists during a six-year project designed to record some of our coastal cultural heritage before erosion, accelerated by climate change, claims it. Indeed, in some cases, it is already too late. According to John OKeeffe, CEO of the Discovery Programme, the national archaeological research body, changes due to climate change are happening right now. There are monuments that wont be there when we get older, or for the generations to come, he says. The truth of that was demonstrated with unsettling clarity during excavations in west Kerry in May 2021. Rockfalls from Sybil Head, once known as a Star Wars location, came crashing down the cliff into the Atlantic sea below while members of the EU-funded Cherish programme excavated nearby, at Doon Point, west of Dingle. It is not an exaggeration to say that archaeologists were working against time and tide to map and study the promising archaeological features on a narrow strip of land before they literally fall into the sea. That is happening at an alarming pace. Landowner and farmer Dennis Curran said that he has lost about a half-acre of the headland over the last two decades. At least now there is a chance that some of our cultural heritage will be recorded before it is lost for ever. CHERISH research archaeologist and site director Sandra Henry on an area of the Ferriter's Castle promontory fort where severe erosion has been recorded. This is an extremely interesting and important site as it provides information on the dating and usage of promontory forts sites in Ireland." Photo: Declan Malone Cherish, which stands for climate, heritage and environments of reefs, islands and headlands, has been working with a team of specialists since 2017 to develop innovative ways of studying the corrosive impact of climate change on maritime cultural heritage around the coast of Ireland and Wales. It also aims to investigate past climatic and environmental change in order to provide a context to consider the challenges to be faced by future generations. It winds up in June, but not before collecting invaluable information. For instance, site director Sandra Henry says very significant discoveries were made at Doon Point which reveal a lot about Irelands ancient coastal networks and, up to now, little-understood promontory forts. This is an extremely interesting and important site as it provides information on the dating and usage of promontory forts sites in Ireland. It facilitates a re-assessment of Irish promontory forts and our current understanding of them, she said. There are over 500 known examples of such forts in Ireland, all of them at risk from increasing coastal erosion and other climate hazards, but only about 12 have been excavated. Thanks to the recent dig, we know one of the robust huts on Doon Point, with its entrance way, stone flagging and possible hearth, may have been inhabited some 2,000 years ago by people patrolling the surrounding maritime routeways. The headland is remote now, but in the Iron Age and probably hundreds of years before, it would have been a bustling place inhabited by a community who may have built a whole system of fortifications. One of the dig sites in the Ferriter's Castle promontory fort where CHERISH archaeologists have uncoverred the remains of buildings that could date back to the Iron Age. Photo: Declan Malone The huts were later re-used in the 10th and 11th century and again around the 15th century when the builders of Ferriters Castle re-used the forts outer defences. The castle was the ancestral seat of the Ferriters and once home to Piaras Feiritear (1600-1653), the celebrated poet, harpist and Gaelic lord. This is interesting as castles have been built on a number of promontory fort sites in Ireland, and the defences have been re-used, says Henry. Material spanning almost 4,000 years was unearthed during excavations in May 2021, providing valuable clues about how these enigmatic forts were once used. And those clues are still coming to the surface. On a recent trip to the site, Cherish research archaeologist Edward Pollard saw that an animal bone was sticking out of one of the huts, along with charcoal, suggesting that cooking once took place there. Ask him about the benefits of the Cherish project and he provides a fascinating series of snapshots of archaeological discoveries made at various points around the Irish coast. For instance, at Inny Strand on Ballinskelligs Bay in south Kerry, researchers found the remains of a Bronze Age field wall and dated a sample of pine tree that is about 4,000 years old. Also in the bay, three prints of a cow hoof were revealed in the peat as the cliff section was eroded back during the course of the project. Archaeologists also found walnut pollen dating to the 11th century, showing that well-connected monks had begun to grow trees brought from Europe. We are still finding lots of features that we havent seen before, he says, explaining that the coastal environment is changing so rapidly that new evidence is being unearthed all the time. Archaeological surveyor Edward Pollard recording images from one of the dig sites on the Ferriter's Castle promontory fort. We are still finding lots of features that we havent seen before. Photo: Declan Malone That cultural heritage is now under increasing threat from extreme weather events, increased precipitation, warmer winters and hotter summers. Violent weather events are not new, as the Cherish Project Exhibition running at Tralee Library explains. For example, in 1281, the Annals of Inisfallen noted: In the same year there was a violent windstorm and ricks and many houses were damaged: also the great church of Achad Deo [Aghadoe, County Kerry] (which has been standing undamaged for six score and four years), its holy cross too, being broken. A number of centuries later, John ODonovan, of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, described the so-called Night of the Big Wind in 1839 at Glendalough in Wicklow: At one oclock a most tremendous hurricane commenced which rocked the house beneath as if it were a ship! Awfully sublime! But I was much in dread that the roof would be blown off the house. Now, however, the pace of erosion is exacerbated by rising sea levels (rising by about 3mm a year since 1980), hotter summers (a temperature of 33C was recorded in Dublin last year) and above-average rainfall. Edward Pollard was surprised to see how much change had taken place, even in the six years of the Cherish project: Erosion is not new, but it is increasing more frequently and that will cause a lot of destabilisation. He was shocked to see the extent of cliff collapse on the west coast of Ireland in particular, where the rock is much harder. Increased precipitation has weakened it and, in the process, left our coastal cultural heritage exposed and at risk of erosion. Archaeology Plan Director Philippa Barry excavating a trench beside Ferriter's Castle. A piece of charcoal found 1.2 metres below the surface at this site could be evidence of human activity pre-dating the existence of the castle. Photo: Declan Malone We need to do more to report what is out there and what is exposed, he says. The Discovery Programme has plans to introduce an app which will allow local communities report on changes in their own localities. Meantime, the Cherish project is finalising its findings. It has not only learned a lot about how people lived in the past, but it has used an array of innovative methods aerial archaeology, remote sensing, paleoecology, geomorphology, maritime survey, underwater archaeology and geo-surveying to record how our environment is changing in the present day, too. While there is real reason to be deeply concerned, John OKeeffe takes a more optimistic view when he considers the legacy of a project that united four partners, two countries (Ireland and Wales), countless experts and several local communities who welcomed researchers on to their land or farms. It's not about who is to blame but who is responsible, he says. One of the big legacies we have demonstrated in the Cherish project is that we have demonstrated that this work is worthwhile. As well as uncovering many heartening archaeological discoveries, Cherish has also shown what is happening and where resources and further study are needed. We can respond and we are not at the mercy of the elements. [Our] findings will be important to decision-makers, policy-makers and, vitally, the people who make those policy-makers accountable, he says. The project also brings the topic centre stage at a time when the latest report from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) warns that human-induced climate change is already affecting 3.3 billion people around the world. Archaeology Plan Supervisor Siobhan Ruddy working on one of the dig sites at the Ferriter's Castle promontory fort excavation at the weekend. Photo: Declan Malone Every one of us is responsible, John OKeeffe says, aptly quoting from John Donnes Meditation no. 17: No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. We have had our warnings, he adds. We know through the Cherish programme that these things are real and that they are happening, but its not necessarily a funeral bell. It may be a bell of alarm, or a bell of awakening. The Cherish exhibition at Tralee Library continues to May 27. After that, it will travel to other libraries around the country. THOSE looking to take advantage of the latest, and improved Government grants for doing up vacant and derelict Irish houses can take comfort and some inspiration from the rescue performed at this West Cork farm homestead, particularly if they are prepared to learn on the job. Upside down, and inside out: first floor living room has access to a raised outdoor area at one gable end Just up for sale is this long and lofted farmhouse and buildings, at a scenic rural spot a few miles inland of Bantry Bay, under whats known locally as the Bull Rock at Glounathnaw: it has been a long labour of love for UK couple Ray and Jean Cain, who bought it in a derelict state in 2001, at a time when it had been empty for a decade or two, and housed cattle. Done top to bottom, with white American oak joinery Ray, a structural engineer from Surrey, had worked in steel and welding, while Jean from Dorset worked front-desk with Kent Police, witnessing some pretty harrowing scenes in her job. They decided to relocate to Ireland, initially house seeking from Mayo down to Tralee, but fell for Bantry, paying 80,000 punts, as Jean recalls, for a derelict two-up, two-down with roadside barn, selling two properties in the UK to fund their move after rearing a family of three daughters. Kitchen with 'discovered' old stone arch which now houses a range cooker. Weve had 21 very happy years here, says Jean as she now prepares to sell the lifestyle home they did just about everything to, with some exceptionally fine joinery work, all done by Ray who added exacting joinery standards to his skills working in steel, doing all of the timber work in high quality American white oak, from furniture to kitchen, bathrooms, doors, floors, the lot. Rays father used to encourage him quoting theres nothing you cant do, Jean recalls in admiration of his skills and dedication (he raved about the long views to the sea while redoing the roof!) and says shes only reluctantly selling to return to the UK after Rays sad passing away in recent times. Bantry in the distance. The hill behind is known as Bull Rock The home they worked on is a testament to vision and skill, says selling agent Henry OLeary who describes the work done as a rescue. He guides the adaptable 2,350 sq ft home, with lofted workshop stable, office and store on c0.75 of an acre at 425,000, saying its tastefully presented and substantially extended. The bulk of the hands-on work was done over a three-year period with the couple living in a caravan at the start until it was basically habitable, and the work continued piecemeal then, along with upgrades until it was signed off on finally in 2016, with detail heaped upon detail. Its a walk-in job. Timber throne in one of the bathrooms Or a sit-down one? One of the novel features is the joinery in the bathrooms, with a broad seat, and cistern and pipe cover work crafted around one of the loos, a proper throne (pic, above right) and a talking point whenever guests get to sit in splendour. The homes got a quite a distinctive layout too, with a first floor main living/dining room with access on a gable end to steps to the grounds, while at the far end a bedroom also has similar outdoor steps on a gable: this upper level also houses the characterful bathroom (double sinks also sit on a hefty large stone plinth) along with a second bedroom. Glass blocks are a classic shower screen choice Down at ground, theres a double height entry hall with polished concrete floor, old Rayburn range, an oak and copper pipe spindled staircase ringed by a landing above, main bedroom with en suite, office, triple aspect sun room/dining room, utility, shower room with glass block screen and a store room, while the real feature is the kitchen. Here, Jean and Ray found a lovely stone arch that had been plastered over and they opened it up and revealed the stone work, creating an alcove for a wide range cooker and Ray made curved units and worktops, topped with speckled granite tops, while the floor has reused large flagstones. The home has underfloor heating and gets a very reputable C2 BER, with oil central heating and energy efficient replacement glazing. Externally there are several stores, a lofted detached workshed, a polytunnel, hen house, sit out spaces and stables, enjoyed for many years by Ben, Jeans horse who lived to a ripe old 38 years of age. Selling agent Henry OLeary says the setting is beautiful, and quiet, a short 8km commute to or from Bantry and adds its the perfect opportunity to acquire a unique, rural retreat, in a truly peaceful location, that offers all the benefits of the West Cork lifestyle. VERDICT: A house created with love, and no little craftmanship and skill. Russias defence ministry has said that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut(AP Photo/Libkos) Using the citys Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said: In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials about the latest claim. In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday on Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. After the video appeared, Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraines eastern command, told The Associated Press that Mr Prigozhins claim is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut. In a statement on Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff said that heavy battles for the city of Bakhmut do not stop. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that this is not the first time Prigozhin has said we seized everything and are dominating. He suggested that the Wagner chiefs statement was aimed at drawing attention away from Mr Zelenskys recent highly visible trips overseas, including to the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Saturday. Protests over pension reforms have rocked France in recent months, but demonstrations have been kept largely at bay at one of the countrys glitziest events, the Cannes Film Festival. On Sunday, dozens of protesters gathered in Cannes to oppose the retirement reforms pushed through parliament by President Emmanuel Macrons government. Those protests, however, were far removed from the central hub of the festival, the Palais des Festivals, or Cannes seaside boulevard, the Croisette. Instead, they gathered on the edge of the city, on the Boulevard Carnot. Protesters toss a puppet depicting President Emmanuel Macron during a demonstration in Cannes (Daniel Cole/AP) We are against the retirement reforms which will make many people die at work, said Tomas Ghestem, one of the demonstrators. Ahead of the festival, local authorities in Cannes ordered a ban on rallies throughout much of Cannes. That move was part of increasing attempts throughout France to prohibit demonstrations in some high-profile locations. Unions have called for a new round of nationwide demonstrations on June 6. The ban has kept Cannes famous red carpet clear of demonstrations and prevented one of the most divisive issues in France from disturbing the highly orchestrated flow of the festival. One exception was on Friday. Demonstrators protest against President Emmanuel Macrons pension reform (Daniel Cole/AP) Hospital workers skirted the ban by protesting on private grounds in front of the Carlton Hotel, a historic luxury hotel where many stars stay during the festival. Hotel and catering workers held up a banner reading No to pension reforms. Labour strife has coloured much of this years Cannes, which is happening while Hollywood screenwriters are on strike. Film and TV writers are seeking higher pay, reforms for the streaming era and safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence. Juror Paul Dano said he planned to join the picket lines when he returned home. Sean Penn called the studios stance on AI a human obscenity. The board for SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, earlier this week voted to ask its members for strike authorisation in its own negotiations with studios for a new contract. On Sunday, with the start of the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season just weeks away, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami was monitoring a disturbance that extends a couple of hundred miles northeast of the Bahamas. The system, which is currently producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms, is not expected to develop into a tropical system, with the NHC putting chances of development at 10 percent over the last 48 hours and 7 days. With conditions expected to become less favorable later Sunday, the system is moving generally north-northeastward over the southwestern Atlantic at 5 to 10 mph. For more, click here. 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. In Kinshasa, DR Congo security forces engage in conflict with demonstrators against the government. Democratic Republic of Congo security forces used tear gas and engaged in skirmishes on the streets of Kinshasa with protestors on Saturday, who were demonstrating against alleged irregularities in voter registration. The protestors were also expressing their anger over the increasing cost of living and the prolonged insecurity in the eastern region of the country, where armed militias and rebel groups continue to attack, resulting in hundreds of deaths and the displacement of more than one million people. A dozen protestors were detained by security forces shortly after the start of the demonstration, which had been called for by opposition leaders. The procession is not allowed to come here, this is not the authorised route, said police commander Faustin Numbi at the scene of the clash. Congo is set to hold a general election on December 20 with President Felix Tshisekedi expected to seek a second term. However, political tensions are on the rise in the worlds leading cobalt producer, with some opposition candidates complaining of delays and alleged irregularities in a voter registration drive that they say is being conducted to their disadvantage. Four opposition leaders, Martin Fayulu, Moise Katumbi, among others, called for the protest on Saturday. Its sad, you see, they are firing tear gas. Just before, it was real ammunition, Katumbi told journalists near the protest venue in Kinshasa. Fayulus vehicle was surrounded by security forces who continued to fire tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. The electoral register is not reliable, and well not compromise on this issue, Fayulu added. Congos electoral commission is expected to publish voter registration data on Sunday. (Reuters) Tens of thousands of Moldovans took to the streets on Sunday to demand European Union membership, and to express their countrys bid to join the bloc, which has been accelerated by the war in neighbouring Ukraine. Moldova, a former Soviet republic with a population of 2.6 million people, applied to join the EU last year and became a candidate country in June 2022, alongside Ukraine. More than 75,000 people participated in the demonstration in the centre of the capital, Chisinau, according to initial police estimates, and they waved EU flags and chanted pro-European slogans. In an interview earlier this week, President Maia Sandu said that Moldova is seeking EU membership as protection against any threat from Russia. She accused Russia of fomenting a coup to try and seize power in her tiny country. Ahead of the rally, the government ran information campaigns inviting people to attend and put on more public transport on Sunday to make it easier for them. EU membership could take a decade or more to attain, given the long list of requirements candidate countries must meet to be able to sit alongside the other nations in the European single market. Climate activists in Italy made a statement by turning the Trevi Fountain in Rome black. They stated that the recent floods in Italys northeast, which caused the loss of 14 lives, were a warning. Members of Last Generation, an anti-climate change organization, poured a vegetable-based carbon liquid into the fountain, causing the landmark to turn black. Police escorted the activists away. Federico Fellinis iconic film La Dolce Vita famously featured Swedish actress Anita Ekberg taking a dip in the Trevi Fountain. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited the flood damage in Emilia Romagna, which has displaced over 36,000 people and cost hundreds of millions of euros. A 19-year-old participant named Mattia said the blackening of the fountain was a forewarning of a dark future for mankind. Last Generation has been conducting peaceful but disruptive protests in Italy to urge politicians from all parties to make climate change a priority. These actions in Italy are part of a larger movement across Europe to draw attention to climate change. Activists have also thrown food products and washable paint at heritage sites, art museums, and cultural locations. (AFP) Reddit Email 184 Shares Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Spain, the worlds 15th largest economy and the fourth-largest in Europe, recently ran for 9 hours entirely on wind, solar and hydro. It is not the first time the renewables supplied all of the countrys domestic electricity needs on the peninsula, but it is the first time they did so for so many hours in a row, on a weekday when demand is heavier than on the weekends, and when three of the countrys nuclear power plants were shut down for various reasons. So reports Ignacio Fariza at El Pais. Spain, with a nominal GDP of about $1.427 trillion and a population of 47 million, is a major industrialized democracy, so that this achievement is highly significant for what it tells us about the future. Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Workers Party has been a booster of green energy. The Spanish right wing had actually put punitive taxes on people with solar panels at the behest of Big Carbon, but Sanchezs government repealed them. Since the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequent spike in fossil gas prices, Spaniards have been rushing to put solar panels on their roofs, now helped by EU subsidies and by a plummeting in the cost of the systems. Spain now has one of Europes largest solar plants. Article continues after bonus IC video Iberdrola: Europes largest solar power plant comes into operation In 2022, the country put in 4.28 gigawatts of utility-scale solar, 2.64 gigs of distributed PV, and 1.38 gigs of wind power. That is nearly 7 gigawatts of new solar in one year, and the country is not slowing down. Spains total power capacity is 118 gigawatts, with wind making up 29 gigawatts or 22% of the whole. Wind is the biggest installed source of electricity now in Spain. Solar only provides about 10% of electricity, but has enormous potential for growth. In April, though, solar supplied 22% of Spains electricity, and solar and wind together made up 46 percent of electricity production. It has been especially hot and sunny in Spain this spring, which has created water shortages and problems for farmers. Hydroelectric generation is way down. But solar is doing great business. Spain has lots more wind and solar in the pipeline. By 2026 the country expects to have 10-15 more gigawatts of solar, and 5 new gigawatts of wind capacity. Although the country is planning to phase out its nuclear plants, which currently supply over a fifth of its electricity, by 2030, Spanish scientists are confident that wind, solar, hydro and battery can take up that slack and more. ( Middle East Monitor ) The fragility of a position is sometimes exposed when there is an exaggeration of self-confidence and an attempt to demonstrate control over the situation. This is the impression given by the march of Israeli settlers and extremists, who paraded through the Old City of Jerusalem on Thursday, 18 May 2023, waving their flags and chanting extreme right-wing slogans, backed by Occupation forces and directly sponsored by the Israeli government. The goal of the annual Flag March is to appear as a significant event, suggesting power and control, but it reveals the Occupations dilemma in Jerusalem each year. The Occupation authority mobilised a crowd of settlers on this day with armed support and deployed thousands of its forces for this purpose, reaching 3,300 members, according to official announcements. Meanwhile, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem continue to demonstrate throughout the year, despite the armed Israeli force directed against them, and the relentless campaigns of persecution, intimidation, arrest and killing. In other words, the ceremonial marches sponsored by the Israeli government and Occupation authorities do not reflect the real situation in Jerusalem or its cultural identity; rather, they indicate the Occupations assault, its fabricated arrogance and its lack of self-confidence. Why does a government resort to all this fabrication, accompanied by security mobilisation and the exclusion of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem from the scene, if it is truly confident in the legitimacy of its existence and the stability of its control over its alleged unified capital? The reality is that the identity of Jerusalem remains clearly Arab Palestinian, despite more than half a century of settlement expansion, the restriction of life for Palestinian citizens in East Jerusalem and the exaggeration in distorting its scene and heavy raising of Israeli flags on confiscated buildings. The showcase reaches its peak when the Occupation authorities resort to visual tricks on some occasions by projecting blue and white lights onto the historical walls of Jerusalem to paint them with an Israeli visual identity. However, this trick, among others, fails the next day to conceal the Arab Palestinian nature of the city, which is a vibrant and visible nature, inside and outside the walls, intertwined with Islam and Christianity, and does not require sophisticated techniques to demonstrate it. The Israeli Flag March is merely an intended showcase of Occupation power, which mobilises a crowd saturated with naive mythical slogans. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the audience of the Flag March primarily consists of extremist settlers who have been attracted to live in settlements illegally established under international law on land stolen from its Palestinian owners. Fascist expressions among these individuals are clearly escalating, such as the raising of the flag of the fascist Kahane Chai movement classified as a terrorist on American and European lists during the march on 18 May, 2023. In these flag marches, it is common to hear chants such as Mavit le Aravim, which means Death to Arabs! This racist chant is sometimes altered to Mavit le Hablanim, which means Death to Terrorists! and this does not need much intelligence to conclude that they allude to the Arabs as well, the Palestinian people, in particular, as these racist discourses deny its existence in the first place. Article continues after bonus IC video Al Jazeera English: Israel shuts down Palestinian life in Jerusalem for flag march This fascist situation enjoys a clear official sponsorship, to the extent that the march on 18 May, 2023 was distinguished by the participation of several ministers in the Israeli government, who represent its most extreme figures: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, as they represent an explicit fascist approach that has become dominant in Israeli political life due to existing electoral balances. The influence of these figures is likely to increase in the upcoming ballot rounds, due to internal demographic reasons and others related to their increasing influence in state institutions and authorities. Minister Israel Katz also participated in the march; he is known for his policies of encouraging settlement and offering attractive facilities to settlers through the multiple ministries he has headed, so far. He is one of the advocates for the annexation of the West Bank and has caused crises with European governments when he made derogatory remarks about the Belgian and Polish people. The Flag March represents an attempt to occupy Jerusalem morally, after it was militarily occupied by the army, a goal also sought by Israeli propaganda through justifying the Occupation with myths, as applied in short films and promotional videos dedicated to denying the Arab Palestinian, and Islamic-Christian identity of the city. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has often released short promotional clips of this kind to justify the Occupation of Jerusalem, in an attempt to impose its naive narrative. One of these clips, for example, depicts a young and charming Israeli family, in a theatrical manner that imitates Hollywood family comedy, living in a small new apartment symbolising the concept of the small state that they begrudge us. Soon, groups of people, followed by other groups, start knocking at the door claiming their ownership of the apartment, and then the Arabs come as the last of these groups, of course, accompanied by derogatory insinuations towards them, and there is no mention of Palestinians at all. The global audience is expected to enjoy their time with the art of deception filled with effects, without attempting to engage their minds with questions like: Why did not they depict the reality that does not need acting, for example, by showing the suffering of an old Palestinian family in the place where settlers coming from the United States, their heads filled with historical myths and their pockets with generous money, knock on their door?! Israeli propaganda invests vast amounts of money in this field, but deception does not win in the end, especially in the age of imagery, networked experience and live broadcasting. More authentic scenes come from within Jerusalem, conveyed by smartphones to the world, and these visual facts are capable of shaking the naive propaganda of the Occupation to its core. The Flag March draws attention to the fact that the Israeli flag is raised in Jerusalem by force of arms, the power of oppression and policies of persecution imposed on the citys residents. Meanwhile, the Occupation forces thwart any attempt to raise the Palestinian flag, as seen during the march. The fear of the Occupation authorities does not stop at the Palestinian flag; it extends to the prohibition of cultural and civil activities and other aspects of daily life. This was evident when the Occupation forces brutally attacked the funeral procession of the renowned journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, in Jerusalem, who was killed by Israeli soldiers on 11 May, 2022, while she was covering the news. The Occupations fear of the emergence of the real Palestinian scene from this city to the world led it to chase the journalists coffin, which was carried by the people of Jerusalem after leaving the church. The coffin was about to fall down despite representatives of Western diplomatic missions were attending the funeral ceremony. It is common to see scenes of assault, abuse and pursuit against Palestinians in the neighbourhoods of Jerusalem, and even at religious events and holy places. For example, the Occupation forces attacked worshippers, including women, children, and Christian clergy who were on their way to the Church of the Resurrection to celebrate Holy Saturday before Easter on 15 April, 2023, while their attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque continued during the month of Ramadan, which coincided with it. The notion of We are here, which the Flag March seeks to express, appears in reality to be evidence of the Israeli incapacity in Jerusalem. This march, coming 56 years after the Occupation of East Jerusalem, remains contingent on imposing extraordinary coercive measures that escalate, year after year, to paralyse daily life in the city. The aim of this is simply to distract the Palestinian citizens from the scene. During the march on 18 May, 2023, Occupation forces assaulted Palestinian citizens near Damascus Gate, one of the main gates of historic Jerusalem, and tormented them within the Old City, forcing them to disappear from the area to preserve the pure Israeli propaganda scene. This remains a routine procedure, in any case. Settlers and extremists demonstrated provocative behaviour during their movement, accompanied by Occupation forces in the alleys of Jerusalem, and clashed with any Palestinians they encountered at doors and windows. Occupation forces intervened to suppress Palestinians in favour of their audience whenever a brawl broke out along the way. The march attempted to display extreme self-confidence, but the reality of the false fabrication was exposed whenever a small Palestinian flag appeared in its path or was raised in the air by a balloon launched by a Jerusalemite child. Occupation forces rushed to stifle these signs of life, through which the persecuted residents of Jerusalem affirm: We are here. The Flag March attempted to depict a fabricated epic image, while Palestinians continue to cling to their city and residential neighbourhoods, threatened with forced eviction. The world has witnessed this in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood or in the marginalised Khan Al-Ahmar village, deprived of basic life necessities. In contrast, these settler crowds came to Jerusalem only under the official patronage of an Occupation regime that grants them generous economic privileges, stringent security protection and weapons that they carry day and night. The hope is that these generations will come to the city and the Occupied West Bank and settle there, contrary to international law. What is the significance behind ceremonial marches that require no sacrifices, marches that are carried out by a settler and extremist audience with dense and exceptional support from the Occupation forces? During these marches, they conduct arrests, oppressive measures and strict restrictions against the people of Jerusalem, in order to fabricate the false scene they desire. Only the Palestinians in Jerusalem continue the public epic for many decades, facing continuous retaliation from the Occupation forces, and paying the price for that through their freedom and lives.There is an authentic flag march in Jerusalem that deserves the support of the whole world. It is the public epic that the unarmed Palestinian Jerusalemites are waging under Occupation, demanding freedom, rights and justice, despite the sacrifices and risks they face. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment. Via Middle East Monitor Reddit Email 18 Shares ( Globalvoices.org ) The results from the May 14 general elections in Turkey were a surprise for some, a disappointment for others, and for those who rallied behind President Erdogan and his coalition, a victory. These elections also showed how the main opposition coalition underestimated the societal split and the priorities that mattered nationalism, big infrastructure projects, identity, religion, and security, to name a few. The financial crisis, graft, deterioration of rights and freedoms, as well as mishandling of the devastating February 6 earthquake did not matter in the end especially as eight of eleven provinces affected by twin earthquakes backed President Erdogan in the presidential votes. The results were also a testament to the ruling state benefiting from the full control of the media landscape for comparison, Erdogan got 32 hours of air time on state TV compared with 32 minutes for Kilicdaroglu, wrote journalist Amberin Zaman making it much harder for the opposition to reach those who remained undecided or voters who were skeptical of their promises in the run-up to the election. This was also reflected in a statement by the International Election Observation Mission, according to which, Public broadcasters clearly favored ruling parties and candidates. But the outcomes of the May 14 vote reflect more than just an uneven playing field. In fact, many observers got it wrong, as well as the pollsters, the opposition coalition itself, and the oppositions presidential candidate, Kemal Klcdaroglu, who, on the night of the election, tweeted: We are leading. On May 14, the numbers shared by the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) party indicated that Klcdaroglu was clearly leading in the polls. But the enthusiasm of Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas the municipal mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, respectively who appeared on television screens in the first hours of the polls assuring voters that the opposition coalition and Klcdaroglu were leading in the polls, disappeared as hours went on. It turned out there were discrepancies. For that, Onursal Adguzel, the partys vice president who was also responsible for ballot box data entry, was let go. It turned out the algorithmic system used to count votes was faulty it was missing input from 20,000 polling stations where the CHP did not have observers, according to the findings of journalist Nevsin Mengu. The disappointment among opposition supporters was short-lived especially as reports of voter fraud began to galvanize the momentum needed to ensure a second round of presidential voting. Starting on May 16, a hashtag on Turkish Twitter space was trending, #OylarYenidenSayilsin as reports of massive fraud in processing election results started trickling in. In some cases, the votes for the opposition party CHP and its ally Iyi Parti were dismissed by the Supreme Election Council (YSK) while in others, it was clear that votes for the opposition coalition were transferred to the parties within the ruling alliance. At the time of writing this story, YSK is yet to announce the official results of the election. Via Pixabay In a series of tweets, academic Timur Kuran attempted to explain what was happening: Kuran also urged the High Election Council or the Supreme Election Council (YSK) to investigate who voted and how results from local polling stations compared with those in its own database. Like many others, local columnist Can Atakli was also concerned about fraud on election night. He found it suspicious when YSK chief Ahmet Yener, during his third appearance on television, announced a sudden jump in the difference between votes for Erdogan vs. Klcdaroglu 49.5 percent vs. 45 percent respectively. In total, out of 201,807 ballot boxes in the race, objections were made over the results from 2,269. The discrepancies and CHPs weaknesses in vote count led volunteers to offer their support in the second round: I am ready to assist the team of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the Presidential Candidate of the National Alliance, for statistical simulation, data analysis and campaign communication in the second round. (Here are) my diplomas. Everything is going to be beautiful. Grandfather ask us for help; what do you need? Observer, IT person, social media person, advertiser, graphic designer, influencer? Well be crowding at your door. Eger Abi, degmez bu insanlara. Ben hayatma bakarm. Olmad yurtdsna ckarm diyen varsa etrafnzda, onlara soyleyin. Oyle bir hayat olmayacak. Saklanacak bir sahil kasabanz bile kalmayacak. Yurtdsna ckarm meselesi de oyle kolay bir sey degil. Her gun iciniz yanar. Ece Temelkuran (@ETemelkuran) May 16, 2023 If you have those around you thinking man, its not worth it. I will move on. Or better yet move abroad, tell them this. There wont be a life like that. You may not even find a small sea shore cottage to hide at. As for moving abroad its not as easy as you may think. You will burn on the inside every day. According to YSK data, out of 64,190,651 registered voters, 53,993,714 voted in total. Among them were 4,904,672 first-time voters. With over 3.5 million registered overseas voters, 1,416,000 voted at the end. The turnout was the highest from all previous elections, with official numbers indicating a 88.92 percent voter turnout. In previous general elections held in 2018, this number was 86.24 percent. Historically Turkey has a high voter turnout. Many analysts say this is largely because elections are the only remaining democratic institution where people can influence the country. Whats next Since neither of the leading presidential candidates was able to secure over 50 percent of the vote, the country is headed to a run-off scheduled for May 28, which will also be the first time Turkey will have a run-off presidential vote under the countrys new electoral system. Many observers and pundits view the chance of the second round as a positive development for President Erdogan. Meanwhile, while the ruling government coalition secured 323 parliament seats out of 600, it still lacks the majority it needs to, say, introduce constitutional changes, which require 360 votes. There are fears that some of the newly elected members of the parliament represented among the opposition coalition may switch sides, especially as many of them are former members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) or the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). It remains to be seen whether this will actually happen in the weeks and months to come. As for election propaganda in the next round, there are notable differences in the tone of the political messaging. In a video shared by Klcdaroglu on May 17, the 74-year-old presidential candidate looked tired but still determined to win the second round. As explained by academic Timur Kuran: Klcdaroglu and his opposition alliance must also take into account what may have prevented more support in the previous round. According to columnist Atakli, it was not that the voters who supported the ruling government coalition agreed with theft. Societies pushed into poverty and ignorance believe they cannot prevent theft, wrote Atakli. Moreover, Klcdaroglu accused some powerful people of graft people who employ tens of thousands of people who think they might soon find themselves unemployed if Klcdaroglu won and went after these business owners. Others, like journalist Ismail Saymaz say people believed the AKP propaganda that the opposition was in cohorts with apparent terrorist groups like the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). In this case, according to Saymaz, Klcdaroglu and his team must break this cycle in less than ten days. But addressing peoples needs is not the only item on the to-do list. According to journalist Murat Aksoy, the opposition must have observers at each polling station to ensure the safety of the ballot box. It will also have to convince its voters to go back to the ballot boxes as well as some 8.5 million voters who did not vote in this election at all. Scores of Turks, took to social media platforms, reminding peers to show up on May 28 and help shift the tides if not for their own future then at least for a 20-year-old Kubra Ergin, who committed suicide two days after election. In a note Ergin left behind, the young woman said, Im tired. They stole my youth. As a woman, I have never felt free. Because of the people of this country, I could not live my childhood, and I could not live my youth. Via Globalvoices.org Since its premiere, "Black Knight," which stars Kim Woo Bin, has continued to receive success, landing the post-apocalyptic series as one of the most-watched tv series after entering Netflix's global top 10. Joining hit series like the period drama "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story," the six-part episode K-drama is unstoppable after landing second in the global rankings. This only shows that viewers are hooked on the webtoon based series. In "Black Knight," the story revolves around the lives of humans after a comet almost crushed the Earth, but as a result, it left the planet with a limited supply of oxygen. Interestingly, this is where the delivery men come in. The legendary 5-8, who is known as one of the best delivery men, is not only delivering essentials to the survivors but also helping refugees. However, Ryu Seok, played by Song Seong Heun, is consumed by his greed for more power and wealth and wants to get everything he needs to survive. "Black Knight" cast also includes Esom as Major Seol A, from the Defense Intelligence Command, and Kang Yoo Seok as the rebellious refugee. If you can't get enough of Kim Woo Bin's new drama, here are 3 facts about Netflix's "Black Knight." "Black Knight" Director Wants Kang Yoo Seok to be an 'Action Monster' While "Black Knight" includes top stars like Song Seing Heun and Kim Woo Bin, up-and-coming actor Kang Yoo Seok impressed not just the viewers with his amazing performance but also director Cho Ui Seok. He once revealed what the "Black Knight" director told him after passing the audition. As mentioned by a media outlet, he recalled that Director Cho Ui Seok wanted him to "become an action monster" for the character of Sa Wol. Since the character required a lot of physical activities, he engaged himself in exercise and practiced for fight scenes. "Three months prior to production, I worked out every day with the stunt team. I built a lot of physical strength through that process, and when it came time to shoot the action scenes," he said. Kim Woo Bin's Smoking Scene is Purely CG After the premiere, viewers raised concern regarding Kim Woo Bin's scene, smoking a cigar in "Black Knight." Since the actor had just recovered from nasopharyngeal cancer, fans are worried that the series might affect his health. However, Director Cho Ui Seok assured viewers that they prioritized Kim Woo Bin's health and explained that the said scene was 100 percent computer graphics. Esom Gained the Moniker 'Som-dier' Esom once again portrayed a badass role in "Black Knight." Playing the Defense Intelligence Command major Seol Ah, she needs to have a tough exterior, and as part of her preparation, she revealed working out and doing stunt practices a lot. However, the "Black Knight" director says she doesn't need much of it and instead, she should focus on gun handling. At the press conference, the media named her som-dier, a word play for her name, Esom, and the word soldier. For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars. KDramaStars owns this article Written by Geca Wills Uhm Jung Hwa's medical family drama "Doctor Cha" enjoys skyrocketing popularity every week as it releases new episodes. Not only that but the drama's actors also dominate the charts as the most buzzworthy stars today, much to their delight. Now that it enters its second half of broadcast, seasoned actress Park Joon Geum shared an anecdote and revealed Uhm Jung Hwa's true colors in a recent interview. Read to know more. Park Joon Geum Expresses Gratitude To 'Doctor Cha' Fans On May 18, "Doctor Cha" actress Park Joon Geum released a new video on her own YouTube channel and expressed her utmost thanks to fans who supported "Doctor Cha." The JTBC drama, which tells the story of a housewife who pursues her medical career after 20 years, continues to enjoy skyrocketing popularity every week. It recently received its new personal best in viewership rating and scored 18%, besting Park Seo Joon and Kim Da Mi's "Itaewon Class" among other JTBC releases. In the series, Park Joon Geum plays Kwak Ae Sim, the mother-in-law of Uhm Jung Hwa's Cha Jung Suk. She's a preppy woman who loves luxurious things about beauty and fashion. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Uhm Jung Hwa Names 'Doctor Cha' As Most Successful Drama Yet To show her gratitude to fans for their undying support, she shared her most memorable experience on the filming set, revealing her co-star Uhm Jung Hwa's kind nature. Park Joon Geum Shares Anecdote With Uhm Jung Hwa Park Joon Geum chose the scene where rookie star Lee Seo Yeon who plays Uhm Jung Hwa and Kim Byung Chul's daughter had to cry her eyes out as her most unforgettable moment. According to the actress, the young artist couldn't cry on queue as her tears wouldn't come out. However, Lee Seo Yeon didn't want to use eye drops to fake the crying scene. Park Joon Geum revealed that Uhm Jung Hwa embraced Lee Seo Yeon tightly evoked mixed emotions from Lee Se Yeon, sending her to tears. After hugging for about 20 seconds, the director started rolling the cameras. The scene came out a success, and was well-received by the public. Park Joon Geum also recreated the scene while hugging the doll beside her, complimenting Uhm Jung Hwa's heartwarming personality. Facebook Error In particular, fans swoon over the lovely bond of the "Doctor Cha" stars who are currently taking the Hallyu scene by storm. Meanwhile, "Doctor Cha" airs every weekend at 10:30 p.m. KST on JTBC. Have you seen Uhm Jung Hwa's "Doctor Cha"? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below! KDramaStars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. "Dr. Romantic 3" bounces back from the slump as the Han Suk Kyu, Lee Sung Kyung, and Ahn Hyo Seop-led K-drama delivers a suspenseful episode. Helmed by "Vagabond" and "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" director Yoo In Shik, the weekend medical K-drama showcases the life of a strange yet amazing doctor, the legendary Kim Sa Bu. After moving to the countryside, he aims to build a trauma center for Doldam. Along with him are the passionate and young staff of Doldam. Lee Sung Kyung plays cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Cha Eun Jae, while Ahn Hyo Seop takes on the role of general surgeon Seo Woo Jin. 'Dr. Romantic 3' Episode 7 Viewership After garnering a steady rating, the weekend medical K-drama made a comeback with an all time high in viewership. In a report, Nielsen Korea recorded an average nationwide rating of 13.8 percent for "Dr. Romantic 3" episode 7, same figures for its second episode. With this, the Han Suk Kyu led K-drama maintained its reign as the most-watched K-drama of the day. Airing every Friday and Saturday, viewers get to see the show's newest episode via SBS and Disney+ for global viewers. 'Dr. Romantic 3' Episode 7 Recap The seventh episode focuses on Kim Sa Bu's health, Cha Eun Jae's fear, and Park Eun Tak's past. The episode began with Director Park attending a meeting with politicians and investors to help fund the Trauma Center. Unfortunately, the budget for the hospital is being interfered with by the assemblywoman whose son died at the Trauna Center. At this point, Director Park is unsure whether they will receive additional funding from the government and investors. On the other hand, Doldam and the Trauma Center are in deep chaos after an incident happened at a nearby military camp. Four soldiers were severely injured, while the other one was at Doldam. In addition, a group of thugs admitted to the emergency room seemed to know Park Eun Tak. One of them mentioned that Eun Tak once killed a person for promoting him to lose his temper. Thankfully, Seo Woo Jin came to the rescue and prevented more chaos between the two. Due to this, Eun Tak was unable to participate in the operation, and it was only Jang Dong Hwa who assisted Seo Woo Jin. In episode 7, Cha Jin Man seemed baffled by why Kim Sa Bu wanted him to lead the Trauma Center. As for his observation, it appears that the legendary Kim Sa Bu is experiencing health issues, particularly with his hand, which is vital as a surgeon. Does this means that Kim Sa Bu will pass the Trauma Center to Cha Jin Man in the future? One of the highlights in "Dr. Romantic 3," episode 7, is Cha Eun Jae's joint operation with Kim Sa Bu. As the cardiothoracic surgeon attended to a patient, Dr. Cha, his father, recommended that she not proceed with her plan to put an additional tube in the patient's body. IN CASE YOU MISSED: THIS 'Dr Romantic 3' Star is Set to Embark on Asia Fan Meet Tour Seo Woo Jin advised her to follow what she thought was right, but Eun Jae proceeded with her father's advice. In the operating room, the patient went into a coma, and they had to do an open surgery. However, Cha Eun Jae froze and couldn't function well due to her anxiety. She admitted that it was her fault, but Kim Sa Bu wanted her to not give up. Will they save the patient, or will this be another death under Doldam? READ MORE:Ahn Hyo Seop Reveals Not Getting Enough Sleep For THIS Reason For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars. KDramaStars owns this article Written by Geca Wills Wildfires and smoke are shown in British Columbia and Alberta in this satellite image taken Thursday, May 18, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Co-operative Institute for Research on the Atmosphere (CIRA) at the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 30K Shares Share Please stop using the word burnout. You are not burned out. Youve been abused. Lets get the diagnosis right. We enter medicine as inspired, intelligent, compassionate humanitarians. Soon were cynical and exhausted. How did all these totally amazing and high-functioning people get so fd up so fast? Attention medical students and doctors: Its not your fault. Burnout is physical and mental collapse caused by overwork. So why blame the victims? The fact is medical students and physicians are collapsing because they are suffering from acute on chronic abuse. At some medical schools, 100 percent of students report abuse. Do you think this gets better? Physicians are overworked and overwhelmed with bureaucratic bullsh*t during most of their careers. They are trapped in assembly-line big-box clinics where they are treated like factory workers and berated for not seeing enough patients per day. These are human rights abuses in our nations hospitals. This doctor worked seven days in a row with almost no sleep! And the doctor below. Think shes burned out? Nope. She has been abused! Docs, stop playing nice in the sandbox. You are being abused. You cant be a victim and healer at the same time. Only you can stop this. How do you know if youre being abused at work? You dont get lunch or bathroom breaks. You are forced to work multiple-day shifts. You are not allowed to sleep. You are forced to see unsafe numbers of patients. You can never seem to find work-life balance. You are threatened verbally, financially even physically. You are bullied. And if you ask for help, youre called a slacker or worse. If any of this sounds familiar, its not your fauly. You are a victim of abuse. So what should you do? Sign up for a resiliency training? Meditate? Take deep breaths? Your goal should not be to cope with abuse. Your goal should be to stop it. Physician burnout is a diagnosis that blames the victim, not the perpetrator. The term physician burnout is physician abuse. It implies that YOU are to blame, not the system, not perpetrators of the mistreatment. To prevent burnout, health care institutions may offer resiliency classes to train doctors to prioritize self-care and manage their emotions. Warning: You can not meditate your way out of abuse. You can not take enough deep breaths in a year to end your abuse. What you must do: If you are being abused, you must leave your abuser. I know its scary. But you are not alone. Need help with your escape route? Call me! I escaped. You can too. Pamela Wible pioneered the community-designed ideal medical clinic and blogs at Ideal Medical Care. She is the author of Pet Goats and Pap Smears. Watch her TEDx talk, How to Get Naked with Your Doctor. She hosts the physician retreat, Live Your Dream, to help her colleagues heal from grief and reclaim their lives and careers. Image credit: Shutterstock.com At least one commentator has opined that physicians arent burned out. Theyre abused. That is an extremely accurate diagnosis. No matter how many mandatory meditation sessions physicians are required to attend during their lunch hours, they remain overworked, overstressed, and unhappy with their careers. Although there is no easy fix, there are issues that can be addressed in the physician employment agreement that can ameliorate the horrible working conditions foisted upon most physicians. One issue that can provide physicians some relief concerns patient contact hour requirements in physician employment agreements. Too many agreements simply provide that the physician is a 1.0 FTE. (FTE is corporate speak for a full-time equivalent). Frequently, the agreement provides no clarification as to what this means. In my negotiations with health systems, I have frequently been told that an FTE means the physician should work 40 hours per week (exclusive of call, of course, because physicians should be expected to provide call, up to 24/7, as a normal part of their lives). Few physicians would argue that 40 hours per week is reasonable. In fact, I suspect most physicians dream of a position where they work 40 hours. Any physician knows that seeing patients is only one aspect of their job. In addition, they are required to maintain charting, convince nurses employed by the managed-care companies that the prescription or procedure they ordered should be covered, etc. However, many health systems attempt to press the position in negotiations that a physician is only working when the physician is in direct contact with a patient. The massive time commitment entailed in a workweek with 40 patient contact hours can be modestly reduced by designating patient contact hours as part of a definition of 1.0 FTE. When I am negotiating with hospitals, I attempt to insert a definition that 32 patient contact hours per week represents an FTE for a physician with no nonclinical duties (i.e., no duties as chief of the department, medical director, committee chair, etc.). Incredibly, I have frequently been informed that working less than 40 hours per week is a part-time position. Hospital administrator seem to believe that giving a physician eight hours a week to accomplish administrative duties is the equivalent of a four-day workweek. Nevertheless, when pressed, most administrators will admit that physicians have responsibilities over and above the time spent with patient contact. I have found that administrators are becoming more accepting of the concept that physicians are full-time even if they are scheduled for something less than 40 patient contact hours per week. Although I dont always obtain 32 patient contact hours per week as a definition of full-time, I dont believe it is an exaggeration to say that 36 patient contact hours per week is approaching the norm. Will reducing patient contact hours to allow more time for administrative duties end physician burnout? Hardly. But anything we can do to slow down the hamster wheel that has become physician employment has to help, if only a little. Dennis Hursh is a veteran attorney with over 40 years of experience in health law. He is founder, Physician Agreements Health Law, which offers a fixed fee review of physician employment agreements to protect physicians in one of the biggest transactions of their careers. He can also be reached on Facebook and LinkedIn. 26 Shares Share First do no harm is the opening line of the Hippocratic Oath, and virtually everyone is familiar with it, as it is quoted on every TV medical drama at least once a season. We tend to think that the oath was highly influential in medical training and practice when it was written circa 400 BCE. Still, it had limited applicability, as it only applied to students trained in Hippocrates style of medicine, and his was only one of several schools of physician training. Even today, the oath likely has more salience for the public than it has for physicians, as more modern pledges have replaced it. Healers back then, and for many centuries thereafter, had little to offer patients but herbs, poultices, and comfort; and harm was a simple concept that related only to ones patient. Hippocratic physicians were forbidden to perform surgery, to hasten a patients death, and/or to provide a poison, as all were considered harms. Presently, this term is more complicated, as it does not only involve a single patient, but can refer to a class of patients, or to the general publics health. What if, by providing treatment to ones patient, harm arises from the treatment, and not from disease? For example, an Oncologist is tempted to use an experimental medication on a patient who has failed all standard treatments. This therapy has demonstrated mixed results; it can extend life significantly when it works, but it has side effects that could terminate a patients life more rapidly than the untreated disease, and this occurs in almost as many patients as are helped by it. Would use of this medication then be a potential benefit to the patient or a potential harm? Especially as s/he has indicated wanting to live as long as possible? Or, what if a physician provides a patient with a requested medication for which s/he has no medical indication? The drug is popular for its convenience, and so many people are using it for this purpose, that a shortage of it has been precipitated, and many patients who require the drug are unable to obtain it; some have even died! Also, the drug may present a healthy patient with a side effect that could result in permanent liver damage, necessitating a transplant. Aside from this side-effect, should the MD also consider that providing this drug may result in harm to another, though anonymous individual, and decline to write the prescription? Or, what if a health insurance company medical consultant denies coverage for a treatment because the prescribed dose exceeds guidelines without attempting to understand why the treatment is used in this manner? They barely survey the supporting documents and do not call the patients physician to determine the treatment rationale. There are many determinations for which remuneration is low, and there are more profitable activities to engage his/her time. If the higher dosing is necessary to control the patients disease, but s/he cannot afford it, and the pharmaceutical company will neither consider a reduced price nor provide it gratis, then could the reviewers denial be considered harm? By contracting with the insurer, does the reviewer develop a fiduciary responsibility to the patient, and if so, does the cursory review and denial constitute, at a minimum, nonfeasance (neglect) or, at worst, malfeasance (deliberate error)? Then too, there could be population harm. For example, a physician in Florida sold false COVID inoculation certificates to parents to meet a then public health edict that school-aged children be vaccinated, though these children were not. This potentially placed many others, pupils and staff, their families, and members of the general public, especially those who may be immunocompromised, at risk. The concept of harm can even be extended to gender and racial inequities in health care. These apply to situations in which fellow physicians, physician trainees, and patient care are affected. A form of this harm, characterized as personal biases, can result in unequal treatment (e.g., Black women receiving less post-surgical pain medication, female physicians being treated condescendingly). This is not new but likely began shortly after Homo erectus and Neanderthals first discovered the other, and each concluded that the other was lesser than they were, based on physical differences. Systemic inequities, the other form of this harm (e.g., Greek slaves were not entitled to medical care), started later with the development of communities and regulations. They likely grew from personal biases but, in turn, acted to reinforce them, and systemic inequities then became a cultural norm. Awareness of both types of inequities, especially systemic ones, has only been accepted as real recently, especially so in medicine. One cannot presently read a journal issue, regardless of specialty, that does not contain at least one article on inequity; some of which are well-reasoned, while others border on the absurd, are histrionic and racist, and are only printed because of the current interest in the topic. If Hippocrates were alive today, he would find that do no harm is so complex that he might have chosen a different phrase to open his oath. M. Bennet Broner is a medical ethicist. While being treated for an aggressive hematologic cancer, the former head of a department of medicine at a large teaching hospital told me he wished he could hang a sign on his headboard, reading P-I-P: Previously-Important-Person. Despite extraordinary achievements, skills, credentials, and status, being a patient made him feel like an amalgam of parts; limbs, bodily fluids, organs, and orifices, all now suspect, some more wayward than others and most, for his taste, far too readily on display. Why is being a patient such a difficult pill to swallow? Besides whatever concern or ailment brings you to seek medical care, there is something about the very nature of being a patient that deeply rankles. Whether trying to arrange a medical appointment, waiting to be seen in a clinic or hospital, or being examined under the watchful gaze of a health care provider, being a patient disrupts our sense of intactness, gnawing away like an existential termite. At its core is the erosion of personhood and a feeling that identity is under attack, threatening to displace the essence of who we really are. It doesnt have to be this way. Our sense of who we are as people is highly individualized, based on personal experiences and relationships; affiliations, attitudes, culture, beliefs, abilities; opportunities and connections; inclinations and foibles. In other words, who you are as a person is highly specific and unique; never has there been, nor ever again, will there be one exactly like you. Being a patient, on the other hand, is based entirely on things that are generic. Bodily parts are supposed to behave in exact and predicable ways, irrespective of who their owner happens to be. With all due respect, whether prince(cess) or pauper, poet or pilot, your bits and bobs are pretty much identical, in form and function, relative to everyone elses. And herein lies the problem with being a patient. The moment we enter the health care system, the focus of attention shifts from who we are, to the ailment or problem we are now facing. This shift puts identity in jeopardy. A long-time dialysis nurse once told me she eventually came to think of patients as kidneys on legs. Patienthood eclipses personhood, casting a shadow that undermines the essence of who we are. This is bad for patients and their families; it is also bad for health care providers since emotional disconnection and objectification of patients is a harbinger for professional burnout. One approach designed to decrease this kind of existential trauma is beginning to take hold, coined the Patient Dignity Question (PDQ). The PDQ asks patients, What do I need to know about you as a person to take the best care of you possible? This question forms the basis of a brief five-to-ten-minute conversation, focused on personhood. What matters to you? What are your core beliefs? What or who are you most worried about? What roles and relationships matter most? In answering the PDQ, patients are being asked how they want to be seen or understood as a person by their health care team. These conversations are summarized into a few paragraphs, and with the patients approval, placed on their medical chart. While mostly used in patients with serious illness, the PDQ is relevant across all of medicine. Whether you are being seen for routine medical care, or find yourself moving towards the end of life, or somewhere in between, who you are and acknowledgement of who you are as a person, matters. And the things that people disclose by way of the PDQ profoundly change the way health care providers see them. Im a survivor of childhood abuse. My son is battling cancer. I am afraid to die alone. I am a former department head of medicine. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the daughter of a women on a ventilator in intensive care shared that her mother had survived the likely murder of her first child and was a spiritual leader in her community. She said that responding to the PDQ gave her a way of letting the health care team know that her mother was no ordinary person. These kind of disclosures profoundly and forever change the health care providers lens, bringing an appreciation of who patients are as persons, above and beyond whatever ailment brought them to medical attention. This is good for health care providers, helping stave off emotional indifference that can lead to professional burnout, while restoring human connection with the potential for them to be more whole themselves. It is also good for patients and families, ensuring that patienthood doesnt overshadow personhood. Being a patient is hard, especially when it undermines your feeling that you are still you. That, it turns out, is the hardest pill to swallow of all. Harvey Max Chochinov is a psychiatrist. Music Network brings Spring 2023 to a close with two of the leading jazz artists of our time, bassist Linda May Han Oh and pianist Fabian Almazan who will perform in Thomastown next month. Hugely accomplished performers, improvisers and composers, they have worked together in a variety of stunning musical collaborations for over a decade. This highly creative duo will perform mostly original works, with Almazan drawing inspiration from his Cuban heritage and musical training in jazz and classical idioms and Oh showcasing the skills and innate musicality which have seen her collaborate with some of the biggest names in the industry. A night of awe-inspiring musical brilliance awaits this concert will be truly special. Based in New York City, Linda May Han Oh is a prodigiously gifted bassist and composer who has performed and recorded with renowned artists such as Pat Metheny, Kenny Barron, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Terri Lyne Carrington, Steve Wilson, Geri Allen and Vijay Iyer. Born in Malaysia and raised in Perth, Western Australia, Linda has received many important awards including second place at the BASS2010 Competition, semi-finalist at the BMW Bass competition and an honorary mention at the 2009 Thelonious Monk Bass Competition. She also received the 2010 Bell Award for Young Australian Artist of the Year and was 2012 Downbeat Critic's Poll Rising Star on bass. In 2018 and 2019 she was voted Bassist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, as well as being Up-and-coming Artist of the Year in 2019. A recipient of both the Jerome Foundation Fellowship and the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant in 2019, she was also voted 2019 Bassist of the Year in Hothouse Magazine and won the Margaret Whitton Award in 2020. As a leader, Lindas five album releases have received widespread critical acclaim. Her most recent release Aventurine is a double quartet album, featuring string quartet and vocal group Invenio. Linda has written for large and small ensembles as well as for film, participating in the BMI Film Composers Workshop, Sundance Labs at Skywalker Ranch and Sabrina McCormick's short films, A Good Egg and FracKtured. Linda was recently featured as the bassist in the Dorothea Williams Quartet in the Pixar movie Soul under the musical direction of Jon Batiste (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) alongside drummer Roy Haynes. As an active educator, Linda has created a series of lessons for the BassGuru app for iPad and iPhone. She is currently on faculty at the New School - School of Jazz, as well as Berklee College of Music. Celebrated Cuban-American pianist and composer Fabian Almazan found his musical roots as a child in Havana where he was first introduced to the classical piano tradition. During the completion of his jazz piano bachelor's degree at the Manhattan School of Music, Fabian immersed himself in the realm of orchestral composition, studying instrumentation and orchestration with Mr. Giampaolo Bracali, and his musical journey took off from there. He has received two Grammy nominations and additional accolades include the SWR New Jazz Meeting Commission, Copland Fund, Jerome Fund for Emerging Composers Award, Jazz Gallery Residency, Rockerfeller Brothers Residency and Cintas Foundation Award in Composition. As a performer, Fabian has developed a personal voice through the electric manipulation of the acoustic piano in live and studio settings. He has toured his music extensively as well collaborating with artists such as Terence Blanchard, Gretchen Parlato, John Hollenbeck, Mark Guiliana, Dave Douglas, Avishai Cohen and Ambrose Akinmusire. Most recently, Fabian can be heard in films Harriet, Chi-Raq, Red Tails and Miracle at St. Anna. As an environmentalist and naturalist, Fabian travelled back to his birthplace where he made field recordings of endemic Cuban birds which were then Incorporated into This Land Abounds With Life, his most recent album as a leader. He is the founder and director of Biophilia Records and has worked diligently towards ensuring a continued dialogue of awareness concerning music and environmental justice. The performance will take place at the Concert Hall in Thomastown on June 13. Gardai have arrested four males as part of an ongoing investigation into the theft of vehicles in the Eastern Region in recent weeks. On the evening of Saturday, 20th May 2023, gardai in the Naas District conducted an operation targeting persons suspected of being involved in the theft of vehicles. A vehicle, which was recently reported as stolen, was observed travelling on the M7. A managed containment operation was put in place with assistance from gardai in Carlow. The vehicle was located a short time later on the N80. Two male teenage youths were arrested and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, at a garda station in Co. Carlow. A second vehicle, which was recently reported as stolen, was observed travelling in the Newbridge area and failed to stop for Gardai. The vehicle was discovered abandoned a short distance away. Two male teenagers (one of which is a youth) were arrested in the vicinity and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda station in Co. Kildare. All four persons remain detained at this time. The two stolen vehicles were recovered by investigating Gardai and are subject to a technical examination. Investigations are ongoing. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday morning. The firm issued a buy rating on the medical research companys stock. Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Thursday, May 11th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $161.64. Get Agilent Technologies alerts: Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.2 % Shares of A opened at $128.87 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies has a one year low of $112.52 and a one year high of $160.26. The company has a market cap of $38.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.30. Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend Agilent Technologies ( NYSE:A Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.09% and a return on equity of 30.35%. The companys revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.68 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 30th. Agilent Technologiess payout ratio is 20.32%. Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Investment Managers International boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Investment Managers International now owns 3,245 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,965 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $893,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 837 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. First Command Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. First Command Financial Services Inc. now owns 461 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 298 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.51% of the companys stock. Agilent Technologies Company Profile (Get Rating) Agilent Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Agilent Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Agilent Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Holly Energy Partners (NYSE:HEP Get Rating) in a report issued on Wednesday. The firm issued a buy rating on the pipeline companys stock. Separately, Raymond James raised their target price on Holly Energy Partners from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Get Holly Energy Partners alerts: Holly Energy Partners Stock Performance Shares of HEP stock opened at $17.14 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 0.90. The businesss 50 day moving average is $17.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Holly Energy Partners has a 12-month low of $15.12 and a 12-month high of $20.00. Holly Energy Partners Dividend Announcement Holly Energy Partners ( NYSE:HEP Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $143.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.62 million. Holly Energy Partners had a return on equity of 24.44% and a net margin of 39.39%. Holly Energy Partnerss revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Holly Energy Partners will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.17%. Holly Energy Partnerss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.10%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Holly Energy Partners Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 25.3% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 167,900 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $2,963,000 after buying an additional 33,900 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new position in shares of Holly Energy Partners during the first quarter worth $761,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 8.9% during the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 942,962 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $16,681,000 after buying an additional 77,033 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 0.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,322,137 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $58,769,000 after buying an additional 19,400 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Holly Energy Partners by 7.6% during the first quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 38,915 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 2,737 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.30% of the companys stock. Holly Energy Partners Company Profile (Get Rating) Holly Energy Partners LP engages in the business of operating a system of petroleum product and crude pipelines, storage tanks, distribution terminals, and loading rack facilities. It operates through the Pipelines and Terminals, and Refinery Processing Unit segments. The Pipelines and Terminals segment includes petroleum products, crude pipelines and terminal, tankage, and loading rack facilities. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Holly Energy Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Holly Energy Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sendas Distribuidora (NYSE:ASAI Get Rating) is one of 51 public companies in the Grocery stores industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Sendas Distribuidora to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends. Analyst Ratings This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Sendas Distribuidora and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat. Get Sendas Distribuidora alerts: Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Sendas Distribuidora 0 1 0 0 2.00 Sendas Distribuidora Competitors 1096 2660 2841 112 2.29 As a group, Grocery stores companies have a potential upside of 16.22%. Given Sendas Distribuidoras peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sendas Distribuidora has less favorable growth aspects than its peers. Institutional and Insider Ownership Volatility & Risk 4.4% of Sendas Distribuidora shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.1% of shares of all Grocery stores companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Sendas Distribuidora shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.1% of shares of all Grocery stores companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Sendas Distribuidora has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sendas Distribuidoras peers have a beta of -2.58, indicating that their average stock price is 358% less volatile than the S&P 500. Valuation and Earnings This table compares Sendas Distribuidora and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Sendas Distribuidora $58.17 billion $236.31 million 15.06 Sendas Distribuidora Competitors $30.60 billion $705.75 million 242.93 Sendas Distribuidora has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. Sendas Distribuidora is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry. Dividends 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 3.7% and pay out 57.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Profitability This table compares Sendas Distribuidora and its peers net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Sendas Distribuidora 1.86% 29.13% 2.88% Sendas Distribuidora Competitors 1.80% 15.76% 4.55% Summary Sendas Distribuidora peers beat Sendas Distribuidora on 10 of the 15 factors compared. Sendas Distribuidora Company Profile (Get Rating) 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. Receive News & Ratings for Sendas Distribuidora Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sendas Distribuidora and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the business services providers stock. Separately, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of FTI Consulting from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Get FTI Consulting alerts: FTI Consulting Stock Performance Shares of FCN opened at $182.06 on Thursday. FTI Consulting has a 1 year low of $140.09 and a 1 year high of $205.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 2.51. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $191.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.31. The firm has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13 and a beta of 0.28. Insider Buying and Selling FTI Consulting ( NYSE:FCN Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The business services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $806.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $795.44 million. FTI Consulting had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 7.19%. The companys revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FTI Consulting will post 7.28 EPS for the current year. In other FTI Consulting news, General Counsel Curtis P. Lu sold 349 shares of FTI Consulting stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.35, for a total transaction of $66,781.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 29,793 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,700,890.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other FTI Consulting news, General Counsel Curtis P. Lu sold 349 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.35, for a total value of $66,781.15. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 29,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,700,890.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven Henry Gunby sold 38,908 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.86, for a total transaction of $7,231,440.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,006 shares of the companys stock, valued at $76,947,155.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,187 shares of company stock valued at $12,795,055. Corporate insiders own 3.46% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of FTI Consulting Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCN. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of FTI Consulting by 270.4% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,865 shares of the business services providers stock worth $2,195,000 after purchasing an additional 10,122 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of FTI Consulting by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 22,159 shares of the business services providers stock worth $3,484,000 after buying an additional 5,542 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of FTI Consulting by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 12,566 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $1,976,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its holdings in shares of FTI Consulting by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 19,575 shares of the business services providers stock worth $3,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its position in FTI Consulting by 1.6% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 19,080 shares of the business services providers stock worth $3,000,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. About FTI Consulting (Get Rating) FTI Consulting, Inc engages in the provision of financial, legal, operational, political and regulatory, reputational and transactional advisory services. It operates through the following segments: Corporate Finance and Restructuring, Forensic and Litigation Consulting, Economic Consulting, Technology, and Strategic Communications. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for FTI Consulting Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FTI Consulting and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The Character Group plc (LON:CCT Get Rating) insider Kirankumar Premshand Shah sold 14,605 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 331 ($4.15), for a total transaction of 48,342.55 ($60,556.87). The Character Group Price Performance Shares of LON:CCT opened at GBX 316 ($3.96) on Friday. The Character Group plc has a 1-year low of GBX 310 ($3.88) and a 1-year high of GBX 572.90 ($7.18). The stock has a market cap of 61.05 million, a PE ratio of 702.22 and a beta of 0.83. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is GBX 364.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 379.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.19. Get The Character Group alerts: The Character Group Cuts Dividend The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 13th will be given a dividend of GBX 8 ($0.10) per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.42%. The Character Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4,000.00%. The Character Group Company Profile The Character Group plc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes toys, games, and gifts in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, the Far East, and internationally. The company sells its products under the Goo Jit Zu, Jiggly Pets, Chill Factor, Peppa Pig, Shimmer n Sparkle, Mouse in the House, Weebles, and Stretch Armstrong brands. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for The Character Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for The Character Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC Get Rating) Equities research analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q2 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Yum China in a report issued on Tuesday, May 16th. Zacks Research analyst H. Ray now forecasts that the company will earn $0.36 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.37. The consensus estimate for Yum Chinas current full-year earnings is $1.99 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Yum Chinas Q3 2023 earnings at $0.71 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $0.26 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $2.02 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $0.71 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $0.41 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.88 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.29 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $2.29 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.69 EPS. Get Yum China alerts: Yum China (NYSE:YUMC Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 8.77% and a net margin of 6.43%. The businesss revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. Yum China Stock Performance YUMC has been the topic of several other reports. TheStreet raised Yum China from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. OTR Global raised Yum China from a mixed rating to a positive rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Yum China from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Yum China in a research note on Thursday. They issued a buy rating for the company. YUMC stock opened at $61.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.53. Yum China has a 12-month low of $38.47 and a 12-month high of $64.70. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $62.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.84. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum China Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Yum China by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 281,894 shares of the companys stock worth $13,368,000 after purchasing an additional 24,305 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in Yum China by 128.9% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 73,784 shares of the companys stock worth $4,032,000 after purchasing an additional 41,546 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum China in the 4th quarter worth approximately $317,000. MAI Capital Management lifted its holdings in Yum China by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 15,216 shares of the companys stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum China by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,476 shares of the companys stock worth $682,000 after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares during the last quarter. 78.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Insider Buying and Selling In other Yum China news, CEO Joey Wat sold 12,018 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total transaction of $745,356.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 261,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,243,348.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum China news, insider Johnson Huang sold 10,707 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $663,834.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 53,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,302,616. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joey Wat sold 12,018 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total value of $745,356.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 261,905 shares of the companys stock, valued at $16,243,348.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,179,041 shares of company stock valued at $73,434,579. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Yum China Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 26th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Yum Chinas dividend payout ratio is currently 34.67%. About Yum China (Get Rating) Yum China Holdings, Inc engages in the operation and management of restaurants and fast food chains. It operates through the following segments: Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut, and All Other Segments. The KFC segment operates restaurant chain. The Pizza Hut segment covers the Pizza Hut casual dining and Pizza Hut home service. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Yum China Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Yum China and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Participants of the inaugural Korea Local Diplomacy Forum pose at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul, Friday. From left are Ha Tae-youk, deputy secretary general of the Governors Association of the Republic of Korea; Kim Heong-soo, president of the Korean Northeast Asia Association Studies; Woo Tong-ki, chairman of the National Balanced Development Committee; Carlos Victor Boungou, ambassador of Gabon to Korea and head of the Council of Diplomatic Corps in Korea; Lee Cheol-woo, governor of North Gyeongsang Province and chairman of the Governors Association of the Republic of Korea; Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon; Lee Sung-chul, CEO and publisher of the Hankook Ilbo; Jo Jae-gu, mayor of Nam District in Daegu; and chairman of the National Association of Mayors; Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Korea; Kim Min-jae, policy officer for the Local Administration of the Ministry of Interior and Safety; and Lim Byung-jin, secretary general of the Association of the Northeast Asia Regional Governments. Courtesy of Governors Association of Republic of Korea 'Local diplomacy' hailed amid turbulent world affairs at inaugural forum By Ko Dong-hwan Korea's provincial governments and foreign embassies in Korea agreed Friday to promote "local diplomacy" in a bid to strengthen multilateral cross-border relations involving subnational administrations. The agreement came on the sidelines of the first Korea Local Diplomacy Forum: Glocal Brand Strategy in the Era of Local Diplomacy, jointly held by The Hankook Ilbo, its sister paper The Korea Times, the Korean Association of Northeast Asia Studies and the Governors Association of the Republic of Korea (GAROK). The inaugural forum was designed to promote the emerging importance of diplomatic activities by local governments in Korea, instead of the central administration, with representatives of ambassadors to Korea present to support the new initiative. Minutes before the forum's kickoff, North Gyeongsang Governor and GAROK Chairman Lee Cheol-woo and Carlos Victor Boungou, ambassador of Gabon to Korea, signed a memorandum of understanding to bolster cooperation between 242 local governments in Korea and 115 diplomatic representative offices in the country to encourage diplomatic activities at a local level. Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Korea Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, who is also the Council of Diplomatic Corps (CDC) treasurer, joined the MOU signing. Since his appointment as GAROK chairman last August, Governor Lee has been working to promote local diplomacy as a key strategy for national development. Starting this year, he began cooperating with the CDC to reach an agreement on local diplomacy as a way to further cement international relations between Korea and various countries. With Friday's MOU, embassies in Korea are expected to provide support to local governments in Korea whenever representatives of the latter travel to their respective countries for diplomatic exchanges, such as arranging bilateral meetings with local organizations there and recommending schedules during the visits. Carlos Victor Boungou, third from left, ambassador of Gabon to Korea and head of the Council of Diplomatic Corps, and Lee Cheol-woo, fourth from right, governor of North Gyeongsang Province and chairman of the Governors Association of the Republic of Korea, pose at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul, Friday, after signing a memorandum of understanding. Third from right is Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Korea Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo. Courtesy of Governors Association of Republic of Korea Likewise, Korea's local governments agreed to be more cooperative whenever diplomatic delegations visit a Korean municipality by introducing or setting up liaisons with local organizations fit for the delegations' visiting purpose. The MOU came as 242 metropolitans and local authorities in Korea have so far implemented 1,835 exchanges and cooperation projects with 1,364 cities in 87 countries through either sisterhood or friendly relationships. The mutual deals focused on administrative, cultural and youth exchange activities. The Friday forum was to launch a campaign to overcome international predicaments that affect most global citizens, and to enhance micro-level diplomacy by local governments that often works better than the central government's solo diplomacy. The event came as recent diplomatic efforts by local governments in Korea have proven to be promising. Busan Metropolitan City, for example, which is now competing against Saudi Arabia's Riyadh and Rome in Italy to host the World Expo 2030, has been busily sending representatives to countries all over the world to promote the city government's bid. Incheon, the western coastal city with the country's second-biggest port, has also been pushing forward with its diplomatic agenda with China and Southeast Asian countries, separate from the central government. Heads of the local governments of Seoul, North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu's Nam District, and foreign ambassadors to Korea joined the forum at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul as key participants, alongside about 200 others, including professors of diplomacy and international relations from local universities as well as executives from the two media outlets. Opening speakers at the forum included North Gyeongsang Governor and GAROK Chairman Lee; Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon; Hankook Ilbo CEO and publisher Lee Sung-chul; and Ambassador Carlos Victor Boungou, and head of the CDC in Korea. Key participants of the first Korea Local Diplomacy Forum held at the Korea Press Center, Friday, discuss relevant matters during the forum. Courtesy of Governors Association of Republic of Korea "Today's forum indeed emphasizes close relations between local governments and international communities," Ambassador Boungou said during his opening speech. "I congratulate the diplomatic goals of Korea and express my personal commitment toward the best interests of the diplomatic missions and the local governments in Korea. That commitment is reflected in the MOU we have just signed this morning." Alongside Korea's remarkable economic development over the past 50 years which has created lots of admiration in the international community, the advancement of regions and cities in the country were also commendable and worthy of emulation, according to the Gabon ambassador. "It really shows the extent to which decentralization is essential to a nation's development in a globalized environment impacted by challenges such as the uncertainties of the world economy, the disruption of supply chains, the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the danger of climate change," the ambassador said. "It is obvious that this new concept of globalization can prove to be very useful in connecting regions, cities and governments around the world." Lee Sung-chul, CEO and publisher of the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, delivers an opening speech at the Korea Local Diplomacy Forum held at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Governors Association of Republic of Korea Governor Lee, starting off his opening remarks by using the word "glocalism" a portmanteau of global and localism saying said that local diplomacy is more practical in ways that are more attached to people's daily lives, than a central government's national diplomacy in terms of the economy, environment, culture, young people and education. By enabling more multi-pronged international networking, local diplomacy can cover the blind spots often missed by a country's central diplomacy, according to the governor. He called it "diplomacy for people's daily lives." The world is now in disarray from the all-out tension between the United States and Russia following the latter's invasion of Ukraine, the geopolitical competition across Northeast Asia exacerbated by contentious Beijing-Washington relations, and North Korea's constant threat to the Korean Peninsula's security amid such conflicts between the global superpowers, Kim Hyeong-soo, president of the Korean Association of Northeast Asia Studies, said during the forum. "In the multi-layered diplomatic environment of the 21st century, solo diplomacy drive by central governments can be ineffective," Kim said. "Local governments, by pursuing their own interests and carrying out their own diplomatic activities or "para-diplomacy" can sustain not just diversity but also mutual support at a local level. More and more global mega-cities such as New York or London are leading their own diplomacy apart from state diplomacy to resolve their own problems." Central government diplomacy is vulnerable to various ongoing global affairs especially on today's global stage when countries' interests are closely interlocked with each other, Lee Sung-chul, CEO and publisher of the Hankook Ilbo, said during the forum. "In this complicated time, local governments can oil the global diplomatic chain excellently. Even when states are having a bad day, friendly steps can be taken between the same countries at a micro-level at the same time," he said. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers an opening speech at the Korea Local Diplomacy Forum held at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Governors Association of Republic of Korea In an interview, Karina revealed her regrets after how her hair was badly damaged when she bleached her hair into blonde for their recent comeback album, "MY WORLD." aespa Karina Regrets Being Blonde Here's Why In a broadcast, aespa Karina declared that "MY WORLD" era might be the last time fans will be seeing her as blonde. On May 18, aespa Karina and NingNing, who just had their comeback with the title track, "Spicy" appeared as the special guests for LE SSERAFIM Eunchae's YouTube show, "Eunchae Star Diary." While talking about the quartet's new release, the young host can't help but show high interest in Karina's blonde hair, which became the talk of the town when her new look was unveiled. Ahead of their official comeback, Karina revealed her blonde hair during a concert which immediately made a buzz among K-pop enthusiasts and internet users. Aside from this being her first time bleaching her hair to achieve such color since her debut, Karina also impressed everyone with her goddess-like appearance as blonde. She took the internet by storm even more when the team promoted "Spicy" through various music programs including Mnet's "M Countdown," SBS's "Inkigayo" KBS2's "Music Bank" and more. At the time, Karina went viral for her looks in each performance flaunting her new hairstyle. With this, Eunchae asked Karina if she would rather have black hair or blonde hair, which were both her iconic hair colors. Without a stint of hesitation, Karina immediately replied with black hair and exclaimed that she wouldn't go blonde again, revealing the pain her hair has to suffer because of bleaching. "I'm totally team Black Hair. I don't think I'll ever be blonde again. It's gonna be the last time. Thank you for understanding." Explaining the reason, Karina emphasized how bleaching her hair damaged it badly and it was too serious she compared her hair to a burnt bird. "For one, it really damages my hair and when I come out of the shower, I look like a burnt bird." Although fans are a bit saddened that blonde Karina will now remain as a memory only, MYs (fandom) expressed that they will support the idol and attested that she's gorgeous regardless of the color she chooses. In addition to this, after the broadcast, fans are hoping that Karina's stylist will take care of her hair better and give her post-show treatment just like how it looked really good during the show. aespa Unveils "SYNK: HYPER LINE" Dates in America & Europe Following their concerts in South Korea and Japan, aespa, comprised of Karina, Giselle, Winter and NingNing embark on its full-fledged American and European tour with its first solo concert "SYNK: HYPER LINE." aespa plans to hold its first solo concert in eight U.S. cities, including Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston, and Brooklyn, starting with LA on August 13 after performing at Jakarta, Indonesia, and Tokyo Dome on August 5-6. In September, music fans around the world are expected to visit six major cities in South America and Europe, including Mexico City in Mexico, Sao Paulo in Brazil, Santiago in Chile, Berlin in Germany, London in the UK, and Paris in France. For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz. KpopStarz owns this article. Written by Eunice Dawson. Mumbai, May 21 (PTI) The third Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting of the G20 will be held in Mumbai from Sunday with aspects of blue economy as its focus, officials said. Also Read | Narendra Modi Makes India Proud at World Stage! Indian PM Tops List of Most Popular Leaders With 78% Approval Rating, Beats US Prez Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The three-day meet will commence with a side event on beach clean-up in Juhu, followed by the Ocean 20 Dialogue. Also Read | G7 Summit 2023: PM Narendra Modi Holds Bilateral Meeting With British Counterpart Rishi Sunak in Hiroshima (Watch Video). The Ocean 20 platform, launched during the Indonesia Presidency Dialogue, is aimed at advancing ideation and action for ocean solutions. To ensure continuity and build on the initiative, the Indian Presidency is demonstrating active leadership by anchoring the Ocean 20 Dialogue in the 3rd ECSWG, which will focus on three significant pillars of blue economy, said a statement from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The sessions on the first day of the meeting will cover various aspects of blue economy and the first session will be on science, technology and innovation. The subsequent session will be on policy, governance and participation, and the concluding session on establishing blue finance mechanisms for blue economy. The deliberations will be aimed at working towards the wellbeing of oceans and the need to make conscious efforts towards reversing damage to them and protecting marine resources. The 3rd ECSWG will involve discussions on the draft ministerial communique with deliberations tuned towards achieving a consensus amongst the G20 countries. The closed-door sessions will conclude on a way forward note for the fourth ECSWG. (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 21 (PTI) The Congress won the Karnataka assembly elections by promising free electricity, free ration and unemployment allowance in its poll manifesto, taking cue from the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday. He said the AAP has succeeded in its efforts to bring some change in the country's political discourse as other parties are also now seeking votes on issues like education and health. Also Read | Wrestlers Protest: WFI Chief Brij Bhushan Saran Singh Says He Is Ready for Narco Test if Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia Take It Too. He was addressing AAP leaders who won seats in just-concluded Uttar Pradesh local body elections. "The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has tried to change the narrative of the country's politics. If you look at Karnataka polls, the Congress party has won on our manifesto," Kejriwal said. Also Read | CUET-UG 2023: 77% Attendance on First Day, NTA Says Glitch Free Exam Barring Delays at Few Centres. "We said we will provide free electricity, they (Congress) also said so. We said we will provide unemployment allowance, free ration, and Rs 1,000 (per moth to women, They also said so," he said. The BJP is also now making such promises, he said, adding, political parties earlier used to seek vote on the basis of caste and religion. The AAP won three Nagar Palika chairperson seats, six Nagar Panchayat chairperson seats and six Nagar Nigam councillor seats besides several wards in the urban local body polls that were held in Uttar Pradesh in two phases on May 4 and May 11. More than half of the AAP's victorious candidates belonged to the minority community, according to the poll results available on the state election commission's website. Kejriwal congratulated the AAP's Uttar Pradesh unit leaders, saying it was a "difficult" election as the state is considered a BJP stronghold. "You worked hard and defeated the BJP, the SP and other parties." Kejriwal said the AAP leaders' victory in several seats in the local body elections is an indication that people of Uttar Pradesh "are ready for change". "They want good governance and development in the state," he added. He said the AAP will now focus on expanding its foothold in Uttar Pradesh and contest the next assembly polls with full strength. "We will build our organisation with the help of Sandeep Pathak (AAP national organisation secretary). We will form active committees of 10 members in every village and booth. Once our organisation is built in Uttar Pradesh, no one can stop us," he said. Kejriwal asked the elected representatives to work for the people in various sectors like health and education so that the AAP is strengthened in the state. "All of you have got more responsibility now If you do good work in Uttar PRadesh that fragrance will spread across the state. We will get an entry in Uttar Pradesh through you," he added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 21 (ANI): Lashing out at the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to "track the surge of incoming 2000 rupee notes", especially from the state's "Co-operative Banks/Societies and TASMAC." In his letter to FM Sitharama on Saturday, he anticipated that "notorious and corrupt" DMK leaders will use the "machinery at their disposal" to exchange their ill-earned 2000 rupee notes. Also Read | Shark Attack in Florida Keys, Bites Fisherman Who Had Reeled It In, Sending Man to Hospital. https://twitter.com/annamalai_k/status/1659886546173186049?t=x30Q8fL9FarggxTEY5uWsA&s=08 His remarks came after the Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced the withdrawal of Rs 200 denomination bank notes from circulation and said the same can be exchanged till September 30, 2023 Also Read | Bihar: Undertrial Prisoner Ties Knot With Girlfriend Inside Sitamarhi District Court Premises. "We anticipate that the DMK politicians will use the machinery at their disposal, especially the Co-operative Banks/Societies and TASMAC, to exchange their ill-gotten 2000 rupee notes. Madam, we request that the Finance Ministry instruct the banks to track the surge of incoming 2000 rupee notes through the above sources", he said. He further said," The people of Tamil Nadu wholeheartedly welcomed the Reserve Bank of India's notification yesterday on the exchange of 2000 rupee notes, till September 30, 2023." He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for every decision that is being taken under his leadership. Annamalai said, "Our Honourable Prime Minister Thiru Narendra Modi avargal's every decision is backed with meticulous planning and detailing, and the people across the country acknowledge the same, as these decisions are always in the best interests of the common people of our country. (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 21 (ANI): After one of its senior scientists, Pradeep Kurulkar, was arrested for allegedly leaking sensitive information to enemy spies, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has issued a strong advisory to its personnel asking them not to take calls from unknown numbers and to avoid social media platforms. "We have been issuing advisories and holding lectures by experts on maintaining cyber discipline but this incident has happened," senior DRDO officials told ANI. Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Surpasses Maharashtra in Sugar Production This Season. "After the arrest of senior Scientist Pradeep Kurulkar, we have issued a strong advisory to all our personnel to maintain cyber discipline like not taking calls from unknown numbers or foreign numbers," they said. The personnel have also been asked to avoid presence on social media as this can lead to engagement with strangers and one can be a victim of such enemy intelligence operatives, the officials said. Also Read | Punjab to Telecast Gurbani From Golden Temple On All Channels, Announces Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. DRDO chief Dr Samir V Kamat has taken a strong view of the incident and has empathised that everyone in the defence research agency must behave and act responsibly while using the internet. The officials said all the personnel have to be responsible enough on social media and other apps as many such operatives have been trying to target individual officers using WhatsApp numbers mostly from outside the country. The DRDO works on strategic projects that are most of the time classified in nature. On May 3, the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad arrested top DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar on charges of leaking sensitive information to a virtual honey trapper suspected to be a Pakistani intelligence operative. He was allegedly honey-trapped by a woman whom he had befriended on social media last year. The DRDO had carried out a probe into his activities and was prima facie found to be leaking information after which he was sacked as the Director of the lab he was heading in Pune. He was head of the Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) in Pune. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], May 21 (ANI): Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah inaugurated the National Convention of Modi Samaj in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Sunday. In his address, the Union Minister said that efforts are being made to unite the dispersed community, and it is a good sign for both the community and the nation. Also Read | Road Rage in Delhi: DTC Conductor Stabbed by Three Youths After He Objects to Their Reckless Driving, Accused Arrested. He said that this community has progressed ahead due to its continuous efforts and strength and it will get the representation. Shah said that this society is blessed by Lord Shiva himself. Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited every village in Gujarat and inspired the youth by forming an organization that provided an unparalleled structure for bringing change in Gujarat. Also Read | Manipur Violence: State Govt Extends Internet Suspension for Five More Days 'To Maintain Peace'. He said that on the basis of his public welfare works during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat, PM Modi became the Prime Minister of the country, and now he is increasing India's pride across the world. Shah said that the previous governments always harassed and humiliated the OBC community and ignored them, Prime Minister Modi took many initiatives for giving respect to the OBC community and took many steps for the welfare of the OBC community in the last nine years. He said that many OBCs have been made Chief Ministers from our party, the constitutional status has been provided to the OBC commission by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and for the first time 27 ministers from the OBC community have been included in the Union cabinet. Union Home Minister said that earlier there was no reservation for OBCs in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya and NEET exam, but it has now been ensured by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that a venture capital fund for OBC young entrepreneurs has been set up. The amendment process in the OBC list was also initiated by the government under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah said that during the last 56 years of rule of the previous governments, not a single initiative was taken for ensuring respect for the OBC community, but PM Modi has taken countless measures in the past nine years, through which the OBC community is rising and achieving its due place. Shah said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, considering everyone equal, PM Modi provided the Corona vaccine to 130 crore people. He said that Prime Minister Modi has eliminated corruption by linking many public welfare schemes of the government with DBT and sending their benefits directly to the bank accounts of the poor. Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Minister said that Rathore, Teli, Sahu community has made a huge contribution to the country and given the country such a Prime Minister who has worked to establish India's pride in the world. When the President of America says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you are very popular in America, and he wants your autograph, then every Indian feels proud. He said that the Indian economy which was earlier ranked 11th in the world, has moved up to the 5th position today and Prime Minister Modi has set a target that the Indian economy will become a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025. Shah said that India ranks second in the world in smartphone usage and production, third in the aviation market, third in the automobile market, third in start-ups and ranks third in the world in renewable energy. Shah added that after the independence of the country, in comparison to the 50 years of opposition governments, the nine years of government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have had many significant achievements. (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 21 (ANI): Reacting to Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes from circulation, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora said that this decision is a 'disruption of the economic system.' Commenting on the withdrawal, the AAP lawmaker said, "Withdrawal of these banknotes is a disruption of the economy. Withdrawal of currency notes at regular intervals doesn't give a positive outlook of the economy in the eyes of investors and other countries." Also Read | Delhi Road Accident: Speeding BMW Crushes Man to Death in Moti Nagar Area, Woman Driver Arrested. Further, he said, "Faith in Indian currency will be shattered. The rationale behind the exchange of 10 notes is not clear. Also, most of the time, many people including housewives will have their savings in this denomination. A minimum threshold should be made for such citizens to deposit the money in their account which will not be questioned later." Recalling the previous demonetisation period, Arora said, "Also later there was a lot of harassment issues from the part of the Income Tax authorities even if the deposit is legitimate." Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Surpasses Maharashtra in Sugar Production This Season. He added that people are still going through the trauma from the last demonetisation and now this partial demonetisation has come up. He also appealed to the Finance Minister to rethink the issues raised by him regarding the situation. While reacting on Tax Collection at Source (TCS), Arora said that the 20 per cent rate is too high. "TCS of 20 per cent on the amount spent is like around 70 per cent of income. If employees or professionals spend money on their personal cards which are reimbursed by employers and clients, they will have issues with how to get the TCS adjusted. Personal Credit Cards are made with personal PAN cards", he added. Arora also alleged that this step does not encourage digital transactions. "I feel this step is against encouraging digital transactions which the Government usually encourages", he said, adding, "This step encourages visitors abroad to take money in cash as allowed by RBI." He said, "I suggest the Finance Ministry rethink this and as suggested should decrease TCS to 5 per cent and issue some notification on how reimbursements can be taken adjusting TCS." Earlier this week, RBI announced that it has decided to withdraw Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation but they will continue to remain as legal tender. It has advised banks to stop issuing Rs 2000 denomination banknotes with immediate effect. Meanwhile, RBI said that citizens will continue to be able to deposit Rs 2000 banknotes into their bank accounts and/or exchange them into banknotes of other denominations at any bank branch up to September 30, 2023. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Quetta (Pakistan), May 21 (PTI) Three soldiers were killed and a terrorist gunned down when militants attacked a security post in the Zarghoon area of the restive Balochistan province on Saturday, the Pakistan military's media affairs wing has said. In a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the terrorists attacked the check post that was recently set up to help check extortion efforts targeting coal mines in the area". Also Read | G7 Summit 2023: PM Narendra Modi Proposes 10-Point Action Plan; Calls for Promoting Millets and Curbing Wastage of Food, Says Marginal Farmers Should Be Our Priority. Security forces fired back in retaliation, In the encounter, three soldiers were killed and one terrorist was shot dead, it said. The ISPR said a sanitisation and clearance operation had been launched in the mountains of Zarghoon. Also Read | G7 Summit 2023: PM Narendra Modi Pays Floral Tributes at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan (See Pics). ISPR Director General Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry recently said that at least 293 people were killed and 521 were injured in 436 terrorist attacks over the past year. He had also said that overall 137 security personnel were killed and 117 injured in anti-terror operations in the ongoing year. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Hiroshima [Japan], May 21 (ANI): US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken on Sunday met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima and discussed the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to America. "I had a great discussion with Indian Minister of External Affairs @DrSJaishankar on the sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima. We look forward to hosting Indian Prime Minister @NarendraModi in June, whose visit will celebrate the deep partnership between the United States and India," tweeted Blinken. Also Read | Fawad Chaudhry Booked For Alleged Bathroom Tap Theft: Case Filed Against Pakistan Leader For Stealing Taps, Electrical Wires From Govt School. PM Modi will embark on an official state visit to the United States on June 22. During his visit, PM Modi will be hosted by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at a state dinner at the White House, the Ministry of External Affairs informed through a press statement. The MEA statement further said the visit will underscore the growing importance of the strategic partnership between India and the United States, as the two nations are already collaborating across sectors. Also Read | G7 Summit: China Slams Hiroshima Joint Statement, Lodges Protest Against Brazen Interference In Its Internal Affairs. Meanwhile, a 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 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 added. "The leaders will discuss ways to further expand our educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, as well as our work together to confront common challenges from climate change, to workforce development and health security," it stated further. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Hiroshima, May 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US next month will celebrate the "deep partnership" between the two countries, America's top diplomat said on Sunday as he met his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar here. Modi will embark on his state visit to the US next month on an invitation by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The US president and the First Lady will also host Modi at a state dinner on June 22. His visit to the US comes ahead of the G20 Summit being hosted by India in September. Also Read | PM Narendra Modi Receives Exemplary Welcome in Papua New Guinea As PM James Marape Touches His Feet (Watch Video). US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had a "great discussion" with External Affairs Minister Jaishankar on the margins of the G7 summit. "We look forward to hosting Indian Prime Minister @NarendraModi in June, whose visit will celebrate the deep partnership between the United States and India," Blinken tweeted on Sunday. Also Read | Mass Shooting in US: Three People Killed, Two Injured As Gunman Opens Fire at Kansas City Bar. Jaishankar thanked Blinken and said he was looking forward to the visit. "Thanks @SecBlinken. Was great to catch up! Looking forward to PM @narendramodi's visit," tweeted Jaishankar, who accompanied the Prime Minister on his visit to Japan. On Saturday, Prime Minister Modi and President Biden shared a tight hug as they greeted each other here at the G7 Summit in this Japanese city. After becoming Prime Minister in 2014, Modi has made more than half a dozen trips to the United States for bilateral and multilateral meetings with all three American presidents, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Biden. This is for the first time Modi has been invited for an official state visit, a privilege accorded to America's close friends and allies. His last visit to Washington was in September 2021 at the invitation of President Biden for a bilateral meeting. He had also attended the first in-person Quad Leaders' Summit hosted by Biden. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, May 21: The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) is expected to declare the Cass 10th and 12th board exam results today, May 21. While no official time has been announced, the results will be announced soon. Students who appeared for the JAC 10th and 12th exams can visit the official website of JAC at jacresults.com to check and download their results. Alternatively, students can also visit jac.jharkhand.gov.in to check their exam results. Once released, the JAC Class 10th and Class 12th Exam Results 2023 will be available on the official website of the board. This year, the JAC Class 10th exams were held from March 14 to April 3 while the Class 12th exams were conducted from March 14 to April 5. HPBOSE 12th Result 2023 Out at hpbose.org; Himachal Pradesh Board Class 12 Term 2 Result Declared, Know Steps To Check Score. Steps To Check JAC Class 10th and 12th Result 2023: Visit the official site of JAC at jacresults.com or jac.jharkhand.gov.in or Click on the "JAC Class 10th and 12th Result" link on the homepage Enter using your login details and either credential Next, click on submit Your JAC Class 10th and 12th Result result will be displayed on the screen Check the result Take a printout for future reference Students must note that the evaluation process for both Classes 10 and 12 exams is completed. Meanwhile, the Goa Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) declared the SSC or Class 10 exam results on Saturday, May 20. Kerala SSLC Result 2023 Out: Kerala Class 10th Exam Results Declared on results.kite.kerala.gov.in, Know Steps to Check Scorecard. Students who appeared for the Goa board SSC exams can check the results on results.gbshsegoa.net and gbshse.in using their seat number, school index number and date of birth. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2023 09:53 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Hiroshima, May 21: US President Joe Biden on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his autograph after discovering how he has been managing large crowds, according to sources. Yesterday during the Quad meeting, President Joe Biden came up to PM Modi and told that he's been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the program of PM Modi. G7 Summit 2023: PM Narendra Modi Greets US President Joe Biden With Tight Hug in Japan (Watch Video). To this, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was also present on the occasion added that there is a capacity of 20,000 for the community reception in Sydney but he is still not able to accommodate the requests he is getting. Both President Biden and PM Albanese complained to PM Modi about their peculiar challenges. PM Albanese further remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium, more than 90,000 people welcomed PM Modi during the victory lap. To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, "I should take your autograph." PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. The prime minister is visiting the East Asian country at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida. Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to 21. PM Modi on Saturday said that India will be willing to host the next Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting in 2024. "We will be happy to host the Quad summit in India in 2024," PM Modi said in the opening remarks of the Quad meeting held on the sidelines of a Group of Seven Summit (G-7) meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. G7 Summit 2023: PM Narendra Modi Holds Bilateral Meeting With British Counterpart Rishi Sunak in Hiroshima (Watch Video). PM Modi was addressing leaders of the US, Australia, and Japan, which along with Japan constitute the informal strategic forum called the Quadrilateral Grouping whose primary objective is working for a free, open, prosperous, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. "Quad will continue to make efforts towards global good, welfare of the people, prosperity and peace," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. Earlier this week, the planned summit of Quad leaders from the US, India, Australia, and Japan in Sydney was cancelled after US President Biden withdrew from his visit due to ongoing debt limit talks in Washington. However, the White on Friday (local time) agreed to hold the summit in Japan's Hiroshima. "After President Biden had to postpone his trip to Australia, the Quad leaders agreed that they would hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year. So tomorrow, in addition to the G7, President Biden will participate in the third in-person Quad Leaders' meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India," read a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Biden scrapped his planned trip to Sydney as well as a historic visit to Papua New Guinea. The decision -- which prompted Albanese to cancel the scheduled Quad summit -- was seen as a self-inflicted blow to hopes of a more visible US presence in the Indo-Pacific amid its competition with China in the region. US President Biden thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Japan's prime minister Fumio Kishida for agreeing to participate in the Quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit here. The White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement on Friday (local time) said that Quad leaders agreed to hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year. "Along with sharing strategic assessments, the leaders will welcome new forms of Quad cooperation on secure digital technology, submarine cables, infrastructure capacity building, and maritime awareness," the statement added. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2023 10:05 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). International Tea Day is observed every year on May 21. International Tea Day 2023 falls on Sunday. It is a special occasion dedicated to celebrating the art, culture, and enjoyment of tea. International Tea Day is an opportunity to recognize the rich history, diversity of flavours, and the positive impact tea has on our lives. On this day, tea enthusiasts from around the world come together to indulge in their love for tea and explore its many facets. As you observe International Tea Day 2023, here's a collection of International Tea Day 2023 images, quotes on tea, International Tea Day 2023 greetings, Happy International Tea Day 2023 wishes, International Tea Day messages and HD wallpapers to share with fellow tea lovers. Know the Health Benefits of Tea and Its Variants. Tea has a fascinating history that spans centuries and continents. Exploring the origins of tea, its journey from ancient China to other parts of the world, and the cultural significance attached to it can be a fascinating way to celebrate Tea Day. Delve into the legends, stories, and historical milestones that have shaped the tea we know and love today. Tea is incredibly diverse, with various types and flavours to suit every palate. Take the opportunity on Tea Day to sample different varieties of tea and explore the distinct characteristics and flavours they offer. From the delicate notes of green tea to the robustness of black tea or the unique blends and infusions, there is a world of flavours to discover and celebrate. Here is a collection of images, greetings, wishes, HD wallpapers and quotes on tea that you can download and send to all your near and dear ones on this day. International Tea Day 2023 (File Image) WhatsApp Message Reads: No Problem on Earth Can't Be Solved by a Hot Bath and a Cup of Tea. Happy International Tea Day. Happy International Tea Day 2023 (File Image) WhatsApp Message Reads: You Cannot Make Everyone Fall in Love With You. You Are Not 'Chai' Where There Is Tea, There Is Hope. Happy International Tea Day. Happy International Tea Day (File Image) WhatsApp Message Reads: Tea Is a Beverage Which Not Only Quenches Thirst but Dissipates Sorrow. Happy International Tea Day. Happy International Tea Day (File Image) WhatsApp Message Reads: I Am in No Way Interested in Immortality but Only in the Taste of Tea. Happy International Tea Day. WhatsApp Message Reads: Tea Is Like the Magic Key to the Vault Where Your Brain Is Kept. Happy International Tea Day. On this day, you can organize a tea-tasting session or attend one to appreciate the nuances of different teas fully. Engage in the sensory experience of smelling, tasting, and savouring each brew. Experiment with pairing tea with complementary foods, such as pastries, chocolates, or cheeses, to enhance the flavours and create delightful combinations. Wishing everyone a Happy Tea Day 2023! (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2023 07:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Hiroshima, May 21: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporter's question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said, Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. G7 Summit: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Meets Canadian PM Trudeau, Discusses Cooperation in Security, Defence Sphere. We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasion's longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyy's response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut was interpreted by many as saying the city had fallen to Russian forces. When asked if the city was in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to -- to understand that there is nothing, They've destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so -- just ground and -- and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyy's press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defence and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemy's presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. "Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with US President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced USD 375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the US), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the US agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the US a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial centre, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivors Worry Zelenskyy's G7 Visit Overshadows Nuke Disarmament Message. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) The biggest question surrounding the 2023 French Open was the status of the greatest French Open player of all-time, Rafael Nadal. Nadal, who has won the French Open an astounding 14 times among his 22 Grand Slam titles, has been bothered by a hip injury suffered during the Australian Open that has kept him off the tour for nearly five months. The 36-year-old Nadal has played in just four tournaments in 2023 and is 1-3. While scrolling through recent postings in a film collectors group hes a member of, Brandon Wunder saw a notice for thousands of cultural and educational 16-millimeter film prints up for sale. As the gallery director at Allentowns Alternative Gallery, Wunders interest was naturally piqued, as hes always looking to add to the gallerys film archive. But given that the group was an international collective, he assumed the collection would be halfway across the country, or even the world, and that it would be less than feasible to make a real effort to bring the collection of films to the gallery. But as he continued to read through more details, he learned that he assumed wrong. The collection was merely an hour away in Philadelphia. That lightning-in-a-bottle moment kickstarted a mad dash by the Alternative Gallery to rescue and preserve thousands of the films, which originally come from the Philadelphia School District before being acquired by a collector thats now looking to sell or store them. The 16mm films, which total about 6,000, are in danger of being stored in shipping containers in a junk yard, where the summer heat and humidity will warp and ultimately ruin a physical remnant of American and world cultural history. In order to save a bulk of the film reels, Wunder and the Alternative Gallery have launched an IndieGoGo fundraiser to bring the media to the gallery for preservation and education. The poster, by artist Lee Thompson, for the Alternative Gallery's 'Save the Film Prints!' initiative.Courtesy of The Alternative Gallery We realize that if those films are sitting out throughout the duration of the summer, the content on them is going to be lost, Wunder said. The films content is largely educational and documentary-style footage that the school district used to educate an entire generation. The gallery is in the middle of a two-week fundraising period, which was about as long as they could go before temperatures really heat up, and the giant metal shipping containers exacerbate the heat into triple-digit degrees, rendering the reels of film unusable. With a week left, the crowd-funding effort has reached nearly 60% of its $7,000 goal, which goes towards buying about 2,000 of the films and properly storing them according to U.S. National Archives recommended conditions (i.e. not in a giant metal box outdoors in the summertime, but rather in a climate-controlled environment). IndieGoGo, the crowd-funding site, gives fundraisers the opportunity for flex funding, which means they can continue raising money even after the goal is hit, so Wunder would also like to save more than the initial 2,000 later on. These reels of movies were produced between the 1940s and 1970s, Wunder said, and cover all sorts of topics Native Americans, the culinary world, the science of volcanos and seemingly everything in between. The Alternative Gallery has acquired a handful already, so Wunders gotten to view a number of them. Among his favorites that hes seen is a 15-minute documentary from the 1960s called Fishing on the Coast of Japan, a dialogue-free observation of a seaside Japanese villages daily routine. Despite its simplicity, its a transportive experience which Wunder wants to make accessible to the Lehigh Valley. Another film theyve already rescued is, in a similar vein, a documentary following a poncho and blanket merchant in Quito, Ecuador, as he peddles his stock around Ecuadors capital city. Again, its a brief but valuable look at another time and another place. The Alternative Gallerys Director of Education is from Quito, so unearthing and watching the decades-old document was quite a meaningful experience. She was amazed when she saw this, because she got to see what her city looked like before she was born and how similar it still is, Wunder said. There are a number of films in the collection that are about places in South America, and its obvious to the gallery staff that they should make these historical documentaries easily accessible in a city with such a large contingent of residents from Central and South America. Canisters of 16-millimeter film that The Alternative Art Gallery is trying to save before they're ruined by the summer heat.Courtesy of The Alternative Gallery We have to use them as educational vehicles, Wunder said. Were using them no differently than the reason they were created for and I think thats how it should be used in the first place. He noted that even just the simple act of projecting the films is educational in itself, given that much of the younger generation might have literally never seen a physical reel of film before. The gallery has to actually raise the money to acquire the films first, so Wunder and staff arent getting ahead of themselves, but they are starting to make some progress with the Allentown School District and local colleges about hosting screenings. They already have showings of films in their existing archive at the Allentown Public Library. They do already plan to host a screening of many of the rescued films (plus some from their existing archive) at the Emmaus Theatre over the summer including the films from Japan and Ecuador. Donors that offer $25 or more get a complimentary ticket to the screening when it gets scheduled. Donations can be made on IndieGoGo.com by searching SAVE THE FILM PRINTS! and theres also a link on the Alternative Gallerys website, thealternativegallery.com. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Connor Lagore may be reached at clagore@njadvancemedia.com. And the first Freddy Award went to Well, hold on. Lets savor the suspense for a moment and appreciate the annual anticipation felt by two decades of Lehigh Valley-area students in high school musicals, waiting to see if their name would be called for the local Tony Award equivalent named after a ghostly fan of the local stage. In just a few days it will be a new classs turn to experience the excitement. But on May 22, 2003, it was all new. For the first time, Eastons Northampton Street turned into Broadway for the inaugural Freddy Awards ceremony at the State Theatre. The Express-Times edition the next day described the gala event: Through the searchlights and across the red carpet, performers and parents in tuxedos, ball gowns and costumes from medieval to West Side hoodlum packed the house for the live telecast. High school trophy cases are full of awards for athletes band we thought something was missing, State Theatre Executive Director Shelley Brown said as she opened the show. Tonight we make history. The Freddys are named after J. Fred Osterstock, the State Theatres manager in the 1940s and 50s and, according to legend, its current resident ghost. Brown told that first audience that Fred had been seen in the lobby the day before the awards: He loves this stuff. 55 1 / 55 A look back on nearly 20 years of Freddy Award ceremony moments Besides stirring the emotions of nominees, the ceremony also roused feelings of patriotism. Theresa Seifert, widow of Army Capt. Christopher Seifert, received a standing ovation as she presented the award for Outstanding Stage Crew. Her husband had once been the chief of Wilson Area High Schools drama club technical crew. He was killed in Kuwait two months before the awards, one of the first casualties of the Iraq War. The stage crew award still bears his name. And now some first-Freddy trivia: The first opening number? Tradition from Fiddler on the Roof, performed by 88 students from the 22 participating high schools. The first Freddy Award ever presented? That went to Warren Hills Regional High School for Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra for Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? Who will win this year? Well find out. The 2023 Freddy Awards are scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 25, and will be broadcast live from the State Theatre on WFMZ-TV. 65 1 / 65 2022 Freddy Awards MORE LEHIGH VALLEY HISTORICAL HEADLINES THIS WEEK 10 YEARS AGO | In 2013, the Crayola Factory reopens as the Crayola Experience. The rebranding concludes a three-month, multi-million-dollar renovation for the family venue in Centre Square Easton. 20 YEARS AGO | In 2003, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell tours the Mayfair Festival of the Arts in Allentown. Arts and culture are very, very important to our culture and very, very important to our cities, he says. 25 YEARS AGO | In 1998, a new area code will overlay 610, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission decides. The digits were undetermined at the time but the decision cleared the way for phone numbers starting with 484. McDonalds parking lots are jammed as people quest to collect Teenie Beanie Babies with their Happy Meals. Former President George H.W. Bush is the keynote speaker at Lafayette Colleges commencement. In your own way, I hope you will find a way to be one of a thousand points of light, he told the Class of 1998. 50 YEARS AGO | In 1973, Lehigh Valley balloonist Bob Sparks, of Slatington, trains for an anticipated trans-Atlantic flight in July. That flight ultimately failed, but Sparks went on to set records amid a successful career and in 2016 was inducted into the U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame. Lehigh Valley hospitals are split on abortions, with four of the seven in the area performing the procedure. St. Lukes and Quakertown Community Hospital say decisions are pending. This story is part of Lehigh Valley Then, a weekly series that recalls historical headlines from lehighvalleylive.com, The Express-Times and their predecessors from 10, 20, 25, 50 and 100 years ago. Headlines are pulled from microfilm at the Easton and Bethlehem area public libraries. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Well before it became a standardized holiday in 1971, Memorial Day has been celebrated annually across the country. Falling on the last Monday in May, its an opportunity to remember and pay tribute to veterans of the armed forces who were killed in action. From parades to church services to speeches, the Lehigh Valley has a litany of events scheduled for Memorial Day weekend for residents to participate in the ceremonial remembrance of people who fought and died in service of the country. Below is a list of events happening around the area over the long weekend: Penn Argyl High School Memorial Day assembly 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., May 25: This student-run assembly will host veterans to speak about the importance of Memorial Day and offer a look at armed forces traditions and services. The school will also be selling American flags to the district. Phillipsburg Memorial Day Parade 9 a.m., May 29: The parade, hosted by the Bernardine May American Legion Post #457, begins at Abbott Street before going past Shappell Park before parading down Main Street, ending at the Free Bridge. ArtsQuest Memorial Day Celebration, May 27-29: ArtsQuests SteelStacks campus will host a Memorial Day celebration all weekend with live music and remembrance ceremonies, as well as reveal the 2023 Hometown Heroes photo banner. A full schedule of events is available at steelstacks.org. Sons of Union Veterans Organization Camp 48 May 28 and 29: The organization will be performing memorial services at cemeteries around the Northampton area. A full schedule is available on the groups website. Williams Township Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony 6 p.m., May 28: The ceremony will be held at the Williams Township Municipal Building and will feature a number of speakers and guests. Pastor Kevin Strawn, a retired New Jersey Army National Guard Captain, will deliver an address on the theme No Greater Love. The ceremony will also feature a reading of names of veterans, a recitation of the Gettysburg Address, the Wilson Area High School band, and more. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs. Bethlehem Memorial Day Parade 9 a.m., May 29: Bethlehems annual Memorial Day event will get rolling from Liberty High School before heading further downtown. Historic Easton Cemetery Memorial Day events 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., May 29: The cemetery will be hosting multiple events on Memorial Day. First, at 9 a.m., is a brief ceremony in remembrance of the veterans buried in the cemetery to be held in the Grand Army of the Republic section. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., docents will lead 45-minute tours through the cemetery discussing its many veteran residents from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War. Easton Memorial Day Parade and Services 10:30 a.m., May 29: The annual parade will be led by the color guard and honor guard from Brown & Lynch American Legion Post 9 and the honor guard from the Northampton County Detachment No. 298 Marine Corps League. It runs from Sixth and Northampton streets through downtown to the free bridge, where mayors from Easton and Phillipsburg will toss a wreath into the Delaware River. Ceremonies, speakers and honors will continue at Riverside park through noon. Killed in Action Memorial Service noon, May 29: The Bethlehem Detachment 284 of the Marine Corps League will host a Memorial Day service at Payrow Plaza in honor of those killed in the Vietnam War. East Bangor United Methodist Community Church Memorial Day Service 1 p.m. May 29: The church will be hosting a service at the East Bangor Cemetery. The event will feature Anthony Manganiello, a retired Airborne Ranger in the U.S. Army, as a speaker. Did we miss a ceremony in Lehigh, Northampton or Warren counties? Let us know and well add it. Email the details to clagore@lehighvalleylive.com. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Connor Lagore may be reached at clagore@njadvancemedia.com. Editors Note: Lehighvalleylive.com is offering a benefit to subscribers: Click the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and get free, print-quality downloads - as well as the option to purchase keepsakes at half the price. Notre Dame High School students celebrated their prom at the Northampton Country Club on Saturday. Contributing photographer Max Blease was there to capture a few of the students as they arrived for the prom. Lehighvalleylive.com will be sending photographers to proms throughout the Lehigh Valley and Warren County this season. Our full coverage of proms across the region can be found at lehighvalleylive.com/prom. Check out the gallery above to see everyone dressed up for a night to celebrate. SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we just might highlight the best pics! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. Editors Note: Lehighvalleylive.com is offering a benefit to subscribers: Click the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and get free, print-quality downloads - as well as the option to purchase keepsakes at half the price. William Allen High School students celebrated their prom at The Palace Center on Saturday. Contributing photographer Brandon Santiago was there to capture a few of the students as they arrived for the prom. Lehighvalleylive.com will be sending photographers to proms throughout the Lehigh Valley and Warren County this season. Our full coverage of proms across the region can be found at lehighvalleylive.com/prom. Check out the gallery above to see everyone dressed up for a night to celebrate. SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we just might highlight the best pics! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. A man who committed an unprovoked one punch attack was told to gather more compensation. Ahmed Emara, 22, of 4 Farmleigh View, Farmleigh Woods, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 had brought 500 to court for the assault at Coppers Bar in Portlaoise on October 2, 2021. Suzanne Dooner BL said the probation report on her client was positive. I understand he apologised for his behaviour on the night, she said. She said the man was working earning between 300 and 400 a week and was hoping to return to full time education. She said he had over consumed alcohol on the night and was apologetic for his behaviour. This was an unprovoked punch to the head, said Judge Cody. He said 500 wasnt going to cut it. These one punch offences are serious matters. People have died from them. Peoples lives have been ruined, he pointed out. He adjourned the matter back to Portlaoise District Court on September 7 for payment of 2,000. Judge Cody said he would deal with the matter then but not by way of striking out the charges. Man who thought he was back in Germany drove at 197kph on the motorway in Laois. Ilie Ungurean, 35, of 1 Tipperary Road, Cahir, Tipperary was charged with dangerous driving on the M7 Motorway at Ballydavis on April 9 last. Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said the defendant was doing 197kph in 120km zone in a 2016 Volkswagen Passat. Sgt Kirby said there were three other people in the car at the time. He said the defendant has no prior convictions. Solicitor Philip Meagher said his client was a solar panel fitter from Romania. He had just returned to Ireland after living for a number of years in Germany and Austria, he said. Mr Meagher said his client hadnt driven a vehicle since arriving back in Ireland up to the point when he was caught. He said he had borrowed a friends car on the date in question. He effectively thought he was back in Germany, Mr Meagher said. As you are aware, on the Autobahn there is no limit over there, he said. That was literally his first activity on an Irish motorway in four years, he added. Mr Meagher said his client was a solar panel fitter earning around 600 a week. He said the man was not in a position to make a large financial contribution. Judge Andrew Cody revealed he had recently watched an episode of the television show Top Gear which stated that no safety tests were carried out above 200kph because there was only one consequence. Everybody is dead. There is no other outcome, Judge Cody told the sitting of Portlaoise District Court. That is what this man put himself in the way of, he said. Judge Cody convicted the defendant, fined him 1,000 and disqualified him from driving for two years. He fixed recognisance in case of appeal. Action is needed around the Slieve Bloom Mountains to warn mountain bike riders to take precautions on the bike trail due to the lack of phone coverage, a public representative has warned. Cllr James Kelly, Independent, made the appeal in a call to Laois County Council to play its part due to the a rise in accidents requiring an emergency response. Cllr Kelly tabled a motion at a meeting with officials calling on the local authority to provide on-site information along the Slieve Bloom Cycle Way to alert cyclists that when using the various tracks provided, in the event of an accident or emergency, they may or will be out of mobile phone coverage. The trail was developed by Coillte with the support of Laois and Offaly councils. Cllr Kelly told the meeting that while the cycle trail was welcome success in attracting new visitors to Laois, the rise in demand for emergency help due to biking accidents requires a response. The emergency services have been called up there on numerous occasions, he said. He outlined a recent incident recounted to him by a friend where a lone cyclist had fallen from his bike and broken a collarbone. Cllr Kelly's big concern was phone coverage which he warned can be poor in the mountains. He believed access to a phone in an emergency is vital so people should be warned about the coverage. He suggested signs to advise people to be prepared. If you are on your own and it is an evening time you might be in big bother, he said. He said it is very important to cover all safety issues. District Chairman, Cllr Paddy Bracken agreed saying it is a very important issue. Paul McLoughlin, Senior Engineer in the Roads Department replied in writing. "Laois County Council will work will Coillte to advise Mountain Bike Trail users of this message," he said. The issue was raised at the May meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District. Coillte says the route uses multiple sections of forest roads and crosses many walking trails. They warn bikers to expect to encounter vehicles and other forest users at any time. They also say the trail is exposed on the upper slopes and can be very windy in poor weather. The State company asks people to ensure there mountain bikes are in good working order and that they have an appropriate level of fitness and skill level to undertake the trails. it also advised riders to be appropriately dressed and wear a helmet at all times. While consideration for other forest users and control of speed is advised, there is no reference to phone coverage in the event of emergency on its website. Coillte says the trails are developed in partnership with Offaly and Laois County Councils and are funded by the Dept of Rural and Community Development, with additional funding support from Failte Ireland. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Laois Offaly man and transplant recipient Val Kennedy is backing organ donation as National Launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week 2023 gets underway. Now living in Portarlington and from Tullamore, Val underwent a single lung transplant at the Mater Hospital in 2016. Now a representative of the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association (ILFA), he attended the national launch of the annual campaign by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly at the Mansion House in Dublin. Organ Donor Awareness Week takes place from May 20-27. It is organised by the Irish KIdney Association in association with Organ Donation Transplant Ireland. Val was shortlisted for a transplant after being diagnosed with an irreversible lung condition called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Within six weeks of first becoming ill, his lungs stopped working and became 24-hour oxygen supply dependent. Now aged in his 60s, Val is originally from Clonminch Road in Tullamore but lives Railway Mews in Portarlington asserted in 2019: My donor has saved my life for which I will always remain indebted. The retired businessman ran Tullamore Financial Services for over two decades. MORE BELOW LINK This years Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign is built around the theme Dont Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt! #LeaveNoDoubt. The organisers say the key message is that members of the public can play their part in supporting organ donation for transplantation by ensuring that their families are not left in any doubt about their wishes around organ donation. The IKA say sharing your wishes when you are in good health makes it a less stressful decision for your family in the event of them being approached about you being a potential organ donor. People who wish to support organ donation are encouraged to Share their Wishes with their family and keep the reminders of their decision available by carrying the organ donor card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their drivers licence or having the digital organ donor card App on their smartphone. Organ Donor Cards can be requested by visiting the IKA website www.ika.ie/ get-a-donor-card or to your phone, phoning the Irish Kidney Association on 01 6205306 or Free text the word DONOR to 50050. An Post is supporting this years Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign with 350 of its larger and busiest outlets displaying stocks of organ donor cards and also displaying the campaign poster on its digital screens in 295 of its top post offices. The Irish Pharmacy Union is supporting the campaign and several Pharmacy chains are also helping to spread the message about the importance of organ donation by displaying the campaign poster and carrying stocks of organ donor cards. The campaign poster will be displayed on outdoor advertising poster sites in shopping centres, sponsored by Clear Channel. RTEs Fair City will also have posters featured on the set in some of its episodes broadcast during Organ Donor Awareness Week. Carol Moore Chief Executive, Irish Kidney Association said: Organ donation is a great example of active citizenship, and the Irish Kidney Association is calling on everybody to take the opportunity of Organ Donor Awareness Week to share their wishes. Patients on transplant waiting lists live in hope that organs will become available to them and a strong public show of support by requesting organ donor cards builds that hope. The uncertainty associated with waiting for an organ transplant is difficult as the future is unknown and there is the knowledge that in order to be given the Gift of Life another family will be grieving the loss of a loved one, she said. Last year, saw an increase in the number of kidney transplants taking place at Beaumont Hospital - 163 kidney transplants took place of which 33 were from Living Kidney Donors. There are 2,466 people in Ireland in end stage kidney failure undergoing dialysis treatment, but only approximately one fifth of these are on the transplant waiting list. The Irish Kidney Association CEO was pleased with these figures. The end of year figures for transplantation last year offer encouragement and hope to people on transplant waiting lists as there was an increase in transplant activity with 250 organ transplants taking place in 2022, 44 more transplants than in 2021. The record 81 transplants in the first three months of this year offers further encouragement that we can return to or surpass the 5-year average (2015-2019) of transplant activity experienced pre-pandemic. "Its heartening also that as one of the milestones we mark this year is the 10th anniversary of the introduction of Code 115 on drivers licences, that without any promotional activity, more than 1.45 million drivers, almost half of all licence holders, have indicated their willingness to be organ donors. We look forward to the Human Tissue Bill being transposed into law. It will allow for altruistic living kidney donation in Ireland, where the donor does not know the recipient. Currently such donors have to travel outside our jurisdiction to Northern Ireland or overseas in order to donate altruistically, she said. Dr Catherine Motherway is the Clinical Lead, Organ Donation & Transplant Ireland, HSE. She spoke about the impact of donation. Organ Donation saves and transforms the lives of Irelands transplant recipients. The Gift of Life given by our donors both living and deceased is celebrated and cherished publicly every year during Organ Donation Awareness Week. This year will mark 60 years of Organ Donation and Transplantation in Ireland. Over the intervening years advances in transplant medicine and surgery have allowed us to offer hope to more patients suffering from failure of a vital organ. At this time, we take a moment to reflect on how this would not be possible without the selfless generosity of our organ donors and their families. We remember our deceased donor families who, in the midst of grief and in the face of the sudden loss of a loved one find it in their hearts to think of others in need. Our living donors give of themselves freely to help a loved one. "This week I would encourage everyone to let their families know their wishes. Have that conversation please. For bereaved families when the wishes of the Donor are known it is an act of love to respect and honour that wish. It can bring comfort in a very dark and difficult time. For those of us who have the honour of caring for our donors and their families and who work to care for our transplant community we thank and honour all our donors. MORE BELOW PICTURE. Front row Prof. Emer Joyce, Transplant Cardiologist, Mater Hospital, Dr. Catherine Motherway, Clinical Lead, Organ Donation Transplant Ireland (ODTI), Robert McCutcheon, Chairman, Irish Heart & Lung Transplant Association, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, Philip Watt, CEO, CF Ireland, Carol Moore, Chief Executive, Irish Kidney Association (IKA), Eddie Flood, National Honorary Chairman, IKA, Senator Mark Daly. Back: Prof. Jim Egan, Director, ODTI, Eddie Cassidy, Chairman, Irish Lung Fibrosis Association,(ILFA), Val Kennedy, ILFA, Gemma O'Dowd,ILFA and Christoper Nielson, Liver Trust Ireland. At the campaign launch the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly said: Organ donation is a gift of a second chance of life. Raising awareness about the importance of organ donation is a critical part of the great effort we must make so that more people get this second chance. This year has set a record for the number of transplants performed in the first three months of a year with 81 transplants. As Minister for Health, I am committed to increasing organ donation and transplantation rates in Ireland and to make organ donation the norm where possible. Enactment of the Human Tissue Bill will be an important step to achieving this, he said. The IKA said that at any one time in Ireland there are between 550 and 600 people active on waiting lists for organ transplants including heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas. 250 organ transplant operations were carried out in Ireland in 2022 (44 more transplants than in 2021). It said that this activity last year, in very challenging times with COVID-19, could not have taken place but for the generosity of the families of 86 deceased donors and 33 living kidney donors. In 2022, 51 liver transplants and 8 pancreas transplants took place at St. Vincents Hospital, while 10 heart transplants and 18 lung transplants were carried out at the Mater Hospital. The IKA say 2023 marks several important milestones in organ donation and transplantation in Ireland: The 60th anniversary of the first transplant to take place in Ireland, a kidney transplant for 21-year-old Ted Tobin, from Dublin, which took place at the old St. Vincents Hospital on St. Stephens Green 51st anniversary of Irelands first live donor kidney transplant at Jervis Street Hospital The 45th anniversary of the introduction of the kidney donor card by the Irish Kidney Association (in the same year the Association was founded 1978), which has evolved into the multi-organ donor card. 38 years since Irelands first heart transplant at the Mater University Hospital 31 years of pancreas transplantation; the programme began at Beaumont Hospital, founded by transplant surgeon Dr. David Hickey. The programme migrated to St. Vincents University Hospital in 2016. The 30th anniversary of Irelands first liver transplant at St. Vincents Hospital. The 20th anniversary of the paediatric kidney transplant programme at CHI Temple Street The 18th anniversary of the first lung transplant at the Mater University Hospital The 15th anniversary of first spousal (non-blood related) live donor kidney transplant at Beaumont Hospital 10 years since the introduction of code 115 on Drivers Licence in January 2013 with sign up by 1,485,988 drivers by 9th May 2023, representing 46.3% of all drivers You can request Organ Donor Cards via the IKAs website www.ika.ie/donorweek The Irish Kidney Association also provides their Digital Organ Donor Card free to download from the App Store and the Google Playstore. The Royal Ascot Trials Day at Naas Racecourse today is one of the flagship meetings in the Irish and Naas Racing calendar with over 300,000 in prize money, especially for those preparing for Royal Ascot glory. The first race is at 1.45pm with the last going to post at 5.15pm. The feature race is the Goffs Lacken Stakes (Group 3) and the Coolmore Irish EBF Fillies Sprint Stakes (Group 3). There are also competitive listed races with the Owenstown Stud Stakes and Sole Power Sprint Stakes. The increased popularity of Royal Ascot and the corresponding need for preparation races have seen the importance of Naas Royal Ascot Trials Day increase significantly. Meanwhile, traditional Irish folk and ballad band, The Kilkennys, will kick off the first of three Summer Racing & BBQ dates on Wednesday evening, June 28th. The evening also features the Listed Al Shira'aa Racing Irish EBF Naas Oaks Trial, the 2020 renewal of the race was won by the Ger Lyons-trained Even So, who confirmed the calibre of the Naas trial when going on to win the Irish Oaks at The Curragh on her next start. The second Summer Racing & BBQ meeting will take place on a Saturday afternoon, July 8th on the Naas Town Goes Racing Day. The race day aims to encourage locals to embrace their local racetrack and incorporates something for everyone including great racing, summer BBQ, family fun activities, charity mascot race and live music after racing from BAZZA - DJ, sax & drums. The last Wednesday evening meeting will take place on July 26th which features the Listed Yeomanstown Stud Irish EBF Stakes and will once again host well-known band, After Dark, playing live after racing. The BBQ packages start from just 30 with the BBQ Pavilion Package 55. The BBQ Pavilion is located adjacent to the parade ring and the package includes admission to the races, a race card, a full BBQ meal, reserved table in the pavilion and access to live music after racing. There are also general admission tickets available for 15 for racing and music. Niamh Byrne, Marketing Manager at Naas Racecourse said: "The Summer Racing & BBQ meetings at Naas provide the perfect opportunity to get a group of friends, family or work colleagues together to enjoy good racing, music and delicious food. There is always a great buzz around the track on these evenings and we look forward to kicking off the Summer Season on Wednesday June 28th. Racing on both Wednesday evenings will start at approximately 5.30pm, with the Saturday July 8th being an earlier start of 2.10pm. Admission and hospitality tickets to the races with access to live music after racing are all available online at www.naasracecourse.com. Leitrim County Council has announced its plans for Africa Day 2023, which will include Music, Food, Song and Dance to celebrate the occasion. On Saturday, May 27, The Market Yard, Carrick-on-Shannon will host a wonderful afternoon of African Fair from 12pm to 5pm. This is a FREE event and fun for all the family. From noon, there will be a host of activities and workshops for the kids including drumming, hair braiding, art, and face painting. At 2pm Cathaoirleach Ita Reynolds-Flynn will officially open the event. Followed by an afternoon filled with music and dancing with DJ Magic Tunes Lewis Sangtung. Make sure to savour the vast array of African cuisine which will be prepared by Elizabeth Oloyede. Africa Day, which falls on Thursday, May 25, celebrates the richness of African cultures and the contribution of people of African descent to Irish life. Africa Day celebrations are organised by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs in partnership with African embassies in Ireland and local authorities around the country. Commenting, Cathaoirleach Ita Reynolds-Flynn, said: I welcome this occasion to celebrate African diversity and culture. Events like this help to promote integration, respect, and better understanding of the different cultures in our community. Africa Day also represents an important opportunity to raise awareness of the progress which is being achieved in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs and Agenda 2030), and the challenges that remain to ensure that no-one is left behind. This year will see Irelands largest-ever Africa Day programme, with events being held nationwide. For more information visit www.AfricaDay.ie or Leitrim County Council and Leitrim International Community Group social media feeds. Would you or a friend like to be part of the best small festival around this summer? Read on and find out more about Manorhamiltons International Wild Rose Festival and how you can represent your county or even more specifically, the towns of Manorhamilton or Dromahair! Closing date for applications for the International Wild Rose Festival is Thursday, June 1 Its amazing to think that an old-fashioned romantic novel from 1883 is still inspiring festivals and fun almost 140 years after its publication. Indeed, the International Wild Rose Festival, which is celebrated in Manorhamilton each summer, is located in the region celebrated in Patrick G. Smyths novel, The Wild Rose of Lough Gill which tells the tale of its heroine Kaitlin Ni Chuimin as she navigates a life full of adventure, heartache and romance, in the North West of Ireland and beyond. The Festival was established in 1970, in a time when the region was suffering depopulation due to mass emigration. The draw of the big city or overseas to the UK or USA was evident in every town and village. Festivals like this presented reasons for the diaspora to return home, bringing life back to the region, and provided a much-needed boost to the local economy and morale. Luckily, over the decades since then, the Northwest of the country has developed at a pace, with an influx of new blood, new locals if you will, returned emigrants or their families, and Leitrim is now a great place to live; a beautiful place to live, in close proximity to thriving and bustling centres; jobs and opportunities. After a short break, the festival Committee decided to bring back the International Wild Rose Festival in 2017 and apart from the hiatus during the time of Covid, the festival has been a welcome date on the calendar of events in the town of Manorhamilton. Promising to be a week of fun for all, scheduled events include Mike Denver at The Bee Park on Friday 14th of July, with Jim Devine in the same venue 2 nights later, Sunday 16th. Of course, the high-light of the festival will be the Wild Rose contest a fun event, where 12 women representing the 12 important locations in the life of our heroine, compete for the title of International Wild Rose 2023. Not your Lovely Girl competition made famous by certain Fr. Ted Crilly and his cohorts - this contest is right up to date. Gone are the rules and regulations of old. Instead, here we have a gathering of women, married, single, mothers or not, strong and independent, entrepreneurs, artists, business-women, students, all coming together to celebrate our community, our unique location and them selves. The Crowning of the International Wild Rose will take place on the evening of Thursday 20th July, when Leitrims own Katherine Lynch will put the Roses through their paces that promises to be a night fun and surprises! If you or anyone you know might be interested in getting involved, heres the criteria: You will be 18 years by January first 2023, and will not have reached your 30th birthday on or prior to September 1st 2023. You can be married or single; have children or not and identify as female. All other information can be accessed by calling 086 262 8221. Areas up for representation are Manorhamilton, Dromahair, Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal, Galway, Fermanagh, Cork, Wexford, Dublin, London, Madrid. Each participant will represent one of the places where young Kaitin Ni Chuimin travelled to. But if you are from somewhere else, thats ok too! Other areas will also be considered. You can request an entry form from or get some more detailed information by contacting wildrosefestivalmanorhamilton@gmail.com And dont forget, the closing date for all applications is 1st of June. If you or a pal near you are interested in taking part in the International Wild Rose Festival and being part of a fun week and a bit of craic, why not get in touch? The International Wild Rose Committee looks forward to hearing from you and to seeing you in Manorhamilton this summer. Belgian police special forces arrive in the European district of Brussels, on February 6, 2023. KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP The Belgian federal prosecutor's office announced on Thursday, May 4, the arrest of seven members of "a group of staunch supporters of the Islamic State." They are suspected of seeking to attack an institution within the country. Despite the increased level of concern that the situation has generated, the terrorist threat level has not been raised. The federal police of East Flanders, who conducted nine searches in several cities in the region, including Roeselare and Menin, near the French border, decided to act even before the suspects could determine their precise target. At the time, the suspects were actively searching for Kalashnikov-type automatic weapons. Several scenarios were mentioned in the exchanges that were intercepted, including NATO headquarters in Brussels, but this option was quickly ruled out. The investigating judge will have to decide whether to issue warrants for the seven individuals. The potential charges, as put forth by the prosecutor's office, are serious and include "attempted terrorist assassination" and "participation in the activities of a terrorist group." Young and in their 20s, "almost all" of the suspects are of Chechen origin and three are Belgian nationals. "We're not talking about a structured terrorist organization," said a spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office, referring to isolated cases that have as their basis "rage or personal accounts to settle with society." Questions about the threat to security across the country However, the action comes on top of the arrest of eight people in two potentially related cases at the end of March. Those stemmed from suspicion of planning attacks, one of which was allegedly aimed at Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever, who is also chairman of the Neo-Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the region's largest party. Arrest warrants were approved for four of these individuals. The lawyer for one of the suspects has claimed that his client was likely influenced by "Salafists or jihadists on the internet." The back-to-back arrests have raised questions about the threat to security across the country. The coordinating body for risk analysis recently upheld the terrorist threat level at 2 (medium). "It was the same level in the 2000s. But the jihadist scene in Belgium is more critical today. So we are actually at a level 2++ now," said Thomas Renard, director of the International Center for Counterterrorism (ICCT), based in The Hague. In the Netherlands, the country's intelligence service published in April a report noting an increase in the threat of jihadist attacks across Europe. You have 42.34% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint al-Aqsa Mosque compound Sunday, May 21, a controversial move by the extreme-right politician amid heightened tensions in annexed east Jerusalem. The move came three days after Ben-Gvir and tens of thousands of Jewish nationalists marched through the Old City and just over a week into a fragile Gaza ceasefire. "Jerusalem is our soul," Ben-Gvir wrote on Telegram, alongside a photo of himself at the site in the heart of the Old City. "The threats of Hamas will not deter us, I went up to the Temple Mount!" he wrote, using the Jewish name for the site. Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, denounced Ben-Gvir's last visit to the site in January and again slammed his action on Sunday. Israel will "bear responsibility for the barbaric incursions of its ministers and herds of settlers", the group wrote on Telegram. The move "confirms the depths of danger looming over Al-Aqsa, under this Zionist fascist government and the arrogance of its ministers from the extreme right", said Hamas. Israeli police confirmed Ben-Gvir's visit in a statement, adding that it passed without incident. Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is administered by Jordan. Non-Muslims are permitted to visit the site, but not pray there. The compound is also the most sacred site for Jews, who pray below it at the Western Wall. Jordan decried Ben-Gvir's actions as a "provocative step" and a "dangerous and unacceptable escalation." It "represents a flagrant and unacceptable violation of international law, and of the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites," said foreign ministry spokesman Sinan Majali. Tours of the site by Jewish nationalists have long been criticised by Palestinians and Arab nations, while Ben-Gvir's visits have taken on added weight since he took office in December. Heightened tensions The timing of Sunday's visit also holds significance, coming days after nationalists marched through the Old City to celebrate east Jerusalem's capture by Israeli forces in the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians were forced to close their businesses and were removed from the march route to make way for the Israeli participants. Thursday's event was marred by incidents of violence against Palestinians and journalists, while the United States condemned "the hateful chants such as 'Death to Arabs'" during the rally. Later on Sunday, Israel's top politicians are set to hold a rare cabinet meeting within the Old City. It comes days into a May 13 truce reached between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza, ending five days of cross-border fighting. Le Monde with AFP Recently, a growing number of European institutions, NGOs and political leaders including the European Parliament many lawmakers in Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Hungary and the Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia), the World Medical Association and the Standing Committee of European Doctors, have decided to support Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA). The WHA is the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), whose next session will be held from May 21 to 30 in Geneva. Although this position did not make the headlines in European news outlets, it deserves to be highlighted for at least three main reasons. First, it is a significant European position against the health injustice suffered by Taiwan that results from its exclusion from the WHO and from the majority of this organization's activities and its health monitoring networks for many years. The main reason the country is being sidelined is well known: Beijing refuses to allow Taiwanese health authorities to participate in the activities of a UN agency until Taipei recognizes the "one China" principle, according to which Taiwan is an integral part of China. Taiwan plays a key role in the global health system In the past, former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's recognition of the existence of the "1992 Consensus," which ruled that the mainland and Taiwan were part of "one China," allowed Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer and under the name "Chinese Taipei" (from 2009 to 2016). The refusal of acting Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen to recognize this consensus and her willingness to defend Taiwan's status as a democratic and sovereign country instead led to Taiwan's further exclusion from the World Health Assembly (WHA) starting in 2017, as well as from the WHO's activities and its monitoring networks. This political choice by the WHO isolates over 23.9 million citizens and foreign residents in Taiwan from the global health governance system and is one against which European voices have been raised. Secondly, the European decision to support Taiwan in its request to participate in WHO activities also reflects an awareness in Europe of the essential role that Taiwan plays, or could play with greater importance, in the field of global health. Disastrous global consequences in the event of a pandemic Indeed, many European policymakers, health officials and scientists having cooperated with their Taiwanese counterparts in the framework of European projects have known for some time that Taiwan has both experience and real expertise in many areas of health, such as universal health insurance, treatment of chronic diseases, prevention and control of infectious diseases and the use of new technologies for medical purposes. You have 40.65% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. IN AN era where fast fashion dominates, one Limerick woman has taken a bold step towards revolutionising the industry by founding a luxury, sustainable alpaca wool sweater brand. Meet Orla Daly, a visionary entrepreneur who is reshaping the fashion landscape with her commitment to ethical practices and timeless style, through her label CAYO. In 2021, and in a world hungry for eco-conscious alternatives, she wove together innovation, quality, and a passion for sustainability, creating a brand that sets a new standard for conscious consumers seeking both comfort, luxury and conscience. Strolling through the picturesque Adare Town Park, Limerick native, Orla discusses her brand CAYO with The Limerick Leader. In the splendid sunshine she congratulates a nearby bride on her big day. Residing in Crecora and striving to keep her business as local as possible, Orla says that anything she can't do herself she contracts others to help her achieve her goals. My photographer, my videographer, my models, I try to keep them all Limerick, she proudly states. While the alpaca wool itself is not local, originating from the Andes and processed in Peru before being knitted into sweaters in Italy, Orla insists on maintaining local connections wherever possible. That's only because I couldn't do it here, she says, referring to the challenge of finding suitable knitters in Ireland who could handle the unique qualities of the soft alpaca wool. Orla's fascination with alpacas began during her travels in Peru, where she questioned why such a sustainable material was not widely used in the fashion industry. I just thought, why is nobody doing this at home? she smiled. With a background in fashion that dates back to her teenage years, Orla's passion for design and sustainability has been a constant driving force throughout her life. First interested in the art while studying for her Junior Cert, Orla asked her parents for a sewing machine to begin designing a dress for a school ball. From there, her ethical mind took over as she entered what is now known as the Junk Kouture competition making a gown from fishing line, oyster and mussel shells harvested from the beach. Armed with a strong foundation in marketing, Orla has meticulously crafted and executed a unique business model, largely on her own, with the added responsibility of caring for her newborn baby. In today's environmentally-conscious world, Orla acknowledges the prevalence of greenwashing by many companies. Some companies think if they turn off the lights at night they're now eco-friendly, she exclaimed. Firmly believing that true sustainability comes from genuine intentions and informed decision-making, Orla and CAYO embrace the concept of slow-fashion. With an important mantra always in her mind, if you're being genuine and making your decisions from a genuine place, only good energy will come from it, Orla truly believes CAYO will succeed. When doing some market research it was shocking to see that new clothes actually contain 70% or more plastic, she states, and there are different types of plastic with names you might not even recognize to be plastic, she says. Concerned by this reality, Orla has taken steps to ensure that CAYO's labels, swing tags, and boxes are all made with recyclable materials. She also emphasises the wool's sustainability, more so than farming other animals who yield luxury yarns such as Mohair rabbits, Angora or Cashmere goats. Alpaca wool, while unorthodox in use, is actually more sustainable to farm, adds the businesswoman, as one sheer makes five to seven timeless sweaters. Aside from the yarn, she says alpacas don't actually contribute to deforestation as they graze rather than pull grass from roots, and also have a light carbon footprint as compared to others, need less water and food to live. Recognizing the ecological consequences of transporting yarn from Peru, Orla takes proactive measures to counterbalance the carbon emissions, by donating to the Carbon Fund. Also, by personally visiting those involved in the supply chain, she guarantees fair treatment for the personnel. Currently stocked in The Boutique at Adare Manor, and Emporium Kalu in Naas, Orla says, CAYO is the type of fashion you fall in love with when you feel it and try it on. With a collection soon to diversify, and with a firm commitment to ethics, Orla Daly is a pioneer in the pursuit of a world that prioritises sustainability. La gastronomia peruana sigue conquistando el mundo. Felicitaciones a Causa Amazonia, y a su chef Carlos Delgado, por ser elegido por @washingtonpost como el mejor restaurante en la temporada de primavera 2023. @tomsietsema #peruvianfoodhttps://t.co/Daw403F5Nq LIMERICK is set to host the grand finale of ESB Science Blast, a STEM-focused education program that will bring together over 4,000 primary school children from across the southwest. The event, taking place at Mary Immaculate College from May 23 to 25, aims to foster critical thinking and collaboration among young students through investigating scientific questions. ESB Science Blast, organized by the RDS, offers an opportunity for entire classes to delve into a scientific inquiry, such as the consequences of global deforestation. The Limerick event received an overwhelming response, with more than 100 schools from around the country applying to participate in the program. Each class will be paired with a STEM expert who will guide their investigation and provide positive feedback. Having already engaged over 45,000 children in its five-year history, ESB Science Blast is considered the largest primary school program on the island of Ireland. The event in Limerick represents the culmination of a successful series that previously took place in Dublin and Belfast. The primary school students attending ESB Science Blast will present their research findings and projects at the event. Some of the intriguing investigations include determining the efficacy of fingerprints or shoeprints in solving a crime, and exploring the absence of gravity on the moon. Limerick School Project in the city centre carried out the investigation: "What is the most effective way to learn?" Geraldine Ruane, Chief Executive of the RDS, expressed her enthusiasm for the event, stating, "The high number of entries shows that there is a strong interest in STEM subjects from both teachers and primary school students across Ireland." Ruane emphasized that ESB Science Blast serves as a gateway to introduce children to the excitement and fun of learning through STEM, building upon the RDS's long-standing engagement in science education. With a vibrant atmosphere and a focus on fostering scientific curiosity, this program aims to ignite a passion for STEM subjects among primary school children, paving the way for a brighter and more informed future for Irish society. LIMERICK influencer Louise Cooney has shared the good news that she and boyfriend Mark Sweeney are expecting their first child. Louise, aged 30, from Dooradoyle, is positively glowing in a photo of the happy couple this Sunday. Soon to be 3 Weve never known this much happiness and excitement #2023baby pic.twitter.com/tPDczoq01d Louise Cooney (@louisecooney_) May 21, 2023 "Weve never known this much happiness and excitement," wrote Louise on her Twitter and Instagram pages. The good news has been well received among her massive social media following of over 200,000. Greg O'Shea, Celia Holman Lee, Niamh de Brun, Leanne Moore, Shauna Lindsay and Louise Cantillon were quick to congratulate one of their own. Life is going to get even more hectic for one of Irelands top influencers and fast becoming an established businesswoman. Louise told Limerick Live's Meghann Scully in March that when she isnt the face of social media campaigns, she is developing her activewear line. While she admits she is busy and learning to juggle it all, Louise added that she is managing a whole lot of different things and trying to find a balance. Louise spoke to Meghann at an event to celebrate International Womens Day and to help raise money for the Children's Grief Centre. GARDAI will be at two Limerick marts and a co-op store next week as part of National Community Engagement Week. Its objective is to increase community engagement and community reassurance throughout Ireland. Traditionally, the event has been held over the course of one day, however, in 2023 it will run for five days from Monday, May 22 to Friday, May 26. Inspector Gearoid Thompson, who is based in Bruff, said An Garda Siochana, in conjunction with other agency stakeholders of the National Rural Safety Forum, will be holding pop up information stands in areas around the Limerick County Community Engagement area. Themes will focus on areas including but not limited to crime prevention, road safety, farm and rural safety. These pop-ups are an ideal opportunity to meet local garda members to discuss local issues, said Insp Thompson. Gardai will be at Kilmallock Mart on Monday, May 22 from 11am for two hours with a focus on farm safety; Dromcollogher Mart on Thursday, May 25 at 10am for two hours and Dairygold Co-op store in Old Pallas on Friday, May 26 at 11am for two hours. Insp Thompson said in conjunction with, and thanks to Limerick City and County Council, a property marker will be available in Kilmallock and Dromcollogher Marts and the Dairygold Co-Op store in Old Pallas. This will provide a great opportunity for folk to have valuable items marked such as trailers, power washers, tools etc, said Insp Thompson. The garda inspector said all are welcome to come up to gardai, have a chat and ask any questions they may have in a relaxed and friendly environment. There are a number of other garda pop-ups happening around the county next week. Officers will be in Newcastle West on Monday, May 22 at 11am for two hours; Abbeyfeale on Tuesday, May 23 at 10am for two hours; Newcastle West again on Wednesday, May 24 at 11am; SuperValu in Askeaton on Friday, May 26 for two hours; EuroSpar in Bruff on Monday, May 22 at 10am for an hour; Kilmallock on Tuesday, May 23 at 9am for an hour on road safety; SuperValu in Kilmallock on Wednesday, May 24 at 10am for an hour and Centra in Pallasgreen on Thursday, May 25 at 10am for an hour. Insp Thompson said gardai will be there to help in any way they can. The Border Security Force (BSF) intercepted four Pakistani drones and shot down three of them along the International Border in Punjab in four different incidents in over 24 hours, a spokesperson of the force said on Saturday. Three drones were intercepted by the BSF on Friday night, while the fourth one was shot down on Saturday night, according to the news agency PTI. The first drone, a black quadcopter of "DJI Matrice 300 RTK" make, was recovered from Udhar Dhariwal village in Amritsar district, the spokesperson said, adding that BSF troops intercepted this unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by firing around 9 pm on Friday. The second drone, a quadcopter of the same make, was recovered from Rattan Khurd village in Amritsar district after troops fired at it around 9.30 pm. He added that two packets attached to the drone containing 2.6 kg of suspected heroin were also recovered from the UAV that was found in Rattan Khurd village. The spokesperson said that a third drone was intercepted on Friday night along this front, however, it could not be recovered as it fell on the Pakistani side. CCTV footage showed people collecting this third drone from the Pakistan side, he stated. The fourth drone "violated Indian airspace on Saturday night and was intercepted by firing in the jurisdiction of the Amritsar sector." "The drone and a bag of suspected narcotics have been recovered," the official said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that dialogue and diplomacy are the only way to resolve the Ukraine conflict as the current situation is an issue of humanity and human values, not about politics or economy. He made these remarks while addressing the G7 summit in Hiroshima . He said all countries must respect the UN Charter, international law, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations and called for raising voices together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo, according to the news agency PTI. The prime minister's comments came against the backdrop of the lingering border row with China in eastern Ladakh and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. H invoked Buddha and said there is no such problem in the modern age, whose solution cannot be found in his teachings. He even referred to his talks on Saturday with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "Today we heard from President Zelensky. I also met him yesterday. I do not consider the current situation as an issue of politics or economy. I believe it is an issue of humanity, an issue of human values," PM Modi said. "We have said from the beginning, that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And to solve this situation, we will try as much as possible, whatever can be done from India," he stated. The Prime Minister said India has always been of the opinion that any tension and any dispute should be resolved peacefully through dialogue, PTI reported. According to PM Modi, the maximum and most profound effects of the food, fuel, and fertilizer crisis are being felt by developing countries in the current global economic situation. "Global peace, stability and prosperity is a common objective of all of us. In today's interconnected world, tension in any one region affects all countries. And, developing countries, which have limited resources, are affected the most," he added. (With PTI inputs) Have you thought you could be defrauded on the pretext of reviewing and rating tourist destinations on the internet? Yes, you read it right! With the growing technology, fraudsters are exploring different ways of duping innocent people these days. In Gurugram, a resident was allegedly cheated of more than 72 lakhs by cyber fraudsters as they asked him to review and rate the tourist destination on the internet, said police officials on Friday. During the investigation, police found that the victim is identified as Akshay Yadav, (35), a resident of Gurugram Sector 3, according to a report published by Hindustan Times. Police said the victim had received a message on Telegram for an online job on February 27, 2023, and the employment offer was from a woman who later connected him with two other suspects after he expressed his interest in the job. The cop stated that the suspects had offered Akshay Yadav 3,000 to 4,000 per day for reviewing and rating the tourist destinations. The suspects have not been arrested yet. The fraudsters had created a fake webpage of a travel agency and asked him to register on the same. When he completed his registration process along with bank details, the suspects immediately transferred 1,200 to his bank account as an incentive," police said as quoted by HT. Police said that the victim was also paid 2.1 lakh as an incentive for the work he has done. Later, they started asking Akshay to transfer money to their bank accounts as an investment for future repayments with more incentives. The officer added by the time he realized that he was a victim of cyber fraud, it was too late. Police registered an FIR against unidentified suspects under Section 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Cyber Crime (east) police station. China issued its latest salvo in an escalating semiconductor war with the US, announcing that Micron Technology Inc. products have failed to pass a cybersecurity review in the country. In a statement Sunday, Beijing warned operators of key infrastructure against buying the companys goods, saying it found relatively serious" cybersecurity risks in Micron products sold in the country. Also Read: G7 to 'de-risk and diversify' ties with China, resist economic coercion: US President Joe Biden The products caused significant security risks to our critical information infrastructure supply chain," which would affect national security, according to the statement from Chinas Cyberspace Administration. The results come more than a month after China announced an investigation on imports from Americas largest memory-chip maker. The tech sector has become an key battlefield over national security between the two largest economies, with Washington having already blacklisted Chinese tech firms, cut off the flow of sophisticated processors and banned its citizens from providing certain help to the Chinese chip industry. Also Read: Joe Biden consults with Indo-Pacific leaders, aims to reassure world on US debt standoff Chinese officials privately say that the probe of Micron is part of a broader trend toward the dominance of pro-retaliation" voices in Beijing, where national security concerns increasingly trump economic arguments. No one should understand this decision by CAC as anything but retaliation for the USs export controls on semiconductors," said Holden Triplett, founder of Trenchcoat Advisors and a former FBI counterintelligence official in Beijing. No foreign business operating in China should be deceived by this subterfuge. These are political actions pure and simple and any business could be the next one to be made an example of." Also Read: Oil trades steady after China's economy loses steam; key factors affecting prices While China welcomes products and services provided by companies of all countries as long as they comply with Chinese laws and regulations, the investigation into Micron products are a necessary measure" to safeguard national security, the regulator said in its statement Sunday. It didnt detail what the security risks were or identify specific Micron products that are now barred. Micron, which has previously said it stood by the security of its products and commitments to customers, is evaluating the conclusion of the review, according to a statement Sunday. The company is assessing its next steps, adding it looks forward to continuing to engage in discussions with Chinese authorities." Also Read: Number of Indian students in US rose in 2022, those from China declined: Report The Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker is the last remaining maker of computer memory based in the US, having survived brutal industry downturns that forced larger rivals such as Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. to bow out. It derived nearly 11% of its revenue from mainland China in its last financial year. While thats relatively low compared to other major tech firms, much of the worlds electronics production goes through Chinese factories in some way and Chinas move could have the potential to harm Microns customer relationships. Beijings announcement has already drawn condemnation from some lawmakers. Every business across America should be asking: is it better right now to invest in the PRC, where the CCP is making it harder each day to do business, or should it be investing more in the US and our allies and partners?" said Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat and ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. The CCPs actions are making this an increasingly easier choice for American businesses, and we in Congress need to make it even easier for them to come back home and reinvest in America," Krishnamoorthi said. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Dozens of French demonstrators gathered in Cannes to protest against the raising of the pension reforms pushed through parliament by President Emmanuel Macron's government on Sunday. The protesters were removed from the central hub of the festival, the Palais des Festivals, or Cannes' seaside boulevard, the Croisette. But, they gathered on the edge of the city, on the Boulevard Carnot. We are against the retirement reforms which will make many people die at work," said Tomas Ghestem, one of the demonstrators. Ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, local authorities in Cannes had ordered a ban on rallies. The ban has kept Cannes' famous red carpet clear of demonstrations and prevented one of the most divisive issues in France from disturbing the highly orchestrated flow of the festival. Hospital workers held their protest on private grounds in front of the Carlton Hotel, a historic luxury hotel where many stars stay during the festival. Hotel and catering workers held up a banner reading No to pension reforms". Unions have called for a new round of nationwide demonstrations on 6 June. Film and TV writers are seeking higher pay, reforms for the streaming era and safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence. Juror Paul Dano said he planned to join the picket lines when he returned home. Sean Penn called the studios' stance on AI a human obscenity". The board for SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, earlier this week voted to ask its members for strike authorisation in its own negotiations with studios for a new contract. (With inputs from AP) During a G7 Working session address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday, reaffirmed India's stance on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and said that he views Ukraine's current situation as an issue of humanity and human values instead of politics or economy. He also urged the international community to collectively raise voice against any unilateral attempt to change status quo. In the ongoing G7 summit in Hiroshima, PM Modi used the platform to condemn other countries' efforts to change the status quo. He encouraged fellow leaders to raise voice collectively against any such attempt. He mentioned the need to resolve territorial dispute or any tension in a peaceful manner through dialogue. Also Read: I should take your autograph: US President Joe Biden to PM Narendra Modi "Today we heard from President Zelensky. I also met him yesterday. I do not consider the current situation as an issue of politics or economy. I believe it is an issue of humanity, an issue of human values," the prime minister said. "We have said from the beginning, that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And to solve this situation, we will try as much as possible, whatever can be done from India," PM Modi added. Also Read: G7 Summit: PM Modi engages in bilateral talks with Brazilian President Silva The prime minister also reiterated that India will do whatever is possible to resolve the conflict. His comments came after Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the G7 leaders seeking global support for Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression. Discussion in the three-day summit revolved mainly around the war in Ukraine. Also Read: Papua New Guinea PM James Marape touches PM Modi's feet, seeks blessings | Watch Notably, his comments came at a time when India is at loggerheads with China over border row in eastern Ladakh and the ongoing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Emphasising on the need to resolve dispute with the help of dialogue, PM said,"If a solution is found by law, it should be accepted. And in this spirit, India resolved its land and maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh," he said. Later, the Indian PM emphasised on the importance to respect the UN Charter, international law, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. Developing countries bearing the brunt of war Prime Minister reminded everyone in the session about the direct and accentuated impact of global situation like food, fuel and fertilizer crisis on developing countries. "Global peace, stability and prosperity is a common objective of all of us. In today's interconnected world, tension in any one region affects all countries. And, developing countries, which have limited resources, are affected the most," he said. Prime Minister Modi encouraged his fellow leaders to turn to Buddha and his teaching to find solution of modern-sage problems. He quoted Buddha to say that enmity is pacified by affinity and that we should move forward together with everyone in this spirit." Recalling the common thread of Lord Buddha between India and Japan, PM said, There is no problem in the modern age, whose solution we cannot find in the teachings of Buddha," The G7 summut is being attended by all the member countries including the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the world's richest democracies. Japan invited India and severn other nations to the summit. (With inputs from PTI) It was symbolically significant that during Prime Minister Narendra Modis Papua New Guinea visit this week to attend the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) meeting, to be attended by 18 Pacific Island leaders, US President Joe Biden was to join him. But Biden had to cancel his visit suddenly due to debt-ceiling talks going on in Washington. In the words of PNGs Prime Minister James Marape, the Modi-Biden jugalbandi would have been a historic first, and at the same time a going forward futuristic meeting of global superpowers in the biggest country in the Pacific." He is right in underscoring its importance at a time when major powers are intent on reshaping the strategic configuration of the Indo-Pacific. For, now that the geopolitical struggle is becoming global, no part of the world will be immune from the ripples. The centrality of Pacific Islands to the emerging geopolitical contestation between China and the US has been evident for quite some time. Beijing had been economically engaged with the region since the 80s, but that relationship has lately been transforming into a security-focused one. Last year, China and the Solomon Islands concluded a pact that is ostensibly about Beijing helping strengthen the island nations national security capabilities. But it includes provisions whereby China can make ship visits to, carry out logistical replacement in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands," as well as use its forces to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects." In the past, the jostling for influence was between Taiwan and China in the region. But gradually, as Chinas economic clout grew, most Pacific Island nations except the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau and Tuvalu shifted their allegiance to Beijing. The Solomon Islands were lured by China with the promise of a $730 million aid package in 2019. Despite local discontent, as expressed by senior leaders suggesting that the long-term interests of our country, in terms of development aspirations, as well as respect for democratic principles, human rights, rule of law, human dignity and mutual respect, lie with Taiwan, not the Peoples Republic of China," Beijings stranglehold has only increased. There were anti-government riots in late 2021, leading to further Chinese ingress into the state security apparatus. In February, Daniel Suidani, premier of the South Pacific nations Malaita province, a strong critic of Chinese presence on the island, was removed from office. China views the Pacific Islands as key to its Belt and Road Initiative and has used regional forums such as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum (EDCF) quite effectively. Regular high-level interaction between China and the South Pacific has been the recent norm. Last year, then foreign minister of China Wang Yi pushed hard for a pan-region economic and security pact with 10 Pacific Island nations called the Five-Year Action Plan on Common Development. Though he did not succeed, it underlined the growing ambition China has for the region. In contrast, the US approach had been lacklustre. Washington has been unable and unwilling to prioritize its ties with regional island nations. As Chinas footprint expanded, Americas has been shrinkingquite literally with the closing of its embassy in the Solomon Islands in 1993. Its engagement has also been unidimensional with a focus on its military outreach, ignoring the developmental priorities of the region. It took Chinas overt positioning in the region to wake the US from its slumber, with Bidens Indo-Pacific czar, Kurt Campbell, suggesting that the Pacific region might see certain kinds of strategic surprise" in the form of Chinese military presence and that the US needed to substantially step up [its] game". This was followed by the White House unveiling a US-Pacific Island strategy to expand American diplomatic presence in the region and the first ever US-Pacific Island Country Summit last September. Its nine-point declaration included Washingtons steadfast support for the US-Pacific partnership, building American capacity in the region, coordinating with allies and partners on climate, economy, security and maritime cooperation, cyber security and connectivity, covid and health security and addressing legacies of conflicts. Washingtons recognition that its lack of regional focus has allowed China to fill the void has prompted it to work with regional partners. Along with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the UK, the US launched the Partners in the Blue Pacific initiative to support the Pacific Island region according to principles of Pacific regionalism, sovereignty, transparency, accountability, and most of all, led and guided by the Pacific Islands." As an observer in this group, India has high stakes in how the region evolves. New Delhi had launched FIPIC with 14 Pacific Island nations in 2014 during Modis visit to Fiji. Since then, India has tried to keep up regular high-level interactions. Despite Bidens cancelled visit, his plan to visit PNG when Modi would have been there carries an unmistakable message: the US-India partnership is no longer diffident about venturing into newer areas, and the two remain committed to providing an effective alternative to the Chinese push in the Pacific. The US would have to ensure that its domestic problems do not take its focus away from reassuring its allies and partners about its long-term strategic intent. 11:26 | Lima, May. 21. The diplomatic officer's trip was authorized via Ministerial Resolution No. 0365-2023-RE , which was published on Sunday in the Official Gazette El Peruano. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Mercurio Martinez Jr., who currently serves as a board member at Laredo College, was severely burned during an incident a few weeks ago at a ranch. Martinez Jr. slipped and fell into a fire as he was sent to a hospital in San Antonio. He is the current LC Board of Trustees District Place 3 and he also served as Webb County Judge from 1991 to 2002. Although his prognosis seems to be OK, according to his family he did suffer third-degree burns and his road to recovery will take some time. The news was confirmed to LMT by his son, Mercurio Martinez III, who is the former city councilmember for District III and was the runner-up in the most recent mayoral race. My father slipped and fell into a burning pile of brush during a visit to the ranch early last week, Martinez III said. He was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio with second- and third-degree burns. After several days in the hospital, the former councilmember said his father is in good spirits and looks to be recovering well. He also thanked the community for their well wishes. Doctors say the prognosis is good. It will likely be a lengthy recovery process, he added. He is alert and in good spirits. We appreciate the concern, prayers and well wishes we've received from the community. Martinez Jr. was re-elected this past election cycle on Nov. 8, 2022 for the Laredo College Board of Trustees District Place 3. He won with 55% of the vote, or 20,976 votes, against his challenger Gene Belmares, who got 44.5% of the vote, or 16,795 votes. Martinez Jr. is entrenched in the position through 2028. Laredo College President Dr. Minita Ramirez issued a statement on the status of Martinez Jr. Friday night by sending their best wishes to the Martinez family. On behalf of the Laredo College Board of Trustees and the entire LC family, we wish a speedy recovery to LC Trustee Mercurio Martinez Jr.," Ramirez said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Judge Martinez and his family at this time. The end of Title 42 has not created the major disaster many worried about, especially in the Laredo border sector, as the mayor and several other agencies have reported that good preparation and seemingly lower numbers have led to the city being in good shape when it comes to migrant totals. Although migrant figures have been steady, the number of people trying to cross illegally is still not yet known as those records are reported monthly. However, many are touting that the strong preparation from CBP and the changes by the Biden administration in immigration policy has helped quell the problem. The city is still seeing transfers of migrants but nothing to what was originally anticipated -- primarily due to a number of changes in U.S. immigration policy, Trevino said. The citys declaration of disaster will remain in place for up to three months to anticipate any additional changes in policy. A CBP official seemed to echo those sentiments, stating that preparations were done at the right time and in the right way. The preparations CBP has made are now fully in place as we work to mitigate increases in irregular migration, the CBP said in a statement. CBP is surging resources to impacted areas in order to quickly and safely take migrants into custody and complete their immigration processing. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Laredo -- one of the two non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, that handle incoming migrants in the city -- said the incoming numbers seem steady and remain at a level they can definitely handle. Actual data on encounters are not yet available, as they are provided monthly by U.S. Border Patrol Sectors and Office of Field Operations Field Offices. Encounters are defined as the sum of USBP Title 8 apprehensions, OFO Title 8 inadmissibles, and noncitizens processed for expulsions under Title 42 authority by USBP or OFO. It's important to note that Title 42 likely naturally inflated encounter figures as it removed punishments for illegal crossings while quickly dropping individuals back across the border at their "country of last transit." This was done to swiftly expel migrants during the pandemic from processing facilities to not have areas overwhelmed with people spreading the virus. However with fewer consequences and deportations -- and as encounters are not tabulated uniquely to an individual -- it likely encouraged multiple crossing attempts from the same individuals in a much shorter span of time. In April 2023, a total of 211,401 encounters were encouraged across the southern border of the U.S., as many migrants openly said they tried to beat Title 42's end due to new U.S. immigration laws that would limit the amount of individuals accepted in the country. That number was up from 155,656 and 156,223 in February and January, respectively. However, these numbers were lower than last year, as a total of 235,785 encounters were recorded by CBP in April of 2022. Additionally, it's higher than the 178,795 from April 2021, although at this point COVID vaccines were still not widely available, especially in other countries. During the thick of the pandemic when many parts of the world shut down, encounters were down at 17,106 for April 2020. The year prior to COVID, that number was at 109,415 during April 2019 without Title 42. Now with Title 42 repealed, those crossing the border illegally are once again being subject exclusively to Title 8, which carries much stricter punishments including barring individuals removed from re-entry for five years. They also allow for expedited removal, which allows DHS to quickly repatriate individuals who do not have a legal basis to stay in the United States, and referring for prosecution noncitizens seeking to evade apprehension, repeat offenders and those engaging in smuggling efforts. The CBP said that individuals who cross the U.S. Southwest Border between ports of entry or without appropriate documentation will be subject to consequences. To avoid these consequences, individuals are encouraged to use the many lawful pathways the United States has expanded over the past two years, including use of the CBP One app to present at a U.S. Port of Entry. It should be noted that migrants coming into local NGOs are in the country legally after making an asylum request. They are awaiting their immigration court date to plead their case for remaining in the U.S. In order to process individuals as safely and expeditiously as possible, unprocessed individuals may be transported via air or ground transportation to other sectors along the southern border. Transfers among USBP sectors are a common operational strategy. The operational need for these sector-to-sector transfers is assessed daily based on the processing capability and facility capacity of each sector. These transfers are mostly what the Laredo area has seen, as migrants have been mostly coming in from other U.S. cities along the southern border to be processed. Our borders are not open for those without a legal basis to enter the country, the CBP said. Migrants attempting to enter without authorization are being processed under Title 8 authorities and may face an enhanced expedited removal process. Migrants should not listen to the lies of smugglers and make the dangerous journey, only to be sent back. When migrants cross the border illegally, they put their lives in peril. After riling up the crowd as keynote speaker at Marchs revolutionary Alzheimers Impact Movement Advocacy Forum in Washington D.C., Laredos Joe Arciniega is preparing to do the same Tuesday, May 23 with a rally in Dallas urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to cover drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Getting CMS to overturn their ruling is a critical step. We cant even get to the work we need to do afterword to really help people that can be helped now, Arciniega said. We have to get this stumbling block out of the way. Well always be professional and respectful, but we are being clear in what we want. We want CMS to reverse the decision that blocks any of this class of drug from coverage. Arciniega is one of 29 members of the National Board of Directors for the Alzheimers Association and also steadily lobbies on behalf of the Alzheimers Impact Movement. CMS blocked coverage of monoclonal antibody treatments in April 2022 which blocks the Alzheimers drugs aducanumab and lecanemab. It is the first time FDA-approved treatments have been blocked by CMS. On March 13, the Veterans Health Administration division of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it would cover lecanemab as long as certain conditions were met. The Alzheimers Association has been pushing for CMS to do the same since filing a formal request on Dec. 19. The VA has doctors and scientists on their review board. It took them two months to do it, and they came out with the decision that they are going to cover it for veterans, Arciniega said. CMS has no scientists and no doctors. It is a government organization. They stuck themselves into a corner last year by saying no on a whole class of drugs, the monoclonal antibodies, and now they are digging their heels in. Before it's too late CMS has until July to reverse its decision, but the push is for immediate action with time being of the essence. During Marchs rally, Arciniega told the crowd he was infuriated knowing that in the 348 days since CMS blocked access to the drug class, there were 696,000 people who already transitioned beyond eligibility for treatment. With an estimated 2,000 people per day continuing to transition out of eligibility, that number continues to grow. They are moving to the next stage and wouldnt qualify. This is big, Arciniega said. Thats why were pushing hard. We used to be this very elegant and passive organization, letting everybody figure their stuff out, lobbying for funding. No more. We have to do this. We are done being polite. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services we fear is going to sustain their no. They have until July to do that, and were pushing for them to feel the pressure now to levy a positive decision before that. The monoclonal antibody drugs work by removing clots and tangles in the brain associated with Alzheimers and other dementia. The full extent of the impact of the drugs is still to be determined such as whether the clots and tangles stay removed long-term. However, Arciniega said the progress already shown is more than enough reason to act. Courtesy/Alzheimer's Impact Movement We dont know how long theyll get. What if they get in perpetuity if theyre on the meds? These are people with young children, he said. This could buy them more time while we work toward a cure. These people could be using this, but they cant afford it. More progress is already around the corner as a new drug called donanemab announced trial results this month showing the strongest benefits yet of any Alzheimers treatment research. Donanemab is likely to be submitted soon for FDA approval. As research continues to progress, Arciniega stressed that issues such as possible side effects and not knowing how long it will last must not stand in the way of allowing treatment. With the way Alzheimers progresses rapidly, he said the reward far outweighs the risks. If you tell people you can give them six months, a year, two years more clarity but there might be side effects and you could die from it, well, Im going to die anyway. There is no cure for this, he said. When there is no cure, in my opinion all bets are off. Every drug has side effects. There is no question what happens to people on this path. It is a shock. It is stunning. It is horrifying. There is no question what is going to happen to them. I am meeting these people and knowing these people. It could be overwhelming, but its not for me. It just makes me angrier and angrier. Channeling his loss The rapid progression of the disease is something Arciniega knows all too well. He first experienced it in the nearly five years from his father Joe Edwarda Arciniega Sr. being diagnosed in January 2011 to his death in January 2015. Thats when he started getting involved and advocating for the Alzheimers Association, and in the years since he has met countless people impacted by the disease. Both experiences came full circle in March as Arciniega launched the AIM Advocacy Forum by giving the keynote speech. He rallied the crowd by telling his fathers story. He illustrated it with photos of his father as a baby, as a young man performing in a trio and getting married along with photos of them together in his prime and them together near the end. Ive been a public speaker for a long time, and Ive spoken in public for a lot of things. Ive never felt what I felt in that place. They gave me an opportunity in my keynote to tell my dads story, Arciniega said. The connection here is all the people in that room have a story. Id say 99.9% of the time, the advocates are advocating because they went through this horror in some way. They let me tell my dads story and connect it to the cause. After that, they were with me. My wife Teena said shed never felt the power that was in that room. Courtesy/Alzheimer's Impact Movement After captivating the crowd of between 1,200 and 1,300 people, Arciniega began to hear many of their stories. People living with Alzheimers and their loved ones alike approached him to share their experience. They say when you all are fighting, we need you to know why it is so important, he said. It could be overwhelming, but its not for me. It just makes me angrier and angrier. Anger leads to action Arciniegas anger reflected the tone of this years AIM Advocacy Forum. The three-day event has always featured networking, training and education before getting to Hill Day when the participants wear purple and march on Capitol Hill to encourage action from policy makers. However, for the first time in the 33 editions of the forum and the seven times Arciniega has participated, the decision was made to add a protest into the schedule. We were all ready to go on the Hill and do everything all nice and polite, but that Monday we decided to call CMS out and make sure they know we arent just going to be doing the polite thing on the Hill like we have always done, Arciniega said. The constituency has to be vocal. The people have to rise up and speak up. In addition to sharing his fathers story, Arciniega used the keynote speech to rile up the crowd and prepare them for the protest. I think we are all chosen to do something at the right time for the right reasons, he said. I infused my speech with a lot of Spanish. I had everybody on their feet, about 1,200 or 1,300 people in this banquet room, chanting adelante! I explained to them it means forward. We need to move this forward. Weve been dealing with research, care and support, education, all this stuff. That is all important, but this is the age of possible treatment. Courtesy/Alzheimer's Impact Movement AIM executive director Robert Egge agreed with the idea that Arciniega was chosen at the right time for the right reasons. Joe is an amazing advocate and leader for our community, Egge said. As the 2023 AIM Advocacy Forum Chair, he inspired our advocates and gave voice to millions of people living with Alzheimers, their caregivers and their loved ones. With his passion and dedication, Joe brings strength and hope to the cause. Arciniega continued leading the chants of adelante! when the protest was held at Lafayette Square. We did that out in Lafayette Square too, louder and louder so the CMS could hear us, so Senators and Congressmen could hear, so President Biden could hear, he said. Adelante is the key word for those people now. I was pleased about that. He was especially pleased to have a Spanish word be the rallying cry due to the diseases disproportionate impact on minorities. Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be impacted by Alzheimers, African Americans are twice as likely as white Americans, and women are twice as likely as men. Courtesy/Alzheimer's Impact Movement We need to take it out of the shadows. It is disproportionately affecting Brown and Black people and women, he said. When aids was first on the scene and it was essentially thought to be only affecting gays, there was a whole subset of people who didnt care about it. Once Ryan White, a little kid, got it, once other people started getting it from blood transfusions, then everybody cared about it. People used to just think Alzheimers was an old person thing, and shockingly a lot of people didnt care about it because of that. It is now hitting people in their 40s and 50s, it is disproportionately hitting Brown and Black people and women, and a lot of people care about those things. This is our chance, but we have to take it. Bringing the battle to Dallas Now that same passion felt in Washington D.C. will be spread nationwide as AIM has organized regional protests at CMS offices throughout the country. Arciniega will lead a protest Tuesday, May 23 in Dallas. We are trying to get communities to realize that the voice that needs to be heard is from them. This is an effort for us to show leadership for our own communities, in this case Texans, he said. We are hoping in addition to being heard that we are modeling for our communities, who are feeling every bit of our frustration, ways they can be heard as well. That includes signing the petition, writing their congressmen and senators urging them to write letters to urge CMS to reverse its decision. Anyone interested in signing the petition can visit https://p2a.co/8lkyPqm. Courtesy/Alzheimer's Impact Movement It will be an impactful week for the San Antonio and South Texas Chapter of the Alzheimers Association as Laredo is hosting a community platica Saturday, May 27 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the University of Texas Education and Research Center at Laredo located at 1937 E. Bustamante St. Along with providing education about the disease, the bilingual event also aims to gather input from the community on what matters to them, their family and their culture regarding Alzheimers and other dementia. The event will feature food, a raffle and $30 Walmart gift cards for attendees. Attendance is limited, and registration is available online at platica-dementia.eventbrite.com, by phone at 210-450-8862 or by email at utcaregivers@uthealthsa.org. The platica helps illustrate how seeking CMS approval is a significant step, but it is also an early battle in a much larger war. It is challenging because we are entering a whole new phase of this fight, and that is the era of treatment. We are just starting. Getting access to these drugs is the earliest thing and the first challenge we are going to face, Arciniega said. Then we have to educate doctors, make sure there are places for people to get diagnosed, continue to build awareness, and help the people advocate for themselves in doctors offices. This fight is far from over. jmack@lmtonline.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The graduates of Ursuline Academy Class of 1956 have a special message that they want to pass along to graduating seniors: Dont forget each other. All in their mid-80s, the women gather regularly for reunions (the 66th reunion was in October), birthday clubs and other special occasions. They have been there for each other for their weddings, the births of their babies and their grandchildren. They have cheered each other during professional successes. And they have been there for each other during periods of sadness and mourning. I just feel that the friends I made throughout my life have been the best part of my life, said Graciela Botello, 86, who runs the office at her sons Driving Academy, All-Tex and beat a bout with cancer in 2018 and has remained optimistic throughout her life, all with her friends by her side. I feel that I have a commitment and responsibility to nurture that friendship and it does take commitment and respect and love. Originally, there were 34 women from this class, including the late Gracie Ramirez -- the first female superintendent of Laredo Independent School District. Now there are 26 members who remain active in the community. I have to tell you that Aurorita Dominguez Cruz has been a wonderful leader, Botello said. She has somehow taken over and kept us in touch with each other, and we continued to see each other socially in our families as well which makes it rather wonderful. Cruz said their unique bond stems from them being so close to each other at the all-girls school. We were so close. Of the 34, we just met and none of us had a fight and just took a liking to each other, Cruz said. Were very close, and even though we married and had grown up, we always kept together. Some attended elementary school together and moved along as a unit and some from The Valley boarded at the school. The time has flown by. Here we are in our 80s, and I dont feel old, she said. I turned 85 and I thought, Where were the 70s and 60s? I can still do my cheers. We really loved each other. They have always kept the faith. And she encourages young graduates to do the same. I would say that first of all keep God in their lives, and we cant face life without God, Cruz said. To have our faith is very important, and it continues in the new stages to always keep God in their life for guidance, that they always keep their values and always keep their morals. Whenever a nun walked in, we all stood up. When they moved to Laredo Junior College, when the teacher walked in, the Ursuline graduates all stood up. Rosario Cuellar, 85 -- also in the same class -- said students need to continue their education. Go to college and stay in as long as you can. Without that little paper, you wont go anywhere, she said. Its all about friendship, and we have kept it alive through all these many years. The ones like Aurora are good friends and they will see you through the difficult times. I am an only child, so these girls I consider them my sisters in Christ. They are always there for me. Their class motto is Serviam, Latin for I will serve. And, as many of them became teachers who worked alongside each other, they did serve. Studies have shown that maintaining strong friendships can lead to a more fulfilling, happier life. But these wise women dont need a study to tell them that. They are living proof. They had a small class, so it was easier to keep up with other. But the women say graduates dont need to maintain ties with everyone from a class of hundreds of students. Pick the special friendships and nurture them. Cruz said she wants to leave this last bit of advice for graduating students. In my younger years, I had a small plaque that said, I will not grow old Ill just grow. I always loved it though at the time, she said. I really didnt understand what the 'just grow' part meant. Now, that by Gods grace and mercy, I find myself in my 80s, I understand it very well. I have always felt young at heart, but not old. So, I would advise all graduates, high school or college age, to just grow in Gods love, family love, friendship, loyalty, kindness, generosity, knowledge, wisdom, peace, faith and joy. A happy, joyful and youthful heart will follow. Weight gaps are all well and good, but the jaws tell better stories. Anatomical evidence suggests these two carnivores used very different methods to bring down their prey. Thick and banana-shaped, the teeth of Tyrannosaurus would've excelled at crushing bone. In contrast, Giganotosaurus had tall, skinny teeth which looked an awful lot like recurved kitchen knives. Serrated on both sides, the pearly whites were housed inside a narrow snout. (By the way, Giganotosaurus had a monstrous skull; scientists estimate the noggin was around 6 feet or 2 meters long.) Advertisement " " A 7.5-inch resin cast from a Giganotosaurus dinosaur tooth. Independent Picture Service/Universal Images Group via Getty Combine these features and you're looking at a theropod that probably killed by slicing ribbons of meat off its unfortunate prey as opposed to shattering bones. Once bitten, a victim may have bled out while the carnivore lurked nearby. Giganotosaurus hails from one of the fossil record's most intimidating families: the carcharodontosaurids. If you're into sharks, that name should ring a bell; scientists call the great white Carcharodon carcharias. Likewise, the word "carcharodontosaurid" roughly means "shark-toothed lizard" in Greek. Steve Brusatte is a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh who's studied these remarkable theropods and happens to be a scientific adviser for the next "Jurassic World" movie. "The roster of carcharodontosaurid fossils has expanded tremendously over the last decade as people have found new fossils all over the world, particularly in South America and Africa, but also in Asia and Europe," says Brusatte in an email. "Most carcharodontosaurids [like Giganotosaurus] were giant meat-eating dinosaurs with deep jaws and sharp, thin, almost shark-like teeth. They were the largest and most formidable predators in many ecosystems during the early to middle part of the Cretaceous, before the rise of tyrannosaurs." Indeed, T. rex had some puny forebears. The first members of its lineage were human-sized predators that showed up around 170 million years ago. Giant tyrannosaurs wouldn't start evolving until the late Cretaceous Period, after the mighty carcharodontosaurids died out. "This changeover remains a mystery," explains Brusatte. "We don't really know why it happened, and it is one of the biggest remaining mysteries of dinosaur evolution, in my opinion." Now That's Interesting You can't talk about theropod superlatives and ignore Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. Our understanding of this African dinosaur is a bit murky but the picture's getting clearer. In 2020, the scientific community learned that this animal had a weird, paddle-shaped tail. Though its legs seem disproportionately short, experts theorize Spinosaurus had an overall length of about 47 feet (over 14 meters). A major educational exhibition will take place next week aimed at making Longford the first county in Ireland to offer Computer Science as a Leaving Certificate subject. Microsoft Dream Space Showcase 2023 is the brainchild of Longford County Council and is scheduled to take place on the grounds of Edgeworthstown Community Campus on May 26. No fewer than 12 primary schools from across the county are expected to take part in an event that is being likened to the BT Young Scientist awards. Local councillors were given an overview of the upcoming showcase at lastWednesday's meeting of Longford County Council by Longford County Council Head of Information Technology Danny Lynch and County Librarian Martina Needham. They (students) might not go and study computer science at third level but it will give us a massive competitive advantage, said Mr Lynch. Schools were really keen on this but the one thing they did say was they cant assign teachers and equipment and rooms in the hope that kids, when they come through the junior cycle they will look to do computer science. Mr Lynch told of how a large slice of the financial support aimed at turning the idea into reality came on foot of a 44,000 funding boost via the State's Public Service Innovation Fund. He said despite the promise of around 400 children being present on the day may be mayhem for some, on the flip side it offered up untold benefit for the county as a whole. Our objective is to get every primary school in the county involved in this, he added. Ms Needham supported those claims by stressing the focus behind the event was also geared on addressing a much wider and, at times, jaundiced perception. One in four people have an issue with numbers and people have a perception that number based subjects like science, technology and engineering actually difficult subjects and people dont try them leading them to get a really bad rap, but what if we were to turn things around and introduce these subjects at primary school level, she said. Instead of having it with a teacher that doesnt want to teach the subject, have a creative, expert facilitator that comes in with hands on experience instead of being text based. The event is scheduled to take place at St Mary's Edgeworthstown Community Campus on May 26. On Monday, May 1, 2023, May Day Eamonn Tynan was laid to rest in Ardagh Cemetery. Eamonn was a secondary school teacher for all of his working life, who post-retirement was still anxious to give back to the community and did so very assiduously by volunteering with a number of agencies one of which was the Citizens Information Centre in Longford. Templemichael College paid a glowing tribute to their former teacher. Eamonn began his teaching career in 1971 at Ballymahon Vocational School and moved to Longford Vocational School (now Templemichael College) in 1980, where he taught until his retirement in 2009. Eamonn was a gifted and enthusiastic teacher of English, History and Geography who had a remarkable ability to inspire and engage his students. He was highly respected and admired by them, and his passion for teaching and his commitment to their success was evident in everything he did. He had a wonderful sense of humour and a wealth of knowledge, which he used to lighten up the staff room and entertain his colleagues with his many stories and jokes. Eamonn was a great character, and his presence in Room 14 is still remembered by his colleagues to this day. He was always great company engaging, intelligent and witty. He was a well-travelled man who brought back some wonderful tales and teaching resources from his adventures around the world. Eamonn was also a supportive colleague who showed great interest in the students and the College. He always wanted the very best for the students and the College. He was deeply supportive of students, parents, staff, and management, and his contributions to the College will not be forgotten. Eamonn was always interested in the formation of government policy and often questioned the rationale of certain rights and entitlements one of which now impacted on his own family; the State Pension Contributory and in particular the calculation of that entitlement. I shared his interest in pension calculations and so great conversations ensued which resulted in feedback to the Department on the associated anomalies, inconsistencies and inequalities. However, it was apparent that the slow burner of bureaucracy would ultimately prevent us ever accomplishing the changes that we hoped for that is until one day in October 2018 following the budget Eamonn called me to say that he needed prepping, he was going on the Sean ORourke show on National Radio to take up the matter of pension calculations directly with Minister Paschal Donoghue who was making himself available to take questions from the public arising from the budget. That day I recall waiting with bated breath for Eamonn to come on air. He was clear, articulate and gave an example of how women in particular were disadvantaged by the pension calculations penalising them for years out of the PRSI system when they were required to give up work, mind children, care for loved ones etc. He calculated how much women could lose out per week using the average calculation comparing it with that of an unbroken PRSI record. To be fair to Minister Donohoe, he immediately understood the point that was being made and actually referred to it as bonkers making all the news headlines the following day. The exchange resulted in an accelerated review of the pensions calculations which was backdated to 2012 with hundreds and thousands of women all over Ireland benefiting financially from that one phone call and the courage of one man, Eamonn Tynan. I remember physically shouting at the radio well done Eamonn. I remember clapping him when he had finished. He had executed his mission excellently. He was a hero, courageous to have taken the Minister to task live on national radio and to have commanded his full attention and commitment to address the issue. Eamonn Tynans phone call was the catalyst, the change for many women, the women of Longford, of Ireland and we owe him a great debt of gratitude. The Roy T Bennett quote immediately comes to mind: Be brave to stand for what you believe in even if you stand alone. The late Edward Michael (Eamonn) Tynan, Breaney, Ardagh, Longford died peacefully, at the Regional Hospital, Mullingar on Friday, April 28. He was predeceased by his brothers Fr Sean and Henry, and will be sadly missed by his wife and best friend Carmel, his sons Garret and David, his sister Kathleen McMonagle (Dublin) and his brother Andy (Curry), nieces and nephews, grandchildren Aoibhin, Ronan and Niamh, daughter-in-law Sinead, neighbours, relatives and friends. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis - Connie Gerety-Quinn A Donegal man who pleaded guilty to two counts of assault had an 18 month custodial sentence suspended for a period of three years at Longford Circuit Court. Gavin Gallagher (29) of Greenhills, Dunfanaghy, Donegal entered a guilty plea to assaulting Paul and Pat Byrne on April 15, 2018 on Main Street, Ballymahon. State witness Garda Eamon Fitzpatrick outlined the details of the investigation into the assaults that happened at 2:22am on the Saturday morning. The officer was responding to a call regarding an altercation outside Skellys Bar. He met the injured parties, Paul and Pat Byrne. Pat Byrne was working in the bar that night. A patron of the bar was truculent and difficult and took exception to another customer he mistook to be English. This person, Mr Gallagher, said he worked in England and referred to the other man as an English b******. Mr Gallagher ordered a pint of Heineken, then ordered a pint of vodka. He was asked to leave, but refused to go. Pat Byrne escorted the man out, but Mr Gallagher insisted on returning back into the bar. Judge Kenneth Connolly was shown CCTV footage of what happened outside the bar. Mr Gallagher was holding on to the wrist of Pat Byrne, then Paul Byrne came out to assist his brother. Pat Byrne pushed the defendant away. Mr Gallagher fell back on the ground then got up and attacked the two men. He could be seen knocking the two men to the ground then kicking one in the head and the other to the body before a female intervened. Mr Gallagher then walked off as the two men appeared to be stretched out on the ground. The court was presented with medical reports showing Pat Byrne sustained facial injuries, while Paul Byrne's shoulder injury required the surgical insertion of plates. The medical reports indicated that Paul Byrne fractured his humerus and in his victim impact statement he described how he was unable to work as a stonemason since the incident. The defendant was identified because he left his wallet behind in the bar. Counsel for the defendant, Niall Flynn BL, accepted that his client is a danger to people when he has consumed alcohol. The court was told Mr Gallagher has a previous conviction for an assault on a woman in Donegal. He also has eight previous convictions from outside the jurisdiction, and another matter that is due to come before Naas District Court. Mr Flynn said on the night his client felt he was being manhandled, said in his intoxicated condition believed he was acting out of self defence. The barrister said Mr Gallagher has issues with anxiety and alcohol and is endeavouring to stay clear of drinking. He said the defendant had 3,000 in compensation in court for the injured parties. In summing matters up Judge Connolly described the defendant as a relatively young man who at the time was to use the vernacular, ossified. If you cant handle alcohol, you should stay away from it, the judge stated. Judge Connolly noted several aggravating factors, including the nature and extent of the assault, the viciousness of the assault and the prolonged impact of the injuries on Paul Byrne. The judge noted the racial abuse by Mr Gallagher in referring to another customer as an English b******. Judge Connolly said the appropriate sentence is two and half years, but this could be mitigated to 18 months. The judge said he would suspend the sentence for a period of three years on the condition Mr Gallagher be of good behaviour, pay a further 10,000 in compensation to the injured parties and have no further incidents of public intoxication for a period of three years. Crime By Long Island Published: May 20 2023 Detectives are investigating a shooting that killed a man in Mastic Beach early this morning. Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating a shooting that killed a man in Mastic Beach early this morning. Alex Smith was shot following a confrontation that occurred in the parking lot of 373 Neighborhood Road at approximately 2 a.m. Smith, 30, of Mastic, was pronounced dead at the scene. Local News By Long Island Published: May 21 2023 A fatal accident involving a box truck in Calverton, Long Island, claimed the life of a New York City man and left another injured. A devastating incident occurred on Saturday, May 20, just before 10 a.m., leaving one person dead and another injured. According to the Riverhead Police, a 911 call alerted authorities that a large box truck had veered off the travel portion of Sound Avenue, east of Edwards Avenue, resulting in a collision with a utility pole and subsequent overturning. Emergency response units swiftly arrived at the scene and discovered the overturned truck on the south side of the roadway. Tragically, a 41-year-old man from Brooklyn, identified as a passenger, was pronounced dead by Riverhead Ambulance paramedics. The driver, also a 31-year-old man from Brooklyn, managed to exit the vehicle and suffered minor injuries. He was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital via Riverhead Ambulance, where he is currently receiving treatment for non-life-threatening injuries. The identities of those involved have been withheld pending notification of their next of kin. Riverhead Police's Detective Division was summoned to the scene to conduct an investigation into the incident. Preliminary findings revealed that the truck had been traveling westbound on Sound Avenue when it departed from the roadway, colliding with a LIPA utility pole and a large tree before overturning. Further details emerged regarding the vehicle involved, which was owned and operated by a third-party delivery vendor subcontracted by P.C. Richard & Son. The truck had been engaged in delivery services at the time of the accident. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. As House Democrats attempted to expel embattled Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos, GOP members countered with a vote to refer the resolution to the House Ethics Committee. U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, introduced the resolution to expel Santos, a New York Republican, from the House. Santos has been indicted on federal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to the House of Representatives. He is alleged to have committed unemployment fraud and solicited campaign donations that he transferred to his personal bank accounts. Santos pleaded not guilty after his arrest. Instead of voting on the resolution to expel Santos, Republicans opted to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee. The party-line vote was 221-204. Republican U.S. Reps. Claudia Tenney and Brandon Williams, both of whom represent central New York districts, voted with the House GOP to refer the resolution to the ethics panel. Williams has been critical of Santos and called for his resignation. He reiterated that stance last week when he urged GOP leaders to "immediately find and get behind George's replacement, ASAP!" However, he added that "the rule of law and due process are cornerstones of our society these principles protect the innocent and the guilty alike. House Leadership is committed to both and I believe the next steps is a referral to (the House Ethics Committee)." There are political considerations, too. If Santos is removed from office, a special election would be held to fill the vacant House seat. Democrats have an enrollment advantage in the 3rd district. A Democratic victory would narrow the slim Republican majority in the House. Other votes in the House last week: With unanimous support, the House passed the Non-Disclosure Order Fairness Act. According to the bill's sponsor, U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, the bill would establish standards for prosecutors to place non-disclosure orders on service providers. Tenney and Williams voted for the bill. The House marked National Police Week with the passage of a resolution honoring law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty. The vote was 413-2, with Tenney and Williams supporting the measure. A bill that would allow federal law enforcement officers to buy retired service weapons cleared the House. A retired service weapon is defined in the bill as a firearm "that has been declared surplus by the applicable agency." The vote was 232-198. Tenney and Williams voted for the legislation. By a 255-175 vote, the House passed the POLICE Act, a bill that would make assaulting a police officer a deportable offense. Tenney and Williams supported the bill's passage. The House concluded its work for the week by passing a resolution supporting law enforcement and opposing calls to "defund the police." The vote was 301-119, with Tenney and Williams voting for the resolution. Tourists and foreign nationals visiting the Philippines must register their SIM cards Yes, both tourists and foreign nationals visiting the Philippines are required to register their SIM cards. This requirement is in accordance with Republic Act No. 11934, also known as the SIM Registration Act. Last year, the Philippines implemented SIM Registration Act with the aim of curbing fraudulent and criminal activities associated with SIM cards such as phishing, scamming, and extortion. This law applies to all residents, visitors, including tourists and foreign nationals. In a blog post on smart.com, the telco says that Its important to note that the registration process is different for Foreign Nationals residing in the country and tourists in the Philippines for a vacation. To register a prepaid SIM, you will need to provide essential documents and information, including your mobile number, full name, nationality, date of birth, and a selfie photo. Tourists are required to present their passport, proof of address in the Philippines, and a return ticket or any document indicating their departure date. Non-tourist foreign nationals with other visa types must provide additional documents such as Alien Employment Permit or Alien Certificate of Registration Identification Card. For non-tourist foreign nationals subscribed to Smart Postpaid plans, a simple text message with YES to 5858 will suffice, followed by a confirmation message. Registered SIM cards for tourists are valid for 30 days only and will be deactivated automatically after this period. To extend your vacation and keep your SIM active, you must submit an approved visa extension while your SIM is still active. To register your SIM, you can visit the SIM Registration Portal, which offers a quick and convenient process. Once you have completed the registration and submitted all necessary documents, wait for an SMS confirmation. Note that the deadline for registration is July 25, 2023. Failure to register by this date will result in automatic deactivation of your SIM card. New SIM cards purchased in the country will also require registration before activation. Unregistered SIM cards will not function, preventing text messaging, calls, and mobile data access. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Bahrain said Saturday it would restore full diplomatic relations with Lebanon after a year and a half, following a row over the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. Bahrain and other Gulf countries followed Saudi Arabia in recalling their diplomats towards the end of 2021 after a Lebanese minister criticised Riyadhs military intervention in the war in Yemen. Manama a staunch ally of Riyadh also called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country. But the tiny Gulf kingdom said Saturday that it was bringing an end to the impasse, a move welcomed by Beirut. The Kingdom of Bahrain has decided to restore diplomatic representation at ambassador level in Lebanon, the Bahraini foreign ministry said, adding that this would strengthen the fraternal relations between the two countries. Lebanons prime minister Najib Mikati said the country appreciated this decision and welcomes it. A diplomatic crisis erupted in October 2021 after the then-information minister was quoted criticising the Saudi role in Yemen, where a grinding war has produced what the UN describes as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. George Kordahi, who has since resigned, said in a television interview that the Huthi rebels fighting Yemens internationally recognised government were defending themselves against an external aggression. In response, Riyadh recalled its ambassador and ordered Lebanons envoy to leave the kingdom. Its Gulf allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait followed suit, expelling Lebanons envoys. Saudi Arabia returned its envoy to Lebanon in April last year. The Bahraini decision comes the day after the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia against a backdrop of unexpected rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran, brokered by Beijing. The warming of relations between the regions two great rivals has paved the way for a major diplomatic reshuffle in the Arab world. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Israels National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound Sunday, police said, a controversial move by the extreme-right politician amid heightened tensions in annexed east Jerusalem. Minister Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount this morning. There was no incident during the visit, police said in a statement, using the Jewish name for the holy site in the heart of the Old City. Posting a photo of himself at the compound on Telegram, Ben-Gvir said: Jerusalem is our soul. The threats of Hamas will not deter us, I went up to the Temple Mount! he wrote, referring to the militant group that rules Gaza and had denounced Ben-Gvirs last visit to the site in January. Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. Non-Muslims are permitted to visit the site, but not pray there. The compound is also the most sacred site for Jews, who pray below it at the Western Wall. Ben-Gvirs visit comes three days after he and tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through the Old City to celebrate its capture in the 1967 Six-Day War. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The Cold War-Part Two, has begun, this time with most of Europe, the US, Canada and Australia on one side, and China, Russia, Iran, the Middle East and Central Asia comprising prospectively the other side So many things happened last week in the benighted land. On the political front, everyone was shocked when, on its Wednesday session, the leadership of the HoR suddenly demoted the former president who PFRM Jr. describes as an invaluable asset in his foreign trips, from her perch as Senior Deputy Speaker to one of a dozen deputy speakers. Thrusting the knife deeper into the chest of the former president, her replacement was her kabalen, Rep. Aurelio Dong Gonzales, who everyone in Pampanga politics knows to be not exactly friendly with the replaced. One of the deputy speakers intimated to my source that they were called to a conference just before the session started, and were told that the former president will be replaced that evening. No explanations were given. Everyone was shocked, but just kept their mouths shut. And so the decapitation proceeded without a hitch. Speculation is that the Speaker learned of a coup plot against him instigated by the former president, which she of course denied. So the Speaker decided to make short shrift of her eminent position, recalling how she did it to Pantaleon Alvarez with utmost stealth in 2018. The funniest post-facto explanation was given by the HoR majority leader who said they wished to unburden the former president of the heavy responsibilities of what in truth is a purely ceremonial function. * * * The day after, in a terse but well-written statement replete with such nice descriptives as execrable political powerplay, the vice-president, who joined Lakas in late 2021, just before accepting to be the team-mate of then candidate FRM Jr. in what many say was a match made in heaven by the former president who was chairperson emeritus of the party, now gave short shrift to her membership. The president a day later told us all not to read too much meaning into the tectonic political event, saying these things are run of the mill in the HoR. So now we have a president without a political party of his own (does Partido Federal still exist, the one that Vic Rodriguez cobbled along with Tom Lantion in 2021?), and a vice-president who is also without one. But then again, who cares? Like I always say, political parties are mere flags of convenience for personal ambition in this benighted land. * * * Expectedly, all the other parties coalesced under the Speaker reiterated their loyalty to his leadership and in the new seating arrangement at the HoR. But of course! Nobody wants to lose chairmanships in the various committees, nor diminish their perks and their pork. * * * The parties, which are after all owned by the oligarchs who rule the economy simply had to accept the new political order, where blood is thicker than water (naturalmente), never mind that their political stars were favored by the moonglow from Ate Glow when she was president for nine years, five months and 10 days, the second longest reign in our history after PFM Sr. who ruled the country for 20 years, one month and 25 days. There is no such thing as party loyalty in this country. There are only permanent personal interests. * * * Some over-analyze and say last weeks developments are a prelude to 2025 and even 2028. Thats the trouble with many of us who place politics over economics. The common tao only cares about the price of rice and sugar, cooking oil and fish, sitaw at talong, baboy at manok, and the hindi mamatay-matay na pesteng sibuyas (with apologies to Sen. Robinhood for borrowing his description of those who link the extension of the tax amnesty to the first familys estate tax). * * * Meanwhile, senators and other politicos want to nationalize NGCP because of national security reasons, while the Left habitually wants to nationalize every economic activity in the benighted land. When it was an American and a Dutch company that controlled the extraction of natural gas in the Malampaya concession, nobody invoked national security. When NGCP was formed during PGMAs term, where 40 percent of the capitalization (perhaps more, who knows?) came from the state power firm of China, everybody applauded, and no one criticized the deal. Now because we are back in the loving arms of mother America, our senators wave the flag, and blame the Chinese for our expensively insufficient power supply, after 20 years. Why not ask what the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission to explain why we have such an execrable power situation? How then do we attract foreign investments, not only in energy development but in every other economic endeavor with messages such as these? Mag-isip isip naman sana kayo, maski paminsan-minsan lang. Mercifully, the president gave short shrift to the senatorial knee-jerk, and cautioned against revoking the franchise of NGCP but focus on what ails the power sector. * * * Elsewhere in the world, the G-7 summit in Hiroshima issued a communique where they launched a new initiative to counter what they called economic coercion and warned that these would fail. And while it did not mention China explicitly, it was clear that they were referring to China, whose huge trade with them they want to curb. Meanwhile, as if to pooh-pooh the G-7 summit, Xi Jinping hosted a conference in the ancient capital of Xian, with Chinas western neighbors in Central Asia the stans which are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. A bit of trivia: istan means home or place in the Turkic and Persian languages. So Afghanistan is a home for the Afghans, and Uzbekistan a home for the Uzbeks. The sparsely populated region (75 million for all five countries) with a huge 400 million hectares of plains, high snow-capped mountains and lakes (compare that to the Philippines with 30 million hectares where 114 million reside), is rich in natural gas and oil, gold, silver, copper and other minerals, particularly aluminum, iron and coal. Turkmenistan for one has the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world, and these Central Asian countries are also large producers of livestock, fruits, vegetables and grain, apart from cotton and fertilizers. They became independent states after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and have become high middle income states except for Tajikistan which still largely relies on their migrant workers most of whom work in Russia. China is expanding economic and security cooperation with these states, with a railway project that extends from Xinjiang to the Caspian Sea, from where it gains a footstep into Eastern Europe. The oft-neglected region can also be a supplier of Chinas hunger for oil and food. So while the West and their Asian allies, Japan and South Korea were discussing the Ukraine fall-out and their redefinition of economic ties with China and Russia, Xi Jinping was expanding economic relations with its western neighbors after having consolidated ties with its south in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Cold War-Part Two, has begun, this time with most of Europe, the US, Canada and Australia on one side, and China, Russia, Iran, the Middle East and Central Asia comprising prospectively the other side. Even ASEAN is divided into three groups: the pro-Chinese group of Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos; the non-aligned like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei (although the latter is still closely linked with the UK); and the Philippines currently getting closer and closer to the embrace of its former American colonizers. Will Pax Americana end and Pax Sinica reign, and when? Hopefully, it does not happen with a Third World War preceding it. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Country artist Colin Stough quickly became a fan favorite during season 21 of American Idol. Even though hes made his way to compete in the top three, he mentioned that he was not the one who singed him up for the show. My mom did, he told judges during his audition. She got me good. Despite his mom signing him up, he blew judges away. Stough, a Mississippi resident auditioned with Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He audition song came complete with a soulful, country tone. Youve got the magic in you 100% judge Katy Perry told him. And you got the stardust. Judges even requested Stough bring his mom in to the audition room, to witness her sons life change for the better. We are so thankful that you signed this human being up, judge Luke Bryan said to Stoughs mom. He was then given a yes by all three judges and sent off to Hollywood with a gold ticket. Stough will compete in the three hour finale on Sunday for a chance to be crowned the next American Idol. The finale will air at 8 p.m. Eastern. Those looking to stream the show can do so on FuboTV. The platform offers a free trial for new users. Hulu is also available for streaming with a subscription. Those who sign up will get their first month free. Plans for Hulu start as low as $6.99 a month and give you access to thousands of shows and movies. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. In the late spring of 1913, Hazel Tryon 17, of Weedsport, walked out to the front porch of her Victorian-Italianate family home on North Seneca Street to get the mail. In the box was a letter postmarked May 21 Times Square from Florenz Ziegfeld. The letter was addressed to her older brother, Harry Tryon. She opened it. Dear Mr. Tryon, I have just telegraphed you in reference to some sketches for the "Follies of 1913." If you have anything, I would like you to send them on, or if you are coming to New York, bring whatever you have with you. Anything modern, startling and up-to-date is what I want. Sincerely yours, Florenz Ziegfeld. Too late. Hazel wrote in her notes. Mr. Ziegfeld did not know that at the age of 27, the gifted artist-designer Harry Tryon had passed away a few weeks earlier in April. Hazel kept the letter. Saved it along with all the other letters that had previously come to her older brother Harry when he lived in New York City. Praising his bold designs and eager for sketches, letters were sent to Harry from not only Mr. Ziegfeld, but from famed actress Sarah Bernhardt, from Broadway producer Jesse Lasky, from luxury fashion retailer Henri Bendel, from Manhattan socialite Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. An in-demand dress designer, Harry had created Lillian Russells gowns for her 1912 hit Broadway show "Hokey Pokey." She said that Harrys gown designs made her look slimmer. When the show toured and played the Wieting Opera House in Syracuse, Hazel and her mother, Eliza, attended and met the star backstage. Not long after Harry passed, a letter of condolence arrived from Lillian. As Bob Mackie is to Carol Burnett and Cher, Harry Tryon was to Sarah Bernhardt and Lillian Russell. My good friend and Auburnian Bob Bergan is a descendant of siblings Harry and Hazel Tryon. Bob recalls those 1960s Sunday drives as a kid over to Weedsport to visit his mothers distant cousin Hazel. Hazel was a graduate of Weedsport High. She then attended Brockport Normal State Teachers College, where she studied music education. Hazel began her career in a one-room schoolhouse in Centerport. During the school year, she taught music education in the Port Washington-Long Island School System. When she retired, she circled back full time to her family home on North Seneca Street in Weedsport. This house, beautifully kept like a treasured jewel box, now on the National Register of Historic Places, is owned by Terri and Bart Wasilenko. Terri, like Bob, is also a distant cousin of Hazels and told me that even in 1980, Hazel lived by the light of a kerosene lamp and had no desire for heat or hot water. If it was good enough for Mama, Hazel said, its good enough for me. When the mercury fell below zero, Hazel stayed next door with neighbor Bertha Barber. In the summertime, she drove her robins egg blue Ford Crown Victoria convertible over to Auburn and joined Bob and his parents Vivian and Charlie Bergan at the Hoopes Park band concerts. Charlie Bergan, a local car dealer, had sold the car to Hazel. A grand automobile, Hazel called it "The Queen Mary." I dont recall Hazel ever mentioning her brother Harry, but I was just a kid. Bob recently told me. But holy cow, he was a gifted artist. For years Bob has mentioned to me that I must get over to the Old Brutus Historical Society to see Harrys work. Nudged enough, one evening last fall I finally did make the trip. And I saw the spectacular dress sketches. And I read the letters posted from Ziegfeld. Written in French (translated for me by my friend and esteemed Auburn Community College teacher Dan Labeille), a letter praising his designs from Sarah Bernhardt was hand delivered to Harry from her Manhattan residence: The Hotel Marie Antoinette. And I opened the box with hundreds of dazzling, detailed and emotion-filled cut-out characters Harry made as a teenager to recreate the play "Zaza." Inspired and obsessed by this work, originally a French language play, "Zaza" was adapted by Broadway impresario, playwright, director David Belasco, and starred Harrys friend Leslie Carter. She was known as the American Sarah Bernhardt. Harry saw "Zaza" at the Wieting Opera House in Syracuse and on Broadway at The Belasco Theater. In 1870 at the age of 7, Eliza McCabe (Tryon), born in Ireland, had moved from New York City to Weedsport with her brother, Hugh, and her mother, also named Eliza. Her mother was married to James Cornell from Weedsport. Here Eliza McCabe apprenticed as a seamstress. On Christmas Day in 1880 she married ambitious Frank Tryon. Frank, the son of Horatio and Patience Tryon was born on the family farm in Fleming. On Feb. 2, 1886, Eliza and Frank welcomed the birth of their son, Harry Tryon. Frank and Eliza were both working parents. Eliza worked in A. E. Rheubottoms Hoop Skirt Factory. With proximity to the Erie Canal, the town was now booming with the manufacturing of dress skirts, wash shirts, underskirts and hoop skirts. Known as "The Shirt Village," Weedsport was the highway to the east and the west. Frank had an ice delivery business and later a butcher shop. He held the public office of "Overseer of the Poor." Eliza was a Temperance crusader. Outside of the hoop skirt factory, she worked as a seamstress making dresses and gowns for women of means in Weedsport. Never idle, she was a sketch artist of farm scenes. Giving to her community, she designed the costumes and dresses for local theater shows. Her expertise with a needle and thread also gave her work at the Burritt Opera House, stitching for touring minstrel and Vaudeville productions. Eliza often performed with the minstrel troupes. Harry watched from the wings. He threw some of mothers best dresses and hats out the upstairs window to the backyard catchers below, Hazel Tryon wrote in her notes about the neighborhood childrens shows. Billowing satin, chiffon and lace floated to the grass. Harry bounded down the stairs, charged out to the front porch and ran around the house where he quickly picked up the dresses and the hats and whisked them over to Kittie Cloonans fathers barn for the show. In the audience, his mother Eliza beamed. At the age of 3, Harry would open the pages of fashion magazines and if there was a picture of a woman with stylish cascading ringlets or looping braids, but, uh-oh, without a hat, toddler Harry drew one on her to complete her look. Burning to learn to play the piano, Harry's father bought him one from Will Adams and at 9 years old he began lessons with Dora Spingler. A wunderkind, at the age of 15, center stage at the Weedsport Burritt Opera House, Harry gave a concert of a selection from "Faust." There are no written records of Harry attending high school. It appears that after the eighth grade, he was enrolled at Syracuse University, where for three years he studied the piano. In Syracuse he earned wages by painting satin pillows and candy boxes for Huylers, a prominent chocolate and candy making chain. Additionally, extra dollars were received from playing piano at a hotel during the dinner hour. Popular songs of 1902 included "Under The Bamboo Tree" and "Bill Bailey Wont You Please Come Home." That was enough. In 1903 at the age of 17 Harry boarded the train for New York City. He knew no one there and lived at the YMCA, Hazel noted. My father sent money to him regularly. He remained in New York for two years before returning home to Weedsport for a summer vacation. In his early years in Manhattan, Harry toiled in a millinery shop but was fired because he cut the hats too small. In the evenings he studied figure drawing at The Art Students League. During daytime he pounded the pavement with his sketches; pushing them into the hands of Broadway managers, presenting them at the offices of fashion magazine editors and urging the secretaries of New York society women to have their employers to please take a look. They did. Mary Astor wanted this one. Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish wanted that one. A tsunami of sequins, beading, feathers and fringe, Harrys sketches would soon appear in The New York American and The New York Herald newspapers. Thanks to Hazel and The Old Brutus Historical Society, many of Harrys sketches have survived. Hazel wrote in her notes that Harry caused a sensation on Broadway when he was an extra in a chorus line of a show, where inside a giant egg, he rolled toward the orchestra. The audience held their breath. The egg did not fall into the pit. Up to the rear balcony, the applause thundered. His North Star was now defined. Beyond gifted and talented, Harry was brimming with charisma. The leading ladies now knocked on his door. Decades before Cecil Beaton created Elizas Doolittles dresses, Harry was the in-demand, show-stopping costume designer for Broadway. Follies sensation Anna Held, the common-law wife of Ziegfeld, and famous for the publicity stunt of bathing in champagne and milk (40 gallons delivered daily and 80 gallons on Sundays) had Harry sketch designs for her hourglass figure. Long forgotten, but shining bright on Broadway in their day, Laura Guerite, Edna May (from Syracuse) and Belascos prima donna, Mrs. Leslie Carter, wore gowns by Tryon. Broadways top leading man, with shows produced by Ziegfeld in the early 1900s, was Auburnian Raymond Hitchcock (1865-1929). Did Harry see his shows? Did they ever meet? Did they dine at Delmonicos a few tables away from Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell? Where can I get a "Wayback" machine? Next to Lillian Russell, was Harrys friend and heroine, the adored and flamboyant Sarah Bernhardt. Known as "The Divine Sarah," she left her audiences gasping and spellbound in her 1911 Broadway performance as the tormented lover in "Camille." Armina Marshall of the Theatre Guild recounted that when watching Bernhardt on stage, It did not make any difference that the dialogue was in French. ... Taken captive by her," she said, the audience's experience was akin to standing next to a bonfire. In her performance as the ill-fated Marguerite Gauthier in "Camille," the tell-tale soft cough in Act I, later immortalized by Garbo, was the sounding alarm of the fatal tuberculosis that would arrive in Act V. Not in a play or a movie, in 1912, Harry now had the same cough. In a letter dated January 1912, when Harry was living in the theater district on West 46th Street, he wrote to his friend Mrs. Shiller: My Dear Mrs. Shiller, I have had very good luck since I last saw you. Lillian Russell has proved a dear friend to me. She is crazy over my sketches and had me create everything that she is to wear in Weber & Fields "Jubilee." The gowns will be dreamy. I have also been to call on Edna May, she is here visiting and stays at The St. Regis. Continuing in his letter, he writes; My mother is coming this Monday to spend one month with me. He knew he was dying. As did his mother. And shortly after she arrived, Harry went home to Weedsport. Home to North Seneca Street. To his bedroom upstairs, next to Hazels. To his piano in the parlor, his sheet music still in the bench seat. The mantle clock ticktocked. And chimed. The quiet was deafening. It was time to put on a show! His health may have been in rapid decline, but his creativity soared. In the last months of his life, he unpacked his miniature version of the Syracuse Wieting Opera House, which he had built as a teenager. Knowing the play well, he staged his favorite "Zaza" on the Tryon dining room table. Not only did he create the cast of characters with different cut-outs for different scenes, he added some of his favorite actresses. He built the marquee, the proscenium arch, scenery with trees and clouds, curtains, horses and furniture. He assembled an orchestra of cut-out musicians with their instruments; horns, violins, a drummer, a cello, two pianos and a harp. This boxed collection was preserved by Hazel, which she donated to The Old Brutus Historical Society. Tucked in the bottom of the box, wrapped in tissue paper for 110 years, there is a dollhouse-sized dressing room table with an aging diva seated at the mirror, still waiting for her cue. Fighting fate, his mind clear to the last moment, and as brave as the lilac, Harry died of tuberculosis in the early evening on Tuesday, April 15, 1913. There was an encore. He had scripted production notes for his funeral. Every detail was written out clearly and with great care. His casket was to be lined in white kidskin and his head to rest on a pillow of lilies of the valley and violets. A cross of cream white roses to be placed at his feet. There is no doubt on the significance of his selection of flowers. The lily of the valley represents a return to happiness. The violets and white roses for remembrance. His wake was held in the front parlor with borrowed folding chairs. His funeral was held that Friday at 1 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church with The Rev. Irving W. Ketchum officiating. Harry had noted that palms and ferns would be decorating the church. The hymns he selected were "Sometime Well Understand" and "He Knows." They were sung by a quartet composed of Miss Austin, Miss Kaufler and Messers. Klump and Purce. Miss Austin sang "Calvary" as a solo. Harry Tryon lies at rest with his parents Frank and Eliza and his sister Hazel in The Weedsport Rural Cemetery. I never cared who scored the goal, Or which side won the silver cup. I never learned to bat or bowl: But I heard the curtain going up. Noel Coward Special thanks to The Old Brutus Historical Society, The Onondaga Historical Association, The Case Memorial-Seymour Library, The Art Students League of New York, The Shubert Archive, The Billy Rose Theatre Collection, Denny Randall, Joel Vig, Charles Pascoe, The Edna May Website. Close Harry Tryon dress sketch 2.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 3.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 4.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 5.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 6.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Sarah Bernhardt letter envelope.jpg Sarah Bernhardt letter envelope Sarah Bernhardt letter.jpg Sarah Bernhardt letter Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon 2.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon 3.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon 4.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon IMG_0388.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0389.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0390.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0392.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0393.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0395.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0396.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0397.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0398.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0399.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0400.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0401.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" Zaza cutout.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" Zaza.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" Gallery: Harry Tryon sketches, cutouts, letters Harry Tryon dress sketch 2.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 3.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 4.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 5.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch 6.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Harry Tryon dress sketch.PNG Harry Tryon dress sketch Sarah Bernhardt letter envelope.jpg Sarah Bernhardt letter envelope Sarah Bernhardt letter.jpg Sarah Bernhardt letter Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon 2.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon 3.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon 4.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon Sarah Bernhardt sketch by Harry Tryon.jpg Sarah Bernhardt sketch cutout by Harry Tryon IMG_0388.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0389.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0390.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0392.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0393.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0395.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0396.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0397.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0398.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0399.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0400.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" IMG_0401.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" Zaza cutout.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" Zaza.PNG Harry Tryon cutout from "Zaza" A 22-year-old man from Manchester-by-the-Sea has been charged in connection with a fatal shooting that occurred in Mansfield on Saturday, police say. William OBrien was charged with carrying an illegal firearm and carrying a loaded illegal firearm, according to a press release from the Bristol County District Attorneys Office. He will be arraigned Monday in Attleboro District Court. At 11:11 a.m. Saturday, police received a report of a shooting at 42 West Church St. Upon their arrival, first responders found Samuel Waters, 23, of Mansfield, who had already died from being shot. The shooting remains under investigation by Massachusetts State Police and Mansfield Police Department. There is no danger to the public, police said. SPRINGFIELD Things have been quiet lately with east-west rail, the Pioneer Valleys decades-long quest for better and more frequent passenger train service to Boston. But thats changing, says a leading proponent, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield. For one, Gov. Maura T. Healey, who publicly pledged her support last fall during a campaign stop with Neal at Springfield Union Station, is expected to be in Western Massachusetts next week to mark Memorial Day. She says this is going to happen, the governor, Neal said Friday in a meeting with reporters and editors at The Republican. She is the decider on that, because the state decides what to do with federal money on the transportation side. Also, last week, Healey announced she would double the states pledge of funding to replace the 90-year-old Bourne and Sagamore bridges on Cape Cod from $350 million to $700 million, matching a $350 million pledge the Biden administration made in March. Those of you who have dealt with me for a long time know that triggers something in me, Neal said in the hourlong conversation. I read that and say, Wheres ours? Massachusetts is set to receive $9 billion in federal infrastructure money. Neal, dean of the states congressional delegation, said hes made it clear to the states other eight representatives in the House that all of that money will not go to the Boston-area MBTA. Neal said hes also making a priority of continued manufacturing of rail cars at the CRRC plant on Page Boulevard in Springfield, where 280 people work but where there have been quality and production issues. Neal reminds people that western Massachusetts residents pay sales tax into the T. We want rail and we want that manufacturing plant, Neal said. U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal steps out of Amtraks theatre car at Union Station in Springfield last August. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican) Neal in 2019 had federal law changed in a compromise that allowed CRRC to bid for more work. Where else is Springfield going to get 280 manufacturing jobs right now? he asked. On the issue of east-west rail, the state Legislatures Western Massachusetts Passenger Rail Commission has at least one more meeting to conduct. Its report, due at the end of this month, is expected to be late. In December, state Department of Transportation and railroads Amtrak and CSX Corp. applied for $108 million in federal transportation money to help fund improvements along the 53 miles of railroad between Springfield and Worcester. That application is pending. Boosters, including longtime advocate and former state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, say east-west rail can ease the pressure on Boston-area housing costs and give people in Western Massachusetts access to jobs in the burgeoning Eastern Massachusetts economy. Amtrak has proposed, as a first step, taking some trains from New Haven, Connecticut, that stop now in Springfield and continuing them east. Amtrak would also like, in the longer term, to expand service all the way west to Albany, New York. Food insecurity is a complex problem, and reducing barriers to food access isnt as simple as putting up food pantries or creating government nutrition programs, according to advocates and researchers. While many causes of food insecurity are known for instance, low wages, lack of access to transportation and other socioeconomic factors recent research is shedding light on why those available for government food benefits often arent taking advantage of the help. More than 145,000 Worcester County residents got federal help in March to pay for groceries through supplemental nutrition assistance (SNAP). But nearly 100,000 more could have gotten benefits but didnt try, according to data presented on an interactive website recently released by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau (WRRB). Read more: Worcester Housing Authority tackles food insecurity with new free meal program Food security advocates say any number of factors could be to blame. Social stigma associated with being on food stamps, language barriers making it difficult to apply, burdensome time requirements and check-ins, government distrust, even a lack of awareness of available resources, can play into decisions, conscious or otherwise, not to apply for food assistance. The Worcester Community Food Assessment summit brought in guests U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and state Sen. Ann Gobi to discuss the assessment, described on the meetings site as a project to map food resources and identify gaps in food access in Worcester. Paul Matthews, executive director and CEO of the WRRB, called the summit a call to action for those invested in reducing food insecurity. It was a perfect opportunity to hear whats happening at state levels as far as food insecurity, as well as one of the biggest food providers in Worcester County. Read more from WRRB: Worcester redlining apparent on old Federal Home Owners Loan Corporation map; learn more Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester Director Casey Burns called the summit an effort to get people aware and knowledgable that this is happening. Burns co-chairs the Center on Food Equity, which she described as an umbrella organization from the Worcester County Food Bank, which brings together the resources of the Worcester Food Policy Council, Central Mass SNAP Coalition and City of Worcester Task Force on Food Security. Why dont more people apply for SNAP? Burns said the disparity between eligibility and access to resources is often one of stigma and misinformation but also a failure of case management and referrals. The process of applying for benefits, she said, can feel overwhelming and complicated. We dont have adequate or robust enough case management and referral support for people. The study calculated the SNAP gap the disparity between people who can get benefits compared to those who actually get them based on the number of MassHealth users (who automatically apply for SNAP benefits) who are known vs. not known to the Department of Transitional Assistance. The numbers dont take into account those who dont use MassHealth but could be eligible for assistance. Burns praised the states move announced last year to incorporate a common application for both health and food benefits, calling the move a first step. She added the value of increasing research and advocacy is not only to hear more from potential beneficiaries what the barriers to access are, but also to educate the public regarding food insecurity. She also hopes to shift societys mentality away from solving problems with food banks and move toward more of a systemic change. Project funders, she said, are not using data. Theyre not using lived expertise. Theyre using assumptions. Burns highlighted factors like out-of-control housing prices that force people into prioritizing, say, red meat over vegetables. Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP deputy director for the national nonprofit Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), also called out poor public transportation and a lack of sidewalks and infrastructure that make people car-dependent, adding on more expenses to already-strained budgets. Because of the lack of transportation, a lot of people have very limited access to resources, to jobs, she said. Plata-Nino, who volunteers her time addressing food insecurity in Central Massachusetts, said people have known about food insecurity in the area, but it hasnt been addressed adequately. There were a lot of popup food pantries, she said. But operating a food pantry isnt just getting donations and handing them out. We dont think about it, but it takes a lot of money to operate a food pantry, Plata-Nino said. Is that really the best usage of money? When it became clear that task forces werent meeting the immediate needs of locals, we started looking at the systemic, long-term sustainability efforts. Who is actually using SNAP? The new reports, Plata-Nino said, are an effort to gain a ground-level understanding of the factors that influence not only food insecurity but barriers to accessing assistance. Although the data presented in the dashboard doesnt address racial statistics in-depth, Plata-Nino said the population most using SNAP benefits tends to be white women with children, at nearly double the rate as Black and Latino populations. She said government enforcement has historically discouraged minorities from participating in such programs, and those stigmas and fears persist to this day. While many of the presuppositions researchers use as a basis have been borne out, Plata-Nino advocates for more individual-focused conversations. Maybe if people do in-person outreach we can get people to talk to someone. Living wages, access to childcare, transportation, exclusion of those with some criminal backgrounds and other factors combine to require a multifaceted approach, she said, that will take political motivation at federal, state and local levels. People dont choose to be food insecure. About 40 percent of Worcester County residents eligible for government food benefits dont receive them, according to findings presented on an interactive website from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau. The site, which updates a food insecurity interactive report and portal first released late last year by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, was highlighted at a Worcester Community Food Assessment summit held Friday, featuring state and federal representatives. The report, in part, examines the SNAP Gap between clients of MassHealth who qualify for food benefits and those known by the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) to be enrolled in the programs. SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a federal nutrition program. The benefits include a debit card to buy groceries, incentives for buying healthy food, nutrition education programs, work training activities and reduced admission to cultural institutions such as museums. The report found that Fitchburg, Leominster, Southbridge and parts of Worcester were among those in the state that saw the highest SNAP usage and had among the lowest disparity between those who can get help compared to those who actually do get help. And still, a quarter of eligible residents in those communities dont receive benefits for one reason or another, according to the dashboard. And although overall SNAP usage is lower, the divide is sharper in other areas such as Southborough, Hardwick and Harvard where more than 60 percent of eligible residents dont actually get food benefits. The data sourced directly from the Department of Transitional Assistance, which administers SNAP does not account for people not enrolled in health benefits, leading researchers to believe the number of eligible recipients is even higher than the report indicates. Lack of access to help even though one qualifies for it can create financial burdens for families that would otherwise find relief, and taking advantage of community resources like food pantries can be a time-intensive way to spend a day, especially in areas where theres little or no public transit available and poor infrastructure for walkers, advocates say. Why people dont take advantage of SNAP help Food security advocates say factors such as distrust of government, language barriers, stigma associated with food stamps, lack of education or time constraints can keep people from applying for benefits. Thats in addition to the factors that contribute to food insecurity in the first place, such as salaries below a livable wage, lack of transportation and out-of-control housing prices. Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester Director Casey Burns said she finds the disparity between eligibility and access to resources is often one of stigma and misinformation but also a failure of case management and referrals. The process of applying for benefits, she said, can feel overwhelming and complicated. We dont have adequate or robust enough case management and referral support for people. Burns praised the states move announced in 2022 to incorporate a common application for both health and food benefits, calling it a first step. Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP deputy director for the national nonprofit Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), said people have known about food insecurity in the area, but it hasnt been addressed adequately. Food pantries cost a lot of money to run, and even in urban centers getting to them and collecting food can be time-consuming. The new reports, she said, are an effort to gain a ground-level understanding of the factors that influence not only food insecurity but barriers to accessing assistance. Maybe if people do in-person outreach we can get people to talk to someone. How many people use SNAP? Worcester County as a whole has seen a mostly steady increase in SNAP users monthly since the COVID-19 breakout in early 2020. Prior to the pandemic, county numbers hovered around 99,000 and 100,000, with minor fluctuations. At the beginning of the pandemic, monthly users spiked from about 101,000 to about 113,000, and have been climbing since. By the end of 2020, average monthly SNAP recipients topped 119,500, according to the report. That number increased to more than 133,000 by the end of 2021, and 2022 closed with nearly 142,500 monthly users. The first three months of 2023 have seen a further increase, topping 145,500, as benefits are curtailed nationwide. The last COVID SNAP benefits in Massachusetts were paid in early March. How many people could but arent using SNAP? As SNAP usage has increased, so has the number of potential recipients not receiving benefits. Before the pandemic, Worcester Countys SNAP gap hovered around 37 percent, according to the report, which shows an increase to about 39 percent in late 2019 and early 2020, followed by a steady increase to 42 percent in 2021, where it hovered until beginning to decline in mid-2022. March ended with a SNAP gap just above 40 percent. A second, brand new, dashboard released by the bureau shows the interaction between SNAP usage and social vulnerability. The Social Vulnerability Index, tracked by a division of the CDC, is calculated using U.S. Census Data regarding socioeconomic status, household composition, minority status and language, and English proficiency, housing and transportation. The data from the research bureau shows that in some cases, as in parts of Worcester, Fitchburg, Southbridge and Webster, high social vulnerability particularly in terms of income corresponds with a high percentage of SNAP usage. In other areas, though, high social vulnerability doesnt necessarily indicate poverty or high SNAP usage, as in Shrewsbury and Westborough, where the poverty rate is low but a significant portion of the population is non-white. Advocates and elected officials in Massachusetts have long sounded the alarm about so-called third-party competitive electric suppliers, private companies that aggressively market and sell electricity directly to consumers (perhaps youve heard them knocking on your door), warning residents against their predatory solicitation and marketing tactics that cause residents across the state to dramatically overpay for their electricity. A new report, just released by the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell further underscores the threat these companies pose to communities across the commonwealth, and emphasizes the urgent need to help empower residents who want more renewable energy to power their homes at lower costs to make educated choices about where they get their electricity from, and protect them from predatory practices. The Attorney Generals report, published just last week, finds that over six years, customers of third-party electric suppliers paid $525 million more than if they had received their electricity from one of the states utility companies. After a winter of soaring energy costs, this is especially galling. For the approximately 430,000 individual residential consumers enrolled with a third-party supplier, this has meant losing an astounding average of $231 each year. Even more insidious, the analysis also finds that thirdparty suppliers both signed up more and charged higher rates to consumers from communities with low median incomes, communities of color, and communities with high percentages of households with low English proficiency. Cities like Springfield, Lowell, Fall River, Brockton, and Lawrence are among the municipalities with the highest total consumer loss, and additional data shows that low-income consumers and communities of color continue to be disproportionately harmed, further perpetuating the historic and deeply entrenched inequities that far too many of our communities are already forced to confront. It doesnt have to be this way. And, luckily, our cities and towns have an alternative solution right at their fingertips called green municipal aggregation, that can help residents across the commonwealth gain access to clean energy while keeping their electric bills affordable and sustainable. Green municipal aggregation programs offer proven benefits in terms of reducing energy costs, fighting climate change, and advancing public health, and are already underway in municipalities across the commonwealth. They enable cities and towns to purchase electricity in bulk directly from power generators on behalf of their communities. This electricity typically includes a greater percentage of energy from renewable sources than the state minimum requirement, and is often offered at a more affordable rate than electricity provided by the utility companies, and much more affordable than third-party electric suppliers. A recent report we undertook to analyze the benefits of these programs found that green municipal aggregation programs are on pace to add 1,000GwH per year of demand for renewable energy thats the equivalent of nearly 300 wind turbines. Of the five biggest cities in Massachusetts, four (Boston, Worcester, Cambridge and Lowell) already offer municipal aggregation programs, and one (Springfield) is moving forward with establishing an aggregation program soon. If your community offers an aggregation program great! You can participate at any time to capture these cost and climate benefits firsthand. If not, its never too late to reach out to your city councilor, mayor, or town manager and ask them to begin the process of putting a green municipal aggregation plan together. Two pieces of legislation currently under consideration on Beacon Hill could make a major difference in moving this process forward and protecting consumers from overpaying on their electric bills. One bill, introduced by Massachusetts State Representative Frank Moran and Senator Brendan Crighton, would ban third-party electric suppliers from signing up new individual residential customers in Massachusetts in the future. Another, introduced by Representative Tommy Vitolo and Senator Jason Lewis, would catalyze the process for local communities that are moving forward with green municipal aggregation and help them get their programs approved by the state more quickly. The Attorney Generals report highlights just how severe a toll third-party competitive electric suppliers are exacting upon consumers and how much worse the consequences of their predatory practices are than had previously been understood. We have solutions at our disposal right now to help our communities, protect our climate, and accelerate our clean energy transition, and a critical window of opportunity to implement them if we can seize the moment. Larry Chretien is the executive director of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. Mikaela Hondros-McCarthy is the finance and renewable energy procurement director at Green Energy Consumers Alliance. At least one person was shot and killed in Mansfield on Saturday, according to the police. The fatal shooting took place in the area of 42 Church St., according to David Procopio, a Massachusetts State Police spokesperson. State Police homicide detectives in Bristol County and the Crime Scene Services Section responded to the scene to help Mansfield police. Authorities did not immediately disclose to the public how many people were killed. The scene is secure and there is no threat to the public, the Mansfield Police Department said in a Facebook post, noting officers were at the scene of West Church Street. SAN DIEGO Adam Duvall (fractured left wrist) told MassLive on Wednesday that he is targeting June 9 to return from the 60-day injured list. The Red Sox center fielder hit off the Tee on Friday, then hit soft toss Saturday. I think its just how he feels and how much he can tolerate, manager Alex Cora said Saturday at Petco Park. But weve gotta be smart about it. I read somewhere that he has a date in mind. Hopefully. Does Cora think Duvalls June 9 target date is realistic? Theres a chance, Cora said. Duvall went 15-for-33 (.455) with a .514 on-base percentage, 1.030 slugging percentage, four homers, five doubles, one triple, 14 RBIs and 11 runs in eight games before breaking his wrist. Garrett Whitlock likely to start vs. Diamondbacks Garrett Whitlock (right elbow ulnar neuritis) will make his second rehab start for Triple-A Worcester on Sunday. Hes expected to pitch 4-5 innings. Whitlock then will meet the Red Sox in Anaheim. Boston plays the Angels on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Cora expects Whitlock to be active for Bostons three-game series in Arizona beginning Friday. Whitlock should start one of those games in Arizona, Cora said. Other injury updates ~ Justin Turner is not in the Red Sox lineup Saturday after exiting Fridays game early because of left knee soreness. Hes doing OK, Cora said. Try to stay away from him today, maybe tomorrow. But day to day. Hopefully, hes ready for tomorrow or Monday in Anaheim. ~ Cora said Christian Arroyo (right hamstring strain) likely will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday. ~ Cora said Yu Chang (left hamate fracture) has been taking swings. Hes feeling good, Cora said. With him, its just a matter of how much he can tolerate. ~ The Red Sox still have not discussed when Adalberto Mondesi will begin a rehab assignment. The African Development Bank has appointed Mike Salawou as Director of the Infrastructure and Urban Development Department, effective 16th May 2023. Salawou, a Danish national, has been the Acting Director of the Infrastructure and Urban Development Department, where he led sovereign and non-sovereign operations. He also doubled as the departments Infrastructure and Partnerships Division Manager. Salawou has extensive years of experience in the African Development Bank. He has delivered transformational continental, regional and national infrastructure programs, sector policy dialogue and initiatives, including the Banks support to the African Union Commission and African Union Development Agency NEPADs Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (worth $160 billion in investment potential). He successfully managed the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Fund for bankable infrastructure projects, which mobilized close to $11.5 billion in downstream investment, including $2.6 billion from the private sector. In his new role, Salawou will guide the Banks strategies and action plans towards implementation of the Ten-Year Strategy and High Five priorities. He will oversee and grow a transport infrastructure portfolio worth over $11 billion while focusing on driving value, sector policy reforms, best practices and international standards for transport and urban development and related sectors, private sector, and governments. Salawou joined the Bank as a young professional in 2002. He has held several other leadership positions, including advisor to the Vice President and Secretary General and as Acting Manager for NEPAD Division. Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Salawou worked as Corporate Credit Analyst for the Investment Banking arm of Societe Generale, Paris La Defense, France. He also served as a management consultant in Copenhagen, Denmark. Salawou holds a Master of Science in Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; a dual Master of Arts in International Management from Copenhagen Business School and Ecole des hautes etudes commerciales, Paris, France; and an Executive Masters degree in Development Policies and Management from Sciences Po Paris, France. Commenting on his appointment, Salawou said: Infrastructure is critical to economic development, regional integration and improvement of the quality of life of people as highlighted by the Banks High 5s. I look forward to working with the operating partners internally and externally to reinforce the Banks leadership in financing sustainable infrastructure and to strive to close the infrastructure financing gap on the continent. Commenting on the appointment, the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said: I am pleased to appoint Mr. Mike Salawou as Director for Infrastructure and Urban Development Department. The Infrastructure Department is one of the key drivers of the Banks High 5s, with huge potential for private sector development. Mike is a pragmatic and solution-oriented professional, with hands-on experience in infrastructure financing and development. Having served the institution for many years in various capacities, his knowledge of the Bank and its operations will enable him to build effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, and to roll out the Banks strategies in a sustainable, integrated, inclusive and innovative manner across its Regional Member Countries, in furtherance of the Banks High 5s. Articles similaires Facia is proud to announce that it will be attending GITEX AFRICA 2023 , Africas largest tech and start-up show. We are excited to bring and showcase our advanced facial recognition to everyone at GITEX. Facia is looking forward to bring this incredible opportunity to the continents largest all-inclusive tech event. GITEX will bring together tech titans, SMEs, governments, coders, start-ups, academia, and investors, to accelerate, collaborate, and explore new ventures. The three-day annual pan-African forum will take place on May 31, and will feature a curation of emerging technologies from AI, e-commerce, cloud, IoT, fintech, telecom and cybersecurity. It will highlight Africas potential as the worlds youngest continent and help shape the mission for a more equitable, environmentally friendly, and technologically advanced digital economy. Facias presence at GITEX AFRICA is a testament to the companys commitment to innovation and the pursuit of cutting-edge technology. As a leader in facial recognition and liveness detection (https://apo-opa.info/3MIIQFJ), Facia is excited to share its expertise and engage with other tech pioneers worldwide. Mujadad Naeem, CEO Of Facia: GITEX AFRICA is an amazing platform for us to demonstrate our expertise in facial recognition and liveness detection. We look forward to engaging with other industry players, exploring new partnerships, and exchanging ideas. Facias facial recognition technology can detect and verify a persons liveness, making it a powerful tool for various applications, from security to identity verification. The companys participation in GITEX AFRICA reflects its commitment to driving innovation and advancing the tech industry in Africa and beyond. GITEX AFRICA will amplify the continents digital aspirations and achievements, powered by tech-savvy youth, corporates, and governments. Facia is excited to participate in this movement and contribute to shaping Africas tech-driven future. Articles similaires David Zaslav hasnt made many friends during his tenure in charge of Warner Bros. Discovery. Thanks to a variety of content decisions and a general slash-and-burn approach to doing business, Zaslav isnt likely to receive a warm welcome in a variety of settings these days. He might have expected differently when he agreed to give a commencement address at Boston University, where he earned a law degree in 1985. But Zaslav was met with a prickly reception at his alma mater thanks to one very big new variable: the WGA strike. As one of the studio chiefs on the other side of the picket line, Zaslav should have perhaps expected some blowback, but he likely didnt expect a fairly large chunk of students (and presumably some others in attendance) to hit him with a Pay Your Writers! (clap-clap-clapclapclap) chant. Fortunately for anyone with a desire to see a wealthy middle-aged white man have to deal with anything other than fearful acquiescence from other humans, thats exactly what we got. Zaslav getting hit with a Pay Your Writers chant in Boston. This is so good. pic.twitter.com/00pL4ahAqZ Mike Scollins (@mikescollins) May 21, 2023 The sunglasses really, really make this clip. The man looks like Brian Kellys angry brother up there, clearly without any idea what to do. Whenever things like this happen, theres always a pro-decorum crowd out there who will decry anything in this vein as out of place. That runs counter to the entire idea of education, though, and if I had paid an ungodly amount of money to receive a degree from BU Id feel it was my right to offer a bit of pushback when faced with the opportunity to heckle one of the most powerful men in world media. And, anyway, based on this sliver of his speech, the chanting didnt interrupt anything worth listening to anyway. Its hard to imagine a better illustration of the importance of quality writing than when youre getting heckled on stage while giving a bad speech. Press Release May 20, 2023 Villar vows to support farmers produce higher yield of quality mangoes Senate agriculture and food committee chairperson Sen. Cynthia Villar has assured anew to assist the mango industry which produces the "best tasting mangoes" in the world. Speaking during the AANI Mango Industry Association Inc. two-day 19th National Mango Festival which started May 19, Villar guaranteed she will push for its development and promotion. The festival with the theme- "Creating a Growth Strategies for the Mango Industry," aims to promote the productivity, marketability and the viability of our national fruit. Aside from the challenges being faced by the industry, Villar acknowledged that mango industry, which is composed of small farmers are not in organized plantation farms like the banana and pineapple industries. While the Philippines ranks 10th in mango production in the world, she said our mango variety 'Carabao,' known in the international market as "Manila Super Mango" is acclaimed as one of the best varieties globally. "But the industry is faced with declining yield and quality attributed to pests and diseases, poor nutrient and water management, low adoption of improved technologies, and high postharvest losses," noted Villar. She related that other industry problems include difficulty in farm operations, high cost of production due to inefficient pesticide application. "It is important that mango owners have a good grasp of orchard management such that the mango tree to produce good fruits with proper pruning, fertilizer and sprayed, to avoid pests and diseases, and irrigated," she further stated. By adopting Good Agricultural Practices, the veteran lawmaker emphasized that the farmers can produce higher yields of good quality fruits at a lower cost. "Now I heard that the biggest problem is the management of mango twig borer (MTB) and cecid fly or "kurikong", two of the most serious insect pests of mango," also said Villar. However, she's optimistic that with meeting of mango practitioners and the support of government through the High Value Crops Development Program of the DA, she believes the gathering of stakeholders in the mango industry will produce very good and workable solutions to their problems. According to Villar, mango is important in the Philippines because it is the 2nd largest most used fruit (28.2%) after banana (29.4%) in the world. Villar, tiniyak ang suporta sa mga magsasaka para mapataas ang ani ng dekalidad na mangga SINIGURO ni Senate agriculture and food committee chairperson Sen. Cynthia Villar ang kanyang tulong sa mango industry kung saan ang ating mangga ang "best tasting mangoes" sa buong mundo. Sa kanyang pananalita sa dalawang araw na AANI Mango Industry Association Inc. 19th National Mango Festival na nagsimula May 19, tiniyak ni Villar na isusulong niya ang pag-unlad at promosyon ng industriya. Layunin ng festival na may temang- "Creating a Growth Strategies for the Mango Industry," na I-promote ang productivity, marketability at viability ng ating pambansang prutas. Bukod sa mga hamong kinakaharap ng industriya, sinabi rin ni Villar na ang mango industry na binubuo ng maliliit na magsasaka ay wala sa organisadong plantation farms gaya ng sa industriya ng staging at pinya. "While the Philippines ranks 10th in mango production in the world, our mango variety 'Carabao,' known in the international market as "Manila Super Mango" is acclaimed as one of the best varieties globally," ani Villar. "But the industry is faced with declining yield and quality attributed to pests and diseases, poor nutrient and water management, low adoption of improved technologies, and high postharvest losses," gliit pa niya. Ang iba pang problema ng industriya ay ang hirap sa farm operations at mataas na presyo ng production dahil sa si sapat na pesticide application. "It is important that mango owners have a good grasp of orchard management such that the mango tree to produce good fruits with proper pruning, fertilizer and sprayed, to avoid pests and diseases, and irrigated,"sabi pa niya. Dahil sa 'Good Agricultural Practices,' sinabi ng beteranong mambabatas na magkakaroon ng mataas na ani ng dekalidad na mangga na mababang gastos. "Now I heard that the biggest problem is the managementp of mango twig borer (MTB) and cecid fly or "kurikong", two of the most serious insect pests of mango," sabi pa ni Villar. Kumpiyansa siya na matutugunan ang mga problema sa industriya sa pulong ng mango practitioners at suporta ng pamahalaan sa pamamagitan ng High Value Crops Development Program ng DA. Ani Villar, mahalaga Ang mangga sa Pilipinas dahil pangalawa ito sa kinakain nating prutas kasunod ng pinya. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. 100 years ago 1923: George Newman of Flagstaff was badly hurt at Ajo last Friday when he fell 45 feet from a steel structure being erected at the mouth of a copper mine shaft, his life being saved by falling onto the back of a mule. George works for the Wisconsin Bridge & Iron company. He had been at Ajo about three weeks, working on the structure from which he fell. Just what caused his fall is unknown, but there were two mules below him, standing over some jagged rocks. He came down head first. He had several broken ribs and possibly internal injuries, but it is believed he will recover. 75 years ago 1948: With a campaign sponsored by the Flagstaff Womans Club to get out the vote expected to result in a near record turnout, Flagstaff voters will select seven councilmen in the biennial city election Monday. The Womans Club has been working on its campaign for a month, with letters to civic clubs and other organizations urging 100% balloting Monday. In accordance with state law, the citys bars and buffets will be closed during the hours of voting. Jacqueline Cochran, famous speed flier, will use a point near Flagstaff as the outward terminus of an attempt at a new speed record, it has been learned here today. Charles A. Bonney, Chet Anderson and Darrow Thompson have been asked to serve as checkers at the turning point for the flight. The flight will start at Los Angeles and proceed eastward to a point about 10.5 miles east of Flagstaff, after which the famous aviatrix will return to her starting point. The purpose of the checkers is to verify the fact that the plane passes to the east of the turning point. 50 years ago 1973: Flagstaffs 45th annual All-Indian Pow Wow will not take place. Pow Wow Committeeman Ken Brown said today an informal poll of members of the city council -- taken at Councils work session Wednesday afternoon -- indicated there would not be sufficient votes at a regular city council meeting to obtain use of City Park facilities to stage the traditional Independence Day event. We would love to go ahead with the show, but we dont have approval from the council, so we cant. The first antilight pollution ordinance in Flagstaffs history will be up for public hearing before the city council Tuesday. The hearing is the second item on a long agenda at a meeting that is due to begin at 7:30 a.m. The code, prepared after some six months of study by a communitywide company headed by city planner William Kemp, has been roundly endorsed by various local astronomers. They maintain the effectiveness of their telescopes is being destroyed by light pollution from the city. Beautiful. Marvelous. These words were repeated more than once Sunday evening. The reference was to Arizonas beauty and, more specifically, its sunshine. The comments were made by some of the 22 foreign editors and writers who spent a whirlwind two days touring some of the scenic sites in the Northland. The newsmen were guests in a promotional tour coordinated by Trans World Airlines, Holiday Inns and the National Geographic magazine. The visit here was but one of a series to introduce Europeans to the beauties of America. The tours, which are by invitation only, are designed to get into print the pictures and story ideas of the guests. Key stops in Flagstaff were made to the Museum of Northern Arizona, Lowell Observatory and Walnut Canyon. 25 years ago 1998: A Flagstaff resident spent Sunday night and Monday morning on Mount Elden immobilized with an injured leg that might have been fractured and a dislocated shoulder. According to a Flagstaff Fire Department report, Parish was hiking in the Devils Chair area (the south-facing side) of Mount Elden when he fell Sunday afternoon, seriously injuring himself. Parish, who couldnt move, spent Sunday night and early Monday morning undetected until a passing hiker heard him screaming for help. He was in fair condition as of 2:30 p.m. yesterday, according to a Flagstaff Medical Center spokesperson. According to a Flagstaff Police Department report, Kathy Jenkins heard Parish yelling for help and called police. Jenkins told police she decided to go hiking instead of attending her aerobics class. About 45 minutes to an hour into her hike, she heard Parish calling for help. You could hear faint yelling and I thought, Well, maybe its just my imagination, Jenkins said. Then I thought, No, nobody would be playing a practical joke at 6 a.m. in the morning.' So I went back and called the police. With a crane towering overhead and a chainsaw buzzing a few feet away on Monday afternoon, Kathy Erbe explained in frank terms why she doesnt like that her neighbor is cutting down as many as 10 mature elm trees. But her Sunnyside neighbor said he has the right to cut down trees that are interfering with his sewer line and fruit trees. Erbe went to the City of Flagstaff for help, but didnt find any there. If I lived in west Flagstaff this would be different, she said. They dont care about east Flagstaff. Although the city has no limits on the number of trees the neighbor can cut, it isnt because he lives in Sunnyside, said Mark Sawyers, a Flagstaff city planner. It has nothing to do with an east-west thing, he said. Rather, because Sunnyside is an old neighborhood, it doesnt fall under new restrictions that require residential developers to leave at least 50% of the tree canopy on a lot. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Sanford Rising Organizer Anna Merillat called Saturday a chilly dog kind of day at the event in Porte Park with cool temperatures and Dachshund races that drew many spectators. Spirits were high and the music was good, Merillat said. This years event marked the third anniversary of the breach of the Edenville and Sanford dams and the widespread flooding and destruction that resulted. Its been a long haul and its not over, said Amanda Provost of Midland. Weve seen some dark days but through community spirit, weve also seen many bright days. It will be nice when we can put the flood behind us. But we will always remember the day the dams failed. More Information Wiener dog races, live music and many vendors continue to make three-day Sanford Rising event successful See More Collapse Merillat predicted this year would feel more like a celebration with it being one year closer to the lakes return and so much recovery and rebounding taking place. It was a great celebration, said Dave Haag, who has attended all three years. The 46-year Sanford resident said the celebration indicated all that he and the many other residents went through. The wiener dogs were the stars of the show from 1 to 3 p.m. with a dog parade and then a race. The event was sponsored by Red Oak, Sanford Bar and Grill, Trista Jarrad and Furbabies. There were more than 40 dogs that took part in the parade and 14 wiener dogs in the race. Sue Carlson drove from her St. Clair Shores home near Detroit with her dog, Bobbie, dressed in a rainbow skirt, to see the race, about two-and-a-half hours. I wanted to support Sanford Rising, Miss Dolores (Sanford Village President Dolores Porte) and be in the dog parade, Carlson said of the event. I never saw a wiener dog race before. It sure was fun. Carlson commented that people were so nice in the village, and it was impressive to see how far the area has come since the horrible flood. Weiner dog owner Amanda Blackhurst of Midland attended the Sanford Rising event for the second year with her dog. She took part in the dog parade but not the wiener dog race. It was an amazing time, Blackhurst said. Local artist and vendor Trista Jarrad volunteered to do a painting of the winning race dog. This was Jarrads second Sanford Rising and first time as a vendor. Her 8-year-old daughter, Bella, encouraged her mom to sell her art. She has been doing so for about a year. This is a great community event, Jarrad said. The crowd really showed for the dogs. While many lined the fence around the wiener dog race area, others used the time to skip the wait at the food vendors. Carl Acre of Gladwin said he eyed a philly cheesesteak sandwich at Timber 2.o. and rushed to get it when others flocked to the races. It was delicious, Acre said. Sanford Rising activities kicked off Thursday with a "Sanford Gives Back" blood drive at the Jerome Township Fire Department. There were also three days of village-wide garage sales. Betty Hager of Coleman said she found some great buys and filled her trunk with items from her near 50-stop garage sale adventure. Friday activities included a classic car show in Porte Park, with music by Frank Hidalgo and food from nearby Red Oak Lounge. In addition, Tweed & Dixie performed at Red Oak. Then Saturday kicked-off with EDGE for Fitness 5K run and Sanford Museum hosting a pancake breakfast. Kids enjoyed the inflatables and games for kids at Porte Park and adults enjoyed the beer tent, vendors, crafts, food trucks and a bake sale. There were also $20 dog nail trims (with a portion of proceeds going to the Village) and a cornhole tournament. The events included music in Porte Park featuring Dave Fio, who is working on a record contract, Haley & the Sound Poets and Triple Play. For more information about Sanford Rising, visit https://www.facebook.com/SanfordRising/. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to initiate a peace process," but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily-sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertilizer exports Africa desperately needs, a key mediator who helped broker the talks said in an interview with The Associated Press. Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what theyve characterized as a peace mission. The talks will likely be next month, Ollivier said. He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out "logistics" for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would likely have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Zambia. The talks also have the approval of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday. Neither side in the war appears ready to stop fighting, though. The talks were announced last week by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa just as Russia launched an intense air attack on Kyiv. On Sunday, Russia claimed to have taken the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after fierce fighting, a claim denied by Ukraine. We are not dreamers, Ollivier said on the chances the African leaders will achieve an immediate breakthrough with regard to stopping the 15-month conflict. Unless something happens, I dont think we are going to finish our first mission with a ceasefire. The aim was to make a start, said Ollivier, a 78-year-old Frenchman who brought opposing sides together in high-stakes negotiations in the late 1980s that helped end apartheid in South Africa. It starts with signs. It starts with dialogue. And this is what we are going to try to do," Ollivier said. No guarantee that we are going to succeed but, for the time being, Russia and Ukraine have accepted ... a delegation coming specifically to their countries to talk about peace. A key starting point for Africa is grain and fertilizers. The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertilizers from Russia, exacerbating global food insecurity and hunger. Africa has been one of the hardest-hit continents. Last week, Russia agreed to a two-month extension of a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. that allows Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea and out to the world, and the six African presidents would like to see that extended further. But they also need to broach ways of making it easier for African nations to receive shipments and pay Russia for fertilizers, Ollivier said. Russian fertilizer is not under international sanctions but the U.S. and some Western nations have targeted Russian cargo ships for sanctions. Russias access to the SWIFT global financial transaction system also has been restricted by the sanctions, leaving African nations struggling to order and pay for critical fertilizers. We will need to have a window whereby SWIFT will be authorized for this specific point, Ollivier said. That will be on the table and we hope that in that case we will gain the support of the Russians for the grains from Ukraine, and we will gain the support of the Ukrainians to find payments and shipments possible for the Russian fertilizer. The African mission is not the only mediation effort. China offered its own peace proposal in February and a Chinese envoy has been in discussions with Ukrainian officials. But China's plan has largely been dismissed by Ukraine's Western allies and is clouded by Beijing's political support for Moscow. Ukraine and Russia are far apart in terms of any agreements that might form the base of a peace deal. The African delegation still had a wide cross-section of backing, Ollivier said, after China also came to us and offered support on the basis it would be a parallel effort to Beijing's plan. More support, more weight will be put on the negotiation (with Moscow and Kyiv)," said Ollivier, the founding chairman of the London-based Brazzaville Foundation, an organization that deals with conflict resolution. If one party says no, they will consider to who they are saying no. Are they saying no only to Jean-Yves Ollivier? To the Brazzaville Foundation? To the six (African) heads of state? Or are they saying no to the United Nations, or to the Chinese, or to the Americans. To the British? To the European Union?" ___ More AP news on the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. About a week ago, Flagstaff resident Adam Paquette was among many taking advantage of warming weather to hit the trails as he steered his bike up the Big Bang Trail near Schultz Creek. [The trail was] completely clear and in good condition, Paquette said. Almost crashed; but thats more at fault for my ability that the trail. Paquette had chosen to ride Big Bang after seeing its status on Flagstaff Trail Updates Instagram page, a grassroots, community social media effort created to get information to the public about the condition of trails all around Flagstaff. For close to three years, the page has been a go-to for residents of Flagstaff and visitors alike who are looking to hit the trails -- be it in the seat of a bike, a horse, a dirt bike or just on their own two legs, hiking or running. Im eagerly waiting for them to say Sunset [trail] is clear, said Paquette, who uses the source in addition to a few other websites and apps to monitor what trails might be fit to be ridden. I keep an eye on it, and its useful as a local barometer of clear trails. I also like it as info for [volunteer] trail days, Paquette said. That sentiment is exactly the goals of the page, said Trey Kettering, one of about three people who manage the account. Kettering said the majority of the information they post about trail conditions comes from the community. He added that he hopes the page can be a resource for all the user groups that recreate around Flagstaff -- be they cyclists, equestrians or hikers. People come together through Instagram direct messages, and people will tag us in their Instagram stories so we can re-post it, Kettering told the Arizona Daily Sun. There are a lot of different people, a lot of people that come up from the Valley or Tucson in the summer, who know about the account and tag us, and there's a lot of people that live here that consistently tag the account. Thats important, Kettering said, not just for the enjoyment of those using the trails around Flagstaff, but also the trails themselves. When people recreate on trails that arent ready, if those trails are still wet and muddy, that can damage the trails for everyone else, Kettering said. And many of those trails are built in large part by volunteers. "We just have to recognize that these trails take 1,000s of hours to build, and that volunteers spent their own weekends out there, Kettering said. We should really respect this public resource that we have and respect the other people that are using it. Kettering is often one of the volunteers building trails. To that end, Artec Durham, who started the page in the midst of 2020, says he also works with the Coconino National Forest to publicize information about when and where those volunteer events are taking place. But updating the public as to trail conditions wasnt the only goal of the page for the man who started it. Durham started the updates as ever more people were getting outdoors to escape the claustrophobia of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between shifts working as a nurse at the height of the pandemic, Durham would recreate outside to decompress, and he was often asked by other recreationists about which trails might be clear and usable. I was out every day on my bike, or hiking, and people are always asking me, "Whats dry, what are you riding?" Because in the middle of winter in Flagstaff, you can often go on lower south-facing stuff, Durham said. So I was like, Well, I'm just going to make a trail updates Instagram account for trail conditions. And almost immediately, he other community members started tagging the account to report the conditions on trails they were using. Durham said he hopes the page can continue to be a resource -- not just to get trail condition updates out, but also get more young people involved in managing and supporting outdoor recreation in northern Arizona. During the development of the Flagstaff Trails Initiative, Durham said, he was always discouraged by how few young people were involved in those conversations about the future of recreation around Flagstaff, despite making up a huge portion of those who use trails. That project is an effort to examine how to manage and grow the over 400 miles of trails around Flagstaff. I was going to a lot of those meetings, and I'd be the youngest person at these meetings in my mid-30s, and it just seemed like there was a real generational void of anyone really under like 50 at a lot of these events, Durham said. So how do we reach the younger generation of users to be involved in trails? Durham said he thought something that could help generate more involvement was a way to communicate some of that information through a medium that younger recreationists are already using, and be more proactive in reaching out to a younger generation. Potentially, the bigger part of that isnt which trail to try, thats important, but also like, Hey, theres a dig day, come out and help build trials, theres a survey on trails, fill out the survey, and reaching a whole swath of people who weren't involved in trails before, Durham said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Firefighters traded their turnout gear for waders Saturday afternoon when they took part in navigating the Tittabawassee Rivers swift waters to make rescues. It was the first in a two-part training for such endeavors. Firefighters from Jerome, Secord, Midland, Edenville, Larkin, Homer, and Lee townships along with the cities of Saint Louis, Midland and Coleman and the Gladwin Rural Fire Department all took part in the training. Jerome Township Fire Department hosted the event. Michigan Rescue concepts coordinated the training. The company specializes in water and ice rescue training. Company co-owner and Ray Township Fire Chief Mark Hoskin said they have been training rescue personnel for about 25 years and have trained more than 900 fire departments and public safety agencies in Michigan and surrounding states. Its not one of our more common calls (water rescue in swift water), but we do get the calls and have to train for them, said Hoskin who is a certified instructor in ice rescue and basic river rescue. Jerome Township Fire Chief Jerry Cole told the group of firefighters they are low frequency, high-risk calls. Cole said swift water is defined as moving more than one point four miles per hour. This will make us more familiar with the lake when it comes back, said Secord Township Fire Chief Fred Shaver. This way all of our people will be trained on the new techniques when the lake returns. Midland County Sheriffs deputy and Jerome Township firefighter Conner Smith said the training is lifesaving. Preparedness is the biggest thing, Smith said. Getting us trained for the future in case something happens. Training is important. Jerome Township firefighter Sandy Holka said the training was a good combination of classroom and hands-on. This was the first time she did training in the water below the dam. People frequently fish below the dam so this is better prepared for us to respond to an emergency in this part of the river, Holka said. From a responder and preplanning perspective, we found out a lot about the water depth and the condition of the riverbed below the dam. Holka said it was interesting that three years post flood, the river bottom below the dam is still covered with the same slippery, slimy, and sticky silt and mud that covered much of the area after the flood. Hoskin said the second part of the training is slated for next year and will focus on higher-flow water requiring more endurance. Smith said firefighters must be like sponges, constantly learning and relearning and retaining the new techniques. He said Jerome Township firefighters train twice monthly, often refreshing what they have learned by doing scenarios and drills. He doesnt foresee a problem in being prepared for the next water training in a year. Larkin Township firefighter Ellen England, who is also a member of the Michigan Technical Rescue team, who train in specialized rescues, was anxious for the knowledge. Especially with all the local area waterways. This is so important for the local community, England said. It is important to have this training if something happen. England said the moving water can change. It can be very unexpectedly powerful, she said. England said she doesnt know everything, but with what she does know, she wants to use to be a tool to better serve the community. This kind of training is enjoyable and rewarding, England said. I encourage others to take an interest in it. Cole told the attending firefighters that if they hear Jerome Township tone out for a water rescue, he invites them to answer the call if okayed with their supervisors. Were more than happy to take the help, Cole said. LANSING Michigan's revenue will be nearly $900 million less this year than forecasted in January due to new tax cuts, state officials said Friday, leaving lawmakers with less money to spend as they work toward the state's next budget. The new projections, released Friday at a revenue estimating conference, show that the state's revenue will be an estimated $883 million lower this year and $1.8 billion lower than previously forecasted next fiscal year. State Treasurer Rachel Eubanks reiterated that the state's economy continues to perform really well, and that the loss in revenue was as a result of intentional policy changes. Were projecting revenue growth in the coming years, even with the responsible tax relief, due to our strong economic position, thriving businesses and low unemployment, Eubanks told reporters after the new estimates were released. Even with the slight dip, the state is still flush with cash. State Budget Director Chris Harkins said the state will go into the next fiscal year that begins in October with a surplus of an estimated $7.5 billion. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed a budget earlier this year totaling $79 billion, which would be the state's highest ever, if approved. Haskins cautioned that it would need to be reduced slightly due to the new projections. Last week, the Michigan House passed a $80 billion budget before the Senate approved its own $79 billion budget. The two chambers will have until July 1 a self-imposed deadline to reach an agreement on a final budget. Democrats will need to garner Republican support for the budget to take effect by the end of the fiscal year in October, even with a two-seat majority in both chambers. Immediate effect requires a two-thirds vote of approval in the state Senate. An income tax rate reduction triggered earlier this year by high revenues will cost the state an estimated $647 million in revenue the next two years. Another $600 million in revenue loss annually will come from corporate economic development efforts, with $500 million being sent to the state's Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund. The fund has been used to land major economic development project including a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. plant announced this spring by offering tax incentive packages. The new tax policies are expected to continue affecting Michigan's revenue in the years to come. Whitmer and the Legislature approved in March a significant increase of the states Earned Income Tax Credit from 6% to a 30% match of the federal rate, which will cost the state $1.15 billion the next two years. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fight for the city of Bakhmut is continuing, the Ukrainian military's general staff said in a statement on Sunday evening. Oleksandr Syrskyi, a spokesman for the military's eastern command, said Ukrainian forces control the outskirts of the city, and defense forces continue offensive actions on the flanks near Bakhmut. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. ___ Elise Morton reported from London, and Susie Blann from Kyiv, Ukraine. Elaine Kurtenbach and Adam Schreck contributed to this report from Hiroshima. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) The White House and House Republicans wrapped up another round of debt ceiling talks Sunday as Washington races to strike a budget compromise along with a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit and avert an economy-wrecking federal default. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke by phone Sunday while the president was returning home on Air Force One after the Group of Seven summit in Japan. They plan to meet Monday at the White House. It went well, well talk tomorrow, Biden said of the phone call as he arrived back in Washington late in the evening. Upbeat, McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol that the call was productive" and that the on-again, off-again negotiations between his staff and White House representatives are focused on spending cuts. Negotiators for the Democratic president and Republican speaker met for 2 1/2 hours at the Capitol as talks appear to be narrowing on a 2024 budget year cap that would be key to resolving the standoff. We'll keep working, said Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, as the White House team exited. The Republicans were not seen leaving the speaker's office and offered no immediate comment after the talks. They all face a deadline, as soon as June 1, when the government could run out of cash to pay its bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that June 1 is a hard deadline. McCarthy said after his call with Biden that I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what were looking at." The speaker added, "But Ive been very clear to him from the very beginning. We have to spend less money than we spent last year. McCarthy emerged from that conversation sounding optimistic and was careful not to criticize Biden's trip, as he had before. He did caution, Theres no agreement on anything. Were looking at, how do we have a victory for this country?" McCarthy said. He said he did not think the final legislation would remake the federal budget and the country's debt, but at least put us on a path to change the behavior of this runaway spending. The White House confirmed the Monday meeting and late Sunday talks but did not elaborate on the leaders' call. Earlier, Biden used his concluding news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, to warn House Republicans that they must move off their extreme positions over raising the debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avoid a catastrophic default only on their terms. Biden said it's time for Republicans to accept that there is no deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms. He said he had done his part in attempting to raise the borrowing limit so the government can keep paying its bills, by agreeing to significant cuts in spending. Now its time for the other side to move from their extreme position." Biden had been scheduled to travel from Hiroshima to Papua New Guinea and Australia, but cut short his trip in light of the strained negotiations with Capitol Hill. Even with a new wave of tax revenue expected soon, perhaps giving both sides more time to negotiate, Yellen said on NBCs Meet the Press that "the odds of reaching June 15, while being able to pay all of our bills, is quite low. GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts with caps on future spending, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits in part with revenue from taxes. Republicans want to roll back next year's spending to 2022 levels, but the White House has proposed keeping 2024 the same as it is now, in the 2023 budget year. Republicans initially sought to impose spending caps for 10 years, though the latest proposal narrowed that to about six. The White House wants a two-year budget deal. A compromise on those topline spending levels would enable McCarthy to deliver for conservatives, while not being so severe that it would chase off the Democratic votes that would be needed in the divided Congress to pass any bill. Top Republican negotiator Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, speaking alongside McCarthy at the Capitol, said the numbers are the foundation of any agreement. Republicans also want work requirements on the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The GOP additionally introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states ability to waive work requirements in places with high joblessness. That idea, when floated under President Donald Trump, was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits. GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts in IRS money and, by sparing Defense and Veterans accounts from reductions, would shift the bulk of spending reductions to other federal programs. The White House has countered by keeping defense and nondefense spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and $1 trillion over 10 years. All sides have been eyeing the potential for the package to include a framework that would speed energy project developments. And despite a push by Republicans for the White House to accept parts of their proposed immigration overhaul, McCarthy indicated the focus was on the House's previously approved debt and budget package. I think that we can reach an agreement, Biden said, though he added this about Republicans: I cant guarantee that they wouldnt force a default by doing something outrageous. Republicans had also rejected various White House revenue proposals. Among the proposals the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs. Republicans also have refused to roll back Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Bidens own budget has proposed. For months, Biden had refused to engage in talks over the debt limit, contending that Republicans in Congress were trying to use the borrowing limit vote as leverage to extract administration concessions on other policy priorities. But with the June 1 potential deadline looming and Republicans putting their own legislation on the table, the White House launched talks on a budget deal that could accompany an increase in the debt limit. Biden's decision to set up a call with McCarthy came after another start-stop day with no outward signs of progress. The president tried to assure leaders attending the meeting of the worlds most powerful democracies that the United States would not default. U.S. officials said leaders were concerned, but largely confident that Biden and American lawmakers would resolve the crisis. The president, though, said he was ruling out the possibility of taking action on his own to avoid a default. Any such steps, including suggestions to invoke the 14th Amendment as a solution, would become tied up in the courts. Thats a question that I think is unresolved," Biden said, adding he hopes to try to get the judiciary to weigh in on the notion for the future. ___ Miller and Boak reported from Hiroshima, Japan. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri, Colleen Long and Will Weissert contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) The Group of Seven wealthy democracies united in urging China to pressure its strategic partner Russia to end its war on Ukraine and resolve territorial disputes peacefully, and China lashed back. In a joint statement, the G7 leaders emphasized they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, said the statement Saturday. We encourage China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the U.N. Charter, including in direct talks with Ukraine. Cooperation with China is needed given its global role and economic size, the group said, in appealing for working together on challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, debts and financing needs of of vulnerable countries, global health concerns and economic stability. But the leaders expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China seas, where Beijing has been expanding its military presence and threatening to use force to exert its control over self-governed Taiwan. They called for a peaceful resolution of China's claim to Taiwan, which has remained unresolved since the communists gained power on the Chinese mainland in 1949. The statement said there was no legal basis for Chinas expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and we oppose Chinas militarization activities in the region." A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest, the statement said, alluding to charges that Beijing is undermining the rules-based international order. The G7 also united in voicing concerns about human rights in China, including in Tibet, in Hong Kong and in the far western region of Xinjiang, where the issue of forced labor is a perennial issue. But the statement also sought to counter accusations that the G7 is seeking to prevent China's rise as a global power. Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart Chinas economic progress and development, it said. The statement highlighted a consensus that efforts to diversify manufacturing supply chains and ensure stable access to strategically vital minerals and other resources is not aimed at unraveling trade ties with the world's second-largest economy. We are not decoupling or turning inwards," the statement said. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying. We will take steps, individually and collectively, to invest in our own economic vibrancy. We will reduce excessive dependencies in our critical supply chains. At the same time, the G7 members vowed to take a stand against various types of economic coercion, saying they will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure, while also avoiding unduly limiting trade and investment. Chinese officials have reacted to various G7 statements about economic coercion and other issues with outrage. In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the G7 used issues concerning China to smear and attack China and brazenly interfere in Chinas internal affairs. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made serious demarches to the summits host Japan and other parties concerned. The G7 needs to stop pointing fingers at China on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet and take a hard look at their own history and human rights record, it said. Taiwan, meanwhile, thanked the G7 for its support. Taiwan will stand alongside with democracies and communities of the world to cooperate in defusing the risks, its president, Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday. Nowadays, the consensus around the world is very clear, which is the fact that cross-strait issues have to be solved in a peaceful manner. War is not an option," she said at a news conference. Apart from Japan, this year's host of the leader's annual summit, the G7 includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy and the European Union. The G7 statement was released on the second day of a three-day summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday to participate in meetings planned for Sunday. AP TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday. The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate. CROMWELL A construction worker used a company-owned retired ambulance to broadcast "vulgar messages" at a local shopping plaza over the weekend, according to the Cromwell fire chief. Police and fire officials received an apology from a construction company owner who discovered his employee had used the PA system on a company-owned retired ambulance to make profane broadcasts over the weekend, Cromwell Fire Chief Jason Brade said in the post a Facebook post. Cromwell firefighters received complaints after the broadcasts were made at the plaza that houses ShopRite and other stores on Shunpike Road from what appeared to be a local ambulance, Fire Chief Jason Brade said in the post. The vehicle was actually a retired ambulance that was being used by a construction company, he said. The owner of the construction company realized what the company car was being used for only after seeing the complaints on Facebook, Brade said in the post. The owner told town officials that the vehicle had been loaned to an employee because their car broke down, according to the post. The vehicle was returned to the company and the employee has since been fired, Brade said. The owner called Brade and officials at the police department to apologize, according to the post and to police dispatchers. Cromwell police did not say whether the incident was being investigated, as of Sunday afternoon. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have joined their counterparts from other countries during their summit in Japan to try to expand the G7s sway and to include voices from the so-called Global South. From South America to South Asia, Ukraine to the South Pacific, the guests represent a carefully considered choice of countries including big emerging economies like Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and India and smaller ones like the Comoros and Cook Islands. Critics accuse the G7 of being an elite club of countries whose relevance as global leaders is being eclipsed by up-and-coming powers. By including leaders of big but less wealthy democracies like India and Brazil, Japan and the other G7 countries aim to amplify their consensus on vital issues like the war in Ukraine, China's growing assertiveness, debt and development issues and climate change. It's something of an odd assortment, but there's a method to the mixture. South Korea is a key ally of the U.S. and Japan, with a huge stake in regional security and stability. The Comoros, an archipelago off the coast of East Africa, is currently chairing the African Union a vital connection to a continent that increasingly is the focus of rivalry between Western democracies in China. The Cook Islands is heading the Pacific Islands Forum another link to a strategically important region. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said another aim is to highlight the importance of the Global South developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. As the only Asian G7 member, Japan has a special role to play in that regard, said Yuichi Hosoya, a professor of international politics at Tokyo's Keio University. In a joint statement issued Saturday, the G7 leaders underscored their commitment to helping countries cope with debts that have mounted to perilous levels during the pandemic and war in Ukraine. They also reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for projects to develop infrastructure such as railways, clean energy and telecommunications in developing nations. Kishida convened a session of G7 leaders and guests that included executives from Citigroup and other private partners to discuss how to get more done and offer an alternative to financing from China with investments in a transparent and fair manner. We're just getting started. Together we have a lot to do to close the infrastructure gap, President Joe Biden told the gathering, pointing to a railway project in West Africa that he said would improve food security and supply chains. Let's commit to showing that democracies can deliver, Biden said. We have to deliver. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the effort might raise the amount of investment from billions to trillions. We want to put a better offer on the table, she said. A key aim of including a broader set of countries in the annual G7 summit is to help build agreement ahead of the annual summit of the broader Group of 20 major economies in India later this year. Important global issues cannot be solved without the other countries, Hosoya said. Without the support coming from the countries in the Global South, the G7 cannot, unlike before, effectively respond to the most pressing issues in the world. Indonesia was host of the G20 last year and Brazil will host the meetings in 2024. All have complicated relations with China and Russia and the G7 is seeking support for its efforts to push Russia to end the war. India has abstained several times from voting on U.N. resolutions against Moscow and has increased its imports of Russian oil, while calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Brazil and India belong to the so-called BRICS group of developing nations, that also includes China, Russia and South Africa. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently visited China to strengthen ties with its biggest trade market. Vietnam is an increasingly important trading partner for the U.S., Japan and other G7 nations and one of the region's fastest growing economies. Like Japan, it has territorial disputes with China. At a time when the world is heading toward divisions, one of the most important issues is to figure out how to steer the world in one direction and regain cooperation and Japan is expected to play an important role as a bridge between G7 and the so-called Global South countries including the G20, said Akio Takahara, a professor at University of Tokyo. ___ Find more of APs Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Bakhmut was only in our hearts," hours after Russias defense ministry reported that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized the city in eastern Ukraine. Speaking alongside U.S. President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Zelenskyy said the Russians had destroyed everything. You have to understand that there is nothing, he said. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts, he said. There is nothing in this place. The Russian ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar announcement by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said that fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for Bakhmut has been the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Zelenskyys comments came as Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery, and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. Analysts said that a Russian victory in Bakhmut was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. Using the city's Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said, In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk." Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlin's press service as saying President Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk. In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraines industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. ___ Zeke Miller reported from Hiroshima, Japan. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Just 33% of American adults say they approve of President Joe Bidens handling of the economy and only 24% say national economic conditions are in good shape. That's according to a new poll. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill to give tuition assistance benefits to spouses and dependents of National Guard members Saturday. House Bill 4199 expands eligibility for tuition assistance to National Guard members' family members and increases the funding cap from $10 million to $15 million. The Michigan National Guard Tuition Assistance Program provides financial assistance for service members attending any public or private college, university, vocational school, technical school, or trade school located in Michigan. "The program offers members of the guard tuition assistance, so they can pursue higher education or skills training at a lower cost. But we know that next to every member of the Guard is a family: an invaluable support system that makes countless sacrifices," Whitmer said. "Today's overwhelmingly bipartisan bill ... is going to allow spouses and dependents of Guard members to utilize tuition assistance benefits," she said. "Getting this done will open doors for so many more people to get on paths to higher education and good-paying, in-demand jobs without a lifetime of debt." State lawmakers, Michigan National Guard members and their families were present for the signing and expansion of the program Saturday at the MotorCity Casino in Detroit. The bill was introduced by state Rep. Jennifer Conlin who said in a release that the law will fulfill multiple purposes. "With the signing of HB 4199 into law, National Guard families in Michigan will have the flexibility to use the educational benefits that they have earned," Conlin said. "The law will fulfill a dual purpose: directly providing opportunities to service member spouses and dependents and tackling the challenge of recruitment and retention head-on through the offering of this incentive." "Since the program's inception, over 6,000 guard members have benefited from MINGSTAP and now thousands of eligible spouses and dependents will have the same opportunity to earn a tuition-free degree or professional certificate," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said in the release. "Today's announcement by Gov. Whitmer signals Michigan is serious about supporting military families who have made significant sacrifices on behalf of our state and nation." The National Guard also presented Whitmer with the Charles Dick Medal of Merit, an award designed to recognize the contributions to the National Guard by elected representatives to legislative bodies at the state and national levels. "The Michigan National Guard is one of the finest military forces in America," Whitmer said. "In last year's bipartisan budget we secured over $55 million dollars so that we could modernize our armories, showing our military readiness, and supporting good-paying local construction jobs in the process." 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 2023 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Visit at mcclatchydc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. How to use the mindat.org media viewer Click/touch this help panel to close it. Welcome to the mindat.org media viewer. Here is a quick guide to some of the options available to you. 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Summary of all keyboard shortcuts NOVI, MI - Its the epic meeting which was years in the making that very few people saw. WWE Hall of Famer, Mick Foley, came face to face with his doppelganger this weekend at Michigans biggest comic con. William Czarnomski, pictured on the left, (trust us, thats really not Foley) has been coming to Motor City Comic Con for years dressed as Foley in his signature red and black flannel shirt. He says even when hes not dressed like Foley, he often gets mistaken for the former professional wrestler when hes not at comic cons. People think Im him all the time, Czarnomski told MLive just after meeting Foley. I dont even have to have the flannel on and people say hey, you look like Mick Foley. Even Foley, himself, says he thought Czarnomski looked just like him, other than having a different haircut than him now as Foley used to have long hair like Czarnomskis. I think he looks pretty good, Foley told MLive. Ive had short hair for the last six years. I wish I could grow my hair out that long again, but I cant. But, yeah, he looks pretty spot on. Czarnomski says hes been a fan of Foley his entire career and his favorite match was the one at Hell in a Cell in 1998 against the Undertaker when Foley got thrown more than 20 feet off the top of the structure through an announce table. Meeting Foley today was the thrill of a lifetime, Czarnomski added. MORE MOTOR CITY COMIC CON 2023 FROM MLIVE: A wild and wacky interview with Catherine Tate of The Office, Doctor Who, Nan Talking with Rocky, Happy Gilmore, Mandalorian, Predator star whos in Michigan this weekend Talking possible Home Improvement reboot with Tool Times Al Borland and Heidi Kandiaronk was one of the most brilliant politicians in Great Lakes region in the late 17th century. A leader of the Wyandots at Michilimackinac and later at Detroit, he spent years playing the French, the English and the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy against each other in an effort to preserve his own people and stave off further encroachment by European settlers. The French Jesuit priest and historian Pierre de Charlevoix called him the Indian of highest merit that the French ever knew in Canada, a man so naturally eloquent that French officials would provoke him in debate just to get a taste of his blazing wit and generally unanswerable arguments. He was likely one of the Native Americans who taught Europeans who 300 years ago were still working out new ideas about equality, liberty and not being subject to the arbitrary whims of an absolute monarch - something about what personal freedom and equality might actually look like. That story, laid in out in recent scholarship, involves a disgraced French soldier and a book of Kandiaronks arguments about the sorry state of European society that scholars have long assumed was solely the work of its white author. But it starts with the idea that the first Europeans to arrive on the shores of North America learned more from their Native American interlocutors than how to plant corn and tap maple trees. Native critiques The Native Americans who found themselves confronted by strange foreigners in the 1500s and 1600s gradually developed their own surprisingly consistent critique of European institutions, David Graeber and David Wengrow wrote in The Dawn of Everything, an ambitious reconsideration of how we understand early human history. Those critiques centered on the competitiveness and selfishness of European life and on the fact that, without kings or stark class divisions, Native Americans generally had more freedom than Europeans did, and they came to be taken very seriously in Europe itself, they wrote. For instance, the accounts sent back home by Jesuit missionaries, many of them working in the Great Lakes region, became something like bestsellers, not only because they were describing unfamiliar peoples on an unfamiliar continent, but because they recounted social arrangements that were scandalous by European standards: penal systems more concerned with reparations than punishment, leaders who no one felt particularly obliged to listen to, women who had sexual freedom and control over their own bodies. The missionaries were almost hysterical when they saw the importance of women in government said Barbara Alice Mann, a professor of humanities at the University of Toledo who has written extensively on Native American history, and, this is funny, they were funded by a lot of rich women to come over [to North America], and the rich women were reading all these accounts and taking up on womens rights. Kandiaronks arguments made their way to Europe by a different route: a French soldier and aristocrat named Louis Armand de Lom dArce, Baron de la Hontan. Lahontan Lahontan had joined the French army at 17, been posted to Canada, travelled across the upper Midwest, become fluent in the Algonkian and Wyandot languages and befriended a number of Native political leaders, Kandiaronk among them. The two men had long conversations at Michilimackinac. They likely also met in the company the governor of New France, Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac et de Palluau. Lahontan sometimes served as his deputy. Kandiaronk, according to Charlevoix, was the only man in Canada who was a match for the Count de Frontenac, and the governor often extended invitations to the Wyandot leader in order to give French officers the pleasure of hearing him speak. Lahontan took notes throughout. Frontenac later helped him to organize them. But Lahontans fortunes turned. He was appointed lieutenant governor of what is now Newfoundland, which greatly displeased the governor of what is now Newfoundland, who manufactured a case against him. The possibility of a stay in the Bastille worried me so much that, after careful consideration of the unpleasant situation I found myself in, I decided to board the last and only small ship going to France, he later wrote. He spent the next decade peregrinating across Europe, mostly broke, sometimes working as a freelance spy. And then in 1702 and 1703, in a last-ditch effort at financial solvency, he published three wide-ranging books on his experiences in North America. The final volume included dialogues with a Native American chief named Adario. They sold fantastically well. Map depicting the "long river" seen by Louis Armand de Lom dArce, Baron de la Hontan in the late 1600s emptying into the upper Mississippi. Sock puppet Scholars have long assumed that the Adario of Lahontans book was a fiction, a sock-puppet the Frenchman used to express his own less-than-flattering views of Christianity and European society. Racism was a part of that, the assumption that such a nuanced critique would have been beyond a 17th century Native American, Mann wrote. An early biographer accused Lahontan of having attributed refined ideas and subtle sentiments to savages. But Mann argues in the book Native American Speakers of the Eastern Woodlands that there is excellent reason for accepting them as genuine. Those who met Kandiaronk were uniformly in awe of his oratorical skills, she wrote. He had a history of beating French negotiators at their own game and there is good reason to believe hed actually traveled to France. And Lahontan himself wrote that the dialogues were drawn from conversations that I had had while in [North America] with a certain Wyandot to whom the French have given the name of Rat. Kandiaronks name means rat and thats what the French sometimes called him. (Its worth noting that rats were recent arrivals from Europe and had a different significance for Native Americans.) Dialogues The dialogues begin with a conversation on Christianity. Kandiaronk took a dim view of the idea that just one of the worlds hundreds of religions might offer a chance at salvation. He offered that the Great Spirit endowed us with minds as capable of telling good from bad as up from down, so that we can, and with precision, figure out sound rules of justice and wisdom, a sentiment that fit right in with the rationalist approaches to religion that were becoming more common in Europe. He said it made sense for those who have Christianity imprinted on their imaginations to believe but saw no reason to do so himself. He reserved his sharpest critiques for Europes society. He castigated its punitive legal system (What species of creature must Europeans be that they have to be forced to do good and only refrain from evil out of fear of punishment). He argued that European systems of money and property rights had fundamentally warped their participants (I have spent six years reflecting on the state of European society and I still cant think of a single way they act thats not inhuman, and I genuinely think this can only be the case as long as you stick to your distinctions of mine and thine). And he argued that abandoning those systems would usher in a leveling equality, one of the qualities the Wyandot believed fundamental to being human. The idea of equality as a desirable goal would not have been particularly familiar to early 18th century Europeans. Kandiaronk's signature on the Great Peace of Montreal. Impact One place where scholars disagree is on how much these particular arguments in this particular book matter for the upheavals in European political thought that came later. Graeber and Wengrow argue that they matter quite a lot, noting that Lahontans work was widely translated and his dialogues with Adario were widely imitated. Over the first half of the 18th century, they say, those works introduced Europes reading public to the notion that liberty and equality were pretty compelling propositions. Anyone whos read the Declaration of Independence is familiar with one of the eventual outcomes of that sort of thinking. Others are skeptical. David Bell, a Princeton University historian, called attributing so much influence to a single work of uncertain authenticity perilously close to scholarly malpractice, noting that the idea of equality has a far longer tradition in Europe, in Christian thought in particular. University of Paris historian Justin E.H. Smith remained unconvinced that Lahontan was faithfully recounting Kandiaronks ideas, but added that looking to such works as a reflection of European encounters with Native Americans was better than dismissing them outright. I think they overstate their case at times, said Eric Schliesser, a political science professor at the University of Amsterdam, and I think this is partly because they seem a bit blind to the fact that Christianity itself has a rather radical egalitarian tradition. But he added that Graeber and Wengrow are undeniably right that indigenous thought has not been properly internalized in the narratives of early modern, European and American political philosophy. So calling attention to that is really important. The Great Peace of Montreal In 1701, 39 native tribes came together in Montreal to negotiate a peace treaty with the French. It was an impassioned speech by Kandiaronk that convinced the last holdouts to ratify an agreement. Exhausted and sick, he died the following day. Among other things, the Great Peace of Montreal cleared the way for the founding of Detroit. Lloyd Divine is a tribal historian for the Wyandotte Nation in Oklahoma. In January, he began a series of public presentations on the history of the tribe. It started with Kandiaronk. He is probably one of the greatest chiefs that we as a people have ever had, Divine said. Weve had great chiefs since but, at the time in which he was serving the people, it took a man of incredible strength such as Kandiaronk in order to keep the nation alive. WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI -- Sit back, relax and prepare to find good glass of whiskey in a variety of places in and around Ann Arbor. Plenty of bars in Ann Arbor and other communities in Washtenaw County offer extensive whiskey menus, whether you want to try a new whiskey or just enjoy a night filled with the drinks smooth, warming flavors. Here are five great places to enjoy a glass of whiskey in and around Ann Arbor. The International whiskey flight, featuring Writers Tears irish whiskey, Nobushi Japanese whiskey, Basil Haydens rye bourbon and Aberlour scotch at Mash, 400 River St. in Ypsilanti on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022.Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News Mash Whiskey lovers can find their perfect glass at Mash. The bourbon, whiskey and beer bar has two locations at 211 E. Washington St. in Ann Arbor and at 400 N. River St. in Ypsilanti. Both spots feature live music, a range of handcrafted cocktails and, of course, plenty of whiskey options to choose from. Mashs hours at its Ann Arbor location are 6 p.m. to midnight on Thursday and 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday through Saturday. Find it online, on social media or by phone at 734-222-4095. The Ypsilanti location is open 6 p.m. to midnight Thursday and 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday through Saturday. Learn more about it online, on social media or by phone at 734-441-6200. Read more: Ready for Mardi Gras? The Sazerac at Ypsilantis Mash is the perfect way to get started The Last Word Customers can find bourbon, Scotch, rye and other kinds of whiskeys available in either a 1-ounce tasting pour or a 2-ounce sipping pour at this Ann Arbor cocktail and whiskey bar. We like to give our customers the option of trying all that our whiskey collection has to offer without going bankrupt or ending up under the table, The Last Words menu states. Those looking for a bite to eat to pair with their beverage can explore The Last Words menu filled with options like Creole gumbo, short rib poutine, venison sliders and chicken and waffles. The Last Word, 301 W. Huron St. is open 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday to Thursday and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Find it online, on social media or by phone at 734-585-5691. Read more: This Ann Arbor speakeasy has The Last Word on imaginative cocktails The SMores Kentucky Bourbon at Ugly Dog Distillery, 218 S. Main St. in downtown Chelsea, on Thursday, June 3, 2021. The distillerys SMores Kentucky Bourbon won Best in Class and the double gold medal at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.J. Scott Park | MLive.com Ugly Dog Distillery Ugly Dog Distillery in Chelsea is a combination of an in-house distillery and tasting room that offers a wide variety of Kentucky bourbons to choose from with flavor options like peanut butter, salted caramel, Michigan cherry, peach and smores. Related: Michigan distillery gives campfire treat an adult twist with SMores bourbon Ugly Dog Distillery, 218 S. Main St. in Chelsea, is open noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Learn more online, on social media or 734-433-0433. Babs Underground Babs Underground has a whole list of whiskey options available, along with beers, wine and a range of cocktails. Customers can find bourbon, rye and imported whiskeys from places including Scotland, Ireland and Japan. Babs, 213 S. Ashley St., is open 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday. Find it online, on social media or by phone at 734-997-0800. Fox River Michigan Whiskey sits on display at the Ann Arbor Distilling Co. Wednesday, June 19 2019. The new whiskey was launched by the company on June 14. Ann Arbor Distilling Company Ann Arbor Distilling Company has been creating its line of Fox River whiskeys for a few years. It has options including bourbon, rye whiskey and even a Michigan whiskey thats a blend of four Michigan grains filtered with cherrywood charcoal. The business prides itself on using ingredients sourced in Michigan for its vodkas, gins, and other alcoholic beverages. Related: Ann Arbor Distilling Co. releases new Michigan Whiskey Ann Arbor Distilling Co., at 220 Felch St., is open 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday, 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 2 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Find the business online, on social media or by phone at 734-882-2169. Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. More great places in Ann Arbor: 5 great Mediterranean, Middle Eastern restaurants around Ann Arbor 5 great diners to check out in Ann Arbor 5 great Mexican restaurants around Ann Arbor 5 great dive bars to check out around Ann Arbor 5 great places in Ann Arbor to dine and drink with your dog 5 great places to get a beer in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get a cookie in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get a frozen treat in Ann Arbor 5 great places to sip on bubble tea in Ann Arbor 5 great Ann Arbor spots to watch March Madness action 5 great spots for seafood in Ann Arbor 5 great restaurants for Italian food in Ann Arbor 5 great places to find candy and chocolate in Ann Arbor 5 great pastry shops in Ann Arbor 5 great spots for Indian cuisine in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get a midnight snack in Ann Arbor 5 great Ann Arbor restaurants that opened in 2022 5 great places to get pizza in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get a burger in Ann Arbor 5 great spots for brunch in Ann Arbor 5 great hidden gem restaurants in Ann Arbor 5 great spots for breakfast in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get plain or hard cider in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get a sandwich in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get soup in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get a salad in Ann Arbor 5 great walkable coffee shops in downtown Ann Arbor 5 great places to play trivia (almost) every night of the week in Ann Arbor 5 great places for poutine in Ann Arbor 5 great places for meals under $10 in Ann Arbor 5 great places to try a brew and something new in Ann Arbor 5 great places to try chicken wings in Ann Arbor 5 great places to get macarons in Ann Arbor Californian politicians are loud and proud as self-appointed leaders of clean energy. They just forget to add that, officially, they fail to take CO2 emissions into account when importing substantial electricity from other states. Truth be told, the Golden State generously pays its neighbors to do the dirty job for it. Small wonder that Californians scream every time they get their energy bills. They should hold the politicians' feet to the fire on the abovesaid accounting issue. Money can't buy love---or truth. Green dreamers are bound to be in for a rude awakening. by ANN ARBOR, MI - Inside an imposing brick county government building in downtown Ann Arbor, clients have shattered windows, set off a fire extinguisher and exchanged blows in the lobby incidents that led to fear among some employees and sparked an investigation from Michigan workplace safety inspectors. In at least one case, a client at the facility used for Washtenaw County Community Mental Health services punched a case worker and threatened to stab a police officer with a pen. Other employees reported death threats to police and elevated their own safety concerns. Thats according to an MLive/The Ann Arbor News review of some 400 pages of police reports, emails, union grievances and case files from the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration, many obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Violent incidents at the county annex building bubbled up in the summer of 2022 to a degree not observed in the past, the documents show, with employees and administrators pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as a cause. The MIOSHA investigation just the second at a Washtenaw County facility in the past decade found no violation of workplace safety regulations, though county officials say theyve implemented a barrage of training and security updates in response to employee concerns. No incidents have resulted in injuries to employees at the annex, where clients include people on court-ordered treatment plans for psychiatric issues, according to Community Mental Health Director Trish Cortes. That can mean working with people in a state of mental health crisis, she said. I think whats important to remember in this whole conversation is we are a mission-driven organization, and we are the safety net for individuals that no one else will serve. So the folks that we serve there, the question is if not us, then who? Cortes said. Incidents at historic county annex building not fine, employee says The location of mental health services in the county annex building on Fourth Avenue, built in 1904 as a YMCA, is no accident. Its in an urban core close to public transportation, as well as shelters and resources used by those experiencing homelessness, Cortes said. Its open to the public intentionally as a warm and welcoming space for clients, Cortes said. While the building isnt a day shelter, it is one of few available public indoor spaces in the area, especially as COVID shuttered other locations, she said. Its never been incident-free, Cortes said, but the pandemic brought with it a notable increase in the severity and complexity of patients conditions. In early June 2022, a nurse reported a client in crisis using slurs to address her and threatening to stab her in the eyes, according to a union grievance and police records. The next week, two clients in the lobby fought, with one knocking the other onto the ground and stomping on him, leading to a bloodied face and a 911 call, a police report shows. On July 1, an employee at the annex took concerns to MIOSHA. Violence, threats, assaults (verbal and physical), violent destruction of property, loitering have all increased over the past few months. Workers throughout the building have stated concerns to management and received no satisfactory resolution. The management believes that this is fine because its mental health, however its NOT FINE, read the complaint. The next week, the agency opened an investigation. Inspector documents property damage, verbal assault as officials make changes In July 2022, a workplace safety inspector paid a visit to the annex building. The MIOSHA official interviewed employees and administration, spoke with union leaders and snapped a photographs, including a window pane spider-webbed with cracks after being kicked by a client, documents show. A photo included with a Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection report of the Washtenaw County annex building at 110 North Fourth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor show a broken window.Captured from MIOSHA documents The inspector recorded instances of clients punching holes in the drywall and hitting plexiglass partitions in the lobby. But the officials report also notes all parties agreed there were no serious injuries that should have been recorded. Regarding violence, threats, assaults, there have been minimal cases with most being verbal assault, the report states. Changes were already in motion at the building. Officials installed a security guard on the first floor and changed staffing models to include more Community Mental Health workers posted in the entry area, County Administrator Gregory Dill said. Since, stairwells have been locked down, seven new key card readers have been installed and an accessible ramp entrance locked with a doorbell in place, he said. Employees have also undergone mandatory training on workplace violence, which is continuing with a longer series on a wellness scale that workers can use to identify and respond to people with heightened behavior, according to Cortes. Theres a lot thats gone on to listen to these employees and get things in place, she said. The Washtenaw County Annex building, 110 N 4th Ave. in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com Further security upgrades in the pipeline for county annex In a Sept. 29, 2022 letter, MIOSHA informed Washtenaw County it was closing its inspection without issuing any citations. Due to an observed increase in client-related incidents and situations involving violence in the workplace, we encourage you to supplement your existing training curriculum with industry recognized training in de-escalation practices and techniques, the agency recommended. Some employees still have concerns about how outbursts from clients are being handled at the annex, said Mary Campbell, president of AFSCME Local 2733, a union representing some county workers. There are those that are feeling that low morale issue because they feel like their employer is not protecting them or thinking about them first before the consumer, she said. Meanwhile, county officials say they havent stopped working to improve security at the building. The first-floor area will receive upgraded ballistic material built into counters at reception areas this fall, while a building-wide emergency duress system is slated to go in this summer, Dill said. Officials are also expanding the annexs surveillance system with six new cameras, the county administrator said, noting the upgrades have all been budgeted for and are in process. Were tried really hard to make sure that we continue to communicate to our workforce and our residents, those that visit our spaces, that safety and security of staff and visitors is paramount for us, he said. Cortes acknowledges the historic building, while well situated, may not be ideal for the services Community Mental Health is providing. As the county works on a comprehensive evaluation of its buildings, a change could be possible in the future, she said. For us, theres just a delicate balance because we are the safety net provider, we are it when it comes to helping these individuals, and yes they might be coming to our building on their worst day, she said. So how do we continue to provide services to those that really need them, but then also balance that with making sure that its a safe place for everyone? Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. More from The Ann Arbor News: Washtenaw County leaders set goals, from creating housing commission to building rec center 1,000-plus beds, coffee shop included in new Ann Arbor high-rise plan Transportation issues continue to plague Ypsilanti schools, frustrate parents Regents spar for 1st time in public with striking University of Michigan grad workers MT. MORRIS TWP., MI At least one person is dead following a shooting at a Mt. Morris Township hotel early Sunday morning, police said. Mt. Morris Township Police Chief Michael Veach told MLive/The Flint Journal Sunday, May 21, that at least one person died following an early-morning shooting at Baymont Inn, 4160 Pier N Blvd. No victim or suspect information was provided or additional details regarding the circumstances. Officials added that officers were called to the hotel around 3:22 a.m. Sunday. Additional information was not immediately available. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Read more at The Flint Journal: Flint police Captain Collin Birnie added to law enforcement memorial in Washington, D.C. Shiawassee County Sheriff Doug Chapman announces bid for re-election Backlog at forensic center delays case of man accused in fatal Flint shooting Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Parents and teachers on Saturday called for Grand Rapids Public Schools to increase school security and add more mental health experts districtwide, in the aftermath of four incidents where students brought guns into school. More than 20 people shared their concerns and asked questions at a two-hour public safety forum the district held Saturday, May 20 at GRPS University, 1400 Fuller Ave. NE. GRPS mom Wafa Adib-Lobo urged the district to use a combination of physical security infrastructure like weapons detections tools, in addition to mental and emotional supports to deter students from resorting to violence. Related: Grand Rapids superintendent wants parents to weigh in on guns and school safety at forum Adib-Lobo, who has kids in seventh, ninth and 11th grade at GRPS, said families are in constant fear for students safety. As a parent, I am petrified, because when I drop my kids at school, I dont have a sense of security and peace, Adib-Lob said. I hear every day how scared students are. My children are coming home and telling me that they have friends and that they have designated hiding places to school. Several teachers also said they fear for their safety at school. Michaela Krull, a teacher at Grand Rapids Montessori, said she feels the district isnt moving quickly enough to implement basic safety measures in every building. I have felt unsafe in our buildings, with this specific incident that happened, Krull said, referring to recent incidents where guns were brought into schools at GRPS. I dont understand why there is a delay in any fashion to take this very simple step towards some basic upgrades to make our buildings secure. I am overwhelmed, and safety can be a real basic thing that you could make happen immediately, while were implementing these systemic changes to our education system. GRPS has had a total of four separate incidents this school year where a student brought a gun - loaded and unloaded - into a school building. District leaders say it is the most guns confiscated in an academic year. The most recent incident happened at Stocking Elementary School on May 10, when a third grader brought a loaded gun to school, prompting a backpack ban on May 11 to further prevent other incidents. There has been both support and criticism of the ban. Related: Backpack ban isnt solution to guns at schools, Grand Rapids parents and students say One week before that, on May 3, a 7-year-old brought a gun to Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School. Prosecutors have since announced misdemeanor and felony charges this week against the mother of the child and the mothers fiancee. The first two incidents both happened at Burton Middle School the first in October, when a student brought an unloaded gun to school, and then in January when another student brought a loaded gun to school. Parents called for metal detectors and got them in March. Several people spoke both for and against installing metal detectors in schools. Some said metal detectors could make schools feel like prisons rather than feeling like a positive environment for learning. But Leticia Torres, a mom of two boys at Burton Middle School, said she would rather have the schools feel like a prison and have students be safe, rather than risking a weapon entering the schools and harming someone. Torres was a vocal advocate for Burton Middle School having metal detectors installed after a second student brought a loaded gun into the building. Related: Im afraid for my boys lives: Mom pleads for metal detectors at school where loaded gun was found Imagine, God forbid, having to sit down with your child and console them because of the fact that there was no safety procedure put in place, and a gun was brought into a school and a tragedy happened, she said. Erica Ham, a GRPS staff member and parent, said there is a fear among school staff about facing retaliation from the district if they speak out about safety concerns. She urged the district to create an anonymous staff survey where teachers and staff can speak freely about their concerns. Brian Paul, the father of two GRPS students and husband of a GRPS teacher, echoed those concerns. A lot of teachers that I know are afraid of speaking up on this topic, he said. GRPS Superintendent Leadriane Roby said there will not be any retaliation against teachers or staff who speak up about safety. We want to make sure that we are able to have tough conversations, and I think part of a healthy system is when you can have constructive conversations, give-and-take with others around whats working, whats not working, and then what can we do to make some improvements, Roby said in a media scrum following Saturdays forum. Larry Johnson, GRPS chief of staff and executive director of school safety, led the forum alongside school safety expert Jason Russell, the founder and president of Secure Education Consultants. GRPS has the opportunity to invest around $1 million in state grant funding into the districts security systems, Johnson said. Part of the requirement for that funding is GRPS must gather feedback from the community on how to spend those dollars, Johnson explained Saturday. Grand Rapids-based Secure Education Consultants is helping GRPS conduct a districtwide buildings assessment, which will include an analysis on the districts physical security infrastructure and staffing levels as well as its mental health programs to address the root causes of school violence. Jason Russell, founder and president of Secure Education Consultants, said GRPS isnt alone in dealing with the challenges of keeping schools safe and secure while also making them a positive environment for learning. Every school district across the country is facing very similar challenges, and those challenges are related to, How do we educate kids, how do we keep our facilities as collaborative open learning environments but also in certain safety and security where its appropriate? he said. I think thats such an important piece is to make sure that were not only respecting the safety and security of the children but also respecting their ability to be educated in a place where they not only feel safe but are safe. GRPS school board president Kimberley Williams said creating a comprehensive safety plan for a district as large as GRPS will take some time. She urged the community to have patience as school administrators work to address such a complex and multifaceted issue. We understand its not perfect; it will not be perfect, Williams said. We are just human people trying to address problems that are societal, that show up in our schools, and so until we are in a position to address all of those societal things, its going to be a part of our continued work, and how can we make that work and have the impact that we would want it to have. Im always concerned about that. School board members Sara Melton, Katherine Downes Lewis, Jen Schottke, Jordoun Eatman and Aarie Wade were also in attendance Saturday. After the May 10 incident at Stocking, the GRPS school board passed a resolution on Monday, May 15, allowing Roby to start sending information home to families about how to store guns safely. The resolution declared gun violence as a public health crisis and asked city officials to support a similar ordinance and promote gun safety education. A dozen parents had called for a similar resolution in March. State Reps. Kristian Grant, D-Grand Rapids, a former GRPS school board member, and Carol Glanville, D-Walker, a former educator, gave remarks at Saturdays forum. They both spoke about the states recent passage of gun law reforms. Reporting intern Liz Nass contributed to this article. More on MLive: Grand Rapids plans to ask district voters for $305M bond to improve school facilities 2-year-old boy shot and killed at Kentwood apartment complex Muskegon Promise lowers GPA requirements, expanding eligibility to hundreds of students HOLLAND, MI --Police are investigating the death of a teenager in the 100 block of East 17th Street, the Holland Department of Public Safety said Sunday, May 21. Police and firefighters responded before 2 a.m. to the residence on a report of a suicide and found a deceased 17-year-old male. The incident is being treated as suspicious in nature due to numerous individuals being present in the home at the time, police said. The investigation is ongoing. Police did not immediately respond to a request for more information. Anyone who has information related to this investigation is asked to contact the Holland Department of Public Safety at 616-355-1150 or email investigators at policetips@cityofholland.com. Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact Silent Observer by calling 1-877-887-4536, texting OCMTIP and a message to 274637 or you may go online and submit a tip using the online form at www.mosotips.com. Also on MLive: 2-year-old boy shot and killed at Kentwood apartment complex Grand Rapids parents, teachers call for more security, mental health experts after 4 gun incidents Why a downtown Kalamazoo park has nearly 1,000 giant portraits of kids MUSKEGON, MI Miss Michigan is coming home to the Frauenthal. After a temporary venue change for last years competition, the 2023 Miss Michigan Scholarship Program is returning this year to the iconic Frauenthal Center in downtown Muskegon, where the competition has been held since the 1950s. MUSKEGON, MI Three years after high water destroyed stairs to Muskegons Lake Michigan dog beach, the city is struggling to find the $1 million needed to replace them. City officials are awaiting word on state funding, and in the meantime another summer will pass without stairs or a ramp to access the popular beach. The stairs and handicap-accessible ramp at Kruse Park were removed in 2020 after erosion caused by high lake levels made them unsafe. Once the water receded, the city solicited public input and design plans to replace the beach access in 2021. But little has happened since because of a delay by the state of Michigan is setting up a grant program to help communities impacted by the high water, said Muskegon Public Works Director Dan VanderHeide. The money for the program had been set aside in 2021, he said. The $14.25 million 2023 High Water Infrastructure Grant Program was established last September, with funding applications due at the end of November. The city of Muskegon submitted a grant proposal for $700,000, but it doesnt know the status of that request, VanderHeide told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. We have not heard back despite asking many, many times, VanderHeide said. Renderings and cost estimates for a new structure were obtained by the city in February 2022 from MCSA Group of East Grand Rapids. The estimated cost to replace the stairs and ramp was $1.04 million, VanderHeide said, adding that the estimate will need to be updated. If the city is awarded the funding, it would provide an estimated match of $344,000, he said. VanderHeide is hopeful funding is awarded this year. If it is, he anticipates a two-phase construction period this fall and next spring to avoid the busy season. Without the stairs and ramp, access to the beach primarily has been from the northern end of the beach known to locals as the curve closer to the adjacent Pere Marquette beach. But some have been bypassing the closed section of stairs to get to the beach, leading to concern about erosion. Want more Muskegon area news? Bookmark the local Muskegon news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Muskegon daily newsletter. Also on MLive NAACP to march in Memorial Day parade after Muskegon committee reverses ban Muskegon Promise lowers GPA requirements, expanding eligibility to hundreds of students Parade will be part of this years Muskegon Pride Festival in downtown BAY CITY, MI - No one was injured in a fire that swept through a home in Bay Citys South End last week. On Friday, May 19, Bay City Department of Public Safety units were dispatched around 8:45 a.m. to 1121 Cass Avenue for a report of a structure fire. Upon arrival, crews were met with heavy smoke and flames coming from a second-story window. BCDPS units made an offensive attack on the fire at first before switching to a defensive position, according to the department. Crews then began overhaul activities once the fire was extinguished. During the fire, a portion of Cass Avenue was closed from Garfield to Fitzhugh to allow crews to work the scene safely. There were no civilian or first responder injuries reported, said the department. BCDPS received mutual aid from the Hampton and Portsmouth Township Fire Departments. The American Red Cross was contacted to assist the residents, according to BCDPS. The incident is currently under investigation by the Fire Marshall. Want more Bay City- and Saginaw-area news? Bookmark the local Bay City and Saginaw news page or sign up for the free 3@3 daily newsletter for Bay City and Saginaw. Read more from MLive Crews respond to house fire in Bay Citys South End Police investigating vulgar graffiti along Railtrail, Carroll Park in Bay City Memorial Day travel woes: US-10 ramp in Bay County closed Fire ravages businesses, apartments in Bay Citys Midland Street Business District Fryer fire closes Old Town Saginaw McDonalds 2023 Bay City Youth Leadership Academy applications now open Must-watch: The MLive video team and politics reporter Jordyn Hermani spent weeks tracing the impact and spread of efforts to ban books from libraries throughout Michigan. They efforts translated into a project thats well worth your time to watch. This is your guide to Michigan politics. The 14-minute documentary centers on the books, librarians, parents and activists who have found themselves on either sides of increasingly acrimonious debates around what materials should be available to what readers in Michigans libraries. You can also read Jordyns write-up of their reporting and her interview with the author of the graphic novel Gender Queer, Maria Kobabe. The coming-of-age memoir was thrust into the national spotlight and the widespread ire of conservative parent groups for its focus on the authors nonbinary identity and brief passages with sexual themes. It has since become one of the most banned books in the U.S. As a bonus, theres a list of books that have been recently banned in Michigan schools. The budget gets a (mostly) green light Policymakers were provided a mixed, but largely positive message from Fridays Revenue Consensus Estimating Conference, a meeting of a fiscal triumvirate to decide just how much money they think the state will have to work with in the near future. Following the last forecast in January, analysts said taxes cut and credits expanded by democrats would drop revenue about $1 billion by the end of this year, and by $2 billion the year after. Democrats have been able to craft the outlines of an initial budget under the premise of a record $9 billion surplus, but Fridays news means there may have to be some trimming in some of the long list of projects theyve championed. It also showed there may be more economic turbulence on the horizon: economists from the University of Michigan noted an economic downturn is likely coming toward the end of this year, but the ongoing demand for new cars means the states auto industry could help soften the impact if a recession arrives. Fired for getting an abortion? Thats now illegal. The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act was broadened last Wednesday to include workplace discrimination protections for Michigan workers who receive abortions, under legislation signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this past Wednesday. Michigans civil rights law had already provided protections for employees contending with pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, but had an explicit exception for people who received elective abortions. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, removed that exception and included the termination of a pregnancy as a category protected from discrimination for any employment-related purpose. A new alternative for conservatives Since the Michigan Republican Party adopted new leadership in February, there have been grumblings and rumblings behind the scenes about how some Republicans, repulsed by the new turn, might stay politically involved Consultant Jeff Timmer, a onetime executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, is looking to offer one by launching the Common Sense Party. Were concerned about the rise of extremism and the attack on free and fair elections, Timmer told MLives Ben Orner. Hes been a longtime antagonist of former President Donald Trump and has consulted for Democratic candidates since leaving his former party. They dont intend to field their own candidates. Timmer would like to bring fusion voting back to Michigan so the Common Sense Party could endorse candidates, Republican and Democrat, for the ballot. Building bi-national EV infrastructure Whitmer has made promoting all things electric vehicles from attracting factories that produce EV parts to offering tax credits to buy them a key part of governorship. That campaign took on another facet last Tuesday, when she joined U.S. and Canadian officials to announce a line of EV charging stations to cross-border travel sans tailpipe emissions. The corridor consists of 860 miles of highway stretching from Kalamazoo to Quebec City, Justin Hicks reports. As we all know, there is nothing more Pure Michigan than accidentally driving into Canada, Whitmer quipped at the announcement. She promised charging options will be abundant. Legislative action The Senate passed a bill to make Juneteenth a holiday marking the end of slavery in the U.S. an official state holiday 37-1. The only no vote came from Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, Democrats are using their legislative minorities to undo a law passed in the twilight of the administration of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. It prevents Michigan from adopting environmental regulations more strict that those set by the federal government. The Senate passed a repeal along party lines Wednesday. Inland hunting and sport fishing guides in Michigan would have to obtain a license and submit species harvest reports under resurrected legislation that conservation groups have been pushing for years. Rep. Helena Scott, D-Detroit, announced a task force is being established to further look into what can be done to bolster the reliability of the state electrical grid, following yet another series of extended outages following ice storms earlier this year. The lawmakers didnt go into detail about what might be on the table in terms of policy interventions. More political coverage from MLive Homeless youth need increased access to housing, medical care, Michigan reps say Blurred faces, virtual impact statements highlight crime victim rights bills 25 Michigan ZIP codes that have donated the most to Trump 2024 New criminal charges claim former Genesee County Clerk converted campaign donations to legal defense fund Michigan House bills would strengthen unions political fundraising Editors note: The list of banned books from PEN America was tracked from January to June of 2022. Some of these books may be back on shelves pending investigations. When it comes to banned books in public schools, Michigan sits toward the middle-to-back of the pack according to new data from PEN America. The nonprofit tracked school book bans the 2022-23 school year, finding that from July to December 2022 there were 1,477 instances of individual books banned, affecting 874 unique titles. It was a slight increase from the data PEN tracked from January to June of 2022, where it recorded 1,149 instances of book banning. These bans occurred in 37 states, including Michigan, and occur mostly to books by or about people of color or LGBTQ individuals. PEN America found across its six month data collection period that 30% of the unique titles banned across the country touch on race or racism while another 26% feature LGBTQ characters or themes. RELATED: Outright war: Gender Queer and the attack on Michigan libraries The organization defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished. Their data also details whether the books are currently banned for the school year in both school libraries and classrooms, solely banned from classrooms, solely banned from libraries or banned pending investigation. The list is not meant to be exhaustive, with PEN America noting the full impact of the book ban movement is greater than can be counted, as wholesale bans are restricting access to untold numbers of books in classrooms and school libraries. It also does not include banning decisions from 2023, including the decision to ban Gender Queer: A Memoir from Kalamazoo Countys Galesburg-Augusta Schools and remove Jarhead a memoir from a Marine who fought in the Gulf War from Hudsonville Public Schools in Ottawa County. The data presented here is limited. The true magnitude of book banning in the 2022-23 school year is unquestionably much higher, the organizations 2023 report reads. PEN Americas researchers continue to discover books banned in the previous year, thus our reporting may not be comprehensive of all books removed from access during the six-month reporting period. Books are often removed silently and not reported publicly or validated through Public Records Requests RELATED: How Maia Kobabes life story became the most banned book in America In the interest of Michigan, most of the bans are outright and apply to both the school and a classrooms library. Good new, however: Its not as bad as it could be. The state reported 18 book bans across five school districts; by comparison, the state with the most bans Texas, followed by Florida reported 438 bans across seven districts and 357 bans across 13 districts, respectively. With respect to Michigan, there are 16 unique titles banned between Davison Community Schools, Dearborn Public Schools, Portage Public School, Spring Lake Public Schools and St. Joseph Public Schools. One of the banned novels, Push, by Sapphire, is banned in three of the districts Davison, Dearborn and Portage which is what brings PEN Americas banned book tally to 18, as the organization tracks bans both by overall number and by unique title. The remaining banned books (from when the data was published) across those five district include: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Saenz Birthday, by Meredith Russo Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook: Somatic Skills to Help You Feel Safe in Your Body, Create Boundaries, and Live with Resilience, by Erika Shershun Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, by Ijeoma Oluo Push, by Sapphire Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky We Are Okay, by NIna LaCour All Boys Arent Blue, by George M. Johnson Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell Flamer, by Mike Curato Red, White, and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold This Book Is Gay, by Juno Dawson Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe What Girls Are Made Of, by Elana K. Arnold More from MLive Gender Queer graphic memoir banned by a Kalamazoo County school district Upset with Michigans power outages? Lawmakers want to hear from you. Michigan bans discrimination against employees who undergo abortions Juneteenth one step closer to becoming Michigan holiday Michigan House bills would strengthen unions political fundraising GAYLORD, MI One year ago, a deadly tornado touched down in northern Michigan for twenty-two minutes. It didnt take long for the destructive tornado to cut through 18 miles, and even less to ravage Gaylord flattening homes, destroying businesses and nearly leveling a mobile home park. Two people died and 44 others were injured in the EF3 twister on May 20, 2022. Destruction, said Shannon Gagnon, a 54-year-old resident who survived with her son in the mobile home park hit hardest by the storm. (It was) destruction like you see on TV. John Boris, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Gaylord, recalls the moment when the tornado touched down at 3:35 p.m. about 10 miles southwest of town. It hit Gaylord 11 minutes later at 3:46 p.m. RELATED: A tornado ravaged Gaylord in 3 minutes. The city is rebuilding a year later. It first struck Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park, where it upended homes and two people died. The Hobby Lobby, Jimmy Johns, Maurices, Goodwill and Little Caesars were next. Then the tornado ripped through a neighborhood north of downtown shifting homes off foundations and ripping holes in roofs before heading east out of town at 3:49 p.m. There was a bunch of places here, but now theyre gone, said Daryl Burns, a 60-year-old resident in Nottingham Forest. The tornado lifted at 3:57 p.m. about 8 miles northeast of Gaylord. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency by 10 p.m. Utility crews restored power within two days. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was on the ground assessing damage five days later. 50 1 / 50 Gaylord continues to feel impact from EF3 tornado that struck in 2022 The deadly twister was rare for Michigan but even rarer for northern Michigan, where a tornado of that strength has not touched ground since 1991. The last EF3 tornado EF5 is the strongest was recorded in Michigan 11 years ago in Dexter. And stronger F4 violent storms havent been seen since 1977. RELATED: Scars linger one year after deadly tornado struck Gaylord The staff at National Weather Service Gaylord, which roughly covers a region north of U.S. 10, spent the past year self-examining their storm surveys, how they communicated with the public and how they handled scrutiny from national media outlets. Boris said with future events, the agency will bring in extra staff more quickly to divvy up the workload. It only took three minutes for the storm to blow through town. But 12 months later, the rebuilding is ongoing. The days that followed saw a true community effort with hundreds of volunteers from near and far helping clear debris throughout Gaylord. I didnt see any Democrats. I didnt see any Republicans. I just saw people helping people, said Vic Oullette, a 75-year-old retired Shiawassee and Saginaw County sheriffs deputy and city councilor whose home was destroyed by the storm. We had people from all different churches, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, different groups, everybody was pitching in. RELATED: His dad built the house by hand in 1945. Then a tornado struck. His neighbor Dave Wenzel, 76, said the effort was truly tremendous with an all hands on deck mentality. As fast as they were hauling that stuff out here, the city was hauling it away, he said. The community effort was just a wonderful thing. MLive photojournalist Jake May was on site on year ago and returned on the same week of the anniversary to put readers in the same locations. His goal is to show us the vast differences and bear witness the change and recovery for the city and its residents. Scroll below to see 15 of the pairings we feel depicts drastic changes. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Gaylord resident Jerry Jault, 72, recovers boxes from a garage covered in roots, bushes, tree branches and debris as he helps his neighbor Chester Macowiak, also 72, amidst the devastating aftermath on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord after an EF3 tornado ripped through the small northern Michigan city. Now: What is left of the garage still stands in Chester Macowiaks driveway on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: At least two people died, both in their 70s, after a tornado touched down in Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park, seen here on Saturday morning, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord. An additional 44 injured after the May 20 natural disaster according to Michigan State Police. Now: Shannon Gagnon stands on the site where her house once stood on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord, nearly one year after a devastating EF3 tornado struck the northern Michigan city, killing two people and injuring 44 others. It also shattered houses, tore through businesses and left a lasting mark on the community of nearly 4,300 people. A block that used to be packed with houses now has driveways that lead to nowhere. Bright yellow dandelions dot the grass-covered area. Shards of debris are packed into the dirt. Fresh gravel is a sign new homes are on the way. Gagnon, 54, and her son Jakob, 24, fell to the floor wrapped in a blanket when the tornado barreled through Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park at 3:46 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Their house was still standing but damaged beyond repair a trailer frame thrust under the house, two additions destroyed and a gas pipe through the wall. In a second it can be gone, literally, said Gagnon. In a minute, our lives changed forever. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Alivia Zaremba, 16 of Gaylord, helps clear debris from the yard at the Ouellette house on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord after an EF3 tornado ravaged the small northern Michigan city. Now: A line of new tress will be planted this weekend along the streets in the neighborhood just north of downtown as seen on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord nearly one year after an EF3 tornado ripped through the small northern Michigan city. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Theodore McClure, 1-month-old, rests in the arms of his mother Rachel Hood and father Steven McClure while the trio remain at their home despite the devastation at Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park on Wednesday morning, May 25, 2022 in Gaylord, five days after an F3 tornado ripped through the city on May 20. Now: Theodore McClure, now 13 months old, rests in the arms of his mother Rachel Hood on the same porch on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. The family had repairs done on their home to fix the side paneling and repainted, all while watching half of the mobile home park cleared of debris and torn apart trailers. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Gaylord resident Stephanie Kerwin, center, holds her baby Octavius in one arm and dog Pixie in the other as she and her family carry what they could salvage from her home n Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park, seen here on Saturday morning, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord. At least two people died, both in their 70s, after a tornado touched down in Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park. An additional 44 injured after the May 20 natural disaster according to Michigan State Police. This morning is when it first hit me I could have lost people that I really love. I am so grateful, she said. Now: The street and yards have been mostly cleared of debris, and a few new homes have been built in their stead, seen here on May 16, 2023. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: An RV sits among the damages and aftermath from the tornado along M-32 on Saturday morning, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord. So far, two people are dead, and an additional 44 injured after the May 20 natural disaster, according to Michigan State Police. Now: A new RV sits in the same parking spot after the lot was cleared and reopened for owners to store their campers, seen here on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: More than two dozen community members pull together to clean up the devastating aftermath at the home of Steve and Theresa Haskes on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord after an EF3 tornado ripped through the small northern Michigan city. Now: Most of the debris is cleared from the backyard of Steve and Theresa Haskes property on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. Homes torn apart by the tornado have been mostly cleared and others repaired or replaced. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Erica Wescoat-Large, a lifelong Gaylord resident, picks up shards of glass piece by piece in her aunt Anna Jaruzels yard as community members pull together to clean up the devastating aftermath on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord after an EF3 tornado ripped through the small northern Michigan city. Now: Dandelions sprout up where shards of glass once stood in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods north of downtown Gaylord, as seen on May 16, 2023. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Michellee Goddard, 40 of Vanderbilt, helps her stepfather Charles Chuck Mills, 64, search for some of his and her mothers personal belongings in the shell of what was once their home in the devastated Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park on Wednesday morning, May 25, 2022 in Gaylord, five days after an F3 tornado ripped through the city on May 20. Now: A new home is nearly finished in the same location at Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. The recovery is still ongoing at Nottingham Forest, where nearly half the parks 74 homes are gone. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Gaylord resident Vic Ouellette, 74, moved into this house with his wife Connie in 1995. Hes a retired Shiawassee and Saginaw county deputy. The house was built by his dad, Vic Ouellette, in 1945. They huddled in the basement when the storm was hit and debris slammed into Connie from behind fracturing her vertebrae. Theres always been an Ouellette living here, he said. Its just terrible to see it. Its like watching a friend die. Now: Connie Ouellette smooches her husband Vic, 75, in the driveway of their newly built home on the same property on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. Connie returned home from the hospital, and the two moved in nearly six months ago, and are still learning the layout of the new home, and continue to rebuild their lawn, which is currently all dirt. It feels good to be back on the property. Our house was old, Connie said. Just planting that little bush out there and some bright little flowers put life on the property. I think (living through this tornado) brought everybody closer together. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: A flipped car sits upside down in the Culvers parking lot amidst the damages and aftermath from the tornado along M-32 on Saturday morning, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord. Now: Culvers has cleaned up the property and is operating in its regular capacity for customers on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: A large tree lays uprooted between two homes as community members pull together to clean up the devastating aftermath on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord after an EF3 tornado ripped through the small northern Michigan city. Now: New homes are being created where Jerry Speckmans house once stood as seen on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord nearly one year after an EF3 tornado ripped through the small northern Michigan city. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: Gaylord resident Jerry Speckmans home is torn up with windows blown out and the doors and roof blown away amid devastating aftermath on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord after an EF3 tornado ripped through the small northern Michigan city. Now: A new residence is being built on the same property, as crews work to build on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: The inside of Hobby Lobby on Saturday, May 21 after as an EF3 tornado ripped through M-32 on Friday in Gaylord. Now: A construction crew has fenced off the site of the former business complex, and works to rebuild on May 16, 2023 in Gaylord. (Jake May | MLive.com) Then: The location where the tornado touched down and delivered the most damage at Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park, seen here on Saturday morning, May 21, 2022 in Gaylord. Now: Most of the debris has been cleared and homes torn down and removed, as seen on May 16, 2023. The recovery is still ongoing at Nottingham Forest, where nearly half the parks 74 homes are gone. See more picture pairings, nearly 40, in our gallery above or click here. Read more from MLive.com: Drone footage from Gaylord neighborhoods devastated by rare EF3 tornado Up close: See new photos, video inside Gaylord mobile home park hit hardest by tornado Golfing, swimming, hiking: Gaylord tornado didnt stop outdoor tourism Watch video, see more photos of catastrophic damage from Gaylord tornado Pure panic. Gaylord residents share stories of devastating tornado Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. HIROSHIMA, Japan World leaders ratcheted up pressure Sunday on Russia for its war against Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the center of a swirl of diplomacy on the final day of the Group of Seven summit of rich-world democracies. Zelenskyy's in-person attendance at one of the world's premier diplomatic gatherings is meant to galvanize attention on his nation's 15-month fight against Russia. Even before he landed Saturday on a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow and hamper its war-fighting abilities. "Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today," he tweeted after his arrival. Ukraine is the overwhelming focus of the summit, but the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also are working to address global worries over climate change, AI, nuclear proliferation, poverty and economic instability. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on a host of issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would directly engage at the summit. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for what's seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Biden said Friday he'd agree to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, which lays the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Russias deputy defense minister, Alexander Grushko, accused Western countries of continuing along the path of escalation following the announcements that raised the possibility of sending the F-16s to Kyiv. Meanwhile, Russias defense ministry said early Sunday that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, seized the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the city is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. In an earlier video also posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control about midday Saturday. Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlin's press service as saying President Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, the city's Soviet-era name. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials about the latest claim. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the G7 summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the G7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. "The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor," he said. The G7 vowed to intensify the pressure. "Russia's brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace," the group said in a statement. China, the world's No. 2 economy, was another major focus of the meetings. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and were seeking "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Xun Hou, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea to completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology," the leaders statement said. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. Photos: President Biden at G7 summit in Japan Member of Parliament (MP) for the Old Tafo Constituency in the Ashanti Region Hon. Ekow Vincent Assafuah has donated 150 sleeping beds to the Osei Kyeretwie Senior High School (OKESS) at Tafo in the Old Tafo Municipality to enhance quality education in the area. At a short ceremony to hand over the beds to the school, held at the forecourt of the Old Tafo Municipal Assembly, the MP said the donation was in response to his pledge to support schools in the area to help improve education in the constituency as education is the key to success in recent times. Speaking in an interview with this reporter, Hon. Vincent Assafuah affectionately called Tafo Kufuor in the constituency stated that the donation forms part of his commitment and that of President Akufo- Addo to support the development of education in the Municipality and assured that many more would be donated in the near future. He pointed out that the Akufo- Addo led government had taken education as a major priority, hence the introduction of the Free SHS Education, which had reduced financial burden on parents and guardians. He therefore urged students of the OKESS to focus on their education as authorities are determined to make the most critical investments in their education. Citing himself as an example, Hon. Assafuah recalled how he had no hope of reaching to the top as accessibility to quality education and the needed logistics were not available to him during his school days. According to him, it took perseverance and Gods grace for him to reach where he is currently. There was no hope for some of us growing up and schooling in this area but today with hard work and grace of God we are rising, I dont want to see students in my Constituency go through the difficult times we experienced so whatever it takes for me to do to ensure that students in Old Tafo Constituency will get access to quality education is one of my topmost priority, he stated. Receiving the beds on behalf of the school, Director of Education in the Old Tafo Municipal Assembly, Mrs. Betty Drah expressed the Education Directorates sincere gratitude to the Old Tafo MP for his continuous support to education describing him as Messiah and savior to them. I want to say a big thank you to our caring and loving MP for what he has been doing for us since he took over. This is not the first or second time Hon. Assafuah has donated to us for several occasions and I must say we are lucky to have such a kind-hearted man as our MP, we very much grateful to him," she noted. Present at the ceremony were the Old Tafo MCE, Hon. Lord Inusah Lansah, Members of the Old Tafo Municipal Assembly, Education and other stakeholders in the Constituency. The MCE in a short speech however urged doubters and naysayers in the Municipality who have been on some media platforms demanding accountability of the usage of both the Assembly and MPs common fund to do so through the appropriate channel. Like my MP said earlier, those that have been asking what we use our common funds for, these beds are one of the answers for you but I want to advise that anyone who wants to know how and what we spend our common funds on should be bold and come to my office for clarification," he stated. Meanwhile Assemblyman for the Tafo Ahenbronum North electoral area who doubles as a board member of OKESS, Hon. Albert Twum (Pusher) described the donation as a timely intervention from the MP. According to him, during the Boards last meeting, issues of acquiring more beds for the school came which had become a headache but fortunately for them, Hon. Vincent Assafuah has taken away that burden. Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Friday demanded guarantees of his personal safety as a condition for attending his trial for alleged rape. Sonko is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday in a legal showdown that has sparked tensions in the West African country. His trial opened on May 16 but was immediately adjourned until May 23 after he failed to attend. "The day I am given guarantees, I will come to Dakar and on Tuesday I will be in court. If all the (security) conditions are met, I will be there," he said in an interview on television Friday night. In Dakar, the police "made me suffer violence, brutality. My house is barricaded and they tried to assassinate me," he said in the Wolof language, accusing the authorities. "I am chased everywhere. I was injured. My activists receive tear gas canisters or are arrested by the hundreds. The judicial institution must not be the armed wing of the executive to eliminate a presidential candidate" for the 2024 elections, he added. Sonko, president of the PASTEF-Patriots party, came in third in the 2019 election against incumbent Macky Sall, and intends to stand again next year. Sonko said he did not receive a summons for his trial over the alleged rape of an employee at a beauty salon where he went for a massage. The 48-year-old, who was also recently sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence for defamation and insults against the tourism minister, has denied the charge. He says the legal cases against him are a plot aimed at barring him from contesting the 2024 vote. Supporters of Sonko clashed with police on Monday and Tuesday in the southern city of Ziguinchor, where he is mayor. There was also unrest in the capital Dakar and elsewhere. Authorities reported three deaths but the connection with the clashes was not clear. Political tensions have also been stoked by Sall's refusal to rule out running for a third term as president, a move his opponents say would be unconstitutional. Senegal is traditionally a beacon of stability in troubled West Africa, but in recent years has been buffeted by turbulence that has at times turned deadly. When Sonko was arrested in 2021, several days of protests left at least 12 people dead. Air strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the country's warring generals kept up their struggle for control even as they agreed to a brief humanitarian pause. With heavy fighting raging in Khartoum, the rival sides struck a deal on a seven-day ceasefire beginning the evening of May 22, the United States and Saudi Arabia said Saturday in a joint statement after talks in Jeddah. The ceasefire "shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the agreement of both parties," it said. Multiple announced truces have been violated since fighting broke out five weeks ago, which the Saudi foreign ministry acknowledged in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency early Sunday. "Unlike previous ceasefires, the Agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," it said. It said subsequent talks "will focus on additional steps necessary to improve security and humanitarian conditions for civilians such as vacating forces from urban centers, including civilian homes, accelerating removal of impediments to the free movement of civilians and humanitarian actors, and enabling public servants to resume their regular duties." The power struggle between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), erupted into fighting on April 15. The conflict has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, and displaced more than one million. The United Nations has warned of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Africa's third-largest country, where one in three people already relied on aid before the war. Saturday's ceasefire announcement comes two weeks after representatives of the warring generals first gathered in Jeddah for talks. By May 11 they had signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid. But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told AFP on Thursday that there had been "important and egregious" violations of that agreement, which fell short of a ceasefire. Push for talks Fighter loyal to the regular army search a car without a licence plate in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. By - () On Friday, Burhan sacked Daglo, giving his title of vice president of the ruling Sovereign Council to former rebel leader Malik Agar, and appointed three allies to top jobs in the military. A former rebel leader who signed a peace deal with Khartoum authorities in 2020, Agar said in a statement Saturday he was determined to try to "end the war" and press for negotiations. He also addressed Daglo directly saying "Sudan's stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army". Integration of the RSF into the regular armed forces has been the main bone of contention between Daglo and Burhan. The force, which traces its origins to the notorious Janjaweed militia recruited in the early 2000s to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups in Darfur, is highly mobile but has a reputation for being ill-disciplined. Its fighters have been accused of widespread break-ins and looting, including at diplomatic missions and aid group offices. 'Maximum restraint' On Saturday, Qatar's embassy was the latest diplomatic mission to be attacked, drawing condemnation from Doha. "The embassy staff had previously been evacuated and... none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm," the ministry said. It renewed calls for "an immediate halt to the fighting". Bullet holes riddle the facade of the Malian consulate in Khartoum. By - () Qatar did not specifically identify Daglo's RSF as responsible but a statement from the pro-Burhan authorities put the blame squarely on the paramilitaries. The embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under assault in recent weeks. Saturday's attack came a day after Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Saudi Arabia urged Sudan's feuding generals to halt the fighting. Although the main fighting is being played out in Khartoum, the violence has also spread to the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, where the RSF has its roots. In South Darfur capital Nyala, fighting since Thursday has killed 22 people forcing civilians to flee for safer areas as shells crash on their homes, the bar association in Darfur has said. On Friday, the UN aid boss Griffith said he was allocating $22 million in emergency funds to help Sudanese fleeing the violence. The funds will help relief efforts in Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt and South Sudan where Sudanese have sought refuge, he said. The United States promised $103 million for Sudan and neighbouring countries to support displaced people. In a significant development, renowned author and human rights activist William Gomes has appealed to Saida Muna Tasneem, the Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the UK, and other high-ranking officials for intervention amid allegations of harassment under Bangladesh's Digital Security Act 2018. Gomes, who potentially faces charges under Section 21 of the Digital Security Act, is fighting for his right to free speech. The allegations are linked to his contentious poem, "Anti-State", and his critique of Bangladeshs International Crimes Tribunal on ABC Radio. His poem advocates for the burning of Bangladesh's red and green flag. This, coupled with his critique, are the reasons behind the potential charges. Despite the looming threat, Gomes has been proactive in reaching out to key Bangladeshi figures for intervention. Alongside High Commissioner Tasneem, he has written to Ms Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh; Professor Dr Gowher Rizvi, Adviser to the Prime Minister; the State Minister for Home Affairs; the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs; the State Minister for Foreign Affairs; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; the Attorney General for Bangladesh; the Ambassador at the Permanent Mission of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; and the Embassy of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh in Brussels, Belgium. In his appeal, Gomes emphasised the importance of freedom of speech, stating, "Writing a poem is not a crime. I believe that my critique of the tribunal was a rightful criticism, despite the potential dispute over its validity under the Digital Security Act." He further voiced his belief that his ongoing opposition to human rights violations has made him a target of undue harassment. As this case unfolds, it draws international attention to the potential misuse of legislation such as the Digital Security Act, and its impact on freedom of speech and human rights. Although Gomes remains outside Bangladesh in self-imposed exile, he continues to shed light on what he terms 'enforced censorship'. The international repercussions this case may have on freedom of speech and the broader human rights climate within Bangladesh make the responses of the Bangladeshi authorities to Gomes's appeal eagerly awaited. Gomes's appeal highlights a key area of contention in international human rights discourse: the balance between national security laws and the protection of individual liberties, such as freedom of speech and expression. The case involving Gomes, currently under investigation by Bangladeshi authorities, shines a spotlight on the broad and potentially far-reaching implications of the Digital Security Act 2018. The legislation, intended to ensure national security and maintain social order, has been criticised by human rights activists and international observers for potentially stifling dissent and curbing free speech. Gomes' predicament underlines the potential risks faced by journalists and writers who express their views in a public forum. "Even in exile, I find myself subjected to what I call 'enforced censorship'," said Gomes, expressing his concern over the international impact of the case on freedom of speech. In his plea to Saida Muna Tas Tasneem and other high-ranking officials, Gomes has urged an objective assessment of his work. He invited the officials to read his poem and form their own opinions, thereby advocating for a nuanced understanding of his stance. Gomes has also underscored his vulnerability, expressing fears over his inability to return safely to Bangladesh to defend himself should he face charges under the Digital Security Act 2018. He further highlighted the sensitivity of issues related to the national flag and national history, which might discourage legal representation in his defence. The author's appeal extends beyond his personal predicament, aiming to generate a broader dialogue on the potential misuse of legislation like the Digital Security Act and its implications for freedom of speech and human rights in Bangladesh. As the global community awaits responses from Bangladeshi authorities, Gomes' situation continues to draw attention to the complex interplay between national security, legislation, and fundamental human rights, particularly in the context of the rapidly changing digital landscape. This case serves as a potent reminder of the significant challenges faced in ensuring freedom of speech and the urgent need for dialogue and reform in this critical area. 21.05.2023 LISTEN Reports circulating that former District Chief Executive for Amansie Central in the Ashanti Region, Nana Kwame Asamoah Boateng was arrested by the Jacobu Police is fake and must be treated with the needed contempt it deserves. The Punch Newspaper has established that the politician was not arrested as reported earlier on some social media platforms and an Anwiankwanta based local radio station, Nkomo multimedia service. Information of the former DCE's purported arrest was announced on the airwaves of the above community radio station two weeks ago. According to Nkomo multimedia Service, Nana Asamoah Boateng was arrested by the Jacobu Police on May 3, 2023 for invading mining sites with imposter soldiers and extorting monies, harassing and stealing mining equipment from the miners. But a reliable source from the Jacobu Police has said the report was fake. The fact of the matter was that the former DCE is on record to have resisted illegal miners with police personnel from Jacobu on about three (3) occasions to the extent of causing their arrest and subsequently handing them over to the police. His operation last two weeks was not different from what he had been doing to flush out illegal miners from the area. Source told the The Punch Newspaper that the DCE was accosted by the Jacobu Police at Afoako junction together with three military officers from the 4BN in Kumasi when the DCE was returning from the mining sites where he flushed out illegal miners on that faithful day. Report indicated that, the DCE and his team managed to remove some parts of the excavators that were busily working at the said sites as evidence to the Jacobu Police. But the Jacobu Police confronted and invited the DCE to the station for interrogation on allegations of extorting monies and harassing miners according to intelligence gathered by the police. The DCE according to our source reported himself to the Police without hesitation. At the Jacobu Police Station, Nana Asamoah Boateng was not put behind bars as reported but decided to wait at the police station until the military officers were released because the Police were told that those soldiers were fake. The military officers were released to the 4BN officers by the Jacobu Police after it was established that those soldiers were genuine. We established after our investigation that, the whole arrest of the former DCE was a calculated attempt to tarnish his reputation because he had vowed to ensure that the Akwansra lands which is his family property is not destroyed by illegal miners. His routine operations to flush out 'galamseyers' on his family land was seen as a threat to those benefiting from the illegal mining activities. Report has it that the fake information aired by Nkomo multimedia has been retracted and a letter of apology signed by Portia Oppong, Programs Director of the radio station had been issued to the former DCE on May 10, 2023. The United Nations has called an emergency Security Council meeting on the fighting in Sudan, which has displaced an estimated one million people since it broke out a month ago. Nearly 850,000 people have been displaced internally and 250,000 have fled across Sudan's borders since fighting broke out between Sudan's military and a rival paramilitary force. More than half of Sudan's population is also in need of aid and protection, according to UN estimates. A spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan, Leni Kinzli, told RFI that fighting is still ongoing in the capital, Khartoum, where the conflict erupted. Nineteen million people could face hunger in the coming months, so the situation is extremely challenging, while it was already a disaster before the conflict, Kinzli said. For us, now, in terms of this Security Council meeting, the most important [outcome] is to ensure the security of our staff, so we can carry on our operations. WFP had to stop food distributions three weeks ago, then to relocate its staff to Port Sudan, on the Red Sea. They resumed food distribution from there two weeks ago. "But the fighting makes it very difficult to operate and the numbers of internally displaced people and refugees keep growing, Kinzli added. Deal The UN initiative comes as the warring factions signed an agreement on Saturday for a seven-day ceasefire. It will take effect at 9.45pm Khartoum time on Monday. The agreement will be enforced by a US-Saudi and international-supported monitoring mechanism, said a statement issued after the deal was signed. During the ceasefire, both sides will allow the distribution of humanitarian assistance and withdrawing forces from hospitals and essential public facilities. "It is past time to silence the guns and allow unhindered humanitarian access," said the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "I implore both sides to uphold this agreement the eyes of the world are watching." The UN's aid chief denounced breaches of an agreement by Sudan's warring parties last week to spare civilians and infrastructure and to let badly needed aid in. Martin Griffiths, heading OCHA's efforts in the region, told the French news agency AFP: "There are breaches of the declaration ... which are important and egregious, and which have happened since the signing." Aid for displaced people On Friday, the US promised just over 100 million euros for Sudan and neighbouring countries to support displaced people. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that a bout 220,000 people have fled from Sudan north to Egypt, or west to Chad, which borders Darfur, but also to South Sudan. Others have headed to Port Sudan, hoping to catch boats to Saudi Arabia. Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), announced the assistance on a visit to Chad, which is hosting more than 600,000 refugees, mostly from Sudan. Some 50 million euros of the total will be allocated to address needs inside Sudan, while around 22 million euros will go to South Sudan, 17 million to Chad and 6 million to Egypt. Humanitarian needs spiral Officials have recorded 676 deaths and more than 5,500 injuries, but the real toll is expected to be much higher. There have been reports of bodies left in the streets and people struggling to bury the dead. According to OCHA , almost 25 million people need help, compared to 15 million before the start of the conflict. The UN recently revised its 2023 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) as the conflict causes needs to spiral. Last week, the agencies said that the Sudan HRP now requires 2.36 billion euros to help 18 million people until the end of this year, an increase of 800 million from just a few months ago. On 23 May, the UN Security Council will also discuss the protection of civilians in armed conflict, food insecurity and protecting essential services. (with newswires) President Nana Akufo-Addo has described outgoing Chief Justice (CJ), His Lordship, Justice Anin-Yeboah, as an exceptional head of the third arm of government, the Judiciary. Speaking at a farewell dinner organized by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in honour of the Chief Justice, President Akufo-Addo said the tenure of Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah has been characterized by exceptional achievements which he hopes his successors will build on. Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah has been an exceptional leader to the judiciary. He has guarded jealously the judiciary and his conduct has brought honour to the judiciary and to our country. Not only has he continued with the modernisation of activities of the judiciary, but his tenure of office has also seen arguably the largest infrastructural development undertaken in the history of the judiciary, he remarked. The Chief Justice, Kwesi-Anin-Yeboah on his part thanked the President and the Ghana Bar Association for their support all these years. Im really grateful to the President and the GBA for supporting me all these while. I really appreciate it, the outgoing Chief Justice stated. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in April nominated Gertrude Araba Esabaa Torkornoo, a Justice of the Supreme Court, as the next Chief Justice of Ghana. Her nomination is subject to approval by Parliament. When approved by Parliament, Justice Torkornoo will replace Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, who retires as Chief Justice on May 24, 2023, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 for justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in April nominated Gertrude Araba Esabaa Torkornoo, a Justice of the Supreme Court, as the next Chief Justice of Ghana. Her nomination is subject to approval by Parliament. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has announced $300 million fund for African countries including Ghana. The Corporation announced that it is using its $300 million loan facility to Africa Data Centers (ADCs), Africa's largest network of interconnected data facilities, to construct a first-of-its-kind data centre in Ghana. The Ministry of Finance confined that Ghana was benefiting from this facility as a result of the renewed investor confidence in the economy due to the $3billion bailout approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Office of the Finance Minister tweeted Following the #IMFDeal , the @UnitedStates has led the way to signal renewed confidence in Ghana as an attractive investment destination. We welcome the announcement of a $300m private capital investment through @DFCgov , to build a first-of-its-kind data center in Ghana. The Board of the Fund unanimously approved Ghana's bailout on Wednesday, May 17 at a meeting in Washington after Ghana secured the Paris Club financing assurance on Friday, May 12. 3news.com President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged authors who write on African history to report the truth about the continent. He also urged them to give praise where it has been earned, and criticism where it is deserved. On Friday, 19th May 2023, at the request of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Akufo-Addo chaired the launch of two biographies, State of Repair How Muhammadu Buhari tried to change Nigeria for good by Anthony Goldman, and The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari by Senator Abu Ibrahim, in Abuja, Nigeria. As leaders, he said we all have our high and low moments, but I have no doubt that posterity will be kind to Muhammadu Buhari. West Africa, Africa, and, indeed, the world will miss his leadership the leadership of the military ruler turned consummate democrat, who was extremely solicitous of Nigeria and Africa's interest, and who sought for principle in all decisions in which he took. I congratulated the Englishman, Anthony Goldman, and the Nigerian, Senator Abu Ibrahim, for their industry and scholarship. And to the many other authors, poets and playwrights on the continent, I urged them to tell the African story truthfully and with flair, and to give praise where it has been earned, and criticism where it is deserved. 3news.com French president Emmanuel Macron was preparing to leave the G7 meeting in Japan on Sunday after hailing the presence of the Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky at the gathering of the seven most industrialised nations and several growing economies. "This G7 is first and foremost a G7 of unity, of support for Ukraine, Macron told reporters ahead of his departure for Mongolia. "It's also an opportunity and this is what led to President Zelensky to come here to discuss, exchange views and convince partners of this bigger version of the G7." Macron called Zelensky's surprise visit to Hiroshima a game changer as it would allow the Ukrainian leader the chance to put his case to counterparts in Brazil and India who have failed to condemn the Russian offensive since February 2022. Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has accused western countries of encouraging the war while the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has backed calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine but not openly criticised the offensive ordered by the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Talks Following talks with Zelensky on Saturday, Modi told him: I understand your pain and the pain of Ukrainian citizens very well. I can assure you that to resolve this India and, me personally, will do whatever we can do. On Sunday, the US president Joe Biden announced a package of nearly 400 million euros of military aid to include ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training. Biden told a press conference that he had received an assurance from Zelensky that western provided F-16 fighter jets would not be deployed for raids in Russian territory but would be used on Russian troops inside Ukraine. Russia started this war and Russia can end it today by withdrawing its troops from internationally recognised borders, Biden added. Resolve I once more share and assured President Zelensky that we will not waver. Putin will not break our resolve. In his post summit press conference, Zelensky said that international law would be invalidated if Russia were able to keep occupied land in any ceasefire deal. If the level of evil and stupidity in Russia's actions are left unchecked, the world will inevitably become a wreck, he said. It is only a matter of time before other criminals in public office want to wage similar wars. If Russia is allowed to keep even a slither of the territory it occupies, international law will never again apply. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Classic floors and large open displays with rows of books and different Livingston memorabilia were on display at Sax & Fryer recently as the sun peeked in the large windows of the store that is now nearly a century and a half old. On Monday, May 15, Sax & Fryer on Callender Street celebrated 140 years in business. Friends and customers of the popular store came by to remember old times and talk about the good times. The shop sells a variety of items, such as art supplies, novels, stationery, greeting cards, pottery, and gifts. Marge Brandon, who has worked at the store for 45 years, made brownies and lemon and spice cake for the anniversary, and coffee was available to the public, too. The store still has the old feel and the familiar smell, said Scott McMillion, publisher of Livingston-based Montana Quarterly magazine, and a longtime customer and close friend of Sax & Fryer owner John Fryer. And the way the floorboards creak is a big-time bit of nostalgia for longtime residents for sure. McMillion visited with Brandon and retired literary agent Bob Dattila. The three shared memories and stories of past times in the store. Brandon said Fryer just celebrated turning 88 years old. According to Brandon, the store has been in John Fryers family for three generations. Ive been here for 45 years, said Brandon. Its been a really neat day. The doors open, the weathers nice, so far. Yay! Im happy. And the coffee and the cake are going to. Barb Gilbert, a local artist who designs photography greeting cards of her work, which is also for sale at Sax & Fryer, came by the store from Clyde Park. Photographs taken in the 1940s by John Fryers father, Frank Fryer, also known as Mr. Fryer, hang throughout the store. The single reflex film photos were developed using a special wash that was rare and expensive, and thus the prints are one of a kind, according to McMillion. The regular customer pointed out that one of the photos is an elk calf, and the one on the other side of the room is the same elk as an adult cow. History is everywhere inside the shop at Sax & Fryer. Reporters Notes: I entered Sax & Fryer for the first time ever in my life on the day the store turned 140. I felt a surge of nostalgia as soon as Marge started telling me the story of the store, which I had never heard before. I will be sure to take my own child in to see the books and art supplies soon enough so he can have that memory as well. It was a special conversation for me to have with these friends of John Fryer, who was unable to attend the celebration during business hours. Marge said Fryer had plans to come after hours for a private invite-only celebration. Congratulations to John Fryer and all of the ladies who help make it all work behind and in front of the counter. May these stories continue to be told in Livingston for generations to come inside the store. I hope the floor forever creaks and the interior forever holds the old photographs and the same old wood smell. The European Space Agency's ambitious mission called Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, was launched on 14 April from French Guiana. Its main objective is to study Jupiter and its three icy moons: Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. One of the instruments on board the JUICE spacecraft is called Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer or MAJIS. It was developed at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) which is based in Orsay near Paris. "The main objective of MAJIS is to map the limits of the surfaces of the three Jupiter moons as well as characterise the atmosphere of Jupiter," IAS's Francois Poulet who is the principal investigator of MAJIS, told RFI. A principal investigator (PI) refers to the lead researcher of a grant project, usually in the sciences, usually in laboratory studies, or in clinical trials. The phrase is also often used as a synonym for "head of the laboratory" or "research group leader". "The goal is to detect different kinds of species such as ice, minerals and organics, if organics are present on these surfaces," he said. Speaking about the instrument, Poulet said it took the team more than 10 years to build it. "It was quite challenging as being a cryogenic instrument, it has to operate at very cold temperatures. So we needed to control the thermal balance of this instrument. We used a specific radiator to cool it down up to 90 Kelvin (-183 degrees Celsius) especially for the infrared detector," he said. He added that they also had to take into account the intense radiation in the Jovian environment. "We also needed to protect all the electronics and some optical elements which are sensitive to radiation," he said. JUICE, which carries 10 instruments, will enter Jupiter's orbit in 2031. The mission is scheduled to end in September 2035. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has urged the electorate of Kumawu, Ashanti Region, to come out in their numbers and vote for Mr Ernest Yaw Anim, the governing New Patriotic Party's (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Tuesday's by-election. Dr Bawumia, who was with President Nana Akufo-Addo, along with top officials of the government at the funeral of late MP Philip Basoah on Saturday, later told supporters of the NPP: "In this by-election, we want the whole of Ghana to know that Kumawu is NPPs territory. "With love, come out in your numbers to vote for our parliamentary candidate Ernest Yaw Anim to win this by-election," Dr Bawumia urged. He said the candidate is "humble, hard-working and intelligent" and "will ensure Kumawu is developed". "I like him a lot, lets all come together to vote for him boom boom," Dr Bawumia urged. The NPP's candidate would be going against the main opposition National Democratic Congress's (NDC) Kwasi Amankwa, popularly known as Tom Cee. The MP for Kumawu, Philip Basoah, died in March this year. He first entered the legislature in 2017. | Contestants for Tuesday's by-election in Kumawu: NPP's Ernest Yaw Anim (L) and NDC's Kwasi Amankwaa (R) Source: classfmonline.com Ga Traditional Council has summoned the Industrial Area branch of Winners Chapel International for allegedly flouting the ban on noise-making. Management of the church is required to appear before Niimei of the Ga Traditional Council on Thursday, June 22, at the Ga Mantse Palace Kaneshie in Accra. Though the Council did not explicitly state the reasons for the summons, sources say it is in connection with the ban on noise-making. A statement issued by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs and Ga Traditional Council on Sunday, May 21, said, You are hereby summoned to appear before Niimei of the Ga Traditional Council on Thursday 22nd June 2023 at 10: 00 am prompt at the Ga Mantse Palace Kaneshie, Accra. Take note that, failure to appear before Niimei will lead to further action against you. The one-month ban on all forms of noise-making and drumming in Accra took effect on May 15, 2023. The ban is part of preparations for the celebration of the Homowo festival by the Ga people. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in a statement reminded residents under its jurisdiction of the annual exercise and urged persons within catchment areas to comply with the directive. The ban affects any form of noise-making, including the use of loudspeakers, drums, tambourines, funeral rites, and roadside evangelism. The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey had said the Regional Security Council will ensure strict adherence to the ban within the region. Below is an earlier statement from the AMA The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) wishes to inform all residents in its jurisdiction that, this year's ban on drumming and noise-making commences from Monday 15th May to Thursday 15th June 2023. It has therefore set the following guidelines in the interest of peace, harmony, and national security: 1. During the period of the ban, churches are expected to carry out their activities within their premises and refrain from the use of musical instruments. 2. The positioning of loudspeakers outside the premises of churches, mosques and pubs are banned. Roadside evangelists are to cease their activities during this period. 3. Religious bodies and the Traditional Authorities must show respect for one another and restrain their followers from making derogatory and inflammatory remarks about the beliefs and practices of one another. 4. Other guidelines by the Ga Traditional Council (GTC) include a ban on funeral rites and their related activities. 5. Apart from an identifiable task force that consists of AMA personnel, the Ghana Police Service and Representatives from the Traditional Councils with tags, no other person or group of persons should be seen or found enforcing the abatement of noise in the metropolis. By this notice, we entreat all persons, towns and villages within the Ga Traditional Area to cooperate and comply with the directive accordingly during this period. Read below the summon by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs and Ga Traditional Council citinewsroom Outgoing Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah brought honour to the judicary during his term of office, President Akufo-Addo has said. At a farewell dinner for the CJ organised by the Ghana Bar Association, President Akufo-Addo said: "Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah has been an exceptional leader to the judiciary." "He has guarded jealously the judiciary and his conduct has brought honour to the judiciary and to our country," the president noted. According to Mr Akufo-Addo, "not only has he continued with the modernisation of activities of the judiciary, but his tenure of office has also seen arguably the largest infrastructural development undertaken in the history of the judiciary." Mr Anin-Yeboah, at the dinner, said: "Im really grateful to the president and the GBA for supporting me all this while." "I really appreciate it," he said. He officially retires on 24 May 2023 when he turns 70 years old. classfmonline.com 21.05.2023 LISTEN The Covid-19 health declaration form for international travellers to Ghana has been suspended with effect from May 20, 2023. Also, pre-departure testing and tests at all points of entry are no longer a requirement for all passengers. These were contained in a letter addressed to all media houses with the headline lifting of COVID-19 restrictions at all points of entry in Ghana and signed by Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service. According to the letter, these decisions were taken at a National COVID-19 Task Force meeting held on 17th May 2023, on the global and national COVID-19 situation. The letter said for constant vigilance of protection of persons from COVID-19, the following measures were to be maintained. It noted that the covid-19 vaccination drive would continue and persons with symptoms of cough, fever and sore throat would be tested for both flu and covid-19 at all sentinel sites across all the 16 regions of the country. Surveillance will continue to help us identify any COVID-19 variants of concern. Persons with complaints of fever, cough or sore throat should report to the nearest health facility for management, the letter advised. It said persons who tested positive for covid-19 were to be managed with existing protocols. The letter intimated that Ghana has had outbreaks of Marbury virus disease, Lassa fever, monkeypox, measles, and yellow fever since the declaration of covid-19 as public health emergency of public concern. It noted that the health system in the county had maintained sufficient capacity in the midst of these threats. It said the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service with support from its partners would continue to ensure operational readiness and flexibility to respond during surges of covid-19. It said the GHS would also maintain other essential health services and prepared for the emergency of new variants of increased capacity. According to the letter, the World Health Organization announced on May 5, 2023, that COVID-19 was no longer a Public Health Emergency International Concern (PHEIC) globally. It said there were decreasing numbers of concerns of death and hospitalization with levels of population immunity against SARS Co.v-2. It noted that though covid-19 remained a global health threat, it was time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing covid-19 alongside other infectious diseases. The letter revealed that there had been a sustained decline of covid-19 cases in the country over the five past months. It said as of May 15, 2023, there were only 18 active cases none of which was severe or critical adding that the only covid-19 death in 2023 was in January. The letter noted that since January 2023, there had been 187,089 international passengers arriving in the country of which more than 98 per cent were either fully vaccinated or persons below 18 years of age who were exempted from testing based on the national guide. As a result, it said only 3,890 were required to be tested out of which 24 tested positive. It continued that as of May 19, 2023, more than 13.5 million had received at least a dose of the covid-19 vaccine whilst 10.5 million persons were fully vaccinated, and 4.5 million persons had taken the vaccine. GNA As part of efforts to prevent violent extremism and acts of terrorism in Ghana, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has organised sensitisation programmes in some communities in the Jaman North District of the Bono Region. The outreach campaign dubbed: Prevention and Containing Violent Extremism in the Five Northern Regions and three regions that share borders with the northern part of Ghana aimed at sensitising and educating the people on some triggers of violent extremism and acts of terrorism and finding ways to prevent them. The Commission identified chieftaincy disputes, ethnic conflicts, political polarisation, human rights abuses and social marginalisation, as well as poverty, unemployment and religious intolerance as some of the triggers for violent extremism and terrorism. The sensitization programmes were held in market centres, lorry stations, schools and mosques at Sampa and Kabile Market in the Jaman North District. The NCCE took the outreach campaigns to St. Anns Girls Senior High School, Sumaman Senior High School in Suma, Ghana Tailoring and Dressmakers Association, GPRTU lorry station and Central Mosque in Sampa respectively. The programme is ongoing in the five northern regions and three regions that share borders with the northern parts of Ghana, with support from the European Union. Speaking at the various sensitisation events, Mr Oscar Kwabena Donkor, the NCCE District Director for Jaman North, said the recent threats and occurrences of violent extremism and acts of terrorism in some neighbouring countries were a serious concern to Ghanas peace and security. He noted that such threats posed a great danger to the survival of the countrys fledgling democracy, saying; Allowing violent extremism to fester will undermine the peace and safety in our communities. Mr Donkor, therefore, appealed to the people to eschew any acts of bickering and mudslinging, and rather comply with societal laid down structures for resolving conflicts and misunderstanding. Mr Donkor also urged the people to comply with the provisions of Article 35 (5) of the 1992 Constitution and underscored the need for them to work together to fight against violent extremism and terrorism. Peaceful co-existence and inter-faith tolerance must be prioritised by all and sundry to help us fight against violent extremists and terrorist groups, he urged. Mr Daniel Okrah, the NCCE Programmes Officer for Jaman North, on his part, charged the participants to be extra vigilant in their respective communities and prioritise their safety and security, noting that no one could be more responsible for their safety and security than themselves. Mr Okrah urged them to dialogue with persons they may have misunderstanding with and respect their rights, freedoms and legitimate interest, and refrain from any acts that could be detrimental to the welfare of others. You should be security conscious and volunteer information on security concerns to your chiefs, community elders, assembly members, pastors, imams and security agencies, Mr Okrah admonished them. He also entreated them to actively participate in the upcoming district-level elections and support the youth, women and persons with disability to contest for various positions in the local government structure. The chiefs and opinion leaders in the beneficiary communities expressed their gratitude to the Commission for reaching out to them with very insightful tips on violent extremism and acts of terrorism. GNA Some Christians took to the major streets of the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis to register a strong stand against homosexuality and any other sexual behaviours, which are in contravention with their faith and Ghanaian norms. Drawn from the Western Regional Network of Ministers, churches and councils, the protestors held placards reading; LGBTQ is a taboo, God created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve, and Even animals dont practice LGBTQ+. Others read; Say no to any form of unnatural intimacy, Normal women marry men, and Leave a good Legacy for your generation, to register their abhorrence of the practice, which they describe as an affront to Gods will and purpose for procreation and multiplication. The walk, which started at the Asempa Hotel in Takoradi, ended at the Western Regional Coordinating Council in Sekondi. Bishop Emmanuel Kwesi Ansah, the Methodist Bishop of Sekondi and Chairman of the Network, then presented an official paper to the Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah. Bishop Ansah reminded Ghanaians of how God punished the City of Sodom and Gomorrah, many years ago, for the same uncouth sexual pattern in deviance to the natural order. This is why we expect the Government to give a sense of urgency to our crusade against LGBTQIA+ and to facilitate the passing into law the Promotion of Proper Human Sex Rights and Ghanaian Family Values before Parliament, he said. The Network was determined to rid the Western Region, a main industrial and tourist attraction to many and the Nation in general, of those cancerous vices, Bishop Ansah said. He said Ghanaian culture and traditions and the dictates of the Christian faith must stand supreme to any idealogy of rights and freedoms. The leadership of the Churches in the Western Region had resolved to take a firm and resolute position on the matter in order not to disappoint the Christian faith. Bishop Ansah informed the Minister that the Network was putting in place counselling centres to offer help to perpetrators or victims in absolute confidentiality to enable them to reconstruct their lives. The centres will also intensify prayers on the subject and visit educational institutions to educate the youth on the need to eschew the vice. He called on the church to deepen its commitment to the teaching of Christian family values. The Network would ultimately develop a homosexuality document for the teaching of children, youth and adults in all churches, he noted. Mr Darko-Mensah, who welcomed the team, said the Government was mindful of the sensibilities, cultural and constitutional requirements as a sovereign nation and would not, in any way, compromise those guiding principles. He pledged to inform the President about the Network's aspirations for the nation. Later, the leadership prayed for the Government and citizens and asked for God's blessings for a peaceful and congenial atmosphere in Ghana. GNA Africa is in intense heat to receive once again one of the countries with the largest economy and influence in the world, Russia. The difference that exists now is that it has not infiltrated Africa to influence its Socialist policies as it was in the early 60s and 70s, but to trade and increase the sphere of influence through the umbrella of Defense and Security. In recent years, the security situation in the African continent, especially in the Sahel region and Central Africa, has continued to be unsatisfactory due to frequent attacks by terrorist groups, especially in the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. These attacks led the people in these countries to demand their governments to increase their efforts to counter these groups, so the governments were forced to ask for help from various countries, especially France, which greatly influences these countries. France sent approximately 4,500 soldiers to protect peace in the "G5 Sahel" region through "Operation Barkhane", which was also unsuccessful as terrorist groups continued to attack those countries. The security situation worsened, and resistance started inside and outside the government on how the government deals with countering these groups, thus the situation led to the Overthrow of President Bah N'daw of Mali on 24 May 2021 by his army led by his Vice, Colonel Assimi Goita. The revolution spring spread in Burkina Faso too. The people put their trust in these new military governments in the fight against terrorism. What Happened After the Military Governments took over? Going back in 2018, a group of mercenary soldiers working in parallel with the Russian government of Wagner sent its troops to Central African Republic (CAR) with the aim of "protecting the leaders and the government" of President Faustin-Archange Touadera which was under threats of violence and revolution from the former president Francois Bozize militia. Wagner managed to carry out the tasks failed by the United Nations Mission in CAR(MINUSCA) along with the French army for more than 9 years. In 2021, the Government of Mali under Colonel Assimi Goita invited military "trainers" from Russia whom the French government claimed were mercenary soldiers from the Wagner group. This action brought friction between these two countries to the extent that it led to the expulsion of the French ambassador from the country. In February 2022, the French government announced the withdrawal of its forces from Mali, and the people of Mali received the move with joy as they cheered while carrying the Russian flag. This was a sign of the reception of Russia as an alternative to France in the defense sector and the fight against terrorism. This wave arrived in Burkina Faso where its citizens received Russia the same as it was in Mali. This tradition offended many Western countries to the extent that the United States announced that Burkina Faso would be removed as a beneficiary from the US-Africa Trade Pact (AGOA) citing a lack of progress towards protecting the rule of law and political pluralism. Russia in Africa! What is the goal? Focusing on the Defense and Security sector seems to be the card that will give Russia a veto to stay in Africa for a long time, given that conflicts in the African continent seem to be inevitable. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reported that Chad, Sudan, and Libya have also been collaborating with Russia on security issues. Thus, Success in penetrating to be part of the decisions of these governments of the Sahel region creates a way to influence the entire region of West African countries that have also been affected by the lack of peace in the Sahel. In Libya, the warlord, General Khalifa Haftar, has been a close ally of the Russian government as it provides him with experts, drones, and aircraft. This cooperation threats the USA and its NATO allies as Tripoli (Libya) lies 600 miles from the city of Rome-Italy, so if Russia holds Libya, it may inhibit NATO operations in Africa through the Libyan-Italian Corridor as Russia will be at its door too. Therefore, if Russia succeeds in Libya, it will give a veto vote on the discussion of the security of the European continent, especially the Western countries, an issue that seems to be the direction of the way to weaken NATO. This infiltration of Russia in Africa is seen as another way to create, mold, and protect leaders who can protect and serve their interests, especially considering its ability to secure leaders as in the CAR. It should also be remembered that Russia was accused by the United States of participating and putting President Donald Trump in the oval office, If so, they managed to play the US Election system, what about these systems and elections in African countries? In July 2023, African leaders will be gathered at St. Petersburg-Russia during the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum to discuss economic cooperation and humanitarian aid. This meeting is expected to add more areas of collaboration, fastening and widening the areas agreed upon in the first meeting of October 2019. This phase is expected to have a greater achievement from Russias perspective considering the success of the country in Africa in the defense, security, trade, and investment sectors achieved for more than 4 years. Africa's Perspective on Russia As most African governments economic and social development are not among the areas they wish to serve rather than ensuring their survival in the presidency. Since Russia has already demonstrated that it can manage to ensure the realization of their need, it is clear that many leaders in Africa can be "customers of this service" provided by Russia. It is worth noting that European countries and the United States entered Africa through the same routes as Russia, especially through elections or revolutions; protected those leaders by using security agencies, civil society organizations, development propaganda, weak opposition parties, the media, loans, and unworkable development plans. What these global muscular economic nations are fighting for now, is not for the prosperity of Africa but the power of ownership of those nations in today's world. Africa is used as a trump card. For them, Africa is just like dice in a game. So suffice it to say that Africa will continue to be played until it comes to its senses. About an Author Ezra Nnko is a Pan-Africanist, Geopolitical, and International Policy Analyst based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is available through [email protected] and through Phone Number: +255 765 571917 (Call + WhatsApp) +255 784 527018 (Call) 21.05.2023 LISTEN In 1998 my wife Alberta went to her pastor in Kumasi, Ghana. He prophesied over her she will live most of her life abroad, married to an elder man, and the obstacles on the way to breaking through. In 2003 I in Hamburg, Germany got on my knees each morning in prayers for six months. All efforts to find a wife were not successful. In my early 40s, I asked God for a wife as I love to be a family man or to give me the strength and wisdom to end my life as a Bachelor. My dream of life? Living in Cambridge, UK lecturing at Kings College, and traveling to Asia for business. Africa? No way, a black continent with black problems, no happiness, never ever for me. End of 2003 my Iranian friend Feri bought himself a computer. I visited him in his shoe shop Roberto in the shopping mall Hamburger Strasse. No customer insight in the back office did I put Feri on a dating site just for fun. No customer still did I connect to six ladies as well. Two days later five answered no and the joke was forgotten. Two months later I received unexpectedly an email from Kenya. Emma contacted me twenty years younger than I was. I was surprised and said to myself: "Oh shit, what to do with such a young girl. And from Africa!" Out of kindness did I communicate with her. Friends and family were divided. One said having such a relationship means hot life others warned of a gold digger. The noise around me was too much. I hauled the contact for one week. I needed a sign from God. On Sunday I went to church. A retired Pastor was unknown to me who had come preaching about three wise men in the bible going out into the world to look for God. The Pastor concluded man can't look out for God rather God comes to you and gives you his assignment. I was deeply touched. A boy aged about 6 years came to me and in me, I cried that if he would be my son how happy I would be. I left the church and called Emma to tell her I would come to marry her. Five months later I was in Nairobi and three months later we got married in Hamburg, Germany. Little did I know the boy born in our marriage was not of me but of the boyfriend of my ex-wife Emma. My life hit rock bottom. To rebuild it I had to get out of Germany. We established a company in Kenya starting with used clothes for the Gikomba market and over time venturing into cocoa and chocolate production. The Kenyan partner in Darmstadt, Germany rang me up in late 2011. The port of Mombasa was shooked. No chance of bringing out the container of used shoes in time. She asked me to contact my partner Bediako in Accra, Ghana. Two weeks later our company was registered our container on its way to Tema. My friend Poku Samuel in Kumasi said in a Yahoo chat on a Friday that as I would now come to Ghana, I needed a new wife. He asked me what kind of woman I wanted. Three days later Sunday afternoon he send me a picture of my wife. I opened the attachment and told him I am ready to marry her. On March 3rd, 2012 I touched down in Accra. Poku Samuel and my father-in-law awaited me in the arrival area. My wife Alberta hid in the darkness of Kotoka Airport. When I was brought to her she turned around and hugged me. Since that moment we never left each other alone again. Prophecy fulfilled. My Pastors and Prophet in Ghana advised me like Judas betrayed his cousin, Jesus Christ, my ex-wife had the same function for me for his prophecy to come to pass. Being stubborn never to touch the African ground for which he needed me he build a bridge in the form of my ex-wife and took her away from me under pain for me never to forget an important lesson in my life. My heart is filled with gratitude and blessings. Africa and I is an ongoing love-hate affair possibly the best foundation to help his people. NB: Ghana has cocoa and a chocolate factory...I rest my case. Obuasi based Achievers Pharmacy and Medical center has been cleared to resume operations after it was shut down by a group purported from the Pharmacy council in Kumasi. This comes as a huge relief to patrons, staff and management of Achievers Medical Centre who have had to suffer the effects of the shutdown about a fortnight ago. Media reports were rife couple of weeks ago about 'an unlawful' closure of Achievers Pharmacy by the Pharmacy Council citing the shop's inability to pay an amount of Gh3,500 which was a penalty for eight (8) days late renewal of its licences. This act according to the Chief Executive Officer of Achievers Pharmacy and Medical Center Philip Anokye constituted an affront to the principles of natural justice and noted that the board of directors of the company decided to write through their Lawyers to the Pharmacy Council in Kumasi for explanations. The good news is that management of Achievers Pharmacy and Medical Center has been cleared to open the Pharmacy shop to continue their wholesale and retail services. Interacting with the media after a meeting, CEO of Achievers, Philip Anokye said the decision by the council is a vindication of their stance all along, indicated that they did not breach any of the regulations by the council. He added that they were surprised that on 3rd of May, one Mr. Amo with two police officers wielding guns purported to have been sanctioned by the Pharmacy Council in Kumasi close down Achievers Pharmacy shop. Board of Directors of the company upon checks revealed that the men led by one Mr. Amponsah, who came to close down the shop again on 4th of May, 2023 were not from the Ghana Pharmacy Council in Accra (as they claimed), but believed that they were working at the behest of somebody from the council in Kumasi since the Director of the Pharmacy Council in Accra, confirmed to have not sanctioned that operation. Achievers Pharmacy and Medical Center has recalled the over 20 working Staff to continue their work. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. One person is dead and another injured after Meagher County authorities received an early morning call Sunday reporting a gunshot wound at a residence in White Sulphur Springs, the sheriff said. Deputies and medical officials responded and two people were transported to Mountainview Medical Center, Meagher County Sheriff Jon Lopp said. One person was declared dead after resuscitation efforts, the other person is receiving medical treatment. No names were released of the people involved. Montana Department of Criminal Investigation is assisting the Meagher County Sheriffs Office with the investigation. At this point there are no outstanding suspects, and there is no risk to the public as a result of this incident, Lopp said. The Meagher County Sheriffs Office asked the public to respect the privacy of the victims family "while they work through this difficult time." Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected by this tragedy, Lopp said in a posting on the departments Facebook page. Anyone with any information should contact the Meagher County Sheriffs Office at 406-547-3397. Gold gleams throughout the Ashanti story: one wonders in retrospect whether the punitive expedition would have been quite so dedicated if the major product of Ashanti had been anything else but the potent lure. Russell Chamberlin. (1) When I read an article in the BBC News entitled The ruler of Ghanas Asante people is pressuring the British Museum to return gold items in its collection, I was delighted, for I thought what I have been praying for since my infancy and writing about for decades was about to become a reality, or at least the process was starting. (2) This seemed a great chance to reconcile with our historical oppressors. Readers will recall that I have explained in several articles how the British attacked the Asante in several wars in their attempt to take control over the Asante kingdom and subjugate not only the Asante but also the other peoples in the area that became the Gold Coast, and since Independence in 1957, Ghana. (3) The British had come from Britain to the West Coast of Africa in search for gold in an area so rich that the Portuguese, the first Europeans who came to there in 1471, called it Cabo dOuro ,Gold Coast. British, Danes, Dutch, Germans, Norwegians, Portuguese, and Swedes came to this rich land to seek fortune, were in constant war, carried on trade in gold, and dealt in slavery. The various castles and forts along the coast of Ghana, including the first castle, Elmina Castle, Sao Jorge da mina, built in 1482, are evidence of European interest and presence in the area. (4) After several wars and, the British defeated the Asante in the so-called Sagrenti War on April 4, 1874. The British troops, commanded by Sir Garnet Wolseley, known in Twi as Sagrenti, entered Kumase without Asante resistance and sacked and burnt the Asante capital. Henry Brackenbury, secretary of Wolseley, who witnessed the ransacking of the Palace of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Nana Kofi Karikari and the houses of Asante nobles, gives this description: The first room visited was one which during the day had been seen to be full of boxes, some of which, at all events, contained articles of much value. Here we found those gold masks, whose object it is difficult to divine, made of pure gold hammered into shape. One of these, weighing more than forty-one ounces, represented a rams head, and the others the faces of savage men, about half the size of life. Box after box was opened and its contents hastily examined, the more valuable ones being kept, and the others left. Necklaces and bracelets of gold, Aggrey beads, coral ornaments of various descriptions, were heaped together in boxes and calabashes. Silver-plate was carried off, and doubtless much left behind. Swords, gorgeous ammunition-belts, caps mounted in solid gold, knives set in gold and silver, bags of gold-dust and nuggets; carved stools mounted in silver, calabashes worked in silver and in gold, silks embroidered and woven, were all passed in review. The sword presented by her Majesty to the king was found and carried off; and thousands of things were left behind that would be worth fabulous sums in cabinets at home. (5) Henry M. Stanley, who accompanied the British Punitive Force, ends his list of looted Asante items with the phrase: And so on, ad infinitum, of valuable, curious, and worthless things heaped together in every room. (6) Geoffrey Robertson wrote in WHO OWNS HISTORY ? When he captured Kumasi, it was British army business as usual - seizure of all valuable property from palaces and private homes, then burning the city to the ground.(Wolseley had been with Elgin at the Old Summer Palace in 1860). They took all the gold treasures they could find- masks, breastplates, knives of gold and silver, carved stools mounted in silver and gold, embroidered silks and other treasures, stuffed into soldiers knapsacks or placed in the booty store, which Wolseley took back to auction in London to defray the cost of this punishment expedition which had ended with no crime to punish It was a simple war of colonial aggression, for gold and for free trade(the surrender treaty required both). The artworks ended up in the V&A and the British Museum, with many others bought by a private collector named Sir Richard Wallace, hence the Wallace Collection where they can now be found, including the 8-inch -high mask which is the largest known gold work from Africa. (7) My joy at the news that the British could return the Asante gold artefacts immediately vanished when I read further that The British Museum told the BBC it is exploring the possibility of lending items to Ghana. Lending Asante items to the Asantehene? The British Museum was at its best here. Using a pseudo-polite language behind which there is a lot of disdain to hide a monstrous standpoint. Considering the relations between the Asante Kingdom and the British colonialists, how can anyone suggest a loan of looted Asante treasures to the Asantehene? Is there a greater insult than this? Those who stole our works of art come after almost 150 years to loan us our treasures instead of simply returning them. The loan of looted Asante treasures to the Asantehene is simply anachronistic if we consider the history of restitution in our times. The Benin people have rejected loans and received full returns of the famous Benin bronzes from museums in Britain, the United States, and other European states such as the Netherlands and Belgium, are preparing to return looted items. Germany has transferred legal rights in over a thousand Benin artefacts to Nigeria and the Oba of Benin. We will be paying insurance for our looted artefacts that are now being offered on loan, no doubt, to a British Insurance firm selected by the British Museum. Of course, we will be paying the transport costs even though the need for transport has been made necessary by those who took our treasures from Kumase in the first place. The homepage of the museum clearly states: Loan costs The British Museum expects borrowers to cover all direct costs connected with the loan, such as: Transportation and courier costs Crating and packing materials Insurance or cover through a national indemnity scheme Condition photography International borrowers may also be asked to contribute to the costs of preparing the items for loan, including administration, technical and essential conservation work. We should bear in mind that there are proposals to make those who accept loans from the British Museum to recognize first the British ownership of the object before a loan agreement can be signed. Can we envisage even for a moment the British ownership of objects they looted from Kumase in 1874? (8) We would suggest to those representing Asante/Ghana in negotiations for the restitution of the looted artefacts to reject without hesitation any offer of loans. If the British cannot, after 150 years of detaining illegally looted Asante artefacts, they should keep them until they finally accept that stealing and controlling other peoples treasures for 150 years and refusing to return them, is wrong. The illusion, promise or suggestion, that a loan may be later converted into outright restitution, must be evaluated against concrete historical examples in which the British Museum was involved, and the national treasures concerned were similar or equivalent in value or importance to the golden Asante treasures looted in 1874 by the British. I know of no such examples even though I have been dealing with these issues now for almost two decades. We should not be under any misapprehension. The British Museum and the British Government, supported by certain groups of the ruling classes, are determined not to give up the pre-eminence the British Museum has through its detention of vast numbers of artefacts of others, about 13 million, mostly looted during the colonial period or acquired under dubious circumstances. (9) Since the recent discussions on restitution and subsequent actual returning of artefacts to the countries of origin, as required by various UNESCO/UNITED NATIONS resolutions, many countries have undertaken steps to reform their laws in order to enable restitution. France is in the process of adapting her laws, Netherlands has a text waiting for governmental approval, Belgium has passed new laws and the German the Federal States in conjunction with the Federal Government have adopted decisions that enabled them to pass to Nigeria legal ownership rights in 1300 Benin artefacts. (10) There has been no such major efforts in the United Kingdom to change the British Museum Act 1963 that is said allegedly to prevent the museum from effecting restitution although the text of the act appears permissive. It is also evident that if there were really a strong will to restitute African artefacts, this could have been done as was done in the cases of victims of Nazi spoliation by passing the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009. The victims of Nazi spoliations were mainly white Europeans. The victims of British Punitive expeditions were mainly black, Africans. Herein lies the major difference that must be evident to all. The British have had enough time since the petition The Call for the Return of the Asante Regalia 1974, and could have worked at a new legislation, Asante Regalia (Restitution of Cultural Artefacts) or Restitution of African Cultural Artefacts Act. Why have they not done that and are still not preparing to do that but are only busy with explanations that could justify further keeping of the artefacts looted in 1874? As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. Have the Ghanaians/Africans been as determined as the British? When shall we say enough is enough? Despite concrete restitutions by Horniman Museum, Jesus College, Cambridge, and Aberdeen University, we hear constantly from British Ministers and the British Museum that there is no such intention to reform the law or change the basic policy. Whatever may be the position of British law, this is a matter for the British alone. Africans can have no influence on the matter and really should not be concerned. We just want our treasures back. (11) It should be made clear that Asante/Ghana reject the underlying basic racism that authorises European peoples to capture artefacts of the African peoples on assumptions of arrogant and supercilious beliefs that these artefacts are better protected in universal museums such as the British Museum. We have even heard people refer to climatic differences! Our century should demonstrate that we have moved away from the dark ages of colonialism and imperialism. But can this new age be established when British and other European officials still present the arguments of the past as justifications for holding onto looted African artefacts? We cannot relieve the British of their moral and legal obligations to return the stolen artefacts through a no costs scheme. They should normally be thinking about reparation for their wanton destruction of property in Asante, the thousands of human lives they took away, the natural resources they carted away and the labour for which they paid little or nothing. Loans of Asante gold treasures are incompatible with the character of the proud Asante people, who bravely resisted British hegemonic invasions. The Asante have never borrowed the artefacts of other nations. How could we explain to our children when the Asantehene or other Asante nobles proudly show off borrowed artefacts during our famous durbars? Can we tell our children we are using borrowed artefacts from the British? How can we instil in our children respect and love for African culture when we operate with borrowed artefacts from our former colonial masters? The average Asante would ask whether we could not produce our artefacts. Asante/Ghana has suffered enough from the British and should reject the latest offer of humiliation and further dependency. We are not begging the British to give us British artefacts. We are asking them to return our Asante artefacts they looted in several aggressive incursions into our country in their attempts to control our land, people, and resources. If the British Museum wants to contribute meaningfully to the 150th anniversary of the end of the Third Anglo-Asante War, the best and the decent thing to do would be to return unconditionally to the Asante owners in Manhyia, Kumase, a respectable number of the Asante treasures the venerable museum has been illegally detaining since 1874, mostly away from the public gaze. We can only repeat the reasons given for The Call for the Return of the Asante Regalia in 1974: NOTES 1. Richard Chamberlin, Loot: The Heritage of Plunder, 1983, Thames and Hudson, London, p. 79. 2. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65614490 3. K. Opoku, When will Britain Return Looted Ghanaian Artefacts? A History of British Looting of more than 100 Objects https://www.africavenir.org/nc/news-details/article/kwame-opoku-when-will-britain-return-looted-ghanaian-artefacts-a-history-of-british-looting-of mor.html Reclaiming Looted Asante Gold (Ghana): Triumph Of Morality Over Brutality? https://www.modernghana.com/news/1206933/reclaiming-looted-asante-gold-ghana-triumph.html Will The New Guidelines Of The Arts Council England Help Restitution Of Looted Asante Gold And Benin Bronzes? https://www.modernghana.com/news/1183469/will-the-new-guidelines-of-the-arts-council-englan.html Looted Asante (Ghana) Gold In Wallace Collection, London: Return Stolen Items To Manhyia Palace, Kumasi. https://www.modernghana.com/news/871280/looted-asante-ghana-gold-in-wallace-collection-london-re.html Have Ethical Considerations Returned To Restitution For Good? Smithsonian Adopts A Policy On Ethical Returns of Looted Artefacts 4. Albert van Dantzig, Forts and Castles of Ghana, Sedco Publishing Limited, 1980, Accra, 5. Henry Brackenbury and Harry , The Ashanti War V2: A Narrative Prepared From The Official Documents By Permission of Major-General Sir Garnet Wolseley 91874, p. 241 6. Stanley H. M. 1874. Coomassie and Magdala: The Story of Two British Campaigns in Africa, p. 242, New York, Harper, Rediscovery Books, 2006. 7. Geoffrey Robertson, Who owns history? Elgins Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure, Biteback Publishing, London, 2019,p. 213 8. https://www.modernghana.com/news/1223245/new-study-advises-british-government-and-british.html 9. G. Robertson, Who Owns History? See pp. 11,21,167-216. 10. Le Monde, In France, restitution of African artifacts is subject to conditions https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2023/05/05/in-france-restitution-of-african-artifacts-is-subject-to-conditions_6025556_30.html K. Opoku, Does The Martinez Report Constitute A Pre-Announced Burial Of African Cultural Artefacts In French Museums? https://www.modernghana.com/news/1230672/does-the-martinez-report-constitute-a-pre-announce.html Berlin Decision On Benin Restitution: Germany On The Way To Restitution Of Looted African Artefacts https://www.modernghana.com/news/1079313/berlin-decision-on-benin-restitution-germany-on.html See letter of Dutch Secretary of State for Education, Culture and Science, Gunay Uslu, dated 15 July 2022 on Implementation based on the Colonial Collections and the Recognition of Injustice Advice of the Council for Culture - Goncalves-Ho Kang You Commission. 11. We have written often on the reluctance of the British Museum and the British Government to make the necessary changes in order to effect restitution. How Long Will The British Government And The British Museum Resist Calls For Changes In Restitution Policy? https://www.modernghana.com/news/1135499/how-long-will-the-british-government-and-the-briti.html IMAGES Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II. Will he soon recover the golden Asante artefacts stolen by the British in 1874 ,1896, and 1900 from Kumase that are now in the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Wallace Collection, all in London, United Kingdom? Osei Tutus predecessor, the late Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Opoku Ware II, with the support of the Ghana Government, made a request in 1974 for the restitution of the looted Asante Regalia that Osei Tutu has repeated several times. Krobonkye royal leather cap, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, captured by British troops in 1874 in the invasion of Kumase, now in the Royal Collection, London, United Kingdom. Asante ceremonial gold head dress or ceremonial hat, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in the British Museum, London, United Kingdom. Gold mask,20cm in height, weighing 1.36 kg of pure gold seized by British troops in invasion of Kumase in 1874, now in the Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom. Wallace Collection states that this is the most important and famous work of Asante art .Yet they are not worried that this is not available to Asante and Ghanaian artists, and Ghanaians. How would European art have developed if the famous and important European art works were in Africa? Gold disc pendant, soul disc, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in the British Museum, London, United Kingdom. Pectoral disc, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom. Knife with scabbard, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in Wallace Museum, London, United Kingdom. Curved swords with gold-covered hilts and pommels, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom. Finger ring, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom. Pear-shaped gold pendant, Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom. Gold necklace, Asante, Ghana, now in the British Museum, London, United Kingdom. Crescent shaped pendant pendant-akrakonmu-Asante, Kumase, Ghana, now in the British Museum, London, United Kingdom. Soul disc, Asante Kumase, Ghana, now in the British Museum. London, United Kingdom. Air raids, gunfire and explosions rocked Sudan's capital on Sunday hours after rival generals agreed to a one-week ceasefire, the latest in a series of truces that have been systematically violated. The truce is set to take effect at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) on Monday, the United States and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement after talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah. It "shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the agreement of both parties", the statement added. In a deserted neighbourhood of Khartoum North, Hussein Mohammed is hoping that, finally, the guns will silence. The United Nations says fighting has driven nearly 650,000 Khartoum residents from their homes, but Mohammed has remained, sheltering in place with his sick mother. Smoke rises above buildings in war-ravaged Khartoum. By - () "They have announced truces that they have not held to before," he told AFP. "We hope that this time mediators can monitor that the ceasefire is implemented." In a statement published Sunday by the official Saudi Press Agency, Riyadh acknowledged the multiple truce violations since fighting began on April 15. "Unlike previous ceasefires, the agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," the Saudi foreign ministry said. The fighting pits the Sudanese army, commanded by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, flanked by representatives of Sudan's army and the rival Paramilitary Rapid Support forces after signing a ceasefire agreement in Jeddah. By STR (SPA) Battles have killed around 1,000 people and displaced more than one million, internally and into neighbouring countries. Millions more are trapped with sporadic access to water, electricity or medicine. Many have been separated from their families by unrelenting gunfire. For Sawsan Mohammed, who lives in the capital's south, the ceasefire -- if implemented -- "will be my first chance to see my mother and father in Omdurman", just a bridge across the Nile River, she told AFP. Aid efforts Aerial footage last week showed a hellish scene in the Omdurman Market area, a heavily built-up district where multiple fires burned and people ran on rubble strewn streets. Again on Sunday, the United Nations aid chief, Martin Griffiths, called for the "safe delivery of humanitarian aid" and restoration of essential services." The warring parties had signed on May 12 in Jeddah an agreement to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid. But since then, a UN report on Sunday said there had been "at least 11 attacks against humanitarian premises in Khartoum, and four new attacks against health facilities". Along with the capital, the western region of Darfur has seen some of the worst violence. "We do not trust the warring sides," said Adam Issa, a shop owner in El Geneina, West Darfur. "Every time they announce a truce and they go back to fighting. We want a permanent ceasefire, not a temporary truce." A member of the Sudanese army speaks to a man in front of open shops in southern Khartoum. By - () The UN has reported hundreds of people killed in West Darfur and on Sunday said all 86 gathering sites for displaced people in El Geneina "have reportedly been burnt to the ground." Darfur is still reeling from a conflict that erupted in 2003 when former autocrat Omar al-Bashir unleashed the feared Janjaweed militia -- which formed the basis for the RSF -- to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups. Burhan on Friday officially sacked Daglo from the position he had held on a governing council formed after they launched a coup in October 2021. Their putsch derailed a transition to civilian rule put in place following Bashir's overthrow in 2019. 'End the war' Former rebel leader Malik Agar, who replaced Daglo as the council's vice president, on Saturday said he was determined to try to "end the war". He also directly addressed Daglo, whose dispute with Burhan over the RSF's integration into the regular army led to the war. "Sudan's stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army", Agar said. Residents of densely-populated neighbourhoods have accused RSF fighters of widespread break-ins and looting. Residents of densely-populated neighbourhoods have accused RSF fighters of widespread break-ins and looting. By - () In the Vatican on Sunday, Pope Francis welcomed "the partial agreements reached so far" but called "on the international community to spare no effort... to ease the suffering of the population". With most banks shuttered, warehouses and factories looted, attacked and burned, and fuel in scarce supply, access to food across Sudan is becoming increasingly difficult. Aid agencies have been ramping up their response, despite the challenges. Currently, 25 million people -- more than half of the population -- need humanitarian aid. The UN's special envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, on Saturday flew to New York, where he is due to brief the Security Council on Monday. Sudan was also on the world stage at Cannes, where director Mohamed Kordofani's "Goodbye Julia" became the first Sudanese film featured in the Official Selection. Kordofani said he felt honoured and proud but also guilty, because "while I am on the red carpet, people are trying to flee the bombs." Air raids, gunfire and explosions rocked Sudan's capital on Sunday ahead of a one-week ceasefire agreed by rival generals, the latest in a series of truces that have been systematically violated. The ceasefire is focused on enabling humanitarian assistance to civilians. It is to take effect at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) on Monday, the United States and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement late Saturday after talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah. In a deserted neighbourhood of Khartoum North, Hussein Mohammed hopes that, finally, the guns will silence. The United Nations says fighting has driven nearly 650,000 Khartoum residents from their homes, but Mohammed has remained, sheltering in place with his sick mother. Smoke rises above buildings in war-ravaged Khartoum. By - () "We hope that this time mediators can monitor that the ceasefire is implemented," he told AFP. A joint US-Saudi statement acknowledged the multiple truce violations since fighting began on April 15 and said this time is different. "The agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," the statement said. Fighting pits the Sudanese army, commanded by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, flanked by representatives of Sudan's army and the rival Paramilitary Rapid Support forces after signing a ceasefire agreement in Jeddah. By STR (SPA) The UN, African Union and East African bloc IGAD all welcomed the latest truce, which comes after around 1,000 people lost their lives. More than one million have been uprooted, internally or by crossing into neighbouring countries. Millions more are trapped with sporadic access to water, electricity or medicine. Many have been separated from their families by unrelenting gunfire. For Sawsan Mohammed, who lives in the capital's south, the ceasefire -- if implemented -- "will be my first chance to see my mother and father in Omdurman", just a bridge across the Nile River, she told AFP. Aid efforts Aerial footage last week showed a hellish scene in the Omdurman Market area, a heavily built-up district where multiple fires burned and people ran on rubble strewn streets. The United Nations aid chief, Martin Griffiths, has decried "important and egregious" breaches of an agreement signed by the warring parties on May 12 in Jeddah to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid. A UN report on Sunday said there had been "at least 11 attacks against humanitarian premises in Khartoum, and four new attacks against health facilities" since the May 12 signing. That agreement is "an integral part" of the latest ceasefire deal, a text released by the United States says. Along with Khartoum, the western region of Darfur has seen some of the worst violence. The UN has reported hundreds of people killed in West Darfur and on Sunday said all 86 gathering sites for displaced people in El Geneina "have reportedly been burnt to the ground." "We do not trust the warring sides," said Adam Issa, a shop owner in El Geneina, West Darfur. "Every time they announce a truce and they go back to fighting. We want a permanent ceasefire, not a temporary truce." A member of the Sudanese army speaks to a man in front of open shops in southern Khartoum. By - () Darfur is still reeling from a conflict that erupted in 2003 when former autocrat Omar al-Bashir unleashed the feared Janjaweed militia -- which formed the basis for the RSF -- to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups. Burhan on Friday officially sacked Daglo from the position he held on a governing council formed after they launched a coup in October 2021. Their putsch derailed a transition to civilian rule put in place following Bashir's overthrow in 2019. 'End the war' Former rebel leader Malik Agar, who replaced Daglo as the council's vice president, on Saturday said he was determined to try to "end the war". He also directly addressed Daglo, whose dispute with Burhan over the RSF's integration into the regular army led to the war. "Sudan's stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army", Agar said. Residents of densely-populated neighbourhoods have accused RSF fighters of widespread break-ins and looting. Residents of densely-populated neighbourhoods have accused RSF fighters of widespread break-ins and looting. By - () In the Vatican on Sunday, Pope Francis welcomed "the partial agreements reached so far" but called "on the international community to spare no effort... to ease the suffering of the population". With most banks shuttered, warehouses and factories looted, attacked and burned, and fuel in scarce supply, access to food across Sudan is becoming increasingly difficult. Aid agencies have been ramping up their response, despite the challenges. Currently, 25 million people -- more than half of the population -- need humanitarian aid, the UN said. The head of the global body's Sudan mission, Volker Perthes, is to brief the UN Security Council on Monday. Sudan was also on the world stage at Cannes, where director Mohamed Kordofani's "Goodbye Julia" became the first Sudanese film featured in the Official Selection. Kordofani said he felt honoured and proud but also guilty, because "while I am on the red carpet, people are trying to flee the bombs." Mistakes are not normal occurrences at hospitals but occasional slips are possible, it is acceptable for people to double-check drug dosages or speak to another health professional if they are unclear about a drug or the prescription given to them. Furthermore, because writing prescriptions and medication orders is a daily task for many healthcare workers, particularly Medical Officers, mistakes can occur, either as a result of incorrect diagnoses or incorrect prescriptions being delivered to patients. That is why it is critical for patients to ask questions. Mrs. Joseline Adjoa Enchill, a Registered General Nurse at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) in Tema who made the admonishing also recommended people to double-check medical prescriptions. Mrs. Enchill made the remarks at the weekly "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility," a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative aimed at promoting health-related communication and providing a platform for the dissemination of health information in order to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy. The Ghana News Agency's Tema Regional Office developed the public health advocacy platform "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility" to investigate the components of four health communication approaches: informing, instructing, convincing, and promoting. "Healthcare delivery is all about teamwork," she said, that a lack of communication among hospital health workers can lead to a lot of errors. Let us not forget that the nurse is the first point of contact for treatment, and every medication is administered by a nurse. As a result, patients should have faith in nurses during healthcare delivery," she said. Responding to a question on the growing number of male nurses at most hospitals, Mrs Enchill revealed that, most patients preferred the services of male nurses to those of female nurses, particularly young females, and unmarried ladies reasoned that they emotionally comforted them while attending to them. Mrs. Enchill also stated that elderly women preferred male nurses because of the ease and fun they associated with their treatment and that some patients do not want to leave the hospital after they are discharged because of the bond they formed while seeking health under the care of male nurses. She said that, in general, guys had the ability to care for humans with their calm demeanor, which greatly aided in reducing concerns and speeding up the healing process. Mr. Samuel Adu Ntiamoah, an IMaH Registered General Nurse, stated that people had the misconception that all male workers in medical wards were doctors; "this is unfortunate; there are a large number of male nurses who are also doing very well." Mr. Ntiamoah indicated that in cases when patients were heavy and required carrying and turning around, such as in the emergency room, male nurses provided better and faster care than female nurses. Furthermore, getting patients out of cars needed a lot of muscle and care, which required the presence of male nurses. CDA Consult II Contributor The Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), manufacturing enterprises whose products have been affected by the application of the increased excise levies are continuing to produce. The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has started implementing three new and revised taxes: the Excise Amendment Act, of 2023, the Income Tax Amendment Act, of 2023, and the Growth and Sustainability Levy Act, of 2023. With the implementation of the Excise Duty Amendment Act, several articles and commodities that were previously exempt from excise duty, such as fruit juice, wines, and spirits, will now be subject to some taxes. Mr. Abraham Koomson GFL Secretary General, stated that the Federation has been credibly informed of the companies' "wait and see" approach to the application of the new levies. Mr. Koomson made the announcement during the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office's News Hub Dialogue Platform which allows both state and non-state actors to express their views on national issues. He mentioned that as part of their tactics, the corporations have deployed their sales professionals to monitor the market to see how the items are perceived after adoption. He stated that corporations were in business to earn a profit, or at the very least break even, thus their decision was to monitor the situation before manufacturing or importing the products. He claimed that the firms were blaming unions, organizations, and the business community for their failure to prevent the taxes from becoming law. According to Mr. Koomson, the current economic environment is not favourable to adopting such levies since they would impose an additional burden on businesses. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the effect of overburdened enterprises has resulted in an increase in the unemployment rate. He asked the government to develop measures that would encourage corporate growth rather than burying it under excessive levies. CDA Consult II Contributor Being diagnosed with hypertension is not a death sentence but rather a warning for patients to control it, Dr. Aba Folson, a Cardiologist at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH), Tema has stated. Dr Folson who is also the Treasurer of the Ghana Society of Cardiology, was speaking on the topic; Measure blood pressure accurately, control it and leave longer, which is the theme for the May Measurement Month and the World Hypertension Day commemoration. She noted that seeing diagnoses of hypertension as a death sentence tends to prevent patients from taking their medications and following their doctors advice to control it. She disclosed that with this perception, some of those diagnosed were not religiously checking their blood pressure and altering their lifestyle as a way of controlling it, adding that with this, they stand a higher risk of developing fatal complications and even death. Dr. Folson said this at the weekly Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! A Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative aimed at promoting health-related communication and providing a platform for health information dissemination to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy. The Ghana News Agency's Tema Regional Office developed the public health advocacy platform "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility" to investigate the components of four health communication approaches: informing, instructing, convincing, and promoting. The IMaH Cardiologist said such complications include blindness, kidney failure, stroke, heart attack, erectile dysfunction, and dementia among others. Dr Folson reminded the public that uncontrolled hypertension has a higher risk of causing damage to every organ in the body including the heart, brain, feet, lever, and eyes among others. She therefore advised patients to make a conscious effort to control their blood pressure by following the instructions of their doctors and taking their medications as well as following healthy lifestyles such as exercising, regular check-ups, eating fruits and vegetables, avoiding excessive consumption of salt and meat, avoid smoking and many others. She said having consistent blood pressure above 140/90 was a cause for concern as that could be diagnosed as hypertension, explaining that the upper reading represents when the heart was pumping blood while the lower measure is for when the heart was relaxing. She encouraged the public to buy their own automated BP machines, or regularly check from the pharmacies or hospitals to always be within the accepted rate. She said issues of hypertension must be of great concern to all as it was the most influential disease all over the world adding that it also has a lot of long-term effects on the body. Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Regional Manager of Ghana News Agency Tema, explained that "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility" is part of a collaborative effort to establish a means for the dissemination of health information. He said existing evidence indicates that mass media efforts to improve public health can help increase awareness of a health problem, raise the level of information about health topics; make a health topic or problem more salient, thereby sensitizing the public. Mr. Ameyibor, therefore, called on both the traditional and social media managers to devote some time to engaging health professionals to educate the public, saying that "the education we offer today through our media platform may save a life tomorrow." CDA Consult II Contributor Ethiopian Airlines has commenced four times weekly flights to Atlanta (ATL), USA via its hub in Addis Ababa. Atlanta becomes Ethiopian Airlines 5th passenger destination in the US following Chicago, Newark, New York, and Washington. For Ghanaian passengers, there are now more flying options from Accra to the USA and vice versa via Addis Ababa with the start of this new service. Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Mesfin Tasew said the airline was delighted to open another gateway to the USA. We have been connecting the U.S. and Africa for 25 years now and the new service will help boost the investment, tourism, diplomatic, and socioeconomic bonds between the two regions. As a Pan-African carrier, we are committed to further expanding our global network and connecting Africa with the rest of the world. We are also keen to better serve the U.S. by increasing our destinations and flight frequencies. On his part, Atlanta Mayor, Andre Dickens, noted that: Ethiopian Airlines new service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is yet another win for our City as we continue to develop and expand our air service to Africa. As we celebrate the new connection of the rich and dynamic cities of Atlanta and Addis Ababa, we look forward to a strong and successful partnership with our new partners in Ethiopia, Mr. Dickens added. Ethiopian Airlines is the largest network operator in Africa. It currently operates more than 130 international passenger and cargo destinations. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:DGRO Get Rating) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,305,026 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 203,630 shares during the quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.92% of iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF worth $215,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DGRO. Asio Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. My Personal CFO LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Gradient Investments LLC increased its position in shares of iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF by 52.7% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 658 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Get iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF alerts: iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF Stock Down 0.1 % Shares of DGRO traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $50.04. The stock had a trading volume of 883,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,079,569. iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF has a 52 week low of $43.67 and a 52 week high of $52.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.80 and a 200 day moving average of $50.32. The company has a market cap of $23.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 0.89. About iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF The iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the Morningstar US Dividend Growth index. The fund tracks an index of US stocks that are selected by dividends, dividend growth and payout ratio, then weighted by dividend dollars. DGRO was launched on Jun 10, 2014 and is managed by BlackRock. Read More Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,094 shares of the credit-card processors stock, valued at approximately $227,000. A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 145,236,910 shares of the credit-card processors stock worth $25,801,337,000 after acquiring an additional 912,545 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 27,141,800 shares of the credit-card processors stock valued at $4,821,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785,695 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 13,157,577 shares of the credit-card processors stock valued at $2,337,444,000 after purchasing an additional 383,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,004,830 shares of the credit-card processors stock valued at $2,218,771,000 after buying an additional 126,585 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,721,618 shares of the credit-card processors stock worth $1,371,746,000 after buying an additional 417,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.87% of the companys stock. Get Visa alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research firms have issued reports on V. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday. They set a buy rating for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $270.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $253.00 to $263.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $250.00 to $260.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Visa from $260.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $260.08. Insiders Place Their Bets Visa Stock Performance In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 13,394 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.00, for a total transaction of $2,933,286.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 4,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,003,677. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . In other Visa news, CFO Vasant M. Prabhu sold 13,343 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.26, for a total value of $3,125,731.18. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,638 shares in the company, valued at $17,250,437.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website . Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 13,394 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.00, for a total value of $2,933,286.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 4,583 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,003,677. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold 187,671 shares of company stock valued at $42,943,080 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.22% of the companys stock. NYSE:V traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $233.31. 5,399,403 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,672,756. The stock has a market capitalization of $437.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.60 and a 52 week high of $235.57. Visa (NYSE:V Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $7.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.79 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.95% and a return on equity of 50.21%. The firms revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Visa Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. Visas dividend payout ratio is presently 24.06%. About Visa (Get Rating) Visa, Inc engages in the provision of digital payment services. It also facilitates global commerce through the transfer of value and information among a global network of consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, strategic partners, and government entities. It offers debit cards, credit cards, prepaid products, commercial payment solutions, and global automated teller machines (ATMs). Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding V? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Visa Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Visa and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AIREA plc (LON:AIEA Get Rating)s share price crossed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 37.05 ($0.46) and traded as low as GBX 35.28 ($0.44). AIREA shares last traded at GBX 35.50 ($0.44), with a volume of 5,535 shares. AIREA Price Performance The stock has a 50 day moving average of GBX 37.05 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 32.94. The company has a current ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.79. The stock has a market capitalization of 14.68 million, a P/E ratio of 1,183.33 and a beta of 0.99. Get AIREA alerts: AIREA Cuts Dividend The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 20th were paid a GBX 0.50 ($0.01) dividend. This represents a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 20th. AIREAs dividend payout ratio is presently 3,333.33%. Insiders Place Their Bets AIREA Company Profile In related news, insider Mederic Payne bought 78,000 shares of AIREA stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 37 ($0.46) per share, with a total value of 28,860 ($36,151.82). Insiders own 28.71% of the companys stock. (Get Rating) AIREA plc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes floor coverings in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company's products portfolio includes tufted loop pile, tufted cut pile, fiber bonded, structure bonded, and entrance matting carpet tiles, as well as a range of carpet planks for architects, specifiers and contractors in the education, leisure, commercial, healthcare, and public sectors under the burmatex brand name. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for AIREA Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AIREA and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. With the weather finally warming up here for spring time, Ive been spending a lot of time out on my tractor finishing up planting. Every year, I plant my fields with crops like wheat, barley, peas, and millet. The days are long Sharla and I start early in the morning and work late until the job is done but as Montanans know, hard work is rewarding and always reminds us how lucky we are to live here in Montana. Our Montana way of life is what makes us The Last Best Place, and its worth defending for our kids and grandkids. Unfortunately, its no secret that there are hostile countries who dont respect our Montana values and want to undermine Americas place as the worlds leading economic and military superpower. I wont sugarcoat it: the Chinese Communist Party is the pacing threat facing our country, and they want to take our place on the world stage. Montanans deeply value our freedom and privacy, and China is working to undermine those American values right before our eyes. We cant let that happen. It was only a few short months ago that Montanans were able to literally look up into the sky and see Chinas direct threat floating across our airspace. The Chinese spy balloon that we watched drift across our state including over Malmstrom Air Force Base, the home of our intercontinental ballistic missiles was an unacceptable incursion and one that should never be tolerated. I have been a leading voice in the Senate to get answers about the spy balloon, and Ill hold anyone in Washington accountable until we make sure our military has the tools they need to prevent it from ever happening again. And while the spy balloon certainly got a lot of headlines, the truth is that China has been working to undermine us for a long time now. Its not just our airspace you may have heard that China is also trying to buy up Montanas and Americas farmland. As a third-generation farmer, I know that China buying up our farmland poses two threats: it would hurt our food security and our national security. Montana farmers and ranchers feed the world, and if China is able to disrupt our food supply, the impact would be devastating for agribusinesses and consumers. And allowing China to own farmland near sensitive military sites, like weve seen happen in North Dakota, is an obvious and direct threat to our national security. We can never let this happen, so Im working with my colleagues in Congress to pass a law that will prevent China and other hostile countries from ever buying American farmland. It's clear that China is actively working to undermine Montana and our country from all angles, and the alarm bell is ringing loudly. Too many folks in Washington like to make a lot of noise about issues facing our country but dont seem to take much action. But thats not the Montana way. Montanans have always expected their elected leaders to work across the aisle to deliver real, lasting results for our state and our national security. As the Senator who oversees our countrys defense budget, Im working hard to ensure we secure a budget that gives our military all the tools they need to defend our freedoms and stay ahead of the pacing threat of China. Ive worked with both Republicans and Democrats to pass legislation investing in American manufacturing, so that we are not reliant on China for things like computer chips and semiconductors. And Ill continue fighting to stop China from spying on Americans, whether its in our airspace or on our farmland. At the end of the day, I will always do whats best for Montana. Its the only place Sharla and I have ever called home, so you've got my word that I'll continue holding anyone accountable to protect Montana values, and ensure America maintains our rightful position as the world's premier economic and military power. Just like the work I do on the farm, I wont rest until the job is done. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Alamo Group (NYSE:ALG Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a buy rating on the industrial products companys stock. Separately, DA Davidson raised Alamo Group from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $173.00 to $196.00 in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Get Alamo Group alerts: Alamo Group Trading Down 1.2 % NYSE:ALG opened at $177.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $177.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.02. Alamo Group has a 12-month low of $108.35 and a 12-month high of $186.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.14, a quick ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Alamo Group Announces Dividend Alamo Group ( NYSE:ALG Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The industrial products company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $386.60 million during the quarter. Alamo Group had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 7.47%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alamo Group will post 11.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 14th. Alamo Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.00%. Insider Activity In other news, EVP Edward Rizzuti sold 394 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.21, for a total value of $72,578.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,433 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,000,812.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Edward Rizzuti sold 394 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.21, for a total value of $72,578.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,433 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,000,812.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Janet S. Pollock sold 150 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.40, for a total value of $27,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,606 shares of the companys stock, valued at $470,122.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.30% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alamo Group Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALG. Quadrant Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Alamo Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Alamo Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Alamo Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Alamo Group by 5,380.0% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 274 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Alamo Group by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 701 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.67% of the companys stock. Alamo Group Company Profile (Get Rating) Alamo Group, Inc engages in the design and manufacture of agricultural equipment and infrastructure maintenance equipment for governmental and industrial use. Its products include tractor-mounted mowing and other vegetation maintenance equipment, street sweepers, excavators, vacuum trucks, snow removal equipment, zero turn radius mowers, agricultural implements, and related aftermarket parts. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Alamo Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alamo Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the mining companys stock. A number of other research analysts also recently commented on AU. Investec downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a buy rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. HSBC downgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a buy rating to a reduce rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of AngloGold Ashanti from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $27.00. Get AngloGold Ashanti alerts: AngloGold Ashanti Trading Up 0.5 % NYSE AU opened at $24.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $25.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.13. AngloGold Ashanti has a one year low of $11.94 and a one year high of $30.26. AngloGold Ashanti Cuts Dividend Institutional Inflows and Outflows The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 17th were given a $0.177 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 16th. A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AU. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 27,073,882 shares of the mining companys stock worth $654,917,000 after buying an additional 3,486,910 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AngloGold Ashanti in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,119,000. TT International Asset Management LTD purchased a new stake in AngloGold Ashanti during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,326,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,948,606 shares of the mining companys stock worth $240,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,625,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 711.8% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,830,538 shares of the mining companys stock worth $44,280,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,046 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.90% of the companys stock. AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile (Get Rating) AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. engages in the exploration, mining, and production of gold. It operates through the following business segments: Africa, Australia, and Americas. The Africa segment consists of Ghana, Guinea, the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Tanzania. The Americas segment comprises of Argentina, Brazil, and projects in Colombia and the United States. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for AngloGold Ashanti Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AngloGold Ashanti and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Armstrong World Industries (NYSE:AWI Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning. Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Armstrong World Industries from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Armstrong World Industries from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Credit Suisse Group reissued an outperform rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Armstrong World Industries in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Armstrong World Industries from $77.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $83.63. Get Armstrong World Industries alerts: Armstrong World Industries Price Performance Shares of AWI traded down $0.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $65.50. The companys stock had a trading volume of 496,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 552,366. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11. Armstrong World Industries has a 1-year low of $63.35 and a 1-year high of $94.94. Armstrong World Industries Announces Dividend Armstrong World Industries ( NYSE:AWI Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The construction company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $310.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $310.86 million. Armstrong World Industries had a return on equity of 41.94% and a net margin of 16.32%. Armstrong World Industriess revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Armstrong World Industries will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 4th were given a dividend of $0.254 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 3rd. Armstrong World Industriess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.82%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Armstrong World Industries A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AWI. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Armstrong World Industries in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Armstrong World Industries in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Armstrong World Industries by 32.3% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,029 shares of the construction companys stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Armstrong World Industries by 89.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,272 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Armstrong World Industries during the first quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Armstrong World Industries Company Profile (Get Rating) Armstrong World Industries, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and trade of commercial and residential ceiling, wall, and suspension system solutions. It operates through the following segments: Mineral Fiber, Architectural Specialties, and Unallocated Corporate. The Mineral Fiber segment produces suspended mineral fiber and soft fiber ceiling systems for use in commercial and residential settings. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Armstrong World Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Armstrong World Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Blair William & Co. IL lessened its position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Get Rating) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 148,655 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,674 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. ILs holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $15,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,480,611 shares of the companys stock worth $10,997,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451,582 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 100,951,462 shares of the companys stock worth $8,379,979,000 after acquiring an additional 962,801 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,777,797 shares of the companys stock worth $4,868,937,000 after acquiring an additional 389,746 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,468,228 shares of the companys stock worth $2,944,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,558,762 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,050,540 shares of the companys stock worth $1,332,355,000 after acquiring an additional 260,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.85% of the companys stock. Get Philip Morris International alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other Philip Morris International news, insider Werner Barth sold 8,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.35, for a total transaction of $786,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 87,321 shares of the companys stock, valued at $8,588,020.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.6 % Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and raised their price target for the stock from $109.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $110.60. Shares of Philip Morris International stock opened at $93.19 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.85 and a 1-year high of $109.81. The firms 50-day moving average price is $96.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.71. Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $8.03 billion. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 10.80% and a negative return on equity of 128.55%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year. Philip Morris International Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 23rd were paid a dividend of $1.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 22nd. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.45%. Philip Morris Internationals dividend payout ratio is 90.88%. About Philip Morris International (Get Rating) Philip Morris International, Inc is a holding company engaged in the manufacturing and sale of cigarettes, tobacco, and nicotine-containing products. Its products include cigarettes and reduced-risk products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: European Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia and Australia, and Americas. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Philip Morris International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Philip Morris International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in AmerisourceBergen Co. (NYSE:ABC Get Rating) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 166,393 shares of the companys stock after selling 12,312 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.08% of AmerisourceBergen worth $27,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 281,056 shares of the companys stock valued at $46,574,000 after purchasing an additional 13,361 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 143,276 shares of the companys stock valued at $19,390,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,082 shares of the companys stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AmerisourceBergen in the 4th quarter valued at about $285,000. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AmerisourceBergen in the 4th quarter valued at about $537,000. Institutional investors own 84.79% of the companys stock. Get AmerisourceBergen alerts: AmerisourceBergen Trading Down 0.8 % Shares of AmerisourceBergen stock opened at $173.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $163.95 and a 200-day moving average of $162.86. The stock has a market cap of $35.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.29, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.52. AmerisourceBergen Co. has a 52-week low of $135.14 and a 52-week high of $176.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.13, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.89. AmerisourceBergen Announces Dividend AmerisourceBergen ( NYSE:ABC Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $63.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $60.40 billion. AmerisourceBergen had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 809.53%. AmerisourceBergens quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AmerisourceBergen Co. will post 11.88 EPS for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a $0.485 dividend. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. AmerisourceBergens dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.94%. Analysts Set New Price Targets ABC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $170.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a report on Thursday. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a research note on Friday, March 31st. They issued a buy rating and a $185.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI reissued an outperform rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $181.62. Insider Activity at AmerisourceBergen In related news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 292,792 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.77, for a total value of $50,000,089.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,366,388 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,697,978,078.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. sold 292,792 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.77, for a total value of $50,000,089.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,366,388 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,697,978,078.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,499 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.52, for a total value of $1,779,790.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,967 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $43,730,565.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 326,213 shares of company stock valued at $55,412,200 over the last quarter. 20.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. AmerisourceBergen Company Profile (Get Rating) AmerisourceBergen Corp. engages in the provision of pharmaceutical products and business solutions that improve access to care. It operates through the Pharmaceutical Distribution Services and Other segments. The Pharmaceutical Distribution Services segment distributes an offering of brand-name, specialty brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to healthcare providers, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, and long-term care and alternate site pharmacies. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for AmerisourceBergen Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AmerisourceBergen and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN Get Rating) have been given an average rating of Hold by the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.00. A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Gray Television in a research note on Thursday. They set a sell rating on the stock. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Gray Television from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. Barrington Research lowered their price objective on shares of Gray Television from $15.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Benchmark upped their target price on Gray Television from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Get Gray Television alerts: Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gray Television Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 35.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 6,415 shares of the companys stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 1,667 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Gray Television by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 901,178 shares of the companys stock valued at $19,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Gray Television by 73.5% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,014 shares of the companys stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 7,207 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gray Television by 56.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 46,491 shares of the companys stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 16,686 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gray Television by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,646,405 shares of the companys stock valued at $102,546,000 after purchasing an additional 97,570 shares in the last quarter. 81.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Gray Television Trading Down 2.5 % NYSE GTN opened at $7.89 on Friday. Gray Television has a 52 week low of $6.50 and a 52 week high of $20.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $751.44 million, a PE ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.55. Gray Television (NYSE:GTN Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $801.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $788.22 million. Gray Television had a return on equity of 18.22% and a net margin of 9.92%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gray Television will post -0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year. Gray Television Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Gray Televisions dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%. About Gray Television (Get Rating) Gray Television, Inc is a television broadcasting company, which engages in owning and operating television stations and digital assets in markets throughout the United States. It operates through the following segments: Broadcasting, and Production Companies. The Broadcasting segment operates television stations located across local markets in the United States. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Gray Television Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Gray Television and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC decreased its position in Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D Get Rating) by 48.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 776,406 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 729,488 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLCs holdings in Dominion Energy were worth $47,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dominion Energy by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,953,046 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $5,110,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,767,626 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dominion Energy by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 58,954,665 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $4,074,356,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051,912 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Dominion Energy by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,478,314 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,419,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,875 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Dominion Energy by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,771,075 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,126,590,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Dominion Energy by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,364,622 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $716,299,000 after purchasing an additional 8,596,097 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.30% of the companys stock. Get Dominion Energy alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on shares of Dominion Energy from $67.00 to $58.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Dominion Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Dominion Energy from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Mizuho cut their target price on Dominion Energy from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Dominion Energy from $54.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dominion Energy presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $63.55. Dominion Energy Stock Down 1.1 % NYSE:D traded down $0.56 on Friday, hitting $52.12. 4,236,963 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,551,579. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Dominion Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.01 and a 52 week high of $86.28. The company has a market cap of $43.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.43. Dominion Energy (NYSE:D Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.46 billion. Dominion Energy had a net margin of 7.05% and a return on equity of 12.67%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Dominion Energy, Inc. will post 3.8 EPS for the current fiscal year. Dominion Energy Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 1st. This represents a $2.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.12%. Dominion Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 186.71%. Dominion Energy Profile (Get Rating) Dominion Energy, Inc engages in the production and distribution of energy. It operates through following business segments: Dominion Energy Virginia, Gas Distribution, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Contracted Assets, and Corporate and Other. The Corporate and Other segment focuses on corporate, service company, non-controlling interest in Dominion privatization, and non-regulated retail energy marketing operations. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding D? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Dominion Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dominion Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Coca-Cola HBC AG (OTCMKTS:CCHGY Get Rating) announced a dividend on Saturday, May 20th, investing.com reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be given a dividend of 0.5104 per share on Monday, July 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 25th. Coca-Cola HBC Stock Performance OTCMKTS CCHGY opened at $31.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.83. Coca-Cola HBC has a 52 week low of $19.83 and a 52 week high of $32.19. Get Coca-Cola HBC alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Coca-Cola HBC from GBX 2,200 ($27.56) to GBX 2,600 ($32.57) in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola HBC from GBX 2,250 ($28.18) to GBX 2,350 ($29.44) in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola HBC from GBX 2,500 ($31.32) to GBX 2,700 ($33.82) in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Coca-Cola HBC from GBX 2,580 ($32.32) to GBX 2,545 ($31.88) in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. Coca-Cola HBC Company Profile Coca-Cola HBC AG engages in the production, sale and distribution of non-alcoholic and ready-to-drink beverages. It operates through the following segments: Established Markets, Developing Markets, and Emerging Markets. The Established Markets segment consists of Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Switzerland. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Coca-Cola HBC Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Coca-Cola HBC and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (NYSE:VLRS Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a buy rating on the transportation companys stock. Separately, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion from $20.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, May 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $19.90. Get Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion alerts: Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion Stock Down 1.4 % NYSE:VLRS opened at $13.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The companys 50-day moving average is $11.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.72. Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion has a 12-month low of $6.86 and a 12-month high of $16.00. Institutional Trading of Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion ( NYSE:VLRS Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The transportation company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion had a negative net margin of 1.73% and a negative return on equity of 25.63%. The company had revenue of $820.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $805.71 million. Research analysts expect that Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion will post 1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year. A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Veriti Management LLC increased its position in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Veriti Management LLC now owns 14,803 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its position in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 60.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 3,585 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Group LLC increased its position in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Group LLC now owns 65,929 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 4,193 shares in the last quarter. Natixis acquired a new stake in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC increased its position in Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion by 42.3% during the 1st quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 16,770 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 4,981 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.97% of the companys stock. About Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion (Get Rating) Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion SAB de CV is a holding company, which engages in the provision of air transportation and related services. It also offers cargo services. The company was founded by Roberto Jose Kriete Avila and Carlos Mendoza Valencia on October 27, 2005 and is headquartered in Mexico City. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN Get Rating) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Wednesday. A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on DVN. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Devon Energy from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Mizuho reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $71.00 price objective on shares of Devon Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Devon Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. UBS Group started coverage on Devon Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. They issued a neutral rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Devon Energy from $87.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Devon Energy has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $69.74. Get Devon Energy alerts: Devon Energy Stock Up 1.9 % DVN stock opened at $49.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Devon Energy has a 12 month low of $44.03 and a 12 month high of $79.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.41. Devon Energy Cuts Dividend 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 firm had revenue of $3.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.82 billion. Devon Energy had a net margin of 31.39% and a return on equity of 47.42%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Devon Energy will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. Devon Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.72%. Insider Transactions at Devon Energy In other news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 8,292 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.97, for a total transaction of $414,351.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 218,418 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $10,914,347.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.80% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Devon Energy Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trustcore Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Devon Energy by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Trustcore Financial Services LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the energy companys stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Devon Energy by 194.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 573,342 shares of the energy companys stock worth $34,475,000 after purchasing an additional 378,590 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Devon Energy by 470.6% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 64,217 shares of the energy companys stock worth $3,861,000 after purchasing an additional 52,963 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Devon Energy by 111.4% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Financial LLC now owns 21,468 shares of the energy companys stock worth $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 11,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exos TFP Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Devon Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $217,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.08% of the companys stock. About Devon Energy (Get Rating) Devon Energy Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties. It develops and operates Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford, Heavy Oil, Barnett Shale, STACK, and Rockies Oil. The company was founded by J. Larry Nichols and John W. Nichols in 1971 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Devon Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Devon Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. If you are an elderly Montana veteran on Social Security in a mobile home park, Gov. Greg Gianforte does not have your back! Montanas manufactured homeowners had just two minutes to defend their homes in hearings on HB 889 sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Karlen of Missoula, yet they persuaded the House and the Senate to adopt a modest package of protections for park residents confronting large out-of-state private equity firms buying up the parks on which their homes rest. The well-heeled lobbyists for out-of-state private equity corporations and the Montana Landlords Association ran to Gianforte who this week, chose them over the thousands of Montanas elderly citizens, veterans, persons with disabilities, and low-wage workers who reside in Montanas mobile home parks when he vetoed HB 889. Across the country private equity firms have been purchasing these parks often without advance notice to the parks residents. Three years ago, a Utah-based firm, Havenpark, purchased seven parks with 1,800 lots in Billings, Great Falls and Kalispell. These firms can extract enormous profits by raising rents, charging separately for utilities, and neglecting maintenance and upkeep. Manufactured homeowners have a substantial investment in their home, and if the owner can no longer afford to rent the lot, the added cost of finding a new location and moving the home can easily be $10,000. Many mobile home parks provide much needed affordable housing options for Montanans on fixed incomes. They own their manufactured home, but they rent the lot and pay for utilities. Lawmakers passed the bipartisan HB 889, a modest package of reasonable protections for residents who own their homes but rent lots in Montanas mobile home parks. Gianforte instead sided with the rich out-of-state private equity firms and against his most vulnerable fellow Montanans. Many will now face homelessness. As private equity firms snap up mobile home parks and apartment complexes in Montana, raising rents in the process, more and more people are being pushed toward and into homelessness or less stable housing, according to reporter David Erickson in Lee Newspapers this week. "Three years ago, you could rent a lot in either Highwoods or Golden Meadows for $283 a month," Cindy Newman of Great Falls told the reporter. "Now Golden Meadows is $749 a month and it's $700 here. It just really exceeds what people have the ability to pay. Newman testified in the House hearing on HB 889 that 80% of the Highwoods residents are retired seniors, 7 in 10 rely on a single, fixed income and 1 in 3 have a disability. Rep. George Nikolakakos of Great Falls, himself a mobile home park landlord, strongly endorsed the bill in the Senate hearing, pointing out that a reasonable landlord had nothing to fear from the modest protections that this bill would provide. They include a prohibition against retaliation, a 60-day notice requirement for a change in lease terms, and the protection for lot renters ability to sell their primary asset. He called out the histrionic, sky-is-falling tactics of the Montana Landlords Association acting as a front group for Havenpark and other out-of-state corporations driving low-income Montanans from their homes. Billings reported that rents have doubled since Havenpark took over. The resident they interviewed asked to remain anonymous. I fear retribution. I have other family members living in this park. I could probably handle it, but they can't. Its hard for Montanans to believe that their governor has so little sympathy for hard-working, lifelong, independent citizens, but there you are. His veto of HB 889 is all you need to know. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Hengan International Group (OTCMKTS:HEGIF Get Rating) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. Hengan International Group Stock Performance Shares of HEGIF stock opened at $4.57 on Wednesday. Hengan International Group has a 52-week low of $3.90 and a 52-week high of $5.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $4.49 and a 200-day moving average of $4.63. Get Hengan International Group alerts: Hengan International Group Company Profile (Get Rating) Further Reading 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. Receive News & Ratings for Hengan International Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hengan International Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the financial services providers stock. Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities lowered their target price on shares of Hercules Capital from $18.00 to $15.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a market perform rating to an underperform rating and reduced their price target for the company from $14.50 to $10.50 in a research report on Monday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $14.71. Get Hercules Capital alerts: Hercules Capital Trading Up 3.5 % Shares of Hercules Capital stock opened at $13.93 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.71. Hercules Capital has a 12-month low of $10.94 and a 12-month high of $16.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.31, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.41. Hercules Capital Increases Dividend Hercules Capital ( NYSE:HTGC Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.05. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 55.30% and a return on equity of 15.58%. The business had revenue of $100.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $91.34 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hercules Capital will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 15th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.50%. This is an increase from Hercules Capitals previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Hercules Capitals dividend payout ratio is presently 106.12%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, Director Gayle A. Crowell acquired 7,200 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.66 per share, for a total transaction of $98,352.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 38,845 shares in the company, valued at $530,622.70. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Gayle A. Crowell purchased 7,200 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.66 per share, with a total value of $98,352.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 38,845 shares of the companys stock, valued at $530,622.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Wade Loo purchased 4,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.95 per share, for a total transaction of $47,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,059 shares in the company, valued at $96,305.05. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 31,023 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 174,272 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 13,552 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $380,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hercules Capital by 2,200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,300 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Hercules Capital during the 3rd quarter worth about $128,000. 23.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Hercules Capital (Get Rating) 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. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Hercules Capital Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hercules Capital and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Janus Henderson Group (NYSE:JHG Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock. JHG has been the topic of several other reports. Credit Suisse Group upgraded Janus Henderson Group from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $23.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Janus Henderson Group from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Janus Henderson Group from $25.30 to $26.90 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. 22nd Century Group reissued a maintains rating on shares of Janus Henderson Group in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, 51job restated a maintains rating on shares of Janus Henderson Group in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $23.11. Get Janus Henderson Group alerts: Janus Henderson Group Stock Up 0.1 % Janus Henderson Group stock opened at $26.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.44. Janus Henderson Group has a 1-year low of $19.09 and a 1-year high of $31.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.90. Janus Henderson Group Dividend Announcement Janus Henderson Group ( NYSE:JHG Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.08. Janus Henderson Group had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.86%. The business had revenue of $495.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $488.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The companys revenue was down 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Janus Henderson Group will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. Janus Henderson Groups payout ratio is 73.24%. Insider Transactions at Janus Henderson Group In other news, CAO Brennan A. Hughes sold 1,874 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.69, for a total transaction of $50,017.06. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,570 shares in the company, valued at $121,973.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 19.60% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Janus Henderson Group A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JHG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Janus Henderson Group by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 449,385 shares of the companys stock worth $11,971,000 after buying an additional 31,395 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in shares of Janus Henderson Group by 486.3% in the first quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the companys stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Janus Henderson Group by 2.6% during the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 51,674 shares of the companys stock worth $1,377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Janus Henderson Group by 23.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,195,275 shares of the companys stock valued at $138,402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Janus Henderson Group by 5.7% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,035,821 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,594,000 after purchasing an additional 55,507 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.01% of the companys stock. Janus Henderson Group Company Profile (Get Rating) Janus Henderson Group Plc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of asset management services. It offers investment solutions including equities, quantitative equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternative asset class strategies. The company was founded on Jan 23, 1998, is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Janus Henderson Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Janus Henderson Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Laffer Tengler Investments raised its position in EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG Get Rating) by 56.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,421 shares of the energy exploration companys stock after acquiring an additional 14,505 shares during the period. EOG Resources makes up 1.5% of Laffer Tengler Investments investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Laffer Tengler Investments holdings in EOG Resources were worth $5,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EOG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in EOG Resources by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,571,626 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $5,985,558,000 after purchasing an additional 584,133 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in EOG Resources by 196.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,859,925 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $1,175,599,000 after acquiring an additional 6,529,464 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in EOG Resources by 3.1% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,190,712 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $915,149,000 after acquiring an additional 245,996 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in EOG Resources by 7.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,972,949 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $779,089,000 after acquiring an additional 503,003 shares during the period. Finally, Findlay Park Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of EOG Resources by 41.2% during the 3rd quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 4,065,758 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $454,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185,883 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.40% of the companys stock. Get EOG Resources alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth EOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $140.00 to $132.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 27th. UBS Group assumed coverage on EOG Resources in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. They set a buy rating and a $152.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on EOG Resources in a research note on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. Citigroup decreased their target price on EOG Resources from $160.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $158.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $149.38. EOG Resources Stock Up 2.3 % Shares of EOG Resources stock opened at $114.59 on Friday. EOG Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.16 and a twelve month high of $150.88. The stock has a market cap of $67.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $113.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.42. EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The energy exploration company reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $6.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.28 billion. EOG Resources had a return on equity of 30.34% and a net margin of 33.83%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 51.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. EOG Resources Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 14th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. EOG Resourcess dividend payout ratio is currently 20.64%. About EOG Resources (Get Rating) EOG Resources, Inc engages in the exploration, development, production and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. It operates through the United States, Trinidad & Tobago, and Other International segments. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for EOG Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EOG Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Laffer Tengler Investments raised its position in iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF (BATS:FLOT Get Rating) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,247 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 588 shares during the quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments holdings in iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF were worth $717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FLOT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 122.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 112,302 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,674,000 after purchasing an additional 61,884 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC boosted its holdings in iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 121,500 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,138,000 after purchasing an additional 19,580 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 976.0% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,228 shares of the companys stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 118,015 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,983,000 after buying an additional 9,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 126.2% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 81,715 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,128,000 after buying an additional 45,589 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF alerts: iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF Stock Performance iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF stock opened at $50.53 on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $50.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.38. iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF has a fifty-two week low of $50.76 and a fifty-two week high of $51.10. iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF Company Profile The iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF (FLOT) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks a market value-weighted index of USD-denominated, investment-grade floating rate notes with maturities of 0-5 years. FLOT was launched on Jun 14, 2011 and is managed by BlackRock. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FLOT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF (BATS:FLOT Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New South Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable Co. (NYSE:BEPC Get Rating) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 482,551 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,103 shares during the quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.28% of Brookfield Renewable worth $13,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BEPC. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Brookfield Renewable by 176.9% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the companys stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Renewable during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Institutional investors own 68.12% of the companys stock. Get Brookfield Renewable alerts: Brookfield Renewable Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:BEPC opened at $34.92 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.33. Brookfield Renewable Co. has a twelve month low of $27.19 and a twelve month high of $42.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. Brookfield Renewable Announces Dividend Brookfield Renewable Profile The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.338 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a $1.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. Brookfield Renewables payout ratio is -254.72%. (Get Rating) Brookfield Renewable Corporation owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy power generating facilities primarily in the United States, Europe, Colombia, and Brazil. It operates hydroelectric, wind, and solar power plants with an installed capacity of approximately 12,723 megawatts. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in New York, New York. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Brookfield Renewable Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brookfield Renewable and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,193,851 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 253,237 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLCs holdings in Bank of America were worth $39,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 6,772.7% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 756 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,491.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.34% of the companys stock. Get Bank of America alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America In other Bank of America news, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 105,054 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was 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 of the companys stock, valued at $10,959,648.81. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Bank of America Stock Performance Shares of BAC traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.11. The stock had a trading volume of 50,062,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 45,208,040. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $26.32 and a 12 month high of $38.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.44, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.54. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 21.85%. The company had revenue of $26.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Bank of Americas revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year. Bank of America Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 1st. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio is presently 26.43%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades BAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $39.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $33.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Atlantic Securities cut Bank of America from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $36.77. About Bank of America (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. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BAC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Bank of America Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of America and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,069 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $209,000. Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,762 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC purchased a new position in Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in Philip Morris International by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 12,912 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,307,000 after buying an additional 987 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Philip Morris International by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,238 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,489,000 after buying an additional 2,545 shares during the period. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in Philip Morris International by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 17,092 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 1,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.85% of the companys stock. Get Philip Morris International alerts: Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International In other news, insider Werner Barth sold 8,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.35, for a total transaction of $786,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 87,321 shares in the company, valued at $8,588,020.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the companys stock. Philip Morris International Stock Performance NYSE PM opened at $93.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $144.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Philip Morris International Inc. has a one year low of $82.85 and a one year high of $109.81. The firms fifty day moving average is $96.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.71. Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.04. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 10.80% and a negative return on equity of 128.55%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. Philip Morris Internationals quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year. Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 23rd were paid a dividend of $1.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 22nd. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.45%. Philip Morris Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.88%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages have commented on PM. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Philip Morris International from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $109.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $106.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $110.60. Philip Morris International Company Profile (Get Rating) Philip Morris International, Inc is a holding company engaged in the manufacturing and sale of cigarettes, tobacco, and nicotine-containing products. Its products include cigarettes and reduced-risk products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: European Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia and Australia, and Americas. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Philip Morris International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Philip Morris International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the savings and loans companys stock. A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $23.25. Get Provident Financial Services alerts: Provident Financial Services Price Performance Shares of Provident Financial Services stock opened at $15.83 on Thursday. Provident Financial Services has a twelve month low of $14.54 and a twelve month high of $25.61. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $17.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 0.95. Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement Provident Financial Services ( NYSE:PFS Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The savings and loans company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.05). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 28.77%. The firm had revenue of $130.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $132.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. Provident Financial Servicess quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Provident Financial Services will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. Provident Financial Servicess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.56%. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, CEO George Lista bought 1,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.62 per share, with a total value of $30,930.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,241 shares of the companys stock, valued at $108,069.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders purchased 4,560 shares of company stock valued at $83,653 in the last three months. 4.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PFS. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,785 shares of the savings and loans companys stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 12,296 shares of the savings and loans companys stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 67,130 shares of the savings and loans companys stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 15,646 shares of the savings and loans companys stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 4,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 69.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 36,093 shares of the savings and loans companys stock worth $855,000 after purchasing an additional 14,853 shares during the last quarter. 65.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Provident Financial Services (Get Rating) Provident Financial Services, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. The company was founded on January 15, 2003 and is headquartered in Jersey City, NJ. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Provident Financial Services Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Provident Financial Services and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY Get Rating) (TSE:RY) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 343,158 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 5,160 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLCs holdings in Royal Bank of Canada were worth $32,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 2.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,653,309 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $4,560,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191,987 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,144,366 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,269,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392,959 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Royal Bank of Canada by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 19,089,235 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,801,647,000 after acquiring an additional 683,387 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Royal Bank of Canada by 269.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 17,293,538 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,625,202,000 after acquiring an additional 12,610,726 shares during the period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Royal Bank of Canada by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 11,070,647 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,004,491,000 after acquiring an additional 106,101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.19% of the companys stock. Get Royal Bank of Canada alerts: Royal Bank of Canada Stock Performance Royal Bank of Canada stock traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $94.20. The companys stock had a trading volume of 740,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 867,792. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Royal Bank of Canada has a 1-year low of $83.63 and a 1-year high of $106.43. The company has a market cap of $131.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $96.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.97. Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend Royal Bank of Canada ( NYSE:RY Get Rating ) (TSE:RY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The financial services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $11.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.67 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 18.77% and a return on equity of 16.17%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.992 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 24th. This is a positive change from Royal Bank of Canadas previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $3.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Royal Bank of Canadas payout ratio is 48.57%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several analysts have issued reports on RY shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$145.00 to C$147.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. CIBC lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a sector outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada from an overweight rating to an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Bank of Canada has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $138.33. Royal Bank of Canada Company Profile (Get Rating) Royal Bank of Canada engages in the provision of banking and financial solutions. It operates through the following segments: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Insurance, Investor and Treasury Services, Capital Markets, and Corporate Support. The Personal and Commercial Banking segment deals with a broad suite of financial products and services in Canada. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Royal Bank of Canada Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Royal Bank of Canada and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Criminal charges likely wont be pursued in a Granite County crash that took the life of a young University of Montana student in 2020, according to the Montana Department of Justice and Granite County Attorneys Office. The case, first reported by the Montana Kaimin, started on the evening of May 31, 2020, when Courtney Klagues, a 21-year-old UM student, died while sitting in the passenger seat of a Jeep Wrangler that was catapulted into Rock Creek. A letter from the Montana Department of Justice found the Granite County Attorneys Office didnt abuse its discretion in declining charges against the driver, something Courtneys family struggles to understand. There are so many unanswered questions, Lance Klagues, Courtneys father, said in a phone call with the Missoulian. A crash report from Montana Highway Patrol states that on their way back from a camping trip, Courtney and her friends were in the Jeep driving on Rock Creek Road when the driver swerved to avoid a pothole, struck a rock, which broke the steering linkage, causing the car to go careening into the water. The car rolled, coming to a rest partially on its roof, partially on its right side. Courtney was in the front passenger seat. Courtney was not the only person in the car, but was the only one who died. The report states she was partially ejected, and her death certificate lists Courtneys cause of death as drowning associated with blunt force injuries. The two other passengers and driver made it out of the crash with suspected minor injuries, according to the report. Lances frustration with the case is multi-faceted. Not only does he suspect foul play as a factor in the crash, but he feels powerless with the way Montanas justice system has handled investigating his daughters death. The crash report states the driver drove in a distracted, inattentive or careless manner, something Lance argues merits criminal charges. None of us can figure out why they refuse to bring charges, he said. In a memo from the Montana Department of Justice dated April 28, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Guzynski explained that the states decision to not pursue a misdemeanor citation against the driver stemmed from concerns over whether a jury would decide to convict. In 2021, former Prosecution Services Bureau Chief Attorney Chad Parker worked with Granite County Attorney Blaine Bradshaw on the case. Parker determined there was probable cause to file charges for careless driving based on excessive speed, but Bradshaw chose not to file that charge against the driver. The Attorney Generals office only has authority to intervene in county attorney decisions when possible abuses of discretion are flagged. In this case, Guzynski wrote in the letter that his office didnt identify such abuses by the Granite County Attorney. While the review determined that probable cause to bring charges exists, other extenuating factors would make it difficult for a jury to reach a guilty verdict, Guzynski wrote. As such, the decision of the Granite County Attorneys Office to decline bringing charges does not allow our office to intervene in the case. The letter describes the offense as subjective. Bradshaw declined to comment on the April 28 letter, but said the case is closed in his office. He told the Montana Kaimin his decision not to prosecute was based on the entire case file, and that highway patrol concurred with his choice. On May 31, the statute of limitations for the careless driving charge will expire. Courtney, who moved to Missoula from Coeur dAlene, Idaho, was enrolled at the University of Montana. She was on track to earn a criminal justice and law degree. Her father said Courtney aspired to have an advocacy career supporting children experiencing divorce. She was an avid lover of the outdoors, an angler and a bow hunter. A scholarship at UM in Courtneys name was established following her death. It supports students on similar career paths as Courtney. She was a beautiful, beautiful human being, Lance said. He talked with Courtney the day before the crash, when she was getting ready for the camping trip. He tried to call her again on the afternoon of May 31, but by then it was too late. Different stories about what happened from Courtneys friends swarmed Lance in the days and weeks following her death. According to the letter, four Montana Highway Patrol accident reconstructionists reviewed the case file. The driver was estimated to be going somewhere between 10 and 20 mph on the narrow, winding gravel road. The posted speed limit was 30 mph. At many points, there are steep drop-offs into the river. The report notes the river was turbulent and high-flowing the day Courtney died. Details on what exactly happened remain fuzzy for Courtneys loved ones. Lance said hes asked for a more thorough investigation but has been refuted by law enforcement. He disagrees with the investigator's assessment that the cars steering arm was broken before it entered the river and contends that it was broken when it was pulled from the water, something he says changes the entire case. In the crash narrative, a trooper wrote the collision with the rock sheared the sector shaft, disconnecting the steering linkage from the steering box. The crash report also lists Courtney as not wearing a seat belt, though the narrative says the team who retrieved her from the Jeep had to cut a seat belt to get her out, something that stood out to Lance. She was the love of my life, she was such a great kid, Lance said. I cant believe her life was extinguished up there and no one seems to give a crap that that even happened. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the shipping companys stock. Several other research firms have also issued reports on STNG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Scorpio Tankers from $65.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Scorpio Tankers in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. They issued an overweight rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a buy rating and issued a $76.00 price target on shares of Scorpio Tankers in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. B. Riley raised their price target on Scorpio Tankers from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Scorpio Tankers from $68.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $74.17. Get Scorpio Tankers alerts: Scorpio Tankers Trading Up 3.7 % STNG opened at $50.01 on Thursday. Scorpio Tankers has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $64.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.48. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.33, a PEG ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Scorpio Tankers Increases Dividend Scorpio Tankers ( NYSE:STNG Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shipping company reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.39. Scorpio Tankers had a return on equity of 40.01% and a net margin of 51.60%. The company had revenue of $377.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.37 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 119.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Scorpio Tankers will post 10.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Scorpio Tankerss previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Scorpio Tankerss payout ratio is 5.33%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of STNG. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 263.9% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 13,495 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 9,787 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 7.0% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 99,744 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $2,133,000 after buying an additional 6,505 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 2.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,578,947 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $55,136,000 after buying an additional 57,184 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 15.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 155,472 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $3,324,000 after buying an additional 21,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Scorpio Tankers by 3.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 12,099 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 54.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Scorpio Tankers Company Profile (Get Rating) Scorpio Tankers, Inc engages in the provision of marine transportation of petroleum products. Its consists of wholly owned, finance leased, and bareboat chartered-in tankers. It operates through the following segments: MR, LR2, Handymax, and LR1. The company was founded by Emanuele A. Lauro on July 1, 2009 and is headquartered in Monaco. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Scorpio Tankers Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Scorpio Tankers and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of SFL (NYSE:SFL Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the shipping companys stock. Several other equities research analysts have also commented on SFL. TheStreet lowered shares of SFL from a b rating to a c rating in a research note on Monday, May 15th. DNB Markets lowered SFL from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price target on SFL from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Get SFL alerts: SFL Stock Performance Shares of SFL stock traded down $0.13 on Thursday, reaching $8.72. 1,131,378 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,087,752. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.77. The companys 50-day moving average is $9.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.38. SFL has a 1-year low of $8.43 and a 1-year high of $11.60. SFL Dividend Announcement SFL ( NYSE:SFL Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). SFL had a net margin of 23.45% and a return on equity of 11.29%. The firm had revenue of $197.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $163.86 million. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 15th. SFLs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.59%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On SFL A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of SFL by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,446,582 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $70,741,000 after buying an additional 868,813 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in SFL by 102.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,926,225 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $37,299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,988,546 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of SFL by 140.9% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,459,028 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $22,672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,438,253 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 568,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in SFL by 12.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,121,955 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $20,159,000 after buying an additional 242,127 shares in the last quarter. 31.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. 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. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for SFL Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SFL and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW Get Rating) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,979 shares of the information technology services providers stock after buying an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $3,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Polen Capital Management LLC grew its position in ServiceNow by 26.5% in the third quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,953,299 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,492,805,000 after purchasing an additional 827,285 shares in the last quarter. Tiger Global Management LLC grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 51.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tiger Global Management LLC now owns 1,694,117 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $639,716,000 after acquiring an additional 577,933 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 1.9% in 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 during the period. Stockbridge Partners LLC grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 483,554 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $269,286,000 after acquiring an additional 214,243 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,378,372 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $898,098,000 after acquiring an additional 187,393 shares during the period. 86.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get ServiceNow alerts: ServiceNow Trading Up 0.0 % Shares of ServiceNow stock opened at $510.30 on Friday. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12-month low of $337.00 and a 12-month high of $521.58. The company has a market cap of $103.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 260.36, a PEG ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The companys 50-day moving average price is $455.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $429.82. Insider Transactions at ServiceNow Analyst Ratings Changes In related news, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,315 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,443 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,640,169.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . In other news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 7,796 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.31, for a total value of $3,557,392.76. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 4,047 shares in the company, valued at $1,846,686.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,315 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,640,169.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,095 shares of company stock valued at $8,131,910. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. A number of brokerages have recently commented on NOW. BNP Paribas raised shares of ServiceNow from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $410.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $527.70. About ServiceNow (Get Rating) 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. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NOW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for ServiceNow Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ServiceNow and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. SouthState Corp boosted its stake in shares of Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM Get Rating) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 62,705 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after buying an additional 910 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corps holdings in Exxon Mobil were worth $6,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of XOM. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 17.4% during the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 7,909 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Income Solutions Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the first quarter worth about $275,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 318.8% during the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 17,163 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 13,065 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC lifted its position in shares of Exxon Mobil by 95.6% during the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 15,843 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 7,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exxon Mobil during the first quarter worth about $237,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.49% of the companys stock. Get Exxon Mobil alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $116.00 to $118.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $113.50 to $115.50 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $136.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Cowen raised their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Exxon Mobil from $125.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $125.30. Exxon Mobil Price Performance Shares of NYSE XOM traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $106.26. 13,359,630 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,519,954. The company has a market cap of $429.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.19, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.09. Exxon Mobil Co. has a 1 year low of $80.69 and a 1 year high of $119.92. The firms fifty day moving average price is $110.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The oil and gas company reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $86.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.07 billion. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 15.06% and a return on equity of 31.48%. The businesss revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Exxon Mobil Co. will post 9.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Exxon Mobil Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 15th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Exxon Mobils payout ratio is currently 24.64%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, VP Darrin L. Talley sold 2,500 shares of Exxon Mobil stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.11, for a total transaction of $290,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,272 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,398,771.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the companys stock. About Exxon Mobil (Get Rating) Exxon Mobil Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and distribution of oil, gas, and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical. The Upstream segment produces crude oil and natural gas. The Downstream segment manufactures and trades petroleum products. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding XOM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Exxon Mobil Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Exxon Mobil and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE:KRG Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the real estate investment trusts stock. Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on KRG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Kite Realty Group Trust in a research note on Monday, April 24th. They set a neutral rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Kite Realty Group Trust from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $25.38. Get Kite Realty Group Trust alerts: Kite Realty Group Trust Price Performance Shares of KRG opened at $20.26 on Thursday. Kite Realty Group Trust has a fifty-two week low of $16.42 and a fifty-two week high of $23.10. The firms 50 day moving average price is $20.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.08. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 675.56, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Kite Realty Group Trust Dividend Announcement Institutional Inflows and Outflows The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 6th. Kite Realty Group Trusts dividend payout ratio is presently 3,201.07%. A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kite Realty Group Trust by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 112,320 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $2,364,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Kite Realty Group Trust by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 34,348 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its position in shares of Kite Realty Group Trust by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 24,241 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Kite Realty Group Trust by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 64,506 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System grew its position in shares of Kite Realty Group Trust by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 55,795 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,174,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. 96.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Kite Realty Group Trust Company Profile (Get Rating) Kite Realty Group Trust operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the ownership, operation, acquisition, development, and redevelopment of neighborhood and community shopping centers in selected markets in the United States. The company was founded on August 16, 2004 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Kite Realty Group Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kite Realty Group Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 35,026 shares of the business services providers stock, valued at approximately $5,495,000. Waste Management accounts for 1.4% of Synergy Asset Management LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WM. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 534.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,344 shares of the business services providers stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Waste Management by 0.7% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 53,067 shares of the business services providers stock worth $8,411,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Waste Management by 0.6% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 358,624 shares of the business services providers stock worth $56,842,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Waste Management by 83.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 680 shares of the business services providers stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Waste Management by 44.8% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 33,030 shares of the business services providers stock worth $5,234,000 after acquiring an additional 10,212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.48% of the companys stock. Get Waste Management alerts: Waste Management Stock Up 0.2 % NYSE:WM traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $165.36. The stock had a trading volume of 1,454,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,495,894. The businesss 50 day moving average is $162.70 and its 200 day moving average is $158.88. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $138.89 and a fifty-two week high of $175.98. The stock has a market cap of $67.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.29, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Waste Management Announces Dividend Waste Management ( NYSE:WM Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 26th. The business services provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.86 billion. Waste Management had a return on equity of 33.23% and a net margin of 11.33%. Waste Managements revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 1st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Waste Managements payout ratio is presently 51.28%. Insider Activity In related news, CAO Leslie K. Nagy sold 800 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.11, for a total value of $120,888.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,210 shares in the company, valued at $787,283.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 924 shares of company stock worth $139,918. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets WM has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Thursday. They set a buy rating for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $180.00 to $186.00 in a report on Sunday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Waste Management from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the company from $171.00 to $177.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a report on Thursday, March 30th. They issued an outperform rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Waste Management from $158.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $176.64. Waste Management Company Profile (Get Rating) Waste Management, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of waste management environmental services. It operates through the following segments: East Tier, West Tier, and Other. The East Tier segment consists of Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes Region, and Canada. The West Tier segment includes the upper Midwest region and British Columbia, Canada. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Waste Management Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Waste Management and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Synergy Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB Get Rating) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,205 shares of the insurance providers stock after selling 3,367 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLCs holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $3,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WRB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,331,473 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $1,620,232,000 after purchasing an additional 8,664,707 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 65.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,940,770 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $795,136,000 after buying an additional 4,732,333 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 119.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,377,556 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $224,911,000 after buying an additional 1,840,475 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W. R. Berkley by 132.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,697,989 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $113,069,000 after purchasing an additional 968,387 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 50.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,112,557 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $140,675,000 after buying an additional 704,176 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.66% of the companys stock. Get W. R. Berkley alerts: W. R. Berkley Stock Up 0.2 % W. R. Berkley stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $57.65. 3,716,377 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,186,129. The companys 50-day moving average is $60.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 52-week low of $56.04 and a 52-week high of $76.99. The firm has a market cap of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.62. W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement W. R. Berkley ( NYSE:WRB Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.19). W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 17.98% and a net margin of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 8th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. W. R. Berkleys payout ratio is currently 10.28%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have weighed in on WRB. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $75.00 to $69.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 10th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $85.00 to $73.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on W. R. Berkley in a research note on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on W. R. Berkley from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on W. R. Berkley from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. R. Berkley has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $77.64. W. R. Berkley Company Profile (Get Rating) W.R. Berkley Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the property casualty insurance business. It operates through the following segments: Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment includes excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines throughout the United States, as well as insurance businesses in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico, Scandinavia, Asia, and Australia. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WRB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for W. R. Berkley Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for W. R. Berkley and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Vodafone Group Public (LON:VOD Get Rating) had its price target cut by Barclays from GBX 110 ($1.38) to GBX 100 ($1.25) in a report released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the cell phone carriers stock. Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VOD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Vodafone Group Public from GBX 100 ($1.25) to GBX 95 ($1.19) in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Berenberg Bank set a GBX 100 ($1.25) price objective on Vodafone Group Public in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a GBX 185 ($2.32) target price on Vodafone Group Public in a report on Monday, March 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a GBX 100 ($1.25) target price on Vodafone Group Public in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a GBX 85 ($1.06) target price on Vodafone Group Public in a report on Thursday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of GBX 113.50 ($1.42). Get Vodafone Group Public alerts: Vodafone Group Public Price Performance LON:VOD opened at GBX 83.09 ($1.04) on Wednesday. Vodafone Group Public has a 12 month low of GBX 81.02 ($1.01) and a 12 month high of GBX 132.10 ($1.65). The stock has a 50 day moving average of GBX 91.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 92.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 134.84. The firm has a market cap of 22.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,384.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.55. Vodafone Group Public Announces Dividend Vodafone Group Public Company Profile The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 8th will be issued a 0.05 ($0.05) dividend. This represents a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. Vodafone Group Publics dividend payout ratio is presently 13,333.33%. (Get Rating) 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. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Vodafone Group Public Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Vodafone Group Public and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wealth Advisors of Iowa LLC raised its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Get Rating) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,299 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after purchasing an additional 626 shares during the period. Bristol-Myers Squibb makes up approximately 0.4% of Wealth Advisors of Iowa LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Wealth Advisors of Iowa LLCs holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BMY. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the first quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 111.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,052 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 53.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 165,336 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $12,075,000 after buying an additional 57,444 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb during the first quarter worth $1,997,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 25.1% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 338,563 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $24,725,000 after buying an additional 68,018 shares during the last quarter. 75.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Bristol-Myers Squibb alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Rupert Vessey sold 50,385 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were 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 of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,202,182.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.2 % BMY opened at $65.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a fifty-two week low of $65.18 and a fifty-two week high of $81.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.32 billion, a PE ratio of 19.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.44. The companys 50-day moving average is $68.42 and its 200 day moving average is $72.13. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a net margin of 15.95% and a return on equity of 51.75%. The company had revenue of $11.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. The firms revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 6th. Bristol-Myers Squibbs payout ratio is 66.47%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of analysts have weighed in on BMY shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Thursday. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $78.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $79.43. Bristol-Myers Squibb Profile (Get Rating) 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. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BMY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Bristol-Myers Squibb Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bristol-Myers Squibb and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the transportation companys stock. Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. HSBC boosted their price target on ZTO Express (Cayman) from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ZTO Express (Cayman) presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $36.96. Get ZTO Express (Cayman) alerts: ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Performance ZTO opened at $28.75 on Thursday. ZTO Express has a 52-week low of $16.27 and a 52-week high of $30.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.85 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.49. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $28.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.49. ZTO Express (Cayman) Increases Dividend Institutional Investors Weigh In On ZTO Express (Cayman) The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 6th were given a $0.37 dividend. This is an increase from ZTO Express (Cayman)s previous dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 5th. A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTO. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 136.0% during the first quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 254,840 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $6,470,000 after buying an additional 146,838 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 3.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 415,473 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $10,387,000 after purchasing an additional 13,333 shares during the last quarter. HAP Trading LLC bought a new stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) during the first quarter worth $413,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 753.5% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 69,896 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $1,762,000 after acquiring an additional 61,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 116.2% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 839,600 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $20,990,000 after acquiring an additional 451,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.56% of the companys stock. ZTO Express (Cayman) Company Profile (Get Rating) ZTO Express (Cayman), Inc engages in the provision of comprehensive logistics services. It offers express delivery and value-added logistics services through a nationwide network partner. The firm also provides digital, privacy waybill and cloud printing. It operates through the Express Delivery and Freight Forwarding segments. Read More Receive News & Ratings for ZTO Express (Cayman) Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ZTO Express (Cayman) and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bank ABC has confirmed the appointment of Sael Al Waary as Group Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. The decision was announced following Bank ABCs Board of Directors meeting on Sunday (May 21). Al Waary, who was appointed as Acting Group CEO on August 1, 2022, has employed his extensive experience to accelerate the banks performance and continue its strategic digital transformation journey. He also served as Deputy Group CEO for almost six years before being appointed as Acting Group CEO. He has also held many senior roles at Bank ABC both in London and Bahrain. He is currently the Chairman of Bank ABC Jordan, the Chairman of the Arab Financial Services Company (AFS), and Deputy Chairman of Bank ABC Egypt. Bank ABC Group Chairman Saddek El Kaber noted: We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Al Waary as the new Group CEO of Bank ABC. Mr Al Waarys deep knowledge of Bank ABC has led to a robust and stable organisation during the transition over the past year. The Board of Directors is confident that Mr Al Waary is indeed the best fit to take Bank ABC forward, particularly as the Bank is aiming at accelerating its performance to enhance focus on growth and shareholders returns. Throughout his career at the Bank, he has demonstrated unwavering commitment and astute leadership with a special focus to develop Bank ABC to become the bank of the future. Al Waary, commented: I am honoured by this appointment and would like to thank the Board of Directors for its vote of confidence. Over the 40 years I have spent at Bank ABC, I have seen tremendous transformation in the group as it has moved from strength-to-strength. Its rich and nurturing culture has inspired me to go above and beyond throughout my career. I look forward to continuing to work with the management team and the Board of Directors to deliver on the Banks ambitious transformational agenda and establish a digitally- empowered, financial powerhouse in the region. TradeArabia News Service Genres : Crime, Thriller Starring : Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Jo Prestia, Philippe Nahon Director : Gaspar Noe Plot Synopsis Altered Innocence has been dedicated to releasing LGBTQ & Coming-of-Age films with an artistic edge since their inception in 2015. With a library of features and shorts from around the world, mixing genre with art-house and everything in between - Altered Innocence is committed to curating an esoteric library that is without peer in the current marketplace. Vinegar Syndromes sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing this diverse and unique home video line! One night. An unforgivable act. A tale told in reverse. Acclaimed filmmaker Gaspar Noes unflinching exploration of human savagery and the uncompromising nature of time, Irreversible was met with a groundswell of acclaim and uproar upon its premiere at the opening night of Cannes in 2002. Stylish, sexually frank, and brutal, the films conceit of exploring the events of one terrible night on the streets of Paris in reverse chronological order was celebrated and derided in equal measure, helping to further cement Noes legacy as a cinematic enfant terrible. Nearly 20 years later, Noe brought Irreversible back, presenting the Straight Cut to the Venice Film Festival. This reconfigured vision allowed audiences to see the events of the film unfold in the order in which they occur, providing new context for pivotal scenes of brutality and the subsequent quest for revenge. Now available are both cuts of the film, providing the viewer the opportunity to see Noes potent account of humanity at its worst from multiple angles, and the unshakable understanding that time, indeed, reveals all things. Not for the faint of heart, easily offended, or anyone with photosensitivity, this is Noe's dark masterpiece. directed by: Gaspar Noe starring: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Jo Prestia, Philippe Nahon 2002 & 2020 / 94 min & 86 min / 2.40:1 / French DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 Additional info: Region A 2-Disc Blu-ray The Irreversible Odyssey: A new 42 minute featurette re-visiting the film 20 years later and featuring interviews with Gaspar Noe, Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel and others Time Destroys All Things - A video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas SFX Featurette: Go behind the scenes of Irreversibles special effects Two Music Videos by Daft Punks Thomas Bangalter directed by Gaspar Noe Original Teaser Trailers Restoration Trailer Other Trailers English subtitles Purchase Original Edition From Vinegar Syndrome. An Indian-origin Singaporean climber has gone missing after reaching the summit of Mount Everest, his family has said and called for urgent attention to his situation. According to a petition on the website change.org, Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya set out from Singapore to Nepal last month to climb the world's highest peak. His cousin Divya Bharath wrote in the petition that on the way down, Shrinivas seemed to have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness. This probably might have resulted in Dattatraya getting separated from the rest of his group, and "fell at around 8,000 metres, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain". A Singaporean news channel on Saturday cited Bharat as saying that a team of sherpas began search operations for Dattatraya on Saturday morning. He was reportedly last in contact with base camp officials at around 8,500 metres. In the petition, Bharath wrote that the family has reached out to the governments concerned. "This matter needs to be brought to their attention on an urgent basis. We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain as well as to ensure that this whole rescue operation is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork," Channel News Asia quoted Bharath as saying. She added that Shrivinas' family was devastated but did not want to lose hope. Shrinivas, 39, who is an executive director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, left for Mount Everest on April 1. He was due to return home on June 4. According to a report by The Straits Times, Dattatraya last sent a text message to his wife on Friday saying that he has reached the summit of Everest but was not likely to make it back down. His wife Sushma Soma said that she last heard from him at 3.30 pm on Friday. "Through his satellite phone, he told me that he had made it to the summit. But then followed with bad news. He said that he would not be able to make it down," The Straits Times quoted Soma as saying. She added that Shrinivas had told her he was down with high-altitude cerebral edema, a severe type of high-altitude illness that could prove fatal. Soma learnt at 2 am on Saturday that the two Sherpas her husband was with and another person in the group made it down from the mountain but Shrinivas never did. According to Channel News Asia, the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi has been in close contact with Shrinivas' family, local authorities in Nepal and emergency medical services since Friday evening. Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to monitor developments and render the necessary consular support to the family during this difficult time, the channel cited the ministry as saying. The market closed higher on May 19 after three days of losses, as buying in the last hours helped the Nifty50 close above 18,200. Information technology, banks, auto and some metal stocks supported the benchmark indices. The Sensex closed 298 points higher at 61,730 and the Nifty 73 points at 18,203 and formed a bullish hammer pattern on the daily scale. "A small positive candle was formed on the daily chart with a long lower shadow. Technically, this candle pattern indicates the formation of a bullish hammer-type pattern. Normally, formation of such hammer patterns post reasonable decline signal possible reversal on the upside post confirmation," Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said. The short-term trend for the Nifty remains choppy but the emergence of buying interest from the lows on May 19 raises hopes of an upside bounce, he said. The confirmation of the bullish hammer pattern could pull the Nifty towards the crucial resistance band of 18,400-18,500 again, Nagaraj said. We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades: Note: The open interest (OI) and volume data of stocks in this article are the aggregates of three-month data and not just the current month. Key support, resistance levels on Nifty Pivot charts indicate that the Nifty may get support at 18,100 followed by 18,063 and 18,003. If the index advances, 18,221 would be the key resistance level to watch out for followed by 18,258 and 18,318. Nifty Bank The Bank Nifty extended gains for yet another session, climbing 217 points to 43,969 and formed a Bullish Pin Bar candle with a long lower shadow on the daily scale, which suggests buying at lower zones. On the weekly scale, it formed a small bullish candle and higher highs - higher lows for the eighth straight week. It has to hold above 43,750 to move towards 44,144 then 44,250, while on the downside, the support is expected at 43,500, then 43,333, Chandan Taparia, senior vice president | analyst-derivatives at Motilal Oswal Financial Services said. As per the pivot point calculator, the Bank Nifty may take support at 43,654, followed by 43,539 and 43,352. Key resistance levels are 44,028, 44,143 and 44,330. Call options data On the monthly options front, the maximum call open interest (OI) was at 18,200 strike, with 84.5 lakh contracts, which is expected to be a crucial level for the Nifty. This was followed by 18,400 strike comprising 79.14 lakh contracts and 18,500 strike with more than 79.1 lakh contracts. Call writing was seen at 18,400 strike, which added 17.75 lakh contracts, followed by 18,600 strike, which added 15.41 lakh, and 18,500 strike, which added 11.74 lakh contracts. Call unwinding was at 19,000 strike, which shed 24.17 lakh contracts, followed by 18,700 strike, which shed 8.33 lakh contracts, and 18,300 strike, which shed 3.19 lakh contracts. Put option data The maximum put open interest was at 18,200 strike, with 80.6 lakh contracts, which is expected to be an important support in the coming sessions. This was followed by the 18,000 strike, comprising 76.7 lakh contracts, and 17,500 strike with 65.83 lakh contracts. Put writing was seen at 18,000 strike, which added 22.67 lakh contracts, followed by 18,100 strike, which added 20.13 lakh contracts, and 17,500 strike, which added 18.96 lakh contracts. Put unwinding was seen at 18,300 strike, which shed 4.99 lakh contracts, followed by 18,500 strike, which shed 1.18 lakh contracts, and 18,400 strike, which shed 33,550 contracts. Stocks with high delivery percentage A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in the stock. The highest delivery was seen in Infosys, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Pidilite Industries, Dabur India and Nestle India among others. 51 stocks see a long build-up An increase in open interest (OI) and price typically indicates a build-up of long positions. Based on the OI percentage, 51 stocks, including Samvardhana Motherson International, Birlasoft, Polycab India, JK Cement, and Persistent Systems, saw long build-ups. 40 stocks see long unwinding A decline in OI and price generally indicates a long unwinding. Based on the OI percentage, 40 stocks, including Chambal Fertilizers, Abbott India, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, Alkem Laboratories, and Container Corporation of India, saw long unwinding. 60 stocks see a short build-up An increase in OI along with a price decrease indicates a build-up of short positions. Based on the OI percentage, 60 stocks, including Siemens, M&M Financial Services, HDFC AMC, Zydus Life Sciences and Mahanagar Gas, saw a short build-up. 36 stocks see short-covering A decrease in OI along with a price increase is an indication of short-covering. Based on the OI percentage, 36 stocks were on the short-covering list. These included Whirlpool, PI Industries, Balrampur Chini Mills, LIC Housing Finance and Ramco Cements. Bulk deals (For more bulk deals, click here) Results on May 22 Shree Cement, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, PB Fintech, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, CESC, Capri Global Capital, EIH, Finolex Industries, Fusion Micro Finance, Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals, HCL Infosystems, HEG, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Radiant Cash Management Services, SJVN, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, and Waaree Technologies will be in focus ahead of quarterly earnings on May 22. Stocks in the news NTPC: The country's largest power generation company recorded one percent year-on-year increase in standalone profit at Rs 5,672.3 crore for the March quarter of FY23 despite weak operating margin, supported by higher topline and other income. Overall, earnings, barring bottomline, missed estimates. Standalone revenue from operations grew by 20.3 percent to Rs 41,318 crore from the year-ago period. Zomato: The food delivery giant's consolidated loss for the March quarter narrowed to Rs 187.6 crore from a loss of Rs 359.7 crore in the same period last year, as topline increased sharply and operating loss narrowed. Consolidated revenue from operations grew by 70 percent YoY to Rs 2,056 crore in Q4FY23. JSW Steel: The JSW Group's flagship company reported a 12 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 3,741 crore for the March quarter due to low base and higher other income, but impacted by dismal operating performance. Revenue from operations for Q4FY23 grew by 0.1 percent to Rs 46,962 crore from the year-ago period. Bandhan Bank: The private sector lender registered a massive 57.5 percent year-on-year decline in profit at Rs 808 crore in the March quarter of FY23, hit by significantly higher provisions & contingencies. Lower non-interest income, net interest income and pre-provision operating profit also impacted profitability. Net interest income fell 2.7 percent to Rs 2,472 crore from the year-ago quarter, with a 140 bps decline in net interest margin. Power Grid Corporation of India: The state-owned power transmission utility recorded a 4 percent year-on-year increase in consolidated profit at Rs 4,320.4 crore in the March quarter, driven by healthy topline and operating performance. Revenue from operations at Rs 12,264 crore grew by 14.7 percent over a year-ago period. Delhivery: The logistics services provider reported a consolidated loss of Rs 158.6 crore for the March quarter, widening losses from Rs 119.8 crore in same period last year. Lower topline and weak operating performance impacted profitability. Consolidated revenue from operations fell 10.2 percent YoY to Rs 1,860 crore. JK Lakshmi Cement: The cement company reported a 40.1 percent year-on-year decline in consolidated profit at Rs 110 crore in the March quarter, impacted by weak operating numbers. Consolidated revenue grew 16.4 percent year on year to Rs 1,862 crore, with sales volume increasing 3 percent to 33.88 lakh tonnes. Fund Flow FII and DII data Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 113.46 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,071.35 crore on May 19, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed. Stocks under F&O ban on NSE The National Stock Exchange has retained L&T Finance Holdings, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, Balrampur Chini Mills, Delta Corp, GNFC, and Manappuram Finance to its F&O ban list for May 22. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held productive talks with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak during which they reviewed bilateral strategic partnership, including progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. The two leaders also agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation across a wide range of areas such as trade and investment and science and technology. Modi and Sunak met on the sidelines of the summit of the G7 advanced economies here in Hiroshima. "A boost to - Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. PM @narendramodi held productive talks with PM @RishiSunak of the UK in Hiroshima. The two leaders reviewed their Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) tweeted. Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade & investment, science & technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationship, it said. India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January last year, with a goal towards a comprehensive pact that is expected to significantly enhance the bilateral trading relationship worth an estimated 34 billion pounds in 2022. The two nations last month concluded the ninth round of India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with detailed discussions across a range of policy areas. Recently, Britains Chief Negotiator for the FTA Harjinder Kang was appointed the countrys new Trade Commissioner to South Asia and Deputy High Commissioner for Western India, based in Mumbai. According to official UK government statistics, India was the UKs 12th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022, accounting for 2.1 per cent of total UK trade. The two leaders shared a tight hug before their talks. Modi arrived in Hiroshima on Friday to attend three sessions at the G7 summit following an invitation by Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Indias domestic tourism growth will continue to be strong and will be further fuelled by inbound travels through the countrys presidency of G20, conferences and exhibitions that are now increasingly held here, according to Thomas Cook (India) Chairman and Managing Director Madhavan Menon. On the other hand, long-haul outbound travels from India are also expected to pick up with the onset of summer in Europe and the US, he told PTI. "Domestic tourism is here to stay and the reality is that were going to see more and more activity in the domestic space without a doubt, Menon said when asked if the strong growth in domestic tourism witnessed post COVID would sustain. One of the main reasons for the surge in domestic tourism is the changed consumer behaviour after the pandemic, believing in living for today and not worrying about tomorrow, coupled with their strong confidence in the economy, he added. "The pandemic has brought about a change in human behaviour. Youre seeing more people operate from home. The tendency to spend more time with the family has increased, as a result of which the need to take frequent breaks is what the domestic market is driving, Menon said. He further said, "Now, my expectation is that people earlier would have made one international trip and maybe another domestic trip. Today, it has completely changed. Were now talking of multiple domestic trips, even short weekend (trips). Menon, however, added, But that doesnt take away from the fact that you will see Indians travelling both short-haul and long-haul. I think we are witnessing the so-called saver becoming a spender is another important thing. All of this, he said, stems from one fact of their confidence in the economy. This is not coming from anywhere. It is not just pandemic driven. It is also the fact that people are confident that the economy is growing, their jobs are secure, and they expect that things will improve from here. Menon added that the rapid development of infrastructure and the building of more airports and hotels across the country is also driving the growth. Another factor that will drive Indias tourism is the emergence of the country as an economic power and hosting important global events. "G20 is just one other government event, and going forward as India emerges as an economic power that it is today positioning itself as youre going to see more travel to India. I think that is going to be significant. India is going to be in the limelight and it will attract more tourists to India, Menon said. The other important segment with a lot of activity is international travel to India to attend government conferences and exhibitions, he added. "In the past, most people travelled to other countries to attend exhibitions. Now these exhibitions are being held in India also because we have the infrastructure to do it, Menon said, citing examples of Pragati Maidan in the national capital and the Jio World Centre in Mumbai. When asked about outbound travels from India, he said there have been a lot of short-haul travels of up to three and half hours to destinations like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Mauritius, Malaysia and Thailand. "The longer haul is only starting now because it was winter through January to March in Europe and the fact that visas were not easy to obtain, Menon said, adding a spike in long-haul travel was expected in the ongoing quarter. "An outlier that we witnessed in the first quarter was traveled to Japan and Korea. We used to send on average 200 passengers at the most every year to Japan. This year weve seen close to 1,300 passengers travelling during a month to Japan. So we are seeing different trends, he added. Overall, he said group travel, which was slow to take off, is now picking up and customised travel is growing in all segments without exception. The G20 Tourism Working Group meeting here has the highest delegate participation and will be the most significant event held in Jammu and Kashmir, G20 Chief Coordinator Harshvardhan Shringla said on Sunday. "We have the highest representation of foreign delegates in this working group meeting than the earlier two meetings. All I can say is we are very very happy with the turnout. We have the making of a unique meeting," Shringla told reporters here. Shringla was responding to a question about some member countries not registering for the working group meeting. Accompanied by Jammu and Kashmir Chief secretary AK Mehta and the central government's Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh, he briefed the media about the itinerary of the three-day meeting that begins on Monday. Srinagar will host the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting from May 22-24. The first meeting was held in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat in February and the second one in West Bengal's Siliguri in April. Shringla said the working group meeting has the broader objectives to present India's rich and diverse cultural identity and promote the country's tourism potential to the world. "The very idea is to use this meeting to bring attention to Jammu and Kashmir and how it can help revive handicrafts, etc. It is an opportunity to present our rich culture and heritage. No other working group does it better than the tourism group," he said. "This will be the most significant event in Jammu and Kashmir," Shringla added. India is halfway through its G20 presidency and 118 meetings have been held in various parts of the country so far, the G20 chief coordinator said. "We have hosted 118 meetings from the Rann of Kutch to Kohima and from Kanyakumari and now to Kashmir. There has been a sense of attachment everywhere and I have no doubt it is the same in Srinagar. "As we drive around Srinagar, we see a completely transformed city. Srinagar today is vastly more beautiful. (It has) better amenities. It is truly a smart city, which you would want to showcase to the world," he added. Asked about the negative advisories issued by certain western countries about travel to Kashmir, Shringla said these mean nothing when foreign tourists are visiting the Valley despite such advice. "Last year, 1.88 crore tourists came to Jammu and Kashmir and a very large number of them were foreign tourists. Foreigners will come in and come in large numbers. At the end of the day, what do advisories mean? They mean nothing," he said. Shringla said the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to ensure that the message of India's G20 presidency is taken down to the grassroots level through the 'Jan Bhagidari' process and a lot of efforts have been made to sensitise the people of the country about the G20. Giving details of the event, Tourism Secretary Singh said the stage is set for discussions and deliberations on final deliverables. "There are two key deliverables of the Tourism Working Group, which include the GOA Roadmap for Tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the G20 Tourism Ministers' Declaration," Singh said. The third Tourism Working Group meeting will deliberate on the five key priority areas green tourism, digitalization, skills, MSMEs and destination management. These priorities are key building blocks for accelerating the transition of the tourism sector and achieving the targets for 2030 SDGs, he said. A side event on 'Film Tourism for Economic Growth and Cultural Preservation' will be organised on May 22-23, focusing on strategies to promote film tourism in the Union Territory, Singh added. The event will witness the participation of G20 member countries, invited countries, international organisations and industry stakeholders. Singh further said a draft 'National Strategy on Film Tourism' will be unveiled to provide a roadmap for harnessing the role of films in promoting tourist destinations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a first-of-its-kind of reception upon his arrival in Papua New Guinea on May 21, with the leader of the Pacific Island country seen touching his feet to seek his blessings. James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, was leading the officials who arrived to welcome his Indian counterpart. As soon as Modi walked down from his jet, Marape was seen embracing him. Marape then slightly bent down and touched Modi's feet, but the latter instead lifted his shoulders and hugged him. #WATCH | Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape seeks blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon latter's arrival in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/gteYoE9QOm ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit," Modi tweeted. Normally Papua New Guinea does not give a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after sunset, but a special exception was made for Modi and a ceremonial welcome was accorded to him, news agency PTI reported. On May 22, Modi and Marape will host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). The summit will take place at a time when China is making efforts to enhance its military and diplomatic influence in the region. Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea on the second leg of his three-nation tour is the first ever by any Indian prime minister. The first stop of his official tour was Japan, where he attended the G7 summit, and the final stop will be Australia. With PTI inputs Nationalist Congress party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Sunday said the challenge before everyone is to fight powers that are deliberately inciting social and communal divide in the country. The results of the recently held Assembly elections in Karnataka show the situation is gradually changing, Pawar said at an event in Maharashtras Ahmednagar district. If the working class remains strong and united, what was seen in the Karnataka Assembly polls can be replicated elsewhere in the country as well, he said. In the recent Assembly elections in Karnataka, the Congress returned to power after a gap of five years by defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Some powers ruling the country are taking it backwards by inciting tensions on caste and religious lines in society. They are using power not for the welfare of people, but to create divisions among them, Pawar alleged. The challenge is to fight against these powers, otherwise the common man will be destroyed, the NCP chief said. Despite Ahmednagar being a progressive district, there were social tensions in Shevgaon recently, he noted. The Karnataka Assembly poll results show the situation is gradually changing, Pawar said. A government of the common man has taken charge in Karnataka. Of the one lakh people who attended the swearing-in ceremony (of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah) yesterday, 70 per cent were youth belonging to different strata of the society. The new chief minister works to protect interests of the weaker sections while taking everyone along, he said. If the working class remains strong and united, what was seen in the Karnataka Assembly elections can be replicated elsewhere in the country as well, Pawar said. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on May 21 announced to meet all party presidents, starting with Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, to garner support as it plans to challenge the Centres ordinance on the transfer of bureaucrats. Kejriwal made the statement right after concluding his meeting with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar along with deputy CM and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, at his residence on May 21. Addressing reporters after the meeting, Kejriwal said that he will personally reach out to the CMs of all opposition parties to seek their support so that any bill brought by the Centre to replace the ordinance is defeated in Rajya Sabha. Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha, he said. I have also requested Nitish Kumar ji to talk to all the (opposition) parties in this regard, he added. An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. Kejriwal believes if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Centre recently promulgated an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and the conduct of disciplinary proceedings against them. The move came within a week of the Supreme Court handing over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. The ordinance stated: Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the National Capital Civil Service Authority shall have the responsibility to recommend the transfers and postings of all the Group 'A' officers and officers of DANICS serving in the affairs of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi but not officers serving in connection with any subject matter. The Aam Aadmi Party believes that the promulgation of the ordinance overturns the May 11 apex court order giving the elected government in Delhi to have control over service matters. The development has set the stage for an intense confrontation between the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation and the Centre and the Lt Governor. It is an "insult" and contempt of the court, the Delhi CM said and added it seems that if the court comes out with any judgement against the Centre, they will overturn it. Meanwhile, the Bihar CM has extended his complete support to the AAP government in its ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services. The Janata Dal (United) leader criticised the Centre for promulgating the ordinance after the Supreme Court verdict in the matter and said: How can you take away an elected government's power. "Look at the Constitution and see what is right. Whatever he (Kejriwal) is saying is right. We are completely with him," he said. We will hold further meetings. We are trying to ensure that the maximum number of opposition parties come together and a nationwide campaign is launched to demand that laws are followed and there is mutual harmony and brotherhood in the country, Kumar added. He also said he will speak to the Congress leadership regarding the ordinance. It is important that Nitish Kumar brokers Congress support for Kejriwal, who was among the few non-BJP CMs, who were not invited by the Congress to the swearing-in ceremony of its new government in Karnataka. The two parties have locked horns as the AAP has grown in Delhi and Punjab by occupying spaces once seen mainly as Congress bastions. Moreover, with Kejriwal's relations with the Congress far from smooth, Kumar has the task of building some working relationship between the two as he also sees the grand old party as critical to any Opposition unity bid. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal at the latters residence here and extended complete support to him in the AAP governments ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services. Kumar was accompanied by his deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. The Centre promulgated the ordinance on Friday to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. This came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi.Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Kejriwal said he will personally reach out to the chiefs of all opposition parties to seek their support in the matter so that any bill brought by the Centre to replace the ordinance is defeated in Rajya Sabha. Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every partys president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha, Kejriwal said. I have also requested Nitish Kumar ji to talk to all the (opposition) parties in this regard, he added.An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months.Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP national convenor told reporters.The National Capital Civil Service Authority will comprise the chief minister of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as its chairperson, along with chief secretary and principal secretary, home, who will be the member secretary to the authority. Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the National Capital Civil Service Authority shall have the responsibility to recommend the transfers and postings of all the Group A officers and officers of DANICS serving in the affairs of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi but not officers serving in connection with any subject matter, the ordinance read.Kumar criticised the Centre for promulgating the ordinance after the Supreme Court verdict in the matter. How can you take away an elected governments power, the Janata Dal (United) leader asked.Look at the Constitution and see what is right. Whatever he (Kejriwal) is saying is right. We are completely with him, he said.Kumar said Kejriwal is doing good work in Delhi and its surprising that his government is being stopped from doing its work. Thats why we are saying that all (opposition parties) in the country should come together, he said.The Bihar chief minister assured that he will make efforts to bring opposition parties together in support of Kejriwal. We will hold further meetings. We are trying to ensure that the maximum number of opposition parties come together and a nationwide campaign is launched to demand that laws are followed and there is mutual harmony and brotherhood in the country. Efforts are being made to create conflicts among people. Such things should be stopped, he said.When asked, Kumar said he will also speak to the Congress leadership on the issue of the ordinance.I dont think anybody will oppose it (supporting Kejriwal). We will talk to them, he said. Kejriwal was among the few non-BJP chief ministers who were not invited by the Congress to the swearing-in ceremony of its new government in Karnataka on Saturday, an event which was seen as a show of strength by opposition parties.Kumar, on the other hand, had attended the event. Extending his partys support to Kejriwal, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Yadav alleged the Centre is continuously troubling and harassing non-BJP governments in different states. We have come here to extend our support to Kejriwal. The BJP government is doing injustice to him, he said.Yadav said the way the Centre is harassing the Kejriwal dispensation in Delhi and governments of other parties in different states is not justified at all. There is a clear threat to democracy. They want to change the Constitution and we will not let that happen at all, he claimed.The more they (Centre) trouble and harass Kejriwal, the stronger he will become. I can say with full confidence that the BJP will never return to power in Delhi, he added. Sundays meeting was the second between Kumar and Kejriwal in over a month. Kumar had earlier met Kejriwal here on April 12 as part of his efforts to bring all opposition parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With Kejriwals relations with the Congress far from smooth, Kumar has the task of building some kind of a working relationship between the two as he also sees the grand old party as critical to any Opposition unity bid.The AAP has grown in Delhi and Punjab by occupying the space once largely seen as Congress territory. A section of Congress leaders believe that reclaiming the constituency is the key to the partys revival in these states and any compromise on it can hamper their plans.Kumar has been meeting regional satraps as part of the unity exercise which is yet to take a concrete shape. From the heights of prosperity to the depths of despair, the banking industry has witnessed a recurring cycle of booms and busts throughout history. These periods of financial exuberance followed by catastrophic collapses have had profound and far-reaching consequences for economies and societies worldwide. Delving into bank failures, exploring the factors that contribute to their occurrence and the ripple effects they generate, could help us glean valuable insights and lessons to safeguard the stability and resilience of financial systems in the future. Join us on this journey as we navigate the turbulent waters of financial history, tracing the fascinating narratives behind some of the most notorious bank failures in our collective memory: The Medici Bank was a financial institution created by the Medici Family in Italy during the 15th century. During its century-long tenure, it became the largest and the most prominent bank in Europe. The primary reason for the Medici Bank's failure can be attributed to a combination of internal mismanagement and external factors. Initially, the bank thrived due to its innovative practices, extensive network, and close ties with powerful political figures. However, as the bank expanded its operations and ventured into risky ventures, such as loans to rulers and financing wars, it became increasingly exposed to economic and political volatility. Additionally, the extravagant lifestyle of the Medici family, marked by lavish spending and patronage of the arts, strained the bank's resources. Eventually, the Medici family's fiscal problems grew severe enough to force Lorenzo to begin raiding Florence's state treasuries, at one point defrauding the Monte delle doti, a charitable fund for paying for dowries. Shortly thereafter, the political pressure of King Charles VIII of France's 1494 invasion of Italy caused Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici to concede to the dual forces of Charles and the impending insolvency of the Medici Bank. The Medici Bank's remaining assets and records were seized and distributed to creditors and others. All the branches were declared dissolved. The failure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in the early 1990s remains one of the largest and most complex banking scandals in history. BCCI, founded in 1972 by Pakistani financier Agha Hasan Abedi, operated across multiple jurisdictions, offering banking services to individuals, corporations, and even governments. However, behind its facade of success, BCCI engaged in a web of illicit activities, including money laundering, fraud, and facilitating criminal enterprises. The bank used a complex network of shell companies and offshore accounts to conceal its activities, making it difficult for regulators to detect the extent of its wrongdoing. As the truth emerged, it became clear that BCCI had a vast array of problems, including poor internal controls, uncontrolled lending practices, and extensive involvement in illegal activities. In 1991, regulators around the world moved to shut down the bank, leading to its liquidation. The collapse of BCCI had far-reaching implications, exposing significant flaws in global financial regulation and prompting calls for stricter oversight. The fall of Barings Bank in 1995 stands as one of the most shocking and infamous bank failures in modern history. The venerable British bank, with a history dating back to 1762, met its demise due to the reckless actions of a single trader, Nick Leeson. As the head of Barings' Singapore office, Leeson engaged in unauthorized speculative trading and concealed his losses through fraudulent accounting practices. By making risky bets on the futures market, particularly in Japanese stock options, he incurred massive losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Barings Bank was left exposed and unable to recover from the financial devastation caused by Leeson's actions. The collapse of Barings sent shockwaves throughout the financial industry, highlighting the need for robust risk management and internal controls. The downfall of Barings Bank serves as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of individual misconduct and inadequate risk oversight within even the most esteemed financial institutions. The failure of Lehman Brothers in 2008 stands as one of the most significant events in modern financial history. As one of the largest investment banks in the United States, Lehman Brothers played a prominent role in the global financial system. However, its downfall came amidst the subprime mortgage crisis, which revealed a web of toxic assets and unsustainable lending practices within the bank. With mounting losses and a deteriorating financial position, Lehman Brothers found itself unable to secure the necessary capital to survive. Efforts to find a buyer or secure a government bailout ultimately failed, leading to its unprecedented bankruptcy filing on September 15, 2008. The collapse of Lehman Brothers sent shockwaves through the global financial markets, causing a severe liquidity crisis and intensifying the ongoing financial crisis. It marked a pivotal moment that highlighted the interconnectedness of financial institutions and the vulnerabilities within the banking system. In conclusion, the unravelling of bank failures throughout history serves as a reminder of the inherent risks and vulnerabilities within the banking industry. From the grandeur of the Medici Bank to the shocking collapses of Barings Bank, BCCI, and Lehman Brothers, these failures have had profound impacts on economies, societies, and the global financial system. They have exposed issues of internal mismanagement, risky practices, fraudulent activities, and inadequate regulatory oversight. These failures have led to the implementation of stricter regulations, improved risk management practices, and a greater emphasis on transparency and accountability within the banking sector. As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of finance, learning from the lessons of past failures is crucial to ensure the stability and resilience of financial systems in the future. By understanding the complexities and causes behind these bank failures, we can work towards creating a more robust and trustworthy banking system that safeguards the interests of depositors, investors, and the broader economy. If you're looking for a new podcast and you like true stories about grifters and scammers, here's one you should download right away! It's called "Scamanda" and tells the story of Amanda Riley who, in 2012, after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, started a blog to document her cancer journey. Turns out she never had cancer, though, and the whole thing was a ploy to scam her community and her supporters out of over $100,000 in cash donations. The podcast was created by Lionsgate Sound and features reporting by journalist Charlie Webster. Lionsgate describes the podcast: Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian. A charming, beautiful, bubbly young woman who lives life to the fullest. But Amanda is dying, with a secret she doesn't want anyone to know. She starts a blog detailing her cancer journey, and becomes an inspiration, touching and captivating her local community as well as followers all over the world. Until one day investigative producer Nancy gets an anonymous tip telling her to look at Amanda's blog, setting Nancy on an unimaginable toad to uncover Amanda's secret. Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre, but all-too-real tale, of a woman from San Jose, California whose secret ripped a family apart and left a community in shock. Scamanda is the true story of a woman whose own words held the key to her secret. I've listened to the first two episodes, which are already availablethe story is fascinating, and I highly recommend it! I can't wait to hear the restthe remaining six episodes will be released weekly. Every year or two, I do a housecleaning of my books. The shelves are filled with books that I bought but never readthe Japanese have a specific word for this, tsundokuand also books that I enjoyed, but will never read again. They take up precious space. I give the books away to a charity, which sells them to raise money for the work they do. My exercise has nothing to do at all with the quality of the books. Its just that I dont need them any more and other readers could derive a few hours of pleasure and thought from them. So last month, I had a pile of possibly 200 ready-to-go books on the rocking chair in my study when a friend, an extremely well-read person, came visiting. He picked up a few from the lot, and then looked at my shelves. You have a full shelf of books by Len Deighton and you are not giving them away! he said. Who is this fellow? Ah well. Deighton is little-known in India, and it is difficult here to find his books. But in my opinion, he is the greatest spy fiction author ever. This is not to disrespect others like John le Carre, the man who is generally regarded as the best. I have a shelf-full of Deighton. I also have a shelf-full of le Carre. Deightons espionage books can be broadly classified into two categoriesthe ones that feature an anonymous British agent and the nine-book saga of Bernard Samson. Except for one, all are first-person accounts. The Samson story is quite simply the most monumental achievement in spy fictionBerlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match, Spy Hook, Spy Line, Spy Sinker, Faith, Hope and Charity. Nothing here is what it seems to be. This is the Cold War at its chilliest and most dangerous, and everything you see or hear is dubiousfrom instructions from spymasters who could very well be working for the other side, to what your wife casually mentions. And then Deighton adds on a new layerthat at least some of what Bernard tells you may be just his flawed perception, not reality. You will not find that in Fleming or le Carre. So what do you do as a reader? You are faced with the prospect of having to read the stuff all over again! This is cruel. Deighton carefully built an elaborate edifice based on half-truths, lies and double and triple crosses that leaves you with more doubts than certainties. The hero of the other great set of Deightons novels is an unnamed British secret agent who is called Harry Palmer in the filmsThe Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain and a recent remake of Ipcressand played memorably by Michael Caine with a cockney London accent and thick tortoise-shell glasses. In the books, his voice is laconic and matter-of-fact and all that we know about his physical appearance is that he may be getting a bit overweight. He reports what he sees, but reveals nothing of what he thinks. Often, it is only in the last few pages of the book that the reader can figure out what has been going on right under their nose. In this, Deighton possibly followed the style of the Continental Op stories of Dashiell Hammett. Which brings me to the thing called literature. A story about crime, detection, espionage is quickly classified as genre fiction and not granted the status that comes automatically to any tale about an orphan, a dysfunctional family, cultural exile and a number of other themes that I am too bored to even mention. Let me make a proposition here: Literature, just as art, is about how you represent something and not merely the what. We do not love Van Goghs Sunflowers because we love sunflowers. Deighton transcends his genre in two important ways. One, his spy stories are fundamentally about class. However complex the plot, it is about how power in Britain is wielded by people who went to Eton and Oxford. Deightons father was an auto mechanic and his mother a cook. Bernard Samson, who never went to college, stands no chance in the British secret service bureaucracy. Idiots who have the right resume will always call the shots. This is not something that le Carre thought about. After all, George Smiley is an Oxford alumnus. Two, the writing. Some years ago, I had given a Deighton novel to a friend to read. My friend, who is a well-known author and columnist, was astonished. He said: Theres so much that he says in the blank space between two paragraphs! That is Deighton. There is a reason why the works of crime fiction writers like Raymond Chandler are today recognized as literature. Its the writing, the easy grace and speed of the language, and plots that hint at something much more rotten than the nitty-gritty. These authors write so well that you dont really care who the villain or murderer is and reread the books. Deighton belongs in that echelon. His spy stories can keep people busy for ages. Newly-elected Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah attended the farewell ceremony of his grandson, who completed his Class 12. The Chief Minister's grandson completed his Class 12 from the Canadian International School in Bengaluru. Sharing the news on Twitter, Siddaramaiah wrote, "My grandson completed his Class 12 from @cisblearns and the school had a organised a farewell for the graduating class of 2023 at the Canadian International School of Bangalore. I was happy to be part of the event and congratulated him for completing his class 12,". My grandson completed his Class 12 from @cisblearns and the school had a organised a farewell for the graduating class of 2023 at the Canadian International School of Bangalore. I was happy to be part of the event and congratulated him for completing his class 12. pic.twitter.com/T1XPcZkzSL Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) May 21, 2023 The 75-year-old Congress leader took oath as the new Chief Minister at the Sree Kanteerava stadium on Saturday, after much deliberation persisted over the past week as to who should get the position in the state. Siddaramaiah eventually won the race between him and DK Shivakumar, who got the post of Deputy Chief Minister. The Congress clinched the state assembly elections in the state earlier this month with a clear majority of 136 votes out of the 224 seats that were available, which ensured that the anti-incumbent nature of governments continued in Karnataka. Congress' victory in the Karnataka elections comes almost 12 months prior to the general elections in India. Also read: Bengaluru hit by heavy rains and hailstorm, users share videos on Twitter USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Smartphones have become an integral part of lives of not just adults but also children, who spend considerable time of their day on these devices. Recently, in a LinkedIn post, former Xiaomi India CEO Manu Kumar Jain shared an advice to parents, requesting them to keep their children away from smartphones for long periods of time. "Stop giving smartphones to your kids. Parents, let's talk about the alarming impact of early smartphone and tablet exposure on our children's mental health. "A friend shared this report from Sapien Labs that highlights a deeply concerning correlation between early access to smartphones (& tablets) to young children and the increased likelihood of suffering from mental disorders as adults," Jain wrote. Jain also urged parents to not give phones to kids "to keep them occupied" and adviced them to "encourage real world interactions" with their children. "I urge parents to resist the temptation of handing over a phone to kids to keep them occupied. Instead, encourage real-world interactions, some outdoor activities, and/or engage them in hobbies. By doing so, we can create a healthier and more balanced environment that fosters authentic learning and social interactions," he wrote. In the post, Jain shared numbers which indicated the impact caused on kids by over-exposure to smartphones. "The numbers from the study are truly shocking: (a) Approx. 60-70% of women who were exposed to smartphones before the age of 10 are experiencing mental health issues as adults. (b) Men aren't immune either, with approx. 45-50% of those exposed to smartphones before the age of 10 also facing similar challenges later in life," he wrote. Anand Mahindra reacted to the study, calling the findings "incredibly disturbing,". Incredibly disturbing. Research being conducted by Sapien Labs and Krea University, AP, shows that the age at which a child first owns a smartphone affects their mental well-being in adulthood. I join many others in urging parents to exercise caution & restraint. pic.twitter.com/VUThRA06Fe anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) May 15, 2023 The United Kingdom's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak targeted China while addressing the press on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan's Hiroshima on May 21, accusing the South Asian economic giant of using a policy of "economic coercion" and posing the "biggest challenge to global security". Sunak, however, is not in favour of fully decoupling from China, which is the world's biggest manufacturer. The UK premier believes that the G7 should adopt a strategy to counter the risks which arise from Beijing's assertive policies. "China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity. They are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad," news agency Reuters quoted Sunak as saying. "This is all about de-risking - not de-coupling," he said. "With the G7, we are taking steps to prevent China from using economic coercion to interfere in the sovereign affairs of others," he added. Also Read | Pro Opinion: Chinas BRI is not just a debt trap but a trade trap too The members of G7, an elite grouping comprising the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada, as well as the European Union, are known for their adversarial economic ties with China. In March, the US had publicly denounced China for putting lower and middle-income countries into a "debt trap". "I am very, very concerned about some of the activities that China engages in globally, engaging in countries in ways that leave them trapped in debt and don't promote economic development," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had said. China, which has so far dismissed the allegations of entrapping developing countries with its web of loans, maintains that it has always followed international rules and carried out financing cooperation with openness and transparency. China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building "Belt and Road" infrastructure, a recently published World Bank study showed. China is negotiating debt restructurings with countries including Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka and has been criticised for holding up the processes. In response, it has called on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to also offer debt relief. (With Reuters inputs) The United States and other rich democracies on Sunday will bring to a close a Group of Seven gathering that has focused on undermining Russia and managing China with a show of force behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy will receive a hero's welcome during the closing day of the G7 summit hosted in Hiroshima, Japan, where leaders debated how to respond to a conflict that many expect only to escalate after nearly 15 months of fighting. Western countries used the event to announce new sanctions against Moscow and vowed to pump even more weapons, military assistance and cash into the fight. But they planned to aim the most rhetorical fire at China, Russia's most powerful ally in Asia, implicitly warning Chinese President Xi Jinping that any efforts to bully them or change the status quo in self-ruled Taiwan or the disputed South China Sea would be met with the same resolve as Russia's attempt to re-draw Ukraine's borders. "A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest," the leaders said in a communique that included some of their toughest language ever as a group regarding Beijing. On Sunday, Japan and South Korea, two of China's wealthiest neighbours, will highlight their improved ties with a joint meeting. Meanwhile, Zelenskiy will brief leaders on what Kyiv needs for a ramped-up spring offensive against Moscow that he has said will create the conditions for a resolution to the conflict. On Saturday, Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed his Wagner fighters had completed the capture of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, but Kyiv rejected the claim and said fighting was continuing there. Bakhmut has been the focus of the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia's war in Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday endorsed training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets for the first time as leaders announced new sanctions on Russia. Biden is planning to roll out a $375 million military aid package for Ukraine in Japan as well, according to a U.S. official. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the package will include artillery, ammunition and HIMARS rocket launchers. But Zelenskiy has pushed the countries to go further on both economic and military measures. "Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said on Twitter as he arrived in Hiroshima. "Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today." Flight Drama Japan sought Zelenskiy's attendance in person, and his circuitous, 9,000 km (5,600 mile) journey from Saudi Arabia on a French plane avoiding Russian airspace injected drama into a buttoned-up diplomatic meeting. Wearing his customary olive green fatigues, Zelenskiy stepped out of a French government aircraft on Saturday afternoon and moved swiftly to a waiting car, footage from Japanese broadcasters showed. Over a few short hours on Saturday, Zelenskiy had already gotten a warm welcomein meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, France's President Emmanuel Macron, and Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak among others. In Japan, the small European country's fight against its much larger neighbour has taken on special significance for a country that feels threatened by China, Asia's biggest country and Japan's biggest trading partner. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida used the setting of the conference, the first city to be levelled by an atomic bomb, as a stark reminder of the horrors of war. Zelenskiy is due to hold a session on Sunday with all of the G7 members - the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada - before a broader session with other invited countries. "Global South" countries, including Brazil and India, were invited to help cultivate ties with countries that have tried to avoid taking risky stances in the conflict between larger powers, including the United States and China, or sought warm relations with Russia. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Macron that he would speak with Zelenskiy while in Hiroshima, a French presidential source told reporters, amid speculation that Lula might skip such a meeting. Zelenskiy came to the G7 straight from Saudi Arabia where he attended an Arab League meeting, another grouping that includes countries that have sought to carefully navigate great power conflict. The Ephemeral Tattoo Studio provides tattoos that completely fade away after 1-3 years. In the video it's explained that these tattoos are given with a tattoo gun, just like a permanent tattoo. Instead of permanent ink, semi-permanent ink is used. When I first came across an advertisement for this tattoo, I was skeptical because it sounded too good to be true. After watching the video and learning more about how this new technology works, I'm feeling pretty open to trying one out. The tattoo in the video came out beautifully. I'd love to see how it looks as it fades over time. Would you get a semi-permanent tattoo? From Youtube: Reporter Andrew Roberto was raised his whole life on Saipan. He graduated from Saipan Southern High School, holds a degree from Northern Marianas College, and a BA in English from the University of Guam. He once worked for KUAM, UNO Magazine, and the Guam Daily Post. An Amherst-based provider of senior housing said it received an unwelcome surprise last month from the town: a $253,000 tax charge. Beechwood Continuing Care said it was in talks with the town to sharply reduce the property taxes owed on the Presbyterian Village at North Church complex, which the nonprofit purchased two years ago a deal that would free up money for badly needed improvements at the facility. Beechwood said it had expected the parties to reach agreement on a 15-year PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, and insisted the organization never received notice it owed this much in taxes to the town, Erie County and Williamsville Central School District. "None of the outstanding property tax bills were ever received by us. Nor were we notified that North Church had been put on the tax rolls, giving us no opportunity to appeal this determination," Daniel P. O'Neill, Beechwood's president and CEO, said in a May 2 letter to Amherst Supervisor Brian J. Kulpa. Town officials acknowledge some miscommunication but contend Beechwood also is partly to blame for the delay in resolving the PILOT issue. They note the property under its previous owner held a religious tax exemption for which Beechwood doesn't qualify. PILOT talks are continuing, the town said, but Beechwood still is obligated to pay the tax bill. "At its core, I think this was a misunderstanding," Deputy Town Attorney Samuel A. Alba said in an interview. "Both sides are still talking and we're hoping to come to some kind of solution here." Beechwood officials, who went through a lengthy community fight over the organization's sale of the former Blocher Homes in Williamsville, did not respond to requests for additional comment. The tax dispute centers on the Presbyterian Village at North Church property at 214 Village Park Drive, off North Forest Road just outside the Williamsville village limits. Presbyterian Senior Care of Western New York had operated the 79-unit senior residence for years until, in 2019, it reached agreement for Beechwood to take over this and two other facilities. The Amherst facility, Ken-Ton Presbyterian Village and Lockport Presbyterian Home had a combined 85 employees and 250 residents at the time. Beechwood took ownership of the North Church residence in February 2021. There are other property tax exemptions that apply to nonprofits like Beechwood but senior housing is not an eligible use, Alba said. Beechwood's leadership sought to minimize its tax burden on the property, which has a $4.88 million assessed value that matches its sale price. "Given the significant amount of liability and debt assumed, we approached the Town of Amherst with the goal of entering into a PILOT agreement," O'Neill wrote to Kulpa this month. Delaying the payment of property taxes, O'Neill wrote, allows Beechwood "to focus our immediate attention and limited financial resources on the severe disrepair the facility had fallen into under its previous ownership." Beechwood said a draft PILOT agreement would see the nonprofit pay $60,000 combined to the town, county and school district in 2022. This figure would rise by 3% annually until 2036, when the property would return to the tax rolls at its full assessed value. The property would generate just over $1.1 million in revenue over the 15-year PILOT. Last week's Town Board agenda included copies of numerous emails sent among representatives of Beechwood and the town between 2019 and 2022 as the parties tried to hammer out a deal. One January 2022 email from Beechwood lawyer Matthew Carrigg to town officials read, in part, "We are coming up on a year of working on this. We need to wrap it up." But one month later, O'Neill wrote to Kulpa to say he had recently learned the town, due to a change in personnel and thinking, "was reversing course and reviewing everything anew." The town assessor retired during this period and a new official took over as the point person on PILOT agreement negotiations, O'Neill said. This February 2022 letter also said the Town Attorney's Office had mistakenly identified the property as affordable housing owned by a housing development fund corporation. "It has always been, and still is, simply apartment living for seniors," O'Neill wrote then. The collection of messages submitted by Beechwood did not include a response from Kulpa or another town official to the February 2022 plea for a resolution. Because of the prior tax exemption, the nonprofit did not have to pay any school taxes for 2021-22 for the North Church property but owed $8,909 in town and county taxes for 2022 for the site, a bill Beechwood paid in November. Last month, O'Neill said, Beechwood's bank asked his chief financial officer why the organization had an unpaid $253,000 property tax bill: $90,000 in 2022-23 school taxes and $163,000 in 2023 town and county taxes. O'Neill said the nonprofit never received this tax bill, perhaps because the town had a mailing address for Beechwood with an incorrect ZIP code. Alba, the deputy town attorney, conceded the "misunderstanding" but said the town had been waiting since January 2021 for additional data from Beechwood. This missing information included a tally of spending on improvements at the North Church residence, Alba said. O'Neill's May 2 letter included a list of renovations made since February 2021 such as new siding, roof repairs and upgrades to the apartments totaling $710,000. Alba said town officials haven't decided whether to approve, or reject, Beechwood's PILOT request. "We're still having friendly conversations to try to figure this out," he said. 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. Former Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, second right, at a past Rotuman Language Week event Likely Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks at a campaign town hall meeting at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A security guard was one of the three people killed in a shooting at a Kansas City bar early Sunday that also wounded two others, including one critically wounded, according to family members. Police haven't yet identified the victims, and they didn't release many details Sunday about what led to the shooting just before the Klymax Lounge's 1:30 a.m. closing time. And no one answered the phone at the bar Sunday afternoon after it was scheduled to open. Honystye Chancellor told the Kansas City Star that her stepfather, 41-year-old Jason McConnell, was killed in the shooting while working security at the door of the bar. After she rushed to the bar, Chancellor said, people in the crowd told her that the shooting happened just as the local rapper who was performing at the club was leaving. The rapper who performs under the name Nutty Still Gassin had posted a live video from the club earlier in the night before the shooting happened on his Facebook page. Kansas City police said that when multiple officers arrived at the bar, they found five victims and began providing medical aid. Police said two of the victims died at the scene one was found inside the bar and the other was outside the building in Kansas City, Missouri. A third victim died at the hospital. Details about the circumstances that led to the shooting were not immediately available, and it wasnt immediately clear where the victims were when they were shot. Police said the victims were all adults, but their ages and identities were not immediately available. Chancellor told the newspaper that McConnell was well known at the club because he was friendly and could talk to anyone. He also worked at a diner and managed a wireless communications store in the area, she said. Chancellor said that McConnell encouraged her to turn away from violence after she got into fights often as a kid, and he was good and nice and always trying to keep us on the right path. She said McConnell was a sneakerhead who likely owned over 100 pairs of shoes and had a 15-year-old son. Chancellor said she and her brother spent the night curled up in bed together with their mother after she returned from Klymax after they got the news. On the sidewalk outside the bar, a small memorial with flowers and chalk writing featuring the victims names popped up in the hours following the incident. Jacksonville Police ARRESTS, CITATIONS Shihtonnya O. Cooper, 26, of 215 E. Beecher Ave. was arrested at 2:51 a.m. Sunday on a domestic battery charge after being accused of hitting a roommate in the face. A 16-year-old boy was arrested at 10:43 p.m. Friday in the 800 block of Illinois Avenue on a charge of illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor. Freddie G. Law Jr., 25, of Jacksonville was cited on a charge of operating an uninsured vehicle at 12:31 a.m. Saturday in the 400 block of Mauvaisterre Street. John L. Burton, 24, of 315 S. Clay Ave. was arrested at 6:51 p.m. Friday at West College Avenue and South Church Street on a battery charge. A 16-year-old boy was cited on a charge of aggravated battery at 11:24 a.m. Friday after being accused of striking security personnel in the 1600 block of West Walnut Street. ACCIDENTS Alexa D. Brickey, 32, of Jacksonville was cited on charges of improper lane use and operating an uninsured vehicle after her car and one being driven by Ashton J. Cook, 23, of Jacksonville collided at 8:09 p.m. Saturday at South Clay and East College avenues. VANDALISM About $400 damage was caused to a vehicle in the 1300 block of Goltra Avenue and the keys were taken, according to a report filed at 3:58 p.m. Saturday. A pair of women's glasses was left inside. A vehicle was damaged between 8 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday in the 2100 block of New Lake Road. OTHER REPORTS A truck broke a utility pole, which fell and hit a building in the 200 block of West College Avenue about 2:45 p.m. Friday. Influential developer Michael L. Joseph is out after 16 years as chair of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center's board of directors, but questions persist about the board's membership and how this change will affect the hospital's future. Hochul accepts resignation of Roswell Park board chair after racism claims against his company Michael Joseph had been on Roswell Park's board for 19 years, including the last 16 as board chair, but had recently faced a growing chorus calling for his removal from that post after his development company was hit last week with a federal racial discrimination lawsuit. How it all shakes out has big implications, with the board having the authority to direct the planning, operation and policies of Roswell Park, a public-benefit corporation that employs nearly 4,000 people, generates more than $1.1 billion in revenue and cares for more than 46,000 patients annually. With nearly every board member serving on an expired term as was the case with Joseph, before he resigned following allegations of racism leveled against his development firm Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders have the ability to make sweeping changes on the board. "I will be making decisions to fill a number of vacancies that have occurred, and examine holdovers, and make sure that the very best board is there to work to take Roswell even to the highest levels possible," Hochul said Friday during a visit to Buffalo. "That's what this community deserves. Many of those board members, also like Joseph, are generous donors to state political candidates, and it's unclear how quickly lawmakers will push to replace their campaign supporters. Another major question is whether the appointment of Leecia Eve as interim chair the first woman and first person of color to lead the Roswell Park board will result in greater transparency on diversity efforts. Joseph supported keeping secret a diversity report that assessed the hospital's treatment of its employees of color. Eve was among those members who wanted Roswell Park to more transparently confront its past actions and inactions regarding race. Further, Joseph was closely aligned with Candace S. Johnson, Roswell Park's long-serving president and CEO. "I am confident that under Leecia's tenure as board chair, Roswell Park will foster an environment of transparency and begin to hold its executive team accountable," said Steve Weiss, a lawyer who served on the board until submitting his resignation to Hochul in December. "In that regard, her leadership will be a welcomed breath of fresh air." Pressure builds Roswell Park including the board of directors under Joseph's leadership has come under scrutiny in recent months over its handling of diversity issues. Roswell Park has paid $4.67 million to settle discrimination lawsuits, faces more complaints Fifteen lawsuits claiming employment discrimination based on gender, race or disability have been filed against Roswell Park over the last eight years. To date, The Buffalo News has found the cancer center has paid at least $4.67 million to settle six of the cases. At least 15 former employees have filed lawsuits since 2015 that accuse the hospital of discrimination based on race, gender or disability. And when lawyers from the Cozen O'Connor law firm completed a diversity report for Roswell Park last year, on a contract worth $214,474, Roswell Park refused to publicly release the document. Then, earlier this month, a former employee of Joseph's Clover Group development firm filed a federal lawsuit accusing Clover executives of deciding where to build or acquire developments based on race. Peter Rizzo recorded senior Clover officials though not Joseph using the code word Canadians in place of Black people to describe the suitability of housing sites. Clover denied wrongdoing. After The Buffalo News reported on the lawsuit, the Erie County Legislature approved a nonbinding resolution that called for Clover to fire the executives accused of racism but did not name Joseph. Still, pressure was growing on Joseph, who served as board chair at the governor's discretion. By late Tuesday afternoon, Hochuls office put out a statement announcing she had accepted his resignation. I was honored to serve on a board with so many other community members for such a prestigious institution that is a true asset for Buffalo and the Western New York region," Joseph said in a statement Friday, his first public remarks since he left the board. He cited progress on research, fundraising and innovative cancer treatments and the hiring of Roswell Park's first female president during his tenure but did not directly address the allegations against Clover. 'Becoming entrenched' Under state and hospital regulations, Joseph could have been removed much earlier. As The News reported last week, Joseph registered to vote in Florida in 2018 and last voted in Erie County in 2011, public records from those jurisdictions show. This raised questions about his residency, though voter records are just one factor in making this legal determination. Joseph also remained on the board, and as its chair, well past the guidelines included in the hospital bylaws. He was appointed to the board in 2004 by Gov. George Pataki and was named chair in 2007 by Gov. Eliot Spitzer. His most recent appointment expired in 2012. Roswell Park's bylaws state board directors "may serve not more than three three-year terms on the corporation's board of directors, unless requested to serve additional terms by the applicable governmental appointing authority." The governor appoints the board chair, who "shall serve a term of three years unless required to serve longer by the governor," the bylaws state. Brent J. Horton, associate professor and area chair of law and ethics at Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business, said many best practices for nonprofit entities reference limiting board members to three consecutive terms. "The reason you'd want to do that is just to prevent people from becoming entrenched, to make sure that you have changing ideas, that you have fresh ideas on the board, that the board doesn't become stale," he said. The flip side: Term limits, he said, can cause an organization to lose institutional knowledge and expertise. Expired terms Joseph wasn't alone in serving past the expiration of his term. Following his resignation, Roswell Park's board had 10 remaining members subject to appointment by the governor or a New York legislative leader. Of the 10, nine were on an expired term, including the recently promoted Eve. Many directors have served for 15 years or longer. Sisters-in-law Anne and Donna Gioia, co-founders of the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation who have helped raise $500 million for Roswell Park over the last three decades, have served on the board since 1997. The governor gets seven appointments to the board, including the Weiss and Joseph seats, so Hochul has an opportunity to reshape its membership if she chooses. Many past appointments have gone to major political donors in the area, a practice that has come under criticism. In total, Weiss, Joseph, the remaining board members, their spouses and their companies have given at least $981,000 to state and local candidates since 2000, according to campaign finance records. An executive order introduced by Spitzer in 2007 bars gubernatorial appointees to state boards from making or soliciting donations to the campaign of the governor who made the appointment. Hochul spokesperson Matt Janiszewski said in a statement the governor "selects appointees solely for their skills, experience and commitment to public service." Web of relationships Potential conflicts of interest can emerge with a board comprised of politically connected members with deep-rooted community ties. For example, according to a review of board minutes from 2020 to 2022, directors Kenneth A. Manning, Donna Gioia and R. Buford Sears regularly abstain from the vote to approve each quarter's investment activity. But the minutes do not include reasons for the abstentions, though Roswell Park's five-page conflict of interest policy for its board states: "Any time a contract or relationship involving a conflict of interest on the part of a director is before the board of directors, the disclosures of the director involved shall be made a matter of record in the official minutes of the board." Roswell Park hired a firm to investigate allegations of racism. It's kept the findings secret After Roswell Park received an anonymous letter raising concerns about how its employees of color were treated, it hired an outside firm to investigate. The hospital won't release the findings. Manning is a partner at law firm Phillips Lytle LLP, according to his financial disclosure statement filed with the state. Roswell Park regularly contracts with Phillips Lytle for legal services, according to the cancer center's 2021-22 procurement report. The report shows a contract with Phillips Lytle that began Nov. 14, 2018, and will end Nov. 13, 2023, with a total value of about $428,000. Further, of the 15 employment discrimination lawsuits filed against Roswell Park since 2015, Phillips Lytle has represented Roswell Park in eight of them. The procurement report shows Roswell Park also has done business with Dobmeier Janitor Supply Inc. board member Linda Dobmeier is the company's vice president, according to Roswell Park's website via a $45,566 purchase order. Horton, the Fordham professor, said generally speaking, a conflict of interest "in and of itself may be OK, as long as the board is fully informed, and it's in the best interest of the company." A new direction? For advocates who want to see the Roswell Park board move in a new direction, Eve's appointment as interim chair to replace Joseph gives them hope. Eve has served on the U.S. Senate staffs of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joseph Biden and held several state government posts. She unsuccessfully ran for state attorney general in 2008. She more recently headed government affairs in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region for Verizon before leaving to join Ichor Strategies. Eve, a Buffalo native, is the daughter of former Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur O. Eve. "Roswell Park is an incredibly important asset and resource for our region, and I look forward to working with Roswell Park President and CEO Dr. Candace Johnson, my fellow board members, and the Roswell Park team to keep reaching new heights of achievement," Eve said in a statement issued by Roswell Park on Friday. At a board meeting Aug. 25, Eve joined four other board members in voting against a public statement that skirted concerns raised by the hospital's employees of color. But they were outvoted by Joseph and seven other board members who voted in favor of the public statement. On Aug. 30, the five dissenting board members, including Eve, wrote to Johnson and Joseph to express frustration that the public statement did not acknowledge the hospitals past failings on race. "We believe that the Cozen investigation and resulting report correctly conveyed the long history and sentiment of institutional racism, lack of trust inside and outside of the institution, feelings of retaliation and racial inequity," they wrote in the letter. The board could be joined by another new member, Lisa Damiani, a former Roswell Park vice president of external affairs, whose appointment by Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt awaits final processing. Will these changes lead the board to reverse itself and release the diversity report? "I think the public should see it," said Pastor Dwayne Jones of Mt. Aaron Baptist Church, an outside appointee to the board's diversity committee. CEO extension After Johnson, Roswell Park's longtime deputy director, was named Roswell Park's interim CEO in fall 2014, she made it clear she wasn't a candidate for the permanent CEO job. In fact, she served on the search committee to find a new hospital chief. But as the field was narrowed to just two finalists, the search committee became convinced Johnson was the best candidate. In early 2015, Joseph as board chair and head of the eight-member search committee approached Johnson again and asked her to consider staying on as CEO. A week later, Johnson agreed. On Feb. 3, 2015, Roswell Park's board of directors voted 14-0 to appoint Johnson, then 65, as president and CEO the cancer center's 15th CEO and its first woman to hold the top job. Johnson named first female CEO of Roswell Park Shes got a wonderful reputation nationally, but shes got a personality that is just engaging, and thats important, Michael L. Joseph, the chairman of the board and the head of the search committee, said in an Under Johnson, Roswell Park has significantly increased its revenues: from a budget of $663 million at the time she was appointed CEO to a record $1.12 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. Further, the cancer center now employs more than 3,900 people, up from 3,200 when she took over. And the cancer center's geographic reach is wider than ever, through a growing alliance of locations across the state in its Care Network and the upcoming opening of the Scott Bieler Amherst Center. But after climbing to No. 14 in 2019 and 2020 in the list of Top 50 cancer hospitals as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, Roswell Park last year fell out of the Top 50 for the first time since 2016. I am hopeful that Leecia and New York State will commit to making Roswell Park the premier cancer institute that it once was, said Sam Hoyt, a former Assembly member from Buffalo and former regional economic development official for the state. Under the current leadership, Roswells status in the national rankings have plummeted and that should be unacceptable to all involved. Johnson had total compensation for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, of about $1.86 million, according to Roswell Park's 2021-22 annual report filed with the state. That included $997,305 in base salary, a performance bonus of $672,413, extra pay of $100,000 and $94,450 in other compensation. At the board of directors meeting March 29, the board took up an item in executive session entitled "CEO employment extension," according to the agenda. Roswell Park confirmed Johnson received an extension that month but did not say how many years were added to her existing contract. What the cancer center did say: Johnson's contract runs through March 31, 2030. "I do support Dr. Johnson, but theres work to be done," said Jones, the Buffalo pastor. This story was updated May 23 to reflect that Leecia Eve, at an Aug. 25 board meeting, joined four other board members in voting against a public statement that skirted concerns raised by the hospital's employees of color. Five days later, she and the other four dissenting board members wrote a letter to Roswell Park leadership, expressing frustration that the public statement did not acknowledge the hospital's past failings on race. An earlier version of this story inaccurately described the nature of the vote. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The following are being sought on arrest warrants, according to various sheriffs departments. The addresses listed are the last known addresses provided by the warrants and may be outdated. Kahley M. Johnson, 20, of 602 Jordan St. is being sought on a warrant accusing her of failing to appear in court on a battery charge. She is a white female standing 5 foot 3 and weighing 100 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. William J. McDade, 45, of 967 Huber St. is being sought on a warrant accusing him of failing to appear in court on a possession of methamphetamine charge and an unspecified warrant from Logan County. He is a white male standing 5 foot 10 and weighing 190 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) Shortly after being sworn in last fall, the new majority of the Sumner County Commission in Tennessee acted to update one of its official documents. The new version said county operations would not only be orderly and efficient, but most importantly reflective of the Judeo-Christian values inherent in the nations founding. It was an important moment for the 14 commissioners who had campaigned under the banner of the Sumner County Constitutional Republicans. The group had waged a political war on fellow Republicans in this fast-growing region north of Nashville during a bitter primary a few months before. Since taking control, that majority has halted plans for a new building, rejected federal grants and sought to give away a historical property, actions it said were in line with its commitment to fiscal responsibility. The group also has been involved in an escalating feud with the countys election commission. The early moves have been cheered by their supporters, but some Republicans and community members say the commissioners are operating outside political norms, inviting lawsuits and jeopardizing elections and other county operations. Whats happened here is the Sumner County constitutional conservative Republican group, they dont believe in government, said Baker Ring, a Republican who is serving his fourth term on the county commission and is not aligned with the new majority. Theyre opposed to government. But now they are the government. The tensions are similar to those playing out in communities across the United States where conservative groups have been running candidates for local offices in recent years and sometimes winning majorities, upending the way local governments operate. While their success at winning office has varied, the consequences when they do are becoming apparent in places such as Sumner County, where they can wield power such as budgeting authority that could have implications for how elections are run. If we dont fund it, you dont get to do it, one county commissioner, Jeremy Mansfield, told the election administrator and chair of the election commission during a contentious meeting last fall. In Sumner County, a 22% increase in population between 2010 and 2020 has led to a need for more government services, including schools and teachers, while providing an opportunity for the local Constitutional Republicans group to gain power. Eight Republican commissioners were defeated in the May 2022 primary by challengers aligned with the Constitutional Republicans. That paved the way for the group to form the majority after an August general election in which less than 15% of registered voters cast ballots. A key issue that helped fuel the rise of the group were two property tax increases approved by the county commission over the past decade or so. When the countys election administrator came before the commission last fall seeking money to pay election workers for the November midterms, commissioners refused and pointed to money she still had in the bank. The election administrator, Lori Atchley, has continued to ask, warning the commission that she is operating at a deficit because the workers had to be paid. It was at that meeting that Mansfield, in his second term on the commission and an influential member of the Constitutional Republicans group, said two weeks of early voting, as required by state law, just seems excessive for this county. When a fellow commissioner said the county would soon be adding vote centers polling places where anyone in the county can cast a ballot Mansfield replied, Well, we can always change that, too. Whether the county uses vote centers or has multiple early voting locations falls under the authority of the five state-appointed members of the county election commission, which hires the local election administrator. But county commissioners control funding, and the newly elected conservatives say the countys election budget is higher than comparable counties and that vote centers are hard to justify without proof that they will increase turnout. The election office also is seeking money to complete its move to a larger building. That move is at the center of another dispute, with some of the new county commissioners saying it was not properly authorized. In March, county commissioners voted to require the election department to vacate the building. The election commission responded by filing a lawsuit against the county, arguing that the dispute and forced move threaten the integrity of the 2024 election before a single vote has been cast. Mansfield said he would not describe elections in the U.S. as secure or trustworthy and he believes the local election administrator has contributed to an erosion of confidence in the community. Among other things, he pointed to a recent misdemeanor citation issued to Atchley over a private property dispute unrelated to her job. Elections should be about integrity and trust, he said. Atchley referred questions about the lawsuit to the election commissions attorney and did not respond to a message seeking a comment about the citation and Mansfields criticism. Tom Lee, the election commissions lawyer, said members regard the citation as a private matter. There have been no reports of large-scale election problems in the county. Members of the Constitutional Republicans group said the elections department was not being treated any differently from other county departments when asked to justify their budget requests. People want small government and government they can trust, Mansfield said. Elected to his first term last year, County Commissioner Wes Wynne is a Republican but not part of the new majority. He said he doesnt understand why theres been so much animosity between the county commission and election officials. He offered a motion that presented a compromise on using the larger building, but said it was ignored. So far, our commission has done a fabulous job at grinding every ax that they can find against people they dont like, he said. ___ The 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. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol prayed together Sunday at a memorial for Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, as they continued efforts to mend ties repeatedly hurt by disputes stemming from Japan's wartime brutality. Yoon was in Hiroshima with leaders from seven other guest nations and G7 countries for outreach sessions on Sunday, the last day of the three-day summit. Kishida and Yoon held talks after laying flowers, and joined U.S. President Joe Biden later Sunday for discussions about further deepening security cooperation, including ways to strengthen U.S. nuclear deterrence for its two key allies in the region. The three leaders discussed stepping up coordination including real-time sharing of data warning of North Koreas missiles as part of their response to the Norths nuclear and missile threats, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. They also discussed cooperation in economic security and engaging with Pacific Island nations, where China is strengthening its influence. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, said a U.S. official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Yoon and Kishida, accompanied by their first ladies, stood in front of the memorial where they laid bouquets of white flowers and lowered their heads as they paid tribute to tens of thousands of Koreans who died in the attack 78 years ago. Yoon is the first South Korean leader to visit the memorial, underscoring a thaw in relations. Yoon, at the outset of his talks with Kishida later Sunday morning, praised the Japanese prime minister for his sincere determination" to improve ties. The meeting is the third between them in two months since Yoon made an ice-breaking visit to Tokyo in March. He said he hoped to deepen cooperation not only between the two sides but also on global issues based on our deep relationship of trust. The leaders' visit to the Korean memorial was extremely important for Japan-South Korea relations and for praying for global peace, Kishida said at the talks. Kishida later escorted Yoon and other guest nation leaders to visit the atomic bomb museum dedicated to the victims and to pray at the main cenotaph at the Peace Memorial Park a focus of the summit for Kishida as he seeks to emphasize nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Ties have thawed rapidly between the countries 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 improve ties amid growing security threats in the region. Kishida and Yoon met in back-to-back summits in Tokyo and Seoul in recent months aimed at resolving disputes that also included the sexual abuse of comfort women in Tokyos World War II military-run brothels. Some 20,000 ethnic Korean residents of Hiroshima are believed to have died in the first nuclear attack. The city, a wartime military hub, had a large number of Korean workers, including those forced to work in mines and factories under Japans colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. The first U.S. atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima. A second atomic attack on Nagasaki in southwestern Japan three days later killed another 70,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending its nearly half-century attempt to conquer Asia. ___ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Food insecurity in Western New York does not stop at Buffalo's boundaries. Seeing hungry students in their classrooms in Cheektowaga, teachers felt compelled to act. Students' and families' lack of access to basic products prompted the Teachers' Association of Cheektowaga-Sloan, New York State United Teachers and Teamsters Local #449 to develop a 24-hour food pantry that debuted with a ribbon-cutting under steady rain Saturday morning. Dubbed the Little Free Pantry, the 5-foot-wide wooden rectangle houses two shelves and sits outside the Teamsters' headquarters at 2175 William St., close to a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority bus stop. Boxed pasta, canned vegetables and cereal were neatly organized inside, supplemented by at least 20 bags of additional nonperishables collected Saturday and stocked inside the union shop. Amy Kochan, president of the Teachers' Association of Cheektowaga-Sloan, said the teachers' goal was to have the pantry ready for summer. As a John F. Kennedy High School teacher and parent of teenagers, she stressed the sustenance required for growth. "I know how hungry they are, sometimes it seems like a bottomless pit," Kochan said. "We know that when the kids don't have the nutrition that they need, they can't focus in school, and academics become secondary. We want to make sure the kids have everything they need right through the weekend, right through the summer, so it's something they don't have to worry about." Cheektowaga-Sloan enrolls about 1,200 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and comprises four schools: JFK middle and high schools, Theodore Roosevelt Elementary and Woodrow Wilson Elementary. About 60% of district students are considered economically disadvantaged, according to state education data from 2021-2022. That's a smaller slice than Buffalo Public Schools, of which 78% of its students are economically disadvantaged, but both districts qualify for free breakfasts and lunches because of their poverty rates. East Buffalo's food insecurity and efforts to remedy it have been in the spotlight since the mass shooting at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo on May 14, 2022 but state figures and teacher efforts such as those in Cheektowaga show the issue is not isolated. As in Buffalo, student needs are broader than just meals at home, Kochan emphasized. "Families are struggling the prices at the grocery store are astronomical, not just for food, but for your typical deodorant, soap and those types of things, too," she said. A team effort was required to construct and promote the hardy wooden cupboard. Amy Capalbo, an art teacher at JFK, and Jason Glaser, a technology teacher at the school, helped high school students develop signage and build the pantry. Teachers' Association of Cheektowaga-Sloan's 15-member executive team drove the effort forward, Kochan said, but much of its larger membership donated goods. The American Legion Post 1320, about 1.5 miles away in Sloan, donated $500 early on. Paul B. Aroune, a New York State United Teachers labor relations specialist, worked with students to build the stand that supports the pantry. NYSUT funds 50% of the pantry through its Local Action Project, which supports teachers in finding ways to not only help students, but also benefit the surrounding community. Jeff Brylski, president of Teamsters Local #449, said Cheektowaga-Sloan teachers struggling to find a site for the pantry approached him. He leapt at the opportunity to supplement the annual food and toy drive his 3,500-person membership already takes on, and because his headquarters might reach a different neighborhood than Catholic Charities' North Ogden Street pantry a mile away and the Resurrection Life Fellowship site three miles away on Old Union Road. "Someone from our local will look into the pantry every single day," he said. Given the pantry's proximity to a bus stop and its 24-hour availability, Brylski is confident it will be used. "If you feed one person a day, you're doing a good job," he said. Zelenskyy denies Ukrainian city of Bakhmut occupied by Russian forces View Photo HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces werent occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscows insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die, Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fight for the city of Bakhmut is continuing, the Ukrainian militarys general staff said in a statement on Sunday evening. Oleksandr Syrskyi, a spokesman for the militarys eastern command, said Ukrainian forces control the outskirts of the city, and defense forces continue offensive actions on the flanks near Bakhmut. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmuts Soviet-era name. Russias Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldnt use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isnt clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. ___ Elise Morton reported from London, and Susie Blann from Kyiv, Ukraine. Elaine Kurtenbach and Adam Schreck contributed to this report from Hiroshima. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine By ZEKE MILLER, ELISE MORTON and SUSIE BLANN Associated Press Minnesota bill legalizing recreational pot passes Senate, heads to governors desk View Photo MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Senators in Minnesota passed a bill Saturday that would allow recreational marijuana use by people over the age of 21 and make it the 23rd state to legalize the substance for adults. The measure has already been approved by the House and now goes to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who has pledged to sign it into law. Supporters of the bill said it would improve public health and safety and further social justice, while opponents said health and safety would actually worsen. Under the measure it would become legal by Aug. 1 to possess, use and grow marijuana at home. Retail sales at dispensaries would probably be at least a year away. It includes a 10% tax on cannabis products on top of existing sales taxes and limits possession of cannabis flower to 2 pounds at home and 2 ounces in public. Other possession caps include 800 milligrams of THC in gummies and other edibles and 8 grams of cannabis concentrate. Minnesotans who have been convicted of misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor possession would get their records automatically expunged, though the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has estimated it will take until August of next year to process them all. People convicted of selling marijuana or other more serious but nonviolent pot-related offenses that would no longer be crimes or would become lesser offenses could apply to have their records cleared or sentences reduced. Local governments would get more negotiating authority on limiting the number of dispensaries and keeping them away from schools, but may not ban them altogether. Republican Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, of Fergus Falls, spoke in opposition on the Senate floor Saturday. The fundamental flaw with this bill is that the starting point of it from proponents has been about creating an industry to fit their ideology, Rasmusson said. He said the measure gives bonus points to people who have committed drug crimes in the past, inadequately addresses law enforcement concerns about possession limits and is driven by commercial interests. Democratic Sen. Lindsey Port, of Burnsville, countered that it would protect children from harmful effects of the illicit market by legalizing and regulating marijuana, reduce risks to public health and safety and reinvest in communities harmed by previous marijuana laws. Minnesotans are ready. Lets legalize, regulate and expunge, Port said. The bill passed 34-32 on a party-line vote. Democrats took full control of state government as the Legislature convened for its 2023 session, the first time in eight years they have held the trifecta of both chambers plus the governors office, putting them in position to pass a long list of legislative priorities that the previous Senate Republican majority had blocked. On Friday the governor signed two gun safety measures. And last month he signed a measure ensuring Minnesota will not cooperate with attempts to prosecute out-of-state patients seeking reproductive or gender-affirming health care. ___ Trisha Ahmed 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 under-covered issues. Follow Trisha Ahmed on Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15 By TRISHA AHMED Associated Press/Report for America CANNES, France (AP) Martin Scorsese unveiled Killers of the Flower Moon at Cannes on Saturday, debuting a sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese's latest starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro is one of his most ambitious. Adapting David Grann's nonfiction bestseller, it stretches nearly three and a half hours and cost Apple $200 million to make. Nothing has been more anticipated at this years Cannes Film Festival than Killers of the Flower Moon a historical epic, a bitter crime film and a Great Plains Western which appeared to meet those expectations. It drew a lengthy standing ovation and repeated cheers for Scorsese, 80, who premiered his first film at Cannes since 1985's After Hours." We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. Its taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us, Scorsese said, addressing the crowd after the screening. There was lots of grass. Im a New Yorker. The red carpet drew a wide spectrum of stars. Along with the film's expansive cast, attendees included Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as actors Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Paul Dano and Isabelle Huppert. Though Grann's book affords many possible inroads to the story, Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth center their story on Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio, in his seventh collaboration with Scorsese), a WWI veteran who falls for Mollie Brown (Gladstone), the member of a wealthy Osage family. Since finding oil reserves on their land, the Osage were then the richest people per capita in the country. But that wealth is closely controlled by appointed white guardians. A series of murders prompts increased panic among the Osage, who are preyed on by a host of greedy killers. Though Grann's book devoted many pages to the connections between the cases and the birth of the FBI, less time is spent in Scorsese's film on the murder investigations. (Jesse Plemons plays an agent from the just-formed Bureau.) Instead, Killers of the Flower Moon captures the manipulation and murders of Native American people through the dynamics in Ernest and Mollie's relationship. Killers of the Flower Moon, which is playing out of competition in Cannes, opens in U.S. theaters on Oct. 6. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP WASHINGTON (AP) Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called herself a Survivor superfan on Saturday and offered an audience of graduating law school students lessons from the reality TV show. The show has been on television for 23 years and is now in its 44th season. Jackson said she has seen every episode since the show's second season. I watch it with my husband and my daughters even now, which I will admit its not easy to do with the demands of my day job. But you have to set priorities, people. And thats exactly the first lesson that I have for you today, she told the graduating class of American Universitys law school in Washington. Jackson, the courts first Black female justice, is coming to the end of her first term on the court. The justices are done hearing arguments for the term and are expected to issue all their remaining opinions by the end of June before going on summer break. Major decisions on affirmative action and President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan have yet to be announced. In her address, Jackson described Survivor, in which contestants are deposited in a remote tropical location and undertake challenges in the hopes of ultimately winning $1 million, as great fun to watch. But she also said it holds a number of broader lessons that are helpful for becoming a good lawyer. One lesson, she said, is to make the most of the resources that you have," drawing a parallel to when she was a federal public defender and prosecutors always seemed to have more resources. Jackson said she knows what it is like to commit to moving forward even when the deck is stacked against you and also talked about a Survivor contestant with a prosthetic leg who nonetheless prevailed at a difficult challenge involving a balance beam. My advice to you is to do your best to shut out distractions, use your time wisely and figure out how to make the most of what you have, Jackson said. Other lessons from the show are to know your strengths and to play the long game, she said. That last piece of advice could serve the liberal justice well on the Supreme Court, where her colleagues include six conservatives and two other liberals, making it unlikely her views will prevail in some of the terms most contentious cases when they are announced over the next several weeks. Season after season, the players who tend to do really well are those who appear to come in with the understanding that this game is about existing both in community and conflict, she said of "Survivor." Jackson said that players who go far are the ones that choose optimism, lifting the spirits of the other tribe members, no matter what happens. They try to stay as even-keeled as possible, not getting too carried away by dramatic wins or heartbreaking losses, she said. Jacksons commencement address was the first she has given since becoming a justice. The schools law school dean, Roger Fairfax, is someone she met in college at Harvard University. His wife, Lisa Fairfax, is one of Jacksons best friends and former roommates and introduced her at her Senate confirmation hearing. Jackson is also giving a commencement speech on Sunday at Boston Universitys law school. HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fight for the city of Bakhmut is continuing, the Ukrainian military's general staff said in a statement on Sunday evening. Oleksandr Syrskyi, a spokesman for the military's eastern command, said Ukrainian forces control the outskirts of the city, and defense forces continue offensive actions on the flanks near Bakhmut. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. ___ Elise Morton reported from London, and Susie Blann from Kyiv, Ukraine. Elaine Kurtenbach and Adam Schreck contributed to this report from Hiroshima. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Advocates encourage adoptions to celebrate National Rescue Dog Day KMGH The Devil Bird Lands in New York, With More Likely to Come NYT Climate The recent progress in climate attribution science makes it evident that [the companies that engage in the exploration, production, refining, and distribution of oil, gas, and coal] have played a major role in the accumulation and escalation of [the costs of climate harm] by providing gigatonnes of carbon fuels to the global economy while willfully ignoring foreseeable climate harm. All the while they successfully shaped the public narrative on climate change through disinformation, misleading advertorials, lobbying, and political donations to delay action directly or through trade associations and other surrogates. Fossil fuel companies have a moral responsibility to affected parties for climate harm and have a duty to rectify such harm. Water #COVID19 Omicron Spike confers enhanced infectivity and interferon resistance to SARS-CoV-2 in human nasal tissue (preprint) bioRxiv. From the Abstract: This entry pathway unlocked by Omicron Spike enables evasion of interferon-induced factors that restrict SARS-CoV-2 entry following attachment. Therefore, the increased transmissibility exhibited by Omicron in humans may be attributed not only to its evasion of vaccine-elicited adaptive immunity, but also to its superior invasion of nasal epithelia and resistance to the cell-intrinsic barriers present therein. So, while we wait for Godot nasal vaccines, work the sprays. Major Update: Masks for Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 in Health Care and Community SettingsFinal Update of a Living, Rapid Review Annals of Internal Medicine. A metastudy. Since weve decided to hand an engineering problem over to evidence-based medicine, so-called, I imagine its only a matter of time before industrial masking becomes a target of anti-mask fervor (funded, naturally, by firm owners). A Methodological Framework for Assessing the Benefit of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination following Previous Infection: Case Study of Five- to Eleven-Year-Olds Vaccines. Model. From the Abstract: We show that the most important drivers of benefit are: the degree of protection provided by previous infection; the protection provided by vaccination; the time since previous infection; and future attack rates. Vaccination can be very beneficial for previously infected children if future attack rates are high and several months have elapsed since the previous major wave in this group. Benefits are generally larger for Long Covid than hospitalisation, because Long Covid is both more common than hospitalisation and previous infection offers less protection against it. (Natural News) Almost every single Republican governor of the United States has pledged to support Texas in securing its border with Mexico. This pledge was made in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts appeal for assistance following the expiration of Title 42, which allowed for the quick expulsion of non-citizens who entered the U.S. illegally during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic due to the possibility of illegals spreading the virus. (Related: Illegal immigrants in El Paso bringing DISEASES like scabies, measles, bed bugs and COVID-19 with them.) With the end of Title 42, an estimated 150,000 people from all over the world are now converging in Mexico and waiting for their turn to illegally enter the U.S. Over seven million illegals had already been apprehended or reported evading capture by law enforcement since President Joe Biden entered office. Abbott urged the nations 49 other governors to step in to help his administration amid what he described as the complete absence of the federal government. We, as governors, must band together to combat President Bidens ongoing border crisis and ensure the safety and security that all Americans deserve, he wrote in his appeal to the other governors. Join us in the mission to defend our national sovereignty and territorial integrity and send all available law enforcement personnel and resources to the Texas-Mexico border to serve alongside our thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers. Phil Scott of Vermont only GOP governor to not sign up to the pledge of support Twenty-four of the countrys 25 Republican governors (excluding Abbott) answered the call. These are the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. The only Republican governor to not sign up to the pledge to support Texas border is Gov. Phil Scott, the self-described liberal Republican governor of the extremely left-wing state of Vermont. Not a single Democratic governor has responded to Abbotts appeal for aid. The Democratic governors of the three other states that share a border with Mexico Arizona, California and New Mexico have not made similar requests as Abbotts for aid in their borders. The federal governments response handling the expiration of Title 42 has represented a complete failure of the Biden Administration, wrote the 24 governors in a joint statement. While the federal government has abdicated its duties, Republican governors stand ready to protect the U.S.-Mexico border and keep families safe. Several of the governors have already followed through on their pledges. Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi has dispatched troops from the Mississippi National Guard to Texas to help combat cross-border drug and human trafficking. Every state has become a border state, and every day were seeing the terrible impact of this humanitarian and national security crisis, said Reeves. What happens at the border doesnt stay there. Drugs and people are trafficked to every state in the nation including Mississippi. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said he was deploying available Florida law enforcement and National Guard personnel to the border. The impacts of Bidens border crisis are felt by communities across the nation, and the federal governments abdication of duty undermines the sovereignty of our country and the rule of law, said DeSantis. While Biden ignores the crisis he created, Florida stands ready to help Texas respond to this crisis. Learn more about the current state of the southern border at InvasionUSA.news. Watch this clip from Common Ground on Fox News as host Bret Baier interviews Democratic and Republican border mayors about their lack of resources to support illegals. This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Five illegal migrants on FBIs terrorist watchlist ARRESTED shortly after Title 42 expired. Counterterrorism analyst urges border states to shut down ILLEGAL ALIEN INVASION facilitated by the federal government. DELUSIONAL: Biden gloats post-Title 42 border looks much better than expected despite record-high crossings. PLANNED OCCUPATION: Biden regime ensuring that illegal migrants released into American interior will never come back for asylum hearing. OPEN SESAME: Biden administration opens border to millions of ILLEGALS by lifting Title 42. Sources include: ThePostMillennial.com TheCenterSquare.com NTD.com TheAtlantic.com Brighteon.com New York and Texas bonded by devastation and grief from mass shootings 10 days apart in May 2022 had vastly different legislative responses to the horrific killings at a Buffalo supermarket and a Uvalde elementary school. New York lawmakers adopted several new laws aimed at strengthening gun safety and limiting violent extremists, within weeks of an 18-year-olds racist attack with a modified assault-style rifle that killed 10 people and wounded three others at a Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue. In their grief, families of the May 14 victims ponder painful questions and look for answers Some of those families are now finding ways to try to answer those questions, to uplift their community and to honor their lost loved ones. Another 18-year-old gunman used a similar weapon to kill 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde just 10 days after the rampage in Buffalo. Nearly a year later, legislators in Texas have yet to approve a gun control measure being pushed by survivors of the school shooting and families of the victims. And when the Texas state Legislature ends its 2023 session later this month, it is almost certain that a bill to raise the age from 18 to 21 to legally purchase certain semi-automatic rifles still wont have passed. Its a small carve out. Its a moderate measure, said Nicole Golden, executive director of Texas Gun Sense. This is really not a contentious bill, but the work inside the capitol building to advance something like this has been arduous, and we were only able to get it so far. Though linked by the mass killings, New York and Texas are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to gun control policy. Texas had four horrific mass shootings in the five years prior to Uvalde, at a church in Sutherland Springs in 2017, a high school in Santa Fe in 2018, a Walmart in El Paso in 2019 and multiple locations in Midland-Odessa, less than a month after the El Paso killings. State lawmakers there have been loath to put new restrictions on firearms, although on Wednesday legislators agreed on a measure that would require involuntary mental health hospitalizations of Texas juveniles to be included in federal gun background checks. In recent years, they loosened some regulations, including 2021 legislation that allowed gun owners to carry a concealed firearm without a permit or training. The state is 32nd for gun law strength in an annual ranking of states by Everytown For Gun Safety, and received an F on a 2023 gun scorecard from Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Both organizations are nonprofits that advocate for laws to reduce gun violence. By contrast, New York is now second among all states in Everytowns gun law strength ranking, and received an A- in the Giffords scorecard. They survived the shooting on May 14. But they know they will never be the same While they're thankful to be alive, those that survived want people to understand that their lives were forever changed by what they witnessed that day. The state adopted new restrictions within weeks of the Buffalo killings and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that shot down elements of the New Yorks longstanding concealed carry laws. New York now requires purchasers of semi-automatic rifles to be at least 21 years old and to obtain a permit. It also prohibits handguns in sensitive locations, such as schools, bars, parks and government buildings, and it spelled out new requirements for obtaining a concealed carry permit. The laws took effect Sept. 1. Many of New Yorks new restrictions are being challenged in federal court, where gun rights advocates argue that they violate the Second Amendment and deny law-abiding gun owners the right to defend themselves. Mass shootings often evoke policy responses, at least at the state level, according to Chris Poliquin, an assistant professor in the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Poliquin and fellow researchers at Harvard Business School examined all mass shootings and gun legislation from 1989 to 2014 and found that an additional 2.4 firearm bills, on average, were introduced in a state in the year after it experienced a mass shooting. It is about a 15% increase. The deadliest shootings with extensive media coverage tended to get the highest levels of legislative response, the researchers found. Buffalo pauses exactly at one-year mark to remember 5/14 massacre Exactly a year to the moment when a white man who drove more than 200 miles to Buffalo with the sole purpose of killing as many Black people as he could carried out a deadly rampage at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue, Buffalo paused to remember. Laws adopted in the wake of mass shootings dont necessarily tighten restrictions on guns, however. That depends primarily on the political party in power in the state where the mass shooting happened, according to researchers. In states with Republican-controlled legislatures, the annual number of laws that loosen gun restrictions doubles in the year after a mass shooting. It is something that Golden said she has seen happen in Texas, where more than 4,000 people are killed from guns each year. Stronger gun laws do work to save lives, and in Texas there is a connection in the loosening of our gun laws over the years and an increase in gun violence, both in terms of major mass shootings that we hear about in the national news, but also everyday gun violence and just the total numbers, she said. I think the evidence is there that our laws are a risk to our public safety and are not addressing this crisis, but doing quite the opposite. But research sometimes isnt clear on what impact specific gun policies have on gun violence, especially when it comes to mass shootings. 'Mother's Day will never be the same again': Victims' family members speak of maternal bonds on eve of May 14 anniversary A cruel reality of the one-year remembrance of the worst mass shooting in Buffalo's history, a day when several mothers were lost and many others were affected, is that it lands on Mother's Day. One of the reasons there isnt great academic research on this is just, as horrific as these events are, theres not so many of them that theyre very amenable to large-scale quantitative analysis, said Poliquin, who with Michael Luca and Deepak Malhotra published The Impact of Mass Shootings on Gun Policy in 2020 in the Journal of Public Economics. It can be really hard to make heads or tails about what the association is between particular policies and these events. Among the arguments for loosening gun restrictions is the notion that a law-abiding and legally carrying gun owner may be able to thwart a mass shooter. While there are instances of that happening, they are rare and not statistically relevant, according to researchers. Yet, over the past 40 years, states have become much more permissive in allowing gun owners to carry concealed firearms in public. In 1980, 45 states either had banned concealed carry altogether or had "may issue" laws giving law enforcement discretion in issuing concealed carry permits, according to the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins University. Today, no states have bans and 27 states allow concealed carry without a permit, including Texas and Florida, the second and third most populous states in the nation. Research into the effects of the relaxation of concealed carry laws on mass shootings so far has been inconclusive, according to the Rand Corp., a non-partisan think tank that reviewed several studies. The only area where Rand researchers found evidence of a specific gun policy impact on mass shootings was for bans on high-capacity magazines. Rands analysis of two studies of state-level high-capacity magazine bans found limited evidence that such bans reduce mass shootings. Mayor Byron Brown on May 14: 'They were innocent people just grocery shopping' As the one-year mark of the massacre approached, Brown spoke with The Buffalo News about his experience on that day, about the pain he witnessed and the resilience the city showed. But researchers in Rands Gun Policy in America program also pointed out that lack of evidence doesnt mean a certain policy is ineffective. Rands recently developed statistical model shows that states with permissive firearm laws could substantially reduce homicides and suicides by implementing a heavily restrictive combination of gun laws. States with restrictive laws would see substantially more gun deaths by enacting permissive laws, according to the same Rand model. A 2019 study in The BMJ, a medical journal, also found that states with more permissive gun laws and greater gun ownership had higher rates of mass shootings. The study examined FBI uniform crime reporting data from 1988 to 2015. The Texas legislatures community safety committee voted 8-5 earlier this month to pass HB 2744, the Raise the Age bill that would require purchasers of most semi-automatic rifles to be at least 18 years old. But the bill didnt meet a deadline to be included on the calendar for a full vote of the legislature by the end of its session on May 29. The next legislative session in Texas isnt until 2025. And yet, considering the states political landscape on guns, Golden said even getting the bill to a committee vote was a significant accomplishment. She said the most recent mass shooting in Texas at an outlet mall in Allen where a gunman opened fire on May 6, killing eight people and wounding at least seven others motivated people to rally even harder for passage of the Raise the Age measure. Just to bring it that far was monumental, Golden said. I want everyone who was part of that effort to take away a victory. And now we know what we have to keep doing. (Natural News) Banking and other records made public Wednesday by House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) depict a complex money laundering scheme involving millions of dollars, many from foreign countries, given to President Joe Biden and nearly a dozen members of his family. (Article republished from YourNews.com) In a memorandum summarizing findings to date of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, chaired by Comer (R-Ky.), investigators described examining thousands of bank records and legal documents depicting nearly two dozen Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) established by Biden family members to receive payments from private clients, corporations and foreign governments, including China and Romania. Biden family members and business associates created a web of over 20 companiesmost were limited liability companies formed during Joe Bidens vice presidency, the memorandum said. Bank records show the Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $10 million from foreign nationals companies. The Committee has identified payments to Biden family members from foreign companies while Joe Biden served as Vice President and after he left public office. NEW House Oversight reveals the nine Biden family members that received wire transfers from foreign nationals via shell companies. 1. Hunter Biden 2. James Biden 3. Sara Biden 4. Hallie Biden 5. Kathleen Biden 6. Melissa Biden 7. Niece/nephew 8. Niece/nephew 9. Grandchild pic.twitter.com/tEer3O1e4E KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) May 10, 2023 The memorandum continued, explaining that 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 Biden family 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. The Kentucky Republican told journalists in a May 10 news conference that stacks of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) his committee obtained from the Department of Treasury and information received from whistleblowers leave little doubt that the schemes only product was selling access to the senior Biden during his vice-presidential tenure and thereafter. Hunter Biden attends a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony honoring 17 recipients, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on July 7, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) Comers comments follow more than five years of steadily increasing media reports, first sparked in 2015 when it was learned that Hunter Biden, the presidents son, was appointed to the board of directors of Burisma, a controversial Ukrainian energy firm, and was paid more than $50,000 a month despite having no experience in the field. Then Vice-President Biden had a major role in determining American energy policy at the time. With Europe moving rapidly to lessen its long-standing dependence on Russian natural gas, Burisma was in a position in which American influence could be decisive. But Burisma was only part of the collection of LLCs revealed by the SARs which make clear that Hunter and Jim Biden, the presidents brother, have been linked to multiple foreign governments, government officials, celebrities, and state-controlled corporations in China, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, and elsewhere. The committee has uncovered evidence indicative of influence peddling and financial deception warranting further investigation and legislative solutions, the memorandum said. The memorandum also highlighted multiple past statements by President Biden in which he has firmly denied having knowledge of his sons business activities or assisting them through his public offices in any manner. Soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Armys Honour Guard Battalion march outside the Forbidden City, near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on May 20, 2020. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China. I have not hadThe only guy who made money from China is this guy [Donald Trump]. Hes the only one. Nobody else has made money from China, was how Biden put it in a statement quoted by the memorandum. The bank records refute President Bidens statement. To date, President Biden has continued to deny that his family received money from Chinadespite bank records proving otherwise. In 2017 alone, bank records show President Bidens family and their related companies received millions of dollars from Chinese foreign nationals companies. This amount does not include payments from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Romania, Oman, or other foreign business deals the Committee is investigating, the memorandum said. The White House issued a statement in response to Comer even before his news conference began, with Ian Sams claiming the event was nothing more than a continuation of his long pattern of making absurd claims that President Biden has made governing decisions not in the interest of America, but of the Chinese Communist Party, using baseless claims, personal attacks, and innuendo to try to score political points. Sams is Special Assistant to the President and the designated White House spokesperson on the Hunter Biden and related corruption investigations. PREVIOUS: Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer said Wednesday on Fox & Friends that bank records dont lie as he teased a bombshell drop on the Biden family scandal. Comer, who is the House Oversight Committee chairman, is holding a presser to cover the Biden familys alleged criminal scheme involvement. Comer told Fox & Friends that financial records show the Biden family made more than $1 million in business dealings and will present details about alleged wire transfers that occurred. White House spokesperson Ian Sams slammed Comer in a statement, saying Comer is loudly and proudly broadcasting a press conference today to continue his long pattern of making absurd claims that President Biden has made governing decisions not in the interest of America, but of the Chinese Communist Party, using baseless claims, personal attacks, and innuendo to try to score political points. Comer responded Wednesday. (RELATED: Rep. Comer Suspects At Least 12 Biden Family Members Were Involved With Foreign Business Dealings) What a joke, I mean, first of all, they are calling a press conference a political stunt? I remember when our political leaders used to have press conferences, and used to answer questions from the media. And I remember when the media used to want to ask substantive questions to our leaders. So, having a press conference, disclosing the facts is not a political stunt. And, secondly, bank records dont lie. And thats what we are going to present to the American people today, bank records, he continued. Read more at: YourNews.com (Natural News) The latest United States Senate report on the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) origins reveals the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had a serious biocontainment incident in 2019, was short of staff and tainted by safety concerns. The 329-page report on two years of work also said the first COVID death in China was in September 2019, two months earlier than first believed, and that Beijing attempted to keep the epidemic from the rest of the world. The discoveries contained more incidental evidence the virus leaked from the lab, however, it didnt hold a smoking gun. A careful reading of reports from the WIV spanning more than a three-year period yielded a picture of a struggling institution: underfunded, underregulated, and understaffed, the report, headed by Senate Intel ranking member Marco Rubio, read. The report admits that it does not contain any one smoking gun which matters most when checking the origin question. Wuhan lab official warned of shortcomings and foundational problems of lab complex The report goes back to July 2019 when a WIV official warned of the current shortcomings and foundational problems in the construction, operation, and maintenance of the lab complex and instructed staff to prioritize solving the urgent problems we are facing. As stated in the report, the Wuhan lab closed its online virus database in the middle of the night on September 19, 2019. (Related: Smoking gun: Workers at Wuhan lab got sick right around time covid escaped.) Six days later the WIV informed the Wuhan airport of a drill in case of the outbreak of a novel coronavirus. The report also said days after that a Wuhan citizen named Su died from what a Chinese biostatistician thinks to be COVID-19. By October, the Chinese legislature was examining a draft biosecurity law, mentioning currently the biosecurity situation in our country is grim and recorded laboratories that leak biological agents as a threat. By November 2019 the Chinese government was concealing numerous documented cases of COVID-19. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials issued a report warning that said, Once you have opened the stores test tubes, it is just as if having opened Pandoras Box. These viruses come without a shadow and leave without a trace. The report also said a CCP official traveled that month from Beijing to Wuhan with critical instructions from Chinese President Xi Jinping on the complex and grave situation currently facing safety work. The CCP did not warn the World Health Organization (WHO) of the onset of a virus of unknown etiology until January 2020. By February 2020, China had started a campaign to strengthen biosafety at the WIV and other labs throughout the country. Just as Beijing was denying the possibility that COVID-19 came from a lab on the world stage, it was warning its own officials of such risks and rolling out new measures to prevent lab accidents, the report stated. Chinese scientists registered a patent for a COVID-19 vaccine by Feb. 24, 2020, and the report said the research methodology indicates they began work on the vaccine no later than November 2019. In a February speech to the Chinese Politburo, Xi threw a connection between the political security of the party-state, public health, and better regulation of biosafety and biosecurity. The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, meanwhile, gave additional regulations to deal with a long-lasting mechanism to prevent and control biosafety risks. If the central authorities believed that the initial human infection of SARS-CoV-2 likely occurred at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, it is unclear why they took the time to address biosafety conditions precisely when the COVID-19 outbreak was at its most acute stage in China and they were urgently mobilizing an all-hands-on-deck response, the report added. Chinese officials have asserted the lab leak theory is a lie and refused to give access to international efforts to discover the origin of a virus that has killed seven million worldwide. The report appears to follow the tone of other intelligence conclusions, which is holding possible, but not provable proof the lab leak theory once considered a conspiracy theory by many, is real. The Department of Energy, which oversees biological research labs in America, concluded with low confidence in February this year that the virus most probably originated from a lab in Wuhan. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also came to the same conclusion but with moderate confidence. Several scientists and government officials supported the wet market theory, however, discussion on the issue was mostly shut down by media corporations. Social media companies like Facebook, energized by the media agreement driving the wet market origin theory, started bringing down posts that said COVID-19 was man-made. Follow Pandemic.news for more news about COVID-19. Watch the video below to learn why the Senate report confirms a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This video is from the Wellness Forum Health channel on Brighteon.com. More related articles: Republicans demand accountability after Fauci exposed for commissioning paper debunking covid lab leak theory. Lab leak cover-up? WHO coronavirus origin investigator thanked Fauci for dismissing lab leak theory. Covid is over, and in its wake are six million avoidable deaths, 36 million vaccine deaths, and $1.8 trillion down the drain for useless masks and tests. Official documents reveal scientists sent dangerous viral DNA samples to Wuhan lab before the pandemic. Australian national broadcaster embraces covid lab-leak theory as Biden administration takes closer look at the possibility. Sources include: Daily Mail.UK Washington Examiner.com (Natural News) Ever since the rise of covid, the Wuhan coronavirus, back in late 2019, three names have dominated independent media headlines: George Soros, Klaus Schwab, and Bill Gates. Why are these three always in the room whenever evil is present? And why do they hold incredible power and sway over world events? In a nutshell, these three globalist kingpins are all globalists, all wealthy, and all have been working throughout their lives to take over the world and plunge us all into a dystopian hell. In many ways, these three members of the unholy trinity have already created the dystopia they desire. The final touches are still in the works, but generally speaking, these three controversial figures have already achieved their goal of initiating a Great Reset, followed by their own vision of a New World Order. While Soros, Schwab, and Gates all come from very different backgrounds, their approach to life is much the same. They are all involved in philanthropic endeavors and collaborations, often with one another; they all exert global influence through their involvement in various international organizations, think tanks and advocacy groups; and they all have a shared interest in global challenges like climate change, health care, and inequality. (Related: Gates is responsible for the luciferase chemical used in the billionaire eugenicists vaccine microchip implants.) Its all about subduing the masses and propping up the globalists Soros, a Hungarian-born billionaire investor and philanthropist, gained most of his power and influence through money and specifically as a hedge fund manager. He wields influence across the world, particularly with liberal causes that oppose populism, nationalism, and other perceived threats to his open society vision for the world. Soros support for alleged liberal causes and his efforts to shape political landscapes have earned him enemies among conservative circles, reports explain. His financial activities and speculative trades have contributed to economic instability and currency devaluations. Because of this, several accusations of market manipulation and attempts to influence political outcomes have been levied against him. Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has played a key role in shaping global economic and social policies. He is the one who coined the term Great Reset, which really amped up with the conveniently timed emergence of covid, which was a vehicle to bring Schwabs vision into reality. Advocates for The Great Reset argue that it presents an opportunity to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable world, reports indicate. Critics, on the other hand, perceive it as a top-down approach that consolidates power and control in the hands of an unelected elite. And they rightly raise concerns about the potential erosion of individual freedoms and the impact on national sovereignty. Then there is Gates, a Microsoft cofounder-turned-vaccine apologist whose involvement in pushing vaccines and other pharmaceuticals on global populations, particularly in the Third World, has helped bring about the visions of the other two. In many ways, Gates goals are the same as the goals of Soros and Schwab, who want to transform the entire world into a dystopian nightmare for the masses, and a utopian paradise for themselves. His foundation has played a pivotal role in funding and supporting initiatives such as vaccine development and delivery, disease eradication campaigns, and improving healthcare infrastructure in low-income countries, reports explain about Gates. However, the immense influence that Gates wields over global health policies and initiatives is hugely concerning considering he is neither a doctor nor a scientist. Together, this unholy trinity is reshaping the world in its own image, demonstrating the danger of allowing a small few to own and control the large many through unfettered power, seemingly unlimited wealth, and a penchant for conscienceless acts of evil to achieve their globalist goals. The latest news about this subject can be found at Globalism.news. Sources for this article include: Expose-News.com NaturalNews.com The new study predicted that the usable area of Hawaii's Hanauma Bay could likely become submerged by 2023 due to sea-level rise. Reports showed that Hawaii's Hanauma Bay showed beautiful views of Nature and outdoor activities. It is a popular tourist spot that offers a marine ecosystem. According to the Hanauma Bay State Park, the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve became a protected marine conservation area in 1967. It is located on Hawaii's Southeastern side. The article added that the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve has millions of visitors, making it the best beach in 2016. Hanauma Bay Usable Area Likle to Become Submerge The latest article published on Phys.org's website showed that a five-year study explained the potential sea-level rise impact on the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve (HBNP). The report said that 88% usable area of the said Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve could likely become submerged due to the sea-level rise. Based on NASA's sea-level rise, the report explained that global warming played a vital role in the rapid sea-level rise. The report said that sea-level rise can be due to the melting of ice sheets and water expansion when it warms, noting that the additional water could result in the sea-level rise. Researchers from the researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) conducted the study. Based on the report, the researchers observed the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, noting the impact of visitors and sustainable tourism. Furthermore, the report added that model predictions showed the rising sea level in the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve could impact the area's usable area. About 88% of the usable area could be affected based on the predictions of the lowest sea-level rise and highest tide. Meanwhile, the report noted that the pandemic, which resulted in the closure of the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, helped with the water clarity in the preserve area. The report noted that the water clarity became 56% clearer compared to when there was no pandemic at that time. Furthermore, the researchers said that they studied the water clarity, diversity of fish and fluctuations in the HBNP during the closure due to the pandemic. According to the report published in Phys.org, HIMB researcher Kuulei Rodgers explained that the model predictions showed the impact of the sea-level rise on Hanauma Bay's usable area. Rodgers explained that the model predictions could help the management design solutions and recommendations. Lockdown and research Recently, a study published in Nature, 'The COVID-19 Pandemic as a pivot point for biological conservation,' explained that the COVID-19 lockdown helped researchers understand and draw insights into the human impact on the environment and nature. The research highlighted the importance of local expert support and research for conservation and sustainable agendas or policies. Conservation efforts are crucial to saving nature and affected areas from decline, which could also affect humans and wildlife. Related Article: Advanced SWOT Sattelite To Help Communities Prepare for Water-Related Disasters For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News. Florida professor Joseph Dituri broke the world record for the longest time living underwater, with almost three months inside a secured bunker-like shelter or laboratory in a lagoon off Key Largo, Florida. The feat is being conducted "in the name of science" by living with marine animals and ecosystems, as well as testing the capability of the human body in terms of sleep or to withstand underwater pressure. Research shows that pressure increases in the deeper parts of the ocean and such force could make a person struggle to breathe as it can damage the lungs and rib cage. This is because as one diverts away from the Earth's surface, the weight above them also increases, which can lessen the space available for air and compresses it inside the lungs. Florida Professor Living Underwater Dituri has been living 30 feet underwater for 80 days as of Friday, May 19, surpassing the previous record of 73 days conducted by two Tennessee-based educators back in 2014, the National Public Radio (NPR) reported. In 2014, the Tennessee professors Bruce Cantrell and Jessica Fain also lived underwater on the same location. However, Dituri was not only settling to beat the previous record, since he plans to stay until June 9 this year, where he will reach 100 days as part of an underwater mission called Project Neptune 100, The Guardian reported. The aquanaut wrote on Instagram that his curiosity for discovery led him to undertake the challenging task, with a goal of inspiring the next generations to come and scientists who study undersea life, as well as test human body functions in extreme environments. Also Read: 'Jacuzzi of Despair': Underwater Death Lake Discovered at the Bottom of Gulf of Mexico Testing the Human Body During a CNN interview, Dituri, which calls himself Dr. Deep Sea, said that the experiment also serves as a test case for the upcoming missions to Mars. In particular, the confinement of a human in a sealed environment is being test if whether it can be withstood by humans for a prolonged period. Inside the underwater water, the Florida scientist said he is at a pressure of 25,000 square inch but did not mention any signs of any health complications. In fact, the scientist told CNN that he had a better sleep in the current marine environment, which he acknowledged of having an abundance of oxygen. Important of the Experiment While the experiment mainly addresses unanswered questions regarding humans and underwater pressure, it also highlights why marine life and ecosystems thrive in extreme undersea environments, where pressure can be off the charts. In March 2012, the extreme end of the human body when it comes to underwater pressure was tested by Hollywood film-maker James Cameron when he ventured into the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean at a depth of approximately 11,000 meters (36,000 feet). In the trench, Cameron and his expedition team also saw weird sea creatures even in areas of the ocean where sunlight cannot reach. Related Article: Who is Luca? Meet Our Oldest Ancestor that Lived in Underwater Volcanoes Fire ants are known for being aggressive and having a painful sting. Originating in South America, the ferocious insects in previous years have reached other parts of the globe, including the United States. Now, the notorious invasive species have spread to Israel, and experts there are fighting their rapid spread and infestation. They are disruptive for humans and local ecosystems. Amid the threat, Israeli authorities have joined forces to stop or mitigate the growing fire ant population in the Middle East nation, where the ants have been reported to be a nuisance in public areas and the workplace, as well as in other establishments. For this reason, a nationwide anti-fire ant invasion initiative has been launched by the authorities. Israel Fire Ant Invasion Tel Aviv University (TAU) has been involved in a fire ant project at its Steinhardt Museum of Natural History entomology laboratory for several years. The institution's researchers have partnered with Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry and the Nature and Parks Authority on anti-fire ant efforts, TAU entomologist Dr. Gilad Ben-Zvi told The Jerusalem Post. One of the measures is to exterminate or dissolve granular bait pesticides. The baits will then be spread so ants can take them to their nests and reduce the ant queen's reproduction rate. Also Read: Invasive Fire Ants Moved to a New "Wetter" Environment After Old Hills Damaged by Wildfire What are Fire Ants? Fire ants (Solenopsis) consist of over 200 species. Yet, their common trait has always been being aggressive when disturbed and their ability to sting multiple times, injecting a venom that results in a burning sensation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For humans, a fire ant bite or sting results in itching, swelling, chest pain, nausea, or difficulty in breathing, according to the Oregon State University. Aside from the outdoors, fire ants are also known for infesting electrical equipment, even inside electronic gadgets. Invasive Species Fire ants can overwhelm local wildlife, especially other insects, small mammals, and even other ant species. For years, scientists have been aware of both the benefits and disadvantages of invasive ant species, with the latter being more dominant. The U.S. government has acknowledged that fire ants can decimate a whole population of other species. For instance, the American Bird Conservancy stated the ants can have a devastating impact on ground-nesting animals, such as birds, in rural habitats. In North America, the red fire ant, also known as the red imported fire ant (RIFA), was accidentally introduced from South America into Mobile, Alabama, during the late 1930s, according to the conservancy, which said it was possible through cargo ships containing soil. Along with the black fire ant, the red fire ants spread quickly and even replaced two native fire ant species, as well as displacing the black ones. In the U.S., fire ant infestations have been reported in California, Kansas, and Maryland, according to the non-profit organization. Related Article: Indian Village Declares War on Fire Ants After Invading Houses, Roads, and Trees The only albino giant anteater in the world, Alvin, turns one and outgrows his GPS vest. Alvin: The Only Albino Giant Anteater in the World The anteater was first spotted in December 2022 on a ranch in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state by researchers from the Anteaters and Highways Project (AHP), a multi-year investigation of anteater-vehicle incidents put up by the Wild Animal Conservation Institute (ICAS) of Brazil. They gave the unusual creature the name Alvin. Alvin was observed clinging to his mother's back, as is characteristic of all young giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) under the age of ten months. AHP representatives stated in a statement provided to Live Science that the crew captured the snowy juvenile and equipped him with a GPS vest to follow his future activities. On May 10, AHP updated Alvin's Facebook profile with fresh photos. AHP representatives posted on Facebook that the white anteater is currently 4.9 feet long and weighs 31 pounds, which indicates he is over a year old and close to maturity. After outgrowing his original GPS vest, Alvin was also given a new one. Albinism Animals with albinism, a genetic disorder, are unable to produce melanin, the pigment that gives their skin, fur, feathers, scales, and eyes their color. As a result, albinos have pink eyes and are entirely white in appearance. Due to their extremely sensitive eyes and skin to light, those with albinism may experience vision problems and are more likely to get sunburns. Due to the recessive nature of albinism, both parents must possess a copy of the gene. Because of their discoloration, most albino animals face a higher danger of predation because they stand out more from their surroundings. And it appears that this is also true with giant anteaters. The first juvenile male albino giant anteater body ever discovered was discovered in the same location as Alvin in August 2021 by AHP researchers. Predation marks were visible on the body. The team will be able to determine whether the animals are connected by comparing the first albino's DNA with Alvin's DNA, she added in a report she, and several colleagues, published through Theriogenology Wild. Also Read: Rare Albino Racoon Spotted in Cleveland Metroparks is 1-in-20,000 Inbreeding If Alvin and the dead albino are not blood relatives, this may indicate that inbreeding has reduced the gene pool of the species, which explains why this rare trait has begun to manifest, according to the AHP representatives' letter. The inbreeding, according to the experts, is most likely brought about by human deforestation, which has destroyed the animals' natural habitat. On the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), giant anteaters are now classified as Vulnerable. The team worries that even if Alvin avoids other predators, too much sun exposure could harm him. Anteaters try to stay in the shade during the warmest parts of the day because the land-dwelling creatures are not well-adapted to withstand intense heat. However, anteaters no longer have access to this essential shade due to deforestation, which Alvin's sensitive skin makes particularly problematic, Live Science reported. Related Article: Extremely Rare Albino Echidna Seen Roaming the Streets of Sydney Tropical systems, with the potential to become a storm or a hurricane, developed off the coast of the Southeast U.S. ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season, according to the latest U.S. weather forecast by AccuWeather meteorologists, who are eyeing the waters near the region, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean. Should the weather disturbances continue, rainfall and flooding events are possible in Florida and its adjacent states. Caribbean countries below the Sunshine State are also susceptible to the brewing systems. In the coming hours and days, these weather events could occur as early as the coming week. The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season will start on June 1 and span until November 30, as it does each year. During this period, the formation of tropical storms and hurricanes is frequent and strong in intensity. In recent years, devastating hurricanes have impacted the Southeast, even the South US, and other parts of the East Coast. Southeast US Tropical Systems Tropical systems have developed over the waters close to the southeastern coast of the U.S. as of Saturday, May 20, AccuWeather meteorologists reported. The pre-season tropical development has been occurring in recent years, according to the report. With this, AccuWeather meteorologists are closely monitoring the waters surrounding the Southeast U.S. until the last week of May and until early June for potential tropical activity. Also Read: Tropical Storm Nalgae Brought Heavy Rains to Philippines, Causing Flooding and Evacuations First Tropical Wave In relation to the AccuWeather forecast, The Palm Beach Post on Friday, May 19, said the National Hurricane Center (NHC) continues to monitor the current season's first "tropical wave" in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, adding the wave is now almost stationary and only moved a little overnight. The NHC also stated no tropical cyclone formations are anticipated in the next seven days. Going back early this year, the U.S. hurricane agency also monitored a short-lived subtropical storm during mid-January, wherein it has become the first pre-hurricane storm but did not affect any mainland, according to the Florida-based newspaper. 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its forecast for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which it described to be having above-average storms in terms of frequency. However, this year's upcoming season will seem to be lesser compared to the previous one, according to some experts. In April 2022, the Colorado State University (CSU) predicted that the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season will experience a "slightly below average" period with a total of only 13 named storms and hurricanes making landfall, Forbes reported. The CSU team estimated that among the six hurricanes, two will become major hurricanes. In previous hurricane seasons in the U.S., major hurricanes had downed trees, and power lines, and caused widespread destruction across the country. In late September 2022, a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane nicknamed "Hurricane Ian" became the deadliest hurricane to strike Florida after it killed at least 139 people and resulted in more than $100 billion worth of damage, according to reports. Related Article: Tropical Storm Agaton Makes Landfall in the Philippines, Continues to Wreak Havoc in Central and Southern Regions The gubernatorial tradition of touring the state after an approved budget lives on in New York. During a visit to a Long Island school, Gov. Kathy Hochul said an additional $150 million allocation in the 2023-24 budget will help cover 96% of eligible children with public preschool. "Let's start with the youngest ones, the prekindergartners," Hochul said in Elmont. "And I know that you have a full day preschool, universal pre-K. We've added more money, another $150 million to fully fund these programs. And right now, across the state, we have 96% of eligible preschoolers covered. I won't rest until it's 100%. But look how far we've come, from an ideal to have universal pre-K to really almost achieving it in its entirety." Some districts dont offer pre-K at all, and others have limited seats. We wondered about her claim that the budget will "cover" 96% of eligible preschoolers. Education advocates support expanding the states public pre-K program because of the benefits associated with early education. But even as Hochul claims the state is nearing 100% coverage, it would not be accurate to assume that every child, or nearly every child, can go to public preschool. The budget's additional $150 million brings total pre-K spending to more than $1.2 billion. In general, pre-K in New York State refers to children who turn 4 years old by Dec. 1, and it can be offered in full- or half-day formats. Few districts offer pre-K for 3-year-olds. Hochuls claim that the budget covers 96% of eligible preschoolers comes from the 157,000 slots for 4-year-olds that are funded, divided by the estimated 163,000 slots that are needed in the state, said Jason Gough, Hochuls deputy communications director. But the number of necessary slots is not equal to the number of 4-year-olds. Using a formula set in education law, the state determines the number of necessary slots by calculating 85% of the kindergarten enrollment in public, charter and private schools. The total enrollment is roughly 192,000, and 85% of that is roughly 163,000. In the 2022-23 school year, roughly 137,000 full- and half-day prekindergarten slots were funded. The 2023-24 budget includes an additional $150 million to fund an additional 20,000 full-day slots, for a total of 157,000. "New York State provides prekindergarten funding for additional slots available," Gough said. "It is the school districts that determine whether to establish or expand their prekindergarten programs." Districts receive funding on a per-slot basis, and the state assumes that its funds will be supplemented with local funding. The amount of money the state provides for every student varies across the state, making it difficult for some districts to fund the program. Hochul is careful not to say that 96% of eligible children will go to public preschool. She said they are "covered" by state funding. The money is there for districts to serve preschoolers, but not every district has done that, for various reasons. State data from 2021-22 showed that 17% of districts did not have a program. Other programs had a range of eligible 4-year-olds participating, from 6% to 100%. Some districts dont have space or cant find a community partner to operate the program. Others cant afford the local share to expand or start a program. If every 4-year-old in the state was counted as "eligible," then the figure is much lower than 96%, said W. Steven Parnett, a professor at Rutgers University and senior co-director of its National Institute for Early Education Research. The Learning Policy Institute, an education think tank, found that in the 2020-21 school year, 46% of 4-year-olds in New York were in public pre-K. The states figure for the same year, however, was 61%. The state has recently dramatically increased the number of children in public prekindergarten, and about 70% of eligible children are in it now, said Marina Marcou-OMalley, policy and operations director of the Alliance for Quality Education, an advocate for universal pre-K. Regardless of the level of public funding, experts say, 100% participation wont happen because some parents want to send their children to private programs or prefer to keep them home until they attend kindergarten. Our ruling Hochul said 96% of eligible preschoolers will be covered by funding for public prekindergarten programs in the 2023-24 budget. If youre familiar with the way the state calculates how many 4-year-olds are considered eligible, and how public prekindergarten operates or doesnt, in some cases what Hochul said might make sense. If youre not, you might think that nearly every 4-year-old will be able to go to pre-K. It is accurate that the state budget has funding for 96% of eligible 4-year-olds to go to prekindergarten. While we cant predict how many 4-year-olds will be enrolled in September and even the state estimates the number with its 85% figure readers should know that school districts have other barriers to starting or expanding pre-K programs. The governor's statement is accurate, but it needs clarification or additional information, so we rate her claim Mostly True. By Online Desk A 22-year-old Infosys employee in Bengaluru died on Sunday after her car got trapped in the flooded KR Circle underpass in the city, according to media reports. The woman has been identified as Banurekha. The girl and her family of five were travelling in the car amid heavy downpour on Sunday and got trapped in neck-deep water at around 3:45 PM at KR Circle underpass, located near the Vidhana Soudha -- the seat of the state government. They were rescued by fire and emergency services personnel. The girl whose condition was critical was shifted to St Martha's Hospital where she died. Bhanurekha's family had come from Vijayawada to visit her and explore Bengaluru. Reports said that the driver of the car did not realise the depth of water stagnating in the underpass area and took the car to the middle of the underpass where it almost got submerged. A reporter associated with a private Kannada channel who heard the car passengers screaming for help at around 3:45 PM pm immediately alerted the police and sought help from people around. Onlookers then jumped into the flooded underpass and swam near the car and helped the passengers to get out of the car. They were made to stand on the roof of the car. Some women in the watching crowd removed their sarees and gave them to the people involved in the rescue to pull the stranded family out of the water. Ropes were given as well to help the family remain afloat. Among the initial rescuers was Mahesha P, a head constable with the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force. He swam into the water to help the stranded family. He told TNIE that the doors of the car were jammed and could not be opened. The cop said that Rekha was stuck inside the waterlogged car for a long time. They brought her out after destroying the vehicle's windshield. Fire personnel then entered the scene and jumped into action. Two of those stranded were dragged out by swimmers from the fire and emergency services personnel. The others of the family were helped to come out using a ladder. Doctors at St Marthas Hospital where all the six members of the family were taken said that Bhanurekha was frothing at the mouth when she was brought to the hospital. They claimed they began treatment for Bhanurekha immediately without any delay. They also alleged that she did not have any pulse when they started the treatment and thereby, they declared her dead. WATCH VIDEO #WATCH | Karnataka: Severe water-logging witnessed in an underpass in KR circle area in Bengaluru after heavy rain lashed the city. Earlier, several people stuck in the underpass were safely rescued and taken to the hospital. pic.twitter.com/FB7IEbssR6 ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 CM promises to investigate hospital authorities, declares ex-gratia Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah rushed to the hospital following the news. He announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment for those admitted in the hospital. "The family from Vijayawada hired a car to come see Bengaluru. Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have," Siddaramaiah told reporters, according to PTI. When reporters complained that doctors refused to treat Bhanurekha, the CM said he would probe the matter and initiate action. Meanwhile, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said that the underpass got flooded as the city had received more than 24 mm of rain in one hour. It was much more than the carrying capacity of the underpass, he added. Spate of rain-related accidents Heavy rains with thunder have been lashing the city this weekend. Malleswaram and Rajaji Nagar, as well as Srirampuram, and certain areas in Kengeri, Mysuru Road and several other low-lying areas have been flooded, PTI reported. An autorickshaw was trapped at KR Circle and a woman passenger climbed on top of the vehicle and was rescued later, PTI reported. Another waterlogged underpass near Majestic gave commuters severe trouble. (With inputs from Aknisree Karthik & PTI) A 22-year-old Infosys employee in Bengaluru died on Sunday after her car got trapped in the flooded KR Circle underpass in the city, according to media reports. The woman has been identified as Banurekha. The girl and her family of five were travelling in the car amid heavy downpour on Sunday and got trapped in neck-deep water at around 3:45 PM at KR Circle underpass, located near the Vidhana Soudha -- the seat of the state government. They were rescued by fire and emergency services personnel. The girl whose condition was critical was shifted to St Martha's Hospital where she died.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Bhanurekha's family had come from Vijayawada to visit her and explore Bengaluru. Reports said that the driver of the car did not realise the depth of water stagnating in the underpass area and took the car to the middle of the underpass where it almost got submerged. A reporter associated with a private Kannada channel who heard the car passengers screaming for help at around 3:45 PM pm immediately alerted the police and sought help from people around. Onlookers then jumped into the flooded underpass and swam near the car and helped the passengers to get out of the car. They were made to stand on the roof of the car. Some women in the watching crowd removed their sarees and gave them to the people involved in the rescue to pull the stranded family out of the water. Ropes were given as well to help the family remain afloat. Among the initial rescuers was Mahesha P, a head constable with the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force. He swam into the water to help the stranded family. He told TNIE that the doors of the car were jammed and could not be opened. The cop said that Rekha was stuck inside the waterlogged car for a long time. They brought her out after destroying the vehicle's windshield. Fire personnel then entered the scene and jumped into action. Two of those stranded were dragged out by swimmers from the fire and emergency services personnel. The others of the family were helped to come out using a ladder. Doctors at St Marthas Hospital where all the six members of the family were taken said that Bhanurekha was frothing at the mouth when she was brought to the hospital. They claimed they began treatment for Bhanurekha immediately without any delay. They also alleged that she did not have any pulse when they started the treatment and thereby, they declared her dead. WATCH VIDEO #WATCH | Karnataka: Severe water-logging witnessed in an underpass in KR circle area in Bengaluru after heavy rain lashed the city. Earlier, several people stuck in the underpass were safely rescued and taken to the hospital. pic.twitter.com/FB7IEbssR6 ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 CM promises to investigate hospital authorities, declares ex-gratia Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah rushed to the hospital following the news. He announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment for those admitted in the hospital. "The family from Vijayawada hired a car to come see Bengaluru. Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have," Siddaramaiah told reporters, according to PTI. When reporters complained that doctors refused to treat Bhanurekha, the CM said he would probe the matter and initiate action. Meanwhile, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said that the underpass got flooded as the city had received more than 24 mm of rain in one hour. It was much more than the carrying capacity of the underpass, he added. Spate of rain-related accidents Heavy rains with thunder have been lashing the city this weekend. Malleswaram and Rajaji Nagar, as well as Srirampuram, and certain areas in Kengeri, Mysuru Road and several other low-lying areas have been flooded, PTI reported. An autorickshaw was trapped at KR Circle and a woman passenger climbed on top of the vehicle and was rescued later, PTI reported. Another waterlogged underpass near Majestic gave commuters severe trouble. (With inputs from Aknisree Karthik & PTI) Manoj Viswanathan By Express News Service KOCHI: Adversities carry with it the seeds of success, and the life of Suni Lee, 51, a housewife at Palayamkunnu in Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, is a testament to that. In 2011, when the coconut farmers in Kerala were in crisis due to the non-availability of coconut tree climbers, the Coconut Development Board (CDB) launched a 6-day training for youngsters in coconut tree climbing. Suni Lee was the first woman in the state to attend the programme. In 2012, the CDB made her a master trainer in coconut tree climbing, and since then, she has trained more than 5,000 youngsters. Ten years on, she is the most popular trainer in the country. On September 2, 2022, the Coconut Development Board honoured Suni Lee with the national award for the best coconut tree climbing trainer. The life of Suni Lee is a struggle of demolishing taboos and turning challenges into opportunities. My husband Lee was born in Singapore and was employed as a driver at a chipping contracting company in Mumbai. In 2010, we arrived in our village on a vacation to attend the Ayilyam festival of Edava Palkavu temple. I wanted to offer a tender coconut for poojas and went around the village in search of a coconut tree climber. I was surprised as we couldnt find one. That was the moment I decided to learn coconut tree climbing, Suni told TNIE. During their stay in Mumbai, Lee had helped Suni to get a licence in heavy vehicle driving. The couple approached Elakamon Krishi Bhavan seeking help to get trained in coconut tree climbing, and the agriculture officer helped them to get in touch with the CDB. They joined the first batch of the coconut tree climbers training programme held at Karakulam Village learning centre, and Suni was the only woman in the 30-member batch. It was T K Jose, who was holding the post of CDB chairman at that time, who encouraged me to take it up as a profession and train youngsters, she said. After completing the training programme Suni and Lee used to climb coconut trees in the village. But people used to tease Suni, calling her Maram keri (tree-climbing woman).In 2012, the CDB invited Suni to lead a training session in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra and the appreciation she got changed her life. When we arrived at Ratnagiri railway station, they welcomed us with garlands. At the Coconut Research Station in Ratnagiri, scientists gave me a rousing welcome, and I was asked to give a demonstration. The coconut tree was around 80 feet high, and my legs were shaking in fear. I couldnt withdraw as there were many dignitaries. I gathered up the courage and climbed the tree amid applause. In the evening Maharashtra chief minister came to the venue, and I was made to demonstrate once again. They showered praises on me. There was no looking back since then, said Suni. During the past ten years, Suni has imparted training to coconut climbers in Jamaica, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and almost all coconut-growing states in India. Meanwhile, she became a successful farmer. She formed a Coconut Producers Society in her village with 150 members and started imparting training in coconut cultivation, production of value-added products from coconut and marketing. She has established an integrated farm for crop, livestock, poultry, duck and fish farming. Suni is now a complete farmer operating tractor, tiller and harvesting machine.It is a story of sweat and tears. I was not disheartened by defeat. When you have a strong will, no challenge can discourage you, no obstacle can upset, and no adversity can deter you. I would like to thank the CDB for igniting the fire in me, says Suni. KOCHI: Adversities carry with it the seeds of success, and the life of Suni Lee, 51, a housewife at Palayamkunnu in Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, is a testament to that. In 2011, when the coconut farmers in Kerala were in crisis due to the non-availability of coconut tree climbers, the Coconut Development Board (CDB) launched a 6-day training for youngsters in coconut tree climbing. Suni Lee was the first woman in the state to attend the programme. In 2012, the CDB made her a master trainer in coconut tree climbing, and since then, she has trained more than 5,000 youngsters. Ten years on, she is the most popular trainer in the country. On September 2, 2022, the Coconut Development Board honoured Suni Lee with the national award for the best coconut tree climbing trainer. The life of Suni Lee is a struggle of demolishing taboos and turning challenges into opportunities. My husband Lee was born in Singapore and was employed as a driver at a chipping contracting company in Mumbai. In 2010, we arrived in our village on a vacation to attend the Ayilyam festival of Edava Palkavu temple. I wanted to offer a tender coconut for poojas and went around the village in search of a coconut tree climber. I was surprised as we couldnt find one. That was the moment I decided to learn coconut tree climbing, Suni told TNIE.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); During their stay in Mumbai, Lee had helped Suni to get a licence in heavy vehicle driving. The couple approached Elakamon Krishi Bhavan seeking help to get trained in coconut tree climbing, and the agriculture officer helped them to get in touch with the CDB. They joined the first batch of the coconut tree climbers training programme held at Karakulam Village learning centre, and Suni was the only woman in the 30-member batch. It was T K Jose, who was holding the post of CDB chairman at that time, who encouraged me to take it up as a profession and train youngsters, she said. After completing the training programme Suni and Lee used to climb coconut trees in the village. But people used to tease Suni, calling her Maram keri (tree-climbing woman).In 2012, the CDB invited Suni to lead a training session in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra and the appreciation she got changed her life. When we arrived at Ratnagiri railway station, they welcomed us with garlands. At the Coconut Research Station in Ratnagiri, scientists gave me a rousing welcome, and I was asked to give a demonstration. The coconut tree was around 80 feet high, and my legs were shaking in fear. I couldnt withdraw as there were many dignitaries. I gathered up the courage and climbed the tree amid applause. In the evening Maharashtra chief minister came to the venue, and I was made to demonstrate once again. They showered praises on me. There was no looking back since then, said Suni. During the past ten years, Suni has imparted training to coconut climbers in Jamaica, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and almost all coconut-growing states in India. Meanwhile, she became a successful farmer. She formed a Coconut Producers Society in her village with 150 members and started imparting training in coconut cultivation, production of value-added products from coconut and marketing. She has established an integrated farm for crop, livestock, poultry, duck and fish farming. Suni is now a complete farmer operating tractor, tiller and harvesting machine.It is a story of sweat and tears. I was not disheartened by defeat. When you have a strong will, no challenge can discourage you, no obstacle can upset, and no adversity can deter you. I would like to thank the CDB for igniting the fire in me, says Suni. Ramashankar By Express News Service PATNA: Mehre Alam, one of the accused in the 2013 Gandhi Maidan blast case was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Bihar Police from Darbhanga after he was on the run for 10 years. Serial blasts had rocked the Gandhi Maidan on October 29, 2013, during the 'Hunkar Rally' of then BJP PM candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Acting on a tip-off, an STF team conducted a raid at Singhauli village under the jurisdiction of Ashok Paper Mill police station in Darbhanga district and took Mehre Alam into custody late on Saturday. He was evading arrest ever since he had escaped from the custody of the NIA on October 29, 2013, two days after the serial blasts. Station house officer (SHO) of AP Mill police station Shiv Kumar Yadav confirmed the arrest of Mehre from Singhauli village. We cooperated with the visiting police team, which left with Mehre for its destination after completing legal formalities at the police station, he told this reporter over phone. According to police sources, Mehre was a close associate of Monu, a resident of Samastipur district, who was convicted in the serial blast case along with eight others by an NIA court in Patna. He had come in contact with Monu while studying at Polytechnic College at Darbhanga. The serial blasts had left at least six persons dead and 82 others wounded. Mehre told the investigators that he had met Monu in a library at Darbhanga where the latter was a frequent visitor. The NIA had filed a chargesheet against 11 persons on August 21, 2014. In November 2021, the NIA court in Patna held nine persons guilty of the crime. Haider Ali, Noman Ansari, Md. Mojibullah Ansari and Imtiyaz Alam were awarded capital punishment. Azhar Qureshi and Azharuddin were among three others who were awarded life sentences while Ahmad Hussain and Firoz Alam received 10 years of imprisonment. One of them received a seven-year jail term. Meanwhile, Mehre's father Mahmood Alam refuted that his son was in hiding. He was made a witness in the case being probed by the NIA. He was not evading arrest as reported by a section of media, he told this reporter on Sunday. PATNA: Mehre Alam, one of the accused in the 2013 Gandhi Maidan blast case was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Bihar Police from Darbhanga after he was on the run for 10 years. Serial blasts had rocked the Gandhi Maidan on October 29, 2013, during the 'Hunkar Rally' of then BJP PM candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Acting on a tip-off, an STF team conducted a raid at Singhauli village under the jurisdiction of Ashok Paper Mill police station in Darbhanga district and took Mehre Alam into custody late on Saturday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); He was evading arrest ever since he had escaped from the custody of the NIA on October 29, 2013, two days after the serial blasts. Station house officer (SHO) of AP Mill police station Shiv Kumar Yadav confirmed the arrest of Mehre from Singhauli village. We cooperated with the visiting police team, which left with Mehre for its destination after completing legal formalities at the police station, he told this reporter over phone. According to police sources, Mehre was a close associate of Monu, a resident of Samastipur district, who was convicted in the serial blast case along with eight others by an NIA court in Patna. He had come in contact with Monu while studying at Polytechnic College at Darbhanga. The serial blasts had left at least six persons dead and 82 others wounded. Mehre told the investigators that he had met Monu in a library at Darbhanga where the latter was a frequent visitor. The NIA had filed a chargesheet against 11 persons on August 21, 2014. In November 2021, the NIA court in Patna held nine persons guilty of the crime. Haider Ali, Noman Ansari, Md. Mojibullah Ansari and Imtiyaz Alam were awarded capital punishment. Azhar Qureshi and Azharuddin were among three others who were awarded life sentences while Ahmad Hussain and Firoz Alam received 10 years of imprisonment. One of them received a seven-year jail term. Meanwhile, Mehre's father Mahmood Alam refuted that his son was in hiding. He was made a witness in the case being probed by the NIA. He was not evading arrest as reported by a section of media, he told this reporter on Sunday. By Express News Service RANCHI: Dinesh Gope, the chief of the banned Peoples Liberation Front of India (PLFI) outfit, was arrested from Nepal in a joint operation by the NIA and the Jharkhand Police. Yes, he has been arrested from Nepal and he is being brought to Delhi where he will be produced before a competent court for further course of action, confirmed a police official. Gope is to be produced in Delhi. Jharkhand Police had announced a bounty of Rs 25 lakhs on his head, he added. Notably, Jharkhand Police had more than half a dozen encounters with the squad of PLFI supremo Dinesh Gope last year. Gope escaped every time. Besides murder and levy collection, he is also accused of terror funding. According to police sources, more than 150 cases were lodged against him at different police stations in Jharkhand. Significantly, immediately after demonetisation, Dinesh Gope had tried to deposit Rs 25.38 lakh of cash collected through levy at the Bedo Branch of SBI Ranchi through a petrol station operator. Four people including the operator were arrested on November 10, 2016, in connection with this. The NIA took over the case on January 19, 2018. The premises of Dinesh Gopes associate Sumant Kumar was raided where Rs 90 lakh in cash and investment-related documents were recovered. NIA has already arrested Gopes two wives -- Heera Devi and Shakuntala Kumari -- in 2020 in a terror funding case. RANCHI: Dinesh Gope, the chief of the banned Peoples Liberation Front of India (PLFI) outfit, was arrested from Nepal in a joint operation by the NIA and the Jharkhand Police. Yes, he has been arrested from Nepal and he is being brought to Delhi where he will be produced before a competent court for further course of action, confirmed a police official. Gope is to be produced in Delhi. Jharkhand Police had announced a bounty of Rs 25 lakhs on his head, he added.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Notably, Jharkhand Police had more than half a dozen encounters with the squad of PLFI supremo Dinesh Gope last year. Gope escaped every time. Besides murder and levy collection, he is also accused of terror funding. According to police sources, more than 150 cases were lodged against him at different police stations in Jharkhand. Significantly, immediately after demonetisation, Dinesh Gope had tried to deposit Rs 25.38 lakh of cash collected through levy at the Bedo Branch of SBI Ranchi through a petrol station operator. Four people including the operator were arrested on November 10, 2016, in connection with this. The NIA took over the case on January 19, 2018. The premises of Dinesh Gopes associate Sumant Kumar was raided where Rs 90 lakh in cash and investment-related documents were recovered. NIA has already arrested Gopes two wives -- Heera Devi and Shakuntala Kumari -- in 2020 in a terror funding case. Racism is too much with us. Reminders that systemic racism can infiltrate Western New York institutions, businesses, governments and social structures as well as the public discourse seem to come weekly. A year has passed since the May 14 massacre at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue, an event in which the pure evil of racism was laid bare, as well as decades of discriminatory practices that had come before the tragedy. Even as the community speaks of healing and rebirth, claims of embedded racist practices continue to make front page news, including troubling accusations against prominent local real estate company Clover Group. A whistleblower lawsuit accuses the company of using a bizarre code to ensure majority white locations, as follows: Clover Entities executives referred to the unwritten site selection criteria concerning the percentage of Black people living within both a three-mile radius and a five-mile radius of a prospective development site as the Canadian Factor, and regularly rejected development of prospective sites when the reported Black population percentages were at or near 20 percent. Whether or not the accusations which Clover strongly denies are true, what they describe is deeply disturbing. Such illegal practices would perpetuate racism and racial segregation by creating living situations that are as cloistered as possible, shielded from Americas undeniable diversity. In smaller ways, and on a daily basis, people and institutions try to pretend that racism doesnt exist. But the indisputable fact of racism is part of the discussion everybody needs to have. There should be no more shielding. Over the past year, many painful reminders have demonstrated how much work still needs to be done in Buffalo. It is important to acknowledge them. Persistent housing discrimination In March, local civil rights organization Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) received more than 415 reports of housing discrimination in 2022 the most in nearly 40 years and the second-highest level in the groups 60-year history. There were 56 reports of racial discrimination. It must be kept in mind that these reports are the tip of the iceberg; 80% of people who believe theyve suffered from discrimination do nothing about it. Complaints at Roswell The CEO of Clover Group, Michael Joseph, just stepped down from his board chairmanship at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. As it happens, Roswell has also been accused of racial discrimination, as well as discrimination based on gender and disability, in as many as 15 lawsuits filed by former employees. Six lawsuits are still active. A report on the cancer centers policies regarding diversity and inclusion, as well as a review of past discrimination complaints, was commissioned, but Roswell has not publicly released the report. It should. The discussion about racial discrimination at Roswell should be held in full public transparency. Trouble at the Buffalo Police Department Depositions taken in 2022 during a federal lawsuit from activist group Black Love Resists in the Rust included the testimony of a retired Buffalo police officer that racist epithets of every type were commonly used during his time on the BPDs now-inactive Strike Force unit. The lawsuit includes claims of demanding and dehumanizing behavior at BPD traffic checkpoints in predominately Black neighborhoods in East Buffalo. In a separate chain of events, Capt. Amber Beyer, who led the departments Behavioral Health team, was suspended without pay in the wake of a lawsuit accusing her of making racist remarks last May in front of two Black police officers and a Black mental health clinician. Beyer has since returned to the force, though not to Behavioral Health. Having the discussion When asked about the depositions reporting racial epithets from the Police Department, Mayor Byron Browns words were, I want to be very very clear: we have zero tolerance. These are the words that should be spoken, and this is the policy that must be enforced. But those words and a written set of guidelines are only the beginning. Many employees now are required to watch video training segments about discrimination and harassment. Those, too, are just the beginning. Even a defined Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mission, though important, can only do so much especially if such policies are tolerated more than they are understood. The discussion is uncomfortable, and it should be. A recent op-ed by a Williamsville pastor, Bill Hennessey, reported that when he put the words Unite Against White Supremacy on the sign outside his church after May 14, 2022, there were no objections. But then, when he put those words back up a year later, some people in his community found them offensive and inappropriate. It is understandable not to want reminders of the horror people are capable of when their minds have been warped by racism. It is also obvious that such reminders are needed. Pretending theyre not or, worse, calling them woke, enables inequity. Racism is too much with us. Admitting that is the first step. Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing. Express News Service NEW DELHI: Several baby food brands are violating laws by using social media to advertise products like infant milk substitutes, according to a report released by the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI). The report, which flags 15 top brands, was released coinciding with world breastfeeding day on May 21. BPNI, which has been mandated by the government as a child welfare NGO to flag such violations, said a new trend has emerged in promoting these products using social media, and unsuspecting influencers are becoming partners in crime. Moreover, some of these products are being promoted by celebrities like Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and Shahid Kapoors wife Meera Rajput Kapoor. New tactics of involving celebrities, influencers, mothers, and mother bloggers on Instagram and YouTube is certainly catching on, said the report adding that knowingly or unknowingly, they are also infringing the law and are liable to be penalized. BPNI said there is no system to monitor and investigate such violations, which have remained unchecked. The law prohibits any kind of promotion of food products or feeding bottles, including advertising, incentives or directly reaching out to moms, for children under the age of 24 months. Social Media is the new-generation promotion playground of the baby food, bottle and equipment industry; therefore, it must be monitored and notified diligently. Digital technologies used for marketing breastmilk substitutes are proven to be contributing to increasing sales and consumption of baby formula across the world. Our findings confirm WHOs observations in their reports, said the report Indian Law Baby Food Offenders. Indian government enacted the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act) in order to control marketing of the baby foods as a follow-up to the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions. BPNI said that such advertisements influence mothers as celebrities have a huge public influence. This is the tip of the iceberg- findings of few concerned people and a comprehensive assessment is needed yearly; the government may consider commissioning a report and allocate funds for this work, said Arun Gupta, one of the four founder paediatricians of BPNI. Government may launch an investigation as per law into alleged violations through appropriate mechanisms and prosecution if required. Government, through its communication, could encourage citizen reporting of violations; BPNI offers its Mobile App Stanpan Surakhsha for this purpose, said Gupta, who is the Central Coordinator of BPNI. Speaking with this paper, he said, undermining breastfeeding and complementary feeding through commercial influence also violates a childs right to life and health and the mothers right to breastfeed. Non-stop promotion continues even after 32 years of the established law, and new players are emerging and promoting their food products aggressively in India in violation of this law, he said. Mothers do fall prey to their misinformation and profit-driven tactics and the celebrities have huge public influence, says Nupur Bidla, the national coordinator of BPNI. Social Media is the new generation promotion playground of the baby food, bottle and equipment industry; therefore, it needs to be monitored and notified diligently. BPNI members continue to be vigilant about any kind of promotion of infant milk substitutes, infant foods, or feeding bottles, which are three products under the scope of this law, Gupta added. He said they have already flagged these 15 violations of different sections of the IMS Act by major baby food and feeding-bottle companies and the platforms used by them with the union health ministry. BPNI has also written a letter to Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), chief Priyank Kanoongo and has flagged these blatant violations of baby food law by these companies. NEW DELHI: Several baby food brands are violating laws by using social media to advertise products like infant milk substitutes, according to a report released by the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI). The report, which flags 15 top brands, was released coinciding with world breastfeeding day on May 21. BPNI, which has been mandated by the government as a child welfare NGO to flag such violations, said a new trend has emerged in promoting these products using social media, and unsuspecting influencers are becoming partners in crime.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Moreover, some of these products are being promoted by celebrities like Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and Shahid Kapoors wife Meera Rajput Kapoor. New tactics of involving celebrities, influencers, mothers, and mother bloggers on Instagram and YouTube is certainly catching on, said the report adding that knowingly or unknowingly, they are also infringing the law and are liable to be penalized. BPNI said there is no system to monitor and investigate such violations, which have remained unchecked. The law prohibits any kind of promotion of food products or feeding bottles, including advertising, incentives or directly reaching out to moms, for children under the age of 24 months. Social Media is the new-generation promotion playground of the baby food, bottle and equipment industry; therefore, it must be monitored and notified diligently. Digital technologies used for marketing breastmilk substitutes are proven to be contributing to increasing sales and consumption of baby formula across the world. Our findings confirm WHOs observations in their reports, said the report Indian Law Baby Food Offenders. Indian government enacted the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act) in order to control marketing of the baby foods as a follow-up to the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions. BPNI said that such advertisements influence mothers as celebrities have a huge public influence. This is the tip of the iceberg- findings of few concerned people and a comprehensive assessment is needed yearly; the government may consider commissioning a report and allocate funds for this work, said Arun Gupta, one of the four founder paediatricians of BPNI. Government may launch an investigation as per law into alleged violations through appropriate mechanisms and prosecution if required. Government, through its communication, could encourage citizen reporting of violations; BPNI offers its Mobile App Stanpan Surakhsha for this purpose, said Gupta, who is the Central Coordinator of BPNI. Speaking with this paper, he said, undermining breastfeeding and complementary feeding through commercial influence also violates a childs right to life and health and the mothers right to breastfeed. Non-stop promotion continues even after 32 years of the established law, and new players are emerging and promoting their food products aggressively in India in violation of this law, he said. Mothers do fall prey to their misinformation and profit-driven tactics and the celebrities have huge public influence, says Nupur Bidla, the national coordinator of BPNI. Social Media is the new generation promotion playground of the baby food, bottle and equipment industry; therefore, it needs to be monitored and notified diligently. BPNI members continue to be vigilant about any kind of promotion of infant milk substitutes, infant foods, or feeding bottles, which are three products under the scope of this law, Gupta added. He said they have already flagged these 15 violations of different sections of the IMS Act by major baby food and feeding-bottle companies and the platforms used by them with the union health ministry. BPNI has also written a letter to Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), chief Priyank Kanoongo and has flagged these blatant violations of baby food law by these companies. By Express News Service BHOPAL: A youth in Madhya Pradesh's Katni mercilessly plucked out the feathers of a peacock, leading to the bird's death. The youth recorded his cruel act and uploaded the video on social media. In a set of videos, the youth identified as Atul is seen plucking the feathers of the peacock, while a young girl is seen smiling and seated next to him. The videos apparently made for social media (what with Hindi songs in the background), the young man was seen torturing the peacock while the girl is seen smiling as someone shoots the video. DFO-Katni district Gaurav Sharma said that the matter came to his notice on Friday. "The visuals were sent to us by a Gujarat-based NGO. The registration number of the motorbike seen in the clipping has been noted and the youth has been identified to be a resident of Katni districts Rithi area. He said a joint inquiry has been launched by the forest department and the district police. A case has been registered under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. A search is on to nab the youth, he added. BHOPAL: A youth in Madhya Pradesh's Katni mercilessly plucked out the feathers of a peacock, leading to the bird's death. The youth recorded his cruel act and uploaded the video on social media. In a set of videos, the youth identified as Atul is seen plucking the feathers of the peacock, while a young girl is seen smiling and seated next to him. The videos apparently made for social media (what with Hindi songs in the background), the young man was seen torturing the peacock while the girl is seen smiling as someone shoots the video.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); DFO-Katni district Gaurav Sharma said that the matter came to his notice on Friday. "The visuals were sent to us by a Gujarat-based NGO. The registration number of the motorbike seen in the clipping has been noted and the youth has been identified to be a resident of Katni districts Rithi area. He said a joint inquiry has been launched by the forest department and the district police. A case has been registered under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. A search is on to nab the youth, he added. By Express News Service BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh on Sunday became the first state in the country to start free air service for elderly pilgrims belonging to the economically weaker section. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saw the first batch of pilgrims off at the Bhopal Airport. The batch includes 24 male and 8 female pilgrims, all from Bhopal. The first flight is headed for Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The pilgrims will return to Bhopal on Monday evening. The pilgrims praised Chouhan-- many of them equating him with Shravana Kumara known for his filial piety towards his parents, and chanted religious slogans such as Har Har Gange, before the Indigo flight took off under the project, Mukhyamantri (CM) Tirth Darshan Yojana. Currently, one member of each family is eligible to take this pilgrimage. Soon, measures will be taken to help more than one member of a family to take the journey, so that elders will get a chance to gain spiritual peace along with their spouses, Chouhan said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the government has ensured that "even those wearing 'slippers' will be able to travel by air." This mission is an attempt to "make the PM's vision true," he said. The scheme was launched in Madhya Pradesh in 2012. So far 7.82 lakh elderlies have gone on a pilgrimage in as many as 782 special trains. A pilgrim, Siya Kumari Sharma (72), who, under the scheme, had visited Tirupati three years ago said, "I haven't ever dreamt of flying in a plane. This visit to Prayagraj by air is like a dream come true, thanks to Shivraj Singh Chouhan. BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh on Sunday became the first state in the country to start free air service for elderly pilgrims belonging to the economically weaker section. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saw the first batch of pilgrims off at the Bhopal Airport. The batch includes 24 male and 8 female pilgrims, all from Bhopal. The first flight is headed for Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The pilgrims will return to Bhopal on Monday evening. The pilgrims praised Chouhan-- many of them equating him with Shravana Kumara known for his filial piety towards his parents, and chanted religious slogans such as Har Har Gange, before the Indigo flight took off under the project, Mukhyamantri (CM) Tirth Darshan Yojana.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Currently, one member of each family is eligible to take this pilgrimage. Soon, measures will be taken to help more than one member of a family to take the journey, so that elders will get a chance to gain spiritual peace along with their spouses, Chouhan said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the government has ensured that "even those wearing 'slippers' will be able to travel by air." This mission is an attempt to "make the PM's vision true," he said. The scheme was launched in Madhya Pradesh in 2012. So far 7.82 lakh elderlies have gone on a pilgrimage in as many as 782 special trains. A pilgrim, Siya Kumari Sharma (72), who, under the scheme, had visited Tirupati three years ago said, "I haven't ever dreamt of flying in a plane. This visit to Prayagraj by air is like a dream come true, thanks to Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Sunday denounced the Eknath Shinde government for the recent communal violence witnessed by the state. Some are purposely dividing the society on religious lines. They are trying to drive a wedge between two communities. If this was allowed, the lives of the people will be at stake," Pawar said. Pawar noted that BJP tried the same agenda in Karnataka, but the people there toppled the government in the recently held elections. BJP tried to spread hatred among the people. But they failed, Sharad Pawar said. Pawar said the rise in communal violence is a cause of concern for him and the people who vouch for religious harmony. However expressing optimism, Pawar said that change is inevitable. "If it can happen in Karnataka, then it can also happen in Maharashtra and in the Lok Sabha polls next year. People want peace and harmony, not conflict between communities, Pawar added urging the people that it is their responsibility to bring about the change. Pointing to Siddaramaiah, who belongs to the Kuruba caste, taking oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka, Pawar added that the common man and the oppressed sections of people long for a change. "The working class people are uniting against tyranny," he noted. MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Sunday denounced the Eknath Shinde government for the recent communal violence witnessed by the state. Some are purposely dividing the society on religious lines. They are trying to drive a wedge between two communities. If this was allowed, the lives of the people will be at stake," Pawar said. Pawar noted that BJP tried the same agenda in Karnataka, but the people there toppled the government in the recently held elections.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); BJP tried to spread hatred among the people. But they failed, Sharad Pawar said. Pawar said the rise in communal violence is a cause of concern for him and the people who vouch for religious harmony. However expressing optimism, Pawar said that change is inevitable. "If it can happen in Karnataka, then it can also happen in Maharashtra and in the Lok Sabha polls next year. People want peace and harmony, not conflict between communities, Pawar added urging the people that it is their responsibility to bring about the change. Pointing to Siddaramaiah, who belongs to the Kuruba caste, taking oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka, Pawar added that the common man and the oppressed sections of people long for a change. "The working class people are uniting against tyranny," he noted. By PTI NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the president should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the newly-constructed Parliament building on May 28. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Modi on Thursday last and extended an invitation to inaugurate the new building, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had said. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, "The President should inaugurate the new Parliament House and not the Prime Minister '. Veteran Parliamentarian and former deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and some other opposition leaders were also of the same view. It will not be Constitutionally correct for the PM to inaugurate the new building of Parliament. Jury is out whether it was required at all. No major democracy has done this. Westminster is the seat of the British Parliament and Capitol Hill of the US Congress for hundreds of years," Sharma said on Twitter. He said Parliament is the custodian and pride of India's Constitutional democracy and its glory must not be undermined as the sovereignty of the people is vested in it. Article 79 of the Constitution is unambiguous that the President is the head of Parliament which comprises Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, he contended. "The PM is the leader of Lok Sabha. It is the President who alone can summon the Parliament - Article 85," he said. "Rashtrapati addresses the joint session only flanked by Rajya Sabha Chairman - Vice President and Lok Sabha Speaker. PM and leader of Rajya Sabha are seated in Central Hall. The Constitution must be respected in letter and spirit and the President should inaugurate," Sharma said in a series of tweets. CPI general secretary D Raja also said the prime minister leads the executive organ of the state and Parliament is the legislative organ. "It would have been appropriate for Smt. Droupadi Murmu as Head of the State to inaugurate the new Parliament," he said. "Obsession with self-image and cameras trumps decency and norms when it comes to Modi Ji," Raja alleged on Twitter. RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha had earlier said, "Shouldn't the honorable President of India be inaugurating the new 'Sansad Bhavan'? I leave it at that. Jai Hind." AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi too had raised objections to the prime minister inaugurating the new Parliament building. "Why should the PM inaugurate Parliament? He is head of the executive, not legislature. We have a separation of powers and Hon'ble Lok Sabha Speaker and RS Chair could have inaugurated. It's made with public money, why is the PM behaving like his 'friends' have sponsored it from their private funds," Owaisi said on Twitter. The inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 coincides with the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and several opposition parties have targeted the government over it. The Congress has called it a "complete insult" to the country's founding fathers. The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. In case of a joint sitting of both Houses, a total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber. The prime minister laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020. The present Parliament building was completed in 1927. NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the president should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the newly-constructed Parliament building on May 28. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Modi on Thursday last and extended an invitation to inaugurate the new building, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, "The President should inaugurate the new Parliament House and not the Prime Minister '. Veteran Parliamentarian and former deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and some other opposition leaders were also of the same view. It will not be Constitutionally correct for the PM to inaugurate the new building of Parliament. Jury is out whether it was required at all. No major democracy has done this. Westminster is the seat of the British Parliament and Capitol Hill of the US Congress for hundreds of years," Sharma said on Twitter. He said Parliament is the custodian and pride of India's Constitutional democracy and its glory must not be undermined as the sovereignty of the people is vested in it. Article 79 of the Constitution is unambiguous that the President is the head of Parliament which comprises Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, he contended. "The PM is the leader of Lok Sabha. It is the President who alone can summon the Parliament - Article 85," he said. "Rashtrapati addresses the joint session only flanked by Rajya Sabha Chairman - Vice President and Lok Sabha Speaker. PM and leader of Rajya Sabha are seated in Central Hall. The Constitution must be respected in letter and spirit and the President should inaugurate," Sharma said in a series of tweets. CPI general secretary D Raja also said the prime minister leads the executive organ of the state and Parliament is the legislative organ. "It would have been appropriate for Smt. Droupadi Murmu as Head of the State to inaugurate the new Parliament," he said. "Obsession with self-image and cameras trumps decency and norms when it comes to Modi Ji," Raja alleged on Twitter. RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha had earlier said, "Shouldn't the honorable President of India be inaugurating the new 'Sansad Bhavan'? I leave it at that. Jai Hind." AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi too had raised objections to the prime minister inaugurating the new Parliament building. "Why should the PM inaugurate Parliament? He is head of the executive, not legislature. We have a separation of powers and Hon'ble Lok Sabha Speaker and RS Chair could have inaugurated. It's made with public money, why is the PM behaving like his 'friends' have sponsored it from their private funds," Owaisi said on Twitter. The inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 coincides with the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and several opposition parties have targeted the government over it. The Congress has called it a "complete insult" to the country's founding fathers. The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. In case of a joint sitting of both Houses, a total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber. The prime minister laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020. The present Parliament building was completed in 1927. By PTI NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and members of the Gandhi family on Sunday paid homage to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among a large number of party leaders who paid their tributes at Veer Bhumi, the memorial of Rajiv Gandhi. Sharing a video of his father on Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, "Papa, you are with me, as an inspiration, in memories, always." Kharge also shared a video on the former prime minister's life on Twitter. "Rajiv Gandhi was a great son of India. Through multiple interventions such as lowering of voting age, strengthening Panchayati Raj, Telecom & IT revolution, and sustained peace accords, he transformed India, propelling it in 21st century. Our humble homage on his martyrdom day," he said in a tweet. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said one of the last major accomplishments of Rajiv Gandhi before his assassination on this day, 32 years ago, was the finalisation of the Congress party's manifesto for the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. "In July 1991, when Dr Manmohan Singh as FM was criticised for ushering in economic reforms, he would quote frequently from this manifesto, which in many ways bore Rajiv Gandhi's personal imprint. His contributions for taking India into the IT age were also distinctive contributions. He wooed GE and Texas Instruments to kickstart software exports. As also his battle for giving Constitutional status to panchayats and nagarpalikas --- a truly transformational move," Ramesh said on Twitter. Rajiv Gandhi was a great son of India. Through multiple interventions such as lowering of voting age, strengthening Panchayati Raj,Telecom & IT revolution, and sustained peace accords he transformed India, propelling it in 21st century. Our humble homage on his martyrdom day. pic.twitter.com/xxNy1np5JI Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) May 21, 2023 Several other leaders also remembered the former prime minister on his death anniversary. India's prime minister between 1984 and 1989, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE terrorists at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 1991 during an election campaign. NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and members of the Gandhi family on Sunday paid homage to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among a large number of party leaders who paid their tributes at Veer Bhumi, the memorial of Rajiv Gandhi. Sharing a video of his father on Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, "Papa, you are with me, as an inspiration, in memories, always."googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Kharge also shared a video on the former prime minister's life on Twitter. "Rajiv Gandhi was a great son of India. Through multiple interventions such as lowering of voting age, strengthening Panchayati Raj, Telecom & IT revolution, and sustained peace accords, he transformed India, propelling it in 21st century. Our humble homage on his martyrdom day," he said in a tweet. , , , , ! pic.twitter.com/WioVkdPZcr Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 21, 2023 Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said one of the last major accomplishments of Rajiv Gandhi before his assassination on this day, 32 years ago, was the finalisation of the Congress party's manifesto for the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. "In July 1991, when Dr Manmohan Singh as FM was criticised for ushering in economic reforms, he would quote frequently from this manifesto, which in many ways bore Rajiv Gandhi's personal imprint. His contributions for taking India into the IT age were also distinctive contributions. He wooed GE and Texas Instruments to kickstart software exports. As also his battle for giving Constitutional status to panchayats and nagarpalikas --- a truly transformational move," Ramesh said on Twitter. Rajiv Gandhi was a great son of India. Through multiple interventions such as lowering of voting age, strengthening Panchayati Raj,Telecom & IT revolution, and sustained peace accords he transformed India, propelling it in 21st century. Our humble homage on his martyrdom day. pic.twitter.com/xxNy1np5JI Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) May 21, 2023 Several other leaders also remembered the former prime minister on his death anniversary. India's prime minister between 1984 and 1989, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE terrorists at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 1991 during an election campaign. By Associated Press HIROSHIMA: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporter's question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today." "We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors." The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasion's longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyy's response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said: "I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, They've destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's a tragedy." "But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians," he said. Zelenskyy's press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops "took the city in a semi-encirclement." "The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city," Malyar said. "That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemy's presence in Bakhmut." And the spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. "The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. "Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway," he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state news agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated "Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk," which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units "completed the liberation" of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. "I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.)," Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a "flat assurance" that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is "not tactically or operationally significant," a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas "does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations," nor to "to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks." In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smouldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called "fortress Bakhmut." Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. "We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels," Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters "marched on the bodies of their own soldiers" according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. HIROSHIMA: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporter's question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today." "We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors."googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasion's longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyy's response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said: "I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, They've destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's a tragedy." "But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians," he said. Zelenskyy's press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops "took the city in a semi-encirclement." "The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city," Malyar said. "That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemy's presence in Bakhmut." And the spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. "The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. "Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway," he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state news agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated "Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk," which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units "completed the liberation" of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. "I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.)," Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a "flat assurance" that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is "not tactically or operationally significant," a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas "does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations," nor to "to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks." In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smouldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called "fortress Bakhmut." Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. "We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels," Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters "marched on the bodies of their own soldiers" according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Pradip Phanjoubam By Two weeks after the communal violence between two major ethnic groups in Manipurthe Kukis and the Meiteisthe state, though calmer, remains tense, with as many as 45,000 displaced people still staying at shelters in different places in the state and outside, and the last rites of 73 bodies in various mortuaries yet to be completed. Not all displaced people are direct victims of the riots, but villagers on both sides have fled to where they believe is safer. While the Kukis fear raids by organised mobs from the larger Meitei community, Meitei farming villages at the base of the hills remain apprehensive of attacks by Kuki militants, who are in a Suspension of Operation (SoO) truce with the government. Under the SoO agreement, there are 25 Kuki militant organisations in two groupingsKNO and UPF. Cadres are allowed to keep their weapons, but only within the confines of designated camps supervised by the Assam Rifles. Each member gets a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000. The SoO understanding between Indian security forces and Kuki militants was informally reached in the 1990s, not long after another bout of bloody ethnic clashes between the Nagas and the Kukisin which the Kukis suffered casualties disproportionately. The state government then was not made party to this, causing some hiccups in the larger counter-insurgency strategy. In 2008, this was solved, with SoO becoming an official tripartite agreement between the Kuki militants, the Centre and the state government. Some had speculated that this was also a counterweight to the influence of Naga and Meitei insurgents. Thankfully, Meitei insurgents have stayed away from the present bloodletting. CorCom, a coordination committee they formed, instead came out with a statement which appealed for a return to normalcy, alleging that a gameplan of the Indian government to fragment Manipurs society is the hidden cause for the present crisis. On the other hand, 10 Kuki MLAs, currently outside the state, are demanding a separate administration for the Kukis on the basis that the Kukis cannot live together with the Meiteis again. They have also charged that Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Leishemba Sanajaoba (both from the Meitei community) masterminded the recent carnage by sponsoring two little-known Meitei organisationsArambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun. The spark for the May 3 riots came from Churachandpur district, dominated by the Kukis and aligned tribes, when a solidarity rally of Nagas and Kukis to protest a proposal for inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribes list turned violent. As the rally was concluding, a rumour that a Kuki war memorial site on the outskirts of Churachandpur township had been burned down by Meiteisled to a mob rampage. Meitei settlements in and around Torbung, a village in the border area between Churachandpur and Bishnupur, were razed. The memorial site is intact but pictures and videos of a tyre found burning near the gate is now available. Only an inquiry can determine if the incineration of the tyre matches the time that it is said to have begun burning. When images of the arson attacks started spreading, and there also seemed no sign that the government was making any effort to take control, the violence spread. In Imphal, everything was normal until about 7 pm, before an arson case in the New Lambulane locality was reported. By the next day, the violence spread to several Kuki- and Meitei-dominated districts. Why have only the Kukis responded so aggressively and not the Nagas? In the past, there have also been extreme tensions between the Nagas and the Meiteis, like when Thuingaleng Muivah, leader of the powerful Naga insurgent group NSCN(IM), was denied entry into Manipur by the state governmentbut such incidents did not result in communal riots. The answer may lie in certain developments in recent times. One is the revival of an old narrative that the Kukis are nomadic and not indigenous to Manipur. Muivah has said this in several recent public statements as well. Other rivals also added to this, insulting the Kukis indiscriminately with adjectives like refugees, foreigners, etc., making this an open sore for the latter. Kuki villages also have a tendency to proliferate because of a peculiar landholding tradition where village chiefs are sole owners of their villages, inducing capable villagers to leave and set up their own villages. This being so, even government initiatives such as the eviction of encroachers from reserved forests, the fight against Manipurs new scourge of poppy plantations, or the push for citizenship registration, etc., came to be seen as targeting the Kukis. On the other hand, the stated reason for the Meitei demand for ST status is so they are not alienated from their land. They also see injustice in the fact there is no creamy layer clause in the ST reservation system, thereby giving ST colleagues in similar or even higher income brackets a head start in matters of job pursuits and tax savings. A skewed land revenue administration system inherited from colonial timesseparating revenue flatlands from non-revenue hillshas also pushed the Meiteis against the wall. While everybody can settle in the Imphal Valley, traditionally the Meiteis home and which forms 10% of the states area, the Meiteis are prohibited from settling in the hills which constitute 90% of the area. As land scarcity is confronted by a burgeoning population, there is an increasing sense of siege amongst these communities. Though it is unlikely they would be eager to settle in the hills even if they were free to do so, the very knowledge that they are prohibited to do so has heightened their claustrophobia. Three decades ago, of the 20 hill constituencies in Manipurs 60-member Assembly, Nagas generally won 12 and Kukis 8. Today it is 10 each. Even a little influx of voters from outside can alter the balance further in these small constituencies. The examples of Kangpokpi, Chandel and Tengnoupal constituencies illustrate the potential for such a future conflict: Kangpokpi, once capable of having Naga, Kuki or even Nepali representatives, has today become a Kuki stronghold. Tengnoupal was once a Naga bastion, but today it has a Kuki representative. Chandel, once under a Naga grip, is now finely balanced between the Nagas and the Kukis. Collective insecurities combined to make just the right mix for the storm on May 3. The question remains: what next? If the underlying causes of these troubles remain, there is no guarantee that more explosions like these will not happen in the future. Pradip Phanjoubam Editor of Imphal Review of Arts and Politics (phanjoubam@gmail.com) Two weeks after the communal violence between two major ethnic groups in Manipurthe Kukis and the Meiteisthe state, though calmer, remains tense, with as many as 45,000 displaced people still staying at shelters in different places in the state and outside, and the last rites of 73 bodies in various mortuaries yet to be completed. Not all displaced people are direct victims of the riots, but villagers on both sides have fled to where they believe is safer. While the Kukis fear raids by organised mobs from the larger Meitei community, Meitei farming villages at the base of the hills remain apprehensive of attacks by Kuki militants, who are in a Suspension of Operation (SoO) truce with the government. Under the SoO agreement, there are 25 Kuki militant organisations in two groupingsKNO and UPF. Cadres are allowed to keep their weapons, but only within the confines of designated camps supervised by the Assam Rifles. Each member gets a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The SoO understanding between Indian security forces and Kuki militants was informally reached in the 1990s, not long after another bout of bloody ethnic clashes between the Nagas and the Kukisin which the Kukis suffered casualties disproportionately. The state government then was not made party to this, causing some hiccups in the larger counter-insurgency strategy. In 2008, this was solved, with SoO becoming an official tripartite agreement between the Kuki militants, the Centre and the state government. Some had speculated that this was also a counterweight to the influence of Naga and Meitei insurgents. Thankfully, Meitei insurgents have stayed away from the present bloodletting. CorCom, a coordination committee they formed, instead came out with a statement which appealed for a return to normalcy, alleging that a gameplan of the Indian government to fragment Manipurs society is the hidden cause for the present crisis. On the other hand, 10 Kuki MLAs, currently outside the state, are demanding a separate administration for the Kukis on the basis that the Kukis cannot live together with the Meiteis again. They have also charged that Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Leishemba Sanajaoba (both from the Meitei community) masterminded the recent carnage by sponsoring two little-known Meitei organisationsArambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun. The spark for the May 3 riots came from Churachandpur district, dominated by the Kukis and aligned tribes, when a solidarity rally of Nagas and Kukis to protest a proposal for inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribes list turned violent. As the rally was concluding, a rumour that a Kuki war memorial site on the outskirts of Churachandpur township had been burned down by Meiteisled to a mob rampage. Meitei settlements in and around Torbung, a village in the border area between Churachandpur and Bishnupur, were razed. The memorial site is intact but pictures and videos of a tyre found burning near the gate is now available. Only an inquiry can determine if the incineration of the tyre matches the time that it is said to have begun burning. When images of the arson attacks started spreading, and there also seemed no sign that the government was making any effort to take control, the violence spread. In Imphal, everything was normal until about 7 pm, before an arson case in the New Lambulane locality was reported. By the next day, the violence spread to several Kuki- and Meitei-dominated districts. Why have only the Kukis responded so aggressively and not the Nagas? In the past, there have also been extreme tensions between the Nagas and the Meiteis, like when Thuingaleng Muivah, leader of the powerful Naga insurgent group NSCN(IM), was denied entry into Manipur by the state governmentbut such incidents did not result in communal riots. The answer may lie in certain developments in recent times. One is the revival of an old narrative that the Kukis are nomadic and not indigenous to Manipur. Muivah has said this in several recent public statements as well. Other rivals also added to this, insulting the Kukis indiscriminately with adjectives like refugees, foreigners, etc., making this an open sore for the latter. Kuki villages also have a tendency to proliferate because of a peculiar landholding tradition where village chiefs are sole owners of their villages, inducing capable villagers to leave and set up their own villages. This being so, even government initiatives such as the eviction of encroachers from reserved forests, the fight against Manipurs new scourge of poppy plantations, or the push for citizenship registration, etc., came to be seen as targeting the Kukis. On the other hand, the stated reason for the Meitei demand for ST status is so they are not alienated from their land. They also see injustice in the fact there is no creamy layer clause in the ST reservation system, thereby giving ST colleagues in similar or even higher income brackets a head start in matters of job pursuits and tax savings. A skewed land revenue administration system inherited from colonial timesseparating revenue flatlands from non-revenue hillshas also pushed the Meiteis against the wall. While everybody can settle in the Imphal Valley, traditionally the Meiteis home and which forms 10% of the states area, the Meiteis are prohibited from settling in the hills which constitute 90% of the area. As land scarcity is confronted by a burgeoning population, there is an increasing sense of siege amongst these communities. Though it is unlikely they would be eager to settle in the hills even if they were free to do so, the very knowledge that they are prohibited to do so has heightened their claustrophobia. Three decades ago, of the 20 hill constituencies in Manipurs 60-member Assembly, Nagas generally won 12 and Kukis 8. Today it is 10 each. Even a little influx of voters from outside can alter the balance further in these small constituencies. The examples of Kangpokpi, Chandel and Tengnoupal constituencies illustrate the potential for such a future conflict: Kangpokpi, once capable of having Naga, Kuki or even Nepali representatives, has today become a Kuki stronghold. Tengnoupal was once a Naga bastion, but today it has a Kuki representative. Chandel, once under a Naga grip, is now finely balanced between the Nagas and the Kukis. Collective insecurities combined to make just the right mix for the storm on May 3. The question remains: what next? If the underlying causes of these troubles remain, there is no guarantee that more explosions like these will not happen in the future. Pradip Phanjoubam Editor of Imphal Review of Arts and Politics (phanjoubam@gmail.com) By PTI ZIRO: An Arunachalee woman has stirred a storm in the wine glass with her signature kiwi wine 'Naara Aaba'. Tage Rita, an agricultural engineer-turned-entrepreneur, set up her winery in Hong Village in the picturesque Ziro Valley in the Lower Subansiri district in 2017. Since then, Rita and her team's produce has grabbed the attention of wine lovers from far and wide. "Naara Aaba's journey began with the purpose of creating market linkage for the under-utilised kiwi fruits grown in abundance in the region. Kiwi farmers were failing to fetch proper market value for their produce," Rita said. She said reviving the demand for organic kiwis was one of the first milestones she has achieved in her path to provide sustainable livelihood to kiwi farmers in the region. The initial days were tremendously tough for her as she set up on a mission to manufacture kiwi wine in an unforgiving mountainous terrain, facing transportation bottlenecks and dealing with the ignorance of locals about the huge potential of the fruit as an ingredient for wine. "Every ingredient used in manufacturing Naara Aaba is organic and certified. The wine has all the vitamins and minerals present in the fruit," she said. The production of wine in batches is aligned with the harvesting season of locally grown kiwi fruit. The four-month wine-making process starts with manual sourcing of the fruit, followed by cleaning, sorting and grading in the facility. The plant has a small laboratory to test parameters based on which ingredients such as sugar and yeast are added in the right quantities during the process. "Temperature is maintained through cold stabilisation at the chilling plant. To prevent microbes or harmful bacteria from affecting the wine, it undergoes a filtration process," she said. The kiwi wine tastes a little tangy, as additional sugar is not added to the mix. She is adamant about keeping the taste as natural as possible while retaining the fruit's nutritional value, making her wine a healthier choice among alcoholic beverages and a good pick for conscious drinkers. Rita, who is in her mid-thirties, was the first entrepreneur from the Northeast to secure a deal at Shark Tank India Season 2, which was aired on March 13 this year on Sony LIV channel. Out of the five sharks, Vineeta Singh of Sugar Cosmetics and Vikas D Nahar of Happilo came on board with an offer of Rs 50 lakh investment for 5 per cent equity and Rs 25 lakh debt at 10 per cent interest, amounting to a total of Rs 75 lakh funding for her winery. The winery has scaled up its production capacity from 20,000 litres in 2017 to 60,000 litres at present through 16 tanks. The first year of wine production alone supported 300 farmers and brought them back to the kiwi orchards, as they sold around 20 metric tons of kiwis to the winery. Around 20 regular employees and 100 seasonal staffers are involved in the wine-making process. The winery has also obtained a licence to export from the Agricultural Produce Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Union Ministry of Trade and Industry. APEDA's support also enabled the international exhibition of Naara Aaba in China and Greece. Beyond the day-to-day wine production and distribution affairs of the winery, Rita and her staffers also attend to tourists on a regular basis. Around 300-400 domestic and foreign tourists visit the winery every month for wine tasting and a tour of the facility, which has created a scope for wine tourism in the region. Rita has now diversified her production to make wine from plums, wild apples and pears. Her dedication to supporting her community with entrepreneurial efforts earned her the 'Women Transforming India' Award of the Niti Ayog in collaboration with the United Nations in 2018. She has been awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2021 by the Union Women & Child Development Ministry and Women Achievers Award 2021-22 by the state Women and Child Development Department. She now plans to transform the winery into a state-of-the-art facility to boost wine tourism in the region. Besides, she also wants to upskill local youth in the region. The wine is currently available in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam. With plans to scale up the winery's production besides the introduction of new fruit variants, Rita intends on marketing her wine across the country and abroad in the near future. She said that initially, she faced difficulty in bringing in equipment from outside as the roads were not good at that time. "It took nearly four to five years for the implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh State Wine Policy-2015," she said. Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Pema Khandu recently congratulated her. "Inspiring journey of Ms Tage Rita from an agri-engineer to a successful entrepreneur. Her creation of the brand Naara Aaba has carved a niche for itself. Rita's venture will encourage many women to follow her footsteps," Khandu tweeted. "Naara Aaba winery at Ziro Valley is a unique initiative, as it uses advanced and sustainable technology. This has encouraged organic kiwi cultivation in Ziro Valley and also created livelihood opportunities for farmers of Arunachal Pradesh," the chief minister added. ZIRO: An Arunachalee woman has stirred a storm in the wine glass with her signature kiwi wine 'Naara Aaba'. Tage Rita, an agricultural engineer-turned-entrepreneur, set up her winery in Hong Village in the picturesque Ziro Valley in the Lower Subansiri district in 2017. Since then, Rita and her team's produce has grabbed the attention of wine lovers from far and wide.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "Naara Aaba's journey began with the purpose of creating market linkage for the under-utilised kiwi fruits grown in abundance in the region. Kiwi farmers were failing to fetch proper market value for their produce," Rita said. She said reviving the demand for organic kiwis was one of the first milestones she has achieved in her path to provide sustainable livelihood to kiwi farmers in the region. The initial days were tremendously tough for her as she set up on a mission to manufacture kiwi wine in an unforgiving mountainous terrain, facing transportation bottlenecks and dealing with the ignorance of locals about the huge potential of the fruit as an ingredient for wine. "Every ingredient used in manufacturing Naara Aaba is organic and certified. The wine has all the vitamins and minerals present in the fruit," she said. The production of wine in batches is aligned with the harvesting season of locally grown kiwi fruit. The four-month wine-making process starts with manual sourcing of the fruit, followed by cleaning, sorting and grading in the facility. The plant has a small laboratory to test parameters based on which ingredients such as sugar and yeast are added in the right quantities during the process. "Temperature is maintained through cold stabilisation at the chilling plant. To prevent microbes or harmful bacteria from affecting the wine, it undergoes a filtration process," she said. The kiwi wine tastes a little tangy, as additional sugar is not added to the mix. She is adamant about keeping the taste as natural as possible while retaining the fruit's nutritional value, making her wine a healthier choice among alcoholic beverages and a good pick for conscious drinkers. Rita, who is in her mid-thirties, was the first entrepreneur from the Northeast to secure a deal at Shark Tank India Season 2, which was aired on March 13 this year on Sony LIV channel. Out of the five sharks, Vineeta Singh of Sugar Cosmetics and Vikas D Nahar of Happilo came on board with an offer of Rs 50 lakh investment for 5 per cent equity and Rs 25 lakh debt at 10 per cent interest, amounting to a total of Rs 75 lakh funding for her winery. The winery has scaled up its production capacity from 20,000 litres in 2017 to 60,000 litres at present through 16 tanks. The first year of wine production alone supported 300 farmers and brought them back to the kiwi orchards, as they sold around 20 metric tons of kiwis to the winery. Around 20 regular employees and 100 seasonal staffers are involved in the wine-making process. The winery has also obtained a licence to export from the Agricultural Produce Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Union Ministry of Trade and Industry. APEDA's support also enabled the international exhibition of Naara Aaba in China and Greece. Beyond the day-to-day wine production and distribution affairs of the winery, Rita and her staffers also attend to tourists on a regular basis. Around 300-400 domestic and foreign tourists visit the winery every month for wine tasting and a tour of the facility, which has created a scope for wine tourism in the region. Rita has now diversified her production to make wine from plums, wild apples and pears. Her dedication to supporting her community with entrepreneurial efforts earned her the 'Women Transforming India' Award of the Niti Ayog in collaboration with the United Nations in 2018. She has been awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2021 by the Union Women & Child Development Ministry and Women Achievers Award 2021-22 by the state Women and Child Development Department. She now plans to transform the winery into a state-of-the-art facility to boost wine tourism in the region. Besides, she also wants to upskill local youth in the region. The wine is currently available in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam. With plans to scale up the winery's production besides the introduction of new fruit variants, Rita intends on marketing her wine across the country and abroad in the near future. She said that initially, she faced difficulty in bringing in equipment from outside as the roads were not good at that time. "It took nearly four to five years for the implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh State Wine Policy-2015," she said. Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Pema Khandu recently congratulated her. "Inspiring journey of Ms Tage Rita from an agri-engineer to a successful entrepreneur. Her creation of the brand Naara Aaba has carved a niche for itself. Rita's venture will encourage many women to follow her footsteps," Khandu tweeted. "Naara Aaba winery at Ziro Valley is a unique initiative, as it uses advanced and sustainable technology. This has encouraged organic kiwi cultivation in Ziro Valley and also created livelihood opportunities for farmers of Arunachal Pradesh," the chief minister added. By PTI SHILLONG: A major fire broke out at the Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls Higher Secondary school here in the early hours of Sunday, reducing the heritage building to ashes, police said on Sunday. There was no report of any casualty in the fire, they said. The woodwork frame of the school building built in the late 1800s aided the fire to spread and initial reports indicated that the fire broke out at around 2 am, the police said. The boarders residing in the adjacent building are all safe and have been temporarily shifted to the community hall of Mission Compound locality, officials said. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Sunday announced Rs 1 crore compensation to the KJP Girls higher secondary school whose 131-year-old school building was reduced to ashes in the inferno. The CM made the compensation announcement after visiting the damaged school building. "From the CM development fund, I am releasing Rs 1 crore to ensure that the school comes back to life. They will have to decide on how to utilise the funds to rebuild the school," Sangma said. "I have met the principal and managing committee members and assured them that we will rebuild the school together," he said. Expressing sadness at the loss, the CM said, "This is a very sad and tragic incident. The destruction of the old infrastructure is a great loss for the school, the church and the community as a whole." Police said fire tenders were deployed from the headquarters here to fight the inferno and help save lives. Being the only school for girls in the Northeast over a century ago, the KJP Girls' Higher Secondary School celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017. The school was an offshoot of an erstwhile school established by the Welsh missionaries at Nongsawlia village in Sohra (erstwhile Cherrapunjee), where it was converted into a proper school in 1864. The school became an exclusive school for girls in 1892 when a missionary of the Welsh Presbyterian Mission Society took over the administration of the school. SHILLONG: A major fire broke out at the Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls Higher Secondary school here in the early hours of Sunday, reducing the heritage building to ashes, police said on Sunday. There was no report of any casualty in the fire, they said. The woodwork frame of the school building built in the late 1800s aided the fire to spread and initial reports indicated that the fire broke out at around 2 am, the police said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The boarders residing in the adjacent building are all safe and have been temporarily shifted to the community hall of Mission Compound locality, officials said. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Sunday announced Rs 1 crore compensation to the KJP Girls higher secondary school whose 131-year-old school building was reduced to ashes in the inferno. The CM made the compensation announcement after visiting the damaged school building. "From the CM development fund, I am releasing Rs 1 crore to ensure that the school comes back to life. They will have to decide on how to utilise the funds to rebuild the school," Sangma said. "I have met the principal and managing committee members and assured them that we will rebuild the school together," he said. Expressing sadness at the loss, the CM said, "This is a very sad and tragic incident. The destruction of the old infrastructure is a great loss for the school, the church and the community as a whole." Police said fire tenders were deployed from the headquarters here to fight the inferno and help save lives. Being the only school for girls in the Northeast over a century ago, the KJP Girls' Higher Secondary School celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017. The school was an offshoot of an erstwhile school established by the Welsh missionaries at Nongsawlia village in Sohra (erstwhile Cherrapunjee), where it was converted into a proper school in 1864. The school became an exclusive school for girls in 1892 when a missionary of the Welsh Presbyterian Mission Society took over the administration of the school. News / Local by Staff reporter THE successful conclusion of discussions on Zimbabwe's arrears clearance and debt resolution will lay a firm foundation for the lifting of economic sanctions and help to unlock fresh and affordable external long-term funding for the country.Zimbabwe is working with international and bilateral organisations to clear its external debt, which stood at US$14 billion as of September 2022, as well as pay its obligations to white former commercial farmers through the Global Compensation Deed (GCD) for improvements on farms acquired under the land reform programme.Under the GCD, signed in 2020, the white former commercial farmers would be paid US$3,5 billion, which is part of Zimbabwe's total external debt of US$14 billion, owed to various multilateral and bilateral partners, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank (WB) and the Paris Club.To operationalise the debt clearance strategy, President Mnangagwa appointed AfDB president Dr Akinumwi Adesina to champion the country's arrears clearance and debt resolution process.Dr Adesina is working together with former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, whom President Mnangagwa appointed high-level facilitator for the debt dialogue process between Zimbabwe and the international creditors.In separate interviews, following the Fourth Structured Dialogue Platform discussions on Zimbabwe's debt resolution process held in Harare on Monday last week, economic commentators commended the Government for showing the will to resolve the country's unsustainable debt.Zimbabwe's huge debt burden is one of the major issues that have prevented the country from accessing affordable long-term funding from international financiers such as the WB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Economist Professor Gift Mugano said the significance of the dialogue was that Zimbabwe was already engaging creditors at a high level."That, on its own, gives hope that there is some kind of goodwill to have a solution, it's different from a scenario whereby no one is talking to you, where no one is talking, and there is no hope. The second issue is that the bilateral partners, the American and British governments, and also the European Union are participating and they have laid down what must be done ," he said."If we sail through this whole process, Zimbabwe is back to business on the global stage in terms of access to offshore funding, meaning that the country can now attract capital or long-term finance."What is very important is for us to be patient and to be pragmatic. I am happy that at a higher level, our President is participating, and this shows political will."Under Zimbabwe's arrears clearance and debt resolution process, three sector-specific working groups have been established to focus on economic reforms; governance; land tenure reforms and compensation under the GCD and bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements.For over two decades, Zimbabwe has not been able to access the much-needed lines of credit from the international community.The country has often had to use expensive sources of capital, which would burden taxpayers; or financing mechanisms that, at times, upset the economy."If you look at the three conditions raised in the dialogue, there is a reminiscence of ZDERA (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act). ZDERA is about human rights, land reform and debt, so the compensation deed is dealing with land reform, and the issue of human rights is very clear, and the Constitution is very clear."If we address those three elements, it means we have addressed ZDERA and there will be no need for sanctions; they will be lifted automatically," said Prof Mugano.Economic commentator Mrs Chipo Warikandwa echoed similar sentiments, saying now that there were discussions around Zimbabwe's arrears clearance and debt resolution, what was critical was to iron out all the issues that have been put on the table."If we successfully and amicably address all the concerns the parties are discussing, certainly, there is no reason for the sanctions not to be lifted. What is also critical is focusing on paying the US$3,5 billion to the white former commercial farmers under the Global Compensation Deed."It is also pleasing to note that the AfDB president has hinted that his institution is working on crafting innovative financial instruments to frontload the mobilisation of the US$3,5 billion," she said.Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce past president Mr Trust Chikohora said so far, Zimbabwe was not receiving balance of payments support and concessionary loan funding from multilateral institutions due to the debt arrears situation.This, he said, was because such global lenders like the IMF and the WB use a collaborative system known as pari passu, which makes it difficult for any country in arrears with any one of them to access fresh funding."If you don't get funding from those institutions, you also do not get funding from other international funders, even in the private sector."So, if we get the funding (from private and non-multilateral institutions), it will be offered at very punitive rates because the fact that we are not getting support from multilateral institutions means Zimbabwe will now have a very high-risk factor and that affects us as a country and it militates against us getting the much-required funding at affordable rates."So, it is important that this dialogue, which is ongoing, comes to an end successfully, with all the parties reaching common ground," he said.At the Fourth Structured Dialogue Platform discussions, Dr Adesina said he was pleased with the level of progress achieved so far by the parties in trying to find a solution.Mr Chikohora said the main reason the WB and IMF were giving for not lending to Zimbabwe was based on the soaring debt."So, if we clear the arrears and the debt that we have, Zimbabwe should be able to unlock fresh funding from the multilateral institutions. If we are able to restructure that debt and clear those arrears, it will go a long way towards opening up lines of credit and funding for Zimbabwe."We know that sanctions are also the real big reason Zimbabwe doesn't get funding, although the arrears are also used as an excuse. I believe that's why people like former President Chissano are involved."People like the former President Chissano bring in the political side as a respected statesman to also unlock the doors as far as the sanctions are concerned so that we tackle both issues (arrears and sanctions)," he said. By PTI BENGALURU: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday hailed the people of Karnataka for giving a ray of hope to the entire country by defeating a "fascist, communal and divisive" BJP in the recently-concluded Assembly election. She, however, cautioned people against the developments that happened in Delhi, saying that it was a wake-up call for everyone as it can happen anywhere in the country. Mufti was referring to an ordinance passed by the President on Friday, May 20, giving overriding powers to the Delhi's Lieutenant Governor -- a union government nominee -- to oversee the transfer, posting and disciplinary proceedings against civil servants in Delhi. The ordinance was brought in just a week after a Supreme Court Constitution Bench had ruled that powers over the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in the national capital lay with the Delhi government and not the Central government. The apex court had made it clear that the Central government cannot take over governance of elected state governments. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, she said, "Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call for everyone. Whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country." The PDP chief added, "BJP doesn't want to have any opposition. The Delhi government has been disempowered. This is going to happen to everyone. " Mufti also said she will not contest the Assembly election till Article 370 is restored in her state. However her party PDP will contest the election. "Karnataka has given a ray of hope to the entire country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and everyone in the BJP were using religion in the Karnataka elections but still people voted them out," she said in a press conference here. According to her, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra had laid the foundation for Congress' victory in the Karnataka Assembly election. "Last five years were hit by hatred and communal politics. Divisive politics was played here also in Karnataka. Now Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar will heal the wounds," the PDP chief said. Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir was the first state to be hit by the "divisive and communal politics" but the people of Karnataka voted BJP out of power. Talking about her state, she said Jammu and Kashmir was given special status, which was the best example of federalism, but "the state was dismembered, disintegrated and disempowered by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian constitution". "Today ours is the most militarised state where everyday harassing and frisking are happening in the name of security," the former chief minister pointed out. She said she spoke about her state to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and others during the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Karnataka CM. "I want people to pay attention to what has happened in J&K. All our passports have been confiscated. If this can happen to a family where I was a CM, and my mother is the wife of Late Mufti Mohammed Syed, a former CM and former union minister, it can happen to everyone," the PDP chief said. Stating that Jammu and Kashmir has become an open-air prison, Mufti alleged that China is now interfering in the its affairs, which only Pakistan used to do earlier. "This is what the BJP has done by abrogating Article 370," she lamented. On a question about Congress not inviting many opposition parties' chief ministers during the swearing in ceremony of Siddaramaiah yesterday, such as BRS's K Chandrasekhar Rao, YSR Congress's Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and CPI(M)'s Pinarayi Vijayan, Mehbooba Mufti said the Congress has to sacrifice more; "otherwise there are other options". BENGALURU: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday hailed the people of Karnataka for giving a ray of hope to the entire country by defeating a "fascist, communal and divisive" BJP in the recently-concluded Assembly election. She, however, cautioned people against the developments that happened in Delhi, saying that it was a wake-up call for everyone as it can happen anywhere in the country. Mufti was referring to an ordinance passed by the President on Friday, May 20, giving overriding powers to the Delhi's Lieutenant Governor -- a union government nominee -- to oversee the transfer, posting and disciplinary proceedings against civil servants in Delhi.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The ordinance was brought in just a week after a Supreme Court Constitution Bench had ruled that powers over the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in the national capital lay with the Delhi government and not the Central government. The apex court had made it clear that the Central government cannot take over governance of elected state governments. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, she said, "Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call for everyone. Whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country." The PDP chief added, "BJP doesn't want to have any opposition. The Delhi government has been disempowered. This is going to happen to everyone. " Mufti also said she will not contest the Assembly election till Article 370 is restored in her state. However her party PDP will contest the election. "Karnataka has given a ray of hope to the entire country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and everyone in the BJP were using religion in the Karnataka elections but still people voted them out," she said in a press conference here. According to her, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra had laid the foundation for Congress' victory in the Karnataka Assembly election. "Last five years were hit by hatred and communal politics. Divisive politics was played here also in Karnataka. Now Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar will heal the wounds," the PDP chief said. Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir was the first state to be hit by the "divisive and communal politics" but the people of Karnataka voted BJP out of power. Talking about her state, she said Jammu and Kashmir was given special status, which was the best example of federalism, but "the state was dismembered, disintegrated and disempowered by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian constitution". "Today ours is the most militarised state where everyday harassing and frisking are happening in the name of security," the former chief minister pointed out. She said she spoke about her state to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and others during the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Karnataka CM. "I want people to pay attention to what has happened in J&K. All our passports have been confiscated. If this can happen to a family where I was a CM, and my mother is the wife of Late Mufti Mohammed Syed, a former CM and former union minister, it can happen to everyone," the PDP chief said. Stating that Jammu and Kashmir has become an open-air prison, Mufti alleged that China is now interfering in the its affairs, which only Pakistan used to do earlier. "This is what the BJP has done by abrogating Article 370," she lamented. On a question about Congress not inviting many opposition parties' chief ministers during the swearing in ceremony of Siddaramaiah yesterday, such as BRS's K Chandrasekhar Rao, YSR Congress's Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and CPI(M)'s Pinarayi Vijayan, Mehbooba Mufti said the Congress has to sacrifice more; "otherwise there are other options". Prasanta Mazumdar By IMPHAL: The days-long communal violence in Manipur has subsided but the scars will remain. Official sources said 1,700 houses were torched by mobs across districts. The state government said it would rebuild the houses but the victims are still so terrified that they say they will not return to their villages. The displaced Meiteis and Kukis are lodged in relief camps in the Imphal valley and some hill districts respectively. People from both communities said it would take years for the wounds to heal. When a mob started burning down the houses in my locality in Churachandpur town, I had called up the police but nobody came to help us, Shantikumar Sagolsem, who is lodged at a relief camp in Bishenpur district, told this newspaper. No plans to go back We cannot go back. When nobody came to rescue us during violence, how can we live among them or trust the government? We have no plans to go back. We have to protect our lives, he said. Fellow Meitei Laishram Rakesh Singh, who too fled his home in Churachandpur and is lodged at another relief camp in Bishenpur, said he would not return to the hill town regardless of whether government builds a house for his family. Inungnganbi, a 23-year-old schoolteacher, said she is staring at a bleak future. We are now homeless. If we go to the houses of our relatives, for how long will they keep us? I desperately need a job. How will my school-going siblings continue their studies, said the young woman from Churachandpur, who appeared clueless about the future.I dont want to go back. For years, all communities lived together peacefully. Then, all of a sudden, they attacked us and burned down our houses. We are not going back. I am happy that we are alive, Inungnganbi said with tears in her eyes. Destroyed in minutes Boboi Ningthoujam, another inmate, said he had built his house brick by brick and it took just a few minutes for a mob to destroy it completely. Thopau Vaiphei, a Kuki, lodged at a relief camp in Churachandpur town, is also clueless about the future of his family. His house at Kangbai in Bishenpur district was reduced to ashes by a mob. Fellow Kuki P Thenjawl is leading a cluttered existence at this relief camp. He comes from a village on the border of Kangpokpi and Imphal East districts. I havent seen such mob fury. Not a single house in my village was spared, the 30-year-old said. I dont think I can go back. Given the huge number of houses that are to be rebuilt, insiders in the state government felt it will take years to resettle these homeless people. I am a Kuki! To escape certain death, Shantikumar Sagolsem had to shout out: I am a Kuki. The 47-year-old, brought up in the Kuki-majority Churachandpur, naturally considered it his hometown. He can fluently speak the Kuki language, and it saved his life. He was resting at his house after closing his variety shop on May 3. He had no idea that the violence, which broke out on the borders of Churachandpur and Bishenpur districts, spread to Churachandpur. Around 7 pm, a mob, armed with machetes and knives, swooped down on our locality and attempted to burn down the houses. It is a colony of around 100 Meitei families. After segregating the women and children at one place, we frantically called up the police but nobody came, Sagolsem, now lodged at a relief camp, said. Business plummets as internet still down Long queues outside banks and ATM booths are now a common sight in Manipur. The Internet is down and shops in many areas remain shut for days following ethnic clashes. People are struggling for cash. Essential commodities prices have skyrocketed. Owners of commercial establishments selling costly items are at their wits end. Displaced tribals lodged in relief camps The displaced Meiteis and Kukis are lodged in relief camps in the Imphal valley and some hill districts respectively. People from both communities said it would take years for the wounds to heal. The state government said it would rebuild the houses but the victims are still so terrified that they say they will not return to their villages. (Concluded) IMPHAL: The days-long communal violence in Manipur has subsided but the scars will remain. Official sources said 1,700 houses were torched by mobs across districts. The state government said it would rebuild the houses but the victims are still so terrified that they say they will not return to their villages. The displaced Meiteis and Kukis are lodged in relief camps in the Imphal valley and some hill districts respectively. People from both communities said it would take years for the wounds to heal. When a mob started burning down the houses in my locality in Churachandpur town, I had called up the police but nobody came to help us, Shantikumar Sagolsem, who is lodged at a relief camp in Bishenpur district, told this newspaper. No plans to go back We cannot go back. When nobody came to rescue us during violence, how can we live among them or trust the government? We have no plans to go back. We have to protect our lives, he said. Fellow Meitei Laishram Rakesh Singh, who too fled his home in Churachandpur and is lodged at another relief camp in Bishenpur, said he would not return to the hill town regardless of whether government builds a house for his family.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Inungnganbi, a 23-year-old schoolteacher, said she is staring at a bleak future. We are now homeless. If we go to the houses of our relatives, for how long will they keep us? I desperately need a job. How will my school-going siblings continue their studies, said the young woman from Churachandpur, who appeared clueless about the future.I dont want to go back. For years, all communities lived together peacefully. Then, all of a sudden, they attacked us and burned down our houses. We are not going back. I am happy that we are alive, Inungnganbi said with tears in her eyes. Destroyed in minutes Boboi Ningthoujam, another inmate, said he had built his house brick by brick and it took just a few minutes for a mob to destroy it completely. Thopau Vaiphei, a Kuki, lodged at a relief camp in Churachandpur town, is also clueless about the future of his family. His house at Kangbai in Bishenpur district was reduced to ashes by a mob. Fellow Kuki P Thenjawl is leading a cluttered existence at this relief camp. He comes from a village on the border of Kangpokpi and Imphal East districts. I havent seen such mob fury. Not a single house in my village was spared, the 30-year-old said. I dont think I can go back. Given the huge number of houses that are to be rebuilt, insiders in the state government felt it will take years to resettle these homeless people. I am a Kuki! To escape certain death, Shantikumar Sagolsem had to shout out: I am a Kuki. The 47-year-old, brought up in the Kuki-majority Churachandpur, naturally considered it his hometown. He can fluently speak the Kuki language, and it saved his life. He was resting at his house after closing his variety shop on May 3. He had no idea that the violence, which broke out on the borders of Churachandpur and Bishenpur districts, spread to Churachandpur. Around 7 pm, a mob, armed with machetes and knives, swooped down on our locality and attempted to burn down the houses. It is a colony of around 100 Meitei families. After segregating the women and children at one place, we frantically called up the police but nobody came, Sagolsem, now lodged at a relief camp, said. Business plummets as internet still down Long queues outside banks and ATM booths are now a common sight in Manipur. The Internet is down and shops in many areas remain shut for days following ethnic clashes. People are struggling for cash. Essential commodities prices have skyrocketed. Owners of commercial establishments selling costly items are at their wits end. Displaced tribals lodged in relief camps The displaced Meiteis and Kukis are lodged in relief camps in the Imphal valley and some hill districts respectively. People from both communities said it would take years for the wounds to heal. The state government said it would rebuild the houses but the victims are still so terrified that they say they will not return to their villages. (Concluded) NEW DELHI: The second edition of the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG) 2023 will be held from Sunday across the country, except in Jammu and Kashmir and riot-hit Manipur. According to UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar, in the first phase - from May 21 to 25 - as many as 8 lakh students are slated to take the exam. A total of 13.95 lakh students have paid the fees for the examination for admission to various undergraduate courses. About 200 papers in all subjects are scheduled in this phase. As the debut edition of the CUET-UG last year was marred by technical glitches, cancellations and exam centre woes, this time, the UGC chairperson said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had taken all measures to test the readiness of all centres regarding computers, network infrastructure and security. SoPs are given to observers and invigilators for all centres. Dummy tests have been conducted to check for any possible issues. Extra computers have been arranged at each centre. In case of any unforeseen problems with computers, students can be quickly shifted to these computers, Kumar told this newspaper. But days before the second edition exams were to begin, students from Jammu and Kashmir complained that their examination centres were in far off places, some even in different states, for which they had to travel hundreds of kilometres. The same problem was witnessed in the debut exams when students had to travel to other states to take the exam. After the hue and cry, UGC and NTA announced that exams in Jammu and Kashmir have been deferred. Now, exams in Jammu and Kashmir will be held from May 26. NTA is now trying to find additional examination centres with the help of the local administration. As many as 87,309 candidates are taking the exam this year in the union territory, up from 13,021 students last year. Exams have also been deferred in Manipur, which was rocked by violence earlier this month. NTA ready CUET-UG last year was marred by tech glitches, cancellations and exam centre woes, this time, the NTA had taken all measures to test the readiness of all centres regarding computers, network infrastructure and security NEW DELHI: The second edition of the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG) 2023 will be held from Sunday across the country, except in Jammu and Kashmir and riot-hit Manipur. According to UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar, in the first phase - from May 21 to 25 - as many as 8 lakh students are slated to take the exam. A total of 13.95 lakh students have paid the fees for the examination for admission to various undergraduate courses. About 200 papers in all subjects are scheduled in this phase. As the debut edition of the CUET-UG last year was marred by technical glitches, cancellations and exam centre woes, this time, the UGC chairperson said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had taken all measures to test the readiness of all centres regarding computers, network infrastructure and security. SoPs are given to observers and invigilators for all centres. Dummy tests have been conducted to check for any possible issues. Extra computers have been arranged at each centre. In case of any unforeseen problems with computers, students can be quickly shifted to these computers, Kumar told this newspaper. But days before the second edition exams were to begin, students from Jammu and Kashmir complained that their examination centres were in far off places, some even in different states, for which they had to travel hundreds of kilometres. The same problem was witnessed in the debut exams when students had to travel to other states to take the exam.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); After the hue and cry, UGC and NTA announced that exams in Jammu and Kashmir have been deferred. Now, exams in Jammu and Kashmir will be held from May 26. NTA is now trying to find additional examination centres with the help of the local administration. As many as 87,309 candidates are taking the exam this year in the union territory, up from 13,021 students last year. Exams have also been deferred in Manipur, which was rocked by violence earlier this month. NTA ready CUET-UG last year was marred by tech glitches, cancellations and exam centre woes, this time, the NTA had taken all measures to test the readiness of all centres regarding computers, network infrastructure and security Dilip Singh Kshatriya By AHMEDABAD: Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday warned that India must constantly be alert against its neighbours as he laid the cornerstone for a campus of the National Academy of Coastal Policing (NACP) in Okha, Gujarat. India has a land border that is 15,500 kilometres long and a sea border that is 7,500 km long, We also have neighbours, against whom we always need to maintain vigil, Shah said, who was speaking at the ceremony where the ground-breaking rituals for the NACP campus was performed. Attacking previous governments, Shah said, Our nation has seen several negative events as a result of inconsistent coastline security. The Bombay blasts will never be forgotten by a nationalist. One sixty six innocent people were slaughtered as a result of a minor error. When the Mumbai terror attack unfolded (26/11 terror attacks), the nations security became a laughingstock around the world. The Union minister also mentioned that the soon-to-be-opened academy will churn out over 3,000 coastal police officers annually. The campus is coming up in the Devbhoomi Dwarka district of Gujarat. Additionally, the Union minister expressed happiness at the ongoing development of the institution under the Border Security Force (BSF) on 450 acres. The Centre has approved spending of Rs 441 crore to build state-of-the-art training facilities, contemporary infrastructure, and cutting-edge technology for the NACP. Praising the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah said that the PM has always had the countrys armed forces in mind. He has improved their facilities, taken good care of their families, and given the army the modern equipment required for security. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the academys establishment in 2018. The NACP was founded to offer comprehensive and advanced training to the Central Police Forces, the Marine Police of the nine Coastal States, and the Marine Police of the five Union Territories. Shah also virtually opened five BSF Coastal Outposts off the coast of Jakhau in Kutch and one watchtower at Lakhpatwari in Sir Creek. Shah said, During the 10 years of UPA rule, only `630 crore worth of drugs were seized. Shah was referring to the combined operation between the Indian Navy and the Narcotics Control Bureau that resulted in the seizure of drugs worth Rs 12,000 crore off the coast of Kerala. This demonstrates that our Border Security Force (BSF) has become more vigilant, the Union home minister said. AHMEDABAD: Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday warned that India must constantly be alert against its neighbours as he laid the cornerstone for a campus of the National Academy of Coastal Policing (NACP) in Okha, Gujarat. India has a land border that is 15,500 kilometres long and a sea border that is 7,500 km long, We also have neighbours, against whom we always need to maintain vigil, Shah said, who was speaking at the ceremony where the ground-breaking rituals for the NACP campus was performed. Attacking previous governments, Shah said, Our nation has seen several negative events as a result of inconsistent coastline security. The Bombay blasts will never be forgotten by a nationalist. One sixty six innocent people were slaughtered as a result of a minor error. When the Mumbai terror attack unfolded (26/11 terror attacks), the nations security became a laughingstock around the world. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Union minister also mentioned that the soon-to-be-opened academy will churn out over 3,000 coastal police officers annually. The campus is coming up in the Devbhoomi Dwarka district of Gujarat. Additionally, the Union minister expressed happiness at the ongoing development of the institution under the Border Security Force (BSF) on 450 acres. The Centre has approved spending of Rs 441 crore to build state-of-the-art training facilities, contemporary infrastructure, and cutting-edge technology for the NACP. Praising the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah said that the PM has always had the countrys armed forces in mind. He has improved their facilities, taken good care of their families, and given the army the modern equipment required for security. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the academys establishment in 2018. The NACP was founded to offer comprehensive and advanced training to the Central Police Forces, the Marine Police of the nine Coastal States, and the Marine Police of the five Union Territories. Shah also virtually opened five BSF Coastal Outposts off the coast of Jakhau in Kutch and one watchtower at Lakhpatwari in Sir Creek. Shah said, During the 10 years of UPA rule, only `630 crore worth of drugs were seized. Shah was referring to the combined operation between the Indian Navy and the Narcotics Control Bureau that resulted in the seizure of drugs worth Rs 12,000 crore off the coast of Kerala. This demonstrates that our Border Security Force (BSF) has become more vigilant, the Union home minister said. Rajesh Kumar Thakur By NEW DELHI: Most chief ministers belonging to the non-BJP-ruled states are expected to come together at the meeting of the upcoming NITI Aayogs governing council on several matters involving the states. The Opposition parties are up against the PM Modi-led government on several issues such as agriculture, MNREGA funds, health and education. The Centre has convened the NITI Aayogs Governing Council meeting on May 27 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Modi, who is also the chairman of the council. The council meeting will take place a day after the PM Modi dedicates to the nation the newly constructed Parliament building on May 28. Speculation is rife that when efforts are being made to forge Opposition unity for the 2024 parliamentary polls, many chief ministers of non-BJP-ruled states, such as West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka could make it a point to attend the meeting to demonstrate the show of unity. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, I will participate. There is no other platform to highlight the issues of the state even if I am allowed to speak only at the end, Mamata had said a couple of days ago. They could let me speak after sunset and after everyone. Still, I will go. I have been escalating several matters related to West Bengal, and I will highlight those, the CM said. Last year, Mamata had left the Niti Aayogs governing council meeting midway citing the cyclone situation in Kolkata. Sources said the government would like the CMs to showcase the new building for the G20 meeting. The buzz is that a meeting of CMs of prominent opposition parties is also expected on May 27 that will discuss the opposition unity and strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 parliamentary polls. The CMs from opposition parties are expected to put up a united front at the meeting on various issues, reflecting the larger objective of such coordination for the 2024 polls, said a source in the Opposition. Sources said besides Mamata, CMs of Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab and Rajasthan are likely to attend the meeting. This is going to be the last meeting before the Lok Sabha polls. Thats why the significance of the opposition unity, said a Congress leader. The Niti Aayogs governing body encapsulates the objectives of cooperative federalism, presenting an open platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to speed up the implementation of the national development agenda. NEW DELHI: Most chief ministers belonging to the non-BJP-ruled states are expected to come together at the meeting of the upcoming NITI Aayogs governing council on several matters involving the states. The Opposition parties are up against the PM Modi-led government on several issues such as agriculture, MNREGA funds, health and education. The Centre has convened the NITI Aayogs Governing Council meeting on May 27 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Modi, who is also the chairman of the council. The council meeting will take place a day after the PM Modi dedicates to the nation the newly constructed Parliament building on May 28. Speculation is rife that when efforts are being made to forge Opposition unity for the 2024 parliamentary polls, many chief ministers of non-BJP-ruled states, such as West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka could make it a point to attend the meeting to demonstrate the show of unity. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, I will participate. There is no other platform to highlight the issues of the state even if I am allowed to speak only at the end, Mamata had said a couple of days ago. They could let me speak after sunset and after everyone. Still, I will go. I have been escalating several matters related to West Bengal, and I will highlight those, the CM said. Last year, Mamata had left the Niti Aayogs governing council meeting midway citing the cyclone situation in Kolkata. Sources said the government would like the CMs to showcase the new building for the G20 meeting. The buzz is that a meeting of CMs of prominent opposition parties is also expected on May 27 that will discuss the opposition unity and strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 parliamentary polls. The CMs from opposition parties are expected to put up a united front at the meeting on various issues, reflecting the larger objective of such coordination for the 2024 polls, said a source in the Opposition. Sources said besides Mamata, CMs of Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab and Rajasthan are likely to attend the meeting. This is going to be the last meeting before the Lok Sabha polls. Thats why the significance of the opposition unity, said a Congress leader. The Niti Aayogs governing body encapsulates the objectives of cooperative federalism, presenting an open platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to speed up the implementation of the national development agenda. By PTI TORONTO: A 44-year-old Indian-origin man has been charged with first-degree murder for stabbing a Sikh woman in Canada's Brampton city. Nav Nishan Singh stabbed to death Davinder Kaur, 43, on Friday at Sparrow Park in Brampton city, Peel Regional Police said in a statement on Friday. The police said it found the victim with signs of trauma on a footpath after it reached the site following a call about the stabbing at about 6 pm. Attempts to revive her failed as she succumbed to her injuries at the scene, the police said. Singh was arrested at a short distance from the crime scene and has been charged with first-degree murder. According to Constable Tyler Bell, the two knew each other but the specifics of their relationship as well as the motive for the stabbing remain unclear. "Homicide investigators will be canvassing local residents for any (video) footage," Toronto Star quoted Bell as saying. Singh appeared in Brampton court on Saturday morning. With a population of more than 7,00,000 people, Brampton is home to the biggest concentration of the Punjabi community in Canada. TORONTO: A 44-year-old Indian-origin man has been charged with first-degree murder for stabbing a Sikh woman in Canada's Brampton city. Nav Nishan Singh stabbed to death Davinder Kaur, 43, on Friday at Sparrow Park in Brampton city, Peel Regional Police said in a statement on Friday. The police said it found the victim with signs of trauma on a footpath after it reached the site following a call about the stabbing at about 6 pm.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Attempts to revive her failed as she succumbed to her injuries at the scene, the police said. Singh was arrested at a short distance from the crime scene and has been charged with first-degree murder. According to Constable Tyler Bell, the two knew each other but the specifics of their relationship as well as the motive for the stabbing remain unclear. "Homicide investigators will be canvassing local residents for any (video) footage," Toronto Star quoted Bell as saying. Singh appeared in Brampton court on Saturday morning. With a population of more than 7,00,000 people, Brampton is home to the biggest concentration of the Punjabi community in Canada. By PTI KATHMANDU/SINGAPORE: An Indian-origin Singaporean climber has gone missing while returning from the summit of Mount Everest, his family has said and called for urgent attention to his situation. Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya, 39, went missing on Friday from camp IV situated at an altitude of 8,400 metres while returning from the Summit, said Mingma Sherpa, chairperson of the Seven Summit Trek, which organised the expedition. Search operations were being carried out with the help of Sherpa guides, but there was no information regarding his whereabouts till Sunday afternoon, Expedition Manager Chhang Dawa Sherpa told PTI. "We have also asked other climbers who have returned from the Summit but there was no clue about him," he said, adding that the search is going on to locate the missing climber. According to a petition on the website change.org, Shrinivas set out from Singapore to Nepal last month to climb the world's highest peak. His cousin Divya Bharath wrote in the petition that on the way down, Shrinivas seemed to have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness. This probably might have resulted in Shrinivas getting separated from the rest of his group, and "fell at around 8,000 metres, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain". A Singaporean news channel on Saturday cited Bharath as saying that a team of sherpas began search operations for Shrinivas on Saturday morning. He was reportedly last in contact with base camp officials at around 8,500 metres. In the petition, Bharath wrote that the family has reached out to the governments concerned. "This matter needs to be brought to their attention on an urgent basis. We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain as well as to ensure that this whole rescue operation is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork," Channel News Asia quoted Bharath as saying. She added that Shrinivas' family was devastated but did not want to lose hope. Shrinivas, 39, who is an executive director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, left for Mount Everest on April 1. He was due to return home on June 4. According to a report by The Straits Times newspaper, Shrinivas last sent a text message to his wife on Friday saying that he has reached the summit of Everest but was not likely to make it back down. His wife Sushma Soma said that she last heard from him at 3.30 pm on Friday. "Through his satellite phone, he told me that he had made it to the summit. But then followed with bad news. He said that he would not be able to make it down," Soma was quoted as saying by the newspaper. She added that Shrinivas had told her he was down with high-altitude cerebral edema, a severe type of high-altitude illness that could prove fatal. Soma learnt at 2 am on Saturday that the two Sherpas her husband was with and another person in the group made it down from the mountain but Shrinivas never did. According to Channel News Asia, the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi has been in close contact with Shrinivas' family, local authorities in Nepal and emergency medical services since Friday evening. Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to monitor developments and render the necessary consular support to the family during this difficult time, the channel cited the ministry as saying. KATHMANDU/SINGAPORE: An Indian-origin Singaporean climber has gone missing while returning from the summit of Mount Everest, his family has said and called for urgent attention to his situation. Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya, 39, went missing on Friday from camp IV situated at an altitude of 8,400 metres while returning from the Summit, said Mingma Sherpa, chairperson of the Seven Summit Trek, which organised the expedition. Search operations were being carried out with the help of Sherpa guides, but there was no information regarding his whereabouts till Sunday afternoon, Expedition Manager Chhang Dawa Sherpa told PTI.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "We have also asked other climbers who have returned from the Summit but there was no clue about him," he said, adding that the search is going on to locate the missing climber. According to a petition on the website change.org, Shrinivas set out from Singapore to Nepal last month to climb the world's highest peak. His cousin Divya Bharath wrote in the petition that on the way down, Shrinivas seemed to have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness. This probably might have resulted in Shrinivas getting separated from the rest of his group, and "fell at around 8,000 metres, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain". A Singaporean news channel on Saturday cited Bharath as saying that a team of sherpas began search operations for Shrinivas on Saturday morning. He was reportedly last in contact with base camp officials at around 8,500 metres. In the petition, Bharath wrote that the family has reached out to the governments concerned. "This matter needs to be brought to their attention on an urgent basis. We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain as well as to ensure that this whole rescue operation is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork," Channel News Asia quoted Bharath as saying. She added that Shrinivas' family was devastated but did not want to lose hope. Shrinivas, 39, who is an executive director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, left for Mount Everest on April 1. He was due to return home on June 4. According to a report by The Straits Times newspaper, Shrinivas last sent a text message to his wife on Friday saying that he has reached the summit of Everest but was not likely to make it back down. His wife Sushma Soma said that she last heard from him at 3.30 pm on Friday. "Through his satellite phone, he told me that he had made it to the summit. But then followed with bad news. He said that he would not be able to make it down," Soma was quoted as saying by the newspaper. She added that Shrinivas had told her he was down with high-altitude cerebral edema, a severe type of high-altitude illness that could prove fatal. Soma learnt at 2 am on Saturday that the two Sherpas her husband was with and another person in the group made it down from the mountain but Shrinivas never did. According to Channel News Asia, the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi has been in close contact with Shrinivas' family, local authorities in Nepal and emergency medical services since Friday evening. Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to monitor developments and render the necessary consular support to the family during this difficult time, the channel cited the ministry as saying. TAM Development Co, a Saudi-based digital solutions and management consultancy, has opened the subscription for its initial public offering (IPO) of 585,600 shares representing 16% of firms share capital on the Nomu-Parallel Market. The price range has been set between SR100 ($26.67) and SR130 per share. The subscription period will run for five days from May 21 to May 25 for qualified investors only, and the final allocation of the offer shares will take place on May 30. The book-building process for qualified investors will be led by Yaqeen Capital, and 16% of the total issued share capital of TAM will be made available under the offering, which was approved by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) on December 29, 2022. Unique model TAM offers a unique model that integrates digital solutions and advisory services, partnering with its clients to lead public impact. It delivers effective, efficient, and sustainable services by leveraging the latest technologies. Its in-house and extended partners are equipped to design state-of-the-art digital solutions that complement its Advisory practice. TAM has witnessed strong growth for more than 10 years under the leadership of Abdullah A Yousef, Founder and CEO of TAM. It has evolved from a digital solutions company to one that incorporates advisory services. Today, TAM has delivered more than 150 national projects and served more than 20 sectors in Saudi Arabia and in the region. TAM has more than 200 employees and expert contractors, and calls some of the leaders in their fields as board members, including Omar Aljeraisy, Chairman of TAM, angel investor, author and board member of several successful Saudi enterprises, such as Thmanyah, a leading podcast platform and documentary producer, and Dr. Abdulla Elyas, Co-founder of Careem, a successful ride-hailing business that was acquired by Uber Technologies, in 2019.-- TradeArabia News Service News / Local by Staff reporter Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, has taken the country's quest to build an efficient and resilient health system to international health funders to counteract the impact of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.On Friday, the Vice President, who is here for the 76th edition of the World Health Assembly (WHA76), met the executive director of the Global Fund, Mr Peter Sands, and apprised him on the country's progress in transforming the health sector.The Global Fund is a worldwide movement that intends to eradicate HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, as well as help build stronger and resilient health systems globally.Partnering more than 100 countries, the fund invests up to US$4 billion annually to achieve its goals.The Global Fund has provided US$504 million to Zimbabwe to fight HIV, TB and malaria for the period 2024 to 2026.Zimbabwe, which has been commended for the resilience of its health sector, especially under the weight of the two-decades-old sanctions, is now targeting partnerships to expedite its progress towards universal health coverage.The main challenge Zimbabwe is facing, and for which it is seeking partnerships, is in the area of training medical personnel, particularly in the wake of massive recruitments by Western countries.In his meeting with Mr Sands, VP Chiwenga said the country was struggling to retain its health professionals."Let me, at the outset, express my country's gratitude to you for your commitment and able stewardship of this strategic important organisation to many of us," said VP Chiwenga."Another key strategic area we are requesting support from the Global Fund is the support in retention and production of the much-needed health workforce to support programme implementation."Yes, it is a human right for an individual to go to work where they want, but taking our own situation, it is difficult to raise the funding to train them in the first place."We would want assistance in that area if we are to produce more because our budget is limited."Government, he said, welcomes the announcement that the Global Fund was planning to launch a new financing cycle to fight malaria in 2024."Zimbabwe requests to be considered under this financing cycle to cover needs and specific interventions for different groups in malaria prevention."Given that your organisation focuses on end users, including communities, among others, it is my fervent hope that Zimbabwe will be included in that initiative."The funding would be instrumental in sourcing new vaccines and prevention tools for effective treatment of malaria."In response, Mr Sands asked for a detailed proposal in writing, which the VP said will be delivered soon.Mr Sands also expressed his organisation's enthusiasm in partnering Zimbabwe.He recalled the meeting he held with President Mnangagwa last year in New York, where the President extended US$1 million to the Global Fund."We were thrilled to have His Excellency the President (Mnangagwa) in New York for our summit (7th Global Fund Pledging Conference) and he pledged US$1 million, which is hugely appreciated," said Mr Sands."We also have a partnership within Zimbabwe and the programmes under your leadership are making a huge difference on HIV, TB and malaria, and saving lives in Zimbabwe and reducing the burden of diseases." Ukraine has our budget support for 2023 and early 2024: G7 leaders statement Tokyo, May 19: Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Friday said they had ensured that Ukraine had the budget support it needs for this year and early 2024 as they renewed their commitment to provide financial and military support in its fight against Russia. Ukraine has our budget support for 2023 and early 2024: G7 leaders' statement "We reaffirm our strong commitment to ensuring that Ukraine has the economic support it needs. Under the leadership of Japan's G7 Presidency, together with the international community, we have ensured Ukraine has the budget support it needs for 2023 and early 2024," read the White House G7 Leaders' Statement on Ukraine.They also welcomed the approval of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and looked forward to the swift implementation of Ukraine's reforms supported by the program.The program will help to stabilize Ukraine's macroeconomic and financial situation, contribute to longer-term economic sustainability, and help to catalyze further financial support from other countries and institutions as well as the private sector."We commit to continuing our security assistance to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia's aggression, tailoring our support to Ukraine's needs. We stress the importance of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in coordinating military and defense assistance by each country provided in line with its national circumstances," added the statement."Welcome announcement that the US will approve the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. The UK will work together with the USA and the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark to get Ukraine the combat air capability it needs. We stand united," tweeted UK PM Rishi Sunak.Reacting to it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted, "I welcome the historic decision of the United States and @POTUS to support an international fighter jet coalition. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky. I count on discussing the practical implementation of this decision at the #G7 summit in Hiroshima."The leaders said in a joint statement existing measures against Russia would be broadened and any exports that could help it in its 15-month war against Ukraine would be restricted across the G7 countries."This includes exports of industrial machinery, tools, and other technology that Russia uses to rebuild its war machine," they said in a joint statement, adding that efforts would continue to restrict Russian revenues from its trade in metals and diamonds.Amid evidence that existing sanctions were being weakened by circumvention, they said the group was "engaging" with countries through which any restricted G7 goods, services or technology could transit through to Russia."We note and encourage commitments made by these countries to ensure our measures are not circumvented and have the intended effect," they said, without naming any territories.At the G7 Summit held in Hiroshima, the leaders "reaffirmed commitment to stand together against Russia's illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine" and condemned "Russia's manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and the impact of Russia's war on the rest of the world.""We are imposing further sanctions and measures to increase the costs to Russia and those who are supporting its war effort," read the statement.The G7 leaders said that 15 months of Russian aggression has cost thousands of lives, inflicted immense suffering on the people of Ukraine, and imperiled access to food and energy for many of the world's most vulnerable people."We salute the Ukrainian people for their brave resistance. Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not tire in our commitment to mitigate the impact of Russia's illegal actions on the rest of the world," the leaders' statement said.ANI20 May 2023 Shared Recently! Hyderabad preferred destination for US aerospace, defence firms: KTR Hyderabad, May 19: Hyderabad has emerged as the most preferred investment destination for US aerospace and defense companies, said Telangana's Minister for Industries and Information Technology K.T. Rama Rao during his ongoing US visit. Hyderabad preferred destination for US aerospace, defence firms: KTR Amid the visit, he led the aerospace and defense roundtable in Washington DC, where prominent US majors, advisory firms, think tanks, and startups participated, according to a statement from the minister's office in Hyderabad.KTR, as the minister is popularly known, showcased the spectacular growth of the aerospace sector and private sector defence investments in Telangana in the past nine years, it said.Stating that aerospace and defence is a thrust sector in Telangana, he said that Telangana has achieved a remarkable feat by winning the best state awards for aerospace for three years in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Hyderabad was also ranked No 1 Aerospace city of Future in Cost effectiveness parameter by Financial Times FDI rankings 2020-21. These recognitions reflect the State's progressive outlook towards the aerospace sector, he said.Telangana hosts multiple production lines for US majors including Lockheed Martin joint venture with Tata group that manufactures and exports Sikorsky helicopter cabins, C130 J empennages and F 16 Wings. Similarly, Boeing JV with TATA manufactures the entire Apache fuselages, Chinook aerostructures including tail and nose cones, and vertical stabilizers for the 737 series of aircrafts.GE manufactures engine parts in Hyderabad. Raytheon group's Pratt and Whitney has their only engine training centre in India in Hyderabad. Safran has recently inaugurated their aero engine parts manufacturing facility and announced the first Engine MRO by an OEM in India in Hyderabad.The manufacturing ecosystem is supported by 1000 plus MSMEs exclusively into aerospace and defence manufacturing, many of whom are already integrated into the global supply chains of the OEMs, the minister said.Telangana has created several dedicated aerospace and precision engineering clusters with world class infrastructure. Adibatla Aerospace SEZ is one amongst the first aerospace SEZs in the country which host most of the mega projects of the Tata Group and their US JV partners. The minister highlighted how TS-iPASS, the revolutionary industrial policy, helped boost industry confidence by granting online time bound and transparent approvals based on self-certifications.Leadership teams from industry giants met with KTR in Washington and New York. The discussions revolved around investment opportunities and expansion plans.KTR met Lockheed Martin Corporation senior leaders Ray Piselli, VP International Business and Global Business Development and Dave Sutton, Director for International Government Affairs on ongoing manufacturing programmes in Hyderabad and new programmes in pipeline.During the meeting, held in Washington DC, the Lockheed Martin leaders appreciated the unmatched support received from Telangana government during the pandemic days and assured support for the various skilling initiatives undertaken by the state including the plan to establish a world class aerospace university proposed in partnership with leading OEMS."Glad to note that Lockheed is planning their next supply chain meet in Hyderabad and is actively speaking to several Telangana based MSMEs and start-ups for fruitful collaborations," said KTR.IANS20 May 2023 Shared Recently! Bihar Power Department cancels BJPs auditorium booking for executive committee meet Patna, May 19: Bihar's Power Ministry on Friday has cancelled the booking of its auditorium here for the BJP state executive committee meeting 24 hours before the event. Bihar Power Department cancels BJP's auditorium booking for executive committee meet The BJP state unit had booked the auditorium well before this meeting, and paid the booking amount. However, the Power Department said that the auditorium is not meant for political purposes and hence, the department is cancelling the booking.Power Minister Bijendra Yadav said "BJP had booked the auditorium for an event of Kailashpati Nyas. Now, we have learned that the BJP will organise a state executive committee meeting. As there is no provision to organize an event in the auditorium of the Power Department for political purposes, the department has cancelled the booking.""The BJP, instead of blaming the Bihar government, has to book the Bapu Sabhagar or Gyan Bhawan for a political event," he said.Meanwhile, state BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary claimed that the state government is "frightened" of the BJP and hence it has cancelled the booking just 24 hours before to "sabotage the event"."We have booked the auditorium in advance. Why have they taken the booking if there was no provision of political events to be organized in it. It is a well planned conspiracy to disturb us," he said.IANS20 May 2023 Shared Recently! At less than an hour, third in-person Quad summit could be the shortest yet Washington, May 19: The third in-person Quad summit that was to take place in Australia earlier is now being held in Japan's Hiroshima on Saturday. Scheduled to last only 40 minutes, it will perhaps be the shortest summit yet of the body that has been seen as the Indo-Pacific bulwark against rising China. At less than an hour, third in-person Quad summit could be the shortest yet US President Joe Biden, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi of India, Anthony Albanese of Australia and Fumio Kishida of Japan will meet on the sidelines of the ongoing G-7 summit, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is travelling with the US delegation in Japan, said Friday."Along with sharing strategic assessments, the leaders will welcome new forms of Quad cooperation on secure digital technology, submarine cables, infrastructure capacity building, and maritime domain awareness," Jean-Pierre said further, adding, "President Biden thanks Prime Minister Albanese, as well as the Prime Ministers of Japan and India, for their flexibility, and he looks forward to rescheduling his trip".Biden was earlier to travel to Australia from Japan for a bilateral summit with Albanese and a Quad summit, joined by Modi and Kishida. But he cancelled that leg as, the White House has said, he needs to be back in Washington to negotiate a budget deal with Republicans to raise America's debt limit and prevent it from defaulting, which could have grave consequences not only for the US but the world at large. The two sides have until June 1 to come to an agreement.The cancellation of Biden's Australia visit has raised questions about America's commitment to the Quad, which has had a checkered history - taking off as a group to organise relief and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami, it fell apart in 2008 as Australia bolted, caving in to Chinese pressure; it was resurrected by the Donald Trump administration with an officials-level meeting in 2017 and it grew rapidly to meetings of the Foreign Ministers of the four countries and to a summit-level meeting in January 2021, although it took place virtually.The first in-person summit-level meeting took place in September 2021 in Washington DC and it lasted over 2 hours, according to a schedule released at the time by the White House of the president's engagements. Biden and Modi were joined by then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and then Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga.It was also a convenient time for the summit to take place in the US as the leaders were all expected to be in the the country for the annual UN General Assembly meetings in New York. Biden also held his first in-person bilateral meetings with each of the three leaders, having taken charge earlier in the year.The second in-person Quad summit took place in May 2022 in Tokyo. And the four leaders spent considerable time together, according to the White House schedule of the US President. Biden, Modi, Albanese and Kishida first met as a group for 2 hours and then together launched an application for the Quad Fellowship and carried on for a working lunch.The third in-person summit, which is taking place in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G-7 summit joined by invited leaders of non-member countries such as India and Australia, is scheduled to start at 8.05 p.m. local time, according to a White House schedule, and the president and first lady Jill Biden are scheduled to leave together for a dinner with G-7 and invited leaders at 8.45 p.m.IANS20 May 2023 Shared Recently! Indian-American high schooler wins top computer science award New York, May 19: An Indian-American and three others have been selected among a pool of graduating high school seniors as a recipient of the Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing that empowers students to pursue computing challenges beyond the traditional classroom environment. Indian-American high schooler wins top computer science award Sirihaasa Nallamothu of University High School in Normal, Illinois, will receive a $10,000 cash prize for her project that was selected by a panel of judges based on ingenuity, complexity, relevancy and originality.Her project engages modern technology and computer science to address the research gap to predict Vasovagal Syncope -- a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure leading to fainting -- in Patients with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).Inspired from a TikTok that led her down a rabbit hole about POTS, Sirihaasa found to her surprise there were no research studies or consumer solutions to predict syncope on real-world data.Sirihaasa is the first person to conduct an Institutional Review Board research study and collect human subject field data on POTS patients in the real world using non-invasive technologies, according to a news release.She wrote a Python script to extract the 15-minute window signal data of heart rate, blood volumetric pressure, EDA, temperature, and accelerometer data, the release added.The high schooler also founded a Girls Who Code club at her Middle school, developed and taught coding curriculum/activities, managed grants/funding, and networked and planned events.After completing her research, Sirihaasa plans to work toward creating a consumer product and pairing her algorithm with a smart watch.The Cutler-Bell Prize promotes the field of computer science and empowers students to pursue computing challenges beyond the traditional classroom environment.In 2015, David Cutler and Gordon Bell established the award.Cutler is a software engineer, designer, and developer of several operating systems at Digital Equipment Corporation. Bell, an electrical engineer, is Researcher Emeritus at Microsoft Research.This year's Cutler-Bell Prize recipients will be formally recognised at the Computer Science Teachers Association's 2023 Virtual Conference, July 11-13.IANS20 May 2023 Shared Recently! Bezos Blue Origin wins NASA astronaut moon lander contract Washington, May 19: In some tough competition to Elon Musk-run SpaceX, the US space agency on Friday selected Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to develop a human landing system for the agency's Artemis V mission to the Moon. Bezos' Blue Origin wins NASA astronaut moon lander contract The NASA award is worth $3.4 billion, and Blue Origin said it's contributing "well north" of that figure on its own. The Blue Origin-led effort is a more than $7 billion project.Blue Origin's national team partners include Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics."Honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon a" this time to stay. Together, we'll be solving the boil-off problem and making LOX-LH2 a storable propellant combination, pushing forward the state of the art for all deep space missions", Bezos tweeted.Blue Origin will design, develop, test, and verify its Blue Moon lander to meet NASA's human landing system requirements for recurring astronaut expeditions to the lunar surface, including docking with Gateway, a space station where crew transfer in lunar orbit.In addition to design and development work, the contract includes one uncrewed demonstration mission to the lunar surface before a crewed demo on the Artemis V mission in 2029.The total award value of the firm-fixed price contract is $3.4 billion."We are excited to announce Blue Origin will build a human landing system as NASA's second provider to deliver Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.The agency previously contracted Musk's SpaceX to demonstrate an initial human landing system for the Artemis III mission.Under that contract, the agency also directed SpaceX to evolve its design to meet the agency's requirements for sustainable exploration and to demonstrate the lander on Artemis IV.Through Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, uncovering more scientific discoveries, and preparing for future astronaut missions to Mars.IANS20 May 2023 Shared Recently! Jijau Sanstha Librarys Students appointed to the post of Engineer in ONGC Mumbai, May 20: Two students have been selected for the post of engineer in ONGC, a corporation under the Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas, under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, taking advantage of the facility of upsc / mpsc academy and library, which is being run free of charge by Jijau Sanstha. Milind Shankar Tople has come first from Maharashtra in the ST category, and Swapnil Patil from the OBC category has come second from Maharashtra. Jijau Sanstha Library's Students appointed to the post of Engineer in ONGC Through Jijau Sanstha, youths and young women in various remote areas of Thane Palghar Konkan are supported through multiple educational activities to build their future. Today, taking advantage of it, many students are seen joining the government service in good positions. The founder of the Jijau organization, Nilesh Sambare, has been carrying out various activities through his organization since 2008, with the firm will that the young men and women of these areas should also be seen in superior and high positions and should become officers.Due to the lack of education and facilities as well as proper guidance, many students miss out on good opportunities despite their merits, as a result of which they have to settle for a meager salary as a simple peon, clerk, or in a private company. To change this situation, 43 UPSC or MPSC libraries operate at various places on behalf of the Jijau Institute.By taking advantage of the institute's free academy and library, more than 500 officers have been instituted today. Some have even made it to IPS. Thousands of boys and girls have been selected for police recruitment. The recently completed recruitment process of 910 posts in Mumbai Municipal Corporation was conducted. In this, 104 students of Jijau Academy who received free training from Jijau Educational and Social Institution, Maharashtra-run Jijau Police Force, and Fire Pre-Training Center Valboli have been selected.Milind Shankar Tople and Swapnil Patil, selected for the engineer's post in ONGC, were congratulated on behalf of the organization and wished for their future progress.YouTube Video-This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)ANI20 May 2023 Shared Recently! Students must script the blueprint of New India @ 2047: V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar Chandigarh, May 20: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday called upon the students o work tirelessly, avail opportunities and script the blueprint for New India at 2047, when the nation celebrates the centenary of its independence. Students must script the blueprint of New India @ 2047: V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar Encouraging students to make opportunities out of challenges, he suggested that "nothing is more dangerous than to have a brilliant idea parked in your mind. Act on the ideas by unleashing your talent and exploiting your potential", stated an official release.The Vice-President was the Chief Guest at the 70th Annual Convocation of Panjab University, Chandigarh. During the ceremony, the Vice-President, who is also the Chancellor of Panjab University, conferred the Honoris Causa (Doctor of Literature) on noted educator and philanthropist, Sudha N. Murty and Honoris Causa (Doctor of Laws) on the former Chief Justice of India and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Ranjan Gogoi.Addressing the gathering, the Vice-President reminded the students about their "responsibility to contribute to the wider good of society, and to work for the greater good of all". "Ensure and inculcate a deep sense of keeping Nation Always First", he said.Hailing the National Education Policy 2020 as a game changer, the Vice-President said the policy developed after consultation with all sections, is transforming education at all levels.The Vice-President observed that systemic reforms and affirmative governance measures in recent years have paid rich dividends and that India, "the largest functioning democracy, is a favourite global destination of opportunity and investment and a bright star in the world economic growth".Touching upon digital transformation in India, the Vice-President referred to IMF recognising India's digital development as a "world-class digital public infrastructure", serving as a model for other nations undergoing digital transformation. He also referred to Direct Benefit Transfers through PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, the MUDRA scheme, etc as reflective of India's changing governance model which gives no scope for pilferages.In his address, the Vice-President noted that the convocation was being organised under the first woman Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University- Prof Renu Vig. He appreciated that Panjab University is home to some of the most illustrious alumni and called upon them to catalyse further growth of the University. He lauded the University for forever pursuing excellence, noting the various MoUs signed with foreign Universities and its participation in international projects like the High Energy Research Programme.During his visit, the Vice-President held separate meetings with Senate Members, Syndicate Members, the Students' Union, the Teachers Association and the Non-Teachers' Association of Panjab University.Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Punjab, Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor of Haryana, Som Prakash, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, were among the dignitaries present at the event.ANI20 May 2023 Shared Recently! NGT gives no objection to installation of lighthouse near Yamuna floodplains for surveillance New Delhi, May 20: The National Green Tribunal has given no objection to the installation of a lighthouse in the greenway, adjacent to the Yamuna flood plains, for additional surveillance and security of the flood plains. NGT gives no objection to installation of lighthouse near Yamuna floodplains for surveillance The bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel in an order passed on Friday, May 19, 2023, stated, "We are of the view that on principle there can be no objection to the proposal if it's approved by the High-Level Committee (HLC) and is meant for protection of flood plain zone.""It is within the purview of permissible activity in terms of para 80 of the order of this Tribunal dated 13.1.2015 and River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order, 2016," he added.Tribunal also said that the installation would require an examination of the details of the project with integrated environmental management requirements."This will require examination of the details of the project with its location in the context of notified flood plain zone, structural designs, maintenance infrastructure like Power backup, basic amenities support and construction period with integrated environmental management requirements," it added."In our view, a further appraisal of activity being permissible should be by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and if permission is given considering all relevant parameters, suitable safeguards found necessary for the protection of the flood plain zone of Yamuna be adopted," said the Tribunal."NMCG may take a decision preferably within one month of receiving the proposal. Statutory regulators may oversee compliance as per law," it added.The direction of NGT came during the hearing of an intervention application moved by DDA submitted that the application became necessary in view of the prohibition of any construction in flood plain zone unless such activity is of exceptional nature for the protection of flood plain.DDA's application stated that the HLC has been planning and overseeing rejuvenation work and in the course thereof, it was conceived that to prevent encroachment and for beautification of the flood plain of river Yamuna, ancillary activities are required such as bio-diversity parks to attract and educate citizens and nature enthusiasm without causing any damage to flood plain within the purview of orders of this Tribunal.The proposed site for the installation of the lighthouse falls in the greenways that has been recommended by the experts of the Principal Committee, to be designed as a public interactive zone. The installation is likely to occupy an area of 75-100 sq.m with a height ranging between 20-25 metres, stated the plea.A Lighthouse will further enhance the experience by providing an overview of the restored Floodplains and River Yamuna. In view of the current dearth of existing urban spaces in Delhi, for the recreation of the public at large, facilities as envisioned under the rejuvenation plan will result in the creation of one-of-its-kind urban space in Delhi.Efforts in this direction will assist the public and citizenry to take ownership of the flood plains and further act as a deterrent for encroachers, noted the Tribunal.ANI20 May 2023 Shared Recently! News / Local by Staff reporter A fleet of 18 Russian Ansat helicopters was delivered to Zimbabwe this week to assist with policing and disaster relief. Speaking at the handover ceremony in Harare, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Russian Ambassador Nikolay Krasilnikov said that sanctioned states must cooperate with each other.Built by Kazan Helicopters, 12 of the Ansat choppers will be used for disaster management, while six will be put to use by law enforcement. By 2025, the country's fleet is expected to grow by nearly three dozen."It makes us proud that in the current geopolitical situation, Russia and Zimbabwe are all-weather friends," Krasilnikov said at the ceremony on Thursday. "The ultimate goal of our governments and businesses is to make the life of our people more comfortable, safe, and secure."Zimbabwe was placed under sanctions by the US and EU in the early 2000s over alleged election fraud and human rights abuses. Mnangagwa and his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, were both personally blacklisted, and the US maintains a ban on the sale or supply of most defense and technology items to Zimbabwe."Now for 23 years we are living under sanctions imposed by the West," Mnangagwa said on Thursday, claiming that Washington's "intention is regime change.""We are constrained to acquire the tools we need to mitigate the impact of cyclones and disasters," he continued, adding that he decided to buy Russian helicopters after reaching out to his "brother," Russian President Vladimir Putin. We will be happy to host Quad Summit in India in 2024, says PM Modi in Japan Hiroshima, May 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that India will be willing to host the next Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting in 2024. We will be happy to host Quad Summit in India in 2024, says PM Modi in Japan "We will be happy to host the Quad summit in India in 2024," PM Modi said in the opening remarks of the Quad meeting held on the sidelines of a Group of Seven Summit (G-7) meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.PM Modi was addressing leaders of the US, Australia and Japan, which along with Japan constitute the informal strategic forum called the Quadrilateral Grouping whose primary objective is working for a free, open, prosperous, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region."Quad will continue to make efforts towards global good, welfare of the people, prosperity and peace," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.The forum traces its genesis to 2004, when the four countries came together to coordinate relief operations in the aftermath of the tsunami.In 2007, the group again met on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) sidelines. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was the first to pitch the idea for the formation of Quad in 2007.Earlier this week, the planned summit of Quad leaders from the US, India, Australia, and Japan in Sydney was cancelled after US President Biden withdrew from his visit due to ongoing debt limit talks in Washington.However, the White on Friday (local time) agreed to hold the summit in Japan's Hiroshima."After President Biden had to postpone his trip to Australia, the Quad leaders agreed that they would hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year. So tomorrow, in addition to the G7, President Biden will participate in the third in-person Quad Leaders' meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India," read a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.Biden scrapped his planned trip to Sydney as well as a historic visit to Papua New Guinea. The decision -- which prompted Albanese to cancel the scheduled Quad summit -- was seen as a self-inflicted blow to hopes of a more visible US presence in the Indo-Pacific amid its competition with China in the region.US President Biden thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Japan's prime minister Fumio Kishida for agreeing to participate in the Quad meeting today on the sidelines of the G7 summit here.The White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement on Friday (local time) said that Quad leaders agreed to hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year."Along with sharing strategic assessments, the leaders will welcome new forms of Quad cooperation on secure digital technology, submarine cables, infrastructure capacity building, and maritime awareness," the statement added.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! Russia warns of enormous risks if West supplies F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine Moscow, May 20: Western countries are sticking to an escalation which carries enormous risks for them if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Saturday, according to TASS News agency. Russia warns of 'enormous risks' if West supplies F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine "We can see that Western countries continue to stick to an escalation scenario, which carries enormous risks for them. In any case, we will take it into account when making plans. We have all the necessary means to achieve our goals," he said on the sidelines of the 31st Assembly of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy when asked to comment on the possible supplies of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine.Earlier, on Friday, US President Joe Biden informed G7 leaders that America will support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation aircraft, including F-16s, reported CNN citing a senior administration official.The official also stated that the training is not expected to happen in the US but maybe in Europe. But US personnel will participate in the training alongside allies and partners in Europe, the official said.It is expected to take several months to complete and the official said the hope is it will begin "in the coming weeks," according to CNN.The decision marks a stark turnaround for Biden, who said earlier this year that he did not believe that Ukraine needed the F-16s.The decision to support the training initiative came together very quickly, officials said and was made by Biden following meetings with G7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, where the topic of F-16s to Ukraine was a key point of discussion.In recent days, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also been pushing particularly for countries that have the jets in their stockpile to send them to Ukraine so that the country can better defend itself against Russia's daily aerial attacks, according to CNN."As the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them," the official said.The official added, "To date, the United States and our allies and partners have focused on providing Ukraine with the vast majority of the systems, weapons, and training it requires to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer. Discussions about improving the Ukrainian Air Force reflect our long-term commitment to Ukraine's self-defence," CNN reported.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! Namaste to India, greets Robot deployed at G7 Summit in Hiroshima Hiroshima, May 20: At the Group of Seven or G7 Summit, a robot deployed at International Media Centre in Hiroshima greeted Indians with Namaste and urged them to visit Japan and know about Japanese culture. Namaste to India, greets Robot deployed at G7 Summit in Hiroshima Japan's advanced technology and love for robots are not unheard of; the same was seen at the International Media Centre as Robot was saying "Namaste to India"."I want Indian people to come to Japan and know about the Japanese culture," Robot said.In this year's G7 Summit, the main aim was the disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Japan on Friday to attend the G7 Summit as a chief guest at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.On Saturday, in the G7 session on 'Working Together to Address Multiple Crisis', PM Modi listed 10 points call to action to address food, health and development-related issues plaguing the world.The 10 points are Firstly, develop inclusive food systems that protect the most vulnerable, including marginal farmers, and the second was to adopt Millets path to nutritional and environmental benefits. thirdly was to stop food wastage to strengthen food security, according to the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.Meanwhile, the fourth point was to depoliticize global fertilizer supply chains, fifth one was to develop an alternative model to fertilizers, sixth was to develop resilient healthcare systems"Promote holistic healthcare; pursue traditional systems of medicine, Promote digital health to ensure global universal health coverage, Ensure mobility of healthcare professionals, Build development models inspired by needs of developing countries; not driven by consumerism," Bagchi added.On the Sidelines of the G7 Summit, PM Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.PM Modi will be in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to May 21.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! This is Kashmir where the G20 will take place -Arab influencer Amjad Tahas praise for India Srinagar, May 21: Describing Kashmir as the paradise on earth as he praised the beauty of the Union Territory, Arab influencer Amjad Taha said that this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. 'This is Kashmir where the G20 will take place' -Arab influencer Amjad Taha's praise for India Known as "paradise on Earth," it's a place that has protected the Earth and may be the answer to climate change, the influencer wrote on Twitter."This is not Switzerland or Austria; this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. It's called the 'paradise on Earth,' a place that has preserved the Earth and can be the solution for climate change. In Kashmir, we see Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians all living in peace and enjoying their diverse land while contributing to world innovation and development for the future," Amjad Taha tweeted on Saturday.Kashmir ensures that despite the unrest and the violence, it's sheer beauty continues to mesmerize people and give meaning to famous poet Amir Khusrau's words even today, "Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast. (If there is a heaven on earth, it is here.)"Under India's presidency, the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting is scheduled to take place in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir from May 22-24.The tourism industry has played a crucial role in the development of the Union Territory. However, years of instability have impacted the tourism industry, leading to a decline in the number of visitors.The G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir promises to initiate a tidal wave of transformative outcomes, setting the region on a new trajectory towards stability, economic growth, and social development.People directly or indirectly connected with the tourism sector in Kashmir believe that the G20 meeting can attract investors and tourists from across the globe.They say that it will not only promote Jammu and Kashmir at the international level but the tourism sector of Kashmir will get a new dimension.Various departments are busy preparing for the G20 meeting to be held in Srinagar, while many others have finalised their preparations.There is also a program for the visit of delegates from 20 countries to the city of Gulmarg and Dal Lake. A large part of it has already been cleaned and the cleaning work on the other part is going on in full swing.The sanitation work is carried out in Dal throughout the year. But for the G20 meeting, special attention is being paid to the cleaning of several important places in the lake.India assumed the presidency of the G20 grouping on December 1, 2022, and will hold the post for a year.Meanwhile on Friday, China maintained its firm stance and said that it will not attend the next week's G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir, stating that it opposes holding any such meetings in the "disputed territory.""China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory. We will not attend such meetings," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a regular press conference when asked about several reports doing the rounds that China will boycott G20 meetings planned in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.Incidentally, China is a close ally of Pakistan and relations between India and Pakistan have been precarious for many years with regard to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! 231 stolen antiques brought back to India in the last 9 yrs: Union MoS Jitendra Singh New Delhi, May 20: As many as 231 stolen antiques have been brought back to India in the last nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Union Minister of State (MoS) Jitendra Singh said on Saturday. 231 stolen antiques brought back to India in the last 9 yrs: Union MoS Jitendra Singh The Union MoS (Independent Charge) Science and Technology gave this information to the mediapersons during his visit to the first-ever three-day International Museum Expo 2023 inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi at Pragati Maidan here."This is in contrast to the fact that till 2014, for almost 70 years since independence, just about 13 invaluable heritage antiques of Indian origin were brought back from abroad by the previous Governments. A total of 231 antique items were brought back after 2014, with the number now going up to 244 antiques. The process of bringing more of such antiquities is continuing on the fast track," the MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space added.Through the Department of Biotechnology in the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Minister said, we have already set up museums in the Aspirational district of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh which was inaugurated a few months back. Other places where such museums have already become functional or soon going to become functional are Wayanad in Kerala, Siddharthnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Nuh in Haryana, Dholpur in Rajasthan, Raichur in Karnataka and Kalyani in West Bengal, he added.Jitendra Singh said that these museums among other things display the traditional knowledge as well as the success stories of the last few years like the first ever Covid vaccine success story from India, the display of the immune system related to the prevention of diseases through vaccines and even includes science quiz corners.The Union Minister also took a walkthrough of Techno Mela, Conservation Lab and the Exhibitions showcased on the occasion."Prime Minister Modi has accorded high priority to conserving our heritage and creating a new legacy," he said.The International Museum Expo is being organised as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 47th International Museum Day with the theme of the year 'Museums, Sustainability and Well Being'.The International Museum Expo 2023 was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on International Museum Day celebrated annually on May 18.During the visit, the MoS said that the Museum Expo is designed to initiate a holistic conversation on Museums to enable them to evolve as cultural centres that play a pivotal role in India's cultural diplomacy, in a year where India holds the G-20 Presidency.He further appreciated the efforts of different stakeholders including Government functionaries, Museum professionals, Academicians and aligned service-technology providers for organising a wonderful Museum expo to spread awareness about the country's heritage.The Minister visited the Exhibition of Star Objects which includes 75 curated objects from 25+ museums and institutions across India curated by Gauri Krishnan Parimoo, Chief Curator. He also visited the Exhibition of 500 book covers on books related to Museums, Museology and Conservation and Ragamala paintings.The Techno Mela which the Minister visited includes 55-plus booths showcasing technologies being used in Museums and museum projects from across the country including showcases of upcoming projects like the Lothal Maritime Heritage Complex, Indian Navy Museums, and Police Memorial Museum, the Ministry stated.The Minister also visited the Conservation Lab which showcases the art and science of preventive and curative conservation approaches in India across material genres.The Expo also includes Museum Expo Sessions having Master Classes, Panel Discussions, Workshops and Film Shows and Showcase of Virtual Museums.Under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Union Ministry of Culture is organising the first-ever International Museum Expo 2023, a three-day event, being held at Pragati Maidan in the national capital from May 18-20, the Ministry added.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! Global South is not a terminology, its sentiment, says Kwatra on no mention of Global South in G7 joint statement Hiroshima, May 20: The Global South is not a terminology but a sentiment, a real concern and the reality of the challenges and the problems, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra commented on the o mention of Global South in the G7 joint statement. Global South is not a terminology, it's sentiment, says Kwatra on no mention of Global South in G7 joint statement During the special briefing on PM Modi's visit to three-nation Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, Kwatra, on Saturday, also stated that as a member of the Global South, India is also a voice of the Global South."Global South, I would urge you not to dismiss it as terminology. It is a sentiment. It is a real concern. It's a reality of the challenges and the problems. And in all the bilateral meetings that my Prime Minister had today, every leader that he met, spoke about and referred to the challenges of the Global South," Kwatra said.This statement came after the term "Global South" was not used in the Group of Seven leaders' communique.In the special briefing, the Foreign Secretary recalled the time in January when Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Global South countries to come together and share their priorities, concerns, interest, challenges, what they expect from G20, and what they expect from the rest of the world."Prime Minister Narendra Modiji invited 135 countries of the Global South and 125 countries attended that summit. Voice of Global South, the summit itself was structured around six sessions. There were two leaders-level session bookends opening and closing. And there were ministerial sessions on finance, commerce, environment conservation, and development partnership," Kwatra said.He further stated, "And here is what came out as the voice of Global South when you say the voice of Global South, in some manner, these are individual voices, but in some manner, this is also a voice of a collective, which is countries of the Global South and the whole objective of the Honorable Prime Minister was to listen to that voice and also, in a way, speak for that voice of course, as a member of Global South, we are one of them, but we are also a voice of Global South.""Today, PM Modi, at G7 Summit, spoke about the developmental template, when the countries in the Global South spoke, they said that there is a disproportionate impact of conflict in Ukraine on them. Food availability, basic food, raw materials have dried up, fertilizers are too expensive, and oil is not available," Kwatra said.The Global South states were described as "regional," "willing," and "like-minded" partners with whom the G7 will work to realise a free and open Indo-Pacific, strengthen the international order based on the rule of law, and oppose economic coercion.Earlier, Japan's senior Foreign Ministry source said, some countries believe the term is condescending, and G7 members are beginning to realise it is not acceptable to put such countries together and this is why the Global South term is not used", The Japan Times reported.But, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida has mentioned "stronger involvement in the Global South" as a key issue at the summit. He uses the term very often at news conferences.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! You are too popular... US Presidents praise for PM Modi during Quad Summit Hiroshima, May 21: Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi very popular, United States President said that he is running out of tickets for the Indian leader's event being organized during his (PM Modi's) visit to the US next month, according to the sources. You are too popular... US President's praise for PM Modi during Quad Summit On Saturday, during the Quad meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, President Biden came up to PM Modi and told that he's been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the program PM Modi.Biden, while talking to PM Modi, said, "You are demonstrating that democracies matter," according to the sources."You are causing me a real problem. Next month we have a dinner (during PM Modi's visit to the US in June) for you in Washington. Everyone in the whole country wants to come. I have run out of tickets. You think I am kidding? Ask my team. I am getting phone calls from people I have never heard of before. Everyone from movie actors to relatives. You are too popular," Sources quoted him saying.He further stated that PM Modi has made a significant impact on everything, including what the other three members doing in QUAD."You also made a fundamental shift in climate. You have influence in Indo-Pacific. You are making a difference," Biden added.Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also present when US President was speaking to PM Modi.Both PM Albanese and Biden complained to PM Modi about their peculiar challenges.PM Albanese further remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium, more than 90,000 people welcomed PM Modi during the victory lap.To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, "I should take your autograph."PM Narendra Modi will embark on an official state visit to the United States on June 22. During his visit, PM Modi will be hosted by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at a state dinner at the White House, the Ministry of External Affairs informed through a press statement.The MEA statement further said the visit will underscore the growing importance of the strategic partnership between India and the United States, as the two nations are already collaborating across sectors.Meanwhile, a 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 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 added."The leaders will discuss ways to further expand our educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, as well as our work together to confront common challenges from climate change, to workforce development and health security," it stated further.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! I should take your autograph... US President Joe Biden to PM Modi Hiroshima, May 21: US President Joe Biden on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his autograph after discovering how he has been managing large crowds, according to sources. I should take your autograph... US President Joe Biden to PM Modi Yesterday during the Quad meeting, President Joe Biden came up to PM Modi and told that he's been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the program of PM Modi.To this, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was also present on the occasion added that there is a capacity of 20,000 for the community reception in Sydney but he is still not able to accommodate the requests he is getting.Both President Biden and PM Albanese complained to PM Modi about their peculiar challenges.PM Albanese further remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium, more than 90,000 people welcomed PM Modi during the victory lap.To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, "I should take your autograph."PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan.The prime minister is visiting the East Asian country at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to 21.PM Modi on Saturday said that India will be willing to host the next Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting in 2024."We will be happy to host the Quad summit in India in 2024," PM Modi said in the opening remarks of the Quad meeting held on the sidelines of a Group of Seven Summit (G-7) meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.PM Modi was addressing leaders of the US, Australia, and Japan, which along with Japan constitute the informal strategic forum called the Quadrilateral Grouping whose primary objective is working for a free, open, prosperous, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region."Quad will continue to make efforts towards global good, welfare of the people, prosperity and peace," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.Earlier this week, the planned summit of Quad leaders from the US, India, Australia, and Japan in Sydney was cancelled after US President Biden withdrew from his visit due to ongoing debt limit talks in Washington.However, the White on Friday (local time) agreed to hold the summit in Japan's Hiroshima."After President Biden had to postpone his trip to Australia, the Quad leaders agreed that they would hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year. So tomorrow, in addition to the G7, President Biden will participate in the third in-person Quad Leaders' meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India," read a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.Biden scrapped his planned trip to Sydney as well as a historic visit to Papua New Guinea. The decision -- which prompted Albanese to cancel the scheduled Quad summit -- was seen as a self-inflicted blow to hopes of a more visible US presence in the Indo-Pacific amid its competition with China in the region.US President Biden thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Japan's prime minister Fumio Kishida for agreeing to participate in the Quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit here.The White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement on Friday (local time) said that Quad leaders agreed to hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year."Along with sharing strategic assessments, the leaders will welcome new forms of Quad cooperation on secure digital technology, submarine cables, infrastructure capacity building, and maritime awareness," the statement added.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! PM Modi wraps up fruitful visit to Japan, departs for Papua New Guinea Hiroshima, May 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday wrapped up his fruitful visit to Japan, and departed for Papua New Guinea. PM Modi wraps up fruitful visit to Japan, departs for Papua New Guinea "It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and the people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while," tweeted PM Modi.The PM of Papua New Guinea will receive PM Modi, James Marape upon his arrival at Port Moresby, where he will be accorded a full ceremonial reception.The Prime Minister is on a six-day visit to three countries -- Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24.This tour comprises the G7 and Quad summits in Hiroshima, bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and hosting the third summit for the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) in Papua New Guinea."Wrapping up an action-packed visit! PM @narendramodi concludes his visit to Japan following two days of intense bilateral and multilateral engagements with key partners. PM now departs for Port Moresby for the next leg of his visit," tweeted the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.PM Modi also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday and held bilateral talks with other member states.Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskyy invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and also thanked him for supporting the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty.Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy said, "Had a meeting with Prime Minister of India @narendramodi in Japan. I briefed the interlocutor in detail on the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and invited India to join its implementation. I spoke about Ukraine's needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals. I thank India for supporting our country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organizations, and for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine."In the meeting, PM Modi assured that he will do whatever is possible to help in resolving the Ukraine conflict."India and I will do whatever we can for resolving the conflict," PM Modi said.Zelenskyy said that he believed that India will participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need.Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy shared a video where he said, "I spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I gave an update on the progress of our peace formula. We have already passed many stages of presenting the formula to leaders and countries from different parts of the world. The day before the formula was successfully presented to the participants of the Arab League Summit.""I believe India will participate in restoring the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need," he added.Earlier today, he discussed the India-UK free trade agreement, innovation and science with UK PM Rishi Sunak.The two leaders reviewed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationship, read the MEA press release.They also discussed India's ongoing G-20 Presidency and PM Modi welcomed Sunak in New Delhi for the G-20 Summit.PM Modi wore a jacket made of recycled material at the G7 summit in Japan on Sunday.The leaders of the world's most powerful democracies have come together in deliberations on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and vouched for peace via diplomacy too.The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! PM Modi, Sunak hold discussion on progress in India-UK FTA negotiations Hiroshima, May 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his United Kingdom counterpart Rishi Sunak, on Sunday, discussed the India-UK free trade agreement, innovation, and science along with Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries. PM Modi, Sunak hold discussion on progress in India-UK FTA negotiations PM Modi and UK PM Sunak met in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit and discussed wide-ranging aspects in Hiroshima."We discussed boosting cooperation in trade, innovation, science, and other such sectors,' PM Modi shared on Twitter."The two leaders reviewed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationships," according to the official statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs.A UK-India trade agreement will stimulate growth and employment in both countries and will help diversify supply chains by making it easier and cheaper for more businesses to do business across borders. The seventh round of India-UK FTA discussions took place in London from February 6-10.Both leaders also discussed India's ongoing G-20 Presidency and PM Modi welcomed Sunak in New Delhi for the G-20 Summit.Earlier today, PM Modi began his day by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitor's book.PM Modi along with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and other leaders paid tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan.Prime Minister Modi was seen having a brief conversation with Australian PM Anthony Albanese as the invited countries were on their way to pay tributes to Hiroshima victims.PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit. The Prime Minister is visiting the East Asian country at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to May 21.Apart from Sunak, he met the Brazilian leader today.On Saturday, PM Modi held a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.PM Modi participated in the session on "Working Together to Address Multiple Crises" where he presented suggestions for improving global food security.Speaking at a session," PM Modi said, "The priority should be given to the creation of an inclusive food system focused on the world's most vulnerable people, in particular marginal farmers," making it clear that India's focus remains on the developing countries of the so-called Global South when he speaks at key international forums.PM Modi stressed 10 point call to action at the G7 Summit comprising developing inclusive food systems that protect the most vulnerable, including marginal farmers; adopting Millets path to nutritional and environmental benefits; stopping food wastage from strengthening food security; depoliticizing global fertilizer supply chains; developing an alternative model to fertilizers; developing resilient healthcare systems; promoting holistic healthcare, pursue traditional systems of medicine; promoting digital health to ensure global universal health coverage; ensuring mobility of healthcare professionals and building development models inspired by needs of developing countries, not driven by consumerism.The G7 Summit is an international forum held annually for the leaders of the G7 member states of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada (in order of rotating presidency), and the European Union (EU).Japan under its G7 Presidency has invited leaders from Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Vietnam.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! News / Local by Staff reporter All is set for the UB40 featuring Ali Campbell show that will be held at the Old Hararians on Africa Day amid revelations that the gig is almost sold-out.Organisers told Standard Style that preparations for the show, which kick starts the English reggae and pop band outfit's concerts in southern Africa, were at an advanced stage.UB40 featuring Ali Campbell are on a tour of southern Africa that will see them perform in South Africa and Zimbabwe between May 25 and June 3.Zimbabwe hosts the group on May 25 before Campbell leads the reggae and pop band outfit across the Limpopo where they will perform in Cape Town on May 30 and Durban on June 1 and 2 before wrapping up with a show at the Sun Bet Arena, Time Square in Pretoria.The first gig at the Durban Arena was sold out which compelled organisers to come with another show at the same venue the following day.The Pretoria gig was also sold-out while the organisers in South Africa are optimistic that the Cape Town gig and the second Durban show would be sold out before end of this week.Walter Wanyanya of Ngoma Nehosho Promotions said all was set for the British outfit."We are set and ready to welcome UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell to Harare, Zimbabwe for a show that will go down in history as iconic," Wanyanya said."This event has been in the making for a couple of years, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed it, but we are happy and super excited to finally have this legendary band in Zimbabwe."We still have tickets selling and the VIP is already 60% sold out and GA is now at 75% sold out."Wanyanya urged fans to buy tickets on time to avoid disappointments.Tickets in Harare are being sold at Techtools in Avondale, Pariah in Borrowdale and Avondale, Upstate at Highland Park, Gava Restaurant as well as at the Jam Tree.In Bulawayo, tickets are available at Smoke House and Banff Lodge Hotel.Locals DJ Chiweddar, Mimmie Tarukwana, Josh Ansley and Sylent Nqo will warm the stage for UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell."All these are young Zimbabwean musicians whom we believe have so much to give through their creativity," Wanyanya said."As Zimbabweans we have many reasons to celebrate and this show is going to bring us all together to simply celebrate life through music."In March, UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell promised their legion of fans that they would play mostly classics."We will always play the classics, like Red Red Wine and (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You, but we like to change the beginning and end of the show," Campbell said in a statement."We will play Lean On Me and maybe add three or four new songs. The band members are all fantastic musicians and we have climbed back up to the biggest venues in the past 12 years."Formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England, UB40 has sold over 70 million records to date as the band continues to curate and build on a legacy that dates back over four decades to the group's formative days.The band's name (UB40) refers to an unemployment benefit form from that time. They were once the voice of the disaffected youth in the United Kingdom.UB40 has also achieved considerable international success, having won several awards and topped many charts. Part of UB40's discography includes, Labour of Love, Signing Off, Rat in the Kitchen, UB40 Live and more.Wanyanya said gates for the show will open at 4:30pm with the first act expected on stage at 5pm while UB40 featuring Ali Campbell is expected to perform from 9pm.UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell is also expected to play some tracks from their forthcoming album Unprecedented, a dedication to the group's late vocalist and percussionist Astro, born Terence Wilson, who died in November 2021 after a short illness. Maharashtra: 3rd G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group meet begins in Mumbai Mumbai, May 21: With a focus on aspects of the blue economy, G20's third Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting began in the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra on Sunday. Maharashtra: 3rd G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group meet begins in Mumbai The three-day meeting that commenced today with a side event on beach clean-up in Mumbai's Juhu beach was followed by beach clean-up activities at five different beaches in Maharashtra.Later, in Mumbai, with a focus on advancing ideation and action for ocean solutions and Environment, the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change hosted an "Ocean 20 Dialogue."While addressing the dialogue today (Ministry of Earth Sciences) Secretary M Ravichandran said that the 'Ocean 20 Dialogue' will bring in experts and policymakers from different sectors and facilitate discussions on aspects related to emerging science, technology, and innovation, challenges associated with effective and inclusive policy and governance, and establishing finance mechanisms to support national and regional Blue Economy endeavours.Later, the Director of The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO addressed the meeting and stated some interesting points towards Environment Climate Sustainability."Promoting a sustainable and climate-resilient blue economy' is one of the priorities identified by the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG), we should all work on Climate solutions and the Blue economy," he stated.The Ocean 20 platform, which was launched during the Indonesia Presidency Dialogue, aims to advance ocean solution ideation and action. The Indian Presidency is exhibiting active leadership by anchoring the Ocean 20 Dialogue in the 3rd ECSWG, which was focused on three major pillars of the Blue Economy.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! UK PM Sunak thanks G7 host Kishida for hospitality in Japan Hiroshima, May 21: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday thanked Japan's counterpart Fumio Kishida for hosting him during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima and shared pictures of the leaders who participated in the Summit. UK PM Sunak thanks G7 host Kishida for hospitality in Japan "At this historic summit, #G7 leaders recommitted ourselves to the path of peace, freedom and democracy. Thank you for your hospitality @kishida230 and Mrs Kishida," he tweeted.Notably, Sunak signed a new deal on defence cooperation with Japan as he met Japan's PM Fumio Kishida ahead of the G7 summit on Friday."The Prime Minister described the UK and Japan as 'islands of innovation', as the leaders discussed the huge opportunities to grow bilateral trade and investment, as well as UK-Japan cooperation on semiconductors and clean energy technology like floating offshore wind," read Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street press release.Semiconductors are used in everything from iPhones to missiles, but the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the world's reliance on Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers. The threat of war in Taiwan, home to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor company, has made Western governments even more desperate to shore up their supply chains.Both leaders welcomed the agreement of The Hiroshima Accord An Enhanced UK-Japan Global Strategic Partnership as a landmark moment in a thriving diplomatic, defence and economic relationship."They agreed that the UK and Japan would continue to work together closely to protect a free and open international order, building on the Global Combat Air Programme and recent Reciprocal Access Agreement," added the press release.Sunak also confirmed that the UK Carrier Strike Group will deploy to the region again in 2025, working alongside the Japanese Maritime Defence Forces. They also discussed further potential cooperation on training and exercising.Sunak described the UK and Japan as 'islands of innovation', as the leaders discussed the huge opportunities to grow bilateral trade and investment.The Prime Minister and Prime Minister Kishida agreed on the importance of the G7 having a unified approach on China, recognising the systemic challenge China poses to our collective economic security and regional stability, added the release.They also discussed the situation in Ukraine, including continued military support to counter Russia's unprovoked invasion and longer-term assistance to help Ukraine recover and defend against future threats.They agreed that the G7 should continue to lead international work on holding Russia to account for its actions and supporting Ukraine to achieve a just and lasting peace, added the release.Sunak is the first British leader to visit Prime Minister Kishida's hometown of Hiroshima.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! Uttarakhands Narendranagar all set to host states second G-20 meet Rishikesh, May 21: Preparations for the second G20 meeting in Uttarakhand's Narendranagar are in full swing, with authorities leaving no stone unturned to make it a big success. Uttarakhand's Narendranagar all set to host state's second G-20 meet The mega event is being organized in Narendranagar town of Uttarakhand's Tehri Garhwal district on May 24 and 25.On Saturday, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority(MDDA) Vice President Banshidhar Tiwari inspected the beautification works being taken up in Muni Ki Reti and Laxman Jhula area and gave necessary instructions.Adequate arrangements have been made to showcase the culture of Uttarakhand to foreign delegates of the G-20.While the grand figure of Bajrang Bali on Janaki Setu will attract the guests, the decoration of the railings and others will add to the attraction, said officials.The Ganga Ghats of the area have also been decorated.The first group of G20 delegates will come to Jollygrant Airport in Dehradun. Here beautiful figures have been engraved on the walls inside and outside the airport to give them a glimpse of the culture of Uttarakhand.The road leading from the airport to Narendra Nagar has also been decorated. The idol of Mahadev situated in the middle of the Ganges will also be a significant attraction, said officials.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! Kunal Kemmu is kicking his way through the weekend like this... Mumbai, May 21: If you are struggling to work out this Sunday, then right away head to actor Kunal Kemmu's Instagram feed. Kunal Kemmu is kicking his way through the weekend like this... Taking to Instagram on Sunday, the actor gave us a glimpse of his weekend workout routine. And it is super inspiring and a treat for fans to watch his chiselled physique.In the video, he can be seen working out with his fitness trainer and flaunting his toned muscles in shorts and a printed t-shirt.Kunal's workout video garnered loads of likes and comments."Can you share your training program?" a social media user asked."GYM inspiration," another one wrote."Kunal bhai just watched your movie '99'. Great story, comedy and acting Kamaal ki movie hai overall, you really are an underappreciated actor I wish to see you in more solo roles..." a social media user wrote.Kunal regularly shares snippets from his workout routine on social media.Kunal is also all set to come up with his directorial debut 'Madgaon Express', headlined by Pratik Gandhi, Avinash Tiwari, Nora Fatehi and Divyendu.He will also be seen in a TV series, 'Gulkanda Talkies', along with Pankaj Tripathi and Abhishek Banerjee.ANI21 May 2023 Shared Recently! Lakshmi Manchu chuffed to be on Golden Globes Tollywood article Hyderabad, May 20: Telugu actress and producer Lakshmi Manchu is all chuffed about a still from her first film, 'Anaganaga O Dheerudu' (2011), accompanying an article by Meher Tatna on the Golden Globes website. Lakshmi Manchu chuffed to be on Golden Globes Tollywood article Tatna, a journalist who writes for 'The New Paper', Singapore, is former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organises the Golden Globes. Her article, which appeared on May 17, is titled 'Tollywood - Telugu Cinema in India'.Appreciating the article, which sheds light on the phenomenal growth of Tollywood, Lakshmi Manchu underlined the need for all regional language industries to be recognised as a unified Indian film industry.Taking to Instagram Reels to share her thoughts, Lakshmi Manchu emphasised the need to acknowledge the diverse nature of the Indian film industry.She said "Just one thought here that I want to put forth, especially to the western world. India is a multicultural and multilingual nation. There are as many film industries as there are languages."Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Odia, Bhojpuri and Assamese language industries are also thriving in their own right. I feel the industry and the nation as a whole, must come out of the woodwork and be perceived as one."We are the Indian Film Industry. It is one big family and every member has their unique significance to make this Indian film industry tick."Lakshmi Manchu drew attention to the robust financial health of the Indian film industry when considered as one.The article quoted impressive turnover figures of $212 million and $197 million for the Telugu and Tamil film industries, respectively, but when combined, just these numbers, without counting Bollywood, reached $409 million, Lakshmi Manchu pointed out.And, she stressed, these figures did not even account for the many other languages and regional industries, underscoring the immense significance of the Indian industry, when counted as a whole.IANS22 May 2023 Shared Recently! Which rough railroad crossing is being removed this week? Why changes are planned for the Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center this summer and next fall? And will the grounds at Woodlawn Cemetery be in better shape for Memorial Day than it was for Mothers Day? (Visitors sure hope so!). News / Local by Staff reporter Zanu-PF's elaborate plan to deploy state security services such as the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the military as part of its strategy to win the harmonised elections at all costs has been laid bare in internal communication.Since the 2017 coup that toppled long time ruler Robert Mugabe, his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been increasingly involving the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the military in Zanu-PF internal politics.According to the constitution, the intelligence services and the military are supposed to be apolitical.Last month, the CIO running under the shadowy Friends Association of Zimbabwe (FAZ) ran the ruling party's primary elections.FAZ, led by CIO deputy director general Walter Tapfumaneyi, had the major say in the primaries.The group was assisted by an army-linked group Heritage Trust, to conduct the elections.This publication has obtained a Zanu-PF internal memo addressed to provincial chairpersons by political commissar Mike Bimha, dated May 19 informing them that FAZ and Heritage will play a huge role in the upcoming voter registration inspection exercise.The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has not announced when it will open the national voters' roll for inspection.However, Bimha said the exercise will be done soon, raising questions about Zanu-PF's relationship with the elections management body.According to Bimha, Zanu-PF will set up national, constituency and polling centre command centres to monitor the voter inspection exercise.These shall be manned by provincial commissars from the main wing, women's, youth and war veteran's league, provincial FAZ and Heritage Trust liaison officers."For this programme to be a success, cell chairpersons and a team comprising cell main wing provincial chairperson, cell women's league chairwoman, cell youth league chairperson and a war veteran at each polling station should be responsible and account for each member in the cell register," Bimha wrote."This team led by the cell chairperson shall physically lead their cell members to the polling station, and retain an auditable record confirming each member's inspection status."It is very critical that data capture is done diligently for this programme."Constituency experts, (FAZ) and Heritage Trust constituency coordinators will monitor and capture data at each polling station as well as submit daily reports to the command centres."The memo was copied to Zanu-PF second secretary Kembo Mohadi, secretary general Obert Mpofu, national chairperson Oppah Muchinguri and spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa."Central committee members, national constitutional assembly (NCA) Members of Parliament (MPs)-elect, sitting MPS and district coordinating committee (DCC) members, constituency experts from FAZ and Heritage liason officers will assist with supervision of the programmes throughout the constituency as well as motivating and directing lower party structures to go and inspect their names," Bimha said.Bimha said the ruling party will use the exercise to audit and update its cell registers."Undertake an audit of party members registered with Zec who are eligible to vote on the election day," he said."Test the capability of party structures to mobilise members to inspect the voters roll and reflect the party's capabilities to mobilise on the election day."Identify gaps in mobilisation capacity and implement appropriate remedies ahead of the harmonised elections and update cell registers and recruit new members."He added: "Ensure that party members identify and familiarise with new boundaries and polling stations following the just-ended delimitation."Mnangagwa has said he will proclaim election dates before the end of the month. Download Now The News-Gazette mobile app brings you the latest local breaking news, updates, and more. Read the News-Gazette on your mobile device just as it appears in print. A new development in Chennai Metro system now allows commuters to purchase their tickets conveniently using WhatsApp. The introduction of the e-ticketing system took place recently, with Chennai Metro Rail Limited Manager Director, E Siddique, present for the launch. Notably, commuters will receive a 20 percent discount on their ticket fare when booking through the WhatsApp messaging app. This initiative aims to enhance accessibility and offer cost-saving benefits to passengers of the Chennai Metro. To avail the new e-ticketing service for Chennai Metro, you can send a message to the CMRL WhatsApp number, which is displayed at all metro stations in the city. Shortly, you will receive a language preference, where you can choose between English and Tamil. Next, you will be presented with two options: booking tickets or searching for a nearby metro station. If you select the Book Your Ticket" option, you will have to choose your starting and ending stations. It is possible to book up to six tickets at once, and you can make the payment using UPI, internet banking, credit/debit cards, and other available options. Once the payment is successful, you will receive a QR ticket. By clicking on the More Options" button, you will gain access to additional information such as fare details, guidelines to follow, helpline numbers, and the operating hours of the metro. Furthermore, you will have the option to bookmark your preferred route for a quicker and more convenient ticketing process in the future. Here are the conditions to keep in mind for Chennai Metro WhatsApp tickets: 1. The QR ticket obtained through WhatsApp is valid until the end of the business day. However, passengers must exit the metro within 120 minutes of their destination once they enter. 2. In the case of exiting at the source station, passengers should leave within 20 minutes from the time they entered. 3. It is important to note that tickets cannot be booked through WhatsApp outside of business hours. 4. Please be aware that cancellation of tickets is not permitted for WhatsApp Ticketing. According to E Siddique, an average of 2.5 lakh passengers commute on the metro. The management has previously introduced various ticketing options, and the latest addition of QR ticketing provides a simple process for passengers. QR tickets can be generated from home, and there is also a mobile app available for this purpose. Additionally, frequent travellers have the option of using the Metro Card, and the recent introduction of the National Common Mobility Card allows for seamless commuting across different cities and metro systems in the country. He also mentioned that soon, the National Common Mobility Card can be utilized for travelling on Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses as well. top videos In an effort to encourage more college students and office-goers residing near the metro stations to experience metro travel, the CMRL has expressed plans to introduce promotional tickets. These special tickets would be available for a duration of approximately 10-20 days and specifically target individuals who have not yet utilized the metro system. By offering these promotional tickets, the CMRL aims to persuade potential commuters to try the metro and showcase the convenience and benefits it offers for their daily transportation needs. Our aim is to make all residents of Chennai travel at least once on the metro. We believe that if they travel once they will opt for it again, he said. The Chief of CMRL also mentioned that the detailed project report for the upcoming metro projects in Coimbatore and Madurai is in its final stages of completion. Japan is making significant investments in India and has emerged as one of the countrys largest investors with a cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounting to US$ 17.15 billion between April 2022 and January 2023, according to the Department of Commerce. The East Asian country has been actively encouraging its companies to relocate their manufacturing operations from China to India. Auguste Tano Kouame, World Banks Country Director in India said, Indias economy has been remarkably resilient to the deteriorating external environment, and strong macroeconomic fundamentals have placed it in good stead compared to other emerging market economies." In this context, PM Modis recent visit to Japan for the G7 Hiroshima Summit 2023 is regarded as a significant milestone in Indias economic transformation. While Indias exports to Japan amounted to US$ 5.18 billion, imports from Japan stood at US$ 11.97 billion during the Financial Year (FY) 2022-23. As per the exchange rate, the Indian currency experienced an appreciation rate of 12.5 percent against the Japanese Yen between April and December 2022. The import figures from Japan to India exhibited a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) growth of 1.6 percent, while Indias exports to Japan experienced a decline of 0.3 percent between the financial years FY2012 and FY2022. As per the Department of Commerce, the bilateral trade or import-export activities between India and Japan reached their highest point in the last decade since FY2011-12, with a total value of US$ 20.57 billion. Over the past five years, the bilateral trade or import-export statistics between India and Japan have been: Financial Year Bilateral Trade Volume FY2017-18 US$ 15.71 billion FY2018-19 US$ 17.63 billion FY2019-20 US$ 16.95 billion FY2020-21 US$ 15.93 billion FY2021-22 US$ 20.57 billion According to the data provided by Indias Ministry of Commerce, the overall imports (including both merchandise and services) from India to Japan during the period from April to January in FY 2022-23 amounted to US$ 11.97 billion, while Indias exports to Japan during the same period were recorded at US$ 5.18 billion. The export figures from India to Japan over the last five years, in US$ billion, are as follows: top videos Year Exports from India to Japan (in US$ billion) Imports from India to Japan (in US$ billion) FY 2017-18 4.73 10.97 FY 2018-19 4.86 12.77 FY 2019-20 4.52 12.43 FY 2020-21 4.43 10.9 FY 2021-22 6.18 14.39 India and Japan established bilateral ties in 1952, marking the beginning of their diplomatic relationship. On February 16, 2011, India and Japan agreed to a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which came into effect on August 1st of the same year. Since the implementation of the CEPA, the economic relationship between the two countries has been on a trajectory of continuous deepening and growth. Good news for job seekers, as several government organisations like Union Public Service Commission and Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education are recruiting people for various positions. We have listed organisations where you can apply to. It is advisable for all candidates to check the eligibility criteria set by the organisation before they apply. -UPSC CDS, NDA II registration: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has started the online registration process for the Combined Defence Services (CDS) II and National Defence Academy (NDA) II exams. Candidates who are interested can apply for the UPSC CDS/NDA II 2023 exam at upsc.gov.in till June 6, up to 6 pm. The online application correction window will open on June 7 and close on June 13. The UPSC CDS/NDA II 2023 exam is scheduled to be conducted on September 3. An application fee of Rs 200 needs to be paid while applying for the above exam. Female candidates along with SC and ST applicants have been exempted from payment of fee. -SSC CHSL recruitment for 1,600 posts: The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has invited candidates to apply for multiple vacancies through the Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL, 10+2) Examination this year. Candidates can register themselves for the positions by June 8 at ssc.nic.in. Through this recruitment exam, the Commission will fill a total of 1,600 (tentative) Group C openings across numerous Ministries/Departments/Offices of the Government of India. The minimum age to apply is 18 years while the maximum age limit is 27 years, on August 1 this year. Those applying for the exam should have completed their Class 12 or an equivalent test from a recognised board or university. -Himachal Pradesh TET June 2023 registration: The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBOSE) has started the online application process for the State Teacher Eligibility Test (HP TET) June 2023 session. Candidates who are interested can register themselves for the HP TET 2023 exam at hpbose.org. The last date to apply for the Teacher Eligibility Test, without a late fee, is May 28. However, applicants can apply for the HP TET 2023 exam from May 29 to May 31 with a late fee of Rs 300. The Himachal Pradesh Board will release the details on the examination date and admit card in due course of time. -HURL recruitment 2023: The Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL) will conclude the application process for the recruitment of several vacancies such as Manager (Mechanical), Manager (Engineering Services), Assistant Manager (Process), Engineer, Executive Grade-4 Law soon. Candidates can apply for these positions before May 24 at hurl.net.in. The age of the applicant must be between 30 and 55 years. Candidates will be selected on the basis of a personal interview that will be held via video conferencing. top videos -CRPF recruitment 2023 for 212 vacancies: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will end the registration process for the recruitment of Sub-Inspectors (SI) and Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASI) on May 21. Those interested can apply via the official website at rect.crpf.gov.in. CRPF plans to fill up 212 vacancies through this recruitment drive. According to the official notice, the recruitment for the post of Sub-Inspector in radio operator, technical and civil departments fall under group B vacancies. The Assistant Sub-Inspector vacancy for cartographer is under group C. The selection process will comprise a written exam, physical standard or physical efficiency test, along with documents verification, and medical exam. The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Government Examination (TNDGE) on May 19 released the board examination results of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or Class 10. A total of 91.39 per cent of candidates passed the TN SSLC exams this year. Students can check their scores on the official websites of tnresults.nic.in and dge.tn.gov.in. The Tamil Nadu Class 10 exams were held from April 6 to April 20, with more than 9 lakh students appearing for it. This year, girls outshined boys in the TN Class 10 exams. The pass percentage of female candidates stands at 94.66 per cent while for male students the pass percentage is 88.16 per cent. Among a large number of students, a total of 203 prison inmates also wrote the board exam this year. Out of which, 200 prison inmates passed the TN SSLC exams, with a pass percentage of 98.52 per cent. The Tamil Nadu Prison Department informed about the results stating that 200 out of 203 prison inmates passed the state board class 10 exam and the pass percentage is 98.52 per cent. For this academic year 2022-23, 203 prison inmates including 9 women prisoners from various Central Prisons & Special Prisons for Women across the State have appeared for the 10th standard examination, the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Prisons said as per ANI. https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1659503250973036544?s=20 TN SSLC/Class 10 Board Results 2023: How to Check Step 1: Visit TNDGEs official website at tnresults.nic.in. Step 2: Click on the activated link provided for the TN SSLC 10th Result 2023 on the home page. Step 3: On the new window, enter the registration number and date of birth to access the results. Step 4: Once the TN SSLC/Class 10 appears on the screen. Check the scores and download it for future use. top videos Students are advised to collect their original mark sheets from their respective schools within a few days of the Class 10 result declaration. The Tamil Nadu board also provides a re-evaluation process for students who wish to have their board answer sheets reviewed again. The application forms for the re-evaluation process will be made available on the official website soon. Meanwhile, students who did not pass the SSLC exams on their first attempt can appear for the compartment exams. As per the 2023 information bulletin, the Tamil Nadu Class 10 compartment exams are expected to take place in June or July this year. Students who have failed in one or more subject papers can apply for the compartmental exams. From UPSC Civil Services to SSC recruitment exams, from college admissions to group discussions, general knowledge questions mark a significant part of almost every exam. For candidates preparing to crack an exam or those who need to get their news in a compact form, News18 offers a weekly column - GK Capsule. While we provide you a weekly news wrap, to get more information on a specific topic or an exam, reach out at @news18dotcom. Keeping yourself updated with all the national and international events is very important, especially for the candidates who are gearing up for their recruitment exams this month. Current affairs or general knowledge is one of the most important sections to crack in any exam. To help those who are preparing for their upcoming tests, we have compiled a list of important news events of this week. -Gyanvapi Mosque Case: The Supreme Court of India deferred the implementation of the order on the scientific survey, including carbon dating, of a Shivling which is said to have been found last year at the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi. A bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, released notices on an appeal filed by the mosque management committee challenging the high court order. Since the implications of the impugned order merit closer scrutiny, the implementation of the directions concerned in the order shall stand deferred till the next date, a three-judge bench also comprising Justices K V Vishwanathan and P S Narasimha said. -PM Modis interview with Nikkei Asia: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is participating in the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Japans Hiroshima, spoke on a wide range of issues such as the Ukraine war, tension with China and Pakistan in an interview with Japanese publication Nikkei Asia. During the interview, PM Modi promised to amplify the voices and concerns of the Global South at the G7 summit. He also highlighted Indias role as a dependable partner in addressing global challenges. The Kerala Story finds no takers in West Bengal: No cinema hall in West Bengal has agreed to show The Kerala Story yet. Even after the Supreme Court has allowed screening of the movie, no cinema theatres have agreed to feature the controversial film that was earlier banned by the state government fearing communal disturbances". Satadeep Saha, a distributor from West Bengal, recently told PTI that none of the single screens or multiplexes in the state are agreeing to show The Kerala Story. The Regional Head of Inox Amitabha Guha Thakurata reportedly said that they are waiting for (state) governments formal orders. -PM Modi assured Ukrainian President Zelensky to do everything possible : On the sidelines of G7 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It was the first in person interaction between the two leaders. In the conversation, PM Modi said Ukraine is a very big issue for the world. To quote Modi, I wish to assure you that India and I, in my personal capacity, will do whatever is possible to find a solution to this (conflict)," He further termed the conflict as issue of humanity rather than political or economic. Before in person meeting, PM Modi had a phone conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky to take stock of the situation. top videos -TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee appears before CBI in school jobs scam case: All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on May 20 appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at its Kolkata office, as part of the agencys probe into the school jobs scam case. Banerjee came to the CBI office at Nizam palace at around 10.58 am amidst heavy security deployment in the area. As the CBI is probing the criminal aspect of the scam, the Enforcement Directorate is looking into the money-trail involved in the alleged loopholes in the recruitment in schools. News / National by Mandla Ndlovu We refer to two articles published by a purported online publication, ZimEye on the 12th and 14th instant. The first publication is titled "SITHULE FRAUD: Law Society Inquiry As Qoki Own Founder says, "I Told My Own Sister Don't Buy This Kind Of Land" The second publication is titled, "Sithule's own lawyer confirms she is fraudulent ". Both these articles are as malicious as they are false. It is evident that they are an unfortunate, unfounded and baseless attack on our Mr Z C Ncube and our clients Sithule Tshuma and Qoki Zindlovukazi Investments (Pvt)Ltd. We are studying the articles and considering legal options available to our Mr. Ncube and our clients. Appropriate legal action shall soon be taken against the peddlers of the falsehoods and malicious attacks evidently designed to besmirch the good names of those being attacked and derail the many good projects done in the region. It is imperative to highlight even at this stage that we are not aware of any investigation by the Law Society in respect of the transactions mentioned in the articles. We endeavour to keep you posted on any developments. Bulawayo based law firm Ncube & Partners have rubbished claims by online publication Zimeye that their lawyer Zibusiso Charles Ncube is being investigated by the Law Society of Zimbabwe.This comes after the publication fraudulently claimed that Ncube was assisting Sithule Tshuma founder of Qoki Zindlovukazi investments to dupe investors of the organization, another claim that has been proven to be false.Zimeye had written that with the aid of Ncube, "hundreds of (Qoki Zindlovukazi) investors are now facing an uncertain future without either title deeds or ownership-paperwork having paid over lumpsums to try securing their promised investments. The total prejudice runs in the millions of dollars. Each investor paid amounts between USD7,000 and USD70,000 per person."In a letter seen by this publication, the law firm said, "Appropriate legal action shall soon be taken against the peddlers of the falsehoods and malicious attacks evidently designed to besmirch the good names of those being attacked and derail the many good projects done in the region."It is imperative to highlight even at this stage that we are not aware of any investigation by the Law Society in respect of the transactions mentioned in the articles."Read the full letter below: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will land in Papua New Guinea (PNG) today after the Quad summit in Hiroshima in Japan. PNG Prime Minister James Marape will receive Modi at the airport. Usually, the island country doesnt give a ceremonial welcome to any leader after sunset but an exception has been made for PM Modi. It will be the first visit by the Indian Prime Minister to PNG. PM Modi has a packed schedule in PNG where he will jointly host the third Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Island Cooperation (FIPIC), which will see participation of leaders from 14 countries, with PNGs Marape. Modi and Marape are expected to host a crucial bilateral meeting wherein both sides will seek to strengthen bilateral ties as New Delhi is worried about the island nations proximity with China. I look forward to engaging with PIC (Pacific Island Countries) leaders on issues that bring us together, such as climate change and sustainable development, capacity building and training, health and well-being, infrastructure and economic development," Modi had said. Last November, Marape had met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bangkok in which Beijing had called PNG a good friend and that both countries are good partners and good brothers. top videos The island-nation has become a priority for India as well as members of the QUAD grouping like the US and Australia as they deepen relationships with Pacific island-nations as China aims to assert its influence in the region. On his third leg of the visit, PM Modi will visit Sydney and hold a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. Modi is also expected to announce The Harris Park area in Parramatta, Australia, as Little India during a community event. A 22-year-old woman techie employed in Infosys drowned on Sunday after the car she was riding in with her family got stranded in water up to their necks at the KR Circle underpass in Bengaluru near the Vidhana Soudha due to heavy rains. With the assistance of concerned individuals who hurried to the flooded underpass in the city center, the fire and emergency services personnel successfully rescued five members of the family and the driver. However, the woman, identified as Bhanurekha, was unable to survive. She, along with the other survivors, was immediately transported to St Marthas Hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead. Upon receiving news of the incident, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah promptly visited the hospital to assess the situation. In response to the tragedy, he announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to be provided to the bereaved family as well as free medical treatment for those admitted to the hospital. The family from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh had hired a car and come to see Bengaluru. Bhanurekha works in Infosys. Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have," Siddaramaiah told reporters. Following complaints from reporters who were present at the scene and witnessed the incident, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed concern over the alleged refusal of doctors to treat Bhanurekha, who was reportedly still alive upon arrival at the hospital. In response, he assured that he would personally investigate the matter and take appropriate action. According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the driver of the car made an ill-advised attempt to navigate through the water, resulting in the vehicle becoming partially submerged in the middle of the underpass. In a frantic effort to save themselves, the occupants of the car emerged from it. Unfortunately, the heavy rainfall and hailstorm caused the water level to rise rapidly. In their desperate cries for help, nearby individuals rushed to their aid. Sarees and ropes were thrown to assist them in staying afloat, but their attempts to climb out proved unsuccessful. The emergency services personnel, including skilled swimmers, managed to rescue two individuals by pulling them out, while others were rescued using a ladder. In addition to the car incident, an autorickshaw also became trapped at KR Circle. Fortunately, a quick-thinking woman passenger managed to save herself by climbing atop the vehicle. The rescuers successfully saved her as well. top videos Simultaneously, several other vehicles became stranded at another waterlogged underpass near Majestic, also situated in the heart of the city. Individuals inside the vehicles faced immense challenges as they struggled to escape from their precarious situation. (With inputs from PTI) KERALA LOTTERY RESULT TODAY LIVE UPDATES: The Kerala state lottery department has announced the results for Akshaya AK 600 lucky draw for Sunday, May 21. The draw was held at Gorky Bhavan, near Bakery Junction, in Thiruvananthapuram. The first prize winner will get a whopping Rs 70 lakh, while the one with a lucky 2nd prize ticket will get Rs 5 lakh, the third prize winners will receive Rs 1 lakh. The draw was monitored by independent judges. Check full list of winning numbers for Kerala Akshaya AK 600 lucky draw below. FULL LIST OF WINNING NUMBERS FOR AKSHAYA AK-600 LOTTERY The winning number for the 1st prize of RS 70 LAKH is AP 375239 (KOLLAM) Agent Name: MADHUSOODHANAN PILLAI Agency No.: Q 2395 The winning number for the 2nd prize of 5 LAKH is AY 295014 (MOOVAATTUPUZHA) Agent Name: BABY OUSEPH Agency No.: E 5726 The winning numbers for the 3rd prize of 1 lakh are: AN 935188 AO 330271 AP 773481 AR 617254 AS 888070 AT 680057 AU 876916 AV 466209 AW 352060 AX 388955 AY416787 AZ 708085 The winning numbers for the consolation prize of Rs 8,000 are: AN 375239 AO 375239 AR 375239 AS 375239 AT 375239 AU 375239 AV 375239 AW 375239 AX 375239 AY 375239 AZ 375239 The winning numbers for the 4th prize of Rs 5,000 are: 0681 0950 1221 2987 3624 3693 4222 4772 5469 6023 6224 6709 6893 7086 8824 9047 9191 9355 The winning numbers for the 5th prize of RS 2,000 are: 0204 1295 1502 2625 5541 6135 9907 The winning numbers for the 6th prize of Rs 1,000 are: 0634 0733 0936 1228 1536 1839 2198 2781 4037 4151 4214 4734 5065 5068 5423 5446 6067 6255 7160 7918 8079 8175 8445 8970 9035 9687 The winning numbers for the 7th prize of Rs 500 are: 0015 0052 0294 0438 0599 0638 0644 0668 0718 0844 1020 1072 1291 1293 1737 2125 2210 2225 2448 2493 2494 2496 2566 2640 2642 2837 3162 3779 3963 4092 4095 4176 4729 5034 5054 5318 5346 5387 5526 5566 5599 5665 6378 6530 6531 6660 6802 6813 6979 7025 7377 7380 7425 8014 8015 8017 8170 8216 8228 8403 8470 8523 8605 8675 8747 9039 9157 9286 9674 9682 9690 9982 The winning numbers for the 8th prize of Rs 100 are: 0000 0096 0113 0123 0184 0196 0199 0241 0315 0353 0474 0494 0558 0562 0583 0628 0709 0855 0977 1037 1047 1067 1126 1137 1147 1160 1227 1260 1410 1469 1697 1742 1858 1870 1891 2204 2345 2391 2421 2815 2858 2971 3013 3068 3073 3076 3176 3374 3391 3403 3432 3464 3550 3671 3925 3933 3953 3974 4032 4193 4213 4308 4314 4393 4586 4878 4933 5200 5295 5542 5559 5560 5570 5719 5874 5947 6089 6099 6116 6120 6177 6269 6320 6330 6387 6467 6521 6966 6989 7026 7099 7136 7172 7255 7448 7454 7548 7710 7712 7740 7761 8028 8092 8129 8250 8361 8383 8430 8435 8676 8710 8755 8870 9206 9327 9362 9416 9438 9555 9712 9833 9979 9997 KERALA LOTTERY RESULT TODAY: AKSHAYA AK-600 PRIZE DETAILS 1st Prize: Rs 70 Lakh 2nd Prize: Rs 5 Lakh 3rd Prize: Rs 1 Lakh 4th Prize: Rs 5000 5th Prize: Rs 2000 6th Prize: Rs 1000 7th Prize: Rs 500 8th Prize: Rs 100 Consolation Prize: Rs 8,000 HOW TO DOWNLOAD PDF WITH A FULL LIST OF WINNING NUMBERS? STEP 1: Visit the official Kerala Lotteries website at www.keralalottery.info. STEP 2: Choose Lottery Result" from the available options. STEP 3: Click View" on the following page. STEP 4: Locate the download icon in the top-right corner. STEP 5: Initiate the PDF download of the lottery results by clicking the download icon. HOW TO CHECK KERALA AKSHAYA AK-600 LOTTERY RESULTS? To check the results of the Kerala Akshaya AK-600 Lottery, you have two options. Firstly, you can visit the official website of the Kerala Lottery Department at www.keralalottery.info to find the results. Alternatively, you can refer to the Kerala Government Gazette. To buy lottery tickets, simply visit any Taluk lottery office in the state and purchase a ticket for Rs. 40. top videos HOW TO CLAIM PRIZE MONEY? You need to check your ticket number against the published results in the Kerala Government Gazette to receive the prize money for Akshaya Lottery No. AK-600. If your number matches the winning number, you must bring your ID proof and a ticket to the Kerala lottery office in Thiruvananthapuram within 30 days. Counter-drone teams of the elite NSG are scanning the sky, marine commandos of the navy patrolling the picturesque Dal Lake and scores of security personnel are on vigil on the ground to ensure a safe and secure G20 meeting beginning here on Monday, officials said. Preparing to receive at least 60 delegates and 20 journalists from different parts of the world, the authorities in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir have made elaborate arrangements for the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC). This is the first international meeting being held in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Aiming to ensure minimum policing and maximum security, the Jammu and Kashmir Police has roped in the army to cover the higher reaches of the Zabarwan Range overlooking the meeting venue and accommodation facilities for the guests. Thirty companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which had earlier been taken out of Jammu and Kashmir for election duty in the rest of the country, have since been recalled to further strengthen security in the valley, where intelligence intercepts have suggested the presence of improvised explosive devices or a vehicle-based IED. Officials said teams of the National Security Guard (NSG) counter-drone unit have been pressed into service to ensure that no unwanted aerial intrusion takes place. A hit team of the elite Black Cat" commandos is in readiness to deal with any terrorist incident and a hostage-like situation. MARCOS teams will be patrolling the Dal Lake along with personnel from the river wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF as the convention centre is located on the bank of the water body," an official involved with the security preparations said. The marine commandos, or MARCOS, of the navy have been stationed at the Wulur Lake in the valley since mid-1990s to prevent any infiltration from the Line of Control as terrorists had been using the water body to enter into the hinterland. The officials said that a proposed visit of the delegation to Gulmarg, also known as Switzerland of Asia, had to be dropped in view of the paucity of time. top videos They said the delegates would visit Pari Mahal, Chesmashai and other Mughal gardens, besides taking a walk on the renovated Polo View Market, before leaving Kashmir Valley on Wednesday. The first working group meeting on tourism was held in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat in February and the second one in West Bengals Siliguri in April. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was warmly welcomed in Papua New Guinea on Sunday as he arrived for the second leg of his three-nation tour. In a traditional gesture of respect, his counterpart James Marape bowed down to touch the feet of PM Modi. #WATCH | Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape seeks blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon latter's arrival in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/gteYoE9QOm ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 He was accorded with a Guard of Honour at Port Moresby and was also given a ceremonial welcome by the government. Some more glimpses from a very special welcome in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/uHFCV2j0FA Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 The Indian diaspora members greeted him with great enthusiasm, and Prime Minister Modi reciprocated by smiling, waving and posing for selfies with them. #WATCH | People from the Indian diaspora welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he arrives in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/O2DfVjSRyd ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 PM Modi expressed gratitude upon his welcome in a tweet and said, I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting Indias ties with this great nation during my visit." Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting Indias ties with this great nation during my visit. pic.twitter.com/9pBzWQ6ANT Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 Prime Minister Modi visit to the Pacific Island nation follows the successful completion of his visit to Japan for the G7 and Quad summits. This historic trip marks the first-ever visit by an Indian prime minister to Papua New Guinea. Additionally, the Prime Minister is scheduled to launch the Tok Pisin translation of The Tirukkural in Papua New Guinea. The Tirukkural is a renowned Tamil text composed by the esteemed poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar. Tok Pisin, one of the official languages of Papua New Guinea, will be the medium for this release ceremony. FIPIC Summit During his visit, he will co-host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) alongside his counterpart James Marape on Monday. Expressing his gratitude for the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), the Prime Minister previously stated, I am thankful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to participate in this significant FIPIC summit. The establishment of FIPIC took place during his visit to Fiji in 2014. The summit is scheduled amidst Chinas ongoing endeavors to strengthen its military and diplomatic presence in the region. The FIPIC Summit will witness the participation of leaders from 14 countries, a rare occurrence due to connectivity and other logistical challenges, sources told PTI. The participating countries include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. During the summit, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to engage in bilateral talks with Prime Minister Marape and also meet with Bob Dadae, the Governor General of Papua New Guinea. Additionally, he will have a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. top videos While Australian leader Anthony Albanese will not be attending the Pacific summit, US President Joe Biden took an early departure from his diplomatic tour for debt crisis talks. Instead, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will represent Biden at a parallel summit in Papua New Guinea, where he is anticipated to sign a security pact with the island nation and engage with Prime Minister Marape and Pacific leaders. Following his meeting with Marape, Prime Minister Modi will proceed to Australia on Tuesday to hold discussions with Anthony Albanese, concluding his three-nation tour. Read more at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park built in memory of those who died in a nuclear attack on the city at the end of the second World War. Besides the Indian prime minister, other leaders attending the G7 Summit in Hiroshima also paid their respect at the park. Later in the day, PM Modi also attended a session at the G7 summit on a peaceful, stable and prosperous world, following which he left for Papua New Guinea (PNG), where he will hold a meeting with Pacific Island countries. This will be PM Modis first visit, as also the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister, to PNG. There he will host the third Summit of the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) jointly with his PNG counterpart James Marape on May 22. Earlier on Saturday, the Indian Prime Minister met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and conveyed that India will do everything possible to find a solution to the Ukraine conflict as the two leaders held in-person talks for the first time after Russia invaded the eastern European country 15 months back. In the meeting that took place on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, the prime minister said that the war in Ukraine is a very big issue and that it has had many different impacts on the globe. At the same time Modi told the Ukrainian leader that he does not see the conflict as a political or economic issue and that for him, it is an issue of humanity and human values. On his part, Zelenskyy briefed the Indian side in detail on his peace formula and urged New Delhi to join in its implementation. At G7, PM Modi called for building an inclusive food system to provide relief to the worlds most vulnerable people as part of his 10-point action plan to address challenges in the area of food, fertilisers and healthcare. In an address at a session in Hiroshima, Modi also pitched for checking the expansionist mentality occupying the fertiliser resources and strongly batted for the democratisation of technology. The prime ministers 10-point action plan included curbing wastage of food, depoliticisation of global fertilizer supply chains, promoting millets, encouraging holistic healthcare, strengthening digital health care and building development models inspired by the needs of developing countries. There is a need to focus on the holistic use of natural resources and the development model inspired by consumerism has to be changed, Modi said. The prime minister said efforts should be put to build an inclusive food system that focuses on the worlds most vulnerable people, especially marginal farmers should be our priority. The global fertiliser supply chains have to be strengthened. Political obstacles in this have to be removed. And the expansionist mentality that is occupying the fertilizer resources has to be stopped. This should be the purpose of our cooperation, he said. The prime minister, however, did not name any country. Modi also emphasised preventing the wastage of food saying it should be our collective responsibility. It is essential for sustainable global food security, he said. The group of seven (G7), comprising the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the worlds richest democracies. Under its G7 presidency, Japan invited India and seven other countries to the summit. Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede reportedly violated the conduct rules by producing purported chats with Shah Rukh Khan during Aryan Khans arrest in the drugs-on-cruise case, in the court as his defence in the corruption case against him. Wankhedes chats with Shah Rukh Khan are a violation of rules as an investigating officer can not engage with the family members of any accused, news agency ANI reported quoting NCB sources. Wankhede has been called by CBI on Sunday for questioning in connection with a case related to Aryan Khans drugs on the cruise case. He was questioned for five hours in the case on Saturday. Sameer Wankhade giving chats in the court is against the conduct rules of NCB. How can an investigating officer have such chats with the family of the accused?" sources in the NCB said. They said that Wankhade did not inform his superiors about these chats then or placed them on record. Neither he told the vigilance team who were investigating his misconduct about these chats," sources added. As per sources, Wankhade did not provide the phone through which he was chatting with Shah Rukh Khan and along with this he also tried to scare a senior official of NCB when he took over the case. Corruption Case Against Sameer Wankhede CBI booked Wankhede for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore as a bribe for not framing Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case. The agency said that the deal was closed for Rs 18 crore adding that assets to Wankhade were not proportionate to his known sources of income. Sameer Wankhede on Friday approached the Bombay High Court against the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) action against him in the alleged bribery case in the drugs-on-cruise case involving actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan. The Bombay High Court will hear the matter on May 22. Till then, the High Court has granted him protection from arrest. Speaking to the reporters after the hearing, the former NCB officer said, Vande Mataram. I have full faith in the judiciary and I will cooperate with the investigation. Wankhede also alleged that some changes" have been made in the chargesheet that was filed by NCB in the Aryan Khan case. Wankhede claimed in his petition, that the action in the Aryan Khan case is being taken out of revenge". He also assured of complete support to CBI. The former NCB zonal director also attached his chats with actor Shah Rukh Khan in the petition. Wankhedes lawyer also alleged that Aryan Khan and his father Shah Rukh Khan already informed the court that there is no case of extortion of Rs 25 crore. The lawyer said that Wankhede was not demanding an interim bail, but seeking protection from arrest till next week. Earlier on Wednesday, Delhi High Court granted protection from arrest (No coercive action) till May 22 to Sameer Wankhede with the liberty to approach the Bombay High Court for further relief. Wankhede had moved Delhi High Court and sought cross FIR claiming that the allegations by NCB against him are false and misleading". Other corruption charges against Sameer Wankhede and other NCB Officials were also in the process. top videos Last year, Wankhede raided Cordelia Cruise and arrested actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan in an alleged drug case. (With ANI Inputs) Even as former Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai chief Sameer Wankhede on Sunday appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the second day, in a case in which he is accused of demanding Rs 25 crore bribe from superstar Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case, NCB sources told CNN-News18 the vigilance inquiry against the officer is foolproof, comprehensive and has been scrutinised at multiple levels". ALSO READ | Sameer Wankhede Case: KP Gosavi Conspired to Extort Rs 25 Crore from Aryan Khan, Says CBI FIR Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, reached the CBI office in the Bandra-Kurla Complex around 10.30 am. While entering the agencys office, Wankhede told reporters he has faith in the judiciary". The NCBs vigilance inquiry was launched after Aryan got a clean chit in the case. The central agency booked Wankhede and four others on May 11 for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion, besides provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by the NCB. On Friday, Wankhede got relief from the Bombay High Court, which directed the CBI not to take any coercive action", such as arrest, against him till May 22. Seeking quashing of the FIR, Wankhede alleged before the HC that the draft complaint" in the 2021 case named Aryan as an accused, but it was later replaced and Aryans name was dropped. #BreakingNews | Sameer Wankhede flouted rules;Wankhede and two officials of his team did not follow the procedure of investigation in the case@manojkumargupta@kotakyesha shares more details@GrihaAtul | #AryanKhan pic.twitter.com/9Wx3rtrUrC News18 (@CNNnews18) May 21, 2023 THE QUESTIONS All relevant statements were recorded under the relevant sections. The cause for concern is why was he in touch with Khan and people around him through his sources, asked NCB sources. Why were private people kept around Aryan at the time of arrest? Why was a private person allowed to videograph the events, sources asked further. According to NCB sources, Wankhede not only brought bad name to the department, but also put security of the arrested accused in danger. Wankhede flouted all arrest rules and the way he put pressure on the family of the accused was against the norms, sources said, adding, The vigilance report was scrutinised at multiple levels, including through legal advisors. He is just trying to save himself from CBI investigation. THE 2021 CASE On Saturday, the CBI questioned Wankhede for more than five hours. After he left the CBI office around 4.30 pm on Saturday, Wankhede along with his family members visited the Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi in Mumbai. ALSO READ | Aryan Khan Clean Chit: Flaws in the Way Sameer Wankhede Handled Mumbai Cruise Drugs Case, NCB D-G Tells News18 top videos Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, following the alleged drug seizure on board the Cordelia cruise ship. He was granted bail by the high court three weeks later as the anti-drugs agency failed to substantiate its charges against him. With PTI Inputs The picture of a green-coloured soft drink bottle, blue polythene bags, vegetable peels lying at the mouth of a stoney structure may look like a garbage dump to you. But as eyes adjust to the glare of the sun, you spot an opening. The police believe this cave housed the terrorists who attacked the Army truck in Poonch on April 22, leaving five soldiers dead. Faisal Khan, a policeman, who knows the area like the back of his hand, says there are hundreds of such natural caves in the hills of Poonch, which the terrorists are using as hideouts. They have changed their tactics now. They dont stay at houses of villagers. They live in these cavessometimes even leave behind their arms, hide their ammunitions here and then go to nearby markets, Khan says. When News18 reached the cave after a 6-km trek from the nearest Gursai Mora village, the police were scanning the place for the nth time, looking for clues. Medicines recovered from the cave and statement by alleged over ground workers (OGW), who reportedly helped the terrorists with supplies, logistics and information, has established the identity of the terrorists as Pakistanis. This cave most likely housed three to four terrorists. The height inside is enough to allow a person to sit inside comfortablythe depth is also good," said Khan even as his colleague enters the cave with a torch to see if any other clue can be found. A few steps downhill from this cave, the mouth of a second cave was visible. The Poonch police has recovered a mattress from this one. The suspicion is that a terrorist was put on guard duty at the second cave since it gave a clear 360-degree view of the valley below. The hideouts amid the rocks and thorny shrubs could only be spotted by someone with precise knowledge of these parts. OGWs Police have arrested OWG Nisar, his uncle Mushtaq, his minor brother Bilala and another relative, Fareed, for helping the terrorists. News18 met Mushtaqs wife Shahnaz Akhtar in the village below the hideout. He is dead for us, she says when asked about Mushtaq. Only Mushtaq and Nisar know why the Army took them away. I have not met him since then, Akhtar said, fending for her all-women household now. Her two sons are working as cattle grazers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, she says. The house is modest but a pucca structure. Around eight minutes of trek from Mushtaqs house was Nisars dwelling. Nisar is suspected to be the main OGW who conspired with the terrorists. His wife Shameem and daughter Azra claim he is innocent. They took away my minor son also. He had just given his Class 10 examhe was only 17, Shameem says, wiping her tears away. There are serious charges against her son Bilal. Investigators say he was tech savvy and helped the terrorists navigate apps, which gave them precise information to their handlers in Pakistan. Azra says police took away mobile phones of everyone in the family. They brought Nisar twice and took him to those parts," says Azra as she points towards the cave hideout the hill from where Pakistani territory can be seen. This proximity to the border, dense forest and support from locals for the terrorists have turned out to be a game changer for the security grid as terrorism rears its head after a long break in Rajouri and Poonch. top videos Around 20 terrorists are suspected to be still hiding in these parts. Use of wireless technology that allows them to contact their handlers by-passing the Indian agencies is a challenge. Investigators are also probing if Nisar and Bilal helped a Pakistani drone drop a consignment or arms and ammunitions in these parts, just days before the Poonch truck attack. Ahead of the G20 meet in Srinagar on May 22, the Army, paramilitary and Jammu and Kashmir police are going all out to ensure that no further incidents are carried out derailing the visit of the foreign dignitaries. But the security grid acknowledges that the threat is beyond G20. Protest of Indias top wrestlers at Delhis Jantar Mantar, seeking the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers, is about to complete a month, as they contemplate their next move. Meanwhile, the security has been beefed up at Jantar Mantar and on Delhis borders ahead of a farmers meeting in support of the protesting wrestlers on Sunday, police said. Led by Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat, the wrestlers 15-day ultimatum to arrest the wrestling body chief ends on Sunday, following which their big decision regarding their next course of action can be announced today. The wrestlers who started their protest at Delhis Jantar Mantar on April 23 have set May 21 as a deadline for the khap mahapanchayat to decide on taking the agitation forward. Wrestlers have earlier indicated that they may take their agitation to Ram Lila ground to make it a national movement". On Saturday, they warned that a big decision", which might not be in the interest of the country", could be taken on Sunday in view of the inaction" against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Wrestlers vs WFI Chief Latest Updates: Multi-layer barricades have been placed on the citys borders and checking has been intensified before the famers meeting. The police also said vehicles entering Delhi will be checked and pickets increased. Addressing media at Asian Jantar Mantar on Saturday, Vinesh Phogat said the decision of mahapanchayat in Mehem Chaubisi (a cluster of 24 villages) khap in Haryanas Rohtak district, could hurt the country just like the farmers agitation, which lasted nearly 13 months, but wrestlers may go forward with it. The decision our elders take [on Sunday] could be a big one, one that might not be in the interest of the country. It could hurt the nation," said Vinesh. She further noted that the ongoing fight hasnt been easy for wrestlers as they too had suffered" by missing out on training and competition. We too have suffered a lot. An issue that could have been solved in a minute has taken a month the farmers agitation lasted 13 months and hurt the nation, so if there is another agitation [like that], definitely the country will suffer," warned Vinesh. Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at Jantar Mantar and on Delhis borders ahead of a farmers meeting in support of the protesting wrestlers on Sunday. Multi-layer barricades have been placed on the citys borders and checking has been intensified, police said. The police also said vehicles entering Delhi will be checked and pickets increased, while the whole area will be covered by CCTV cameras to monitor the situation round the clock. On Saturday, the wrestlers including Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia claimed they attempted to attend an IPL game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, in a bid to seek support for their protests, however, they were denied entry. The claim was denied by Delhi Police, which said no wrestler with a valid ticket was barred from watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. A senior police officer said 10 to 12 wrestlers and others came to the stadium to watch the match. However, only five of them had tickets, he said, adding those without tickets or passes were not allowed to enter. The police asked those with valid tickets to enter the stadium from the gate where they were allowed to. However, they left the area and did not enter the stadium, the officer said. The wrestlers have been protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23 demanding the arrest of the WFI chief, accused of sexually harassing seven female wrestlers, including a minor. top videos On April 28, the Delhi Police registered two FIRs against the WFI chief on the basis of sexual harassment complaints filed by the wrestlers. Chantelle Cameron warned a rematch with Katie Taylor would need to be on her terms after she secured victory in a gruelling bout between the two undisputed fighters. Taylor stepped up to 140lbs for the first fight in Ireland of her professional career, taking on an undefeated fighter in Cameron who holds the full set of belts at light-welterweight and showed exactly why. She forced the pace throughout, regularly pushing Taylor back onto the ropes, and while Camerons face was marked up by the end of the bout, she showed no signs of being hurt during it. One judged scored it 95-95 but the other two gave it to Cameron 96-94 for a thoroughly deserved majority decision as she became the first fighter to beat Taylor in a professional bout. Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed there was a rematch clause in place, with that likely to take place later this year, though he stated it would take place in Dublin and Camerons comments after the fight suggested she would be pushing for more to be in her favour next time. If Im honest, I wasnt expecting the decision to go my way, Cameron told BBC Radio 5 Live. Im over the moon it went my way and the right woman got her arm raised. I need to speak to my team because everything was in Katies favour in this fight. I walked to the ring first and also came to Ireland so we need to speak about how its going to play out with the rematch. Ive always wanted the Katie fight so I knew I had to bite the bullet on everything. Katie challenged me on Instagram and I have all the respect for her but its my turn now. Taylor had initially planned to fight Amanda Serrano in Dublin, though injury forced a change of opponents and the defeat to Cameron will now necessitate a change in plans again, with any talk of that Serrano rematch being the next fight on the agenda swiftly ended. I was expecting a gruelling fight and thats what it was, Taylor said. I obviously came up short. I always love a challenge and Im looking forward to the rematch. This isnt how I wanted the homecoming to go but Im grateful that this event could sell out in a couple of minutes. The Queen of Cannes, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan came, posed and conquered the 76th Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet. The former Miss World and global star, made her 21st festival appearance at the premiere of Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny looking surreal in a celestial silver gown. Though the Ponniyin Selvan:II star is back in Mumbai, the one of a kind silhouette she adorned on the Cannes Red Carpet is still being talked about on social media. Like they say, it takes a village to make a silhouette iconic, and while this look is definitely going to live in our hearts rent free, its only fair to recognise the people who created it in the first place. While the brainchild behind this one of a kind look was none other than UAE-based celebrated fashion designer Gunel Babayeva and founder of Sophie Couture, the look was styled by celebrity stylist Eka Lakhani. When News18 reached out to Gunel Babayeva, who has been soaking in the love and actively sharing posts featuring Aishwarya in the outfit on social media, took us down memory lane and gave us a thorough insight about the making of the structured gown, the much talked about Mystical Hood and why dressing Aishwarya in an outfit which featured approximately 150 lightweight aluminium pieces, was a memorable experience. Excerpts from the interview: Tell us about your experience dressing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in this celestial gown. Dressing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in this gown was a truly memorable experience. Aishwarya is not only an iconic figure in the world of fashion, but also an extremely professional and experienced individual. Her calm and patient demeanour made the collaboration easy and enjoyable. Witnessing her confidence and support throughout the creative process was inspiring, and it was an honour for Sophie Couture to dress such a legendary star. What was the theme and thought process that went into creating the exquisite gown? The theme behind the exquisite gown designed for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was to create a look that would make a captivating statement at the Cannes Film Festival. The thought process behind the design was to combine modernity with elegance, and to highlight Aishwaryas timeless beauty and grace. Could you decode the gown for us, and what made it special? The gown was a true masterpiece that showcased intricate craftsmanship and attention to detail. It was structured to perfection, with delicate aluminium accents that added a unique touch and created a powerful silhouette. The crystals used in the gown were carefully selected from Sophie Coutures exclusive Cannes Capsule Collection, elevating its allure. What made it special for me was the ability to strike a balance between simplicity and standout appeal, ensuring that Aishwarya would be the centre of attention on the red carpet. You mentioned the gown featured delicate aluminium, could tell us how many pieces were used in the silhouette? To create this elaborate piece of art, we used approximately 150 lightweight aluminium pieces. Each piece was strategically placed to create a celestial shimmer, thus enhancing the overall ethereal effect of the gown. To bring your vision to life, how many days did it take to create the outfit? The creation of this gown was a labour-intensive process that required time and dedication. It took us over two months to bring this vision to life in our elaborate atelier in Baku [Azerbaijan]. The intricate hand-beading work, combining crystals, metal, and small beads, demanded meticulous attention and craftsmanship. View this post on Instagram A post shared by News18.com (@cnnnews18) The highlight of this magical piece was the Mystical Hood, could you tell us how it became an integral part of the outfit. The Mystical Hood was a captivating highlight of the gown and played an integral role in creating its enchanting allure. The idea behind the hood was to accentuate Aishwaryas beautiful face and ethereal eyes, adding a touch of mystique to the overall look. By incorporating the hood, we aimed to create a unique and dramatic element that would set this gown apart. Its addition to the outfit enhanced the magical and captivating aura, making it a standout feature that perfectly complemented Aishwaryas elegance. The highly anticipated 76th annual Cannes Film Festival for the year 2032 has commenced, running from May 16 to 27, 2032. Taking place at the renowned Palais des Festivals et des Congres in Cannes, France, the festival has attracted film enthusiasts from around the world. Speaking of Bollywood and India, several celebs made their debut on the red carpet along with some legacy faces like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Earlier, Vivek Agnihotri had criticised this years festival over focus on fashion. Now film-maker Nandita Das too has expressed her thoughts. On Sunday, Nandita Das penned a lengthy note on her Instagram timeline along with throwback pictures from the time when she had attended the red carpet. The film-maker emphasized in her caption how Cannes is about films and not fashion. Her throwback album featured faces like Rasika Dugal, Salma Hayek, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Javier Bardemz Divya Dutta and others. Her note read, Sadly missing Cannes this year. Sometimes people seem to forget that it is a festival of films and not of clothes! Considering I cant show you the amazing films I watched or the conversations I have had or take you back in time when Manto premiered there. Here are a few images through the years in Cannes. And only the ones in Saris as there is a fair amount of chatter about the celebrities who wore saris in Cannes. Well it is surely my go-to garment. Simple, elegant and Indian. Least fussy - easy to get in and get out of it!" She further added, Each of the images have an interesting story behind it but too long to share. So feel free to make up your own story from the photos you see. And guess the year they are from - 2005, 20013, 2016-2018." The Cannes Film Festival is a highly esteemed event that occurs annually in Cannes, France. Recognized as one of the most prestigious film festivals worldwide, it holds significant importance within the European film industry. Established in 1946, the festival serves as a prominent platform for showcasing new films from various countries, culminating in the presentation of several prestigious awards, including the esteemed Palme dOr, considered the highest honor in cinema. en DiCaprio lauded Martin Scorseses filmmaking ferocity" on Sunday as they basked in rave reviews at Cannes for their Native American crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon", while the festival also bowed down before Jude Law as King Henry VIII. Scorseses latest opus, about a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s, was hailed as searing", a triumph" and a masterpiece" by critics who scored the Cannes Film Festivals hottest ticket for the premiere the previous night. Based on a non-fiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio as a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage woman and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle, played by Scorseses other long-time muse, Robert De Niro. DiCaprio called the three-and-a-half-hour film a reckoning with our past" and was full of praise for Scorsese, saying the 80-year-olds perseverance and ferocity to tell the truth, no matter how ugly is masterful". Scorsese told AFP he had put the film in an out-of-competition slot, rather than compete for the Palme dOr, because its time for others. I got to go." The iconic director, who won the Palme in 1976 for Taxi Driver", said: I like the golden statues. I like them very much. But now I think of time and energy and inspiration thats the most important thing." The dust had barely settled on that glitzy premiere when the red carpet lit up again for Firebrand" starring Jude Law as 16th-century English king Henry VIII alongside Alicia Vikander as his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr. Early reviews were broadly positive, namely for what The Guardian called Laws obese and oozy" incarnation, noting the British star outrageously steals every scene". The Hollywood Reporter also praised the film for providing a great leading role for an actress to bite into, which Alicia Vikander does with gusto." - Drives me crazy - Vikander told AFP she was drawn to Parr as extremely intelligent and extremely progressive and a woman who survived a tyrant for several years". She said Law had done incredible research to make this tyrant and historical figure into a man". Firebrand" is in the increasingly tight race for the festivals top prize, the Palme dOr, to be announced on May 27. Among the entries is Natalie Portman and Julianne Moores new film May December" about a woman who caused a tabloid scandal by marrying a schoolboy and the actor who enters their lives years later to research a role. Portman told AFP she liked seeing women behave in morally ambiguous ways". It always drives me crazy when people are like, Oh, if only women rule the world, it would be a kinder place. No, women are humans and come in all different complexities," she said. Arguably the current favourite for the Palme is British director Jonathan Glazers The Zone of Interest", a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp. It was partly inspired by a book of the same name by British novelist Martin Amis, who died on Saturday at the age of 73. A total of 21 films are in the main competition, with entries from past winners Wim Wenders, Ken Loach and Nanni Moretti still to come. - Trust and betrayal - Scorseses Apple-funded film is due for general release in October. The Guardian awarded it five stars for a remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America", while IndieWire hailed DiCaprios best-ever performance". Scorsese said he chose to focus on the poisonous marriage between DiCaprios character and his wife, played by Lily Gladstone, as a template for that tragedy of love, trust and betrayal of the indigenous people". De Niro said his character represented systemic racism" and the banality of evil". HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOHANLAL: Since he made his debut in the late 1970s, Mohanlal has remained one of the top stars of Malayalam cinema. The actor has become a household name, particularly for his remarkable performances in Dasharatham, Aaram Thamburan, Drishyam, Spadikam, Grandmaster, and many other films. Whether its his impeccable dialogue delivery, his versatility or his method acting, Mohanlals talent lies in making each of his roles appear effortless. Today on May 21, Malayalam superstar celebrates his birthday. To commemorate his special day, lets take a look at Mohanlals recent and upcoming films that fans are excited about. Telugu star Naga Chaitanya and Nandamuri Balakrishna met for the first time in public after the latters disrespectful statement about Chaitanyas grandfather, actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao. On Saturday, Chay and Balakrishna attended the NTR Centenary event in Hyderabad. While numerous stars had come together to honour Sr NTR, fans also noticed Chaitanya and Balakrishna crossing paths. In videos and photos from the event, Chaitanya was seen making his way to the stage and greeting Balakrishna. The actor shared a hug with him before he greeted N. Chandrababu Naidu, who was also on stage with Balakrishna. The gesture suggested that the Akkineni family has moved past the incident now. Nandamuri Balakrishna Akkineni Naga Chaitanya Anna pic.twitter.com/50XkkX8FkW bala koti (@balakot67767333) May 20, 2023 For the unversed, in January, Balakrishna said was speaking at an event about his contemporaries when made a disrepectful remake about Akkineni. My father Sr NTR had some contemporaries, aa Ranga Rao (referring to SV Ranga Rao), Akkineni, Thokkineni, and some others," he said. The statement was not welcomed by the Akkineni family. Soon after, Naga Chaitanya issued a statement condemning the statement. Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao garu, Akkineni Nageswara Rao garu and S.V Ranga Rao garus creative contributions have been the pride and pillars of Telugu Cinema. Disrespecting them is degrading ourselves." Akhil Akkineni shared the same statement. While the gesture at the event appears that the Akkinenis and Balakrishna have resolved the issue. Meanwhile, speaking at the event, Chaitanya said thanked Balakrishna for inviting him. I am very thankful to Balakrishna for inviting me to this program. I dont need to talk separately about Nandamuri Taraka Rama Raos acting, beauty and affection," he said, as reported by TeluguStop.com. Besides Naga Chaitanya, the event was also attended by Ram Charan, who also spoke highly about Sr NTR. Priyanka Chopra-headlined Citadel featured a shocking sexual joke about Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge. For the unversed, Citadel began streaming last month. The action series revolves around two spies who have lost their memories and are fighting for survival. With the third episode recently aired, serveral viewers noticed that the episode, led by Meghan Markles friend, featured a joke regarding the Duchess of Cambridge. As per an Us Weekly report, in the third episode, Priyankas character Nadia Sinh instructs her partner Mason Kane/ Kyle Conroy (played by Richard Madden) to meet with crime leader Balduino Basto. Mason pretends to be a broker of a deal with the military. While Priyanka is not in the frame, her character interacts with Richards character via an ear piece. In the scene, Sen Monros Balduino Basto asked Mason, The chief of armed forces? You might as well have asked me how to get between the legs of the Duchess of Cambridge. The makers, the streaming platform and Priyanka Chopra are yet to comment on the matter. Priyanka is said to be close friends with Meghan. The Bollywood-Hollywood actress not only fought for Meghans individuality in the press when she was referred to as Prince Harrys girlfriend but was also seen attending their royal wedding in the UK. The jibe also makes headlines since it is now known about Meghans rocky relationship with Kate and the royal family members. Meghan has not only moved out of the UK with Prince Harry but has also distanced herself from the royals, skipping some crucial events. This includes King Charles recent coronation. Harry attended the celebratory ceremony alone. Meanwhile, Citadel also has an Indian counterpart in the making. Headlined by Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan, the series is a spin-off of Priyanka and Richards ongoing series. The Indian version of Citadel will be headlined by The Family Man directors Raj and DK. While the team is staying tight-lipped about Citadel India, Priyanka Chopra recently opened up about the same and revealed that the storylines are connected to each other. She mentioned that she cannot wait to see Raj and DKs work and appreciated the filmmakers saying, Raj and DK are so amazing, so talented and theyll bring their own spin to the Indian installment. So, Im very excited. Is Rashmika Mandanna dying in Pushpa 2? A viral photo claims that Srivalli might be dying in the Allu Arjun starrer. Fans are aware that Pushpa 2, formally known as Pushpa: The Rule, is currently under filming. The sequel of the Telugu blockbuster not only confirmed that Allu Arjuns Pushpa Raj will return on the big screen but had also revealed that Rashmika will reprise Srivalli. While Allu Arjuns first look from the Telugu film was released a few weeks ago, the makers are yet to reveal Srivallis look from the film. As fans eagerly wait for an update from the film, a photo from the sets has now surfaced online showing a woman appearing similar to Rashmikas Srivalli in the frame dead and a funeral processsion is underway. It is unclear if the scene is from the film, however, the photo has many fans convinced that Rashmikas character dies in the film. The alleged Pushpa 2 photo surfaced online just a few months after reports claimed that Srivalli will be dying in Pushpa 2. Back in June 2022, reports surfaced claiming that Srivalli would die following a face-off between Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) and Bhanwar Singh Shekawat (Fahadh Faasil). Interestingly, the alleged leaked photo comes just shortly after the makers confirmed that Fahadh Faasil has wrapped the filming of a crucial portion of the film. The makers, last Thursday, took to social media and shared a bheind-the-scenes photo from the sets featuring the Malayalam actor and shared the news of his schedule wrap. In the photo, Fahadh was seen sporting his iconic bald look and checking a scene. Sharing the photo, the makers wrote, A key schedule of #Pushpa2TheRule completed with Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat aka #FahadhFaasil This time he will return with vengeance." Fans took to the comments section to express their excitement over the new photo. Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna were missing in the frame. Telugu star Ram Charan put an end to rumours claiming he and Jr NTR had a fall out. For a while now, there were speculations doing the rounds claiming that the RRR stars have had a fall out. However, on Saturday, Ram dismissed the rumours twice. First, the actor attended the NTR Centenary, showing his respect to the Sr NTR at the NTR centenary celebrations in Hyderabad. The event coincided with NTRs birthday celebrations. In a video going viral now, Ram pointed out that while Telugu film industry has reached new heights, it was Sr NTR who first took the industry to the national level. Ram Charan remembered having breakfast with NTR at his Hyderabad home while returning from a class along with Purandeswaris son Hitesh and thanked Purandeswari for being the catalyst of the memorable meeting. Though people are talking about South Indian cinema and Telugu cinema becoming popular nowadays, the legendary NTR had done it and shown to the world log ago. Celebratons to recall such legends would always inspire the younger generations. We all remember him forever," Ram said, as reproted by Newstap.com. If that wasnt all, Ram also called Tarak his brother on Twitter while wishing the actor on his 40th birthday. Wishing my dear brother @tarak9999 a very very happy birthday Have a great year ahead. Lots of love," he tweeted. Thank you so much brother," Tarak replied, sealing all claims that theyve had a fall out. Thank you so much brother. Jr NTR (@tarak9999) May 20, 2023 Meanwhile, Tarak was missing from the NTR centenary celebrations. The news of his absence was confirmed by his team hours before the event. We regret to inform that Sri Jr NTR garu will not be able to attend the NTR Shatajayanthi Utsavalu event to be held on May 20 at Hyderabad due to prior family commitments as his 40th birthday falls on the same day. The organising committee was informed about the same at the time of invitation, the team said. Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan will soon share the screen in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke. The trailer is already out and has been getting all love from the fans. And now the lead actors are seen promoting the film on all platforms. Today, they were spotted at the airport. Both were leaving for Jaipur for promotions. The video, shared by Viral Bhayani, showed them in cool wear and also obliged fans with pictures. Sara looked effortlessly beautiful in summer prints kurta and sharara. She did not apply make up and let her flawless skin speak. The actress was looking very elegant as she walked towards the airport gate. Her face was shining. On the other hand, Vicky was seen wearing a black outfit. He completed the look with black colour sunglasses. Both pose for the shutterbugs and even indulge in a fun talk. Their sartorial choices have set new fashion goals, leaving fans eagerly awaiting the release of their film and looking forward to witnessing their on-screen magic. One of the fans wrote, Sara kitna simple rhti h n phnti h .very down to earth girl .love you sara. Another wrote, They look so cuteeee together. Some even wrote that they are excited to see them. Watch the video here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani) The trailer has released and received a positive response. The film is set in Indore, with Vicky playing the role of Kapil and Sara essaying the character of Soumya. The small-town story starts with the couple head-over-heels for each other. However, life takes a turn a few years later, with the couple constantly fighting. They eventually file for a divorce but there seems to be a catch. The film, produced by Dinesh Vijans Maddock Studios and directed by Laxman Utekar, is scheduled for release on June 2, 2023. Vicky Kaushal will be seen in Sam Bahadur and is rumoured to be seen in Shah Rukh Khan-led Dunki. Meanwhile, Sara Ali Khan will be seen in Metro In Dino with Aditya Roy Kapur. The film will be directed by Anurag Basu. This will mark their first collaboration. Sara Ali Khan on Sunday took a detour from her promotional schedule to embark on a spiritual journey. While promoting her upcoming film, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke," the actress paid a visit to Ajmer Sharifs shrine. Her pictures are trending on social media. In a series of captivating photos shared on social media, Sara Ali Khan was seen immersed in the spiritual ambiance of Ajmer Sharif. Dressed in traditional attire, she exuded grace and reverence as she offered her prayers and sought divine blessings. The Gaslight actress wore a mint green salwar suit and had her dupatta covering her head. In the photos, she can be seen praying at the dargah while the crowd trying to capture pictures with her. Fans were excited to see her. Security was also seen making a safe passage for her through the crowd. Take a look at the photos here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sara Ali Khan FC( NOTICED) (@sarakishayari) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sara Ali Khan (@saraalikhan95) Ajmer Sharif, located in the historical city of Ajmer, Rajasthan, is a renowned Sufi shrine that attracts devotees from various walks of life. Earlier in the day, she and Vicky Kaushal were spotted at the airport as they were heading towards Jaipur for the promotions. Both were making fashion statements in cool wear. Talking about the film, the trailer has released. The trailer opens with Pankaj Tripathis voice who introduces Sara and Vickys character. The film is set in Indore, with Vicky playing the role of Kapil and Sara essaying the character of Soumya. The small-town story starts with the couple head-over-heels for each other. However, life takes a turn a few years later, with the couple constantly fighting. They eventually file for a divorce but there seems to be a catch. The trailer also revealed that Zara Hatke Zara Bachke will be bringing back Tum Kya Jano Mohabbat Kya Hai from Rishi Kapoors Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, produced by Dinesh Vijans Maddock Studios and directed by Laxman Utekar, is scheduled for release on June 2, 2023. By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday said he was willing to cut spending but would not agree to a deal with Republicans in Congress on raising the U.S. federal debt limit and cutting the budget solely on their terms. Speaking at a news conference in Hiroshima in Japan, Biden said he would speak with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on his way home about the negotiations, but underscored that a U.S. default would have "serious" consequences and was not an option. "It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely on their partisan terms. They have to move as well," Biden said. The Democratic president said he believed he had the authority to invoke the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to raise the debt ceiling without Congress, but it was uncertain such action could be taken in time to prevent a default. Biden, traveling in Japan for the Group of Seven (G7) summit, sought the call with McCarthy after his negotiating team briefed him on the status of talks that broke up on Friday with no signs of progress, according to a White House official. There are less than two weeks before June 1, when the Treasury Department has warned that the federal government could be unable to pay all its debts. That would trigger a default that could cause chaos in financial markets and spike interest rates. Biden said he still believed he could reach a deal with Republicans, but could not guarantee that Republicans would not force a default by "doing something outrageous." (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason, writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Hugh Lawson, William Maclean) Sushmita Sen on Sunday celebrated the 29th anniversary of her historic win as Miss Universe in a touching celebration alongside her beloved daughters. Sharing glimpses of the heartwarming moments, Sen took to social media to express her joy. In a series of stunning photographs, Sushmita Sen can be seen embracing the essence of motherhood. Accompanied by her beautiful daughters, Renee and Alisah, Sen radiates happiness and contentment as they celebrate the legacy of her Miss Universe triumph. The bond between the three generations is palpable, reflecting a deep sense of unity. Thank you God!!!! The universe conspires in your favour Alisah & @reneesen47. This journey of life with the both of you by my sideis the ultimate celebration!!! I love you infinity, her caption reads. Fans also joined her in the celebration and dropped lovely comments. One of the fans wrote, You are a beautiful soul..May u be blessed always. Another wrote, Mam you r superb. Take a look at the photos here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sushmita Sen (@sushmitasen47) Sushmita Sens Miss Universe win in 1994 was a landmark moment in Indian history. She became the first Indian woman to be crowned Miss Universe, making the nation proud. The actress on Saturday took a trip down memory lane and remembered the day she became the first Indian to win Miss Universe. She shared a photo when she was just 18 years old, and wrote, This picture is exactly 29 years old, shot by the epic man & photographer #prabuddhadasgupta. In the rawness of this picture, he beautifully captured an 18 year old mewith a smile he said, you realise youre the first Miss Universe Ive ever shotI proudly added, its actually INDIAs first ever Miss Universe. The privilege of representing & winning for my Motherland is an honour so profound, it brings me to tears of joy even today29 years later!!! I celebrate & remember this day with great pride as History bears witness, INDIA won Miss Universe for the first time ever on 21st May 1994 in Manila #philippines. On the work front, Sen is looking forward to the release of the third season of Aarya, and the new web series Taali. Sushmita Sen took a trip down the memory lane to reminisce about her Miss Universe win. She won the pageant when she was 18 years old. Sharing a heartfelt picture of herself from that time, the actress penned an emotional note recollecting the historic win. Sushmita wrote, This picture is exactly 29 years old, shot by the epic man & photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta. In the rawness of this picture, he beautifully captured an 18-year-old me with a smile he said, you realise youre the first Miss Universe Ive ever shot I proudly added, its actually INDIAs first ever Miss Universe. She also added, The privilege of representing & winning for my Motherland is an honour so profound, it brings me to tears of joy even today 29 years later!!! I celebrate and remember this day with great pride as History bears witness, INDIA won Miss Universe for the first time ever on 21st May 1994 in Manila Philippines (Mahal Kia). On a closing note, she added, Thank you all for the love, goodness, & the most beautiful messages forever cherished!!! I love you guys!!!!" As soon as she shared the photo, fans and well-wishers flooded the comments section with heartfelt wishes and praises. Many of them even called her an inspiration. Sushmitas historic win continues to inspire and evoke emotions even after nearly three decades. Earlier last year, Sushmita revealed that she did not fully understand the final question that was asked of her during the ceremony. In the final round, the actor was asked, What for you is the essence of being a woman? She replied saying, Just being a woman is a gift of God that all of us must appreciate. The origin of a child is a mother, who is a woman. She shows a man what caring, sharing and loving is all about. Thats the essence of being a woman. Meanwhile, on the work front, Sushmita is gearing up for Aarya 3. Helmed by Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi, Aarya is an official remake of the popular Dutch crime-drama Penoz, which revolves around a middle-aged woman and her struggle to save her family while battling all odds. Apart from Aarya 3, Sushmita Sen also has the highly anticipated Taali in her kitty, where the actress will be playing the role of transgender activist Gauri Sawant. Priyanka Chopra who has cemented her place in Hollywood now after a slew of projects like Quantico and The Matrix Resurrections can be seen in Russo Brothers pan-global series Citadel. The thrilling series also features Richard Madden in the lead and has managed to enthrall the audience till now, as evident from the rave reviews it has garnered. Adding to that excitement, Varun Dhawan wholl play a key role in the Indian installment of Citadel surprised the fans with his brief cameo in the fifth episode. For the unversed, Priyanka Chopra who plays the spy Nadia Sinh, has her backstory showcased through a string of flashbacks, one of them unravelling eight years ago when she came in touch with a dreaded terrorist Rahi Gambhir. Following this, she gets confronted by Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Osy Ikhile (Carter Spence) as to why che chose to interact with Gambhir. Thats when Nadia breaks the big reveal to them that he is her father. While the role has been essayed by Paul Bazely, the voice has been lent by Varun Dhawan, who was also accommodated in the end credits with a special thanks. Watch the clip here. A small part of Varun's scene with PC #CitadelOnPrime pic.twitter.com/ZFFI4MhIQu Annesha (@ApnaaVarun) May 19, 2023 Talking about her latest outing Citadel, Priyanka Chopra Jonas plays the role of Nadia Sinh, a confident woman with a cold demeanour. She has plenty of missions to carry with equal amounts of hidden secrets. Meanwhile, Richard Madden essays the role of Mason Kane, a powerful spy who has a complicated history with Nadia. The story takes an exciting twist when it jumps forward eight years with the global spy agency destroyed by a notorious but heinous organization called Manticore. But Nadia and Mason live a completely different life now, theyre separated with the identities of their past wiped clean from their memories. They live separately until theyre reunited to set out on a wild journey together when Mason is tracked by a former Citadel colleague. The desperate need of the hour is to prevent Manticore from establishing a new world order. The Indian version of Citadel will be headlined by The Family Man directors Raj and DK. The director duo recently gave the hit series Farzi, starring Shahid Kapoor. While the team is staying tight-lipped about Citadel India, Priyanka Chopra recently opened up about the same and revealed that the storylines are connected to each other. She further mentioned that she cannot wait to see Raj and DKs work and appreciated the filmmakers saying, Raj and DK are so amazing, so talented and theyll bring their own spin to the Indian installment. So, Im very excited. When asked what advice she has for Varun and Samantha, Priyanka added, I dont think I can give them any advice. Theyre such accomplished actors in their own ways. Theres nothing I can say. I met Varun recently at the NMACC event and he was telling me how the shoot is going, and how excited he is. There are some really cool threads that connect the other installments with our installment, so we were talking about those. The Reserve Bank of Indias decision to withdraw the Rs 2,000 currency notes has come as a major blow to the narco-terrorism nexus that poses a new threat to the countrys national security. Two recent small press releases by National Investigation Agency (NIA) skipped the headlines but are enough to give one a peek into this complex web where fake Rs 2,000 currency notes had become the life-line of this narco-terrorism nexus. The NIA arrested three persons in a fake currency case in the second week of May from Maharashtra and specifically said that a connection to the D-Company was found. The case was first registered by the Thane police and is known as the Naupada fake currency case. The significance of this case from the perspective of national security can be gauged from the fact that it is being investigated now by the NIA, Indias premier agency that deals with cases pertaining to national security. The fake currency seized by Thane police in this case two-years ago primarily consisted of Rs 2,000 fake currency notes. On May 11, the NIA issued a statement that said, The National Investigation Agency (NIA) recovered several incriminating materials during searches at half a dozen locations in Mumbai in the 2021 Naupada case relating to seizure of high quality fake Indian currency notes (FICN). The recovery included sharp edged weapons, digital devices and documents, which is a strong corroboration of NIAs earlier investigational findings establishing a direct connection with the D-Company in the fake currency racket. Thus the role of the D-Company has been prima facie established in the circulation of FICN in India during the NIA investigation into the case. The case related to the seizure of counterfeit Indian currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination. Two persons were arrested in the case, originally registered at the Naupada police station, Thane City, Maharashtra on 18th November 2021, under relevant sections of IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The accused, identified as Riyaz and Nasir, both residents of Mumbai, are currently in judicial custody. The press release issued on May 13 said, Two days after searches at multiple locations in Maharashtra, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday made another arrest in the 2021 Naupada fake currency case, taking the total arrests to three. The accused, Md Fayaaz Shikilkar, was taken into custody for possession of 12 sharp-edged swords and other incriminating material linking him to the case relating to seizure of high quality fake Indian currency notes (FICN). NIA investigations showed that the accused was in touch with D-company in connection with the fake notes circulation racket. Wednesdays searches at six locations led to the NIA linking 33-year-old Mohammad Fayaaz, a resident of Mumbai, with the 2021 case, on the basis of certain material recovered from the houses and offices of the accused and suspects. With the involvement of D-Company, it is clear that Pakistan is playing a key role in funding this narco-terror network in India from across the border. There are credible inputs available with the security establishment of India that a substantial chunk of these currency notes are also coming through illegal drones flying to India from across the border. These are the same drones who are also being used to push narcotics in India especially in the border states like Punjab and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. That Rs 2,000 is the life-line of anti-India narco-terrorism nexus becomes clear as a substantial volume of fake Indian currency has been found in the denomination of Rs 2000 notes over the last few years. While replying to a question in Rajya Sabha in December 2022, the union minister of state in the ministry of home affairs Nityanand Rai shared certain details based on the data compiled by national crime records bureau (NCRB). The data shows, relatively higher volume of fake Rs 2,000 notes were found in border states and union territories and areas affected by terrorism and narcotics smuggling. The number of fake Rs 2,000 notes found in these sensitive areas were far higher than the fake currency notes found in relatively less sensitive areas. In 2019 the number of fake Rs 2000 notes found in Karnataka (23,599), Gujarat (14,494), Kerala (3,559), Maharashtra (6,848), Tamil Nadu (3,208) and West Bengal (13,637) was quite high and in subsequent years these number increased. The total value of fake currency seized was around Rs 25.4 crore in 2019 out of which around Rs 18 crore was in the denomination of fake Rs 2,000 notes. In the year 2020 significant seizures of Rs 2,000 fake currency notes were registered in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir. Out of a total fake currency seizure of around Rs 92 crore in 2020, around Rs 50 crore was found in fake Rs 2,000 notes. In the year 2021 this trend continued with fake Rs 2000 notes finding a major spurt in the sensitive regions. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), a central government agency, came out with Smuggling in India Report 2019-20 that establishes beyond doubt the significance of dealing with the issue of Rs 2,000 fake notes from the perspective of national security. According to the report, Cross-border trade and smuggling can have a multi-dimensional impact on national security. Apart from its traditional impacts like being used by actors inimical to the security of the state to finance their activities and sustain themselves, increasingly, the global supply chain and volume of trade is being used to mask proliferation and illegal trade in dual-use goods as genuine trade transactions. Smuggling of FICN (Fake Indian Currency Notes) is another grave security threat. In the Indian context, smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) from across the border is largely state sponsored and is intended to harm and destabilise the Indian Financial system. Smuggling of narcotics and drugs has also come to be linked with terrorism. Smuggling is, nevertheless, in itself lucrative and offers high margins. It doesnt require heavy investments in infrastructure and human resources. This makes it a preferred mode of generating finances for non-state actors. In 2019-20, the DRI booked multiple cases of smuggling of Narcotics along the western border and western seaboard. In one such case DRI along with the Indian Coast Guard intercepted a fishing boat off the coast of Gujarat and seized 214 kg of Heroin which was meant for smuggling into India. In another case DRI effected a seizure of 7 kg of Heroin in Kupwara and Tangdhar in Jammu & Kashmir close to the Line of Control (LoC), which had been smuggled in from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). In June 2019, Indian Customs seized 532 kg of Heroin concealed in bags declared to be containing rock salt while they were being imported into India from Pakistan through the Integrated Checkpost at Attari, Punjab. The magnitude and modus of the cases clearly indicate attempts by inimical elements to push narcotics into India and use proceeds of such smuggling to finance anti-national activities. And this is where the role of fake Rs 2,000 notes comes into the picture as the DRI report clearly says that FICN pose a threat to the national security of India. FICN is smuggled into India from Pakistan mostly through the land borders of Bangladesh and Nepal. In 2019-20 Customs booked 16 cases leading to a seizure of FICN with a face value of Rs. 62.40 lakh. Bulk of the seizures comprised Rs 2,000 denomination, with Rs 500 denominations making up a smaller portion of the fake currency seized, says the DRI report. DRI analysis indicates that there has been a gradual improvement in the quality of the FICN being seized. Demonetisation had dealt a heavy blow to the fake Indian currency networks. These networks have been attempting to make a comeback, but have still not reached the same scale and quality, according to the DRI. Several news reports published in August 2022, said, quoting a reply by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the parliament that the number of fake Rs 2,000 notes seized by the government increased by 107 times from 2016 to 2020. The minister said that 2,272 fake currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were seized in 2016, 74,898 in 2017, 54,776 in 2018, 90,566 in 2019 and 2,44,834 in 2020. Conclusion It is clear that the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes has come as a major setback to anti-India forces as their financial life line has been crushed with this decision. The Modi government took this decision, knowing that it could adversely affect it politically but it has kept the national interest over and above the political gains. On issues of national security, the Opposition should have backed the government. National interest and petty political gains shouldnt be the driving force of a mature political party in a democracy. In this context, it seems the Opposition still has a long way to go. The writer, an author and columnist has written several books. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication. As Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continues to battle the BJP-led Centre over a new ordinance, Congress leader Ajay Maken offered him advice from the handbook of late former CM Sheila Dikshit on how to skillfully" deal with such situations. Calling it Sheila Jis legacy," Maken wrote, these officers are with no one. Tackle them skillfullyoffer tea and pakodas when needed, and stand firm when required." In a Twitter post, titled A Day with Sheila Ji: Reflecting Amidst Kejriwals Current Power Chaos," Maken recalls a similar position the Congress ruling Delhi at the time faced and how hes hoping Kejriwal learns from it." In situations when one is at odds with the government at Centre, Maken said, She (Sheila Dikshit) taught me to tackle obstacles skillfully, to serve with a clear focus on the citys welfare. To offer tea and pakodas when needed, and to stand firm when required. Thats Sheila Jis legacy, a guide to serving public interest above all else." He also advised the AAP supremo to engage with officers respectfully, hold dialogues, and persuade them for Delhis advancement. They will certainly align with your vision if its sincere." Maken goes on to say that Kejriwals past actions of using harsh words" will not take him anywhere in such situations. Your past actions - summoning officers at ungodly hours, resorting to mistreatment and harsh words - are not constructive. Its crucial to recognize that such behavior only contributes to the citys distress," he said. Title: A Day with Sheila Ji: Reflecting Amidst Kejriwals Current Power Chaos"In the early 2000s, a historic shift was underway in Delhi. I was serving as the Transport, Power, and Tourism Minister under Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Ji. We were spearheading a series of Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) May 21, 2023 Maken also recalled Dikshits advice on dealing with the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. She told me, Be as forceful as possible, argue for the interest of Delhi. As I deal with the LG daily, you can be the forceful one, I will be the supportive referee," he said. Maken was talking about the 2000s when he was serving as the Transport, Power, and Tourism Minister under CM Sheila Dikshit, and how one day he found out that he was being replaced. According to him, Dikshit also had no idea about this development, and that Centre played a role in it. Despite Dikshits attempt to reverse the decision, it stood firm, Maken says, adding that instead of tackling this with anger, she advised him to diplomatically exist with the new officer for the betterment of the city. What is the current row between Kejriwal and Centre? The Centre had promulgated an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre. The ordinance came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi to the elected government, excluding those related to police, public order and land. As per the ordinance, all matters required to be decided by the Authority shall be decided by the majority of votes of the members present and voting. However, in case of difference of opinion, the decision of the Lieutenant Governor shall be final. Delhi governments lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi termed the act of a bad, poor and graceless loser". In a show of opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister, who is attempting to get all like-minded leaders and parties to contest against Narendra Modis BJP in 2024, reached his Delhi Counterpart Arvind Kejriwals residence. Interestingly, this meeting between the two is the second in just over a month. Kumar, who was accompanied by his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, extended support to Kejriwal and his party AAP against the Centres sudden ordinance which stands to nullify Supreme Courts recent order bestowing administrative powers with the Delhi government. Arvind Kejriwal and his party AAP called the ordinance unconstitutional and a clear violation of SCs order Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Delhi Chief Minister said that if the opposition gets together, then the bill can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha and if this bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha, this will become the semi-final for 2024. Govt has passed a new ordinance, it is against SC Order. I had a detailed discussion with Nitish Ji and he said that he is supporting us," said Kejriwal about his meeting with Bihar CM. Clearly, the thought within the AAP is that the controversial ordinance, which again stripped the elected government of power over services despite a five-judge Constitution bench verdict is an issue which can bring the opposition together. Nitish ji is trying to ally with other opposition leaders and I have requested him that if all opposition parties will unite and oppose this bill in Rajya Sabha, then this will be an indication for 2024," he added. Supporting the Delhi Chief Minister in his battle against the central governments ordinance, Nitish Kumar said, Felt very good with the Supreme Court verdict. After that, it is strange that the central government is trying to do something to it. Look at the Constitution and recognize the rights. When elected governments are formed, how can you strip those of power ? How can powers given to an elected government be taken away? Its against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal. We are trying to bring together all opposition parties in the country" he added. Nitish Kumar, in fact already has had one round of meetings with prominent opposition leaders, among the Congress, the NCP, the TMC, and the BJD. Unfettered by the lukewarm response of some leaders, especially BJD Chief and Odiaha CM Naveen Patnaik who has already said that BJD will fight the 2024 elections on its own and that there is no possibility of a third front as far as he is concerned, Nitish Kumar is still trying to galvanize opposition parties on to one platform. Delhi CM Kejriwal is also set to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bengal on May 23, Uddhav Thackeray on May 24 and Sharad Pawar on May 25. top videos Notably, Mamata Banerjee, though invited by the Congress party for Siddaramaiahs swearing chose not to go personally but sent Kakoli Dastidar to represent the party. Post the Congress Karnataka win, Mamata Banerjee had spelt out her recalibrated strategy saying she will support Congress wherever the party is strong in return for the same favour in Bengal. The picture was nearly perfect at the oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru on May 20, with the Gandhis, Congress chief ministers and many senior opposition leaders in attendance. In a statement issued later, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who had skipped the ceremony, thanked the people of Karnataka for the win as did the party workers. But behind the smiles and wishes, the absence of a few state leaders was noticed. Former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao, who had skipped the ceremony due to high fever and was in Delhi, was not listed as a Cabinet minister, sources close to him said. DK Shivakumar replaced Rao as the state chief in December 2019 after the latter resigned from the post accepting responsibility for the partys poor performance in Karnataka by-polls. Raos supporters, however, say the leader was in no mood to attend the ceremony and they also couldnt understand why only eight ministers were sworn in when at least 10 could have been inducted into the cabinet including Rao. Not just Rao, BK Hariprasad and Krishna Byre Gowda too were given a miss. Hariprasad was parked in Bengaluru even after the results were out in the hope that he would find a place in the cabinet. He has since then switched off his phone and is incommunicado with the top leadership. Krishna Byre Gowda has refused to comment, and, perhaps, has adopted a wait-and-watch policy. A chief minister can appoint up to 34 ministers but only eight took oath on May 20. No woman minister was sworn in; Brahmin and upper-caste faces were also missing. Top Congress sources told News18 that they were not planning more than 10 ministers in the first round. There is time and space for more. We wanted to immediately represent those communities who have voted for us. The next round of cabinet expansion is expected in a week. Both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah will be in Delhi to finalise the other names. In case Dinesh Gundu Rao, Hariprasad and Gowda dont find their names on the list, it could pose difficulty for the new government. top videos Worse, with the focus being on the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, this disgruntlement could cast a shadow on the partys performance. Interestingly, the list of the eight ministers was released by Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal. This has raised eyebrows even as the BJP asked why should not the CM officially decide his cabinet. The dust has not settled on the Karnataka story yet. Air strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the countrys warring generals kept up their struggle for control even as they agreed to a brief humanitarian pause. With heavy fighting raging in Khartoum, the rival sides struck a deal on a seven-day ceasefire beginning the evening of May 22, the United States and Saudi Arabia said Saturday in a joint statement after talks in Jeddah. The ceasefire shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the agreement of both parties," it said. Multiple announced truces have been violated since fighting broke out five weeks ago, which the Saudi foreign ministry acknowledged in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency early Sunday. Unlike previous ceasefires, the Agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," it said. It said subsequent talks will focus on additional steps necessary to improve security and humanitarian conditions for civilians such as vacating forces from urban centers, including civilian homes, accelerating removal of impediments to the free movement of civilians and humanitarian actors, and enabling public servants to resume their regular duties." The power struggle between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), erupted into fighting on April 15. The conflict has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, and displaced more than one million. The United Nations has warned of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Africas third-largest country, where one in three people already relied on aid before the war. Saturdays ceasefire announcement comes two weeks after representatives of the warring generals first gathered in Jeddah for talks. By May 11 they had signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid. But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told AFP on Thursday that there had been important and egregious" violations of that agreement, which fell short of a ceasefire. Push for talks On Friday, Burhan sacked Daglo, giving his title of vice president of the ruling Sovereign Council to former rebel leader Malik Agar, and appointed three allies to top jobs in the military. A former rebel leader who signed a peace deal with Khartoum authorities in 2020, Agar said in a statement Saturday he was determined to try to end the war" and press for negotiations. He also addressed Daglo directly saying Sudans stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army". Integration of the RSF into the regular armed forces has been the main bone of contention between Daglo and Burhan. The force, which traces its origins to the notorious Janjaweed militia recruited in the early 2000s to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups in Darfur, is highly mobile but has a reputation for being ill-disciplined. Its fighters have been accused of widespread break-ins and looting, including at diplomatic missions and aid group offices. Maximum restraint On Saturday, Qatars embassy was the latest diplomatic mission to be attacked, drawing condemnation from Doha. The embassy staff had previously been evacuated and none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm," the ministry said. It renewed calls for an immediate halt to the fighting". Qatar did not specifically identify Daglos RSF as responsible but a statement from the pro-Burhan authorities put the blame squarely on the paramilitaries. The embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under assault in recent weeks. Saturdays attack came a day after Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Saudi Arabia urged Sudans feuding generals to halt the fighting. Although the main fighting is being played out in Khartoum, the violence has also spread to the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, where the RSF has its roots. In South Darfur capital Nyala, fighting since Thursday has killed 22 people forcing civilians to flee for safer areas as shells crash on their homes, the bar association in Darfur has said. On Friday, the UN aid boss Griffith said he was allocating $22 million in emergency funds to help Sudanese fleeing the violence. top videos The funds will help relief efforts in Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt and South Sudan where Sudanese have sought refuge, he said. The United States promised $103 million for Sudan and neighbouring countries to support displaced people. China has lodged diplomatic protests to G7 countries over their Hiroshima joint statement, in which they voiced their growing concerns over Chinas coercive approaches over Taiwan, East and South China seas, and accused them of brazen interference in its internal affairs. China figured prominently in the Hiroshima summit meeting of the leaders of G7 countries. The G7 comprising the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the worlds richest democracies. The joint statement devoted a substantial portion to China, saying that they would like to build constructive and stable relations with Beijing besides expressing serious concerns over Chinas aggressive approaches over Taiwan, East and South China seas. They stressed the need to cooperate with the worlds second-largest economy but also emphasised countering its malign practices and coercion in a landmark joint communique Saturday. The G7 leaders also voiced their concerns about human rights in China, including in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of interning thousands of Uygur Muslims in forced labour camps. Despite Chinas serious concerns, the G7 used issues concerning China to smear and attack China and brazenly interfere in Chinas internal affairs," a spokesperson of the foreign ministry here said in a statement last night. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made serious demarches to the summits host Japan and other parties concerned," the statement. Besides urging China to pressure its close strategic partner Russia to end its war on Ukraine, the G7 nations in the joint statement spoke of their interest to build constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognising the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. We encourage China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, including in direct talks with Ukraine, the G7 joint statement said. Cooperation with China is needed given its global role and economic size, it said and called for working together on challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, debts and financing needs of vulnerable countries, global health concerns and economic stability, it said. At the same time, the summit of the leaders of seven wealthy democracies expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas, where Beijing has been expanding its military presence and threatening to use force to exert its control over Taiwan, which it claims is part of the Chinese mainland. The G7 leaders called for a peaceful resolution of Chinas claim to Taiwan and said there was no legal basis for Chinas expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea and we oppose Chinas militarisation activities in the region. A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest, the statement said, alluding to charges that Beijing is undermining the rules-based international order. In its statement, the Chinese foreign ministry late Saturday took exception to references to Taiwan saying that G7 leaders are hyping up China-related issues and harped on the One China policy about Taiwan. Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese, a matter that must be resolved by the Chinese," the Chinese spokespersons statement said. The one-China principle is the solid anchor for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The G7 keeps emphasising cross-Strait peace, and yet says nothing about the need to oppose Taiwan independence. This in effect constitutes connivance and support for Taiwan independence forces, and will only result in having a serious impact on cross-Strait peace and stability," it said. No one should underestimate the determination, resolve and capability of the Chinese people in safeguarding Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said. It also said the affairs related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet are purely Chinas internal affairs. China firmly opposes interference by any external force in those affairs under the pretext of human rights. The G7 needs to stop pointing fingers at China in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet and take a hard look at their history and human rights record," it said. On the East and South China seas, the statement claimed that China is a firm defender of and contributor to international maritime rule of law. While the East China Sea dispute concerns China and Japan, the South China Sea dispute involved the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Beijing claims most of the area. The G7 leaders asked China to abide by the July 12, 2016 verdict of the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). We emphasise the universal and unified character of the UNCLOS and reaffirm UNCLOSs important role in setting out the legal framework that governs all activities in the oceans and the seas," the joint statement said. We reiterate that the award rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal on July 12, 2016, is a significant milestone, which is legally binding upon the parties to those proceedings, and a useful basis for peacefully resolving disputes between the parties," the G7 statement said. Rebutting the G7 leaders calls, the Chinese statement said: The East China Sea and the South China Sea have remained overall stable. Relevant countries need to respect regional countries efforts to uphold peace and stability and stop using maritime issues to drive a wedge between regional countries and incite bloc confrontation. As for economic coercion, the massive unilateral sanctions and acts of decoupling and disrupting industrial and supply chains make the US the real coercer that politicises and weaponises economic and trade relations. We urge the G7 not to become an accomplice in economic coercion," it said. On the nuclear weapons issue, the statement said China is firmly committed to a defensive nuclear strategy. We have honoured our pledge to no first use of nuclear weapons and always kept our nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required by national security," it said. Expressing Chinas commitment to uphold the UN-centered international system, it said China will never accept the so-called rules imposed by the few. The international community does not and will not accept the G7-dominated Western rules that seek to divide the world based on ideologies and values, still less will it succumb to the rules of exclusive small blocs designed to serve America-first and the vested interests of the few. The G7 needs to reflect on its behaviour and change course," the statement said. top videos Let me make it clear that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries internal affairs and manipulate global affairs," the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said. We urge G7 members to catch up with the trend of the times, focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries, stop creating and stoking bloc confrontation and get back to the right path of dialogue and cooperation," the spokesperson added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japans Hiroshima, and they reviewed the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. The two leaders also agreed for the trade terms to continue towards an ambitious deal," and discussed deep ties shared between the nations. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, The meeting with PM Rishi Sunak was a very fruitful one. We discussed boosting cooperation in trade, innovation, science and other such sectors." This is their second in-person meeting between the two since the G20 Summit in Indonesia last November. The meeting with PM @RishiSunak was a very fruitful one. We discussed boosting cooperation in trade, innovation, science and other such sectors. pic.twitter.com/FI9nI1gc9V Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 This comes as Sunaks first visit to India as the prime minister to expected for the G20 Summit in New Delhi later this year. The leaders reflected on the deep ties between the UK and India, rooted in our human connections, and the vital importance of democracy and fair and open trade, a Downing Street spokesperson, news agency PTI reported. Productive discussion with UK PM @RishiSunak on the sidelines of the Hiroshima G-7 Summit. pic.twitter.com/QSfENHnixR Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 20, 2023 They discussed progress on a UK-India Free Trade Agreement. The leaders agreed that their teams would continue to work at pace to finalise an ambitious and mutually beneficial deal, the spokesperson added. Apart from this, Sunak expressed his strong support for Indias G20 Presidency and that he looked forward to working closely with Prime Minister Modi ahead of a successful Summit later this year." PM Modi meets Brazil Prez Lula da Silva PM Modi also held wide-ranging talks with Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva and the two discussed ways to further deepen bilateral ties, specifically in sectors of defence production, trade and renewable energy. Otimas conversas com o presidente @LulaOficial a margem da Cupula do G-7 em Hiroshima. Continuaremos trabalhando juntos para fortalecer a amizade entre India e Brasil. pic.twitter.com/fzRjmflLn7 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 20, 2023 They reviewed their strategic partnership and discussed ways to further deepen it, especially in sectors of defence production, trade, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, dairy & animal husbandry and bio-fuels & clean energy, the statement said. Both leaders emphasised the need to organise a high-level meeting of business leaders from both countries. top videos The talks with President @LulaOficial were productive and wide-ranging. India and Brazil will keep working together to deepen trade ties. We also discussed diversifying cooperation in sectors like agriculture, defence and more," Prime Minister Modi tweeted. With agency inputs CAA Media Finance has come on board to handle sales in North America on Mohamed Kordofanis Goodbye Julia, the first film from Sudan to launch from the Cannes Film Festival. CAA will be working in tandem with Egypt-based producer Ali El Arabis Ambient Light Films, which holds North American rights for the timely drama that premiered on May 21 in Un Certain Regard. More from Variety Goodbye Julia takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan. It revolves around two women, one from the north, the other from the south, that are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities. in an interview with Variety, Kordofani expressed the hope that his film can be the start of a movement for reconciliation between all the Sudanese people in the war-ravaged country. Produced by fellow Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala director of You Will Die at 20, which became Sudans first Oscar submission in 2020 Goodbye Julia stars Eiman Yousif, model Siran Riak, a former Miss South Sudan, Nazar Goma and Ger Duany. In a statement, El Arabi said, It was important for Ambient Light to bring Goodbye Julia to America for many reasons, noting that Sudanese stories are not often told or distributed in a large way in the American market. He went on to add that the film is a powerful story that delves into many societal nuances and complexities. El Arabi is an Egyptian director and producer whose production and distribution company Ambient Light is based in Cairo and Los Angeles. Goodbye Julia sales outside of North America are being handled by pan-Arab outfit Mad Solutions. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Apart from his official engagements and political interactions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his three-nation tour, is also attending events aimed at augmenting the presence of Indian culture in Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. In Japan, PM Modi unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at Hiroshima on Saturday, which reflects Indian values of peace and nonviolence. Unveiling Gandhis bust, Modi said the Gandhian ideals of peace and harmony reverberate globally and give strength to millions. The location of the bust of Gandhi has been chosen as a mark of solidarity for peace and non-violence. The US conducted the worlds first nuclear attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing some 1,40,000 people. The Prime Minister also met and encouraged a linguist and an artist who are linked to Indian culture. In Papua New Guinea, the next country on his itinerary, PM Modi is set to release The Tirukkural", a classic Tamil text written by venerable poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar, in Tok Pisin language, officials said. Tok Pisin is one of the official languages of the pacific nation. The prime minister will travel from Papua New Guinea to Australia on Monday. Local authorities will be formally naming the Harris Park locality in Parramatta there as Little India", in recognition of the presence and contribution of a large number of Indians there. top videos As per official sources, the Prime Minister has made it a point to spread awareness about Indian culture and traditions during his visits abroad and interactions with foreign dignitaries, including in the choice of gifts he gives away, and the ongoing trip continues with this objective. (With PTI Inputs) As Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky touched down in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Saturday, cameras zoomed in on the plane: a French government-labelled military aircraft. At times since Russia invaded Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macrons diplomatic overtures have made some of his allies angry and wary of his intentions despite Paris providing substantial military and financial aid to Ukraine. But on Friday as Zelensky first landed in Jeddah to address the Arab League, the French Airbus emblazoned with the tricolour flag marked an achievement for Macron. According to French officials, the idea of bringing the Ukrainian leader to the G7 had been in the works for several weeks after initial discussions with the Japanese hosts in particular given a broader list of attendees. Members of the Global South, a term for some mostly low- and middle-income nations, including India and Brazil, two countries that have not distanced themselves from Moscow, are also attending the summit. The Ukrainians asked that President Zelenskiy be transported by the French army," a French presidential official said, adding that the decision had been made on Wednesday. According to the officials, the Ukrainian delegation was picked up from the Polish border before embarking on a four-hour flight to Jeddah as part of Zelenskiys broader effort to reach out to countries that have remained on the fence in the conflict. It was an opportunity for him to explain his position with countries he doesnt usually talk to," a second French official said. Speaking ahead of a bilateral meeting with Macron in Hiroshima, Zelenskiy thanked France and said he had received positive signals" from Arab states without elaborating. One of the officials, who travelled on the plane with the Ukrainian delegation, said it had been striking how tired they were and had taken the opportunity to catch up on sleep in the 15-hour flight from Saudi to Japan, crossing Chinese airspace on its route. But, the official said, Zelenskiy had on several occasions called his diplomatic and military teams in to prepare how they would handle the different dynamics and views each of their potential interlocutors had on the war. The aim, French officials said, was to sway their stances. top videos It wasnt the first time Paris had stepped in to offer its aviation comforts. A French government Falcon jet had taken Zelenskiy from Brussels to Poland in February after a European heads of state summit, the French officials said. A plane in the colours of the French Republic has arrived in Hiroshima," Macron tweeted after meeting Zelenskiy. On board, the Ukrainian delegation came to the G7 to work with us and our partners for Ukraines victory and to restore peace in Europe." Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore a sleeveless jacket during the ongoing G7 Summit in Japan. But it was no ordinary jacket as it was made of recycled material. Officials said that the beige sadri" jacket PM wore during his visit to Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima was made of recycled material. PM Modi wore the jacked during visit to Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park earlier today. He paid floral tributes at the memorial museum built in memory of those who died in a US atomic bomb attack on this Japanese city in 1945 at the end of World War II. Went to the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park this morning. pic.twitter.com/H3NlkcFxF0 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 He was accompanied by several other world leaders including Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Japanese Fumio Kishida. He also signed the visitors book in the museum, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. PM Narendra Modi, who is on a three-day visit to Japan to attend the G7 Summit, met several global leaders including US President Joe Biden, UK counterpart Rishi Sunak, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Tweeting photos of Modis visit to the museum at the memorial site, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Twitter: A tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims. PM Narendra Modi begins his day by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitors book." The ministry also tweeted a group photo of the world leaders attending the G7 Summit and said, The leaders also paid their respect at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park." This is not the first time that PM Modi endorsed eco-friendly products. Earlier in February, PM Modi had worn a sleeveless sky-blue jacket to the Parliament. top videos The Nehru jacket that was gifted to him by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) during the India Energy Week in Bengaluru on February 6 was made using material recycled from plastic bottles. Modi is in Japan to attend three sessions at the G7 summit. During the visit, PM Modi met Sunak, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and UN chief Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday left for Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his three-nation tour after concluding his visit to Japan for the summit of the G7 advanced economies here during which he also met several world leaders and discussed a host of global issues with them. Modis visit to Papua New Guinea will be the first ever by any Indian prime minister. After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour, the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted. Modi arrived in Hiroshima on Friday to attend three sessions at the G7 summit following an invitation by Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and the people of Japan for their warmth, the prime minister said in a tweet. The group of seven, comprising the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the worlds richest democracies. Under its G7 presidency, Japan invited India and seven other countries to the summit as guests. During his stay in Japan, he met several world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese counterpart Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Premier Rishi Sunak. Modi along with US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese also attended the 3rd in-person Qaud Summit. Modi also offered to host the next Quad Leaders Summit in India in 2024. Modi is scheduled to land in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea later on Sunday. In Papua New Guinea, he will host the third summit of the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on Monday jointly with Prime Minister James Marape. I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important summit (FIPIC), Modi had said earlier. FIPIC was launched during his visit to Fiji in 2014. In the third and final leg of the trip, Modi will visit Australia from May 22 to 24. top videos On his visit to Australia, the prime minister will meet his Australian counterpart Albanese. He will also interact with Australian CEOs and business leaders, and meet the Indian community in Sydney at a special event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a three-day visit to Japan to attend the G7 Summit, held a bilateral meeting with his UK PM Rishi Sunak on Sunday. The two leaders reviewed their strategic partnership and took stock of the progress in India-UK FTA negotiations in the meeting, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade & investment, science & technology, higher education, and people to people relationship," Bagchi said in a tweet. A boost to - Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. PM @narendramodi held productive talks with PM @RishiSunak of UK in Hiroshima. The two leaders reviewed their Strategic Partnership, including took stock of progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. pic.twitter.com/LPoacejFyF Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 21, 2023 The two leaders also discussed Indias ongoing G-20 Presidency and PM Modi is looking forward to welcoming the British counterpart in New Delhi for the G-20 Summit, officials said. Earlier, PM Modi met Sunak, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and UN chief Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Saturday. Modi is in Japan to attend three sessions at the G7 summit. Leaders agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade & investment, science & technology, higher education, and people to people relationship. pic.twitter.com/IfmjbaIQro Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 21, 2023 British Prime Minister Sunak also shared the picture with Modi on his Twitter handle, with the two leaders sharing a warm hug. PM Modi also met Indonesian President Joko Widodo and said that India attaches great priority to strong ties with Indonesia. Met President @jokowi and Mrs Widodo. India attaches great priority to strong ties with Indonesia," Prime Minister Modi tweeted after his meeting with the Indonesian leader. Wonderful conversation with @UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres in Hiroshima," Modi tweeted after the meeting. At the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, PM @narendramodi paid tributes to the Hiroshima victims. pic.twitter.com/lPxbMYisx2 PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 21, 2023 Earlier today, he began his day by visiting Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitors book. He, along with Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Japanese Fumio Kishida and other world leaders paid tribute to Hiroshima victims at Peace Memorial Park. Earlier, Modi also held talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh and met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He also met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the President of the Cook Islands Mark Brown. top videos The group of seven, comprising the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada, and Japan, represent the worlds richest democracies. Under its G7 presidency, Japan invited India and seven other countries to the summit. (With Inputs from Shailendra Wangu) Joe Biden witnessed a rather uncomfortable moment during the G-7 Summit after a news reporter interrupted him to ask questions about United States mounting debt limit crisis. The president seemed irked on Sunday as he Shushed Up" the media person during an interaction on his countrys domestic debt ceiling negotiations. Bidens reaction came after he held bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japans Hiroshima. During the media interaction, when the US President was asked about the debt negotiations deadlock with the Republicans Biden attempted to downplay the issue. During a bilateral meeting with Australian PM at G7 summit, an irked President Biden rudely barked at an Australian reporter to "shush up, Ok""This goes in stages, I've been in these negotiations before" Reporter interjects "They started offshush up, Ok?" pic.twitter.com/DnENDg0irg Mona Salama (@ByMonaSalama) May 21, 2023 These (talks) go in stagesI have been in these negotiations before, he said, just as a reporter interrupted him for a query. Shush up, ok? Biden responded, followed by a small chuckle after which he continued to explain the process. He also slammed Republican demands in negotiations to resolve the US debt ceiling standoff as unacceptable" but said a solution can still be found before a disastrous default. Its time for the other side to move from their extreme positions," he was quoted as saying by AFP. Last week, President Biden reiterated that America will never default and said he was confident about overcoming the ongoing debt ceiling crisis in the US adding that the country will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default. On Wednesday, negotiations that appear to be in a deadlock situation so far resumed between the White House and Republican lawmakers behind closed doors. The ongoing American debt crisis concerns the fact that the debt limit in the US is the maximum amount of money that the government can borrow to meet its financial obligations. top videos The borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, needs to be increased so the government can keep paying the nations bills. While the blame game between the Democrats and Republicans began on the debt crisis issue, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the country could lose its ability to pay all its bills by June 1. Meteorites found in Canada cannot be removed from the country without permit Catch a falling star if you can, and by all means put it in your pocket, but don't try to cross international borders with it lest you run afoul of a little-known Canadian law. An American museum will have to navigate that law's intricacies should it try to buy portions of a meteorite believed to have landed in New Brunswick last month. A fireball ripped through the Earth's atmosphere on April 8 and landed somewhere in the province, prompting the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum to offer a US$25,000 reward for the first one kilogram meteorite recovered. But Chris Herd, a professor at the University of Alberta and curator of its meteorite collection, said obtaining the asteroid fragments won't be as simple as making an offer. "In Canada, all meteorites are considered Canadian cultural property automatically through the Cultural Property Export and Import Act," he said in an interview. "... "If it's public property, say an American comes in and finds (the meteorite,) they have to apply to export it from Canada. They may not actually take it out of Canada unless they have an approved export permit." The museum in Bethel, Maine, has openly expressed interest in obtaining some of the space debris if and when it's found. Darryl Pitt, head of the museum's meteorite division, said doppler radar readings suggest the meteorite which most likely originated from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was likely scattered over the part of New Brunswick straddling Maine. The museum's interest also extends beyond just the first 1-kg meteorite; a news release said it will buy any additional specimens found. "Depending on the type of meteorite this is, specimens could easily be worth their weight in gold," Pitt said. Herd said meteorites can be identified by a dark brown or black outer glassy crust that resembles an eggshell, he said. "That's a telltale sign that it's come through the Earth's atmosphere from space," he said, noting they're usually dense and surprisingly heavy. The person who finds a whole or partial meteorite on public property must complete an export application that's reviewed by an expert examiner, said Herd, who is one of several in Canada. "The expert examiner then might say, 'well, this is of potential outstanding significance and national importance,'" he said. "If the expert examiner says, 'Oh, I think this is significant, and important,' then (the Canadian Border Services) will recommend refusal of the export permit." The file then goes to a cultural property export review board, which can disagree with the expert examiner and let the meteorite be exported. Alternatively, it can impose a six-month embargo period during which Canadian institutions can offer to buy the meteorite for a fair market price, he said. Anyone taking a meteorite out of Canada without the requisite permit can face fines of up to $25,000, as much as five years in prison or both. Despite its open interest in purchasing the meteorite, Pitt said the Mineral and Gem Museum is well aware of the regulations it must follow to obtain any fragments that surface. "The museum should always do due diligence ... as to whether the meteorite was obtained legally before they actually acquire it," Herd said. "If it comes from outside of the U.S., as would be the case in this scenario, then they would need to do their due diligence and make sure that the person exported it legally from Canada." Pitt said the responsibility of obtaining an export permit lies with whoever finds a meteor. For its part, he said the museum would "immediately get in touch" with Herd to help broker a deal. "If Canada wants it, it's Canadian," he said. "I hope that we could arrive at an agreement with our Canadian friends so that a sample of it could come to the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum." Herd said he made a deal with an American dealer for a piece of the Grimsby meteorite that fell in southern Ontario's Niagara region in 2009. "They realized they weren't going to be able to get it exported because it was a unique fall," he said. Since Canada is a vast country, Herd said thousands of meteorites may have fallen in remote places. "I don't think we would actually know how many of them are anywhere in Canada. But they are part of Canada's natural history. The law is there for a reason." This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2023. Hina Alam, The Canadian Press The $48 billion kitty that Congress approved in December for aid to Ukraine is running low, and supporters on Capitol Hill are unclear what the Biden administration plans to do about it. Their concerns include when the president will ask for another round of funding and whether it will be sufficient, Politico reports. With Ukraine still planning a spring counteroffensive, they want there to be no interruption in the flow of money and weapons. "It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory," Republican Sen. Susan Collins told Pentagon leaders in a hearing. "We expect the administration not to wait until the eleventh hour if the Ukrainians need more before the end of the fiscal year." But White House officials said this week they don't plan to ask for more money before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, believing they have enough resources for now, per CNN. Congressional staff members said they count differently and worry that the administration is delaying decisions to see whether the offensive is successful. Once the White House comes up with proposal, it could run into GOP opposition; Republicans didn't control the House during the last round. It could also become ensnarled in the ongoing standoff on the debt ceiling. They're a minority, but there are Republicans in Congress talking about cutting the aid. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said they won't be a problem. "Although there are dissenting voices, the large majority of certainly Republicansfor sure in the Senate and arguably in the House as wellbelieve strongly that we need Ukraine to win," he said. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed that. "I do think that we have enough support within Congress to sustain this for a good deal longer," he said, per the Hill. "All the leadership in the House and Senate in my party is very much in favor of defeating the Russians." (It helps that the Pentagon came across another $3 billion.) It's a new twist on the old phrase "publish or perish." It's more like, publish or don't get into your college of choice. ProPublica reports on the latest questionable method being used to puff up college admissions: Parents are paying to get their kids' names on published research papers, and often both the papers and the journals in which they appear are a little iffy. The way it works is that a company connects a teen with an academic mentorit's currently "one of the most lucrative side hustles for graduate students," one doctoral candidate explainsfor a fee. They work together online, and the mentor helps the student come up with a research project that is published somewheresometimes in a not-so-discriminating journal affiliated with the company. (Some guarantee publication.) By ProPublica's count, at least 20 such "online research programs" have surfaced in recent years, "along with a bevy of journals that publish the work." These days, "having a publication is kind of a given," says one high schooler whose published paper (actually a pre-print, meaning even less review) lauded Chick-fil-A's chicken sandwiches and marketing strategy. Is she worried that her less-than-rigorous subject will hurt her chances? Not so much. "Its just important that theres a link out there." As ProPublica notes, she's correct on that, because it's not realistic for college admissions officers to track down such links and verify their credibility. Some companies offering such services are better than others, with the story noting that Pioneer Academics "has maintained relatively rigorous standards." But the trend has resulted in "dubious papers whose main qualification seems to be that the authors parents are willing to pay, directly or indirectly, to have them published." Read the full story. (Or check out other longform stories.) While most noroviruses don't last long, contracting one can still a rough experienceespecially when you're at sea, thousands of miles from home. Unfortunately for many people on cruise ships in 2023, getting sick is part of the experience, per Quartz. Citing stats from the CDC, the outlet reports 11 outbreaks of illness (think vomiting and diarrhea) on cruise ships so far this year, the most since 2018. The spike reflects the increasing number of people taking cruises again since the worst of the pandemic, notes the Washington Post. At least 1,503 passengers and crew combined have come down with some kind of stomach trouble while on cruise ships that dock in US ports. According to Quartz, three of the outbreaks were definitely norovirus, but all were gastrointestinal. Cruises are closed environments and norovirus spreads easily, especially because it can live on surfaces for months, per the Mayo Clinic. With thousands of people sharing tight quarters and buffets in open dining areas, hardy viruses can thrive. If there's an upside, it's that stomach virus outbreaks on cruises have actually diminished since the CDC began keeping records in 1994. The most recent one provides a typical example: About 160 passengers and 26 crew aboard Holland America Lines Nieuw Amsterdam, or about 8% of passengers and 3% of crew, got sick. The ship was returning to Vancouver Sunday after a two-week cruise to Alaska. If you want to avoid catching a bug that ruins your vacation, Conde Nast Traveler recommends 12 steps, including: Visiting a "travel medicine specialist" before you leave. Avoiding self-serve dining if possible. Regular hand-washing. Avoiding public area restrooms. Immediately reporting other travelers who are sick. (Read more cruise ships stories.) Ron DeSantis is expected to enter the 2024 race as soon as this week. Which means the nation is about to meet Florida's first lady, Casey DeSantis. Michael Kruse of Politico has written a lengthy profile of the 42-year-old, one that makes clear Casey has been a key figureperhaps the key figurein her husband's political rise. In the way most obvious to the public, she is an "antidote for her sometimes awkward husband, social in a way that he is not, charismatic in a way that he is not, generally and seemingly at ease in the spotlight in a way that he so often and so evidently is not," writes Kruse. But the flip side of that is that she is seen by her critics as too powerful and vengeful, unwilling to cede her role as her husband's No. 1 adviser and quick to boot from his orbit those she doesn't trust. The big example cited on the latter front is her role in ousting renowned political operative Susie Wiles from Team DeSantis, with Wiles now helping run Donald Trump's campaign. The story includes an old quote by Trump ally Roger Stone likening Casey to Lady MacBeth, "an agent, in other words, of her husbands undoing," writes Kruse. He finds that the narrative isn't quite that simple. The gist of the profile: Yes, Casey can help her husband's awkwardness with the public, but she "can also accentuate, even exacerbate, his hubris, and his paranoia, and his vaulting ambitionbecause those are all traits that they share," writes Kruse. In short: "He wouldnt be where he is without her. He might not get to where he wants to go because of her." Read the full story, which Fox News notes is being characterized by DeSantis supporters as a "hit piece." (Read more Ron DeSantis stories.) A toddler accidentally shot and injured two people in Indianawhich inadvertently helped police arrest a man wanted for murder. Police in Lafayette say a 3-year-old child somehow gained access to a gun and shot two people inside an apartment on Thursday, one of whom was his mother, 21-year-old Jalynn Artis, reports CNN. The other person shot was Trayshaun Smith, 23, who is wanted on murder charges in Cook County, Illinois, per WISH TV. Police took him into custody upon learning of the warrant for his arrest when he and Artis showed up at a hospital seeking treatment for their non-life-threatening injuries. According to Everytown Research, "at least 114 unintentional shootings by children, resulting in 47 deaths and 69 injuries nationally" have been reported this year; last year, there were 354 unintentional shootings, causing 157 deaths and 212 injuries, and in 2021, there were almost 400 shootings, killing 167 and injuring 248. The incident in Indiana was the second such unintended shooting of the week. Another occurred in Dallas on Tuesday, when a 4-year-old found an unsecured firearm and shot a 1-year-old sibling, causing non life-threatening injuries, reports CBS News, (Read more shooting stories.) As Bryan Kohberger prepares for his arraignment Monday in a quadruple homicide in Idaho, a disturbing new allegation has emerged about his background. A report at Dateline NBC alleges that the 28-year-old broke into a female friend's apartment and moved her things around to make her feel unsafe, reports the New York Post. The rattled woman then turned to Kohberger for help installing a video surveillance system, to which he likely had access, according to the report. This allegedly happened months before Kohberger is accused of murdering four students at the University of Idaho. I would expect that he orchestrated the whole thing, he was not looking at her as a potential victim necessarily, Greg Cooper, a former FBI profiler, tells Dateline. But he orchestrated it so that she would come to him and that he would be able to help her. It is another level of power and domination and control over another person. The woman was a student at Washington State University, where he was studying criminology. Kohberger was indicted last week on the Idaho murder charges and is due in court Monday to enter his plea, reports CBS2 in Idaho. (Read more Bryan Kohberger stories.) Katie Aubrecht is a professor in the Department of Sociology at St. Francis Xavier University and a Canada research chair in health equity and social justice. (Submitted by Research Nova Scotia. - image credit) The author of an independent review of the province's Accessibility Act says there is much work to do if Nova Scotia is to meet its target of being fully accessible by 2030. "We're definitely not where we need to be," Katie Aubrecht, Canada Research Chair in health equity and social justice and an associate professor in the St. Francis Xavier University department of sociology, said in an interview with CBC Mainstreet Cape Breton. The act was adopted in 2017 and points to six areas for the removal and prevention of barriers. They are built environment, education, employment, goods and services, information and communication, and public transportation and transportation infrastructure. Aubrecht's review started in 2021, as required by the act. But she and her team found delayed progress, which affected how they approached the work. Actual standards for several areas were supposed to be in place by now. Instead, reviewers found that only recommendations had been made for several areas. "The review really was to focus on what were the standards, is the act effective, and so in our work we really paid attention to the standard development process," said Aubrecht. Recommendations include better communication The review team consulted with 800 people and the report makes 48 recommendations. Among other things, the report says more attention needs to be paid to sharing information with the public. The review found that people who did know what was going on had good things to say, but that group is small and the government needs to find more ways to get the message out. "Not everyone has access to internet or computers or devices or digital literacy," said Aubrecht. "Getting the word out is so important because what's central to the act and to the success of this work is the ability of people who are first voice being able to participate and shape the process." Housing a key issue Another key finding is the need to broaden the accessibility standards covered by the act. "In the review consultations, poverty was identified as a significant and disabling accessibility barrier," the document says. "Accessibility barriers were also identified in health care, justice, and housing. These areas are not currently directly referenced in the act. For accessibility to be achieved, barriers to a living income, health equity, equal access to justice, and an appropriate place to live must be removed and prevented." Aubrecht said housing is a particular issue. As it's written, the act allows an exemption from accessibility standards for private homes with three or fewer units. "I think given the current situation that we're in with housing, there's a real problem if we're going to say that small multi-unit residences will not be subject to any accessibility standards. We have to do the work to ensure that housing is accessible to all." Government reviewing report, committed to goal The review calls for defined timelines so the public can understand and measure progress. Many Nova Scotians have a direct interest in the matter. A 2017 national survey showed 30.4 per cent of Nova Scotians identified as having one or more disabilities, the highest rate in the country. The Canadian average was 22.3 per cent. A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that the government is committed to having a more equitable and accessible province by 2030. Peter McLaughlin said officials are reviewing Aubrecht's report and recommendations and would have a formal response later this year. The province's accessibility directorate is on track to have work underway on all six standards by the end of the year and officials would be looking for efficiencies where possible while reviewing Aubrecht's report, said McLaughlin. "We are making good progress towards our 2030 goal, and we believe the recommendations from her report can help us achieve that goal." MORE TOP STORIES Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort, per the AP. The Ukraine leader also denied Russian claims that its forces had taken the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after some confusion on the matter. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city, Zelensky said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. Earlier, his response in English to a question about Bakhmut raised some doubts. "Theyve destroyed everything," he said. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, sojust ground andand a lot of dead Russians." A spokesman later clarified that Zelensky meant Ukraine still controls the city, but it's been so decimated that there is no longer much to control. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was committed to strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension. Zelensky held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also spoke one-on-one with several leaders. President Biden, for his part, announced new military aid worth $375 million for Ukraine, saying the US would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That pledge came after the US agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere, Biden said. (Read more Russia-Ukraine war stories.) A shooting at closing time for a Kansas City bar left three people dead and two people wounded early Sunday, one of them critically. Police were called to the Klymax Lounge about 1:30am, KMBC reports. They found five people with gunshot wounds. Police were interviewing witnesses and investigating at the Missouri nightspot on Sunday morning but released little information about the case, per the AP. A local rapper had performed at the bar earlier in the evening. Identities of the victims were not released, but police said all were adults. The Kansas City Star reported that Honystye Chancellor said her stepfather, who was working security at the door, was killed. She said Jason McConnell, 41, was "good and nice and always trying to keep us on the right path." Chancellor said that when she got in fights when she was younger, McConnell encouraged her to turn away from violence, per the AP. (Read more shooting stories.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 45F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 45F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 45F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 45F. Winds light and variable. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF (Public Investment Fund) has announced that its utility subsidiary - Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), along with leading utility project developer Acwa Power have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for three major solar PV projects in the kingdom. These PPAs have been signed with the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) for the development, and operation of three major solar PV Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects in Saudi Arabia. The solar projects are part of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) which is led and supervised by the Ministry of Energy, with PIF mandated to develop 70% of NREPs target capacity. The new projects, which will be jointly owned by Badeel and Acwa Power, aim to produce a combined capacity of 4.55GWac of renewable energy, powering approximately 750,000 households. The Ar Rass 2, Saad 2 and Al Kahfah projects have a capacity of 2,000MWac, 1,125MWac and 1,425MWac of renewable power respectively, with a combined value of SR12.2 billion ($3.25 billion). According to PIF, the financial close for these projects is expected by the third quarter of 2023. The Ministry of Energy aims to achieve the goals of Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 in reaching the optimal power generation energy mix by displacing liquid fuels through harnessing renewable energy sources. The ministry aims to increase the share of renewables in the energy mix to around 50% by 2030 with the remainder of the energy mix being supplied through high efficiency gas-fueled power plants. PIF said it is currently developing five new projects, at an investment of over $6 billion in co-ordination with its partners. that will boast a cumulative capacity of 8GW. PIFs renewable projects - Sudair, Shuaibah 2, Ar Rass 2, Al Kahfah, Saad 2 - will help support the local private sector through requirements for significant local content contribution and the procurement of equipment, supplies, and services through local supply chains. PIF Head of Energy & Utilities Mohammed AlBalaihed said: "The three new solar projects are part of PIFs commitment to develop 70% of Saudi Arabias renewable energy by 2030, in line with the National Renewable Energy Program." "Renewable Energy is one of PIFs priority sectors, with a focus on unlocking the capabilities of promising sectors and enabling the private sector to enhance Saudi Arabias efforts in diversifying the economy," he noted. Utilising the most advanced PV technology, the innovative designs of the plants will aim to ensure the highest efficiency, reliability, and performance versus any comparable plant in the world. The energy output will cater to the rising demand in the country and increase the green energy resource in the grid, further enabling the fulfilment of Vision 2030 clean energy goals, he added. Acwa Power CEO Marco Arcelli said: "As a Saudi national champion, we are incredibly proud to lead Saudi Arabias ambitious energy diversification plans and contribute towards achieving its Net Zero targets. Today's signing of three PPAs marks a significant milestone for Acwa Power, representing the largest single transaction for solar projects in our company's history." "This achievement illustrates our firm commitment to a sustainable future for Saudi Arabia and beyond, noted Arcelli. "It's an immense honour for us to partner with Badeel and Saudi Power and Procurement Company, who trust in our expertise to deliver projects of considerable size and complexity. Our commitment to generating long-term, sustainable value for government stakeholders, our offtake partner, and communities at large remains steadfast, and we look forward to working jointly towards achieving ambitious goals," he added. Acwa Power said its portfolio of solar projects in Saudi Arabia now stands at 11, with over 12GW of combined PV capacity, following the addition of the three new projects. This brings its total renewable capacity portfolio to 23.4GW.-TradeArabia News Service If Trump 'Finished His Wall Like He Claims, How Are So Many Migrants Still Crossing? With Donald Trumps finished wall at the Mexican border, how is it possible that thousands of migrants are illegally crossing into the country, as Republicans and right-wing media point out is happening on a daily basis? Such is the are-you-going-to-believe-me-or-your-lying-eyes problem for the coup-attempting former president as he simultaneously argues that he kept his 2016 campaigns signature promise while also claiming that illegal immigration is out of control. Unlike most of his falsehoods about NATO or trade agreements or the condition of the economy during his tenure that are difficult to fact-check by the average voter, the lack of a big beautiful wall along the southern border is constantly proven anew in television footage aired relentlessly on Fox News and other outlets. He left hundreds of miles of border without a fence, Mexico paid for nothing, and our military families suffered, said Jennifer Horn, a former chair of the New Hampshire state GOP. But it will not impact his standing in the primary unless his opponents grow the courage to call him out on his failures. Trumps campaign did not respond to HuffPost queries on this topic. Based on recent statements, however, he appears to have settled on the brazen lie that he followed through on his most famous pledge of the 2016 campaign. At a town hall sponsored for him by CNN earlier this month, Trump repeatedly claimed that he completed his project. I did finish the wall. I built a wall, Trump said. And then I said, we have to build some more because there are areas like water going through a dam. There are some areas where a lot of people are coming. You close up one and they come into another. And we started another 100 miles of wall. Migrants walk along the banks of the Rio Bravo river after crossing the border to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents before the lifting of Title 42, as seen from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 11. Migrants walk along the banks of the Rio Bravo river after crossing the border to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents before the lifting of Title 42, as seen from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 11. It was unclear how, if he had finished a border wall, migrants would nevertheless be coming in like water going through a dam. In any event, his claim that he had kept his 2016 campaign promise is untrue on multiple levels. From the time he announced his run at his Trump Tower building in Manhattan in June 2015, Trumps favorite promise for his followers was that he would not only build a wall, but force Mexico to pay for it. I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and Ill build them very inexpensively, Trump said in in his announcement speech. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words. Trump on several occasions went into great detail on the construction standards, describing how it would be at least 30 feet tall and extend deep underground to prevent people from tunneling beneath it. Its going to be made of hardened concrete, and its going to be made out of rebar. Thats steel, Trump said at a December 2015 visit to Manassas, Virginia, in response to a question from a young boy in the audience. And were going to set it in nice, heavy foundations. Of equal importance in the promise was to force Mexico to pay, both as a way to humiliate the nations neighbor to the south as well as a pledge to voters not to use American taxpayer dollars on the project. But both elements of the promise began to crumble soon after he took office. Within weeks, Trump spoke to then-Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and told him he had no intention of forcing Mexico to pay for a border wall, but that he needed Pena not to mention that publicly so Trump would not anger his supporters. You cannot say that to the press, he said, according to a transcript of the call obtained by The Washington Post. If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that. And even though both the House and Senate were controlled by Republicans during his first two years, Trump made virtually no effort in that time to press for border wall funding. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security stayed with a program started under Republican President George W. Bush and continued under Democrat Barack Obama to replace deteriorating sections of old fencing with new, 18- to 30-foot steel bollards. Indeed, Trump did not get serious about winning congressional funding for his wall until after Democrats won back the House in 2018 after picking up dozens of seats, thanks to Trumps unpopularity. Trump forced a partial government shutdown in an attempt to win wall funding, but eventually gave up and decided to raid the militarys construction budget, diverting billions of dollars intended for housing, schools and daycare for service members and their families to his border wall instead. By the end of his four years in office, Trump delivered all of 52 miles of new fence where no barrier had previously existed a far cry from his original promise of a big beautiful wall along the entirely of the 1,954-mile southern border. An additional 400 miles of older, existing barrier was replaced with the new, taller steel bollard fencing just as old barrier had been replaced over the previous two presidencies. Not only couldnt he get Mexico to pay for it, he couldnt get a Republican Congress to pay for it, said Rick Tyler, a former top aide in Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs 2016 bid for the GOP nomination. But despite Trumps easily proven failure to deliver on his top campaign promise over the course of four years, most of his GOP rivals all of whom say the United States must get tougher on border security thus far do not seem inclined to point out Trumps record on the matter. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, on March 30 said at a Georgia visit: Weve talked a lot, but I think we need to get serious and finally build a wall along the southern border but did not mention the obvious point that the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination failed to build one. An adviser to one of the GOP hopefuls, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said attacking Trump on the border wall would be difficult because voters understand that he wanted to build one but that he could not overcome the obstacles placed in his way. There are better attacks, the aide said, pointing to Trumps recent comments disparaging anti-abortion activists and his inability to control government spending. The only candidate or likely candidate to attack Trump on the wall appears to be former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. More nonsense from Donald Trump last night, Christie wrote in a social media post the morning after the CNN town hall. Fact: He promised to build a big beautiful wall on the border. Fact: He did not deliver & immigrants are pouring over the border. Fact: He said Mexico would pay for it. Fact: We have not gotten one peso yet. He failed us on immigration. Trump critics, including former Republican officials, said other candidates are not likely to criticize Trump so directly unless and until Republican primary voters signal that they are no longer willing to accept Trumps falsehoods. The truth is, GOP primary voters have already made it clear that they dont care about his lies. They will stand with him till the end, Horn said. David Axelrod, a Democratic consultant who helped Obama win the White House in 2008, said the loyalty of Trumps base continues to confound him. The man has been indicted, found liable for sexual assault and defamation and is clearly in the crosshairs of other probes, and he has only gained ground in recent months, Axelrod said. To his base, it may be that if he says theres a wall, theres a wall and anyone who suggests otherwise is engaged in fake news. Trump, who tried to use the threat of violence and then actual violence on Jan. 6, 2021, to remain in power despite losing reelection, is under criminal investigation for his post-election actions by prosecutors in both Georgia and at the Department of Justice. He is separately under DOJ investigation for his refusal to turn over top-secret documents he had been keeping at his Florida country club in defiance of a subpoena, and has already been indicted in New York City for falsifying business records in his attempt to hide a $130,000 payment to a porn star in the days ahead of the 2016 election. He nevertheless remains the polling leader for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Landmark 10-year partnerships with the University of Tokyo and the University of Chicago to develop a new paradigm of high-performance computing IBM Quantum milestones to lay foundation for integration of large-scale classical and quantum systems Collaborations will develop detailed blueprint to pioneer quantum-centric supercomputing HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 21, 2023 /CNW/ -- At the G7 Summit in Japan, IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a 10-year, $100 million initiative with the University of Tokyo and the University of Chicago to develop a quantum-centric supercomputer powered by 100,000 qubits. Quantum-centric supercomputing is an entirely new, and as of now, unrealized, era of high-performance computing. A 100,000-qubit system would serve as a foundation to address some of the world's most pressing problems that even the most advanced supercomputers of today may never be able to solve. The 100,000 Qubit Quantum-Centric Supercomputer of 2033 IBM Quantum System Two, visually rendered here, is a system designed to be modular and flexible, combining multiple processors into a single system with communication links. This system is targeted to be deployed by the end of 2023 and will be the building block of quantum-centric supercomputing. A visual rendering of IBM Quantums 100,000-qubit quantum-centric supercomputer, expected to be deployed by 2033. (Credit: IBM) For example, such a powerful quantum system could unlock entirely new understandings of chemical reactions and the dynamics of molecular processes. In turn, this could enable researchers to help study climate change through modeling better methods to capture carbon; discover materials to build batteries for electric vehicles and energy grids towards the goal of being cleaner and more sustainable; and uncover more effective and energy-efficient fertilizers. To usher in this powerful new paradigm, a global collaboration and an activation of talent and resources across industries and research institutions is being initiated. By partnering with the University of Chicago, the University of Tokyo, and IBM's broader global ecosystem, IBM will work over the next decade to advance the underlying technologies for this system, as well as to design and build the necessary components at scale. Moving forward, IBM intends to expand these partnerships to include Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory, both of which are members of the Chicago Quantum Exchange and home to two respective Department of Energy quantum hubs. Importantly, the two laboratories offer capabilities and expertise that can facilitate delivering the technologies envisaged in the race to build a quantum-centric supercomputer. "Over the past several years, IBM has been at the forefront of introducing quantum technology to the world," said Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM. "We have achieved significant progress along our roadmap and mission to globally establish useful quantum technology, so much so that we can now, with our partners, truly begin to explore and develop a new class of supercomputing anchored by quantum." "Achieving breakthroughs at scale in quantum technology requires deeply rooted and productive collaboration around the world and across a broad range of industry, academic, and government partners," said Paul Alivisatos, President of the University of Chicago. "Quantum information science and technology is at a crossroad where foundational discovery and technical innovation will combine to create real breakthroughs. The University of Chicago is thrilled to partner in this endeavor." "We expect our partnership will lead to scientific breakthroughs, acceleration of the adoption of quantum computing for the coming era, and active engagement into the critical societal challenges of humanity. We also aim to contribute to the realization of a better future society by nurturing diverse talents," said Dr. Teruo Fujii, the President of the University of Tokyo. Building the Blocks of Quantum-Centric Supercomputing The plans for this quantum-centric supercomputer are expected to involve innovations at all levels of the computing stack, and encompass the convergence of the fields of quantum computing and quantum communication, as well as the seamless integration of quantum and classical workflows via the hybrid cloud. Because such a computer has never been made before, the first step will be to lay out a blueprint. The design will have to integrate classical computers and quantum computers a challenging task to date as well as break new ground in quantum communication and computing technology. The foundation of this system will include milestones IBM has already outlined on its Quantum Development Roadmap. This includes the ability to scale and connect growing numbers of quantum processors through quantum interconnects, as well as technology to mitigate errors to fully harness noisy yet powerful quantum processors. By the end of 2023, IBM intends to debut three cornerstones of its necessary architecture for quantum-centric supercomputers. One is the new 133-qubit 'IBM Heron' processor. This processor is a complete redesign of IBM's previous generations of quantum processors, with a new two-qubit gate to allow higher performance. It will also be compatible with future extensions to enable modular connected processors to grow the size of the computer. The second is the introduction of IBM Quantum System Two. The new flagship system is designed to be modular and flexible to introduce elements of scaling in its underlying components, including classical control electronics and high-density cryogenic wiring infrastructure. This system is targeted to be online by the end of 2023. The third is the introduction of middleware for quantum, a set of tools to run workloads on both classical and quantum processors. This includes tools for decomposing, parallel execution, and reconstructing workloads to enable efficient solutions at scale. Over the next decade, IBM plans to work with university partners and its worldwide quantum ecosystem to evolve how its quantum processors can be connected via quantum interconnects. This work will aim to enable high-efficiency, high-fidelity inter-processor quantum operations and a reliable, flexible, and affordable system component infrastructure to allow scaling to 100,000 qubits. IBM's collaboration with the University of Chicago will build upon the Chicago area's strengths in quantum research. The University of Chicago seeded the region's quantum ecosystem more than a decade ago with the decision to make quantum technology a focus of what is now the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. Chicago has arguably become one of the leading global hubs for research in quantum technology and home to one of the largest quantum networks in the country. Scientists from the University of Chicago-headquartered Chicago Quantum Exchange, which includes Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory, four universities, more than 40 industry partners, and researchers at other world-class academic institutions in the region will continue to expand the understanding and utilization of quantum technology. In conjunction with IBM, researchers at the University of Tokyo have been pushing forward on topics such as the detailed analysis of noise deep inside quantum processors, the development of efficient computation for quantum artificial intelligence, and quantum chemistry simulation with classical-quantum hybrid computations. For more about the path to a 100,000-qubit quantum-centric supercomputer, read the IBM Research blog. Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only. About IBM IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information. MEDIA CONTACTS Steven Tomasco IBM Communications [email protected] Erin Angelini IBM Communications [email protected] SOURCE IBM NEW HAVEN Nanette Campbell and John Labieniec were in a van Wednesday morning on their way to meet with two homeless people, one of whom deals with alcohol abuse issues, at Edgewood Park as a part of their outreach routine. When they got there and found out the men hadn't eaten in three days, Campbell headed back to the van, grabbed a $20 bill, took a card from Labieniec and walked up the street to get two orders of pork fried rice and egg rolls from Chens Kitchen. Campbell came back about 10 minutes later, handed over the food and had a conversation with the men about how their week went and what their plans were. One of the men was described as a frequent 911 utilizer who had been kicked out from sleeping at private properties and streets, passed out on the sidewalk and slept at a bus stop. Labieniec said he was admitted to a hospital but later declined services and refused to stay at a shelter. Campbell said a part of her job is to check in on him and other people in similar situations to make sure hes doing OK, with hopes to build the relationships long-term and connect them with available resources. And after frequent check-ins, Labieniec said the man told him hes thinking about getting off the street again by getting back to a respite program, but asked for a few days to consider and the other man they met with at the park started thinking about it, too. Thats the whole purpose of outreach and going back and building a rapport with them, building a relationship, Campbell said. Theyll take our advice, theyll take our suggestion. Labieniec and Campbell are crew members of Elm City COMPASS, a secondary crisis response team consisting of peer support specialists and social workers that New Haven deployed last November to assist first responders with incidents that might warrant social services. During its current pilot phase, the team operates eight hours a day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in a van filled with snacks, water bottles and basic hygiene items to give out. With a 12-minute average response time, COMPASS staffers are dispatched at a request of first responders. The creation of the program was in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police, when the nation debated policing and alternatives. The goal of the program is to dispatch the right person with the right skills at the right time, as Mayor Justin Elicker put it when announcing the pilot. As of last Wednesday morning, COMPASS had responded to 438 calls. The New Haven Register tagged along in the teams van that day as Campell, Labieniec and Sarah Alkire did their routine outreach and responded to the 439th and 440th calls. Thank you so much for the food At the Edgewood Park check-in, William Tully was one of the men. Sitting next to a shopping cart filled with his personal items, he said he has been homeless for five years. He said he had been sleeping on a bench one day when police were called on him, and that was how he was connected with the COMPASS team. Tully said Campbell and Labieniec have been trying to help him with housing and income, and that theyve been helpful when it comes to meeting him where he needs. Campbell said the team also has been trying to help him with harm reduction. I just want housing, man, I dont want to go to a shelter, Tully said. Theyre really helpful but I dont know if I want help at the moment, but eventually, yes. Asked about the food and how he feels with the COMPASS crew, he said theyre lovely and its the best after thanking Campbell for the Chinese takeout earlier. Going out of her way, sometimes using her own money on her own time, Campbell said its about trying to build relationships so people learn to trust. And for her, she said creating a connection simply begins by making sure that people eat. You cant live if youre not eating, she said. If theyre not eating and just drinking, thats not good." Labieniec explained when people become accustomed to the lifestyle of alcoholism, addiction and substance use, they become very resistant to the service system and find the system untrustworthy based on past trauma and how they may have been treated previously. So theyre usually folks that dont want to be in a shelter system and they dont want anything to do with services, he said. And because theyve been involved with so many 911 calls, the goal is to try to build these relationships to stop these crises. As the reporters interview with Tully wrapped up, Labieniec walked in and said we got a call, we gotta go. Chatwan Mongkol/Hearst Connecticut Media Closing the loop Onto the first 911 call of the day, it was a call from a lieutenant asking for help with an 84-year-old man who was decompensated and was admitted to the emergency room at Yale New Haven Hospital's St. Raphael Campus. That might be one of those calls where theyre transporting him and they wanted us to follow up, Labieniec said while driving the van to the emergency room. The lieutenant was heard speaking on the phone with Campbell explaining the man was off his medication and wanted to stay home, but people at his apartment complex didnt think he could take care of himself. I know that you guys are more of the social service agency, I thought maybe you could at least speak with him and figure out what was going on, the lieutenant said to Campbell over the phone, which was on speaker. Campbell said they normally go to the incident site when they respond to a 911 call, which in this case was on Tower Lane, but since the man was already transported to the hospital, they had to head there instead, not having an idea of what they would encounter when they arrived. The hospital didnt let the team in, but Labieniec said they would follow up with the hospital to close the loop, making sure the man later had access to assisted housing services. That loop Labieniec mentioned is when the man gets sent back home where he couldnt take care of himself and gets in trouble again. With a situation like that, Labieniec said first responders often are frustrated because they repeatedly will be called back to the same place for the same type of incident. He said its a gap in the service system, adding that one of the worst possible scenarios would be finding a person deceased at home after being sent back. The loop never gets closed, so thats where we come in, Labieniec said. Learning from data and the community Dr. Jack Tebes, director of COMPASS, said the program really is about creating a system of sustainable support for people in crisis." He said the team is working with crisis response providers, faith leaders and local businesses across the city to help coordinate and integrate services. COMPASS consists of a 19-member community advisory board, which represents the team in different community meetings, gets the word out about the program and comments on data compiled by the team. Asked about data collection, Tebes said the team regularly looks at daily data and feeds it to both the team and the city. The team fills out a data dashboard in real time for information such as what happened, where it happened and details about services provided and referrals, according to Tebes. Yale New Haven Hospital and the city also come into play to provide administrative data, including the number of emergency room visits or arrests. Well be able to look back and see how effective it was, Tebes said. In terms of engaging with the community, Tebes said the team did 21 community interviews just before the pilot launched, and will conduct more interviews in each neighborhood this summer. What we do there is we ask people who they call in a crisis, who they seek help from, he explained. One of the things we ask is how comfortable they are calling 911. We're going to be tracking whether or not that changes overtime. Asked about how the program can improve from going out in the field and looking at data, Tebes said the team learned that two-thirds of people call 911 when theres a mental health or substance use crisis. Thats a lot of people, so that means having the 911 system is an important thing to have, he said and 911 dispatchers will begin dispatching COMPASS directly in July. Another aspect he touched on was on the follow-up effort. He said the team learned that it needed to extend the period of engagement because some people have to wait a long time for services and sometimes the services dont quite fit what they need or theyre not at a point, they dont trust the system anymore. COMPASS will expand its hours and teams in July, upping its follow-up outreach and engagement services from up to 48 hours to up to 60 days and follow-up assessment from up to 30 days to up to 60-180 days. Expanded hours for COMPASS in July will be from 8 a.m. to midnight with two vans. The program hopes to run 24 hours or overlapping hours during peak periods with three vans during the second implementation phase in July 2024 to June 2025. According to COMPASS most recent monthly report, 37 percent of the services provided so far were dispatched by first responders and 63 percent were outreach work. Out of the 911 calls, COMPASS has responded to incidents involving "person with an emotional disturbance" the most. Among crisis response referrals, the majority of them are food/clothing services followed by housing and mental health services, according to the April report. We care, were here, we want to help The second call of the day came immediately after Campbell and Labieniec left the St. Raphael Campus. It was another 911 call from Davenport Avenue, where a 53-year-old man who was sleeping on a street and may have some substance abuse was asked to leave a private property. At the scene where two police cars were present, the reporter was asked to wait in the van due to the nature of the incident. About 30 minutes later (49 minutes is an average time the team spends on scene), Campbell and Alkire came back and shared more about the incident. Alkire said people just have nowhere to go and police called COMPASS in to de-escalate the situation both between the property owner, the man and the police to avoid an arrest and to connect him with services. Its tough, though, because when somebody is paranoid, its hard to go back and recap with whoever called the police because its like were playing both sides, Alkire said. And you want the person to trust you, so that makes it hard. They also plan to reconnect with him. But another difficult part, as Alkire said, is that most of the time, people in such situations dont have a phone so its hard to meet back up. The consistency is what counts because, by nature, were not trusting, she said. Alkire said she also offered transportation, which the man declined, to take him somewhere something that the police cant do. She provided snacks, water and a care package to the man, as well. Were meeting the immediate need of someone, she said. One of the biggest messages is, we care, were here and we want to help. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Four Mineral Area College (MAC) nursing students recently attended the 71st National Student Nurses Association (NSNA) Annual Convention, held April 12-16, in Nashville, Tennessee. The theme of the convention was A Catalyst for Change, and thats exactly what MAC delegates Jacob Baker and Alicia Williamson proposed in presenting their resolution, In Support of Raising Awareness for Suicide Assessment in Post-COVID Patients. The duo was so successful in explaining to the house of delegates how important the resolution was for promoting better patient care that it resulted in a vote to pass the resolution. According to MAC Nursing Professor Esther Blum, MSN, RN, presenting a resolution is an important way to enhance the student experience and gives students the opportunity to make a difference in the nursing field. It is a way that nursing students can be a change agent in promoting nursing care and having a voice while still in nursing school, she said. The resolutions are research-based and require a rigorous process before being authorized by the NSNA resolution committee to present. MAC Student Nurse Association club members Ashley Yoder and Abbey Barton also attended and assisted in the networking and discussion of the resolution with other nursing schools delegates. Throughout the week, the convention held learning sessions for the attendees on specific topics, talk groups, and NCLEX prep reviews. Some of the focus sessions included discussion on emergency nursing and the role of the ED nurse, and multidisciplinary nursing licenses (compact licensure). While the basis of the convention was education, the opportunity to network and meet other student nurses from all over the United States also proved to be beneficial. The engaging conversations promoted growth and sharing of ideas about the scope of nursing practice, and the convention experience provided positive benefits for the attendees in the planning and preparation for becoming a nurse. For more information about Mineral Area Colleges nursing programs, go to www.MineralArea.edu. Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut HAMDEN Two people injured in a triple shooting on Goodrich Street in Hamden on Friday night remain hospitalized, police said Sunday. The shooting occurred shortly before 11:30 p.m. Friday on Goodrich Street between Butler Street and Shelton Avenue, according to Hamden Police Chief Timothy Wydra. Officers found "numerous" spent cartridge cases at the scene after responding for a report of shots fired, Wydra said. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media NEW HAVEN An unoccupied boat anchored off the Pardee Seawall sank into the New Haven Harbor on Saturday, officials said. New Haven Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin said in an email that water rescue crews responded around 7 p.m. to the area of Townsend Avenue for a report of a boat sinking. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SEOUL, South Korea (AP) The leaders of South Korea and Germany on Sunday pledged more cooperation in building stable industrial supply chains and addressing the challenges posed by nuclear-armed North Korea as they met in Seoul after flying in from the Group of Seven meetings in Japan. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, pointed to the similarities between the two major manufacturing nations that are dependent on foreign trade and said a stronger supply chain partnership would help them cope with intensifying global economic instability and geopolitical conflicts. He said the countries in particular will work to advance trade relations in high-tech industries and clean energy, including semiconductors and hydrogen projects, and pursue further opportunities in defense cooperation. Yoon said they also discussed the growing threat posed by North Korea, which has test-fired around 100 missiles since the start of 2022 while accelerating its push to expand its nuclear arsenal. He said Scholz agreed to help maintain a consistent message to the international community that North Korea has nothing not gain from its illegal provocations, and coordinate on diplomatic efforts to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear ambitions. Germany, which was reunified 33 years ago, is a country that understands and empathizes with the issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula, Yoon said. We will continue to work closely together (in broader efforts) to achieve North Koreas denuclearization. Before his meeting with Yoon, Scholz visited the southern side of the heavily armed border splitting the two Koreas and called for the North to halt its testing activity. He repeated a similar message during the news conference, expressing solidarity with Seoul and calling for a more effective international response against North Korea's missile development that threatens South Korea and Japan. Yoon and Scholz were among the leaders who participated in the G7 talks in Hiroshima, which were highlighted by an in-person appearance of Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the discussions centered around countering Russias prolonged invasion of his country. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have also risen since the war in Ukraine, which North Korea has used as a distraction to ramp up its weapons testing. Moscow and Beijing have blocked U.S.-led efforts at the U.N. Security Council to strengthen punishment of Pyongyang over its recent tests, underscoring a divide among permanent members deepened by the war. At the G7, Yoon focused on raising international awareness about the growing North Korean nuclear threat. The leaders issued a statement on nuclear disarmament that included condemnation of the Norths illicit weapons development and testing activity. Yoon also met with Zelenskyy on the margins of the summit and promised South Korean demining equipment and ambulances as Seoul expands its non-lethal aid to Kyiv. There have been serious civilian casualties and damage (in Ukraine) because of the large number of land mines planted by the Russian military while they withdrew from (around) Kyiv. (Ukraine) has requested demining equipment and ambulances, and we are reviewing those requests first and plan on providing those supplies quickly, Yoon said at the news conference. Without specifying, Yoon said Zelenskyy during their meeting also presented a list of other non-lethal supplies he wants from South Korea and that Seoul was carefully reviewing the request. South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. Seoul has not directly provided arms to Ukraine, citing a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict. It wasn't immediately clear whether Zelenskyy during his meeting with Yoon reiterated a previous request for South Korea to provide weapons. ___ This story corrects part of Yoon's quote. A 12-year veteran of Niagara Regional Police has been arrested following an investigation by Ontario Provincial Police. Niagara p Police were called to Heritage Village in Lincoln last December after a resident at the retirement community reported an unusual incident. The resident reported they had answered a knock on the door and was met by a woman who stated she was a police officer and was collecting unused or expired pharmaceutical drugs and prescriptions as part of a drug initiative. The woman said she would take the drugs and deliver them to a pharmacy for disposal. The resident believed the woman was impersonating an officer and contacted local police. The NRP launched an investigation, and later handed the case over to the OPP to avoid a potential or perceived conflict of interest. Wendy Cools-Lartigue was arrested Friday and charged with breach of trust and attempting to defraud the public. The constable is expected to appear in court in June to answer to the charges. Cools-Lartigue has been a police officer with the NRP for 12 years and was on duty at the time of the alleged offences. In accordance with the Police Services Act of Ontario, Cools-Lartigue has been suspended with pay. According Ontarios Sunshine List, the officer was paid more than $123,000 in 2022. SHARE: MONTREAL - Quebec provincial police have arrested two people after an alleged road rage incident in the Montreal suburb of St-Eustache, Que., that left two others seriously injured Sunday morning. Police said they believe the 26-year-old driver of a sport utility vehicle intentionally struck a three-wheeled motorcycle, injuring two riders. The man was arrested for dangerous driving causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon, Sgt. Eric Cadotte said Sunday, adding the vehicle was being considered a weapon. police spokeswoman Sgt. Catherine Bernard said later in the day a second man has also been arrested for dangerous driving related to the same incident. A second sport utility vehicle was also allegedly involved in the road rage incident. Attempting to avoid the first collision, it hit another vehicle that was driving on the highway, she said. Bernard said the two men were travelling together, in separate vehicles, to the same place. They were scheduled to speak with investigators Sunday afternoon. The two victims were transported to hospital with serious injuries but their lives are not believed to be in danger. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2023. Read more about: SHARE: A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to initiate a peace process, but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily-sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertilizer exports Africa desperately needs, a key mediator who helped broker the talks said in an interview with The Associated Press. Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what theyve characterized as a peace mission. The talks will likely be next month, Ollivier said. He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out logistics for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would likely have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Zambia. The talks also have the approval of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday. Neither side in the war appears ready to stop fighting, though. The talks were announced last week by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa just as Russia launched an intense air attack on Kyiv. On Sunday, Russia claimed to have taken the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after fierce fighting, a claim denied by Ukraine. We are not dreamers, Ollivier said on the chances the African leaders will achieve an immediate breakthrough with regard to stopping the 15-month conflict. Unless something happens, I dont think we are going to finish our first mission with a ceasefire. The aim was to make a start, said Ollivier, a 78-year-old Frenchman who brought opposing sides together in high-stakes negotiations in the late 1980s that helped end apartheid in South Africa. It starts with signs. It starts with dialogue. And this is what we are going to try to do, Ollivier said. No guarantee that we are going to succeed but, for the time being, Russia and Ukraine have accepted ... a delegation coming specifically to their countries to talk about peace. A key starting point for Africa is grain and fertilizers. The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertilizers from Russia, exacerbating global food insecurity and hunger. Africa has been one of the hardest-hit continents. Last week, Russia agreed to a two-month extension of a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. that allows Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea and out to the world, and the six African presidents would like to see that extended further. But they also need to broach ways of making it easier for African nations to receive shipments and pay Russia for fertilizers, Ollivier said. Russian fertilizer is not under international sanctions but the U.S. and some Western nations have targeted Russian cargo ships for sanctions. Russias access to the SWIFT global financial transaction system also has been restricted by the sanctions, leaving African nations struggling to order and pay for critical fertilizers. We will need to have a window whereby SWIFT will be authorized for this specific point, Ollivier said. That will be on the table and we hope that in that case we will gain the support of the Russians for the grains from Ukraine, and we will gain the support of the Ukrainians to find payments and shipments possible for the Russian fertilizer. The African mission is not the only mediation effort. China offered its own peace proposal in February and a Chinese envoy has been in discussions with Ukrainian officials. But Chinas plan has largely been dismissed by Ukraines Western allies and is clouded by Beijings political support for Moscow. Ukraine and Russia are far apart in terms of any agreements that might form the base of a peace deal. The African delegation still had a wide cross-section of backing, Ollivier said, after China also came to us and offered support on the basis it would be a parallel effort to Beijings plan. More support, more weight will be put on the negotiation (with Moscow and Kyiv), said Ollivier, the founding chairman of the London-based Brazzaville Foundation, an organization that deals with conflict resolution. If one party says no, they will consider to who they are saying no. Are they saying no only to Jean-Yves Ollivier? To the Brazzaville Foundation? To the six (African) heads of state? Or are they saying no to the United Nations, or to the Chinese, or to the Americans. To the British? To the European Union? ___ More AP news on the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Read more about: SHARE: HIROSHIMA (AP) 8:15 on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. Its a big reason leaders from the worlds most powerful democracies descended on Hiroshima for this weekends Group of Seven summit: Part commemoration, part effort to confront the continuing consequences of the moment a U.S. B-29 Superfortress released what the Americans named Little Boy over the city in the first wartime use of a nuclear bomb. It also presents Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the driving force behind Hiroshimas selection for the G7 venue, with a unique dilemma. On the one hand, he is keen to promote the vision of a world without nuclear weapons that has long been a cornerstone of his political rhetoric. On the other, he is mindful of the widespread domestic worry over aggression by nuclear-armed neighbors. Kishidas difficult balancing act could be clearly seen in the G7s overwhelming focus on building support for Ukraines defense against nuclear-armed Russias invasion, highlighted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys personal appearance in Hiroshima. There was also sustained G7 pressure on China over its expanding nuclear arsenal, and on North Koreas pursuit of nuclear-tipped missiles that can target the U.S. mainland. But even as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Zelenskyy, whose presence at the summit bolsters Kishida politically, the Japanese leader sought to repeatedly infuse the summit with his ideas about a nuclear-free world. On both the opening and closing days of a gathering that included four nuclear-armed nations G7 members France, the U.K., the United States, and visiting participant India Kishida brought leaders to pay their respects at memorials to the 140,000 people killed by the bomb. They planted a symbolic cherry tree, spoke with a survivor and offered a silent prayer. Geography is a big reason for Kishidas attention to nuclear disarmament. He represents Hiroshima, where his family is from, in parliament. Although a pro-military conservative, he is politically linked to a city where a fast-dwindling number of elderly bomb survivors are a palpable reminder of one of the most momentous events in human history. As a child, Kishida heard about the horrors of the atomic bombing from his grandmother, who was from Hiroshima. Her stories left an indelible mark and inspired his work for a world without nuclear weapons, said Noriyuki Shikata, Cabinet secretary for public affairs. But Japan, a liberal democracy, staunch U.S. ally and the worlds third biggest economy, is also located in a dangerous neighborhood. Wary of China and North Korea, Kishida has been steadily pushing for an expansion of a military constrained by a pacifist constitution primarily written by the Americans after Japans World War II defeat. He relies on the so-called U.S. military umbrella, which includes nuclear weapons and the 50,000 U.S. military personnel, and their powerful, high-tech weaponry, stationed in Japan. To some critics, Kishidas disarmament goals ring hollow as he simultaneously pushes to double Japans defense budget in the next five years and strengthen strike capabilities. Japan also refuses to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect in 2021. Kishida says it is unworkable because it lacks membership by nuclear states. He maintains that Japan needs to take a realistic approach to bridging the gap between nuclear and non-nuclear states in a challenging world. A path to a world without nuclear weapons has become even more difficult, Kishida said in April. But thats why we need to keep raising the flag of our ideal and regain a new momentum. On Sunday, the summits final day, Kishida escorted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to a small memorial honoring Korean victims of the atomic bombing. That symbolic visit helps reveal the tricky path Kishida follows. As he paid tribute to victims of the bombing, he was also looking to solidify Japans security stance by improving a relationship with South Korea that has long been shaky because of unresolved disputes linked to the 1910-1945 Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Yoons office described Kishidas visit to the memorial as a courageous act and said that Washington, Seoul and Tokyo agreed to strengthen deterrence against North Korea and improve defense cooperation, including sharing real-time information on North Korean missile launches. U.S. President Joe Biden said that being in Hiroshima for the G7 was a powerful reminder of the devastating reality of nuclear war and a reminder of countries shared responsibility to work for peace. But Biden also stressed Sunday a willingness to challenge Russia by helping Ukrainians defend themselves. Kishidas meetings at the summit with Biden and Yoon are an occasion to show the other team, the China-Russia-North Korea coalition, solidarity among the democracies in the region and their resolve to stand up to the increasingly threatening autocracies, said Sung-Yoon Lee, an East Asia expert at Tufts Universitys Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Kishida, Yoon and Bidens joint focus on victims of the bombing, Lee said, sends an implicit message to China, Russia and North Korea: We will never forget. ___ Foster Klug is APs news director for Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Australia and the South Pacific and has covered Asia since 2005. Read more about: SHARE: Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The motel that housed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on his only trip to Charlottesville has been razed after spending several years in ruins after a gutting fire. After a monthlong demolition process that provided some spectacle at the foot of Carrs Hill on Emmet Street, crews removed the rubble last week. For one of the men who invited King to Charlottesville, the news evokes sorrow but not surprise. Im certainly sad, but things change, Wesley Harris, now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The Daily Progress. Harris and the late University of Virginia professor Paul Gaston invited the future icon of American history to UVa Grounds to speak on March 25, 1963. Just two weeks before King was arrested in Birmingham for peacefully defying a ban on segregation protests, King spoke in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium. Noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good, King told the crowd. If democracy is to live, segregation must die. It was intellectually, emotionally, the highlight of my life at that point and certainly the highlight of my experiences on Grounds of the University of Virginia, Harris says today. He didnt give us a sermon; he gave a philosophy. King also gave Harris a scare. As Harris, Gaston and Gastons wife walked with King along Newcomb Road, they passed a stone retaining wall at whats now called Brown College. Suddenly, a loud blast like a gunshot rang out. Gaston, who was white, reacted with calm; but the young Black man quickly shielded King against the wall. It turned out it was only a car backfiring, said Harris. Sixty years later, Harris explained why he leapt into action. As a Southerner, I had been exposed to a lot of harmful things done to Black leaders, Harris said. Its sort of built into my generation. You dont think, you act. The group remained unscathed, and King arrived safely at the 40-room Gallery Court Motor Hotel, built beside the railroad tracks in 1951. At the time of Kings visit and until 2005 when the parents of the current owner gave it a makeover the motels unadorned architecture included flat roofs and open-air walkways. Such features were similar to the place where King was assassinated five years later: the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. But for one man in Charlottesville, the Gallery Court was not just the place where he would meet King; it was also his residence. In 1963, I was junior at Jackson P. Burley High School, and that motel was my home away from home, Richard L. Jones told The Daily Progress sitting on the front porch of his Ridge Street-area home. I was 15 when I started working there during the day, said Jones. I was a bellhop. With dwelling space back home limited because it was shared with another family in a now-demolished house in what became known as the Vinegar Hill urban renewal zone, Jones agreed to sleep in a utility room in the back of the motel. He said he was provided an iron bed between a pair of 500-gallon water heaters. Im blessed they never exploded, said Jones. Subsequently, the night clerk fell ill, so Jones took over as the overnight front desk clerk. Thats how the hardworking high school student came to meet the famed civil rights leader. He came in with his entourage, said Jones, naming Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson and Wyatt Tee Walker. Rev. Walker was the one who came in and checked in, recalled Jones. After about 10 minutes, Dr. King came down the stairs and came into the office. I recognized him, but I didnt make no big conversation because Im in awe. I didnt know how to take it at 17 years old. He asked me, Are you running this motel? And I said, Yes, sir. He said, You go to school? and I said, Yes, sir. He said, When do you go to school? And I said, In the morning when I get off. He said, Oh, really? How old are you again? And I said 17. Jones said that King then asked about his next steps. Finances prevented college, and a hearing impairment prevented him from following his friends into war in Vietnam. So Jones remained in Charlottesville, where he pursued other things, including a 30-year career as a Charlottesville firefighter. Not long before Jones began working there, the Gallery Court was advertising its proximity to a Howard Johnsons restaurant plus TVs and radio clocks in every room. Today, at 78, Jones looks back at his motel work with appreciation. At that time the Gallery Court was the king of the hill, said Jones. You never knew who would come in. Jones recalled that the hotel was integrated, a local rarity back then, and it played host to musicians such as Odetta and the Kingsmen. In recent years, the motel has operated under several names, including the Budget Inn and the Excel Inn & Suites. However, the hospitality was halted on the afternoon of May 4, 2017, when a mysterious fire gutted the building. Until this months demolition, the skeletal rubble has loomed over Emmet Street, a blot on the place that UVa officials have called the universitys front door. Since the mid-1980s, the universitys real estate foundation has been buying both sides of Emmet Street. First to fall was a Chevron station at the Ivy Road intersection in 2011. Next was the building that housed UVa offices and a long-closed restaurant called Buddys. Most recently, UVa tore down the buildings that held the Italian Villa restaurant and the Cavalier Inn. In the same area, the city has recently started its $12.1 million Emmet Streetscape, a state-funded assortment of mobility improvements including wider sidewalks, underground utilities and a new shared-used path across from the Gallery Court site. The Gallery Court is the lone holdout in an area that will link the universitys Central and North grounds. There, along Ivy Road, UVa has amassed over 14 acres where the home for UVas School of Data Science is already rising, as is UVas own 214-room, $130.5 million hotel and conference center. It turns out that the Gallery Court could rise again, but this time as a larger and more upscale enterprise. Vipul Patel, the son of the former owners, has earned city approval to construct a seven-story, 72-room replacement on the 0.58-acre site. While he appears to be the person who hired Pleasant View Developers LLC to raze the structure, Patel declined to discuss his timeline with The Daily Progress. The demolition comes about a dozen years after the demolition of a brick building next door that housed Buddys, a whites-only restaurant picketed just a few weeks after Kings speech and whose owner chose to close rather than integrate. These two demolitions caught the eye of Christine Madrid French, a UVa-educated architectural historian now living in San Francisco. French was in Charlottesville on Friday celebrating her sons impending UVa graduation. What I noticed about that corner was that a very critical part of civil rights history has been erased from Charlottesville, French told The Daily Progress. By the loss of those buildings, the tangible connection to the past is gone. For Harris, the student who shielded King against the stone wall, there is hope of commemoration. In 2017, he and his brother, Bill Harris, also an educator, dedicated the bronze plaque they commissioned to commemorate Kings speech in Old Cabell Hall. And Wesley Harris has expressed an eagerness to do something similar at a new Gallery Court. Now holding a distinguished chair as the Charles Stark Draper Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, Harris wants to remember Kings visit to Charlottesville and how it changed the life of at least one young man. It was an existential moment for me, said Harris, as a Black student from the east side of Richmond. HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his countrys war effort even as Russia claimed a battlefield victory that was quickly disputed by Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was committed to strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also spoke one-on-one with several leaders. Hanging over Sundays talks was the Russian claim that forces of the Wagner private army and Russian troops had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely bloodiest of the war. Comments by Zelenskyy earlier in the day in English suggested that the Russians had finally taken the city. But he and other Ukrainian officials later cast doubt on that assessment, with Zelenskyy telling reporters in Ukrainian that Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. U.S. President Joe Biden announced new military aid worth $375 million for Ukraine, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere, Biden said. Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. While Ukraine dominated the summit, the leaders of Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. And Biden sought to reassure world leaders that the U.S. would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan furthered efforts to improve ties colored by lingering anger over issues linked to Japans brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, said a U.S. official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Yoon promised to provide South Korean demining equipment and ambulances to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war. He briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the worlds largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. Zelenskyys presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they cant, said Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. The G7 has vowed to intensify pressure on Russia, calling its assault on Ukraine a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Sunday denounced the G7 as fixated on comprehensive confrontation with Russia ... The leaders of the G7 countries brought to their meeting the chief of the Kyiv regime, who is controlled by them, and ultimately turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show. The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the worlds No. 2 economy. The leaders said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Were not looking to decouple from China, were looking to de-risk and diversify, Biden said. He also vowed to help Taiwan defend itself against a potential attack by China, saying that there is an understanding by the U.S. and its allies that if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response. Chinas Foreign Ministry for its part urged G7 members to focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host citys symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyys inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leaders visit was not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city. Protesters carrying No War No G7 banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing in a program meant to offer countries an alternative to Chinas investment dollars. __ Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report. Read more about: SHARE: JERUSALEM (AP) A far-right Israeli Cabinet minister visited Jerusalems most sensitive holy site on Sunday, declaring that we are in charge, while the Israeli Cabinet held a rare meeting in Jerusalems Old City to celebrate its control of the area. The visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir to the disputed hilltop compound drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israels neighbor, Jordan. The site is revered by Jews and Muslims, and the competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ben-Gvir, a former West Bank settler leader and far-right activist who years ago was convicted of incitement and supporting a Jewish terror group, now serves as Israels national security minister, overseeing the countrys police force. The site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism, where the biblical Temples once stood. Today, it is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Under longstanding arrangements, Jews are permitted to visit the site, but not to pray there. But in recent years, a growing number of Jewish visitors have begun to quietly pray, raising fears among Palestinians that Israel is plotting to divide or take over the site. Ben-Gvir has long called for increased Jewish access. I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people, Ben-Gvir said in a video statement made during his early morning visit, with Islams golden Dome of the Rock in the background. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it proves who is in charge in Jerusalem. Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvirs visit a blatant attack on the mosque. Jordan, which serves as the custodian over the mosque, called it a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation. Neighboring Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation. The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israels capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalems Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine, including a low-level minister from Ben-Gvirs party, but not Ben-Gvir himself. Israel also captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as its capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, permanent capital. Later Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Cabinet held a special session to mark Jerusalem Day at an archaeological site near the main area of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray and a remaining exterior wall of the biblical Temples. At the meeting, Netanyahu reasserted Israels claim to all of Jerusalem. He boasted of resisting international pressure to divide the city and said only a right-wing Israeli government could guarantee continued Israeli control. There are still those who want to divide Jerusalem and they say so openly, he said. Only the national camp led by us will safeguard a strong and united Jerusalem. He made no mention of Ben-Gvirs visit the ministers second public visit to the site since taking office. Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there. Tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence. Netanyahu formed his government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, last December. The government, which includes a collection of ultra-Orthodox and far-right nationalist parties, has made West Bank settlement construction a top priority. Most of the international community consider Israeli settlements, home to 700,000 people in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, to be illegal and obstacles to peace. In March, the government repealed a 2005 act that dismantled four West Bank settlements. Over the weekend, the top Israeli army general in the West Bank signed an order attaching the evacuated settlement of Homesh to a local settler regional council. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another settler leader, praised the generals move, saying it would pave the way for the reconstruction of a Jewish seminary at the site. Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel expanded near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed 33, many of them militants but also women and children, and two people were killed in Israel by militant rocket fire. ___ Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report. Read more about: SHARE: TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday. The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate. State TV originally reported that six guards were killed but later said there were five fatalities. Two border guards were also wounded in the clash. It did not blame the attack on any group and no group immediately claimed responsibility. There were no additional details. The area is one of the least developed parts of Iran. The relationship between the predominantly Sunni residents of the region and Irans Shiite theocracy has long been fraught. On Thursday, the top leaders of Pakistan and Iran inaugurated the first border market as relations warm between the two countries. Located in the remote village of Pashin in Pakistans southwestern Baluchistan province, the marketplace is the first of six to be constructed along the Pakistan-Iran border under a 2012 agreement signed by the two sides. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also inaugurated an electricity transmission line, which will provide some of Pakistans remote regions with Iranian electricity. Read more about: SHARE: HIROSHIMA, Japan - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a forceful rebuke of Russia at the conclusion of the G7 Leaders Summit, which was taken over by the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who hoped to shore up more support for his country. The support of allies has been crucial to Ukraines survival amid a Russian invasion, and countries pushing for a ceasefire must recognize Russia is squarely to blame, Trudeau said Sunday in Hiroshima, Japan. Had we not been there with significant military support, Ukraine would not be standing today, Trudeau told reporters at a news conference after attending the G7 Leaders Summit. We will not hesitate to continue to ensure that Russia does not succeed in making might make right once again in this world, he said. Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday after G7 nations announced new sanctions on Russia and invited partner countries from the Global South to the summit, in hopes of building broader alliances in the face of geopolitical threats from Russia and Ukraine. During the three-day summit, the United States confirmed it will allow western allies to send American-made fighter jets to support Ukraines war effort. Asked how Canada might support that effort, Trudeau said the Canadian militarys ongoing effort could include training pilots. Were certainly not opposed to help in all sorts of different ways. Trudeau, who met with the Ukrainian president Sunday morning, said Zelenskyys physical presence in Hiroshima made a difference. The G7 summit hosted leaders of emerging economies such as India, Brazil and Indonesia, as well as representatives from less-developed nations. Some countries in that category are more economically dependent on Russia and have been more hesitant to criticize its actions. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who met with Trudeau Sunday, has called for a ceasefire and proposed a club of nations including Brazil to mediate peace. At the same time, he has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine, made comments ascribing some blame to Ukraine for Russias invasion and said the U.S. and Europe are stimulating the fighting. Trudeau did not comment on specific leaders approaches to the conflict, nor did he weigh in on his discussions with Lula. But he decried suggestions that a negotiated ceasefire is the solution when Russia could simply end the war by halting its incursion. It is not a ceasefire that is needed. It is peace. And that peace can only be achieved if Russia decides to stop its ongoing invasion of a sovereign neighbour, the prime minister said. Against a backdrop of a city that had been devastated by an atomic bomb during the Second World War, the G7 leaders committed to chart a new course on nuclear nonproliferation. Most of us dont remember a time where the world was under threat by nuclear war, Trudeau said, when asked whether the setting and leaders visit to a Hiroshima memorial had coloured their talks. The Cold War ended a long time ago and the danger of nuclear war is unfortunately being forgotten by many. Trudeau said Russias reckless nuclear rhetoric, along with threats from North Korea and uncertainty around Iran, have brought home the need to remember the dangers of nuclear proliferation. We need to take very, very seriously the threats to global peace and security that are around us right now. With controversy around allegations of Chinese meddling in Canadas two most recent federal elections dominating the political conversation at home, the G7 leaders also agreed to add language on foreign interference to their joint communique. Foreign interference is a fact of life in all our democracies. It is nothing new, he said, though he did not share any specifics of the leaders discussions. There was clear understanding and support that this is something we have to grapple with. Trudeau added that the democracies must strike a balance when it comes to broader relations with the worlds second-largest economy. We cannot simply choose to ignore Chinas existence, he said. Still, the G7 leaders have agreed to try reducing their economic dependence on the giant. Economic security means having different options, having resilience in our supply chains. Thats something thats ultimately good for the entire world, said Trudeau. Trudeaus attendance at the G7 summit follows his first official visit to South Korea, where the two countries reached agreements on critical minerals and youth mobility. As part of its plan to counterbalance Chinas growing influence in the region, Canada is vying to strengthen ties with countries like South Korea and Japan. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2023. - With files from The Associated Press. Note to readers: corrects placeline Read more about: SHARE: An aide of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has decried what he described as an attempt to blackmail the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa. Atikus media aide, Daniel Bwala, made the remark while reacting to the allegation against Bawa by Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State. Matawalle had accused Bawa of begging him for $2 million. In an interview with BBC Hausa, the governor claimed he was being investigated because he didnt offer the EFCC chairperson the money he requested from him. The EFCC, however, dismissed the claim, stressing that it would not be drawn into a mud fight with a suspect under its investigation for corruption and unconscionable pillage of the resources of his state. Reacting to the development, Bwala said the attempt to blackmail Bawa was shameful. Tweeting, Bwala wrote: If you want to remove Bawa as EFCC chair, at least be honourable about it and do that honorably. The idea that outgoing governors and cabinet people are being investigated so you instigate one of the suspects to blackmail him is, to say the least, shameful. Bawa, apart from improving upon the successes of Magu, has taken the commission to a more professional outfit where he draws accolades from far and near and deserves honor, not blackmail. If you have evidence against him, follow the due process of the law rather than blackmail. The Federal Government and striking doctors have reached an agreement on the ongoing industrial action. The agreement followed a meeting held by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, with the leadership of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. The meeting, which started on Friday evening and ended on Saturday, had in attendance the President of NMA, Dr Uche Ojinmah, and his counterpart from NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, among other government officials. The spokesman of the ministry, Olajide Oshundun, while giving an update on what happened, told journalists that the parties, namely, the Federal Government, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), had reached an agreement to halt the five-day nationwide warning strike of resident doctors. According to him: All eight issues raised by the striking resident doctors have been addressed; the fund for the payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) has been captured in the 2023 Appropriation, and the payment would commence when the operation of the 2023 budget begins. He further explained that the Federal Government advised striking resident doctors in the country to embrace more persuasion and social dialogue at the state level in order to have their issues resolved before embarking on strike. The meeting observed that states cannot be compelled to domesticate the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) and cannot pay the same amount as the Federal Government. Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Gandujes alleged audio conversation with Ibrahim Masari, a former placeholder vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has emerged. According to Daily Trust, Ganduje was heard in the audio lamenting why the President-elect, Bola Tinubu would meet the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso despite their differences. It was reported that Tinubu and Kwankwaso had during the week, met for four hours in France, discussing how the former Kano Governor may join the ruling party. The development had triggered reactions across the country as some members of the APC faulted Tinubus move. In the alleged leaked audio, Ganduje was heard lamenting being treated unfairly by Tinubu by having a meeting with Kwankwaso, saying the President-elect should have at least informed him. Governor Ganduje had started the conversation by revealing that there was noise all over Kano over the meeting between the two political leaders. The governor said, Now he (Tinubu) is seeing Kwankwaso as an alternative to us? No problem. Because we dont have a government? And its even because of him (Tinubu) we lost the government in any way. Even if he will see him (Kwankwaso), he ought to have called us too. Or dont you understand, even if symbolically. Governor Nasir El-Rufai has expressed his readiness to continue sacking bad workers in Kaduna State and demolishing illegal structures until his last day in office. Speaking on Saturday in Kaduna during a book launch, El-Rufai explained that he was bent on continuing the move so that his successor would not need to do it again but to continue with developmental projects for the overall benefit of the people of the state. According to him, Any bad thing we find, we will remove it so that the next governor does not need to do it again. Watch out till the eleventh hour when we shall quit office, we will continue to sack bad persons and remove bad things. Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, in his remarks, described El-Rufai as a fearless and outspoken politician that spoke truth to power and said it as it was. Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said aspirants of the National Assembly should respect the decision of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. Wike said respecting APC and Tinubus decision would lead to Nigerias progress. He made the remark while noting that no President can operate at maximum capacity if he does not have the cooperation of the National Assembly. Addressing journalists in Abuja, Wike said: During his campaign, he, Tinubu, promised to unite every Nigerian and bring competence. Its not going to be because you are members of APC or not, we want Nigerians with the capacity to help people deliver what will make Nigeria to be great. No President can do very well if he does not have that leadership that is not ready to cooperate with him. If you remember what happened in 2015, that affected the performance of the present administration. In the interest of Nigerians, let them respect the leadership of their party and the President-elect to move forward. The crisis rocking the national leadership of the Labour Party (LP) has permeated Anambra State as a new chairman, Hon Peter Okoye has emerged in the state. Okoye, who held a meeting with the new executive of the party, said Hon Ugochukwu Emeh has been removed. He said Emeh was removed for being one of those who attended the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party convened by embattled national chairman, Barr Julius Abure. He said he (Okoye) replaced Emeh as acting state chairman in Anambra State, alongside other members of the executive. Okoye, who briefed journalists in Awka after holding a meeting with members of his executive, insisted that Abure remains a former national chairman, and that Hon Ugochukwu Emeh has also ceased to be the state chairman of LP in Anambra State. I just held a meeting to enlighten members of my executive of what is happening at the national level in our great party. Labour party is still one. Our former national chairman, Barr Julius Abure was suspended, due to forgery, perjury and criminal activities in our party. After Abures suspension, he went ahead and called NEC meeting, which is contempt of court. So the resolution was everyone that attended the NEC meeting convened by him, except the presidential candidate of Labour Party and his vice, all the senators-elect, House of Representatives members-elect, governor-elect and the House of Assembly members-elect should be suspended. So in Anambra, I was appointed to replace the former chairman of the party, Hon Ugochukwu Emeh. He was one of those who attended the illegal NEC meeting in Asaba called by Abure. Everyone you see here today are now new members of the executive, and we will act for six months, he said. Speaking further, Okoye said: We want to make it clear that the story surrounding Apapa is false. He is not being sponsored by Tinubu. Apapa is against the criminal activities happening in the party for a long time. He has been in the party for over 21 years. About N400million is at stake and no one is talking about it. What is happening is that the party is not against Peter Obi, but we are here to fight the bad management style of Abure because no one is above the law. The N400million we are talking about is party funds, which he (Abure) diverted to his own personal account. Hon Emeh, in a reaction to journalists over his alleged removal, said Okoye and his cohorts were out to swindle unsuspecting members of the party. He insisted he remained the state chairman, while also calling on members of the party to distance themselves from Okoye. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The commencement speaker for the final graduation ceremony of Final Exercises weekend at the University of Virginia used his time on stage to thank minority students for challenging their peers to think more carefully and critically. For the rest of us, I have a word of advice: Seek out and commit to a community where you are in a minority, said Louis P. Nelson, a professor of architectural history and the vice provost for academic outreach at UVa. We must learn to reject the echo chamber of constraining communities, and build, instead, courageous communities that challenge us to listen well, to build empathy, to think more critically of the greater nuance and complexity, the dehumanizing extremes of self-determination or suffocating social homogeneity are best mediated by a daily dose of healthy democratic society. UVa has a history of inviting alumni, including athlete Ralph Sampson and comedian Jay Pharoah in recent years, to provide the three primary addresses during Final Exercises weekend. Roughly 4,700 undergraduate, graduate and doctorate graduates gathered on the Lawn to cross into UVa alumni status on Sunday morning, which was sunny and humidity-free after a brief rainstorm Saturday evening. About 15,300 guests filled the seats with big smiles and flowers in hand for the most-attended ceremony of the weekend. While Arts & Sciences undergraduate and graduate students had their ceremonies on Saturday morning, the rest of the graduates from the Darden School of Graduate Business Administration, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, McIntire School of Commerce, School of Architecture, School of Continuing & Professional Studies, School of Data Science, School of Education and Human Development, School of Engineering & Applied Science, School of Law, School of Medicine and the School of Nursing took home their degrees on Sunday. As a faculty member of 22 years, Nelson said he recalls the hate-filled and fatal weekend of Aug. 11-12, 2017. He reflected on his time joining a pilgrimage of about 100 Charlottesville community leaders who traveled to prominent civil rights site in the South. Nelson who specializes in built environments of the early modern Atlantic world and has published works on the American South, the Caribbean and West Africa thanked UVa Memory Project Director and religious studies professor Jalane Schmidt and Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Executive Director Andrea Douglas for organizing the trip for expanding his imagination of the community at UVa and in Charlottesville. He further emphasized the universitys role in redressing its own history by reminding the graduates that the Universities Studying Slavery consortium of more than 100 colleges and universities across the country was founded at their own alma mater. The nationally celebrated Memorial to Enslaved Laborers behind you all has become the golden standard for demonstrating the importance of continuously marking and reshaping our landscapes, said Nelson, who edited the book Educated in Tyranny: Slavery at Thomas Jeffersons University. Because when words fail us, our buildings and landscapes remind us who we have been and they remind us who we are. Nelson said that he is not encouraging the graduates to turn their backs on Jeffersonian ideals, but rather act as truth-tellers who are comfortable going toe to toe with [their] own demons while stepping between the gap of the ideal and the real. At the Sunday ceremony, University President Jim Ryan called the graduating class of 2023 saliva test pioneers, for persevering through a global pandemic and tragedy on grounds. Youve masked when asked and even when not because you cared about this community, Ryan said. When tragedy struck last November, you organized and attended a silent vigil that brought this community together in powerful and profound ways. I hope youll take from this that there is so much joy to found in this life. Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland has reacted on social media after his team were crowned Premier League champions. Arsenals 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest on Saturday officially brought their title challenge to an end and gave Man City their third Premier League title in a row. Man City had the chance to wrap up the title on Sunday against Chelsea, but will now play the match against Frank Lampards side, knowing the trophy will remain at the Etihad. Haaland has been phenomenal this season for Pep Guardiolas side, having joined the club from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth 51.2 million last summer. After Man City were crowned the 2022-2023 champions of England, Haaland took to Twitter and wrote: Always give your best. Always believe. It pays off. CMON CITY! Haaland is currently the Premier Leagues top scorer with 36 goals. The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero has advised the President-elect, Bola Ahmad Tinubu to establish the Ministry of Religious Affairs, to promote interfaith dialogue and peaceful co-existence in the country. He made the call at the inauguration of the Interfaith Facilitators Guide, organized by Action Aid Nigeria on Friday. The Emir represented by the District Head of Nasarawa, Babba Dan-Agundi said the ministry would help promote religious tolerance and understanding among Nigerians. According to him Peace is an indispensable aspect of creatures on the planet, and there is a compelling need for it to be safeguarded. Earlier, the Country Director, of Action Aid Nigeria, Ene Obi said there was a need for Nigerians to uphold the virtues of interfaith dialogue towards promoting peaceful coexistence in the country. We must be seen to live in peace with one another irrespective of tribe, religion, and political differences for our collective political growth, he said. The president-elect, Bola Tinubu, has been challenged to share photos of his meetings with the investors he purportedly met in France. Tinubu raised dust when he left Nigeria about 10 days ago for France. The trip came barely two weeks after he returned to Nigeria from his post-election break, which lasted for about one month. On May 10 when the president-elect jetted out of the country, there were speculations that he had travelled out again on medical grounds. But his aide, Tunde Rahman, said in a statement that the former Lagos State Governor left the nation to carry out some tasks without pressure. Rahman said Tinubu would use the opportunity to fine-tune the transition plans, programmes and his policy options with some of his aides. He added that Tinubu would, during the visit, engage with investors and other key allies. As the president-elect returned on Saturday, Daniel Bwala, a spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, requested photos of the investors Tinubu spoke with while in Paris. According to him, there were no meetings between Tinubu and any investors in France. Instead, Bwala disclosed that the Jagaban only met with politicians and lobbyists from Nigeria. Now that he (Tinubu) has finished his so-called official visit to meet with investors, etc, I dare them to release the photos of those meetings. I bet you if they release the photos, the foreign investors would turn out to be Nigerian politicians and Nigerian lobbyists from Nigeria, he posted on Twitter. Recall that Tinubu last week met with former Kano State Governor and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, in France A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Femi Fani-Kayode has dismissed the claims that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu cannot be trusted by his supporters. Fani-Kayode said Tinubu appreciates the virtues of loyalty and courage while under fire. In a tweet, Fani-Kayode: The notion that our President-elect cannot be trusted by his supporters & is not faithful to his own is absurd. No-one appreciates the virtues of loyalty & courage under fire & stands by those that have fought for & entered the heat of battle with him more than @officialABAT. The United Kingdom is set to announce new restrictions that will most likely stop Nigerian students, other nationalities studying in the UK from bringing their families over. According to an exclusive report by The Sun UK, this crack down will be annocued this week. The crackdown will see all masters students and many other post grads banned from bringing family over. However, the ban will not apply to PHD students, whose courses usually last between 3 and 5 years and are very highly skilled, the UK media House reported. This follows the reports that net migration into the UK has skyrocketed to 1 million with Tory MPs asking the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to get a grip on the rocketing numbers. To get a hold of the climbing numbers, UK ministers are said to be expected to announce the immigration clampdown on Tuesday or Wednesday. The Sun reports that Rishi Sunak is expected to come out fighting on immigration pointing out they are figures he inherited as they date back to the year ending December 2022 two months after he became PM. There has been an explosion in the number of people coming to Britain piggybacking on their relatives student visa. Students brought 135,788 family members to Britain last year nine times more than in 2019. Last year, 59,053 Nigerian students brought over 60,923 relatives. We have got to get a grip, a Tory MP told The Sun on Sunday. The Hoboken Police Departments persistence paid off. A 14-month investigation by the departments Investigations Bureau, led by Detective Michael Losordo, into a carjacking and shooting in March 2022 has resulted in the arrest of a 20-year-old Bayonne man, Jaliyl Johnson, city public safety spokeswoman Marci Rubin said. Police say that on March 28, 2022, at approximately 7:45 p.m., Johnson approached a man in his car in a parking lot between 540 and 560 Marshall Dr., and pulled a gun out of his waistband and pointed it at the victims head. When the victim fled on foot, Johnson fired a shot in his direction, Rubin said. Johnson then fled in the victims stolen vehicle that was driven by a juvenile, who turned himself in to the Hoboken Police Department a few days after the incident. The juvenile was charged with carjacking, conspiracy to commit carjacking, possession of a firearm for unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a firearm and aggravated assault. After months of further investigation, detectives identified Johnson as the perpetrator behind the carjacking and the triggerman in the shooting. Hoboken police officers arrested Johnson without incident in Jersey City on May 16, with the assistance of the New Jersey State Park Police. I am extremely proud of the hard work, dedication, and timeless effort our team put into this incident, Hoboken Police Chief Steven Aguiar said. It is a testament that our department will not tolerate violent criminal activity in the city of Hoboken, and that any investigation will not end until justice has been served. Johnson is charged criminal attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, carjacking, conspiracy to commit carjacking, employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, use of a juvenile in an automobile theft, receiving stolen property, aggravated assault by pointing a firearm and possession of a firearm by a person under 21 years old. A neighborhood street gang member in Jersey City has admitted to stabbing a rival gang member during a retaliatory gang-related assault, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Sheldon Mays, aka Thottie, 23, of Jersey City, pleaded guilty Thursday before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, a knife, in aid of racketeering, authorities said. Mays faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 18. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: A 15-year-old girl was charged with attempted murder, robbery and other offenses after multiple incidents along Route 18 in East Brunswick last weekend, according to police. Shes accused of firing shots at a group of people and robbing three others of their sneakers. In an announcement on Sunday, East Brunswick Police Chief Frank LoSacco said the SureStay Hotel by Best Western reported on May 13 that people were running from the nearby Brunswick Square Mall after hearing gunshots. Police responded to the area along Route 18 and initially found no evidence of a shooting, though later that night a spent shell casing was found in the parking lot of a nearby Habit Burger, according to the announcement. That day, police said they received a separate report that three people had been robbed of their sneakers at gunpoint. An investigation by Detective Matthew Kole linked the two incidents to the same suspect, who police say was observed firing several shots from a handgun at another group of individuals walking near Habit Burger. On Thursday, police arrested the juvenile suspect, identified only as a 15-year-old New Brunswick resident, charging her with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery and weapons offenses, authorities said. She was placed in the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center in North Brunswick, according to police. The case remained under investigation Sunday, when the department asked anyone with information to call Detective Kole at 732-390-6990 or email mkole@ebpd.net. An East Brunswick Police spokesman, Lt. Jason Fama, said he did not know whether the girl had a lawyer or public defender. Nobody knows Jersey better than N.J.com. Sign up to get breaking news alerts straight to your inbox. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com A woman was killed Saturday evening in a fatal car crash in Gloucester County, authorities said. West Deptford police said the woman, who was not identified, died after her vehicle hit a pole on Grove Avenue near Woodbury Terrace. The wreck was reported about 5:30 p.m. Police said the road was shut down while officers investigated. Declan OScanlon sounded exasperated when I called him the other day. Ive been driving for 20 minutes and I still havent made it out of Little Silver, he said. As its name implies, the state senators home town of Little Silver isnt very big. But that part of Monmouth County is bustling these days. Still, the congestion there is nothing like the congestion in Manhattan. That was the subject of my call. On Wednesday, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority released an environmental assessment of its plan to impose congestion pricing in lower Manhattan. The MTA offered seven scenarios for collecting a fee that could range up to $23 for cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street at peak periods. But New Jersey drivers already have their E-ZPass dinged for $14.75 at the George Washington Bridge and both the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. How much extra they would pay as a congestion fee is still to be decided, but it looks to be about $9. Thats one reason that a Republican like OScanlon has plenty of Democratic allies in the fight against the plan. In OScanlons case, theres another reason. He hates all the gantries, scanners, cameras and other devices essential electronic toll collection. Back in 2014, OScanlon mounted a successful battle to ban red-light cameras in New Jersey. As for New York, its got red-light cameras, speed cameras and various other driver-torture devices. Im opposed to any further fleecing of New Jersey motorists by New York, OScanlon said. To that end, he has a bill in that would ban the state from giving out drivers-license information to other states that seek to dun us with those devices. Legislators from New York have proposed fighting back by charging every Jersey driver who enters the city a $50 fee. On the Congressional level, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer is also fighting any effort to charge New Jersey drivers any fees in excess of those already-exorbitant bridge and tunnel tolls. This is just a cash grab, said the Bergen County Democrat. The initial idea was you would not get charged any extra. That was a good idea at least from a Jersey perspective. New Jersey drivers wouldnt be affected and New Yorkers would get stuck with most of the tab. Thats only fair, given that all of the proceeds would go to the MTA to shore up its shaky finances. Dont miss the best in editorials, opinion columns and commentary from NJ.com writers. Add your email here: When it comes to transit aid, New York always seems to get the better of us. Last summer, Northjersey.com ran an excellent article by Colleen Wilson on how the New Yorkers managed to get the better of us in a fight over a funding formula for dividing up COVID-related federal transit aid. As part of a deal to give them $850 million that could have gone to New Jersey, the Murphy administration tried to get a better bargain on congestion pricing. They sent an email to Gov. Kathy Hochuls team requesting that as part of the deal the New Yorkers agree not to impose any additional congestion fees on Jersey drivers. The article reported that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul responded that now is not the right time. Well how about now? That question is particularly crucial for Gottheimers constituents in Bergen County. Many have no viable options for getting to the city other than driving over the GW. Gottheimer argues that the $14.75 toll should be sufficient to cover the congestion fee. But in none of those seven scenarios do Jersey drivers escape an added fee for entering the congestion zone. In every scenario, Jersey drivers will end up paying thousands of dollars more on top of the tolls they already pay to go over the George Washington Bridge on their way to work in New York, Gottheimer told nj.com. Thats the bad news, at least for New Jersey. The good news is that this will encourage a lot of businesses to open offices in our state, said Gottheimer. He recently announced a Stay in Jersey campaign with tax incentives for businesses to open offices here. Businesses have a lot of incentive to move to New Jersey Gottheimer said. They can plant the flag and just open up a satellite office. At that point, the employees income taxes go to Trenton, not Albany, he pointed out. OScanlon said he sees this dynamic in action every time he goes to his legislative office. Its in the former Bell Labs building, now called BellWorks and reconfigured as a base for businesses of the type that used to locate in New York. OScanlon told me he expects to see a lot more people making an escape from New York. We welcome New Yorkers who want to come to beautiful Monmouth County, he said. Its a great place. You can be in farm country and then 20 minutes later be in downtown Asbury Park. And if you meet some congestion, you might lose a little time. But you wont lose any money. More: Recent Paul Mulshine columns. Paul Mulshine may be reached at pmulshine@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @Mulshine. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook and on Twitter Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Lake Culpeper Adventures watercraft rentals at the Ole Country Store will open for business at 7 a.m. on Monday for the 2023 season. New signs for the site are coming later this summer. Operated by the town of Culpeper every late spring-to-fall since 2016, the lakeside operation, for the first time, will not be named for a Confederate. After nearly two years of debate and back-and-forth votes, the Culpeper Town Council decided in a split 5-4 vote this past October to rename Lake Pelham to Lake Culpeper and the watercraft rental endeavor with it. Alabama artillery officer John Pelham died in Culpeper at age 24 after being wounded in 1863s Battle of Kellys Ford, fought on St. Patricks Day. His name was put on the lake in the 1970s following a name-the-lake contest put on by the town and soil & water conservation district. Local discussion to remove the Confederate soldiers name began in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. His death sparked a renewed movement nationwide to shed symbols of white supremacy from public places. To date, the Southern Poverty Law Center says it has documented the public removal or renaming of 482 Confederate symbols since 2015 with more than 2,600 other symbols remaining. The organization started tracking and cataloging public displays of Confederate symbols in the wake of the 2015 massacre at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, which claimed the lives of nine Black members, including the senior pastor. The gunman was reportedly radicalized by white supremacist websites, some which featured the Confederate battle flag, according to media reports. Lake Culpeper Adventures is a recreational kayak, stand up paddle board, canoe and paddle boat rental facility open to the public. Spring and summer operating hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays, weather permitting. See culpeperva.gov for more information. Culpeper Public Services Director Jim Hoy said the town is working with the planning department and sign contractors to fabricate new signage that should be posted later this summer. The Lake Pelham Adventures signs were removed last fall following town councils vote. May is Jewish American Heritage Month, and its needed now more than ever. Antisemitism is on the rise. In 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 2,717 incidents of antisemitism reported to the Anti-Defamation League, the highest ever in one year. Ignorance of the huge Holocaust death toll of European Jews makes these incidents so alarming. Though scholarship documenting the Nazi systematic extermination of Jews has been strong for 50 years, later books and movies have also documented Jewish heroism against such odds. Two such heroes are a woman living in Holland under the Nazis showcased in a new National Geographic miniseries and an escapee from a Nazi concentration camp written about in a riveting book released last fall. Both of them face down evil and never give up hope that evil can be defeated. The Diary of a Young Girl, about Anne Frank, may be the most widely read book on the topic assigned to high school students. National Geographics A Small Light recounts the story. Otto Frank (played by Liev Schreiber) hires Austrian-born Miep Gies (Bel Powley) to be his secretary in 1933 after moving his family from Germany to Amsterdam to escape Hitler. Ten years later, when the Nazis marched into the city and started rounding up Jews, Gies helped the Franks hide for more than two years in a secret annex above the Opekta offices. When the Nazis finally raided the place and deported the eight people living there to concentration camps, Gies saved Anne Franks diary. Powley is a luminous actress who steals every scene she is in. Her character never hesitates to help someone, risking her own life at every turn. She is plucky, brave, dynamic and shrewd. Jan (Joe Cole), a bookish social worker, is inspired to act by his new wife, Gies, who helps save Jewish lives, unbeknownst to Gies. Paranoia runs rampant and Gies knows that the walls are closing in. But she always know how to pivot to protect the Franks. Also, they assist local nurses to squirrel Jewish children to safety. When Jan seeks out a resistance worker for help, the man tests Jan by asking him to fetch a stash of papers in a Jewish apartment where the family was forcibly taken to a concentration camp before the Nazis empty out the apartment. What Jan finds is a baby wrapped in a blanket hidden in the bureau drawer. Ultimately, he meets a woman on the street wheeling an empty baby carriage and hands over the baby. Theres a touching scene where two children are ferried away to safety. Their teary grandmother says good-bye to them and tells them they will be asked to do things they would not normally do like not eat kosher. But do not worry because the most important thing about Judaism is to preserve life, she says. Oma will always love you. As Gentiles, Gies and Jan live that same Jewish ethic by saving lives, and Walter Rosenberg, a Jew, does something far more astonishing to spare hundreds of thousands of Jews from dying and live. The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland (Harper; 2022), now out in paperback, does not spare the reader Nazi horrors. Disease was rampant in the concentration camps and little food and unsanitary conditions weakened the prisoners. A rabbi from Slovakia arrived late for roll call. The SS officer in charge had the soldiers dip his head in a latrine, pour cold water over him, then shoot him dead. These horrific incidents were recalled in the book about Czechoslovakian Rosenberg, who eventually wound up in notorious Auschwitz after being deported June 1942 at the age of 18. He became known as 44070, tattooed on his arm. Years later when he met a survivor, he could tell where he was from by the tattoo number. In August 1942, Rosenberg was reassigned to the Aufraumungskommando (clearing-up) or Kanada commando, in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the extermination camp a few miles from Auschwitz I. He worked on the nearby Judenrampe removing the dead from the freight trains, then sorting through the new arrivals property. Survivors fit for work lived while the rest were taken to the gas chamber. Rosenberg was extremely bright and had a prodigious memory. Once he realized he had to escape to warn the Jews and tell the world about the mass murders by the Nazis, he memorized all that he could see and absorb. When men, women and children were marched into the gas chambers, Nazis tormented them, Dont get burned while you have your bath! Once trains brought Jews in their own clothes and they were able to live in the camps like normal people, eating well, able to move around freely. Rosenberg was puzzled. But he discovered this would only last for six months in case international inspectors arrived and could be deceived. Then they went to the gas chambers. Rosenberg knew he had to save Hungarian Jews who were the last to be transported to the camps. He was one of only four known Jews to escape from the Nazis. He took a new name, Rudolf Vrba. The 32-page Vrba-Wetzler report reached far and wide but was disbelieved. No one could be so inhumane was the assessment. Eventually, the report saved 200,000 Budapest Jews from death. Vrba became a research doctor and eventually lived in North America after marrying twice and having two daughters. His life was defined by Auschwitz even when he was a free man. He died in March 2006 at the age of 82. Rudolf Vrba belongs in the pantheon of Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler, and Elie Wiesel testament to the incredible human spirit in the face of pure evil. The Rev. Alexander Santora is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, NJ 07030. Email: padrealex@yahoo.com; Twitter: @padrehoboken. By Elissa Malespina A little over a year ago, I was let go from my position at Verona High School and part of the reason given was that Mrs. Malespina does a nice job with creating collections for display about equity, specifically regarding the themes of race and LGBTQ. However, the selections never seem to go beyond those two topics. This has created the perception that the library is about only two things and not necessarily about promoting a variety of different books centered around a variety of different topics. As a non-tenured educator, I had no recourse. I like so many other school librarians have become targets of the culture wars that are occurring in our country. These attacks greatly affect the incredible school librarians who devote their lives to instilling the love of reading, media literacy, technology, research and so much more in our students. We all work hard to create safe spaces for ALL our students. School librarians also make sure that students no matter what race, gender, religion, nationality or sexual preference feel seen in the books and materials that we expertly curate and add to our libraries. It is now us who no longer are feeling safe because we dare to purchase diverse books and materials. During this last year, I have faced slanderous attacks online and death threats. I have filed police reports and had to have security when I speak at conferences. All because of attacks that have occurred on social media and in emails but also emails addressed to my new employer that spread vicious lies. I have been incredibly lucky to have found a new job and the students and staff have embraced me and have shown me so much love and kindness in a district that values diversity. But many are not as lucky as I am. I have watched dear school librarian friends face being called pedophiles, porn mongers and so many more hateful and slanderous things. I am so proud of both my dear friend Amanda Jones and also my fellow New Jersey school librarian Roxana Caivano, who are fighting back by filing defamation lawsuits against their attackers. But I have also seen the toll it has taken on them and so many others like the absolutely incredible and brave N.J. school librarian Martha Hickson who has battled not one but two book challenges at her school. Dont miss an issue of our Opinion newsletter! Get it delivered each Wednesday right into your inbox by adding your email below and hitting "subscribe." After I was let go from Verona High School last May, I suffered a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression. I was placed on medical leave by my doctors and went through months of therapy and medication before I was able to speak about what happened to me without having a panic attack. Sadly, I am not alone in this. So many of my librarian friends who have been through similar situations have also suffered a mental and physical toll. My therapy has been to turn my horrible experience into advocacy. School Library Journal published my story in October and since that point, I have had a chance to speak out nationally in different outlets against book banning and the censorship that is occurring in this country. As the only school librarian on a school board in New Jersey and only one of a few in the United States, I have authored and gotten past some of the toughest anti-censorship policies, regulations and procedures. These policies were rewritten to help combat the rise in book challenges from such organizations as Mothers for Liberty and many local offshoots. These new policies have been adopted by numerous school districts across New Jersey and the nation. I am proud, and also lucky enough, to work in a school district that adopted the policies I authored. I am also working with local leaders and politicians to help advocate for a state law against book bans like one that recently passed in Illinois. I accept every invitation I am offered to speak on this topic and will continue to do so because I need to be a voice for all my fellow librarians who are scared to speak up because they might lose their job. I had hoped that by speaking out that things might get better for school librarians across the nation but over this last year, book challenges are nearly doubled from last year and the highest in at least 20 years, when the American Library Association began compiling data about censorship in libraries. Censors targeted a record 2,571 unique titles in 2022, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021. Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community or by and about Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color. The trend does not seem to be ending anytime soon. This fight is not about saving a book. Its about saving a child who needs that books to feel seen and heard. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, which was the No. 1 most challenged book in the U.S. with 151 challenges, according to the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom, is an incredible graphic novel memoir that is a great resource for teens or really anyone who identifies as nonbinary or asexual or those who know someone who identifies as such. There are not many resources out there for nonbinary and asexual students and this book allows those children to feel seen and heard something. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison was ranked as the No. 3 most challenged book last year with 73 challenges. This literary classic is about a young girl who wishes for blue eyes so she can fit into her surrounding where she is constantly made to feel like she is ugly and does not belong because she is Black. So many teens go through feelings of self-loathing and shame and can relate to this character. The book also talks openly and frankly about racism and helps students understand the lasting effects of bigotry. LGBTQ+ and students of color are already the most marginalized in our schools. Taking those books away from them only reinforces the idea that these students dont belong. Everyone deserves to feel like they belong and for many students, the library is the only space in the school where that can occur. Elissa Malespina is a school librarian and a member of the South Orange/Maplewood Board of Education. This essay was written in her capacity as a private citizen. These statements are not representative of the board or its individual members. Heres how to submit an op-ed or Letter to the Editor. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Five years ago, New Jersey imposed a surtax on businesses that earned more than $1 million in profits, promising to let it expire this year. Gov. Phil Murphys proposed budget honors that pledge, a move that would cost the state budget roughly $1 billion a year. Its time to rethink that. It would be a broken promise, but its a promise that shouldnt have been made in the first place. And according to the law, the 2018 Legislature has no right to obligate the 2023 Legislature anyway. If itll make people feel better, the Legislature can let the surtax expire as promised and then reinstate it as a new policy. Businesses note that New Jerseys 9 percent corporate tax rate is already among the highest in the country even without the 2.5 percent surtax, and they argue that leaving it in place will kill jobs. But will it? They made the same argument in 2018, and yet our economy is still humming along nicely, with an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent and incomes that are among the highest in the country. Where is the data showing high taxes kill a states economy? Mississippi has very low taxes. Do we want to follow that lead? In the 10 years youve been losing election after election for governor, Ive been running Jersey City quite successfully. But nevertheless Im looking forward to debating these things with Bill Spadea in the general election https://t.co/ml20q2XqE9 Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) May 16, 2023 Its not all about taxes. New Jersey has a skilled workforce, a great public education system, a solid transportation network, and proximity to New York City and Philadelphia. Its a great place to live and work, and that counts, too. Back to the surtax. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop are both calling to extend the surcharge, and no doubt using this to stake out a more progressive position than the governor in advance of the 2025 election. But theyre right on the merits, too. Neither the business community nor Murphy have presented compelling evidence that the surtax is crippling our economy. Do we need the revenue? The short answer is yes. Murphy has begun to repair the pension system, but its still one of the most poorly funded in the country. Wall Street has lifted the states credit rating several times on his watch, but that rating is still the second lowest in the country. And now, the Department of Treasury warns that revenues are falling $2 billion behind expectations. And still, we have glaring unmet needs. Most of the added spending in the Murphy years has been devoted to righting the states finances with those pension payments, and with big surpluses. The state still needs to invest in expanding preschools, hiring teachers, and rebuilding NJ Transit so that it can stop devouring its capital budget to cover operating costs. Not to mention the crisis in affordable housing. Extending the surcharge would send an unwelcome message to the business community. At some point, raising the corporate tax rate is bound to make the state unattractive to investors. The question is where that threshold sits. And if this surtax truly does cause harm, the Legislature can always reverse course. But for now, the threat that businesses will leave is hypothetical. Before giving up $1 billion a year, the Legislature should demand hard data. So far, that doesnt exist. The idea that there has been some sort of corporate flight from the scene is just not borne out by the facts, as Peter Chen of New Jersey Policy Perspective notes. Even with the surtax, job growth in New Jersey has remained above the pre-pandemic trend, he found. So it doesnt seem to have deterred companies from continuing to hire here, nor from earning record profits. And remember, this tax is on profits in New Jersey, so a firm that does 10% of its sales in our state would still pay our top rate on those profits if it moved its headquarters to Florida. That diminishes the argument about staying competitive with other states. Many companies that arent headquartered in New Jersey pay corporate taxes here, like Apple and Microsoft, and if tax attorneys manage to figure out a way around this, then we should strengthen our rules to ensure that corporations cant evade taxation. Tim Sullivan, the chief executive of the Economic Development Authority, a Murphy appointee, supports the repeal as a loyal member of the team. But even he shot down the idea that lower taxes are an economic elixir, as right-wing think tanks like the Tax Foundation assert. If you look at the Tax Foundation rankings of the best states from an economic perspective, the best are Wyoming, South Dakota and Alaska, he testified last week at an Assembly Budget Committee hearing. This is one to keep an eye on and be open-minded, with a respect for the data. If the surtax starts to kill jobs, then the Legislature should let it expire. But not before then, and certainly not this year. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Concerning Time to trash the tag? N.J. beach fees get serious, a recent South Jersey Times editorial: The beach tag situation is out of control. From Key West, Florida, to Bangor, Maine, public ocean beaches are fee-free except for in New Jersey. What is everyone else doing that we dont know about? New Jerseys problem can be summed up in one word: GREED! Jersey shore towns have found the golden goose and have continued to fleece the rest of the state and millions of visitors. Dont miss an issue of our Opinion newsletter! Get it delivered each Wednesday right into your inbox by adding your email below and hitting "subscribe." Where does all this money go? Lifeguard salaries? Give me a break! Cleaning the beach? Seriously? Amenities? Try finding a bathroom or a handicapped access ramp at most of our beaches. The money goes into the coffers of the beach town, as if they need it. You get hit with beach fees, parking fees, high boardwalk business prices, high rental fees, and still the towns cry poor. You hear about how the locals hate all of the visitors packing their towns, but you never hear a single thank-you to all those shoobies. In addition, leaders in shore towns love to talk about local control, but they love Big Government when state and federal taxpayers put up the money to replenish their beaches. My answer is simple. First, the state should put a cap on beach fees. What Ocean City did this year (double daily tag costs from $5 to $10) is a disgrace. Second, if towns charge these fees, they should pay for their own replenishment. As a taxpayer, I no longer want to pay for new sand and then pay again to sit on it. Third, the towns should create a task force to study how the rest of the East Coast survives without beach fees. It cant be rocket science. Michael J. Makara, Mays Landing Editors note: While they dont charge for beach access badges, some East Coast towns fund beach maintenance with higher parking or hotel occupancy surcharges than are common in New Jersey. N.J. budget, a Warner Bros. cartoon So, New Jersey income tax revenue this year through April came up short by $1.4 billion less than anticipated. Our one-party Democratic rulers apparently thought it wise to project future revenues on the basis of last years record high intake. Those same leaders have also spent much of the past few years banging their shoes on legislative committee tables and screaming about taxing the rich. The result of these two brilliant financial policies? The historic Fiscal 2023 high was, unsurprisingly, not matched or exceeded, and income tax revenue dropped. (Overall, state officials predict a $1 billion revenue drop for Fiscal 2024, which begins July 1.) I blame reduced income tax receipts on less revenue coming from those gosh darn rich folks, partly due to a stock market that is stumbling under President Joe Bidens economy. Also, the wealthy among us are using the same skills and insights that helped them amass personal wealth in order to hold on to more of it. Following the lead of some notable Jersey politicians rich ones many well-off residents have established residency in states that do not beat the tax-the-rich drum, including Florida. Result? They now pay no Jersey income tax and a reasonable amount or no state income tax at all in their new legal residency state. Their ability to outsmart New Jerseys Democratic rulers is reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote and his box of ACME dynamite getting beep-beeped by the Road Runner: Its not real difficult. I read that Gov. Phil Murphy will now negotiate with state lawmakers to address the issue. This promises to be Moe asking Larry to check with Curley as to how best to solve the problem. I can save them time and offer them the solution they will reach on their own, after many committee meetings and reports commissioned from donor-owned consulting firms: Increase state spending, raise fees across the board, and tax those elusive rich! Maybe grab them at the airport before they fly off to Florida to register to vote, obtain Palm Beach County plates for their BMWs, and begin contributing to a healthy, intelligently financially governed state. As for most New Jerseyans? Time to call the ACME Dynamite hotline. We ll get that Road Runner this time, for sure. Lou Manfredo, Deptford Township Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Six-day (Tuesday through Sunday) print subscribers of the Watertown Daily Times are eligible for full access to NNY360, the NNY360 mobile app, and the Watertown Daily Times e-edition, all at no additional cost. If you have an existing six-day print subscription to the Watertown Daily Times, please make sure your email address on file matches your NNY360 account email. You can sign up or manage your print subscription using the options below. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Erwin Bohmfalk was a man of insatiable curiosity and depth who maintained his zest for knowledge until his death two months ago at the age of 99. For many in Waynesboro, Bohmfalk is known as the owner of the former Purple Foot Restaurant on Broad Street, where visitors could eat sandwiches and desserts alfresco and buy a bottle of wine from an extensive collection housed at the restaurant. Bohmfalk ran the restaurant with his wife Barbara, who, like her husband, was long active in Waynesboro community organizations before her 2012 death. Erwin Bohmfalks public service included a stint on Waynesboro City Council from September 1968 to February 1970. But friends also recall a life of adventure that started with Erwin Bohmfalk flying missions in Southeast Asia in World War II and included extensive international travel. He flew across the Himalayas into Southwest China at the end of the war delivering supplies to the Chinese, said Ed Clark, the Wildlife Center of Virginia president in Waynesboro. Bohmfalk was a board member at the Wildlife Center and a generous donor. His devotion to the Wildlife Center covered three decades, and the clinic at the center is named the Erwin Bohmfalk Clinic. Bohmfalk earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Colorado and spent many years working at the former DuPont plant in Waynesboro, as did his wife. Clark said Bohmfalk was bright and engaging and enjoyed people. He was one of the most universally likable and well-liked people I ever met, Clark said. He was always smiling. You couldnt help but be happy when you were around him. He was always glad to see people whether it was a week or a year. One of Bohmfalks projects with Clark was developing the centers African Safari program. Through this program, hundreds of people saw the beauty of South Africa. Clark said Bohmfalk led the safaris well into his 90s. Clark said Bohmfalk led close to 50 safaris to Africa. And he grew to enjoy his visits so much that he purchased an apartment and a car in South Africa because he was there so much. In addition, Bohmfalks knowledge of South Africa generated a book and photos of 221 species of birds in the country. Bohmfalk also accompanied Wildlife Center staff on teaching trips in Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela. Bohmfalk became a top-notch photographer, with many photos from his world travels hanging on the walls at the Purple Foot. He loved technology, Clark said. He bought the latest camera, computer and video and photography equipment. Bohmfalks affection for his adopted home of Waynesboro grew to include concerns about the South River, according to Urbie Nash, a local conservationist and board member of both Riverfest and the Center for Coldwaters Restoration. Nash, who lives in a Waynesboro residence near where Bohmfalk lived, said his friend had questions about the river. He had concerns about the changes in the river. We were always very friendly, and we had great conversations. He was a very wise and brilliant man and a very caring individual. He gave a lot to the community and gave a lot to conservation. Close friends planned to gather at the former Purple Foot location this weekend to celebrate the life of Bohmfalk. Clark will not forget his friend. He was a Waynesboro treasure, Clark said. Those who knew him loved him. He always made you feel like you were doing him a favor by being his friend. He never bragged about anything. He was very self-deprecating and complimentary of others. Seventy-five years ago this month marked the end of the line for New Orleans fabled streetcar named Desire. The Desire streetcar line, introduced in 1920, was discontinued on May 30, 1948. For more than 25 years, the Desire line began at Canal Street and continued down Bourbon Street past Esplanade Avenue. The streetcar then veered left on Pauger Street and went down Dauphine Street for 16 blocks to Desire Street. On the return trip, the streetcar traveled Tonti Street to France Street and France to Royal Street all the way to Canal. Tennessee Williams wrote his famous 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire while living at 632 St. Peter St., where he could hear the Desire streetcar rumble down the tracks. As early as 1940, there was talk of removing the streetcar lines that ran through the French Quarter. Principal complaint against the streetcars has been that their vibration is responsible for much of the property damage in that part of the city, and that their noise and difficulty in negotiating the narrow streets, especially during the busy hours, unduly disturbs the residents, the Times-Picayune reported in July 1940. Detractors got their wish when buses replaced the streetcars in 1948. In 1967, RTAs predecessor New Orleans Public Service Inc. donated a restored Desire streetcar to the Louisiana Tourist Development Commission. For many years, the streetcar was on display at the French Market, then on the grounds of the Old U.S. Mint, where it stayed until the 1990s. Five people were shot Sunday night during the Krewe of Bacchus parade on the busiest weekend of the Mardi Gras season, New Orleans police said. An ankle monitor is seen on an immigrant from El Salvador at a shelter in San Antonio on July 27, 2015. In New Orleans, a defendant in a Terrytown murder was found to be wearing an ankle monitor after bailing out of a stolen car that police were chasing on Thursday, May 18, 2023. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, center, and Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority(CPRA) chairman Chip Kline stands on land that was recently created thanks to the Barataria Basin Ridge and Marsh Creation Project just west of Venice at Spanish Pass on Friday, May 12, 2023. About a year ago this area was covered by water. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate) Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. There once was a time when people of opposing political ideologies could meet in the middle. Bipartisanship was something special. Patriotic on occasion, even. Politicians touted their ability to get things done. A humblebrag, perhaps, it was used to attract voters from both sides of the political spectrum and keep them in office come general election time. Those days are gone. We now live in an era during which people arent ashamed to say the quiet part out loud, as a popular meme puts it. It can be shocking, but at least you know where everyone stands. For example, Brownsville City Council President Lynda Chambers used International Womens Month in March to complain from the dais that transgendered women are usurping womens rights: Theyre representing us as women, but theyre not representing us as women. They are men dressed up as women. Some may applaud, others may shudder, but hey, you know what she believes. Where do Albany Councilors Marilyn Smith, Matilda Novak and Mayor Alex Johnson II stand on LGBTQ+ rights? Were not totally sure. During the council comments portion of the work session agenda May 10, newcomer(ish) Steph Newton proposed flying the progressive Pride flag at City Hall as an essential act of representation (put a pin on the phrasing here) during the month of June, which is celebrated in many places as Pride month. Albany has been passing proclamations declaring June Pride month for six years now, and the city hosts an annual June Pride event that attracts hundreds, so its not nearly as controversial as it may be elsewhere, say, in Brownsville. The motion passed, but Smith voted no and Novak declined to vote. Not needing to break a tie, the mayor didnt weigh in. But after the meeting, when the four who said yes Jackie Montague, Ramycia McGhee, Ray Kopczynski and Newton posed for a photo with the flag, Johnson first indicated he would join them. Yet after a brief sidebar with Smith, he changed his tune, saying the council wasnt unanimous and the action felt like a political statement. Both Smith and Novak have supported the Pride proclamation in the past. After the unanimous vote for last years declaration, Johnson said, I encourage all residents to accept, celebrate and recognize the efforts and ongoing contributions of the LGBTQ communities within Albany and to work together to end discrimination against these members of our community. So whats going on? Since Johnson uttered those words, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled 50 years of precedent and threw abortion regulation back to the states. One justice, in a concurring opinion, put the quiet part in writing by saying the cases that upheld same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages should be reconsidered next. Then in November, Republicans took the House and did well in state houses (though not as well in the U.S. Senate or some key governorships). As a consequence, the nation has only become ever more polarized on LGBTQ+ rights, and by rights, we mean the right to exist, to have their personhood recognized. Consider, CNN reported last month that states are mulling 417 proposed bills considered anti-LGBTQ+. In Montana, the Legislature silenced the first transgender member as punishment for the words she chose in opposing a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for youths (so much for free speech). A similar Florida ban signed into law this week also had a clause placing restrictions on adults seeking transgender medical treatment. Closer to home, GOP members in the Oregon Senate walked off the job to prevent votes on several bills, including House Bill 2002, which in part would boost legal safeguards and expand access and insurance coverage for gender-affirming care. Yet Smith, who seemed like an ally in the recent past, defended her vote not to fly the Pride flag as not necessary. The numerous legislative attacks on the dignity of the LGBTQ+ community suggest otherwise. The increasing number of hate crimes perpetrated against LGBTQ+ individuals up 70% in the most recent FBI statistics proves it is indeed necessary. Its enough for Smith that the citys value statements include such platitudes our word, not Albanys as the city welcomes the changes and new perspectives diversity brings to us. As Smith puts it, Actions speak louder than symbols. Except in this case, the action is flying the symbol, not the symbol itself. And posing for a photo, well, thats an action mayors do all the time. Remember Newtons phrasing above? Flying the flag is an act. An essential act. We agree. We throw the same criticism at Novak, a self-professed follower of QAnon who once lobbied hard, unsuccessfully, to remove fluoride from the citys water. Before the vote, she offered to leave the room, saying, I dont want to be on either side of this. This is too damn important. Theres no room for cover anymore. This is not politics as usual. You dont get to say one thing and do another. If theres one good result to come from all this polarization, its that we get to know where everyone stands. Mayor Johnson, Councilors Smith and Novak, please let us know. Because trying to hide in the middle isnt working. Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has signed a $39 million multiyear contribution agreement with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The grant will support the fight to end global pandemics and strengthen health and community systems. The pact comes on a year which also marks the 20th anniversary of the partnership between the Global Fund and the SFD, which has been the main channel of Saudi contributions to the Global Fund since 2003. Announced during the Global Fund's 7th replenishment, which observed a substantial 30% increase from the previous conference, this agreement bolsters Saudi Arabia's standing as the 19th largest donor to the Global Fund. Having already pledged $162 million and contributed $123 million, the Kingdom continues to secure critical funding for resources and tools to combat these infectious diseases. In 2021, Saudi Arabia ranked first among donor countries in offering official development assistance to low and medium-income countries, according to data published by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Over the last 20 years, the Global Fund has worked to fight the worlds three deadliest epidemics: HIV, TB, and malaria. Global Fund-supported programmes have saved 50 million lives since 2002 and cut the death toll from the three diseases by more than half, proof that global commitment and community leadership like that of the Kingdom can force the worlds deadliest infectious diseases into retreat. The signing ceremony is a significant milestone in the long-standing partnership between the two organizations and a testament to their shared commitment to ending global diseases, said the statement from SDF. The agreement was signed by CEO Sultan Al Marshad and Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands as per the directive of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, at an event which took place at the Global Fund in Geneva. It was also attended by Ambassador Abdulmohsen bin Khothaila, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in Geneva, alongside senior leaders from both parties. Lauding KSA for its support, Sands said: "The signing of this agreement will ensure that the Global Fund can continue to finance and support programmes that aim to prevent, treat, and care for people affected by HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria in more than 100 countries worldwide." "This agreement demonstrates the critical importance of our partnership with the Saudi Fund for Development and sets the stage for even greater collaboration in the years to come," he added. Al Marshad said: "Our purpose today is one that is both timely and critical, given the health challenges the world is currently facing, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. These circumstances underline the necessity for a strong and resilient global health system." "It is in response to these challenges that the Kingdom and its leadership is committing to support global health initiatives and drive long-term equitable development while safeguarding people's health. By targeting diseases such as AIDS, TB, and Malaria, we aim to help improve the lives of countless individuals, families, and communities," he added. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. I live south of U.S. 30 in the Boone Grove area of Porter County. Every day I cross 30 in the morning on the way to the Valpo Y. I can remember often cruising through the stop light at 30 and Rt. 2 without materially slowing down. Those days are over. This stop light, despite the widened lanes and better traffic pattern, is now a consistent two-cycle stop light at 7:15 a.m. And with major developments planned along Rt. 2 south of Valparaiso, its not going to get any better. Now, I would whine about this more loudly, except that business has recently begun taking me into west Lake County, namely the St. John area, on a more frequent basis. Oak Partners is in very preliminary due diligence for a possible new office in this fast growing area, and boy, do you want to talk about traffic? It's crazy out there, driving my blood pressure higher with every trip. My wife Tracy and I were lamenting about all the new traffic in our lands the other day, one of us asking the rhetorical question, Where are all these people coming from? Well, any true Regionite knows the corresponding rhetorical answer we always provide to this question. We blame Illinois of course. In our minds they are all fleeing Illinois. Given the Regions strange relationship with the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago in particular, this is always going to be our paranoiac answer, but given the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau, it looks to be accurate as well. Between 2016 and 2020 the U.S. government census data tells us around 22,000 people migrated from Illinois to Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties in Indiana. Thats a lot of new houses, new neighborhoods and new traffic, and who knows what happened during the later COVID years. From a business perspective, this trend has also been apparent. Oak Partners has a number of newer relationships with Illinois migrants. Of course, in getting to know our new friends we invariably ask what brought them to the area, and the answers are consistent: property taxes, home values and now the ability to work remotely. Mixed in are occasional comments about politics, but this isnt as common as one might think. There are indeed some material tax differences between the two states. On the property tax side, Lake County shows an average property tax rate of 2.63% of assessed value, while Porter county shows 1.84%. (source: Indiana.edu). In contrast, Illinois property taxes are based on an opaque assessment calculation, with multiple taxing authorities levying value based property taxes in some municipalities, leading the average property tax rate in the Chicago area to be roughly 6.68% of assessed value in 2021 (source: Smartasset.com). Quite a difference. On the income tax side, the numbers are a little better. Indiana has a flat income tax of 3.15%, with some counties levying an additional 0.25% on income (source: Indiana DOR). Illinois, on the other hand, has a tax rate of 4.95%, but one very attractive tax rule for retirees is that Illinois does not levy income tax on Social Security, pension or IRA distribution income, which can be a major benefit. As far as the money we spend, the tax rates are more attractive in Indiana as well. Sales tax in Indiana is a flat 7%. Illinois levies a sales tax rate of 6.25% but then also permits municipalities to levy sales taxes up to 4.75%, leading the average sales tax in Illinois to be 8.82%, and sales tax in the city of Chicago to be a whopping 10.25% (source: AARP). And to top it off, Illinois still has an estate tax on estates over $4 million, which applies on all estate property domiciled in Illinois, regardless if the deceased owner was a resident of Illinois. So, apparently all these tax differences can really add up, which in my experience is driving much of the in-migration being experienced in the communities of the Region. Perhaps my favorite comment from a new former Illinoisan neighbor, exclaiming their excitement over discovering Indiana was we just cant believe how much money we are saving in taxes, and you know what? There are actually some good places to eat here as well. To which I could only smile and respond, Yes, we do eat here in Indiana, and sometimes we even eat out. Welcome, Illinois friends. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. HAMMOND A man who was riding his horse Thursday struck a police officer during a confrontation after the officer informed him that he could not have the animal within city limits, Hammond police said. Adam Hollingsworth, known as the Dreadhead Cowboy, was riding his horse in the 7000 block of Indianapolis Boulevard. Police told him multiple times he could not possess or ride the horse within city limits. When he attempted to flee, officers moved to stop him. Lt. Steven Kellogg said Hollingsworth elbowed an officer and was arrested for battery to a law enforcement official, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct. Hollingsworth gained fame during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 when he showed up to numerous protests on horseback. However, he was convicted of animal cruelty in a Chicago court after he rode his horse for 7 miles on the Dan Ryan Expressway and left the animal with life-threatening injuries, according to numerous media reports. Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail Domynic Yerger Shanna Taylor Damon Wade Nicholas Sanchez John Smith Jr. George Stevens Aaron Rawls Ronald Robinson III Dakota Ruel Juan Salas Michael Murray Alex Marion III Crystal McLain Maria Hoyo Paris Hewlett Joseph Coleman Brandon Dubose Diana Enriquez Jessica Hermosillo Erich Boone Dwayne Smith Javante Toran Michael Williams Jr. Vandana Pagany Matthew Parker Daniel Rosario Obaid Shafiq Paul Newlin Pablito Madera II Anthony Manson Jr. Willie McGee Donna Jackson Jocelyn James Kamika Harrell Angel Bousono Jr. Kenyatta Branch Derrick Daniel Rodney Allen Jr. Cesar Torres Michael Toy Roman Martinez Lori Minyard Jeremy Lewis David Keck Samantha Hellems Darius Herron Michael Flores Nariana Williams Chad Shaw John Vann Ricardo Vela Justin Neely Trendarious Peterson Mosley Keandrea Robinson Bailey Llamas Anthony Hardesty-Berry Hope Horn James Lenoir-Williams Cristina Galka Armando Cartagena-Dhuperoyis Gregory Cormick Jr. Genito Balderas William Betts Benjamin Byers Michael Albanese Joshua Baker Roderick Atkins Mark Abel Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. HIGHLAND How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! As part of the Ascension Thursday liturgy, that verse from Psalm 133 may have summed up the evening at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. In a first for the church, Gloria Dei drew clergy and members from seven Lutheran churches in Lake County, along with members from the Calumet Episcopal Ministry Partnership, consisting of six Episcopal churches from the county. This is fabulous, said the Rev. Joy Heine, pastor of Bethel Lutheran in Gary. This is what God calls us to do, to be one in worship. What better way to be together than in worship. Ascension Day commemorates the Christian belief in Jesus ascending to heaven in the presence of his disciples, 40 days after he rose from the dead on Easter. As told in Acts 1:9: "He was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight. The feast, held with the same reverence as Jesus passion and Pentecost, is observed by Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Moravians, Methodists and Eastern Orthodox. Many U.S. Catholic dioceses, including the Diocese of Gary, have transferred the solemnity of the Ascension to the following weekend. In the Episcopal Church, Ascension is among the principle feasts in its prayer book, along with Christmas, All Saints, Easter, Epiphany and Pentecost. At Gloria Dei, Lutheran churches from Gary, Hammond, Merrillville, Highland, Griffith and St. John were represented, along with Episcopal faith communities from Gary, Crown Point, Munster, Hobart and Griffith. This is so unique, said the Rev. David Adams, pastor at Gloria Dei. We have Lutheran and Episcopal churches coming to celebrate Jesus ascension. Adams said the idea for the combined service resulted from the Lutheran ministerium, or gathering of ministers. Were really excited about bringing together Gods people, he continued. We are one in Christ, one in the church. This is a wonderful idea, said the Rev. Dale M. Zylstra, pastor of Christ Lutheran in Hammond. His church has collaborated with other Lutheran congregations on a Thanksgiving Eve service. It was so well-received, Zylstra said, that we started conversations with other pastors in Lake County to do" an Ascension service. Zylstra cited Ascension's historic importance in church life: In recent times theres been a falling away, and were trying to resurrect that. Marion Joseph came from St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Gary. Its nice, just seeing different people, she said. Id never attended an Ascension service, and that caught my attention. The Rev. Pamela Thiede, a Lutheran minister, serves the Episcopal churches in the Calumet Ministry Partnership. When she learned about the planned service, she asked Can we come, too? Thiede recalled being in the seminary in the late 1990s when the call for common mission was announced. This was a call for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and Episcopalians to share ministries as she put it, to play nice together. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to live that mission, Thiede said. And having a service on Ascension? This is the day. In his message, or homily, the Rev. Eric Schlichting, pastor at Holy Shepherd Lutheran in St. John, said people looking to heaven for lifes answers may be focused in the wrong direction. Schlichting encouraged the faithful to look around with love and compassion at our neighbors, including those who are the least among us. He said those who follow Jesus would face troubles and resistance, as did Jesus, and he rose above all. Food was part of the evening service, starting with a sit-down dinner. Money raised from the collection is going to the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, Adams reported. Eric Socin, a member of Gloria Dei since the 1980s, was glad we had it. It would be nice if we could do it more often. Zylstra said after the service that plans are underway for a similar service next year, possibly inviting Methodists. Added Socin: The Ascension is not often celebrated by churches. It only happens once a year, and this is a great opportunity to get together as different congregations. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. MICHIGAN CITY A decision on requiring inspections of rental properties is on hold until July. Councilwoman Dalia Zygas, D-at large, said lots of new factors have come up from code enforcement and other people, and she hopes landlords will be happy with the new version of the proposed ordinance. The council voted 5-3 to table the ordinance, but that didnt prevent the public from giving the council an earful. Are you prepared for the lawsuits that will probably come if you pass this ordinance? Lorraine Manion asked. You have good intentions, but the solutions that come along from these knee-jerk reactions usually harm the people theyre intended to help. This is a violation of our private property rights, and they come from God." Landlord Ernie Hollihan complained about the postponement. This is being dragged out forever and ever. I dont understand it, he said. Its been dragged out too dang long. In other business, the council delayed action on a request by Eric and Patricia Perrin to connect their Michiana Shores residence to the Michigan City sewer system at their own expense. Councilman Don Przybylinski, D-at large, said the homeowners should pay the Michigan City Sanitary Districts cost to inspect the work as well. Zygas was shocked and disappointed that the Perrins followed all the rules in December but got this delay from the council. They have some time constraints. Things have to be done within 30 days and everything, she said. In another matter, Councilman Paul Przybylinski, D-2nd, gave an update on an urgent request for a new aerial truck for the Fire Department. There is a truck that was made, and we can move to purchase it, he said, rather than waiting three years to get a new one. We need to do it as quickly as possibly can be done. They make pumpers, they dont make aerial units. And if we dont move, it could be gone. This is a truck that wasnt even expected, but it fell into our lap, Fire Marshal Jeff Bruder said. Its not a want. Its a need. We want to reassure all the community members and taxpayers that they arent unprotected. We still have a vehicle. The department is using a 1995 backup truck while the newer aerial truck is down for about six months for repairs and at a hefty price, he said. When a new truck is purchased, they'll need to buy another to replace the 28-year-old truck. The city shouldnt be at this point, Paul Przybylinski said. There was no equipment replacement for 10 or 12 years in the schedule. If there was equipment that was replaced, we wouldnt be at this juncture. Additionally, the council gave 5-3 approval for a fund to set aside $250,000 to repair brick streets. The 2nd Ward has most of these streets, Paul Przybylinski said, and repairing the streets will preserve his districts character and historical nature. A lot of these streets are approaching 100 years old, he said. Brick streets tend to last longer than asphalt roads. I live on a brick street, and I believe it also helps to slow down traffic in the neighborhoods. Councilman Bryant Dabney, D-1st, objected to excluding brick streets in tax increment financing districts from use of money set aside in that fund. Were it not for that provision, Zygas said, she would support the ordinance. Przybylinski said the Redevelopment Commission should pay to repair those streets. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WASHINGTON The White House and House Republicans wrapped up another round of debt ceiling talks Sunday as Washington races to strike a budget compromise along with a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit and avert an economy-wrecking federal default. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke by phone Sunday while the president was returning home on Air Force One after the Group of Seven summit in Japan. Upbeat, McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol that the call was productive" and that the on-again, off-again negotiations between his staff and White House representatives are focused on spending cuts. Biden and McCarthy are set to meet for a pivotal meeting Monday at the White House. Negotiators for the Democratic president and Republican speaker met for 2 hours at the Capitol as talks appear to be narrowing on a 2024 budget year cap that would be key to resolving the standoff. We'll keep working, said Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, as the White House team exited. The Republicans were not seen leaving the speaker's office and offered no immediate comment after the talks. They all face a deadline, as soon as June 1, when the government could run out of cash to pay its bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that June 1 is a hard deadline. McCarthy said after his call with Biden that I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what were looking at." The speaker added, "But Ive been very clear to him from the very beginning. We have to spend less money than we spent last year. McCarthy emerged from that conversation sounding optimistic and was careful not to criticize Biden's trip, as he had before. He did caution, Theres no agreement on anything. Were looking at, how do we have a victory for this country?" McCarthy said. He said he did not think the final legislation would remake the federal budget and the country's debt, but at least put us on a path to change the behavior of this runaway spending. The White House confirmed the Monday meeting and late Sunday talks but did not elaborate on the leaders' call. Earlier, Biden used his concluding news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, to warn House Republicans that they must move off their extreme positions over raising the debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avoid a catastrophic default only on their terms. Biden said it's time for Republicans to accept that there is no deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms. He said he had done his part in attempting to raise the borrowing limit so the government can keep paying its bills, by agreeing to significant cuts in spending. Now its time for the other side to move from their extreme position." Biden had been scheduled to travel from Hiroshima to Papua New Guinea and Australia, but cut short his trip in light of the strained negotiations with Capitol Hill. Even with a new wave of tax revenue expected soon, perhaps giving both sides more time to negotiate, Yellen said on NBCs Meet the Press that "the odds of reaching June 15, while being able to pay all of our bills, is quite low. GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts with caps on future spending, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits in part with revenue from taxes. Republicans want to roll back next year's spending to 2022 levels, but the White House has proposed keeping 2024 the same as it is now, in the 2023 budget year. Republicans initially sought to impose spending caps for 10 years, though the latest proposal narrowed that to about six. The White House wants a two-year budget deal. A compromise on those topline spending levels would enable McCarthy to deliver for conservatives, while not being so severe that it would chase off the Democratic votes that would be needed in the divided Congress to pass any bill. Top Republican negotiator Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, speaking alongside McCarthy at the Capitol, said the numbers are the foundation of any agreement. Republicans also want work requirements on the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The GOP additionally introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states ability to waive work requirements in places with high joblessness. That idea, when floated under President Donald Trump, was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits. GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts in IRS money and, by sparing Defense and Veterans accounts from reductions, would shift the bulk of spending reductions to other federal programs. The White House has countered by keeping defense and nondefense spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and $1 trillion over 10 years. All sides have been eyeing the potential for the package to include a framework that would speed energy project developments. And despite a push by Republicans for the White House to accept parts of their proposed immigration overhaul, McCarthy indicated the focus was on the House's previously approved debt and budget package. I think that we can reach an agreement, Biden said, though he added this about Republicans: I cant guarantee that they wouldnt force a default by doing something outrageous. Republicans had also rejected various White House revenue proposals. Among the proposals the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs. Republicans also have refused to roll back Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Bidens own budget has proposed. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. INDIANAPOLIS With Democrat Jennifer McCormicks official entry into the 2024 Indiana gubernatorial race, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. has ruled out seeking the Democratic nomination. As for me, I dont see the stars aligning for a McDermott candidacy in 2024 at this time, McDermott texted me. Allies of former senator and current Vatican Ambassador Joe Donnelly had told me last year that he was leaving his political options open for 2024. But for now, that leaves McCormick as the lone Democrat seeking the nomination at this time. What she aims to do is exceedingly rare. There has been only one female Indiana gubernatorial nominee in history, when Jill Long Thompson won the Democratic nomination in 2008, only to lose to Gov. Mitch Daniels. And, there have been only two party switchers to ascend to the governors office since the current two-party system took shape in 1856: Legendary Civil War Gov. Oliver Perry Morton in 1860 as a Republican and Isaac Gray in 1884 as a Democrat. Beyond Thompson, female gubernatorial candidates are relatively rare. Indiana is one of 18 states that has yet to elect a female governor. Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch is currently seeking the GOP nomination in 2024. District Attorney Virginia Dill McCarty was the first to run as a Democrat, losing to State Sen. Wayne Townsend in the 1984 primary. There were brief candidacies by Democrat State Sens. Vi Simpson in 2003, Karen Tallian and Superintendent Glenda Ritz in 2016 and Republican Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman in the 2012 cycle. Simpson, Tallian, Ritz and Skillman all failed to generate much fundraising traction and their candidacies were brief. Ritz, who upset Republican Superintendent Tony Bennett in 2012, declared for governor in June 2015 before opting to seek reelection two months later. McCormick as a Republican would defeat Ritz in 2016 by a 53% to 47% margin. In October 2018, McCormick stunned the Hoosier political establishment, announcing she would not run for reelection in 2020, in part because of the General Assemblys move in 2017 to make the superintendent position a gubernatorial appointment. As a parent, I would not be happy if my state superintendent were spending time on noise, and thats simply what this has become, McCormick said. She toured the state with Democrat state Sen. Eddie Melton in 2019 exploring a potential run a year later. Democrats ended up nominating Woody Myers. In her campaign video kickoff, McCormick said, In 2016, I successfully ran for state superintendent of public instruction to be a champion for Hoosier kids. As state superintendent, I took on politics that were negatively impacting our schools and fought for what was right for kids, teachers, and parents," she said. "Now, Im running for governor of Indiana because its time to put Hoosiers first. I will bring common sense and bipartisanship back to the statehouse. Ive already proved I will stand up to out-of-touch policies that are destroying public education, stripping Hoosiers of their rights and freedoms, and leaving rural communities behind. The other historical anomaly beyond gender and education politics is the current GOP supermajorities in the General Assembly, which has extended to an unprecedented five cycles since the two-party system began in 1856. That has brought many smoldering divisive social issues to the fore, like banning books, critical race theory, limiting LGBTQ+ rights, and a recent spate of transgender legislation. Speaking to the NWI Times Doug Ross, McCormick framed her candidacy in the distractions that prompted her not to seek reelection in 2020. The answer is nothing other than as a distraction from the real problems because theyre complex and theyre difficult to solve. Speaking in front of the St. Joseph County courthouse in South Bend last week, McCormick focused on beyond ridiculous issues. So we will start with book banning, really? McCormick told WNDU-TV. Well start with the bans on LGBTQ health care rights. I mean the list goes on; well talk about you now, public education, which services 90% of our kids, was the most underfunded system of all the schools. The one that services the smallest percentage of students got by far the majority of the money. McCormick s campaign had $42,341 as of Jan. 17, with funds migrating from her past superintendent campaign. By comparison, the three GOP candidates have big money leads. Friends of Suzanne Crouch reported a year-end cash balance of $3.19 million. The campaign of Republican Eric Doden had $2.8 million and U.S. Sen. Mike Braun reported a cash balance of $2.9 million. If McCormick is the only credible Democrat to seek the nomination, she can potentially make this a competitive race by capturing the divisive issue outflows on abortion, gun reforms, and LGBTQ+ rights. For instance, last Novembers Ball State Hoosier Survey revealed that 56.7% believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 76% find abortion to be an important issue. McCormick tweeted this past week, Women want to live, work, and thrive where access to medical care is not banned or limited. States who respect this and operate accordingly win. The Republican primary will likely find the three candidates shifting to the right on abortion and gun reforms. Crouch made it a point to note her tie-breaking Indiana Senate vote on an abortion exception amendment last July. That will be an asset in the primary, but a potential liability in the general. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The Indiana General Assembly adjourned its 2023 session April 28. This session was marked with some important advancements along with some disappointments in medically-related legislation. Here is my take from the perspective of a family physician and former public health official. Among the states, Indiana remains one of the unhealthiest, and public health funding is near the bottom. An unfortunate Hoosier tradition. SB4 is a landmark bill that infuses $225 million over the biennium for local health department infrastructure and provision of health programs. More needs to be done. Speaking of that, the legislature did not seriously consider raising the cigarette tax. SB7 prohibits noncompete clauses in employment contracts with primary care physicians (family medicine, general pediatrics, and internal medicine). The belief is that this prohibition creates more competition, lowers health care costs, establishes greater practice freedom, and preserves access and continuity of care for patients. Other specialists benefit from certain situations when non-compete clauses are unenforceable and from a process for contract buyout mediation. There is concern, although controversial, that Indiana hospital pricing is one of the highest in the country. HB1004 augments the process of hospital financial data collection and reporting to the state. With the new abortion law, now more than ever its important to prevent unwanted/unplanned pregnancies. HB1568 increases access by permitting pharmacists to safely prescribe self-administered hormonal birth control in the form of pills, patches and rings (as allowed in 24 other states). There are many safeguards including patient screening tools, pharmacist training, referrals to the primary care provider, and further rulemaking with input from medical experts. Also, prescription duration is limited to six months and patients must see their provider within 12 months. HB1001, the state budget bill, maintains reimbursement to Medicaid and Healthy Indiana Plan providers at Medicare rates. This should help preserve patient access to providers. HB1001 also increases state funding for Indiana residency-program expansion and support for maintaining quality family medicine residencies. Indiana has one of the worst physician shortages in the country. SB275 adds to the list of specialty designations that should be reserved for physicians such as pulmonologist, allergist, and neonatologist. Unfortunately, the badging requirement that would have included license type such as physician, nurse, or physician assistant was amended out of the bill. Patients continue to be confused about who exactly provided their care in the clinical encounter. Clear disclosure of the type of health professional needs further clarity and transparency. There were several unsuccessful bills that would have enabled advanced practice registered nurses (nurse practitioners) with prescriptive authority to practice independently without a physician collaboration agreement. These were strongly opposed by the physician community, clearly based on quality-of-care concerns. Nurse practitioners are valuable health-care professionals, but they are not physicians and should be part of a physician-led team. SB480 was a contentious bill that prohibits gender transition care for minors either by medication or surgery even with parental consent. National medical organizations firmly support this medical care that is shown to preserve emotional well-being and prevents suicides. Shouldnt these decisions be better left to families and physicians without interference? So much for the conservative belief in small, non-intrusive government. Only one of 13 marijuana bills received a hearing. A bill on decriminalization was heard in committee without a vote. This was historic as this was the first time marijuana was debated at the Indiana Legislature. Undoubtedly, more to come. Overall, this was a good session for health care. Nearly three weeks after he was captured on video choking Jordan Neely, a homeless man, to death on a New York City subway, Daniel Penny spoke publicly about the episode for the first time on Saturday in an interview with The New York Post. Mr. Penny, 24, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Mr. Neely, 30, on an F train on May 1. He gave few details in the interview about what happened in the moments before prosecutors say he approached Mr. Neely from behind and placed him in a chokehold, but he said the confrontation was unlike anything Id experienced before. He said he had been on his way to a gym in Manhattan when he encountered Mr. Neely. Witnesses said Mr. Neely had been shouting at passengers that he was hungry, thirsty and ready to die, according to the police. There has been no indication that Mr. Neely physically attacked anyone. In a video recorded on the train by a freelance journalist, Mr. Penny is seen on the floor with his arms around Mr. Neelys neck for several minutes as two other riders help pin Mr. Neely down. The medical examiners office ruled Mr. Neelys death a homicide two days later, and said that the cause of death was compression of his neck. Typhoon Mawar was moving west over the Pacific Ocean toward the Philippines on Sunday, days after the tropical cyclone brought damaging winds and rain to Guam. As of Sunday morning in the Philippines, Mawars center was about 500 miles east of Luzon, the countrys largest and most populous island, the Philippine meteorological agency said. Because the country gives its own names to typhoons that enter its so-called area of responsibility, a large area of the Western North Pacific, the storm is known locally as Betty. The storm was moving west at 14 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 140 m.p.h., according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, a weather agency operated by the U.S. Navy. That wind speed is equivalent to the force of a strong Category 4 hurricane in the United States. U. S. Black population excess age-adjusted mortality and years of potential life lost rates, 1999-2020. To assess trends over time, the relationship between each metric and study year was graphically assessed, and time was modeled as a linear spline with knots that reflected the observed inflection points from 1999 to 2019. For excess mortality rates, these inflection points were from 2007 to 2011 for males and 2015 for females. For excess rates of years of potential life lost, the knots were 2007 and 2011 for males and 2012 for females. Rates that fall above the dotted line indicate rates higher than the White population and those that fall below, rates lower than the White population. Autoregressive integrated moving average models using a 1-year correlation were implemented to account for the serial correlation of annual rates. The 2019-2020 change was estimated using a z test. Graphic: Caraballo, et al., 2023 / JAMA By Sara Moniuszko and Danya Bacchus 16 May 2023 (CBS News) Despite years of efforts to reduce health disparities, a new study is calling attention to the drastic differences in mortality that continue to take a toll among Black Americans. Researchers found the Black population in the United States experienced more than 1.63 million excess deaths and more than 80 million excess years of life lost compared to the White population over a recent 22-year period, from 1999 through 2020. After a period of progress in reducing disparities, improvements stalled, and differences between the Black population and the white population worsened in 2020, the authors write in the study, published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA. Heart disease had the highest excess mortality rates, and the excess years of potential life lost rates were largest among infants and middle-aged adults, the study notes. Along with heart disease in both men and women, cancer, especially in males, was a major driver of differences in excess deaths. Excess deaths are typically defined as the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All the disadvantage that Black people incur ends up being translated both at very young ages and in middle age and older age into enormous amounts of years lost in early death. And this is really, I think, something thats unacceptable, Dr. Harlan Krumholz, an author of the study with Yale School of Medicine, told CBS News. Race is a social construct, he adds, meaning it doesnt have a strong root in biology. People arent born predetermined that their life expectancies are going to be shorter, but by where they live, the exposures that they have, the way the medical care system treats them simply because of their race, he says. In 2020, the last year included in the study, COVID-19 emerged as a leading cause of death that also took a disproportionate toll on Black Americans. COVID had the highest age-adjusted excess mortality rate among Black men that year and was second-highest, after heart disease, among Black women. It led us back to a situation where we were no better than we were 20 years ago, Krumholz says. These are preventable deaths and its just up to us to configure society in a way thats responsive to the needs of this community and can recognize our obligation to eliminate these disparities The authors say these findings show the need to assess progress and indicates a need for new approaches to promote health equity in the U.S. They also called out the troubling impact of health disparities on children. The sobering disparity noted in this study among infants and during childhood accounted for a markedly elevated number of excess deaths and an even more pronounced disparity in years of potential life lost, they wrote. [more] Black Americans experienced 1.6 million excess deaths compared to White population over 22-year period, study finds U. S. Black population excess age-adjusted mortality and years of potential life lost rates, 1999-2020. To assess trends over time, the relationship between each metric and study year was graphically assessed, and time was modeled as a linear spline with knots that reflected the observed inflection points from 1999 to 2019. For excess mortality rates, these inflection points were from 2007 to 2011 for males and 2015 for females. For excess rates of years of potential life lost, the knots were 2007 and 2011 for males and 2012 for females. Rates that fall above the dotted line indicate rates higher than the White population and those that fall below, rates lower than the White population. Autoregressive integrated moving average models using a 1-year correlation were implemented to account for the serial correlation of annual rates. The 2019-2020 change was estimated using a z test. Graphic: Caraballo, et al., 2023 / JAMA Excess Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost Among the Black Population in the US, 1999-2020 Importance: Amid efforts in the US to promote health equity, there is a need to assess recent progress in reducing excess deaths and years of potential life lost among the Black population compared with the White population. Objective: To evaluate trends in excess mortality and years of potential life lost among the Black population compared with the White population. Design, setting, and participants: Serial cross-sectional study using US national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1999 through 2020. We included data from non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black populations across all age groups. Exposures: Race as documented in the death certificates. Main outcomes and measures: Excess age-adjusted all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, age-specific mortality, and years of potential life lost rates (per 100 000 individuals) among the Black population compared with the White population. Results: From 1999 to 2011, the age-adjusted excess mortality rate declined from 404 to 211 excess deaths per 100 000 individuals among Black males (P for trend <.001). However, the rate plateaued from 2011 through 2019 (P for trend = .98) and increased in 2020 to 395rates not seen since 2000. Among Black females, the rate declined from 224 excess deaths per 100 000 individuals in 1999 to 87 in 2015 (P for trend <.001). There was no significant change between 2016 and 2019 (P for trend = .71) and in 2020 rates increased to 192levels not seen since 2005. The trends in rates of excess years of potential life lost followed a similar pattern. From 1999 to 2020, the disproportionately higher mortality rates in Black males and females resulted in 997 623 and 628 464 excess deaths, respectively, representing a loss of more than 80 million years of life. Heart disease had the highest excess mortality rates, and the excess years of potential life lost rates were largest among infants and middle-aged adults. Conclusions and relevance: Over a recent 22-year period, the Black population in the US experienced more than 1.63 million excess deaths and more than 80 million excess years of life lost when compared with the White population. After a period of progress in reducing disparities, improvements stalled, and differences between the Black population and the White population worsened in 2020. Excess Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost Among the Black Population in the US, 1999-2020 If diplomats were on TikTok, de-risk would be trending. The word has suddenly become popular among officials trying to loosen Chinas grip on global supply chains but not cut ties entirely, with the joint communique from this weekends Group of 7 meeting making clear that the worlds largest democratic economies will now focus on de-risking, not decoupling. The former is meant to sound more moderate, more surgical. It reflects an evolution in the discussion over how to deal with a rising, assertive China. But the word also has a vexing history in financial policy and since the debate over de-risking will continue, we all might as well get up to speed. How De-risking Went Viral De-risking relations with China caught on after a speech by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on March 30, when she explained why shed be traveling to Beijing with President Emmanuel Macron of France, and why Europe would not follow the calls for decoupling that began under President Trump. I believe it is neither viable nor in Europes interest to decouple from China, she said. Our relations are not black or white and our response cannot be either. This is why we need to focus on de-risk not decouple. G7 wraps with support for Ukraine The G7 summit concluded yesterday in Japan with leaders of the worlds major economies welcoming President Volodymyr Zelensky as an honored guest and reaffirming their support of Ukraine. But Russia claimed victory in Bakhmut, even though Ukraine says that it still holds a few blocks of the ruined city. Even though Moscow is trumpeting a Mission Accomplished moment, Ukraine still sees an opening to seize the initiative from the citys outskirts if Russian forces are no longer pressing forward inside the citys center. Russias capture of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success. But controlling it would not necessarily help Russia toward its larger stated goal of conquering the eastern Donbas region. In fact, some analysts say that Russias ability to hold off a broader counteroffensive could be compromised if it continued to send reinforcements to defend Bakhmut. Comparison: Zelensky acknowledged there was little left of Bakhmut. He said he saw echoes of Ukraines pain in images of the 1945 devastation in Hiroshima, where the summit was held. Beijing on Sunday told Chinese companies that deal with critical information to stop purchasing products from Micron Technology, the U.S.-based manufacturer of memory chips used in phones, computers and other electronics. Many analysts viewed the move as retaliation for Washingtons efforts to cut off Chinas access to high-end chips. In a statement on its official social media site, the Cyberspace Administration of China said that in a cybersecurity review it had found that the chip makers products posed relatively serious cybersecurity problems. The problems could seriously endanger the supply chain of Chinas critical information infrastructure and threaten national security, it said. Chinas action is the latest volley in an economic tit-for-tat between Beijing and Washington that is rearranging the fabric of a sprawling global microchip industry. The decision to bar Micron from selling its chips to key companies could have a ripple effect through Chinas supply chains as Microns Chinese customers seek to replace the U.S. memory chips with homegrown or Korean versions. South Korean chip makers like Samsung and SK Hynix are Microns competitors and already do significant business with China. Beijing initiated a cybersecurity review of Micron in late March as part of what it called a normal regulatory measure. The announcement came after Washington rolled out restrictions in October against Chinas semiconductor industry. Micron said at the time that it was cooperating fully with the investigation and that its China business was operating as normal. Indonesia has also approached the United States in recent months seeking a deal similar to that of Japan and the European Union. Biden administration officials are weighing whether to give Indonesia some kind of preferential access, either through an independent deal or as part of a trade framework the United States is negotiating in the Indo-Pacific. But some U.S. officials have warned that Indonesias lagging environmental and labor standards could allow materials into the United States that undercut the countrys nascent mines, as well as its values. Such a deal is also likely to trigger stiff opposition in Congress, where some lawmakers criticized the Biden administrations deal with Japan. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, hinted at these trade-offs in a speech last month, saying that carrying out negotiations with critical mineral-producing states would be necessary, but would raise hard questions about labor practices in those countries and Americas broader environmental goals. Whether Americas new agreements would take the shape of a critical minerals club, a fuller negotiation or something else was unclear, Mr. Sullivan said: We are now in the thick of trying to figure that out. Cullen Hendrix, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the Biden administrations strategy to build more secure international supply chains for minerals outside of China had so far been a bit incoherent and not necessarily sufficient to achieve that goal. The demand for minerals in the United States has been spurred in large part by President Bidens climate law, which provided tax incentives for investments in the electric vehicle supply chain, particularly in the final assembly of batteries. But Mr. Hendrix said the law appeared to be having more limited success in rapidly increasing the number of domestic mines that would supply those new factories. But workers instead felt that they were being lectured on the difficulties experienced by white women and why Karen was a derogatory term and that Ms. Lee was dismissive of their concerns, according to messages sent on Slack, a workplace messaging tool, that were viewed by The Times. The term Karen has become slang for a white woman with a sense of entitlement who often complains to a manager and reports Black people and other racial minorities to the authorities. Employees felt the event organizers were minimizing racism and the harm white people can inflict on people of color by focusing on how Karen is a hurtful word, according to the messages and an employee who attended the events. A prominent Karen incident occurred in 2020, when Amy Cooper, a white woman, called 911 after a Black man bird-watching in New Yorks Central Park asked her to leash her dog. The concerns raised about the events underscored the difficulties that companies face as they navigate subjects of race and identity that have become increasingly hot-button issues in Silicon Valley and beyond. Cultural clashes over race and L.G.B.T.Q. rights have been thrust to the forefront of workplaces in recent years, including the renewed attention to discrimination in company hiring practices and the feud between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Disney over a state law that limits classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation. At Uber, the incident was also a rare case of employee dissent under Mr. Khosrowshahi, who has shepherded the company away from the aggressive, chaotic culture that pervaded under the former chief executive, Travis Kalanick. Mr. Khosrowshahis efforts included increased diversity initiatives under Ms. Lee, who has led the effort since 2018. Before joining Uber, she held similar roles at the financial services firm Marsh McLennan and other companies, according to her LinkedIn profile. I can confirm that Bo is currently on a leave of absence, Noah Edwardsen, an Uber spokesman, said in a statement. Ms. Lee did not respond to a request for comment. In Word Through The Times, we trace how one word or phrase has changed throughout the history of the newspaper. On Dec. 1, 1937, the bottom right corner of Page 41 of The New York Times featured a brief, self-referential advertisement: In its news, comment and tables of securities and commodities, The New York Times is accepted as the complete newspaper of record. The Times rag-paper edition preserves these records indefinitely. According to Websters New World Dictionary, one meaning of the word record is to preserve a written account of information or events. One records information and that document becomes a record. Thanks to The Timess own record of editions, we can trace the earliest usages of record in the newspaper. In 1852, The Times reported that a U.S. Mail steamer ship carrying mail, 245 passengers and over $1 million in gold dust arrived in New York from San Francisco in 25 days and 18 hours. It was believed to be the shortest trip on record, by any route. (Here, the word is used to assert that there was no official documentation of a shorter trip; the writer could have also used record to mean that the trip was the fastest ever of its kind.) As a verb, record can also mean to register the sound or image of something, such as a song or film. (Of course, a vinyl record is a disc that stores music.) Though Thomas Edison is often considered the first person to have captured the spoken word (he recorded the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb in 1877), the earliest known recording actually came nearly two decades earlier. In 1860, a Frenchman made a recording of the folk song Au Clair de la Lune on a phonautograph, a machine designed to record sounds visually but not play them back. In 2008, The Times reported that scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., were able to examine the recording and convert the squiggles on paper to sound. Idioms that include record are abundant. Last month, a writer recapping an episode of the show Perry Mason acknowledged he was a broken record making the same point many times about the shows lighting. In an interview with the actor Henry Winkler at a pizza restaurant in Brooklyn, Mr. Winkler used an idiom to clarify his order. Just for the record, he said, I like burnt crust. And of course, if The Times publishes an error, it sets the record straight with a correction. The first-person approach, used in good faith and with honesty, can reinforce the experiences of the articles sources, and strengthen the relationship between writer and reader. In a recent article about menopausal hormone therapy, I shared my own interaction with a doctor who seemed to dismiss my symptoms. I included that experience because the encounter so clearly illustrated a wider phenomenon that the women I interviewed described to me a sense of feeling unheard in the face of real challenges during that life transition. In an article about open marriage, I wanted readers to understand the thinking and motivations of people who choose that kind of relationship but I also thought the piece would be more relatable if I wrote frankly about doubts and questions I had as I learned more about the concept. Having felt some regret in the past about oversharing in my work, I try to trust my instincts about just how much to reveal. On my second or third draft of the therapy article, I pared back some details about my specific mental health concerns and issues. I felt protective of my privacy but also had the sense that too much information would burden the reader or would simply prove a distraction. In the article about menopause, I withheld some details about my own experience as well, if only because I have two teenagers whom Id like to see reach adulthood without first expiring of embarrassment. Its sometimes easy to forget, when Im writing on a small laptop in a small office in my small town, that whatever Im working on might be read by thousands of people; the thought can be paralyzing, so I try to focus instead on what my editors will make of what Ive sent them, and how readers will receive it. By the time Im contemplating publication, Ive made peace with whatever self-exposure Ive risked. Im old enough to feel deeply just how universal vulnerabilities tend to be and to trust that my editors will save me from myself by cutting confessions that venture too far. In my article about (other peoples) open marriages, I included a personal anecdote about a mild flirtation I once had with someone I met at a conference. Contrary to the assumptions of a reader who sent me a scolding note, my husband did not feel betrayed. As a fellow writer, my husband basically shares Nora Ephrons sentiment that everything is copy. But we also felt that, if anything, talking about those few lines of writing, before they were published, provided us with the opportunity to have more meaningful conversations about our relationship. One of the great luxuries reporters and writers enjoy is that the job requires them to pay close attention to the details of the scenes they are covering, but also to their own perceptions. As I wrote about therapy research, I found myself growing more conscious of the parallels between writing and therapy: In both instances, I often notice the articulation of thoughts that had hovered implacably in the background for a long time, but, until that moment, had never surfaced in a recognizable way. Gloria Molina, a groundbreaking Chicana politician at the city, county and state levels in California who was a fierce advocate for the communities she represented, even though that often meant defying entrenched political structures, died on May 14 at her home in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles. She was 74. Her family announced her death, from cancer, on her Facebook page. Since she announced she had terminal cancer in March, colleagues, constituents and the California news media had been praising her achievements in articles and on social media. The Los Angeles Metros board of directors voted to name a train station in East Los Angeles after her. Casa 0101, a performing arts organization in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, designated its main stage theater as the Gloria Molina Auditorium. Grand Park, in downtown Los Angeles, which she helped bring into being in 2012, is now Gloria Molina Grand Park. She championed for years to increase access to parks and green spaces, the parks overseeing body said in announcing the renaming, as well as recreational opportunities that engage culture, support well-being and improve the quality of life for everyone in Los Angeles. The accolades reflected her legacy as one of the leading Latina politicians in the country, with much of her more than three-decade career encompassing a time when few Latinas were in important positions. KYIV, Ukraine On Friday morning, local time, I received news of one of the best American decisions of the war: The White House would no longer block its European allies from supplying Ukraine with American-made F-16 fighters, a move that should greatly enhance Ukrainian military capabilities without significantly increasing the risk of unacceptable escalation in its conflict with Russia. (The decision still needs to be approved by some congressional leaders.) The move came after a diplomatic blitz from Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky, before this weekends Group of 7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. European leaders had signaled a willingness to supply F-16s from their own stocks and train Ukrainian pilots in their use. But until now, the Biden administration had nixed the idea. The reversal is a major, and welcome, policy change. Readers of my Thursday newsletter know that I spent the past week in Kyiv, and I can attest to the relentlessness of Ukrainian arguments for advanced fighters. I met with Ukrainian leaders across the full spectrum of government, including the defense minister, the foreign minister and ministers and other officials involved in law enforcement and economic reconstruction. I had never seen as consistent, disciplined messaging as I experienced here, all of it centered on a single, specific idea: Ukraine needs advanced Western fighters. Specifically, they were asking for American-made F-16s. The high point came when I met with Oleksandr Kubrakov, the minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, and even an infrastructure minister began the meeting by handing out a printed argument for supplying F-16s to Ukraine. I expected (and received) that argument from the defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov; I did not expect it from Kubrakov. The coin gambit is similarly easy to poke holes in if one wants to. Preston Byrne, a partner at the law firm Brown Rudnick, notes that the Supreme Court has often looked at statutes for which a simple reading of a limited law would seem to grant the executive almost unlimited powers. In many such cases, the court struck down those readings. Congress, the court has said, does not hide elephants in mouse holes. My point is not that more conservative readings of these laws are right in some absolute sense. Its that no such absolute sense matters. We just watched this Supreme Court wipe out decades of precedent to overrule Roe. It has repeatedly entertained cases that even conservative legal scholars thought farcical just a few years earlier. I still remember Orin Kerr, a law professor who clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, telling me at the beginning of the Obamacare case that there was a less than 1 percent chance that the courts would invalidate the individual mandate, only to update that to a 50-50 chance as the court prepared to rule. The Supreme Court does what it wants to do. Does it want to let the Biden administration dissolve the debt ceiling using a novel legal theory? If testing the question wouldnt cost anything, there would be no harm in trying. But I dont think it would have no cost. The strength of the Biden administrations political position is that it stands for normalcy. The debt ceiling has always been raised before, and it must be raised now. But if the administration declares the debt ceiling unconstitutional, only to have the Supreme Court declare the maneuver unconstitutional, then Biden owns the market chaos that would follow. Who will voters blame in that scenario? Republicans, who say they just wanted to negotiate over the budget, as is tradition? Or Biden, who did something no other president had done and failed? Right now, at last, the positions are clear. The White House is open to budget negotiations but opposed to debt ceiling brinkmanship. Republicans are the ones threatening default if their demands are not met. They are pulling the pin on this grenade, in full view of the American people. Biden should think carefully before taking the risk of snatching it out of their hands and holding it himself. An abusive tweet from a climate science denialist on 7 March 2023 directed at academic Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Sciences at University College London. Graphic: Global Witness / Twitter By Anna Fazackerley 14 May 2023 (The Guardian) Some of the UKs top scientists are struggling to deal with what they describe as a huge rise in abuse from climate crisis deniers on Twitter since the social media platform was taken over by Elon Musk last year. Since then, key figures who ensured trusted content was prioritised have been sacked, according to one scientist, and Twitters sustainability arm has vanished. At the same time several users with millions of followers who propagate false statements about the climate emergency, including Donald Trump and rightwing culture warrior Jordan Peterson, have had their accounts reinstated. Climate scientists say the change has been stark, and they are fighting to make themselves heard over a barrage of often hostile comments. Theres been a massive change, said Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science at University College London and the author of popular books including How to Save Our Planet. I get so much abuse and rude comments now. Its happening to all of us, but I challenge the climate deniers so Ive been really targeted. Maslin says he used to have regular meetings with Sean Boyle, Twitters former head of sustainability, who was laid off in Musks mass cull of staff shortly after he began his takeover in April 2022. Maslin said Boyle discussed the platforms work to develop ways of ensuring that trusted information was pushed to the top. They were using climate change as a good test bed, because it was fairly clear who the good and bad actors were, Maslin said. But he was sacked and Twitter became the wild west. Maslin said he will stay on the platform and push back against conspiracy theories with scientific evidence. I want people to understand there are solutions. There is a real need for us to be on social media defending the truth, however nasty the responses get. But not all scientists have found standing up to regular hostility an easy feat. Doug McNeall, a statistician working on climate change at the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter, said he had blocked or muted many accounts on Twitter even before Musks arrival. I got to the point where it was definitely affecting my mental health, he said. I spent years debating quite strongly with climate sceptics, including people I assume were paid, he added. But there can be a real personal cost interacting over a long time with people who are abusing you. McNeall said it was hard for scientists to work out how to cut through the false information on Twitter. I just cant tell if people are seeing disinformation or getting good scientific information about what is happening, he said. Thats really worrying. Abusive tweets from climate science denialists on 23-24 February 2023 directed at academic Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Sciences and Professor of Global Change Science Simon Lewis at University College London. Graphic: Global Witness / Twitter Ed Hawkins, professor of climate science at Reading University, who has 94,000 Twitter followers, said he had seen a huge increase in tweets from climate-denier accounts, often involving conspiracy theories or long-debunked topics. A larger fraction of the comments are personal and abusive, he said. Any mildly popular tweet from a climate scientist is now targeted for a barrage of replies. Hawkins has noticed that many denier accounts have paid subscriptions to Twitter and therefore appear higher up in the replies. It appears to be a coordinated effort [by climate change deniers] to make it appear as though climate denial is more prevalent than it really is, he said. Professor Richard Betts, chair of climate impacts at Exeter University and head of climate impacts at the Hadley Centre, said: Outright hostility has increased in recent weeks. Its mostly just people saying youre talking rubbish. They dont want a conversation. A survey of 468 international climate scientists published by campaign group Global Witness last month found that prominent scientists were the most likely to face abuse, with half of those who had published at least 10 papers reporting they had suffered online harassment as a result of their climate work. One in eight female scientists who reported abuse had been threatened with sexual violence. Twitter was approached for comment but did not respond. Climate crisis deniers target scientists for vicious abuse on Musks Twitter Relationship between online abuse of climate scientists and number of publications. Respondents who had over 10 academic publications were more likely to have suffered a great deal of online abuse. Graphic: Global Witness Global Hating 4 April 2023 (Global Witness) Imagine that youve spent years studying glacial retreat in the Arctic. You believe you have a duty to share your findings that reveal how our world is changing with a wider public. But you remember having trouble sleeping after getting hateful messages on Twitter the last time you published your work there, and the death threat your colleague received after talking about her work online. Do you hold off from posting? For decades, scientists have been documenting changes in the earths climate and warning of the effects. Their findings underpin government declarations of climate emergency and policy responses. But our new investigation reveals that online harassment and abuse against climate scientists imperils their work and ways of communicating. In a survey of 468 scientists around the world working on climate topics, we found online abuse is common, and for many takes a mental and physical toll that inhibits climate discourse. Yet there are ways to stem it. Most abuse took place on Twitter and Facebook, platforms that can instead make reforms to protect scientists and enable informed publics and responsive climate action. What we found Half of climate scientists surveyed with more than 10 publications have faced online abuse. The survey found that level of exposure to harassment was linked to amount of academic publications and frequency of media appearances. Overall, 39% of all scientists polled (183 out of 468) have experienced online harassment or abuse as a result of their climate work. This rate is lower for those who have published fewer than six articles (24%) and increases to 49% of scientists who have published more than 10 journal articles. The results suggest abuse increases with both academic output and media exposure. Of those scientists who are in the media at least once a month (13% of respondents), 73% have experienced abuse, and 29% reported having experienced a great deal or a fair amount of abuse. Even for those scientists who have never made any media appearances (19% of respondents), 12% reported they have experienced online abuse. [more] Global Hating Last years Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provided new challenges and opportunities. The law expands the gun purchase prohibition for people convicted of domestic violence or subject to a restraining order to include dating partners, not just people married to or living with the victim. Reformers applauded this closing of the boyfriend loophole, but the worry is that many criminal history records dont clarify whether such relationships existed. The act included some federal cash to encourage states to address those considerable gaps. Sadly, though, the tragic tales keep piling up. Last month, the Justice Department reached a $144.5 million settlement with victims and relatives of those killed in a 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Some of the families sued in 2018 after the Air Force admitted it had not reported the violent history of the gunman, Devin Kelley, including a 2012 conviction for domestic assault, to the NICS system. That conviction, which led to the gunmans dismissal from the service, should have prevented his being able to buy the guns he used in the attack. A more basic NICS flaw involves simply identifying the prospective gun buyer. In 2023, are we really going to continue to allow purchasers to show only a drivers license, an easily and regularly forged document? Every college student in America who wants a beer has a forged drivers license. As far back as 2001, investigators from what is now the Government Accountability Office were able to purchase firearms in five states using counterfeit licenses. Todays technology and common sense argues that buyers should be required to provide fingerprints, which would be read at a gun store by a scanner and then searched in the F.B.I.s computerized fingerprint database, which is operated closely with the states. Such checks can be completed within a few hours. Ill stipulate that for successful purchasers, all traces of the search would need to be destroyed immediately to satisfy privacy concerns. Admittedly, these sorts of concerns dont translate smoothly into our current political culture of shoutfests. But these are hair-on-fire issues that cry out for more more general attention, more media coverage, more bully pulpit focus from police chiefs and F.B.I. honchos and the president and this Congress, more appropriated money and more public shaming of lazy or recalcitrant state and local governments and health care providers who know someone is dangerous. Gun policy progressives grouse that other proposed NICS changes could be more important closing the loophole that exempts gun shows and private transactions from NICS and closing the so-called Charleston loophole, which forces the system to approve gun sales after three days even if investigators need more time to unearth relevant records, as happened in the massacre there. Fair enough. But those issues at this time are politically gridlocked. Thats a fact. To the Editor: Re Insurers Add Primary Care to Portfolios (front page, May 9): It seems to me that the fact that multibillion-dollar corporations, particularly giant health insurers, are gobbling up primary care practices to make more money and increase their control of health care delivery is old news to most American physicians. As the power of the corporations in our health care system increases, the power of our physicians decreases. Back in the day when physicians, and not corporations, ran the whole show, it used to be a beautiful thing to be a primary care physician in America. Calvin Shapses Los Angeles The writer is an internist. To the Editor: In 1980 the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Arnold Relman, saw the rise of a new medical-industrial complex as the most important health care development of the day. Having built a vast empire, corporate America is now solidifying it by adding primary care, squelching any remaining autonomy in the medical profession. Profit-seeking organizations should not be given this overwhelming authority to administer health care, precisely because it is a conflict of interest: profit motive over equitable patient care. Some numbers are odd: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 Some are even: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 And then there are the puzzling eban numbers: 2, 4, 6, 30, 32, 34, 36, 40 What number comes next? And why? These are questions that Neil Sloane, a mathematician of Highland Park, N.J., loves to ask. Dr. Sloane is the founder of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, a database of 362,765 (and counting) number sequences defined by a precise rule or property. Such as the prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 Or the Fibonacci numbers every term (starting with the 3rd term) is the sum of the two preceding numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 This year the OEIS, which has been praised as the master index to mathematics and a mathematical equivalent to the FBIs voluminous fingerprint files, celebrates its 50th anniversary. The original collection, A Handbook of Integer Sequences, appeared in 1973 and contained 2,372 entries. In 1995, it became an encyclopedia, with 5,487 sequences and an additional author, Simon Plouffe, a mathematician in Quebec. A year later, the collection had doubled in size again, so Dr. Sloane put it on the internet. In a sense, every sequence is a puzzle, Dr. Sloane said in a recent interview. He added that the puzzle aspect is incidental to the databases main purpose: to organize all mathematical knowledge. Sequences found in the wild in mathematics, but also quantum physics, genetics, communications, astronomy and elsewhere can be puzzling for numerous reasons. Looking up these entities in the OEIS, or adding them to the database, sometimes leads to enlightenment and discovery. Its a source of unexpected results, said Lara Pudwell, a mathematician at Valparaiso University in Indiana and a member of the OEIS Foundations board of trustees. Dr. Pudwell writes algorithms to solve counting problems. A few years ago, thus engaged, she entered into the OEIS search box a sequence that arose while studying numerical patterns: 2, 4, 12, 20, 38, 56, 88 The only result that popped up pertained to chemistry: specifically, to the periodic table and the atomic numbers of the alkaline earth metals. I found this perplexing, Dr. Pudwell said. She consulted with chemists and soon realized there were interesting chemical structures to work with to explain the connection. The 1986 animated feature film An American Tail begins with a mouse family, the Mousekewitzes, forced to flee their home after men on horseback (and accompanying cats) set fire to their village in Russia in 1885. They travel to the United States, because, Papa sings, there are no cats in America, and the streets are paved with cheese! At the time, some critics said the film didnt render the familys Jewish background sufficiently. In his review, Roger Ebert complained that only a few children will understand or care that the Mousekewitzes are Jewish. In a new stage adaptation of that film at the Childrens Theater Company in Minneapolis, there is no mistaking the Mousekewitzes background. The show begins with them chanting the Hebrew blessing for Hanukkah as a menorah is lit. They recite two other Hebrew prayers. There is talk of a bar mouse-vah for the protagonist, the young Fievel. The musical, which is running through June 18 and is recommended for ages 5 and older, also enhances the representation of the storys Irish and Italian mice and adds mice from Sweden, China and the Caribbean. The female lead, an Irish mouse in the film, is now a Black mouse who quotes the great Frederick Dormouse. (Murine puns abound.) About 60,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used as a fertilizer and in explosives, went missing on a rail shipment from Wyoming to California in April and has still not been found, officials said. Dyno Nobel, an explosive manufacturing company, notified the federal government of the loss and said in a statement that it was investigating what happened during the nearly two-week journey. The company said the rail car with the material was sealed when it left a manufacturing site in Cheyenne, Wyo., and the seals were still intact when it arrived in Saltdale, Calif. The initial assessment is that a leak through the bottom gate on the rail car may have developed in transit, the statement said. Former President Donald J. Trump, who is fighting to retain the backing of the anti-abortion movement, has criticized Floridas six-week law without saying what restrictions he might support, leading Mr. DeSantis to punch back over his reluctance to take a position. The comments, one of his most direct public challenges to the former president so far, demonstrated how Mr. DeSantis could use his record, which anti-abortion activists praise, to distinguish himself. Hes giving us action, and thats what Im interested in, said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, the nonprofit group that hosted Mr. DeSantiss speech on Saturday. Hes been stellar and historic. Democrats ran heavily on abortion rights in last years midterms with unexpected success. That has left some Republicans unsure of how to address the issue in 2024. As Mr. DeSantis is hitting the trail and visiting early nominating states, he is talking little about his abortion legislation. When he does, he does not explicitly tell audiences that the law prohibits the procedure after six weeks. We enacted the Heartbeat Protection Act to promote life, Mr. DeSantis said without elaborating as he addressed a crowd of voters in Iowa earlier this month. He sandwiched his comment between brief statements on his tax relief efforts and a law that allows Floridians to carry concealed weapons without training or permits. Speaking at Liberty University, another friendly setting, the day after he signed the ban, Mr. DeSantis almost entirely avoided the subject. And during a discussion with state lawmakers in New Hampshire on Friday, the governor did not mention abortion at all. Privately, lawmakers from the moderate state, which limits abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, said they thought Mr. DeSantiss abortion law was too extreme for voters in New Hampshire. Many women do not realize they are pregnant at six weeks. Last spring, Mr. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers in Florida limited access to the procedure after 15 weeks, with exceptions for fatal fetal abnormalities or to save the life of the woman. That legislation is being challenged in front of the Florida Supreme Court. What a difference a quarter-century makes. When I covered my first Group of 7 meeting in 1997 in Denver, it was the beginning of a new era. President Bill Clinton, the host, invited President Boris N. Yeltsin of Russia to participate and rebranded the meeting the Summit of the Eight. From that point on, Russia was part of the club, and the G7 soon became the G8. Now, all these years later, it is the G7 again and Russia is nowhere to be found for this years meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. It was expelled nearly a decade ago for attacking its neighbor Ukraine, a symbol of Moscows isolation from the international community. Instead, it is Ukraines leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is the guest of the worlds major democracies, sitting at the table where Vladimir V. Putin is no longer welcome. That first summit meeting with Russia in 1997 was memorable. Mr. Yeltsin was a complicated character. A hero for standing up to Soviet hard-liners and introducing a form of democracy to Russia, however flawed, Mr. Yeltsin was also a heavy drinker and unpredictable guest. During a 1995 visit to Washington, he was found in the middle of the night standing in his underwear on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the Blair House guest quarters, slurring his words and trying to hail a cab so he could get some pizza. My memory of the Denver summit is that Mr. Yeltsin skipped the evening concert that Mr. Clinton had so carefully orchestrated after the official meetings. Aides claimed he was simply tired. Remembering Mr. Yeltsins bouts with the bottle, others thought that maybe there was a little more to it than that. At one point, the local hospital was put on alert by the Russian delegation, although ultimately Mr. Yeltsin was not sent. While waiting for a decision by the Pentagon, the company recently moved to lay off some employees. Mr. Roper, the former Air Force procurement boss, said another problem is the Defense Departments historical insistence on creating its own solutions to problems instead of buying new technologies from commercial firms. He noted that artificial intelligence, for example, still has not been integrated into Air Force flight operations beyond some basic experiments. The Pentagon is still in an invention only mode that goes all the way back to the Cold War when it now needs to be in a collaboration mode to accelerate private industry, Mr. Roper said. And it is failing at that. There are some success stories. The Defense Innovation Unit created a program that evaluated various surveillance drones coming onto the market and set up a contracting tool that allows Pentagon agencies to buy them directly, without a multiyear acquisition process. Mr. Austin, the defense secretary, recently announced that the Defense Innovation Unit will report directly to him, supervised by a new recruit from Apple. Skydio, one of the companies approved through the program, is now selling a drone that uses artificial intelligence that allows it to be flown remotely while avoiding crashes even if it is being operated by a novice pilot. The A.I.-enhanced drone can fly indoors in very tight spaces, allowing it to look inside a building, for example, before troops might be sent in. But for each success, there are many other tech start-ups struggling to pay bills as they wait for the Pentagon to make a purchase decision. Were absolutely trying to tackle a lot of these acquisition pain points, said Ms. Shyu, the Pentagons under secretary for research and engineering and chief technology officer. Im working on bridging the Valley of Death. As a U.S. senator and a former member of the House of Representatives with roughly $22 million in campaign funds, Mr. Scott will begin as more of a contender than most of his predecessors, and he will be one of the best-funded candidates in the 2024 presidential primary. His support is currently in the low single digits, according to public polling. But his candidacy could raise not only his profile, but those of Black conservatives across the country. Black Republicans are a small group of voters and politicians who say they often feel caught in the middle ignored and subtly discriminated against by some Republicans, ridiculed and ostracized by many Democrats. Those elected to office have expressed frustration that they are viewed not simply as conservatives but as Black conservatives, and they often decry what they describe as the Democratic obsession with identity politics. I think the commonality of virtually all Black conservatives is that we dont think were victims, said Mr. Elder, who has emphasized his roots in both California and the segregated South. We dont believe were oppressed. We dont believe that were owed anything. He and Mr. Scott share a belief in hard work and education and self-improvement, Mr. Elder added. So it would not surprise me that he and I are saying the same things, if not in different ways. Sudans warring parties have agreed to a seven-day cease-fire beginning on Monday, Saudi Arabia and the United States announced late Saturday, the first truce to be signed by both parties in a conflict that has raged for over a month, leaving millions of people across the northeast African nation in a dire humanitarian crisis. The truce was announced more than two weeks after representatives of the rival factions the Sudanese Army controlled by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan began talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. On Saturday, the sides promised to stop their forces from occupying new areas; to refrain from detaining or threatening civilians; and not to impede aid groups and workers from providing lifesaving assistance. The warring groups also agreed not to loot civilian properties or humanitarian supplies, nor to seize critical infrastructure such as electricity, fuel and water installations. Before the announcement, the two sides had signed a pact only to protect civilians but not to suspend fighting altogether, leaving their soldiers clashing across Sudan. Previous cease-fire announcements, including one brokered by the United States and another by South Sudan, have faltered, leading to a mounting death toll and a vast displacement of people. Houses abandoned at Al-Bouzayad village in Iraqs Diwaniya province due to climate change-driven drought. Photo: AFP KARBALA, Iraq, 9 May 2023 (AFP) Mr Haydar Mohamed once grew wheat and barley, but Iraqs relentless drought has forced him off the land and into the city where he now works in construction and drives a taxi. The transition is difficult, said Mr Mohamed, 42, who abandoned village life several years ago for a shantytown in the central city of Karbala. He is part of a growing wave of climate migrants in Iraq, a country that is on the frontlines of the global warming crisis. Years of dire water scarcity left him no choice but to move, said the father of five. If you dont work, he said, you dont eat. Haydar Mohamed, an Iraqi father of five, says years of dire water scarcity left him no choice but to leave his farmland in the remote village of Al-Khenejar in Iraqs southern Diwaniya province for the city of Karbala. Photo: Hayder INDHAR / AFP Until 2017, Mr Mohamed, like his father before him, worked farmland in the remote village of Al-Khenejar in Iraqs southern Diwaniya province. In a good year, they would harvest 40 or 50 tonnes of grain, he said. But water shortages have impacted farmland and livestock, said the man with a neat moustache and a traditional black robe worn over a white gown. In our region, there is no work, he said. I have children in school, which involves expenses. We needed a livelihood. Farming tools abandoned in Al-Bouzayad, Iraq, after about 100 families left over a two-year period due to climate change-driven drought. Photo: Hayder INDHAR / AFP He now earns about US$15 (S$20) a day on construction sites in the holy Shiite city, which thrives thanks to a steady flow of religious pilgrims. To supplement his income, he works shifts as a taxi driver. Near his home, cows graze on rubbish strewn across the dusty ground and grey cinderblock buildings line the bumpy alleys, connected for free by the municipality to power lines and water pipes. Blistering heat, dust storms The United Nations ranks Iraq, still recovering from decades of dictatorship and war, as one of the worlds five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change. The economy is driven by oil exports, but the second-biggest sector is agriculture, which makes up 5 per cent of gross domestic product and employs 20 per cent of the workforce. Water scarcity is extreme in the country of 42 million that endures blistering summer heat and regular dust storms, the shortfall worsened by upstream river dams in Turkey and Iran. Rural areas are being deserted in Iraq, including the village of Al-Bouzayad, where the main irrigation canal has completely dried up. Photo: Hayder INDHAR / AFP The UN says nearly one in five people live in an area hit by water shortages, while state authorities have been forced to limit areas designated for cultivation. In central and southern Iraq, 12,212 families were still displaced due to drought conditions in March, said the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Across the Diwaniya province, 120 villages now rely on trucked water deliveries, up from 75 last summer, said provincial governor Maitham al-Chahd. Thousands of hectares have been abandoned, he said. A girl at the home her family moved to in Karbala, Iraq after leaving their village home in Diwaniya province due to drought. Photo: AFP Among the other worst hit provinces are Dhi Qar and Maysan, said the IOM, which estimates that 76 per cent of displaced people move to cities. The rural flight piles pressure on urban areas where infrastructure is dilapidated after decades of conflict, corruption and mismanagement. A UN report in April warned of the risk of social unrest driven by climate factors. In the absence of sufficient public services and economic opportunity climate-driven urbanisation and mobility can reinforce pre-existing structures of marginalisation and exclusion, it said. Rooms stripped of their doors and windows show signs of the lives that have been upended by people leaving villages in rural Iraq due to climate change-induced drought. Photo: Hayder INDHAR / AFP Deserted countryside Mr al-Chahd said rural migrants faced unemployment in the cities, where there are not enough job opportunities for all the newcomers. Public services cannot meet the needs of growing city populations, he added. Meanwhile, rural areas are being deserted, including the village of Al-Bouzayad, where the main irrigation canal has completely dried up. About 100 families have left in the past two years, and today, only 170 households are still listed on the municipal register, said mayor Majed Raham, several of whose relatives have joined the exodus. Abandoned adobe houses sit next to unfinished yellow-brick constructions. In one empty dwelling, rooms stripped of their doors and windows show signs of the lives that have been upended. After most families have left due to drought, those who remain in Al-Bouzayad, a village in Iraqs Diwaniya province, depend on insufficient water deliveries made by tankers sent by the authorities Photo: Hayder INDHAR / AFP Portraits of the revered Shiite figure Imam Hussein still hang on the walls, a padlocked room contains personal items, and a satellite dish gathers dust in the courtyard. Those who have stayed depend on insufficient water deliveries made by tankers sent by the authorities, which they deplore. Mr Raham said most survive on either state benefits or money earned by their children, who commute daily to the nearest town. The majority want to leave, he said, but they dont have the means. Iraqs climate migrants flee parched land for crowded cities HIROSHIMA, Japan President Biden and other leaders of the worlds major industrial democracies rallied around Ukraine on Sunday with vows of resolute support and promises of further weapons shipments even as Russian forces claimed to have seized full control of a bitterly contested city. Mr. Biden and his counterparts figuratively and, in some cases, literally wrapped their arms around President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who made an audacious journey halfway around the world from his ravaged homeland to Hiroshima, Japan, to solicit aid for the first time in person from the Group of 7 powers at their annual summit. Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraines back, and I promise were not going anywhere, Mr. Biden told Mr. Zelensky while announcing another $375 million in artillery, ammunition and other arms for Ukraine. At a later news conference, Mr. Biden voiced defiance of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. I once more shared and assured President Zelensky, together with all G7 members and our allies and partners around the world, that we will not waver, he said. Putin will not break our resolve, as he thought he could. Russias claim of victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut suggests that the brutal urban combat that marked the deadliest battle of its war in Ukraine might be over. But what comes next is far from clear. While Moscow is trumpeting a Mission Accomplished moment in its war, Ukraine even as it insists Bakhmut has not completely fallen sees an opening to seize the initiative from the citys outskirts if Russian forces are no longer pressing forward inside the citys center. Russias capture of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success for Moscow. It would represent the first Ukrainian city it has seized since Lysychansk last summer, and be a setback for Kyiv, which expended precious ammunition and sent some of its most capable forces to try to thwart Russias devastating monthslong assault on the city. Thousands of troops from both sides are believed to have been killed in nearly a year of intense fighting there. But the city is now in ruins, and controlling it would not necessarily help Moscow toward its larger stated goal conquering the entire eastern region of Donbas now that Ukrainian troops have worn out Russian forces and broken through their defenses in some areas to the citys north and south. Russia has expanded its list of sanctioned Americans in a tit-for-tat retaliation for the latest curbs imposed by the United States. But what is particularly striking is how much President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is adopting perceived enemies of former President Donald J. Trump as his own. Among the 500 people singled out for travel and financial restrictions on Friday were Americans seen as adversaries by Mr. Trump, including Letitia James, the state attorney general of New York who has sued him for alleged fraud, and Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office. Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia who rebuffed Mr. Trumps pressure to find enough votes to reverse the outcome of the election, also made the list. So did Lt. Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who shot the pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021. None of them has anything to do with Russia policy, and the only evident reason they would have come to Moscows attention is because Mr. Trump has publicly assailed them. The Russian Foreign Ministry offered no specific explanation for why they would be included on the list but did say that among its targets were those in government and law enforcement agencies who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called storming of the Capitol. Pinned The 80th Air Assault Brigade of Ukraines armed forces firing a barrage of rockets in the direction of Bakhmut during a night operation on Tuesday. Russias claim of victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut suggests that the brutal urban combat that marked the deadliest battle of its war in Ukraine might be over. But what comes next is far from clear. While Moscow is trumpeting a Mission Accomplished moment in its war, Ukraine even as it insists Bakhmut has not completely fallen sees an opening to seize the initiative from the citys outskirts if Russian forces are no longer pressing forward inside the citys center. Russias capture of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success for Moscow. It would represent the first Ukrainian city it has seized since Lysychansk last summer, and be a setback for Kyiv, which expended precious ammunition and sent some of its most capable forces to try to thwart Russias devastating monthslong assault on the city. Thousands of troops from both sides are believed to have been killed in nearly a year of intense fighting there. But the city is now in ruins, and controlling it would not necessarily help Moscow toward its larger stated goal conquering the entire eastern region of Donbas now that Ukrainian troops have worn out Russian forces and broken through their defenses in some areas to the citys north and south. You have to understand, there is nothing, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said of the razed city, once home to 80,000 people, during a news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, where he sought aid and weapons from the worlds wealthiest democracies. They destroyed everything, Mr. Zelensky said. There are no buildings. Its a pity, its a tragedy, but for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this space, just ground and a lot of dead Russians. Image An aerial view of Bakhmut in Ukraines Donetsk region in April. Credit... Libkos/Associated Press Now that Russia has seemingly taken the city, it must hold it. Ukraine, however, plans to make that proposition difficult by raining artillery on Russian forces occupying Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian officials. Military analysts say that if Moscow continues to send reinforcements to defend the city, that could weaken Russian forces ability to hold off a broader counteroffensive that Ukraine says it is about to begin. A British defense intelligence assessment on Saturday said Moscow had redeployed up to several battalions to reinforce its forces in Bakhmut, calling the deployment a notable commitment for Russias heavily stretched combat forces in Ukraine. Among the challenges for Russia are divining the intentions of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private mercenary company, which spearheaded the urban fighting. Mr. Prigozhin on Saturday declared victory in Bakhmut and said his mercenaries would withdraw from the city by Thursday. But military analysts said it was unclear whether Mr. Prigozhin could pull out so abruptly along a hotly contested front line without dire consequences for the Russians in the city. It also was unclear how much of the city Ukrainian forces still held and whether Russian reinforcements deployed toward Bakhmut would rotate in to replace Wagner troops or bolster Russias faltering defenses on the citys outskirts. The loss of Bakhmut Territory reclaimed by Ukraine since May 10 HELD BY RUSSIA Bakhmut HELD BY UKRAINE Approximate city boundary Russian-claimed control UKRAINE Bakhmut 2 miles Territory reclaimed by Ukraine since May 10 HELD BY RUSSIA Bakhmut HELD BY UKRAINE Approximate city boundary Russian-claimed control UKRAINE Bakhmut 2 miles HELD BY RUSSIA Territory reclaimed by Ukraine since May 10 Bakhmut HELD BY UKRAINE Approximate city boundary Russian-claimed control UKRAINE Bakhmut 2 miles HELD BY RUSSIA Territory reclaimed by Ukraine since May 10 Bakhmut HELD BY UKRAINE Approximate city boundary Russian-claimed control UKRAINE Bakhmut 2 miles In recent days, Russian forces clawing their way west through the city have fought through a final neighborhood of high-rise apartment blocks, reaching an expanse of garages, farmhouses and open fields to the west. The Ukrainian military said on Sunday it still held several buildings in that area. But even as Kyivs forces stepped back from the block-by-block fighting, they brought in reinforcements to shore up rear positions, securing roads and supply lines west of Bakhmut. And they focused on attacking Russian positions to the north and south of the city. A battle on May 6 breached Russian lines south of the village of Ivanivske and forced Russian soldiers into a disorganized retreat. Image A damaged street in Siversk, near the war- ravaged city of Bakhmut, this month. Credit... Tyler Hicks/The New York Times Ukraines deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had recently recaptured high ground on the citys outskirts, and that those advances would really complicate the enemys presence in Bakhmut. If Ukrainian forces can continue their counterattack, it would put Russia on the defensive across nearly all of the front line, which stretches for hundreds of miles. For months, Bakhmut has been among the few places where Russia was gaining ground in the war. Ukraines military said on Sunday that it had launched an overnight strike on the Russian-occupied port city of Berdiansk, the latest attempt to target occupied territory in the countrys south ahead of a widely anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian occupation official, said that a missile had fallen on the citys outskirts but that there were no casualties, according to Russias TASS news agency. Ukrainian commanders have said that their goal all along in Bakhmut was to pin down the Russian Army in a protracted fight, kill as many of its soldiers as possible and buy time for Ukraine to prepare and rearm with Western weapons for a wider counteroffensive. A Russian capture of Bakhmut will mean nothing, actually, predicted Col. Serhiy Hrabsky, a commentator on the war for the Ukrainian news media. The Russians have exhausted their offensive capabilities, and that is why they so desperately declare they have captured Bakhmut. Even as the Ukrainians sought to play down Russias successes, Russian state media on Sunday celebrated the purported capture of Bakhmut. A segment on a leading morning newscast on Sunday compared the battle for Bakhmut to the Soviet Unions major victories in World War II. A Russian fighter was shown saying he felt probably the same emotions as our grandpas did in Berlin as Russian forces swarmed the city at the end of World War II. The anchor declared, Mission accomplished. Image A funeral in Trebukhiv, Ukraine, on Sunday for a Ukrainian soldier, Oleksandr Shargorodskyi, who was killed in Bakhmut. Credit... Nicole Tung for The New York Times The state-run Channel 1 newscast cited statements by President Vladimir V. Putin and Russias Defense Ministry that gave Wagner partial credit for capturing the city. Channel 1 also featured footage of armed men described as Wagner fighters yelling, Bakhmut is ours! But even as the newscast featured Bakhmut as its top story, one man went unmentioned: Mr. Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner and a close ally of Mr. Putins who has often been at odds with Russias military leadership. The noticeable omission underscored the lengths Russias propaganda machine has been going to hide from the Russian people any sign of elite infighting or problems on the front line. Sunday mornings newscast showed extensive aerial footage of the destruction and desolation in Bakhmut but claimed that Ukrainian forces had destroyed their own city an echo of Russias false narrative when it captured the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol a year ago. They werent able to hold on to the city, a reporter on the ground in Bakhmut said, referring to Ukrainian forces. So they are trying to raze it to the ground. Peter Baker contributed reported from Hiroshima, Japan, Anton Troianovski from Berlin and Matthew Mpoke Bigg from London. Since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine began over a year ago, officials in Kyiv have been asking their Western allies to supply the countrys air force with advanced warplanes such as the F-16. But the United States, which manufactures the fighter jet, was long reluctant to provide it, or to allow other countries that have F-16s to re-export them to Ukraine. American officials worried that the jets could be used to hit targets inside Russia, potentially escalating the conflict, and said that sending Ukraine other weapons was a higher priority. But President Biden reversed course on Friday, telling allies that he would allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on the F-16 and that the United States would work with other countries to supply Kyiv with the jets. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine welcomed what he called the historic decision of the United States, and said it would greatly enhance our army in the sky. Heres what we know about how the move could affect Ukraines air force. How strong is the Ukrainian air force? Ukraine inherited a sizable but aging fleet of Soviet-designed fighter jets and helicopters, which is a legacy of its history as a part of the former Soviet Union. The Ukrainian air force fleet includes fighter jets such as the MiG-29, bombers, and transport and training aircraft, Col. Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the force, said in an interview on Saturday. States Need To Have Formal Policies For Promotion Of Film Tourism, says Kishan Reddy Administrative Services Row: Kejriwal To Meet Mamata, Pawar, Uddhav To Seek Support India oi-Prakash KL Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal will be meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray, this week. As the Delhi government is locked in a bitter tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services, he is seeking the support of the leaders on the issue. "Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said in a press conference. He is likely to meet Thackeray and Pawar on May 25. On Friday, the Centre promulgated an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. The ordinance states that "there shall be an authority to be known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority to exercise the powers conferred on, and discharge the functions assigned to it". It came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. For which, the Centre will have to bring a bill for its passage in both Houses of Parliament. Earlier in the day, the Delhi CM met his Bihar counterpart in the national capital. "Today, in a meeting with Nitish Ji, he said that he stands with the people of Delhi, on the issue of the Centre bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi. In case the Centre brings this ordinance as a bill, if all non-BJP parties come together it can be defeated in Rajya Sabha. If such a thing happens, it can send a message that the BJP govt will be out in 2024," said Kejriwal in a joint briefing with Kumar. Kumar stated that he would urge other opposition parties also to come in support of Kejriwal in the matter. Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," the AAP national convenor told reporters. The AAP national convenor told reporters that he would personally reach out to the chiefs of all the opposition parties, seeking their support in the matter. Covid Pandemic Highlighted Gaps In Global Health Architecture: PM Modi India oi-Prakash KL Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the gaps in the global health architecture which were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic while emphasising the need for a collective effort in building resilient global systems. He pointed out India's commitment to international cooperation and informed that the country shipped almost 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 100 countries including many countries from the Global South. The Prime Minister expressed confidence that supporting equal access to resources will be a top priority for the WHO in the coming years, a statement from his office said. "India's traditional wisdom says that the absence of illness is not the same as good health", the Prime Minister said as he noted that one must not only be free from ailments but also take a step towards wellness. Highlighting the benefits of traditional systems such as Yoga, Ayurveda and meditation, he explained that it addresses physical, mental and social aspects of health and expressed delight that WHO's first Global Centre for Traditional Medicine is being established in India. He also expressed happiness that the International Year of Millets is playing a crucial role in creating awareness about the importance of millets. "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam", the Prime Minister said as he mentioned the ancient scriptures from India that teach us to see the world as one family. He touched upon the G20 theme of 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' and said that India's vision for good health is 'One Earth One Health', the press release from his office stated. He emphasised that India's vision is not restricted to just humans, but extends to the entire ecosystem including animals, plants and the environment. He said that We can be healthy only when our whole ecosystem is healthy. Highlighting India's achievements in the last few years regarding the availability, accessibility and affordability of healthcare, the Prime Minister gave examples of the world's largest health insurance scheme - Ayushman Bharat, the massive ramping up of health infrastructure, and the drive to provide sanitation and drinking water to millions of families in the country. Underlining that many of India's efforts are aimed at boosting health at the last mile in the country, PM Modi suggested that an approach which works with the scale of India's diversity can also become a framework for other nations. Shri Modi expressed keenness in supporting the WHO for similar efforts in low and middle-income countries. He also commended the WHO on 75 years of efforts in advancing Health for All. He remarked that the role of global institutions like the WHO will be even more important for the challenges that lie ahead in the future. "India is committed to helping every effort to build a healthier world", the Prime Minister concluded. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 20:18 [IST] Satellite view of end-of-winter snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountain range from 2020 through 2023. The snowpack in 2023 was one of the biggest in recorded history. Photo: NASA By Terry Castleman 10 May 2023 (Los Angeles Times) After a series of atmospheric rivers and cold weather hit California, this years snowpack was one of the biggest in history. This years result will go down as one of the largest snowpack years on record in California, Sean de Guzman, manager of the Department of Water Resources snow surveys, said in a news release. Striking images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASAs Terra satellite show just how massive the snowpack was. The satellite images below show the Sierra Nevada mountain range on April 1, 2022, and April 6, 2023. After what DWR director Karla Nemeth called the driest three years on record, which brought devastating drought impacts to communities across the state, this years weather has eased the drought and brought with it a new risk: flooding. The side-by-side images below, also from NASA, show this years snowpack compared to that of the previous three years. The images show the Sierra at the end of winter from 2020 through 2023. In April 2020, snowpack was at 50% of average levels for April. In April 2021, the figure was 62%. By April 2022, snowpack was at just 35% of average levels. The big melt has begun, but plenty of snow remains. DWRs most recent reading shows statewide snowpack at 243% of the average May level. This melt really is still just getting started, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA, told The Times. I know thats hard to believe, but were getting into May, and the peak is probably yet to come. Striking satellite photos show the dramatic scale of Californias 2023 snowpack G20 Meet In Srinagar: A Big Opportunity To Showcase Kashmir's True Potential India oi-Prakash KL The third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting is scheduled to take place in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir from May 22-24. This is the first major international event held here after the revocation of the special status of the state under Article 370 of the Constitution and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Countries Which Are Attending The Event About 60 delegates from G20 countries are taking part in the event. It will also witness the participation of invited countries, international organizations, and industry stakeholders. However, China is skipping it as its ally Pakistan has raised objections to the event being held in Kashmir. Also, Turkey, which had made critical remarks against India after the BJP government scrapped the Article 370 in 2019, is not attending the G20 meeting. The G20 is an inter-governmental forum of the world's 20 leading economies comprising Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States, and the European Union. Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the UAE are the special invitee guest countries for the G20 event held in Srinagar. All About G20 Event in Srinagar The meeting will be held at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC). "The delegates will mostly go to Dal Lake for sightseeing and watch cultural programmes on May 22 but the real business will be happening during the next two days," Union Minister Jitendra Singh said. "Under India's G20 Tourism Track, the TWG is working on five inter-connected priority areas - green tourism, digitisation, skills, tourism MSMEs and destination. These priorities are key building blocks for accelerating the transition of the tourism sector and achieve the targets for 2030 SDGs.There are two key deliverables of the TWG, which are GOA Roadmap for tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals and G20 Tourism Ministers' Declaration," the Ministry of Tourism said in a statement. The statement further said that the Ministry of Tourism is making "positive progress" on finalising the two key deliverables. During this meeting, G20 member countries, invited countries, and international organisations will give inputs and feedback on these two draft documents. The final versions will be placed in the fourth TWG meeting and Ministerial meeting, which will be held in Goa n June, after negotiations with G20 member countries on these drafts. A side event titled 'Fostering Film Tourism for Economic Prosperity and Cultural Conservation' has been scheduled for May 22, with a primary objective of devising effective approaches to bolster film tourism. According to officials, the gathering will witness the active involvement of G20 member nations, invited countries, global organizations, and key figures from the film sector, including esteemed producers. "This side event will also include unveiling of the draft 'National Strategy on Film Tourism' that will provide a roadmap for harnessing the role of films in promoting tourist destinations. Besides, a panel discussion featuring speakers from G20 member countries, invited countries will shed light on country-specific enablers and challenges in promoting destinations through films," the Tourism Ministry said. Delegates to Experience Local Culture The delegates will get to experience local culture of Jammu and Kashmir. They will get the opportunity to see handicrafts and other works of artisans during their visit to Srinagar. As part of the event, they will also visit the art and craft Bazaar organised by the state government, showcasing local handicrafts, work of artisans, signifying the importance of community participation, the Tourism Ministry said. The delegates will also have hands-on experience through DIY (do-it-yourself) activities at the craft bazaar, it said. The Ministry of Tourism is also promoting local products of Jammu and Kashmir, and products under the ODOP (one district one product). So, papier-mache boxes, saffron, walnuts, Qahwa cups and brass spoon will be given to delegate as souvenirs, Union Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh told reporters on Friday. The delegates will have the opportunity to embark on a serene shikara ride across the picturesque Dal Lake, where they can relish cultural performances along its tranquil shores. Additionally, the mayor of Srinagar will host a luncheon for the G20 delegates within the city, while the Lt Governor of J&K will organize a gala dinner in their honor. Importance Of The Event This G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar aims to strengthen economic growth, preserve cultural heritage, and promote sustainable development of the region. A successful event held in Kashmir can change the perception about the region and boost tourism. Politically, it will send out a message to the world that things have returned to normalcy in Kashmir after the abrogation of the Article 370. The people associated with tourism in Kashmir hope that the G20 event will pave the way for the lifting of Jammu and Kashmir-specific travel advisories by the European Union countries and the US. "As a tourism stakeholder, I welcome the G20 event. There are advisories in place from various countries across the globe, which unfortunately have been in place since the 1990s. There has been a great transformation as far as the overall situation in Kashmir is concerned. It's very peaceful now and there have been certain instances where European countries have been discussing lifting these travel advisories," PTI quoted Syed Abid Rashid, tourism secretary to Jammu and Kashmir government, as saying. Bashir Ahmad Kongposh, General Secy, Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF), said that the event will boost tourism. #WATCH | J&K: This is very good news that G20 Tourism meeting is going to take place here in Srinagar. It will send a strong message across the world that Kashmir is a peaceful place and the travel advisories which many foreign countries have imposed on their citizens (Foreign pic.twitter.com/o8b0M74oBt ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 "This is very good news that G20 Tourism meeting is going to take place here in Srinagar. It will send a strong message across the world that Kashmir is a peaceful place and the travel advisories which many foreign countries have imposed on their citizens (Foreign Tourists) will be lifted," he told ANI. Overall, it will be a big opportunity for India to show Kashmir's true potential. Rich get richer, poor get poorer: Sibal's dig at PM on social justice issue Sibal flags eight 'odd' points on the killing of gangster Atiq Ahmed Opposition Unity Requires Much More Than Optics: Kapil Sibal India oi-Deepika S Former Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the presence of a significant number of opposition leaders at the oath-taking ceremony of Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah requires much more than optics of this nature. Sibal said that he thinks meeting of minds, a common agenda, sacrificing partisan interests are necessary for effective opposition unity. "Siddaramaiah Swearing in Ceremony: Is this sign of Opposition Unity with significant number of leaders present? My view: Opposition Unity requires much more than optics of this nature, meeting of minds, a common agenda and sacrificing partisan interests," Sibal tweeted. Siddaramaiah Swearing in Ceremony : Is this sign of Opposition Unity with significant number of leaders present ? My view : Opposition Unity requires much more than optics of this nature Requires meeting of minds A common agenda Sacrificing partisan interests Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) May 21, 2023 Several prominent opposition leaders and Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister and D K Shivakumar as the Deputy Chief Minister in Bengaluru on Saturday as the grand old party seeks to promote opposition unity ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, NCP President Sharad Pawar, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mahbooba Mufti, actor-politician Kamal Haasan, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI General Secretary D Raja among others attended the event. While Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee could not attend the event, her party was represented by Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. The Congress, however, did not invite Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, besides Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for the swearing-in event in Bengaluru. However, the BJP said that the opposition unity is nothing but a myth. Opposition Unity Bid: Nitish Kumar Meets Arvind Kejriwal After Congress' Snub India oi-Deepika S Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on a mission to unite opposition parties against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday. Kejriwal was among the few non-BJP chief ministers who were not invited by the Congress to the event, which was also seen as a show of strength by opposition parties. "Today, in a meeting with Nitish Ji, he said that he stands with the people of Delhi, on the issue of the Centre bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi. In case the Centre brings this ordinance as a bill, if all non-BJP parties come together it can be defeated in Rajya Sabha. If such a thing happens, it can send a message that the BJP govt will be out in 2024," said Kejriwal in a joint briefing with Nitish Kumar. Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar backed Kejriwal over Modi government decision bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi. "How can powers given to an elected government be taken away? It's against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal. We are trying to bring together all opposition parties in the country," said Nitish Kumar. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was also present at the meeting. This is the second meeting between Kumar and Kejriwal in over a month. With Kejriwal's relations with the Congress far from smooth, Kumar has the task of building some kind of a working relationship between the two as he also sees the grand old party as critical to any Opposition unity bid. The AAP has grown in Delhi and Punjab by occupying the space once largely seen as Congress territory. Centre, States Should Work As Team India, Fulfil Dreams Of 'Viksit Bharat: PM Modi At NITI Aayog Meet 'Sengol' Was Kept As A 'Walking Stick' In Anand Bhawan, Says PM Modi A Quick Guide To The New Parliament Of India You Have Done Us Proud, Rajinikanth Tells PM Modi Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Touches PM Modi's Feet On His Arrival India oi-Prakash KL A rare moment was witnessed at the Port Moresby airport when Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Sunday. PNG Prime Minister James Marape gave a rousing welcome to his Indian counterpart and touched the latter's feet to seek his blessings. The video of the incident has now gone viral. Prime Minister Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea on his maiden visit from Japan where he attended the summit of the G7 advanced economies and held bilateral meetings with several world leaders. PM Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea on the second leg of his three-nation tour is the first ever by any Indian Prime Minister. During his visit, he will host a key summit on Monday between India and 14 Pacific island countries to boost bilateral ties. #WATCH | Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape seeks blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon latter's arrival in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/gteYoE9QOm ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit," PM Modi tweeted. It has to be noted that Papua New Guinea, normally, doesn't give a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after sunset. But a special exception was made for Prime Minister Modi and a ceremonial welcome was accorded to him, according to a report in PTI. Prime Minister Narendra Modi accorded the Guard of Honour at Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/TfmhG9dTKG ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 "A grand beginning of an important visit! PM @narendramodi arrives in Port Moresby on what is the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Papua New Guinea. Accorded a 19-gun salute, guard of honour & ceremonial welcome. As a special gesture, PM James Marape received PM Modi at the airport," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. The PM was also warmly greeted by the Indian community. The two leaders will host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on Monday. It comes at a time when China is making efforts to enhance its military and diplomatic influence in the region. "I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important summit (FIPIC)," Modi had said earlier. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries which include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu After this meeting, the Indian PM will head to Sydney at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. OPINION: With Pasmanda Muslims Ignored, Karnataka Polls Can't Be Called 'People-Centric' He Has Small Thinking: BJP Slams Rahul For Raising Objection To PM Inaugurating Parl Building President Should Inaugurate Parliament House, Not PM: Rahul Gandhi Echoes Opposition Leaders India oi-Deepika S Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the President should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, "The President should inaugurate the new Parliament House and not the Prime Minister". The inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 coincides with the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar. , ! Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 21, 2023 Several opposition leaders have already objected to to PM Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building citing that PM Modi is the head of the government and not the head of the legislature. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked why Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha chairman won't inaugurate it. "Why should PM inaugurate Parliament? He is head of the executive, not legislature. We have separation of powers and honourable Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chair could have inaugurated. It's made with public money, why is PM behaving like his "friends" have sponsored it from their private funds?" Owaisi tweeted. "26 November 2023- Indian Constitution which gifted parliamentary democracy to the nation shall step into 75th year which would've been befitting for inauguration of new Sansad Bhawan. But it shall be done on 28 May, birthday of Savarkar- How much relevant?" tweeted Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray. "A complete insult to all our Founding Fathers and Mothers. A total rejection of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Bose, et al. A blatant repudiation of Dr. Ambedkar," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter. "While the Prime Minister is the head of the government, the President is the head of the Indian state and not inviting her for the inauguration is a blatant insult and undermines her position," CPI general secretary D Raja said. The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. A total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber during the joint sitting of both the Houses. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 13:37 [IST] Ready For Narco Test If Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia Take It Too: WFI Chief India oi-Prakash KL Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Chief and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Sunday said he was ready for the polygraph test if the same test is conducted on protesting wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia. "I am ready to get my narco test, polygraphy test or lie detector done but my condition is that along with me Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia should also undergo these tests. If both the wrestlers are ready to get their test done, then call the press and announce and I promise them that I am also ready for this," he wrote in a Facebook post. Earlier in the day, the WFI chief, who is also a BJP MP from Kaiserganj, said he wanted to retire from politics in 2014 but dropped his plans over the insistence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. "I wanted to retire from politics in 2014 itself. But Amit Shah during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections did not allow me to do that," he said. Many wrestlers have been protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23 demanding the arrest of the BJP MP and his sacking from the post following the allegations of sexual harassment made by seven wrestlers. On May 19, the grapplers had marched from Jantar Mantar to Bangla Sahib Gurudwara in New Delhi on their 25th day of protest. However, two separate FIRs were registered on April 28 following the Supreme Court's notice to Delhi Police into the plea filed by the wrestlers. On the other hand, the khap 'mahapanchayat' on Sunday decided that the women supporting the protest against Singh will hold a panchayat before the new Parliament building on May 28, the day it will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "They have taken four decisions. The women's panchayat will be held right before the Parliament building on May 28. On May 23 we will hold a candlelight march from Jantar Mantar to India Gate. The Mahapanchayat reiterated its demand of the arrest of the arrest of Brij Bhushan and it was promised that on wrestlers' call, khaps would reach the protest site within five hours of the call," PTI quoted Punia as saying. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah Asks Police To Remove Zero Traffic Protocol For Him In Bengaluru India oi-PTI A day after assuming office as Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah on Sunday asked Bengaluru police to take back zero traffic protocol for him. He said he took the decision in view of the problems faced by people. "I have asked Bengaluru City Police Commissioner to take back the 'Zero Traffic' protocol for my vehicular movement," Siddaramaiah tweeted. "I have taken the decision after seeing the problems faced by the people travelling along the stretch where there are restrictions due to 'zero traffic'," he added. Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister for the second term, along with state Congress president D K Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister, and eight legislators as Ministers today, exactly a week after the party swept the Assembly polls in Karnataka. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the Assembly session will be convened for three days from May 22, during which the newly elected MLAs will be administered oath, and a new Speaker will be elected. "We are calling the Assembly session for three days - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we are requesting the Governor, because the new Assembly has to be constituted before May 24. Senior most MLA R V Deshpande has been requested to be the Protem Speaker, to administer oaths to MLAs," Siddaramaiah said. He also said his government will give administration as expected by the people of Karnataka. "We will give an administration which people have expected from us. Five guarantees will be passed in the cabinet meeting and an order will be issued to implement them today itself," Siddaramaiah said soon after taking oath as the Chief Minister. The Congress has promised to implement the 'guarantees' - 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti), on the very first day of assuming power in the state. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 23:55 [IST] Srinagar Decked Up For G20 Working Group Meeting; Security Heightened India pti-PTI Srinagar city has been spruced up for the three-day G20 working group meeting on tourism beginning Monday, while stringent security arrangements are in place across the Kashmir Valley to ensure that the high-profile event passes off peacefully, officials said on Sunday. The route from Srinagar airport to Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) -- the venue of the meeting -- has been given a massive facelift with the G20 logo painted on walls and hoardings installed to welcome the delegates, they said. The officials said Gulmarg tourist resort in north Kashmir, where a meeting is also scheduled, has been beautified too. Authorities are taking no chances and have beefed up security across the valley in view of the G20 meeting. Elite NSG and Marine Commandos are helping the police and the paramilitary forces to secure the venues of the event, the officials said. They said massive sanitisation and area domination exercises have been carried out in the areas around the venues, along the route and in vulnerable spots of the city. Security forces have been deployed in large numbers to ensure an incident-free event, the officials said. Scanners and sniffer dogs have been pressed into action to check for any explosives or IEDs, they added. Vehicles passing through the city are being randomly checked to ensure that no subversive elements manage entry into the city, the officials said. The administration is pulling out all stops to put on a grand show, they said. Tea, Pakoras And Diplomacy: Ajay Maken Recounts Shiela Dikshit's Legacy Amid Delhi Power Tussle India oi-Deepika S Amid Delhi government's tussle with Centre's over ordinance on the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in Delhi, Congress leader Ajay Maken on Sunday offered an advice to Arvind Kejriwal that he got from veteran leader Sheila Dikshit. In his tweet titled "A Day with Sheila Ji: Reflecting Amidst Kejriwal's Current Power Chaos", Ajay Maken reflected on the leadership and wisdom of late former CM Sheila Dikshit. "In the early 2000s, a historic shift was underway in Delhi. I was serving as the Transport, Power, and Tourism Minister under Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Ji. We were spearheading a series of initiatives, from transitioning public transport to CNG, launching the Metro, to reforming the power department," Maken tweeted. "One morning, I stumbled upon unsettling news. I read about the replacement of my Transport Commissioner, Sindhushree Khullar, I recall, concern lining my voice. In the midst of CNG conversion, her absence could be a roadblock. What if the new officer was a Diesel lobbyist?", he said. "I voiced my concerns to Sheila Ji, "Madam, you've changed my Transport Commissioner. I'm finding out from the newspapers. This could jeopardize our CNG conversion project." She brushed it off initially, saying, "Who told you? Why get disturbed on the basis of rumors?", " he added. "But soon, the rumors turned into reality. "You were right," she admitted, "I was not aware of this decision either. But don't worry, we'll challenge it. How can the LG make such a decision amidst our CNG conversion initiative?"," Maken tweeted. "Fired up, we decided to meet the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. I remember her strategic advice. She told me, 'Be as forceful as possible, argue for the interest of Delhi. As I deal with the LG daily, you can be the forceful one, I will be the supportive referee,' she directed. Despite our passionate appeal, the L-G was unwavering. "I have my orders. I can't reverse this," he responded firmly," the former AICC general secretary said. Dejected but determined, Sheila Ji called several senior Union Government officials, trying to influence the decision. "Unfortunately, by evening, the decision stood firm. My frustration prompted a proposal for a press conference to expose this politically driven obstruction. Sheila Ji, however, had a different strategy," he said. Tea, Pakoras, and Diplomacy With a gentle wave of her fingers, she advised, "No, no, no... Don't tell anyone about our failed attempt. Officers shouldn't know that we tried and couldn't succeed. If they find out, they might stop taking us seriously." Maken said, she suggested inviting the newly appointed officer for a meeting over "tea and pakoras", conveying her delight with his appointment. Her wisdom was profound. She continued, "Call the new officer. Tell him the CM is delighted with his appointment. Explain the importance of CNG conversion, and invite him for tea and pakoras. These officers are with no one. Tackle them skillfully." Following her astute counsel, I found myself sharing tea and pakoras with the newly appointed officer, despite my initial reservations. "I told him, 'The Supreme Court is strictly monitoring our efforts to reduce air pollution. We need to implement CNG in Delhi,'" I recall. "The turn of events was remarkable. The new officer understood the gravity of the situation. We stood united against various lobbies and earned accolades from the Supreme Court and even the US Government, I say with pride. We became the first city globally to fully convert its public transport system to CNG," Maken added. Engage with officers respectfully: Maken to Kejriwal Reflecting on those years, I firmly believe, "Sheila Dikshit Ji's government's first six years were the most productive phase. She fought not for power, but for the betterment of Delhi. Power privatization, CNG conversion, Metro launch, construction of flyovers, hospitals, schools - they all happened because she fought tirelessly for Delhi." Her lessons of leadership and diplomacy continue to guide me, "She taught me to tackle obstacles skillfully, to serve with a clear focus on the city's welfare. To offer tea and pakodas when needed, and to stand firm when required. That's Sheila Ji's legacy, a guide to serving public interest above all else." I hope the current Chief Minister takes note of this journey and learns from it. "Engage with officers respectfully, hold dialogues, and persuade them for Delhi's advancement. They will certainly align with your vision if it's sincere," Maken said. "Your past actions - summoning officers at ungodly hours, resorting to mistreatment and harsh words - are not constructive. It's crucial to recognise that such behavior only contributes to the city's distress," Maken advised Kejriwal. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 14:59 [IST] US could run short of cash by June 1; Biden calls meet on debt ceiling US President Biden to meet PM Modi in Papua New Guinea later this month Biden 'Confident' There Will Be No US Debt Default I Should Take Your Autograph: US President Joe Biden To PM Modi International oi-Deepika S US President Joe Biden on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his autograph after discovering how he has been managing large crowds, news agency ANI reported quoting sources. During the Quad meeting, President Joe Biden came up to PM Modi and told that he's been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the programme of PM Modi. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also expressed similar problem, saying that there is a capacity of 20,000 for the community reception in Sydney but he is still not able to accommodate the requests he is getting. Albanese also recalled how at the Narendra Modi stadium more than 90,000 people welcomed him during the victory lap. PM Modi and Albanese attended the first day of the India-Australia Test in Gujarat's Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera. "I should take your autograph," Joe Biden told PM Modi in a lighter note. The Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), met in Hiroshima for annual Summit and emphasised that they are more united than ever in our determination to meet the global challenges of this moment and set the course for a better future. "The leaders reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace," a statement from G7 summit read. "We are taking concrete steps to support Ukraine for as long as it takes in the face of Russia's illegal war of aggression," it added. The G7 leaders vowed to condemn in the strongest possible terms the war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine, which constitutes a serious violation of international law. "We issued the G7 Leaders' Statement on Ukraine, and with the clear intention and concrete actions set forth in it, we commit to intensifying our diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military support for Ukraine, to increasing the costs to Russia and those supporting its war efforts," the statement added. Workers from the HCMC Power Corporation repair electricity facilities at the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in the citys District 7. Photo by VnExpress/ Thanh Nguyen Power outages in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and the northern province of Bac Giang have turned daily life, business and production upside down over the past few days. Hanh, the owner of a HCMC coffee shop in Go Vap District, said she had to close for half a day on May 18 because of a blackout. "As soon as I opened the shop that day, the electricity went out. I couldnt run fans or air conditioning, and it was too hot," she said. "Customers couldnt sit in the cafe, so I had to temporarily close it." Hoa, the owner of a boarding house in Hiep Phu Ward, HCMC's Thu Duc City, said her neighborhood suffered two power outages from the night of May 18 night to early in the morning the next day. "It was very hot, so my tenants kept texting and calling. Asking the reason for the blackout and demanding that fix it," she said. Other districts, including HCMC's Binh Thanh, Tan Binh and Thu Duc, have also had power cuts for many hours over the past few days. A similar situation occurred in Hanoi. On May 18, the city recorded power outages in many areas. Phan, a resident of Hai Ba Trung District, said his neighborhood blacked out twice, each time lasting 30-60 minutes. In Bac Giang on May 18, the entire Song Khe - Noi Hoang Industrial Park and Van Trung Industrial Park experienced power outages. Bac Giang Power Company said the two industrial parks consume some 3.6 million kWh of electricity per day and that if the power supply to them had not ceased, the entire residential area and other businesses in the province would have been affected. The company said it was unknown when the electricity shortage would end because it depended on the weather. Tran Viet Hoa, director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam, on May 18 cited data from national utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN), revealing that as of May 12, a total of 13 large hydropower reservoirs had been at or were approaching their dead storage capacity. Most of the remaining hydropower reservoirs had water levels much lower than required, according to the data. Earlier calculations by EVN showed that in the event of extreme situations the North would be at risk of a 1,600-4,900 MW electricity shortage this month and next. However, electricity firms in Hanoi and HCMC have said that power cuts in the last few days were not related to supply. According to Hanoi Power Corporation, a recent prolonged hot spell has cause a sharp uptick in electricity usage, especially at peak hours. On May 17, electricity consumption in the capital city surpassed 85.3 million kWh, the highest level reached so far this year. As a result, some electricity transmission lines and substations were overloaded or had problems, causing local interruptions of power supplies. Bui Trung Kien, deputy general director of the HCMC Power Corporation, also said that sudden rises in electricity consumption this early summer led to some technical glitches, so the corporation had to cut power for a couple of hours to fix the issues. Problematic transmission lines located underground take 5-6 hours to fix, he noted. "We will ensure electricity supply for HCMCs consumption and production needs, without rotating power cuts," Kien said. Nguyen Phuoc Duc, general director of the Southern Power Corporation, said the electricity supply should be balanced and stable. According to Duc, households increased electricity usage due to the hot weather, but many factories and production facilities narrowed their operations, so electricity consumption in industry has actually decreased. Power corporations in Hanoi and HCMC are intensifying checkups on transmission lines and substations to replace or upgrade old ones. On May 18, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested relevant ministries and sectors to ensure that there would be no shortage of electricity for production, business and consumption at least from now to May 25. Mining and energy firms were urged to supply sufficient amounts of coal and oil and gas to thermal power plants. EVN was tasked to make better use of hydroelectricity resources and further tap renewable power projects. Earlier, experts had predicted that electricity shortages might occur in the peak months of hot weather, namely May, June and July. Centre, States Should Work As Team India, Fulfil Dreams Of 'Viksit Bharat: PM Modi At NITI Aayog Meet 'Sengol' Was Kept As A 'Walking Stick' In Anand Bhawan, Says PM Modi A Quick Guide To The New Parliament Of India You Have Done Us Proud, Rajinikanth Tells PM Modi PM Modi To Receive Rare Honours During His Papua New Guinea Visit International oi-Deepika S Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to receive many 'rare' honours during his visit to Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, will personally welcome Prime Minister Modi at the airport upon his arrival today. While the country typically doesn't provide a ceremonial welcome for leaders arriving after sunset, a special exception has been made for PM Modi. He will be accorded a full ceremonial welcome, reported news agency ANI. This will be the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister to the Indo-Pacific country. In Papua, PM Modi will host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) jointly with Prime Minister James Marape. The last Summit of the FIPIC took place in Jaipur, India, on 21 August 2015 with all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs). During the two FIPIC Summits, India announced initiatives across a wide array of areas to assist the PICs in facing challenges and achieving aspirations for the well-being and development of its people. A landmark initiative launched under the rubric of the Act East Policy for the PICs is the FIPIC. PM Modi hosted the First FIPIC Summit in Suva on 19 November 2014 during his historic visit to Fiji, with the participation of all 14 PICs - Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu, Niue, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Palau, Nauru and the Solomon Islands. A major part of India's engagement with PICs is through development assistance under South-South Cooperation that is mainly in the form of capacity building (training, scholarships, grant-in-aid and loan assistance) and community development projects. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 10:47 [IST] Centre, States Should Work As Team India, Fulfil Dreams Of 'Viksit Bharat: PM Modi At NITI Aayog Meet 'Sengol' Was Kept As A 'Walking Stick' In Anand Bhawan, Says PM Modi A Quick Guide To The New Parliament Of India You Have Done Us Proud, Rajinikanth Tells PM Modi PM Modi Wears Jacket Made of Recycled Material During Visit to Hiroshima Museum International oi-Deepika S Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore a sleeveless jacket made of recycled material during the ongoing G7 Summit in Japan. "In a message of sustainability, PM Modi wore a jacket made of recycled material at the G7 summit in Japan today," an official told news agency ANI. PM Modi on Sunday paid floral tributes at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum built in memory of those who died in a US atomic bomb attack on this Japanese city in 1945 at the end of World War II. PM Modi is on a visit to Japan to attend the annual summit of the G7 advanced economies here in Hiroshima. The prime minister joined other world leaders at the G7 summit to visit the museum. Prime Minister signed the visitor's book in the museum, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. "Went to the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park this morning," PM Modi tweeted. The leaders also paid floral tributes at the Cenotaph for the victims of the Atomic Bomb. The US conducted the world's first nuclear attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing some 140,000 people. Tweeting photos of Modi's visit to the museum at the memorial site, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Twitter: "A tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims. PM Narendra Modi begins his day by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitor's book." The ministry also tweeted a group photo of the world leaders attending the G7 Summit and said, "The leaders also paid their respect at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park." The facility displays belongings left behind by victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of the dropping of the US atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The G7 bloc comprises Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy as well as the European Union. India Will Do Whatever Is Possible To Find Solution To Ukraine Conflict: PM Modi Tells Zelenskyy Need To Raise Voice Together Against Unilateral Attempts To Change Status Quo: PM Modi Ukraine's Zelenskyy Rallies Support During G7 Japan Talks International dwnews-DW News Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for diplomatic and military assistance in Japan's Hiroshima on Sunday, as he spoke with G7 allies and a few nations that have refrained from condemning Russia's invasion. "The more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russia's insane path. But is this enough?" he said in a tweet. Even before Zelenskyy's arrival on Saturday, the G7 group had announced a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow. Together with all of our allies and partners, we have achieved such a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected. There have been attempts to ignore and disregard what we value. But now it is impossible. Now our power is pic.twitter.com/OFB1MSu6CZ (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023 Zelenskyy urges Global South countries to back Ukrainian cause The surprise visit to Hiroshima is not only a chance for Zelenskyy to confer with G7 leaders, but also to deliver a message to heads of Global South countries who have expressed skepticism towards Ukraine right to defend itself from Russia's assault. Zelenskyy is expected to deliver a speech to rally support for Ukraine's defense against Russia's 15-month-long aggression. One of the skeptical leaders present at the summit is Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has accused the West of "encouraging the war." Lula has not yet confirmed a meeting with the Ukrainian President. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has avoided outright condemnation of Russia, said to Zelenskyy, "I understand your pain and the pain of Ukrainian citizens very well. I can assure you that India, and personally, I will do whatever we can to resolve this." Zelenskyy expressed optimism about the encounter, believing that India "will contribute to the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need." French President Emmanuel Macron lauded the trip as "a pathway to peace," considering it an "honor" to have provided the plane that transported the Ukrainian leader to Hiroshima. Zelenskyy is seeking support for a ten-point peace plan, centered on the demand for Russia's withdrawal from Ukrainian territory. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that any peace plan should not merely freeze the conflict but insisted that "Russia should not assume that it can weaken support for Ukraine by holding out." Zelenskyy was initially scheduled to attend the G7 summit remotely. F-16 decision 'a great result' The White House recently allowed allied nations to provide F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv, paving a path for Ukraine to receive the sophisticated military equipment. The decision was framed as part of a US strategy to support Ukraine "in a way that avoids World War III," deflecting criticism of the delayed response. Although Zelenskyy acknowledged that the jets would not immediately impact the ongoing conflict, he hailed the decision as "a great result" that would help protect Ukrainian society and families. G7 statement triggers backlash from Beijing While the topic of Ukraine has dominated the summit, leaders also addressed concerns about China. Their statement indirectly denounced attempts to weaponize trade and supply chains, warning that such efforts would "fail and face consequences." The G7 urged China to influence Russia in ending its invasion of Ukraine while expressing their continued desire for "constructive and stable relations" with China. In response, China expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the G7's final communique, and Russia criticized the group's decisions taken at the Hiroshima summit, alleging an aim to contain both Russia and China, according to Moscow's top diplomat Sergey Lavrov. Source: DW Weather Update: IMD Issues Rain Alert In These States Till May 26; Check Details Here No Heatwave In Delhi For Next Five Days: IMD RBSE Rajasthan Class 10 Result 2023 Soon: How To Check New Delhi oi-Deepika S Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education is likely to release Rajasthan 10th Result 2023 soon. Once declared, students can check their class 10 board examination on the official site of RBSE at rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in and rajresults.nic.in. The RBSE Class 10 board examination was conducted from 16 March 2023 to 11 April 2023 across the state. Nearly 10 lakh candidates registered for the Rajasthan Class 10 board examination. Rajasthan Class 1o Result 2023: Websites to check RBSE results rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in rajresults.nic.in Rajasthan Class 1o Result 2023: How to check Go to the official site of RBSE at rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in. On the homepage, click on RBSE Rajasthan 10th Result 2023 link Login by providing required details and click on submit. Your RBSE result 2023 will be displayed on the screen. Check the result and save a copy for further need. Last year, RBSE class 10 results were declared on June 13. Like always, girls overperformed boys with pass percentage of 84.38 per cent. The pass percentage of boys stood at 81.62 per cent. The overall pass percentage of RBSE class 10 results was 82.8 per cent. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 15:56 [IST] Hannah Clarke was an Australian woman who was fatally burned in a petrol fire in her car, along with her three children, in a quadruple murdersuicide by her estranged husband, Rowan Baxter, in Camp Hill, Queensland. The murders sparked a national debate about domestic violence in Australia, after reports emerged that Baxter had a history of violence and alleged misogyny and had been subjected to a domestic violence order (DVO) as well as child custody orders as recently as the month of the murders. The Group of Seven, once known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael (18901945), Lawren Harris (18851970), A. Y. Jackson (18821974), Frank Johnston (18881949), Arthur Lismer (18851969), J. E. H. MacDonald (18731932), and Frederick Varley (18811969). A. J. Casson (18981992) was invited to join in 1926, Edwin Holgate (18921977) became a member in 1930, and Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (18901956) joined in 1932. The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Held annually on Preakness Weekend, the Preakness Stakes (Saturday) is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies 121 pounds (55 kg). It is the second jewel of the Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), commonly known as the Quad, is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries. The dialogue was initiated in 2007 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with the support of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar. The diplomatic and military arrangement was widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power. The brutal eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest of the conflict in Ukraine. 2008-2023 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Huyen Ngas son Hoang Long ran through his kindergartens open doors and into the street 29 years ago. He has not been seen since. Last month, Pham Thi Huyen Nga, 62, received the results of her DNA test, in which she examined the biological relationship between herself and a 35-year-old man called Hung in Binh Duong. Nga had been hoping and praying that Hung was her long-lost son. But the results came back negative, which meant there was no biological relationship between the two. The elderly woman almost collapsed, as she felt like shed lost her son once again. Nearly 30 years of searching for her son has taken its toll on Ngas health. Shes afraid that one day shell no longer be sane enough to continue looking for her son, who she believes would be "as handsome and fair-skinned as he was when he was a child. Nga and her son (L), Nguyen Minh Hoang Long, when he was four years old. Photo courtesy of Nga Nga still remembers that it was the afternoon of November 5, 1994. Long was in the care of a private kindergarten in downtown Hanoi. He was about to have a shower before Nga and her husband came to pick him up. When it was Longs turn in the shower, the water pressure ran out and the kindergarten owner had to open the door to get water from outside. Six-year-old Long ran out the door and disappeared. Nga was running her candy stall at Dong Xuan Market when she got a phone call telling her to come home immediately. When she was informed that her son had gone missing, she collapsed. Nga visited every house in the kindergartens neighborhood asking about her son. She asked dozens of her relatives and friends to help her search for Long at bus stations. She sent search parties along the banks of the Red River, trying to see if there was any information about children drowning. However, a week, and then a month, passed without any information about Long. Nga sold her stall at Dong Xuan Market to a relative so she could dedicate all her time to scouring Hanoi for her son with her husband. They hung Longs picture everywhere, and they asked the media to help them spread their story. Leads came in. Every time Nga and her husband heard about a child who shared similarities with Long, they went to see the child in person. The elderly couple had since been to every province in Vietnam on their search, only to return disappointed. Nga holding Long when he was four years old. Photo courtesy of Nga Waiting in vain Nga bought new clothes and toys every year "in case Long comes back." She estimated how tall Long would be and bought clothes of all sizes for him, in case he grew bigger or thinner. She even performed an old ritual in which she heated her sons old clothes in a pan in the backyard, as some believe this can help bring the missing home. But the boy never reappeared. "It felt like my heart had been stabbed but I couldnt die. The stabs were there and my heart ached every second, every minute, making it an endless pain," she said. Nga said shes become disassociated with life over the years. She often hears her son calling out her name in the middle of the night. She had waking dreams of being lost in an endless sea of people, searching for her son. But even in these fevers, the mother couldnt find her son no matter how hard she tried. Even when these illusions have led to her finding her son, Long didnt recognize her and disappeared again. Seeing Ngas despair, people encouraged her to have another child. They said looking for a missing child is similar to searching for a needle in the sea. But Nga believed that if she gave up searching for her son, she "would not have any motivation and courage to live anymore." Ngas husband was affected after Long went missing as well. He turned to alcohol to escape from reality. The couple fought more often. Three years after the disappearance of their son, they divorced. All of a sudden Nga was an unemployed and divorced woman with a lost son. Sometimes she felt depressed to the point she wanted to take her own life. She even went as far as to approach the banks of the Red River and thought about tossing herself in the water to drown. But just then she heard some children calling for their mother. "My instinct told me not to end my life and continue my journey of searching," she recalled. When Nga felt like her life was hitting rock bottom, a friend of hers suggested that she could relocate to the Czech Republic to start a new life, make money and continue searching for her son. She thought the plan made sense. In 1997, she left Vietnam for Czech. After her relocation to the Czech Republic, Nga went through various occupations, from a market vendor to a waitress. She always applied for overtime to make more money and not to think about her missing son. She sent part of the money she made back to her parents and spent the other part traveling to Vietnam twice a year to search for her son. Every time she got a lead about Long, she hit the road. Nga looks at Longs birth certificate and photos of Long when he was a baby. Photo taken on October 9, 2022, by VnExpress/Hoai Phuong Since 2009, Ngas younger sister Pham Thi Hoai Phuong has been posting the story of the long-lost mother-and-son on social media. Phuong has also helped Nga to connect with programs that assist in reconnecting missing relatives, hoping to find Long one day. Over a month ago, Nga went back to Vietnam after receiving news of a man named Hung, a resident of Binh Duong, who reportedly shared many similarities with Long. Many members in Ngas family said Hung had a "similar appearance to Long." Meanwhile, Hung said he remembered he was called "Long" before going missing from his family in Hanoi and being adopted by a couple when he was seven years old. Nga observed Hung when he smiled. His mouth shape was different from that of Long, to which Nga justified that "everyones features grow different after going through puberty." Hung recalled that he was energetic when he was small, and liked to run out of his house through his familys open doors. "Long was like that too. He liked to run to the streets through our houses open doors," Nga recalled. Though the test results afterwards made Nga feel like "dying again," she still hasnt given up yet. Sometimes Nga comforts herself by simply praying that Long is still living healthily. If thats the case, she prays, then she doesnt even need a reunion. "As long as he is happy," she said, "Im satisfied with observing him from a distance." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he believes that Russia has taken control of the eastern city of Bakhmut. Zelenskyy's comments in Japan on Sunday came after a bloody eight-month battle by Moscows Wagner private army with the support of Russian troops that has left Bakhmut in ruins .Zelenskky said he thought Ukraine had lost the city. But he added You have to understand that there is nothing. He said that Russians destroyed everything" and that "Bakhmut is only in our hearts. Zelenskyy was speaking alongside President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima. After saying he wanted to punch him in the face and see him get struck with a bag of s***, Robert De Niro has said he thinks.. BANG Showbiz 23 May 2023 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an appearance at the G7 meeting, seeking military and diplomatic assistance from allies. He also met with leaders of Global South countries such as India and Indonesia. Estonia and Latvia are planning to protect their airspace by buying a German Iris-T anti-aircraft missile systems. The system has already been used in combat in Ukraine. The shadows of two previous, brutal wars and the potential consequences of one raging in Eastern Europe hung over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he arrived Thursday in Japan for the opening of the G7 leaders summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an appearance at the G7 meeting, seeking military and diplomatic assistance from allies. He also met with leaders of Global South countries such as Indonesia and Brazil. The US president said Washington was doing all it can to strengthen support for Ukraine to fight back against Russia's aggression. (RFE/RL) -- Russia claims it has taken full control of Bakhmut, the epicenter of the war in eastern Ukraine over the past several.. Eurasia Review 21 May 2023 Much needless fuss has been generated by President Joe Bidens cancellation of his visit to Australia for the Quad meeting, a now.. Eurasia Review 20 May 2023 Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (left) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio before their summit meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023. Photo: VGP This is the 5th meeting between the two Prime Ministers over the past more than one year, the first meeting between the pair in Hiroshima the native land of Prime Minister Kishida. Prime Minister Pham congratulated Kishida and Japan for successfully hosting the G7 summit and outreach meetings and spoke highly of Japan's coordinating role in leading discussions to reach consensus on how to deal with global challenges like food security and emission reduction. Kishida expressed his pleasure to meet Pham again, welcoming Pham's attendance and active contributions to the overall success of this year's G7 summit and outreach meetings, and highlighting the important position of Viet Nam in Japan's foreign policy toward the region. In a friendly, cordial and trusted atmosphere, the two leaders expressed their pleasure at the robust, comprehensive, and practical developments of the bilateral ties over the past time, and agreed on major orientations and concrete measures to lift the Viet Nam-Japan Extensive Strategic Partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia to new heights. The two Prime Ministers agreed to step up defense and security cooperation and connectivity between the two economy through beefing up trade and investment linkages. They highly appreciated the completion of procedures for the capital commitment of the new-generation official development asssistance program for post-Covid economic recovery, which totals 50 billion yen (US$362 million). The two leaders also agreed to task ministries and agencies to discuss the possibility of Japan providing new generation ODA with high incentives and simple and flexible procedures for large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects in Viet Nam, including the North-South high-speed railway, urban railway construction, climate change adaptation, digital transformation, green transformation and healthcare. Both sides said they would direct ministries and agencies to accelerate progress of some current ODA projects, including Cho Ray Hospital 2 and Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien urban railway in Ho Chi Minh City. Both sides pledged to coordinate their positions over the issues of shared interest at multilateral forums like ASEAN, the United Nations, and APEC. On the East Sea issue, the two sides underlined the importance of ensuring security and safety of navigation and aviation, settling all disputes through peaceful measures on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and moving forwards to early formulation of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea./. The Ukrainian leader met with President Biden, who promised a $375 million tranche of military assistance on the last day of the.. Washington Post 21 May 2023 Thirteen Montrealers say they've been targeted by a campaign of harassment launched by the Cuban government to keep them from protesting against one-party rule on the island. Cameron Green scores a century for Mumbai Indians as they move into the IPL play-off places with a win against Sunrisers Hyderabad. SeattlePI.com 25 May 2023 China's commerce minister will hold talks with officials in the U.S. this week amid sharpening disputes over tariffs and.. Wales Online 20 May 2023 The British novelist and screenwriter was "one of the most discussed" writers of the past 50 years, The Booker Prize said Phoenix police said they found the student with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and additional ammunition in his backpack and lunch box. Upworthy 27 May 2023 The Wagner Group of mercenaries are likely to be used for further Russian operations in the Donbas region as they start their.. Here's the latest for Saturday, May 20th: Zelenskyy arrives in Hiroshima for G7 summit; Rescuers try to reach flooded Italian villages; Mariupol marks a year since capture by Russian troops; SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket. President Joe Biden says Republicans in the U.S. House must move off their extreme positions on the now-stalled talks over.. SeattlePI.com 21 May 2023 Much needless fuss has been generated by President Joe Bidens cancellation of his visit to Australia for the Quad meeting, a now regular gathering of leaders from the US, Japan, India and Australia. He had other things on his mind: dealing with fractious debt ceiling negotiations taking place back in the United States.... As the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit drew to a close in Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Friday, overseas media and individuals hailed the gathering as a milestone in developing deeper cooperation in the region, as well as a major action towards building a closer community of shared future between China and Central Asia. Chaired by China's president Xi Jinping, the two-day summit held in the historic Silk Road city of Xi'an was attended by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They expressed confidence and determination to boost cooperation with China, and voiced their support for the China-proposed initiatives on global development, security and civilization. Meanwhile, ambassadors, think tanks and media worldwide have expressed their confidence in the beneficial outcomes of this summit, as it is projected to inject more positive energy into world and regional peace, stability, development and prosperity. Among the five Central Asian countries, China and Kyrgyzstan share a border of over a thousand kilometers, and people of the two countries have been interacting with each other since the days of the great ancient Silk Road, according to Aktilek Musaeva, Kyrgyz ambassador to China. In an interview with CGTN, Musaeva said that Xi's call for building a community with a shared future for mankind "deserves to be supported through concrete economic and cultural projects." "So we understand the initiative as it closely relates to us," she said. Adil Kaukenov, a research fellow from the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KazISS), said that the China-Central Asia Summit is a "major event" and holds great significance in the development of bilateral relations. Selcuk Colakoglu, the director of the Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, has long been focused on China's relations with the Central Asian countries. He said that the summit is a milestone in guiding new perspectives and policies in the post-pandemic world and further strengthening cooperation. An article published on Brazil's Forum magazine website pointed out that the meeting is considered a milestone in high-level interactions between leaders of China and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It also highlighted Xi's address at the virtual summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Central Asian countries in January 2022 that "the key to the successful cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries over the past three decades lies in our enduring commitment to mutual respect, good-neighborly friendship, solidarity in difficult times and mutual benefit." Deepening cooperation for development China and the Central Asian countries will take the 10th anniversary of Belt and Road cooperation as a new starting point and make efforts to build better synergy among development strategies to form a new cooperation paradigm featuring high-level complementarity and mutual benefit, Xi said Friday when meeting the press following the successful conclusion of the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit. China's trade with the five countries reached $70 billion in 2022, up over 100 times since diplomatic ties were established. The trade structure has improved over the years. Last year, China's imports of agricultural, energy and mineral products from the five countries jumped over 50 percent from a year earlier, while exports of mechanical and electronic products to them increased by 42 percent. Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of the Delovoy Kazakhstan newspaper, a leading Kazakh publication, reported on the two-day summit. He believes that the event will help open up a new chapter for the region, delivering broader prospects for cooperation between China and Central Asia, and pointed to the proposals for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway as an example of the strong cooperation potential that exists between all sides. "I would say the cooperation between China and five Central Asian countries is very important. They will enhance mutual trust in politics and in the economy and build closer connections." Korzhumbayev told China Media Group. "Kazakhstan's neighbors, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, also have an ambitious plan. They are working on a new logistics route, which is the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. I think the summit will touch on these important topics as the leaders of six countries gather here for this historical event," he said. Canada will support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary in its conflict with Russia, including the training of Ukrainian soldiers and possibly pilots, Canadian Prime Upworthy 22 May 2023 Russia may have effectively captured the symbolic prize of Bakhmut, but in many ways the battle for the city might only just be.. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Bakhmut was "only in our hearts," hours after Russia's defence ministry reported that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized the city in Eastern Ukraine. Alberta authorities hope cooler temperatures and showers forecast for the coming week will help firefighters battling blazes in the oil-rich Canadian province, although storms could complicate efforts. Amid hot, dry conditions, forecasters were tracking a front likely to move into the province on #alberta #christietucker #albertawildfire #minnesota #nebraska #illinois #wisconsin #wyoming #utah #colorado (RFE/RL) -- Russia claims it has taken full control of Bakhmut, the epicenter of the war in eastern Ukraine over the past several months, in what would be Moscows first major victory since last summer. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ukrainian commanders disputed the declaration, saying fighting still continues... Blood in his tragedies could still turn the river Avon red and all the perfumes of Arabia will not be enough to sweeten its waters again. Be it the 'to be, or not to be' Hamletian hamartia, the 'sinned against than sinning' King Lear, the 'fair is foul, foul is fair' Macbeth or the 'Et tu, Brute' Julius Caesar, the Bard of Avon has always been the King of tragedies. A few centuries later and several seas away from Avon, a 'Red' government in Kerala has also been nurturing a strange affair with tragedies for the past seven years. It even won an election pitching itself as a 'Super Hero' in the times of tragedies. It all began with a 'tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning' in 2017, almost 18 months after the Left government took charge in 'God's own country'. A Shakespearean Tempest-like cyclone, named Ockhi (eye) by Bangladesh, ripped through the southern tip of the state, leaving a trail of destruction and distress. Almost new in the saddle, the government swung into action and the fast rescue and relief operations won accolades from all quarters. Tragedy struck again in 2018 when the regime was about to celebrate the second anniversary of its coronation. This time it came in the form of a bat in a well in Kozhikode district. (Even the Bard was not kind to the echolocation small mammal as he always linked it to witchcraft.) The government immediately declared a war on the bat-borne Nipah virus and won it with flying colours. This victory brought in global recognition for the state and its people. Months after this, calamities rained on the state with a deluge in Biblical scale drowning houses across districts in 2018, reminding people of the famous line: "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods..." A small device called smartphone played the role of Noah's Ark and Good Samaritans were aplenty to take the sinking land to safety this time. By now, laurels had become a habit for the government. Tragedy struck in 2018 when the LDF regime was about to celebrate the second anniversary of its coronation. Photo: Manorama Two years on, the mother of all pandemics hit the world in 2020. The state rose to the occasion and showed the world how to fight the virus and tame it. The daily sunset television appearances of the government's head and his reassuring words proved to be an elixir of life for the people. The 'Corona kits' turned out to be a cornucopia of food and beverages for the masses. For the government, a flood of international honours followed. At the end of over a year of life behind 'masks', came elections. By then, the ruling comrades had become 'saviours' and their leader a 'Super Hero'. Victory was just a formality for them. Two years on, mother of all pandemics hit the world in 2020. The state rose to the occasion and showed the world how to fight the virus and tame it. Photo: Manorama The second innings of the ruling brigade began with a tragedy for the old guards except the Super Hero. All of them lost their jobs. With the new faces and new vigour, the script for the second term brought in a few twists to the plot. The narrative of tragedy made way for a series of comedy of errors (biryani vessels, Magsaysay award, Life Mission, AI cameras...) Still, the regime's tryst with tragedies continued. An overcrowded boat capsized at Tanur in Malappuram district on May 7, killing 22 people. This accident occurred when the ruling front was facing some real heat from the Opposition and media for the now-infamous camera scam, which threatened to expose the underbelly of corruption in the government. The regime's tryst with tragedies continued. An overcrowded boat capsized at Tanur in Malappuram district on May 7, killing 22 people. Photo: Manorama Minutes after the boat tragedy, the media shifted its cameras to Tanur for three days, giving the government's AI cameras an intelligent burial. That was some providential escape for a government on its second anniversary. Maybe, this is also a lesson for the media not to allow a flood of tears to blur or drown its own vision. Nota bene: With the 2024 Lok Sabha polls round the corner, will comrades bank on tragedies again or the result itself will be their tragedy? About a year-and-a-half before I was born down in midtown, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech up at Riverside Church called Beyond Vietnam. "A nation that continues year after year," he said, "to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." He was well aware that the military was not being used in defense, but the language of war acceptance was by that point well-established. Now here we are over a half-century later, having long-ago approached, greeted, and gone beyond spiritual death, and we're looking back from beyond the grave. We're here. We're moving and speaking. But can we be said to be alive in a manner that's sustainable for more than a split-second in the great scheme of things? We're looking back from a world locked in a path to nuclear war, a path that points beyond nuclear war "" should some great fortune or effort avoid it "" to a slightly slower environmental destruction and collapse. We're looking back from a moment when the world's worst warmakers and weapons dealers have gathered in Hiroshima to tell us that war and weapons manufacture are a public service, and that they will do their duty and provide us ever more of that service. "A time comes when silence is betrayal," said Dr. King launching his words forward to our time when we can only long with great envy for silence, having grown accustomed to so much worse. When Dr. King made that speech, the U.S. military exaggerated upward and bragged about how many people it was killing, as a sign of progress. Today it kills and tells us it is saving lives, spreading democracy, providing a charitable benefit to humanity out of shear generosity. The more U.S. news you consume, the stupider you become. Give me silence, please! The trouble is that people sometimes believe what they're told. People imagine that, as has not been true for over 80 years, the majority of the dying and suffering in wars is done by the military invading and occupying a country. I mean, not if Russia does it. Then the vast bulk of the victims "" the people who live in Ukraine "" are standing in a spotlight. But in U.S. wars, the bombs are imagined to explode gently at eye-level with little flowers and Constitutions fluttering out. In reality, of those killed in U.S. wars "" or U.S. proxy wars for that matter "" the U.S. deaths are no more than a few percent, and when we consider those indirectly killed by the destruction of nations, the U.S. deaths become a fraction of one percent. War is one-sided slaughter. But if we return to the idea of spending something on programs of social uplift, then the deaths and injuries and suffering multiply manyfold and are anywhere on Earth, including right here, that we could have spent the money instead of spending it on organized murder. If Dr. King had not been murdered one year after that speech, we cannot know what he would have said today, assuming the world to be as it is today. But we can be fairly sure he would have said it into a black hole of media censorship and wild accusations of being in the employ of Vladimir Putin. He could conceivably have said something slightly similar to this (if we excerpt and modify and add to his speech from 1967): It should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of the world today can ignore the path that led to the war in Ukraine, or the two sides, not one, that are struggling to prevent peace. And as I ponder the madness of Ukraine and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that country and of the Crimean peninsula. They must see Americans as strange liberators. They voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia following a U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine. No one proposes that they vote again. No one proposes that they be persuaded to vote differently. Instead, they are to be retaken by force, whether they like it or not, and whether or not it brings on a nuclear war and a nuclear winter from which no one will ever recover. Russia remembers how U.S. leaders have refused to tell us the truth about earlier negotiations for peace, how the president has claimed that none existed when they clearly did. Many of the world's governments are urging peace, and the U.S. government is providing fighter jets and an insistance on war. We need the U.S. goverment to reverse course, to end weapons shipments, to cease the enlargement of military alliances, to support a ceasefire, and to allow negotiations with compromise and verifiable steps by both sides so that a modicum of trust can be restored. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings, of filling the world's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of leaving men, women, and children physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to humankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. Dr. King was something of the best in this society. We should listen. Hannity spars with Marianne Williamson: 'What the hell does that mean?' Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson joins 'Hannity' to react; spar on policy differences. #foxnews #hannity ... (Image by YouTube, Channel: Fox News) Details DMCA Readings for Ascension Sunday: Acts 1: 1-11; Psalm 47: 2-3, 6-9; Ephesians 1: 17-23; Matthew 28:16-20 The readings for this Seventh Sunday of Easter (Ascension Sunday) should be thought provoking for people with ethical concerns around our upcoming presidential election. In that context, they illustrate the mainstream tendency to domesticate the radical social justice teachings of Yeshua of Nazareth - a tendency vigorously resisted by candidate Marianne Williamson. The tendency in question stemmed from an early church interested in softening Jesus' identity as firebrand advocate of social justice who was executed by Rome as an anti-imperial insurgent. Intent on making peace with Roman imperialism, Christianity's early message sometimes bordered on "You have nothing to fear from us. We're not troublemakers. The two of us can get along. We're not interested in politics." The process is especially noteworthy these days when social justice advocate, Marianne Williamson, raises questions of equity on specifically spiritual grounds. As a longtime teacher of A Course in Miracles (ACIM) that centralizes the voice of Jesus, Ms. Williamson constantly does so in the context of her own insurgent campaign to unseat Joe Biden as president of the United States. In that context too, Christians have domesticated Jesus. As a result, Ms. Williamson's policy positions are portrayed as kooky and incomprehensible even by professed Christians who don't understand Jesus' program (Luke 4:14-22) as well as Williamson does. That was illustrated two weeks ago when the candidate appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox news program. (See video at the top of this posting.) In their exchange Hannity ended up specifically advocating the domesticated Jesus. Meanwhile, Ms. Williamson (without directly referencing Jesus) proposed a political spirituality concerned with Spirit, love, equity, and social justice. To show you what I mean, let me compare the Jewish Ms. Williamson's understanding of faith with that of the professed Catholic Sean Hannity. Then I'll show how the roots of the two versions are found in today's readings. Finally, allow me to draw an important conclusion relative to the current presidential campaign. Hannity's Interview To begin with, Hannity was completely rude. He hardly let his invited guest get a word in edgewise. His questions were all gotcha queries. For instance, he tried to associate Ms. Williamson's call for a wealth tax on Americans earning more than $50 million per year ($50 million!!) with Communism's motto "From each according to his ability to each according to his need." He said the concept came from Karl Marx. [Too bad Ms. Williamson hadn't read my homily of a month ago. She would have been able to counter that the concept originates not from Marx, but from the Acts of the Apostles. (See ACTS 2: 45, 4: 35, 11: 29.)] Of course, Hannity's bullying style of constant interruption and talking over his guests was absolutely to be expected. That's what he does. However, in terms of today's homily, what was most interesting was the exchange between the Fox News host and Ms. Williamson about faith. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). May 25, 2023, marks the third anniversary of the choking slaying of George Floyd by then Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The passage of time and the date are important for two reasons. One, it was the month that ex-Marine Daniel Penny choked homeless, mentally challenged, Jordan Neely to death. The second was the use of the deadly chokehold. It ignited rage, anger, and a national debate once more on the use of the chokehold and the potentially deadly consequence of it. Fueling the debate and anger, the victims of the chokehold have been almost all African American men. The chokehold has every appearance of being a racially skewed lethal tactic targeting Black men. Following the choking death of Eric Garner in 2014, some police departments publicly declared that they did not use the chokehold. They waved and cited inter-department regulation after regulation to prove that they barred the use of the hold, didn't teach it to officers, and that many officers themselves said they wouldn't know how to use it anyway. That part, namely teaching the proper use of the technique, was certainly true. However, the chokehold is still in widespread use in police departments. It has many vigorous defenders. They give a litany of reasons why the chokehold is supposedly a vital weapon in law enforcement's arsenal. One police department, though not American, has a long and storied reputation as a model of police efficiency. That is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It too was concerned about the potentially deadly effect of the use of the chokehold. In June 2020, one month after Floyd's death, the RCMP commissioned a study on the use of the chokehold. In the meantime, it decided not to bar the use of the hold. It presented the by-then-stock reasons police officials gave for its continued use. The first was to assure that the chokehold was used only when there was the threat of grave injury, or bodily harm to the officer or someone else from an assailant. The second reason was that the department, mindful of Chauvin's placement of his knee on Floyd's neck, took great pains to insist that it did not teach or endorse any technique where officers put a knee on a suspect's neck or head. RCMP officials were careful to state that the department used the chokehold in only a tiny number of cases. The number they cited, though, was much too small to determine if a neck restraint whether used properly or not was a safe technique to de-escalate an encounter. It is a far different matter though with many U.S. police departments. The substantial number of lawsuits brought by victims of the chokehold against departments at various times over the years before and after Garners' slaying show that some departments and officers do use the chokehold or a variant of it to subdue suspects. The U.S. Supreme Court made that possible. Nearly four decades earlier in 1983, it could have ended the use of the chokehold. It didn't. It rejected a lawsuit by Adolph Lyons, a young African American motorist, who was subjected to a chokehold by an LAPD officer following a traffic stop. The court ruled in a five to four decision against sustaining an injunction sought to bar its use. SCOTUS Justice Thurgood Marshall in his dissenting opinion was prescient in how the chokehold would cause much legal mischief in the decades to come. "Since no one can show that he will be choked in the future, no one - not even a person who, like Lyons, has almost been choked to death - has standing to challenge the continuation of the policy. The city is free to continue the policy indefinitely, as long as it is willing to pay damages for the injuries and deaths that result." Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley agreed. In his book, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights, proved Marshall more than correct. He noted, "To give one example: George Floyd died in Minneapolis from police use of the chokehold. Eric Garner died in New York City from police use of a chokehold. Many others, especially Black men, have died from police use of the chokehold. One would wonder: Why hasn't the Supreme Court said that the chokehold violates the Constitution, that there have been lawsuits trying to enjoin police use of the chokehold?" This is the question that remains both puzzling, frustrating, and largely unanswered on the issue of police reform. It's a question, sadly, that the SCOTUS and other courts have answered with their rulings and decisions to permit the continued use of the chokehold. It's a question, equally sadly answered by many police departments in the U.S. that refuse to bar the use of the chokehold. In the meantime, the Floyds and Neely's continue to be the victims of its use. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book, The Chokehold (Monthly Review Press). He is the host of the weekly Earl Ofari Hutchinson Show on KPFK-Radio 9 AM Saturdays and the Pacifica Network. He is the publisher of thehutchinsonreport.net Portland police have identified Jose Valentin Perez, 30, of Portland, as the man shot and killed on Mothers Day in the Cully neighborhood. Officers responded to reports of a shooting at 3:34 a.m. Sunday, May 14 in the 6500 block of Northeast Killingsworth Street. They found two men and one woman injured when they arrived. One of the men was taken to the hospital, where he later died. A medical examiner determined Perez died from a gunshot wound and ruled his death a homicide, police said. It is the 34th or 35th homicide this year; its unclear what caused a mans death on April 30. Police are still investigating the crime and ask anyone with information to contact Detective Steve Gandy at Stephen.Gandy@police.portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-0449 or Detective Calvin Goldring at Calvin.Goldring@police.portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-0256 and reference case number 23-125743. The Oregonian/OregonLive BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. President of Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva expressed condolences to former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Trend reports. "Your Excellency, It is with deep grief that we have received the news of passing away of your wife, dear friend Alma Adamkiene. We share your sorrow over this grievous loss, and extend our deep condolences to You, all your family members and wish patience," the letter said. In nonpartisan school board races across Oregon this spring, particularly in the Portland-area exurbs, candidates backing a nationally field-tested Republican strategy calling for more parental control of school curriculum and materials largely came up short. Prime examples were in Canby and Newberg, on the fringes of the Portland -metro area, which have been home to politically charged battles over banning books and Black Lives Matters signage. Voters largely lined up behind candidates who rallied behind protections for LGBTQ+ students rights and the ability of educators to teach freely about the countrys complicated history with race. Voters in the large districts of Salem, Hillsboro and Bend also elected progressive candidates championing equity initiatives and free access to information over opponents calling for back-to-basics approaches to academics and discipline and more parent control. Julie Marsh, a professor of education and public policy at the University of Southern California, said the trend isnt only hitting Oregon. She said the failure of a so-called red wave to materialize nationally last November, plus school board election results in the suburbs of Chicago, Milwaukee, Missouri and Oklahoma this spring, mark a slowdown in the momentum of what she called the culture war campaigns. Groups that have been endorsing and training candidates, like the Moms for Liberty and the 1776 Project, theyve acknowledged that theyve lost more than they have won, Marsh said. The question is why. I think its because (their opponents) at the local level are getting more savvy. The unions are getting involved, and working with community-based organizations, and people are starting to recognize the politicization of their schools. In Oregon, that certainly was the case in Newberg. There and in other districts around the state, both sides had independent advocacy groups willing to spend big on their behalf. For instance, the Oregon Family Council, which works to turn out Christian voters, has reported spending more than $230,000 this year, including nearly $60,000 in the waning days of the election. With any movement you start building, you have some wins and some losses, said Reagan Knopp, a former political director of Oregon Right to Life and the son of Republican Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp of Bend. Knopp, the parent of two preschool-aged children, lives in Albany and helps run a political action committee there that propelled two school board candidates to victory. He pointed to a recent survey by Portland pollsters DHM Research that found that 60% of respondents favored a blanket ban on the provision of gender transitioning care to anyone under 18 as evidence that the parents rights cause has public sentiment on its side. When you look at the broad politics of Oregon today, parents rights is a big issue, Knopp said. Once voters get more fully informed, they will change their minds. Will it happen overnight? Probably not. Its a slow burn. The parents rights cause is adjacent to one that GOP senators in Salem are staking their careers on now, after walking out of the legislative session in protest of a bill that would allow all minors to get an abortion or gender affirming care without parental notification, a change from current practice which requires that teens must be at least 15 to do so. Those boycotts have come despite a new voter-approved provision of the state constitution that bans legislators from serving in the Legislature next term if they rack up more than 10 unexcused absences during a single session. Republican officials have said they intend to challenge that provision in court. Parental rights is also a cause that Republican governors and lawmakers in states including Florida, Arizona and Virginia have successfully campaigned on in previous election cycles, particularly at the apex of the pandemic when many parents and other caregivers were furious over the prolonged closure of school buildings. And the movements core tenets resonated this year with voters in some Oregon communities, including Crook County, Gresham-Barlow, Silverton and Albany, where the last remaining progressive member of the school board lost his seat. But in most Oregon communities where conservative and progressive candidates faced off, the progressives prevailed. Stand for Children, a nonprofit group that primarily advocates for students of color and improved educational attainment, banded together with the Oregon Education Association, the Coalition of Communities of Color and PCUN, Oregons largest farmworker union, to pinpoint school board races across the state where they felt they needed to counter the anti public school push by extremist candidates, said Sarah Pope, the organizations executive director. They then divided up the races, to make sure they werent duplicating financial support. Pope said the effort paid off. Thirty-two of the 34 candidates that her group endorsed and spent money on won their seats. In some cases, like in McMinnville, political control of the board was at stake, she said. In others, like Salem-Keizer, wins by candidates that drew support from labor unions and progressive organizations shored up existing board majorities. Newberg is Oregons highest profile example of a district where newly organized union leaders and progressive activists pulled off a political reversal. There, three incumbents lost their seats in Tuesdays election, ending a two-year period during which that district has attracted national attention as a majority of board members banned staff from posting Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ rights signs in classrooms or hallways. Efforts in 2022 to recall two of those conservative members had failed. The five candidates who won seats on the board this week three against incumbents and two for open seats were all supported by a political action committee called Oregon CARES that says its mission is to elect responsible and equitable community leaders. That PACs largest single donor was the state teachers union. When the five new board members are seated in July, they will flip ideological control of the officially nonpartisan board from conservative to progressive. It will be a sea-change for the Yamhill County school districts board, which in addition to its ban on political displays, fired its superintendent in 2021. Two of the boards more liberal-learning members resigned in protest about a year ago and many high-level administrators quit. Meanwhile, the districts legal costs mounted as it faced lawsuits from former students, a teacher and its teachers union. In January, the district rescinded its ban on political signage, after a Yamhill County judge ruled that it was unconstitutional. In Canby, where the school boards decision to pull books from school libraries for at least many months has roiled the community and inspired student body protests, three candidates who supported the book bans lost their races, including two incumbents. In Oregon City, four candidates who ran together as a slate called #Strong4OCSchools and espoused progressive values and a firm belief that public education is essential all won their races, edging out ideologically opposed candidates. In the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, candidates traditionally supported by Democratic groups will have a 4-1 edge on the board starting in July, after retired educator Dan Schumaker defeated business owner Amy Nichols with 64% of the vote. Voters in the Hillsboro, Beaverton and North Clackamas school districts also all sided with candidates who had support from left-leaning organizations, from local teachers unions and Democratic county committees to political action committees run by Planned Parenthood and Basic Rights Oregon. The Gresham-Barlow School District is one metro-area exception. There, the board will retain what incumbent Shawn Farrens called its center-right orientation, after three labor-backed candidates all lost their races Tuesday. In Albany, in the mid-Willamette Valley, the impact of a shift in control on the school board was immediately apparent in 2021, when a conservative majority supported by the powerful longtime Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist came into office and almost immediately dismissed Superintendent Melissa Goff, now an education adviser to Gov. Tina Kotek. On Tuesday, Michael Thomson, the last progressive-leaning member of the Albany board, lost his bid for re-election to Sean Taylor. Taylor was one of two candidates supported by Nyquist and the Albany First political action committee, which spent nearly $30,000 on the races and is run by Reagan Knopp. Thomson said hes worried that his ouster will result in less pushback and internal questioning on the school boards future choices. One of the hallmarks of equity in education is looking at who is affected by a policy, like do kids of color face more suspensions and then spend more time being assigned to Saturday school? he said. [The current make-up of the school board] doesnt want to talk about that. They want to reinstitute harsh discipline behaviors, but not look at who that falls on. Julia Silverman, @jrlsilverman, jsilverman@oregonian.com A high scream cut through the crowd, followed quickly by a bassy rumble that rattled the bones. Aircraft hurtled through the sky in Hillsboro for the Oregon International Air Show Saturday, and a voice over the speakers let everyone know exactly what was going on. But for aviation enthusiasts whose first language isnt English, the show can be confusing. The call signs and acrobatics go unnamed, and they know little about the pilot in the cockpit. To help make the show more accessible for Spanish speaking Oregonians, the air show is offering live translation, making it the first to do so in the United States, according to Graciela Tiscareno-Sato, one of the Spanish announcers. If youre a Spanish speaking person, sometimes the best you can do is Oh, what a neat purple airplane, Tiscareno-Sato said. But you dont know who the pilot is, you dont know their story, or the maneuvers. Tiscareno-Sato is an U.S. Air Force veteran and author of a childrens book series called Captain Mama. The books aim to inspire young Spanish speaking populations to pursue a career in aviation. Its Tiscareno-Satos second year attending air shows as Captain Mama, a name that stuck after her son spotted her in a flight suit. She had a booth at the air show Saturday, offering book signings and pictures in Air Force flight suits. Theres this belief that if you dont speak the language, then you cant be the aviator, said Tiscareno-Sato. We want to make it so its not out of reach. The show is offering a Spanish livestream on Facebook or people can tune in on KZZR 94.3, a Spanish speaking radio station hosted by Martin Zotelo. Jose Avila, who came to the air show with his wife and kids, said having the option to tune in in your native language can make a difference in engagement. Hes been going to the show for the last ten years, and while he speaks English, Avila recognizes that not everyone in the crowd knows whats going on. Its pretty cool to hear, Avila said. Not everyone out here speaks the language, so having the Spanish available could really help the experience. This is the second time the Oregon air show has made history, after it exclusively featured female pilots last year. Hundreds of people took the air show floor Saturday, spanning a large portion of the Hillsboro Airport. The path to the main runway was lined with tables from colleges, sponsors, military recruiters and a variety of aircraft. Mikenna Romero, whos long dreamt of becoming a pilot herself, came to the show with her young son, Leo. Shes gone to airshows most of her life and was elated to be able to share that experience. Its one of the coolest things Ive been able to do with him, she said. The air show will continue Sunday, running from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with planes taking off at 12:30 p.m. Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744 Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe. A transgender girl in Mississippi is not participating in her high school graduation ceremony because school officials told her to dress like a boy and a federal judge did not block the officials decision, an attorney for the girls family said Saturday. Linda Morris, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Unions Womens Rights Project, said the ruling handed down late Friday by U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel in Gulfport, Mississippi, is as disappointing as it is absurd. City of Portland and state wildlife officials are warning visitors to the 5,200 acres of Forest Park to be on the lookout for a black bear or bears that have been spotted at least three times over the past several days. Visitors to the park late last week reported seeing a black bear at three locations: near Northwest 53rd Drive; along the area of Upper Saltzman and Fire Lane 5; and along the Leif Erickson Trail, a wide gravel path thats especially popular with walkers, runners and cyclists. Its not clear if its the same bear or different bears that have been spotted. City officials have posted warning signs around the 80 miles of hiking trails through the park. They advise people who encounter bears not to run, to avoid eye contact, to make themselves look large and to make noise. Loud noise in the first place can avoid a run-in altogether. So can hiking in groups because groups tend to generate more noise, too. Dogs should be kept on leashes, which already is a rule in the park. State wildlife officials have asked Portland parks employees to post signs warning of a black bear in Forest Park. While bears in Forest Park are not unheard of, the ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife) says it is unique to have this many sightings over a short period of time, the city posted on its Parks & Recreation Facebook page. However, the ecology of Forest Park is hospitable to them. Anyone who sees a bear in the park should call the departments Sauvie Island office at 503-621-3488. The office is only open on weekdays. -- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe Former Secretary of State Shemia Fagans self-enrichment scheme tainted not only her reputation, but that of the office she was elected to serve. Unfortunately, those leading the office since her resignation are giving Oregonians new reasons to question the agencys credibility. In her first significant decision as the acting secretary of state, Cheryl Myers slashed a proposed fine against the Democratic Party of Oregon for misreporting a $500,000 donation the organizations single-largest ever. The move helped hide the identity of the true donor, now-disgraced cryptocurrency executive Nishad Singh, for weeks and was corrected only after repeated inquiries by The Oregonian/OregonLives Hillary Borrud. Despite the seriousness of the incident, Myers cut the proposed $35,000 fine to just $15,000 and pledged to drop a criminal investigation into whether the party knowingly gave a false name unless new evidence merits it. In exchange, the Democratic Party of Oregon pledged to submit a detailed summary of training and practices adopted to prevent future mistakes; provide documents when asked to verify contributions; and face additional fines if it fails to meet these and other modest obligations. In a call with The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board, Myers claimed that the settlement serves the public interest by giving the agency greater oversight to ensure better compliance and marks a win for transparency. But in reality, transparency, oversight and the public interest appear to have little to do with this case. Rather, a deeper look at the relationships, the investigation and the kid-glove settlement raises significant questions about the ability of Democrats to hold accountable their own party. And the reduction in fine which Gov. Tina Kotek panned in a call with the editorial board is a disheartening decision that undermines efforts to rebuild trust in the agency. Consider first the relationships. Fagan, who resigned earlier this month over a $10,000-a-month side contract she took, received thousands in contributions from the Democratic Party of Oregon. In addition, she hired Molly Woon, the groups former deputy director, to head the secretary of states elections division. Woon did not recuse herself from oversight of the investigation. But the connections dont end there. The Democratic Party of Oregon, unsurprisingly, has donated and/or received thousands of dollars to and from Democrats currently in office, including Gov. Tina Kotek and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. In fact, Rosenblum, whose office is authorized to take on campaign finance complaints and oversees criminal prosecutions, has given the Democratic Party of Oregon more than $100,000 over the years, including $2,500 just last month money that may very well be used to help the organization pay its fine. Also unsurprising? Rosenblum has no plans currently to pursue a criminal investigation into the Democratic party, her spokesman said. Such tight relationships help explain why Oregon law tries to build in independence in investigating possible campaign finance violations. Under ORS 260.345, complaints involving a political committee that supports the candidacy of the secretary of state are to be transferred to the attorney general. Another section of the law allows for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to pursue criminal violations if the attorney general is similarly supported by the political committee under investigation. But that didnt happen in this case. Ben Morris, spokesman for the secretary of states office, contends that a handoff to a neutral party was unnecessary because Fagan, not a filed complaint, initiated the inquiry. However, attorney and campaign finance expert Dan Meek notes that the law instructs the elections office to investigate possible violations as if it had received a complaint. Regardless, the extraordinary financial connections between the party and top elected officials should merit the common sense to tap an independent entity to handle the case. The investigation which has not yet been released and the narrative released by the secretary of states office also provide the public a limited picture. In its findings of fact, the secretary of states office lays out a partial sequence of events that led to the statewide party reporting on Oct. 9 that it had received a $500,000 donation from Prime Trust, a cryptocurrency services firm that provides wire transfers. Among the evidence it cites: the wire transfer lists Prime Trust as the originator. However, the same document, which the secretary of states office provided at the editorial boards request, includes a key section that identifies Singh as the originator and notes that the money is being sent by Signature Bank a detail not mentioned in the election divisions findings of fact. While Morris said that line does not necessarily provide clear evidence that the Democratic Party of Oregon knew that Singh was the donor, the omission from one of the few publicly released explanations gives a misleading picture to Oregonians. It also begs the question: Did the party bother to do any research into what Prime Trust is and recognize that wire transfers are part of its business? The secretary of states findings leave out other key pieces of information that could shed light on what party officials knew. For example, they do not specify when and how the fundraiser solicited a donation from Singh. They also dont disclose that the correction to the donors name occurred only after The Oregonian/OregonLives Hillary Borrud repeatedly sought information from both the party and Prime Trust about the massive contribution. Its questionable how thorough the investigation itself may be. The elections manager relied on interviews and documents provided by the Democratic Party of Oregons lawyer and Singhs lawyer rather than speaking directly with the individuals who solicited and reported the campaign contribution. Robust investigations draw from interviews with primary sources not information filtered through an attorney. And finally, while Myers hails the resolution for the extra oversight the elections division will have over the Democratic Party of Oregon through the 2024 election, the settlement requirements seem more geared for a novice organization learning the ropes than a statewide political juggernaut whose core responsibilities include factual reporting of campaign contributions. If Myers truly believes the misreporting stemmed from poor practices in verifying donors, then her office should be examining all major past transactions reported by the party. The fact that the Democratic Party of Oregon would strangely err in reporting the donor of its single biggest campaign contribution ever should alarm regulators, not generate sympathy. The secretary of states office did make one criminal referral, requesting that the Oregon justice department pursue charges against Singh, who has already pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the FTX collapse. He also recently testified to making political contributions with money from FTX customers. But putting everything on Singh rather than requiring professional, accurate reporting by the Democratic Party of Oregon is a cop-out. Oregon is one of the only states in the country without campaign contribution limits, and the only protection for Oregonians comes from an elections division that is willing to hold all political players accountable even friends. In talking with the editorial board, Kotek said the settlement reinforced in her mind the need to appoint a replacement for Fagan who can rebuild trust. Credibility could not be more crucial. She should act promptly to protect what remains. -The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board Sign up for our free Oregon Opinion newsletter. Email: There was a time, not so long ago, when the horror of a mass school shooting was an extraordinary, almost unheard-of event. That was the case 25 years ago when Kip Kinkel opened fire in Thurston High Schools cafeteria. The Oregonians newsroom leaped into action. The anniversary of the May 21, 1998, shooting in Springfield reminds me of how much has changed and how much remains the same. OregonLive was a tiny startup, barely a year old. The Oregonian was a print juggernaut. The Friday paper that would carry the news totaled more than 250 pages. Reporters had rudimentary flip phones but not smartphones with computer capabilities that are common today. Google, now ubiquitous, launched later in 1998. I had been named managing editor just weeks earlier. When I heard of the shooting, Quinton Smith was my first call. I was the assignment editor at The O, which meant getting to the office about 7-7:30, he recalled. I was driving into work from Damascus, where we lived, when you called me. One reporter on the way to an assignment in Salem heard the news and immediately changed course. Dana Tims, about to move to Portland but still living in Eugene, had just hit Interstate 5 and quickly turned around. We sent waves of reporters and photographers on the two-hour drive to the Eugene area. Katy Muldoon recalls sharing a car with then Metro columnist Steve Duin. I dropped Steve at the school and I headed to the Kinkels neighborhood, an upscale, woodsy subdivision in the hills east of Springfield, she said. Reporters gathered in front of the familys home as police swarmed the place. Suddenly, we were urgently asked to move way down the street. We later learned that the urgency was because police had found the house, where Kip Kinkels parents were found murdered, had been booby trapped wired to explode. Automotive editor Jerry Boone was in the newsroom early so he went as well. We broke about every speed limit there was on the way down. I forget who the photographer was, but his fingernails were probably a permanent part of the cars dashboard by the time we got there, he said. I remember the scene as being one of horrible confusion and crying kids, Boone said. We talked to a couple of them, but most of them were in shock. Kinkel, 15, mainly used a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle, killing two students and wounding 25 others. I shudder to think how many would have died had he used the powerful weapons todays mass shooters tend to favor. Newly minted regional editor Bridget Otto remembers running up the stairs to the fourth-floor newsroom with her to-go cup of coffee. She ran the coverage from Portland with crime team editor Susan Gage. There was no checking Twitter for minute-to-minute updates, let alone finding someones friends via Facebook, Otto said. You had to be there and get the news yourself. Gage underscored the limitations of 1998. No shared documents or folders that people could work out of from multiple locations. No way to file a story from a phone or laptop; no ability to text quotes or information, she said. We took dictation over the phone. Reporters called in snippets of information, quotes from interviews theyd gathered, and we typed them into files so the writers in the newsroom could follow other leads and start assembling stories. Smith had long thought the newsroom struggled with major breaking news events when editors and reporters were far apart. When you called that morning, I suggested that this would be a good time to send reporters and at least one editor and photo editor and set up a mobile newsroom, he said. You said, Do it. He arranged to rent a conference room and 10 hotel rooms at the Springfield Red Lion, near Thurston. The newsroom IT manager, John Hamlin, grabbed 10 desktop computers, yards of cable and other devices, put them in his truck and headed out. When Smith got to the hotel, he asked for an open phone to the downtown Portland newsroom. It would run 24/7. Maxine Bernstein had just joined The Oregonian staff, and that day happened to be her turn as general assignment breaking news reporter. She packed a small overnight bag and headed south. I drove straight to Thurston High and remember just a state of confusion she said. Police were putting together a list of students or staff who were wounded and taken to the hospital -- worried parents clamoring to learn if their child was safe or not, or at the hospital -- and students trying to reunite with their parents who raced to the school upon learning of the shooting. She called in updates to the makeshift Red Lion newsroom. I had a pager, a heavy gray cell phone and couplers with a mobile computer, she said. It wasnt like today, Gage said, where every reporter has a cell phone that could serve as their mobile computer with their own ability to take photos, videos, write stories, send them in, text information for follow-up. In another reminder of how things have changed in the last quarter-century, Smith remembers a conversation with Dick Johnston, assistant to the editor, a budget hawk who loved to wield his red rejected stamp on expense reports. About a month after the shooting, he called. Quinton, can I see you in my office for a minute? This is not usually good news, Smith said dryly. He sat down and Johnston slid a phone bill from the Springfield Red Lion across the desk. The total at the bottom? $32,000. Smiths first words were, Oh, crap. He was pretty sure hed be paying it off $100 a month over the rest of his career. Then he asked if Publisher Fred Stickel had seen it. Yes, said Johnston. What did he say? Smith asked. Keep covering the news, Johnston replied. Smith made a hasty exit. For many of us, the Thurston shooting was the biggest story -- by far -- wed ever covered. There was shock that day and in the days after. There were tears in the newsroom and secondary trauma from talking to survivors and grieving family members. For reporter Muldoon, one of her strongest memories was an interview with an emergency room manager the next day. He found an empty exam room and closed the door. He sat on the exam table as I took the doctors stool, she said. He quietly started to answer questions about the chaotic, bloody emergency department scene the previous day. Students gunshot wounds were so gruesome he couldnt bring himself to describe in detail exactly how bullets ravage flesh and organs, but explained that nothing is as devastating to a human body. Everyone in the hospital worked long past their regular hours, trying to save the wounded. Finally, he headed home, Muldoon said. He parked his car and, as he made his way up his front path, he heard a voice from above, asking if he was OK. It was his young son, perched in a tree limb. The boy told him, Im up here if you need me, Dad, she said. Describing that small detail set off a flood of tears, first his, then mine. If the world is as it should be, that little boy would be around 30 now. Columbine happened a year later. Then, a seemingly unending series of mass shootings, including three more in Oregon, up to the present. The headlines from the next days newspaper foreshadow years of headlines to come: Most adults missed warning signs. Search for roots of youth violence often futile. And, Lawmakers may revisit gun control. As a student at an Oregon public school, I am becoming increasingly worried about the banning of books and the restricting of education going on in our communities, (The showdown over parents rights gains steam in Oregon, April 4). Many groups of parents around where I live have recently been pushing to ban books, notably ones with any mention of sex or that contain representation of the LGBTQ+ community. I believe that it is important to discuss these topics and have an exposure to a wide range of perspectives, especially for children. Acceptance starts with representation. If we remove literary representation, how can we expect to raise children who believe in equality and love above all else? As a high school student at Oregon City High School, I see discrimination and hate from people my own age every day. It saddens me that even my own peers have already turned against each other and cannot lift each other up. I fear that the banning or removal of books by school boards will only increase the polarization between my fellow students. We deserve to see ourselves in books and learn all we can. Literature gives a voice to people when they cannot speak for themselves; stifling that voice leads to misunderstanding and a lack of empathy. We must protect the integrity of learning institutions by fostering acceptance, not discrimination, and that begins with adamantly opposing the banning or restriction of books from schools. Delaney McFarland, Oregon City To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion. In any other scenario, if an employee walks off the job, most likely they would be fired after the first time. Yet, our legislators can do this nine times and get away with it, (Oregon Republicans boycott of state Capitol enters third day, May 5). This makes no sense. These crybabies should lose their job after their first walkout and the person who ran against them should be able to take their place. Whoever came up with the idea of nine walkouts being okay needs to also get another job. Joy Ruplinger, Portland To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion. This prom season, The Oregonian/OregonLive is offering a perk exclusively for subscribers: Log in, click on the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and choose Get Photo to download free print-quality images or order prints. Lakeridge High School celebrated their prom, Back to the 80s, at OakView Acres in Canby, Oregon, Saturday night. The prom featured 80s music mixed in with more current dance tunes think Michael Jackson meets SZA. Decorations hit the Spencers Gifts note with precision. The event also featured a vintage Datsun 280Z that students got to have their photos taken in. Thanks to Lakeridge for inviting us to the party. Look for more photos from other schools at oregonlive.com/prom. Beth Nakamura Instagram: @bethnakamura Twitter: @bethnakamura Rain was blowing sideways on the rocky shores of the central Oregon coast as Jamie Kish, clad in a rain jacket, leggings, and sandals with rainbow-striped socks, casually waded knee-deep through the tide pools at Bob Creek Beach. Atop her head was a wide-brimmed straw hat with a black label affixed to the front that read tide pool ambassador. Thats a title shes earned as part of her work at the Cape Perpetua Collaborative, an organization that supports the nearby Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve and educates the public about the intertidal life that needs protection. Kish, who lives in nearby Yachats, studied marine biology at Oregon State University and Oregon Coast Community College. Shes also an outdoors photographer and all-around lover of the Oregon coast, an obsession that began with family beach trips as a child, and only grew from there. For whatever reason the tide pools for me have always felt like a safe place that I can go, Kish said. Im honestly infinitely more comfortable in the tide pools than I am on a sidewalk here in town. That much was clear as she clambered, crouched and waded through the pools. At one point she pulled out a tiny purple shore crab, which scuttled in her open hand. Next was a spiny purple sea urchin, which she let us see up close. An intact mussel shell on the beach gave her the chance to talk about how sea stars slowly pry open shells with their arms and push their stomachs inside to digest the bivalves into a slurpable soup. Life in the tide pools can be brutal. As we walked, she pointed out a number of giant green anemones, some puckered up in the full exposure of low tide, others free to open their tentacles in the safety of a pool. She encouraged us to reach out a finger to grace a tiny green tentacle, which the anemone immediately retracted. When you touch it youll probably feel a little bit of a sticky sensation, thats the anemones stinging cells, Kish explained, which, while dangerous to some critters, is no threat to humans. Surrounding the tide pools, clinging to nearly every rocky surface in sight, were huge numbers of snails, blue mussels and barnacles. These life forms are well adapted to thriving on the rugged shoreline, where pounding waves crash into the jagged basalt. Some, including sea stars and snails, use parts of their bodies that act like suction cups to hold on. One type of snail, the limpet, has gone so far as to grow a conical shell that deflects the energy of a crashing wave, as well as a set of razor sharp teeth used to grind away at the rock, creating a little indentation in which it can live. Limpets also often have symbiotic relationships with scale worms, small creatures with terrifying jaws that help defend against predators. When sea stars come to eat that limpet, that scale worm will pop out and bite the starfish so it pulls back and leaves the limpet alone, Kish said. Its just a nice little built-in security system. A giant green anemone inside a small tide pool at Bob Creek Beach on the central Oregon coast.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Barnacles, snails and mussels cover the rocks at Bob Creek Beach on the central Oregon coast.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Tide pool ambassador Jamie Kish shows a purple shore crab at Bob Creek Beach on the central Oregon coast.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Mussels dont have as good a defense against sea stars, but they have evolved a terrific way to thrive in the rough ocean environment, using a strong organic material known as byssus. These byssal threads are tufts of golden fibers the creatures secrete to anchor them to rocks and to each other, forming tight-knit colonies that rope in neighboring creatures as well. Its a similar story for the seaweeds. All along the Oregon coast, long strands of kelp anchor themselves to the rocks below. Root-like growths called holdfasts tether the kelp amid the shifting tides and waves. Its a very alien environment, Kish said. Its a totally different world. Like any other ecosystem, intertidal areas contain many delicate dances of life, death and interspecies collaboration. Small changes to the environment can upend those relationships, changing the very nature of these places. Right now, there are few bigger challenges to tide pools than climate change. Kish said its unclear how (or how fast) the warming climate will affect intertidal life, but she noted these ecosystems are extremely susceptible. Recent studies have shown intertidal life to be particularly reactive to change. Its intense, Kish said. Were seeing effects already playing out. As we walked the beach at Bob Creek, Kish pointed to a dead ochre sea star on the sand. It wasnt clear why this one was dead, she said, but many of its kind have died because of a terrible wasting disease, one example of the extreme fragility of life in this ecosystem. It was horrific, Kish said of those peak wasting disease years nearly a decade ago, when sea star bodies began to melt like dripping wax. It was just white dripping sadness and arms all over the beach, hundreds of sea star arms all over the beach. It was horrible, it felt like an apocalyptic situation. Researchers have not nailed down a cause of the wasting disease. Once thought to be a virus, the disease has also been theorized to be due to a proliferation of bacteria on the surface of the water, which essentially suffocates the animals. Warmer water is thought to exacerbate the issue. Kish said while sea stars have not fully rebounded along the Oregon coast, the numbers do look better especially at her Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve, where she said counts are now higher than they were before the disease. Thats great news for tide pools lovers like herself, who will soon get to explore Oregons many tide pools during those extreme low tides of summer. Forecasts show low tides dipping below two feet on three occasions this year: June 4 to 7, July 3 to 6, and July 31 to Aug. 3. Kish will spend many of those days offering tours with the Cape Perpetua Collaborative (which are available to book online), or exploring on her own, taking pictures of the intertidal life an activity she calls her soul work. I feel like its a good representation of how I feel when Im in the tide pools: just very connected, curious, just always kind of observing, Kish said of her photography. I feel clumsy and clunky up here, but in the tide pools I feel accepted for who I am. Jamie Hale 503-294-4077; jhale@oregonian.com; @HaleJamesB Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe Bait Al-Batterjee, a pioneer in healthcare in Saudi Arabia, has announced the launch of Make-A-Wish, which grants life-changing wishes to children diagnosed with critical illnesses, for the first time in the Kingdom. The non-profit entity operates in 50 countries has granted over 550,000 wishes to children since its inception in 1980 and has been endorsed by large organizations and celebrities across the world. The main purpose of Make-A-Wish is to deliver hope and joy to children and their families when they need it most. The initiative to bring the initiative to Saudi Arabia for the first time was established by Bait Al-Batterjee under the leadership of Sobhi Batterjee and Makarem Sobhi Batterjee. This is in line with the groups philanthropic commitment toward society and the Batterjee family purpose of relieving peoples suffering. The launch event took place on May 20, under the patronage of the Governor of Riyadh Region, His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and was attended by celebrities, prominent businessmen, members of the media and representatives from various government entities. Luciano Manzo, President and CEO of Make-A-Wish International, said: As a family, the Bait Al Batterjee have always displayed compassion and empathy to those in need and have made it their mission to create a positive impact on the lives of people in Saudi Arabia. The launch of Make-A-Wish Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a testament to their unwavering commitment to this mission and Make-A-Wish International looks forward to working closely with Bait Al-Batterjee to make more wishes come true for children. Makarem Sobhi Batterjee, Chairman of the board of Make-A-Wish Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said: We are delighted to launch Make-A-Wishs new affiliate in Saudi Arabia, which strongly aligns with our family mission of relieving peoples suffering. Bait Al-Batterjee is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of children in the Kingdom, and we believe that Make-A-Wish will be an excellent addition to our efforts. When I was younger, while studying in the United States I read an article about the mission and impact of Make-A-Wish, it became my dream to establish an Affiliate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Today, this dream has become a reality. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge my father, Engineer Sobhi Batterjee, who recognizes the values of helping others and sees it as our primary duty to society. Every program and initiative of our organisation represents this vision he added. The launch of this initiative in Saudi Arabia will enable Make-A-Wish to work with local hospitals to identify children with critical illnesses and grant their wishes. The presence of Make-A-Wish in the Kingdom will also create opportunities for the local community to engage and lend support to this noble cause. As a family, the Bait Al Batterjee family has always displayed compassion and empathy for those in need and have made it their mission to create a positive impact on the lives of people in Saudi Arabia. The launch of Make-A-Wish in the Kingdom is a testament to their unwavering commitment to this mission, and Bait Al-Batterjee looks forward to working closely with Make-A-Wish to make more wishes come true for children. TradeArabia News Service BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Azerbaijan stands out as a frontrunner on the global stage, garnering growing interest as an appealing European ally. Lithuania is among those European partners of Azerbaijan that has been a support and strategic partner for a long time. In the course of the last thirty years, Azerbaijan and Lithuania have fostered amicable interstate relations that have evolved into a partnership grounded in shared perspectives on numerous global matters. Presently, both nations are diligently working towards elevating trade and cooperation across diverse domains to an entirely new level. Bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lithuania encompasses various areas of mutual interest, including political, economic, cultural, and diplomatic relations. The two countries have been working together to enhance cooperation and strengthen their ties. Lithuania advocates for enhanced cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan, recognizing Azerbaijan's significance within the EUs Eastern Partnership platform and its strategic role as an energy partner. Amidst the EU's efforts to reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels, there is a notable eagerness among EU member states to enhance energy collaboration with alternative suppliers and broaden the range of energy sources. Azerbaijan emerges as a significant player in this pursuit, with the EU expressing a keen interest in bolstering energy cooperation and securing increased volumes of natural gas from Azerbaijan. The Lithuanian side has repeatedly expressed its desire to expand energy partnership with Azerbaijan as part of diversifying energy resource supplies. With Lithuania's recent establishment of the gas pipeline connecting the country and the Baltics to the European gas network (GIPL), coupled with Lithuania's LNG terminal capabilities, the prospects of Azerbaijani gas reaching Lithuania through interconnections with the European Union are promising. In the future, the gas from the Caspian region holds the potential to be supplied to Lithuania, further strengthening energy ties between the two countries. Azerbaijan stands as one of Lithuania's most robust partners when it comes to EU Twinning projects awarded to Lithuania within the Eastern Partnership countries. To date, Lithuania has engaged in 26 project selections in Azerbaijan, securing participation in 17 of them. This collaborative track record highlights the fruitful cooperation and shared commitment between the two nations in promoting mutual development and progress. In 2022 alone, Lithuania has successfully secured four EU Twinning projects in Azerbaijan, focusing on areas such as transport safety, environmental protection, pension reform, and healthcare. These projects demonstrate the ongoing commitment of Lithuanian institutions to contribute their expertise and collaborate with their Azerbaijani counterparts in driving positive developments in these key sectors. Additionally, Lithuanian institutions are currently actively implementing five EU Twinning projects in Azerbaijan, further strengthening the bilateral cooperation and exchange of knowledge between the two countries. Moreover, in 2023, Lithuania will be assisting Azerbaijan in the area of mine action through the EU Team Europe Initiative. Economically, Azerbaijan and Lithuania have been fostering trade and investment relations. In 2022, the trade turnover between the two countries reached almost $33 million. Both Azerbaijan and Lithuania have actively pursued strategies to boost bilateral trade and explore untapped opportunities for economic cooperation. Key sectors of focus include energy, transportation, agriculture, and information technology. Azerbaijan has been actively working to create a favorable business environment that encourages investment, stimulates economic growth, and supports the development of various industries. The country has implemented a range of reforms and initiatives to attract domestic and foreign businesses, improve the ease of doing business, and enhance competitiveness. A shared goal of creating an advantageous business climate has driven initiatives to foster direct engagement between the business communities of both nations, facilitating fruitful partnerships and expanding economic ties. An economic forum between the business communities of Azerbaijan and Lithuania was held in May 2022 as part of the Lithuanian President's visit to Azerbaijan. The issues the two delegations discussed includedtrade, investment, agriculture, development of information technology, transport, energy, education, etc. This event once again showed Azerbaijans growing attractiveness as a destination for business and investment. Today, Azerbaijan holds an influential position among its European counterparts, thanks to the forward-thinking policies of President Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan's reputation for effectively executing oil and gas projects has earned the country immense respect from its partners. However, it is not just the energy sector that attracts attention. Increasingly, more countries are recognizing the value of developing relations with Azerbaijan across various sectors. The signing of strategic agreements with European partners in recent years underscores the significance of this policy direction. Europe's relationship with the Caucasus would be incomplete without Azerbaijan's active participation and influence. As a prominent leader in the South Caucasus region, Azerbaijan's importance extends beyond its immediate neighbors, making it a significant player on the entire European continent. New Hallmark Channel movie Love in Zion National premieres tonight, Saturday, May 20 at 8 p.m. on Hallmark Channel. If you dont have cable, you can watch the premiere of Love in Zion National live for FREE with Philo (free trial) or with Fubo (free trial). When Lauren meets park ranger Adam in Utahs Zion National Park, things with her job as assistant curator get complicated. Will she be able to return a set of ancient vases to their origin or will love get in the way? Tune in to find out with a free trial of Philo. For a sneak peek, check out the video provided below. Who will be featured in the Love in Zion National cast? The movie stars Cindy Busby and David Gridley. HOW TO WATCH What: Hallmark original movie Love in Zion National When: Saturday, May 20 at 8 p.m. PT/ET TV Channel: Hallmark Channel Watch the show live streaming online: If you dont have cable, you can watch the premiere of Love in Zion National live for FREE with Philo (free trial) or with Fubo (free trial). If you already have a cable or satellite TV provider, you can sign in now and stream for free on Hallmark TV. More information on how to stream live TV, sports events, and movies on the cheap: What is Philo? The cheapest live TV streaming service: Cost, what it includes How to watch DAZN on your TV: What is it, what does it cost and include? Boxing fights, MMA and more What is Paramount Plus and what does it cost? What live sports, movies and TV shows does it include? BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Four people were shot and wounded outside an Alabama bar early Sunday in what police described as an exchange of gunfire. Birmingham Police Lt. Ron Harless said three men and a woman were shot outside Tin Roof in the city's Lakeview District, AL.com reported. Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The Embassy of Qatar in Sudan on Saturday became the latest diplomatic mission to be broken into and looted by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the Sudanese ministry of Foreign Affairs Photo: (Photo : Jordan Vonderhaar /Getty Images) A Mississippi transgender girl will be barred from graduation this Saturday. In a controversial decision, a federal judge ruled that a Mississippi transgender girl, identified as L.B., would be prohibited from participating in her high school graduation ceremony at Harrison Central High School due to the school district's policy that bans her from wearing clothes that align with her gender identity. The ruling has ignited a debate about transgender rights in the state, highlighting the challenges faced by the transgender community and raising concerns about discrimination. Graduation Dress Code Policy Dispute As reported by ABC, the legal dispute began when the teenager, a transgender girl, and her family initiated a lawsuit against the Harrison County School District. School officials had informed her that she would not be allowed to attend the graduation ceremony if she opted to wear a dress and high heels. According to the school's dress code policy, boys must wear a dress shirt, pants, dress shoes, and a tie, while girls are required to wear a white dress and dress shoes. However, the student had already purchased an outfit that complied with the dress code for girls. The lawsuit argued that the school's policy was discriminatory as it compelled her to dress in a manner inconsistent with her gender identity. Throughout her high school years, she consistently presented herself as a girl, wearing dresses and other traditionally feminine clothing without any objections. This decision to exclude her from the graduation ceremony infringed upon her right to express her identity and participate in a significant milestone. Mississippi's Troubling Transgender Legislation Mississippi has been at the center of transgender-related legislation in recent years, with a series of laws enacted that disproportionately affect the transgender community. In March, NBC News reported that Mississippi became the seventh state to pass a law restricting certain transition-related healthcare for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery. Proponents of the law argue that it protects minors from making irreversible decisions at a young age. Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican, defended the legislation, claiming that it aimed to counter a dangerous movement that spreads false ideology and pseudo-science to convince children that they are in the wrong body. However, critics argue that such laws limit the rights of transgender individuals and deny them access to necessary healthcare. Mississippi's legislation, combined with similar bills across the country, has faced legal challenges and drawn national attention to the ongoing battle for transgender rights. Read Also: Nebraska Governor to Sign Contentious Bill: 12-Week Abortion Ban, Curbs on Gender-Affirming Care Impact on Transgender Youth and Community The exclusion of the transgender girl from her high school graduation ceremony not only deprives her of an important milestone but also sends a distressing message to the transgender community in Mississippi. It reinforces the stigma and discrimination faced by transgender individuals, further marginalizing a vulnerable population. According to USA Today, advocates and civil rights organizations, including the ACLU of Mississippi, have strongly criticized the ruling, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and equal treatment for all students. They argue that denying the transgender girl the opportunity to express her gender identity at graduation perpetuates harmful stereotypes and compromises her well-being. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has verified that L.B., a 17-year-old girl identified by her initials, will not attend the graduation ceremony scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Harrison Central High School in Gulfport. The case of the Mississippi transgender girl barred from her high school graduation underscores the challenges faced by transgender individuals in a state known for passing restrictive legislation. The ruling in favor of the school district's dress code policy amplifies concerns about discrimination and inequality. As the fight for transgender rights continues, it is crucial to advocate for policies that promote inclusivity, respect, and equal opportunities for all students, regardless of their gender identity. Related Article: Recalled EzriCare Eye Drops Nightmare: 4 Fatalities, 81 Cases of Contaminated Infections Yesterday Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared at the Cannes Film Festival in France, and watched Martin Scorsese together with Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio and others. After the event, Apple's CEO thanked the Cannes Film Festival for an unforgettable night and more in a tweet as shown below. We created Apple TV+ to tell stories that make a difference, and Killers of the Flower Moon does just that. Thank you to the Osage Nation, Martin Scorsese and all involved in telling this important story. And thank you to the Cannes Film Festival for an unforgettable night! pic.twitter.com/6zbxResida Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 21, 2023 As noted below, Cook had a lively conversation with DiCaprio at a black-tie dinner, both in tuxedos, with DiCaprio also wearing sunglasses. Photo: IT Home Killers of the Flower Moon is based on David Grann's best-selling book about a series of murders against the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, USA in the 1920s. At that time, the Osage tribe became rich because of the discovery of oil, but it also attracted greed and evil. DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro also star in the film. Killers of the Flower Moon is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release, with a limited release on October 6 and a larger release on October 20. After that, the film will be available for streaming on Apple TV+. IT Home noticed that the current rotten tomato freshness of "Flower Moon Killer" is 96%, and the overall Metacritic score is 91/100. Some film critics said that this film is the best Martin Scorsese work after "The Wolf of Wall Street", "Little Plum" Leonardo DiCaprio's career best performance, Lily Gladstone is One of the most outstanding female characters in Martin Sr.'s work. Deadline has a report on Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone Conquering Cannes With 9-Minute Standing Ovation for Killers of the Flower Moon. And of course, De Niro, which at times is a decent actor, went on his usual tirade against former President Donald Trump. He's in Cannes to promote "Killers of the Flower Moon," not to spew out his personal politics and sour some against this film. I guess with the spotlight going to DiCaprio, De Niro had to do something dramatic to get some attention at Cannes. Too bad. Archive: Apple TV News I noticed how today, the 20th of May, is a feast for Lucifer in some parts of the Catholic liturgical calendar. Okay, Lucifer of Cagliari, a fourth century bishop of Cagliari in Sardina. Not much remembered these days outside of Sardina, he left a trail of controversy. His fame at the time was as a ferocious opponent of Arianism. His views were so extreme that even Athanasius who is said to have physically assaulted the priest Arius, thought that Lucifer went too far. That set me first to wonder if there were any other saint Lucifers. And there are. Theres a martyr priest named Lucifer. And a Lucifera, a woman martyr. And while not remembered as a saint there was a bishop of Siena named Lucifer. It kind of runs out there. But there was a time, and at least a region, where Lucifer was an okay name. Lucifer is Latin and ultimately means morning star, or bringer of light. The lord of light. The name wasnt originally identified with a personified evil. For instance the star alluded to in Numbers 24 is interpreted by Christians as alluding to Jesus. And in the Christian scriptures we find Jesus as the light or the star in the 2nd letter of Peter as well as multiple times in the gospel of John. It would appear the shift for Lucifer came in the fourth century with Jeromes Latin translation of the Bible and specifically Isaiah 14:12. For more than a thousand years Jeromes Latin Bible was the Bible of the West. And even as vernacular translations appeared, it was that particular passage that kept Lucifer as a named fallen angel. The sense of which we find in the King James English: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! Slowly Lucifer became the devil. One of the tragedies of the Christian tradition, in my view, is the near Zoroastrian dualism of much of Christianity, where we find ourselves in a near eternal combat between good and evil. I find it even more interesting, rich, and possibly of some use to us on our spiritual paths, trying to make sense of this world and our hearts; to find it can sometimes be hard to tell which lord of light is beckoning us. Ive long noticed parts of the Christian community worship a god who hates all the same people they hate. And the hate is a hatred for those who are different. A ruthless divinity without mercy or pity. In those parts this god of hate is called Jesus. A terrible lord of light. And. I think this at my most most judgmental. I notice that, as well. And. I notice how this divinity is a sort of black hole that draws people into some dazzling terrible darkness. Lots of temptation in our hatreds, in our certainties. I also think about Mara in Buddhism. Among other things Mara is the personification of delusion. Etymologically the name seems to derive from a root meaning killing. It is chaos to Buddhisms ordering of things. It is the deity of desire, death, and rebirth. However, to keep everything interesting. In the two truths of the Mahayana, this world of delusion, whether personified or not, is also the world of awakening. In the Heart Sutra these two things, lets say for the sake of illustration, heaven and hell, are one. So if Jesus and Lucifer might be one, the Buddha and Mara might also be one. Are. Although of course its all messy. And the intimate path is one of uncovering, witnessing, and realizing ones identity with. This isnt meant to be reductive, to say its all the same. Thats missing a couple of points. Everything, including the path to heaven is heaven. This is found as we surrender into the mystery. But, we can just as easily make it the path to hell, where everything is hell. Letting be and grasping after. Two choices. Seductions and traps await the unwary. Although one pretty good test is that if the being who presents hates everyone you hate, theres a passing chance youre talking with a devil. In this mysterious world we have few choices. Much of what will become of us has been written. Causes and conditions continue on. And on. And on But, there is something in our hands. In an opening of our hearts, in our seeing our identity in each other, we find ourselves transforming. Love in its various applications appears to be the secret. Opening ones heart. One promise on the way. Love never fails. Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became an adult, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Here the devil brings water to the thirsty. A small thing. A noticing thing. A doing thing. A yes or no thing. And love is another of those tricky words. It can mean grasping. But here and in Pauls hymn it is something rather different. Letting the bottom fall out of the bucket. Then miracles abound. Lucifer does become Christ. And Mara is the Buddha. Not a mere dualism, but a transformation that brings everything along together. This is we discover in the midst of that dazzling darkness, the light of the world. The government is targeting an external debt relief of $10.5 billion between this year and 2026 as it engages its external creditors for debt restructuring, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reported. The external creditors include bilateral and commercial creditors. The government announced a suspension of debt service on external commercial obligations on December 19, last year and has since been engaging with them on a debt restructuring. The government is seeking to restructure external commercial debts of $14 billion, out of which $13 billion are in bonds. Following the formation of the Creditor Committee of the Paris Club backed by China, the government is also expected to begin debt restructuring negotiations with its bilateral creditors in the coming days in a bid to restructure debts of about $5.4 billion. At a press conference yesterday by the IMF in the United States capital, Washington DC, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said the government was looking forward to a fruitful engagement with its bilateral and private creditors in the days ahead, as the country worked towards achieving debt sustainability that would anchor economic stability. Under the IMF programme, the country is expected to reduce its debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-ratio from the current 93.5 per cent to 55 per cent. Path to recovery Mr Ofori-Atta said the approval of Ghanas IMF programme would set the country on the path of economic recovery. He said although the IMF boards approval was far from a magic wand, it was a crucial first step on a necessary journey of strong reforms, inclusive growth and relentless pursuit of a growth agenda geared towards restoring the economy to a place of strength, resilience and prosperity. Undoubtedly the economic toll on our people from the effects of the global crisis cannot be understated and we are grateful for the forbearance of all Ghanaians in the wake of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme which is a difficult but necessary exercise, the Finance Minister stated. Context Last Wednesday, the Executive Board of the IMF approved a $3-billion bailout to support Ghanas economic recovery, triggering an immediate disbursement of about $600 million. The loan will help replenish Ghana's foreign-exchange reserves, which have dropped almost 50 per cent from a peak in August 2021, as the Bank of Ghana used them to support the Ghana cedi. The three-year Extended Credit Facility programme with the fund marked the 17th time the country was running to the Bretton Woods institution for support. Financial sector Mr Ofori-Atta added that the DDEP had hugely impacted banks in the country and the government was looking forward to working together with them to achieve the required financial stability. He said the Ghana Financial Stability Fund, which had been established to support banks affected by the DDEP, would be capitalised to the tune of $1.5 billion. $250 Million is coming from the World Bank, government will contribute $500 million, as we still speak to other development partners to participate in that, he stated. Mr Ofori-Atta said the government was hopeful that World Banks support would come within the third quarter of the year. Return to capital market The Finance Minister also noted that the government was not in a rush to return to the international capital market to raise additional financing. Mr Ofori-Atta indicated that working towards a return to the capital market was, however, important as it would help improve the countrys credit ratings and make it more attractive to foreign investors. The Finance Minister said the revenue measures outlined in the 2023 budget would give the government the resources needed going forward. We will also curtail our expenditures so there is no rush to go back to the international capital market and our expectation is that in managing our expenditure and increasing our revenue, we will have the needed resources, he stated. Development partners Also at the press conference via Zoom, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, said the approval of Ghanas programme would serve as a basis for further engagements between Ghana and its development partners. He said the IMF programme should not be looked at only from the budget support point of view as it also came with benefits that far exceeded that. While the budget support helps with the current reserves of the central bank, what matters most is the fact that the programme sets out policies and structural reforms that should help Ghana reset our economic policy fundamentals, the Governor said. These reforms should re-anchor policy and embed irreversibility in our policy outcomes to make sure our economy is more resilient, Dr Addison stated. Time for work The Governor also pointed out that it was now the time to work towards the countrys economic recovery. This programme approval is just the beginning of the real work of building Ghana better, he stated. Dr Addison said the IMF Executive Boards approval of the programme in such a short timeframe was an indication of a strong government political will and commitment to the reform agenda. We have now reached a point where our key stakeholders must come through quickly with their support to give meaning to the catalytic role of the IMF and help build Ghana better, the Governor appealed. Source: Graphiconline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Spanish Ambassador to Ghana, Javier Gutierrez, has called on the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong at the Ministry in an effort to strengthen the relationship between Spain and Ghana, particularly in the Agriculture Sector. During the meeting, Ambassador Gutierrez expressed his countrys keen interest in helping Ghana develop its Poultry and Crop sub-sectors to their full potential and suggested several areas of intervention that could be explored through joint initiatives. Mr Acheampong, in turn, thanked the Ambassador for Spains support and reiterated Ghanas commitment to deepening its bilateral relations with Spain in crucial areas of Agriculture. Mr Acheampong also requested the Spanish Governments assistance in establishing a tomato economic enclave that would supply tomatoes to GB Foods, the Ghanaian Market, and beyond. He noted that this support would go a long way in solving the problem of tomato shortages in Ghana. Both parties expressed their willingness to work together to strengthen the longstanding friendship between Spain and Ghana and to promote mutual prosperity and development. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The government is set to construct 4,000 kilometers of standard gauge railway lines across the country in the foreseeable future per the 2020 Railway Master Plan. Currently, railway accounts for less than one per cent of the transport sector and the government is poised to make railway a strategic parity and not an auxiliary system to boost inter-modal transport system in the country. The 2020 Master Plan also provides the roadmap to spur integrated industrial enterprises in Ghana; similar to what is happening in Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Railway Development Authority, Yaw Owusu disclosed this at a stakeholders sensitisation workshop on the new Railway Master Plan held in Takoradi on Thursday. It was the second of such conferences to be held in three locations across the country. The first one was held in Accra in March this year. The 2020 Railway Master Plan is a revision of the 2013 one and the workshop was to solicit inputs and feedback for the 2020 Master Plan and incorporate all collated feedback and inputs into the review of the next Railway Master Plan in 2025. Mr. Owusu mentioned that there is no doubt that it is a daunting task to construct 4,000km of standard gauge railway network across the country. He, however, indicated that for starters, government is constructing the 97 kilometer Tema-Mpakadan railway line which is near completion, adding, This project is part of the 800 kilometers railway line linking the Southern part of Ghana from Tema Port to the Northern part at Paga. He explained that the project has a branch line from Bimbilla to Sheini, where large deposits of Iron Ore has been discovered. He also mentioned the 80 kilometer railway line from Takoradi Port to Huni Valley, which continues to Dunkwa, Awaso and Nyinahin to benefit the Manganese mines at Nsuta and the Bauxite mines at Awaso and Nyinahin. This is a 42-month project and immediate target is to get to Nsuta by the end of 2024 to optimise the Manganese production. The 6 kilometer double line from Kaase to Adum in Kumasi is also ongoing, he pointed out. He noted that discussions are also far advanced to construct Accra to Nsawam, Achimota to Tema and Eduadin to Obuasi lines, which are all standard gauge rails. He said it has been established throughout the world that the path to industrialisation goes through an efficient railway system, adding, And the Presidents vision to revamp the sector has all the hallmarks of industrialisation. It takes an ambitious and visionary leader to embark on such highly capital intensive infrastructure projects. His Excellency, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo therefore deserves high approbation, he pointed out. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Following the results of the 79th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok (Thailand), on the initiative of Turkmenistan, the Resolution of this Commission "Consideration of the conditions for the establishment of a special United Nations program for the Aral Sea basin" was unanimously adopted, Trend reports citing the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan. Azerbaijan, Armenia, China, Singapore, Turkiye and the Philippines were the co-authors of this important international document along with Turkmenistan. This first Resolution, initiated by Turkmenistan within the framework of ESCAP, includes the results of the Summit of the Heads of the founding states of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, held in the Avaza National Tourist Zone in Turkmenbashi on August 24, 2018, as well as international consultations on the development of a special program of the Organization United Nations for the Aral Sea Basin. The adoption of the ESCAP Resolution "Consideration of the conditions for the creation of a special United Nations program for the Aral Sea basin" is a major step towards the creation of a special mechanism that will be aimed at consistently resolving issues related to the Aral Sea issues within the UN. National Democratic Congress (NDC)s Deputy Director of Legal Affairs says the party has no intention whatsoever to present a new candidate for any possible bye-election in the Assin North constituency. This comes after the Court asked James Gyakye Quayson not to hold himself as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the area. Ahmed Mohammed Baba Jamal who represents the NDC on legal issues told NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie' that despite the Courts verdict the party disagrees and will challenge the Court in due time. There is a verdict but we [NDC] do not agree with the court, he said. The Member of Parliament for Assin North has expressed his disappointment in the Supreme Court's ruling to get his records expunged as a Member of Parliament. A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of the NDC MP. In the ruling, the Apex Court barred Mr. Quayson from holding himself as an MP for Assin North. James Gyakye Quayson had been accused of holding dual citizenship prior to the 2020 election, an allegation he vehemently denied. James Gyakye Quayson's Reaction Gyakye Quayson reacting to this in a letter said: I am, of course, disappointed by the Courts decision. I am especially surprised that the Court now says that foreign bureaucrats now determine whether natural born Ghanaians have the right to contest for parliamentary elections in Ghana or not. Thus, a country that does not allow renunciation of its citizenship can bar a natural born Ghanaian, who has severed all relations with a country of acquired citizenship, from ever standing for MP. According to him, he has "turned the page on litigating this matter in the courts of justice. I leave the matter to the court of conscience, which Ghandi reminds us, supersedes all other courts". A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, ordered Parliament to blue-pencil the name of James Gyakye Quayson as a valid Member of Parliament. The ruling further noted that Mr Quayson was not qualified at the time he contested the election in 2020. The ruling has, however, paved the way for a bye-election in the consistency to elect a new Member of Parliament for the area. But Baba Jamal said the NDC will again present the striped MP to contest the seat again. We are still presenting James Gyakye Quayson as our parliamentary candidate for Assin North bye-election. He emphatically told the host of NEAT FMs morning show, McJerry Osei Agyemang Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/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. Featured Video Governance Lecturer, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah together with host of Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning show, Kwami Sefa Kayi have hailed the Member of Parliament for Asawase Constituency, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka on his victory in the NDC primaries over the weekend. Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah commended Hon. Mubarak Muntaka for his show of bravery to be re-elected to serve the constituency despite the little hope people had in him to win his seat again during the primaries. To Dr. Otchere-Ankrah, the MP has proven to be a strong man. "In all sincerity, I thought he will lose the seat but he has proven to be strong. Forces from several quarters - from his party - from within and without wanted him removed but he's proven that he is on the ground," he applauded Hon. Muntaka. On the part of Kwami Sefa Kayi, affectionately called "Chairman General", he affirmed Hon. Muntaka to be a fine and good gentleman. He noted that he and Muntaka have a very good relationship, albeit their individual jobs have caused them to drift apart from each other. "He was really my guy some time ago. It's life and work that have caused us to go separately . . . There is no offence between us. I mean we've just drifted apart, not that he has offended me or I have offended him but about 10/15 years ago, he was my real gee," Mr. Sefa Kayi said. 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. Featured Video The suspect in a Saturday homicide in East Hempfield Township has been taken into custody, police said Sunday. Jeremy Osorio Melendez, 19, surrendered himself to the East Hempfield Township Police Department on charges stemming from the death of Jordan Scott, 29, the department said. Osorio Melendez was accompanied by his attorney when turning himself in, police said. Osorio Melendez faces charges of criminal homicide, reckless endangerment, and unlawful firearms possession, according to the court docket. Police said they believe Osorio Melendez shot and killed Scott during an altercation on the 2900 block of Terry Lane on Saturday morning. Scott was transported to the hospital after the shooting but succumbed to his injuries, according to police. Police believe the men knew each other and were both residents of the mobile home community where the incident occurred, located just off Lincoln Highway west of Lancaster. More: Senior prank goes awry for Pa. high school students now banned from prom and graduation Multiple weekend shootings in Philly leave 4 dead, and a 17-year-old in critical condition ST. PAUL, Minn. On a September day that he knew would be hard, 51-year-old Damone Presley marked the occasion with barbecue and balloons. He was commemorating the one-year anniversary of the day in 2021 that his daughter and her three friends were fatally shot in Minnesota by a man who left their bodies in an abandoned SUV in a Wisconsin cornfield. Presley gathered 50 friends to celebrate the life of his daughter, Nitosha Flug-Presley, who was 30 when she died. He went big on the anniversary because he felt sure thats what his daughter would have wanted. She would always do stuff big, Presley told The Associated Press. There have been 553 mass killings in the United States since 2006, and at least 2,880 people have died, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. Those include killings where four or more died, not including the assailant, within a 24-hour period. So far in 2023, the nation has witnessed the highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year. As the number of people who die in mass killings in the U.S. continues to rise, thousands more are left to handle the trauma of losing someone they love to a senseless act of violence. They struggle with a special kind of grief, haunted both by the loss and by how it happened. One of the hardest days they confront each year is the anniversary of the killing. This Wednesday, families in Uvalde, Texas, will have to face that one-year anniversary transporting them back to the day when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and fatally shot 19 children and two teachers as they gathered to celebrate the end of the school year. And last week, families of 10 people in Buffalo, New York, crossed the one-year mark from the day a white supremacist shot and killed them in a supermarket. People cope with these anniversaries in different ways. Some throw a party to get through the pain. Others prefer to be completely alone. Many fall somewhere in the middle, adopting little rituals to help get them through the day. But they all grapple with the same question, sometimes after many years have passed: What do I do with myself on the date that changed everything? ___ On the same day Presley gathered with friends and family at his home, Angela Sturm whose children, Jasmine Sturm and Matthew Pettus, were killed in the same attack chose to spend the day alone. I turn down invites to celebrate because its not a celebration to me, she said. Instead, she honors her children privately by looking at their photos and remembering how their life together used to be. She writes, cries and practices self-care by reading a good book or taking a hot bath. She hopes people will understand that she wants to be alone, and that they shouldnt worry or be upset if she turns down invitations or doesnt respond to texts. Everyone deals with grief differently, said Jeffrey Shahidullah, a pediatric psychologist at UT-Austin Dell Childrens Medical Center. Shahidullah was part of a team that stayed in Uvalde for months after the shooting to operate a crisis walk-in clinic for first responders, community members, family and friends of victims. In the short and long term, mass shootings can traumatize entire communities, Shahidullah said. That can lead people even those who didnt know the victims personally to avoid situations that remind them of the event, feel constantly unsafe and experience intrusive flashbacks to when they first heard about the killing. A lot of these symptoms could be exacerbated or worsened around the time of these anniversaries, Shahidullah said. Over time, those symptoms do tend to subside. But everyone has their own timeline. ___ By cruel coincidence, the first anniversary of the Buffalo supermarket shooting fell on Mothers Day. That made things especially hard for Wayne Jones, whose mother, Celestine Chaney, was among the 10 people killed by a white supremacist that day. Jones said some friends came over on the anniversary, and they talked about other things. 5/14 is every day to me still, he said. I watched my mother get killed on video. The video and a photo of the shooter standing with the gun he used, a vulgar racial slur scrawled on its barrel are ingrained in my brain, he said. Tirzah Patterson and her 13-year-old son, Jaques Jake Patterson who lost his father, church deacon Heyward Patterson, in the supermarket shooting left town altogether for the anniversary. They have not set foot in Tops Friendly Market since it reopened last summer and did not attend the memorial events in Buffalo for her ex-husband and the others who were killed. We dont want to go through that again, Tirzah Patterson said before the weekend. Were going to be gone. They spent Mothers Day weekend in Detroit and attended a church service there. ___ While some are just crossing the one-year mark, others have been dealing with these anniversaries for years. Topaz Cooks marked the 10-year anniversary of her fathers death last September. She was a month shy of her 21st birthday in 2012 when her dad and several others were shot and killed at work by a man who was fired from the company in Minneapolis. I still cannot believe that happened to my family, she said. On the anniversaries, she likes to do things her dad, Rami Cooks, enjoyed. Last year, she went on a hike and ate dessert because her dad loved rugelach, birds and wind. She loves that her friends send her photos of their dessert that day each year with the caption: For your dad! Damone Presley sits next to a memorial area in his house for his daughter, Nitosha, Thursday, May 4, 2023, in St. Paul, Minn. Nitosha and her three friends were found shot to death inside an SUV in the middle of a Wisconsin cornfield, though they were killed in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)AP She also has a journal she writes in once a year on that day, filling her dad in on the highlights, challenges and thoughts from the year that she wishes she could share with him. Seven years after the killing, Topaz Cooks said she experienced PTSD while working as a theater stage manager. She was surprised because she didnt expect it to hit so late. The productions plot may have triggered it the play was about a woman avenging her fathers death. She said she would get exhausted at the end of rehearsals, lie down on the floor of her office and feel like she couldnt get up. At times, she felt like her skin was vibrating or that she was outside of her own body. It took months of therapy to feel like she was back in control. Talking about the loss isnt for everybody, but Cooks said its important to her. I wish that people talked about it more and normalized it, she said. Grief is just so lonely. ___ A hint of fall hung in the air on Sept. 12, the day Presley threw a party to mark the day his daughter and her three friends were killed and left abandoned. He said he wanted to think about who his daughter was rather than how she died. She loved to throw exciting and glamorous birthday parties for her kids, friends and family. Presley placed a life-size cardboard cut-out of his daughter smiling in a pink outfit by the door. Guests wore T-shirts with photos of her and phrases like Never Forgotten and Daddys #1 Angel. At Presleys request, guests gave speeches about the funniest things they remembered his daughter doing. Late in the afternoon, they gathered around the front steps of his home, clutching red, yellow, pink and white balloons, some embossed with words like Forever in Our Hearts. Wide-eyed children, following the lead of the adults around them, listened quietly as a woman sang the gospel song Take Me to the King. Presley recited a poem his father had written years before, words Presleys daughter had adored. I meet the sunrise daily on the way to get mine, he recited. I dont play myself cause I dont got time. When he finished the poem, Presley gave the signal to release the balloons. They soared straight up, gently rising above the rooftops and disappearing into a clear blue sky. Trisha Ahmed of The Associated Press/Report for America wrote this story. Aaron Morrison and Carolyn Thompson contributed from Buffalo, N.Y. Trisha Ahmed 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 under-covered issues. Follow Trisha Ahmed on Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15 Ahmeds father, Avijit Roy, was killed on Feb. 26, 2015, by religious militants in Bangladesh. Each year on that date, she throws a party because he loved celebrations and surrounds herself with people she loves. This February, they played games and gave a toast in his honor. More: Multiple weekend shootings in Philly leave 4 dead, and a 17-year-old in critical condition Why wont the mass killings stop? Families, experts seek answers Central York students arrive at the Valencia Ballroom for their 2023 high school prom. NEW SUBSCRIBER BENEFIT: This prom season, PennLive is offering a special perk exclusively for subscribers: Login, click on the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and choose Get Photo to download free print-quality images. Plus, get 50% off the purchase of prom-related keepsakes. Harrisburg students arrive on the red carpet at the Best Western Premier for the 2023 prom. NEW SUBSCRIBER BENEFIT: This prom season, PennLive is offering a special perk exclusively for subscribers: Login, click on the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and choose Get Photo to download free print-quality images. Plus, get 50% off the purchase of prom-related keepsakes. Harrisburg High School students arrive for the red carpet at the Best Western Premier. NEW SUBSCRIBER BENEFIT: This prom season, PennLive is offering a special perk exclusively for subscribers: Login, click on the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and choose Get Photo to download free print-quality images. Plus, get 50% off the purchase of prom-related keepsakes. Ralph Cardinal, shown in a handout photo, served just under 30 years with the RCMP and says he survived his many years policing Indigenous communities on the frontline through his ability to speak Cree. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. On May 21, the opening ceremony of the 76th World Health Assembly took place at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. Azerbaijan is represented in the Assembly by a delegation led by Health Minister Teymur Musayev, Trend reports citing the press service of Ministry. Within the framework of the Assembly, a meeting was held between the head of the WHO European Bureau Hans Kluge and the Azerbaijani delegation. Health Minister Teymur Musayev stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with the World Health Organization: "Azerbaijan has been closely cooperating with the prestigious health organization since 1992. Over the past period, successful projects have been implemented at the regional and global levels." The minister also noted the work done in the country in the fight against COVID-19, as well as the assistance provided and the initiatives taken by Azerbaijan at the international level. Further, Minister Teymur Musayev brought to the attention of the interlocutor the concern about the dissemination in the Armenian media of false, biased and non-mandatory statements by a WHO official about the sovereign territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan at a meeting with the Minister of Health of Armenia. Hans Kluge said that he had contacted the office of the organization in Armenia on this issue, that at the meeting held between the office of the World Health Organization in Armenia and the Minister of Health, no allegation was made regarding Azerbaijan, and in general, WHO condemns the attacks on medical personnel in the world. Hans Kluge emphasized that no information about the incident was published on the WHO official website. At the meeting, the Azerbaijani side called on the WHO regional offices to refrain from any political statements that hinder efforts on the peace agenda in the region, and to strengthen control over this activity by the leadership of the organization. Hans Kluge expressed confidence that the WHO will continue its activities without politicization, neutrally and impartially. Chess streamer Alexandra Botez has made it through to Day 3 of the 1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event as she bagged at the end of Day 2 - along with 26 others from the initial 137 players at the start of day here at the beautiful Casino Barcelona. Botez will come into Day 3 just outside of the top 10 stacks but will still have plenty to maneuver with on Day 3. Botez was one of the players who registered at the start of Day 2, having failed to secure a bag in Day 1c, but the Canadian managed to spin it up to survive the nine levels of play. However it was local Albert Grane (1,060,000) who managed to bag the biggest stack of the day followed by Patrick Donohue (1,000,000) who both finished the day well above the rest of the field with over a million chips. Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 2 Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Albert Grane Spain 1,060,000 101 2 Patrick Donohue United Kingdom 1,000,000 100 3 Lin Xia Spain 809,000 81 4 Dorian Dizy Spain 668,000 67 5 Juan Jose Garcia Spain 664,000 66 6 Alessandro Pichierri Italy 664,000 66 7 Tullio Bertoli Venezuela 660,000 66 8 Nils Lechner Germany 569,000 57 9 Remi Castaignon France 508,000 51 10 Juri Nereu Spain 490,000 49 The day started with late registration being open for the first two levels which allowed players a last chance to spin up a stack. Alexandra Botez took advantage by rejoining the action at the start of the day. The 888poker ambassadors started dropping one by one throughout the day. First to be eliminated was Ian Simpson who got it all in with a king high flush draw but couldn't hit a spade on the river to survive. Although Andrei Botez came into the day with more chips then his daughter Alexandra he was first to be eliminated on the when he moved all in with ace seven only to run into Kimmo Kurko's ace ten. Alexandra Botez managed to build a stack mid way through the day when she managed to double up with aces against Paolo Boi's pocket sevens in a blind vs blind confrontation. [email protected] finds the CRUCIAL double with the BLADES! PokerNews (@PokerNews) 888poker ambassador Lucia Navarro soon followed Simpson out the tournament area with an early elimination before the dinner break. Fellow ambassador Alexandre Mantovani was fortunate to survive when he got his ace queen in against his opponents ace king and pocket jacks only to go runner runner to hit a straight to triple up. However Mantovani left Vivian Saliba as the lone 888poker ambassador when he fell just after the dinner break. Saliba was a short stack on the money bubble but managed to survive to make the money after an hour long hand for hand bubble. However the bubble eventually burst when both Gordon Patterson and Jeremy Lyons shared the title of bubble boy. However Saliba would fall shortly after the bubble as she called from the big blind and moved all in with bottom pair only to be called and eliminated by middle pair when she failed to improve on the turn or river. The final 27 will return tomorrow at 4 p.m. local time as play will commence until a final table is reached. The blinds will start at Level 20 with 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action until a winner is crowned on Monday 22nd May 2023. Adam Schenk closed out a 3-under 67 with a 16-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to match PGA Tour rookie Harry Hall for the lead at 10 under after three rounds at the Colonial. Hall had the solo lead after the first and second rounds and had to overcame consecutive double-bogeys on the front nine Saturday. His final putt in his round of 72 was a 10-foot par at No. 18 after a birdie at the 17th. Harris English was a stroke back at 9-under 201 after his bogey on 18. Schenk and Hall are both seeking their first PGA Tour victory. Read moreSchenk, Hall tied for Colonial lead after 3 rounds as both seek 1st PGA Tour win Lowcountry automaker Volvo Cars needs to hire 1,300 workers as its Berkeley County plant gears up for electric vehicle production in the coming year, but a couple of key factors disqualifying job candidates in the past are still in play for this round of hiring drug tests and background checks. It's not just a problem for Volvo. Manufacturers across the state are looking to hire from a stagnant, if not shrinking, labor pool. And some are finding drug tests to be a big hurdle for applicants. Back in 2018, when the Volvo campus in Ridgeville was starting production of its S60 sedan, drug tests and background checks eliminated 70 percent of the candidates who had made it to the final hiring stages. They'd already passed an initial aptitude screening, aced the telephone and face-to-face interviews and successfully completed a preliminary training program. But when it came to providing a clean drug test and rap sheet, they fell out of contention. At least they made it that far. Only 12.5 percent of the job seekers made it past the initial interviews. Volvo might have loosened some of its standards since that first hiring spree. David Stentstrom, the local plant manager, said during a conference last year that the automaker was "very ambitious the first time, having very high ambitions about what people we would actually accept. I think it was way too high a standard." This time around, he said, Volvo is seeking candidates "with the right mindset, willing to learn." Persistent problem But the pot problem still exists. "After a candidate has accepted Volvo's offer, they must complete a drug screening as part of the next steps," a Volvo spokeswoman said, adding that testing positive for marijuana "would disqualify a candidate from being able to work at our facility." It's not clear what the percentages will be this time around because Volvo has just started the process of hiring for production of its all-electric EX90 sport-utility vehicle and the battery-powered Polestar 3 SUV for its sister brand. But a report by Quest Diagnostics, a New Jersey-based drug testing giant, doesn't offer a lot of hope. That company's most recent Drug Testing Index shows 4.6 percent of job seekers nationwide tested positive for drug use in 2022 the highest level in two decades. The majority were traced to marijuana use. Of the more than 6.3 million workforce-related urine tests Quest conducted last year, 4.3 percent were positive for marijuana, up 10.3 percent from 2021. The percentage of pot-flagged tests in manufacturing settings has nearly doubled since 2008 to 3.5 percent. That's relatively low compared to the 8.1 percent positive tests seen in the hotel, food service and retail industries, but still a troubling figure in a workplace environment where safety is a top concern and legal liability. Quest compares such concerns to hopping on the highway with a pot-smoking truck driver. "When you consider industries like transportation, warehousing and construction, for example, there is a safety concern that cannot be ignored," Quest said in a blog post. "For instance, how would one feel about sharing the road with a truck driver who has used marijuana several hours before their road trip? Even more how would an employer feel about that same driver taking to the road with their companys name on the side of that truck?" Uphill fight The prevalence of marijuana use and its legality in several states it's still a Schedule 1 drug, according to the federal government has prompted some employers to overlook positive test results when looking for help, or not test at all. But that's not so easy in a factory setting. "Suppose it's a manufacturing facility, where employees are around robots and dangerous heavy equipment," Brian Kreucher, an employment attorney, told the Detroit Free Press earlier this year. "In that case, employers are probably more reluctant to drop marijuana from the (screening) panel because of the severe consequences of losing a limb or a life in a manufacturing facility." In South Carolina, companies can get lower insurance premiums for complying with the state's Drug Free Workplace Act, which lists marijuana among the banned controlled substances. That law, which is similar to a federal version, also requires companies receiving state grants or contracts to mandate a drug-free environment. While testing isn't a requirement of the law, it's a widely used method for enforcing drug-free workplace policies. Manufacturers that accept incentives like tax credits must abide by all local, state and federal laws, according to the S.C. Commerce Department. That includes the Drug Free Workplace Act. Even without the drug screening, Volvo's quest to find 1,300 workers promises to be an uphill fight. South Carolina still has some of the lowest unemployment rates in its history, and the Charleston region has fewer out-of-work residents than any other metropolitan area. Enrollment at the state's technical colleges, where manufacturing skills are taught, has dropped by more than 20 percent over the past 10 years, although there has been an increase this year from the all-time low recorded in 2022. And nearly 44 percent of South Carolina's working-age population isn't interested in finding a job, according to the state's abysmal labor force participate rate. That means employers like Volvo have to offer more than the other guy both in wages and benefits to attract the best candidates. Volvo does well in that regard, with above-average pay, vehicle discounts, on-site food options, a generous parental leave policy and participation in the innovative Lowcountry Go Vanpool service, which provides low-cost transportation to work for people without a vehicle. But despite all the perks, it still comes down to whether an applicant can supply a clean urine sample. Frequently, it appears, that isn't the case. During just the first three months of this year more than 550,000 South Carolina residents were exposed to data breaches at businesses and other organizations they had patronized. They ranged from large financial and health care institutions to Chick-fil-A and a branch of Goodwill Industries. It's a good reminder that a seemingly endless number of companies and nonprofits have lots of data about their customers and supporters, from credit card information to health care, and your passwords and personal information are in their hands. If you're among the more than 10 percent of Palmetto State residents whose data was compromised from January to March, you probably already know it. Breaches usually prompt letters to the victims, which typically come with an offer for free credit monitoring and a promise to do better. The single largest breach during the first quarter, for South Carolina residents, involved TMX Finance. That's the parent company of TitleMax, TitleBucks and InstaLoan. "The personal information involved may have included your name, date of birth, passport number, driver's license number, federal/state identification card number, tax identification number, social security number and/or financial account information, and other information such as phone number, address and email address," TMX said in a March 30 letter to customers. South Carolina residents unfortunately have become used to this. After hackers struck the S.C. Department of Revenue in 2012 with a simple phishing email scam and scooped up the income tax returns of 6.4 million residents and businesses the state had 4.7 million residents at the time one might have wondered what was left to steal. But then came the Adobe hack in 2013 (38 million credit card numbers), Target in 2013 (41 million credit cards), and Equifax in 2017 (148 million credit reports and Social Security numbers). Health care companies with data breaches that touched South Carolina residents in recent years include Community Health Systems, Genesis Health Care, Roper St. Francis, the state Department of Health and Human Services and Conway Medical Center. If someone gets ahold of your credit card information, that's usually not a big deal. Fraudulent charges don't fall to the credit card holder, as long as they are discovered promptly, and the issuer will just cancel the hacked card and mail out a new one. This has already happened to me twice this year. A larger danger is identity theft, where hacked personal information can be used to open financial accounts or even file tax returns in the victim's name for the scammer's benefit. It's unfortunate that consumers must be extra vigilant because companies keep losing control of personal data, but that's where we are. So, assume your personal data is already for sale on the dark web, and take these steps: Review credit card and bank statements at least monthly for anything suspicious. The longer a problem goes undetected the longer it takes to repair. Consider putting a fraud alert on your credit reports, which requires businesses to take extra steps to make sure the person applying for credit is actually you. Contact one of the big three credit agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) to do this. If you have no plans to apply for credit, a security freeze is the strongest option. Put a security freeze on your credit at all three credit agencies and it remains in place until you lift it. Remember, though, that new utility accounts, or new landlords, often require credit checks. Data breaches can happen at any company or organization, but they also hit individuals, so remain vigilant about personal data. Always be suspicious of links in emails, and don't respond to calls and texts seeking personal information. COLUMBIA When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, the phones at restaurants like Richland Street's Spotted Salamander Cafe and Catering and Cayce's Duke's Pad Thai started ringing with customers wanting to order take-out. I would be like, just take the phone off the hook, Spotted Salamander's chef-owner Jessica Shillato said, of the overwhelming nature when the virus first began. Were not doing to-go orders right now. More than three years later, the phone lines are still ringing at some Columbia restaurants, joining a national trend of restaurants leaning more on takeout ordering than ever before. Shillato now attributes more than half of sales at her cafes a Richland Street location and a recently opened Main Street location to takeout ordering. Shillato considers takeout to be such a huge part of the industry following the last three years. Shes not alone. The restaurant industry nationally is getting a radical makeover as takeout is the new trend. Nearly one fifth of sales in American restaurants last year could be attributed to takeout ordering, according to the Wall Street Journal. In some Columbia restaurants, this has meant changes to kitchens and business models to accommodate the new customer preference. For others, it meant a way to continue business throughout the pandemic. Noi Souvanna, the owner of Dukes Pad Thai and the upcoming Little Bee Bun Mee, said during the height of the pandemic, her restaurant didnt lose money. Instead, she saw an influx of takeout orders. Were always breaking records and takeout is always a very strong part of our business, Souvanna told Free Times. The restaurant updated aspects of the kitchen to accommodate for the number, Souvanna said. As a company, were always changing ways to service the guests, Souvanna said. Get as many people in and out as fast as possible. However, Souvanna said she cant compare the influx of takeout orders before the pandemic because of her restaurant's growth over the last three years. Dukes Pad Thai had many people online ordering and ordering takeout in the restaurant before the pandemic, but the volume of orders they get now cannot be compared, she said. Spotted Salamander, whose owner Shillato was recently named a semifinalist in this year's James Beard Foundation awards, has been noticeably busier than before, but Shillato said the restaurant hasn't changed kitchen operations as a result. While the takeout boom has helped some Columbia restaurants, it also often means having to bring on additional employees, Shillato said. Her restaurant halted its curbside pickup option because "you have to employ a whole person to do that," Shillato said. Leaning heavily on takeout, and less on dine-in service, could mean restaurants have to rely on less staff, restaurant owners like Souvanna said. She doesn't plan on converting to takeout only, since she does have the staff to handle both. While more casual, lunch places like Spotted Salamander and Duke's have seen an influx of orders, other spots say they haven't noticed much of an increase. Palmer Ray, former general manager of The War Mouth, said the restaurant offered takeout only during 2020. Ray remembers ordering better takeout boxes in larger quantities than before COVID-19 hit. The laidback Southern-food Cottontown restaurant toyed with streamlined third party delivery outlets, like Grub Hub or Door Dash, but ultimately decided against it because management found the outlets unreliable. Ray said the restaurant has about six to eight takeout orders a week. Its not a huge change, Ray said. Keith Johnson, general manager of Jakes Bar and Grill, said the Five Points bar popular with college students and dog-lovers alike, operates the same as it did before March 2020. Jakes closed for seven weeks when the pandemic began but reopened in May 2020. Since opening back up, take-out orders have been low on average. If you want something to go, well make it for you, but we dont do a lot of walk-in to-go orders very often, Johnson said. Plus, Jakes kitchen and operation isnt set up for the takeout business, which affected the bar's decision on whether to lean on it following the pandemic. During the COVID period, (takeout) was definitely discussed, Johnson said. But the kitchen is toward the back of (the building). If everything was closed, youd have to have a cashier or someone out front. Subscription to paid content Gain access to all that Trend has to offer, as well as to premium, licensed content via subscription or direct purchase through a credit card. LEXINGTON It was one of the worst things a police lieutenant had ever seen. A dead teenager on the ground, cold and covered up by a white sheet. Another, body beaten, with medical tubes coming out of his body. Irmo Police Lt. Andrea Grinstead remembers crying over and over as she sat with the families of those who died that night. Renas Isiom-Shakoor Davis, who was 18 at the time of the 2018 crash, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for speeding from police in a stolen car, going up to 100 miles per hour before he crashed into a tree, killing three teenage passengers, including his 14-year-old brother, and injuring two others. For Grinstead, who was a sergeant at the time of the crash, the decade long sentence for the deaths of three teenagers wasnt enough. When she heard a judge was reconsidering the sentence, both she and a state prosecutor from the Eleventh Circuit Solicitor's Office in Lexington spoke up. I can only tell you that I saw things that night that no one should ever have to see, Grinstead wrote to the judge. For weeks afterward I would flash back to that night and those scenes and could not get the image of their dead bodies out of my head. Without entering the reasons for his decision into the record, and despite pushback from the solicitors office, Circuit Court Judge Casey Manning cut down Davis' sentence to six years in an order he signed in late December, just before Manning's retirement, along with a series of other orders reducing sentences. One of those orders was for convicted killer Jeriod Price, released some 16 years early in a quiet, in-chambers deal between a solicitor and defense attorney, which they say was for substantial assistance. The S.C. Supreme Court has since voided the order releasing Price and instructed police to immediately arrest the murderer so he can serve the remainder of his 35-year sentence. Prices mugshot now flashes on billboards in Columbia with a multi-agency investigation offering $30,000 for information leading to his capture. After working 30 years as a hospital and military chaplain, I was surprised more than anyone by my return to parish ministry last year. And the word surprise has become a regular part of my strategy with my unsuspecting little congregation. Each Sunday, I try to keep them guessing. Thats because I dont think memorized prayer or rote liturgy always gets the job done. For instance, we began our Mothers Day service with Paul Simons music video of Love Me Like a Rock. I then gathered the congregants into five groups, allowing them five minutes to share something about their mother, good and difficult. And we even had time for a serious sermon on The Motherly Qualities of God. Given what I did a few weeks earlier on Easter, I doubt that I can surprise them much anymore. We kicked off the service by bouncing a beach ball through the crowd. The Happy Dance video by Mercy Me had everyone busting a move or two, but mostly I just busted that dance. I managed to shock a few first-time visitors, but the idea was that Easter should be celebrated as a wonderful surprise. After all, I dont think theres a bigger surprise than Jesus coming out of the grave. But its what I did on the Sunday before Easter that still has a few of them talking. I began by telling them the story of a wounded soldier who asked me to help him forgive the insurgents that killed his squad leader. I confessed how the story had inspired me to forgive a fellow chaplain of a longtime hurt. I paused for a moment, carving a silent space to honor the holy. I then asked them to consider their own stories and those whove hurt them in perhaps unforgiveable ways. Today, I hope its time to let that go, I suggested. I motioned them into a circle around the edges of the sanctuary and then distributed a responsive reading that Ive shared with dozens of churches around the U.S. From a half sheet of paper, I challenged them to respond to a litany that my father-in-law, Wil, wrote to help me deal with past hurts. Sign up for our opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! He titled it, A Litany for Our Deepest Hurts. Leader: Because there are pains that do not heal as physical pain does with time, surgery or medication, we are engaged in this spiritual covenant in anticipation now or soon of eventual healing of our spirits. Response: I accept and enter this covenant as if I were beginning a brand new journey in life. Leader: The deeper the hurt, the longer the journey, whether in minutes, hours or days, to that healing destination brought about by forgiveness and release. Response: I promise to move in that direction. I may not move as fast as you think I should, but today or daily, I will release and surrender either all or some part of this cumbersome weight. Leader: These hurts have many names, such as bushwhacked, waylaid, back-stabbed, slandered, deceived, etc., and none hurt like that received from a perceived friend. Response: I will cease giving it a name and simply reject anything in my mind and spirit that is counterproductive to what God has planned for me. Leader: Ceasing to dwell on this matter is not a matter of weakness, for it will free your time and mind. Therefore, if you are willing to stop looking back and instead face a forward direction, then our mighty God will be better able to bless and direct a forward-moving life. Response: Because I know you are right, I hereby give up to God my so-called rights I have attached to my hurts, knowing he will deal with those involved while also leading me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake. Ive shared this litany with many audiences during the talks Ive given in past years. No one has said that its a magic pill. Yet, most have found it useful as a strong first step toward being surprised by forgiveness. Perhaps you, too, can find it helpful. Take this column and litany back to your church, small group or family reunion. Challenge them to let go and walk into the forward-facing life. In the meantime, the words are my daily touchstone, reminding me to never be surprised by the power of forgiveness. BRAVE THE WILD RIVER: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon. By Melissa L. Sevigny. W.W. Norton & Company. 304 pages. $30. Read moreBook Review: Brave the Wild River the true story of 2 scientists in the Grand Canyon BAMBERG Years before the Bamberg County Hospital closed in 2012, and the next-closest hospital in neighboring Barnwell shut its doors in 2016, those facilities had stopped delivering babies. These days, theres not even an ultrasound machine in this rural county 60 miles south of Columbia, much less an obstetrician. Pregnant women here are left with few options for care. Federally qualified health centers offer prenatal services in nearby Fairfax and Barnwell, but only when a pregnancy is uncomplicated and only through about 34 weeks of gestation. During the final weeks of pregnancy, women must transfer their care to the nearest obstetrician, often in Orangeburg, which can be 20 miles away or more, depending on where they live in Bamberg County. Some women travel farther to hospitals in Aiken or Beaufort, where health outcomes are better. Most of our women are driving an hour or more from their homes to an OB provider, said Tracy Golden, a doula and senior program manager for the South Carolina Office of Rural Health. Although the regional hospital in the city of Orangeburg delivers babies, the birth outcomes in the county are awful by any standard. In 2021, nearly 3 percent of all Black infants in Orangeburg County died before their 1st birthday. Nationally, the average is about 1 percent for Black infants and less than 0.5 percent for White infants. Meanwhile, Orangeburg Countys infant mortality rate for babies of all races is the highest in South Carolina, according to the latest data published by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. By 2030, the federal government wants infant mortality to fall to 5 or fewer deaths per 1,000 live births. According to annual data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 states have already met or surpassed that goal, including Nevada, New York and California. But none of those states are in the South, where infant mortality is by far the highest in the country, with Mississippis rate of 8.12 deaths per 1,000 live births ranking worst. Even in those few Southern states where infant mortality rates are inching closer to the national average, the gap between death rates of Black and White babies is vast. In Florida and North Carolina, for example, the Black infant mortality rate is more than twice as high as it is for White babies. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that, over 20 years, Black people in the U.S. experienced more than 1.6 million excess deaths and 80 million years of life lost because of increased mortality risk compared with White Americans. The study also found that infants and older Black Americans bear the brunt of excess deaths and years lost. That makes Black infant mortality in the South a complex regional crisis that should alarm everyone, not just future parents, said Georgina Dukes-Harris, senior director for social care at Unite Us, a national technology company focused on societal needs. Birth outcomes for mothers and infants are a leading indicator of population well-being and they run much deeper than health care: They reflect politics. Theyre a direct product of generational poverty and racism. They reveal our priorities, Dukes-Harris said. Often, babies die under circumstances that states, communities and parents can help control, like making sure infants dont suffocate in beds or in unsafe cribs, or extending health coverage so that young women can afford to see a doctor before they become pregnant. In many of these respects, the South is failing. This is something that has to change, Dukes-Harris said. An urgent problem with no easy solution Public health officials are still trying to parse the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but infant death rates in South Carolina were higher than the national average long before the health care landscape changed in 2020. And a report published by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control in April shows the rate for non-Hispanic Black babies who died at a rate nearly 2 times that of non-Hispanic White infants in South Carolina in 2021 is growing worse. The death rate among infants born to Black mothers in the state increased by nearly 40 percent from 2017 to 2021. Thats just not acceptable, said Edward Simmer, director of the South Carolina health department. Its absolutely an urgent problem to me. Its a problem, though, without an apparent solution. Multimillion-dollar programs to improve South Carolinas numbers over the past decade have failed to move the needle. To make things more complicated, separate state agencies have reached different conclusions about the leading cause of infant death. The state Department of Health and Human Services which administers Medicaid, the health coverage program for low-income residents, and pays for more than half of all births in South Carolina claims accidental deaths were the No. 1 reason babies covered by Medicaid died from 2016 to 2021, according to Medicaid spokesperson Jeff Leieritz. But the state health department, where all infant death data is housed, reported birth defects as the top cause for the past several years. Accidental deaths ranked fifth among all causes in 2021, according to the 2021 health department report. All but one of those accidental infant deaths were attributed to suffocation or strangulation in bed. Meanwhile, infant mortality is a topic that continues to get little, if any, attention, especially in the South. A group called the South Carolina Birth Outcomes Initiative meets regularly to talk strategy, but this consortium of the states top doctors, nurses, health insurers and hospital leaders cant solve fundamental problems, like teaching parents safe sleep habits or connecting all pregnant women to basic prenatal care. According to the Medicaid agency, nearly half of Medicaid-enrolled babies who died before their 1st birthday in 2021 were born to mothers who received no prenatal care. Theres good work going on. Its just in little patches. Its just not spread out enough to change our overall numbers, said Rick Foster, a retired physician and former chairman of one of the Birth Outcomes Initiatives working groups. Expanding access to maternal care South Carolina and several other states recently extended postpartum Medicaid coverage for women who give birth, which means their coverage remains in place for one year after delivery. Historically, Medicaid coverage was cut off 60 days after having a baby. Some experts believe expanding Medicaid coverage to single, working adults who arent pregnant and dont have children something most Southern states have failed to do would also help curtail infant deaths. A woman who is healthy when heading into pregnancy is more likely to give birth to a healthy baby because the health of the mother correlates to the health of the infant. But many women dont qualify for Medicaid coverage until they become pregnant. Even when they become pregnant and are newly eligible for Medicaid, it isnt unusual for women in South Carolina to put off seeing a doctor until the third trimester, physicians told KFF Health News. These women cant afford to take time off work, cant find child care or dont have a car, among other reasons. Telehealth could improve access if the states broadband network were better, said Simmer, the state health department director. The department could also invest in a fleet of mobile vans that provide prenatal care. Each costs just under $1 million, he said. Ultimately, South Carolina needs more doctors willing to practice in rural areas. Fourteen of its 46 counties lack a single OB-GYN, Simmer said. We dont have providers where we need them, he said. To that end, he added, the state might consider using student loan forgiveness programs as an incentive for new medical school graduates to practice in rural areas of the state, where obstetricians are scarce. Meanwhile, two programs aimed at improving infant mortality in South Carolina, which were backed by millions of dollars in public and private funding over the past decade, were unsuccessful in hitting the goal. The Nurse-Family Partnership, for example, which pairs expectant South Carolina mothers with nurses for at-home visits, didnt have a statistically significant effect on birth outcomes, according to an analysis of the multiyear project, published by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. CenteringPregnancy, a separate program that offers small-group prenatal education to pregnant women, also failed to improve birth outcomes, said Amy Crockett, a maternal-fetal specialist in Greenville and one of the lead investigators for the state initiative. Crockett said she recently returned about $300,000 in grant funding to the Duke Endowment, a nonprofit that funds health, faith and education initiatives in the Carolinas, because the evidence to support ongoing CenteringPregnancy projects simply wasnt there. Its not the silver bullet we thought it would be, Crockett said. Its time to move on. Birth outcomes experts agreed that racism and poverty lie at the heart of this difficult problem, which disproportionately threatens Black infants and mothers in the rural South. Research shows that White doctors are often prejudiced against Black patients and minimize their concerns and pain. In South Carolina, the maternal mortality rate increased by nearly 10 percent from 2018 to 2019, according to the latest data, which found that the risk of pregnancy-related death for Black mothers was 67 percent higher than for White mothers. Upon review, the state health department determined 80 percent of those pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. Disparities related to both infant and maternal deaths deserve urgent attention from both the federal and state governments, said Scott Sullivan, division chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Inova Health System in Northern Virginia. Hospitals also bear a huge responsibility as doctors and health care providers must learn how to fairly and adequately take care of Black women and children. The idea that were going to solve 400 years of racism in an hours worth of bias training is a cruel joke. Systems have to remodel their approach, Sullivan said. Its going to take funding, and its going to take a sustained effort. A major change in health care regulation is causing many South Carolina hospitals to redo plans for expansion and could lead to a flurry of activity from pent up demand, experts and hospital officials said. But it may not be the catalyst for investing in underserved areas that legislators had hoped, as states like Texas saw many of its rural hospitals close following its reform. As restrictions on South Carolina health care facilities go away, a gleaming new surgery center popping up next door to a struggling rural hospital would actually be a dream scenario for Lari Gooding. "We dont do any surgery here at our hospital so if an ambulatory surgery center did decide to open up next door, that just benefits us," said Gooding, CEO of Allendale County Hospital. But in one of the poorest counties in the state, "I am not sure that we are going to see a lot of outside investment," he said. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill May 17 doing away with much of the state's Certificate of Need law in stages, eliminating some rules on July 1 and most of the rest on Jan. 1, 2027. That law required state approval for new hospitals and many other facilities, significant changes in the number of beds or purchasing expensive new equipment. "South Carolinians will have greater access to affordable health care services with the repeal of the Certificate of Need laws," McMaster said. "Everyone benefits when the proven power of the free market is unleashed in our state. Health care restrictions in each state were enforced by a federal law in 1974 as a way to curb overspending due to a generous Medicare formula. But by the mid-1980s, when that funding was tightened, agencies backed away from the program and many states began to repeal or modify their rules. South Carolina was among 35 states that still had some form of the regulations in place, including neighbors Georgia and North Carolina. The restrictions have been defended by hospitals and others as necessary to keep down health care costs and prevent cherry-picking of insured patients and profitable procedures that many hospitals need to off-set losses from less lucrative services and indigent patients. The most profitable health services are those that involve procedures, like surgery or catheterizations, while services like pediatrics and primary care are the least profitable but necessary, said Thornton Kirby, CEO of the South Carolina Hospital Association. But for at least the past decade, conservative and free-market forces have aggressively targeted the laws, complaining that they are stifling competition and inhibiting growth in much-needed areas. It comes down to choice, said Dr. Marcelo Hochman, past president of the Charleston County Medical Society and president of the Independent Doctors of South Carolina. He has spent the past several years lobbying against the law just to open the doors for patients and doctors to have more options." That view finally prevailed in the legislature. It was a good idea perhaps at the time, but it was time to be repealed, said Rep. Sylleste Davis, R-Moncks Corner, who championed the reforms. South Carolina is growing at such a rapid rate that we cant even keep up with the health care services and health care options that people need and want. Even the hospital association, which had opposed various repeals over the years, saw it was time for the law to change. The law has always been a two-edged sword," Kirby said. "It inhibits you from doing things you might want to do but it also prohibits potential competitors from doing the same." Immediate Impact After July 1, many of the restrictions come off facilities that provide health care outside the hospital setting, such as the surgery centers. Restrictions on new hospitals and adding new beds will continue for another three years. The full regulations continue for nursing homes. Some projects that are currently being blocked by appeal, such as a Free-Standing Emergency Department that MUSC Health wants to build in Berkeley County, would be able to proceed, CEO Patrick Cawley said. The delay for hospitals was deliberate and intended to level the playing field between the established health care systems and potential new entrants, Davis said. Part of that was also requiring new surgery centers to provide indigent care as well, she said, of at least 2 percent of adjusted gross revenue if they accept Medicaid patients or 3 percent if they do not. There was one notable exception to the hospital rules that takes effect this year: hospitals can move within their current county without getting approval. The biggest beneficiary of that exception is Roper Hospital, whose move from downtown Charleston to a new campus in North Charleston could have been held up for years by appeals under the current system. "We think it is important to get moving with our new site and this allows us to get going, which is great, without any undue delay," said Dr. Jeffrey DiLisi, CEO of Roper St. Francis Healthcare System. MUSC Health also has a project moving a hospital within Lancaster County where the exemption could potentially apply. Without the previous restrictions, Roper is now revisiting plans because much of the previous work was "dependent on what you need to ask permission for or not," he said. It will likely change the thinking on a lot of hospital expansions going forward, said Cawley of MUSC Health. Knowing it could take 6-10 years to get a project through all of the appeals under the current system, a hospital would "load up" a request and ask for the maximum amount of beds or equipment it might need for the future in hopes it would not have to come back and ask for more. "So there is a tendency (under the current system) to maybe to build things a little bigger," Cawley said. "When there is no (approval), then you start to think about, wait a second, I dont need to get it correct on the first try. I can go smaller and then simply add on multiple times over the years." The new freedom, even if some of it is delayed, is welcomed by Christina Oh, CEO of Trident Health System, which includes facilities in the Charleston area and Colleton County. "The passage of this bill will allow us to do what we are already doing faster and in more places," she said. Oh points to the new free-standing Emergency Room on James Island, set to open this summer, as the kind of facility Trident could place faster in areas where it sees a need. "There are other communities that dont have access to care services so we will able to do that more quickly," she said. Those free-standing Emergency Departments and the surgery centers, concentrated in certain areas, are what typically spring up after the restrictions come off, MUSC's Cawley said. "In high-growth states where (approvals) have been repealed, that is definitely one of the things youve seen," he said, although South Carolina already has a number of them. Where the growth is In the Palmetto State, that initial spurt of investment will likely be concentrated in a few spots, said Kirby of the hospital association. "Youre going to see much more investment in health care facilities in the biggest growth markets, the urban centers," he said, most likely Charleston, Greenville, Spartanburg and Horry County. And it is not going to suddenly "spur a great deal of health care investment in a lot of the really poor counties where there is no hospital currently," Kirby said. Getting rid of the restrictions doesn't seem to help rural counties all that much, based on the experience in other states. In Texas, for example, where the laws have not been in effect since the mid-80s, the state actually leads the country in rural hospitals closing. There have been at least 60 closures since that point, although some appear to be replaced with a free-standing emergency department or re-opened with limited services, according to data from the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals. And more than one in four rural hospitals in Texas were at risk of closure in 2022, according to a report from the health care analyst firm Kaufman Hall. In Georgia, significant changes to its health care regulations in 2019 limited who could oppose a provider asking for the state license to build. In many areas of Georgia without a hospital, particularly those counties south of Macon, "you would think people would go into those areas knowing that no one could oppose them and open up new hospitals. And it is just not happening," said Anna Adams, executive vice president-external affairs for the Georgia Hospital Association. "Thats because there is no payer source in those areas. You have to be able to keep your lights on and your doors open to offer those services." Historically, repealing the laws has resulted in new hospitals and existing facilities "offering new types of services that they werent before, said James Bailey, an economist at Providence College in Rhode Island who has extensively researched the impact of CON laws. But other impacts, such as on health quality and the price of health care overall, is likely to be more modest, he said. If you squint, if you look carefully, you might see this reduction in prices and spending, Bailey said. Those in the rural areas of great need, like Gooding in Allendale, aren't expecting a flood of interest when the restrictions come down. "Investment in Allendale is tough," he said. And with a patient population that is more than 70 percent Medicare or Medicaid, with few higher-paying private pay patients and the rest uninsured or self-pay, it is unlikely to catch the eye of someone looking for big returns. But the new law can be a benefit to Allendale as it looks to somehow replace a 70-year-old facility that demands constant repairs. Being able to move within the county means a new hospital could be built closer to Barnwell County, which lost its hospital in 2016, Gooding said. Then again, a similar idea to build a regional medical center for Allendale, Barnwell and Bamberg counties died amid parochial squabbles about where it would be located, with each one demanding it be built there, he said. "Theres a lot of politics you have to fight through," Gooding said. State approval, he said, would be one less headache after that. When South Carolina begins dropping restrictions on new health care facilities this summer, the barriers that kept hospitals in Georgia and North Carolina from setting up shop in border areas also disappear. And that worries some in the Palmetto State. "Our biggest concern about (the) repeal has been the border issue," said Dr. Patrick Cawley, CEO of MUSC Health. The health system has a contested project in Lancaster County, just south of the North Carolina border and part of the Charlotte metro area, where it wants to build a 98-bed medical center in Indian Land by transferring already licensed beds at a hospital in Lancaster, roughly 20 miles away. A similar fight erupted years earlier over attempts to create a hospital in Fort Mill on the border with North Carolina. Aiken County also attracted interest from Georgia after then-Gov. Nikki Haley, vetoed the funding for South Carolina's Certificate of Need program in 2013, leaving hospital regulations in limbo after the Department of Health and Environmental Control said it could not then enforce the program. Augusta-based University Hospital, now Piedmont Augusta, proposed building a 50-bed hospital in Aiken close to Aiken Regional Medical Centers, arguing a great number of its patients came from the area. That bid was ultimately blocked when CON was upheld in South Carolina and the proposal was denied. The border issue was a key concern about deregulation that was brought to the attention of the legislators, said Thornton Kirby, CEO of the South Carolina Hospital Association. It was one of the reasons the restrictions for hospitals will remain in place for three more years, he said, as states like Georgia and North Carolina may make similar changes in the near future. "There were a number of legislative leaders who said it is not a free market when their systems can come into our state and capture our market but we cant go across the state border and do the same in theirs," Kirby said. There have been a number of efforts to repeal the regulations in Georgia over the years and there was a major revision in 2019. Among the changes were limits on who could oppose a state license and allowing providers to apply to put up Free-Standing Emergency Departments, which the state had not allowed prior to that. Efforts this year resulted in study committees in both the House and the Senate that will look at reforms over a series of meetings and report back to the Legislature in the next session, said Executive Vice President-External Affairs Anna Adams of the Georgia Hospital Association. The group also is "very, very closely" monitoring events over the next year in South Carolina. The S.C. Legislature also has a study committee to do the same. But "there are a lot of moving parts in health care," Adams said. "So comparing Georgia to South Carolina, or Georgia to Florida or Georgia to North Carolina, there are a lot of things that are different state to state in how we manage health care, how we manage Medicaid, whether or not weve done a Medicaid expansion, things like that. Its not apples to apples, from a comparison perspective." Christina Oh, CEO of Trident Health System in the Charleston area, saw that border squabble firsthand as a hospital executive in Rock Hill when the battle over Fort Mill was underway. It is about fairness, she said. "At the end of the day, what most of us are wanting is an even playing field regardless of borders and regardless of the health care system," Oh said. It is one reason Cawley of MUSC Health hopes the other states will follow South Carolina's lead. "That would create a fair situation for everybody," he said. Seanna Adcox and Alexander Thompson contributed to this report from Columbia. COLUMBIA A woman who says she was ousted unfairly from her groundbreaking U.S. Army post because of racism and sexism believes she has been vindicated by a recent change to her military record. Teresa King in 2009 became the first woman to be named to post of commandant of the Army Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson but was removed from the post in late 2011. King, who had held the rank of command sergeant major, maintained that an unfair performance review damaged her career and led to her being ousted from the position. After years of effort, the less-than-laudatory review was removed from her record in recent months, according to her attorney in the case, former state lawmaker and Army veteran James E. Smith. Smith helped King, who now lives in Columbia, campaign for years to get some satisfaction after she believes her career was derailed by discrimination. "I gave my life to the Army and they tried to take my good name," King said. "I couldnt let them win." 'Appropriate action' The Army acknowledges that it has conducted a later review of the performance evaluation and removed it from her record. The Army Board of Corrections for Military Records reviewed her request to remove an evaluation from her personnel file and took appropriate action," Army spokesman Sgt. First Class Anthony Hewitt said. "This was an administrative action, and we consider this matter closed," Hewitt said in a statement. The Army statement did not address King's view of how she was treated at the time, only the Army's reasons for removing the record now. The justification to remove the evaluation was not connected to racist or sexist behavior," Hewitt said. King's ascent to a top leadership position for noncommissioned officers, before then exclusively a man's post, garnered national attention at the time, including a mention in O, The Oprah Magazine in its list of powerful women. The ground shifted quickly. King was suspended from her position in December 2011 for a personnel review and, she said, ordered to not be in contact with other leaders at the drill sergeant school or detainees. In essence, she was a leader with no command. "I really did not have a job," King told The Post and Courier. She was reinstated in May 2012 but then shifted out of the post just weeks later, according to an account from King. No official reason for the suspension was ever given to her, she said, but she blames jealousy and racism among male noncommissioned officers for the way she was left in limbo. "As you know, a strong Black person in a position of power becomes a target," King wrote to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. King paid a price for being put on the shelf, according to letters of protest she sent to those in power in the years after she retired, having had her way to any new command blocked. Sign up for our SC Military Digest newsletter Get exclusive military reporting, updates from Palmetto State bases, headlines from around the globe and more delivered to your inbox each Tuesday. Email Sign up! In a June 2021 letter to Austin, she said the long investigation into her and disruption to her career contributed to anxiety, depression and other mental health problems. "I wasnt sleeping, couldnt get out of bed for days, and yes, I wanted to die," she wrote. From recruit to her lawyer Smith, a former state representative and Democratic candidate for governor, met King when he re-enlisted in the Army to pursue a combat role instead of his previous post, as a JAG officer in the S.C. National Guard. To change paths, Smith re-started with basic training at Fort Jackson at the age of 37, taking a leave of absence from the Legislature. King would regularly take those trainees headed to become officers, such as Smith, or into airborne units, for additional running to boost their fitness. "Immediately, I was impressed with her military bearing and her command presence," Smith said. King received consistently excellent reviews before receiving the lower one that prompted her removal from the commandant post, Smith said. Later, Smith would reconnect with King and spend years helping King try to get some recognition that she had been wronged by the Army, and protecting her from damage to her reputation. "There was nothing expeditious about it," Smith said. With Smith's help, King strove to use every avenue of appeal possible to clear her name, including military appeals, a federal lawsuit and meeting with members of Congress. King accumulated significant debt while pursuing military and civilian court appeals, according to her letter to Austin. King suffered other damage to her reputation as a result of the Army's action, Smith said. The Army never officially announced the investigation or gave a public reason, King said, and that allowed rumors to spread blaming her for the situation. With Smith's help, she successfully sued a website for defamation after it had alleged that personal misconduct by her had led to her career being derailed. In 2019, a Richland County court handed down a verdict that King had been defamed by the website and ordered that the website's publisher pay $150,000 in damages. Smith, who served in Afghanistan as part of his re-enlistment, calls the way King was treated a "textbook travesty of justice." Now the removal of that less-than-top-level review has to serve as all the vindication she is likely to receive, but to King, it makes a major difference. The Army's recent action gives her something concrete to point to to rebut rumors and speculation about how her career ended. "I am able to go on now." The National Park Service is seeking public input during an initial planning phase to replace and rehabilitate the docks at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park. The docks at each fort are essential for transporting visitors and staff to the park. Read morePublic can provide input on Fort Moultrie dock replacement The provision of health care at Charleston Countys jail will soon change hands after the county officially inked an agreement this month with a new for-profit correctional health care company. County officials and the sheriff assert the new partnership with VitalCore, a Kansas-based company, will bring positive change to the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center, where the deaths of two inmates prompted calls this spring for a federal investigation into a potential pattern of civil rights violations. But the countys failure throughout the last year to hold the current provider, Wellpath LLC, accountable calls into question whether a new provider will solve the jails health care crisis. Countless people in the last year have suffered in South Carolinas largest jail after not receiving their prescribed medications or treatment for mental health and physical injuries, according to jail reports. Wellpath is on its way out, but several factors at the jail will persist, including a deluge of detention deputy vacancies and the regional medical workforce. VitalCore hopes to retain all current employees," who work at the Charleston County jail, according to a letter published on the companys website by its founder and chief executive, Viola Riggin. We are excited to collaborate and partner with Charleston County, she wrote. Our mission is to establish a culture that recognizes the value of the patient, team member, and client through product and service excellence resulting in the most positive clinical experience. VitalCore prides itself on its relatively small corporate size and its autonomy, unlike many of its competitors, including Wellpath, which are run by private equity firms. Founded seven years ago, the Topeka, Kan. company provides care to more than 48,000 "offenders" in 106 facilities across 15 states. It reports a total revenue of more than $280 million. VitalCore ranked the highest out of three offers to Charleston County for inmate medical care and health care services. A committee of four sheriff's office employees and the director of the county's alcohol and drug abuse services evaluated the proposals based on experience in clinical health care, program cost and litigation history, among other criteria. VitalCores official start date at the North Charleston facility is July 1. The terms of the contract The county has agreed to pay VitalCore just over $7.4 million annually, according to a contract signed May 8. Thats $1 million more or a 15 percent increase than what the county currently pays Wellpath. The price of staffing is responsible for the uptick, the contract shows. The agreement can be renewed annually for a period of five years. VitalCore is also required under the contract to carry $9 million more in liability insurance than Wellpath was required. The increase comes as Charleston County is embroiled in litigation due to the provision of medical care at its jail, including a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of DAngelo Brown, a man with schizophrenia who withered for months in a filthy isolation cell. His death was ruled a homicide due to gross medical neglect. One in four people detained at the jail suffers from a serious and persistent mental illness, according to data provided by the Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center. Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano previously said she was dissatisfied with VitalCore and did not believe the provider was capable of meeting the behavioral health needs of the jails residents. The sheriff, who declined an interview request for this article, wrote in a provided statement that she is now cautiously optimistic about the services VitalCore plans to provide. She said her office will track the vendor's compliance and work in "good faith" with VitalCore and County administration. Managing a contract The Sheriffs Office runs the jail, but the countys procurement office supervises all contracts between the county and third parties, including the jails medical provider. A breakdown in communication between the Sheriffs Office and procurement, however, hobbled the countys response to Wellpaths reported medical failings and enabled inadequate care to persist for nearly a year, a Post and Courier investigation found. Charleston County Council Chairman Herbert Sass said procurement and the Sheriffs Office are now on the same page. Im very optimistic that this is going to work out because everyones working together, he said. Theyll field the balls when they get hit to em, and they'll get it done. Sass is confident procurement and the Sheriffs Office will not commit previous errors. Jail administrators last year did not properly document Wellpaths nonconformance, procurement alleged, preventing the county from contacting the vendor. But even once the jail started using a form procurement provided to document Wellpaths issues, procurement still did not use power enshrined in its contract, which included suspending or terminating Wellpath or withholding pay. Through a spokeswoman, Barrett Tolbert, the countys head of contracts and procurement, declined an interview to discuss the new contract. The county spokeswoman, Kelsey Barlow, said in a provided statement that procurement will continue to work with the Sheriffs Office to follow procurement practices as it relates to managing a contract. Stuart Andrews, a Columbia-based civil rights attorney and board president of South Carolina's ACLU, said he does not believe Charleston County is currently capable of effectively managing a contract for inmate medical services, which he called highly complex. The most important consideration in examining a professional services contract is whether the party purchasing the service understands what theyre getting, Andrews said. I dont believe that Charleston County or the sheriffs department is in a position to effectively evaluate the services that VitalCore is contracting to provide. Andrews offered two solutions. First, the county should require the provider to monitor and evaluate its services based on agreed-upon standards of care. The contract requires the provider maintain certain state and national standards, but does not describe a mechanism for evaluation and reporting. Second, the county should retain independent consultants with expertise in correctional health care to proactively evaluate the vendor and identify opportunities for early intervention. It is not something that a layperson that a nonprofessional in this field should be expected to be able to evaluate by simply reading statistical reports or having a conversation alone with that provider, Andrews said. I was covering my second state budget debate when I got my first look at a USC-Clemson rivalry that was deeper and far more expensive than the one that plays out on a football field: the never-ending battle over legislative largesse. Read moreScoppe: The worrisome re-emergence of the Clemson-USC rivalry. No, not that rivalry. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 61F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 61F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%. PR-Inside.com: 2023-05-21 13:00:15 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 677 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2023 / In today's society, where materialism and consumerism often dominate, finding true happiness and living a meaningful life can seem like a daunting task. Merrill Lynch's Raj Kalyandurg, a Dallas-based private wealth advisor and philanthropist, offers valuable advice on overcoming materialism and nurturing genuine happiness.The Downside of MaterialismThe relentless pursuit of material possessions can negatively influence various aspects of life. Research has shown that materialism can contribute to poor mental health, strained relationships, and environmental problems. Raj Kalyandurg stresses the significance of teaching his children not to be materialistic in a world where it appears to be the standard. "We must instill the idea in our children that happiness doesn't stem from owning possessions, but from forging deep connections with others and pursuing personal growth," he says.Nurturing True HappinessRaj Kalyandurg suggests several methods for promoting authentic happiness and living a more meaningful existence:Choose Experiences Over Possessions: Instead of amassing material items, give priority to experiences that promote personal growth and create lasting memories. Traveling, attending cultural events, or engaging in hobbies that enrich one's life all fall within this category."Experiences hold more value than "things" because they foster growth, learning, and enduring memories," explains Raj Kalyandurg.Develop Meaningful Relationships: Invest your time and energy in fostering connections with family, friends, and community members. Raj Kalyandurg opines that strong social bonds are crucial for achieving genuine happiness. "What truly matters in life are our relationships. They offer the support, love, and sense of belonging we all require," he asserts.Emphasize Personal Growth: Strive for self-improvement through continuous learning, introspection, and personal development. Raj Kalyandurg recommends activities such as meditation and spending quality time with family to promote happiness. "By focusing on personal growth, we enhance our resilience, compassion, and life satisfaction. These are emotions that material things alone cannot provide," he states.Cultivate Gratitude: Foster a grateful attitude by routinely expressing your appreciation for the people, experiences, and opportunities in your life. Raj Kalyandurg contends that gratitude helps shift our attention away from material possessions and towards more meaningful aspects of our lives. "Gratitude enables us to recognize life's abundance and paves the way to greater happiness and well-being," he says.Give Back to the Community: Participate in philanthropic or volunteer work to assist others and contribute to the greater good. Raj Kalyandurg is an active philanthropist, currently serving as the Chairman of the US-India Chamber of Commerce and sitting on the boards of various charitable organizations. "Helping others is not only beneficial for those in need but also enriches our own lives by providing a sense of purpose and fulfillment," he observes.The Art of Mindful ConsumptionOvercoming materialism and fostering authentic happiness also involves practicing mindful consumption. By being conscious of the items we purchase and the reasons behind our buying decisions, we can work towards reducing our reliance on material possessions and focusing on what genuinely matters.Raj Kalyandurg suggests these strategies for practicing mindful consumption:Assess your needs and wants: Before making a purchase, consider whether the item is a genuine necessity or simply a desire. This distinction can help prevent impulsive purchases that contribute to materialism and waste.Prioritize quality over quantity: Opt for well-crafted, long-lasting products that will serve you well, rather than cheaper items that may need frequent replacement. In the long run, investing in quality can lead to less materialism and decreased environmental impact.Set spending limits: Establish a budget for discretionary spending as a means to prevent excessive materialism. By exercising financial discipline, you can align your spending habits with your values and long-term goals.Living a meaningful life and fostering authentic happiness requires shifting our focus away from material possessions and towards experiences, relationships, and personal growth. By focusing on building a life based on impact and not consumption, we can work towards creating a more satisfying and fulfilling experiences for ourselves and those around us.Contact: Andrew Mitchell, media@ cambridgeglobal.com SOURCE: Raj Kalyandurg China says it has overtaken Japan to emerge as the worlds biggest exporter of cars in the first quarter of the year. China exported 1.07 million vehicles in the period, up 58 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2022, according to data from Chinas General Administration of Customs. At the time, Japans vehicle exports stood at 954,185, after edging up 6 per cent from a year earlier, according to a BBC report. China exported 3.2 million vehicles in 2022, compared to Germanys 2.6 million vehicle exports. It said Chinas exports were boosted by demand for electric cars and sales to Russia. Last year, China overtook Germany to become the worlds second-largest car exporter, as the shift away from fossil fuels helped expand the rise of Chinas motor industry. Reports said that China has also seen exports to Russia surge since the start of the Ukraine war, as Western countries imposed trade sanctions on Moscow. Last year, Chinese carmakers, including Geely, Chery and Great Wall, saw their market share in Russia jump after rivals, including Volkswagen and Toyota, quit the country following the invasion of Ukraine. First-quarter exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include electric cars, rose by more than 90 per cent compared to a year earlier. Teslas China arm, SAIC the owner of the MG brand and BYD, which veteran US investor Warren Buffett backs, are among Chinas top exporters of NEVs. Elon Musks electric carmaker has a huge manufacturing plant in Shanghai, which exports to regions including Japan and Europe. Teslas Gigafactory is currently capable of producing 1.25 million vehicles a year, and the company is planning to increase capacity further. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Nigerian music sensation Joeboy has once again graced the music scene with his highly anticipated sophomore album, Body and Soul. Following the success of his debut album, Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic, on Friday, Joeboy released his second album, and its best described as a captivating blend of infectious melodies, heartfelt lyrics, and mesmerising vocals. The Nigerian star, who hugged the limelight with the release of Baby in 2019, is known for his undeniably improved sound, as seen in his more recent hits like Alcohol and Contour. In his new work, Joeboy, who surprisingly is not a controversial artiste like others in his genre of music, effortlessly transcended boundaries (possibly set by himself), solidifying his position as one of Africas most promising musical ambassadors. In this review, PREMIUM TIMES explores the intricacies of the album to uncover the brilliance that lies within this remarkable body of work which Joeboy hopes to permeate Body and Soul. Reaching deep for your Body and Soul. From the first track, it becomes evident that Joeboy has taken significant strides in refining his sound and exploring new sonic territories. The album opens with an impressive collabo on Normally, where he taps two distinct acts in the music industry, BNXN (fka Buju) and OdumoduBlvck, to hop on the beat produced by Ekellyand tell a story on their unique ability and use it usually every day. Flowing to the slow tempo beat, the trio credits God for their unique abilities and talks about the blessings in their lives, highlighting that they are special, yet they do things usually. Transitioning into his feelings, in the second track, Body and soul, the title track, Joeboy shows us he is a lover boy. He confesses his love interest and shows he is willing to be a big spender; he also goes far to express that he would choose her in his next life. In Duffle Bag, Joeboy faces a potential lover who has him in her grasp; within the upbeat tempo, Joeboy expresses the essence of love, luxury, and lust. He sings about a woman who desires a man who will treat her with respect and provide for her. He solidifies it with the memorable chorus, Plenty of money for my duffel bag / Let me know when you dont want to see me, darling. In the Interlude featuring Oli Ekun, Joeboy gives the stage for a tale on luxury pampering as a solution for appeasing your lover after being a bad boy. The interlude led to one of the albums standout moments- the enchanting collaboration with renowned afro beats hitmaker Ckay on the track Wetin be Love The synergy between the two musicians is undeniable, as they harmonise flawlessly over a life of love without financial stability aided by mid-tempo- intoxicating beats, creating an emotionally charged song. In his other collaborations, Joeboy involves Oxlade for Woman to tell the tale of a lady who has taken over his heart and is causing many problems yet not accepting his advances. Arabirin she wan finish me for mummy, Obirin she wan finish me for my parents, She turn finid she don play me like ball oh He, however, does not take no for an answer and pushes forward as a big spender. But I still want you To be my lover, I don ship your rover Tell me yes or no ma Ngwanu me go be your soldier As the album progresses, Joeboy explores different musical influences, seamlessly blending elements of Afro-pop, R&B, and even hints of dancehall. Tracks like Better Slowly Lose Ya, Check my Phone and Halle showcase his versatility as an artiste, with infectious hooks and infectious beats. The tracks will undoubtedly have listeners moving to the vibes which tell his story of uniqueness, love and big spending. Joeboy also pushes past the Afrobeats boundary as he taps into house music with features from Ludacris and Kemena. On Better with Kemena, the duo creates an Afro-country genre to express reassurance to a lover despite challenging circumstances. Chicken, Spice and Curry featuring Ludacris shows he is ready to flow seamlessly into the international community. He also brilliantly included Contour and Sip (alcohol) to complete the 15-track album. Final verdict Known for his humility, Joeboy simply strutted past his boundaries with impressive collaborations and top-notch productions from Type-A, EKelly, Dera, Tytanium, Kemena, Beatsbytimmy and Tempoe, amongst others. He also showcased that he is ready to go further and maintain his existing standard. Overall, the album has a solid sequencing and creative flow. The album receives a rating of 8.5/10 Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Nigerias outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has spoken about his achievements in the last eight years. Mr Onyeama, who has been the face of President Muhammadu Buharis foreign policy, said his key achievement is the strengthening of relations with other countries. Creating that engagement and respect with the countries that we deal with, for Nigeria, has provided, in my opinion, an enabling environment for us to push our interests, he said in an end-of-term exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES. He noted that building and strengthening bilateral relations come with a lot of benefits including mutual respect and support for Nigerians on the international scene. Other administrative achievements include the launch of the Diplomatic Service Digitisation Initiative (DSDI) which comprises a new business matching platform, Nigeria Global Business Match (NGBM), developed to make it easier for Nigerian businesses to access foreign markets and also to promote foreign direct investment into Nigeria. Another initiative in the DSDI, which according to the minister was clearly missing before his appointment, is the Nigeria Global Citizens HelpDesk (NGCHD). The 24 hours a week platform enables Nigerians everywhere in the world to call in wherever they are if they have any problems. Both platforms were launched on Wednesday by the ministry. Mr Onyeama also spoke about grey areas in the administration of the ministry that need attention. It will have to be us being able to resolve the funding issue of the ministry, I think that is cardinal. We are grossly underfunded, so you have a perpetual crisis due to the underfunding, and we need a mechanism, he noted. He added that if the ministry must manage the 104 missions under it efficiently, then it needs to get more allocation during the budgeting process. He also spoke on the need for the automation/computerisation of work procedures of the ministry and reorganising the headquarters by giving it modern means of communication. On 29 May, the curtains will close on Mr Onyeama as foreign minister to open on another who will be appointed when the new government settles in. Mr Onyeama was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Mr Buhari in 2015 and reappointed in 2019. Prior to his appointment as minister, he worked at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) from 1985 to 2014. He served as the Deputy Director General of the organisation from 2009 to 2014 where he was responsible for the regional bureau for Africa, Arab Countries, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean; the Least-Developed Countries Division (LDCs), the Development Agenda Coordination Divisi (DACD), the WIPO Academy and the Special Projects Division. He worked briefly as a research officer in the Nigerian Law Reform Commission Lagos from 1983 to 1984. He then worked as a lawyer with Mogboh and Associates in Enugu, Nigeria from 1984 to 1985. Born in Enugu, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Columbia University, New York; a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree in Law from St Johns College, Cambridge. He also holds a Masters of Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Masters of Arts in Law from St Johns College, Cambridge. He was called to the English Bar of the Greys Inn in 1981 and admitted as a Barrister-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1983. PREMIUM TIMES will publish the full interview with the minister in the coming days. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print When Miriam Onuoha, the lawmaker representing Okigwe North Federal Constituency of Imo State at the House of Representatives, made up her mind to join the race for Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives, it was with so much confidence and assurance that her party would make it happen. Although her party, APC, has governed Nigeria since 2015 and has mouthed the mantra of gender inclusivity, it has not produced any woman as leader of the Executive or Legislative branch of government. In fact, womens representation in Nigerias parliament has gotten worse since the party came into power. So, for Ms Onuoha, the fact that she was qualified for the position of Speaker based on being a ranking member of the parliament, and also being from a part of the country that had the chance of producing the next Speaker or Deputy Speaker, placed her in good stead. It was nothing short of the emi lokan spirit, which has become a mantra of her party, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). She even asked all the men in the race to step down in the interest of inclusion. In almost 90 positions of this country, the men have dominated it. Ceding this one position to me will be a way of proving that we are running an inclusive government, she said when she made her ambition public. I use this opportunity to call on my co-contestants my male contestants to consider the love and the care Nigerian voters have shown to them and, as a matter of honour, step down to support this woman. Ms Onuohas remarks are in sync with that of many observers that the Nigerian political landscape has been unfair to women, which has resulted in a steady decline in the number of women in public offices. For instance, the 10th National Assembly (2023-2027) has a female representation of only 4.3 per cent, a decline from five per cent in the previous assembly. Not deterred by the number of men in parliament who kept declaring their intention to become Speaker, Ms Onuoha, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, said she was sure her partys decision would favour her, including the decision of the president-elect Bola Tinubu. the APC and the president-elect will ensure that the womens demands are met I am here before you; take it to the bank that I will be a presiding officer of the 10th House of Representatives, she told this newspaper confidently. She was wrong. Her party had other plans for the principal offices and it did not include having a woman as a candidate. The National Working Committee of the APC ratified the zoning formula proposed by President-elect Bola Tinubu, to exclude her and any other woman. Mr Tinubu settled for Godswill Akpabio (South-south) and Barau Jibrin (North-west) for the Senate President and Deputy Senate President, respectively. He also endorsed Tajudeen Abbas (North-west) and Ben Kalu (South-east) for Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively. If the APC gets its way in parliament as expected, it would mean that all the top leadership positions in Nigeria (heads and deputies of the three arms of government including the two chambers of the parliament) will be occupied by men. Mr Tinubu and the APC may have, thus, failed women in Nigeria aspiring to public office with their decision which runs parallel to the promises made to women in his manifesto. The former Lagos governor said he would increase womens participation in government to at least 35 per cent in all government positions. The first and last time a woman occupied a principal office at the National Assembly was about 16 years ago when Patricia Eteh native of Osun State, became the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives even though short-lived (barely five months) as she was expelled on the grounds of corruption. Mrs Etteh was cleared of the allegations four years after by the same House. Ms Onuoha will most likely concede and leave the race to the chosen men as she told this newspaper that she would not go against any decision of the party on the matter because the party is supreme. The dwindling number of female representatives Ms Onuohas aspiration is coming when female representation is on a slippery slope, a decline from what was obtainable in the previous parliament. In the incoming house (2023-2027), the 10th assembly, only 4.3 per cent of the lawmakers are female. The Senate has only three women out of 109 seats, representing 2.8 per cent. In the House of Representatives, there are 17 women out of 360, representing 4.7 per cent. The departing assembly (2019-2023) started off with only five per cent female representation. The Senate has eight women (7.8 per cent) while the House of Representatives has 13, representing 3.6 per cent. However, upon the death of one of the female senators, the number fell to seven as the deceased was replaced by a man, reducing the percentage to 4.3. From 2015 to 2019, there were seven women in the Senate, 6.4 per cent while the number of women in the House of Representatives was 21 (6.1 per cent). Between 2011 and 2105, there were seven women in the Senate, 6.4 per cent; 26 women (7.2 per cent) were in the House of Representatives. For the 2007 to 2011 Assembly, the Senate saw the highest number of female senators, nine, making up 8.3 per cent; 26 women (6.9 per cent) were in the House of Representatives. From 2003 to 2007, there were four female senators (3.7 per cent) while 21 women (5.8 per cent) made it to the House of Representatives. When Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999, only three women (2.8 per cent) made it to the Senate. In the House of Representatives, there were 12 women (3.3 per cent). Summarily, from 1999 till date, only 157 women have made it into the National Assembly (38 female senators and 119 female House of Representatives members), whereas 2,657 men have graced both chambers (616 male senators, 2,041 male House of Representatives members) during the same period. The trend shows that todays Senate has walked 24 years backwards, seeing that the numbers are the same as what was obtainable in 1999 when Nigeria returned to civilian rule. Similarly, since this fall in 2015, the number of women in the House of Representatives has remained under 20. Women advocates speak Bukky Shonibare, the executive director of Invictus Africa, a non-governmental organisation that promotes human rights and gender equality, said it is disappointing that no woman was put forward by the National Working Committee of the APC, particularly at a time when womens representation has hit lower than expected. Arent there women in the zones where the NASS leaders have been zoned and chosen from? she asked. Ms Shonibare added that the choice of only men as candidates cast a question on the commitment of the president-elect to increase womens participation to at least 35 per cent in all government positions as contained in his Renewed Hope Manifesto. For Ebere Ifendu, president of Women in Politics Forum, the political system in Nigeria makes it difficult for women to attain leadership positions. This is why we will continue to advocate legislations that ensure political participation of women; otherwise our male counterparts will continue to use excuses like religion and culture to undermine womens political participation, she told PREMIUM TIMES in an earlier interview ahead of this years International Womens Day in March. The results for the National Assembly may not seem like Nigerian women know better but we have already started preparing towards 2027 and we look forward to a positive impact, she said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Gunmen have abducted a Catholic priest in Imo State, South-east Nigeria. The victim, Jude Maduka, was kidnapped on Friday evening in Ogii, a community in the Okigwe Local Government Area of the state. The Chancellor and Secretary of the Catholic Diocese of Okigwe, Princewill Iwuanyawu, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday. He was kidnapped from his new adoration site while on inspection at the new site, Mr Iwuanyawu, a Catholic priest, said. The victim, Mr Maduka, is the parish priest of Christ the King Parish, Ezinnachi-Ugwaku Community, in the council area. He was ordained a Catholic priest on 22 September 2012. We solicit your prayers that he may come back to us safe and sound, he added. The statement was silent on whether the kidnappers had contacted the diocese for ransom. When contacted on Sunday, the police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, said the police had launched an operation to rescue the kidnapped cleric. We are on the trail of the abductors of Reverend Father Jude Kingsley Maduka to possibly rescue him, he said. Increase in kidnap cases Okigwe and Leru-Ihube, two communities between Imo and Abia States, have witnessed an increase in abductions lately. Catholic clerics have become targets of such attacks in recent times. In August 2022, four reverend sisters were kidnapped along Okigwe- Umulolo Road in Okigwe Local Government Area of the state. They were released days after. Within the same period, gunmen abducted a catholic priest and a seminarian along Okigwe-Umunneochi Road, the boundary between Imo and Abia states. The victims were released two days later after reportedly paying a ransom. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Nigerias striking doctors union said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government, and that the timelines set in the agreement will be reviewed by its National Executive Council. The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) commenced a five-day warning strike in the early hours of Wednesday following the failure of the Nigerian government to meet its demands. But speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday evening, the President of NARD, Emeka Orji, said representatives of the association on Friday met with the Senate Committee on Health, the House of Representatives Committee on Health and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, to deliberate on their demands. MoU signing Mr Orji said his associations National Executive Council (NEC) will decide on the timelines set in the content of the MoU, thus indicating that the strike would continue until a decision by the NEC or until Monday when the five-day warning strike ends. The meeting was to deliberate the issues tabled before the government and at the end of the meeting, the government agreed to some of our demands and put a timeline on when they will be implemented and for some others, they did not approve of which they offered some explanations, he said. He said the MoU was signed by every representative at the meeting. The MoU also note that NARD officers present at the meeting will take the MoU back to the NEC of NARD that has the power to give further directives after analysing the MoU. He said the MoU can either be accepted by NEC, partly rejected, or rejected in totality. Doctors demands The doctors, among other issues, are demanding the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), tangible steps on the upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and payment of all salary arrears owed its members since 2015. The doctors also want immediate massive recruitment of clinical staff in the hospitals and abolishment of the bureaucratic limitations to the immediate replacement of doctors and nurses who leave the system. They also want the immediate review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done. About resident doctors The resident doctors comprise the bulk of medical personnel in Nigerias tertiary hospitals; hence health activities are mostly crippled when they are on strike. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how the strike has disrupted health services across public tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Journalists and members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) converged in Abuja Saturday to discuss the media coverage of 276 Chibok girls that were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014. Titled the Media Screening of Nine Years Life after Chibok Abduction, the programme was hosted by Women Radio. Nine years after the abduction of the students of the Government Girls College, Chibok, Women Radio visited Borno State and spoke to survivors, parents and siblings of the abductees. In a documentary presented at the programme, parents of some of the students recalled with nostalgia the memories and short time spent with their children before the tragic event on the night of 14 April 2014. The parents said they are hoping to reunite with their children in the near future. Most of the parents said they are living in anguish, knowing that their children are still in the hands of ruthless individuals who subject their loved ones to chilling brutalities. They also appealed to outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari and President-elect Bola Tinubu, to prioritize the release of the students who are still held in captivity. At least 98 of the 276 abducted school girls are believed to still be in captivity. The Nigerian state has secured the release of about 180 of the schoolgirls over the years through negotiation and possible ransom payment. Panellists Panellists who spoke at the event said the role the media played in the coverage of the Chibok girls abduction cannot be undermined. They recalled how the media put pressure on the government to bring back the abducted Chibok girls using persuasive reporting, jingles, features, documentaries etc. A broadcast journalist, Adaora Onyechere, said the media has done well in its assignment despite limitations in getting information from the government and security agents. Ms Onyechere said the media can change how it is framing the story to demand accountability because that is its constitutional responsibility. On his part, Murtala Abdullahi, a journalist with HumanAngle said the Chibok abduction is a true reflection of the Nigerian state. We dont look after vulnerable people, he said, adding that the government doesnt prioritize the welfare and security of the citizens. He added that the media needs to do more to spotlight issues of the Chibok girls and other students that were abducted. In her comments, Bukky Shonibare, a lawyer and expert on peace and security, said the media has a duty to set an agenda for society and hold power accountable. She believes that if the media upholds this function effectively, the Chibok girls will remain on the front burner. Ms Shonibare said Nigerian authorities no longer communicate with the parents of Chibok girls who are still being held by Boko haram. Hamzat Lawal, an activist and founder of Connected Development, said the Chibok girls abduction will forever remain sad. He said the event of the Chibok abduction and other tragic events happening in the country is why trust is being eroded. There is a lack of trust between the government and the people, Mr Lawal said, adding that schools were meant to be a safe place. Mr Lawal added there is a renewed opportunity now with a new government coming in at the end of this month. He also hopes that the Vice-president elect, Kashim Shettima, who was Borno governor during the abduction, will use his influence to ensure that the remaining Chibok girls are released. In her submission, Gloria Puldu, the executive director of the Leah Sharibu Foundation, said the government has not given much importance to the issue. She said the federal and state government have a role to play in protecting the lives of the citizens. She recalled that after the abduction of Leah Sharibu in Yobe, the Yobe state governor has not visited her family up till today. Ms Puldu said five years later, the federal government only sent Minister of Information Lai Mohammed and Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, to visit the family of Leah Sharibu. Ms Puldu concluded that the media has done better than any other stakeholder since the abduction of these children. Since the Chibok school girls were abducted by Boko Haram, a plethora of schools have been targeted, with girls being abducted, raped, killed or forced into marriages. According to Amnesty International, the Nigerian authorities have not carried out a single credible investigation into the security failures that left children vulnerable to the atrocities committed by Boko Haram and other gunmen. The country has witnessed at least 11 cases of kidnapping of pupils and students from their schools since 2014. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Kazakhstan plans to increase the production capacity of Shymkent Oil Refinery from 6 million tons to 12 million tons per year, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the Central Asia-China Summit in Xi'an, Trend reports via the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan. He noted that there are significant reserves for cooperation in the energy sector, in particular in the oil and gas sector. "Due to the increase in the consumption of petroleum products, it is also planned to increase the production capacity of the Shymkent Oil Refinery from 6 to 12 million tons per year. The priority direction for Kazakhstan is also the development of gas processing capacities and the gas transportation system," the president added. Moreover, he also said that as part of increasing Kazakh oil exports, the country plans to increase the capacity of the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline. The issues of increasing the capacity of the existing Atyrau-Kenkiyak and Kenkiyak-Kumkol oil pipelines are also on the agenda. "In this regard, the construction of the second line of the Beineu-Bozoy-Shymkent main gas pipeline, as well as the construction of a gas processing plant at the Kashagan field with a capacity of 4 billion cubic meters per year are of great importance to us. We hope for the further support of our Chinese friends in promoting these significant projects on a regional scale," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said. The Kano State Government on Sunday described as mischievous the publication of a phone conversation between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and a senior member of the ruling party in the state, Ibrahim Masari. In the leaked audio, Messrs Ganduje and Masari were speaking about a recent meeting between the president-elect, Bola Tinubu and the former presidential candidate of the opposition New Nigerian Peoples Party, (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, in Paris, France. The meeting came barely days before the inauguration of Mr Tinubu as president. Mr Kwankwaso and Mr Ganduje were allies but have been political foes for over five years. While Mr Ganduje actively supported Mr Tinubus election, Mr Kwankwaso, also a former Kano governor, contested against Mr Tinubu. In the leaked telephone conversation, Mr Ganduje, expressed dissatisfaction about the meeting and complained about being sidelined by Mr Tinubu. Reacting to the leaked audio, the states Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, said the exaggerated publicity given to the audio was the handiwork of paid agents, who he claimed are trying to use it to cause disaffection between Messrs Ganduje, Masari and Tinubu. From all indications some people who are not comfortable with the existing long cordiality between Tinubu, Ganduje and Masari are bent on exploiting the situation to their advantage. The governor and the president-elect have since realised this mischievous attempt to cause disaffection between them. The Kano spokesperson said Messrs Tinubu and Ganduje would not allow the sound working relationship, which has been waxing stronger, particularly at this critical time, to be destroyed by some self-centred individuals. Mr Garba called on members of the APC and the general public to disregard such attempt, and remain calm and loyal to the party to ensure the successful inauguration of the president-elect. Transcript of the Leaked Audio. Below is the complete transcript of the conversation sourced and transcribed by Daily Trust newspaper. Ganduje: Hello Ibrahim Masari: Your Excellency Ganduje: How is work and everything? How is Abuja Masari: Glory be to God, I just came into Abuja Ganduje: Kano is all over with noise. Masari: Your Excellency, I told you what is going on, but you denied it. What should I say? I told you whats happening, but you denied it and expressed surprise over it. How would this be happening, and so on? Ganduje: Even if I heard it, there is nothing I can do about it. Isnt it? Masari: But you can speak to him at that time, you can call him and talk to him. Ganduje: To tell him what? I cant do anything since Kwankwaso has become an alternative to us. There is no problem. Masari: It hasnt reached that stage. Thats impossible Ganduje: Because we dont have government? Masari: Are you coming on Thursday? Ganduje: Its because of him that we lose reelection. Masari: You should be patient. Even your enemies know that he wasnt fair to you. Ganduje: The right thing is that even if he will grant Kwankwaso audience, it should be in our presence. We should be invited. Did you understand? Even if it is symbolically. Masari: Your Excellency, you should be patient. I wish you safe journey Ganduje: Everything is in the hands of God Masari: Youre right Ganduje: All these calculations Masari: They are very wrong. Everybody will be scared to work with him Ganduje: This man did not end well with Jonathan. He gave him work but ended up painting the government as corrupt. Masari: Yes, youre right Ganduje: Because he wasnt allowed to partake in corruption, its not a matter that he was clean. Masari: What brought the issue of he is clean? The truth of the matter is that they werent fair to you. You should just be patient but leave it until you arrive. Weve started the discussion, he called me and I told him that Mr. President, youre wrong. He said, What have I done again? He started explaining it to me that it was SLS and Chagaury that led them and so on.. I asked him whether he had spoken to you, and he said no. Is he seeing these things. Leave it until you come, you know this conversation on the phone is unsafe. I wish you a safe journey. You should just keep mute as you did, maintain your maturity by not speaking on the matter Ganduje: What intelligence told me is that they want his intervention to scuttle the case at the tribunal Masari: There is that game plan. Its not his right. You have that right, Excellency. Ganduje: Hes not showing interest over the matter. Masari: Excellency, you should let this matter go, I dont like these conversations on the phone. Allow it when you come tomorrow or next tomorrow, then we sit down and discuss. If the need arise,s we can call him. Ganduje: When is he coming back? Masari: Wallahi, I dont know, we have spoken, not that good, and I even showed him my anger. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print On the morning of Sunday, 15 April, the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Yunusa Ari, made headlines when he illegally declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Dahiru, as the winner of the governorship election. This is despite the fact that collation of results from the supplementary polls was still ongoing with Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a clear lead from the tally in hand. As the news of the controversial decision spread, INEC headquarters declared that Mr Aris pronouncement was null, void and of no effect. A few weeks before that, INEC had withheld the certificate of return of Tudun Wada, Doguwa federal constituency of Kano State on account that the returning officer for the election, Ibrahim Yakasai, declared Ado Doguwa, the winner of the constituency elections under duress. INEC later presented Mr Doguwa with the certificate after a supplementary election that he eventually won. In Adamawa, the commission continued the collation of results and declared that Mr Fintiri, not Mrs Dahiru, won the governorship election. He has since been presented with the certificate of return. How amendments softens landing Before 2022, Mr Aris wrong and illegal declaration of Mrs Dahiru, also known as Binani, might have been binding and would require the election petition tribunal to overturn. Until the latest amendments to the Electoral Act as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022, the electoral commission had no powers to review such results or declare it null and void as any declaration made by the returning officer was final. Even though Mr Ari was not the returning officer of the election, he declared the result as the most senior INEC official in the state. But Section 65 of the amended Electoral Act, 2022, gives INEC the permission to review, within seven days, results declared either under duress or contrary to the provisions of the electoral act and the commissions guidelines. Section 65(1)(c) states that The decision of the returning officer shall be final on any question arising from or relating to declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate Provided that the Commission shall have the power within seven days to review the declaration and return where the Commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations and guidelines, and manual for the election. History of exploitation Politicians have previously exploited this loophole in the previous version of the electoral law to force election officials to declare false winners. For instance, while announcing the result for the Imo West Senatorial District election in February 2019, the returning officer, Innocent Ibeabuchi, stated clearly that he was making the declaration under duress. I have been held hostage here for days so Im trying to ease off and take my life home back to my children, he said. And for the sake of that, I am calling these results under duress. Yet, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) withheld the certificate of return of Rochas Okorocha, whom Mr Ibeabuchi declared winner under duress, a federal high court chided INEC for that decision. The court ordered INEC to issue Mr Okorocha the certificate of return. The court also asked the commission to pay N200,000 to the former Imo State governor for failing to immediately recognize him as the winner declared by the returning officer. While INEC obeyed the court and issued Mr Okorocha with the certificate of return, it expressed worry that politicians would continue exploiting that loophole by holding its officials hostage to declare false results. If electoral impunity is allowed to flourish, any individual can harass, intimidate and put the Commissions officers under duress, procure a favourable declaration and be rewarded with a Certificate of Return, the spokesperson for the commission, Festus Okoye, said. Amended Electoral Act, 2022 Consequently, INEC asked parliament to, as part of other amendments, grant it powers to review results announced by returning officers. Even when the lawmakers attempted to exclude that part from the amendments, Nigerians including politicians pushed until it was included. The National Assembly sent what is now the Electoral Act, 2022, to President Muhammadu Buhari multiple times before he finally appended his signature to make it a law in February 2022. Other notable amendments to the Electoral Act 2022 include the release of election funding at least a year before the election as mandated by section 3(3) of the Electoral Act. Section 34 of the new electoral law also granted INEC the power to suspend poll and fix a new date within 14 days in a case of death of a candidate before the date of election. The commission exercised this power when the candidate of the Labour Party for Enugu East senatorial district was killed days to the election. Sections 47 and 50(2) provided legal backing for use of technology in the accreditation of voters, Section 94 stimulates that campaign commence 150 days before day of election (an increase from 90 days in the previous version) and section 84(12) requires political appointees to relinquish their positions before seeking an elective position. 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. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Foremost lawyer, Afe Babalola, on Sunday, at Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, urged the incoming administration of Bola Tinubu to prioritise debt forgiveness from Nigerias creditors and multilateral financial institutions. Mr Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the proprietor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, gave the advice on the side-line of a lecture delivered at the university by a professor of Intelligent Infrastructure System, Bamidele Adebisi. The lecture was entitled: Smart infrastructure: Catalyst for sustainable development. Mr Babalola argued that debt forgiveness or cancellation would help to relieve Nigeria of its foreign debt overhang, noting that the country currently uses a sizeable percentage of its revenue on debt servicing. He also enjoined the incoming administration to cut expenditures and undertake reforms to scale down governance costs and ease the countrys fiscal burden. In the lecture, Mr Adebisi said technology had become a game-changer in addressing challenges in food production and transportation. He stressed the importance of technology across all sectors of development, noting that technology had become the catalyst for societal development. The President-elect, Mr Tinubu, will be sworn into office on 29 May following the expiration of the outgoing government of President Muhammadu Buhari, under whose watch the countrys debt profile rose astronomically. Although Mr Tinubu did not make any definite statement concerning seeking debt relief or cancellation for the country during the recent electioneering process, he may as well pursue it to reduce the enormous debt burden. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during his stint between 1999 and 2007, sought and got debt relief for the country from the Paris and London Clubs, which brought the countrys total debt to a tolerable level then. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Nigeria relies largely on proceeds from crude oil and gas for its foreign revenue. Until the country is able to transit from being oil reliant to a non-oil economy, the authorities must do everything necessary to protect the petroleum industry from any form of unnecessary intrusions and distractions. The PIA, 2021 was enacted to enhance the business landscape and to provide a more transparent, efficient and investment-friendly regulatory framework for Nigerias petroleum industry. Nothing should be allowed to stall that resolve. Too many cooks spoil the broth. This is an age-long adage which presupposes that if too many persons or entities are involved in a task or activity, it most likely would not turn out well; as the chances of compromise in its quality and execution are high. This cannot be truer elsewhere than it is at Nigerias crude oil and gas export terminals, where a coterie of agencies, in apparent disregard of extant laws, have been spoiling for attention and relevance; with dire implications for the countrys economy. Nigerias petroleum products terminals have become veritable minefields where corporate fortune seekers and mercantile wayfarers have decided to stubbornly pitch their tents. The number of agencies involved in activities at the terminals is just mindboggling; and they operate with impunity, defying lawful directives forbidding them from what they are doing. In a report submitted in October 2022, the Senate Ad Hoc Committee that investigated oil lifting, theft and the impact of petroleum production and oil revenues, expressed concern over the crowds, and the implications of their silo operations. It listed entities present at the terminals to include the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigerian Midstream/Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Immigrations Service (NIS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment, Ministry of Transportation, Inchcape, Port Health, Trobel, Arlington Nigeria Limited, Inspectorate, SIFAX, etc. The committee recommended that some of the agencies should vacate these terminals, but the recommendation was treated as hot air. The Committee specifically noted the dual and conflicting regulatory presence of both the NUPRC and NMDPRA, which it considered unbecoming and against the spirit and letters of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021. It did not only seriously frown at the development, it recommended that those that are not authorised by law to be there must be made to quit the terminals, even if they are backed by administrative directives. Such directives, it pointed out, would be in conflict with the prescriptions of the law. The Committee did not see any reason why, for instance, the NMDPRA should be at integrated oil terminals. It explained that whereas the PIA distinctively created two regulatory agencies for the oil and gas industry, the NUPRC has exclusive responsibility for the upstream sector, while the NMDPRA has responsibility for the midstream and downstream sector. The NMDPRA was only conferred with the mandate to regulate future stand-alone export terminals and not existing integrated terminals. Its mandate is strictly in respect of refined products and not crude oil and gas exports. The PIA had envisaged the involvement of the NMDPRA in some aspects of export activities, and made provisions for the future development of Stand-alone Export Terminals (SET) for the export of refined products for non-holders of Petroleum Mining Leases or Oil Mining Leases. There was no such provision under the Terminal Dues Act (TDA). The TDA prescribes the legal basis for establishing crude export terminals only for holders of Oil Mining Leases or Oil Prospecting Licenses. Even under the PIA, the regulatory oversight over all upstream operations and activities (including crude oil terminals, whether integrated or otherwise), is clearly vested in the NUPRC. The dual regulatory oversight exercised by both the NUPRC and NMDPRA and the precipitate crisis among staff of the two regulatory entities, therefore became a source of serious concern to oil and gas producers on the terminals who consistently complained of the negative impact the development has brought on the ease of doing business at the terminals. They again voiced the concern recently at the opening of the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES), which held in Abuja between 16 and 20 April. It is worthy of note that the Ministry was also fingered in the duplicity of agencies at the export terminals. The Senate Committee in its report cited two conflicting letters dated 3 February, 2022 and 7 July, 2022 from the Ministry over terminal operations. The Ministry referred to the ministers power under Section 3(4) of the PIA to give general policy directives to the Commission on issues concerning upstream petroleum operations and to the Authority on matters relating to midstream and downstream petroleum operations; including matters related to cooperation among the two agencies in line with the provisions of the PIA 2021. During the Senate Committee investigation, another but related area of concern was raised: the country could not really place a finger on the volume of oil produced and the volume lost to theft, vandalism and sharp practices respectively. Production levels were falling and Nigeria was losing the opportunity of taking advantage of the favourable price regime occasioned by some recent unexpected global developments. Nigerias crude oil production, which stood at 2.13 million barrels per day (mbpd) in January 2020 had fallen to as low as 1.38 mbpd by July 2022. By September of the same year, the average crude oil production had gone down to 1,232,430 bpd, with crude oil accounting for 985,633 bpd and condensate, 246,597 bpd. This was almost one million barrels less than the countrys average technically allowable rate of oil and condensate production of 2,232,117 bpd. Although the Senate Committee did not specifically say it, there were indicators, and in fact insinuations, that the presence of a crowd of agencies at export terminals may have compromised measurements and deliveries, as conflicting figures were being brandished by the respective organisations as the levels of stolen crude oil. It was a worrisome scenario and possibly the main reason why the upper legislative chamber decided to embark on the investigation, because of the consequential huge losses of revenue to the federation account and impacts on the environment by the reported activities of vandals. The bandied figures were overtly suspicious. The volumes were quite high. Given the industry terrain and complex logistics involved, it would be hard to believe that such volumes could be stolen from pipelines and transported to illegal sales points or makeshift refineries. The suspicion may also have prompted the regulatory inquest by the NUPRC. The Commission carried out a forensic examination of the exploitation and delivery chain between January 2020 and November 2022, to ascertain accuracy of the stolen volume of crude oil within the referenced period. As would ordinarily be expected, the study revealed that approximately 40% of crude oil losses in the countrys petroleum industry are due to measurement inaccuracies and not from direct theft, as often portrayed. Although theft by vandals accounted for some worrisome volume, other contingencies, including shut-ins, also accounted for production shortfalls. Following this revelation of measurement inaccuracies, a statement, which apparently was to fault the NUPRC findings, was nicodemously sent out to the media by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources; but it was immediately withdrawn with an apology when it was obvious that NUPRC had its full facts and was poised to defend its classification. It is worthy of note that the Ministry was also fingered in the duplicity of agencies at the export terminals. The Senate Committee in its report cited two conflicting letters dated 3 February, 2022 and 7 July, 2022 from the Ministry over terminal operations. The Ministry referred to the ministers power under Section 3(4) of the PIA to give general policy directives to the Commission on issues concerning upstream petroleum operations and to the Authority on matters relating to midstream and downstream petroleum operations; including matters related to cooperation among the two agencies in line with the provisions of the PIA 2021. The first letter clearly delineated the functions between the two agencies, in line with sections 7(ee), 8(d) and 174(a) of the PIA, while the second letter was in conflict with the extant provisions of the Act, particularly the aforementioned sections. In issuing the second letter, the Minister of State indicated that the creation of a dual regulatory structure was to ensure, among other things, that adequate focus was given to the midstream and downstream sectors of the industry to create a multiplier effect on the economy through licensing regimes that will create increased participation by Nigerians, gainful employment, and greater contribution to the GDP. In a restricted correspondence Ref. SH/COS/24/A/78 signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim A. Gambari, President Muhammadu Buhari directed immediate compliance with Senate Resolution NASS/95/R/03/934, which states that NUPRC is the sole and only regulatory entity to regulate and monitor activities of all existing crude oil export terminals in Nigeria in compliance with Section 7(ee) of the PIA (2021). It directed that the exercise of any regulatory role by the NMDPRA on any existing crude oil terminal established prior to the effective date of the PIA should cease immediately. Although the minister claimed there was need for a legislative intervention to provide greater clarity on the roles of the respective agencies on the subject matter, the Senate did not see any such conflict and therefore recommended that the administrative directive contained in the second letter be jettisoned because the PIA takes precedence over such directives. It stated that there was no ambiguity regarding the oversight responsibilities of the two industry regulators, as far as the oversight of terminal operations was concerned. Specifically, Section 8(d) gives NUPRC the mandate to be in charge, where in situ facilities or fixed or floating platforms provide for fully integrated upstream and midstream petroleum operations; while sections 174(a) and 32(ii) give NMDPRA the power to regulate future Stand-alone Export Terminals and issue certificates of quantity and quality to exporters of crude oil, LNG and petroleum products. In spite of the Senate resolution on the matter, for which approval was subsequently given by the Presidency, the jostling at the export terminals did not cease. The two regulators, alongside other entities with overlapping roles, were still operating at the terminals, raising questions about whether their insistence on being at the facilities are genuinely altruistic. Why are some entities interested in being at the terminals, even when the law never provided for it and other authorities are clearly in objection to it? The apparent reluctance to tow the defined line, recently prompted the Presidency to issue firm directives on the matter with a 14-day deadline for compliance. In a restricted correspondence Ref. SH/COS/24/A/78 signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim A. Gambari, President Muhammadu Buhari directed immediate compliance with Senate Resolution NASS/95/R/03/934, which states that NUPRC is the sole and only regulatory entity to regulate and monitor activities of all existing crude oil export terminals in Nigeria in compliance with Section 7(ee) of the PIA (2021). It directed that the exercise of any regulatory role by the NMDPRA on any existing crude oil terminal established prior to the effective date of the PIA should cease immediately. The correspondence which was directed to the Minister of State (Ministry of Petroleum Resources) and the chief executive officers of both NUPRC and NMDPRA, asked the Minister to ensure immediate compliance and report back within 14 days, to the effect that the Senate resolution on the matter are being adhered to by the regulators, NNPCL, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, industry players and the relevant ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs)of government . Nigeria relies largely on proceeds from crude oil and gas for its foreign revenue. Until the country is able to transit from being oil reliant to a non-oil economy, the authorities must do everything necessary to protect the petroleum industry from any form of unnecessary intrusions and distractions. The PIA, 2021 was enacted to enhance the business landscape and to provide a more transparent, efficient and investment-friendly regulatory framework for Nigerias petroleum industry. Nothing should be allowed to stall that resolve. Akpandem James, a media practitioner and commentator on contemporary issues, lives in Abuja, Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print When they arrive in less than a fortnight, those whose livelihoods depend on this successor may decide that using that facility does not fully conduce to the goal of misrepresenting the facts or concealing the evidence. Goodluck Jonathan was the Facebook president; Buhari is the medical tourism president. Nigeria may be about to transition to an encounter with the Zoom president. Having gone to London to watch the crowning of Englands King Charles III earlier this month, a friend joked last week, President Muhammadu Buhari extended his stay so his dentist could crown his teeth. That was how he read the line from the presidency that the General Buhari had stayed back in London for a dental procedure. 10 days before the end of his presidency, on his return to Nigeria, Buhari commissioned the Presidential Wing of the State House Medical Centre (SHMC). Estimated to have cost N21 billion, this project provides an insight into the mindsets of Nigerias higher-ups. By 2020, the SHMC was reputed to cater for over 32,000 people annually but in reality, it was anything other than what its name suggested. Originally established to provide health care services to the president, vice president, their families, as well as members of staff of the Presidential Villa, the clinic became the place where the lowly servants of the rich and powerful rulers of Nigeria in Abuja go to mercifully receive analgesics for their aches and pains. When they died, their families sometimes chose to relieve their pain by announcing that the bodies of their loved ones have been deposited in or moved from the temporary morgue of the Clinic. For the most part, many believed not without good reason that the role of the clinic was to hasten the passage of those who used it to the mortuary. Yet, this Clinic was one of the better funded medical units in the country. In the four years preceding 2020, it reportedly received average annual appropriations of more than N2.5 billion or a cumulative appropriation of over N10 billion. However, the president and his family and staff for whom it was designed were more comfortable getting their medical needs fulfilled outside Nigeria. No one will ever fully know how much time President Buhari spent with doctors during his eight years in the presidential villa. By November 2022, one count reported that he had spent at least 237 days of his presidency with doctors outside the country. By the penultimate week of his presidency, the count was 250 days. These numbers are floors, not the ceilings. Tired of the public carping from disaffected Nigerians about his hypocrisy on medical tourism, it seems certain that Buharis handlers occasionally dressed up his medical jaunts overseas in a bodyguard of misrepresentation. Underlying this approach to their management of the relationship between the president and the country was the philosophy, laid bare by Garba Shehu, speaking for the presidency in April 2019, that the president can rule from anywhere in the world. One decade earlier, in the middle of December 2009, then Attorney-General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), first claimed this prerogative of a presidency-at-large on behalf of Umaru Musa YarAdua, whom, we now know, was battling for his life at the time and probably lacked any awareness that his presidency was in the hands of unknown persons. It is entirely coincidental that YarAdua and Buhari come from the same Local Government Area in Katsina State. In the period since Aondoakaa made that claim, Nigeria appears to have evolved a brew of sovereign mendacity in the service of state capture as a unique doctrine of state-craft. 20 days after the announcement of the result of the presidential election, he flew out of Nigeria on 21 March, supposedly to perform the Lesser Hajj in the Muslim Holy Lands, returning 35 days later on 24 April. 16 days thereafter, on 10 May, he left again, this time it was said, to woo investors to Nigeria for ten days. It goes without saying that for many people, this claim tasked credulity. In the week that Buhari was busy attending to his mandibles in London, his chosen successor was reportedly busy in Paris attracting foreign investors to Nigeria. In the period since the Professor of History at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the person he would prefer as Nigerias next president, the designated successor has mostly been overseas. 20 days after the announcement of the result of the presidential election, he flew out of Nigeria on 21 March, supposedly to perform the Lesser Hajj in the Muslim Holy Lands, returning 35 days later on 24 April. 16 days thereafter, on 10 May, he left again, this time it was said, to woo investors to Nigeria for ten days. It goes without saying that for many people, this claim tasked credulity. For every day he has spent in the country, since being announced as Nigerias next president, President Buharis chosen successor has spent at least one-and-a-half days outside. Understandably, keen to inoculate his principal against what could be read as a familiar pattern of a ghost presidency, his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, explained that he traveled only to avoid pressure and distraction, reminding us, however, that even if he is in Russia, he can hold zoom meetings and do all kinds of things. Even before the onset of the next presidential term, therefore, it has become quite clear that the travel calendar of Nigerias next president will be a site of intense scrutiny. Perhaps, anticipating this, President Buhari has sought to buffer his successor by equipping this new VIP wing of the State House Medical Clinic. Conveniently unaware of her own record of medical tourism, Buharis wife, Aisha, has been quite voluble in taking credit for this project. Sadly, it seems quite clear that neither President Buhari nor his partner in the other room have learnt anything from his peers in other parts of Africa nor from their years as avid medical tourists. When former presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, wrote in 2016 about becoming convinced that there must be something supernatural about power and closeness to it, it became a subject of much mirth and laughter, with even Buharis own spokesperson laying the boot to this too. But after seeing one African president fart his way through the halls of a major international conference in Washington DC, and another extensively urinate on himself while officiating a public event in Juba, it is not hard to see how or why any presidency could be clothed in wonderment about the wild and weird. The people who spin these fables neither have an interest in the wellbeing of the state nor indeed of the occupant of the office but in their benefits from propinquity to him, which must be preserved at all costs. The two most effective ways to do this are to misrepresent the facts or to hide the evidence. Many people may not know it but as powerful as they may seem, presidents can often be glorified prisoners. Fantastical tales and theories about the wellbeing of presidents are as old as power in and beyond Africa. Courtiers exist to spin those yarns. When he toppled President Ben Bella in 1965, Algerias famed guerilla leader, Houari Boumediene, was a dashing 33 year old. By early 1978, his public appearances became occasional and then rare. Diagnosed with an unusual form of cancer, Algerians were massaged with all manner of stories, while their president received medical attention in Moscow. In November 1978, he disappeared from public view, eventually dying on 27 December 1978 after 39 days in coma. While he received medical attention in Belgium for a terminal condition for most of 2012, the public disposition of the government he led was that then Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, was in either robust health or suffering from a routine infection. In October 2018, Gabons president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, suffered a Stroke while traveling in Saudi Arabia. One month later, he was transferred to Morocco to continue his recovery and rehabilitation, staying there until mid-2019. Back home in Libreville, the public and Gabons institutions got tired of a steady supply of misinformation, which triggered a coup attempt. After some 10 months out of public view, a barely recognisable Ali Bongo finally made a public appearance in August 2019. The people who spin these fables neither have an interest in the wellbeing of the state nor indeed of the occupant of the office but in their benefits from propinquity to him, which must be preserved at all costs. The two most effective ways to do this are to misrepresent the facts or to hide the evidence. Many people may not know it but as powerful as they may seem, presidents can often be glorified prisoners. In this new VIP wing of the SHMC, President Buhari has chosen to invest in a glorified prison as his preferred legacy for his successor. When they arrive in less than a fortnight, those whose livelihoods depend on this successor may decide that using that facility does not fully conduce to the goal of misrepresenting the facts or concealing the evidence. Goodluck Jonathan was the Facebook president; Buhari is the medical tourism president. Nigeria may be about to transition to an encounter with the Zoom president. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a lawyer, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy can be reached at chidi.odinkalu@tufts.edu. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Some gunmen, on Saturday, killed two police officers at Okpala Junction in Ulakwo, a community in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, south-east Nigeria. The attack comes exactly one month after gunmen killed five police officers and a couple at the same location in the council area of the community. The latest attack happened at about 9 a.m. when some police officers were manning a checkpoint in the area, PREMIUM TIMES gathered. Sources from the community said the gunmen stormed the checkpoint in two vehicles and opened fire on the officers killing two of them at the spot while others escaped. One of the policemen was injured, a resident of the area, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told this newspaper, Sunday morning. The police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, has confirmed the attack and killing of the officers. Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, said the attackers were suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Two of our officers paid the supreme price (in the attack). One of them was injured. We recovered one of the operational vehicles of the hoodlums, he said. The police spokesperson said there were piercings of bullets and stains of blood on the recovered vehicle which, according to him, indicated that the officers gave the attackers a battle during the attack. The hoodlums are on the run, but we are currently trailing them, Mr Okoye stated. Worsening insecurity Like other states in Nigerias south-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed persons. The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities. Hundreds of people have been killed or injured in such attacks. The Nigerian government has accused IPOB of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. The secessionist group is leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the south-east and some parts of the south-south Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a large consignment of methamphetamine concealed in powdered custard containers as part of a consolidated cargo going to London, United Kingdom, at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos. Femi Babafemi, the agencys spokesperson, made this known in a statement on Sunday. The agency said the illicit drug weighing 30.10 kilogrammes with a street value of N567 million, was detected and seized at the airport on Tuesday. This was swiftly followed by a series of follow-up operations that led to the arrest of a freight agent, Nwobodo Chidiebere; a female suspect, Chioma Lucy Akuta and ultimately, the drug lord behind the shipment, Charles Chinedu Ezeh, who was arrested at Sotel Suites, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos on Thursday 18th May, the statement reads. Mr Babafemi said Mr Ezeh claimed to be involved in a business, but their investigation shows otherwise. Ezeh claims hes a businessman and deals in articles in Onitsha, Anambra State, but investigations reveal he lived with his wife and children in London until 10th December 2022 when he fled to Nigeria after his involvement in a drug-related offence in the UK, the statement continued. Though he claimed to have been living in hotels since his return to Nigeria last December, operatives were, however, able to locate his mansion at No. 1 Hawawu Abikan Street, Lekki, on Friday 19th May, where a search was conducted, and his travel and property documents among others were recovered. Drug suspects Aside from the arrest in Lagos, the agency said that on 25 May, a 32-year-old notorious drug dealer in Adamawa State, Prince Uzoma, was arrested with one kilogramme of skunk. Ikechukwu had twice been arrested in the past and convicted for the same offence, the statement reads. He was in 2017 sentenced to six months imprisonment, and in 2019 he was again sent to two years in jail. In the same vein, a trans-border trafficker, Faisal Mohammed, 27, was on Wednesday, 17th May arrested in Mubi following the interception of a truck from Onitsha, Anambra State, where a total of 2,376 sachets of tramadol comprising 23,760 pills were found concealed in three blue rubber jerrycans which were hidden underneath the body part of the trailer. The suspect admitted the opioid was to be taken to Cameroon. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print ( Read 1960 Times) Revolutionary reforestation technique restores natures balance Hindustan Zinc has planted saplings32,500 sapling of 65 diverse species in Debari, Dariba&Chanderiya In midst of rapid urbanisation and its impact on the environment, Miyawaki Plantation has emerged as a beacon of hope. On this Biodiversity Day, we delve into the ingenious technique that is transforming barren land into thriving green havens. Through the implementation of the Miyawaki Plantation, Hindustan Zinc has successfully transformed 2.4 hectares across its operational units in Debari, Dariba and Chanderiya. The company has planted 32,500 saplings of 65 diverse species in its operational units through a chemical-free approach. Miyawaki Plantation, pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, revolutionized reforestation efforts by establishing dense, diverse and rapidly growing forests in a short span of time. By emulating the natural processes of a forest ecosystem, this technique results in self-sustaining forests that enrich biodiversity, restore degraded lands, enhance air quality, mitigate climate change and create green spaces. Hindustan Zinc, Indias largest and only integrated producer of Zinc, Lead & Silver, has enriched its surroundings with canopy layers, tree layers, small bushes and other flora. The technique helps plants to grow ten times faster than conventional methods which results in a thirty-fold increase in plantation density. Consequently, the carbon sequestration potential is significantly enhanced, contributing to a more sustainable future.This has brought about a positive impact by lowering the ambient temperature, improved soil nutrition and creating of safe havens for wildlife. To mitigate climate risk, Hindustan Zinc has joined the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) forum, underlining their dedication to preserving Earths rich biodiversity. Additionally, the company has signed a significant three-year collaboration with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These strategic endeavourssolidifythe companys commitment to sustainability and has resulted them to rank 3rd Globally and 1st in Asia Pacific Region in S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment under metal & mining sector. As we commemorate Biodiversity Day, its essential to recognize the immense potential of Miyawaki Plantation and motivate government, organisations and individuals to implement this technique in their surroundings. Source : Official Partner of Festival de Cannes, Campari, hosted its 'Discover Red' event on the heart of the Cannes Croisette, with a guest list including Charles Melton, Luke Evans and Alessandra Ambrosio. CANNES, France, May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, Campari, the iconic Milanese, red aperitivo returned to the 76th edition of the world-renowned Festival de Cannes, as an official partner and hosted its Discover Red event attended by Charles Melton, Luke Evans and Alessandra Ambrosio. Iconic model, Alessandra Ambrosio, attends the Campari: Discover Red event experience, celebrating the unforgettable creations of cinema. Actor legend, Luke Evans, enjoyed the Campari: Discover Red event experience, with a beach aperitif, immersive dinner and after party on his first night in Cannes for the 76th Annual Film Festival, celebrating the unforgettable creations of cinema. Actor Charles Melton enjoys a Campari aperitif at Campari: Discover Red event experience ahead of his premiere for May December at the 76th Annual Festival de Cannes No star-studded event would be complete without viral celebrity content creator and Red Carpet regular, Cole Walliser, who bought his GLAMbot to Camparis Discover Red event. Iconic Milanese red aperitif, Campari, hosted an Campari: Discover Red at the Martinez Hotel, celebrating the unforgettable creations of Campari, its cocktails and the cinema industry. The event was attended by actor, Charles Melton, ahead of his premiere for May December at the 76th Annual Festival de Cannes. During his time in Cannes, Charles has also received a breakthrough talent award at the Variety Golden Globes Awards for his role in the film. Also in attendance was acting legend, Luke Evans, and iconic model with Italian heritage, Alessandra Ambrosio. During each stage of Discover Red, guests invited to experience a series of unforgettable creations from two Michelin Star Chef, Christian Sinicropi, Head Bartender of Camparino in Galleria, Tommaso Cecca; each of whom are icons within their own fields and elevated the night to take it beyond the expected. The scene was set at the Martinez Hotel, inspiring guests with a night that brought Campari's longstanding heritage in cinema to life. Guests were immersed in a four-part multi-sensory dining experience curated by two icons of mixology and gastronomy. Chef Christian Sinicropi used his limitless skill as a two Michelin Star Chef to curate each course paired perfectly with Campari cocktails, curated by Tommaso Cecca, the head bartender at Camparino in Galleria, which provides legendary service in Milano and is a symbol of the aperitif par excellence. Creating an enhanced dining experience, when guests arrived at the dinner, a seemingly regular dinner table transformed into a fully immersive display inspired by the Festival de Cannes Red Carpet, the Cannes Riviera, the power of imagination and Campari's place at the heart of cocktail culture. The four dining chapters each began with an iconic Campari cocktail that inspired an unforgettable dish, stimulating the senses, while guests were guided through the evening by a narrator to accompany the audio-visual display. No star-studded event would be complete without viral celebrity content creator and Red Carpet regular, Cole Walliser. Having captured celebrities at the Oscars, The Grammys, Golden Globes and Emmys, Cole is best known for his slow-motion edits of talent at high profile events. Campari Group's Head of Global Marketing, Julka Villa comments: "As this is the second time we have been an Official Partner of Festival de Cannes, the aim of Discover Red was to curate a night that brought together the icons of Campari and cinema, each of which inspire the unforgettable. As one of the most celebrated global film festivals, our event took inspiration from the aspirational allure of Festival de Cannes, pushing it to the next level delivering the elevated experience that people expect from both Campari and the Festival. To do this, each moment of Discover Red captured the unique relationship between Campari, cinema and the Festival, immersing guests in this world through all senses and the night was yet another great example of Campari going beyond the expected." Throughout the night, cocktails were expertly served by Camparino in Galleria, providing the legendary service of the historic Milanese bar located in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Camparino is a symbol of the aperitif par excellence; it brings to Cannes its strong connections with both Milano, the birthplace of Campari, and the artistic and cultural context of the 20th century. The Camparino team served a selection of iconic Campari cocktails to guests, including the Negroni, Campari Spritz and the Negroni Sbagliato. Alongside these classic cocktails, the Camparino team served the Red Carpet Cannes Edition: a fresh tasting and salty cocktail inspired by the Cannes Riviera. Please follow Campari's social media channels for further information @campariofficial. #CampariCinema #Cannes2023 #FestivalDeCannes #EnjoyResponsibly www.campari.com https://www.youtube.com/EnjoyCampari https://www.facebook.com/Campari https://instagram.com/campariofficial ABOUT FESTIVAL DE CANNES The Festival de Cannes is an event that brings together the world's film professionals around an official competition and an International Film Market, whose highly media-oriented aspect makes it one of the first annual international events, contributing to the world cinematic influence. ABOUT CAMPARI Campari, the iconic, unforgettable Italian red spirit sitting at the heart of some of the world's most famous cocktails. Campari was founded in Milan in 1860 by Gaspare Campari, and pioneered by his son, Davide, who created something so distinctive and revolutionary that its secret recipe has not been altered since. Vibrant red in colour, Campari's unique and multi-layered taste is the result of the infusion of herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. As well as being unique and distinctive, Campari is extremely versatile, offering boundless and unexpected possibilities. As a source of this passionate inspiration since its creation seen through its founders' creative genius, artists in different fields and the world's best bartenders, Campari stimulates your instincts to unlock your passions, inspiring limitless creations. ABOUT CAMPARI GROUP Campari Group is a major player in the global spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, spreading across Global, Regional and Local priorities. Global Priorities, the Group's key focus, include Aperol, Appleton Estate, Campari, SKYY, Wild Turkey and Grand Marnier. The Group was founded in 1860 and today is the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry. It has a global distribution reach, trading in over 190 nations around the world with leading positions in Europe and the Americas. Campari Group's growth strategy aims to combine organic growth through strong brand building and external growth via selective acquisitions of brands and businesses. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Campari Group owns 22 plants worldwide and has its own distribution network in 22 countries. Campari Group employs approximately 4,000 people. The shares of the parent company Davide Campari-Milano N.V. (Reuters CPRI.MI - Bloomberg CPR IM) have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001. For more information: http://www.camparigroup.com/en Please enjoy our brands responsibly. ABOUT CAMPARINO Camparino in Galleria is the legendary bar opened by Davide Campari in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in 1915. The bar was opened opposite to Caffe Campari, the establishment opened by Gaspare Campari - Davide's father and the creator of the bitter liqueur - in 1867. An instant hit with the people of Milan, the bar became synonymous with the city's aperitivo tradition and in 2015 marked its 100th anniversary. Following a renovation project, the bar reopens to the public in autumn 2019 with a refreshed identity and food and drink offering designed to consolidate its status as one of the most influential establishments in the world for lovers of mixology and gastronomic innovation. SOURCE Campari BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov proposed to continue work on the implementation of new projects related to the supply of Turkmen natural gas to China, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen media. The head of state said this while speaking at the first Central Asia-China Summit, which is being held on May 18 through 19, 2023 in the Chinese city of Xi'an. According to him, one of the main areas of economic partnership between the Central Asian countries and China is the fuel and energy sector. He noted that taking into account Turkmenistan's energy policy based on the diversification of supplies of Turkmen energy resources to international markets and in case of interest of the parties, the country could continue to work on the implementation of new projects related to the supply of Turkmen natural gas in the Chinese direction. Furthermore, Berdimuhamedov stressed that a real and positive example of concrete cooperation in this area is the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, thanks to which Chinese partners are currently developing their industry, meeting the needs of the Chinese population in natural gas. XI'AN, China, May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As Central Asian leaders arrive in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to attend the China-Central Asia Summit with President Xi Jinping, the city shines ever brighter as the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and at the center of contemporary Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation. With the opening of flights between Xi'an and Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, on Thursday, Xi'an has direct flights to all five Central Asian countries. There is no coincidence for the selection of Xi'an as the host city of the China-Central Asia Summit. Opening a world map, the Eurasian Steppe gives rise to one of the world's most famous and oldest trade routes: The Silk Road. "For a long time, it was commonly recognized that the Western capital of the world was the city of Rome, Italy, and the Eastern capital of the world was the city of Chang'an, now Xi'an," Xi'an-based Silk Road historian-writer Gao Jianqun told the Global Times. The latter city, once the capital of China's Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the starting point of the Silk Road, had been a meeting place of different cultures, art styles and literature from across the known world thanks to its historic role as a trade hub, where people from the West and people from the East settled and communicated over 1,000 years ago. Today, the BRI connects Asia with Europe and beyond along the trade routes of the ancient Silk Road, a UNESCO World Heritage. Xi'an had its prime days during the Han and Tang dynasties. Today the city is grasping the opportunity in a pivotal role in the BRI to recreate its past glorious prosperity and beyond, conducting economic exchanges with BRI countries and hosting a string of cross-national activities. This past April, the general assembly of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage was held in Xi'an. The assembly released the Xi'an Declaration, a conclusive document that aims to provide solutions for worldwide cultural heritage protection from the perspective of Asian countries. Following that, the city entered the world spotlight again by hosting the China-Central Asia Summit, a major diplomatic event hosted by China in 2023. "It is once again showing its status as an important node city for external exchanges, both past and present," said Sun Haoqi, a Xi'an-based cultural expert. This is not the first "Xi'an Declaration" issued for external exchanges. As early as 2013, in accordance with the Silk Road Economic Belt, Xi'an signed an agreement for joint development with a dozen cities along the traditional Silk Road for exchanges in the fields of culture, tourism, education, science and technology. The agreement became known as the Xi'an Declaration. Center of cultural exchanges Care should be taken whenever construction takes place in Xi'an. As an ancient capital of 13 dynasties, this city has numerous cultural relics buried underground, Sun noted. In the city, there are traces everywhere of its role as a cosmopolitan metropolis where merchants who followed the Silk Road gathered for trade. In the densely populated main urban area and suburbs of Xi'an, a total area of around 827 square kilometers, archaeological ruins are scattered here and there, including the well-known Epang Palace Ruins and Daming Palace Ruins. Many ruins are still being excavated. Over the last few decades, a constant stream of new discoveries painted a picture of the diverse ancient society of Xi'an, known in ancient times as Chang'an. For example, on archaeological site a kilometer away from the Xi'an Ancient City Wall, experts recently discovered a number of cultural relics that show a distinctive Buddhist art style. "Many of those Buddha statues we found were covered in colorful paint, while some pottery Buddha statues were also decorated with gold paste. These art styles and craftsmanship clearly came from the Tang Dynasty," Han Jianhua, an archaeologist working at the site, told a local Xi'an news outlet. Ancient records show that there used to be a Buddhist temple nearby, which has led researchers to theorize that the two sites were connected, Han added. In addition, relics such as storage rooms and water wells were found at the site, and objects with Western cultural elements were also unearthed, as experts believed that they showed the rich and diverse social life. Above the ground, majestic places of interest and historical sites show traces of the collision of ideas and cultures over the millennia. Buddhist scriptures currently stored in various temples bear witness to the spread of religion and ideas, as they later spread to the Central Plains and Southeast China with Xi'an as a transit hub. The Dayan Pagoda, or the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, located in the urban center, is a symbol of Xi'an. It is the most direct example of the cultural blending that took place in this capital city. "After China's cultural envoy Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) and established the Silk Road as an official trade channel, the eminent Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang traveled to India in the year 629 to obtain Buddhist scriptures. He brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures to China," noted Gao. The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions that he later composed became an important study material for future generations to learn about the history and geography of China and Central Asia. In order to protect the Buddhist scriptures and Buddha statues brought from India, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was built in the west courtyard of the Daci'en Temple, which has now become a must-see attraction for tourists. Building platforms The BRI, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, has replaced the traditional camel caravans with modern freight trains that have facilitated trade between China and Central Asian countries. "As the starting point of foreign exchanges, the city of Xi'an connects BRI countries with China's interior," said culture expert Yang Yong. Shaanxi provincial government data shows that in 2022 alone, the province brought 174 cultural and tourism events overseas including dance dramas in Paris, acrobatic performances about Chang'an and exhibitions of the Terracotta Warriors and Terracotta Horses in Japan. To better put "culture first" into practice, Xi'an has established organizations such as the Shaanxi Silk Road Cultural Exchange Center to help boost communications in art, film, education and Traditional Chinese Medicine. "We're a platform to assist this practice," the center's correspondent Ji Wenbo told the Global Times. According to the center, it has cooperated with multiple countries including Bulgaria, Brazil and Turkey in art exchanges since the center's establishment in 2016. As the frontier representative of Xi'an and cultural ambassador to Central Asia, "we still need to find ways to highlight Xi'an's characteristics during these activities," Xu Chun, current vice-chairman and secretary-general of the Turkish Chamber of Commerce in China, told the Global Times. Over the past several years, many activities under the BRI have been conducted including a Turkish Art Festival. While art and education have been the main focuses, "we have also brought Shaanxi's distinctive waist drums and traditional Chinese calligraphy and paintings overseas," Xu added. Shining ever brighter Since the General Assembly of Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia was held in Xi'an in April, a splendid show was held at the Yongning Gate of the ancient Xi'an City Wall. Guests from more than 20 countries attended the special occasion. After the drawbridge of the Yongning Gate slowly dropped, "Golden Armored Warriors" stepped across the bridge and welcomed the distinguished guests from afar with the highest etiquette of the Tang Dynasty. The state-level show, Tang Dynasty Grand Welcoming Ceremony, has become a name card for Xi'an. Xi'an continues to revive the grandness of the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty, presenting its uniqueness in surprising ways for international guests and tourists. Making the most of social media, the city has become a leading attraction in China. "Reviving the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty is one of the most popular forms of cultural presentation in the city. Sometimes you can spot international tourists wearing traditional Chinese clothes, such as hanfu, while walking around pedestrian streets," an employee at the Datang Everbright City scenic area, which presents the charm of the Tang Dynasty urban life, told the Global Times. Here, at the intersection of ancient and modern times, the electronic billboards stand tall to welcome the arrival of international guests from around the continents for business, friendship and co-prosperity. SOURCE Global Times https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202305/1290984.shtml BEIJING, May 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Xi'an, the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, is about to witness the ancient route shine with new vitality as the high-level China-Central Asia Summit is being held from Thursday to Friday. The national flags of China and five Central Asian countries are being flown alongside the airport highway in intervals, and banners saying "build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future" in both Chinese and Russian, can be seen at overpasses in the city. The summit is the first major diplomatic event to be hosted by China this year, and also the first summit to be held offline by the heads of state of China and the five Central Asian countries in attendance since the establishment of diplomatic ties 31 years ago. The presidents of five Central Asian countries have all arrived in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to attend the summit. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov arrived on Wednesday. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov arrived on Thursday. At the summit, President Xi Jinping is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech, expounding on China's stance on how to construct a China-Central Asia community of shared future, while eyeing long-term development for cooperation between the six countries, putting forward a series of propositions, and announcing multiple pragmatic measures and actions, Chinese officials revealed at a Tuesday conference. Over the last decade, President Xi has maintained close interactions with leaders from Central Asian countries, and such frequent connections has enhanced mutual trust between China and the five countries, upgraded cooperation, and led to a deeper, more pragmatic cooperation between China and said countries, said experts. They hailed that the summit will not only witness China and Central Asian cooperation making new breakthroughs, and ushering in a new chapter of bilateral ties among the six countries, but will also demonstrate the closeness of relations between China and those Central Asian countries, which pivot around win-win results, mutual respect, and trust, and set a model for international relations amid a complicated international atmosphere. New cooperation opportunities China shares a special bond with Central Asian countries. For his first foreign trip since the COVID-19 pandemic, President Xi paid a state visit to Uzbekistan in September 2022 and attended the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Moreover, this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative proposed by Xi during his visit to Kazakhstan in 2013. In September 2013, during President Xi's visit to Kazakhstan, he delivered a speech of far-reaching significance at Nazarbayev University. In his address, Xi took his audience back to over 2,100 years ago when a Chinese envoy was sent to Central Asia on a mission of peace and friendship and opened a Silk Road that would then take Chinese silk, tea, and porcelain to other parts of the world and brought back spices, glassware, furs, fruits, and precious stones. Xi's speech drew inspiration from the successful trade routes of the ancient Silk Road and proposed the idea of building an "economic belt along the Silk Road." A month later, in Indonesia, Xi proposed the building of a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which, combined with the economic belt proposal, eventually became the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As part of the BRI, several transnational roads, railways, and oil and gas pipelines have been constructed. During meetings with his Central Asian counterparts, Xi frequently highlighted the progress and future plans for BRI projects. During Xi's visit to Central Asia in September 2022, a cooperation agreement was signed on the Kyrgyz section of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, bringing this much-anticipated infrastructure project closer to fruition. More than 20 bilateral and multilateral activities will be held during the two-day summit. At the summit, leaders will exchange their views on the establishment of mechanisms, cooperation, and international and regional issues of respective concern. The leaders of the six countries are expected to sign a slew of important political documents in areas such as the economy, trade, and connectivity, Yu Jun, deputy director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of European-Central Asian Affairs, said at a Tuesday press briefing. "Central Asia's strategic importance has become more prominent as China has upped the construction of the BRI, and these countries are playing an increasingly important role in China's diplomatic strategy. Moreover, Central Asian countries are eager to cooperate with China to boost their long-term development," Li Yongquan, director of the Eurasian Social Development Research at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times, noting that this summit will witness cooperation between China and Central Asian countries make new breakthroughs. Shavkat Alimbekov, leading researcher at the International Institute for Central Asia - an organization established in Uzbekistan, told the Global Times that the China-Central Asia Summit will give new impetus to the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road. "One of the key aspects of this cooperation is the development of the 'Green Silk Road,' that is, the use of green development technologies, innovative solutions, and advanced technologies to achieve environmental efficiency and sustainability," said Alimbekov. China has been the largest or main trading partner of Central Asian countries for many years. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Central Asian countries stood at over $70 billion, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Good-neighborly friendship Speaking at the virtual summit to commentate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relation between China and Central Asian countries, Xi said that we have established strategic partnerships, and deepened political trust and mutually beneficial cooperation, blazing a new trail of good-neighborly friendship and win-win cooperation, and setting a good example of fostering a new type of international relations. During the speech in Kazakhstan in 2012, Xi said China respects the development path as well as the domestic and foreign policies Central Asian people have independently chosen for themselves. China will never intervene in the internal affairs of Central Asian countries, seek leadership in regional affairs, or operate a sphere of influence. China's cooperation with Central Asia does not target any third party and the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism does not aim to compete with other mechanisms, said Yu. China supports anything that is truly beneficial for the region's development, and helps the common prosperity of the region, Yu noted. When meeting with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Xi'an in April, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu said that the strategic partnership with China remains one of the priorities of Kazakhstan's foreign policy. Nurtleu highlighted the need for joint efforts to implement the agreements reached at the highest level to expand multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, particularly in trade and investment, the Astana Times reported. Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that previous cooperation between China and Central Asian countries was either bilateral; or under multilateral frameworks, such as the SCO. "Those forms of cooperation are based on win-win results and mutual trust, and are highly recognized by Central Asian countries. Thus this summit has come at a key juncture when China's ties with those countries are set to be elevated to a new high," said Yang. SOURCE Global Times SEOUL, South Korea, May 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LG Display, the world's leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that two of its research papers on 'ultra-large OLED display' and 'Stretchable display' have been selected as Distinguished Papers by the Society for Information Display (SID). LG Display's Third Generation OLED TV Panel LG Display's Stretchable Display Under the theme of 'A Novel Ultra-Large Size OLED Display for Premium TVs,' LG Display's research team led by Dr. Hong-jae Shin, research fellow, received the Excellence Paper Award for introducing the key technologies that enabled ultra-large OLED displays of 80 inches and above. With this award, LG Display has been recognized once again for its leadership in OLED innovation. LG Display led the development of a series of ultra-large OLED TV panels by addressing the challenge of uniformly expressing high-quality images on larger screens, advancing panel and driving technologies, improving the performance of organic light-emitting components, and minimizing bezels. Following on from the 88-inch 8K OLED TV panel released in 2018, the company commenced the production of its largest 97-inch OLED TV panels last year to offer a full lineup ranging from medium-sized to ultra-large OLED displays. LG Display is the only company with capability of mass-producing ultra-large OLED panels of 80 inches and above. In addition, LG Display will introduce 'META technology,' its third-generation OLED TV panel technology, during SID 2023. These OLED panels realize the industry's highest brightness of 2,100 nits (1 nit: the brightness of a single candle) among existing OLED TVs, making them the perfect solution for ultra-large TVs. Notably, these panels also demonstrate a remarkable 22 percent improvement in energy efficiency. Another research team led by Precedence Technology Laboratory at LG Display was also awarded the Excellence Paper Award for the paper, 'High-Resolution Active-Matrix Micro-LED Stretchable Displays.' The Stretchable display is highly anticipated as a next-generation display technology courtesy of its ultimate free-form technology that enables it to be extended, folded, and twisted. LG Display unveiled the industry's first 12-inch Stretchable display last year that can be stretched by up to 20 percent while delivering full-color RGB and a high resolution of 100ppi (pixels per inch) comparable to standard monitors. This award-winning research has garnered recognition for significantly enhancing the resolution, flexibility, and reliability of stretchable displays, achieving substantial progress towards its commercialization. LG Display will also present its latest research findings on new technologies during Display Week 2023 from May 21 to 26 at LA Convention Center. This will include the presentation of 15 research papers with significant findings regarding next-generation displays such as OLED and microLED. LG Display also plans to unveil its latest cutting-edge technologies at SID 2023, including its new OLED technology and third-generation OLED TV panels based on 'META Technology.' "We will continue to maintain and expand our competitive advantage by developing cutting-edge displays that provide innovative customer value, particularly in the field of large-sized and high-resolution displays, thereby widening the technological gap between us and our competitors," remarked Soo-young Yoon, CTO and Executive Vice President at LG Display. About LG Display LG Display Co., Ltd. [NYSE: LPL, KRX: 034220] is the world's leading innovator of display technologies, including thin-film transistor liquid crystal and OLED displays. The company manufactures display panels in a broad range of sizes and specifications primarily for use in TVs, notebook computers, desktop monitors, automobiles, and various other applications, including tablets and mobile devices. LG Display currently operates manufacturing facilities in Korea and China, and back-end assembly facilities in Korea, China, and Vietnam. The company has approximately 69,656 employees operating worldwide. For more news and information about LG Display, please visit www.lgdisplay.com . Media Contact: Joo Yeon Jennifer Ha, Manager, Global PR Team Email: [email protected] Jean Lee, Team Leader, Global PR Team Email: [email protected] SOURCE LG Display KeeTa starts operation in Mong Kok and Tai Kok Tsui areas HONG KONG, May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Meituan (HKG: 3690) (the "Company"), a leading technology-driven retail company in China, today introduced KeeTa, a new food delivery brand as it officially launches in the Hong Kong market, to provide residents with more customized, efficient and reliable delivery services. Meituan introduces new food delivery brand KeeTa as it officially launches in the Hong Kong market. Following the initial launch in Mong Kok and Tai Kok Tsui, the Company expects KeeTa to complete full coverage of the Hong Kong market by the end of this year. The KeeTa app is now available for download in major mobile app stores. Delivery services via KeeTa will start at 8:00 a.m., Monday, May 22, 2023 local time. Notable merchants that have joined KeeTa include brands like McDonald's, Maxim's MX (MX), KFC, Yoshinoya(), Pacific Coffee, and popular food and beverage shops such as hana-musubi (), Hung Fook Tong(), and CHICHA San Chen(). Each newly registered KeeTa user will receive a gift coupon package valued at HK$300, including special meal offers and delivery fee reductions. KeeTa has introduced a Meal for One program customized for Hong Kong residents. It offers value-for-money set menus for individuals, which allow them to order a meal for as little as HK$60, including delivery fee. Currently available set menus include Chinese, western and Japanese cuisines and beverages. For merchants, the program provides optimized online exposure without requiring additional advertising and traffic expenses. Promoting selected set menus also helps merchants with more efficient ingredient purchasing and meal preparation. Merchants can grow their overall profitability through greater order volumes. To further improve user experience, KeeTa has an "On-time Promise" policy, an industry-first in the Hong Kong market, which comes free-of-charge for all users. It includes a tiered compensation plan for late orders. Users are promised vouchers toward future purchases for eligible orders delivered more than 15 minutes beyond the original delivery estimate. For courier support, KeeTa is offering couriers multiple reward programs, including incentives for on-time deliveries to improve performance. "We are seeing an accelerating development of the food delivery market in Hong Kong in the past few years and still unfilled market demands from diners, restaurants and couriers," said a Meituan spokesperson. "KeeTa aims to meet users' demand for high-quality delivery services, help merchants grow their business, and provide more flexible and rewarding employment opportunities for couriers." Inspired by the renowned sprinter cheetah, KeeTa aims to become an exceptional and enduring on-demand delivery platform in the Hong Kong market, providing high-quality services with more efficiency and better user experience for Hong Kong residents. About KeeTa KeeTa is a technology-driven delivery platform that connects consumers with local food and retail merchants and couriers. With the mission of "We help people eat better, live better," KeeTa is committed to providing localized high-quality products and services, benefiting consumers, food and retail merchants and couriers from the entire ecosystem. KeeTa was launched by Meituan (3690.HK), which owns China's leading food delivery platform Meituan Waimai. About Meituan Meituan (HKG: 3690) (the "Company") is a leading technology-driven retail company in China. With the mission of "We help people eat better, live better," the Company uses technology to connect consumers and merchants. Service offerings on its platform address people's daily needs for food and retail goods and extend further to broad lifestyle and travel services. Meituan is the world's leading on-demand food delivery service provider and China's leading e-commerce platform for in-store dining services. Meituan helps consumers discover merchant information, make informed decisions, complete online and offline transactions and enjoy on-demand delivery. The Company currently owns several household brands in China, including Meituan, China's leading online marketplace for services, Dianping, China's leading online destination for discovering local services, Meituan Waimai for on-demand delivery services, and Meituan Bikes for bike-sharing services. Meituan has 677.9 million Annual Transacting Users and 9.3 million Annual Active Merchants as of December 31, 2022. The Company operates in over 2,800 cities and counties in China. For media inquiries, please contact: Meituan [email protected] ICR Inc. Email: [email protected] SOURCE Meituan The 2023 Military Foodservice Awards kick off a weekend of National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation events to celebrate top military and Sealift teams CHICAGO, May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Top dining and foodservice operations from the military and Military Sealift Command were recognized at the 2023 Military Foodservice Awards. In a ceremony that featured remarks by Medal of Honor recipient and retired Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Byers, Jr., award-winning units were lauded for their work to support America's Armed Forces both at home and overseas. Top dining and foodservice operations from the military were recognized at the 2023 Military Foodservice Awards. Tweet this Winners of the 2023 Military Foodservice Awards, pictured here with National Restaurant Association CEO and president Michelle Korsmo, visited the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago on Saturday, May 20, in conjunction with Armed Forces Day. The dinner kicked off a weekend of celebratory events for winning teams in conjunction with Armed Forces Day part of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's (NRAEF) work to promote career opportunities for military, veterans, and their family members in the restaurant industry. Honorees spent the weekend immersed in the NRAEF's Advanced Management Training Program, where they learned about industry career pathways, the fundamentals of restaurant management and leadership, and developed their own restaurant concepts. The weekend also offered winners the chance to complete their Professional Certification through ServSuccess and interact with industry leaders and innovators at the National Restaurant Association Show. "These honorees represent the highest level of service to our country and the highest level of excellence in foodservice," said Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association and CEO of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. "We are proud of our long history of partnering to help service members improve their culinary and foodservice skills and pursue their dreams of a future in our industry. Their commitment to service is an inspiration to us all." "Restaurant and foodservice operations across the country need the skills, dedication, and commitment to excellence displayed by every one of this year's foodservice award winners," said Rob Gifford, president of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. "Our industry is one of endless opportunities and we are excited to open doors for military members to meaningful post-duty careers." This year's Military Foodservice Award winners were selected following a rigorous assessment process overseen by the NRAEF, which deploys teams of restaurant and foodservice industry professionals throughout the year to installations across the globe. Foodservice operations are assessed on several factors, including management effectiveness, force readiness support, food quality, employee and customer relations, resource conservation, and training and safety awareness. The NRAEF's 2023 Military Foodservice Awards were sponsored by Aramark, Areas, BJ's Restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings, Computrition, DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS National Accounts, Ecolab, Heroes Government Supply, HMSHost, Hobart, Hormel, McDonald's, Rich Products, Robert Irvine Foods, Society for Hospitality Foodservice Management Foundation, Sodexo, Sysco, and Whataburger. The following units were recognized as 2023 Military Foodservice Award winners: Winners of the Philip A. Connelly Awards, honoring the Army: Active Army Garrison : Group Support Battalion, 7 th Special Force Group (Airborne), Camp "Bull" Simons, Eglin Air Force Base : Group Support Battalion, 7 Special Force Group (Airborne), Camp "Bull" Simons, Eglin Air Force Base Active Army Field Kitchen: 221 st Quartermaster Company, 18 th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16 th Sustainment Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany 221 Quartermaster Company, 18 Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16 Sustainment Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Army Reserve Field Kitchen: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 400 th Military Police Battalion, 333 rd Military Police Brigade, 200 th Military Police Command, Fort Meade, Maryland Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 400 Military Police Battalion, 333 Military Police Brigade, 200 Military Police Command, Army National Guard Field Kitchen: Bravo Company, 1109th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group (TASMG), Pearl City, Hawaii Winners of the Major General W.P.T. Hill Memorial Awards, honoring the United States Marine Corps: Best Management and Mess Attendant Mess Hall: Marine Corps Installations Pacific, Mess Hall 2356, 12 th Marine Regiment, Okinawa, Japan Marine Corps Installations Pacific, Mess Hall 2356, 12 Marine Regiment, Best Full Foodservice Mess Hall: Marine Corps Installations East, Mess Hall 4013, Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina Marine Corps Installations East, Mess Hall 4013, Marine Corps Air Station New River, Best Active Field Mess: Marine Forces Pacific, III Marine Expeditionary Force, 3 rd Marine Logistics Group, Combat Logistics Regiment 37, Okinawa, Japan Marine Forces Pacific, III Marine Expeditionary Force, 3 Marine Logistics Group, Combat Logistics Regiment 37, Best Reserve Field Mess: Marine Forces Reserves, 4th Marine Logistics Group, Combat Logistics Regiment 45, Smyrna, Georgia Winners of the Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Awards, honoring the Navy: Aircraft Carrier Platform: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Submarine Platform: USS Maine (SSBN 741) USS Maine (SSBN 741) Small/Medium Platform: USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) Large Platform: USS Bataan (LHD 5) USS Bataan (LHD 5) West Coast: Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Silver Dolphin Bistro Hickham, Hawaii Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Silver Dolphin Bistro Hickham, East Coast: Naval Station Newport Rhode Island, Ney Hall Galley Newport, Rhode Island Naval Station Newport Rhode Island, Ney Hall Galley OCONUS: U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy , Ristorante Bella Etna Sigonella, Italy Winners of the Forrest O. Rednour Memorial Awards, honoring the United States Coast Guard: Dining Facility of the Year Base: Base San Juan San Juan, Puerto Rico Base Dining Facility of the Year Medium Afloat: USCGC Walnut Pensacola, Florida USCGC Walnut Dining Facility of the Year Large Afloat: CGC Bertolf Alameda, California CGC Bertolf Dining Facility of the Year Sector and SFO: Sector New York New York, New York Sector Dining Facility of the Year Training Center and Culinary Support Activity: Tracen Petaluma Petaluma, California Tracen Petaluma Dining Facility of the Year Small Afloat: USCGC Shrike USCGC Shrike Dining Facility of the Year Station: Station Burlington Burlington, Vermont Winners of the Captain David M. Cook Foodservice Excellence Awards, honoring the Military Sealift Command: Small Ship Category: USNS Grasp (T- ARS 51 ) USNS Grasp (T- ) Medium Ship Category: USNS Joshua Humphreys (T-AO 188) USNS (T-AO 188) Large Ship Category: USNS Richard E Byrd (T-AKE 4) USNS Richard E Byrd (T-AKE 4) Hybrid Ship Category: USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) Winners of the John L. Hennessy Awards, honoring the Air Force: Active Duty Foodservice Operations Region One: Incirlik Air Base, Turkey United States Air Forces in Europe Incirlik Air Base, United States Air Forces in Active Duty Foodservice Operations Region Two: Yokota Air Base, Japan Pacific Air Forces Command Yokota Air Base, Pacific Air Forces Command Air Force Reserves Foodservice Operations: 512 Memorial Affairs Squadron, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware Air Force Reserve Command Winner of the Senior Master Sergeant Kenneth W. Disney Food Service Award, honoring the Air National Guard: 127th Wing, Selfridge, Michigan Air National Guard In addition to its annual Military Foodservice Awards, the NRAEF provides training through its quarterly Advanced Culinary Training Program (ACTP), connects transitioning military to apprenticeship opportunities, and provides scholarship opportunities to support military and veterans pursuing post-secondary education in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Visit ChooseRestaurants.org to learn more. About the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF): As the supporting philanthropic foundation of the National Restaurant Association, the NRAEF's charitable mission includes enhancing the industry's training and education, career development, and community engagement efforts. The NRAEF and its programs work to Attract, Empower, and Advance today's and tomorrow's restaurant and foodservice workforce. NRAEF programs include: ProStart a high-school career and technical education program; Restaurant Ready/HOPES Partnering with community based organizations to provide people with skills training and job opportunities; Military helping military servicemen and women transition their skills to restaurant and foodservice careers; Scholarships financial assistance for students pursuing restaurant, foodservice and hospitality degrees; and the Restaurant & Hospitality Leadership Center (RHLC) accredited apprenticeship programs designed to build the careers of service professionals. For more information on the NRAEF, visit ChooseRestaurants.org . Click here for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's 2022 Annual Impact Report. SOURCE National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation SEATTLE, May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With a patriotic salute and special celebration, Princess Cruises today welcomed one of the few surviving Tuskegee Airmen onboard Discovery Princess in Seattle as he arrived for his celebratory cruise to Alaska, marking an early commemoration for his 100th birthday. Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III, retired United States Army Air Corps and Air Force officer (USAF), shattered racial barriers in the military as a part of a group of African American pilots who served their country with legendary distinction during World War II. Princess Cruises President John Padgett, center, presents retired Lt. Colonel James H. Harvey III a cake on Discovery Princess to celebrate his 100th birthday Retired Lt. Colonel James H. Harvey III is greeted with an Honor Cordon by members of the McChord Field Honor Guard on Discovery Princess during a special 100th Birthday celebration for the Tuskegee airman To honor Harvey, the McChord Field Honor Guard welcomed him and his family aboard Discovery Princess with a USAF traditional display of presenting colors. Topping out the festivities, the Discovery Princess crew presented Lt Col Harvey with a birthday cake while hundreds of the ship's company joined in wishing him a happy birthday. "It's our sincere honor to celebrate the 100th birthday of Lieutenant Colonel Harvey III, a trailblazer, hero, and real 'Top Gun,'" said John Padgett, Princess Cruises president. "His life and legacy should remind everyone the power of courage, determination, resilience and the American spirit. From all of us at Princess Cruises, we salute Lt. Col. Harvey and wish him a very happy 100th birthday!" Born in Montclair, New Jersey on July 13, 1923, Harvey is a former fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Groups 99th Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails," one of 1,007 documented pilots trained for aerial combat during World War II. He is best known as the first African American USAF jet fighter combat pilot to fight in the Korean War and flew 140 missions from 1949 to 1950. Harvey, along with every member of the Tuskegee Airmen, received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006. In addition, Harvey won the USAF's very first "Top Gun" competition in 1949, when he and his team lead a grueling 10-day event comprised on aerial gunnery at 20,000 and 12,000 feet, dive bombing, skip bombing, rocketing firing and panel strafing. After serving a combined 22 years (1943-1965) in the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Air Force, Harvey retired and joined Oscar Mayer as a corporate salesman and settled his family of four girls in Denver, where he still resides. During the voyage Harvey will share insights from his storied service and remarkable life experiences with other guests as part of a scheduled onboard discussion. Discovery Princess is currently sailing on weeklong, roundtrip cruises from Seattle to Alaska, departing every Sunday through September. Images can be found here. B-roll, including soundbites from Harvey and footage of McCord Field Honor Guard can be found here. About Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is The Love Boat, the world's most iconic cruise brand that delivers dream vacations to millions of guests every year in the most sought-after destinations on the largest ships that offer elite service personalization and simplicity customary of small, yacht-class ships. Well-appointed staterooms, world class dining, grand performances, award-winning casinos and entertainment, luxurious spas, imaginative experiences and boundless activities blend with exclusive Princess MedallionClass service to create meaningful connections and unforgettable moments in the most incredible settings in the world - the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Europe, South America, Australia/New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hawaii, Asia, Canada/New England, Antarctica, and World Cruises. The company is part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE:CCL; NYSE:CUK). SOURCE Princess Cruises Tehran, May 21 : Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that some foreign sides seek to cause problems in the country's relations with its neighbours, calling on Iranian officials to prevent the implementation of such policies. The leader made the remarks on Saturday in a meeting held in Tehran with the Iranian Foreign Ministry's officials as well as the country's ambassadors, elaborating on Iran's foreign policy principles and priorities, according to the leader's website. He added that Iran has long borders with different countries, and the current Iranian government has been pursuing a "important and correct" policy in expanding relations with neighbours, Xinhua news agency reported. The Iranian leader said it is "important" to pursue the policy of developing relations with Muslim states, no matter how far they are from Iran, and friendly countries with similar positions. There is an unprecedented trend in "great and important" countries entering companionship and alignment with Iran under the guidelines of foreign relations, and Iran should grasp this opportunity and improve its relations with these states, he noted. Manila, May 21 : Philippine troops killed five suspected rebels in a series of clashes in the central Philippines, a military spokesperson said. Lieutenant Colonel Israel Galorio of the Visayas Command said on Saturday that the first fighting broke out around 5 a.m. local time on Saturday, followed by two more clashes in Negros Occidental province, resulting in the death of five New People's Army (NPA) members. No soldier was killed or wounded in the clashes, Galorio said, adding the troops recovered assault rifles, homemade shotguns, pistols, grenades and ammunition, Xinhua news agency reported. NPA rebels have been fighting the government since 1969. They concentrate their attacks on rural areas and have skirmishes with the military. Military data showed that the NPA is estimated to have 2,000 members, significantly lower than its peak strength in the 1980s. Madrid, May 21 : Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectare of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities. Spain's Ministry of Ecological Transition on Saturday has confirmed that 250 regional firefighters and 165 members of the Spanish Military's Emergency Response Unit are currently fighting the blaze, along with the support of 10 earth-movers, six aircraft, eight helicopters, and 23 vehicles. The fire broke out on Wednesday night in the 'Las Hurdes' region of Extremadura, a region where wildfires in July 2022 caused devastation of 5,000 hectare, and has spread out of control due to strong winds and dry conditions, Xinhua news agency reported. The villages of Cadalso, Descargamaria, Robledillo de Gata and some neighbourhoods of Torrecilla de Los Angeles and Ovejuela have been evacuated as a precautionary measure and three main roads have been closed. Guillermo Fernandez Vara, President of the region of Extremadura, visited the affected area on Friday and said the fire was caused by "human or material resources," but "wind and gusts of up to 60 km per hour are making it incredibly difficult to control the fire". According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), around 66,000 hectare of land have already been affected by wildfires in Spain in 2023. This follows the destruction of almost 310,000 hectare of land in 2022. The Spanish government has recently approved a 2.2-billion-euro ($2.38-billion) package to help deal with the ongoing drought. Kanpur, May 21 : An illegal telephone exchange racket has been busted by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (UP ATS) in Kanpur. The racket was involved in illegally converting calls coming from middle-east countries into local calls through telephone exchange. The two accused, Mirza Asad and Shahid Jamal, have been arrested in the case. The illegal telephone exchanges were operating at three places in Kanpur. The ATS has seized 13 functional and four sealed SIM boxes of telephone exchange, 4,000 preactivated SIM cards, a modem router and other electronic devices. Asad and Jamal told police that Nazim Khan, one of the gang members, used to make international calls through the internet by bypassing the international gateway. These calls landed on the SIM box, that later converted the calls. The caller's location and number were masked so that his identity could be concealed. According to the ATS, due to bypassing of the international gateway, it is not possible to identify the caller. This could lead to radicalisation, hawala, terror funding and loss of revenue. Retailers selling a huge number of preactivated SIMs are now under the police's radar. Many more arrests are likely to take place in the coming days. Hiroshima : , May 21 (IANS) The G7 leaders have rushed to release a joint statement at their ongoing annual summit in Japan's western city of Hiroshima. The G7 Hiroshima Leaders' statement was suddenly issued with one single version in English on Saturday afternoon, followed by two revised versions sent to on-site media by Japan's foreign ministry as of 8 p.m. local time. It was an unusual move to release the document ahead of schedule as the three-day gathering will conclude on Sunday, local media reported, citing the usual practice of issuing a statement on the last day of the summit, Xinhua news agency reported. Doubts have been raised as at previous Japan-hosted G7 summits the Japanese foreign ministry usually issued a statement in English and Japanese almost simultaneously on the very last day, local media reported. Japan's national news agency Kyodo said the bloc might have decided to issue the joint statement in advance to make it noticeable, due to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's high-profile visit to Japan. According to local media, Zelensky arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday and will attend a Ukraine-focused session with G7 leaders on Sunday. The G7 consists of the US, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada and Japan. Amid waves of protests, G7 leaders' annual summit opened in the western Japanese city on Friday. In Hiroshima's Funairi Daiichi Park, not far from the summit's venue, hundreds of protesters from all over Japan, even abroad, gathered to decry the finger-pointing bloc that advertises its own version of world order. Colombo, May 21 : The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has initiated an investigation into the death of a migrant worker in Singapore, Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara told media. The Minister said on Saturday that a worker from Sri Lanka took her own life on May 19 by jumping from the eighth floor of the apartment complex where she was employed, Xinhua news agency reported. Meanwhile, P.G.G.S Yapa, deputy general manager of training at SLBFE, told media that all arrangements have been made to repatriate the deceased worker's body back to Sri Lanka. When a migrant worker dies, the heir or immediate relative of the deceased can apply for compensation from the SLBFE in accordance with the insurance policy agreed upon prior to their departure, Yapa said. Migrant workers' remittances are one of main sources of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka, with workers remitting more than $1.8 billion in the first four months of 2023. Doha, May 21 : Qatar has condemned the recent armed attack on its embassy building in Khartoum, which resulted in significant damage to the premises, media reported. All embassy staff had been evacuated beforehand, according to the Qatar News Agency report on Saturday. In an official statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry stressed "the need to prosecute the perpetrators and hold them accountable for the consequences of this heinous criminal act, which constitutes a violation of international law and agreements". The Ministry urged "an immediate halt to the fighting in Sudan" and all parties involved to exercise restraint and resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue, Xinhua news agency reported. Since April 15, Sudan has been locked in deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum and several other areas. Tehran, May 21 : Iran and Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on fighting organised crimes, cybercrimes and drug trafficking, media reported. The MoU was signed in a meeting between Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi and visiting Vietnamese Minister of Public Security To Lam in the capital Tehran, official news agency IRNA reported on Saturday. Speaking at a joint press conference after the meeting, the Iranian Minister said relations between Iran and Vietnam are "good" and the two countries share views close to each other, Xinhua news agency reported. The two countries pay attention to each other's interests and whenever necessary, vote in each other's favour at international assemblies, he added. The two sides discussed economic, political, scientific and technological issues and bilateral cooperation, according to Vahidi. Tehran, May 21 : At least 17 people were injured in a fire near the Razi Square in Iran's capital Tehran, as reported by the media. The fire originated in a storehouse during the morning hours and six ambulances, five motorlances, and one ambulance bus were dispatched to the spot, according to Mohammad Esmaeil Tavakoli, the head of Tehran's medical emergency organization, as quoted by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), on Saturday. Tavakoli said that among the injured were two firefighters and several passersby, adding that eight of them had been transferred to medical centres for treatment, Xinhua news agency reported. Jalal Maleki, the spokesperson for the Tehran Fire Department revealed that the storehouse had received five safety warnings during the previous Iranian calendar year, which concluded on March 20. Beirut, May 21 : The Lebanese Army Intelligence Directorate has confirmed the arrest of a high-ranking al-Qaeda member in northern Lebanon. The statement, while withholding the suspect's identity, revealed on Saturday that the apprehension took place in Deir Ammar, a town in the northern region, following an extensive security operation. The detained individual played a pivotal role in establishing the terrorist organisation known as Fatah al-Islam, which maintained ties with al-Qaeda and operated within Lebanon more than 10 years ago, Xinhua news agency reported. He also assumed a significant role in the emergence of the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front, the statement said, adding that investigations are ongoing with the detainees under the supervision of "competent judiciary bodies". Islamabad, May 21 : Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack in the country's southwestern Balochistan province, the Pakistani military said. A group of terrorists attacked security forces post in the Marget area of Balochistan early Saturday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a statement, adding that the post has recently been established to help check extortions targeting coal mines in the area. "Troops on the post retaliated readily to the fire raid thereby, pushing back the terrorists," the ISPR said. However, in the ensuing heavy exchange of fire, three soldiers lost their lives while one terrorist was also killed by the security forces, Xinhua news agency reported. Based on follow-up, a likely hideout of fleeing terrorists has been identified in nearby mountains and a deliberate blocking and sanitisation operation has been launched, it said. At present, the operation is progressing well and security forces are maintaining pressure to block terrorists from escaping from the area, it added. The military said the Pakistani security forces have remained determined to thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress in Balochistan. Accra, May 21 : The Ghanaian government has said that the country decided to further lift Covid-19 restrictions amid declining global and domestic trends for the infection. The West African country has witnessed a sustained decline in Covid-19 infections over the past five months, and based on the global and national situation, it decided to remove the remaining restrictions, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said on Saturday. "Pre-departure testing and testing at all points of entry are no longer requirements for all passengers. The Covid-19 health declaration form for international travellers has been suspended. These measures are to take effect from today, May 20," it added. But for vigilance and the protection of people from infections, the agency said Covid-19 vaccinations would continue, and people with fever, cough and sore throat would be tested for both flu and Covid-19, Xinhua news agency reported. The GHS further urged people to maintain the general safety measures of hand-washing with soap under clean running water and using alcohol-based hand sanitisers, directing those with complaints of fever, cough and sore throat to report to the nearest health facility for management. Shimla, May 21 : Colonial-era cemeteries in Himalayan hill stations of Himachal Pradesh, with the oldest grave dating back to 1828, are a matter of grave concern now -- a fading heritage of the Raj. The reason: Local authorities, it seems, are burying its heritage, along with the dead. Many of the British-era cemeteries dotted across the state are testimony to a history. But they have fallen into a sad state of desolation and disrepair. They have simply turned into heaps of garbage lying where flowers used to bloom once. Also they are a haven for tipplers and marijuana smokers. Officials admit the cemeteries are literally in shambles with graves simply vanished and the left-over ones with faded epitaphs and damaged tombstones are beyond recognition. The encroachers have gobbled up the gravestones. With graveyard tourism plan remaining buried deep, local residents rue many foreigners, for whom visiting the cemetery in Shimla is like a pilgrimage, leave the place with a very heavy heart by often verbal remarking, "Is this the way the local administration treats those who died serving the British?" More than 75 years after the British left, most of the Himalayan town still attracts thousands of domestic and overseas tourists. Many of the foreign tourists are descendants of Englishmen, who lived here during the British rule. The government was, in fact, once planning to promote graveyard tourism. The Oakover cemetery, the oldest British-era cemetery in this erstwhile summer capital that lies adjacent to the Chief Minister's official residence, is a picture of neglect with faded epitaphs, damaged tombstones and moss-covered graves. Opened in 1828, the last grave was of Captain Mathew William Ford, which dates back to March 17, 1841. Shimla, the summer capital of British India between 1864 and 1939, still boasts of a few British timbered structures from the Ellerslie to the Christ Church on the Ridge to the Viceregal Lodge and the elegant Wildflower Hall. But the government's plans to make the cemeteries a place of tourist interest have apparently been given a silent burial, remarked Shimla-based hotelier D.P. Bhatia, who believes the graveyard tourism can act as a catalyst for those in search for unique memories of their buried relatives. "Initially, the idea of graveyard tourism seemed ghoulish. But for the Englishmen, whose kith and kin are buried in Shimla or elsewhere, visiting a grave is like visiting a relative," Bhatia, who has been in the hotel industry for nearly four decades, told IANS. Besides Shimla, many other hill destinations in the state have cemeteries and churches are in thickly wooded hills of McLeodganj, where Lord Elgin, Viceroy and Governor-General of India, buried died in 1863, Kasauli, Dalhousie, Dharampur, Dagshai and Subathu, to name a few British settlements. Upset over knowing the cemetery in McLeodganj in Kangra district is in tatters and local authorities have no burial record, an elderly couple from London wrote to this correspondent after nearly a year-long wait, "Now that we know the church officials are unable to give us much help, I am sorry to say that Ann has reluctantly decided that she does not wish to pursue this matter anymore. "We have now reached an age when we feel we should spend more time looking forward and less time about our past history." The book, "The Churches and Christian Cemeteries of Himachal Pradesh", published by the Tourism Department, chronicles details about memorials. There is a memorial to Penelope Chetwode at Khanag near Ani in Kullu district. Penelope was the daughter of Field Marshal Baron Philip Chetwode, who had served as commander-in-chief of the Indian Army (1930-35). Another one of the oldest burial grounds in the state is at Subathu, about 65 km from the state capital. It houses most of the graves of British army officers and men who were killed during the war with the Gurkhas in 1814. Before making the 'Queen of Hills' -- the moniker given to Shimla by the British colonial rulers, its summer capital, the British established cantonments in Subathu, Kasauli and Dagshai in Solan district. Expressing its anguish, the Himachal Pradesh High Court last week rapped state authorities on their knuckles for "killing heritage". The high court has directed the government heritage committee to conduct a joint inspection of the British-era cemetery at Kanlog in Shimla with its earlier graves dating back to 1850 and file a status report with regard to violation of the interim development plan. "The committee shall also point out the violations, if any, of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958," observed the division bench of Justices Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Virender Singh. They passed this order on a petition of local residents alleging the destruction of the revered Kanlog Cemetery. The petitioners have alleged that they are deeply disturbed by the ongoing devastation of the sacred location. They contended that the cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the country. "This final resting place of both Christians and Parsis has immense national significance and holds the memories of numerous important individuals throughout history." According to the petitioners, the cemetery was intended to be preserved and maintained as a prime heritage and historical site. However, instead of honouring its historical value, the cemetery has fallen victim to unauthorised activities in recent years. It has been further alleged that a pastor and his trust assumed the responsibility of cemetery's maintenance but private interests have taken precedence over preservation efforts. The Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority has been directed to visit the site and ensure due compliance of the orders of the high court and submit a status report before the next date of hearing on May 31. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The Japanese Foreign Ministry said that the country will send 100 vehicles of self-defense forces and 30 thousand food rations to Ukraine, the ministry's website says, Trend reports. Also, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the decision to accept the wounded Ukrainian military in the hospitals of the country's self-defense forces, the Foreign Ministry noted. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. In particular, the politicians discussed the material and technical capabilities of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Kolkata, May 21 : There were clear indications that the ruling Trinamool Congress was getting isolated from civil society and even some of the celebrities and intellectuals close to it after the West Bengal government on May 8 banned the screening of "The Kerala Story" in the state. Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) There were clear indications that the ruling Trinamool Congress was getting isolated from civil society and even some of the celebrities and intellectuals close to it after the West Bengal government on May 8 banned the screening of "The Kerala Story" in the state. After the Supreme Court last week lifted the ban on its screening, the civil society and celebrities welcomed the apex court verdict and criticised the state government for its "undemocratic" approach to any creative work. The first to go vocal against the ban was painter Subhaprasanna, known to be close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata since her days in the opposition during the previous Left Front government. Immediately after the ban was imposed on May 8, Subhaprasanna criticised the decision and said that he had always been against any forced opposition to any creative work. His argument was that when the censor board has cleared the movie, he does not find any logic in the ban enforced by the state government. "The people should have the freedom of accepting or rejecting the movie," he said. Subhaprasanna then faced the ire of the Trinamool Congress leadership for airing his views in the media. After the Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the ban, Subhaprasanna became vocal again. "The verdict of the apex court has proved that I did not say anything illogical when the ban was imposed. I was in favour of the freedom of creative work. The Supreme Court had said the same thing. I still feel that people who are willing should have the liberty to watch it. Similarly, the people who want to abstain from watching should also have the same liberty. This freedom of choice should prevail," he said. According to actor-director Arindam Sil, also known for his proximity to the chief minister, such an observation from the apex court was inevitable. "At the end of the day, the choice should be left to the people of what to accept and what to reject," Sil said. Thespian Bivas Chakraborty said that the decision of the apex court was absolutely in the right direction. "There should not be any step to suppress any kind of creative work," he said. According to the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, the state government's apprehension about law and order problems if the screening of the movie continued was baseless, since there was not a single such incident in the first four days of the screening of the movie before the ban was imposed. "The decision to ban was directed by sheer political motives." Meanwhile, Trinamool spokesman Kunal Ghosh made a controversial statement on the apex court's decision to lift the ban which has left the legal fraternity in the state quite perplexed. According to Ghosh, after the Supreme Court verdict the state government does not have any responsibility in the matter. "The state government took the precautionary step to prevent possible tension over the screening of the story. But after the lifting of the ban, the state government does not have any further responsibility," Ghosh said. According to Calcutta High Court counsel Kaushik Gupta, Ghosh's statement does not hold any legal logic. "The state government's duty is to ensure law and order in the state while ensuring the protection of expression of creative work. There cannot be "either or" in this matter." "The state government pointed out that there had been tension in Maharashtra over the screening of the movie. But that argument of the state government had fallen flat, since the apex court pointed out that despite that tension the Maharashtra government did not impose any ban on the screening. Then under what logic can the West Bengal government ban the screening when there had been no tension in the first four days of the screening of the movie before the ban was imposed," Gupta said. Political analyst Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay pointed out that the ban on "The Kerala Story" was a classic example of how the Trinamool Congress has retracted from its stand on the freedom of creative work during the previous Left Front regime. "During the previous regime the stageshows of the Bengali version of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' directed by thespian Arpita Ghosh, who later became a Trinamool Congress MP, faced opposition from CPI(M) cadres. Mamata Banerjee had been vocal against the Left Front government then though the state government did not ban the shows. She also received the support of the civil society who were against the resistance to creative work. And now when her government is doing the same thing by banning the screening of 'The Kerala Story', the same intellectuals are opposing the move on the same ground. It is wrong for any ruler to take civil society, intellectuals and celebrities for granted," he said. New Delhi, May 21 : Despite getting a severe drubbing in the Karnataka Assembly polls, the BJP is confident that it will win the Lok Sabha polls for the third time in a row. Karnataka is the lone state in South India where the BJP is considered to be having a strong presence. The BJP formed the government in the state many times but it had never got a clear mandate in the Assembly polls. Though the party never got an absolute majority in the state Assembly polls, it was said that the people of Karnataka have opened their windows for the saffron party but are yet to open their doors for it. Though the BJP had put its best foot forward by campaigning with its most popular face Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other veteran leaders, it suffered a major jolt. In the polls, the BJP bagged only 66 seats while the Congress won more than double the saffron party - 135 seats. The poll outcome boosted the morale of the Congress workers and even the regional parties which are uniting to take on the Modi government in the 2024 polls have started to realise the significance of the grand old party. It will be interesting to watch whether the Congress will be able to repeat the results of 2004 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It remains to be seen whether Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge will be able to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Although the BJP was emphatically defeated in the Assembly polls, its leaders are claiming that it will not have any impact on the party's prospects in the Lok Sabha polls. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that the BJP will win the Lok Sabha polls for the third time in a row. "Though the BJP has not performed well in the Karnataka Assembly polls, but that does not mean that it will affect the party's prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," Sarma stated. Talking to mediapersons, Union Minister Anurag Thakur claimed that only the BJP can ensure good governance at the Centre. Assembly polls are fought on local issues, while the Lok Sabha polls are contested on national issues and the government's policies, he said. In the coming days, the BJP will try to speed up its campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. On the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing nine years at the Centre, the BJP will run a one-month-long outreach campaign from May 30 to June 30. Bharatiya Janata Party president J. P. Nadda has asked all party MPs to get feedback from the beneficiaries of the various Central government schemes and convey it to the high command. Nadda on Friday launched the 'Kamal Mitra' campaign (through which females will be trained about the schemes of the government) to woo women voters, who comprise half of the country's population. Besides the BJP is also preparing for Assembly elections in five states this year. Of the five, in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP will have direct contests with the Congress and on the basis of the results in these states, it could be said whether the Congress is on the way to revival or the BJP has taken 'revenge' for Karnataka. Of the three states, the Congress is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while Madhya Pradesh has a BJP government. In Telangana, which is also slated to go to the polls this year, its Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is trying to unite the opposition for the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP is of the view that its 'Mission South India' which has suffered a jolt with the defeat in Karnataka can be made up with a better performance in the Telangana Assembly polls. It is clear that before the "final match" of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the BJP and the Congress have to fight many "semi-final" matches. Noida, May 21 : Several hawala rackets for laundering black money have been unearthed in Noida in the last few months. The business that is thriving in Noida, has made it a hub of hawala deals. With the increase in business in hi-tech city Noida, the network of the hawala business is also increasing. The Noida police has unearthed three to four such big hawala rackets in the last one year. From the investigation, it has been revealed that converting black money into white is being done continuously in Noida under the new hawala module, in which many big shell companies of Noida are also involved. The Noida Police Commissionerate has busted two hawala rackets in the last one week. One had connections with Jaipur, in which Rs 10 lakh has been found, although it was just token money and the deal was to be of Rs 2 crore. The other one has a Patna connection, in which Rs 50 lakh has been unearthed. Before this, the Sector 58 police had seized more than Rs 3 crore from hawala traders of Gujarat, Delhi and Mumbai. The accused were allegedly trying to convert black money into white by forging CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) fund. The accused arrested in Noida were giving cash by taking CSR funds of many companies in India and abroad in their shell companies on 33 per cent commission. Central agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and the Enforcement Directorate probe hawala deals. Besides the IB and ED, the Income Tax Department has also been roped in to investigate the hawala cases in which arrests have been made in Noida. It has been found during the investigation by many agencies that Noida is fast becoming a new centre for hawala business. What is CSR? Domestic and overseas companies have to give a fixed amount under the CSR fund for social work on behalf of the government. Under CSR, big companies have to spend crores of rupees. In such a situation, the accused used to contact the owners of a big company and put a part of their CSR fund in their fake company and used to convert the cash from black to white by showing their money spent in social work. Showing the CSR fund in their balance sheet, many big companies also get rebate in tax. New Delhi, May 21 : Random clumps of wild paddy, sugarcane and several other types of tall wild grass extend to the marsh where a rangale of about fifty to sixty swamp deer sat in peaceful oblivion in the vast expanse of the alluvial grassland in the Terai region in northern Uttar Pradesh. Kaushik Sarkar, a biologist from Bengaluru, stood for a panoramic view on an elevated observation post (machan). This rich biodiversity on the banks of river Sharda is home to various thriving and dwindling species of flora and fauna. He explained that these grasses grow very tall and very fast and serve a purpose. The vegetation in this region is very high and it provides plentifully to a wide range of herbivores and carnivores. There also happen to be several species that are endemic to the Terai region. India has a variety of grasslands across distinct geographies: Banni and Vidi are coastal grasslands in the Rann of Kutch region of Gujarat; the floating grasslands of Manipur are found in its water-logged areas; the tropical (Shola) grasslands of the Western Ghats are concentrated largely in Karnataka. Further, the montane type (high elevation) grasslands are found in several other regions, such as Kashmir (as Margs or Bahaks grasslands), Uttarakhand (as Bugyal and Dzukou grasslands), Himachal Pradesh (as Khajjiar grasslands), Nagaland (as Saramati grasslands), and Manipur (as Ukhrul grasslands). Grasslands add up to nearly 24 per cent of India's geographical area; but not only are there no laws pertaining to their conservation, about 17 per cent of India's land, comprising ravines, grasslands, shrublands, water-logged and marshy areas, and pastures, are written off as wasteland. However, a scant understanding and pervasive ignorance of this type of biodiversity and its ecological significance have pushed them to the backseat in the drive for environmental restoration and conservation. How grasslands became wasteland Grasslands differ from forests in the manner that forests form a canopy that only sparingly allows sunlight to reach the ground, letting little grass coverage below the trees. There are multiple distinctions between forests and grasslands from the ecological perspective, but historically, particularly since colonial times, forests were a source of timber and generated revenues. So, they assumed great economic value. Grasslands, on the other hand, did not generate any produce of understandable commercial value that could be readily exploited. Hence, they were classified as wastelands. However, grasslands are one of the most used ecosystems by humans, even more than forests. Kaushik explained that grasslands were some of the largest areas where humans settled. Grasslands, thus, hold significance as culture, particularly regarding food, began evolving here. Ecological significance of grasslands As mentioned, there are several species that are exclusive to the Terai region. Likewise, various grasslands have their own unique ecosystems defined by their distinct dynamics of cyclic interaction of flora and fauna -- an example of which would be tigers hiding under tall grasses to prey on swamp deer and other herbivores that feed on a variety of grasses available in the region. Biologist Anup Prakash Bokkasa emphasised that overlooking grasslands will lead to losing species -- they are "not wastelands", he asserted. Additionally, in the light of rising global temperatures, "the future of life on Earth depends on how much carbon lies underground. Grasslands are one of the highest holders of carbon below the ground level," he explained, adding that "Grasslands hold more carbon than forests, and that's why they are extremely critical." Devoid of legal protection The Field Director of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, which extends from the Terai grasslands, B. Prabhakar, in conversation with IANS, reiterated: "Forests catered to the needs of the British. So, they planted trees such as eucalyptus, teak, etc. even in the grassland areas. We are now restoring them." Eucalyptus is an invasive species introduced by the British. As far as legal protection of grasslands goes, the forest officer explained that "when an area is declared as a reserve, everything in that area is legally protected. That includes grasslands." In the absence of any legislation exclusive to grasslands, the tracts beyond the reserve areas fall vulnerable to environmental degradation. Although a specific law pertaining to grasslands will make no difference in the functioning of the forest department, the senior official maintains that "it will make a difference in the grasslands beyond the forest areas and to biodiversity." Coming together for a common goal Acknowledging that conservation of an expansive ecosystem demands a great deal of data documentation and record keeping, besides constant upgrade of technical know-how and subject matter expertise that it is best comprehended and done by biologists and conservationists, Anup pointed out that the bureaucracy has already plenty on its plate with its administrative responsibilities. Drawing attention to the role of non-governmental and quasi-governmental arms and engagements of the government that cooperate for smooth functioning towards the common goal of conservation of biodiversity, the much-needed expertise in the subject matter and the technical know-how thus brought in serve to complement the efforts of the government towards environmental restoration and conservation. With regard to roping in non-government agencies, the Dudhwa field director affirms that they are already on board. Several private organisations, as well as universities, are closely involved in research projects. Both the biologists that IANS reached out to belong to 'The Habitats Trust', an organisation that focuses on the conservation of lesser-known species and habitats that are threatened. Kaushik Sarkar executes scientific projects on the ground in the Dudhwa region, and Anup Prakash Bokkasa leads the on-ground initiatives of The Habitats Trust. Although not to the extent of public-private-partnership, non-governmental agencies such as The Habitats Trust and its researchers working closely with the government contribute significantly to the effect of impactful decision-making and implementation by the government authorities. The government grants access to the researchers and they have a say in wildlife management practices. Prabhakar recounts an instance of the efforts made in tandem: Upon the suggestion of researchers in the Dudhwa region, islands were created in the swamps for barasingha (swamp deer). Interventions of such kind are required in the wake of plummeting populations of species and fragmentation of habitats. For the Terai region, which is seasonally inundated, swamp deer need drier, higher grounds to move to. In the absence of a natural option, artificial ones such as these mounds were created. Afterword Considering the need to highlight the ecological importance of grasslands, and its potential in checking climate change, a habitat-centric approach to conservation is arguably the way forward. The fact that cheetahs were recently brought from Namibia directs attention to grasslands as the cheetah is a grassland-dwelling animal. Reintroduction of cheetah into the wild must mean a step towards restoring its habitat -- the grasslands (albeit the arid ones). (Kavya Dubey may be reached at kavya.d@ians.in) Hyderabad, May 21 : The decision of the Telangana government to fully scrap a government order (GO) that was meant to protect twin reservoirs of Hyderabad has drawn the ire of environmentalists and concerned citizens, who see it as a catastrophic move for the historic water bodies. Voicing concern over the government move, they have warned that this would prove to be a death knell for Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar -- the historic reservoirs on Musi River. Some environmentalists are contemplating to challenge in court the scrapping of the government order 111, as they argue that it is the contempt of the Supreme Court order. The opposition parties see scrapping of the GO a move by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government to favour the real-estate and builder lobby as the GO had imposed certain restrictions on construction activity in the catchment area of the two lakes up to a radius of 10 km. The decision to fully scrap the GO 111 that was issued in 1996 was taken at the state Cabinet meeting on May 18. Though the state government had issued GO 69 in April 2022 scrapping the GO 111 restrictions, it had not specified the steps that will be taken to save the twin lakes from pollution. The Cabinet decided that all the existing rules that are applicable in villages under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) limits to take up construction activity will be applicable to these 84 villages. The government headed by K. Chandrasekhar Rao defended the move on the ground that GO 111 was impeding development of 84 villages. "This has been the long-pending demand from the people of these villages as the GO 111 was obstructing the development of their villages," Finance Minister T. Harish Rao said after the Cabinet meeting. The government also came out with details of how it plans to protect the twin lakes with the scrapping of GO 111. The Cabinet decided to set up Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) to prevent pollution of water in the twin reservoirs. It was also announced that the twin reservoirs will be filled with Kaleshwaram water by diverting water from the Kondapochamma Sagar project. The government argued that GO 111 had become redundant as Hyderabad no longer depends on these twin lakes for drinking water. The city is currently drawing water from Godavari and Krishna rivers and the Manjeera reservoir. It was in 1996 that the government of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh had issued GO 111, restricting major constructions and industrial activity in a 10 km radius of the full tank level of the two reservoirs. It was applicable to 1.32 lakh acres of land in 84 villages in seven mandals (blocks). These comprise six mandals in the undivided Rangareddy district and one village in Kothur mandal of Mahbubnagar district. The six mandals include Shamshabad, Rajendranagar, Moinabad, Chevella, Shahbad and Shankarpally. The two reservoirs were built across Musi River by the Nizam of Hyderabad State after the devastating Musi floods of September 1908, which had killed thousands of people. The two reservoirs had been the only sources of drinking water for the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad till 2000, when the government started drawing water from Krishna river. In March last year, Chief Minister KCR had announced in the state Assembly that the government would lift the GO 111 restrictions. The move angered the environmentalists and concerned citizens. Rajendra Singh, popularly known as the Waterman of India, had threatened to move the Supreme Court. Stating that the two reservoirs are pride of not just Hyderabad, but the entire nation, Singh had said that scrapping the GO will be in violation of the Constitution of India and orders of the Supreme Court. He had said that if the Telangana CM fails to drop the move, he will be forced to approach the Supreme Court. On KCR's assertion that Hyderabad will have adequate supply of water for next 100 years, Rajendra Singh said this can't be said based on the water pumped artificially into these lakes. "Further, the state is constitutionally obligated to protection and improvement of the natural resources under the Article 48-A of the Constitution of India too, he cannot escape from it," Singh said. A PIL was filed in the Telangana High Court last year after the state government released GO 69, lifting he GO 111 restrictions. The state government had assured the high court that the GO 111 restrictions will remain intact till a committee of bureaucrats appointed by it furnishes its report on measures that should be taken to prevent the lakes from pollution. After the latest move by the government to fully scrap the GO, environmentalists and concerned citizens termed it as content of the Supreme Court order of 2000. They claim that the government went ahead with the repeal of GO while the matter was subjudice in the Telangana High Court. They pointed out that the state government had filed an affidavit in the high court on September 6, 2022, that the GO 111 restrictions were intact. The government had stated that the report of the experts' committee on protection of twin reservoirs was awaited but without any report, removed all the restrictions, they said. They pointed out that the GO 111 ensured that the reservoirs remain unpolluted and fit for drinking till date. Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar reservoirs have been giving drinking water till today from 1921 and 1927, respectively. "Even today (May 18, 2022), 65 million gallons and 9 million gallons of water was drawn from Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar respectively." "Instead of removing the existing encroachments inside the two reservoirs and instead of stopping of sewage directly being channelled into reservoirs for the past five years, the government is ensuring further pollution by removing prohibitions of constructions as stated in GO 111," said a group of environmental activists and concerned citizens. including Lubna Sarwath, Jasveen Jairath, Prameela Kumari, Jaipal D Reddy, Sanghamitra Malik and Talha Jabeen They feel that Hyderabad should not forgo its drinking water source within its vicinity of 20 km. New Delhi, May 21 : The eight lakh-plus strong Indian diaspora in Australia wants the bilateral relationship to grow stronger and has no major expectations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to the country after eight years, says India's former consulate General to Sydney. After attending key multilateral summits as part of his three-nation tour, Modi will land in Australia on May 23 to address more than 20,000 members of the Indian community at the Qudos Bank Arena Stadium in Sydney. "There are no major expectations that the diaspora has from the visit, apart from seeing the bilateral relationship grow stronger. They feel a sense of pride at the honour bestowed on the prime minister by the Australian side," Amit Dasgupta, Consul General of India to Sydney from 2009 to 2012, told IANS. "A transformation in the relationship occurred during the Prime Minister's first visit and since then, all we have seen is a rapid growth in the bilateral relationship cutting across multiple verticals." In 2014, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Australia after Rajiv Gandhi, where he addressed 20,000 people at the Sydney SuperDome at Olympic Park and said that in coming years more Indian leaders would be visiting Down Under. "The prime minister's visit is a significant event, especially because he ensures special time in his schedule for interaction with the diaspora, and demonstrates, thereby, the importance he attaches to them," Dasgupta, the Honorary Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia, said. The visit comes at a crucial juncture when the Indian community faces the brunt of rising Khalistani extremism with their temples and establishments targeted and vandalised with anti-India graffiti. While India has time and again registered a strong protest with the Australian government asking it to take swift action and bring perpetrators to the book, the attacks have continued, most recently with vandals attacking the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple with "declare Modi terrorist" graffiti. "With the strengthening of India-Australia relations, it is time to firmly express concern that support to such persons is not in keeping with the spirit of a strategic partnership," Dasgupta said. According to a research paper by Dasgupta and Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General of CUTS International, the resident Indian community needs to find a common cause against the pro-Khalistan and anti-India groups. "Relationship building succeeds only if it is a two-way process that reflects conscious action in favour of the other party's concerns," the paper said. According to an Australia Today report, Indian community members have written a three-page long letter with 1,623 signatures about pain and suffering of Australian Hindus and want to present it to Modi. The Prime Minister's primary reason for visiting Australia was the Quad Summit, which was cancelled after US President Joe Biden pulled out at the last minute. The third in-person summit was instead held in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G-7 summit on Saturday, where its leaders opposed "destabilising or unilateral actions that sought to change the status quo by force or coercion", without naming China, which has aggressively pushed its territorial claims in the region, including against India. While other leaders cancelled their visit to Australia, Modi, as he nears the end of his second term as India's prime minister, chose to go ahead. "Naturally, it has worked out wonderfully, and the Australian government is making this a full-on Modi visit," Dasgupta told IANS. The two nations share multiple interests and concerns in the Indo-Pacific region, which makes the visit opportune, he further said. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who visited India this year, formally extended the invite to his Indian counterpart. This time, special "Modi Airways" flights have been arranged in Australia for those who will travel thousands of kilometres to hear the prime minister speak. The Parramatta Council has formally extended an invitation to Modi to visit Harris Park, informally referred to as 'Little India', this time, according to Media reports. (Meenakshi Iyer can be reached at meenakshi.i@ians.in) New Delhi, May 21 : Amid standoff with the Centre over the ordinance to 'overturn' the Supreme Court verdict on services matters, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday pulled out an old tweet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat Chief Minister asking then central government why the ordinance. Now Kejriwal has found the 2013 tweet of Modi, who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister and retweeted it asking "Why ordinance Sir". "Why ordinance Sir?," he said, attaching the old tweet of Modi. In a tweet dated July 14, 2013, Modi wrote, "Parliament is anyway meeting. Why could Centre not take Parliament in confidence and give a good bill? Why ordinance? asks Narendra Modi." PM Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister back then, had posted the tweet to hit out at the Congress that was at the Centre over an issue. The Delhi Chief Minister's remarks came after the Centre issued an ordinance to negate the Supreme Court verdict that gave Delhi government control of 'services'. The Central government has brought an ordinance to set up a permanent authority known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority whose chairperson will be Delhi chief minister along with chief secretary, Delhi; Principal Secretary (Home), Delhi to make recommendations to the Delhi L-G regarding matters concerning transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters. However, in case of difference of opinion, the decision of the L-G shall be final. On May 11, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers and the 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 ordinance came after the apex court gave the Delhi government control in services matters, including transfer and posting of officers. New Delhi, May 21 : Hours after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the central government was challenging the Supreme Court by bringing ordinance to 'overturn' its verdict on services matters, the BJP hit back saying there was no reason for so much energy to be spent on the Ordinance. In a tweet, BJP IT cell in-charge, Amit Malviya said, "There is no reason for so much energy to be spent on the Ordinance brought in by the Central Government with respect to Delhi." Targeting the AAP leader, Malviya said, "Had Arvind Kejriwal read the Supreme Court judgement, he would have known that the said Ordinance, to be later taken up as a Bill by the Parliament has its origin in the Constitution Bench (CB) Judgment itself, which in its concluding order at para 164 'C' & 'F' gives legislative competence over all matters in the concurrent and State Lists in relation to the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) and underlines that the executive power of NCTD with respect to the State and Concurrent List shall be subject to the executive power conferred upon the Union of India by a law enacted by the Parliament." Sharing the details, he said that para 164 'C' reads, "The Legislative Assembly of NCTD has competence over entries in List-II and List-III except for the expressly excluded entries of List-II. In addition to the entries in List-I, Parliament has legislative competence over all matters in List-II & List-III in relation to NCTD..." Para 164 'F' reads, "The executive power of NCTD with respect to entries in List-II and List-III shall be subject to the executive power expressly conferred upon the Union by a law enacted by the Parliament," he said. "Apart from these, the CB judgment at Para 95 expressly mentions, "However, if Parliament enacts a law granting executive power on any subject which is within the domain of NCTD, the executive power of the Lieutenant Governor shall be modified to the extent, as provided in that law. Furthermore, under Section 49 of the GNCTD Act, the Lieutenant Governor and the Council of Ministers must comply with the particular directions issued by the President on specific occasions," he said. Defending the government, the BJP leader said, "In bringing about, this Ordinance, the Union Government has exercised the rights provided to it with regards to the governance of Delhi - The Capital of India and a Union Territory, as enunciated in the Constitution of India, as also the CB Judgment of the Supreme Court." "I can understand that Arvind Kejriwal has reasons to politicise Supreme Court's order but what about journalists reporting on the matter?" he added. Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that the central government is challenging the Supreme Court by bringing ordinance to 'overturn' its verdict on services matters and also said that it is an insult to its majesty. The AAP leader also dubbed the ordinance with regard to transfers and postings of officers as "direct contempt" of Supreme Court's order and also made an appeal to the Opposition parties to ensure that the bill is not passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Central government has brought an ordinance to set up a permanent authority known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority whose chairperson will Delhi chief minister along with chief secretary, Delhi, Principal Secretary (Home), Delhi to make recommendations to the Delhi L-G regarding matters concerning transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters. However, in case of difference of opinion, the decision of the L-G shall be final. On May 11, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers and the 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 ordinance came after the apex court gave the Delhi government control in services matters, including transfer and posting of officers. Mathura, May 21 : A criminal, carrying a reward of Rs 1.25 lakh, was injured in an encounter with the police and then arrested near Ral road in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district, police said on Sunday. The name of the miscreant is Parkham Jait, a resident of Rohtas Gurjar. A reward of Rs one lakh was announced on him from Mathura and Rs 25,000 from Rajasthan. Jait is an active member of the inter-state robbery gang and wanted in several cases. A pistol .32 bore and 11 cartridges .32 bore (04 hollow and 07 live), a stolen motorcycle have been recovered from him. The injured criminal has been admitted to the hospital with a bullet injury on the leg. New Delhi, May 21 : In a case of road rage, a 30-year-old man was stabbed to death while his cousin was brutally beaten up in Outer Delhi's Mangolpuri. According to sources, the incident took place during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The police got a call about the incident at around 10.30 a.m. A senior police official said that Harish alias Pappu and his cousin, Harish Vijender were travelling by a scooty. Near R Block they lost control over the scooty which skidded off and both were thrown off the vehicle. "The accused Nitesh, Rahul, and Jatin, used foul language which led to an argument. The accused brought bottles and started hitting Harish Vijender. When Pappu tried to save him from the clutches of accused, he was stabbed by Nitesh on the backside of right thigh," said the official. The official said that both the victims were taken to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where Pappu was declared dead on arrival by the doctors. Harish Vijender was admitted with stab wounds. The police said that they lodged a case in this respect and have detained all the accused. The weapon used in the commission of crime has been recovered from their possession. Further investigation in the matter is on. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. After the leader of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) of Turkiye, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, promised to impose an embargo on Russia the number of Russian tourists, the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkiye fell to 10 percent, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavushoglu said, Trend reports citing TurkicWorld. He also said that the reason for the decline in the number of Russian tourists is that they will not be able to return to their country if the opposition wins the elections. The number of tourists who visited Turkiye in January-March 2023 increased by 26.8 percent compared to the same period last year and amounted to 8 181 566 people. Chandigarh, May 21 : The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has come out to support the protest by Olympian wrestlers at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. It said a delegation of the SGPC will meet them soon. SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami told the media that "on one hand the government talks about uplifting the girl child, while on the other the Olympian girls who brighten the country's name are struggling for justice at the doors of the central government". "This matter is related to the honour and dignity of girls, towards which the government should show seriousness and take strict action against the accused person." Dhami said the Sikh community "supports these struggling sportswomen representing its history, customs, and traditions. Soon a delegation will be sent to Delhi by SGPC to meet these players". The SGPC chief warned those who run anti-Sikh narratives and hate on social media, saying they will not be spared anymore. Dhami said, among others, a decision was also taken at the SGPC executive committee meeting that many social media platforms and accounts are continuously spreading false and hateful propaganda against Sikhs, on which governments are not cracking down. "By identifying many such accounts, the SGPC has also filed complaints to the police administration." He said now this matter will be taken up with the Government of India along with the evidence and if no action is taken then the matter will be taken to the court. Dhami also criticized the carelessness of the government on the incidents of 'beadbi' (sacrilege) and violation of 'maryada' (conduct) of Gurdwara Sahibs in Punjab. He said it is a matter of concern that the courage of those who play with religious sentiments in Punjab is constantly increasing. "The Punjab government is not taking it seriously." He said the SGPC expressed deep concern over this issue and decided to take up the matter with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. He said strict laws should be constituted against those who hurt religious sentiments and exemplary punishment should be given to them in time. He also appealed to the gurdwara management committees and 'sangat' to ensure vigilance inside the gurdwaras at all times. He said the SGPC has formed committees regarding the ongoing matters of Gurdwara Guru Dongmar Sahib, Sikkim and Gurdwara Tapasthan Guru Nanak Dev, Mechuka, Arunachal Pradesh, which will soon hold discussion with the governments concerned. He also said both these cases are related to Buddhists, so the delegation will also meet the Dalai Lama. Talking about the release of the Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners), he said the SGPC has filled about 26 lakh proformas which will soon be sent to the President of India through the Governor of Punjab. Los Angeles, May 21 : Veteran filmmaker Martin Scorsese's 'Killers of the Flower Moon' recently premiered to the biggest standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival so far. The 3 hour and 26 minute drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone - which tells the story of a dark, largely unexplored chapter of American history - is connected with theatre-goers in the French Riviera, reports Variety. Even after sitting through a movie that was longer than 'Titanic' the crowd was so enraptured that they sprang to their feet and applauded for nine minutes. Cannes clearly loves Leo and Scorsese, who returned to the festival for the first time since 1985's 'After Hours'. And that's good news for Apple Original Films, which forked over $200 million to the auteur to realise his vision, hoping he'd deliver one of his signature explorations of criminality. As per Variety, while many of Scorsese's classic movies unfold on the mean streets of New York, aKillers of the Flower Moon' is set in northeastern Oklahoma as members of the Osage Nation are murdered in a systematic fashion for sinister ends. Variety further states that Leo, De Niro and Jesse Plemons walked the red carpet alongside Scorsese before the premiere, braving the rainy and overcast weather. Cate Blanchett, who won an Oscar for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, greeted Scorsese as he took his seat to cheers. But when the movie ended, the loudest screams were directed at the discovery of the film: Gladstone, who plays an Osage woman betrayed by her greedy husband for her wealth. She earned rave reviews and fought back tears as the crowd inside the Palais clapped loudly. On social media, Oscar bloggers are already tapping her performance for possible awards attention. As the applause continued after the film ended, Scorsese took the microphone to address the crowd. "Thank you to the Osages," he said. "Everyone connected with the picture. My old pals Bob and Leo, and Jesse and Lily. We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. It's taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us. There was lots of grass. I'm a New Yorker. I was very surprised. This was an amazing experience. We lived in that world." New Delhi, May 21 : A day after 'The Zone of Interest', the Jonathan Glazer film based on the novel of the same by Martin Amis received a rapturous ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, the celebrated British writer passed on at the age of 73. Famous for his caricatures of what he perceived as the absurdities of "late capitalist" Western society, Martin Amis succumbed to oesophagal cancer at his Florida home, reports BBC, quoting 'The New York Times'. Coming from literary nobility -- his father was the famous novelist, Sir Kingsley 'Lucky Jim' Amis, and Elizabeth Jane Howard was his stepmother -- Amis was hailed by 'TheTimes' as one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945 and he's best known for his novels Money (1984) and London Fields (1989), and for his memoir, 'Experience' (2000). 'The Guardian' has called Amis "an influential author of era-defining novels" and noted that he was "among the celebrated group of novelists, including Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes, whose works defined the British literary scene in the 1980s". Paying tribute to Amis, Rushdie told the 'New Yorker': "He used to say that what he wanted to do was leave behind a shelf of books -- to be able to say, 'from here to here, it's me'. His voice is silent now. His friends will miss him terribly. But we have the shelf." Another contemporary of Amis, the Nobel laureate Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, told the BBC: "He was a standard-bearer for my generation of novelists and an inspiration to me personally. For all the bite of his satire, the brilliant swagger of his prose, there was always something tender not far from the surface, a yearning for love and connection. His work will last, surviving the various shifts of fashions and mores." Amis was born in 1949 in Oxford, says 'The Guardian', and educated at schools in Britain, Spain and the US, before going to Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated with first-class honours in English. He credited his stepmother, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, who introduced him to literature with Jane Austen at a time when all read were comic books. "She gave me a reading list and after an hour, I went and knocked on her study door and said: 'I've got to know: does Elizabeth marry Darcy?'," Amis would recall. His first novel, 'The Rachel Papers', writes 'The Guardian', was published in 1973 while he was working as an editorial assistant at the 'Times Literary Supplement'. It won the Somerset Maugham award in 1974. The darkly comic 'Dead Babies' was out the following year. He worked as the literary editor of the New Statesman between 1977 and 1979, during which time he published his third novel, 'Success'. Amis, 'The Guardian' points out, was often compared with his father, who won the Booker prize in 1986 for his novel 'The Old Devils'. Though the younger Amis never won the Booker himself, he was shortlisted for his 1991 novel 'Time's Arrow', a portrait of a Nazi war criminal told in reverse chronological order, and longlisted in 2003 for his novel 'Yellow Dog'. Bengaluru, May 21 : Senior Congress leaders in Karnataka, who are being offered the Speaker's post in the new Assembly, are unwilling to take the responsibility, sources have said, adding that a fear of jinx surrounds the post. Series of leaders who became Speakers in Karnataka have lost elections and their political careers ended. The jinx continued with the defeat of Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri, the former Speaker in the ruling BJP government. His defeat shocked the party and Kageri was distraught as the defeat had raised the question on his strengths as a strong leader. Political experts maintain that since 2004, whoever sat on the coveted post have suffered severe setbacks in their political careers. Krishna from K.R. Pet constituency, who was the Speaker in S.M. Krishna-led Congress government in 2004 lost the election in 2008. Senior Congressman Kagodu Thimmappa, who donned the role of Speaker in 2013 lost subsequent elections in 2018. K.B. Koliwad, five term member of assembly, who was speaker in 2016 lost general elections in 2018 and also lost by-polls in 2019. Rameshkumar, who was the speaker in Congress - JD(S) government in 2018, lost election in the May 10 election. Congress party is finding it difficult to convince seniors for the post. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced that veteran Congress leader R.V. Deshpande will become pro rata Speaker and new speaker would be elected in the three-day maiden session starting from Monday. Sources in Congress said that Dr. G. Parameshwara straight away rejected the offer and was made a cabinet minister. The party is contemplating to make any one from the seniors like T.B. Jayachandra, H.K. Patil, B.R. Patil and Y.N. Gopalakrishna as speaker. None of them, however, are interested, sources said. Jayachandra, who had lost his seat to BJP in 2019 bypolls, had emerged victorious this time. H.K. Patil is a prominent Lingayat leader from Gadag, and is considered for plum cabinet berth. And so is B.R. Patil from the Aland constituency. Former CM Jagadish Shettar and senior BJP leader K.G. Bopaiah, who were the speakers in the BJP government in Karnataka, lost in the recently concluded Assembly polls, thereby facing setbacks in their political careers. All the leaders, who are being offered the post, are maintaining that they would prefer to remain MLAs rather than become the Speaker, Congress sources said. Eying plum cabinet berths other than Speaker is one of the reason, but mainly it is the fear of jinx that is seeing them refuse the responsibility, sources said. Toronto, May 21 : A 44-year-old man from Punjab has been arrested for murdering a woman in Sparrow Park in Brampton - a city on the outskirts of Toronto. Nav Nishan Singh stabbed to death Davinder Kaur, 43, on Friday. According to police, its officers received a call about the stabbing at about 6 p.m. When cops reached the crime spot, the victim was found with signs of trauma. Attempts to revive her failed as she succumbed to her injuries at the scene. Singh was arrested at a short distance from the crime scene. He has been charged with first-degree murder. A city of about 7,00,000 people, Brampton is home to the biggest concentration of the Punjabi community in Canada. San Francisco, May 21 : Elon Musk apparently told a Twitter investor during a 4 a.m. call that he would pay the company's office rent "over my dead body". According to a new lawsuit filed by six former Twitter employees against Twitter, Pablo Mendoza, a venture capitalist who invested in Twitter 2.0, had a chat with Musk in the wee hours, reports Business Insider. Musk bluntly told Mendoza that not paying rent was non-negotiable with 'over his dead body' remark. The lawsuit said that Joseph Killian, a plaintiff who worked at Twitter for 12 years and oversaw office design, was aware that Musk decided to stop paying office rent. "Killian attempted to convince Musk, via Mendoza, of the danger of Musk's new position that no rent would be paid whatsoever, pointing out that any attempt to renegotiate the terms of Twitter's many leases would be doomed to failure," the lawsuit alleged. "Elon told me he would only pay rent over his dead body," Mendoza responded during the conversation that took place at 4 a.m, according to the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Musk's attorney Alex Spiro "loudly opined" it was unreasonable for Twitter's landlords to expect it to pay rent because San Francisco was a "shithole." Twitter's landlord in San Francisco had sued the micro-blogging platform over not paying rent. Meanwhile, San Francisco officials are opening an investigation into Twitter following a lawsuit from former employees who claimed that Elon Musk's transition team deliberately planned to breach contracts and not pay promised severance, among other things. The lawsuit from six employees alleged that Musk's team "knowingly broke local and federal laws," reports San Francisco Chronicle. They are seeking severance and punitive damages for "flagrant bad faith". Kolkata, May 21 : Despite several laws having been promulgated in the country to protect the rights of women, often they are unable to reach out and take benefit of that, claimed Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court. Justice Gangopadhyay was speaking at a seminar on the great Indian social reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, whose 251st birth anniversary will be celebrated on Monday. As an example Justice Gangopadhyay, who had been recently in the national headlines because of his verdict in the school recruitment case in West Bengal, referred to the law regarding maternity leave to substantiate his argument. "There is a specific law on this count. But in many cases women, especially coming from the financially backward sections, do not get benefit out of it. The reason is poverty and lack of awareness. This discrimination continues among the financially backward sections," Justice Gangopadhyay said. On this matter, he also reminded that it took as long as 11 years to introduce the law on maternity leave since the discussions to introduce the same started in 1950. Justice Gangopadhyay also referred to the delayed introduction of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, commonly known as the PoSH Act. "Even verbal abuse or attacking a woman on personal matters is equivalent to harassment. A woman facing such things has the right to approach the law enforcement authorities concerned. But unfortunately many in our country are not aware of the concept of women's dignity. The implementation of law as regards to mental harassment against women is much more in Europe and USA," Justice Gangopadhyay said. As regards to PoSH Act, his observation was that while women subordinates at offices often hesitate to report cases of sexual harassment, there are also incidents that some women misuse the provisions of that Act. Mexico City, May 21 : At least ten people were killed and nine others injured in an armed attack targeting a group of amateur rally drivers in a car race in the Mexican state of Baja California, local media reported. A group of armed individuals got out of a vehicle and opened fire at the car race participants who were parked on the side of a highway in Ensenada, Baja California on Saturday, said the Milenio newspaper citing local authorities. The attack "left nine wounded and 10 people dead," Xinhua news agency reported quoting Ensenada authorities. The authorities are now conducting an investigation. New Delhi, May 21 : The UK Conservative Party is facing calls this weekend to freeze the money donated by Indian rice tycoon Karan Chanana, pending an inquiry, a media report said. The allegations come as the UK government faces mounting pressure to tighten up rules on foreign donations and improve diligence checks. Chanana has reportedly given more than 2,20,000 pounds to the party. Chanana, head of the global rice brand Amira, is being investigated in India over claims that tens of millions of pounds of bank loans were unlawfully diverted into shell entities. Chanana has not responded to the claims, The Guardian reported. Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and chair of the all-party group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, said the Conservative party should now establish the source of the funds donated by Amira and freeze the money until the inquiries are completed, The Guardian reported. The enforcement directorate in India, which is part of the country's finance ministry, said it conducted search operations on May 2 at 21 locations in India connected to Chanana, the Indian company Amira Pure Foods and other parties. Nearly 100,000 pounds in Indian currency was seized in the searches, which were conducted under India's Prevention of Money Laundering Act, said the directorate. No charges have been filed to date, The Guardian reported. In a statement, the enforcement directorate said: "Investigations revealed that the accused entities in connivance with each other as well as other related/unrelated entities have illegally diverted loan funds sanctioned by the consortium of banks by way of transferring loan funds into the accounts of various shell entities under the guise of genuine business transactions. "It was also known that Karan Chanana had donated to a political party of [the] United Kingdom since 2019 .... while the accused entity had itself defaulted on repayment loans." Chanana, its chairman and chief executive, operated the business from its headquarters in the 35-storey Gold Tower in Dubai, while its official company registration was in the British Virgin Islands. Its subsidiaries included Amira Pure Foods in India, now under investigation, and Amira G Foods in the UK, according to corporate filings. Amira G Foods, controlled by Chanana, donated 222,104 Pounds to the Conservative party between September 2019 and December 2021. The latest accounts for the UK company show net liabilities of 5.96 million pounds, with its parent company in the British Virgin Islands providing financial support, The Guardian reported. Amira Nature Foods was delisted from the New York stock exchange in August 2020 after it missed deadlines for filing financial information, The Guardian reported. A consortium of banks, headed by India's Canara Bank, filed an information report with India's Central Bureau of Investigation in November 2020 alleging bank fraud. It accused New Delhi-based Amira Pure Foods, Chanana and his fellow directors of "wrongfully and dishonestly" transferring loans into "paper companies" between 2009 and 2018, causing wrongful bank losses of more than 116 million pounds. Amira Pure Foods in India is now under liquidation, The Guardian reported. The enforcement directorate said it initiated its investigation based on the information report filed by the banks. New Delhi, May 21 : It has been more than a year of its acquisition from the Centre and Air India not only took major steps in terms of turnaround and transformation, but also ran into major controversies on issues ranging from pilots' discontent to inept handling of certain sensitive matters. Despite one year of transition, troubles seem not to have ended for the airline, which is now under Tata management. However, the pilots under its two unions -- the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG)-- have recently accepted the revised compensation structure but this came after a long standoff between the unions and airline management. On April 19, the ICPA and IPG of Air India had rejected the new pay structure proposed by the airline. The primary bone of contention is the reduction in the flying allowance from 70 hours to 40 hours every month under the new structure, which the pilots believe is unfair. The two unions have warned of possible "industrial unrest" if the management goes ahead with the new terms without their consent. While Air India has stated that it will "continue to engage with the remainder of its staff," the airline has taken a tough stance on the issue, saying that there are "no recognised unions in Air India." This is the first wage revision offered by the Tata group-owned Air India since its takeover last year, and it will affect all 3,000 pilots across its four airlines - Air India, Air India Express, Air Asia India, and Vistara. The source revealed that during the town hall meeting held on May 4, approximately 800 pilots who had not yet agreed to the new compensation structure were in attendance. The meeting was presided over by Air India's Chief of Operations, Captain Rajwinder Singh Sandhu, who is also a pilot. In response to requests from the pilots, who had previously declined the revised compensation structure, the airline has granted an extension until the end of May to sign the new contracts. According to a source, a significant number of pilots remained resolute in their stance of not signing the new contracts. Recognising the ongoing deliberations and concerns raised by the pilots, the airline had decided to extend the deadline for pilots to reach a decision regarding the new contracts. The extended deadline now allows pilots until the end of this month to make their choice, whereas the original deadline for accepting the revised compensation structure was set for April 30. To address the new service terms and chart the path forward, the unions held a joint virtual meeting, bringing together their respective members. "The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the revised compensation structure in detail and determine the future course of action," said the sources. However, the Tata management courted its first set of controversies with the appointment of Ilker Ayci, a former Chairman of Turkish Airlines, as the CEO and MD of the airline in February, 2022. The appointment raised eyebrows with RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch expressing its reservations about the Tata Group appointing former Turkish Airlines chairman as Air India's Managing Director and CEO. Amid controversies, the appointment of Ilker Ayci could not last as he turned down the job. Thereafter, Air India senior management faced discontent from senior pilots who protested on several issues ranging from ignoring the Indian pilots and hiring the foreign counterparts on hefty pay packages to alleged change in conditions of service of its member pilots. The IPCSA issued many notices demanding that the Air India management comply with the statutory mandate of the Industrial Disputes (ID) Act, including Section 9A, in letter and in spirit; and not undertake any change in the conditions of service of pilots without following the applicable provisions of the ID Act. The pilots' body also demanded to be involved as representatives of the pilots, in deliberations regarding any change in conditions of service before any precipitative steps are taken. It had said that it was important for the morale of the pilots and for maintenance of trust between the pilots and the management of Air India Ltd., especially given the transition to the new management, that pilots be consulted and taken into confidence before any condition of their service is changed, especially when such change may ultimately prove to be to their detriment. Thereafter, the peeing incident on November 26, 2022 in the Air India New York-Delhi flight and mishandling of the issues emerging thereafter brought embarrassment to Tata so much so that the Air India CEO and Tata sons chairman had to issue statements. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons and Air India on January 8 said that the airline's response to the incident on its New York-Delhi flight on November 26 should have been "much swifter". Aviation regulator DGCA on January 20 imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India and suspended the license of the pilot-in-command for three months in the Air India peeing case which occurred on November 26, 2022. Moreover, the regulator also imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on the Director-in-flight services of Air India for failing to discharge duties. In another case, the DGCA imposed a Financial Penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Air India for not reporting the incidents which occurred on AI-142 Paris-New Delhi flight on December 6, 2022. Two incidents had occurred in the flight. While one passenger was caught smoking in the lavatory, was drunk and not adhering to the crew instructions; another allegedly relieved himself on a vacant seat and blanket of a fellow female passenger when she went to the lavatory. South Africa: Minister Pandor to attend launch of ninth Pan-African Congress Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Dr Naledi Pandor, has arrived in Lome, Togo for the launch of the ninth Pan-African Congress that is expected to be held on Monday. The department said Pandor will attend the session following the invitation of Togos Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and Togolese Abroad, Professor Robert Dussey. The ninth Pan-African Congress Launch Ceremony comes after the African Union Assembly adopted in February 2023, a decision to endorse the Progress Report on activities and prospects for the establishment of the High Committee in charge of the Agenda for the Decade of African Roots and Diaspora. South Africa played a key role in getting the Diaspora process on the agenda of the African Union. South Africa sponsored a decision, which was adopted by the first Extra-ordinary Summit of the Assembly of Heads of States and Government held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to amend the Constitutive Act to invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our continent, in the building of the African Union. South African support of the African Diaspora agenda has, in recent times, seen several developments, most notably the African Unions Declaration of 2021-2031 as the Decade of the African Roots and Diasporas and The Africa and African Diaspora (AAD) Virtual Conference, held on 23-29 October 2021, in South Africa, said the department in a statement on Sunday. Minister Pandor will also use the visit to hold bilateral meetings with Dussey and other Ministers in a bid to deepen already existing good diplomatic relations between the two African nations established more than 25 years ago. Togo is hoping to benefit from South African expertise in areas such as industry, agro-processing, energy and the port and airport sector. Asky, the Togolese airline, is now flying between South Africa and Togo. Bilateral trade between South Africa and Togo total totalled USD $67 398 000 in 2021. Bilateral trade is in favour of Togo. South African exports to Togo totalled USD $24 829 000 in 2021. South African imports from Togo totalled USD $42 569 000 in 2021 (trade map, 2023). South African imports are in the main, mineral fuels from Togo. Togos investment attractiveness in terms of foreign direct investment flows (FDI) is positive. Total FDI inflows increased from USD $46.31 million in 2016 to USD $129.89 million in 2021 (Investment map; 2023), the department said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2023-05-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Daikin Middle East and Africa, a leading manufacturer of air-conditioning, heating, ventilation and refrigeration solutions, has called on its partners to join forces to decarbonise cooling in the UAE. At a seminar hosted by Daikin titled "Towards a Sustainable Future", the company showcased its latest innovative solutions for energy efficiency and IAQ, highlighting the urgent need to collaborate and act. The seminar was led by Masaaki Miyatake, Chairman and President at Daikin Middle East & Africa, and Samer Alawiah, Managing Director at Daikin UAE. The event saw the attendance of over 300 partners and customers of Daikin, who had the opportunity to learn more about Daikin's solutions and discuss how they can implement sustainable HVAC-R systems. The event was also an opportunity to discuss the UAE's sustainability goals and how companies can contribute to building a sustainable future. Fully committed As we approach COP28 and mark the UAE's Year of Sustainability, companies and individuals need to collaborate and contribute equally to the government efforts of decarbonisation. We at Daikin being the leading provider of HVAC-R solutions are fully committed to accelerating the transition towards sustainable cooling in the UAE, said Alawiah. With the cooling systems in the UAE accounting for 60-65% of a buildings total energy consumption, building owners and operators must explore how they can reduce their carbon footprint, but it is also the responsibility of every household member to manage energy efficiently. According to the World Bank, between 1990 and 2016, the amount of energy used to cool spaces in the Middle East increased five-fold, from 25 terawatt-hours to 125 TWh. These figures underscore the need for innovative solutions to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability. Savings on energy With the reduction in HVAC energy consumption by 20-25%, customers can save 13-18% of their total energy bills. Daikin's hassle-free solutions include ESCO models for total HVAC-R system replacement, subscription models for Cooling-as-a-Service, and bespoke models for industrial, commercial, and transport refrigeration. These solutions are designed to suit each customer's specific needs and come with energy audits, comprehensive maintenance contracts, and remote monitoring solutions as standard, with optional system operations, automation/controls, turnkey solutions, and Daikin-on-Site connectivity (DOS). They are also transparent, with low or no CapEx. We at Daikin understand the investment that goes into implementing sustainable HVAC-R system design practices hence we make our solutions energy efficient to save on your electricity bills, but initial financing is crucial too. To close the financing gap, we have introduced partners for hassle-free financing, a crucial step to influence and support the decision of adopting sustainable cooling solutions serving the goal to decarbonise cooling, Alawiah added. In conclusion, Daikins commitment to sustainability and innovative solutions for energy efficiency and IAQ is crucial in the fight against climate change.-- TradeArabia News Service Russian forces launched overnight air attacks on Kyiv, military officials in the Ukrainian capital said Friday, adding that all the missiles were intercepted and destroyed. Hiroshima : Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bilateral meeting with the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News Hiroshima : Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bilateral meeting with the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo: IANS/PIB) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, May 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva in Japan's Hiroshima and discussed the bilateral strategic partnership, especially in sectors of defence production, trade and renewable energy. Modi and Lula met on the sidelines of the summit of the G7 advanced economies in Hiroshima. "The talks with President Lula were productive and wide-ranging. India and Brazil will keep working together to deepen trade ties. We also discussed diversifying cooperation in sectors like agriculture, defence and more," Prime Minister Modi tweeted. In a tweet, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "Cementing bonds of friendship. PM Narendra Modi met President Lula of Brazil in Hiroshima. Discussed ways to further deepen the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership, especially in sectors of defence production, trade, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, dairy and animal husbandry and renewable energy." In a statement, MEA said that this was the first meeting between the two leaders. During the meeting, the two leaders noted that this year marked the 75th anniversary year of establishment of diplomatic relations. "They reviewed their strategic partnership, and discussed ways to further deepen it, especially in sectors of defence production, trade, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, dairy and animal husbandry and bio-fuels and clean energy. Both leaders emphasized the need to organise a high-level meeting of business leaders from both countries," the statement read. The MEA said that the leaders exchanged views on regional developments. "They emphasised the importance of continued cooperation in multilateral platforms, and the long-standing need of reform of multilateral institutions," it said. "Prime Minister looked forward to welcoming President Lula in India for the G-20 Summit in September this year," it added. In one way, this author exemplifies how literary ability can transcend national or linguistic landscapes, and in the other, provides another example of the pervasive power of English, following the footsteps of other exophonic writers in the language like Joseph Conrad, Karen Blixen aka Isak Dinesen, and Vladimir Nabokov, among others. But unlike them, Japanese-born British writer Kazuo Ishiguro went on to become a Nobel Literature laureate (2017). There are others who won the Nobel for writing in English despite it not being their mother tongue - Rabindranath Tagore and Wole Soyinka being most prominent - but the British Empire had ensured that they were willy-nilly exposed to it. Ishiguro's case is different as most of his evocative works deal with situations and settings from far beyond his new - as well as old - homelands and times. Memory - and its failings, deception (usually of self), and a sense of duty (as understood) are the main motifs of Ishiguro's small corpus - spanning reminiscences of the high life in the turbulent 1930s through the eyes of an English country house butler in 'The Remains of the Day' (1989), the question of personal guilt a painter-turned-propagandist confronts in post-war Japan in 'Artist of the Floating World' (1986), a "personal" detective story set in colonial-era and communist-era Shanghai in 'When We Were Orphans' (2000), and other works set in Europe, Arthurian Britain or in a dystopian future. "More fundamentally, I'm interested in memory because it's a filter through which we see our lives, and because it's foggy and obscure, the opportunities for self-deception are there. In the end, as a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened," Ishiguro had said in a 2000 interview. This may explain why the narration in all but one of his seven books is in first person, and the earlier works usually deal with the past of the protagonists. Multiple layers - including some discomforting ones that are subsequently revealed as the story advances, and the lack of definitive endings, as protagonists gradually exhibit their failings but without acknowledging that they're even aware of them, and thus, end up resigned to fully comprehend or change their lot in life - are some other features of his work. It is possibly this sentiment of a gradual alienation that the Swedish Academy cited as it lauded Ishiguro for having "uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world" in his "novels of great emotional force." However, some readers, though impressed, are overwhelmed. According to an ex-colleague, his works were a "mindf**k", while author Kiran Manral said that what marks him out is the focus on "the individual placed at the centre around which the universe and its chaos unfolds."Born in Nagasaki in 1954, Ishiguro grew up in the UK where his family moved in 1959 when his father, a physical oceanographer, was invited for a project. While the family planned a return to Japan almost every or the next year, that never happened and they stayed on - in fact, he only went back to Japan in 1988. Ishiguro's first work, 'A Pale View of the Hills' (1982), came out a year before he became a British citizen. The first of his two books with Japanese themes, it deals with a transplanted Japanese woman discussing the suicide of her eldest daughter with her younger child in England where she is living. "Artist...", his second book, is set in an unnamed town in post-World War II Japan where the narrator is forced to come to terms with his part in the war as he gets blamed by the new generation for acquiescing in a jingoistic but ultimately ruinous nationalistic policy. Ishiguro did state that the Japanese settings of his first two novels were imaginary, based on his mental idea of the land of his birth. The Booker-winning 'Remains...', about the dignified butler pondering over his past and wondering about his future after a life completely devoted to the service of another person, remains Ishiguro's best known - perhaps after its 1993 film adaptation. It is a tour de force, as it perfectly evokes the most essential element of interbellum England - the country house of the landed gentry and its staff. While in some respects, it verges on Wodehousian: "What do you think dignity's all about?" The directness of the inquiry did, I admit, take me rather by surprise. 'It's rather a hard thing to explain in a few words, sir,' I said. 'But I suspect it comes down to not removing one's clothing in public," there is a rather sombre reflection on life, duty, and relationships. "But what is the sense in forever speculating what might have happened had such and such a moment turned out differently?" or "What can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?" are questions that its protagonist raises, and then goes on to answer. For the first query, he concludes: "In any case, while it is all very well to talk of 'turning points', one can surely only recognise such moments in retrospect," and in the second, "Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment." A personal favourite would be the surreal dreamlike - and much (initially) panned by baffled critics and readers - 'The Unconsoled' (1995). This tells the story of concert pianist Ryder's visit to an unnamed Central European city for a performance, where he finds himself besieged at all hours of the day and night by people he has no recollection of, accosting him with a raft of appointments and promises he has no memory of or can possibly fulfill in his brief stay. 'When We Were Orphans' (2000) was not very well received and even Ishiguro admitted it was not one of his best, followed by the darkly dystopian 'Never Let Me Go' (2005) which memorably combines the British boarding school tale tradition with the commoditisation of the human body. 'The Buried Giant' (2015) then literally broke new ground in substance and style, as well as its setting - a fantasy, post-Arthurian Britain, and the post-Nobel 'Klara and the Sun' (2021) came as a rather bleak look at mortality, science - and its ethics, and the environment in the near future. What next? Ishiguro may still surprise us. (Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in) New Delhi: Congress leader Sachin Pilot pays tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, in New Delhi on Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Congress leader Sachin Pilot pays tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, in New Delhi on Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi pay tributes to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, in New Delhi on Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, May 21 : Congress leaders on Sunday paid tributes to former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi on his 32nd death anniversary, recalling his contributions to the country. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at Veer Bhoomi here, took to Twitter and wrote, "Rajiv Gandhi was a great son of India. Through multiple interventions such as lowering of voting age, strengthening Panchayati Raj, Telecom and IT revolution, and sustained peace accords - he transformed India, propelling it in 21st century. Our humble homage on his martyrdom day." Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "One of the last major accomplishments of Rajiv Gandhi before his assassination on this day, 32 years ago, was the finalisation of the Congress party's manifesto for the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. He spent many hours on it. In July 1991, when Dr. Manmohan Singh as FM was criticised for ushering in economic reforms, he would quote frequently from this manifesto, which in many ways bore Rajiv Gandhi's personal imprint." "His contributions for taking India into the IT age were also distinctive contributions. He wooed GE and Texas Instruments to kickstart software exports. As also his battle for giving Constitutional status to panchayats and nagarpalikas - a truly transformational move," Ramesh added. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is the daughter of Rajiv Gandhi, also paid floral tributes at the Veer Bhoomi here. She tweeted the lines of 'Iss Paar, Uss Paar' poem by noted author Haribansh Rai Bachchan to remember her father. She also attached the picture of her father along with Sonia Gandhi. Earlier in the day, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party leader Rahul Gandhi paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at Veer Bhoomi here. Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944, and he represented Uttar Pradesh's Amethi parliamentary constituency four times. A recipient of Bharat Ratna, Rajiv Gandhi served as the sixth Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. He was cremated at Veer Bhumi, located on the banks of the river Yamuna. His death anniversary is observed as National Anti-Terrorism Day. He was the youngest Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. Bengaluru, May 21 : In a shocking revelation, a man accused of his father's murder has told Karnataka police that he got latter killed as he was healthy and could have lived for 20 more years, due to which the former could have enjoyed the property only when he gets old. The charge sheet in the murder case revealed that accused son got the victim killed as he was healthy. Landlord Narayana Swamy was killed on February 13 in Marathahalli in Bengaluru. The police investigations revealed the involvement of his son Manikantha and he was arrested. Manikantha was the only son and when police asked him what was the need to get his father killed, when he could have inherited the property all by himself, the accused said his father Narayana Swamy was fit, and what he will do with the property when he would lose his youth. Manikantha was jailed in connection with murder of his first wife. In jail, he got in touch with notorious Naduvatti Shivu gang. When he discussed his plans to get his father killed, Shivu gang members asked him to carry out the murder and told him that they would confess for the crime. Likewise, Manikantha hired 'supari' (contractual) killer Chitti Babu to kill his father. As per the plans, Naduvatti Shivu gang members surrendered to police. But, the police rounded up Babu and his associate based on clues from crime scene. The associate of Babu confessed to the crime, exposing the conspiracy and involvement of Manikantha. Manikantha also told police that his father did not give him money for expenditures and looked down upon him. Thiruvananthapuram, May 21 : Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran slammed the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) for its stand on the killing of farmers by wild gaurs, The minister while speaking to media persons at Kozhikode said there were attempts on the part of some organisations to fan the flames of anger against the government. He said the statement of the Bishop's council that farmers should be protected from attack of wild animals just like the state government was protecting wild animals, was a bit provocative. He said the Bishop's body was trying to bargain with the dead. Saseendran also said that the Bishop's body was aggressive and the government has to make efforts to pacify the agitating protesters. He also said that the KCBC should avoid provocative statements that are against its rich heritage. Responding to the minister, the KCBC deputy secretary general and spokesperson, Father Jacob G. Palakkyapilly told media persons that the people have the right to live peacefully and added that expressing people's concern should not be considered as provocation. He also said that a person, who was reading a newspaper in his verandah, was killed by a wild gaur and added that the people of the state can share the concern only with the government. The people of Erumeli are mounting their protests after two elderly persons, Chackochan (70) and Thomas (71) were killed in the gaur attacks. The people are angry at the statement of the forest department that it would tranquilize the gaur and relocate it to deep forests while the people wanted the animal to be shot dead. The Kottayam district collector, Girija had promised the public that the wild gaur would be shot dead. The protest of the local people has turned into a mass protest with several organisations lending their support to it. Mumbai, May 21 : Actress Aahana Kumra, who is known for films like 'Lipstick Under My Burkha', 'Inside Edge' and 'Rangbaaz', recently lost her cool at a fan breached her personal space and touched her while she was posing for the paparazzi. A video, shared by a paparazzi account, revealed how a fan touched her around her waist at an event in Mumbai. In the video one of her fans can be seen putting his hand around her waist. The actress was taken aback. She turned towards him and told him: "Don't touch me!" The video has gone viral since then with several netizens coming out in support of the actress against the fan's behaviour. Aahana's fans were also angry at the man. Most of them wrote in the comment box that the actor was right. One of them commented: "She is right. Self-respect is very important." Another one wrote: "This is bang on !! She is absolutely correct. Guys/fans need to understand that they can't put their unsolicited hands behind anyone's back while taking a picture. Not cool." "The second man also touched her, if a girl says no it means no !!!!!!!" another fan commented. Meanwhile, on the work front, Aahana will next be seen in Faisal Hashmi's 'Cancer' opposite Sharib Hashmi. She was last seen in 'Salaam Venky' which also stars Kajol and Vishal Jethwa. Varanasi : , May 21 (IANS) All the remaining villages of Uttar Pradesh will be covered with 4G network within a year. According to the government spokesman, the Union Minister of State for Telecom Devusinh Chauhan gave this information during his visit to Varanasi on Saturday. Chauhan along with Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel, launched installation of mobile towers equipped with 4G network at an event. The Union Cabinet had approved a project for saturation of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country at a total cost of Rs 26,316 crore in July 2022. Chauhan said the 4G saturation project is an ambitious scheme envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create digital connectivity facility for the residents of far-flung areas and thereby bridge the digital divide in 500 days. "This scheme will not only be helpful in including the citizens living in far-flung areas in the mainstream and improving their standard of living, it will also be effective in delivering e-governance, medical and educational facilities and other citizen-centric schemes directly to the beneficiary," the minister said. He further said the locals will get direct and indirect benefits from installation of the mobile towers and the area will also get developed. Chauhan said that 65 remote villages of Varanasi district and adjoining Chandauli, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Sonbhadra, Varanasi districts under the Varanasi Business Area will be provided 4G services through 49 new towers and by upgrading seven existing towers. Bhubaneswar, May 21 : Brown sugar weighing 1 kg 107 grams worth more than Rs 1 crore was seized in Odisha's capital city Bhubaneswar, police said on Sunday. On the basis of an intelligence input, a team of special task force (STF) of Odisha crime branch conducted a raid near Unit-8 area of Bhubaneswar on Saturday and seized the narcotic drugs from the possession of a drug peddler, the police said. The arrested person is identified as Chittaranjan Sahoo, a resident of Dhenkanal district. The accused person was produced to the court of district & sessions judge. The STF has registered a case under sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, they said. Since 2020, the task force has seized more than 69 kg of brown sugar/heroin, 202 grams of cocaine, 113 quintals ganja, 750 grams opium, and arrested 168 drug peddlers. Chennai, May 21 : A delegation of Tamil Nadu BJP leaders led by the party's state president K. Annamalai on Sunday met state Governor R. N. Ravi and gave a representation to him to remove the state Prohibition and Excise minister, Senthil Balaji from the cabinet. Annamalai claimed that since May 2021, when the Stalin government assumed office, there has been a regular increase in drug and alcohol related cases. Annamalai said that the state government in a recent policy note had claimed that there were no hooch tragedies in the state since the past 14 years. However, the recent deaths of 22 people in the twin hooch tragedies at Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts were a testament to the government's failure to prevent the sale of illicit liquor in the state. The BJP leader claimed that the man arrested in Chengalpattu for selling spurious liquor was the brother of DMK leader, Maravoor Raja. He said that this DMK leader always appeared along side DMK minority affairs minister, Gingee Mastan. The BJP state president said that the DMK government has "misplaced" priorities and cannot continue leveraging compensation as a methodology to cover its failures. He also demanded removal of state Minority Affairs Minister Gingee Mastan for failing to discharge his duties. Annamalai also alleged that Balaji had been involved in a major job-for-cash scam and that the Tamil Nadu police were investigating the case against him. The BJP leader said that he fear that the minister would misuse his official position to dilute the course of the investigation. Srinagar, May 21 : Remembering his father Abdul Gani Lone on his 21st death anniversary on Sunday, J&K Peoples Conference President Sajad Lone said that he was killed for saying what he believed in. "Remembering my father Abdul Gani Lone, killed for saying what he believed in. Two decades have passed. Those moments of helplessness in the face of brute violence persist even today. They are a grim reminder of bestiality and savagery where you violently silence a person because you don't agree with his views. "Targeted killings take place even today. They are as futile as the killings of the past. It is a fervent hope that Kashmir exits the vicious cycle of violence," he said. Lone said that regrettably, despite the passage of time, not a single person has been apprehended for the murder of Late Lone, and he is not alone in this regard. "Till date not a single person has been apprehended for the murder of Lone sahib. And he is not alone. "There are probably thousands of files of fellow Kashmiris where no one was ever apprehended," he added. Abdul Ghani Lone was shot dead on May 21, 2002 as he was attending a memorial service for Mirwaiz Moulvi Farooq in Srinagar. Lone was the founder of the Peoples Conference. A Palestinian man was shot and killed on Friday in the occupied West Bank, amidst growing condemnation of Israeli demolitions and settler violence in the occupied territories. New Delhi, May 21 : The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police on Sunday said four persons have been arrested for duping people on the pretext of sending them abroad. The police have found that Mexico and El Salvador-based agents were also working for the gang, and seized 80 passports. The gang charged Rs six lakh for Schengen Visa, (valid in 27 countries). For illegal entry in the US through the Mexico border, they used to charge around Rs 27 Lakh per person. The police have recovered 80 passports of various countries and forged documents from their possession. The accused were identified as Girish Bhandari (48), Himanshu Mehta (23), Gagan Sharma (22) and Ramesh Arya (38). The police said that they had been working on the gang for a long time. Bhandari is believed to be the mastermind of the gang. "We conducted a raid in Tilak Nagar, Delhi and apprehended the four accused. We learnt that the accused persons were running the crime syndicate in the garb of Tour & Travel Business. The accused have agents in NCR," the official said. The police said that the interrogation of the accused has revealed that they have been operating the illegal racket for the past 10 to 12 years. The Police said that the network was spread in several states, including Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat. The members of the racket were using highly encrypted applications for communications and to facilitate their illegal business. Moscow, May 21 : Islamic countries do not support the West's sanctions on Russia, and the agreements signed at this week's Kazan economic forum prove this, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said, local media reported. Bringing together delegations from Russia and the countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the 'Russia-Islamic World' forum in the city of Kazan resulted in hundreds of meetings and more than 100 trade agreements being signed, Khusnullin said, RT reported. "The forum has become a place where political and economic interests have gathered, because the countries of the Muslim world support us," he stated. "None of the countries of the Muslim world support sanctions against us," RT reported. While a handful of Arab nations - most notably Saudi Arabia and Egypt - formally condemned Russia over its military operation in Ukraine, no Islamic nation has followed the West's lead and imposed economic sanctions on Moscow. Trade between the Islamic world and Russia has continued largely unimpeded, and Khusnullin revealed that more deals are in the works, including bilateral agreements on agricultural products and Halal food, crude oil processing, and banking. Increased trade will be facilitated by the construction of the International North South Transport Corridor, a 7,200-km span of ship, rail, and road routes for moving cargo between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe, RT reported. Moving freight from Russia to India is quicker and cheaper than via the traditional Suez Canal route, while eliminating the risk posed by EU sanctions, RT reported. Los Angeles, May 21 : Hollywood star Alec Baldwin has been accused of losing his temper and "yelling" at a waitress as he attended a star-studded gala in New York. The 65-year-old actor allegedly "scolded" a young waitress at the 2023 PEN America Spring Literary Gala as she served guests their dinner, reports Mirror.co.uk. The staff member is said to have been left "shocked" following the alleged incident. Alec attended the glitzy event with his wife Hilaria Baldwin and while they posed up a storm together on the red carpet, it's said she wasn't there to witness him "yelling". As per Mirror.co.uk, a source claims that the waitress, said to be in her late 20s or early 30s, was stuck behind Alec as he stood to chat with a fellow attendee. The source said: "Then, when she could pass, she started putting plates on the table. I guess he didn't like that she did that with him standing there." After the incident, the server is said to have been "visibly upset", with a source telling Page Six that that she was overhead telling someone: "I don't know why he yelled at me." The source suggested: "I'm guessing he felt it was rude of her to start putting plates down while he was standing there." New Delhi, May 21 : Just two days after the Centre brought an ordinance to negate the Supreme Court's judgement placing 'services' under the control of the state government in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has extended support to the AAP in fight against "injustice". Kejriwal made the remarks after the Bihar Chief Minister along with his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav met him at his residence here. The two Bihar leaders were also accompanied by Janata Dal(U) president Lallan Singh and RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha. Talking to mediapersons, Kejriwal said: "I thank Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav for coming to us. The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had given all the powers to the Delhi government by 5-0, which after eight days the Centre overturned by bringing an ordinance, and gave all the power to Lt Governor. It is against the Constitution." Kejriwal said, "Today when Nitish Kumar ji came, we had a detailed discussion and he said we are in your support. Nitish Kumar Ji said that he is standing with the people of Delhi and will fight together against the Centre in this injustice." The AAP leader also said that as Kumar is trying to bring all the opposition parties together and if all the opposition comes together in Rajya Sabha, then it will be a big victory. "If the Centre brings this ordinance in the form of a bill and all non-BJP parties come together, then this bill can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha. If this happens then it will be semi-final and in 2024 a clear message will go that the BJP government is leaving," he added. Kejriwal also said that he will go to meet the presidents of all opposition parties with this formal request. "The day after tomorrow there is a meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata," the Delhi Chief Minister added. The Central government has brought an ordinance to set up a permanent authority known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority whose chairperson will Delhi chief minister along with chief secretary, Delhi, Principal Secretary (Home), Delhi to make recommendations to the Delhi LG regarding matters concerning transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters. However, in case of difference of opinion, the decision of the LG shall be final. On May 11, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers and the LG 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 ordinance came after the apex court gave the Delhi government control in services matters, including transfer and posting of officers. Lucknow, May 21 : In the just-concluded local body elections in Uttar Pradesh, there has been a lot of fragmentation of Muslim votes. The Samajwadi Party may face difficulties in upcoming Lok Sabha elections if Muslim votes get divided, as it was the Muslim votes because of which, the SP did well in the 2022 assembly elections. Political experts said: "This time the Muslim votes got divided among parties in the local body elections. Changing the previous election trends of uniting behind a single party against the BJP, Muslims have voted for the people of their choice this time." "UP's Muslims have voted for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and SP on some seats. However, they ignored the Muslim candidates of BSP and SP on some seats and voted for Congress, Independents, Aam Aadmi Party, and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)." According to experts, division of votes among Muslim voters in Moradabad -- the strongest bastion of SP -- left the SP at the fourth position in mayoral contest. Congress candidate Mohd Rizwan stood at second position, BSP nominee Mohd Yameen remained at third place, while BJP candidate won the seat. "In Shahjahanpur, the Muslims votes were divided between Congress and SP. Even in Bareilly, the Muslims were not inclined towards any one party," the experts said. According to election statistics, this time the BJP has won the seats with majority of Muslim voters. Muslims have shown their faith in the state government. The BJP fielded 395 Muslim candidates in the just-concluded local body elections in UP and more than 70 of them won, according to party leaders. Political analyst Prasun Pandey said: "One thing that was seen in the civic elections is that the percentage of votes in some Muslim areas has been low. Apart from this, the division of the Muslim vote became the reason for the defeat of the opposition." Another analyst Amod Kant said that the fragmentation of Muslim voters in UP has become a major reason for the defeat of the opposition. Like the 2022 assembly elections, the Muslim votes did not come in favour of the SP. "By voting for BSP, Congress and AIMIM in the local body elections, Muslims have given this message that now Muslim voters are not going to remain tied to a party. They will vote wherever they see a better option," he said. In such a situation, before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP will have to chalk out a new strategy to secure its traditional vote-bank along with adding new vote-banks. Rehan Akhtar, assistant professor of Indian Religious Culture of Aligarh Muslim University, said the way electors have voted is a clear indication that SP should take up the cause and issue of Muslims. Kabul, May 21 : Two pilots died after a military helicopter of the Afghan Air Force crashed in Afghanistan's northern Samangan province on Sunday, Afghan Defence Ministry has confirmed. "An MD-530 model chopper of the Air Force was on patrol mission when it struck a power transmission line in Khalm district of Samangan province at 09:00 a.m. local time today and crashed and resultantly two pilots were martyred," the Defence Ministry said in a statement posted on its Twitter account. In addition to launching an investigation into the accident, the Defence Ministry offered condolences to the bereaved families, Xinhua news agency reported. New Delhi, May 21 : Over the past few years, since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in Delhi, much political drama has unfolded -- AAP and Centre have invariably locked horns on governance of the national capital. AAP has insisted on having a larger say in the capital's governance since it represents the will of the people. The May 11, Supreme Court judgment ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers, saying, "a constitutionally entrenched and democratically elected government needs to have control over its administration". However, the Centre on Friday evening promulgated an ordinance, effectively nullifying the judgment, allowing lieutenant governor (L-G) to have the final say in matters of transfers and postings of bureaucrats assigned to various departments under purview of the elected Delhi government. AAP has described the ordinance as an act of breath-taking brazenness and against the spirit of democracy. Wresting control of services through an ordinance route will generate political heat and an aggressive court battle between the Delhi government and Centre is in the making. The Centre's ordinance has to pass the test against the backdrop of judicial principles and legislative competence. The Supreme Court -- in T. Venkata Reddy Vs State of Andhra Pradesh (1985) -- ruled that an ordinance is as good as a law and cannot be treated as an executive action/ administrative decision. If the ordinance is looked through the prism of the May 11, judgment, the first question pops is that has it left a window for the Centre to promulgate an ordinance aligned with it and the second, can the ordinance nullify the judgment? The apex court May 11 judgment said: "If Parliament enacts a law granting executive power on any subject which is within the domain of NCTD (National Capital Territory of Delhi), the executive power of the Lieutenant Governor shall be modified to the extent, as provided in that law. "Furthermore, under Section 49 of the GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) Act, the Lieutenant Governor and the Council of Ministers must comply with the particular directions issued by the President on specific occasions." A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said, "The Legislative Assembly of NCTD has competence over entries in List II (State List of Seventh Schedule) and List III (Concurrent List), except for the expressly excluded entries of List II". The bench -- also comprising justices M.R. Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice P.S. Narasimha -- said the executive power of NCTD with respect to entries in List II and List III shall be subject to the executive power expressly conferred upon the Union by the Constitution or by a law enacted by Parliament. The bench ruled 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 bench said: "In addition to the Entries in List I (Union List), Parliament has legislative competence over all matters in List II and List III in relation to NCTD, including the entries which have been kept out of the legislative domain of NCTD by virtue of Article 239AA(3)(a)". It added: "The executive power of NCTD with respect to entries in List II and List III shall be subject to the executive power expressly conferred upon the Union by the Constitution or by a law enacted by Parliament." Therefore, few paragraphs in judgment establish that the powers of the Delhi Assembly and Delhi government are subject to laws made by Parliament. If Parliament were to pass a law, to change Delhi's governance, and get all services under the control of the Centre, such a law might stand the test of legality. According to legal experts, the government can bring in law to remove the basis of the judgment or remove the defects on any statute. For example, after the Supreme Court banned 'Jallikattu' Bull race and 'Kambala' as violative of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Constitution, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka brought their own laws to allow these sports, which received the president's assent. A five-judge constitution bench on May 18, upheld the validity of these state laws. The Centre has brought an ordinance to set up a permanent authority known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority whose chairperson will be Delhi chief minister along with chief secretary, Delhi, Principal Secretary (Home), Delhi to make recommendations to the Delhi L-G regarding matters concerning transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters. However, in case of difference of opinion, the decision of the L-G shall be final. Therefore, does the ordinance portend a crisis for federalism? The constitution bench in May 11, judgment said: "In the spirit of cooperative federalism, the Union of India must exercise its powers within the boundaries created by the Constitution. NCTD, having a sui generis federal model, must be allowed to function in the domain charted for it by the Constitution. The Union and NCTD share a unique federal relationship. It does not mean that NCTD is subsumed in the unit of the Union merely because it is not a State." Against the backdrop of observations made by the apex court handing control of services to the Delhi government, the ordinance, after it is challenged, will have to pass the test on cooperative and collaborative federalism as well. Law passed by a competent legislature is presumed to be valid and constitutional unless held otherwise by a court of law, which is called "presumption of constitutionality". The courts, using legal principle, interpret a statute passed by Parliament or a state Assembly. In January 2021, citing the Maratha quota case stay order, the apex court suspended the operation of the three farm laws and in December 2021, the court stayed the operation of the Maharashtra government's ordinance, seeking to introduce 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in all zilla parishads and panchayat samitis. The Maharashtra government introduced reservation without collecting data on OBCs in every municipal body seat. From the above discussion, the question which arises is whether the ordinance is consistent with the intent of the Supreme Court May 11, judgment? The real test for the ordinance awaits. (Sumit Saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in) India, known for its diversity and multi-religious society, has managed to achieve a unique unity and peaceful coexistence among its people, which is remarkable considering the challenges faced by many multi-religious societies around the world. Arshia Malik India, known for its diversity and multi-religious society, has managed to achieve a unique unity and peaceful coexistence among its people, which is remarkable considering the challenges faced by many multi-religious societies around the world. The driving force behind this unity can be attributed to the long-standing syncretic traditions in Indian society. In India, the multicultural social setup has been strengthened through improvisations, adjustments, mutual respect, and the conceptualisation of a transcendental life that goes beyond religious and cultural stereotypes. This has been possible through the influence of syncretic traditions such as Sufism, Bhakti, and other mystical practices. These traditions have played a significant role in fostering unity, peaceful coexistence, and becoming an integral part of the socio-religious life of the people. Mysticism, which involves seeking hidden meaning and a connection with God through deep prayer or contemplation, is particularly embraced by Sufis and Bhaktas in India. These movements emerged as inclusive reactions to exclusive interpretations and practices within Hinduism and Islam, allowing common people to express their inner sentiments and actively participate in the process of loving the Divine. India has a long history of syncretism, even before the arrival of Islam and Christianity. The diverse nature of Hinduism, with its various sects and deities, required the tradition of syncretism to prevent hostility among followers. The advent of Buddhism and Jainism further complicated the religious landscape, making syncretism essential for harmony. The faith systems of the Indian masses were so varied that a single system could not accommodate all. The worship of nature and natural objects was prevalent, but there were differences in practices and the choice of deities. To unify religious affinities, efforts were made, such as Adi Shankaracharya's establishment of four unique seats of worship in different corners of the country. The proponents of the Bhakti tradition played a significant role in introducing syncretic traditions in Hinduism. The tradition of 'Sants' helped consolidate this syncretism. The Sants, influential figures in the movement, emphasised fulfilling social obligations while maintaining inner detachment from worldly ties. They rejected traditional rituals, caste barriers, and religious divisions, advocating for love that embraced humanity and the abstract concept of God. The syncretism of the Bhakti movement later became a bridge between Hinduism and Islam, harmonising elements of both faith systems. The Sants, like Kabir, criticised the orthodoxies of Hinduism and Islam. Their teachings attracted followers from diverse religious backgrounds, creating a syncretic space where the exclusivity of a particular religion became less relevant. Islamic mysticism, represented by Sufism, arrived in India with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. Sufi orders, such as Chistiyya and Suhrawardiyya, spread through numerous khanqahs (spiritual centers). Sufism offered an alternative perspective on life and its relationship with God compared to the more orthodox elements of Islam represented by the Ulama. While the Ulama emphasized submission to the prescribed way (sharia), the Sufis focused on realising God through love and the intermediary role of saints. The Sufis' spiritual quest echoed the philosophical moorings found in Hinduism, particularly the Upanishadic seers' concept of 'I am He' (soham) and the Sufis' 'I am Truth' (anal-haqq). Mystic and syncretic traditions are not limited to Hinduism and Islam in India but are also prevalent in other prominent religions such as Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Buddhism emerged as a distinct religion separate from Hinduism, but over time, it incorporated syncretic elements to make it more acceptable to the masses. Even though Buddhism declined in popularity in India, its ideas and ideals were incorporated into the broader fold of Hinduism. Sikhism can be considered one of the most syncretic religions in India. Its founder, Guru Nanak, was influenced by the Sant tradition, Upanishadic metaphysics, and teachings of Islam and the Nath Yogis. Nanak rebelled against ritualism and caste rigidities, emphasising worship, submission to God's will, honest labour, and collective sharing. The holy book of Sikhs, the Granth Sahib, consists of writings from people of different religions, highlighting the syncretic nature of their faith. Jainism, despite being a distinct religious order, remains deeply embedded in the ideals and virtues of Hinduism. Its philosophical stipulations revisit the loftier ideals found in Hindu scriptures, resulting in little divergence between Hinduism and Jainism in practical aspects. The Mughal emperor Akbar, who wanted to consolidate the diverse religious communities in his empire, propounded Din-i-Ilahi, a syncretic religion intended to merge the best elements of the religions of his empire. Allopanishad, or the Allah Upanishad, is a Sanskrit text believed to have been written during the 16th to 17th century in India during the reign of Akbar is the example there. Satpanth is considered a syncretism of Ismaili Islam and Hinduism. Satpanth is a syncretic religious movement that emerged in the Indian subcontinent. It is considered a fusion of Ismaili Islam and Hinduism. Satpanth followers believe in the spiritual authority of the Imam, who they consider to be the rightful successor of Prophet Muhammad. They also incorporate Hindu rituals and beliefs into their practices, such as reverence for Hindu deities and pilgrimage to Hindu temples. Satpanth emphasizes moral values, spiritual enlightenment, and devotion to God. The movement has a significant presence in Gujarat and Rajasthan, with a diverse community of followers from different castes and backgrounds. The Meivazhi religion is a syncretic monotheistic minority religion based in Tamil Nadu, India. It emphasizes spiritual enlightenment and overcoming death through its teachings. Meivazhi incorporates the teachings of various major religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, promoting the message of the oneness of essence found in these scriptures. One of the remarkable aspects of Meivazhi is that it brings together people from 69 different castes and different religions, uniting them as one family within the Meivazhi religion. Overall, the exchange of ideas and practices between different religious and mystical movements has contributed to the rich tapestry of Indian spirituality. The syncretic nature of these traditions has fostered inclusivity, unity, and a shared pursuit of spiritual truth. In a world where religious differences can sometimes create divisions, the Sufi and Bhakti traditions serve as a reminder of the power of love, devotion, and the common essence that unites all humanity in their spiritual quest. New Delhi, May 21 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative for his alleged involvement in the terror conspiracy case in Jammu and Kashmir. The NIA said that the accused, identified as Mohd Ubaid Malik of Kupwara district, was in constant touch with a Pakistan-based JeM commander. "Investigations have revealed that the accused was passing on secret information, especially regarding movement of troops and security forces, to the Pakistan-based Commander. NIA also recovered from the accused's possession various incriminating documents showing his involvement in the furtherance of terror activities in J&K," said the official. This case was registered by the the NIA suo-moto on June 21, 2022. It is related to the conspiracies hatched by cadres and Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of various proscribed terrorist organisations in cohorts with their commanders based in Pakistan. It involves collection and distribution of huge consignments of narcotics, cash, weapons, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), including remote control-operated sticky bombs/magnetic bombs. The IEDs and explosives are often being delivered over drones and are also being assembled locally, in order to execute terrorist attacks in J&K, as per the NIA investigations. The attacks are mainly targeted at the minorities and security forces personnel. The conspiracies are being hatched both physically and in cyberspace over encrypted social media applications, with the overarching aim of disturbing peace and communal harmony, engaging in terrorist acts, and waging a war against the Government of India. Further investigation in the matter is on. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Dy CM Tejashwi Yadav during a press conference, in New Delhi, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during a press conference, in New Delhi, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during a press conference, in New Delhi, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, May 21 : Days after the Centre brought an ordinance to negate the Supreme Court's judgement placing 'services' under the control of the city government, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has extended support to the AAP in fight against "injustice". Kejriwal made the remarks after Nitish Kumar, along with his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, met him at his residence here. The two were also accompanied by Janata Dal-U President Lallan Singh and RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha. Talking to media persons after the meeting, Kejriwal said: "I thank Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav for coming to us. The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had given all the powers to the Delhi government by 5-0, which after eight days the Centre overturned by bringing an ordinance, and gave all the power to Lt Governor. It is against the Constitution." "Today when Nitish Kumar ji came, we had a detailed discussion and he said we are in your support. Nitish Kumar Ji said that he is standing with the people of Delhi and will fight together against the Centre in this injustice." The AAP leader also said that as Kumar is trying to bring all the opposition parties together and if all the opposition comes together in Rajya Sabha, then it will be a big victory. "If the Centre brings this ordinance in the form of a bill and all non-BJP parties come together, then this bill can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha. If this happens, then it will be a semi-final and in 2024 a clear message will go that the BJP government is leaving," he added. Kejriwal also said that he will go to meet the presidents of all opposition parties with this formal request. "The day after tomorrow, there is a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata," he added. Nitish Kumar criticised the Centre for bringing the ordinance after the Supreme Court verdict in the matter. Taking a pot shot at the centre, the Janata Dal-United leader asked: "How can you take away an elected government's power. Look at the Constitution and see what is right. Whatever he (Kejriwal) is saying is right. We are completely with him." The Bihar Chief Minister said that Kejriwal is doing good work in Delhi and it's surprising that his government is being stopped from doing it. "It is reason why we are saying that all (opposition parties) in the country should come together," he said. The JD-U leader assured that he will make efforts to bring opposition parties together in support of Kejriwal. "We will hold further meetings. We are trying to ensure that the maximum number of opposition parties come together and a nationwide campaign is launched to demand that laws are followed and there is mutual harmony and brotherhood in the country," he said. He also said that efforts are being made to create conflicts among people. "Such things should be stopped," he said. To a question, Nitish Kumar said he will also speak to the Congress leadership on the issue of the ordinance. "I don't think anybody will oppose it (supporting Kejriwal). We will talk to them," he said. Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the Centre is "continuously troubling and harassing" non-BJP governments in different states. "We have come here to extend our support to Kejriwal. The BJP government is doing injustice to him," he said. The RJD leader said that the way the Centre is harassing the Kejriwal government in Delhi and governments of other parties in different states is not justified at all. "There is a clear threat to democracy. They want to change the Constitution and we will not let that happen at all," he said. "The more they (Centre) trouble and harass Kejriwal, the stronger he will become. I can say with full confidence that the BJP will never return to power in Delhi," he added. This is second meeting of Kejriwal with Nitish Kumar in just over a month. The JD-U leader had earlier met Kejriwal here on April 12 as part of his efforts to bring all opposition parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Central government has brought an ordinance to set up a permanent authority known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority, whose Chairperson will the Delhi Chief Minister, and comprise the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Home, to make recommendations to the Delhi LG regarding matters concerning transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters. However, in case of difference of opinion, the decision of the LG shall be final. On May 11, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers and the LG 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 ordinance came days after the court verdict. The government of South Sudan insisted on Friday it was playing an impartial role in efforts to end the fighting in Sudan after Khartoum protested over its hosting of a Rapid Support Forces envoy. South Sudan, which won independence from Sudan in 2011, has been playing a mediation role through the regional bloc IGAD to try to resolve the conflict between the paramilitary RSF and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's forces. Sudan's foreign ministry said in a statement published Thursday that it had issued an "official protest memorandum" to Juba to express its "strong denunciation" over a visit this week by one of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo's advisers. Daglo's envoy Yusif Isha held talks with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and IGAD officials in Juba on Wednesday and later told a press conference the RSF was "ready to take part in any step taken by him (Kiir) to reach a lasting peace in Sudan." Kiir has held several conversations with Sudan's de-facto leader Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Daglo, and also hosted a Burhan envoy in Juba on May 8. South Sudan's government "has continued to play its part within IGAD with absolute impartiality," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. "The notion of mediation entails engagement of all parties with equal measure," it added. Since the conflict erupted in Khartoum in mid-April, around 1,000 people have been killed and fighting is raging despite several ceasefire deals. The United Nations has warned it expects more than one million people to flee to neighbouring countries this year, and Juba said Friday that over 60,000 have so far crossed into South Sudan. Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi, May 21 : A major fire broke out in the projector room of Fun Cinema in west Delhi on Sunday, but no injuries were reported as the hall was empty at that time, fire officials said. The fire department got a call of the incident at 1.12 p.m. with the caller reporting a blaze in the projector room of auditorium no 3, and five fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire engines took two hours to bring the fire under control. The local police also assisted the fire fighters in the rescue operation. "Fortunately, at the time when the fire broke out there was no one present in the hall," a fire official said. The cause of fire was not yet known while a short circuit is said to be the reason behind the incident. Bengaluru, May 21 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka on Sunday criticised the ruling Congress after a Cabinet minister said that all scams and scandals that surfaced during the tenure of the previous government would be probed. Karnataka Cabinet Minister M.B. Patil earlier on Sunday said that all scandals and scams committed during the tenure of the BJP government in the state would be investigated by the new Siddaramaiah-led government. Reacting to Patil's statement, BJP veteran and former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa said "it is natural for Patil to come out with such a statement". "We do not care about it. Let them carry out investigation. Let the guilty be punished," he said. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that "the Congress is not at all interested in fulfilling the assurances given to the people". "They had given false promises to people for elections. Let them investigate the alleged scams during the tenure of the BJP government," he said. Earlier on Sunday, speaking to reporters, Patil said that the Congress government would investigate the PSI Recruitment scam, 40 per cent commission matter and all other fraudulent activities that took place during the BJP government. He further stated that, including the Bitcoin scandal, the misappropriations that took place in all other departments would be exposed. "During the tenure of BJP, serious allegations surfaced and scandals were reported. Many of them have not been investigated appropriately. "The newly-elected Congress government will look into all the allegations and scandals and order re-investigation. Cases which have not been investigated, would be taken up for probe," he said. Meanwhile, Union Minister Joshi criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for blaming the Central government for not releasing ample funds to Karnataka. "Siddaramaiah should know the facts before making allegations. In 2009-10, the state got Rs 2,476 crore. In 2019-20, Rs 7,578 crore was released to the state. In 2021-22, Rs 7,862 crore has been released. The amount of funds is increasing over the years," he said. Siddaramaiah had charged that Karnataka is among the highest tax payers to the Central government and it is meted out with injustice when it comes to allocation of funds. Hiroshima, May 21 : Emphasising his country's support to war-torn Ukraine, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday said that Kiev should not only win the war against Russia, but achieve lasting and just peace. "We will be with Ukraine as long as it takes because their security is our security," the British Prime Minister was quoted as saying by CNN. Addressing a press conference here, Sunak welcomed the G7 delivering more support for the war-torn country. Hailing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's presence at the summit, Prime Minister Sunak said: "To see President Zelensky standing shoulder to shoulder with his G7 allies, I think, sends a message to Russia and the world that we are united behind him and his people and will continue to support him for as long as it takes." Confirming the G7's unwavering commitment to stand with Ukraine, US President Joe Biden called for a "just peace that respects Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity". "Russia started this war and could end it, today," said Biden. Kolkata, May 21 : A crucial meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her counterpart in Delhi Arvind Kejriwal will take place next week. Sources from the state unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that the Delhi chief minister is expected to arrive in Kolkata on Tuesday morning and on the same afternoon he will have a one-on-one meeting with Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat of Nabanna. Kejriwal is supposed to fly back to New Delhi on the same evening However, there was no confirmation either from the West Bengal government or Trinamool Congress on this count. Recently, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav came to Kolkata and had a meeting with Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat. After that meeting, both Banerjee and Kumar emphasised that all anti-BJP forces should work together with open minds and shade the ego to establish a grand-opposition alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Before that Samajwadi Party leader and the leader of the opposition in Uttar Pradesh assembly, Akhilesh Yadav also meet the chief minister at the latter's residence in South Kolkata. Both Banerjee and Yadav stressed on the consolidation of unity of the regional parties to take on BJP in 2024. Initially, Trinamool Congress had announced its stand to maintain equal distance with BJP and Congress. However, after the recent Karnataka assembly elections, she has agreed to extend conditional support to Congress except West Bengal provided the oldest national party of the country reciprocates the same to Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. However, state Congress leadership in West Bengal has turned down her offer and instead stressed on strengthening its existing understanding with CPI(M)- lead Left Front. Hyderabad, May 21 : 'RRR' star Ram Charan has said it was Tollywood hero-turned-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N.T. Rama Rao, who put Telugu on the world map and that he will live for as long as there is Telugu cinema. He was speaking at an event organised on Saturday night in the run-up to NTR's birth centenary, which falls on May 28. Ironically, Ram Charan's father, Mega Star Chiranjeevi, used to be a political opponent of NTR, but clearly, much water has flown down the Godavari since then. His co-star in S.S. Rajamouli's 'RRR', Junior NTR, incidentally is the Andhra icon's grandson. "Nowadays, Telugu cinema is being greatly lauded in foreign countries and everyone is praising South Indian cinema," Ram Charan said. "But, long back in those days, NTR Garu proved and reiterated the power of our cinema. We should never forget about those days. We must keep remembering those great achievements," added the 'Global Star'. He was speaking at the centenary celebrations organised at the Kaithalapur Grounds, Kukatpally, Hyderabad. Several film and political celebrities graced the event. On this occasion, Ram Charan recalled his personal bonding with NTR Garu. "I don't know where to start," Ram Charan continued. "His name is beyond all benchmarks and achievements. Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Garu was a big personality." Talking about mass leaders such as NTR, he said reverentially: "We should remember their achievements and draw inspiration from their way of living. Walking in their footsteps gives us immense pride and happiness. "Every artiste, including me, who goes to the film set every day remembers his name. He made us known. What is the film industry? What is the Telugu film industry? To our neighboring states as well as the entire country and other countries too? "The Great Legend N.T. Rama Rao Garu brought respect to our film industry. This industry has such a great personality. It is a privilege for all of us to work in the industry where NTR Garu belonged." On a personal note, Ram Charan recalled: "I met NTR Garu only once. Purandhareswari gari's son Ritesh and I used to go to skating classes together as kids. We used to finish our classes by early morning, 5:30 to 6:00 a.m. One day, Ritesh asked me to come along with him to his grandfather's house. He was the chief minister at that time. He had huge security. I felt that I didn't even have the strength to say 'yes' or 'no'. I said 'okay'. We both went on our skates from Purandhareswari Gari's house and arrived at Rama Rao Garu's house by 6:30 a.m. "I wanted to meet NTR Garu and take leave from him. But when we reached his house, he was about to have his breakfast. When he saw me, he made me sit and offered tiffin. I felt so lucky. I will always cherish that moment of sharing breakfast with him. I thank Purandhareswari Garu for giving me that opportunity." New Delhi, May 21 : Jharkhand-based Maoist outfit People's Liberation Front of India's supremo (PLFI) Dinesh Gope, who had a reward of Rs 30 lakh on his head, was arrested in Delhi following a raid by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday, officials said. Gope, alias Kuldeep Yadav alias Badku, was earlier charge sheeted by the NIA in a case related to the recovery of demonetised currency of Rs 25.38 lakhs from PLFI operatives. He was absconding in the case, one of the two being investigated by the NIA's Ranchi branch against the PLFI. An NIA official official said that Gope was involved in 102 criminal cases, registered against him in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha, and most of them relating to murders, abductions, threats, extortion, and raising funds for the PLFI. "The NIA had also declared a reward of Rs 5 lakh for leads on Gope, in addition to the reward of Rs 25 lakh announced by the Jharkhand Government. He had been absconding for almost two decades," said the official. On February 3, 2022, an encounter took place between a Gope-led PLFI squad and security personnel in the forest area under Gudri Police station of Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district but the rebels sneaked back into the forest and Gope managed to escape. He had been absconding since then, and had been taking shelter at different places while making all efforts to re-establish the PLFI's stronghold in Jharkhand. "Gope used to extort money and execute attacks through his PLFI team members to terrorise businessmen, contractors and the public at large. The accused, along with his associates, was involved in depositing the demonetised currency in a bank account of a petrol pump to be later collected through levy/extortion. The illegal money was then invested through banking channels and dubious shell companies in the name of close associates and family members of Gope," said the official. The case was initially registered on November 10, 2016 at PS Bero, Ranchi, and re-registered by the NIA on January 19, 2018. The police had filed the first charge sheet against four persons on January 9, 2017. The NIA filed the first supplementary charge sheet in the case against 11 accused, including Gope. Later, the NIA filed the second supplementary charge sheet in the case on July 23, 2022 against five individuals and three private limited companies. The NIA had also attached 14 bank accounts and two cars, alongwith cash and immovable property worth more than a crore, in the case. Known previously as Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT), PLFI is responsible for hundreds of terror incidents in Jharkhand, including several murders using firearms, as per the NIA investigations. The outfit used to lure unemployed youth by providing them motor bikes, mobile phones and easy money and after imparting training, used to equip them with lethal weapons to carry out terror incidents. Extortion is PLFI's major source of income and the outfit has been targeting coal traders, railway contractors, and various private entities involved in developmental projects in various district of Jharkhand. The Maoist outfit had also formed alliances with different criminal gangs in order to spread their nefarious activities, and executed several incidents of murders and arson in Jharkhand. Gope was part of a criminal conspiracy to channelise the extorted funds collected from the contractors/businessmen engaged in developmental projects in Jharkhand. He was involved in investing these funds in dubious shell companies like Palak Enterprises, Shiv Adi Shakti, Shiv Shakti Samridhi Infra Pvt Ltd, Bhavya Engicon, formed in partnership with other PLFI associates and his family members. The extorted money was also being transferred from Jharkhand to other places through a network of hawala operators. In July 2007, Masi Charan Purty, a renegade of the CPI-Maoist, along with several of his followers, had joined Gope in order to expand PLFI. Though Purty was subsequently arrested, the PLFI spread its activities under Gope's command. He used to collect huge amounts of extortion money, which was further used to procure sophisticated weapons, including AK-47s and foreign-made rifles, such as HK-33s. Thiruvananthapuram, May 21 : Senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in Kerala legislative assembly V.D. Satheeshan said that the concern of the Catholic bishops on the attack by animals of farmers is natural. He said that with the growing wild animal-human conflict, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) has all the right to express its concern. The Congress leader said that the KCBC was only expressing the anxiety of the people who were being tormented by regular, human-wild animal conflict. Satheesan said, "The regular human-animal conflict has led to the people complain to the clergy and naturally the Church has to express its concern and there is no wrong in this." Coming out heavily against the state forest minister, he said, that the minister has not done anything to relieve the concern of the people who were regularly facing attacks from wild animals. He said that previous UDF government of Oomen Chandy had done several things to reduce the human-animal conflict and several areas were fenced during that period. He said that the present LDF government of Pinarayi Vijayan has failed to continue with such projects and no fencing was done. It may be noted that the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) had issued a note on the killing of three persons by wild gaur in two separate incidents. Los Angeles, May 21 : A scandalous age-gap relationship plays out at the centre of 'May December' which debuted recently at the Cannes Film Festival. In the starry romantic drama directed by Todd Haynes, Julianne Moore plays the 'December' to Charles Melton's much-younger 'May', whose character was just 13 when the two fell in love, reports 'Variety'. It's a complicated dynamic, Moore admitted, because of the time in their lives when they first met. "An age gap is one thing, but a relationship between an adult and a child is a different thing entirely," Moore said at Sunday's press conference for 'May December' which was embraced in the Grand Palais the day prior with an enthusiastic six-minute standing ovation. "When is age inappropriate? It's when people are in different places developmentally, when someone is not an adult. This is why we have boundaries around that," she said, quoted by 'Variety'. "The reason why this movie feels so dangerous watching it is because people don't know where anyone's boundaries are. It feels scary." In 'May December', Natalie Portman plays an actress who travels to Maine to study the life of Moore's character, whom she's set to play in a film. As per 'Variety', Moore and Melton portray as a married couple whose 20-year age gap inspired a national tabloid scandal. As they plan to send their twin girls off to college, the family dynamic begins to buckle as Portman delves into their past. Given America's obsession with scandal, Portman says there was no shortage of material to mine for inspiration. "We had all the inspirational tabloid materials that existed. There was a book with a crazy title, like "Punished for Love," or something like that," she recalled. "We had those resources at our fingertips, which was helpful at getting background." Portman describes the film as a study of "the different roles we play in different environments." She observes that discrepancy is particularly on display at the Cannes Film Festival, where women are mandated to wear heels on the red carpet. "Even here, the different ways we, as women, are expected to behave at this festival even compared to men... how we're supposed to look, how we're supposed to carry ourselves," she said. "The expectations are different for you all the time. It affects how you behave, whether you are buying into or rejecting it. You're defined by the social structures upon you". Jerusalem, May 21 : Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday morning, drawing condemnations from the Palestinians and Jordan. Escorted by heavy police and the internal Shin Bet security agency, Ben-Gvir visited the compound in the early morning hours, according to a video statement released by his office, Xinhua news agency reported. He said he was glad to come up to the compound, and thanked the police officers at the site. Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement that the visit is "a blatant attack" on the holy site. The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates echoed Rudeineh by condemning the visit in a statement as "a provocative step and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation." The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been administered by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a Jordanian body, since 1948. The visit comes days after the 'Flag March', an annual march by tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists, to mark the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem. It is the second time Ben-Gvir, the ultranationalist leader of the Jewish Power party, visited the site since he became a member of the Israeli coalition government. The government, the most far-right in Israel's history, was inaugurated last December. The compound is a sensitive site in East Jerusalem holy to both Muslims and Jews and a long-time focal point of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel gained control of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and occupied it despite international criticism. Under a long-held status quo, the site is administrated by the Jordanian Waqf, allowing only Muslim worship. Tehran, May 21 : Six Iranian border guards were killed in armed clashes with members of a "terrorist" group in Saravan County in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday. According to Tasnim, five border guards were killed by the "terrorists" at the scene, and another succumbed to his wounds at the hospital later on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported. The report identified the six fatalities as Hossein Badamaki, Ali Ghani Batadbir, Reza Borji, Mohammad Jamalzadeh, Younes Seifinejad, and Nasser Heidari. The armed clashes occurred after the Iranian border guards detected the "terrorist" team's members, who sought to enter the country through the southeastern border, the report said, adding that their entry attempts were eventually foiled. It said the "terrorists" escaped the scene after being outpowered by Iranian forces. The "terrorists" were identified as members of the "Jaish al-Zulm" group, a separatist group that Iran says is linked with al-Qaeda, Iranian Students' News Agency reported, citing Sistan and Baluchistan prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi. Shamsabadi added the "terrorists" launched the armed attack on the border police station in a bid to cross the border and enter the country, saying necessary judicial orders have been issued to arrest them. Pauline Hungwe huddled in the bathroom of her apartment in Sudan, terrified and only peeking out of a window for a second to see the walls of nearby buildings disintegrate as they were hit by artillery fire. She was convinced her building was next and she was going to die. The only thing she thought to do was call her son back home in Zimbabwe. I thought I was done, she said. I told my son, 'I am gone.' Teacher Owen Shamu was preparing children at a school in Khartoum for an exam when gunfire rang out meters away from their classroom, throwing him into a panic, he said, let alone the kids. But having kept himself and his family safe through the first days of fighting, Shamu, also a Zimbabwean, had to think about a plan to get them out of Sudan with hardly any money and no immediate help from his home country. He didn't know how they would survive, he said. Amina Balarabe walked for several days with her six children to various points in Khartoum, dodging gunfire and explosions, in the hope of linking up with an evacuation convoy. Even after she found buses leaving the capital, getting home to Nigeria was still a long way away. Ahead lay more than a week of traveling to the Egyptian border. The family slept out in the desert, freezing cold at night, with Balarabe rustling up what she could to feed her children, the youngest aged just 4. They were forced to pay exorbitant prices for everything on their way, Balarabe said, even to use bathrooms at stops. "We were paying severely," she said. Many Africans escaping the conflict in Sudan that erupted with little warning last month faced a long wait three weeks for some to get out, and severe challenges on the way, as their governments struggled to mobilize resources. Some of them, like Balarabe, risked going it alone amid the conflict and the chaos given their food and water were running out. Others grouped together. We contributed (money) among ourselves to buy some food, said 19-year-old Shehu Hifzullah, a Nigerian student who ran out of cash on the third day of the fighting in Sudan and had to rely on others. Some African students took refuge at the International University of Africa in Khartoum, where they found strength in unity. But while there, they also had to fight off attacks by men moving around looting and robbing people, according to Abubakar Babangida, president of the Nigerian Students' association in Sudan. Nigeria evacuated more than 2,500 of its citizens, many of them students. The South African government evacuated nearly 100, most on a convoy of buses, although it needed some help from a South Africa-based NGO. Eventually, Zimbabwe successfully evacuated 63 nationals including Hungwe and Shamu in two batches. Other countries had just a few citizens in Sudan and no way to get them to safety. One of South Africa's convoys took in a Lesotho national and a small group from Angola, who had no help coming, said Imtiaz Sooliman, the founder of the Gift of the Givers NGO that aided the South African evacuation. They also helped people from the Philippines and Brazil. All of them were among hundreds of thousands of people, Sudanese included, displaced by the fighting. Often, the evacuations came during one of the uncertain ceasefires between the warring parties, the Sudanese army, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, former allies who became deadly enemies. Those ceasefires were and still are highly tenuous because of the lack of trust between the two sides, said Ryan Cummings, director of Africa-focused security consulting company Signal Risk. It meant countries, embassies and officials had little time and risky windows to plan escapes. There were fears that people would be sent into the midst of the fighting. Sooliman said the South African evacuees faced food and water shortages and collapsed phone networks, leaving some isolated, only for the men, women, and children to then be exposed to the psychological trauma of war as they were moved out. They reported seeing young people being shot and passed dozens of bodies on the street, Sooliman said. That was corroborated by Derek Morris, whose son Warwick was among those evacuated from Khartoum. They realized that the fighting has now become totally all over the place, said Derek Morris, who said he was in contact with his son by phone as they were evacuated. "Total war going on, you know ... body parts lying on the ground, the bodies were stinking. It was 41 degrees there. Totally unbearable. Hungwe didn't think she was going to survive Sudan. When she finally made it home to Zimbabwe, after an exhausting journey to safety on buses, a ship, and airplanes, she got down on her knees and kissed the ground at the airport. Shamu is also safely home, but for days after his family's evacuation, his daughters, aged 4 and 15, were still struggling to leave Sudan's violence behind, he said. He had bought them balloons in an attempt to lift their spirits following a harrowing experience in their young lives. They duck for cover and cry each time they hear a balloon pop," he said. Thats how traumatized they are. So I had to throw away the balloons. Search Keywords: Short link: Thiruvananthapuram, May 21 : Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar arrived in Kerala on a two-day visit. He along with his wife Dr. Sudesh Dhankar will be having a darshan at Sree Padmabha Swamy temple. He will be staying at the Raj Bhavan. On Sunday night, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan is serving a dinner in honour of the Vice-President at the Raj Bhavan. Several VIPs are on the guest list for the dinner. The Vice-President will have a breakfast meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday morning at CM's official residence 'Cliff House'. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will also be present. The Vice-President will inaugurate the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Kerala Legislative assembly building at Thiruvananthapuram. He will release a souvenir of Kerala Legislative International Book Festival- 2023. It may be noted that the new Kerala Legislative Assembly building was inaugurated on May 22, 1998, by the then President K.R. Narayanan. Dhankar will leave for Ezhimala Naval Academy in Kannur where he will interact with the cadets. This is the first visit of any Vice-President to the Ezhimala Naval Academy. He will visit his teacher Rathna Nair at her residence in Champad, Panoor near Thalassery in Kannur district. The retired teacher had taught the Vice-President at Sainik School, Chittorgarh. He will return to New Delhi in the evening from Kannur airport. Kolkata, May 21 : No major rush for exchange or spending of Rs 2,000 denomination notes was witnessed so far for sending or exchanging these pink notes since the time the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced its gradual phasing out. A manager of a private sector bank's Kasba branch in south Kolkata told IANS that on Saturday, the receipts of Rs 2,000 denomination notes had been marginally higher at 10, compared to seven to eight on normal working days. So was the experience of an assistant manager of a public sector banks' Elgin road branch, who said that on Saturday, barely 20 notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were received at the branch which is more or less the same as normal days. "The panic and rush that were witnessed after the demonetisation in 2016 were nowhere witnessed on Saturday. Probably, from Monday, the number of deposits of pink notes might increase," he added. Retail outlets, barring the petrol pumps, in the city too have not witnessed much rise in the number of receipt of such high denomination notes from Saturday morning till Sunday noon. Some petrol pumps in the city like the one at Jodhpur Park in south Kolkata are ready to accept Rs 2,000 denomination note provided the price of the fuel purchased is at least 40 per cent of the cash paid in pink notes. This means that any customer paying a Rs 2,000 denomination note will have to purchase fuel of around Rs 1,000 or more. Former Chief Economic Advisor to the Union government, Ashok Kumar Lahiri, who is currently a BJP legislator from West Bengal, feels that not the common people but those earning money through corrupt practices have reasons to worry over this gradual phasing out of Rs 2,000 denomination notes. "During the 2016 demonetisation, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes contributed 85 per cent of the total cash available in the system. But Rs 2,000 denomination notes currently is just 11 per cent of the cash available in the system, considering that there had been no fresh printing of notes of this denomination for the last few years. Again these high-value notes are of more demand for those having unaccounted money or money earned through corrupt practices, since the pink notes require stocking space compared to lower denomination notes," he contended. New Delhi, May 21 : Former world no. 1 British Andy Murray has withdrawn from the French Open in order to ramp up his preparations for the grass-court season in the build-up to Wimbledon, which starts on July 3. The former French Open finalist's name has now been removed from the entry list on the Roland-Garros website, Eurosport reported. Earlier, clarifying his thinking on Roland Garros, Murray had said he was hoping to play in the year's second Grand Slam and said: "I would like to play, just purely because I don't know if I'll get another opportunity to play again. Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go." The three-time Grand Slam winner's best showing at the event was his 2016 defeat to Novak Djokovic in the final. The Brit, who was bidding to revive his career after major hip surgery in 2018, entered clay-court tournaments this season at Monte Carlo, Madrid and the Italian Open in preparation for a potential run at the French, but suffered first-round defeats at all three events. He did beat Tommy Paul in the final of the ATP Challenger event in Aix-en-Provence early May to secure his first title at any level since 2019. But followed that with a heavy defeat against Wawrinka at the Bordeaux Challenger event. Murray is the latest big name to pull out of the clay court major, following Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios. The French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, takes place from 28 May to 11 June. Imphal, May 21 : Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that in complete dismay and frustration, Kuki leaders including their 10 MLAs have demanded a separate political administration (equivalent to a separate state) for the tribals. Singh said the demand was made under tremendous pressure from various quarters including the militants. Singh, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency, in a letter to the Prime Minister, said that demanding a separate political administration (equivalent to a separate state) is a very dangerous proposition for a small state having 35 ethnic groups. "Peaceful co-existence should be the norm, Naga-Kuki conflict or Meitei-Pangan (Muslim) clash and now Meitei-Kuki riot must be treated as aberrations. These should be curbed and controlled by a strong hand. No balkanization on ethnic lines should be encouraged at any cost," the Union Minister said. He said that since May 3, for a few days, there was complete chaos and trust vanished in thin air between the two communities -- Meiteis and Kukis. Noting that the Manipur situation must be dealt with a humane touch without any ethnic bias, Singh said: "Let us not allow anyone to do fishing in the troubled water. It is not about how many Kukis or Meiteis have died or how many Meitei houses or Kuki houses were torched. It is a very unfortunate humanitarian crisis caused by immature minds." According to the minister, in the recent ethnic violence in Manipur so far, 71 people have been killed, 300 people got injured, including police personnel, some grievously. Of 16 districts of the state, 11 districts were affected and out of which 6 were badly impacted. Over 25,000 people were displaced, nearly 1,700 houses were burnt, and more than 200 vehicles had been destroyed. The Union Minister in his letter, accessed by IANS, said that violent mobs burn and destroy everything on their way. "It was largely due to action-reaction syndrome. It was impossible for the local police to control the rioters until the Army and Para Military forces arrived and intervened. In fact, it was a clash between the two communities triggered by a peaceful rally that turned suddenly violent." Singh said that demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status by the Meitei community in a peaceful manner should not be a problem for others and again a peaceful protest by the tribal against this move should not be an issue, as these things are happening in other parts of the country. "We are not to blame any community or ethnic group. We want to live in peace with all the ethnic groups or communities." Saying that the state government has announced some relief and compensation for victims and sufferers, Singh demanded financial compensation from the Central government. He said that the houses, vehicles and properties burnt may be compensated with the Centre's aid. Demanding continuance of the deployment of Army and Paramilitary forces in Manipur until restoration of peace and complete normalcy, Singh said that the trust deficit is at its nadir. "Peaceful co-existence is the only mantra for a tiny multi-ethnic society like ours. Bifurcation or trifurcation of the state on communal or ethnic lines should not be encouraged." "All issues and demands can be sorted out in an amicable manner. A peaceful solution is possible only when we sit together and discuss... here, Centre's role as jury and arbiter will be appreciated," Singh pointed out. New Delhi, May 21 : Three robbers, who created havoc in Delhi by committing back to back snatching, were held by the police from South District areas. A senior police official said that the accused were identified as Mohit, Lavkush Pratap, and Rakesh. "The police noticed a man was travelling on a bike in Amdrews Ganj area in suspicious condition. He was asked to pull over, but the accused tried to run away. He was later apprehended following a chase. The accused was identified as Mohit," the official said. Lavkush Pratap was held from Sangam Vihar while Rakesh was apprehended from Ambedkar Nagar. Police said that the trio were involved in more than dozen cases. Chandigarh, May 21 : Explaining the rationale behind extending the rights to telecast Gurbani from Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, in Amritsar to only one channel, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said the government is ready to bear all expenditure to install hi-end techniques so that the Gurbani can be telecast on all channels free of cost. In a statement here, the Chief Minister said this is the need of the hour to disseminate the 'Sarb Sanji Gurbani' across the globe with an aim of spreading the universal message of 'Sarbat da Bhala' (welfare of all). He said it is strange that only one channel has been given exclusive rights for the telecast of Gurbani from Sri Darbar Sahib. Mann said these rights should be given free of cost to all channels rather than confining it to a single channel. The Chief Minister said this endeavour will go a long way in offering an opportunity to the Sangat to listen to the blissful Gurbani while sitting at their homes, even abroad. Likewise, he said that it will also allow people to have a glimpse (darshan didar) of Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib on their TV sets or other gadgets. Mann said the government is ready to discharge the duty of bearing all the expenses for installing hi-tech equipment for the telecast of Gurbani live from Sri Harmandir Sahib on all the channels. Gandhinagar, May 21 : Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Sunday condoled the death of his Public Relation Officer Uday Vaishnav's son in a road accident. "I am deeply saddened by the untimely demise of Vashishtha, the son of Uday Vaishnav, who dutifully served as my PRO in my office. My heartfelt condolences go out to Udaybhai and his family. May God grant eternal peace to the departed soul and give strength to the family to bear this sorrow. Om Shanti", he said in tweet. The accident took place when the car of Vashishta Vaishnav, who was en route from Bharuch to Gandhinagar, was hit near Dethan in Vadodara district by a vehicle coming from behind it. Chandigarh, May 21 : The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the drug case involving Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia has been reconstituted. M.S. Chhina, IGP Patiala Range, will now head the SIT in place of Rahul S., Director Vigilance Bureau. Majithia was booked in December 2021 for allegedly helping drugs smugglers. Responding to the new appointment, SAD on Sunday said there was nothing new in the changing of the chief of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) as the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government was forcing officers to toe the line of the government against senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia even as party termed this exercise as all politics only to settle political vendetta against opponents. Launching a scathing attack on the AAP government, Arshdeep Singh Kler, chief of party's legal cell, said after failing on all fronts to perform, the government was trying to divert the attention of Punjabis, and this is not the first time the chief of SIT has been changed. He said that whosoever have refused to work on political stories written by the governments was always changed and the changing of two Advocate Generals and three DGPs during the tenure of the Congress government was testimony to it. He said the DGP got this case registered only to please his political masters and now the government was trying to pressurise officers to work on their line of political thinking. He said while doing so, the government has forgotten that while granting the bail of Bikram Singh Majithia, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had observed that there was no evidence against him and this case appeared to be totally political in nature. He said more than one and a half years had passed since this case was registered and till date, the government and the police have failed to file challan in the case because there was no evidence of wrong doing by Majithia. Srinagar, May 21 : J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha extended a warm welcome to delegates of G20 nations & members of multilateral organisations coming to Jammu abd Kashmir for 3rd Tourism Working Group Meet. He also expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for providing the historic opportunity and honour to J&K to host G20 meeting. Sinha tweeted: "I extend a warm welcome to distinguished delegates of G20 nations & members of multilateral organisations to 'Paradise on Earth'. From dreamy scenery to enchanting lake to snowcapped majestic mountains, J&K offers perfect environs for 3rd Tourism Working Group Meet. "I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for providing this historic opportunity & honour to J&K to host G20 meeting. I am sure the delegates will also be able to experience priceless culture, cuisine, besides warm hospitality". Srinagar, May 21 : The Third G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting will be held here from May 22 to 24, and the stage is set for discussions and deliberations on final deliverables, Union Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh said on Sunday. Addressing a press conference at SKICC, the official, giving details, said that there are two key deliverables of the Tourism Working Group, which include GOA Roadmap for Tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and G20 Tourism Ministers' Declaration. This is the only working group meeting taking place in Srinagar as part of G20 effort with excellent response from all the member countries, all the invited countries and the international organisations, having the highest participation registered compared to the first two Tourism Working Group Meetings at Rann of Kutch and Siliguri. Singh also said that G20 member countries, invited countries, and international organisations will give valuable inputs and feedback on these two draft documents and after negotiations with G20 Member Countries on these drafts, final versions will be placed in the Fourth Tourism Working Group Meeting. He said that the Srinagar meeting will deliberate on the five key priority areas namely Green Tourism, Digitalisation, Skills, MSMEs, and Destination Management. These priorities are key building blocks for accelerating the transition of the tourism sector and achieve the targets for 2030 SDGs. The Tourism Secretary said that a side event on 'Film Tourism for Economic Growth and Cultural Preservation' will be organised on May 22 and 23, focusing on strategies to promote film tourism in J&K. The event will witness the participation of G20 member countries, invited countries, international organisations, and industry stakeholders. He also said that a draft 'National Strategy on Film Tourism' will be unveiled to provide a roadmap for harnessing the role of films in promoting tourist destinations. G20 Chief Coordinator and former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said: "Tourism Working Group has the broader objectives first to present India's rich and diverse cultural identity to the world and to promote tourism potential of India to the world. We have tried to bring in the sustainable tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism etc. what is actually relevant to J&K." Shringla also said that the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to ensure that the message of India's G20 Presidency is taken down the grassroots level through Jan Bhagidari process and lot of efforts were made to sensitise the people of this country about G20. During the 3rd Tourism Working Group meeting, the delegates will also visit the Art and Craft Bazaar organized by the state government showcasing local handicrafts, work of artisans, signifying the importance of community participation. The delegates will also have 'hands-on' experience through DIY activities at the Craft Bazaar. Air strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the country's warring generals kept up their struggle for control. Khartoum residents told AFP that heavy fighting raged despite repeated international calls for a humanitarian truce. The area around the state television building in Khartoum's sister city Omdurman was one of the sites bombarded, witnesses said. The power struggle between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), erupted into fighting on April 15. The conflict has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, and displaced more than one million. The United Nations has warned of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Africa's third-largest country, where one in three people already relied on aid before the war. On Friday, Burhan sacked Daglo, giving his title of vice president of the ruling Sovereign Council to former rebel leader Malik Agar, and appointed three allies to top jobs in the military. A former rebel leader who signed a peace deal with Khartoum authorities in 2020, Agar said in a statement Saturday he was determined to try to "end the war" and press for negotiations. He also addressed Daglo directly saying "Sudan's stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army". The integration of the RSF into the regular armed forces has been the main bone of contention between Daglo and Burhan. The force, which traces its origins to the notorious Janjaweed militia recruited in the early 2000s to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups in Darfur, is highly mobile but has a reputation for being ill-disciplined. Its fighters have been accused of carrying out widespread break-ins and looting, including at diplomatic missions and aid group offices. 'Maximum restraint' On Saturday, Qatar's embassy was the latest diplomatic mission to be attacked, drawing condemnation from Doha. "The State of Qatar condemned in the strongest terms the irregular armed forces' storming and vandalising its embassy building in Khartoum," the foreign ministry said. "The embassy staff had previously been evacuated and... none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm," the ministry said. It renewed calls for "an immediate halt to the fighting in Sudan, exercising maximum restraint... and sparing civilians the consequences of the fighting". The embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under attack in recent weeks. Saturday's attack came a day after Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Saudi Arabia urged Sudan's feuding generals to halt the fighting. There have been multiple failed truce efforts since the fighting started, and representatives of both sides have been holding talks in Saudi Arabia. Asked about those talks, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Friday that the focus was "on reaching a truce that allows Sudanese civilians to take a breather". Although the main fighting is being played out in Khartoum, the violence has also spread to the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, where the RSF has its roots. In South Darfur capital Nyala, fighting since Thursday has killed 22 people forcing civilians to flee for safer areas as shells crash on their homes, the bar association in Darfur has said. On Friday, UN aid chief Martin Griffith said he was allocating $22 million in emergency funds to help Sudanese fleeing the violence. The funds will help relief efforts in Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt and South Sudan where Sudanese have sought refuge, he said. The United States promised $103 million for Sudan and neighbouring countries to support displaced people. *This story was edited by Ahram Online Search Keywords: Short link: Bengaluru, May 21 : Heavy rains in Bengaluru claimed the life of a woman software professional on Sunday. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who visited the hospital, has ordered an investigation into the allegations of medical negligence. He also held an emergency meeting with Bengaluru Police Commissioner and Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and gave instructions to them to immediately take precautions. The deceased is identified as Bhanurekha, 22, an employee of Infosys. The incident had taken place at the underpass of K.R. Circle in the Central Business District of Bengaluru. According to police, the victim was travelling in the car with family when the vehicle got stuck in the water accumulated in the underpass. Bhanurekha turned serious as the water gushed into the vehicle. She was rescued and shifted to the hospital by authorities. Though she was taken to St Martha's Hospital, the staff allegedly did not attend them immediately and showed negligence. When the media who arrived to the spot questioned authorities, the hospital staff moved the girl into the hospital. There was a delay of 30 minutes. Bhanurekha succumbed as treatment failed later. Siddaramaiah rushed to the spot and spoke to the family of the deceased girl. "The girl who fell sick has died. She is from Vijayawada and called her family to Bengaluru for sight-seeing. As there was heavy sudden downpour, the underpass got filled with water. "The allegations of medical negligence will be probed. The hospital authorities are claiming that they have not shown negligence. If their negligence is found, the action would be initiated against them," Siddaramaiah stated. The government has given Rs 5 lakh compensation to the deceased's family. The family members who fell sick would be given treatment free of cost, he said. Former CM Basavaraj Bommai stated that the new Congress government must give directions to BBMP officers to take precautionary measures to prevent such tragedies. Port Moresby: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, upon his arrival in Port Moresby on Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo: IANS/VIdeo Grab) Image Source: IANS News Port Moresby: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, upon his arrival in Port Moresby on Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo: IANS/VIdeo Grab) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, May 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Papua New Guinea and received a warm welcome by his counterpart James Marape, who touched his feet. The Prime Minister arrived Papua New Guinea on his second leg of three-nation tour after attending G7 Summit in Japan's Hiroshima. After his arrival he received a warm welcome by the Prime MinisterA In a tweet, Modi said, "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit." Even the BJP shared the video of PM Marape touching Modi's feet, saying: "As a mark of respect, the PM of Papua New Guinea touches the feet of PM Modi." PM Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea is the first-ever tour by any Indian Prime Minister to the Pacific island country. Upon his arrival in Port Moresby, PM Modi was accorded welcome in an exceptional gesture. The Prime Minister was also welcomed by the Indian community. In a tweet, Modi said, "The Indian community in Papua New Guinea came in large numbers and showed remarkable affection. Thankful to them for the memorable welcome." After his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will travel to Sydney at the invitation of his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. New Delhi, May 21 : A speeding BMW car that was being driven by a woman has crushed a man to death here in west Delhi's Moti Nagar area, an official said on Sunday. The incident took place at around 4 a.m. near Fun Cinema crossing. The speeding BMW car first hit the scooty that was being ridden by the 36-year-old man, then collided with a generator at the roadside, before coming to a halt. Though the police arrested the woman, she was later reportedly released on bail. The police said that the deceased -- identified as Ajay Gupta, used to run a grocery shop, and the woman is an architect. According to the police, Gupta was on his way home after taking medicines from a hospital while the woman behind the wheels of the BMW was returning to her home in Ashok Vihar after attending a party in Greater Kailash. A senior police officer said that the police received a call about the incident at around 4.08 a.m. The caller said that a BMW car crushed a scooty rider near Moti Nagar Metro Station and Fun Cinema. A police team that went to the spot found two vehicles in a damaged condition. The police said that neither the driver of the BMW car nor the victim, who was on the scooty, were found there. "A generator was spotted there in a damaged state as it was also hit by the BMW car. Police were told that the victim was taken to a nearby hospital. On reaching there, the police learnt that the driver of the BMW car had taken the man to the hospital. Later, the man was shifted to another hospital where he was declared dead," a police officer said. Soon after the incident, a number of people assembled at the spot and raised slogans against the police and the accused. The police said that initially, they filed a case under Sections 279, 337 of the Indian Penal Code in this regard. Later, Section 304A was also added to the case. Bhubaneswar, May 21 : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is all set to make a minor reshuffle in his cabinet on Monday. According to sources in the know of things, Patnaik is going to induct three new ministers in his cabinet following the resignation of two ministers and the murder of then Health Minister Naba Kishore Das. Three senior MLAs, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Sarada Nayak and Sudam Marndi are likely to be inducted into the Cabinet, the source said. Phone calls have been stated to be made to the three senior BJD MLAs to remain present at the Swearing-in Ceremony, the source informed. Notably, Assembly Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha along with two Ministers, Samir Ranjan Dash (School and Mass Education) and Srikanta Sahu (Labour and Employees' State Insurance) resigned from their positions on May 12. Besides, the murder of Naba Das has created three vacancies in the Cabinet. The Odisha Council of Ministers can have 22 ministers, including the Chief Minister, but now has 19 ministers. A source on Sunday said that the Chief Minister may also make changes to the portfolios of some ministers after the Swearing-in ceremony. However, the name of the next Speaker of the Assembly has not been cleared yet. The probable names for Speaker's posts making the rounds are -- Prafulla Samal, Debi Prasad Mishra, Amar Prasad Satpathy, Snehangini Chhuria and Badri Narayan Patra. Meanwhile, Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal, who was out of station, reached Bhubaneswar on Sunday evening. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had earlier effected a complete reshuffle of his Cabinet last time in June 2022. Gandhinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the inauguration of the organic testing laboratory of Amul Fed Dairy, in Gandhinagar, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News Gandhinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the inauguration of the organic testing laboratory of Amul Fed Dairy, in Gandhinagar, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News Gandhinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the inauguration of the organic testing laboratory of Amul Fed Dairy, in Gandhinagar, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News Gandhinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the inauguration of the organic testing laboratory of Amul Fed Dairy, in Gandhinagar, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News Ahmedabad, May 21 : Home Minister Amit Shah who was on a visit to his home state, Gujarat, has praised Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel for his "work efficiency". "Bhupendra Patel has adopted the technique of getting work done without speaking a lot about it. I am surprised at how, whenever I send a letter to his office about proposals for any projects, in just a week, I get the confirmation letter," Shah said. During his visit to Gujarat, from going to Devbhoomi Dwarka to pray to Dwarkadhish to inaugurating projects worth crores of rupees, Amit Shah did it all. He also travelled to Devbhoomi Dwarka, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. On Sunday, he inaugurated six projects, including Rashtriya Mahasammelan at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial at Shahibaug. He also laid the foundation and inaugurated various projects in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gandhinagar. While inaugurating development works of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, he said: "As a Home Minister, I have travelled a lot in the country and I have observed that if the ministers in other states do (work on) projects of around Rs 25-30 crore, it's considered a big deal. Under Bhupendrabhai we can easily have projects of Rs 300 crore. And it still does not look like a big deal! There is not even a month in Gandhinagar when projects of Rs 100 crore aren't done/inaugurated." He also said that in the last four years in Gandhinagar, projects worth Rs 16,563 crore were successfully completed. Among them, projects of over Rs 13,000 crore were already inaugurated. Earlier on Saturday, while laying the foundation of projects in Gandhinagar, he said: "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put such a system in place that when he was here, there were 'vikas' (development) but even in his absence, the 'vikas' continues. The system has been in place for over 10 years now." During his visit, he inaugurated projects such as a parking facility at a shopping centre in Sector 21, and renovation of eight parks. New Delhi, May 21 : Neeva, which challenged Google search engine, is winding up operations as Founders Sridhar Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan admitted that they had faced significant challenges attracting new users. The founders wrote in a blog post that they started Neeva with the mission to take search back to its users. "Having worked on search and search ads for over a decade, we sincerely believed that there was space for a model of search that put user and not advertiser interests first - a private, ads-free experience, the added. But throughout this journey, "we've discovered that it is one thing to build a search engine, and an entirely different thing to convince regular users of the need to switch to a better choice". These headwinds, combined with the different economic environment, have made it clear that there is no longer a path towards creating a sustainable business in consumer search. "As a result, over the next few weeks, we will be shutting down neeva.com and our consumer search product, and shifting to a new area of focus," said the founders. Founded in 2019, Neeva launched an ad-free, subscription-only search engine in the US two years ago, before adding a free tier. Neeva had reached more than 600,000 users. However, according to the founders, from the unnecessary friction required to change default search settings, to the challenges in helping people understand the difference between a search engine and a browser, "acquiring users has been really hard". If you have a paid subscription to Neeva Premium, you will receive a refund for the unused portion of your subscription. "Over the past year, we've seen the clear, pressing need to use LLMs effectively, inexpensively, safely, and responsibly," said the founders. They are actively exploring how "we can apply our search and LLM expertise in these settings, and we will provide updates on the future of our work and our team in the next few weeks". Bhopal, May 21 : In a heart-rendering incident, a man in Madhya Pradesh's Katni mercilessly plucked out the feathers of a national bird peacock, leading to the bird's death while going on to record his cruel act and uploaded the video on social media. In the viral video, reported to have been shot in a village in Katni, around 400 km from Bhopal on Sunday, the man could be seen plucking out the majestic bird's feathers as his friend watched while a song played in the background. The video created an uproar on social media where some animal activists demanded immediate action against the person. Following this, the Forest Department swing into action and has lodged a complaint in the matter at local police station. A local Forest Department officer, speaking to IANS over phone, said the accused has been identified as Atul Kumar on the basis of his bike's number and location. However, when a team of local police reached to his residence, he wasn't found there. The official also said that the video was uploaded on social media platform on Sunday. Divisional Forest Officer Gaurav Sharma, meanwhile, said that a case has been registered under the Wildlife Act and the Forest Department team, with along with the local police, was searching for the accused person. Bhopal, May 21 : In the run-up to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the state's ruling BJP is witnessing several jolts as disgruntled leaders continued to shift to the Congress. More worryingly, cracks are surfacing within the old-time BJP families as the brother of Pradeep Lariya - the three-time BJP MLA from Naryawali-SC seat of Sagar district joined the Congress along with hundreds of his supporters. Hemant Lariya was reportedly disappointed with the state BJP leadership after he was denied a ticket for municipal election from Makronia in Naryawali in June last year. On Sunday, he joined the Congress here in presence of state party chief Kamal Nath and senior leader Digvijaya Singh. After joining the Congress, Lariya launched a scathing attack at the BJP, accusing it of indulging in rampant corruption. "Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan talks about zero tolerance against corruption, but in my Naryawali assembly constituency, one road is built thrice in quick succession," he said while obliquely targeting his own MLA brother. Notably, Naryawali-SC seat in Sagar district, which has been a BJP fort since 2003, has been won since the last three times by Pradip Lariya. This seat is considered among the 66 BJP stronghold assembly segments. Lariya's switchover into the Congress is the fourth major crossover of members from strong saffron party supporting families ahead of the Assembly elections. First, Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav, the son of former BJP MLA Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav of Ashok Nagar district, had joined the Congress earlier on March 22. Following which, former BJP MP Makhansing Solanki (also the uncle of present BJP Rajya Sabha member Sumer Solanki) joined the Congress in April. However, the biggest psychological jolt to the saffron party came on May 6, when former CM Kailash Joshi's son and former minister Deepak Joshi, quit the BJP and joined the Congress. Five months back in December 2022, first-time BJP MP from Guna seat Dr K.P. Singh Yadav's brother Ajay Pal Singh Yadav too had joined the Congress. Bhubaneswar, May 21 : The Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express which was stranded since Sunday evening between Baitarani Road and Manjuri Road stations in Odisha after a big tree fell on the train, causing partial damage on the front portion, resumed its journey at around 9.35 p.m., an official said. A tree fell on the overhead electric line and the train was subsequently hit by it, impacting the overhead electrical equipment. The train, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 18, was halted between Baitarani Road and Manjuri Road at around 4.30 p.m. due to the overhead wire damage, said an official of East Coast Railway. The overhead wire equipment was repaired and a diesel engine was attached to the train from the site till Manjuri Road as the pantograph got entangled with the overhead wire. The train reached Kenduapada at 9.04 p.m. and the diesel engine detached from the train at 9.24 p.m. The Vande Bharat Express left the station without the diesel loco at 9.35 p.m. and crossed Bhadrak station at 9.52 p.m., officials said. Due to the delay in running of the train, Howrah-Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express has been cancelled on May 22 (Monday). New Delhi, May 21 : The police have rescued an Ola bike rider who was kidnapped from the Kashmere Gate ISBT here, and arrested one person in this connection, an official said on Sunday, adding raids were underway to nab two others who are absconding. Raj had come to the ISBT, Kashmere Gate to drop his customer. After a while, three youth, brandishing knives, robbed him of his valuables, and kidnapped him, tied him with his own clothes,and threw him in a ground cavity near the Yamuna river. The kidnappers also demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh and jewellery from his family. A senior police officer said that the police received a call in this regard at Kashmiri Gate Police Station. The caller told the police that his maternal uncle Raj, also known as Shankar, was kidnapped by unknown persons who were demanding Rs 2 lakh and gold jewellery. The kidnappers had also threatened the Raj's family not to inform the police or else they would kill him. "Keeping in view of the gravity of the crime, all police personnel were asked to wear plain clothes to avoid any mis-hap with the victim. All logistics were also taken to deal with any incident," the police said. The kidnappers instructed the victim's family to meet them near a Hanuman temple and were changing their location frequently to avoid the police. When the victim's family reached near Hanuman temple, they were again instructed to reach near the ISBT. "In the meantime, the police found Raj's motorcycle, a TVS bike, near Kashmere Gate metro station. A youth was seated on that bike and was talking on mobile phone. When he was approached, he tried to flee but was overpowered by the police team," a police officer said. The apprehended youth was identified as Habib. "Habib was asked about Raj but he tried to mislead the police by saying that he had no knowledge about the incident and he was only asked to collect the ransom money," said the official. Raj was eventually traced, and he was found in a semi-conscious state inside a ground cavity. "The victim was brutally beaten up by the kidnappers and his hands and legs were tied with his own clothes. He was immediately rushed to Aruna Asaf Ali Government Hospital, where doctors observed that further delays could have caused any causality," the police officer said. The police recorded the statement of his sister Sunita and lodged a case in this regard. Raj later told the police that when he resisted the robbery attempt, the accused pushed him and fled. However, he followed them and saw them entering a ground cavity. Later, they brutally assaulted him, tied his hands and legs with his own clothes, and left him in the ground cavity. "Habib has been arrested while his aides Rahul and Mansoor Alam are on the run. We are conducting raids to nab them," the police said. Egypt welcomed the signing of a one-week-long ceasefire between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Jeddah, hoping for its extension following its end. Relief work and healing the wounds of bodies and souls need a safe environment even for a week, said Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abu Zeid on Sunday. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia and the US announced in a joint statement that representatives of both Sudanese parties signed an Agreement on a Short-Term Ceasefire and Humanitarian Arrangements in Jeddah. The ceasefire, which is set to come into effect late Monday, shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the agreement of both parties. Under the Agreement, the parties agreed to facilitate the delivery and distribution of humanitarian assistance, restore essential services, and withdraw forces from hospitals and essential public facilities. Moreover, the parties also agreed to facilitate the safe passage of humanitarian actors and commodities, allowing goods to flow unimpeded from ports of entry to populations in need We [Egypt] hope that the truce will be extended after its expiration, in order to reach a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire agreement, Abu Zeid said. The RSF and Sudanese Army will also refrain from using any public amenities for military purposes, the agreement added. The Sudanese forces previously signed another humanitarian commitment -- the Jeddah Declaration -- to preserve civilian lives earlier this month. Clashes, however, have continued with airstrikes continuing to shake the Sudanese capital Khartoum as recently as Saturday. Search Keywords: Short link: Bhopal, May 21 : Former Union Minister Uma Bharti was admitted to a hospital late on Saturday night after she felt unwell, the ex-Madhya Pradesh chief minister said in a Twitter post on Sunday. The 64-year-old Bharti tweeted: "Last night around 11 o'clock, I was taken to the Smart City Hospital near my residence when I suddenly fell ill. In all my tests, I was found to be healthy but extremely tired and weak." "According to doctors, the only treatment is bed rest for a few months. You (addressing the netizens) please don't forget that I have worked hard in public life since I was 6 years of age, i.e. almost 55 years," she wrote on Twitter. Union Minister for Civil Aviation and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on late Sunday evening posted on Twitter that he had received information about the ill health of Uma Bharti. "Learnt that former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and member of my family, respected Uma Bharti is unwell. I pray to God for her speedy recovery," Scindia wrote on his official Twitter handle. Tehran, May 22 : Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib has said that a "terrorist team linked to Israel" was arrested on Iran's western border, according to the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary. Khatib made the remarks on Sunday at a conference in Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad, elaborating on the achievements of the Iranian security and intelligence forces in foiling hostile plots against the country's national security. He added the "terror" group had entered the country through the western border, without revealing the timing of the arrest or giving any other detail, Xinhua news agency reported. The Minister warned that any attempt to cause insecurity in Iran or along the country's borders will receive a "decisive and crushing" response from the Iranian armed forces and security apparatuses. Khatib expressed hope that Iran would be able to ensure full security along the western border and prevent the recurrence of such incidents in cooperation with the Iraqi government. Israeli media, including the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post, reported the Iranian Minister's remarks. The Israeli authority has yet to respond to it. New Delhi, May 22 : Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has said he is ready to undergo a narco test or a lie-detector test, amid allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him. However, the BJP MP on Sunday made it clear that wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat will also have to undergo it. Taking to Facebook, Brij Bhushan wrote, "If both the wrestlers (Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat) are ready to get their test done, then call the press and announce. I promise that I am also ready if they are." Bajrang and Vinesh are among the grapplers who have been protesting against Brij Bhushan for his alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers. They have been protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar since April 23 demanding his arrest. Hiroshima, May 22 : As more protesters took to the streets, G7 nations wrapped up their three-day gathering here, vowing to escalate sanctions against Russia amid the Ukraine crisis. Following days of protests, hundreds of demonstrators from home and abroad on Sunday rallied against the G7 leaders' communique and other documents adopted by the summit in Hiroshima, a city once devasted by US atomic bombing during World War II, Xinhua news agency reported. Placards and banners that read "No War-themed Conference," "Hands off on Ukraine," and "No to Japan-US military alliance" were spotted in Fukuromachi Park, where the protesters were gathering on Sunday morning, not far from the Peace Memorial Park that was shut due to the summit leaders' visit. Chanting slogans such as "No to War" and "Smash the G7 Hiroshima Summit," they rallied along the main streets in Hiroshima, crowded by hundreds of riot police officers. They ran into physical conflict with the police in a downtown high street, where one of the protesters was arrested, but continued with the rally minutes later. "To summarise, it is never a peaceful summit," Ryo Miyahara, head of a Hiroshima citizens' group and the protest's organizer, told Xinhua at the demonstration site. Several protesters, in their public speeches during Sunday's protest, accused the G7 Hiroshima Summit of being a war-themed conference sponsored by the US-promoted hegemonism in its essence, and that the Japanese government is ruthlessly trampling on the views of atomic bombing victims and local residents by holding such a meeting in Hiroshima. "We will not tolerate such a summit," they added. While vowing to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes," in the final joint statement, the G7 nations, with the US taking the lead, announced specific measures to sanction Russia in a standalone statement on Ukraine on Friday, prior to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's in-person visit starting Saturday. US President Joe Biden, on Sunday evening, announced a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth $375 million after Biden and Zelensky met on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The G7 comprises the US, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada and Japan. Leaders from South Korea, Brazil, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Comoros, Cook Islands and some international organisations were invited to the three-day gathering. Colombo, May 22 : President Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured that Sri Lanka would be able to complete the ongoing debt restructuring programme by September and bring the economy to a stable level. The President has said that he took over the bankrupt country and brought its economy to a stable state by going to the IMF. "The IMF had imposed tough conditions on us. But we had no other options," said Wickremesinghe, who is also the Finance Minister had introduced severe tax hikes and other hard financial decision to please the IMF. He urged all Sri Lankans to work towards getting out of bankruptcy. "In the past, after Sri Lanka was declared a bankrupt country, no investors came to the country. Former investors left the country. In such an environment, foreign investors are not interested in providing aid to Sri Lanka," Wickremesinghe added. Facing the worst-ever economic crisis, Sri Lanka in April 2022 suspended the repayment of foreign debts and requested the IMF to intervene. The IMF offered a $3 billion conditional bailout package to be paid in parts for four years and the package is also to help reduce Indian Ocean island nation's debt by $17 billion through restructuring. Co-chaired by India, Japan and France, and Paris Club creditors, 17 countries have formally formed an official creditor committee to discuss Sri Lanka's request for a debt treatment. China, Sri Lanka's biggest bilateral creditor, stands as an observer. Komaio Airport, Komaio, Papua New Guinea [ KCJ / ] If you are planning to travel to Komaio or any other city in Papua New Guinea, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Komaio Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Komaio Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Papua New Guinea. Komaio Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided. Komaio Airport Info: Komaio Airport IATA Code: KCJ Komaio Airport ICAO Code: Latitude : -7.21667 Longitude : 143.6 City : Komaio Country : Papua New Guinea World Area Code : 804 Airport Type : Small Timezone : Pacific/Port_Moresby Komaio Airport Timezone : GMT +10:00 hours Current time and date at Komaio Airport is 12:44:05 PM (+10) on Sunday, May 28, 2023 Looking for information on Komaio Airport, Komaio, Papua New Guinea? Know about Komaio Airport in detail. Find out the location of Komaio Airport on Papua New Guinea map and also find out airports near to Komaio. This airport locator is a very useful tool for travelers to know where is Komaio Airport located and also provide information like hotels near Komaio Airport, airlines operating to Komaio Airport etc... IATA Code and ICAO Code of all airports in Papua New Guinea. Scroll down to know more about Komaio Airport or Komaio Airport, Papua New Guinea. Komaio Airport Map - Location of Komaio Airport Load Map Papua New Guinea - General Information Country Formal Name Independent State of Papua New Guinea Country Code PG Capital Port Moresby Currency Kina (PGK) 1 PGK = 0.284 USD 1 USD = 3.52 PGK 1 PGK = 0.265 EUR 1 EUR = 3.777 PGK More PGK convertion rates Tel Code +675 Top Level Domain .pg This page provides all the information you need to know about Komaio Airport, Papua New Guinea. This page is created with the aim of helping travelers and tourists visiting Papua New Guinea or traveling to Komaio Airport. Details about Komaio Airport given here include Komaio Airport Code - IATA Code (3 letter airport codes) and ICAO Code (4 letter airport codes) Coordinates of Komaio Airport - Latitude and Longitude (Lat and Long) of Komaio Airport Location of Komaio Airport - City Name, Country, Country Codes etc... Komaio Airport Time Zone and Current time at Komaio Airport Address and contact details of Komaio Airport along with website address of the airport Clickable Location Map of Komaio Airport on Google Map. General information about Papua New Guinea where Komaio Airport is located in the city of Komaio. General information include capital of Papua New Guinea, currency and conversion rate of Papua New Guinea currency, Telephone Country code, exchange rate against US Dollar and Euro in case of major world currencies etc... KCJ - Komaio Airport IATA Code Weam Airport, Weam, Papua New Guinea [ WEP / ] If you are planning to travel to Weam or any other city in Papua New Guinea, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Weam Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Weam Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Papua New Guinea. Weam Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided. Weam Airport Info: Weam Airport IATA Code: WEP Weam Airport ICAO Code: Latitude : -8.66667 Longitude : 141.136 City : Weam Country : Papua New Guinea World Area Code : 804 Airport Type : Small Timezone : Pacific/Port_Moresby Weam Airport Timezone : GMT +10:00 hours Current time and date at Weam Airport is 12:44:06 PM (+10) on Sunday, May 28, 2023 Looking for information on Weam Airport, Weam, Papua New Guinea? Know about Weam Airport in detail. Find out the location of Weam Airport on Papua New Guinea map and also find out airports near to Weam. This airport locator is a very useful tool for travelers to know where is Weam Airport located and also provide information like hotels near Weam Airport, airlines operating to Weam Airport etc... IATA Code and ICAO Code of all airports in Papua New Guinea. Scroll down to know more about Weam Airport or Weam Airport, Papua New Guinea. Weam Airport Map - Location of Weam Airport Load Map Papua New Guinea - General Information Country Formal Name Independent State of Papua New Guinea Country Code PG Capital Port Moresby Currency Kina (PGK) 1 PGK = 0.284 USD 1 USD = 3.52 PGK 1 PGK = 0.265 EUR 1 EUR = 3.777 PGK More PGK convertion rates Tel Code +675 Top Level Domain .pg This page provides all the information you need to know about Weam Airport, Papua New Guinea. This page is created with the aim of helping travelers and tourists visiting Papua New Guinea or traveling to Weam Airport. Details about Weam Airport given here include Weam Airport Code - IATA Code (3 letter airport codes) and ICAO Code (4 letter airport codes) Coordinates of Weam Airport - Latitude and Longitude (Lat and Long) of Weam Airport Location of Weam Airport - City Name, Country, Country Codes etc... Weam Airport Time Zone and Current time at Weam Airport Address and contact details of Weam Airport along with website address of the airport Clickable Location Map of Weam Airport on Google Map. General information about Papua New Guinea where Weam Airport is located in the city of Weam. General information include capital of Papua New Guinea, currency and conversion rate of Papua New Guinea currency, Telephone Country code, exchange rate against US Dollar and Euro in case of major world currencies etc... WEP - Weam Airport IATA Code Turkey's presidential election is being anxiously watched by Kurds in Syria and Iraq as economic interests compete with fears of a regional military escalation against some Kurdish groups. The long-running and deadly conflict between Ankara and militant groups from the ethnic Kurdish minority has spilled across the borders of both Iraq and Syria. But Turkey is also a major economic partner, especially for northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish province which has long exported oil through a pipeline that runs through Turkey and has trade ties worth billions. "Economically, there are mutual benefits," said Iraqi political scientist Mohamed Ezzedine. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, having governed for 20 years, has fostered key strategic links with Iraqi Kurdistan's President Nechirvan Barzani who has been in power for three decades. After the first round of elections, as votes were still being counted, Barzani called Erdogan, the Turkish "reis" (chief), to express "confidence and optimism" he would defeat challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu. But some Kurds in Iraq and across the border in Syria fear an Erdogan victory will see a military escalation in their home regions. Fighting between Ankara's army and Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militants from Turkey has for decades spilled over into Iraqi Kurdistan, a rugged mountain region where both sides operate military bases -- with civilians often caught in the crossfire. In northeast Syria, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have established a semi-autonomous administration amid the chaos of the long-running civil war, and the group is backed by the United States as part of an anti-jihadist coalition. Ankara, however, considers them an extension of the PKK, which is labelled a terrorist group by Turkey and its key Western allies, and has waged successive military campaigns against them. 'Mutual benefits' Despite the conflict's impact in Iraqi Kurdistan, the region also benefits from its neighbour, with trade ties worth an estimated $12 billion in 2022. Many local businesses would like to keep things the way they are. "Since Erdogan became president, we have been satisfied," said Ahmed Krouanji, who runs a shop in Arbil's market. "There is a lot of trade with Turkey, the economic situation has improved." Others express views reflecting solidarity with Kurds across the border. An Erdogan victory "is not in the interests of the Kurds of Turkey", said Ali Khodr, a man aged in his thirties. Turkey's leading pro-Kurdish party, the People's Democratic Party, denounces Ankara's persecution of its Kurdish minority and backs Kilicdaroglu. But the only consolation for the president's opponents after first-round voting that delivered the incumbent a comfortable lead, was that for the first time, Erdogan has been forced into a runoff. Over two decades, Arbil's leaders have forged close ties with the Turkish president, who receives Nechirvan Barzani and his cousin, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, on their regular visits to Ankara. "The government of Kurdistan has always tried to have good relations with Turkey, which is their gateway to the rest of the world," said Ezzedine. "This affinity was built on economic foundations." For years, direct sales of crude to Turkey, without approval from Iraq's federal government, were the economic lifeblood of Kurdistan. A legal dispute between Baghdad and Ankara has interrupted the trade, but it is expected to resume once technical and financial details are settled. 'Start from scratch' Some fear that a victory for Erdogan risks escalating Turkey's battle with the PKK, a conflict that has raged since 1984 and killed tens of thousands inside Turkey and extended into northern Iraq and Syria. The conflict could intensify if Erdogan is elected to another five-year term, said academic Kamel Omar from Sulaimaniyah, the second biggest city in Iraqi Kurdistan. "The Turkish army will expand its military influence in Kurdistan and penetrate more deeply into the autonomous region," he predicted. A similar scenario may loom in northeastern Syria where Turkey's successive campaigns against the YPG have already forced the Kurdish fighters away from border areas. "We are afraid that Erdogan will stay in power," Sardar Abbas, a teacher in the Syrian town of Qamishli, told AFP, adding that he fears the threat of "other attacks". "It would be a disaster for our regions," he said. He worries that defeat of the YPG would spark an exodus of Syria's Kurds, who painstakingly fought for their semi-autonomous status. "It would mean to start from scratch," he said. Search Keywords: Short link: USA passenger rail operator Amtrak has announced a new, premium dining menu for First-Class passengers on its Acela trains travelling on the Northeast Corridor between Boston Massachusetts and Washington D.C. Passengers in Acela First Class will be able to enjoy a rotating selection of new signature dishes from STARR Restaurant Groups' renowned Northeast Corridor-based eateries, including Buddakan's Black Pepper Beef (pictured below) and The Continental Mid-Town's Chilled Sesame Noodles. STARR Restaurant Group is led by James Beard award-winning restaurateur Stephen Starr, and runs many outlines in the areas that Amtrak's Northeast Corridor travels through. Earlier this month, Amtrak announced that its trains will now be running faster on the Northeast Corridor, as it gained official approval to increase their maximum speed. Acela has upgraded its wine list to include Pommery Champagne, Justin Sauvignon Blanc, Landmark Pinot Noir and Daou Rose. For those travelling in the morning travellers will have the opportunity to eat pastries freshly delivered by local bakeries. Amtrak has also worked to improve the calibre of food and beverages for its customers at Amtrak's Moynihan Train Hall Metropolitan Lounge, having introduced new cafe menus on the Northeast Corridor and at other Amtrak Metropolitan Lounges through its food and beverage partner, Aramark. The Amtrak Bidup program allows Acela passengers who already hold tickets to bid on an upgrade to First Class, dependant on space and availability. Amtrak believes that the introduction of these sophisticated new offerings from STARR Restaurants, along with Acela's upgraded wine list, brings the First Class food and beverage service to the next level. Amtrak Vice President Customer Service Stations and Onboard Robert Jordan said, Amtrak is pleased to partner with STARR Restaurant Group on new, premium meals designed to enhance the customer experience onboard Acela First Class. Incorporating the STARR touch on our menus helps us deliver the world-class journey our customers expect, and our latest food and beverage offerings are sure to surprise and delight. Restaurateur Stephen Starr said, I've worked on some really cool projects outside the walls of our restaurants, but the opportunity to collaborate on a premium dining menu for Amtrak's Acela First Class might be my favourite project thus far. I've always loved train travel and I'm a frequent Acela First Class customer on the Philly to NYC segment, as are many of our guests. I'm excited to offer my fellow travellers restaurant-quality meals inspired by our popular restaurants in Philly and New York. Victoria Fuller / Instagram By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/21/2023 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. alum Victoria Fuller and The Bachelorette alum Greg Grippo just enjoyed an off-the-grid vacation to reset their romance.Victoria recently took to Instagram and posted a slideshow of photos with Greg from their fun-filled, playful trip to Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.Victoria captioned the photos of selfies, hot dogs, beer, rides and fireworks, "Disney adults!"Victoria also let her followers know on Instagram Stories that this vacation with Greg was intended to bring them closer together -- not for the public's enjoyment."Took some time off from Insta to just enjoy life a little, but we're back baby!!! I'm about to post a photo dump on stories with everything we've been doing, missed y'all!" Victoria wrote earlier this week, according to BachelorNation.com."Sometimes being on socials is a lot and you forget to just enjoy one another," she continued."Both of our jobs require us to be on our phones a lot, but we decided we just wanted to enjoy the experience and truly be on 'vacation.' We go a lot of places but we're still constantly working."Victoria -- a Nashville resident who has traveled to Italy, France and across the United States with Greg, who lives in New York -- concluded, "Florida was a good reset to love on one another and be present."Victoria and Greg attended a Taylor Swift concert together earlier this month, and they've also been house hunting together in Nashville, where Greg promised to move for his girlfriend once their relationship got serious.Last month, Greg revealed he could see himself marrying Victoria and welcoming children together within the next five years.And Victoria, who most recently appeared on 's eighth season last year, seems smitten with her man, who initially competed on Katie Thurston 's season of The Bachelorette.Greg and Victoria have apparently been going strong ever since meeting each other's loved ones around Christmas in December 2022.Greg and Victoria first met at Governors Ball Music Festival in Summer 2021 and remained friends for nearly a year.The couple told Nick Viall in December on "The Viall Files" podcast that they had mutual interest in each other but never acted on those feelings, especially since Victoria wanted to appear on in June 2022 and Greg was in a relationship with a woman overseas at that point.Victoria therefore looked for love on Paradise, and she fell hard and fast for Johnny DePhillipo , who initially competed for Gabby Windey 's heart on The Bachelorette's nineteenth season.Victoria and Johnny got engaged on 's eighth season, but the couple split shortly after filming the finale.Victoria alleged Johnny had called her terrible names -- including a "f-cking c-nt" and "homewrecker," which Johnny denied and called "low blows" -- and Johnny claimed Victoria was jealous and "heartbroken" over his The Bachelorette stint, which was airing on television while they were secretly engaged.Johnny also said Victoria demanded a lifestyle he wasn't ready for yet and their differences were glaring.According to Victoria, she and Johnny ended their engagement three weeks after Johnny's marriage proposal because their dynamic was "toxic." But Johnny believes his relationship with Victoria didn't officially end until mid-September considering they were allegedly still speaking and going to therapy before Victoria enjoyed a surprising European getaway with Greg in late October.Fans first spotted Victoria and Greg, and suspected a romance, during their time in Italy.Because of how quickly Victoria moved on from Johnny, the brunette beauty was accused of cheating on her then-fiance with Greg.Victoria and Greg also flirted on social media as reports swirled about Victoria and Johnny's split.Victoria said that Greg officially asked her to be his girlfriend on Halloween, and then Victoria went public with her new relationship on November 4, when the reunion special taped.'s reunion aired in late November, and fans were shocked to see Victoria and Greg so affectionate and carefree about their relationship. Victoria claimed she didn't care what anyone thought of her because she was so happy with Greg."I'm completely in love with her , like, head over heels in love with her," Greg said on Nick's podcast.On his podcast, Nick playfully asked Greg if he was ready to propose marriage to Victoria."Stay tuned!" Victoria teased."I mean, we both want that in life," Greg interjected, "she's my person."Victoria agreed that Greg is her "person" as well, and then Greg added, "I haven't felt -- I don't want to say 'content,' that's not the right word because it sounds boring. But I think there's a certain beauty with being content with someone."Greg said he could just sit in a room with Victoria for days on end and they wouldn't get sick of each other."We're growing day by day, and I see it going that route," Greg gushed. "I want that and I know that that's important to her, and I want to be able to take that step with her."Victoria was clearly getting choked up and she said, "I'm going to cry."Prior to appearing on Paradise, Victoria competed for Peter Weber on The Bachelor's 24th season and finished in third place after Fantasy Suites.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group Egyptian expats remittances from Arab countries declined in fiscal year 2021/2022, while trade with these same countries increased over the 2022 calendar year, according to a statement from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on Sunday. Remittances by Egyptian expatriates in the Arab world declined to $21.5 billion in fiscal year 2021/2022, down 1.8 percent from the previous year. Egyptian expats Saudi Arabia transferred $10.9 billion, the highest number among Egyptian workers in the Arab world. Expats in Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar, meanwhile, transferred $4.5 billion, $3.5 billion, and $1.2 billion, respectively. Remittances are one of Egypts key sources of foreign currency along with exports, tourism and the Suez Canal. Trade with Arab world increases The trade exchange between Egypt and the Arab world increased by 16.4 percent to $29 billion in CY2022 from $25 billion in CY2021. Egypt's exports to Arab countries rose by 10 percent annually over the same time period, reaching $12.2 billion. Saudi Arabia ranked first among Arab importers of Egyptian products in CY2022, with a total value of $2.5 billion. The UAE was second with $1.9 billion in imports, followed by Libya ($1.2 billion), Sudan ($930 million) and Morocco ($880 million). Saudi Arabia was also the top Arab exporter to Egypt over the same period, with a total value of $7.9 billion, followed by Kuwait with $3.3 billion worth of products. The UAE ranked third with $2.9 billion in exports, Oman fourth with $879 million in exports, and Bahrain fifth with $507 million. Arab investment in Egypt During FY2021/2022, the UAE was the source of most Arab investments in Egypt, with a value of $10 billion. Meanwhile, Saudi investments in Egypt reached $8.5 billion, while Qatari, Bahraini, and Kuwaiti investments amounted to $3.1 billion, $410.2 million, and $332.9 million, respectively. According to CAPMAS' data, Egyptian residents in Arab countries numbered 7.1 million by the end of 2021. First six months of FY2022/2023 Egypt's non-oil trade balance deficit decreased by around $6.5 billion to $17.3 billion in the first half of FY2022/2023, compared to around $23.8 billion in the comparative period the year before. The Central Bank of Egypts data also showed that remittances from Egyptian expats declined by 23 percent to $12 billion in H1 FY2022/2023 from around $15.6 billion a year earlier. Egypt's balance of payments witnessed an improvement in the first quarter of FY2022/2023 (July-September), as the current account deficit has narrowed by 20.2 percent to post $3.2 billion compared to $4 billion in the same period of the preceding fiscal year. Search Keywords: Short link: This weekend's Google Doodle is a colorful game in which users identify axolotls and learn fun facts about this species of salamander that only lives in the water. ADVERTISEMENT Players will learn that these amphibians, who are native to Mexico, do not have eyelids so they sleep with their eyes open, and can breathe in or out of the water. They also live up to 15 years, never lose their baby larva attributes and can regenerate their limbs. These animals also have the ability to change their colors to blend into their environments. Axolotls were placed on the critically endangered species list in 2008. The Doodle by artist Helen Leroux is intended to celebrate Lake Xochimilco, a natural lake near Mexico City, which is the last remaining native habitat for axolotls in the world. It is also a popular destination for rowing and kayaking. "The lake was once home to the ancient Aztec civilization during the 15th century, and eventually landowners in the colonial period took over occupation of the lake," Google said on its website Saturday. "On this day in 1920, the Mexican government returned Lake Xochimilco back to the locals. Lake Xochimilco now serves as a recreational site, cultural attraction, and home to the rare axolotl species," the statement added. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! "Due to Lake Xochimilco's unique landscape, local farmers adopted the ancient chinampa farming method, which involves artificial floating gardens. These chinamperos (or farmers) grow hundreds of different aquatic plants, from common vegetables to medicinal herbs, in the nutrient-rich soil." The last word may not have been said on the churnings within the Pakistan army or the extent to which army chief General Asim Munir is in control, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency. IMAGE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan virtually addresses the nation, May 15, 2023. Photograph: PTI Photo Mystery continues about who is in command at IV Corps, Lahore, even after Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir visited the ravaged site of the corps commander's residence and addressed officers and other ranks of the garrison on May 20. Contrary to usual practice, the Inter Services Public Relations press release covering the visit tersely mentioned that General Munir was received by the corps commander. No name was given. There are a lot of rumours swirling in Pakistan over what has been happening after the unprecedented storming of Jinnah House and the virtual laying down of arms by the incumbent corps commander, Lieutenant General Salman Fayyaz Ghani, Frontier Force Regiment, on May 9. Apparently, Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik, 12 Baloch and sword of honour, 80th Pakistan military academy (PMA) long course, currently adjutant general, was sounded to go as the new IV Corps Commander. He reportedly declined. The next offer was made to Lieutenant General Fayyaz Hussain Shah, Sindh regiment, also of 80PMA, who was serving as inspector general, arms, at the Pakistan army's General Headquarters. He was reported to have taken over. However, the list of Pakistan three star generals available on open media platforms now shows Lieutenant General Syed Aamer Raza, Armoured Corps (6 Lancers), 80th PMA, erstwhile chairman, Heavy Industries, Taxila as the new IV Corps Commander, Lahore. His place has been taken by Major General Shakirullah Khattak, Armoured Corps, till lately the deputy director general (analysis) at Inter Services Intelligence. Lieutenant General Fayyaz Hussain Shah is now shown back at his old post as IG, Arms, GHQ. Wheels within wheels about connections of serving generals with senior retired officers seem to be plaguing these transfers. Asim Malik was promoted as lieutenant general under former chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa six months before peers from his batch. He is the son of the well regarded Lieutenant General Ghulam Ahmed Malik (retd). Former Lahore GOC Lieutenant General Salman Fayyaz Ghani, now reportedly facing a court martial, is the son of Brigadier Fayyaz (retd), still alive and well. One of his sisters is a brigadier in the army medical corps. Other brothers, cousins are also reported to be serving in fairly senior positions in the army. Some reports also suggest the new Lahore Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Aamer Raza is from the 22nd officers training school entry stream, army chief General Asim Munir's favoured parent recruitment point, not from the 80th PMA long course. Meanwhile, the crackdown continues against those who actively participated in the May 9 arson and indulged in social media vilification of the army. Among those arrested on May 20 were Salman Shah, former caretaker finance minister of Pakistan, son-in-law of former army chief, the late General Asif Nawaz. His son too was arrested as the authorities were looking for Shah's daughter Khadija, an active pro-Imran social media blogger and fashion designer by profession, who was identified despite wearing a covid type mask. Both were later released ,but significantly, these arrests took place from the late General Asif Nawaz's home inside Lahore cantonment. These are unusual developments in unusual times. The last word may not have been said on the churnings within the Pakistan army or the extent to which army chief General Asim Munir is in control, as he seeks to retain confidence and consensus of his top generals on how to deal with Imran Khan. The Palestinian yearning to return has been represented as a quixotic gesture, an impossible dream, in the face of Israel's efforts to obliterate the past and to massage history to make it serve Israeli interests. Yet for Salman Abu Sitta, a Palestinian, in exile, the true picture of the past must be preserved if it is to come to the aid of the present; the painstaking reconstruction of what happened in 1948 and since must be undertaken to ensure that the aspirations of the defeated live on, despite the brute facts of their exile and dispossession From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998 Issue: 1-7 January 1998 Salman Abu Sitta's first act following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords was to visit his former family home in Beir al-Sabe' (Beersheba) in what is now central Israel. It was his first visit for fifty years, and he took his daughter, Rania, with him. Nine years old in 1948, he and his family had been forced into exile by the establishment of the State of Israel that same year. But in the interim, and for the past 30 years, Abu Sitta has been engaged in the painstaking task of collecting documents and memories about his homeland, both from before and after May 1948. His goal: to ensure that the past lives on in memory, and that one day the approximately 5 million displaced Palestinians may return to their homeland, Palestine. Thus far, friends say, Abu Sitta has put together what they describe as the most valuable, and perhaps unique, collection of documents and papers on Palestine and on land and property ownership there since the beginning of the century. He possess hundreds of maps of Palestine going back to the 19th century, through the establishment of the British mandate in 1917, and after. There are more than 150 eye-witness accounts on video by survivors of the Nakba, or 'Catastrophe', as the Palestinians call the disaster which befell them upon the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 . His aim however is to collect 1,500 such accounts, "three from each of the 532 villages which were depopulated". Such a library of first-hand accounts will, he says, be a powerful tool with which to prevent the obliteration of the past. In the making of these testimonies "we discourage political statements," he says. "We simply ask these witnesses to remember what happened, and what they saw, how many people there were in their villages, how many survived, and so on. Although we already know what happened in 1948, there is still a shiver when we hear the story anew from each new eye witness." Through these accounts and other sources, Abu Sitta has compiled details of the numbers and the names of the Palestinians expelled from their homes in 1948. He has also been able to gain a greater understanding of how these expulsions were carried out. There are other documents in the collection, which he prefers not to make public "at the moment". It has been, after all, through such discretion over the past 30 years that he has been able to put together a collection of rare documents covering different aspects of the history of modern Palestine. The project has several goals. The first of these, he says, is to "revive the collective memory of the Palestinians and the Arabs." And this "should be no mere emotional exercise; it should constitute the core of the Palestinian collective psyche, which can never be erased." Secondly, however, he says that there must come a time when the Israelis themselves will be willing to admit their collective guilt, in the same way in which the Nazis were called upon to admit their crimes against the European Jews. And the collection will help them to do this. Thirdly, the project should serve the Palestinian right to return, a right which Abu Sitta describes as "sacred." "It is both legal and possible," he says with confidence; "there is no doubt that it will happen one way or another. But in order for it to happen, you have first to document your home, your history and your roots." The author of dozens of articles on the right to return, this forms the theme of Abu Sitta's first book, which will appear soon. Abu Sitta remembers his own exile in the following terms: "My family's land and town bears the family name, Maein Abu Sitta (the Abu Sitta springwell), and this appears on all the maps of Palestine from the eighteenth century onwards. I never saw a Jew as a child, and I never knew what one looked like. But in 1948 they came from Poland and from Hungary in bullet-proof cars, with machine-guns and mortars, while we resisted them with Ottoman Turkish guns. We became refugees at the muzzle of the gun." Abu Sitta was at the time a pupil at boarding school in Beir al-Sabe'. He remembers that in April 1948, the Headmaster summoned the boys and told them that the Jews now occupied large areas of central Palestine. "He told us that it would be better if we returned to our families immediately, because he could no longer protect us". So he walked, a nine year old boy with two older relatives, for some 20 km, before being warned that "the Jews" were patrolling the countryside in cars, shooting at anything in sight. They were advised to throw themselves to the ground in the corn fields and smother themselves in dirt should they hear cars approaching. The three made it to their homes, where Abu Sitta spent three days in bed to recover from the ordeal. And soon after the family moved to Gaza and joined the first wave of refugees. "Older people stayed there, while the young travelled further to resume their education or to look for work," he says. At that time, Kuwait was in the early stages of development, and it proved attractive to three of his brothers, who went there to work to support their families. Abu Sitta himself was sent to Helwan near Cairo to resume his schooling. "I remember that as a boy I used to ask myself: what is this faceless enemy who has come from far away to make me a refugee?...I couldn't imagine that these people, or anyone, could have so much hate and animosity in them to kill people, to take away their homes and their right to live." "But the real shock came later when I went to the UK as a young man to continue my post-graduate studies only to find that this crime was hailed as a 'victory for humanity' and a 'miraculous act of God'. I was unable to comprehend how the West could be taken in by the baseless and criminal notion that the crime committed against us was in some way an act of divine redemption," he says. One powerful impetus behind the documentation project has been to correct this misconception. Since he left his homeland, Abu Sitta's dream of returning has never left him. "I have kept in contact with those inside and have closely followed all the news; I have collected maps of Palestine whenever I could find them." Abu Sitta's yearning to see his homeland was so strong that he obtained satellite pictures of Palestine. "I could then see it from the sky, and see what changes had occurred. I could compare these pictures with the older maps or pictures I already had." Through these pictures, he has monitored the changes made to the old roads and alleys and the complete destruction of Palestinian houses and towns. This made it easier for him, when he visited his hometown 47 years later, to find his way, despite all the changes that had taken place. He was even able to locate the sites of his family's house and his school, though the buildings themselves had been destroyed in the interim. "All the houses of our relatives and friends, everything had been destroyed. But because I had learnt every detail by heart, and had the new and the old maps to compare, finding my house and school was easy. But it was painful to see how they had deliberately changed the features of the place. They had chopped the trees down and ploughed the soil in the opposite direction, as part of a studied plan to obliterate all signs of our people." However Abu Sitta carefully documented and videotaped even that first visit. It was Abu Sitta's engineering background that first helped him in his hunt for maps and documents on Palestine. After graduating from Cairo University in 1958, he received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of London. He is the founder and director of a construction and development company that has worked for the World Bank, the Arab Fund, the Kuwait Fund and other organisations in the Middle East and Africa. He is a former member of the Palestine National Council (the Palestinian parliament in exile) and is currently a member of the Geneve-based Palestinian Welfare Association. The documentation process began when he was 30 years old, he says, when he began recording his father's experiences. His father told him about his memories of 1917, when British forces moved into Palestine, which was then under Ottoman rule. "He fought with the Turks --since they were Muslims-- and against the British," Abu Sitta remembers. "My father came to know the Turkish chief of the Beir al-Sabe' garrison many years later, I met the son of this man by chance, and he sent me his father's memoirs from the period, together with many pictures of Beir al-Sabe' dating back to the early years of the century." From then on, one thing lead to another. "It sort of started from there, and it has never stopped. I kept collecting all and any material on every inch of my homeland." But it is still "painful to know that the Palestinians do not yet possess adequate documentation of their version of the story, or of the 1948 Nakba,"he says. In the 1980s, Abu Sitta began examining the documents and maps from Napoleon's expedition to Palestine in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. "Luckily the Europeans are masters of documentation, even the documentation of our countries", he says. Over the years Abu Sitta has collected a wealth of such historical material --such as documents from the Palestine Exploration Fund, which date from 1871 when a group of British scholars travelled to Palestine to survey the Holy land. Under the patronage of Queen Victoria and the then Archbishop of Canterbury, the mission produced 10 volumes of reports and 26 maps, covering all aspects of the people living there at the time, their towns, cities, villages, as well as the natural history of Palestine. "Of the 15,000 names of Palestinians listed in these volumes, not one is Jewish" comments Abu Sitta. "Contrary to prevailing beliefs, this proves that there was then no Jewish population in the place." Although documentation remains a powerful tool in the Palestinian cause, it has, nevertheless, not been accorded priority by Palestinian officials. When asked if he had received financial support from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) for his efforts, Abu Sitta said, "the simple answer is no." Though a wealth of documentation was accumulated during the 1970s up until the 1982 Israeli invasion of the Lebanon, and the subsequent Palestinian expulsion, "unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority has not cared to make use of the massive amount of documents that have been collected, be these title deeds, birth certificates, or whatever." Had the Palestinian leadership not chosen to make the Oslo negotiations secret, Abu Sitta points out, and had made use of documents in the possession of the Palestinian people, then the resulting agreements would have been very different where the rights of the Palestinians were concerned. So why wasn't this project -- of collective memory, of the documentation of the true picture of Palestine -- embarked upon earlier? Why did it take so long to get underway? According to Abu Sitta, the main reason was the aftermath of shock following the 1948 catastrophe. "During the fifties, when the shock of '48 was still overwhelming, the Palestinians' main concern was the attempt to return to their homes; documentation was considered to be of secondary importance. Organizing national action was the top priority," he says. It was only the second Arab defeat in 1967, he adds, that brought new awareness and new goals for the Palestinian national struggle. Thus "the golden age of Palestinian mobilisation took place between 1969 and 1982, when the media was used in more sophisticated ways, more information was gathered, and there was a growing realisation of the importance of documenting the true state of affairs." Besides its importance in maintaining Palestinian collective memory, documentation is, for Abu Sitta, also the key to engineering the return of the approximately 5 million Palestinian refugees to their country. Reduced to its essential components, he says, the Arab-Palestinian/ Israeli conflict is about the conquest of Palestine in 1948, and the expulsion of its people in order to accommodate newcomers from overseas. Half a century later, there are 4,942,121 refugees, expelled from 532 localities, without a home, identity or certain future. After 50 years of strife, it is abundantly clear that there can be no peace if their interests are not taken into account, and that they have no wish to go anywhere except Palestine. "The yearning for the homeland is at the core of the Palestinian collective psyche,"Abu Sitta says. "Demographically, their return will cause only a minimum Israeli relocation, in striking contrast to Israel's plans," and he has published many studies showing the feasibility of return. "The Palestinians are under no obligation, moral, legal or otherwise, to accept Israeli occupation of Palestine at their expense. By any standards, it is the Israelis who are under an obligation -- to rectify the colossal injustice they have committed," he says. * Salman Abu Sitta is a Kuwait-based construction engineer. He is a former member of the Palestine National Council (the Palestinian parliament in exile) and is currently a member of the Geneve-based Palestinian Welfare Association. 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. Search Keywords: Short link: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday accused the opposition Congress of harassing and insulting the Other Backward Classes during its rule at the Centre, and asserted that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party that gave the first OBC prime minister to the country in the form of Narendra Modi. IMAGE: Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah addresses the National General Conference of Modi Samaj, in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Photograph: ANI Photo Addressing a national convention of the Modi community in Ahmedabad, Shah said PM Modi gave the OBCs their due respect and understood the pain of poor citizens because he himself was born in such a family. Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark, he said if someone insults a person, it is not a big deal, but if someone insults an entire community and the prime minister, then it is an insult to the entire country. "During its rule at the Centre, Congress only neglected, harassed and insulted the OBCs. As soon as BJP came to power, PM Modi gave OBC community its due respect. And it was BJP who gave the first OBC PM to the country in the form of Modi," said Shah, who has been on a two-day visit to home state Gujarat since Saturday. He informed the members of the Modi community that the BJP also gave several OBC chief ministers and also accorded constitutional status to the OBC Commission. Other initiatives taken by the Modi government for the backward classes include introducing reservations in Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalay schools, introducing reservation in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and creating a venture capital fund for OBC entrepreneurs, the Union minister said. "Congress ruled the country for nearly 56 years. But it never did anything for OBCs. On the other hand, Modiji did so many things in nine years for the OBCs. In addition, Modiji always remained concerned about the poor people. He understood the pain of the poor because he himself was born in such a family," Shah added. According to him, the BJP government at the Centre provided cooking gas connection to 13 crore households, built 10 crore toilets, provided electricity to three crore households and built three crore houses for the needy citizens. Shah said the Modi government used technology to uproot corruption and middlemen from the system. "You all should feel proud that Modiji belongs to your community. It is a matter of great happiness and pride for every Indian because even US President Joe Biden asked Modiji for his autograph saying he is very popular in the US," he added. Citing various data like India becoming the second largest smartphone maker in the world, Shah said the country achieved more in the last nine years under PM Modi than what it achieved in the previous 65 years. PM Modi's elder brother Somabhai Modi and BJP MLA from Surat, Purnesh Modi, among others, attended the convention. Referring to Purnesh Modi's defamation suit that led to Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as an MP over his 'Modi surname' remark, Shah said Purnesh Modi 'fought the battle with firmness'. "If someone insults a person, it is not a big deal, but if someone insults an entire community and country's PM, then it is an insult to the entire country. Purneshbhai fought this battle with firmness and won it. I congratulate him and others for fighting a battle for the dignity of your community. Entire country is with you," the Union minister said. Earlier during the day, Shah flagged off nearly 320 new buses of the state road transport corporation and also inaugurated a modern organic testing laboratory of Amulfed Dairy in Gandhinagar. Last updated on: May 21, 2023 11:39 IST Under pressure from Hindutva outfits, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Uttarakhand on Saturday said he has cancelled the marriage of his daughter to a Muslim man, which was scheduled to be held on May 28. Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons Talking to reporters in Pauri, Yashpal Benam, the bride's father and Pauri municipal chairman, said he thought of getting his daughter married to a Muslim youth for her happiness. But in view of the way social media users reacted to the proposed marriage, it has been postponed, he said. "Now I have to listen to the voice of the public as well," Benam said. The wedding to be held on May 28 in Pauri city has now been cancelled, he said. Hindutva outfits on Friday here at Jhanda Chawk burnt the effigy of BJP leader Benam in protest against his daughter marrying a Muslim. The Vishva Hindu Parishad, Bhairav Sena, and Bajrang Dal took part in the protest. "We strongly oppose such a marriage," the working president of district VHP Dipak Gaud had said. A photo of the wedding card of the BJP leader's daughter turned up on social media on Thursday. The Border Security has shot down a Pakistani drone carrying narcotics near International Border near Punjab's Amritsar, the force said on Sunday. Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: ANI Photo The BSF troops deployed in the depth area heard the buzzing sound of a suspected Pakistani drone in the Dhanoe Kalan village in Amritsar district around 8.48 pm on Saturday, the BSF said in a statement. The BSF said that it was the fourth drone shot down by them in the last two days. While three drones were intercepted by the BSF on Friday night, the fourth one was shot down on Saturday night. "The BSF troops immediately reacted to intercept the drone as per the laid down drill and successfully downed the Pakistani drone with contraband," it said. During the initial search of the area, the BSF troops recovered a "drone (Quadcopter, DJI Matrice, 300 RTK) along with a consignment containing three packets of suspected narcotics, attached with the drone by the means of the iron ring, from the farming fields of Dhanoe Kalan village." The BSF said that four luminous strips were also found attached to the consignment for easy detection of smugglers. "The gross weight of the recovered consignment of suspected heroin is approximately 3.3 kg. Another nefarious attempt of Pakistan foiled by vigilant BSF troops," added the BSF, which is mandated to guard 3,323 km India-Pakistan border. The first drone, a black quadcopter of "DJI Matrice 300 RTK" make, was recovered from Udhar Dhariwal village in Amritsar district, the spokesperson said. BSF troops intercepted this unmanned aerial vehicle by firing around 9 pm on Friday, he said. The second drone, a quadcopter of the same make, was recovered from Rattan Khurd village in Amritsar district after troops fired at it around 9.30 pm. Two packets attached to the drone containing 2.6 kg of suspected heroin were also recovered from the UAV that was found in Rattan Khurd village, the spokesperson added. A third drone was intercepted on Friday night along this front. However, it could not be recovered as it fell on the Pakistani side, he said. CCTV footage showed people collecting this third drone from the Pakistan side, the spokesperson said. (With PTI inputs) After a stunning victory in Karnataka, the focus of Congress leadership has shifted to the next round of assembly elections where the party is locked in a direct contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party in some states. IMAGE: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge along with party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrive at Veer Bhoomi to pay tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 32nd death anniversary, at Rajghat in New Delhi on Sunday. Photograph: Jitender Gupta/ANI Photo With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24. While Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are two states ruled by the Congress where it is hoping to offset the anti-incumbency factor and factional fighting by replicating the 'Karnataka strategy', the party is also determined to make a comeback in Madhya Pradesh where it lost power after Jyotiraditya Scindia and some of the MLAs switched loyalties, sources said. They said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called a meeting of its leaders from Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on May 24 to strategise on the upcoming assembly elections. Kharge will hold separate meetings with the state leaders. A senior leader said the idea is to chalk out an early strategy to reach out to the grassroots level. "The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which passed through states like Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, will benefit the party as the cadres are already activated and the party will get the benefit of the Yatra, as it did in Karnataka," a senior leader involved with one of the states told PTI. Another leader said the good schemes and works initiated by the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will be highlighted in a big way and the poll strategy adopted by the party leadership in Karnataka will be replicated in these poll-bound states. The Congress faces peculiar challenges in several of these states, especially due to infighting and factionalism. In Rajasthan, the Congress has to tackle the festering feud between Sachin Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Upping the ante, Pilot has threatened to launch an agitation if his demands were not met by May end. Concluding his five-day Jan Sangarsh Yatra in Jaipur during which he targeted the Gehlot government on the issue of corruption, Pilot had recently placed three demands -- disbanding the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reorganisation, compensation to youths affected by the government exam paper leak and conducting a high-level inquiry into corruption allegations against the previous Vasundhara Raje government. There is an also open fight between Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and state minister T S SinghDeo, who has been staking claim to the top post in the state. In Telangana too, its state unit chief Revanth Reddy faces infighting from state leaders who consider him an outsider. In Karnataka, the party gave five guarantees to the people of the state and the politics of freebies seems to have worked in its favour The party is likely to carry this freebie policy forward in other poll-bound states after its success in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. Another senior leader said the party needs to start now and present a united face against the BJP, as has been done in Himachal, Karnataka and some other states, where the state leaders were projected. In Karnataka, state leaders, nudged by the central leadership, presented a united face all through the campaign -- a factor that helped the party oust the BJP. The differences did come to the fore soon after the victory and the race for chief ministership became intense but the party succeeded in overcoming the challenge. The party is in a direct contest with the BJP in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, even though there is a triangular fight in Telangana among the Congress, the BJP and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti. The Congress is not leaving any stone unturned to continue its winning spree, after wresting Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka from the BJP, as the party hopes to consolidate its gains. A day after being sworn in as the Karnataka deputy chief minsiter, D K Shivakumar on Sunday said that he is 'not happy' even after the party's thumping victory in the state adding that the next target is the upcoming Lok Sabha elections slated next year. IMAGE: Karnataka Deputy CM and state Congress president D K Shivakumar addresses the party cadre in Bengaluru. Photograph: ANI on Twitter Addressing the party cadre in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said, "We got 135 plus seats in the assembly elections, but I am not happy, don't come to my or Siddaramaiah's house. Our next target is the Lok Sabha elections and we must fight well." Earlier in the day, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah along with Shivakumar paid their tribute to former PM Rajiv Gandhi on his 32nd death anniversary, in the KPCC office in Bengaluru. Newly elected CM Siddaramaiah said that no one from the Bharatiya Janata Party has lost their life due to terrorism but they keep saying that Congress supports terrorism. "PM Modi speaks about terrorism, no one from BJP has ever lost their life due to terrorism. BJP keeps saying that we support terrorism but many Congress leaders like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi died in terror attacks," said Siddaramaiah. The first Karnataka legislative assembly session, after the formation of the new government will be held on starting Monday next week in Bengaluru. IMAGE: Senior Congress MLA from Haliyal RV Deshpande. Photograph: ANI Photo The session will be held for three days -- Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Senior Congress leader RV Deshpande will be the pro-tem Speaker of the Karnataka legislative assembly for the session that has been called next week. Congress leader Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the second time on Saturday after the party's thumping victory in the Assembly elections. DK Shivakumar was sworn in as the deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka. Eight Congress MLAs were also sworn in as ministers in the Karnataka Cabinet during the oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge, party's MLAs G Parameshwara and MB Patil were among the eight MLAs. The other MLAs who took oath included KH Muniyappa, KJ George, Satish Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy and BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and secrecy to the MLAs at the swearing-in ceremony held at the jam-packed Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Soon after taking the oath, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka gave orders to implement five guarantees promised by the party in its poll manifesto while also blaming the Centre for the state's financial losses as a special grant of Rs 5,495 crore of the 15th Finance Commission was not provided to the state. The five 'main' guarantees are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti); Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi); 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya); Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi) and free travel for women in public transport buses (Uchita Prayana). Addressing a press briefing after the first Cabinet meeting in Vidhan Soudha, in Bengaluru, Karnataka Siddaramaiah said, "Five guarantees in the manifesto were promised and the order for the implementation of those five guarantees was given after the first cabinet meeting. All will be in force after the next cabinet meeting which will be called within a week." Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats while the Janata Dal-Secular secured 19 seats in the results declared on May 13. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday called for opposition unity to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party as the Janata Dal-United leader met the Aam Aadmi Party convenor at his residence in New Delhi and extended 'complete support' to him in the ongoing face-off with the Centre over the control of administrative services. IMAGE: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar meets Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at CM's residence in New Delhi on Sunday. Photograph: ANI Photo Kejriwal said he would meet leaders of various parties to ensure that any bill brought to replace the recent central ordinance, which virtually negated the May 11 Supreme Court order that ruled in favour of his government, is not passed in Rajya Sabha and also urged Kumar to reach out to them to rally support on the issue. If the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out a message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he claimed. "It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," the AAP national convenor told reporters outside his residence after meeting Kumar and his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav. Kejriwal will be meeting the chiefs of the Trinamool Congress, the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party this week seeking their support. Kumar said the Centre's actions were 'strange' and 'baffling'. "How can you take away an elected government's power," the Janata Dal-United leader asked. He said Kejriwal is doing good work in Delhi and it's surprising that his government is being stopped from doing its work. "That's why we are saying that all (opposition parties) in the country should come together," he said. The BJP hit out at both Kumar and Kejriwal, saying the Bihar chief minister should pay attention to his state which is being pushed into 'anarchy' instead of daydreaming about becoming the prime minister. Addressing a press conference, the party's six MPs from Delhi said Kejriwal was seeking the support of opposition leaders who he once branded as corrupt. "There was a time when Arvind Kejriwal used to carry a list of political leaders and considered them as symbols of corruption. But today he is ready to hug Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav," BJP leader Manoj Tiwari said. Kejriwal's priority is not to eliminate corruption, but to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the MP from North East Delhi said and alleged that the AAP chief 'is ready to stoop to any level to save his empire of corruption'. The Centre promulgated the ordinance on Friday to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. This came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. The Centre has also filed a review plea in the apex court against the verdict. Kejriwal had on Saturday said that the ordinance was 'unconstitutional' and they will challenge it in the apex court. Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Sunday, Kejriwal said he will personally reach out to the chiefs of all opposition parties to seek their support in the matter so that any bill brought by the Centre to replace the ordinance is defeated in Rajya Sabha. "Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said. "I have also requested Nitish Kumar ji to talk to all the (opposition) parties in this regard," he added. According to AAP sources, he will meet former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena-UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on May 25. An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. The AAP has 10 MPs in Rajya Sabha and one MP in Lok Sabha. The Bihar chief minister said that he will make efforts to bring opposition parties together in support of Kejriwal. "We will hold further meetings. We are trying to ensure that the maximum number of opposition parties come together and a nationwide campaign is launched to demand that laws are followed and there is mutual harmony and brotherhood in the country. "Efforts are being made to create conflicts among people. Such things should be stopped," Kumar said. Replying to a query, Kumar said he will also speak to the Congress leadership on the issue of the ordinance. "I don't think anybody will oppose it (supporting Kejriwal). We will talk to them," he said. Kejriwal was among the few non-BJP chief ministers not invited by the Congress to the swearing-in ceremony of its new government in Karnataka on Saturday, an event seen as a show of unity by opposition parties. Kumar, on the other hand, had attended the event. Extending his party's support to Kejriwal, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Yadav alleged the Centre is "continuously troubling and harassing" non-BJP governments in different states. "We have come here to extend our support to Kejriwal. The BJP government is doing injustice to him," he said. "There is a clear threat to democracy. They want to change the Constitution and we will not let that happen at all," he claimed. Sunday's meeting was the second between Kumar and Kejriwal in over a month. Kumar had earlier met Kejriwal here on April 12 as part of his efforts to bring opposition parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With Kejriwal's relations with the Congress far from smooth, Kumar has the task of building a working relationship between the two as he also sees the grand old party as a critical player in any Opposition unity bid. The AAP has grown in Delhi and Punjab by occupying the space once largely seen as Congress territory. A section of Congress leaders believe that reclaiming the constituency is the key to the party's revival in these states and any compromise on it can hamper their plans. Kumar has been meeting regional satraps as part of the unity exercise which is yet to take a concrete shape. Prem Shukla, the BJP's national spokesperson, said meeting other leaders is Kumar's right but he has not been paying attention to his own state. "He is daydreaming of becoming the prime minister. Instead, he should discharge his duties as Bihar chief minister, his constitutional responsibility," he said. Sanjay Mayukh, a BJP MLC in Bihar, said Kumar should come out of his 'dream world' as there is no vacancy for the prime minister's post. People of the state will never forgive him for pushing it deeper into crime and corruption, he claimed. Last updated on: May 21, 2023 19:39 IST Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Papua New Guinea on his maiden visit during which he will host a key summit on Monday between India and 14 Pacific island countries to boost bilateral ties. IMAGE: Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape touches Prime Minister Narendra Modi's feet and seeks his blessings upon the latter's arrival in Port Moresby, on May 21, 2023. Photograph: ANI on Twitter The prime minister reached Port Moresby from Japan where he attended the summit of the G7 advanced economies and held bilateral meetings with several world leaders. Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea on the second leg of his three-nation tour is the first ever by any Indian prime minister. Modi was received at the airport by Prime Minister James Marape who touched his feet as a mark of respect. 'Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit,' Modi tweeted. Normally Papua New Guinea doesn't give a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after sunset. But a special exception was made for Prime Minister Modi and a ceremonial welcome was accorded to him. Modi shared some pictures of the ceremonial welcome on his twitter handle, describing it as 'a very special welcome'. The prime minister was also warmly greeted by the Indian community. 'The Indian community in Papua New Guinea came in large numbers and showed remarkable affection. Thankful to them for the memorable welcome,' Modi tweeted. In a brief statement, the ministry of external affairs said the visit underscores the close friendship of India with the Pacific Island countries. 'A grand beginning of an important visit! PM @narendramodi arrives in Port Moresby on what is the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Papua New Guinea. Accorded a 19-gun salute, guard of honour & ceremonial welcome. As a special gesture, PM James Marape received PM Modi at the airport,' Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. On Monday, Modi and Marape will host the third summit of the Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). The summit will take place at a time when China is making efforts to enhance its military and diplomatic influence in the region. "I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important summit (FIPIC)," Modi had said earlier. FIPIC was launched during his visit to Fiji in 2014. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues, sources said. PIC includes Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Modi will also hold bilateral talks with Marape and meet Bob Dadae, the Governor General of Papua New Guinea. He will also meet New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. A 22-year-old woman drowned on Sunday after a car she was travelling in with her family got stuck in neck-deep water at KR Circle underpass in Bengaluru, just a stone's throw from Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power in Karnataka. IMAGE: A rescue operation is underway for the people stuck in the underpass as severe waterlogging was witnessed in it after heavy rain and hailstorm lashed Bengaluru on Sunday. Photograph: ANI Photo Fire and emergency services personnel saved five others of the family and the driver, with the help of people who had rushed to save those trapped in the flooded underpass in the heart of Bengaluru. The victim as well as the others were taken to St Martha's Hospital where doctors declared the woman, identified as Bhanurekha, dead. Learning about the incident, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah rushed to the hospital and took stock of the situation. He announced a compensation of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and free treatment for those admitted in the hospital. "The family from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh had hired a car and come to see Bengaluru. Bhanurekha works in Infosys. Due to the downpour, the barricade at the underpass fell down and the driver took the risk of crossing the underpass, which he should not have," Siddaramaiah told reporters. Bhanurekha was 22 years old. When reporters who were covering the incident complained that doctors refused to treat Bhanurekha, who was alive when she was taken to the hospital, Siddaramaiah said he will get it investigated and initiate action. According to those present at the spot, the car driver tried to zoom through the water, but in the middle of the underpass the car almost got submerged. The occupants of the vehicle came out frantically trying to save themselves. Due to the downpour and hailstorm, the water level started increasing. As the family started crying for help, people nearby rushed to their rescue. They threw sarees and ropes to help them keep afloat. Those entrapped tried to climb up but failed. While two of them were dragged out by swimmers of the emergency services personnel, others were brought out using a ladder. The survivors were rushed to the hospital where they found Bhanurekha dead. Loud mourning ensued at the hospital when the survivors saw the lifeless body of their family member. An autorickshaw was also trapped at KR Circle and a woman passenger saved her life by climbing on top of the vehicle. The rescuers saved her too. Meanwhile, several vehicles got trapped at an another waterlogged underpass near Majestic, also in the centre of the city. People struggled hard to come out of their vehicles. Many complained that the place gets flooded whenever there is heavy rainfall in the city and no measures have been taken to prevent it. Rainwater entered several houses too due to the sudden downpour in the city. At Mahalakshmi Layout, a prime area in the city, water gushed into houses, damaging furniture, electronic goods and stored food grains. Many other areas were waterlogged, including the posh areas like Malleswaram and Rajaji Nagar, as well as Srirampuram, certain areas in Kengeri, Mysuru Road and several other low-lying areas. Trees in various localities came down crashing, damaging home and vehicles. Traffic was thrown out of gear after trees fell. "We are getting complaints of waterlogging, and trees crashing from all over Bengaluru," a Bengaluru civic agency official told PTI. Russia's Wagner group in a special military operation in Ukraine has gained a "complete control" of Bakhmut on Saturday, Russian news agency Tass reported. IMAGE: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) in a conversation during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo Following the capture in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault teams of the Wagner private military and Russian troops. "Vladimir Putin congratulates Wagner assault teams as well as all Russian troops, who rendered the required assistance and shielded the flanks, with the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk," the Kremlin's press office said in a statement on Sunday. "Everyone, who distinguished himself in the battle, will be recommended for the state decorations," the statement added. However, as soon as the Wagner chief claimed the capture of Bakhmut, Kyiv immediately rejected the claim and said fighting was still going on. Bakhmut (known as Artyomovsk in Russia) is located in the northwestern part of the Donetsk People's Republic and served as a significant supply hub for the Ukrainian army in Donbass. On August 1, 2022, fierce combat to liberate the city began. The war for this city has been one of the most intense since the liberation of Donbass in 2014. The Russian defence ministry also declared that the city of Artyomovsk (named Bakhmut in Ukraine) had been entirely freed during the special military operation in Ukraine, reported Russian news agency TASS. This comes at a time when G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to stand together against Russia's "illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression" against Ukraine, according to the joint statement issued during the G7 Leaders Summit that began Saturday in Japan's Hiroshima. The joint communique stated that the leaders of the Group of Seven countries are taking concrete steps to support Ukraine for "as long as it takes" in the face of Russia's "illegal war of aggression." To ensure a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine, the G7 members have urged Russia to stop its ongoing aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops and military equipment from the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine. The Russia-Ukraine war that started on February 24, 2022 has taken numerous lives and the war continues to escalate between the two nations even now. Egypt has urged citizens willing to return from Sudan to gather at Dongola Airport on Tuesday, 23 May, to be evacuated by air before 6 am amid ongoing unrest in Sudan. In a statement on Sunday, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also affirmed the continuity of the evacuation operations of citizens by land from the Qustul and Arqeen border crossings. The ministrys crisis room continues to receive phone calls, reports and inquiries from Egyptian citizens around the clock, seven days a week, via the following numbers: 01281943599 - 01283176894 - 01283176866 - 01283176900 - 01283176913 Egypt has evacuated around 80 percent of approximately 10,000 citizens in Sudan against the backdrop of the armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Moreover, Egypt has facilitated the crossing of more than 93,000 Sudanese citizens across the Sudanese-Egyptian border since the beginning of the crisis, Ahmed Ihab Gamaleldin, permanent representative of Egypt to the United Nations in Geneva, said last week. Search Keywords: Short link: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he views the current situation in Ukraine as an issue of humanity and human values and not of politics or economy even as he called for respecting international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. Photograph: Courtesy Narendra Modi on Twitter In an address at a G7 Working Session in Hiroshima, Modi also strongly pitched for raising voice collectively against unilateral attempts to change the status quo, asserting that any tension and dispute should be resolved peacefully through dialogue. The prime minister also referred to his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday and reiterated that India will do whatever is possible to resolve the conflict. Modi's comments came after Zelenskyy addressed the G7 leaders seeking global support for Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression. The war in Ukraine has been the overwhelming focus of the three-day summit. The prime minister also invoked Buddha and said there is no such problem in the modern age whose solution cannot be found in his teachings. He quoted Buddha to say that enmity is pacified by affinity and that 'we should move forward together with everyone in this spirit'. "Today we heard from President Zelensky. I also met him yesterday. I do not consider the current situation as an issue of politics or economy. I believe it is an issue of humanity, an issue of human values," the prime minister said. "We have said from the beginning, that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And to solve this situation, we will try as much as possible, whatever can be done from India," he said. Modi said all countries must respect the United Nations Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations and called for raising voice together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo. The prime minister's comments came against the backdrop of the lingering border row with China in eastern Ladakh and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "It is necessary that all countries respect the UN Charter, international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. Raise your voice together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo," he said. "India has always been of the opinion that any tension, any dispute should be resolved peacefully, through dialogue. And if a solution is found by law, it should be accepted. And in this spirit, India resolved its land and maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh," he said. The prime minister said that in the current global situation, the maximum and the most profound effects of the food, fuel and fertilizer crisis are being felt by the developing countries. "Global peace, stability and prosperity is a common objective of all of us. In today's interconnected world, tension in any one region affects all countries. And, developing countries, which have limited resources, are affected the most," he said. "Due to the current global situation, the maximum and most profound effects of the food, fuel and fertilizer crisis are being suffered by these countries," he added. Modi said Buddha had given a solution centuries ago to war, unrest and instability that the world is facing today. "In India, and here in Japan too, Lord Buddha has been followed for thousands of years. There is no problem in the modern age, whose solution we cannot find in the teachings of Buddha," he said. The group of seven (G7), comprising the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the world's richest democracies. Under its G7 presidency, Japan invited India and seven other countries to the summit. ***** Modi strongly calls for reform of UN The United Nations and the Security Council will remain just a 'talk shop' if they do not reflect the realities of the present world, Modi said on Sunday, strongly pitching for reform of the global body. In an address at a G7 session in Hiroshima, Modi wondered why different forums have had to deliberate on issues relating to peace and stability when the UN was formed to deal with these challenges. "It is a matter of analysis, why do we have to talk about peace and stability in different forums? Why is the UN, which was started with the idea of establishing peace, not successful in preventing conflicts today?" Modi asked. "Why, even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN? If one introspects, one thing is clear. The institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the twenty-first century," he said. The prime minister said the UN now does not reflect the current realities of the world. "They do not reflect the realities of the present. That is why it is necessary that reforms should be implemented in big institutions like the UN," Modi said. "They will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will only keep talking about ending the conflicts. The UN and the Security Council will remain just a talk shop," he said. New Delhi has been strongly pressing for reform of the UN. India has been eyeing a permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC). At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the UN. The five permanent members are Russia, the UK, China, France and the United States and these countries can veto any substantive resolution. There has been growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect the contemporary global reality. India, Brazil, South Africa, Germany and Japan are strong contenders for permanent membership of the UNSC which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who is visiting Karnataka, on Sunday appreciated the people for voting out a 'fascist' Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, but also cautioned people about the recent developments in Delhi, saying it was a wake-up call for everyone as it can happen anywhere in the country. IMAGE: People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti addresses a press conference, in Bengaluru on Sunday. Photograph: ANI Photo Mufti was referring to an ordinance passed by the President on Friday, May 20, giving overriding powers to the Delhi's Lieutenant Governor -- a union government nominee -- to oversee the transfer, posting and disciplinary proceedings against civil servants in Delhi. The ordinance was brought in just a week after a Supreme Court Constitution Bench had ruled that powers over the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in the national capital lay with the Delhi government and not the Central government. The apex court had made it clear that the Central government cannot take over governance of elected state governments. "Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call for everyone. Whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country," Mufti said at a press conference in Bengaluru. "BJP doesn't want to have any opposition. The Delhi government has been disempowered. This is going to happen to everyone," the People's Democratic Party chief added. Stating that the people of Karnataka had given a ray of hope to the entire country by defeating a 'fascist, communal and divisive' BJP in the recently-concluded Assembly election, Mufti said, "Karnataka people have shown us the way, that the might of power agencies and institutions can be defeated with your vote in a democracy." "I also thank them for bringing most of the opposition parties who believe in the Constitution, democratic values and secular culture of this country and, above all, believe in the idea of India, together," she added. She alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and everyone in the BJP had used religion to fight the Karnataka elections but still the people voted them out. According to the former CM, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra had laid the foundation for Congress's victory in the Karnataka Assembly election. "Last five years a lot of hatred, communal and divisive politics was played in Karnataka, which must have caused a lot of wounds to the secular fabric of this place. So, I am sure that the Congress government along with Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar will be able to heal those wounds that have been inflicted in the last five years," the PDP chief said. Speaking about her state, Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir was the first victim of the 'fascist forces'. Despite being a Muslim majority state and despite all odds, Jammu and Kashmir had taken a decision to align with the idea of India when the whole subcontinent was burning with communal fire at the time of independence, she pointed out. Jammu and Kashmir was given special status, which was the best example of cooperative federalism, according to her. "But unfortunately with the onslaught of the BJP government in 2019, we saw that the state was dismantled, dismembered and disempowered by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian constitution," she rued "Today, ours is the most militarised state in the world. You can't imagine the kind of surveillance, frisking and harassment that are happening in the name of security," the former CM alleged. She said she spoke about her state to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and others during the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as Karnataka CM on Saturday. "I want people to pay attention to what has happened in J&K. All our passports have been confiscated. If this can happen to a family where I was a CM, and my mother is wife of Late Mufti Mohammed Syed, a former CM and former union minister, it can happen to everyone," the PDP chief said. Stating that Jammu and Kashmir has become an open-air prison, Mufti alleged that China is now interfering in its affairs, which only Pakistan used to do earlier. "This is what the BJP has done by abrogating Article 370," she lamented. Mufti also said she will not contest the Assembly election till Article 370 is restored in her state. However, her party PDP will fight the election. On a question about Congress not inviting many opposition parties' chief ministers during the swearing in ceremony of Siddaramaiah on Friday, such as Bharat Rashtra Samiti's K Chandrasekhar Rao, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress's Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal and Communist Party of India-Marxist's Pinarayi Vijayan, Mehbooba Mufti said the Congress has to sacrifice more; 'otherwise there are no other options'. When United States President Joe Biden walked up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Quad meeting, one of the points he made was the large number of requests he was getting from prominent citizens to attend the Indian leader's programmes during his next month state visit to Washington DC, officials said on Sunday. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden ahead of a G7 working session on food, health and development during the G7 Summit, in Hiroshima, Japan, Saturday, May 20, 2023. Photograph: PTI Photo Echoing a similar view, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he too is finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests he is getting for a community event, where Modi will speak on Tuesday, even though the Sydney venue has a capacity of 20,000, officials added. Albanese remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium more than 90,000 people welcomed him during the victory lap. To this Biden told Modi in a lighter vein that he should take his autograph. Modi and Albanese were in the Gujarat stadium to watch an India-Australia test match in March this year and had taken a lap of honour. As part of his ongoing three-nation visit, Modi is scheduled to arrive in Australia on Monday and will address the community event on Tuesday. In this week's Vermontitude podcast, host Peter "Fish" Case chats up Bob Audette, a longtime reporter with the Brattleboro Reformer. Vermontitude Episode 28: Maple Valley concerts and a tale of two Starks "Weve never even had a business card, says restaurateur Charles Cilona. Just a number, and I return every call. The subject is the aptly named RSVP in West Cornwall. Its like an interview for every person; this restaurant is not for everybody. Heres how it works: you call the number and leave a voicemail with your name, number, party size and your desired date. Cilona will call and discuss availability (they serve just three seatings per week: 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 5 p.m. on Sundays, 16 people at a time), how they do things (five courses over three hours, no eating restrictions), and cost ($140 per person, all inclusive). Bring whatever you like to drink, no corkage fee. The fare is French. The setting is one of the most charming in Connecticut. Cilona mentions you might want to skip lunch that day. Does all this sound enticing? Well, repondez sil vous plait ... Lisa Nichols for Hearst CT Media/Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT Media Prix fixe French dining is not an original concept many, many places are doing the same thing but absolutely none of them are doing it quite like RSVP. Lets set the scene. West Cornwall is a tiny village in the far northwestern corner of the state. Its most widely known feature is the red covered bridge which spans the upper Housatonic River, one of the best trout streams in North America. The drive there winds and rolls through hills, forests and farmland. The grayscale of cities and highways, traffic and work, are far away up here. Greens and blues sweep past in a kaleidoscopic wash. A fast roll down the spine of Mohawk Mountain leads to the tracks of a narrow-gauge railroad which snakes along the river through town. Turn into the old railroad depot, and youll see RSVP, now celebrating its 22nd year. For the few who have been, its a sight an experience they wont forget. The restaurant has no social media, no email, and no website. We had one for a few years, but it was captured with ransomware, Cilona says. The hacker wanted $5,000, and I told Guy. He said, Offer them ten bucks. That was the end of that. Guy is Guy Birster, RSVPs head chef, who will be cooking your meal no farther than 20 feet from where you sit. A native of the Burgundy region of France, Birsters ever-changing weekly menus are rooted in the grand cuisine of chefs like Joel Robuchon and Barnard Loiseau. After immigrating to the U.S. West Coast, coinciding with the re-emergence of French cuisine on these shores, he met Cilona, and the two created their first partnership with a restaurant in Pasadena. Cilonas vacation home in West Cornwall brought them back east for good, but the seven-day grind of their first operation, Brookside Bistro, became a bit much for the two industry veterans, and RSVP was born in 2001. Lisa Nichols for Hearst CT Media/Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT Media Birster relishes the experience. With Cilona as the entire front of the house (hell both host and serve your meal), the chef is free to rely on his own judgment for purchasing the best ingredients, and exploring whole new avenues of French cooking. The small space feels like a dinner party with friends; guests frequently stand up between courses to stroll through the village. Each meal begins with an amuse-bouche. Ours is an onion tart, placed like a diamond in a ring of brilliant green pesto, and topped with a crispy fried rasher of guanciale. The combination of caramelized onion, buttery, flaky tart and meaty guanciale snap liven senses already aroused by anticipation and hunger. Garnish of a single early-season cherry tomato once popped in the mouth produces its own surprise: stewed to a rich sweetness, its served ice cold, and bursts with palate-cleansing freshness. What else is in store? Lisa Nichols for Hearst CT Media/Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT Media We nibble fresh bread, served with a generous slab of butter, sip a chilled sauvignon blanc wed brought, and are presented with the first course: a soup of locally foraged nettles on which floats a crisp disc of parmesan cheese. The menu is intensely seasonal, and as wild ingredients begin bursting from the ground as the early spring is still shaking off winters chill, theyre gathered and harmonized in Birsters kitchen. Id never considered eating nettles before, and the soup is so mild and chlorophyllic I spoon up half of it just rolling the flavors around my mouth and mind before I remember to try it with a bite of the salty funk of crisp cheese. The dish wont be available in mid-summer, but I immediately wonder what the chef would have in store during peak growing season. This place is a chefs dream, Cilona later tells me. He does whatever he wants, changes every couple weeks. Chefs get bored! He challenges himself, trying new things, picking up ideas from travel. Introducing our clients to new dishes is the ultimate pleasure for me as a chef, agrees Birster. Lisa Nichols for Hearst CT Media/Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT Media Another prime example? The next course: skate wing and lentils. Did I know skate wing was edible? Yes. Have I ever intentionally done so? Non. Skate has always been bycatch when I was trying to hook fluke or blackfish, an annoyance to be tediously removed and tossed back, already forgotten. In Birsters hands the inexpensive and strangely scallop-edged crescent becomes a golden delicacy. Garlic and butter run through the impeccably sliced fish and soak the lentils on your plate. Skate itself tastes vaguely like sliced scallop, and the dish is given an appropriate pairing with a topping of blanched sea beans: a highly nutritious and wonderfully snappy little species of saltwater succulent sometimes called pickleweed. Lisa Nichols for Hearst CT Media/Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT Media Wed hardly stopped talking about this dish when the first meat course arrives: lightly battered and sauteed chicken with shallot veal stock and wilted ramps. Its April, and the wild North American leeks add both their pungent onion and garlic flavor, and poignant seasonal bookmark to the dish alongside the sweeter shallots. The garnish is extravagant, placed just to the side of the dish in the form of a single, fried ravioli, stuffed with imported French morel mushrooms. Every ingredient in the dish seems at its peak. If RSVPs culinary culture seems extremely French, its for more reasons than the roots of its chef. It was on one of his first trips abroad that Cilona traveled to France in his mid-20s. He says it changed his whole perspective on eating. Im a Chicago boy Midwest I didnt know anything about French food, he says. I had pate and said, Wait, this is nothing like liverwurst! Altering lives in a minor way, thats the kind of thing we have here. There is a big, big cross-section of people who eat here, he says. From wealthy people who have traveled all of Europe and come up for a 5 [p.m.] Sunday dinner so they can get back home to Manhattan, to people who have never eaten like this before. He remembers their experiences. We had a couple come in, I know where he was from, not a wealthy area, it was his girlfriends birthday, and you just know hed saved up to give her something special. They were so excited. They hadnt had any of this before, and they ate it all, everything. We changed their lives. Its one of the reasons we havent changed our prices, we dont want to eliminate people from having the experience. The final meat course is a beef filet resting in a sweet, savory little pond of red wine reduction, with snow peas and a pungent dollop of truffle mashed potatoes, the lean beef topped with a luxurious helping of lightly seared foie gras. Again, every single element of the dish works hand in hand. The pleasure of this small restaurant is being able to research and introduce new dishes, says the chef. I dont have to answer to anyone like an investor regarding product cost. Im free to buy the best product available. If I want to garnish a dish with a bit of foie gras, I do it with great pleasure, adding a finishing touch to a course. I keep myself interested and stimulated by researching new dishes that I then do my spin on. The meals at RSVP are substantial, but not uncomfortably so. Starting to become full, fat and happy by this point, we still have room for dessert. This turns out to be a very good thing. The sweet dish is evenly split between the yin and yang of vanilla and chocolate. On one side is a small serving of chocolate mousse, placed in a small cup (also chocolate), topped by a triangle of, yes, more chocolate. This is balanced by a serving of baked apple on a vanilla cookie, topped by a teardrop-shaped scoop of vanilla ice cream. As much as I like chocolate, the apple tart is the perfect cap to the evening, a fitting counterpoint to the savory tart with which it had begun. Lisa Nichols for Hearst CT Media/Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT Media Mission accomplished, chef Birster does a quick turn around the dining room and says good night, his satisfied grin joining our own. You can only do this job if you love to see people enjoy the experience, says Cilona. Where else does the chef get a round of applause? Every night at RSVP would be my guess. The food: Burgundy meets New England with sensational seasonal flavors. A five-course, prix fixe menu is the only option, and changes once or twice per month. Portions are reasonable, delicious and myriad. The space: RSVP is, in a word, charming. The circa-18th-century space in a 17th-century country village feels like a rural French bistro, and sits steps away from a New England covered bridge and a rushing river, perfectly suited for a stroll between courses. The bill: The five-course dinner costs $140 per person; cash or check only. RSVP 7 Railroad St., West Cornwall 860-672-7787 Open for dinner Fri.Sun. Wheelchair accessible This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBANY, Ore. (AP) The victims of one of Oregon's deadliest highway crashes were farmworkers traveling in a van at an hour when agricultural laborers typically commute home after toiling in the harvest, the state's farmworkers union and Mexican officials said. Authorities have not yet released the names of the seven who died or the four who were injured when a semitruck ran off Interstate 5 on Thursday and slammed into the van as it was parked on the roadside near Albany, in an agricultural area of the Willamette Valley. But the union, the Woodburn-based PCUN, said in a statement late Friday that the 11 people in the vehicle were farmworkers and that it has been in contact with some of their families to support them. It also offered condolences to those affected by the tragedy. At this time, families are asking for safer roads for workers commuting after a hard day's work, Reyna Lopez, the unions executive director, was quoted as saying. The Mexican Consulate in Portland also said that the victims were farmworkers in a statement in Spanish that it posted on Facebook and Twitter. According to information provided by the office of the Oregon State Police, seven dead were reported in the accident and four people injured, all of them apparently agricultural workers of Mexican nationality, the statement said. The consul traveled to a hospital in Salem, the state capital, to offer assistance to the injured, who had been taken there for urgent medical attention, it said. The consulate also said it was in close communication with law enforcement and trying to locate family members of the deceased. It urged relatives of those killed or hospitalized to call the consulate. The driver of the semitruck that rammed into the van, Lincoln Clayton Smith, 52, of North Highlands, California, was arrested Friday on suspicion of manslaughter, driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and assault, police said. He was being held without bail in Marion County Jail. It wasnt clear whether Smith's case had been assigned to the state public defenders office or a specific attorney. The office didnt immediately respond to a message asking about that, and a lawyer whose name appears in court documents said she had not formally been assigned the case and could not comment. At Smith's arraignment, a district attorney said he had refused a field sobriety test and was unable to focus and answer basic questions, the Salem Statesman Journal reported. The prosecutor also said Smith acknowledged taking speed the day before the crash and was in possession of methamphetamine, according to the paper. The DA said witnesses reported the truck had been weaving on and off the road as it traveled in the northbound lanes Thursday afternoon before it plowed into the van without braking first, according to the Statesman Journal. The van was then pushed into the back of another truck parked in front of it, Oregon State Police said. All the victims were passengers in the van. Six died at the scene and one more died after being airlifted to a hospital, according to Oregon State Police. Information on the condition of the four injured has not been made public. Bodies were seen covered in plastic in a nearby field after the crash, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported. The crash is one of the deadliest in Oregon in recent years. A head-on collision on a remote road in Harney County in eastern Oregon in August 2018 killed a family of seven, including five young children. Eight people died in total. In December 2012, nine people died after a tour bus careened on an icy Interstate 84 and crashed through a guardrail, plunging several hundred feet down a steep embankment. The bus was carrying about 40 people when the accident occurred in an area near Pendleton called Deadman Pass. Another crash in 1988, also near Albany on I-5, killed 7 people and injured 37 more. Two infants were among those killed in the fiery 23-vehicle pileup. Albany lies between Salem and Eugene and is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Portland. I-5 is the main north-south interstate highway on the West Coast. The Saudi Digital Academy CEO Mohammed Alsuhaim will present his research paper titled "The Importance of Skilling to Achieving Digital Transformation" at the 11th edition of the MEET ICT Conference. Alsuhaim, who is also the Assistant Deputy Minister for Future Skills & Digital Knowledge at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, is a keynote speaker at the conference to be held at the Gulf Convention Centre in parallel with Bahrain International Technology Exhibition (BITEX), from July 4 to 6, which is being organised by BTECH in collaboration with WorkSmart for Events Management. According to Tareq Fakhro, Chairman of BTECH, the presence of renowned personalities like Alsuhaim from the IT industry is a testament to the conference's significance. He believes that attracting exceptional professionals and speakers is crucial to achieving the conference's primary goal of exchanging advanced knowledge and experiences in this field. Remarkable platform Alsuhaim has acknowledged the event as a remarkable platform that brings together distinguished experts and speakers in the field of information and communication technology. He appreciated the opportunity to stay updated with the latest technologies and innovations and network with peers to exchange experiences and ideas. He also emphasised the importance of contributing to the growth and advancement of this crucial sector. BTECH is organising this years MEET ICT conference which will be centered around the theme of Achieving Sustainable Development through Digital Transformation. The conference programme encompasses 10 sessions, hosting decision-makers, industry leaders, and IT specialists from both the public and private sectors. Topics included are communication networks, financial technology, cyber security, and strategies to leverage technology in the information and communication sector.-- TradeArabia News Service Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tarik have agreed on the necessity to intensify efforts to settle the ongoing Arab and regional crises as they met in Cairo on Sunday. This should come in a way that safeguards the supreme interests of the Arab peoples and preserves their resources and gains, Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy cited El-Sisi and bin Tarik as saying. Sultan bin Tarik is paying a two-day official visit to Egypt starting Sunday, his first since assuming power in 2020, to enhance Egyptian-Omani cooperation in various fields and coordinate with Cairo on regional developments. During the meeting, El-Sisi and the Omani sultan discussed regional and international issues as part of their keenness to achieve regional security and stability amid the enormous threats facing the region and a number of Arab countries, the statement said. El-Sisi praised the historical and friendly relations between Egypt and Oman, adding that the relations between the two countries have always been based on solidarity, coherence and cooperation in the face of crises and challenges. Egypt is keen to boost its relations with Oman in a way that serves the interests of the peoples of both countries and the Arab world, El-Sisi stressed. For his part, Sultan bin Tarik voiced his keenness to enhance the frameworks of ongoing cooperation with Egypt and to open new horizons for their relations in various fields during the coming period. The Sultan also stressed the need for continuing consultations and coordination between Egypt and Oman on regional and international issues of mutual concern. Sultan bin Tarik praised Egypt as being of strategic and cultural depth to the entire Arab world and as an element for preserving the security and stability in the region, the statement said. El-Sisi and bin Tarik stressed their keenness to continue enhancing the ongoing efforts between the Egyptian and Omani authorities in light of the continuous growth of trade exchange rates between the two sides. Egyptian-Omani trade and investment relations have been growing in recent years. Trade exchange between the two countries increased by 64 percent in 2022, reaching $1.1 billion, up from $650 million in 2021, according to the Egyptian statistical agency CAPMAS. During their meeting, the leaders discussed exchanging expertise to achieve institutional development. They also discussed ways to modernize administrative apparatuses and work mechanisms by implementing governance and digitization. In his visit, Sultan bin Tarik will witness the signing of six MoUs for cooperation with Egypt in education, judiciary, archives, heritage, transportation, aviation and taxation, Oman's Ambassador to Cairo Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Rahbi said on Saturday. In 2022, during President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis visit to Muscat, the two countries signed nine MoUs for cooperation in various fields. This was El-Sisi's first visit to Oman since Sultan Haitham ascended to the throne. Sultan Haithams visit to Egypt comes at a critical time, especially after the Arab Summit in Jeddah on Friday, and amid major changes in the world, stressed Ambassador Al-Rahbi, who also serves as Oman's permanent representative to the Arab League in Cairo. Search Keywords: Short link: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate JERUSALEM (AP) An extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians. The visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his second known visit since becoming a member of Israels most right-leaning government ever, drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israel's neighbor Jordan, which acts as the custodian of the site. I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people, Ben-Gvir said during his early morning visit to the site, with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, according to video released by his office. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it proves who is in charge in Jerusalem. Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvirs visit a blatant attack on the mosque. Jordans Foreign Ministry called it a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation. Neighboring Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation. The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israels capturing of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalems Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine, including a low-level minister from Ben-Gvir's party, but not Ben-Gvir himself. Later on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet held a special session to mark Jerusalem Day at an archaeological site near the main area of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray and a remaining exterior wall of the biblical Temples. At the meeting, Netanyahu reasserted Israel's claim to all of Jerusalem, which it views as its eternal, undivided capital. He made no mention of Ben-Gvir's visit. Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the hilltop site is the holiest in Judaism and home to the ancient biblical Temples. Today, it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. The ultranationalist Ben-Gvir, along with a growing movement of activists, has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site. Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel seizing control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there. Tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence. A visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon in September 2000 helped spark clashes that became the second Palestinian uprising. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fueled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021. Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem, with its sites holy to three monotheistic faiths, along with the rest of east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, eternal capital. Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel launched near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed 33, many of them militants but also women and children, and two people were killed in Israel by militant rocket fire. ___ Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report. Police here on Sunday recovered 16 kg of Charas worth over Rs 9 crore and arrested two alleged narcotics smugglers, officials said. A special investigation team intercepted two men following a tip-off and recovered the contraband, which was kept in two bags they were carrying, Superintendent of Police Kaustubh said. The accused have been identified as Dipendra Bahadur (28), from Nepal, and Jeewan (25) of Mahrajganj, he said. Police are interrogating the accused. The arrested duo were just carrying the narcotics and the racket is being operated from somewhere else, police said. The accused were booked under Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, they said. Political forces participating in Sunday's session of the National Dialogue's political track agreed on the urgency of holding the long-awaited local council elections soon. During the session, the General Coordinator of the National Dialogue, Diaa Rashwan, said that the Egyptian Presidency will be informed of the political parties' call for expediting measures to hold municipal elections. The agreement of the political parties, which hold different views and ideologies, on the necessity of holding the municipal elections will be reported to the political leadership, Rashwan stressed. New municipal elections law The participants in the session stressed the urgency of passing the amended local council law which is instrumental in holding local council elections. Egypt has had no local councils for more than a decade. Although the Egyptian parliament began discussing the new municipal elections law in 2019, it was never passed, which led to the absence of civic supervisory authority and the failure of the efforts to achieve decentralization. The dialogue session focused on some axes regarding local councils, including the tools that these councils use in questioning heads of the local units. The session discussed, too, the amendments to the current local councils' law and the conditions for dissolving such councils by the executive authority. Local councils, assigned with implementing the states development plans and monitoring executive authorities, were dissolved in 2011 in the wake of the 25th of January revolution as per a ruling by an administrative court. The last local council elections were held in Egypt in 2008. Rashwan called for the Senate and House of Representatives to address the new local councils law in light of its urgent necessity. Holding municipal elections There is consensus by everyone to hold municipal elections and to have a law that meets the needs of all, said Talaat Abdel-Kawy, a member of the National Dialogues board of trustees, during the dialogue session. The rapporteur of the National Dialogues municipalities' subcommittee, Sameer Abdel-Wahab, stressed, ahead of the session, that the National Dialogue is essential for municipal administration. If the National Dialogue is important, it is even more so for municipal administration, as it provides an opportunity for a serious and objective discussion of issues about municipal administration, Abdel-Wahab stated. Article 180 The session discussed, too, the appropriate electoral system in light of Article 180 of the Constitution, and the procedures regulating the nomination of candidates for the municipal council. Article 180 of the 2014 Constitution stipulates that each local unit shall elect a local council by direct secret ballot for four years. The article also maintains that the candidates for the local councils must be at least 21. The article mandates that 25 percent of the seats of the local councils should go to youth under 35 and that another 25 percent of seats go to women. It also prescribes that workers and farmers must occupy at least 50 percent of seats and that these seats should include representatives of Christians and persons with disabilities. Rady Shamekh, a former local council member, said that Article 180 does not apply to the individual or proportional list election systems for local councils and that it does not consider the geographical, social and ethnic nature of localities. He suggested that the groups represented in the councils should reflect the nature of each governorate. Shamekh also proposed adding an article to the constitution that defines the exact meaning of the terms "workers" and "peasants" as some candidates used to run in elections while incorrectly identifying themselves as peasants. Electoral system Furthermore, the session discussed the electoral system for the local council elections. Senate MP, Ahmed Fawzy, suggested using both the closed list system and the individual system equally during the local council elections. Egypt used to follow the individual election system in forming local councils. The 2014 constitution left it up to the legislator to adopt the individual system, the list system, or a combination of both. Decentralisation The main goal for discussing municipalities' issues is to confront corruption, eliminate bureaucracy, and achieve decentralization to see positive results on the ground, said MP Alaa Essam, an assistant rapporteur for the dialogues municipals' subcommittee. The national dialogue is one of the pillars of the new republic and an opportunity to discuss municipalities, local councils, and the ways to develop and reach proposals and recommendations that can be implemented and executed, " Essam added. Search Keywords: Short link: Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command visited forward posts near the Line of Control (LOC) in the Uri and Keran sectors. He met the troops deployed at the LOC and reviewed the security measures adopted, as a lead-up to the G20 meeting. Notably, India will be holding the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar between May 22 and 24 and this visit of the Army Commander assumes significance in view of the scheduled meeting in the UT. The Lt General, during his visit, exhorted troops of the Chinar Corps to maintain the highest state of readiness to meet all contingencies. He took stock of the preparedness of Indian troops along the border areas. Lt General Dwivedi interacted with the security personnel and officials deployed along the LOC. He was briefed on the augmentation of operational capability in the sectors and on the counter-infiltration grid and processes being adopted. G20 meeting to be held from May 22 to 24 in Srinagar The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief appreciated the measures adopted to ensure loopless security along the border. He praised the troops for maintaining the highest standards of alertness and even gave them some valuable advice. #LtGenUpendraDwivedi, #ArmyCdrNC visited forward posts near Line of Control in #Uri and #keran sectors, to review the security measures adopted, as a lead up to #G20 meet. He was briefed on augmentation of operational capability in the sectors. He exhorted troops of pic.twitter.com/8APTXPjuK3 NORTHERN COMMAND - INDIAN ARMY (@NorthernComd_IA) May 20, 2023 Indias G20 Presidency in J&K India will be convening the G20 Leaders Summit for the first time this year and through the G20 Presidency India would be defining the true spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (World is One Family). India will host more than 200 meetings across the country, which includes various locations in all 28 states and 8 Union Territories (UTs). This includes Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Ladakh, and other border areas of India. India is slated to hold the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting, which will be held from May 22 to 24 in Srinagar, J&K. Pakistan has disapproved of Indias pronouncement to host these conferences in Srinagar and Leh. However, the External Affairs Ministry of India had snubbed Pakistan emphasizing that holding these meetings in J&K is very normal, as they are integral parts of India. The G20 meetings had already taken place in Arunachal Pradesh, which China had opposed and skipped the meetings. Ever since India took over the Presidency of the G20, both Pakistan and China have been feeling uncomfortable. Mehbooba Mufti, leader of the Jammu and Kashmir-based PDP, said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 'hijacked' the G20 Summit and replaced the logo with lotus, and accused the Centre of turning the region into a 'prison' ahead of the summit starting May 22 and concluding on May 24. "G20 is an event for the country but BJP has hijacked it, they have even replaced the logo with Lotus, the logo should have been something related to the country, not a party...it is the SAARC that will establish the leadership of our country within this region...why not have a SAARC summit and address our problem," Mufti said. #WATCH | Bengaluru: ..." G20 is an event for the country but BJP has hijacked it, they have even replaced the logo with Lotus, the logo should have been something related to the country, not a party...it is the SAARC that will establish the leadership of our country within this pic.twitter.com/UPzCXqe94B ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 The symbol for the G20 Summit under India's presidency was unveiled on November 8, 2022 nearly a month before India took over presidency of the august forum on December 1, taking over from Indonesia. While unveiling the logo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the symbol of the lotus represents India's cultural heritage and faith in bringing the world together." The G-20 Summit in India in 2023 will reflect the spirit of One Earth, One Family, One Future! pic.twitter.com/FVEPBOTKev Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 8, 2022 "This G20 logo is not just a symbol, it is a message, an emotion running through our veins. It is a resolve, which is now being included in our thoughts," PM Modi had said about the logo. "India's presidency comes at a time of crisis and chaos in the world... No matter the circumstances, the lotus still blooms." G20 can't solve India's problems: Mehbooba Mufti, 63, former chief minister of the once-state of Jammu and Kashmir, further said that the challenges faced by India can be resolved by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)), the intergovernmental organisation comprising South Asian nations, and not the Group of 20 -- an international forum consisting of 19 nations and the European Union. My point is our problems are within the region, G20 may be something in the region doing some kind of publicity for the BJP party at the national and international level...it is the SAARC that will establish the leadership of our country within this region...why not have a SAARC summit and address our problem," Mufti said. Mehbooba compares Kashmir to Guantanamo Mehbooba Mufti compared the ramping up of security in Kashmir, a region that has been a hub of terror activities until recently, to Guantanamo, the US-run military detention camp in Cuba which is often accused of human rights violations. "The place which was converted into an open-air prison have been converted into Guantanamo today. Because even houses have been taken over, there is a three-four-five tier security. There are checkings going on, everything in the house has been turned upside down. Elections in Jammu and Kashmir Asked if she will be contesting the upcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti said she won't contest polls until Article 370 is reinstated and that there is no possibility of polls in Jammu and Kashmir in the near future, a claim also made by Omar Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference and also a former chief minister. Earlier this month, Abdullah said, "The BJP is not ready for assembly elections because they know they are going to lose the elections. They don't have the courage to face the people. We are also not ready to beg for the polls. If they hold the elections, well and good! If they don't, so be it!" Post the completion of the G7 Summit in Japan, PM Modi departed for the Papua New Guinea visit where he is scheduled to arrive in Capital Port Moresby in the evening on May 21. In the last leg of the PMs 3-nation visit, he will go to Australia, where he will partake in a community reception event in Sydney. Australian PM Anthony Albanese informed he will also be attending the event at the Harris Park area in Parramatta, which will be announced during PM Modis visit as Little India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Japan to attend the G7 Summit and also met with the heads of state of the countries of the G7. Moreover, he also interacted with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky; Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva; PM of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh; President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol; Mark Brown, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands; EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen; Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN; Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia, and Charles Michel, President of the European Council. Flooded with requests' According to sources, PM Albanese stated that there is a capacity of 20,000 for the Community reception in Sydney but he is still not able to accommodate the requests he is getting! At the G7 Summit US president Joe Biden coming up to PM Modi said he should be getting his autograph as he is facing a challenge because of a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the upcoming event of PM Modi in the US, sources revealed. To this comment, Australian PM Anthony Albanese also brought up PM Modis community event in Sydney and added even he is unable to process the huge number of requests that he is getting for the event although the seating capacity is 20,000. Another rare occurrence that is going to happen during the FIPIC Summit in Papua New Guinea is the participation of leaders of all 14 countries from the Pacific Islands. Normally, all of them hardly converge together due to connectivity and other issues. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his visit to Hiroshima, Japan, he departed for his next visit to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister will have a packed visit to Port Moresby where he will host the 3rd Summit of the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation [FIPIC] jointly with Prime Minister of PNG, James Marape. FIPIC Summit The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit serves as a platform for fostering cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, climate change, and sustainable development. It is a multinational grouping developed in 2014 for cooperation between India and 14 Pacific Islands nations which include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries, which is rare as normally all of them hardly ever converge together due to connectivity and other issues. This 2023 Summit which will be attended by leaders from all 14 countries, presents a unique opportunity for collaboration and dialogue. The convergence of these nations, facing geographical and connectivity challenges, underscores the importance and potential of strengthening ties between India and the Pacific region. 'Never-seen-before' ceremonial welcome in Papua New Guinea The arrival of PM Modi in Papua New Guinea will have an exceptional response from the host country. Despite the usual practice of not organising ceremonial receptions after sunset, the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister will personally receive PM Modi at the airport on Sunday, along with a fully studded ceremonial welcome. Australian Engagements and the 'Little India' Announcement After the Papua New Guinea visit, PM Modi will visit Australia, where significant community events will take place, strengthening the cultural and people-to-people ties between the two nations. Notably, the Harris Park area in Parramatta, Sydney, will be officially designated as "Little India", highlighting the vibrant Indian diaspora and their invaluable contributions to Australian society. This announcement which will happen during PM Modi's community event symbolises the deep-rooted connections and mutual respect between India and Australia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed for his first-ever visit to Papua New Guinea after his visit to Japan for the Group of Seven or G7 Summit. PM Modis visit to the Indo-Pacific country holds historic significance as it is the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister to PNG. This is the second leg of his three-nation tour, which concludes with the Prime Ministers visit to Australia from May 22 to May 24. PM Modi to host 3rd FIPIC Summit in first-ever visit to Papua New Guinea PM Modi also attended the 3rd in-person QUAD Summit along with US President Joe Biden, Japanese PM Kishida, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. As per PTI, the Indian PM also offered to host the next QUAD Leaders Summit in India next year. After landing in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea on Sunday, PM Modi will jointly host the third summit of the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on Monday with Prime Minister James Marape. As the Prime Minister departed for Papua New Guinea, the official Twitter handle of the PMO said, After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour. After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour. pic.twitter.com/09o7UT3NBP PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 21, 2023 ALSO READ | G7 Summit Live | Day 3 At Hiroshima Full Of High Stakes And Breakthroughs In the meantime, Prime Minister Modi also shared his thoughts on the occasion and said, It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 The group of seven comprises nations like US, France, UK, Italy, Germany, Canada, and Japan, which are the richest democracies in the world. India received an invitation from Japan to attend the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, alongside seven other countries as guests. During his visit to Japan, PM Modi met prominent world leaders like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese counterpart Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and British Premier Rishi Sunak. ALSO READ | Ukraine's Zelenskyy Meets With World Leaders At G7 As Russia Claims Key Victory In The War (With inputs from PTI) As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea for the India-Pacific Islands Cooperation [FIPIC III Summit], he was warmly greeted by the Indian diaspora with loud cheers. Indian nationals residing in the Pacific Island nation held a chit-chat with India's iconic leader and clicked selfies with him at the airport. PM Modi was seen smiling at the cameras as he posed for the photos with scores of Indians. He also held healthy interactions with people who welcomed him with "Har Har Modi, Har Ghar Modi" chants and waved the Indian flag. f "A grand beginning of an important visit! PM @narendramodi arrives in Port Moresby on what is the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Papua New Guinea. Accorded a 19-gun salute, guard of honour & ceremonial welcome. As a special gesture, PM James Marape received PM Modi at the airport," ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour. pic.twitter.com/09o7UT3NBP PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 21, 2023 Prime Minister Modi, during his visit to the country, will engage in bilateral engagements and will hold meetings with Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape. Later, he will visit Australia where he will hold discussions with the CEOs and business leaders, and will also meet the Indian community in Sydney during a special event. Prime Minister landed shortly after 10 pm local time in the capital Port Moresby when he received a ceremonial welcome at the airport, in an unprecedented exception to the island's protocol. A rare admirable moment: PM James Marape touches feet of PM Modi Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape touched the feet of PM Modi and sought his blessings in a rare admirable moment. Indians hailed the "love, confidence and respect for India" that the Prime Minister garnered in a foreign land. The Prime Minister was also embraced by Papua New Guinea's leader that touched the hearts of the citizens of both countries. He was then introduced to the officials as India's national anthem played in the background. Prime Minister Modi's visit to the Pacific Islands' largest nation is the first since the 2014 launch of the forum to counter China's growing influence in the region. "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit," Prime Minister Modi tweeted. PM Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea, beginning the second leg of his tour. pic.twitter.com/gEIWl7VCGk PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 21, 2023 The two sides are expected to sign pacts that will include cooperation in micro- and small to medium enterprises agreements between their state broadcasters, and issuance of visas on arrival. The country is looking to make a dynamic shift from the export of natural gas and minerals to finished goods. Prime Minister Modi's visit has all eyes on the development and cooperation with Papua New Guinea as US President Joe Biden has to cancel his visit to Papua New Guinea on May 22 due to debt limit talks in Washington. India plans to bolster cooperation in myriad sectors including clean energy, technology and community development projects like agricultural equipment and solar electrification. New Delhi's first in-person summit with the Pacific Island countries is being viewed as its outreach to fulfil its ambitious agenda of being an emerging global power. In light of his trip to Papua New Guinea, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release Tok Pisin translation of the legendary Tirukkural book. Tok Pisin is a local language of Papua New Guinea and is also one of the official languages of the nation. Prime Minister is all set to kickstart his trip to the island nation, which will be part of his three-nation tour. His three-nation tour includes his trip to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. On Sunday evening, the Prime Minister arrived in the island nation after he held multiple bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. PM Modis trip to the region is monumental since it is the first time an Indian Prime Minister set foot in Papua New Guinea. The Prime Ministers welcome to the island nation also broke away from the countrys historic tradition. While the Prime Minister landed in the oceanic country after sunset, the people of Papua New Guinea broke the tradition of not welcoming a leader after sunset. Papua New Guinea PM James Marape personally came to receive him at the airport in the countrys national capital Port Moresby. What is Tirukkural? Popularly known as Kural, Tirukkural is a classic Tamil language text that consists of 1,300 short couplets of seven words each. The book is one of the most translated written pieces in the world. The book was written by the venerable poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar. According to the Encyclopedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot, written by Mohan Lal, the book is considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality. I look forward to boosting ties: PM Modi After landing in the island nation, the Prime Minister shared visuals from the welcome ceremony and thanked Papua New Guineas PM for his kind gesture. Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember, PM Modi wrote on Twitter. I look forward to boosting Indias ties with this great nation during my visit, he further added. Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting Indias ties with this great nation during my visit. pic.twitter.com/9pBzWQ6ANT Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also explained Modis visit to the region. After having a packed day and a half session in Hiroshima, the 7 and-half-hour flight to the island nation, we are finally here, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi asserted. Bagchi also lauded Marapes initiative to welcome the Prime Minister at the airport. The Prime Minister will be attending Forum For India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) tomorrow and is also expected to meet New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ongoing foreign visit has been marked by a series of exceptional honours and international engagements. On Sunday, when he will arrive in Papua New Guinea, an extraordinary exception will be made to welcome him with a fully studded ceremonial reception, despite the customary practice of not holding such events after sunset. Additionally, the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit witnessed the remarkable convergence of leaders from 14 countries, a rare occurrence due to logistical challenges and connectivity issues. After concluding his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM will head to Australia, where he will participate in community events and witness the announcement of "Little India" in Harris Park, Parramatta. Unprecedented ceremonial welcome in Papua New Guinea The arrival of PM Modi in Papua New Guinea will have an exceptional response from the host country. Despite the usual practice of not organising ceremonial receptions after sunset, the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister will personally receive PM Modi at the airport on Sunday, along with a fully studded ceremonial welcome. This extraordinary gesture signifies the depth of the bilateral relationship and highlights the respect and admiration PM Modi commands on the global stage. FIPIC Summit The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit, attended by leaders from 14 countries, presents a unique opportunity for collaboration and dialogue. The convergence of these nations, facing geographical and connectivity challenges, underscores the importance and potential of strengthening ties between India and the Pacific region. The FIPIC Summit serves as a platform for fostering cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, climate change, and sustainable development. The FIPIC is a multinational grouping developed in 2014 for cooperation between India and 14 Pacific Islands nations which include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Australian Engagements and the 'Little India' Announcement During PM Modi's visit to Australia, significant community events will take place, strengthening the cultural and people-to-people ties between the two nations. Notably, the Harris Park area in Parramatta, Sydney, will be officially designated as "Little India", highlighting the vibrant Indian diaspora and their invaluable contributions to Australian society. This announcement which will happen during PM Modi's community event symbolises the deep-rooted connections and mutual respect between India and Australia. Australian PM Anthony Albanese will also participate in the Indian community event in Sydney, during PM Modi's visit to the country. Apart from this, Modi's visit to Japan to attend the G7 summit, shows India's increasing presence on the global stage is evident as it receives consecutive invitations to the prestigious G7 summits. This recognition signifies the country's growing role in global affairs and its ability to contribute meaningfully to discussions on critical issues such as climate change, sustainable development, and global governance. India's active participation in G7 summits further solidifies its position as a key global player. Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Papua New Guinea on Sunday (May 21) as the country pulled all the stops in what is an Indian PM's first visit to the island nation. PM Modi was received by Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape as the former received a grand ceremonial welcome at the airport. PM Modi landed in Port Moresby from Japan where he attended the G7 summit & a QUAD meeting while also holding bilateral meetings with several world leaders. This is the second leg of his three-nation tour comprises Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Papua New Guinea, notably, broke its protocol of not ceremonially welcoming any leader after sunset. PM Modi was welcomed with a 19-gun salute from the Papua New Guinea forces at the airport. #WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his three-nation visit after concluding his visit to Japan. He was received by Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape. pic.twitter.com/U94yUQ2aCl ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 In a surprising move, PM James Marape of the host country sought the blessings of PM Modi by touching the leader's feet. PM Modi responded by tapping the Papua New Guinea leader on the back in a respectful gesture, followed by an embrace. #WATCH | Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape seeks blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon latter's arrival in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/gteYoE9QOm ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit," PM Modi tweeted. Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting Indias ties with this great nation during my visit. pic.twitter.com/9pBzWQ6ANT Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 The national anthem of the Indian subcontinent was played by an orchestra as both PMs stood at attention. PM Modi was also accorded the Guard of Honour at Port Moresby. Later, a traditional dance portraying the culture of the island nation was conducted in the presence of PM Modi. #WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaches Papua New Guinea, receives ceremonial welcome. PM Modi's visit is the first-ever visit by the Indian PM to Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/E0srfABHAv ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 "A grand beginning of an important visit! PM @narendramodi arrives in Port Moresby on what is the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Papua New Guinea. Accorded a 19-gun salute, guard of honour & ceremonial welcome. As a special gesture, PM James Marape received PM Modi at the airport," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. A grand beginning of an important visit! PM @narendramodi arrives in Port Moresby on what is the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Papua New Guinea. Accorded a 19-gun salute, guard of honour & ceremonial welcome. As a special gesture, PM James Marape received PM pic.twitter.com/Eah5CI28YL Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 21, 2023 The Indian prime minister also received a rousing welcome from members of the Indian community after departing from the airport. #WATCH | People from the Indian diaspora welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he arrives in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/O2DfVjSRyd ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 According to the MEA website, there are about 3000 Indians in Papua New Guinea, out of which about 2000 are working on projects in the LNG (liquefied natural gas) sector. Others include chartered accountants, university professors, school teachers, doctors, IT and finance professionals, etc. Some Indians are working at Government departments at the middle level and at the embassy. 14 leaders to attend a crucial FIPIC summit PM Modi and PNG PM Marape are set to co-host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on Monday (May 22). This summit becomes particularly significant as it unfolds in a period where China is actively striving to strengthen its military and diplomatic presence in the region. "I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important summit (FIPIC)," PM Modi had said earlier. Good evening from Port Moresby! PM @narendramodi arrives in Papua New Guinea to a warm traditional welcome. pic.twitter.com/PnpLEZxTec Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 21, 2023 The inception of FIPIC took place during PM Modi's visit to Fiji in 2014. The forthcoming FIPIC Summit will witness the participation of leaders from 14 countries, which is a remarkable occurrence considering the infrequency with which they typically gather due to challenges related to connectivity and other factors. The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) comprises the following member countries: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. These nations participate in FIPIC to foster cooperation and strengthen ties with India in the Pacific region. In addition to hosting the FIPIC Summit, PM Modi is scheduled to engage in bilateral discussions with PM Marape. Furthermore, he will have a meeting with Bob Dadae, the Governor General of Papua New Guinea. According to a Facebook post of the 'PNG Office of the Prime Minister', PNG PM Marape has said some of the possible deliverables between India & Papua New Guinea over the next day include: A Memorandum-of-Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation in Micro Small to Medium Enterprises (MSMES) between India and PNG; Reciprocal visa-on -arrival arrangements (PNG is benefiting from that at international airports in India); Visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and official passport holders; Cultural exchange programme (CEP); MOU between election commissions of India and PNG; MOU between State-owned Indian broadcaster Prasar Bharati and National Broadcasting Corporation PNG; MOU on foreign office consultation; MOU on Information and Communication Technology cooperation; and Various proposals on assistance to be given by India to PNG. The post also mentioned the non-implemented MOUs, which are: MOU on US$100 million line of credit from Exim Bank of India signed in April 2016 for the construction of Madang-Baiyer road and Kimbe-Hoskins Road; MOU on cooperation in the fields of health care and medical science signed in April 2016; and MOU on the US$150 million Line of Credit signed in September 2019 at the FIPIC Summit. Additionally, PM Modi will have a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, further strengthening the bilateral relations between India and New Zealand. Papua New Guinea gets Blinken instead of Biden Following US President Joe Biden cutting short his trip which was similar to that of PM Modi, the Biden administration is sending US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Biden's stead. The US White House said that Biden's trip was cut short "due to the need to return to Washington for meetings with Congressional leaders to ensure that Congress takes action by the deadline to avert default." Consequently, Australian PM Anthony Albanese cancelled the upcoming QUAD summit due to be held in Sydney this year which led to the four leaders from Japan, Australia, USA and India meeting during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Blinken said that he would travel to Port Moresby on May 21-22 where he will meet with Pacific Islands Forum leaders on behalf of Biden. Blinken will also convey US' invitation to Pacific Islands leaders to visit Washington, D.C. later this year for the second US summit with the Pacific Islands Forum. The US secretary of state is also stated to meet with PM Marape and sign a bilateral defence cooperation agreement and a bilateral maritime security agreement. Irans foreign ministry has summoned Switzerland's envoy in Tehran, local media reported on Sunday, amid tensions with Western countries. Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday summoned the Swiss ambassador, Nadine Lozano, after a Twitter account affiliated with the embassy in Tehran published a photo showing protest icon Mahsa Amini, reported YJC.ir, a website affiliated with Irans state TV. Months of anti-government protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Amini in September, after Iranian morality police detained her for allegedly violating the countrys strict Islamic dress code. The Twitter account linked with the Swiss embassy in Tehran also posted an image of Iran's pre-revolutionary flag, before its current theocracy came to power. The post added that the Swiss foreign ministry strongly condemned the recent execution of three Iranian protesters. Iran announced Friday the executions of Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi, without saying how the deaths were carried out. Authorities alleged they have killed a police officer and two members of the paramilitary Basij group in the city of Isfahan in November during the demonstrations. Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused Western powers of fomenting the unrest, without providing evidence. A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to initiate a peace process," but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily-sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertilizer exports Africa desperately needs, a key mediator who helped broker the talks said in an interview with The Associated Press. Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what theyve characterized as a peace mission. The talks will likely be next month, Ollivier said. He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out "logistics" for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would likely have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Zambia. The talks also have the approval of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday. Neither side in the war appears ready to stop fighting, though. The talks were announced last week by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa just as Russia launched an intense air attack on Kyiv. On Sunday, Russia claimed to have taken the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after fierce fighting, a claim denied by Ukraine. We are not dreamers, Ollivier said on the chances the African leaders will achieve an immediate breakthrough with regard to stopping the 15-month conflict. Unless something happens, I dont think we are going to finish our first mission with a ceasefire. The aim was to make a start, said Ollivier, a 78-year-old Frenchman who brought opposing sides together in high-stakes negotiations in the late 1980s that helped end apartheid in South Africa. It starts with signs. It starts with dialogue. And this is what we are going to try to do," Ollivier said. No guarantee that we are going to succeed but, for the time being, Russia and Ukraine have accepted ... a delegation coming specifically to their countries to talk about peace. A key starting point for Africa is grain and fertilizers. The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertilizers from Russia, exacerbating global food insecurity and hunger. Africa has been one of the hardest-hit continents. Last week, Russia agreed to a two-month extension of a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. that allows Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea and out to the world, and the six African presidents would like to see that extended further. But they also need to broach ways of making it easier for African nations to receive shipments and pay Russia for fertilizers, Ollivier said. Russian fertilizer is not under international sanctions but the U.S. and some Western nations have targeted Russian cargo ships for sanctions. Russias access to the SWIFT global financial transaction system also has been restricted by the sanctions, leaving African nations struggling to order and pay for critical fertilizers. We will need to have a window whereby SWIFT will be authorized for this specific point, Ollivier said. That will be on the table and we hope that in that case we will gain the support of the Russians for the grains from Ukraine, and we will gain the support of the Ukrainians to find payments and shipments possible for the Russian fertilizer. The African mission is not the only mediation effort. China offered its own peace proposal in February and a Chinese envoy has been in discussions with Ukrainian officials. But China's plan has largely been dismissed by Ukraine's Western allies and is clouded by Beijing's political support for Moscow. Ukraine and Russia are far apart in terms of any agreements that might form the base of a peace deal. The African delegation still had a wide cross-section of backing, Ollivier said, after China also came to us and offered support on the basis it would be a parallel effort to Beijing's plan. More support, more weight will be put on the negotiation (with Moscow and Kyiv)," said Ollivier, the founding chairman of the London-based Brazzaville Foundation, an organization that deals with conflict resolution. If one party says no, they will consider to who they are saying no. Are they saying no only to Jean-Yves Ollivier? To the Brazzaville Foundation? To the six (African) heads of state? Or are they saying no to the United Nations, or to the Chinese, or to the Americans. To the British? To the European Union?" Search Keywords: Short link: PM Modi landed in Papua New Guinea's Port Moresby on Sunday. As he is the first Indian PM to visit the nation, he was welcomed at the airport by Papua New Guinea's PM James Marape, who touched the former's feet to seek blessing. "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting Indias ties with this great nation during my visit," the Indian PM wrote on Twitter. Some more glimpses from a very special welcome in Papua New Guinea. pic.twitter.com/uHFCV2j0FA May 21, 2023 The Indian community in Papua New Guinea came in large numbers and showed remarkable affection. Thankful to them for the memorable welcome. pic.twitter.com/K1BT4RGe7B Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 Before reaching Papua New Guinea, PM Modi was in Hiroshima, Japan, for the G7 summit. A meeting of Quad nations was also held in Hiroshima. In Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will hold a meeting with leaders of FIPIC (Forum for India-Pacfic Islands Cooperation). What is FIPIC? The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) is a platform established to enhance cooperation and foster closer ties between India and the Pacific Island countries. The initiative was launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Fiji in November 2014. The forum aims to strengthen bilateral relations, promote sustainable development, and address common challenges faced by the countries in the India-Pacific region. The FIPIC consists of 14 island countries, namely Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. These countries are collectively referred to as the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). India, being the driving force behind the forum, serves as a bridge between the PICs and the Indian subcontinent. The objectives of FIPIC revolve around several key areas, including sustainable development, climate change, renewable energy, trade and investment, capacity building, and cultural exchanges. The forum provides a platform for dialogue and cooperation, allowing participating countries to share experiences, knowledge, and best practices in these areas. One of the major highlights of FIPIC is the periodic convening of summits, where leaders from India and the Pacific Island countries come together to discuss and strategize on various issues of mutual interest. These summits provide an opportunity for high-level engagement, enabling leaders to address concerns and explore avenues for cooperation. The first FIPIC Summit was held in Suva, Fiji, in 2015, and subsequent summits have taken place in India and other participating countries. FIPIC has facilitated several initiatives and projects aimed at strengthening collaboration between India and the Pacific Island countries. These initiatives include capacity building programs, scholarships for Pacific Island students to study in India, healthcare partnerships, cooperation in disaster management, and the development of renewable energy projects. India has also extended lines of credit to PICs to support infrastructure development and economic growth in the region. Reference to disciple who betrayed Jesus persists in atheist country that has tried to stamp out Christianity Judas has become a scornful nickname for informers in North Korea. For example, when a girl confided in her friend during the COVID-19 pandemic that she planned to escape North Korea once the border with China reopened, she was brought before authorities and punished. Residents began calling the friend who sold her out a modern-day Judas, a woman from Kimjongsuk county, in the northern province of Ryanggang, told Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for security reasons. After this incident, whenever the informant passes by, other people in the neighborhood turn their backs on him and curse him as Judas, the woman said. Authorities who encourage the informants are called Judas as well. The reference to the disciple who betrayed Jesus in the New Testament might be surprising given that Christianity has been illegal in the country for nearly 120 years. It is not a new term because underground Christians who are persecuted in North Korea are familiar with it. And Christianity does have roots in the country. Pyongyang was once such a bastion of Christians that it was called Jerusalem of the East. Korea was one of the only places in East Asia where Christianity had staying power after it was introduced in the 17th century. But came to an end once the peninsula fell to Japanese rule in 1905 and Shinto became the state religion, pushing believers underground. At the end of World War II in 1945, Christian missionaries returned to Korea, but only in the south, as the Soviet-occupied north forbade religion. Once North Korea was officially established in 1948, Christianity and other religions were completely outlawed, and the church remained underground. Efforts to stamp out Christianity But the nickname does appear to be used more widely these days. The fact that people are still aware of the story of Judas, who betrayed Jesus to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver, indicates that despite North Koreas best efforts to stamp out Christianity, the religion still maintains a presence there. People who lack loyalty or who stab their friends in the back are cursed as Judas, a man living in Pyongsong, South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang, told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. The five-household propagandist, who reports the movements of people and even trivial words to the police, is also called Judas by his peers, he said. The five-household watch is a sophisticated surveillance system in which paid informants, called propagandists, are tasked with monitoring five households in their neighborhoods. Five-household propagandists are enthusiastic Party members selected from factories and schools for exhibiting traits of loyalty. As the public sentiment has worsened due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis, the authorities are focusing on monitoring the residents by mobilizing the informants, the South Pyongan resident said. As if that was not enough, the authorities secretly planted more informants in the neighborhoods. In response, the residents are criticizing the authorities for creating distrust among the residents, telling them not to trust anyone, because they do not know who could be Judas. North Korean authorities have tried hard to eliminate Christianity from the country, but believers are still there though its impossible to know how many. The international Christian missionary organization Open Doors, citing a trusted North Korean source, described how in 2022 dozens of members of an underground church were discovered and executed, and more than 100 of their family members were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster. The European Unions former high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, has defended the blocs initial response after Russia occupied Crimea in 2014, but acknowledged we did not know then what we know now and said subsequent policy did not sufficiently prioritize what was happening in Ukraine. She also urged Balkan neighbors Serbia and Kosovo to get round the table and find answers to lingering differences preventing normalized relations between Belgrade and Pristina, a full decade after the so-called Brussels agreement that she helped forge. In an exclusive interview with RFE/RLs Balkan Service, Ashton underscored the Western Balkan countries eventual suitability for EU membership and the added challenge of Russian engagement in the region. We were always aware of Russias influence and engagement in the Western Balkans, she said. The events in Ukraine have brought that more into view. Ashton was the EUs first-ever high representative, serving as the blocs chief foreign and security policy coordinator and envoy from 2009-14. Russia covertly occupied the Crimean Peninsula and annexed it in 2014 in a move overwhelmingly rejected by the United Nations, and a simmering conflict waged by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine escalated into a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. The European Union and the United States led a sanctions push particularly after the downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine in July 2014 to punish Russia, the ruble, and perceived proxy fighters in Ukraine. But critics have accused the West of underestimating the threat to international order and UN-recognized borders for years from Russian President Vladimir Putin, particularly in what Moscow regards as its near abroad. We did react at the time, imposing sanctions on Russia and trying to get negotiations moving, Ashton said. Hindsight is always difficult. We did not know then what we know now; however, in the intervening years, what was happening in Ukraine was not as high on the agenda as it should have been, in my opinion. Ashton published her memoirs -- titled And Then What? Inside Stories Of 21st-Century Diplomacy -- in February. Speaking to RFE/RL, she drew a sharp distinction between the challenge of China, which has grown considerably for European policymakers, and the situation with Russia. Chinese President Xi Jinping asserted a no-limits partnership with Russia weeks before Russias all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Beijing has urged peace but declined to directly criticize Moscow publicly. I hope that we will see more effort put into developing a strategic approach to China that recognizes the connections and the concerns, Ashton said. I recall that China played a role with the rest of the P5+1 in the Iran [nuclear] negotiations, and my hope would be that China would seek to play a positive role in the multilateral system we need to take care of. In the former Yugoslavia, Ashton was essential to an apparent breakthrough in Brussels in 2013 that provided a road map toward normalized relations between Serbia and its majority ethnic Albanian former province, Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. A decade later, Belgrade still refuses to recognize Kosovar sovereignty while blocking its membership in international institutions. Serbias populist President Aleksandar Vucic has leveraged regional might to pursue closer relations with Moscow and Beijing, and outsiders accuse him of increasingly authoritarian leadership that damages Serbians desire for EU membership. Kosovos prime minister, Albin Kurti, has toughened Pristinas stance on a number of bilateral issues since taking over in 2020, pledging reciprocity, and is frequently critical of Western attempts at mediation. Ashton played down a question about Washington and Brussels vying for influence in the Balkans, saying that its not about who has more power, its about the power of working together. She conceded that there is concern across the [Balkan] region that the EU is not as enthusiastic as it was once for enlargement. Yet there is no question that the countries of the Western Balkans belong inside the EU. But there is a lot to be done by those countries who want to be part of the EU, and some of the lack of enthusiasm is because of the lack of progress being made by those who want to be members, she said. It is not an easy journey, but a journey well worth making. Ashton stressed democracy, human rights, and rule of law as central guiding principles and part of the ongoing dialogue. Among the lessons of her diplomatic years, Ashton stressed to RFE/RL the need for compromise and good negotiators whose drip, drip efforts enable solutions. It is not just the role of the EU to push forward with the Western Balkans, it is also down to each country to determine that it will make the changes necessary to deal with all the issues that are necessary to become a member of the EU, she said. So I hope we will see more done by everyone to address these challenges. BUCHAREST -- Anastasia Konovalova and her 3-year-old lived in Romania for a year after fleeing Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion of her homeland, working at educational centers with Ukrainian children. She's now back home in Odesa, where she was reunited with her husband and an older son. Konovalova, a teacher by trade, told RFE/RL's Romanian Service that despite the dangers of the ongoing Russian invasion, she felt a need to return to the Black Sea port city. "My home is here. I wanted to be with my family. I wanted to be with my country," Konovalova explained, adding that others should follow her lead as well. Since Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion, some 1.9 million Ukrainians have sought refuge in, or traversed, Romania, which shares a 649-kilometer-long border with Ukraine. Some 130,000 people are registered for "temporary protection" in Romania, the latest UN data shows. But while Romania has been lauded for its handling of the refugee crisis, the country's hospitality may be waning. A Eurobarometer poll published in February showed that the highest opposition in the EU to providing aid to Ukraine was in Romania. Bucharest has also recently reduced the amount of aid Ukrainian refugees are eligible for, while tightening the conditions to receive that money. Instead of criticizing the Romanian government's move, Konovalova says it makes sense. "I applaud this legislation because it's been more than a year [since the start of Russia's invasion]. People need to start working and start contributing to the country that has helped them so much," she said. The financial support for refugees has shrunk and now comes with more strings attached. Until May, Ukrainian refugees in Romania were eligible for daily amounts of 50 lei ($11) for housing and 20 lei ($4) for food. Under the so-called 50/20 program, a single person could receive in total 2,100 lei ($454) per month. That amount has now been slashed to 1,350 lei ($292) -- 600 lei ($129) for food, 750 lei ($162) for housing -- per individual. A family of three is entitled to 2,000 lei ($432) per month for housing, meaning the maximum total payout now is 3,800 lei ($822) per month. The aid is contingent on adults working and children being enrolled in school. It's also temporary, expiring after four months. "The government's new policy toward Ukrainian refugees is influenced by the anti-Ukraine trend manifested in our society, but it is also a burning budgetary issue in Romania," Silvia Maria Tabusca, coordinator of the European Center for Legal Education and Research, told RFE/RL's Romanian Service. In January, Bucharest said it had spent "hundreds of millions of euros for refugees" since the start of the Russian invasion, Bloomberg reported in April. Some of that money may have been misspent as well, contended Tabusca. "Previous spending on the 50/20 program was unmonitored and ineffective, as in some cases money was spent that did not reach refugees," Tabusca said. Under the old scheme, money for housing Ukrainian refugees went not to them but to those providing the accommodation. Many have complained of not being paid for months. Despite such glitches, Romania was "very generous" with its aid to Ukrainian refugees and coped with the humanitarian crisis, said Ionut Stroe, a spokesperson for the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), a member of the ruling coalition. "That moment of the biggest test has passed, and the situation has somewhat stabilized as the flow of migration has basically decreased," Stroe told RFE/RL earlier this month. Others in the ruling coalition have hinted that some Ukrainians have taken advantage of Romania's generosity. "I have two Ukrainian cars in front of my house. I don't know if those people really don't have money for housing and food," said a deputy from the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD), also a member of the coalition. "On the other hand, many of our fellow citizens really don't [have enough money]," the deputy, who requested that he remain anonymous, told RFE/RL. Konovalova said she doesn't blame Romanians for thinking some Ukrainian refugees are abusing their generosity. "We are adults. We left the country with children, and adults should take responsibility for their lives, regardless of the situation. When you have a whole family living in a luxury apartment somewhere in [the Black Sea port city of] Constanta, for free, they don't work, the children aren't in school, of course it's not fair. And, of course, it must be stopped," she said. The skepticism that aid may be abused -- and perceptions of refugees living in luxury -- is perhaps reflected in a shift in public attitudes in Romania toward providing such help to Ukrainian refugees. The Eurobarometer poll from February found that 25 percent of Romanians disapprove of providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the highest such figure in the EU. Plus, 35 percent of polled Romanians did not agree with providing financial support to Ukraine. Despite those findings, Romania proved itself among the most generous in the EU toward those from Ukraine fleeing Russia's brutal assault. A report earlier this year by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) found that 65 percent of Ukrainian refugees in Romania had their housing paid in full, compared with a European average of 35 percent. At the opposite extreme, Ukrainian refugees in Poland paid in full for accommodation, receiving no official housing help from the state. In Romania, 72 percent of Ukrainian refugees stayed in private homes, again the highest rate among EU states covered in the FRA survey, which is based on testimony of approximately 14,500 people who fled Ukraine and settled in the EU. The survey also found that the percentage of Ukrainians who said they had been treated unfairly at some point was the lowest in Romania, at 40 percent. On the other hand, the percentage of Ukrainians living in Romania who want to return home was also highest in the survey, at 49 percent, compared to the average of 35 percent. For those thinking of returning, Konovalova reminds them that life in Ukraine remains dangerous and full of risk, given the constant threat of indiscriminate Russian bombing. "Before, we were bombed during the day, so we spent every day in the basement, and the children spent their time in school and kindergarten, also in the basement. Now, [the Russian military] bombs us at night. So nobody sleeps anymore. Sleep deprivation is the biggest problem for us. Every night we have alarms. Every day, every night, someone wants to kill us," she said. And for those struggling in Romania, Konovalova urges her compatriots to return home, despite all the risks. "If you haven't started learning Romanian, start now! If you can't learn the language, wellI'm here in Ukraine. I'm working. If you can't adapt there, come back. "Many will return. And personally, I'm glad, because we need our people back here in Ukraine." Written by Tony Wesolowsky based on reporting by RFE/RL's Romanian Service Russia claims it has taken full control of Bakhmut, the epicenter of the war in eastern Ukraine over the past several months, in what would be Moscows first major victory since last summer. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ukrainian commanders disputed the declaration, saying fighting still continues for the devastated city, which has symbolized Kyivs fierce resistance to Moscows unprovoked invasion. Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a congratulatory statement to his forces on May 20 after Russias Defense Ministry and the head of the Wagner mercenary group which has been at the forefront of Moscows siege of Bakhmut announced they had taken the city. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here. Ukrainian commanders quickly pushed back on the Russian declarations, with the commander of the countrys ground forces asserting that the city was still contested. Zelenskiy, meeting with the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21 to discuss additional military aid, responded no when asked by reporters whether Russia controlled the city. Yet he seemed to downplay the significance of an eventual loss. But you have to understand that there is nothing [left of the city]. They destroyed everything, he said, referring to Russian forces. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its a tragedy. Bakhmut today only remains a place in our hearts, he said, comparing its widespread destruction to that of Hiroshima, which was nearly obliterated by an atomic bomb during World War II. The conflicting reports about Bakhmuts control came as Ukraine reportedly made tangible battlefield advances in districts north and south of the contested city that commanders bet will enable them to eventually encircle the Russian troops in Bakhmut. They also came as Ukraine gears up for a widely anticipated counteroffensive that is expected to take place in one or more locations across the more than 1,000-kilometer front line, which stretches from the Luhansk region in the northeast all the way to the mouth of the Dnieper River, near Kherson, in the southwest. Some Western military officials have questioned Ukraines staunch defense of Bakhmut, saying its strategic value is overstated. The city, which had a prewar population of 70,000, is a transport hub with railway and road links to other parts of eastern Ukraine. Yet others say Ukraine has successfully worn down Russian forces in Bakhmut, giving Kyiv time to prepare tens of thousands of fresh troops for a counteroffensive. U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters in Hiroshima on May 21 that Russia has suffered over 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut, including dead and injured, a number analysts called catastrophic. Symbolic City Bakhmut has become highly symbolic for both Kyiv and Moscow during the 10-month Russian siege. During his December address from the podium of the U.S. Capitol to members of Congress, Zelenskiy compared the fighting in Bakhmut to the 1777 Battle of Saratoga, a decisive moment in the U.S. war for independence. Zelenskiy told Congress that Bakhmut holds, a phrase which has since become a rallying cry for Ukraine. Russia sought to take Bakhmut ahead of the May 9 Victory Day, one of the most important holidays in the country and which celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Amid the recent advances by Ukraine in the districts north and south of the city, Russia poured hundreds of more troops into Bakhmut in recent days. Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin posted a video to his Telegram channel on May 20 standing before what appeared to be the citys destroyed railway station. Today, at noon, Bakhmut was completely captured, he said. We completely took the whole city, from house to house. Prigozhin has exaggerated his groups military advances in the past. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said in a statement released about an hour later that Ukrainian troops continue to fight in certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the southwest district of Bakhmut, amid heavy fighting. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, commander of Ukraines ground forces, on May 21 admited that Ukrainian forces controlled only a small part of Bakhmut, but suggested that his troops would still be able to reenter the city in the future. "Despite the fact that we now control [only] a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense is still relevant," he said in a post to Telegram. "It gives us the opportunity to enter the city in case the situation changes. And this will definitely happen." "We continue to advance along the flanks in the suburb of Bakhmut and are actually approaching the capture of the city in a tactical situation," he said. A confirmed Russian victory in Bakhmut would have partly overshadowed Zelenskiys visit to Japan, where he received assurances of more support. Biden announced a new $375 million package of military aid, which includes ammunition, artillery, and armored vehicles. The United States is by far the largest supplier of weaponry and equipment to Ukraine. Earlier, Zelenskiy notched a boost of confidence when Western allies signaled a willingness to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets. And he thanked British President Rishi Sunak for helping to form a coalition to supply the jets. I thanked him for the leadership in developing our capabilities in the sky, Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Zelenskiy also met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council. And he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, briefing him on the peace plan he has put forward that calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces before any negotiations can be held. India is among the nations that have not joined the international condemnation of Russian aggression following Moscows February 2022 invasion. Russias brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules, and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, the G7 leaders said in a communique issued late May 20. With reporting by AP and Reuters ASHGABAT -- Police in tightly controlled Turkmenistan have launched a nationwide crackdown on mens facial hair, forcibly shaving young mens beards and barring bearded men from boarding planes or trains, witnesses said. A 30-year-old bearded man told RFE/RL on May 17 that authorities at the Turkmenbashi International Airport didnt allow him to board a plane because of his facial hair. They said, Shave your beard first. You must look like your passport photo, the man said on condition of anonymity. Otherwise, we cant identify you. The man added that police also confiscated his passport and said it will be returned only after he shaves his beard. Several other residents of the coastal city in western Turkmenistan confirmed that local police in recent days have been targeting young, bearded men on the streets, demanding they shave their beards or be taken to a police station. Authorities are also demanding that men sign a written pledge that they wont grow a beard in the future, witnesses said. RFE/RL tried to contact Turkmenbashi officials for comment but didnt receive a response. In Turkmenistan and other parts of Central Asia -- the predominantly Muslim, former Soviet regions -- a bushy beard is perceived as a sign of being a follower of religious extremism or what many locals describe as unconventional Islamic traditions. There have been numerous reports that bearded men were rounded up and forcibly shaven by police in Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The latest crackdown in Turkmenistan started in mid-May without any announcement, comment, or explanation from the government. Police raids were also reported in the northern city of Dashoguz, where witnesses say men are being detained en masse and having their beards shaven at police stations against their wishes. One Dashoguz resident who was among the detainees said all the men brought to the police station were shaven with the same razor. Mosque-goers say imams have begun preaching to their congregations that growing a beard is only appropriate for older men who have reached retirement age. Turkmenistan last year launched a string of restrictions against women, banning them from wearing tight-fitting clothes, coloring their hair, or having cosmetic surgery, such as breast enhancement. Dozens of beauty salons closed across the country for offering some of these banned procedures and services. At least 20 female flight attendants and some 50 female employees of the national rail service were fired for allegedly having had their lips or breasts surgically enhanced. Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by RFE/RLs Turkmen Service Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a symbolic victory on the battlefield. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab during the final day of the Group of Seven summit underscored the centrality of the war for the bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India, South Korea and Brazil. He also held one-on-one talks with several of the leaders. U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package worth $375 million for Ukraine during his meeting with Zelenskyy, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That fresh pledge came days after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere, Biden said. Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the support, adding that we will never forget. Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday aboard a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the claim by Russia's Defense Ministry that forces of the Wagner private army, backed by Russian troops, had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely the bloodiest of the war. Asked if Bakhmut was still in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said he thought that Russian forces had finally taken the city in a siege that destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place, Zelenskyy said, adding that the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of dead Russians. While Ukraine was the overwhelming focus of the summit, the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. Biden also aimed to reassure world leaders that the U.S. would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japans brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue posing for photos in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, a US official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the worlds largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Summits like the G7 are a chance for leaders to put pressure on one another to align or redouble their diplomatic efforts, according to Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. Zelenskyys presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they cant, he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor," he said. The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure, calling Russia's assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the worlds No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize self-governing Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and was seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Chinas Foreign Ministry said that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to ... focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, the leaders statement said. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host city's symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyy's inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leader's visit was not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city. Protesters carrying No War No G7 banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to Chinas investment dollars. Search Keywords: Short link: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summits closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a battlefield victory that was quickly disputed by Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was committed to strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also spoke one-on-one with several leaders. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the Russian claim that forces of the Wagner private army and Russian troops had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely bloodiest of the war. Comments by Zelenskyy earlier in the day in English suggested that the Russians had finally taken the city. But he and other Ukrainian officials later cast doubt on that assessment, with Zelenskyy telling reporters in Ukrainian that "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. U.S. President Joe Biden announced new military aid worth $375 million for Ukraine, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere, Biden said. Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. While Ukraine dominated the summit, the leaders of Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. And Biden sought to reassure world leaders that the U.S. would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan furthered efforts to improve ties colored by lingering anger over issues linked to Japans brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, said a U.S. official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Yoon promised to provide South Korean demining equipment and ambulances to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war. He briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the worlds largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. Zelenskyys presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they cant, said Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. The G7 has vowed to intensify pressure on Russia, calling its assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Sunday denounced the G7 as "fixated on comprehensive confrontation with Russia ... The leaders of the G7 countries brought to their meeting the chief of the Kyiv regime, who is controlled by them, and ultimately turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show. The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the worlds No. 2 economy. The leaders said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Were not looking to decouple from China, were looking to de-risk and diversify, Biden said. He also vowed to help Taiwan defend itself against a potential attack by China, saying that there is an understanding by the U.S. and its allies that if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response. Chinas Foreign Ministry for its part urged G7 members to "focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host city's symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyy's inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leaders' visit was not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city. Protesters carrying No War No G7 banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing in a program meant to offer countries an alternative to Chinas investment dollars. Search Keywords: Short link: Japan will on Monday release March figures for core machine orders, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Orders are expected to rise 0.7 percent on month and 1.4 percent on year after slipping 4.5 percent on month and jumping 9.8 percent on year in February. Taiwan will see April figures for export orders and unemployment. Export orders are expected to sink 13.9 percent on year after tumbling 25.7 percent in March. The jobless rate is called steady at 3.59 percent. The People's Bank of China will announce its latest loan prime rate, with forecasts calling for no change at 3.65 percent. Hong Kong will provide April numbers for consumer prices, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.8 percent on year, up from 1.7 percent in March. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News 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. Car exports posted YoY and MoM de-growth in April 2023 with Kia Sonet and Seltos making it to the top 5 list Indias Car exports fell in April 2023.A major reason for these declining sales could be the resurgent dollar that has in turn led to devaluation of currencies in some key export markets. Total PV exports in April 2023 dipped 11.95 percent YoY to 40,900 units. This was a de-growth over 46,498 units exported in April 2023. MoM exports also fell as against 69,026 units shipped in March 2023. Kia Sonet at No. 1 has seen a 99.81 percent YoY growth in exports to 4,206 units, up from 2,105 units sold in April 2022. The Sonet currently commands a 10.27 percent share on this list. Maruti Baleno was the next highest exported car from India in April 2023 with 4,179 units shipped in April 2023, up 744.24 percent as against 495 units shipped in April 2022. This was a volume growth of 3,684 units. Car Exports April 2023 vs April 2022 Outstanding increase in exports was also seen in the case of Hyundai Verna which improved by 162.59 percent YoY to 3,973 units, up from 1,513 units shipped in April 2022. Maruti Suzuki Swift exports dipped by 29.68 percent to 2,929 units in the past month from 4,165 units shipped in April 2022. It was also a MoM de-growth from 3,986 units shipped in March 2023. While Kia Sonet posted a YoY growth in exports, that of Kia Seltos dipped by 46.73 percent YoY to 2,864 units last month, this was as against 5,376 units shipped in April 2022. Honda City exports improved by 7.83 percent to 2,093 units, up from 1,941 units exported in April 2023. It was followed by 4 models from the Maruti Suzuki lineup. Maruti Suzuki SPresso posted a 37 percent YoY decline in exports to 2,033 units while Grand Vitara added 1,687 units to the export list. There was also the DZire (1,684 units), Ertiga (1,585 units) and Celerio (1,456 units) out of which DZire exports fell by 58.32 percent. Three models to post exports above the 1,000 unit mark were the Hyryder (1,348 units), Hyundai Aura (1,149 units) and Venue (1,006 units). Car Exports April 2023 Sub 1,000 units Car exports that failed to cross the 1,000 unit mark were Virtus (881 units), Grand i10 (798 units), Alcazar (775 units) and Carens (715 units). There was also the relatively new Citroen C3 with 686 units, Maruti Alto 597 units and Nissan Sunny sedan of which 592 units were exported in April 2023. Hyundai Creta exports dipped by 81.43 percent to 513 units in April 2023 from 2,763 units sold in April 2022 Creta exports also fell on a MoM basis from 1,902 units shipped in March 2023. Taigun exports improved by 226.27 percent to 385 units while Compass exports stood at 374 units along with 303 units of the KUV100 and 286 units of the Hyundai i20. WRV (266 units), Eeco van (264 units), Mahindra Scorpio (258 units), XUV300 (248 units) and Kushaq (164) units also featured lower down the export list in April 2023. The list of passenger vehicle exports also included the Ciaz (138 units), Brezza (128 units), Ignis (89 units), Kwid (45 units), Magnite (41 units) and Bolero (37 units). Of these, Bolero sales improved the maximum by 1133.33 percent YoY from just 3 units shipped in April 2022. New entrants on the list were the Meridian (33 units), XL6 (27 units), WagonR (20 units) and Maxximo (18 units). Exports of Kiger (15 units) dipped 96.37 percent from 413 units exported in April 2022. The Triber also saw a 94.09 percent YoY de-growth in exports to 15 units in the past month from 254 units shipped in April 2022. The list also included XUV700 (13 units) and Honda Amaze (4 units). MG Comet was recently launched in India as the most affordable electric car Prices starting from Rs 7.98 lakh MG Comet EV on sale in India, is also on sale in other countries. One of them is Indonesia, where it is sold as Wuling Air EV. MG Comet is a two-door four-seater mini electric vehicle. It is currently Indias most affordable electric car among the 28 on offer. Comet offers hardly any boot space with all four seats up and cant even store a bag of chips. So, a car like this cant be of much use other than daily commutes with minimal practicality, right? Well, Wuling is proving that wrong as they have showcased a police car and a fire rescue vehicle based on its Air EV at 2023 PEVS Show (Periklindo Electric Vehicle Show) in Jakarta, Indonesia. Lets see how Air EV fits these applications. MG Comet Showcased As Fire Rescue Vehicle MG Comet Fire Rescue vehicle is painted in red colour, just like the fire ambulances. There are Damkar stickers on the sides which mean Firefighter in Bahasa language. At the rear and front, there is Fire Rescue stickering as well. You must be thinking Wuling must have added a large water tank in the Air EV. But that isnt the case. Wuling has added flashing red and white LED strobe lights on top. These lights warn other drivers of a fast-approaching vehicle. Rear seats are removed completely and in their place, there are uniforms of firemen, a couple of fire extinguishers and a hose pipe to connect to a fire hydrant. MG Comet Police Car Small electric cars are proving to be ideal police patrol vehicles in crowded cities. There are some cities where cops are already using the MG Comet as an official patrol car. SCBD (Sudirman Central Business District) Station Police force already use Wuling Air EV as their intra-city patrolling vehicle. SCBD in South Jakarta is one of the prime areas in the nations current capital. In terms of exterior modifications, there are not a lot except for the Blue LED strobe lights. Along with blue and white exterior paint finish with Polisi stickers at the front, side and back. Mechanically (electrically, rather), there are no changes. Wuling seems to have based both these applications on the Short Range model as there is no infotainment screen. 1 of 5 Source The Iraqi army is preparing to tighten the federal government's grip on a camp housing Turkish Kurdish refugees that Ankara has called an "incubator for terrorism", officials told AFP Saturday. The plans have sparked protests by residents of the Makhmur camp, which currently has its own administration and armed camp guards, the officials said. The camp, in an area of northern Iraq under federal control, was established with UN support in 1998 to host an influx of refugees from the Turkish army's scorched earth campaign against villages suspected of supporting the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It has become a bugbear for Ankara which regards it as a recruiting ground for the PKK in its deadly four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. "The army plans to establish a perimeter fence with a (single) entrance to secure the camp," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The aim is to "regulate the movements" of camp residents, the official said, pointing to "security issues" concerning the presence of "PKK families" in the camp. Iraqi Kurdish official Rashad Kalali said "camp residents demonstrated against the army's plans". "The Iraqi army wants to build a perimeter fence with a single entrance and confiscate weapons" held by camp residents, said Kalali, a local leader of the Iraqi Kurds' second largest party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The move by the Iraqi army follows a visit by federal national security adviser Qassem al-Aaraji to Kurdish regional capital Arbil on Wednesday and comes after repeated threats by Ankara over the years to secure the camp itself if necessary. During a major military operation in northern Iraq in 2021, the Turkish military carried out air strikes that killed several camp officials it identified as PKK leaders. "We will not allow the gruesome separatist organisation (the PKK) to use Makhmur as an incubator for terrorism," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the time. "We will continue to exterminate terrorism at its source." Blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, the PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Search Keywords: Short link: Better understanding the formation of swirling, ring-shaped disturbances -- known as vortex rings -- could help nuclear fusion researchers compress fuel more efficiently, bringing it closer to becoming a viable energy source. The model developed by researchers at the University of Michigan could aid in the design of the fuel capsule, minimizing the energy lost while trying to ignite the reaction that makes stars shine. In addition, the model could help other engineers who must manage the mixing of fluids after a shock wave passes through, such as those designing supersonic jet engines, as well as physicists trying to understand supernovae. "These vortex rings move outward from the collapsing star, populating the universe with the materials that will eventually become nebulae, planets and even new stars -- and inward during fusion implosions, disrupting the stability of the burning fusion fuel and reducing the efficiency of the reaction," said Michael Wadas, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at U-M and corresponding author of the study. "Our research, which elucidates how such vortex rings form, can help scientists understand some of the most extreme events in the universe and bring humanity one step closer to capturing the power of nuclear fusion as an energy source," he said. Nuclear fusion pushes atoms together until they merge. This process releases several times more energy than breaking atoms apart, or fission, which powers today's nuclear plants. Researchers can create this reaction, merging forms of hydrogen into helium, but at present, much of the energy used in the process is wasted. Part of the problem is that the fuel can't be neatly compressed. Instabilities cause the formation of jets that penetrate into the hotspot, and the fuel spurts out between them -- Wadas compared it to trying to squish an orange with your hands, how juice would leak out between your fingers. Vortex rings that form at the leading edge of these jets, the researchers have shown, are mathematically similar to smoke rings, the eddies behind jellyfish and the plasma rings that fly off the surface of a supernova. Perhaps the most famous approach to fusion is a spherical array of lasers all pointing toward a spherical capsule of fuel. This is how experiments are set up at the National Ignition Facility, which has repeatedly broken records for energy output in recent years. The energy from the lasers vaporizes the layer of material around the fuel -- a nearly perfect, lab-grown shell of diamond in the latest record-setter in December 2022. When that shell vaporizes, it drives the fuel inward as the carbon atoms fly outward. This generates a shockwave, which pushes the fuel so hard that the hydrogen fuses. While the spherical fuel pellets are some of the most perfectly round objects humans have ever made, each has a deliberate flaw: a fill tube, where the fuel enters. Like a straw stuck in that crushed orange, this is the most likely place for a vortex-ring-led jet to form when the compression starts, the researchers explained. "Fusion experiments happen so fast that we really only have to delay the formation of the jet for a few nanoseconds," said Eric Johnsen, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at U-M, who supervised the study. The study brought together the fluid mechanics expertise of Wadas and Johnsen as well as the nuclear and plasma physics knowledge in the lab of Carolyn Kuranz, an associate professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences. "In high-energy-density physics, many studies point out these structures, but haven't clearly identified them as vortex rings," said Wadas. Knowing about the deep body of research into the structures seen in fusion experiments and astrophysical observations, Wadas and Johnsen were able to draw on and extend that existing knowledge rather than trying to describe them as completely new features. Johnsen is particularly interested in the possibility that vortex rings could help drive the mixing between heavy elements and lighter elements when stars explode, as some mixing process must have occurred to produce the composition of planets like Earth. The model can also help researchers understand the limits of the energy that a vortex ring can carry, and how much fluid can be pushed before the flow becomes turbulent and harder to model as a result. In ongoing work, the team is validating the vortex ring model with experiments. The research is funded by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Department of Energy, with computational resources provided by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment through the National Science Foundation and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound Sunday, police said, a controversial move by the extreme-right politician amid heightened tensions in annexed east Jerusalem. "Minister Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount this morning. There was no incident during the visit," police said in a statement, using the Jewish name for the holy site in the heart of the Old City. The visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his second known visit since becoming a member of Israels most right-leaning government ever, was likely to draw condemnations from the Palestinians and elsewhere in the Muslim world. I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people, Ben-Gvir said in a statement following the visit. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it proves who is in charge in Jerusalem. The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israels capturing of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalems Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine. The hilltop site houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. Ben-Gvir, along with a growing movement of activists, has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site. Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel seizing control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there. Tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence. A visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon in September 2000 helped spark clashes that became the second Palestinian uprising. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fueled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021. Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem, with its sites holy to three monotheistic faiths, along with the rest of east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as the capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, eternal capital. Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year as Israeli occupation forces launched near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel claims most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes targeting the militants killed 33 Palestinians, including women and children. At the same time, two people were killed in Israel from militant rocket fire. *This story was edited by Ahram Online Search Keywords: Short link: Six Iranian border guards were killed Sunday during clashes with an armed group in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, local media reported. The guards were killed in Saravan, near Iran's border with Pakistan, the judiciary's Mizan Online website quoted local prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying. Poverty-stricken Sistan-Baluchistan, which also borders Afghanistan, is a flashpoint for clashes with drug smuggling gangs as well as rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni Muslim extremist groups. Sunday's attack was carried out by "a terrorist group that was seeking to infiltrate the country" but "fled across the border after the clash", Fars news agency reported. The attack was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months. On March 11, two policemen were shot dead during clashes with "criminals" in the same region, the state news agency IRNA reported at the time. Search Keywords: Short link: Bahrain's foreign ministry on Sunday announced that it had resumed diplomatic representation with Lebanon at the level of ambassadors, Bahrain's state-run news agency reported. "This decision comes in order to strengthen the brotherly relations between the two countries and its peoples and promote mutual respect," the Bahrain News Agency reported citing the countrys foreign ministry. Lebanons Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the announcement. Bahrain, along with a number of other Gulf Arab states, recalled its ambassador to Lebanon in 2021 after then-Lebanese Minister of Information George Kordahi expressed support for Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and criticized the military intervention led by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait resumed their ties with Lebanon in April 2022. The resumption of diplomatic relations between Bahrain and Lebanon comes on the heels of a wave of strategic rapprochement in the region, including Syrias re-admittance to the Arab League after over a decade of isolation since the outbreak of civil war in 2011. Similarly, regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran, restored bilateral relations in April via a Chinese-brokered deal deemed a diplomatic breakthrough on all sides. Search Keywords: Short link: Air strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the country's warring generals kept up their struggle for control even as they agreed to a brief humanitarian pause. With heavy fighting raging in Khartoum, the rival sides struck a deal on a seven-day ceasefire beginning the evening of May 22, the United States and Saudi Arabia said Saturday in a joint statement after talks in Jeddah. The ceasefire "shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the agreement of both parties," it said. Multiple announced truces have been violated since fighting broke out five weeks ago, which the Saudi foreign ministry acknowledged in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency early Sunday. "Unlike previous ceasefires, the Agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," it said. It said subsequent talks "will focus on additional steps necessary to improve security and humanitarian conditions for civilians such as vacating forces from urban centers, including civilian homes, accelerating removal of impediments to the free movement of civilians and humanitarian actors, and enabling public servants to resume their regular duties." The power struggle between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), erupted into fighting on April 15. The conflict has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, and displaced more than one million. The United Nations has warned of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Africa's third-largest country, where one in three people already relied on aid before the war. Saturday's ceasefire announcement comes two weeks after representatives of the warring generals first gathered in Jeddah for talks. By May 11 they had signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid. But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told AFP on Thursday that there had been "important and egregious" violations of that agreement, which fell short of a ceasefire. Push for talks On Friday, Burhan sacked Daglo, giving his title of vice president of the ruling Sovereign Council to former rebel leader Malik Agar, and appointed three allies to top jobs in the military. A former rebel leader who signed a peace deal with Khartoum authorities in 2020, Agar said in a statement Saturday he was determined to try to "end the war" and press for negotiations. He also addressed Daglo directly saying "Sudan's stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army". Integration of the RSF into the regular armed forces has been the main bone of contention between Daglo and Burhan. The force, which traces its origins to the notorious Janjaweed militia recruited in the early 2000s to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups in Darfur, is highly mobile but has a reputation for being ill-disciplined. Its fighters have been accused of widespread break-ins and looting, including at diplomatic missions and aid group offices. 'Maximum restraint' On Saturday, Qatar's embassy was the latest diplomatic mission to be attacked, drawing condemnation from Doha. "The embassy staff had previously been evacuated and... none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm," the ministry said. It renewed calls for "an immediate halt to the fighting". Qatar did not specifically identify Daglo's RSF as responsible but a statement from the pro-Burhan authorities put the blame squarely on the paramilitaries. The embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under assault in recent weeks. Saturday's attack came a day after Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Saudi Arabia urged Sudan's feuding generals to halt the fighting. Although the main fighting is being played out in Khartoum, the violence has also spread to the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, where the RSF has its roots. In South Darfur capital Nyala, fighting since Thursday has killed 22 people forcing civilians to flee for safer areas as shells crash on their homes, the bar association in Darfur has said. On Friday, the UN aid boss Griffith said he was allocating $22 million in emergency funds to help Sudanese fleeing the violence. The funds will help relief efforts in Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt and South Sudan where Sudanese have sought refuge, he said. The United States promised $103 million for Sudan and neighbouring countries to support displaced people. Search Keywords: Short link: Leading South Korean group Kowepo (Korea Western Power) said it has officially signed the contract with Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) for the development of a 500 MW solar plant in the Manah region of the sultanate. The Manah Solar Power project calls for establishment of a 1,000 MW solar power plant in the Manah region. In 2019, OPWP separated it into two orders - Manah 1 (500 MW) and Manah 2 (500 MW). Once completed, it will be the largest solar power plant in Oman, reported Business Korea. The Manah 1 solar power project will be developed by Kowepo and its French partner EDF-R at an investment of 600 billion won ($452 million), while Manah 2 will be taken care of by a consortium of Jinko Power from China and Sembcorp from Singapore. Work on the project will begin in November and is due for completion in March 2025. As per the deal, Western Power will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the solar power plant. The electricity to be produced over the next 20 years is guaranteed to be purchased by OPWP, it added. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has launched an initiative enabling banks to operate outdoors in all governorates across Egypt and open accounts without fees or minimum deposit, according to a press release on Sunday. The CBE also encouraged holders of bank electronic wallets to activate and use them. The central bank launched a series of financial inclusion initiatives during the Arab Day for Financial Inclusion on 27 April with the rubric Increasing Financial Inclusion to Support the Efforts to Address the Climate Change Repercussions. Financial inclusion in Egypt According to the World Bank's Global Findex Database 2021, only 27 percent of Egyptian adults (aged 15+) have bank accounts. However, the number of Egyptians who have Egypt Post accounts, mobile phone wallets, or prepaid cards, in addition to bank accounts, has reached 42.3 million, which represents 64.8 percent of Egyptians above the age of 16 (65.4 million citizens), the central bank's data showed. The CBE announced last month that financial inclusion rates improved between 2016 and 2022 by 147 percent. In 2022, the CBE launched its financial inclusion strategy for 2022-2025 which sets key objectives and priorities for creating financial inclusion in the country. Search Keywords: Short link: STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A Staten Island woman struck by a driver three years ago while walking her dog was compensated handsomely this month for her suffering. Nitsana Moyal, then 64 years old, settled for $1.4 million after filing a lawsuit three years ago in state Supreme Court, St. George. The driver who hit her lived just a few blocks from the incident in Willowbrook. GEICO is on the hook for $1 million, while the remaining balance will be paid out by CNA Insurance Company, records show. DRIVER LIVED FEET AWAY The crash was reported around 4:40 a.m. on Nov. 18, 2020. The plaintiff was with her dog Beau, who was uninjured. The complaint states she was hit while crossing Willowbrook Road at Forest Hill Road, within the crosswalk. The defendant, 73-year-old Sam Zoldan, was accused of recklessly making a right turn into the plaintiff with a dark, 2020 Toyota sedan. Public records show hes since moved to New Jersey. Moyal suffered injuries that included fractures to her ribs and left shoulder, in addition to complications of the spine, according to the civil complaint. Staten Island-based injury attorney Michael Bush noted in court filings that she received two surgeries on her shoulder in addition to a procedure on her wrist. Shes happy this is over with and can move on with her life, said Bush last week in response to the finalized agreement. An attorney listed for the defendant did not immediately respond to a request for comment. RELATED COVERAGE: Staten Island courts >>Key witness in Staten Island road-rage murder trial says hes developed amnesia since slaying >>As both his mom and the victim look on, Staten Island sex-abuse defendant sentenced. >>Staten Island man accused of stabbing wife to death is arraigned from hospital bed >> Prosecutors map Staten Island route of alleged road-rage killer. Defense asks for open mind. >> Bat-wielding road rager on Staten Island takes plea; His alleged assault case in the Bronx is ongoing >> Already serving 150 years for murder of Staten Island grandma, hes convicted in attack on 2nd woman >> Staten Island woman, 35, indicted on charges in Great Kills crash that killed bicyclist STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Fleet Week is returning to Staten Island for the 35th year, with a week-long celebration set to kick off this week. On May 24, 2023, the festivities will begin with a ceremonial parade of ships going through the New York Harbor. Vessels from the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United Sates Naval Academy Yard Patrol, and NATO allies will pass by the Statue of Liberty, Fort Hamilton, and One World Trade Center. Ships from Canada, Italy, and United Kingdom will join the parade of ships. The parade of ships is scheduled to include the following: USS WASP (LHD-1) : an Amphibious assault ship from Norfolk, Virginia; HMS Scott (H131): an ocean survey vessel from Plymouth, United Kingdom; HMCS Glace Bay (MM 701) : from Nova Scotia, Canada; ITS Virginio Fasan (F 591) : from La Spezia, Italy; USCGC Warren Deyampert (WPC-1151) : a fast response cutter from Boston, Massachusetts; U.S. Naval Academy Yard Patrol Craft : Annapolis, Maryland; USS Oak Hill (LSD-51) : a Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship from Norfolk, Virginia; USNS Newport (T-EPF) a spearhead class fast transport from Norfolk, Virginia; USCGC Legare (WMEC-912): a medium endurance cutter from Portsmouth, Virginia. These ships can be seen along the Hudson River from Battery Park to the south of the George Washington Bridge. Last years Fleet Week was the first time it was held since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The citys annual Fleet Week events were canceled in 2020 and 2021. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Fleet Week New York is scheduled for May 24 through May 30 and will include general public ship tours, aviation demonstrations, military band performances, and interactive displays throughout the tri-state area. Ship tours are scheduled for Thursday, May 25 through Monday, May 29 between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Pier 88 (except for Sunday), and Pier 90 in Manhattan, and the Homeport Pier in Staten Island. The tours are free and open to the public. Ship tours on Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, Pier 86, will be conducted daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and are scheduled to depart Saturday, May 27. The USS Oak Hill (LSD-51), USNS NewPort (T-EPF), and USCGC Legare (WMEC-912) will be at the Homeport Pier, in Stapleton. Visitors are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and shoes. All bags and/or camera cases will be searched prior to entering. Ships are considered an industrial environment and guests should avoid open-toed sandals, high heels, necklaces, or other items that can get caught, as well as bags that are too heavy to carry comfortably. There is no age requirement to tour USN, USNA, USCG, and Royal Navy ships during FWNY, however, adult visitors over the age of 18 are required to show a valid state or federally issued picture ID. Additionally, tours may not be appropriate for small children or those with certain medical conditions. Strollers or baby carriages are permitted on the pier, but not allowed on the ships. Ships are not handicap accessible, however, the pier facilities in Manhattan and Staten Island -- including the exhibit area -- are handicap accessible. Photography is permitted aboard the ships during tours, however, photos of security personnel or procedures are prohibited. The following are not permitted: electronic smoking devices, bottles, water bottles, cans or glass containers of any type; banners, posters, or signs of any type; mace, pepper spray, or other defensive sprays or chemicals; knives, firearms, fireworks or any explosive; illegal drugs or paraphernalia; flammable liquids or aerosol spray cans; club weapons; and animals. All electronic devices are subject to examination for functionality. The military services reserve the right to prohibit other items not listed above. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is warning people of color about traveling to Florida for several reasons, according to an article from CBS News in Miami. The travel advisory is a direct response to Gov. Ron DeSantis aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools, according to a written statement provided to CBS. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) previously announced a travel advisory for Florida shortly after DeSantis signed a new immigration law, which goes into effect in July, the report states. The actions under DeSantis, according to these two groups, are creating hostility in communities. The NAACP stated that Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ individuals. Throughout DeSantiss administration, Florida has banned the teaching of critical race theory, stating the concept would teach children the country is rotten and that our institutions are illegitimate, the report states. Under his administration, a preliminary version of a new Advanced Placement (AP) course on African American studies was blocked, stating it significantly lacks educational value. The NAACP stated that DeSantis actions are in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon, and distributed 10,000 books to 25 predominately Black communities across Florida in collaboration with the American Federation of Teachers Reading Opens the World program, the report state. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson stated that failing to teach accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all. The last time the NAACP issued a travel advisory was when they warned people of color about traveling to Missouri in 2017, when the state passed Senate Bill 43. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For history lovers alike, Historic Richmond Town is taking visitors back in time to the age of Native American civilization with a new location on display. The Native Encampment, which consists of a wigwam dwelling and several outlying structures, teaches individuals about the Lenni-Lenape tribes who lived on Staten Island for generations before the European colonization, according to a representative at the historical site. The Native Encampment, which consists of a wigwam dwelling and several outlying structures, teaches individuals about the Lenni-Lenape tribes who lived on Staten Island for generations before the European colonization. (Kayla Simas/Staten Island Advance) The project, which started in May of 2022 and was completed in August, was created from natural resources nearby the Richmond Town area. The Native Encampment welcomes learners during the Open Village season, from May through October. The Native Encampment, which consists of a wigwam dwelling and several outlying structures, teaches individuals about the Lenni-Lenape tribes who lived on Staten Island for generations before the European colonization. (Kayla Simas/Staten Island Advance) During these educational lessons, not only will visitors explore the histories of the Rarity, Hackensack, and Tappan tribes of the Lenni-Lenape, but also discover how civilized Native American tribes were. On display, only during the lessons, include Native American items that were either made by or traded for. These artifacts include ceremonial drums and cooking pots that were used by the tribes; a linen shirt, which was seen as a new garment to the Lenape man in 1600s, oyster and clam shells, Wampum beads, as well as flint and steel to start a fire. The Native Encampment, which consists of a wigwam dwelling and several outlying structures, teaches individuals about the Lenni-Lenape tribes who lived on Staten Island for generations before the European colonization. (Kayla Simas/Staten Island Advance) The Native Encampment will be on display for the unforeseeable future at Historic Richmond Town. It is open to the public between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A mother from Staten Island is accused of abandoning her newborn son in a hospital trash can early Saturday morning, after giving birth in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze. The 21-year-old New Dorp woman, Lucia Garcia, gave birth to the baby in the restroom of the entranceway area, according to the NYPD. Blood was discovered on her clothing. The New Dorp Plaza resident was treated by staff and then taken into police custody, an NYPD spokesman said. A source with knowledge of the investigation said Garcia complained of pain and lied about being pregnant to hospital staff. When the employees left the room, she gave birth and left the baby in a garbage can, the source said. According to the New York Post, the woman is a migrant from Mexico who came to America approximately 10 months ago. Garcias father, Ambrosio Garcia, 41, told the news outlet he had brought her to the hospital Friday night because she was ill, but she insisted she wasnt pregnant. He told the Post he was relieved when hospital workers told him his grandson was doing well following the incident. According to police, hospital staff tended to the infant before the baby was transported to NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan for further treatment and observation. Garcia now faces charges of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. NEW YORK MIGRANT CRISIS In recent months there has been an influx of migrants from other parts of the country and internationally to New York City. The city put migrants in multiple spots on Staten Island, including a pair of hotels in Travis. The vacant Richard H. Hungerford School in Clifton has become a temporary home to asylum seekers, according to borough elected officials. Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Mid Island) told the Advance/SILive.com that the New York City Mayors Office notified him and others that the school would be able to handle up to 300 single migrants. RELATED COVERAGE: Staten Island news >>Key witness in Staten Island road-rage murder trial says hes developed amnesia since slaying >>As both his mom and the victim look on, Staten Island sex-abuse defendant sentenced. >>Staten Island man accused of stabbing wife to death is arraigned from hospital bed >> Prosecutors map Staten Island route of alleged road-rage killer. Defense asks for open mind. >> Bat-wielding road rager on Staten Island takes plea; His alleged assault case in the Bronx is ongoing >> Already serving 150 years for murder of Staten Island grandma, hes convicted in attack on 2nd woman >> Staten Island woman, 35, indicted on charges in Great Kills crash that killed bicyclist Thank you for visiting the Daily Journal. Please purchase an Enhanced Subscription to continue reading. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! The Age has held its lead as Victorias most read masthead, with a readership across digital and print of 5.2 million people for the 12 months to March this year. The figures from Roy Morgan, the industrys official data provider, put The Age about one million readers ahead of its traditional competitor, the News Corp-owned Herald Sun, and cement its place as the nations second-most read news brand after sister publication The Sydney Morning Herald. The unveiling of Sandy the War Horse in Tallangatta, recently covered by The Age. Credit: Jason Robins Print was a bright spot in the figures, with the Monday to Friday newspaper seeing annual growth of 5 per cent year-on-year and 2 per cent for the quarter. That gives it a readership of 281,000. Both weekend editions saw quarterly growth too, with the Saturday Age having grown for three quarters in a row. The Sunday Age print edition also saw quarterly growth of 3 per cent for a readership of almost 400,000 people. On average, 1.3 million people have read The Age in print over the last four weeks, showing its status as a key institution in the state. It is pleasing that Victorians continue to show their confidence in the rigorous journalism and investigative clout of our masthead, said Patrick Elligett, who began his tenure as The Ages editor this year. 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 When Alone Australia debuted on SBS in March, it drew the kind of ratings that make commercial TV bosses weep: across the five biggest capital cities, barely 200,000 viewers tuned in for the live broadcast. Yet Alone is now the most-watched full-length series SBS has ever commissioned and the envy of every other network. It feels like the whole nation is talking about this show, says SBSs head of unscripted content, Joseph Maxwell. It marks quite a shift in how Australians are consuming television the numbers are just staggering. Loneliness and isolation, rather than extreme physical conditions, are usually the biggest challenges for Alones contestants. Credit: ITV Studios Australia Traditionally, Australias television industry relied upon overnight metropolitan ratings to gauge its performance. But Alone, which production company ITV Studios Australia adapted from a US format, illustrates how outdated this approach has become. According to the recently-introduced ratings system VOZ, which stands for Virtual Australia, city viewers who watch the series live account for less than one-sixth of its overall audience. Alones first episode, for instance, attracted more than 90,000 regional viewers, with another 600,000 streaming it live on SBS on Demand or within 28 days of its initial airing. A further 430,000 people watched it on a personal video recorder. All up, thats an astonishing 1.33 million viewers. And subsequent episodes will almost certainly reach similar heights, although complete figures wont be available until one month after its finale is broadcast this Wednesday, followed by a reunion special on Thursday. The participants are very different to the kind of people who normally want to be on television. Joseph Maxwell, head of unscripted content at SBS Indeed, Alone will finish the year ahead of major reality shows on rival networks including Tens Survivor and Nines* Lego Masters, which averaged around 1 million viewers each. It may even beat Sevens Farmer Wants A Wife, currently averaging 1.2 million viewers although the final ratings for Farmer and Lego Masters wont be available until 28 days after their finales have screened. Meanwhile, Nines Married At First Sight, which averaged a whopping 2 million viewers, appears destined to be the most-watched non-sports program of 2023. The Ministry of Interior announced that it would grant one-year residencies to foreign investors establishing companies or economic entities in Egypt, reported the State Information Service on Saturday. The decision applies to foreign investors registered at the General Authority of Investment and Free Zones (GAFI). The offered residencies are renewable for six months or a year. Egypt's efforts to lure investors Last week, Egypt's Supreme Council for Investment approved 22 decisions to promote local and foreign direct investment. These include reducing the cost of establishing companies, simplifying the required approval procedures and expanding the issuance of Golden Licences. The Egyptian business community welcomed the new decisions, with some experts and investors calling for their immediate implementation as well as even more legislative reforms. Last week, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that Egypt will allow foreigners to own property with no limits, but according to certain rules. Search Keywords: Short link: A damning critique of Chinas covert plan to place organised criminals as agents of influence in the Pacific, and the revelation that Russian authorities are stonewalling on providing details of hackers who stole Medibank data, are salient reminders of the new ways Beijing and Moscow make it harder but even more important for Australia to chart a path between compromise and contest. The latest movements in Chinese and Russian brinkmanship are on display in exclusive interviews for The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes by Nick McKenzie with police chiefs belonging to the secretive Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group compromising Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Credit: AP In one disclosure, the reluctance by Moscow to assist Australian Federal Police in investigating the Medibank hack flies in the face of the Russian ambassadors criticism of the AFP six months ago for failing to provide the Putin regime with Australian intelligence about the hackers. The AFP quickly supplied detailed intelligence, including individuals and groups they believed to be involved, but Moscow has done nothing. Police to police, its a one-way street at the moment, Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw told McKenzie. Russias recalcitrance raises questions about its membership of Interpol, the organisation predicated on international police co-operation. The failure to assist on the Medibank matter, while perhaps unsurprising, will be keenly watched by boardrooms around Australia as they weigh up the issue of paying ransoms to hackers. Clearly the answer to that dilemma should be no the hackers will never co-operate and, clearly, nor will the states backing them. Moreover, Russias seeming intransigence risks the appearance of aiding and abetting. Just over two months ago, our three-part series Red Alert identified China as far and away our most dangerous security threat, with an expert panel warning of the prospect of war with Beijing within three years. Now, the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group has revealed just how far down the road China has travelled with its Pacific ambitions. The police chiefs said their investigations and intelligence had linked the Chinese government to an extraterritorial campaign of covert interference and intimidation, and that Beijing now posed the gravest threat to the security of Australia and its allies. FBI deputy director Paul Abbate said his organisation was tracking relationships between the Chinese Communist Party and organised criminals operating in Pacific island nations who had corrupted local politicians. Further, he accused Beijing of using organised crime to destabilise Australia and its allies, blaming the Chinese government for failing to curb the huge flow of fentanyl into North America. However, Kershaw, the AFP commissioner, refused to name China or comment on Beijings expansion in the Pacific. This could owe to sensitivities about the Albanese governments effort to salvage relations with Australias biggest trading partner. It might also stem from the need to juggle the AFPs relations with Chinese anti-narcotics authorities as Triad crime gangs continue to import vast quantities of illegal drugs into Australia. Or it could risk jeopardising the countering of alleged foreign interference by the Chinese Community Party. Whatever the reasons, the reluctance to name China in these things is becoming increasingly untenable. The Herald understands the need for co-operation, but continuing silence does not become our public figures. They, in fact, look silly. The public knows. China knows. We all know. The death of Clare Nowland after she was allegedly Tasered by a senior police officer has focused attention on the use of force by NSW Police and the oversight of officers. The internal police probe into the Tasering of a 95-year-old woman at an aged care home in the states south will join a list of more than 90 investigations into the use of force by officers yet to be completed, some almost six years after being launched. The NSW government is refusing to commit to releasing the investigation, launched by police after grandmother Clare Nowland was left in a critical condition when she was hit by a Taser in the early hours of Wednesday. Clare Nowland, 95, is fighting for life after being Tasered by police who found her armed with a knife in a nursing home in southern NSW. Father Mark Croker, from St Patricks Catholic Church in Cooma, visited Nowland at hospital on Sunday and held a bedside mass for her and her family, as the much-loved community member continues fighting for life after suffering a head injury during the incident. Key details of how the incident occurred remain unclear, and police have so-far refused to release confronting bodycam footage of the event. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb was forced to defend her decision not to front the media for three days after the incident. Sydneys top house sales have traditionally been the sole domain of the harbourside eastern suburbs, but it seems the well-heeled homeowners of Vaucluse, Point Piper and Bellevue Hill no longer monopolise the rarefied trophy home market. In a significant break with tradition, bridesmaid suburbs - regarded as areas that are at best a runner-up to a more coveted address - have dominated this years trophy home market, narrowing the gap between the top prices achievable in the eastern suburbs and broader Sydney markets. This isnt just a Sydney phenomenon, according to Forbes Global Properties Ken Jacobs. Whats changed in Sydney is the same thing that has changed across the trophy markets in cities worldwide, and thats a trend towards trophy homes that offer a more attractive lifestyle alternative as an escape, he said. Hiroshima: The Quad meeting was running late. Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden, Fumio Kishida and Narendra Modi had already rescheduled a planned get-together in Sydney, now they were forcing the marquee G7 dinner for the leaders of the worlds seven richest economies to be pushed back. No one at the G7 complained. That meant the dinner went towards midnight, Im not sure what time it was it ended. I know it was late, a weary Albanese said on Sunday morning. They all knew when the seventh session of the G7 ended that the Quad Leaders Meeting would then take place. And everyone accepted that it was an important enough organisational body for that to occur. The Quads 3,000-word statement concerning the rise of China didnt mention China once. Credit: Marija Ercegovac It says a lot about the Quad which only had its first leaders meeting in 2021 that in the midst of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine, a high-stakes visit to Japan by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and growing global economic instability, the G7s members would delay their flagship event so that Albanese, Biden, Modi and Kishida could get together in Hiroshima. Dark cloud over ChatGPT revolution: the cost Washington, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2023 The explosion of generative AI has taken the world by storm, but one question all too rarely comes up: Who can afford it? OpenAI bled around $540 million last year as it developed ChatGPT and says it needs $100 billion to meet its ambitions, according to industry media The Information. "We're going to be the most capital-intensive startup in Silicon Valley history," OpenAI's founder Sam Altman told a panel recently. And when Microsoft, which poured billions of dollars in investment into OpenAI, is asked about how much its AI adventure will cost, the company answers with assurances that it is keeping an eye on its bottom line. Building something even near the scale of what OpenAI, Microsoft or Google have on offer would require an eye-watering investment on state-of-the-art chips and recruiting prize-winning researchers. "People don't realize that to do a significant amount of AI things like ChatGPT takes huge amounts of processing power. And training those models can cost tens of millions of dollars," said Jack Gold, an independent analyst. "How many companies can actually afford to go out and buy 10,000 Nvidia H100 systems that go for tens of thousands of dollars a piece?" asked Gold. The answer is pretty much no one and in tech, if you can't build the infrastructure, you rent it and that is what companies already do massively by outsourcing their computing needs to Microsoft, Google and Amazon's AWS. And with the advent of generative AI, this dependency on cloud computing and tech giants deepens, leaving the same players in the driver's seat, experts warned. - 'Heavily underestimated' - The unpredictable costs of cloud computing, "is a heavily underestimated problem for many companies," said Stefan Sigg, Chief Product Officer at Software AG, which develops software for businesses. Sigg compares cloud costs to electricity bills and says companies that don't know better are in for "a big surprise" if they let their engineers run up bills in the mad rush to build tech, including AI. Microsoft's signature cloud offer is Azure and some observers believe the giant's all-in bet on AI is really about protecting Azure success and guaranteeing the cash cow's future. Azure has been the giant's unsexy bread-winner for years, bringing in huge profits but without attracting the headlines of an iPhone or social media that go straight to the consumer. For Microsoft, "the golden goose is monetizing cloud with Azure because we're talking about what could be a $20, $30, $40 billion opportunity annually down the road if the AI bet is successful," said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella insists that generative AI is "moving fast in the right direction." Deeply respected on Wall Street, Nadella will have a six- or nine-month grace period to show his bet is a winner, Ives predicted. Microsoft acknowledges the risk, but insists that on AI, it must "lead this wave," CFO Amy Hood told analysts this month. "We will charge for those AI capabilities, and then ultimately, we'll deliver operating profit," she said. - 'Squashed out' - Piling up profit at the company founded by Bill Gates can only mean passing on the cost of AI to customers. From Main Street to Fortune 500, the dependency on the AI-amped will be an expensive one and companies and investors are drumming up alternatives to at least reduce the bill. "AI training, GPT training will become a very important cloud service going forward," said Spectro Cloud CEO Tenry Fu. His company, like many others in the sector, helps companies optimize cloud technology to reduce expenses. "But after training, a company will be able to get their model back for real AI application" and the dependence on the cloud giants will hopefully be reduced, he added. Regulators are hoping that they can keep up, and not leave the giants in charge, imposing their terms on smaller companies. "Law enforcers (must) ensure that... opportunities and openings for competition... are not getting squashed out by the incumbents," FTC chairwoman Lina Khan told CNBC. But it might be too late, at least when it comes to which companies have the means to provide the groundwork of generative AI. "It is absolutely true that the number of companies that can train the true frontier models is going to be small just because of the resources required," OpenAI's Altman told a US Senate panel on Tuesday. "And so I think there needs to be incredible scrutiny on us and our competitors," he added. China says US chipmaker Micron failed security review Beijing, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2023 China's cybersecurity watchdog said Sunday US chipmaker Micron had failed a national security probe and told "operators of critical information infrastructure" to stop purchasing its products. The probe was the latest escalation in the ongoing chip war between the United States and China, with Washington looking to cut off Beijing's access to the most advanced semiconductors. It also came as China tightened the enforcement of its national security and anti-espionage laws. Micron's products "have relatively serious potential network security issues, which pose a major security risk to China's critical information infrastructure supply chain and affect China's national security", the cybersecurity administration said in a statement. "Operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing Micron products." Beijing launched a cybersecurity review in March of products sold in the country by Micron, one of the world's major chip manufacturers. The chip war between Beijing and Washington escalated last year when the United States imposed restrictions on China's access to high-end chips, chipmaking equipment and software used to design semiconductors. Washington cited national security concerns, and said it wanted to prevent "sensitive technologies with military applications" from being acquired by China's armed forces and intelligence services. The United States imposed targeted controls on the ability of domestic industry leaders to sell their products overseas. It has also sought to persuade key allies to follow suit. The Netherlands and Japan -- both leading manufacturers of specialised semiconductor technology equipment -- have recently announced new restrictions on exporting certain products, but without naming China. Beijing has slammed the moves as "US bullying tactics" and accused Washington of "technological terrorism", vowing that such controls will only strengthen its resolve to achieve self-reliance in the sector. The development of a robust domestic semiconductor industry has been a longstanding goal of the Chinese government, which has invested billions of dollars in domestic chip firms. Chips are the lifeblood of the modern global economy, powering everything from cars to smartphones, and they are forecast to become a $1 trillion industry globally by 2030. Nowhere is their essential nature more visible than in China, the world's second-largest economy, which relies on a steady supply of foreign chips for its huge electronics manufacturing base. In 2021, China imported semiconductors worth $430 billion -- more than it spent on oil. prw/qan The 58th Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the 49th Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund are set to kick off on Monday in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh for five days. The meetings' theme will be centred around encouraging the private sector to fund climate-friendly and green projects in Africa, according to the AfDB. A dialogue will be organized on the global financial architecture and the role of multilateral development banks in development. Other events are scheduled to discuss innovative financial solutions to boost private climate investments in Africa and achieve sustainable development in the continent. AfDB's acting Chief Economist And Vice-President Kevin Urama announced that Africa needs up to $145.5 billion a year until 2030 to close its annual climate finance gap. Egypt's role Egypt has taken a pivotal role in supporting African efforts to tackle climate change and secure green funding. The county introduced seven initiatives to address climate change and push for energy transition in the continent at the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), which was held last November in Sharm El-Sheikh. The COP27 saw the signing of a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters. Egypt is committed to reducing emissions by 33 percent in the electricity sector, 65 percent in the oil and gas sector, and seven percent in the transportation sector by 2030, through increasing its dependency on renewable energy to 42 percent, UN Climate Promise data shows. Search Keywords: Short link: S hell is set to face a tense annual general meeting that could be dominated by clashes over climate action after the oil major saw a record year of profits. The company will probably see conflicting pressures at the meeting on Tuesday as investors look to capitalise on record oil and gas profits while shareholder activists push for faster action on climate change issues. Climate protesters are also expected to gather outside the venue at the Excel Centre in east London. Investors will vote on pay packages for 2022, including that of outgoing chief executive Ben van Beurden, who took home 9.7 million, including a 7.5 million bonus a jump of more than 50% from the previous year. As long as investors enable Big Oil to cause climate breakdown with their votes against Paris-alignment, oil majors will hang on to their fossil business model as long as possible It will also be the first time that new boss Wael Sawan, who has worked at Shell since the 1990s, deals with shareholders as chief executive. Meanwhile, shareholder activist group Follow This has filed a resolution calling for Shell to tighten its 2030 reductions targets for emissions on the products it sells. The resolution has been backed by proxy adviser PIRC, which has also called for shareholders to vote against reappointing the companys chair, Sir Andrew Mackenzie, and oppose its annual report for failing to address climate risks by setting adequate targets. PGGM and MN, who are leading engagement with Shell on behalf of Climate Action 100+, the worlds largest climate-focused investors group, has also recommended votes for the resolution. Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, said: As long as investors enable Big Oil to cause climate breakdown with their votes against Paris-alignment, oil majors will hang on to their fossil business model as long as possible, invest in fossil fuel extraction far outside the boundaries of the Paris Accord, lobby against climate legislation, not invest in alternatives at scale, and even ignore court rulings, like Shell is largely ignoring the Dutch court ruling to reduce all emissions this decade. However, proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis have recommended votes against the Follow This resolution. We trust a vast majority of shareholders will agree on the need to collaborate in balancing the supply and use of energy to accelerate the energy transition, while reducing the social costs Shell said it strongly disagrees with the activist resolution and the organisations which have recommended supporting it and welcomes the position of ISS and Glass Lewis. A Shell spokesperson said: We trust a vast majority of shareholders will agree on the need to collaborate in balancing the supply and use of energy to accelerate the energy transition, while reducing the social costs. The Follow This resolution is unlikely to receive enough votes to pass but will pile pressure on the board and the new chief executive. The oil major is coming off an eventful year for the business where record profits led to a lot of political pressure. Shell made 84.3 billion dollars (68 billion) in core profit last year, the company revealed in February, the highest in its 115-year history. It comes after the war in Ukraine caused global energy prices, but specifically European gas prices, to soar as Europe and the Kremlin started sanctioning each other. This meant that the supply of Russian gas to Europe dried up, meaning that other suppliers, such as Shell and its rival BP, could profit. In response, and under pressure from the opposition, the Government announced a new windfall tax on oil and gas producers who operate in the UKs North Sea. However the tax, which was made more onerous in the autumn, still left a loophole which allowed companies to write off their North Sea investments against it. There are still calls from Labour and the Liberal Democrats to close this part of the law. A protest is being held on Monday against the Governments controversial legislation on minimum levels of service during strikes, which unions warn could lead to workers being sacked for legally voting to take industrial action. Union leaders involved in the current wave of strikes will speak at the event in Parliament Square and will criticise the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which returns to Parliament for MPs to discuss amendments put forward by the Lords. The TUC has warned that the right to strike of one in five workers is at risk, as the Bill means that when workers lawfully vote to strike in health, education, fire, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning, they could be forced to attend work and sacked if they do not comply. The TUC said MPs have been given few details on how minimum service levels will operate, adding that the legislation has faced a barrage of criticism, including from employer groups. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak told the PA news agency that Conservative MPs should vote with their conscience and oppose the Bill. Its no surprise that politicians, employers and rights groups are queuing to condemn this spiteful Bill He warned that the legislation would worsen industrial relations and prolong strikes. Do MPs really want to see teachers, nurses or railway workers sacked for taking lawful industrial action? This draconian legislation is a step too far. Its undemocratic, unworkable and if it gets onto the statute book very likely unlawful, and it will poison industrial relations and exacerbate disputes rather than help resolve them. Its no surprise that politicians, employers and rights groups are queuing to condemn this spiteful Bill. Mr Nowak said the TUC will explore every possibility of mounting a legal challenge to the legislation when it becomes law. Ministers must step back from the brink, ditch this draconian Bill for good and protect the right to strike. He warned of a huge reaction if and when the first worker is sacked under the legislation. Labour has promised to repeal the Bill if it wins the next general election. The House of Lords put forward a number of amendments, including ensuring that failure to comply with a so-called work notice under the legislation was not a breach of contract so a worker could not be sacked. The Lords also want an amendment that unions do not have any responsibility or obligation to ensure their members comply with a work notice. Speakers at the protest will include Mr Nowak and Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which has been embroiled in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: The UK already has the most restrictive anti-union laws in the developed world and the result of this is that we have suffered from falling wages and sharper exploitation. An inspiring wave of resistance has swept the country in the past year, but instead of negotiating with workers, this Government of millionaires is seeking to have key workers sacked and victimised. They want to drive wages down even further so their big business backers can cash in. There is a growing movement of resistance to this legislation and the FBU is committed to building a mass movement of non-compliance if it becomes law. We are seeing a workers revolt against hard-right government with no mandate for its policies. That revolt will continue whatever happens today. The Hollywood cavalcade descended on Cannes Saturday for the premiere of Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's Native American crime epic, "Killers of the Flower Moon" which received rave reviews. The three-and-a-half-hour movie sees DiCaprio play alongside Scorsese's other long-time muse Robert De Niro, and charts a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI. After hours of waiting in the rain that has drenched the French Riviera town all week, fans went wild as the trio arrived for the premiere alongside several native Americans in traditional outfits. Co-star Jesse Plemons arrived with his wife Kirsten Dunst, while Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire were also present. Based on a nonfiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio play a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage Indian and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle (De Niro). Words like "searing", "triumph" and "masterpiece" were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives "his best-ever performance", while The Guardian awarded five stars for a "remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America". There were some dissenting notes, with The Times calling it "a damp squib" and Little White Lies saying Scorsese "guts the story of anything that might sully the high seriousness of the subject matter". Frontrunners "Killers of the Flower Moon", funded by Apple, was screening out-of-competition in Cannes. It is the first time the 80-year-old Scorsese, who won the Palme in 1976 for "Taxi Driver", has presented a film here since 1985's lesser-known "After Hours", though he served as jury president in 1998. Elsewhere, the race for the festival's top prize Palme d'Or was heating up. More Hollywood royalty walked the red carpet for Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's new film "May December," which looks at the relationship between an older woman and a schoolboy, still married years after their relationship became a tabloid scandal. An early front-runner is British director Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest", a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Critics were near-unanimous in their praise, Variety calling it "chilling and profound, meditative and immersive, a movie that holds human darkness up to the light and examines it as if under a microscope". It was partly inspired by a book of the same name by British novelist Martin Amis, who died on Saturday at 73. Also well received was "Four Daughters", a heartbreaking documentary about radicalisation within a Tunisian family that is both inventive and engaging. That may go down well with jury president Ruben Ostlund, last year's winner for "Triangle of Sadness", who likes his arthouse films with some lighter touches. A total of 21 films are in the main competition, which concludes on May 27, including previous winners such as Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda, Germany's Wim Wenders and Britain's Ken Loach. Ageing icons The weather has been untypically wet this year, but Cannes has had no shortage of splashy moments since kicking off on Tuesday with the controversial appearance of Johnny Depp, playing French king Louis XV in "Jeanne du Barry". The festival saw an emotional appearance from Harrison Ford, receiving an honorary Palme d'Or at the world premiere of "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny". And at the risk of turning the event into a festival of ageing Hollywood males, there was also an honorary Palme for Michael Douglas, and an appearance from Sean Penn as a grizzled New York paramedic in "Black Flies". Search Keywords: Short link: C onsumer group Which? has issued a warning about the most convincing scams it has seen so far in 2023. The consumer group said a range of sophisticated scams are circulating. Lisa Barber, Which? tech editor, said: Its appalling that 2023 has seen scammers continuing to thrive, as a new wave of convincing scams bombards consumers from every direction. She added: Consumers can help protect themselves from scams by accessing the wide range of free, expert advice on Which?s website, from signing up to our scam alerts service to getting answers on how to get their money back if they do fall victim to fraud. Earlier this month, the UK Government published a new fraud strategy, to include banning cold calls on all financial products, such as those relating to insurance or sham cryptocurrency schemes. The Government also plans to work with Ofcom to use new technology to further clamp down on number spoofing, so fraudsters cannot impersonate legitimate UK phone numbers. Under the plans, banks will be allowed to delay payments from being processed for longer to allow for suspect payments to be investigated. Here is Which?s list of scams to watch out for: 1. Pig butchering These scams have been given their name by fraudsters because they fatten up the victim by forming a romantic connection before executing the investment part of the scam. The scammer and victim typically meet on a dating site and the victim is love-bombed for some time by someone who appears to take a great interest in their life. The scammer will often encourage their victim to move from the dating platform to a private messaging service, thus removing them from any protections the dating website might offer. When the victim is sufficiently groomed, the scammer claims they have been having success investing typically in property or cryptocurrency and they offer to invest some of the victims money. If the victim consents, they are sometimes shown a crypto trading platform controlled by the scammers, and encouraged to sign up and begin depositing funds. One UK victim lost 107,000 to such a scam, believing she was investing in retirement apartments overseas, Which? said. 2. Fake missing person appeals People are being asked to share fake online posts about missing people more widely. Which? said its experts know they are fake because there are near-identical posts in community pages across the world, simply with the location being changed. Comments are turned off on the posts to avoid people pointing out the inconsistencies, Which? said. After the post has gained a large number of likes, the contents are edited into something completely different, such as a straightforward investment scam. The large number of likes and shares that stay on the post lends credibility to the fraud. Which? said the despicable scam relies on responsible citizens liking and sharing posts in an attempt to help, which they do, in large numbers. Some missing person posts are genuine but Which? said it can sometimes be difficult to tell. To avoid perpetuating a scam or unwittingly participating in stalking or harassment, Which? suggests only sharing official posts, posted by organisations such as the police or the Missing People charity (missingpeople.org.uk). 3. PayPal scams People will receive a money request from a genuine PayPal email address. This might seem above board but scammers may send out fake payment requests, often for high-value items, or posing as HMRC to demand overdue tax payments, Which? said. In some versions of the scam, the fake invoice states the victims PayPal account has been compromised and urges them to call a fake fraud hotline. People should never pay PayPal invoices they do not recognise, or call phone numbers in those invoices, the consumer group said. 4. Fake app alert Some apps can install malware on phones, steal data and perpetuate scams, Which? warned. It said app stores do take steps to crack down on the problem but threats can remain. When installing an app, click on the developers name and check what other apps it has made to see if these seem legitimate, Which? suggested. It also said people should remember that app reviews can be faked. The app will likely ask users for permissions to use the camera, for example. These need to be relevant and proportionate to the functions of the app, Which? said. People who believe they may have been scammed should contact their payment provider immediately and report it to Action Fraud. J ude Law and Alicia Vikander led stars on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival ahead of the premiere of their new film Firebrand. The historical drama, based on Elizabeth Fremantles 2013 novel Queens Gambit, explores the life of Catherine Parr the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII. Law stars as the notorious King of England while Oscar-winning actress Vikander plays Parr in the film which is the English-language debut for its director, Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz. Set in Tudor England, it follows Parr pushing towards a future based on her Protestant beliefs after she is named Regent while tyrannical Henry is fighting overseas. When the king returns, he turns his fury on the radicals, charging Parrs childhood friend with treason and burns her at the stake. Horrified and grieving but forced to deny it, Parr finds herself fighting for her own survival to avoid the fate of beheading like wives before. The cast also sees The Crowns Erin Doherty portray writer and preacher Anne Askew, Operation Mincemeats Simon Russell Beale as Bishop Stephen Gardiner while Maleficents Sam Riley and The Gentlemens Eddie Marsan feature as Thomas and Edward Seymour, respectively. Ruby Bentall, Bryony Hannah and Maia Jemmett are also among the line-up as well as Olivier award-winning Patsy Ferran, who will play Princess Mary, and Junia Rees, who will make her acting debut as Princess Elizabeth. On Sunday, the film premiered at Cannes in competition for the Palme dOr. Vikander wore a peach-toned gown with silver beaded detailing and her hair pulled back into a half up-do for the occasion. She was also accompanied by her husband, X-Men actor Michael Fassbender, on the red carpet. Meanwhile, Ainouz and Law opted for classic black tuxedos with the Hollywood actor also sporting a moustache at the event. A host of famous faces also attended the premiere including Gigi Hadid, who wore a taupe bodycon gown with extra panelling on the hips and her blond locks loose in waves. US actress Michelle Yeoh made a statement in a bright green off-the-shoulder dress paired with a coordinating oversized shawl. Model Sabrina Elba, who is married to Idris Elba, donned a sheer dress with silver bead detailing for the occasion while Naomi Campbell wore a chic white flowing gown. A man has been jailed after detectives secured vital DNA evidence linking him to a rape in 2004. Lindell Campbell, also known as Tony, was found guilty of two counts of rape following a trial at Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday, May 9. He was sentenced on the same day to six years imprisonment to run concurrently. He will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life. Detective Tony Anionwu, from the Mets Specialist Crime Command, said: Despite it being 18 years since this attack took place, it continues to have a significant impact on the victim, and we are pleased that the man responsible has finally been brought to justice. In October 2004, a female tourist from America in her 20s went to a pub alone in Mortlake having been unable to contact a friend. Having met Campbell in the pub, he offered the victim a place to stay for the night as her friend didnt arrive and couldnt be contacted. The victim agreed as there were few other options at the time. Once at Campbells home, the defendant insisted the victim share the bed with him, rather than sleep on the sofa as she had suggested. In the bed, Campbell raped her twice. The victim stayed at the suspects home until the morning, fearing what he would do if she tried to leave. In the morning, he walked her to the station. The victim was then cared for at a facility specialised in caring for victims of rape or sexual assault where staff and a specially trained officer provided advice and assistance. The victim agreed to assist police by driving around the away to try and locate the suspects address. This was unsuccessful and the case went cold. In 2018, Campbell was linked to a harassment case in which chewing gum was thrown at someones front door and car. DNA tests were performed on the chewing gum, which matched those found at the time of the rape. However, as Campbell had never been arrested, his DNA was not on the system. He was recognised, although not identified, by the victim of harassment who believed he lived in Burke Close. Officers compared CCTV from a 2014 incident to that of several of the harassment incidents, to confirm the identity of Tony Campbell. Once in custody, a fast-time DNA test was carried out, confirming a match to both the rape and harassment cases. DC Anionwu added: We are dedicated to removing those who are violent towards women and girls from the streets of London. Campbell not only sexually assaulted a young, vulnerable woman who was on holiday, but then went on to harass another woman, making her feel uncomfortable in her own home. T wo males were arrested after a gang of youths attacked cars including a police vehicle in Wembley. Shocking footage on social media shows a group of males blocking incoming traffic and kicking cars as motorists attempt to drive past in Engineers Way at around 7.10pm on Saturday. One of the clips shows the hooded youngsters hurl objects at a police van as it leaves the scene. The Metropolitan Police said officers were called following reports of disorder in the area. Two males were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and assault on police. There were no reports of any serious injuries. Munni Trivedi, who witnessed the incident, said: We were watching from the other side. Could not believe it. The pictures dont truly reflect the reality of how awful it was. The boys were so lucky they didnt get hurt and I really hope there was no damage to any cars. Not big. Not clever. Very sad. Another witness added: Ive never seen anything like it happen since living here. There were so many of them, it was almost like it was a planned meet up. Enquiries into the circumstances continue. T herese Coffey appeared to accept that bill-payers will have to pick up a lot of the cost relating to infrastructure improvements designed to prevent sewage entering Englands seas and waterways. Water companies in England last week announced a 10 billion plan to reduce the number of sewage discharges into rivers and seas, while apologising for the pollution. But campaigners were incensed that the proposals involve consumers being given higher bills to pay back the investment. Therese Coffey, who said she was pretty fed up with water companies and that it was right for the sector to have apologised, confirmed that a lot of private sector investment in the water industry gets repaid through bills. But she said penalties and fines that the private water companies are ordered to pay could see bill-payers reimbursed. It comes after Anglian Water said last week that customer bills were likely to rise by 91 per year to pay for the 10 billion of industry investment, with 12 of that relating to storm overflow upgrades. Storm overflow outlets, of which there are 15,000 in England, currently release excess sewage and rainwater when under strain, to prevent sewers becoming overloaded and backing up into homes. Ms Coffey, asked on Sky News Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme whether it was correct to say consumers would foot the bill for the improvement works, said: Its going to be a combination. Of course penalties and fines are paid for by the company, not by the bill-payer. But in terms of general payments, I think youre right to say that a lot of this investment gets repaid through bills. The Environment Secretary said the 10 billion announced by the private sector would feed into an overall UK Government 56 million storm overflow plan. She has called on water firms to have an action plan for every single storm overflow on her desk by the end of next month. There were 301,091 sewage discharges in 2022 in England which amounted to 1.75 million hours of discharge, according to Environment Agency figures, though they do not include the volume of sewage. The Governments storm overflows discharge reduction plan, published in August 2022, aims to eliminate sewage dumping by 2050 while cutting discharges close to high priority areas by 75% by 2035 and 100% by 2045. Ms Coffey used an interview on the BBC to criticise the record of other countries within the UK on dealing with sewage leaks. She told the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: Frankly, we would not even know about this if it wasnt for a Conservative Government insisting on the monitoring and the publication of that data. Were not seeing that in Scotland. And frankly on average, the frequency of sewage flows is happening far more in Wales than it is in England. Monitoring stations for Welsh Water, a non-profit organisation, show the company discharged sewage for 602,987 hours in 2022, while publicly owned Scottish Water recorded 14,008 spills in 2022 amounting to 113,230 hours. Northern Ireland is not required to produce the same data Put to her that the European Environment Agency ranked UK bathing waters the worst on the continent, Ms Coffey said that was not true. We now have 92.9% of our bathing waters designated good or excellent that was last summer, she said. Thats up from 70% in 2010. There has absolutely been investment and work to make sure that our bathing waters are getting cleaner and cleaner. The Liberal Democrats have called for Ms Coffey to issue her own apology for the number of sewage discharges being permitted on the Tory Governments watch. The partys environment spokesman Tim Farron said: The sewage scandal is a damning verdict on the Governments failure to protect our treasured rivers and lakes. While the water companies have apologised, Therese Coffey has still failed to. She oversees a Government that continues to let water companies dump outrageous amounts of sewage into our rivers. P ressure is growing on Rishi Sunak to order an investigation into claims Suella Braverman asked civil servants to help her secure a special arrangement after being caught speeding. No10 confirmed late Sunday that Mr Sunak will consult with his independent ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, on Monday over the controversy. He is expected to speak with Ms Braverman, along with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, upon his return from the G7 summit. The Home Secretary is alleged to have asked Home Office officials to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course so she could avoid incurring points on her licence. Officials refused the request so Mrs Braverman allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. Labours deputy leader Angela Rayner sought to pile more pressure onto Mr Sunak on Sunday night over the row by setting out a series of questions any inquiry into the allegations should seek to answer. Labour said Mrs Braverman may have breached the ministerial code if the allegations, first reported in the Sunday Times, are true. It is calling for Sir Laurie to investigate, but he cannot launch an investigation without Mr Sunak's prior approval. REUTERS Mr Sunak refused to back Mrs Braverman when asked for his opinion at a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan, where he had been meeting with G7 leaders. But No 10 has since said he does have full confidence in his Home Secretary, who is likely to face queries about the reports when she comes before MPs at Home Office questions in the Commons on Monday. In her letter to Mr Sunak, Labours Ms Rayner said the Prime Minister should order an investigation without delay". She added: Members of the Cabinet are subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and any attempt to direct civil servants to obtain special treatment in this matter would clearly amount to an unacceptable abuse of power and privilege by the Home Secretary." Ms Rayner called for the Prime Minister to show some backbone and order an ethics probe. The public have a right to know whether the minister responsible for law and order sought to abuse her position in an attempt to gain preferential treatment to avoid a speeding fine, she said. Her letter also asks whether Mr Sunak knew about the alleged request to civil servants to help her arrange a special course and whether Mrs Braverman informed the Cabinet Office and Home Office permanent secretaries. In his first speech after entering Downing Street, Mr Sunak vowed to lead an administration with integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level". A source close to Mrs Braverman said that she notified the Cabinet Office after being handed the speeding ticket, having reportedly been caught driving too fast on a road outside of London last summer. A spokesman for the Home Secretary said she regrets speeding and has since accepted the points and paid the fine. A No 10 source said: The Prime Minister has always followed the proper process in these matters, and will consult the independent adviser upon his return to London. Separately, the Liberal Democrats are calling on Mr Sunak to make a statement in Parliament about the claims surrounding his Cabinet minister. The partys chief whip, Wendy Chamberlain, said: Rishi Sunak is so weak he cant even make sure his own ministers maintain the very basic level of integrity. The least he can do is come to Parliament and explain this farce. After yet another day of Conservative sleaze and scandal, we need to see the Prime Minister take some responsibility." R ishi Sunak hailed the international coalition to provide Ukraine with crucial F-16 fighter jets on the final day of the G7 summit in Japan. Speaking in Hiroshima, the Prime Minister said the leaders had reached a pivotal moment for peace and democracy. Adding: We will stand with Ukraine as long as it takes because their security is our security. We have made a real breakthrough at this summit, thanks to President Bidens support for an international coalition to provide F-16 jets. We leave Hiroshima more united than ever, he said before conluding: Any peace settlement must be on Ukraines terms. US President Joe Biden informed allies that he will support the transfer of the advanced jets to Ukraine as Russias brutal invasion continues. Russia, however, warned the West that supplying the powerful jets to Ukraine would incur colossal risks. Rishi Sunak and Volodymyr Zelensky meet during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan (Stefan Rousseau/PA) / PA Wire Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Grushko accused Western countries of continuing along the path of escalation over the jets. Western allies, however, hope training on the F-16 jets will begin in the coming weeks as Ukraine prepares to launch its summer offensive. G7 leaders also vowed to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and to increase the costs to Russia and those who support its war. Russias brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community, the group said. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Volodymyr Zelensky, who has long called for fighter jets, held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India, South Korea and Brazil. He also held one-on-one talks with several of the leaders. Mr Biden announced a new military aid package worth $375million (301million) for Ukraine during his meeting with Mr Zelensky, saying the US would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. "We have Ukraine's back and we're not going anywhere," Mr Biden said. The Ukrainian president later thanked Mr Biden for the support, adding that "we will never forget." V olodymyr Zelenskys visit to the G7 summit in Hiroshima had historic significance, Rishi Sunak said as he hailed a real breakthrough on getting Ukraine advanced fighter jets. The Prime Minister said that any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia must usher in a just and lasting peace rather than a ceasefire that handed land to Vladimir Putin. The presence of the Ukrainian president at the conference in Japan shows a powerful message to the Russian leader, Mr Sunak said. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, because their security is our security, he added. We must and we will show that violent territorial aggression does not reap rewards. There could be no more fitting place to discuss the urgent need for peace than Hiroshima. The Prime Minister said he was deeply moved by visiting the memorial to mark the city being the first place to experience the devastation of a nuclear bomb. What we saw there was haunting. A childs tricycle, twisted by the blast. School uniforms bloodied and torn, he said. And with those images in our minds, we resolved never to forget what happened here. Mr Zelensky addressed the G7 leaders in meetings on Sunday after meeting Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who has maintained neutrality over the Russian invasion. Pictures of the Ukrainian president shaking Mr Modis hand would not be images that Mr Putin wants to see. It was unclear whether Mr Sunak, who has spoken of the need to speak to Mr Modi about his position, discussed Ukraine with him when they met on Sunday. The accounts given by both London and New Delhi failed to mention the war. During the summit, US President Joe Biden gave the approval for western allies to hand over their F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv to bolster Ukrainian defences. Mr Sunak said: Were supporting Ukraine to develop the air force it needs for the future with the UK training Ukrainian pilots, starting this summer. And weve made a real breakthrough at this summit, thanks to President Bidens support for an international coalition to provide F-16 jets. Mr Zelensky, who met Mr Sunak after touching down, appeared to acknowledge a setback over Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city that Moscow has claimed to have captured after months of fierce fighting. You have to understand that there is nothing, he said, of the city which is not believed to have a major strategic importance. They destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. But at a later press conference, the Ukrainian war leader suggested the Kremlins troops and Wagner mercenaries had not completely taken the city. Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of those words, Mr Zelensky told reporters. R ishi Sunak has warned that China poses the biggest challenge to global security at the end of a G7 summit. Concern about Beijings rise has been a key theme of the summit in Hiroshima this weekend, as has its recent sabre-rattling towards Taiwan. The Prime Minister said: China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity, they are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad. This is all about de-risking, not de-coupling. He added: We will work together as the G7 and other countries make sure that we can de-risk ourselves and the vulnerability of supply chains that we have seen from China, take the steps necessary to protect ourselves against hostile investment and do so in a way that doesnt damage each other. In a strongly worded statement, leaders of the G7, including Joe Biden, Mr Sunak and Emmanuel Macron, told China that they are no longer prepared to tolerate its economic coercion and military expansionism. The leaders stated that while they are willing to build constructive and stable relations with China, that can only happen if the Communist superpower plays by international rules. It came after Mr Sunak vowed Britains support for Ukraine will never waver as he met President Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit on Saturday. The PM said his friends visit sent an "incredibly powerful message and he vowed "brute force and oppression will not triumph over freedom and sovereignty". When Mr Zelensky arrived they embraced and the PM said: You made it! G7 leaders urged China to press Russia to end the war. The US said it would train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters. Mr Zelensky tweeted: Important meetings. Security and enhanced co-operation for our victory. Peace will become closer today. V olodymyr Zelensky has denied that Bakhmut is occupied after Russian forces claimed to have captured the city. The Ukrainian President said on Sunday there is little left of the city as it has been destroyed following months of intense fighting. Asked if it was still in Ukrainian control, the president said: I think no. He then added that for today, it is only in our hearts. Speaking alongside Joe Biden later on Sunday, Mr Zelensky then insisted the city is not occupied by Russia while Ukraines military personnel in Bakhmut are accomplishing a very important mission. He then went on to draw parallels between the destruction of the city and the devastation caused to Hiroshima after it was destroyed by the atomic bomb. Previously, the head of Russias Wagner mercenary group announced his troops had captured the whole of Bakhmut on Saturday. The claim was denied by Ukrainian officials at the time. Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the group, said that his forces would begin withdrawing from the now destroyed city in the Donbas region from Thursday. The operation to capture Bakhmut, The Bakhmut meat grinder, lasted 224 days, he said in a speech posted on his Telegram channel. For 224 days the guys stormed the city. There were only Wagner mercenaries there. Founder of Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin claims control of Bakhmut / via REUTERS Prigozhin recorded his six-minute speech standing near a row of destroyed buildings. Artillery could be heard booming in the background and nine impassive mercenaries stood around him holding Wagner and Russian flags. Prigozhin, who has previously admitted that Bakhmut holds little strategic value, had promised to hand Vladimir Putin his first notable battlefield victory against Ukraine in more than a year. The leader of the private army, has previously criticised the Russian military and even threatened to pull out his troops from the city last week. Analysts have said that Wagner has lost tens of thousands of men fighting in Bakhmut, mainly convicts recruited from Russian prisons. Netflixs much anticipated, controversial docuseries Queen Cleopatra, which finally aired this week, has stirred debate as many Egyptians and later non-Egyptians decried its historical inaccuracy and the way it forces American social justice issues on ancient Mediterranean history. Though a professor of classics, Shelley P. Haley, the academic behind the decision to cast the black British actor Adele James in the role of a woman who was in all likelihood half Greek, half Egyptian and had no sub-Saharan blood at all, is expert in applying Black feminist and critical race approaches to the study and teaching of Classics according to Wikipedia. That might explain a line of dialogue in the first episode, with a grandmother addressing her granddaughter: I dont care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black. But, once they saw James in the trailer, many Egyptians felt I dont care was less an expression of historical or even moral truth than an ideologised view actively falsifying history to impose an Afrocentrist agenda that doesnt even recognise the simple fact that, regardless of anti-black racism or legacies of enslavement anywhere in the world, Mediterranean North Africa has been inhabited by races different from those of the rest of the continent. The four-episode docu-drama, produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, the wife of actor Will Smith, is the second season of the African Queens series, and purports to present an overview of the life journey of the Ptolemaic queen, Egypts last pharoah who ruled for 21 years in a male-dominated world, tried and failed to maintain Egypts independence against Roman incursion, and decided to kill herself as a result. Directed by Tina Ghavari, it is a bland show that offers no new insight into the famed queens life. It is remarkable how many academics and authors appear in the show considering it is based around a complete fib: Debora Heard, an expert in Nubian archaeology and Egyptian studies; Islam Issa, author of Alexandria: The City that Changed the World; Sally Ann Ashton, author of Cleopatra and Egypt; Colleen Parnell, Egyptologist; and Jacquelyn Williamson, expert in the art and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean. During her 21-year reign, Cleopatra turned Egypt into Romes breadbasket, a fact reflected in James repeatedly saying, There is no Rome without Egypt but not borne out by information about the ways in which she increased and expanded trade. Ptolemy I Soter arrived in Egypt in 332 BC as one of the generals of Alexander the Great, who managed to repel the Persian Achaemenid that had ruled Egypt since the sixth century BC. He established the Hellenistic Ptolemaic kingdom in 305 BC. The series opens with Soters descendent Ptolemy XII, Cleopatras father, dying in 51 BC, and leaving the throne jointly to the 18-year-old Cleopatra and her 10-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII, who must marry her according to the traditions of the Ptolemaic dynasty and travels to Thebes for the installation of the new, sacred Buchis bull, worshiped as an intermediary of the god Montu in the ancient Egyptian religion. Soon enough Cleopatra and Ptolemys disagreements result in a civil war that sees Cleopatra fleeing to Syria to gather support to take back the throne from her brother in 48 BC. In 47 BC, Julius Caesar (John Partridge) arrives to Egypt as one of the stations of his military campaign in the region. Cleopatra manages to win him over. Their relationship develops and they have a son, Caesarion, born in 47 BC. All this is presented mainly as commentary, without dramatic enactments of battles or convincing characters, and the only evidence cited for Cleopatras blackness is that her mother was Egyptian. Caesar is murdered by Ptolemy, and his successor Mark Anthony (Craig Russell) he too is romantically involved with the princess summons Cleopatra back to Egypt where an alliance is announced and she is crowned Queen of Egypt in 51 BC ruling jointly with her youngest brother Ptolemy XIV, whom she married though this did not get in the way of her relationship with Mark Anthony, who divorced his wife Octavia when he started to have children with Cleopatra; their older daughter Cleopatra Selene would rule later. In 31 BC, the emperor Octavian declared war on Egypt, and in the Battle of Actium Antonys naval forces were defeated, forcing him and Cleopatra to retreat to Alexandria. Octavians forces invaded Alexandria in 30 BC and Antony committed suicide when he heard a rumour that Cleopatra had killed herself. Cleopatra followed shortly after, famously committing suicide by allowing an asp to bite her. The documentary gathers all the narratives of Cleopatras suicide. In the West, since Shakespeares play, Cleopatra has been remembered for her love story with Mark Antony and their tragic end that marked the end of Egypts independence and the beginnings of Roman rule. The role was played by Elizabeth Taylor opposite Richard Burton, and perhaps Afrocentrism is understandable in this context. But the fact remains that, while probably not white in the modern sense, Cleopatra was not black as such. To all intents and purposes she wouldve been Egyptian, steeped in the Hellenised culture and looking like the slightly later Fayoum mummy portraits, which actually showcase a very wide range of skin tones still in evidence among Egyptians. Aside from the issue of race, however, the Netflix series wasted the opportunity to showcase Cleopatras intelligence, ambition and political acumen on a forced ideological argument completely irrelevant to Egypt. * A version of this article appears in print in the 18 May, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: G reek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose conservative party has won a landslide election but without enough parliamentary seats to form a government, has said he will seek a second election to consolidate his victory without the need for a coalition partner. Mr Mitsotakis's New Democracy party was 20 percentage points ahead of its main rival, the left-wing Syriza party, with nearly 90% of the votes counted on Sunday. But due to the current electoral system of proportional representation, his 40% vote share was still not enough to secure a majority of the 300 seats in parliament, meaning he would either have to seek a coalition partner from a smaller party, or head to a second election. "From tomorrow, I will follow all constitutional procedures, but maintaining my firm view that the mathematics of proportional representation is akin to party horse-trading and results in a dead-end," Mr Mitsotakis said. "Without a doubt, the political earthquake that occurred today calls on us all to speed up the process for a definitive government solution so our country can have an experienced hand at its helm as soon as possible." A new vote, likely in late June or early July, will be held with a new electoral law which gives bonus seats to the winning party, making it easier for it to form a government on its own. With nearly two thirds of the vote counted, the left-wing opposition party of former PM Alexis Tsipras was trailing with 20% of the vote, compared with 40% for Mr Mitsotakis' New Democracy party. Sunday's election was Greece's first since its economy ceased being under the strict supervision of international lenders who had provided bailout funds during the country's nearly decade-long financial crisis. Mr Tsipras, 48, served as prime minister during some of the most tumultuous years of the crisis, and has struggled to regain the wide support he enjoyed when he was swept to power in 2015 on a promise of reversing bailout-imposed austerity measures. He called Mr Mitsotakis on Sunday to congratulate him on his victory. "The result is exceptionally negative for Syriza," Mr Tsipras said after his party's dramatic defeat became clear. "Fights have winners and losers." He said his party would gather to examine the results and how they came about. "However, the electoral cycle is not yet over," he said. "We don't have the luxury of time. We must immediately carry out all the changes that are needed so we can fight the next crucial and final electoral battle with the best terms possible." As the massive gap between the first two parties became apparent, Syriza supporters expressed dismay. "I am very sorry about the terrible state of these people (who voted for New Democracy)," said Syriza supporter Georgi Koulouri, standing near a Syriza campaign kiosk in central Athens. "People who understand their position, the poverty and the misery that they have been put into, and still vote for them, they deserve what they get." Mr Mitsotakis, 55, a Harvard-educated former banking executive, won 2019 elections on a promise of business-oriented reforms and has vowed to continue tax cuts, boost investments and bolster middle-class employment. He had been steadily ahead in opinion polls in the run-up to the election but his popularity took a hit following a rail disaster in February that killed 57 people after an intercity passenger train was accidentally put on the same rail line as an oncoming freight train. It was later found that train stations were poorly staffed and safety infrastructure broken and outdated. The government was also battered by a surveillance scandal in which journalists and prominent Greek politicians discovered spyware on their phones. Mr Mitsotakis has delivered unexpectedly high growth, a steep drop in unemployment and a country on the brink of returning to investment grade on the global bond market for the first time since it lost market access in 2010, at the start of its financial crisis. Debts to the International Monetary Fund were paid off early. European governments and the IMF pumped 280 billion euros (260 billion) into the Greek economy in emergency loans between 2010 and 2018 to prevent the eurozone member from bankruptcy. In return, they demanded punishing cost-cutting measures and reforms that saw the country's economy shrink by a quarter. J oe Biden told the G7 that Putin will not break our resolve" in supporting Ukraine on Sunday on the summits final day. Speaking at a press conference in Japan, the US president said he has recieved a flat assurance from Kyiv that Western-provided F-16 fighter jets would not go into Russian territory. These powerful warplanes, which are being sought by Ukraine, could be used wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area", he said. But Mr Biden said it was highly unlikely the planes would be used in any Ukrainian offensive in the coming weeks, but that troops could need such weapons to defend themselves. Earlier, Mr Biden announced a $375 million (301m) package of military aid, including artillery and armoured vehicles, for Ukraine. Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky has used an appearance at the summit to push western allies to send the warplanes, prompting Russia to warn of colossal risks and accuse the West of escalation. Despite the threat, the US President said the G7 had reaffirmed our shared and unwavering, let me say it again, our shared and unwavering commitment to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia's brutal war of aggression and the war crimes being committed. He added: Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraines back and I promise were not going anywhere. Western allies also vowed on Sunday that they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut. This is denied by Kyiv, which insists the city is not occupied by Russia. He told reporters that he had discussed the issue of sending F-16 jets to Ukraine during a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. He said F-16s would not have helped Ukrainian forces with regard to Bakhmut but could make a big difference in terms of being able to deal with what is coming down the road". Mr Biden said separately that the G7 had agreed a united approach to China which called for countries to reduce their reliance on China. Were not looking to decouple from China. Were looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China, he said. He said the countries were united in resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers." G7 leaders outlined a shared approach to "de-risk, not decouple" economic engagement with China in a statement on Saturday, prompting China to complain to Japan which is the summit organiser. Despite the reaction, Biden said he expected a thaw in frosty relations with China very shortly" after strains caused by an incident earlier this year when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon that flew over sensitive military sites. On tensions between China and Taiwan, Mr Biden said there was a clear understanding among most of the allies that if China were to act unilaterally against the self-governed island Taiwan, there would be a response. Were not going to tell China what they can do," he said. But in the meantime were going to put Taiwan in a position where they can defend themselves. Anyone with information on this or any other crime is urged to contact Hazleton police at: About the series Questions linger for those whose loved ones were the victims of unsolved homicides or other unexplained deaths. While some survivors say there is never true closure, answers offer some finality to their grief. Such was the case for the family of 9-year-old Marise A. Chiverella. In 2022, 58 years after her murder-rape, state police used DNA and genealogy to identifier her killer. Her case brought hope that the coldest of cases cases like the ones contained in this series will find finality, too. This is the second story in the series. In April, we featured the case of Carlos Luna Polanco. 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. From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998* Issue: 5 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 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 Search Keywords: Short link: The extreme heat thats been scorching Asia in recent weeks has produced one clear beneficiary Russia. As countries across the region scramble to make sure they have enough coal, gas and fuel oil to keep the lights on, Russian energy being shunned by the West is looking increasingly attractive. What began as a push from the Kremlin to fund its invasion of Ukraine has now turned into a pull from Asian economies anxious about making sure their power generators are supplied with enough fuel in what could be the hottest year on record. The worst place to be right now amid these searing temperatures is South Asia, especially poorer nations like Pakistan or Bangladesh, said John Driscoll, director of JTD Energy Services Pte in Singapore. When you cant even take care of your peoples basic needs, its very hard to care too much about international affairs. Russian exports to Asia of thermal coal and natural gas, the two fuels most often used for electricity generation, have grown markedly this year, figures from data intelligence firm Kpler show. Coal volumes jumped sharply to 7.46 million tons in April, about a third higher than a year earlier. Shipments of liquefied natural gas to Asia have also been growing in recent months after prices retreated from record highs that had made the fuel unaffordable for many poorer nations. Meanwhile, Asian imports of Russian fuel oil, a dirtier and cheaper alternative for power generation, had the two highest months on record in March and April, according to Kpler. The impetus for the region to buy more Russian energy is likely to increase due to an emerging El Nino weather pattern, which has already sent the mercury soaring in parts of the region. Vietnams prime minister has warned of power shortages this month, while Myanmar is struggling with worsening blackouts. In India, heat-driven power demand will likely be satisfied mostly by coal, said Aniket Autade, power fundamentals analyst for Rystad Energy. China and India the most enthusiastic buyers of discounted Russian oil are also purchasing the most coal, gas and fuel oil. They took more than two-thirds of Russian coal sent to Asia last month, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Kpler data. South Korea, however, scooped up 15% of the shipments, while Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have also emerged as significant buyers. For fuel oil, China and India were again the biggest buyers from Russia, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also major importers, the Kpler figures show. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will probably import more Russian fuel oil for power generation, according to Emma Li, an analyst with Vortexa. The Middle East has also recently increased its imports, and thats likely to continue over the summer, she said. Pakistan said this month it was keen to pay for Russian oil imports with the Chinese yuan. The country has has placed an order for a single cargo of the crude, but is keen for a long-term deal to buy it in Chinese currency, its power minister said. Even Japan, a close ally of the US and therefore reluctant to increase imports from Russia, might expand buying within contractual limits, according to Chris Wilkinson, senior analyst for renewables at Rystad. Japan may consider purchasing more LNG from Russia under its existing long-term contracts, as it is more cost-effective than buying on the spot market, he said. For JTD Energys Driscoll, the increasing purchases of Russian energy by many Asian countries highlights both the White Houses declining clout and the perilous situation many nations find themselves in. [They] are asking themselves: would I rather risk falling afoul of the US or forgo steep discounts on energy?, he said. When theres a good deal on the table, how can poorer nations afford to say no? Read more about: SHARE: HIROSHIMA, Japan The Group of Seven wealthy democracies united in urging China to pressure its strategic partner Russia to end its war on Ukraine and resolve territorial disputes peacefully, and China lashed back. In a joint statement, the G7 leaders emphasized they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, said the statement Saturday. We encourage China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the U.N. Charter, including in direct talks with Ukraine. Cooperation with China is needed given its global role and economic size, the group said, in appealing for working together on challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, debts and financing needs of vulnerable countries, global health concerns and economic stability. But the leaders expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China seas, where Beijing has been expanding its military presence and threatening to use force to exert its control over self-governed Taiwan. They called for a peaceful resolution of Chinas claim to Taiwan, which has remained unresolved since the communists gained power on the Chinese mainland in 1949. The statement said there was no legal basis for Chinas expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and we oppose Chinas militarization activities in the region. A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest, the statement said, alluding to charges that Beijing is undermining the rules-based international order. The G7 also united in voicing concerns about human rights in China, including in Tibet, in Hong Kong and in the far western region of Xinjiang, where the issue of forced labour is a perennial issue. But the statement also sought to counter accusations that the G7 is seeking to prevent Chinas rise as a global power. Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart Chinas economic progress and development, it said. The statement highlighted a consensus that efforts to diversify manufacturing supply chains and ensure stable access to strategically vital minerals and other resources is not aimed at unravelling trade ties with the worlds second-largest economy. We are not decoupling or turning inwards, the statement said. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying. We will take steps, individually and collectively, to invest in our own economic vibrancy. We will reduce excessive dependencies in our critical supply chains. At the same time, the G7 members vowed to take a stand against various types of economic coercion, saying they will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure, while also avoiding unduly limiting trade and investment. Chinese officials have reacted to various G7 statements about economic coercion and other issues with outrage. In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the G7 used issues concerning China to smear and attack China and brazenly interfere in Chinas internal affairs. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made serious demarches to the summits host Japan and other parties concerned. The G7 needs to stop pointing fingers at China on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet and take a hard look at their own history and human rights record, it said. Taiwan, meanwhile, thanked the G7 for its support. Taiwan will stand alongside with democracies and communities of the world to co-operate in defusing the risks, its president, Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday. Nowadays, the consensus around the world is very clear, which is the fact that cross-strait issues have to be solved in a peaceful manner. War is not an option, she said at a news conference. Apart from Japan, this years host of the leaders annual summit, the G7 includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy and the European Union. The G7 statement was released on the second day of a three-day summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday to participate in meetings planned for Sunday. Read more about: SHARE: ISLAMABAD (AP) An Afghan military helicopter crashed in the countrys north Sunday after hitting a power line base, killing at least two crewmembers, the Defense Ministry said. The MD-530 chopper was patrolling in the area after it took off from northern Balkh province and crashed in the Kholim district in Samangan province, a ministry statement said. Officials said the chopper hit the base of a high voltage power line before crashing. Its unclear how many helicopters, including U.S. choppers, are in the hands of the Taliban-run government. As the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed in mid-August 2021, dozens of Afghan pilots fled to Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghan air force pilots played a key role, alongside their U.S. counterparts, in the 20-year war against Taliban insurgents. The conflict ended with the departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 2021. Helicopter airstrikes inflicted heavy casualties among the Taliban and repeatedly drove them from positions they had seized in different parts of the country. After the Taliban took over the country, about 140 Afghan pilots and others were flown out of Tajikistan to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates en route to their final destination in the U.S. Read more about: SHARE: MONTREAL Ever since the 1995 referendum, the Quebec sovereignty movement has been searching for a spark to rekindle the secessionist flame. Could a fiery debate over immigration policy do the trick? What is certain is that some of its leading proponents believe they may have hit on a narrative liable to breathe new life into their cause. The core of that narrative has more to do with alarm about the prospect of the rest of Canada opening the immigration floodgates than with stoking anti-immigration fears in Quebec itself. If the latter was the main plank of the argument, its champions could have an uphill battle on their hands. A Leger poll this week suggested that when it comes to immigration, Quebecers are pretty much on the same page as other Canadians. Indeed, in the French-language media these days, not a week goes by without a story lamenting how the federal Immigration Department keeps throwing bureaucratic wrenches in the provinces efforts to attract more French-speaking immigrants. But the latest ongoing discussion both in the media and in political circles revolves around a more familiar concern, and that is the fear of the loss of Quebec influence in the federation. The argument goes like this: the provinces demographic weight is bound to decrease sharply as a result of Canadas expansive immigration policies. There is no way Quebec can both keep up with the rate of growth of the immigration rolls in the rest of the country and successfully integrate an ever-rising number of newcomers in its French-speaking mainstream. Hence, independence is the only way for Quebec to continue to have some control over its destiny. Based on this rationale, there are those who would have Premier Francois Legault reconnect with his sovereigntist roots and lead the province to another referendum and eventually to sovereignty. In a recent column in Le Journal de Montreal, Mathieu Bock-Cote one of the provinces leading sovereigntist intellectuals described that as a moral duty. To say that Legault has so far been lukewarm to the suggestion is an understatement. His government is built on an alliance between sovereigntist and federalists. A move along the lines suggested by some of his fellow sovereigntist travellers would tear apart his coalition. There is also little evidence that Quebec voters are keener than they have been in the decades since the closely fought 1995 referendum to be asked again to pronounce on their political future. To this day, support for sovereignty decreases with every age cohort. But that does not mean Legault can afford to shrug off the prospect of a sovereigntist revival at the expense of his nationalist party. With only three seats in the National Assembly, a return of the Parti Quebecois to the major political leagues and eventually to government may sound like little more than a pipe dream. But since the last election, there have been encouraging signs of life for the PQ. Its latest leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, is well regarded outside the ranks of his party and polls suggest some lapsed sovereigntist voters may be coming home. A few weeks ago, Legaults government announced it was abandoning its plan for a car tunnel to link Quebec Citys south shore to the provincial capital. For having broken what was a signature promise in last falls provincial election, the CAQ took a predictable hit in voting intentions. The PQ even as it opposed the defunct tunnel plan was the main beneficiary of the backlash, vaulting to first place in the provincial capital region for the first time in decades. At the same time, there is an ongoing rapprochement between the Bloc Quebecois and its provincial cousins, with the former leading the charge in the House of Commons against federal immigration policies. For the first time since 2011, a PQ leader is delivering an address at this weekends Bloc Quebecois convention. But even as the sovereigntist leadership focuses on a projected increase in immigration numbers outside the province to shore up its case in Quebec, it has cause for concern on the home front. The provinces fast-aging population and the labour shortages that attend to the grey wave that is about to engulf Quebec mean its economic future rests, at least in part, on attracting more immigrants. Either through demographic attrition or through immigration or both, Quebec is only going to become more diverse going forward. The sovereignty movement has yet to convince the latest generations of French-speaking Quebecers of the urgency of achieving political independence from Canada. It has never been terribly successful at attracting non-Quebec born supporters to its cause. The clock on the sovereigntist capacity to fulfil what its leaders see as the provinces destiny is ticking closer to home than its latest denunciation of federal immigration policies would suggest. Chantal Hebert is an Montreal-based freelance contributing columnist covering politics for the Star. Reach her via email: chantalh28@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert Read more about: SHARE: Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sept 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sept 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (17) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sept 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (134) Jun 2013 (203) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (350) Sept 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (347) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (438) Jan 2014 (543) Feb 2014 (474) Mar 2014 (525) Apr 2014 (526) May 2014 (470) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sept 2014 (441) Oct 2014 (471) Nov 2014 (496) Dec 2014 (535) Jan 2015 (535) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (579) Apr 2015 (657) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sept 2015 (922) Oct 2015 (919) Nov 2015 (800) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (781) Feb 2016 (834) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (864) May 2016 (945) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (881) Aug 2016 (1035) Sept 2016 (966) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sept 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (808) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sept 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (934) Jul 2019 (949) Aug 2019 (936) Sept 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (848) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (787) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sept 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (811) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sept 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (694) Feb 2022 (654) Mar 2022 (740) Apr 2022 (745) May 2022 (748) Jun 2022 (701) Jul 2022 (704) Aug 2022 (702) Sept 2022 (699) Oct 2022 (737) Nov 2022 (718) Dec 2022 (692) Jan 2023 (662) Feb 2023 (611) Mar 2023 (692) Apr 2023 (652) May 2023 (604) From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998* Issue: 15 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. Search Keywords: Short link: Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. AWARDS The St. Charles Regional Chamber recognized La Belle Vie / The Cafe at Frenchtown as their 2023 Small Business of the Year. EXPANDING MTM, Inc., invested in TCARE, Inc., a digital analytics platform developed to reduce family caregiver burnout and help older adults age in place. The program is ACL-accredited and CMS-approved. The SSM Health Outpatient Center reopened at 1475 Kisker Rd. in St. Charles, featuring a surgery center to support renovated offices, urgent care, and cancer care services. HELPING OUT The Productive Living Board of St. Louis County approved $89,108 in funding to Boone Center, Inc., for vocational training and employment support services for eligible St. Louis County residents beginning July 1. MERGERS & ACQUISITONS Industrial technology company Acuity Brands, Inc., acquired KE2 Therm Solutions, Inc., a refrigeration systems company based in Washington, Missouri. MILESTONE Axiom sold one million contracts for finance and insurance products. Headquartered in OFallon, Missouri, Axiom currently employs over 150 people. OPENING St. Louis Community College at Forest Park dedicated a 10,000-square-foot Child Development Laboratory Center scheduled to open this fall at: 5600 Oakland Avenue RECOGNITION Time Magazines CO2 Magazine recognized FSI for the inclusion of ecomate in a groundbreaking project in sustainability. Ecomate is an environmentally sound alternative foam insulation blowing agent. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. ST. ANN On a recent morning outside the Charter Communications office in St. Ann, a group of trainees in hard hats and reflective vests practiced placing hooks in a small forest of mock telephone poles. Rain pattered down as they worked, but Safety and Training Supervisor Shaun Swearengen was still planning to teach pole climbing in the afternoon. Its true to the real-life conditions: Field technicians have to work in all sorts of weather. As long as we dont see lightning, he said, glancing upward. The trainees are part of a hiring push at Charter, as telecommunications companies carry out a six-year program to bring access to television, mobile and phone connections into hard-to-reach, rural areas. It started a couple of years ago, after the Federal Communications Commission launched a new effort to close gaps in broadband access: The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, or RDOF, which subsidizes telecommunications companies to build their networks out into rural areas. Parts of rural Missouri have struggled for years with spotty access to broadband, which can be an obstacle for businesses, and limits telemedicine use in areas that are already farthest from medical providers and specialists. Those challenges became more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, as some schools became more reliant on virtual learning. Charter plans to spend over $248 million in Missouri, related to the RDOF program, said Matt Brown, construction vice president for the region. Of that amount, Charter will pay for about $200 million, and $48 million will come from RDOF. In the greater St. Louis region, Brown said, Charter is working in Jefferson, Lincoln, Montgomery, Pike, Ste. Genevieve, St. Charles, St. Francois and Warren counties. At times, Brown said, its laying fiber in areas where there are fewer than 10 homes in a mile. The company said it aims to bring service to more than 61,000 homes and small businesses in the state through the RDOF program. When the program began, Charter created a group to focus on building out the network into new areas, and promoted people through the ranks. Then the company needed a team of people prepared to finish the final step of bringing the newly-placed broadband into homes, so it started hiring more field technicians the people responsible for going to customers houses to install connections for landlines, internet and cable. There are no degrees or certifications required to get hired. Wages start at $20 an hour. New employees are given 14 paid weeks of training, a combination of classroom work and hands-on practice with the fake telephone poles and a pair of mock houses at the St. Ann facility. Since January 2022, the companys St. Louis field operations has added 160 employees. The company said it plans to add more than a dozen more positions to help with rural expansion efforts in the state. The company now has more than 6,200 employees in the St. Louis area more than it did before the company moved its headquarters from Town and Country to Stamford, Connecticut. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. ST. LOUIS Shelia Wilson traces many of her sons problems back to the day he was robbed at gunpoint as a child. They put a gun up to his head, Wilson said of her then-13-year-old. He came home and said, Mama, somebody took my shoes and took my door key. She tried to reassure him that no one would use their key, that they were safe in their home, which at the time was in Preservation Square just north of downtown St. Louis. But he couldnt sleep. She remembers him staying up for a long time that night, looking out the window. He was different after that trauma. Wilson thought he was depressed. She brought him to Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital for evaluation. But he was never diagnosed with anything. Instead, he was in and out of juvenile detention, and when he was older, jail. He did prison time for drug trafficking and car theft. When he was in prison, Wilson would tell the social workers that her son needed mental health treatment. When he was out, she helped pay for clothes, food and a cellphone. She brought him to the CHIPS Health and Wellness Center on North Grand Boulevard to see a psychiatrist. She got him a job washing dishes at Chris at the Docket diner downtown. He quit one day. Just walked out. Told her people were watching him. He was paranoid. I tried to get him help over and over again, Wilson said. Only way I get some rest is when he locked up. I worry about him being in the street all the time. Earlier this month, her son, Deshawn King Wilson, 35, was charged with murdering LaTatia Stewart in a downtown parking garage. He had been released from prison on another charge a few months before and faced charges for another shooting in St. Louis but was out on bond. His own mother and Stewarts family all are asking the same question: Why was Deshawn Wilson on the street? Why did the system let him go? LaTatia Stewarts son, Paul Stewart Jr., asked last week. Its wrong. They should have kept him incarcerated. For nearly a week, Wilson is accused of terrorizing people who came through the garage on Ninth Street across Washington Avenue from the downtown convention center. On May 4, the day after Stewart was killed, two other people were shot and injured in the same garage, seemingly for no reason, they told police. The father of one of the men told the Post-Dispatch he still had a long way to go in his recovery. On the following day, a man flourished a weapon at a couple walking through the garage. Police caught Wilson after the third incident in the garage. Wilson told them he was homeless and living there. He admitted to being the man on surveillance footage and that a gun police recovered was his, the St. Louis Circuit Attorneys Office said. Prosecutors charged him in all three incidents, including first-degree murder for Stewarts death. Im so hurt by my son, especially about that lady, Shelia Wilson said. He just got out of prison. Where did he get a gun from? Over states objection Shelia Wilson had known for a long time her son was dangerous. She was scared of him. A little over a year ago, he was out and living with her in her home in public housing north of downtown. On April 16, 2022, he was acting strange. She was just walking out the door to head to Target and remembers telling Deshawn, who she calls Nick, that when she returned, she was taking him to the hospital. On her way back, she got a call from a neighbor: There were gunshots in the Wilson home. Shelia Wilson called the police. It took officers a long time to get there. Police told her they were busy responding to five other shooting calls. She met them a block away on Hogan Street. Her son walked out of the front door with no shoes, looking crazed. He didnt even try to run, she remembers, as police finally arrived to arrest him. He had shot her boyfriend, Lloyd Jones, who was home at the time. Jones managed to escape out the back door and flee to Cass Avenue. Witnesses told officers Deshawn Wilson had mental health issues, according to the police report. Deshawn Wilson ran up on Jones as he was lying in the grass, suffering from gunshot wounds to his legs, Shelia Wilson said. But he didnt shoot him again. Thank God, she said. After that, Shelia Wilson filed a restraining order against her son. The circuit attorneys office at first only charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Initially, the courts held Wilson without bond on the charge. But in May 2022, Circuit Judge Craig Higgins, ruling in a case that technically contained no violent charges related to the shooting, allowed Deshawn Wilson to be released on a personal recognizance bond. He was to report to Places for People, a nonprofit mental health clinic, for evaluation, according to court records. Still, the circuit attorneys office, which has faced withering criticism in recent months for its bond practices under former Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, opposed the personal recognizance bond. Higgins order notes the bond reduction to a promise to appear was made over (the) states objection. But Wilson didnt go free. He was transferred to the Missouri Department of Corrections Bonne Terre prison. Its unclear exactly why, but it appears related to parole violations for 2017 convictions of tampering with a motor vehicle and drugs, for which he was sentenced to six years. While he was in state prison, the circuit attorneys office in June obtained a grand jury indictment against Wilson for more serious charges related to the Lloyd Jones shooting: felony assault and armed criminal action. Those new charges triggered a new bond hearing. Circuit Judge Michael Mullen in June affirmed the personal recognizance bond on those upgraded charges. Its unclear if Higgins or Mullen made their bond decisions based on the fact that Wilson was in, or headed to, state prison. Mullen, now in private practice, couldnt be reached. A spokesman for the St. Louis Circuit Court said judges cant comment on specific cases but released a general statement: St. Louis judges make extremely difficult decisions every day in accordance with Missouri Supreme Court rules on whether to release defendants awaiting trial on bond. While the court can detain defendants before trial, detention is only appropriate where a court makes a finding by clear and convincing evidence that there is no less restrictive alternative to detention that can ensure the safety of the community and ones appearance in court. In late February, Wilson was released from the maximum security state prison in Charleston, Missouri. He does not appear to have reported to Places for People in St. Louis, a condition of his bond for the 2022 shooting. Despite the violation, he remained at large. The courts are so messed up down there, Shelia Wilson said. We dont even know how he got out. Then, in late March, the circuit attorneys office sought to upgrade the charges related to the April 2022 Jones shooting. A grand jury indicted Wilson on a more severe felony assault charge that carries additional prison time, along with a new charge for possession of methamphetamine. A warrant was issued for Deshawn Wilsons arrest. But LaTatia Stewart ran into him before the police did. Why did the system let him go? For 20 years, Cahokia Heights resident LaTatia Stewart had worked without incident downtown at the Marriott St. Louis Grand hotel, according to her son. That is, until the evening of May 3, a Wednesday, when she was shot just a little after 6 p.m. as she walked to her car in the parking garage at Ninth Street and Washington Avenue. Stewart was buried in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, on Mothers Day weekend. Three days later, her son, Paul Stewart Jr., was back in Downtown St. Louis to watch a bond hearing for the man accused of killing his mother. He wanted to make sure the courts and prison system didnt let him out again. Nothing was taken from his mother, he said. Not her jewelry. Not her wallet. Even if Wilson had wanted something from her, all he would have had to do is ask. She would have given it to him, he said. As Stewart sat in the back of the courtroom, Deshawn Wilson, shackled and in an orange St. Louis Corrections Division jumpsuit, was called to sit with his public defender before the judge. The prosecutor read a statement from LaTatia Stewarts sister: My family has been severely traumatized as a result of this unprovoked killing. Wilsons public defender, Brian Horneyer, noted in court that Wilson had yet to be convicted of a violent felony. Wilson has pleaded not guilty to the charges. After the hearing, Horneyer said he is awaiting discovery from the circuit attorneys office and declined to comment beyond what was said in court. Wilson, currently in the St. Louis Justice Center, was unavailable for an interview, Horneyer said. Shaniecea Dunham, a prosecutor with the circuit attorneys office, read other victim statements suggesting Wilson was attacking random citizens. The two people who were threatened but not shot in the Friday, May 5, incident that led to Wilsons arrest said in their statement they believed Wilson had already been released once on bond. Paul Stewart keeps thinking his mother would still be alive if Wilson had remained in jail after being charged with the Jones shooting last year. Why was he released? Stewart asked outside of the courtroom Tuesday. If the system knew he had a mental health issue like that, why did they release him? He wouldnt have been downtown, homeless. This time, Associate Circuit Judge Lynne Perkins ordered Wilson detained without bond. Thats for the best, Wilsons mother said Thursday. He just never got the help he needed, Shelia Wilson said. Only way some of these people gonna live is if they locked up. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. UPDATED at 11:40 a.m. Monday with name of victim ST. LOUIS Police on Monday identified a man shot and killed early Sunday at a motel near the St. Louis riverfront. Kevin Anderson, 27, of Indianapolis, was found shot about 2:30 a.m. in a stairwell at America's Best Value Inn, at 1100 Lumiere Place Boulevard. He had been shot in the chest and died at a hospital. Police have no suspects. Anderson apparently was killed by a man after the two got into a confrontation, police said. Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. BALTIMORE Bob Baffert choked back tears and his voice cracked while he tried to juggle the conflicting feelings of seeing one of his horses win the Preakness Stakes hours after another was euthanized on the same track. National Treasure won the Preakness on Saturday in Baffert's return to the Triple Crown trail following a suspension, ending Kentucky Derby champion Mage's Triple Crown bid in the race Baffert has now captured more than any other trainer. But the joy was tempered by the agony of another 3-year-old colt, Havnameltdown, injuring his left front leg in an undercard race and being put down. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. For many of us, Israel is simply a fact of life and, amid renewed fighting with terrorists in Gaza, a subject of recurrent controversy. The debate has been especially pronounced recently as protests have overshadowed Israel marking its 75th birthday on May 14. Israels milestone anniversary presents an opportunity to reflect on what that country means to Jews, to America and to the world. For Jews, Israel is history coming full circle. Ninety years ago, Adolf Hitler assumed power in Germany. As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I know how blessed I am to call America home but also the importance of Jews restored ancestral homeland. From Poland to Spain to Iraq, one can encounter places where Jews once thrived spiritually and materially but which now have at most a shadow of that presence. Since their dispossession by Roman colonizers 2 millennia ago, Jews experienced frequent persecution in exile. Even today, Jews are a primary target of bigotry and violence. The birth of Israel represented the fulfillment of a yearning for Jews to be able to return to the center of their religious and historical saga but also of their right to independence, defense and equality. Israels aspirations are our aspirations. The recent Israeli demonstrations have laid bare the ideological differences in many countries. But Israelis overwhelmingly support their nations preservation as a democratic Jewish state. Indeed, Israel is not only the worlds sole Jewish state joining dozens of countries whose symbols are Christian or Muslim but the only functioning democracy in the Middle East. As a critical partner in the fight against terrorism, a foremost center of technological innovation and a bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa, Israel is an indispensable ally to the United States. It is also the rare Middle Eastern country where minorities, including Christians, enjoy fundamental civil liberties and have grown continually. Despite everything, Israel has strived for peace. Israel is one of the worlds only parties in a conflict whose adversaries seek a countrys complete destruction. This is the explicit doctrine of Iran, which has sought nuclear capabilities and supports groups with the same goal, including Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. By contrast, Americans, Irish and Indians sought independence from Britain not its eradication. But Israel has made incomparable overtures and sacrifices for peace. It has established peace and partnership with every willing Arab interlocutor, including Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. It has repeatedly agreed to creating a Palestinian state and offered Palestinians nearly 100% of the territory they claim. Israel has even maintained the Islamic administration of Jerusalems Temple Mount, Judaisms holiest site. But Palestinian and other extremists have answered every Israeli peace proposal with rejection and relentless violence. Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip removing every Israeli soldier and settlement but Hamas seized that territory and used it for intensified, indiscriminate terror. Popularity and perception arent everything. Israel receives an extraordinary amount of international criticism. But this can be misleading. Though Israel is one of the worlds smallest countries, it is condemned at the United Nations more than all others because nearly 60 Arab and Muslim governments enjoy practically an automatic majority there. Israelis are also often shouted down on social media but there are fewer than 10 million Israelis and more than 1 billion Muslims globally. Few people realize that far more Muslims have died in one decade of Syrias civil war or in the last Iran-Iraq war than in fighting Israel over 75 years. Some allege that Israel and Israel alone is guilty of apartheid, even ethnic cleansing. But Israel has maintained a citizenry thats more than one-fifth Arab while Palestinian leaders threaten death over the sale of property to Jews and systemically dehumanize them. Israel works to avoid civilian casualties, while Palestinian fanatics aim for maximum carnage. Since 1948, the Arab population in Israeli-controlled land has increased by millions, while the Jewish population in Arab lands has plunged from 800,000 to under 4,000. One need only visit Israels parliament, courts, universities, hospitals or shopping malls to see how false the claim of Israeli apartheid is. Ultimately, there is so much to celebrate as our closest Middle East ally has survived and thrived at the dawn of its 75th year. No country, including Israel, is perfect. But Israels circumstances are exceptionally imperfect and it has remained a humane, diverse democracy nonetheless. Israels values are our values. Its quest for acceptance is vital to the interests of America and our world. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. DETROIT More than 33 million people in the United States are driving vehicles that contain a potentially deadly threat: Airbag inflators that in rare cases can explode in a collision and spew shrapnel. Few of them know it. Because of a dispute between federal safety regulators and an airbag parts manufacturer, they aren't likely to find out soon. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration demanded the manufacturer, ARC Automotive of Knoxville, Tennessee, recall 67 million inflators that could explode with such force as to blow apart a metal canister and expel shrapnel. ARC refused to do so, setting up a possible court fight with the agency. NHTSA argued that the recall is justified because two people were killed in the United States and Canada and at least seven others were injured by ARC's inflators. The explosions, which first occurred in 2009, continued as recently as this year. NHTSA tentatively concluded, after an investigation that lasted eight years, that the inflators are defective. The agency's documents show that the inflators date from at least the 2002 model year to January 2018, when ARC installed equipment on its manufacturing lines that could detect potential safety problems. One of those who died was Marlene Beaudoin, a 40-year-old mother of 10 from Michigan's Upper Peninsula who was struck by metal fragments when her 2015 Chevrolet Traverse SUV was involved in a minor crash in 2021. She and four of her sons were on their way to get ice cream. The sons were not hurt. ARC maintains that no safety defect exists, that NHTSA's demand is based on a hypothesis rather than technical conclusions and that the agency has no authority to order a parts manufacturer to carry out recalls, which ARC contends are the responsibility of automakers. In a letter to NHTSA, ARC said no automaker has found a defect common to all 67 million inflators, and no root cause has been identified in the inflator ruptures. "ARC believes they resulted from random 'one-off' manufacturing anomalies that were properly addressed by vehicle manufacturers through lot-specific recalls," the letter said. In a statement, NHTSA indicated that both ARC and automakers are responsible for recalls and that it can seek a recall from a parts maker that supplies multiple automakers. The next step is for NHTSA to issue a final ruling on whether the inflators are defective, then hold a public hearing. It potentially could take ARC to court to seek a recall order. NHTSA would not say when or whether any of this will happen. In the meantime, owners of vehicles made by at least a dozen automakers Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Ford, Toyota, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Hyundai and Kia are left to wonder anxiously whether their vehicles contain driver or front passenger inflators made by ARC. Some vehicles have ARC inflators on both sides. Because ARC supplies inflators that are included in other manufacturers' airbags, there's no easy way for vehicle owners to determine whether their inflators are made by ARC. Neither NHTSA nor ARC nor the automakers released a full list of affected models. The standoff with ARC sent automakers struggling to find out just how many of their vehicles contain the inflators. The auto manufacturers are also asking NHTSA whether they must start doing recalls. Automakers know many of the models affected. "We are still investigating," said Maria Buczkowski, a spokeswoman for Ford. "We have not had any ARC airbag inflators rupture in the field." James Bell, a Kia spokesman, said, "We do not have a final count on vehicles that were built with ARC inflators, but the team is collecting the data." Toyota confirmed that some of its vehicles have ARC inflators but wouldn't comment further. Other automakers said they were trying to find a cause and were working with the government or didn't respond to requests from The Associated Press for information. NHTSA contends that byproducts from welding during manufacturing can clog a vent inside the inflator canister that's designed to let gas escape to fill air bags quickly in a crash. Pressure can build to the point where the canister is blown apart. Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, called on NHTSA and the automakers to release a list of affected models. "Customers, I think, have a right to know if there's a potential defect in their car, particularly if it's sitting a few inches from their chest and can explode," Brooks said. The situation, he said, is reminiscent of the early stages of the Takata air bag inflator recalls in 2001. It took years for all the affected vehicle models to be announced. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. IMMIGRATION Q&A As President Joe Biden's administration ends asylum restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is offering some new legal options for people especially families to come to the United States. The administration said it will admit at least 100,000 Latin Americans seeking to reunite with family members in the United States, but it has released almost no details. A look at the new legal pathway for Latin Americans to join their relatives in the United States: How would people apply? During a recent visit to the border city of Brownsville, Texas, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said people would apply for permission to join their families in the United States at regional processing centers. The government plans to open 100 such hubs across the Western Hemisphere, with the first ones starting in Guatemala and Colombia. The centers will handle requests for family reunification parole, Mayorkas said, along with applications for the U.S. refugee program and humanitarian parole for those deemed to be particularly vulnerable, which is decided on a case-by-case basis. Who will be eligible? The new family reunification parole program is for immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and who have gotten approval for their petitions to bring over immediate family members. The U.S. government said eligible people will receive an invitation to participate. The government will provide advance travel authorization for individuals who are approved and people will be eligible to apply for authorization to work in the United States while they wait for their immigrant visas. The administration said more information will be released in mid-June. It's unclear if there will be age restrictions. Generally immigrants and refugees in the U.S. have been allowed to petition only for immediate family members, such as a spouse or child. To be considered a child, the person must be unmarried and under 21 years of age. All other family members such as siblings, cousins and adult children are not eligible for family reunion. Immigration attorneys say some immigrants have been waiting for years to be reunited with their spouses and children. Why 100,000? It's unclear why the administration has said it intends to welcome as many as 100,000 people from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador under the family reunification parole processes. Julia Gelatt of the Migration Policy Center said U.S. State Department data shows at least 284,000 Latin Americans have filed family sponsorship petitions. That includes 78,000 Salvadorans, and up to 57,000 Hondurans, 58,000 Guatemalans, and 56,000 Colombians. But it's unclear if those waiting have since found other options, she said. Are plans underway to help more families reunite? Yes. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it is restarting and broadening family reunification parole programs for Haitians and Cubans to allow vetted individuals with already approved family-based petitions to be allowed into the United States on a case by-case basis. The government said the program would be for the immediate family members of Haitian and Cuban immigrants in the United States. The government will invite people to participate. It's unclear if the government plans to eliminate the need for a consular interview. Allen Orr Jr., who has worked extensively with Haitians applying for parole, said that would be key since most Haitians cannot get to interviews at the U.S. embassy due to the country's instability and widespread violence. Orr called the efforts an important step in the right direction. But he said comprehensive immigration reform from Congress is ultimately needed to solve the problem. "It's wonderful, but it's very much a bucket emptying the ocean," he said. "It's not a sweeping thing that is going to modify the amount of people showing up at the border. It gives the administration another lever, but it isn't going to overall change the immigration system." What do critics say? Immigration attorney Curtis Morrison said only time will tell if the administration makes good on its promise. His firm represents 3,000 people who have applied for similar family reunification parole programs in the Middle East and Asia, and have ended up waiting years. The process was supposed to take six to nine months, he said. Part of the problem, he said, is a lack of government staff able to process the applications. "I have a hard time taking the Biden administration seriously when they talk about expanding family reunification programs," he said. Under the current wait time, a father who is a U.S. citizen or green card holder and is trying to bring over his wife and baby from a country like Pakistan might not be reunited with them until the child is entering kindergarten, he said. North Korea recently purchased another second-hand cargo ship from a Chinese firm. This makes six so far this year. In all of 2022 North Korea only purchased six ships. All the 2023 purchases were small ships, the latest one carrying about 3,000 tons. It is suspected that North Korea is using the new ships for smuggling, specifically by taking on or transferring cargo at sea in its own territorial waters. The North Korean merchant fleet consists of about 130 ships, nearly all of them small cargo vessels. Most are purchased from Chinese firms. North Korea is a notorious and persistent maritime smuggler. Because of North Korean smuggling the United States expanded its maritime smuggling and sanctions enforcement program in 2018, when a new multi-national ECC (Enforcement Coordination Cell) was created. Initial members were the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain, France, South Korea, and Japan. The ECC is enforcing the UN sanctions approved at the end of 2017 to curb North Korean smuggling related to items needed for their nuclear and ballistic missile programs. In addition, the ECC allowed member nations to also enforce whatever other sanctions or naval missions their government put a priority on. The U.S. has since invited India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines to join and assist with monitoring growing Chinese violation of offshore water rights, especially in the South China Sea and other areas of the West Pacific. The ECC concentrates on the 2,000-kilometer-long shipping lane from the Indian ocean, through the Malacca Strait, the South China Sea to North Korea. Along this route there are not only North Korean flagged ships participating in smuggling, but even more Chinese, Taiwanese, Liberian, Sri Lankan, and ships that are independent and fly whatever flag they believe will keep them from getting seized for smuggling. Earlier U.S. efforts had already identified many North Korean and Iranian owned tankers and cargo ships that were often engaged in smuggling. This led Iran and North Korea to use their own ships less and willing foreign ships instead. These third-party ships are the ones the ECC sought to identify. These ships can be identified, along with their owners and the owners can have banking and other sanctions placed on them. Many nations not part of the ECC, but economic partners with ECC members will cooperate if a smuggler ship visits one of their ports. At that point the captain can be arrested and the ship impounded. The ECC member warships do not depend on inspecting suspicious ships while at sea, but confirming who is where and when. This is especially useful for spotting smugglers who often turn off their location beacons, and running dark. These location beacons transmit current ID and location to any nearby ships and often, via satellite, to their owner and international shipping organizations. The location data, past and current, can be found on several public websites. The beacons exist mainly as a safety measure for ships operating at night or in bad weather in heavily used shipping lanes. Smugglers have learned how to turn off their beacons near a port where, it is assumed, they have docked or anchored off the coast waiting for an available dock. Some smugglers are using spoofing, a form of jamming that just modifies the beacon signal to present a false location. This is where warships and maritime aircraft come in as these can identify ships visually or using radar followed by visual inspection. This is more damaging to the smugglers because it provides more evidence that their ship was involved in smuggling and with enough evidence you can go after the ship owners and seize the ship whenever it enters coastal (within 22 kilometers of land) waters belonging to a nation that will seize outlaw ships. The ECC is based on the success of Task Force 150, which came to involve twenty nations contributing ships and aircraft to deal with the Somali piracy problem. By 2012 the problem was under control but the threat and a smaller Task Force remains. As the Somali piracy problem was fading under Task Force 150 pressure, the U.S. organized another ECC to monitor and disrupt North Korea and Iran smuggling operations. This was done with the aid of the Five Eyes, a post-World War II intel cooperation group consisting of the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Five Eyes intel agencies shared an unprecedented amount of intelligence on foreign threats during the Cold War and continued doing so after the Cold War ended in 1991. As international Islamic terrorism began to increase during the 1990s and especially after 2001, the Five Eyes continued to provide the member nations with much more useful intel than any of them could gather themselves. This became particularly useful as Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and adjacent seas escalated after 2012, as the size of the Chinese navy and threats it posed to most of the Five Eyes members as well as other allies like Japan and South Korea. This encouraged many nations to join or consider joining the new ECC as well as earlier counter-terrorism efforts. The ECC is allowed to detain, board, and seize suspected smuggler ships that prove to be smuggling. There is no standard ROE (Rules of Engagement) for this and each ECC member can apply their own ROE. The U.S., for example, has an ROE that does not allow it to block the movement of North Korean ships or use force to board a ship whose crew opposes it. Currently the U.S. provides most of the warships assigned to the ECC, as well as one of the U.S. Navy Command Ships; the USS Blue Ridge. These command ships are literally dedicated fleet command ships which carry a large array of communications gear as well as accommodations and work space for nearly 300 command staff. The Blue Ridge now has about fifty officers and specialists from other ECC member nations on board. The main work of the Blue Ridge is to collect all the information ECC member nation warships and aircraft are collecting, and quickly analyze it, and report to ships of the ECC any important new findings as well as sending data to agencies ashore that handle further investigation and eventually sanctions or seizure of the ship. The American multinational command staff on the Blue Ridge also builds cooperation and improves coordination between the navies involved. This has turned out to be extremely valuable, as was similar international participation in Task Force 150. While China is not participating in the ECC, it is encountering and communicating with ECC ships, as it did when Chinese ships served (and still serve) in Task Force 150. ORANGE, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) will participate in the AGA Financial Forum beginning on Sunday, May 21, 2023. Investors and other interested parties can access a copy of the presentation materials on the Investors section of AVANGRIDs website at http://www.avangrid.com. About AVANGRID: AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $41 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, AVANGRID has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, AVANGRID owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, AVANGRID owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. AVANGRID employs more than 7,500 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022 and 2023 as one of the JUST 100 companies a ranking of Americas best corporate citizens. In 2023, AVANGRID ranked first within the utility sector for its commitment to the environment. The company supports the U.N.s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the Worlds Most Ethical Companies in 2023 for the fifth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. AVANGRID is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230519005299/en/ Analysts: Alvaro Ortega, [email protected], 207-629-7412 Source: AVANGRID, Inc. Revered by Muslims, Christians and Jews, this beautiful city is holy and cursed, drowned in blood yet still magnificent. Last year, the Arab ministers of information designated 26 September as Jerusalem Day. Rashid Khalidi* unravels modern myths and ancient passions in his search to locate the united heart of this torn and worshiped place From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998* Issue: 1 October 1998 The idea that Jerusalem constitutes the exclusive property of one party, which has privileged rights there, is an old one. In ancient times, and many, many other times during its more than 40 centuries of history, Jerusalem has been conquered, and then treated as if it belonged to the conqueror alone. Each time, of course, the arguments used to justify such behaviour went far beyond the simple conqueror's claim that might-makes-right. Most frequently, religious justifications were utilised to give a patina of legitimacy to such appropriations, and to the attendant dispossessions which went with them. Quite often, such forcible takeovers were accompanied by wholesale slaughter, while at other times, the indigenous population was expelled or subjugated by that of the conqueror. While somewhat barbaric, at least this old-fashioned approach had the merit of simplicity. The spirit in which old-time conquerors approached this matter was generally refreshingly straight-forward: "Jerusalem used to belong to them, we took it because of divine favour, and now it is ours to do with exactly as we please." The religious arguments in which this argument from brute force was usually clothed in fact generally mattered far less than the brute force involved, which was the nub of the matter. Thus, while there was a fair share of hypocrisy and cant in the old approach, it generally relied in essence on the sword, sometimes quite unashamedly. I mention this ancient history not because I plan to focus on tales of Jebusites and Israelites, but rather because we are constantly told that there are special, privileged and exclusive Israeli claims to Jerusalem today because of the ancient attachment to it of the Jewish religious tradition. This is an argument which carries enormous force, since followers of all three of the monotheistic faiths which grew out of the Abrahamic heritage revere this tradition, both in general and as it applies to Jerusalem. But in fact, the ancient, enduring and indisputable attachment to Jerusalem of the Jewish religious tradition is today exploited to cloak what is at base no more than the old, brutal legitimation-by-conquest approach. We must remember that what is being argued by those who do this is NOT that this ancient and enduring religious attachment justifies a modern religious attachment, or freedom of worship for Jews in Jerusalem today. What is being claimed is that this attachment takes precedence over all others, and that it is more ancient, more sacred, and more important than whatever others may feel for the Holy City. This in turn is used to justify exclusive Israeli sovereignty and control over the entire city today, both its Jewish and Arab sectors, and including its Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy places. What is at work here is particularly insidious because it is so subtle. Since no believing Christian or Muslim could possibly deny the Jewish affiliation to Jerusalem without denying a central tenet of his or her faith, this indisputable Jewish religious connection is employed to serve two purposes. The first is to make plausible a seamless continuity between the enduring centuries-old spiritual yearning for Jerusalem among Jews the world over, and the secular political purposes and rapacious nationalist ambitions in today's Jerusalem of the modern nation-state of Israel. The second is to delegitimise the political claims of others by projecting a relatively recent political connection with Jerusalem three thousand years back in time. Thus, it is argued, while Christians of Muslims can claim two thousand or one thousand four hundred years of continuous attachment to Jerusalem respectively (and indeed the continuous nature and the intensity of these attachments are sometimes called into doubt), Jews can claim three thousand. Then -- and note the sophisticated bait and switch technique which operates here -- it is first claimed that this ancient Jewish religious attachment is in fact nothing other than an early variant of modern-day ntionalism; it is then assumed that David and Solomon were nothing other than very early prime ministers of a very early state of Israel; it is thereupon assumed that the sources whereby we know what we know of Jerusalem in the time of David and Solomon are genuine historical sources rather than accounts of religious traditions, myths and beliefs compiled over 500 years after their time; all of this is then tarted up with the results of generations of biblical and nationalistically driven archaeology which has taken these historically questionable biblical texts as its underground road-map; next, a couple of thousand years of intervening history are conveniently forgotten; and, voila, we have the modern myth whereby the only legitimate claim to Jerusalem is that of the modern Israeli nation-state. All of this serves to obscure a very important fact: this is that the ancient Jewish connection with Jerusalem has profound meaning for both Christians and Muslims. For Christians and Muslims, this connection has been fully incorporated into their central religious narratives in such a way that to argue, as some do, for the exclusivity of these attachments is in fact to misunderstand the beliefs of others. Thus in the Christian Bible, the Old Testament is an integral part of the Scriptural under girding of faith -- and it is thus not just the Passion of Jesus which causes Christians to venerate Jerusalem, but also the traditions and beliefs which Christians share with Jews about the city. Similarly, Muslims believe in the Jewish connection with Jerusalem as an integral part of God's messages to mankind; they see the biblical prophets, without exception, as among their prophets and venerate them all, notably David and Solomon, and it is not simply the night journey of the Prophet Muhammad to Jerusalem described in Sura 17 of the Quran which causes them to venerate the city. What is at issue therefore is not the Jewish claim to Jerusalem: that claim is in fact endorsed and upheld by all believers in the Abrahamic tradition; it is rather the exclusivity of that claim, and its present utilisation for political purposes. all of this leads directly to the crucial matter at issue, which is that just as modern Israeli nationalism has been constructed in part through a reweaving in nationalist political terms of Biblical and other narratives, so has modern Palestinian nationalism been constructed in part on the basis of these same Biblical, and related Quranic narratives. What is at issue is not refutation or advocacy of any of these nationalist claims. Nationalism after all is a matter of belief, and sometimes quite irrational belief. As the historian Eric Hobsbawm puts it, "No serious historian of nations and nationalism can be a committed political nationalist... nationalism requires too much belief in what is patently untrue." Rather, what we should be trying to do, if we are serious about looking for a solution for Jerusalem, is to avoid denigrating the claims of others. We must recognise that these claims, both the national claims, and the religious ones on which they are in part based, exist, and have a power which cannot be denied. Put more bluntly, we can not tell others what they believe, or what they should believe. We must recognise further that these claims must be reconciled in some fashion if there is ever to be a resolution of the conflict which has Jerusalem as its core. This conflict simply cannot be resolved on a basis of might-makes-right, nor can it be done by attempting to privilege one of two national claims, or one religious tradition among three, or one archaeological stratum in a city which has at least 21 known major strata. It simply will not do to pretend that Jerusalem has three thousand years of history -- back to the time of King David in other words -- when in fact the archaeologists agree that it has been in existence for well over four thousand years. Similarly, it will not do to ignore, and indeed to actually undermine, the Arab-Muslim structures which make up the physical fabric of the Old City of Jerusalem in an obsessive search for the remains of structures from 2000 or 3000 years ago. If the conflict is to be resolved, those who search for a real solution in Jerusalem will have to find a formula for sharing this holy city in ways which give real empowerment and the full exercise of political rights to all of those who live there or look to Jerusalem as their capital, without infringing on the rights of others. This formula at the same time will have to give all believers in the faiths of the Abrahamic tradition a sense that they are free to worship without coercion, and are not doing so on sufferance. This is a tall order, and it will not be easy to do, but it is not impossible. It can be done without redividing Jerusalem. But those who do it must take also into account the cold hard fact that all the windy rhetoric about "reunification" notwithstanding, this city includes two national communities which have been in conflict with one another for over five generations now, and that one has subjugated the other. For this reason they are rigidly segregated from one another in virtually every significant aspect of their existence, and are likely to continue in this fashion for at least some time into the future. What is crucial, however, is that the veil of cant and deceit which envelops discussion of this question, especially in the United States and Israel, be lifted: the fact is that asserting the primacy of one religious tradition in effect demeans the others; the fact is tat asserting the absolute primacy of one nationality in practice means the subjugation of the other. This is not to say that believing Jews or Christians or Muslims should not regard their affiliation with Jerusalem as special, unique an distinct; each group will naturally and necessarily do so. It is rather the assertion that their affiliation gives them the right to primacy in the here and now which is dangerous. Similarly, no one could expect either Palestinians or Israelis to cease to regard Jerusalem as the supreme focus of their national aspirations. They will continue to do so whatever we do. Rather, these aspirations have to be realised in such a way that their realisation does not prevent the realisation of the legitimate aspirations of others. Like religion, nationalism can be an uncompromising and elemental force which is singularly unamenable to such reasoned arguments. It is the task of those who seek a mutually acceptable resolution of the conflict over Jerusalem to resist these uncompromising and elemental tendencies in religion and nationalism, and to challenge the exclusivist political claims which they engender. What this means on one side is to resist a new exclusivism regarding Jerusalem which is associated with some voices in the Islamic, Arab and Palestinian communities. Important though these voices are, they probably represent a minority, whether in Palestine or in the Arab-American community, where a majority seems committed to some form of sharing in Jerusalem. What this means on the other side is far more difficult. For it involves a willingness to stand up to an apparent consensus calling for exclusive Israeli control over Jerusalem. This consensus is not in fact as monolithic as it may seem, but it is intimidating and even terrifying to some who would defy it, whether in the US Congress, or in the Christian and Jewish communities in North America and Europe. Indeed the only reason that the partisans of this exclusivist approach to Jerusalem can claim tha they represent a consensus is that this issue has not yet been openly debated. If this issue involved in a resolution of the dispute over Jerusalem were dispassionately laid before most people, Muslims, Christians or Jews, it might be easier than many expect to arrive at a consensus for a shared rather than an exclusivist solution. It is imperative that we arrive at such a consensus, for an exclusivist solution -- whatever the religious or other justification in which it might be dressed up -- is at bottom based on the bayonet and the barbaric argument that might-makes-right, and cannot possibly lead to peace or justice. I will not dwell on how important a just resolution of the issue of Jerusalem is to the achievement of an overall Middle East peace settlement. Of course, there is the possibility that I am being wildly naive in saying all of this. Perhaps we have not progressed since the days of the Jebusites. Perhaps mankind has not reached a stage where the idea of sharing can prevail. I prefer to take a somewhat more optimistic view, and to believe that we have progressed past the era of the caveman, and of our warlike ancestors and others who have fought over Jerusalem for centuries, in doing so sometimes wading in the blood of their opponents, and sometimes operating less dramatically with legal writs and bulldozers. If I am right, and if a compromise solution is possible, it will be one which, while it respects the three different religious traditions which give Jerusalem its sanctity, and the two national claims which today envelop it, will privilege none of them, but will rather enable all to share jointly in the wonders of this magnificent, beautiful, great, holy and cursed city, Jerusalem. * The writer is professor of history at the University of Chicago. The above article appeared in a special issue of Jusoor: The Arab American Journal of of Cultural Exchange entitled The Open Veins of Jerusalem, Maryland, 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. Search Keywords: Short link: New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - May 20, 2023) - In a remarkable development, JLT.VIP, a leading foreign exchange trading platform, has achieved extraordinary success in the European and American markets, establishing a strong foothold and experiencing a rapid surge in user growth. The platform's exceptional performance in these regions has solidified its position as a dominant player in the global foreign exchange market. 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The Barking Lounge has announced their mobile pet grooming service for dog owners in Miami-Dade, Broward, and the surrounding areas. Offering a variety of pet grooming and luxury spa treatment options for dogs, The Barking Lounges latest services are available to residents throughout Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Their service areas are Miami, Kendall, Doral, Brickell, Aventura, and Pinecrest, among others, and customers can also contact the company for special arrangements should they happen to live outside the aforementioned municipalities. For more information, please visit https://www.thebarkingloungespa.com/ The announcement highlights the importance of regular grooming, which promotes ventilation and healthy blood circulation, and also removes loose or damaged hair follicles caused by molting. Failing to attend to a dogs coat may cause its fur to mat, which can lead to the development of various skin problems such as irritation, grease buildup, sores, and infections. 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We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 8 hours. BEIJING , May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese archaeology has created a golden age over the past 10 years. Chinese archaeologists have expanded their research horizons and promoted Chinese archaeology around the world. More than 30 archaeological teams from China have carried out archaeological research in more than 20 countries, which has greatly expanded the international vision and enhanced the international influence of Chinese archaeology. The China -proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has made this international cooperation a common practice between China and other countries. In this series, the Global Times will explore how China's archaeological teams have helped preserve and carry out research together with other countries, as well as promoted mutual communication and exchanges among different civilizations. Two-thousand years ago, the sound of camel bells accompanied the footsteps of the Western Han Dynasty's (206BC-AD25) imperial emissary Zhang Qian , who once established friendly exchanges between ancient China and its neighbor in Central Asia - Dayuan, which was located in today's Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan . In June 2023 , archaeologists from the two countries are set to gather together again to share ideas and explore the history of the ancient Silk Road at the famed Mingtepa site in Uzbekistan . The year marks the 10th anniversary of the BRI. It is also the 11th year since China and Uzbekistan launched the joint archaeology project at the Mingtepa site. Liu Tao , an archaeologist from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Chinese executive leader of the China - Uzbekistan joint archaeological team, told the Global Times that the three-year COVID-19 pandemic temporarily suspended the project and that cooperation is scheduled to restart in June. This time, the two sides will focus on the collection of archaeological data at the site over the past 10 years, as well as discuss the excavation and field investigations for some new projects. Historical connection The Mingtepa site is the nearest ancient city site in Uzbekistan to China . Given the honorable title of "The Living Fossil of the Silk Road ," the site, rich in relics, is an important geographical location as it was an important node along the ancient Silk Road . The history and culture of this region was recorded in ancient Chinese literature during the Qin and Han dynasties (221BC-AD220). After Zhang Qian embarked on his journey west, alfalfa and grapes from Dayuan, the first station on Zhang's route, were introduced to China , while Chinese silk and paper, and advanced well-drilling, iron smelting and sericulture technologies were gradually spread to Europe through Dayuan and other Central Asian countries, which had a profound impact on the exchange and integration of Eastern and Western civilization. Is the Mingtepa site the "Ershi City" recorded in Chinese history books such as Records of the Grand Historian and Book of Han? What connections did it have with China along the ancient Silk Road ? The connections of history and unveiled mysteries have provided motivation for this joint archaeology project between the two countries. In 2012, the Chinese members of the China - Uzbekistan joint archaeological team, which was the first Chinese national-level archaeological team to go abroad, departed to Uzbekistan. Since then, archaeologists from the two countries have conducted eight archaeological excavations at the ancient site and achieved significant and fruitful discoveries. According to Liu, the most interesting part is the discovery of the outer city. The inner city of ancient Mingtepa covers only about 0.5 square kilometers, while the newly discovered walled outer city is 1,300 meters from east to west and 2,100 meters from north to south covering a total area of 2.7 square kilometers. The inner city and the outer city formed a double city system. Archaeologists discovered a large complex of city walls, gates, streets, remains of handicraft workshops and tombs at the site. These discoveries not only give a better idea of the scale of the ancient city, but also confirm that it was the largest city in the Fergana Valley in ancient times. "These discoveries show that the Mingtepa site was highly likely the capital city of Dayuan," Liu said. Strengthening cultural exchanges According to Liu, the excavation is handled with joint team formations and fragmentation responsibility. The two sides first select different excavation points according to their respective working ideas, concepts and methods, and started their work separately. At the same time, the archaeological teams fully expound their views with a friendly attitude of mutual respect and mutual learning. Liu said that techniques and technologies used in China have also inspired Uzbek archaeologists, who have highly praised the project. So far, the project is the largest-scale excavation ever done at the Mingtepa site. Currently, more than 30 international archaeological teams from more than 10 countries are working in Uzbekistan . Among them, the cooperation between Chinese and Ukrainian scholars is the only international cooperation project carried out in the basin. "The joint project at the Mingtepa site is a successful example of Chinese archaeology on the world stage. The international joint archaeology project is a significant part of cultural exchanges under the BRI," said Liu, adding that continued cooperation will further deepen the relationship between China and Uzbekistan . View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-times-joint-archaeology-project-writes-new-chapter-of-china-uzbekistan-friendship-301830275.html SOURCE Global Times XI'AN, China , May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As Central Asian leaders arrive in Xi'an , capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province , to attend the China-Central Asia Summit with President Xi Jinping , the city shines ever brighter as the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and at the center of contemporary Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation. With the opening of flights between Xi'an and Dushanbe , capital of Tajikistan , on Thursday, Xi'an has direct flights to all five Central Asian countries. There is no coincidence for the selection of Xi'an as the host city of the China-Central Asia Summit. Opening a world map, the Eurasian Steppe gives rise to one of the world's most famous and oldest trade routes: The Silk Road . "For a long time, it was commonly recognized that the Western capital of the world was the city of Rome, Italy , and the Eastern capital of the world was the city of Chang'an, now Xi'an ," Xi'an -based Silk Road historian-writer Gao Jianqun told the Global Times. The latter city, once the capital of China's Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the starting point of the Silk Road , had been a meeting place of different cultures, art styles and literature from across the known world thanks to its historic role as a trade hub, where people from the West and people from the East settled and communicated over 1,000 years ago. Today, the BRI connects Asia with Europe and beyond along the trade routes of the ancient Silk Road , a UNESCO World Heritage. Xi'an had its prime days during the Han and Tang dynasties. Today the city is grasping the opportunity in a pivotal role in the BRI to recreate its past glorious prosperity and beyond, conducting economic exchanges with BRI countries and hosting a string of cross-national activities. This past April, the general assembly of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage was held in Xi'an . The assembly released the Xi'an Declaration, a conclusive document that aims to provide solutions for worldwide cultural heritage protection from the perspective of Asian countries. Following that, the city entered the world spotlight again by hosting the China-Central Asia Summit, a major diplomatic event hosted by China in 2023. "It is once again showing its status as an important node city for external exchanges, both past and present," said Sun Haoqi, a Xi'an -based cultural expert. This is not the first "Xi'an Declaration" issued for external exchanges. As early as 2013, in accordance with the Silk Road Economic Belt, Xi'an signed an agreement for joint development with a dozen cities along the traditional Silk Road for exchanges in the fields of culture, tourism, education, science and technology. The agreement became known as the Xi'an Declaration. Center of cultural exchanges Care should be taken whenever construction takes place in Xi'an . As an ancient capital of 13 dynasties, this city has numerous cultural relics buried underground, Sun noted. In the city, there are traces everywhere of its role as a cosmopolitan metropolis where merchants who followed the Silk Road gathered for trade. In the densely populated main urban area and suburbs of Xi'an , a total area of around 827 square kilometers, archaeological ruins are scattered here and there, including the well-known Epang Palace Ruins and Daming Palace Ruins . Many ruins are still being excavated. Over the last few decades, a constant stream of new discoveries painted a picture of the diverse ancient society of Xi'an , known in ancient times as Chang'an. For example, on archaeological site a kilometer away from the Xi'an Ancient City Wall, experts recently discovered a number of cultural relics that show a distinctive Buddhist art style. "Many of those Buddha statues we found were covered in colorful paint, while some pottery Buddha statues were also decorated with gold paste. These art styles and craftsmanship clearly came from the Tang Dynasty," Han Jianhua , an archaeologist working at the site, told a local Xi'an news outlet. Ancient records show that there used to be a Buddhist temple nearby, which has led researchers to theorize that the two sites were connected, Han added. In addition, relics such as storage rooms and water wells were found at the site, and objects with Western cultural elements were also unearthed, as experts believed that they showed the rich and diverse social life. Above the ground, majestic places of interest and historical sites show traces of the collision of ideas and cultures over the millennia. Buddhist scriptures currently stored in various temples bear witness to the spread of religion and ideas, as they later spread to the Central Plains and Southeast China with Xi'an as a transit hub. The Dayan Pagoda, or the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, located in the urban center, is a symbol of Xi'an . It is the most direct example of the cultural blending that took place in this capital city. "After China's cultural envoy Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) and established the Silk Road as an official trade channel, the eminent Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang traveled to India in the year 629 to obtain Buddhist scriptures. He brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures to China ," noted Gao. The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions that he later composed became an important study material for future generations to learn about the history and geography of China and Central Asia . In order to protect the Buddhist scriptures and Buddha statues brought from India , the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was built in the west courtyard of the Daci'en Temple, which has now become a must-see attraction for tourists. Building platforms The BRI, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road , has replaced the traditional camel caravans with modern freight trains that have facilitated trade between China and Central Asian countries. "As the starting point of foreign exchanges, the city of Xi'an connects BRI countries with China's interior," said culture expert Yang Yong . Shaanxi provincial government data shows that in 2022 alone, the province brought 174 cultural and tourism events overseas including dance dramas in Paris , acrobatic performances about Chang'an and exhibitions of the Terracotta Warriors and Terracotta Horses in Japan . To better put "culture first" into practice, Xi'an has established organizations such as the Shaanxi Silk Road Cultural Exchange Center to help boost communications in art, film, education and Traditional Chinese Medicine. "We're a platform to assist this practice," the center's correspondent Ji Wenbo told the Global Times. According to the center, it has cooperated with multiple countries including Bulgaria , Brazil and Turkey in art exchanges since the center's establishment in 2016. As the frontier representative of Xi'an and cultural ambassador to Central Asia , "we still need to find ways to highlight Xi'an's characteristics during these activities," Xu Chun , current vice-chairman and secretary-general of the Turkish Chamber of Commerce in China , told the Global Times. Over the past several years, many activities under the BRI have been conducted including a Turkish Art Festival . While art and education have been the main focuses, "we have also brought Shaanxi's distinctive waist drums and traditional Chinese calligraphy and paintings overseas," Xu added. Shining ever brighter Since the General Assembly of Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia was held in Xi'an in April, a splendid show was held at the Yongning Gate of the ancient Xi'an City Wall. Guests from more than 20 countries attended the special occasion. After the drawbridge of the Yongning Gate slowly dropped, "Golden Armored Warriors" stepped across the bridge and welcomed the distinguished guests from afar with the highest etiquette of the Tang Dynasty. The state-level show, Tang Dynasty Grand Welcoming Ceremony, has become a name card for Xi'an . Xi'an continues to revive the grandness of the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty, presenting its uniqueness in surprising ways for international guests and tourists. Making the most of social media, the city has become a leading attraction in China . "Reviving the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty is one of the most popular forms of cultural presentation in the city. Sometimes you can spot international tourists wearing traditional Chinese clothes, such as hanfu, while walking around pedestrian streets," an employee at the Datang Everbright City scenic area, which presents the charm of the Tang Dynasty urban life, told the Global Times. Here, at the intersection of ancient and modern times, the electronic billboards stand tall to welcome the arrival of international guests from around the continents for business, friendship and co-prosperity. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-times-xian-brings-silk-road-glory-into-bri-cooperation-as-host-of-china-central-asia-summit-301830271.html SOURCE Global Times https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202305/1290984.shtml BEIJING , May 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Xi'an , the starting point of the ancient Silk Road , is about to witness the ancient route shine with new vitality as the high-level China-Central Asia Summit is being held from Thursday to Friday. The national flags of China and five Central Asian countries are being flown alongside the airport highway in intervals, and banners saying "build a closer China - Central Asia community with a shared future" in both Chinese and Russian, can be seen at overpasses in the city. The summit is the first major diplomatic event to be hosted by China this year, and also the first summit to be held offline by the heads of state of China and the five Central Asian countries in attendance since the establishment of diplomatic ties 31 years ago. The presidents of five Central Asian countries have all arrived in Xi'an , Northwest China's Shaanxi Province , to attend the summit. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev , Tajik President Emomali Rahmon , and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov arrived on Wednesday. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov arrived on Thursday. At the summit, President Xi Jinping is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech, expounding on China's stance on how to construct a China - Central Asia community of shared future, while eyeing long-term development for cooperation between the six countries, putting forward a series of propositions, and announcing multiple pragmatic measures and actions, Chinese officials revealed at a Tuesday conference. Over the last decade, President Xi has maintained close interactions with leaders from Central Asian countries, and such frequent connections has enhanced mutual trust between China and the five countries, upgraded cooperation, and led to a deeper, more pragmatic cooperation between China and said countries, said experts. They hailed that the summit will not only witness China and Central Asian cooperation making new breakthroughs, and ushering in a new chapter of bilateral ties among the six countries, but will also demonstrate the closeness of relations between China and those Central Asian countries, which pivot around win-win results, mutual respect, and trust, and set a model for international relations amid a complicated international atmosphere. New cooperation opportunities China shares a special bond with Central Asian countries. For his first foreign trip since the COVID-19 pandemic, President Xi paid a state visit to Uzbekistan in September 2022 and attended the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Moreover, this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative proposed by Xi during his visit to Kazakhstan in 2013. In September 2013 , during President Xi's visit to Kazakhstan , he delivered a speech of far-reaching significance at Nazarbayev University. In his address, Xi took his audience back to over 2,100 years ago when a Chinese envoy was sent to Central Asia on a mission of peace and friendship and opened a Silk Road that would then take Chinese silk, tea, and porcelain to other parts of the world and brought back spices, glassware, furs, fruits, and precious stones. Xi's speech drew inspiration from the successful trade routes of the ancient Silk Road and proposed the idea of building an "economic belt along the Silk Road ." A month later, in Indonesia , Xi proposed the building of a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road , which, combined with the economic belt proposal, eventually became the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As part of the BRI, several transnational roads, railways, and oil and gas pipelines have been constructed. During meetings with his Central Asian counterparts, Xi frequently highlighted the progress and future plans for BRI projects. During Xi's visit to Central Asia in September 2022 , a cooperation agreement was signed on the Kyrgyz section of the China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan railway, bringing this much-anticipated infrastructure project closer to fruition. More than 20 bilateral and multilateral activities will be held during the two-day summit. At the summit, leaders will exchange their views on the establishment of mechanisms, cooperation, and international and regional issues of respective concern. The leaders of the six countries are expected to sign a slew of important political documents in areas such as the economy, trade, and connectivity, Yu Jun , deputy director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of European-Central Asian Affairs, said at a Tuesday press briefing. " Central Asia's strategic importance has become more prominent as China has upped the construction of the BRI, and these countries are playing an increasingly important role in China's diplomatic strategy. Moreover, Central Asian countries are eager to cooperate with China to boost their long-term development," Li Yongquan , director of the Eurasian Social Development Research at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times, noting that this summit will witness cooperation between China and Central Asian countries make new breakthroughs. Shavkat Alimbekov, leading researcher at the International Institute for Central Asia - an organization established in Uzbekistan , told the Global Times that the China-Central Asia Summit will give new impetus to the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road. "One of the key aspects of this cooperation is the development of the 'Green Silk Road,' that is, the use of green development technologies, innovative solutions, and advanced technologies to achieve environmental efficiency and sustainability," said Alimbekov. China has been the largest or main trading partner of Central Asian countries for many years. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Central Asian countries stood at over $70 billion , according to the Xinhua News Agency. Good-neighborly friendship Speaking at the virtual summit to commentate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relation between China and Central Asian countries, Xi said that we have established strategic partnerships, and deepened political trust and mutually beneficial cooperation, blazing a new trail of good-neighborly friendship and win-win cooperation, and setting a good example of fostering a new type of international relations. During the speech in Kazakhstan in 2012, Xi said China respects the development path as well as the domestic and foreign policies Central Asian people have independently chosen for themselves. China will never intervene in the internal affairs of Central Asian countries, seek leadership in regional affairs, or operate a sphere of influence. China's cooperation with Central Asia does not target any third party and the China - Central Asia cooperation mechanism does not aim to compete with other mechanisms, said Yu. China supports anything that is truly beneficial for the region's development, and helps the common prosperity of the region, Yu noted. When meeting with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Xi'an in April, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu said that the strategic partnership with China remains one of the priorities of Kazakhstan's foreign policy. Nurtleu highlighted the need for joint efforts to implement the agreements reached at the highest level to expand multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, particularly in trade and investment, the Astana Times reported. Yang Jin , an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that previous cooperation between China and Central Asian countries was either bilateral; or under multilateral frameworks, such as the SCO. "Those forms of cooperation are based on win-win results and mutual trust, and are highly recognized by Central Asian countries. Thus this summit has come at a key juncture when China's ties with those countries are set to be elevated to a new high," said Yang. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-times-xis-footprints-in-central-asian-countries-consolidate-ties-vitalize-silk-road-301830254.html SOURCE Global Times Late-breaking data at Heart Rhythm 2023 underscore performance of first-of-its-kind investigational defibrillator with the lead placed under the breastbone, outside the heart and veins Additionally, real-world analysis confirms long-term therapeutic benefit of commercially available ICDs DUBLIN and NEW ORLEANS , May 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT), a global leader in healthcare technology, announced longer-term follow-up results of its investigational EV ICD System, designed to treat dangerously fast heart rhythms that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Findings from the Extravascular Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (EV ICD) Pivotal Study, including patients followed through an average of 17.1 months, were presented as late-breaking science at Heart Rhythm 2023 in New Orleans . The EV ICD system is investigational and not yet approved for sale or distribution in the United States . The Medtronic EV ICD system is a first-of-its-kind implantable defibrillator, designed to avoid certain risks of traditional, transvenous ICDs because its lead (thin wire) is placed outside the heart and veins, under the sternum (breastbone). The system offers anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP), pause prevention pacing, and a device similar in size, shape, and battery longevity to transvenous ICDs. Using a minimally invasive approach, the device is implanted below the left armpit (in the left mid-axillary region). "The findings from the EV ICD pivotal study confirm that this system provides the advantages of a device with the lead outside the heart, and continues to provide pause prevention pacing and anti-tachycardia pacing to avoid shocks with prolonged follow up," said Paul Friedman , M.D., cardiac electrophysiologist and chair of the Department of Cardiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. , and principal investigator of the Extravascular ICD pivotal study. "The EV ICD system is the first to include all of this functionality in a single extravascular device." Study Results: Effectiveness The study found that of the 299 implanted patients (average follow up 17.16.4 months), an estimated 6.8% (Kaplan-Meier estimate) of patients experienced appropriate therapy by 18 months, with 19 patients experiencing 80 spontaneous, appropriately treated arrhythmic episodes. Of discrete episodes treated with shock, 21/21 (100%) were successfully terminated. ATP successfully treated 35/52 episodes (67.3%). Shocks were avoided in nearly half of all spontaneous episodes because of the availability of ATP. These chronic data build on the EV ICD system's previously reported defibrillation effectiveness results at implant (98.7%).1 Study Results: Safety The rate of freedom from major EV ICD system-or procedure-related complications through 18 months was 91.9% (Kaplan-Meier estimate). The most common major complication was lead dislodgment (10 events in nine patients) identified 0 to 120 days post-implant, predominantly related to the lead-anchoring technique. Inappropriate shocks occurred in 35 patients through all follow-up, with a rate of 10.2% (Kaplan-Meier estimate) at one year. Medtronic previously reported exceeding its safety endpoint at six months.1 Also, during Heart Rhythm 2023, data were presented leveraging EV ICD pivotal study device-detected episodes, demonstrating the Medtronic proprietary algorithm designed to reduce the number of inappropriate shocks successfully withheld inappropriate therapy caused by P-wave oversensing, the most common cause of inappropriate shocks, without compromising appropriate therapy. The algorithm reduced inappropriate detection due to P-wave oversensing by 57%. Contemporary ICD Benefit: A Real-World Analysis ICDs are highly effective in providing life-saving therapy for patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest, an electrical problem with the heart stemming from a dangerously fast heart rate (ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation) yet are still underutilized. At Heart Rhythm 2023, Anne B. Curtis , M.D., presented findings from a new analysis of commercially available devices showing 45% of ICD patients receive appropriate therapy for ventricular tachyarrhythmias through seven years. "Within the medical community, referral for ICD therapy is being delayed in light of newer classes of heart failure medications, but this study shows that patients do receive needed therapy from their ICDs," said Dr. Curtis, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo. "This study gives physicians a contemporary view into the real-world impact of ICDs nationwide, underscoring the importance of indicated patients receiving these potentially life-saving devices." The analysis included real-world, de-identified data from the Medtronic CareLink Network from 2013 to 2022, assessing time-to-first therapy in a contemporary cohort of ICD patients. First-time ICD recipients (225,444 patients, of which 179,638 were primary prevention) implanted with a Medtronic Evera or Visia single- or dual-chamber ICD were included. The study assessed time-to-first shock, ATP therapy, and any therapy (shock or ATP) for all patients, and also by primary- and secondary-prevention indications. At seven years post-implant, the incidence of any appropriate therapy for all patients was 45%, and 43% for primary prevention patients (patients who have not previously experienced a life-threatening arrhythmia). "The expansive data on Medtronic ICDs presented at Heart Rhythm 2023 reinforce the impact these therapies have for patients at risk of life-threatening heart rhythms," said Alan Cheng, M.D., chief medical officer of the Cardiac Rhythm Management business, which is part of the Cardiovascular Portfolio at Medtronic. "Collectively, these findings demonstrate our unparalleled commitment to providing innovative solutions that improve patient experiences and outcomes even as medical care advances." About the EV ICD Pivotal Study The EV ICD Pivotal study is a prospective, multicenter, single-arm, non-randomized, pre-market clinical study that assessed the safety and effectiveness of the Medtronic EV ICD system for patients at risk of sudden cardiac death. It enrolled 356 patients at 46 sites in 17 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Medtronic has received CE (Conformite Europeenne) Mark for the Aurora EV ICD system, and has secured FDA approval to conduct a Continued Access Study while the agency reviews the company's related pre-market device application. About Medtronic Bold thinking. Bolder actions. We are Medtronic. Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland , is the leading global healthcare technology company that boldly attacks the most challenging health problems facing humanity by searching out and finding solutions. Our Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life unites a global team of 90,000+ passionate people across 150 countries. Our technologies and therapies treat 70 health conditions and include cardiac devices, surgical robotics, insulin pumps, surgical tools, patient monitoring systems, and more. Powered by our diverse knowledge, insatiable curiosity, and desire to help all those who need it, we deliver innovative technologies that transform the lives of two people every second, every hour, every day. Expect more from us as we empower insight-driven care, experiences that put people first, and better outcomes for all. In everything we do, we are engineering the extraordinary. For more information on Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), visit www.Medtronic.com and follow @Medtronic on Twitter and LinkedIn. Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic's periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results. 1 Friedman P, Murgatroyd F, Boersma LVA, et al. Efficacy and Safety of an Extravascular Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator. N Engl J Med 2022; 387:1292-1302. Contacts: Tracy McNulty Ryan Weispfenning Public Relations Investor Relations +1-763-526-2492 +1-763-505-4626 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/medtronic-extravascular-icd-global-clinical-trial-results-reinforce-device-safety-and-effectiveness-301830237.html SOURCE Medtronic plc The 2023 Military Foodservice Awards kick off a weekend of National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation events to celebrate top military and Sealift teams CHICAGO , May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Top dining and foodservice operations from the military and Military Sealift Command were recognized at the 2023 Military Foodservice Awards. In a ceremony that featured remarks by Medal of Honor recipient and retired Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Byers , Jr., award-winning units were lauded for their work to support America's Armed Forces both at home and overseas. Top dining and foodservice operations from the military were recognized at the 2023 Military Foodservice Awards. The dinner kicked off a weekend of celebratory events for winning teams in conjunction with Armed Forces Day part of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's (NRAEF) work to promote career opportunities for military, veterans, and their family members in the restaurant industry. Honorees spent the weekend immersed in the NRAEF's Advanced Management Training Program, where they learned about industry career pathways, the fundamentals of restaurant management and leadership, and developed their own restaurant concepts. The weekend also offered winners the chance to complete their Professional Certification through ServSuccess and interact with industry leaders and innovators at the National Restaurant Association Show. "These honorees represent the highest level of service to our country and the highest level of excellence in foodservice," said Michelle Korsmo , president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association and CEO of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. "We are proud of our long history of partnering to help service members improve their culinary and foodservice skills and pursue their dreams of a future in our industry. Their commitment to service is an inspiration to us all." "Restaurant and foodservice operations across the country need the skills, dedication, and commitment to excellence displayed by every one of this year's foodservice award winners," said Rob Gifford , president of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. "Our industry is one of endless opportunities and we are excited to open doors for military members to meaningful post-duty careers." This year's Military Foodservice Award winners were selected following a rigorous assessment process overseen by the NRAEF, which deploys teams of restaurant and foodservice industry professionals throughout the year to installations across the globe. Foodservice operations are assessed on several factors, including management effectiveness, force readiness support, food quality, employee and customer relations, resource conservation, and training and safety awareness. The NRAEF's 2023 Military Foodservice Awards were sponsored by Aramark, Areas, BJ's Restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings, Computrition, DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS National Accounts, Ecolab, Heroes Government Supply, HMSHost, Hobart, Hormel, McDonald's, Rich Products, Robert Irvine Foods, Society for Hospitality Foodservice Management Foundation, Sodexo, Sysco, and Whataburger. The following units were recognized as 2023 Military Foodservice Award winners: Winners of the Philip A. Connelly Awards, honoring the Army: Active Army Garrison : Group Support Battalion , 7 th Special Force Group (Airborne), Camp "Bull" Simons, Eglin Air Force Base : , 7 (Airborne), Camp "Bull" Simons, Active Army Field Kitchen : 221 st Quartermaster Company , 18 th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion , 16 th Sustainment Brigade , Grafenwoehr, Germany 221 , 18 , 16 , Grafenwoehr, Army Reserve Field Kitchen : Headquarters and Headquarters Company , 400 th Military Police Battalion , 333 rd Military Police Brigade , 200 th Military Police Command, Fort Meade, Maryland , 400 , 333 , 200 Military Police Command, Army National Guard Field Kitchen: Bravo Company , 1109th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group (TASMG), Pearl City, Hawaii Winners of the Major General W.P.T. Hill Memorial Awards, honoring the United States Marine Corps: Best Management and Mess Attendant Mess Hall: Marine Corps Installations Pacific, Mess Hall 2356, 12 th Marine Regiment , Okinawa, Japan Installations Pacific, Mess Hall 2356, 12 , Best Full Foodservice Mess Hall: Marine Corps Installations East, Mess Hall 4013, Marine Corps Air Station New River , North Carolina Installations East, Mess Hall 4013, , Best Active Field Mess : Marine Forces Pacific, III Marine Expeditionary Force , 3 rd Marine Logistics Group , Combat Logistics Regiment 37 , Okinawa, Japan Marine Forces Pacific, , 3 , , Best Reserve Field Mess : Marine Forces Reserves, 4th Marine Logistics Group , Combat Logistics Regiment 45 , Smyrna, Georgia Winners of the Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Awards, honoring the Navy: Aircraft Carrier Platform: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Submarine Platform: USS Maine (SSBN 741) USS Maine (SSBN 741) Small/Medium Platform: USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) Large Platform: USS Bataan (LHD 5) USS Bataan (LHD 5) West Coast : Joint Base Pearl Harbor , Silver Dolphin Bistro Hickham, Hawaii , Silver Dolphin Bistro Hickham, East Coast : Naval Station Newport Rhode Island , Ney Hall Galley Newport, Rhode Island , OCONUS: U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella , Italy , Ristorante Bella Etna Sigonella, Italy Winners of the Forrest O. Rednour Memorial Awards, honoring the United States Coast Guard: Dining Facility of the Year Base: Base San Juan San Juan, Puerto Rico Base Dining Facility of the Year Medium Afloat: USCGC Walnut Pensacola, Florida USCGC Walnut Dining Facility of the Year Large Afloat: CGC Bertolf Alameda, California CGC Bertolf Dining Facility of the Year Sector and SFO: Sector New York New York, New York Sector Dining Facility of the Year Training Center and Culinary Support Activity: Tracen Petaluma Petaluma, California Tracen Petaluma Dining Facility of the Year Small Afloat: USCGC Shrike USCGC Shrike Dining Facility of the Year Station: Station Burlington Burlington, Vermont Winners of the Captain David M. Cook Foodservice Excellence Awards, honoring the Military Sealift Command: Small Ship Category: USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51) USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51) Medium Ship Category: USNS Joshua Humphreys (T-AO 188) USNS (T-AO 188) Large Ship Category: USNS Richard E Byrd (T-AKE 4) USNS Richard E Byrd (T-AKE 4) Hybrid Ship Category: USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) Winners of the John L. Hennessy Awards, honoring the Air Force: Active Duty Foodservice Operations Region One: Incirlik Air Base , Turkey United States Air Forces in Europe , United States Air Forces in Active Duty Foodservice Operations Region Two: Yokota Air Base , Japan Pacific Air Forces Command , Pacific Air Forces Command Air Force Reserves Foodservice Operations: 512 Memorial Affairs Squadron , Dover Air Force Base, Delaware Air Force Reserve Command Winner of the Senior Master Sergeant Kenneth W. Disney Food Service Award, honoring the Air National Guard: 127th Wing, Selfridge, Michigan Air National Guard In addition to its annual Military Foodservice Awards, the NRAEF provides training through its quarterly Advanced Culinary Training Program (ACTP), connects transitioning military to apprenticeship opportunities, and provides scholarship opportunities to support military and veterans pursuing post-secondary education in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Visit ChooseRestaurants.org to learn more. About the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF): As the supporting philanthropic foundation of the National Restaurant Association, the NRAEF's charitable mission includes enhancing the industry's training and education, career development, and community engagement efforts. The NRAEF and its programs work to Attract, Empower, and Advance today's and tomorrow's restaurant and foodservice workforce. NRAEF programs include: ProStart a high-school career and technical education program; Restaurant Ready/HOPES Partnering with community based organizations to provide people with skills training and job opportunities; Military helping military servicemen and women transition their skills to restaurant and foodservice careers; Scholarships financial assistance for students pursuing restaurant, foodservice and hospitality degrees; and the Restaurant & Hospitality Leadership Center (RHLC) accredited apprenticeship programs designed to build the careers of service professionals. For more information on the NRAEF, visit ChooseRestaurants.org . Click here for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's 2022 Annual Impact Report. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/militarys-leading-foodservice-operations-recognized-for-the-crucial-role-they-play-in-promoting-force-readiness-301830279.html SOURCE National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference during the G7 Hiroshima Summit on May 21, 2023, Hiroshima, Japan. Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool via REUTERS TOKYO (Reuters) - Canada will support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary in its conflict with Russia, including the training of Ukrainian soldiers and possibly pilots, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday. Trudeau, who said he conveyed his backing to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the Group of Seven (G7) leaders' summit taking place in Hiroshima, told reporters at a news conference "we're always looking to do more" when it came to support for Ukraine. Trudeau and other leaders from the G7, which also includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Italy, this weekend sent a clear signal to Russia on their strong support for Ukraine in its conflict. When asked about training for the Ukrainian military, Trudeau said Canada would continue to train soldiers and that could potentially be extended to training pilots. President Joe Biden and senior U.S. officials told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. (Reporting by David Dolan; Editing by William Mallard and Christian Schmollinger) By Katya Golubkova HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - The cheap and cheerful savoury Japanese pancake that stirs both feelings of local pride and deep rivalry in the city of Hiroshima has found its newest fan in British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. During his visit for the three-day Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit in Hiroshima, Sunak sampled okonomiyaki, a heaped mound of batter, cabbage, noodles and often meat that is fried on a hot plate and then smothered with savoury sauce. Its name means "cooked as you like" and it is widely considered "soul food" in Japan. In some restaurants it is fried in front of the customers, in others the customers fry it themselves. It is also the subject of fierce regional rivalry, not unlike the debate over thin crust or Chicago-style deep dish pizza in the United States. In Hiroshima the ingredients are layered before cooking, but in Osaka they are mixed together first. Sunak, who tried okonomiyaki with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida - who represents Hiroshima in parliament - tried it Hiroshima style. Sunak told reporters he "particularly enjoyed" having the okonomiyaki during his visit. "Prime Minister Kishida pointed out to me how you do that how you do that here in Hiroshima is different to how they do that in Tokyo, different to Osaka," he said on the sidelines of the G7 summit. "He said the Hiroshima ones are the best. I have no reason to disagree. It has been delicious." Hiroshima, home to more than 1 million people, boasts some 800 Okonomiyaki restaurants. Ahead of the G7 summit some local restaurants rolled out special versions to cater to foreign tastes by including ingredients from the different G7 countries. There is one with German sauerkraut, and a maple syrup-infused Canadian version. The French option has cabbage, bean sprouts, bacon, cheese, sauce and a fried egg, all wrapped in a crepe. It was not clear if Sunak got to try the British version - which featured fish and chips - or if he even wanted to. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Hugh Lawson) THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Three Dutch nationals died when their light aircraft crashed in a mountainous region of northwestern Croatia, the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs said on Sunday. The crash happened at about noon local time on Saturday in a forest near the town of Ogulin, Croatian air investigators said, after a Dutch-registered aircraft disappeared from radar on a flight from Maribor in Slovenia to Pula on Croatia's Adriatic coast. Chief air inspector Danko Petrin told reporters that all the occupants of the plane were killed and the wreck of the aircraft had been damaged by fire. "We shall need DNA analysis because the accident location is such that we could not visually determine the exact number of people," Petrin said, adding that two people were registered as passengers along with the pilot. Dutch foreign ministry spokeswoman Felicia Bakker told Reuters that three Dutch nationals were killed in the crash. The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but an investigation had been launched, Croatian investigators said. The crash site is hard to reach, and according to the Dutch ministry is in an area known for potentially having landmines. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg and Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo, Editing by William Maclean) From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998* Issue: 22 January 1998 There were four prosperous and new Arab quarters largely built during the Mandate period (1918-1948): Upper and Lower Baqaa, Talbiya, and Qatamon. I recall that during my last weeks in the fall of 1947 I had to traverse three of the security zones instituted by the British to get to St. George's School from Talbiya; by December 1947 my parents, sisters, and I had left for Egypt. My aunt Nabiha and four of her five children stayed on but experienced grave difficulties. The area they lived in was made up of unprepared and unarmed Palestinian families; by February Talibya had been taken over by the Hagganah. Now as we drove around, looking for my family's house, I saw no Arabs, although the handsome old stone houses still bear their Arab identity. I remembered the house itself quite clearly: two stories, a terraced entrance, a balcony at the front, a palm tree and a large conifer as you climbed toward the front door, a spacious (and at the time) empty square, designated as a park, that lay before the room in which I was born, facing toward the King David and the YMCA. I do not recall street names from that time (there are none, it turns out) although Cousin Yousef (now in Canada) drew me a map from memory that he sent along with a copy of the title deed. Years before, I had heard that Martin Buber lived in the house for a time after 1948, but had died elsewhere. No one seemed to know what became of the house after the middle 1960s. Our guide for the trip was George Khodr, an elderly gentleman who had been a friend of my father's and an accountant for the family business, the Palestine Educational Company. I vividly recalled the main premises (comprising a wonderful bookshop at which Abba Eban had been a regular customer): These were built against the stretch of city wall running between the Jaffa and New gates. Edward Said with his sister Rosy in traditional Palestinian dress, Jerusalem, 1941. Source: Out of Place, 1999 All gone now, as we drove past the wall, and up the Mamila Road, then a bustling commercial centre, now a gigantic construction site where a Moshe Safdie settlement was being built. Khodr's family had also lived in Talbiya in a house he took us to so as to orient himself. Despite the Mediterranean foliage one might have been in an elegant Zurich suburb, so patently did Talbiya bespeak its new European personality. As we walked around, he called of the names of the villas and their original Palestinian owners - Kitaneh, Sununu, Tannous, David, Haramy, Salameh - a sad roll call of the vanished past, for Mariam a reminder of the Palestinian refugees with the very same names who fetched up in Beirut during the fifties and sixties. It took almost two hours to find the house, ad it is a tribute to my cousin's memory that only by sticking very literally to his map did we finally locate it. Earlier I was detained for half an hour by the oddly familiar contours of Mr. Shamir's unmistakably Arab villa, but abandoned that line of inquiry for the greater certainty of a home on Nahum Sokolow Street, 150 yards away. For there the house was, I suddenly knew, with its still impressive bulk commanding the sandy little square, now an elegant, very manicured park. The wedding photo of Edward Saids parents in Nazareth 1932. Source: Out of Place, 1999 My daughter later told me that, using her camera with manic excitement, I reeled off twenty-six photos of the place which, irony of ironies, bore the name plate "International Christian Embassy" at the gate. To have found my family's house now occupied not by an Israeli Jewish family, but by a right-wing Christian fundamentalist and militantly pro-Zionist group (run by a South African Boer, no less, and with a record of unsavory involvement with the Contras to boot), this was an abrupt blow for a child of Palestinian Christian parents. Anger and melancholy took me over, so that when an American woman came out of the house holding an armful of laundry and asked if she could help, all I could blurt out was an instinctive, "no thanks." The coincidence was too much for me at that point, suddenly vitalizing my family's history with this astonishing serene likeness of my young father as I really never knew him, and, as I thought back to the silent Talbiya house, with its lamentably foreclosed destiny now in "Christian" hands, that world seemed condemned to intermittent scraps and shards of memory and melancholy. I think I knew at that instant why I should have left politics and resigned from the PNC, as I did, in late 1991, and why I felt I had to return to Palestine just then. Wasn't it that the shocking medical diagnosis I received in September of a chronically insidious blood disease convinced me for the first time of a mortality I had ignored, and which I now needed to experience with my own family, at the source, so to speak, in Palestine? And then the reminder of other earlier histories starting and ending in Jerusalem seemed for me a fitting accompaniment to the ebbing of my life on the one hand, and, on the other, a concrete reminder that just as they had started and ended, I did and would too, but so too would my children, who could now see for the first time the linked narrative of our family's generations, where that story belonged but from which it had been banished. 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. Search Keywords: Short link: FILE PHOTO: F-16 aircrafts fly during a NATO media event at an airbase in Malbork, Poland, March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Lukasz Glowala/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) - Western countries will run "colossal risks" if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Saturday. Grushko was responding to a question about the implications of providing the jets, which Ukraine has been requesting from NATO countries. It has not yet won commitments for delivery of the planes, but U.S. President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, senior U.S. officials said. "We see that Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves colossal risks for themselves," Grushko was quoted as saying. "In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the goals we have set." Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Colonel Yuri Ignat told Espreso TV, "We will win this war" once Kyiv deploys F-16 fighters, since they could provide defensive cover in areas that were out of range of anti-aircraft missiles. "We need F-16s to become an integral part of our air defence. These fighters can engage aerial targets from both high and low altitudes," he said, adding that the jets can carry advanced weapons. "By utilising F-16s, our ground troops will be able to swiftly liberate occupied Ukrainian territories by targeting enemy command posts, military groups and logistics supply chains," he said. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and David Ljunggren, editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Cynthia Osterman) FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a joint press conference after their meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on May 7, 2023. Jung Yeon-je/Pool via REUTERS HIROSHIMA (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Sunday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's expression of compassion for those who suffered as forced labourers under Japan's colonial rule had resonated with many South Koreans. Yoon, meeting Kishida on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, praised his leadership in seeking to respond to global challenges in security and the economy. In Seoul earlier this month, Kishida said, "For me personally, my heart hurts when I think of the many people who endured terrible suffering and grief under the difficult circumstances of the time." Sunday's meeting was the third between the two this year, marking a thaw in years of icy relations between the Asian neighbours. South Korea announced in early March a plan for its companies to compensate victims of forced labour under Japan's 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean Peninsula. Before their meeting on Sunday, Yoon and Kishida visited the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park to pay their respects at a memorial for Koreans who died in the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan in 1945. "I feel that our visit was important for both Japan and South Korean relations, as well as for us to pray for world peace," Kishida told Yoon of the first visit to the memorial by the leaders of both countries together. The joint visit symbolises efforts by both leaders to face the painful past and heal from it, Yoon's spokesperson Lee Do-woon told a briefing. "It also means the two countries, along with their ally the U.S., will collectively respond to nuclear threats in the northeast Asia region and the world," Lee said. As many as 100,000 Koreans suffered in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, half of them dying that year. About 43,000 returned to South Korea and 2,000 went to the North, according to the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association. (Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Seoul and Sakura Murakami in Hiroshima; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Lisa Shumaker and William Mallard) By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will sign new strategic pacts with the Pacific island states of Palau and Micronesia early next week and hopes to do so with the Marshall islands in coming weeks, the U.S. presidential envoy negotiating the deals said. Joseph Yun told Reuters the Palau agreement would be formally signed in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. in Papua New Guinea on Monday, while the Micronesia pact would be signed on Tuesday in Micronesia. Yun initialed the agreements, part of U.S. efforts to shore up support among Pacific island states to counter competition from China, during visits to Micronesia and Palau in the past week. As anticipated, he was unable to conclude the deal with the Marshall Islands. "We have made progress over my three-day visit to Marshall Islands and we hope to sign an agreement with the Marshall Islands in the coming weeks," he said. Washington first reached what are known as Compact of Free Association (COFA) accords with the three island states in the 1980s, under which it retains responsibility for their defense and provides economic assistance while gaining exclusive access to huge strategic swathes of the Pacific in return. Renewing them has become a key part of U.S. efforts to push back against China's bid to expand its influence in the Pacific. Chinese diplomats have been courting the region and China's construction and mining companies have expanded their business in many Pacific island nations. U.S. President Joe Biden had been due to attend the signing ceremonies in Port Moresby, but on Tuesday called off what was to have been a brief stopover there due to the U.S. debt-ceiling crisis. Blinken will take his place and also sign bilateral defense and maritime security agreements with PNG and meet with leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum. Biden's national security adviser said on Wednesday the president would arrange another summit of Pacific island leaders this year after the disappointment caused by his cancellation. Yun said Micronesia preferred to formalize its agreement on home territory. Earlier he said both Palau and Micronesia would sign their COFAs in PNG. The Marshall Islands' COFA is due to expire this year. Yun gave no reason for the hold-up in renewing that, but a parliamentary election is expected there in November. Yun called the deals "strategically important." "We've achieved two out of three," he said. "Compacts are very important for the United States. It defines the relationship between us and northern half of the Pacific." Yun said last month "topline" agreements would provide the three COFA states with a total of about $6.5 billion over 20 years. Last year, more than 100 arms-control, environmental and other activist groups urged the Biden administration to formally apologize to the Marshall Islands for the impact of massive U.S. nuclear testing there and to provide fair compensation. Marshall Islanders are still plagued by health and environmental effects of the 67 U.S. nuclear bomb tests from 1946 to 1958, which included "Castle Bravo" at Bikini Atoll in 1954 - the largest U.S. bomb ever detonated. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Richard Chang) FILE PHOTO-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a news conference, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 8, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko TOKYO (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskiy said on Twitter on Sunday that he met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima. "We discussed further cooperation in the security and defense sphere, the situation on the frontline, training of Ukrainian officers within the UNIFIER Canadian training mission," Zelenskiy said on Twitter. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a news conference at the Group of Seven nations' summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. Louise Delmotte/Pool via REUTERS (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy played down the fact he did not meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Sunday and said it was likely because of scheduling. Asked if he was disappointed the meeting did not happen, he told a news conference he thought it was more of a disappointment for the Brazilian leader. "I think it disappointed him," he said, smirking and drawing laughs from reporters. Zelenskiy met an array of world leaders on the sidelines of the summit in the city of Hiroshima over the weekend on a trip seen as part of a push to court the "Global South" as Kyiv fends off Russia's full-scale invasion. (Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; writing Tom Balmforth; editing by William Maclean and Hugh Lawson) (Tribune News Service) Theres one state flag with a nipple. Virginia is the only state in the union boasting a flag bearing the image of a bare-breasted woman, her drooping toga exposing the left side of her chest. She represents the Roman goddess of virtue, Virtus, and once again she has public officials pondering nudity and appropriateness for schoolchildren. But such considerations are far from new. The discussion and the creation of visual symbols for the commonwealth date to 1776 and a young country wanting to appear strong during a war for its survival. The current seal is a disc with images on both sides and served as the stamp of the government. The front featuring Virtus appeared on documents signed by the governor and authenticated bills of trade. Virtus wields a sword and spear and stands triumphantly over a slain tyrant. The Latin words Sic Semper Tyrannis, Thus always to tyrants, are written below the autocrats body, which lies next to a fallen crown. The state flag features the seals front, and thus, Virtus naked breast can be seen all around the state and in front of libraries, courts, schools and the lawns of patriotic Virginians. Virtus garb has changed over time, and it was mentioned last month at a Virginia Beach School Board meeting. Board member Jessica Owen mentioned Virtus to further her argument that the districts definition of nudity needs more clarification. The board was discussing levels of appropriateness of materials in elementary and middle school libraries when Owens cited school policy defining nudity as any portion thereof below the top of the nipple. Are we saying any book that has the Virginia state flag in it will be removed from elementary schools? Because I can see the top, the under, the left, the right, she said. You get all of the nipple. Owens later confirmed in a phone interview that she wasnt advocating for or against the image of Virtus on the flag. However, not all politicians have always been so neutral on the topic. In 2010, the states attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, made national headlines when he gave his staff new lapel pins featuring Virtus with her chest fully covered, by an armored breastplate. The move invited ridicule by comedian Jon Stewart, and the attorney generals spokesperson explained Cuccinelli thought Virtus needed more modest attire. The state seal was born after Virginia declared independence. In the summer of 1776, the Virginia Convention, delegates representing parts of the colony, appointed Patrick Henry as the first governor and well-known citizens to form a committee with the sole purpose: to devise a proper seal. The team of George Mason, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee and Robert Carter Nicholas hit the stacks at William & Mary, a small college in Williamsburg. They wanted to compare their new commonwealth to the glory of the Roman Empire. They searched books for classical images and emblems. Inside the colleges library they found a depiction of Virtus in a book written in 1747, Polymetis, by Joseph Spence, a British scholar who traveled to Italy and studied Roman art. They reported back to the Virginia Convention on July 5 that the seal would be engraved with Virtus, whom they called the genius of the commonwealth, dressed like an Amazon with a spear in one hand and a sword in the other, treading on the broken power tyranny, represented by a fallen man. The back of the seal appeared on documents signed by the state secretary and shows the fully clad Roman deities of Libertas, who represents liberty; Ceres, fertility and agriculture; and Aeternitas, a personification of eternity. Libertas holds a brimless hat called a pileus, and a wand. Ceres grasps a cornucopia and wheat, and Aeternitas cups a globe in the company of a bird traditionally thought to be a phoenix and representing immortality. Thomas Jefferson even at one point took umbrage with the seals design. His reasons had nothing to do with mammary glands, though; the seal would not disrobe into its current form for over another century. Having read a description of the seal in July 1776, Jefferson wrote home to Virginia from Philadelphia that the seals reverse side was too much crowded, nor is the design so striking and that This device is too aenigmatical, since if it puzzles now, it will be absolutely insoluble fifty years hence. Virtue had a different meaning to the ancient Romans than it does today, according to William & Marys Jessica Page, an associate professor who specializes in Greek archaeology, architectural history and ritual theory. Virtus had a connotation of courage, general excellence and military success. Over time, Page said, it came to just signify a really good person, someone who stood up for things, someone who wasnt afraid to not back down against the powerful. Scholars have described the tyrant on the first seal as resembling Englands King George III, and Virtus more like a warrior in the Ottoman Empire than a Roman deity. The seal underwent multiple alterations in the years to come. In 1779, the original words on the back, Deus nobis haec otia fecit God has given us this ease were changed to Perseverando. At one time, the words Liberty and Union were added, but were removed by the General Assembly in 1873. It wasnt until at least 1901 that Virtus lost her modesty. At the behest of the secretary of the commonwealth, D.Q. Eggleston, the seal was returned to engravers. Eggleston believed that the figure looked more like a man than a woman and wanted to correct it. He instructed designers to add the breast to clarify her sex. That her breast is uncovered in the current design actually goes along with the instructions of the 1776 Convention that instructed that Virtus appear as an Amazon. Ancient depictions of Amazons in painting, or sculpture or anything like that, they usually have one breast exposed, Page said. Other small changes also occurred, such as in 1930 when the General Assembly added leaves of the Virginia creeper to the seal as an ornamental border. The flag of Virginia has always had Virtus on it. While the state tinkered with the seal, it didnt designate an official design for its flag until Virginia seceded from the union in 1861. The Secession Convention passed an ordinance establishing a state flag that would show a deep blue field with a circle of white in the center, upon which shall be painted or embroidered, to show on both sides alike, the Coat of Arms, of the State, as described by the convention of 1776 ... Ever since 1861 as the seals design has changed, so too has its depiction on the flag. When Eggleston wanted a more voluptuous Virtus, the flag, like the seal, also grew boobs. colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com 2023 The Virginian-Pilot. Visit pilotonline.com . A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to "initiate a peace process," but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily-sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertilizer exports Africa desperately needs, a key mediator who helped broker the talks said in an interview with The Associated Press. Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what they've characterized as a peace mission. The talks will likely be next month, Ollivier said. He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out "logistics" for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would likely have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Zambia. The talks also have the approval of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday. Neither side in the war appears ready to stop fighting, though. The talks were announced last week by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa just as Russia launched an intense air attack on Kyiv. On Sunday, Russia claimed to have taken the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after fierce fighting, a claim denied by Ukraine. "We are not dreamers," Ollivier said on the chances the African leaders will achieve an immediate breakthrough with regard to stopping the 15-month conflict. "Unless something happens, I don't think we are going to finish our first mission with a ceasefire." The aim was to make a start, said Ollivier, a 78-year-old Frenchman who brought opposing sides together in high-stakes negotiations in the late 1980s that helped end apartheid in South Africa. "It starts with signs. It starts with dialogue. And this is what we are going to try to do," Ollivier said. "No guarantee that we are going to succeed but, for the time being, Russia and Ukraine have accepted a delegation coming specifically to their countries to talk about peace." A key starting point for Africa is grain and fertilizers. The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertilizers from Russia, exacerbating global food insecurity and hunger. Africa has been one of the hardest-hit continents. Last week, Russia agreed to a two-month extension of a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. that allows Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea and out to the world, and the six African presidents would like to see that extended further. But they also need to broach ways of making it easier for African nations to receive shipments and pay Russia for fertilizers, Ollivier said. Russian fertilizer is not under international sanctions but the U.S. and some Western nations have targeted Russian cargo ships for sanctions. Russia's access to the SWIFT global financial transaction system also has been restricted by the sanctions, leaving African nations struggling to order and pay for critical fertilizers. "We will need to have a window whereby SWIFT will be authorized for this specific point," Ollivier said. "That will be on the table and we hope that in that case we will gain the support of the Russians for the grains from Ukraine, and we will gain the support of the Ukrainians to find payments and shipments possible for the Russian fertilizer." The African mission is not the only mediation effort. China offered its own peace proposal in February and a Chinese envoy has been in discussions with Ukrainian officials. But China's plan has largely been dismissed by Ukraine's Western allies and is clouded by Beijing's political support for Moscow. Ukraine and Russia are far apart in terms of any agreements that might form the base of a peace deal. The African delegation still had a wide cross-section of backing, Ollivier said, after China also "came to us and offered support" on the basis it would be a "parallel effort" to Beijing's plan. "More support, more weight will be put on the negotiation (with Moscow and Kyiv)," said Ollivier, the founding chairman of the London-based Brazzaville Foundation, an organization that deals with conflict resolution. "If one party says no, they will consider to who they are saying no. Are they saying no only to Jean-Yves Ollivier? To the Brazzaville Foundation? To the six (African) heads of state?" "Or are they saying no to the United Nations, or to the Chinese, or to the Americans. To the British? To the European Union?" HIROSHIMA, Japan Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit closed in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a battlefield victory that was quickly disputed by Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was committed to "strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension." Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also spoke one-on-one with several leaders. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the Russian claim that forces of the Wagner private army and Russian troops had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely bloodiest of the war. Comments by Zelenskyy earlier in the day in English suggested that the Russians had finally taken the city. But he and other Ukrainian officials later cast doubt on that assessment, with Zelenskyy telling reporters in Ukrainian that "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today." U.S. President Joe Biden announced new military aid worth $375 million for Ukraine, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. "We have Ukraine's back and we're not going anywhere," Biden said. Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. While Ukraine dominated the summit, the leaders of Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. And Biden sought to reassure world leaders that the U.S. would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan furthered efforts to improve ties colored by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, said a U.S. official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Yoon promised to provide South Korean demining equipment and ambulances to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war. He briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. "Zelenskyy's presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they can't," said Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. The G7 has vowed to intensify pressure on Russia, calling its assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community." The Russian Foreign Ministry on Sunday denounced the G7 as "fixated on comprehensive confrontation with Russia. The leaders of the G7 countries brought to their meeting the chief of the Kyiv regime, who is controlled by them, and ultimately turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show." The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the world's No. 2 economy. The leaders said they did not want to harm China and were seeking "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and "support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace." "We're not looking to decouple from China, we're looking to de-risk and diversify," Biden said. He also vowed to help Taiwan defend itself against a potential attack by China, saying that there is an understanding by the U.S. and its allies that "if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response." China's Foreign Ministry for its part urged G7 members to "focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries." The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology." The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host city's symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyy's inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leaders' visit was "not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city." Protesters carrying "No War No G7" banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing in a program meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report. SEOUL, South Korea The leaders of South Korea and Germany on Sunday pledged more cooperation in building stable industrial supply chains and addressing the challenges posed by nuclear-armed North Korea as they met in Seoul after flying in from the Group of Seven meetings in Japan. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, pointed to the similarities between the two major manufacturing nations that are dependent on foreign trade and said a stronger supply chain partnership would help them cope with "intensifying global economic instability and geopolitical conflicts." He said the countries in particular will work to advance trade relations in high-tech industries and clean energy, including semiconductors and hydrogen projects, and pursue further opportunities in defense cooperation. Yoon said they also discussed the growing threat posed by North Korea, which has test-fired around 100 missiles since the start of 2022 while accelerating its push to expand its nuclear arsenal. He said Scholz agreed to help maintain a "consistent message to the international community that North Korea has nothing not gain from its illegal provocations," and coordinate on diplomatic efforts to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear ambitions. "Germany, which was reunified 33 years ago, is a country that understands and empathizes with the issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula," Yoon said. "We will continue to work closely together (in broader efforts) to achieve North Korea's denuclearization." Before his meeting with Yoon, Scholz visited the southern side of the heavily armed border splitting the two Koreas and called for the North to halt its testing activity. He repeated a similar message during the news conference, expressing solidarity with Seoul and calling for a more effective international response against North Korea's missile development that threatens South Korea and Japan. Yoon and Scholz were among the leaders who participated in the G7 talks in Hiroshima, which were highlighted by an in-person appearance of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the discussions centered around countering Russia's prolonged invasion of his country. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have also risen since the war in Ukraine, which North Korea has used as a distraction to ramp up its weapons testing. Moscow and Beijing have blocked U.S.-led efforts at the U.N. Security Council to strengthen punishment of Pyongyang over its recent tests, underscoring a divide among permanent members deepened by the war. At the G7, Yoon focused on raising international awareness about the growing North Korean nuclear threat. The leaders issued a statement on nuclear disarmament that included condemnation of the North's illicit weapons development and testing activity. Yoon also met with Zelenskyy on the margins of the summit and promised South Korean demining equipment and ambulances as Seoul expands its non-lethal aid to Kyiv. "There have been serious civilian casualties and damage (in Ukraine) because of the large number of land mines planted by the Russian military while they withdrew from (around) Kyiv. (Ukraine) has requested demining equipment and ambulances, and we are reviewing those requests first and plan on providing those supplies quickly," Yoon said at the news conference. Without specifying, Yoon said Zelenskyy during their meeting also presented a list of other non-lethal supplies he wants from South Korea and that Seoul was "carefully reviewing" the request. South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. Seoul has not directly provided arms to Ukraine, citing a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict. It wasn't immediately clear whether Zelenskyy during his meeting with Yoon reiterated a previous request for South Korea to provide weapons. From Al-Ahram Weekly archives: Fifty years of dispossession 1948-1998* Issue: 1 January 1998 David Ben-Gurion, one of the father founders of Israel, described Zionist aims in 1948 thus: "A Christian state should be established [in Lebanon], with its southern border on the Litani river. We will make an alliance with it. When we smash the Arab Legion's strength and bomb Amman, we will eliminate Transjordan too, and then Syria will fall. If Egypt still dares to fight on, we shall bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo... And in this fashion, we will end the war and settle our forefathers' account with Egypt, Assyria, and Aram" *. 50 years after the Arab defeat in the1948 war, which resulted in the establishment of Israel, many of Ben-Gurion's stated aims can still be discerned in the language of Israeli and Zionist leaders. Some modifications have become apparent, in large part as a result of Arab resistance, but the biblical language in which Ben-Gurion chose to state his meaning starkly expresses the deeply-rooted nature of these violent fantasies of conquest and destruction. Resistance, in this instance through a better comprehension of the history of the struggle, as well as the writing of our own version of it, becomes more necessary than ever. Israel cannot be allowed to write the history of the past fifty years unchallenged. It is in this conviction that Al-Ahram Weekly presents the first in a regular series of articles designed to document the history and nature of Arab-Israeli struggle, as well as that of Palestinian dispossession and exile. 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. Search Keywords: Short link: JERUSALEM A far-right Israeli Cabinet minister visited Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site on Sunday, declaring that "we are in charge," while the Israeli Cabinet held a rare meeting in Jerusalem's Old City to celebrate its control of the area. The visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir to the disputed hilltop compound drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israel's neighbor, Jordan. The site is revered by Jews and Muslims, and the competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ben-Gvir, a former West Bank settler leader and far-right activist who years ago was convicted of incitement and supporting a Jewish terror group, now serves as Israel's national security minister, overseeing the country's police force. The site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism, where the biblical Temples once stood. Today, it is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Under longstanding arrangements, Jews are permitted to visit the site, but not to pray there. But in recent years, a growing number of Jewish visitors have begun to quietly pray, raising fears among Palestinians that Israel is plotting to divide or take over the site. Ben-Gvir has long called for increased Jewish access. "I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people," Ben-Gvir said in a video statement made during his early morning visit, with Islam's golden Dome of the Rock in the background. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it "proves who is in charge in Jerusalem." Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvir's visit a "blatant attack" on the mosque. Jordan, which serves as the custodian over the mosque, called it "a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation." Neighboring Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation. The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel's capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem's Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine, including a low-level minister from Ben-Gvir's party, but not Ben-Gvir himself. Israel also captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as its capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, permanent capital. Later Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet held a special session to mark Jerusalem Day at an archaeological site near the main area of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray and a remaining exterior wall of the biblical Temples. At the meeting, Netanyahu reasserted Israel's claim to all of Jerusalem. He boasted of resisting international pressure to divide the city and said only a right-wing Israeli government could guarantee continued Israeli control. "There are still those who want to divide Jerusalem and they say so openly," he said. "Only the national camp led by us will safeguard a strong and united Jerusalem." He made no mention of Ben-Gvir's visit the minister's second public visit to the site since taking office. Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there. Tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence. Netanyahu formed his government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, last December. The government, which includes a collection of ultra-Orthodox and far-right nationalist parties, has made West Bank settlement construction a top priority. Most of the international community consider Israeli settlements, home to 700,000 people in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, to be illegal and obstacles to peace. In March, the government repealed a 2005 act that dismantled four West Bank settlements. Over the weekend, the top Israeli army general in the West Bank signed an order attaching the evacuated settlement of Homesh to a local settler regional council. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another settler leader, praised the general's move, saying it would pave the way for the reconstruction of a Jewish seminary at the site. Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel expanded near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed 33, many of them militants but also women and children, and two people were killed in Israel by militant rocket fire. Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report. Another former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) parted ways from the party following the May 9 violence. Addressing a press conference, Usman Khan Tarakai who had been a member of National Assembly (MNA) said he was quitting PTI over May 9 violence, wherein military installations were attacked following arrest of party chairman Imran Khan. Usman Taraki pointed out that he belongs to the village of Colonel Sher Khan Shaheed, condemning the vandalisim of the latters statute. We stood by Imran Khan till the last breath, he said, adding that but the attack on military installations were against his political approach. He said he would announce the future course of action after consulting with his advisers. It is pertinent to mention here that several PTI lawmakers and members have parted their ways with the party following the May 9 violence, wherein military installations including General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and Corps Commander House Lahore were attacked after the arrest of party chairman Imran Khan. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to normalise the controversial action of August 2019 met global resistance after China, now Turkey, and Egypt also decided to skip the G20 summit in picturesque Srinagar of Occupied Valley. The Indian efforts suffered a major blow as a number of G20 countries have either refused to attend a tourism moot scheduled or skipped registration to attend the event. According to WION report, Turkey has consistently leaned towards Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute and the country has also raised the Kashmir issue at international forums. Turkey brought up the issue in the United Nations General Assembly and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), urging the international community to play a more active role in finding a solution and addressing the human rights concerns in Kashmir. Along with G20 members, representatives from a number of international institutions and guest nations have also been invited. India invited Egypt but the Middle Easter country has skipped the registration process of the G20 summit. Pakistans stance on G20 summiit in Srinagar MOFA issued a statement earlier, In response to media queries, the Spokesperson stated that we have seen news items appearing in the Indian media indicating that the Government of India might be contemplating holding some G20-related meeting/event in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Pakistan completely rejects any such attempt by India. As is well-known, Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory between Pakistan and India. The territory has been under forcible and illegal occupation of India since 1947 and this dispute has remained on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council for over seven decades. India is responsible for widespread atrocities and egregious human rights violations in IIOJK. Since Indias illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, Indian occupation forces have killed 639 innocent Kashmiris in extra-judicial murders. Numerous reports of the UN, including the two commissioned by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2018 and 2019 have re-confirmed ongoing Indian atrocities against the Kashmiri people. Most ominously, India has been seeking to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory in flagrant violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, international law, and the 4th Geneva Convention. Contemplating the holding of any G20 related meeting/event in IIOJK, in utter disregard of the globally acknowledged disputed status of the territory, is a travesty that the international community cannot accept under any circumstances. It is expected that in case of any such controversial proposal from India, which would be designed to seek international legitimacy for an illegal and tyrannical occupation continuing for over 7 decades, the G20 members will be fully cognizant of the imperatives of law and justice and would reject it out-right. Pakistan also strongly urges the international community to call upon India to end its gross and systematic violations of human rights in IIOJK, revoke its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019, and free all political prisoners including the true Kashmiri leaders. The only way to lasting peace in South Asia is by granting the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir their inalienable right to self-determination as pledged to them in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the statement reads. Thug James Kidd is no stranger to the courts, having been a senior member of a gang headed by Malcolm McKeown A drug-dealing gangster was back in court this week to admit having an illegal weapon. James Kidd pleaded guilty at Newry Crown Court on Thursday to possession of pepper spray in September last year. The defence agreed with the judge that a pre-sentence report would be of benefit before the case was dealt with. Kidd (47), from Castleview in Gilford, was freed on continuing bail, with the judge confirming he would pass sentence next month. The drug dealer and would-be arsonist is no stranger to the courts, having been a senior member of a gang headed by Malcolm McKeown, who was murdered in 2019. The 54-year-old was shot six times as he sat in his car at a filling station in Waringstown. A week before the gangland killing, Kidd was jailed alongside another man who cannot be identified because he is facing unconnected charges of offences of supplying cocaine and conspiring to burn down a pub in Craigavon. Before Kidd was handed a 16-month sentence, a court was told the offences dated back to 2016, when police were making inroads in their investigations into the activities of McKeowns now defunct crime cartel. Multiple arson attacks on police officers homes and cars led cops to place covert recording devices in his car. Two people were recorded discussing drug deals involving bars of dope and attacking a pub with petrol bombs. A court was told while there was enough evidence in the recordings to charge two people, they had taken no steps to carry out their plans. Joe McCabe has been handed a month in jail A rapist and thief who admitted stealing 72 worth of razor blades has been handed a month in jail. But Joe McCabe wont start that sentence immediately after the judge said his licence has to expire first. That runs out in October and was revoked after the 39-year-old committed more offences, so the notorious sex offender should be out in time for Christmas. McCabe, with an address at Edward Street Hostel in Portadown, admitted stealing the razors from a supermarket in February last year. McCabes multiple previous convictions include the rape of a 64-year-old grandmother. Last November, he was handed a four-month jail sentence after he admitted yet a breach of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order, That breach was just another entry on McCabes mammoth criminal record which includes numerous dishonesty convictions but its his 2006 case which led to his notoriety. On February 1, 2005, McCabe and another man broke into the home of a 64-year-old grandmother with McCabe subjecting her to what a judge described as a violent sexual offence carried out with significant gratuitous violence. Imposing a 14-year sentence, Judge Kevin Finnegan KC said the victim had been subjected to a terrifying prolonged ordeal in her own home. Freed in 2013 having served half his sentence, McCabe sparked a cross-border manhunt when he illegally fled Northern Ireland and was later found living in a Donegal caravan park. Since then, McCabe has breached his licence and the sex offenders register more than half a dozen times. Jailed alongside him at Craigavon Court was his friend Brian Ward who also owned up to nicking razor blades as well as five other offences the total value of what hed stolen was 1,172. The 32-year-old, whose address was given as Maghaberry Prison, walked out of one store with a a TV tucked under his arm. The court was told that Ward, who has 161 previous convictions, steals high value, easily moved-on items. His lawyer conceded they were stolen to fund his addictions to alcohol and drugs, issues which have yet to be tackled. Its not the first time the two thieves have appeared in court together facing a raft of theft charges. In August 2020 they were jailed after they went on a pre-Christmas shoplifting spree lifting decorations, gifts and almost 500 of turkeys an episode that got them branded with the nickname the Bad Santas. Clyde Turrentine was told he could not sleep in the station and became abusive to gardai. He also called other foreign nationals there terrorists. A US national describing himself as an American asylum seeker in Ireland was arrested at a garda station after accusing officers of being sex traffickers. Clyde Turrentine was told he could not sleep in the station and became abusive to gardai. He also called other foreign nationals there terrorists. He was found guilty of public order offences but was spared a criminal record when a judge struck the charges out. Turrentine (40), of no fixed address, had pleaded not guilty to threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour, and failing to follow garda directions. Garda Brian Gilligan told Judge Bryan Smyth the accused had been sleeping in the public office at Store Street station on March 28 when he asked him to leave. Turrentine accused gardai of being sex traffickers and human traffickers and called a foreign national family in the public office terrorists. Turrentine told the court he was an asylum seeker waiting to get accommodation and had spent several days in the garda station. He said he had seen a lot of human and sex trafficking in Ireland and was suspicious of a family he saw in the garda station. He said a man of African descent had provoked him in the station and he told the man, do not be a terrorist. He also claimed gardai tried to provoke him into getting arrested. He said when the officers directed him to leave the station, he did not understand this 100pc because he had been allowed stay there before. DXB Live, the experiential agency of Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC), said that the 3rd World of Coffee Dubai exhibition will be held at DWTC between January 21 23, 2024 in partnership with the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). The exhibitions space has increased by 50% following the robust demand from the exhibiting companies. The event achieved unprecedented success in its second edition earlier this year with over 10,000 trade visitors, and 1,500 exhibitors and brands from 44 countries, generating significant interest from coffee manufacturers and businesses across the globe. Khalid Al Hammadi, Senior Vice President of DXB Live, said: The World of Coffee Dubai is a significant annual event on the global MICE agenda as it attracts leaders, professionals, and experts of the coffee industry worldwide. Through this event, we aim to reinforce Dubais position as a global hub for the coffee industry. DXB Live took part in the Specialty Coffee EXPO Portland which was held last month in Portland, USA, to promote World of Coffee Dubai and invite international companies and brands to participate in the event. We are keen to participate in regional and global events to proactively communicate with all relevant stakeholders and bring them together under one roof so they can take advantage of the promising business opportunities in Dubai, and review the latest products, designs, and machines for manufacturing, roasting and grinding coffee grains, added Al Hammadi. The 3rd World of Coffee Dubai 2024 will feature new activities and competitions showcasing the skills of coffee baristas, such as the Cupping Room, Roasters Village, and Brew Bar. The three-day competitions will allow visitors to learn about coffee beans and methods of roasting and preparing coffee in different regions of the world. Visitors can also watch baristas presentations, taste coffee, and attend lectures and workshops. Khalid Al Mulla, Chief Executive Officer of the SCA UAE Chapter said: "We are pleased to see the World of Coffee - Dubai witnessing this increasing momentum year after year. Holding this event in Dubai alongside the increment of the exhibiting international companies and brands will reflect positively on the growth of the coffee industry, This is a must-attend event, especially for small and medium businesses as they will receive great support and assistance from the industry experts who will share their expertise and knowledge through interactive workshops, added Al Mulla. Shouq BinRedha, Exhibition Manager, said: The World of Coffee Dubai is an important platform for coffee experts to highlight the most important developments in the industry regionally and globally, and discuss future growth prospects for the coffee industry, which is the second most-traded product after oil, The exhibition showcases the commitment of international companies and small and medium companies in supporting sustainability in the coffee sector, by adopting modern knowledge and advanced technologies to improve the quality of coffee at all stages, from the cultivation of coffee beans to consumption, concluded BinRedha. TradeArabia News Service International cocaine broker Raffaele Imperiale became a pentito after his extradition from Dubai Gardai have joined the queue of international law enforcement agencies waiting to talk to Kinahan Cartel partner Raffaele Imperiale who became a pentito after his extradition from Dubai. Irish investigators targeting the Irish mob will be eager to know what information Daniel Kinahans former wedding guest has on his fellow Super Cartel members and how their massive cocaine deals are made. The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau this week formally linked up with Italys Anti Mafia Investigation Directorate to target crime gangs involved in drugs and money laundering. Ridouan Taghi But Imperiales role as an international cocaine broker with contacts across the world means investigators from several other countries also want their chance to quiz him. The Italian mafia boss turned State witness demonstrated the damage he can do to the underworld with the news of 100 arrests as police moved against a gang who used his services A Ndrangheta-linked gang based in Lombardy who supplied drugs, sourced through Imperiale, to crime gangs in Milan was hit with dozens of arrests earlier this month. Imperiale told how he had to use the gangs when he decided to move drugs into the Lombardy market, according to reports in the Italian media. A highly sophisticated network was set up that moved the cocaine on trucks in consignments of 200 to 330 kilos from ports in The Netherlands down south to Italy. The news last year of Imperiales decision to co-operate with investigators sent shock waves through the top levels of international crime gangs. Imperiale and another accused arrested in Dubai, Bruno Carbone, made the offer to switch sides, it emerged at the Naples Court of Review last December. He has promised to tell the Neapolitan Anti-Mafia magistrates everything he knows from over 20 years in the Neapolitan Camorra. Camorras Raffaele Imperiale was nabbed in Dubai in 2021 Agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration as well as Dutch police and the Italians all have an interest in information that Imperiale can give them. Dutch police are currently investigating whether lawyer Inez Weski was a link between her client Ridouan Taghi and Raffaele Imperiale, according to RTL Nieuws last week. Like Imperiale, Taghi was also a wedding guest of Daniel Kinahan in 2017 at the Burj Al Arab hotel and is on trial in The Netherlands for a series of gangland offences including murder. It is claimed Taghi left Imperiale in control of millions of euros and it is alleged attempts were made to move the cash following Taghis arrest. Gardai welcomed members of the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia at the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau in Dublin to formally join the Operational Network. First established by the DIA in Italy, the network now involves over 40 international police forces across 35 countries collectively targeting top level, mafia-style organised crime groups that pose both a global and European threat, said a garda media post. Gardai from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau will travel to Europol headquarters in the Hague for meetings next week. The Operational Network was set up in 2018 and included police from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Brazen bandits drove on wrong side of motorway in the belief gardai would not risk prosecution by continuing the pursuit Flowers at the site of the crash Colin Keegan A horse-drawn hearse carrying the coffin of Graham Taylor, who was killed in the pursuit on the M7. Karl Freeman, Dean Maguire and Graham Taylor were killed in the pursuit Gardai fear copycat joyriders are now mimicking the driving of the N7 death crash gang in order to escape pursuits by gardai on our roads. Gardai are probing three incidents, which occurred in the space of 24-hours over Friday, in which joyriders drove against traffic in the belief gardai would not risk prosecution by continuing the pursuit. Sources said criminals are very aware that a garda has been charged in connection with the pursuit that preceded the N7 burglary gang crash. The collision saw three criminals Dean Maguire, Karl Freeman and Graham Taylor lose their lives after colliding with an oncoming van while driving against traffic on the N7 in 2021. Flowers at the site of the crash Colin Keegan Details of the three incidents are as follows: At 2.30am on Friday, as gardai were pursing a driver on the M50, the driver did a U-turn on the motorway near junction 7, before driving back into oncoming traffic. In a second incident, which occurred in the early hours of Friday, a driver who had been followed by officers from west Dublin, drove the wrong way up the dual carriageway on the N7 near Kildare. A source said this pursuit involved two joyriders in two vehicles who were driving beside each other before separating when they spotted a pursuing Garda vehicle. Gardai pursued one of the vehicles as far as Kildare before it turned sharply back into oncoming traffic. And, in the third incident, which occurred between 9pm and 10pm on Friday night, gardai were pursuing a vehicle that had been stolen from the rear of Blanchardstown shopping centre. A source said the vehicle turned down the slip road beside the Carlton Hotel, so it was heading in the wrong direction (against traffic) back towards the city. Sources said traffic was relatively busy for that time of night. Its understood the drivers in all three incidents avoided arrest. The fear is this is a copycat effect, said a source, following the publicity around the DPPs decision to charge the officer involved in the pursuit that preceded the fatal crash on the N7. These lads know that pursuing gardai are not going to risk prosecution by continuing a pursuit. Driving against traffic is not a new tactic for criminals trying to evade gardai. But theres no doubt these gougers are aware of the impact the decision to charge that garda has had on his fellow gardai. What these yobs, are doing is unbelievably dangerous and could see easily see innocent motorists killed. But joyriders are reckless they see it a get out of jail card. They think to themselves if they do this the pursuit ends. A horse-drawn hearse carrying the coffin of Graham Taylor, who was killed in the pursuit on the M7. Garda Representative Association president Brendan OConnor said yesterday: These incidents highlight two things, firstly the impossible situations Garda drivers find themselves in and secondly the absolute disregard offenders have for public safety when they decide to exploit what they understand to be Garda tactics and policies in such circumstances. The Garda Representative Association has consistently highlighted inadequacies in driver training and more recently the pursuit policy introduced in recent years, something GSOC identified as an organisational issue. Such incidents also demonstrate the extreme jeopardy our members are placed in when allocated to driving duties. The incidents are likely to add to the controversy surrounding the DPPs decision to charge a garda in the M District over his driving during the pursuit that preceded a crash that claimed the lives of three burglary gang members on the M7. Former justice minister Alan Shatter added his voice early Saturday to a growing chorus of criticism surrounding the decision. He tweeted: I have very personal experience of the capacity of GSOC for total incompetence and of the devastating impact of being publicly pilloried with being fully informed of what is charged and any opportunity to defend oneself. The despicable treatment of Garda M is scandalous and wrong. The Sunday World revealed last week ongoing concerns among the officers colleagues over his personal security in the wake of the GSOC investigation and subsequent decision by the DPP that he be charged. Dean Maguire, Karl Freeman and Graham Taylor died in the crash Prolific criminals Dean Maguire (29), Karl Freeman (26) and Graham Taylor (31) were killed instantly when their BMW vehicle burst into flames following a head-on crash with a truck between Citywest and Baldonnel, Dublin, on July 7, 2021, while they were driving on the wrong side of the road. The Garda Ombudsman confirmed at the coroners court that the officer, who was involved in the preceding pursuit, will face charges arising from his driving on the night. Its understood the charges considered by the DPP included endangerment where a person is suspected of recklessly engaging in conduct which creates a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another and dangerous driving. The exact nature of the charge or charges facing the garda is not yet known, but both these offences can arise outside of the exemption available to gardai. Garda colleagues, angered at what they perceive as the persecution of a colleague for doing his duty, have already raised more than 36,400 to support him. Establishing a fundraiser online, the GoFundMe pages administrator wrote: This was set up to support our M [Tallaght Garda district] member who is facing serious charges as a result of doing his duty as he did every day since starting his career. All three deceased men, who had a combined total of over 200 convictions, were known to gardai and were believed to be key figures in a burglary gang that was linked to Fat Andy Connors a crime gang leader who was shot dead outside his home in Saggart, Co. Dublin, in August 2014. Some of their past crimes involved high-speed chases during which cars were driven into oncoming traffic to try to evade gardai. Their bodies were inside the BMW 3 Series when it burst into flames after hitting the truck in Rathcoole at 11.40pm on the Wednesday night. Karl Freeman (26) had in 2017 been described as a menace to society while being jailed for his role in an aggravated burglary of a 77-year-old woman at her home in Co. Wicklow. Graham Taylor (31) was jailed in 2019 after leading gardai on a chase during which he drove at 120kph in a 50kph zone,and drove on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic. Dean Maguire (29) had been described as being in a highly sophisticated, organised crime gang. The gun attack is believed to be linked to a worsening dispute in the area which has already seen a botched shooting and a firebomb attack in the past week A gunman is seen firing shots at a house in Tallaght as children played in the background Detectives are hunting for a reckless gunman who opened fire in front of young children in south Dublin earlier today. The gun attack is believed to be linked to a worsening dispute in the area which has already seen a botched shooting and a firebomb attack in the past week. No injuries were reported after shots were fired at a property in Tallaght this morning as youngsters were playing in the area. CCTV footage shows shots being fired at a house in west Dublin CCTV footage of the incident shows the shooter arriving at the scene on a motorised bike at around 11am. The masked man then stops in front of the house and unzips his tracksuit top to produce a handgun. He then fumbles with the weapon for a number of seconds before cocking the gun, aiming it at the house, and letting off a number of shots. Shockingly, the footage shows two young children on bikes passing by the scene at the time of the shooting. As he flees the area two other kids can be seen running across a green yards away. Detectives believe the gun attack is part of a worsening feud in the area which saw one man targeted in a shooting last week and a property firebombed. The people residing at the house targeted today are not suspected of any involvement in those incidents. A Garda spokesman said: "Gardai in Tallaght are investigating an alleged discharge of a firearm this morning, Sunday, 21st May 2023, in Tallaght, Dublin 24. "The incident occurred at approximately 11am. No injuries were reported. Enquiries are ongoing." It follows an attempted shooting nearby last Tuesday. A man, aged in his early 20s, was targeted on the junction of the Fortunestown Road and Jobstown Road at around 7.30pm. It's understood that the gunman involved was in a BMW car and fired up to four shots before fleeing the scene. No injuries were reported and investigations into the incident are ongoing. The Sunday World previously revealed how the target of the shooting is also the chief suspect in the murder of innocent teenager Reece Cullen. The 17-year-old died after sustaining a single stab wound to the heart on January 5, 2017, outside a house at Kilclare Crescent in Tallaght. The innocent youth was attacked while on the phone after a number of males arrived at the property. The case was also marred by witness intimidation on behalf of the chief suspect. An inquest previously heard that 110 lines of inquiry were opened by garda and three arrests made. Gardai believe the man targeted last week was the individual who delivered the fatal wound, but he denied any involvement and has never been charged in relation to the murder. The attempt on his life was carried out in revenge for the firebombing of a house in the area on Monday night. The UFC superstar is all set to build a Proper gastro-pub empire Conor McGregor has confirmed he is expanding his pub empire internationally as well as eyeing up other locations, such as Dublins Temple Bar. The UFC superstar attended Katie Taylors big fight in Dublins 3 Arena with 21 pals last night, having flown in from Los Angeles by private jet with his family. The Black Forge pub in Crumlin Earlier in the week he celebrated his son Rians second birthday with a party in LA and also took time out to show his three kids a mural of him next to OBriens bar in Santa Monica. He met with American MMA broadcaster Ariel Helwani at his Black Forge pub in Crumlin just hours before Taylors fight and revealed he plans to add more locations to the trio of Dublin pubs he already owns, which includes the Marble Arch in Drimnagh and the Waterside in Howth. Theres nowhere else on this level with the produce we have here, he bragged about the Black Forge. Conor and family view the mural at Willy OSullivans Santa Monica bar This is not a restaurant, its a public house with restaurant quality to it; to be honest, above restaurant quality to it. The chef in there and the team are in line for a Michelin, we are excited about it. He confirmed he is expanding his empire. I have about five others in production phase, construction, building and renovation phases, Howth, another one close by to here (Marble Arch), Ive a few others close to here, Temple Bar is also lined up, he revealed. So they are in construction phase at present. They wont be Black Forge Inn though; the name, Im still in that process. But I wish to bring this for sure to the United States of America and all across the globe. OK, we have got the greatest stout, Forged Irish stout, the smoothest, the creamiest. We have got the greatest whiskey, the smoothest liquid gold on the land, on the planet, Proper No 12. But we have also got amazing produce in here and even the method of how we cook the produceTheres nowhere else abroad. I was in America recently and I cant get that anywhere, so I want to bring it away for sure, and that will be the Black Forge Inn abroad, well thats the plan. Netflix recently released a four part documentary series on the fighter, McGregor Forever. I didnt have creative control of it, he stressed. Im the creator, so I wasnt necessarily happy. I loved the story. I wouldnt change it, but I would add my magic. And the fact that my adding of the magic was kind of torn away, when it was not supposed to be, I felt a bit led into it to be honest. But Im happy how it went, it is how it is. The mural at Willy OSullivans Santa Monica bar Corkman Willy OSullivan, who owns OBriens bar in Santa Monica, tells the Sunday World he had a call from McGregor during the week after he stopped by the mural while on a promotional trip to LA. Conor sent me a message, that was very nice, said Willy. He explained the mural was done by American artist Jonas Never, who got permission from Willy to paint the piece. He admits he has mixed reaction to the mural next to his bar. When he first visited the mural and I posted it online every American who commented on it all loved it, but the only negative feedback has been from Ireland describing him as a thug or whatever, he stressed. Some people in Ireland may not like him but over here he is universally loved. People need to work. No point in having a productive economy if people are all unemployed. When it comes to the workplace, one big unknown is AI and how it could decimate many professional jobs. Photo: Getty Getty Images On May 7, Open Artificial Intelligence (AI) CEO Sam Altman wrote on Twitter that artificial intelligence is the technology the world has always wanted. Open AI claim to develop AI in ways that benefit humanity. They created Chat GPT, the language tool that allows people to have conversations with non-human intelligence. On February 18 this year, Altman wrote: Our grandparents did horrible things; our grandchildren will understand that we did horrible things we dont yet understand. Alan Smeaton, Professor of Computing at DCU, described these words as Mr Altmans Oppenheimer Moment, in reference to Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. I think he may be having his Oppenheimer moment early. When Charles Oppenheimer developed the atomic bomb and it was first exploded, he said I have become death, I am the destroyer of worlds, as he reflected on the negative aspects of his invention. Sam Altman (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Getty Images When Sam Altman had that quote he was in a state of turmoil because Chat GPT had gone stratospheric. The brashness and rashness of the release had brought the chickens home to roost. All the other big companies in the tech sector probably went faceplant, why did they do that? They have now sullied the reputation of this form of AI, Mr Smeaton said. A Goldman Sachs report in March found that artificial intelligence could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs, even replacing a quarter of all work tasks in the US and Europe. Author and futurist Yuval Harari warned at Davos that AI is nowhere near its full potential. Old jobs will disappear, new jobs will rapidly change and vanish. The really big struggle will be against irrelevance. Those who fail would constitute a new useless class. And this useless class will be separated by an ever-growing gap from the ever more powerful elite, Mr Harari said. He further went on to state that people could become bored and ultimately hooked on drugs and computer games, as they struggle to find meaning in life. DCUs Alan Smeaton does not share these same concerns, however. Alan believes that A.I. will compliment new forms of work. Alan Smeaton (DCU) Nobody can predict the future. Goldman Sachs must have needed the media coverage. It might have been a click-bait report. Jeffrey Hinton, one of the AI godfathers, resigned from Google because he was concerned how the company may be entering a form of arms race with Microsoft over search. Five years ago he said radiologists would be redundant but now seven years later there are more practicing radiologists than before. The AI has transformed the job of the radiologist, it has helped them to do their job. I wouldnt be worried about it. I think those peoples jobs will evolve and change. And thats great. Very few people want to do the same job for 40 years, Mr Smeaton said. OpenAI's 'Oppenheimer moment' and possible effects on future employment When we spoke to members of the Irish public in Dublins Grand Canal Dock, an area peppered with tech workers, comments ranged from Im a bit concerned about it, whos controlling the process? to People prefer chatting to a person. Its scary, said one woman. They are learning faster than we are, another told sundayworld.com. People dont know what they want until you give it to them, one man believed. You are taking away 30 -50 pc of all jobs, our social system is not set up for that, said one man, who himself is an A.I professional. People need to work. No point in having a productive economy if people are all unemployed, one man wisely commented. One thing the general public may not be aware of is that Chat GPT boss Sam Altman is a doomsday prepper. He previously told The New Yorker magazine that he has a stash of money and weapons squirrelled away for the day AI goes wrong. I prep for survival. The most popular scenarios would be AI that attacks us and nations fighting with nukes over scarce resources. I try not to think about it too much. But I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defence Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to, the Chat GPT boss said. Residents of Inch, Co Clare began protesting outside Magowna House Hotel last Monday after a group of 33 international protection applicants arrived at the venue. People maintaining their protest at the road leading to Magowna House in Co Clare. Minister of State for Integration Joe OBrien has welcomed the decision by Co Clare residents to remove a blockade from a hotel being used to house asylum seekers. Residents of Inch, Co Clare began protesting outside Magowna House Hotel last Monday after a group of 33 international protection applicants arrived at the venue where the State had arranged accommodation for them. Some furious locals blockaded the road at the Magowna House Hotel with tractors and a silage bale in an act of protest. In a Twitter statement released on Sunday, Joe OBrien said that the residents have agreed to remove the roadblocks after an honest, open discussion in Ennis on Thursday. I welcome the decision of the residents to remove the blockade, said Mr OBrien. My meeting with the residents on Thursday, in Ennis, was an honest, open discussion, and I am pleased that that engagement has helped bring some improvement to the situation. Mr OBrien had previously proposed a four-week freeze on asylum seekers being brought to Magowna House in a bid to lift the blockade, which he reiterated in his statement. I look forward to working with the provider and my officials to develop a programme of education, training and other supports for the people residing in Magowna House. I look forward to returning to Magowna in four weeks as agreed. As well as removing the blockade, Inch residents will refrain from protesting at the entrance to Magowna House. However, locals have said they will continue to oppose the housing of asylum seekers at the hotel and plan to protest elsewhere. A peaceful protest will continue and we will continue to have dialogue with the government until a resolution is found. Our position is this property is not suitable for this purpose, one community member told the Irish Examiner. Residents are due to hold further talks with officials in the coming days. Its surprising they announced it before Ryans last show, thats the only thing that surprises me to be honest with you Pat Kenny says he was taken aback at RTEs announcement yesterday of Patrick Kielty being confirmed as the new presenter of The Late Late Show. Ryan Tubridy (49) will host his last Late Late next Friday, with Kielty (52) taking over as the fourth presenter of the worlds longest running chat show from September. Its surprising they announced it before Ryans last show, thats the only thing that surprises me to be honest with you, Pat (75) tells the Sunday World. Unless they have an arrangement where Ryan will kind of literally pass the baton on air. Im not sure. Maybe the word was out and they had to announce it. But it just seems a bit odd they would not wait until he bowed out. He points out the announcement has finally put an end to all the speculation and becomes irrelevant. I wish him well, I hope he does very well. At least now there have been multiple hosts of The Late Late, so that kind of pressure is not there, I dont think, Pat says. Ryan Tubridy will host his last Late Late next week When I took over from 37 years of Gay Byrne, it was should it not be axed and finished with? It was like a poison chalice handed to me to carry on the legacy if I could. Happily, I did it for 10 years and then it wasnt such a big deal then there would be another host, and now having had Ryan and myself following in the footsteps of Gay its not such a big deal, its not a poison chalice in that sense to carry on. He adds that no one should be surprised that Kielty, who is more known for being a comedian, was in the running. Im not surprised. He was mentioned in dispatches 25 years ago. I did 10, Ryan did 14, so at the time I was asked to take over his name was knocking around there along with Gerry Kellys. So they were obviously thinking in that time that he was a stand-up comedian which was mostly what he was famous for, he explains. I cant think of other things he was celebrated for at that time. So maybe they were thinking if they offered it to him they would go down the road of the American talk show, where theyd do a monologue for about 10 minutes at the beginning of the show, which is effectively a stand-up routine, whether they were thinking that in those days. Patrick can tackle comedy and serious subjects Andres Poveda But Paddy has done a lot more; presented television programmes. He has talked very openly about his own family tragedy, when his father was killed by loyalist paramilitaries and so on. Theres a lot to Paddy. Co Down man Kielty lives in London with his TV presenter wife Cat Deeley, and Kenny believes he can move between the English capital and Dublin. With everything online being available you can keep in touch with other parts of the world. Gay, dont forget, commuted from Manchester in the early days of The Late Late Show. He was working for Granada during the week and then hed fly home for the weekend, he recollects. I believe he missed a show because of fog in Manchester Airport and Frank Hall or somebody like that had to step in at the last minute, so there is a precedent for someone not living in the jurisdiction and jetting in to present the show. Bookmakers Paddy Power announced a month ago two large bets had been placed on Kielty, forcing them to dramatically drop their odds. Youll never get to the bottom of this, notes Kenny. But if there was a leak, to put a big bet on in Paddy Power, that would be very strange indeed and whether Paddy Power will pay up. Dont forget that Claire was the favourite, and she was so hot they stopped the betting and then of course with her announcement that fell away and the bookies opened up again. However, Paddy Power have confirmed they will pay up. Kielty was originally 66/1 to be the new host before the odds dramatically plunged to 2/1. The maximum bet punters could place was 20 at 66/1 odds, meaning those who backed him at these odds will get a cool 1,340 pay out. Miriam OCallaghan was an original favourite to be the first female presenter of the show but later ruled herself out. Im lucky enough to know him (Kielty) a little, hes a lovely guy, Miriam (63) tells us. Miriam OCallaghan Hes got big shoes to fill, but I know he will be absolutely brilliant. Hes intelligent, empathetic and funny and I think his appointment brings us all a bit closer together on this island. Irelands biggest comedian Brendan OCarroll beams that he is delighted a fellow comic has got The Late Late job. I think its going to be a very different Late Late Show, Brendan (67) tells the Sunday World. It kind of reminds me when Stephen Colbert took over from David Letterman a completely different show, but still really entertaining and I think thats going to be the case with Patrick. Im a little disappointed that its not a woman. I would have liked to have seen a woman getting a crack at it. But at the same time its great for comedy that someone like Patrick has got the job. He said he himself would have never considered The Late Late Show as it would have interfered with his BBC shows and also his live tours. Brendan describes Kielty as being top class. Nobody is going to get on there and pull the wool over his eyes, believe me, he stresses. He has a journalistic bent to him which I think will stand to his favour, but as well as that he has the ability to not take himself too seriously and thats important. He recalls working with him on Dont Feed The Gondalas. Asked if Kietly can juggle living in London and working in Dublin, he notes: I dont think a weekend is going to be enough. Doing The Late Late Show requires a weeks work. Youve got to do your research, rehearsals and make sure youre prepared for it. Youd have to be working on it from Monday to Friday, and then be off on Saturday and Sunday, Brendan says. While Vogue was invited to the newlyweds Spanish do, she was unable to attend due to work commitments at home. Vogue Williams has admitted she was so jealous of her husband Spencer Matthews as he attended his best pal Jamie Laings wedding in Spain without her. Made In Chelsea star Spencer jetted over to Marbella this week to see Jamie and his partner Sophie Habboo tie the knot for the second time after the couple officially wed at an intimate ceremony Chelsea Old Town Hall in London last month. And while Vogue was invited to the newlyweds Spanish do, she was unable to attend due to work commitments at home. Meanwhile, Spencer played his part in the occasion, acting as master of ceremonies for his best mate and making sure everything ran smoothly on their big day. The father-of-three flew out to the wedding destination ahead of Saturdays ceremony and posed for some photos before the rest of the star-studded guestlist arrived. Captioning a series of photos from the days leading up to his second wedding, businessman Jamie wrote: Calm before the Wedding. And Spencers wife Vogue immediately chimed in to comment: Im soooooo jealous. Other followers flooded the comments section with witty remarks about Spencers presence at the wedding after Jamie forgot to invite him to his London wedding ceremony. Spencer missed out on the celebrations due to a miscommunication on Jamie's part and didnt receive an invitation because he and Vogue were on holidays in Portugal with their kids at the time. Vogue explained her partners reaction to the mix-up was the most upset she had ever seen him as the couple joined their pals on their Nearly Weds podcast. He was very upset, I have to be honest, I've never seen him like that, the Howth native said. He was genuinely upset over something and then it was getting worse and worse because I saw the personalised stuff. And I thought Oh s**t you really thought about this. Jamie acknowledged that he made a mistake as he explained how his wires got crossed. I f****d up. We had our wedding - our civil ceremony - in the UK. It was a hectic process. Amongst the hectic-ness of getting people there and things like that, I thought Spencer and Vogue were away. Spencer got upset, which is fair enough. So, I sent Vogue a message hoping to get a bit of support and then she replied, To be honest Jamie, it's not good. And I was like, F**k. And Spencer added: To be honest, Jamie, you're my best friend in the world. I love you. Which is why I think it hurt so much. Like if it was anyone else... For your wedding, I would fly three times around the world to come to it because I care about you so much. It is Hospice Awareness Week and Richard Thurlow wants to raise awareness of how dire straits the funding level is for hospices like our own in the Western Bay of Plenty. We are drastically short of funding now. Were getting to the point where we really need some movement on the low redress for the growth were seeing in our area, says the Waipuna Hospice chief executive officer. Richard says Waipuna Hospice is facing pressure from wage increases because were trying to keep parity with our colleagues in the Te Whatu Ora arena. This includes nurses but also social workers and all allied health workers. Richard says this financial year Waipuna Hospice has to raise $7.5 million just to stand still. This is simply to keep doing what were doing while were seeing a significant uptick of referral numbers. According to Waipuna Hospice statistics, in 2019 about 850 patients were seen in a year. This year this number will be just over 1000 patients, says Richard. And the change were seeing with our patients is theyre acutely unwell when we receive them. Our patients tend to go into crisis cycles and tend to dip and I worry diagnosis is possibly taking a bit longer than it used to as well. So were seeing sicker patients and more highly complex. Theyve got more than one condition called co-morbidity that is life-limiting which makes the care we give more complex. Were also seeing higher social needs. With a cost-of-living crisis in play, its a perfect storm for families unfortunately. Plus Richard has suspicions a Covid unwind is happening and access to healthcare professionals is biting into this. This is putting more and more pressure on a service thats at the end of the chain. You know, theres no-one else we can pass cases to we still have to say Yes, and we will for as long as we can. Yet were less than 50 per cent funded [by the Government] and its getting to a point of almost having to be dramatical in any concept we have with the media to say: We need funding. Richard also believes its a bit rude to keep asking the WBOP community for more and more fundraising. Weve tried to help ourselves over the years. We have some fantastic second-hand shops that work amazingly hard for us...but the fundraising sphere is very competitive. During the Covid-19 lockdowns hospices were deemed an essential service, says Richard. But were not essentially funded. And that is where it really feels unfair. Richard admits the whole health sector is under pressure. Weve got a shortage of specialist trained staff in all areas this just puts more and more pressure on an area that is about to break I would say. Were not allowed to use the crisis word but sorry it is. Were trying to keep a well-resourced level of service intact for our patients and families but its getting harder and harder to find skilled and trained specialist staff. Were forever getting mutual poaching between Te Whatu Ora and us. Richard says with a General Election looming, theres opportunity for improvement. For as long as Ive been Waipuna Hospice CEO 15 years weve been saying to governments of both colours that we need more funding. On the whole, the Government agrees that we need to be 70 per cent funded but when were 50 per cent funded, theyre really not meeting their promises and we need to have some redress and pretty soon. Because I know hospices around the country are in a world of pain. Perish the thought that wed have to think about trimming some sort of service to our community. We just want to raise that awareness this week. Its got to the point of Ive said this every for 15 years why am I still saying it? Last year Waipuna Hospice received a three per cent increase on its contract with Te Whatu Ora. But as this is only half of our funding requirement it works out as 1.5 per cent and we were having to find pay rises of six to seven per cent in some areas to remain competitive. So, yes, weve managed to progress those [costs] forward with reserves but those reserves will run out. Richard says hospices need to be 70 per cent government-funded, while also keeping community involvement. For us at Waipuna Hospice that would equate to $2-$2.5 million annually. Richard encourages WBOP residents who value end-of-life care to raise the funding issue with current and would-be politicians ahead of the General Election on October 14. Id love to know what the policies are for each party for palliative care need in NZ because there isnt much out there at the moment. And itd be great to have respective possible health ministers, from all parties, state what those policies are. To find out more, or to support Waipuna Hospice, go to www.waipunahospice.org.nz One billion people in 43 countries are at risk of cholera a pandemic killing the poor despite prevention and treatment being relatively straightforward, the United Nations warned . The UN branded the outlook bleak, saying it did not have the resources to fight the outbreaks, and the longer it took to start waging the battle, the worse the situation would get. Between the World Health Organization and the childrens agency UNICEF, the UN is seeking $640 million to fight the infectious disease, warning of a cholera catastrophe if action is not ramped up immediately. WHO estimates that a billion people across 43 countries are at risk of cholera, said Henry Gray, the UN health agencys incident manager for the global cholera response. So far this year, 24 countries have reported cholera outbreaks, compared to 15 by mid-May last year. Countries that are not usually affected by cholera are being affected and case fatality rates are far exceeding the typical one in 100. Gray blamed the rise in cases on poverty, conflict and climate change, as well as the population displacements they trigger, which take people away from safer sources of food and water, and from medical support. With the increase in the number of countries affected by cholera, the resources that were available for prevention and response are more thinly spread, he told a media briefing. Cholera is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water. It causes diarrhea and vomiting, and can be especially dangerous for young children. Jerome Pfaffmann Zambruni, the head of UNICEFs public health emergency unit, said the rise in cases was a wake-up call. There is a pandemic killing the poor right in front of us and we know exactly how to stop it, but we need more support and less inertia from the global community because if we dont act now, its going to get worse, he said. We know how to treat it. We know how to control it. Its not easy but its simple. Although cholera can kill within hours, it can be treated with simple oral rehydration, and antibiotics for more severe cases. But many people lack timely access to such treatment. Outbreaks can be prevented by ensuring access to clean water and improving surveillance. But the lack of funds for rapid response will cost lives that could have been saved, said Gray. The overall solution is long-term investment in wastewater infrastructure, he added. The campaign is not helped by the dearth of vaccines. Around 36 million cholera vaccine doses were produced last year, but it is not seen as an attractive product for manufacturers, as there is effectively no market in wealthy countries. Over 18 million oral cholera vaccine doses have been requested this year, but only eight million have been made available, bringing prevention campaigns to a halt. Rather than the full two doses, only one is being issued to recipients to try to spin it out, said Gray. The number of available doses could double by 2025 and then double again by 2027. We wont have enough, even with those numbers, if the current trend for cholera cases continues, said Gray. Cholera cases steadily declined over 10 years but the trend reversed in 2021. The most heavily affected countries so far this year are Malawi and Mozambique. Nine other countries are deemed to be in acute crisis: Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Syria, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Search Keywords: Short link: Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. For 80 days between February and May, the Russian army besieged the city of Mariupol. Artillery and shelling leveled most of the buildings in this coastal city on the Azov Sea. Mariupol is a key hub linking the Crimea peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, with eastern Ukraines Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a declared target of Putins invasion. In September 2022, Russia declared it was annexing the occupied territories, including Mariupol. Ukrainian authorities say that during the Russian siege, at least 25,000 residents of this city died out of a pre-war population of 430,000. The United Nations has confirmed the deaths of about 1,350 residents, but admitted this is a partial count and that there are probably thousands more dead. Tens of thousands more fled or were sent out of Ukraine. About 90% of the buildings were damaged or razed by the attacks. Now that the city is under its control, Russia has begun a reconstruction plan. In just six months, the Kremlin has built new homes in this destroyed city: a dozen apartment buildings with room for about 2,500 people now stand on Kuprina Street, southwest of the city. The following images, captured by the European Space Agencys Sentinel-2 satellite, show how the land changes from a vacant lot in June to a residential complex in December. The construction of new homes is part of Moscows master plan for rebuilding Mariupol, first revealed by Russian website The Village in August. The document, signed by the Unified Institute for Land Planning of the Russian Federation, is planning the construction of 8,750,000 square meters of housing by 2035, including some prefabricated units. Crews have also started to demolish the dilapidated buildings. Aerial view of the apartments built by Russia on Kuprina Street last September. Source: News of Donbass. The housing complexes, built by the Russian Ministry of Defense, have a playground, parking and an area for sports. The more than 1,000 units have been delivered free of charge to the population. In front of these blocks there stands a veritable cemetery of shelled buildings destroyed by bombs, projectiles and shrapnel. In the first month of the siege alone, Russian shelling and street-to-street fighting caused the destruction of at least 365 buildings, according to an analysis by UNOSAT, the United Nations satellite center. In that period of time, according to the same source, three hospitals and seven schools, among other places, were bombed. New homes built by the Russian government right across from a damaged building on the other side of Kuprina Street, in December 2022. SERGEI ILNITSKY (EFE) For Luis Velasco-Martinez, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Vigo in Spain, what Russia is trying to do with this reconstruction effort is to legitimize its actions after it initiated the invasion, but also to legitimize the local and regional governments that have been set up in the region. Russian president Vladimir Putin justified the invasion out of the need to denazify Ukraine and bring it back under Moscows wing. He has focused his efforts on disseminating the narrative that the eastern regions of Ukraine are ethnically and linguistically Russian and its population is mostly pro-Russian or directly Russian, but now he must prove it and try to ensure that the inhabitants of those regions uphold that narrative too, he explains. Moscows reconstruction plan will grant preference to housing, reconstructing the old town, developing the downtown area and the park, creating an extensive transportation infrastructure, and reconverting the Azovstal steelworks plant where Ukrainian forces made their final stand into an industrial and technology park. Rebuilding the historic city center On March 16, missiles hit Mariupols Drama Theater. The attack caused hundreds of deaths and injuries. Amnesty International defines it as a war crime, accusing Russia of knowing that civilians were sheltering there. That same theater is now covered with a screen, and Russian authorities, who have been in control of the city since May, are rebuilding the demolished building, along with the square in front of it. Comparison of the theater after being bombed in March 2022, and surrounded by scaffolding and covered by a tarpaulin a few months later. Maxar Technologies Almost all the buildings in the old town were damaged by the shelling, according to data from Masae Analytics, a geospatial analysis consultancy. Now the Russian government is proposing to rebuild several of the iconic buildings there as well. Lets not forget that Russia annexed the occupied territories in September 2022, Mariupol included, notes Salvador Sanchez Tapia, a professor of conflict analysis and international security at the University of Navarre. This means that to Russia, this city is an integral part of its own territory. Located just 40 kilometers from the Russian border, Mariupol is a port on the Azov Sea that is crucial to Russian supply lines. In addition, the reconstruction itself has a high symbolic value, even more so when the city was devastated and emptied out. Around 440,000 people resided there before the invasion, and it is estimated that only a quarter of its population remained after the capture of the city. Tens of thousands of people died, while others fled or were sent out of Ukraine. Why Mariupol? In Mariupol, Russian is the mother tongue of about 90% of the inhabitants, so it is a place where it makes sense to start to show the Russian-speaking population the point of the invasion, argues Salvador Sanchez: The city was devastated, and if Russia wants to present itself as a liberator, the first thing it must do is return the city back to normal. The reconstruction plan, due to take place between now and 2035, aims to reflect the narrative that Russia has saved the Russian-speaking population from Ukrainian discrimination and perpetuate its legacy in Mariupol. An Associated Press investigation based on videos and testimonies on the ground suggests that this reconstruction is a pretext to hide the war crimes that Russia committed eight months earlier by attacking a theater in full knowledge that hundreds of civilians were sheltering inside. New York City plans to transport migrants who need temporary shelter to Onondaga County next week, despite the countys emergency order that attempts to ban such transfers, according to a town official. The bus is expected to arrive in the next few days at the Candlewood Suites Syracuse Airport Hotel on South Bay Road in Salina, said Nick Paro, the Salina town supervisor. Paro said he was informed of the pending transfer in a phone call Saturday from Chris Ellis, New York Citys director of state legislative affairs. Paro said that Ellis didnt seem to care about the emergency order issued Thursday that tries to ban migrant transfers to Onondaga County and threatens to fine local hotels or motels that temporarily house them. It really is a slap in the face when you issue an emergency order and they completely ignore it, Paro told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. Ellis did not say how many asylum-seekers would be sent to the hotel or how long they would stay in the Syracuse area, Paro said. It was pretty much a courtesy call to let me know they are sending migrants to our town, Paro said. Were expecting them early next week. Paro said he will try to stop the transfer by working with County Executive Ryan McMahon to seek a restraining order against New York City. He said the town will likely go to court Monday morning. Two other New York counties, Rockland and Orange counties, succeeded in obtaining temporary restraining orders from a judge last week, blocking the migrant transfers. A spokesman for New York City Mayor Eric Adams would not discuss the citys specific plans for migrant transfers or confirm the phone call between Ellis and Paro. While we dont discuss private conversations, members of our teams reach out to all communities where we are sending asylum seekers who volunteer, said Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Adams. He said New York City is asking other communities to help deal with an unprecedented crisis. Every day, we receive hundreds of additional asylum seekers and we are out of space, Levy said. New York City has done and will continue to do its part, but we need counties, cities, and towns across the state to do their part as well, especially when New York City is willing to pay for shelter, food, and more. The manager of the Candlewood Suites on South Bay Road did not return a phone message. A principal of the two New York City real estate companies that bought the extended-stay hotel in May 2022 declined comment. Adams has come under fire for his move to transfer some asylum-seekers to locations in New York Citys suburbs and Upstate New York. New York City is required by a local right-to-shelter law to pay for the temporary housing of migrants, costing the city billions of dollars. The city pays for food, shelter, laundry, security and case workers who assist the asylum-seekers. Many of the migrants have arrived in the city after accepting free bus rides from Southern states, whose shelters were overflowing amid a surge of asylum-seekers crossing at the Mexican border. Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency earlier this month over a surge of 71,000 migrants who arrived in the state, mostly in New York City. The emergency expedites $1 billion in state aid to localities to address the crisis. Paro and McMahon say they are concerned the influx of migrants to Onondaga County would eventually become a local burden on taxpayers and social service agencies once the city stops paying the bill after four months. Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Cortland and Oneida counties in Central New York issued emergency orders last week that temporarily ban the transfer of migrants into the counties. The orders allow for motels or other shelters in the counties to be fined for housing migrants. McMahons order in Onondaga County directed the sheriff to pull over vehicles suspected of carrying migrants into the county and inform drivers that those who transport migrants face fines of $2,000 per migrant per day. The order lasts only five days but can be renewed in five-day increments. Sheriffs deputies would also be asked to inform hotels or other places that provide shelter to migrants that they face civil penalties of up to $2,000 per migrant for each day they are housed in the county. Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that his department wont enforce the order because it may not be legal. Shelley said deputies need probable cause to pull over vehicles and would not engage in racial profiling of passengers. The emergency order does not direct sheriffs deputies to arrest those suspected to be in violation of the temporary ban. Hochul said state officials are searching for willing community partners to temporarily house some of the asylum-seekers. The governor said last week the state is looking at SUNY campuses and other state-owned properties to use as temporary shelters. READ MORE Sheriff wont enforce order to stop migrants coming to Onondaga County Ryan McMahon issues emergency order banning migrant transfer to Onondaga County Oswego County issues emergency order that bans housing of migrants McMahon: Onondaga County needs to prepare for national migrant crisis Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Students of Rome Free Academy celebrated at their junior prom on Saturday, May 20, 2023. The event was held at Theodores in Canastota. Our photographer captured the excitement, fun and amazing gowns, suits, and accessories. We hope you enjoy the photos taken at the event, taken by contributing photographer Marilu Lopez Fretts. Students of Liverpool High School celebrated at their junior prom Saturday, May 20, 2023. The event was held at the Carnegie Conference Center at Drivers Village in Cicero. Our photographer captured the excitement, fun and amazing gowns, suits, and accessories. We hope you enjoy the photos taken at the event, taken by contributing photographer Alaina Potrikus Beckett. Students of Mexico High School celebrated at their junior prom Saturday, May 20, 2023. The event was held at Bayshore Grove in Oswego. Our photographer captured the excitement, fun and amazing gowns, suits, and accessories. We hope you enjoy the photos taken at the event, taken by contributing photographer Joanna Young. Students of East Syracuse Minoa High School celebrated at their junior prom Saturday, May 20, 2023. The event had a Hollywood theme and was held at Barbagallos in East Syracuse. Our photographer captured the excitement, fun and amazing gowns, suits, and accessories. We hope you enjoy the photos taken at the event, taken by contributing photographer Lia Garnes. Marcellus High School students celebrated at the Crystal Ball Cruise at the school on Saturday, May 20, 2023. Its an anual event that leads up to their senior ball. After the event, they traveled to Daniellas at the New York State Fairgrounds to continue the celebration. Our photographer captured the excitement, fun and amazing gowns, suits, and accessories. We hope you enjoy the photos taken at the event, taken by contributing photographer Rhonda Hawes. Mikhailo Vershinin, head of Mariupol's Police Patrol speaks by a radio on his base in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The group are treated as heroes across Ukraine for drawing Russian forces away from the attack elsewhere in the country and for changing the course of the war. Mikhailo Vershinin was a shadow of the burly Mariupol policeman he was when he emerged after four months in Russian captivity. He now dedicates his life to freeing other Ukrainians in Russian captivity, which he said was a relentless period of torture and hunger. The head of Mariupols Police Patrol, he was among hundreds to surrender from the Russian siege of the Azovstal steel mill on the orders of the Ukrainian president a year ago and was close to death on the day he was exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. He experienced first-hand the day the final square of the besieged city fell and now recalls it with both deep sadness, but a sense of purpose for Ukraines future. The air strikes had been relentless for weeks, but the skies fell silent while Russian and Ukrainian officers negotiated terms of surrender. At the time, Vershinin said, it seemed like the only chance for both the men and women with him underground and for Mariupol. Azovstals last stand also became a rallying point for many countries hesitating about support for Ukraine. Beginning with Mariupol, the world started to wake up in understanding whats going on, he said. We knew perfectly well that we locked on ourselves lots of Russian forces. We were like a bone in the throat of Russia. The group hoped for reinforcements that never came, then finally surrendered. But Russia failed to keep its promises to treat the prisoners of war under the rules of the Geneva Convention. Torture, hunger, and illness stalked the group. More than 700 remain in captivity: winning their release has been a priority for the Ukrainian government, and for Vershinin, who was in a group exchanged for Russian prisoners of war last fall. The men and women who fought to the last at Azovstal are heroes and martyrs across Ukraine, their faces on posters and giant banners. At the time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained the order to surrender because Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. Its our principle. But Vershinin said ill-treatment was routine as their Russian captors tried to turn men against each other and starve them into submission. Now I can say this: If we knew what awaited us in prison, many people would not go, would not surrender. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Nvidia has long been the face of advanced computing thanks due in large part to its incredible graphics cards. But now, following an announcement dated May 17th, 2023, Nvidia is pushing headlong into even more exciting avenues, most of all situated in the artificial intelligence world, with a new partnership with ServiceNow. The company has also debuted brand new RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti graphics cards, set to release in July and May 23rd. Nvidia's partnership with business IT gurus ServiceNow will see the firms collaborating on an "enterprise-grade generative AI," which will aim to "transform business processes" by making them far swifter in tandem with "more intelligent workflow automation." Nvidia and AI have long been associated, but now more than ever, the firm is targeting the tech sphere for some incredible breakthroughs in the face of Google's Bard and OpenAI's ChatGPT. Artificial intelligence, much akin to the metaverse concept that pervaded conversations last year, has no sooner taken the cultural zeitgeist by storm. Specifically, generative AI is on everyone's mind, shaping the way we look at written workflows, coding, planning, social media campaigning, and so much more. AI aims to steal a large portion of the tech market, despite the current concerns of a market recession, with a potential 37.3% compound annual growth rate over 2022's estimated $136.55 billion valuation. To say money is in AI would be an understatement. Related Article: Nvidia vs. AMD: Next-Gen GPU is Coming, But Who Will Reign Supreme? Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang spoke with CNBC on May 17th, highlighting the massive strides we've experienced in computing and noting the importance of AI's ever-growing foothold. Huang himself says: "We have reinvented computing for the first time since the IBM System 360, 60 years ago. There's a trillion dollars worth of data center infrastructure installed in the world based on that old method of computation. Now we have accelerated computing, and we have the killer app for generative computing: generative AI." With the help of Nvidia's accelerated computing platforms, ServiceNow will build a large language model to ensure that business operations are streamlined and that data is far more readily available where necessary. Huang himself describes the partnership as an "engine for transforming all of that data into generative AI models," which will, in turn, help to solve "thousand of problems" in the enterprise world. The firm would only unveil its newest graphics card lineup a day later, which sees the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 bathed in the limelight. The Ti iteration, which comes in a $399 8GB model and a $499 16GB model, will feature (among a plethora of other features) DLSS 3 support and Shader Execution Reordering, both of which leverage AI capabilities for smoother frame rates. The RTX 4060 Ti is slated to drop on May 24, 2023, while the non-Ti variant is scheduled to release sometime in July. It's important to note Nvidia's continued expansion into AI-related concepts, utilizing the framework to better its hardware-bound components. The firm glowingly states in its press release, "AI is the future of gaming and creating." Following the announcement on Wednesday, May 17, Nvidia saw a 7% uptick, with shares reaching as high as $309. As of writing, the firm's trajectory has jumped even more on the heels of its new GPU unveiling, sporting a 4% increase with a market price of $313.92 a share. Starting at $299, the ALL-NEW GeForce RTX 4060 Family brings DLSS 3, ray tracing + Reflex to more gamers & creators. Want your chance to WIN 1 of 460? Use #RTX4060 + tag a creator below that deserves an upgrade - if chosen they'll get 2 GeForce RTX 4060 cards to give away! pic.twitter.com/3oqsZx71kj NVIDIA GeForce (@NVIDIAGeForce) May 18, 2023 Many market analysts are now speculating that Nvidia, which currently boasts a $770 billion market cap, could inevitably be inducted into the $1 trillion market cap grouping by the end of the year. Nvidia would, however, have to hit a 30% jump, which may well be possible in the face of ever-growing AI hype and continued GPU sales. The firm has already witnessed in 2023 alone a 113% plus stock increase; thus, anything is possible, especially in this now ever-evolving AI-driven market. Read Also: Microsoft and Nvidia Announce Expansive New Gaming Deal 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The FBI has charged a Nevada resident for his alleged involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme known as CoinDeal. The scheme reportedly defrauded more than 10,000 victims, resulting in losses exceeding $45 million. Bryan Lee, aged 57 and residing in Las Vegas, was set to appear in federal court on Friday, May 19. Fraud Charges As per court documents, the individual in question stands accused of collaborating with Neil Chandran and others in defrauding investors who had invested in companies under Chandran's control. These companies, collectively referred to as "ViRSE," encompass Free Vi Lab, Studio Vi Inc., ViDelivery Inc., ViMarket Inc., Skalex USA Inc., and other entities. Supposedly, their primary focus revolved around the development of virtual-world technologies, including a proprietary cryptocurrency, intending to implement them in a metaverse. Allegedly, Chandran deceived investors by falsely guaranteeing exorbitant returns, asserting that his companies were about to be acquired by a consortium of affluent purchasers. The indictment further claims that the Nevada man, acting as the nominal owner and director of ViMarket, dutifully complied with Chandran's instructions on allocating investor funds into ViMarket's bank accounts. It is alleged that he misappropriated millions of dollars obtained from investors together with Chandran, utilizing these funds for personal gratification, such as acquiring luxury vehicles and real estate properties. The indictment sets forth numerous charges against him, including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and engaging in monetary transactions associated with unlawfully obtained assets. In the event of a conviction, Lee could potentially receive a maximum prison term of 20 years for each count of wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy and up to 10 years for each instance of engaging in illicit monetary transactions. Read Also: FBI Raises Alarm on Rising Elder Fraud Rates, Reports 84% Surge in Losses Alleged Involvement Neil Chandran, who has been implicated in the fraudulent scheme, was apprehended in June 2022 and has already faced charges related to his alleged involvement. Additionally, Michael Glaspie, who reportedly played a deceptive role in promoting the investment alongside Chandran's companies, operating under the name "CoinDeal," has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. The sentencing hearing for Glaspie is scheduled to take place on June 16. The announcement of Lee's charges was made jointly by Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Steven A. Russell for the District of Nebraska, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, and Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office. The FBI Washington Field Office is leading the investigation into the case, with support from the FBI Las Vegas and Omaha Field Offices. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief William E. Johnston and Trial Attorney Tian Huang of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section in collaboration with Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Kleine for the District of Nebraska. Meanwhile, Senior Policy Advisor Darrin McCullough of the Criminal Division's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section oversees forfeiture matters. FBI recommends that all individuals affected by the scheme visit its website to identify themselves as potential victims and obtain valuable information about the case. However, it is crucial to note that an indictment represents an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, as noted by the FBI. Related Article: FBI Gives Advice to Android, iPhone Users On How To Prevent Internet-Enabled Crimes; Check These 3 Rules 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Researchers from the Illinois Institute of Technology have conducted a study that uncovers the key predictors of bitcoin returns, offering valuable insights for investors, economists, and academics. The study challenges conventional wisdom and sheds light on the role of blockchain technology, investor sentiment, and economic stress levels in predicting the behavior of the popular cryptocurrency. Predictors of Bitcoin Returns Led by Sang Baum "Solomon" Kang, an associate professor of finance at Illinois Tech's Stuart School of Business, the study provides empirical evidence that challenges the notion of Bitcoin's correlation with economic fundamentals. Kang collaborated with his former doctoral students, Yao Xie and Jialin Zhao, in analyzing a vast amount of data spanning from January 2011 to January 2020, encompassing 25 information variables across various categories. The study highlights the significance of blockchain technology, investor sentiment, and economic stress levels as reliable predictors of bitcoin returns. Kang explains, "We find that blockchain technology, investor sentiment, and stress levels have predictive power for bitcoin returns." The researchers challenge the traditional belief that conventional asset returns can effectively forecast bitcoin returns. Instead, they identify longer return horizons as being more indicative of Bitcoin's return predictability, supporting the idea that Bitcoin functions both as a technical artifact and a speculative asset. Read Also: CryptoWatch: is Cryptocurrency Dead in the US? Bitcoin Whitepaper Disappears on macOS, Coinbase Sues SEC Key Findings The study's findings offer intriguing insights into the predictors of Bitcoin returns. One key finding suggests that mining Bitcoin has become more challenging. It positively predicts returns. As blockchain technology requirements increase, the supply of Bitcoin diminishes, resulting in higher returns. Moreover, investor sentiment emerges as a significant driver of bitcoin returns, highlighting the speculative nature of the cryptocurrency. Conversely, higher stress levels and economic turmoil correlate with decreased future bitcoin returns, highlighting the risks associated with owning bitcoin as an asset. The study disrupts the conventional categorization of Bitcoin, uncovering its intricate and versatile nature. Bitcoin has assumed diverse economic roles throughout its existence, functioning as a medium of exchange, a speculative investment, and a sought-after safe-haven asset due to its limited supply and the expenses associated with mining. Kang emphasizes the significance of these findings, stating, "An underlying principle is that variables predicting the future movement of an asset price may be important in the economic system. "So understanding what those variables are is important not only to traders who want to take a position in bitcoin, but also to economists who want to understand the nature of bitcoin." This study conducted by researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology adds to the growing body of knowledge surrounding Bitcoin. The study equips investors, economists, and academics with valuable tools to navigate the complex cryptocurrency market by uncovering the predictors of bitcoin returns. The study's findings were published in The Journal of Alternative Investments. Related Article: Bitcoin Whitepaper Disappears from macOS 13 Beta Despite Previous Versions Having Copies 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Step into the intriguing world of ancient Roman rituals as archaeologists and biologists unveil astonishing evidence of bird sacrifices at the Temple of Isis in Pompeii. This remarkable find sheds light on the worship practices of the goddess Isis and the role birds played in the religious ceremonies of the time. Birds for Isis The goddess Isis, initially revered in ancient Egypt, gained popularity across the Roman Empire. With myths surrounding her ability to resurrect the dead, she became known as a divine figure guiding souls into the afterlife. The worship of Isis reached its zenith in the Roman Empire, where she was hailed as the "great mother." Archaeologists Chiara Assunta Corbino and Beatrice Demarchi embarked on a journey to unravel the secrets of the Temple of Isis in Pompeii. Their study focused on the frescos adorning the temple walls, which provided invaluable insight into the rituals and banquets associated with the goddess. The researchers hypothesize that these elaborate rituals were conducted by priests, who meticulously orchestrated ceremonies to honor the divine figure. By examining the frescos, Corbino and Demarchi made a significant discovery-they found striking imagery depicting birds as integral components of the rituals. Geese, turtle doves, chickens, and ibises were among the avian offerings, accompanied by pigs and some sea animals. The presence of these depictions strengthens the belief that bird sacrifices played a crucial role in Isis' worship throughout the Roman Empire. The Temple of Isis faced destruction during an earthquake in approximately A.D. 62, leaving it in ruins. However, the frescos analyzed by the researchers appeared to have been added post-earthquake during temple renovations. These newly uncovered artworks shed light on the private and clandestine nature of these rituals, as they were performed away from prying eyes. Read Also: 2,000-Year-Old Cave Art May Suggest that Ice Age Hunter-Gatherers Were the First to Use a Calendar - New Study Unique to Italy Notably, the discovery of the Isis frescos marks a milestone in the field of archaeology. These artworks, unique to Italy, offer a glimpse into the sacred ceremonies dedicated to the goddess. Remarkably, the charred remains of the sacrificial birds indicate that they were not only offered but also consumed during lavish banquets, mirroring the scenes depicted in the frescos themselves. Corbino and Demarchi's findings paint a vivid picture of the intricate religious practices that captivated the ancient Romans. The bird sacrifices to the revered goddess Isis exemplify the devotion and spiritual connection the people felt toward her. As we delve deeper into the secrets of the past, the Temple of Isis in Pompeii unravels yet another layer of ancient history. This fascinating archaeological discovery unveils birds' significant role in religious ceremonies and emphasizes the enduring influence of the goddess Isis in the ancient Roman Empire. The study, titled "Birds for Isis: The evidence from Pompeii," was published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. Related Article: Archaeologists Find an Extremely Rare 1,300-year-old Gold and Gemstone Necklace From a Medieval Woman in England 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. France is accusing Apple of limiting the lifespan of its iPhones and other products. Because of this, a Paris prosecutor plans to act against the tech giant manufacturer. The official confirmed this initiative on May 15, saying that an official investigation into accusations against Apple will happen. The investigation, which was delegated to the Department of Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF), is expected to prove that Apple breaks France's laws. Once allegations against Apple are confirmed to be true, the Paris prosecutor could fine the gadget developer. France Accuses Apple of Limiting iPhone Lifespan According to Ars Technica's latest report, Apple is allegedly pursuing a business model of planned "obsolescence." Also Read: Apple App Store Transparency Report: First Details on Cupertino's Promise to Developers, Users For those unfamiliar with obsolescence, it is the method of designing products in a way that intentionally limits their lifespan. Via The Wired, The Repair Academy CEO Alexandre Isaac said that the short lifespan of Apple products is a problem that keeps on getting worse. He stated that his team always finds locked parts in newly released iPhones, such as a chip on the motherboard. After that, discovers a list of parts with repair restrictions. These include the Face ID, Touch ID, camera, screen, and battery. Isaac explained that forcing consumers to pay accredited technicians is like encouraging them to throw their devices away instead of fixing them. This is because Apple repairs cost more than second-hand iPhones and other used Apple devices. France Pushing Right To Repair For the past few years, the French government has been pushing the right-to-repair movement. One of France's efforts was to introduce Europe's first repairability scoring system. France wants to take on Apple and how it designs and manufactures iPhones and other gadgets. "France is pushing for the right to repair in ways that nobody else has yet," said iFixit Sustainability Director Elizabeth Chamberlain. She added that it is the first time a movement against obsolescence is seen nationally. If you want to learn more about France's allegations against Apple, you can click here. In other news, Apple's generative AI job offerings were spotted on its official website. We also reported about the new Apple TV Multiview feature that was previously unveiled. For more news updates about Apple and other giant gadget makers, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes. Related Article: Apple Tysons Corner Store Opens: Redesigned and Relocated 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Get ready for a historic event this Sunday, May 21, as a groundbreaking private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is about to take off from Florida. Organized by Axiom Space, this mission will mark a major milestone as it carries the first two Saudi astronauts, including the first Saudi woman to venture into space. The 4-Person Axiom Space Crew Joining a 4-person crew is Rayyanah Barnawi, a remarkable breast cancer researcher who is set to make history as the first Saudi woman to journey into space. Along her is Ali Al-Qarni, a skilled fighter pilot, forming the crew of the Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2). The crew's momentous journey will commence aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, soaring from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida at precisely 5:37 pm (2137 GMT). Accompanying them on this extraordinary journey is mission commander Peggy Whitson, a veteran NASA astronaut embarking on her fourth flight to the ISS, and John Shoffner, a visionary businessman from Tennessee who will serve as the pilot. An AFP report shared by Phys.org tells us that this remarkable team will spend approximately ten days aboard the ISS, with their anticipated arrival scheduled for Monday around 1:30 pm. First Saudi Woman in Space During a recent press conference, Barnawi expressed her overwhelming joy and honor at being chosen as the first Saudi woman astronaut. She emphasized the immense significance of representing her region and the thrilling opportunity to conduct research in the infinite expanse of space. Read Also: SpaceX brings Ship 25, the latest Starship Prototype to Launch Pad for its Static Fire Test of the Raptors Barnawi also shared her anticipation of sharing her awe-inspiring experience with children while aboard the ISS, knowing that witnessing astronauts from their own region will undoubtedly captivate their imaginations. KSA Astronauts As for Al-Qarni, his lifelong passion for exploring the unknown and his reverence for the heavens have led him to this incredible opportunity. As a career fighter pilot, he expressed profound gratitude for the chance to pursue his passion and potentially soar among the stars. While this is not Saudi Arabia's inaugural foray into space, as Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz participated in a US-organized space voyage back in 1985, the inclusion of a Saudi woman in a space mission represents the country's ongoing commitment to transforming its ultraconservative image. Saudi Arabia established the Saudi Space Commission in 2018 and initiated a program last year aimed at sending its own astronauts into space. Experiments in Space The Ax-2 crew will conduct approximately 20 groundbreaking experiments during their stay aboard the ISS. One particularly notable experiment involves studying the behavior of stem cells in the unique environment of zero gravity. They will join the existing seven crew members already on the ISS, consisting of three Russians, three Americans, and Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, who made history as the first Arab national to perform a spacewalk just last month. The AFP report tells us that this mission to the ISS marks Axiom Space's second collaboration with NASA, serving as the key holder for the ISS. Axiom Space, a pioneering private space company, offers rare opportunities for space voyages, albeit for significant sums of money. The company handles the extensive training of the astronauts, arranges their transportation, and ensures the smooth management of their stay aboard the ISS. Related Article: NASA's Artemis Program Selects Bezos' Blue Origin to Develop Lunar Landing System for Artemis V Mission 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at the Grand Prince Hotel, during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Saturday, May 20, 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Saturday in Japan for talks with the leaders of the worlds most powerful democracies, a personal appearance meant to galvanize global attention as the nations ratcheted up pressure on Moscow for its 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for whats seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyys in-person visit to the G7 summit comes just hours after the United States agreed to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Host nation Japan said Zelenskyys inclusion stems from his strong wish to participate in talks with the bloc and other countries that will influence his nations defense against Russia. Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today, Zelenskyy tweeted upon his arrival on a plane provided by France. A European Union official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. One session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. Another will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on peace and stability. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. It is necessary to improve (Ukraines) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots, Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. Russias deputy defense minister, Alexander Grushko, accused Western countries of continuing along the path of escalation, following the announcements that raised the possibility of sending F-16s to Kyiv. The G7 vowed to intensify the pressure in its joint statement Saturday. Russias brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, the group said. G7 leaders have faced a balancing act as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine. China, the worlds No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 on Saturday said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, the leaders statement said. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. Weve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward, Sullivan said. Bidens decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida separately held one-on-one talks with leaders, including Modi, who is hosting the gathering of G20 world leaders later this year. India, the worlds largest democracy, has been measured in its comments on the war in Ukraine, and has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. The leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to Chinas investment dollars. Biden, who scrapped plans to travel on to Papua New Guinea and Australia after his stay in Japan so that he can get back to debt limit talks in Washington, is also meeting with leaders of the so-called Quad partnership, made up of Japan, Australia, India and the United States. The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition "A step towards denationalization of the economy": Russian politicians and scientists on the adoption of the law "On Cooperation in the USSR" Suspicion of cheating in Abitur exams: That's why it's so difficult to convict AI cheaters The tiny workshop that drives the residents of Chamberi crazy with its more than 30 varieties of 'cheesecakes' The mother of young Eya, abducted by her father, on her way to Denmark Sweden is becoming smoke-free, dinosaurs were survivors and Charles Darwin was afraid of his pious wife: The reading recommendations of the week from the science editorial team of SPIEGEL. (Copy) Why your children will not need to speak "the language of machines" as Pedro Sanchez says La Carnaza, a new temple of the hamburger to the rhythm of rock and roll Ukrainian counterattack. When was it planned? Did he exhaust the Russian forces? Experts and scholars discussed: how to deal with the pandemic in the post-epidemic era? - China News Network video Bear infestation increases in June every year Proper management of food waste and fruit trees Ministry of the Environment Beauty, novel and tragedy of the best skyscraper in New York The female nudity that sweeps the red carpets: neither Irina Shayk was the first nor will be the last 2023 days countdown to the college entrance examination in 10: the first time in many places to equip this test room! Shogi "Eio-sen" Stage 4 Sota Fujii will defend or will it be decided in the afternoon There is still heavy rainfall in Henan, Anhui and other places, and most of the southern part is sweltering and hot, and the local body feeling reaches 40 C Central Meteorological Observatory: There is heavy rainfall in the Jianghuai region and the eastern part of the Sichuan Basin Roglic snatches the pink jersey from Thomas and is on the verge of overall victory To watch.. 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Sundays Greek parliamentary election looks likely to be a dress rehearsal for a new round of voting in the busy summer tourist season barring a surprise coalition deal by dissonant opposition parties. Opinion polls indicate that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis center-right New Democracy could rake in about 35%, some 6 percentage points ahead of leftwing former prime minister Alexis Tsipras Syriza party. But ND still wouldnt have enough to govern alone, and sharp divisions between the two main contenders and the four smaller parties forecast to enter parliament all but preclude a functioning coalition under either ND or Syriza. A second election on July 2 seems likely. It would be held under a new electoral law giving the winner a boost of up to 50 of Parliaments 300 seats, which the current system doesnt. With the economy rebounding after the 2009-2018 financial crisis, military tensions with neighboring Turkey which nearly boiled over in 2020 in abeyance and benefits blunting the cost-of-living crisis, no single issue dominated campaigning. Much of the discourse focused on potential coalition deals. Heres a glance at the main candidates: Kyriakos Mitsotakis A former banking executive, the 55-year-old Harvard graduate was born into a political dynasty that produced a former prime minister, a former foreign minister and the current Mayor of Athens. Mitsotakis has led New Democracy Greeces right-of-center pole for the past half century since 2016, steering it closer to the political center with a pro-reform and pro-business agenda. Elected prime minister in 2019, he has been credited with Greeces successful handling of the pandemic and of two crises with neighboring Turkey, while overseeing high growth and job creation. But a wiretapping scandal and a railway disaster damaged his ratings. Nevertheless, Mitsotakis has argued against any post-electoral coalition deal, saying Greece needs a strong government to ensure stability and a return to investment grade for its bonds ending the last salient reminder of the 2009-2018 financial crisis. Going to a second election would suit him due to the seat bonus, though hes suggested that a third election might be on the cards, if needed. Alexis Tspiras A 48-year-old civil engineering graduate, Tsipras transformed former minnow Syriza into Greeces dominant left-of-center grouping. He became prime minister amid the financial crisis in 2015 in a surprise coalition with a populist rightwing party promising to end deep spending cuts. Instead, he oversaw a painful new bailout deal. His second term, from 2015-2019, saw rapprochement with bailout lenders and a historic agreement to normalize ties with neighboring North Macedonia. Hes pledging to reverse some previous reforms, expand welfare and legalize same-sex marriage. Trailing ND in the polls, Tsipras may see Sundays vote as his best shot at forming a governing coalition with at least two other opposition parties. Thats because the new electoral system in July, with the winners bonus, would leave the runner-up in a weaker position. His broad appeals for a progressive alliance have so far been rebuffed. Nikos Androulakis Androulakis, 44, heads the remnants of Greeces formerly dominant Pasok socialist party, which was superseded by Syriza during the financial crisis. Polling at around 10%, Pasok would be vital in any coalition deal. Androulakis poor relationship with Mitsotakis whom he accuses of covering up the wiretapping scandal which targeted Androulakis himself, among others render a deal with ND unlikely. But hes on bad terms with Tsipras too, accusing him of trying to poach Pasok voters. Dimitris Koutsoumbas The 67-year-old heads the Greek Communist Party, or KKE, a Stalinist-rooted enclave in Greek politics whose core support amounted to a steady 4.5-5.5% over the past decade. Koutsoumbas has shown zero inclination to form an alliance with Communist-rooted Syriza, or even help it form a minority government. Yanis Varoufakis Tsipras flamboyant finance minister during the 2015 standoff with Greeces bailout creditors, Varoufakis resigned after Tsipras backed a new bailout deal ignoring a referendum in which most Greeks voted to reject it. Varoufakis, 62, founded his leftwing European Realistic Disobedience Front (MeRA25) party in 2018 and entered parliament a year later. Polling at just over the parliamentary entry threshold of 3%, hes a potential coalition partner for Syriza despite the 2015 rift although his renewed calls for a confrontation with bailout lenders might prove too rich for Tsipras. Kyriakos Velopoulos Velopoulos, 57, heads the rightwing Elliniki Lysi (Greek Solution) which elected 10 lawmakers in 2019 and looks set to re-enter parliament. His party advocates stopping asylum seekers at the border and forcibly returning them to Turkey, while dumping those who slip the net in reception facilities on uninhabited islets. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition A resident pulls a garbage can from the water near Audubon and Cohn streets Sunday morning after a water main break. Creating half-a-million new jobs in five years is the campaign promise that has been made by Santiago Pena, who won his countrys presidential elections this past April. Its a promise that would be difficult to fulfill in any part of the world. But in Paraguay which has a working-age population made up of 3.5 million people it could be mission impossible for Pena, who leads the Colorado Party, a liberal party that has governed the South American nation throughout almost its entire history. In his favor, the president-elect has the support of two decades of macroeconomic stability and an economy that, according to the IMF, could grow up to 4.5% this year. But the adverse conditions are at least as significant: Paraguays public debt that has multiplied four times over the last 10 years and tax collection is at insufficient levels. Meanwhile, the economic model primarily based on the export of natural resources seems to have little capacity to generate new employment. After shrinking by as much as 0.8% in the worst year of the pandemic, Paraguays GDP has been in positive territory since 2021, when it recovered with a generous rebound of 4.1%. The 4.5% growth that is expected for 2023 is mostly due to the export of soybeans and beef the main engines of an economy that is also committed to corn and agroforestry production, with increasingly lower taxation for foreign investment. Tax collection has never been Paraguays strong suit, with tax revenue amounting to less than 9.5% of GDP in 2020, according to the World Bank. Comparably, neighboring Argentina and Brazil are above 30%. But the contribution of the soybean sector is even more shocking, with less than 0.16% of the sectors revenue being collected in taxes, according to a study by economist Sarah Zevaco. And other types of produce dont have any tax at all. Paraguay is the only country where grain production is not taxed, explains Alheli Gonzalez Caceres, from the Political Economy Society of Paraguay. Job creation is the argument used to justify the tax exemption. But the problem with Paraguays highly-mechanized agricultural industry is that it doesnt require many workers. On the other hand, the concentration of land in the hands of only a few citizens prevents that wealth from being distributed to smaller landowners. According to data from the last agricultural census (2008), at least 85% of the land is in the hands of only 2.5% of the population. More information Is Paraguay the next cryptocurrency mecca? Betting on extensive agricultural exploitation and logging not only threatens the redistribution of wealth: it also endangers indigenous communities, the countrys biodiversity and food sovereignty. Safeguarding the productive diversity of the Paraguayan peasant economy is essential for feeding the vulnerable sectors and the lower middle class in the cities, explains Dionisio Borda, who served as Finance Minister during the progressive government of Fernando Lugo (2008-2012). In Paraguay, there is also the problem of ill-gotten land. This is in reference to the seven million hectares that military dictator Alfredo Stroessner who ruled from 1954 until 1989 and was affiliated with the Colorado Party seized and handed over to the military, politicians and friendly businessmen. A year ago, a commission was created to put these illegally obtained lands back into the hands of small farmers. So far, however, little progress has been made. The peasant movement had some capacity to exert pressure but, during the presidency of Mario Abdo Benitez (2018-present), a law was passed that criminalized peasant protest. This has made the recovery of those ill-gotten lands even more difficult. Small producers need government support, not only regarding the land problem which is fundamental but also to help them obtain credit and make technological improvements, Borda emphasizes. Another characteristic that distinguishes the Paraguayan economy is the gigantic flow of energy generated by two large hydroelectric plants that it shares with Argentina (Yacireta) and Brazil (Itaipu). While partners such as Brazil have taken advantage of this cheap energy for industrial development, Paraguay has never made the necessary investments in transmission technology that would have allowed the country to adopt an economic model with greater capacity to generate employment. In the opinion of economist Luis Rojas, the reason this industrialization effort never came about was because the Colorado Party has always preferred to sell Paraguayan energy surpluses to Argentina and Brazil to obtain resources with which to finance the state, which employs some 338,000 people as of 2022. According to Rojas, having almost 10% of the voting-age population work for the state is a winning strategy whenever election day rolls around. The only industrialization that has occurred in recent years are the maquilas [rudimentary factories], [designed to support] industrial processes in Brazil, with very favorable laws and exemption from taxes and tariffs. This has brought many companies into Paraguay, but the transformation is minimal and, immediately after it is made, the product is exported again. No industrial process is installed, he laments. When he takes office this August 15, one of Penas urgent tasks will be to renegotiate the treaty that regulates the sale of surplus Paraguayan energy to Brazil. According to Borda, there are two key variables in this negotiation: raising a rate that has been calculated for 50 years according to the cost of production (and not by the market price) and obtaining the freedom to sell the surplus to third countries, such as Argentina or Uruguay. During Lugos government, an agreement was reached with Lula [during the Brazilian presidents previous terms in power, from 2003 until 2010], whereby the payment for the energy that Paraguay sold to Brazil went from about $120 million a year to about $360 million. But I dont know if this will be possible [with todays Lula, who retook office at the start of this year], because he is under great pressure from his business sector and has less flexibility, Borda notes. Public debt is also cause for concern. When former president Horacio Cartes (also of the Colorado Party) took office in 2013, Paraguays debt stood at $3.5 billion, representing 10% of GDP. And, 10 years later, it now stands at $15 billion, representing 37% of GDP. Even the IMF, says Borda known for advocating pro-market policies is advising the government in Asuncion to increase taxes. Without more revenue, it will be impossible to clear debt and address the very serious deficiencies in public health and education. The indirect tax on consumption [sales tax] paid by the poor and the lower middle class represents more than half of the tax collection at the moment, Borda explains. This figure seems inconceivable in a country where one in four people is poor and two out of three workers have no social protection. Borda believes that a tax reform must include a progressive income tax, which, today, doesnt exceed 10%, no matter how much someone is earning. He also thinks that corporate taxes need to be raised it stands at 8%, an extremely low figure as does a tax on wealth. People who speculate with land in Paraguay do so firstly because it is cheap, but also because the tax they pay for the land is negligible. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Explainers are in and headlines are out at the countrys most prestigious journalism awards, in a move by the Walkley Foundation that, in a rarity for the fractious industry, has not been met with outrage. The foundations changes, announced on Thursday, sidestepped calls for a dedicated environment reporting award and others from journalists who wanted their specific area of focus recognised with a prize. The Walkleys instead opted for a specialist and beat reporting category to go alongside the new explanatory journalism category and returning international reporting award, but axed a prize for best headline, hook or caption. Walkley Awards judging board chair Michael Brissenden stewarded the changes. Credit: Brook Mitchell The last batch of changes, in 2017, dropped the international reporting award and caused an outcry replete with a petition from almost 480 industry signatories to reverse the decision. This time the Walkleys consulted more widely. Former ABC reporter Michael Brissenden, who chairs the Walkley judging panel, said many news outlets had advocated for awards in subject areas they thought were important. We accept that, but we couldnt open the awards up for every single subject area that somebody suggests should be recognised, Brissenden said. ABC managing director David Anderson has apologised to journalist Stan Grant after the Q+A presenter quit the show and said he felt the broadcaster abandoned him to face persistent racist attacks alone. In his first comments since Grant made his criticisms public on Friday, Anderson announced he would review how the ABC tackles racism affecting its staff but also hit out at sustained and vitriolic coverage of the national broadcaster from unnamed commercial outlets. ABC Q+A host Stan Grant has received an apology from the broadcasters managing director. Credit: James Brickwood Stan has our full support, Anderson said in an email to staff obtained by this masthead. And he has always had our full support. Stan makes an enormous contribution to conversations of national importance. Grant, a Wiradjuri man and one of the ABCs stars, appeared on its live coverage in the hours leading up to the coronation for a panel on the contemporary meaning of the monarchy where he spoke about how the Crown had put a weight on Indigenous people. 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 It was not the death 80-year-old Luba Aronovitch had wanted. The trained midwife and beauty therapist, who passed away three weeks ago with advanced dementia, told her family and friends many times she wanted to access voluntary assisted dying when she lost her independence and could no longer communicate. Judith Aronovitch holds pictures of her mother Luba. Credit: Darrian Traynor In the end, her daughter Judith spent five nights in a palliative care facility sleeping by Lubas side as she moaned in agony. She clutched at her neck, telling her only daughter in Polish: Im choking. It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen, Aronovitch says. It was everything she didnt want to happen. It was torturous. She was letting out these quiet screams. She was crying, but because she was so dehydrated, there were no tears. As Victorias landmark voluntary assisted dying legislation comes up for review, doctors, families and patients are calling for the scheme to be expanded to include people with dementia. Advertisement Its an illness that accounts for almost 10 per cent of all deaths nationally and is the leading cause of mortality for women. Those with dementia face a catch-22: in the earlier stages of the disease, they have the mental capacity to request voluntary assisted dying but they do not meet strict eligibility criteria because their death is not imminent. Once dementia advances, they are shut out of the laws because they are no longer able to consent. Luba Aronovitch Beverly Baker, the president of the National Older Womens Network, supports the expansion of voluntary assisted dying to include people with dementia but says its an area that needs a massive amount of care and protections. Loading She says safeguards including advanced care directives a plan that documents a persons preference for future medical treatment are needed to ensure a manipulative relative doesnt kill off their parents to claim their inheritance. Baker is concerned that without the option of voluntary assisted dying, people with dementia might contemplate suicide. Advertisement Thats cruel to the people who find your body, she says. Thats cruel to your family if they are engaged in it because they can be prosecuted. When Kevyn Morris was diagnosed with dementia six years ago, he sat down with his lawyer and wife and wrote an end-of-life plan in the hope that Victorias voluntary assisted dying laws would change. It stated that he wanted to access voluntary assisted dying when he could no longer look after himself. Kevyn Morris was diagnosed with dementia six years ago and wants to access voluntary assisted dying. While Morris currently has a good quality of life and keeps himself busy with family, travel, photography and as an advisory committee member for Dementia Australia, he knows this will not always be the case. Morris dementia is slowly progressing. He sometimes forgets words, gets lost in conversation and struggles with tasks he previously found easy like oil painting. If I end up sitting in a chair staring out at nothing or flat on my back in a bed, then that is not a life for me, the 62-year-old Wodonga man says. Advertisement That would be cruel. If you were a horse, you would be put down and no one would blink an eyelid. Intensive care specialist Dr Bill Silvester, who is pushing for legislation to be expanded, believes the current voluntary assisted dying laws discriminate against people with dementia. Loading They cant record ahead of time what they would want under circumstances and just because they have dementia does not mean the views they had in the past are not valid, he says. Silvester, who is the founding president of Advance Care Planning and End of Life Care, added that people with dementia who were diagnosed with another incurable disease that caused them suffering such as cancer, were being doubly disadvantaged. They would otherwise meet the criteria but because they have dementia they are missing out and that is discrimination in itself, he says. Melbourne geriatrician Associate Professor Peter Lange, who sits on the board of Dying with Dignity, says there is a popular misconception that dementia is an illness where people become pleasantly confused. Advertisement Dementia is not one specific disease, but a term used to describe symptoms caused by a group of brain diseases including Alzheimers. As the condition progresses, people can develop behavioural and psychotic dementia symptoms that are very distressing, including aggression and hallucinations. It can be pretty, pretty hideous, Lange says. Loading In the later stages of the condition, people can have difficulty swallowing and food, saliva or liquid can get trapped in the lungs or airways, triggering aspiration. Another common cause of death for people with dementia is pneumonia. Lange wants a national debate on dementia and dying. He says Australians must first understand the disease before they can weigh up the ethics of upholding a persons wish to die. Every Australian is going to have to deal with somebody dying of dementia, Lange says. They need to know the reality. Emergency physician Stephen Parnis, who has been a vocal opponent of voluntary assisted dying, is horrified by the prospect of people with dementia accessing the scheme. Advertisement When things were bad for Hannah Clarke, shed reach out to her mum. It was during those times, when the 31-year-old Brisbane mothers infectious smile would falter, that her parents, Sue and Lloyd, knew something was wrong. Its nice for people to get to know that they were people. Hannah Clarkes parents Sue and Lloyd reminisce with Nine News host Melissa Downes. Credit: Nine News That era of Hannahs life was darkened by coercive control a term the Clarke family, and many Australians, never knew. But Hann, as she was affectionately known to family and friends, was so much more than the tragedy that ended her life, and those of her three children. Asked to comment on the allegations, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Canberra said: Unfortunately, we cant comment on anything as we are not familiar with these comments. The Australian Signals Directorate, the nations key cyber and communications spying agency, revealed this month that Russian intelligence services had penetrated Australian computers using Russias snake cyber-espionage malware, which was subject to a major FBI-led disruption operation. In addition, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission recently declared a group of Russian and Ukrainian hackers a priority target, elevating it to a small list of international organised crime groups assessed as posing a grave threat to Australia. Kershaws attack on Russias inaction came on the sidelines of a meeting of the Five Eyes law enforcement group in Melbourne. The group comprises major policing agencies from Australia, the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. The most powerful Five Eyes agencies the FBI and the UKs National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police also attacked Russia for its support of ransomware hackers. Weve seen a whole string of very devastating and destructive cyberattacks which emanate from Russia, FBI deputy director Paul Abbate said. Some were directly carried out and backed by the Russian government, and then, within that, you have the criminal ransomware enterprise as well, which essentially the Russian government has provided safe haven to, which has done significant damage in a different way to our citizens and to our economies. The Five Eyes law enforcement group in Melbourne. Left to right: Mike Duheme, commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Andrew Coster, New Zealand Police commissioner; Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw; FBI deputy director Paul Abbate; and, Graeme Biggar, director general of the UK National Crime Agency. Credit: Joe Armao Graeme Biggar, director general of Britains National Crime Agency, said Russia had created a permissive environment that had allowed cybercriminals to thrive, some of them connected to Russian intelligence agencies. The vast majority of the cybercrime in the world, and particularly the ransomware, which is the most threatening to international security, comes from Russian-based, Russian-language cybercrime groups, he said. Two months after this masthead revealed ASIO had discreetly expelled from Australia members of an entrenched Russian spy ring, Biggar also warned that Russian spy expulsions in the UK had prompted Moscows security apparatus to turn to organised criminals to carry out its dirty work. He said Russias intelligence agencies were using proxies, including criminals to try and achieve their ends overseas, while simultaneously providing a haven for international hackers inside Russia. Biggar also said financial sanctions applied to Putin-linked oligarchs in the UK had forced some to turn to the criminal underworld to move and launder significant sums of money. While all states, including the Five Eyes partners, engaged in cyber-espionage, countries such as Russia and China target companies and individuals to steal intellectual property and harass dissidents. Britains most senior counter-terror official, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes, said Russia and Iran were using transnational crime groups to subvert Western democracy. British police had thwarted 15 murder plots aimed at critics of the Iranian regime living in Britain since January last year, he said. In February, Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil called out Iran for its harassment of Iranians living in Australia, describing a case in which a critic was followed, watched, photographed and had their home invaded by Iranian agents. Jukes said what UK authorities could see very plainly from Iran is a determination to silence dissident voices as they perceive them. He said British authorities had disrupted 15 intense, acute, threats to the lives of Iranians in Britain in 18 months. Five Eyes police chiefs also described a concerted campaign by the Chinese Communist Party to intimidate and harass diaspora communities in the West, claims long denied by Beijing. The Chinese embassy in Canberra declined an interview request. Loading On Saturday, this masthead and 60 Minutes also revealed how the FBI was tracking relationships between the Chinese Communist Party and organised criminals operating in Pacific island nations. The FBI said these crime groups had corrupted Pacific island politicians in order to advance Chinas sphere of influence in the region. FBI deputy director Paul Abbate claimed Beijing had enabled transnational crime groups to destabilise Australia and its allies, blaming the Chinese government for failing to curb the huge flow of fentanyl to North America. Tears well in physics teacher Farid Anawatis eyes. Go in, enjoy the students look after them like your own children, he says. If they were his children, hed have a lot of them. In his 55 years as a teacher at Geelongs Western Heights College, he has taught up to 5500 students. Farid Anawati was among the long-serving teachers honoured at a ceremony in Melbourne on Sunday. Credit: Paul Jeffers There are some who stick in his heart. Like the year 9 student who was continually late to class, so Anawati took him aside to ask why. He said, I have four brothers and sisters. I have to shower them, prepare their lunch, take them to school and then come here, Anawati says. The rest of the multinational crew is: Frank Cafarella, 53, an Italian-born electronics engineer, who lives in Montrose; Norman Fraser, 24, of Croydon, a merchant navy officer; Gordon Wearing-Smith, 40, of Mooroolbark, photographer; Velettin Bultan, 39, a Turkish-born engineer from Carlton. Warana left flying the Australian red ensign and the flags of Turkey, Italy and Holland. First published in The Age on June 19, 1973 Bomb protest yacht sails for Mururoa The Australian nuclear protest yacht Warana plans to leave New Zealand this week on the second leg of her 5000-mile voyage to Mururoa Atoll. Loading Warana, battered by a series of storms in the Tasman Sea, has been tied up in New Zealand for a week for repairs. Three of her crew of six have pulled out of the voyage two because of injury and sickness. They flew back to Melbourne at the weekend. Waranas skipper, retired Melbourne businessman Mr Peter Sturgess, said from New Zealand yesterday: We have had a series of problems, but we are still determined to push on. Warana, a 40-foot twin-masted ketch, left Melbourne on May 22 to join a fleet of New Zealand boats sailing to Mururoa to pro-test against Frances planned series of atomic tests. She was hit by storms while crossing the Tasman, and limped into harbor 20 days later with her main diesel engine out of action, several sails ripped, and a small leak. The crewmen who left are the sailing master, Gordon Wearing-Smith, radio operator Frank Cafarella, and Waranas Turkish-born engineer, Velettin Bultan. Cafarella became sick during the crossing, and Wearing-Smith was thrown across the deck during a storm and fractured several ribs. One replacement crew-man is flying from Melbourne tomorrow. Sturgess and the rest of the crew are hoping to leave on Wednesday for the 3000-mile haul across the Pacific. Loading We have taken on all the supplies we need for a trip of at least two months. Our big hope is to get there before the French decide to let off their bomb, he said. The other two crew-members are navigator Norman Fraser, a merchant seaman and qualified mate, and Kathy Bradley, a 23-year-old Melbourne secretary. First published in The Age on June 23, 1973 The Australian nuclear protest yacht Warana is on her way to Mururoa Atoll after a 12-day holdup. But my experience also reinforced the long-held reputation parts of the fruit-picking industry have for exploitation and has led to calls for action by the Australian Workers Union (AWU), the National Farmers Federation (NFF) and Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt. It is clear that more than a year after the Fair Work Commission ruled that fruit pickers were entitled to a minimum wage, the ruling is being flouted. The ruling that fruit pickers should be paid a minimum wage is being breached on farms. Credit: Keith Scott On May 5, the federal governments Fair Work Ombudsman issued a statement highlighting non-compliance, including over workers pay. From its on-site checks into 330 businesses, the ombudsman issued 64 infringements for payslip and record-keeping breaches and 18 compliance notices, including for underpayments. Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the breaches could indicate an increased risk of additional underpayments. Id gone to the Goulburn Valley to stay with a relative and to earn some extra cash. Id not picked before, but had grown up in the bush and had done labouring jobs carting hay, digging culverts, fighting bushfires when I was younger, the odd job on construction sites. The first orchard I worked in was arranged via a phone call from home. The next two, I got old school, by driving to the farm gate. On all I worked hard mostly four bins a day, good references and an offer of re-employment. A chance discovery on the first orchard that Id been underpaid led me to the others, chosen at random. In the course of three months, I was underpaid by an average of 35 per cent. Instead of the minimum wage of $26.73 per hour, I earned on average $17.50 per hour. Every orchard underpaid; one as low as $15 per hour, the highest $19 per hour. The full bench of the Fair Work Commission ruled in November 2021 that workers who were paid piecework rates, or a set rate per bin (as I and my fellow workers were), were entitled to a minimum wage floor. It said existing piece rates were not fit for purpose and there was evidence of widespread underpayment. The Australian Workers Union said the decision was one of the greatest victories of its 135-year history and would put a safety net under pickers. Payment of the minimum wage and recording of workers hours became a legal requirement from April 2022. A year on, its clear from inside the orchard that some contractors and growers are not complying. They are neither paying the minimum wage nor keeping records of hours worked. Nor do they inform workers of their rights. On some orchards, workers have their pay illegally docked for the petrol used in farm machinery. A spokesperson for the ombudsman told this masthead that compliance with the new requirements was mixed and many investigations, some in relation to piecework, were ongoing. The sector remained a priority, in part due to the employment of vulnerable workers. A member of the Goulburn Valley Afghan community with knowledge of the industry, who asked that his name be protected, said underpayment of Afghan refugees had been occurring for years and was ongoing. Most had traumatic backgrounds, had lived in a state of uncertainty in Australia due to visa arrangements, and were supporting family members still in Afghanistan. Most were paid by labour contractors and were reluctant to raise the issue. They understand very well that theyre being underpaid, but they are afraid to speak up, he said. Vulnerable workers say underpayment is still a problem. Credit: Keith Scott Daniel Walton, national secretary of the AWU, told this masthead that underpayments were rampant and tougher regulations were needed. The culprits deserve significant penalties. NFF national president Fiona Simpson said it was good to see the cop on the beat and there should be criminal penalties for deliberate wage theft, but the NFF did not believe theft or exploitation were widespread. Watt said significant work had been done to bring employer groups and unions together, but making agriculture an appealing career started with ensuring workers are being paid fairly. Michael Crisera, grower services manager at Fruit Growers Victoria, said he was not surprised by reports of infringements as many businesses were struggling with new laws requiring them to pay the guaranteed minimum wage. The three big supermarkets, Coles, Woolworths and Aldi, all told this masthead they had their own compliance regimes in place and, in one case, this had resulted in suspension of trade with a number of farms. None of the supermarkets responded to calls from the NFF for tougher competition laws to guarantee farmers a higher price. I left the last orchard I worked on feeling torn. Id got on well with the grower and had fond memories, too, of an earlier farm collecting my tractor and bins and driving to the orchard before others arrived; the stillness before and after dawn. Loading But I saw the underbelly as well the underpayment of workers who are not aware of their entitlements or of steps they could take to reclaim wages; growers who are not, in many ways, bad people, but should do better; an industry not fully in control and within which it is likely many underpayments go unreported. I felt cheated, disappointed that people Id worked for had knowingly underpaid me and that Ive now had to begin action to claim the wages owed. Inner-city Melburnians say the delay in building the citys second safe-injecting room is costing lives. The Yes In My Back Yard movement or YIMBYs is gaining traction as a counterpoint to business groups and others who oppose plans for the CBD facility. Melbourne CBD residents (from left) Jill Mellon-Robertson, Daniel Daley, Ashley Kotorac and Chris Lamb in Flinders Court, which is a popular location for drug users. Credit: Eddie Jim Daniel Daley said after seeing overdoses in the laneway behind his Elizabeth Street apartment, he welcomed the approval of the second injecting room, first promised by the Andrews government in 2020. Daley, 32, is part of a group of CBD residents who on Sunday will launch a Keep Our City Alive campaign and call for a supervised injecting room in the city centre. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group military company speaks holding a Russian national flag in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut, Ukraine. A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to initiate a peace process, but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily-sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertilizer exports Africa desperately needs, a key mediator who helped broker the talks said in an interview with The Associated Press. Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what theyve characterized as a peace mission. The talks will likely be next month, Ollivier said. He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out logistics for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would likely have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Zambia. The talks also have the approval of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday. Neither side in the war appears ready to stop fighting, though. The talks were announced last week by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa just as Russia launched an intense air attack on Kyiv. On Sunday, Russia claimed to have taken the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after fierce fighting, a claim denied by Ukraine. We are not dreamers, Ollivier said on the chances the African leaders will achieve an immediate breakthrough with regard to stopping the 15-month conflict. Unless something happens, I dont think we are going to finish our first mission with a ceasefire. The aim was to make a start, said Ollivier, a 78-year-old Frenchman who brought opposing sides together in high-stakes negotiations in the late 1980s that helped end apartheid in South Africa. It starts with signs. It starts with dialogue. And this is what we are going to try to do, Ollivier said. No guarantee that we are going to succeed but, for the time being, Russia and Ukraine have accepted ... a delegation coming specifically to their countries to talk about peace. A key starting point for Africa is grain and fertilizers. The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertilizers from Russia, exacerbating global food insecurity and hunger. Africa has been one of the hardest-hit continents. Last week, Russia agreed to a two-month extension of a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. that allows Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea and out to the world, and the six African presidents would like to see that extended further. But they also need to broach ways of making it easier for African nations to receive shipments and pay Russia for fertilizers, Ollivier said. Russian fertilizer is not under international sanctions but the U.S. and some Western nations have targeted Russian cargo ships for sanctions. Russias access to the SWIFT global financial transaction system also has been restricted by the sanctions, leaving African nations struggling to order and pay for critical fertilizers. We will need to have a window whereby SWIFT will be authorized for this specific point, Ollivier said. That will be on the table and we hope that in that case we will gain the support of the Russians for the grains from Ukraine, and we will gain the support of the Ukrainians to find payments and shipments possible for the Russian fertilizer. The African mission is not the only mediation effort. China offered its own peace proposal in February and a Chinese envoy has been in discussions with Ukrainian officials. But Chinas plan has largely been dismissed by Ukraines Western allies and is clouded by Beijings political support for Moscow. Ukraine and Russia are far apart in terms of any agreements that might form the base of a peace deal. The African delegation still had a wide cross-section of backing, Ollivier said, after China also came to us and offered support on the basis it would be a parallel effort to Beijings plan. More support, more weight will be put on the negotiation (with Moscow and Kyiv), said Ollivier, the founding chairman of the London-based Brazzaville Foundation, an organization that deals with conflict resolution. If one party says no, they will consider to who they are saying no. Are they saying no only to Jean-Yves Ollivier? To the Brazzaville Foundation? To the six (African) heads of state? Or are they saying no to the United Nations, or to the Chinese, or to the Americans. To the British? To the European Union? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Teach our children well I have been a school teacher for many years and am heartened by many students who are rightly appalled and in disbelief when they begin to study the effects of colonisation on our First Nations people. While this education is becoming more available it takes non-First Nations people to be brave allies to walk with our First Nations sisters and brothers to support the truth-telling message. We cannot expect and rely on them to carry the burden; it rests on us all to learn and then teach the truth. We teach our kids to stand up for whats important. Its time to stand up. Naomi Trumino, Olinda Identity v opinion Not diminishing in any way the repugnance of the racism experienced by Stan Grant while at the ABC, Q&As previous solo host, Hamish MacDonald, also left that program after copping extreme social media abuse that he was forced to navigate, alone. Although there may well be a lack of diverse faces in the ABCs senior management, thats certainly not the case when it comes to prominent ABC current affairs programs, such as Q&A and The Drum. Additionally, although personally on the left on most issues, I do believe that these programs far too often prioritise diversity of identity over diversity of opinion and display blatant left-wing bias, which most likely feeds into the vitriol experienced by their hosts. Geoff Feren, St Kilda East ABCs failure I tuned into the ABC specifically to watch the coronation program. The ABCs coverage of the Queens funeral had been excellent and I was expecting a similar program. I was dismayed to find the preparations showing in the background, with a panel of presenters speaking of events that had nothing to do with the coronation as such, except for the odd aside. However, my gripe was not with those people. It was solely with the ABC programmers. Stan Grant is well-informed, especially on the matters close to his heart: his Indigenous people, their dreadful treatment by the invaders and their ongoing struggles. He was there to tell their story. That he has since been vilified for what he said by so many people at various levels is absolutely horrifying. That the ABC did not go in to bat on his behalf is a failure of high magnitude. My husband and I are keen watchers of ABC television. The ABC needs to advertise its program content clearly and, overwhelmingly, it must fully support its presenters. Lynn Heath, Doncaster Different viewpoint I must be watching a different ABC to the one described by Osman Faruqi (Comment, 21/5). There are many things to dislike about the national broadcaster but it, like SBS, cannot be faulted for its commitment to gender and racial diversity. While the ABC board might not be as diverse as he would like, there are more women and non-Anglo faces and voices on the ABC than ever before. The ABC is light years ahead of its commercial rivals in this regard, so it is hard to see where Faruqi is coming from in his trenchant criticism. Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully We need his voice It is heartbreaking to read Stan Grants words on his decision to leave the ABC. I was one of the viewers who found the ABCs coverage of the coronation troubling. However, Grants sincerity and deep conviction were never to be doubted and I have realised that he not only has a point concerning the horrible tyranny of colonisation but has a right to put it. And we would be the better if we listened and took his words to heart. It is particularly disturbing that Grant felt he had no support from our ABC. His desperate pain is obvious in every word of his statement and, not only do I feel for him, I want to assure him that many of the ABC viewers are with him and want his voice back again. Indeed, we need his voice back again. Miriam Gould, Malvern Utter despair When I read that Stan Grant was quitting as host of Q&A under the weight of the vile racist abuse he and his family had suffered I was cast into despair. Homo sapiens is truly a horribly unpleasant species and the sooner we are wiped out by climate change (or anything else) the better. There is no hope for us. Miranda Jones, Drummond No pride here It is absolutely disgusting to me, and I would think to all decent, fair-minded people, that Stan Grant has been driven to resign from his position by racial abuse. What kind of country have we become? Not one that we can be proud of. Jan Dwyer, Rosebud The deep shame When overseas acquaintances suggested to me that Australia seemed quite a racist country, citing such things as Indigenous incarceration rates and treatment of refugees, I used to acknowledge our shortcomings but argue that a lot of progress had been made towards a multicultural and inclusive society. The Mabo judgment, Kevin Rudds apology, anti-discrimination legislation, moves towards a treaty and so on meant, I said, that Australia was righting past wrongs. Racism was in retreat. Now I think I was wrong. Vicious racist attitudes are on the march in Australia despite the best efforts of many. Indigenous disadvantage is entrenched, dog-whistling politicians and commentators have undermined moves towards a national Indigenous Voice, alt-right groups are increasingly strident and now our most esteemed Indigenous journalist has been forced from the airwaves by toxic trolls. How shameful. How will Australia ever hold its head up in international company? How will we ever become a truly fair and inclusive society? Mike Smith, Croydon More help needed Where are the critical incident teams for dementia care? Why is it that staff are not able to distract, cajole, feel empathy for old people whose ageing brains overcome them? There are increasing numbers in nursing homes because modern medicine ensures treatments for ailments which just a generation ago would have meant earlier and hopefully more dignified deaths. At 82, I found myself abnormally angry after only two weeks in respite care, and I am not yet in that terrible state of confusion. The police force is not the appropriate means of support for staff in these situations. They do not have the awareness or understanding to know how to respond. Geraldine Colson, Mentone The anti-feminists I am a 75-year-old feminist. Since the early 1970s I have been committed to the principle that no ones life or achievements should be defined by sex or gender. I am appalled that people who call themselves feminists and others who say they support women are now fighting to restrict us within the social constructs of binary sex and gender. The anti-trans movement is fundamentally anti-feminist. Maggie Kirkman, Melbourne A strong opposition please I would like to thank the members of the Victorian Liberal Party at the Bendigo state conference on Saturday who walked out in protest in relation to the Deeming matter, for providing evidence of how irrelevant, unrepresentative and unelectable the party has become to the diverse, largely tolerant and respectful Victorian electorate. Democracy depends upon strong, viable opposition parties, capable of keeping the party of government accountable. Its sadly lacking in Victoria. Murray Mehmet, Elsternwick Enlightened care I recently toured the safe-injecting room at North Richmond. Anyone can book to do this: the tours run at 8am every Friday. The range of services linked to the injecting-room means that housing assistance, needle exchange, dental and medical care can also be tapped into, without the usual hassle. About 40 per cent of those who drop in are homeless and many have been in prison. It is an enlightened, harm-minimising way to care for those who have taken this road. Melbourne needs several similar facilities. Jennie Stuart, Balwyn End the logging The evidence supporting an end to native forest logging is clear. The industry is a huge carbon emitter, increases the risk of severe bushfires and is already being propped up by taxpayers. The unforeseeable circumstances that trigger the force majeure to end contractual obligations to Maryvale Mill are in play (Legal advice casts doubt on logging deal, 20/5). So isnt it time for good public policy from the government to end logging of native forests in 2023? Theres $200 million set aside to exit. The time to do it is now. Sophie Torney, Kew AND ANOTHER THING Politics There doesnt seem to be much left of the Victorian Liberal Party worth leading (Pessuto heckled, 21/5). Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills Simon Birmingham, vestige of intelligent life in the Liberal Party (Insiders, ABC 21/5). What a relief. Jan Dwyer, Rosebud Stan Grant I am disappointed that Stan Grant has felt obliged to withdraw from hosting Q&A. He has done a sterling job in the face of racist abuse. The ABCs immediate lack of condemnation of this abuse and subsequent support of Grant was appalling. Gloria Meltzer, Chewton Shame on those who lambasted Stan Grant into quitting. SBS, please snap him up now. Helen Hanrahan, Lower Plenty Here we go again the loss of Stan Grant, like so many others, forced to throw in the towel because of racist abuse. It is a sad reflection on a culturally rich and diverse nation. Martin Hengeveld, Research The Victorian government has urged Swinburne University to reconsider plans to shut down its 35-year-old horticulture program, as jitters grow over the health of the vocational education and training sector. The program, which includes courses in landscape construction, nursery operations and conservation and ecosystem management, has lost close to $4 million over the past five years. Horticulture teacher Bec Bennett at Swinburnes Wantirna campus. The university may dump its horticulture course. Credit: Darrian Traylor Staff and students will learn on Thursday whether the program based in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Wantirna with dozens of staff and more than 500 students will be discontinued at the end of the year. Some horticulture courses at Swinburne are free for students under the state governments free TAFE policy. A damning critique of Chinas covert plan to place organised criminals as agents of influence in the Pacific and the revelation that Russian authorities are stonewalling on providing details of hackers who stole Medibank data are salient reminders of the new ways Beijing and Moscow make it harder but even more important for Australia to chart a path between compromise and contest. The latest movements in Chinese and Russian brinkmanship are on display in exclusive interviews for The Age and 60 Minutes by Nick McKenzie with police chiefs belonging to the secretive Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group compromising Australia, the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. In one disclosure, the reluctance by Moscow to assist Australian Federal Police in investigating the Medibank hack flies in the face of the Russian ambassadors criticism of the AFP six months ago for failing to provide the Putin regime with Australian intelligence about the hackers. Former Liberal Party federal director Tony Eggleton, a key figure in the party over four decades, has died at the age of 91. Eggleton served as press secretary to prime ministers Robert Menzies and Harold Holt in the 1960s before being thrust into the national spotlight upon the disappearance of Holt at Cheviot Beach in Victoria in December 1967. Tony Eggleton in 1995. Credit: Andrew Meares While the nation waited for news of the missing prime minister, whose body was never found, Eggleton became the spokesman for the government during an extended crisis that led to a power struggle in Canberra and the rise of a new prime minister, John Gorton. When Labor took power in 1972 under prime minister Gough Whitlam, the former press secretary returned from an overseas post to advise the Liberals and become a trusted aide to Malcolm Fraser during the crisis of November 1975. 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 When it was opened in 1891, the Melbourne Safe Deposit underneath the former Stock Exchange building in Melbourne was one of the most secure places in the world. Constructed on bedrock, with 91-centimetre thick walls, the huge vault contains 3000 safe deposit boxes which were once believed to be filled with gold, guns, documents and jewellery, but are now empty. Deborah Lasky-Davison, manager of the ANZ archive, inside the Melbourne Safe Deposit in the basement of 90 Queen Street. Credit: Justin McManus The underground room is still there at 90 Queen Street in the CBD, largely untouched but now deserted, since ANZ closed the facility in 2017. In the Underground Melbourne series, The Age is exploring what lies hidden underneath the city streets. Many of Melbournes major banks once used underground vaults as a secure place to store customers valuables and money, but the banks have since sold them to private operators. ANZ attributes this move to changing customer behaviour, while NAB retail executive Krissie Jones says NAB is simplifying the business to focus on core products and services. Advertisement Gone are the days where we kept troves of personal belongings for customers, she says. What lies beneath Stepping through the wrought iron gates at 90 Queen Street and down the steep bluestone steps to ANZs Melbourne Safe Deposit is like going back in time. The temperature drops instantly as you enter the managers office, next to the heavy front door, with stained-glass windows and intricately carved dark wooden panelling separating it from the main space. Two keys were once required to open one of the safety deposit boxes: the customers, who rented the boxes, brought one key, while another was retained by bank staff who accompanied them to the strongroom. Raised from the floor, the strongroom was built of wrought-iron boilerplate, lined with undrillable steel and weighing almost 200 tonnes. Advertisement The entrances to each of the four sections in the strongroom were protected by grill gratings and heavy steel doors weighing 2 tonnes each. Deborah Lasky-Davison, archives manager at ANZ, which owns the Melbourne Safe Deposit and continued to operate it until six years ago, says staff then ushered the customers into the Writing Room with private lockers. Lasky-Davison says the bank never knew what was in the boxes. It was very much a policy of dont ask, she says. What people put in their boxes was very private, but I would imagine that they would have been probably things like guns, fur coats, deeds, wills and that kind of thing. Lasky-Davison says there is a rumour that a precious medieval mace, which was stolen from the Victorian parliament in 1891, ended up in the Melbourne Safe Deposit. But this has never been proved. It was never retrieved, so we dont know whether it was or not, she says. But somebody came down with a large parcel apparently around the time of that being stolen. Advertisement Former staff recall one box contained a cutlery set which looked like it was made entirely out of gold. It was so heavy the box had a label advising people not to lift it by themselves. Another customer showed staff an enormous gold nugget from the Ballarat goldfields, which was bigger than a grapefruit, and said it was his retirement fund. A pleasant experience Customers took their boxes into the private lockers to open them, with the small wooden booths with stained-glass windows resembling church confessional boxes. It was a privacy and security measure, and it also kept people away from the safe, so that they werent bumping into other people and seeing other peoples keys. Dust covers the empty metal boxes which once stored valuables inside the Melbourne Safe Deposit. Credit: Justin McManus Lasky-Davison says the Melbourne Safe Deposit was the most beautiful of all the vaults, with the ornate interiors reflecting Melbournes wealth at the time it was built. Advertisement Everything was just designed to be as beautiful as it was functional, she says. This was for your premium clients, too, so I guess they wanted to have an environment that was pleasant. The Melbourne Safe Deposit was designed by William Pitt, and the vault was made in 1890 by Millers in Liverpool, shipped to Melbourne and installed in what was originally the English and Scotland Bank. It took almost ten years to build the Melbourne Safe Deposit, with a team from England supervising the installation of the safes and a time-delay lock which was very sophisticated for the time and meant even staff could not access the building after hours or on weekends. The stock exchange who owned the building in the first place thought [the Melbourne Safe Deposit] would be a great way of making money, Lasky-Davison says. But unfortunately, between commissioning the building and it being finished, the whole [gold rush] boom had crashed, and so they ended up regretting that they put so much money into it and apparently took 40 years to pay it off. Lasky-Davison says there was never a break in attempt to the Melbourne Safe Deposit. At the time it was considered the most secure building in the Southern Hemisphere, she says. Even if you got into the building, youd still have a safe-cracking job to do after that. Advertisement Hiroshima: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told Joe Biden that there is nothing left in Bakhmut after Russias defence ministry claimed it had seized the key Ukrainian city. In his meeting with the US president at the G7 in Hiroshima on Sunday, Zelensky said the city had been destroyed. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing, he said, except for a lot of dead Russians. President Joe Biden, left, walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Credit: AP But Zelenskys office was later forced to clarify to CNN that the president had not intended to convey that the city had been completely taken over by Russian forces as confusion over the progress of the war produced a series of claims and counterclaims. Zelensky has flown into Japan in a high-stakes dash to secure more weapons from the worlds wealthiest economies ahead of a Ukrainian counteroffensive. The United States on Saturday said it would train Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots after months of lobbying from Kyiv. She described their encounter in a video. I didnt beat him, but I tried to kick him with my leg, she recalled. Loading Antonova then proposed a venture in which she would offer online bridge lessons. Epstein was seen as a potential investor and she was introduced to him by Boris Nikolic, a Gates confidant and top science adviser. Ultimately, Epstein declined to invest in the project, BridgePlanet, following their meeting at Epsteins townhouse in November 2013. Instead, Antonova became a computer programmer, with Epstein picking up the cost of her training. Epstein agreed to pay, and he paid directly to the school. Nothing was exchanged. I dont know why he did that, she told the Journal. When I asked, he said something like, he was wealthy and wanted to help people when he could. Bill Gates has said it was a mistake to have met with Epstein. Credit: AP She has declined to comment on Gates and added she did not know who Epstein was when they met. I had no idea that he was a criminal or had any ulterior motive. I just thought he was a successful businessman and wanted to help, she said. I am disgusted with Epstein and what he did. Having made the introduction to Antonova, Nikolic also held discussions with Epstein over his plans to set up a charitable fund worth billions of dollars with JPMorgan. According to court papers, seen by The Wall Street Journal, Epstein saw the fund which required a minimum $US100 million ($150 million) donation from individuals as a way of rehabilitating his reputation. But the perceived support of Gates was crucial for the venture to succeed. In his typo-ridden messages to potential backers, Epstein made much of Gates potential involvement. In essence this [fund] will allow Bill to have access to higher quality people, investment, allocation, governance without upsetting either his marriage or the sensitivities of the current foundation employees, Epstein wrote on August 16, 2011 to two top JPMorgan executives, Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes. It was not until 2017 that Epstein made the threat in a letter to Gates asking to be reimbursed for the cost of Antonovas course. Epstein implied he was ready to expose the affair In the letter he implied he knew of the affair and was ready to expose it. Loading Associates said the amount of money demanded was not significant, it was the thinly veiled threat which mattered. Gates, whose net worth exceeds $100 billion, met Epstein more than half a dozen times. He was one of a number of prominent individuals who Epstein sought to cultivate as he tried to restore his reputation after his initial sex offences conviction in 2008. Gates, who was also a passenger on Epsteins private plane, has since said his calls and meetings with the disgraced financier were a mistake. Nikolic has also voiced his sadness at ever encountering Epstein. I deeply regret that I ever met Epstein, he said. His crimes were despicable. I never saw anything like his illegal behaviour. My heart goes out to his victims and their families. He added: I should never have associated with him and now I am thankful that he never invested in my endeavours. The proposed charitable fund failed to materialise. DUBLIN, May 18, 2023 -- The "Railway Transport and Manufacture of Locomotives and Rolling Stock in South Africa 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report focuses on freight and passenger rail transport and the manufacture of railway locomotives and rolling stock and includes information on the size and state of the industry, revenues, volumes, transport costs, investment and expansion and turnaround plans. There are profiles of 27 companies including major state-owned players such as PRASA and Transnet, whose businesses include Transnet Freight Rail and Transnet Engineering, Gautrain operator Bombela and locomotives and rolling stock manufacturers such as Alstom and Gibela. Railway Transport and Manufacture of Locomotives and Rolling Stock in South Africa The rail industry has been plagued by ageing infrastructure and governance issues. Companies have continued to shift the transport of goods to road as the country's rail system becomes increasingly unreliable. The plan to open the rail network to private participation has failed to gain traction, with only one successful bidder to date. Theft and vandalism of rail infrastructure is rampant and locomotive availability is a major issue. The loss-making state-owned Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), which is responsible for most passenger rail services in the country, and Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), have been involved in procurement irregularities and irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and poor governance, with ongoing investigations and appearances at the commission of inquiry into state capture. State of Decline South Africa's railway industry is in a state of decline, as seen by the decrease in freight and passengers transported by train, with freight volumes the lowest recorded over the past decade, and the downward trend continuing. The dilapidated rail network is forcing more freight onto the country's already overwhelmed and overburdened roads, increasing congestion and damaging infrastructure. The passenger network is even worse than freight, as passenger volumes decreased nearly 90% between 2019 and 2021, and a further 15% in 2022. Criminality, such as theft and vandalism, is the biggest challenge and safety threat to rail infrastructure. Key Topics Covered: 1. INTRODUCTION 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY 2.1. Industry Value Chain 2.2. Geographic Position 2.3. Size of the Industry 3. LOCAL 3.1. State of the Industry 3.2. Key Trends 3.3. Key Issues 3.4. Notable Players 3.5. Corporate Actions 3.6. Regulations 3.7. Enterprise Development and Social Development 4. AFRICA 5. INTERNATIONAL 6. INFLUENCING FACTORS 6.1. Unforeseen Events 6.2. Economic Environment 6.3. Environmental Issues 6.4. Technology, R&D, Innovation 6.5. Government Support 6.6. Operating and Input Costs 6.7. Safety and Security 6.8. Investment in Rolling Stock and Rail Infrastructure 6.9. Localisation and Supplier Development Programmes 6.10. Private Sector Open Access and Concessions 6.11. Governance and Supply Chain Issues 6.12. Mining Sector Issues 6.13. Cyclicality 7. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT 7.1. Competition 7.2. Ownership Structure of the Industry 7.3. Barriers to Entry 8. SWOT ANALYSIS 9. OUTLOOK 10. INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS 11. REFERENCES 11.1. Publications 11.2. Websites APPENDIX Summary of Notable Players COMPANY PROFILES Cheyenne, WY (82001) Today Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 47F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 47F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Russian airplanes continue to fly in the midst of the storm. The countrys airlines transported 95.1 million passengers last year, and their volume of activity has further increased this year. Sanctions as a result of the invasion of Ukraine have made it impossible for Russian companies to purchase certain spare parts to maintain their aircraft since February 2022, but it seems that nothing has changed for the passengers. However, a series of leaks has uncovered the industrys negligence in ensuring safety. Inspections by a Transportation Ministry agency called Rostransnadzor have revealed that at least 2,000 flights took off with components that had passed their operational lifespan. Whats more, a new investigation has found that Russias flagship airline Aeroflot instructed its aircraft personnel not to record in-flight malfunctions unless specifically directed to do so by the captain. Rostransnadzor head Viktor Basarguin spoke plainly at a meeting on May 16. It is impossible to import a number of specific products. As a consequence, numerous aircraft operations have been performed involving irregularities that directly affect flight safety. For instance, they have been allowed to operate with expired components. More than 2,000 of these flights have been recorded, said the top official in an audio file accessed by the Kommersant newspaper. Although this figure may seem relatively modest compared to the 1.4 million flights that crossed Russian airspace last year, the irregularities are arousing suspicions in an industry that has been crippled by sanctions. The investigative website Proekt Media declared an undesirable organization by the Kremlin has revealed that Aeroflot, Russias flagship airline, sent a letter to flight attendants in March 2022 instructing them not to record in-flight malfunctions without the permission of the aircrafts captain. According to former company employees contacted by this newspaper, before the war it was compulsory to report any incidents, but following the sanctions they were told to only notify the aircraft commander verbally. The website provides an example of an Aeroflot flight from the United Arab Emirates that did not carry all the oxygen cylinders required in the event of depressurization. The captain did not register this because it was deemed an insignificant problem. Temporary fixes to remedy the problems A modern fleet, a stock of components stockpiled before the war, in addition to others smuggled in from Central Asia, China and the United Arab Emirates, are the reasons why Russian airlines have been able to keep operating up to the present day. Yet this is just a temporary fix. The planes require ongoing maintenance and plans to replace Boeing and Airbus with domestic models will likely require at least a decade to implement. The pressure is overwhelming, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed for production to begin immediately on aircraft whose final design is not yet complete. Notwithstanding the sanctions, Russia is still a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a U.N. agency founded in 1944 for the coordination of safety rules. Although the country was expelled from the governing council in October 2022 as a result of the danger sparked in Ukrainian skies, it retains its membership in the agency. Before the outbreak of war, Russian aircraft were audited and certified by civil aviation representatives from Bermuda and Ireland, and Airbus and Boeing garages were responsible for maintenance. When Russia was hit with sanctions, it issued its own airworthiness certificates as a member of the ICAO. In addition, it registered two thirds of the fleet on its territory that had previously been licensed abroad, thereby assuming the supervision of the aircraft without the cooperation of the manufacturers. This double registration is prohibited by ICAO, and the agency has red-flagged Russia highlighting significant safety concerns relating to the states ability to adequately monitor aircraft under its jurisdiction. Both Ireland and Bermuda reported that aircraft are currently flying without legitimate operational certificates. Nevertheless, the U.N. agency insists that it is not its job, but that of each country, to approve or reject these certificates. The ICAO is not a regulatory authority. The regulation of air transport is the responsibility of each state, sources from the organization told this newspaper. As a consequence, Russian airlines continue to fly to certain countries, including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, where civil aviation authorities are turning a blind eye to the situation. These nations are taking a reputational risk rather than an operational one because the civil aviation authority responsible is the Russian one, a source in the Spanish airline industry told EL PAIS. The case of Turkey is a clear instance of opportunism. If an incident should occur, it may damage its image, but it makes a substantial amount of money, they added. Roman Gusarov, head of the Russian website Aviation Explorer, told EL PAIS over the phone: There are some types of maintenance that are not carried out in Russia. For example, extensive engine repairs. Consequently, Russian civil aviation is approving situations that would have been unthinkable before the conflict began. Proekt has displayed photos of the servicing of a giant Russian A330-300 in Iran, a country that has seen numerous accidents since it has been subject to sanctions, starting some 40 years ago. Indeed, all indications suggest that Tehran could take over the so-called big Russian stops, the C checks every two years and D checks approximately every six years where aircraft are disassembled and thoroughly inspected by Boeing and Airbus. Meanwhile, Russias largest airlines have grounded over 10% of their fleets for more than three months, according to data from Flightradar 24. This could be an indication that these airliners may have been dismantled for the replacement of parts for other planes. Nonetheless, this is the least of the problems. Cannibalization is a common practice and is more widely accepted than the use of unofficial or non-manufacturer approved parts, clarifies the Spanish expert, although he envisages a bleak future for Russian airlines once the European skies open up again: Their aircraft will bear unauthorized modifications and will not be allowed to fly. Putin blasts his government Moscows plan is for the country to acquire new domestically produced aircraft and then lease them to the airlines, though the factories remain at a standstill. The plants need to know how many civilian aircraft will be requested! Some companies dont even have orders for 2023! Putin spat to his Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, during a public videoconference in the middle of January. I know that the companies do not have contracts, I have been told so by their directors, the Russian president retorted. The minister, who had presented more optimistic forecasts for the industry, tried to counterbalance the situation. The documentation will be ready within one quarter, depending on the opportunities that emerge in the budget, responded Manturov. In one month. Which quarter? What are we talking about? Cant we see the conditions we are experiencing? Putin snapped. However, the Russian industry has to redesign aircraft in consideration of the sanctions. Besides resurrecting the Soviet Tu-214, the biggest projects involve the Yakovlev MC-21 and the Sukhoi Superjet 100. The latter was originally designed using more than 70% of foreign-made components. Preliminary contracts [with manufacturers] are already in place, but binding contracts involve meeting some basic conditions, explained the head of Aviation Explorer. The first is to identify the products features; the second is to know when it will be delivered; and the third is to determine the price. Since the aircraft are still being designed, the industry cannot answer any of these questions, added Gusarov, who is also a member of Aeroflots executive board. An airline cannot acquire an aircraft if it does not know what it will ultimately look like. This will be clear by 2024, when mass production begins, said Gusarov, who estimates that replacing the fleet will take about a decade. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for Russian aviation is the engines. The head of the state corporation Rostej, Sergey Chemezov, has vowed to have the PD-8 engine ready this year to replace the Russian-French SaM-146 engine currently installed on the Superjet 100. Its concept design was unveiled in 2021, just two years ago. Under normal circumstances, it can take six to seven years to design, manufacture and certify an engine. The Russian authorities may accelerate it as a matter of necessity, explained the Spanish expert. Russia already manufactures certain engines, but their performance is a long way from those of todays conventional commercial aircraft, General Electric and Rolls-Royce, the worlds two leading manufacturers, he added. The clock is ticking against the airlines. According to the daily RBK, six airlines have warned Moscow that Superjets may soon be grounded as they are running out of engine spark plugs as a result of the sanctions. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition 2 Killed by Allegedly Speeding Hit-and-Run Driver in South Los Angeles LOS ANGELESA man is in custody after allegedly killing two people while speeding, then fleeing the scene of the crash in South Los Angeles, authorities said May 21. Firefighters and paramedics dispatched at 12:38 a.m. to 3998 S. Normandie Avenue reported two people dead at the scene, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The suspect, a man in his 30s, was driving a white Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that struck a white BMW that was exiting a drive-thru restaurant at the corner of Normandie and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, officials said. The two occupants inside the BMW, a 21-year-old man, and a 20-year-old woman were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Los Angeles Police Departments (LAPD) Media Relations Division. The suspect fled the scene on foot and was later arrested at his home. After the collision the driver fled immediately on foot. There were witnesses that basically gave chase, followed him, tried to stay within eyesight of the suspect, which eventually led to his being taken into custody, LAPD Detective Ryan Moreno told reporters at the scene. One person at the scene who heard the crash estimated to ABC7 that the Jeep was going as fast as 80 mph. The station also reported that police were looking into whether alcohol and nearby street racing activity were factors in the crash. Managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) David Anderson has apologised to journalist Stan Grant after he stepped away from his role as host of the Q&A program, citing exhaustion with persistent racial abuse. Stan has our full support. And he has always had our full support, Anderson wrote in an email to ABC staff. Stan makes an enormous contribution to conversations of national importance. Grant made the decision to leave Q&A last week after racism against him intensified following his involvement in the public broadcasters coverage of the Kings coronation. The veteran correspondent was invited to participate in an ABC TV discussion on coronation day, during which he pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of Aboriginal land. In his email to ABC staff, Anderson said he agreed with a recommendation from the ABCs Indigenous advisory committee to review how the broadcaster responds to racism towards staff. He said anti-ABC reporting from some commercial media outlets had been sustained and vitriolic. This has real-world consequences for ABC presenters and journalists who are personally attacked and vilified, he wrote. How the ABC supports people in these moments is important. Stan Grant has stated that he has not felt publicly supported. For this, I apologise to Stan. The ABC endeavours to support its staff in the unfortunate moments when there is external abuse directed at them. A supplied image of Stan Grant talking about his new book The Queen is Dead at the Melbourne Writers Festival in Melbourne, Australia on May 6, 2023. (AAP Image/Supplied by Andrew Guo, Atticus Media) Grant last week expressed frustration at the ABCs executives, saying not a single one had publicly refuted the lies that have been written and spoken about him. I dont hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure, he said. While the ABCs news director Justin Stevens had been a support and a comfort according to Grant, the national broadcaster had its own legacy of racism. In a statement last week, Stevens said the broadcaster stood by Grant and the abuse was abhorrent and unacceptable. Threats against Grant had been referred to police while a formal complaint had also been lodged with Twitter over user comments. The ABC Ombudsman would investigate editorial complaints regarding the panel, Stevens said. NY State Countys Voters All Identified as Democrats on Voter IDs All voters in Nassau County, New York, were identified as Democrats on their voter ID cards irrespective of political affiliation because of an error by a printing company, triggering accusations about sabotaging elections ahead of the upcoming primaries. The primaries are scheduled for June. Voters in the county, who number nearly a million, began to receive their voter ID cards last week, with voters supporting Republicans, independents, or another political party surprised to see themselves identified as Democrats on the cards, according to NBC. Were already starting to get phone calls from people, saying Im a registered Republican, Im a registered conservativehow come Im being identified as a Democrat? Who changed my registration? And theyre quite upset about it, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said. Theres a lot of confusion, theres a lot of people emotionally upset about this, he added. Blakeman, a Republican, is pinning the blame on Rochester-based Phoenix Graphics, the company hired by Nassau Countys Board of Elections to print the voter ID cards. The printing company called it an isolated event that was the result of a human error. We apologize for our mistake, especially to Nassau County officials, who bear no responsibility for this problem, he said. However, this isnt the first time that Phoenix Graphics has committed such a mistake. In 2020, Phoenix messed up absentee ballots for 99,000 voters in Brooklyn. The printing firm erroneously sent mailings to voters containing return envelopes bearing the names and addresses of other people. Meanwhile, the campaign of Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican candidate for Arizona governor who has challenged the outcome of her race, slammed the incident. A printing error in Nassau County, N.Y. led to every voter in that county being listed as a Democrat. Theres that word again. Printer error. This is just their blanket excuse for sabotaging elections and hoping nobody calls them on it, her campaign said in a May 21 tweet. Since New York is a closed primary state, voters registered as belonging to a party arent allowed to vote for any other party. As such, if a GOP supporter is identified as Democrat in the voter registration system, that individual would be barred from casting votes in the Republican primary. Trust in Elections Out of the 972,000 voters in the county, Democrats account for around 40 percent. At a press conference, Blakeman ruled out partisanship as a cause for the mishap and said that the county is investigating the matter. I dont think the Democratic Party is engaged in a conspiracy to create havoc in their own primaries. I dont think the Democratic Party wants a bunch of Republicans showing up to vote in their primaries, said Blakeman, according to the New York Post. However, some voters are now questioning the election process due to the typo error. I have no faith in this country today, as far as what the politics are, said George Klein, a voter from Nassau. Im going to vote Republican primary day, and Democrat on that is not going to affect it, he said referring to the erroneous ID card he received. During the 2022 midterms, only 56 percent of Republicans thought the elections would be administered very or somewhat well, according to Pew Research. Accurate Voter ID Cards According to Phoenix Graphics, they are correcting the error and will send out new and accurate voter ID cards soon at no additional cost to taxpayers. Democratic County Election Commissioner Jim Scheuerman told the New York Post that Phoenix will be paying around $300,000 required to resend the correct cards to voters. Phoenix was contracted more than 10 years ago via a sealed-bid process. Officials with Nassau Countys Board of Elections are reportedly not ruling out considering other vendors to ensure that the recent mistake doesnt occur again, Fox reported. ANALYSIS: The True Cost of Energy Generated From Wind Turbines Contrary to mainstream belief, wind turbines are neither effective nor, in many cases, good for the environment Wind turbines are silhouetted against the sun at Black Law wind farm, in Black Law, Scotland, on Jan. 29, 2010. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images) Claims of wind power being pro-environment often do not consider the damaging effects these projects can have on wildlife and ecosystems, thus hiding the true cost of such initiatives. Wind power projects can threaten birds that fly within their vicinity and trigger a decline in their population; it can harm marine life due to noise pollution, and affect the growth of plants in the region where it is located. Driven by subsidies granted by the federal government, the growth of wind projects has triggered concerns about the cumulative impacts they have on the environment. There have been growing protests against wind power projects across the world. In the United States, people have opposed setting up wind turbines in Lake Erie due to concerns about the environmental impact of the project. In New Jersey, protestors have asked to pause the development of an offshore wind farm which they claim has led to dolphins and whales washing ashore. In Norway, climate activist Greta Thunberg has protested against a proposal to build two wind farms on the Sami reindeer grazing grounds. The Sami are the only indigenous people recognized within the EU and say that their tradition of herding reindeer will be put in danger due to the wind farms. Danger to Birds and Whales The blades of wind turbines can be fatal to birds. When the first commercial wind power plants were established in the United States, they had not considered the impact the project would have on birds and other flying creatures like bats. Not only are birds harmed by colliding with the wind blades but flying bats can be affected by changes in the air pressure resulting from blade rotations. The proliferation of wind turbines is believed to pose a significant danger to the population of golden eagles which are already said to be in decline in certain regions. An Associated Press analysis found that a significant number of eagles were dying while fewer criminal cases were being pursuedsuggesting an intentional trade-off between bird deaths and implementing of clean power generation. They are rolling over backwards for wind companies, said Mike Lockhart, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, according to the outlet. I think they are killing a hell of a lot more eagles than they ever anticipated. Dozens of permits for wind projects that are either approved or pending are estimated to result in around 6,000 eagles getting killed off over multiple decades. A 2013 paper estimated the mean bird annual deaths in the United States due to collision at wind facilities to be 234,000. With roughly 50,000 megawatts of installed capacity in the country, this comes to around 4.68 bird deaths per megawatt. The Biden administration has set a target of deploying 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. At 4.68 bird deaths per megawatt, this could result in 140,000 additional birds dying annually. The installation of wind turbines as well as the noise created by their operation can have a harmful effect on whales. Last year, an official from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) warned against setting up wind projects off the coast of New England because it would threaten the population of right whales in the region. In 2011, there were around 478 of these creatures, a number that came down to 350 in 2022. In January, Rep Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) demanded an end to offshore wind activity in New Jersey after an unprecedented number of whales washed ashore in the region. Climatic and Environmental Changes Wind projects alter the habitats where they are located, changing the vegetation and other landscape features of the region. Setting up a wind farm necessitates the creation of open spaces. Vast open spaces tend to raise the speed of wind. Such minute changes can result in an uptick in temperatures and a reduction in humidity levels. Higher temperatures at night can cause plants to release more CO2 than usual. This carbon dioxide is essential for the growth of the plants. By releasing the CO2, plant growth can thus get affected. In farming areas where wind turbines are established, this could mean lower crop yields. A 2018 study found that wind power can impact the climate by altering the atmospheric boundary layer. We find that generating todays US electricity demand with wind power would warm Continental US surface temperatures by 0.24 degrees Celsius, it said. Warming effect was found to be strongest at night, with the nighttime warming effect observed at 28 operational US wind farms. A study from 2010 discovered that impacts from wind turbines on surface meteorological conditions are likely to affect agricultural practices as well as communities living in residential area around the farms, it said. Neither Cheap Nor Reliable In addition to the huge environmental costs, wind power is not as cheap as usually claimed. Wind power electricity is said to be cheaper than alternatives like coal and gas by usually citing a measurement known as the levelized costs of energy (LCOE). However, LCOE does not tell the full story. It only calculates the cost of electricity generation when the power source is actually generating electricity. LCOE does not include all the costs involved in producing electricity 247 continuously, which is necessary for an electric grid to be reliable. For instance, wind power plants do not generate electricity when windy conditions are absent or their power generation reduces when winds are slow. In such situations, coal and gas-powered plants have to cover for the lack of output. Gas and coal power plants that are kept at stand-by tend to have higher operational costs than if they were to run 247. As such, these expenses have to be taken into consideration when calculating the true cost of wind power. In a 2023 paper, Wade Allison, a mathematician and physicist at Oxford University, calculated the cost of wind power electricity generation at 100 percent efficiency. He found that if the wind blows at 10 meters per second (about 22 mph), the power generated comes to 600 watts per square meter. As such, to deliver 3,200 million watts of electricity, the same output as Hinkley Point C, which is a planned zero-carbon nuclear power station in England, there would be a need for 5.5 million square meters of turbine swept area. However, the actual performance of wind power is much worse since the calculations are based on 100 percent efficiency, he stated. The average wind efficiency of turbines is only between 35 to 45 percent. This means that wind power turbines, on average, can only convert 35 to 45 percent of the trapped kinetic energy to electricity. If the wind drops to half speed, the power available drops by a factor of 8. Almost worse, if the wind speed doubles, the power delivered goes up 8 times, and as a result the turbine has to be turned off for its own protection, the paper states. ANALYSIS: TikTok Faces Escalated Restrictions Worldwide; Harms on Children a Main Concern Musk voiced concern about the ill effects of TikTok, citing a recent study The TikTok logo is pictured outside the company's U.S. head office in Culver City, Calif., on Sept. 15, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters) News Analysis The Chinese-owned video-sharing platform TikTok has become increasingly scrutinized over reports of censoring anti-Beijing content, tracking users, and concerns that it hands user information to authorities in Beijing. A number of governments have escalated efforts to restrict access to the video app citing security concerns. Lawmakers in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have passed legislation banning access to TikTok on government-issued devices, in schools, or even in an entire U.S. state. However, the problems associated with TikToks powerful algorithm may be far more severe than data security. Tesla CEO Elon Musk on May 13 voiced concern about the ill effects of TikTok after sharing a screenshot of a report on Twitter that documented how the Chinese-owned social media app is pushing harmful content involving self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide into childrens feeds. In the Twitter post, Musk added, extremely destructive if accurate, referring to a recent study released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a British nonprofit. Study: Harmful Content Algorithmically Pushed In the study (pdf), the CCDH established accounts posing as 13-year-old teenagers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. One account in each nation was assigned a traditional female name. A second account was also created in each country with usernames containing the characters loseweight in addition to the name. Researchers used these characters after finding that people with issues like body dysmorphia usually express their situation via usernames. The team then looked at the first 30 minutes of content recommended by TikTok in these accounts For You feed. When videos with potentially dangerous content about disorderly eating, self-harm, or mental issues were shown, the researchers would pause and like it, just like a typical teenager. Every 39 seconds on average, the accounts were served with videos related to body image and mental health. Content referencing suicide was shown on one account within two and a half minutes. One account received an eating disorder content within eight minutes. The accounts with loseweight characters were delivered three times more harmful content than other accounts. In addition, these accounts were also exposed to 12 times more suicide and self-harm videos. According to the CCDH, an eating disorder community hosted at TikTok had more than 13.2 billion video views. Lingering Harms After the researchers published their study, some videos they had flagged appeared to have been taken down from TikTok, but many of the accounts that posted the material remained while retaining other similar content, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Users can filter out videos containing words or hashtags they dont want to see, but the content can still slip through. According to WSJ, some users have developed creative ways to skirt TikToks content filters, such as using a sound-alike sewerslide when referencing suicide or just writing attempt, leaving the rest to the viewers imagination. TikTok claimed in March that it had 150 million users in the United States, with a predominantly teenage audience. A Pew Research study in April found more than two-thirds of U.S. teens report using TikTok, while 16 percent are on it almost constantly, showing signs of addiction. Imran Ahmed, CEO of the CCDH, pointed out that TikTok was designed to influence young users into giving up their time and attention. The research proved that the app is poisoning their minds as well. It promotes to children hatred of their own bodies and extreme suggestions of self-harm and disordered, potentially deadly, attitudes to food, he said, according to the report. Parents will be shocked to learn the truth and will be furious that lawmakers are failing to protect young people from Big Tech billionaires, their unaccountable social media apps, and increasingly aggressive algorithms. Abnormal Physical and Mental Changes The ubiquity of TikTok has been accompanied by a host of deleterious effects, chief among these privacy and mental health concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents spent a tremendous amount of time at home using electronic devices. Subsequently, symptoms similar to tic disorders began to increase among teens. Being diagnosed with a tic disorder, also called Tourette syndrome, means that one involuntarily performs physical jerking movements or verbal outbursts. The disorders involve uncontrollable repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics), such as repeatedly blinking the eyes, shrugging shoulders, or blurting out offensive words. According to a 2021 WSJ report, experts at top pediatric hospitals in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the UK discovered that what most of the teens had something in common was their repetitive viewing of TikTok videos. The report also cited medical journal articles and statistics from doctors and specialists that observed surges of tic-like disorders linked to TikTok usage. In addition to physical disorders, TikTok is reportedly pushing videos about borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and multiple-personality disorder toward teens, according to another WSJ report. Those videos would encourage their viewers to self-evaluate, and many would recognize themselves in the disorders and become convinced that they had them, thus becoming chagrined and upset. However, only 1.4 percent of the U.S. adult population is estimated to experience the disorder, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a nonprofit mental-health advocacy organization. And that multiple-personality disorder is even rarer, affecting less than 1 percent of the population, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The report said TikTok videos containing the hashtag #borderlinepersonalitydisorder had been viewed almost hundreds of millions of times. Heavy social media users are twice as likely to be depressed as light users, making it important for parents to consider limiting their teens access or offering more beneficial activities. (Eightshot Images/Getty Images) Growing Adverse Affects on Youth Social media is driving children and young adults to have a low sense of self-worth and be dissatisfied with their appearances, according to a study published by London-based mental health charity stem4 on Jan. 3. Social media is definitely negatively affecting me. As young people, we constantly compare ourselves to good-looking people online. On sites like TikTok, the only people you see are gorgeous due to the algorithms, and that makes us feel really bad about ourselves, said a young person who was quoted in the study (pdf). The study, which surveyed 1,024 children and young adults aged between 12 and 21 in the UK, found that 97 percent of them were on social media, spending an average of 3.65 hours a day on smartphone apps, such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp. It found that 77 percent of the respondents were unhappy about how they looked, with some saying that they were embarrassed by their bodies. Nearly half of those surveyed said they had received negative and hateful comments about their appearance. As a result, 24 percent of them responded by becoming withdrawn, 22 percent began to exercise excessively, 18 percent stopped socializing, 18 percent chose to drastically restrict their food intake, and 13 percent inflicted self-harm. The survey also found that 42 percent of the respondents51 percent of females and 31 percent of malessaid they were in mental health distress. In light of social medias increasingly adverse effects on adolescents, the American Psychological Association in April recommended parental monitoring and appropriate limit-setting on social media use, especially for those in early adolescence. Japanese electronics engineer Lee Ji-Shin told The Epoch Times on May 17 that parents should keep their children away from TikTok and guide them to pursue something meaningful. TikToks algorithm is traffic-focused, its primary purpose is to make money, and it does not consider whether the content pushed will damage or affect the immature minds of teenagers, making them anxious or impulsive. Naveen Athrappully, Frank Fang, and Ellen Wan contributed to this report. On the third and final day of the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy aimed to secure more support from Ukraines allies, and to persuade the leaders of the non-aligned countries present at the meeting India, Brazil and Indonesia to reconsider their position. U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday announced a new $375-million military aid package for Ukraine that will include ammunition, artillery and armored vehicles. The announcement comes after Washington agreed after months of reluctance to allow the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to the embattled country. On Friday, Biden gave the green light for a program to train Ukrainian pilots. And on Saturday, his National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, provided more information, clarifying that in the coming months a decision will be made on who will deliver the planes, how many will be delivered, and when. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that training will begin this summer. The G-7 summit took place as fighting intensified in Ukraine. Russias defense ministry reported that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized the eastern town of Bakhmut, which has been the site of one of the longest battles of the war. According to Russian media, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the armed forces for the alleged victory in Bakhmut. More information G7 summit marks a diplomatic and military shift for the war in Ukraine Before the start of a bilateral meeting with Biden, Zelenskiy mentioned the situation in the eastern town. When asked: is Bakhmut still in the hands of Ukraine? The Russians say they have taken it, he replied: I think not. But it was not clear whether he was responding to the question or to Russias claim that it had taken control of the city. Zelenskiy said the Russians had destroyed everything. You have to understand that there is nothing, he said. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts, he said. There is nothing in this place. This appeared to suggest that Ukraine had given up Bakhmut as lost. Later, however, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian president clarified that when Zelenskiy responded I think not, he was saying he did not think that Russia had taken control of the city. Zelenskiy and his Western partners were placing a lot of importance on the meetings with non-aligned leaders. The Ukrainian president met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indonesian President Joko Widodo the leaders of three countries which have maintained economic and political relations with Moscow. While it was unlikely that these key players would suddenly shift their position, Zelenskiy and his Western partners were hopeful that personal contact, direct explanations and arguments based on the United Nations founding values, such as respect for a countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity, would influence the non-aligned leaders internal reasoning. This war isnt just European. Its the opportunity to discuss, exchange and convince partners of this enlarged G7... India, Brazil, Indonesia and several other countries from the south, who have sometimes not exchanged as much with Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday. This allows Zelenskiy to express himself to powers of the world who at times are exposed to just one discourse. And I say that just a few weeks before a BRICS summit, Macron said, referring to the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Zelenskiys visit to the G-7 summit was not publicly announced until a few hours before his arrival. European sources indicate, however, that the Japanese presidency had informed all delegations in advance, including those of countries outside the G-7. All of them were aware that they would meet the Ukrainian leader in Hiroshima. India and Brazil are of particular importance for Ukraine. India is important since due to historical reasons it maintains deep ties with Moscow, and its goodwill is an important booster for the Kremlin. The Modi government abstained from the U.N. vote on the Russian invasion and has a flourishing oil deal with Russia, but it also has sent quite explicit messages against Russias aggression un Ukraine and has some interest in aligning with the West over its concern about China. Brazil is important for different reasons. While the country does not have the economic standing or political influence to influence the war in Ukraine, Lula is a popular leader, who is admired by progressive voters and has a wide network of personal contacts across the world. For months, he has been working to start peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. However, before he was elected president, Lula told Time magazine that Zelenskiy was just as responsible for the conflict as Putin. In other statements, he has said that it is no use saying who is right in the conflict. Brazil is not sitting on the fence: it opposes the invasion, but Lulas statements have triggered a lot of skepticism. The G7 leaders rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Australian PM Backs G-7 Statement Against Chinas Economic Coercion Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives at Hiroshima airport in Mihara, Hiroshima prefecture on May 19, 2023, to attend the first day of the G-7 Leaders' Summit. (Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images) Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed Australias support for the leaders statement coming from the G-7 summit against China asserting its disputed claims in the Indo-Pacific region through force and coercion. We have said for some time that Chinas activity, and we expressed concern for ourselves as well, the chafing of one of our aircraft, the other activities that weve seen has provided concern. Weve expressed concern in the past, well continue to do so, he told reporters in Japan on Sunday. What we need to do is to make sure that we work in a way that enhances the peace, security, and stability in the region. We very clearly support the status quo when it comes to the Taiwan Straits and that is Australias positionweve consistently stated that. Albanese said that Australias position has been well received at the G-7 summit and that its partners had welcomed the fact that Australia was back in dialogue with China. As President Biden has said to me on a number of times, in his words, You guys punch above your weight, he said. Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden as part of the G-7 Leaders Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 20, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images) In a lengthy statement, the G-7 leaders said they were prepared to build constructive and stable relations with China, while seeking to address the countrys market-distorting economic practices. We will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure. We will foster resilience to economic coercion, they said. The leaders also said they opposed Beijings militarisation and maritime claims in the South China Sea, which they said there was no legal basis for. We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas. We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion. Quad Meeting Squeezed In The Australian prime minister arrived in Japan for the rescheduled Quad meeting and was also invited to attend the G-7 summit outreach meetings. Albanese was originally going to welcome the leaders of Quad partnership, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the Sydney Opera House on May 24. However, Biden pulled out, needing to return to Washington for debt ceiling negotiations. Quad leaders instead met on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, to discuss the vision of a peaceful Indo-Pacific region that respects sovereignty, is free from intimidation, and settles disputes in accordance with international law. While the Summit couldnt take place in Sydney as planned, Im pleased to have convened a Quad meeting with counterparts today to discuss pressing challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region and deepening the Quads cooperation, Albanese said. The Quad Leaders coming together in-person sends a strong message about Quad unity and what the group is able to achieve together. (L-R) U.S. President Joe Biden, Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold a Quad meeting on the sidelines of the G-7 Leaders Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 20, 2023. (Jonathan Ernst/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) The partnership announced it will strengthen the underwater sea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific. In collaboration with the island nation of Palau, the Quad will also establish a deployment of Open Radio Access Networks, the first in the Pacific, supporting countries to expand and modernised their telecommunications networks. The commitment to acting on efforts to mitigate the predicted negative impacts of climate change was reiterated, with an announcement for the development of a coordinated Climate Information Services Initiative to share resources for early warning systems across the regionincluding from the Weather Ready Pacific initiative and Pacific Meteorological Counciland to accelerate the regions renewable energy transition. Quad nations will also support health initiatives in the Indo-Pacific through building up the regions capacity to detect and respond to any potential outbreaks of diseases that could turn endemic or pandemic. At a time of fundamental change, challenge, and opportunity in our region, we are determined to make a positive and lasting contribution to the resilience and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific by leveraging our resources and sharing our expertise, the Quad leaders said in a joint statement. The Indo-Pacifics key challenges of health security, rapidly changing technology, the grave threat of climate change, and the strategic challenges facing the region, summon us to act with renewed purpose. First-Hand Experience The call for a region free from force and coercion by the leaders of both the G-7 and Quad alliances come after Beijing confirmed it will resume the importation of Australian timber, effectively immediately. In 2020, a number of Australian goods were subject to arbitrary trade sanctions by Beijing in response to the Australian Morrison governments call for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, and the banning of China-based companies Huawei and ZTE from involvement in Australias 5G infrastructure due to security concerns. Chinas ruling communist party (CCP) suspended high level dialogue with Australia for three years, which began to thaw under the Albanese Labor government. In a rare media appearance, Beijings ambassador to Canberra, Xiao Qian, told reporters that the CCPs decision was based on a serious study provided to Beijing by Australia on the quarantine risks of Australian timber that had satisfied the conditions of the Chinese Customs. This follows Trade Minister Don Farrells recent two-day trip to Beijing, where he returned to Australia without concessions on Beijings trade bans. The news also comes a month after Canberra agreed to suspend an appeal to the World Trade Organisation over Beijings tariffs on Australian barley. Xiao said other trade disputessuch as those applied to barley, wine, lobster, coal, and cattlewill be dealt with one by one. He expressed hope that the disputes can be resolved as soon as possible. Henry Jom contributed to this report. This unique Portuguese chapel is at once a breathtakingly unique work of art and an homage to religious history. Capela das Almas, or Chapel of Souls, is an early 18th-century neoclassical church in Porto, Portugal, located on Ru d Snt trin in the busy shopping district of Snt Ildfns. Yet, the church remains the most conspicuous presence on the street for a very special feature: the chapel is covered in almost 16,000 decorative ceramic tiles, called azulejos, in eye-popping blue and white. The impressive front of Chapel of Souls, decorated with azulejo tiles in Porto, Portugal. (Mo Wu/Shutterstock) Characteristic azulejo tile work along the side of Chapel of Souls in Porto, Portugal. (Fotokon/Shutterstock) The tiles are arranged in panels depicting the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine in various religious scenes, including the death of the former and the martyrdom of the latter. The tiles were designed by Eduardo Leite and were made by Fabrica Viuva Lamego in Lisbon in 1929. Stylistically, they emulate the famous blue and white delft tiles of the 19th century and include details such as decorative filigree that add to the grandeur of the design. A three-quarter view of Chapel of Souls in Porto, Portugal. (eldeiv/Shutterstock) Detail of azulejos tile art depicting biblical scenes on the side of Chapel of Souls. (Cassia Bars Hering/Shutterstock) Detail of azulejos tile art on the side of Chapel of Souls. (Cassia Bars Hering/Shutterstock) Chapel of Souls originates from an old wooden chapel built in honor of Santa Catarina, according to the Greater Porto project. During the reformation of the chapel in 1719, the monk Domingos de Campos Soares integrated two surviving features into the new building: an arcozol, or rainbow, in the south wall, and a cross in the east of the temple, according to the Santo Sepulcro blog. Besides its 15,947 decorative tiles, other features of the stunning chapel include a two-story bell tower covered by a dome, a huge chandelier, and an imposing stained glass window over the chapel door, showing souls that were executed in the 19th century in Purgatory, being cleansed of their sins by the blood of Christ. An impressive full view of the street corner occupied by Chapel of Souls in Porto, Portugal. (Santi Rodriguez/Shutterstock) Detail of azulejos tile artwork exhibits scenes of Christ and biblical stories on the side of Chapel of Souls. (Cassia Bars Hering/Shutterstock) (Left) Detail of intricate tile artwork called azulejos on the side of Chapel of the Souls in Porto, Portugal. (Kiev.Victor/Shutterstock); (Right) A detail of azulejos tile artwork depicting Christ above. (Cassia Bars Hering/Shutterstock) Portuguese blogger and Lisbon resident Catarina describes Chapel of Souls as a Porto must, writing, Whilst the tiles may draw you into the church, once inside, the stained glass windows, giant chandelier, gorgeous paintings, and architectural details will make you linger. The chapel underwent expansion and restoration work in 1801 and was listed as a property of public interest in 1993. Today it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the area. Visitors are invited to write a letter to God or light a candle in the temple. A lone man sitting on the step outside the Chapel of Souls. (peacefoo/Shutterstock) A woman examines the azulejos tile artwork on the side of Chapel Of Souls in Porto, Portugal (iacomino FRiMAGES/Shutterstock) A congregation sits during a service amid ornate architecture in the interior of Chapel of Souls. (agsaz/Shutterstock) Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter Biden Announces New Military Aid for Ukraine During Meeting With Zelenskyy Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden take part in a bilateral meeting during the G-7 leaders summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images) HIROSHIMA, JapanPresident Joe Biden announced a new $375 million package of military aid to Ukraine during a May 21 meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G-7 leaders summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The United States continues to help Ukraine respond, recover, and rebuild. We are also supporting peace, Biden said during his first face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy since making a surprise visit to Kyiv in February. The additional U.S. security assistance marks the 38th drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment for Ukraine, which continues its fight against Russia since Moscow invaded in February 2022, according to the U.S. State Department. The United States will continue to stand with our Ukrainian partners as they defend themselves from Russias war of aggression, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. This security assistance package includes additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, artillery ammunition, anti-tank weapons, armored medical treatment vehicles, trucks, and trailers to transport heavy equipment, spare parts, and other field equipment essential to strengthening Ukraines defenders on the battlefield, Blinken said. Russia could end its war today. Until Russia does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes. The new aid comes after Pentagon officials said it made an accounting mistake that overestimated the value of military aid sent to Ukraine by at least $3 billion. Up until Bidens latest announcement, the United States had committed more than $37.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine, per an updated fact sheet (pdf). Bakhmut Only in Our Hearts Before the meeting, Zelenskyy was asked by a reporter whether Russia had taken control of Bakhmut, a battlefield city in the eastern Donetsk region that a Russian commander recently claimed had been captured by Russians. I think no, Zelenskyy said. But you have to understand there is nothing. Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place. He thanked the defenders of Bakhmut, adding, We appreciate them for their great job. Solidarity for Ukraine On May 20, Biden told his G-7 counterparts the United States will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft. As part of the decision, the United States will permit its Western allies to supply Ukraine with fighter jets, which include U.S.-made F-16s. Biden previously ruled out the possibility of the United States providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. While Ukraine has been pushing its allies for advanced warplanes to help defend its airspace, the United States and its partners had feared that could lead to further escalation with Russia. Before Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on May 20, G-7 nations had already unveiled new sanctions against Russia, as well as other measures intended to punish Russia and compromise its fighting abilities. Russias brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules, and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace, the group said in a statement. G-7 countries are the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and Italy. Besides Ukraine, the G-7 countries also discussed climate change, artificial intelligence, poverty, economic instability, and nuclear disarmament. Another major focus of the meetings was China, amid increasing anxiety that the Chinese regime could try to seize Taiwan by force, a scenario that would spark a wider conflict. The G-7 said they didnt want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace. China has indicated it opposes the G-7s joint statement and has complained to summit organizer Japan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on May 20. Aldgra Fredly and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Biden at G-7: Most US Allies Clear There Would Be a Response If China Takes Action Against Taiwan President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference following the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) At the G-7 summit, President Joe Biden told a reporter that most U.S. allies are clear that if China were to try to invade Taiwan, there would be a response. Biden was asked by a reporter on Sunday how he would manage a diplomatic relationship with China, and how he would strengthen the U.S. alliance with other countries like Japan and South Korea in order to counter China. In a part of his response, Biden noted that the United States will continue to maintain the Chinese Communist Partys One China policy. Now, you all know, but the public kind of forgets, that [the One China policy] says that neither country, China or Taiwan, neither territory, can independently declare what theyre going to doperiod. There has to be a mutually agreed outcome, Biden said. So [the United States is] sticking by that. Were not going to tell China what they can do, he said. We made it clear that we dont expect Taiwan to declare independence either. But in the meantime, were going to continue to put Taiwan in a position that they can defend themselves. And there is clear understanding among most of our allies that in fact, if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response, there would be a response. Since the start of this presidency, Biden has said at least four times that the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of an attempted invasion from China. Biden also asserted, in the context of countering destabilizing actions from China: I think were more united than weve ever been in the Pacific in terms of maintaining stability and, and maintaining a sense of security. He noted that U.S. relations with Japan have never, ever ever in American history been stronger, and that Japan is seeing a beginning of a rapprochement with South Korea. In other remarks, Biden acknowledged that the military hotline with China is not currently working, but that overall, the U.S.-China diplomatic relationship is expected to begin to thaw very shortly. China cut several military-to-military communication channels and other areas of bilateral dialogue after an August 2022 visit to Taiwan by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). With all the talk about Chinas building this military and thats why Ive made it clear that Im not prepared to trade certain items with China, Biden said. And when I was asked by [Chinese leader Xi Jinping] why, I said, Because youre using it to build nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and Im not going to do it. And weve now got commitment from all of our allies, theyre not going to either provide that kind of material that allows them to do that. Biden said that its not a hostile act, adding, Thats an act that says were going to make sure that we do everything we can to maintain the status quo ante. In August 2022, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John Aquilino warned that Chinas growing nuclear arsenal poses a threat to the regions stability, with Beijing pursuing the largest military buildup in history since World War II. According to a fact sheet (pdf) released by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2021, the accelerating pace of Chinas nuclear buildup could enable it to have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027. We have and international organizations have agreed upon what constitutes open airspace and sea space, said Biden on Sunday. And were not going to allow that to be unilaterally altered, period. Were not changing any rules. Were just making sure that we unite democracies in the conviction that the Pacific basin remains what it was before, open and clear. In September 2022, the Biden administration released a strategic framework for ties with Pacific Island nations, titled the Pacific Partnership Strategy (pdf), in which it said the United States will focus on developing allies and partnerships to ensure the region remains free, open, interconnected, secure, resilient, and prosperous. U.S. prosperity and security depend on the Pacific region remaining free and open, it states. Pressure and economic coercion by the Peoples Republic of China, risks undermining the peace, prosperity, and security of the region, and by extension, of the United States, the document notes. Separately, Biden was asked on Sunday whether he would ease off sanctions to improve the U.S.-China relationship, such as the sanctions imposed on Chinas defense minister Li Shangfu. I know thats under negotiation right now, he said. Biden Criticizes Republican Proposal on Debt Ceiling, Says He Wont Accept Partisan Terms Biden is expected to call McCarthy on the way to Washington to resolve the debt ceiling standoff President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference following the G-7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023. (Kiyoshi Ota / POOL / AFP via Getty Images) HIROSHIMA, JapanPresident Joe Biden took aim at Republicans, claiming that hes done his part in debt ceiling negotiations and that its now up to them to move from their extreme positions. During a press conference held on May 21 after the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Hiroshima Biden stated that he would speak with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) by phone, although he asserted that the GOPs proposal is unacceptable. Now its time for the other side to move from their extreme positions, because much of what theyve already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable, Biden told reporters. And its time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely on their partisan terms. His remarks came after McCarthy accused the White House of backtracking on debt-limit talks, telling reporters that no progress would be made until Biden returns from his G-7 trip. Biden attended the G-7 summit from May 19 to May 21, becoming the second sitting U.S. president to visit one of the two Japanese cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombs in 1945. During the summit, the debt ceiling debate between the White House and Republicans heated up, casting a shadow over Bidens G-7 meetings. The talks between negotiators came to a halt as no agreement was reached on May 19. The White House is moving backward in negotiations, McCarthy wrote on Twitter. Unfortunately, the socialist wing of the Democrat Party appears to be in controlespecially with President Biden out of the country. As negotiations stalled, McCarthy reportedly requested a call with the president. The speaker has accused Biden of refusing to cooperate on spending cuts. President Biden doesnt think there is a single dollar of savings to be found in the federal governments budget, he wrote in another tweet on May 20. Hed rather be the first president in history to default on the debt than to risk upsetting the radical socialists who are calling the shots for Democrats right now. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to the press after meeting President Joe Biden and other leaders at the White House on May 16, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times) A Big Step Back In response to McCarthy, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement from Hiroshima, repeating the presidents call for a reasonable bipartisan budget agreement. Last night in D.C., the Speakers team put on the table an offer that was a big step back and contained a set of extreme partisan demands that could never pass both Houses of Congress, Jean-Pierre said. Biden indicated that after his phone discussion with McCarthy, negotiators from both sides would begin talks. The speaker and Ill be talking later on the plane as we head back, the president said. And our teams are going to continue working. Im willing to cut spending, and I proposed cuts in spending of over a trillion dollars. But I believe we have to also look at the tax revenues. Biden noted that Republicans want to maintain Trumps $2 trillion tax cuts, which he says hurt the economy. There are a lot of things that they refuse to entertain, and they just said revenue is off the table. We continue to have a significant disagreement on the revenue side, he said. Biden also accused MAGA Republicans of holding the debt limit hostage and intending to harm the economy in order to prevent him from getting reelected in 2024. Looming Crisis The United States may be unable to pay its bills as early as June 1, sending shockwaves throughout the global economy. Republicans and Democrats are attempting to reach an agreement on the countrys debt ceiling before the deadline. Republicans are advocating for substantial and longer-term spending reductions, arguing that the nations deficit spending needs to roll back to fiscal year 2022 levels and restrict the growth of government spending. However, the White House strongly opposes the Republican plan, seeing it as potentially harmful to veterans care, public safety, education, and other programs. Biden addressed U.S. debt limit concerns at the G-7 summit, seeking to assure world leaders of his capability to handle negotiations and prevent a default on the U.S. debt. (L to R) U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida take part in a working lunch session as part of the G-7 Leaders Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 19, 2023. (LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) He expressed confidence on May 20 that the White House and House Republicans would reach a deal when he took questions from reporters during a bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. I still believe we can avoid a default, Biden said, noting that he was not at all worried about the negotiations. At a separate press briefing in Hiroshima on May 20, one of two Japanese cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombs in 1945, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the debt limit negotiations between the White House and House Republicans are definitely a subject of interest here at the G-7. You know, countries want to have a sense of how these negotiations are going to play out, he said. Sullivan sought to provide assurances that the looming threat of the United States defaulting on its $31 trillion worth of debts for the first time in U.S. history is not generating alarm at the G-7 talks. I would just say countries are keenly interested in what is a significant story, and the president has been able to tell them that he believes that we can get to a good result here, he said. Biden Says Zelenskyy Gave Flat Assurance He Wont Use F-16s in Russia U.S. President Joe Biden (L) walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of a working session on Ukraine during the G-7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) President Joe Biden said on May 21 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally assured him that Ukraine wouldnt use Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets in Russian territory. I have a flat assurance from Zelenskyy that they will not use [the F-16s] to go on and move into Russian geographic territory, Biden said at a press conference in Japan. But wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine in the area, they would be able to do that. Biden met with Zelenskyy at the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Hiroshima, two days after the president told G-7 leaders that the United States would support an international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter aircraft. I told [Zelenskyy] the United States, together with our allies and partners, is going to begin training Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to strengthen Ukraines Air Force as part of a long-term commitment to Ukraines ability to defend itself, Biden said. Biden portrayed the move as beneficial to the security and prosperity of the American people, which he said are substantially increased by working in concert with our closest allies and partners to build a future of greater economic strength and resilience in a world that is more peaceful and stable. U.S. allies in Europe, who would furnish the jets, praised the decision. In the past, the West has hesitated to furnish more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine, fearing that it could draw NATO into the conflict or otherwise escalate the war. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the announcement welcome. The UK will work together with the USA and the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark to get Ukraine the combat air capability it needs, Sunak wrote in a Twitter post. We stand united. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz echoed the sentiment. The project has a message for Russia: Russia cannot count on winning if it bets on a long war, Scholz said. Biden on May 21 also announced a new $375 million aid package to Ukraine, including ammunition, artillery, and armored vehicles. Enormous Risks Bidens comments came after Russia warned that the West would be taking enormous risks by furnishing Ukraine with F-16s. The Russian defense department vowed to shoot down any U.S. jets in Ukrainian airspace. Asked about these comments, Biden said the jets are a risk for them [the Russians], not for us. Biden previously ruled out the possibility of the United States providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. Ukraine has been pushing its allies for advanced warplanes to help defend its airspace, but the United States and its partners had feared this could lead to further escalation with Russia. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the new move to furnish Ukraine with these jets was a result of the exigencies of the conflict that didnt exist before. The U.S. State Department confirmed the additional U.S. security assistance, which marks the 38th drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment for Ukraine as it continues its fight against Russia after Moscow invaded Kyiv in February 2022. The United States will continue to stand with our Ukrainian partners as they defend themselves from Russias war of aggression, the department said in a statement. This security assistance package includes additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, artillery ammunition, anti-tank weapons, armored medical treatment vehicles, trucks, and trailers to transport heavy equipment, spare parts, and other field equipment essential to strengthening Ukraines defenders on the battlefield, the statement read. Russia could end its war today. Until Russia does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes. The new aid comes after Pentagon officials said it made an accounting mistake that overestimated the military aid sent to Ukraine by at least $3 billion. Up until Bidens latest announcement, the United States has committed more than $37.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine, per an updated fact sheet (pdf). Of that, more than $36.9 billion has been sent to Ukraine since February 2022. Bidens decision to send jets to Ukraine comes as congressional Republicans have become skeptical of U.S. military intervention in Ukraine, with some calling for an end to assistance and an audit of the money sent to the Eastern European nation thus far. Emel Akan and Mimi Nguyen Li contributed to this report. CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misquoted President Biden. The Epoch Times regrets the error. WNBA player Brittney Griner says the national anthem hits differently since returning from a Russian prison. Griner was once a protester and critic of the national anthem being played before sporting events. Anyone standing for the song can acknowledge that America is not perfect. But we should also recognize and celebrate the positive things about our nation, the freedom we have been given, and the privilege of living here. So why does the song now hit differently for Griner? What is it that she realizes now, but didnt in 2020? Could it be that she finally understands that the United States has a song and a flag that represent something unique that is not available in every other country? Freedom is worth fighting for, not against. American athletes should use their influence as a force for good and unity. One of the most recognized characters of Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath, is known for her novel ideas on marriage and love. Chaucer created a character that inspired future writers of Western literature. One of the 30 pilgrims featured in these 24 tales, the Wife of Bath represented the changing views about marriage and love in Medieval England. An Independent Mindset In The Canterbury Tales, characters from all walks of life travel together on a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. To pass the time, the pilgrims tell each other tales, in a varied collection of literary genres. By using this clever framing device, Chaucer encapsulated English Medieval life and the social classes it harbored. Like the other pilgrims, the Wife of Bath represents a certain class of Chaucers society, in this case, a well-off, well-traveled, and well-married woman belonging to the emerging middle class. She is one of two female storytellers, the other being the Prioress. In the Prologue, the Wife of Bath, also known as Alison, is described as having gap teeth and large hips, both markers of beauty in Medieval times, and dressed in rich and tasteful clothes. She wears hose of the finest scarlet red, and soft and new shoes, which demonstrate her wealth, as scarlet was a costly dye. The Wife of Baths Tale in the Ellesmere manuscript of The Canterbury Tales, circa 14051410. (Public Domain) She worked in the clothes-making business herself, making her a self-made woman at a time when women mostly relied on their husbands wealth. It is further said that her sewing surpasses that of the clothes makers of Ypres and Ghent, two European cloth exporters at the time. Back then, Bath, the English town Alison came from, was also trying to establish itself as one of these major European exporters. Due to her own fortune, the Wife of Bath had a lavish lifestyle, and an independent mindset. She traveled the world. She undertook pilgrimages to St. James of Compostela and Jerusalem and was now a pilgrim to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. An Unapologetic Attitude Alison married many times. In the General Prologue, the narrator states she married five times in addition to other company in her youth. In the same way he described other pilgrims, the narrator satirized the Wife of Bath by bringing out her qualities of pride, wrath, envy, and lust. At a time when marrying more than once in a lifetime was frowned upon by the Church, the Wife of Bath presents a free thinking view of marriage and love. Although she married five times, she believes she did nothing wrong, and is open to the idea of another marriage. The Prologue sets up this unapologetic mindset preceding her tale, an unusually lengthy text. The other pilgrims learn she had three husbands who treated her as an equal in the relationship, and two husbands who held the power in the marriage. Her first husbands were rich, old, and easily controlled. Her fourth husband died, and her fifth husband allowed her to do what she wanted. Her marriages taught the Wife of Bath to provide for herself. The readers learn how each marriage formed her character. She gained financial stability with her cloth-making business; she found her happiest marriages had mutual love and respect. She did not accept male dominance, but equal roles and a partnership, a novel approach at the time. The narrator doesnt praise or condemn this character, he simply lets her live freely, doing what she will. The other pilgrims have varying reactions to her Prologue. The Pardoner interrupts her and says he wont be taking a wife, while the Friar complains about the length of her Prologue. However, they are both amused by it, due to its length and Alisons unapologetic past. A Provocative Tale While the physical appearance and the past of the Wife of Bath shocked early critics of the character, the tale she tells the pilgrims is even more provocative. Her story is a Breton lai, a short Romance based on an earlier French model, set in the kingdom of King Arthur. The Canterbury Tales, woodcut, 1484. (Public Domain) A young knight is sentenced to death after he is accused of rape. The wife of King Arthur tells him he can live if he finds out what women really want. The knight has one year and one day to find the answer, and he travels from place to place to find the right answer. Some tell him women want wealth, others tell him they want pleasure, and others freedom. As the year passes, he prepares to go home and runs into an old woman. She tells him she will give him the solution if he promises to do what she asks in return. He accepts, and they ride to the court. There, the knight tells the queen that a woman wants sovereignty over her husband. This is the right answer, and the old woman asks him to marry her in return. They marry, but the knight feels discontented with this union. The old woman asks him if he prefers a young and beautiful but unfaithful wife, or an old and ugly but faithful wife. The knight tells her that she can choose. Hearing this, she transforms into a beautiful, young, faithful wife and they live happily ever after. A Modern Story The Wife of Bath never experienced this particular willing submission from a husband, but proves through her actions that any woman can create the life she wants for herself and can thrive in a male-dominated society. Although the Wife of Bath may strike modern readers as a radical character, there was already a rise of anti-marriage literature in the late Middle Ages. Authors such as Mathieu of Boulogne (Matheolus) expressed similar views about marriage in this growing genre. In his Lamentations (circa 1295), Matheolus criticized marriage for making men miserable. The Wife of Baths Tale is surprisingly modern because of the characters vision of marriage. This was of special interest to Chaucer scholars, who regarded the character as an example of a womans life during the Middle Ages. Rep. Comer Presses FBI on Biden Document After Bureau Failed to Comply With Subpoena Flanked by House Republicans, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 17, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) doubled down on the push to acquire an FBI document that linked Joe Biden to a pay-to-play bribery scheme while he was still vice president under President Barack Obama. The FBIs delay in producing a single, unclassified record is unacceptable, Comer said in a May 19 statement. The information provided by a whistleblower raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national. The FBI must provide this record to Congress without further delay. Comer reiterated the demand in a May 19 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. Some House Republicans have already signaled they would hold Wray in contempt of Congress after the FBI missed Comers subpoena deadlineMay 10to produce the internal notes regarding an alleged criminal scheme involving Biden. Comer, along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), revealed in a May 3 letter that they received legally protected and highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures. The whistleblowers tip indicated that 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, according to 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, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times. On May 3, Comer filed a subpoena to Wray seeking an internal form, called an FD-1023, which recorded information from confidential human sources. The subpoena instructed the FBI to produce all FD-1023 forms, including within any open, closed, or restricted access case files, created or modified in June 2020, containing the term Biden. Instead of turning over the requested document, Christopher Dunham, the acting assistant director for congressional affairs, wrote a letter (pdf) to Comer on May 10 explaining the FBIs confidentiality interests. Dunham said the FD-1023 form 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. An FBI spokesperson later told The Epoch Times that sharing such internal notes has the risk of jeopardizing investigations. 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, the spokesperson said. FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies at a hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in Congress in Washington on Jan. 29, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) In the May 19 letter to Wray, Comer stated that his committee has already offered a reasonable accommodation to address the FBIs stated confidentiality concerns but the FBI to date has refused to meaningfully engage in discussions about how the Committee can obtain the information that it needs. Although the committee members had an in-person meeting with the FBI officials on May 15, the bureau failed to produce the requested document. Most troubling, the FBI staff stated they were not authorized to disclose whether the FD-1023 form exists, Comer said. In lieu of producing the subpoenaed document, FBI staff proposed a second meeting with different FBI employees to provide a briefing regarding confidential human source reporting. Committee counsel agreed to the second meeting but called into question whether the FBI was acting in good faith given its refusal to even acknowledge the existence of the FD-1023 form at issue. The second meeting is set to take place on May 22. The FBI and the White House didnt respond by press time to requests by The Epoch Times for comment. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to the press after meeting President Joe Biden and other leaders at the White House on May 16, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times) Comers latest push built on a months-long investigation by the Oversight Committee into Biden and his alleged involvement in his family members foreign business deals. On May 10, investigators revealed that bank records from subpoenas showed that the Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $10 million from foreign nationals companies. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on May 11 that he would speak to Wray on Bidens alleged bribery scheme, but its unclear whether such a conversation has happened. Hold in Contempt? If Wray, the top federal law enforcement official, were to not comply with the House panels subpoena, Republicans could hold him in contempt of Congress. Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.) and Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) told The Epoch Times that they would consider such action. If a whistleblower, as they have, has identified a form that the FBI has and then the FBIs response, it seems like, they did not deny they didnt have the form but they havent turned it over, the American public and Congress need to see this form, Lesko said. We need to find out if it implicates the president of the United States. And yes, we need to have action. We need to have teeth. If we issue a subpoena and they dont answer, we need to follow it up. Reps. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said they absolutely vote in support of the contempt action. When you cant tell me why that document cant be exposed to people who are on [the House Intelligence Committee], why they have more of a right to intelligence than we do, the people who actually fund that department, when you cant even do that in a secret capacity, then what are you hiding? McCormick said on May 12. If a credible allegation of bribery against a president can be made, that is an impeachable offense, and the full powers of Congress can be invoked not only to hold obstructionists accountable, but also to compel production of the evidence. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) appeared to be hesitant to take such a move. Im not going to get into the details of the FBI issue, but I will tell you that under the Constitution, we have a system of checks and balances, he told The Epoch Times on May 12. And one of the most important authorities and responsibilities that we have as the voice of the American people is to hold the executive branch and the judicial branch accountable. And its a mutual system of checks and balances. F-16 Jets to Ukraine: Russian Minister Warns of Escalation Scenario Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko has warned that supplying F-16 jets to Ukraine comes with enormous risks to Western nations, including raising already-simmering tensions between the countries and Russia. We can see that Western countries continue to stick to an escalation scenario, which carries enormous risks for them. In any case, we will take it into account when making plans. We have all the necessary means to achieve our goals, Grushko said to TASS Russian News Agency on May 20 when asked about the potential supply of F-16 to Ukraine. The Russian ministers comments come as the Biden administration has become more open to allowing Ukraine to use F-16 aircraft. In January, during an exchange with reporters, President Joe Biden was asked whether the United States would supply Ukraine with F-16s, to which he replied, No. However, on May 19, Biden told G-7 counterparts that Washington is willing to support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft. As part of the decision, the Biden administration intends to allow allies to provide Ukraine with fighter jets, including the U.S.-made F-16s. In a May 19 tweet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the U.S. decision to support an international fighter jet coalition. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky. I count on discussing the practical implementation of this decision at the #G7 summit in Hiroshima. Ukraine has been pushing Western allies to provide it with advanced fighter jets in order to defend its airspace. However, Washington has so far avoided granting that request due to concerns that such a move would escalate tensions with Russia. F-16 in Ukraine A lightweight and versatile aircraft, the F-16 is a supersonic jet with both defensive and offensive capabilities. As constant barrages by Russian missiles negatively affect Ukraines ground-launch systems, advanced fighter jets will be a potent counter-offensive tactic for Kyiv. F-16s can be launched quickly in just a few minutes and shoot down enemy aircraft and offensive missiles. In an interview with the local Espreso TV, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Col. Yuri Ignat said that we will win this war once the military gets its hands on F-16s. By deploying the aircraft, Ukraine will be able to provide defensive cover in regions that have been earlier out of range of their anti-aircraft missiles, he claimed. We need F-16s to become an integral part of our air defense. These fighters can engage aerial targets from both high and low altitudes, Ignat said while pointing out that the jets can carry advanced weapons. By utilizing F-16s, our ground troops will be able to swiftly liberate occupied Ukrainian territories by targeting enemy command posts, military groups, and logistics supply chains. US Aid The United States has committed over $37.6 billion in aid (pdf) to Ukraine so far, out of which over $36.9 billion has been sent to Kyiv since Russia invaded the country in February last year. Several GOP leaders have urged the Biden administration to stop spending billions of dollars in military aid. In an April 20 letter to Biden, 19 Republican lawmakers warned that if the United States continues to provide aid to Kyiv, it could lead to further escalation of the war. Over the past year, the U.S. has been the principal financier of the Ukrainian defense effort. As the war enters its second year, there is no end in sight and no clear strategy to bring this war to a close. A proxy war with Russia in Ukraine is not in the strategic interest of the United States and risks an escalation that could spiral out of control, the letter said. Some Republicans have warned that helping Ukraine could detract the United States from assisting Taiwan against China. During a May 17 event at Hudson Institute, Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state under the Trump administration, dismissed these arguments. Pompeo pointed out that such arguments are predicated on a falsity of a zero-sum game that we can only have so many artillery rounds. He also warned that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is looking at what is happening in Ukraine to determine whether to invade Taiwan. Elaf Group, a leader in travel, tourism and hospitality, participated in the Future Hospitality Investment Summit (FHIS) Saudi Arabia 2023, which was held from May 7 to 9 in Riyadh. This years summit assembled a huge number of leaders and officials from countries across the globe as well as renowned investors, business owners, developers and operators in the hospitality and hotel services sector, making it the largest edition in the history of this significant event for the regions hospitality sector. As the event draws industry leaders from around the world, Elaf Group highlighted its most notable hotel services and products as well as the most recent additions to its hotel facilities in Saudi Arabia. The event served as a platform to address challenges and opportunities, promote sustainability and innovation, and enable entrepreneurship in the hospitality sector and shape the future of hospitality in the KSA and the region. During the event, Majed Kaki, Vice President of Elaf Travel and Tourism at Elaf Group participated in the panel discussion titled The Saudi Private Sector and the Saudi Vision 2030, centred on the private sectors contribution to the development and growth of tourism sector and execution of developmental projects. In addition, he emphasised the opportunities and possibilities for the expansion of tourism, hospitality and hotel services sectors and reinforced their role as significant private economic contributors in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. He further highlighted Elaf Groups plans to develop its hotel services and products, modify and expand its hospitality facilities in line with the ambitious national plans for tourism, and ensure readiness to welcome more visitors, tourists, pilgrims and Umrah performers. Kaki said: Elaf Group is delighted to take part in the Future Hospitality Investment Summit in Saudi Arabia. The summit proved to be an ideal platform to support tourism and hospitality in Saudi Arabia and highlight the distinctive features that make Saudi Arabia a preferred tourist destination. Such occasions are significant given the rising demand for hospitality services and the increase in travellers visiting the Kingdom. In addition to influencing collaborations and investment flows in the hospitality industry, these events further help to achieve a quantum leap in hospitality and tourism services. Attributing to the directives of our wise leadership and the ambitious national visions to encourage development and set the groundwork for a more diversified economic model, Saudi Arabia has been strengthening its position on the global tourism map. Currently, the Kingdom is the centre of attention of the entire globe, with its continued efforts to implement huge strategic and futuristic projects that have a substantial impact on various sectors of the economy, particularly hospitality and tourism. Elaf Group prioritises supporting the national vision and will continue our unwavering commitment to offering top-notch hospitality services and exceptional hotel experiences, empowering national competencies and enhancing their presence in the hospitality sector, further consolidating our cooperation, and expanding our partnerships with leading institutions in the tourism and hospitality sectors in fulfilment of our legacy that extends for more than four decades, he added. Elaf Group is renowned for its high-quality services, developed facilities, and distinctive experiences it provides to guests and tourists. Additionally, the Group enjoys a prestigious position internationally, particularly in Islamic countries, due to its leadership in offering highly efficient and best quality Hajj and Umrah services. TradeArabia News Service When Adriana (34, Madrid, Spain) had been working at her dream company for six years, she got a strong dose of reality. She didnt get the promotion she wanted, although she was offered a lateral change to a newand promisingdepartment at the company. Her immediate boss had just resigned and suggested that Adriana follow her to take a job with a competitor also. At the same time, Adriana received a call from a third company to set up an interview. She felt guilty about the idea of not accepting the internal position (how could she say no to the place that had given her a great opportunity?), felt even more bitter at the notion of not following her former boss and would have been disappointed with herself if she did not sit down and listen to what the third company had to offer. It was a difficult situation. A few days ago, Alison Green, a workplace counseling specialist and the author of several books on the subject (Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work and Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Managers Guide to Getting Results) received a query about a similar situation. The writer was struggling to decide if I should even entertain the idea of applying for an attractive job when I am fairly satisfied and secure where I am. Green wasted no time in encouraging the person to eliminate the sense of guilt that often arises in these situations: First and foremost, gratitude is a lovely emotion to have, but its no reason to stay in a job. When your manager and company gave you a shot at the position you have now, they werent doing you a favor; they hired you because they believed doing so would serve their interests. You owed them your best work in exchange for their faith in you (not to mention your salary), yes, but it sounds like youve provided that. Youre not obligated to stick around for longer than is in your best interestsSo please dont think about this question in terms of what you owe your current manager. You wouldnt be abandoning her if you left; you would be moving on to the next logical step in your career after offering several years good work, which is the normal course of events. An employees relationship with a company often resembles a personal relationship, so when it is time to move on to another project, one [experiences] feelings that are similar to a breakup, explains Mara Aznar, a psychologist who specializes in human resources and the talent acquisition manager at atwork. She points out that these days personal commitment, a sense of belonging, bonds with our manager and colleagues andteambuilding are very much encouraged, so it is common that people have a hard time letting go of these connections and fear change. But, she says, that should not be confused with feeling that we owe something to the company, as if we are somehow failing them by wanting a change. Guilt is intrinsic to our culture, she says: The idea remains that work is a place where we fulfill our obligations, not a place where we can enjoy ourselves. So, when another offer appeals to us, it can be bittersweet. Its great to be grateful, but we cant forget that we are an asset and that we bring a lot of value [to the company]. But that doesnt mean that we have to stay at that job for life; that would be a huge mistake, she warns. This approach begs the question of whether it makes sense to choose the unknown (the new job) over something familiar with which you are moderately satisfied (your current job). I dont believe that people are always obligated to listen to [job] offers, explains Mara Aznar. It has more to do with where you are, in terms of both your life and your career. There are times when listening to other offers and other projects can be [a distraction] and a burden, but at other times it is a very good thing because it opens doors and keeps us active in the market. For example, if we have just started a project and we want to maintain [our] motivation and focus, it is not the best time to keep listening to offers. But doing so somewhat regularly keeps us active and prepares us so that if we want to [make a] change tomorrow, we are not out of touch with how an interview is done or unfamiliar [with the state of our] field, she adds. How to evaluate a new job Life doesnt come with an instruction manual, and this situation is no exception. I believe that we have to know ourselves first, to know if we are motivated by professional growth and having a career at a company, by compensation and financial benefits or by a team and innovation. We dont all respond to the same stimuli, and I believe that everyone must figure out their own priorities [and] what is important to them, explains Mara Aznar. Once we are clear about what we want, it is useful to look at job websites such as Glassdoor where you might be able to ask employees about their experience at a company and what its like to work there to see whether the new position suits your priorities. If you have the opportunity to speak with someone who works at the new company in person, that discussion can give you concrete information to help you make a more informed decision. To reach that point, Ivan Garcia Miranda, a PhD and expert in business and innovation, recommends three tools on LinkedIn to evaluate your current position when you are considering a new job: the first is to make a simple pro and con list of what you like and dislike about your current job, like the office environment, flexible hours, recognition for good work, whether you have a company car, food vouchers or work close to your home. The second tool consists of evaluating the skills you acquired, both technical (new tools, processes, programs, languages, systems and methodologies that increase our technical knowledge) and soft skills (such as improving our public speaking skills, perfecting our ability to negotiate, resolving conflicts, leading teams or making decisions). The third tool is the so-called resume test, which involves determining whether we can add a relevant fact or skill from our last six or 12 months at work to our resume. These assessments can give you a clearer idea of whether you are progressing in your current position and what you want your next career move to be. Mara Aznar also reminds us that while changing jobs serves to improve working conditions, it also requires asking yourself what you are willing to give up. We are going to have to give up something because no job is perfect and meets all of our criteria. We have to pay close attention to the important moment in which we find ourselves because it is usually not compatible with the goals we set for ourselves; that prompts us to change jobs, but there isnt a good fit. It is also important to be clear about where we want to go; we no longer plan our life five or 10 years aheadbut setting goals, even if they are short-term ones, helps us to decide, she explains. In this sense, it is a good idea to adjust our expectations, because all changes involve a certain amount of risk and uncertainty. How to tell your boss A good boss wouldnt want you to miss out on a better opportunity, even if it came from outside the company; in fact, he or she would probably want you to pursue it. But why is it so hard to tell your boss that youre thinking of leaving? Mara Aznar talks about an [employees] sense of leaving the nest: it is hard to leave a place where we have been treated well, which can lead to a feeling of indebtedness. In addition, we find it very difficult to do because they dont teach us to have difficult conversations and [deal with] confrontations. We find it hard to talk about raises, we find it hard to give and receive feedback and to say that we disagree with something. We dont work on assertive communication in business contexts; while it is true that [these things have] evolved a lot, we still find it difficult because we feel like we are hurting the other person. Saying that we intend to leave also means Im leaving you, which clearly reflects how hard it is for us to cut ties, she explains. To make it somewhat easier, Aznar recommends only telling your boss once youve made the decision, not before. She says that it is essential to prepare for the conversation beforehand; you should not do it spontaneously. Setting aside a space to talk solely about this topic is critical, as is beginning the conversation clearly: Starting [the talk] by saying that you are leaving makes it easier to takeWhen we give context and too many explanations, everything becomes complicated, and we get nervous. You should say something like Im leaving the company and heres why. However, if you are going through a difficult time or a crisis and you are thinking about changing jobs[and] you have a very good relationship with your boss and believe that there may be a solutionfor example, an internal promotionit may be [a good idea] to share that [with them]. But this must be a well-thought-out conversation, and the options have to be clear; ultimately, a boss can offer support, but s/he is not a counselorYou can also seek professional help outside the company, if necessary, Aznar says. In addition to choosing the right time, broaching the subject in advance and speaking honestly, Infojobs recommends a positive approach: It is important that you maintain that [outlook] throughout the conversation. Talk about your new direction as an opportunity to grow, as a challenge you want to try or as a change that you need personally. Try to make your boss understand that you are not leaving just for better conditions, but that it is really something that you want, that motivates you and that will help you to grow. Taking this approach with them will help avoid feelings of disappointment and/or confusion on their part about your departure. How you leave the job matters. Thus, Infojobs emphasizes the importance of the order in which you communicate your decision to move on: What you say is as important as who you say it to, and especially who you tell first. Talk to your boss first, then Human ResourcesIf you can, be discreet about your decision with your other co-workers. Making your boss feel that you confided in him or her first will help him or her feel valued and will significantly reduce the feelings of discomfort that a conversation like this can cause. What you can take away from an interview Beyond the possibility of a new job, one can learn a lot from a job interview. It can accomplish a number of things, such as valuing the job we have, reinforcing our technical and personal skills and keeping us active in the market, says Mara Aznar. In todays world, one must prepare for all interviews so doing an interview from time to time helps us to gain confidence and understand what the [job] market is like, she adds. If we have an interview while we are already employed, it is quite likely that it will go even better than usual: We are always more relaxed when we dont need [the job] she says. But whether we are employed or not, a job interview should always be an opportunity to interview the person who wants to hire usIt is a key time for asking difficult but important questions to determine if the job is a good fit for us (or not). Michael Page, a recruitment company, recommends being honest and direct, being clear and knowing how to convey the real reasons why you are looking for a change, and being direct about your salary aspirations. In fact, roles are changing in some sectors, such as Information Technology (IT); the demand [for workers] is so great that interviewers sell the [open position], while the interviewee asks questions about their fit with the company[Job candidates] can choose, and they take advantage of it very wellIts important that you come from a sector thats competitive to some degree, make sure its [where] you want to be and dont be afraid to ask [questions], advises Mara Aznar. We want to work at a company that welcomes all of our questions about salary and day-to-day work. As in any new relationship, trust is a two-way street. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition FBI Again Promises to Stop Unjustly Searching NSA Data on Americans FBI Director Christopher Wray is sworn in during a hearing before Senate Judiciary Committee at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Aug. 4, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) After a recently unsealed court opinion censuring the FBI for impermissibly searching sprawling NSA databases for information on Americans, the bureau has again vowed to fix itself. The FBI has for years promised to address the issue, but the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which oversees the use of the intelligence databases, has repeatedly found the remedies lacking, although the most recent FBI internal audit showed improvements. A 2022 FISC opinion unsealed on May 12 noted that the FBI had no right to search the databases for information on as many as hundreds of thousands of Americans, including many participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Those were only the violations identified by the government itself. The FBI repeatedly searched the foreign intelligence databases without proper justificationsometimes using individual names of criminal suspects, other times using whole lists of identifiers, such as names and telephone numbers, according to the April 21, 2022, opinion. Aside from the Jan. 6 participants, the improper queries also targeted thousands of donors to a congressional campaign, hundreds of criminal suspects, more than a hundred arrestees from the 2020 George Floyd protests, and even some victims of crimes and their relatives, according to the court. Improper queries of the data easily translate to civil rights violations because the National Security Agency collects much of it under permissive rules for warrantless spying on foreigners set forth in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)rules that wouldnt fly under the constitutional protections enjoyed by Americans. The Fourth Amendment prohibits the government from spying on Americans without a warrant. Although the NSA is supposed to minimize the number of Americans caught in its surveillance dragnet, unwarranted data collection still happens, such as when Americans talk to monitored foreigners. The raw Section 702 data are minimally processed, if at all. That means names of Americans arent replaced with generic placeholders that mask their identities. The FBI is only allowed to search the raw Section 702 data on Americans if the query is reasonably likely to return foreign intelligence information or evidence of a crime, the court noted. But improper queries were rather common. The FBIs Office of Internal Auditing (OIA) looked at roughly 2,100 queries from 2020 and 2021 and concluded that almost 18 percent were noncompliant. In many cases, the FBI insisted that the queries were proper even after they were flagged by the Justice Departments (DOJ) National Security Division, which is supposed to double-check the FBIs compliance, according to the FISC. The FISC has complained about the FBIs breaking of the rules since at least 2017. In March 2016, the DOJ found out that some contractors had access to raw Section 702 information on FBI systems that went well beyond what was necessary to respond to the FBIs requests, the court stated in an April 2017 opinion (pdf). In 2018, the FISC criticized the FBI for its practice of bundling many targets into one query with a justification that only applied to the whole but not necessarily to each individual target. The DOJ found a number of other instances in which the FBI used the database improperly, including to vet some of its prospective sources. The full extent of the problems was hard to gauge because, at the time, the FBI wasnt tracking which queries were related to Americans and which werent. The court told the FBI that it needed to make its agents identify each query related to Americans and write a justification for each. In 2019, however, the DOJ informed the FISC of dozens more improper searches of the database, such as to vet a potential source, to vet a local police officer candidate, and to vet a maintenance crew visiting an FBI office. The FBI has repeatedly pledged to put measures in place to ensure compliance, but the violations continued. The most recent set of measures, put in place in late 2021 and early 2022, require agents to personally type out a justification for each query to access the results and for a lawyer to approve queries that target many people at once. As Director [Christopher] Wray has made clear, the errors described in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts opinion are completely unacceptable, a senior FBI official told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. As a result of the audits that revealed these instances of noncompliance, the FBI changed its querying procedures to make sure these errors do not happen again. These steps have led to significant improvement in the way we conduct queries of lawfully obtained Section 702 information. We are committed to continuing this work and providing greater transparency into the process to earn the trust of the American people and advance our mission of safeguarding both the nations security and privacy and civil liberties at the same time. The remedies appear to have moved the needle. Less than 4 percent of queries were found to be noncompliant in an OIA audit that looked at more than 500 queries conducted from July 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022. But some argue that access to the data should be further restricted. Even if the compliance rate were 100 percent, the government should not be able to access Americans communications without a warrant, Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote on Twitter. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has repeatedly expressed a similar sentiment. The problem is the system can be abused. Its admirable to have some regulations and some checks and balances you put in place, Paul said during a 2021 hearing. But the only real fix would be we should obey the Constitution. Florida Congressman Calls Trump Strongest 2024 Candidate Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2022 (CPAC) in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 26, 2022. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images) Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) endorsed former President Donald Trump as the strongest candidate among presidential hopefuls in 2024, following Trumps strong showings in a recent poll. The poll, conducted by Harvard CAPS-Harris that queried 2,004 registered voters from May 17 to May 18, found Trump defeating President Joe Biden by seven points and Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points in two separate hypothetical scenarios. The two Democrats scored a tie if either was matched up against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely seen as Trumps biggest challenger to secure the GOP nomination in 2024. Trump is clearly our strongest 2024 candidateand its not particularly close, Gaetz wrote on Twitter on May 19, while sharing the results of the poll. DeSantis has not officially launched a 2024 presidential bid but is expected to make his decision soon. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during an Iowa GOP reception in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on May 13, 2023. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) Apart from Trump, several major Republican 2024 challengers have formally launched presidential bids, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative radio host Larry Elder, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). There have been indications that former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will enter the 2024 race, but neither has made a formal announcement. The poll also found Trump leading the GOP field with 58 percent of support, with DeSantis finishing second with 16 percent, followed by a three-way tie of four percent between Ramaswamy, Pence, and Haley. Trump also came out on top in one-on-one hypothetical GOP matchups against Scott (79 percent), Haley (78 percent), Pence (77 percent), and DeSantis (65 percent). A recent RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls shows similar trends, with Trump beating Biden by 1.4 percentage points and Biden and DeSantis knotting a tie at 42.3 percent in hypothetical matchups. The aggregate also shows Trump leading other GOP presidential hopefuls with 56.3 percent of support, followed by DeSantis at 19.4 percent, Pence at 5.6 percent, Haley at 4.3 percent, Ramaswamy at 3.6 percent, and Scott at 1.8 percent. Gaetz The Florida congressman has endorsed Trumps reelection bid before the former president formally announced his White House bid in November last year. Only Trump can be trusted to enact the America First agenda he ran on in 2016. We wont accept any imitation, Gaetz wrote in a Daily Caller op-ed in November, days before Trump launched his 2024 bid. Theres so many more accomplishments left for us to achieve if we elect Donald Trump back to the White House, Gaetz added. America is broken under Biden. Trump alone can fix it. Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Waco Regional Airport in Waco, Texas, on March 25, 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) In March, when Trump held the first rally of his 2024 White House bid in Waco, Texas, Gaetz was among a group of current and former lawmakers who gave a speech. The best and the brightest of the Republican Party must unify under the Trump banner so that we can take on the evil leftists, and socialists, and communists, Gaetz said in his speech, calling out DeSantis to endorse Trumps White House bid. There is no success without victory and there is no Trumpism in 2024 without Donald J. Trump, Gaetz added, before declaring himself as a Donald Trump Republican. Trump endorsed Gaetzs reelection bid in 2018 and endorsed Gaetz again before the congressman won a fourth term in Congress in 2022. Matt is a Champion of our MAGA Agenda, who tirelessly works to Drain the Swamp, Secure the Border, Support our Brave Veterans and Law Enforcement, Defend the Second Amendment, Stand Up to the Woke Mob, and Fight the Never-Ending Witch Hunts from the Radical Left that are destroying our Country! Trump wrote when endorsing Gaetz in 2022. Eleven lawmakers from Florida have chosen to endorse Trump for 2024, according to Ballotpedias endorsement tracker. They are Reps. Byron Donalds, Vern Buchanan, Anna Paulina Luna, Brian Mast, Cory Mills, John Rutherford, Greg Steube, Michael Waltz, Gus Bilirakis, Carlos Gimenez, and Gaetz. Former US Marine Charged in Death of Homeless Man Breaks Silence Daniel Penny issues first public comments since deadly confrontation Daniel Penny (C) is walked by New York Police Department detectives detectives out of the 5th Precinct in New York on May 12, 2023. (Jeenah Moon/AP Photo) Daniel Penny, the U.S. Marine veteran who is facing criminal charges after he put a homeless man, Jordan Neely, in a fatal chokehold in New York City at the start of the month, has decided to speak publicly about the incident. In an interview with the New York Post, the 24-year-old Penny said the fatal altercation that took place on a subway train in NYC had nothing to do with race. Neely, a 30-year-old black man, had a long history of mental illness and more than 40 prior arrests ranging from disorderly conduct to assault, and an active warrant out for his arrest from a felony assault. I judge a person based on their character, Penny told the newspaper. Im not a white supremacist. Everybody whos ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures. When asked by the paper what he would say to the family of Neely, whose funeral was on May 19, Penny said, Im deeply saddened by the loss of life. Its tragic what happened to him. Hopefully, we can change the system thats so desperately failed us. New York police officers administer CPR to Jordan Neely on a subway train in New York on May 1, 2023. (Paul Martinka via AP) Second-Degree Manslaughter Charge Penny was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 12, on a charge of second-degree manslaughter. The city medical examiner ruled the death of Neely a homicide due to compression of neck (chokehold). Penny had pulled Neely to the floor and pinned him with a hold he learned during combat training, according to a video of the incident. Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist who recorded the clip, previously told the New York Post that Neely had been threatening and screaming at other passengers in an aggressive manner, while also complaining of hunger and thirst. At one point, Neely started to scream that he was fed up and doesnt care anymore whether he would go to jail for life. Penny then approached Neely to restrain him. In the video, two other riders are also seen restraining Neelys arms as Penny holds him in a headlock. After they let go of him, Neely is seen lying motionless on the floor. According to the Post, Penny said he couldnt elaborate about the details of the confrontation because of the pending court case, but said that it wasnt like anything [hed] experienced before. 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) Lawyers Argue Self-Defense Neely family attorney Lennon Edwards had told reporters on May 12 that Daniel Penny chose, intentionally chose, a technique to use that is designed to cut off airthats what he choseand he chose to continue to hold that chokehold minute after minute, second after second, until there was no life left in Jordan Neely. However, Pennys lawyers have said he was acting in self-defense. His attorney, Thomas Kenniff, previously told the Post that hes confident that Penny will be absolved of any wrong doing. Kenniff and another lawyer, Steven Raiser, issued a statement on May 5, saying that Neely had been aggressively threatening their client and that Penny and others acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel [Penny] never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death, the lawyers said. A crowdfunding campaign launched by Kenniff and Raiser to pay for Pennys legal fees has accumulated more than $2.7 million as of the time of reporting. Any proceeds collected which exceed those necessary to cover Mr. Pennys legal defense will be donated to a mental health advocacy program in New York City, the lawyers said. If convicted of second-degree manslaughter, Penny could face as much as 15 years in prison. He is due back in court for a hearing on July 17. Tom Ozimek and Lorenz Duchamps contributed to this report. Teaching children basic lifesaving skills, such as how to call 911 and administer CPR, can start as young as age 4, the American Heart Association (AHA) and other experts advise in a new scientific statement published on May 17. With regular training in basic life support at an early age, children can be adept at these actions by middle school. A 4-year-old who can identify when to call an emergency telephone number becomes a 10-year-old who may begin to perform effective chest compressions, according to the AHA, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), and the European Resuscitation Council. The writing group of resuscitation scientists reviewed more than 100 research articles about training students in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The review, published in the journal Circulation, found that school-aged children are not only highly motivated to learn lifesaving skills but often pass on what theyve learned to others, multiplying the benefits. Training students has become a key element to increase the number of people ready to perform CPR when cardiac arrest occurs outside of a hospital, and potentially increase rates of CPR and cardiac arrest survival globally, Dr. Bernd Bottiger, chair of the statement writing group said in a press release. This research review aims to prompt clinicians, policymakers, local school officials, and the general public to take action in a cardiac emergency whenever possible. Cardiac arrest, the sudden loss of all heart activity due to an irregular heart rhythm, is a leading cause of death worldwide. Although young children do not have the strength to perform correct chest compressions, they can learn the basic information about what to do if someone suddenly collapses, said Dr. Comilla Sassona practicing emergency medicine physician and a member of the statement-writing committee, and vice president for health science at the AHAin an email to CNN. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (pdf), because people are not familiar with what to do in the event of cardiac arrest, between 7090 percent of people who experience that kind of event outside of a hospital die before reaching a hospital. Survival rates for cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting range between 2 percent and 20 percent globally. The odds of surviving are particularly low if a bystander doesnt recognize whats happening and fails to take action immediately. Given that most cardiac arrests outside of a hospital will happen at home, its important that all members of the family understand what to do if someone has a cardiac arrest, Sasson said, according to the AHA statement. As part of educating children about lifesaving skills, teach young children how to assess for consciousness and normal breathing, the scientific statement says. Various medical groups have long stressed the importance of teaching young children what to do during medical emergencies at home, school, or other settings. In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement advocating for training of children, parents, caregivers, school personnel, and the public on basic lifesaving skills as well as the appropriate use of AEDs. Sasson said the AHA had played a role in getting more than 40 states to require some type of education about cardiac arrest and CPR as a graduation prerequisite for high school students. But we know that the more often someone is exposed to this information, using high frequency, spaced learning approaches, the more likely they will be to act in an emergency. The AHA believes that no one is too young or too old to learn about CPR, AEDs, and cardiac arrest, Sasson told CNN. We believe that this statement can help us outline for students, parents, teachers, staff, and leadership just how important kids are in saving lives. Hong Kong Mompreneur Starts Thriving Cookie Business After Moving to Belgium for the Future of Her Six Children Hebe and her Belgian husband, Micheal, pack up and move to Belgium from Hong Kong to welcome their soon-arriving baby. (Courtesy of Hebe) While Mothers Day has just passed, being a mom is not a one-time gig. It is a full-time job. Only a mother truly knows how difficult it is to juggle children, housework, self-care, and often work-life balance. Every hardship, however, immediately melts away when a mother sees her child smile. Hongkonger Hebe, is one of the mothers. Truthfully, being happy once I became a mother was much easier. Whenever you see your children playing together, helping each other, witnessing their growth is enough for me. Hebe, being a mother of five, has been carrying her sixth child, and it wont be long before the baby comes into the world. Initially, Hebe thought five children were already an abundance of joy. Suddenly, no. 6 arrived unexpectedly. Hebe and her husband accepted heavens blessings with ease, as they both believed that every child was a gift from God and should be thankful for a new lifes arrival. Hongkonger Hebe, her husband Michael, and their children spend their Christmas in the festivity in Belgium. (Courtesy of Hebe) How The Love Sprouts Hebe and Michael met online, and things were heating up fast. Michael quit his job and traveled to Hong Kong to meet Hebe. Six months later, they got married and had their first child, a baby girl. Hebe, at the time, was 24 and decided to be a full-time mother. Hebe remembers how she and Michael enjoyed being married. Hebe believes to this date, she met Michael, who turned out to be a family man, at the perfect time. After living in Hong Kong for eight years with their three children, In 2017, Hebe accidentally became pregnant with twins and decided to relocate to Belgium. As she cares for children and watches them grow, so has Hebes hobby, baking. Hebe now also owns a small online business baking decorative cookies. She also goes back to school to learn French, slowly blending into the local community. Hebe, a mother of three, unexpectedly became pregnant with twins in Hong Kong. Her family decided to relocate to Belgium. (Courtesy of Hebe) Cutting The Cord In April 2023, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its latest annual report on world population and reproduction. The fertility rate of women in Hong Kong sits at the lowest in the world, with an average of only 0.8 children per person. The data is based on economic situations, high real estate prices, education, and other social factors. There are also changes in womens views on marriage and childbirth. Hence, caring for six children is a mission impossible in todays society. Hebe believes that raising children is a family responsibility. To Hebe, it does not matter in what circumstances she becomes pregnant, as Michael and she mutually agrees that the child must be born and raised. Abortion is never on her mind. A baby is a gift from God. It is our responsibility. A photo of Hebe and Alyssa, Hebes oldest daughter, at her primary school graduation. (Courtesy of Hebe) Hong Kong, one of the most expensive concrete jungles in the world, is not a child-friendly place. So for Hebe, having three children in Hong Kong means tripling the living needs. Can you imagine five people living in a New York size apartment? Making Moves When Hebe had her first child, she lived with her parents in Hong Kong. But after the second and third, they had to move somewhere bigger with two bedrooms. Thankfully, there was a park in the apartment building where Hebe lived in Tung Chung. At least there is a place for the children to run around when they were younger. They did not take up so much space. The little magical beans would all become the Giant Beanstalk in a shoe box if they were any bigger. While Hebe is a homemaker, Michael is not having an easy time either. He worked two jobs to provide for the family in Hong Kong. It was a very stressful time. Hebe did not hire a maid at the time to take care of her children, mainly because she thought her children would be better off with her educating them. Besides, there was not much foot space to provide the extra room needed for a live-in helper. The Unexpected Twinning The news of having twins caught both Hebe and Michael by surprise. They knew they had to move as soon as the news came. Hong Kong is not a place for six little peas. It will be too costly for the family. It took the Hebes only three months to prepare for their move. It was so rushed when we left. Because if my tummy becomes too big, I might not have been able to get on the plane. We also know that it is infeasible to raise five children in such a crowded space and stressful economy. That is why we decided to move to Belgium and give birth there. Hebe explains. Hebes twins were born in Belgium. (Courtesy of Hebe) Big sister Alyssa holding her baby brother. (Courtesy of Hebe) Belgium Loves Children Belgium encourages fertility and childbirth. For one childbirth, the family receives a time allowance of HK$10,000 and monthly milk money of about HK$2,000. Other subsidies are available, such as education until the child becomes employed. Additionally, it is free to study in public schools, and multi-children families get tax reductions. Hong Kong, on the other hand, lacks all of the above. In the Time of COVID The pandemic affected people worldwide, as they felt stuck at home during the lockdowns. However, Hebe adjusted swimmingly. The pandemic was not much of a transition for her. While the children did not need to attend online classes, they still had an everyday social life. It is better for their mental and physical health, Hebe adds. Michael, Hebes husband, spends his birthday with the children. (Courtesy of Hebe) A Surprise From The Sky Hebe was becoming more comfortable with the local life after migrating to Belgium for five years. She thought she could finally take a breather, as her twins were healthy and would attend primary school soon; Alyssa, the eldest daughter, would soon be a high school student. As quickly as her break came, something took her breath away again: Hebe and her husband learned about the sixth pregnancy. I was feeling really blue when I first found out I was carrying our sixth child. After three years of being in a pandemic lockdown, I thought I could finally go back to Hong Kong to visit my family in October 2022. But she could not. Her many plans, including returning to Hong Kong, suddenly had to be paused. Once again, it felt like her planned itinerary was suddenly not so well-planned. She quickly gathered herself, and her husband came to the rescue when Hebe needed him the most. Hebe not only appreciates her husbands stepping in to help around the house, Michaels close attendance to Hebes feelings and needs makes life easier for her. Whenever I travel, he will see me off and pick me up at the airport. Because of the children, he will leave work early to help me. There was a time he would go to work at 5 a.m. because of us. Hebes heart is as warm as it was when her husband showed her what unconditional love meant. Hebes sixth child will arrive soon, and she decides to take photos at 34 weeks of pregnancy as a souvenir. (Courtesy of Hebe) Little Helpers The five children are over the moon that a little sister is on her way. Every morning, they have to say goodbye to their mom and little sister while rubbing their mummys tummy before leaving for school. Hebes children are also very mature and responsible. They take turns looking after the housework and Hebe whenever they see her exhausted. Alyssa, the 13-year-old sister, would often pick up her little brother from school so that Hebe could stay home and rest. Hebes heart is warmed by everything her loving husband and children do while she is pregnant. Every day is Mothers Day for Hebe. But this Mothers Day was different. The entire family was looking forward to a new arrival. Hebes home life with her family and mother-in-law. (Courtesy of Hebe) When Foreign Languages Are No Longer Foreign While being in a foreign country may sound exciting, language barriers can significantly challenge any newcomer. It was no different to Hebe. Dutch, French, and German are the official languages in Belgium. Michaels family lives in a little town called Court-Saint-Etienne, a French community. English is rarely used, even when you go to a hospital. Being in a small town means you have to be self-sufficient with transportation. Unlike Hong Kong, where primary public transportation such as cross-tunnel buses, trains, trams, and taxis is convenient and connects to various districts, Hebe suddenly felt like a fish out of water in a foreign country. She could not understand people. She could not go out independently since she did not speak French. Hebe could not live or go anywhere by herself at all. Hebe is thankful that Grandma, Michaels mom, has taken good care of the five children since she arrived in Belgium. (Courtesy of the Hebe) It is scary for a newcomer like Hebe to rely entirely on others. I was handicapped. I did not speak a word of French. I had to rely on Michael and Grandma. I could only stay at home. Hebe remembers as clear as day. The Grandma was also the only one she depended on to educate three children. Their teachers would discuss student progress, but she did not understand a word of what the teachers said. Grandma was the one the teachers spoke to. Grandma was the translator. At some point, defeat and guilt overcast Hebe for failing her responsibilities as a mother. Another cloud over Hebe was living in a small town. Hebe had to find ways to overcome her feelings and isolation as she moved from a bustling city she knew so well to a quiet little town. Hebe had to start from ground zero, again: New environment, new language, a new level of loneliness she had never felt. Interestingly, loneliness was what Hebe had to face the most at first. Homemade frosted cookies made by Hebe. (Courtesy of Hebe) After moving to Europe, Hebe returned to Hong Kong once. And she wanted to learn some handicrafts while there. So she signed up for flower weaving and cookie-making classes. Not long after, she knew what she enjoyed more: Cookie baking. When she went back to Belgium, she began spending more time making cookies with adorable shapes for her children. The children loved her cookies so much that they shared some with their friends at school. Then Hebes cookies became a gift in demand for school events and birthdays. The rising of her popular cookies also fueled Hebes confidence and perhaps cured her loneliness. When Hobby Becomes Business Aside from being a full-time housewife, Hebe becomes an entrepreneur with an online business selling her cookies. Speaking to different people and customers has been joyous for her. Hebe no longer feels alone or isolated. Baking cookies resuscitated her from baby blues and loneliness. Hebe is once again a social butterfly. When you are alone in an unfamiliar, foreign place, opportunities to explore and be recognized are little to none. I now get to meet and speak to different people in the community through my small business. I can also practice my French. It makes Hebe happy to make new friends through her small baking business, even though it is not a profitable one. Hebe, the mother of six, bakes adorable boba cookies and steamed buns in the shapes of carrot and bunny. (Courtesy of Hebe) Hebe makes teddy bear bento boxes for her children. (Courtesy of Hebe) Ever since her move to Belgium, Hebe had been learning French through essential daily communication. Until last year, Hebe enrolled in a local French language learning course. At first, Hebe studied in a small beginners class along with nine other students. Most of the students came from Ukraine. The teacher taught in French. She had to attend three long classes weekly. Hebe obverses that since the breakout of the Ukrainian-Russian War, many Ukrainians escaped and made Belgium home. Hebe also made friends at the language learning center, expanding her social circle. She was already pregnant while at school. But she never wanted to give up learning because of the pregnancy and taking care of her family. You must realize how much pregnant women experience mentally and physically while carrying a baby for nine months to fully appreciate the drive and strength Hebe has to finish her course. I made some frosted bear cookies for my teacher and classmates with their names to celebrate completing the course. They did not want to eat the cookies as they looked too adorable to be eaten. Hebe smiles. Hebe makes frosted bear cookies with pink roses for her classmates and teacher to complete the course. Blue hearts and everyones names accompany the teddy bear cookies. (Courtesy of Hebe) The Migratory Journeys of Hongkongers Just like animal migration, the migratory journeys of Hongkongers are becoming more common. The journey is also a hard, taxing, energy-draining expedition. For mothers like Hebe, who migrates with not one, but five children while being pregnant, it is a mission impossible. Your body needs to acclimate to a new environment, habitat, lifestyle, and often a new language. The stress will take a toll on your body and mental wellness. However, Hebe does not believe she had it more challenging than others. I think Hongkongers having to start from the ground up are braver than I am. At least when I first arrived in Belgium, I had my husband and mother-in-law to care for me. Other Hongkongers have to begin again within themselves. No matter where I am, I will always remember why I first chose to move away from Hong Kong. In the end, it is essential to learn inclusion and acceptance in a new space. Soon Hebe has to adapt again, with her sixth child arriving soon. New sleep patterns, sleeplessness, juggling five children, a newborn, and fluctuating hormones will be challenging. But fret not, Hebe is the ultimate one-woman band. Reminders to Hongkongers on Migratory Journeys Leaving a comfort zone is never easy. As long as you persevere, you will slowly make the new environment adapt to you too. Hebe and Michael often take the children to enjoy fresh air in nature. (Courtesy of Hebe) Hebe leaves Hong Kong and moves to Belgium for her childrens future. Although it is difficult to adjust to a new environment, Hebe perseveres and makes Belgium her new home. (Courtesy of Hebe) Hong Kong Students Rank 2nd in Global Reading Ability Study Hong Kong students ranked 2nd in the global reading ability study. (Image from the University of Hong Kong website) The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Education has released the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) results. Hong Kong students achieved the top three ranking in the world for four consecutive PIRLS cycles, representing the highest level internationally. With a score of 573, Hong Kong students surpassed the international average score of 500. PIRLS, organized by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, is conducted every five years to assess, compare, and track the reading abilities of fourth-grade students using their mother tongue across participating countries and regions. In this cycle, 57 countries and regions participated, involving approximately 320,000 students and their parents, teachers, and principals. The Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong conducted the research in Hong Kong. During the COVID-19 pandemic 2021, Hong Kong primary four students participated in the study and achieved a 573 (above the international average of 500), securing the 2nd position globally. Hong Kong has consistently ranked among the top three internationally in the past four cycles, with a previous first-place ranking in 2011. Regarding genre-specific reading abilities, Hong Kong primary four students scored 582 in informational text reading and 564 in literary text reading, higher than in 2016. Regarding different proficiency levels, Hong Kong fourth-grade students scored 572 in advanced reading abilities (evaluation and integration) and 577 in basic reading abilities (locating information and making straightforward inferences), both showing improvement compared to 2016. Female students in Hong Kong performed better in reading, with a score of 577, compared to male students 569. Female students excelled more in informational text reading than literary text reading. Ninety-two percent of Hong Kong primary four students achieved at least the intermediate international benchmark in reading proficiency, and 21 percent reached the highest benchmark level known as top performers or above, making Hong Kong the region with the fewest low-performing students in this study. The research found that reading habits and interests contribute to reading confidence. The more frequent and enjoyable the reading experiences, the higher the confidence and better the reading performance. Thirty-two percent of Hong Kong students expressed confidence in their reading abilities, achieving an average score of 605. Those with some confidence accounted for 39 percent, with an average score of 573, while 29 percent of students lacked confidence, scoring an average of 539. Regarding reading interests, 30 percent of Hong Kong primary four students showed a strong interest in reading, with an average score of 590. Forty-seven percent had moderate interest, scoring an average of 573, while the remaining 23 percent had weak interest, resulting in the lowest average score of 550. PIRLS also investigated students reading habits outside of school. Even during the pandemic in 2021, 66 percent of students reported reading once or twice a week or every day or almost every day in a quiet setting at school, and these students achieved higher reading scores than others. 59.6 percent of students read outside of school for 30 minutes or more daily, with an average score of 585 or higher. Students who read less than half an hour outside of school scored 554, showing a significant difference between the two groups. The survey further revealed that the socioeconomic status of Hong Kong families had no significant impact on students reading performance compared to other countries or regions. However, it was noted that only about 40 percent of Hong Kong students self-reported active engagement in reading classrooms, placing Hong Kong among the bottom two globally. Furthermore, a spokesperson from the Education Bureau stated that, relative to other countries or regions, the socioeconomic status of Hong Kong primary four students families did not significantly influence their reading abilities. This reflects the Hong Kong primary education systems ability to provide students equal and high-quality educational opportunities. Practical support from different stakeholders is crucial in enhancing students reading and language skills. The authorities expressed gratitude to schools, teachers, and all stakeholders for their efforts and contributions to providing quality education. Mad Cow Disease Case Detected in the US A cow is silhouetted on a pasture in a file photo. (Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images) An atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also commonly known as mad cow disease, has been detected in South Carolina, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Friday. The disease was found in an approximately 5-year-old or older beef cow at a slaughter plant in the Palmetto State. This animal never entered slaughter channels and at no time presented a risk to the food supply or to human health in the United States. Given the United States negligible risk status for BSE, we do not expect any trade impacts as a result of this finding, the federal agency said in a statement. The cow was from Tennessee and tested positive for atypical BSE, Clemson University stated. The animal showed symptoms of the disease upon arrival at the plant and was euthanized. Samples were sent to a National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) lab for testing and returned suspect for BSE. The samples were then sent to USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) where they were confirmed positive for atypical L-type BSE, the statement reads. Michael Neault, director of Clemson Unversity Livestock Poultry Health and South Carolina state veterinarian, said that this is an isolated case. He praised the system in place to prevent BSE from endangering human and animal health as being robust and successful. A worker monitors a meat grinding machine at a meat processing plant in Yakima, Wa., on Dec. 29, 2003. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) This was the seventh detection of BSE in the United States since 2003, and all but one have been atypical. The first case was reported in December 2003 when a presumptive diagnosis of BSE was announced in an adult Holstein cow from Washington state. The diagnosis was later confirmed by an international reference laboratory in Weybridge, England. BSE Variant Could Be Deadly for Humans According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), humans could get a version of BSE called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) if they eat food from cows sick with BSE. As of 2019, 232 people are known to have been infected with vCJD and all of them have died. Most of the victims lived in the United Kingdom at some point in their lives. Four of them lived in the United States. The four Americans who died after vCJD most likely were infected when they were living or traveling overseas, the agency said. BSE and vCJD are not contagious and people will not be infected with BSE from drinking milk or eating dairy products from sick cows. Researchers reported that one in 2,000 people in the United Kingdom were carriers of vCJD, the BBC reported. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, which was renamed as the Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee this year, said in a 2014 report that thousands of people could be asymptomatic carriers of the prions that cause vCJD and blood transfusions were a key channel of transmission. vCJD Blood Donation Ban Lifted in Australia Australia lifted a ban in July 2022 and allowed people who were in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 90s to donate blood in Australia, The Conversation reported. The Australian government started the ban because of concerns that people might get vCJD from blood transfusions. However, three researchers suggested in an article published in Vox Sanguinis that the risk is tiny. Our modeling suggests that removing the Lifeblood donation deferral for travel to, or UK residence, would result in virtually no increased risk of vCJD transfusion-transmission and would be a safe and effective strategy for increasing the donor base, the researchers concluded. The FDA also made a similar recommendation in May 2022. Mages Triple Crown Bid Ends After Finishing 3rd in Preakness Mage is given a bath ahead of the Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on May 20, 2023. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo) BALTIMOREA half-mile into the Preakness, Mages Triple Crown chances were already in serious jeopardy. The Kentucky Derby-winning colt was racing comfortablyand wasnt that far behindbut the pace was a fairly easy one, and that made the leaders tough to catch. Not much speed in the race, said Javier Castellano, Mages jockey. The way it unfolded, the race, it disadvantaged the horses coming from behind. That scenario wasnt hard to see coming. After First Mission was scratched, there were only seven horses remaining, and there wasnt much early speed in this middle jewel of the Triple Crown. So front-runner National Treasure had plenty left for the stretch as Mage tried in vain to make up ground. National Treasure edged Blazing Sevens by a head, with Mage another 2 1/4 lengths back in third. Mage was trying to become the first Triple Crown winner since Justify in 2018. And Although he went off as a 75 favorite, there was always the possibility that the pace could set up very well for National Treasure. Sure enough, National Treasure led after a quarter-mile that took 23.95 seconds. A half-mile went by in 48.92 and three quarters of a mile in 1:13.49. By contrast, at last years Preakness those fractions were 24.32, 47.44, and 1:11.50. Although the pace made Mages job harder, he didnt have too rough a time of itaside from needing a few stitches for a cut above his right eye after bumping his head in his stall earlier in the week. Castellano said he broke well out of the gate. I liked my trip, I had a beautiful trip. I liked to be where I was, Castellano said. I dont want to be too far, because I knew its not going to be a lot of speed in the race. Mage made a move on the outside on the second turn and was within striking distance of National Treasure and Blazing Sevens, but they werent about to yield. Before long, it was a two-horse race to the finish. They always fight, said Gustavo Delgado Jr., who assists his father in training Mage. They fight when they go fast. Imagine when they go so slow. Although American Pharoah snapped horse racings 37-year Triple Crown drought in 2015 and Justify repeated the feat three years later, those were the only horses in that span that even had a chance to complete that sweep entering the Belmont. American Pharoah was the 10th horse in 19 years to win both the Derby and Preakness. In the eight years since, only Justify pulled that off. My horse, it responded, responded very well, but couldnt catch up to those two horses, Castellano said. They opened up, and the race, it was over. Co-owner and blood stock agent Ramiro Restrepo said the Kentucky Derby winner bumped his head Thursday, causing a superficial cut and receiving treatment from state veterinarians. Restrepo confirmed in a text message to The Associated Press on Saturday that Mage resumed training without any interruption. Vets examined and cleared Mage to run in the $1.65 million race. Increased prerace screening is in place in Maryland, including inspection of each horse in the biggest stakes races by Stronach Group chief veterinary officer Dr. Dionne Benson. By Noah Trister Man Killed by Hit-and-Run Vehicle in Monterey Park Near 60 Freeway Police tape seen in Monterey Park, Calif., on Jan. 22, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images) Police discovered a mans body May 20 near a freeway overpass in Monterey Park. Officers dispatched at 1:36 a.m. to Atlantic Boulevard near the Pomona (60) Freeway overpass located a man down in the middle of the northbound lanes, according to Sgt. Arlene Chaidez of the Monterey Park Police Department. The subject was unresponsive and appeared to have been struck by an unknown vehicle, Chaidez said. The Monterey Park Fire Department responded to the location and pronounced the subject dead at the scene. The departments Traffic Bureau urged anyone with information about the fatal crash to call them at 626-307-1200. Michael Taube: Canada Needs a Public Inquiry on Foreign Interference, Not a Special Rapporteur With a Fake Job Commentary David Johnston was appointed special rapporteur by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March to look into allegations of Chinese interference in Canadas election process. The former governor general has apparently met with Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet to discuss his role and mandate. No such meeting will be taking place with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, however. An unnamed spokesperson originally told CBC News on May 18 that Poilievre was offered a 48-hour window to set up a meeting, which didnt work with his schedule. The story went down a different path a few hours later. He is Justin Trudeaus ski buddy, his cottage neighbour, his family friend, and a member of the Trudeau Foundation, which got $140,000 from Beijing, Poilievre told reporters. He has a fake job and hes unable to do it impartially. He needs to simply hand it over and allow an independent public inquiry into Beijings interference. Poilievre, to his credit, had taken a principled stance and made some valid points. Johnstons association with the Trudeau family goes back to the 1970s. I have known [Trudeau] for a long time because our children played together, he said in a 2017 Globe and Mail interview. Its been a friendship for a long time. Trudeau, in turn, called Johnston a family friend. Johnston was also a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation up until his special rapporteur appointment. It got embroiled in the controversy when the Conservatives revealed then-president and CEO Morris Rosenberg helped facilitate a controversial $200,000 donation from influential CCP official Bin Zhang, who was also intimately involved in Trudeaus 2016 billionaire cash-for-access scandal. Rosenbergs successor, Pascale Fournier, originally claimed the donation has been reimbursedwhich turned out to be untrue, leading to her resignation along with the board of directors. Poilievre told the media he sent Johnston a letter asking him how he could investigate the foundation independently. Its a fair question. No response was ever received. Was this a slight against Johnston, a decent man who is widely respected across the political aisle? Hardly. If anything, it was a slight against Trudeau for appointing a special rapporteur to create an impression that Ottawa was doing something to prevent any further escalation of foreign interferencewhich it is not. A special rapporteur doesnt have the political power or legal authority to make sweeping changes to help prevent further interference in Canadian elections from countries like China, Russia, Iran, and other totalitarian nations. Even if Trudeau had asked Johnston to step aside and replaced him with someone else, these deficiencies with the role would have remained. The Conservative leader, unlike his Liberal, NDP, and Bloc counterparts, simply refused to create an aura of legitimacy for a position that many Canadians believe isnt legitimate. If Trudeau had legitimately wanted to stop the scourge of foreign interference, he would have announced a public inquiry right off the bat. In late March, a non-binding NDP motion in support of this very measure passed 172-149 in the House of Commons. All of the opposition parties, including Poilievre and the Conservatives, supported the motion. The Liberals, along with the PM, predictably opposed it. I think in this case, the allegations are so serious they need to be looked into, Richard Fadden, former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told Mercedes Stephenson on Global Newss The West Block in February. I think a public inquiry is really the route to go. He suggested the public inquiry should be given a limited mandate so that they report before the next federal election is called. There should be an inquiry under the Inquiries Act so that they can subpoena people and documents if need be. The former spymaster also made this notable assessment: I cant see any compelling reason not to do it in the public interest except some partisan considerations. Indeed, there was no reason why a public inquiry couldnt have been introduced by Ottawa at the same time as other measures, including the special rapporteur. We need a public inquiry that is truly independent to get to the bottom of it all while continuing the parliamentary investigation, Poilievre correctly said back in March. Johnston, as it happens, is expected to announce on May 23 whether he believes a public inquiry on Beijings election interference is required. If he doesnt believe its warranted, many Canadians will believe it was Trudeau who blocked it behind the scenes for questionable reasons. If he does believe its warranted, many Canadians will believe it was Trudeau who allowed it to go through because of escalating public pressure. Its a catch-22 that could have been easily avoided if Trudeau, rather than Johnston, had done his job properly. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Yard signs promoting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2024 financed by the super PAC promoting DeSantis for president on May 13. 2023, in Sioux Center, Iowa. T LaTomah Hauff stopped at the red-draped table on her way into Deans Classic Car Museum to jot her contact information on a sign-up sheet to hear more about Ron DeSantis. The 75-year-old retired speech pathologist had driven an hour to hear the Florida governor speak in northwest Iowa last Saturday. She was one of more than 600 Iowa Republicans who filed into the exhibit hall and past the displays brochures about DeSantis and cards to sign pledging support for him in next years Republican presidential caucuses. The display, with all the earmarks of a presidential campaign, was the work of Never Back Down, a super political action committee promoting DeSantis while he moves toward a 2024 bid. It was also an early glimpse of how this group able to receive unlimited sums from wealthy donors, unlike a presidential campaign plans to build a network of supporters necessary to compete in the caucuses. Essentially, its a caucus campaign that, for legal reasons, cannot attach itself explicitly to a candidate. The novel approach, aimed at maximizing super PAC dollars, underscores the stakes in Iowa for DeSantis. He needs to show early that he is a viable threat to former President Donald Trump, whose team says it has already signed up thousands of Iowa volunteers and supporters before DeSantis has even declared his candidacy. The effort comes with thorny challenges. The super PAC must essentially build a separate grassroots network to finagle commitments from Iowans to support DeSantis without coordinating with him. The biggest difficulty is the tightrope they are going to have to walk, said Marlys Popma, a veteran Iowa Republican campaign organizer and former top adviser to John McCains 2008 presidential campaign. Walking that line is going to be the most interesting thing, but I certainly see that it can be done and I think its a really interesting approach. About 240 miles southeast of the fundraiser DeSantis headlined in Republican-heavy Sioux County, the real work of Never Back Down was well under way. In an office in Des Moines western suburbs, Republican operatives had by mid-May conducted three five-day training sessions for classes of paid organizers, with three more scheduled for June. By early May, the group had hired more than a half-dozen seasoned political strategists and recruited volunteers from veteran statewide organizers, including former senior aides to Gov. Kim Reynolds and former Gov. Terry Branstad. As of early May, the teams had canvassed at least 1,000 addresses, and planned to double that by Sunday. The goal is to secure commitments to back DeSantis at the caucuses, which are expected to lead off the 2024 Republican voting season, in all of the 1,670 precincts where the party plans to hold them next year. When you talk about caucus organizing, there are a lot of layers. But our particular layer is trying to build a ground game, build a volunteer network, super PAC senior adviser David Polyansky said. He said similar plans were in place in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and other early states. Officials plan to make the Des Moines-area headquarters the training hub for more than 30 organizers the super PAC plans to hire and dispatch to the four early-contest states and more than a dozen others expected to hold their contests by next March 5, so-called Super Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the super PAC declined to suggest a budget for the Iowa operation. But Never Back Down has raised more than $30 million, and DeSantis has more than $80 million in his gubernatorial campaign account that is expected to be transferred into the super PAC. Advisers for Never Back Down are betting the money is better spent on staff, door-knocking and phone-banking than advertising. Ad sellers are required by law to offer a candidates campaign the cheapest rate, a legal distinction intended to make it easier for candidates to communicate to voters. That doesnt apply to super PACs, which often pay exorbitant rates. Polyansky is among several GOP operatives with Iowa experience advising the super PAC. Like fellow senior adviser Jeff Roe and pollster Chris Wilson, he was part of Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs winning 2016 Iowa caucus campaign. Organizing alone hardly guarantees success in Iowa, but its essential in quirky contests that require voters to attend evening meetings in the dead of winter. PAC dollars can make a difference in pursuit of a comparatively small number of supporters. In 2016, Cruz won Iowa amid record turnout of roughly 180,000 with fewer than 52,000 votes. Barack Obamas 2008 campaign used the contact information his local organizing staff collected from the large crowds he drew to his Iowa events to draw huge numbers of first-time participants to his ranks, fueling his caucus victory. Trump, too, packed venues during his 2016 Iowa campaign, but his senior advisers, who had little understanding of the caucuses, failed to follow up with thousands of Iowans, costing him the early win. This time, Trumps top aides say they expect the former president to win Iowa in no small part by directing his audiences to a website tailored to connecting interested Iowans with local organizers. They had expected to sign up thousands at an outdoor rally in Des Moines the same day DeSantis was in northwest Iowa, but the threat of severe storms prompted Trump to cancel. Trumps campaign expects to make up the event in June. Even with its big budget and a potential army of staff canvassing Iowa, an organizing campaign without the candidate is at a disadvantage, said veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy. Murphy led a pro-Jeb Bush super PACs effort to promote the former Florida governors campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. With a $100 million budget, Right to Rise emphasized messaging via advertising and direct mail. But Bush fell from his perch as the fields early favorite, due in part to his failure to ignite enthusiasm and recognize Trumps viability. A super PACs strengths lies in echoing a candidates messages or attacking opponents. Persuading voters to commit to attending caucuses almost necessarily requires the presence of the candidate, Murphy said. If you dont have the candidate or a strong surrogate, like a spouse to do the tour and meet people in a state with a culture of candidate interaction, its hard to have a big organic impact, and thats what they are going to run into, Murphy said. If last Saturday was any preview, the super PAC seemed ready to shadow DeSantis, with all the trappings of a local, organizing campaign, including DeSantis 24 yard signs. Hauff, the retired speech pathologist, will be a good test. Though she signed up for more information, she stopped short of signing one of the caucus pledge cards next to the glossy brochures. I like what the man says. I like what hes done in Florida. But its early, Hauff said. Im not ready to make a full commitment right now. I want to see how this is going to shake out. Hes one of the names on my list. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition New York City Loses Nearly a Half-Million Residents Since COVID-19 An aerial view of scenes around Manhattan from a Royal Navy helicopter in New York on Oct. 19, 2018. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) New York City has lost nearly a half-million residents in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with most of them flocking to southern states, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The U.S. Census Bureau revealed on May 18 that more than 468,200 residents left the Big Apple between April 2020 and July 2022; thats a 5.3 percent decrease. The most significant decline occurred between 2020 and 2021, with a loss of slightly over 281,000 individuals. Only three U.S. cities surveyed during the same time frame suffered a worse population decline. San Francisco experienced a loss of 7.5 percent of its residents, while Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Revere, Massachusetts, lost 6.9 percent and 5.9 percent respectively. New York City still remains Americas most populated city, with more than 8.3 million individuals calling it home. Previous census data released in March showed that Manhattan was the only borough to see a resurgence in its population in the past few years, with an increase of 17,472 residents in 2022. Los Angeles, the countrys second most populous city with over 3.8 million residents, also saw a population decline of about 76,000. Chicago, which ranked third with an estimated 2.7 million residents as of last July, has seen a decrease of more than 81,000 since April 2020. Rounding out the top five most-populated U.S. cities as of July 2022 were Houston and Phoenix. While Houstons population declined from 2020 to 2021, it surged to more than 2.3 million by last July. Phoenix has seen a steady increase of nearly 46,000 people during the three years, recording an estimated 1.64 million residents in July 2022. Reasons for population changes vary from city to city, driven by housing costs, jobs, births, and deaths. According to Postal Service data seen by Forbes, many Americans are leaving large cities and chilly states for less congested areas and warmer climes. Growth in Southern States According to the census data, most city-dwellers fled to the South. Nine of the nations 15 fastest-growing cities were in the South, six of which were in Texas. Georgetown, Texas, situated about 30 miles north of Austin, had the largest population boom among major cities last year, with 14.4 percent more people living in the city. Georgetown, Texas, remained the fastest-growing city by percent change in 2022, with the highest rate of growth among all U.S. cities and towns with at least 50,000 people, said Crystal Delbe, a statistician in the Census Bureaus Population Division. However, Delbe said, it wasnt the only city to retain its distinction over the year. Following Georgetown, Texas, was Santa Cruz, California, with a 12.5 percent increase, adding roughly 7,000 people to its population. The next three fastest-growing cities were also in TexasKyle, Leander, and Little Elm. Experts say the Southern allure has to do with a mix of housing affordability, lower taxes, the popularity of remote work during the pandemic era, and baby boomers retiring. The state of Florida gained more than 655,200 people between 2020 and 2022, the data shows. Data from Floridas Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles revealed that more than 126,000 New Yorkers had exchanged their Empire State licenses for Florida IDs since the beginning of 2021. If the trend continues through the rest of this decade, by 2030, the mean center of the U.S. population will head due south from a rural county in the Missouri Ozarks, without a westward extension for the first time in history, according to urban planner Alex Zakrewsky, who models the population center. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Northeast China Forerunner in Chinas Development Northeast China, historically known as Manchuria which consists of the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, always seems to be a bellwether for developments in the country, especially in terms of economic, demographic, and social trends. Many things done by Northeasterners that were ridiculed early on have since become common phenomena throughout the rest of China. And todays Northeast, some say, can be considered a microcosm of Chinas future. In February, an article was published on the Chinese web portal NetEase, called, Northeast China is a leading indicator for development. The article said that years ago, people laughed at the low fertility rate in Northeast China but now the whole country has a low fertility rate; people mocked Northeasterners for their obsession with public institution jobs, which the rest of the country has now followed; and they later mocked the Northeasterners for earning a living doing live streaming and barbecuingnow, live streamers and barbecue stalls are all over the country. First to Suffer Low Fertility Rate A woman is carrying a baby in Yanji, Jilin Province, China on June 24, 2015. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images) According to data released by Chinas National Bureau of Statistics on Jan. 17, the two-child and three-child policies across China have failed to reverse the declining trend of births, with the total fertility rate in 2022 standing at less than 1.1lower than Japans 1.27. The number of births in 2022 hit a record low, with the total population falling for the first time in 60 years. The total fertility rate refers to the average number of children born by women in a country or region during their childbearing years. A normal generational replacement level requires a total fertility rate of at least 2.1, with 1.5 considered the warning line. As early as 2010, data from Chinas sixth census showed that the fertility rates of the three Northeastern provinces were only 0.75, 0.76, and 0.74, respectively. Due to the ultra-low fertility rate and serious aging of population, the aging of Northeast China is about 12 years ahead of the country as a whole. A view of the state-owned Sujiawan colliery in Fuxin city, northeast Chinas Liaoning Province on Feb. 16, 2005. (China Photos/Getty Images) The data also show that China is aging at an unprecedented speed and scale. In 2021, Chinas population aged 65 or above accounted for 14.2 percent, marking the entry of a deeply aging society. The proportion rose to 14.9 percent in 2022 and is expected to exceed 20 percent in 2030, marking a super aging society. InquilineX, a well-known financial blogger in Shanghai, said in a Twitter-like Weibo post that the demographic change in Northeast China is about 10 years ahead of the country. According to official figures, the population of the three Northeastern provinces peaked in 2010 and has been falling ever since. The blogger noted that the national population had now peaked in 2021 and fell for the first time in 2022. Demographic structure is a very critical variable, InquilineX wrote, and many of the changes that Northeast China has experienced will slowly take place across the country. The post has since been banned. First to Pursue Public Institution Jobs Chinas youth unemployment rate continues to rise, Fu Linghui, head of Chinas National Bureau of Statistics, admitted at a press conference on April 18. Fu said the unemployment rate for young people aged 16-24 in March was 19.6 percent, up 1.5 percent from the previous month, indicating a prominent structural problem in employment. Statistics show that 4.57 million Chinese applied for masters degrees in 2022an increase of 800,000, or 21 percent, over 2021. In addition to the postgraduate entrance examination, in 2022, 2.5 million Chinese applied to attend the national civil service examination, and 11.41 million registered for the teacher preparation examination, recording the largest number of applicants for these two examinations in history. The Shandong civil service examination website showed that as early as 2011, more than 60 percent of people from Northeast China were interested in becoming civil servants. In 2017, Hong Kong-based state-owned magazine Phoenix Weekly reported that in Northeast China, the grandest life plan for college students after graduation is to have public meals. Some people took taken the civil servant exam nine times; some spent a lot of money for connections; some gave up the high salaries in private enterprises, and a long list of candidates would compete for a public institutions job of street sweeping. Young adults look at postings at a job fair at Shenyang Aerospace University in Shenyang, Chinas northeast Liaoning Province, on May 13, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) On March 23, Chinese entrepreneur Cao Dewang lamented on Ifeng.com that Chinese young people today aspire to take the civil service exam, triggering a heated debate on Chinese Internet. The article was viewed over 100 million times on Weibo. According to statistics from Chinas Ministry of Education, the number of college graduates is expected to reach 11.58 million in 2023an increase of 820,000 year on year. The record of most difficult employment season is constantly being updated. With more and more graduates facing the dilemma of unemployment upon graduation, pursuing a public institution job has become a national trend. First to Hype Up Live Streaming Industry In recent years, Chinas short video industry has risen up and become popular. With internet celebrity becoming a new career choice, more and more young people have joined the trend and started earning income through live streaming and short videos. According to a research report released by Renmin University of China on promoting employment and creating social value through short video platforms, the short video platform Kuaishou created about 20 million job opportunities for self-entrepreneurs and live streamers by the end of 2022. Short video platforms have played an important role in easing economic pressure and stabilizing employment since the real economy suffered a shock in 2020, the report said. This has been evident for a number of years in Northeast Chinas Internet celebrity economy. Since 2014, the economy in Northeast China has been in a downward spiral. Employment in the regions industrial enterprises decreased and jobs in the tertiary industry also decreased accordingly. In 2015, state-owned enterprises in Northeast China accounted for 50 percent of the economyhigher than the national average at the time of 30 percent. The economic structure in Northeast China was also more dependent on government investment, leading to a higher average unemployment rate. The logo of the application TikTok on Dec. 14, 2018. (JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images) In recent years, live streaming has become one of the few low-threshold, high-paying jobs available to young people in Northeast China, where the unemployment rate continues to rise year by year. With traffic dividends from the platform, live streamers in China can earn tens of thousands of yuan a month. The average monthly income in Chinas small cities is 3,000 to 5,000 thousand yuan. Among the top 10 live streamers in 2016 voted for by Weibos Super Celebrities Day, six were from Northeast China. According to the 2017 Anchor Career Report released by Momo, a mobile social networking platform, 63.3 percent of male live streamers in China come from Northeast China, with an average daily live broadcasting time of more than eight hours. In the past, during the Deng Xiaoping era, Guangdong was the leader of Chinas reform and opening up. The economic and social development progressed by leaps and bounds, Shi Shan, a senior current affairs expert, told The Epoch Times on May 11. When Chinas economy is developing rapidly, many problems and contradictions are covered up. Once China goes into recession, problems that were previously covered up come to the fore, as is the case in the Northeast. Now, the Chinese Communist Party is pushing forward with the policy, state enterprises advance, private sector retreats, turning back the wheel of history and returning to the planned economy, which is further accelerating the process of Northeastenization across the country, he said. Todays Northeast is a microcosm of the future China. PAC to Draft Tucker Carlson for President in 2024 Launches A new political action committee (PAC) was formed to try and convince Tucker Carlson to join the 2024 presidential race, saying only the former Fox News host can defeat President Joe Biden in the general election. The so-called Draft Tucker Carlson PAC released an advertisement, saying: Republicans need a new leader that can stand up to Biden. Its time to draft Tucker Carlson. Shortly after Carlson was ousted from Fox News in late April, the Draft Tucker PAC filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). That ad made its debut last week on Twitter. Republicans need a new leader, and Tucker Carlson is ready to lead, the ad states, comparing Carlson to the late radio host Rush Limbaugh. No one in America is more articulate and pins down leftists in both parties better than Tucker. It also says that Carlson is witty, sharp, and mocks woke nonsense before adding that he will whip Biden in a debate. The head of the PAC is Chris Ekstrom, who told The Hill that he personally knows Carlson vaguely and was approached about forming the PAC before Carlsons exit from Fox News. Speaking to The Hill, Ekstrom said that Carlson has a realistic opportunity to run for president and that other Republican candidates have issues. Im very concerned that theyre going to not move the debate as far right as it ought to be, Ekstrom said of both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid. If Tucker Carlson entered the race in a reasonable amount of time and just continued in the same territory that he was covering at Fox, I think thatd be a rude awakening for both President Trump and Governor DeSantis. Republicans need a new leader that can stand up to Biden. Its time to draft Tucker Carlson pic.twitter.com/FV9s3wxalc Draft Tucker Carlson (@DrafttuckerPAC) May 19, 2023 Another individual involved in the PAC, Charlie Kolean, told the outlet that Carlson would move the conversation to the right, just in a macro way, with candidates taking more solid stances rather than being like a moderate Republican. Carlson has not made any public overtures toward a potential 2024 White House bid. Since he left Fox News, the former host has issued few public statements, although he released two viral videos on Twitter including one saying he would be moving his program to the social media platform, although its not clear when. 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. And you know that if you bump up against those limits often enough, you will be fired for it, Carlson said in his most recent Twitter video. Not a Scam In The Hill report, an alleged unnamed source connected to Carlson said that the former Fox host is not looking to run for office and was critical of the PACs efforts. The alleged source also claimed the PACs operators are trying to make a quick buck and that no one should donate to the group. This isnt some kind of scam PAC or grift. I hate that. That is something that Ive always tried to oppose, Ekstrom told the outlet. All the money is spent on the fight with me, he added. While Carlson has publicly rejected the notion of running for president and reportedly recently joked about it, Ekstrom alleged that he has been testing the water for quite a while, reported The Hill. He said Carlson spoke at an event in Iowa, which has historically been an early presidential primary state. The PAC, Koelan told the outlet, will be exceptionally well-funded, and it will easily spend at least $150,000 to build its name recognition. It aims to sponsor polls and create radio and digital advertisement campaigns. For the past several years, Carlson was the highest-rated Fox News host and often had the highest-rated cable news program in general. In March, he drew well over 3 million viewers per episode, a figure that Fox News has not been able to recapture since his sudden exit in late April. Nielsen ratings show that the temporary replacement program, Fox News Tonight, has drawn significantly fewer viewers during the 8 p.m. timeslot. But one Fox News advertising executive recently said in May that several large corporate advertisers approached Fox to do campaigns. Over the years, a range of big-name companies dropped advertising during Carlsons show over what they said were controversial statements by the former host. The popularity gap Carlson enjoys over Fox News among conservatives has increased sharply in the wake of his departure, said a new poll, showing that his net favorability rating among Republicans stands at +59. Fox News, by contrast, has a -4 favorability rating, the numbers show. Plane Crashes in Croatia, Rescuers Search for Crew SARAJEVORescuers found the remains of a light aircraft that crashed on Saturday in the mountainous region of the northwestern Croatia but could not confirm if any crew members were found, the HINA state news agency reported. The search for the Cirrus 20 aircraft that went off radar after noon during a flight from the Slovenian town of Maribor to the Adriatic city of Pula was conducted by a 120-strong rescue team in the forests of Lika-Senj. Army helicopters and drones were sent to search the area suspected of being mined during the war of the 1990s, local media reported. Rescuers said they did not know how many persons were on board of the Dutch-registered aircraft. Polish Official Says Object That Entered Airspace Was Russian-Made Rocket Polish President Andrzej Duda attends a joint press conference with the Austrian President during an official visit in Vienna on April 14, 2023. (Alex Halada/AFP via Getty Images) WARSAW, PolandAn aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda said Friday that the object that entered Polands airspace last year and was found in April was a Russian-made rocket. The aide, Pawel Szrot, said on Radio RMF FM that the nose of the rocket had been found and that its peculiar because its made of concrete. Its being examined by experts. Szrot said it was Russian technology and most probably intended to give weight to the nose and allow the projectile to try to confuse Ukraines air defense systems in trying to repel Russian attacks. The nose of the rocket contained no explosives, Szrot said. Polands defense officials had been facing questions about an object that crash-landed on Polish territory in December and whose parts were found by a civilian in the woods near the city of Bydgoszcz in April. The matter of air security while there is a war in neighboring Ukraine became especially sensitive in Poland after two Polish men were killed when a missile landed in eastern Poland in November. Western officials said they believed a Ukrainian air defense missile went astray as Ukraine tried to repel a large-scale attack by Russia. Meals together are more meaningful than ever in the age of devices and diverse family types, according to a psychiatrist, who said it is worth maintaining some semblance of sharing meals together in a household, even if its just two to three times a week. In terms of quality time with your children, its just so precious, with statistics showing that by the time children are 18, 90 percent of their time with their parents has passed. Meal times provide a consistent opportunity for families to nurture strong bonds, as members share and discuss the challenges of the day or bond over new memories. This is why family dinners correlate with all sorts of health markers, varying from obesity to better mental health, Australia-based psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed says. Regular family dinners are still a great marker of a stable, cohesive household, and that is very beneficial for kids, he told The Epoch Times. Mealtimes not only give children a chance to talk with their parents and grandparents about things that bother them but also open their minds to a wider range of concepts, words, and stories. It challenges them and pushes them because, while they have teachers at school, most of their interaction is with their peer group. So its very important that they get a broader range of intergenerational contact, he said. They hear abstract concepts and a wider range of vocabulary when talking to their parents, which can challenge them. Theres evidence suggesting that this does improve the kids language around abstract concepts and problem-solving. Sit-down family meals together are often a key time for children to learn a wide range of words, concepts, and stories. (BearFotos/Shutterstock) For grandparents, regular dinners with the family are a great antidote for social isolation, which research has shown affects one in three elderly people today. Being unable to drive, the elderly are more often challenged with health and mobility issues, physical changes, and cognitive decline that are major hurdles to being social. For some older adults, that family dinner may be their only interaction for days or weeks. Old-Fashioned? At a time of increasingly diverse family compositions and family practices, academics from Australias Monash University have suggested that promotion of the family meal imperative sets unrealistic expectations. Sociology professor Jo Lindsay said that sitting down together every night is rooted in an anachronistic and conspicuously old-fashioned notion of the family and that it only serves to increase parenting guilt, in her research published in the journal Critical Public Health. However, even non-traditional nuclear families would benefit greatly from incorporating sit-down meals together as often as possible, Ahmed said. He acknowledged that modern life may not allow for it in the same way that it did in the past, including not only a greater variety of family structures, but also busy teenagers and children, and a range of working arrangements including shift work, and meetings from home. So theres a lot of complexity here now, and its certainly not as simplistic as a 1950s-type family arrangement, he said. But that shouldnt be a reason to feel guilty or give up trying. Meals together with family are a chance for the transmission of family values, history, culture, and ideas to the next generation through stories and the foods that are prepared and tasted. (Viktoriyaa/Shutterstock) How to Make Family Dinners a Reality in an Age of Devices and Distractions I think its important that we try and enforce rituals, Ahmed said. A good example is the Jewish Shabbat tradition of having a Friday night dinner, even if its once or twice a week. But it can happen in other areas as well. It could be a walk on the weekend, playing board games, or watching a show together. Ahmed acknowledged the power that devices have and recommends limiting them to shared interactions. The default is often we all retreat to our own rooms and our own screens, and I think you have to work hard to mitigate against that. As long as it is something thats connecting you together, rather than casually looking at TikTok on your own, it can still bring people together, he said. If you have something that is shared, or it might be something youve shared during the day, and then youre bringing it up and talking about it together, then I think thats fine. Similarly, pediatrician Meg Meeker shared her method of asking everyone put away their phone for an hour when its dinnertime. While this might be a challenge, even for the parents, taking charge of screens at home will teach children that they will be OK without having to be alerted by their phone every minute, and it trains them to decrease their screen time over time. Ultimately, both the combination of school and family life is about the passing on of knowledge and experiences, and family dinners can be a particularly useful way for connecting, communicating, and having intergenerational interactions. Given family dinners are one of the rare places where everyone comes together, its a critical part of transmitting ideas and values to the next generation, Ahmed said. Russia Opens Far East Port of Vladivostok to China Russia has recently opened its Far East port of Vladivostok, which it has occupied since 1860, to China for shipping, in what observers say is a strategic exchange between the two nations as their actions in Ukraine and around Taiwan and the South China Sea continue to worsen international relations. On May 4, the General Administration of Customs of the Chinese communist regime issued a notice, adding the Russian port of Vladivostok as a transit port for the cross-border transportation of domestic Chinese goods. The policy will take effect on June 1. Goods passing through Vladivostok will be classified as domestic trade and not be subject to import and export duties. According to mainland official media, transport costs with the new route will be greatly reduced, as goods from Chinas Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces would have to be trucked to Dalian Port in Liaoning provincea distance of more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles)before they could be transited by sea. With entry to the port in Vladivostok, trucks will only have to travel about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Heilongjiangs Suifenhe city and Jilins Hunchun city. Vladivostok: Conquer the East Vladivostok, known by China as Haishenwai, was Chinas territory in official Chinese maps in the 13th century, when the port was first named Yongmingcheng. Later, the city was named Haishenwai, which is used in China to this day alongside Vladivostok, the Russian imperial name, which literally means conquer the East or rule the East. The city, as well as the land surrounding it, is the homeland of Chinas ruling Manchurian ethnicity of the Qing Dynasty. However, Haishenwai, along with more than 1 million square kilometers of territory in northeast China, was annexed by the Tsarist Russian Empire in 1860 after China was defeated by the British and the French during the Second Opium War. A general view shows a commercial port in Vladivostok, Russia, on October 10, 2007. (Reuters/Yuri Maltsev) For the following 163 years, Heilongjiang and Jilin had no port access. The successive government in China, which was the Republic of China (ROC, 1911present), never recognized the legality and validity of the treaty outlining Russias occupation of the territory. After World War II, as one of the Allied countries and the victorious side, the ROC government demanded the return of the sovereignty of Dalian, Vladivostok, Sakhalin, and other areas that were still being occupied by communist Russia (the Soviet Union). However, in 1949, the ROC was defeated by the communists in Chinas civil war and withdrew to the island of Taiwan. The communists established the Peoples Republic of China on the mainland. In 2001, the ruling Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) then-leader, Jiang Zemin, signed a treaty with Russian President Vladamir Putin titled Sino-Russian Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation. In the treaty, Jiang officially acknowledged the Chinese territories annexed by Russia since the imperial era to be Russias, permanently giving at least 1.5 million square kilometers of territory that belonged to China to Russia, including Wulianghai, Sakhalin Island, and Vladivostok (Haishenwai)several dozen times the area of Taiwan. Overseas pro-CCP Chinese-language media have begun to celebrate the recent announcement, stating that Russias opening up of Vladivostok to China is the dividend brought to the CCP by the RussoUkrainian war. Professor Song Guocheng of the National Chengchi University in Taiwan told The Epoch Times on May 16 that theres nothing worth celebrating about China being able to use the port: It originally belonged to you, and now, they just let you use it. Strategic Exchange Amid Tensions Current affairs commentator Yang Ning wrote in his article for The Epoch Times: Today, Haishenwai has become Jilins sea estuary in this way, which shows that since the outbreak of the RussoUkrainian War in 2022, under the strong sanctions of the West, Russias strength has been greatly damaged, as it has encountered setbacks in the war and its economic development is slow. Russia had to further strengthen its political, economic, and even military cooperation with the CCP, and even made some concessions to open up its territory, such as making Vladivostok a port for the CCP, so that it can ease the pressure from the international community. Yang noted that, for the CCP, Russias opening of the port of Haishenwai is not only good for Chinas economy but has significance for CCPs military abilities. Because once the CCP invades Taiwan, the West will definitely impose sanctions on the CCP. It is possible that the U.S. military will cut off the supply to the CCP on the routes such as through Malacca Strait and the Suez Canal. Then, the CCPs ships can use Vladivostok to take the Arctic route, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. (Sergei Karpukhin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images) After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been sanctioned by many in the international community, while the CCPs aggression toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea has also led to escalated tensions. The trade volume between China and Russia has increased significantly since then. In March, CCP leader Xi Jinping visited Russia and signed a joint statement with Putin, which also mentioned development and regional cooperation in the Northeast-Far East. Yuan Hongbing, a law scholar based in Australia, told The Epoch Times on May 16 that Russias opening of Vladivostok to China and the strengthening of SinoRussian trade show that the CCP has always supported Russia behind the scenes. The international community shouldnt imagine that the CCP will stop supporting Russia. The relationship between CCP and Russia is indeed an alliance between criminals which has no upper limit. The main supporter behind Russias invasion of Ukraine is the CCP, Yuan said. In an earlier interview with The Epoch Times, Yuan pointed out that the country that annexed and occupied the most Chinese territories in history has been Russia. Now, the CCP has formed an alliance with the aggressive country that has caused the most harm to China in history, which shows that the CCP can completely sell out Chinas national interests for the benefit of its own regime. Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya contributed to this report. Salman Rushdie Honored at PEN America Gala, First In-person Appearance Since Stabbing NEW YORKSalman Rushdie made an emotional and unexpected return to public life Thursday night, attending the annual gala of PEN America and giving the events final speech as he accepted a special prize, the PEN Centenary Courage Award, just nine months being after being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalized. Its nice to be backas opposed to not being back, which was also a possibility. Im glad the dice rolled this way, Rushdie, 75, told hundreds gathered at the American Museum of Natural History, where he received a standing ovation. It was his first in-person appearance at a public event since he was attacked last August while on stage at a literary festival in Western New York. Rushdie, whose attendance had not been announced beforehand, spoke briefly, and dedicated some of his remarks to those who came to his help at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center. He cited a fellow attendee, Henry Reese of the City of Asylum project in Pittsburgh, for tackling the assailant and thanked audience members who also stepped in. I accept this award, therefore, on behalf of all those who came to my rescue. I was the target that day, but they were the heroes. The courage, that day, was all theirs, and I thank them for saving my life, he said. And I have one last thing to add. Its this: Terror must not terrorize us. Violence must not deter us. La lutte continue. La lutta continua. The struggle goes on. Attacks against Rushdie have been feared since the late 1980s and the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, which Irans Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned as blasphemous for passages referring to Islam founder Mohammad. The Ayatollah issued a decree calling for Rushdies death, forcing the author into hiding, although he had been traveling freely for years before the stabbing. Since then he has since granted few interviews and otherwise communicated through his Twitter account and prepared remarks. Earlier this week, he delivered a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was given a Freedom to Publish prize. Rushdie was clearly elated to attend the gala, but his voice sounded frailer than it once did and the right frame of his glasses was dark, concealing the eye blinded by his attacker. PEN galas have long been a combination of literature, politics, activism and celebrity, with attendees ranging from Alec Baldwin to Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). Other honorees Thursday included Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels and the imprisoned Iranian journalist and activist Narges Mohammadi, who was given the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Dear writers, thinkers, and sympathizers, I implore you to help the Iranian people free themselves from the grip of the Islamic Republic, or morally speaking, please help end the suffering of the Iranian people, Mohammadi wrote from prison in a letter read aloud at the ceremony. Let us prove the magic of global unity against authorities besotted with power and greed. The host Thursday night was Saturday Night Live head writer Colin Jost, who inspired nervous laughter with jokes about the risks of being in the same room as Rushdie, likening it to sharing a balcony section with Abraham Lincoln. He also referred briefly to the Hollywood writers strike, which has left Saturday Night Live off the air since early May, saying it was disorienting to spend the afternoon on a picket line and then show up for the museum cocktail hour. PEN events are familiar settings for Rushdie, a former president of PEN, the literary rights organization for which freedom of speech is a core mission. He has attended many times in the past and is a co-founder of PENs World Voices Festival, an international gathering of author panels and interviews held around the time of the PEN gala. Sinn Fein Becomes Largest Party in Northern Ireland Local Government Sinn Fein northern leader Michelle O'Neill reacts with candidates and party workers as the count continues in the Northern Ireland council elections in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland, on May 19, 2023. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Sinn Fein has become the largest party in local government in Northern Ireland for the first time after making large gains in the council elections. Of the 462 seats across 11 councils, Sinn Fein won 144 seats, an increase of 39 from the last council election in 2019. It overtook the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which won 122 seats, the same number as in 2019. Sinn Feins Stormont leader Michelle ONeill said on Saturday that the results are momentous. The Irish nationalist partywhich used to be the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA)will be the largest party in six local government areas, including Belfast, while the DUP will have the largest representation in five councils. It secured 30.9 percent of first preference votes, ahead of the DUP on 23.3 percent. Undated photo of Parliament Buildings, often referred to as Stormont, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. (Paul Faith/PA) It means Sinn Fein has replicated its result from last years Northern Ireland Assembly election when it became the biggest party at Stormont. The cross-community Alliance Party increased its representation on councils by winning 67 seats, an increase of 14. But it was a disappointing election for the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP, with both parties suffering significant losses. The UUP has ended up with 54 seats, and the SDLP 39, with smaller parties and independents taking the remaining 36 seats. Stormont Stalemate The elections took place against the backdrop of the continuing stalemate at Stormont. Northern Ireland has not had a functioning local government at Stormont for over a year since the DUP withdrew from the power-sharing executive in protest at the terms of the post-Brexit trading arrangements. ONeill said the latest election results show the public want the power-sharing institutions to resume at Stormont. She said the boycott of the Stormont Assembly by the DUP cannot go on. ONeill said: The onus is now on the British and Irish governments to get together and focus their efforts on the immediate restoration of the Executive and Assembly. We expect to see an early meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference. The boycott of the Assembly cannot go on and an Executive must be formed. Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (C) speaks to members of the media outside the Culloden Hotel near Belfast, on Feb. 17, 2023. (Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images) The DUP believes the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit deal has created a customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, weakening the provinces place within the United Kingdom. In February, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreed with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on a so-called Windsor Framework, which would significantly reduce the number of post-Brexit checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. The DUP said while the Windsor Framework represented significant progress, it does not deal with some of the fundamental problems at the heart of our current difficulties. Lessons to Be Learned Commenting on the election results, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insisted that his party had polled strongly, but said the unionist community needs to learn lessons from the election. Donaldson said his party has increased its vote share from last years Stormont elections and has won a lot of seats across all the councils. He said: The DUP has polled strongly in this election despite everything thats been thrown at us, despite the challenges weve faced, the DUP vote has held up well. But he added: I think if truth be told, there are lessons to be learned for unionism in its broadest sense. We need to do better. The DUP has had a good election but unionism needs to do better, we need to be winning more seats. Im happy to sit down with my fellow unionists and examine these issues and how greater co-operation can lead a pathway towards more success for unionism in general. PA Media contributed to this report. Talks Moving Forward on Key Canada-US Treaty on Columbia River Management Water spills over the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, which runs along the Washington and Oregon state line, on June 21, 2022. (The Canadian Press/AP-Jessie Wardarski) Canadian and U.S. officials have wrapped up the latest round in a five-year negotiation to modernize a major treaty on flood control and power generation on the Columbia River. Global Affairs Canada says negotiators from both countries in the Columbia River Treaty met in Kelowna on May 16 and 17, and the next round of talks is scheduled for Aug. 10 and 11 in Seattle. The original treaty was signed in 1964 after catastrophic flooding of the Columbia River destroyed Vanport, Oregon, in 1948. The treaty facilitated the construction of four damsthree in British Columbia and one in the United Statesto manage river waters while generating power for the regions growing power demand. But the province also says on its website that the treaty flooded 1,100 square kilometres of land and displaces more than 2,000 people, including several First Nations communities where consultation was considered inadequate to non-existent by todays standards. Global Affairs Canada says its negotiators prioritized issues such as indigenous cultural values, salmon re-introduction and domestic ecosystem concerns during the talks in Kelowna last week. One of three entrances to the Periwinkle Mobile Home Park is fenced off from the street, Thursday, April 11, 2023, in Phoenix. Alondra Ruiz Vazquez and her husband were comfortable in Periwinkle Mobile Home Park for a decade, feeling lucky to own their mobile home and pay about $450 a month for their lot in a city with spiraling rents. But now they and dozens of other families have until May 28 to leave the Phoenix park, which nearby Grand Canyon University purchased seven years ago to build student housing. Two other mobile home communities are also being cleared this spring for new developments in a city where no new parks have been built in more than 30 years. Im here, well, because I have nowhere to go, said Isabel Ramos, who lives at Periwinkle with her 11-year-old daughter. I dont know whats going to happen. The razing of older mobile home parks across the United States worries advocates who say bulldozing them permanently eliminates some of the already limited housing for the poorest of the poor. Residents may have to double up with relatives or live in their cars amid spiking evictions and homelessness, they warn. Mobile homes are a much bigger part of our affordable housing stock than people know, said Mark Stapp, who directs Arizona State Universitys masters degree program in real estate development. Once its gone, a lot of people will have no place to go. A recent survey by the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed a U.S.-wide shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters, defined in Arizona as a a three-member household making $28,850 or less. Industry groups estimate that more than 20 million people live in some 43,000 mobile home parks across the United States. We are in the deepest affordable housing crisis weve ever experienced, said Joanna Carr, acting head of the Arizona Housing Coalition. Housing for many people is getting completely out of reach. Its very dire. Ken Anderson, president of the Manufactured Housing Industry of Arizona, said trying to bring an old park up to modern standards can be cost-prohibitive for owners, requiring replacement of electrical and sewage infrastructure for newer homes. At least six such communities have been torn down in Arizona in the last 18 months, he said, adding that Grand Canyon University bent over backwards to help residents more than other park owners. A lot of these parks are 70 years old, said Anderson, noting an uptick in demolitions of older communities for redevelopment. Its going to be a big problem down the line. Efforts under way to revitalize old mobile homes have limits. Despite their name, most arent truly mobile, and moving them can be very costly. The oldest homes are often too decrepit to move at all. The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced $225 million in grants to governments, tribes and nonprofits to preserve mobile homes, but the money can only be used to replace, not repair dwellings built before 1976, which are common at older parks. Vermont earlier this year announced a mobile home improvement program to be funded by $4 million in federal money. It aims to help park owners prepare vacant or abandoned lots for new mobile homes, and help mobile homeowners install new foundations and make their dwellings more habitable. In Riverdale, Utah, the last of about 50 families at Lesleys Mobile Home Park must leave by the end of May for construction of new apartments and townhouses. The state laws dont protect us, said Jason Williams, who sold his mobile home for half what he asked for and will now live in a motorhome. Some old parks werent originally envisioned as permanent housing. Florida City Campsite and RV Camp was built decades ago for vacationers headed to the Florida Keys or the Everglades. But the dilapidated park eventually became home to retirees on fixed incomes and young families on government assistance. Florida City, the southernmost municipality in Miami-Dade County, sold it two years ago for a new townhouse project. Cities often dont like older parks because unlike other housing they dont generate property taxes for municipal services. Rundown parks can also be eyesores, depressing the worth of nearby properties even as the value of the land the mobile homes sit on has increased exponentially. In Phoenix, Grand Canyon University said in a statement it waited as long as it could to build new student housing after buying Periwinkle in 2016. Now, with the need to expand, the University has raised funds to provide multiple layers of assistance to tenants at Periwinkle. The university said it initially gave residents six months to leave, then extended the deadline to 13 months. It offered free rent for the first five months of this year, early departure compensation, relocation assistance and some household goods. Many park residents are Spanish-speaking immigrants earning minimum wage as landscapers or restaurant workers. There are also retirees living on Social Security. We havent found anything under $1,800. Thats way above what we can afford, Ruiz Vazquez said of apartment rents. She said the couples mobile home is too old to move and must be abandoned. Its really taken a toll on our health, mental state of mind. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, has a housing shortfall of more than 74,000 units. Zillow.com currently lists the median monthly rental price for all bedrooms and property types in Phoenix at $2,095. More than 20 families have moved out of Periwinkle in recent months, leaving behind weed-strewn lots. The rusting hulks of several mobile dwellings with rotting wooden stairs were left behind. Residents wanted an additional 18-month eviction moratorium or a zoning change to stave off their departure indefinitely. The Phoenix City Council this spring decided to let the eviction proceed, but set aside $2.5 million in federal funds for the housing nonprofit Trellis to assist Periwinkle and other mobile home park residents facing eviction. Trellis CEO Mark Trailor, who once headed the Arizona Department of Housing, said the nonprofit is working to help Periwinkle families find apartments and arrange to move mobile homes that can be moved. Still, Phoenix activist Salvador Reza said most families face uncertain futures. Some of them might move in with another family, with an uncle or aunt, said Reza. Some might go out into the streets and become part of the homeless. A new law in Arizona recently increased state funds for owners forced to move their mobile homes because of redevelopment to $12,500 for a single-section dwelling and $20,000 for a multi-section. Those who must abandon their home because of precarious condition can now get $5,000 for a single-section home and up to $8,000 for a multi-section. Periwinkle resident Graciela Beltran said its not enough. They want my house? she asked, her voice cracking. Give me a house that is equal to mine. I am not asking for anything more. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition The 19th century was the Age of American Expansion. Twenty years after signing the Treaty of Paris in 1783, America signed the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the size of the new nation. A year later, the Lewis and Clark Expedition began. Thirty years after this expedition, a journalist and explorer by the name of J. N. Reynolds stood before Congress and exhorted the political body to sponsor a maritime exploration of the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas. Reynolds finished his exhaustive speech, stating that Europe cast her jewels upon the waters, and fortune paid her with a new world, from which has sprung a race of men, who have given new hopes to liberty, when it was nearly lost; and who are now struggling to throw back on Europe, with interest and gratitude, the rays of light we have received from her. Secretary of War Joel Roberts Poinsett appointed Lt. Col. Charles Wilkes to lead an expedition of discovery in 1845. Portrait of Joel Roberts Poinsett, Secretary of War, in the administration of Martin Van Buren, by Charles Fenderich. Library of Congress. (Public Domain) Forming the Great Expedition A month after Reynolds address, Congress passed an amendment to the Naval Appropriations Bill, authorizing the president to coordinate an expedition to survey and explore the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas. Political infighting led to delays, but commissioning the expedition finally fell to Martin Van Buren, who would empower Secretary of War Joel Poinsett to organize it. Poinsett wasted no time in his search for someone to lead the expedition. Lt. Charles Wilkes, the head of the Depot of Charts and Instruments in Washington, D.C., was not his first choice. In fact, Wilkes was Poinsetts fifth choice. The 40-year-old naval officer, who would go on to become a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, was a man of serious intent and indomitable will. He would prove to be exactly what the expedition needed. He calculated his needs, which came out to six ships and 346 men. Lt. Charles Wilkes led the naval expedition of discovery that embarked in 1838. Lt. Charles Wilkes at the start of the United States Exploring Expedition, 18381842, by Thomas Sully. U.S. Naval Academy Museum. (Public Domain) His ships included the flagship Vincennes, a 780-ton sloop of war; the Peacock, a 650-ton sloop of war; the Porpoise, a 230-ton brig; the Relief, a store ship; and two schooners, the Sea Gull and the Flying Fish. Of his 346 men, there were 82 officers and crew members, and a team of nine scientists, naturalists, and artists. These nine were linguist Horatio Hale, of Harvard; naturalists Charles Pickering, of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and Titian Peale; Bostonian conchologist Joseph Couthouy; notable Scottish horticulturalist William Brackenridge; botanist William Rich; geologist and mineralogist James D. Dana; and artists James Drayton and Alfred T. Agate. On Aug. 18, 1838, the United States Exploring Expedition (also known as the Ex. Ex. or the Wilkes Expedition) departed Hampton Roads, Virginia to embark on a four-year surveying and exploring mission that would also be the last circumnavigation of the globe powered fully by sail. As Secretary of the Navy James Kirke Paulding told Wilkes, it was to be an expedition not for conquest but discovery. Its objects are all peaceful. They are to extend the empire of Commerce and Science. Lithograph of the USS Porpoise, 1836, just before embarking on the United States Exploring Expedition, by J. Baillie, New York, and J. Sowle, New Bedford, Massachusetts. (Public Domain) From Archipelagoes to Icebergs The six vessels trekked across the Atlantic Ocean to explore the archipelago of Madeira off the coast of northwest Africa and then the volcanic archipelago of Cape Verde near the west coast of Africa. The Ex. Ex. coasted toward South America, harboring in Rio de Janeiro for about 45 days, and then moved along the coast toward the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego. Wilkes decided to split the six ships into three groups. The Vincennes would survey Cape Horn, and Relief would venture into the Straits of Magellan to survey and describe the various harbors. Wilkes would move his command from the Vincennes to the Porpoise. The Porpoise, with the Sea Gull as tender, would venture southeast toward the Antarctic, and the Peacock, with the Flying Fish as its tender, would head southwest to the Antarctic in hopes of surpassing Captain James Cooks 1774 exploration. On Feb. 22, 1839, the ships launched. The Flying Fish in a gale, 1838, by Alfred Thomas Agate, one of the artists on the United States Exploring Expedition. (Public Domain) Wilkes and his crew sighted their first iceberg on March 1. The fall weather had been favorable, but as they floated closer to Antarctica, the weather changed into a milieu of thick fog and harsh gales. While exploring Palmers Land, the weather quickly became more hazardous. On March 5, Wilkes and his officers decided to return to Orange Harbor. With the enveloping fog, the Porpoise almost crashed into numerous icebergs and nearly ran aground on Elephant Island. The Peacock and Flying Fish would encounter more dangers, and even tragedy. An ongoing squall had driven the two vessels apart. On March 11, the Peacock would sight its first iceberg and sustain the first fatality of the expedition when a sailor fell from atop the main topsail into the frigid ocean. Floating through a maze of icebergs, the separated vessels finally reconnected. After two weeks of coasting along the Antarctic, the captains decided to turn back. In a comparatively less risky venture, the Relief was nearly lost when a storm hit, forcing it to take shelter at Noir Island near the southern tip of Chile. The ship lost both anchors, but managed to reach the next rendezvous of Valparaiso, Chile. The Ex. Ex. would have to try their luck with the Antarctic at a later date. Wilkes was informed that Peacock had gone to Valparaiso, but was unaware that Relief had gone as well. The Vincennes and the Porpoise sailed north to Valparaiso. Flying Fish and Sea Gull launched a few days later on April 28. Storms battered the two small boats and the Flying Fish escaped back to Orange Harbor, but tragically the Sea Gull was lost with all 18 hands near Cape Horn. The five remaining ships arrived in Valparaiso. The Relief, no longer seaworthy, returned to America. With only four ships, the squadron sailed across the Pacific, encountering and exploring islands along the way. Their first attempt at landing in mid-August among the Tuamotu Islands was foiled by natives with spears and clubs. Instead of forcing their way on land, the ships sailed on, eventually encountering friendly natives. The scientists and surveyors landed on Tahiti, the Samoan Islands, and the Fiji Islands. By November, the ships embarked to Sydney, where they would visit the continent and surrounding islands, and make plans for a second attempt at the Antarctic region. A Return to the Antarctic The day after Christmas 1839, the three largest vesselsVincennes, Peacock, and Porpoiseheaded toward Antarctica. On Jan. 9, Wilkes noted the ships passed Emerald Island, but saw nothing of itwhich I therefore infer does not exist in the locality where it is laid down. Wilkes was correct. Emerald Island was one of numerous locations noted by previous explorers to not actually exist. An 1841 map of the Oregon Territory from Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. (Public Domain) On Jan. 11, the crew experienced a thick fog reducing their vision to a quarter of a mile and seldom more than the ships length. On Jan. 16, Wilkes indicated that all three ships sighted land and that the mountains could be distinctly seen. There was debate between Wilkes and French explorer, Dumont dUrville, about who made the discovery first, but the question seems to have been settled in 1910 by Rear Admiral John E. Pillsbury in favor of Wilkes. The crews sailed along the outskirts hoping to see land at least in intervals to confirm whether the Antarctic was a continent or if it was, as had been assumed, a collection of islands. As the members of the expedition scouted the icy waters and avoided icebergs, a storm was gathering. At 2 p.m. on Jan. 28. Wilkes noticed the air pressure in his barometer drop. Three hours later a gale blew in. The captains shortened their topsails. By 8 p.m., Wilkes noted very hard winds and a violent snowstorm had descended on the crews rendering their visibility to no more than two ship lengths. The cold was severe, and every spray that touched the ship was immediately converted to ice. At 10:30 p.m. the ships were now thickly beset by icebergs of which they had many narrow escapes. The sails were shortened again. At midnight, Wilkes ordered all hands on deck. Men ran across the iced deck to their positions, as the ship was tossed about by the wind and waves. I felt that neither prudence nor foresight could avail in protecting the ship and crew, Wilkes wrote. All that could be done was to be prepared for any emergency, by keeping every one at his station. The crews struggled to keep control of the vessels, while trying to avoid falling overboard, freezing to death, or crashing into icebergs. All hope of escape seemed in a moment to vanishexpecting every moment the crash, Wilkes noted. The ship continued her way, and as we proceeded, a glimmering of hope arose, for we accidentally had hit upon a clear passage between two large ice-islands, which in fine weather we should not dare to have ventured through. Wilkes and his fellow captains did dare, but as soon as they had passed through and had escaped an awful death they were again tempest-tost. It was not until 7 a.m. before there was some appearance of the weather moderating. The Ex. Ex. members, finally able to exhale, were thankful to the Providence that had guided, watched over, and preserved [them]. By this time, the medical officers made the recommendation to abandon the surveying of the icy region, but Wilkes was adamant. He would not be deterred. The crews saw land again on Feb. 2, but the view would be short-lived. A storm hit that lasted five days. Land was sighted again on the 10th and 12th and for the following days until the 17th. The three ships continued until Feb. 21 but no land was seen. Wilkes believed his Antarctic mission complete. The Wilkes Expedition had officially confirmed a seventh continent. Dangers in the Pacific Islands The ships made port in Sydney three weeks later and overhauled their vessels. Rejoined by the Flying Fish, the Ex. Ex. left Sydney for New Zealand, Tongatapu Island, and the Fiji Islands. The schooner was the last to arrive, having hit a reef and tearing away part of its keel. The four ships visited Malolo, but two sailors were killed by island natives. Wilkes stormed the beaches, buried his men, and fought the natives, killing 60 and destroying two villages. The natives sued for peace. The expedition left the Fiji Islands and arrived in the Hawaiian Islands. The Vincennes remained in Honolulu for the winter. The Porpoise returned to Tuamotu Islands. The Peacock and the Flying Fish returned to the Samoan Islands and also searched for other islands. The four reconvened in Honolulu in March, and on April 5, 1841, the ships set sail for America. Portrait of naturalist Titian Ramsay Peale in the uniform of the Long Expedition, circa 1819, by Charles Willson Peale. (Public Domain) Across the Pacific and Back Again On April 28, the four ships reached the Columbia River off the Oregon coast. Mere description can give little idea of the terrors of the bar of the Columbia, Wilkes noted. The scientists, artists, and surveyors scoured the Oregon Country over the next several months. Disregarding the terrors of the bar, the Peacock attempted to enter the mouth of the Columbia River on July 18, only to meet with disaster. She became stuck and after 24 hours of struggling to free herself, the crew abandoned ship, taking as much of the supplies and scientific artifacts as possible. It was a close-run thing. Every crew member escaped to the nearby Fort George in todays Astoria, but the Peacock was torn to pieces. Wilkes arrived and purchased a local brig to replace the Peacock. The ship was renamed Oregon. With a heightened sense of precaution, the Porpoise and the Flying Fish sailed the Columbia River from Aug. 28 to Sept. 14, reaching as far as Fort Vancouver. By this time, the Vincennes was in San Francisco Bay, where it had been exploring the Sacramento River. All four ships left the Bay to cross the Pacific Ocean to explore the Asian territories. The Vincennes and the Flying Fish entered the South China Sea, anchoring in Manila. After Manila, the Vincennes crossed the Sulu Sea and anchored at Suong, the capital of Sulu. The Vincennes arrived in Singapore, where the other three ships awaited to dispense with the final leg of the four-year voyage. The time lost from the Peacock disaster inhibited exploring Japan. Additionally, the Flying Fish, no longer seaworthy, was sold before sailing toward the final destination of New York Harbor. The United States Exploring Expedition had begun with six vessels, but would return with three, and only two of the original: the Vincennes and the Porpoise. The Ex. Ex. Returns It was a glorious sight when the three ships returned to America, but more glorious were their ecological returns. The Wilkes Expedition produced 241 charts, mapping out 280 Pacific islands, including for the first time the full group of Fiji Islands. The expedition also mapped out 800 miles of the Oregon coast, 100 miles of the Columbia River, a land route from Oregon to San Francisco, and arguably the most consequential, 1,500 miles of the Antarctic coastline, which confirmed it as the worlds seventh continent. From their adventures, the group collected more than 4,000 ethnographic pieces, which was a third more than those collected from Cooks three voyages. The naturalist, Titian Peale, collected 2,150 birds, 134 mammals, and 588 species of fish. The geologist, James Dana, collected 300 fossil species, 400 coral species, and 1,000 crustacea species. There were more than 200 entomological and zoological species collected in jars, and more than 5,000 larger specimens placed in large envelopes. Among the horticultural and botanical collections, William Rich, William Brackenridge, and Charles Pickering assembled an astounding 50,000 specimens of 10,000 different species, with an additional 1,000 living plants and approximately 650 seeds belonging to other species of plants. As the tens of thousands of items were ushered into the country, the United States government struggled to place them. Poinsett and Paulding decided to place the collections in the 265-foot-long Great Hall of the Patent Office Building in Washington, D.C. The following decade, more than 100,000 people annually visited the Collection of the Exploring Expedition in the Patent Office. In 1858, the Collection found a new and permanent home inside the Smithsonian Institution, now the worlds largest museum, education, and research complex. Today, according to the Smithsonian Institution, the specimens constitute the core of nearly every collection in every scientific department in the National Museum of Natural History. Tourist Kidnappings, Crime Spark US Embassy Warnings The U.S. State Department has issued several travel warnings to Americans about visiting several South American or Caribbean countries because of a rise in crime and kidnappings. Namely, the agency last week called on U.S. citizens to reconsider travel to Jamaica and Colombia because of crime. It also stated that the threat of terrorism is elevated in Colombia because of a recent rise in activity. Violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides, are common. Sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts, the State Department said in its Level 3 travel advisory for Jamaica, updated last week. The notice states that local police in Jamaica often do not respond effectively to serious criminal incidents, noting that when arrests are made, cases are infrequently prosecuted to a conclusive sentence. Families of U.S. citizens killed in accidents or homicides frequently wait a year or more for final death certificates to be issued by Jamaican authorities, the alert reads. Emergency services and hospital care vary throughout the island, and response times and quality of care may vary from U.S. standards. The bulletin further states that the homicide rate in Jamaica has been among the highest in all of the Western Hemisphere for the past several years. U.S. government officials arent allowed to travel to certain areas listed in the State Department bulletin, and they cant use public buses or drive outside of certain areas in the capital, Kingston, during nighttime hours. In Colombia, crime has seen an uptick, while criminal and terror organizations might attack public places such as hotels, restaurants, airports, and other areas, an updated State Department notice issued several days ago stated. Demonstrations occur regularly throughout the country, and protests can become violent and can result in fatalities and injuries amid recent civil unrest, according to the agency. Left-wing and communist terrorist groups such as the National Liberation Army, Segunda Marquetalia, and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, as well as other criminal organizations, continue to operate and carry out attacks across Colombia with little or no warning, the bulletin states. While terrorists have not specifically targeted private U.S. citizens, the attacks could result in unintended victims, it reads. In this file photo taken in 2001, guerrillas of the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia march in a military parade in San Vicente, Colombia. (Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images) Due to recent unrest, the bulletin states: Demonstrations occur regularly throughout the country. Large public demonstrations can take place for a variety of political or economic issues. Demonstrations can shut down roads and highways, often without prior notice or estimated reopening timelines. Level 4 travel warnings were issued for the Arauca, Cauca, and Norte de Santander departments because of crime, robberies, and active terrorist groups, according to the U.S. State Department. A similar do not travel alert was issued for the ColombiaVenezuela border, as U.S. citizens are at risk of detention upon crossing into Venezuela, a country that has increasingly hostile relations with the United States. In recent updates, both Chile and Peru now have Level 2 State Department advisories, suggesting that Americans use increased caution as both countries have seen political turmoil in recent weeks and months. For Chile, there has been an increase in crime and civil unrest in recent months. Street crimes, such as muggings, petty theft, and pick-pocketing, are on the upswing, the advisory states, noting that violent crimes such as homicides, assaults, and carjackings are also increasing. In the case of Peru, widespread protests erupted after the resignation of former leftist President Pedro Castillo, who faces an investigation into whether he allegedly laundered money. But officials noted that the Level 2 advisory is an improvement from the recent State Department bulletin. The improved travel advisory issued by the U.S. Department of State is welcome news and a further reminder to the world that Peru is open for business, Ambassador of Peru to the United States Gustavo Meza-Cuadra told Fox News this week. The upgraded travel alert underscores the safe and stable reality we see on the ground in Peru and should encourage travelers to visit. Meza-Cuadra noted that the country would likely see another improved travel guidance from the U.S. State Department after the unrest cools. We look forward to this improved travel advisory giving U.S. travelers the added confidence to book their summer travel and enjoy the warm hospitality of the Peruvian people, he said. About a month ago, the State Department issued a warning to Americans to not travel to Sudan because of fighting between rival factions in the capital, Khartoum. At about the same time, U.S. government officials evacuated citizens from the restive African nation. Trump Legal Team Responds to Former Members Claims of Infighting: Categorically False Former U.S. President Donald Trump is accompanied by members of his legal team, Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina, as he appears in court for an arraignment on charges stemming from his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, in New York City on April 4, 2023. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) Former President Donald Trumps legal team has responded to assertions by Timothy Parlatore, a lawyer who said he left the team because of disagreements on strategies in the wake of the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago. Parlatore discussed his departure from Trumps legal team on CNNs Newsroom on Saturday, saying that the presence of certain individuals in the team has made defending the president much harder than it needed to be. There is one individual who works for him, Boris Epshteyn, who had really done everything he could to try to block us, to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president, Parlatore, who announced quitting the legal team on Wednesday, told CNNs Paula Reid. Parlatore also accused Epshteyn of acting like a filter that prevented lawyers from providing Trump with information and getting information from Trump. There were certain things like the searches that he had attempted to interfere with, Parlatore added. He didnt specify whether he meant the FBIs initial search of Mar-a-Lago last August or the additional searches conducted by the legal team at the resort after that. A Trump campaign spokesperson said in a statement that Parlatores claims are categorically false. Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team, the Trump spokesperson said. His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false. A friend of Eric Trumps from their days at Georgetown University, Epshteyn first joined the 2016 Trump campaign as a communications aide. He served as a strategic adviser to Trumps reelection campaign and remained one of Trumps confidants after the 2020 election. In November 2020, Epshteyn famously joined then-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell at a press conference at the Republican National Committees Washington headquarters, in which they claimed that Democrats had stolen from Trump hundreds of thousands of votes in key battleground states, although he did not speak. More recently, Epshteyn accompanied Trump for the trip last month to a Manhattan courthouse, where the former president was arraigned on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. In photos from the courtroom, Epshteyn can be seen sitting with Trump and other lawyers at the defendants table, although he was not one of the lawyers on the case. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is accompanied by members of his legal team as he appears in court for an arraignment on charges stemming from his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury in New York City, on April 4, 2023. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) Trump on Mar-a-Lago Raid On Aug. 8, 2022, the FBI raided former Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, seizing boxes of material, some of which included classified documents. The search followed efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to retrieve material Trump took with him at the end of his first term. As early as November 2022, President Joe Bidens lawyers found classified documents were discovered at the presidents former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington. In December, additional documents were found at his private home in Delaware. Neither discovery was made public until this January when the media broke the story, and the White House confirmed it. Lawyers for former Vice President Mike Pence have also reported that they had found a small number of classified documents at his Indiana home. They said Pence himself elected to do the search after learning of the classified documents that had been discovered at Bidens Delaware residence. Speaking at a town hall forum in New Hampshire earlier this month, Trump said he had every right to take those documents with him when leaving the White House. When we left Washington, we had the boxes lined up on the sidewalk outside for everybody, Trump told host Kaitlan Collins of CNN. People are taking pictures of them. Everybody knew we were taking those boxes. In an April 2023 letter to the House Intelligence Committee, Trumps legal team offered an explanation for how classified documents ended up mixed in with unclassified materials, describing such mishandling as what sounds like a chronic problem affecting multiple presidential administrations. White House institutional practices for the handling of classified materialsincluding declassification proceduresare inconsistent with how the intelligence community and military handles classified materials. This is indicative of the staffs packing processes and not any criminal intent by President Trump, the letter read. The White House staff simply swept all documents from the Presidents desk and other areas into boxes, where they have resided ever since. The letter also alleged that the NARA unfortunately has become overtly political and declined to provide archival assistance to President Trumps transition team. As demonstrated by the discovery of documents with classification markings1 in the homes of President Trump, President Biden, and Vice President Pence, deficient document handling and storage procedures are not limited to any individual, administration, or political party, the lawyers argued. A legislative solution by Congress is required to prevent the DOJ from continuing to conduct ham-handed criminal investigations of matters that are inherently not criminal. UT Austin Spends Over $13 Million on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Salaries: Documents The Republican-led legislature is close to banning DEI programs at universities A student walks at the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas, on June 23, 2016. (Jon Herskovitz/Reuters) The University of Texas at Austin spends more than $13 million on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) salaries for close to 200 jobs, according to documents obtained by The Epoch Times. Thats enough money to fund 342 in-state students to attend one of Texas top publicly funded universities for a year, based on $35,000 in annual tuition. The Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DCE) at UT Austin paid 171 employee salaries totaling some $12.2 million, according to documents obtained through an open records request. Another $1.4 million in salaries were paid to 14 associate deans called Coalition of Diversity Equity and Inclusion officers, according to the documents. A demonstrator at the Equality Florida rally at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee holds a sign that says Free States Dont Ban Diversity on March 13, 2023. (Dan M. Berger/The Epoch Times) DEI Winning Limited Resources UT Austins expenditures on DEI paint a picture of a vast network of workers dedicated to a contentious sociopolitical movement that has taken hold in Americas institutions. Much of the money spent on salaries support what critics describe as woke programs based on social justice activism. Vast amounts of taxpayer money spent on DEI salaries demonstrate what detractors say is a bloated system siphoning money away from academics. DCE supports multiple learning centers and programs throughout UT Austin. Positions at affiliated programs include the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, Youth Engagement Center, Office for Inclusion and Equity, and even an elementary school that helps train future teachers to be well versed in the movements ideology. The diversity division pays another $11.7 million for public charter schools to help children in crisis and UIL salaries, apparently unrelated to DEI. Scott Yenor, a Boise State University political science professor, is senior director of state coalitions at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank. Yenor told The Epoch Times that DEI had been woven into every facet of universities nationwide, making it difficult to determine how much public money is being spent supporting controversial political ideologies. Nearly every college has a dean thats dedicated to it, he said. Protesters march in Los Angeles during a Black Lives Matter rally to demand social justice on Dec. 19, 2020. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images) Read More Capitalism: How Capitalists Took the Word From Communists Yenor pointed to the costs of offering majors at UT Austin dedicated to DEI, such as African and African Diaspora Studies and Race, Indigeneity & Migration. Another DEI major at UT Austin Texas is Womens and Gender Studies, which includes classes to analyze the social narratives of gender, race, and sexuality, according to the schools website. Minors at UT Austin include Critical Disability Studies and Latino Media Arts and Studies, Yenor said. Onlookers share words as Confederate statues are removed from the south mall of the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 21, 2017. (Stephen Spillman/Reuters) Ideology Permeates Learning Centers, Programs Off and On Campus DEI casts a long shadow at UT Austin, even reaching into elementary education. The universitys diversity division pays salaries at the UT Elementary School, an open-enrollment school serving pre-K to fifth grade. DEI has been incorporated into the elementary school, which serves as a training and development site for education majors and others at UT Austin, according to information on the schools site. In 2018, the university-run school was awarded a No Place for Hate Designation by the Anti-Defamation League for committing to anti-bias activities and challenging prejudice and discrimination. Anti-bias and anti-racism are part of DEI and CRT ideologies. People hold up signs during a rally against critical race theory (CRT) being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images) UT Austin describes anti-racism as acting against racism by acknowledging personal privileges, confronting structures and acts of racial discrimination, and working to change personal, racial biases. DCE provides salaries for several centers. One is UT Austins Gender and Sexuality Center, which aims to explore, organize, and promote learning around issues of gender and sexuality. The centers event calendar includes Trans Thursdays and Feminist Fridays. Read More Transgender Activists Attack Feminists Protesting Men in Womens Prisons It also funds the Multicultural Engagement Center, which houses six student-run agencies that present peer-facilitated social justice and education trainings. Another funding recipient, the Center for Community Engagement, offers students the chance to learn outside the classroom, focusing on service and social justice. Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is an outreach network focusing on increasing science and technology uptake among girls and is funded by the DEI division. The website says the network involves 25 student organizations working to advance gender equity and inclusion. The diversity division also pays salaries at the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. According to the foundation, the group has been meeting with Texas legislative offices to achieve their priorities, which include equity, racial justice, and LGBT rights. DEI administrators and workers tend to be well-paid at UT Austin. Documents showed 28 employees making $100,000 or more annually, including 21 DCE workers and seven diversity coalition officers. Octavio Martinez, senior associate vice president and director for the Hogg Foundation, was the top earner at $341,000, followed by Jenifer Maedgen at $246,000 as a senior vice president of DCE. The documents did not include the salary for the top DCE executive, LaToya Smith, vice president for Diversity and Community Engagement. Red State Colleges Arent Immune The expenditures illustrate rampant DEI ideology on college campuseseven in red states like Texas. The combined total for the Texas Universitys DEI salaries rivals that of universities such as Ohio State. It was one of several prominent universities that made headlines for DEI salaries, employing 132 DEI administrators who paid $13.4 million in the 2021-2022 academic year. Meanwhile, DEI funding at the University of Florida stands at around $5.3 million, according to the universitys student-run newspaper. An attendee at a planned walkout at the University of Florida holds a sign that says Trans Healthcare is a Human Right, Not a Political Pawn! on the Gainesville, Fla. campus on Feb. 23, 2023. (Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times) The entire Florida university system spent $34 million, according to a roundtable discussion in March held by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed legislation this month defunding DEI in state-run institutions. Critics describe DEI, and the similar Critical Race Theory (CRT), as Marxist-based ideologies that divide people into oppressors or victims based on race and gender. The left-wing political theories push the narrative that America is an irredeemably racist nation and must be destroyed and rebuilt. Supporters of DEI and CRT say the ideologies challenge the dominant narrative about Americas history and seek to make America more equitable by proactively attacking the systems that allow discrimination against minorities. UT Austin was also the subject of a report by Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who documents and analyses CRT and DEI policy implementation in public schools and universities. Rufos report shows how DEI ideologies now permeate the culture at UT Austin and Texas A&M University. At UT Austin, Rufo noted the Department of History and College of Communication promoted the idea that white supremacy was an issue that must be dismantled. Texas Could Follow Florida with DEI Ban Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds up three just-signed bills related to higher education in the stateincluding one that bans diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practicesat New College in Sarasota on May 15, 2023. (Courtesy of the Florida Governors Office) Like Florida, a number of Texas lawmakers are moving to remove DEI from its colleges. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to eliminate DEI offices on college campuses. He made Senate Bill 17 a priority in the Republican-led Senate. Gov. Greg Abbotts office also issued a memo in February saying that DEI has favored some demographic groups to the detriment of others. As of May 19, it appeared that SB 17 would make it to the finish line to become law after Democrats launched a fierce fight to stop the bill that lasted more than five hours. Texas GOP lawmaker John Kuempel (Courtesy of the Texas Legislature) SB 17 was modified by the House Higher Education Committee headed by Republican chair Rep. John Kuempel, which prompted complaints from some conservatives because the bill no longer allows attorney general oversight. Kuempel also accepted an amendment allowing DEI employees with jobs eliminated by the bill to take similar paying positions elsewhere within the universities. That means Texas probably would not see substantial savings from eliminating DEI salaries, and employees who administered DEI could remain within the universities. Republican Steve Toth, a conservative Texas Freedom Caucus member, told The Epoch Times that he hopes to force a vote on the bills third reading to realign it with the stronger Senate version. Texas GOP lawmaker Steve Toth. (Courtesy of Steve Toth) While Im happy for this bill, Texas needs to come back next session and address the culture of DEI, Toth said. The bill must return to the Senate, where House and Senate bill versions will likely be reconciled in a committee before heading to Abbotts desk for a signature. Kuempel did not respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times. Whistleblower Says FBI Has Created Orwellian Atmosphere to Silence Dissent From left to right: Suspended FBI special agent Garret OBoyle, former FBI agent Steve Friend, and suspended FBI agent Marcus Allen during a hearing in Washington on May 18, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) An FBI whistleblower alleged that the bureau has created an Orwellian atmosphere that has silenced dissent and retaliated against individuals who have come forward with claims about the law enforcement agency. FBI Special Agent Garret OBoyle said during a House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing that the bureau engaged in a smear campaign against him, noting in a subsequent interview with Fox News that there are many agents who support his allegations but are too afraid to speak out. Too many in the FBI arent willing to sacrifice for the hard right over the easy wrong, he said during the May 18 committee hearing. They see what becomes of whistleblowers, how the FBI destroys their careers, suspends them under false pretenses, takes their security clearance and pay with no true options for real recourse or remedy. This is by design. It creates an Orwellian atmosphere that silences opposition and discussion. The FBI denies having acted in a retaliatory manner against whistleblowers, the agency told The Epoch Times. The FBIs mission is to uphold the Constitution and protect the American people, an FBI spokesperson said last week. The FBI has not and will not retaliate against individuals who make protected whistleblower disclosures. OBoyle, Special Agent Stephen Friend, Supervisory Intelligence Analyst George Hill, Staff Operations Specialist Marcus Allen, and other unnamed whistleblowers have alleged that the FBI is beset by politicization and that top officials are targeting agents for having conservative political beliefs, according to a Judiciary panel report. I couldnt knowingly and silently continue on this path without speaking out against the weaponization I witnessed, OBoyle said. All I wanted to do was serve my country by stopping bad guys and protecting the innocent. To my chagrin, bad guys have begun running parts of the government, making it difficult to continue to serve this nation. The 78-page report by the House panel states that OBoyle and Friend were both suspended indefinitely for making disclosures to Congress after their supervisors ignored their concerns about possibly illegal conduct within the FBI. After being transferred to a Virginia field office from Kansas, OBoyle was suspended during his first day on the job, he also said during the hearing, noting that he was forced to borrow clothing for his children as his familys belongings were allegedly locked away in an FBI facility. Others testified about their personal struggles, including not being able to find employment elsewhere and struggling to support their loved ones and young children while their cases were being investigated. I sacrificed my dream job to share this information with the American people, Friend testified. I humbly ask all the members to do your jobs and consider the merit of what I have presented. But Democrats dismissed the testimony, calling the hearing another attempt by Republicans on the committee to help former President Donald Trump. This select committee is a clearinghouse for testing conspiracy theories for Donald Trump to use in his 2024 presidential campaign, Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), a nonvoting member of the House whos the ranking Democratic member of the committee. Another member of the committee, Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), a former House impeachment lawyer, questioned both Friend and OBoyle about allegations of whether they received donations from former Trump official Kash Patel. My wife had lost her job, and it was Christmastime. So I dont think that accepting charity is something I was proud to do, Friend said. I think that any sort of allegation that I gave up a very lucrative career in order to accept a donation several months later from an individual who Ive never met in my entire life is quite frankly laughable. Ahead of the committee meeting, FBI Acting Assistant Director Christopher Dunham said in a letter that Friend refused to participate in a SWAT team arrest of a suspect in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach in Florida and had espoused an alternative narrative about the breach. Friend said a SWAT team wasnt needed. Ive arrested over 150 violent criminals in my career; Ive never required a SWAT team to do it, Friend replied, in response to questions from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-Fla.). Dunhams report, which was first reported on by The New York Times, also alleged that one of the whistleblowers knowingly entered a restricted zone around the U.S. Capitol and was present in an area close to protestors clashing with Capitol Police during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach. [That individual] remained in the restricted area even after what he believed was a deployment of tear gas and/or pepper spray, after witnessing protestors struggling with law enforcement trying to maintain barriers and eventually retreating due to protestor activity, and then immediately thereafter witnessing protestors climbing onto scaffolding. These actions showed a serious lack of judgment, the letter reads. It also said the individual failed to report his presence near the Capitol on January 6 to the Security Division, even after being warned by his supervisor to do so. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Zelenskyy Denies Ukrainian City of Bakhmut Occupied by Russian Forces Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a news conference at the Group of Seven nations' summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Louise Delmotte/Pool via AP) HIROSHIMA, JapanUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces werent occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscows insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people [away] to die, Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have toto understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, sojust ground andand a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmuts Soviet-era name. Russias Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group military company, holds a Russian national flag in front of his soldiers in Bakhmut, Ukraine, in a still from video released on May 20, 2023. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP) At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to [Ukraine] from [the United States], Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter later. The new pledge came after the United States agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the United States a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldnt use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden take part in a bilateral meeting during the G-7 Leaders Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images) In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isnt clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks, and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansionsall now reduced to a smoldering wastelandmade it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Aiming to script history with upcoming India trip: Nepal PM KATHMANDU, NEPALESE Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Saturday said he is aiming to create a new history during his upcoming visit to India.Prachanda, as the Prime Minister is popularly known, is all set to embark on a four-day official visit to India on May 29. I am going to India to add new dynamism in our bilateral relations. We are hoping that we will get some new things this time during my India visit, he said. This is a good opportunity for both Nepal and India. We will strengthen our bilateral ties as well as explore new avenues in our areas of cooperation. I should not tell much about it at this point of time but I believe that we can create a new history. So with this confidence information, I am going to India, said Prachanda. As preparations are underway for Prachandas visit, Nepals Foreign Minister N P Saud has started consultations with former foreign ministers, Ambassadors to India and former foreign secretaries and discussed with them on what should be taken up during the trip. After concluding his engagements in New Delhi, Prachanda will visit Mumbai before returning home on June 3. This is his first foreign visit after being elected as Prime Minister on December 25, 2022. We have an open border with India and due to our economic, political ties and people to people relations, our relationship with India is unique. This kind of relationship cannot be found anywhere in the world. That is why this has become a tradition. So all are doing the same by visiting India first. But that is not always happening, whose evidence is my self, Pushpa Kamal Dahal said. At G7 summit, PM Modi calls for building inclusive food system HIROSHIMA, PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for building an inclusive food system that focuses on the worlds most vulnerable people and pitched for checking the expansionist mentality occupying the fertiliser resources. In an address at a session of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Modi also strongly batted for the democratisation of technology, saying it can become a bridge between development and democracy. There is a need to focus on the holistic use of natural resources and the development model inspired by consumerism has to be changed, Modi said. The Prime Minister said efforts should be made to build an inclusive food system that focuses on the worlds most vulnerable people, especially marginal farmers should be our priority. The global fertiliser supply chains have to be strengthened. Political obstacles in this have to be removed. And the expansionist mentality that is occupying the fertilizer resources has to be stopped. This should be the purpose of our cooperation, he said. The Prime Minister, however, did not name any country. Modi also emphasised on preventing wastage of food saying it should be our collective responsibility. It is essential for sustainable global food security, he said. BIG TASK THE victory in Karnataka has certainly given the Congress party an authentic primacy in Opposition camp. Armed with that win, it will approach the challenge of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 with heightened confidence in its ability to dare the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and also ask other Opposition parties to concede leadership to Mr. Rahul Gandhi as the Opposition face against Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. However, before the 2024 challenge, there will be the challenge of retaining its power in two States of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, and make a serious attempt to snatch back power in Madhya Pradesh. If it is able to retain those two States with it, then the Congress party will become an entirely different organisation -- far from its faltering, stumbling former self in the past nine years. But one thing is sure -- the Congress party stands on the threshold of a probable political rejuvenation. Another actual and internal challenge the Congress party will have to face is the conduct of its leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi within the organisation. So far, he has been known to be a moody person with little respect for his seniors or peers. If he is to stand tall and strong against Mr. Narendra Modi, then he will have to reinvent himself and become truly an organisation man. For, the 2024 challenge is going to be far tougher than anyone will ever think. For Mr. Narendra Modi, it will be a fight of lifetime. And for Mr. Rahul Gandhi, it will be a fight for survival. In such a no-holds-barred fight, an individual with superior personal qualities is far more likely to succeed than anybody else. Will Congress be able to convince its leader to change his ways so that he becomes nationally acceptable in a true sense? In Karnataka, the fact of the matter was that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that lost. Congress did win the elections with a thumping number, all right. Yet, it was more of an anti-incumbency vote rather than a positive vote for the Congress party. The Congress leadership cannot overlook this reality of the Karnataka situation. In other words, it will have to still make a deep, no-nonsense analysis of its plus and minus points and avoid uncalled for rhetoric and get down to brass tacks to tackle issue ahead. One of the most critical issues is to build a nationwide organisation in a very short time so as to counter the BJP both-by-booth -- if that can be possible. It will also have to give up its lop-sided narrative and build instead an alternative that would appeal to all Indians. In other words, the Congress party will have to overhaul its ideological and operational game-plan so that its appeal to people will get enhanced. Will Congress be able to do that? Karnataka did prove a great point for Congress, no doubt. Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan also may follow suit. For, in that case, it will be the countrys second biggest political party -- following the BJP. In that case, the Congress party will have to present and project itself as a truly nationally-oriented organisation working for classes and masses. It is in this area where the BJP will have an eternal edge over Congress. Does the Congress leadership have a good operational plan ready? Upon the answer to this question will depend if the Congress party is able to capitalise on the Karnataka victory and if it can retain its power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. On these counts, its fate will depend. CBI chargesheet against Tytlerin 1984 anti-Sikh riots case NEW DELHI, THE CBI on Saturday filed a chargesheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the Pul Bangash case of killing of three persons and torching of a gurudwara during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, officials said. Tytler incited, instigated and provoked the mob assembled at Pul Bangash Gurudwara Azad Market on November 1, 1984 that resulted in burning down of the gurudwara and killing of three Sikhs -- Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh -- the CBI alleged in its chargesheet filed before a special court here. The agency has invoked charges under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148, 149 (unlawful assembly), 153A (provocation), 109 (abetment) read with 302 (murder), 295 (defiling of religious places) among others. The court will take cognisance of the charges on June 2, they said. Former Union Minister Tytler was accused of inciting a mob that murdered the victims. However, the CBI filed three closure reports which were rejected by the special court. The agency had recently collected voice samples of Tytler, who was named in the Nanavati Commission report that probed the riots. The case pertains to the riots at Gurudwara Pul Bangash in north Delhi, where three people were killed on Nov. 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then Pm Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence. Alexandra Fountaine, a medical student at Ohio University, poses for a picture in front of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, May 11, 2023. A new batch of states are looking to legislate the level of informed consent when it comes to medical students performing pelvic exams for educational purposes on unconscious patients. At least 20 states already have consent laws for this practice. Montanas governor signed a bill in April, Missouri has legislation that needs the governors signature to become law and Ohio lawmakers are also considering it. Colorado lawmakers want to go a step further, with Democratic Gov. Jared Polis expected to sign a bill that one bioethicist calls the broadest shes seen and says may go too far due to a requirement of naming the involved students ahead of time and introducing them to the patients. Proponents see the Colorado bill as a model we hope other states will pass, said Elizabeth Newman, public policy director at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which testified in favor of the legislation. Its hard to track and quantify how often medical students are asked to do intimate exams like pelvic, rectal or prostate exams on patients who are anesthetized. Opponents of the various bills and laws, who are often doctors, argue its government overreach which could compromise the established trust between patient and provider and should instead be left to recommendations from medical associations. Typically, a patient signs a number of forms giving broad consent for a range of procedures that might be medically necessary while someone is anesthetized. That can also include consent for educational purposes. Most folks just sign them and assume they are going to get the care that they need, said Colorado Democratic Rep. Jenny Willford, who co-sponsored the bill. But patients often dont know they were examined while unconscious, and if they do, they may fear coming forward, according to Newman. Plus, she said, medical students who could report it are often afraid to raise concerns with superiors who have power over their careers. Colorados bill would require an informed consent process, as well as ensure that the pelvic, breast, rectal or prostate exam is within the scope of the treatment. While this would be required even without students, practitioners are excepted from the consent process in emergency situations. The bill goes beyond others across the U.S. to include whistleblower protections for medical students who want to speak out, as well as liability for doctors and hospitals if they dont follow the consent rules. Its also unique in the requirement that the involved students would be named on the consent form, and be introduced to the patient prior to the procedure. Kayte Spector-Bagdady, a clinical ethicist, said Colorados proposal is the broadest shes seen and worries that listing the names of involved students could limit learning opportunities. Getting consent is typically done days or weeks ahead of time, but students may be unavailable on the day of the procedure and Colorados proposed law wouldnt allow others to step in and learn, she said. We want people to generally know how to take care of women, and (these exams are) a critical component of that, said Spector-Bagdady, who co-authored a 2019 recommendation by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics for such exams. Its a balance of respecting the autonomy of our patients and ensuring that the next time they go see a doctor, that doctor knows how to care for them properly. That associations 2019 recommendation, endorsed by major obstetric and gynecological professional associations, says students should only perform pelvic exams that are explicitly consented to and related to the planned procedure. Newman, however, said the mandates are important not only for patients to give complete informed consent, but for medical students to know that the client has given their consent and to learn the rules governing the consent process. Alexandra Fountaine, a medical student at Ohio University, was asked to do a pelvic exam on an unconscious female patient by the doctor overseeing Fountaines training on her first day of rotation at an OhioHealth hospital in Columbus. She said she didnt know whether the woman, who was anesthetized for an abdominal surgery that Fountaine said didnt require a pelvic exam, had given consent for it. Fountaine also did not ask the physician whether the woman had consented, telling The Associated Press that students are taught to be seen and not heard. Fountaine said the physician assured her that doing a pelvic exam was fine and for her education. I initially froze, said Fountaine, who didnt end up doing the exam but told the physician she did when her back was turned. The experience led Fountaine to testify in front of an Ohio House committee; her school says it supports students on their professional journey. OhioHealth, which has several teaching hospitals, told the AP in a statement that its policies regarding patient consent are consistent with current law and that attending physicians oversee patient exams, which are a component of the medical education process. There can be an intense disconnect between patient understanding and provider understanding on consent and procedures, said Phoebe Friesen, a bioethicist at McGill University in Montreal whose research helped bring the practice back into focus following the #MeToo movement. Providers view these unconscious exams as strictly medical or educational; the vagina and other intimate areas are just another body part, so specific informed consent isnt necessary. But for patients, Friesen believes its absolutely necessary. Such exams can leave a patient feeling robbed of their bodily autonomy, or even retraumatize people who have survived sexual assault. The solution is so simple, Friesen said. Just ask people whether theyre comfortable with this particular practice. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Mah Govt to hike aid for couples in mass marriages to Rs 25,000: Shinde PALGHAR, MAHARASHTRA Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday said the financial assistance provided to couples in mass marriages will be increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. Shinde was speaking at a mass marriage event in Palghar district, where at least 325 couples tied the knot in his presence. Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said mass marriages were the need of the hour, as people cannot afford big weddings. The Government will hike the financial assistance provided to eligible couples during mass marriages to Rs 25,000 from the present Rs 10,000 and directives will be given to the concerned officials regarding the same, he said. Speaking about developmental projects in the district, Shinde said a 150-bed ESIS Hospital is coming up in the region, which will cater to the working class. The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) will carry out various projects to develop Palghar, he said. The Chief Minister also met with representatives of the Tarapur Industrial Manufacturers Association in Boisar and discussed issues related to industries in the area. Talking to reporters, Shinde said his government was pro industry and its policies were in favour of industries and their growth. The government will ensure better infrastructure and facilities for industries to ensure that they do not face any problems, he said, adding that he has instructed industries in the district to provide jobs to locals. Rs 70 lakh cash burgled in Mankapur area, thieves flee with loot in house-owners car Staff Reporter IN A sensational burglary in Mankapur Police Station area, a gang of thieves looted Rs 70 lakh cash and some gold ornaments worth Rs 40,000 from the bungalow of a woman and drove away with the booty in the latters car. Manisha Vijay Kapai (52), a resident of Plot No 07, Vaishnav Kuti, Saibaba Colony, and her son had gone to Amritsar following the death of her mother. The house was locked between May 14 and May 17. Grabbing the opportunity, burglars struck at her house. They first broke the lock of the compound gate. They then sneaked into the house after breaking the door lock. The intruders climbed the stairs and went inside a bedroom on the first floor. After breaking the locker of an almirah, they collected the cash and gold ornaments. The intruders took the keys of Manishas Maruti Zen car (MH-31/CP-2272) and came out of the bungalow. The gang then boarded the car and drove away with the loot. When Manisha returned home from Amritsar, she was shocked to find the cash, ornaments and car stolen. Staff from Mankapur Police led by Senior Inspector Shubhangi Wankhede visited the spot after receiving the information about the house break-in and started the probe. Senior Police officials, who visited the bungalow to supervise the investigation, summoned fingerprint experts to trace the culprits. Siddaramaiah Cabinet gives nod for Congs 5 guarantees BENGALURU, CHIEF Minister Siddaramaiah said the newly sworn-in Karnataka Cabinet led by him in its maiden meet on Saturday accorded in-principle approval to implement the Congress partys five guarantees and initial estimates indicate that it would cost the exchequer Rs 50,000 crore annually. The first Cabinet meeting was held immediately after Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister, and D K Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister along with eight MLAs as Ministers. Earlier in the day Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the five guarantees promised by the party before the elections in Karnataka will be implemented within a few hours after the first Cabinet meeting. Its agreed upon. We will not go back (on the promises), the Chief Minister said, adding, the assurances would be fulfilled notwithstanding financial implications, if any. Siddaramaiah said initial estimation of the Government is that the implementation of the poll promises would cost the exchequer Rs 50,000 crore a year. The assurances promised before the elections would most likely be implemented after the next Cabinet meeting, he said addressing a press conference here. The partys five poll guarantees are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kilograms of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth, Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti). Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the Assembly session will be convened for three days from May 22. AP ISLAMABAD (AP) An Afghan military helicopter crashed in the country's north Sunday after hitting a power line base, killing at least two crewmembers, the Defense Ministry said. The MD-530 chopper was patrolling in the area after it took off from northern Balkh province and crashed in the Kholim district in Samangan province, a ministry statement said. EDWARDSVILLE Several people were indicted for felony battery by a Madison County grand jury in two separate cases last week, with one involving violence against children. An Alton woman was indicted for multiple battery and child endangerment charges involving four children, and a man was indicted for battery charges against two children and an adult in two separate indictments against him. One of the children, a 14-year-old boy, was a victim of both suspects. Pepper M. Mull, 38, of the 1100 block of Green, Alton, was indicted May 18 on three counts of aggravated battery, all Class 3 felonies; and four counts of endangering the life or health of a child, all Class A misdemeanors. In addition, when charges were originally filed April 25, she had also been charged with three counts of child abandonment, all Class 4 felonies. Deandre S. Pirtle, 19, of the same address, was indicted on two separate charges: one for aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony; and domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor; and a second indictment for aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony; and battery, a Class A misdemeanor. The case against Mull and the aggravated battery/battery charges against Pirtle were originally presented by the Alton Police Department, and the aggravated domestic battery/domestic battery charges by the Edwardsville Police Department. According to court documents, on March 29 Mull struck a 13-year-old girl in the face with a closed fist; and on April 16 Mull slapped a 9-year-old girl in the head, knocking her to the ground, and struck the victim with a closed fist multiple times; struck an 8-year-old boy multiple times with her fist; left the three victims and a 14-year-old boy in a home alone with no electricity or running water for extended periods of time. Court documents show Pirtle threw the 8-year-old boy to the ground and struck him multiple times with a closed fist; and struck the 14-year-old boy multiple times with a closed fist. According to a second indictment, court records show on March 2 he strangled a household or family member, and struck them in the face and pushed the victim. Mull has an extensive criminal record, with convictions in both federal and state courts for crimes ranging from possessing counterfeit documents to arson and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Pirtle was charged with felony domestic battery in March, and had a prior conviction for misdemeanor theft. In a separate incident, two men were charged with aggravated battery and mob action. Jeffrey H. Perryman, 36, of the 2500 block of State Street, Granite City, and Carl A. Shaver Jr., 41, of the 4300 block of Illinois Route 162, Granite City, were each indicted for aggravated battery, both Class 3 felonies; and mob action, both Class 4 felonies. In addition, Shaver was indicted for resisting a peace officer, a Class 4 felony, in a separate indictment. Charges in the mob action case were originally filed April 28 and were presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. According to court documents, on April 25 the two attacked and struck a third person, causing a facial fracture. In addition, on April 28 Shaver is accused of struggling with a sheriffs deputy, injuring the officers arm. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Collinsville Police Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Collinsville Police Show More Show Less 3 of 3 EDWARDSVILLE Two teens were indicted Thursday in the April 24 shooting death of Vaeden Hawkes, 19, in Collinsville. Isaiah T. Jenkins, 16, of the 300 block of Summit Avenue, and Jason O. Jerez-Hooker, 18, of the 400 block of South Aurora, both in Collinsville, were each indicted May 18 on two counts of first-degree murder, both Class M felonies; and aggravated unlawful use of weapons, a Class 4 felony. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Amr Nabil/AP Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Show More Show Less 3 of 3 WASHINGTON (AP) Sudans warring factions have agreed to a new short-term ceasefire, U.S. and Saudi mediators announced on Saturday, after several previous attempts to broker a truce that holds have failed. Meeting in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces signed off on a seven-day ceasefire that is due to take effect on Monday 9:45 p.m. local time in Sudan, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement. The ceasefire could be extended if both sides agree. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ATHENS, Greece (AP) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose conservative party scored a landslide election victory Sunday but without the seats in Parliament to win outright, indicated he will seek a second election in a bid to consolidate victory without a coalition partner. Mitsotakis New Democracy party was a full 20 percentage points ahead of its main rival, the left-wing Syriza party, nearly complete results showed. But a new electoral system of proportional representation meant his 40% vote share still was not enough to secure a majority of the 300 seats in Parliament. To form a government, he would either have to seek a coalition partner from a smaller party, or head to a second election. The prime minister said he would follow all constitutional procedures but maintained his view that the current electoral system that created the need for coalition was akin to party horse-trading. Without a doubt, the political earthquake that occurred today calls on us all to speed up the process for a definitive government solution so our country can have an experienced hand at its helm as soon as possible. Jubilant New Democracy supporters massed outside party headquarters in Athens, cheering and waving party flags. A second election, likely to be held in late June or early July, would be conducted under a new electoral law that gives bonus seats to the winning party, making it easier for it to form a government on its own. Sundays election was Greeces first since its economy ceased being under strict supervision by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during the countrys nearly decadelong financial crisis. Syriza head Alexis Tsipras, 48, served as prime minister during some of the most tumultuous years of the crisis, and has struggled to regain the wide support he enjoyed when he was swept to power in 2015 on a promise of reversing bailout-imposed austerity measures. He called Mitsotakis on Sunday night to congratulate him on his victory. The result is exceptionally negative for Syriza, Tsipras said in initial statements after his party's dramatic defeat became clear. Fights have winners and losers. Tsipras said his party would gather to examine the results and how they came about. However, the electoral cycle is not yet over, he said. We don't have the luxury of time. We must immediately carry out all the changes that are needed so we can fight the next crucial and final electoral battle with the best terms possible. As the massive gap between the first two parties became apparent, Syriza supporters expressed dismay. I am very sorry about the terrible state of these people (who voted for New Democracy)," said Syriza supporter Georgi Koulouri, standing near a Syriza campaign kiosk in central Athens. People who understand their position the poverty and the misery that they have been put into and still vote for them, they deserve what they get. Mitsotakis, a 55-year-old Harvard-educated former banking executive, won elections in 2019 on a promise of business-oriented reforms and has vowed to continue tax cuts, boost investments and bolster middle class employment. A steady lead he had enjoyed in opinion polls in the runup to the election slid following a Feb. 28 rail disaster that killed 57 people. Authorities said an intercity passenger train was accidentally put on the same rail line as an oncoming freight train, and it later was revealed that train stations were poorly staffed and safety infrastructure broken and outdated. The government also was battered by a surveillance scandal in which journalists and prominent Greek politicians discovered spyware on their phones. The revelations deepened mistrust among the countrys political parties. Syriza's campaign focused heavily on both the wiretapping scandal and the train crash. Greeces once-dominant Pasok party, overtaken by Syriza during Greece's 2009-2018 financial crisis, also fared well in Sunday's vote, garnering just over 11%. Its leader, Nikos Androulakis, 44, was at the center of the wiretapping scandal in which his phone was targeted for surveillance. Androulakis poor relationship with Mitsotakis, whom he accuses of covering up the wiretapping scandal, mean a potential coalition deal with the conservatives would be difficult. His relationship with Tsipras is also poor after he accused him of trying to poach Pasok voters. Since coming to power in 2019, Mitsotakis has delivered unexpectedly high growth, a steep drop in unemployment and a country on the brink of returning to investment grade on the global bond market for the first time since it lost market access in 2010 at the outset of the financial crisis. Debts to the International Monetary Fund were paid off early. European governments and the IMF pumped 280 billion euros ($300 billion) into the Greek economy in emergency loans between 2010 and 2018 to prevent the eurozone member from bankruptcy. In return, they demanded punishing cost-cutting measures and reforms that saw the countrys economy shrink by a quarter. ___ Theodora Tongas, Demetris Nellas and Nicholas Paphitis contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican prosecutors announced Saturday night that they are withdrawing a case against a woman who was sentenced to six years in prison for killing a man as he raped and attacked her. In a ruling last week that touched off a public outcry, a court in Mexico State said that while it agreed 23-year-old Roxana Ruiz was raped in 2021, it found her guilty of homicide with excessive use of legitimate defense. It also ordered Ruiz to pay more than $16,000 in reparations to the family of her attacker. Feminist groups, which have supported Ruiz's defense, angrily protested, saying the ruling was criminalizing survivors of sexual violence while protecting perpetrators in a country with high levels of gender-based violence and femicides. Protesters in Mexico City carried signs reading Defending my life isn't a crime." Ruiz, an Indigenous woman and single mother, told reporters after the court's ruling that she had received death threats because of the case and that she worried for her family's safety, particularly the life of her 4-year-old son. This isnt justice, she said. Remember I am the one who was sexually assaulted by that man, and after he died because I defended myself because I didnt want to die by his hands. Responding to the outrage, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said during a morning press briefing that he would seek to pardon Ruiz. But her lawyers said accepting a pardon would be admitting Ruiz committed a crime and that she is completely innocent. In a press release Saturday night, the state Prosecutor's Office said it had examined the case taking into consideration that Ruiz is part of a vulnerable group and found she was exempt from guilt. It added that the Prosecutors Office believes she acted in self defense. The announcement was celebrated by Ruizs defense lawyer, Angel Carrera, though he noted that he had not been formally notified of the charges being dropped. It means that theyre recognizing her innocence, Carrera told The Associated Press. Its a recognition that she simply defended herself. In May 2021, Ruiz was working selling french fries in Nezahualcoyotl, one of the 11 municipalities in Mexico State, a state that borders Mexico City on three sides and continues to have posted alerts warning women about femicides and the forced disappearances of women. The defense said Ruiz had a drink with a friend and a man she knew around the neighborhood. The man offered to walk her home, later asking to stay the night because it was late and he was far from home. While she slept on a separate bed, the man attacked and raped her. Ruiz fought back and he threatened to kill her, then in the struggle, Ruiz managed to kill the man in self defense, Carrera said. The court said the man was hit in the head and knocked unconscious, saying that was enough for Ruiz to defend herself. Carrera said that claim was totally false, saying it had not been determined that the attacked was rendered unconscious. Carrera said that in a panic, Ruiz put the mans body in a bag and dragged it out to the street, where passing police arrested her. Despite Ruiz telling police she had been raped, a forensic exam was never done, a crucial step in prosecuting sexual violence cases, Carrera said. Instead, an officer responded that she probably wanted to have sex with the man at first and then changed her mind, the lawyer said. Nearly half of Mexican women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, government data say. In 2022, the Mexican government registered a total of 3,754 women an average of 10 a day who were slain, a significant jump from the year before. Only a third were investigated as femicides. Carrera said he hopes the announcement of the case being dropped sets a precedent for other gender-based violence cases to be more thoroughly investigated and treated with deeper sensitivity. The Associated Press does not normally identify sexual assault victims, but Ruiz has given her permission to be identified and participates in public demonstrations led by activists who support her. ___ Associated Press journalist Fernanda Pesce contributed to this report. Washington Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond departs federal court after pleading not guilty to obstruction of justice and other charges, Friday, May 19, 2023, in Washington. A Washington, D.C. police officer was arrested Friday on charges that he lied about leaking confidential information to Proud Boys extremist group leader Enrique Tarrio and obstructed an investigation after group members destroyed a Black Lives Matter banner in the nations capital. An indictment alleges that Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond, 47, of Stafford, Virginia, warned Tarrio, then national chairman of the far-right group, that law enforcement had an arrest warrant for him related to the banners destruction. Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before Proud Boys members joined the mob in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Earlier this month, Tarrio and three other leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy charges for what prosecutors said was a plot to keep then-President Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election. A federal grand jury in Washington indicted Lamond on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. A magistrate judge ordered Lamonds release from custody after he pleaded not guilty to the charges during his initial court appearance Friday. The indictment accuses Lamond of lying to and misleading federal investigators when they questioned him in June 2021 about his contacts with Tarrio. The indictment also says Tarrio provided Lamond with information about the Jan. 6 attack. Looks like the feds are locking people up for rioting at the Capitol. I hope none of your guys were among them, Lamond told Tarrio in a Telegram message two days after the siege. So far from what Im seeing and hearing were good, Tarrio replied. Great to hear, Lamond wrote. Of course I cant say it officially, but personally I support you all and dont want to see your groups name and reputation dragged through the mud. Lamond was placed on administrative leave by the police force in February 2022. Lamond, who supervised the intelligence branch of the police departments Homeland Security Bureau, was responsible for monitoring groups like the Proud Boys when they came to Washington. Lamond declined to comment. His attorney, Mark Schamel, released a statement Friday saying, Lt. Lamond is a decorated officer whose position required contact with extremist groups who sought to undermine our democracy on January 6th, yet he does not, nor has he ever, supported their views. Schamel added that the jury will see the fallacy of these unfairly levied allegations when the evidence is presented. Schamel has previously said that Lamonds job was to communicate with a variety of groups protesting in Washington, and his conduct with Tarrio was never inappropriate. His lawyer told The Associated Press in December that Lamond is a decorated veteran of the police department and doesnt share any of the indefensible positions of extremist groups. The Metropolitan Police Department said Friday that it would do an internal review after the federal case against Lamond is resolved. We understand this matter sparks a range of emotions, and believe the allegations of this members actions are not consistent of our values and our commitment to the community, the department said in a statement. Lamonds name repeatedly came up in the Capitol riot trial of Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders. Tarrios defense sought to use messages showing that Tarrio was informing Lamond of the Proud Boys plans in Washington in order to support Tarrios claims that he was looking to avoid violence, not create it. Text messages introduced at Tarrios trial appeared to show a close rapport between the two men, with Lamond frequently greeting the extremist group leader with the words hey brother. Tarrios lawyers had wanted to call Lamond as a witness, but were stymied by the investigation into Lamonds conduct and his lawyers contention that Lamond would claim Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The defense accused the Justice Department of trying to bully Lamond into keeping quiet because his testimony would hurt their case a charge prosecutors vehemently denied. The indictment is the latest sign the Justice Department is moving forward in cases against people whose alleged conduct was uncovered in the massive Jan. 6 investigation, beyond the rioters themselves. More than 1,000 people have been charged with participating in the attack on the Capitol, but investigators have also been examining broader efforts by Trump and his allies to undermine the 2020 election. Prosecutors say Lamond and Tarrio communicated at least 500 times across several platforms about things like the Proud Boys planned activities in Washington over a roughly year and a half. Tarrio is expected to be sentenced in August. His lawyer, Nayib Hassan, declined to comment Friday on Lamonds indictment, but said he was shocked and disgusted that the government used information in the case against Lamond that Tarrios defense was not allowed to show jurors at trial. Lamond began using the Telegram messaging platform to give Tarrio information about law enforcement activity around July 2020, about a year after they started talking, according to prosecutors. By November of that year, he was talking about meeting Tarrio during a night out. In December 2020, Lamond told Tarrio about where competing antifascist activists were expected to be. Lamond, whose job entailed sharing what he learned with others in the department, asked Tarrio whether he should share the information Tarrio gave him about Proud Boys activities, prosecutors said. Jurors who convicted Tarrio heard testimony that Lamond frequently provided the Proud Boys leader with internal information about law enforcement operations in the weeks before other members of his group stormed the Capitol. Less than three weeks before the Jan. 6 riot, Lamond warned Tarrio that the FBI and U.S. Secret Service were all spun up over talk on an Infowars internet show that the Proud Boys planned to dress up as supporters of President Joe Biden on the day of the inauguration. In a message to Tarrio on Dec. 25, 2020, Lamond said police investigators had asked him to identify Tarrio from a photograph. Lamond warned Tarrio that police may be seeking a warrant for his arrest. Later, on the day of his arrest, Tarrio posted a message to other Proud Boys leaders that said, The warrant was just signed. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) The United States signed a new security pact with Papua New Guinea on Monday as it competes with China for influence in the Pacific. Papua New Guinea's location just north of Australia makes it strategically significant. It was the site of fierce battles during World War II, and with a population of nearly 10 million people, it's the most populous Pacific Island nation. The State Department said the new agreement provides a framework to help improve security cooperation, enhance the capacity of Papua New Guinea's defense force and increase regional stability. The full agreement will be made public once politicians in both countries have an opportunity for input, likely in a couple of months. The work that were doing together to try to shape the future could not be more important, could not be more timely," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters. Were deeply invested in the Indo-Pacific because our planets future is being written here. Papua New Guinea is playing a critical role in shaping that future." Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said the pact is mutually beneficial and secures our national interests in becoming a robust economy in this part of the world. But the agreement sparked student protests in the second-largest city, Lae. And many in the Pacific are concerned about the increasing militarization of the region. Student Naomi Kipoi, 17, said she was opposed to the security pact because she felt it means the U.S. could come to her country whenever it pleased without permission. She said China had been a big help to her country by building roads and funding schools. The U.S. didn't help us with aid and other things, Kipoi said. They're just trying to sign the agreement. Last year, nearby Solomon Islands signed its own security pact with China, a move that raised alarm throughout the Pacific. The U.S. has increased its focus on the Pacific, opening embassies in Solomon Islands and Tonga, reviving Peace Corps volunteer efforts, and encouraging more business investment. But some have questioned how reliable a partner the U.S. is in the Pacific, particularly after President Joe Biden canceled his plans to make an historic stop in Papua New Guinea to sign the pact. Biden would have been the first sitting U.S. president to visit any Pacific Island country, but he ended up canceling to focus on the debt limit talks back at home. Blinken traveled in Biden's place, arriving in Papua New Guinea early Monday. In response to news of Blinken's impending visit, China warned against the introduction of geopolitical games" into the region. As well as the defense pact, the U.S. also signed a maritime agreement with Papua New Guinea which will allow the U.S. Coast Guard to partner with the Pacific nation to counter illegal fishing and drug smuggling. The U.S. visit coincided with a trip by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was hosting a meeting with Pacific Island leaders to discuss ways to better cooperate. Blinken met with New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and said the two nations had a shared vision for the region. To make sure that it remains free, open, secure and prosperous, Blinken said. Hipkins told Blinken he was very happy that Blinken had made the trip. The increased U.S. presence in the Pacific is something we welcome, Hipkins said. But Hipkins also drew a distinction to his own nation's efforts. We are not interested in the militarization of the Pacific, Hipkins told reporters before the Blinken meeting. We are interested in working with the Pacific on issues where we have mutual interest. Issues around climate change. And were not going to be attaching military strings to that support. Hipkins was one of the few leaders to venture out publicly. He got a rapturous reception from hundreds of well-wishers when he visited Gordons Market, a large fruit and vegetable market. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Vincent Fabian Thomas and Ruth Dea Juwita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 22 2023 As the world marches toward a full post-pandemic economic recovery, the aviation market is showing positive signs. But while the airline industry is stepping up to meet returning demand, aircraft manufacturers are facing challenges in keeping up with orders and the growing demand for sustainability. Brendan Nelson, senior vice president of The Boeing Company and president of Boeing Global, spoke with The Jakarta Posts Vincent Fabian Thomas and Ruth Dea Juwita on Wednesday about the aviation market outlook, current challenges and the companys plans in the region. Question: Many Indonesian airlines are struggling to recover their fleets amid rising demand for air travel. How does Boeing see this phenomenon? to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hossein Amir Abdollahian (The Jakarta Post) Tehran Mon, May 22 2023 The upcoming state visit of Islamic Republic of Iran President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi to Jakarta, in response to the invitation of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, marks not only a turning point in the bilateral relations between the two countries but also the commencement of a new chapter in the relations between the two great nations. The stands of the two countries in the two regions of the Middle East and East Asia, cultural and civilizational commonalities and weighty potential for cooperation in various fields, alongside the new requirements of the international order, herald the opening of a new era of relations between the two countries hinged on respect and mutual understanding. The diplomatic ties between Iran and Indonesia are now entering their eighth decade, while the relations between the two great nations have deep roots in history. The people of the two countries, centuries ago, were able to establish profound bonds with each other through Islam, and Iranian and Indonesian Muslim scholars and intellectuals had beneficial interactions in past centuries. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agence France-Presse (The Jakarta Post) Dili, Timor Leste Mon, May 22 2023 Voters in Timor Leste flocked to polling stations on Sunday to cast their ballot in parliamentary elections, hoping for an end to years of political deadlock in Asias youngest nation. This is the fifth parliamentary poll since the country gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a 24-year occupation, with 65 national lawmakers to be elected to a five-year mandate. As polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time, voters formed long queues, carrying umbrellas for shade as they patiently waited their turn. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Manila, Philippines Tue, April 9, 2019 15:03 1509 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8732005d1 2 SE Asia #Philippines,#China,protester,rally,China,invasion Free Protesters descended on the Chinese embassy in Manila on Tuesday to oppose the Asian superpower's growing sway in the Philippines and as tensions rise over Beijing's presence in the disputed South China Sea. Filipino flag-waving marchers chanted "China out" and brandished a banner saying "Defend our sovereign rights", referring to Beijing's expansive claims to the resource-rich waterway. "The government headed by President (Rodrigo) Duterte is not responding. What China is doing is almost an invasion," marcher Alex Legaspi, a 53-year-old teacher, told AFP. While Duterte has largely set aside the once-heated territorial standoff over the sea, tensions have flared since hundreds of Chinese vessels appeared recently near the Manila-held Pag-asa (Thitu) island. The Philippines called the boats' presence "illegal" and Duterte threatened China with possible military action if it touches the island. However, the president has repeatedly said war with China would be futile and he has no intention of getting into a conflict with the rising power he has courted for trade and investment. Duterte has been criticised at home as being too eager to grow ties with Beijing, and giving up too much leverage on the South China Sea issue. Meanwhile, the United States has moved to boost its relationship with long-time ally and former colony the Philippines. A small group of policemen monitored the protesters, who numbered around 1,000 according to journalists on the scene. The marchers dispersed peacefully after the demonstration. Protesters also voiced simmering unease over the terms Chinese loans for infrastructure in the Philippines, including a massive dam-building project. China is poised to loan some $210 million toward the construction of the Kaliwa Dam, a project that has been delayed for years and would fill gaps in the Philippines' chronic need for infrastructure. "We cannot allow... China to control Filipinos and the Philippines' sovereignty," Wilma Quierrez, 53, member of indigenous rights group told AFP. "The loan agreement signed by (Chinese President) Xi Jinping and President Duterte will send us into debt trap," she added. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agencies Hiroshima, Japan Sun, May 21, 2023 18:35 6 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc6e33e5 2 Asia and Pacific China,biden,Xi-Jinping,geopolitics,Competition,Joe-Biden Free US President Joe Biden said Sunday that ties between Washington and Beijing should thaw "very shortly", after the United States shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon this year. "It got shot down and everything changed in terms of talking to one another. I think you're going to see that begin to thaw very shortly," Biden told reporters at the G7 summit in Japan. Biden also said the Group of Seven nations were agreed in their approach to China and the need to diversify their supply chains so they are not dependent on one country. "We're not looking to decouple from China. We're looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China," Biden told a news conference. Earlier, a senior US official said Biden invited his Japanese and South Korean counterparts for another meeting in Washington, following on from their trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit. "The leaders discussed how to take their trilateral cooperation to new heights", including with new coordination in the face of North Korea's "illicit nuclear and missile threats", the White House said in a statement issued after the meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday. They also discussed cooperation in sharing North Korea's missile data in real time, according to a statement by Japan's foreign ministry. Their discussions also touched on the Indo-Pacific, economic security, and engagement with the Pacific Islands, according to the statement. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin AFP Dili, Timor Leste Sun, May 21, 2023 15:06 6 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b056e63e0 2 Asia and Pacific Timor-Leste,Xanana-Gusmao,Indonesia,Mari-Alkatiri,election,legislative-body,parliament,Prime-Minister Free Timor Leste holds parliamentary elections Sunday with independence hero Xanana Gusmao hoping to make a comeback as prime minister and end political deadlock in Asia's youngest country. The polls are the fifth for the legislature since Timor Leste became independent from Indonesia in 2002 after 24 years of occupation. The tiny nation of 1.3 million is one of the poorest in the world and is still grappling with the after-effects of the pandemic and natural disasters. Voters will elect 65 members of the national parliament in elections expected to be a showdown between the two main parties, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), and Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, also known as Fretilin. CNRT is led by Gusmao, the country's first president until 2007, while Fretilin's leader is former prime minister Mari Alkatiri. Both are considered independence-era icons and veterans of East Timor politics but have been locked in a bitter feud for decades. CNRT won a presidential election last year after capturing 62 percent of the vote in a run-off, with Nobel Peace laureate and Gusmao ally Jose Ramos-Horta installed in the post. But the country has been stuck in political deadlock because parliament is controlled by a coalition led by Fretilin. Gusmao is hoping to build on the momentum of last year's presidential poll by capturing control of the legislature but might need to form an alliance with smaller parties. Fretilin leaders have vowed to secure a clear victory and retain their lead in parliament. Polling stations will be open until 3pm local time on Sunday with more than 890,000 registered voters expected to cast their ballots. Younger generations make up a large part of the electorate in a country where 65 percent of the population are below 30. Rivania do Rego, a 25-year-old student at the Universidade da Paz, said he was betting on Gusmao returning as prime minister "because he is a fighter who represents equality and is very well known in many countries". "We see many young people who sympathise with him, because he has charisma," he told AFP. Environmental activist Agapito Guterres dos Santos, 26, said he also thought it likely Gusmao would reclaim power. "But the people also want to see more significant changes when we have a new government," he added. Seventeen parties in total are contesting the elections. "The East Timorese are tired of political battles and instability. They put the blame for the deadlock on the dispute between Gusmao and Alkatiri," said Christine Cabasset at Irasec, a Bangkok-based research centre focused on Southeast Asia. Timor Leste is also still grappling with the effects of a devastating cyclone that struck in 2021. The storm killed at least 40 people while transforming communities into wastelands of mud and uprooted trees. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agencies Hiroshima, Japan Sun, May 21, 2023 19:10 6 8c59b90329e48fb699327dfce94ddc8a 2 Europe Joe-Biden,Volodymir-Zelensky,Ukraine-war,G7,summit,Japan,F-16 Free Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave Washington a "flat assurance" that F-16 fighters will not attack Russian territory, US President Joe Biden said Sunday after approving Kyiv's access to the jets. "I have a flat assurance from Zelensky that they will not use it to go on and move onto Russian geographic territory, but wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area, they would be able to do that," Biden told reporters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Earlier on Sunday, Biden announced a new $375 million package of military aid to Ukraine and told Zelensky that the United States was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine's defense for the war with Russia. Meeting with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the G7 summit of world leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden said the military aid package included ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles and training. "Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine's back and I promise we're not going anywhere,"Biden told Zelensky. In the meeting, Biden stressed his country's readiness to help build Ukraine's long-term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression, the White House said. To that end, Biden discussed US support for a joint effort with allied and partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-16, it said. Zelensky thanked the United States for the new package, and for the financial assistance of $37 billion to date, his office said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin AFP Hiroshima, Japan Sun, May 21, 2023 15:35 6 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc6e2f39 2 Europe Indonesia,Jokowi,G7,military,Russia,Volodymir-Zelensky,war,Ukraine Free President Volodymyr Zelensky secured more arms, munitions and "unwavering" diplomatic support from G7 allies in Hiroshima Sunday, as Russia claimed victory in the battle for a devastated eastern city. Meeting leaders from a bloc of rich democracies, Zelensky won a commitment from US President Joe Biden to provide yet more "ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles" on top of access to F-16 jets. Top Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak said the US package included additional ammunition for HIMAR rocket launchers, artillery shells, anti-tank guided missiles and thermal imaging systems worth $375 million. Zelensky's surprise trip to Japan has been a major diplomatic coup, putting his country and Russia's 15-month-long invasion firmly at the top of the agenda. But success in the negotiating rooms contrasted sharply with difficulties on the ground, as he reflected on the months-long battle for Bakhmut and new Russian claims to have taken control of the eastern city. Asked about the fate of the former salt-mining town of 70,000 people, Zelensky was notably downbeat, saying "you have to understand there is nothing" there. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he said. Ukrainian forces have tried for months to keep a toehold on the town, forcing Moscow to commit significant numbers of troops there in the process. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated mercenaries from the Wagner organisation and regular units for the operation to "liberate" the town. Zelensky's invitation to visit Hiroshima, a city synonymous with the horrors of nuclear war, was a "deeply meaningful" symbol of support, according to host Fumio Kishida, Japan's prime minister. "By inviting President Zelensky to Japan, we demonstrated the unwavering solidarity of G7 with Ukraine," he said. As well as securing backing from allies, the visit afforded Zelensky a rare opportunity to win over a handful of nations who have pointedly offered little or no condemnation of Russia's invasion. Leaders from India, Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia were among those invited to attend the summit as non-members. 'I understand your pain' Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused the West of "encouraging the war" and is yet to confirm he will even meet his Ukrainian counterpart. The reception was warmer however from India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who told Zelensky: "I understand your pain and the pain of Ukrainian citizens very well." "I can assure you that to resolve this India and, me personally, will do whatever we can do." Zelensky offered an upbeat assessment of the encounter, saying he believed India "will participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need." Zelensky is also looking for support for a 10-point peace plan, centred on the demand that Russia retreat from Ukrainian territory. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the message from Ukraine and its allies was clear: "Russia must withdraw troops". Any peace plan, he said, "can't simply be linked to a freeze of the conflict". "Russia should not bet that if it holds out long enough, it will end up weakening support for Ukraine." Zelensky had previously been scheduled to attend the G7 summit remotely but arrived on the back of a major breakthrough in his battle to wrest advanced weaponry from the West. The White House dropped its longstanding reluctance to allow allies to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets, opening the way for Ukraine to receive its most sophisticated material yet. Washington insisted the aircraft were part of a US strategy to support Ukraine "in a way that avoids World War III", and deflected criticism that their decision was too long coming. Zelensky acknowledged the jets would not help the war effort immediately but hailed the decision as "a great result". Mick Ryan, a strategist and retired Australian major general, called the decision "very significant". "F-16s have the sensors and weapon systems that are either equal to, or overmatch, Russian fighters," he told AFP. While Ukraine has dominated the summit, the leaders have also taken aim at China, with a thinly veiled statement denouncing efforts to "weaponise" trade and supply chains, and warning they would "fail and face consequences". The grouping also warned China against its "militarisation" in the South China Sea and urged Beijing to press Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine. It insisted however that it still seeks "constructive and stable relations" with China. China hit back late Saturday, expressing its "strong dissatisfaction" with the G7's final communique, and Russia too lashed out at the group's efforts to "contain" Beijing and Moscow. Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO Get Rating) (NYSE:BMO) Equities researchers at National Bank Financial reduced their Q2 2023 EPS estimates for Bank of Montreal in a research note issued on Wednesday, May 17th. National Bank Financial analyst G. Dechaine now anticipates that the bank will earn $3.12 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $3.24. The consensus estimate for Bank of Montreals current full-year earnings is $13.41 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Bank of Montreals Q3 2023 earnings at $3.25 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $3.18 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $12.78 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $13.48 EPS. Get Bank of Montreal alerts: Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO Get Rating) (NYSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The bank reported C$3.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$3.13 by C$0.09. The company had revenue of C$6.47 billion during the quarter. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 40.56% and a return on equity of 21.06%. Bank of Montreal Price Performance Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. CIBC reduced their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$145.00 to C$139.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$154.00 to C$151.00 in a research report on Monday, March 27th. National Bankshares reduced their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$133.00 to C$129.00 in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$149.00 to C$127.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Cormark reduced their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$148.00 to C$147.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of C$146.09. Shares of BMO stock opened at C$117.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$119.62 and a 200-day moving average of C$126.08. The company has a market cap of C$82.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.13. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of C$113.47 and a one year high of C$138.85. Bank of Montreal Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be given a $1.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. This represents a $5.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.85%. Bank of Montreals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.61%. About Bank of Montreal (Get Rating) Bank of Montreal engages in the provision of diversified financial services primarily in North America. The company's personal banking products and services include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, personal loans, small business lending, cash management, and financial and investment advice services; and commercial banking products and services comprise business deposit accounts, commercial credit cards, business loans and commercial mortgages, cash management solutions, foreign exchange, specialized banking programs, treasury and payment solutions, and risk management products for small business and commercial banking customers. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Bank of Montreal Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of Montreal and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The first few months of 2023 have been an excellent time to unload a mansion in Los Angeles. A proposed tax to help build low-income housing has prompted the sale of dozens of luxury residences. The so-called mansion tax was approved in a referendum last fall and came into effect in April. The tax is levied at 4% on all sales of residences worth more than $5 million, and this generated about $200,000 earmarked to address the pressing problem of homelessness in the city. The levy is progressive and reaches 5.5% for homes valued at more than $10 million ($550,000). Consequently, the temperature in one of the hottest real estate markets in the United States has gone up several notches. The tax sparked a frenzy in Los Angeles, a city where mansions are abundant. Homeowners who were uncertain whether to sell found the perfect excuse in this measure, proposed by city planners. During March, the local press was abuzz with stories about the schemes resorted to by millionaires to sell their properties as quickly as possible. The owner of a luxury residence in Beverly Crest, in the municipality of Santa Monica, offered to throw in one of the vehicles that appeared in the photos of the mansion, which he was selling for $16.5 million. The cars were a McLaren, an Aston Martin or a Bentley. The celebrities who decided to get rid of their homes to avoid paying this tax include the likes of Jim Carrey, Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Lopez and TV host James Corden. Between January and March, the real estate market was rife with creativity. Various schemes were devised to sidestep the tax, which was intended to provide an added lever for Los Angeles County to solve homelessness problems for an estimated 50,000 people. Some owners opted for rebates only valid in March, others chose to divide their assets so that the value would not amount to $5 million. Some of them went to law firms to take the city to court because of a tax that they believe is unconstitutional. However, the bubble has burst. We had an extraordinary March, so many high value properties were sold in that month, but the trend is now declining, Mauricio Umansky, president of The Agency, a boutique real estate agency for millionaires, said recently. In March, some 126 property transactions in excess of $5 million were finalized. By contrast, in April there were only two. The sale of these two properties, in the Venice and Brentwood areas, the neighborhood where Lakers star LeBron James resides, accumulated $528,000 in tax dollars for the House LA program (homelessness prevention and affordable housing fund). These resources can now be allocated by the city to prevention programs. Nevertheless, the figure is a far cry from what the three urban planners who collected the signatures had expected. The initial estimate was to hit $900 million, an amount they calculated by tracking market activity between 2021 and 2022. The Los Angeles experiment is the most aggressive of its kind. Another city with a substantial homeless population, New York, has a similar tax. This stands at 1% for each property valued at more than $1 million. These taxes, incurred by sellers, are on top of other charges such as the property tax, which is 0.82% in Los Angeles County. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC Get Rating) and EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations. Analyst Ratings This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for W. P. Carey and EastGroup Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Get W. P. Carey alerts: Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score W. P. Carey 0 1 4 0 2.80 EastGroup Properties 0 5 5 0 2.50 W. P. Carey presently has a consensus price target of $86.80, indicating a potential upside of 26.29%. EastGroup Properties has a consensus price target of $170.20, indicating a potential upside of 4.57%. Given W. P. Careys stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe W. P. Carey is more favorable than EastGroup Properties. Profitability Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets W. P. Carey 47.26% 8.47% 4.20% EastGroup Properties 32.86% 8.40% 4.20% Dividends This table compares W. P. Carey and EastGroup Properties net margins, return on equity and return on assets. W. P. Carey pays an annual dividend of $4.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. EastGroup Properties pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. W. P. Carey pays out 119.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. EastGroup Properties pays out 129.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. W. P. Carey has raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years and EastGroup Properties has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. W. P. Carey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth. Volatility and Risk W. P. Carey has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, EastGroup Properties has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Earnings and Valuation This table compares W. P. Carey and EastGroup Properties top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio W. P. Carey $1.48 billion 9.94 $599.14 million $3.56 19.31 EastGroup Properties $487.02 million 14.55 $186.18 million $3.87 42.06 W. P. Carey has higher revenue and earnings than EastGroup Properties. W. P. Carey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than EastGroup Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Institutional & Insider Ownership 62.7% of W. P. Carey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of EastGroup Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of W. P. Carey shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of EastGroup Properties shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Summary W. P. Carey beats EastGroup Properties on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks. About W. P. Carey (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. The company was founded by William Polk Carey in 1973 and is headquartered in New York, NY. About EastGroup Properties (Get Rating) EastGroup Properties, Inc. is an internally-managed equity real estate investment trust, which engages in the development, acquisition, and operation of industrial properties. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Ridgeland, MS. Receive News & Ratings for W. P. Carey Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for W. P. Carey and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities providers stock. FE has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Guggenheim raised shares of FirstEnergy from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $43.00. Get FirstEnergy alerts: FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.6 % FE stock opened at $37.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.55. FirstEnergy has a 12 month low of $35.32 and a 12 month high of $43.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.63 billion, a PE ratio of 53.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.44. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $39.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.28. FirstEnergy Announces Dividend FirstEnergy ( NYSE:FE Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. FirstEnergys quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 5th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 4th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. FirstEnergys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 219.72%. Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the third quarter worth $325,878,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,698,278 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $826,146,000 after acquiring an additional 5,820,540 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,214,574 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,128,322,000 after acquiring an additional 4,443,050 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 102.9% in the third quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,806,527 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $140,841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 113.3% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,735,311 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $109,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,452,663 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.80% of the companys stock. About FirstEnergy (Get Rating) FirstEnergy Corp. engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity as well as energy management and other energy-related services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following business segments: Regulated Distribution, Regulated Transmission, and Corporate or Other. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for FirstEnergy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FirstEnergy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO Get Rating) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 810,736 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 101,329 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned approximately 0.07% of Southern worth $57,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,652,372 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $6,436,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,612 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 76,360,768 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $5,192,533,000 after purchasing an additional 723,336 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,068,549 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,424,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,036 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Southern by 6.2% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,002,360 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,284,352,000 after acquiring an additional 3,653,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 0.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,795,619 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $598,104,000 after acquiring an additional 66,208 shares during the last quarter. 61.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Southern alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Southern from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday. VNET Group reissued a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Mizuho cut their target price on Southern from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM reissued a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $73.07. Insider Transactions at Southern Southern Stock Performance In other news, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $3,758,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $63,705,014.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link . In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 27,426 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total transaction of $2,059,966.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,712,898.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink . Also, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $3,758,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,705,014.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last quarter, insiders sold 91,917 shares of company stock valued at $6,889,527. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the companys stock. Shares of NYSE SO opened at $71.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $58.85 and a 12 month high of $80.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.27 and a 200-day moving average of $68.84. The company has a market capitalization of $77.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.51. Southern (NYSE:SO Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.08. Southern had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 11.53%. The company had revenue of $6.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.61 EPS for the current year. Southern Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. This is a boost from Southerns previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Southerns payout ratio is 90.32%. Southern Company Profile (Get Rating) The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Southern Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southern and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY Get Rating) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning. Oppenheimer Price Performance Shares of OPY stock opened at $37.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $416.52 million, a PE ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Oppenheimer has a twelve month low of $28.41 and a twelve month high of $49.32. Get Oppenheimer alerts: Oppenheimer Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Oppenheimers dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.11%. Insider Buying and Selling at Oppenheimer Institutional Inflows and Outflows In other Oppenheimer news, insider Dennis P. Mcnamara sold 12,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.53, for a total transaction of $539,703.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,083,147.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink . 32.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Oppenheimer in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Oppenheimer in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Oppenheimer in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Oppenheimer by 436.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,830 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Oppenheimer in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $71,000. 40.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Oppenheimer Company Profile (Get Rating) Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc engages as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer. It operates through the following segments: Private Client, Asset Management, Capital Markets, and Corporate/Other. The Private Client segment consists of commissions and a proportionate amount of fee income earned on assets under management (AUM), net interest earnings on client margin loans and cash balances, fees from money market funds, custodian fees, net contributions from stock loan activities and financing activities, and direct expenses. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Oppenheimer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Oppenheimer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Taseko Mines (NYSEAMERICAN:TGB Get Rating) (TSE:TKO) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the mining companys stock. A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities upped their price target on Taseko Mines from C$2.50 to C$2.75 in a report on Monday, February 27th. National Bank Financial increased their target price on Taseko Mines from C$2.50 to C$2.75 in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Taseko Mines from C$3.30 to C$3.40 in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Taseko Mines from C$2.50 to C$2.75 in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Get Taseko Mines alerts: Taseko Mines Stock Down 1.4 % Shares of NYSEAMERICAN:TGB opened at $1.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.75. Taseko Mines has a 1 year low of $0.89 and a 1 year high of $1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $395.14 million, a P/E ratio of -17.13 and a beta of 1.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.48. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Taseko Mines Taseko Mines ( NYSEAMERICAN:TGB Get Rating ) (TSE:TKO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The mining company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Taseko Mines had a negative return on equity of 0.05% and a negative net margin of 7.01%. The business had revenue of $74.12 million during the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that Taseko Mines will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current year. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Taseko Mines by 10.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 376,136 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 34,100 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Taseko Mines by 305.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 309,635 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 233,235 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Taseko Mines by 148.6% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 36,450 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 21,790 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Taseko Mines by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 77,196 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Taseko Mines by 663.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 819,644 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $1,836,000 after acquiring an additional 712,220 shares in the last quarter. 19.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Taseko Mines Company Profile (Get Rating) Taseko Mines Ltd. operates as a mining company engaged in the acquisition, development, and operation of mineral deposits. It holds interest in the Gibraltar, Florence Copper, Aley Niobium, Yellowhead, New Prosperity, and Harmony projects. The company was founded on April 15, 1966 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Taseko Mines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Taseko Mines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has stated that its operatives intercepted a large consignment of methamphetamine concealed in powdered custard containers as part of a consolidated cargo going to London, United Kingdom at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos. The Nigerian Voice learnt that the illicit drug consignment which was seized on Tuesday 16th May, weighing 30.10 kilograms with a street value of N567million. According to reports, the seizure was swiftly followed by series of follow-up operations that led to the arrest of a freight agent, Nwobodo Chidiebere; a female suspect, Chioma Lucy Akuta and ultimately the drug lord behind the shipment, Charles Chinedu Ezeh, who was arrested at Sotel Suites, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos on Thursday 18th May. Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi said, Ezeh claims hes a businessman and deals in articles in Onitsha, Anambra State but investigations reveal he lived with his wife and children in London until 10th December 2022 when he fled to Nigeria after his involvement in a drug-related offence in the UK. Though he claimed to have been living in hotels since his return to Nigeria last December, operatives were, however, able to locate his mansion at No. 1 Hawawu Abikan Street, Lekki, on Friday 19th May, where a search was conducted and his travel and property documents among others were recovered. Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Adamawa on Monday 15th May arrested a 32-year-old notorious drug dealer, Prince Ikechukwu Uzoma, in Mubi area of the state with 1kg of skunk. Ikechukwu has twice been arrested in the past, and convicted for the same offence. He was in 2017 sentenced to six months imprisonment and in 2019 he was again sent to two years in jail. In the same vein, a trans-border trafficker, Faisal Mohammed, 27, was on Wednesday 17th May arrested in Mubi following the interception of a truck from Onitsha, Anambra State, where a total of 2,376 sachets of tramadol comprising 23,760 pills were found. They were concealed in three blue rubber Jerrycans which were hidden underneath the body part of the trailer. The suspect admitted the opioid was to be taken to Cameroon. In Oyo state, two suspects: Osas Susan, 35, and Thomas Biodun, 23, were arrested at Igbon, Gambari in Ogbomoso North LGA with 2.13kg cannabis while Idris Muhammed, 55, was nabbed with 4,500 pills of tramadol when a commercial bus conveying him and other passengers was stopped and searched along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Similarly, Bulus Mikah, 63, was arrested at Kafanchan, Kaduna state with over 5kg opioids including tramadol, diazepam, rohypnol and exol-5, just as a total of 965kg cannabis was seized from Shehu Muhammadu Dandare, 25, at Maraban Jos, in Igabi local government area of the state. While 552kg cannabis was recovered from a warehouse in a bush when operatives stormed and destroyed 1.5 hectares of cannabis farm in Uhodoua forest, Esan South East LGA, Edo state, 10 suspects were arrested with a total of 5.587kg cannabis sativa, 144.4grams of methamphetamine and 48, 260 capsules of tramadol in different parts of Onitsha, Anambra state on Friday 19th May. In Kwara, two suspects: Mohammed Isa, 47, and Mohammed Haman, 36, were arrested on Friday 19th May along Ilorin/Lagos road in a commercial bus on their way to Maiduguri, Borno state with 6kg cannabis, 50grams of methamphetamine and 20 pieces of military camouflage caps and uniforms. On the same day, operatives in Jigawa state nabbed one Ibrahim Abdullahi, 53, with 120kg of cannabis at Sara town in Gwaram LGA. Not less than 628 bottles of new psychoactive substance, skuchies when operatives raided a drug joint at Idanre where four suspects were arrested. They include: Olamide Olusola, 26; Abiodun Tijjani, 21; Fatope Temidayo, 29; Agba Obi, 30 and Olafisoye Festus, 26. In the same vein, a suspect, Kayode Hakeem, 22, was arrested at Hawan Dawaki, Kano with 293 blocks of cannabis weighing 211.6kg. The Coalition of Arewa Civil Society Organisations(ACSO) has demanded the resignation of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) over the allegations of corruption revolving around him. Expressing worry over the allegations, the Coalition called on the EFCC Chairman to resign or be sacked in order to save Nigeria. The group said there were allegations also, that the EFCC Chairman was using his office to intimidate, harass and force heads of agencies to do his bidding. They stated that it was improper for the North to have an EFCC Chairman with a record of corruption. In a statement signed by the Chairman of the group, Adamu Aminu Musa, ACSO stated that the EFCC Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa should resign or be fired. The statement stressed that Abdulrasheed Bawas resignation at this point in time is sacrosanct in other to save the reputation of Nigeria before the eyes of the world. Mr Bawa has been at the centre of so many corruption allegations even before his appointment as the Chairman, which was believed to be surrounded by so many controversies and mysteries. It was alleged that Bawa operates like an emperor, using his office to intimidate, harass and force people to do his bidding, the banks, other Government agencies and innocent Nigerians with backing from his God Father. Therefore Mr. Bawa must be probed, investigated and made to face the law to serve as a deterrent for whoever is coming to succeed him, and while the investigation is ongoing, he should resign or be fired for a smooth conduct of the investigation because he cannot be a judge in his own case. That is a rule of natural justice. He, therefore, must step aside for a more qualified candidate to take over, to probe his alleged illegal doings and bring him to answer for his crimes before the eyes of the law. It is the right thing to do, it is the standard that is obtainable worldwide. After all, he should welcome the idea if he says he has nothing to hide." The Federal Government has banned officials of government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, from giving out unverified information. It was learnt that the ban was issued in a memo signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, with Ref.No.Z.4 XXXIV 943 and dated May 2, 2023. According to Mustapha, the restriction is to curb conflicting and contradictory information given out by its agencies. The memo was addressed to the Chief of staff to the president, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Office of the Vice President, Minister/Ministers of State, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, National Security Adviser, Economic Adviser to the President and Special Advisers/Senior Special Assistants. The memo revealed that, The prevalence of discordant statements by public officials on issues especially, bordering on purported shortcomings of Institutions of Government, have been observed. These statements are often, made in public without necessarily, cross-checking with responsible Ministries, extra-ministerial Departments, and Agencies thereby, seeming to disparage such institutions. More so, the statements tend to be traducing and do not portray One Government and as such, create a negative perception among the citizenry. Others copied in the memo include the Chief of Defence Staff/Service Chiefs/Inspector-General of Police, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission; Chairman of the Police Service Commission; Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service. Also copied in the memo is the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Chairman of the National Population Commission, Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and Chairman of the National Assembly Service Commission. Others on the list are Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Extra-Ministerial Department, Clerks to the National Assembly, Chief Registrar, Supreme Court of Nigeria, Secretary, National Judicial Council, Accountant General of the Federation, Auditor General of the Federation, Surveyor General of the Federation, Director General/Chief Executive of parastatals, agencies and Government owned Companies. By Keita Nakamura, KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 18:23 | All, Japan, World, G7 The Group of Seven's resolve to defend the international order is likely only to have strengthened after seeing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travel all the way to Japan to meet the leaders of the major democracies to drum up support for fighting back against Russia's invasion. Shortly after Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday to join the summit discussions, the G-7 issued a communique pledging to uphold the "free and open international order based on the rule of law" and expressed strong opposition to "any unilateral attempts to change the peacefully established status of territories by force or coercion." But the statement may not mean that the G-7 is on the same page in dealing with another autocratic nation, China, in which many members have huge economic stakes even as they are wary of its growing military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. While agreeing to bolster sanctions against Russia and vowing to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes," the G-7 members appeared to use more nuanced statements when it came to their relations with Beijing, saying, "We stand prepared to build constructive and stable relations with China, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China." "Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart China's economic progress and development...We are not decoupling or turning inwards. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying," it added. The annual G-7 summit hosted this year by Japan -- the sole Asian member of the group -- has been a key opportunity to bring greater attention to the Indo-Pacific, and therefore to issues related to China, including tensions over Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island which Beijing views as its own territory. The G-7 consists of Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union. Riley Walters, an expert on East Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington, indicated that the G-7's handling of Russia's invasion of its neighbor will be perceived as a test case for how the group deals with any potential military aggression in the Indo-Pacific. Zelenskyy's attendance at Sunday's summit sessions, which was welcomed by G-7 leaders with open arms, helped show their "resolve against any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force -- whether that's in Ukraine by Russia or Taiwan by China," he said. "It also shows that G-7 members are willing to support countries that are under attack, like Ukraine, even though the U.S., NATO, or Japan don't have any formal alliance with Ukraine," Walters said. In moving in tandem with other G-7 peers in seeking to pressure Russia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has emphasized that the security of Europe and the security of the Indo-Pacific are inseparable and that "Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow." European nations have been stepping up security engagements with the Indo-Pacific amid China's maritime assertiveness, given the significance of the region in shaping the future international order, said Bonji Ohara, a senior fellow at Japanese think tank the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Britain dispatched a carrier strike group led by the Queen Elizabeth to the Indo-Pacific in 2021 for the first time, and announced ahead of the three-day summit in Hiroshima that it plans to deploy it again to the region in 2025. A German navy frigate, meanwhile, made a port call in Tokyo in 2021, marking the first visit to Japan by a military vessel of the country in about 20 years. France, with overseas territories in the Indo-Pacific, has been sending its warships into the South China Sea, where Beijing has been pushing its territorial claims. But Ohara, a former naval attache in China who is well-versed in Chinese politics, was doubtful whether the G-7's European members, apart from close U.S. ally Britain, would take actions that would risk entering into "confrontation" with China. The G-7's seeming convergence of position on the Taiwan issue was called into question when French President Emmanuel Macron said in April that Europe should not be a "follower" of either the United States or China, cautioning against being drawn into a crisis over the island amid the two countries' rivalry. Macron made the statement in a media interview during his visit to China, where European plane maker Airbus SE clinched a purchase agreement for 160 commercial aircraft. Possibly to play down any concerns over Macron's remarks, which triggered a backlash from elsewhere in Europe and the United States, the G-7 leaders doubled down in the communique on the "importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait" and noted that "there is no change in the basic positions of the G-7 members on Taiwan." On the economic front, the G-7 members agreed to launch a platform to prevent practices of economic coercion from being used as a tool to pursue political objectives. The move apparently takes aim at China, with Australia and Lithuania among the countries that were hit by coercive economic actions, such as being slapped with tariffs and seeing some imports suspended, on tensions over the origin of the novel coronavirus and Taiwan issues. Giulio Pugliese, a lecturer at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies in Oxford University, said cooperation among G-7 members to enhance their economic security needs to be "intensified," but signaled that countries may differ in the level of measures they feel are necessary. "Some countries may not want to fully alienate China," the expert in international relations said, while warning against steps to boost economic security becoming "protectionist" polices that would likely be unpopular among emerging and developing "Global South" nations. Many of the nations have not sided with the United States and its allies over Russia's war in Ukraine. But collaboration with them is seen as key in the G-7 efforts to uphold their vision of a rules-based international order challenged by countries such as Russia and China. Related coverage: FOCUS: End of G-7 sets stage for Japan PM to consider snap election timing Governor attends Phuket Baba Wedding PHUKET: Narong Woonciew, the Governor of Phuket province, and Bunwandee Woonciew, the Governors wife and President of Phuket Red Cross, were among the honored guests at todays (May 21) events held as part of the annual Chinese Weddings in Phuket. cultureChinese By The Phuket News Sunday 21 May 2023, 03:49PM Governor Narong and his spouse, Bunwandee, participated in the traditional Peranakan rituals at the Hongyok Family House (also known as Ang Mo Lao Hongyok, Baan Hongyok, or just Hongyok Mansion) on Thepkrasattri Rd in Phuket Town. Five couples performed their marriage rites at Baan Hongyok today (May 21), contributing to the preservation and promotion of the old traditions of Peranakan, or Straits Chinese. This term refers to the descendants of the early waves of Southern Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia, who initially settled in the British Colonial-ruled ports in the Malay Peninsula and later migrated to other destinations, such as Phuket. The traditional Chinese Wedding events today also featured a street procession along Thepkrasattri Rd. The participants, adorned in vintage attire, walked from the Hongyok Mansion to the Thai Hua Museum, which was Phukets first school offering classes in Hokkien Chinese. "It promotes soft power and local culture as we hope the pictures from the event will become viral social media content worldwide, thereby advancing cultural tourism and supporting our goal of having Peranakan costumes recognized as world heritage," stated the Phuket Provincial Office of the PR Department of Thailand. As announced earlier this week, the open for public Phuket Peranakan Festival will be held in Phuket Town from June 23-25 to celebrate the islands and the citys unique Chinese heritage. Read more here. For more photos from the May 21 events in Phuket Town, click here. Man arrested in Phuket for child sex trafficking PHUKET: An unnamed man was arrested at Phuket airport on charges of child sex trafficking, Phuket Immigration reported yesterday (May 20). The arrest warrant was issued just eight days after a raid at Velvet Bar in Patong exposed a nationwide child sex trafficking ring with foreign beneficiaries and customers, though Phuket Immigration didnt confirm if the May 20 arrest was linked to the high-profile investigation. crimesextourismpolicepatong By The Phuket News Sunday 21 May 2023, 09:00AM Phuket Immigration officers with the suspect arrested on child sex trafficking charges yesterday (Mar 20). Image: Phuket Immigration Checkpoint The arrest of the alleged child sex trafficker was announced on the Phuket Immigration Checkpoint Facebook page, which primarily covers the anti-criminal activities of Immigration Bureau officers working at Phuket airport. According to the report, the arrest of the alleged sex trafficker took place at 7.30am on that day (May 20) at the International Arrivals zone of the airport. Since Phuket airport does not operate any flights during the night, this was the very beginning of the airports working day, with only one international flight having landed in Phuket by that time. The flight in question was Qatar Airways QR842 from Doha, which arrived ahead of schedule at 7:25 am, according to FlightRadar24 website. The suspect, whose name and nationality have not been revealed, was arrested on Phuket Provincial Courts warrant number Jor-141/2566 issued on Mar 23, 2023. The Phuket office of the Immigration Bureau provided the following description of the charges against the suspect: "taking away a minor over 15 years but not yet over 18 years of age from the parent, guardian, or caretaker for obscene actions even with the consent of the minor, and taking away a minor over 15 years but not yet over 18 years of age from the parent, guardian, or caretaker for indecent actions even with the consent of the minor." These charges fall under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, commonly known as "child sex trafficking." Patong in nationwide sex trafficking network Phuket Immigration did not provide further details on the specific investigation that led to the Phuket Provincial Court issuing warrant number Jor-141/2566 on Mar 23, 2023. However, the date aligns chronologically with the ongoing high-profile investigation into a child sex trafficking network. On Mar 15, the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) raided Velvet Bar on Soi Sea Dragon in Patong which had been offering underage girls as prostitutes to foreign customers. Police began a full-scale investigation overseen by Deputy Commander of the Royal Thai Police Gen Surchate Hakparn. On Mar 18, Gen Surchate Hakparn, visited Phuket and announced that the Velvet Bar raid had exposed a nationwide child sex trafficking network operating in other tourist areas of the country. According to Gen Surchates statement, by Mar 18, the police had already identified three key leaders of the criminal network. On Mar 30, Gen Surchate returned to Phuket to announce that his officers had arrested three foreigners for purchasing underage Thai girls for sex, while three other suspects wanted for the same offense had already fled the country. Arrest warrants had been issued for those three and police had identified 109 other customers who had paid for sex with minors, Gen Surachate added on Mar 30. Ronnie Peterhitch, believed to be the leader of the child sex trafficking network that included Velvet, Model, Bangla Beach, and Strip Phuket Bars in Patong, had also left the country and remained at large as of Mar 30. Phuket Opinion: Sending a clear message PHUKET: The explanation by Phuket Governor Woonciew on Friday (May 19) that the driver of the tour speedboat Thanathip Marine 555 which slammed into a channel marker in Chalong Bay on Wednesday, injuring 35 tourists faces up to three years in jail if found guilty of negligence is a much welcomed and long overdue move. But it is, as always, only a part-improvement on the current state of dangerous and reckless driving by tour speedboat operators. opiniontourismSafetyaccidentsmarinetransport By The Phuket News Sunday 21 May 2023, 09:00AM Photo: via Phuket Info Center Governor Narong explained to the press that the driver of the boat faces up to three years in jail or a fine of up to B60,000, or both, if he is found guilty of negligence that resulted in the collision. First, lets repeat if the driver is found guilty. Second, if the Governors move to announce serious possible penalties for such life-threatening behaviour is to count for anything, officials will have to break from the long-standing tradition of never announcing what penalties actually befall those held high as examples of justice being served. It seems only obvious to prove to the public that justice has been served, though considering the actual penalty the court may hand down, that might just be a little too embarrassing. But lets not hold our breath for that. The Governor on Friday even shied away from actually naming the boat driver, who was plainly identified in the list names of those admitted to hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the collision as Satit Maschai. That omission might be a better indicator of where this whole public performance is likely to end up. Of course we will overlook the complicity of water safety officials, including Navy personnel and officers from the Phuket Marine Office itself, led by Phuket Marine Chief Natchapong Pranit, for not taking any action to enforce their own edict warning boat operators of the safety regulations in place issued only just over two weeks ago. Mr Natchapong publicly issued a notice, four pages in total, informing all boat operators of the safety regulations in effect ahead of the long weekend to celebrate HM The Kings birthday. However, after that weekend, tour speedboat operators went back to business as usual. The notice was an oddity in itself. It was publicly posted on May 2, but marked as signed and dated on Apr 28, a week after a foreign passenger was injured by a close pass by a speedboat estimated to be travelling at about 25 knots in the approach to the channel leading to Royal Phuket Marina and Phuket Boat Lagoon. The Phuket Marine Office made no public statement about that incident, despite the same harrowing nature of the reckless driving by tour speedboat operators using the channel there and the fact the a tour speedboat collision in that same channel killed two children, a 12-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, on holiday with their families. Apparently killing children is not enough to inspire Mr Natchapong to take reckless driving by tour speedboat operators seriously until there is yet another accident. Make no mistake, the fact that no one was killed in the collision with the channel marker on Wednesday is dumb luck. Phuket marine officials can also add to their list the fact that in response to this weeks collision so far there has been no mention that by law since 2015 all passenger boats in Phuket carrying 24 or more passengers must have AIS (automatic identification system) tracking installed and switched on when in transit, relaying data to the Phuket Yacht Control Centre at Chalong Pier, where inbound and outgoing boats are monitored. The officers stationed at the Phuket Yacht Control Centre at Chalong Pier even have a clear view of the tour speedboats flagrantly speeding across Chalong Bay, and still nothing has been done to curtail the dangerous behaviour of tour speedboats drivers. Mr Natchapong, either the Phuket Marine Office has a special relationship of understanding with tour speedboat operators that everyone has to guess at, or tour speedboat operators are simply snubbing you and your entire office. You are just not important enough for them to do what you say the law is. They just dont care. The response by emergency services to the collision on Wednesday was excellent. It was nice to see senior local officials present on site as the injured were brought ashore, and the public reports of the investigation by officials so far has been a positive step forward in proving to the public that water safety, especially that involving tourists, is being taken seriously. However, all that is only after the accident has happened. It is time to send a clear message to tour speedboat drivers in the hope of preventing the next one. KYODO NEWS - May 22, 2023 - 00:39 | All, World, G7 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that seeing the history of Hiroshima's devastation by an atomic bomb over seven decades ago reminded him of what Russia's invasion has done to his country, as he visited a museum documenting the tragedy that hit the western Japanese city. Zelenskyy, on a visit to Japan to rally support from leaders attending a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, said Ukraine is determined to regain territory seized by Russia and expressed hope for Japan's technological and other support in rebuilding the war-torn nation. "Frankly, the pictures of Hiroshima in ruins really remind me of Bakhmut and all small (Ukrainian) cities like it," Zelenskyy told a press conference. Bakhmut has been at the heart of a long and fierce battle with Russia. Moscow has said the city was seized, a claim rejected by Zelenskyy. Describing Hiroshima today as "a modern city that looks alive," the visiting president vowed that "in Ukraine's Bakhmut, there will be reconstruction in the future, too." The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is intended to convey the tragedy of the U.S. bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, that killed some 140,000 people by the end of that year. It is now a symbol of peace and a painful reminder of what an atomic bomb can do to humanity. The museum's collection includes relics, photos and other items such as burned and tattered clothing, charred lunch boxes and human hair that fell out due to radiation. Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy placed a bouquet of flowers at a cenotaph dedicated to the victims and inscribed with a vow never to repeat the tragedy. His visit comes amid fears of Russia resorting to nuclear weapons. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who accompanied Zelenskyy at the site, has hoped to make the G-7 gathering a place to inject momentum into the global push for a world without nuclear weapons. "If we were not so brave, the Russian genocide against us could have succeeded. The shadow would have been left of Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. The museum exhibits stone steps in which the shadow of a person thought to have been killed by the atomic blast was imprinted. Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy placed a bouquet of flowers at a cenotaph dedicated to the victims and inscribed with a vow never to repeat the tragedy. His visit comes amid fears of Russia resorting to nuclear weapons. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who accompanied Zelenskyy at the site, has hoped to make the G-7 gathering a place to inject momentum into the global push for a world without nuclear weapons. "We dream of getting our territories back," Zelenskyy told the press conference, while insisting Russia has committed war crimes that should not be tolerated. "We dream of winning! We dream of peace after our victory." Keiko Ogura, 85, told Zelenskyy in person about her experience as an atomic bomb survivor who was eight at the time. "As a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor), I'm happy to have been able to play my part," Ogura said after meeting the president at the museum. She also shared her experience with the G-7 leaders who visited the site last week. On the second day of his stay in Japan, Zelenskyy joined the G-7 leaders in a session focused on Russia's war on Ukraine and then an extended session with other guest leaders also present, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Zelenskyy's visit to Japan was his first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The G-7, comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union, has vowed to support Ukraine for as long as necessary, with the nation said to be preparing for a counteroffensive against Moscow. He sat down with U.S. President Joe Biden, who has given the nod for Western nations to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and for U.S. troops to train Ukrainian pilots, and held separate talks with Kishida. Tokyo has also decided to accept injured Ukrainian soldiers for medical treatment at a Japanese hospital, the official said. The plan was revealed by Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada last week. "Japan will continue to support Ukraine seamlessly," the official told reporters. Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on a French government plane on Saturday. Besides Biden and Kishida, he also held talks with leaders including from Britain, Canada, Germany, France, India, Italy and South Korea. The leaders of the G-7 nations have all visited Ukraine since the war began. Tokyo has also decided to accept injured Ukrainian soldiers to a Japanese hospital for medical treatment, the official said. The plan was revealed by Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada earlier this week. "Japan will continue to support Ukraine seamlessly," the official told reporters. Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on a French government plane on Saturday. Besides Biden and Kishida, he also held talks with leaders including from Britain, Canada Germany, France, India, Italy and South Korea. The leaders of the G-7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States plus the European Union -- have all visited Ukraine since the war began. Related coverage: Ukraine denies Russia's control of Bakhmut CAMBRIDGE During an altercation, two males threw rocks at a group and one suggested he was armed on Saturday night. Waterloo Regional Police were called to the Beechwood Road area at around 10 p.m. for a disturbance involving a possible gun. Two males approached a group, triggering a verbal altercation. The two males threw rocks at the group. One of the males gestured to his hip, suggesting he had a gun, and threatened the group. No gun was seen. The group was able to flee the area and called police. Police described the males as white with slim builds and in their 40s. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 519-570-9777 or report anonymously at 1-800-222-8477. SHARE: CAMBRIDGE Police have released the identity of a man wanted in connection to a criminal harassment and a breach of court order investigation. Waterloo Regional Police are looking for 30-year-old Kyle Murphy from Cambridge. Murphy is wanted on the strength of a warrant for several charges including criminal harassment, four counts of breach of probation and three counts of failure to comply with judicial release. Police ask for the publics help in the search. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 519-570-9777 or report anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. SHARE: WATERLOO REGION A 37-year-old man who has been missing since May 12 has ties to Waterloo Region. Nathan was last seen at around 7 p.m. near Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue West in Toronto. Police have only referred to Nathan by his first name. He is described as four feet and six inches tall, weighing about 170 pounds, with a full beard and moustache. Police and family are concerned for his safety. There have been no confirmed sightings of Nathan since he went missing. Family believes Nathan is heading to or is in Waterloo Region because he used to live there. Nathan did not have his wallet or phone when he went missing. A group called Search for Nathan had about 2,300 members as of Sunday afternoon. People from different parts of the province commented and asked questions in the group about the search and what appeared to be family, posted updates. Family members did not comment or want to be identified. On Friday, Guelph police said they had received unconfirmed reports of people spotting Nathan. SHARE: CUET deferred to May 29 in Manipur: Official | New Delhi, May 19 : The common undergraduate entrance exam CUET has been deferred to May 29 in Manipur in view of the law and order situation, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said on Friday. The second edition of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) is set to begin across the country on May 21. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exam, is considering setting up a temporary exam centre in Srinagar to accommodate candidates who have been allotted centres outside Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Kumar said. Several students from Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand have been caught off guard as they have been allotted examination centres hundreds of kilometres away from their hometown irrespective of their preferences for a closer centre. "NTA is exploring the possibility of setting up a temporary centre in Srinagar to accommodate candidates who have been allotted centres outside...," the University Grants Commission (UGC) chief told PTI. In Manipur, which was rocked by violence earlier this month, the exam has been deferred by a week and students still have the option to seek change of centre. In the North Eastern State, the exam will begin from May 29. "NTA has carefully reviewed the law and order situation in consultation with the State administration and contacted these candidates through telephone to know their preferred city.... Some candidates who were not in Manipur or wanted to take the examination in another State are being allocated (centres) in other cities, including Delhi and Guwahati. The option for change of centre for candidates of Manipur is still available," Mr Kumar said. "The NTA has been advised to keep all examinations in the State of Manipur from May 29 onwards. Those candidates who may have got admit cards for 21 to 24 May 2023 or city intimation slips for CUET (UG)- 2023 to be held between May 25 and 28 are required to contact NTA," he added. The UGC chief said though all measures have been taken to allot candidates their preferred cities, there are some who have been allotted centres in a neighbouring State. "Due to the number of candidates being extremely large in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, some candidates may still have to take the CUET outside their chosen State," he said. PTI The crimes of Ronald DeFeo JrThe possessed man who killed his family and inspired The Amityville Horror | Austin Harvey | Edited By Jaclyn Anglis Contd from previous issue In an attempt to help their deeply troubled son, Ronald Sr. and Louise DeFeo took him to see a psychiatrist. Butch, however, insisted that he didnt need help and refused to attend the psychiatrist appointments. Hoping to convince him to improve his behavior in another way, the DeFeos started providing Butch with expensive gifts, but this too failed to correct his course in life. By 17, Butch was regularly using LSD and heroin, and spending most of his allowance on drugs and booze. And he got kicked out of school due to his violence toward other students. The DeFeos didnt know what else to do. Punishing Butch didnt work, and he refused to get help. Ronald Sr. got his son a job at his dealership, giving him a weekly stipend regardless of how poorly Butch performed his job duties. Butch then used this money to buy more alcohol and drugs and guns. Despite having a steady job and enough money and freedom to do what he wanted, Ronald Butch DeFeo Jr.s situation worsened. He established a reputation for getting drunk and starting fights, and on one occasion attempted to attack his father with a shotgun while his parents were arguing. In a 1974 interview with The New York Times, Butchs friend Jackie Hales said that he was part of a crowd who would drink and then get into fights, but the next day theyd apologize. Not long before the murders, Hales said DeFeo had broken a pool cue in half because he was angry. Still, most people who knew the DeFeos considered them to be a nice, normal family. They were outwardly kind and religious, holding a prayer huddle on Sunday mornings, as one family friend recalled. In 1973, the DeFeos installed a statue of St. Joseph the patron saint of families and fathers holding baby Jesus on their front lawn. Around the same time, Butch handed out statuettes of the same saint to his co-workers, telling them, Nothing can happen to you as long as you wear this. Then, in October 1974, Butch was entrusted by his familys dealership with depositing approximately $20,000 to the bank but Butch, ever unsatisfied, felt like he wasnt earning enough in wages and devised a plan with a friend to stage a fake robbery and steal the money for themselves. His plan soon fell apart when police arrived at the dealership to question him. He refused to cooperate with the authorities, and Ronald Sr. then interrogated his son about his potential involvement in the robbery. The conversation ended with Butch threatening to kill his father. In the early hours of November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. stalked through his familys house with a .35-caliber Marlin rifle. The first room that he entered was his parents and he fatally shot them both. (To be contd) WMC adopts resolutions | IMPHAL, May 21 : The World Meetei Council (WMC) has taken at least five resolutions regarding the situation in Manipur during an all civil society organisation (CSO) meet held at Rajbari, Manipuri Basti, Guwahati, today. As per a statement of the Council, the first resolution is for Government to consider three point agenda viz implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur, granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Meetei and to protect the indigenous people against the 'atrocities meted out by immigrants in Manipur' to resolve the ethnic conflict between Meetei and Chin-Kuki people. Condemning the 'destruction of Meetei ancient temples' amid the conflict and demand for separate administration raised by 10 Chin-Kuki MLAs, the meeting unanimously agreed to urge the Government to abrogate Suspension of Operation (SoO) pact with Kuki militant groups. The gathering also asked Mizoram Chief MInister Zoramthanga to not interfere in the internal affairs of Manipur. To urge political parties to stop politicising the conflict in Manipur was the fourth resolution of the meeting. The final resolution asked media houses not to portray victims of the conflict as perpetrators, The meeting was presided by WMC chairman Heigrujam Nabashyam. The reverberating sound of bombs exploding across the city. The dull thud of gunfire penetrating walls. Ricocheting bullets. An entire family sleeping on mattresses in one room, wardrobes lined up to form a makeshift shelter. This is how Eisham Abdulkarims family, including his mother and pregnant sister-in-law, lived for more than two weeks after violent conflict broke out in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum last month. They thought they were going to die. They were living those 16 days in horror, the Sudanese Canadian man said at a rally in Hamilton on Saturday. They thought they all were going to die. Sudanese-Canadian anti-war protesters and their supporters rally at city hall. The Hamilton Spectator More than a hundred gathered outside city hall calling for peace for Sudan, raising flags, posters and voices on Main Street East. Sudan needs our help, a brightly coloured poster read. Protect civilians in Sudan, read another. And, on a poignant sign covered in red hand prints: Your silence is violence. Violence erupted in the sweeping east African country in mid-April as state military clashed with the powerful Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. We want to rally efforts to help people who are affected by the war in Sudan, Ahmed Ismail, chair of the Sudanese Canadian League of Hamilton, told The Spectator. Eisham Abdulkarim speaks at the rally. The Hamilton Spectator The organization is imploring the federal government to pressure the states warring factions to stop the violence and support the countrys ongoing transition to democracy, Ismail said Saturday afternoon. On the same day and after weeks of violence, factions agreed to a seven-day ceasefire beginning on Monday, The Associated Press reported. Ahmed Ismail, chair of the Sudanese Canadian League, spoke at the rally. The Hamilton Spectator The community is calling on Ottawa to support Sudanese refugees seeking asylum, he said. In April, the government evacuated hundreds of Canadian citizens and permanent residents from Sudan. We expect more, he said. Since the violence began April 15, hundreds have been killed and thousands injured. An estimated 700,000 people have been forced to flees their homes as a result of the deadly conflict, the United Nations said this month, adding to the millions of Sudanese internally displaced before the most recent conflict. But its not just bullets and bombs that kill, he said. There is limited food and water and where available, its unaffordable. Medication is scarce. More than two-thirds of Khartoums hospitals shut down within two weeks of the conflict, World Health Organization reported, leaving citizens without medical care. A rally participant holds an anti-war message. The Hamilton Spectator If not stopped, this war will turn into a civil war all over the country, Ismail said. Two weeks into the fighting, Abdulkarims family embarked on a harrowing journey out of the city, fearing the worst at each military checkpoint. In Shandi, a city about 200 kilometres from the chaos of the capital, they were forced to pay skyrocketing rent profiteering from conflict, he said. Ismail, too, has family in Sudan. Some have escaped the capital, living in Bara, a city about 360 kilometres away, but others remain in conflict-ridden Khartoum. Theyre in the war zone, and theyre scared, he said. I talk to them every day, many times a day, just to make sure that theyre still alive, he said. The Sudanese Canadian League of Hamilton organized an anti-war rally at city hall Saturday. The Hamilton Spectator SHARE: Peel Regional Police have charged a man from Brampton with murder in connection to a stabbing at a Brampton park on Friday. In a news release Saturday, police said 44-year-old Nav Nishan Singh from Brampton has been charged with first-degree murder. Police were called to Sparrow Park, in the Cherrytree Drive and Sparrow Court area, just after 6 p.m. on Friday and found a female suffering from obvious signs of trauma on a footpath. Police and paramedics began life-saving efforts but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim was 43-year-old Davinder Kaur, from Brampton. A short time later, approximately two kilometres from where Kaur was found, Singh was arrested. According to Const. Tyler Bell, the two knew each other but the specifics of their relationship as well as the motive for the stabbing remain unclear. Homicide investigators will be canvassing local residents for any (video) footage, Bell said on Friday evening. Singh appeared in Brampton court on Saturday morning. With files from Thea Gribilas MH Mahdis Habibinia is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: mhabibinia@thestar.ca Read more about: SHARE: Mary Hogan is blunt when it comes to reducing the number of people charged with criminal offences and ending up in court. If we took addiction, mental health and poverty and everything that goes with poverty, like lack of housing out of the mix, we wouldnt have many cases left, said the recently retired Ontario Court of Justice judge in a wide-ranging interview with the Star. Having presided almost exclusively at Torontos Old City Hall courthouse since 1987, she describes a dramatic shift in the types of cases handled by the provincial court over her long career. In more recent times, the court has had to take on an increase in what some might call social work, she said. In other words, accused persons who are not necessarily hardened criminals but who appear in court with a history of substance-use disorders, mental health issues, homelessness, or sometimes all three. With little to no access to the supports they need including in jails they come back to court again and again. Its very difficult and frustrating as a judge when you know someone has a substance-use issue or a mental health issue and doesnt have housing, so its like what do you do? she said. You cant expect someone, for example, to be part of a counselling or treatment program if they dont have a roof over their head. Our mission is to keep them out of the justice system With the courts again being called on to be tougher on accused persons in the wake of seemingly random attacks on the public, Hogan says whats actually needed for public safety is affordable housing, access to more supports, and education for judges. She says the system needs to start taking a hard look at diverting even more cases including serious ones out of the traditional criminal system, so people can get support and rehabilitation rather than jail time. Its a stance that puts her at odds with the provincial government, which recently announced over $100 million for police to better monitor potentially dangerous people on bail, as well as for dedicated prosecutors for complex bail hearings. More cases should be taken out of the criminal justice system, she said. We have to be prepared to take risks and start looking at more serious cases to divert as well, but again, it comes back to resources They need to have resources and supports in the community. If accused people get the necessary help now and get some housing, the public is probably safer than if they go to jail, do some time, and have no assistance. Judges rarely grant interviews, even once retired, but Hogan said she wants to call attention to systemic failures in the justice system. She says shes worried that the Ontario Court of Justice is going backward on some of the strides it made in the late 90s and early 2000s when it first established specialty courts including drug-treatment and mental health courts, and Gladue court for Indigenous persons. The job of the provincial court has changed significantly, but the system hasnt necessarily adapted. In the old days, the challenge might be described as the domain of social work, Hogan said To a certain degree, I guess it is social work, but it is our work now. How is a person meant to comply with bail conditions when they dont have housing, when their ID and phones get regularly stolen, when encampments are getting dismantled? Hogan asks. Invariably, they get re-arrested and are back in court, she said. She draws a parallel between the justice system and the health care system amid Torontos worsening housing crisis. Just as some hospitals are now having to get creative to support the influx of people experiencing homelessness coming through their doors, so too are the courts. Their mission is to keep people out of the emergency room, Hogan said. Our mission is to keep them out of the justice system. Societys problems Hogan became one of the first women to serve on the provincial courts criminal bench in 1987. She had previously worked as executive director of Parkdale Community Legal Services, focusing on housing and landlord and tenant issues. She left the court to serve a brief stint as deputy attorney general of Ontario in the early 90s, only to be re-appointed to the bench in 1992. Hogan retired earlier this year. Over the last 36 years, she said shes witnessed positive changes, notably an increase in the diversity of the courts judges more women, more people of colour, more people from the LGBTQ+ community. When she first arrived, she was pregnant with her third child, and there was no formal policy of paid maternity leave for judges. I was out of the hospital on a Friday and back here with the baby on the Monday, Hogan said. My secretary watched her for me while I was sitting in court. The other female judges at the time were primarily in family court, and Hogan helped organize with them to secure paid mat leave for judges. As the years went on, Hogan noticed the court was being asked more and more to deal with societys problems that really arent criminal in nature. She partly attributes this to the process of deinstitutionalization that kicked off in earnest in the 60s and 70s, when many psychiatric hospitals and in-patient beds were closed and patients were transitioned into the community. Its something that Hogan said she absolutely supports, as it provides people with more autonomy. But governments didnt do the other half of it, Hogan said, to provide the resources and accommodations and everything else needed when coming out of the institution. Specialty courts Hogan had a reputation around Old City Hall for delivering sentences that generally led to little or no jail time. Nicknames included Minimum Mary, One-Day Mary, Saint Mary, and Mother Mary. The police once held a press conference on the courthouse steps denouncing her sentences, and officers would pack her courtroom. I would walk by them in the halls, and they used to say in not such a soft voice, There she is, Hogan recalled. I didnt feel that jail did a lot for anyone, and we simply warehouse people, she explained. Mental health issues, and both alcohol and drug addiction, are not dealt with by sending somebody to jail. It was in the late 90s that specialty courts came into existence as a way to shut the revolving door of individuals coming into court. Hogan presided in both the drug-treatment and mental health courts at Old City Hall, and was the lead judge in the former for years. Drug-treatment court involves individuals with a substance-use disorder who are facing non-violent criminal charges, with their disorder at the root of the crimes. A person typically needs to first plead guilty in order to access the court and can avoid jail by participating in the programming offered. Hogan said she readily acknowledges the criticism levelled at drug-treatment courts, including the requirement of guilty pleas and the limitations on who is allowed in. She says the Crown, the gate-keeper in drug-treatment court, needs to let in more people, including those charged with more serious offences. The court also needs more staff and sitting days. It was cut down from two days a week to one at Old City Hall prior to the pandemic, she said. Mental health court at Old City Hall sits every day, and involves people who are often very ill. Like drug-treatment court, the mental health court generally only accepts cases involving non-violent offences, where the persons diagnosis has a connection to the crime. Unlike drug-treatment court, a person doesnt have to plead guilty to gain access. They work on a treatment plan with health professionals and could ultimately have their charges withdrawn. Concerns for the future When the specialty courts were first established, Hogan said there were consistent staff for significant periods of time: judges, Crown attorneys, duty counsel and clerks. She said thats crucial in successfully helping someone who is already extremely anxious about being in court, something she said is backed by the evidence. Over the last decade, this consistency has been seriously eroded, with more frequent rotation through those courts of judges and duty counsel, she said. It is now also unclear if the Crowns will be consistent going forward, Hogan said. Without connection and consistency, its not a specialty court, she said. The courts need to return to a model of having consistent staff, she said. Her concern is that the senior court administration fails to recognize that consistency is imperative to the success of those courts, and has not shown support for their long-term viability. I feel like weve taken giant steps back when we really should be moving forward, Hogan said. Hogans focus on consistency is something other experts have noted amid the tumultuous changes to Toronto courts. Old City Hall will be shutting down at the end of this month, with its caseload merged into the new mega-courthouse nearby on Armoury Street. Having the same court staff assigned to similar cases is important because to work in this setting, you must have an idea and be educated about the various diagnoses that most of our clients struggle with, said Joyceline Sobers, senior manager of the mental health court support program with Fred Victor, a social service organization that works with people who are homeless. The Ontario Court of Justice said in a statement that it is a strong advocate for specialty courts. The court is constantly reviewing the courts and making the necessary adjustments needed to ensure their success. The court also said that with the amalgamation of Torontos provincial criminal courthouses almost complete, the scheduling of the specialty courts will be back to normal, though refused to say what that means. Meanwhile, Legal Aid Ontario said it has increased the number of duty counsel lawyers who assist unrepresented accused persons who rotate through the specialty courts over the last few years. A further concern of Hogans is for the future of the downtown east justice centre one of four programs associated with provincial courts in the province that she led in her final years on the bench. The centre, which Hogan said only sits Thursdays and is virtual, is meant to connect individuals with services including health, housing and employment support, to ultimately have their charges withdrawn and reduce their risk of re-offending. These are people in the revolving door, she said. This is the third or fourth time theyve been in the criminal system in the last six months, and the crimes are more minor, but theyre pretty broad, and the root of the crimes are mental health issues, problematic substance use issues, poverty. Hogan said the centre needs to be running more frequently with a physical location, and there should be one in every jurisdiction. The resources were supposed to be wraparound, so they could walk out of the courtroom and go next door and immediately access all the necessary supports, she said. Finally, Hogan says judges need annual education on more than just hard law, but on the issues that are causing so many people to come before them in court. There is so much education to be done, and we as judges need that education, she said. Because we are now faced with dealing with these cases. Hogan stayed on longer than anticipated so she could get the justice centre up and running. After more than three decades on the bench, she said she will especially miss the people who appeared in front of her. Ive learned so much from them, she said. They are incredibly resourceful and resilient, and most of them still have hope. Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering courts, justice and legal affairs for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant SHARE: KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 17:08 | All, Japan, World A South Korean delegation arrived in Japan on Sunday for a six-day visit to assess the safety of Japan's planned release of treated radioactive water into the sea from the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant. The delegation of 21 experts in the nuclear reactor, radiation and other sectors was dispatched as concerns linger in South Korea over the potential impact of the treated water on the ocean environment. "We will check on the safety of the process based on scientific foundation and standards," Nuclear Safety and Security Commission chief Yoo Guk Hee told reporters at Incheon airport, near Seoul. "If we take a scientific approach to explain what we saw and what we need to confirm further, then I think people will have more trust in us," he said. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol agreed on Seoul's dispatch of the delegation at their summit earlier in May as the two Asian neighbors rapidly improve ties soured by disputes over history and territory. Japan plans to begin around this summer releasing the treated radioactive water that has accumulated at the Fukushima Daiichi plant on the Pacific coast, which was devastated by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Water has become contaminated after being pumped in to cool melted reactor fuel at the complex and has also mixed with rainwater and groundwater at the site. Japan has pledged to discharge the water in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure its safety but faces opposition to the plan from local fishermen, while neighboring countries such as Russia, South Korea and China have aired concerns. The delegation plans to meet with officials of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and other relevant Japanese institutions on Monday. The group will inspect facilities at the plant for two days from Tuesday, including its advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS, that can remove most radioactive substances, except tritium, from the accumulated water. On Thursday, the delegation plans to hold another meeting with the Japanese side after its on-site inspection, also including storage tanks and water supply equipment. Related coverage: South Korea's delegation to visit Fukushima plant next week South Korea set for 4-day Fukushima plant visit to assess water release Gov't to pitch safety of Fukushima water release to South Korea experts Toronto police officers are investigating after a woman was found dead in a residential unit in the citys west end Sunday morning. Toronto Fire said crews and EMS services responded to reports of unknown trouble near Harbord Street and Ossington Avenue at around 11:44 a.m. In the vicinity, firefighters found a woman without vital signs in a second-floor apartment. Toronto Police Services were contacted, and officers arrested a man, upon arrival. The man, who had minor injuries, was transported to the hospital. No charges have yet been laid. There is no risk to public safety, and no other persons are believed to be outstanding at this time, police said. The victim and the suspect were known to each other, police added. Police told the Star officers remain on the scene investigating, and no other details can be provided at this time. Officers are asking anyone with information to come forward and contact the 14 Division at 416-808-1400 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477). SHARE: The surprise mayoral election is full of other surprises, like seeing the right on the defensive, chasing a progressive candidate with momentum and who is also in the lead. Election day is still a month away and much can change by then of course, but a number of polls have consistently shown Olivia Chow soundly leading the pack. Considering the incredible number of people running in this election (102 at final count) and with a half dozen actual contenders who realistically have a chance to win, its a remarkable thing, and a remarkable moment for Toronto and Toronto progressives. This is the first time since the 2006 election, when David Miller easily won his second term as mayor, that the progressive side of local politics is decisively out front, and its freaking people out, particularly those on the right. One local newspaper dedicated its front page to Chow this past week, including her picture and the headline, Not now, Chow. On social media and elsewhere, some high-profile folks on the right side of the spectrum are looking noticeably jittery as they make proclamations that Chow would be the worst thing for the city right now and maybe even the worst mayor of all time. Calamity and civic dystopia are at our doorstep if we vote for this veteran of local and national politics, if this breathless hyperbole is to be believed. Chow should probably take this all as a compliment: shes become a proper threat to the rights 12-year domination of the mayors office and it is novel to watch that side panic for a change, all of which is making this one of the most compelling elections to follow in a long time. The left-right political spectrum lands a little differently at the municipal level than it does at other levels of government as there are no official parties here, so its more fluid. Considering the long shadow of John Tory and the Ford brothers on this election, for our purposes here the right who is very nervous about Chows surge includes the centre-right (some of them are Blue Liberals from the right-leaning side of that party) to the various shades of capital-C Conservative. This is the melange that John Tory relied on for eight years. Perhaps its not a surprise the other side is in the lead now. The campaign narratives from every candidate is that Toronto is in a bad place. Its a city in decline where affordability, safety, transit, decay of the public realm and other critical issues are listed as its ailments. Its no wonder everyone, the candidates and pundits alike, are calling for change. But this does put the right in a bit of a sticky position: theyve been in power since 2010 and they are the ones who got Toronto to this place. Who else was it? Mark Saunders is focusing his campaign squarely on public safety with him the guy to save the city, portraying Toronto as a crime ridden and scary place that needs him, the guy who was in charge of making Toronto a crime free and not scary place until quite recently. Thats some very curious logic for voters to swallow. Other candidates like Ana Bailao and Brad Bradford were extremely loyal Tory councillors, relentlessly voting for his agenda, the one that got Toronto where it is today, making them also seem like unlikely changemakers. Bradford even attacked Chow by furiously tweeting, she is captured by the NDP activist agenda. This is curious coming from a councillor who made a big show about being non-partisan and willing to support every party over the last four years. He even tweeted a photo a year ago of him and NDP MPP Doly Begum out canvassing together during the provincial election. Which version of Bradford is sincere here? When Chow threw her hat into this election there was a fair amount of grumbling from some progressive voters that this wasnt the right time to come back. That its time for some generational change, to move away from the boomers who have dominated for so long, and that she was light on actual policy, relying too heavily on her record in politics, something shes publicly been out of for years now. These are all fair criticisms, but over these last few weeks Chow has released some substantive policy on housing and other issues. Moreover, shes generally run a positive campaign without the attacks other candidates are resorting to. Thats refreshing and may turn a lot of reluctant progressive voters towards her, but these very nervous attacks from the right could also galvanize even more voters behind Chow, doing exactly what her attackers meant not to do. Expect more of it though. Funny how that works. After more than a decade of decline, people want positive change rather than, quite literally, more of the same that other candidates are offering by simply being there and having a history we can all easily see. Shawn Micallef is a Toronto-based writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @shawnmicallef Read more about: SHARE: Dundas Street snakes erratically across Toronto for 23 kilometres, starting at Kingston Road in the east, past family diners and global retailers, humble homes and graceful mansions, over the DVP and under Hwy 427 to Mississauga. It moors downtown Toronto, passing through Chinatown, and behind the curved twin towers of city hall, where two years ago, council voted to rename the thoroughfare. Renaming it was a controversial decision, stoked by fiery international debate over the role played in upholding the slave trade by Henry Dundas, the influential 18th-century Scottish politician for whom the street is named. Torontos mayoral byelection has nudged the issue back on stage, with some candidates saying theyll rescind or review the decision, even as a city committee prepares to publicize a shortlist of new street names this summer. The controversy over Dundas has raised concerns not just over who we choose to honour in our streets and our monuments, but how those decisions get made and who gets to make them. Its part of a cultural reckoning taking place in cities around the globe. Critics of the name-change point to a disputed historical record about Dundas and the lack of broad community consultation underpinning the decision. For some, the focus is on the cost and inconvenience Dundas is home to more than 97,000 residents and 4,500 businesses, 60 with Dundas in the name. The latest estimate for the name change is $8.6 million, a high price to pay, say opponents, as Toronto struggles to maintain its roads, libraries, pools, programs and services. Chanelle Ramsubick, co-owner of Ode, a boutique hostel on Dundas Street West, agrees with the intention behind renaming Dundas but says she cant support the price. In a perfect world, if we could rename the street at minimal cost, I would be 100 per cent behind it, says Ramsubick. But given the proposed cost, instead of spending millions on the renaming, this money would be better spent actually investing in Black businesses and communities. Those who support the name change argue that focusing on cost misses the point and Dundass history is troubling enough. They see renaming as an opportunity to redress the hurt caused by an official tribute to someone complicit in the slave trade and to finally honour those who for too long have been excluded from commemoration, and the process of deciding who to commemorate. Black and Indigenous and racialized people have been inconvenienced for centuries, says Rick Monture, a member of the Mohawk nation, Turtle clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and an associate professor at the McMaster Indigenous Research Institute. The expense, he points out, represents a fraction of the citys annual operating budget, a cost and inconvenience that cannot be compared to the atrocities of the slave trade that Dundas upheld in his lifetime. So this is a small price to pay, really, if thats the way people want to go on this issue, to rename it to spend that money. For Melanie Newton, co-chair of the citys community advisory committee on renaming Dundas, and an associate professor of history at the University of Toronto, the answer is clear. Renaming the street makes a statement about whose lives we actually value, whose ancestors we value. How did it start? Its fair to say that until the summer of 2020, few people in Toronto knew who Dundas Street was named after. A campaign against a prominent statue of Dundas in Edinburgh had been building in Scotland since about 2015, led by a Black professor. That campaign was brought to Toronto in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police. The murder was caught on video and led to worldwide protests against anti-Black racism. Toronto resident and artist Andrew Lochhead was aware of the Dundas controversy in Scotland and started a petition that summer calling on Toronto city council to rename Dundas Street. The petition quickly garnered 14,000 signatures and was presented to city council in June 2020. Everyone had seen the horrific video of George Floyds murder by Minneapolis police, says Lochhead. The Dundas petition offered people a way to be together, to be in solidarity, at a time when being in the streets was not always an option for everyone, given the global health crisis, he says. Renaming Dundas felt and feels like a novel and tangible first step. Its too late to go back to the days when few people knew or cared about who Dundas was named after, Lochhead believes. This is one of the ways that power reproduces itself uncritically forgetting the origins of our place names or the stories behind the monuments we create. Thats the trick of power that it becomes invisible, it becomes normalized, and part of the background of a larger built environment. The protests that summer helped push Toronto Metropolitan University to change its namesake from Egerton Ryerson, who was instrumental in the design of Canadas Indian Residential school system. TMU president Mohamed Lachemi says the renaming has been a success, unifying the university community while aligning it with the institutions long held values and aspirations. For many members of our community, there was a sense of redress and a restored sense of confidence in the responsiveness of our institution to members of our community, says Lachemi, adding that people adapted quickly to the name change. As part of its research into whether to rename Dundas, Toronto city staff reviewed more than 400 other cases, mostly in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Reactions varied widely. In some cases, decisions against renaming were made based on cost or because the identity of the person the asset was named after had largely been forgotten. The review found that statues of Canadas first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, whose government founded the Indian Residential Schools, were toppled or removed in Montreal, Regina, Charlottetown, and Hamilton. Victoria spent $30,000 to remove a Macdonald statue in front of city hall in 2018 as a gesture towards reconciliation. Mississauga council voted unanimously in January 2022 to stop studying whether to rename the Dundas Street in their municipality. The motion, moved by Coun. Carolyn Parrish cited potential costs and disruption, the difficulty in determining the motives of historical figures and lack of public support for the proposal to rename the street. Who was Henry Dundas? Henry Dundas was born into an influential Scottish family in 1742, and became one of the most powerful politicians of his era. A friend and trusted lieutenant to British prime minister William Pitt, Dundas served as home secretary, secretary at war and lord of the admiralty and became the first Viscount Melville. According to city staff, Dundas Street was named in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, who was appointed by Dundas. Simcoe also introduced legislation that year prohibiting the importation of slaves into Upper Canada. Dundas is on the public record speaking against the slave trade. But on an early April day in 1792, he stood in the British House of Commons to encourage fellow members to support a motion to gradually abolish the slave trade, which was then supplying tens of thousands of Africans each year to British Caribbean islands where they were routinely worked to death on sugar plantations. He succeeded. Historians have long been parsing his motives. A foundational source of information behind the citys decision to rename Dundas Street was an academic paper by Stephen Mullen, which appeared in 2021 in the peer-reviewed Scottish Historical Review, called Henry Dundas: A great delayer of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Mullen is a research associate in history at the University of Glasgow. He argued that Dundas added the word gradual to the motion to abolish the slave trade because he wanted to delay abolition as long as possible, to benefit his slave-owning friends and supporters on sugar plantations in British colonies. Mullen also argued that Dundas prevented the passage of another abolition bill in 1796 by requiring Scottish MPs, whom he controlled, to vote against it. Newton, an expert in Caribbean and Atlantic world history, says Mullen is right about the meaning and purpose of Dundass gradual abolition. The idea, she says, was to appease the public while giving slave traders a window of many years to ramp up the trade. The goal was to establish a slave population in the Caribbean large enough to reproduce a new generation of slaves without having to travel to Africa. We hear the term gradual abolition now and think, oh, thats an abolitionist position. It was not. It was the position supported by slave owners and slave traders, says Newton. It doesnt mean that there arent other people involved, says Newton. In his position as minister of war and colonies, (Dundas) really pursued, with a quite incredible degree of single-mindedness, an expansionist, pro-slavery policy in the Americas. Dundas supporters argue that when he added the word gradual to the motion for abolition of the slave trade, he rendered it palatable to a larger number of MPs, thereby securing its success in the House of Commons in 1792. It later died in the House of Lords. Writing in the journal Scottish Affairs, in May 2022, Angela McCarthy, a professor of Scottish and Irish History at the University of Otago, New Zealand, was critical of Mullens research. She argued that Dundas cannot solely be held accountable for the delay there were numerous forces at work that made abolition unlikely, including fear that the ideals and violence of the French Revolution would take root in Britain. McCarthys view is shared by Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chains, Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empires Slaves, a book about the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. I dont think Dundass adding the word gradually or anything else he did had a particularly nefarious impact, because there were two obstacles to abolition, Hochschild says in an interview. He cited a hostile House of Lords and Britains endless war with France in that period. Wars are never good for progressive social movements. As a result of the campaign against Dundas, a new plaque was affixed to the statue in Edinburgh that was erected in his honour after his death. The revised plaque reads in part: Dedicated to the memory of the more than half a million Africans whose enslavement was a consequence of Henry Dundass actions. Sir Thomas Devine, professor emeritus at the University of Edinburgh and a leading expert in Scottish history, empire and slavery, says that laying the failure of the abolition of the British slave trade at the foot of a single person is ahistorical the failure was due to reasons that were layered, nuanced and complex. Essentially, hes been called a mass murderer, says Devine. On a public plaque in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. My single concern is that this is a conflict with historical truth as we know it. Its a national dishonour. Descendants of Henry Dundas believe their ancestor has been unfairly charged. They are agitating to have the plaque in Edinburgh removed. This is not about racism, its about standing up for our family history to be accurately stated, says Jennifer Dundas, a former CBC reporter, retired Alberta Crown prosecutor, and distant Dundas relative, who has spent two years researching the issue and protesting the changes made in Edinburgh and Toronto. To Lochhead, the author of the Toronto petition, the academic argument has become a distraction. Dundas was, at the very least, a committed colonialist and imperialist. The fact that few people in Toronto even knew who Dundas was before the petition doesnt matter, Lochhead says. We know now. I think often history gets used as a distracting tactic in order to make people throw up their hands and say, well, this is complicated, this is just an argument among scholars, why should I care, or why should I pay attention, says Lochhead. I think its very important to note that that is not the point. The point we should be focused on is the harm, that these are continued celebrations of white supremacy. A question of process The city has also faced criticism of the consultation process that underpinned the decision to rename Dundas. The process raised the question of what the right approach should be when consulting on an issue that affects everyone but acutely affects certain minority groups. From the outset, the city indicated it wanted to place Black and Indigenous communities at the centre of the consultations, but as part of a larger plan to reach out widely to experts and the broader public. After receiving advice from QuakeLab, a company with extensive experience working with equity-deserving communities, consultations were held with 25 Black and Indigenous community leaders, representatives from Business Improvement Areas and Black business owners and entrepreneurs across Toronto. QuakeLab founder and CEO Sharon Nyangweso says the citys intention was to run a broad consultation and that the city was very nervous about agreeing to her recommendation to focus the discussion on 25 representatives. I run an equity justice inclusion firm and that is the lens with which we approach our work. Oftentimes that might not make the most sense to folks who are not using that lens, says Nyangweso. When you are talking about equity, justice, inclusion and the course-correction of historical injustices, you cannot go to majority rule because that is what got us into this place in the first place, she adds. If we were to put the question of Should this be done? to the entire population, we would be essentially replicating the very same systems that put us in this moment to begin with. Lochhead supports the decision to centre Black and Indigenous voices. Those opinions ought to weight much more heavily, he says. He points to scholarly research in the U.S. that has established a correlation between monuments to Confederate generals and racially motivated hate crimes. Wesley Crichlow, one of the experts consulted by the city on the renaming issue, agrees with the path the consultations took. He believes colonizers should not be part of the renaming discussion at all. Colonizers make the colonized doubt themselves and it forces you into this place of having to constantly prove yourself to the oppressor. The oppressor, the colonizer, they never have to prove themselves. They are always right: this is what we call plantation politics, says Crichlow, a critical race decoloniality intersectional theorist at the Ontario Tech University. He believes a national decolonizing monuments and renaming committee should be struck to come up with guidelines for the practice. Times are changing Naming civic assets has always been an inherently political process, says Steven High, a professor at Concordia University and president of the Canadian Historical Association. He points to Montreal, where he lives, as an example. After the Quiet Revolution, the government really instituted a process of renaming many, many, streets and parks that were once English place names, to French place names. So I think it does reflect sort of wider debates about whose country this is. In 2019, Montreals Amherst Street was renamed Atateken Street, a Mohawk word meaning brothers and sisters. The stated reason was that Amherst was a British general who advocated using blankets contaminated with smallpox to infect people in Indigenous communities, in an effort to quell rebellions. Amherst also negotiated the capitulation of Montreal and New France in 1760. In some ways I think what were seeing is some belated demographic changes amongst professional historians. Were seeing the first real wave of Indigenous and Black historians into the professoriate. That changes the conversation, says High. A wider diversity leads to new kinds of questions, new kinds of methods. I think were having important conversations. And theyre not easy conversations, but I think they are long overdue. Members of racialized groups do not see themselves reflected in the built environment around them, notes Lauren Beck, an associate professor at Mount Allison University, and author of the recently published Canadas Place Names and How to Change Them. On average, about 85 per cent of places named after people in Canada are named after men, white men in particular. She says both the past and the present have to be considered when naming civic assets, and the impact of names on our neighbours. If you keep Dundas around, does that make the Black population feel disrespected somehow? Does it retraumatize certain members of the Black population? I think these are important questions if we all come from a community where we care about our neighbours. We need to care about everybodys different experience of place names. The current list of proposed new names, chosen by a community advisory committee with strong representation from the citys Black and Indigenous communities, is based on celebrating the stories of Black Torontonians, according to the city. There may be Black people who wont care if Dundas is renamed, Nyangweso, of QuakeLab says, but she believes renaming Dundas will have a profound impact. I do think there is pride in being recognized. We not only exist, but we are here and we are important and we are part of the collective history. SHARE: Registration deadlines are approaching for Toronto voters looking to cast their ballots in the crowded race for the citys next mayor. Eligible voters have until May 26 to register for mail-in voting and update or add their information on the citys voter list ahead of the June 26 mayoral byelection. Applications to vote by mail As an alternative to castingvotes in person at advance polls or on election day, Torontonians can apply to vote by mail to Toronto Elections. Applications for mail-in voting packages opened May 1 and can still be submitted online through the City of Toronto website until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 26. Toronto Elections will begin sending out mail-in voting packages on May 23. Eligible voters will receive a declaration form, an official ballot, a white ballot-secrecy envelope and a yellow return envelope. Voters must sign the declaration form for their votes to be counted. The ballot should be marked with a blue or black pen and placed inside the secrecy envelope. The completed mail-in vote package must be returned to Toronto Elections by noon on Thursday, June 15 for the ballot to be counted. It can either be mailed using Canada Post or deposited into one of the yellow drop boxes available in each of the citys 25 wards from June 1 to 15. If you change your mind and havent returned your mail-in voting package and want to vote in person, you can vote during the advance vote or on election day, Toronto Election says on its website. Voters list information Torontonians can check, add or update their voter information by visiting the MyVote website, or by calling 311, until May 26. Its important to review and confirm your voter information on the voters list is correct, especially if youve moved or changed your name since the last election, said Toronto Elections. Eligible voters can also add themselves to the list during advance polls being held June 8-13, or on election day June 26. For those already registered on the voters list, voter information cards (VIC) will start to be delivered on May 23. The document details when and where each voter can cast their ballot. A VIC can be requested starting June 1 via MyVote or 311. Voting information cards are not required to cast your ballot, but city officials encourage voters to bring them to speed up the voting process at the polls. Next important dates Starting June 1, Torontonians can start looking for information, including accessibility, about their voting location. Those voting in person can cast their ballots in one of 50 locations during advanced polls, or in their assigned voting location on election day. A sample of the ballot will also be made public on June 1. Advance polls are set to open June 8-13 throughout Toronto. Note: This has been updated from an earlier version, which contained incorrect information about advance polls. SHARE: A TTC worker was injured Sunday after being pinned by a subway car that rolled backwards at Greenwood rail yard in the citys east end. Toronto police said the industrial accident happened at around 8:40 a.m. at the yard near Greenwood and Felstead Avenues, in The Danforth neighbourhood. A spokesperson for Toronto fire told the Star that the male transit employee was pinned between the subway car and another object after the train rolled back. The worker was extricated by firefighters and then rushed to a hospital. The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents public transit workers in Toronto, said in a statement that the worker was in stable condition and awaiting test results. Later in the afternoon, TTC shared a tweet saying the employee had been discharged from the hospital. In a statement to the Star, the TTC confirmed the industrial accident at the Greenwood rail yard saying their thoughts are with our employee and their family. The safety of our employees and customers is paramount to all we do at the TTC and were committed to making the TTC as safe as possible, reads the statement. The circumstances surrounding the incident are still unknown. An inspector from the provincial Ministry of Labour has been assigned. Our investigation is ongoing and we cannot comment further at this time, said a spokesperson for the ministry. SHARE: HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) World leaders ratcheted up pressure Sunday on Russia for its war against Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the center of a swirl of diplomacy on the final day of the Group of Seven summit of rich-world democracies. Zelenskyys in-person attendance at one of the worlds premier diplomatic gatherings is meant to galvanize attention on his nations 15-month fight against Russia. Even before he landed Saturday on a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow and hamper its war-fighting abilities. Ukraine is the overwhelming focus of the summit, but the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, are also working to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. Two U.S. allies South Korea and Japan continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japans brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on a host of issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for whats seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyys visit to the G7 summit closely followed the United States agreeing to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, which lays the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today, Zelenskyy tweeted after his arrival. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. It is necessary to improve (Ukraines) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots, Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the worlds largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. While India maintains close ties with the United States and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Summits like the G7 are a chance for leaders to put pressure on one another to align or redouble their diplomatic efforts, according to Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. Zelenskyys presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they cant, he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the G7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor. As a matter of fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the world alignment will also be to suppress a competitor. Look at the decisions that are now being discussed and adopted in Hiroshima, at the G7 summit, and which are aimed at the double containment of Russia and China, he said. The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure. Russias brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, the group said in a statement. Another major focus of the meetings was China, the worlds No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Chinas Foreign Ministry said that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to ... focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, the leaders statement said. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. Weve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward, Sullivan said. Bidens decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putins war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Kishida has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the worlds first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to Chinas investment dollars. __ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi in Hiroshima, Japan, and Joanna Kozlowska in London contributed to this report. Read more about: SHARE: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused the White House of backtracking in talks on raising the U.S. debt limit and said he doesnt expect any progress until President Joe Biden returns to Washington from a Group of Seven summit in Japan. I dont think were going to be able to move forward until the president can get back into the country, McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Saturday. Just from the last day to today theyve moved backwards. They actually want to spend more money than we spend this year. McCarthys comments confirmed a renewed shift in tone to mutual recrimination after the White House suggested earlier Saturday that Republicans were negotiating in bad faith. The clock ticking is ticking with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen having said the U.S. could lose its ability to pay all its bills by June 1. Biden signalled earlier Saturday that he remains confident the U.S. government can avoid a catastrophic default. Spending Cuts Republicans and the White House are battling over spending cuts, which GOP lawmakers demand as the price for raising the federal borrowing limit. We have to spend less than we spend this year, McCarthy said, repeating his bottom-line demand. Lawmakers are stepping up their attacks on each other as talks have stalled despite showing signs of progress earlier in the week. I think that Bernie Sanders and the socialist wing of their party has had real effect on the president, especially with him being out of the country, McCarthy said. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing from Hiroshima, Japan, on Saturday that there were real differences between the two sides. And Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said House Republicans were taking the American economy hostage, and portrayed the GOP caucus as beholden to right-wing members. The debt-limit fight, which could trigger a first-ever U.S. payments default, threatens to inflict pain on the global economy. It has shadowed Bidens overseas trip and the president previously decided to cut his travels short in order to return to Washington for the final stages of negotiation. Earlier: US Debt-Limit Meetings Hold, McCarthy Says Talks Are So-So A Republican walkout of talks Friday in Washington shattered hopes that negotiators were nearing a deal to raise the debt limit, sending stocks plunging. McCarthy had hoped to at least forge an agreement on an outline for a deal this weekend to tee up a House floor vote on legislation next week. The Senate has left Washington for their Memorial Day recess, but senators have been told to be prepared to return on 24-hours notice if needed. Biden will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday, according to White House statement. Hes scheduled to return to Washington late Sunday. -With assistance from Justin Sink and Kailey Leinz. SHARE: CINCINNATI (AP) A new trial has been ordered for a man who spent more than a decade and a half on Ohios death row in the 2006 death of the 3-year-old son of his former live-in girlfriend. Lamont Hunter, 54, was convicted of aggravated murder, child endangering and rape in the death of Trustin Blue, who authorities said was sexually assaulted and died from blunt impact and shaking injuries to his head. Hunter said he was doing laundry in the basement when the boy fell down the stairs and landed on the concrete floor. Prosecutors agreed to a new trial after the deputy coroner who initially ruled the boys death a homicide changed that opinion two years ago after reviewing evidence she hadnt previously been given. She said the cause of death was undetermined and also said injuries she had attributed to sexual assault were accidentally inflicted at the hospital. A hearing Friday on whether Hunter could be freed on bond while awaiting a new trial ended with no decision after prosecutors sought a delay in the proceedings. Prosecutors said the county coroners office is re-reviewing the entire case, including more than 700 pages of records from Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center. Defense attorney Al Gerhardstein told reporters outside the courtroom that such work should have been done 16 years ago. He expressed optimism that his client would be out on bond by the end of the month. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that it was revealed at the hearing that prosecutors have offered Hunter a plea deal that would apparently lead to his release with a sentence of the time he already has spent in prison. SHARE: KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 20:15 | All, World, G7 Leaders from India and seven other nations invited to the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima on Sunday visited the city's peace museum documenting the devastation of the 1945 atomic bombing, two days after a similar tour by the member states. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country possesses nuclear arms, is the first Indian leader to visit Hiroshima, the world's first atomic-bombed city, since India successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 1974. The latest visits to the museum, under the guidance of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, came after the leaders of G-7 countries, including its three nuclear-possessing countries -- the United States, Britain and France -- made their historic first joint visit to the museum on Friday. The other G-7 members are Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan. India, which also conducted nuclear tests in the 1990s, has been increasing its stockpile of nuclear warheads and is estimated by the Federation of American Scientists to possess 164 as of this year. The country is one of just four U.N. members that have not signed the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It also does not participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The other guest leaders who visited the museum were Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and representatives from the International Energy Agency, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank, and World Trade Organization also took part in the visit, it said. They signed the museum's guest book at the end of the visit before they placed bouquets of flowers at a cenotaph dedicated to the atomic bomb victims near the museum in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the ministry said. The visit by the so-called outreach nations comes as Kishida aims to make a "world without nuclear weapons" a key theme of the three-day event. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum conveys the suffering of victims through exhibits including burnt and tattered clothing, charred lunch boxes and human hair that fell out due to radiation exposure. The U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on Aug. 6, 1945 and had killed some 140,000 people in the city as of the end of that year. Amid increased global insecurity, Kishida extended invitations to major nations of the "Global South" including India and Brazil to join the summit. The term collectively refers to emerging and developing countries in areas such as Asia, Africa and Latin America. NEW YORK (AP) New York Mayor Eric Adams has hailed his citys right to shelter as a hallmark of compassion for its most destitute. Now he must decide if he will extend that compassion by bestowing homeless people with the right to sleep outside. The City Council unanimously approved a Homeless Bill of Rights last month that would make New York the first big U.S. city to establish an explicit right to sleep in at least some public places. If Adams, a Democrat, allows the measure to become law, it could be a notable departure for the city, which has for years sent police and sanitation crews to clear homeless encampments as they arise. It also would run against the prevailing political headwinds in other places that have struggled with large numbers of people living in tents and other makeshift shelters. The Los Angeles City Council passed a broad anti-camping measure two years ago. Then last year, the city outlawed tents within 500 feet (150 meters) of schools and day cares and banned sitting, lying, sleeping or storing personal property that would disrupt the flow of traffic on sidewalks, streets and bike lanes. The changes were billed as a compassionate way to get homeless people off the streets and restore access to public spaces for other people. Sonja Verdugo, an organizer with the Los Angeles advocacy group Ground Game LA, called the measure inhumane. Basically, you cant rest anywhere outdoors if youre unhoused, she said. Earlier this year, a Right to Rest proposal in Oregon died quietly after its sponsor could not muster support. It would have granted the right to use public spaces without discrimination and time limitations that are based on housing status. Attempts to establish a similar Homeless Bill of Rights in California, including a right to sleep outdoors without fear of being confronted by police, also have faltered. Some hope Los Angeles newly elected Mayor Karen Bass will make good on a campaign promise to move people out of tents and cardboard shanties and into permanent housing. Bass vowed to eliminate encampments lining entire blocks and have made the citys notorious Skid Row the embodiment of the countrys homeless crisis. Bass also promised to house 15,000 people by the end of her first year in office. The number comprises more than a third of the estimated 42,000 Los Angelenos without permanent shelter. The increasing visibility of homeless camps has fueled public frustration and prompted politicians, including some moderate Democrats, to push to reduce their prevalence to the chagrin of some advocates for homeless people. More and more, its simply illegal to be homeless all across the country in Republican and Democratic cities, said Mark Horvath, CEO of Los Angeles-based nonprofit Invisible People. But its not like we can arrest our way out of this crisis. Aside from establishing the right to sleep outdoors, the Homeless Bill of Rights passed in New York would also codify the citys longstanding right to shelter, the only one of its kind among the countrys biggest cities. Among the nine rights in the measure are safeguards against being forced into facilities that dont correspond to a persons gender identity. It also gives people the right to apply for rental assistance and requires parents staying in shelters be given diapers for their babies. This is a sensible and compassionate policy response to unprecedented homelessness, said Taysha Milagros Clark, a policy and data analyst for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City. The bill of rights really encompasses an understanding that homeless people do have rights. They havent violated any laws or anything of the sort just by virtue of their homeless status, she said. It is a stark departure from what this administration has done. Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for Adams, said the mayor was still evaluating the measure. Since Day One of this administration, Mayor Adams has been focused on helping New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and connecting them with a clean, safe place to rest their heads at night, Levy said. The mayors subway safety program has resulted in more than 4,600 New Yorkers experiencing homelessness being connected to the help and shelter they need to stabilize their lives, Levy said. It is uncertain how the proposed right to sleep outdoors might work in practice. New York City has rules limiting the ability to set up a campsite. Most city parks close at 1 a.m. Privately owned spaces are off limits. Sidewalks and roads are required to be free of obstructions. People are forbidden from lying down on benches or seats on the citys subway trains, though enforcement is lax. New York City is required by law to guarantee space in its huge shelter system to anyone who needs it, but the system has been bursting partly due to an influx of migrants, many of whom crossed into the U.S. along the southern border. Nearly 81,000 people were housed in the shelter system in the past week. City officials scrambled to find more space, including renting out entire hotels for families without permanent housing. Some people choose to live on the streets because they find the citys shelters dangerous or too crowded, dont like their rules or curfews, or have trouble being around other people. Jumaane Williams, New York Citys elected public advocate and a sponsor of the homeless rights measure now before Adams, said he would like the city to focus less on preventing encampments and more on addressing what he says are the roots of the crisis: rising housing costs, joblessness, racism, addiction and mental illness. I think were in dire situations for things that have been decades in the making, Williams said. The concept of a bill of rights for homeless people dates back more than a decade. In 2012, Rhode Island was the first state to adopt one, soon followed by Connecticut and Illinois. So far none of them have explicitly protected the right of a person to be able to sleep outside, said Eric Tars, the legal director of the National Homelessness Law Center. Five years ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the city of Boise, Idaho, could not stop people from sleeping outside if there was nowhere else for them to sleep. Doing so, the court suggested, would criminalize homeless people. The right to sleep outside only exists, the court ruled, if there is no shelter space available. ___ Weber reported from Los Angeles. SHARE: I would never hire someone who stutters to be in a sales role. It doesnt get more transparent than that. The hiring manager casually uttered these words to me after telling me I see here on your resume that you have a speech disability in the middle of a job interview. There was no denying that this was workplace discrimination, as much as it shocked me. Of course, Ive heard about stories of workplace discrimination, but this was the first time Ive ever experienced it first-hand, as a result of my speech disability. As the hiring manager noted, I have a speech disability I stutter. My stuttering usually takes the form of repetitions or prolongations. My name is S-S-S-S-Samuel or Hhhhhello, hhhhow are you? For people with disabilities, facing discrimination during the recruitment process is not uncommon. Last year, the Future Skills Centre found that one in four Canadians with disabilities have experienced workplace discrimination at some point during their career. So, the silver lining was that I wasnt alone in my dreadful experience. My sit-down with the discriminatory hiring manager was back in 2015. I was unemployed at the time. I was open about my disability, but I was struggling to find full-time work in marketing and communications. I applied for what I thought was a marketing job, found through Craigslist, at the aforementioned consulting firm. I know people say not to apply for work through Craigslist, but I figured Id give it a shot. I ended up getting an interview one foot in the door. The day of the interview, a man who appeared to be the CEO emerged and asked me to enter his office. He asked me to have a seat and proceeded to take out my resume and read through it, as if he was looking at it for the first time. Total silence. Then, he took out a red pen reminiscent of my Grade 8 teacher grading my latest paper and crossed out sections of my resume with a big red X, as if I failed the assignment. Finally, he looked up at me and acknowledged my existence. So I see that a lot of your experience is in marketing, he said. You know this is a sales position, right? I was surprised at this, as the posting had clearly advised the opportunity as a marketing job No, I didnt know that because this job was advertised as a marketing job, I told him. He confirmed to me that it was indeed a sales position and then came the kicker. I would never hire someone who stutters to be in a sales role. He knew that I stuttered because I had listed on my resume my involvement in the Canadian Stuttering Association (CSA), the countrys leading organization that advocates for people who stutter. The employer tried to defend his point that he wouldnt hire someone with a speech disability claiming that in order to be effective in sales, you need to have solid communication skills. I guess, for him, having a speech disability means not having adequate communication skills. He then tried to prove his point by asking me why I wasnt able thus far in my career to get a job in sales. I sarcastically told him, Same reason why I dont have a job in marine biology. Im not in sales. I crudely reminded him that this was supposed to be a marketing job, before I thanked him for his time and promptly left the office. At this point, my surprise at the situation had turned to anger. I felt angry that I had been discriminated against simply because of the way that I talk. I considered going to the human rights tribunal, but I didnt think it was worth it since I wasnt even interested in this non-marketing job anyways. As I commuted home from the interview by TTC, I started to reflect more on the incident. I felt my anger starting to dissipate as I processed what had just happened. If anything, the incident acted as a filter because I wouldnt want to work at a place like that anyways. Then, something happened. My feelings of shock over the incident, which had turned to anger, have now turned into gratitude. Yes, I felt grateful about being discriminated against. The whole experience taught me the realities of discrimination and the need to advocate for myself. At the time, I regretted how I handled the interaction. I could have spoken up about stuttering and challenged his thoughts about people with speech disabilities being poor communicators. I could have advocated for myself. While I didnt advocate for myself in that moment, I do now. In fact, I speak up about my stuttering and my needs in nearly every job interview and at every workplace. And, I owed my new-found sense of self-advocacy to my interaction with the discriminating CEO. Im not saying experiencing discrimination is a good thing. Its dehumanizing; but it exists. And after facing it myself, Ive realized that we can use these situations as opportunities to learn and to grow. The CSA notes that one in four Canadians stutter. And thats just stuttering, one of many disabilities. Despite the prevalence of disability in Canadian workplaces and the legal requirement to accommodate employees with disabilities many employers still dont provide reasonable accommodations to those who need them, according to the Canadian Survey on Disability. The data also shows that the more workplace accommodations are needed by an employee, the less likely it becomes that their needs will be met. With ableism still running amok in society and across workplaces, employers need to know about the realities of living with a disability and, more importantly, the barriers that come with it. And, as folks living with disability, we must be able to advocate for ourselves. And sometimes, we learn this the hard way. Samuel Dunsiger is a freelance writer, educator and disability/accessibility advocate who uses his writing to normalize living with disability. You can follow him on Twitter at @samdunsiger. SHARE: Over the last few decades, every major study regarding gender identity has shown that gender-affirming care has significant therapeutic benefits. Medical associations listened and updated their guidelines accordingly. However, I have watched in horror as, over the past few years, science has taken the back burner; for many, ideology trumps fact. In Missouri, attorney general Andrew Bailey issued an emergency order, effectively banning gender-affirming health care for all people needing it adults included. Out in Florida, lawmakers are attempting to remove child custody over parents listening to the science. Many trans people and their families alike have resorted to fleeing their homes, in the face of state-sanctioned anti-trans policies. Countless advocates have pleaded to state legislatures, but to no avail: instead of listening, theyve been censoring the very politicians challenging their ideology. Free speech for me, not for thee. Attacks against gender variance aren't new. Almost exactly 90 years ago to the day, the Institut fur Sexualwissenschaft the worlds first modern sexology institute, pioneering trans health care was burned by the Nazis. Knowledge and lives were lost, but trans, non-binary and Two-Spirit people didnt stop existing: we went into hiding. Were not safe here in Canada either. Recently, Quebec Conservative Party leader Eric Duhaime introduced an anti-drag petition, garnering over 40,000 signatures. Protests against gender nonconformity at large have exploded across the country these last twelve months; drag defence, similarly to abortion clinic defence, has become an unfortunate necessity. School boards are facing backlash for being inclusive, and law societies are being brigaded by actors fighting against so-called gender ideology. Friends are writing to me stating that theyre feeling unsafe. Its a dark sign of whats to come. So, why arent we doing more to counter this tsunami of hate? Were currently at an inflection point either Canada can become a safe haven where gender diversity is accepted, or trans people will no longer have anywhere else on the planet to flee. To avoid past mistakes, we need to start taking proactive action. Our statutes and courtrooms need to become shields against the dismantling of our civil liberties. Our governments need to create concrete action plans seawalls to stop hate from being imported here. The onslaught against trans people worldwide will soon bring over its number of refugees. I believe it is our moral duty to welcome those fleeing from abroad. Weve been, for a long time, recognized as a leader for 2SLGBTQ+ rights: its time for us to reinforce said commitment and transform perception into reality. Its in times of crisis that leadership truly shines. With the current attacks against gender variance in the U.S., U.K., Uganda and elsewhere, we have a unique opportunity to set ourselves apart, for the better. Do we double down on our constitutional, Charter principles including the protection of minorities and the right to equality or do we abandon them for good, sitting on a maple-gilded ivory tower? The choice is ours. Celeste Trianon is a trans activist, jurist, legal clinic operator and public speaker. SHARE: The months of April and May have brought home with tragic results the shift in focus of Islamist terror groups based in Pakistan from the Kashmir Valley to the Jammu region, specifically the areas of Poonch-Rajouri. On 20 April, five Indian Army jawans were killed as their truck was set ablaze and the attackers opened fire on them in the Jammu region. A proxy group of the Jaish-eMohammed claimed responsibility for the attack. On 5 May, terrorists detonated an IED during an encounter in a forested area of Rajouri in which another five soldiers were martyred. Media reports said two Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliated terror groups have been operating in the area for the past couple of years and the suspicion is they were behind the attack. In both cases, the fact that the terrorists managed to circumvent the Army and Border Security Force deployed along the Line-of-Control and International Border and infiltrate into India is a cause of concern. It also underlines the need for local policing to be strengthened and improved as it is near-impossible logistically for the Army and paramilitary forces to ensure complete coverage of the porous border areas over rough terrain; there will always be a few who get through. Security forces are especially vigilant in the near term given that India is set to host a G20 tourism summit in Srinagar from 22 May to 24 May. Looking at the medium to long term, a news portal reports the Centre has sanctioned the creation of more than 600 positions in the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP). The approval is for 607 positions in 42 new border police posts in the Union Territory, which will result in the hiring of an additional 39 sub-inspectors, 50 assistant sub-inspectors, 88 head constables, and 430 constables for the new posts. This is a welcome move to strengthen the second tier of the counter-infiltration grid in the region. But what we do not need is more of the same. Which is to say, the personnel to be recruited and those already serving in the local police need to be trained and retrained to negotiate the asymmetric nature of Pakistans proxy war. To do so, however, would need a near-complete overhaul of the training system currently in place. An emphasis on intelligence gathering, thorough background vetting before induction, and access to the latest tech-enabled weaponry are among the recommendations of security experts. But over and above these efforts, which need to be brought to fruition in a time bound banner, a strategy of imposing costs on the terror tanzeems and their sponsors across the border will have to be adopted to make them cease and desist. And that requires seamless coordination between the first tier of security at the border and the second tier in the hinterland. Once the G20 show ends, the government would do well to address these needs. They are of vital importance. As the USA and China face off in the 21st century clash of civilizations, we need to delve back into history to see whether there are parallels we can learn from. I have previously pointed out how the Thucydides Trap, first described by Greek historian Thucydides on the Peloponnese War between Athens and Sparta and more recently identified by Harvard Professor Graham Allison may not be the most appropriate analogy for the modern age. A more interesting historical clash of great powers would have been Rome versus Qin China around 200 BC to 200 AD. But that never happened. In comparative terms, the Roman empire had an estimated 50 to 90 million people, roughly 20 per cent of the worlds population, covering an area of 5 million square kilometres, compared with the larger Han Empire of roughly 60 million people covering an area of 6.5 million kilometres. Rome was both a land and maritime power, whereas Han China was essentially land-based. The two empires never clashed, because they were separated by vast geographical distance. The only recorded link between the two empires were Roman emissaries sent to the Han Court, during the reign of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antonius (161-180 AD). The more telling clash of empires was between Rome and Carthage during the three Punic Wars (264146 BC). Carthage was essentially an older (beginning 8th century BC) Phoenician maritime power that controlled trade in the Mediterranean Sea, backed up by rich fertile lands in Northern Africa. Rome was the rising power expanding outward at the time of the first Punic wars. Carthage was more interested in pushing trade and guarding its trading monopoly in the Western Mediterranean, whereas Rome was more interested in expansion through conquests. The first Punic War (264-241 BC) began with Carthage being the dominant naval power, with Rome basically a strong land-based army. Before 264 BC, Rome and Carthage had good commercial ties and friendly relations, but one could imagine that Carthage probably ran trade surpluses with Rome since she controlled the Mediterranean trade. Rome could not afford to run large debts to Carthage. The Carthaginian ruling oligarchys attitude towards conflict was split between the trading faction and the landed faction, with the latter loath to supply manpower and funding for war. Hence, Carthage relied more on mercenaries, and less on her own citizens to conduct war. Rome, on the other hand, had mostly citizensoldiers whose fortunes depended on victory and conquest. Consequently, once Carthage began to lose her naval superiority, there was a period of attrition in which both sides fought indecisively with ruinous finance to both. In 241 BC, Rome won decisively the naval battle of Aegates, conquering Sicily, and Carthage sued for peace, paying terrible reparations. After its loss, Carthage had to fight off a mercenary rebellion (241- 238 BC) against discontented unpaid mercenaries, joined by a rebellion of Africans in Carthages oppressed territories. To defend the empire, the Carthaginian general Hamilcar consolidated control over the Iberian peninsula (today Spain and Portugal), raising an army eventually to launch the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) by his son, Hannibal, who took the war to the Italian peninsula by marching through the Alps and fighting on Roman territory. After initial losses, the Romans regrouped and once the Numidians rebelled against Carthage in 213 BC, the Roman general Scipio landed in Africa in 204 BC and with his Numidian allies, marched on Carthage. Hannibal was recalled from Italy but was soundly defeated in the famous battle of Zama (202 BC). After suing for peace, Carthage was stripped of all its territories and had to pay ruinous reparations. In the interregnum, the Numidians ate at Carthaginian power, with Carthage being finally totally destroyed in the Third Punic War (149- 146 BC). Carthaginians were sold to slavery and the whole region was incorporated as a Roman province, becoming effectively Romes breadbasket providing more than half a million tonnes of grain to Italy every year (Morris, 2011). When the Germanic Vandals conquered Carthage in 439 AD, it was the end of the Western Rome empire. The Punic wars basically demonstrated that ultimately political will, military technology and discipline, plus economic power over food, energy and minerals mattered in great power rivalry. Great Power conflicts have their origins in national, sectoral and personal (all human) interests, but historically, they occurred without caring about the natural environment. Roman deforestation of Western Europe, as well as the Spanish conquest of Latin Americas all had serious climatic consequences that only became apparent later. Historian Geoffrey Parker (Global Crisis, 2013) documented how the mini-Ice Age in the mid-17th century saw revolutions and the collapse of Ming China (1644 AD), the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth and the Spanish Monarchy, with rebellions in the Ottoman, Russian and Mughal empires, Sweden, Denmark and Holland. That mini-Ice age came about because the devastation of the native American population in the 16th century caused a reforestation that cooled global temperatures, with famines across different parts of the world. We are thus witnessing the confluence of climate change, technology, demographics, growing social inequality, and geopolitical rivalry all converging into a planetary state of disorder, in which no single nation is powerful enough to restore order. Most of us are disorientated by an age of misinformation and disinformation, where societies and communities are polarized by narratives which push towards extreme fundamentalist positions. There is no centrist coalition strong enough to restore a balanced view of moderation and tolerance. Balance has been lost because populists and elites alike profit from imbalance. The Punic wars showed that more often than not, human beings fight over short-term interests rather than working hard towards building long-term peace. All too often, wars that appear glorious ended up with long, ruinous trauma on both humans and the planet. It is easier to shout for war, than to work hard for peace. For those who care about our future generations, give peace a chance. (The writer, a former central banker, is a distinguished fellow at the Fung Global Institute.) Special to ANN Outside the formal academia there remained a vast number of Indians who held the ancient texts to be sacrosanct and whatever was mentioned there as fully historical. In fact the criticism of the British and the Westernized Indians only made them more determined to uphold their views. They fully believed that Vedic-Puranic India was an enchanting land of noble spiritualism, grandeur and social harmony. They wanted to place this mythical age in the most remote antiquity possible. Lokmanya Tilak claimed that the Rig Veda was composed in 6000 BC or even earlier. Traditional pundits like Haridas Siddhantabagish calculated, mostly on astronomical grounds, that the Bharata War took place in 3102 BC. Antiquarians like Ganganath Jha and D S Triveda went a step further and said that the Vedic Aryans were original inhabitants of this land. Their chief logic was that Rig Veda does not preserve the memory of a foreign homeland of the Aryans. Possibly by claiming the Aryans to be Indians they wanted to place their countrymen on an equal footing with their European masters. Tagore ridiculed this Aryan obsession in his poems. This set off a reaction in South India where some scholars claimed that there was a Dravida age in Indian history, older and more glorious than the Aryan one. Supposed evidences of this era were found in the descriptions of the powerful Asuras and Rakshasas in Vedic tales and that of Swarna or golden Lanka of Ravana in Ramayana. Such tendency of historicizing originally ahistorical literature increased with the founding of the Arya Samaj and later the Hindu Mahasabha and the Urdu Nagri controversy. The situation got further complicated after Indias Independence. The Nehruvian government wanted to teach the countrymen history that would inculcate secular and socially progressive values. In this scenario, the left-liberal group of historians got official patronage. In 1961 the NCERT was established to promote high standard school education. The history text books commissioned by it were to offer secular and rational explanations of the past instead of unnecessary glorification of the bygone age. As a part of this enterprise, Romila Thapars Ancient India was published (1966). More texts in the same vein by RS Sharma, Satish Chandra, Bipan Chandra and Arjun Dev followed. These authors said that the ancient age in India was certainly important but it had its own shortcomings. Besides, on archaeological grounds, they completely rejected the claims of hoary antiquity and historicity for the events described in the epics and the Puranas. The social structure of the Gupta Empire, the supposed golden age of ancient India, was also criticized. Naturally, this ruffled the feathers of the conservative Hindutva elements. However, they did not enjoy administrative power and could not influence academic policy. The scene changed to some extent in 1977 when Congress was ousted from power for the first time. The new Janata government included significant conservative Hindutva elements. Soon the Central government announced its displeasure with the above mentioned text books which were not sufficiently appreciative of the unique tenor of Hindu civilization. This charge of failure to appreciate the age old indigenous heritage while blindly following the dictates of TB Macaulay and Marxism would be repeatedly leveled against the Left-liberal scholars as the orthodox forces gained political ascendancy. However, this complaint deserves careful scrutiny. In the meanwhile, many antiquarians, pamphleteers and amateurs combined to uphold the historicity of the epics and the unquestioned glory of the era of Vikramaditya i.e. the Gupta age. Under P N Oak and S P Gupta these fringe practitioners of history and archaeology organized themselves in an Institute for Rewriting History in the 1970s. The surprising point to note was the popular support enjoyed by this alternative view of history, especially in Northern and Western India. One is startled to see the fervour with which Hindu Nababarsha or the first day of the Vikrama Samvat, an era supposedly founded by the classical Hindu hero Vikramaditya in 57 BC, is celebrated by Northern and Western Indian communities, even in Kolkata. The Bengalis are not to be left behind. With equal enthusiasm a group of Bengalis recently celebrated the anniversary of the foundation of the Bangabda or the Bengali era on first day of the Baisakh month by Sasanka, the first important king of Bengal. But this claim of Sasankas founding of the Bengali era is not supported by any reliable literary or archaeological evidence. This is a classic case of invented traditions. Emboldened by this public approval, the more conservative central and state governments, from the 1990s, have repeatedly sought to control the contents of NCERT textbooks. They were bolstered by the new generation of NRIs, mostly corporate techies, especially of the USA and the UK, who were becoming increasingly influential since the dawn of the current millennium. In alien lands, they try to foster a monolithic Indian-Hindu identity. They love to think of the ancient India portrayed in the Amar Chitra Katha comic book series and the Ramayana and the Mahabharata TV serials aired on Doordarshan, which sought to perpetuate the myth of a fantastic colourful past, as the real one. They practice some selected customs and rituals, largely regressive, and proclaim them to be the essence of true Hinduism. Their sentiments are aptly summed up in the scene of Rani Mukherjee singing Om Jaya Jagdisha Hare in the blockbluster movie Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai. (1998) Thus we face a testing situation where several competing narratives of history are before us. While making our choice, it would not be irrelevant to remember another anecdote from Dr RC Majumdars life. He was the Chief Editor of the multi-volume History and Culture of the Indian People published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The founder of the Bhavan, the noted social figure KM Munshi, reportedly requested Dr Majumdar to record in the first volume of the series that the Vedic Aryans were original residents of India. Dr Majumdar flatly refused as most of the internationally accepted evidence pointed to the arrival of the Aryans in India from outside and the Harappan civilization being older and fundamentally different from the Vedic one. Ultimately Majumdars view was included in the volume. He believed in the glory of ancient India but for him his faith in the truth and truth alone was even more important. (The writer is Assistant Professor in History, Vidyasagar College for Women, Kolkata and a former Faculty member, Presidency University) Trinamul Congress MLA and former chairman of the rogi kalyan samiti (RKS) urged people to boycott SSKM Hospital after a patient, close to him, was denied admission to the heal hub on Saturday night, virtually exposing the state of government healthcare. He also threatened to quit if the party leadership takes action against him for making strong statements against healthcare services at SSKM Hospital to the media. Senior doctors associated with the SSKM Hospital as well as Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGME&R) felt the way Mr Mitra has launched his crusade against the hospital, is an unheard-of event, landing the party in an embarrassing situation. Madans statements to the reporters expressing his grievances prompted the SSKM hospital authorities to call a press conference on Saturday afternoon. We wont allow any kind of hooliganism inside the hospital. The chief minister also stands beside us in this regard. Our doctors and healthcare staff have been heckled by the patient party, Dr Monimoy Bandyopadhyay, directorcum-principal of SSKM Hospital, told reporters without taking the name of Mr Mitra. The incident that happened in our hospital was unwanted and I have briefed the chief minister everything about it. Doctors, nurses and health workers were intentionally abused and harassed by the patient party. She has asked us to take a zero tolerance stand on the matter, Dr Bandyopadhyay said. Trouble started around 1 am on Saturday when Subhadeep Pal, a road accident victim, was taken to the hospital but he was allegedly denied admission. He was then taken to a private hospital. The Trinamul Congress Kamarhati MLA rushed to the SSKM Hospital and tried to get the patient admitted to the trauma care centre. He reportedly called up Dr Bandyopadhay and Dr PK Roy, SSKM superintendent seeking their intervention. But no one was available during that time. The patient was lying unattended for more than six hours without any medical attention. An aggrieved Mr Mitra then called up the minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya. Hospital authorities could not receive my calls despite repeated attempts. Chandrima Bhattacharya could not also contact the authorities. Arup Biswas, chairman of the SSKM RKS, had also tried but one assistant super of the hospital informed him that the patient was attended by a doctor. But there was no scope to get the patient admitted to the hospital during that time, he told reporters. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 22:07 | All, World, Japan, G7 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday became the first leaders of the two Asian neighbors to jointly visit a cenotaph dedicated to Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Kishida, Yoon and their wives walked up to the cenotaph located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park together and placed flowers in front of it. "I feel that (the cenotaph visit) was very meaningful for bilateral ties and also in praying for world peace," Kishida said at the outset of a summit that followed the visit. Yoon said the joint offering of condolences to Korean atomic bomb victims "will be remembered as a brave action from the prime minister to prepare a peaceful future together." In the talks, the two leaders agreed on the need to strengthen their cooperation on global issues, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Kishida and Yoon also pledged to continue close trilateral collaboration also involving their common security ally the United States in dealing with North Korea's missile and nuclear development programs, the ministry said. Noting the bilateral summit is the third in two months, Kishida said it is "obvious proof of progress in the Japan-South Korea relationship." Yoon also referred to Kishida's statement made after their previous summit in Seoul earlier this month that his heart "aches" over a wartime labor issue between the two nations, saying the remarks "had touched the hearts of South Koreans." The two leaders agreed on the joint visit to the memorial during their meeting in Seoul, in another sign of improved bilateral ties. Yoon made the trip to the western Japanese city to join the three-day Group of Seven summit from Friday, attending its "outreach" sessions from Saturday along with leaders from other invited countries such as India, Brazil and Australia. Since South Korea announced a government-backed fund to compensate former wartime laborers who had sued Japanese companies, Seoul and Tokyo have been actively improving their ties, including through the resumption of reciprocal visits by their leaders. Some South Korean survivors of the atomic bombing living in Japan were deeply moved by the flower-offering at the cenotaph more than 77 years after the devastation and voiced hopes for a world without nuclear weapons. "I'm speechless except to say I was moved," Park Nam Joo, 90, said at a press conference afterward, adding that she feels "happy to live long." Kwon Joo Noh, a 73-year-old second-generation survivor, said he felt the event was "a first step toward a world without nuclear weapons." Meanwhile, Shim Jin Tae, 80, an atomic bombing survivor who visited Hiroshima from South Korea this weekend, showed disappointment upon hearing that only victims living in Japan were given a chance to be present at Yoon and Kishida's visit to the cenotaph. "As victims, we do welcome the first-ever visit by leaders of the two nations," but "it could have been even better" if the survivors in South Korea were there, Shim said. Yoon met with Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima on Friday, the first sitting South Korean president to do so, and vowed support for them. Many Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies were killed in the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. It is estimated that around 70,000 people from the Korean Peninsula were exposed to the blasts and 40,000 died, but an official investigation has not been conducted. The cenotaph for the Korean victims was originally built in 1970 outside the park, separate from the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and a museum documenting the atomic bombing devastation in the park. But it was moved to the park in 1999 after facing criticism that it represented discriminatory treatment. The Japanese government began paying compensation in 2003 to overseas victims. In South Korea, a law to support atomic bomb victims was only enacted in 2016. While atomic bomb victims in South Korea welcomed the decision regarding the joint visit, believing it will lead to reconciliation between the countries, they also expressed hope for an apology by Japan for its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. "I think it means reconciliation (for Japan and South Korea). We appreciate the fact that they understand even a little bit of our pain," said Jeong Won Sul, chairman of the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association. About 10 members of the association traveled to Hiroshima hoping to meet with Yoon but were unable to do so. The Ramakrishna Mission schools in the state have done well in the Madhyamik results, declared on Friday. In encouraging news, 13 of the students from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir, Malda, secured places in the merit list of the Madhyamik exams. Of the 108 students, who appeared for the Madhyamik Pariksha, 2023 from the school, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir, Malda, all of them passed in first division (60 per cent) while 103 obtained star marks (75 per cent), informed Swami Tyagarupanandaji, secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Malda. Apart from Malda, other RKM schools shining bright are Purulia with six students, 12 from Narendrapur, two from Taki and one from Kamarpukur, figured in the merit list. The Malda school is 79 years old. It has a long tradition and a well-known school in the district and continues with the tradition of the mission as the headmaster is a member of RKM. The secretary maharaj of Malda mission ashram said that the school, post-Corona, took care that the classes are regular and the students attend classes. The Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir school conducts three exams first term, second term and test for Class X in a calendar year. Additionally, we took two more exams for the Madhyamik preparations with the question pattern similar to the Madhyamik exam. Also, the present batch of students is very sincere. Of the 13 students, 10 have been with us since primary level, said Swami Tyagarupanandaji. Another remarkable feature is that out of 13, seven of the schools students are from minority community, which the secretary maharaj considers an achievement. Malda has a big population of minority community and it finds a reflection in the mix of students. This is following the principles of Sri Ramkrishnas teachings of joto mot, toto poth (various opinions and many ways to reach god). It is a composite culture, he added. This batch of students also participated in the celebrations during the 75 years of Independence, which coincided with the 125 years of RKM, helping the students get a pan-India outlook and contributing to the overall development of the students, informed the secretary maharaj. The school expects to also fare well in the Higher Secondary exams, results of which are due next week. As the insolvency issue of SpiceJet heats up, prior red-flagging to the company by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had pointed out long awaited trouble for the aviation giant. Last year itself the DGCA had warned the airline after noticing various anomalies regarding its service. Financial assessment carried out by DGCA revealed SpiceJet is operating on cash and carry and suppliers/approved vendors are not being paid on regular basis leading to the shortage of spares and frequent invoking of minimum equipment list (MEL) it was deduced SpiceJet failed to establish a safe, efficient and reliable air transport service, as per a 2022 order. The aviation watchdog had also put some restrictions on the airline. In view of findings of various spot checks, inspections and the reply to the show cause notice for continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service, the number of departures of SpiceJet are hereby restricted to 50% of the number of departures approved under summer schedule of eight weeks from (July 27, 2022). Any increase in the number of departures beyond 50% of the number of departures approved under summer schedule 2022, during this period, shall be subject to the airline demonstrating to the satisfaction of DGCA that it has sufficient technical support and financial resource to safely and efficiently undertake such enhanced capacity, the order issued by DGCA joint DG Maneesh Kumar had said. In the nine-month period ending on December 31, 2022, the company recorded a significant loss of Rs 1,514 crore. As of December 31, its net worth stood at a negative Rs 5,801 crore. However, the low cost airline has categorically stated that it has no plans whatsoever to file for insolvency. We want to scotch any speculation that may have arisen due to the filing by another airline. The airline is firmly focussed on its business and remains in active talks with investors to raise funds, the airline said. SpiceJet is facing bankruptcy proceedings as Ireland-based aircraft lessor Aircastle Ltd has moved the principal bench of the NCLT to launch a bankruptcy process against the airline. Amid insolvency, it has also announced that the airline has also initiated the process of reviving its grounded fleet with the $50 million received by the airline from the governments Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) and internal cash accruals. According to SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director, Ajay Singh, there is absolutely no question of filing for insolvency. Any rumour regarding the same is completely baseless. We are focused firmly on reviving our grounded fleet and getting more and more planes back into the air. Work on this front has already begun and the company is using the $50 million ECLGS funds and our own cash, he said. We have a great relationship with all our partners. Our lessors have supported us through the thick and thin and continue to do so and we are grateful for their support and confidence. SpiceJet had earlier announced plans to revive 25 grounded aircraft that will help it capitalise and make the most of the upcoming peak travel season. Agreeing to hear the lessors plea, a two-member bench of the NCLT issued a notice to the airline. The bench, headed by NCLT president Ramalingam Sudhakar, directed SpiceJet to attend the hearing on the next date. Claiming default in dues payment, Aircastle has sought initiation of corporate insolvency proceedings against SpiceJet. A spokesperson for SpiceJet had commented that the notice was issued routinely in connection with the Aircastle matter. In the Aircastle issue, notice was issued in normal course. There was no adverse ruling against SpiceJet. The court has recognised the fact that parties are under settlement discussions and they can continue to pursue the same, the spokesperson had said. SpiceJets financial challenges have gained significant attention, with the companys auditor repeatedly expressing concerns regarding its ability to sustain operations due to substantial liabilities. Within the domestic market, SpiceJet currently holds a 6.9 per cent share, indicating its position among other airlines. Maison De Bose Fashion Week, curated by renowned designer and professor Santanu Bose of the National School of Drama, took the fashion world by storm from May 17th to May 20th, 2023. Held at the prestigious ALLIANCE FRANCAISE, French Centre on Lodi Road, New Delhi, this grand event showcased Indias top designers and models, presenting their latest breathtaking creations on the runway. Veronique Dieu, the French Ambassador for India for the Arts, Luxury, and Gastronomy, graced the occasion with her presence. The illustrious ethnic wear designer, Reena Naulakha, founder of the esteemed GUL brand, stole the limelight with her exquisite designer sarees. Draped gracefully on the beautiful models who graced the ramp, these sarees were a captivating blend of traditional Indian artistry and contemporary aesthetics. Both Veronique Dieu and Santanu Bose were effusive in their appreciation of Reena Naulakhas creations, praising her for her dedication to preserving the ethnic art and rich culture of India through her vibrant colours and exquisite fabric choices. The event was a huge success and was widely praised by the fashion industry and the public alike. Leaders of the Pashchim Banga Cha Majur Samiti (PBCMS) have termed the writ petition filed by planters against the state governments decision to hike wages of tea workers as a gift for trade unions as well as workers. According to state committee member of the PBCMS Anuradha Talwar, the case filed by the planters was a gift as they could now demand Minimum Wages. We think this is an opportunity to demand implementation of the Minimum Wages Act. The workers are in an advantage position if the state fights properly to demand Minimum Wages legally, Ms Talwar said. Notably, a group of planters belonging to the Indian Tea Association have filed a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court, challenging the state governments decision to hike the wages for tea workers from Rs 232 to Rs 250 a day on an interim basis. Reacting to the petition, state labour minister Moloy Ghatak had told this correspondent that they would demand minimum wages for tea workers. We have been demanding Minimum Wages for workers since the past many days. Though the Minimum Wages Advisory Committee held a series of meetings, the outcome was zero. We also noticed that there was an understanding between the state and planters so that the implementation of Minimum Wages is delayed. We have become tired fighting for the demand, Ms Talwar said. Sources said a group of activists are keeping a tab on the developments and they plan to intervene so that tea workers finally get justice in their demand for Minimum Wages. It is a good opportunity to implement Minimum Wages Act in tea plantations when the Calcutta High Court would consider it legally, a source said. Official sources said planters have managed a stay order till 12 June 2023 so that the state cannot ask planters to pay Rs 250 a day from 1 June 2023. The 3rd meeting of the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) under the India G20 Presidency commenced on Sunday with a beach clean-up drive at Juhu beach in Maharashtras Mumbai. Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Union Minister Ashwini Choubey along with G20 delegates took part in a beach cleanup campaign organized with an aim to promote a sustainable and climate-resilient blue economy. G20 delegates from different countries are attending the 3rd ECSWG meeting starting in Mumbai on Sunday. Representatives from 20 countries participated in the beach cleanup at Juhu today. This is important for the environment as we face challenges of climate change and global warming, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said after participating in the beach clean-up. The ECSWG meeting will continue till May 23. The main focus of this meeting will be on steering the discussions around Communique with a more outcome-driven approach. The Beach Clean Up would be followed by another side event, the Ocean 20 Dialogue, said the official statement. The beach clean-up is an initiative aimed at enhancing awareness and sensitizing citizens on the role of community participation in safeguarding our coasts and oceans. The Ocean 20 platform, launched during the Indonesia Presidency Dialogue, was aimed to advance ideation and action for ocean solutions. To ensure continuity and build on the initiative, the Indian Presidency is demonstrating active leadership by anchoring the Ocean 20 Dialogue in the 3rd ECSWG which will focus on three significant pillars of the Blue Economy. Both the side events are aimed at promoting a sustainable and climate-resilient Blue Economy, said the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The sessions on the first day of the meeting will cover various aspects of the Blue Economy. The first session of the day will be on science, technology, and innovation for a Blue Economy. The subsequent session will be on policy, governance, and participation, with the concluding session on establishing blue finance mechanisms for Blue Economy. The sessions have been designed to have a panel discussion followed by engaging discussions with the audience. The deliberations will be aimed at working towards the well-being of the oceans and the need to make conscious efforts towards reversing damage to them and protecting our marine resources. The next two days of the 3rd ECSWG will involve discussions on the draft Ministerial Communique with deliberations tuned towards achieving a consensus amongst the G20 countries. The closed-door sessions will conclude on a way-forward note for the fourth ECSWG. The Environment and Climate Sustainability Group (ECSWG) under Indias G20 Presidency aims to enhance cooperation among the G20 nations to develop state-of-the-art solutions for the sustainable management of oceans and marine biodiversity conservation. The need for concerted global efforts and immediate action to address the current scenario has been consistently underscored in the meetings. The third ECSWG meeting is a critical step in fostering the efforts of the G20 countries, invitee countries, and international organizations toward a sustainable and resilient future. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is committed to working with all stakeholders to drive outcomes under each of the priority areas, and to achieve a sustainable and resilient future for all, said the statement issued by the Ministry. A day before the beginning of the G20 meeting in Srinagar, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a Kashmir-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative for his involvement in a terror conspiracy case in Jammu and Kashmir. In another incident, the Indian Army opened fire after observing suspicious movement in the Mendhar area of Poonch district along the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu in the wee hours on Sunday. The incident comes a day after the Indian soldiers shot dead a Pakistani intruder along the LoC in the Poonch district. Later, during the search operation, an IED and a huge consignment of drugs was recovered from the intruder. It was learnt that soldiers patrolling at Mendhar LoC were alerted when they detected some movement along the border as the infiltrator tried to enter the Indian side. NIA arrested Mohammad Ubaid Malik, a resident of Kupwara district in north Kashmir, based on inputs that he was in constant touch with a Pakistan-based JeM Commander. Investigations have revealed that the accused was passing on secret information, especially regarding the movement of troops and security forces, to the Pakistan-based Commander, said the NIA. The arrest comes as part of the crackdown by NIA against the conspiracies being hatched by proscribed terrorist organizations operating from across the border to destabilize India through terrorist attacks. The NIA also recovered from the accuseds possession various incriminating documents showing his involvement in the furtherance of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The case was registered by the NIA suo-moto on 21 June last year. It is related to the conspiracies hatched by cadres and Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of various proscribed terrorist organizations in cohorts with their commanders based in Pakistan. It involves collection and distribution of huge consignments of narcotics, cash, weapons, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), including remote control operated sticky bombs and magnetic bombs, said the NIA. The IEDs and explosives are often being delivered over drones and are also being assembled locally, in order to execute terrorist attacks in J&K, as per the NIA investigations. The attacks are mainly targeted at the minorities and security forces personnel. The conspiracies are being hatched both physically and in cyberspace over encrypted social media applications, with the overarching aim of disturbing peace and communal harmony, engaging in terrorist acts, and waging a war against the Government of India, the anti-terror agency further said. Meanwhile, the Indian soldiers patrolling in Keri-Gulutha area of Mendhar suddenly observed some movement in the bordering area during an ongoing search operation at 3:30 am. The soldiers fired a few shots towards the side from where the movement was noticed. There was no retaliation. No loss of life or injury was reported, officials said. Following the incident, searches have been intensified in the area. A day before the beginning of three days long high-profile meeting of G20s tourism working group in Srinagar, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday described the event as a historic opportunity for the people of Jammu and Kashmir to showcase their rich culture, tourism, heritage and warm hospitality. The L-G, through his Awaam Ki Awaaz Radio programme, called upon the people of J&K UT for their active support and contribution in the successful conduct of the G20 event. G20s 3rd tourism working group meeting starting from 22 May is a historic opportunity for 13 million citizens of J&K UT to showcase priceless culture, heritage, tourism and warm hospitality. All the citizens should come forward and be a part of this memorable event, said the Lt Governor. The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and more than 60 per cent of the world population. Such gathering will provide a huge boost to the shared vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam globally and accelerate socio-economic development of Jammu Kashmir, observed the Lt Governor. This historic occasion of the G20 meeting will inspire the generations of Jammu Kashmir and infuse new enthusiasm, new confidence in the society to build future Jammu Kashmir, he added. Meanwhile, security has been tightened for the 3-days international event that is expected to boost tourism in Kashmir. The G20 nations include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. However, China has opposed the G20 tourism meeting in, what it described, disputed territory of Kashmir and announced that it will not attend the event. The meeting is being seen as an opportunity to persuade the member countries to withdraw their negative advisories to their respective citizens against visiting Kashmir. These advisories against visiting Kashmir were issued 33 years ago when terrorism broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990. The advisory against visiting Jammu and Ladakh was withdrawn a few years ago but it continues to be applicable for Kashmir where foreign tourists are not seen for the past several years. The traffic police have ordered restrictions on movement of vehicular traffic on 24 May on certain routes around the venue of the meeting. Vehicles shall not be allowed to move beyond the Nehru Park and Boulevard Road along the Dal Lake. The meeting will be held in the SKICC on the banks of Dal Lake. Elite NSG and Marine Commandos are helping the police and the paramilitary forces to secure the venues of the event. Commandos of the CRPF have been deployed at the Boulevard Road and other vulnerable points around the venue of the meeting. The route from Srinagar airport to Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) the venue of the meeting has been given a massive facelift with the G20 logos painted on walls and hoardings installed to welcome the delegates. Massive sanitisation and area domination exercises have been carried out in the areas around the venues, along the route and in vulnerable spots of the city. The pandemic showed us the need for greater collaboration in healthcare and the need to boost global health equity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday in his address to the 76th session of World Health Assembly. In his address for the event in Geneva, Switzerland, PM Modi said, Warm greetings to everyone at the 76th Session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. I congratulate the WHO on completing the historic milestone of serving the world for 75 years. I am sure that the WHO would be setting goals for the next 25 years when it reaches 100 years of service. The Prime Minister said that India shipped 300 million doses of vaccines to over 100 countries showing its commitment during the time of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic showed us the need for greater collaboration in healthcare. The pandemic highlighted many gaps in the global health architecture. Building resilience in global systems needs a collective effort, he said. PM Modi added, The pandemic also highlighted a need to boost global health equity. During a crisis, India showed its commitment to international cooperation. We shipped almost 300 million doses to over 100 countries. Many of these countries were from the Global South. I am sure that supporting equal access to resources will be a top priority for the WHO in the coming years. Emphasising upon Indias traditional wisdom, the Prime Minister said that after being free from illness, one should also move towards wellness. Indias traditional wisdom says that the absence of illness is not the same as good health. We must not only be free from illness but also go one step forward towards wellness. Traditional systems such as Yoga, Ayurveda and meditation, address physical, mental and social aspects of health. I am glad that WHOs first Global Centre for Traditional Medicine is being established in India. I am also happy that the world is recognising the importance of millets through the International Year of Millets, he said. He further said that Indias ancient scriptures teach looking at the world as one family under Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. During our G20 Presidency this year, we are working with the theme of One Earth, One Family, One Future. Our vision for good health is One Earth One Health. We can be healthy only when our whole ecosystem is healthy. So, our vision is not restricted to just humans. It extends to the entire ecosystem, including animals, plants and the environment, the Prime Minister added. PM Modi said that India has worked on the availability, accessibility and affordability of healthcare in the last few years. Be it the worlds biggest health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, or the massive ramping up of health infrastructure, or the drive to provide sanitation and drinking water to millions of families; Many of our efforts are aimed at boosting health at the last mile. An approach that works with the scale of Indias diversity, can also be a framework for others. We are keen on supporting the WHO for similar efforts in low and middle-income countries, he said. Stating the importance of global institutions in the past, the Prime Minister also commended WHO on 75 years of efforts. I would like to commend the WHO on 75 years of efforts in advancing Health for All. The role of global institutions like the WHO was certainly important in the past. But it will be even more important in a future full of challenges. India is committed to helping every effort to build a healthier world, PM Modi further stated. The Delhi Chief Minister will also meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray this week in Mumbai to seek support against the Centres ordinance on the transfer of bureaucrats in the National Capital. It was announced by Kejriwal after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, along with his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, met him at his residence in the National Capital. He said on May 23, he will go to Kolkata and meet the West Bengal Chief Minister at 3 pm. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that he will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on May 23 and then presidents of all opposition parties across the country in coming days to seek support against the Centre bringing an ordinance to give the control of services back to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor. The Delhi Chief Minister is scheduled to meet the West Bengal Chief Minister on May 23, followed by discussions with presidents of all opposition parties across the country. We seek their support against the Centres unjust ordinance, he said. Kejriwal said the Bihar Chief Minister is currently involved in a movement that is trying to bring all the opposition parties on a common platform. The idea is to unite all the non-BJP parties, the Delhi Chief Minister said. I have requested him that after the opposition parties unite, we would urge them to stand for the people of Delhi in the Rajya Sabha and oppose the illegal ordinance that has been promulgated by the Central Government. If this Bill is introduced in the Rajya Sabha, then we will get the opposition parties to defeat the government, and if we successfully manage to do that, then in some sense this will be a semifinal before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. An important message will be sent to the people across the country that in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections that the BJP government is on its way out, he said. Kejriwal added that he will be meeting other senior leaders of the opposition including West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in the coming days. On Tuesday, I will be meeting the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee at 3 pm. After that one by one, I will go and meet the political leaders of all the other parties across the country. I have today also requested Nitish Kumar that he speak to other opposition leaders on this issue faced by the people of Delhi. I will also continue to meet all the political leaders and formally request them to defeat this Bill if it is presented in the Rajya Sabha, he said. The Central government has brought an ordinance to set up a permanent authority known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority, whose Chairperson will the Delhi Chief Minister, and comprise the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Home, to make recommendations to the Delhi LG regarding matters concerning transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters. However, in case of difference of opinion, the decision of the LG shall be final. On May 11, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled that it is ideal to hold that a democratically elected Delhi government should have control over its officers and the LG 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 ordinance came days after the court verdict. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday claimed that Rajasthan made a record in conducting raids against corruption and the officers of all ranks including IAS, IPS, Collector, RPS and IRS were arrested during his tenure since 2018. I can dare if any of the BJP ruled states has done that many raids against corruption as our Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is doing to curb graft cases, Gehlot told the media after paying homage to the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at PCC headquarters here. Referring to the BJP State Working Committees resolution against his government in Nagaur passed yesterday, Gehlot commented, As soon as the BJP comes to power, the situation becomes like a hungry wolf. The way a hungry wolf gets to anxious to eat. You see what happens as soon as the BJP comes to power at the Centre and the State. I am not saying to myself. You ask any industrialist. Earlier, they used to pay Rs 1 lakh for one file in income tax. Now Rs 10 lakh has to be given. Corruption has increased 10 times under his (Narendra Modi) rule. If the BJP is so serious against corruption, then the Modi government should sack its Jal Shakti Minister who is named in the FIR in Sanjivini Cooperative Society scam. The BJP should pass a resolution against Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Jal Shakti Minister) for alleged scam under which the state SOG lodged an FIR , he said. Commenting on the withdrawal of Rs 2000 note, Gehlot said, These people (BJP) have not given the account of the time when demonetisation was done 7 years ago. Whatever money was in the market, all that money was deposited in the banks. This information was given in the Lok Sabha., he said. Rajasthan Congress in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the slogan of Congress-free India. This dream will never be fulfilled. We have made South India BJP free. Today there is no BJP government in South India. At the same time, leaving only 4 states in North India, the does not have a government on its own in any state. By Peter Masheter, KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 23:04 | All, G7, World, Japan The Group of Seven leaders' statement on a world without nuclear weapons restating their commitment to non-proliferation principles split experts by offering few surprises, but the Hiroshima summit found them nevertheless agreeing on the value of its symbolism. The outcome document, the Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament released at the end of the first day of the summit, was in line with the existing deterrence policy backed by nuclear states. It affirmed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as the "cornerstone" for disarmament, disappointing atomic bomb survivors calling for nuclear abolition instead, and leaving experts divided over its implications. It came just hours after the world saw the leaders of three nuclear-possessing nations -- the United States, Britain and France -- and the other G-7 members make history by jointly visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the museum dedicated to passing on the story of the U.S. atomic bomb attack on Aug. 6, 1945, that levelled the city. And while what the leaders saw and discussed inside remains largely unrevealed, the visit was a key moment in the summit hosted by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who seized on anxieties over rising nuclear tensions following Russia's aggression in Ukraine to remind the world of the dangers of the bomb. His initiative delivered many firsts and key moments, with the series of museum visits by not just the G-7 leaders but also major "Global South" players including the leaders of Brazil and nuclear India, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. Hirofumi Tosaki, the director of the Center for Disarmament, Science and Technology at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, praised the summit for achieving a "brilliant result." He said that it was because "the G-7 leaders, including those of three nuclear states and four of their allies, discussed past and present nuclear issues while engaging with the reality of the inhumane suffering and damage caused by the bomb, and were united in reaffirming their commitment to disarmament and non-proliferation." Referring to the crowd of pressing issues facing the world, and the surprise appearance of Zelenskyy, Tosaki said it was significant that a standalone statement on disarmament was released during "one of the most important summits in history." Despite the praise, however, he said that expecting change from the G-7 was "a little too optimistic." "Even if we want to disarm, we have to move ahead with Russia, with China. And they're not doing that right now, so I think it's difficult to say what will change," he said. "But with threats rising, I think we have to think seriously about not using them. If not using them was in some way of benefit to Russia and China, then I'd like to see actions for that purpose taken," he said. In the lead-up to the summit, anti-nuclear groups, atomic bomb survivors and major figures including U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres had called for a plethora of commitments including pledging "no first use" of nuclear arms and to provide a plan for joining the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The nuclear states and those protected under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, including host nation Japan, have not participated in the treaty, and no mention of it was made in the latest declarations on disarmament from the leaders. Among survivors who rejected adherence to non-proliferation principles was atomic bomb survivor Setsuko Thurlow, a prominent anti-nuclear campaigner who backs abolition of the weapons. In a press conference after the leaders wrapped up the summit, she said the document's total lack of reference to the nuclear ban treaty had been "one-sided" and dubbed the summit a "huge failure." "I think it was very one sided, they pointed fingers at Russia, North Korea, Iran, China, asking for transparency...But what about them? These are the first countries to develop nuclear weapons, other countries here with nuclear weapons like India are here for the summit, and they didn't reflect at all on what they are doing." Daniel Hogsta, interim executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the Nobel peace prize-winning group that was key to getting the ban treaty adopted by the United Nations in 2017, also welcomed the summit's imagery but criticized the statements coming from the leaders as "dangerous" for their lack of new proposals at a time of soaring tensions. Praising what he saw as Kishida's "genuine" desire for progress on nuclear arms, he said that "symbolically it is important" for drawing attention to the message of peace and nuclear disarmament. But he was unconvinced by the declaration, saying, "We can't ignore the fact that the reason Hiroshima was chosen was to carry this message of disarmament, and if it was ever a serious goal of this summit then they've fallen woefully short of that." Ahead of the summit, Kishida's Hiroshima Action Plan, a five-pillared doctrine first outlined in his speech to the 10th NPT review conference at the United Nations in August 2022, was expected to form a central tranche of the leaders' declaration. The plan, Kishida said at the time, is intended to back the treaty in force since 1970 to take the world from the "'reality' we face in the harsh security environment" to the "ideal of a world without nuclear weapons." Among its actions, it calls for enhanced transparency over nuclear arms, reduced global nuclear stockpiles, encouragement of peaceful nuclear energy use and the promotion of understanding of Hiroshima and Nagasaki including through visits by world leaders. Unlike the G-7 foreign ministers' statement released in April, which hailed the plan as "embodying a pragmatic approach given the current harsh security environment," the reference to the action plan was changed to a "welcome contribution" and "realistic, pragmatic and responsible approach." The shift in language, Hogsta said, led to him to think "Kishida would be quite disappointed with this statement, the Hiroshima Action Plan which he announced at the NPT Review Conference last year is barely mentioned...It appears that even that plan was too much for the G-7 leaders to commit to." Referring to the history of nuclear disarmament and rising tensions, Hogsta pointed to the formulation of the nonproliferation treaty going into force in 1970 following moves to disarm in the eight years after the Cuban missile crisis nearly brought Russia and the United States into nuclear conflict as a precedent for bold action. But Tosaki was less convinced by calls for radical action to recognize the ban treaty. "Japan is at the forefront of threats from Russia, China and North Korea, and is therefore compelled to rely on protection under the American nuclear umbrella," he said. "Without some comprehensive change in the security environment, Japan cannot participate in the treaty." Related coverage: FOCUS: End of G-7 sets stage for Japan PM to consider snap election timing Underlining the need for all countries to respect the UN Charter, international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked the global community to jointly raise its voice against unilateral attempts to change the status quo. India has always been of the opinion that any tension, any dispute should be resolved through peaceful means, through dialogue. And if there is a solution from the law, then it should be accepted. And it was in this spirit that India resolved its land and maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh, he said addressing a working session of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. His comments are significant against the backdrop of the ongoing Sino-Indian military stand-off at eastern Ladakh which started in April-May 2020 after Beijing attempted to unilaterally change the status quo at the border. Modi told the gathering that he had met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday on the margins of the G7 Summit, adding that he did not consider the current situation in the war-torn country as an issue of politics or economy. I believe that this is a matter of humanity, a matter of human values. From the very beginning, we have maintained that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And we will make every possible effort to contribute, in whatever way India can, for resolving this situation, he added. Modi said global peace, stability, and prosperity were the common objectives of the global community. In todays interconnected world, crises in any one region affect all the countries. And, the developing countries, which have limited resources, are the worst affected. In the current global situation, these countries are facing the maximum and most profound impact of the food, fuel, and fertilizer crisis, he added. He said the current situation raised the question as to why the world community was facing the need to discuss matters of peace and stability in distinct forums. He wondered why the United Nations, which was established with the very purpose of establishing peace, often failed to prevent conflicts today. Why, even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN yet? If introspection is done, then one thing is clear. The institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the 21st century. They do not reflect the realities of the present. That is why it is necessary that reforms should be given concrete shape in big institutions like the UN, he added. It would also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise we will just keep talking about ending conflict. The UN and the Security Council will become just a talk shop, the Indian leader said. The PM noted that in India, as also in Japan, Lord Buddha has been followed for thousands of years. There is no such problem in the modern age, whose solution we cannot find in the teachings of the Buddha. Buddha had given the solution centuries ago to the war, unrest, and instability that the world is facing today, he said. Before leaving on the second leg of his current three-nation tour, Modi also met UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The two leaders reviewed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between their two countries and also took stock of the progress in India-UK FTA negotiations. They agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people to people relationship. Discussions also took place on Indias ongoing G-20 Presidency. Modi said he looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Sunak in New Delhi for the G-20 Summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday wrapped up his fruitful visit to Japan, and departed for Papua New Guinea. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and the people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while, tweeted PM Modi. It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and people of Japan for their warmth. Leaving for Papua New Guinea in a short while. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 The PM of Papua New Guinea, James Marape will receive PM Modi upon his arrival at Port Moresby, where he will be accorded a full ceremonial reception. The Prime Minister is on a six-day visit to three countries Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24. This tour comprises the G7 and Quad summits in Hiroshima, bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and hosting the third summit for the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) in Papua New Guinea. Wrapping up an action-packed visit! PM @narendramodi concludes his visit to Japan following two days of intense bilateral & multilateral engagements with key partners. PM now departs for Port Moresby for the next leg of his visit, tweeted the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. The leaders of the worlds most powerful democracies have come together in deliberations on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and vouched for peace via diplomacy too. The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union. Describing Kashmir as the paradise on earth as he praised the beauty of the Union Territory, Arab influencer Amjad Taha said that this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. Known as paradise on Earth, its a place that has protected the Earth and may be the answer to climate change, the influencer wrote on Twitter. This is not Switzerland or Austria; this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. Its called the paradise on Earth, a place that has preserved the Earth and can be the solution for climate change. In Kashmir, we see Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians all living in peace and enjoying their diverse land while contributing to world innovation and development for the future, Amjad Taha tweeted on Saturday. Kashmir ensures that despite the unrest and the violence, its sheer beauty continues to mesmerize people and give meaning to famous poet Amir Khusraus words even today, Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast. (If there is a heaven on earth, it is here.) Under Indias presidency, the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting is scheduled to take place in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir from May 22-24. The tourism industry has played a crucial role in the development of the Union Territory. However, years of instability have impacted the tourism industry, leading to a decline in the number of visitors. The G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir promises to initiate a tidal wave of transformative outcomes, setting the region on a new trajectory towards stability, economic growth, and social development. People directly or indirectly connected with the tourism sector in Kashmir believe that the G20 meeting can attract investors and tourists from across the globe. They say that it will not only promote Jammu and Kashmir at the international level but the tourism sector of Kashmir will get a new dimension. Various departments are busy preparing for the G20 meeting to be held in Srinagar, while many others have finalised their preparations. There is also a program for the visit of delegates from 20 countries to the city of Gulmarg and Dal Lake. A large part of it has already been cleaned and the cleaning work on the other part is going on in full swing. The sanitation work is carried out in Dal throughout the year. But for the G20 meeting, special attention is being paid to the cleaning of several important places in the lake. India assumed the presidency of the G20 grouping on December 1, 2022, and will hold the post for a year. Meanwhile on Friday, China maintained its firm stance and said that it will not attend the next weeks G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir, stating that it opposes holding any such meetings in the disputed territory. China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory. We will not attend such meetings, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a regular press conference when asked about several reports doing the rounds that China will boycott G20 meetings planned in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Incidentally, China is a close ally of Pakistan and relations between India and Pakistan have been precarious for many years with regard to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), piggy-back riding on the popularity of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and relying on the huge network of DMK, is expecting a repeat of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll results. In 2019, the Congress that contested nine Lok Sabha seats won all eight except for Theni, where O.P. Raveendranathan, son of former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) defeated senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, E.V.K.S. Elangovan. With the elections likely in April or May 2024, the Congress party is aiming for an increase in the number of seats and sources in the party told IANS that the Congress would pitch in for 15 Lok Sabha seats from the nine it contested in the 2019 polls. The Congress Tamil Nadu leadership, according to senior party leaders is pitching for 15 seats to get at least 10 or at the most 12 seats from the DMK. The party will be pitching on the huge win it achieved in Karnataka and how the party has single-handedly won the state of Karnataka against all odds. Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president, K.S. Alagiri, while speaking to IANS said: The Congress is a national political party and we will put our demands before the DMK. I cant divulge the details of what we will be discussing. Congress has all the rights for what it wants in the polls and the victory of Karnataka is not a single phenomenon and nationally it has a bearing. Alagiri added: Tamil Nadu is another important state wherein people have put the BJP at bay and here the Secular Progressive Alliance led by DMK in which Congress is a partner will have a crushing win. Sources in the Congress party told IANS that the party has already appointed co-ordinators in each assembly constituency that falls under a loksabha seat. These coordinators will be involved in coordinating the local leaders with the state leaders and to provide a report on what the party lacks and what its strong points are. The coordinators will be involving in developing the party at the grass root levels and to scout for new talents for the party in the run upto the elections. Sources in the party told IANS that the coordinators have already started for new additions and deletions in the voters list. The Congress in Tamil Nadu is buoyed up by the results of the party in the neighbouring Karnataka. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress contested in Tiruvallur (SC), Krishnagiri, Arani, Karur, Tiruchirapalli, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Kanniyakumari, and Theni. Of this, the Congress won all eight seats and lost Theni. In 2004, the BJP was on a high with the popularity of Atal Behari Vajpayee and the BJP was doing an India Shining campaign. The BJP lost the polls against a Congress which had limited resources and a very low spirit but Congress had struck on to the campaign centred around Aam Admi or a common man street and it clicked. While the conditions of 2004 and 2024 are far apart with a powerful leader like Narendra Modi at the helm of things with an eye for even the minutest details. Modi has the ability to bounce back from adversities and with an all powerful persona, Narendra Modi will make sure that the campaigns are designed in such a manner that BJP comes back to power. However, the heavy drubbing BJP faced in the recent Karnataka assembly elections is an indicator that the party, and for that matter, Narendra Modi is not invincible and hence, the opposition has found a cause for regrouping. Coming back to Tamil Nadu, the opposition in the state is in shambles with the AIADMK having faced rebellion with a leader of the stature of a former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) expelled from the party. The newly anointed general secretary of AIADMK, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has already written a letter to the Lok Sabha speaker, Om Birla that the Member of Parliament from Theni, O.P .Raveendranathan, son of OPS was not a member of AIADMK and hence he should not be counted in the party list. After a former IPS officer of Karnataka cadre hailing from Tamil Nadu, K. Annamalai became the Tamil Nadu unit president of the BJP, differences cropped up with the AIADMK and the BJP. Senior leaders of the AIADMK including former minister, D. Jayakumar publicly came out against Annamalai who insisted on the supremacy of BJP. This is an added advantage for the DMK and the Congress in Tamil Nadu and the Secular Progressive Alliance led by the DMK is far ahead of the opposition in Tamil Nadu and this would help the Congress win the polls in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Brazilian President Lula da Silva on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On the third day of PM Modis Japan visit, he visited the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitors book. It is pertinent to mention that PM Modi is the first Indian leader to visit Hiroshima, the worlds first atomic-bombed city, since India successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 1974, according to Kyodo News Agency. PM Modi along with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other leaders paid tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. Other than the Brazilian leader, today, PM Modi also met UKs counterpart Rishi Sunak. Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to May 21. On Saturday, PM Modi held a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Greeks living abroad started casting their ballots for the general elections, a day earlier than voters living in Greece. It is the first time ever that Greek expatriates can vote from their place of residence, based on criteria set out in a recent law. In previous elections, Greek expatriates who wanted to participate in elections had to return to Greece to vote, Xinhua news agency reported. A total of 22,816 expatriates registered to vote in places where they are living, according to the Interior Ministry on Saturday. They can vote at 99 polling centres located in 35 countries, as a minimum of 50 registered in an area was required to set up a polling station. Most have registered in the UK, Germany, the US, Belgium and Cyprus, according to the Ministry. Their ballots will be sent back in sealed bags by planes and the votes will be sorted when the polls close in Greek territory, Greek national news agency AMNA reported. A total of 9.8 million Greeks are eligible to elect the 300 members of parliament. All recent opinion polls indicate that the ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) party leads, with the Leftists following second and the Socialists third. According to political analysts, due to the way the Greek electoral system works, it will be difficult for any single political party to secure a clear parliamentary majority in the first round. If a second election round is required, it will take place at the beginning of July at the latest, the government has said. The second round would be held under new electoral rules, which provide for extra seats for the winning party. US President Joe Biden on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his autograph after discovering how he has been managing large crowds, according to sources. Yesterday during the Quad meeting, President Joe Biden came up to PM Modi and told that hes been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the program of PM Modi. To this, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was also present on the occasion added that there is a capacity of 20,000 for the community reception in Sydney but he is still not able to accommodate the requests he is getting. Both President Biden and PM Albanese complained to PM Modi about their peculiar challenges. PM Albanese further remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium, more than 90,000 people welcomed PM Modi during the victory lap. To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, I should take your autograph. PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. The prime minister is visiting the East Asian country at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida. Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to 21. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has dismissed the US and EU criticism against Irans execution of three convicts who killed security officers in an armed attack as meddlesome and ridiculous. Instead of intervening in the internal affairs of other countries Western politicians had better listen to the voices of their own citizens protests and meeting their demands, Nasser Kanaani said in a statement published on the Ministrys website on Saturday. Europe and the US do not have the legal, judicial and moral authority to comment on judicial issues and human rights of other countries, he noted as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. On November 16, 2022, three men carried out an attack in the Khane Esfahan area of the central Iranian city of Isfahan, killing three security officers and injuring several others, according to the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary. The three men were charged with crimes, including those referred by Iranian authorities, to violations against Islamic codes and breaches of national security, Mizan said. In a statement on Friday issued in the wake of the execution, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemned the execution in the strongest possible terms, calling on Iran to refrain from applying the death penalty and carrying out future executions. The US State Department on Thursday urged Iran to refrain from carrying out the executions, calling the proceedings sham trials. The execution of these men, after what have been widely regarded as sham trials, would be an affront to human rights and basic dignity in Iran and everywhere, said State Department Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel at a press briefing. Chloe* was only seven years old when she started to have disordered eating. At first, the symptoms were subtle; shed leave food on her plate or skip dessert. Progressively, her eating behaviour got worse. She would nibble at her food and claim she wasnt hungry because shed eaten too many snacks. Slowly, her eating disorder was taking control. At first, we didnt think it was serious, said Chloes mom, Magali*. We just thought she had a small appetite. When I mentioned how little she ate to friends, they all said their daughters ate like a bird. Chloe's eating disorder took a turn for the worse during the pandemic. Unbeknownst to her family, Chloe, who was by then age nine, stopped eating altogether. Within three weeks, she lost eight kilograms and weighted a mere 28 kilograms. She could barely walk. Her family rushed her to The Montreal Childrens Hospital (The Childrens) Emergency Department. A dramatic increase in eating disorders during the pandemic Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, are the third most common chronic illnesses in adolescence after asthma and obesity. These illnesses have both psychological and physical components that can dramatically impact a childs growth, brain function, bone strength, sexual development, and cardiac health. Children with eating disorders often have high rates of medical complications due to malnutrition. Anorexia nervosa carries the highest suicide risk of any mental health disease. Across Canada, the number of children seeking care for eating disorders jumped significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely due to the impact of school closures, isolation, loss of routine, social media, and the concurrent increase in anxious and depressive symptoms. In 2020, The Children's Eating Disorders Program assessed 103 patients for eating disorders. In 2021, assessments jumped to 156, a 50 per cent increase. In addition, the children were more severely ill than usual, both physically and psychologically. Many had low heart rates and blood pressure, and extreme behaviours around food refusal. These children required tertiary care, provided by a multidisciplinary team, which is outside the scope of most community healthcare centres. While kids have now resumed their routines, those who developed an eating disorder over the last few years won't simply get better. They need professional help. Dr. Holly Agostino, Director of the Eating Disorders Program at The Childrens, expects the number of children seeking care will remain above pre-pandemic levels for several years. To ensure children like Chloe get access to care as quickly as possible, The Childrens Foundation turned to Bell, a long-time partner and the force behind the annual Bell Let's Talk Day mental health initiative. Bell generously stepped up, donating $500,000 over five years to the Foundation so the Eating Disorders Program can hire another full-time therapist. When The Childrens Foundation approached Bell seeking financial support to hire a therapist, we readily agreed to help out. Our $500,000 donation will ensure tweens and teens with eating disorders receive the lifesaving care they need as quickly as possible. This gift builds on our longstanding friendship with The Children's Hospital and Foundation and represents Bell's ongoing commitment to take action and create positive change for young people in Canada," said Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada. Chloe was seriously malnourished At The Childrens, Chloe and her parents met Dr. Giuseppina Di Meglio, an adolescent medicine specialist and a member of the Eating Disorders Program. Chloes condition was severe. She had lost so much weight that even the muscles supporting her lungs had weakened; her lungs were crushing the organs in her lower body. The family signed up for Family Based Treatment (FBT), the leading treatment for adolescent restrictive eating disorders, which is done at home with regular hospital follow-ups. FBT focuses on helping parents take the lead in refeeding their child and normalizing their eating patterns. The goal of therapy is complete remission, which means reaching a healthy weight, resuming pubertal development, reversing medical complications, and restoring normal thought patterns and behaviours around food. We believe parents are best placed to intervene in a loving and supportive way to restore their childs weight and reduce eating disorder behaviours. When someone is suffering from an eating disorder, the disorder is in charge. It decides what the patient should eat or how much, and the patient is left powerless to make healthy choices for their body, explained Dr. Agostino. With FBT, we shift the power away from the eating disorder to the parents. We empower them to make these decisions for their child until their child is in a healthier state. Two years of anguish as Chloe relearns to eat Magali remembers sitting down at the start of FBT with her daughter for her first meal. Six hours. It took six hours of urging, cajoling, and reassuring to get her daughter to eat six pieces of tortellini. Chloe adamantly refused. She screamed, howled and cried. She lashed out physically, hitting and slapping her mom and dad. This pattern of behaviour continued day after day at each meal and snack. It was a truly awful time. But I had to be relentless with Chloe. I couldn't give in. I had to make her eat. Her life was as risk, said Magali, whose own health started to suffer due to the stress of the ordeal. I decided when, what, and how much Chloe would eat. It was like taking care of a newborn. I couldn't let her leave the table without finishing her meal. I had to be insistent and firm. I constantly reassured her that everything was going to be okay. It was an excruciating time. I am extremely grateful for the team at The Children's because when I had doubts, was ready to give up, or had questions, I could call and a member of Chloes team would give me advice, reassurances, and the strength to go on. Gradually, Chloe started to eat and started to gain some weight. Now eating like a normal kid It took two long years before Chloe overcame her eating disorder. For the past six months, Chloe, now age 11, has been doing well. She is at a healthy weight. She is smiling again and eating like a regular kid. Eating disorders are curable, especially if treatment starts early. However, families need to remember eating disorders are chronic illnesses that don't improve after a few visits it takes time and effort from both the child and their family to overcome all aspects of the disorder. With the family and treating team working together, most adolescents will fully recover from their physical and behavioural symptoms, said Dr. Agostino. Worried your child has an eating disorder? If you are worried your child might have an eating disorder, talk to your family doctor, who knows your childs medical history and has an established relationship with them. After the assessment, depending on the child and familys needs, your physician may refer you to specialized services. There are good resources online or in print around family-based therapy treatment and how parents can adopt this therapeutic approach at home. Some of these are accessible on the Eating Disorder Program page on The Montreal Childrens Hospital website. *Chloe and Magali have asked that their real names not be used in this article. By Lisa Dutton, Director of Media and Public Relations, The Montreal Childrens Hospital Foundation. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 23:54 | All, G7, World Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that the eastern city of Bakhmut remains under his country's control, despite Russia's claim to have captured it. Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy's remarks in English in Hiroshima, at a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, had stirred some confusion. But at a press conference, held after joining the Group of Seven summit, he flatly denied the loss of the besieged city, saying in Ukrainian through an interpreter, "I clearly understand what is taking place in Bakhmut." "I think no ... Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he said when asked just after his opening statement at the meeting by a reporter whether Bakhmut is still in Ukraine's hands as Russia says it has taken the city. Biden promised him that the United States will continue to back Ukraine in defending itself against Russia, announcing an additional package for Ukrainian forces worth $375 million, including ammunition, artillery and armored vehicles. "What the people of Ukraine are defending, what you've achieved is a matter for the entire world to observe," Biden said. "Together, with the entire G-7, we have Ukraine's back. And I promise we're not going anywhere." Biden also directly told Zelenskyy that he earlier this week gave his approval for Ukrainian pilots to be trained to fly F-16 fighter jets as requested by the war-torn country. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is "thankful to American people" for their help, including the new package, adding, "We'll never forget." The meeting took place a day after Zelenskyy arrived in the Japanese city, where world leaders from the G-7 major industrialized democracies held discussions. Among other points, the White House said the two leaders discussed ongoing efforts to bolster Ukraine's air defenses. Later in the day, speaking at a press conference, Biden said he had received a "flat assurance" from Zelenskyy that the F-16 fighter jets, which European countries may provide, would not be flown into Russian territory. Related coverage: Ukraine's Zelenskyy steps up summit diplomacy in A-bombed Hiroshima G-7 Hiroshima summit wraps up after talks on Ukraine with Zelenskyy Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. EDWARDSVILLE An ordinance adding approximately 1,000 acres to the Riverbend Enterprise Zone was approved by the Madison County Board at Wednesdays meeting. Also acted on were a number of financial issues. The enterprise zone expansion includes property on the eastern and southern ends of the zone, and also The expanded zone was requested by the villages of Roxana, Hartford and Wood River. At a meeting of the Grants Committee, which had approved the expansion last week, a fact sheet noted that development patterns have changed since the inception of the enterprise zone. It is the second expansion of the Riverbend Enterprise Zone since 2019. In addition to county and municipality approval, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity must also OK the proposed change. Madison County has four enterprise zones: Riverbend, Gateway, Southwestern and Discovery. Enterprise zones offer incentives to developers, primarily in the form of property and sales tax incentives, investment tax credit, machinery and equipment sales tax exemptions, and a utility tax exemption. In general, Illinois counties use enterprise zones to encourage economic development and municipalities use tax increment financing districts. In some cases, those overlap. Since 2018 all four of Madison Countys Enterprise Zones have been expanded. In 2019 the board approved the expansion of the Riverbend Enterprise Zone to include approximately 160 acres along Illinois Route 111, including St. Louis Regional Airport property. The board also approved a number of emergency appropriations for use of American Rescue Plan Act funds for various communities; including $75,000 each for Collinsville water main improvements; Nameoki Township warning sirens; in Highland to replace spillways; St. Jacob Township for storm water culvert replacements; and for Wood River for storm water separation improvements. In other business, the board approved a lawn care service agreement with The Green Machine Outdoor Services, an East St. Louis firm, for $48,087; approved natural gas and electrical contracts for county facilities; approved adding a fee for passport photo services at the Madison County Circuit Clerks Office; and approved changes to the countys personnel policy handbooks. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GRAFTON The campground at Pere Marquette State Park is sold out every weekend this summer. Those lucky and vigilant enough to have secured reservations for Memorial Day weekend will be able to enjoy all the amenities the campground has to offer. The 78 Class A camping sites at Pere Marquette all feature 50, 30 and 20 amp electrical outlets to accommodate everything from the largest new motor homes to tent campers who just want to plug in a lantern. The upgraded electrical service and improved camping pads were completed two years ago under a $1.9 million improvement project, and theyve been heavily used ever since. Site Superintendent Nate Goetten said its no secret why people like to camp at Pere Marquette. We offer hiking, biking, horseback riding; we have a harbor with access to the Illinois River, Goetten said. We have a rock climbing wall right on the bluff that was professionally put in, and you are only five miles from Grafton and Grafton speaks for itself. Its a total destination for tourists. Goetten said that people can generally still make campground reservations at Pere Marquette during the week, but the summer weekend dates of Friday, Saturday and Sunday have been full for some time. Goetten enjoys seeing the campground full of people who are enjoying themselves. We have great staff here who make sure their experience is nice, Goetten said. The campground is always mowed, the facility is always clean, and, as long as people leave here happy, their word of mouth advertising is the best you can have. Linda Staten from OFallon, Missouri came to camp at Pere Marquette with family and friends this weekend. Its very nice; I didnt realize it was this nice and clean, Staten said. I just figured it would be more rustic but its not. We will come here again. Moro resident Sheri Copeland usually camps at Carlyle Lake but decided to give Pere Marquette a try. My dad had a cabin just down the road from here but this is the first time Ive been to this campground, Copeland said. I wish they had another shower house but I think its a very ice campground. I will definitely come again. Mel Reitmeier from Tolono, Illinois attended his daughters St. Louis University graduation and decided to make the occasion a camping trip with a stay at Pere Marquette. We like the scenery around here and being able to do different things. We are getting ready to take the kids to check out Grafton, Reitmeier said. The electricity here at the campground is great. We came in at night and we were able to set up really easily. This one is kept up as well as all the other ones we have visited. Goetten is pleased that people enjoy Pere Marquette in the summer, but he added that people stay in the camping area year-round. In the fall its the changing of the leaves. In the winter its the bald eagles, Goetten said. In the springtime people get here early so they can watch the red buds and dogwoods bloom. Visit https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/Parks/Pages/PereMarquette.aspx for more information about Pere Marquette and scheduled events at the state park. EDWARDSVILLE Two men from Cahokia Heights were indicted last week for carjacking. Zacharie S. Clay, 25, and Markus Crockett, 19, were indicted May 18 for vehicular hijacking, both Class X felonies. The case was originally presented by the Metro East Auto Theft Task Force. According to court documents, on April 16, the two took a 2019 Dodge Charger while armed with a firearm. In an unrelated case, Amaru M. Smith, 18, of Alton, was indicted for Aggravated discharge of a firearm, a Class 1 felony; and aggravated unlawful use of weapons, a Class 4 felony. The case was originally presented by the Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on Feb. 5 Smith fired a gun at a building in the 3200 block of Belle Street under circumstances where the defendant reasonably should have known the building was occupied; and was in possession of a semi-automatic handgun without a valid Firearm Owners Identification Card or concealed carry permit. Paulina M. Suess-Wahala, 45, of Granite City, was indicted for perjury, a Class 3 felony, and stalking, a Class 4 felony. The cases were originally presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. According to court documents, on March 12 Suess-Wahala made a false statement on an Illinois Voter Registration Application by providing a false name. From Feb. 5 to March 12 she allegedly had stalked another person. Investigators said the two charges were unrelated, but came up at the same time. ROME (AP) Italys far-right Premier Giorgia Meloni on Sunday rejected criticism from her Canadian counterpart at the G7 Summit about her governments stance on LGBTQ+ rights. A reporter asked Meloni about the criticism at a news conference early Sunday in Hiroshima, Japan, which is hosting the annual summit of leaders from seven of the world's leading industrialized nations. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AARAMTA, Lebanon (AP) The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise. Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel. The exercise came ahead of Liberation Day, the annual celebration of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, and in the wake of a recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, has long had ties with Hezbollah. The recent heightened tensions also come months after Lebanon and Israel signed a landmark U.S.-brokered maritime border agreement, which many analysts predicted would lower the risk of a future military confrontation between the two countries. The Israeli military declined to comment on the Hezbollah exercise. Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said in a speech Sunday that the exercise was meant to confirm our complete readiness to confront any aggression by Israel. On the other side of the border, Israeli forces have also occasionally invited journalists to watch exercises simulating a war with Hezbollah. Officials from both sides frequently allude to their readiness for conflict in public statements. On the ground, however, the conflict has been largely frozen since the two sides fought a brutal and inconclusive one-month war in 2006. Israel regularly strikes targets related to Hezbollah and its backer, Iran, in neighboring Syria. In Lebanon, while Israel and Hezbollah, as well as armed Palestinian groups, have exchanged periodic strikes in the years since 2006, they have largely avoided casualties on either side. Most recently, Israel launched rare strikes on southern Lebanon last month after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there, wounding two people in Israel and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it targeted installations of Hamas, which it blamed for the rocket fire, in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah derided the claim, saying the Israeli strikes had only hit banana groves and a water irrigation channel. Safieddine in his speech Sunday alluded to the groups possession of precision-guided missiles, which were not on display but which he said Israel would see later. Elias Farhat, a retired Lebanese army general who is currently a researcher in military affairs, said Hezbollahs symbolic show of strength on Sunday appeared to be in response to the recent escalation in Gaza. He said it could also be a response to a demonstration Thursday in Jerusalem by thousands of Jewish nationalists, some of whom chanted Death to Arabs and other racist slogans, in celebration of Jerusalem Day. The day marks Israels capture of the Old City 56 years ago. Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center who researches Hezbollah, said that in the past when there was an escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Lebanese armed group would sometimes fire off rockets or allow a Palestinian faction in Lebanon to do so. But he said Sundays military exercise was a lower-risk way to show force. Given that Friday marked the return of Syria an ally of Hezbollah and Iran to the Arab League, Hage Ali said, Hezbollah may not have wanted a clash on the border with Israel to distract from the Arab reconciliation. While the military exercise is showing how strong they are and sending a message to the Israelis, it also demonstrates that this time around, they dont want to escalate, he said. ___ Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed. By Tomoyuki Tachikawa, KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 20:56 | All, World, G7 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday touted the achievements of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, saying the leaders from the advanced economies agreed to work toward a world without nuclear weapons and stand by Ukraine. The three-day G-7 summit from Friday took place in Kishida's home constituency in the western city, devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in August 1945, amid lingering fears that Russia may use a nuclear weapon in its ongoing war in Ukraine. On the closing day of the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in sessions to discuss Russia's aggression against its neighbor following his highly-publicized arrival on Saturday in Japan on a French government plane. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday touted the achievements of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, saying the leaders from the advanced economies agreed to work toward a world without nuclear weapons and stand by Ukraine. The three-day G-7 summit from Friday took place in Kishida's home constituency in the western city, devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in August 1945, amid lingering fears that Russia may use a nuclear weapon in its ongoing war in Ukraine. On the closing day of the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in sessions to discuss Russia's aggression against its neighbor following his highly-publicized arrival on Saturday in Japan on a French government plane. He said that Zelenskyy's presence at the summit helped send "a strong message" on the Ukraine crisis. "It is the mission of Japan, the G-7 presidency this year, to demonstrate resolve to preserving peace and prosperity," Kishida said. "There is no place more suitable than Hiroshima, symbolizing the vow for peace, to convey such determination." But critics said the G-7 leaders did not elaborate on detailed plans to enhance disarmament and non-proliferation efforts, with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, known as ICAN, lambasting them for failing to "announce anything new or concrete." Stressing that the G-7 confirmed the importance of upholding the free and open international order based on the rule of law, Kishida said the group is ready to build constructive and stable ties with China, which has been boosting its military influence in the region. Kishida urged China to "act responsibly" in the international community, with concern growing that Beijing has been attempting to deepen military cooperation with Moscow to counter the global order dominated by the United States and the Western democracies. On the regional security front, Kishida said the G-7 condemned North Korea's unprecedented number of unlawful ballistic missile launches, calling for it to completely abandon nuclear weapons and its existing development programs. Kishida added that the group also agreed to keep putting pressure on Pyongyang to resolve the long-standing issue of abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. During Sunday's sessions, in which some leaders from emerging and developing nations in the "Global South" also took part, Zelenskyy appealed for broad support from the international community. Many countries in the Global South have avoided taking sides over Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, with some of them dependent on Russia, a resource-rich nation, for military and energy supplies. At Sunday's sessions, the G-7 leaders told Zelenskyy that they will provide diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine as needed, with Kishida hailing the president's "sincere" efforts toward a "lasting peace," the Japanese government said. Later in the day, Zelenskyy, who made his first visit to Japan since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022, met bilaterally with Kishida and held a press conference. Zelenskyy, meanwhile, held a separate bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden has given his backing for a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets as requested by Kyiv. On Saturday, Zelenskyy landed at Hiroshima airport while the G-7 leaders released a communique in which they pledged to support Ukraine as long as the country faces Russia's illegal aggression. Zelenskyy met on the same day with leaders from nations such as Italy, Britain, India, France and Germany. The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union. Related coverage: G-7 to stand by Ukraine, urges China to help end Russia invasion ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) Emergency teams in Croatia have found the remains of a small plane that crashed Saturday in a remote area, police said. The Cirrus 20 aircraft was found in forested and inaccessible terrain in northwestern Croatia following an hourslong search that involved 150 people and an army helicopter, said a police statement. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 21:37 | All, G7, World, Japan Many atomic bomb survivors, including campaigner Setsuko Thurlow, voiced anger and disappointment at the Group of Seven nations' summit on Sunday after the leaders released a statement that supported the possession of nuclear weapons for deterrence and failed to mention the treaty banning nuclear arms. The 91-year-old Thurlow called the G-7 summit a "huge failure" in the closing hours of the three-day gathering, calling the Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament statement issued at the end of the first day "blasphemy against atomic bomb survivors." Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had billed the gathering in Hiroshima, a western Japan city devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb, as an opportunity to advocate a "world without nuclear weapons." "I felt no pulse, no warmth from the voices of the G-7 leaders," said Thurlow, now living in Canada. She was 13 when the bomb fell and leveled her home city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, taking the lives of eight of her relatives including her 4-year-old nephew. The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations said the G-7 summit dashed people's hopes and expectations for the abolition of nuclear weapons and instead became a conference that fans war by giving support to nuclear deterrence and security under a nuclear umbrella. "Nuclear weapons are an absolute evil that cannot coexist with humans," Jiro Hamasumi, an assistant secretary general of the group, told an online press conference. "As a survivor of an atomic bombing, I am outraged," said the 77-year-old Hamasumi, referring to the fact that the statement did not mention the survivors or the U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons but backed nuclear deterrence. "What was the point of hosting it in Hiroshima?" said Hamasumi, who was in his mother's womb when exposed to the blast in Hiroshima. Survivors have urged Japan to take part in the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 2021, even without nuclear weapons states signing up. Japan has been reluctant to do so as it relies on the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella under a long-standing security alliance. In an unprecedented move, the G-7 leaders including of nuclear states the United States, Britain and France visited the city's peace museum documenting the devastation of the 1945 atomic bombing in the Hiroshima Peace Park on the first day of the summit. But survivors were unsatisfied that the details of the visit were not disclosed. "I wanted to hear the leaders' frank opinions of what they saw in the museum," said Michiko Kodama, another 85-year-old survivor of the atomic bombing. Related coverage: A-bomb survivor Thurlow urges G-7 to pledge no nuke use in summit G-7 leaders make unprecedented group visit to Hiroshima A-bomb museum The Germans have a word for it: schadenfreude, that is, delighting in anothers troubles. In India, there is considerable schadenfreude over the mess in Pakistan, where everythingpolitically, economically and in foreign policyseems to have gone wrong at the same time. The civil polity is hopelessly divided, with the army threatening to bring back order once again through the barrel of a gun. The economy is in the doldrums. Pakistan has ceased to be the springboard for determining the outcome in Afghanistan. The world has lost interest in Afghanistan but not the Taliban in wanting to dismantle the Durand Line. And India merely scoffs at Pakistans increasingly frenetic rhetoric that seeks to refocus world attention on Kashmir. The world is not listening. And might the Chinese (the all-weather friend) turn Gwadar into a Hambantota, effectively snatching the strategic port away from Pakistani sovereignty to get themselves reimbursed for their humongous investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor? At just this juncture, our foreign minister has chosen to be rude to the point of crudeness to his Pakistani counterpart in the latest instalment of a personal quarrel that Jaishankar sparked in New York and got back as good as he gave. Is this in our long-term interest? What do we gain from Pakistans collapse? More, to the point, is Pakistan collapsing? Pakistan came into being because the Muslim elite, in large measure, did not wish to become a minority in someone elses dispensation. That sentiment constitutes the bonding adhesive of their nationhood. It makes Pakistanis more patriotic in times of crisis than when the going is good. In normal times, they enjoy mocking their leadership. But when the unity or integrity of their nation is threatened, they band together. We need to understand this. Illustration: Job P.K. We have seen in India, particularly in the ghastly era through which we are currently transiting, how hurt religious sentiment can be transmuted into political gain. Religion, the raison detre of the birth of Pakistan, can quickly and effectively be invoked if India is seen as taking advantage of Pakistans woes. The reaction in Pakistan to Jaishankars snarl at Bilawal in Goa only proves that the higher the level of Indias schadenfreude, the greater Pakistan is incentivised to come together. Of course, Jaishankars primary goal was to please his boss and establish his credentials as a true saffronite; but if he thought his huffing and his puffing is going to blow the Pakistan house down, his hopes will be belied for his rhetoric only solidifies Pakistans desire not to revert to being India. This in turn means that a turbulent Pakistan remains a neighbour of India and an indivisible part of our shared subcontinent. We cannot wish them wayand, therefore, should not. Moreover, while Pakistan is no longer a key ally of the US and is being increasingly displaced by Joe Bidens outreach to Modi, it is difficult to imagine the US looking away when the eighth largest country in the global communityPakistanis being dismantled against the will of Pakistanis. So, as in the past, so in the future, the Americans will grudgingly bail out their former partner, if only to stop China from becoming their sole benefactor. Hence, Pakistan will be helped to weather out this crisis. Given that Pakistan is here to stay and has the potential to restore its broken polity and economy, what we have to decide is whether to continue our nearly decade-old disengagement with Pakistan. It is clear that if Modi wins in 2024, this disengagement will continue, but given the imperative necessity of uniting the opposition to forestall that outcome, at the appropriate time Pakistan policy has to be inserted consensually into the joint opposition agenda. Aiyar is a former Union minister and social commentator. I am at the age where there is a lot going on with womens bodies. I think after our teenage years, where hips and breasts begin to appear, our 40s are the next time in our lives where we have little control of the way we look. Little dimples of cellulite appear even if our thighs are slim. Spider veins show up uninvitedly, as does a jowl, and something we rudely call the bye-bye arms (triceps that wave each time we do). All this is very well and well expected. But I have discovered that I am also at the age when four out of five women I meet have plumped their faces like unintended pumpkins. Their skin is shiny and taut like a stretched balloon, but there is a chubbiness that did not exist last week or last month. Shutterstock It breaks my heart to see one of the most beautiful women in the citylithe, intelligent and always chicly turned outwho has lost her cheekbones to the newfound fat in her cheeks. She looked unusual, I thought. Until she smiled, then she looked frightful. I really like her and I wanted to ask her why she had done this to her otherwise beautiful face, but I was not sure if it was good manners to comment or not. Fillers unfortunately do not come with an etiquette guide, so if you have any suggestions, drop me an email. Botox has been in India for almost 20 years, and has been easily available for over a decade. Botulinum toxin, or botox, is actually a medical treatment used to cure squinting and excessive blinking. It is now used to freeze wrinkles, crows feet, and frown lines by paralysing the underlying muscle for anywhere between three to six months. Botox is often followed by dermal fillers that add volume and definition, aka plumpness. There are several types of fillers available, all of which are approved. The well-known ones are calcium hydroxylapatite, hyaluronic acid, polyalkylimide, polylactic acid, and a semi-permanent filler called PMMA. A couple of these are available in India and are rather popular, but several people also get their facial work done abroad, like in the US or Lebanon. The problem with fillers is already evident. Filler migration is a truth that several cosmetic surgeons have kept away from their growing filler-hungry clients. It is a condition when the acid filler used in a particular area moves away from the intended area. This creates an unnatural distortion in the face. This is also why a leading lady, a Bollywood movie star, is beginning to resemble a Picasso painting. There are currently almost 24 million views for the #fillermigration hashtag on TikTok, according to Allure magazine. A recent article alludes to Shelby Halla registered nurse who goes by @skinfidelity on TikTok, where she discusses beauty myths and misnomers. Hall has spoken about over-filled lips in a now-deleted video that received nine million views. There are hundreds of videos showing how ridiculous filler migration makes one look. But despite the raging trend, fillers are still a sought-after beauty treatment in India. (In the US, people are having their fillers removed after discovering that not only does the acid migrate, but it also does not dissolve for up to a couple of years.) I would like to say I dont judge people who get work done, but I do. I am not against it, mind you. I know I would like a few things fixed, too. But bad filler jobs or gnarled faces are worse than wearing dowdy clothes. You can change into a more classical outfit, but you are stuck with the Picasso face for a year or more. @namratazakaria Seerat Naaz, an eight-year-old Jammu girl, pleaded with the prime minister to get her 87-year-old school rebuilt. Please Modiji, humarey liye ek acha sa school banwa do na, she said in a video, that went viral, showing her schools dirty floors and broken doors. Narendra Modi listened, and acted; the school is being repaired. That is the sign of a responsive governmentone that responds to the needs of the aam admi, aam aurat, aam ladka or aam ladki. Not only Modi, but many of his colleagues have been leading their ministries by similar examples, originally set by the dear departed Sushma Swaraj. As Modis first foreign and overseas affairs minister, she used to look into every tweeted message of grievance, and address it. There are credible stories galore in the mainstream media, and more incredible stories in the social media, of how cabinet ministers have helped people get train tickets confirmed, pensions released, phone lines restored, ambulances despatched, exams ordered, complaints attended, refugees rescued, and even damsels saved from distressnot just from within India, but even from conflict zones on distant shores such as Sudan and Syria. All on receipt of a simple tweet or a WhatsApp post. Illustration: Job P.K. But you cant expect your ministers to be Harun-al Rashids going out in disguise every night to catch thieves, rescue damsels, feed the poor, and find out if alls well in the kingdom. Moreover, such Zorro-like acts can redress only individual grievances, adding to a corpus of anecdotal governance. What about the collective grievances of the people at large, redress of which involves policy decisions, administrative rethink, or legislative action? To address collective concerns, you need not only responsive governments but also responsible governments. Most of us who inhabit the landmass that stretches from Kashmir to Kanyakumari have such governments in our states. When any of those governments turn irresponsible, we vote it outas the Kannadigas have just done. Hold on. Didnt we make two wrong assumptions? One, India no longer stretches from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; it stretches from Ladakh to Kanyakumari now. Two, Seerat Naazs folk, who live in Jammu and Kashmir that has been split from Ladakh into another Union territory, dont have a responsible government yet. Through a smart administrative coup, Modi and Amit Shah burst the bubble of special status that Jammu and Kashmir had been enjoying, and bifurcated its territory into two UTsJammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The rest of the world fretted, China fumed and Pakistan fulminated, but all the sound and fury signified nothing in the end. At the same time, to assuage the feelings of the people, the government also promised restoration of statehood, and holding of assembly elections. It has been four years now. The government claims that the valley, once a hotbed of insurgents, is back to near-normal save for stray encounters. Buses are running, people are going to work, kids are going to schools, farmers are going to orchards, tourists are coming, investors are trickling in. No stones are being pelted, no grenades lobbed, and hartal calls are hardly heard. Pray, what is delaying the polls? Constituencies have been delimited, electoral rolls readied, and politicians are readyeven those who had been threatening to boycott polls. Even panchayat and municipal polls are going to be held in the next few months. Why not to the legislative assembly? Having an elected government in the valley of strife will only enhance the prestige of India in this G20 year. prasannan@theweek.in But there is no alternative! is the favourite quip of many liberal educated Indians when they want to end an uncomfortable discussion about the unsavoury direction Indian politics and society have taken under Narendra Modis New India. Each time the now rampant culture of bigotry, hate speech, Islamophobia, mob lynchings, blatant disregard for constitutional procedures, unconstitutional actions of agencies of the state, the misuse of ED-CBI and other state agencies, crony capitalist corruption, demonetisation, price rise, unemployment or Chinas encroachment of Indian territory is brought up, the educated rational, liberal, I-dont-hate-Muslims elite Indian brings up the TINA factor. TINA, which stands for there-is-no-alternative, is a myth popularised in public discourse and common sense understanding of Indian politics by the media and social media ecosystems much like the Rahul Gandhi is a Pappu narrative. Both these popular ideas have ensconced in public discourse the notion that if not Modi then who? The argument is that while there may be several valid critiques of Modis governance of India in the last nine years, people keep voting for Modi because there is no other alternative to effectively lead and govern the country, and surely they cant be expected to vote for Pappu Rahul Gandhi! And so we must keep living with growing human rights abuses, corruption and authoritarianism because if-not-Modi-then-who? Pro-BJP journalists and opinion makers have also pushed this narrative enthusiastically, the subtext being that the BJP under Modi is invincible. The decisive victory that the Congress has won in the Karnataka assembly elections has, however, challenged this fallacy. The campaign the BJP ran, headlined by Modi, was high on communal rhetoric with Modi equating Bajrang Dal with Bajrang Bali (Lord Hanuman) and violating the code of conduct by asking for votes in the name of Bajrang Bali. In the past these pre-election techniques worked (most successfully in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh), but the Karnataka loss has upturned the BJPs communal apple cart. The Congress campaigntargeting the state BJP for corruption, foregrounding the message of unity with Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra and focusing on local issues and leadersseems to have resonated with voters. The Congress took a clear line on secularism. It spoke out clearly for the poor without worrying about how elites would perceive its platform. The results vindicated it. And, with this win, the narrative of BJPs invincibility and the TINA factor myth have been punctured as well. But it is worth asking ourselves: Is the TINA factor an accurate assessment of the Indian voters predicament these past few years? A look at regional elections and ground level activism tells us that India has been throwing up a variety of local political alternatives. In 2018, months after the huge BJP sweep in assembly elections of 2017, the Congress under its supposed Pappu won Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (now BJP ruled) and Chhattisgarh. Recently it has added Himachal Pradesh (and now Karnataka) to its kitty. Other parties have come to power in Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand and Mizoram. The point is that states in India have been finding alternative leadership to Modis BJP since the last five years at least. But alternatives dont only come from elections. They take birth in mass movements. In just the last three years India witnessed two major protests. In December 2019 the nationwide student- and women-led CAA-NRC protests began, which lasted till March 2020, and, in November, 2020, farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan began the farmers protests against the farm laws. The farmers won their fight with Modi repealing the laws. While the CAA-NRC protests ended with the ugly Delhi riots, it is noteworthy that the government has so far put the NRC campaign on the back-burner. Such mass protests present alternativesan alternative vision for India, an alternative political language, and, hopefully, an alternative future. If this is the present-day ground reality in India, maybe it is time to ask ourselves who is peddling the TINA factor narrative and who does this fallacy serve? Because voters are decisively voting for the alternative, when they see it. The writer is an award-winning Bollywood actor and sometime writer and social commentator. A day after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new Congress government in Karnataka, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flew to Delhi on Sunday to meet his Delhi counterpart and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal. Nitish's meeting with Kejriwal comes as the JD(U) leader proclaimed his commitment to strengthening opposition unity for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Nitish was accompanied by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. This is their second meeting with Kejriwal in two months, the first being on April 12. Interestingly, Kejriwal was not invited to the Karnataka Congress's swearing-in, seen as a show of strength by the opposition parties. Since AAP has been at logger heads with the Congress in both Delhi and Punjab, Nitish Kumar is said to be trying to build a working relationship between the two parties, as he also sees Congress critical to any Opposition unity bid. Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar openly expressed his support for the Kejriwal government against Centre bringing an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer and posting of IAS and DANICS cadre officers under the Delhi government. "How can powers given to an elected government be taken away? It's against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal. We are trying to bring together all opposition parties in the country," Nitish Kumar told reporters on his arrival in Delhi. Kejriwal had already said he would seek support from opposition leaders regarding the ordinance. "Today in a meeting with Nitish Ji, he said that he stands with the people of Delhi on the issue of the Centre bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi. In case the Centre brings this ordinance as a bill, if all non-BJP parties come together, it can be defeated in Rajya Sabha. If such a thing happens, it can send a message that the BJP govt will be out in 2024," Kejriwal told reporters after his meeting with Nitish. Even as some member countries including China decided to stay away, the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar has the highest delegate participation compared to previous such meetings. This was stated by G20 chief coordinator Harshvardhan Shringla at a press conference in Srinagar. The representation in this working group is maximum. Such participation was not seen in earlier meetings, he said. This is a matter of pride for us that this meeting is being held in such a beautiful place. Members from the Organisation of Islamic Counties (OIC) and the ambassadors of Nigeria and Indonesia are attending the summit. From Singapore, the US and the UK, four to five participants are coming to attend the meeting, he said, adding that tourism experts from the UN are also coming. It's a matter of great satisfaction for us that such important dignitaries are attending the meeting in Kashmir. Srinagar will host the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting from May 22-24. The first meeting was held in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat in February and the second one in West Bengal's Siliguri in April. Shringla said one of the main agendas of the working group is film tourism. There will be efforts to showcase the potential of Jammu and Kashmir for film tourism, he said. I have no doubt that this will succeed in getting a different sort of tourism for Kashmir. Shringla also exuded confidence that adventure tourism, eco-tourism and sustainable tourism will gain traction and the influx of foreign tourists will increase. The organisers of the event are hopeful that it will also help boost Jammu and Kashmirs economy, he said. Shringla further claimed that Srinagar is also being developed as a smart city and various projects are being completed. Fibre optics are being laid down and a huge development has taken place on war-footing, he said. J&K Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta noted that tourist footfall has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the Union Territory. Last year 1.88 crore tourists visited J&K, he said. This is just the beginning. We will be having a direct train from Delhi to Srinagar next year and that will be a technological wonder. Mehta said 300 new tourist destinations are ready to be explored in the UT and informed that Sonmarg is going to be open throughout the year. The Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar will deliberate on five key priorities that include green tourism, digitisation, skills, tourism MSMEs/ startups and private sector and destination management. The inaugural session will be addressed by Minister for Culture G. Kishan Reddy, Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh, Minister for Tourism Arvind Singh, J&K LG Manoj Sinha and G20 Sherpa Amitab Kant. KYODO NEWS - May 22, 2023 - 01:37 | All, World, Japan, G7 U.S. President Joe Biden said Sunday he believes that heightened tensions between the United States and China will "thaw very shortly." At a press conference in Hiroshima, Biden expressed disappointment that a Chinese spy balloon incident earlier this year spoiled the momentum to facilitate communication between senior officials of the two countries. He said a previous agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the importance of implementing a military hotline had rapidly soured in the wake of the balloon controversy as tensions escalated. "I think you're going to see that begin to thaw very shortly," Biden said before leaving the Japanese city, where he attended the Group of Seven summit and held talks with many leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 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 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. There have been no signs of easing tensions, but White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Wang Yi, China's highest-ranking diplomat, held hours of "candid" discussions on key issues in Vienna earlier this month. At the time, the U.S. and Chinese governments said they agreed to keep lines of communication open. In his press conference before returning home, Biden also mentioned Taiwan, a major source of friction between China and the United States. He stressed that Washington's decades-old policy toward the democratic island remains intact, pointing out it does not expect that Taiwan will "independently" declare itself a sovereign, independent state. He added, "We're going to continue to put Taiwan in a position that they can defend themselves and there is clear understanding among most of our allies that in fact if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response." Recalling his four days in Hiroshima, Biden said being in the city and visiting places such as the Peace Memorial Museum was a "powerful reminder of the devastating reality of nuclear war and our shared responsibility to never cease our efforts to build for peace." Biden said he and other G-7 leaders reiterated "our commitment to continue to work toward a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons." Related coverage: Biden invites Japanese, S. Korean leaders for 3-way talks in U.S. FOCUS: G-7 renews pledge to defend int'l order, yet China challenges loom A child rights group in Ahmedabad has succeeded in preventing the marriage of 19 underage couples. A team of Prayas, led by Indrajeetsinh Chauhan, late night on Friday succeeded in convincing the leader of the Devipujak community that marriage of underage children is against the law. Devipujaks fall in the SC category and are hardly educated. They are into selling vegetables, putting up small stores. They also work as daily labourers. A group marriage of 36 couples was to be held on Sunday. While the team succeeded in convincing the community and the parents of not going ahead with the marriage of 19 underage couples, the marriage of remaining 17 couples was solemnized on Sunday. The Prayas team had kept an eye on the developments based on a tip from their sources. When the team visited the Devipujaks in Vatva area of Ahmedabad, the leader and the community reportedly feigned ignorance about Child Marriage Prohibition Act. Upon seeking the birth certificates of those to be married, they found that 38 were underage. We are not singling out any particular community. But child marriages are more rampant in Devipujaks, Chunaras and Dataniya communities due to poverty and less education, Chauhan observed. Group marriages are widely preferred in these communities since expenses get divided and the couples also get gifts from the organisers. Chauhan said they had the help from the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer, Ahmedabad and the district child protection unit. The team had also informed the police, should it required any assistance. He said it is always better to prevent the marriage before it actually takes place, for in the latter case the prestige of the families is also at stake and then legal action is also initiated. For the first time, India's indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on Saturday berthed at the strategically key Karwar naval base. The Indian Navy described the docking of the aircraft carrier at the base as a "landmark" in the context of ship-berthing capacity at the newly-built facility. "In a first of it's kind for the Indian Navy, this berthing of INS Vikrant at the new aircraft carrier pier with a two-deck configuration providing enhanced ship support facilities is a substantial infrastructural feat," a Navy spokesperson said. In September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India's first indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant that made the country part of an elite group of nations capable of manufacturing aircraft carriers above 40,000 tonnes category. The Navy had said the aircraft carrier would be able to play a role in ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The Indian Navy is expanding the strategically crucial naval base in Karnataka's Karwar as part of project 'Seabird'. Once the base is fully operational, it will be one of the largest naval bases in Asia. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the president should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the newly-constructed Parliament building on May 28. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Modi on Thursday last and extended an invitation to inaugurate the new building, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had said. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, "The President should inaugurate the new Parliament House and not the Prime Minister '. Veteran Parliamentarian and former deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and some other opposition leaders were also of the same view. "It will not be Constitutionally correct for the PM to inaugurate the new building of Parliament. Jury is out whether it was required at all. No major democracy has done this. Westminster is the seat of the British Parliament and Capitol Hill of the US Congress for hundreds of years," Sharma said on Twitter. He said Parliament is the custodian and pride of India's Constitutional democracy and its glory must not be undermined as the sovereignty of the people is vested in it. Article 79 of the Constitution is unambiguous that the President is the head of Parliament which comprises Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, he contended. "The PM is the leader of Lok Sabha. It is the President who alone can summon the Parliament - Article 85," he said. "Rashtrapati addresses the joint session only flanked by Rajya Sabha Chairman - Vice President and Lok Sabha Speaker. PM and leader of Rajya Sabha are seated in Central Hall. The Constitution must be respected in letter and spirit and the President should inaugurate," Sharma said in a series of tweets. CPI general secretary D Raja also said the prime minister leads the executive organ of the state and Parliament is the legislative organ. "It would have been appropriate for Smt. Droupadi Murmu as Head of the State to inaugurate the new Parliament," he said. "Obsession with self-image and cameras trumps decency and norms when it comes to Modi Ji," Raja alleged on Twitter. RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha had earlier said, "Shouldn't the honorable President of India be inaugurating the new 'Sansad Bhavan'? I leave it at that...Jai Hind." AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi too had raised objections to the prime minister inaugurating the new Parliament building. "Why should the PM inaugurate Parliament? He is head of the executive, not legislature. We have a separation of powers and Hon'ble Lok Sabha Speaker and RS Chair could have inaugurated. It's made with public money, why is the PM behaving like his 'friends' have sponsored it from their private funds," Owaisi said on Twitter. The inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28 coincides with the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and several opposition parties have targeted the government over it. The Congress has called it a "complete insult" to the country's founding fathers. The new Parliament building can comfortably seat 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber and 300 in the Rajya Sabha chamber, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat. In case of a joint sitting of both Houses, a total of 1,280 members can be accommodated in the Lok Sabha chamber. The prime minister laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020. The present Parliament building was completed in 1927. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Tuesday to seek her support amid the tussle between Delhi government and Centre over the control of administrative services. Reports said the Aam Aadmi Party chief will also meet NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them in the national capital. The ordinance came just a week after the Supreme Court ruled that the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, rests with the elected government in Delhi. "Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said. The parliament has to ratify the ordinance within six month, for which the Centre will have to bring a bill for its passage in both houses. Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Quoting AAP sources, ANI reported that Kejriwal will meet Thackeray on May 24 and Pawar on May 25. Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met Kejriwal at his residence and offered full support to him over the issue. Nitish said he will also request other opposition parties to support the Delhi government. "How can you take away an elected government's power," the Janata Dal (United) leader asked. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have already come in support of Kejriwal over the issue. "Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call for everyone. Whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country," Mufti said in Bengaluru where she attended the swearing-in of Siddaramaiah government. Terming the Centre's ordinance as an insult to judiciary, Akhilesh said this is the result of negative politics of BJP and also of democratic-injustice. "BJP knows that it will be defeated in all the seats of Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections, that is why it is already taking revenge from the public. This is murder of mandate in the name of ordinance," he said. President Joe Biden planned on Sunday to speak directly with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, hoping to salvage talks to raise the debt limit that have stalled in recent days while he was abroad at the Group of Seven summit. GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits. Biden and world leaders at the gathering for industrial nations in Japan had been closely tracking the negotiations, looking for signs of a compromise that would ensure the federal government can keep paying its bills and avoid a potentially catastrophic default. Biden has tried to project optimism even as the talks back in Washington were rocky. Republicans are rejecting a White House plan that would impose less strict cuts while also increasing revenues. The two sides are up against a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise its borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion. We're going to get a chance to talk later today," Biden said of McCarthy, R-Calif., while the president met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea at the G7 in Hiroshima, Japan. But McCarthy may need bipartisan support; it's possible he'll need as many as 100 House Democratic votes to pass an agreement, based on likely GOP defections and past votes, according to a person familiar with the talks. The person was not authorised to provide details about the proposal and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. In the latest round, McCarthy's team called for deep cuts to non-defense spending, while insisting on increased funding for the military. Education, health care, Meals on Wheels and other programmes would likely bear the burden, according to the person. The GOP wants work requirements on Medicaid, though the administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The Republican side also introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states' ability to wave work requirements in places with high joblessness, an idea that when floated by the Trump administration was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits. The GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts to IRS funding and asking the White House to accept provisions from their proposed immigration overhaul. The White House has countered by keeping defence and non-defence spending flat next year, which would save USD 90 billion in fiscal 2024 and $1 trillion over 10 years. Republicans have also rejected White House proposals to raise revenues in order to further lower deficits. Among the proposals the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs and the closing of a dozen tax loopholes. Republicans have refused to roll back the Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Biden's own budget has proposed. With talks frozen on Saturday as each side accused the other of being unreasonable, Biden was frequently briefed on the status of negotiations and directed his team to set up the call with McCarthy. The decision to set up a call came after another start-stop day with no outward signs of progress. Food was brought to the negotiating room at the Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later, and no meeting was expected. Talks, though, could resume on Sunday after the two leaders' conversation. The Speaker's team put on the table an offer that was a big step back and contained a set of extreme partisan demands that could never pass both Houses of Congress, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement late Saturday. Let's be clear: The president's team is ready to meet any time, said Jean-Pierre, adding that Republican leadership is beholden to its extreme wing in threatening default. McCarthy tweeted that it was the White House that was moving backward in negotiations. He said the socialist wing of the Democratic party appears to be in control, especially with President Biden out of the country. Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson, who has worked closely with McCarthy to shape the GOP proposal told The Associated Press late Saturday that there were no meetings scheduled Sunday. Republicans are trying to grab the president's attention rather than negotiators. If the president doesn't re-engage, I don't know the staff conversations can bear fruit, Johnson said. Biden, attending the meeting of the world's most powerful democracies, tried to reassure them on Saturday that the United States would not default, a scenario that would rattle the world economy. He said he felt there was headway in the talks. The first meetings weren't all that progressive, the second ones were, the third one was, he said. The president added that he believes we'll be able to avoid a default, and we'll get something decent done. For months, Biden had refused to engage in talks over the debt limit, insisting that Congress must not play political games by trying to use the borrowing limit vote as leverage to extract other policy priorities. But as the deadline approaches as soon as June 1 when Treasury says it could run out of cash, and Republicans put their own legislation on the table, the White House launched talks on a budget deal that could accompany an increase in the debt limit. Negotiations heading into the weekend had been dizzying. McCarthy said on Friday it was time to pause talks but then the two sides convened again in the evening, only to quickly call it quits for the night. We reengaged, had a very, very candid discussion," Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., a negotiator on McCarthy's side, said Friday evening. As the White House team left the nighttime session, Biden counsellor Steve Ricchetti, who is leading talks for the Democrats, said he was hopeful. We're going to keep working, he said. McCarthy had said resolution to the standoff is easy, if only Biden's team would agree to some spending cuts Republicans are demanding. The biggest impasse was over the fiscal 2024 top-line budget amount, according to another person briefed on the talks and granted anonymity to discuss them. Democrats contend the steep reductions Republicans have put on the table would be potentially harmful to Americans, and they are insisting that Republicans agree to tax increases on the wealthy, in addition to spending cuts, to close the deficit. Wall Street turned lower on Friday as negotiations came to a sudden halt. Experts have warned that even the threat of a debt default would could spark a recession. Republicans argue the nation's deficit spending needs to get under control, aiming to roll back spending to fiscal 2022 levels and restrict future growth. But Biden's team is countering that the caps Republicans proposed in their House-passed bill would amount to 30 per cent reductions in some programmes if Defence and veterans are spared, according to a memo from the Office of Management and Budget. Any deal would need the support of both Republicans and Democrats to find approval in a divided Congress and be passed into law. Negotiators are eyeing a more narrow budget cap deal of a few years, rather than the decade-long caps Republicans initially wanted, and clawing back some USD 30 billion of unspent COVID-19 funds. Still up for debate are policy changes, including a framework for permitting reforms to speed the development of energy projects, as well as the Republican push to impose work requirements on government aid recipients that Biden has been open to but the House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has said was a "nonstarter". McCarthy faces pressures from his hard-right flank to cut the strongest deal possible for Republicans, and he risks a threat to his leadership as speaker if he fails to deliver. Many House Republicans are unlikely to accept any deal with the White House. Biden is facing increased pushback from Democrats, particularly progressives, who argue the reductions will fall too heavily on domestic programmes that Americans rely on. Russia's Wagner Group of mercenaries has announced that they have fully captured the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a claim reaffirmed by Russia's Defence Ministry. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a video posted on the social media platform Telegram, said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. Prigozhin, flanked by half a dozen fighters, said: "Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken," Prigozhin said in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues. "We completely took the whole city, from house to house," he added in the video that showed ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. He also blamed the "whims" of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. "Five times more guys died than they should have," Prigozhin, said while thanking Putin "that he gave us this chance and great honour to defend our motherland". "We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels," Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. Russia's defence ministry too issued a statement early on Sunday claiming that the forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. "As a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed," the Russian defence ministry said in a one-line statement. Bakhmut, also named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, is the regional capital of Donetsk and had a population of 80,000. It was also a resource-rich industrial area known for salt and gypsum mines. It is also famous for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Wagner mercenary group fighters wave flags of Russia and Wagner group on top of a building in an unidentified location, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict Russian President Vladimir Putin too congratulated troops on capturing the city and said those who had distinguished themselves would be given awards, Russian news agencies reported. Though Ukrainian authorities initially told Reuters that fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy later confirmed Bakhmut's loss. When asked whether Kyiv remained in control of Bakhmut, Zelenskyy said:"I think no." Zelenskyy said he thought Ukraine had lost the city, but added, "They destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he said. "There is nothing in this place." Zelenskyy was speaking alongside President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Both sides reportedly paid a huge price for the city though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy had earlier stressed the significance of Bakhmut, stating that its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. However, war analysts believe though Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia, it is unlikely to be decisive to the war. Russia still has to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Japan to attend the G7 grouping at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, paid floral tributes at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Sunday. The park is built in memory of those who died in a nuclear attack on the city at the end of the Second World War. Besides Modi, the leaders of the other invited countries too paid their respect at the part. Tweeting photos of Modi's visit to the museum at the memorial site, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "A tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims. PM Narendra Modi begins his day by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitor's book." He also tweeted a group photo of the world leaders attending the G7 Summit and said, "The leaders also paid their respect at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park." The Prime Minister also attended the meeting of Quad nations on Saturday, where he described the Indo-Pacific region as an "engine" of global trade, innovation and development and said its success and security were important for the whole world. Addressing Quad leaders US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, Modi also stressed the importance of consolidating Quad's constructive agenda and delivering tangible outcomes for the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with USA President Joe Biden, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida during the Quad Leaders' Summit, in Hiroshima | PTI Meanwhile, the Quad leaders took a veiled dig at China by reaffirming their steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific while strongly opposing "destabilising or unilateral actions" that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion. This comes amid Beijing's increasing bid to militarise the strategically important Indo-Pacific. The Quad leaders also insisted that it was important to stick to international law and the maintenance of freedom of navigation and overflight with regard to the East and South China seas. "We express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities,' the statement said, in an oblique reference to Chinese activities. The Quad leaders emphasised that disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, without threat or use of force. The Quad also mourned the "terrible and tragic" humanitarian consequences of the war in Ukraine, while seeking end of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. The joint statement by the four leaders released at the end of the summit highlighted on peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for principles of the UN Charter, including territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states and in that context, expressed "deep concern" over the raging war in Ukraine and mourned its "terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences". "We recognise its serious impacts on the global economic system including on food, fuel and energy security and critical supply chains," the statement said. The leaders resolved to continue to render humanitarian assistance to Ukraine for its recovery. (With inputs from PTI) As leftist legislators controlling Ecuador's National Assembly lay a foundation of charges against President Guillermo Lasso and then began to build a case for his removal from office, the center-right Lasso detonated Ecuador's governmental structure as an architect may demolish a building in order to rebuild on its footprint. Lasso dissolved the legislature and cut short his own term until early elections in 90 days. It was a version of political mutual assured destruction enacted in order to avoid his ouster from office. In doing so, Lasso took a step reminiscent of what Peru's President Pedro Castillo did earlier this year before being quickly deposed and arrested within hours. But in politics, as in life, style is everything. In contrast to a quivering Castillo reading the dissolution of Peru's Congress as his hands' trembling was magnified by the shaking of the papers he held, Lasso forcefully and flanked by stone-faced members of his government activated a constitutional provision to dissolve the Congress and asked the National Electoral Council to call for new parliamentary and presidential elections. The dynamics of power and decision-making are inherently intertwined with the style and manner in which political moves are executed, ultimately impacting their outcomes. But substance and context matter as well. In Peru, the left-wing Castillo was being impeached on charges of permanent moral incapacity over various actions during his young government, and the attempt to dissolve the Congress resulted in immediate mass resignations of his cabinet and the courts declared the move unconstitutional. In Ecuador, its National Assembly had been holding a risky political trial, an impeachment procedure of sorts, seeking to remove Lasso from office. Lasso's risky countermove, however, had been judged constitutional in a unanimous decision by Ecuador's Constitutional Court, rejecting petitions for the contrary. The country's chief of the high military command, Brig. General Nelson Bolivar Proano Rodriguez vowed the military will "act firmly" and guarantee security and "peaceful" new elections. Until then, Lasso will govern by decree. It was a bold and risky move by the National Assembly that backfired. The rhetoric at the trial was at once soaring and cutting, threatening Lasso's ouster on arguable charges of failing to cancel a contract enacted by the previous government. Muerte cruzada, which translates to "cross-death", refers to a political mechanism built into Ecuador's Constitution that allows the president to cut short legislators' terms and his own until new elections in six months in cases of "ingovernability". It is not a draw, however; the advantage goes to the president who remains in office and has enhanced decree powers until the election. The net result is significant, as the president effectively removes the legislative check, concentrating the power on him to govern without opposition. Former president Rafael Correa, one of the central figures of Latin America's first Pink Tide, now exiled in Belgium and sentenced in Ecuador to 8 years of prison for corruption, begrudgingly accepted that the move might be "the best for the country", while at the same time decrying its constitutionality. "Unfortunately, that is not correct," said Correa to CNN. "The decree is unconstitutional. Therein we see the dilemma between doing what is right or doing the correct, which is to respect the Constitution." Ecuadorian Constitutional Attorney Jose Antonio Chiriboga Hungria, speaking from Guayaquil, told THE WEEK that despite the ability to dissolve the Assembly being a constitutional power granted to the president, it was a desperate measure. "It was clear that he did not have enough votes to avoid censure and removal from office as president," said Chiriboga Hungria. "The reasons invoked from Article 148 of the Constitution do not align with the current political situation," he said, adding that he believes the action is unconstitutional and constitutes an abuse of power. From his office in Quito, indigenous legislator Jose Agualsaca Guaman, a former head of the powerful Ecuadorian Federation of Indigenous Peoples and a left-wing leader, shared with THE WEEK his position papers on the situation. "In no part of the constitutional order and juridic is established that the president can suspend or to void a process and worse (sic) to destitute its natural political judges within a political trial framed and endorsed by the Constitutional Court," says Agualsaca. "Therefore, the dissolution of the Assembly in the form and opportunity that exists, is an unconstitutional, dictatorial act supported by the chiefs of the armed forces, the police, fictitious and transnational powers." Constitutional Attorney Andre Benavides disagrees. Tweeting from Quito, he said that the presidential decree "was not subject to subsequent ex officio constitutional review, and the actions seeking unconstitutionality were forced." The leadership of the indigenous federation had promised to protest if Lasso invoked the 'muerte cruzada' clause, but once it happened they have reacted with restraint and seem poised to make their case in the elections, calling for assemblies rather than protests. The country was in convulsions, says empresario Marcelo Riera, CEO of Ricor Hats, a Guayaquil-based manufacturing and exporting firm. "This is the best outcome. It is the best of the best of what could happen, muerte cruzada." The president was always looking for what is best for him, says Riera. "Looking out for his own best outcome and for his interest group, but that did not reach the rest of Ecuador, not at all. It is for the best." It is time to change, to change the country, and it is going to show, said Riera, adding that he believes that there was an abuse of power by Lasso that triggered the legislature-led crisis in the first place. In Ecuador, the president can govern by decree for a limited period of time. According to the country's Constitution, if the president dissolves the National Assembly and calls for new elections, they can assume temporary legislative powers for upto three months. During this period, the president can issue decrees and make decisions without the need for legislative approval. This period of governing by decree is meant to be temporary and is primarily intended to maintain basic governance functions until the new elections take place. Once the new elections are held and a new National Assembly is formed, the president's temporary legislative powers expire, and the government can return to normal function. "Lasso is an unpopular President," says Chiriboga Hungria, analyzing the political situation in the country. "Only his officials, the armed forces, the police, and the Ecuadorian bourgeoisie support him. Over 85 per cent of Ecuadorians disapprove of his government due to its indifference and incompetence." That is why there is not much political polarization in that regard, he said, explaining why even some in the opposition support Lasso's decision to call for new elections. In Peru, most people quickly rejected Castillos attempt to dissolve the Congress and celebrated his impeachment and arrest as a vindication for democracy. The country also experienced deadly confrontations between protesters and security forces. Hungria says that in Ecuador, people see in this the best for the country. "People were hopeless and living in uncertainty. Hundreds of Ecuadorians are migrating abroad, sometimes risking their lives, because they believe there is no future in Ecuador. Now, they are waiting to see what will happen with the new elections scheduled for August this year." Lasso was facing accusations of embezzlement in connection with a highly controversial oil transportation contract that was signed prior to his assumption of office. Opposition lawmakers alleged that in his capacity as president, he failed to intervene in the questionable agreement between state-owned Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana and Amazonas Tankers, insinuating his involvement in the arrangement that resulted in significant financial losses. On May Day, there were numerous marches demanding Lasso's removal from office for what they said was his "lack of suitability for such a high office. For Lasso, dissolving the National Assembly appears to have put an end to the governance impasse, and Ecuador seems headed to new legislative and presidential elections with broad support. For its southern neighbor, however, it is a different tale. Castillos move was rejected by the constitutional court, the armed forces, his vice-president and most of his cabinet. He was impeached and arrested for rebellion and is serving an 18-month prison term while the country remains in turmoil. Sensing a change in the political winds, Ecuador's former president Correa, himself sentenced on charges of corruption, is happy to take the early elections but said, "We have early elections because a corrupt and inept president did not want to face the constitutional political judgement." In a rare moment, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape touched Prime Minister Narendra Modi's feet and sought blessings upon the latter's arrival at Port Moresby airport. Modi reached the Indo-Pacific country on the second leg of his three-nation tour. This is Modi's first tour to PNG, as well as the first-ever visit by any Indian prime minister to the Indo-Pacific country. Normally Papua New Guinea doesn't give a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after sunset. But a special exception was made for Prime Minister Modi and a ceremonial welcome was accorded to him. A traditional folk dance performance was also staged outside the airport to welcome PM Modi to PNG. "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit," the prime minister tweeted. Modi and Marape will host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). The summit will take place at a time when China is making efforts to enhance its military and diplomatic influence in the region. The prime minister, who wrapped up his Japan visit on Sunday, will fly to Australia after his engagements in PNG. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Papua New Guinea on his maiden visit during which he will host a key summit on Monday between India and 14 Pacific island countries to boost bilateral ties. The Prime Minister arrived here from Japan where he attended the summit of the G7 advanced economies and held bilateral meetings with several world leaders. Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea on the second leg of his three-nation tour is the first ever by any Indian prime minister. Modi was received at the airport by Prime Minister James Marape who touched his feet as a mark of respect. "Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting India's ties with this great nation during my visit," Modi tweeted. Normally Papua New Guinea doesn't give a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after sunset. But a special exception was made for Prime Minister Modi and a ceremonial welcome was accorded to him. "A grand beginning of an important visit! PM @narendramodi arrives in Port Moresby on what is the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Papua New Guinea. Accorded a 19-gun salute, guard of honour & ceremonial welcome. As a special gesture, PM James Marape received PM Modi at the airport," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. The prime minister was also warmly greeted by the Indian community. On Monday, Modi and Marape will host the third summit of the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC). The summit will take place at a time when China is making efforts to enhance its military and diplomatic influence in the region. "I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important summit (FIPIC)," Modi had said earlier. FIPIC was launched during his visit to Fiji in 2014. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues, sources said. PIC includes Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Modi will also hold bilateral talks with Marape and meet Bob Dadae, the Governor General of Papua New Guinea. He will also meet New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2023 - 22:00 | All, World, Japan The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- G-7 vows to aim to achieve nuclear-free world, Ukraine peace: Kishida HIROSHIMA - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday touted the achievements of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, saying the leaders from the advanced economies agreed to work toward a world without nuclear weapons and stand by Ukraine. The three-day G-7 summit from Friday took place in Kishida's home constituency in the western city, devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in August 1945, amid lingering fears that Russia may use a nuclear weapon in its ongoing war in Ukraine. ---------- Ukraine's Zelenskyy visits A-bomb museum in Hiroshima HIROSHIMA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Sunday a museum documenting the devastation of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, western Japan, in a symbolic move for a wartime leader whose nation faces nuclear threats from Russia. Zelenskyy, who is in Japan to attend part of the Group of Seven summit that ended Sunday, placed a bouquet of flowers at a cenotaph dedicated to the victims accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. ---------- A-bomb survivor Setsuko Thurlow calls G-7 summit "huge failure" HIROSHIMA - Atomic bomb survivor and campaigner Setsuko Thurlow branded the Group of Seven nations' summit in Hiroshima a "huge failure" on Sunday after the leaders released a statement supporting existing nonproliferation policy. Speaking at a press conference in the closing hours of the three-day summit, billed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as an opportunity to advocate for a "world without nuclear weapons," Thurlow, who backs a treaty banning nuclear arms, criticized the statement as "blasphemy against atomic bomb survivors." ---------- Ukraine denies Russia's control of Bakhmut HIROSHIMA - Ukraine said Sunday that the eastern city of Bakhmut remains under its control, despite Russia's claim to have captured it. Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's remarks in Hiroshima, Japan, had stirred some confusion when he was asked by a reporter about the embattled city's status. ---------- FOCUS: G-7 renews pledge to defend int'l order, yet China challenges loom HIROSHIMA - The Group of Seven's resolve to defend the international order is likely only to have strengthened after seeing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travel all the way to Japan to meet the leaders of the major democracies to drum up support for fighting back against Russia's invasion. Shortly after Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday to join the summit discussions, the G-7 issued a communique pledging to uphold the "free and open international order based on the rule of law" and expressed strong opposition to "any unilateral attempts to change the peacefully established status of territories by force or coercion." ---------- Biden invites Japanese, S. Korean leaders for 3-way talks in U.S. HIROSHIMA - U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday invited the leaders of Japan and South Korea for an official trilateral summit in the United States as the two Asian neighbors have been quickly improving their relations, long fraught with historical animosity. The invitation was extended when he briefly met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit. The date of the next three-way meeting has yet to be set, according to a senior U.S. administration official. ---------- Japan PM Kishida rules out dissolving lower house "as of now" HIROSHIMA - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday ruled out dissolving the House of Representatives for a snap election "as of now," amid growing speculation that he would do so following the Group of Seven summit in his constituency of Hiroshima. "As we are putting our priority on important challenges bearing fruit, I am not thinking of a dissolution (of the lower house) and a general election," Kishida said at a press conference to conclude the three-day summit he hosted in western Japan. ---------- Baseball: Walker helps Giants power past Dragons TOKYO - Adam Walker hit a two-run homer and scored twice, helping the Yomiuri Giants to an early three-run lead in a 5-2 Central League win Sunday over the Chunichi Dragons. The victory at Tokyo Dome was the Giants' fifth straight and completed a two-game sweep of the last-place Dragons, who have lost seven in a row. ---------- Video: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum guest book signed by G-7 leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, taking a dig at United Nations, said, Institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the 21st century. Modi said, The United Nations (UN), which was established with the very purpose of establishing peace, why does it often fail to prevent conflicts today? Why, even the definition of terrorism has not been accepted in the UN yet? He added, If introspection is done, then one thing is clear. The institutions created in the last century are not in line with the system of the 21st century. They do not reflect the realities of the present. That is why it is necessary that reforms should be given concrete shape in big institutions like UN. It will also have to become the voice of the Global South. Otherwise, we will just keep talking about ending conflict. UN and Security Council will become just a talk shop. Modi on Sunday said he views the current situation in Ukraine as an issue of humanity and human values and not of politics or economy even as he called for respecting international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. The prime minister also referred to his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday and reiterated that India will do whatever is possible to resolve the conflict. The prime minister also strongly pitched for raising voice collectively against unilateral attempts to change the status quo, asserting that any tension and dispute should be resolved peacefully through dialogue. Modi said all countries must respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. Modi's comments came after Zelenskyy addressed the G7 leaders seeking global support for Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression. The war in Ukraine has been the overwhelming focus of the summit. "We have said from the beginning, that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way. And to solve this situation, we will try as much as possible, whatever can be done from India," he said. The prime minister also invoked Buddha and said there is no such problem in the modern age whose solution cannot be found in his teachings. He quoted Buddha to say that enmity is pacified by affinity and that "we should move forward together with everyone in this spirit." The prime minister's comments came against the backdrop of the lingering border row with China in eastern Ladakh and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "It is necessary that all countries respect the UN Charter, international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. Raise your voice together against unilateral attempts to change the status quo," he said. "India has always been of the opinion that any tension, any dispute should be resolved peacefully, through dialogue. And if a solution is found by law, it should be accepted. And in this spirit, India resolved its land and maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh," he said. The prime minister said that in the current global situation, the maximum and the most profound effects of the food, fuel and fertilizer crisis are being felt by the developing countries. "Global peace, stability and prosperity is a common objective of all of us. In today's interconnected world, tension in any one region affects all countries. And, developing countries, which have limited resources, are affected the most," he said. "Due to the current global situation, the maximum and most profound effects of the food, fuel and fertilizer crisis are being suffered by these countries," he added. The G7, comprising the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the world's richest democracies. Under its G7 presidency, Japan invited India and seven other countries to the summit. (With PTI inputs.) Russia on Sunday put on wanted list the judge and prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and childrens rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova allegedly for trafficking Ukrainian children. Russia on Sunday announced indictments in absentia for a judge and prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who issued the war crimes warrant. A statement from the National Investigative Committee said the judge, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and prosecutor Khan Karim Asad Ahmad are both charged with preparing to attack a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations. "By now, investigations have collected enough evidence to charge in absentia prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Khan Karim Assad Ahmad and judge of the International Criminal Court Rosario Salvatore Aitala," TASS reported quoting the National Investigative Committee's statement. TASS reported the ICC prosecutor is facing charges for criminal prosecution of a person known to be innocent, as well as preparation for an attack on a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations. The judge is facing charges for knowingly illegal detention and preparation for an attack on a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations, the publication reported. Conviction could bring prison terms of up to 12 years. The committee also said other ICC officials are being investigated. The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine. It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, on similar allegations. The investigation found crimes committed against Ukrainians on Russian territory, including deporting Ukrainian children who were prevented from reuniting with their families, a filtration system aimed at singling out Ukrainians for detention, and torture and inhumane detention conditions. (With PTI inputs.) US President Joe Biden was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Quad meeting held on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, stating that he is "running out of tickets" ahead of the latter's upcoming US visit next month. Calling Modi "very popular", Biden reportedly said: You are demonstrating that democracies matter. You are causing me a real problem. Next month we have a dinner (during PM Modi's visit to the US in June) for you in Washington. Everyone in the whole country wants to come. I have run out of tickets. You think I am kidding? Ask my team. I am getting phone calls from people I have never heard of before. Everyone from movie actors to relatives. You are too popular," sources quoted him saying. PM Narendra Modi will embark on an official state visit to the United States on June 22. During his visit, PM Modi will be hosted by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at a state dinner at the White House, the Ministry of External Affairs informed through a press statement. Biden also praise Modi for "making a significant impact on everything, including what the other three members doing in QUAD." "You also made a fundamental shift in climate. You have influence in Indo-Pacific. You are making a difference," Biden added. VIDEO | US President Joe Biden walks up to PM Modi to greet him at the Working Session of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. pic.twitter.com/ffILFd23Hf Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 20, 2023 Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also present when US President was speaking to PM Modi. The Australian premier recalled how more than 90,000 people welcomed PM Modi during the victory lap at the Narendra Modi stadium. To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, "I should take your autograph." Meanwhile, the Prime Minister left Japan for Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his three-nation tour. Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea will be the first ever by any Indian prime minister. "After a successful visit to Japan, PM @narendramodi emplanes for Papua New Guinea, for the second leg of his three-nation tour," the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted. Modi arrived in Hiroshima on Friday to attend three sessions at the G7 summit following an invitation by Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. "It has been a fruitful visit to Japan. Met several world leaders during the G-7 Summit and discussed a variety of issues with them. Gratitude to PM @kishida230, the Government and the people of Japan for their warmth," the prime minister said in a tweet. The group of seven, comprising the US, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the world's richest democracies. Under its G7 presidency, Japan invited India and seven other countries to the summit as guests. During his stay in Japan, he met several world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese counterpart Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Premier Rishi Sunak. Modi along with US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese also attended the 3rd in-person Qaud Summit. Modi also offered to host the next Quad Leaders' Summit in India in 2024. Modi is scheduled to land in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea later on Sunday. In Papua New Guinea, he will host the third summit of the Forum for IndiaPacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on Monday jointly with Prime Minister James Marape. "I am grateful that all 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have accepted the invitation to attend this important summit (FIPIC)," Modi had said earlier. FIPIC was launched during his visit to Fiji in 2014. In the third and final leg of the trip, Modi will visit Australia from May 22 to 24. ON COUNTING DAY, former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, 63, was glued to the TV set at his JP Nagar residence in Bengaluru. The JD(S) leader had flown in from Singapore the previous night to be at home to track the results and possibly celebrate in case of a hung verdict. The JD(S) had fancied itself as a kingmaker, having got the chiefministership in coalition governments twice earlierwith the BJP in 2006 and the Congress in 2018despite coming third. But its chances came to naught this time, as the Congress won 135 of 224 seats. The JD(S) bagged a mere 19 seats. What hurt Kumaraswamy (in pic) the most was the defeat of his son Nikhil, 33, from Ramanagara. What was more shocking was the party losing ground in its bastionthe Vokkaliga belt in the Old Mysuru region. The Congress won 37 of the 59 seats; it had won only 20 in 2018. The JD(S) won only 14 seats as against 29 in 2018. Its vote share, too, dipped from 18.3 per cent in 2018 to 13.3 per cent in 2023. The verdict was both unexpected and worrying for the party. Its founder H.D. Deve Gowdathe tallest Vokkaliga leader in the statecommands enormous respect in the community, but it is no longer enough to hold its votes intact. The partys best performance was in 200458 seatswhen it had prominent leaders from different communities, like Siddaramaiah (Kuruba), Govind Karjol (dalit), R.V. Deshpande (Brahmin), C.M. Udasi and Basavaraj Bommai (Lingayat), Krishna Byre Gowda (Vokkaliga) and Zameer Ahmed Khan (Muslim). But after Siddaramaiahs exit in 2005, the exodus of leaders continued, and today it is being accused of being a family-centric and caste-based party with little presence outside the Old Mysuru region. The emergence of Vokkaliga leaders in the Congress and the BJP has caused a dent in its support base. At least five per cent of the Vokkaliga votes shifted to the Congress in the Old Mysuru region, as the community pinned its hopes on fellow Vokkaliga and state Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar becoming the chief minister. The BJPs aggressive campaign in the Vokkaliga belt did the JD(S) more harm than it did the Congress. Party insiders also point to Muslims voting en bloc for the Congress after the BJP government scrapped the 4 per cent reservation for them under the OBC quota to make way for an enhanced quota for the Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Also, Mallikarjun Kharges elevation as Congress president helped consolidate the dalit vote in his home turfKalyana Karnataka regionwhere the Congress bagged 26 of 41 seats. The debacle has hit Kumaraswamy hard. For someone who had campaigned rigorously ahead of the polls despite two heart surgerieshis Pancharatna Yatre covered more than 70 constituencies in 87 dayshe stayed home post the verdict and asked his personal staff to leave for the day. He picked a book to read and retired to bed early. Kumaranna has withdrawn into a cocoon and will be going to his farmhouse in Bidadi, said his aide. He is a hands-on farmer and has plans to make some changes to his plantation. Kumaraswamy had worked tirelessly to transform the JD(S) into a new-age party by hiring professionals for branding and designing the campaign and manifesto. Even Deve Gowda, who can barely walk at 90, addressed rallies. But none of that impressed the voters. What hurt Kumaraswamy the most was the defeat of his son Nikhil, 33, from Ramanagara. He had also lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Mandya. His defeat was being read as a vote against the partys family-centric politics. Clearly, the party needs to expand its bastion with a broad-based leadership. The hurdle came after the finish line. As soon as the Congress won 135 seats to oust the BJP government in Karnataka, a turbulent truce was withdrawn. Both Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar wanted the chief ministers chair. While the state Congress president wanted a return gift for reviving a party that was in tatters following the mass desertions of 2019, the former chief minister pointed to the overwhelming support of the party MLAs who backed him for the job. The decision was not easy; it was not simple math. At the CLP meeting on May 14, the party observers sought the MLAs opinion on who should be chief minister in a secret ballot. Party sources said Siddaramaiah was the frontrunner all along, given his mass appeal, the ahinda factor and his track record as an administrator. Insiders said that, behind closed doors, the leadership has devised a 50-50 power-sharing formula (30-month tenure to each leader) to placate Shivakumar. Shivakumar argued that Siddaramaiah had already served a full term as chief minister and it was only fair to follow the tradition of making the party president chief minister. While both leaders took credit for the near 5 per cent increase in vote share, Shivakumar reasoned that his Vokkaliga community had voted for the Congress to see their own chief minister. As a counter, Siddaramaiah said he was the states undisputed ahinda leader with the support of minorities, backward classes and dalits. Siddaramaiahs confidants claimed that Rahul Gandhi had promised him the top job when he was in Delhi last year to invite Rahul for his 75th birthday celebrations. Siddaramaiah had told Rahul that he would not contest but only campaign if he was not the chief minister candidate. Rahul apparently gave him his word. Strangely, Shivakumar, too, made a similar claimhe said Sonia Gandhi had promised to reward him if he delivered Karnataka to the party. Soon after the results on May 13, Shivakumar broke down before the media and said he had delivered what he had promised. He then rushed to Kanakapura to thank his voters and said, People of Ramanagara and the Old Mysuru region have given a befitting reply to those who mocked me saying that winning Kanakapura alone does not make one chief minister. Upbeat mood: Congress workers celebrating the partys victory in Bengaluru | Bhanu Prakash Chandra He added, I will inform you when you need to come to Bengaluru, hinting that he would soon take oath as chief minister. Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, was basking in the victory in Mysuru and engaged in friendly banter with his supporters and the media. Late in the evening, when the Congress leaders finally met at the party head office, they put up a united front and shared Nandini sweets to celebrate. The sweet meet soon soured; a cold war broke out between the two contenders. Staying together: Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi with other leaders at a campaign event in Hubbali | Bhanu Prakash Chandra The following morning, the fighting was on the wall. Supporters on both sides put up posters congratulating their leader on becoming chief minister. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge flew out of Bengaluru and three observersSushil Kumar Shinde, Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babarialanded in the city. Siddaramaiah quietly drove out of his Kumara Krupa Road residence in Bengaluru to a party MLAs home on Cunningham Road. An hour later, he reached Kharges residence along with a handful of MLAs. Shivakumar, meanwhile, drove his family to Tumakuru to pray at the Sri Kadusiddeshwara Mutt and meet his spiritual guru Ajjayya. He also visited the Sree Siddaganga Mutt before reaching the hotel in Bengaluru, venue of the Congress Legislature Party meeting. Tasting success: Shivakumar celebrates his birthday with Siddaramaiah and other Congress leaders after the Congress victory | PTI Earlier in the day, Kurubara Sangha and Vokkaligara Sangha had held news conferences, lobbying hard for Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, respectively. One of the powerful Vokkaliga pontiffs asked his community to remain alert. Shivakumar has worked hard to build the party and also suffered because of his commitment to the party, he said. A Kuruba pontiff argued that the Congress should not appoint a tainted person as chief minister, referring to pending cases against Shivakumar. Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and Randeep Surjewala having breakfast at Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopals house in Delhi after reaching a consensus on power sharing | AICC In a statement to television channels in Tumakuru, Shivakumar had said, I was patient when Siddaramaiah was made chief minister. Now, it is his turn to be patient. At the CLP meeting, the new MLAs unanimously passed a one-line resolution authorising Kharge to appoint the new CLP leader. However, despite the resolution, the party observers also sought the MLAs opinion on who should be chief minister in a secret ballot. Apparently, Siddaramaiah got the support of 80 per cent of the MLAs. The meeting, which began two hours late, remained inconclusive; both contenders refused to back down. For the cameras, though, they were buddying it up. After the meeting, the leaders gathered to celebrate Shivakumars 62nd birthday. As he cut the cake, Siddaramaiah fed him a slice and posed for photos. Man of the masses: Siddaramaiahs supporters celebrate outside his house in Bengaluru after he was named chief minister | Vishnu V. Nair The high command sensed trouble. They wanted to avoid a repeat of Rajasthan (Ashok Gehlot versus Sachin Pilot) and Madhya Pradesh (Kamal Nath versus Jyotiraditya Scindia). Congress general secretary in charge of organisation K.C. Venugopal summoned them both to Delhi. Kharge was already there. Before leaving for Delhi on May 15, Siddaramaiah told a news channel that he had the support of the MLAs. Sources close to Siddaramaiah said that he was confident about his claims and his original plan was to spend only that evening or the first half of the next day in Delhi before returning. Siddaramaiahs statement irked Shivakumar. He cancelled his Delhi visit citing stomach ache. During a press meet held at his Sadashivanagar residence, he said he might not have the support of a lot of MLAs, but, as party chief, he considered all 135 legislators his own. I did not lose heart and fought alone, and saved the party when rebels deserted it in 2019, he said. The next morning, Shivakumar took a flight to Delhi and a dig at Siddaramaiah. He said he was going alone. A single man with courage is a majority, he said. As the third party in this Karnataka equation, Kharge had to solve the matter quickly; a drawn-out fight would reflect badly on him as party president. Also, it was felt that if the discussions dragged on, the various leaders and factions could indulge in arm twisting. The central leadership did not want that. Kharge wanted to make the decision through consultation. The basis of the discussions were the observers report, the feedback they got from the MLAs, and the views of senior central and state leaders. Kharge held a series of discussions, both in person and on the phone. He met the three observers on May 15. Party general secretary Randeep Surjewala and Venugopal were also present. In the absence of Shivakumar, Kharge put on hold his meeting with Siddaramaiah. On May 16, Rahul reached Kharges residence and reportedly told him that the MLAs voices should be heard. Hectic discussions continued. Kharge met Shivakumar at 5:30pm and Siddaramaiah an hour later. The first meeting lasted 45 minutes; the next, 90 minutes. This was to be followed by a final round of discussions with the leadership before the announcement. Party sources said Siddaramaiah was the frontrunner all along, given his mass appeal, the ahinda factor, his track record as an administrator, and his OBC identity. Siddaramaiah apparently talked about the schemes he launched as chief minister and said that, with the Lok Sabha elections approaching, it was important to have a tall OBC leader at the helmthe Congress had promised a caste census and reservation for backward classes in its campaign, and these would be brought up during the national elections, too. Shivakumar is said to have stressed on the role he played to revive the party and batted for generational change in Karnataka. He is learnt to have pointed out that with Siddaramaiah at the helm, the party had won just one seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which went to D.K. Suresh, his brother. He assured the central leaders that the party would win 20 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. He also brought up the fact that he was always a Congressman, unlike Siddaramaiah (earlier with the Janata Dal (Secular)), and said that the former chief minister could not keep his government from falling in 2019. He even claimed that the ones who had defected to the BJP were Siddaramaiah supporters. Sources said that the idea of rotational chief ministership also came up. Both contenders were apparently against the idea; it had not worked in Rajasthan or Chhattisgarh. Congress leaders said the discussions also took into account the importance of accommodating three major communitiesLingayat, Vokkaliga and dalitin the new government. The three observers had told the leadership that if these communities were not given enough space, it could backfire in the Lok Sabha elections. The deadlock continued for the fourth day. May 17 saw hectic back and forth between 10 Janpath, where Rahul is staying, and Kharges residence at 10 Rajaji Marg. Siddaramaiah went to 10 Janpath around 11am, leaving at 12.30pm, after which Shivakumar arrived and was joined by Suresh. Sources said that while at 10 Janpath, the two contenders also spoke to Sonia Gandhi, who was in Shimla and was scheduled to return to Delhi on May 20. Sonia apparently tried to convince Shivakumar to be part of the government, emphasising that it was important for the two leaders to be seen together before the Lok Sabha elections. At around 1.30pm, Shivakumar went to Kharges residence. He told Kharge that he did not want to be Siddaramaiahs deputy and insisted that he get the first go in case of rotational chief ministership. However, he was told that Siddaramaiah had to get the first chance as the MLAs were with him and the widely held perception during the elections was that he would be chief minister. Shivakumar did not agree, and said that if he did not get the job, he would prefer to sit out and remain state party president. He even offered to be deputy if Kharge was made chief minister. In a scenario that Shivakumar was not agreeable, there were suggestions that there would be three deputy chief ministers, one each from the Lingayat, Muslim and dalit communities. A draft invite of the swearing-in ceremony also surfaced, saying that the event was scheduled for 3:30 pm on May 18. Party leaders later clarified that it was fake. Shivakumar was said to be extremely upset with these developments and took it up with the central leadership. Sources close to him asked if these steps were meant to force his hand. At this juncture, Surjewala rushed to address the media outside Kharges residence and urged reporters not to speculate. Some time later, he also issued a gag order on leaders. He warned that any violation of this direction would be considered an act of indiscipline. He also pointed out that no one had criticised the BJP when it took its time to decide chief ministers in Uttar Pradesh (2017) and Assam (2021). In the former, it took Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah eight days to zero in on the aggressive monk Yogi Adityanath. In Assam, the BJP needed a face to go with its hindutva agenda; it chose former Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma after a week. Shivakumar spent most of the afternoon at Kharges residence, where he also had lunch, before he left for Sureshs official residence. There, he was closeted with the MLAs supporting him before Surjewala called him for the final round of talks. Siddaramaiah did not have any further meetings. But he changed his plans of flying back to Bengaluru around 3:30pm and stayed back. The message from the high command was that the issue was yet to be resolved. This was a clear indication that the party wanted Shivakumar to be part of the government. Surjewala met Shivakumar around 8pm. This was the final offerdeputy chief ministership; no other deputies. After this meeting, Surjewala reached Kharges residence; Venugopal also joined them. Here, said sources, Rahul was brought into the loop. He had talked to his mother and conveyed her message about resolving the issue to Kharge. He passed this message on to the two main interlocutorsVenugopal and Surjewalabefore they had their final talk with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. Around 10:30pm, Siddaramaiah met Surjewala and Venugopal at the latters residence. Shivakumar was then called for a meeting; he left around 1:30am. Venugopal then told Kharge about the final outcomeSiddaramaiah as chief minister and Shivakumar his deputywhich he relayed to Sonia and Rahul on the phone. It was around 2am that the drama finally ended. The bitterness of the negotiations gave way to smiles the morning after. The two seemed to have buried the hatchet and went for a breakfast meeting with Venugopal. An hour later, they went in the same car to Kharges residence. A few minutes later, Kharge tweeted a photograph of all three holding hands to signal that all was well. The two also flew back to Bengaluru together in a private aircraft that Siddaramaiah was using. Venugopal and Surjewala made the formal announcement. The decision took time as the Congress believes in consensus and not dictatorship, said the former. Both leaders are big assets of the Congress. Everyone has a desire to be chief minister and both leaders deserve to be one. Insiders said that, behind closed doors, the leadership has devised a 50-50 power-sharing formula (30-month tenure to each leader) to placate Shivakumar. The Gandhi family has given him personal assurance amid apprehensions over Karnataka going the Rajasthan way. Apparently, it was after this conversation that Shivakumar softened. When a television reporter asked him in Delhi if he was happy with the formula, he quipped, The Congress has commitments towards the people of Karnataka. Parliament elections are also there. What to do? I bow to the AICC president and the Gandhi family. In the larger interest of the party, I agreed to the formula. Sometimes ice should break. Ultimately, we have a huge responsibility of delivering what we promised to the people. With inputs from Pratul Sharma Two showers, varied in nature, had different impacts on the Karnataka electorate. The Congress campaign played up videos of Rahul Gandhi braving a heavy downpour during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Mysuru. Whereas Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted with a shower of marigold petals, supplied by party workers, by citizens during his long road shows in Bengaluru and other cities. It was aired on news channels and amplified on social media. The results were in favour of the rain-spattered Congressa reminder of how a mufflered Arvind Kejriwal had got the better of Modi in a monogrammed suit eight years ago. The images were external symbols in an election where the BJP high command took total control of a state assembly election, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in charge of strategy. He held sessions not only in Delhi and Bengaluru, but also in districts. The other high functionary was B.L. Santhosh, general secretary (organisation), who earlier held the same position in the Karnataka BJP. Plus, Modi made multiple official forays. After the loss, there were attempts to lay the blame at Santhoshs door. Similarly, BJP national president J.P. Nadda could not halt the slide in his home state of Himachal Pradesh. The local leadership was underwhelmed. Since last February, the BJP and the Congress have had five direct confrontations. The score stood three in favour of the BJP (Goa, Gujarat, Uttarakhand) and two for the Congress (Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka). All five had incumbent BJP governments. In other states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Tripura, there were bigger regional players. In the five remaining assembly elections this year, the BJP and the Congress are head-to-head in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In Telangana, both are challengers to the entrenched Bharat Rashtra Samithi, led by K. Chandrashekar Rao. In Mizoram, the Mizo National Front is the main player. There are lessons from Karnataka for Modi and Shah, both fast thinkers, innovative strategists and aggressive implementers. The BJP dumped key Lingayat leaders like Laxman Savadi and Jagadish Shettar at the last minute without offering a cogent explanation. And, the community punished the BJP, which had given three Lingayat chief ministers. The loss made a mockery of surveys and feedback from multiple observers. Shah, who repeatedly insisted on a big majority, was no more the infallible oracle. In the northern states, too, the party needs to have strong reasons and explainers for its shocking decisions. Earlier strategists assigned to states like Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and P. Muralidhar Rao campaigned far less. But Shah, because of his stature in the party and government and his electoral success rate, was key strategist and the biggest star campaigner after Modi. The party has to look whether the two roles should be combined in the coming elections, or should Shah just focus on the more important Lok Sabha elections. In Karnataka, the criticism in the party ranks is that the high command ignored the voter perception about corruption in the B.S. Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai governments. The high command will have to quickly address the negative perceptions about the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh, while supporting the local units to go full throttle against the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Also, there has to be a hard look at road shows, which were vote-catchers in Gujarat but not so much in Karnataka. The imperial march through cities did not address rural distress over cooking gas price and unemployment. In Madhya Pradesh, after his government was toppled owing to Jyotiraditya Scindias defection in 2019, the Congresss Kamal Nath appears to have consolidated the party behind him. The BJP has to decide whether it should give Scindia, who has chief ministerial ambitions, a bigger role even if it upsets the old timers. Balancing Chouhan and Scindia is a major opportunity and challenge. In Rajasthan, the tussle between former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat needs to be addressed as Raje, popular as maharani, has more support on ground. Also, despite the seemingly irreconcilable differences between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former state Congress chief Sachin Pilot, the Bharat Jodo Yatra drew massive crowds in Rajasthan. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghels populist schemes need to be tackled with the BJPs own alternative programmes for the poor. That is why, Modi and Nadda may have to review the partys conservatism and governments welfare policies, which helped the Congress wrest power in Karnataka. The main focus of the BJPs double-engine philosophy is massive industrialisation and urbanisation with high quality of life. The BJP has insisted its policies would increase jobs and entrepreneurship, which will help large populations become self-sufficient. While trickle-down economy has admirers in urban areas, rural distress needs urgent solutions. The party has also taken a rigid stand on implementing the New Pension Scheme for government employees and pensioners at the Centre and in BJP-ruled states. Leaders in Himachal Pradesh had said that the Congresss promise of restoring the old pension scheme helped win votes. As the Congress repeats its five guarantees, which were a big hit in Karnataka, the BJP has to get its narrative right for the rural poor. Karnataka also showed the hindutva in danger card does not always click. When the Congress said it would ban the Bajrang Dal, the BJP said the Congress would imprison Hanuman. There were recitations of the Hanuman Chalisa in many districts. But there was no discernible impact on Hindu votes. The BJPs data bank, managed by Santhosh at the national headquarters, is impressive. The party has a system of office-bearers, from block to state level, reporting to the state leadership. Reports from the state and national office-bearers, Union ministers and MPs are regularly processed, with a digest going to parliamentary board members. Then there are reports from pollsters, think tanks and academics. The party discussions are elaborate. But this mountain needs to produce an anti-fragile strategy for the remaining battles of 2023. That will be the BJPs summer challenge. Ahmedabad, May 21 (PTI) Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday inaugurated the 'Advanced Organic Testing Laboratory' at AmulFed Dairy in Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The state-of-the-art facility at AmulFed Diary, a unit of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) that sells its products under the 'Amul' brand, will verify whether food items labelled 'organic' are produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals. In a release, the GCMMF said this is the first dedicated lab by the cooperative entity for conducting organic testing and to support organic producers, adding there was need for such advanced facilities due to the increasing demand for organic food products in India. "Organic food is produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals. To meet these demands, an advanced laboratory for organic food testing plays a crucial role in verifying the organic integrity of food items," said the release. "The laboratory employs various testing methodologies and techniques to detect the presence of pesticides, heavy metals and other contaminants. It ensures organic food products adhere to national and international organic standards, enhancing consumer confidence and protecting public health," the GCMMF release added. The organic industry relies on consumer trust and confidence, and organic testing laboratories play a pivotal role in building trust by providing reliable testing results and ensuring organic claims are backed by scientific evidence, the release said. By upholding the integrity of organic products, the laboratory supports market demand for organic produce, benefiting both farmers and the industry as a whole, said GCMMF. Notably, Amul, which ventured into the organic business in May 2022 with the launch of Amul Organic Atta, has expanded its organic product portfolio to include items such as Basmati Rice and Toor Dal, the release said. Amul has installed various high-end equipment, such as Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS), Liquid Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to conduct organic testing, said GCMMF managing director Jayen Mehta. "These equipment will help identify and quantify organic compounds in food samples. They can detect pesticides, herbicides and other organic contaminants, determine trace elements and heavy metals in food samples and also detect mycotoxins, additives, and preservatives," he said. Amul aims to provide organic testing results meeting international standards to organic farmers and industry players at an affordable price, Mehta added. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Airports Authority of India (AAI) is back in the black, raking in a profit of Rs 3,400 crore in the fiscal ended March as surging domestic air traffic boosted its financial performance, according to a source. AAI has reported a profit for the first time after the coronavirus pandemic that had significantly impacted air traffic and the aviation sector as a whole. In the financial years -- 2021-22 and 2020-21 -- AAI had reported a loss. While the loss was Rs 803.72 crore in the fiscal ended March 2022, the same stood at Rs 3,176.12 crore in the financial year ended March 2021. These figures excluded exceptional and extraordinary items and tax. The source in the know told PTI that AAI has recorded a profit of Rs 3,400 crore for the 2022-23 financial year. This is a provisional figure and the final figure will be known after the audit of the financial results. The source also said the good performance was mainly due to the high growth in domestic air traffic. In 2022, domestic air passenger traffic surged 47.05 per cent to 12.32 crore compared to 8.38 crore in the year-ago period. Further, the passenger numbers soared 51.70 per cent to 3.75 crore in the first three months of this year as against 2.47 crore in the same period a year ago, as per official data. In 2021-22, AAI had a meagre profit of Rs 8.76 crore, including exceptional items and tax. Meanwhile, in the fiscal ended March 2022, the government had waived compulsory dividend payment requirement. AAI had requested the waiver in lieu of waiving Air India's that was done prior to the sale of the loss-making carrier by the government to the Tata Group in January 2022. AAI manages 137 airports, including 24 international and 80 domestic airports. It also provides Air Traffic Management Services (ATMS) over entire Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas. Kolkata, May 21 (PTI) Legendary Bengali Novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's eponymous novel 'Devi Chowdhurani' (Bandit Queen of Bengal) will now be made in a feature film in seven languages including Bengali recapturing the socio-political situation of the 18th Century Bengal. Director Subhrajit Mitra is helming the project, the first pan-Indian Bengali movie encapsulating the lesser-known chapters of the Indian freedom movement. "Both 'Anandamath' and 'Devi Chowdhurani' by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay are based on a similar timescale where he finds the latter more appealing in terms of a film. It narrates the journey of a simple village woman who eventually becomes the first Indian woman freedom fighter, historically, against the colonial rule in India in the later part of the 18th century, much before Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi," Mitra told PTI on Saturday. He said the film, which will be shot across West Bengal after the monsoon, will be made in seven languages - Bengali, English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. "It will be shot in the suburbs of Kolkata having waterbodies and in districts like Purulia and Birbhum where Devi Chowdhurani and Bhavani Pathak had their citadel. We expect the film to be released by autumn 2024," he said. Mitra undertook extensive study and research of the Battle of Plassey, the Battle of Buxar, The Great Bengal Famine of 1770 and the Sanyasi and Fakir Rebellion which spanned across the era. Off course this includes the invasion of the British East India Company in its early years. "This will be my tribute to my motherland in the 75th year of Independence. It also tells the story of the Hindu ascetic monks who had no other option but to take up arms against the British colonial rulers to save the country and her people. It was the first armed revolution by the Indians, led by Bhavani Pathak, against the British East India Company," Mitra said. The basic plotline of the film, inspired by the classic, remains the same but almost 80 per cent of the narratives is closer to actual history, Mitra said. "I only had to adapt to the storyline into the alternative historical interpretation," he said. Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee will essay the role of Bhavani Pathak, seasoned actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty will enact the role of Zamindar Haraballabh Roy, while Srabanti Chatterjee will be cast in the titular role of the warrior queen, he said. "Even Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote the novel almost after 100 years of the original incidents," Mitra said. Mitra said he had to study extensively from the archives of East India Company in London, several texts and manuscripts from the Asiatic Society, British Library, Victoria Memorial and Indian Museum. "Devi Chowdhurani gives me the opportunity to get me out of my comfort zone. It is a much bigger canvas than my last film, it is actually a part of our lesser-known history. After winning my National award for my last film 'Avijatrik' [The Wanderlust of Apu), I wanted to tell this story, the urge was intense. I wanted to make a very realistic film on this novel and the time period which portrays a plausible historical reconstruction. "I am fascinated by films of similar genres by the master directors such as Akira Kurosawa and Ridley Scott. The seven samurai, Roshomon, Ran, Throne of Blood, Gladiator, and Robinhood to name a few. We do have a dearth of these kinds of films in Indian cinema barring a few such as 'Junoon' by Shyam Benegal or 'Satranj Ki Khiladi' by Satyajit Ray," he added. "We Indians tends to go overboard with historical fiction and lacks the cinematic approach which can fetch international appreciation. I wish not to delve into that path," he said. An LA-based Production house which specializes in producing and distributing International projects has come on board to produce this film. He said this film requires a huge scale and budget to mount it as a magnum opus. Its budget is slated to be the highest in the history of Bengali films, initially estimated at US dollar 2.5 million, Mitra said. London, May 21 (PTI) Britain's Opposition Labour Party is calling for a freeze on the money donated by an Indian rice tycoon to the governing Conservative Party while he is under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in India on fraud and money laundering allegations. Karan Chanana, head of the global rice brand Amira, is being investigated by ED over claims that bank loans were unlawfully diverted into shell entities and is yet to respond to the allegations. He is believed to have donated around GBP 220,000 to the Conservatives through his British company Amira G. Foods since September 2019. Margaret Hodge, a senior Labour MP and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, told the 'Guardian' newspaper on Saturday that the Tories should establish the source of these funds and freeze the money until the inquiries are completed. "The Tories have been too dependent on major donors and have not been doing proper checks. They should now be forced to do so by new legislation, she told the newspaper. It comes after reports from Delhi revealed that the ED conducted search operations on May 2 at 21 locations in India connected to Chanana, the Indian company Amira Pure Foods and other parties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Charges are yet to be filed in the case as the ED says further inquiries are continuing. "Investigations revealed that the accused entities in connivance with each other as well as other related/unrelated entities have illegally diverted loan funds sanctioned by the consortium of banks by way of transferring loan funds into the accounts of various shell entities under the guise of genuine business transactions, the newspaper quoted an ED statement as saying. "It was also known that Karan A Chanana had donated to a political party of [the] United Kingdom since 2019 while the accused entity had itself defaulted on repayment loans, the statement adds. Amira Nature Foods was listed on the New York stock exchange in October 2012, specialising in Indian basmati rice grown in the foothills of the Himalayas. Chanana, its chairman and chief executive, operated the business from its headquarters in the Gold Tower in Dubai, while its official company registration was in the British Virgin Islands. Its subsidiaries included Amira Pure Foods in India, now under investigation, and Amira G. Foods in the UK, according to corporate filings. The probe in India follows a consortium of banks headed by Canara Bank filing a report with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in November 2020 alleging bank fraud. This photo taken on May 19, 2023 shows the smoke of wildfire in Extremadura, Spain. Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectares of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities on Saturday. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua) MADRID, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectares of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities on Saturday. Spain's Ministry of Ecological Transition has confirmed that 250 regional firefighters and 165 members of the Spanish Military's Emergency Response Unit are currently fighting the blaze, along with the support of 10 earth-movers, six aircraft, eight helicopters, and 23 vehicles. The fire broke out on Wednesday night in the 'Las Hurdes' region of Extremadura, a region where wildfires in July 2022 caused devastation of 5,000 hectares, and has spread out of control due to strong winds and dry conditions. The villages of Cadalso, Descargamaria, Robledillo de Gata and some neighborhoods of Torrecilla de Los Angeles and Ovejuela have been evacuated as a precautionary measure and three main roads have been closed. Guillermo Fernandez Vara, President of the region of Extremadura, visited the affected area on Friday and said the fire was caused by "human or material resources," but "wind and gusts of up to 60 km per hour are making it incredibly difficult to control the fire." According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), around 66,000 hectares of land have already been affected by wildfires in Spain in 2023. This follows the destruction of almost 310,000 hectares of land in 2022. The Spanish government has recently approved a 2.2-billion-euro (2.38-billion-U.S.-dollar) package to help deal with the ongoing drought. A man puts out the wildfire in Extremadura, Spain, May 19, 2023. Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectares of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities on Saturday. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua) A firefighter puts out the wildfire in Extremadura, Spain, May 19, 2023. Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectares of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities on Saturday. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua) This photo taken on May 19, 2023 shows the wildfire in Extremadura, Spain. Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectares of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities on Saturday. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua) A firefighting plane puts out the wildfire in Extremadura, Spain, May 19, 2023. Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectares of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities on Saturday. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua) This photo taken on May 19, 2023 shows the wildfire in Extremadura, Spain. Around 500 people have been evacuated from their homes due to a wildfire that has so far burned 8,500 hectares of land in the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura, according to sources from local authorities on Saturday. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua) Kyiv, May 21 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Sunday that Russia has taken control of the city of Bakhmut after a bloody eight-month battle by Moscow's Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, that has left it in ruins. Zelenskky said he thought Ukraine had lost the city, but added, You have to understand that there is nothing, saying of the Russians, They destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he said. "There is nothing in this place. Zelenskyy was speaking alongside President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan. (AP) PY PY Ukraine, May 21 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Bakhmut was only in our hearts", hours after Russia's defence ministry reported that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized the city in eastern Ukraine. Speaking alongside US President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Zelenskyy said he believed the city had fallen, but added: You have to understand that there is nothing, saying of the Russians, They destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts, he said. There is nothing in this place. The Russian ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said that fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. Zelenskyy's comments came as Biden announced USD 375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery, and vehicles. The eight-month battle for Bakhmut is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Analysts said that Russia's victory in Bakhmut was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday evening. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. Using the city's Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said, In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk". Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlin's press service as saying President Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk. In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday on Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticised. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. (AP) PY PY Hiroshima, May 21 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a symbolic victory on the battlefield. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab during the final day of the Group of Seven summit underscored the centrality of the war for the bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India, South Korea and Brazil. He also held one-on-one talks with several of the leaders. US President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package worth USD 375 million for Ukraine during his meeting with Zelenskyy, saying the US would provide ammunition and armoured vehicles. That fresh pledge came days after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraine's back and we're not going anywhere, Biden said. Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the support, adding that we will never forget. Even before Zelenskyy landed on Saturday aboard a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. Hanging over Sunday's talks was the claim by Russia's Defence Ministry that forces of the Wagner private army, backed by Russian troops, had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize has been the longest and likely the bloodiest of the war. Asked if Bakhmut was still in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said he thought that Russian forces had finally taken the city in a siege that destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place, Zelenskyy said, adding that the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of dead Russians. While Ukraine was the overwhelming focus of the summit, the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. Biden also aimed to reassure world leaders that the US would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two US allies South Korea and Japan continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave labourers, of the August 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbours, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of US power in the region, to stand together on issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue posing for photos in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, a US official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. While India maintains close ties with the US and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Summits like the G7 are a chance for leaders to put pressure on one another to align or redouble their diplomatic efforts, according to Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. Zelenskyy's presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more or explain to him directly why they can't, he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor," he said. The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure, calling Russia's assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the world's No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize self-governing Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and was seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognising the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. China's Foreign Ministry said that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries' internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to ... focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries. The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, the leaders' statement said. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organisations across 20 countries have been hit with US sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host city's symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyy's inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leader's visit was not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city. Protesters carrying No War No G7 banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to USD 600 billion in financing for the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. (AP) FZH London, May 21 (PTI) UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under pressure as it was claimed in a media report on Sunday that she attempted to dodge a driving fine after being caught speeding outside London when she was Attorney General of the country last year. 'The Sunday Times' reported that the Indian-origin Cabinet minister asked civil servants to help her avoid a speeding fine and points on her driving licence by arranging a private one-to-one driving awareness course. In the UK, anyone caught speeding is handed a fine and penalty points on their licence unless they sign up to an awareness course held in group sessions or online. A spokesperson for the Home Secretary said she "accepts that she was speeding last summer and regrets doing so". "She took the three points (on her licence) and paid the fine last year," the spokesperson said. However, the issue has been dominating headlines in the UK as Opposition parties demand an independent investigation to determine if Braverman broke the ministerial code and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks G7 news conference in Japan was also overshadowed by the issue. "I don't know the full details of what has happened nor have I spoken to the Home Secretary," said Sunak, in response to a media inquiry. "I think you can see first-hand what I have been doing over the last day or so but I understand that she's expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine," he said. But Labours shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called it "shocking" that Braverman had reportedly tried to bend the normal process for speeding drivers. "As Home Secretary, Suella Braverman is responsible for upholding the law, yet this report suggests she has tried to abuse her position to get round the normal penalties," said Cooper of the newspaper report. She called for an "urgent investigation", starting with Prime Minister Sunak's independent adviser on ministers' interests, Laurie Magnus, assessing whether the Home Secretary's behaviour breached the ministerial code. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael has also called for Braverman to be "urgently investigated". The Sunday Times reported that instead of signing up for an in-person course with other motorists, or completing one online that would show her name and face to other participants, Braverman allegedly asked civil servants to arrange a private one-to-one course. When the civil servants refused, she is said to have sought help from a political aide, who requested the private course organiser to provide a private session, or allow her to use an alias or turn her camera off. When the provider refused, Braverman opted to take the three points on her licence, the newspaper reported. Sources close to the minister believe the case was settled by her taking the penalty points, which are wiped off over time unless additional points accrue for other road safety penalties. Accumulating 12 or more points on a licence could result in the driver losing their licence and being disqualified from driving over time. "The Cabinet Office was made aware of the situation as requested by Mrs Braverman. She was not and is not disqualified from driving, a source close to Braverman was quoted as saying. "It would not be appropriate to comment on the existence or content of advice between government departments," a UK Cabinet Office spokesperson said. Kyiv, May 21 (AP) The nine-month battle for Bakhmut has destroyed the 400-year-old city in eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people in a mutually devastating demonstration of Ukraine's strategy of exhausting the Russian military. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground Sunday in the invasion's longest battle: Russia's defence ministry reported that the Wagner private army backed by Russian troops had seized the city. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said Bakhmut was not being occupied by Russian forces. Regardless, the small city has long has more symbolic than strategic value for both sides. The more meaningful gauge of success for Ukrainian forces has been their ability to keep the Russians bogged down. The Ukrainian military has aimed to deplete the resources and morale of Russian troops in the tiny but tactical patch of the 1,500-kilometer front line as Ukraine gears up for a major counteroffensive in the 15-month-old war. Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defence does not lose its relevance, said Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander of Ground Forces for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This gives us the opportunity to enter the city in case of a change in the situation. And it will definitely happen. About 55 kilometers north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, Bakhmut was an important industrial centre, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines and home to about 80,000 people before the war, in a country of more than 43 million. The city, named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was known for its sparkling wine produced in underground caves. It was popular among tourists for its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions are all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland. Fought over so fiercely by Russia and Ukraine in recent months has been the urban area itself, where this week Ukrainian commanders conceded that Moscow controlled more than 90%. But even now, Ukrainian forces are making significant advances near strategic roads through the countryside just outside, chipping away at Russia's northern and southern flanks by the metre (yard) with the aim of encircling Wagner fighters inside the city. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut. They lost part of the heights around the city. The continuing advance of our troops in the suburbs greatly complicates the enemy's presence, said Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister. Our troops have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy. Ukrainian military leaders say their months-long resistance has been worth it because it limited Russia's capabilities elsewhere and allowed for Ukrainian advances. The main idea is to exhaust them, then to attack, Ukrainian Col. Yevhen Mezhevikin, commander of a specialized group fighting in Bakhmut, said Thursday. Russia has deployed reinforcements to Bakhmut to replenish lost northern and southern flanks and prevent more Ukrainian breakthroughs, according to Ukrainian officials and other outside observers. Putin badly needs to claim victory in Bakhmut city, where Russian forces have focused their efforts, analysts say, especially after a winter offensive by his forces failed to capture other cities and towns along the front. Some analysts said that even Ukraine's tactical gains in the rural area outside urban Bakhmut could be more significant than they seem. It was almost like the Ukrainians just took advantage of the fact that, actually, the Russian lines were weak, said Phillips O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. The Russian army has suffered such high losses and is so worn out around Bakhmut that ... it cannot go forward anymore. Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of Bakhmut and in the city bore relentless artillery attacks until a month ago. Then, Ukrainian forces positioned south of the city spotted their chance for a breakthrough after reconnaissance drones showed the the southern Russian flank had gone on the defensive, Col. Mezhevikin said. After fierce fighting for weeks, Ukrainian units had made their first advance in the vicinity of Bakhmut since it was invaded nine months ago. In all, nearly 20 square kilometers (eight square miles) of territory was recaptured, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in an interview last week. Hundreds of meters (yards) more have been regained almost every day since, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine's Operational Command East. Previously we were only holding the lines and didn't let Russians advance further into our territory. What has happened now is our first advance (since the battle started), Maliar said. Victory in Bakhmut does not necessarily bring Russia any closer to capturing the Donetsk region Putin's stated aim of the war. Rather, it opens the door to more grinding battles in the direction of Sloviansk or Kostiantynivka, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, said Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia Analyst at the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War. Satellite imagery released this week shows infrastructure, apartment blocks and iconic buildings reduced to rubble. In the last week, days before Russia announced that the city had fallen into their control, Ukrainian forces retained only a handful of buildings amid constant Russian bombardment. Outnumbered and outgunned, they described nightmarish days. Russia's artillery dominance is so overwhelming, accompanied by continuous human waves of mercenaries, that defensive positions could not be held for long. The importance of our mission of staying in Bakhmut lies in distracting a significant enemy force, said Taras Deiak, a commander of a special unit of a volunteer battalion. We are paying a high price for this." The northern and southern flanks regained by Ukraine are located near two highways that lead to Chasiv Yar, a town 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Bakhmut that serves as a key logistics supply route. The highway is dubbed the road of life and is used to transport critical troops and supplies into Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces passing this road often came under fire from Russians positioned along nearby strategic heights. Armored vehicles and pickup trucks driving toward the city to replenish Ukrainian troops were frequently destroyed. With the high plains now under Ukrainian control, its forces have more breathing room. This will help us design new logistic chains to deliver ammunition in and evacuate the injured or killed boys, said Deiak, speaking from inside the city on Thursday, two days before Russia claimed it controlled the city. Now it is easier to deliver supplies, rotate troops, (carry out) evacuations. (AP) VM Imphal, May 21 (PTI) Trucks carrying essential commodities to violence-hit Manipur are plying with special security cover to ensure that there is no shortage of goods in the Northeastern state, a defence spokesperson said on Sunday. The Army and Assam Rifles along with the state government, Manipur Police and central armed police forces are working in close coordination to assure protection to vehicles carrying such goods to and from Imphal via NH 37, the defence spokesperson said. Prophylactic Area Domination Patrols of Army and Assam Rifles, Quick Reaction Teams operating from Company Operating Bases located along NH 37, aerial surveillance by unmanned aerial vehicles and Cheetah helicopters, Companies of CRPF and Manipur Police personnel along with persons from India Reserve Battalion are tasked to ensure the security of civilian vehicles plying on NH 37, he said. To guarantee dedicated security, vehicles are also accompanied by Quick Reaction Teams of the Manipur Police and CRPF, he added. T ruck movement to the Imphal Valley had stopped due to roadblocks and fear among transporters as clashes broke out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. As a result, the stock of essential supplies in the state was dwindling and beginning to reach critical levels which resulted in planning movement through NH 37, the Defence PRO, Imphal, said. Movement on NH 37 commenced on May 15 and security forces remain committed to restoring complete normalcy, the spokesperson said. The violence in Manipur was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts. The ethnic clashes claimed over 70 lives and some 10,000 army and para-military personnel had to be deployed to restore normalcy in the northeastern state. Guwahati, May 21 (PTI) Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were imposed in Guwahati on Sunday, ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the city. Some specified persons or groups are likely to disturb the normal functioning of offices and obstruct the movement of the public and traffic in the coming days, according to the notification shared by Police Commissioner Diganta Barah. It is also apprehended that these groups or persons may carry out agitation or demonstration in the city, thereby causing "breach of peace and public order", it said. "It is necessary to take preventive measures to ensure peaceful movement of public, traffic and also normal activities of local residents and also functioning of offices in above mentioned area," the order stated. Assembly of more than five persons and procession or slogan shouting in the entire jurisdiction of the police commissionerate has been prohibited with immediate effect until further orders. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma chaired a meeting of cabinet ministers to discuss the upcoming trip of Shah, who is likely to reach Guwahati on Wednesday night on a two-day visit. "Laying of foundation stone for the National Forensic Science University & distribution of appointment letters will be done during the visit of Hon'ble HM," the Chief Minister's Office tweeted. After attending the meeting, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said Shah will grace the ceremonial distribution of appointment letters to approximately 45,000 candidates for various government jobs. "We had an in-depth discussion on the smooth conduct of both events. Senior officials of all the departments were also present in the meeting," he said. Kolkata, May 21 (PTI) Three persons, including a woman and her daughter, were charred to death in a fire at a house in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on Sunday night, officials said. The fire broke out at the house in Nandarampur Daspara in Budge Budge police station area around 8-8.30 pm, they said. Among the deceased were a woman and her minor daughter, who the official said got stuck under the tin roof of the house that gave in during the fire, they added. A fire services official said that there were only household articles in the house, even as some locals alleged that an illegal firecracker unit was operating out of it. "As per the initial assessment, there were no firecrackers. It will be only in the morning that we will be able to get a clear picture as to whether it was a firecracker manufacturing unit or a residential house," he told reporters after the blaze was brought under control. He said that the cause of the fire will be investigated. A massive explosion at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit in Purba Medinipur's Egra killed 12 people on Tuesday. Ziro (Arunachal Pradesh), May 21 (PTI) An Arunachalee woman has stirred a storm in the wine glass with her signature kiwi wine 'Naara Aaba'. Tage Rita, an agricultural engineer-turned-entrepreneur, set up her winery in Hong village in the picturesque Ziro Valley in Lower Subansiri district in 2017. Since then, Rita and her team's produce has grabbed the attention of wine lovers from far and wide. "Naara Aaba's journey began with the purpose of creating market linkage for the under-utilised kiwi fruits grown in abundance in the region. Kiwi farmers were failing to fetch proper market value for their produce," Rita told PTI. She said reviving the demand for organic kiwis was one of the first milestones she has achieved in her path to provide sustainable livelihood to kiwi farmers in the region. The initial days were tremendously tough for her as she set up on a mission to manufacture kiwi wine in an unforgiving mountainous terrain, facing transportation bottlenecks and dealing with the ignorance of locals about the huge potential of the fruit as an ingredient for wine. "Every ingredient used in manufacturing Naara Aaba is organic and certified. The wine has all the vitamins and minerals present in the fruit," she said. The production of wine in batches is aligned with the harvesting season of locally grown kiwi fruit. The four-month wine-making process starts with manual sourcing of the fruit, followed by cleaning, sorting and grading in the facility. The plant has a small laboratory to test parameters based on which ingredients such as sugar and yeast are added in the right quantities during the process. "Temperature is maintained through cold stabilisation at the chilling plant. To prevent microbes or harmful bacteria from affecting the wine, it undergoes a filtration process," she said. The kiwi wine tastes a little tangy, as additional sugar is not added to the mix. She is adamant about keeping the taste as natural as possible while retaining the fruit's nutritional value, making her wine a healthier choice among alcoholic beverages and a good pick for conscious drinkers. Rita, who is in her mid-thirties, was the first entrepreneur from the Northeast to secure a deal at Shark Tank India Season 2, which was aired on March 13 this year on Sony LIV channel. Out of the five sharks, Vineeta Singh of Sugar Cosmetics and Vikas D Nahar of Happilo came on board with an offer of Rs 50 lakh investment for 5 per cent equity and Rs 25 lakh debt at 10 per cent interest, amounting to a total of Rs 75 lakh funding for her winery. The winery has scaled up its production capacity from 20,000 litres in 2017 to 60,000 litres at present through 16 tanks. The first year of wine production alone supported 300 farmers and brought them back to the kiwi orchards, as they sold around 20 metric tons of kiwis to the winery. Around 20 regular employees and 100 seasonal staffers are involved in the wine-making process. The winery has also obtained a licence to export from the Agricultural Produce Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Union Ministry of Trade and Industry. APEDA's support also enabled the international exhibition of Naara Aaba in China and Greece. Beyond the day-to-day wine production and distribution affairs of the winery, Rita and her staffers also attend to tourists on a regular basis. Around 300-400 domestic and foreign tourists visit the winery every month for wine tasting and a tour of the facility, which has created a scope for wine tourism in the region. Rita has now diversified her production to make wine from plums, wild apples and pears. Her dedication to supporting her community with entrepreneurial efforts earned her the 'Women Transforming India' Award of the Niti Ayog in collaboration with the United Nations in 2018. She has been awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2021 by the Union Women & Child Development Ministry and Women Achievers Award 2021-22 by the state Women and Child Development Department. She now plans to transform the winery into a state-of-the-art facility to boost wine tourism in the region. Besides, she also wants to upskill local youth in the region. The wine is currently available in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam. With plans to scale up the winery's production besides the introduction of new fruit variants, Rita intends on marketing her wine across the country and abroad in the near future. She said that initially, she faced difficulty in bringing in equipment from outside as the roads were not good at that time. "It took nearly four to five years for the implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh State Wine Policy-2015," she said. Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Pema Khandu recently congratulated her. "Inspiring journey of Ms Tage Rita from an agri-engineer to a successful entrepreneur. Her creation of brand Naara Aaba has carved a niche for itself. Rita's venture will encourage many women to follow her footsteps," Khandu tweeted. "Naara Aaba winery at Ziro Valley is a unique initiative, as it uses advanced and sustainable technology. This has encouraged organic kiwi cultivation in Ziro Valley and also created livelihood opportunities for farmers of Arunachal Pradesh," the chief minister added. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) The second edition of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) began on Sunday, with over 14 lakh candidates set to appear for the crucial exam for undergraduate admissions. Unlike last year, the exam is being conducted in three shifts this time. Earlier, the exam was scheduled to be held from May 21 to May 31 but the National Testing Agency (NTA) decided to extend the schedule by at least four days to accommodate the higher number of candidates. University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar advised the students to answer questions only if they are confident about the correct answer. Read the questions carefully. Answer the questions only if you are confident about their correctness, as there will be negative marking. Remain calm and focus on your efforts without worrying about the outcome. Even if you cannot do the test well, remember there is always a tomorrow and another opportunity to do well, he said. Over 14 lakh applications have been received for the CUET-UG this year, registering a 41 per cent increase from the debut edition last year. CUET-UG remains the second-largest entrance exam in the country in terms of applicants. In the debut edition of CUET-UG, 12.5 lakh students registered themselves and 9.9 lakh of them submitted their applications. About 8 lakh students students are appearing in the first phase May 21 to 25. Almost equal number of boys and girls will be writing. Nearly 750 centres spread in all states and UTs are being used. Exams are being conducted in this phase in nearly 200 paper combinations, Kumar said. The UGC, in March last year, announced that undergraduate admissions will be conducted in all central universities through a common entrance test and not based on class 12 marks. The debut edition of the CUET-UG was conducted in July last year and was marred by glitches, prompting the NTA to cancel the exam at multiple centres. While several students were informed about the cancellation a night before the exam, many of them were turned away from centres. The UGC chairman had then said the exam at certain centres had been cancelled following reports of "sabotage". NTA has taken all measures to test the readiness of all centres regarding computers, network infrastructure, and security.SoPs are given to observers and invigilators for all centres. Dummy tests have been conducted to check for any possible issues. Extra computers have been arranged at each centre. In case of any unforeseen problems with computers, students can be quickly shifted to these computers, he said. The 32nd Arab League Summit concluded on Friday in the Saudi city of Jeddah by adopting the Jeddah Declaration, which calls for Arab unity to solve regional issues. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit highlighted the success of the Jeddah summit in achieving its goal, expressing hope that the summit would be a beginning for the Arab countries to grasp their fate in their own hands. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the summit for the first time since his country was suspended from the Arab League after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Katra/Jammu, May 21 (PTI) A vehicle carrying Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims overturned in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, leaving one person dead and 14 others injured, police said. The vehicle was on its way to Jammu from Katra, the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the shrine atop Trikuta hills, the officials said. The accident took place near Murree on the outskirts of Katra. Chandigarh, May 21 (PTI) Many youths from modest families who made it to the merit list under the ramped up recruitment led by the Punjab government, say they are honoured to serve the state and be part of its success story. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had earlier in the week said that the state government since coming to power has given jobs to 29,237 youths on pure merit. Mann said that the recruitment process has been made completely transparent, as a result of which youths from even humble families were able to get government jobs. These individuals have been appointed to various positions in local government, general administration, public works, and technical education and industrial training departments, among others. The beneficiaries say they want to work hard and take the state on the path of development. Kirandeep Kaur from a village in Mohali district has been appointed as a Clerk (accounts) in the local government department. Kirandeep, who thinks hard work has no replacement, says that by getting a government job, she has set an example for other youths and sent a message that if they study hard, even people from relatively poor families can make it. Rupinderjit Bains, who too got a job as a clerk in the Public Works Department, and comes from Bhaini village in Rupnagar district, said that with youths landing government jobs on merit, many will now drop their plans to go abroad spending a huge amount of money. Instead of going abroad, they will spend their lives in Punjab and serve the people of the state, Bains said. Daughter of a retired head teacher, she said it was his father's wish to see her get the best education and stand on her feet, which is now on course of becoming a reality. Sukhwant Singh, a resident of Thuhi Village in Patiala, has joined as a clerk under the disabled category in the Public Works Department. "The opportunity of getting a job has changed my life," said Sukhwant Singh, who too comes from an underprivileged background. He said that he studied hard despite being cash-strapped all his life and was elated to get the appointment letter directly from the Chief Minister who inspired them to serve the people with honesty and hard work. Tanvijot, appointed a clerk in the general administration department, said that it has been a matter of pride for her that she will work for the state. "I want to take my state forward and contribute my bit to its development," she said. A resident of Patiala, Tanvijot said earlier she was thinking of moving to Canada but after getting the job she has made a firm decision to serve her home state. Karamjit Singh of Khanal Kalan village in Sangrur district, who has landed a job in the general administration department, also expressed similar views, saying that he too was thinking about going abroad earlier, but at heart he always wanted to stay here and now with a job in hand, he has all the reasons to do so. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Doctors at the AIIMS here performed a laparoscopic surgery on a three-month-old boy to remove obstructions in both his kidneys, the premier government-run hospital said on Sunday, and claimed he became the youngest patient in the world to undergo this procedure. The doctors in the Department of Paediatrics performed the bilateral laparoscopic pyeloplasty procedure, which is a minimally invasive surgical technique used to treat ureteropelvic junction obstruction, a congenital condition that obstructs the urinary tract and impairs urine flow from the kidneys to the bladder. The procedure was performed in December and the patient was discharged three days after the surgery. Three months after the surgery, the doctors performed a test called renogram to ascertain the success of the surgery and to confirm that the obstruction in the kidney outflow was relieved, said Dr Vishesh Jain, additional professor in the Department of Paediatrics. "The successful surgery not only showcases AIIMS' commitment to cutting-edge paediatric surgical care but also highlights the institute's expertise in anaesthesia considerations, resulting in the child's discharge within just three days," the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said in a statement. On the three-month-old boy, the hospital said, the decision to operate both kidneys using laparoscopy approach was taken to minimize invasiveness and maximize benefits. Prior to the surgery, extensive planning was conducted to ensure optimal results. "The use of a miniature camera inserted through the belly button improved cosmesis, while additional incisions were strategically placed to facilitate surgeries on both sides without sharing the same incisions," the statement read. During the two-hour operation, the surgical team meticulously reconstructed the obstructed ureteropelvic junction using microscopic sutures and fine instruments. The successful completion of this advanced procedure on such a young child required careful considerations regarding anaesthesia, it said. "Thanks to the advanced surgical techniques and anaesthesia management employed by AIIMS, the infant experienced a rapid recovery. Within just three days, the child was discharged, enabling a swift return to their family," the statement said. In addition to the positive outcome for the infant, the laparoscopic approach eliminated the need for future surgeries, Dr Jain said. "Under the leadership and guidance of Dr M Bajpai, Head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery, the department has increasingly employed laparoscopic techniques to treat such conditions. Traditionally, these surgeries were performed sequentially, requiring separate surgeries for each affected kidney," the statement added. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Congress leader and former Union minister Ajay Maken on Sunday said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should follow the "Sheila Dikshit model" of engaging with officers respectfully, holding dialogues with them rather than "mistreating" them, and persuading them to work for the city's advancement. He also said Kejriwal's past actions of summoning officers and allegedly using harsh words against them are only contributing to the City's distress. Maken's advice came as the Delhi government is engaged in a battle with the Centre over the control of the city's bureaucracy. Sharing his own experiences as a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi during the BJP-led NDA regime at the centre in early 2000s, Maken said they worked with the bureaucracy to get things done in Delhi's interest. "I hope the current Chief Minister takes note of this journey and learns from it. Engage with officers respectfully, hold dialogues, and persuade them for Delhi's advancement. They will certainly align with your vision if it's sincere. "Your past actions - summoning officers at ungodly hours, resorting to mistreatment and harsh words - are not constructive. It's crucial to recognize that such behavior only contributes to the city's distress," Maken said on Twitter. Sharing on Twitter and Facebook a story titled "A Day with Sheila Ji: Reflecting Amidst Kejriwal's Current Power Chaos", Maken said in the early 2000s a historic shift was underway in Delhi when he was serving as the transport, power, and tourism minister under the late Sheila Dikshit. The Congress leader said the Delhi government was spearheading a series of initiatives including transitioning public transport to CNG, launching the Metro and reforming the power department. In the middle of this, then transport commissioner Sindhushree Khullar was replaced. "Fired up, we decided to meet the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. I remember her (Sheila Dikshit's) strategic advice. She told me, 'be as forceful as possible, argue for the interest of Delhi. As I deal with the LG daily, you can be the forceful, I will be the supportive referee,' she directed," Maken said. "Despite our passionate appeal, the LG was unwavering. 'I have my orders. I can't reverse this, he responded firmly... "Unfortunately, by evening, the decision stood firm. My frustration prompted a proposal for a press conference to expose this politically driven obstruction. Sheila Ji, however, had a different strategy. "With a gentle wave of her fingers, she advised, 'No, no, no Don't tell anyone about our failed attempt. Officers shouldn't know that we tried and couldn't succeed. If they find out, they might stop taking us seriously'. Her wisdom was profound. She continued, 'Call the new officer. Tell him the CM is delighted with his appointment. Explain the importance of CNG conversion, and invite him for tea and pakoras. These officers are with no one. Tackle them skillfully'," Maken said. The former minister said the turn of events was remarkable as the new officer understood the gravity of the situation and "we stood united against various lobbies and earned accolades from the Supreme Court and even the US Government". He said he could say with pride, "We became the first city globally to fully convert its public transport system to CNG." AICC general secretary also said, "Truly a wonderful story. This is governance through quiet persuasion and not governance through headlines." "Reflecting on those years, I firmly believe, 'Sheila Dikshit Ji's government's first six years were the most productive phase. She fought not for power, but for the betterment of Delhi. Power privatization, CNG conversion, Metro launch, construction of flyovers, hospitals, schools - they all happened because she fought tirelessly for Delhi," Maken said. "Her lessons of leadership and diplomacy continue to guide me. She taught me to tackle obstacles skillfully, to serve with a clear focus on the city's welfare. To offer tea and pakoras when needed, and to stand firm when required. That's Sheila Ji's legacy, a guide to serving public interest above all else'," the Congress leader said. Amritsar, May 21 (PTI) The Border Security Force shot down a Pakistani drone near the international border in Punjab's Amritsar, said a BSF statement on Sunday. BSF troops heard the buzzing sound of the drone on Saturday night and intercepted the unmanned aerial vehicle by firing at it. Later, during a search of the area, a drone (Quadcopter, DJI Matrice, 300 RTK) along with a consignment containing three packets of narcotics (3.3 kg heroin) was recovered from a field in Dhanoe Kalan village in Amritsar. Luminous strips were also found attached with the consignment, said the BSF. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) The Congress won the Karnataka assembly elections by promising free electricity, free ration and unemployment allowance in its poll manifesto, taking cue from the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday. He said the AAP has succeeded in its efforts to bring some change in the country's political discourse as other parties are also now seeking votes on issues like education and health. He was addressing AAP leaders who won seats in just-concluded Uttar Pradesh local body elections. "The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has tried to change the narrative of the country's politics. If you look at Karnataka polls, the Congress party has won on our manifesto," Kejriwal said. "We said we will provide free electricity, they (Congress) also said so. We said we will provide unemployment allowance, free ration, and Rs 1,000 (per moth to women, They also said so," he said. The BJP is also now making such promises, he said, adding, political parties earlier used to seek vote on the basis of caste and religion. The AAP won three Nagar Palika chairperson seats, six Nagar Panchayat chairperson seats and six Nagar Nigam councillor seats besides several wards in the urban local body polls that were held in Uttar Pradesh in two phases on May 4 and May 11. More than half of the AAP's victorious candidates belonged to the minority community, according to the poll results available on the state election commission's website. Kejriwal congratulated the AAP's Uttar Pradesh unit leaders, saying it was a "difficult" election as the state is considered a BJP stronghold. "You worked hard and defeated the BJP, the SP and other parties." Kejriwal said the AAP leaders' victory in several seats in the local body elections is an indication that people of Uttar Pradesh "are ready for change". "They want good governance and development in the state," he added. He said the AAP will now focus on expanding its foothold in Uttar Pradesh and contest the next assembly polls with full strength. "We will build our organisation with the help of Sandeep Pathak (AAP national organisation secretary). We will form active committees of 10 members in every village and booth. Once our organisation is built in Uttar Pradesh, no one can stop us," he said. Kejriwal asked the elected representatives to work for the people in various sectors like health and education so that the AAP is strengthened in the state. "All of you have got more responsibility now If you do good work in Uttar PRadesh that fragrance will spread across the state. We will get an entry in Uttar Pradesh through you," he added. New Delhi, May 20 (PTI) Convicts "deserve an opportunity to reform", a court here observed while passing an order on the term of sentencing of four people convicted in a 2015 robbery case, fixing their sentence to the period of imprisonment already served. Additional Sessions Judge Neeraj Gaur made the observation was pronouncing his order on the term of sentence of convicts Rahul, Manish and Sonu and Kanhaiya. Rahul, Manish and Sonu were convicted under IPC sections 392 (punishment for robbery) read with 120B (criminal conspiracy), 120B separately and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) in February. Kanhaiya was convicted under section 411 of the Indian Penal Code. In the order passed on May 18, the judge said, "The mitigating circumstances in favour of the convicts are that they are of young age; they have shown remorse for their act; no previous conviction has been proved against the convicts; they are having the responsibility of their respective families; there are chances of their reformation; and they belong to lower socio-economic strata of society." Conversely, the aggravating circumstances against the convicts are that they committed the robbery on an open road pursuant to a planned conspiracy, he added. "After considering all the relevant facts and circumstances, I am of the view that the convicts deserve an opportunity to reform," the judge said, fixing the term of sentence of the convicts as the period of imprisonment already undergone for the offences. The court also fined Rahul, Manish and Sonu a total of Rs 10,000 each. It imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kanhaiya as well for the offence under IPC section 411. "Sentences of imprisonment to run concurrently," the judge said, adding the "benefit of section 428 (period of detention undergone by the accused to be set off against the sentence or imprisonment) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) be given to the convicts as per law". During the proceedings, advocate Fahad Khan, counsel for Rahul and Sonu, submitted that the convicts may be dealt with leniently. The assistant public prosecutor, however, sought the imposition of maximum punishment, saying the convicts committed a robbery of Rs 10,56,700 from the complainant. Rahul (29) was in custody for more than 23 months, Sonu (32) for 20 months, Manish (32) for 11 months and Kanhaiya for more than nine months. The court said the convicts do not have the "paying capacity to pay compensation to the victim" and the aspect of compensation cannot be considered by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DLSA) under the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme as the offences of the present nature are not covered in the scheme. Further, all the convicts are from lower-income groups, earning somewhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 18,000 per month, and it is reported that they do not have any movable or immovable property in their name, the court said. "In view of the entire facts and circumstances of the case, it is directed that 50 per cent of the fine shall be released to the actual owner of the robbed money who is Satish Sharma (complainant) In addition, the case property i.e, the amount of money recovered from the convicts during the investigation be also released to him," the court said. The FIR in the case was registered at the Bharat Nagar police station against the accused in 2015. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) A book uses a beautifully-drawn coloured map found in the British Library to bring alive the city of Shahjahanabad as it had stood prior to its mid-19th century changes. In "Shahjahanabad: Mapping a Mughal City", historian Swapna Liddle shows how this map is not only a valuable resource for the study of the city in the first half of the 19th century, but also about Mughal city planning. The map shows in great detail what existed in the city in the 1840s. "This picture was drastically altered in the years immediately after the revolt of 1857. Large areas were almost completely cleared of buildings. The demolitions took place in and around the Red Fort for security reasons; in Chandni Chowk and Daryaganj after the confiscation of royal and other properties, and in the northern part of the city for the railways," the book mentions. Liddle says two factors emboldened her when Pramod Kapoor of Roli Books suggested that she should write a detailed analysis of this map of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi). "One was some knowledge of Shahjahanabad as it was during the period of the East India Company when the map was made," she says, adding the second was a familiarity with the streets and landmarks of Shahjahanabad today, which in many ways has not changed much over the last two centuries. The book asserts how Shahjahanabad was a planned city, the only living, planned Mughal city extant in largely its original form. "Encircled by a city wall, it was situated on the bank of the Yamuna. The citadel housing the emperor and the royal family (officially named Qila-e-Moall, 'the exalted fort', but today known as the Red Fort) was an important focal point of the city, and the congregational mosque, the Jama Masjid, was the next most prominent landmark," it says. Apart from these landmarks, which were a result of imperial planning, the city contained the homes of its diverse population, and a variety of commercial and religious spaces, it says. The book describes how Shahjahanabad remained the seat of the Mughal royal family for more than two centuries after its foundation and important changes took place in the city during this period. In 1803, Shahjahanabad and the territory around it came under the control of the East India Company. "The Company became the de facto ruler of the city, while the emperor and the royal family continued to live in the palace complex, the Qila," the book says. Dated 1846-47, the map that is the subject of the book is the most detailed available cartographic record of the city before the major changes that were affected immediately following the revolt of 1857. The inscriptions are in Urdu. "A first look at the map leaves us with a few initial impressions, one being the clear limits within which the city is laid out, without much indication of its setting, apart from the Yamuna river flowing on its eastern flank," the book says. According to Liddle, the information supplied by the map itself can be further fleshed out when it is supplemented by other sources. "Studying the map in the light of these other maps and texts, supplemented by other official records of the British administration in Delhi in the first half of the 19th century can help us to better understand pre-1857 Delhi," she writes. Thiruvananthapuram, May 21 (PTI) The Congress in Kerala on Sunday lashed out at the BJP, alleging that the party in power at the Centre is more concerned about itself rather than the country, a sharp contrast to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who put the nation first before everything. The view was expressed by veteran Congress leader and former Union Defence Minister A K Antony while speaking on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary. "When he (Rajiv Gandhi) was Prime Minister he put the country first before the interests of the party. However, the party (BJP) in power at the Centre is more concerned about itself than the nation. "They are not concerned if the country burns, if there is communal violence or if there is any other form of unrest. They are only concerned with ensuring they remain in power," Antony alleged at the remembrance ceremony held at Indira Bhavan here. He claimed that when Rajiv Gandhi was PM, he ensured peace in Punjab, Assam and Mizoram at the cost of the Congress's power in those states. Antony also claimed that the late PM of India was behind women empowerment in the country. "His decisions as PM were also responsible for political empowerment of Dalits and adivasis." Antony said that had Rajiv Gandhi's life not been cut short, and he had another stint as PM, the face of the country would have changed for the better. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and MP K Sudhakaran, who also spoke on the occasion, alleged that the then government in power had removed the SPG protection given to Rajiv Gandhi despite being aware of the threat to his life. "The current government has removed the SPG protection of Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and her daughter Priyanka. If there is anyone who needs SPG protection, it is them. One can only guess the reason behind removal of their SPG protection," Sudhakaran said. The Congress also pledged to observe the day as Anti-Terrorism Day. Rajiv Gandhi, who was India's prime minister between 1984 and 1989, was assassinated by LTTE terrorists on this day at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 1991 during an election campaign. JAMES MAIN, Wheeler, Baseball, Sophomore; Main doubled and drove in three wins in a victory against Putnam. Main was 2 for 3 and earned the win in relief. He allowed two hits and struck out three over the final three innings. EMMA LOGEL, Stonington, Girls Lacrosse, Sophomore; Logel scored 11 goals in a pair of Stonington games. She finished with eight in a win against Ledyard and had three in a loss to East Lyme. CHRISTIAN DEJOUR, Westerly, Track, Junior; Dejour finished first in two sprints at the Class C championship. Dejour won the 100 in a time of 11.07 and was first in the 200 in 22.34. IAN DUNHAM, Chariho, Golf, Junior; Dunham shot two sub-40 rounds for the Chargers. He was the medalist in a pair of wins against Westerly and Narragansett with a 38. He shot 37 in wins against South Kingstown and Middlebridge. Vote View Results This photo taken on May 17, 2023, shows a site where Chinese doctors and their local counterparts screen women for cervical cancer in Zanzibar, Tanzania. (Photo by Nurdin Pallangyo/Xinhua) Over the last 59 years, the Chinese government has been assigning 32 groups of medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care. They are not only saving lives but also building friendships. DAR ES SALAAM, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A 48-year-old woman walked into the Mnazi Mmoja hospital in Tanzania's Zanzibar and shook hands with Chinese doctors and their local colleagues, expressing heartfelt thanks to them for saving her life. Lemi Shija Mbaya, a mother of two children, was diagnosed with cervical cancer five years ago and had been receiving treatment since then until she fully recovered. Over the last 59 years, the Chinese government has been assigning 32 groups of medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care. Mbaya is one of the patients of the Chinese doctors. "I first started feeling unwell. At that time I heard over the radio that there were Chinese medical experts who were coming to Zanzibar to screen women for cervical cancer," Mbaya recalled how she met the Chinese doctors. "I decided to go for screening and I was diagnosed with cervical cancer by the Chinese doctors in 2018." She said the Chinese doctors teamed up with their local colleagues and started treating her until she fully recovered from the disease. And she has returned to work at the local government. "I really appreciate the treatment by the Chinese doctors because I could not have afforded to get this medical service in a private hospital," she said, adding that the Chinese doctors are professional and very kind and friendly. Mbaya said the local doctors helped the Chinese doctors translate the Kiswahili language into English while explaining the patients' feelings. "I hope this cooperation between Zanzibar and China will keep growing stronger and more Chinese doctors will keep on coming here to help us," she said. Ophthalmologist Dong Lili (2nd R), a member of the 32nd Chinese Medical Team to Zanzibar, prepares to perform an operation with her local colleagues at the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Tanzania's Zanzibar, Feb. 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui) Ally Juma Hassan, a local gynecologist at the Mnazi Mmoja hospital, said the Chinese doctors and their local counterparts have been screening women aged between 21 years and 65 years of age for cervical cancer, adding that those diagnosed with the disease are treated free of charge. Over the past five years, they have completed the screening of more than 12,000 women for cervical cancer, Hassan said, adding that this year, 9,000 women will receive an examination, an exercise that will go in tandem with medical training for local doctors. "The women that were diagnosed with the disease have already been treated," said Zhou Huaijun who is leading the Chinese medical team. "We plan to complete the screening of 32,000 women for the whole project in Zanzibar." "Zanzibar is a very beautiful place, and the people here are kind and passionate," he said. "The women in Zanzibar respect us and they trust the Chinese doctors." Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17) on Thursday introduced a bill that would extend the availability of federal funds provided to non-public schools for an additional year a move that would be highly beneficial for numerous Orthodox Jewish schools. In 2020 and 2021, a program named Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) allocated funds to state authorities for private and parochial schools, with a deadline for using the funds by the end of 2023. As with many federal funding projects, EANS had schools and businesses providing educational services lay out the funds and then would reimburse them through the program. However, New York dragged its feet on distributing the funds, and as we near the end of the 2022-2023 school year, numerous private schools have yet to be reimbursed with those funds and time is running out. Many private schools reached out to Congressman Lawler regarding this issue, culminating in Thursdays introduced legislation which would extend the expiration date of the first round of EANS funds to the end of the 2023-2024 school year, and the second round of EANS funds to the conclusion of the 2024-2025 school year. Im proud to introduce this important piece of legislation that will extend authorization of funding for emergency aid to non-public schools. said Rep. Mike Lawler. The New York State Education Department has indicated that an extension would be of great assistance, and so this legislation will prove an important step in ensuring that all students and schools receive the resources they need to succeed. I look forward to finding additional ways in which we can support students, teachers, parents, and families in Congress, he added. If passed in Congress which is likely, considering that these are funds that have already been allocated it would provide a major boost to numerous Orthodox Jewish and other private schools. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) The Supreme Court got rid of a pandemic-related immigration case with a single sentence. Justice Neil Gorsuch had a lot more to say, leveling harsh criticism of how governments, from small towns to the nations capital, responded to the gravest public health threat in a century. The justice, a 55-year-old conservative who was President Donald Trumps first Supreme Court nominee, called emergency measures taken during the COVID-19 crisis that killed more than 1 million Americans perhaps the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country. He pointed to orders closing schools, restricting church services, mandating vaccines and prohibiting evictions. His broadside was aimed at local, state and federal officials even his colleagues. Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale, Gorsuch wrote in an eight-page statement Thursday that accompanied an expected Supreme Court order formally dismissing a case involving the use of the Title 42 policy to prevent asylum seekers from entering the United States. The policy was ended last week with the expiration of the public health emergency first declared more than three years ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. From the start of his Supreme Court tenure in 2017, Gorsuch, a Colorado native who loves to ski and bicycle, has been more willing than most justices to part company with his colleagues, both left and right. He has mainly voted with the other conservatives in his six years as a justice, joining the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade and expanded gun rights last year. He also has joined with the liberal justices in support of Native American rights. When the omicron variant surged in late 2021 and early 2022, Gorsuch was the lone justice to appear in the courtroom unmasked even as his seatmate, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has diabetes, reportedly did not feel safe in close quarters with people who were not wearing masks. So Sotomayor, who continues to wear a mask in public, did not take the bench with the other justices in January 2022. The two justices denied reports they were at odds over the issue. The emergency orders about which Gorsuch complained were first announced in the early days of the pandemic, when Trump was president, and months before the virus was well understood and a vaccine was developed. The thrust of his complaint is not new. He has written before in individual cases that came to the court during the pandemic, sometimes dissenting from orders that left emergency decrees in place. The justices intervened in several COVID-related cases. With Gorsuch and five other conservatives in the majority, they ended the eviction moratorium and blocked a Biden administration plan to require workers at larger companies to be vaccinated or wear a mask and submit to regular testing. Once Amy Coney Barrett joined the court, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, they ended restrictions on religious services in some areas. By a 5-4 vote from which Gorsuch and three conservative colleagues dissented, the court allowed the administration to require many health care workers to be vaccinated. But on Thursday, Gorsuch gathered his complaints in one place, writing about lessons he hoped might be learned from the past three years. One lesson might be this: Fear and the desire for safety are powerful forces. They can lead to a clamor for action almost any action as long as someone does something to address a perceived threat. A leader or an expert who claims he can fix everything, if only we do exactly as he says, can prove an irresistible force, he wrote. Another possible lesson, he wrote: The concentration of power in the hands of so few may be efficient and sometimes popular. But it does not tend toward sound government. He also had strong words for the Republican-led states that tried to keep the Title 42 policy in place, and the five conservatives justices whose votes extended the policy five months beyond when it would have otherwise ended in late December. At the very least, one can hope that the Judiciary will not soon again allow itself to be part of the problem by permitting litigants to manipulate our docket to perpetuate a decree designed for one emergency to address another, Gorsuch wrote. In the final paragraph of his statement, Gorsuch acknowledged, but only grudgingly, that emergency orders sometimes are necessary. Make no mistake decisive executive action is sometimes necessary and appropriate. But if emergency decrees promise to solve some problems, they threaten to generate others, he wrote. (AP) The Group of Seven wealthy democracies united Saturday in urging China to pressure its strategic partner Russia to end its war on Ukraine. In a joint statement issued Saturday, the G7 leaders emphasized they did not want to harm China and were seeking constructive and stable relations with Beijing, recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China. We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, it said. We encourage China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the U.N. Charter, including in direct talks with Ukraine. Cooperation with China is needed given its global role and economic size, the group said, in appealing for working together on challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, debts and financing needs of of vulnerable countries, global health concerns and economic stability. But the leaders expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China seas, where Beijing has been expanding its military presence and threatening to use force to exert its control over self-governed Taiwan. They called for a peaceful resolution of Chinas claim to Taiwan, which has remained unresolved since the communists gained power on the Chinese mainland in 1949. The statement said there was no legal basis for Chinas expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and we oppose Chinas militarization activities in the region. A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest, the statement said, alluding to charges that Beijing is undermining the rules-based international order. The G7 also united in voicing concerns about human rights in China, including in Tibet, in Hong Kong and in the far western region of Xinjiang, where the issue of forced labor is a perennial issue. But the statement also sought to counter accusations that the G7 is seeking to prevent Chinas rise as a global power. Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart Chinas economic progress and development, it said. The statement highlighted a consensus that efforts to diversify manufacturing supply chains and ensure stable access to strategically vital minerals and other resources is not aimed at unraveling trade ties with the worlds second-largest economy. We are not decoupling or turning inwards, the statement said. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying. We will take steps, individually and collectively, to invest in our own economic vibrancy. We will reduce excessive dependencies in our critical supply chains. At the same time, the G7 members vowed to take a stand against various types of economic coercion, saying they will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure, while also avoiding unduly limiting trade and investment. Chinese officials have reacted to various G7 statements about economic coercion and other issues by accusing the U.S. and other members of hypocrisy. The state-run Xinhua News Agency ran a scathing editorial Friday describing such allegations as a witch hunt, bullying and superpower suppression. When it comes to coercion, the coercer of the first water is the United States, it said. Americas G7 allies must have much to grudge, given how Washington has exploited, or bled them, over the years. The G7 includes Japan, this years host of the leaders annual summit, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union. The statement was released on the second day of a three-day summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday to participate in meetings planned for Sunday. (AP) A lawyer for Twitter owner Elon Musk accused Microsoft of misusing the services data and demanded an audit from the software giant. The letter primarily addresses a seemingly narrow set of alleged infractions by Microsoft in drawing information from Twitters database of tweets. But the move could foreshadow more serious developments. Musk has previously accused Microsoft and its partner OpenAI in a tweet of illegally using Twitter data to develop sophisticated AI systems such as ChatGPT. Lawsuit time, Musk wrote in that April tweet. But the letter, signed by Musk lawyer Alex Spiro, tiptoed around that concern. It noted that Microsofts agreement with Twitter barred it from overuse of the services data such as exceeding reasonable request volume or excessive or abusive usage. Spiro then noted that despite these limitations, Microsoft had retrieved more than 26 billion tweets in 2022 alone. He provided no context for those numbers. The process of training AI systems requires enormous amounts of data such as written text, which AI algorithms scour for patterns that the AI can use to make sense of language and large bodies of knowledge. In other respects, the letter primarily laid out a series of vaguely worded allegations. For instance, it noted that while Microsoft was required to inform Twitter about its intended use of the data, it failed to do so for six of the eight Microsoft apps that drew on information from the Twitter database. Similarly, the letter asserted that at least one Microsoft app had supplied Twitter data to a number of virtual locations that reference a government entity or agency. That apparently violated Microsofts agreement with Twitter, the letter stated, which prohibited the company from retrieving Twitter data on behalf of any government-related entity without first notifying Twitter. The letter stated that Microsoft had failed to provide such notification. Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw provided a statement noting that Microsoft will review questions raised by the letter and then will respond appropriately. The statement added that we look forward to continuing our long term partnership with Twitter, which it did not refer to by name. Shaw declined to address specifics from the letter. Spiros letter demanded that Microsoft describe in detail the Twitter data it possesses or has previously destroyed, the purpose for each of its apps that drew on Twitter information, and any government entities that used these Microsoft apps and whether they received data from Twitters database. (AP) Debt limit talks between the White House and House Republicans stopped, started and stopped again heading into a weekend where President Joe Biden and world leaders watched from afar, hoping high-stakes negotiations would make progress on avoiding a potentially catastrophic federal default. In a sign of a renewed bargaining session, food was brought to the negotiating room at the Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later. No meeting was likely Saturday, according to a person familiar with the state of the talks who was not authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Bidens administration is reaching for a deal with Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. The sides are up against a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise its borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, so the government can keep paying the nations bills. Republicans are demanding steep spending cuts the Democrats oppose. Negotiations had came to an abrupt standstill Friday morning when McCarthy said it was time to pause talks. Then the teams convened again in the evening, only to quickly call it quits for the night. Biden, attending a meeting of global leaders in Japan, tried to reassure them on Saturday that the United States would not default, a scenario that would rattle the world economy. He said he felt there was headway in the talks. The first meetings werent all that progressive, the second ones were, the third one was, he said. The president said he believes well be able to avoid a default and well get something decent done. Negotiators for McCarthy said after the Friday evening session that they were uncertain on next steps. We reengaged, had a very, very candid discussion, talking about where we are, talking about where things need to be, whats reasonably acceptable, said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. was asked if he was confident an agreement over budget issues could be reached with the White House. He replied, No. As the White House team left the nighttime session, Biden counselor Steve Ricchetti, who is leading talks for the Democrats, said he was hopeful. Were going to keep working, he said. McCarthy had said resolution to the standoff is easy, if only Bidens team would agree to some spending cuts Republicans are demanding. The biggest impasse was over the fiscal 2024 top-line budget amount, according to a person briefed on the talks and granted anonymity to discuss them. Democrats contend the steep reductions Republicans have put on the table would be potentially harmful to Americans, and they are insisting that Republicans agree to tax increases on the wealthy, in addition to spending cuts, to close the deficit. Wall Street turned lower Friday as negotiations came to a sudden halt. Experts have warned that even the threat of a debt default would could spark a recession. Republicans argue the nations deficit spending needs to get under control, aiming to roll back spending to fiscal 2022 levels and restrict future growth. But Bidens team is countering that the caps Republicans proposed in their House-passed bill would amount to 30% reductions in some programs if Defense and veterans are spared, according to a memo from the Office of Management and Budget. Any deal would need the support of both Republicans and Democrats to find approval in a divided Congress and be passed into law. Negotiators are eyeing a more narrow budget cap deal of a few years, rather than the decade-long caps Republicans initially wanted, and clawing back some $30 billion of unspent COVID-19 funds. Still up for debate are policy changes, including a framework for permitting reforms to speed the development of energy projects, as well as the Republican push to impose work requirements on government aid recipients that Biden has been open to but the House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has said was a nonstarter. McCarthy faces pressures from his hard-right flank to cut the strongest deal possible for Republicans, and he risks a threat to his leadership as speaker if he fails to deliver. Many House Republicans are unlikely to accept any deal with the White House. Biden is facing increased pushback from Democrats, particularly progressives, who argue the reductions will fall too heavily on domestic programs that Americans rely on. (AP) Russias defense ministry said early Sunday that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Using the citys Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said, In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials about the latest claim. Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlins press service as saying President Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk. In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. After the video appeared, Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraines eastern command, told The Associated Press that Prigozhins claim is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut. In a statement on Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff said that heavy battles for the city of Bakhmut do not stop. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that this is not the first time Prigozhin has said we seized everything and are dominating. He suggested that the Wagner chiefs statement was aimed at drawing attention away from Zelenskyys recent highly visible trips overseas, including to the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Saturday. Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraines industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. (AP) People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 21 (Xinhua) -- As more protesters took to the streets, Group of Seven (G7) nations wrapped up their three-day gathering here on Sunday, vowing to escalate sanctions against Russia amid the Ukraine crisis. Following days of protests, hundreds of demonstrators from home and abroad on Sunday rallied against the G7 leaders' communique and other documents adopted by the summit in Hiroshima, a city once devasted by U.S. atomic bombing during World War II. Placards and banners that read "No War-themed Conference," "Hands off on Ukraine," and "No to Japan-U.S. military alliance" were spotted in Fukuromachi Park, where the protesters were gathering on Sunday morning, not far from the Peace Memorial Park that was shut due to the summit leaders' visit. Chanting slogans such as "No to War" and "Smash the G7 Hiroshima Summit," they rallied along the main streets in Hiroshima, crowded by hundreds of riot police officers. They ran into physical conflict with the police in a downtown high street, where one of the protesters was arrested, but continued with the rally minutes later. "To summarize, it is never a peaceful summit," Ryo Miyahara, head of a Hiroshima citizens' group and the protest's organizer, told Xinhua at the demonstration site. Several protesters, in their public speeches during Sunday's protest, accused the G7 Hiroshima Summit of being a war-themed conference sponsored by the U.S.-promoted hegemonism in its essence, and that the Japanese government is ruthlessly trampling on the views of atomic bombing victims and local residents by holding such a meeting in Hiroshima. "We will not tolerate such a summit," they added. While vowing to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes," in the final joint statement, the G7 nations, with the United States taking the lead, announced specific measures to sanction Russia in a standalone statement on Ukraine on Friday, prior to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's in-person visit starting Saturday. U.S. President Joe Biden, on Sunday evening, announced a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth 375 million U.S. dollars after Biden and Zelensky met on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The G7 comprises the United States, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada and Japan. Leaders from South Korea, Brazil, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Comoros, Cook Islands and some international organizations were invited to the three-day gathering. People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) A protester holds a placard in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces werent occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscows insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die, Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmuts Soviet-era name. Russias Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldnt use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isnt clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. (AP) The person who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a pizza shop in Beer Sheva on Thursday was identified on Friday morning as the owner of the store, Chaim Attias, zl, 66. A preliminary investigation by Israels Fire and Rescue Services revealed that the chimney of the pizza oven had become blocked, causing the gas to leak into the store. Apart from Attias, zl, 17 people were evacuated from the scene to Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva, including his son, Misha Attias. Misha was transferred to Assaf HaRofeh Hospital to receive treatment in an oxygen pressure chamber. A witness to the scene told Ynet that he initially thought a terror attack had occurred when he heard people screaming. I ran to the scene and I saw people falling on the floor one after the other. It was very scary. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Media personality Galit Gutman caused a huge furor on Friday morning when she said on Channel 12s Keshet TV program that Charedim are bloodsuckers who are milking Israeli society in reference to the funds promised to the Chareidi parties in coalition agreements. Media personality Ariel Schnabel responded by stating: Galit Gutman isnt the story. The story is that there is only one Western country where its possible to say on TV that a certain group of people are bloodsuckers without a huge scandal breaking out. What a disgrace to the Israeli media, a disgrace to those who consider themselves liberal. Look what hatred comes out of you. Where will you end up? Radio 103FM host Erel Segal said. Bloodsuckers and in German Sie saugen unser Blut Israel, May 2023 the most watched channel in Israel. Thank you to KeshetI wonder if Yad Vashem would consider this the slippery slope.' UTJ MK Yitzchak Pindrus responded: Even in the Labour Party in the UK they removed a member of parliament who called Talmudic Jews bloodsuckers. Even they understand that Goebbels terminology can never be used. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated: I condemn Galit Gutmans ugly and incitement statement against the Chareidi sector in Israel, which is reminiscent of statements directed against our people in the past. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir commented: Our Chareredi brothers are bloodsuckers? Have we gone mad? Galit Gutman is inciting with anti-Semitism that has been used all these years to murder and persecute Jews. Bushah! Keshet issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying: Keshet strongly condemns Galit Gutmans statement regarding the Chareidi sector on live broadcast this morning. The statements are unacceptable and should not have been said in any way. We regret this and apologize for the unnecessary harm. Gutman apologized for the wording of her statement and the generalization of an entire sector and was summoned to an urgent hearing with her managers, which will take place on Sunday morning. Galit Gutman published an apology on her social media accounts: I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart if I offended an entire sector, she wrote. I love the State of Israel, and out of concern for its future, I have sharp criticism of the representatives of the Chareidi sector in the Knesset. The statements were said during a discussion on the government budget and the property tax fund. But I had no intention of harming the sector as a whole. I apologize to anyone who was hurt by these statements. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) The Women of the Wall group engaged in their monthly provocation on Sunday morning, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, and tried to bring in a Sefer Torah to the Kosel plaza, which is forbidden according to Israeli law. They were stopped from doing so by the Kosel security guards. A small group of Women of the Wall members came to the Kosel plaza and stirred up a provocation and turned the Kosel into a place of machlokes, a statement from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said. A Sefer Torah was carried in and an attempt was made to bring it in a disgraceful way into the plaza. The desecration was prevented by one of the security guards and the Sefer Torah was guarded in a respectful place. The Women of the Wall group [WOW] stated: The security guards of the Kotel Rav kidnapped and confiscated the WOWS Sefer Torah and even detained a woman who was on her way to the WOWs festive tefillah with the Sefer Torah as if she was a criminal. It is ridiculous and outrageous that on erev Shavuot, the Kotel Rav desecrates a Sefer Torah and womens tefillah and confiscates a Sefer Torah whose entire purpose is to allow women to read the Torah at the Kotel. The time has come to free the Kotel from the hands of the Kotel Rav and bring equality to women in this holy place as well. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Six illegal Palestinian workers were caught in the Brachfeld neighborhood of Modiin Illit early Sunday morning. The Palestinians were spotted by local residents who called the local HaShomrim branch. HaShomrim volunteers detained the Arabs and notified IDF forces. Two illegal Palestinians were also caught by the IDF on Highway 446 and a number of infiltrators managed to evade arrest by fleeing back toward their villages. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning spoke out against the rampant incitement against the Chareidi sector in recent days on the background of the governments efforts to pass the state budget and the coalition funds promised to the Chareidi MKs. Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said: Chareidi and Dati children shouldnt receive less than secular children. A Chareidi child is not half a child. No one should see the blasphemy on television and cartoons that are a copy-paste of antisemitic propaganda. No incitement will prevent us from passing the budget. Taking a jab at the opposition, Netanyahu added: You transferred more than NIS 50 billion to [Raam party chairman Mansour] Abbas and you didnt call it embezzlement or coalition funds. In honor of Yom Yerushalayim [which fell out on Thursday evening and Friday], the weekly Cabinet meeting was held inside the Kotel tunnels on Sunday morning. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) The incitement against Chareidim and religious people on the background of the governments efforts to pass the state budget is rising to unprecedented heights in recent days. In the most recent outrageous statements, former Shin Bet chief Carmi Gillon spoke on Motzei Shabbos at a protest against the judicial reform and lashed out at Chareidi and Dati Leumi MKs. The Chareidi and Dati Leumi politicians are the Jewish Jihad, he said. Theyre a definite existential threat to the State of Israel. He also attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying: Bibi, go on your way with a mark of disgrace on your forehead. Youll always be remembered as the prime minister who almost succeeded in bringing about the destruction of Israel. Gillon was the head of the Shin Bet at the time of the assassination of former prime minister Yitzchak Rabin and resigned his position in the wake of his failure to prevent the murder. The Shamgar Commission, which was set up to investigate the events that led to Rabins assassination, was critical of the Shin Bet under his tenure. Apparently, despite Gillons close involvement with the consequences of incitement, he has failed to learn any lessons on the matter. The Im Tirtzu movement responded to Gillons statements by stating: A new title can be added to the worse Shin Bet head in Israeli history: The most extreme instigator of all former security heads. Despicable man. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Sponsored Content KAN TZIPOR: Uplifting, Motivational, Real-Life Stories of Ordinary People Making a World of Difference! Click Here to Submit Now!! Experience the Magic of Chessed: Click Here to Watch the Incredible Kan Tzipor Moment Unfold in the New Torah Live Video (10% OFF AT THIS LINK) ! Kan Tzipor: Inspiring Stories on Seizing Magic Moments of Opportunity to Do Chesed REVIEWED BY STEVE LIPMAN In traditional Jewish thought, the mitzvah of sending away a mother bird from her nest before removing an egg or a chick that she was guardingseemingly a minor matteris considered particularly significant. Kan tzipor (usually called shiluach haken, sending of the nest) is described as one of the two Biblical commandmentsalong with honoring ones parentsthat will bring long life to the person who performs it for showing sensitivity to the feelings of a mere animal. Stephen Savitsky is a veteran lay leader of the Orthodox community. He is a former OU president (20042011); a former OU Board chairman; on the board of directors of Partners in Torah; has served in roles in several other Jewish organizations; and has founded several innovative communal initiatives. To him, the mitzvah of kan tzipor, which he assigned as the title of his collection of chesed stories, epitomizes a unique aspect of a Jews responsibility. Unlike most other mitzvot, there is absolutely no preparation necessary before fulfilling this commandment, he writes in his introduction, citing the Torahs wording, Should a birds nest appear before you (Devarim 22:6). You have to chance upon this mitzvah; it must suddenly appear before you with none of the prior planning or preparation necessary for other mitzvos, such as observing Pesach, building a succah, or even laying tefillin, Savitsky writes. Rather, its a mitzvah that is totally unexpected. For a Jew, it is a carpe diem opportunity. Intrigued by the mitzvah, Savitsky always came away feeling there must be more than I was understanding, a deeper, more profound lesson. That lesson is: kan tzipor moments. Sudden chances to help peoplewhen you observe their need. Savitsky has shared this lesson so often at his frequent public speeches that he has earned the title Mr. Kan Tzipor. People often share their personal kan tzipor stories with him. These constitute his book. What they all have in common, he writes, is that when [they] heard G-d calling out to them . . . they heeded that call. Books that contain inspirational chesed stories could fill several shelves in a library; but Savitskys has a chiddush. Hes collected a certain type of storyones that meet his kan tzipor criteria, of men and women taking bold action with no advance notice. Savitsky tells of stories that have happened to him, to friends, and to strangers. He tells of the time he and Gregg Petit, a non-Jewish financial public relations expert, leaving on a flight from LaGuardia Airport one morning, encountered a distraught young woman; she was going to be married in a church that weekend and had just discovered that there was no room on their flight for the large bag that contained her wedding gown. He tells, too, of a woman who experienced antisemitism at work; of a baal teshuvah whose one-time yeshivah friend was about to marry outside the faith; of a college student from Argentina; of a Jewish cab driver in Israel and a non-Jewish cab driver in Manhattan, and more. He also tells of a cabinet member and a president, of a prince and a philanthropist, but they are not his focus. Rather, it is ordinary people acting extraordinarily when given the chance. The books tacit message: you dont have to be a big macher to do big things. One of the criteria of a kan tzipor moment, Savitsky writes, is that it must be an opportunity that lasts for one swift moment, which, if you dont grab that moment, will be lost forever. Such as Mary McGuire, the forlorn bride-to-be at LaGuardia Airport. Savitsky, his kippah plainly visible, and his colleague convinced a gate agent and the flight crew to persuade three people seated in the planes first row to exchange their seats for Savitskys, his co-workers and Marys, who were allowed to lay the bag with the gown across their laps, buckled in, for the short flight. The trio boarded last, to an ovation from the other passengers, who had heard about the drama taking place. And the pilot went on the intercom and thanked Rabbi Petit and Rabbi Savitsky for their wonderful act of kindness. I had just gotten semichah from United Airlines, Savitsky writes, something I dont think any other Jew can claim. The gown arrived in Columbus in perfect shape. Several deplaning passengers, some who were not at all visibly Jewish, congratulated Savitsky and Petit on the kiddush Hashem they had made. Mary, of course, was very grateful. On the car ride to his mornings appointment, Savitsky called his wife. Genie, he said, I had the greatest day today. How can that be, Steve? she asked. Your meeting hasnt even started yet. I know! Savitsky told her. But this morning I was blessed with a kan tzipor moment! (Steve Lipman is an avid reader and a frequent contributor to Jewish Action. This article was featured in the Spring 2023 issue of Jewish Action.) Kan Tzipor Moments are sacred opportunities that suddenly present themselves, and that lead to life-transforming acts of chessed. Explore true stories that demonstrate and celebrate the incredible power of chessed to transform lives forever. Will excite, enrich, and entertain you from first page to last. Live inspired because in your lifetime you will have a Kan Tzipor Moment, dont let it fly away! Share Your Kan Tzipor Moment with the World! Submit Your Inspiring Story for Consideration in Our Next Book of Miracles and Chessed. Submit Now!! Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. D.S. writes: When I paid a company 690 from my Santander credit card, I did this deliberately because I was mindful of the protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act if anything went wrong. I then tried unsuccessfully to contact the company, which I discovered had changed its name but still used the same address. I was then advised by Trading Standards to claim from Santander under Section 75, but it rejected my claim, saying that my payment went to a different company. Hitch: Faulty solar panels first led to our reader paying 690 with a Santander credit card in the hope of getting Section 75 protection Tony Hetherington replies: Section 75 is the hugely useful bit of law which makes a credit company jointly liable with the merchant if a major transaction goes wrong. You took out a bank loan (not from Santander) to pay for solar panels, and you were not happy when the panels broke down. You then received a cold call from MJA & Associates Limited, which said it could help pursue a claim against the bank. You paid MJA 690, but all it seems to have done was draft a few letters which you had to correct. You cannot even be sure MJA ever contacted the bank. So, you found yourself having to complain about the very company that was supposed to help you complain about someone else. MJA failed to respond, and you found it had changed its name to Canopy CBI Ltd. Because you paid MJA with your Santander credit card, you asked Santander to give you back your money, under Section 75. But unexpectedly, Santander rejected your claim, saying there was no direct link between you, Santander and MJA a strict rule under Section 75. According to Santander, you had not paid MJA at all. Instead, you had, in fact, paid a completely different firm called Squareup. And since Squareup had never provided you with any services at all, it could hardly be said to have let you down. Squareup was a 'card processor', Santander explained. It processed your payment on behalf of MJA. But how were you supposed to know that your payment was being diverted in this way? And if you never intended to pay Squareup, does this mean the payment was unauthorised so should be snatched back? Santander's answer to me is that it was enough for you to authorise the amount, regardless of who 'processed' it. I asked repeatedly how you were supposed to know this, and to be aware that this would allow Santander to sidestep the very valuable consumer protection of Section 75, but Santander offered no answer. Your loss is its gain. And Santander added that it was not even convinced that MJA had let you down. Its contract referred vaguely to providing documents and administration, which could mean anything. Bizarrely though, Santander told me it rejected the idea that this was an unauthorised payment because, it claimed 'Mr S authorised a payment to MJA & Associates Limited and the payment went to its intended recipient.' Yet Santander's argument for rejecting the Section 75 claim was exactly the opposite that the payment had not gone to MJA, but to a completely different company. Talk about having your cake and eating it. With Santander refusing to say how you could have known that MJA diverted your payment, or even to explain what counts as a 'processor', I have to advise you to lodge a formal complaint with the Financial Ombudsman. I also gave Santander background details of MJA and the man running it. All the bank would say was that 'Santander assesses all Section 75 claims on their individual facts and legal merits.' Even if the facts are inexplicable, it seems. Why is the taxman taking so long to sort my refund? C.R. writes: I cashed in a non-performing pension pot and received payment into my bank account. I knew that this was taxed at the emergency rate, leaving me to make a refund claim, which I duly submitted. I was given an estimated response time of up to three weeks, but I heard nothing further so after six weeks I called and was told the Revenue had a backlog of work. I have told the tax staff that I am living off a small company pension and some savings, and really need this refund. Frustration: C.R. was told the Revenue had a backlog of work Tony Hetherington replies: When you were told that Revenue & Customs had a backlog, you were advised to wait a further few weeks. But when you next called, you were told nothing had been done, and your claim had been deferred for a further four weeks. I asked officials at the Revenue's head office to intervene. They told me: 'We have apologised to Mr R and informed him that a refund has been sent to him for his overpayment of tax.' By the time you read this you will be about 8,000 better off. Controversial boss of MJA Remand: Damien Enticott had faced charges of burglary The owner and sole director of MJA & Associates Limited now called Canopy CBI is Damien Colin Enticott, a businessman who lives in Bognor Regis. And it is not just his business background which is controversial. In 2016, Enticott, 38, admitted using threatening words and behaviour and assaulting a police officer. He was ordered to pay costs and compensation of 360 and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. But in 2019, he was back in court, this time by videolink from prison. He faced charges of burglary, assault and stealing 2,700 from a pub in Bognor Regis. This time the judge said that as he had spent significant time on remand, he would not jail Enticott but sentenced him to a two-year community order. While in prison awaiting trial, Enticott remained a Labour councillor in Bognor Regis. Staggeringly, this was despite the discovery he had forwarded a video on social media which alleged that Jews drink blood. An investigation found earlier messages he posted, including that 'Hitler would have the solution to the Israeli problem.' When Labour suspended him from party membership, Enticott admitted posting the Facebook messages but claimed he had been caught up in a smear campaign against Labour. He resigned from the party and did not seek re-election. Enticott's business career has also been a disgrace. In 2021, he ran DE Data Compliance, which attracted complaints that it cold-called, often to elderly homeowners, persuading them to pay hundreds of pounds, supposedly to avoid nuisance calls. He is also the owner and director of Device Protect Limited, which has an unsatisfied 1,433 court order against it, and which has failed to file accounts legally due more than a year ago. At least ten other companies run by Enticott have been compulsorily struck off by Companies House. Enticott was invited repeatedly to comment on reader Mr S's experience of dealing with his company MJA, but did not respond. If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned. Midas tipped Experian in February 2021 as a company that would benefit from increasing reliance on data. The company helps consumers across the globe to manage their credit scores so they can get credit cards and mortgages. The shares, tipped at 24.89, are now 28-plus. The company says it has products for both good times and bad, with debt recovery services and fraud management solutions, as well as the credit risk products we know it for. It is also diversified geographically, operating in 30 countries. Rated: Credit scores are ever more important when applying for a loan Despite this diversity, Brian Cassin, Experian's chief executive, presided over full-year figures for the year ending March 2023 that disappointed markets this week. Turnover rose 9 per cent, but operating profit fell by 11 per cent. Growth for this year is now expected to be between 4 and 6 per cent, which is lower than analysts had hoped. Less lending is bad for Experian, and banking problems in the US, which accounts for nearly 70 per cent of company revenue, have led to a lack of confidence in the sector and a slowdown in lending. That said, Experian has not been directly affected by any bank failures. There are other bright spots too. Regions such as Latin America are seeing growth, with more people wanting credit reports and scrutinising their credit data. Analysts have tweaked their forecasts on weaker than expected data, but many are still seeing upsides. Midas verdict: Experian is hard to value, but the shares have certainly struggled lately. While lending remains tight, the firm will find it hard to grow quickly, but it does have a diversified portfolio of products and is well-placed to benefit when the current conditions begin to loosen. The failure of banks in the US makes investors nervous, with a blip in the share price this week, but after their recovery they still look worth holding on to for the long term. Traded on: Main market Ticker: EXPN Contact: experianplc.com or 0115 828 6738 BEIRUT, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese Army Intelligence Directorate confirmed on Saturday the arrest of a high-ranking al-Qaeda member in northern Lebanon. The statement, while withholding the suspect's identity, revealed that the apprehension took place in Deir Ammar, a town in the northern region, following an extensive security operation. The detained individual played a pivotal role in establishing the terrorist organization known as Fatah al-Islam, which maintained ties with al-Qaeda and operated within Lebanon more than 10 years ago. He also assumed a significant role in the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) and the al-Nusra Front, the statement said, adding that investigations are ongoing with the detainees under the supervision of "competent judiciary bodies." Back of the net: A jersey worn by Bobby Charlton in a friendly match sold for 30,000 As one of the better performers among the companies that floated during the 2021 boom, Auction Technology Group appears to be going great guns. A strong art market boosted results last week for the FTSE 250 group, which runs seven platforms that connect bidders with almost 4,000 online auction houses. The first image that may come to mind when you think of auctions is a fusty warehouse stuffed with antiques. But the industry is far more colourful than that. ATG once flogged off a decommissioned nuclear power plant. In the latest six-month reporting period, it was boosted by similarly flamboyant sales. The Wicked Witch of the West hourglass from The Wizard of Oz set a bidder back a tidy 322,000 and a metal endoskeleton arm from the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day fetched 55,000. Also, a short-sleeved jersey worn by Bobby Charlton in a friendly match against Real Madrid in 1959 was sold for 30,000. AGM season not over yet For those nearing the end of their endurance with the AGM season, the peak appears to have passed after more than 90 last week. But it isn't over. Shell is bracing for a revolt from eco-groups and green-minded shareholders, and Wagamama-owner TRG faces scrutiny for its pay plans. Others under the microscope include: 888 Holdings, BAE Systems, North Sea group Ithaca Energy and Glencore. No controversial companies then, eh? Nanoco unrest Manchester tech group Nanoco came out all guns blazing last week when a minority shareholder called for a board overhaul. Nanoco made headlines this year as it prepared to take South Korean behemoth Samsung to trial in Texas over allegations it used Nanoco's groundbreaking tech in its TVs. The pair settled for 120 million before court, avoiding a costly legal battle. Since then Nanoco has been trying to fend off attacks from investor Tariq Hamoodi, including a particularly salacious piece of allegation-packed correspondence he sent to other shareholders that prompted a public apology from at least one group that published excerpts from it. As with Samsung, Nanoco will be looking to end this conflict too. Britain's space industry nearly doubles in eight years Let's hope that international investors who are keen to put money into space projects have already forgotten about the failure to send satellites into orbit from Spaceport Cornwall in January. Two months after MP Greg Clark said it was a 'disaster' that an attempt to show what the UK was capable of turned 'toxic', figures from the UK Space Agency and PwC show investment in Britain's space industry nearly doubled in eight years. The country has nabbed 17 per cent of the 37 billion of private money ploughed into the sector since 2015, with the UK excelling in satellites and Earth observation. With the UK only behind the US for investment, let's hope it can stay in that position this year too. Britain's biggest asset manager is leading a shareholder revolt at McDonald's over the fast food giant's continued 'overuse' of antibiotics in mass meat production. Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) will take the burger chain to task at its annual meeting next week. It has tabled a motion on the topic and will be urging it to adopt World Health Organization rules on the use of the drugs across its supply chain. LGIM, a top 20 shareholder in McDonald's, fears excessive use of antibiotics in industrial farming is fuelling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the rise of drug-resistant superbugs among humans. AMR is estimated to kill more than a million people each year and could cause 800 billion of economic damage by 2050. 'Without coordinated action now, AMR could lead to the next global health crisis,' said Maria Ortino, senior manager at LGIM. Concern: LGIM fears excessive use of antibiotics in industrial farming is fuelling antimicrobial resistance and the rise of drug-resistant superbugs among humans 'Failure to adequately respond to AMR could lead to far greater risks for our clients, society and the global economy than any individual company costs McDonald's would incur by addressing this issue,' she added. McDonald's is one of the biggest beef buyers in the world. In 2018 it pledged to reduce the amount of antibiotics in all beef sold in its 40,000 restaurants worldwide. But campaigners say the company failed to announce details of the reduction targets by the end of 2020, as it had promised. The LGIM resolution states: 'McDonald's has been weakening its antibiotics use commitments in its more recent statements, and recently dropped its commitment to reduction targets altogether. 'As companies such as McDonald's overuse antibiotics and exacerbate AMR, the efficacy of these life-saving drugs is compromised, putting the whole economy at risk,' it adds. The proposal is backed by Amundi, Europe's largest pension fund, and Hesta, an Australian 'superfund', which together manage assets of more than 2.8 trillion. It is the third year running that McDonald's, which has about 1,270 restaurants in the UK, has faced shareholder wrath on the issue. However, previous challenges from investors garnered only limited support. Campaigners received a blow last week when influential proxy voting consultancy Institutional Shareholder Services, which advises investors on how to vote, recommended that they oppose the LGIM proposal. McDonald's also faces a separate resolution led by a group of Benedictine nuns in Texas to completely phase out the use of all antibiotics across its beef and pork supply chains. McDonald's says it accepts that AMR 'is a critical global public health issue' which, with its suppliers, it has 'a responsibility to help address'. But it rejects both motions, arguing that it has 'a strong track record of responsible antibiotic use'. The firm says its policies 'do not allow the routine use of medically important antibiotics for... growth promotion or the habitual use of antibiotics for disease prevention'. The number of second-hand 'supercars' being advertised for sale has rocketed by 42 per cent in the past 12 months showing that even the wealthy are feeling the squeeze. Last month, 3,194 vehicles were listed on Auto Trader with asking prices in excess of 150,000. That compares with just 2,252 in April last year. The owners of luxury cars including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Rolls-Royces are having trouble finding buyers because the volume of searches for such vehicles has fallen by 4 per cent in 12 months. Feeling the squeeze: The owners of luxury cars are having trouble finding buyers because the volume of searches for such vehicles has fallen by 4 per cent in 12 months Auto Trader said these types of cars are now taking an average of more than two-and-a-half months to sell over three weeks longer than a year ago. Richard Walker, Auto Trader's data and insights director, said: 'Some wealthier drivers are feeling the pinch and are now more willing to part company with their supercars.' Americas Silver Corp (NYSEAMERICAN:USAS Get Rating) Analysts at Cormark lowered their FY2023 earnings per share estimates for Americas Silver in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, May 16th. Cormark analyst R. Gray now expects that the company will post earnings per share of ($0.10) for the year, down from their previous estimate of ($0.07). The consensus estimate for Americas Silvers current full-year earnings is ($0.07) per share. Get Americas Silver alerts: USAS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Americas Silver from C$0.85 to C$0.80 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. Desjardins lowered their price target on Americas Silver from C$1.00 to C$0.85 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating and set a $1.75 price target on shares of Americas Silver in a report on Monday, April 17th. Americas Silver Price Performance Institutional Investors Weigh In On Americas Silver NYSEAMERICAN USAS opened at $0.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.56. Americas Silver has a 52-week low of $0.37 and a 52-week high of $0.80. The stock has a market cap of $95.78 million, a P/E ratio of -1.68 and a beta of 1.10. A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in USAS. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Americas Silver by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 791,412 shares of the companys stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 22,588 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Americas Silver by 180.2% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 43,243 shares of the companys stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 27,809 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Americas Silver by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 83,013 shares of the companys stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 29,713 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Americas Silver by 150.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 69,300 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 41,600 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Americas Silver during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.94% of the companys stock. About Americas Silver (Get Rating) Americas Gold and Silver Corporation engages in the acquisition, evaluation, exploration, development, and operation of mineral properties. The company explores for silver, lead, zinc and copper. It principally owns 100% interests in the Cosala Operations consisting of 67 mining concessions that cover approximately 19,385 hectares located in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico; and Galena Complex situated near the town of Wallace in the state of Idaho, the United States. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Americas Silver Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Americas Silver and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. K3 Business Technology Group plc (LON:KBT Get Rating) insider Tom Crawford bought 33,333 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 90 ($1.13) per share, for a total transaction of 29,999.70 ($37,579.48). K3 Business Technology Group Price Performance Shares of KBT stock opened at GBX 112.50 ($1.41) on Friday. The firm has a market cap of 50.32 million, a P/E ratio of -1,250.00 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.85, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.94. K3 Business Technology Group plc has a 1-year low of GBX 107 ($1.34) and a 1-year high of GBX 152.50 ($1.91). The firm has a fifty day moving average of GBX 112.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 117.07. Get K3 Business Technology Group alerts: K3 Business Technology Group Company Profile (Get Rating) See Also K3 Business Technology Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides computer software and consultancy services primarily in the United Kingdom. It operates through K3 Products and Third-Party Products segments. The company offers K3|imagine, a cloud-native, SaaS, ERP agnostic, microservices based architecture; K3|fashion, a concept-to-consumer solution; K3|dataswitch, a real-time orchestration; K3|ViJi; and K3|pebblestone, as well as SYSPRO. Receive News & Ratings for K3 Business Technology Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for K3 Business Technology Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (NYSE:MTW Get Rating) Equities researchers at Zacks Research boosted their Q2 2023 earnings estimates for shares of Manitowoc in a report issued on Tuesday, May 16th. Zacks Research analyst M. Das now forecasts that the industrial products company will earn $0.22 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.20. The consensus estimate for Manitowocs current full-year earnings is $1.04 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Manitowocs Q3 2023 earnings at $0.02 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $0.11 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $0.19 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.16 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.33 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $0.78 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.26 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $1.20 EPS. Get Manitowoc alerts: MTW has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Manitowoc from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Manitowoc from a neutral rating to a sell rating and increased their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Manitowoc from $9.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Manitowoc from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Manitowoc from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Sunday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $14.56. Manitowoc Trading Down 1.4 % Shares of NYSE:MTW opened at $15.63 on Friday. Manitowoc has a 52 week low of $7.53 and a 52 week high of $20.20. The companys 50 day moving average is $15.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $549.24 million, a PE ratio of -4.96 and a beta of 2.04. Manitowoc (NYSE:MTW Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.41. Manitowoc had a negative net margin of 5.29% and a positive return on equity of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $508.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $479.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTW. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Manitowoc by 104.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,285 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in Manitowoc by 165.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,928 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 3,696 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Manitowoc by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,775 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in Manitowoc during the 1st quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC purchased a new position in Manitowoc during the 1st quarter worth $61,000. 74.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Manitowoc (Get Rating) The Manitowoc Co, Inc provides engineered lifting solutions. The firm designs, manufactures, markets and supports product lines of mobile telescopic cranes, tower cranes, lattice-boom crawler cranes, boom trucks and industrial cranes under the Grove, Potain, Manitowoc, National Crane, Shuttlelift and Manitowoc Crane Care brand names. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Manitowoc Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Manitowoc and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RCI Get Rating) (TSE:RCI.B) has been given an average rating of Moderate Buy by the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $73.72. RCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Rogers Communications from C$76.00 to C$78.00 in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Rogers Communications from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Desjardins downgraded shares of Rogers Communications from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Rogers Communications from a c rating to a b rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rogers Communications from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Get Rogers Communications alerts: Institutional Inflows and Outflows Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Rogers Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Rogers Communications by 129.6% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 675 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Rogers Communications by 1,059.4% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 800 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in Rogers Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Rogers Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.46% of the companys stock. Rogers Communications Trading Up 0.5 % NYSE RCI opened at $48.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $47.70 and a 200 day moving average of $46.85. Rogers Communications has a 1 year low of $36.23 and a 1 year high of $52.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.85. Rogers Communications (NYSE:RCI Get Rating) (TSE:RCI.B) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.71 billion. Rogers Communications had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 19.36%. Research analysts forecast that Rogers Communications will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year. Rogers Communications Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 5th. Investors of record on Friday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 8th. This is an increase from Rogers Communicationss previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Rogers Communicationss dividend payout ratio is 56.11%. Rogers Communications Company Profile (Get Rating) Rogers Communications Inc operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device and accessory financing, wireless home phone, device protection, e-mail, global voice and data roaming, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device delivery services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands to approximately 11.3 million subscribers. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Rogers Communications Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Rogers Communications and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN Get Rating) has been given a consensus rating of Buy by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is 116.39 ($145.80). A number of research firms recently issued reports on AZN. UBS Group set a 119 ($149.07) price objective on shares of AstraZeneca in a report on Friday, March 10th. Berenberg Bank set a 124 ($155.33) target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a buy rating and set a 130 ($162.85) target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Jefferies Financial Group set a 108 ($135.29) target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a GBX 6,950 ($87.06) target price on shares of AstraZeneca in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Get AstraZeneca alerts: Insider Activity In other news, insider Michel Demare acquired 2,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of 117.01 ($146.57) per share, for a total transaction of 234,020 ($293,147.94). 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders. AstraZeneca Stock Performance About AstraZeneca LON AZN opened at 120.10 ($150.44) on Tuesday. AstraZeneca has a 52-week low of GBX 9,399 ($117.74) and a 52-week high of 128.28 ($160.70). The company has a 50-day simple moving average of 115.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of 112.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 90.68, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of 186.16 billion, a PE ratio of 4,983.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.18. (Get Rating) AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for AstraZeneca Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AstraZeneca and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO Get Rating) had its target price increased by Bank of America from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, The Fly reports. A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on ARCO. Barclays lifted their target price on Arcos Dorados from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Arcos Dorados from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 12th. Get Arcos Dorados alerts: Arcos Dorados Stock Performance Shares of Arcos Dorados stock opened at $9.01 on Thursday. Arcos Dorados has a one year low of $6.23 and a one year high of $9.26. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $7.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.96. Arcos Dorados Dividend Announcement Arcos Dorados ( NYSE:ARCO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.03. Arcos Dorados had a return on equity of 55.24% and a net margin of 4.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Arcos Dorados will post 0.72 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 22nd will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 21st. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Arcos Doradoss dividend payout ratio is presently 27.40%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arcos Dorados Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 21,962,867 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $178,559,000 after buying an additional 2,435,111 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,719,016 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $39,451,000 after buying an additional 399,336 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,533,150 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $33,047,000 after buying an additional 600,593 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,431,374 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $28,686,000 after buying an additional 1,417,481 shares during the period. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Arcos Dorados by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 2,347,346 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $18,098,000 after buying an additional 148,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.56% of the companys stock. About Arcos Dorados (Get Rating) Arcos Dorados Holdings, Inc engages in the operation of restaurants. The firm operates and franchises McDonalds restaurants in the food services industry through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following geographical segments: Brazil, Caribbean Division, North Latin America division (NOLAD), and South Latin America division (SLAD). Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Arcos Dorados Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Arcos Dorados and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Snap-on (NYSE:SNA Get Rating) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Roth Mkm currently has $298.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $278.00. A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on SNA. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Snap-on from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Longbow Research upgraded Snap-on from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Tigress Financial reiterated a buy rating and issued a $302.00 price target (up from $298.00) on shares of Snap-on in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Snap-on from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Snap-on in a research note on Thursday. They issued a buy rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Snap-on has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $260.57. Get Snap-on alerts: Snap-on Trading Down 0.2 % Shares of SNA stock opened at $260.86 on Thursday. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $246.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.41. The company has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.09. Snap-on has a fifty-two week low of $190.08 and a fifty-two week high of $265.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 3.48. Snap-on Dividend Announcement Snap-on ( NYSE:SNA Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The company reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $4.14 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Snap-on had a return on equity of 21.17% and a net margin of 20.60%. The companys revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.00 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Snap-on will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Investors of record on Friday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 18th. Snap-ons dividend payout ratio is currently 37.18%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Nicholas T. Pinchuk sold 22,800 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.05, for a total transaction of $5,381,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 676,929 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $159,789,090.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Karen L. Daniel sold 2,046 shares of Snap-on stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.38, for a total value of $502,047.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,028 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,969,910.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nicholas T. Pinchuk sold 22,800 shares of Snap-on stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.05, for a total value of $5,381,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 676,929 shares of the companys stock, valued at $159,789,090.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,884 shares of company stock valued at $14,194,715 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.20% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Snap-on Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SNA. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Snap-on by 968.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,349,981 shares of the companys stock valued at $134,881,000 after buying an additional 4,849,325 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Snap-on in the 4th quarter valued at about $112,490,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Snap-on by 7,194.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 241,149 shares of the companys stock valued at $49,551,000 after buying an additional 237,843 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Snap-on by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 487,040 shares of the companys stock valued at $111,284,000 after buying an additional 120,846 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Snap-on in the 1st quarter valued at about $117,000. 85.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Snap-on Company Profile (Get Rating) Snap-On, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of tools, equipment, diagnostics, repair information, and systems solutions for professional users performing critical tasks. Its products and services include hand and power tools, tool storage, diagnostics software, handheld and PC-based diagnostic products, information and management systems, shop equipment and other solutions for vehicle dealerships and repair centers, as well as for customers in industries such as aviation and aerospace, agriculture, construction, government and military, mining, natural resources, power generation, and technical education. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Snap-on Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Snap-on and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin Sunday called on the international community to join hands and take concerted actions regarding disability. Shen made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Rehabilitation International Centennial Celebration, which took place in Beijing. At the ceremony, Shen read a congratulatory letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Noting that China will follow a people-centered development philosophy, Shen said that more effective measures would be taken to develop programs for people with disabilities, improve their livelihood, and promote their all-round development and common prosperity. Disability is a global issue that requires joint response and action of the international community, Shen said. Shen called on the international community to adhere to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and eradicate all discrimination and bias towards persons with disabilities. She said that efforts should be made to realize the goals regarding persons with disabilities set in the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, thus promoting equal participation and all-round development of the group. She also called for strengthening international exchanges and cooperation regarding the cause of persons with disabilities and fostering a sense of a community with a shared future for humanity. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also sent a congratulatory letter to the event. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA Get Rating) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Thursday, The Fly reports. Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in a research note on Thursday. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a buy rating to a hold rating and raised their price target for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $10.75. Get Teva Pharmaceutical Industries alerts: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:TEVA opened at $7.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.29. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has a 52 week low of $6.78 and a 52 week high of $11.44. Insiders Place Their Bets Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ( NYSE:TEVA Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 10th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.60 billion. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had a negative net margin of 10.73% and a positive return on equity of 27.58%. Research analysts forecast that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year. In other Teva Pharmaceutical Industries news, EVP Sven Dethlefs sold 59,655 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.89, for a total value of $589,987.95. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 165,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,635,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP David Matthew Stark sold 63,383 shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.89, for a total transaction of $626,857.87. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,412.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sven Dethlefs sold 59,655 shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.89, for a total transaction of $589,987.95. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 165,381 shares in the company, valued at $1,635,618.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,884 shares of company stock worth $1,572,797 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.82% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Money Concepts Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367 shares in the last quarter. Quilter Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,103,125,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. 50.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Company Profile (Get Rating) Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. engages in the development, production, and sale of medicines. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe, and International Markets. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. International Personal Finance plc (LON:IPF Get Rating)s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 88.93 ($1.11) and traded as high as GBX 107 ($1.34). International Personal Finance shares last traded at GBX 106.50 ($1.33), with a volume of 120,883 shares trading hands. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several analysts have issued reports on IPF shares. Shore Capital restated a buy rating on shares of International Personal Finance in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Peel Hunt reiterated a buy rating and set a GBX 150 ($1.88) price target on shares of International Personal Finance in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Get International Personal Finance alerts: International Personal Finance Trading Down 0.5 % The firm has a market capitalization of 238.33 million, a PE ratio of 443.75, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.08. The business has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 99.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 89.01. International Personal Finance Increases Dividend Insider Transactions at International Personal Finance The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 6th were issued a dividend of GBX 6.50 ($0.08) per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 6th. This is a boost from International Personal Finances previous dividend of $2.70. This represents a dividend yield of 6.77%. International Personal Finances dividend payout ratio is currently 3,750.00%. In other International Personal Finance news, insider Gary Thompson purchased 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 98 ($1.23) per share, for a total transaction of 21,560 ($27,007.39). In other news, insider Katrina Cliffe bought 40,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 110 ($1.38) per share, with a total value of 44,000 ($55,117.12). Also, insider Gary Thompson bought 22,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 98 ($1.23) per share, for a total transaction of 21,560 ($27,007.39). In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 83,443 shares of company stock worth $8,721,743. 8.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. International Personal Finance Company Profile (Get Rating) International Personal Finance plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides consumer credit in Europe and Mexico. The company offers home credit products, such as money transfer loans direct to bank account, cash and microbusiness loans, home, medical and life insurances, and repayments services. It also offers digital business services comprising of instalment loans and repayment schedules, credit line products, and mobile wallet payments. See Also Receive News & Ratings for International Personal Finance Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for International Personal Finance and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tianyin Pharmaceutical Inc Co (OTCMKTS:TPIY Get Rating)s share price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $0.00 and traded as high as $0.00. Tianyin Pharmaceutical shares last traded at $0.00, with a volume of 88,900 shares changing hands. Tianyin Pharmaceutical Trading Up ? About Tianyin Pharmaceutical (Get Rating) Tianyin Pharmaceutical Co, Inc is engaged in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sale of modernized traditional Chinese medicines and other pharmaceuticals in China. Its products address significant medical needs in the therapeutic areas spanning internal medicines, gynecology, hepatology, otolaryngology, urology, neurology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, dermatology and pediatrics. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Tianyin Pharmaceutical Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Tianyin Pharmaceutical and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of VAALCO Energy (NYSE:EGY Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the energy companys stock. Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on VAALCO Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. They issued a buy rating for the company. Roth Capital reissued a buy rating on shares of VAALCO Energy in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Get VAALCO Energy alerts: VAALCO Energy Stock Down 0.8 % Shares of NYSE EGY opened at $3.90 on Thursday. VAALCO Energy has a 12-month low of $3.51 and a 12-month high of $8.77. The company has a market cap of $416.40 million, a P/E ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.58. VAALCO Energy Increases Dividend VAALCO Energy ( NYSE:EGY Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The energy company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. VAALCO Energy had a return on equity of 28.65% and a net margin of 11.80%. The firm had revenue of $96.59 million during the quarter. Research analysts anticipate that VAALCO Energy will post 0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th will be given a $0.063 dividend. This is a boost from VAALCO Energys previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 23rd. VAALCO Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 44.64%. Insider Buying and Selling at VAALCO Energy In other news, CEO George W.M. Maxwell acquired 10,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $3.70 per share, with a total value of $37,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $532,208. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 20,764 shares of company stock valued at $76,769 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On VAALCO Energy Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of EGY. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of VAALCO Energy by 66.0% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 23,576 shares of the energy companys stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 9,376 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of VAALCO Energy by 1,189.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 154,276 shares of the energy companys stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 142,310 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of VAALCO Energy by 15.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 721,459 shares of the energy companys stock worth $4,711,000 after purchasing an additional 95,474 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of VAALCO Energy by 68.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 69,286 shares of the energy companys stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 28,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. bought a new position in shares of VAALCO Energy during the first quarter worth about $944,000. Institutional investors own 31.61% of the companys stock. About VAALCO Energy (Get Rating) VAALCO Energy, Inc engages in the acquisition, development, and production of crude oil. It operates through the following segments: Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The Gabon Segment focuses on the Offshore Gabon-Etame Marin Permit operation. The Equatorial Guinea segment deals with the Equatorial Guinea-Block P operation. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for VAALCO Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for VAALCO Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA Get Rating) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 105,192 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $26,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HCA. RB Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 25.9% in the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,432 shares of the companys stock valued at $610,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 11,035 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 1st quarter valued at $1,083,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,499 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the 1st quarter valued at $248,000. 64.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get HCA Healthcare alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at HCA Healthcare In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP P. Martin Paslick sold 3,034 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $804,010.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 24,643 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,530,395. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP P. Martin Paslick sold 3,034 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $804,010.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 24,643 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,530,395. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 4,473 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.38, for a total value of $1,289,923.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,243 shares in the company, valued at $6,414,436.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,733 shares of company stock valued at $3,518,389. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets HCA Healthcare Stock Performance A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HCA. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $283.00 to $315.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on HCA Healthcare from $257.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on HCA Healthcare in a report on Thursday, April 20th. They set an overweight rating and a $304.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $256.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on HCA Healthcare from $285.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $298.17. Shares of HCA stock opened at $282.47 on Friday. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $269.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.12. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $164.47 and a one year high of $294.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 157.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.04. HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 21st. The company reported $4.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.94. HCA Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 1,157.58% and a net margin of 9.42%. The business had revenue of $15.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $15.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.12 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 18.09 earnings per share for the current year. HCA Healthcare announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, January 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued. HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 15th. HCA Healthcares dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.04%. HCA Healthcare Profile (Get Rating) HCA Healthcare, Inc is a health care services company engaged in operating hospitals, freestanding surgery centers and emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, comprehensive rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, physician practices, home health, hospice, outpatient physical therapy home and community-based services providers, and various other facilities. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HCA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for HCA Healthcare Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for HCA Healthcare and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR Get Rating) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 504,239 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 23,196 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Portland General Electric were worth $24,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in POR. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Portland General Electric by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 14,034 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $774,000 after buying an additional 2,083 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 58.9% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 46,899 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,586,000 after acquiring an additional 17,386 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in Portland General Electric during the 1st quarter worth $239,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Portland General Electric during the 1st quarter worth $460,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 55.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 47,232 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,605,000 after acquiring an additional 16,750 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.03% of the companys stock. Get Portland General Electric alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Portland General Electric In other Portland General Electric news, VP John Teeruk Kochavatr sold 3,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total transaction of $153,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,489 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $791,797.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Portland General Electric news, VP John Teeruk Kochavatr sold 3,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.12, for a total transaction of $153,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,489 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $791,797.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Brett Michael Sims sold 2,050 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $96,350.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,978 shares of the companys stock, valued at $515,966. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets Portland General Electric Trading Down 0.9 % Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Portland General Electric from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Monday, May 8th. They set an overweight rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Thursday. They set a hold rating for the company. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Portland General Electric from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $50.75. NYSE POR opened at $49.36 on Friday. Portland General Electric has a one year low of $41.58 and a one year high of $56.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.58. Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $687.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $624.60 million. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 9.06%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Portland General Electric will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year. Portland General Electric Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. This is a positive change from Portland General Electrics previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 23rd. Portland General Electrics payout ratio is presently 66.30%. Portland General Electric Company Profile (Get Rating) Portland General Electric Co engages in the generation, wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity in the state of Oregon. The firm also sells electricity and natural gas in the wholesale market to utilities, brokers, and power marketers. It also serves residential, commercial and non-residential customers. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding POR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Portland General Electric Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Portland General Electric and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in iShares Europe ETF (NYSEARCA:IEV Get Rating) by 47.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 228,643 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 73,390 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.s holdings in iShares Europe ETF were worth $10,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in iShares Europe ETF by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,111,628 shares of the companys stock valued at $495,095,000 after purchasing an additional 409,645 shares during the period. Karpus Management Inc. boosted its position in iShares Europe ETF by 191.3% during the 3rd quarter. Karpus Management Inc. now owns 786,576 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,701,000 after purchasing an additional 516,596 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in iShares Europe ETF by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 632,450 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,775,000 after purchasing an additional 276,311 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in iShares Europe ETF by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 614,590 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,835,000 after purchasing an additional 3,201 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in iShares Europe ETF by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 534,297 shares of the companys stock valued at $26,843,000 after purchasing an additional 200,908 shares during the period. Get iShares Europe ETF alerts: iShares Europe ETF Price Performance NYSEARCA:IEV opened at $51.74 on Friday. iShares Europe ETF has a 12-month low of $36.88 and a 12-month high of $52.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 0.92. iShares Europe ETF Profile iShares Europe ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares S&P Europe 350 Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P Europe 350 (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the stocks of companies in the countries, which includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IEV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Europe ETF (NYSEARCA:IEV Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Europe ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Europe ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Intech Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM Get Rating) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,938 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,176 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLCs holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $1,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1,385.9% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,151,317 shares of the companys stock valued at $123,107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939,229 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 245.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,530,486 shares of the companys stock worth $120,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798,086 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,792,506 shares of the companys stock worth $812,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,712,152 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 80.2% in the 4th quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,338,218 shares of the companys stock valued at $130,365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,985,000. 57.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Wheaton Precious Metals alerts: Wheaton Precious Metals Trading Up 0.5 % NYSE:WPM opened at $48.08 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.81 and a 200-day moving average of $43.53. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a twelve month low of $28.62 and a twelve month high of $52.76. The firm has a market cap of $21.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 0.58. Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement Wheaton Precious Metals ( NYSE:WPM Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.23. The firm had revenue of $214.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $237.87 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 64.08% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 18th. Wheaton Precious Metalss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.48%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WPM. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 10th. TD Securities lifted their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, May 8th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Wheaton Precious Metals in a research note on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. National Bank Financial cut their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from C$70.00 to C$68.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $56.33. About Wheaton Precious Metals (Get Rating) Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. is a mining company engages in the sale of precious metals and cobalt production. It operates through the following business segments: Gold, Silver, Palladium, Cobalt, and Other. The company was founded by Peter Derek Barnes on December 17, 2004 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Wheaton Precious Metals Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wheaton Precious Metals and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN Get Rating) by 14.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,280 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 3,491 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.s holdings in Stride were worth $853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS Group AG acquired a new position in Stride in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Stride in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Stride by 402.5% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,020 shares of the companys stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Stride by 1,232.7% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,932 shares of the companys stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 2,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Stride by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 2,050 shares of the companys stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. 92.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Stride alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades LRN has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Stride from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley cut Stride from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, March 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Stride in a report on Thursday. They set a buy rating for the company. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an outperform rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Stride in a report on Friday, April 14th. Stride Price Performance Stride stock opened at $41.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.32. Stride, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.66 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a current ratio of 3.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.76 and a 200-day moving average of $37.71. Stride (NYSE:LRN Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.22. Stride had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 6.17%. The business had revenue of $470.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $455.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. Strides quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Stride, Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Stride Company Profile (Get Rating) Stride, Inc is a technology-based educational company, which engages in the provision of proprietary and third-party curriculum, software systems and educational services. It also offers online curriculum and career services to middle and high school students, under the Destinations Career Academy brand name. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LRN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Stride Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Stride and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CI Investments Inc. lowered its stake in Phreesia, Inc. (NYSE:PHR Get Rating) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 212,365 shares of the companys stock after selling 19,000 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc.s holdings in Phreesia were worth $6,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Phreesia by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,359,641 shares of the companys stock valued at $167,640,000 after buying an additional 349,301 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Phreesia by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,814,948 shares of the companys stock valued at $97,205,000 after buying an additional 128,131 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Phreesia by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,920,850 shares of the companys stock valued at $74,424,000 after buying an additional 670,902 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Phreesia by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,295,830 shares of the companys stock valued at $41,933,000 after buying an additional 184,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Phreesia by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 999,171 shares of the companys stock valued at $24,989,000 after buying an additional 11,106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.23% of the companys stock. Get Phreesia alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have recently commented on PHR. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Phreesia from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Phreesia from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Phreesia from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Phreesia from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on Phreesia from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $38.07. Phreesia Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:PHR opened at $30.48 on Friday. Phreesia, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.96 and a fifty-two week high of $40.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.32 and a quick ratio of 3.32. Phreesia (NYSE:PHR Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 22nd. The company reported ($0.72) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $76.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.50 million. Phreesia had a negative return on equity of 52.67% and a negative net margin of 62.71%. Phreesias revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.90) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Phreesia, Inc. will post -2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling at Phreesia In other Phreesia news, SVP Michael J. Davidoff sold 3,466 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.91, for a total transaction of $107,134.06. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,028,283.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Phreesia news, SVP Michael J. Davidoff sold 1,075 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.13, for a total transaction of $35,614.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 95,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,172,959.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Davidoff sold 3,466 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.91, for a total value of $107,134.06. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 97,971 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,028,283.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,863 shares of company stock worth $834,743 in the last three months. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. About Phreesia (Get Rating) Phreesia, Inc engages in the provision of patient check-in solutions for medical practices. The firm offers appointments, clinical support, integration, registration, patient activation, analytics and reports, revenue cycle, patient surveys, and privacy and security products. Its solutions include health systems, multi-specialty, and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PHR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Phreesia, Inc. (NYSE:PHR Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Phreesia Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Phreesia and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. DOHA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Qatar condemned on Saturday the recent armed attack on its embassy building in Khartoum, which resulted in significant damage to the premises, Qatar News Agency reported. All embassy staff had been evacuated beforehand, according to the report. In an official statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry stressed "the need to prosecute the perpetrators and hold them accountable for the consequences of this heinous criminal act, which constitutes a violation of international law and agreements. The ministry urged "an immediate halt to the fighting in Sudan" and all parties involved to exercise restraint and resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue. Since April 15, Sudan has been locked in deadly armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum and several other areas. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE:IR Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,073 shares of the industrial products companys stock, valued at approximately $213,000. Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 81.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 638 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ingersoll Rand during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. CI Investments Inc. boosted its position in Ingersoll Rand by 103.1% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 971 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Ingersoll Rand during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new position in Ingersoll Rand during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 99.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Ingersoll Rand alerts: Ingersoll Rand Trading Down 0.3 % Shares of IR opened at $59.76 on Friday. Ingersoll Rand Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $61.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.50. The stock has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a PE ratio of 36.89 and a beta of 1.42. Ingersoll Rand Dividend Announcement Ingersoll Rand ( NYSE:IR Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.13. Ingersoll Rand had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 10.66%. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Ingersoll Rands quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ingersoll Rand Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 22nd. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Ingersoll Rands dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.94%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In IR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ingersoll Rand from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Ingersoll Rand from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Ingersoll Rand from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Saturday, May 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ingersoll Rand from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and set a $71.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Ingersoll Rand from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingersoll Rand currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $60.36. Insider Transactions at Ingersoll Rand In other Ingersoll Rand news, insider Vicente Reynal sold 25,000 shares of Ingersoll Rand stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,856 shares in the company, valued at $6,171,360. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Ingersoll Rand Profile (Get Rating) 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. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE:IR Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Ingersoll Rand Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ingersoll Rand and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP (NYSE:KRP Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 12,500 shares of the energy companys stock, valued at approximately $209,000. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in Kimbell Royalty Partners by 159.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,629 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC acquired a new position in shares of Kimbell Royalty Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. UBS Group AG acquired a new position in shares of Kimbell Royalty Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Kimbell Royalty Partners in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimbell Royalty Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. 47.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Kimbell Royalty Partners alerts: Insider Transactions at Kimbell Royalty Partners In other news, insider Blayne Rhynsburger sold 2,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total transaction of $30,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 56,191 shares of the companys stock, valued at $851,293.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 5.60% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Kimbell Royalty Partners Price Performance Several research firms recently issued reports on KRP. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Kimbell Royalty Partners from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Kimbell Royalty Partners from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $21.00. Shares of NYSE KRP opened at $15.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.47 and a 200 day moving average of $16.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 7.13 and a current ratio of 7.13. Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP has a one year low of $13.85 and a one year high of $20.08. Kimbell Royalty Partners (NYSE:KRP Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The energy company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $68.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.79 million. Kimbell Royalty Partners had a net margin of 47.42% and a return on equity of 29.56%. As a group, research analysts predict that Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year. Kimbell Royalty Partners Cuts Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. Kimbell Royalty Partnerss payout ratio is 70.71%. Kimbell Royalty Partners Company Profile (Get Rating) Kimbell Royalty Partners LP engages in owning and acquiring mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties. The company was founded by Robert Ravnaas, R. Davis Ravnaas, Brett G. Taylor on October 30, 2015 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, TX. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding KRP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP (NYSE:KRP Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Kimbell Royalty Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kimbell Royalty Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CI Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC Get Rating) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,565 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,818 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc.s holdings in Centene were worth $6,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CNC. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Centene by 5,700.0% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 348 shares of the companys stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Centene by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 856 shares of the companys stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Centene by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 947 shares of the companys stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Centene in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.28% of the companys stock. Get Centene alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Centene In other Centene news, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 1,400 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.59, for a total value of $93,226.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,508 shares in the company, valued at $566,547.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sarah London acquired 30,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $62.60 per share, for a total transaction of $1,878,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 313,953 shares of the companys stock, valued at $19,653,457.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lori Jean Robinson sold 1,400 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.59, for a total transaction of $93,226.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $566,547.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the companys stock. Centene Stock Performance Centene stock opened at $65.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $35.89 billion, a PE ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.90. Centene Co. has a twelve month low of $61.71 and a twelve month high of $98.53. Centene (NYSE:CNC Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.23 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $38.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.09 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.61% and a net margin of 1.01%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Centene Co. will post 6.44 EPS for the current year. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNC. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $95.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Centene from $94.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Centene from a b rating to a c+ rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Centene from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and cut their price target for the company from $94.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Centene in a report on Thursday. They issued a strong-buy rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $92.00. Centene Profile (Get Rating) Centene Corp. operates as a healthcare enterprise, which engages in the provision of programs and services to government sponsored healthcare programs. It operates through the following segments: Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CNC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Centene Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Centene and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CI Investments Inc. decreased its position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C Get Rating) by 44.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 145,768 shares of the companys stock after selling 114,709 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc.s holdings in Citigroup were worth $6,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Snider Financial Group raised its position in Citigroup by 96,645.9% in the 1st quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 84,494,926 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,512,000 after purchasing an additional 84,407,589 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in Citigroup by 16,821.8% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 4,246,690 shares of the companys stock valued at $176,960,000 after purchasing an additional 4,221,594 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Citigroup by 290.6% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,312,427 shares of the companys stock valued at $240,280,000 after purchasing an additional 3,952,516 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Citigroup by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 6,587,633 shares of the companys stock valued at $297,959,000 after purchasing an additional 2,175,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Citigroup by 2,964.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,013,275 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,947,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.90% of the companys stock. Get Citigroup alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have issued reports on C. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $61.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Citigroup from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Citigroup from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Citigroup from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have given a 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 $55.03. Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup Citigroup Trading Down 1.5 % In other news, insider Zdenek Turek sold 12,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $598,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 155,979 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,778,672.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 2,950 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total value of $149,771.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,779 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,202,689.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . Also, insider Zdenek Turek sold 12,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $598,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 155,979 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,778,672.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Company insiders own 0.09% of the companys stock. Shares of C stock opened at $45.71 on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average is $46.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.74. Citigroup Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.01 and a twelve month high of $54.56. The company has a market capitalization of $88.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Citigroup (NYSE:C Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.53. Citigroup had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 12.96%. The company had revenue of $21.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. The companys revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current year. Citigroup Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 1st will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 28th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Citigroups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.45%. Citigroup Company Profile (Get Rating) Citigroup, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial products and services. It operates through the following segments: Global Consumer Banking, Institutional Clients Group, and Corporate and Other. The Global Consumer Banking segment provides traditional banking services to retail customers through retail banking, including commercial banking, and Citi-branded cards and Citi retail services. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding C? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Citigroup Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Citigroup and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Blair William & Co. IL lessened its position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX Get Rating) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 153,806 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 4,083 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.35% of WEX worth $25,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 181.1% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 559,209 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $91,515,000 after purchasing an additional 360,299 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 561.0% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 288,710 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $47,247,000 after purchasing an additional 245,030 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,101,566 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $731,925,000 after purchasing an additional 164,902 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 8,498.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 153,216 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $25,074,000 after purchasing an additional 151,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,196,239 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $748,819,000 after purchasing an additional 131,664 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.65% of the companys stock. Get WEX alerts: WEX Price Performance WEX stock opened at $177.83 on Friday. WEX Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.00 and a 12-month high of $204.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.59. The firms 50-day moving average is $177.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Insider Buying and Selling Wall Street Analyst Weigh In In related news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 939 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.08, for a total value of $165,339.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 512 shares of the companys stock, valued at $90,152.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink . In related news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 939 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.08, for a total value of $165,339.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 512 shares of the companys stock, valued at $90,152.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink . Also, Director Regina O. Sommer sold 1,261 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.52, for a total transaction of $240,245.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,272 shares in the company, valued at $2,719,101.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,300 shares of company stock valued at $590,154. Insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock. A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of WEX from $185.00 to $190.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. TheStreet upgraded shares of WEX from a c rating to a b- rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of WEX from $213.00 to $209.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WEX has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $208.90. WEX Profile (Get Rating) WEX Inc provides financial technology services in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Fleet Solutions, Travel and Corporate Solutions, and Health and Employee Benefit Solutions. The Fleet Solutions segment offers fleet vehicle payment processing services. Its services include customer, account activation, and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions with access to web-based data analytics platform that offers insights to fleet managers; and ancillary services and tools to fleets to manage expenses and capital requirements. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WEX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for WEX Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for WEX and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC reduced its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR Get Rating) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,120 shares of the companys stock after selling 4,760 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLCs holdings in Kroger were worth $2,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in Kroger by 1.9% during the first quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC now owns 11,571 shares of the companys stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kroger by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,687 shares of the companys stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Kroger by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,693 shares of the companys stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Kroger by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,227 shares of the companys stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in Kroger by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 42,230 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,883,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. 78.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Kroger alerts: Kroger Stock Up 0.6 % Shares of KR opened at $49.64 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $41.81 and a 52 week high of $53.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.47. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $48.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.68. Kroger Announces Dividend Kroger ( NYSE:KR Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.09. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.84% and a net margin of 1.51%. The business had revenue of $34.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firms revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Krogers dividend payout ratio is currently 33.88%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In KR has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Kroger in a report on Thursday. They issued a buy rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Kroger from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Roth Capital reissued a neutral rating on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Kroger from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Kroger from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $52.31. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.90, for a total transaction of $137,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 40,147 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,842,747.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 62,414 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.47, for a total transaction of $2,900,378.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 63,079 shares in the company, valued at $2,931,281.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.90, for a total value of $137,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 40,147 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,842,747.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,505 shares of company stock valued at $9,622,597. 1.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Kroger Profile (Get Rating) The Kroger Co engages in the operation of supermarkets and multi-department stores. Its brands include Big K, Check This Out?, Heritage Farm, Simple Truth, and Simple Truth Organic. The company was founded by Barney Kroger in 1883 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Kroger Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kroger and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tredje AP fonden lifted its stake in FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS Get Rating) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,678 shares of the business services providers stock after buying an additional 199 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fondens holdings in FactSet Research Systems were worth $3,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FDS. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in FactSet Research Systems by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,290 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $5,733,000 after buying an additional 2,644 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 66.9% during the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 4,479 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 693 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 23,566 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $9,429,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,932 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.98% of the companys stock. Get FactSet Research Systems alerts: FactSet Research Systems Stock Up 0.7 % NYSE FDS opened at $396.19 on Friday. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a 52 week low of $345.92 and a 52 week high of $474.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $406.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.70. The firm has a market cap of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.83. FactSet Research Systems Increases Dividend FactSet Research Systems ( NYSE:FDS Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $515.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $510.79 million. FactSet Research Systems had a net margin of 22.30% and a return on equity of 40.18%. FactSet Research Systemss revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 14.63 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This is a positive change from FactSet Research Systemss previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. FactSet Research Systemss payout ratio is 30.90%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FDS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on FactSet Research Systems from $477.00 to $454.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on FactSet Research Systems in a report on Monday, May 15th. They issued a market perform rating and a $424.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on FactSet Research Systems in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. They set an equal weight rating and a $435.00 price objective for the company. Redburn Partners raised FactSet Research Systems from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on FactSet Research Systems from $415.00 to $408.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $444.56. Insider Activity at FactSet Research Systems In other FactSet Research Systems news, CTO Katherine M. Stepp sold 297 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.58, for a total transaction of $124,021.26. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 451 shares in the company, valued at $188,328.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Frederick Philip Snow sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.91, for a total value of $1,238,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 8,247 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,405,268.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Katherine M. Stepp sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.58, for a total value of $124,021.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 451 shares of the companys stock, valued at $188,328.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,537 shares of company stock worth $6,404,608. Company insiders own 0.97% of the companys stock. FactSet Research Systems Company Profile (Get Rating) FactSet Research Systems Inc (the Company or FactSet) is a global provider of integrated financial information, analytical applications and services for the investment and corporate communities. Since inception, global financial professionals have utilized the Companys content and multi-asset class solutions across each stage of the investment process. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for FactSet Research Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FactSet Research Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Commerce Bank boosted its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR Get Rating) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 41,781 shares of the insurance providers stock after acquiring an additional 767 shares during the quarter. Commerce Banks holdings in Progressive were worth $5,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWS Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,209 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $880,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 2,717 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 504.6% in the 4th quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 310,770 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $40,310,000 after acquiring an additional 259,367 shares in the last quarter. New Hampshire Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $221,000. Finally, FDx Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. now owns 10,223 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.19% of the companys stock. Get Progressive alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth PGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $143.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, April 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Progressive in a report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut Progressive from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Progressive from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $148.13. Insider Transactions at Progressive Progressive Price Performance In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 472 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.67, for a total transaction of $65,452.24. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $552,045.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 15,473 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.64, for a total transaction of $2,207,068.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 431,811 shares in the company, valued at $61,593,521.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 472 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.67, for a total value of $65,452.24. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $552,045.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,987 shares of company stock worth $3,532,227. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Shares of PGR stock opened at $135.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $79.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.50. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $108.61 and a fifty-two week high of $149.87. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $138.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. Progressive Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Progressives dividend payout ratio is currently 28.37%. Progressive Company Profile (Get Rating) Progressive Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the provision of personal and commercial auto insurance, residential property insurance, and other specialty property-casualty insurance and related services. It operates through the following segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PGR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Progressive Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Progressive and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMMAN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Jordanian Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's "incursion" into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound earlier in the day. Ben-Gvir's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which was made under the protection of Israeli forces, is a provocative step and a grave violation that leads to escalation, the ministry's spokesperson Sinan Al-Majali said in a statement. The visit breaches international law and the historical and legal status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites, he added, demanding Israel immediately cease all violations against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and respect its sanctity. Al-Majali also stressed the need for Israel to stop all measures aimed at changing the existing historical and legal status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites and to respect the authority of the Jerusalem Waqf, a Jordanian body in charge of the compound since 1948. ZANZIBAR, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Many local women with cervical cancer in Tanzania's Zanzibar have been cured, thanks to the Chinese medical teams. Over the last 59 years, the Chinese government has been assigning 32 groups of medical teams to Zanzibar to provide medical services for the local people, train local medical personnel and promote the development of Zanzibar's health care. Ally Juma Hassan, a local gynecologist at the Mnazi Mmoja hospital, said the Chinese doctors and their local counterparts have been screening women aged between 21 and 65 years old for cervical cancer, adding that those diagnosed with the disease are treated free of charge. Lemi Shija Mbaya, a mother of two children, was diagnosed with cervical cancer five years ago and had been receiving treatment since then until she fully recovered. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Leaders of the worlds richest democracies said on Sunday they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, something Kyiv denied. The Group of Seven (G7) summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima was electrified this weekend by the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who arrived on a French government plane to canvass for greater support against Russias invasion. Zelenskiy told reporters on the sidelines of the summit that the battered eastern city of Bakhmut, the focus of fighting in recent months, was destroyed. It is tragedy, Zelenskiy said. There is nothing on this place what remained was a lot of dead Russians. There was confusion over whether he had been asked if the city was still in Kyivs hands or Russian forces had taken Bakhmut, but a Zelenskiy spokesperson said the comments were a denial the city had fallen. Zelenskiy later made his way to Hiroshimas peace memorial, where he laid flowers at the cenotaph to victims of the worlds first nuclear bombing. He is also expected to give a speech in a nation that has seen an outpouring of support for Kyivs fight. During the final day of the three-day G7 summit, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a $375 million package of military aid, including artillery and armoured vehicles, for Ukraine. He told Zelenskiy the United States was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraines defence against Russia. Together with the entire G7 we have Ukraines back and I promise were not going anywhere, Biden said. Putin hailed what he said was a victory for his forces, describing it as the liberation of Bakhmut in a statement on the Kremlins website. The assault on the largely levelled city was led by troops from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. NO FROZEN CONFLICT Other leaders of the G7 the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada echoed Bidens sentiments. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that his country would support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary. Biden told G7 leaders Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s warplanes, although Kyiv has not won commitments for delivery of the fighter jets. The potential for such training on U.S.-made F-16s was a message to Russia that it should not expect to succeed in its invasion by prolonging conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said training would start this summer and Ukraine would get the air force it needed for the future. It was significant that the G7 nations showed solidarity in their intention to uphold international law and order during a summit attended by Zelenskiy as a guest, said the prime minister of host nation Japan, Fumio Kishida. Scholz said that while the immediate priority was supporting Ukraines defence, security guarantees for Ukraine needed to be established once the war was over. Both Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to stand with Ukraine in opposing any notion of the war becoming a frozen conflict, or any proposal for peace talks without Russian troops withdrawing. As Moscows 15-month-old invasion has dragged on, several analysts and diplomats have floated the idea that it could become frozen like the conflict on the Korean Peninsula. North and South Korea remain technically at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended with a ceasefire. Peace should not make Ukraine a frozen conflict because that would lead to a war in the future. It needs to resolve the problem, Macron said. The Hiroshima summit also gave Zelenskiy a chance to lobby for support from other attendees, like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazils Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have remained uncommitted. DE-RISK FROM CHINA While determination to help Ukraine repel Russias invasion was a key message from the G7 summit, the other was distrust of China as a trading partner. Biden met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday to discuss military interoperability and the economic coercion they face from China, a U.S. official said. A day earlier, the G7 leaders outlined a shared approach towards China, looking to de-risk, not decouple economic engagement with a country regarded as the factory of the world. In a statement the G7 also reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, where Chinese military exercises have raised concerns over the security of Taiwan, the democratic, self-governed island that China regards as part of its territory. Chinas foreign ministry issued a complaint to Japan expressing firm opposition to the G7 statement, saying it disregarded Chinas concerns, had attacked it and interfered in its internal affairs, including Taiwan. SOURCE: REUTERS Roderic OGorman has said that communication could have been better with members of the Co Clare community who mounted a protest in response to 30 asylum seekers arriving by bus at night. The Minister for Equality and Integration said he hoped that once locals spend time with the asylum seekers that would change attitudes towards the men, who are from countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria and the Congo. A road leading to Magowna House Hotel in Inch had been blocked by locals using tractors, cars and sileage bales since Monday night, with people working shifts to man what has been dubbed as a blockade. On Sunday, the protesters indicated they would lift the blockade, a move welcomed by the junior minister for integration. Locals had cited a lack of communication and the unsuitability of the disused hotel as the reason for the protest the men are being housed in three bungalows on the grounds of the hotel. There has been a focus on immigration this week as dozens of asylum seekers have been forced to sleep in tents near the International Protection Office in Dublin. One makeshift camp set up by asylum seekers was also set alight last weekend, which prompted discussions between ministers and the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris on policing resources. Speaking to Newstalks On The Record on Sunday, Mr OGorman said that of the 520 people without offers of State accommodation, beds have been offered to 220 this week, leaving 300 others without an offer as of yet. So, between Friday and Saturday, weve been able to offer accommodation to 220 of the 520 people who are unaccommodated, he said. The unaccommodated list is reduced now to 300. Well be able to reduce further next week with more offers, and then in the subsequent week therell be more accommodation coming on as well. In relation to Inch, Mr OGorman said it was really disappointing to hear reports of some asylum seekers leaving Magowna House Hotel and added that the plans could have been communicated with locals quicker. We were in a really pressured situation at that time in terms of trying to secure accommodation for people who are on the streets, he said. Weve gotten better at getting information out to local reps and communities, but I recognise that in the situation in Inch it was very tight there, and thats a legitimate criticism. We didnt get the information out as as early as we should have in Inch, and I think thats one of the reasons why this has become such a contentious thing. He said he had held 20-25 meetings this year to communicate the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees or asylum seekers with residents groups or local representatives, and that this is easier to do online. From the groups Ive met, often people have preconceptions about international protection applicants, particularly male international protection applicants, he said. My experience is that after IP applicants have been living in a place for a while, those preconceptions disappear because people either meet them, and see theyre just normal people, or they dont meet them, their paths dont cross, and no issue arises. He said that Minister of State for Integration Joe OBrien visited the accommodation at Magowna House Hotel and spoke to some of the international protection applicants living there. He met a delegation of the local community in Ennis and I know they were talking to him further on Friday. I think hes waiting to hear back for them in terms of the next steps they propose to take. On Sunday morning, as news emerged that locals intended to lift the blockade, Minister of State for Integration Joe OBrien said that he was pleased engagement had somewhat improved the situation. I welcome the decision of the residents to remove the blockade, he said in a statement. My meeting with the residents on Thursday, in Ennis, was an honest, open discussion and I am pleased that that engagement has helped bring some improvement to the situation. I look forward to working with the provider and my officials to develop a programme of education, training & other supports for the people residing in Magowna House. I look forward to returning to Magowna in four weeks as agreed. On other matters, he said that broadening out the visa system to lower-skilled workers could be of benefit, but added the international protection system should not be used to fix problems in the Irish economy such as a shortage of workers in some sectors. He added: I know, for example, Dublin Bus have been going to other countries in terms of trying to recruit bus drivers at the moment. I dont want international protection conflated with, I suppose, the needs of our economy. International protection is there for a very specific reason. Its for people who are fleeing war, fleeing conflict. I think its right that those people are allowed to work here after a period of time, because its not healthy for people to be doing nothing for a long period of time. But I dont think we should be seeing the people in international protection as a solution to labour shortages in the labour market. Lets do with that in the more appropriate way, which is looking at the visa system. First and foremost . . . The remote work trend allows so many locals to avoid paying the controversial Kansas City E-Tax. And then . . . The data shows us that tele-work is the wave of the future . . . And the downtown loop as a glorified office park might not be coming back. Research from the University of Toronto examined mobile phone data from December to February. Kansas Citys recovery ranked 56th among the 63 metros, reaching 46% of the activity level for the same period in 2019. Most importantly . . . From our BEST & BRIGHTEST TKC READERS . . . Here's a peek at advancement made by way of work at home rules . . . Developing . . . This argument pits workplace safety against old school exceptions for legalized vice. Here's the premise of the debate . . . The acronym stands for Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects. The charter, founded by Kansas casino security worker Joe Hafley, is the fourth of its kind in the nation. According to C.E.A.S.E., Kansas is one of eleven states that still allow smoking inside casinos. C.E.A.S.E. Kansas hopes to cross Kansas off that list. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . In the early morning hours Kansas City's homicide count endured another horrific surge which ruins recent community outreach progress. Unofficially, this puts the 2023 homicide count at 64 which nearly matches the record breaking pace of 2020. Here is the first report . . . Homicide 43rd and Indiana This morning at 1:25am officers were called to Klymax Lounge at 4242 Indiana Ave in regard to a shooting. Multiple officers responded to the scene. The first officers arrived at 1:26am. Officers located multiple victims upon their arrival and began providing medical aid. Officers located five victims all believed to be adults. Three of the victims were transported by EMS to the hospital. Two victims were pronounced deceased at the scene. One of those victims was located outside the lounge and the second was located inside the business. A short time later, one of the victims transported to the hospital was pronounced deceased. One victim at the hospital remains in critical condition and the other victim is considered stable at this time. Homicide detectives and Crime Scene Personnel have responded to the scene. They will be processing the scene to recover any evidence and speaking to any potential witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 816-234-5043. Or if you wish to remain anonymous you can do so by calling the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS. There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information provided to TIPS which leads to an arrest in the case. We are working with Partners for Peace in all our homicide investigations to monitor risks for retaliation and provide social services to affected residents. ################### Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . . Kansas City police: 3 dead, 2 wounded following shooting at Klymax Lounge Kansas City police are investigating a shooting that left three people dead on Sunday morning. Police were called out to the Klymax Lounge at 4242 Indiana on a shooting call. When they arrived at 1:26 a.m. on Sunday morning, police found multiple victims. Five adult victims were discovered, three of which were transported to the hospital. Shooting at Klymax Lounge kills 3, injures 2 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A shooting at a nightclub in Kansas City, Missouri, left three people dead and two more injured early Sunday morning. It happened at Klymax Lounge, a nightclub located at 4244 Indiana Avenue, at 1:25 a.m. Sunday. Multiple officers from KCPD responded to the scene, with the first officers arriving at 1:26 a.m. 3 dead in Kansas City lounge shooting Three people were shot and killed when a gunman opened fire at the Klymax Lounge in Kansas City, Missouri, early Sunday, police said. Two others were injured, including one who was in critical condition, Kansas City Police said. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Developing . . . BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities Sunday released a set of guidelines for facilitating the building of the basic elderly care system. The document, released jointly by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council General Office, emphasized that facilitating the building of this system bears great importance in China's efforts to pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population aging and ensure equitable access to public services. According to the guidelines, basic elderly care services consist of material assistance, nursing, and caregiving services, among others. They are provided directly by the government or by parties supported by the government. The guidelines noted that the system should follow the principles of meeting essential needs and be universally accessible. In the meantime, the system should also allow families with financial difficulties to be supported in elderly care and ensure all institutional resources regarding elderly care are optimized and integrated. The guidelines listed five key aspects where more work should be done. They include forming and implementing a list of elderly care services, establishing an active response mechanism for providing accurate services, enhancing the mechanism that ensures sound elderly care services, improving service capacity, and making such services more accessible. The BEST & BRIGHTEST TKC READERS noticed these dudes in the Golden Ghetto today. More insight into protest that his 119th/Metcalf today . . . We share perspective about their cause that didn't make mainstream media in KC . . . We're on a two-week tour of Kansas and Nebraska to spread foreskin awareness and prevent violence against children, said Bloodstained Men CEO David Atkinson. Their mission: We do not want future generations to suffer the same act of violence that was inflicted on us when we were too young to defend ourselves, he said. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . We asked a creative director to share his guide to artsy Santa Fe and he sure delivered In Hiroshima, Ukraine was indeed an honored participant in the G7s work, and the topic of Ukraine was principal. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in his video address to the nation, Ukrinform reports, referring to the presidents press service. The full text of the address is provided below: Fellow Ukrainians! We are finishing this very difficult yet very important week. On Friday, we had the Arab League. On Saturday and Sunday G7 plus Ukraine and an expanded format seven plus partners, including the Global South, plus Ukraine. It was intense. The world hears our position. Protection and security guarantees, the return of all our territories, all our people, justice, the implementation of our Peace Formula... We have an understanding with the world majority on every important point for Ukraine. And together we will increase Ukraine's potential. This Saturday was Science Day in Ukraine, and the more opportunities we give to Ukraine, the more we give to everyone who works in this noble field. I congratulate all our scientists! Today, on Sunday, here in Hiroshima, Ukraine was a truly honored participant in the work of the G7. The topic of Ukraine is principal, the respect for all Ukrainians is special. I am thankful to the G7! Meeting with President Biden and, as always, we become stronger after such talks. Meeting with the leader of Indonesia meaningful. Meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea there is potential for strong relations. Meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau thank you, Justin. I also spoke with the leaders of Vietnam and Australia. We spoke separately and in detail with the Prime Minister of Japan we will enhance cooperation. There was also a very important ceremony and address at the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima... Our unity with the world, our protection for Ukrainians, and our strength the strength of the Ukrainian state will also be the most worthy tribute to the memory of our people of different generations, whose lives have been broken and trampled by Russian evil, by this long-standing tyranny that changes its form but kills equally brutally. Today is the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression... the Day of Remembrance of all those who were killed in the times of the Soviet regime. Let us not forget what happened, let us not forget whom we lost, and let us not forget that we must be strong. And we will always be. Glory to Ukraine! Le Nguyet Quynh from the Foreign Language Specialized School, Vietnam National University delivers a speech in Chinese, in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, May 21, 2023. The final round of the northern and central section of the 16th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign High School Students concluded here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Hu Jiali) HANOI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The final round of the northern and central section of the 16th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign High School Students concluded here on Sunday. The event was held by Hanoi University and co-organized by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation under China's Ministry of Education and the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam. The final round was divided into four parts, including a themed speech, a Chinese knowledge quiz, an impromptu speech and a talent show, held offline at the meeting hall of Hanoi University. Le Nguyet Quynh from Foreign Language Specialised School, Vietnam National University won in the final round, with 16 students from eight high schools contesting. Nguyen Ngoc Linh Anh from Tran Phu Gifted High School in the Thai Nguyen province of Vietnam performed the solo Chinese song Chi Ling, hailed by the audience. "I have learned Chinese for two years. I want to study in China to learn media after high school graduation, to achieve my goal to be a correspondent in the future," she told Xinhua. Nguyen Thi Cuc Phuong, vice president of Hanoi University, said that Vietnam and China are friendly neighboring countries, share similar cultures and have profound friendships, which should be inherited by younger generations. There are over 10,000 primary and middle school students, and 20,000 college students learning Chinese in Vietnam, according to Zheng Dawei, educational counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam. Bui Hoang Gia Han from the Ha Long High School for Gifted Students delivers a speech in Chinese, in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, May 21, 2023. The final round of the northern and central section of the 16th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign High School Students concluded here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Hu Jiali) Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has called for a complete ban on the transit of European Union goods through Russia. That's according to Bloomberg, Ukrinform reports. "The easiest thing to do would be to ban transit in all countries bordering Russia," Kallas said. She added that a solution is needed for the entire EU, not just Estonia. "A separate Estonian sanction wouldnt solve the problem because the exports would just move to another border country," the prime minister said. Estonia's exports to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia and Uzbekistan have increased since last year, Kallas said, adding that she doubted whether many of the goods reached there after transiting through Russia. Since last year, Estonian exports of semiconductors to Kazakhstan, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have increased by 189%, 222% and 21,576%, respectively, the prime minister said, calling on the EU to take action on the issue. Representatives of Finland, Poland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania met this week in Helsinki to discuss sanctions controls on their borders. As Ukrinform reported, Hungary has changed the conditions for importing goods of Ukrainian origin, increasing the transit time from 7 to 15 days. Photo: Shutterstock During their meeting in Prague on Friday, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky, and the Slovak Republic, Miroslav Lajcak, discussed, among other things, the situation concerning Ukraine and the fight against disinformation. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, as reported by a correspondent from Ukrinform. It is noted that the ministers confirmed their mutual interest in continuing regional cooperation, especially within the S3 and V4 formats. They also agreed to continue supporting Ukraine, preparing for its post-war reconstruction, strengthening the supply of military equipment, and reducing energy dependence on Russia. Another topic of discussion was the further expansion of the European Union (EU). The ministers also exchanged experiences in the field of disinformation, which is one of the main security threats faced by the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech minister welcomed the deepening cooperation between the Czech and Slovak StratCom groups in sharing know-how in combating disinformation. This is the first foreign trip of the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Miroslav Lajcak, since his appointment. Read also: Slovakia cancels unilateral restrictions on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine Czech-Slovak cooperation in the field of security is important, and the Czech Republic plays a significant role as a leading state in the NATO battle group stationed in Slovakia, where 447 Czech soldiers are currently deployed. As Ukrinform reported earlier, the "Gift for Putin" project in the Czech Republic announced the completion of the collection of 2.3 million dollars for the purchase of the RM-70 system and rockets for Ukraine. As part of the working visit to Japans Hiroshima to attend the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in person, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. The relevant statement was made by the Office of the President of Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. The two leaders discussed topical issues on the bilateral agenda, paying special attention to further cooperation in the security and defense sector. I highly appreciate the fact that friendly Canada is one of the leaders in supporting Ukraine in countering Russian aggression. But now it is a critical moment for us and for the whole world, and Ukraine needs enhanced assistance, President Zelensky said. The Head of State briefed the Prime Minister of Canada on the situation at the front and shared the assessment of its possible development. Zelensky praised the assistance provided by Canada for demining the territories liberated from Russian invaders. I would like to thank you for the practical assistance in demining and for the prompt processing of our requests by your government and Canadian manufacturers, the President of Ukraine noted. The parties also discussed the training of Ukrainian junior officers as part of the UNIFIER Canadian training mission. Canadas consistent strengthening of sanctions pressure on Russia was highly praised. In addition, President Zelensky emphasized the importance of implementing all points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula. The Head of State also focused on the issue of Ukraines Euro-Atlantic integration. He noted that at the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July, concrete decisions on Ukraines membership in the Alliance should be made and clear signals should be given that the country will become a member of NATO. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine While on the working visit to Japans Hiroshima to attend the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in person, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo. The relevant statement was made by the Office of the President of Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. In the course of the meeting, President Zelensky briefed the President of the Republic of Indonesia on the course of hostilities in Ukraine. The Head of State drew attention to Russias shelling of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. He called on the President of Indonesia to support Ukraines efforts to return illegally deported children. Meanwhile, Widodo commended the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The parties noted the importance of its expansion. Additionally, the two leaders discussed the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula. Zelensky thanked the President of Indonesia for the invitation to participate in the G20 Summit in November 2022, where the Ukrainian Peace Formula was presented to the world. The Head of State also expressed gratitude to Indonesia for its readiness to support Ukraines reconstruction efforts, particularly in the healthcare sector. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine Ukraine supports Georgia and will share with the nation its experience of fighting off Russia. Thats according to Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, who delivered his statement via Twitter, reports Ukrinform. "Georgia will win for sure and leave in the past the dark times that have now been thrust upon it from the northern vile swamps. Ukrainians will be by your side in this struggle of the free against the slaves. It hurts that now the russian darkness is strangling free Georgia, but we will share the experience of our struggle and we know that Georgia will be Free and Independent, territorially integral and sovereign!" Danilov wrote. He added: "Let's stick together!" As reported, protests took place in Tbilisi against the resumption of direct air traffic between the Russian Federation and Georgia, which had been interrupted in 2019. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees on cancelling visas for Georgia nationals and allowing the resumption of direct flights to and from this country. On May 19, Russias air carrier Azimut made the first direct flight from Moscow to Tbilisi in four years. JERUSALEM, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday morning, drawing condemnations from the Palestinians and Jordan. Escorted by heavy police and the internal Shin Bet security agency, Ben-Gvir visited the compound in the early morning hours, according to a video statement released by his office. He said he was glad to come up to the compound, and thanked the police officers at the site. Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement that the visit is "a blatant attack" on the holy site. The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates echoed Rudeineh by condemning the visit in a statement as "a provocative step and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation." The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been administered by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a Jordanian body, since 1948. The visit comes days after the "Flag March," an annual march by tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists, to mark the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem. It is the second time Ben-Gvir, the ultranationalist leader of the Jewish Power party, visited the site since he became a member of the Israeli coalition government. The government, the most far-right in Israel's history, was inaugurated last December. The compound is a sensitive site in East Jerusalem holy to both Muslims and Jews and a long-time focal point of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel gained control of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and occupied it despite international criticism. Under a long-held status quo, the site is administrated by the Jordanian Waqf, allowing only Muslim worship. BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China celebrates its 33rd national day of assisting disabled persons on Sunday. Showing particular concern for people with disabilities in China, President Xi Jinping has pushed for society-wide support efforts. Over the years, the Chinese government has been striving to meet the essential needs and raise the quality of life of people with disabilities. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has shown his support on many occasions. HEARTWARMING ENCOURAGEMENT Ahead of the Spring Festival in 2014, when visiting a welfare home for orphans and children with disabilities in Hohhot, the capital city of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xi learned some words in sign language from Wang Yani, who has hearing impairment, and encouraged the girl to pursue excellence in her school years and chase her dreams. Wang has since realized her dream of becoming a teacher in a special education school, and she intends to pass on the skills she has learned to children with hearing or visual impairments so they too can go out into the world and serve society. "KEEP UP WITH GOOD WORK" At a ceremony honoring role models with disabilities in Beijing in May 2014, Xi met honoree Hu Lin, a painter who lost his arms at a young age. Hu bent forward in lieu of a handshake, but Xi reached out and clasped him with both hands, patted his shoulder, smiled and said, "Hu Lin, keep up with the good work!" Hu said he was surprised that the general secretary had referred to him by name. Greatly motivated, he said he would be more diligent and self-reliant in the future, and redouble his efforts to support other people with disabilities. INCREASING CONFIDENCE During a 2016 visit to Tangshan City in north China's Hebei Province, Xi spoke to residents of a paraplegic rehabilitation center, saying that if people without disabilities can lead brilliant lives, people with disabilities can do likewise. Yang Yufang and his wife Gao Zhihong, both residents of the center, said they gained strength from the general secretary's words. Encouraged, they not only worked hard to generate an income, but also supported impoverished students by making crafts for charity sales, trying their best to help the people around them. LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND In June 2017, Xi trekked through mountains in north China's Shanxi Province to inspect Zhao Jiawa Village, which is located in a contiguous poverty-stricken region of China. Local Wang Sannyu led a hard life, working to raise her grandson and granddaughter, who both have disabilities, by herself. Xi brought her daily necessities, including rice, flour and cooking oil, and told local officials to ensure her grandchildren get special education. By the end of 2020, China had lifted all rural poor population under the current standard out of poverty and removed all poor counties from the poverty list. "THANK YOU" During a community visit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in 2018, Xi bent down to shake hands with Du Chengcheng, a community worker and wheelchair user, and thanked her for her services interpreting movies since 2010 for people with visual impairments. Not expecting thanks from Xi, Du burst into tears. "Although I have encountered many difficulties in the past years, the general secretary's thank you has made me determined to move forward and encouraged me to do better," Du said. Cannes, France, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2023 ) :The Hollywood cavalcade descended on Cannes Saturday for the premiere of Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's Native American crime epic, "Killers of the Flower Moon" which received rave reviews. The three-and-a-half-hour movie sees DiCaprio play alongside Scorsese's other long-time muse Robert De Niro, and charts a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI. After hours of waiting in the rain that has drenched the French Riviera town all week, fans went wild as the trio arrived for the premiere alongside several native Americans in traditional outfits. Co-star Jesse Plemons arrived with his wife Kirsten Dunst, while Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire were also present. Based on a nonfiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio play a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage Indian and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle (De Niro). Words like "searing", "triumph" and "masterpiece" were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket. IndieWire said DiCaprio gives "his best-ever performance", while The Guardian awarded five stars for a "remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America". There were some dissenting notes, with The Times calling it "a damp squib" and Little White Lies saying Scorsese "guts the story of anything that might sully the high seriousness of the subject matter". - Frontrunners - "Killers of the Flower Moon", funded by Apple, was screening out-of-competition in Cannes. It is the first time the 80-year-old Scorsese, who won the Palme in 1976 for "Taxi Driver", has presented a film here since 1985's lesser-known "After Hours", though he served as jury president in 1998. Elsewhere, the race for the festival's top prize Palme d'Or was heating up. More Hollywood royalty walked the red carpet for Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's new film "May December," which looks at the relationship between an older woman and a schoolboy, still married years after their relationship became a tabloid scandal. An early front-runner is British director Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest", a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Critics were near-unanimous in their praise, Variety calling it "chilling and profound, meditative and immersive, a movie that holds human darkness up to the light and examines it as if under a microscope". It was partly inspired by a book of the same name by British novelist Martin Amis, who died on Saturday at 73. Also well received was "Four Daughters", a heartbreaking documentary about radicalisation within a Tunisian family that is both inventive and engaging. That may go down well with jury president Ruben Ostlund, last year's winner for "Triangle of Sadness", who likes his arthouse films with some lighter touches. A total of 21 films are in the main competition, which concludes on May 27, including previous winners such as Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda, Germany's Wim Wenders and Britain's Ken Loach. - Ageing icons - The weather has been untypically wet this year, but Cannes has had no shortage of splashy moments since kicking off on Tuesday with the controversial appearance of Johnny Depp, playing French king Louis XV in "Jeanne du Barry". The festival saw an emotional appearance from Harrison Ford, receiving an honorary Palme d'Or at the world premiere of "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny". And at the risk of turning the event into a festival of ageing Hollywood males, there was also an honorary Palme for Michael Douglas, and an appearance from Sean Penn as a grizzled New York paramedic in "Black Flies". Hiroshima, Japan, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2023 ) :Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky laid flowers on Sunday at a memorial in Hiroshima to victims of the 1945 US atomic bomb attack, in a sombre and highly symbolic moment. Curious crowds lined the streets as the wartime leader's motorcade weaved its way towards the park complex that houses several memorials commemorating the approximately 140,000 people killed by the bomb. Zelensky, who has stolen the spotlight with a surprise appearance at the G7 summit, stopped first at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which houses evidence of the horrors wrought by the bomb. He was then joined by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who comes from Hiroshima, and the pair placed bouquets of white flowers before the graceful concrete arch of the Cenotaph, through which an eternal flame is visible. Zelensky wore a solemn expression as he laid the flowers, tied with ribbons in the blue and yellow of Ukraine's flag. Hiroshima's mayor joined the leaders to explain elements of the memorial park and monument, adorned with a plaque reading: "Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil. " The visit has particular significance for Zelensky, who has faced thinly veiled threats by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to deploy nuclear weapons as he prosecutes his devastating war. But it is also deeply meaningful for Kishida, who has declared achieving a "world free of nuclear weapons" his life's work. The trip also brings Kishida full circle after his trip to Ukraine in March, where he made a surprise stop in the town of Bucha, site of an alleged massacre by Russian troops. A visibly shaken Kishida spoke then of his "indignation" at the "brutality" witnessed by the town. Kishida broke with Japan's traditionally cautious approach on foreign policy to take a strong early position alongside Western allies against Moscow's invasion. His government has offered aid and diplomatic support in the form of sanctions against Russia, though it is constitutionally limited in its ability to offer weaponry. Zelensky made his surprise arrival at the G7 summit on Saturday, and he is due to make a speech later in the evening after talks with Kishida. (@FahadShabbir) MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2023) An air raid warning has been issued in the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine, the regional administration chief, Vitalii Kim, said on Telegram in the early hours of Sunday. Air raid warnings are also in effect in the Kiev-controlled parts of Kherson region, according to local authorities. According to air raid data from Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, air raid sirens sounded in the region of Dnipropetrovsk late on Saturday night. Ukrainian news website Strana.ua reported late on Saturday that sounds of explosions were heard in the city of Dnipropetrovsk, as well as the region of Dnipropetrovsk. The UNIAN Ukrainian news agency said that a second wave of blasts occurred shortly thereafter. Precision strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure have been carried out by Russia since October 10 (two days after the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge). In February, the head of Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo said that direct damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure caused by Russian strikes may amount to hundreds of millions of Dollars, with economic losses ranging in billions. U.S. President Joe Biden said Sunday that opposition Republicans in the House of Representatives must move away from their extreme position on government spending in order to reach a deal with Democrats to raise the countrys borrowing limit before it runs out of cash to pay its bills. The government could come up short to meet its financial obligations as soon as June 1, but the Democratic president said at a news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, that there will be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default affecting the U.S. and global economies only on Republican terms. It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms," Biden said at the end of a Group of Seven summit of the leaders of the worlds wealthiest democracies. Watch related video by Veronica Balderas Iglesias: Biden said he had done his part by offering ways to raise the countrys $31.4 trillion borrowing limit so the U.S. government can keep paying its bills, such as interest on government bonds, stipends to U.S. pensioners and payments to health care providers and salaries for government employees and contractors. He said, Its time for the other side to move from their extreme position." En route to Washington, Biden talked with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, agreeing to have their negotiators get together again later Sunday and that they would meet in person Monday. While Biden was in Japan, his negotiators met with key Republicans, but the talks produced no agreement, with both sides digging in for their viewpoints on government spending for the fiscal year starting in October. My discussion with the president, I think, was productive, McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol. I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what were looking at. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told NBCs Meet the Press show that the date when the government runs out of cash to pay its current bills remains uncertain, but that an expected June 15 infusion of tax payments may not come soon enough to avert a default. There's always uncertainty about tax receipts and spending, Yellen said. And so, it's hard to be absolutely certain about this, but my assessment is that the odds of reaching June 15th, while being able to pay all of our bills, is quite low. She said decisions have not been made on which bills would go unpaid if the government defaults. I would say we're focused on raising the debt ceiling and there will be hard choices if that doesn't occur, Yellen said. There can be no acceptable outcomes if the debt ceiling isn't raised, regardless of what decisions we make. Biden said he still believes a compromise remains within reach to avert what would be the first-ever U.S. government default, roiling world stock markets, diminishing the U.S. credit rating and forcing many U.S. businesses to lay off thousands of workers. "I'm hoping that Speaker McCarthy is just waiting to negotiate with me when I get home. ... I'm waiting to find out, Biden said. Republicans in the House have called for sharp government spending cuts, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House, which has called for closing tax loopholes and more limited spending reductions. In the past, previous presidents and congressional leaders have reached deals to raise the countrys debt limit 78 times in give-and-take negotiations in which neither side got everything on its wish list. This time, Republicans want increased work requirements for able-bodied poor people receiving government assistance, but Democrats say that under such a proposal several hundred thousand people could lose the benefits they now receive. Republicans also are seeking cuts in funding for the countrys tax-collection agency and asking the White House to accept provisions from their proposed immigration overhaul to stem the tide of migrants trying to enter the U.S. at the Mexican border. The White House has countered by keeping defense and nondefense spending flat during the next budget year starting October 1, which would save $90 billion in 2024 and $1 trillion over 10 years. "I think that we can reach an agreement," Biden said. But he acknowledged, "I can't guarantee that [Republicans] wouldn't force a default by doing something outrageous." Democratic Republic of Congo security forces fired tear gas and fought running battles in the streets of the capital Kinshasa with anti-government protesters demonstrating Saturday over alleged irregularities in voter registration. The protesters are also angry over the rising cost of living and prolonged insecurity in the east of the country, where armed militias and rebel groups have killed hundreds and displaced over a million. Around a dozen protesters were detained by security forces just after the start of the demonstration, which was called for by opposition leaders. A video shared on social media showed a shirtless youth being kicked, repeatedly bashed with a helmet and dragged along the ground by several men in uniform. Reuters could not authenticate the video. Police spokesperson Sylvano Kasongo told Reuters that three policemen had been detained for violence against a minor during the demonstration. He added that 27 police officers were injured during the clashes. Congo's human rights minister Albert-Fabrice Puela, in a statement Saturday, condemned the violence by security forces against demonstrators and the minor, and called for an investigation. Congo is due to hold a general election Dec. 20 when President Felix Tshisekedi is expected to seek a second term. But political tension is on the rise in the world's leading cobalt producer, with some opposition candidates complaining of delays and alleged irregularities in a voter registration drive. Four opposition leaders including Martin Fayulu, who came second in the 2018 presidential election, and Moise Katumbi, a millionaire businessman and former regional governor who is expected to run in 2023, called for the protest Saturday. "It's sad, you see, they are firing tear gas. Just before, it was real ammunition," Katumbi told journalists near the protest venue. Fayulu said by telephone that his vehicle was surrounded by security forces who continued to fire tear gas to disperse demonstrators. "The electoral register is not reliable, and we'll not compromise on this issue," Fayulu added. Congo's electoral commission is expected to publish voter registration data Sunday. Leaders attending the 32nd Arab League Summit pose for a group photo in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. (Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Xinhua) Scholars laud Chinese President Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter to the 32nd Arab League Summit, saying it is an epitome of his resolve to bring the China-Arab strategic partnership to a higher level. CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter to the 32nd Arab League (AL) Summit is an epitome of his resolve to bring the China-Arab strategic partnership to a higher level, scholars have said. The Chinese president emphasized the long and deep friendship between China and Arab countries in his letter to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the rotating president of the Council of the AL, on the summit which kicked off Friday in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Noting that he is glad to see that Arab countries have continuously taken new steps and made new achievements on the path of unity and self-improvement, Xi stressed that China is ready to work with Arab countries to carry forward the spirit of China-Arab friendship, implement the outcomes of the first China-Arab States Summit, bring the China-Arab strategic partnership to a higher level, and continue to write new chapters in China-Arab friendship. Ibrahim Alluhayb, a professor at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, said that Xi's congratulations highlight the positive trend of reconciliation within the Arab world. "China has made significant contributions to this endeavor," said Alluhayb, noting that the Chinese leader's letter specifically mentioned the China-Arab States Summit held in 2022, which has injected fresh momentum into the development of China-Arab relations. Syrian political analyst Osama Danura said that China has helped to ease tensions in the region, adding that China's recent efforts to broker a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran have catalyzed the wave of detente and reconciliation across the Middle East. Referring to the return of Syria to the AL Summit, Steven Wright, an associate professor of international relations at Qatar's Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said China's diplomatic efforts to promote peace have positively influenced the region. The readmission of Syria into the AL indicates the Arab world's desire to gain independence and adopt a more pragmatic approach to regional conflicts, which resonates strongly with China's diplomatic doctrines, he said. This photo taken on May 7, 2023 shows a scene of an Arab League (AL) extraordinary meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Arab foreign ministers decided in the meeting to restore Syria's AL membership after 12 years of suspension. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) On China's efforts to foster cooperation with the Arab states, Wright hailed the rapid progress in practical cooperation between the two sides since the first China-Arab States Summit last year. "Significant progress has been made in areas like development support, food security, public health, green innovation, energy security, inter-civilizational dialogue, and security and stability," said the Qatar-based scholar. "President Xi's congratulatory letter to the AL Summit proved China's determination to move forward hand in hand with the Arab countries," said Palestinian political analyst Haitham Daraghmeh, adding that cooperation between the two sides has always been based on equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation. Samer Khair Ahmed, a Jordanian expert on Arab-China relations, said Xi's congratulatory letter showcases that China highly regards China-Arab relations, highlighting China's conducive role in addressing global challenges, especially those in the Middle East. "Currently, China represents an important international voice to address world problems and complicated issues," said Ahmed, adding that China's diplomatic approach exemplifies its status as a major country with a sense of responsibility. According to Mohsen al-Nabati, spokesman for the Tunisian Popular Current Party, China's presence in the region is widely embraced due to its dedication to peace, stability, and cooperation instead of confrontation. Nabati referred to the Belt and Road Initiative and the ancient Silk Road in explaining China's popularity in the region. "Any rational person would choose 'silk' over chaos," said the spokesperson. An extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians. The visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his second known visit since becoming a member of Israels most right-leaning government ever, drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israel's neighbor Jordan, which acts as the custodian of the site. I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people, Ben-Gvir said during his early morning visit to the site, with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, according to video released by his office. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it proves who is in charge in Jerusalem. Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvirs visit a blatant attack on the mosque. Jordans Foreign Ministry called it a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation. Neighboring Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation. The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israels capturing of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalems Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine, including a low-level minister from Ben-Gvir's party, but not Ben-Gvir himself. Later on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet held a special session to mark Jerusalem Day at an archaeological site near the main area of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray and a remaining exterior wall of the biblical Temples. At the meeting, Netanyahu reasserted Israel's claim to all of Jerusalem, which it views as its eternal, undivided capital. He made no mention of Ben-Gvir's visit. Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the hilltop site is the holiest in Judaism and home to the ancient biblical Temples. Today, it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. The ultranationalist Ben-Gvir, along with a growing movement of activists, has long called for greater Jewish access to the holy site. Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative and as a potential precursor to Israel seizing control over the compound. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there. Tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence. A visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon in September 2000 helped spark clashes that became the second Palestinian uprising. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fueled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021. Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem, with its sites holy to three monotheistic faiths, along with the rest of east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, eternal capital. Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel launched near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed 33, many of them militants but also women and children, and two people were killed in Israel by militant rocket fire. As Bangladesh and Myanmar gear up to repatriate about 1,100 Rohingya refugees in a pilot project, rights group Human Rights Watch, or HRW, says conditions in Myanmars state of Rakhine are still not favorable for sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh and Myanmar are organizing returns of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmars Rakhine State without consulting the community or addressing the grave risks to their lives and liberty, the HRW statement released on May 18 said. Donor governments and United Nations experts should call for a halt to any Rohingya repatriation until conditions are in place for safe and sustainable returns. One Rohingya refugee, who was in a group that visited Myanmar earlier this month to see the resettlement camps, told VOA that none of the refugees would be willing to live in the detention-like camps authorities have built for the Rohingyas in Rakhine. The refugee, who does not want to be identified fearing reprisals, said, None in our Rohingya team is satisfied seeing the situation on the ground in Rakhine. We will not return to Myanmar until the government agrees to accept our conditions, including the return of our full citizenship rights. Third repatriation attempt To escape persecution and violence in Myanmar, minority Rohingya Muslims have for decades fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where more than 1.2 million of them now live, in congested shanty refugee colonies. After some 750,000 Rohingya crossed over into Bangladesh in 2017 following a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine, international pressure forced Myanmar to agree to take back the Rohingya refugees. But efforts to repatriate the refugees failed in 2018 and 2019 after they refused to return home, saying they still felt unsafe living in Rakhine and that Myanmar authorities had not accepted their demands, including restoration of their full citizenship rights. Currently, in a China-backed initiative, Myanmar and Bangladesh are making another effort to restart repatriation of approximately 1,100 Rohingya refugees in a pilot project before the monsoon season begins in June-July. On May 5, Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities took 20 Rohingya refugees from the Coxs Bazar refugee camp on a guided tour to Rakhine to see the resettlement facilities built for them. The refugees who toured Myanmar this month said on their return that they were not in favor of the government-planned repatriation because under current conditions Rakhine is still unsafe for them. [The Myanmar officials] didnt answer our questions about whether we would ever be given back our land, one of the refugees who toured Myanmar told HRW. Rohingya refugees have consistently said they want to go home but only when their security, access to land and livelihoods, freedom of movement and citizenship rights can be ensured, the HRW statement said. The refugee who toured Rakhine earlier this month and spoke to VOA privately, noted, In the resettlement camps, movements of the Rohingyas will be heavily restricted, and it will make the livelihood-related activities suffer badly. The military is in power in Myanmar. Life in these camps is not going to be safe and peaceful. Htway Lwin, a Coxs Bazar-based Rohingya community leader and human rights defender, said he had an extensive discussion with many refugees, and they all said that they do not want to return to Rakhine under current conditions. Not yet safe Their overwhelming sentiment is a desire to return to their homeland as soon as possible, but they feel that it is not yet safe to do so due to the lack of a secure environment in the Rakhine State. This reluctance stems from the fact that the Military Council still refers to Rohingya as Bengalis and intends to issue national verification cards [NVCs] that would effectively render them illegal immigrants in Myanmar, Lwin told VOA. After a controversial Citizenship Law stripped the Rohingya of their citizenship rights in 1982 and made them stateless, the authorities have been forcing the community members to accept NVCs. Rohingyas have widely rejected the NVC process, however, because it effectively identifies them as foreigners and restricts their movement and livelihood-related activities. In the HRW statement, Shayna Bauchner, the organizations Asia researcher, said authorities in Bangladesh shouldnt forget the reasons why Rohingya became refugees in the first place and recognize that none of those factors have changed. Bangladesh is frustrated with its burden as host, but sending back refugees to the control of a ruthless Myanmar junta will just be setting the stage for the next devastating exodus, she wrote. Rohingya refugees want to go back to their homes in Rakhine one day, but only when they can be safe and free in Rakhine, Bauchner emphasized in an email to VOA. Those conditions dont exist today, with Min Aung Hlaing, who orchestrated acts of genocide against them, sitting in Naypyidaw, buying arms from Russia and carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes around the country, she said. The director of rights group Fortify Rights, John Quinley, said the Rohingya continue to face persecution by the junta in Rakhine. The junta is an illegal regime that is brutalizing its people, including the Rohingya. It continues to create conditions designed to be destructive against the minority Muslim community. What the junta is doing is genocide by attrition. Until the perpetrators are held accountable, atrocities will continue against the Rohingya, Quinley told VOA. Rohingya are indigenous to Myanmar. They should be welcomed back, and all their rights restored unconditionally. Iranian authorities have arrested two brothers of Majid Kazemi, one of three men executed last week in a case linked to last years anti-government protests, according to family members. Mohammad Hashemi, a close relative of the Kazemi family, tweeted: Last night, security agents attacked Majid Kazemi's family, and after beating his brothers and parents, they arrested Hossein and Mehdi, his two brothers. The sister was reportedly later taken into custody. There has been no comment on the matter from Iranian police. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were executed Friday in the central city of Isfahan. They had been convicted of killing two members of the Basij paramilitary force and a law enforcement officer during anti-government protests November 16. All three men and their families had repeatedly denied the accusations. The three defendants also alleged that they were forced to make televised confessions under duress. Mass demonstrations broke out late last year in Iran following the September 16 death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, following her arrest days earlier for alleged violations of the country's strict dress code for women. In the following months and weeks, demonstrations for women's rights evolved into a nationwide wave of government protests that were met with a swift crackdown by state security forces. More than 19,600 people have been arrested during the protests, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that's been tracking the crackdown. Upwards of 527 people have been killed by authorities amid a violent suppression of the demonstrations, which have subsided in recent months. Friday's executions bring to seven the number of people put to death by the government in connection with the protests. The United Nations Human Rights Office has said trials of the accused were "marred by violations of due process guarantees in proceedings that fell short of international fair trial standards." The agency said executions following such trials were "tantamount to arbitrary deprivation of life under international law." Iran said Sunday that a "terrorist" attack had killed at least six security guards near the border with Pakistan, claiming the assailants were trying to infiltrate Iran. The deadly incident happened in the Saravan region in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, said the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman in a statement on the governments website. Nasser Kanaani said Iran "condemns the sinister act and expects the Pakistani government to suppress terrorist groups as soon as possible and to try to improve the security of the common borders" in line with bilateral agreements. He did not elaborate. Pakistan denounced Sunday's attack. A foreign ministry statement in Islamabad expressed condolences to the bereaved families and the Iranian government over the "tragic incident." It stressed "the need for mutual efforts to eliminate the terrorism on both sides of the border." Iranian state media reported militants involved in the deadly attack were attempting to enter the country illegally and fled the area with casualties. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, and Iranian officials did not blame the incident on any group. Impoverished, predominately Sunni Muslim Sistan-Baluchistan abuts Pakistan's natural resources-rich, sparsely populated Baluchistan province. The violence-hit Iranian region also borders Afghanistan, making it a convenient route for drug traffickers and Sunni extremists waging attacks against predominately Shiite Iran. Islamabad alleges that ethnic Baluch insurgents use sanctuaries on Iranian soil to wage attacks against Pakistani security forces in Baluchistan, also a poverty-stricken region. Both countries routinely blame the other for not doing enough to prevent cross-border militant attacks. Sunday's violence came days after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif traveled to the shared border between the two countries and jointly launched a marketplace and power transmission line. Kanaani said the deadly incident of terrorism was a "targeted action" to disrupt efforts aimed at enhancing mutual security and economic cooperation in the wake of the Thursday launches. Raisi and Sharif also held a formal meeting on the sidelines of the event, agreeing to enhance border security measures. "We have exchanged proposals to make our joint border security mechanism more coherent and robust," the Pakistani prime minister said after the meeting. He said Islamabad would "take appropriate and effective steps" in the light of proposals shared by Raisi but did not elaborate. The new marketplace is one of the six such facilities Islamabad and Tehran are jointly building to create jobs to help thousands of poverty-stricken households living on both sides of the more than 900-kilometer border. The transmission line will export 100-megawatt Iranian electricity to Pakistan. The floods that sent rivers of mud tearing through towns in Italy's northeast are another drenching dose of climate change's all-or-nothing weather extremes, something that has been happening around the globe, scientists say. The coastal region of Emilia-Romagna was struck twice, first by heavy rain two weeks ago on drought-parched ground that could not absorb it, causing rivers to overflow overnight, followed by this week's deluge that killed 14 and caused damages estimated in the billions of euros. In a changing climate, more rain is coming, but it's falling on fewer days in less useful and more dangerous downpours. The hard-hit Emilia-Romagna region was particularly vulnerable. Its location between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic Sea trapped the weather system this week that dumped half the average annual amount of rain in 36 hours. "These are events that developed with persistence and are classified as rare,'' Fabrizio Curcio, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Agency, told reporters. Authorities on Friday said that 43 towns were impacted by flooding and landslides, and that more than 500 roads had been closed or destroyed. Antonello Pasini, a climate scientist at Italy's National Research Council, said a trend had been establishing itself: "An increase in rainfall overall per year, for example, but a decrease in the number of rainy days and an increase in the intensity of the rain in those few days when it rains," he said. Italy's north has been parched by two years of drought, thanks to less-than-average snowfall during the winter months. Melting snow from the Alps, Dolomites and Apennines normally provides the steady runoff through spring and summer that fills Italy's lakes, irrigates the agricultural heartland and keeps the Po and other key rivers and tributaries flowing. Without that normal snowfall in the mountains, plains have gone dry and riverbeds, lakes and reservoirs have receded. They cannot recover even when it rains because the ground is essentially "impermeable" and the rain just washes over the topsoil and out to the sea, Pasini said. "So the drought is not necessarily compensated for by these extreme rains," he said, "Because in northern Italy, the drought depends more on snow being stored in the Alps than on rain. And in the last two years, we have had very little snow." Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said the new normal of extreme weather events in the Mediterranean requires Italians to adapt and Italy to rethink its flood protections nationwide. He cited a fierce storm-triggered landslide last fall on the southern island of Ischia, off Naples, that left 12 dead. "We can't just pretend that nothing is happening," he said Thursday. "Everything must change: the programming in hydraulic infrastructures must change, the engineering approach must change." He said those changes were necessary to prevent the types of floods that have left entire towns swamped with mud after two dozen rivers burst their banks. The key going forward is prevention, he said, acknowledging that's not an easy sell due to costs. "We are not a nation inclined to prevention. We like to rebuild more than to prevent," he told Sky TG24. Italy is far from alone in lurching from dry to deluge. California and the United States West sloshed their way from a record-setting megadrought to at least a dozen atmospheric rivers dousing the region with so much rain that a long-dormant lake reappeared. Scientists say flash floods of the kind seen in Germany and Belgium two years ago, which killed more than 220 people and caused billions of euros in damage, will become more likely as the planet warms. "The rainiest events seem to be in many places getting rainier," Princeton University climate scientist Gabe Vecchi said Thursday. In 2021, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientific panel said it was "established fact" that humans' greenhouse gas emissions had made for more frequent and intense weather extremes. The panel called heat waves the most obvious but said heavy precipitation events had also likely increased over most of the world. The U.N. report said, "There is robust evidence" that record rainfall and one-in-five, one-in-10 and one-in-20-year-type rainfall "became more common since the 1950s." The Lebanese army said on Saturday it had arrested a prominent al-Qaida leader in Deir Ammar town, northeast of the city of Tripoli. The army identified the arrested man only as "T.M." and said in a statement that the arrest took place on Friday. "T.M. is one of the most prominent leaders of al-Qaida and the founder of its cells in Lebanon," it added. "He has also played a key role in establishing the terrorist Fatah al-Islam organization," the statement added, referring to an al-Qaida-inspired militant group that used to be active in Lebanon over a decade ago. The Lebanese army said T.M. withdrew from the spotlight in late 2007 following a fierce battle between the military and Fatah al-Islam at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon. He then returned to prominence after the rise of the Islamic State and Syrian militant group the Nusra Front, the army added. Tens of thousands of people rallied in Serbia's capital Friday for a third time in a month in protest at the government's handling of a crisis after two mass shootings in the Balkan country earlier this month, even as officials rejected the criticism and ignored their demands. In a show of defiance, the nationalist right-wing party of autocratic Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic organized a counter-protest in a town north of Belgrade attended by thousands of his supporters. The opposition protesters in Belgrade were chanting slogans against Vucic, demanding the resignations of two senior ministers and the revocation of broadcasting licenses for two TV networks which, they say, promote violence and glorify crime figures. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and other government officials attended a parliamentary session Friday focusing on the May 3 and May 4 shootings and the opposition demands to replace the interior minister and the intelligence chief following the carnage that left 18 people dead, many of them children. The two shootings stunned the nation, especially because the first one happened in an elementary school in central Belgrade when a 13-year-old boy took his father's gun and opened fire on his fellow students. Eight students and a school guard were killed, and seven more people wounded. One more girl later died in hospital from head wounds. A day later, a 20-year-old used an automatic weapon to randomly target people he ran into in two villages south of Belgrade, killing eight people and wounding 14. Brnabic rejected allegations that the populist authorities were in some way responsible for the shootings. Instead, she accused the opposition of fueling violence in society and threatening President Aleksandar Vucic. Brnabic blasted the opposition-led protests as purely political, saying they were intended to topple Vucic and the government by force. You are the core of the spiral of violence in this society, Brnabic told opposition lawmakers. You are spewing hatred. She also said that everything that has happened in Serbia after the mass shootings was directly the work of foreign intelligence services, adding that her government could be changed only by the will of the people in elections and not on the streets. The opposition gathering Friday evening outside the parliament building in Belgrade, is the third since the shootings. The two previous gatherings drew tens of thousands of people who marched peacefully, only occasionally chanting slogans against Vucic. Authorities have launched a gun crackdown in the aftermath of the shootings and sent police to schools in an effort to boost a shaken sense of security. Faced with public pressure, the increasingly autocratic Vucic has scheduled a rally of his own for next week in the capital while suggesting that the entire government could resign, and a snap vote be called for September. He also attended his party's rally Friday in the town of Pancevo that started at the same time as the opposition-led protest in the capital. In his speech, Vucic mirrored his prime minister's narrative, suggesting the opposition protests had been orchestrated from abroad. He accused his political opponents of trying to take power through violence and destroy Serbia. There can be no (coming to) power without elections," Vucic told the crowd. I will never serve foreigners. Earlier in the parliament, Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic, whose resignation is demanded by protesters, defended the police measures in the aftermath of the shootings. He also told parliament that citizens have so far handed over more than 23,000 weapons and over 1 million rounds of ammunition since a one-month amnesty was declared May 8. Police could not have known or predicted that something like this would happen, he said of the school shooting, the first ever in Serbia. Gasic also confirmed media reports that a man who was recently released from a mental hospital fired an anti-tank missile Thursday at an empty house from a grenade launcher in the town of Ruma, outside Belgrade. No one was injured in the incident, and Gasic said two people were arrested. Serbia is flooded with weapons left over from the wars of the 1990s, including rocket launchers and hand grenades. Other gun-control measures declared in the wake of the shootings include better control of gun owners and shooting ranges, a moratorium on new licenses and harsh sentences for possession of illegal weapons. U.S. President Joe Biden met on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting Saturday in Hiroshima with the other three heads of state at the Quad Leaders Summit. The Quad leaders from the United States, Australia, Japan and India quickly rescheduled their talks originally slated for next week in Sydney so Biden could return to Washington for federal debt limit negotiations. In opening comments, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese depicted the region as one where sovereignty is respected and all countries, large and small, benefit from a regional balance that keeps the peace." The Quad supports infrastructure, security, climate, health and technology for the Indo-Pacific region. It mainly weaves together cooperation between groups to solve the regions problems. Among other initiatives, it announced Saturday a partnership with the Georgetown University Law Center to provide fellowships to design infrastructure projects. Another initiative to develop undersea internet connectivity cables has Australia designing the $5 million program and the U.S. overseeing technical and security aspects. Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida referenced the ongoing war in Ukraine. Russia's violent acts have continued, and the security environment is all the harsher. A free and open international rules-based order is under threat," he said. Sheila Smith is the senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She noted that while one member of the group, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has not been comfortable with past Quad denunciations of Russia, Modis continued investment in the Quad demonstrates its importance. Smith went on to underscore the Pacific Islands are receiving more attention given Chinas open attempt to court support and security cooperation there, and this years agenda is technology driven. She said she expects future goals to be quite detailed. Biden spoke of the areas global impact: "A great deal of the future of our world is going to be written here in the Indo-Pacific, and together I think that we're going to continue to ensure that the future provides more opportunity, prosperity and stability. Suzanne Loftus, a research fellow with the pro-diplomacy Quincy Institute, said a strong signal was sent to Russia and China as both the G-7 and the Quad groups met at Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic bomb attack. Loftus predicts a more confrontational direction with the West on one side, and China and Russia on the other, as both sides compete for control of the Global South. This was the fifth time the Quad leaders have met. Prime Minister Modi will host the next Quad summit in India in 2024. South Carolina Republicans on Saturday selected Drew McKissick as their chairman for a fourth term at a convention where some of the party's 2024 presidential hopefuls made pitches to voters in the first-in-the-South primary state. McKissick has led the party since 2017 in a state where Republicans hold all statewide-elected positions, all but one U.S. House seat, and control of both legislative chambers. He defeated three challengers. Party officials said in a release that under McKissick's leadership, "more Republicans than ever before" had won elections. Neither of South Carolina's presidential contenders, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Senator Tim Scott, attended the gathering in Lexington, a suburb of Columbia, the capital. Scott, who entered the race Friday, sent a video that was played for delegates, and a political action committee that backs him sponsored a breakfast for them. "The GOP, the great opportunity party, is in fact the dominant party in our great state, because of people just like you," said Scott. He encouraged activists to come to his formal campaign launch event Monday in North Charleston so they could be "a part of South Carolina and hopefully American history." If elected, Scott would be the first Black Republican president. Haley, a former governor who kicked off her campaign in February, did not appear in person or via video. She did get a mention from the rostrum when a McKissick rival noted that Haley had resigned as governor before the end of her second term to join the Trump administration as U.N. envoy. Several Republicans in race The Republican Party's 2024 field is expanding, with Scott, Haley, former President Donald Trump and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson already running. Another hopeful, entrepreneur and "anti-woke" activist Vivek Ramaswamy was the sole candidate to address the convention in person. In a video, Trump said that "now is the time to complete our mission and finish what we started" and "evict Joe Biden from the White House." A video from Never Back Down, a super political action committee supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as he prepares to enter the race, showcased DeSantis' background, including his military service and ongoing disputes with the Walt Disney Co., saying the governor has "refused to let Disney push us around." This past week, Disney announced it was scrapping plans to build a new campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development. The decision followed a year of attacks from DeSantis and the Florida Legislature because the company opposed a state law that bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against DeSantis and other officials last month. Top stop Given its prominent status on the nomination calendar, South Carolina for months has drawn a number of Republican presidential contenders. Trump visited in January to roll out his South Carolina leadership team, which includes Governor Henry McMaster and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. DeSantis made his debut trip last month, drawing hundreds to two events. Former Vice President Mike Pence has come numerous times to a state where support from white evangelical Christians is critical. Trump's support in the state has remained high since his South Carolina primary victory helped propel him to the 2016 nomination. But Tyler J. Corn, who heads up the Greater Spartanburg Young Republicans, said he's somewhat dubious that those who say they support the former president will vote for him when it comes time to do so next year. "I think there's a lot of people that realistically say they love Donald Trump who probably end up voting for Ron DeSantis, because I think a lot of [them] believe that he's a proven winner, and the president, they're a little bit more concerned about that," Corn said on the sidelines of the convention. "I've even heard people say, 'Well I love Donald Trump, I just don't love the way he always says things.' And I haven't heard that complaint with Ron DeSantis yet." Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) pledged Sunday to adhere to a newly agreed, short-term cease-fire with the Sudanese army. "We affirm our full commitment to the cease-fire ... to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, open passages for civilians and provide everything that would alleviate the suffering of our people," the paramilitary group said in a statement. "Today we are more insistent and determined ... to break this vicious circle that has been controlling the fate of our people unjustly and tyrannically, it said. The Sudanese army and RSF signed a weeklong cease-fire deal Saturday after talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah. The halt in fighting is set to take effect Monday evening with an internationally supported monitoring mechanism. Several previous attempts to broker a sustained truce have failed, with both sides accusing the other of violating it. The new agreement states, Both parties have conveyed to the Saudi and U.S. facilitators their commitment not to seek military advantage during the 48-hour notification period after signing the agreement and prior to the start of the cease-fire." A U.S.-Saudi statement said, "It is well known that the parties have previously announced cease-fires that have not been observed. Unlike previous cease-fires, the agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a U.S.-Saudi and international-supported cease-fire monitoring mechanism." The Monitoring and Coordination Committee is to be made up of three representatives each from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and three representatives from each party. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso (3rd R) attends a ceremony for the opening of a road construction project launched by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in Ouesso, Sangha, the Republic of the Congo, on May 20, 2023. (China Road and Bridge Corporation/Handout via Xinhua) BRAZZAVILLE, May 20 (Xinhua) -- President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso on Saturday attended a ceremony for the opening of a road construction project launched by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in the country's northern province of Sangha. During the ceremony, Jean-Jacques Bouy, minister of development, territorial equipment and major works, underlined the importance of the project for the economic and social development of local governments, highlighting the constant high-efficiency and high-quality demonstrated by CRBC over the years in the country. After the ceremony, the Congolese president laid the foundation stone for the project. The 47-km road will connect the city of Ouesso to the urban community of Pokola. The project also includes the construction of a 616-meter bridge over the Sangha river. A man charged with setting a fire at a Minnesota mosque told authorities he is Muslim and set the fire to protest homelessness, according to court records. Said Murekezi, 42, is charged with second-degree arson, second-degree burglary of a religious building and fifth-degree drug possession in the fire Wednesday at the Oromo American Tawhid Islamic Center in St. Paul. The center was last used as a mosque in 2021 and was currently being used as office space. The arson was one of at least six acts of vandalism or arson against mosques in Minnesota this year and prompted Muslim and government officials to call for the state's residents to stand in unity with Muslims. A probable cause statement said Murezeki was released from jail 36 hours before the fire. Court records show he has several past convictions, including one for arson at the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul in 2020. He has also undergone several mental health evaluations. Investigators said Murekezi was on probation for first-degree criminal damage to property and had previously broken windows at a Catholic church in Minneapolis this year and an Islamic community center in Minnetonka in 2021. The probable cause statement said Murekezi, who had no listed home address, admitted that he broke into the mosque the day before the fire and slept there overnight. He said he was upset that Muslims and Americans who are homeless were not being helped by the building or the government. He also told investigators that if he had not been caught he would have burned another mosque or church, according to the statement. Court documents don't list a current attorney for this case. Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests across the country, now entering their 20th week, Saturday against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tighten controls on the Supreme Court. The planned overhaul, which would give the government control over naming judges to the Supreme Court and let parliament override many rulings, was paused after opponents organized some of the biggest street protests ever seen in Israel. The government accuses activist judges of increasingly usurping the role of parliament, and says the overhaul is needed to restore balance between the judiciary and elected politicians. Critics say it will remove vital checks and balances underpinning a democratic state and hand unchecked power to the government. A sea of blue and white Israeli flags, which have become a symbol of the protests, coated a central highway in Tel Aviv. Protestors chanted, "Israel is almost a dictatorship," as a banner reading "stop them" was held up by the crowd. "It scares me that we are still a few hours away at any given moment from turning from a democracy to a dictatorship," Sagi Mizrahi, a 40-year-old computer programmer told Reuters in Tel Aviv. "I'm here because of the judicial system and the laws that are still sitting on the table, it's just scary." Protests garnered lower attendance last Saturday as a truce between Israel and the militant Islamic Jihad group officially came into effect, ending a five-day escalation which was the worst episode of cross-border fire since a 10-day war in 2021. Protests seemed to have been invigorated with Hebrew media estimating some 90,000-100,000 in attendance. The police force did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "Gradually, myself, my kids and my grandkids are losing the hope to live here in a democratic state and to have a normal life like every person deserves," Hava Golan, a 65-year-old biology professor said. One of Australia's top television journalists has opened a bout of national soul-searching by quitting his show over the racist abuse he faces as an Indigenous man in the spotlight. An award-winning journalist with the ABC, Stan Grant said the national broadcaster had lodged a complaint with Twitter about the "relentless racial filth" he endured. But he added that he saw the media itself "lie and distort my words" and depict him as "hate-filled" after he raised Britain's colonial persecution of Indigenous Australians during the ABC's coverage of King Charles III's coronation. "I pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of our land," Grant said in an article published Friday on the ABC's website. "Police wearing the seal of the crown took children from their families. Under the crown our people were massacred." His coronation commentary was heavily criticized as being one-sided and inappropriate by some conservative media. Grant said he spoke out of love for Australia because he needed to tell the truth that Indigenous people still have the highest rates of imprisonment and poverty. The 59-year-old announced he would walk away as presenter after the next episode of the ABC's Q+A current affairs discussion programme on Monday. Grant took his own employer to task. 'Toxicity around race' "I am writing this because no-one at the ABC whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest has uttered one word of public support. Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me." Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered his support to Grant, telling journalists: "You can have respect for different views without engaging in vilification." ABC news director Justin Stevens also issued a statement backing Grant, saying he had faced "grotesque racial abuse, including threats to his safety." Other colleagues spoke out, too. "There are no words adequate to express the horror we feel at this. Stan is brilliant and cherished," said Sarah Ferguson, presenter of the ABC's flagship evening current affairs programme, The 7.30 Report. Osman Faruqi, culture news editor for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, who previously worked at the ABC, said staffing at the national broadcaster was not representative of the cultural mix of Australia. But the issue went further than the national broadcaster, he said in an opinion piece on Saturday. "It's also bigger than the media. There is a toxicity around race that resides deep within this country, infecting all of our institutions the media, sport, arts, business and politics," Faruqi said. 'I have had enough' In his departure announcement, Grant said Indigenous people had learned to "tough it out." But the stakes are now higher, he said, as the country prepares for a referendum this year on whether to give Indigenous people the constitutional right to be consulted about laws that affect them. "There is a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and I am not alone in feeling judged. This is an Australian judgement on us. Such is politics," Grant wrote. "But racism is a crime. Racism is violence. And I have had enough." U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has traveled to Papua New Guinea to sign defense cooperation and maritime agreements with the Pacific island nation and meet with regional leaders. The trip comes as China exerts its influence in the region. Blinken was visiting the capital, Port Moresby, in place of U.S. President Joe Biden, who cut short an Asia-Pacific trip to return to Washington for negotiations on the U.S. debt limit. Biden would have been the first U.S. president to visit Papua New Guinea. Blinken was expected to meet with members of the Pacific Islands Forum, a policy group that includes the island and other countries in the region and attend the deal-signing ceremony. The agreements call for developing military infrastructure, boosting support for the Papua New Guinea Defense Force and countering illicit transnational maritime activities. U.S. officials say that Washington is supplying $12.4 million in personal protective equipment to the PNG Defense Force, including ballistic helmets, flak jackets with armor plates, elbow pads, knee pads, and eye protection, to its border patrol and domestically for security operations. PNGs foreign affairs secretary, Elias Wohengu, has said the widely publicized defense deal maintains the countrys sovereignty and is in line with its laws. At a press briefing, he told reporters no laws would be changed to enter into the deal. Secretary Wohengu made the statement amidst rumors of leaked documents regarding the defense cooperation deal that stirred debate and led to questions as to whether such an agreement could undermine national security. Theres no immunity for any foreign [military] personnel that would preside in Papua New Guinea. If a crime is committed, punishment would be carried out. To anyone spreading rumors that we will provide immunity, there is no fact in this agreement that speaks truth to those lies, said Wohengu. Since its independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea has signed similar security agreements with Australia and Indonesia. Wohengu stated that the agreement will not prevent it from engaging with other nations in signing future defense cooperation deals. Separately, the maritime deal, or ship rider agreement, is expected to cover illicit transnational activities at sea. U.S. officials say the maritime agreement will enable the U.S. Coast Guard to work alongside PNG naval patrols to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing by closing global gaps in enforcement. Apart from security concerns, climate change has been one of the issues central to cooperation between the United States and Papua New Guinea. The State Department says that through USAID, the United States will provide an additional $12.5 million to help Papua New Guinea strengthen critical resources and systems needed to make communities more climate resilient. Aid to the nation is also expected to address electricity needs. Meanwhile, the Associated Press has cited Chinese officials as warning against the introduction of geopolitical games in the South Pacific. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was quoted at a recent briefing as saying Beijing opposes any introduction of any geopolitical games into the Pacific Island country region." The comments followed the announcement of Blinkens visit to Papua New Guinea. Paul Rowland, a foreign affairs analyst who has lived in Papua New Guinea, says U.S. engagement with the Pacific Island countries has increased since 2018 when then-Vice President Pence visited the Solomon Islands. He notes that Chinese officials traveled to the region three times since 2018 and signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands in 2022. Rowland says in hindsight, there has been a long history of U.S. engagement with the region. If you go to islands, there's a place called Ironbottom Sound, which is there's kind of Japanese and American and Australian ships at the bottom of that where major battles were fought. So, this goes back almost a century. So that's not new. What is new is the real sort of engagement. Opening of new diplomatic missions. Opening of new military bases in Papua New Guinea, for example, the U.S. Navy and military is helping along with the Australians to recondition and upgrade the naval facilities in Papua New Guinea, Rowland explained. Recently, the United States reopened its embassy in the Solomon Islands after a 30-year absence and plans to open its posts in Vanuatu and Tonga. Some information provided by the Associated Press and Reuters news agency. Some information also provided from VOA files. Wrapping up a three-day summit with allies of the Group of Seven leading democracies, U.S. President Joe Biden sought to reassure China that conflict with the West is avoidable, even as the G7 ramps up pressure to push back against Beijings rising military and economic security threats. I dont think theres anything inevitable about the notion that theres going to be this conflict between the West and Beijing, Biden said during a Sunday news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, at the conclusion of the summit. Biden, however, underscored that the G7 and other regional partners are aligned to push back against Beijings aggression, including its potential invasion of Taiwan. I think were more united than weve ever been in the Pacific, he said. We all agree we're going to maintain the One China policy, Biden said, referring to the policy under which the United States recognizes Beijing as representing China, and acknowledges Beijings view that it has sovereignty over Taiwan without endorsing it. Under the policy, Washington considers Taiwan's status as unsettled. Neither China nor Taiwan can independently declare what they're going to do, period, Biden said, referring to the Taiwans status quo. There has to be a mutually agreed new outcome. While Western allies don't expect Taiwan to independently declare independence, Biden warned China against invading the self-governing island that Beijing considers a breakaway province. There is clear understanding among most of our allies, that in fact, if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response, he warned. There would be a response. Bidens comments came as G7 countries amplified their denunciation of Chinas rising military and economic security threats. In the summits communique, the group criticized China for its use of economic coercion, militarization of the South China Sea and interference activities aimed at undermining the safety of diplomats, the integrity of democratic institutions and economic prosperity. Beijing swiftly hit back, accusing the G7 of using issues concerning China to smear and attack China and brazenly interfere in Chinas internal affairs. Taiwan is Chinas Taiwan, said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson in a statement. Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese, a matter that must be resolved by the Chinese. United on Ukraine Biden said the G7 would remain united in its support for Ukraine. We will not waver, he said. Putin will not break our resolve as he thought he would, Biden added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the decisions taken at the G7 summit in Hiroshima "aim to contain both Russia and China." On Friday, Biden made a significant endorsement of Kyivs effort to boost its air power to fight Russian aggression, telling G7 leaders Friday that he now supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. For months Biden had refused requests for the aircrafts from his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, partly due to concerns that such offensive weaponry would escalate the war. I have a flat assurance from the from Zelenskyy that they will not, they will not use it to go on and move into Russian geographic territory, he said. Returning to Washington immediately following the news conference to deal with negotiations on raising the U.S. debt ceiling to avoid the country from going into default, Biden said, There's been very little discussion at the G7 about the crisis. They all know what's going on about whether or not we're going to default on our debt, he said, adding that he can't guarantee that Republicans in Congress wouldn't force a default by doing something outrageous. Without an agreement to increase the debt ceiling, the U.S. Treasury Department said it can only pay the U.S. government's bills through June 1. Most economists agree a U.S. default would be catastrophic for financial systems globally. It is a growing trend that defies conventional wisdom: Some people of color are joining forces with groups that openly champion right-wing causes, including white supremacy and racism. Spurred by shared resentments and hatreds, American Latinos, Blacks and other nonwhites are swelling the ranks of some of Americas right-wing groups in rising numbers. The recent mass killing in Texas shone a light on the phenomenon, reigniting a debate about what draws nonwhites to far-right militancy and why extremist groups embrace them. Mauricio Garcia, the 33-year-old gunman who killed eight people in Allen, Texas, on May 6, was a Latino who allegedly harbored white supremacist views. Police killed Garcia, but he left behind a trove of social media posts that showed his affinity for neo-Nazism and white supremacy. In one post, he showed pictures of Nazis and neo-Nazis with swastika flags, calling them my type of people. In another, he referred to himself as a full-blown white supremacist. Were going to make America white again, he bragged in yet another post. What led a Latino to embrace white supremacist views? Garcia offered some clues: Referring to his self-loathing phase, he ranted against loser Hispanics and admitted he once wished he were white because my own race treats me like [expletive]. This goes to the root of the power of white supremacy: the wish to identify with the racial category that you think is most powerful in the society that you live in, said Heidi Beirich, a prominent extremism researcher and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. Estimating numbers The exact number of nonwhites who join far-right groups is unclear. But one piece of evidence provides some quantification: A 2022 University of Chicago study found that nearly 7% of rioters charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol were nonwhite. While most of the Capitol rioters were not members of any extremist groups, the data paint a stark picture, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino. The numbers show how appealing right-wing extremism can be to people of color, and for some, the next stop down that rabbit hole is white supremacy, Levin said in an interview. The phenomenon is not entirely new. In the 1960s, a Jewish man named Daniel Burroughs led a neo-Nazi group. In the 1990s, Blacks held leadership positions within predominantly white, right-wing anti-government militias. But Garcia was a new face of white supremacy. He belonged to a far-right movement that has become more racially diverse and offers more ideological entry points for aspirants. Political scientists Daniel Martinez HoSang and Joseph Lonwdes have called this multiracial white supremacy. If you look at who was arrested after the January 6 insurrection, you'll see a wide range of occupations and ages, social classes and beliefs, HoSang, a professor of political science and American studies at Yale University, said in an interview. Some are focused on conspiracy theories and QAnon. Some are motivated by homophobia and transphobia. Some focus on Islamophobia. [Others focus on] nativism. But what unites the motley crew of hard-right believers is a belief in the decline of the nation, HoSang said. To address this decline, there's a kind of almost valorizing and heroic role for a small number of people who, in order to restore the nation, restore its honor, will take violent action, he added. Melting pot of extremists Today, the extremist fringes boast support from virtually every corner of the American melting pot. Nick Fuentes, identified as a white supremacist in federal court filings, has Latino ancestry. Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio identifies as an Afro-Cuban. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has openly talked about his own mixed race. Both Tarrio and Rhodes have been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the January 6 riot. Ali Alexander, the organizer of the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the Capitol attack, is the product of a Black mother and a father from the United Arab Emirates. Joey Gibson, the founder of the alt-right group Patriot Prayer, is half-Japanese. They all reject the white supremacist label. Fuentes, for example, has called the label an anti-white racial slur. Tarrio has said, Im pretty brown, Im Cuban. Theres nothing white supremacist about me. Mainstream conservatives have also taken issue with the characterization. It seems if someone sneezes the wrong way theyre accused of white supremacy, conservative writer Julio Rosas said during House testimony on Tuesday. But detractors say people of color who harbor white supremacy cannot escape the consequences of their ideology based on their skin color. Its very hard to say you reject the label of white supremacist when you are busy proselytizing about all the ways in which whiteness is superior, said Tanya Hernandez, a race expert and professor at Fordham University School of Law. Racially inclusive extremist groups To be clear, not all far-right groups welcome people of color into their ranks. Neo-Nazi organizations such as the National Socialist Movement still cling to a rigid whites-only policy. But they are a shrinking minority on the far right, replaced by a less hierarchical and less race-based movement that taps into a more diverse pool of recruits. The racist fringes have mutated and expanded who can come under their umbrella, Levin said. Before, it used to be: Who are you? Now, its as much: Who do you hate? Nonwhites not only bolster the ranks of far-right groups, but they also shield them from accusations of racism, enabling them to legitimize their bigotry, experts say. They can say, 'Hey, we have people of color with us so you cant say were racists,' said Jason Williams, a criminologist at Montclair State University in New Jersey. The push for racial inclusion has sparked heated debates among extremist groups. On right-wing message boards, users have argued whether a Jew who fully embraces right-wing ideas or a light-skinned Latino should make the cut, HoSang said. Jeff Schoep, an ex-head of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, recalls similar conflicts within his former group. There were people who would say Spaniards and Portuguese shouldnt be allowed, Italians shouldnt be allowed, said Schope, who now leads Beyond Barriers, an extremist disengagement advocacy organization. I remember getting into arguments with certain people over that. What motivates people of color White supremacists welcoming people of color may be surprising. But a person of color joining them is even more unexpected. Their motives are as varied as their backgrounds. Latinos, a racially diverse group, stand out as one of the more visible nonwhite groups on the far right. A Latino who looks and identifies as white but is not fully accepted as white may join an extremist group in order to prove his self-identify, said Hernandez of Fordham University. But she noted that one need not have a white appearance in order to be an upholder of white supremacy. For others, enlisting in a right-wing group is as akin to joining a family of sorts, a family that's going to support them, provide substance to them and so forth, said Williams of Montclair State. Not all right-wing extremists, whether white or not, espouse violence. Far-right activists distance themselves from violent actors on the right and claim to be peaceful advocates for white interests. But extremism researchers say the rhetoric and the violence are often interwoven. That rhetoric is what nurtures and sustains the impulses of those who are more inclined to pick up firearms, Hernandez said. In Hiroshima, Japan, the Group of Seven industrial powers Sunday convened the summits working session on the war in Ukraine, guest starring Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president made his dramatic entrance to city the day earlier in a French plane, following his appearance at the Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, where he appealed for support for Ukraines efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression. Hours after Zelenskyys arrival, Moscow announced that its forces had occupied Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city under fierce fighting that Zelenskyys troops have tried to defend for months. Zelenskyy initially appeared to confirm that Russia has taken control of the city. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts, he said. He later maintained that Russia had not taken full control of the city. Dressed in his signature hooded sweater, Zelenskyy held individual meetings with all the G-7 leaders as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been criticized for refusing to condemn Russia's invasion. In his meeting with Zelenskyy, U.S. President Joe Biden announced $375 million in additional aid to Ukraine. A package that includes more ammunition artillery, armored vehicles to bolster Ukraine's battlefield abilities, he said. On the first day of the summit, the G-7 increased sanctions and export controls on Russia and measures to crack down on those helping Moscow evade them. But the biggest boost for Kyiv is the United States finally agreeing to allow its allies to provide their American made F-16 fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots to fly them. Concerned over conflict escalation, for months, Biden had refused to grant Zelenskyys request for the fighter jets to modernize Ukraine's current fleet, which mostly consists of Soviet-era aircraft. I'm very happy, thank you very much. Thanks to our partners. It will really help our society, our people, to save houses, families, Zelenskyy said. National security adviser Jake Sullivan emphasized U.S. insistence that the F-16s will not be used for strikes on Russian territory. All of the capabilities that the United States has proven to Ukraine come with the basic proposition that the United States is not enabling or supporting attacks on Russian territory. That will go for the support for the provision of F-16s by any party as well. And the Ukrainians have consistently indicated that they are prepared to follow through on that, Sullivan said during a press briefing Saturday. Condemning Russia In their communique released Saturday, G-7 leaders again condemn the war in Ukraine in the strongest possible terms. Russias brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community, the statement said. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Invited guests attending the G-7 working session on Ukraine in person include leaders of Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, Indonesia, India, South Korea and Vietnam. Their participation is part of Kishidas outreach to the Global South, where many countries bear the brunt of the impact of the war on food and energy prices. Hours after Zelenskyys arrival in Japan, Moscow announced that its forces had occupied Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city that Zelenskyys troops have tried to defend for months. HARARE, ZIMBABWE Authorities in Zimbabwe Friday started releasing 4,270 prison inmates who were granted amnesty by President Emmerson Mnangagwa earlier this month ahead of general elections. The development is welcomed because it decongests Zimbabwe's overcrowded prisons. Pardoned inmates leaving Harare Central Prison Friday did not speak, but joy was written all over many of the prisoners' faces. Shepherd Mpofu, the acting head of the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service, is grateful to President Emmerson Mnangagwa for granting the amnesty and reducing the prison population. He said previous amnesties have shown that few of the inmates will return. "In the past amnesties that have been granted, we can tell that only 2% or 3%, they are coming back to prison those who have benefitted from amnesty," said Mpofu. "So by looking at those numbers to say just 3%, they are returning to prison, they are good numbers to show that our rehabilitation activities that are taking place in prison, they (the inmates) are learning more. What I can say to the society is to accept them when they come out." The president announced last month on Zimbabwe's independence day - that he would pardon some inmates convicted of minor crimes. Edson Chihota, who heads the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offenders, an organization that works to rehabilitate prisoners and reintegrate them into society, said many of the released prisoners were forced to commit crimes because of severe poverty. He welcomes the release of the inmates but said prisons remain overcrowded. He noted that some prisons with a capacity of 17,000 have populations of up to 22,000. "For us it's something that has been done but does not really alleviate the challenges that are faced by prisons," he said. "We can only say this is meaningful when the number has dropped from 17(000) to 15,000 and below." Zimbabwe last had a prisoner amnesty in 2020, when the president said it was necessary to decongest prisons during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Latest Developments Ukraines military says Bakhmut is still contested following Russian claims of victory there Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with G7 leaders U.S. President Joe Biden announced $375 million in additional aid to Ukraine. A package that includes more ammunition artillery, armored vehicles to bolster Ukraine's battlefield abilities, he said. Russia claimed victory in Bakhmut, though Ukrainian officials said fighting for the devastated eastern Ukrainian city was continuing. The claim from Russias Defense Ministry, as well as the head of the Wagner mercenary group, was followed by a congratulatory statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian commanders quickly pushed back on the Russian declarations, with the commander of the countrys ground forces asserting that the city was still contested. SEE ALSO: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking during a visit to Japan on Sunday, initially appeared to confirm the loss of Bakhmut, but his press service later said his remarks had been misinterpreted and that he was, in fact, responding to a question about whether Russia controlled the city. "I think no," Zelenskiy said, speaking in English. But you have to understand that there is nothing. They destroyed everything, he said, referring to Russian forces. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its a tragedy. But for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place. The claims come as Ukraine has reportedly made tangible battlefield advances in districts north and south of Bakhmut, which has been all but obliterated during a nearly 10-month push by Russian forces, with Wagner soldiers playing a major role. It also comes as Ukraine prepares for a widely anticipated counteroffensive that is expected to take place in one or more locations across the more than 1,000-kilometer front line, stretching from the Luhansk region in the northeast all the way to the mouth of the Dnieper River, near Kherson, in the southwest. Latest Developments The rift between Wagner mercenary forces and the Russian military establishment remains apparent even after Russias pronouncements of victory in Bakhmut, Ukraine. No one from the army helped us," said Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on allegedly taking Bakhmut. Ukraine affirms F-16 training for its pilots but unclear when it will receive the high-tech jets. U.S. President Joe Biden announced $375 million in additional aid to Ukraine. A package that includes more ammunition artillery, armored vehicles to bolster Ukraine's battlefield abilities, he said. Russia and Ukraine contradicted each other Sunday on who controls the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Kyiv said it still occupied a small part of the besieged city, while Moscow hailed its "liberation by Wagner mercenary forces and Russian troops. On Saturday, the Wagner Group said it had fully captured the destroyed city after a 15-month battle there, the longest and bloodiest since WWII. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and Wagner forces for their victory, a claim Kyiv has contested. Even during their alleged victory, the Russians revealed the rift between Yevgeny Prigozhins Wagner mercenary forces and the Russian military establishment. The founder of the Wagner group played down the role of the regular Russian army Sunday in capturing Bakhmut. In a voice message published by his press service on the messaging app Telegram, Prigozhin said, "During the taking of Artyomovsk, practically no one from the army helped us," referring to Bakhmut by its Soviet-era name. Meanwhile, the commander of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Sunday he had visited front-line positions near Bakhmut and thanked the troops defending the area. Syrskyi said in a post on Telegram that Kyiv's forces still controlled a part of Bakhmut, albeit an insignificant part, he conceded. Syrskyi said, however, that their foothold would be enough to advance into the devastated city once the tide turned. He said Kyiv's forces controlling the suburbs were forming a tactical encirclement around Russian troops in the city. Hanna Maliar, Ukraines deputy defense minister, said on Telegram that Ukrainian soldiers were still defending industrial and infrastructure facilities in Bakhmut, as well as a private sector of the city, and its forces had claimed part of the overlooking heights, " which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy... the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls." The Reuters news agency was not able to verify the battlefield claims. During a visit to Japan Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to confirm the loss of Bakhmut, but his press service later said his remarks had been misinterpreted and that he was, in fact, responding to a question about whether Russia controlled the city. "I think no," Zelenskyy said, speaking in English. But you have to understand that there is nothing. They destroyed everything, he said, referring to Russian forces. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its a tragedy. But for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place. Ukraine support Sunday in Hiroshima, Japan, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new $375 million package of military aid to Ukraine. Biden was in Japan for a meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, known collectively as the G-7. Zelenskyy thanked the United States for the new package, and for the financial assistance of $37 billion, to date, his office said. Meeting with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the G-7 summit, Biden said the military aid package included ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles and training. "Together with the entire G-7, we have Ukraines back, and I promise we're not going anywhere," Biden told Zelenskyy. Biden affirmed U.S. support for a joint effort with allied and partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-16. Biden told reporters in Hiroshima he had received a "flat assurance" from Zelenskyy that Ukraine would not use the Western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory and that such warplanes would be used "wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area." But Ukraine has not yet won commitments on when it will receive F-16 jets from allies. President Biden has defended his initial hesitancy to providing the high-tech jets to Ukraine, arguing that they would not have made any difference in stopping Russian advancement on Bakhmut. However, responding to a question by VOAs Russian service at the summit, Zelenskyy said that discussions on the delivery of F-16s have come a "step further," starting with the training of Ukrainian pilots on the aircraft, which he affirmed that Ukraine plans to complete as soon as possible. We will be working for these people to be as educated as [quickly as] possible, as trained and experienced as possible with huge experience to decrease this process of training to make it short, he told VOA. I cannot tell you how many aircraft we'll be able to get. I cannot tell you definitely when it will take place, but we will speed it up because it's important for us every day. We're losing our people. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Colonel Yuri Ignat told Espreso TV Saturday that once Kyiv deploys F-16 fighters, "we will win this war." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Saturday that Western countries will run "colossal risks" if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, according to Russias state-run TASS news agency. VOAs Mykhailo Komadovsky contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. ADDIS ABABA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo will be an impetus for strengthening Ethiopia-China economic ties and advance the East African country's strive for industrialization, an Ethiopian official has said. Deputy Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) Daniel Teressa said Ethiopia envisaged to take the expo as an opportunity to promote cooperation with China on investment, economy and trade. He said representatives from the Ethiopia government, business community leaders and representatives will use the opportunity to attract more Chinese investments. The third edition of the expo, under the theme "Common Development for a Shared Future," will run from June 29 to July 2 in China's central province of Hunan. First launched in 2019, it is a major platform for strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China and African countries. "In the upcoming China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, our companies will have good engagement with Chinese companies and we will also encourage Chinese companies to come to invest in Ethiopia," Teressa said at a promotion event held Friday in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. "The Ethiopian Investment Commission and Ethiopian companies engaged in different economic sectors and businesses will be attending this expo," he confirmed. Teressa said the Ethiopian delegation will use the expo to promote the ongoing economic reforms that aim to enhance the development of the private sector in the country, and to attract potential Chinese investors in this regard. He said the expo, which will be held against the backdrop of global challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the global supply chain, will serve as an important platform to enhance investment and trade relations between China and Africa. "Ethiopia's economy is majorly dependent on agricultural sectors and now we are working aggressively on transforming this agriculture-based economy into industry-based and service-based economy," Teressa said. He also said the country welcomes Chinese investments in the private sector. "The engagement that our domestic companies will have with Chinese companies (at the expo) will enhance this reform of privatization and opening up of different economic sectors," he said. Senior Ethiopian officials, representatives of the country's business community, a Chinese delegation group as well as heads of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce attended the promotion event. On the same day, the Chinese delegation presented investment policies and business opportunities to the Ethiopian side. Yang Yingjie, secretary-general of the Zhuzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said the expo will be launched within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and will yield win-win results. Wanted in Rome is a monthly magazine in English for expatriates in Rome established in 1985. The magazine covers Rome news stories that may be of interest to English and Italian speaking residents, and tourists as well. The publication also offers classifieds, photos, information on events, museums, churches, galleries, exhibits, fashion, food, and local travel. Emilia-Romagna floods kill at least 14 people. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Sunday travelled home a day early from the G7 summit in Japan to visit the northern Emilia-Romagna region devastated by floods. The disaster has claimed the lives of at least 14 people and forced 36,000 residents to evacuate their homes, causing billions of euro worth of damage and leaving many areas without electricty. In a tweet on Saturday Meloni thanked the other G7 leaders for expressing their solidarity with Italy and those affected by the floods, writing: "Your closeness is a tangible sign of our cohesion in difficult times." Desidero ringraziare i leader del G7 e i partner di piu Nazioni che in queste ore stanno esprimendo parole di solidarieta all'Italia e alle popolazioni colpite dall'alluvione. La vostra vicinanza e un segno tangibile della nostra coesione nei difficili momenti. Grazie. Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) May 20, 2023 "Frankly, I can't stay so far away from Italy in such a difficult moment", Meloni told reporters at a late-night press briefing before leaving Hiroshima, adding that she had informed the other G7 leaders who "understood and supported" her decision. Meloni also confirmed that the next G7 summit will be held in the southern Italian region of Puglia in June 2024. The premier is expected to arrive in Emilia-Romagna on Sunday afternoon, according to Italian media reports, ahead of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to decide on emergency measures to address the disaster. Notorious attack on Michelangelo's Pieta occurred on 21 May 1972. 51 years ago today, a Hungarian man called Laszlo Toth climbed over an altar rail in St Peters Basilica and attacked Michelangelos Pieta with a geologist's hammer, while screaming: I am Jesus Christ risen from the dead. The Renaissance masterpiece, which portrays the Madonna holding the dead body of Jesus after he was taken down from the cross, suffered extensive damage from Toth's approximately 15 hammer blows. Toth was apprehended by bystanders The attack, which took place in front of horrified pilgrims, saw Toth knock the Madonna's left arm off at the elbow, chipping off an eyelid and a significant part of the statue's nose. The 33-year-old Toth was quickly restrained by bystanders, including the American sculptor Bob Cassily who hit the assailant several times before pulling him away from La Pieta. Before and after the restoration of La Pieta The chapel floor was littered with around 100 fragments from the statue which Michelangelo carved from a single block of Carrara marble before it was unveiled in 1499. Some of those present pocketed these chipped remains as "souvenirs," with at least one person subsequently repenting and sending the ill-gotten memento back to Rome anonymously from the United States. Restoration of the Pieta The Vatican was faced with a dilemma regarding the restoration, with art historians divided on how to proceed. Some experts said the statue should remain in its damaged state, others argued that it should be fixed but distinguishing clearly the restored parts from the original. Laszlo Toth In the end the Vatican opted for an integral procedure invisible to the naked eye, according to Reuters, resulting in one of the most delicate and complex art restorations in history. The operation saw restorers spend more than five months identifying all the fragments, some minuscule, before beginning to piece them together invisibly with glue and powder ground from Carrara marble. When the painstaking restoration was complete, about 10 months after the attack, the Pieta went back on display - this time behind bulletproof glass. What happened to Laszlo Toth? In view of his apparent insanity, Toth was never charged with the crime. In January 1973 he was committed to a psychiatric hospital in Italy. Toth was released in February 1975 and deported from Italy to Australia, where he had studied prior to the Pieta attack. Australian authorities did not detain him and he faded into oblivion, reportedly living a hermit-like existence in a remote part of New South Wales. Toth died on 11 September 2012. Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share Thanks to a 173-page report by a six-member panel appointed by Indias Supreme Court, we now have a fairly good idea of where the countrys probe into the Adani Group is headed: Nowhere. It has never been too hard to look under the hood of the foreign investors that have propped up the infrastructure behemoth over the years. As many as 12 funds and one overseas financial firm owned a combined stake of between 14% and 20% in five out of the six publicly traded Adani companies in March 2020, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of Indias own submission to the committee. The entities may be opaque, but they have all disclosed their beneficiary owners. They include an Alastair Guggenbuhl-Even in Switzerland; a Jan Scheelings in the Netherlands; a Raj Bhatt in the UK; a Yajjadeo Lotun in Mauritius; and an Adel Hassan Ahmed Alali in the United Arab Emirates. But just who are they? A year-and-a-half before a New York-based short-seller put the spotlight on a couple of them and their alleged connections with the founders of the Ahmedabad, Gujarat-based conglomerate, Indias government had announced most of these names in parliament in response to a lawmakers question. The Adani Group issued a strong rebuttal to Hindenburg Researchs Jan. 24 report and said that innuendoes that any of the public shareholders are in any manner related parties of the promoters are incorrect. Advertisement Its entirely possible that these people are tangential, or even irrelevant, to the Adani saga. Their control over the offshore structures makes them beneficial owners as per Indias anti-money-laundering law. But the real persons of interest may be those who own the economic interest. According to the committee, the SEBI has been following the money trail of the 42 investors who have contributed capital into these funds to figure out if theyre mere fronts for the tycoon Gautam Adani and his family. Its a suspicion the SEBI has investigated for years before the Hindenburg report, says the panel of experts. If theres any substance to those doubts, then one or more of the groups publicly traded companies may not really be public as per securities law. The Supreme Court had set up the committee in March, under one of its former judges, to look into any regulatory lapses in the wake of the short-sellers report. The panel has gone back and told the court that it will not be possible for it to return a finding of regulatory failure. Adani stocks rose after the report became public Friday. The business group is yet to comment. Not being able to reject the null hypothesis doesnt invalidate the alternative, though. A more powerful scrutiny by lawmakers might have yielded a different finding. Ill have more to say on that in a bit, but for now its interesting to take note of the panels characterization of the SEBIs ongoing probe into the 42 contributories in the 13 funds that helped propel Gautam Adani to near the very top of the global wealth league before the precipitous fall in the last four months. It is potentially a journey without a destination, it says. Advertisement Thats because if you dig into any of the names among the 42, belonging to Cayman Islands, Malta, Curacao, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Ireland and the UK, you may find another hard to-decipher company, or offshore fund. Dig deeper, and youll be presented with another inscrutable structure. It would be a humongous task to figure out who the ultimate beneficial owner is, the experts say in their report. The court has asked the regulator to wrap up its investigation by Aug. 14. While the committee doesnt explicitly say it, three more months or even 30 may not help. As a rule maker, the SEBI has gone soft, frustrating its own enforcement wing. In 2019, the regulator dropped from its rule book the very provision dealing with opaque structure. After that tweak, it was no longer necessary for a foreign fund to be able to disclose every ultimate natural person at the end of the chain of every owner, the expert panel says. In other words, even if Adani has violated the minimum 25% public shareholding norm, the SEBI may never be able to prove it. Not when the other Indian investigating agencies that the regulator has approached for help dont seem too keen to get involved. The SEBI has already asked Adani if investments by these foreign funds into his publicly traded companies have been funded by his group. He has denied it. In response to Hindenburgs allegations, the conglomerate has said what it always has: A listed entity does not have control over who buys/sells/owns the publicly traded shares or how much volume is traded, or the source of funds for such public shareholders nor is it required to have such information for its public shareholders under laws of India. Advertisement Before Hindenburg came along, SEBI had hit a wall, says the panel. Even now, a breakthrough is unlikely. To not be able to peer into the identity of the unnamed 42 investors or those bankrolling them means that the 13 funds they have invested in must also remain a black box. Minimum public shareholding was the most promising investigative lead among the three that the court had asked the SEBI to pursue. When it comes to non-disclosure of related-party transactions, the regulator has already scored another own-goal by being so exhaustive in specifying who it considers to be a related party that anyone can slip between the rules and yet stay within the law. The third line of inquiry, which pertains to stock-price manipulation, is a dead end. Or thats my read of the expert panels description of where the investigation is currently at. Having dealt with the immediate questions, the committee goes on to make some longer-term recommendations, such as assembling a multi-agency task-force with a short shelf-life to carry out super-crucial investigations. Thats highly unrealistic. In the Adani episode, while Hindenburgs focus was on the groups dealings in the stock market, Indias opposition parties have pounced on the report and made it all about Prime Minister Narendra Modis close links with the businessman from his own state. Adani denies having benefited from these connections. Modi has refused to even talk about them. A systemically important investigation that involves not just the financial but also the political system cant possibly be run as the expert panel recommends under the aegis of the Financial Stability and Development Council, which is headed by the finance minister. Advertisement Perhaps the most telling part of the report is the committees own unwitting acknowledgement of its powerlessness. It had asked JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley to come and present. None of the international securities firms and banks were desirous of engaging in the matter, it said in its submission to the court. Why should a Wall Street bank with an important emerging-market franchise to protect go anywhere near a political hot potato unless its compelled? This suggests that Rahul Gandhis Congress Party, the main opposition, may be right to ask for a joint parliamentary committee, which has far greater powers to summon witnesses. The government hasnt heeded that demand. A toothless expert panel looking over the shoulder of a regulator that has its suspicions but no evidence, and no hope of generating any without the help of other sleuthing agencies, means only one thing: No matter how long it goes on, the Adani probe will only produce heat, not light. More from Bloomberg Opinion: Advertisement Carl Icahn the Hunter Has Become the Hunted: Ed Hammond Wholl Fund Indian Infrastructure After Adani?: Andy Mukherjee Another Black Eye for ESG in MSCIs Downgrades: Alexis Leondis This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services in Asia. Previously, he worked for Reuters, the Straits Times and Bloomberg News. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2023 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is, among other things, one of the worlds most gifted storytellers. And I mean that in the best sense. Coming from a Jewish family and speaking Russian as his first language, he knows as well as anybody that Ukrainian-ness is a fraught identity, and a work in progress. But the same is true of other nationalities too all others, as Ill argue in this essay. National character, it turns out, ultimately rests neither on ethnicity nor on language, but on narrative. Zelenskiy understands that. As Zelenskiy sees it, Vladimir Putins genocidal attack on Ukraine actually accelerated the process of Ukrainian nation-building. This outcome is, of course, the exact opposite of what the Russian president had in mind. In Putins narrative, Ukraine isnt a nation at all, just a borderland (the etymological origin of the word Ukraine) of Greater Russia whose denizens became confused about their identity. Advertisement The powerful story Zelenskiy and Ukrainians have converged on instead is one of national rebirth. In this telling, Ukrainians suffered for centuries inside of other peoples empires Polish-Lithuanian, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, Soviet. At times as during Stalins policy of deliberate mass starvation, the Holodomor they even came close to extinction. In 1991, they reemerged as an independent state. But they werent yet fully formed as a nation. The gestation that followed was a progressive emancipation. This was at once an incremental liberation from the Kremlin, an embrace of the democratic West and the European Union, and an assertion of Ukrainian uniqueness. Thus Ukrainians spontaneously rose up to kick out a corrupt Moscow-sponsored thug, Viktor Yanukovych, in the Orange Revolution of 2004, then again almost a decade later in the pro-EU Euromaidan uprising, which became known as the Revolution of Dignity. Advertisement That upheaval provoked Putin into his annexation of Crimea and infiltration of the Donbas in 2014, and last year made him attack the whole of Ukraine, including Zelenskiy personally. But the Ukrainian president didnt flee. He was tut here as he said nine times in the first of his many inspirational video messages following the invasion. And Ukrainians were tut with him. We all changed, Zelenskiy told his compatriots on their Independence Day in 2022, on day 182 of the war. Each of us was born again. As a person, individual, citizen, patriot, simply as a Ukrainian. From ancient roots in Kyivan Rus, a new nation had emerged on Feb. 24, 2022 at 4 a.m., Zelenskiy said: Not born, but reborn. **** Such narratives of rebirth, often in the context of wars of independence, are one archetype of nation-building. As in other former colonies, from Africa to Asia and South America, they echo a Biblical pattern: Once upon a time we our forebears lived in a pristine state of communal purity and bliss. Then we lost our innocence, either to foreign conquerors, internal sin or both. But eventually we regained our boon, and that redemption affirmed us as the nation we are. Advertisement This rebirth trope can take other forms. Post-war West Germany settled on an atonement narrative. We Germans, this storyline went, committed the worst evils in history during the Holocaust. But then we accepted our guilt and built a new identity on being democratic, tolerant, peaceful, neighborly. This became official when, on the 40th anniversary of Germanys defeat in World War II, its then-president Richard von Weizsaecker, who had once defended his own father at the Nuremberg Trials redefined that zero hour of German collapse as a day of liberation. There are other types of national narratives too, and sometimes they compete. When unresolved, those can undermine rather than reinforce national identity and coherence. The dominant version of American exceptionalism, for example, has long referred in one form or another to the image of a Shining City on a Hill, as Ronald Reagan put it in 1980. He picked up the phrase from John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century, who had in turn taken it from Jesus Sermon on the Mount. This emphasized Americas predestined and perennial ascension toward virtue and liberty. Advertisement This storyline, though, had important counternarratives. They included the memories of exclusion and genocide suffered by Native American tribes, and Black recollections of slavery and Jim Crow. This latter narrative became the basis of the 1619 project. Named after the year in which the first ship carrying African slaves arrived in Virginia (one year before the Pilgrims disembarked from the Mayflower), it in effect inverts Americas autobiography. Instead of a paean to freedom that contains a footnote to racism, it becomes an indictment of enslavement and discrimination with a subplot of liberty for one group. Predictably, this account threatens the self-image of many Americans the 1619 project provoked its own rebuttal in the 1776 Report, commissioned by former president Donald Trump. At a time when many Americans worry about polarization and even another civil war, its worth remembering that national narratives can divide countries as well as unite them. In this singular sense, American nationhood currently appears more vulnerable than the Ukrainian kind. Advertisement *** The concept of nationhood is so recent in human history dating back just about two centuries, and taking over the globe only since World War II that it has long fascinated and flummoxed scholars. One enigma is how nations invariably view themselves as ancient when in fact most are young. Another is how notions of nationality are universal everybody is assumed to have at least one even though each nation thinks its unique and exceptional. A third is the contradiction between the philosophical vacuity of nationalism and its awesome psychological power. Hardly anybody volunteers to perish for Marxism or Liberalism; many people die for their country. Already in 1882, the French historian Ernest Renan rebuked notions that nations are based on a common racial heritage after all, you can be American, French or Brazilian whether youre white, Black or brown. He also ruled out language as the crucial factor otherwise the Swiss, with their four official tongues, couldnt form a single nation, while all the worlds English speakers would have to inhabit one and the same. Advertisement The core of nationhood, Renan argued, is rather a collective project of selective forgetting and remembering. A group of people looks at the past and cherry-picks certain events, traumas, heroes, martyrs, grievances and victories. Out of that selection, the nation spins a yarn that makes all members rich or poor, noble or lowly believe they have something important in common. In that sense, Renan said, nationhood is not based on history, as a scholar would practice it, but on story, as Homer or the Bible might tell it. Because those two concepts, history and story, have the same word in many languages including Russian, Ukrainian and German that can cause confusion. So the scholarly consensus is that nationalism pretends to be about the past and heritage, while actually being about the future and destiny. And storytelling connects the two. As the historian Benedict Anderson famously put it in 1983, nations are imagined communities of millions of people whove never met one another and never will, but who nonetheless choose to face the world together, owing to the way they narrate it. Advertisement *** Precisely because national storylines are so powerful, it matters hugely whether they are for lack of a better word healthy or unhealthy. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia (a state with weak narratives), its various communities went their separate ways, armed with new stories. Some chose to remember traumas and humiliations from centuries earlier to justify hatred in their own time. Leaders like Slobodan Milosevic harped on the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, in which Ottoman Muslims vanquished Serbian forces. Milosevic used that narrative to seek vengeance that is, to commit atrocities against Kosovar Albanians and others. China has its own variant of a revenge narrative, in which scholars espy a problematic mixture of inferiority and superiority complexes. Its called the Century of Humiliation, and refers to the period between the First Opium War and the Maoist Revolution, when Britain and other Western powers corrupted and disgraced the Middle Kingdom. Advertisement Generations of Chinese school children have been raised on the belief that the West forever means to bully and oppress China. By convenient extension, only the Chinese Communist Party can and therefore must stand up for the nations honor and restore China to its rightful primacy in world affairs. This epic Chinese grudge plays a large part in todays tensions, from the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea and beyond. But the most dangerous national narrative of our time is Russias, as used and abused by Putin. Ive been corresponding about it with James Wertsch, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, whos studied this mental universe for decades. According to Wertsch, specific Russian stories about the world are variations on an ingrained narrative template he calls the Expulsion of Alien Enemies. In Act I of this template, Russians and their culture are pristine, pure and innocent but come under attack from malign foreign forces. These might be Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Poles, Swedes, Turks, Napoleon, Hitler, NATO, LGBTQ+ communities, liberals or what have you. So the alien threat can be military but also spiritual. As the Soviet Union lay in its death throes, Russian intellectuals reinterpreted Marxism as a nefarious Western import that had to be rejected and expunged. Similarly, thinkers whove influenced Putin regard Western materialism, sexual liberation, secularism and democracy as corrupt, un-Russian and indeed downright Satanic. In Act II, Russians heroically fight back and, at huge cost and sacrifice, prevail against the foreign evils. The greatest specific storyline in this template is of course what Russians call the Great Patriotic War. To Putin, World War II didnt start in September 1939 with the joint attack on Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union mentions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact are suppressed in Russia as heretic. Instead, it began on June 22, 1941, with Hitlers attack on the USSR. So the narrative barely mentions Pearl Harbor or D-Day, but dwells on the Battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin, according to Wertsch. If the celebrations of Soviet victory every May 9 only extolled the heroism of the Red Army and included the many Ukrainians, Balts and others who fought in it, that would be healthy remembrance. But Putin has turned the occasion into something ominous at once jingoistic and quasi-religious. To Russias neighbors, it feels menacing. In the process, Putin and his propaganda apparatus wantonly invert history and reality. In Putins telling, the Red Army didnt occupy Eastern Europe but liberated it. Balts, Poles and others beg to differ. In Putins story, moreover, Russians fought fascism once and are destined to fight it forever, so that anybody he considers an enemy Ukraine, NATO, the US, even the Jewish Zelenskiy must also be fascist. To Ukrainians and much of the world, of course, Putin is the one waging wars of aggression and genocide meaning hes the fascist. Putin wants Russians to keep seeing him, as in that classic story template, as expelling alien enemies from Greater Russia. But to Russias neighbors, from the Caucasus to the Baltic, Moldova and of course Ukraine, Putin himself is the Alien Enemy Who Must Be Expelled. *** Such is the power of narrative. What some observers might dismiss as a victimhood complex or paranoia, others may well deem incontrovertible truth. So it is with many stories. The result is what Wertsch calls a mnemonic standoff a confrontation of competing realities. Especially when the opposing sides have nukes, that can get scary. In writing about nationalism and narrative, I may sound like an atheist talking about religion. If you happen to be a nationalist, in whatever country, youre likely to be offended. Youll probably find other peoples stories interesting, if weird. But your own is, as youve heard since kindergarten, simply true. So you wont like my suggestion that theres an arbitrariness to storytelling, and therefore to nations. Youve got to wonder, though. Why is Belgium still a country, whereas Czechoslovakia no longer is? We can explain, or rationalize, in retrospect why, say, Sudan and South Sudan were destined to split, or Pakistan and Bangladesh, or indeed both of the latter two and India. But we cant predict the storylines and nations of the future. Will the European Union one day have a master narrative as compelling as those of its member states? If so, will it become the United States of Europe? Could Palestinians and Israelis one day form a nation as warring Franks, Saxons and Swabians did from 911 when they founded the first Kingdom of Germany? Im not making the case against narratives per se. Storytelling, as science has now accepted, is the only way human brains can make sense of a confusing world both in their own lives and in those of their nations. Narrative, in short, is inevitable. My plea is rather to strive for healthy stories and to reject unhealthy ones. The latter genre includes populist fare thats simplistic and meant to stoke resentment. Stories in the healthy category are complex, open-ended and inclusive, and positive in exhorting people to become better. The story Zelenskiy and Ukrainians are telling is of that healthy and positive kind. It is defiant in the face of an enemy and uplifting in that it prophesies ultimate victory. But Zelenskiy goes beyond the mere negation of Putinism. In his story, the Ukrainian nation must use victory to clean up corruption at home, to rebuild, to become the open society at the heart of Europe that it aspires to be and in that sense, a Shining City on a Hill. Amen to that. And Slava Ukraini. More From Bloomberg Opinion: Londons Big China Show Treads On Tricky Ground: Matthew Brooker The Danger in Hyping Ukraines Spring Offensive: Andreas Kluth The Autocrats Playbook Doesnt Guarantee Victory: Mihir Sharma This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. A former editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist, he is author of Hannibal and Me. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2023 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share CANNES, France When the lights came up after a screening on the Walt Disney lot of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Steven Spielberg was incredulous. Damn! he said. I thought I was the only one who knew how to make one of these! Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Dial of Destiny, which premiered Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival, is the first Indiana Jones film without Spielberg behind the camera. After years of development, Spielberg and Lucasfilm decided to pass the reigns to James Mangold, the Ford vs. Ferrari filmmaker, who was 18 years old when he saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in a Hudson Valley theater on opening day in 1981. When I got over my initial hesitation of just: holy s- this is a big challenge to step into these very big shoes that Steven Spielberg is leaving, the opportunity, on a very selfish level, to collaborate and learn and have the tools and the resources to play on this level was hard to resist, Mangold said. Advertisement Mangold was being tasked with not only restoring the luster of one of the most beloved film series after a disappointing fourth film in 2008s Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, but giving Harrison Ford a poignant send-off in his last performance as the character. While no one is saying Dial of Destiny matches Raiders of the Lost Ark, the consensus in Cannes was that it betters Crystal Skull by a wide margin. Mangold certainly has Fords endorsement. He more than filled the shoes, Ford told reporters. He made, for me, a beautiful movie. Before Dial of Destiny opens in theaters June 30, Mangold spoke about the challenges of capturing Indiana Jones tradition and carrying it forward. After a 1940s-set opening with a de-aged Ford, Dial of Destiny moves to the 60s and finds an aged Jones weary and on the cusp of retirement. The space race has made him a relic of a bygone era. Advertisement And the notion of who Indiana an Errol Flynn-like hero forged in the moral clarity of WWII would be in a more complicated time, without the spryness of youth, factored heavily into Mangolds thinking on Dial of Destiny. Remarks have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. AP: How did you respond when this opportunity arose? Mangold: When Harrison and Kathy (Kennedy) and Steven came to me about this youre talking about just heroes of my life. George Lucas. John Williams, too. The idea of being invited to not only play in an all-star game with that kind of team, but also take the mound and be the pitcher, is beyond. So you flash forward to this moment where Im kind of stepping in to the directors chair, and its a chance for me to both try and carry forward what I feel like Ive been learning all my life from Stevens work. And at the same time carrying my own voice, but wanting very much to work within the same kind of golden-age vernacular that hes operating in. Its pressure because you cant be playing at a higher level with a headier crowd of luminaries around you. You either have to rise to the occasion or not. Advertisement AP: Were you surprised the job was even open? During the films long development, it was long assumed that Spielberg would direct. Mangold: I dont think directing an Indiana Jones film is a job. It is a lifetime commitment. Theres too many luminaries and too much involved. When they came to me they were very laser focused on me stepping in. The idea for me was that I wanted to write a script that I could get behind. I wanted to really retool the existing script pretty aggressively, almost entirely. But when they first came to me? It was a complete shock. I was numb. But Im also not new at this. Theres a kid in me thats tickled and flattered the romantic in me. And then theres the rational person whos survived these movies up to this and knows how to make a picture like this. AP: And so much of the what defines Indiana Jones is the ingenuity of the filmmaking: the clever reveals, the ingenious blocking. Advertisement Mangold: These are love letters to Golden Age cinema. Youre making a narrative and youre making a movie about characters who have to feel real, but youre also making a movie that in and of itself is about enjoying the sheer beautiful spectacle of movie making. The way shots move together, the way sequences are constructed, the way you kind of unwind the onion of a revelation in the movie. These are all things where youre taking your guidance from the classics. AP: Youve described wanting to make Dial of Destiny about a hero at sunset. How did age relate to your intentions for the film? Mangold: When they approached me, I immediately found myself faced with making an Indiana Jones with a hero in his late 70s. Theres no way around the fact that the audience is going to be confronted with Harrisons age. Theyre going to see a man theyve grown up with in his late 70s. To me, its not about what Im doing, its about what Im not doing. Im not going to allow myself to be in denial that this is going to be a huge factor in the audiences mind. Advertisement AP: So even though you begin with a de-aged Indiana, you wanted to embrace who Ford, 80, is today. Mangold: The movie becomes about the very thing that is undeniable. What is it like to be a hero, to be a kind of swashbuckling, mischievous, demanding, fearless, but also fearful? What I thought about, even in relation to some of the struggles they had with Crystal Skull, was that its very challenging to carry a kind of golden-age character forward past the dividing line after modernism arrived. The optimism and clarity of purpose with which characters operated in the 30s or 40s is not the same environment that theyre operating in in the 50s, 60s and 70s. The arrival of modernism has brought realpolitik and a kind of lack of clarity about who are enemies and who our heroes are. Its brought a kind of cynicism into the world about easy heroes. Science has replace mysticism, and were landing on the moon where nuclear weapons are all around us. AP: Was it moving to shoot Fords last scene as Indiana? Advertisement Mangold: We shot his last shot and everyone applauded and we all drank champagne. And it is very moving. But youve been through almost a year of making this movie together. To do a good job making a movie like this, you can never sink completely into that way of thinking. Because if you did, youd be lost in kind of the symbolism of each moment. Indiana Jones is a part of Harrison, so in a way, I dont think hes ever saying goodbye to the character because he carries this character. Its very close to who he is. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share NEW YORK The founder of a nonprofit group has been accused of fabricating a story about homeless military veterans being evicted from a New York hotel to make room for migrants, a tale that stoked days of outrage on cable news networks. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight One Republican lawmaker in New York who helped spread the story is now calling for an investigation, saying he and others were duped. The uproar began after New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, bused a small group of asylum seekers to a suburban hotel as the citys homeless shelter system struggled to accommodate an influx of migrants from the U.S. border with Mexico. The groups transfer prompted a political backlash from Republican county officials, who accused the mayor of trying to offload his problems on unprepared communities. Then, the founder of a small charity in the area added an explosive claim: To make way for the migrants, a hotel in Newburgh, New York, evicted nearly two dozen homeless veterans. Advertisement That story, told by Yerik Israel Toney Foundation chief executive Sharon Toney-Finch, was picked up May 12 by The New York Post and quickly followed by Fox News, Newsmax and other conservative news outlets. The Post on Friday published a follow-up story reporting on the latest development. Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to whats going on with the immigrants, Toney-Finch told the Post in its initial story, saying her group had made arrangements to find alternative lodging. We didnt waste any time. State Assemblyman Brian Maher, a Republican, introduced legislation that would prohibit the displacement of homeless veterans. In an appearance on Fox News, he called the purported evictions an absolute embarrassment on all fronts. Cracks in the story emerged after an investigation by a local newspaper, the Mid Hudson News. Advertisement The managers of the hotel told the paper the story wasnt true. A receipt purporting to show that the Crossroads Hotel had been paid $37,800 to house the veterans appeared to have been sloppily doctored. In a follow-up report Friday, the Mid-Hudson News reported that several men staying at a homeless shelter in Poughkeepsie, New York, had come forward to say they were recruited to pretend they were among the veterans kicked out of the hotel. The paper quoted some of the men as saying they were offered $200, food and alcohol to take part in the ruse. They said they met with Toney-Finch, then participated in a meeting at a veterans center in Orange County with local chamber of commerce officials. Toney-Finch denied giving any money to the men. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, she declined to say directly that her story was not true, but she suggested that a misunderstanding might have led to confusion. Advertisement We should have verified better, she said. She abruptly ended the phone call when pressed for details. Maher said in a written statement that he had a conversation with Toney-Finch on Thursday where he learned that the story about homeless veterans being displaced was false. The YIT Foundation purports to protect and support veterans, but the dishonest claims and fabrication of the facts by YIT does enormous harm to our homeless veterans by creating mistrust, Maher said, referring to the foundation by its shortened name. I am calling for an immediate investigation by the New York State Attorney Generals office and the Orange County District Attorney into the YIT Foundation based on the new information that came to light today. While I believed Sharon was telling the truth, I do want to apologize for those that have been negatively impacted since this news broke, he added. Advertisement New York Citys mayor also called for an investigation into what he called a fraudulent claim. Instead of stepping up, were seeing hateful language and outright lies, Adams said in a Twitter post. On its website, the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation advertises its focus as helping raise awareness of premature births and assisting families with transportation and lodging while their infants are in neonatal intensive care units. It also says it helps homeless and low-income military service veterans in need of living assistance. New York says more than 65,000 migrants have arrived in the city over the past year, with the first of them bused by Republican governors in border states to draw attention to their displeasure over federal border policies. GiftOutline Gift Article ACCRA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Ghanaian government said Saturday that the country decided to further lift COVID-19 restrictions amid declining global and domestic trends for the infection. The West African country has witnessed a sustained decline in COVID-19 infections over the past five months, and based on the global and national situation, it decided to remove the remaining restrictions, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said. "Pre-departure testing and testing at all points of entry are no longer requirements for all passengers. The COVID-19 health declaration form for international travelers has been suspended. These measures are to take effect from today, May 20," it said. But for vigilance and the protection of people from infections, the agency said COVID-9 vaccinations would continue, and people with fever, cough and sore throat would be tested for both flu and COVID-19. The GHS further urged people to maintain the general safety measures of hand-washing with soap under clean running water and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, directing those with complaints of fever, cough and sore throat to report to the nearest health facility for management. SP: It is. The koala story is similar to this very heartfelt story Ive recently read about a scientist who has been studying Adelie penguins in Antarctica for most of his professional career, and he says that in the last decade, the populations crashed and theyve lost nearly half of them. Although there are still thousands left, whats happening is that penguins cant adapt quickly enough to deal with the challenges of climate change and the chicks are just dying in their thousands. A koala named Paul being treated for burns at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital in 2019. Credit: Getty Images Fitz: And how badly is climate change, specifically, affecting koalas here? SP: We lost thousands of koalas in the NSW bushfires, with as much as 70 per cent of the populations in affected areas lost. Within another 10 years or so, the climate modellers are saying its all going to happen again. Weve just been advised by the most recent climate modelling that El Nino is now a greater than 60 per cent chance in 2023. So were in for a very dry winter, a very dry hot summer and more areas will likely get burned. And before the koalas have had enough time to recover from the 2019 fires, another fire event will potentially be upon them and you lose 70 per cent of the animals that remain, and so on. One doesnt have to be scientist to realise what happens to koala population numbers over time. Fitz: What can be done to save the koalas from extinction on our watch? SP: Look, it saddens me to say I worry that the damage has been done, and if we remain complacent about the future, there is little we will be able to do to stop the rate of koala population decline throughout the species remaining habitat areas. Loading Fitz: Im sure a lot of readers will be saying: Dr Koala, dont give up! Tell us what to DO. SP: I dont necessarily think that total extinction will happen. But I know that we are going to lose many, many more koalas and the processes that are causing that to happen are not going to stop, unless there is concerted action by decision-makers to make them stop. Among other things, weve got to get very aggressive and proactive about the way that we manage fire and we need to compartmentalise remaining areas of natural habitat so they cant be lost in an inferno. In forested areas where surviving populations are located, weve just got to stop taking the preferred food trees from these animals trees that are also targeted by the timber industry. Fitz: How? SP: I always like to address this issue with the question: what do you want our bushland to look like by 2050? Do you want them to be burnt-out, sparsely timbered remnants of what they used to be like? Or do you want the bush to continue to support koalas and all the other animals that used to be there? Even beyond the considerable challenges to koala habitat posed by climate change, we must stop logging and developing in key areas where koalas continue to persist, and we have to get very bold about how we manage fire. Mark Graham of the Bellingen Nature Company atop a felled Tallowwood tree in koala habitat near Grafton. Credit: SMH Fitz: Traditionally, theres been a notion that conservative governments are better for the economy, and left-of-centre governments are better for the environment. In both NSW and Australia, we now have two left-of-centre governments. Are they doing good work? If not, what do they need to do? Name and shame! SP: Yes, early days, but weve got a very broad, progressive government at federal level. They are in the process of preparing the Threatened Species Action Plan: Towards Zero Extinctions, but whether it works beyond the rhetoric remains to be seen. Fitz: Why so cynical? SP: Because the same thing happens at all levels of government where we have these short-term political cycles, which are often focused at the peak of the cycle itself rather than the long-term future. I mean we had the National Koala Conservation Strategy, which was floated in 1998, be replaced by the National Koala Conservation and Management Strategy 2009-2014. Neither of these strategies achieved their stated goals, instead articulating what became motherhood statements that were never realised. It becomes very, very frustrating. Loading Fitz: Lets go to specifics then. Right now, on the NSW Mid North Coast, I know that key koala habitat in the Pine Creek State Forest is at risk and I am told there are six weeks to save it from logging. You have the floor. The new NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe who comes with a strong reputation for getting things done is online. Can you tell her straight, while we the people lean in, what needs to be done? SP: Ideally, in areas like Pine Creek, we need to find exactly where the remnant populations of koalas are located, identify the processes that have led to the current circumstances for that population to be dwindling, and then we have to rectify them. And we already know that the logging is going to target tree species that the koalas need to survive, so its a no-brainer, actually. The very least that should happen for koalas is a complete prohibition on the logging of key food tree species such as tallowwood and grey gum. Fitz: So to save the koalas we need the Minns government to declare a moratorium on further logging into wildlife habitats? SP: Yes. Weve got to identify where remaining populations are located in the landscape, and wrap them in cotton wool. And as long as you allow logging to occur in those areas, you might as well have no cotton wool because youre taking away the very resource that the animals need to survive. Humphrey, a koala joey, clings to his mother in the protected environment of Sydneys Taronga Zoo. Credit: Steven Siewert Fitz: But is there a structural problem that when you have government of the people, by the people, for the people, it means that the actions of governments of any stripe will put people first, including loggers, developers and farmers and the interests of koalas ultimately get left behind? SP: Yes. And what becomes annoying is when you have the information that will help koala conservation, and its ignored or disregarded. You cant keep taking the trees the koalas need to survive. When I was younger than I am now, in the 1970s, the minimum diameter of a tree at breast height before it could be cut down as a commercial sawlog was 80 centimetres. In 2023, the minimum diameter of a commercial log is between 20 and 30 centimetres. What does that tell us about long-term sustainable management of our native forests? Fitz: So were no longer throwing the little ones back? SP: Exactly. And so our whole timber industry as we know it is demonstrably unsustainable, and it has been for decades. Loading Fitz: Years ago, at the Salamanca Markets in Hobart, I saw a young woman walking around with a T-shirt which said: Endangered species. Lets save the ugly ones too. Is there an argument that if we save the koalas, we will save the ugly ones too? SP: Yes. Koalas are an umbrella species, and beneath them are a whole suite of other species that will also benefit as a consequence of their effective management and conservation. So, Im about the beautiful and the ugly their words not mine, its all beautiful! Fitz: Thank you for your time, and bravo for your work. Quote of the week He is so fragile. Hes refusing to see anybody. This has been his family home for the past 20 years. Is it really sensible to kick him out? A friend of Prince Andrew after King Charles III made it clear he wanted his brother to move out of the Royal Lodge. Joke of the week According to my source high up in the ATO, the Albanese government will shortly be unveiling a new and much more simplified income tax form, which contains only four lines: 1. What was your income for the last financial year? 2. What were your expenses? 3. How much have you got left? 4. Send it in. The death of Clare Nowland after she was allegedly Tasered by a senior police officer has focused attention on the use of force by NSW Police and the oversight of officers. A beloved 95-year-old grandmother Tasered by police at a NSW nursing home is alive but the next few days will be tough, the states police commissioner has said, speaking publicly for the first time since the incident which has made news around the world. Clare Nowland, a dementia patient who weighs 43 kilograms, was carrying a serrated steak knife she had obtained from the kitchen of the Yallambee Lodge aged care home in Cooma when she was Tasered by a senior constable early on Wednesday morning as she approached on a walking frame, police have said. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she attended Cooma Base Hospital on Friday to sit with Nowlands family and learn about her rich, full life filled with love for her community and golf. Nowland is a respected figure in the southern NSW town. She has a large family, with eight children, 24 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren, with four more expected this year. Fast-tracking the construction of new homes may not make rentals more affordable in Melbourne, according to a new analysis based on the citys unnatural housing experiment during the COVID-19 peak. In 2020-21, Melbourne experienced a rare population decline as the city endured one of the worlds longest lockdowns, leading to international students flying home and some residents leaving for regional areas. More supply doesnt necessarily mean cheaper homes, according to Prosper Australia. Credit: Teagan Glenane But the construction of new homes remained strong during that period, independent think tank Prosper Australia said. Its economic analysis found that rental prices should have dropped by much more and stayed lower for longer, during the pandemic. However, the reduced demand and increased supply did very little to meaningfully lower prices because the extra housing was absorbed by remaining residents who wanted more space. Supporters of the Voice have faced days of questions over whether their campaign is on track after the Resolve Political Monitor, published in this masthead on Wednesday, showed support for the Voice falling from 58 to 53 per cent over the past month in the yes or no question akin to a referendum. Loading The federal governments ad, which it describes as neutral civics information, launches on Sunday afternoon and will run for four weeks until the passage of the bill enabling the referendum. The ad urges Australians to have a conversation about the referendum and features a number of Australians talking about constitutional recognition and the Voice. The Voice will be a permanent body, one person says in the 30-second ad. And it will give independent advice to parliament and government on matters that affect First Nations people, another voice says. The emphasis on the Voice differs from the Yes campaigns first television ad which hit the screens last month. The ad championed constitutional recognition but only referenced the Voice in a hashtag at the end. Senior government sources including cabinet ministers, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said they feared the decision by the Yes campaign to downplay the Voice played into the No sides strategy of Recognise a Better Way. You have to take on the No campaigns arguments, not vacate the space, one government source said. Asked whether there had been a decision to downplay the Voice, a spokesperson for the Yes23 campaign said: This first ad was about having a simple and straightforward conversation with everyday Australians about recognising Indigenous peoples in the constitution and giving them a say in their own future. Loading It is the first step in what will be a sustained effort to engage and have conversations with everyday Australians between now and referendum day. Leading No campaigner Warren Mundine said the Yes campaigns language gave him easy ammunition. Ive got a whole heap of advertisements coming out in the next couple of weeks on this very issue: why arent they [the Yes side] talking about the Voice? he said. On radio, TV well be asking: What happened to the Voice? Its disappeared. Mundine said he believed the Yes side started to emphasise constitutional recognition and downplay the Voice because polling showed the former was a lot more popular. Warren Mundine says Australians all want reconciliation and they want practical outcomes for Indigenous people. Credit: Trevor Collens When you talk about recognition, over 90 per cent of people support it. When you mention the Voice, it drops to about 40 per cent, he said. Mundine said his sides polling also showed there was a key difference between constitutional recognition and the Voice in voters minds. They all want recognition, they all want reconciliation and they want practical outcomes, he said. But when you get down to practical outcomes, they dont see the Voice actually doing that. Loading Pollster John Scales, from JWS Research, said the brains behind the Yes campaign had probably made the decision out of a realisation that voters were confused and, in some cases worried, about the potential consequences of establishing the Voice. Its something that is giving the No campaign oxygen and muddying the waters. Whereas the recognition discussion doesnt do that. There are fewer arguments against it and less risk, he said. Scales said the recognition model stripped debate about details out of the equation and made the contest about symbolism. Recognition is also a more symbolic and emotional argument, meaning opponents need to match the emotional argument, he said. With supporters of the campaign returning to an emphasis on the Voice and the government committing to local voices, it marks the second significant reset this year. Loading Up until January 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had repeatedly referenced a model put forward in a 2021 report by Indigenous academics Tom Calma and Marcia Langton, which had not been adopted as government policy. Senior Indigenous leaders advised Albanese in late January and early February to stop referencing the 250-page report, and the prime ministers language then shifted to focus on what the Voice is and how will it improve the lives of Indigenous Australians. Burney said the new campaign, which will include the ad and other online material, was part of a referendum civics education program. Hiroshima: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told world leaders he intends to travel to China, signalling he will push ahead with stabilising the relationship with Beijing despite ongoing trade sanctions and the arbitrary detention of two Australians. Albanese has not publicly confirmed a date for the trip, but the 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlams first visit to China as prime minister in October is looming as a symbolic marker for Canberra and Beijing after years of disputes over human rights, national security and trade. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaking in Hiroshima on Sunday morning. Credit: Christopher Jue Ive informed our partners that I do intend to travel to China at some time in the future, Albanese said in Hiroshima where he is attending the G7 summit. That has been welcomed. People regard it as very positive that Australia is in dialogue with China. You need dialogue to get understanding. But the federal opposition said Albanese should not travel to Beijing unless the Chinese government makes clear it will lift all restrictions on Australian imports. Hiroshima: US President Joe Biden will ask Congress to empower Australian manufacturers as a domestic source for arms manufacturing, binding the two countries defence production together as they confront the growing military might of China. After meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 in Hiroshima on Saturday, Biden said he would ask Congress to list Australia under Title III of the Defence Production Act, clearing the way for Australian companies to be given the same treatment as their US counterparts as part of the $368 billion AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. The bilateral was the sixth meeting between the leaders since Albanese became prime minister in May last year. Credit: Christopher Jue Doing so would streamline technological and industrial base collaboration, accelerate and strengthen AUKUS implementation, the president said. Albanese said he had pushed for the critical designation since the two leaders met in San Diego in March and the presidents support would mean Australia would become a domestic source under the Defence Production Act. Hiroshima: The Quad will build undersea cable systems and fund infrastructure development and telecommunications across the Asia Pacific in an expansion of its remit designed to blunt Chinas growing influence in the region. The announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden was coupled with a pledge to put south-east Asian nations and the Pacific Islands at the centre of its plans after a campaign by Beijing to paint the four nations as elite and out of touch with developing countries. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the summit on Saturday. Credit: Christopher Jue In a 3000-word statement that did not mention China, the four leaders took aim at its growing authoritarianism, Beijings pursuit of territorial claims in the South and East China seas, and economic intimidation. Our vision is for a region that is peaceful and prosperous, stable and secure, and respectful of sovereignty free from intimidation and coercion, and where disputes are settled in accordance with international law, the leaders said. Conscious that ours must not be an era of war, we remain committed to dialogue and diplomacy. This photo taken on May 20, 2023 shows the diversion ceremony site of Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station in Cuanza Norte province, Angola. Angolan President Joao Lourenco has spoken highly of the socioeconomic contribution of the Chinese-built Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station, saying that the station would bring significant benefits in terms of energy supply and improved well-being for the Angolan people. (Xinhua/Lyu Chengcheng) LUANDA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Angolan President Joao Lourenco has spoken highly of the socioeconomic contribution of the Chinese-built Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station, saying that the station would bring significant benefits in terms of energy supply and improved well-being for the Angolan people. Lourenco made these remarks Saturday in the country's north-central province of Cuanza Norte while attending a ceremony for the temporary diversion of the Cuanza River, one of Angola's longest rivers, which marked the beginning of the main construction phase of the hydroelectric project. It will become Angola's largest hydroelectric plant and the third largest in Africa on completion. During an interview with Xinhua, Angola's Minister of Energy and Water Joao Baptista Borges highlighted the partnerships between Angola and China in promoting the use of renewable energy in Angola. "Over the past decade, we have collaborated with several Chinese companies in the energy and water sector, and today we have achieved satisfactory results." According to a statement from China Gezhouba Group Company Limited (CGGC), the contractor for the Caculo-Cabaca project, the hydroelectric plant is located in the middle section of the Cuanza River. It is designed to have an installed capacity of 2,172 megawatts. On completion, it is projected to generate an average of 8,566 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 7.2 million tonnes annually. Additionally, the dam will serve functions such as water flow regulation and flood prevention. Currently, the project employs more than 2,500 workers, of whom more than 81 percent are local workers. The connection of the first generator to the power grid is scheduled to be completed by 2026, as per a video displayed at the event. This aerial photo taken on May 20, 2023 shows the diversion ceremony site of Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station in Cuanza Norte province, Angola. Angolan President Joao Lourenco has spoken highly of the socioeconomic contribution of the Chinese-built Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station, saying that the station would bring significant benefits in terms of energy supply and improved well-being for the Angolan people. (China Gezhouba Group Company Limited/Handout via Xinhua) People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) The Group of Seven, with significantly weakening economic heft, is unable to represent the world, yet they have failed to face up to the general trend of the times and fixated on Cold War mentality. HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 20 (Xinhua) -- At the Group of Seven (G7) Summit starting here Friday, the U.S.-led clique is again hyping up their so-called "law and order," whereas political observers have precisely debunked the essence of their lies -- a scheme to play small-clique politics and dictate to the rest of the world. U.S. UNDERMINING FREE TRADE The G7 on Saturday issued a statement concerning economic resilience and security, threatening to counter "economic coercion," which will de facto divide the world into two markets and two systems in such areas as semiconductors and critical minerals under the pretext of reducing dependence on China. As reported by the Financial Times, "the co-ordination on China follows two years of efforts by the Biden administration, helped by Japan." The United States is the main culprit in lulling its allies into unplugging from China, which constitutes a serious violation of the principles of free trade and market economy and will harm global economic development. The longer-term cost of trade fragmentation could reach up to 7 percent of global output and some countries could see losses of up to 12 percent of GDP in case of additional technological decoupling, the International Monetary Fund said in a report in January. The United States has been trying to jeopardize the Chinese economy through various means including trade wars, but the ever-growing China-U.S. trade in itself demonstrates that U.S. businesses and people need trade with China, Kazuteru Saionji, a visiting professor at Higashi Nippon International University, told Xinhua in a recent interview. "By dragging the G7 bloc to suppress China under the pretext of de-risking this time, the country is conducting an atrocity deliberately undermining free trade and the world economic division of labor system," the professor noted. Recent years have seen the G7, also known as "the rich club," suffering an irreversible decline of national power. The Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the G7's share of the global economy has fallen from nearly 70 percent in the 1980s to currently about 40 percent, which shows no sign of ceasing to decline. People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 19, 2023. Amid waves of protests, the G7 leaders' annual summit got underway in Hiroshima on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) The G7, with significantly weakening economic heft, is unable to represent the world, yet they have failed to face up to the general trend of the times and fixated on Cold War mentality, said Japanese political observers. "The G7 has descended into a group of old-fashioned countries clinging to the so-called established international political order," said Atsushi Koketsu, emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University of Japan, adding that with the international community moving forward to pluralism, the G7's relentless efforts to go against the trend of the times will undoubtedly cause imbalance and injustice in the international community. "The era when the United States and other G7 nations control world politics, economy and military has come to an end," noted Saionji. EFFORTS TO DIVIDE WORLD DOOMED TO FAIL The G7 also vowed to heighten sanctions against Russia and intensify diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military support for Ukraine, and condemned Russia in the strongest possible terms in the G7 Hiroshima Leaders' Communique issued Saturday. Kumiko Haba, professor of Kanagawa University, pointed out that the United States has benefited tremendously from the Ukraine crisis, which has consolidated its hegemony by taking a favorable position in international military, economy and politics during the crisis. On the Ukraine issue, China has always been promoting peace talks while the G7 has been impeding China's efforts, said Koketsu, adding that apparently, as long as the G7 is bent on providing military aid to Ukraine, the conflict and tension will linger on. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends the ceremony of the venue for World Expo 2025 at Osaka's Yumeshima artificial island in Osaka, Japan, April 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) Prior to the G7 summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview with local media that China and Russia should not be allowed to unilaterally change the status quo, a stance that was widely questioned and refuted by scholars and analysts. Kishida added that he takes the summit as an opportunity to send this message to the international community. The Japanese leader's claim that "Taiwan contingency is a contingency for Japan" simply follows the U.S. military policy of encircling China unconditionally, as Japan is pushing for military integration with the United States, said Koketsu. His opinion was echoed by Saionji, who pointed out that such a crisis-inciting statement will increase tensions in East Asia and hinder regional peace. As East Asian countries oppose inciting confrontation and creating regional tension, the United States and Japan's ploy of using the Taiwan question to attack China is doomed to fail, said Saionji. Steady rain couldnt deter Marcy Singh from attending a protest outside Marineland on Saturday. Even if it was a torrential downpour, wed be here, the Mississauga resident said as she stood outside the Niagara Falls attraction with her friend Sidney Spearing. Were here to support the cause. The friends were among dozens of people who lined the grassy area outside Marineland, which opened for its 62nd season Saturday. I was here (protesting) when Kiska was here and we were trying to change her conditions and, unfortunately, we lost her a few months ago, Singh said. Im here to avenge her death, and to save the belugas and dolphins and to raise awareness. Kiska, Canadas last remaining orca in captivity, died in March. Earlier this month, Marineland confirmed the deaths of a dolphin and a beluga. A statement on the attractions website attributed to owner Marie Holer, widow of founder John Holer, said the parks animals are loved, well cared for and their best interests will forever guide our decisions regarding their care. We have a strong record of providing for the welfare of our animals and will continue to prioritize their health and well-being as a central focus of our mission, the statement reads. Marineland confirmed in January it is seeking a buyer to transition the attraction for the future. SHARE: EDMONTON - A forecast for cooler temperatures and even rain is giving some hope to evacuees and firefighters after thick smoke from wildfires burning across the Prairies forced the cancellation of a number of outdoor activities that traditionally mark the beginning of the May long weekend. A fog-like haze obscured visibility in Edmonton on Saturday giving the city a smoky odour not unlike a provincial park campground, where wood-burning fires are now banned throughout the province due to the fire risk. On Friday, provincial wildfire officials advised Albertans to consider postponing their long weekend plans as nearly 100 wildfires continue to burn throughout the province. We appreciate the actions of those who have adapted their plans this weekend to help prevent any further wildfires in the province, Christie Tucker of Alberta Wildfire said during a news conference Saturday. The City of Edmonton had planned to open the Fred Broadstock outdoor pool on Saturday morning with a ceremony that was to include Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, but cancelled the event due to air-quality concerns. Opening day at historically themed Fort Edmonton Park was also called off due to poor air quality. A burned section of forest in the area near Edson, Alta., is seen in a May 6, 2023, handout photo. Provincial authorities are classifying the fire, taking up approximately 77,000 hectares, as "out of control" as it has overrun the Minnow Lake Provincial Recreation Area. Smoke makes it difficult to fly and action wildfires from the air. But it does create cooler conditions that can weaken fire behaviour, Tucker said. As far away as Saskatoon, a Saskatchewan Roughriders scrimmage was cut short due to smoke from fires burning in that province. A number of large wildfires in northern Alberta saw growth on Friday due to hot and dry conditions, including a fire near Chipewyan Lake in the Fort McMurray forest area and the Kimiwan Complex Wildfire which threatens the Peavine Metis Settlement in the Peace River forest area. However, fire officials say work continues in the community of Fox Lake to create safe conditions that allow evacuated residents to return, beginning with temporary access and escorted community visits. Tucker said forecasters are tracking a weather front moving into Alberta on Sunday that should bring much needed cooler temperatures, humidity and even rain. Scattered showers and thunderstorms were already recorded in the southwest boreal area and along the northern part of the Rocky Mountains, she said. Lightning strikes, however, had been observed in the Edson and Grande Prairie areas. What wed like to see is a long, steady rain that will soak into the forest and into the ground. That would help us more than a short burst that would bring lightning and could spark a new wildfire, Tucker said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2023. Read more about: SHARE: A Metro Vancouver man has drowned after trying to rescue his dog from being swept away by a fast-flowing creek. West Vancouvers police and fire department say they were called to Cypress Falls Park at about 9 p.m. on Friday, where a man in his forties was reported missing after entering the local creek. Police say the man had been walking a dog with his wife when the animal entered the water and got swept away. Police say the man was also swept away when he tried to save the dog, and searches into the evening by the West Vancouver Fire Department and North Shore Rescue were unsuccessful. The bodies of both the man and the dog were discovered this morning just before 8 a.m., and police say no further information on the victim will be released out of respect for his familys privacy. Warm weather in British Columbia in the last week has melted snow packs at a high rate, prompting officials to warn residents to be cautious around creeks and rivers in recent days. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2023. SHARE: British Columbia cyclist Kevin Milner was rounding a downhill corner on a North Vancouver trail last Monday evening when he slammed into another road user crossing in front of him. The collision which sent Milner flying and left him with a broken scapula, cardiac contusion and other injuries didnt involve a car or another cyclist. Milners bike had T-boned a black bear. The last thing I saw of the bear before the accident was just him running. I can see his muscles as he was charging across the road, and I just hit him right behind the shoulder blade and then I kind of launched myself over top of him, said Milner, whose expects it will take six weeks to recover. Milners accident on the Seymour Demonstration Forest trail was unusual, but authorities are warning that with spring in full swing, bears across B.C. are emerging from their dens and encounters with humans are on the rise. Shelley Fiorito, a community coordinator with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen in B.C.s southern Interior, said her phone is already buzzing with people sharing their interactions with bears. Weve had a couple of really warm spells in the last couple of weeks, so everything is getting nice and green in the valley bottom, Fiorito said. The wildlife is coming down, especially the bears when they come out of the denning, they are looking for forage and sources of water. Fiorito said disasters such as wildfires and flooding can also affect how wildlife moves in the region, leading to more potential human encounters with bears. The district said bear-human interactions reached new highs there in 2022. BC Conservation Officer Service statistics meanwhile show 479 black bears were killed by its officers over the past year ending in April. Fiorito said a spike in bear sightings could be related to the increase in people working from home in the wake of the pandemic, adding to food waste in garbage that could be attracting the animals. Garbage is a big thing, but bird feeders, particularly bird seed is a really high-calorie meal for bears that are looking to replenish their body fat, she said. Bears can smell five times better than dogs, the district said in a news release. Its advice to avoid drawing bears into a neighourhood includes freezing smelly food waste, removing bird feeders and storing all garbage in a secure area. Ellie Lamb, director of community outreach for the Get Bear Smart Society, said bears are active in May, as mother bears show their cubs around fishing spots and foraging grounds. That could be anywhere in her home range where she lives and she teaches these young bears how to survive, who to be careful of, said Lamb. Extra caution is needed around mother bears, said Lamb. She said hikers who encounter bears on a forest trail should give them space by moving off the trail and letting the bears walk by, with bear spray in hand, she said. My teaching is dont be afraid of them and just be respectful of them and give them space, said Lamb, whose organization aims to minimize the number of bears killed as a result of interactions with humans. Still, she said, its important to set boundaries. Tell them whats acceptable and whats not. Cyclist Milner didnt have that option in the split seconds before he crashed into the bear, which he said appeared to be unhurt as it nibbled on grass after their collision. He attributes the painful encounter to bad luck. Its just kind of a hard-to-avoid situation. I mean, you if you were driving your car and say a bear or a deer jumps out on the highway, (theres only) so much you can do, right? This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2023. This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship. SHARE: It was a rare interview opportunity at a pressing moment. In mid-December, as patients sick with RSV, COVID-19 and influenza were flooding emergency departments, and pediatric ICUs were overflowing, the Star accepted an offer to interview two of Ontarios most influential health-care leaders. Government spokespeople said the interview with Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontarios chief medical officer of health, and Matthew Anderson, president and CEO of Ontario Health, would speak to the layers of protection ahead of the holidays and to the current pressures on the health-care system. The interview never happened. Nearly 10 minutes after it was supposed to take place on Dec. 15, the Stars Kenyon Wallace received an email. The call was cancelled. When he asked why, he was told there was a scheduling conflict. That statement, it turns out, was not true. Government emails obtained by the Star under freedom-of-information legislation reveal it was the director of communications for Health Minister Sylvia Jones who made the call to pull the plug on the interview, apparently unhappy that it would be Wallace asking questions. The internal emails offer a snapshot of how decisions are made about communications during a health crisis. Several experts in governance, ethics and journalism say they also raise questions about the level of communication control over the office of the chief medical officer and the degree to which the public has access to health leaders at such times. The email exchanges, they say, point to an ongoing tension between political and bureaucratic interests, and independent, non-partisan health communications. And there is a risk, they caution, that trust in public health messaging will be undermined if it is or has the appearance to be influenced by political considerations. If the chief medical officer of health has an obligation to protect the publics health but is in any way constrained in their actions or communications by political forces, the public must be made aware of this so they can interpret such actions or communications accordingly, says Maxwell Smith, a bioethicist who specializes in infectious diseases and an assistant professor at Western University. Among other things, the internal correspondence shows: The idea for a media availability had come from the ministers office; It took 68 emails, in which 17 civil servants were either providing input or copied on the exchanges, to arrange a handful of media interviews for Moore and Anderson on Dec. 15 and respond to media requests; The health ministers office asked to review the list of media outlets and individual journalists being offered interviews; Moores talking points around COVID and flu vaccinations, masking and family gatherings were sent to the ministers office in advance; At no point in the communications did the office of the chief medical officer object to the involvement of the ministers office or push back against its instructions. During the pandemic, the chief medical officer of health became the face of public health communications in Ontario. At crucial points, Moore and his predecessor, Dr. David Williams stepped to a podium to tell Ontarians about lockdowns, vaccine requirements, mandatory masking and other public health measures. They became, for many, the authorities on how to stay safe. But whatever the public perception, the independence of the office isnt so cut and dried given the chief medical officer of healths many, often competing priorities. The office of the chief medical officer stressed in an email that Moore is a public servant who has a reporting relationship to the Deputy Minister of Health and as such, endeavours to work collaboratively with the Deputy Minister of Health, Minister of Health and with other officials in the government of Ontario on matters of public health, including communication to the public. The chief medical officer of health, appointed by the government under the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) for a five-year term, provides leadership and policy direction on public health matters and public health standards in the province, the statement said. Under the HPPA, the chief medical officer has a number of statutory powers including the ability to exercise independently any of the powers of a medical officer of health or board of health, and to issue directives to health-care providers or health-care entities on precautions or procedures to be followed, the statement said. The CMOH wears several hats, says Patrick Fafard, a professor in the faculties of social sciences and medicine at the University of Ottawa. And the pandemic has revealed that there are tensions if not outright contradictions between these hats. The way the role is constructed, in general, but especially during a public health crisis, is that its meant to be an independent and autonomous person who can both provide advice to ministers, but also speak directly to the public as they deem appropriate, says Fafard, considered one Canadas top experts on chief medical officers. He says that in Ontario, the chief medical officer has many roles: adviser to the government; a senior public servant who oversees and implements the governments public health priorities; the explainer-in-chief for the public; and, increasingly, a government spokesperson. The challenge lies in the fact that those different roles dont align perfectly, says Fafard, also a senior investigator at the Global Strategy Lab, an interdisciplinary research and policy lab that advises governments on designing laws and policies to promote public health. He adds that he would not label the communication in the emails as inappropriate. The chief medical officer of health, as a top bureaucrat, is subject to the same communication strategy as every other public servant, he says. Rather, the tight co-ordination is inconsistent with the public perception of the role, says Fafard. That tension is the reason some are calling on provincial governments to clarify the role of the chief medical officer. The Dec. 15 interview was set up by Catherine Fraser, senior communications adviser for the chief medical officer of health, who wrote to the Star the previous day, offering a teleconference with Moore and Anderson, to be on the call together. The Star set up an interview at 9:30 the next morning with reporter Kenyon Wallace. But the call never came. At 9:38 a.m. Wallace received an email from Fraser saying the interview was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Wallace phoned but she said no details could be provided. Wallace inquired if there would be other opportunities to interview Moore and Anderson but did not hear back. The abrupt cancellation and the lack of details was unusual, so the Star made a freedom-of-information request to the ministry for any communications between it, Ontario Health and the office of the chief medical officer regarding the planning and execution of interviews with Moore and Anderson. The records received show the minister of healths director of communications, Alexandra Adamo, expressing concern the afternoon before the scheduled interview after being told Wallace was the reporter. She asks if another reporter can be lined up. In response, Gillian MacDonald, manager of strategic communications and issues management at the ministry, writes: Kenyon is already on tap for this. Adamo replies that in future she would like her office to be alerted earlier if alternative reporters cannot be found. Then, on the morning of Dec. 15, shortly before the scheduled interview, Adamo writes to MacDonald and Donna Kline, chief communications and engagement officer at Ontario Health: the Toronto Star interview needs to be cancelled all together. After Wallace inquires as to why, MacDonald writes to Adamo and Kline, saying the Star wants a reason. I would say nothing at all or a scheduling conflict, Adamo replies. Adamo also instructs the Ontario Health communications team to cancel the remainder of Andersons media interviews following a segment on CBCs Metro Morning. No explanation was included in the emails. That day, Moore also spoke to The Canadian Press, Postmedia and the Globe and Mail. The emails show that Adamo asks to view the names of the media outlets and reporters to be approached. As well, Adamo tells the communications teams for Ontario Health and the chief medical officer that Wed also like to see key messages for both Matt and Dr. Moore in advance. The three-page document outlining Moores speaking points includes messages on the importance of getting a flu shot and COVID booster, staying home if sick, good hand hygiene, wearing a mask in indoor public spaces and creating a mask-friendly environment if you are hosting guests. The health system was stressed at the time hit hard by a triple threat of COVID, RSV and flu cases, with strains on the pediatric care system and in emergency rooms. Calls for a return to masking had resurfaced the month earlier and Moore himself had urged residents to wear masks in indoor public settings. Western Universitys Smith says some degree of communications co-ordination between the offices of the chief medical officer of health and the minister is to be expected to avoid unnecessary mixed messaging. However, the line between co-ordination and control can become blurred or easily crossed, the result of which being that public health communications are mediated by political considerations and objectives, he says. This can in turn undermine the publics trust in public health interventions and communications insofar as theyre no longer perceived as being independent from political influence, and hence no longer strictly in the interest of the publics health. Lori Stoltz, a lawyer with expertise in public health law, says the emails raise questions about the independence of the chief medical officer. And the reason thats an important question is that the CMOH under the Ontario legislation holds very important operational powers that are there to be engaged in times of public health emergency, she says. In the context of a public health emergency, it is absolutely essential that the population have confidence that the chief MOH is going to advise the public and advise the minister and exercise those powers or choose not to exercise those powers really free from bureaucratic or political pressure of any kind Its not just the actual independence but the perception of independence. Josh Greenberg, director of Carleton Universitys School of Journalism and Communication, says when bureaucrats engage in the kind of message control highlighted by the emails, it risks shifting the focus from public health to politics. Greenberg notes there was an observable shift in Moores approach to public health advocacy and communication after he moved from his role as the chief medical officer for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington to Ontarios chief medical officer of health in 2021. At the regional job, he was widely lauded for his openness, Greenberg says, but as a provincial chief medical officer his style became very clearly more controlled. This may well reflect the different responsibilities and priorities that these jobs entail. Fafard says the chief medical officers competing roles can cause confusion, even among public health experts, many of whom believe the chief medical officers priority is to advocate for the populations health. Recent academic papers by Fafard, including one in which the authors interview former medical officers of health, call on governments to clarify the role. Coming out of the pandemic, we need to ask questions about what we learned, and what changes we want to make, Fafard says. Because we do want the (CMOH) to be understood by the public as autonomous and independent, but there may be better ways of doing that. With files from Kenyon Wallace Megan Ogilvie is a Toronto-based health reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @megan_ogilvie or reach her via email: mogilvie@thestar.ca SHARE: PHUKET, ThailandIt is no wonder that Russians facing travel restrictions to most of the rest of the world are flocking to Thailand. With its fine white sands, stunning landscapes and rich culture, the land of a thousand smiles has much to offer paradise seekers, never mind those fleeing a tightening autocracy, economic downturn and war. The Thai island of Phuket expects to welcome one million Russians this year the biggest group of foreign visitors by far according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Some are escaping the dim of winter. Some are dodging the draft. Others are buying local property as a ticket to a new life. But the influx of Russians, since the Thai foreign minister visited Moscow and direct flights resumed in October, is a conundrum for Phuket, which depends on tourism for 90 per cent of its economy and is still struggling to recover after the deadly 2004 tsunami and COVID-19 travel bans. Although many Russian visitors are just terrified young men, there are tensions simmering between visiting Russians and other residents. Russians in Phuket are known for their bad behaviour, Stefan Zich, manager of a large hotel off the coast of Phuket, told the Star. Drunkenness, debauchery, violence and traffic accidents are rife in the Russian-occupied zones of the island, he alleged. Nurses at the hospital in Patong, a popular Russian destination on the island, said they are seeing increasing numbers of people suffering from alcohol poisoning and involved in traffic accidents. Russians top the list of arrests in Phuket for crimes including theft, recklessness causing death and drug smuggling, according to provincial police reports in local media. My family and I are moving out of Phuket after five years, because we see and hear only Russians, said one man on a Phuket news site. Phuket is not Thailand anymore, but Russian territory, he said. The surge of Russian arrivals is putting pressure on the prices of real estate, motorbikes and cars on the island. Local schools have filled to capacity with Russian children, according to local media, as wealthier Russians acquire elite visas, which allow stays from five to 20 years for $25,000 and upwards. Almost all condo sales are to Russians, according to reports, and many are purchasing hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and other tourism-related businesses. Some Russians are kind people, Ra Thitivut, a massage parlour owner, told the Star. One of my neighbours been visiting for 15 years and become a friend, she said. But Thitivut worries that Russians who can renew their visitor visas every 30 days are taking local jobs. Their Russian language proficiency is an asset to working as guides, drivers and masseurs for Russian tourists, she said. The Phuket Information Centre has accused Russians of operating illegal businesses and working illegally in Phuket, according to local reports. Thailands ambivalence to the war has also stirred discord between older Thais who tend to ignore political issues and younger Thais who see their own hopes for democracy as connected to the struggle in Ukraine. Hundreds of Thai democracy activists declared their willingness to support Ukrainians on the battlefield in the early months of the war, according to a Reuters report, although it is not clear how many have done so. Thailand, whose foreign policy is often likened to bamboo bending with the wind, abstained from two UN General Assembly resolutions demanding Russias withdrawal from Ukraine. It joined 140 other countries demanding an end to the war only as the battle entered its second year. Thai people are sorry about the war, Ta Wan said. But we need the money. Thailands neutrality toward Putin is unsettling for other western visitors. Some Ukrainians taking refuge from Russian aggression at home feel vulnerable among the much larger Russian community in Thailand, said Iliana Mar, a Ukrainian in Bangkok who has organized four rallies for her homeland. Several Ukrainians in Phuket have been physically assaulted or had property vandalized by Russians, according to local reports. Ukraines embassy in Thailand said in an email that there are 4,405 Ukrainian citizens registered in the country. Widely shared Russian social media messages celebrating the Ukrainian invasion have also stirred Russian-Ukrainian tensions. The main benefit (of living in Phuket) is very few Ukrainians here (almost none). While they sit in the trenches, we are fully chilling, reads the caption to a beach photo shared recently on a Russian-language Instagram account. But three Russian draft dodgers who spoke to the Star were anything but chill. Just steps away from a Russian flag planted on Phukets Patong beach, one young man, barely past his teens, said he is anxious and homesick after two months in Phuket. His parents helped him flee to Turkey and then to Thailand when his conscription notice arrived, but he fears imprisonment if he returns to Russia. I do not know if I will ever see my parents again, he said. Another young Russian hoped living abroad could delay his mobilization to Ukraine. But new digital conscription notices mean he will have to make a quick decision to return and fight, or hide in exile indefinitely when his number is called. I think this is a terrible war, the young man said. I hope Ukraine will win and Putin will fall. But I dont want to be banned from Russia and never see my family again. Many single men lying despondently or typing furiously on their phones on Patong Beach appeared anxious and depressed. One Russian youth living on dwindling savings in Phuket since November shouted in anger at questions about his future. I could get imprisoned for speaking, another Russian man said. Young Russians dying by suicide have been reported on Phuket in the months since Putins invasion. A 33-year-old Russian teacher jumped off the roof of a Phuket shopping mall on April 27. One man took his life on the day before he was supposed to return to Russia, according to local reports. Marina Vysochyna is a Ukrainian artist from the fiercely attacked city of Bakhmut now working remotely in Thailand. She said she does not think these suicides are war-related because she believes most Russians support the war. She is saddened by the Russian visitors she often sees wearing the Russian pro-war Z-symbol on their T-shirts, she said, and wishes Russians would stop romanticizing the war. War is always blood, dirt and tears, severed limbs, destroyed homes and families. There is no romance. Katharine Lake Berz is a frequent contributor to the Toronto Star who is travelling in Thailand. She writes about the impact of national and international issues on individual lives. Read more about: SHARE: MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican prosecutors announced Saturday night that they are withdrawing a case against a woman who was sentenced to six years in prison for killing a man as he raped and attacked her. In a ruling last week that touched off a public outcry, a court in Mexico State said that while it agreed 23-year-old Roxana Ruiz was raped in 2021, it found her guilty of homicide with excessive use of legitimate defense. It also ordered Ruiz to pay more than $16,000 in reparations to the family of her attacker. Feminist groups, which have supported Ruizs defense, angrily protested, saying the ruling was criminalizing survivors of sexual violence while protecting perpetrators in a country with high levels of gender-based violence and femicides. Protesters in Mexico City carried signs reading Defending my life isnt a crime. Ruiz, an Indigenous woman and single mother, told reporters after the courts ruling that she had received death threats because of the case and that she worried for her familys safety, particularly the life of her 4-year-old son. This isnt justice, she said. Remember I am the one who was sexually assaulted by that man, and after he died because I defended myself because I didnt want to die by his hands. Responding to the outrage, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said during a morning press briefing that he would seek to pardon Ruiz. But her lawyers said accepting a pardon would be admitting Ruiz committed a crime and that she is completely innocent. In a press release Saturday night, the state Prosecutors Office said it had examined the case taking into consideration that Ruiz is part of a vulnerable group and found she was exempt from guilt. It added that the Prosecutors Office believes she acted in self defense. The announcement was celebrated by Ruizs defense lawyer, Angel Carrera, though he noted that he had not been formally notified of the charges being dropped. It means that theyre recognizing her innocence, Carrera told The Associated Press. Its a recognition that she simply defended herself. In May 2021, Ruiz was working selling french fries in Nezahualcoyotl, one of the 11 municipalities in Mexico State, a state that borders Mexico City on three sides and continues to have posted alerts warning women about femicides and the forced disappearances of women. The defense said Ruiz had a drink with a friend and a man she knew around the neighborhood. The man offered to walk her home, later asking to stay the night because it was late and he was far from home. While she slept on a separate bed, the man attacked and raped her. Ruiz fought back and he threatened to kill her, then in the struggle, Ruiz managed to kill the man in self defense, Carrera said. The court said the man was hit in the head and knocked unconscious, saying that was enough for Ruiz to defend herself. Carrera said that claim was totally false, saying it had not been determined that the attacked was rendered unconscious. Carrera said that in a panic, Ruiz put the mans body in a bag and dragged it out to the street, where passing police arrested her. Despite Ruiz telling police she had been raped, a forensic exam was never done, a crucial step in prosecuting sexual violence cases, Carrera said. Instead, an officer responded that she probably wanted to have sex with the man at first and then changed her mind, the lawyer said. Nearly half of Mexican women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, government data say. In 2022, the Mexican government registered a total of 3,754 women an average of 10 a day who were slain, a significant jump from the year before. Only a third were investigated as femicides. Carrera said he hopes the announcement of the case being dropped sets a precedent for other gender-based violence cases to be more thoroughly investigated and treated with deeper sensitivity. The Associated Press does not normally identify sexual assault victims, but Ruiz has given her permission to be identified and participates in public demonstrations led by activists who support her. ___ Associated Press journalist Fernanda Pesce contributed to this report. Read more about: SHARE: ISLAMABAD, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Three terrorists were killed in an operation by Pakistani security forces in the Tank district of the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said late Saturday night. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan army, said in a statement that two soldiers, having fought gallantly, also embraced martyrdom during a fierce fire exchange. According to the statement, the security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation on the reported presence of terrorists on Saturday. The military added that an intense fire exchange took place between security forces and terrorists during the operation. "The killed terrorists had remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against security forces as well as innocent citizens," said the ISPR. "Sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area," said the military. Earlier in the day, the ISPR said that a terrorist was killed and three soldiers lost their lives when security forces retaliated to an attack on one of their posts in the Zarghoon area of southwest Balochistan province on Saturday. AARAMTA, Lebanon (AP) The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise. Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel. The exercise came ahead of Liberation Day, the annual celebration of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, and in the wake of a recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, has long had ties with Hezbollah. The recent heightened tensions also come months after Lebanon and Israel signed a landmark U.S.-brokered maritime border agreement, which many analysts predicted would lower the risk of a future military confrontation between the two countries. The Israeli military declined to comment on the Hezbollah exercise. Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said in a speech Sunday that the exercise was meant to confirm our complete readiness to confront any aggression by Israel. On the other side of the border, Israeli forces have also occasionally invited journalists to watch exercises simulating a war with Hezbollah. Officials from both sides frequently allude to their readiness for conflict in public statements. On the ground, however, the conflict has been largely frozen since the two sides fought a brutal and inconclusive one-month war in 2006. Israel regularly strikes targets related to Hezbollah and its backer, Iran, in neighboring Syria. In Lebanon, while Israel and Hezbollah, as well as armed Palestinian groups, have exchanged periodic strikes in the years since 2006, they have largely avoided casualties on either side. Most recently, Israel launched rare strikes on southern Lebanon last month after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there, wounding two people in Israel and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it targeted installations of Hamas, which it blamed for the rocket fire, in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah derided the claim, saying the Israeli strikes had only hit banana groves and a water irrigation channel. Safieddine in his speech Sunday alluded to the groups possession of precision-guided missiles, which were not on display but which he said Israel would see later. Elias Farhat, a retired Lebanese army general who is currently a researcher in military affairs, said Hezbollahs symbolic show of strength on Sunday appeared to be in response to the recent escalation in Gaza. He said it could also be a response to a demonstration Thursday in Jerusalem by thousands of Jewish nationalists, some of whom chanted Death to Arabs and other racist slogans, in celebration of Jerusalem Day. The day marks Israels capture of the Old City 56 years ago. Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center who researches Hezbollah, said that in the past when there was an escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Lebanese armed group would sometimes fire off rockets or allow a Palestinian faction in Lebanon to do so. But he said Sundays military exercise was a lower-risk way to show force. Given that Friday marked the return of Syria an ally of Hezbollah and Iran to the Arab League, Hage Ali said, Hezbollah may not have wanted a clash on the border with Israel to distract from the Arab reconciliation. While the military exercise is showing how strong they are and sending a message to the Israelis, it also demonstrates that this time around, they dont want to escalate, he said. ___ Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed. SHARE: LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Former U.S. Rep. Robert Marion Berry, an Arkansas Democrat who served seven terms in Congress and was known for his blunt rhetoric and advocacy for farmers and older residents, has died. He was 80. Berry, who was known as Marion, died Friday, his family confirmed in a statement Saturday. A cause of death was not provided. With his signature quick wit and way with words, he lived his life in service to others, said Berrys son, Mitch. He truly believed that the role of government was to help people, and it was a charge he took very seriously. He was generous with his time and talents as his dozens of mentees can attest. Berry was first elected to Congress in 1996 but decided against reelection in 2010 for health reasons. He underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor in July 2011. A licensed pharmacist and farmer, Berry was elected to represent the 1st District in eastern Arkansas after serving in President Bill Clintons administration as a special assistant for agricultural trade and food assistance. He quickly focused on issues most likely to impact his notably poor district, including agriculture. Clinton on Saturday praised Berry as someone who never forgot where he came from. Marion Berry was a fine leader, a completely authentic person and a great friend, Clinton said in a statement. For more than 40 years, Hillary and I treasured his support, valued his no-nonsense advice and loved his amazing sense of humor. Berry was known as much for his folksy manner and verbal takedowns of his political enemies on both sides of the aisle as his advocacy for his rural district. He once referred to a Republican congressman on the House floor as a Howdy-Doody-looking nimrod. Frustrated with the George W. Bush administrations response to disasters in Arkansas, he called the Federal Emergency Management Agency an incompetent bunch of nincompoops that simply cant run their agency. His straight talk and sense of humor attracted attention on the national stage, but those who knew him recognized that delivering results for his constituents was the congressmans highest priority, always, Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Grant Tennille said. Former Gov. Mike Beebe, also a Democrat, called Berry a natural advocate for agricultural issues and for the health of his rural constituents. He was plain-spoken, loyal, and worked hard every day for the people he represented, Beebe said. Berrys congressional district was a major producer of soybeans, rice and cotton, and Berry aggressively pushed for an end to the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba, which could have boosted exports of those products. Berry also advocated for lowering prescription costs for seniors and lambasted a prescription drug program enacted by former Bush as a catastrophic mess and a genuine legislative disaster. Berry, a member of a coalition of moderate and conservative lawmakers known as Blue Dog Democrats, was unapologetic about his quips, saying it reflected his passion for representing his district. He said he would criticize anyone when I think they are making a serious policy mistake. I dont see anything wrong with what Ive done, he said. Berry certainly didnt spare any criticism for President Barack Obama. Shortly before announcing his retirement, Berry said he was disappointed with a lack of leadership from Obama on key issues such as health care and climate change. Berry voted against the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law also known as Obamacare. Berry complained that the measure did not provide enough protection against federal money going toward abortions and tried to offer an alternative before the measure passed. A son of the Delta, Marion was a farmer and a statesman, whose mix of homespun wisdom and hard-won political knowledge always made him a formidable representative for our state, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who served with Berry in Congress, tweeted that you never knew what Marion would say on the House floor but he always spoke with passion and humor. Berry was born in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and grew up in Bayou Meto near DeWitt. He graduated from the University of Arkansas College of Pharmacy in 1965. A former alderman in the small town of Gillett, Berry was known throughout his political career for promoting the annual Coon Supper, a longtime fundraiser for students where raccoon meat is served that evolved into a rite of passage for candidates in the state. If it werent for the Coon Supper, I probably wouldnt be in public life today, Berry said in 2006. In addition to his son, survivors include his wife of more than 60 years, Carolyn, a daughter, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A memorial service will be held June 24 at the Gillett Methodist Church in Gillett, Arkansas. SHARE: READING, Pa. - Flames cut through four homes in Reading on Sunday. The Reading Fire Department responded to the fire in the 200 block of North 11th Street around 10 a.m. Neighbor Bonita Bowers said her boyfriend woke her up. "I came out and it was like right in front of me," said Bowers. She says she saw the fire spread. Four homes were damaged, according to the fire department. A fire official tells 69 News that one home has minor damage to one of the windows and three homes are heavily damaged. He said there is mostly exterior damage. "It was a lot of smoke," said Bowers. Firefighters could be seen on the roof of a home in a video. Lt. Fire Marshal John Naylor said nobody was injured during the fire. "It was three or four different departments came in, but the entire Reading Fire Department was in. We had gone to a second alarm, which calls back additional crews for us," said Lieutenant Fire Marshal Naylor. He said he believes the homes will be able to be repaired. "The crews do a great job. They were all very professional, they know what they're doing, they handle it the way it needs to be done and they get in and get out and make sure everything is done right," said Naylor. He says the fire is still under investigation. It's not clear how many people are impacted. WILLIAMS TWP., Pa. - A bomb squad was brought in and part of a street was taped off in Northampton County on Saturday. "Kind of a rarity. It's pretty quiet here where we live," said Daniel Borrell, who lives nearby. He said he was approaching Flafair Drive in Williams Township in the morning when he saw the fire department had part of the road blocked off. Borrell tells us they let him go back to his home, where he saw more activity happening down the street. "They had it blocked off, they had the bomb squad, two other fire trucks there as well and a crew chief and paramedics," said Borrell. The Bethlehem Bomb Squad and State Police could be seen. Borrell tells us he touched base with his wife to make sure she was okay. He said nobody is living at the house first responders were focusing on. "It was really weird to see it at that house cause we just anticipated that it would be pretty quiet, no one really living there," said Borrell. A neighbor we spoke with off-camera said first responders were there for hours. "It was a little weird and I texted the neighbors. Nobody really knew what was going on so we just hope that everybody was safe," said Borrell. There is still no word from officials on exactly what caused the bomb squad to be called. We have been told that the State Police are handling this and we will continue to keep you updated as information becomes available. Proposals for more than 2 million square feet of industrial and a 420-unit apartment complex in Forks Township go before the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission this week. A hotel overlooking Route 22 might be coming down, if a Hanover Township warehouse plan moves ahead. The LVPC, an advisory body, will look at plans for three buildings at Lou Pektor's River Pointe development in Upper Mount Bethel Township. Then the commission will turn its attention to Arcadia Development's proposed 250,000-square-foot warehouse in Hanover Township (Northampton County), near the intersection of Route 22 and Route 512. The address listed for the warehouse is now the site of the SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western Lehigh Valley. River Pointe, a regular topic at LVPC meetings, proposes three buildings covering 1.9 million square feet on lots at Pektor's 800-acre site along the Delaware River. The entire River Pointe plan is for 12 buildings covering 5.87 million square feet, according to the LVPC. A small band of neighbors has opposed Pektor, a strategy Upper Mount Bethel Township Manager Ed Nelson has said is a "delaying tactic" for an industrial development on land that is zoned for industry. River Pointe will cover 3% of the township's 28,000 acres. The opposition contends River Pointe will add traffic and pollution to the township and ruin the rural nature of UMBT. Supporters say the use is allowed and that the township needs jobs and tax revenue. Pektor has said he is seeking manufacturing tenants, not warehouses. River Pointe aligns with the township's zoning, the LVPC notes in a preliminary draft of its report. Then the LVPC notes pros and cons. The project "has the potential to provide number economic benefits to the township and the Lehigh Valley, including jobs and tax revenues. However, the size and scale of the project significantly surpasses any existing development and infrastructure in the surrounding area." The LVPC points out traffic problems and a "low clearance" railroad bridge over River Road in Portland, note of the development. The warehouse proposed for Hanover Township is at 300 Gateway Drive, east of the Embassy Bank and Hampton Inn on the northeast corner of the intersection of Route 22 and Route 512. That site is a Best Western Hotel now, as shown in aerial views provided by the LVPC. An adjacent open lot to the east would also be part of the warehouse property. The LVPC draft review includes something any commuter in the 512/22 area knows: "Route 22 in this location is listed as a current and future priority congested corridor." The Forks Township plan is for 19 apartment buildings and two mixed-use buildings on Sullivan Trail north of the intersection with Uhler Road. The total proposal is for 420 apartments, 14,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, and 14,000 square feet of office space, with a recreation center. The development will generate 3,745 vehicle trips per day, according to the LVPC agenda, adding traffic to a township where housing and commercial uses are taking over farm fields. "Forks Township is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the region," the draft report notes. The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission is an advisory body. Its professional staff makes recommendations on big projects proposed for Lehigh and Northampton counties. The recommendations are reviewed by appointed commissioners, who make suggestions and then approve the recommendations. The commissioners vote only to approve recommendations, not to approve or block developments. Final land-use decisions are up to municipalities. The LVPC's Comprehensive Planning Committee will look at this week's agenda items at a virtual meeting at noon Tuesday. The full commission will vote on the reviews at a meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. Agendas and links to the meetings are available on the LVPC website. DHAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The International Chinese Language Day photography contest awards ceremony was held at North South University (NSU) in Dhaka recently, a total of 15 contestants won the prize. Themed "Chinese Language: Facilitating Dialogues across Civilization," the contest aimed to inspire Bangladeshi young students to explore and understand the Chinese language and culture. During the one-month submission period, the organizers said they received over 300 photography works that encompassed various Chinese elements, including landscapes, cuisine, festivals, and daily life. Delivering a speech, counselor from the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh Yue Liwen hoped that students will maintain an exploratory spirit towards diverse cultures and become promoters and contributors to China-Bangladesh friendship. He also encouraged students to study Chinese well and connect it with their future career development. M. Ismail Hossain, pro-vice-chancellor of North South University, also expressed gratitude for China's investment and assistance in Bangladesh and hoped to further strengthen humanistic cooperation with China through the Confucius Institute as a platform. The photography contest was held by the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, the Confucius Institute of NSU, and the Art and Photography Club of NSU, which is one of the series of International Chinese Language Day activities organized by the three Confucius Institutes (Classrooms) in Bangladesh. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX Get Rating) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 996,375 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after buying an additional 54,812 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. owned 0.05% of Chevron worth $178,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Chevron during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Red Tortoise LLC acquired a new position in Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new position in Chevron in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. 69.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Chevron alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Chevron from $203.00 to $196.00 in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $204.00 to $199.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $212.00 to $208.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Chevron from $206.00 to $196.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Chevron from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $193.65. Chevron Price Performance CVX stock traded up $1.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $155.23. 8,100,946 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,685,701. Chevron Co. has a one year low of $132.54 and a one year high of $189.68. The stock has a market cap of $294.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Chevron (NYSE:CVX Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The oil and gas company reported $3.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.14. Chevron had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 23.15%. The business had revenue of $50.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.36 earnings per share. Chevrons revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Chevron Co. will post 14.16 EPS for the current fiscal year. Chevron Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 18th. Chevrons payout ratio is 32.61%. Chevron announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 25th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to buy up to 21.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the companys board of directors believes its stock is undervalued. Chevron Company Profile (Get Rating) Chevron Corp. engages in the provision of administrative, financial management, and technology support for energy and chemical operations. It operates through the Upstream and Downstream segments. The Upstream segment consists of the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas, the liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas, the transporting of crude oil by major international oil export pipelines, the processing, transporting, storage, and marketing of natural gas, and a gas-to-liquids plant. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Chevron Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chevron and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Agree Realty (NYSE:ADC Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the real estate investment trusts stock. Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. JMP Securities lowered shares of Agree Realty from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Agree Realty from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Agree Realty from $76.75 to $77.50 in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Agree Realty has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $78.23. Get Agree Realty alerts: Agree Realty Trading Down 0.2 % NYSE:ADC opened at $65.93 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.12 and a 200 day moving average of $69.98. Agree Realty has a 52 week low of $63.34 and a 52 week high of $80.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.46. Agree Realty Announces Dividend Agree Realty ( NYSE:ADC Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.52). Agree Realty had a net margin of 34.48% and a return on equity of 4.04%. The firm had revenue of $126.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Agree Realty will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.243 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 30th. Agree Realtys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 163.13%. Insider Activity at Agree Realty In other news, COO Craig Erlich acquired 1,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $65.50 per share, with a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 32,151 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,105,890.50. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Craig Erlich acquired 1,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $65.50 per share, with a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 32,151 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,105,890.50. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joey Agree bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $65.35 per share, for a total transaction of $326,750.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,259,933.55. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 29,495 shares of company stock valued at $1,967,261. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agree Realty Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Credit Suisse AG lifted its stake in Agree Realty by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 126,269 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $8,533,000 after acquiring an additional 4,333 shares during the period. Cincinnati Insurance Co. lifted its stake in shares of Agree Realty by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cincinnati Insurance Co. now owns 222,000 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $15,003,000 after purchasing an additional 67,000 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Agree Realty by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,348,857 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,037,276,000 after purchasing an additional 992,766 shares during the period. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Agree Realty by 138.0% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 269,593 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $19,122,000 after purchasing an additional 156,342 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Agree Realty by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 45,788 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $3,232,000 after purchasing an additional 6,877 shares during the period. Agree Realty Company Profile (Get Rating) Agree Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, development, acquisition, and management of retail properties net leased to national tenants. It specializes in acquiring and developing net leased retail properties for retail tenants. The company was founded by Richard Agree in 1971 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, MI. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Agree Realty Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Agree Realty and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Air Lease (NYSE:AL Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the transportation companys stock. A number of other brokerages also recently commented on AL. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Monday, May 15th. They issued a neutral rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. They issued a buy rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Credit Suisse Group restated an outperform rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Air Lease in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $51.75. Get Air Lease alerts: Air Lease Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:AL opened at $38.82 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.42, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.77. The firms 50-day moving average is $38.50 and its 200 day moving average is $39.78. Air Lease has a 12 month low of $29.75 and a 12 month high of $46.20. Air Lease Dividend Announcement Air Lease ( NYSE:AL Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The transportation company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $601.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $598.62 million. Air Lease had a net margin of 21.25% and a return on equity of 7.60%. Research analysts predict that Air Lease will post 4.77 EPS for the current year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Air Leases payout ratio is 19.42%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Air Lease Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Air Lease during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Air Lease during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Air Lease during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Ellevest Inc. lifted its position in Air Lease by 154.0% during the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 1,161 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 704 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Air Lease by 3,417.0% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,653 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the companys stock. Air Lease Company Profile (Get Rating) Air Lease Corp. engages in the provision of aircraft leasing business. It focuses on purchasing new commercial jet transport aircraft directly from aircraft manufacturers, and leasing those aircraft to airlines throughout the world with the intention to generate attractive returns on equity. The company was founded by Steven F. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Air Lease Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Air Lease and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the apparel retailers stock. A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AEO. Barclays reduced their target price on American Eagle Outfitters from $16.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $14.00 to $15.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a market perform rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of American Eagle Outfitters in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on American Eagle Outfitters from $16.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $14.08. Get American Eagle Outfitters alerts: American Eagle Outfitters Price Performance Shares of AEO opened at $12.16 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. American Eagle Outfitters has a 1 year low of $9.46 and a 1 year high of $17.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.52. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $13.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.17. American Eagle Outfitters Cuts Dividend American Eagle Outfitters ( NYSE:AEO Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The apparel retailer reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.07. American Eagle Outfitters had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that American Eagle Outfitters will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 6th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 5th. American Eagle Outfitterss payout ratio is 64.52%. Insider Buying and Selling at American Eagle Outfitters In other American Eagle Outfitters news, EVP Michael R. Rempell sold 2,967 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.56, for a total transaction of $40,232.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 172,003 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,332,360.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Eagle Outfitters news, EVP Michael R. Rempell sold 12,510 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.13, for a total transaction of $164,256.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 172,003 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,258,399.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael R. Rempell sold 2,967 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.56, for a total value of $40,232.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 172,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,360.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 43,202 shares of company stock worth $599,822. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,228,744 shares of the apparel retailers stock worth $379,394,000 after acquiring an additional 117,903 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 25.9% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,356,394 shares of the apparel retailers stock worth $236,988,000 after acquiring an additional 5,013,262 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,571,205 shares of the apparel retailers stock worth $170,967,000 after acquiring an additional 2,369,726 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 26.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,231,083 shares of the apparel retailers stock worth $124,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in shares of American Eagle Outfitters by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 8,399,160 shares of the apparel retailers stock worth $81,724,000 after acquiring an additional 771,320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.34% of the companys stock. About American Eagle Outfitters (Get Rating) American Eagle Outfitters, Inc is a multi-brand specialty retailer, which offers an assortment of apparel and accessories for men and women under the American Eagle Outfitters brand, and intimates, apparel and personal care products for women under the Aerie brand. The firm operates stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, China and the United Kingdom. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for American Eagle Outfitters Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for American Eagle Outfitters and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Banc of California (NYSE:BANC Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the banks stock. Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Banc of California from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Friday, May 12th. Get Banc of California alerts: Banc of California Stock Down 1.4 % NYSE:BANC opened at $10.80 on Thursday. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $11.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.02. Banc of California has a 52-week low of $9.72 and a 52-week high of $19.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $627.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.22. Banc of California Dividend Announcement Banc of California ( NYSE:BANC Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.02). Banc of California had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 22.35%. The firm had revenue of $114.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $83.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Banc of California will post 1.29 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. Banc of Californias dividend payout ratio is currently 26.14%. Insider Activity at Banc of California In other news, Director James Andrew Barker acquired 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.50 per share, for a total transaction of $202,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 139,680 shares in the company, valued at $1,885,680. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director James Andrew Barker bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.50 per share, for a total transaction of $202,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 139,680 shares in the company, valued at $1,885,680. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert D. Sznewajs bought 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.96 per share, with a total value of $35,072.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 81,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,847.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 24,969 shares of company stock worth $312,708 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 7.37% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banc of California A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 43.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 227,875 shares of the banks stock worth $4,412,000 after buying an additional 68,518 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 583,011 shares of the banks stock worth $11,286,000 after buying an additional 8,380 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 51.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,077 shares of the banks stock worth $660,000 after buying an additional 11,557 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Banc of California during the 1st quarter worth about $225,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 47,942 shares of the banks stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 5,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.54% of the companys stock. Banc of California Company Profile (Get Rating) Banc of California, Inc is a holding company engaged in the provision of commercial banking services. It offers personal banking, business and commercial banking, real estate banking, and private banking. The company was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, CA. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Banc of California Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Banc of California and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the stock. Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of British American Tobacco from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Get British American Tobacco alerts: British American Tobacco Price Performance Shares of NYSE BTI opened at $33.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.55. British American Tobacco has a 52-week low of $32.74 and a 52-week high of $45.28. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.91. Institutional Investors Weigh In On British American Tobacco About British American Tobacco Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BTI. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in British American Tobacco by 90.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,558,458 shares of the companys stock valued at $405,933,000 after purchasing an additional 5,501,775 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in British American Tobacco by 12.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,449,045 shares of the companys stock worth $400,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,090 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in British American Tobacco by 7.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,008,085 shares of the companys stock worth $246,124,000 after purchasing an additional 464,946 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in British American Tobacco by 190.3% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,911,046 shares of the companys stock worth $242,716,000 after purchasing an additional 4,530,146 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in British American Tobacco by 102.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,621,654 shares of the companys stock worth $97,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,843,715 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 6.37% of the companys stock. (Get Rating) British American Tobacco plc is a holding company, which engages in the manufacture and distribution of tobacco products. Its brands include Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike, and Pall Mall. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Asia-Pacific and Middle East (APME), Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa (AMSSA), and Europe and North Africa (ENA). Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for British American Tobacco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for British American Tobacco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. LONDON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein won the most seats in Northern Ireland's local elections, according to the full tally released on Sunday. People across Northern Ireland voted on Thursday to elect new local councils. More than 1.38 million people were registered to vote, with a turnout of 54 percent. In all, candidates competed for 462 seats in 11 local councils. With all seats counted, Sinn Fein secured 144 seats, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) took 122 seats, with the Alliance Party in third place. Northern Ireland's councils are responsible for setting rates, planning and waste collection, as well as leisure services and parks. Sinn Fein is now the largest party at the Northern Ireland council level and in Stormont, or the Northern Ireland Assembly, for the first time. Sinn Fein captured the largest number of seats in Stormont in May 2022, beating the DUP, which had long dominated the legislature. Sinn Fein's Vice President Michelle O'Neill described the local elections result as "historic" and called on the DUP to end its boycott of power-sharing at Stormont. In opposition to post-Brexit trade rules in the region, the DUP has boycotted Northern Ireland's devolved government for over a year, paralyzing its power-sharing institutions at Stormont and raising concerns over political stability. Signed in 1998 following three decades of conflict, the landmark Belfast Agreement established a power-sharing system of government, including an Executive and Assembly. It underpins Northern Ireland's peace, constitutional settlement and institutions. Britain's ruling Conservative party lost over 1,000 seats in local elections across England earlier this month. Broadleaf Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG Get Rating) by 42.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,584 shares of the restaurant operators stock after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Chipotle Mexican Grill comprises about 2.5% of Broadleaf Partners LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Broadleaf Partners LLCs holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill were worth $6,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 79.5% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 948 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $1,500,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 15.5% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 171 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 7.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,032 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $4,796,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 6.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 777 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 38.9% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 218 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.26% of the companys stock. Get Chipotle Mexican Grill alerts: Insider Activity at Chipotle Mexican Grill In related news, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 1,023 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,695.00, for a total transaction of $1,733,985.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 23,347 shares of the companys stock, valued at $39,573,165. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 991 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 23,347 shares of the companys stock, valued at $35,892,977.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 1,023 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,695.00, for a total transaction of $1,733,985.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 23,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,573,165. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,154 shares of company stock valued at $23,791,597. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Chipotle Mexican Grill Price Performance Several equities analysts have recently commented on CMG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,713.00 to $1,657.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,950.00 to $2,050.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a report on Thursday. They issued a buy rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,750.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,970.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $2,021.37. NYSE CMG opened at $2,106.22 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,819.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,623.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.34. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1,196.28 and a 52-week high of $2,110.00. Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The restaurant operator reported $10.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 43.9 EPS for the current year. Chipotle Mexican Grill Profile (Get Rating) Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc engages in the development and operation of classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. It offers a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads prepared using classic cooking methods. The company was founded by Steve Ells in 1993 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Chipotle Mexican Grill Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chipotle Mexican Grill and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE Get Rating) by 54.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 65,655 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after buying an additional 23,136 shares during the quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLCs holdings in Pfizer were worth $3,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lam Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. My Personal CFO LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 800 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.62% of the companys stock. Get Pfizer alerts: Pfizer Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:PFE traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.77. The company had a trading volume of 33,068,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,535,722. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $39.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.39. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.17 and a fifty-two week high of $54.93. Pfizer Announces Dividend Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.23. Pfizer had a return on equity of 37.53% and a net margin of 31.25%. The firm had revenue of $18.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.35 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Pfizers dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.28%. Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PFE shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday. They set a buy rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Pfizer from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Atlantic Securities cut their target price on Pfizer from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on Pfizer from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, SVB Leerink cut their price target on Pfizer from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $47.33. Insider Activity at Pfizer In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $38.42 per share, for a total transaction of $38,420.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $192,100. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $38.42 per share, for a total transaction of $38,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $192,100. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Pfizer Inc bought 1,811,594 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $2.76 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,999.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,952,263 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $16,428,245.88. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 1,813,594 shares of company stock worth $5,076,999 over the last three months. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. About Pfizer (Get Rating) Pfizer Inc is a research-based global biopharmaceutical company. It engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of biopharmaceutical products worldwide. The firm works across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Pfizer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pfizer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CoreCap Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE Get Rating) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,338 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 1,997 shares during the quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLCs holdings in DTE Energy were worth $3,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in DTE Energy by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 625,449 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $73,509,000 after acquiring an additional 142,368 shares in the last quarter. Sandy Spring Bank boosted its position in DTE Energy by 212.7% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 469 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in DTE Energy by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 43,011 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $5,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,825 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in DTE Energy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 156,197 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $18,358,000 after acquiring an additional 3,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in DTE Energy by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,684 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,491,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045 shares in the last quarter. 74.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get DTE Energy alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at DTE Energy In other news, SVP Joann Chavez sold 4,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.09, for a total transaction of $452,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 14,607 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,651,905.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.61% of the companys stock. DTE Energy Stock Down 0.3 % NYSE DTE traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $108.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,202,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 874,550. DTE Energy has a 1 year low of $100.64 and a 1 year high of $136.77. The stock has a market cap of $22.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $110.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.68. DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.38 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.79 billion. DTE Energy had a net margin of 6.15% and a return on equity of 10.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that DTE Energy will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year. DTE Energy Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.9525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. DTE Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 67.43%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of brokerages have recently commented on DTE. StockNews.com began coverage on DTE Energy in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on DTE Energy from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on DTE Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on DTE Energy from $138.00 to $133.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on DTE Energy from $131.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $129.89. DTE Energy Company Profile (Get Rating) DTE Energy Co operates as a diversified energy company, which engages in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services. It operates through the following segments: Electric, Gas, DTE Vantage, Energy Trading, and Corporate and Other. The Electric segment consists of generation, purchase, distribution, and sale of electricity to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southeastern Michigan. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DTE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for DTE Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for DTE Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Dover (NYSE:DOV Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the industrial products companys stock. DOV has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Dover in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Dover from $141.00 to $138.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Dover from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Dover from $176.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Dover from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dover currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $162.31. Get Dover alerts: Dover Stock Performance DOV stock opened at $139.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.35. Dover has a 1 year low of $114.49 and a 1 year high of $160.66. The stocks fifty day moving average is $143.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.36. Dover Announces Dividend Dover ( NYSE:DOV Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The industrial products company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of $1.94. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.08 billion. Dover had a return on equity of 28.27% and a net margin of 12.51%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Dover will post 8.99 EPS for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a $0.505 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a $2.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Dovers dividend payout ratio is currently 26.93%. Insider Buying and Selling at Dover In other news, CFO Brad M. Cerepak sold 34,972 shares of Dover stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.25, for a total value of $5,009,739.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 73,878 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,583,023.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dover Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Courier Capital LLC purchased a new position in Dover during the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Dover by 8.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,992,891 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $2,126,080,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,365 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Dover by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,720 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,021,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Dover by 15,094.1% in the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 48,925 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 48,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dover by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 84,090 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $12,777,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. 85.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Dover Company Profile (Get Rating) Dover Corp. operates as a manufacturer and solutions provider delivering innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services. It operates through the following segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy and Fueling, Imaging and Identification, Pumps and Process Solutions, and Climate and Sustainability Technologies. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Dover Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dover and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW Get Rating) had its price target boosted by Guggenheim from $511.00 to $518.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, The Fly reports. NOW has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $506.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $535.00 to $551.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of ServiceNow from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $410.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $527.70. Get ServiceNow alerts: ServiceNow Price Performance NOW stock opened at $510.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.97 billion, a PE ratio of 260.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 1.04. The companys 50-day moving average is $455.60 and its 200-day moving average is $429.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. ServiceNow has a 1 year low of $337.00 and a 1 year high of $521.58. Insider Buying and Selling Institutional Inflows and Outflows In related news, insider Christopher Bedi sold 2,613 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.18, for a total value of $1,168,481.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,752 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,043,979.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . In other ServiceNow news, insider Lara Caimi sold 2,975 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.58, for a total value of $1,283,950.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 98 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $42,294.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Also, insider Christopher Bedi sold 2,613 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.18, for a total transaction of $1,168,481.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,752 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,043,979.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,095 shares of company stock valued at $8,131,910. Company insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock. Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 714.3% during the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 65,758 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $24,830,000 after acquiring an additional 3,673 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,422 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Americana Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 56.1% during the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 3,930 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. 86.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. About ServiceNow (Get Rating) 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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for ServiceNow Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ServiceNow and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. UBS Group cut shares of Helvetia (OTC:HLVTY Get Rating) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, The Fly reports. Helvetia Price Performance OTC:HLVTY opened at $3.29 on Thursday. Helvetia has a one year low of $3.21 and a one year high of $3.29. The firms fifty day moving average is $3.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.95. Get Helvetia alerts: About Helvetia (Get Rating) Further Reading Helvetia Holding AG, through its subsidiaries, engages in life and non-life insurance, and reinsurance business in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, France, Liechtenstein, and internationally. It offers life insurance products in the areas of investment-linked, group life, and others; non-life insurance products in the areas of property, motor vehicle, health/accident, liability, and transport; and annuity insurance products and pension plans. Receive News & Ratings for Helvetia Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Helvetia and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Imperial Oil (NYSE:IMO Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock. Imperial Oil Stock Performance Shares of NYSE IMO opened at $46.86 on Thursday. Imperial Oil has a 52-week low of $39.95 and a 52-week high of $58.99. The company has a market cap of $27.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.32, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.41. Get Imperial Oil alerts: About Imperial Oil (Get Rating) Recommended Stories Imperial Oil Ltd. engages in the exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It operates through the following business segments: Upstream, Downstream, Chemical, and Corporate and Other. The Upstream segment includes the exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas, synthetic oil, and bitumen. Receive News & Ratings for Imperial Oil Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Imperial Oil and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:EEM Get Rating) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 222,599 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after buying an additional 40,031 shares during the quarter. SVB Wealth LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF were worth $8,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EEM. Accurate Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Phillips Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. City State Bank grew its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 686.1% during the 4th quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,077 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Regimen Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF alerts: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Stock Up 0.1 % EEM stock opened at $38.98 on Friday. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has a 1 year low of $33.49 and a 1 year high of $43.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.06. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Company Profile iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, formerly iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (the Fund), seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded equity securities in global emerging markets, as measured by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the Index). Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EEM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:EEM Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Laffer Tengler Investments lifted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL Get Rating) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,151 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares during the period. Laffer Tengler Investments holdings in Aflac were worth $1,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 36.2% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,941 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 6,369 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Aflac by 6.8% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,268 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.7% in the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 210,634 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $13,563,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter valued at $428,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 7.3% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,142 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.22% of the companys stock. Get Aflac alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.45, for a total value of $32,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,269 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,241,887.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.45, for a total transaction of $32,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,269 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,241,887.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP June P. Howard sold 8,230 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.57, for a total transaction of $556,101.10. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 119,402 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,067,993.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 99,111 shares of company stock valued at $6,740,998. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Aflac Price Performance A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. They set an equal weight rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $73.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, VNET Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $71.22. AFL opened at $66.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $65.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.05 and a quick ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $40.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.93. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $52.07 and a 1 year high of $74.01. Aflac (NYSE:AFL Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.15. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 22.90%. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. Aflacs revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Aflac Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 17th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 16th. Aflacs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%. Aflac Company Profile (Get Rating) Aflac, Inc is a holding company. engages in the provision of financial protection services. It operates through the followings segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac United States (U.S.). The Aflac Japan segment offers life insurance, death benefits, and cash surrender values. The Aflac U.S. segment sells voluntary supplemental insurance products for people who already have major medical or primary insurance coverage. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AFL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Aflac Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Aflac and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the casino operators stock. Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LVS. TheStreet raised Las Vegas Sands from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $76.00 to $80.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $68.54. Get Las Vegas Sands alerts: Las Vegas Sands Price Performance Shares of NYSE LVS opened at $60.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.79. The company has a market cap of $46.23 billion, a PE ratio of -84.01, a P/E/G ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.65. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $65.58. Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands Las Vegas Sands ( NYSE:LVS Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The casino operator reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a negative return on equity of 10.21% and a negative net margin of 10.42%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 124.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.40) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year. In other Las Vegas Sands news, Director Charles D. Forman sold 15,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 205,984 shares of the companys stock, valued at $13,012,009.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the first quarter worth $459,000. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 1.1% during the first quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 190,977 shares of the casino operators stock worth $10,972,000 after buying an additional 1,985 shares during the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the first quarter worth $1,649,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the first quarter worth $390,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the first quarter worth $12,894,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.75% 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. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Las Vegas Sands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Las Vegas Sands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ranchi: Notorious Naxalite leader Dinesh Gope, who has been carrying out Naxalite activities in Jharkhand for many years, has been arrested from Nepal by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in a joint operation with NIA. Dinesh is the president of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI). There is also a reward of 25 lakhs on him in Jharkhand. At the same time, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also announced an additional reward of 5 lakhs. Both the police and the CRPF were looking for this prize Naxalite leader for 15 years. Dinesh Gop was active in Naxalite activities in Jharkhand for many years. He has more than 100 criminal cases registered against him. Many of his accomplices are still absconding. PLFI chief has been arrested from Nepal by Jharkhand Police with the help of NIA. Dinesh Gope, the supremo of Jharkhand's banned extremist organization PLFI, has been arrested from Nepal by Jharkhand Police and NIA in a joint operation. Now he is being brought to Delhi. Let us inform that, earlier on November 2021 also an attempt was made to nab Dinesh. However, he escaped from being caught by the police. The police had surrounded Dinesh Gop and his squad on the basis of intelligence in Guddi police station area of West Singhbhum. There was rapid firing from both the sides, but at that time the militant had escaped by dodging the police. 1984 Sikh Riots: Chargesheet filed against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler 'Pilot's visit has nothing to do with Congress..', Why is the ruckus not stopping in Rajasthan Congress? The Punjab government has given a big gift to its employees, they will get benefit Manchester & London Investment Trust plc (LON:MNL Get Rating)s stock price passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 382.24 ($4.79) and traded as high as GBX 420 ($5.26). Manchester & London Investment Trust shares last traded at GBX 413 ($5.17), with a volume of 30,408 shares trading hands. Manchester & London Investment Trust Stock Down 0.1 % The stocks 50-day simple moving average is GBX 382.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 360.56. The stock has a market capitalization of 165.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -248.80 and a beta of 0.43. Get Manchester & London Investment Trust alerts: Manchester & London Investment Trust Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 13th were given a dividend of GBX 7 ($0.09) per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.92%. Manchester & London Investment Trusts payout ratio is -843.37%. Insider Transactions at Manchester & London Investment Trust Manchester & London Investment Trust Company Profile In related news, insider Daniel Wright bought 2,500 shares of Manchester & London Investment Trust stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 375 ($4.70) per share, for a total transaction of 9,375 ($11,743.71). 1.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders. (Get Rating) Manchester & London Investment Trust plc is a close-ended fund launched and managed by M&L Capital Management Limited. The fund primarily invests in the public equity markets of the United Kingdom. It makes its investments across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in growth stocks of companies by employing a fundamental analysis. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Manchester & London Investment Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Manchester & London Investment Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co cut its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA Get Rating) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,806 shares of the credit services providers stock after selling 76 shares during the quarter. Mastercard makes up approximately 1.0% of Missouri Trust & Investment Cos portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Missouri Trust & Investment Cos holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. EWG Elevate Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. My Personal CFO LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 74.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Mastercard alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $395.00 to $452.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $450.00 to $453.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $405.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $438.00 to $440.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Mastercard from $427.00 to $437.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Sunday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $417.27. Insider Activity Mastercard Stock Performance In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 125,816 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.28, for a total value of $48,600,204.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 100,437,277 shares in the company, valued at $38,796,911,359.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . In related news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 125,816 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.28, for a total value of $48,600,204.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 100,437,277 shares in the company, valued at $38,796,911,359.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . Also, insider Hai Ling sold 8,220 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.31, for a total value of $2,928,868.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,440,789.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold a total of 550,299 shares of company stock valued at $210,103,579 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the companys stock. Shares of MA stock traded down $6.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $385.57. The companys stock had a trading volume of 3,369,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,513,806. The company has a market cap of $365.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $368.17 and a 200-day moving average of $359.96. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52 week low of $276.87 and a 52 week high of $392.20. Mastercard (NYSE:MA Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The credit services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 169.12% and a net margin of 42.33%. Mastercards quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current year. Mastercard Company Profile (Get Rating) 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. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Mastercard Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mastercard and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSE:LB Get Rating) Equities research analysts at National Bank Financial lowered their Q2 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 17th. National Bank Financial analyst G. Dechaine now anticipates that the company will post earnings per share of $1.22 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.23. The consensus estimate for Laurentian Bank of Canadas current full-year earnings is $4.74 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Laurentian Bank of Canadas Q4 2023 earnings at $1.22 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $4.70 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $4.90 EPS. Get Laurentian Bank of Canada alerts: 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, beating analysts consensus estimates of C$1.12 by C$0.03. 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 had a return on equity of 8.15% and a net margin of 22.90%. Laurentian Bank of Canada Price Performance A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on LB. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$39.00 to C$38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Cormark dropped their price objective on Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. National Bankshares dropped their price objective on Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$42.00 to C$39.00 in a report on Thursday. CIBC dropped their price objective on Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$40.00 to C$37.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$36.00 to C$34.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Laurentian Bank of Canada currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of C$39.55. LB stock opened at C$30.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.15. The businesss 50-day moving average is C$31.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$32.95. Laurentian Bank of Canada has a 1 year low of C$28.23 and a 1 year high of C$43.32. Laurentian Bank of Canada Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. 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 6.00%. Laurentian Bank of Canadas dividend payout ratio is presently 38.10%. Laurentian Bank of Canada Company Profile (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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Laurentian Bank of Canada Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Laurentian Bank of Canada and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the stock. A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on NCLH. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Norwegian Cruise Line in a report on Friday, April 28th. They issued a neutral rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $16.50. Get Norwegian Cruise Line alerts: Norwegian Cruise Line Stock Down 2.6 % Shares of NCLH opened at $14.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.11 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.14. Norwegian Cruise Line has a 12 month low of $10.31 and a 12 month high of $18.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $13.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.12. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Norwegian Cruise Line ( NYSE:NCLH Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.51) by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.74 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line had a negative net margin of 23.54% and a negative return on equity of 448.59%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 249.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.90) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year. Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NCLH. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 3,690 shares of the companys stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the 3rd quarter valued at $212,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 6,072 shares of the companys stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,547,000. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 257,407 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,924,000 after acquiring an additional 4,210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.17% of the companys stock. Norwegian Cruise Line Company Profile (Get Rating) Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of cruise travel services. It provides cruise experiences for travelers with itineraries in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Africa, Canada, Bermuda, Caribbean, Alaska and Hawaii. It also offers an entirely inter-island itinerary in Hawaii. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Norwegian Cruise Line Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Norwegian Cruise Line and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 9th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.12 per share by the energy company on Tuesday, June 6th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 22nd. Ormat Technologies has increased its dividend by an average of 2.9% annually over the last three years. Ormat Technologies has a payout ratio of 18.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ormat Technologies to earn $2.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.5%. Get Ormat Technologies alerts: Ormat Technologies Stock Performance Shares of NYSE ORA opened at $83.48 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.49 and a 200 day moving average of $88.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.46. Ormat Technologies has a 12-month low of $67.28 and a 12-month high of $101.81. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ormat Technologies Ormat Technologies ( NYSE:ORA Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The energy company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $185.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.86 million. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 10.39% and a return on equity of 4.86%. The companys revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year. Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in Ormat Technologies by 102.2% during the first quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 11,249 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 5,687 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 303,294 shares of the energy companys stock worth $24,818,000 after acquiring an additional 59,061 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,156,974 shares of the energy companys stock worth $94,675,000 after acquiring an additional 13,096 shares during the last quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,349 shares of the energy companys stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 1,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 409,206 shares of the energy companys stock worth $33,486,000 after acquiring an additional 25,709 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.74% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 27th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $106.00 to $96.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ormat Technologies in a report on Thursday. They issued a sell rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $103.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ormat Technologies has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $92.33. Ormat Technologies Company Profile (Get Rating) Ormat Technologies, Inc operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power businesses. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses on the sale of electricity from the companys power plants pursuant to power purchase agreements. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Ormat Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ormat Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. SouthState Corp boosted its stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK Get Rating) by 28.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,222 shares of the industrial products companys stock after purchasing an additional 6,166 shares during the period. SouthState Corps holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $7,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rossmore Private Capital increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 2,839 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 9,076 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $2,338,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 4,575 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 200 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Rockwell Automation by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 8,393 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,805,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.66% of the companys stock. Get Rockwell Automation alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Rockwell Automation In other Rockwell Automation news, VP Isaac Woods sold 100 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.33, for a total value of $29,433.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 452 shares in the company, valued at $133,037.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Rockwell Automation news, VP Isaac Woods sold 100 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.33, for a total value of $29,433.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 452 shares in the company, valued at $133,037.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Nicholas C. Gangestad sold 1,975 shares of Rockwell Automation stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.25, for a total transaction of $581,143.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 7,757 shares in the company, valued at $2,282,497.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,131 shares of company stock worth $905,751. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Rockwell Automation Stock Performance ROK traded up $0.20 on Friday, reaching $281.31. The company had a trading volume of 686,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,887. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.08 and a 1 year high of $309.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.32 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $278.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $275.08. Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The industrial products company reported $3.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.09 billion. Rockwell Automation had a net margin of 15.82% and a return on equity of 42.15%. Rockwell Automations quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 12.06 EPS for the current fiscal year. Rockwell Automation Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a $1.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $4.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Rockwell Automations dividend payout ratio is presently 41.55%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Rockwell Automation from $238.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Rockwell Automation in a research report on Thursday. They issued a buy rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $250.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Finally, Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Rockwell Automation from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $267.50. About Rockwell Automation (Get Rating) Rockwell Automation, Inc engages in the provision of industrial automation and information services. It operates through the following segments: Intelligent Devices, Software and Control, and Lifecycle Services. The Intelligent Devices segment combines a portfolio of smart products that create the foundation of an agile, resilient, and sustainable production system. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ROK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for Rockwell Automation Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Rockwell Automation and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. SouthState Corp grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH Get Rating) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,956 shares of the healthcare conglomerates stock after buying an additional 261 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corps holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of UNH. O Dell Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. O Dell Group LLC now owns 69 shares of the healthcare conglomerates stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Investors Research Corp raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 71 shares of the healthcare conglomerates stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 192.3% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 76 shares of the healthcare conglomerates stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. 86.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get UnitedHealth Group alerts: UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 % UNH traded down $0.41 on Friday, hitting $478.82. The company had a trading volume of 2,318,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,345,422. The company has a market cap of $445.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.89, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.68. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $449.70 and a 12-month high of $558.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $488.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $501.22. UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend UnitedHealth Group ( NYSE:UNH Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $91.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.77 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 27.05% and a net margin of 6.16%. The firms revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 24.98 EPS for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 13th were paid a $1.65 dividend. This represents a $6.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Groups payout ratio is currently 30.18%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth UNH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $617.00 to $627.00 in a report on Monday, April 17th. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $605.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, April 20th. They set an overweight rating and a $591.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $592.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday. They set a strong-buy rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $600.88. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,008 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.58, for a total transaction of $488,456.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,359 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,019,764.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Andrew Witty sold 6,160 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.49, for a total transaction of $3,002,938.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 86,564 shares of the companys stock, valued at $42,199,084.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,008 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.58, for a total transaction of $488,456.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,359 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,019,764.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,852 shares of company stock valued at $4,313,962 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.35% of the companys stock. UnitedHealth Group Company Profile (Get Rating) UnitedHealth Group, Inc engages in the provision of health care coverage, software, and data consultancy services. It operates through the following segments: UnitedHealthcare, OptumHealth, OptumInsight, and OptumRx. The UnitedHealthcare segment utilizes Optums capabilities to help coordinate patient care, improve affordability of medical care, analyze cost trends, manage pharmacy benefits, work with care providers more effectively, and create a simpler consumer experience. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding UNH? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH Get Rating). Receive News & Ratings for UnitedHealth Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for UnitedHealth Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the energy companys stock. Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Benchmark cut shares of Southwestern Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Siebert Williams Shank started coverage on shares of Southwestern Energy in a research report on Monday, April 10th. They issued a hold rating and a $6.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Southwestern Energy from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Raymond James cut shares of Southwestern Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Southwestern Energy from $7.50 to $7.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $7.94. Get Southwestern Energy alerts: Southwestern Energy Stock Performance Shares of NYSE SWN opened at $5.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.31. Southwestern Energy has a 12 month low of $4.57 and a 12 month high of $9.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.60. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwestern Energy Southwestern Energy ( NYSE:SWN Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The energy company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Southwestern Energy had a net margin of 45.59% and a return on equity of 41.76%. The companys quarterly revenue was down 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Southwestern Energy will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year. Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southwestern Energy in the first quarter worth about $375,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Southwestern Energy by 61.2% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,290,274 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $21,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628,272 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Southwestern Energy by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,223,024 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $6,115,000 after acquiring an additional 22,976 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its holdings in Southwestern Energy by 652.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 22,600 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 19,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southwestern Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.26% of the companys stock. About Southwestern Energy (Get Rating) Southwestern Energy Co is a holding company, which engages in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It operates through the Exploration and Production (E&P), and Marketing segments. The E&P segment includes operations in northeast Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and southwest Pennsylvania, The Marketing segment deals in the marketing and transportation of natural gas, oil and NGLs primarily produced in E&P. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Southwestern Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southwestern Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities providers stock. SR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on Spire from $73.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Spire from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Spire from a buy rating to a hold rating and lifted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Finally, TheStreet raised Spire from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.00. Get Spire alerts: Spire Trading Up 0.3 % Shares of NYSE SR opened at $68.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.79. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $69.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.05. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $61.52 and a fifty-two week high of $78.86. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.49. Spire Dividend Announcement Spire ( NYSE:SR Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $3.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.21. Spire had a return on equity of 9.75% and a net margin of 9.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $887.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 27.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Spire will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 12th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 9th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Spires dividend payout ratio is presently 61.41%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 5,345 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in Spire by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 16,850 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,050,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 31.8% during the 1st quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 639 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in Spire by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 15,441 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,063,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 795 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 99.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Spire Company Profile (Get Rating) Spire Inc operates as a public utility holding company, which provides natural gas service through its utility operations while engaging in non-regulated activities. It operates through the Gas Utility and Gas Marketing Business segments. The Gas Utility segment includes the regulated operations of Laclede Gas Company and Alabama Gas Corporation. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Spire Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Spire and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock. Several other equities analysts have also commented on BGS. Barclays boosted their price target on B&G Foods from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Monday, May 8th. TheStreet upgraded B&G Foods from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, B&G Foods currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $15.75. Get B&G Foods alerts: B&G Foods Stock Performance B&G Foods stock opened at $13.09 on Thursday. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $15.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $945.23 million, a PE ratio of -29.75 and a beta of 0.45. 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 one year low of $10.91 and a one year high of $26.13. B&G Foods Dividend Announcement B&G Foods ( NYSE:BGS Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $511.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $528.18 million. B&G Foods had a positive return on equity of 8.59% and a negative net margin of 1.48%. B&G Foodss revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that B&G Foods will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 30th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.81%. B&G Foodss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -172.73%. Insider Activity In other news, CFO Bruce C. Wacha sold 12,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.81, for a total value of $185,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,531.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.80% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On B&G Foods A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BGS. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in B&G Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $194,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its position in B&G Foods by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 764,910 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,529,000 after purchasing an additional 93,810 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in B&G Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in B&G Foods during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $157,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management boosted its position in B&G Foods by 229.0% during the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 99,752 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 69,431 shares during the period. 63.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About B&G Foods (Get Rating) 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. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for B&G Foods Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for B&G Foods and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Beirut: In Deir Ammar town, northeast of Tripoli, the Lebanese army announced on Saturday that a prominent Al Qaeda figure had been taken into custody. It stated in a statement that the man was only identified as "T.M." and that he was taken into custody on Friday. It continued, "T.M. is one of Al Qaeda's most well-known leaders and the initiator of its cells in Lebanon." The statement continued, "He has also played a key role in establishing the terrorist Fatah Al-Islam organisation," referring to a militant organisation with Al Qaeda roots that was active in Lebanon over ten years ago. Also Read: On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to confirm that Bakhmut had been lost to Russia Following a bloody conflict between the military and Fatah Al-Islam at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the Lebanese army claimed that T.M. withdrew from the public eye in late 2007. Also Read: Zelensky meets with G7 officials as Ukraine receives access to F-16s The rise of Daesh and the Nusra Front, a militant group in Syria, brought him back into the public eye, the army continued. Also Read: Italy's Meloni will depart the G7 summit in Japan a day early to address the flood crisis at home StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the scientific and technical instruments companys stock. GRMN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $101.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Tigress Financial reissued a strong-buy rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Garmin in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Garmin from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. TheStreet raised Garmin from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Garmin from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $118.80. Get Garmin alerts: Garmin Stock Down 0.2 % Shares of GRMN traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $104.00. 504,985 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 894,269. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.94. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $76.37 and a fifty-two week high of $108.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.56. Garmin Dividend Announcement Garmin ( NYSE:GRMN Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. Garmin had a return on equity of 15.98% and a net margin of 19.94%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Garmin will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Garmins dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.40%. Insider Transactions at Garmin In related news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 3,991 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total transaction of $393,113.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,634,425. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 3,991 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total transaction of $393,113.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,634,425. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,536 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.36, for a total value of $446,160.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,023 shares in the company, valued at $887,502.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,610 shares of company stock worth $1,635,921 in the last three months. 20.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 45.2% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 363 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of Garmin by 84.6% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. 63.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Garmin Company Profile (Get Rating) Garmin Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of navigation, communications and information devices, most of which are enabled by Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. It operates through the following segments: Marine, Outdoor, Fitness, Auto OEM, Consumer Auto, and Aviation. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Garmin Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Garmin and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the oil and gas companys stock. GeoPark Price Performance GeoPark stock opened at $10.35 on Thursday. GeoPark has a 52 week low of $9.11 and a 52 week high of $18.52. The companys 50 day moving average price is $10.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.05. The stock has a market cap of $596.37 million, a P/E ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.75. Get GeoPark alerts: GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 8th. The oil and gas company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.13). GeoPark had a net margin of 22.35% and a return on equity of 265.35%. The business had revenue of $231.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $219.43 million. On average, equities analysts predict that GeoPark will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year. GeoPark Dividend Announcement Institutional Inflows and Outflows The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. GeoParks dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.02%. A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPRK. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GeoPark during the 1st quarter worth approximately $116,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. increased its position in GeoPark by 36.7% in the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 27,692 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 7,441 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of GeoPark by 27.8% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 23,400 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 5,083 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in shares of GeoPark by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 32,614 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 10,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of GeoPark during the 1st quarter valued at $191,000. 54.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. GeoPark Company Profile (Get Rating) GeoPark Ltd. engages in the exploration, development, and production for oil and gas reserves. It operates through the following geographical segments: Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, and Corporate. The company was founded by Gerald Eugene OShaughnessy and James Franklin Park in 2002 and is headquartered in Bogota, Colombia. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for GeoPark Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GeoPark and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE:HMY Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the mining companys stock. A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on HMY. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Harmony Gold Mining from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 24th. HSBC cut shares of Harmony Gold Mining from a hold rating to a reduce rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Investec cut shares of Harmony Gold Mining from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Harmony Gold Mining presently has an average rating of Hold. Get Harmony Gold Mining alerts: Harmony Gold Mining Stock Performance Shares of Harmony Gold Mining stock opened at $4.82 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Harmony Gold Mining has a 52-week low of $1.93 and a 52-week high of $5.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4.45 and a 200 day moving average of $3.79. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmony Gold Mining Harmony Gold Mining Company Profile Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kopernik Global Investors LLC grew its stake in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 69.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 25,789,898 shares of the mining companys stock worth $62,669,000 after purchasing an additional 10,543,611 shares during the period. ETF Managers Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining during the 1st quarter worth $24,339,000. Exor Capital LLP boosted its position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Exor Capital LLP now owns 29,744,388 shares of the mining companys stock worth $119,549,000 after buying an additional 3,079,485 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 542.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,545,720 shares of the mining companys stock worth $11,098,000 after buying an additional 2,993,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Harmony Gold Mining in the 4th quarter worth about $7,335,000. 36.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. (Get Rating) Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd. engages in mining and exploration of gold. It involves building mines, open-pit operation, sales and financial management, land rehabilitation and mine closure. It operates through the following segments: Tshepong Operations, Moab Khotsong, Mponeng, Bambanani, Doornkop, Joel, Target 1, Kusasalethu, Masimong, South African Surface Operations, Mine Waste Solutions, Kalgold, and Hidden Valley. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Harmony Gold Mining Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Harmony Gold Mining and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the savings and loans companys stock. PFS has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Provident Financial Services from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $23.25. Get Provident Financial Services alerts: Provident Financial Services Trading Down 2.0 % Shares of PFS stock opened at $15.83 on Thursday. Provident Financial Services has a 1 year low of $14.54 and a 1 year high of $25.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $17.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.82. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 0.95. Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement Provident Financial Services ( NYSE:PFS Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The savings and loans company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.05). Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 28.77% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The company had revenue of $130.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $132.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Provident Financial Services will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.06%. Provident Financial Servicess payout ratio is currently 41.56%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO George Lista acquired 1,500 shares of Provident Financial Services stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.62 per share, for a total transaction of $30,930.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,241 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $108,069.42. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought 4,560 shares of company stock worth $83,653 in the last ninety days. 4.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 780,911 shares of the savings and loans companys stock valued at $15,228,000 after acquiring an additional 96,877 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 208,705 shares of the savings and loans companys stock valued at $4,458,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 281.8% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,809 shares of the savings and loans companys stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 46,360 shares during the period. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC now owns 114,186 shares of the savings and loans companys stock valued at $2,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,520 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 87,626 shares of the savings and loans companys stock valued at $1,728,000 after acquiring an additional 17,165 shares during the period. 65.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Provident Financial Services Company Profile (Get Rating) Provident Financial Services, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. The company was founded on January 15, 2003 and is headquartered in Jersey City, NJ. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Provident Financial Services Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Provident Financial Services and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday morning. The firm issued a buy rating on the stock. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Price Performance Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. stock traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $54.03. The company had a trading volume of 100,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 105,445. The firm has a market capitalization of $956.87 million, a P/E ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 0.51. The firms fifty day moving average is $56.05 and its 200-day moving average is $55.58. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.50 and a fifty-two week high of $69.90. Get Sturm Ruger & Company Inc. alerts: Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $149.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.80 million. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 EPS. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Cuts Dividend Institutional Inflows and Outflows The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.45%. Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bogart Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 1,978.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 582 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. during the 1st quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. by 148.4% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 996 shares of the companys stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.97% of the companys stock. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Company Profile (Get Rating) Sturm, Ruger & Co, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of firearms to domestic customers. It operates through the Firearms and Castings segments. The Firearms segment manufactures and sells rifles, pistols, and revolvers principally to a number of federally-licensed, independent wholesale distributors primarily located in the United States. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Sturm Ruger & Company Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sturm Ruger & Company Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY Get Rating) have been given a consensus rating of Moderate Buy by the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.40. A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SYY shares. Credit Suisse Group lowered their price objective on Sysco from $94.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Sysco from $96.00 to $90.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Sysco from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Sysco from $92.00 to $88.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, 51job reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Sysco in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Get Sysco alerts: Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sysco A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SYY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,155,616 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,334,373,000 after purchasing an additional 709,072 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 4.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,536,930 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,512,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408,716 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 1.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 32,382,737 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,500,919,000 after purchasing an additional 346,458 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 0.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,735,594 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,215,261,000 after purchasing an additional 100,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sysco by 4.0% in the first quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 13,602,707 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,050,537,000 after purchasing an additional 526,479 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the companys stock. Sysco Price Performance Sysco stock opened at $73.13 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.51. The company has a market capitalization of $37.05 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.11. Sysco has a 12 month low of $70.61 and a 12 month high of $88.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.16. Sysco (NYSE:SYY Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.02). Sysco had a return on equity of 141.53% and a net margin of 2.05%. The company had revenue of $18.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Syscos revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Sysco will post 4 EPS for the current year. Sysco Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 6th. This is a boost from Syscos previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Syscos dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.90%. About Sysco (Get Rating) Sysco Corp. engages in selling, marketing, and distribution of food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, and lodging establishments. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Foodservice Operations, International Foodservice Operations, SYGMA, and Other. The U.S. Foodservice Operations consists of U.S. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Sysco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sysco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com lowered shares of Veeva Systems (NYSE:VEEV Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday. Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James decreased their target price on Veeva Systems from $215.00 to $200.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Veeva Systems from $184.00 to $189.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Truist Financial restated a hold rating and issued a $195.00 target price (down previously from $205.00) on shares of Veeva Systems in a research report on Friday, March 17th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Veeva Systems from $213.00 to $200.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Veeva Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $204.39. Get Veeva Systems alerts: Veeva Systems Stock Down 1.0 % Veeva Systems stock opened at $165.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. Veeva Systems has a 52 week low of $151.02 and a 52 week high of $232.26. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $176.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.48. Insider Activity Veeva Systems ( NYSE:VEEV Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 1st. The technology company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.06. Veeva Systems had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $563.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $552.18 million. Equities analysts expect that Veeva Systems will post 2.55 EPS for the current year. In related news, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 160 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.42, for a total transaction of $27,107.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,776 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,842,189.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Veeva Systems news, Director Matthew J. Wallach sold 10,000 shares of Veeva Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total transaction of $1,785,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,145 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $561,571.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 160 shares of Veeva Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.42, for a total value of $27,107.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,776 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,842,189.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,818 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,277. 10.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of Veeva Systems Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeva Systems during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Ahrens Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Veeva Systems during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veeva Systems in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. CI Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veeva Systems by 964.7% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 181 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeva Systems by 143.0% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 192 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. 78.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Veeva Systems (Get Rating) Veeva Systems, Inc engages in the provision of industry cloud solutions for the global life sciences industry. Its solutions enable pharmaceutical and other life sciences companies to realize the benefits of modern cloud-based architectures and mobile applications for their most critical business functions, without compromising industry-specific functionality or regulatory compliance. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Veeva Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Veeva Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Joe Biden, President of the United States, and Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, walk to their working lunch on economic security during the G7 summit. Berlin: According to the Welt am Sonntag, German police have launched an investigation after a Russian journalist and an activist who attended a conference in Berlin reported experiencing health issues that might have been caused by poisoning. "A file has been opened based on the information available," a Berlin police spokesman told the Sunday magazine. Berlin police were unavailable to respond to AFP right away. A report on the health issues two attendees at a meeting of Russian dissidents on April 29 and 30 was published this week by the Russian investigative media outlet Agentstvo, which is run by exiled former oligarch turned Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Also Read: US will permit the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine by allies Unspecified symptoms were reported by one participant, a journalist who had recently left Russia, who claimed they may have started earlier. The journalist visited the same Berlin hospital where Putin critic Alexei Navalny received treatment after being poisoned in August 2020, according to the report. Natalia Arno, who runs the non-profit organisation Free Russia Foundation in the United States and has lived there for ten years after being forced to flee Russia, was the second participant to be mentioned. Also Read: Saudi Arabia clarifies position on conflict in Ukraine Before leaving for Prague at the end of April, Arno was in Berlin. Once there, she experienced symptoms and found that her hotel room had been broken into, according to Agentstvo. She contacted a hospital there as well as the authorities before departing for the United States the following day. This week, Arno posted on Facebook about the "sharp pain" and "numbness" she has been experiencing, claiming the first "strange symptoms" started before she left for Prague. She claimed that while her symptoms persisted, she felt better. Also Read: US attempting to prevent Third World War while assisting Ukraine Numerous poisonings of Kremlin rivals have been carried out recently in Russia and abroad. Moscow disputes the involvement of its secret services. Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent produced by the Soviet Union, according to European laboratories. Veteran Roland Pelletier spent the day placing flags at Elmwood Cemetery. "My dad was a World War II vet, and all my uncles were. And I'm a veteran of Vietnam, and to me, it's the proper thing to do to show respect," Pelletier said. Smoke from Canadian fires is pouring into the US and could linger for days courtneyk / iStock.com The number of retired millionaires grows each year. While millionaires themselves debate how much they will need to achieve a secure living in retirement, hitting that million-dollar mark is the goal of many Americans as they approach retirement age. Im a Self-Made Millionaire: These Are Investments Everyone Should Avoid During an Economic Downturn Find: 3 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Retirement According to the largest survey of millionaires ever, Ramsey Solutions found 75% said that an extended period of regular investing is the secret of their success. Most of them did it through consistent investing, avoiding debt like the plague, and smart spending, the study claimed. No lottery tickets. No inheritances. No six-figure incomes. Really. When Business Insider asked financial planners how their millionaire clients retired without traditional retirement funds, their answers were unequivocally straight-forward and off-risk. 1. Avoid Debt at All Costs Unfortunately, most Americans live in debt. But if you want to successfully build your financial future without relying on traditional retirement accounts, you have to kick debt to the curb. The people whove managed to build up a $1 million-plus net worth, without using a 401(k) or IRA, have managed to carry very little debt during both their working years and once they hit retirement, financial planner R.J. Weiss told Business Insider. This is important, and not to be understated, as one without constant debt payments throughout their life can take more risk with their overall portfolio. 2. Always Reinvest Faron Daugs, founder and CEO of Harrison Wallace Financial Group, stressed that using dividends, interest or any other form of income distribution earned to purchase additional shares or units especially if you arent going the traditional retirement fund route is important. The key is to keep the reinvestment going and be disciplined about putting money back into successful businesses, real estate projects, or into stock market-related investments from cash flow created from rental and other business activities, said Daugs. 3. Live Below Your Means but Within Your Means Millionaires have the funds to feasibly buy anything they want, but most made their money by spending much less than they earned. This is sound advice for any budding millionaire. Living within a narrow budget, reducing spending and prioritizing financial goals like saving and investing will pay dividends down the road when wages end and retirement spending starts. 4. Create a Source of Passive Income As Time noted, earning money outside you job can be possible and profitable through things like renting out real estate or a parking space and earning commission from affiliate marketing. This may include a small business they were responsible for building throughout their life that is now run by family members, stated Weiss. Yet, it still pays out a salary even if the owner is no longer working in it full-time. Or, it could be a diversified mix of cash-producing real estate that the retiree has built up throughout the years, one property at a time, and which is currently being rented out and bringing in monthly income. See: 6 Types of Retirement Income That Arent Taxable Explore: Experts Propose Tax Cap as Social Security Solution Which Americans Would Be Most Affected? Traditionally, retirement planning is investment-focused, centered around Social Security benefits, 401(k) contributions and individual retirement account (IRA) strategies. However, the key to retiring a millionaire may depend more on maintaining unconventional, non-traditional saving habits than most people assume. Retiring as a millionaire is within the reach of the average investor if you stick to some hard and fast rules. Investing early and consistently is always a recommended strategy, but oftentimes, the blueprint for becoming a millionaire and retiring as one involves living below your means and staying out of debt. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 4 Unconventional Retirement Planning Moves Experts Believe Are Key to Retiring a Millionaire The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO. The report notes the problem of the Zambian economys increasing dependence on mining copper now accounts for over 75% of total exports, up from 65% in 2002 and stresses the need for progress on structural reforms to diversify the economy and reduce dependence on natural resources. Zambias relatively open trade policy has remained substantially unchanged during the review period, although the continuing large gap between the average applied MFN tariff rate (13%) and the bound rate (105%), and the absence of bindings for over 83% of tariff lines, tend to create a degree of unpredictability for traders, according to the report. The report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Zambia, will be the basis for the third Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Zambia by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 27 and 29 of July 2009. The following documents are available in MS Word format. Note back to top Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTOs full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRBs meetings are published shortly afterwards. Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Geneve 21 and through the on-line bookshop. The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States. Schedule of forthcoming reviews back to top Chile: 7 and 9 October 2009 Maldives: 26 and 28 October 2009 Southern African Customs Union (SACU): 4 and 6 November 2009 City of London British law firm Allen & Overy is planning a multi-billion dollar tie up with New York-based rival Shearman & Sterling, in one of the biggest transatlantic legal deals in history. The new firm, which will be known as Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, will generate around $3.4bn (2.7bn) in combined revenues, making it one of the biggest legal players in the world. It will have nearly 4,000 lawyers spread across 49 offices. The deal will bolster Allen & Overys presence in the US, as Londons elite "magic circle" firms increasingly seek to boost their presence across the Atlantic. News of the deal comes just months after Shearman called off merger talks with rival US firm Hogan Lovells. The firms said at the time that after careful consideration, a combination was not in the best interest of either firm. The Allen & Overy and Shearman tie up is subject to a vote from all partners, but if approved will be the first combination of a magic circle firm and an American rival since Clifford Chance merged with Rogers & Wells more than two decades ago. Partners said that the firm, which will be known as A&O Shearman for short, will be the only global firm with US Law, English Law and Local Law capabilities in equal measure. Wim Dejonghe, a senior partner at Allen & Overy, said: We think A&O Shearman will be a firm unlike any other in the world. We have listened to our clients and their requests for the highest quality advice to help navigate the demands they face, and to do so in an integrated and globally consistent way. Adam Hakki, the newly appointed leader at Shearman & Sterling, said the firms knew each other extremely well and that they looked forward to recruiting more talent in the coming years. Shearman has suffered from weak demand in recent months, pushing it to multiple rounds of lay-offs. In February, the firm, which has around 850 lawyers, said that it would cut 12 attorneys and 26 members of its professional staff. Just two months later, Shearman told Reuters that it would again shed an unspecified number of staff as part of a global reduction of our Business Services workforce. Equity partners at Shearman took home $2.48m in average profits last year, compared with just under 2m for partners at Allen & Overy. The firms said that the new combined entity would be perfectly positioned to capitalise on trends including energy transition, technology and private capital. The firms expect that partners will vote on the deal before the summer and aim to complete the merger within six to 12 months. 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. Talks nearly fell apart over the weekend with Biden calling the GOP's stance 'unacceptable' President Joe Biden said Sunday the GOPs current stance on debt-ceiling talks was quite frankly unacceptable before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington DC. "Now its time for the other side to move from their extreme positions," Biden added during a press conference before his departure from Hiroshima, where he spent recent days meeting with world leaders at a G-7 leaders summit. Then, later in the day, both House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a White House official confirmed that the two men spoke by phone Sunday as the plane traveled back to Washington and that they're set to meet in person Monday afternoon. In addition, their staffs are set to reconvene Sunday evening to restart talks after nearly two days without negotiations. McCarthy added to reporters at the Capitol that the call had been productive but "theres no agreement, were still apart." President Joe Biden arrives for a press conference at the conclusion of the G7 Summit, in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) In a television appearance earlier on Sunday, McCarthy claimed the recent turbulence in the talks has been a result of Biden shifting his proposal in recent days. "We were in a good place. He goes overseas, and now he wants to change the debate," McCarthy told Fox's "Sunday Morning Futures." As negotiators seek to avoid a default that could shake markets and send the economy into a recession within days, the talks are largely stuck, with both sides offering recriminations and strikingly similar assessments. "The White House is moving backward in negotiations," McCarthy tweeted Saturday evening just about 90 minutes before the White House released a statement saying the latest GOP offer "was a big step back." The White House is moving backward in negotiations. Unfortunately, the socialist wing of the Democrat Party appears to be in controlespecially with President Biden out of the country. Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 20, 2023 As recently as Saturday while he was still in Japan, Biden had downplayed problems in the talks, saying "it's a negotiation, it goes in stages. Talks stuck over spending and revenues A key sticking point among many in the talks: spending levels. The GOP proposal passed in April would cut discretionary spending to 2022 levels and then impose a 1% cap on future increases. McCarthy said Friday if Democrats "think we're going to spend more money next year than the year we did this year, that's not right and that's not going to happen. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 17. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) The White House has said in recent days that Republicans are refusing to negotiate enough from their initial debt ceiling proposal, which passed the House but was dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Biden and his team also continued to pitch raising revenue by closing certain tax loopholes - especially provisions around the fossil fuel and cryptocurrency sectors - even as Republicans flatly rejected the ideas. "There's a lot of things that they refuse to entertain and they just said revenue is off the table. Well, revenue is not off table and so that is what we continue to have a significant disagreement on," Biden said Sunday. He added that he is willing to cut spending in addition to his revenue ideas. During his remarks Sunday, McCarthy reiterated that Republicans will not discuss the revenue ideas Biden is pushing, saying "that's not where I'm at." The talks have also been hampered by partisan divides across a range of issues, from new work requirements that the GOP is proposing around social programs, to energy permitting reform to efforts to "claw back" unspent COVID relief money. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated on Sunday that June 1 is still a "hard deadline" for raising the debt ceiling. "I will continue to update Congress, but I certainly haven't changed my assessment," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Sunday's back and forth comes amid growing energy on the left around two long-shot ideas to short-circuit negotiations, including a discharge petition as well as growing support for a legally questionable maneuver around the 14th amendment. Biden addressed the 14th Amendment option again Sunday, saying he continues to look at the idea and "I think we have the authority." But he also reiterated a concern that if he took the controversial step, it would be held up in litigation. The question is could it be done and invoked in time, said Biden, who is scheduled to arrive back at the White House late Sunday night. This post has been updated. Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Click here for politics news related to business and money Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Godard speaks! Again. Quite rightly theres a lot of hoopla about the world premiere of a 20-minute trailer the late cinema legend Jean-Luc Godard made for a feature film that will never exist: Phoney Wars. Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux explained Sunday at a special screening of the work that Godard extensively researched trailers as well as films. More from Deadline The Phoney Wars trailer footage is a series of collages on what appears to be photographic paper, and the topic explored is Charles Plisnier, a Belgian surrealist and poet who was expelled from the Communist party in 1937 for, as Godard puts it, Trotskyist deviancy. The festival noted that the work will remain as the ultimate gesture of cinema. RELATED: Cannes Film Festival 2023 In Photos A curiosity, if you will, that will be wheeled out at film seminars in Paris, London and New York, for all of us to wonder what might have been had Godard been able to make the actual feature film. Theres text from Godard in the footage that gives us a hint: To no longer trust the billions of diktats of the alphabet to give back freedom to the incessant metamorphoses and metaphors of a true language by returning to the places of past shoots while taking into account the present stories. RELATED: Goodfellas Boards Sales On Jean-Luc Godards Final Work Trailer Of The Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars; Watch Trailer For Movie But good on the festival for screening it on a large canvas, particularly as Godard likened cinema to painting. The billing is: A Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello and Vixens production, in co-production with LAtelier. Story continues But I was more interested in Florence Platarets one-hour documentary Godard by Godard that preceded Phoney Wars. Here was the cinema giant recalling how his mother warned him that filmmaking was a dangerous world. And then theres Godard proclaiming that cinemas biggest enemy is television. My favorite moment was Godard informing American TV chat show host Dick Cavett that I do cinema: I dont do films, while also pronouncing that cinema is the opposite of culture. Then theres Francois Truffauts famous declaration that Godards 1960 Breathless is the best first film since Orson Welles made Citizen Kane. That statement probably still holds. Others will surely argue otherwise, but Ill stand with Truffaut. Interesting to see the Godard homage the same weekend as I caught two films by American cinema artists. First up was Martin Scorseses mammoth Killers of the Flowers Moon, a movie just short of a masterpiece, which reminds us how America was founded on blood and bullets and sheer, utter greed. The talent involved in this work is remarkable but did it need to be 3 hours and 26 minutes long? That said, I could have sat longer and watched Lily Gladstones portrayal of a woman, a member of the Osage tribe, being stripped of her health and wealth by predators, on a loop. Such was its power. And Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are at the top of their games. I wanted justice for her! RELATED: Killers Of The Flower Moon Review: Scorsese, De Niro, DiCaprio In Powerful And Dark Epic Of Love, Deception, Murder And Greed Set Against The Osage Nation Cannes Film Festival (L to R) Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro on the red carpet in Cannes After the world premiere screening the cast, creatives and top Apple executives trooped off to Chateau De la Crois-des-Gardes for dinner, signature cocktails, fine wines and Telmont Reserve champagne from a vineyard thats 50 percent owned by DiCaprio. I wasnt there, by the way. Im definitely second or third tier when it comes to Apple. I think they like to punish if one has pissed them off. I was invited to some sort of Apple soiree on Sunday but I was busy. Actually, I couldnt have made the grade one Apple bash on Saturday because I, very happily, went to see the Todd Haynes film May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore both electrifying and Charles Melton, who is a name to watch. I mean, hes so good in this movie about an actor (Portman) who travels to Georgia to find out the truth about a woman shes about to portray in a TV movie. RELATED: May December Review: Natalie Portman And Julianne Moore Brilliantly Navigate Real To Reel Life In Todd Haynes Latest Cannes Film Festival (L-R) Julianne Moore, Charles Melton and Natalie Portman on Sunday Im not going to give the storyline away here because I want you to experience how it unfolded for me. After the film I walked in the soaking rain to the after-party at Magnum Beach. For the record, I did not partake in a chocolate-dipped ice cream with nuts and hundreds and thousands. Haynes told me that he had such a pleasurable experience making the film that he didnt want the shoot to end. That doesnt always happen, he confided. Haynes and Christine Vachon, his longtime producing friend, introduced me to Melton (Bad Boys for Life) whos clearly having the time of his life being in Cannes with this film. (L-R) Christine Vachon, Charles Melton and Todd Haynes Well be hearing a lot about him in coming months and Lily Gladstone, too. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. A pair of actors who hail from Cannes Film Festival award-winning projects Anamaria Marinca (Cristian Mungius 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) and Jean-Marc Barr (Lars Von Triers Europa) are teaming to star in a new film that marks an official collaboration between France and Ireland. The project is White Friar and will mark the feature directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Ivan Murphy. Described as a romantic thriller, White Friar is inspired by the life of Father Tom Murphy, an Irish Catholic priest who also served as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force during WWII and his relationship with Eva Hofer, a Hungarian Jew living in Vienna. Per the official synopsis, the film examines morality, sexuality and identity. More from The Hollywood Reporter Jean-Marc Barr Ivan Murphy, who happens to be the grand nephew of Father Tom Murphy, penned the screenplay. He turned up in Cannes on Friday to sign the co-production agreement between Frances Valentina Films and Irelands Max Films at a special event held at the Irish Pavilion hosted by Screen Ireland and the Centre National du Cinema. The project falls under a co-production agreement that was inked last December in Paris by the ambassador of Ireland to France, Niall Burgess, and the French minister of culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, per an official press release issued Friday from the production partners. This is a wonderful day for our film, White Friar, and for our partnership with Max Films in Ireland. The new co-production agreement between France and Ireland is a wonderful opportunity for these two great filmmaking and storytelling communities to work together said Valentina Films principal Xavier Castano, who will executive produce. Story continues Ivan Murphy, right, poses with Xavier Castano at the Irish Pavilion after signing the co-production agreement in Cannes during the film festival May 19, 2023. Added Max Brady of Dublin-based Max Films: It has been a wonderful experience working with Xavier and his team over the last year and we are delighted to be moving another step closer to telling this great story. Murphy, who has previously lent his talents to The Darkness, said now that the deal is signed, the team is very much looking forward to getting into pre-production. I am very grateful to our incredible team behind and in front of the camera in Ireland and France for all their work over the last couple of years. Castano teamed with Jean-Jacques Annaud on two of his films, Two Brothers and Wolf Totem. Brady and his Max Films has the Paul Reiser-starrer The Problem with People on deck. Marinca recently starred in Goran Stolevskis critical favorite You Wont Be Alone while Barr was recently seen in Aga Woszczynksas Silent Land. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Click here to read the full article. Known as the "Picasso of Native American art," esteemed Oklahoma City artist Benjamin Harjo Jr. died Saturday. He was 77. "Within the ... community of Native artists, he has been an absolute cornerstone for Oklahoma," said First Americans Museum Director of Curatorial Affairs heather ahtone, who is Choctaw and Chickasaw. "He has left behind a legacy of kindness and generosity and razor-sharp wit. And he's definitely going to be missed." One of the country's preeminent Native American artists, Harjo was Absentee Shawnee from his mother's side of his family and Seminole from his father's side. Growing up near Byng, Harjo said he always knew he wanted to be an artist. Thats all I ever really wanted to do (and) be, an artist. Even when I hit hard times and thought Well I need to do something to make a living, art has always been in my soul. So I pursued it and continued," Harjo told The Oklahoman in a 2007 interview. Benjamin Harjo Jr., a prominent Native American artist based in Oklahoma, appears at an artist reception for his 2018 exhibit "We Are a Landscape of All We Know" at Oklahoma State University. Harjo, who was Seminole and Absentee Shawnee, graduated from OSU in 1974 and was named to the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012. Harjo created uniquely contemporary work rooted in Native heritage Harjo started his formal arts education at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Oklahoma State University in 1974. "He came out of the Institute of American Indian Arts at a time when contemporary Native art was being redefined. And I think he contributed to that redefinition," ahtone said. "He didn't follow a path that was was laid before him. He really forged something that was new, drew upon the palette of his Seminole cultural aesthetics but really danced with a line across the page and allowed that line to bring joy to all of us who have seen his work and appreciated it." Meet Benjamin Harjo, Jr., a preeminent First American artist whose works have been recognized globally. Ben was named the 2022 recipient of the FAM Special Award for Artistic Leadership on September 16, 2022, at our Tribal Nations Gala. #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth pic.twitter.com/80vddwLGWT First Americans Museum (@FAMokMuseum) November 15, 2022 Over his half-century career, Harjo created art that was both contemporary and rooted in his Native heritage. Story continues "The images really are as modern as anything you'll see made made by a Native artist two dimensionally, yet he used layers of color and texture and built that surface up into something that was rich and playful. He had every bit an Indigenous voice that was very uniquely his," ahtone said. In a 2022 interview at the First Americans Museum, where he received the Special Award for Artistic Leadership at the FAM Tribal Nations Gala, Harjo said a fellow artist dubbed him the "Picasso of Native American art." "I don't think of my art as Cubism as much as I think of it as use of color and design and flowing line work," he said. Benjamin Harjo Jr.'s 1995 work "Before the Tears" is featured in the new exhibit "Patterns of Knowing" at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. A prominent Absentee Shawnee and Seminole artist based in Oklahoma City, Harjo died Saturday at age 77. Oklahoman received lifetime achievement awards Harjo earned many awards over the course of his lengthy career, including the 1987 Red Earth Grand Award, 1993 Heard Museum (in Phoenix, Arizona) 34th Annual Featured Artist and the Gold Medal Award at the 1990 American Indian Cowboy Artists Wichita (Kansas) Show. In 2007, the Oklahoma Centennial Commission released a poster honoring the states American Indian influence created by Harjo and titled A Returning of Nations." He received the 2002 OSU Distinguished Alumni Award, was named the 2003 Honored One at the 17th Annual Red Earth Festival and was deemed an Oklahoma Living Treasure by the OU Health Center Foundation in 2009. "The passing of Benjamin Harjo Jr., a beloved member of the Oklahoma State community and a renowned Native American artist, marks the loss of a significant treasure for our university and state," said OSU President Kayse Shrum in a statement to The Oklahoman. "Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends as we join together to mourn his loss and celebrate his life. Ben's unique artistic skills, dedication to his beloved Native American heritage and service to our country have profoundly impacted our world, and his legacy will continue to inspire future generations." Harjo was inducted into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012 and garnered the lifetime achievement award at the 2019 Paseo Art Awards. "He was the epitome of the award as a person who spent his life contributing to the enhancement of the arts in Oklahoma as an artist, arts supporter and arts educator," said Paseo Arts Association Executive Director Amanda Bleakley in an email. "He was a gifted artist and printmaker who was generous with his time and talents and will truly be missed by the arts community and the country" His work is included in the Oklahoma State Art Collection as well as in the collections of the First Americans Museum, Red Earth Art Center, Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. "Benjamin Harjo is among an exclusive company of artists whose creative abilities and inventiveness established Oklahomas reputation nationally in the visual arts," said Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Amber Sharples in an email to The Oklahoman. "His art has been exhibited in numerous high-profile exhibitions, and it has been the subject of stories in countless publications. Throughout his career and evident in much of his work, humor and fun are threads for which he, as an artist and person, will be remembered." Benjamin Harjo Jr., a prominent Native American artist based in Oklahoma, smiles in a 2010 Oklahoma State University photo. Harjo, who was Seminole and Absentee Shawnee, graduated from OSU in 1974 and was named to the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012. Esteemed artist Benjamin Harjo Jr. remembered as a beloved mentor Harjo's work, along with pieces by fellow Native American artists Jordan Ann Craig (Northern Cheyenne Tribe) and Jeri Redcorn (Caddo Nation of Oklahoma/Citizen Potawatomi), are on view through Oct. 23 in the new exhibit "Patterns of Knowing," which opened May 18 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. He continued creating art until just the past few months, ahtone said, and showed his work in a booth last month at the 10th Annual Artesian Arts Festival in Sulphur. "He built a family through the arts. There are so many people who felt like he was an uncle, a brother, and, maybe even some of the younger artists, a grandfather," said ahtone, adding that the First Americans Museum and OSU Museum of Art are collaborating on an upcoming book about Harjo's art, life and legacy. Amber DuBoise-Shepherd, who is based in Shawnee, is one of the young Native artists who considers a Harjo a mentor and inspiration. "He impacted a lot of us younger kids. ... When I started doing my art markets regularly, he was one of the first artists that would come and visit with me and encourage me," said DuBoise-Shepherd, a fellow OSU alumnus who is affiliated with the Navajo, Sac & Fox and Prairie Band Potawatomi. "He was always goofy; he was fun. He always made people feel welcomed, and he always had some story to tell. ... I will just miss him so much. I don't know what I'm gonna do: It's just gonna be so different not seeing him at the markets." Services have not yet been announced. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Prominent Oklahoma Native American artist Benjamin Harjo Jr. dies The sole suspect convicted in connection with a 23-year-old quadruple murder in rural Oklahoma is a free man after serving less than three years in state prison, officials said. Ronnie D. Busick, 71, was released from the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center on Friday, May 19, just 38 months after pleading guilty to charges of accessory to murder, according to multiple media reports. Oklahomas Department of Corrections stated Busick earned accelerated credits 60 credits per month plus time already served while serving his 10-year sentence, according to NBC Tulsa affiliate KJRH-TV. RELATED: Man Convicted In 'Hell In The Heartland' Murders Says Teen BFFs Were Shot Up With Meth Before Being Killed He will now spend the next five years on probation, with one year supervised. Lorene Bible, mother of missing teen and presumed murder victim Lauria Bible, told Oxygen.com she is mad and telling everyone because this is crap. Theyre protecting his rights, said Lorene from outside the prison walls. They didnt protect ours. Busick was the only living suspect charged in 2018 in connection with the grisly December 1999 murders of married couple Kathy Freeman, 38, and Danny Freeman, 40. Both victims were shot to death before their trailer home was set ablaze in the rural prairies of Welch, Oklahoma about 80 miles from Tulsa in the northeastern-most part of the state. The Freemans daughter, Ashley Freeman, 16, as well as Ashleys best friend, Lauria Bible, also 16, were believed to be kidnapped in the overnight ambush and held captive for a period of days or weeks before their presumed murders. Their bodies have never been found. Lauria Bible Ashley Freeman Family Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman Photo: Bible Family Lorene and a small group of protesters gathered outside the correctional facility in solidarity beginning Thursday evening, telling Oxygen.com she wanted to look Busick in the eyes upon his release. However, Busick was released undetected by the crowd after officials escorted him to a local bus station before 7 a.m., according to ABC Joplin, Missouri, affiliate KODE-TV. Story continues He did not leave through the front door, said the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Acting Chief of Communications, Kay Thompson. The bus carrying Busick left for an undisclosed location. I wanted him to know hes getting out of there; hes getting to walk around free, Lorene told Oxygen.com. Those two girls are not. RELATED: Man Sentenced in 'Hell in the Heartland' Case After He Failed To Lead Investigators To Teen Best Friends' Remains Craig County District Attorney Matt Ballard who prosecuted the case against Busick stated he was outraged on behalf of the families, according to a May 8 letter reviewed by Oxygen.com. The agreed plea (guilty to accessory to felony [murder]) was intended to put Busick in prison, but, most of all, to encourage his cooperation with investigators to find Lauria and Ashley, Ballard stated. Prosecutors initially charged Busick with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and arson and were willing to agree to a plea deal, should Busick lead investigators to the girls bodies. Busick failed to do so, though court records show the more severe counts were eventually dismissed. Ronnie Busick Pd Ronnie Busick Photo: Craig County Sheriff's Office Lorene isnt alone in her frustrations, with several local and state-level officials voicing their displeasure after news of Busicks release earlier this month. State Senator Michael Bergstrom once Laurias English teacher at Bluejacket High School issued a press release on May 2, remembering how the community pulled together for the family and Lorenes hopes that her daughter was still alive. This is a travesty, and my prayers go out to the family, Bergstrom stated. Unfortunately, the agreement reached with Busick in this case resulted in him getting a ridiculously small prison sentence, even though he has yet to help law enforcement recover the girls bodies. Its outrageous. Searches in recent years have heavily focused on the ghost town of Picher, Oklahoma about 25 miles northeast of the crime scene where suspects Warren Phil Welch, David Pennington, and Busick reportedly kept the girls captive at Welchs mobile home. The men were active in the manufacturing and use of methamphetamines and bounced between Picher and nearby Chetopa, Kansas, where the men then lived. Welch died of ALS in 2007, while Pennington died in 2015 of chronic lung disease. More than a dozen witnesses reported seeing photographs of the bound girls, whom investigators believe were raped, tortured, and murdered, per an affidavit reviewed by Oxygen.com. Investigators believe the killer(s) purportedly hid Lauria and Ashleys bodies in one of the thousands of abandoned and inaccessible lead mines of Picher and its vast surrounding area, now a toxic, government-owned superfund site. Busick later told reporters following his conviction that he and the others killed Kathy and Danny Freeman over a cheap piece of dope and that taking Ashley and Lauria was merely opportunistic. He admitted to being there on the night in question but has denied having a direct role in the murders. Lauria Bible Ashley Freeman Pd Laurias family, including her cousin, Lisa Bible Brodrick, have championed the case for decades, a case they say was botched since the day of the murders. As widely reported, Kathy's body was found in the burnt rubble on the morning of Dec. 30, 1999, after nearby ranchers found the home ablaze. At the time, investigators with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation believed Danny killed his wife before running off with the girls, making him the prime suspect. Lorene and her husband, Jay, found the burnt body of Danny Freeman the next day, hours after authorities released the scene. Its just time for accountability, Brodrick told Oxygen.com in light of Busicks release. For 23 years, weve let it go, and at this point, its time for someone to be accountable for all the wrongdoing in our case. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called the murders horrific. Still, he claimed he didnt have the legal authority to stop Busicks release, according to a May 5 letter he sent the Bible family reviewed by Oxygen.com. Loved ones said they believed Busicks sentence fell under the states 85% rule, which mandates individuals convicted of certain crimes serve 85% of their sentence. However, that was not the case for charges of accessory to murder and he was awarded early release on grounds of good behavior. Lorene and Brodrick hoped that creating a petition on Change.org could stop Busick from walking free. Lorene told Oxygen.com that, despite Busick's release, theyre still collecting signatures in hopes of changing the laws so that the 85% rule could be applied to all accessory to- crimes in Oklahoma with Drummonds support. I stand ready to assist any legislator who might wish to draft a bill addressing this clear problem, the Attorney General said in his letter. As of Friday, May 19, the petition amassed more than 19,000 signatures. The family continues to invite the public to the Find Lauria Bible page on Facebook, where hundreds are posting photos of lit candles in a show of support for the missing girls. As is the case every time Lorene addresses the media, she tells Oxygen.com her plight will not stop until she finds Lauria and Ashley, who disappeared 23 years, four months, and 19 days ago. Lauria would have turned 40 in April. A Mosaic phosphogypsum stack stands behind a fence in Bartow, Florida, on Feb. 24, 2023. The use of phosphogypsum in Floridas road construction has been outlawed for over 30 years, as the fertilizer waste product can emit mild levels of radioactive radon gas. But House Bill 1191, approved by the Legislature and awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis signature, could change that. Phosphogypsum results from phosphate rock mining, a process that produces phosphorous, which is then used in some fertilizers to help plants grow strong roots, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. When processing phosphate rock to make fertilizer, the phosphorous is removed by dissolving the rock in an acidic solution. The waste that is left behind is called phosphogypsum. More on HB 1191: 'Radioactive' roads? Phosphogypsum could be used in Florida paving if HB 1191 passes. Here's what it is Waste Pro in Palm Coast: Palm Coast contracts new garbage hauler despite pleas from Waste Pro workers DeSantis signs SB 266: How does the new law restrict DEI programs at public universities? It is also the fifth-largest mining industry in the country, with 90% of all phosphate mined in Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. Environmentalists have warned that the use of phosphogypsum could increase the risk of cancer, as well as pose a threat to the water, air and soil quality. Here is what we know about HB 1191: What does HB 1191 propose? The bill aims to find alternative ways to use certain recyclable materials that currently are part of the solid waste stream and that contribute to problems of declining space in landfills. These materials include: Ground rubber from automobile tires. Ash residue from coal combustion byproducts. Recycled mixed-plastic material. Construction steel. Glass and glass aggregates. The bill calls for phosphogypsum to be included among the possible materials used in road construction projects. What happens before phosphogypsum can be used? According to the bill, the Florida Department of Transportation would conduct a study to evaluate the suitability of using phosphogypsum as a construction aggregate material. Story continues This study, which would be required to present results by April 1, 2024, would consider prior or ongoing studies into the suitability of phosphogypsum in such projects. If the waste product is deemed suitable, the FDOT would be able to use it in road construction in accordance with the conditions of the United States Environmental Protection Agency approval for the use. All uses of phosphogypsum waste have been banned unless the waste has very little radioactivity, according to the EPA. Is phosphogypsum stored in Volusia County? According to the EPA, no. Phosphogypsum is stored in large piles called stacks, which can be hundreds of feet high. There are 25 stacks in Florida today, according to the agency. Today phosphate mining occurs primarily in the central Florida area (Polk, Hillsborough, Manatee and Hardee counties), the EPA said. The central Florida phosphate mining region covers approximately 1.3 million acres of land known as the Bone Valley. There is one phosphate mine operating in Hamilton County. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida House Bill 1191 could allow use of phosphogypsum in roads After months of speculation and radio silence, the Foo Fighters introduced their new drummer on Sunday (May 21) during the Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts livestream event. The intimate studio show, presented in black and white, previewing the veteran groups upcoming 11th studio album, But Here We Are (June 2), featured the live debut of Josh Freese, who is stepping into the formidable shoes of late Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins; the bands time-keeper died at age 50 of undisclosed causes in March 2022 while on tour in South America. Freese, a veteran studio/touring drummer, has played with acts including Guns N Roses, A Perfect Circle, and Nine Inch Nails. More from Billboard Related Foo Fighters Foo Fighters Drop Under You Single, Announce Free Global Streaming Preparing Music For Concerts 05/21/2023 05/21/2023 Freese, 50, was revealed as the drummer during the livestream after comedic cameo appearances by Flea, Tommy Lee, and Danny Carey of Tool. Hawkins joined the Foos in 1997, taking over from the bands first drummer, Sunny Day Real Estates William Goldsmith, who originally had the unenviable task of playing drums for the group fronted by Dave Grohl, one of rocks most formidable bashers. Goldsmiths tenure lasted from 1995 to 1997. Just as Grohls drum stool was nearly impossible to take over thanks to the former Nirvana drummers formidable, crashing style, Freese will have a monumental task ahead following Hawkins, a beloved, blissful beat machine whose smile, good cheer and California cool became an enduring part of the Foos live appeal. The livestream concert was the bands first full set since a pair of Hawkins tribute concerts that took place in London and Los Angeles last fall. Those gigs feature a rotating group of drummers sitting in with the Foos, including Hawkins teenage son, Shane, Blink-182s Travis Barker, tween viral sensation Nandi Bushell, The Darkness Rufus Taylor, Omar Hakim, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, Weezer drummer Pat Wilson, Metallicas Lars Ulrich, the Polices Stewart Copeland and the Red Hot Chili Peppers Chad Smith. Story continues Prior to Sundays show, both Pearl Jams Matt Cameron and the Darkness Taylor had publicly denied they were in the running for the FF drum seat amid unconfirmed reports that Freese whose long resume includes stints performing with Guns N Roses, Devo, Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals, Sting, A Perfect Circle, the Replacements and Paramore, among others would be taking over. Last week, the band dropped Under You, the second single from the upcoming album, and Brooklyn-based graphic arts studio Morning Breath Inc. revealed the stark white-on-white package design for But Here We Are, which is dedicated to Hawkins and Grohls late mother, Virginia, who also died in 2022. With the livestream under their belts, the Foos are slated to make their road return on Wednesday (May 24) at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, N.H. They have a very full summer planned, including more than a dozen festival appearances at Boston Calling, Sonic Temple, Rock Am Ring, Bonnaroo, Ottawa Bluesfest, Harley-Davidson Homecoming, Fuji Rock, Wildlands, Outside Lands, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Riot Fest, Sea.Hear.Now, Louder Than Life, Ohana and ACL, as well as a number of North American and international headlining dates. Best of Billboard Click here to read the full article. Thomas DeVore, right, arrives to represent Tyson Skinner and his wife, Marcie Skinner, in Sangamon County Circuit Court at the Sangamon County Complex in Springfield on Sept. 3, 2021. Through House Bill 3062, constitutional challenge lawsuits would have to be heard either in Sangamon or Cook County. There was a constitutional challenge to the SAFE-T Act heard in Kankakee County and several lawsuits against the state's passage of its assault weapons ban heard in Macon and Effingham counties. Opponents to this judicial process call this forum or venue shopping, where lawyers seek out parts of the state they think can grant favorable judgements. Through a bill passing in the Senate on Friday, Democrats think they have a way to reduce this practice. Senate President Don Harmon introduced an amendment to House Bill 3062 earlier this week, which sets courtrooms in Sangamon and Cook counties as the only locations where actions alleging constitutional violation brought-on by legislation or executive orders can be heard. Harmon, along with Gov. JB Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, have often been at the center of recent constitutional challenge lawsuits. The bill passed on a 37-16 vote and now returns to the House for a concurrence vote as part of next week's extended session. Continued legislative action: Not done yet: General Assembly continues past scheduled adjournment "These cases are all going to end up in Springfield or Chicago," he said during floor debate Friday evening, referring to the Illinois Supreme Court's presence in both cities. "It's our judgment that it is best to simply, streamline that process and make sure these cases are all heard in an organized fashion." 'Affront to democracy' Spirited debate led by Senate Republicans claimed the bill would be unfair to many downstate communities due to the extended travel time needed to make it to these courtrooms. Democrats' claim that the bill stops venue shopping was not true said Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville. "The reality is we're trying to legislate venue shopping because certain constitutional officers in the state, frankly, are having a lot of their decisions challenged by the people that they're supposed to serve," he said, later calling the legislation an "affront to democracy." Story continues Republican Caucus Whip Sen. Sally Turner of Beason asked if whether the bill would place more pressure on the Fourth District Appellate Court in Springfield in terms of an increased workload. Harmon noted that a number of these constitutional challenges are already consolidated in Sangamon County, so an increase in justices or staff would not be likely. Unsuccessful Attorney General candidate Thomas DeVore did so last year in Sangamon County Circuit Court with challenges to the state's COVID-19 policy requiring masks and schools. The House could take-up concurrence action on HB 3062 as early as Wednesday. Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter. This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Harmon bill ending 'venue shopping' for constitutional challenges passes Senate (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden was physically present at the Group of Seven summit in Japan but his focus was often 7,000 miles away on Washington, where talks to avert a catastrophic US default hit an impasse. Most Read from Bloomberg The White House hastily rewrote Bidens schedule in Hiroshima after scrapping planned stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea just before his departure from the US so he could return home for debt-limit talks. The result was a summit where Biden came across at times as distracted by events back home even as he sought to engage other world leaders. A sought-after, three-way meeting with counterparts from Japan and South Korea turned into a brief huddle and photo, with Biden inviting them to meet more fully in Washington at a later date. A separate summit with leaders of the so-called Quad nations of Australia, India and Japan originally set for next week in Sydney was moved to Saturday and lasted less than an hour, though Biden did squeeze in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. US officials said the debt-limit crisis did not deter progress at the summit but acknowledged that Biden had to divide his attention between Hiroshima and Washington, given the intense nature of budget negotiations. Other leaders asked Biden about the status of talks, understanding that he had to monitor the situation closely, the officials said. Biden plans to speak with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from Air Force One on his way back to Washington. Talks between the White House and Republicans stalled over the weekend, with McCarthy saying there couldnt be progress until Biden returned. Im hoping that Speaker McCarthy is just waiting to negotiate with me, Biden said at his post-summit news conference shortly before leaving Japan on Sunday. I dont know if thats true or not. Bidens trip was intended to highlight the crown jewels of his foreign policy: bolstering Ukraines war effort and flexing US diplomatic might to counter Chinas influence in the Pacific. Yet there were only a handful of opportunities for Biden to personally show that work to the public. Biden unexpectedly cut short his appearance at a Thursday night leaders dinner on picturesque Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Bay, one of several times during the four-day trip that he was pulled aside for a debt-limit update. Reporters traveling with Biden saw him only for brief moments before his Sunday news conference. White House officials said Japan was responsible for setting terms of access to summit sessions, several of which were closed to the media. On the occasions he spoke publicly alongside world leaders, he expressed regret for leaving the region earlier than he wanted and promised fuller meetings at a later date. Again, I truly apologize to you for having you to come here, rather than me being in Australia right now. But we have a little thing going on at home I got to pay attention to, Biden told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Saturday. As a consolation prize, he invited Albanese to Washington for a state dinner in the prime ministers honor and the White House has said Biden would seek to reschedule his Australia trip. Some markets are increasingly flashing warning signs as the USs cash pile dwindles, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned funds to pay obligations could run out as early as June 1. Treasury bills that mature after that date in early June have traded with significant yield premiums because of the default risk, and the cost of insuring US debt against non-payment has soared in recent weeks. A first-ever US payments default would cause massive pain for the global economy, with forecasts of job losses and higher borrowing costs. That put the standoff in Washington on the minds of Bidens counterparts at the Hiroshima summit. It is definitely a subject of interest here at the G-7, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday. Countries want to have a sense of how these negotiations are going to play out. Sullivan said, however, that the impasse was not generating alarm and that Biden assured leaders the US could reach a deal to avoid a default. Biden traveled to Japan with his approval ratings low and a potential rematch looming against Donald Trump in 2024 that could test the presidents assertion that America is back on the world stage. Yet there were signs that Bidens diplomacy paid dividends at the summit. G-7 partners agreed on language pushing back against Chinese economic coercion, a development Bidens aides touted as fruit of his efforts to get European powers to acknowledge threats posed by Beijing. Zelenskiys unscheduled appearance in Hiroshima underlined Bidens frequent refrain that he kept the free world united in support of Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader was able to leave Hiroshima with a major victory by securing the US presidents support to train his pilots on F-16 fighter jets as well as a fresh $375 million aid package and tighter export restrictions on Russia. White House officials insisted that Bidens abbreviated foreign travel did not hurt his standing with world leaders. Albanese even gave Biden some grace, saying he too would have shortened foreign travel if he faced a similarly perilous crisis. All politics is local, as you and I both understand, Albanese said. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. This year at Cannes Iran is being repped by just one film, the timely underground drama Terrestrial Verses, co-directed by Canada-based Alireza Khatami and Iran-based Ali Asgari, premiering in Un Certain Regard. Shot after the Mahsa Amini movement started, Verses consists of 12 tableaus depicting the increasingly absurd and tragic plight that Iranians face in their everyday life with a scathingly ironic deadpan tone. Variety spoke to the directors about how they teamed up and decided to capture the zeitgeist in turbulent Tehran. More from Variety How did the project germinate? Alireza Khatami Well, I was in Iran trying to shoot a film and Ali was by my side every day helping me. And then my film was shut down. In Iran you have to get shooting permission in order to shoot, and I was shut down. And at night we were going on this long walk through the alleys and reading classic Iranian poetry. This was our way of kind of trying to forget about the fact that the film was just killed. And during this conversation we noticed this technique that in classic Farsi poetry is called debate. So one person says something in one verse and there is an answer from the other person, so its a dialogue, that we call debate in our poetry. And we realized that this is such a beautiful format of a dialogue to bring to the structure of a film. And Ali had a few stories that were very absurd. Something that happened to him, or to his friends, and then he said: Should we make it into a film? Just like a poem, with the structure of a poem? So we will make well verses, and each verse is in conversation with the other ones. A week later we had the script and two weeks after that we shot. Story continues When was this happening exactly? Ali Asgari We shot the film in two parts. The first part was shot in and around September, before this movement [the mass demonstrations that broke out after the death of Mahsa Amini] that happened recently in Iran. And we shot three of the scenes at the end of September. And then the [Woman, Life, Freedom] movement started and after that we shot the rest of it around end of February and the beginning of March. But the fact is that after this movement a lot of things happened for both of us. We drew a lot of inspiration from this movement and especially from the Woman, Life, Freedom stuff. And I think it helped us to have it in two parts, because we learned a lot of things after all the things that happened. But the fact is that we tried not to be angry when we were writing the thing. Let me ask you about your process. In working with your actors, was there some improvisation? Some films are very, very written and others kind of evolve as theyre being made. Im curious about that aspect. Alireza Khatami This film was, very, very written because we had a philosophical angle we were going for and its a sensitive topic. We didnt want to put anybody in trouble through an accidental improvisation that might have an implication for anybody. So we really thought about every word that was written. The films 12 tableaus, lets call them, it seems that each one has what you might call a topic, to be a bit simplistic about it. What do you consider to be some of the topics that you were describing or tackling or talking about in the film. Alireza Khatami Maybe I can tell you the umbrella under which we were thinking. We were interested to see how regimes of power manage life of citizens, starting by their very body. How you dress; what this body is called; what it eats; how it walks; what it wears; where it goes; where it sits. Ali Asgari From the first moment we talked about the project, it was very important for us to talk about the system, about the totalitarian system that wants to control everything in the peoples life. It starts from the birth of a child, to a person who is dying at the end of the film, in a way. And in between, there are lots of people of different ages, and different issues. It was very important for us to talk about this system. Thats why we dont show the person behind the camera. Because we wanted to talk about the system. We didnt want to show any faces. It was very important to show this: just some voices that are representative of the system. Of course you dont have a crystal ball, but do you think Women, Life, Freedom marks a tipping point? Alireza Khatami I can say on my behalf, I dont want to talk for Ali. As you mentioned, Nick, there is no crystal ball. And I dont think any of us in Iran and any Iranians outside the country is looking for a tipping point. But it is definitely a tipping point in consciousness. Its a tipping point for awareness. A lot of us were sleeping before, but now we are awake. Now we know what has happened. Now we can look back and say: This is what has happened to us. Do we want to continue that way? Do we want to keep that way? That to me is a great news. That to me is the pure definition of hope. Will things change? Will the political landscape change? Who knows. But in this generation, I would say especially the generation that is asking this, the Gen Z if you will this is a generation that walks with awareness, with confidence, and they dont take bullshit. And that is the tipping point, for me at least. Thats my perspective on that. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. CHILLICOTHE A Kenworth T680 Signature Edition with a 76-inch high roof sleeper was delivered recently to Heartland Express during a special ceremony at Kenworths Chillicothe plant. The truck represented the 750,000th truck produced by the plant, which opened in 1974. On hand for the ceremony was Heartland Express CEO Mike Gerdin, who received the keys to the historic truck from Kevin Baney, Kenworth general manager and PACCAR vice president. Also participating were Jim Walenczak, Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing, Doug VanZuiden, Kenworth Chillicothe plant manager, and Preston Hinkle, MHC Kenworth regional vice president and general manager. Heartland Express CEO Mike Gerdin received the keys to the historic truck from Kevin Baney, Kenworth general manager and PACCAR vice president. This is a special year for Kenworth. Were celebrating our 100th anniversary, and our Chillicothe plant met yet another milestone with the production of its 750,000th truck, said Baney. Its a tribute to all that have worked at this plant over the years since it opened nearly 50 years ago. We couldnt be happier this historic truck is going to a long-time customer like Heartland Express. Its a fleet that began operation just after the Chillicothe plant opened, and its in its second generation as a family-run business growing to more than 6,000 trucks. Heartland Express, a public company based in North Liberty, Iowa, has four trucking companies under its umbrella: Heartland Express, CFI, Millis Transfer, and Smith Transport. The T680 Signature Edition is one of more than 500 T680s Heartland has on order with Kenworth in 2023, through its dealer MHC Kenworth Cedar Rapids. Its equipped with a PACCAR MX-13 engine rated at 455 horsepower, and PACCAR TX-12 automated transmission. A Kenworth T680 Signature Edition with a 76-inch high roof sleeper was delivered recently to Heartland Express during a special ceremony at Kenworths Chillicothe plant. Were so excited to receive this Signature Edition Kenworth T680 anniversary truck. The Century Platinum paint job will really stand out from our traditional white Heartland fleet trucks, said Gerdin. This truck is going to be presented to a special driver shortly and will mean as much to that driver as it does to us. We are so very proud and honored to drive the 750,000th truck out of the Chillicothe plant. The employees here do a great job they have pride in the quality of the trucks theyre building, and you can see their passion. Story continues The T680 Signature Edition Diamond VIT features a black onyx grille and side air intake, and prominent Kenworth 100 badges on the sleeper. It has black interior with legacy red stitching accents throughout the cab and sleeper. The package also includes a Kenworth 100 branded GT703 seat with red accents, special brushed platinum dash and door trim, and Kenworth 100 logo stitched into the sleeper back wall. Gerdin said after a plant tour several years ago, it reinforced his decision to purchase Kenworths. The first thing I noticed was the people, he said. I talked with many of those working on the line and you could tell they cared deeply for what they were doing and had pride in the quality of trucks they were producing. When trucks are delivered to us by MHC, drivers are almost fighting to get in them. We love the fuel economy and reliability we get from these trucks, and the drivers love the look and the ride. A Kenworth T680 Signature Edition with a 76-inch high roof sleeper was delivered recently to Heartland Express. The truck represented the 750,000th truck produced by the plant, which opened in 1974. Its great that Mike understands and appreciates what happens behind the scenes building trucks at our Kenworth plant, said VanZuiden, Kenworths Chillicothe plant manager. We delivered our 500,000th truck back in 2016, which doesnt seem that long ago. We take our Worlds Best slogan to heart. In 2016, Gerdin said his company expanded its relationship with Kenworth ordering more than 500 trucks annually -- thanks to a great relationship established with MHC Kenworth. They are a fantastic operation, he said. Theyve always gone the distance for us and have proven their worth to me over and over. Its why we purchase so many trucks from Kenworth. But my relationship with Kenworth goes back decades. I have a picture of my grandpa, dad and myself standing in front of a Kenworth cabover when I was three years old. That was in 1972. Back then, my first job was washing wheels, since thats all I could reach. Trucks have always been in my familys blood, and it continues to this day. Kenworth Truck Company, founded in 1923, is celebrating its historic 100th anniversary. To learn more about the 100th anniversary celebration visit www.Kenworth100.com. Kenworth is a PACCAR company. This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Kenworth Chillicothe plant delivers milestone 750,000th truck to Heartland Express Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) signaled on Saturday that he doesnt think debt limit negotiations can move forward until President Biden returns to Washington. Unfortunately, the White House moved backwards, McCarthy told reporters, as he left the Capitol with Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) the lead GOP negotiator, and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.). I dont think were going to be able to move forward until the president can get back in the country. Unfortunately, the socialist wing of the Democrat Party appears to be in controlespecially with President Biden out of the country, he reiterated in a tweet afterwards. The White House responded in a statement, turning the tables on McCarthy and claiming that his team put on the table an offer that was a big step back and contained a set of extreme partisan demands that could never pass both Houses of Congress. Lets be clear: The Presidents team is ready to meet any time. And, lets be serious about what can pass in a bipartisan manner, get to the Presidents desk and reduce the deficit, the statement said. It is only a Republican leadership beholden to its MAGA wing not the President or Democratic leadership who are threatening to put our nation into default for the first time in our history unless extreme partisan demands are met. Biden is in Hiroshima, Japan, through Sunday for the Group of Seven (G-7) summit. He was previously set to travel to Papua New Guinea and Australia as well but decided to cut the trip short as debt ceiling negotiations have dragged on. The president said at the summit on Saturday that he is not at all worried about reaching a deal to raise the debt limit before the U.S. defaults on its debt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has repeatedly warned lawmakers that default could occur as early as June 1. I still believe well be able to avoid a default and well get something decent done, Biden said. Story continues The apparent halt in negotiations comes after talks briefly broke down on Friday, as Republican lawmakers accused the White House of being unreasonable and unwilling to accept sufficient spending cuts. Talks resumed several hours later. McCarthys recent comments represent a shift from his relatively optimistic outlook on the negotiations on Thursday. Were not there. We havent agreed to anything yet. But I see the path that we could come through, he told reporters on Thursday morning, adding, Itd be important to try to have the agreement, especially in principle, by sometime this weekend. Mychael Schnell contributed to this report. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Despite tens of millions of dollars from investors and 150 journalists hired, the launch of Jimmy Finkelsteins news site The Messenger is proving to be a disaster, as The New York Times reports that internal confusion and frustration has gripped the sites staff in its opening week of operation. Several anonymous journalists at The Messenger tell the NY Times that multiple breaking news teams have been assigned to write up stories based on news broken from other sites, leading to confusion on who is assigned which story. On more than one occassion, The Messenger published two versions of the same story from editors unaware of each others work. This led Gregg Birnbaum, a former NBC News and Miami Herald editor who worked on The Messengers political team, to resign on the spot after a terse online exchange with the sites traffic chief Neetan Zimmerman, who instructed the editors to coordinate their stories via an online form instead of on Slack and blamed Birnbaums team for the confusion over story assignments. Also Read: Kara Swisher Swipes Elon Musk: Dog Whistle of Exhaustingly Toxic Nonsense and a Professional Adult Toddler Who doesnt like traffic to their news site? Birnbaum told the Times. But the rapacious and blind desperate chasing of traffic by the nonstop gerbil wheel rewriting story after story that has first appeared in other media outlets in the hope that something, anything, will go viral has been a shock to the system and a disappointment to many of the outstanding quality journalists at The Messenger who are trying to focus on meaningful original and distinctive reporting. Founded by former co-owner of The Hill and The Hollywood Reporter Jimmy Finkelstein, The Messenger launched this week after raising $50 million to lure journalists with offers of salaries far above established competitors. People are exhausted with extreme politics and platforms that inflame the divisions in our country by slanting stories towards an audiences bias. Our talented journalists are committed to demystifying the onslaught of misinformation and delivering impartial and objective news, editor Dan Wakeford, formerly of People, wrote in an intro message. Story continues But The Messengers launch has been panned by media observers and journalists, who pointed out the sites low standing on Google searches, its unreadable interface and its exclusive interview with former president Donald Trump that was dismissed by Mother Jones David Corn as softball Also Read: This Is a Hate Group': CNN Reporter Is Passed a Note While Attending Meeting of Anti-Trans Mothers [The interview] focuses not on [Trumps] dangerous authoritarian impulses but on the 2024 horse race and Trumps not-so-deep thoughts about it. To call this interview a softball-fest would be an insult to anyone who has ever hit, thrown, or caught the sphere with a 12-inch circumference, Corn wrote. Despite the internal strife and poor reception, the Times reports that The Messenger was close to 100,000 unique visitors on Friday meeting projections and is expected to keep improving as its Google search engine ranking rises. We have delivered hundreds of pieces of great journalism and have exceeded our traffic goals, a spokesperson for The Messenger told Times. Our teams are successfully working through any initial issues with technology and work flow, and we are confident that these will be resolved when we fully launch next month with our verticals and advertisers. Also Read: Jimmy Finkelsteins The Messenger Launches to Confusion, Scorn: Sounds Like a Bad Pitch From Succession Miley Cyrus is renowned for her live performances (particularly her amazing covers), but dont expect to see the pop star on an arena tour ever again. In a recent British Vogue interview, Cyrus said performing in such large venues makes her uncomfortable and she would much rather perform in smaller, more intimate spaces for friends and family. Its been a minute, Cyrus said about touring. After the last [headline arena] show I did [in 2014], I kind of looked at it as more of a question. And I cant. Not only cant, because cant is your capability, but my desire. Do I want to live my life for anyone elses pleasure or fulfillment other than my own? More from Variety Like singing for hundreds of thousands of people isnt really the thing that I love, she continued. Theres no connection. Theres no safety. Its also not natural. Its so isolating because if youre in front of 100,000 people then you are alone. Cyrus last arena show was the Bangerz Tour back in 2015. The tour lasted 78 shows and stopped at venues such as the O2 Arena in London and the Barclays Center in New York City. Some fans thought Cyrus might be planning a new arena tour to support her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation, which was released in March. It seems unlikely based on her latest comments, although perhaps Cyrus will tour in other kinds of venues such as Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Endless Summer Vacation includes Cyrus smash single Flowers, which is the fastest track to cross 1 billion streams in Spotifys history at 112 days. The reception to Flowers has been absolutely wild, producer Michael Pollack told Variety earlier this year amid the singles blockbuster success. Its not lost on me how much of a unicorn this record is and how few times in your career you get to be a part of something like it. Story continues Read Cyrus latest cover story on British Vogues website. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. People gathered at Rabbit Rabbit in Asheville to show their support during the Sustain the Veto Rally to protect abortion access in North Carolina May 13, 2023. Local Jewish clergy affirms support for Gov. Roy Coopers veto of SB 20, a bill that imposes a 12-week limit to abortion access. While abortion remains legal in North Carolina, the bill and its multiple restrictions conflict with Jewish values. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, two synagogues in Asheville, Congregation Beth HaTephila and Congregation Beth Israel, as well as the Jewish Secular Community of Asheville, have passed resolutions on reproductive rights that oppose any ban on abortions. For thousands of years, Jewish tradition has embraced a sacred obligation to preserve life and protect and prioritize the health and well-being of the pregnant woman; the new abortion ban does not. More: Editor: Open call for women to share their voices, during Women's History Month and always Jewish biblical and rabbinic sources compel Jews to cherish the sanctity of life, including the potential of life in the womb but teach that personhood and human rights begin at birth not at conception. Jewish law permits and under certain circumstances mandates abortion when the life or health or psychological well-being of a pregnant person is in jeopardy. The Torah also distinguishes between the value of the life of the pregnant person and the life of the fetus. In Exodus, we are told that if someone causes a pregnant woman to miscarry by pushing her, the person is responsible for paying a fine, while if the push causes the woman herself to die, the penalty shall be life for life (Exodus 21:22-24). The differing punishments distinguish between taking the life of the fetus versus that of the mother, giving more value to the life of the mother. Patients have an obligation to obtain health care. Our bodies and souls belong to God, and we must ensure that they are cared for. The verse in Deuteronomy (4:15) You shall indeed guard your souls, has traditionally been interpreted as commanding us to protect our health. Judaism believes that this commandment extends to reproductive health. Story continues Rabbi Mitch Levine, of Congregation Beth Israel, states that according to Biblical law and generally in the Jewish tradition, the fetus is not considered a child possessing a status independent of its mother until birth. Rabbi Levine challenged the misappropriation of the Hebrew Bible to claim otherwise for political purposes. The Bible tells us, Choose life! Rabbi Levine believes what matters is saving and protecting actual human lives, not solely potential ones. According to Rabbi Batsheva Meiri from Congregation Beth HaTephila, As many have pointed out, legal limitations on reproductive health care are an infringement upon a Jewish person exercising their right to religious freedom. Just as Jews would not impose Jewish teachings on others nor legislate it as normative for society, Jews cannot accept the imposition of any other religious groups beliefs on the Jewish community or the American people at large. Ashevilles Jewish congregations believe in kavod habrivot the sacred obligation to provide medical care to those in need, as determined by licensed healthcare providers, their patients, and their patients families. More: North Carolina's 12-week abortion ban to become law; GOP overrides veto More: Would newly passed NC abortion bill close Asheville clinic? GOP could override veto Thus, the Board of Trustees at each congregation has passed resolutions that reaffirm support of womens reproductive rights, including, in certain circumstances, the right of a pregnant person to choose an abortion in accordance with Jewish law. Together, they stand in defense of their First Amendment right freely to practice their religious beliefs and laws without government interference. Right after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, members of Carolina Jews for Justice came together to share stories, educate and advocate for reproductive justice from a Jewish perspective. Supporting congregations to adopt resolutions is one of the ways CJJ has used its presence in communities across NC to create a more unified Jewish voice in favor of abortion access. CJJ will continue to be a part of the movement to ensure reproductive justice for all. Consistent with the Jewish value of pursuing tzedek (justice) for all, we vehemently oppose laws, including SB 20, that will create a patchwork of abortion access and keep basic health care out of reach for many. These intimate, personal, and private health decisions should be left to the pregnant person, often in consultation with that persons health care provider, family, and clergy but not with politicians and lawmakers. Rabbi Batsheva Meiri Rabbi Mitch Levine Lisa Forehand Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Congregation Beth HaTephila, Rabbi Mitch Levine of Congregation Beth Israel, and Lisa Forehand, community organizer for Carolina Jews for Justice West. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville Jewish leaders oppose NC override on abortion ban veto The actor and girlfriend Tiffany Chen welcomed daughter Gia Virginia Chen De Niro on April 6 Samir Hussein/WireImage Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have premiered their latest film. De Niro, 79, and Scorsese, 80, were on hand at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in France on Saturday for the world premiere of their new movie Killers of the Flower Moon. The longtime collaborators were joined at the event by costar Leonardo DiCaprio and others from the project, who all posed together on the red carpet. Killers of the Flower Moon's world premiere took place after De Niro announced earlier this month that he welcomed his seventh child, daughter Gia Virginia Chen De Niro, with girlfriend Tiffany Chen on April 6. De Niro first revealed that he welcomed Gia in a sit down with ET Canada, where he corrected the interviewer who asked him about his six children by saying he had "Seven, actually." 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. Samir Hussein/WireImage Related:Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro Star in First Trailer for Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon De Niro then spoke about his new arrival with Gayle King on CBS Mornings earlier this month, with King saying that the couple is "over the moon" about the newest member of the family. The actor has six other children from previous relationships. De Niro and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, are parents to daughter Drena, 51, and son Raphael, 46. In 1995, he welcomed twin sons Julian and Aaron, 27, with his former girlfriend, model and actress Toukie Smith. De Niro also shares son Elliot, 24, and daughter Helen, 11, with Grace Hightower. Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Apple Original Films debuted the first trailer for De Niro's new movie an adaptation of David Grann's 2017 book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI on Thursday. The movie centers around the serial killings of members of the Osage Nation, who became wealthy because of the oil discovered on their land, in 1920s Oklahoma. Story continues Samir Hussein/WireImage "Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio, 48) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal," an official synopsis for the movie reads. De Niro plays DiCaprio's uncle, described as a powerful local rancher. Along with DiCaprio, De Niro and Gladstone, 36, Killers of the Flower Moon's cast also includes Brendan Fraser, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, Scott Shepherd, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson. Related:Robert De Niro's Life in Photos Scorsese co-wrote the movie with screenwriter Eric Roth (Dune) and produced the film, while DiCaprio, who marks his sixth collaboration with the filmmaker in this role, is listed as an executive producer on the movie as well. Killers of the Flower Moon premieres exclusively in select theaters Oct. 6 and goes wide Oct. 20, before streaming globally on Apple TV+. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Andrew Warren, whom Ron DeSantis suspended as Hillsborough County, Florida, prosecutor last August, knows what it's like to be targeted: Andrew Warren, whom Ron DeSantis suspended as Hillsborough County, Florida, prosecutor last August, knows what it's like to be targeted: "The governor picked a fight with me, so I'm fighting on behalf of everyone who cares about these issues." MONTGOMERY, Ala. Of all the places Andrew Warren imagined his career would take him, it was never here: the lobby of an upscale chain hotel in downtown Montgomery, huddling with his legal team and preparing for a hearing that maybe within a year if hes lucky will result in him getting his job back. I didnt ask to be the tip of the spear in this fight for freedom and democracy, Warren said, settling into a tall wingback chair on the morning of May 2, several hours before he was due in a federal appellate court just down the street. But the governor picked a fight with me, so Im fighting on behalf of everyone who cares about these issues. It has been over nine months since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Warren, accusing the twice-elected Democratic prosecutor for Hillsborough County of incompetence and neglect of duty in a scathing 29-page executive order last August. The Florida Constitution gives the governor the power to remove elected officials in cases of extreme misconduct. But those powers have rarely, if ever, been used in a case like Warrens. This is something youd expect to see happen in Turkey or North Korea or China. This is not something youd ever expect to see happen in the United States, said Warren, whose general measured demeanor during our interview sometimes gave way to a quiet rage about the whole episode. The governor is the one who did wrong here, Warren told me, and no one else should have to adjust their behavior to the whims of the dictator. Frothing with the polite but pointed anger of a clean-cut attorney, Warren described the surreal events of the past year, which has included: Learning of his suspension in the middle of grand jury proceedings for a decades-old cold case. Being escorted from his office with his belongings by armed sheriffs deputies. Watching the governor brag about his suspension on Fox News. Reading about his suspension in the governors book. Hearing about his suspension in the governors stump speeches. Reliving this episode of his life over and over again in court, in interviews, in conversations with friends and strangers. Having his career and life essentially frozen. Receiving death threats against his family because of the bright spotlight that DeSantis put him under. Story continues This has been very difficult for me professionally, said Warren, who is still living with his family in Tampa, because I care so much about the office. Its been very difficult for me politically, because the most powerful Republican in the country is targeting me specifically, as an individual. And its been very difficult for me personally everything from just the huge disruption its had on my life with my family, to getting death threats from people who tell me that my children deserve to die for the things Ive done. DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, suspended Warren last August for what he characterized as DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, suspended Warren last August for what he characterized as "neglect of duty." In his lawsuit, now winding its way through federal courts and currently being heard by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here in Montgomery, Warren argues that DeSantis violated his constitutional right to free speech and removed him without cause. It will likely be decided as DeSantis is running for president on his record of governing the free state of Florida. DeSantis is expected to announce his campaign for the Republican nomination in the coming days. He has already made Warrens firing a staple of his stump speech, using the episode to show how hes crushed foes using his executive fist. [These state attorneys] want to weaponize the power of their office to target people they dont like, DeSantis said last month in Manchester, New Hampshire. And when we had an attorney like that, a district attorney in Tampa who had been funded by [George] Soros and said he would not uphold the laws of the state, I removed him from his post. Hes gone. Warren was never bankrolled by Soros, the Democratic mega-donor who is a perennial target of conspiracies and hate on the right but he likely benefited from contributions Soros made to the Florida Democratic Party at one point or another. DeSantis, perhaps projecting, also misrepresented the argument he used to fire Warren, who has never been accused, in either the executive order suspending him or in subsequent court filings, of going after people he didnt like. The governors office, which generally only interacts with certain friendly news outlets, never responded to a request from HuffPost to provide a comment for this article. Warren has taken his battle against DeSantis to the courts, hoping the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rule in his favor. Warren has taken his battle against DeSantis to the courts, hoping the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rule in his favor. Although its easier to describe Warren as having been removed or fired, hes technically in a state of suspension that could be reversed or made permanent pending a hearing by the Florida Senate. But given the heavy Republican makeup of that body, Warren is exploring other remedies. Warrens suspension came two months after he co-signed a letter with more than 80 other progressive prosecutors opposing the criminalization of abortion and transgender health care, in the wake of the Supreme Courts reversal on abortion rights. In his executive order, DeSantis cited both the letter and what he characterized as a blanket refusal to prosecute some low-level crimes, such as the aggressive ticketing of Tampa bicyclists, most of whom were Black. Warren disputes that his office had blanket policies that endangered public safety, as DeSantis tried to argue in his order and his case hinges on whether a panel of majority-conservative appellate judges see it the same way. The governor has his talking points, which are divorced from reality. From the day I was suspended, I said this was a publicity stunt, the allegations are false, this is un-American, said Warren, on the edge of his seat, his legal team hovering nearby. A trim 46-year-old with light salt-and-pepper hair, Warren sometimes doesnt blink when hes talking. During an interview, he comes off as a deeply focused person who has spent the last nine months of his life consumed by two overlapping objectives getting his job back and sounding the alarm on DeSantis, whom he sees as a threat to democracy. Powerful people without a moral compass are dangerous, Warren said. Politicians who are willing to break the law to get votes or to get applause are dangerous. Politics aside, however, the two men have, if not a lot, at least some major things in common. They are both Florida natives in their mid-40s. They followed similar paths into public service after graduating from elite law schools (Warren from Columbia, DeSantis from Harvard). As young lawyers, they both worked for the Justice Department as federal prosecutors. And theyve both confronted family tragedies in recent years Warren, after his pregnant wife was involved in a car crash and the couple lost their baby, and DeSantis, after his wife was diagnosed and underwent treatment for breast cancer. Their paths diverged dramatically once DeSantis became a congressman and joined the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, and Warren, having moved from Washington to Tampa to raise his family, decided to challenge a longtime GOP incumbent for state attorney. The job of chief law enforcement officer, by its very nature, relies heavily on the discretion of the individuals doing the job to determine how crimes are prosecuted and sentenced. Thats why Warrens case is so tricky and precedent-setting. Its also why, in nearly every state, prosecutors are locally elected and therefore not subject to the political whims of a faraway official the same principle behind a governor not picking the members of your city council or school board. DeSantis isnt the only Florida governor who has kneecapped a prosecutor. Sen. Rick Scott, the Republican who preceded DeSantis, got a judge to allow him to reassign murder cases from an Orlando prosecutor who was opposed to using the death penalty. But Scott didnt try to get that prosecutor fired. When I was there I was very clear you have to prosecute your cases, Scott told HuffPost, declining to comment on whats happening now between DeSantis and Warren. "Politicians who are willing to break the law to get votes or to get applause are dangerous, Warren said. Warren came into office in 2016 after upsetting a longtime Republican in the purple west-central Florida county that encompasses Tampa, the states third-largest city. He says his backers were both Republicans and Democrats drawn to his mission of more equitable criminal justice outcomes amid a national reckoning over police brutality. Accusing his opponent of being too heavy-handed when the times demanded the opposite, Warren won a surprise victory followed four years later by his reelection to a second term. At a time when Florida Democrats are desperately trying to build their bench, Warren has been floated as a possible U.S. Senate candidate against Scott in 2024. His close friend Nikki Fried, the newly elected chair of the Florida Democratic Party, told HuffPost that Warren would make a great candidate for any number of Republican-held positions that Democrats are hoping to contest. Hes a true leader with a big heart, and unfortunately in politics right now you dont find a lot of those, Fried said. Warren can also raise money. While he declined to give an exact figure, he said hes brought in several hundred thousand dollars through a nonprofit for his legal defense. But Warren isnt interested in another office, at least not right now. Its wonderful to have people who are so confident in your leadership to encourage you to run for different positions, he said. But my focus is on the state attorneys job. Running statewide in Florida wont be easy for any Democrat. So far, no serious candidates have emerged to challenge Scott in what was once a Senate battleground. A bellwether for these times, Warrens own swing county, Hillsborough, lurched to the right in the last election, shedding several Democratic officeholders. DeSantis cites his own blowout reelection last year to justify the heavy leverage of his executive powers. The governor has single-handedly spearheaded measures such as banning transgender medical therapy for minors and expanding the states controversial Dont Say Gay law into high schools. He also amped up his feud with a beloved American corporation that happens to be one of his states largest taxpayers. DeSantis wears these battles as a badge of honor. My view is simple, he told an audience last month at Liberty University, uttering a line thats become a staple of his speeches and the overriding ethos of his governorship. I may have earned 50% of the vote, but that entitled me to wield 100% of the executive power. DeSantis might even be going after another Democratic prosecutor. Monique Worrell, Orlandos state attorney, said this month that she believes DeSantis is building a case to target her next, accusing the governor of seeking to exploit his political agenda against me. Fried, Floridas former agriculture commissioner and the last Democrat elected statewide, said DeSantis has created a climate of fear in Florida. Weve got a governor who believes hes the ultimate ruler of the state. Hes taking away peoples freedom of speech and hes removing officers who have been elected by their constituents at the local level, she said. Warren prepares for a TV interview at his home in Tampa. Warren prepares for a TV interview at his home in Tampa. Warrens best shot at reversing his suspension lies with the appellate court, which is reviewing his challenge to an earlier ruling from a federal judge in Florida. This ruling was both good and bad for Warren good in that it seemed to generally side with Warren that DeSantis violated his free speech and removed him from office without citing even a hint of misconduct; bad because despite all that, the judge still found he didnt have the constitutional authority to restore Warren as a local prosecutor. Documents unearthed in discovery support the argument that DeSantis doled out a punishment driven overwhelmingly by his political agenda. An early version of the executive order made numerous references to Soros, the political lightning rod, which DeSantis ultimately struck out with a blue marker. Beyond that, the governors attorney struggled to build a case showing that Warren had undermined public safety, according to a New York Times analysis of the discovery documents. That didnt stop DeSantis from declaring, in an Aug. 4 press conference announcing the suspension, that Warrens tenure had been devastating to the rule of law. He made similar comments that night to then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Tucker, youve documented the destruction that weve seen with these Soros prosecutors around the county, where they basically take it upon themselves to determine which laws should be followed and which laws should not be followed, a grinning DeSantis said, with photos of Warren proceeding to flash across the screen. Warren disputes that his policies had any negative impact on crime, noting that, by the state of Floridas own crime reporting metrics, overall crime declined in Hillsborough County under his watch. This isnt a Portland or San Francisco scenario, he said. Republicans blame soft-on-crime policies, and the woke district attorneys they say promote them, for the visible homelessness and addiction in places like Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, an idea thats been relentlessly reinforced by conservative media. I asked Warren to define a woke prosecutor, and he didnt know where to begin. In general, the term has become a catchall on the right for anything deemed too liberal or politically correct. You have to ask the people on Fox News [what it means], Warren said. Im a moderate prosecutor from a moderate county. I have done things that have frustrated the far left as much as the far right. Warrens suspension was a direct result of DeSantis war on woke, his attorneys argue, a pretext the governor has used to go after schools, government agencies and businesses in a way that Democrats, at least, find chilling. The animus here toward woke ideas and woke viewpoints was a motivating factor, Warrens attorney David ONeill argued to the appellate panel. Republicans have made the word so pervasive that its being used now in a deadly serious manner in federal courts. DeSantis was represented in Montgomery by two young attorneys for the state of Florida who returned to a single, much-examined line in the abortion rights letter that Warren signed last June. The sentence in question seems to signal, beyond just the general opposition to the criminalization of abortion, that the co-signers would go a step further and refuse to prosecute abortion crimes altogether. Warren, as far as he knows, is the only prosecutor from the letter who lost his job over this single sentence. In the chaotic and emotional days that followed the Supreme Courts abortion ruling and the letters release, Warren said he attempted to clarify that he didnt mean he would disregard abortion law in its entirety. At the time, Florida lawmakers had just passed a 15-week abortion ban. Since then, theyve passed a six-week ban, which DeSantis put his signature on last month but hasnt said much about since. The governor has made it clear that if he disagrees with who you are or what you said or what you stand for, then youre at risk for being attacked, Warren said. The governor has made it clear that if he disagrees with who you are or what you said or what you stand for, then youre at risk for being attacked, Warren said. Warren can expect a ruling sometime within the next year. It may not be the ruling hes hoping for. The appellate panel is composed of three judges: one Democratic appointee and two Republicans, including a Trump nominee. And beyond this panel of judges in Alabama, there are only dead ends the Republican-controlled Florida Senate and equally conservative Florida Supreme Court underscoring how entrenched Republicans have become in Florida under DeSantis and throughout the age of Donald Trump. Warren, who might violate the terms of his suspension if he were to take another legal job, has had a lot of downtime to reflect on this battle and what it all means. For himself and his future. For Florida. For the country, if DeSantis beats both Trump and Joe Biden and tries to run the federal government like the state of Florida which hes promised to do. The governor has made it clear that if he disagrees with who you are or what you said or what you stand for, then youre at risk for being attacked, Warren said. I mean, look at the people hes gone after. Disney, obviously. The Special Olympics. Hes attacked businesses. Hes attacked teachers. Hes attacking the LGBTQ community. Hes attacked universities and professors and boards of regents. Hes attacked elected officials. If you dont say what he wants you to say, then you are at risk. My final question for Warren was whether he regrets signing the abortion letter after all, had he not, he might still be employed. Would he risk this all over again? Or would he try to find another, less out-there way to signal his opposition to the abortion climate? Warren shifted uncomfortably in his seat. For the first time in our conversation he became a little less lawyerly and a little more pissed, channeling, in a certain sense, his nemesis. Your question to me is should I have done something differently and not spoken my mind so as not to annoy the governor of Florida? Should I not have exercised my constitutional right to free speech? So I didnt run the risk of the governor breaking state and federal law? he said. Americans dont need permission slips to exercise their constitutional rights. No, I wouldnt change a thing, and I shouldnt have to change a thing. Related... Killers of the Flower Moon "Coyote wants money," Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a young Osage Nation woman, notes sagely when feckless WW1 returnee Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) starts courting her in early 1920s Oklahoma, the setting for Martin Scorseses period epic. Hes a former infantry cook with no cash or discernible talent; shes a hugely wealthy owner of headrights (the inherited mineral rights to oil-rich Osage County) who understands the motives of the lascivious white men tumbling off the train in town trying to marry so-called "full-bloods". Ernest may project vulpine avarice ("I just love money!" he admits repeatedly) but Mollie might as well fall for him as any of them; after all, her sisters are all "blanket" wives to unscrupulous layabouts, and the disfranchisement of First Nation people is operating on an industrial and epidemic scale. A tribal generation is being eradicated and stolen from via widespread conspiracy and murder a movement spearheaded by local white 'saviour' William 'King' Hale (Robert De Niro), who masks his insidious imperialism with benefactions and a performative love for the Osage, whom he describes as "the most beautiful people in the world". Torn between faithfulness to her beau and terror at the devastation happening on her own lands, Mollie hopes that authorities outside of the complicit local cops might be able to stop the killing of people and culture. But as one observer notes: "gotta better chance of convicting a guy for kicking a dog than killing an Indian" Based on David Granns 2017 non-fiction book of the same name, Scorseses western (yes, hes finally made it) delves deep into manifest destiny, greed, racism, neocolonialism and misogyny in a rich, immersive masterclass that braids together the interests of his past projects. Faith, persecution, racketeering, entitlement, the corrupting influence of money, the disposability of life all are present in a nailed-on awards magnet that might be some of the best work weve ever seen from all involved. Story continues Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon De Niro is sheer understated elegance as the wily, charming Hale, a master-manipulator uncle to dumb pawn Ernest. Peering out of wireframe glasses, he imbues the character with a repulsive righteousness that is mesmerising to watch. Meanwhile, DiCaprio dials down the charisma as an unrepentant, fidgety sad sack. (All downturned mouth, he mirrors De Niros distinctive features, conveying a convincing family resemblance.) To see two of Martys muses spar in front of fireplaces, across dinner tables and in masonic lodges, evoking memories of 1993s This Boys Life, is a genuine thrill. Theyre part of an ensemble that feels vividly period-authentic and unreconstructed. Gladstone is a firebrand as Mollie, her silences as instructive as the way she pulls her blanket around her shoulders. And Jesse Plemons, a third-act arrival as FBI agent Tom White (in a role originally intended for DiCaprio) manages to evince integrity and kindness in only a handful of scenes. Its a shame Brendan Fraser (as a pernicious lawyer) didnt get the memo about subtlety, but his appearance is so fleeting that its a minor blip in a three-hour-plus immersion in a captivating and fully realised world. Weaving the Tulsa race riots, the KKK and the Masons into its tapestry, Scorseses opus questions the misdeeds of America in the last century while linking them to the pressing issues of today. Addressing racial violence, nationalism, the continued epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and even our lurid obsession with true crime, Killers of the Flower Moon paints a robust picture of a moment in history that invites viewer introspection. As Ernest asks portentously when reading from a book on Osage history: "Can you see the wolves in this picture?" Well, can you? Killers of the Flower Moon will be in UK and US cinemas on October 6 (limited) and October 20 (wide), before streaming globally on Apple TV+. For more upcoming movies, check out our breakdown of 2023 movie release dates. The representative for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Sudan said fighters have seized a national health facility, calling the lab takeover extremely, extremely dangerous for the embattled country. WHO representative Nima Saeed Abid said during a Tuesday press briefing that one of the warring armies in Sudan forcefully kicked out the lab technicians at the National Public Health Laboratory in the capitol of Khartoum, creating a risk of biological contamination. Now it is completely under the control of one of the fighting parties as a military base, Abid said, describing it as a facility housing polio, cholera and measles samples. There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the [health lab] by one of the fighting parties, he added. Fighting broke out earlier this month between the Sudanese Armed Forces and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, engulfing the streets of Khartoum in gunfire and explosions. Abid did not say which side seized the lab. Sudan is experiencing a large outbreak of dengue fever and malaria, Abid noted, which makes the military occupation of the health lab all the more dangerous. U.S. officials on Monday brokered a 72-hour ceasefire between the rival military factions, which orchestrated a joint coup against an autocratic leader in 2021 but splintered during negotiations over a governmental transition. Hundreds of people have died in the war so far and thousands have been wounded. The WHO said there is an acute shortage of food, medicine, water and fuel. Many residents of the African nation have also begun fleeing the country. Britain, Germany and France are assisting with evacuations of its own nationals. The U.S. evacuated embassy staff over the weekend, but up to 16,000 American citizens remain in the country, by some estimates. Patrick Youssef, the regional director of Africa with the International Committee for the Red Cross, said the ceasefire was welcome but warned responders needed a long-lasting solution. What we need is to create a humanitarian space for our teams, Youssef said Tuesday at the WHO briefing. While this ceasefire is important after the ceasefire and if it holds we need to be able to also make sure we have a very loud and repeated call for the protection of civilians. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Florida flag The NAACP has issued a travel advisory to Black Americans, warning them of the hostile climate seemingly curated by Governor Ron DeSantis crackdown on cultural history across the state. The advisory was first proposed to the Board of Directors by the NAACPs Florida State Conference. However, it was widely supported by the organization as a whole. It states, Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color. Last week, the Republican politician signed legislation to defund diversity, equity, and inclusion departments at public universities. DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination, said DeSantis in a press conference on May 15. His exercise of authority has been met with widespread pushback from those arguing that he is stifling education and erasing Black history from the books, literally. Once again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people. Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority, said Leon Russell, chair of the NAACP Board of Directors, in a released statement on Saturday (May 20). DeSantis and the state have come under scrutiny since he vocalized his opposition to academic discussions about racism and American history. Last year, he signed the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop Woke Act, into law. It prohibits workplaces and schools from making people feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the act from being enforced after two separate lawsuits were filed one by a University of South Florida student and professor and another by a Florida A&M law professor. Florida appealed the ruling, but in March, it was again denied a request to enforce the bill after the appeals court upheld the first ruling. Story continues Let me be clear failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all, said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. He continued, Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon. He should know that democracy will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand up and fight. Were not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the battle for the soul of our nation. The NAACPs full travel advisory can be viewed below. Under the leadership of Governor Desantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon. NAACP President and CEO @DerrickNAACP Take a stand with us. https://t.co/zsgLbNYL8t NAACP (@NAACP) May 20, 2023 Trending Stories MJ and Peter Parker on a web in Spider-Man 3 The distinguished Cannes Film Festival continues this weekend with more high-profile movie premieres, including Martin Scorseses latest movie, Killers Of the Flower Moon . And among the attendees at the glamorous red carpet event on Saturday were the leads of Sam Raimis Spider-Man trilogy, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Let me tell you, seeing the OG Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson pose for the same event had me in my feels about Spider-Man 3 . Kirsten Dunst walked the carpet in the France city as a date to husband Jesse Plemons, who is among the stars in Killers of the Flower Moon alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Brendan Fraser. Variety shared a video of the married couple happily posing in formal wear at the event along with sharing another post of Tobey Maguire in attendance. Maguire is a longtime friend of DiCaprio, and he apparently went to the premiere in support of his pal whom he's been friends with since their early days in Hollywood in the '90s. While the coverage of the premiere didnt see Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire crossing paths, I'll be honest, I wistfully imagined that the Spider-Man actors interacted with each other at some point during the star-studded affair. Look I know the Spider-Man trilogy is fiction and very much separate from the lives of the two Hollywood stars, but seeing them attend the same event does remind this fan of the melancholic ending of Spider-Man 3. Remember how it had the ill-fated lovers slow-dancing without much closure about where their characters would go next? I'm not over it. Spider-Man 3 ending, dance with Peter and MJ Killers Of The Flower Moon Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon Release Date: October 20, 2023 Directed By: Martin Scorsese Written By: Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser Runtime: 206 minutes Its no secret Spider-Man 3 is a bit of a hot mess, but more than anything it was heartbreaking to see the relationship that was built across the trilogy fall apart. Thank goodness we got Spider-Man: No Way Home back in 2021, which finally gave Tobey Maguire a chance to step into the Spidey suit again and leave a sweeter taste in the mouths of fans regarding the fate of his character. Though Kirsten Dunsts Mary Jane Watson did not appear, the actress has shared that she thinks that reprising her iconic Marvel role could happen. Dunst and Maguire were both at Cannes in support of Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorseses upcoming book adaptation of the true-crime novel of the same name about the Osage Murders at a time when the FBI had been newly formed. Check out the Killers of the Flower Moon trailer that has us expecting thinking the movie is about to get all the Oscars: a white rocket on a launch pad under a blue sky Update for 6:19 pm ET: SpaceX has successfully launched the private Ax-2 astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Read our launch wrap story and see video and photos. SpaceX is counting down to launch the second all-private mission to the International Space Station today (May 21) and if you're hoping to follow it online, you're going to need to know when it actually lifts off. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four astronauts on the Axiom Space Ax-2 mission to the space station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 10-day mission is commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, with paying customer John Shoffner as pilot and Saudia Arabia's first two astronauts , Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, rounding out the crew. You can follow the launch live with our Ax-2 mission updates page and watch the Ax-2 astronaut launch live online. Read on to see what time SpaceX will launch the Ax-2 mission today What time is the SpaceX Ax-2 astronaut launch? The Axiom Space Ax-2 private astronaut crew smiles in their Dragon capsule SpaceX will launch the Ax-2 mission for Axiom Space at 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT) from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the site used by the company for all of its human spaceflight missions. The launch has an "instantaneous window," meaning SpaceX must launch at that time in order to reach the International Space Station on schedule and cannot hold the countdown. If SpaceX has to delay for any reason, the company can try again on Monday, May 22, at 5:14 p.m. EDT (2114 GMT). Related: Meet the 4 astronauts of Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission Can I watch the Ax-2 astronaut launch online? Yes. NASA, SpaceX and Axiom Space will offer a series of live webcasts for the public to follow the Ax-2 launch live. You can watch the SpaceX Ax-2 launch online in a Space.com simulcast of those webcasts. SpaceX's webcast will begin around 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT) and run through liftoff. You can find it at SpaceX's Ax-2 mission page and YouTube channel. The company will also offer an audio-only feed from its launch center in Florida and Mission Control center in Hawthorne, California. Story continues Axiom Space's launch webcast begins at the same time and may be a simulcast. It will stream live at Axiom's YouTube channel. Axiom Space has also said it will provide an Arabic language livestream for Saudi Arabia viewers tracking the launch. NASA's webcast will begin at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) and cover the last hour of prelaunch operations and the liftoff. It will be broadcast on NASA's YouTube channel and NASA TV. How long is SpaceX's Ax-2 astronaut launch? SpaceX diagram of the Ax-2 astronaut launch showing liftoff, rocket landing and separation. From liftoff to spacecraft separation, SpaceX's Ax-2 mission launch should last just under 13 minutes, but the mission itself will last much longer. Axiom Space's Ax-2 astronauts will fly a 10-day mission to the International Space Station and are expected to spend eight of those days actually living and working aboard the space station, where they will perform 20 different science investigations amid other tasks and outreach events. It will take 15 hours for the Dragon capsule, called Freedom, to reach the space station on Monday, May 22. SpaceXs final hour before launch includes a series of critical tasks to get the rocket ready to fly. Here's the schedule SpaceX will follow to reach liftoff, including fueling the Falcon 9 rocket with its RP-1 rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellant. Related: Ax-2 private astronaut mission will grow 1st stem cells in space One the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Ax-2 mission lifts off, that's when the 13-minute trip to orbit begins. Here's a rundown of how that will work for this flight, including first and second stage main engine cutoffs (MECO). What if SpaceX's Ax-2 mission can't launch on time? RELATED STORIES: Meet the Ax-2 private astronaut crew 1st Saudi woman to fly in space ready for launch Axiom Space: Building the off-Earth economy SpaceX has an instantaneous window in which to launch the Ax-2 mission, so if it cannot liftoff on May 21 at 5:37 p.m. EDT for any reason, it will have to be delayed at least one day. There is a backup launch opportunity on Monday, May 22, at 5:14 p.m. EDT (2114 GMT), that SpaceX could use to launch the Ax-2 astronauts, but weather may be a concern. U.S. Space Force officials have said that poor weather moving in early Monday means the launch has just a 20% chance of good conditions for flight. If SpaceX is unable to launch the Ax-2 mission for Axiom Space by May 22, the timeline gets a bit more complicated and may lead to a lengthy delay. NASA currently expects SpaceX to launch an uncrewed Dragon spacecraft on the CRS-28cargo mission on June 3, and plan to give that mission priority if Ax-2 can't lift off this week. Meanwhile, SpaceX rival Boeing is planning to launch its first crewed flight of its Starliner spacecraft in July, a mission that is also a high priority for NASA. "If we don't get off on Sunday, Monday we'll get together with NASA and Axiom and SpaceX and kind of look at the whole manifest and see what the next opportunity is for launch opportunity for the Axiom 2 mission," NASA space station manager Joel Montalbano said Saturday. With Donald Trumps finished wall at the Mexican border, how is it possible that thousands of migrants are illegally crossing into the country, as Republicans and right-wing media point out is happening on a daily basis? Such is the are-you-going-to-believe-me-or-your-lying-eyes problem for the coup-attempting former president as he simultaneously argues that he kept his 2016 campaigns signature promise while also claiming that illegal immigration is out of control. Unlike most of his falsehoods about NATO or trade agreements or the condition of the economy during his tenure that are difficult to fact-check by the average voter, the lack of a big beautiful wall along the southern border is constantly proven anew in television footage aired relentlessly on Fox News and other outlets. He left hundreds of miles of border without a fence, Mexico paid for nothing, and our military families suffered, said Jennifer Horn, a former chair of the New Hampshire state GOP. But it will not impact his standing in the primary unless his opponents grow the courage to call him out on his failures. Trumps campaign did not respond to HuffPost queries on this topic. Based on recent statements, however, he appears to have settled on the brazen lie that he followed through on his most famous pledge of the 2016 campaign. At a town hall sponsored for him by CNN earlier this month, Trump repeatedly claimed that he completed his project. I did finish the wall. I built a wall, Trump said. And then I said, we have to build some more because there are areas like water going through a dam. There are some areas where a lot of people are coming. You close up one and they come into another. And we started another 100 miles of wall. Migrants walk along the banks of the Rio Bravo river after crossing the border to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents before the lifting of Title 42, as seen from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 11. Migrants walk along the banks of the Rio Bravo river after crossing the border to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents before the lifting of Title 42, as seen from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 11. It was unclear how, if he had finished a border wall, migrants would nevertheless be coming in like water going through a dam. Story continues In any event, his claim that he had kept his 2016 campaign promise is untrue on multiple levels. From the time he announced his run at his Trump Tower building in Manhattan in June 2015, Trumps favorite promise for his followers was that he would not only build a wall, but force Mexico to pay for it. I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and Ill build them very inexpensively, Trump said in in his announcement speech. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words. Trump on several occasions went into great detail on the construction standards, describing how it would be at least 30 feet tall and extend deep underground to prevent people from tunneling beneath it. Its going to be made of hardened concrete, and its going to be made out of rebar. Thats steel, Trump said at a December 2015 visit to Manassas, Virginia, in response to a question from a young boy in the audience. And were going to set it in nice, heavy foundations. Of equal importance in the promise was to force Mexico to pay, both as a way to humiliate the nations neighbor to the south as well as a pledge to voters not to use American taxpayer dollars on the project. But both elements of the promise began to crumble soon after he took office. Within weeks, Trump spoke to then-Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and told him he had no intention of forcing Mexico to pay for a border wall, but that he needed Pena not to mention that publicly so Trump would not anger his supporters. You cannot say that to the press, he said, according to a transcript of the call obtained by The Washington Post. If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that. And even though both the House and Senate were controlled by Republicans during his first two years, Trump made virtually no effort in that time to press for border wall funding. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security stayed with a program started under Republican President George W. Bush and continued under Democrat Barack Obama to replace deteriorating sections of old fencing with new, 18- to 30-foot steel bollards. Indeed, Trump did not get serious about winning congressional funding for his wall until after Democrats won back the House in 2018 after picking up dozens of seats, thanks to Trumps unpopularity. Trump forced a partial government shutdown in an attempt to win wall funding, but eventually gave up and decided to raid the militarys construction budget, diverting billions of dollars intended for housing, schools and daycare for service members and their families to his border wall instead. By the end of his four years in office, Trump delivered all of 52 miles of new fence where no barrier had previously existed a far cry from his original promise of a big beautiful wall along the entirely of the 1,954-mile southern border. An additional 400 miles of older, existing barrier was replaced with the new, taller steel bollard fencing just as old barrier had been replaced over the previous two presidencies. Not only couldnt he get Mexico to pay for it, he couldnt get a Republican Congress to pay for it, said Rick Tyler, a former top aide in Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs 2016 bid for the GOP nomination. But despite Trumps easily proven failure to deliver on his top campaign promise over the course of four years, most of his GOP rivals all of whom say the United States must get tougher on border security thus far do not seem inclined to point out Trumps record on the matter. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, on March 30 said at a Georgia visit: Weve talked a lot, but I think we need to get serious and finally build a wall along the southern border but did not mention the obvious point that the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination failed to build one. An adviser to one of the GOP hopefuls, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said attacking Trump on the border wall would be difficult because voters understand that he wanted to build one but that he could not overcome the obstacles placed in his way. There are better attacks, the aide said, pointing to Trumps recent comments disparaging anti-abortion activists and his inability to control government spending. The only candidate or likely candidate to attack Trump on the wall appears to be former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. More nonsense from Donald Trump last night, Christie wrote in a social media post the morning after the CNN town hall. Fact: He promised to build a big beautiful wall on the border. Fact: He did not deliver & immigrants are pouring over the border. Fact: He said Mexico would pay for it. Fact: We have not gotten one peso yet. He failed us on immigration. Trump critics, including former Republican officials, said other candidates are not likely to criticize Trump so directly unless and until Republican primary voters signal that they are no longer willing to accept Trumps falsehoods. The truth is, GOP primary voters have already made it clear that they dont care about his lies. They will stand with him till the end, Horn said. David Axelrod, a Democratic consultant who helped Obama win the White House in 2008, said the loyalty of Trumps base continues to confound him. The man has been indicted, found liable for sexual assault and defamation and is clearly in the crosshairs of other probes, and he has only gained ground in recent months, Axelrod said. To his base, it may be that if he says theres a wall, theres a wall and anyone who suggests otherwise is engaged in fake news. Trump, who tried to use the threat of violence and then actual violence on Jan. 6, 2021, to remain in power despite losing reelection, is under criminal investigation for his post-election actions by prosecutors in both Georgia and at the Department of Justice. He is separately under DOJ investigation for his refusal to turn over top-secret documents he had been keeping at his Florida country club in defiance of a subpoena, and has already been indicted in New York City for falsifying business records in his attempt to hide a $130,000 payment to a porn star in the days ahead of the 2016 election. He nevertheless remains the polling leader for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. YouTuber MrBeast has a huge following. Here's what parents need to know about him. (Image: Getty; illustration by Jay Sprogell for Yahoo) When YouTuber MrBeast found out that half of the worlds blind population could see again with a simple, 10-minute surgery one that many cant afford the viral philanthropist, known for producing fast-paced videos involving big-time giveaways, decided to give 1,000 people their eyesight back. The resulting video documenting their reactions has racked up 140 million views and counting since being posted in late January 2023. Videos like this have helped the content creator find an audience with young fans, including Cindy Marie Jenkins's two kids, ages 6 and 9. My kids laugh a lot at watching how long four strangers can stay in a pool of water, but they also want to know why people cry when he gives them thousands of dollars and why schools need celebrities to give away trucks full of school supplies and set teachers loose in a Walmart for a shopping spree," Jenkins tells Yahoo Life. The Orlando-based mom says MrBeast's philanthropic projects have led to some powerful conversations about money how people get it, how he got it, how much he has, how much other people and we have, and the wealth disparities in our community and country" with her children. But the YouTube personality's popularity and large-scale stunts have also raised eyebrows and sparked questions about his charitable intentions. Here's what parents should know. Who is MrBeast? Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is a 25-year-old YouTuber known for his philanthropic stunts with a net worth estimated at over $105 million. Growing up in Greenville, N.C., he uploaded his first video to YouTube in 2012 at age 13. Although he didnt have instant success online, he sought to master the YouTube algorithm and secure fame and followers, even dropping out of college after two weeks to commit to his YouTube channel. Eventually, success came, and he currently boasts more than 153 million YouTube subscribers. In 2017 his channel went viral while he filmed himself counting to 100,000, a challenge that lasted 44 hours. Known for many viral charitable acts including adopting every dog in a shelter or donating meals to people in need Donaldson created his own YouTube philanthropy channel, Beast Philanthropy, which gives 100% of its revenue to charitable purposes. Donaldson may also be well on his way to reach YouTube billionaire status in the future, according to Forbes. Story continues He teaches kids to give back but has faced criticism, too. By watching MrBeast videos, kids are exposed to stories of people in need, and presented with a happy ending as the YouTuber swoops in. Media psychologist Pamela Rutledge says his generosity is one of the main reasons kids like him. MrBeast gives away large amounts of money and prizes," she says. "This appeals because it creates the excitement of potentially winning something, whether realistic or not. Generosity is also a valued social norm, so it makes liking MrBeast more acceptable. MrBeast stands out due to the large amounts of money and prizes that make up his philanthropic endeavors, collaborations with others and unusual challenges." But there's still a financial motivation to this altruism. Rutledge points out that, like any other YouTuber, "MrBeast succeeds and funds his video activities by getting views and followers. The more outrageous a video, the more potential it has to go viral, with clicks translating into dollars that can fund the next challenge. There have been questions raised about the appropriateness of benefiting from the disadvantages of others to get attention," Rutledge adds, noting that some critics have accused the content creator of being "exploitative and even wasteful" by using "large amounts of resources for little social impact." In March, Donaldson was commended by many for giving away thousands of shoes to children in South Africa, though some said he was benefiting from his charitable acts. He stands up to transphobia. In April, YouTuber Chris Tyson, Donaldson's childhood friend who appears on the MrBeast channel, announced that they identified as gender nonconforming and had begun hormone replacement therapy as part of their gender transition process. When that announcement was met with transphobic comments, Donaldson pushed back and reaffirmed his friendship with Tyson. As a mom of two boys aged 7 and 10 and a fellow YouTube creator, Dana Bowling wasn't fazed by the news. "Kids these days are exposed to all kinds of gender and sexual identities so if anything, it just shows them that all people of all walks of life should be accepted," the Daily Dose of Dana podcaster tells Yahoo Life. "I would never tell my kids not to watch MrBeast for this reason. Open dialogue with your children is important. Jenkins agrees. Most of my positive feelings about him come straight from his upfront nature in interviews and how vocal he has been about supporting his friend and editor Chris," she says. "His voice will make a difference to his fans who are on the fence about gender identity themselves or want to support their friends. He knows how to connect with audiences. Whats the secret sauce behind YouTubers who can keep kids and adults alike glued for video after video? Rutledge points to his use of parasocial connections. MrBeast creates emotional engagement by promoting his personality as an exciting, relatable, authentic, down-to-earth person," she explains. "Parasocial connections are where people can feel emotionally connected to media figures through the frequency of viewing and celebrity appeal, creating a one-sided but meaningful sense of relationship." She adds that YouTube celebrities like MrBeast enhances the sense of presence and emotional connection by looking directly at the camera and talking to the audience. Kids can feel like they know him personally, which turns him into a 'friend,' enhancing his influence. Here's how parents can help their kids understand and contextualize MrBeast. Like any media, its essential for parents to keep an open conversation and increased awareness about what their kids are watching, and the subsequent thoughts, feelings and questions that might pop up after a MrBeast bender. Dr. Carl D. Marci, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and the author of Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age, says that, as with all things online, parents need to be clear-eyed about MrBeast. On the one hand, compared with other stars that simply play video games or are famous for putting others down or opening boxes, MrBeast offers valuable lessons about helping those in need and a game-show version of generosity, he says. As a dad who was tuned in with his own kids, ages 7 and 10, however, he has found the YouTuber and his friends to sometimes be "crude." And as with other YouTubers, he worries that "the implicit message to young people is that fame and fortune are all that matter. Marci also finds MrBeasts style of philanthropy to be too narrow. This form of generosity needs to be put into context, and children need to see other forms of philanthropy [like] showing empathy for others or volunteering to work for nonprofits with a clear mission to help those in need," he says. At the same time, Marci recognizes that kids arent necessarily thinking through the full ramifications when they're glued to a screen. As a father, he takes pain to monitor the content and watch along with his kids so he can "point out the difference between acts that are virtuous and acts that are frivolous." For his kids, he notes, "it is all just fun and games. Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here. Katie Austin was photographed by James Macari in the Dominican Republic. James Macari/Sports Illustrated After co-winning the Swim Search open casting call in 2021 and being named co-Rookie of the Year after her 22 SI Swimsuit feature, Katie Austin is back for her third appearance in the magazine. The fitness influencer was photographed by James Macari in the Dominican Republic, and the images are absolutely breathtaking. The shoot is something you cant really put into words, the Virginia native gushed at the time of her debut photo shoot. I cried when I got home just because its something you dream about for so many years, and then you realize its actually happening, and its indescribable. The thrill of the entire shoot day keeps your adrenaline high for days, but at the same time, I think people need to know its hard work. The shoot day is totally for you, the adventure day is created around you, and the content is focused on making you feel your best self. Below are eight cant-miss photos from Austins 2023 photo shoot in the Dominican Republic. 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 out now, 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! PANAMA CITY Wednesday marked the end of a massive economic development project that's been in the works for about half a decade. It was then local officials celebrated the grand opening of the Suzuki Marine USA Technical Center, a state-of-the-art research facility located off Frankford Avenue in Panama City. According to Becca Hardin, president of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, the facility is expected to create about 25 high-paying jobs through an capital investment of approximately $25 million. Hardin's team has been working on the project since before Category 5 Hurricane Michael hit in October 2018. Officials on Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of the Suzuki Marine USA Technical Center, a state-of-the-art research facility located off Frankford Avenue in Panama City. "This is going to put Bay County on the international map," she said. "When we had the grand opening ceremony, we had the executive team from Japan that came all the way from Tokyo to Panama City just to join in on the celebration. "They could have chosen anywhere in the United States, but they chose Panama City, Florida. It's a big, big deal, and it's going to get us a lot of recognition." More on the EDA: Bay Economic Development Alliance gets approval to request Triumph grants for two projects Local economy: A booming Bay County? Economic developers forecast unprecedented growth over next few years Hardin noted the new facility sits on the coast of Saint Andrew Bay, giving Suzuki Marine USA easy access to waterways needed to test boats. The company will bring in customers from across the U.S. The EDA, which works to diversify the economy so it does not solely rely on tourism, announced five projects in 2022, meaning those companies have committed to expand to the area. They are: Mocama Marine, which will establish a boat manufacturing operation at the Old Bay County Industrial Park off Bay Line Drive. It will create 105 jobs with a capital investment of $10.5 million. Southern Sky Aviation, an Alabama-based aircraft maintenance company that plans to build a fix-based operator a terminal for private and corporate airplanes at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. It will create about 30 jobs with a capital investment of about $20 million. Resia, a Miami-based real estate company that plans to build a facility at the VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre. It will create about 200 jobs with a capital investment of $45 million. Central Moloney, an Arkansas-based manufacture that distributes electrical transformers and their components. It already opened a facility at the VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre. It will create about 200 jobs with a capital investment of $25 million. FedEx, which built regional distribution center at the Port of Panama City Distribution Center off U.S. 231. It will create more than 200 jobs with a capital investment of $55 million. Story continues Though Hardin said her group has not announced any new companies so far this year, she said it is "getting close." "Tourism is always going to be very important for us ... but it's important to have a diverse economy," she said. "It's important for us to bring in advanced manufacturing, distribution (jobs) that will compliment the tourism industry and will continue to bolster our economy." This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Suzuki Marine USA Technical Center opens in Panama City About a dozen people received their Mexican passports, birth certificates and other government-issued documents Saturday morning as the new Mexican consulate was inaugurated in Oklahoma City. Dignitaries and elected officials, both local and from Mexico, lauded the consulate's opening as a commitment to continue supporting the growing Mexican American population in the state of Oklahoma. Citizens of Mexico living in the state no longer have to make the trek to cities like Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; or Kansas City, Missouri, to receive consular services. Javier Rivera, 21, was one of those receiving his Mexican passport on Saturday. He said this is the first major process he's taken on as an adult. "With the new consulate, the process was fast," said Rivera, who lives in Oklahoma City. "Before, we have to go to Dallas and Little Rock and ... the time to to get the appointment is too hard." Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt watch Saturday as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard hugs Javier Rivera, the recipient of the first document, at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Foreign representatives present Saturday included Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's minister of foreign affairs and 2024 presidential candidate; Consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City Edurne Pineda; Ambassador of Mexico to the United States Esteban Moctezuma; and Mexican Undersecretary for North America Roberto Velasco Alvarez. "This is not the beginning," said Ambassador Moctezuma of the new consulate, located just west of downtown at 1131 W Sheridan Ave. "This is the consequence of a vibrant Mexican community in Oklahoma and Oklahoma welcoming this community." Consulate will 'make a huge difference' for thousands of Mexicans in Oklahoma Mexican Undersecretary for North America Roberto Velasco Alvarez and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt speak Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. At one time, the Mexican American population in Oklahoma was "small but mighty," said Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. Today, it is "simply, poderoso," or powerful, he said. "Mexican Americans in Oklahoma City are entrepreneurs," Holt said. "They own restaurants and grocery stores and media outlets. They're teachers and priests, police officers, firefighters and elected officials. Mexican Americans are vital contributors to this dynamic city. Story continues "And yet this community is still young. We know its potential is great, and that its strength will only grow ... It will be heartening to know that the Mexican American community finally has this place. This consulate, a place the community can point to that bridges two national identities." Gov. Kevin Stitt joins Marcelo Ebrard, minister of foreign affairs of Mexico; and Edurne Pineda, consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City, on Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Oklahoma Sen. Michael Brooks-Jimenez, who represents the south side of Oklahoma City, shared the story of how his mother's Mexican family came to Oklahoma a century ago. His great-grandfather came to San Antonio to work on the railroads. His great-grandmother and their four children joined him after a few years, but he died shortly after. The 27-year-old widow and her children traveled in a covered wagon to Oklahoma City, where she had family. The Jimenez family has called Oklahoma City home ever since. Clients wait in line Saturday on the first day of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. It's not a unique story, said Brooks-Jimenez, who works as an immigration attorney. "I am flattered that the Mexican government has chosen to be able to give to our town, my hometown, a Mexican consulate," he said. "As an immigration attorney, I can tell you that I've seen thousands of people who are going through the same processes and the same journeys as my family. ... This is gonna make a huge difference for thousands of people in the state of Oklahoma." Oklahoma and Mexican values align Edurne Pineda, consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City, speaks Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Pineda, consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City, said she has been "amazed to learn about the richness of (Oklahoma's) society, culture and economic activity, and the potential and determination you show to continue moving forward." The support the state has shown of the consulate is a testament to the relevance the migrant community holds in Oklahoma, Pineda said. "A community that works hard, shares your values and commits to working shoulder to shoulder with you to build a better Oklahoma," she said. "There is also a large potential to grow the economic trade, cultural and tourist relations between Oklahoma and Mexico. We want to be a conduit for this. We want to be a bridge that helps Oklahoma understand Mexico better, and Mexico understand Oklahoma better." Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard on Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Gov. Kevin Stitt who helped put the consulate in motion through 2021 trips to Washington, D.C., and Mexico City said Oklahomans and Mexicans "can learn so much from each other." "Oklahoma values are Mexican values," Stitt said. "It's hard working, entrepreneurship, family-focused, ... God-fearing." This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma City's Mexican Consulate now open for business Faith Family Academy student Johanna Castillo won the car. Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff A Texas student won a Jeep for having perfect attendance. Faith Family Academy teamed up with a local car dealership for the competition. A sophomore named Johanna Castillo won the car. A car dealership in Dallas, Texas gave away a car to a high school sophomore who never missed a day of school. Faith Family Academy, a charter school, has been teaming up with Drive Casa for years, according to Fox 4. The CEO of the car dealership, Mark Gallas, said the competition helped spike attendance among students. This year, five students were selected to be in the competition, and a student identified as Johanna Castillo won the car, the outlet reported. Although Castillo doesn't have a license, she is working on obtaining one. When Castillo found out she won the car, she was shocked. "When I heard the beep, I was like [gasp], and then I saw the thing in the lights turn on in the car and I was like [gasp] again," the student told Fox 4. Gallas championed how the school backs its students. Insider couldn't immediately reach the dealership for comment Saturday. "The passion that I see here the last seven years coming from this school, and the support they give to these students, I don't think the students realize it," Gallas told the news station. "My message was there's three and a half days of school left, and I told them I want them to go shake their hands and give a hug to every person that works at this school." The school posted Castillo's win to Facebook. "She is our 2023 Drive Casa Car Give Away winner and the new owner of a 2016 Jeep Patriot!" the post said. "We are so proud of all of our students for their academic dedication and how they prioritize their attendance. We hope this car makes a difference in the lives of Johanna and her family!" Similarly, earlier this year, Riverside School District in Ohio gifted multiple students gift cards for having perfect attendance. Read the original article on Insider Daniel Penny. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid In an interview with The New York Post, Daniel Penny said it was "comical" that he's been accused of racism. It was Penny's first public comment since he choked Jordan Neely, a homeless man, to death on a New York subway. Penny told the Post he's not a vigilante but a "normal guy" who always does "what I think is right." Daniel Penny, who held a homeless man in a chokehold on a New York subway causing his death, said the accusations against his character are "a little bit comical" because he loves "all people." In an exclusive interview with The New York Post, Penny, 24, discussed his identity as a family man, his love of surfing, and his travels around the world. It was his first public comment since his May 1 altercation that left Jordan Neely, 30, dead. "This had nothing to do with race," Penny, who is white, told the Post about the incident with Neely, who was Black. "I judge a person based on their character. I'm not a white supremacist." Witnesses said Neely was yelling about being hungry and desperate, and behaving erratically on the subway before Penny placed him in a chokehold for several minutes. While witnesses said Neely's behavior was unnerving, there has yet to be any evidence that he assaulted any passengers. "I mean, it's, it's a little bit comical," Penny told the Post. "Everybody who's ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures. You can tell by my past and all my travels and adventures around the world. I was actually planning a road trip through Africa before this happened." Penny's attorneys said their client, a Marine veteran, "never intended" to harm Neely and "could not have foreseen" Neely's "untimely death." Penny told the Post: "I always do what I think is right." After a medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide by compression to his neck, the Manhattan district attorney's office charged Penny with manslaughter. Story continues While Penny has been hailed as a hero by top conservatives, others have decried the killing as an example of the kind of "vigilante justice" plaguing the country. The case has sparked racial justice protests in the city and calls for better care for the homeless. Penny told the Post he's "a normal guy," not a vigilante, and that the scene in the subway car was unlike "anything I'd experienced before." "I'm deeply saddened by the loss of life," Penny told the Post. "It's tragic what happened to him. Hopefully, we can change the system that's so desperately failed us." Attorneys for Neely's family, who have called for murder charges, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read the original article on Insider Wrapping up his participation in the Group of Seven (G7) forum in Japan, U.S. President Joe Biden took a swipe at "wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders" as undeserving beneficiaries of Republican lawmakers with whom his administration is negotiating a new budgetwithout which the American government could potentially default on its debt payments on June 1. The G7 is an intergovernmental political forum in which Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States engage in multilateral talks and negotiations. In a conference closing press conference, Biden said that his latest proposed budget cut spending by more than a trillion dollars, on top of nearly $3 trillion in deficit reductions that his administration had previously proposed through both spending cuts and new revenue. "Before I left for this trip, I met with all four congressional leaders, and we agreed the only way to move forward was in a bipartisan agreement," Biden said. "I've done my part... now it's time for the other side to move there from their extreme positions, because much of what they've already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable." Biden then launched into a this-versus-that litany of things he said Republicans favored compared to those backed by Democrats. "Let me be clear, I'm not going to agree to... a deal that protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistance at risk for nearly 1 million Americans," he said. Bidens Tax Hike Proposal and What It Means for Bitcoin 'Wash Sales' Other unacceptable trade-offs the President listed included $30 billion in tax breaks for the oil industry and $200 billion in "excess payments" for the pharmaceutical industry, rather than preserving Medicaid or preserving the jobs of 100,000 school teachers or 30,000 law enforcement offices. "It's time for Republicans to accept that there's no bipartisan deal to be made solely on their partisan terms," Biden said. His remarks echoed a series of "this or that" Twitter posts earlier this month that claimed that "MAGA House Republicans" support "tax loopholes that help wealthy crypto investors," and oppose food safety inspections." In his $6.9 billion budget plan, the President has highlighted the need to modernize rules, including those for digital assets and apply the wash sale rules to digital assets and address related party transactions, essentially making it so crypto assets abide by the same rules as more traditional investments. Biden's White House has meanwhile pushed for a 30% excise tax on the cost of electricity used for cryptocurrency miningalthough some lawmakers say the proposal is a non-starter. As Biden returns to Washington, D.C., the Washington Post reported today that Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to restart negotiations Sunday in the hopes of avoiding "an economic catastrophe as few as 11 days away." ""Default is not an option," Biden said, noting that negotiations will resume while he's in flight en route back to the U.S. "America has never defaulted on debt and it never will." A convicted drug dealer, given a second chance after a pardon by former President Barack Obama, has been arrested for attempted murder in a shooting which left a woman with traumatic brain injuries, police said. Alton Mills, 54, had his life sentence commuted in 2015 after serving 22 years. In the early hours of Sunday, a group of friends in a car leaving a nightclub overtook Mr Mills SUV at a red light in Posen, near Chicago, according to Assistant States Attorney Kathryn Morrissey. Mr Mills then allegedly sped up to the other car, lowered his window, and fired three shots. One bullet struck a woman who was sleeping in the back seat of the car, and doctors have said they do not expect her to survive her injuries. Her name has not been released. The driver of the vehicle pulled into a fire station to dial 911, and Illinois State Police tracked down Mr Mills. Investigators said that Mr Mills admitted to firing the shots. He was charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and is being held without bond at the Cook County Jail. Police subsequently searched Mr Mills home and found 40-caliber bullets that matched those used in the shooting. His vehicle also tested positive for gunshot residue. Mr Mills was arrested on federal conspiracy charges in 1993 for selling cocaine, and was later convicted. Although he was found with less than five grams of crack cocaine in his possession, prosecutors sought a charge enhancement that boosted his sentence to life in prison, according to The Daily Mail. Alton Mills, 54, is charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder (Illinois State Police) The push for Mr Mills to be pardoned began with Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. He requested his sentence be shortened, noting that Mr Mills' first two drug convictions did not result in jail time. Mr Mills case was rolled into a broader initiative by the Obama administration to grant clemency to non-violent offenders jailed during the US war on drugs in the 1990s, which disproportionately targeted Black people. Senator Durbin argued at the time that Mr Mills has shown personal growth during two decades in prison, and that he had community support waiting for him in Chicago. Once he was released, Mr Mills began working as a mechanic in Chicago before taking a job as a janitor. An educator once honored as Teacher of the Year at Yucaipa High School now faces a charge of unlawful sex with a student, California sheriffs officials reported. Investigators arrested Tracy Vanderhulst, 38, of Yucaipa on Thursday, May 18, the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department said in a news release. The Yucaipa Calimesa Joint Unified School District cooperated in the investigation, which involved a 16-year-old student at the campus, sheriffs officials said. Vanderhulst was named Teacher of the Year at the school in 2017, KTLA reported. Investigators believe there may be other victims. They ask anyone with information to call detective Rachel Young at 909-890-4904 or leave an anonymous tip at 1-800-782-7463. Yucaipa is a city of 55,000 people about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline's online chatroom. Sheriffs wife arrested after Tesla shes driving slams into home, California cops say Apple engineer steals secrets on self-driving cars and flees to China, feds say 18-year-old shoots and kills man on a walk with his dog, California police say A conflict inside former President Donald Trumps legal team erupted into public view Saturday as one of his former lawyers went on television to attack one of his current lawyers, who has been the focus of ire from others on the team. The former lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, withdrew this past week from representing Trump in the special counsels investigations into his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. But Parlatore did not explain the reasons behind his departure at the time, saying only that it was not related to the merits of the inquiries. Appearing on CNN on Saturday, Parlatore disclosed that his departure had been spurred by irreconcilable differences with Boris Epshteyn, another lawyer who has been working as something akin to an in-house counsel for the former president, hiring lawyers and coordinating their efforts to defend Trump. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Parlatore described how Epshteyn had hindered him and other lawyers from getting information to Trump, leaving the former presidents legal team at a disadvantage in dealing with the Justice Department, which is scrutinizing Trumps handling of classified documents after leaving office and his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election. As I said at the time, it had nothing to do with the case itself or the client, Parlatore said. There are certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be. He named Epshteyn in particular. He did everything he could do to try to block us, Parlatore said, adding that its difficult enough fighting against DOJ but that when colleagues are trying to undermine you, to block you, that it made it so I cant do what I need to do as a lawyer. It was ultimately not in the clients best interest, he said, adding that Epshteyn was not very honest with us or the client on certain things. Most notably, Parlatore singled out Epshteyn as trying to keep the team from conducting additional searches of Trumps properties after the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, Trumps private club and residence in Florida, and discovered more than 100 additional classified documents. Story continues Parlatore also mocked Epshteyns limited legal experience, saying he spent 18 months as a corporate lawyer and that based on that experience, he knows better than all of us. Still, Parlatore left open the possibility of returning to Trumps legal team if certain changes were made. If the lawyers are allowed to be lawyers without obstruction from people like Boris Epshteyn, he said, I would be happy to go back. A spokesperson for Trump said, Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team. His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false. Before making his appearance on TV, Parlatore spoke with Trump, telling him that Epshteyns handling of the defense team increased the risk that federal prosecutors would file charges, according to two people familiar with the matter. That warning came after an earlier attempted intervention by several of Trumps lawyers with their client over Epshteyns involvement. The lawyers cited what they described as Epshteyns penchant for delivering good news despite grim circumstances, as well as a bottleneck he had created in talking with Trump about cases. News of the dissension among lawyers representing Trump emerged at an especially delicate moment just as the Justice Departments special counsel, Jack Smith, appears to be wrapping up his sprawling grand jury investigations and approaching a decision about whether to file indictments against Trump in the documents and election interference cases. With Parlatore gone, two other lawyers James Trusty and John Rowley have taken the lead in representing Trump in Smiths inquiries. Rowley declined Saturday to comment on Parlatores remarks. Trusty did not respond to efforts to reach him seeking comment. Trump also faces an array of other legal problems, including his indictment in a hush money case in New York and a pending investigation in Georgia into election interference. The former president appeared on CNN as well on May 10, refusing to give a clear answer at a town hall event when asked if he had ever showed classified documents to anyone after leaving office. Parlatore sought to clarify that issue Saturday, saying that Trumps legal team had no evidence to suggest that he showed classified documents to anyone. He added that he did not believe charges would ultimately be filed in the documents inquiry. c.2023 The New York Times Company Galt Police Department officers arrested a suspected fugitive from Ohio on Saturday after responding to help the U.S. Marshals Service, according to a social media post. The department dispatched officers to South Lincoln Way near the Dry Creek Preserve after multiple reports of a disturbance, police said. The suspect was taken into custody on multiple felony arrest warrants. California Highway Patrol officers, the San Joaquin County Sheriffs Office and the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office assisted in the arrest, according to the city of Galt. The 23-year-old man had avoided apprehension Friday after fleeing into an area of heavy brush, according to the post by the Galt Police Department. A search was called off after multiple agencies utilizing numerous resources were unsuccessful in finding the man. The suspect was able to evade capture that day, but his escape was short-lived, the department reported via its Facebook account. As of Sunday, the suspect awaits extradition in Sacramento County Main Jail and is ineligible for bail. The Colorado General Assembly has passed a bill that requires all court hearings to be livestreamed on Webex or another video conferencing platform. The Colorado Supreme Court also issued a directive last month requiring Colorado courts to livestream certain proceedings in criminal cases, subject to staffing and technological limitations, according to a news release from the state supreme court. However, the directive signed by Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Boatright, which went into effect Monday, includes exceptions from the requirement of livestreaming for evidentiary hearings, trials, bench conferences, communications between clients and their attorneys, meetings in judges' chambers, "problem-solving dockets" and "juvenile hearings." The bill passed by the Colorado legislature includes a presumption that trials and evidentiary hearings held in open court will be livestreamed. However, the bill does allow a judge to limit livestreaming after finding that the livestreaming of proceedings would risk "compromising the safety of any person, the defendant's right to a fair trial, or the victim's rights, and there is no less restrictive alternative that preserves the public interest in remote observation." Others are reading: Pueblo Chemical Depot commander suspended amid investigation The directive similarly included a framework by which certain cases of public interest, such as trials and pre-trial evidentiary hearings, may be livestreamed at the discretion of a local court. Under the directive, in determining whether a case should be livestreamed, a judge must consider the following: Whether there is a reasonable likelihood that livestreaming would interfere with the rights of the parties to a fair trial. Whether there is a reasonable likelihood that livestreaming would create any adverse consequence to a party, attorney, victim, or witness. Whether there is a reasonable likelihood that livestreaming would unduly detract from the solemnity, decorum, and dignity of the court. Whether any prior violations of this directive or other rules of the court have occurred in the same matter. The level of public interest in the case, consideration of the Victim Rights Act, whereby a victim has the right to be present in person, by phone, virtually by audio or video, or similar technology for all critical stages of the criminal justice process. Consideration of the Americans with Disabilities Act, whereby deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind individuals may request communication access services by completing the standard judicial ADA request form. Story continues But under the Colorado Supreme Court's directive, the decision to livestream proceedings such as evidentiary hearings and trials ultimately remains at the discretion of a judge, unlike the state bill. Both the directive and the state bill create conditions that must be met for livestreaming to occur. According to both, the courtroom must be equipped with the technology to livestream a proceeding and meet staffing requirements to initiate and monitor the proceedings. Under the directive, viewers are also required to conduct themselves with normal court decorum. A disruptive viewer may be muted or expelled from the court without warning and be subject to contempt proceedings. Finally, under the directive, no recording, screenshots, or photos of a proceeding are allowed without the express permission of the court. More: Colorado passes bill removing some barriers to public records requests The state bill specifies that if the court does not have sufficient existing staff or technology to allow remote observation to the public but later obtains the staff or technology to do so, the court must comply with the bill within 90 days of obtaining the staff or technology. All 10th Judicial District courtrooms are equipped with the technology and staff to livestream proceedings, with links to each virtual courtroom on the 10th Judicial District Website. Jon Sarche, a spokesperson for the Colorado Judicial Department, said he could not answer how the bill and supreme court directive would apply if there is conflict between the bill and the directive. "We'll have to wait to see how it plays out in time," he said, but noted that the Colorado Supreme Court does not challenge state legislation. The bill was sent to the desk of Gov. Jared Polis on May 12, and is awaiting his signature. Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jayreutter1. This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Bill passed by state legislature could impact Pueblo court proceedings Daniel Penny a Marine veteran who put Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless Black man, in a fatal chokehold has said the incident had nothing to do with race. Penny, the 24-year-old white man whom authorities charged with manslaughter in the second degree almost two weeks after Neelys death, spoke with the New York Post Saturday. Neelys death sparked severalprotests as well as conversations on race, mental health and the treatment of people who are homeless. This had nothing to do with race, said Penny, who was released on bail. He also told the Post: I judge a person based on their character. Im not a white supremacist. Penny added that his travels over the years exposed him to other perspectives and declared that he loves all cultures. He went on to say that hes deeply saddened by the loss of life. Its tragic what happened to him. Hopefully, we can change the system thats so desperately failed us, Penny said. Mourners carry the casket of Jordan Neely at Mount Neboh Baptist Church after a funeral service in Harlem on Friday. Neely was widely identified as a Michael Jackson impersonator who often performed on the train. Mourners carry the casket of Jordan Neely at Mount Neboh Baptist Church after a funeral service in Harlem on Friday. Neely was widely identified as a Michael Jackson impersonator who often performed on the train. Pennys comments come weeks after Neelys May 1 death. Medical examiners ruled the death a homicide, citing the cause of death as compression of neck (chokehold). Witnesses said Neely, known for being a Michael Jackson impersonator, had begun yelling about not having food and water along with saying that he didnt care if he went to jail or died. Penny and his attorneys, in a statement dated May 5, said Neely had been aggressively threatening him and others on the subway car before the Marine veteran with the help of other passengers acted to protect themselves until help arrived. Witnesses told CBS News that Neely didnt attack anyone on the subway. When asked by the Post if he felt he did anything to be ashamed of, Penny replied, I dont. I mean, I always do what I think is right. Story continues Detectives walk Daniel Penny out of the New York Police Department's 5th Precinct on May 12. Detectives walk Daniel Penny out of the New York Police Department's 5th Precinct on May 12. Penny could spend up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter in the second degree. Neelys family and their attorneys argued the charge isnt enough, calling on Penny to face murder charges. We need a full cup of justice here, and were asking for us to continue to press forward until that happens, Lennon Edwards, an attorney for the family, said earlier this month. Several politicians, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have spoken out in disgust about Neelys death and how it was handled, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who looks to become a Republican presidential candidate, shared a legal defense fund for Penny and referred to him as a good Samaritan. The Rev. Al Sharpton slammed the Republicans comments in a eulogy for Neely on Friday. Apparently you dont know what the good Samaritan was, he said. A good Samaritan helps those in trouble, they dont choke him out. Related... Ive never watched the show Survivor, but I am reliably informed that one of the primary strategies employed by its contestants is forming alliances. Two or three often like-minded (or at least similarly-motivated) people work together to fend off other serious threats so they are more likely to outlast other participants, at least for a while. Of course, if the alliance succeeds, it eventually has to dissolve, its members coming to the realization that they are also competitors;. I wouldnt say this analogy perfectly characterizes the current relationship between the political leaders of Texas and Florida. State executives have their own fiefdoms and are relatively independent from each other. But as we can see from the current crisis along the southern border, states are not, indeed, islands (in the figurative sense, anyway). Sometimes, they best serve their residents when they unite as a bulwark to solve a problem or face down a rival. And the recent news that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has answered Gov. Greg Abbotts plea for assistance by sending resources to Texas to help secure the Texas-Mexico border from an expected surge in migrant crossings (thanks to the Bidens administrations end of Title 42) has all the trappings of an alliance-making move. DeSantis said Tuesday that he was prepared to commit 1,100 National Guard soldiers and law enforcement personnel, as well as five aircraft, 17 drones and 10 boats from Florida. Of course, Texas and Florida have a good deal in common politically. They are two of the most populous states, both with strong conservative leaders at their helms and Republican legislatures in tow. Both have burgeoning populations, thanks to economic, regulatory and political policies that have broad appeal. And from pandemic policies to abortion and immigration, both have been a thorn in the side of the Biden administration. Nothing like a good team effort. Or maybe its more like a sibling rivalry. After Abbotts politically shrewd decision to offer incoming migrants bus rides to sanctuary cities like Chicago, New York and Washington, angering big city leaders who seemed to think small border communities were better equipped to manage the surge of humanity than their bloated bureaucracies, DeSantis upped the ante. Story continues He chartered a pair of flights that took about 50 migrants to Marthas Vineyard, Mass., a vacation haven for Democratic politicians and wealthy coastal elites. For a time, DeSantis provocative move which was all spectacle eclipsed even Abbotts more robust effort to legitimately relieve some stress from border towns struggling to cope with the endless crush of migrants. Perhaps DeSantis was showing his support for Texas and Abbott; perhaps he thought he was taking Abbotts idea and improving upon it. Maybe DeSantis was thinking only of how to make himself a further nuisance to the president. A common adversary, as it were, can do that. But DeSantis decision to enter into the immigration space is clearly indicative of more than just his desire to help his friend and in sticking it to Biden. With little doubt remaining that the Florida governor will enter the 2024 presidential contest, its clear he wants to appear like a heavyweight on immigration policy. Abbott already is. Whats less clear is whether Abbott also has presidential aspirations. If he does, the Texas-Florida alliance will have an interesting future indeed. In the near-term, that could mean setting their sights on Donald Trump instead of Biden, and that would hardly be a terrible thing. But at at some point, one of them will need to be voted off the island. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, right, answers questions during a press conference at the Wisconsin State Capitol Wednesday alongside Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, left. MADISON - The Republican author of a bill that would overhaul the state's abortion law says a Senate leader is "squashing debate" on a bill she and a group of GOP lawmakers introduced this spring that would allow doctors to provide abortions to victims of rape and incest a policy change most Wisconsin residents support. Sen. Mary Felzkowski and more than two dozen Republican lawmakers introduced legislation in April that would create exceptions to the state's 19th-century near-total abortion ban for pregnancies resulting from sexual assault, incest and in situations when the mother is experiencing serious pregnancy complications. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers immediately said he would not sign legislation that would keep in place the state's abortion law, a move that could jeopardize a lawsuit he and Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul launched in 2022 to invalidate the law that is still in court. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu also said at the time that his caucus wouldn't take a floor vote on the bill because of Evers' position. This week, Senate President Chris Kapenga assigned the bill to a committee led by GOP Sen. Andre Jacque, who has authored dozens of bills that would restrict abortion access including one that would bar public officials from even promoting the idea of abortion. I'm very disappointed. Very disappointed in what Sen. Kapenga did as Senate president. I think it squashes conversation. And I think it's a very sad day when he's afraid to let his duly elected members have a discussion," Felzkowski told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday. Earlier, Felzkowski issued a public statement calling the assignment of the bill to a committee that does not oversee health issues "perplexing." Jacque heads the Senate Committee on Licensing, Constitution and Federalism. It disappoints me that the Senate President doesnt trust his own caucus members, assigned to their committees of interest and expertise, to debate this issue fairly. Im concerned that open, honest debate is being silenced by one member of our caucus," she said. Story continues A spokeswoman for Kapenga did not respond to a request for comment. Aides to Rep. Clint Moses, who oversees a committee where the Assembly version of the bill has been assigned, did not say whether Moses plans to hold a public hearing on the bill. Senate President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield. The move to introduce a bill that expands access to abortion by Felzkowski and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos came during a nationally scrutinized race for a seat on the state Supreme Court that revolved around the future of the state's abortion ban and despite a promise from Evers to veto such legislation in order to preserve the lawsuit he launched to overturn the state's abortion law altogether. Vos, a Republican from Rochester, said in March Republicans were moving the legislation forward anyway because he wants the state Legislature to handle abortion policy instead of turning the state's highest court into a "super Legislature." "I'm an optimist. I think that eventually people will realize that the right way to do it is through the traditional process, not through a super Legislature, the state Supreme Court, but hopefully the voters agree," he said before liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated conservative former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly by double digits largely on a platform of restoring abortion access in Wisconsin. According to recent state polling by the Marquette University Law School, the vast majority of Wisconsin voters want exceptions to the state's 1849 abortion law. The state's abortion ban was put back into effect in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to set their own abortion policies. That move pushed Kaul and Evers to file a lawsuit to overturn the law altogether. More: Wisconsin's 1849 abortion law goes before the courts next week. Here's what happens if it is overturned. Whether the 1849 law is enforceable is at issue in the lawsuit. Republican lawmakers, abortion opponents and conservative legal experts say the law is now in effect. But nonpartisan attorneys for the state Legislature, Democratic lawmakers, and supporters of abortion access say potential and expected legal challenges muddy the answer to the question. Practically, abortions have not been available in Wisconsin since the ruling given the legal uncertainty and the state ban in statute. The debate has become central to political campaigns since then, including the 2022 governor's race and the spring race for state Supreme Court. Anti-abortion groups blast Republican bill Senate leaders' opposition to advancing the bill came as anti-abortion lobbying groups blasted the proposal from Felzkowski, Vos, and others. Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsin Legislative Director, said in March any legislation that allows abortions "is incapable of being justified." "A vote to add more exceptions to Wisconsins abortion ban is a vote to kill more preborn babies. It is that simple," he said. "It is always and everywhere wrong, regardless of motivation or consequence. It may never be employed, even in the narrowest of circumstances, as a means to a greater end." Under the legislation, doctors face felony charges if they perform abortions except in situations involving victims of sexual assault and incest during the first trimester of a pregnancy, when women experience an anembryonic, molar or ectopic pregnancy, and in any circumstance in which the fetus has no chance of survival, including a physical condition of the fetus that makes survival outside of the uterus impossible. "We are empowering the moms and the fathers who are trying to have children to work with their medical providers to make sure that they have the healthiest viable baby and that mom's life is protected in the process," Felzkowski said in March at a Capitol press conference. The bill clarifies that the law's criminal penalties don't apply to a "therapeutic abortion" that physicians believe is necessary or advised by two other physicians as necessary, to save the life of a mother, or to avoid substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the mother. Doctors also are not banned from performing abortions to remove a fetus without a heartbeat. The state's revived abortion ban, which outlaws all abortions unless the mother will die without one, has made Wisconsin a less-attractive state to practice in the field of reproductive health, according to OB-GYN experts, potentially leading to a medical workforce less experienced at handling miscarriages and other reproductive procedures. Abortion restrictions will also have downstream effects on the states physician labor force as a whole, not only influencing where OB/GYN doctors choose to live and work but shaping the decisions of doctors training or practicing in other specialties, too, according to Jenny Higgins, a UW-Madison professor of obstetrics and gynecology and gender and womens studies. Kathryn Ann Dielentheis, an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Wisconsin who practices at Froedtert Health, said earlier this year that since Roe v. Wade was overturned, she has observed some fear within the Wisconsin medical community treating pregnant women of not meeting the letter of law when making treatment decisions when patients experience complications like ectopic pregnancies. Evers has pledged not to sign a new abortion law "that leaves Wisconsin women with fewer rights and freedoms" than before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Before then, doctors could perform abortions up until about 20 weeks of pregnancy. Evers has said he would sign a bill that puts back into effect a 20-week ban on abortions. Vos said in March there were enough Republican votes to pass the bill out of the Assembly but it is all but certain to not get to Evers' desk with LeMahieu's promise to keep the bill off the Senate floor. Democratic lawmakers also have rejected the idea of keeping in place the 1849 abortion law. "I, like the majority of Wisconsinites, believe that we must repeal the state's 1849 criminal abortion ban and restore the rights, liberties, and freedoms that were afforded to women under Roe. There is absolutely no room for a politician in the doctor's office of any individual," Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, D-Madison, said in a statement. Agard said Republicans "are simply flailing" after losing the 2022 governor's race and other midterm races, in part, because of their stance on abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Any legislation that does not provide a woman with autonomy of her own body and her own healthcare decisions is a nonstarter for my caucus," she said. LeMahieu said in January he supports clarifying the law to address uncertainty on the part of doctors in situations involving complications like ectopic pregnancies, which can require abortion procedures to address before a woman's health is at risk. Vos also previously said he would support requiring victims of rape to show doctors a police report before they could obtain an abortion but Wednesday's legislation does not include such a requirement. Laura Schulte of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report. Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com. THANK YOU: Subscribers' support makes this work possible. Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription. DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Senator decries move to block bill loosening Wisconsin abortion law I remember the case well: DeRolph versus the State of Ohio. The school district in which I worked, Southern Local, joined a lawsuit against the state over unequal school funding. The Ohio Supreme Court decided property tax based funding was unfair to schools and taxpayers. Our victory was short lived. The controlling political party divided up lottery money to poorer districts, then pulled a power play by throwing money into the next election to defeat the judges who supported the ruling. That was some 25 years ago.I write today to warn of another power play in the works from the same party. It involves a confusing proposition to require a 60% affirmative vote on any future proposition placed upon an Ohio ballot even though 50% plus one vote wins on this initiative as well as on all other issues including the election of these legislators. Why the proposal? The Ohio GOP saw when given a vote, conservative Kansas upheld a woman's reproductive rights. There keeping a woman's health between her and her doctor won the majority vote. In short, the controlling political party in Ohio does not want to give Ohio voters that opportunity.The tax wasting special election has been scheduled for August to purposely suppress turnout.The radio commercial I hear several times daily calls people who oppose this Republican power play out of state liberals. I call them concerned citizens. Please think about the impact on all good ideas brought forward by non-political groups before voting the party line on this matter. The wolves love sheep that follow the herd right into a corner from which there is no escape. Save our democracy.Vince Sigman, Malta This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Letter: Playing politics with women's reproductive rights A driver fatally shot a man who tried to get into their vehicle, Texas police told news outlets. Officers arrived at a parking garage in Houstons midtown area at about 3 p.m. May 20, and found a man dead from a gunshot wound, KPRC reported. Surveillance video shows the man attempting to open the drivers side door of an occupied vehicle, and the man inside opening fire, police told the TV station. There was no fight between the men, and while a knife was found near the man who was killed, investigators are not sure if it was his, police told KHOU. The shooter was taken to police headquarters and later released, the outlet reported. The shooting may be considered self-defense, as the man who was shot opened the door to the vehicle, a legal analyst told KTRK. They added that the knife, and whether or not the driver was threatened with it, could play a crucial role. An investigation is underway. Bullets fly in 20-person fight outside nightclub, killing 1 and wounding 3, TX cops say Feud between parents ends with mom shooting woman outside school, Michigan officials say Three family members get shot trying to stop man hitting girlfriend, Texas cops say Kids had front row seat for home invasion that left father of 5 dead, Ohio cops say Key Insights The projected fair value for BP Plastics Holding Bhd is RM1.39 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity BP Plastics Holding Bhd's RM1.22 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate The RM1.36 analyst price target for BPPLAS is 2.3% less than our estimate of fair value How far off is BP Plastics Holding Bhd. (KLSE:BPPLAS) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. 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 would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for BP Plastics Holding Bhd The Model We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM9.77m RM14.7m RM28.1m RM29.4m RM30.6m RM31.8m RM33.1m RM34.3m RM35.6m RM36.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 4.47% Est @ 4.20% Est @ 4.01% Est @ 3.88% Est @ 3.79% Est @ 3.72% Est @ 3.68% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 10.0% RM8.9 RM12.2 RM21.1 RM20.1 RM19.0 RM18.0 RM17.0 RM16.0 RM15.1 RM14.3 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM162m After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 10.0%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = RM37m (1 + 3.6%) (10.0% 3.6%) = RM596m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM596m ( 1 + 10.0%)10= RM230m The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM392m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM1.2, the company appears about fair value at a 12% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf Important Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. 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 BP Plastics Holding Bhd as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 10.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for BP Plastics Holding Bhd Strength Currently debt free. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Packaging market. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market. Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Threat Dividends are not covered by cash flow. Annual revenue is forecast to grow slower than the Malaysian market. Next Steps: Whilst important, the DCF calculation shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For BP Plastics Holding Bhd, there are three essential elements you should assess: Risks: For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for BP Plastics Holding Bhd that you should be aware of before investing here. Future Earnings: How does BPPLAS's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here A scandalous age-gap relationship plays out at the center of May December, which debuted on Saturday to raves at the Cannes Film Festival. In the starry romantic drama directed by Todd Haynes, Julianne Moore plays the December to Charles Meltons much-younger May, a character who was just 13 when the two fell in love. An age gap is one thing, but a relationship between an adult and a child is a different thing entirely, Moore said at Sundays press conference for May December, which was embraced in the Grand Palais the day prior with an enthusiastic six-minute standing ovation. More from Variety When is age inappropriate? Its when people are in different places developmentally, when someone is not an adult. This is why we have boundaries around that, she adds. The reason why this movie feels so dangerous watching it is because people dont know where anyones boundaries are. It feels scary. In May December, Natalie Portman plays an actress who travels to Georgia to study the life of Moores character, whom shes set to play in a film. Moore and Melton portray as married couple whose 20-year age gap inspired a national tabloid scandal. As they plan to send their twin girls off to college, the family dynamic begins to buckle as Portman delves into their past. Given Americas obsession with scandal, Portman says there was no shortage of material to mine for inspiration. We had all the inspirational tabloid materials that existed. There was a book with a crazy title, like Punished for Love, or something like that, she recalled. We had those resources at our fingertips, which was helpful at getting background. Story continues Portman describes the film as a study of the different roles we play in different environments. She observes that discrepancy is particularly on display at the Cannes Film Festival, where women are mandated to wear heels on the red carpet. Even here, the different ways we, as women, are expected to behave at this festival even compared to men how were supposed to look, how were supposed to carry ourselves, she said. The expectations are different on you all the time. It affects how you behave, whether you are buying into or rejecting it. Youre defined by the social structures upon you. Natalie Portman on #MayDecember: "The film is so much about performance and the different roles we playfor different people and for ourselves." https://t.co/iTCREOeqDh #Cannes pic.twitter.com/SVjPy5nK4D Variety (@Variety) May 21, 2023 In that regard, Portman and Moore spoke of their appreciation in getting to play women who are fully developed and simply human. Its incredible to get to be part of a film like this, which has two complex women characters who are full of delicious conflicts, says Portman. Moore adds, Women are not a minority group. Were 50% of the population. So its important were treated as such. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Tutor Kate Aicole works with Davis Hernadez-Reyez during a tutoring session March 8, 2023, at Dyslexia Reading Connection in Appleton, Wis. As early as kindergarten, Robin Pierre started to notice that her daughter, Hattie, was falling behind. She wasnt able to read the books they were sending home, despite being in a charter school known for its focus on literacy. Hattie started working with a reading interventionist during kindergarten and throughout first grade. But then her behavior started to escalate. She'd hide under desks and run out of the classroom. She was moved to another charter school for second grade, one focused on play-based learning and field trips in hopes that environment would better suit her. All this time, Hatties trouble reading persisted. Pierre asked to have her evaluated for special education. Hattie was assessed; but when Pierre asked questions about dyslexia, she said the school told her they dont acknowledge dyslexia without a diagnosis, and that could only come from brain imaging. It was a fight at first, Pierre said. Dyslexia looks different for each person who has it. Its a neurobiological learning disability that can make it difficult for people to decode words and read fluently. People with dyslexia may struggle with spelling and reading comprehension as a result of their challenge matching letters to their corresponding sounds. The International Dyslexia Association estimates that as many as one in five people could have symptoms of dyslexia, ranging in severity. Often, people assume that dyslexia is just mixing up letters such as "b" and "d." It can be that for some people Pierre said Hattie experienced that but its not the only symptom. For example, people with dyslexia might struggle with slow, choppy reading, memorization or even constantly confuse left and right. It ranges on a spectrum from mild to severe. More: By the Book: We're investigating why many Wisconsin kids struggle to read. We want to hear from you. More: A bipartisan consensus could be growing on how to teach reading statewide Story continues For Hattie, reading was "labor-intensive." She'd often read a sentence three times before she'd actually comprehend what it said. The first few reads were spent trying to identify the sounds for each letter and then trying to put them all together more smoothly, so she could get to the point of comprehension. Currently, Wisconsin does not require students to be screened specifically for dyslexia, but the state passed legislation three years ago to create an informational guidebook on dyslexia and related conditions to be shared on the state Department of Public Instruction and all school district websites. In the years since the guidebook was created, Wisconsin and the rest of the country has turned up the volume on a discussion about literacy after standardized test scores have shown significant declines in language arts during the pandemic. But those conversations usually dont include students with dyslexia. Families are often left on their own to get their children tested, diagnosed and supported through outside tutoring. And local tutoring agencies are feeling the burden of an increased need to support these students, who are now often even further behind because of the pandemic. Its something the public school should have done; they should have been able to teach her how to read, Pierre said. What Wisconsin school districts do to support students with dyslexia By state law, schools are required to screen students in 4K through second grade annually for literacy fundamentals. This includes letter sound knowledge and something called phonemic awareness the ability to identify individual sounds within a word which are generally two areas of difficulty for students with dyslexia. DPI told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin these requirements are generally agreed upon to be components of screening for dyslexia. If a screening indicates they needs more testing, there are additional screening options listed in the states guidebook that parents and teachers can consider. More: Most Appleton students aren't reading at grade level. Here's how the district plans to fix that In 2021, Republican lawmakers proposed tripling the number of literacy tests for young students to boost low proficiency rates, but Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the bill, saying it lacked evidence and funding. The state may mandate early screening, but district by district, the overall approach to literacy can look different. The Menasha Joint School District is focused on being diagnostic with students, said Renae Braun, the district's literacy coordinator. It does this by screening students in kindergarten through eighth grade three times a year. Those screenings look at students comprehension, fluency and knowledge of phonics. Through those, the district identifies a student's strengths and areas of concern. For students behind grade level or who show other challenges on those screenings, the district creates an individual plan called a Response to Intervention plan to help them catch up. It focuses on strengthening areas of concern. More: 'Science of reading,' whole language,' 'balanced literacy': How can Wisconsin resolve its reading wars and teach kids to read? There isnt one method that works for teaching literacy to all students. But Braun said students with dyslexia need explicit teaching and multiple modalities a combination of visual, auditory and tactile. We do dipstick check-ins every two weeks or every week to make sure the plan is accelerating or growing our students, she said. Both Menasha and Kimberly school districts see teacher expertise as vital to teaching students who struggle with literacy, whether it's diagnosed dyslexia or other challenges. The Kimberly Area School District added a phonological interventionist to its staff in August 2022. The role was designed to be an in-house expert on decoding and fluency, according to Holly Prast, assistant superintendent. This interventionist is trained in a specific dyslexia intervention, among other reading interventions, and works with students directly, Prast said. They also collaborate with teachers to provide new strategies to support students who are struggling. Many districts have hired reading interventionists to support students through pandemic-induced learning loss, but Prast said Kimberly decided to add a phonological interventionist independently of that. A pair of tutoring sessions take place at Dyslexia Reading Connection on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 in Appleton, Wis. Carrie Willer, director of elementary education for the Appleton Area School District, echoed the need for a variety of teaching methods to support students. The number of students in any given classroom is the number of different learning styles teachers need to work with, she explained. You need a full bag of tricks and a full bag of tools to meet each of those students, she said. Appleton has interventionists, teachers trained in a one-on-one reading recovery program and other methods of support, including small group work and collaboration with parents. Still, fewer than half of Appleton students are reading at or above grade level. A recent audit of the districts English language arts curriculum showed a need for more emphasis on phonics and letter sound awareness strategies that would better support students with dyslexia in the classroom. Many families with students with dyslexia have to turn to outside tutoring When Hattie eventually qualified for special education, the district focused only on her ADHD diagnosis. So, not only did Pierre pay out of pocket for neurological exams, but she had to fight to get the district to even recognize the dyslexia diagnosis in her individual education plan. It was around then that Pierre found Dyslexia Reading Connection, a nonprofit tutoring organization based in Appleton. That was four years ago, and Hattie has gone twice a week ever since even through the summers. DRC has been around for almost 20 years, but there's been increased demand since the pandemic, said Kimberly Stevens, executive director. Earlier this year, there were 50 students on the waitlist five times as many as the organization had pre-COVID. And Stevens said new students are coming in for consultations every week. Today, Hattie is caught up to grade level and has even become "quite an avid reader," Pierre said. She credits that success more to the tutoring she paid for from DRC than what the public schools provided. "I didn't think this day would come," she said. When asked how often Dyslexia Reading Connection is screening students for dyslexia, Stevens said, constantly. It tries to keep screenings to about five students a week since the Appleton-based nonprofit is already tutoring more than 110 students online and in person. But its not just an increase in the number of students. Stevens said students are coming in further and further behind. Before the pandemic, students would come to DRC a year and nine months behind, on average. Now, its not uncommon for students to be three or even four years behind where they should be. Parents are desperate to get their kids the right interventions, Stevens told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. While DRC cant offer a medical diagnosis, the screening it offers is about an hour long and can usually tell with a high degree of certainty whether the student has dyslexia, Stevens said. After the screening results are explained to the parents, its up to them whether they want to move forward with tutoring. Its first come, first served, since there's a waitlist, but a familys scheduling availability may be considered. Violet Lane answers a question during a session March 8, 2023, with tutor Winnie Mejia at Dyslexia Reading Connection in Appleton, Wis. On average, students spend four years with DRC working through 10 levels of tutoring that will bring them up to a 10th-grade reading level. The tutoring starts by breaking language into its smallest parts: individual vowels and consonants. As the levels progress, students move on to syllables, prefixes and suffixes, vowel placement in a word and even influences from foreign languages such as Latin and Greek root words. Karrie Brass, a tutor at DRC, said her husband, who has dyslexia, uses a car engine analogy to explain it: The brains of students without dyslexia works like driving an automatic transmission when learning to read, spell and write. They dont need to work through every step of processing language. Most of it happens under the hood without conscious thought. But for students with dyslexia, their brains are more like driving a car with a manual transmission. They need to shift gears, understand the specifics of how letters make sounds and work through each step of the process; otherwise, it won't be a smooth ride. Life after high school for students with dyslexia Hattie is still making her way through middle school, but Pierre said Hattie has dreams of going to college one day. And shes not alone. Take, for example, Meghan Molthen. A freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Molthen was diagnosed with dyslexia the summer before sixth grade. She struggled to spell simple words and saw her classmates read at much higher levels than her, but she didnt understand why until she got her diagnosis. Figuring out that she had dyslexia helped give shape to the reason why she was struggling, but it didnt fix everything. Molthen went to school in Fort Atkinson before moving to Pulaski her sophomore year, so she experienced two districts and their approaches to supporting her dyslexia. Although a diagnosis made accessing certain supports simpler, Molthen said there were still challenges because the school systems didn't understand "how to fully accommodate students with learning disabilities." When she toured UW-Oshkosh in summer 2021, she asked the admissions office about accommodations for students with learning disabilities. They told her about a program called Project Success. Project Success is a remedial program for students with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities at the school. It starts with a six-week summer program focused on phonics and teaching students the relationship between letters and sounds. Director Jayme Reichenberger said the program has a reading and writing component, but it also supports students in other ways through the transition from high school to college. By completing the summer program, students can earn up to six credits, which can be a helpful GPA cushion for those early, stressful semesters of college. Students also learn about what laws protect their accommodations and what services are available to them. Reichenberger said many students come in not really understanding their diagnosis. They might have attended meetings during their K-12 education, but a lot of them didnt put a name to their disability. Its not uncommon for Reichenberger to hear students say that their dyslexia was essentially ignored, so she said they try hard to actually say the word "dyslexia." There are even campus events where students will write messages like Say dyslexia on the sidewalk. When a disability is hidden, its easy to stereotype and have misconceptions about it, Reichenberger said. For Molthen, the program gave her agency over her learning disability. She had a hard time even talking about her dyslexia before, but Project Success taught her how to see it as a benefit. Im so thankful I have it, she said of her dyslexia. It pushes me to be a better person. This story is part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab's fourth series, "Families Matter," covering issues important to families in the region. The lab is a local news collaboration in northeast Wisconsin made up of six news organizations: the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Appleton Post-Crescent, FoxValley365, The Press Times, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Watch. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bays Journalism Department is an educational partner. Microsoft is providing financial support to the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation and Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region to fund the initiative. The mission of the lab is to collaborate to identify and fill information gaps to help residents explore ways to improve their communities and lives and strengthen democracy. READ THE SERIES: Reach AnnMarie Hilton at ahilton@gannett.com or 920-370-8045. Follow her on Twitter at @hilton_annmarie. This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Wisconsin students with dyslexia may struggle with literacy, school Eraldo Dino Chiecchi, MFA Texas State University Multimedia journalism professor Uvalde reporting project coordinator Hometown: El Paso Eraldo Dino Chiecchi, a Texas State University professor, guided several multimedia journalism students as they visited Uvalde to report on the upcoming anniversary of the shooting that took the lives of 19 students, two teachers and forever changed that community. I couldnt be happier with the work of my students. They reported this difficult story with grace and empathy, and they gave their stories the respect they deserved. Parents of victims commented to me immediately after the interviews and elsewhere just how well prepared the students were to interview them even more than some national media. As a result, family members were candid telling the story about the worst day of their lives. Every student was moved by the experience, listening to family members discuss the loved ones they lost. Students and I talked a great deal about vicarious trauma - a real thing among journalists and others who deal with tragedy. Students talked at length, especially on drive back home, about their experience. But at the end of the project, students produced quality journalism stories, video and audio pieces, and exceptional photography. John Gamez Age: 22 Major: Electronic Media Hometown: Austin Graduation: May 2023 John Gamez As a journalist, this was the most emotionally taxing yet most accomplishing story I have told. I was initially nervous to be chosen to go on this trip, but I am glad to have taken this leap of confidence and apply myself. Having the opportunity to speak to families about their darkest day in their lives and to be tasked to tell their story was a tremendous feat that our team completed holistically. I can't imagine being given this assignment on my own, so having a supportive team really pushed us all to look out for one another and produce the best story we can. I refer to this as my senior project, and I could not be prouder of the work I have contributed. I thank all of the families for allowing us into their lives for making this possible. Rasika Gasti Age: 21 Major: Digital Media Innovation Hometown: Mumbai, India Graduation: Summer 2023 Rasika Gasti When I signed up to participate in this project, I knew I was opening myself up for a different kind of experience because I have never covered anything as traumatic as the Uvalde school shooting in my time as the reporter for on-campus student publications. However, the lessons I got out of working on this project were so much more valuable than I had expected. I cannot say if any particular stage in the project was more challenging than the other because each stage presented its own unique challenges. For instance, on the day we went to Uvalde as a team to meet the families of the victims, it was challenging for me as a sensitive person to stay calm and ask all my questions during the interview while listening to the heartbroken, sobbing parents about how they lost their young children. We also wanted to make sure that we were getting the most out of the interviews while being considerate about their feelings and emotions. But I strongly believe that it was easier to deal with all these challenges because of the amazing team and mentor we had. The biggest factors that kept our team motivated throughout this project were our genuineness to know how the families were doing almost a year after the tragic event and our intentions to use our storytelling abilities to help these parents. I am truly grateful that all the families we interviewed for this project trusted us and gave us the opportunity to talk to them and share their stories. Story continues Elissa Jorgensen Age: 20 Major: English, Journalism minor Hometown: Cypress Graduation: Spring 2023 Elissa Jorgensen The Uvalde project and story-writing process was nothing less than an honor. It was a privilege to speak with the Uvalde families. They want justice for the losses they've suffered; many Americans do as well. I'm extremely proud of my reporting team, and my professor Dino Chiecchi, for pouring their all into the articles, video, audio and photos. I'm also proud of myself for taking this opportunity and making it into an impactful and effective experience. I graduate in May, and I feel so much more prepared and well-rounded for my future in graduate school because of the work Ive done on this project. I have no regrets in taking it. Ezekiel Ramirez Age: 21 Major: Mass Communications Hometown: San Antonio Graduation: Spring 2024 Ezekiel Ramirez at right Having the opportunity to contribute to this project was an experience that I will always hold close to my heart. The reason I wanted to do this in the first place was to gain some experience in the field of journalism. I knew the only way to help myself was to participate in something that was real. Interviewing these families and gaining a better understanding of what they were going through on May 24 was extremely life changing. I will never forget the looks on their faces when faced with the difficult questions I was asking them. They are some of the strongest people Ive ever met, because I dont know if I could function after such a tragedy. All I wanted to do was hug them and tell them that it was going to be OK. Although I had no part in this tragedy, I believe if Im not involved in the solution, then Im part of the problem. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas State journalism students share visits with Uvalde families The Scene CAPE TOWN It was an average Thursday for Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana. In a moment from that day last June, caught on camera, they bought orange juice at a grocery store in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Sandton. Bester wore sunglasses and Magudumana was clad in cream-colored garb. The scene, as benign as it may seem, signaled the start of what has turned out to be a tale of Hollywood proportions. Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer, was meant to have died by arson-inflicted suicide in his prison cell a month earlier, in May 2022. But the photographs of the shopping trip, published in March this year, raised questions about whether Bester was really dead. A subsequent investigation revealed that he escaped and the burned body in Besters jail cell was that of Katlego Mpholo, who, an autopsy report concluded, died due to blunt force trauma to the head. The story has dominated South African news media since the photographs were published. From the audacious prison break and being found with multiple passports in Tanzania to the fake multimillion-rand media company he operated from behind bars, this tale continues to take sharp twists and turns. Know More Bester was convicted and handed a life sentence for the rape and murder of his girlfriend in 2012. A year earlier he was found guilty of two separate rape charges. He is known as the 'Facebook rapist' because he used the social media site to manipulate and lure women before attacking them. He was smuggled out of prison in May 2022 to live a luxurious life in Sandton a neighborhood home to some of the most expensive houses on the continent for a year before he was re-arrested. Bester was arrested in Tanzania last month, along with Magudumana. Bester is currently facing 11 charges, including fraud, escaping from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, and violating a body. Gallo Images/Frikkie Kapp via Getty Images Marche's view This story is really about the dismal state of South Africa's prisons and the dangers of poorly considered privatization. The local media has seized on the Bonnie and Clyde narrative. Thats understandable it's juicy and, as more details emerge, increasingly bizarre. But, on closer examination, the story raises questions about the safety and effectiveness of the private sector's role in running the countrys penitentiaries. Story continues Bester was held in Mangaung Correctional Center (MCC), around 12 miles from the countrys legislative capital Bloemfontein. It was South Africas first privately-run prison when it opened in 2001. Just over 20 years later, it is one of only two private prisons in the country. Operated by G4S, a multibillion-dollar British security firm, the prison has been under scrutiny for over a decade. Private prisons which are technically Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) appeared on the radar after the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) approached the National Treasury in the late 90s for funds to build more prisons. Inmate populations were ballooning and overcrowding was a major concern. While the Treasury denied the request for funds, it did suggest entering into a contract with private entities to build, maintain and operate the facilities. Thus, PPPs were born. But within a few years of MCC's opening there were signs that something was amiss. In 2012, South Africas Wits Justice Project investigated prisoners' claims that they were being severely abused, electroshocked, and forcibly injected with anti-psychotic drugs. The South African government has failed to address these allegations. Meanwhile, the financial reward of privatization to high-level officials has resulted in potential scandals being swept under the rug. While DCS has subsequently terminated its contract with G4S, some argue that journalists such as those at GroundUp, the South African not-for-profit news agency that published the images of Bester and Magudumana shopping did what authorities have refused to do for decades. Investigative journalist Ruth Hopkins, who has reported on MCC for a decade, says that what we currently know happened inside the private prison is just the tip of the iceberg and that the Bester case has highlighted extreme levels of collusion facilitated by privatization. "The problem with privatization is that in private prisons everything has a price tag. People are busy filling their pockets," she told Semafor Africa. "Corruption has been going on since the prison opened its doors. Thabo Bester is the symptom of a much larger disease." Room for Disagreement Private prisons are effectively fulfilling their mandate, DCS spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo told Semafor Africa. He said "there are no challenges" at Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre, another private prison that is located in the northern Limpopo Province and is run by U.S. security company GEO Group. The View From London A G4S spokesperson defended MCCs strong track record over 22 years and noted that in 2012 the prison was assigned the highest rating for a correctional center by South Africa's Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services. "G4S is committed to investment in South Africa but it remains G4Ss firm intention to discontinue all investment in correctional services [in the country]," they added. Notable Maurice Washington, Charleston Countys first Black Republican chairman, sits in Hampton Park near his home in Charleston, S.C., on May 19, 2023. (Travis Dove/The New York Times) Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., addressed the Charleston County Republican Party at a dinner in February, offering a stirring message of unity and American redemption that has become the center of his stump speech. The next day, he called the chair of the county party to ask for his support. Scott told the chair that he was considering a presidential run. The chair, who had planned to endorse former President Donald Trump, told the senator he would switch allegiances and back him instead. The exchange was, in some ways, traditional party politicking as Scott works to build support in his home county and in his home state. But it also underscored a subtle change shaping GOP politics both men are Black Republicans. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Im pretty locked in helping Sen. Scott in every way that I possibly can, said the former county party leader, Maurice Washington, who stepped down from his role as chair in April. It was Washington, Charleston Countys first Black Republican chair and a longtime ally of Scotts, who first encouraged him to run for a county council seat nearly 30 years ago. Scott, who plans to formally announce his presidential campaign on Monday, will become one of a handful of Black conservatives to run for president in recent years. Herman Cain made a bid for the White House in 2011 and Ben Carson did so in 2016, but neither garnered widespread support. Scott will be the second Black conservative to enter the 2024 race: Larry Elder, a talk radio host who ran unsuccessfully for governor in Californias 2021 recall election, announced his long-shot campaign last month. As a U.S. senator and a former member of the House of Representatives with roughly $22 million in campaign funds, Scott will begin as more of a contender than most of his predecessors, and he will be one of the best-funded candidates in the 2024 presidential primary. His support is currently in the low single digits, according to public polling. But his candidacy could raise not only his profile, but those of Black conservatives across the country. Story continues Black Republicans are a small group of voters and politicians who say they often feel caught in the middle ignored and subtly discriminated against by some Republicans, ridiculed and ostracized by many Democrats. Those elected to office have expressed frustration that they are viewed not simply as conservatives but as Black conservatives, and they often decry what they describe as the Democratic obsession with identity politics. I think the commonality of virtually all Black conservatives is that we dont think were victims, said Elder, who has emphasized his roots in both California and the segregated South. We dont believe were oppressed. We dont believe that were owed anything. He and Scott share a belief in hard work and education and self-improvement, Elder added. So it would not surprise me that he and I are saying the same things, if not in different ways. Other Black Republicans have won state races and primaries since the 2022 midterms. On Tuesday, Daniel Cameron defeated a well-funded opponent in Kentuckys Republican primary for governor. Cameron, the first Black man to be elected attorney general in Kentucky, is the Trump-endorsed protege of Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. Last year, a record number of Black Republican candidates ran for state offices. With Scott in the Senate and four Republicans in the House, there are now five Black Republicans in Congress the most in more than a century. Still, the number of Black Republicans who won seats last year is a fraction of the total number who ran for state and local office under the GOP more than 80. And the Republican Partys inroads with Black candidates have yet to overcome enduring feelings of distrust among Black voters toward the party. The ascension of Black Republicans such as Scott and Cameron comes against the backdrop of a Republican Party that has largely stood by as some of its members have employed overtly racist rhetoric and behavior. Shermichael Singleton, a Black Republican strategist and a former senior adviser to Carson, said that he spent a lot of time in 2016 determining how Carsons hyper-conservative campaign message could remain in step with the party line without alienating critical voting groups. The challenge was twofold: overcoming Black voters negative perceptions about Republicans while building a winning coalition that could include some of them. Its just more unique and more challenging if youre a Black person because of our unique experiences politically and the distrust that most of us have for both parties, but the overwhelming distrust that we have is for Republicans, Singleton said. Because they are perceived as being anti-progressive on race. Much of the partys base and its presidential contenders have become focused on opposing all things woke, using the term as a catchall pejorative for the broader push for equity and social justice. In the partys embrace of being anti-woke, several Republican-led state legislatures have aimed to ban books written by Black authors and limit conversations about slavery, the civil rights movement and systemic racism in the classroom and elsewhere. For many in the Republican Party, its members of color are proof of its inclusivity. The success of a candidate like Scott the first Black Republican to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction helps in part to rebut claims that the GOP is inherently racist or, more broadly, that systemic racism remains an issue in America, Republicans say. In speeches, Scott has criticized the victim mentality he believes exists in American culture, and has blamed the left for using racial issues as a means of further dividing the electorate. Elder said racism has never been a less important factor in American life than today. What Black Republicans have to do is they either have to lean all in and just be an unapologetic, uncritical supporter for where the Republican Party is now, or they have to find a way to walk that tightrope of not alienating the party, but also not alienating their community, said Leah Wright Rigueur, an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Somebody like Scott has to find a space to navigate those worlds. J.C. Watts, who was the first Black Republican to represent Oklahoma in Congress, said he believed Scott could be a great asset to the partys presidential primary, based on his personal experiences. Whether or not the party listens, he added, thats something else. He will have some that will try to force him to be the Black Republican, Watts continued. While I dont think you should run from being Black, or run from being conservative, some will try to force him to play that role. Nathan Brand, Scotts spokesperson, pointed to the senators remarks at the dinner in Charleston in February, in which he acknowledged the devastation brought upon African Americans before extolling America as defined by our redemption themes that have formed the base of his campaign message. The campaign declined to comment further. Like many Black Republicans, Scott has been reluctant to discuss race as it relates to his party, preferring to focus on policy matters. In recent years, however, he has been called on to weigh in further. In 2020, he was the lead Republican in negotiations on failed police reform legislation. The senator was also a leading conservative voice against Trumps comments about a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when the president said there were people to blame on both sides. Scotts criticisms later spurred Trump to invite him to the White House. After a series of police killings in the summer of 2016, Scott gave a detailed speech on the Senate floor about instances when he was racially profiled by law enforcement, including by U.S. Capitol Police. These were moments, he said, when he felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted. Now, as he becomes a presidential candidate and the nations highest-ranking Black Republican, Scott will likely have to answer questions about how he and the rest of his party navigate a tenuous relationship with Black voters. It could be a little bit of a problem to me down the road, said Cornelius Huff, the Republican mayor of Inman, South Carolina, who is Black. You have to have somebody in the family that calls it what it is and straightens those things out. At a recent town hall in New Hampshire, Scott told a mostly white audience of supporters that he saw an opportunity to increase the partys gains with voters of color, particularly men. Despite winning reelection by more than 25 points in 2022, Scott lost to or narrowly defeated his Democratic challenger in nearly all of South Carolinas predominantly Black counties. Policy conversations about school choice and economic empowerment, he said, could create an opening with men of color, a group that polling shows has been more open to supporting the Republican Party in recent election cycles. When we go where were not invited, we have conversations with people who may not vote for us, Scott said at the event. We earn their respect. If we earn their respect long enough, we earn their vote. What is disrespectful is to show up 90 days before an election and say, We want your vote. The senator appeared to be speaking to a common grievance among Black voters that Democrats often count on and court their votes before major elections, and then fail to deliver on their policy promises. Yet, even as some Black voters bemoan what they see as Democrats empty promises on the issues they care most about, they remain the partys most loyal constituency. More than 90% of Black voters voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. Washington, 62, the former Charleston County Republican chair, helped found South Carolina State Universitys Republican Club while in school there nearly four decades ago. Although he has run for office as a Democrat before, Washington says his values, and those of many in Black communities, are more conservative and thus more aligned with Republican values. The weeks after Scott starts his campaign will amount to a waiting game, he added. Lets see what happens, Washington said. Well know sooner rather than later whether or not that message of unity, of working hard towards rebuilding trust in our nation in America and its citizenry and in its race relations is going to be one that is embraced or rejected. c.2023 The New York Times Company RFA/Health Care Access Reporter Santiago Ochoa is a bilingual journalist covering health care access at the Yakima Herald-Republic in Yakima, Washington. Before joining the Herald, Ochoa reported for Flint Beat in Flint, Michigan, covering the citys Latino populationhealth care, education, community building and more, and winning top honors in the Michigan Press Associations feature category. He served as photographer and later editor for his college newspaper, The Michigan Times. When hes not working, Ochoa enjoys cross-country trips on his motorcycle, going to the movies, reading and skiing. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. Official Partner of Festival de Cannes, Campari, hosted its 'Discover Red' event on the heart of the Cannes Croisette, with a guest list including Charles Melton, Luke Evans and Alessandra Ambrosio. CANNES, France, May 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, Campari, the iconic Milanese, red aperitivo returned to the 76th edition of the world-renowned Festival de Cannes, as an official partner and hosted its Discover Red event attended by Charles Melton, Luke Evans and Alessandra Ambrosio. Iconic model, Alessandra Ambrosio, attends the Campari: Discover Red event experience, celebrating the unforgettable creations of cinema. The event was attended by actor, Charles Melton, ahead of his premiere for May December at the 76th Annual Festival de Cannes. During his time in Cannes, Charles has also received a breakthrough talent award at the Variety Golden Globes Awards for his role in the film. Also in attendance was acting legend, Luke Evans, and iconic model with Italian heritage, Alessandra Ambrosio. During each stage of Discover Red, guests invited to experience a series of unforgettable creations from two Michelin Star Chef, Christian Sinicropi, Head Bartender of Camparino in Galleria, Tommaso Cecca; each of whom are icons within their own fields and elevated the night to take it beyond the expected. The scene was set at the Martinez Hotel, inspiring guests with a night that brought Campari's longstanding heritage in cinema to life. Guests were immersed in a four-part multi-sensory dining experience curated by two icons of mixology and gastronomy. Chef Christian Sinicropi used his limitless skill as a two Michelin Star Chef to curate each course paired perfectly with Campari cocktails, curated by Tommaso Cecca, the head bartender at Camparino in Galleria, which provides legendary service in Milano and is a symbol of the aperitif par excellence. Creating an enhanced dining experience, when guests arrived at the dinner, a seemingly regular dinner table transformed into a fully immersive display inspired by the Festival de Cannes Red Carpet, the Cannes Riviera, the power of imagination and Campari's place at the heart of cocktail culture. The four dining chapters each began with an iconic Campari cocktail that inspired an unforgettable dish, stimulating the senses, while guests were guided through the evening by a narrator to accompany the audio-visual display. No star-studded event would be complete without viral celebrity content creator and Red Carpet regular, Cole Walliser. Having captured celebrities at the Oscars, The Grammys, Golden Globes and Emmys, Cole is best known for his slow-motion edits of talent at high profile events. Campari Group's Head of Global Marketing, Julka Villa comments: "As this is the second time we have been an Official Partner of Festival de Cannes, the aim of Discover Red was to curate a night that brought together the icons of Campari and cinema, each of which inspire the unforgettable. As one of the most celebrated global film festivals, our event took inspiration from the aspirational allure of Festival de Cannes, pushing it to the next level delivering the elevated experience that people expect from both Campari and the Festival. To do this, each moment of Discover Red captured the unique relationship between Campari, cinema and the Festival, immersing guests in this world through all senses and the night was yet another great example of Campari going beyond the expected." Throughout the night, cocktails were expertly served by Camparino in Galleria, providing the legendary service of the historic Milanese bar located in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Camparino is a symbol of the aperitif par excellence; it brings to Cannes its strong connections with both Milano, the birthplace of Campari, and the artistic and cultural context of the 20th century. The Camparino team served a selection of iconic Campari cocktails to guests, including the Negroni, Campari Spritz and the Negroni Sbagliato. Alongside these classic cocktails, the Camparino team served the Red Carpet Cannes Edition: a fresh tasting and salty cocktail inspired by the Cannes Riviera. Please follow Campari's social media channels for further information @campariofficial. #CampariCinema #Cannes2023 #FestivalDeCannes #EnjoyResponsibly www.campari.com https://www.youtube.com/EnjoyCampari https://www.facebook.com/Campari https://instagram.com/campariofficial ABOUT FESTIVAL DE CANNES The Festival de Cannes is an event that brings together the world's film professionals around an official competition and an International Film Market, whose highly media-oriented aspect makes it one of the first annual international events, contributing to the world cinematic influence. ABOUT CAMPARI Campari, the iconic, unforgettable Italian red spirit sitting at the heart of some of the world's most famous cocktails. Campari was founded in Milan in 1860 by Gaspare Campari, and pioneered by his son, Davide, who created something so distinctive and revolutionary that its secret recipe has not been altered since. Vibrant red in colour, Campari's unique and multi-layered taste is the result of the infusion of herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. As well as being unique and distinctive, Campari is extremely versatile, offering boundless and unexpected possibilities. As a source of this passionate inspiration since its creation seen through its founders' creative genius, artists in different fields and the world's best bartenders, Campari stimulates your instincts to unlock your passions, inspiring limitless creations. ABOUT CAMPARI GROUP Campari Group is a major player in the global spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, spreading across Global, Regional and Local priorities. Global Priorities, the Group's key focus, include Aperol, Appleton Estate, Campari, SKYY, Wild Turkey and Grand Marnier. The Group was founded in 1860 and today is the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry. It has a global distribution reach, trading in over 190 nations around the world with leading positions in Europe and the Americas. Campari Group's growth strategy aims to combine organic growth through strong brand building and external growth via selective acquisitions of brands and businesses. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Campari Group owns 22 plants worldwide and has its own distribution network in 22 countries. Campari Group employs approximately 4,000 people. The shares of the parent company Davide Campari-Milano N.V. (Reuters CPRI.MI - Bloomberg CPR IM) have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001. For more information: http://www.camparigroup.com/en Please enjoy our brands responsibly. ABOUT CAMPARINO Camparino in Galleria is the legendary bar opened by Davide Campari in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in 1915. The bar was opened opposite to Caffe Campari, the establishment opened by Gaspare Campari - Davide's father and the creator of the bitter liqueur - in 1867. An instant hit with the people of Milan, the bar became synonymous with the city's aperitivo tradition and in 2015 marked its 100th anniversary. Following a renovation project, the bar reopens to the public in autumn 2019 with a refreshed identity and food and drink offering designed to consolidate its status as one of the most influential establishments in the world for lovers of mixology and gastronomic innovation. Actor legend, Luke Evans, enjoyed the Campari: Discover Red event experience, with a beach aperitif, immersive dinner and after party on his first night in Cannes for the 76th Annual Film Festival, celebrating the unforgettable creations of cinema. Actor Charles Melton enjoys a Campari aperitif at Campari: Discover Red event experience ahead of his premiere for May December at the 76th Annual Festival de Cannes No star-studded event would be complete without viral celebrity content creator and Red Carpet regular, Cole Walliser, who bought his GLAMbot to Camparis Discover Red event. Iconic Milanese red aperitif, Campari, hosted an Campari: Discover Red at the Martinez Hotel, celebrating the unforgettable creations of Campari, its cocktails and the cinema industry. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/campari-hosts-a-night-of-unforgettable-moments-at-76th-festival-de-cannes-301830266.html SOURCE Campari Mahindra Thar is popular as one of the best budget off-roader SUVs in India launched in August 2022. The car currently is sold with a starting price of Rs 10.54 lakh (ex-showroom) and goes up to Rs 16.77 lakh (ex-showroom). Probably, this is the reason why the Indian automaker is now celebrating the sales of 1 lakh units in India. Furthermore, the SUV now has 4x2 variants on sale in India to aid the growth in sales of the model. Mahindra Thar is also one of the SUVs in India with the longest waiting period. The off-roader SUV trails a waiting period of up to 17 months, depending on the variant of the car. For the diesel versions of the Thar 4x2, the waiting period is precisely 17 months. On the other hand, there is only a brief waiting periodroughly one monthfor the fuel trims. Also read: Kiratpur-Manali Highway's Five Tunnels Opened For Traffic: Watch Video A 1.5L CRDe engine with a manual gearbox that generates 117 BHP and 300 Nm torque (87.2 kW@3500 rpm) powers the diesel versions of the RWD series. Whereas a 2.2L mStallion 150 TGDi engine, along with an automatic gearbox, powers the RWD range's petrol model, generating 150 BHP and 320 Nm of torque (112 kW@5000 rpm). Additionally, the 4WD version now has a sophisticated electronic brake locking differential that engages more quickly. It was created with Bosch and will make it easier for off-road enthusiasts to handle low traction scenarios. The LX Diesel 4WD models will provide the mechanical locking differential (MLD) as an option for those who still favour it. The selection of 4WD powertrains has not altered. It is propelled by a 2.2L mHawk 130 Diesel engine that generates 130 bhp of power and 300 Nm of torque and a 2.0L mStallion 150 TGDi petrol engine that produces 150 bhp of power & 320 Nm of torque. Both a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox and a 6-speed manual gearbox are available with these engines. Zaragoza Air Base witnessed an F-18 fighter jet crash on Saturday. The incident occurred while the airbase was conducting a family day exhibition in the region, around 300 km from the country's capital in Madrid. Multiple reports online suggest that the US-made combat aircraft belongs to the Spanish Air Force. The pilot managed to eject before the impact. As of now, no casualties have been reported in the incident. The incident was caught on camera and was shared on social media platforms. Now, the video is going viral. The video shows the F-18 Hornet fighter jet is seen rapidly losing altitude and diving toward the ground nose first. Upon impact, a huge blast is seen with flames and dark smoke coming out of the ground. The incident occurred when the fighter plane was participating in the air show held on Family Day. At the time of the event, the plane was performing acrobatics while in the air. Every year, the occasion is commemorated at the Zaragoza Air Base. The incident was also confirmed by the Spanish Air Force, who made it plain that the pilot successfully bailed from the aircraft. The incident, which included a McDonnell Douglas EF-18M Hornet fighter jet, occurred on Saturday morning, according to the Spanish news source Defense Aviacion.Info. The aircraft, which belonged to the 15th Wing of the Spanish Air Force, crashed and burst into flames. El piloto del F18 accidentado se encuentra ya en el hospital y su vida no corre peligro. https://t.co/F9Vwbq9Xw9 May 20, 2023 Informing of the incident, the Spanish MInistry of Defence wrote on Twitter, This morning there was an accident at the Zaragoza Air Base involving an F18 from Ala 15. The pilot has successfully ejected, and the aircraft has landed within the base's perimeter. We will continue to inform you. The ministry added, The pilot of the crashed F18 is already in the hospital, and his life is not in danger. The F/A-18 McDonnell Douglas, made by Boeing, was the first jet fighter to use computerised fly-by-wire flight controls and the first to feature carbon fibre wings. A two-seater, an upgraded fighter, a reconnaissance plane, and a night-attack fighter are among the aircraft variations. Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Describing Kashmir as the "paradise on earth" as he praised the beauty of the Union Territory, Arab influencer Amjad Taha said that this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. Known as "paradise on Earth," it's a place that has protected the Earth and may be the answer to climate change, the influencer wrote on Twitter. "This is not Switzerland or Austria; this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. It's called the 'paradise on Earth,' a place that has preserved the Earth and can be the solution for climate change. In Kashmir, we see Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians all living in peace and enjoying their diverse land while contributing to world innovation and development for the future," Amjad Taha tweeted on Saturday. Kashmir ensures that despite the unrest and the violence, its sheer beauty continues to mesmerize people and give meaning to famous poet Amir Khusrau's words even today, "Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast. (If there is a heaven on earth, it is here.)" This is not Switzerland or Austria; this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. It's called the "paradise on Earth," a place that has preserved the Earth and can be the solution for climate change. In Kashmir, we see Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians pic.twitter.com/YgBm4wyTJv Amjad Taha (@amjadt25) May 20, 2023 Under India's presidency, the third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting is scheduled to take place in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir from May 22-24. The tourism industry has played a crucial role in the development of the Union Territory. However, years of instability have impacted the tourism industry, leading to a decline in the number of visitors. The G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir promises to initiate a tidal wave of transformative outcomes, setting the region on a new trajectory towards stability, economic growth, and social development. People directly or indirectly connected with the tourism sector in Kashmir believe that the G20 meeting can attract investors and tourists from across the globe. They say that it will not only promote Jammu and Kashmir at the international level but the tourism sector of Kashmir will get a new dimension. Various departments are busy preparing for the G20 meeting to be held in Srinagar, while many others have finalised their preparations. There is also a program for the visit of delegates from 20 countries to the city of Gulmarg and Dal Lake. A large part of it has already been cleaned and the cleaning work on the other part is going on in full swing. The sanitation work is carried out in Dal throughout the year. But for the G20 meeting, special attention is being paid to the cleaning of several important places in the lake. India assumed the presidency of the G20 grouping on December 1, 2022, and will hold the post for a year. Meanwhile, on Friday, China maintained its firm stance and said that it will not attend the next week's G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir, stating that it opposes holding any such meetings in the "disputed territory." "China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory. We will not attend such meetings," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a regular press conference when asked about several reports doing the rounds that China will boycott G20 meetings planned in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Incidentally, China is a close ally of Pakistan and relations between India and Pakistan have been precarious for many years with regard to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. With the Lok Sabha elections just an year away, non-Congress opposition leaders are actively engaging in one-to-one interaction to reach a consensus. The chorus is growing among the opposition leaders asking Congress to make more sacrifices to take other parties along with it. On Saturday, an array of opposition leaders shared dias with Congress in Karnataka during the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah. Among the leaders present on the occasion were National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his Deputy Yadav, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, NCP President Sharad Pawar, actor-politician Kamal Haasan, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI General Secretary D Raja attended the event. Neglect Of Regional Satraps However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh), Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao were conspicuous by their absence at the event. These states constitute around 225 Lok Sabha seats and are important as regional parties are strong in all these states except for Uttar Pradesh with 80 parliamentary seats. It is noteworthy to mention that Congress had not extended an invitation to Chandrasekhar Rao, Naveen Patnaik, Jagan Mohan and Arvind Kejriwal and BSP chief Mayawati. Mehboob Mufti Warns Congress Reacting to Delhi CM Kejriwal's absence during the Karnataka swearing-in ceremony, PD chief Mufti today said that said Congress has to sacrifice more, otherwise there are other options. Mufti was indirectly hinting at a third front in case Congress fails to agree to the conditions of the regional parties. While the Congress has stopped short of voicing its support for Kejriwal in the AAP vs Centre row, Mehbooba Mufti supported the Aam Aadmi Party saying that it was a wake-up call for everyone as it can happen anywhere in the country. She said that while Karnataka has shown a ray of hope, whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country as BJP does not want to have any opposition. Nitish Backs AAP Against Centre Delhi CM Kejriwal also got support from Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who has been trying to rally support of all opposition against the BJP. Kumar met the Delhi CM at the latter's residence in New Delhi today and extended support to him in the AAP government's ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services including transfers and postings of Grade A officers. Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also accompanied Kumar at the meeting. Mamata Banerjee's Formula West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has recently shared a tentative seat-sharing formula where she offered 200-odd Lok Sabha seats to Congress and urged that the Congress should let regional parties contest on the seats where they are strong. Banerjee also said that the Congress needs to make more sacrifices to adjust with regional parties. Former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had also supported Banerjee's assessment saying that Congress should support regional parties in the areas where they are strong. While Banerjee recently met Bihar CM Kumar and Odisha CM Patnaik separately, Patnaik has openly said that no third front was discussed during the meeting. Optics Won't Work: Sibal Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday said Opposition unity requires much more than optics. "Siddaramaiah Swearing in Ceremony: Is this sign of Opposition Unity with a significant number of leaders present? My view: Opposition Unity requires much more than optics of this nature. Requires meeting of minds, a common agenda, sacrificing partisan interests," he said. While Sibal is right in his assessment, it's the Congress high command who needs to understand this first if the grand old party wants to defeat the mighty BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls where Narendra Modi will seek a third straight term as the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a three-nation tour of Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, reached Port Moresby after attending the G7 summit in Hiroshima. PM Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea is the first-ever tour by any Indian Prime Minister to the Indo-Pacific country. Upon his arrival in Papua New Guinea, PM Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome in an exceptional gesture. Normally, Papua New Guinea doesn't accord a ceremonial welcome for any leader coming after sunset but the country made a special exception for PM Modi and gave a fully studded ceremonial welcome to him. In another special gesture, PM of Papua New Guinea James Marape came to receive PM Narendra Modi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also accorded the Guard of Honour at Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. While greeting PM Modi, Marape sought his blessings in a heartwarming gesture. As Marape bent to seek PM Modi's blessings, the prime minister hugged him, showing the warmth between the two countries. Later, PM Modi met people from the Indian diaspora who came to the airport to welcome him. During his Papua New Guinea visit, PM Modi will co-chair the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) on Monday. Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape will also be there. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues. Reached Papua New Guinea. I am thankful to PM James Marape for coming to the airport and welcoming me. This is a very special gesture which I will always remember. I look forward to boosting Indias ties with this great nation during my visit. pic.twitter.com/9pBzWQ6ANT Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 FIPIC had been launched during PM Modi's visit to Fiji in 2014. Apart from the FIPIC engagements, PM Modi will also have bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae, Prime Minister Marape and some of the other PIC Leaders participating in the Summit. After his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will travel to Sydney at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Cashier's Check vs. Money Order There are a few options when you need a secure way of paying for something. Sure, cash is king, but not everyone feels safe carrying a thick wad around. Cashiers checks and money orders are two of the more secure options for making a payment. Each comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Lets start by defining cashiers checks vs. money orders and going over their individual pros and cons. Consider working with a financial advisor as you decide where to put your money. Whats a Cashiers Check? A cashiers check is a check issued and guaranteed by a bank or credit union. Unlike a personal check, a cashiers check comes directly out of the banks funds instead of your checking account. These checks are more secure than personal checks for both parties as they are fully backed by the bank. That makes them great for large purchases, such as closing costs on a house or buying a car. To get a cashiers check, youll need the exact amount, your ID and the recipients name. Youll be able to order one at your local branch or potentially online. Youll need to pay the bank the amount of the cashiers check, plus whatever fees they may charge. Cashiers check fees may be discounted or waived for certain accountholders. If you do a lot of business with a bank or credit union, it doesnt hurt to ask. Lastly, get a receipt as proof of purchasing the check. Youll be able to use your receipt to track when the check is cashed. If youre ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now. Pros of Cashiers Checks Great for large purchases: Cashiers checks are best used for purchases over $1,000. Are more secure than money orders: Cashiers checks generally have more security features than money orders. And while there are cashiers check scams, there are fewer compared to money orders. Cons of Cashiers Checks Higher fees than a money order: A cashiers check can cost between two and 10 times more than a money order. You must have access to a financial institution that will write your check: This can be a problem if you dont have a checking account, have recently moved or are on vacation. Whats a Money Order? Cashier's Check vs. Money Order Like a personal check, a money order is a paper certificate. However, instead of being backed by your bank account, its guaranteed by the company or organization that issues it. This makes it a more secure way of payment than a personal check. You can get a money order at a variety of places. One big issuer of money orders is the United States Postal Service (USPS), but many grocery stores, pharmacies, check-cashing businesses and banks also offer them. Money orders are typically capped at $1,000 or less. To fill out a money order youll need many of the same details as you would for a cashiers check: amount, recipients name and your ID. Remember to keep the receipt and use it to monitor when the money order was cashed. Pros of Money Orders Lower fees: Money order fees are often between $1 and $2 each. No access to financial institutions needed: If you dont have a bank or your bank branch isnt nearby, you can still easily get a money order. Cons of Money Orders Shouldnt be used for large purchases: Money orders max out at $1,000, so anything over that will require multiple money orders. Not as secure as cashiers checks: Money orders have fewer security features than cashiers checks and are more susceptible to scams. Cashiers Check vs. Money Order: Whats the Difference? There are several differences when talking about cashiers checks vs. money orders. Here are the major ways in which they differ: Where you purchase them: Cashiers checks are issued and purchased at banks or credit unions where youre a member. On the other hand, money orders can be purchased at stores, post offices and banks. Who backs it: Cashiers checks are backed by the financial institution that issued them. Money orders are backed by the retail store, bank or post office where they were purchased. Fees: Cashiers checks cost $10 or more to purchase, whereas money orders can be purchased for as little as $1. Size of purchase: Money orders often have a purchase limit of $1,000 or less. Cashiers checks generally dont have an upper limit. Which Should You Use When? Cashier's Check. vs. Money Order Cashiers checks and money orders are two types of secure payment options. Both are suitable when you dont want to carry around a briefcase full of money or the person youre paying doesnt want to risk a bouncing check. How much money a person needs and whether they have access to a bank account will dictate whether a cashiers check or money order is best. Cashiers checks, which require a bank account, are for large payments of more than $1,000. While money orders are available in more places and do not require a bank account, theyre for purchases of $1,000 or less. So, if you need to put a down payment on a house, go to your bank and get a cashiers check. However, if youre buying an $800 antique lamp off Craigslist while on vacation, use a money order. The Bottom Line When talking about cashiers checks vs. money orders, its clear that each has its purpose. You can get a money order at many more places than a cashiers check. Theyre cheaper and they dont require a bank account. However, cashiers checks are more secure and are perfect for large purchases or payments. Tips for Big Spending If youre considering making a big purchase and need some unbiased advice, look into finding a financial advisor. Theyll be able to guide you in what to do and whether the purchase makes sense for you. 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. Maybe youre not ready to spend yet, but you have things you want to save for. SmartAssets savings calculator can help you get there. Whether its a down payment on a house, a vacation or just building your emergency savings, its always a good time to save. Photo credit: iStock.com/AndreyPopov, iStock.com/simonkr, iStock.com/AsiaVision The post Cashiers Check vs. Money Order appeared first on SmartAsset Blog. NEW DELHI: When US President Joe Biden walked up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Quad meeting, one of the points he made was the large number of requests he was getting from prominent citizens to attend the Indian leader's programmes during his next month state visit to Washington DC, officials said on Sunday. Echoing a similar view, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he too is finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests he is getting for a community event, where Modi will speak on Tuesday, even though the Sydney venue has a capacity of 20,000, officials added. Albanese remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium more than 90,000 people welcomed him during the victory lap. To this Biden told Modi in a lighter vein that he should take his autograph. Modi and Albanese were in the Gujarat stadium to watch an India-Australia test match in March this year and had taken a lap of honour. As part of his ongoing three-nation visit, Modi is scheduled to arrive in Australia on Monday and will address the community event on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid floral tributes at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum built in memory of those who died in a US atomic bomb attack on this Japanese city in 1945 at the end of World War II. Modi is on a visit to Japan to attend the annual summit of the G7 advanced economies here in Hiroshima. Modi joined other world leaders at the G7 summit to visit the museum. Prime Minister signed the visitor's book in the museum, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. "Went to the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park this morning," Modi tweeted. The leaders also paid floral tributes at the Cenotaph for the victims of the Atomic Bomb. The US conducted the world's first nuclear attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing some 140,000 people. Tweeting photos of Modi's visit to the museum at the memorial site, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Twitter: "A tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims. PM Narendra Modi begins his day by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitor's book." The ministry also tweeted a group photo of the world leaders attending the G7 Summit and said, "The leaders also paid their respect at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park." The facility displays belongings left behind by victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of the dropping of the US atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The G7 bloc comprises Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy as well as the European Union. New Delhi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted an Ambergris smuggling gang racket and seized 18.1 kg of Ambergris worth Rs 31.67 crore at Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin Coast. In an official statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Finance said that four persons from Kerala and Tamil Nadu actively involved in this smuggling attempt of Ambergris were arrested and remanded under judicial custody. "Based on specific information that a gang would be attempting to smuggle ambergris out of India through the sea route near the coast of Harbour Beach, Tuticorin to Sri Lanka during the night hours of 18.05.2023, DRI Officers intercepted a vehicle along with five persons and recovered 18.1 kg of ambergris from the front seat of the vehicle. The occupants confessed to the smuggling attempt," the statement read. Further investigation is under progress, it added. Ambergris is a product of sperm whales, which is a protected species listed under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and is prohibited for possession, export or transport. The DRI has intensified its vigil and surveillance in the coastal areas and has seized around 40.52 kg of Ambergris valued at Rs 54 crores in the international market in the last two years. Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express got damaged by a hailstorm on Sunday. The newly launched unit of the semi-high-speed train sustained after it departed from the Bhadrak Railway station of Odisha. It is to be noted that most of the damage was sustained by the windscreen of the main engine as well as the glass window of some compartments. The incident occurred within the first week of the launch of the train in Odisha. As per ANI's report, the 22896 Vande Bharat Express got hit by lightning and a hailstorm that cracked the windscreen and driver's screen of the cabin. Furthermore, the trees uprooted by the storm also damaged the overhead wires of the train. After the incident, the semi-high-speed train was left stranded at the Baitarani Road railway overbridge for more than two hours. Also read: Northeast's First Vande Bharat Express Arrives At New Jalpaiguri Station: Check Pics At the time of the incident, the train had 250 passengers onboard. As per reports, a diesel engine cleared the train and moved it to Manjuri Road. The train started its journey with the diesel at around 8.05 pm. The train operated from Bhadrak to Howrah. Odisha | Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express halted between Dulakhapatna-Manjuri Road Station after the overhead wire was damaged due to thunderstorms and lightning. Purna Chandra Shahu, Station Manager, Bhadrak said, "Front glass and side windows of the driver cabin were damaged pic.twitter.com/bhuAIGQFiI ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023 Because of the incident, the up-and-down services of the train will remain canceled for Monday. The services will continue once all the damage to the train is repaired. A statement by South East Railway said, "22895/22896 Howrah-Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat express will remain cancelled for repairs of damages caused by a thunderstorm on May 21 in Cuttack-Bhadrak section of East Coast Railway." Multiple passengers took to social media to share the update on social media. The passengers complained about the lack of electricity while they were stranded in the train. The Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat train became Odisha's first semi-high-speed after being flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. The ceremony took place via video conferencing in the presence of Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. New Delhi: After receiving reports of mass router outages globally, Taiwanese tech giant Asus has finally explained the cause, stating that the outage was caused by "an error in the configuration of our server settings file". Users of Asus routers recently reported that their devices suddenly froze up without any apparent reason and, after restarting repeatedly, suddenly stopped working because the device`s memory ran out, reports Ars Technica. ( Also Read: 10 Top Tips To Keep Your Bedroom Cooler During Summer Season Later, the company answered the calls for help."During routine security maintenance, our technical team discovered an error in the configuration of our server settings file, which could potentially cause an interruption in network connectivity on part of the routers," Asus said. ( Also Read: 10 Secrets WhatsApp Settings You Must Know After resolving the glitch, most users only needed to reboot their devices, however, if that didn`t fix the problem, the company's support team suggested that users save their current configuration settings and perform a factory reset.The company also apologised for the inconvenience caused. Most users also took to the internet to report the issue they were having with the device."On the 16th, Asus pushed a corrupted definition file for ASD, a built-in security daemon present in a wide range of their routers. As routers automatically updated and fetched the corrupted definition file, they started running out of file system space and memory and crashing," a user wrote on Reddit."This is a bunch of BS. Why doesn`t Asus put out some kind of statement explaining what`s going on?" another user said. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held a bilateral meeting with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak and called it a 'very fruitful one'. The two leaders, who are in Japan's Hiroshima to attend the G7 summit, discussed boosting cooperation in trade, innovation, science, and other such sectors. "The meeting with PM Rishi Sunak was a very fruitful one," PM Narendra Modi said in a tweet and shared pictures with the UK PM. The meeting with PM @RishiSunak was a very fruitful one. We discussed boosting cooperation in trade, innovation, science and other such sectors. pic.twitter.com/FI9nI1gc9V Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2023 According to Prime Minister Modi's Office, the two leaders reviewed their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including taking stock of progress in India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. It is notable that India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January last year, with a goal towards a comprehensive pact that is expected to significantly enhance the bilateral trading relationship worth an estimated 34 billion pounds in 2022. The two nations last month concluded the ninth round of India-UK FTA negotiations with detailed discussions across a range of policy areas. During the bilateral meeting, PM Modi and Sunak also agreed to deepen cooperation across a wide range of areas, such as trade and investment, science and technology, higher education, and people-to-people relationship. The two leaders, who earlier met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the Japanese city on Saturday, also discussed India's ongoing G-20 Presidency. "Prime Minister looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Sunak in New Delhi for the G-20 Summit," Modi's Office said in an official statement. Earlier on Saturday, Modi met Indonesian President Joko Widodo and UN Chief Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the G7 summit. He also held talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh and met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Modi arrived in Hiroshima on Friday to attend three sessions at the G7 summit following an invitation by Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. It has been more than a year of its acquisition from the Centre and Air India not only took major steps in terms of turnaround and transformation, but also ran into major controversies on issues ranging from pilots' discontent to inept handling of certain sensitive matters. Despite one year of transition, troubles seem not to have ended for the airline, which is now under Tata management. However, the pilots under its two unions -- the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG)-- have recently accepted the revised compensation structure but this came after a long standoff between the unions and airline management. Pilot's Salary Issue On April 19, the ICPA and IPG of Air India had rejected the new pay structure proposed by the airline. The primary bone of contention is the reduction in the flying allowance from 70 hours to 40 hours every month under the new structure, which the pilots believe is unfair. The two unions have warned of possible "industrial unrest" if the management goes ahead with the new terms without their consent. While Air India has stated that it will "continue to engage with the remainder of its staff," the airline has taken a tough stance on the issue, saying that there are "no recognised unions in Air India." This is the first wage revision offered by the Tata group-owned Air India since its takeover last year, and it will affect all 3,000 pilots across its four airlines - Air India, Air India Express, Air Asia India, and Vistara. The source revealed that during the town hall meeting held on May 4, approximately 800 pilots who had not yet agreed to the new compensation structure were in attendance. The meeting was presided over by Air India's Chief of Operations, Captain Rajwinder Singh Sandhu, who is also a pilot. In response to requests from the pilots, who had previously declined the revised compensation structure, the airline has granted an extension until the end of May to sign the new contracts. According to a source, a significant number of pilots remained resolute in their stance of not signing the new contracts. Recognising the ongoing deliberations and concerns raised by the pilots, the airline had decided to extend the deadline for pilots to reach a decision regarding the new contracts. The extended deadline now allows pilots until the end of this month to make their choice, whereas the original deadline for accepting the revised compensation structure was set for April 30. To address the new service terms and chart the path forward, the unions held a joint virtual meeting, bringing together their respective members. "The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the revised compensation structure in detail and determine the future course of action," said the sources. Appointment Of Ilker Ayci As CEO However, the Tata management courted its first set of controversies with the appointment of Ilker Ayci, a former Chairman of Turkish Airlines, as the CEO and MD of the airline in February, 2022. The appointment raised eyebrows with RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch expressing its reservations about the Tata Group appointing former Turkish Airlines chairman as Air India's Managing Director and CEO. Amid controversies, the appointment of Ilker Ayci could not last as he turned down the job. Pay Package Disparity Thereafter, Air India senior management faced discontent from senior pilots who protested on several issues ranging from ignoring the Indian pilots and hiring the foreign counterparts on hefty pay packages to alleged change in conditions of service of its member pilots. The IPCSA issued many notices demanding that the Air India management comply with the statutory mandate of the Industrial Disputes (ID) Act, including Section 9A, in letter and in spirit; and not undertake any change in the conditions of service of pilots without following the applicable provisions of the ID Act. The pilots' body also demanded to be involved as representatives of the pilots, in deliberations regarding any change in conditions of service before any precipitative steps are taken. It had said that it was important for the morale of the pilots and for maintenance of trust between the pilots and the management of Air India Ltd., especially given the transition to the new management, that pilots be consulted and taken into confidence before any condition of their service is changed, especially when such change may ultimately prove to be to their detriment. Peeing Incidents Thereafter, the peeing incident on November 26, 2022 in the Air India New York-Delhi flight and mishandling of the issues emerging thereafter brought embarrassment to Tata so much so that the Air India CEO and Tata sons chairman had to issue statements. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons and Air India on January 8 said that the airline's response to the incident on its New York-Delhi flight on November 26 should have been "much swifter". Aviation regulator DGCA on January 20 imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India and suspended the license of the pilot-in-command for three months in the Air India peeing case which occurred on November 26, 2022. Moreover, the regulator also imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on the Director-in-flight services of Air India for failing to discharge duties. In another case, the DGCA imposed a Financial Penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Air India for not reporting the incidents which occurred on AI-142 Paris-New Delhi flight on December 6, 2022. Two incidents had occurred in the flight. While one passenger was caught smoking in the lavatory, was drunk and not adhering to the crew instructions; another allegedly relieved himself on a vacant seat and blanket of a fellow female passenger when she went to the lavatory. Three people died when their light aircraft crashed on Saturday morning in Switzerland's Ponts-de-Martel area close to the French border, the Swiss police said. The crash occurred around 10:20 in the morning local time (0820 GMT) in a forest near the village of La Combe Dernier in the canton of Neuchatel, the local police said. The pilot and his two passengers died at the scene of the accident. Rescue operations proved difficult because the crash occurred on particularly steep terrain, the police said. The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but an investigation has been launched, they added. Also read: IAF Grounds Entire Fleet Of MiG-21 Fighter Jets Pending Investigations Into Recent Crash The aircraft, which had a Swiss registration, had taken off on a sightseeing trip from the neighbouring Chaux-d-Fonds airfield. Police said in a statement that a rescue and recovery operation had been started but added that the accident site in the Neuchatel Mountains was in extremely steep terrain, making the task more difficult. Tea Day: For all tea enthusiasts, it is now time to get ready as the day to honour our favourite drink has come. It's International Tea Day. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the health benefits of the beverage. The day is observed annually on May 21 per a resolution made by the UN General Assembly. International Tea Day "will promote and foster collective actions to implement activities in favour of the sustainable production and consumption of tea and raise awareness of its importance in combating hunger and poverty," according to the official UN website. International Tea Day is an occasion to reflect on the significance of tea as a global phenomenon, enjoy and share the experience of tea with others, and promote sustainable practices in the tea industry. It also serves as a platform to highlight the significance of tea in our daily lives. International Tea Day: Date The first-ever International Tea Day was celebrated in New Delhi, the capital of India, in 2005. Other tea-growing nations including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Uganda, and Tanzania eventually joined in the celebrations. Ten years later, the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea, which spearheads international initiatives to boost the global tea sector and was crucial in the declaration of the International Tea Day, received a proposal from the Indian government in 2015 to broaden the commemoration of the holiday. Regarding the exact date of International Tea Day, there is considerable confusion. Although the United Nations General Assembly declared December 15 as International Tea Day, it is important to note that May 21 had already been designated as International Tea Day. The goal of the United Nations-designated International Tea Day on December 15 is to honour the global cultural and economic significance of tea while highlighting its influence on livelihoods and sustainability. This celebration aims to raise awareness about the value of tea as well as promote sustainable tea production and fair trade practices. While the May 21st International Tea Day has its roots in the tea-producing nations of the World Tea Conference, which proposed the date to commemorate the signing of the First International Tea Agreement in 2005, and this observance focuses on promoting tea production, consumption, and cultural aspects. Also Read: International Tea Day 2023: 10 Types Of Tea That Burn Belly Fat International Tea Day: Significance The day is meant to promote trade, use, and production of tea in sustainable ways. It provides a forum for decision-makers at the international, regional, and national levels to emphasise the role that the tea sector plays in reducing extreme poverty, battling hunger, and preserving the environment and livelihoods. International Tea Day: Interesting Facts About Tea - Smallholder farmers make up around 9 million of the tea growers in major producing nations including China, India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka. - After water, tea is the second most popular beverage drunk worldwide. - Tea per capita income has grown by 2.2% yearly over the last ten years. - The amount of tea produced globally in 2020 was 6.5 million tonnes. - To support the world tea economy, the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea conducts cooperative activities. International Tea Day: Tea Traditions Across India Irani Chai This tea, which also contains flavorful spices in addition to the energising tea leaves, is preferred by residents of Pune and Hyderabad. In Mumbai's Irani hotels, it is typically served with a bun maska or a maska pav. Bengals Labu Cha Labu Cha, a beverage popular in West Bengal, is essentially black tea that is made by brewing tea leaves rather than tea dust. It is a beverage that has been spiced up with ginger powder, black salt, and a dash of lemon. For many Bengalis who gather at nukkad chai locations to chat and drink some sizzling hot Labu Cha, it is the ideal companion. Mangalorean Kasai This unusual tea is herbal and offers a lot of health advantages. This dish, called "kadha" in Mangalore, contains jeera, coriander, fennel seeds, and fenugreek. These dry-roasted spices are cooked in water and then sugar or misri is added for sweetness. Kashmiri Noon Chai This particular type of Kashmiri tea from the north has a hint of pink to it. It is regarded as genuine Kashmiri chai and is made by steeping green tea leaves with cinnamon, cardamom, and other spices, as well as nuts like pistachio and almond. The chai is further given a dash of salt. Gujarati Ukado Gujarati herbal tea known as ukado is used as a natural cure for common ailments. Ingredients like honey, lemon, ginger, and mint provide flavour to the drink while boosting immunity. UBSE 10th , 12th Board Result 2023: The Uttarakhand 10th Board will release its results in the following month after successfully administering the test in March/April. Students may download their UK Board 10th and 12th Result online at ubse.uk.gov.in. Students enrolled in this year's classes may check their UK 10th, 12th Class 2023 results online, but they must have their roll numbers available. Read on for additional information about the UBSE 10th Result. Once the results are released, you will also be able to access the UBSE 10th and 12th result link on this website. Students must enter their roll number in the designated field to download the UK Board Inter result 2023 result. UBSE Class 10th and 12th Result Direct Link 2023 The Uttarakhand Board of Secondary Education (UBSE) is the authority that declares the result of Uttarakhand Board class 10 and class 12. Similar to previous year, hundreds of students took the class 10th and 12th exams this year. Here's How To Download UBSE Result 2023 Step 1: Visit the official website of UK board- http://uaresults.nic.in/ Step 2: On the homepage, click on the link that reads- UK Board 10th result 2023 or UK Board 12th result 2023 Step 3: In the newly opened tab, entre your roll number and other required credentials Step 4: Click on "Submit" and your UBSE Result 2023 will appear on the screen Step 5: Download your UK Board 10th and 12th Result and take a printout for future reference JAIPUR: Amid Gehlot-Pilot tussle, Congress Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Saturday said that the grand old party has nothing to do with Sachin Pilot's Jan Sangharsh Yatra which culminated on May 15. "It's his Yatra. Congress has nothing to do with it. Discussions on the state level should be done, in front of the CM and other senior leaders. But conducting the Yatra before the Karnataka elections is not good to do," Randhawa said. He said that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics."We will talk with Sachin Pilot". Pilot recently ended his yatra and gave a 15-day ultimatum to the CM Ashok Gehlot to take action against corruption cases in the state. The Congress leader has also threatened to take to the streets and hold protests across the state if the CM does not take action till May 31. Sachin Pilot has put forward three demands - action against corruption charges on the previous BJP government, disbandment and reconstitution of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reconstitution, and compensation for those affected by the paper leaks - and demanded action by the end of this month. The Rajasthan unit of Congress is continuing to give a headache to the party's high command as the simmering tensions between Gehlot and Sachin Pilot have come out in the open just ahead of Assembly elections in the state scheduled to be held later this year. The Congress party is seeking another term ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls in 2024. It is hard to get excited after looking at Archer-Daniels-Midland's (NYSE:ADM) recent performance, when its stock has declined 10% over the past three months. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. Specifically, we decided to study Archer-Daniels-Midland's ROE in this article. ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital. See our latest analysis for Archer-Daniels-Midland How Is ROE Calculated? ROE can be calculated by using the formula: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Archer-Daniels-Midland is: 18% = US$4.5b US$25b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023). The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.18 in profit. What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth? Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics. A Side By Side comparison of Archer-Daniels-Midland's Earnings Growth And 18% ROE To start with, Archer-Daniels-Midland's ROE looks acceptable. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 13% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This probably laid the ground for Archer-Daniels-Midland's significant 23% net income growth seen over the past five years. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently. We then compared Archer-Daniels-Midland's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 7.9% in the same period. The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for ADM? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report. Is Archer-Daniels-Midland Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively? The three-year median payout ratio for Archer-Daniels-Midland is 32%, which is moderately low. The company is retaining the remaining 68%. By the looks of it, the dividend is well covered and Archer-Daniels-Midland is reinvesting its profits efficiently as evidenced by its exceptional growth which we discussed above. Moreover, Archer-Daniels-Midland is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 32%. Regardless, Archer-Daniels-Midland's ROE is speculated to decline to 11% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio. Summary On the whole, we feel that Archer-Daniels-Midland's performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray this week in Mumbai to seek support against the Centre's ordinance on the transfer of bureaucrats in the national capital. Kejriwal will meet Thackeray on May 24 and Pawar on May 25, according to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday held a meeting with his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital and extended his support to the AAP chief against the Centre bringing an ordinance to give the control of 'services' back to Delhi Lieutenant Governor. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav was also present at the occasion. Also read: Amid AAP Vs Centre Tussle, Nitish Kumar Meets Kejriwal With '2024 Semi-Final' Plan Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar has been meeting Opposition leaders to strengthen the bloc against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. This comes after the Union Government on Friday brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) regarding the 'transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters'. The ordinance was brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the Supreme Court judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case. Earlier on Saturday, AAP national convenor called the move "undemocratic and illegal" alleging that it "attacks the basic structure of the Constitution". He also accused the Centre of "challenging the apex court" ruling and purposefully waiting for the court to close till 4 pm for passing the ordinance. Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, "For a government to run efficiently, it is very important the officers come under the control of the elected government as the court also noted. On Friday, the SC closed at 4 pm, and they (Bharatiya Janata Party) brought the ordinance at 10 pm on the same day". "It seems as a disgusting joke against the democracy, people of the country as well as the 2 crore people of Delhi," he added. The Chief Minister alleged that as soon as the judgement was passed, the Centre had decided to bring an ordinance to circumvent the ruling. "If we look at the sequence. After the order was passed, the services secretary became unreachable and even switched off his mobile. After he came back, Chief Secretary got unreachable. Due to this, the meeting of the Civil Services Board got delayed by three days. And when we finally send the proposal to the LG, he sits over it for further two days," he said. Kejriwal added, "They were purposefully waiting for the court's holiday to start for bringing the ordinance. If they just wanted to bring the ordinance they could have brought it before as well. But they wanted the court to close, as they know that the ordinance is undemocratic, illegal and against the Constitution. They knew that if we challenge the ordinance in court, it won't stand even five minutes. When the court opens on July 1, we will challenge it". The ordinance has created for the first time a National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) that will have the power to recommend the transfer and posting of all Group A officers and officers of DANICS serving in Delhi. NCCSA will be headed by the Chief Minister of Delhi, with the Chief Secretary and Principal Home Secretary of Delhi being the other two members. The ordinance designates the Lieutenant Governor (LG) as the administrator of Delhi who will have the final say on the postings and transfer of all bureaucrats serving the Delhi government. HIROSHIMA: The Quad leaders on Saturday mourned the "terrible and tragic" humanitarian consequences of the war in Ukraine and called for ending the war through dialogue and diplomacy while asserting that it must not be an "era of war", a formulation that echoed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's position on the conflict. Modi, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, the leaders of the four Quad nations, discussed the situation in Ukraine along with other pressing global challenges at the annual summit of the grouping in Hiroshima. The joint statement by the four leaders that was released at the end of the summit reflected a much stronger collective position of the Quad on the Ukraine conflict compared to the one issued after the Tokyo summit of the grouping in March last year. The leaders highlighted the importance of international law, peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for principles of the UN Charter, including territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states and in that context, expressed "deep concern" over the raging war in Ukraine and mourned its "terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences". "We recognise its serious impacts on the global economic system including on food, fuel and energy security and critical supply chains," the statement said. The leaders resolved to continue to render humanitarian assistance to Ukraine for its recovery. "Conscious that ours must not be an era of war, we remain committed to dialogue and diplomacy. We support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace consistent with the UN Charter. In this context, we concur that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is serious and inadmissible," they said. At a bilateral meeting with Russian President Putin on September 16 last year in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, Modi said, "Today's era is not of war" and nudged the Russian leader to end the conflict. The formulation was hailed by many European leaders and it subsequently found mention in many diplomatic documents. Saturday's joint statement appeared to reflect the evolution of India's position on the conflict. In his address at the summit, Modi described the Indo-Pacific region as an "engine" of global trade, innovation and development and said its success and security are important for the whole world. The prime minister emphasised the importance of consolidating Quad's constructive agenda and delivering tangible outcomes for the region. Modi also invited Quad leaders to India for the next summit of the grouping in 2024. In the joint statement, the Quad leaders reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific while strongly opposing "destabilising or unilateral actions" that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion. Though the leaders did not directly name China, it was clear that the reference was directed at Beijing, which has been increasing its military muscle-flexing in the strategically important Indo-Pacific. The Quad leaders also unveiled a 'Vision Statement' titled 'Enduring Partners for Indo-Pacific' expressing their resolve to act as a "force for good" to find common solutions for region-wide benefit. At the summit, the Quad leaders unveiled a series of initiatives including in areas of clean energy supply chains, undersea cables and investments in strategic technologies. In the maritime domain, the Quad leaders emphasised the importance of adherence to international law and the maintenance of freedom of navigation and overflight, in addressing challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including those in the East and South China seas. "We express serious concern at the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities,' the statement said, in an oblique reference to Chinese activities. The Quad leaders emphasised that disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, without threat or use of force. The Quad also unequivocally condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms including cross-border terrorism. It said the coalition will work with its regional partners in a comprehensive and sustained manner to strengthen capability to prevent, detect and respond to threats posed by terrorism and violent extremism, consistent with international law. "We are committed to working together to promote accountability for the perpetrators of such terrorist attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks, including the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and in Pathankot, and our commitment to pursuing designations, as appropriate, by the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee," the statement said. "We will strengthen our cooperation through the new Working Group on Counterterrorism announced during the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in March 2023," it said. The leaders also announced the evolution of the Quad Vaccine Partnership into a broader Quad health security partnership. Through this partnership, the Quad will strengthen coordination and collaboration in support of health security in the Indo-Pacific. They said the Quad International Standards Cooperation Network and the Quad Principles on Critical and Emerging Technology Standards were released that reflected "our support for industry-led, consensus-based multi-stakeholder approaches to the development of technology standards." "We welcome the launch of the private sector-led Quad Investors Network (QUIN), which aims to facilitate investments in strategic technologies, including clean energy, semiconductors, critical minerals, and quantum," the statement said. The leaders also vowed to expand cooperation in the Indian Ocean region. "This supports our regional partners in combating a wide range of illicit maritime activities, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and responding to climate-related and humanitarian events," they said. "We are committed to deepening engagement with regional partners to support maritime safety and security and uphold international law," they added. In the vision statement on the Indo-Pacific, the leaders vowed to work towards a peaceful and prosperous, stable and secure region. "We seek a region in which all countries and peoples can exercise free choice on how they cooperate and trade based on partnership, equality and mutual respect," the vision statement said. "We share the belief that engaging openly, transparently and constructively creates more opportunity, greater economic vitality and better understanding of shared challenges, to the benefit of all," it said. "At a time of fundamental change, challenge, and opportunity in our region, we are determined to make a positive and lasting contribution to the resilience and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific by leveraging our resources and sharing our expertise," it added. The Quad leaders also resolved to ensure that the principles that have underpinned peace and stability and stimulated decades of growth continue to apply for decades to come, including the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Jaipur: Union minister and BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday alleged that the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan was the "most corrupt" and has been trying to "appease" people belonging to a particular religion for its "vote bank politics". "This government has crossed all limits of corruption. I think nowadays in the language of digital currency like Google Pay is called as G-Pay, today G-Pay in Rajasthan has become Gehlot-Pay," Shekhawat told reporters in Ladnun of Nagaur district. He was in Nagaur to attend the BJP State Working Committee meeting. Reacting to the seizure of Rs 2.31 crore in Yojana Bhawan in Jaipur, Shekhawat said, "We have been continuously saying that the current Gehlot government is the most corrupt government in the history of this democratic India". He said that the ACB, the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate should have been informed in such a case. "There is also talk that there is a big difference between the amount disclosed and the amount recovered," Shekhawat, who is the Union Jal Shakti minister, said. On posters reportedly coming up on the alleged "exodus" of Hindus in the Kishanpole area of Jaipur city, Shekhawat said that such situations exist in many areas in Rajasthan. "The way the Gehlot government has indulged in appeasement in the last four and a half years, there are several examples across the state... The way they tried to please members belonging to a particular religion to augment their vote bank, it reminds people of the Mughal rule," Shekhawat said. He said the BJP will fight relentlessly to rid the state of "this corrupt rule and anti-farmer, anti-youth and anti-Hindu government". "The central government follows the path of honesty and the Congress government of the state runs on dishonesty! We BJP workers will free Rajasthan from these dishonest people this time. This is a fight between honesty and corruption," the BJP leader tweeted on Saturday. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Shekhawat have been targeting each other over the issue of corruption. Shekhawat had defeated the chief minister's son Vaibhav Gehlot in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Jodhpur. Assembly elections in Rajasthan are due later this year. LUCKNOW: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a heatwave warning for 18 districts in Uttar Pradesh for the next 48 hours (Sunday and Monday), an IMD official said. The IMD said that the day temperature in these places will cross above 40 degrees Celsius. Thereafter, it will rain from Tuesday evening for five days in isolated places, both in east and west Uttar Pradesh. The districts that will be in the grip of the heatwave are Banda, Chitrakoot, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Fatehpur, Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Etawah, Auraiya, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jhansi, Lalitpur and the adjoining areas. Lucknow Met office in-charge, Mohd Danish, said that heat wave conditions had prevailed in 12 out of the 18 districts mentioned above on Saturday as well. The IMD has issued a yellow alert for these 18 districts. The IMD uses four-colour codes for weather warnings -- green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action). A heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is 40 degrees Celsius or higher, or remains 4.5 degrees above normal over two consecutive days. The day temperature in Uttar Pradesh districts went up by 3.5 degrees Celsius above normal on Saturday. Jhansi was the hottest in the state with the day temperature soaring to 45.1 degrees Celsius, Prayagraj 44.8, Agra and Varanasi (BHU) 43, Kanpur 42.3, Lakhimpur Kheri, Fursatganj and Orai 42 degrees Celsius. Lucknow recorded maximum and minimum temperatures of 40.1 and 24.4 degrees Celsius, respectively. Mainly clear sky is forecast for the state capital. The heatwave warning comes when most schools in the state are closed for summer vacations, including government primary and upper primary schools. The monsoon enters India around June 1. It arrives in Uttar Pradesh between June 18 and 20 through eastern districts like Ballia and Gorakhpur. Meanwhile, as the heat poses a major health risk between 12 noon and 4.30 p.m., when the day temperature remains the highest, doctors said going outdoors during these hours should be avoided, if possible. N.S. Verma, senior faculty, King George`s Medical University (KGMU), said, "Try to keep outdoor work limited in these hours at least until the monsoon hits the region and humidity levels go up and the temperature falls a little." P.K. Gupta, former president of Indian Medical Association, Lucknow branch, said, "Ensure your water intake is frequent all through the day. While going out of the house, drink an extra glass of water, cover your head with cap/cotton cloth if using public transport or helmet if using a bike. If you go out in a car, do not use air conditioning till the very end of your journey." Abhishek Shukla, an expert in geriatric medicine and head of Aastha Hospice, advised, "Keep the car AC low to ensure there is no big difference in the temperature outside (the car) and inside. Switch off AC and open the window a minute before reaching the destination. If there are elderly people travelling in a car, avoid using the AC on maximum mode, as this could disturb the body temperature quickly." BHOPAL: The BJP`s recent loss in two assembly elections -- Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka -- has given rise to speculation on whether the Congress can come back to power at the Centre in 2024 like in 2004? As the Congress won these two elections after its leader Rahul Gandhi`s "Bharat Jodo Yatra", which covered 14 states and over 3,800 km was over, it was obviously going to create a buzz. A question gaining momentum is what if the BJP loses the upcoming assembly elections in three Hindi speaking states -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Out of these three, the BJP is in power only in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress is ruling in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Madhya Pradesh based political analysts IANS spoke to were of the view that Karnataka`s outcome may not have much impact on the Lok Sabha elections, but it has given the impression that the opposition has strongly planted their feet on the battle ground for the general elections in 2024. In Madhya Pradesh the Congress as of now seems in a better position against the ruling BJP, mostly because of the huge anti-incumbency against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan`s government of nearly two decades. The BJP is also striving hard to remain in power, and at the same time, it has also started preparing for the Lok Sabha elections. Replying to an IANS query on this subject, former Chief Minister and Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath in a statement said currently he was completely focused on the assembly elections due later this year and maintained that the party will form the government with a full majority. However, he stated that the Congress will win the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh. "See, right now we are fully focusing on upcoming assembly elections which are just a few months away. People of Madhya Pradesh are fed up with corruption and anarchism of the BJP government. As of now, I can`t make any assessment about the number of Lok Sabha seats the Congress will win in 2024, but yes, I am confident that we will win the maximum number of seats," Nath added. In the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the BJP had won 28 out of the total 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress had managed to save only Chhindwara, where Kamal Nath`s son Nakul Nath could win the election. If it is assumed that the Congress can win the maximum Lok Sabha seats in 2024, it would be pertinent to mention that when the last general election was held in 2019, the Congress was in government in Madhya Pradesh, but it could win just one seat. Political analyst N. K. Singh talking to IANS said that the position of both the national parties, the BJP and the Congress, is getting clearer by the day. The saffron brigade is not just struggling to tackle anti-incumbency but many more issues also, while the Congress seems in a better position. "It would be too early to make any assessment regarding the Lok Sabha elections, but it is a fact that the Himachal and now the Karnataka results have made a strong impression on the people. The BJP seems weak, more because there has been no change in the leadership in the state for the last 18 years and now people are getting irritated with the bunch of promises when the elections are just a few months away." He mentioned that the people`s perception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started changing gradually due to many reasons. "If the Congress wins the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, it will increase its number of Lok Sabha seats also in 2024." However, Madhya Pradesh BJP President V.D. Sharma, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from Khajuraho, ruled out these perceptions, arguing that the party is in power in 16 states and the loss in just one or two assembly elections will not have any effect. Sharma also asserted that the BJP won the Assembly polls in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh in the recent past. He said that those who are predicting that the Congress can pull off 2024 like in 2004, should understand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is still an unopposed leader in the country. "PM Modi has been working with commitment for changing the life of the poor people of the country and people have faith in him. Our loss in Karnataka was just a one-off incident, even though the party received more votes than the last elections. Under PM Modi`s leadership, the BJP will retain power in Madhya Pradesh," Sharma told IANS. Mumbai: The wait is finally over! Anushka Sharma, who will make her debut at Cannes 2023, left Mumbai for France on Sunday. The 'NH10' actor was dressed in a white tee and black pants. The actor also sported a black cap and a slide sling. She was clicked by the paps at Mumbai airport. Before making her final entrance into the airport, the actor also waved at the paps. Anushka will be present at Cannes Film Festival 2023 to honour women in cinema. She will be joined by popular actress Kate Winslet. Anushka also met the France ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenin with her husband Virat Kohli at French Embassy, in New Delhi. The ambassador captioned his social media post with a hint of discussing Sharma's trip to the festival which will take place in the fashion capital of the world, France. Watch the video here She is one of India's all-time biggest cinematic icons with a huge global following, Anushka is also amongst the most influential actors of her generation and has three 300 crore plus films - Sultan, PK and Sanju - under her belt. Anushka Sharma personifies a self-made success story in Indian showbiz like no other. She has built a lasting legacy through her body of work as an actor, as an entrepreneur, as a film producer wanting to change the representation of women in society, and also as a human being who has always stood for those in need through her non-profit that has tirelessly worked to aid and upskill people of India for over a decade! Apart from Anushka, Sara Ali Khan, and Mrunal Thakur made their debut at the prestigious podium this year. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also dazzled on the red carpet. Now, all eyes are fixed on Anushka's debut. Northeast India will soon get its first Vande Bharat Express to train running between New Jalpaiguri to Guwahati, said Sanjay Chilwarwar, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Katihar, Northeast Frontier on Saturday. The train (Up-22227-Down-22228) will run between New Jalpaiguri to Guwahati six days in a week, covering around 410 km within 6 hours. The train will depart from New Jalpaiguri in Siliguri and reach Assam's Guwahati, added the ADRM. Also read: Delhi-Meerut RAPIDX Confirmed To Start From June, PM Modi Likely To Inaugurate The semi-high-speed train on this route is expected to cut travel time between the two cities. Presently, Rajdhani Express is the fastest train on the route completing the journey in eight and a half hours. I t is to be noted that these cities are around 700 km apart. West Bengal | Northeast to get its first Vande Bharat Express soon. (Visuals from New Jalpaiguri Junction) pic.twitter.com/r36jjor9sh ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2023 On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Odisha's first Vande Bharat train between Puri to Howrah via video conferencing. Following the launch of Odisha's first Vande Bharat train, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that PM Modi has set a target that Vande Bharat should reach almost all the states by June this year. Speaking with ANI in Howarh, Vaishnaw said, "PM Modi has set a target that Vande Bharat should reach almost all the states by June...Vande Metro is being designed for a distance of less than 100 km and for daily travel of passengers." After reaching Howrah by travelling on Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express later on Thursday, Vaishnaw termed the journey extremely comfortable. "The journey was extremely comfortable and the best part of the journey was interacting with youngsters and passengers," said the Union Minister. New Delhi: Elon Musk apparently told a Twitter investor during a 4 a.m. call that he would pay the company's office rent "over my dead body". According to a new lawsuit filed by six former Twitter employees against Twitter, Pablo Mendoza, a venture capitalist who invested in Twitter 2.0, had a chat with Musk in the wee hours, reports Business Insider. Musk bluntly told Mendoza that not paying rent was non-negotiable with the 'over his dead body' remark. The lawsuit said that Joseph Killian, a plaintiff who worked at Twitter for 12 years and oversaw office design, was aware that Musk decided to stop paying office rent. ( Also Read: Cyberstalkers Using Windows 11 Phone Link Feature To Monitor iPhones: Report "Killian attempted to convince Musk, via Mendoza, of the danger of Musk's new position that no rent would be paid whatsoever, pointing out that any attempt to renegotiate the terms of Twitter's many leases would be doomed to failure," the lawsuit alleged. ( Also Read: 10 Tips To Keep Your Bedroom Cooler During Summer Season "Elon told me he would only pay rent over his dead body," Mendoza responded during the conversation that took place at 4 a.m, according to the lawsuit.According to the lawsuit, Musk's attorney Alex Spiro "loudly opined" it was unreasonable for Twitter's landlords to expect it to pay rent because San Francisco was a "shithole."Twitter's landlord in San Francisco had sued the micro-blogging platform over not paying rent.Meanwhile, San Francisco officials are opening an investigation into Twitter following a lawsuit from former employees who claimed that Elon Mlawusk's transition team deliberately planned to breach contracts and not pay promised severance, among other things.The lawsuit from six employees alleged that Musk's team "knowingly broke local and federal laws," reports San Francisco Chronicle. They are seeking severance and punitive damages for "flagrant bad faith". New Delhi: Samsung Electronics will reportedly not be switching its smartphones` default search engine from Google to Microsoft`s Bing anytime soon. According to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, Samsung has suspended an internal review that looked into replacing Google with Bing on its web-browsing app, which comes pre-installed on the company`s smartphones. In April, there were reports that Samsung was considering switching from Google to Bing as its default search engine on Galaxy phones. ( Also Read: 'Over My Dead Body': Musk Tells Investor On Paying Twitter Office Rent Previously, Samsung's decision to switch was reportedly influenced by Microsoft's Bing AI. At the time, the competition for AI dominance was fierce, and the tech giant was determined not to fall behind. ( Also Read: 10 Tips To Keep Your Bedroom Cooler During Summer Season Despite the unveiling of Google's Bard AI, it failed to demonstrate any immediate promise due to its lack of refinement.However, it remains unclear why the company changed its decision, but one possibility could be attributed to Google's recent demonstration of its impressive AI game during the Google I/O 2023 event.Meanwhile, as part of the collaboration with Android device manufacturers, Google is working to prevent random app killings in the background, and Samsung is the first to participate, which will benefit Galaxy phone owners when One UI 6.0 based on Android 14 launches later this year.The collaboration aims to address one of Android's long-standing annoyances -- "restrictions on foreground services and background work" across devices. MOSCOW: Russia's defense ministry said early Sunday that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar claim by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine is the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. However, after the video appeared, Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said heavy fighting was continuing. "The situation is critical," she said. "As of now, our defenders, control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in this area." Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. If Russian forces have taken control of Bakhmut, they will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial centre, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions- all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland ? made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called "fortress Bakhmut." Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. "We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels," Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters "marched on the bodies of their own soldiers" according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Debt ceiling deliberations, more retail earnings, and the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting await investors as highlights in the week ahead. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Saturday discussions over the debt ceiling wouldn't resume until President Biden returns from his trip to Japan for a G-7 meeting. On Sunday before departing the G-7, Biden called the GOP's debt-ceiling stance "unacceptable," adding it was "time for the other side to move from their extreme positions." This as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's June 1 "X-date" looms. On Friday, the two parties put talks on pause, raising doubts about the near-term potential for a deal and sending markets lower. All three major indexes still finished the week with gains, however, notably the Nasdaq, which rose more than 3%. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 had their best week since March and their highest weekly close since August 2022. Year to date, the Nasdaq is up more than 20%, while the S&P 500 has risen more than 9%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average is just barely clinging to gains for the year. Stocks were encouraged last week after earnings from the retail sector struck a cautious tone on consumer spending for the year, but didn't sound alarms on a full-on recession quite yet. In the week ahead, results from Dollar General (DG), Costco (COST), and BJ's (BJ) will offer further insights on the health of the consumer. Walmart's results (WMT) hinted at the benefits to some retailers from wealthier consumers trading down to save money as inflation pressures household budgets. "We've seen transactions at Walmart, at Target, at TJX, at Ross positive year over year, which suggests that there is some trade down coming into the value side of the equation as some of those mainstream consumers make different choices," Bernstein retail analyst Aneesha Sherman told Yahoo Finance Live on Friday. "And that's what some of the new data is showing that wasn't the case last year. So for value retail, I think it's a positive." On the tech front, Nvidia (NVDA), which has seen its stock more than 100% this year, is expected to report earnings on Wednesday. On the economic data front, investors will look for further hints on the Fed's path forward as investors prep for the end of the central bank's most aggressive rate hiking campaign since the early '80s. On Thursday, the second estimate of first quarter GDP will offer a look at growth in the first quarter and another check on the central bank's preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, for Q1. Economists expect "core" PCE which strips out the more volatile costs of food and energy rose 4.9% on an annual basis in the first quarter, unchanged from the first reading; "core" PCE is expected to have risen 0.3% in April, a monthly increase unchanged from March. But the debt ceiling will remain the biggest factor for investors until a resolution on the current negotiations can be reached. Traditionally, markets have been more volatile as the "X-date" or the date at which the US would default on its obligations nears, with the possibility of default weighing on markets most in the two weeks before this date. U.S. President Joe Biden and Indonesia's President Joko Widodo attend a Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment event during the G7 summit, at the Grand Prince Hotel in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst "If the X-date is crossed without a formal default, we see the drop in Q2 deepening a further 5% to 3750, but proving temporary," UBS's global economics and strategy team wrote in a note to clients on Friday. "A 1-week period of no coupon payment and default would trigger up to a 20% drop in stocks towards 3,400, and keep them suppressed at those low levels through Q3 before making a partial recovery towards 3.800 by year end. The very unlikely scenario of a month long non payment of coupon would not only cause an immediate drop of up to 30% in stocks, it would also see a very weak recovery." The S&P 500 closed at 4,191 on Friday. Debt ceiling discussions will also take a bigger place in the investor conversation going forward as this week wraps up earnings season. Entering Friday, 94% of the S&P 500 had reported earnings. On average, companies have been beating estimates by 6.5%, per Evercore ISI, while reporting an earnings decline for the second straight quarter. Still, stocks are up since the start of the first quarter earning season and the much discussed looming recession hasn't impacted markets yet. In thinking about the timing of a Recession, the Consumer remains key, Julian Emmanuel, who leads Evercore ISI's equity and portfolio strategy, wrote in a note to clients on Friday. "A resilient Consumer was largely the theme in 1Q results, though Banks and Retailers bookending Earnings Season did note some deceleration later in the quarter. Waning momentum could put renewed pressure on estimates in line with historical revision trends." Weekly Calendar Monday Economic data: No notable economic data set for release. Earnings: Ryanair (RYAAY), Zoom (ZM) Tuesday Economic data: S&P Global US manufacturing PMI, May, preliminary reading (50.0 expected, 50.2 previously); S&P Global US Services PMI, May, preliminary reading (53.6 previously); New home sales, April (660,000 annualized rate expected, 683,000 previously); New home sales, month-over-month, April (-3.4% expected, +9.6% previously); Earnings: Autozone(AZO), BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ), Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), Intuit (INTU), Lowe's (L), Willams & Sonoma (WSM), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Toll Brothers (TOL), Urban Outfitters (URBN) Wednesday Economic data: MBA Mortgage Applications (-5.7% previously); FOMC minutes Earnings: Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), BMO (BMO), e.l.f. Beauty (ELF), Kohl's (KSS), Nvidia (NVDA), Petco (WOOF), Red Robin (RRGB), Snowflake (SNOW) Thursday Economic data: Initial jobless claims (250,000 expected, 242,000 prior); First quarter GDP, second estimate (+1.1% annualized rate expected, +1.1% previously) Earnings: Autodesk (ADSK), Best Buy (BBY), Burlington (BURL), Build-A-Bear (BLDR), Costco (COST), Deckers Outdoor (DECK), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Gap (GPS), Marvell (MRVL), Medtronic (MDT), Ralph Lauren (RL), RH (RH), Ulta Beauty (ULTA), TD Bank (TD), Workday (WDAY) Friday Economic data: Personal Income, month-over-month, April (+0.4% expected, +0.3% previously); Personal Spending, month-over-month, April (+0.4% expected, 0% previously); PCE Deflator, month-over-month, April (+0.3% expected,+ 0.1% previously); PCE Deflator, year-over-year, April (+4.6% expected, 4.6% previously); University of Michigan consumer sentiment, May, final reading (58.0 expected, 57.7 previously) Earnings: Big Lots (BIG) Josh is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Insiders who purchased AU$653k worth of Zimi Limited (ASX:ZMM) shares over the past year recouped some of their losses after price gained 15% last week. However, the purchase is proving to be a costly gamble, since losses made by insiders have totalled AU$324k since the time of purchase. While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. View our latest analysis for Zimi Zimi Insider Transactions Over The Last Year In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Non-Executive Chairman of the Board Simon Gerard bought AU$425k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.08 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being AU$0.039). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. In the last twelve months Zimi insiders were buying shares, but not selling. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! Zimi is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Insider Ownership Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Zimi insiders own about AU$1.7m worth of shares (which is 48% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders. So What Does This Data Suggest About Zimi Insiders? The fact that there have been no Zimi insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. With high insider ownership and encouraging transactions, it seems like Zimi insiders think the business has merit. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Zimi. To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Zimi (including 4 which are a bit concerning). If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Once upon a time, the debt ceiling was something that made it easier, not harder, for America to pay its bills. Over 100 years ago, before the first world war, whenever the U.S. Department of the Treasury needed to issue bonds to finance government spending, it had to seek approval from Congress. But after German U-boats began sinking U.S. merchant ships in 1915, killing thousands of Americans and eventually helping to pull the nation into war, the U.S. needed to quickly raise funds to arm Allied forces. Thus the debt ceiling was born in 1917, to allow the Treasury to issue debt on its own as long as it didnt surpass a $9.5 billion limit for Treasury bonds and a $4 billion limit for one-year certificates. 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 The national debt ceiling was later modified during World War II to its current aggregate debt limit. But little did the wartime Congresses of 1917 and 1939 know what their debt ceiling would eventually turn into. Since 1960, Congress has been forced to raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit on 78 separate occasions, according to the Treasury. The 20th century innovation has become a repeat 21st century crisis, with Congress internal deliberations over whether to raise the limit turning into recurrent standoffs and implicit threats to let America do something it never has before: default on its debt and refuse to pay its bills. After hitting the most recent $31.4 trillion debt limit in January, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been forced to use extraordinary measures to keep government running amid gridlock in Washington. Shes repeatedly warned that the deadline to increase the debt ceiling, otherwise known as the X-date, is coming as soon as June 1. If that deadline passes, Yellen believes it will cause an outright economic and financial collapse, as the government would be forced to default on national debt interest payments as well as payments to Social Security recipients and Medicare providers. Moodys Analytics even estimated in January that a debt default could wipe out $12 trillion in household wealth and cause the unemployment rate to surge to 7% in a downturn that would be comparable to that suffered during the global financial crisis. The thing is, panicked rhetoric about a potential failure to lift the debt ceiling has been a common feature since the year 2000, when the skyrocketing national debt became a major political issue. Democrats and Republicans always seem to come right up to the edge before working out a deal to lift the ceiling againsending the national debt higher. Most experts see it playing out that way again. I don't claim to predict politicians, Brian Albrecht, chief economist of the International Center for Law & Economics, told Fortune. But I tend to be an optimist about the ability to find a solution here. Even though there is a lot of theatrics, the shocking thing is Congress has found ways to get through these troubles in the past. So that's my assumptionthat they'll be able to find a way to do that again. I certainly don't have big money on them not passing it. Albrecht isnt alone in this view, either. Despite both sides being far apart, everyone knows the catastrophic consequences of an eventual U.S. default, and no one is ready to push the U.S. into that black hole, Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote bank, told Fortune. There is a good chance that the drama comes to an end within the next few days. In this scenario, we should see a relief rally across risk assets. Green shoots on a debt ceiling deal After months of political gridlock in Washington, there have been a few positive signs over the past week that show the debt ceiling stand-off is likely to end in a dealjust like it always has historically. First, President Biden cut his trip to Papua New Guinea and Australia short Wednesday in order to meet with lawmakers about the debt ceiling and said he was confident that well get the agreement on the budget and America will not default. McCarthy, the Republican Speaker of the House, also told reporters Thursday that he can see now where a deal can come together as soon as next week, noting that negotiations are now in a much better place. Clearly well have to see how this develops and the content of whats actually agreed, but this is a world away from where we were a week-and-a-half ago, when the two sides came out of their initial meeting with no public progress at all, and the route to a deal was much harder to envisage, Jim Reid, Head of Global Fundamental Credit Strategy at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a Thursday research note. Even if a deal doesnt isnt reached by the X-date, some economists have pointed to alternative methods of getting around the debt limit, including invoking the 14th Amendment to argue the debt ceiling is unconstitutional, or minting a $1 trillion platinum coin and depositing at the Treasury so it can pay the U.S.s debts. These ideas, once seen as merely gimmicks, have gained popularity and influence as the debt ceiling debate rages on. But theres another scenario that could play out tooand it wont be nearly as pretty. Reasons we might be in trouble Lawmakers have butted heads over Republicans push for work requirements for government funded programs including the Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a part of the debt ceiling deal. And with political polarization at an all-time high in Congress, according to a Pew Research study, theres concern that a deal might not be reached at all. Especially after House Speak McCarthy said Friday that he was going to press pause on debt ceiling talks, citing real differences and a lack of movement on key issues from the White House. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Analytics, has warned for months that a debt limit breach is possible. In January, when he compared the prospect of a default to the Great Financial Crisis, he laid out several disaster scenarios, saying that its unimaginable that lawmakers would allow things to get to this point, but with 2008 as a guide, they have done the unimaginable before. He predicted lawmakers would quickly reverse themselves and pass a debt ceiling increase, but it would be too late for the already-fragile economy, and a recession would ensue. And if they cant even manage that, the hit to the economy would be cataclysmic. When he testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy in March, Zandi repeated his prediction that a debt default would be cataclysmic. There is a temptation to brush off the developing debt limit drama thinking it will end the same way as the others over the years with lawmakers coming to terms and signing legislation just in time," he said. "That seems a mistake given the heightened dysfunction in Congress and the large political differences gripping the nation." Solita Marcelli, CIO of the Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, also said in a Friday note that she believes the risks of a U.S. debt default are higher than at any time since 2011when the debt ceiling was raised just two days prior to the X-date after Republicans demanded that President Obama negotiate deficit reduction before reaching an agreement. But the CIO still believes a deal will get done. The probability of a timelyalbeit last-minutesettlement is still our base case, she wrote. Marcelli said markets may experience volatility as the discussions continue over the next two weeks, but shes maintaining her long-held view that investors are well-advised to avoid overreacting to media coverage from the nations capital. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from home Looking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right now Buying a house? Here's how much to save This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home Elon Musk gets blowback from Taiwan after saying theres a certain inevitability China will integrate it Elon Musk weighed in this week on Taiwanwhere his comments did not go over well. 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 The official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated, Musk said in an interview with CNBCs David Faber. One does not need to read between the lines. One can simply read the lines. Theres a certain inevitability to the situation. On Friday in Taiwan, foreign minister Joseph Wu responded to the Tesla CEO, tweeting that the Chinese Communist Partys bullying & threats are a concern, especially for those who would rather stay free & democratic. In China, meanwhile, the state-controlled China Daily ran with the headline Elon Musk: Taiwan should be integrated. China considers Taiwan to be its territorydespite the fact that Taiwan is democratic and self-governedand has threatened to use force if necessary to gain control of it. A Chinese takeover could have far-reaching economic consequences. Taiwan is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the worlds largest maker of computer chips by volume. Last November, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said America was utterly and totally dependent on the Taiwanese for modern semiconductors. The billionaire hedge fund chief added, If we lose access to Taiwanese semiconductors, the hit to U.S. GDP is probably in the order of magnitude of 5% to 10%. Its an immediate Great Depression. Legendary investor Warren Buffett this week dumped the rest of Berkshire Hathaways $4 billion stake in TSMC. He told Japans Nikkei last month that the threat of war was a consideration in dumping the bulk of the stake. Last October, Musk told the Financial Times that a conflict over Taiwan is inevitable. His recommendation, he said, would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatablethey could have an arrangement thats more lenient than Hong Kong. Chinas foreign ministry responded to his statements by reiterating that China would resolutely crush 'Taiwan independence' secessionist attempts, resolutely stop interference by external forces, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity." Musk this week compared China and the rest of the global economy to conjoined twins and warned of severe consequences from any attempt to separate them. Tesla has a gigafactory in Shanghai and China is a key market, but he said that the situation is actually a lot worse for a lot of other companiesIm not sure where you will get an iPhone. In Taiwan, however, foreign minister Wu added that Chinas expansionist policy violates rules-based international order & the status quo. Mr. @ElonMusk, other than money, there is something we call VALUES. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from home Looking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right now Buying a house? Here's how much to save This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home Key Insights J Sainsbury's estimated fair value is UK3.40 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity With UK2.81 share price, J Sainsbury appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value The UK2.64 analyst price target for SBRY is 22% less than our estimate of fair value How far off is J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. 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 J Sainsbury Is J Sainsbury Fairly Valued? We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) UK647.0m UK399.0m UK434.5m UK520.5m UK593.0m UK621.0m UK641.7m UK659.1m UK674.0m UK687.2m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 3.34% Est @ 2.71% Est @ 2.27% Est @ 1.96% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 8.6% UK596 UK339 UK340 UK375 UK393 UK379 UK361 UK342 UK322 UK302 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK3.7b After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.2%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.6%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = UK687m (1 + 1.2%) (8.6% 1.2%) = UK9.5b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= UK9.5b ( 1 + 8.6%)10= UK4.2b 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 UK7.9b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of UK2.8, the company appears about fair value at a 17% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf Important Assumptions 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. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at J Sainsbury as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.6%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.050. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for J Sainsbury Strength Debt is not viewed as a risk. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Consumer Retailing market. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the British market. Current share price is below our estimate of fair value. Threat Dividends are not covered by earnings. Annual revenue is forecast to grow slower than the British market. Moving On: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For J Sainsbury, we've compiled three fundamental aspects you should further examine: Risks: For example, we've discovered 4 warning signs for J Sainsbury that you should be aware of before investing here. Future Earnings: How does SBRY's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every British stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Key Insights Mensch und Maschine Software's estimated fair value is 62.77 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Current share price of 51.70 suggests Mensch und Maschine Software is potentially trading close to its fair value Our fair value estimate is similar to Mensch und Maschine Software's analyst price target of 63.23 Does the May share price for Mensch und Maschine Software SE (ETR:MUM) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow. Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Mensch und Maschine Software Step By Step Through The Calculation We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) 35.5m 39.9m 42.0m 49.3m 56.7m 61.6m 65.4m 68.3m 70.4m 72.0m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 8.69% Est @ 6.15% Est @ 4.38% Est @ 3.14% Est @ 2.27% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 6.3% 33.4 35.3 35.0 38.7 41.9 42.8 42.8 42.0 40.8 39.3 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 392m The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 0.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.3%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = 72m (1 + 0.2%) (6.3% 0.2%) = 1.2b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 1.2b ( 1 + 6.3%)10= 654m 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 1.0b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of 51.7, the company appears about fair value at a 18% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf Important Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Mensch und Maschine Software 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 6.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.013. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Mensch und Maschine Software Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is not viewed as a risk. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Software market. Opportunity Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the German market. Current share price is below our estimate of fair value. Threat Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the German market. Looking Ahead: Whilst important, the DCF calculation ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. 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 Mensch und Maschine Software, there are three essential elements you should further examine: Financial Health: Does MUM have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Future Earnings: How does MUM's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every German stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here The five-year decline in earnings for California Water Service Group NYSE:CWT) isn't encouraging, but shareholders are still up 46% over that period While California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn't had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 10% in the last quarter. But the silver lining is the stock is up over five years. However we are not very impressed because the share price is only up 34%, less than the market return of 62%. While this past week has detracted from the company's five-year return, let's look at the recent trends of the underlying business and see if the gains have been in alignment. Check out our latest analysis for California Water Service Group While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement. California Water Service Group's earnings per share are down 2.6% per year, despite strong share price performance over five years. So it's hard to argue that the earnings per share are the best metric to judge the company, as it may not be optimized for profits at this point. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics. We doubt the modest 1.9% dividend yield is attracting many buyers to the stock. On the other hand, California Water Service Group's revenue is growing nicely, at a compound rate of 4.5% over the last five years. It's quite possible that management are prioritizing revenue growth over EPS growth at the moment. The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, California Water Service Group's TSR for the last 5 years was 46%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. A Different Perspective California Water Service Group provided a TSR of 3.1% over the last twelve months. But that return falls short of the market. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 8% a year, over half a decade) look better. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand California Water Service Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for California Water Service Group you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit unpleasant. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here (Bloomberg) -- Germanys Minister for Transport and Digital Affairs Volker Wissing pushed back on calls for Big Tech companies to contribute to the costs of Europes network expansion. Most Read from Bloomberg The free and open internet is a valuable asset that needs to be protected, Wissing said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag. We are therefore opposed to market intervention and complicated participation models. Wissing, a member of the liberal Free Democrats, expressed his opposition to proposals to make technology companies that use the most bandwidth, like Netflix Inc. and Alphabet Inc., help pay for the next generation of internet infrastructure. The European Commission has been holding a consultation on the issue, hearing different positions on whether the largest tech companies should be making contributions to the telecoms companies that provide digital infrastructure. Telecoms companies have lobbied for years for so-called fair share, that would force data-hungry big tech players and streaming platforms to pay toward improving connectivity. But Wissing, among other lawmakers, have warned this could risk the principle of net neutrality that all users should have equal access to the internet not restricted by slower speeds or blocked content from some service providers. The biggest European phone and broadband companies in line to benefit from such a plan include Vodafone Group Plc, Orange SA, Telefonica SA and Deutsche Telekom AG. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. U.S.-manipulated G7 rips world apart, creates tension Xinhua) 09:20, May 21, 2023 People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) The Group of Seven, with significantly weakening economic heft, is unable to represent the world, yet they have failed to face up to the general trend of the times and fixated on Cold War mentality. HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 20 (Xinhua) -- At the Group of Seven (G7) Summit starting here Friday, the U.S.-led clique is again hyping up their so-called "law and order," whereas political observers have precisely debunked the essence of their lies -- a scheme to play small-clique politics and dictate to the rest of the world. U.S. UNDERMINING FREE TRADE The G7 on Saturday issued a statement concerning economic resilience and security, threatening to counter "economic coercion," which will de facto divide the world into two markets and two systems in such areas as semiconductors and critical minerals under the pretext of reducing dependence on China. As reported by the Financial Times, "the co-ordination on China follows two years of efforts by the Biden administration, helped by Japan." The United States is the main culprit in lulling its allies into unplugging from China, which constitutes a serious violation of the principles of free trade and market economy and will harm global economic development. The longer-term cost of trade fragmentation could reach up to 7 percent of global output and some countries could see losses of up to 12 percent of GDP in case of additional technological decoupling, the International Monetary Fund said in a report in January. The United States has been trying to jeopardize the Chinese economy through various means including trade wars, but the ever-growing China-U.S. trade in itself demonstrates that U.S. businesses and people need trade with China, Kazuteru Saionji, a visiting professor at Higashi Nippon International University, told Xinhua in a recent interview. "By dragging the G7 bloc to suppress China under the pretext of de-risking this time, the country is conducting an atrocity deliberately undermining free trade and the world economic division of labor system," the professor noted. Recent years have seen the G7, also known as "the rich club," suffering an irreversible decline of national power. The Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the G7's share of the global economy has fallen from nearly 70 percent in the 1980s to currently about 40 percent, which shows no sign of ceasing to decline. People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 19, 2023. Amid waves of protests, the G7 leaders' annual summit got underway in Hiroshima on Friday. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) The G7, with significantly weakening economic heft, is unable to represent the world, yet they have failed to face up to the general trend of the times and fixated on Cold War mentality, said Japanese political observers. "The G7 has descended into a group of old-fashioned countries clinging to the so-called established international political order," said Atsushi Koketsu, emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University of Japan, adding that with the international community moving forward to pluralism, the G7's relentless efforts to go against the trend of the times will undoubtedly cause imbalance and injustice in the international community. "The era when the United States and other G7 nations control world politics, economy and military has come to an end," noted Saionji. EFFORTS TO DIVIDE WORLD DOOMED TO FAIL The G7 also vowed to heighten sanctions against Russia and intensify diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military support for Ukraine, and condemned Russia in the strongest possible terms in the G7 Hiroshima Leaders' Communique issued Saturday. Kumiko Haba, professor of Kanagawa University, pointed out that the United States has benefited tremendously from the Ukraine crisis, which has consolidated its hegemony by taking a favorable position in international military, economy and politics during the crisis. On the Ukraine issue, China has always been promoting peace talks while the G7 has been impeding China's efforts, said Koketsu, adding that apparently, as long as the G7 is bent on providing military aid to Ukraine, the conflict and tension will linger on. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends the ceremony of the venue for World Expo 2025 at Osaka's Yumeshima artificial island in Osaka, Japan, April 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) Prior to the G7 summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview with local media that China and Russia should not be allowed to unilaterally change the status quo, a stance that was widely questioned and refuted by scholars and analysts. Kishida added that he takes the summit as an opportunity to send this message to the international community. The Japanese leader's claim that "Taiwan contingency is a contingency for Japan" simply follows the U.S. military policy of encircling China unconditionally, as Japan is pushing for military integration with the United States, said Koketsu. His opinion was echoed by Saionji, who pointed out that such a crisis-inciting statement will increase tensions in East Asia and hinder regional peace. As East Asian countries oppose inciting confrontation and creating regional tension, the United States and Japan's ploy of using the Taiwan question to attack China is doomed to fail, said Saionji. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Sheng Chuyi) (Bloomberg) -- Greeks headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a premier for the next four years with voters struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. Most Read from Bloomberg Current Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his center-right New Democracy party and rival leftist Syriza party leader and former premier Alexis Tsipras, whose time in office saw him stand up to those measures ordered by Greeces creditors until he backed down and secured another bailout, are the main contenders. A change in the electoral system, though, makes a rerun of the vote in the summer highly likely. As ever, the main political leaders are trying to convince voters that each of them has the best plan to transport Greece to the future and shed its legacy. Today were voting for our future, for better wages, for more and better jobs, Mitsotakis said after voting in the northern Athens suburb of Kifisia. The rebound in the Greek economy has set the nation on track to recover its investment-grade status after 13 years. Gross domestic product is just about where it was when Greece defaulted on its debt in 2010 and it sank by more than a fifth. Unemployment has more than halved from its peak of 28%. Controls to stop the exodus of euros were lifted more than three years ago. Greek stocks and bonds have soared. Change is in the hands of our people, Tsipras said after casting his ballot in central Athens. Polling stations close at 7 p.m. local time with a safe estimation based on actual votes expected around one and a half hours later. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. JetBlue and American Airlines were ordered by a judge to end their alliance in the Northeast US An American Airlines Airbus A321-200 plane takes off from Los Angeles International airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 28, 2018. A federal judge in Massachusetts struck down a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines to coordinate routes and schedules in the Northeast US, which had effectively combined the Boston and New York operations of the two carriers. Citing antitrust grounds, the judge ruled that the deal was a naked agreement not to compete. The decision was a victory for the US Justice Department, which filed a lawsuit in 2021 to undo the arrangement. Now the airlines have 30 days to end the partnership, which has been running for the past 18 months, although they are expected to appeal the ruling. Read more The DOJ had predicted that air travelers would pay $700 million more a year if the deal was allowed to proceed. The Northeast Alliance (NEA) allowed the airlines to share ticketing codes and revenue, and engage in joint scheduling and gate pooling. The arrangement resulted in American Airlines changing some of its business routes, and both companies argued the partnership would allow them to compete more effectively with Delta and United Airlines. The companies expanded their partnership even as the case continued to be reviewed by the court. We are disappointed in the decision, a JetBlue spokesperson told Quartz in an emailed statement. We made it clear at trial that the Northeast Alliance has been a huge win for customers. Through the NEA, JetBlue has been able to significantly grow in constrained northeast airports, bringing the airlines low fares and great service to more routes than would have been possible otherwise. American Airlines said there was no evidence of consumer harm caused by the partnership. The Northeast Alliance has been a huge win for customers and anything but anticompetitive, a spokesperson told Quartz via email. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to request for comment. A win for the antitrust-focused Biden administration US president Joe Biden signed an executive order in July 2021, directing his administration to break up up monopoly power across a variety of industries, including air travel. The win in the JetBlue-American Airlines matter comes as the DOJ awaits the outcome of another lawsuit it filed, in March, to stop JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines. The government is arguing that the $3.8 billion merger also would raise prices for consumers. Spirits board of directors hesitated to approve the acquisition because of the DOJs antitrust goals, and both companies met with the DOJ in February to try to convince regulators not to sue but were unsuccessful. More from Quartz Sign up for Quartz's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. The leaders of Japan, Australia, India and the United States on Saturday agreed to pursue a region free from "intimidation and coercion," making a renewed commitment to preserving a rules-based order in the face of China's military and economic ambitions. Meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, they also outlined some principles of the partnership, known as Quad, when dealing with challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. They included managing competition "responsibly" and working "transparently" with other regional partners. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said: "The security environment has become even more severe," and that an "international order based on the rule of law is under threat" as he sat together with other leaders. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Under such circumstances, he said it is especially important to encourage the international community to have more "cooperation," not "division and confrontation." From left, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a Quad summit on Saturday in Hiroshima, Japan. Photo: Kyodo alt=From left, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a Quad summit on Saturday in Hiroshima, Japan. Photo: Kyodo> US President Joe Biden said one of the grouping's missions is to demonstrate "the capacity of democracies to deliver." "Our vision is for a region that is peaceful and prosperous, stable and secure, and respectful of sovereignty - free from intimidation and coercion, and where disputes are settled in accordance with international law," they said in a joint statement released after their discussions. China has criticised the grouping as an Asian version of Nato, although it is not a security alliance, and the areas of cooperation now include infrastructure and critical technologies, climate change and outer space. With China's increased use of economic means to push its strategic interests in mind, the Quad statement, without naming the country, said: "We seek a region in which all countries and peoples can exercise free choice on how they cooperate and trade based on partnership, equality and mutual respect." The leaders welcomed the launch of infrastructure initiatives, such as improving undersea cables together to achieve better internet connectivity across the region, according to the US government. The four countries, which organised the first summit only two years ago, are on the same page in many respects, but India's stance on Russia's war against Ukraine is not in sync with the others. The third in-person Quad summit was held on the sidelines of G7 discussions hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Japanese city to secure more support for his country. Zelensky spent much of the day meeting the world leaders and making his case for more aid after 15 months of battling against Russia's invasion. "Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today," Zelensky tweeted. Zelensky had arrived in Japan aboard a French government plane from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he had travelled to join the Arab League meeting on Friday. Zelensky has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic visits in recent days, with visits to Rome, Berlin, Paris and London. The Ukrainian leader is expected to sit down with Biden on Sunday, the third and final day of the G7 summit. He is also expected to give a speech from the symbolic site of the first atomic bomb attack. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, receives Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on Saturday. Photo: Ukrainian Presidency / dpa alt=German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, receives Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on Saturday. Photo: Ukrainian Presidency / dpa> Zelensky said he thanked British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his leadership on Saturday. In a statement, Sunak said: "The G7 was once the G8 - Russia was expelled in 2014 for its illegal annexation of Crimea and flagrant abuse of human rights and the rule of law. "Nine years on, it sends an incredibly powerful message to have my friend and Ukraine's President Zelensky with us in Hiroshima today. "It tells the world that the G7 stands united with the people of Ukraine, in the face of a terrible onslaught. And it demonstrates that brute force and oppression will not triumph over freedom and sovereignty. "From providing Challenger tanks to long-range missiles and pilot training, the UK's support for Ukraine's defence will never waver." Zelensky also met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among others. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, speaks to Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a meeting in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday. Photo: Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP alt=Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, speaks to Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a meeting in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday. Photo: Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP> European Council President Charles Michel promised Zelensky further EU support in their conversation, a spokesman for Michel said. Michel told him that "the EU will work with G7 partners to target every pillar of the Russian economy to ensure Putin's war machine fails," according to Michel's spokesman, Barend Leyts. Having close military and economic ties with Russia, India has refrained from condemning Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. It remains to be seen whether Japan, Australia and the United States can come closer with India on the issue. Kishida invited Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join parts of the three-day G7 summit, which concludes on Sunday. Initially, the Quad summit was to take place in Sydney, Australia next Wednesday after Biden made a planned stop in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. But those plans were scrapped just a day before Biden left for Hiroshima as he had decided to focus on debt-ceiling negotiations in Washington. "I truly apologise to you for having you to come here rather than me being in Australia right now. But we have a little thing going on at home I got to pay attention to," Biden said in his opening statement when he met Albanese one-on-one earlier on Saturday. When asked if he is anxious about the debt talks with congressional leaders, Biden said: "Not at all." He told Albanese: "I still believe we'll be able to avoid a default." Biden promised to host Albanese for a state visit later this year in Washington. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Just over half of mainland Chinese people back full-scale war to take control of Taiwan, poll finds Just over half of mainland Chinese support a full-scale war to take control of Taiwan, according to a new survey that offers a rare insight into public opinion as Beijing takes an increasingly assertive stance towards the island. The survey of 1,824 people found mixed public attitudes, with 55 per cent in favour of "launching a unification war to take back Taiwan entirely", with a third opposing it and the remainder saying they were unsure. The study, by academics Adam Y. Liu, from the National University of Singapore, and Xiaojun Li, from NYU Shanghai, was published in the Journal of Contemporary China on Monday. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Even though authoritarian leaders do not come to power through competitive elections, they still have incentives to ensure their policies align with prevailing public opinion to avoid an internal backlash, the authors wrote. "This is particularly true for China, where nationalism serves as a key pillar of regime legitimacy, especially on issues of sovereignty and territorial integrity," they added. However, analysts said the authorities could use "sophisticated means" to shape public opinion, potentially calming down more extreme voices. The nationwide survey was conducted in late 2020 and early 2021, when respondents were asked a series of questions about their attitudes towards Taiwan and their favoured options as things currently stand. Apart from the 55 per cent supporting a full-scale war, just 1 per cent favoured the most extreme option of not trying other options first. Other options designed to coerce Taiwan into agreeing to unification also won majority support. These included "initiating limited military campaigns on the outskirts of Taiwan" (58 per cent), "using economic sanctions" (57 per cent) and "maintaining status quo to increase economic and military power" until unification (55 per cent). Strong nationalist feeling is one factor Beijing must consider in its approach to Taiwan. Photo: AP alt=Strong nationalist feeling is one factor Beijing must consider in its approach to Taiwan. Photo: AP> Given the extreme sensitivities around the issue, it was perhaps surprising that some 22 per cent of respondents said they were fine with the two sides keeping separate political systems "with unification not necessarily being the end game", compared with 71 per cent who said this was unacceptable. Addressing the political taboos around this issue on the mainland, the authors said: "This basically amounts to agreeing to de facto Taiwan independence, a term we refrained from using to ensure survey feasibility in the Chinese context and to avoid inducing social desirability bias. "Thus, it is possible that the estimated support for this policy option is only the lower bound. Regardless, this finding challenges the prevailing narrative that getting Taiwan back is the collective will of almost everyone in mainland China." The survey was conducted using an online opt-in panel - making it more representative of the views of internet users than the general population. Statistical sampling was used to ensure the demographic make-up of the panel reflected official figures, but those taking part were better educated than the population as a whole with most having college degrees. The researchers also tried to gauge respondents' degree of nationalism by asking five questions about their national pride and sense of belonging. They concluded that a higher degree of nationalism combined with peer pressure created an "amplifying effect" that drove people to support more aggressive options and pressured more moderate voices to conform. However, they also found that the appeal of the aggressive options was dampened by concerns about the economic, human and reputational costs of a forceful takeover and the likelihood of the United States intervening. Although earlier studies have concluded that younger Chinese tend to be more nationalistic and hawkish, this poll found that in fact older respondents tended to favour more aggressive policy choices such as full-scale war or military coercion. "Perhaps the older Chinese have now become more impatient and are more willing to see the Taiwan issue resolved, presumably during their lifetime, one way or the other, rather than wait indefinitely," the authors explained. The release of the survey comes at a time when tensions over the Taiwan Strait have increasingly become a key stage for the bitter rivalry between China and the United States. "The government's rhetoric on Taiwan has been tougher than in the [former president] Hu [Jintao] and Jiang [Zemin] eras, for various reasons like the more recalcitrant Democratic Progressive Party government in Taiwan, China-US rivalry and President Xi [Jinping]'s own ambition," said Liu. But recent signs, including a recent speech by the Communist Party's fourth ranking official Wang Huning where he emphasised the importance of cross-strait ties, show that Beijing is "trying to walk back from [its] tough rhetoric," Liu added. "[Beijing] shall not feel compelled to take a tougher stance on Taipei as milder policy options are also acceptable in the eyes of the Chinese public," he said. The survey could also indicate that armed unification is not Beijing's only choice, Liu said, so the US "should also not design its China policies as if the reunification clock is really ticking". Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland - by force if necessary - and has steadily ramped up military pressure on the self-ruled island. When then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, Beijing launched an unprecedented series of military drills that effectively blockaded the island. A meeting in California last month between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Pelosi's successor Kevin McCarthy prompted another series of large-scale exercises. This increasingly aggressive stance has also prompted concerns that Beijing might try to speed up its timetable for reunification, with Philip Davidson, the former head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, warning in 2021 that it might make its move "within the next six years". The US, in common with most countries, does not officially recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state, but it opposes any attempt to change the status quo by force and is legally bound to help the island defend itself. A majority of Americans, especially Democrats, support the US defending Taiwan, according to a public poll conducted by Global Taiwan Institute, a Washington-based non-profit. Beijing has also become concerned as more countries argue that the future of Taiwan, a key producer of semiconductors, is a "global" one, despite its insistence that the matter is purely an internal affair. Amanda Hsiao, a senior China analyst with the International Crisis Group said there appears to be "growing pessimism" about the prospects of a peaceful resolution and warned that high levels of nationalism in China could narrow the range of seemingly acceptable options. The future status of Taiwan is a highlight sensitive topic in mainland China. Photo: Bloomberg alt=The future status of Taiwan is a highlight sensitive topic in mainland China. Photo: Bloomberg> "Public opinion can shape what Chinese elites perceive to be the politically correct parameters of the discussion on Taiwan," she explained. But she said China had "sophisticated means" of shaping public opinion the way it wanted, adding: "If policymakers wanted to tamp down on public calls for more extreme responses to Taiwan in order to give themselves more political space to manoeuvre, they can." Sung Wen-Ti, a political scientist with Australian National University, said the Chinese public only had limited influence over policymaking - especially with regard to sensitive issues such as Taiwan - due to the focus on the core leadership of Xi and the party. "That can mean that Beijing's continued preference for peaceful unification still has staying power regardless of shifts in public opinion," he said. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. The board of Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad (KLSE:MPI) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 21st of June, with investors receiving MYR0.25 per share. This payment means the dividend yield will be 1.4%, which is below the average for the industry. See our latest analysis for Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock. The last dividend was quite comfortably covered by Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad's earnings, but it was a bit tighter on the cash flow front. The business is earning enough to make the dividend feasible, but the cash payout ratio of 92% indicates it is more focused on returning cash to shareholders than growing the business. Analysts expect a massive rise in earnings per share in the next year. If the dividend extends its recent trend, estimates say the dividend could reach 18%, which we would be comfortable to see continuing. Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad Has A Solid Track Record The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. Since 2013, the annual payment back then was MYR0.10, compared to the most recent full-year payment of MYR0.35. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 13% a year over that time. We can see that payments have shown some very nice upward momentum without faltering, which provides some reassurance that future payments will also be reliable. The Dividend's Growth Prospects Are Limited Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Unfortunately things aren't as good as they seem. Over the past five years, it looks as though Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad's EPS has declined at around 2.3% a year. Declining earnings will inevitably lead to the company paying a lower dividend in line with lower profits. However, the next year is actually looking up, with earnings set to rise. We would just wait until it becomes a pattern before getting too excited. In Summary Overall, we don't think this company makes a great dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't cut this year. The company hasn't been paying a very consistent dividend over time, despite only paying out a small portion of earnings. Overall, we don't think this company has the makings of a good income stock. It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Is Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he expects to speak with President Joe Biden shortly on negotiations to avert a catastrophic US debt default even as he signaled that talks remain at an impasse. Most Read from Bloomberg McCarthy reiterated his opposition to raising revenue and said Biden told him in their recent Oval Office meeting that he knew taxes were off the table. Hes now reversed course, McCarthy said. We have got 11 days to go, McCarthy said at the Capitol on Sunday, urging Biden and fellow Democrats to be sensible about this. McCarthys comments come amid turbulent talks to avoid a default, and as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday the chances that the US can pay all its bills by mid-June are quite low. It seems as though he wants default more than he wants a deal, McCarthy said in an interview with Fox News Sunday Morning Futures. Biden told reporters Sunday in Japan that he proposed to cut spending and that the onus is now on Republicans to shift their demands. The president insisted he wouldnt agree to a deal that protects tax breaks for the wealthy and the fossil-fuel and pharmaceutical industries while cutting health-care and education funding. Now its time for the other side to move from their extreme positions because much of what theyve already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable, Biden said. Republicans have lowered their demands on spending caps from 10 years to six years, according to two people familiar with the talks, but the White House still wants the deal to last two years. One of the people said the GOP is still seeking a large increase to defense spending next year, something that would deepen cuts to social services. Democrats have demanded that defense, which is about half of all federal discretionary spending, not be fenced off from cuts. McCarthy and his spokesman didnt reply when asked about the GOP spending cap offer. Yellen underscored the urgency of the situation, telling NBC the US is unlikely to reach mid-June and still be able to pay its bills. While tax payments are expected in mid-June, getting to that date is the problem, she said. McCarthy said theres some talk of extending the debt ceiling until 2025, but he said hes demanding cuts to federal spending in exchange for GOP votes to do so. Biden, he said, is resisting. The president keeps changing positions every time Bernie Sanders has a press conference, he said. McCarthy said Biden is demanding tax increases after earlier agreeing to keep them off the table. He also said Republicans have made compromises but didnt specify them. Republican Representative Patrick McHenry, one of McCarthys top lieutenants, said he was pessimistic about the status of talks. There are no plans for White House and GOP negotiating teams to meet, he said. Investors are bracing for currency volatility this week and losses in equities as US lawmakers struggle to clinch a debt-limit deal. Treasury bills that mature after early June have traded with significant yield premiums because of the default risk, and the cost of insuring US debt against non-payment has soared in recent weeks. A first-ever US payments default would cause massive pain for the global economy, with forecasts of job losses and higher borrowing costs. That put the standoff in Washington on the minds of Bidens counterparts at the Group of Seven summit in Japan over the last several days. It is definitely a subject of interest here at the G-7, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday. Countries want to have a sense of how these negotiations are going to play out. (Updates with detail in eighth and ninth paragraphs) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. How the naive golden boy of levelling up got hit with claims of criminality and corruption Rishi Sunak and Ben Houchen - Charlotte Graham Ben Houchen cant say he wasnt warned. Just two weeks after his surprise victory in the Tees Valley in May 2017, the Tory mayor travelled down to Westminster to see Sajid Javid with his grand plan for the region. The vast Teesside Steelworks was ripe for redevelopment, he told the then-local government secretary. Javid explained that the site had been the bane of his life since its Thai owners had shuttered the plant in 2015. Covering an area the size of Gibraltar, the works had been left as a toxic wasteland after almost a century and a half of steelmaking. Simply maintaining the site was costing taxpayers 20m a year. I sat in his office, Houchen says. I remember because its now Michael Goves office. Him and his adviser Sonia Khan both said: Don't go anywhere near it. Its an absolute s---show. Houchen was undeterred, however, and six years on finds himself star of his own s---show. He is battling allegations of sweetheart deals with two local businessmen which threaten to sink a Johnson-era golden boy whose political career soared on hopes of levelling up the North East. Teesport industrial site - Lorne Campbell The 36-year-old remains defiant, however. He concedes a degree of political naivety but insists he would not have done anything differently. A million percent, not a chance, he says. The plan to rejuvenate the site was supposed to be comparatively simple. Government grants almost 250m was made available would be used to get the scheme off the ground. Thereafter the private sector would step in, gradually taking the lead in the development. Prospective industrial tenants, it was hoped, would be keen to take advantage of the neighbouring Redcar Bulk Terminal a deep port on the mouth of the Tees Estuary that is one of the most attractive on the east coast of England. The problem was and remains that until a colossal cleanup is completed, the entire development is effectively worthless. Safety rules dictate that at the very least the top two metres of earth across the entire 4,500 acres needs to be removed, for instance. More must be dug out if toxic surprises are found. Those costs are estimated to be almost half a billion pounds, according to a valuation report seen by The Telegraph. Surveyors therefore ascribed the site a notional 1 value. Nevertheless, what does not pass the sniff test in the words of Andy McDonald, Labours Middlesbrough MP, is how two local developers, Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney, came to take a 90pc stake in Europes biggest brownfield site, leaving taxpayers with just 10pc. Teesworks Ltd is a public-private partnership between South Tees Development Corporation a subsidiary of Tees Valley Combined Authority and the two developers. It encompasses the 4,500-acre site and to date claims to have created 2,725 jobs and secured 2bn in investment from occupiers. The two men do not stand only to profit handsomely from a successful redevelopment, either. They are joint venture partners in another of Houchens flagship initiatives, the Tees Valley Combined Authoritys nationalisation of Teesside Airport. Musgrave and Corneys involvement in Teesworks can be traced back to early 2019. Houchen says that in a deal meant to keep the Redcar Bulk Terminal out of bankruptcy, the pair provided 540,000 in return for security rights over some of the land. The cash failed to save the business, however, and the duo gained a more powerful voice in discussion over the sites future. Houchens critics argue that there appeared to be no public procurement process in selecting Teesworks private partners. Irrespective of the optics. We were left in a position where Chris and Martin had the keys to unlock the steelworks, insists Houchen. Or it stays derelict and costs the taxpayer 20m-a-year and we don't create any new jobs. More eyebrows were raised when Musgrave and Corneys stake in the joint venture was increased from 50pc to 90pc in August 2021 without fanfare. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen officially launches Teesside Freeport on October 28, 2021 in Teesside - Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Officials at the local authority argue there was a good reason for this. Rishi Sunak, then Chancellor under Boris Johnson, picked Teesworks as the countrys biggest freeport, making its potential tenants eligible for generous tax benefits and more flexible border controls. Sunaks freeport subsidies would only be on the table for five years, however. For Teesport to take advantage, work needed to be accelerated but there was no public money to pay for it. We needed to do 15 years of development in five years, says Julie Gilhespie, chief executive of South Tees Development Corporation. Musgrave and Corney were willing to commit to a faster timetable for a bigger stake. A month later the deal became even more potentially lucrative for the local men, when Houchens agency transferred a further 90-acre plot to Teesworks for a nominal 1-per-acre fee, according to Land Registry filings. Houchen insists any appearance of a giveaway is misleading. This land was then allocated to the sites first tenant, the South Korean manufacturer SeAH Wind, which planned to build a turbine blade plant. While the land appeared to cost Musgrave and Corney next to nothing, that first tenancy agreement triggered a 15m side payment by the pair to the local authority. That price was in line with independent valuations obtained by Houchens team. SeAH has since agreed to pay Teesworks 4.3m-a-year in rent for 40 years. In a further complication, the Australian investor Macquarie has agreed to step in and pay the developer 75m up front, allowing it to collect rent and make a substantial profit from the South Koreans over the coming decades. Such an arrangement is not unusual. But the decision by the local authority to guarantee the payments to Macquarie, ensuring Musgrave and Corney receive their upfront cash has sparked fears the men could still walk away with 90pc of 75m if Teesworks fails to deliver a usable site. Officials deny this. As part of the agreement between Macquarie and Teesworks Ltd, Teesworks Ltd has made contractual commitments for tens of millions of pounds of investment into the site, a spokesman for Teesworks says. Houchen says that allegations of sweetheart deals are completely unfounded. Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough - Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Under fire from the Labour front bench, last week he wrote to Michael Gove, the Levelling-Up Secretary, asking him to identify the appropriate body to conduct a parliamentary review of the project. Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling-up secretary who also called for a full parliamentary inquiry last week said she had made no accusations of wrongdoing, but that Houchen had questions to answer. On the same edition of BBC Newsnight Houchen repeatedly swerved questions on how much money Musgrave and Corney have personally risked. Failure to deliver would allow Houchen to take back control, officials insist. But a quick return can be made. The local authority estimates there is 120m of scrap metal on site and proceeds will be split equally between taxpayers and the developers. Houchen says: I was maybe under the mistaken impression albeit I do still believe this largely that actually people care about the outcomes. Its a bit like buying the airport. Nobody cares that I spent 40m buying the airport. They dont care. They care about flights and jobs. Is everyone in Redcar a free-marketeer? Of course not. They just care about the fact that factories and jobs are being created. So we always concentrate on the outcome. Outcomes are important. But so are the means, highlights McDonald, who used parliamentary privilege to make allegations of Houchen being at the centre of industrial-scale corruption last month. Democracy is a painful, expensive, time-consuming process. But thats all weve got between that and just dictatorship and oligarchy, isnt it? he says. Houchen says: It also seems naive to say but I dont see myself as a national politician. Ive heard it from friends and others who were like, youve got to recognise sometimes when you say things. But when you try to make these decisions, I still see myself as a lad who accidentally got elected in 2017 and is just trying his best. So yeah, I dont disagree that there was some level of naivety there as a result. Naivety is one thing, you take it on the chin. But suggesting criminality, corruption and wrongdoing is a whole different kettle of fish. 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. Nufarm Limited (ASX:NUF) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 9th of June to A$0.05. Even though the dividend went up, the yield is still quite low at only 2.1%. See our latest analysis for Nufarm Nufarm's Dividend Is Well Covered By Earnings The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock. Based on the last payment, Nufarm was earning enough to cover the dividend, but free cash flows weren't positive. With the company not bringing in any cash, paying out to shareholders is bound to become difficult at some point. The next year is set to see EPS grow by 33.2%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 20% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward. Dividend Volatility Although the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. Since 2013, the annual payment back then was A$0.06, compared to the most recent full-year payment of A$0.12. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 7.2% over that duration. It's good to see the dividend growing at a decent rate, but the dividend has been cut at least once in the past. Nufarm might have put its house in order since then, but we remain cautious. The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share is growing. It's encouraging to see that Nufarm has been growing its earnings per share at 28% a year over the past five years. Earnings have been growing rapidly, and with a low payout ratio we think that the company could turn out to be a great dividend stock. In Summary In summary, while it's always good to see the dividend being raised, we don't think Nufarm's payments are rock solid. While the low payout ratio is a redeeming feature, this is offset by the minimal cash to cover the payments. We don't think Nufarm is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus. It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for Nufarm that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Key Insights Koninklijke Vopak's estimated fair value is 42.67 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Current share price of 33.18 suggests Koninklijke Vopak is potentially 22% undervalued The 40.38 analyst price target for VPK is 5.4% less than our estimate of fair value How far off is Koninklijke Vopak N.V. (AMS:VPK) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for Koninklijke Vopak What's The Estimated Valuation? We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (, Millions) 207.2m 316.6m 332.5m 545.0m 558.8m 568.5m 576.1m 582.2m 587.2m 591.5m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 1.73% Est @ 1.34% Est @ 1.06% Est @ 0.86% Est @ 0.73% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 9.7% 189 263 252 376 352 326 301 277 255 234 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 2.8b We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (0.4%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 9.7%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = 591m (1 + 0.4%) (9.7% 0.4%) = 6.4b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 6.4b ( 1 + 9.7%)10= 2.5b 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 5.4b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of 33.2, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 22% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. dcf The Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Koninklijke Vopak as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 9.7%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.566. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Koninklijke Vopak Strength Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows. Weakness Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Oil and Gas market. Opportunity Expected to breakeven next year. Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows. Trading below our estimate of fair value by more than 20%. Threat Paying a dividend but company is unprofitable. Moving On: Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Koninklijke Vopak, there are three additional aspects you should assess: Risks: Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Koninklijke Vopak , and understanding these should be part of your investment process. Future Earnings: How does VPK's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Dutch stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. That downside risk was realized by Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) shareholders over the last year, as the share price declined 15%. That's well below the market return of 6.9%. At least the damage isn't so bad if you look at the last three years, since the stock is down 9.9% in that time. So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress. See our latest analysis for Sturm Ruger 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. 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. Unhappily, Sturm Ruger had to report a 51% decline in EPS over the last year. This fall in the EPS is significantly worse than the 15% the share price fall. It may have been that the weak EPS was not as bad as some had feared. The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). Dive deeper into Sturm Ruger's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Sturm Ruger'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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Sturm Ruger the TSR over the last 1 year was -4.8%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! A Different Perspective Sturm Ruger shareholders are down 4.8% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 6.9%. 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. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 3%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Sturm Ruger better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Sturm Ruger . But note: Sturm Ruger may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Speaking to a packed audience on the final day of the 2023 Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Fla., Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decisively built Bitcoin into his campaign platform, saying the cryptocurrency must be defended against what he called "invasive surveillance." "We live in a time now that technology has dangerously expanded the capacity for governments and corporations to control our lives," Kennedy said. "Distant, impersonal multinationals and authoritarian technologies have usurped realms of human activity that were once private or held by the community." Kennedy added that these technologies monitor movements, communications, and transactions, pointing to the trucker protest in Ottawa, Canada, in 2022 as an example. He said Bitcoin won him over when he witnessed the Canadian administration using surveillance and data tracking systems to block truckers who were protesting COVID mandates from accessing their bank accounts in a bid to end the demonstration. "When I witnessed this cataclysm, this devastating use of government repression, I realized for the first time how free money is as important to freedom as free expression," Kennedy said. During his keynote address, Kennedy took aim at President Joe Biden's proposed 30% tax on energy use for Bitcoin miners saying it would require an invasive surveillance apparatus to monitor miner energy usage. Initially introduced in the White Houses 2024 budget, the Biden Administration called for a 30% crypto mining tax, saying that crypto mining consumed almost as much energy, 50,000 gigawatts of electricity, as televisions and home computers in 2022. Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining Deserves the Spotlight: US Senator Markey The energy consumed by mining cryptocurrency has long been a cudgel used against proof-of-work blockchains. Proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin consume significant energy due to the computational power required to solve the complex mathematical problems involved in mining. "It sets a terrible precedent in which everything that you do that requires electricity must now be monitored by the government," Kennedy said, adding that he would support peoples right to refuse smart meters in their homes. Kennedy had already stepped into the digital currency arena after opposing a U.S. central bank digital currency, or CBDC, and saying the U.S. government was waging a "war on crypto." "As President," Kennedy told the audience. "I will make sure that your right to hold and use Bitcoin is inviolable, [and] I will defend the right of self-custody." Not only would Kennedy protect the right to hold Bitcoin, he assured the crowd, he also pledged to uphold the right to run a private nodesaying that Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements should be applied at the level of banks and exchanges, not at the level of nodes. "I don't think the government has the right to demand access to your Bitcoin key or indeed any of your passwords," Kennedy said. "To say otherwise is to cede essential territory to the surveillance state." "The whole point of Bitcoin is that it's decentralized," Kennedy said. "Anyone can run a node, and it's important not only for Bitcoin but for democracy to be decentralized." It's common for many investors, especially those who are inexperienced, to buy shares in companies with a good story even if these companies are loss-making. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. Loss-making companies are always racing against time to reach financial sustainability, so investors in these companies may be taking on more risk than they should. So if this idea of high risk and high reward doesn't suit, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, like Telecom Plus (LON:TEP). While this doesn't necessarily speak to whether it's undervalued, the profitability of the business is enough to warrant some appreciation - especially if its growing. Check out our latest analysis for Telecom Plus Telecom Plus' Earnings Per Share Are Growing Generally, companies experiencing growth in earnings per share (EPS) should see similar trends in share price. So it makes sense that experienced investors pay close attention to company EPS when undertaking investment research. We can see that in the last three years Telecom Plus grew its EPS by 9.6% per year. That's a pretty good rate, if the company can sustain it. It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. Telecom Plus maintained stable EBIT margins over the last year, all while growing revenue 31% to UK1.2b. That's progress. The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart. Of course the knack is to find stocks that have their best days in the future, not in the past. You could base your opinion on past performance, of course, but you may also want to check this interactive graph of professional analyst EPS forecasts for Telecom Plus. Are Telecom Plus Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders? It's a necessity that company leaders act in the best interest of shareholders and so insider investment always comes as a reassurance to the market. Telecom Plus followers will find comfort in knowing that insiders have a significant amount of capital that aligns their best interests with the wider shareholder group. Indeed, they have a considerable amount of wealth invested in it, currently valued at UK99m. This suggests that leadership will be very mindful of shareholders' interests when making decisions! While it's always good to see some strong conviction in the company from insiders through heavy investment, it's also important for shareholders to ask if management compensation policies are reasonable. A brief analysis of the CEO compensation suggests they are. The median total compensation for CEOs of companies similar in size to Telecom Plus, with market caps between UK803m and UK2.6b, is around UK1.6m. Telecom Plus offered total compensation worth UK1.2m to its CEO in the year to March 2022. That is actually below the median for CEO's of similarly sized companies. CEO remuneration levels are not the most important metric for investors, but when the pay is modest, that does support enhanced alignment between the CEO and the ordinary shareholders. Generally, arguments can be made that reasonable pay levels attest to good decision-making. Does Telecom Plus Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist? As previously touched on, Telecom Plus is a growing business, which is encouraging. The growth of EPS may be the eye-catching headline for Telecom Plus, but there's more to bring joy for shareholders. With a meaningful level of insider ownership, and reasonable CEO pay, a reasonable mind might conclude that this is one stock worth watching. It's still necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Telecom Plus , and understanding this should be part of your investment process. Although Telecom Plus certainly looks good, it may appeal to more investors if insiders were buying up shares. If you like to see insider buying, then this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying, could be exactly what you're looking for. Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Key Insights Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers fair value estimate is US$93.89 Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is estimated to be 40% undervalued based on current share price of US$55.97 The US$64.81 analyst price target for RBA is 31% less than our estimate of fair value Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE:RBA) as an investment opportunity by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex. We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you. Check out our latest analysis for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers The Calculation We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$240.0m US$607.0m US$779.2m US$938.9m US$1.08b US$1.20b US$1.30b US$1.39b US$1.46b US$1.52b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 28.37% Est @ 20.49% Est @ 14.98% Est @ 11.12% Est @ 8.42% Est @ 6.52% Est @ 5.20% Est @ 4.27% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.5% US$221 US$516 US$610 US$678 US$718 US$736 US$735 US$722 US$700 US$673 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$6.3b After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.1%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.5%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032 (1 + g) (r g) = US$1.5b (1 + 2.1%) (8.5% 2.1%) = US$24b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$24b ( 1 + 8.5%)10= US$11b The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$17b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of US$56.0, the company appears quite undervalued at a 40% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf The Assumptions Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.074. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Strength Debt is well covered by earnings. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Commercial Services market. Shareholders have been diluted in the past year. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the American market. Trading below our estimate of fair value by more than 20%. Significant insider buying over the past 3 months. Threat Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow. Dividends are not covered by earnings and cashflows. Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year. Moving On: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, we've compiled three further aspects you should look at: Risks: Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 5 warning signs with Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (at least 3 which are significant) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Future Earnings: How does RBA's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here San Francisco authorities have opened a new investigation into Twitter after six former senior employees filed a lawsuit against the company, according to AP and the San Francisco Chronicle. The plaintiffs are accusing the company of breaking local and federal laws and of violating building codes in its effort to turn some of the rooms in its headquarters into bedrooms for employees. The city's authorities first launched an investigation into the company in December 2022 following a Forbes report that it converted some its conference rooms so its staff would have somewhere to rest. If you'll recall, Elon Musk asked remaining employees after a series of mass layoffs to commit to an "extremely hardcore" Twitter that expects them to work "long hours at high intensity." The employees were reportedly given no context about the bedrooms. But one could come to the conclusion, based on his ultimatum, that Musk expected employees to work very long hours that they'd need somewhere to rest in or sleep in overnight. One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Joseph Killian, the former lead project manager of global design and construction at Twitter. He said Musk's team instructed him to violate building codes, including removing motion-sensitive lights because they were bothering the staff trying to sleep. The company's landlord apparently rejected the request, but he still had to hire an electrician to disconnect the lights without permission. Killian also said that he was told to install cheaper locks for the sleeping quarters that don't automatically unlock in case of emergency, even though he warned the team that they'd prevent first responders from accessing the rooms. He reportedly quit that day, though somebody else installed the locks afterward. In addition, Killian accused the company of telling him not to divulge those planned changes to city inspectors visiting Twitter HQ. The inspectors only saw the beds and new furniture and had no idea about the violations, the lawsuit states. Aside from Killian's complaints, the lawsuit also accuses Twitter of not paying their promised severance. The new leadership under Musk, it said, "deliberately, specifically, and repeatedly announced their intentions to breach contracts, violate laws, and otherwise ignore their legal obligations." Regarding Twitter not paying rent, for instance, Musk adviser Pablo Mendoza allegedly told former Twitter real estate division lead Tracy Hawkins: "Elon told me he would only pay rent over his dead body." Alex Spiro, Musk's personal attorney, also allegedly and "loudly opined that it was unreasonable for Twitters landlords to expect Twitter to pay rent, since San Francisco was a shole." The California Property Trust, which owns the building where Twitter's HQ is located, sued the company for failing to pay $136,250 in rent back in January. San Francisco previously gave Twitter 15 days to fix its building permit to be able to keep their beds after Forbes' report came out, but the Chronicle says permits haven't been granted yet. This new investigation is reportedly being conducted by the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, though it has yet to issue an official statement. As for Twitter, the company hasn't had a communications team in a while. Ideally, your overall portfolio should beat the market average. But the main game is to find enough winners to more than offset the losers So we wouldn't blame long term Eurocell plc (LON:ECEL) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 52% over a half decade. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 45% over the last twelve months. Furthermore, it's down 24% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders. So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress. View our latest analysis for Eurocell 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. During the five years over which the share price declined, Eurocell's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 0.008% each year. Readers should note that the share price has fallen faster than the EPS, at a rate of 14% per year, over the period. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past. The low P/E ratio of 5.76 further reflects this reticence. The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Eurocell's earnings, revenue and cash flow. What About Dividends? As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Eurocell's TSR for the last 5 years was -43%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. A Different Perspective Eurocell shareholders are down 41% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 3.9%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 7% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that Eurocell is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those shouldn't be ignored... If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on British exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here london silicon roundabout Rishi Sunaks Future Fund is sitting on a paper loss after failed bets made by the start-up support programme eclipsed profitable investments. The taxpayer-backed fund had made a net cash loss of 63.7m as of the end of last year, Telegraph analysis shows. The net loss shows that the fund, which was set up to provide emergency financing to start-ups in the early weeks of Covid lockdowns, is so far yet to produce any returns that makes up for the substantial number of failed companies it has backed. Private sector venture capital funds typically expected as many as seven in 10 of their investments to fail. However, the returns generated by successful bets usually more than make up for the losses borne by the collapsed companies. The Future Fund has made a profit of 26m on the 43 fund investments that had been sold by the end of last year, according to figures released by the British Business Bank (BBB) under a Freedom of Information request. In comparison, it has lost 89.7m on 104 loans to companies that have gone bust, according to previous disclosures from the BBB. The figures are a snapshot of the fund at the end of last year and do not reflect the hundreds of other investments on the Future Funds book. These may lead to profitable returns for the taxpayer, or alternatively deepen its losses. Mr Sunak championed the Future Fund while he was Chancellor in 2020 as one of a string of taxpayer-funded support measures to help businesses through the pandemic. It provided loans to start-ups, which convert into shareholdings when the company next raises money. The fund only sees a cash return when the company is sold or goes public. The fund invested 1.1bn into 1,190 start-ups. At the end of March, 529 loans had converted to shares, 502 remained as loans, 49 had been sold, and 111 had become insolvent. Among the exits include ContentCal, which was sold to the US tech giant Adobe, and regulatory technology company Passfort, which was sold to Moodys. The BBB said it expected the fund to track the wider market as more of its investments mature. A spokesman said: The Future Fund is a portfolio of convertible loans and shareholdings, the value of which is not solely measured by realised cash returns. As venture capital is long-term term investment, it is too early to give an indication of the overall Future Fund performance, however due to the size of the portfolio, and the commercial nature of the third-party investors, we expect it to track the market over time. The BBB put the fair value of the fund at 1.04bn last April. Hundreds of start-ups backed by the fund face a cliff-edge in the coming months as the loans begin to mature. Companies that took out the loans in 2020 and 2021 must repay them on onerous terms or seek an extension if they do not raise new funding before the three-year loans expire. 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. A Tesco staff loads shelves at a supermarket in London, Britain - ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Supermarkets face having to label food as not for EU in four different ways under Brexit plans being discussed by the Government. Grocery chiefs are understood to be expecting to have to place labels denoting food cannot be sent to the EU on not only the individual packs of food, but also on cases carrying products and on supermarket shelves. This follows discussions in recent weeks with officials and was described by one senior supermarket boss as gold plating the so-called Windsor framework. It could, they said, potentially result in stores replacing millions of shelf edge labels. It comes amid confusion among businesses over how the post-Brexit trading arrangements will work, with retail industry group the British Retail Consortium (BRC) earlier this month warning that many traders did not have sufficient detail over the requirements. Officials are expecting to publish guidance on labelling within the next few weeks. Not for EU labels will start being phased in on meat and dairy products from October as part of the Windsor framework, which is being championed by the Government as an effort to ensure the same goods are on shelves across the whole of the UK. They were initially expected to only apply to products going into Northern Ireland, but the Telegraph revealed earlier this month that the labels would be brought in across the whole of the UK. It sparked criticism from senior Conservatives including Sir Iain Duncan Smith who branded the rules ridiculous. Former Cabinet minister David Jones told the Telegraph: There is no good reason why food produced and sold in any part of the United Kingdom should be labelled not for EU, much less if it is sold in mainland Great Britain. Despite this, ministers have pushed ahead with the plans. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed that the labels would be required across the UK last week for practical and philosophical reasons. This would mean there was a common labelling regime across the UK. The EU's current guidance indicates that supermarkets will have to be labelling produce in multiple different ways, saying: The Commission and the UK government have agreed on requirements for the labelling of agri-food retail goods at different levels: individual, box, shelf signs and posters. From October 1 2023, pre-packed meat and fresh milk will be individually labelled. Goods sold loose need only to be labelled at box level (e.g. apples) and easily visible signs would need to be placed next to the price tag on the shelves in the supermarkets. The labelling rules have sparked frustration among supermarket bosses, adding extra costs at a time when they are under pressure to bring prices down. Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, assistant director of food at the BRC, said: The Government must realise that the scale of relabelling, which we cannot begin until we have the detail, means there is insufficient time to makes the necessary changes ahead of the October 1 deadline for moving goods to Northern Ireland through the new green lane. Given this is intended to prevent goods from GB entering the EU through Northern Ireland, it is unclear why such labelling is necessary for all goods sold in Great Britain. This will only add unnecessary costs at a time when the cost of living is already high. A UK Government spokesman said: We have always been clear that labelling would be needed for the green lane. The new not for EU labelling requirements will only be needed for certain goods, and will be phased in from October 2023. This is a proportionate and necessary means of ensuring goods moving in the green lane will only be sold to consumers in Northern Ireland and ensures they can move without routine checks. We are engaging with businesses to help them adapt to these new arrangements and will set out more guidance in due course. 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. Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand Trans-China Automotive Holdings Limited (Catalist:VI2). Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders. View our latest analysis for Trans-China Automotive Holdings How To Calculate Return On Equity? The formula for return on equity is: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Trans-China Automotive Holdings is: 7.1% = CN21m CN296m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022). The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every SGD1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated SGD0.07 in profit. Does Trans-China Automotive Holdings Have A Good ROE? One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. As shown in the graphic below, Trans-China Automotive Holdings has a lower ROE than the average (10%) in the Specialty Retail industry classification. roe Unfortunately, that's sub-optimal. That being said, a low ROE is not always a bad thing, especially if the company has low leverage as this still leaves room for improvement if the company were to take on more debt. A high debt company having a low ROE is a different story altogether and a risky investment in our books. Our risks dashboard should have the 5 risks we have identified for Trans-China Automotive Holdings. Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking. Combining Trans-China Automotive Holdings' Debt And Its 7.1% Return On Equity Trans-China Automotive Holdings does use a high amount of debt to increase returns. It has a debt to equity ratio of 1.29. The combination of a rather low ROE and significant use of debt is not particularly appealing. Debt does bring extra risk, so it's only really worthwhile when a company generates some decent returns from it. Conclusion Return on equity is a useful indicator of the ability of a business to generate profits and return them to shareholders. In our books, the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE. Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So I think it may be worth checking this free this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow. If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a news conference at the Group of Seven nations' summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte, Pool) HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. We are not throwing people (away) to die," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. "People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fight for the city of Bakhmut is continuing, the Ukrainian military's general staff said in a statement on Sunday evening. Oleksandr Syrskyi, a spokesman for the military's eastern command, said Ukrainian forces control the outskirts of the city, and defense forces continue offensive actions on the flanks near Bakhmut. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. ___ Elise Morton reported from London, and Susie Blann from Kyiv, Ukraine. Elaine Kurtenbach and Adam Schreck contributed to this report from Hiroshima. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Wealthy households four times more likely to install a heat pump Air source heat pump installers from Solaris Energy installing a Vaillant Arotherm plus 7kw air source heat pump unit into a 1930s built house in Folkestone, United Kingdom - Andrew Aitchison/Getty Images Households living in the wealthiest parts of England are four times more likely to have a heat pump installed than their less well-off counterparts, a new Telegraph analysis has revealed. Of roughly 3.1 million households in the least deprived areas of the country, 33,718 have heat pumps or 1.1pc. This is compared to just 0.28pc in the most deprived areas, or 16,804 out of a total 6.1 million households, according to standards body MCS. It raises fresh questions about the Governments roll out of heat pumps and the level of grant funding available, which experts have warned is too low. A typical heat pump costs between 7,000 and 13,000 to install, according to the Energy Saving Trust, before government grants are applied. But MCS data shows the average installation cost for an air source heat pump the most common type stands at just under 12,800 today, which would amount to a 7,800 upfront cost even after a 5,000 government grant. Craig Mackinlay, a Conservative backbencher and chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, a caucus of Tory MPs, said: As I have warned for some time now, heat pump subsidies are likely to overwhelmingly benefit richer households. This new analysis bears this out and I would urge the Government to do more to ensure the net zero agenda is fair to households of all different incomes. In February, a House of Lords committee warned that the upfront costs of heat pumps were still too high for many households, even with the help of the grant, making it impossible for low-income households to benefit from government-funded support. Overall, publicly-available figures from standards body MCS suggest there are more than 189,300 air source and ground or water source heat pumps installed across the whole of the UK. That is an increase of 31pc compared to the end of 2021, when there were 144,345 installed. However, uptake is still falling drastically short of the Governments target to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028. This newspapers analysis also shows that heat pumps are most popular in rural areas so far. People living in rural areas are five times more likely to get one than their urban counterparts, with 1.7pc, or 84,687, of Englands five million rural households installing them. That compares to just 0.3pc, or 60,272, of the countrys urban population who have one. Across the UK more widely, the areas where the largest share of households have heat pumps include Na h-Eileanan Siar (18pc) in the Outer Hebrides, the Orkney Islands (12pc), the Shetlands (7pc), the Highlands (5pc) in Scotland and Hambleton (4pc). By comparison, there are no certified heat pumps installed in the City of London, with households in Newham (0.02pc), Belfast (0.02pc), Sandwell (0.03pc) and Tower Hamlets (0.03pc) having the fewest of the devices proportionally. Ministers launched the boiler upgrade scheme a year ago to encourage more households to replace their gas-fired boilers with electric-powered heat pumps. The plan is an essential pillar of the Governments commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The devices come in two types: air source heat pumps or ground or water source heat pumps. Air source heat pumps are far more common because they are easier to install, requiring no pipes to be buried, but are slightly less efficient in cold weather. However, so far uptake of the boiler upgrade scheme has been low. In its first year, fewer than 10,000 of an available 30,000 grant vouchers were redeemed, leaving 60pc of the schemes 150m first year budget unused. The Telegraph used MCS data and the English indices of deprivation, which ranks local authorities in a 1-5 ranking with 5 being the least deprived, in its analysis of heat pump statistics. A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: Vouchers worth up to 6,000 are available for households across England and Wales that want a heat pump, enabling them to buy one at a similar price to a gas boiler. Were also helping low-income households reduce their bills as part of a 6.6 billion investment in energy efficiency measures. This includes funding for the installation of heat pumps, alongside other measures such as loft insulation and double-glazing. The Government said it was promoting energy efficiency measures as another key way of bringing carbon emissions down. Under the Great British Insulation Scheme 300,000 of the countrys least energy efficient homes will receive efficiency upgrades, a spokesman added. Overall, more than 12bn will be spent on energy efficiency upgrades up to 2028. 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. Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt Crypto prices flatlined this week as the battle between U.S. regulators and the blockchain industry dragged on with no substantive developments. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler once more insisted that his agency is ready to help crypto companies register, even though none have been able to so far. Both Gensler and the SECs lawyers continued advancing the agencys position that existing securities laws form clear enough guidelines for the industry, but opponentsincluding SEC Commissioner Hester Pierceargue that those rules arent clear at all. On Monday, the SEC responded to Coinbases petition for a writ of mandamusan order that would require the regulator to clarify its rules on crypto regulations. Coinbases Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, wrote up his thoughts on the SECs response in a thread on Tuesday. Overall the SECs response reinforces Coinbases longstanding concern that our industry does not have clarity on what the SEC may consider to be within or outside its jurisdiction at any time, and it is likely to continue changing its mind along the way. 6/7 paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) May 16, 2023 Last week, the SEC relieved blockchain file sharing platform LBRY of a $44 million debt, leaving it only $111,614 left to pay. LBRY took to Twitter to say that, while the debt relief was welcome, the industry should not think for a moment that the SEC is going soft. 2) The SEC's decision to no longer seek disgorgement against LBRY should be read as pure self-interest: the SEC thought they would lose, and wanted to avoid a bad precedent. We've seen no sign that the SEC is softening its hostility towards blockchain generally. LBRY (@LBRYcom) May 15, 2023 Meanwhile, outside of the SEC drama, Hollywoods Justine Bateman on Monday warned her colleagues from the Screen Actors Guild about how she thinks their jobs will be affected by A.I. technology. Addendum: Actors, you must have iron-clad protection against the AI use of your image and voice in the SAG MBA or your profession is finished. Demand it from @sagaftra and do not accept any AMPTP proposal that does not have it. Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) May 13, 2023 Semi-retired derivatives trader @gainzy222 tweeted some toxic behavior from Adam Tate. Not saying he launched the coin, but tate knows the viral implications of his tweets and he even cash-tagged the ticker ie - he wouldnt tweet your ticker if you paid him 500k, but he just tweeted this one free looks like someones trying to cash in on meme season innit pic.twitter.com/r59zhOiqaw gainzy (@gainzy222) May 15, 2023 On Tuesday, developer @vydamo_ wrote a thread cautioning everybody about the unprofessional and abusive behavior of a certain memecoin creator. I was the developer of @eth_ben first $PSYOP contract. I have never worked with someone more unprofessional or deranged and due to this I left the team before payment. I have credible evidence that Ben does not intend for this to be a fair launch or even project pic.twitter.com/CTg8JB0mBB vydamo (@vydamo_) May 16, 2023 The following day, blockchain sleuth Amir Ormu outed crypto influencer BitBoy for having quickly dumped tokens that he promised he wouldnt. Bitboy sold all of his $BEN tokens that he committed to not selling them for 6 months Bitboy's address which he doxxed it by himself: 0xf89e0b9fb3F419d5982386B5923e2F7C2e73f3a2 https://t.co/GVvrAeVnJ5 pic.twitter.com/OcoKQaKKzH Amir Ormu (@AmirOrmu) May 17, 2023 Lawyers are getting blockchain-savvy now, according to a Thursday tweet by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT. Wow both pump and dump meme coins @Nyanmemecoin @GrumpyCat_Coin were just sent cease and desist letters on-chain. pic.twitter.com/drJvjfOQr0 ZachXBT (@zachxbt) May 18, 2023 For at least one NFT trader this week, the decision to use bots was an expensive mistake. Wow. So the 1.3 ETH bids were someone's bot. @hanwecheng noticed it and said "I'm going to trick him... and then dump all my NFTs to him... his bot just broke" tricked the bot, bought NFTs at 0.95 and sold them at 1.3 ETH. Bot owner lost $200k+. PvP. https://t.co/NoSuZLy9Tk NFTstatistics.eth (@punk9059) May 17, 2023 Bitcoin-maxi Alex Kruger was bullish about A.I. on Thursday. The AI bubble is just getting started Wait for your family to pitch you AI stocks during thanksgiving and for the taxi driver to tell you how he is harnessing chatGPT to trade stocks and shitcoins Alex Kruger (@krugermacro) May 18, 2023 Republican and crypto-friendly lawmaker Tom Emmer tweeted about a new bill he introduced on Thursday that appears to do some of Gary Genslers work for him. The Securities Clarity Act inserts a key term, the investment contract asset, into existing securities law to enable crypto projects to reach their full potential in a compliant way, allowing the United States to compete globally in this next iteration of the internet. Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) May 18, 2023 Finally, IRL counterparts to the Pudgy Penguin NFT craze have been selling like hot cakes. We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt. Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Li-S Energy (ASX:LIS) shareholders should be worried about its 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn. See our latest analysis for Li-S Energy How Long Is Li-S Energy's Cash Runway? You can calculate a company's cash runway by dividing the amount of cash it has by the rate at which it is spending that cash. When Li-S Energy last reported its balance sheet in December 2022, it had zero debt and cash worth AU$38m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$7.2m. That means it had a cash runway of about 5.3 years as of December 2022. While this is only one measure of its cash burn situation, it certainly gives us the impression that holders have nothing to worry about. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years. How Is Li-S Energy's Cash Burn Changing Over Time? Because Li-S Energy isn't currently generating revenue, we consider it an early-stage business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. It seems likely that the business is content with its current spending, as the cash burn rate stayed steady over the last twelve months. Li-S Energy makes us a little nervous due to its lack of substantial operating revenue. So we'd generally prefer stocks from this list of stocks that have analysts forecasting growth. How Easily Can Li-S Energy Raise Cash? Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for Li-S Energy to raise more cash in the future. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations. Since it has a market capitalisation of AU$192m, Li-S Energy's AU$7.2m in cash burn equates to about 3.8% 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. Is Li-S Energy's Cash Burn A Worry? It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way Li-S Energy is burning through its cash. For example, we think its cash runway suggests that the company is on a good path. Its weak point is its cash burn reduction, but even that wasn't too bad! Looking at all the measures in this article, together, we're not worried about its rate of cash burn; the company seems well on top of its medium-term spending needs. On another note, Li-S Energy has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies, 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. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Even as several countries have offered to mediate in the search for a political solution to the war in Ukraine, including several in Latin America, a high-ranking North Atlantic Treaty Organization official insists that only the Ukrainian government can determine what it will consider a just and lasting peace. In an interview with the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald during a visit to Miami this week, the Deputy Assistant Secretary-General for Public Diplomacy at NATO, Carmen Romero, said that helping Ukraine to recover territory occupied by Russia would allow the Ukrainian government to come to the negotiating table with a stronger hand. A former journalist with extensive diplomatic experience as a former NATO spokesperson, Romero avoided criticizing comments by Latin American presidents and officials who have downplayed Russias actions. But she said the United Nations Charter condemns the use of violence against a neighboring country. These and other topics were discussed in the interview conducted in Spanish, which has been lightly edited for conciseness. Question: Although most Latin American countries have condemned the Russian invasion, the position of some countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, which have refused to send weapons to Ukraine, has stood out. What do you make of it, and what could the NATO alliance do to reverse it? Answer: It is very important to see things as they are. What Russia has done is invading a neighboring country, trying to break the territorial integrity of a sovereign, democratic nation. Therefore, it is totally condemnable and unacceptable. That is the position of all the member countries of the Atlantic Alliance and the countries of the European Union The war in Ukraine did not start last year. It began in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed Crimea and militarily occupied certain areas of Ukraines Donbas region. What we have seen in the past year is an unprovoked invasion, a full-scale war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine. Therefore, countries that do not condemn have to be consistent with this fact because we can see a violation of the United Nations Charter, the use of force to eventually change the borders of another country. Q: Is there any diplomatic effort right now to get some of these countries in Latin America with Russian weapons to send them to Ukraine? A: Member countries have their own diplomacy. NATO as such dialogues with partner countries. So we have a partner country, not a member, but a partner in Latin America, a very important country, Colombia. We have a political dialogue and a practical cooperation relationship with Colombia that is very important and can also influence Latin America. But NATO member countries have to use their influence and their diplomatic relations to explain the reality to countries that, for example, have not condemned the invasion of Russia, which is a flagrant violation of the rules-based international system and of the values and principles of the United Nations. Q: In a recent interview with Spains newspaper El Pais, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the war in Ukraine will easily end if we stop seeing Ukraine as NATO territory. At another time, he also said Europe has shielded itself in NATO, but through NATO, it has invaded. Why is the invasion of Libya good and the Russian invasion of Ukraine bad? Whats your reaction to these comments? Is there concern within NATO that relations with Colombia as a global partner will deteriorate under his mandate? A: We have a partnership relationship with Colombia that has not changed; that is, since there has been a presidential change, the relationship has not changed for the moment. Our relationship of both political dialogue and partnership with Colombia will evolve as Colombia wishes since we are not the ones who decide, but the countries that come and want to work together with NATO. Therefore, that is up to Colombia. But I can assure you that we have had many years of fruitful relations that have been very positive for both parties. Regarding the first part of the question, I would tell you what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says: if President [Volodymyr] Zelensky decides to stop fighting, then Ukraine would disappear, Russia would fully absorb it, it would stop existing as a country, as a sovereign state. On the other hand, if President [Vladimir] Putin stops fighting tomorrow and withdraws troops, the war Russia has launched against Ukraine will end tomorrow. Q: The Russian government has launched a diplomatic offensive in Latin America. Several Russian officials have frequently visited countries traditionally considered allies, such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, but also countries like Brazil. Many experts believe Russia is trying to gain ground by filling the vacuum left by the United States in the region. Is there concern within NATO about Russias increasing presence in Latin America? A: Russia is trying to gain influence not only in Latin America but also in Africa and certain regions of Asia... .Above all, Russias strategy is to divide us. We consider this as a miscalculation by President Putin. He thought he would take Kyiv and that Ukraine would cease to exist as a country in a matter of days. And we see how Ukraine has been able to resist thanks to the courage of the Ukrainian peoples security forces but also to the assistance it has received from the international coalition that supports Ukraines right to self-defense, which is a right enshrined in the United Nations Charter. NATO, as such, is governed by the values and principles of the United Nations and is a defensive political-military organization. It is not an offensive organization. Therefore, the member countries of the Alliance are the ones that can use their diplomatic instruments so people understand what Russia is doing. But, obviously, Russia uses its diplomacy to influence; it is part of a pattern that it has been following for years and is serious. Q: The president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, has proposed himself as a mediator in a so-called peace club that would not include NATO nor the United States to reach a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. But Lula and his security adviser, Celso Amorim, have made controversial statements. Lula suggested that Ukraine should cede Crimea, and upon returning from a recent Kyiv trip, Amorim said the photos of the Russian massacre in Bucha were disturbing but not enough to conclude what had happened there. Do you believe Brazil is a neutral, credible negotiator in this conflict? A: The important thing is helping Ukraine achieve a just and lasting peace as soon as possible. And for that, what can we all do? Help Ukraine to be ready, to retake as much of the territory that Russia has occupied as possible. Ukraine has not occupied it; it is Ukrainian territory, according to the United Nations Charter. Therefore, Ukraine must be helped to come to the negotiating table in a strong position because advances on the ground will determine whether Ukraine comes out strong or not. Then, it will be for Ukraine to decide what it considers to be a just and lasting peace. That can only be decided by Ukraine. Q: Haiti has one of the worst security crises in the Western Hemisphere. The countrys government has requested assistance from an international force that can support the police in their fight against armed gangs. So far, several initiatives have failed. Do you see any role for NATO in solving the crisis in Haiti? A: NATO is a collective security organization whose mission is to preserve and maintain peace within our borders. But if there is a United Nations mandate for it to play a role, then that is something NATO could consider. That was the case in Libya. When Colonel [Muammar] Qaddafi was there, there was a United Nations Security Council resolution, and NATO was asked to play a role in protecting civilians in Libya. So, if there is a request from the United Nations, NATO can consider a role, but NATO cannot wake up in the morning and decide, We are going to have a role in Haiti. Q: Many organizations, experts and governments have noted the increase in Russian propaganda and disinformation in Spanish. One of the most common Russian narratives is blaming the war on NATOs expansion towards Russian borders. Do you think this propaganda and disinformation effort has something to do with some countries in the region not supporting Ukraine more strongly? And what is the Alliance doing to counter disinformation in Latin America and other regions like Africa and Asia? A: Russian disinformation is a matter of great concern. NATO is developing a series of projects with the member countries civil society and partner countries so that societies become more resilient and better prepared to contrast the information they receive and differentiate what is true from what is false. We are working with the United Nations in campaigns that they have to fight disinformation. We are working with the G7, with the European Union, exchanging information, and learning what impact Russia can have with its disinformation to prepare ourselves better to react. It indeed impacts the Global South, where Russian narratives are more present. One of the things that NATO did in the months prior to the invasion was to declassify intelligence to show public opinion the preparation that Russia was carrying out militarily along the borders with Ukraine, at the same time that Russia was saying, We have no intention of entering Ukraine. Thanks to that, we were able to do two things: show our citizens what the Russian president was really preparing and, at the same time, foster political unity. Because on February 24 last year, when Russia launched an unprecedented invasion of Ukraine, our public opinions were primed for the crucial decisions our organizations and governments were about to make. NATOs political role also meant that political unity was forged very quickly. NATO has an open door policy, but NATO has not expanded: European countries from the Atlantic area have been knocking on the door to say, We want to be members of the Alliance...This is the case of Finland, and Sweden, two traditionally neutral countries. It is Russias aggression that changed public opinion in those two countries. Finlands entry into NATO doubles the physical borders of the NATO countries with Russia. And this has been provoked by President Putin. Q: What message do you have for governments in Latin America invoking non-interventionism and non-alignment so as not to support Ukraine more decisively? A: Well, the right of each country to be able to decide its security affiliations and, above all, the importance more than ever of the United Nations Charter that prevents or prohibits the use of force to change the borders of a neighboring country. This is about respect for the United Nations Charter and about respect for a rules-based international system. 2023 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. BRUSSELS (AP) NATO leaders are discussing ways to ensure that Ukraine does not come under attack from Russia again once the war is over, but they are concerned about doing anything that might drag the organization into a wider conflict, the head of the military alliance said Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seeking security guarantees from the 31-nation alliance to ward off any future attack from Ukraines neighbor. Some countries are weighing what could be done to avoid a repeat of the war. Russia already annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. There are consultations that are going on, ahead of a summit involving U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts in Lithuania on July 11-12, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during an interview with his predecessor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at a conference in Copenhagen. Stoltenberg declined to provide details about those talks. NATO allies benefit from a collective security guarantee so called Article 5 of the organizations founding Washington Treaty which ensures that an attack on any one of their number would be considered an attack on them all. In the past year, the U.S., U.K., France and Germany committed to provide security guarantees to Finland and Sweden when they applied to join NATO, should it be necessary to dissuade President Vladimir Putin from trying to destabilize the two Nordic neighbors. Finland has since joined and has Article 5 protection, but Swedens accession is pending. We dont know how this war will end, but what we do know is that when it ends it is extremely important that we are able to prevent history from repeating itself, Stoltenberg said. Beyond the annexation of Crimea, he also noted Russias conflict with Georgia in 2008, saying: This has to stop. The only way to ensure that that stops is partly to ensure that Ukraine has the military strength to deter and defend against further aggression from Russia but also to find some kind of framework to prevent President Putin from continuing to chip away at European security, Stoltenberg said. But he said that if NATO allies, and especially of course the big ones, start to issue security guarantees bilaterally to Ukraine we are very close to Article 5. So, theres no way to find an easy solution to these issues. In February, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on NATO countries to provide long-term security guarantees for Ukraine. He said they are necessary to shield Ukraine from future Russian aggression and to protect the system of international rules that has helped keep peace since the end of World War II. NATO as an alliance does not provide weapons to Ukraine although its members do bilaterally and in smaller groups and the organization defends only the territory of its member countries as it is wary of being dragged into a wider war with nuclear armed Russia. Ukraine has applied to join NATO but for that to happen, all 31 current members would have to agree. Most of the allies oppose letting the country in at a time when a war is raging. Stoltenberg said that he expects NATO leaders to endorse Ukraines membership aspirations at their summit and to emphasize that the alliances door remains open to European countries that want to join. But he underlined that there is no point in talking about membership if Ukraine loses the war. The most important thing is to be very strong in our support to Ukraine, so Ukraine (can) prevail, Stoltenberg said. WARSAW, Poland (AP) Poland has received its first shipment of U.S.-made HIMARS rocket launchers as part of a defense upgrade amid security concerns due to the war in neighboring Ukraine. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and military officials attended an acquisition ceremony at a Warsaw air base on Monday. Blaszczak said that combat in Ukraine had proven the value of the HIMARS and that NATO member Poland was seeking to procure additional launchers, with a goal of acquiring some 500 units. We are watching the developments in Ukraine, and we know that artillery has a key role in the war, in repelling the Russian invasion," he said. Under a 2019 contract, Poland is spending some $414 million (380 million euros) to buy 18 advanced combat HIMARS launchers and two HIMARS training launchers, with ammunition and related equipment. The deal includes logistics and training. The launchers will go to the 1st Artillery Brigade in northeastern Poland, Blaszczak said. Their task will be to deter (an) aggressor and strengthen Poland's armed forces on the nation's and NATO eastern flank, the minister said. A HIMARS academy is to be launched in the city of Torun to provide logistics, servicing and training, including for troops from other NATO countries that have or plan to get the launchers. Produced by American aerospace company Lockheed Martin, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System is a multiple rocket launcher with a range of up to some 300 kilometers (190 miles) developed in the late 1990s for the U.S. armed forces. Poland is buying billions of dollars worth of weapons, chiefly from the U.S. and South Korea, including fighter jets, to modernize its armed forces. Some of the equipment will replace weapons - including over a dozen Soviet-made MiG-29 jet fighters - that Poland agreed to give Ukraine for its defense against Russia. Poland's right-wing government, which will be seeking a third term in a fall parliamentary election, is giving the purchases wide publicity, seeking to reassure Poles amid a military conflict across their eastern border. Last year, Poland received a number of U.S. Patriot missile systems, and deliveries of another battery are expected this year. The first deliveries of Abrams tanks have also arrived from the U.S., as well as deliveries of tanks and howitzers from South Korea. Manitou Springs has ranked in the Top 10 Best Small Town Arts Scenes in America by USA Today for the third consecutive year. Now, the city is competing with nine other towns across the country for the title of first place. It is an exceptional honor to be nominated, said Creative Alliance Manitou Springs executive director Becca Sickbert. The creative culture is just baked into every fiber of what community life looks like in Manitou Springs. Every day of the week theres something amazing happening. The nominations are based on both the quantity and quality of local museums, art galleries, performing arts and event calendars. With a population of only 5,000, Sickbert said shes proud of the small town. We feel like we are a mighty small town, she said. The entire community of Manitou Springs fits in three square miles, so the density of our arts experiences is so high. You can support Manitou Springs by voting for the town at 10best.com/awards. You can also text best to 844-421-0719 for daily reminders. Voting ends June 12. BEMOWO PISKIE, Poland A barrage of shells, rockets and machine-gun fire blasted into distant targets Friday afternoon, filling the air with constant explosions near a critical borderland where former members of the Soviet Union are connected to the rest of NATO by a small strip of land between a Russian province and Belarus, a Russian ally. As Russias war on Ukraine stretches into 15 months, the exercise proved thousands of troops could surge into the area less than 90 miles from Poland's border with Kaliningrad, a Russian province. Exercises like this inspire confidence that we can fight and win said Major Gen. David Hodne of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson. "Our rocket and cannon artillery can fire together. Our brigades can maneuver together. Our divisions can lead together, Hodne said, speaking to troops after the combined U.S.-NATO exercise. During the finale of the show of force, two Polish F-16s roared across the gray sky, followed later by a handful of American Apache attack helicopters firing rockets, showing how they would work in tandem with ground troops, including those firing tanks, Strykers, Bradleys and other heavy artillery into green, open fields surrounded by the dense woods recently soaked with rain. The massive live-fire demonstration extended far beyond what a ground observer could see, including launches from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, like the ones recently purchased by Poland from the U.S. Some of the blasts rattled a nearby tower as thousands of troops from Croatia, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States showed their combined strength at the military exercise called Griffin Shock, where a NATO division command took control of U.S. Army units for the first time. The Multinational Division Northeast took command of about 2,000 U.S. troops from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment who drove Strykers and other heavy equipment from their base in Germany over three days to quickly expand the NATO battle group of about 1,000 troops already in Poland to a brigade-sized force of more than 3,000. The surge of troops met a goal outlined during NATOs Madrid summit in 2022. Polish Minister of National Defense and Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Blasczak said the exercise shows the close collaboration among NATO forces following a shorter display Friday morning, when Apache helicopters buzzed low over the Polish press corps. It is a very strong message to send to Russia, he said, through a Polish military interpreter. The recent exercise is one of many in the region. Hodne called the exercise deterrence but not an intended provocation, in an interview. We will make no apologies for training for the defense of NATO, he said. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, millions of refugees have fled to Poland and the country has been investing heavily in its military. Polands first HIMARS have already arrived in the country and will be stationed in the northeastern quadrant of the country. Poland is also in discussions to buy 96 Apache helicopters, Blasczak said. The new firepower could help defend the Suwalki Gap, a short, 60-mile border that connects the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to Poland and the rest of NATO. The three states gained their independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Following Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, NATO has been stepping up defenses in the area, establishing four permanent battle groups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The Polish battle group saw its ranks swell for the exercise at the Bemowo Piskie Training Area with a huge array of international equipment, including U.S. howitzers, enormous M1 Abrams tanks, Polish tanks that can spend five minutes underwater to cross rivers, and U.K. Jackals, light and fast armored trucks with open tops. The 4th Infantry Division headquarters staff planned, oversaw, and coordinated the exercise on an accelerated schedule. The division did not participate as part of the fighting force with artillery; rather, a relatively small group of people worked at high levels on organization and ensuring safety and allowed the NATO division to largely take the lead, Hodne said. For Hodne, the exercise is part of the region maturing from NATO planting political flags into multinational fighting forces. They're living together, eating together, training together. It's really wonderful to see how far they have come since the last time I saw them in 2014, he said. To put the progress on display and bring more than 3,000 people together for the exercise took extensive planning, 4th Infantry Division Majors Katie Haapala and Nick Lund said. Sign Up for free: Military Brief Your weekly local update on local military news and events, sent straight to your inbox. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. The aircraft, HIMARS and every other major element took hundreds of man-hours to organize, Lund said. For example, originally all the land for training was reserved for other training and the Strykers didnt get the go-ahead to come from Germany until May 12. Everything was in flux for 60 days, Lund said. But it all fell into place, for leaders to watch on the third floor of a tower at a training ground in front of them and on multiple screens to view those training fields out of sight. While overseeing the work, the 4th Infantry Division staff members worked out of a new modular mobile command post made up of multiple, stark white rooms that can be rapidly rolled into place. Up muddy, metal steps, underneath camouflage tenting, soldiers work in the command post on gathering and processing intelligence, tracking all current activity, and ensuring air and ground troops are well-coordinated and dont hurt each other. When you are bringing troops from different countries together that can mean helping to manage technical problems such as computer systems that need to be integrated, working through differing international procedures, and overcoming language and cultural barriers, numerous officers explained. As part of that team, 4th Infantry Division Lt. Col. Chris Colbert, in the Joint Air Ground Aviation Center, planned for safe routes in the sky for Apache pilots. In a battle scenario, those pilots need safe spaces, where they wont be hit by friendly fire, like a hamster tube in the sky to safely enter and exit the battle space. Since the Army has transitioned away from counterinsurgency battles in Afghanistan and is preparing for traditional war, the threat of air defense weapons is much higher, he said. We can't assume that we've got air superiority, air supremacy, Colbert said. At the same time, many nations are more interested in multinational training events to increase their ability to work with allied nations and working with the some of the same people again and again is helping to build relationships, he said. So it's more working with colleagues, as opposed to allies you just never met before, he said. To help establish those relationships, Col. Davius Vaicikauskas, the chief of staff for NATO's Multinational Division Northeast, said they held a strategic barbecue with about 60 people for the exercise. Some of the cultural understanding comes down to understanding terms differently, he said. For example, soldiers from Lithuania, Germany and Poland might understand the term mission command a little bit differently. So we need to build this unity of understanding, he said. In Lithuania, all the efforts to boost military numbers and exercises have been appreciated, he said. Despite the war in Ukraine, they're calm. Because they see that there is a pool of forces constantly exercising and, in case of war, they would be ready, he said. After days of rehearsals and the action-packed roughly hourlong finale of Griffin Shock, the heavy equipment rolled off the training fields in a hurry, the observation room in the tower was completely cleared out in short order, and the modular command post was getting packed up to roll out. But it's just a localized pause in a large continued push for more training across Europe. From April 22 through June 23, a separate training exercise known as Defender 23 will feature more than 7,000 U.S. and 17,000 multinational service members from 20 nations to similarly show how combat power can gather in Eastern Europe. Continued training is key, Hodne said, in his closing statements. "There is no magic on game day," he said. BEMOWO PISKIE, Poland When ground troops, artillery and aircraft gather to show off their firepower, as troops from five nations did in Poland last week, its an intricately planned dance to ensure everyone arrives and no one gets hurt in the blasts. Colorado soldiers in the 4th Infantry Division based at Fort Carson and Colorado natives currently living in Germany as members of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment helped to pull off the exercise, called Griffin Shock, that brought together more than 3,000 soldiers and an international set of military weaponry, including Romanian Gepards, anti-aircraft tanks, U.S. Strykers and Howitzers and Croatian Panzers. Even career soldiers were seeing some vehicles and weapons for the first time, like an impromptu international military convention. The soldiers converged for the exercise required by NATO in the northeastern Polish countryside that the average traveler from Warsaw reached by numerous narrow country lanes that passed through villages, farmland and woods. About 2,000 U.S. soldiers with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment made the trip from southern Germany over about 700 miles over three days in 25 separate convoys. It's a trip that would normally take 12 hours by car. Scheduling such a trip on a short time schedule presented challenges at the heart of the exercise, said Colorado Springs native Maj. Adam David, an operations officer with the regiment The whole point of this exercise was rapid to demonstrate the capability to deploy rapidly and fight essentially on demand, said David, who made the trip in the back of a Stryker as a vehicle commander while also tracking a squadron spread across three of the 25 convoys. He explained his experience as he stood in front of a line of 36-ton Dragoon Strykers, eight-wheeled armored vehicles. It was one of the many rows of military vehicles parked around an observation tower as they came and went from various training grounds. Extensive sets of tents were also set up in the same area for the 2nd Cavalry Division and NATO's Multinational Division Northeast, which was running the exercise. On the way to the training ground one of the regiment's Strykers broke down. But, fortunately, each convoy travels with a recovery vehicle that can move the enormous trucks off commercial roads if they obstruct traffic, David said. Once in Poland, U.S. troops used a tactical voice bridge to share radio traffic with soldiers from other countries. The exercise included troops from Croatia, Romania, the United Kingdom and Poland, in addition to the large contingent of U.S. soldiers. To overcome language barriers, human translators are preferred, but in a pinch, David said, soldiers use Google Translate, a live free translation service, just like tourists. Prepping for the impressive live-fire displays also takes extensive mapping that includes how the ammunition is expected to behave. Each unit turned in a detailed plan of where it is shooting and what weapons it is using so software can model its effects, said Camden Milway, a sergeant 1st class with the 2nd Cavalry Division from Westminster. That allows us to make sure we can position people safely, he explained. Some of the rounds mapped for the exercise included grenade launchers, 81 millimeter mortars, machine guns and Bradley rounds, among many others. Sign Up for free: Military Brief Your weekly local update on local military news and events, sent straight to your inbox. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Detailed mapping and an understanding of how ammunition acts allows troops to prepare for combat situations and it builds confidence and trust among them, he said. They can know: I'm safe. And I'm not going to get shot by my own people, he explained. Milway described his work from a tent with rubberized flooring, full of folding tables where soldiers worked on laptops sheltered on some days from the cold rain that pooled in the muddy rutted roads. In addition to the ground weapons, the exercise also featured Apache helicopters from the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade in Germany that buzzed over the training ground numerous times in the lead up to a highly coordinated display for high-profile visitors Friday. The Apaches base for refueling and landing was in an open field, close to a working farm. Ensuring the aircraft and ground troops don't interfere with each other takes rigorous planning, which Colorado Springs native Sgt. 1st Class Steven Cromer, worked on for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment as the regimental fire support officer. He planned how artillery, mortars and close air support will come together relying in part on 3-D digital models to plan how munitions will travel to targets and the safe paths through the air helicopters will take. The models help Cromer determine not only safety but how to have the greatest effect with all the weapons. "It's fun to put them all together, all the pieces of the puzzle," Cromer said. The large number of weapons systems on display was representative of what a surge of more than 3,000 soldiers would bring to a fight, he said. It is one of several major training efforts going on across Eastern Europe this spring, as the war in Ukraine stretches into its second year. The ongoing training is definitely showing results among some Polish tank troops, said Sgt. 1st Class Marc Lloyd, with the 9th Cavalry, who participated in Griffin Shock and was also working with Polish troops on tactics prior. In one exercise, Lloyd said their strategy was on point with a recent lesson. During the exercise, his tank got caught by two BMPs, similar to Bradleys, who kept him from turning his turret and had him backing into the trees. I was pretty impressed. They caught me between the tree line and I don't like getting caught. He also found that spending time with the Polish, trying new foods, new weapons and making friends with the lady at the shop on post who sells snacks has helped make working there more meaningful. It gives you a sense of like, this is why I'm here. We would fight side-by-side if need be, he said. The training and relationship building is happening as NATO is getting tested in ways it hasnt been since the end of the Cold War, said David. "The (2nd Cavalry Regiment) in particular, which has many soldiers who are from Colorado, from Colorado Springs, is (at) the absolute cutting edge of U.S. Army-Europe's efforts to support the NATO alliance and to deter the aggression, he said. Its rare for someone with an outstanding arrest warrant to go out in public willingly, carrying the fear of possibly encountering law enforcement in the process. On Saturday, more than 100 individuals carrying active warrants entered the Pueblo Judicial Building for the 10th Judicial District's Court's first "warrant clearing day," to make the first steps in remedying outstanding legal troubles. It may the first of many such efforts for the district. Ive never seen anything like this in my career, said Alby Singleton, head of the Pueblo Public Defender's Office. I think the thing for people with warrants is they know that they have them, and its an impediment to them living their lives. They're afraid to go places in public, get jobs, and to get their driver's licenses, Theres a number of places they believe they could get arrested and they're constantly looking over their shoulders. Thats a really difficult way to live life. Singleton has been with the Public Defenders Office for 15 years. He said the turnout exceeded everyone's expectations, due to the stigma surrounding the relationship between people whove had run-ins with the law and those within the system. No one has gotten arrested, and no one will be arrested at this particular event, Singleton said. We want to help people and help them deal with the stressor their facing within their criminal case. More than 20 professionals from the Pueblo 10th Judicial Districts Courts and Probation Office, the District Attorneys office, the Office of the State Public Defender and other defense attorneys volunteered their Saturday to assist in the process. On social media, people were expressing a bit of apprehension, said Laura Snyder, the 10th Judicial Districts Courts executive. Its been much more successful than we ever projected. In the planning stages, we worked with other districts who had done this, and they both told us for the first time that Its about establishing trust and seeing how it works, and that it wont be a lot of people at first. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Snyder said that were told by experienced districts to expect roughly 25 to 30 people to attend. By the end of the event, about 135 individuals spoke with an attorney, 120 cases were set for a new court date, and 16 cases had been completely resolved. "One person expressed gratitude for being able to resolve her warrant, because she can now take her nursing exam when her schooling is complete in two months," Snyder said after the event. District Court Judge William Alexander and County Court Judge Steven Fieldman presided over the court Saturday. This is the first one (warrant clearing day) weve done here, Alexander said. We really werent anticipating a huge crowd showing up, and as you can tell, a huge crowd has shown up! Fieldman noted that the event isnt only to help those in legal trouble, but also the victims whove been affected. Were dealing with a lot of traffic cases, low-level thefts, and misdemeanors, and that means the victims of those cases arent getting restitution, Fieldman said, This really offers an opportunity for both the individual whos accused to come in, have a warrant recalled, and get one more shot to come back into court. It also gives the DA a chance to communicate with the victims and get restitution information, and overall get things moving in the right direction. Fieldman said he hopes this warrant clearing day will be the first of many. It definitely needs to be done more than annually. Quarterly or at least twice a year would be a good start. The Human Rights Campaign, one of the leading LGBT advocacy groups, suspended its equality score for Anheuser-Busch in light of the fallout after one of its brands partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Anheuser-Busch previously had a Corporate Equality Index score of 100, which is now suspended for the next 90 days after the company did not reinforce its support for Mulvaney when it faced backlash for its partnership. BIDEN TARGETS TAXES IN DEBT CEILING TALKS: REVENUE IS NOT OFF THE TABLE' The company sent one personalized can to Mulvaney, who subsequently made two posts with the can. Backlash soon began within the company's customer base. The senior marketing officials involved were then put on leave, and a third-party ad agency was cut ties with. The brand has also reportedly hired a lobbying firm with GOP roots, Origin Advocacy, in order to rehabilitate its image. HRC sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch announcing its score suspension and is allowing for a 90-day response period for it to earn back its score, per a letter obtained by USA TODAY. The beer company previously scored perfectly in all four categories: protections from workplace discrimination, inclusive benefits, inclusive culture inside and outside the workplace, and responsible citizenship when it comes to LGBT employees. Now it stands a chance of getting its score docked. Neither the HRC nor Anheuser-Busch responded to the Washington Examiner's request for comment. Mulvaney claimed to have been worn down by the backlash stemming from the partnership with Bud Light. The advertising collaboration kicked off last month, greatly increasing the influencer's public profile. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER As a result, Bud Light sales were down for a fifth straight week, with its sales falling 23.6% for the week ending on May 6 compared to numbers recorded in 2022, according to a report citing data acquired by Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ. Original Location: Anheuser-Busch gets Corporate Equality Index score suspended over Dylan Mulvaney controversy Washington Examiner Videos Ukraine is disputing Russia's assertion that its forces have taken full control of Bakhmut, alleging that its military is still holding onto a small area of the once-booming eastern Ukrainian city. Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, acknowledged that the situation inside the destroyed city was "critical." Still, she rejected the Wagner Group's victory claims as premature, alleging that Ukrainian forces were still engaged in combat operations against Russian troops and Wagner mercenaries. The Wagner Group is the private paramilitary organization contracted by the Kremlin to fight in the conflict. WHITE HOUSE STILL 'WORKING HARD' AS DEBT LIMIT NEGOTIATIONS WITH GOP BREAK DOWN Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that his troops had completed their eight month battle for Bakhmut, a fight that would ultimately destroy the city itself, on Saturday. The Russian Ministry of Defense backed up that claim on Sunday, which Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated shortly after. "As a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Yug Group of Forces, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed," a statement from the defense ministry read, referring to Bakhmut by it's Soviet-Russian name. The Ukrainian deputy defense minister's pushback was in response to Wagner's Saturday declaration of victory. She and other defense officials have yet to respond to Russia officially claiming it had completely taken the city. French President Emmanuel Macron was asked about the confusion over which side currently controls the city at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday, ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's planned Sunday appearance. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "I think it is up to the Ukrainian authorities to state the developments of their forces on the ground," Macron told reporters. "So I will stay at this stage extremely cautious." Zelensky, who arrived in Hiroshima early Sunday morning, has yet to comment on the Bakhmut situation to reporters at the G7. Nor have defense or intelligence officials from the United States. Original Location: Control of Bakhmut in question as Ukraine disputes Russian victory claims Washington Examiner Videos Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen indicated her "hard" June 1 deadline for the United States to potentially breach the debt limit hasn't changed. "I certainly haven't changed my assessment. So I think that's a hard deadline," she told Meet the Press. "I would point out to the Congressional Budget Office has recently indicated that they expect early June will be a problem. And forecasters on Wall Street who look at information daily on our cash balances and resources agree." BIDEN TARGETS TAXES IN DEBT CEILING TALKS: REVENUE IS NOT OFF THE TABLE' Some Republicans, such as Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), have cast doubt on Yellen's projections, insinuating she is harboring political motivations. As Yellen pointed out, other groups have backed her prediction. The treasury secretary also surmised the odds of making it to June 15 for another round of tax receipts is "quite low" but conceded it was difficult to know for certain. Yellen further argued, "It's not an acceptable situation for us to be unable to pay our bills." Yellen also previewed how the department will react to a breach of the debt ceiling. "My assumption is that if the debt ceiling isn't raised, there will be hard choices to make about what bills go unpaid," Yellen told NBC's Meet the Press. "We will have to pay interest in principle on outstanding debt; we also have obligations to seniors to count on Social Security, our military." Yellen stressed that some bills will "have to go unpaid" but did not indicate default was a sure thing if the United States blows past the projected "X-date" for when the Treasury Department's "extraordinary" measures to keep funds flowing are extinguished. Back in March, Yellen cast doubt on Republican plans for prioritization of spending in the event of a debt limit breach. Such plans call for the government to pay its most important obligations first, such as the interest on the national debt, while allowing less pressing expenditures to go unpaid while the government is blocked from borrowing more. "We should not think that prioritization is a solution to the debt ceiling issue. Prioritization is simply not paying all of the government's bills when they come due," Yellen said at the time. "If we don't do that and think that there's some shortcut around it that will avoid economic chaos, we're kidding ourselves." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Experts have raised concerns about the viability of prioritization to avert default, noting the complexity and wide day-to-day variations of government expenditures and receipts. President Joe Biden is expected to hold a phone call with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during his return flight back to the U.S. to discuss the debt limit impasse. Original Location: Janet Yellen says 'hard deadline' for US to breach debt ceiling hasn't changed Washington Examiner Videos Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is poised to announce his 2024 Republican White House campaign with an optimistic message that has been compared to that of President Ronald Reagan. But as this cycle's Republican primary starts to crystallize, GOP voters will have to decide whether they want a statesman nominee or a bare-knuckled brawler, such as former President Donald Trump or Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who can jab at President Joe Biden and liberals at large. LIBERALS BLAME REPUBLICANS, NOT BIDEN, FOR THEIR PURSUIT OF DEBT CEILING 'PLAN B' The words "Biden," "woke," and "fighter" will dominate this Republican primary as they did during the last two elections, according to GOP strategist Douglas Heye. "There's an appetite in the base for somebody who is a fighter to the extent that you don't actually have to land punches or win a round; you just have to show your willingness to fight," Heye said. "The thing I've heard so often from voters, especially when I'm home in Carolina, Republican voters, is 'I just want somebody who's gonna stand up to them, somebody who's gonna fight.'" "And then when it gets nowhere, they get credit for trying," he added. "That's not the entire party because there are a lot of Republicans who want to see actual results, but that appetite for somebody who is purely there to fight is very real." Former Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson is a declared Republican primary candidate seeking a similar political lane to Scott but who has become more critical of Trump, especially since the onetime president was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in March for covering up hush money payments before the 2016 election. Hutchinson is confident the country is open to "new leadership." "They are seeking leaders that are focused on what is in front of us, just over the horizon, rather than what is in our rearview mirror," the governor told the Washington Examiner. "They do not want a brawler but rather a leader who will both fight for us and lead with character and compassion." "I am a consistent conservative who embodies the values that our party has always held, and I have an optimistic vision of our future," he said. "That is how we bring out the best of America." But Scott, whose lack of national name recognition notches him an average of 2% support in early primary polls, embarks on his bid in his hometown of North Charleston on Monday behind Trump's 56% and DeSantis's 20%, according to RealClearPolitics. Hutchinson has 1% support, behind former Vice President Mike Pence's 6%, onetime U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina GOP Gov. Nikki Haley's 5%, multimillionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy's 3.5%, and radio talk show host Larry Elder's 1%. Ex-New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie, an undeclared candidate who has pledged to be aggressive against Trump, also has 1% support. For Heye, authenticity underpins any declared or undeclared candidate's appeal to Republican primary voters. But he underscored how Scott will have to eventually differentiate himself from Trump and the rest of the field. "He's certainly mindful of that, and the question then becomes when do you do that and in what manner," the former Republican National Committee spokesman said. "But his campaign is always going to be optimistic. I don't think there's any way it could not be." Scott's announcement Monday, preceded by a $6 million broadcast TV, cable, satellite, and radio advertisement buy in early primary states Iowa and New Hampshire, coincides with DeSantis's own plans to enter the Republican nomination race. The governor is expected to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and hold a launch event in Florida within the coming weeks. Notwithstanding Scott's announcement, Trump and DeSantis are fixated on one another, escalating their attacks in public and private. The former president's so-called super political action committee MAGA, Inc. has spent more than $12.5 million criticizing the governor in the past seven weeks, including Friday's "Ron DeSalesTax" ad and commenting on Disney's decision not to develop a campus at Lake Nona, Florida. DeSantis's group, Never Back Down, has responded with about $10 million. Biden and the Democratic National Committee have spent $1.6 million combined. "You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing," DeSantis told donors Thursday during a Never Back Down-hosted fundraising call, "Biden, Trump, and me. And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president Biden and me." In contrast to Scott's optimism, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung contended Republican voters are "energized" to support Trump because he has been "proven right once again," particularly after special counsel John Durham's investigation into how the FBI probed the former president's 2016 bid's relationship with Russia. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "The DOJ, FBI, Democrats, and establishment media all colluded with each other to mislead the American people about President Trump in order to derail his presidency and his candidacy in 2020," Cheung said. "They are shamelessly running the same playbook currently to influence the 2024 election." "Voters are also angry about Biden and his disastrous economic policies after he was handed the best economy in the world," he went on. "Biden's border crisis has also made American communities less safe by allowing criminals and drugs to cross the border unfettered." Original Location: Tim Scott tests theory Republican primary voters don't want a brawler 2024 nominee Washington Examiner Videos There is nothing more glorious than work. What a shame the Colorado Legislature keeps making it more dangerous. Lets see if Gov. Jared Polis stands up to the woke mob and vetoes a human resources nightmare bill disguised as protection from sexual harassment. Work is the act of creation. And were happiest when we create. We go to work in the morning and by the time our head hits the pillow at night, something, maybe somethings, come into existence that were not there before. Construction workers create buildings, coders create software, cooks make hamburgers, salesmen make connections between those who have and those who need, even some idiot wrote this dumb column. Work brings dignity, purpose, connection and meaning and though hard and frustrating; its maybe even joyful and fun. But not so much anymore. Now work is dangerous. Yeah, work has always been dangerous, ask anyone in Special Forces or deep-sea welding. But those guys still love their jobs, despite the risks. At least their risks are pretty obvious, flying bullets and body-crushing underwater pressure.But Im guessing those guys dont have to worry about getting fired for accidentally saying the wrong thing. The danger now is for the folks who work in office cubicles, you know, the Dilbert jobs. But when the popular comic strip Dilbert gets canceled from newspapers across the country because of something its creator, Scott Adams, said in a podcast, you can only imagine how dangerous it is to speak in the real cubicle jungle Dilbert ridicules. Of course, there is the growing trans speech censorship at work. Referring to a person by his biological sex and not as he identifies is modern racism, and a fireable offense. Its also where the multiverse doors open as a singular person must be called they on threat of unemployment. If workers are terrified about referring to the wrong singular or plural pronoun, think about how careful they are about anything that could be accused as racist, homophobic or sexually harassing. Sign up for free: Gazette Opinion Receive updates from our editorial staff, guest columnists, and letters from Gazette readers. Sent to your inbox 12:00 PM. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. A buddy told me he had to deal with an HR problem during Halloween where employees were encouraged to come in costume, you know, for fun. Someone not of German descent wore lederhosen as part of his costume. That greatly offended someone of German descent, as it was obviously cultural appropriation. Instead of spending time creating or having enjoyment while creating at work, we now spend our time and energy dealing with this crap. We are scared to speak. People go to work, keep their heads down, do what theyre told. We are scared to be ourselves. We spend our time and energy not creating but going to HR seminars and endless HR investigations instead. The result is no one risks saying much of anything in the office, fearing hair-trigger of those who are eager to be offended. In other words, mass self-censorship. Its the slow death of individuality. Death of the creative spirit, innovation, collaboration and, if it matters, fun. Is it any wonder after COVID so many people dont want to return to the office? Sure, they say its the long commute in, or theyre more productive at home. Might it be its just not nearly as dangerous when they dont have to interact with the if you say something around me, Ill be triggered and get you fired people in their office? No wonder not working is more popular than ever. Working has always been hard. But now does it require stifling your individual spark, your speech as well? Sexual harassment in the workplace is, as it should be, illegal in Colorado. But Senate Bill 172 opens the door to endless investigations of sexual harassment. Beyond giving the Colorado civil rights division more power and heaping more regulatory burdens on employers, including five years of more record keeping, it specifies sexual harassment claims need not be severe or pervasive to constitute a discriminatory or unfair employment practice. Not severe? Not pervasive? So, in other words just about anything can be sexual harassment, and even if there is no damage (not severe), you can still lose your job, or the employer could be forced to pay a big fat settlement. If Colorado keeps going this way, the only people who will be employed will be the easily triggered and the lawyers representing them. Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts The Devils Advocate with Jon Caldara on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics. The rest of the story As a Gold Star father, let me tell your readers what Memorial Day means to me. Our son, an Army CW3, helicopter pilot was killed in Iraq on July 4, 2007, on his second deployment to that combat zone. When we received notice of his death, we were in shock and disbelief. Surely, this couldnt happen to us, but it did and the last 16 years have been a nightmare. We miss our son so much. Scott was 33, married to his high school sweetheart (Air Academy High School, class of 1991) and a father of three young children. He had enlisted in the Marines right after high school and served for seven years before going into the Army so he could fly, which was his passion, often telling me he couldnt believe they paid him to fly. On July 4, 2007, he repaid the debt with his life. So, have your Memorial Day cookouts, go to ballgames and do whatever but keep in mind those who made and make your life possible. And, the next time youre on Colorado 115, look for the sign that designates part of the highway near Ft Carsons main gate: CW3 SCOTT A.M. OSWELL Memorial Highway. Now you know the rest of the story. Retired Lt. Col. Barry S. Oswell, Colorado Springs Mobolades cloaked campaign? I have long been concerned that then candidate Yemi Mobolade was intentionally vague about his political leanings to further his candidacy. Repeating phrases like, No more status quo, and, I will bring people together, did nothing to reveal his underlying political beliefs. And his refusal to say for whom he voted in recent elections was part of his cloaked campaign. Now comes Bruce Barron to publicly (Gazette Guest Opinion, May 18,) lament his belated leap onto the Yemi bandwagon. The ostensible purpose was to wake people up to the potential impact of having Mr. Mobolade as our next mayor, the third in the modern strong mayor era. Barrons guest opinion comes across as an open memo to the mayor-elect, titled: Sorry I did not jump in earlier; dont forget me when passing out the patronage and favors that will be yours to grant as mayor. I dearly love Colorado Springs, and very much hope that Mobolade will build upon the enviable record that Mayor John Suthers leaves behind as he turns over the keys to the city. I would be happy to be wrong about Mobolades cloaked campaign and be ready to support him in 2027. I am not optimistic, but I would enjoy being wrong. Will Luden Colorado Springs Column was ironic I have to admit I got a kick out of reading a well-written, logical article by 78-year-old Mike Rosen in which he says 80-year-old Joe Biden is so old he must be suffering from senility. Tim Rowan Monument Saying whatever it takes Sign up for free: Gazette Opinion Receive updates from our editorial staff, guest columnists, and letters from Gazette readers. Sent to your inbox 12:00 PM. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. I am genuinely confused about Thursdays article, Governor, state demographer say we need more children. I understand everything Jared Polis is saying about trying to offer incentives for people to have children. However, it seems to me that he is in fact getting racked from trying to straddle the fence trying to take two completely different stances. Polis has been actively pursuing one of the most aggressive pro-abortion agendas, and placed Colorado as a place second only to New York for having an abortion at any time, for any reason. So, is the governor for killing babies, or for having more babies? Or is he merely just another corrupt politician, who cares only about saying whatever it takes to acquire more power? Ralph Beuc Colorado Springs Penalize the government Before I retired, if I failed to my job I could expect impact to my paycheck. Not my peers paychecks, mine. If D.C. cant resolve the debt ceiling and the government goes into default, the same principle should apply. Dont impact Social Security payments. Dont impact the national parks and monuments. Dont impact the military payroll. Instead, penalize those who fail to do their jobs, not those gullible enough to elect them. Withhold every penny owed to every elected member of the federal government and every one of their staffers. Patrick M. OConnell Colorado Springs Optimize water resources Water alternating between reservoirs of different elevations by solar and wind seems existential. Think of it as a teeter-totter. For example, use solar and wind in periods of low demand to pump water out of a reservoir up to another reservoir, otherwise known as a fore-bay, and store this excess energy like a battery. This water can then generate hydroelectricity when demand is high. This shared energy can be engineered to balance the demand, and when its paid for its free, (except for maintenance), carbon-free energy. A system like this at Hoover Dams Lake Mead or Glen Canyon Dams Lake Powell would slow reservoir level drops; however, the net flow of the river downstream would be affected. On the other hand, numerous systems with forebays flanking these reservoirs would not affect the rivers net flow. Any number of these would add unlimited free, carbon-free power generation. No outsourced batteries are needed. No doubt AI will be involved to assist in optimizing this resource. The military-industrial complex could make money during peace rather than war. Fred Stewart Grand Junction Smoke from wildfires in Canada continues to roll into Colorado Sunday, however, improving conditions is expected throughout the day. Colorado Springs residents can expect a slight chance of showers between 11 a.m. and noon, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo. Partly sunny, with a high near 73. North northeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Scattered thunderstorms are expected over portions of south central and southeast Colorado this afternoon and evening, mainly over the southern mountains and southeastern plains. The risks with any stronger storms will be gusty winds, brief heavy downpours, and lightning. Accumulating snow is possible for the highest peaks. Air Quality Health Advisory for wildfire smoke is in effect until 9 a.m. Sunday. Here is the full forecast from the National Weather Service. Sign Up for Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Monday: A 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3pm. Widespread haze. Partly sunny, with a high near 75. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Tuesday: A 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. West northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east southeast in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Wednesday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 9am and noon, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 75. West northwest wind 5 to 15 mph becoming south southeast in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Thursday: A 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. South southeast wind around 10 mph. Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune. A drawing shows the arrival of the delegates to the 1860 Republican convention in Chicago, sketched by W.B. Baird in 1868. (W.B. Baird/Library of Congress) On the run-up to the 1860 Republican Convention, Abraham Lincoln got cold feet. The Chicago Tribune was tirelessly touting him as the partys choice for president. But Lincoln was juggling his law practice and candidacy. In March, he fought and won a tough, 11-day courtroom battle in Chicago. So he confessed his misgivings to the newspapers editor. See, here, you Tribune boys got me up a peg too high, he told Joseph Medill, the papers editor. How about the vice presidency? Wont that do? Medill wouldnt have it. Hed worked too hard persuading the Republicans to hold their convention in Chicago and getting the city to build a hall to hold it in. Advertisement Joseph Medill in 1855, when he left Cleveland and formed a partnership to buy the struggling Tribune. (Col. Robert R. McCormick Research Center) Were not playing second in this dance to any musician. Its president or nothing. Else you can count the Tribune out. Were not fooling away our time and science on the vice presidency. Medills insistence on going full-bore for the presidency established Chicago, which is now making a bid to host the 2024 Democratic Convention, as the go-to town for political conventions. Advertisement [ Read more: Chicago Tribune's 175th anniversary ] Between 1860 and 1996, Chicago hosted 25 Republican and Democratic conventions. No other city has hosted nearly as many, with the runner-up, Baltimore, claiming 10, followed by Philadelphia, with 9. Add to that total the founding of the Prohibition Party at an 1869 convention in Chicagos Farwell Hall. Plus Theodore Roosevelts Progressive Party, founded in 1912 as a breakaway from the Republican Party that also met in Chicago that same year. Several major party conventions marked historical turning points. William Jennings Bryans electrifying Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic Partys Chicago convention made Democrats the champion of the underdog beginning with hard-pressed farmers who were losing their land to foreclosure. A crowd gathers outside Chicago Stadium for the Democratic National Convention in 1932, which would nominate Franklin Roosevelt. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) In 1932, the Democrats chose Franklin Roosevelt as the savior of the Forgotten Man of the Great Depression, and in 1940, the party nominated FDR for an unprecedented third term. Word War II was on the horizon when, thanks to a Chicago ward boss yelling into a hidden microphone, the Chicago Stadium was rocked with the sound of: Labor wants Roosevelt! Women want Roosevelt! Advertisement Cops and anti-war protesters battled on Chicagos streets during the 1968 Democratic Convention that nominated Hubert Humphrey. Declared a police riot by a federal investigation, those televised scenes prefaced Richard Nixons winning the White House. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 45 Delegates on the Democratic National Convention floor chant "Stop the war" after a speech by Pierre Salinger, President John F. Kennedy's press secretary, on Aug. 28, 1968. Salinger urged adoption of the dove plank on the Vietnam War. (John Austad / Chicago Tribune) But never were the stakes as high as in 1860. A house divided against itself, cannot stand, Lincoln had said two years earlier in a speech accepting the Republican nomination to U.S. senator. The Whig Party, his previous affiliation, had been torn apart by the issue of slavery. Slavery had been abolished in the North but white Southerners considered it a birthright. It was enshrined in a Constitution that doled out seats in the House of Representatives by each states population of free people, and three-fifths of all other persons, a euphemism for enslaved people. For Medill, ending slavery was a moral imperative. He helped to found the Underground Road, an organization that sent weapons to the militant abolitionist John Brown, who was waging a shooting war with proslavery forces in Kansas. But Brown was hanged in 1859 after a raid at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Intended to provoke a slave revolt, it threatened to cost the anti-slavery movement its moderate supporters. Fortunately Medill had identified a moderate standard-bearer at the 1856 founding of Illinois Republican Party. A portrait of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 is on display at the National Portrait Gallery. (Alexander Gardner/National Portrait Gallery) He came forward with a giraffe-like swing (he never walked straight like other men did) and stood in front of the pulpit, Medill recalled. But after a few sentences, the delegates shouted to him to get up into the pulpit. He did so and there finished his Demosthenian speech a reference to a noted statesman of ancient Athens. Advertisement Everyone in the church was standing or climbing on tables, and cheering. Medill and other reporters were so moved they forgot to take notes on what became known as Lincolns Lost Speech. To make sure that didnt happen again, the Tribune sent a stenographer along when Lincoln debated Steven Douglas during their 1858 race for the U.S. Senate. Lincolns arguments were to form the basis for the campaign literature of his presidential run. At their Freeport debate, William Deacon Bross, a co-owner of the Tribune, briefly held things up, saying Hold on Lincoln, you cant speak yet, because he couldnt find the papers stenographer. Bross yelled out for the man, who raised his hand from the rear and was carried over the crowds heads to the platform where he could record the ensuing speech. Though the 1858 election was won by Douglas, a forthright defender of slavery, it made Lincoln, whose political resume was limited to a seat in the Illinois legislature almost two decades earlier, more widely known. He was still a long shot when the Republican Convention opened in May 1860, in the Wigwam, at the corner of Lake and Market streets. A drawing shows the Republican Wigwam in Chicago in which the Republican Convention was held on May 16, 1860. (Library of Congress) Sen. William Seward of New York seemed likely to leave the Wigwam with the Republican nomination. Previously New Yorks governor, he vehemently opposed slavery. Advertisement Being a well-known abolitionist cut both ways, since calling for an end to slavery could scare off moderate voters. Lincoln advocated only stopping the practices spread in states being carved out of Americas Western territories. But that argument would go for naught unless Seward could be stopped from winning on the first ballot. That was less likely to be accomplished with lofty words than through backroom horse-trading and a touch of dirty politics. Medill, using his position on the Illinois State Central Committee, had New Yorks delegates placed at one end of the vast hall, so their cries of Seward! Seward! might be muffled. As insurance, Medill filled the galleries with Lincoln die-hards. It was the meanest trick I ever did in my life, Medill later said. Pennsylvanias delegation, the most important cache of uncommitted votes, was seated at the other end of the Wigwam. In the middle, distancing New Yorks contingent from Pennsylvanias, was a bastion of Lincoln loyalists: the Illinois, Indiana, and New Jersey delegations. A reporter from the Cincinnati Commercial described the scene as nominations were made and seconded. First, Sewards: Advertisement Looking from the stage over the vast amphitheater nothing was to be seen below but thousands of hats a black, mighty swarm of hats flying with the velocity of hornets over a mass of human heads, most of the mouths of which as appeared were open. Then Lincolns delegates got their chance to whoop and howl: Imagine all the hogs ever slaughtered in Cincinnati giving their death squeals together, a score of big steam whistles going together (steam at 160 pounds per inch) and you conceive something of the same nature. The Republicans at the nominating convention in their Wigwam at Chicago in May 1860. (Library of Congress) The night before, Sewards supporters, expecting a quick victory, consumed 300 bottles of Champagne. But the roll call of the states was sobering. Maine thought to be solidly for Seward gave six votes to Lincoln. New Hampshires vote was even more shocking: one for Seward, seven for Lincoln. During the third round, Medill sat with the Ohio delegation, which was backing a favorite-son candidate, Salmon P. Chase. Swing your vote to Lincoln, and your guy can have anything he wants, Medill told the delegations chairman, Davis Carter. Advertisement Vintage Chicago Tribune Weekly The Vintage Tribune newsletter is a deep dive into the Chicago Tribune's archives featuring photos and stories about the people, places and events that shape the city's past, present and future. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy > How do you know that? Carter asked. I know and wouldnt promise if I didnt, Medill responded Carter stood up and said: I rise, Mr. Chairman, to announce the change of four votes to Ohio from Mr. Chase to Mr. Lincoln. One of the secretaries with the tally sheet in his hand shouted: Fire the salute! Abe Lincoln is nominated! the Cincinnati reporter wrote. He joined a wild celebration on Chicagos streets that went on for hours. Exhausted, he and the Ohio delegation boarded a homeward-bound train but didnt get much sleep. As the train passed through village after village, the passengers were awakened by cannons, drums and the whooping of the boys who were delighted with the idea of a candidate for the presidency who 30 years ago split rails on the Sangamon River classic stream now and forevermore whose neighbors named him honest. Sign up to receive the Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter at chicagotribune.com/newsletters for more photos and stories from the Tribunes archives. Advertisement Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Benton County may have asked for too much when it put an unsuccessful $110 million bond measure on the May 16 ballot or perhaps didn't clearly communicate the need for it. Whatever the reason, officials say they intend to find out in the coming months why Measure 2-140 failed so spectacularly before they ask taxpayers once again to back a proposed jail. Commissioner Xan Augerot said its too soon to know when elected officials will again send a request for new tax funding to constituents, but she was among officials who said the county will move as soon as possible to ask voters what motivated their choices this time around. I know that we would like to go out while we still have interest and community attention, Augerot said. The economy Voters said no. By Friday evening, May 19, officials had counted 24,209 ballots out of 60,120 registered voters an about 40.6% turnout. The gap narrowed slightly, from 14.2 to 13.7 points, 13,758 voting against and 10,451 saying yes. Nearly everyone who returned a ballot voted on the measure. Just 192 returned ballots did not count as a vote. With turnout close to historic returns for a special election, voters appeared poised to defeat the linchpin component in a sweeping, nearly $200 million overhaul of the countys criminal justice system. The ballot measures that failed last Tuesday generally asked voters for new money, according to analysts, while those seeking to renew tax obligations fared much better. Local governments across Oregon put 58 funding measures to a vote on May 16. By the following morning, 42 appeared set to pass. Of the 16 that were failing, eight were for bond measures, according to a Portland-based pollster and analyst. Others asked for rate hikes or new tax mechanisms, John Horvick, vice president at DHM Research, noted on Twitter. He was responding to Curtis Wright, a communications consultant who volunteered to represent the political action committee backing the Benton County ballot measure. Wright said in an interview on election night that voters likely balked at the potential increase to their tax bill. He quoted a Bill Clinton campaign slogan coined by consultant James Carville: Its the economy, stupid. Climbing price tag The price for revamping the justice system began climbing last year. The measure grew to include provisions for buildings that could host frontline services for folks without shelter or in mental health crises. A consultant had told the county keeping people out of the criminal justice system was among the most effective ways to support the criminal justice system. A 2019 report concluded interceding in someones life before theyre interacting with police can keep that person from charges of crime for being unhoused or having a mental health crisis. It was step zero, according to the county-ordered analysis diversion around the criminal justice system from the start. A 911 call usually puts a police officer in front of someone in a crisis, where social workers or people specially trained in de-escalation might funnel that person into social care programs instead of jail. Crisis intervention teams and telephone support lines became mandatory in Oregon, largely in line with a federal response to protests over the police murder of George Floyd in 2020. But Benton County has been courting the voters long before then. The question since the start of the millennium has been how to more than double the 40-bed capacity of the jail built in 1976. Originally expected to be a temporary fix, the jail has been outdated for years, and the county spends about $1.2 million each year housing inmates in other jails in Marion and Wasco counties. Benton County asked for $18.9 million to build a jail in 2000 Oregon May primary election; $17.7 million for a jail in the 2001 November general election. More recently, the county sought $25 million in November 2015, when voters missed approving a bond measure by just 5 percentage points. Since then, jails are under increased demand. Inmates who are violent offenders cant be housed with nonviolent offenders. Jail officials also say courts slowed down during the coronavirus pandemic, causing lockups to fill up with inmates awaiting trial. In a 2018 study, Benton County projected a need for 107 beds to accommodate an expected average inmate population of 92. The need for a jail, however, was just one component of the bond proposal. Justice system Officials sought to position first homelessness then mental health services in the measure language after polling showed those topics were foremost in the minds of potential voters. But the cost of JSIP ballooned from an estimate between $106 million and $136 million to nearly $200 million and the bond measure needed for the jail crept past $100 million to $110 million. Most other components of the program are funded by loans and federal or state money. Just $3 million of the bond measure was set aside for homeless infrastructure, a consolidated center where social services providers provide casework under one roof, called a navigation center. Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center, a nonprofit tapped to run the navigation center, would foot another $1 million. The rest of the about $14 million for construction of that building comes from a county ask fate still unknown for state funding. Ranking county employees in April were optimistic about the $10 million sought in a legislative appropriation for the upcoming fiscal biennium that starts in July. Legislators typically finalize budget requests after the May revenue forecast, which was about $2 billion more than expected when published May 16. Augerot said Measure 2-140 was complex and that the county next will seek a simpler proposal. The need for a jail remains, she said, even if Benton County voters have demonstrated they dont find a jail bond measure palatable. It has to be suitable for people in custody, Augerot said. It does not meet their needs. Augerot said she saw voter opinion line up with the countys aim to fund a jail in one-on-one conversations. But there was no way we could speak to everyone one-on-one, Augerot said. Mental health Infrastructure for mental health services, although only $1.5 million of the $110 million sought by the bond, was included in the measure's title: Bonds for Community Safety, Mental Health, Homelessness Services Facilities. It's a subject voter James Cox knows all too well, especially because mental health support is underachieving in Oregon. But some people have the luxury of having their mental health crises in the privacy of a house. Rather than building houses, were marginalizing more people. Were making people more jaded, and we are not solving anything, he said. Cox said he spent five months in a part-time care facility, meeting people recovering from addiction or mental health crises. He injured his head at the coast hunting fossils, he said, and needed downtime. Cox described his stay as illuminating. He got to learn who his housemates were after the initial conversation about why they needed to recover. Some people at the house could lash out and act with aggression and violence. But most didnt. Otherwise decent people who made some decisions or they still struggle with alcohol or drugs and arent getting the help they need. And people dont want them around, Cox said. Still, Cox said he decided against the bond measure unfortunately for him after he already had cast his ballot with a yes vote. He was taken with promotional information in the state voters pamphlet, he said, that characterized a vote for the bond measure as a vote for expanded social services. If only Id had a couple hours of evaluation, Cox said. Cox said he wants to see local governments reflect a new, more humane approach to helping their constituents. That includes people standing on street corners screaming, Cox said, who need help. Because they have no help at all. Theyre falling apart, Cox said. Related stories: For many years, Benjamin Quarles seminal account of the participation of African Americans in the American Revolution has remained the standard work in the field. According to Quarles, the outcome of this conflict was mixed for African American slaves who enlisted in Britains fight against its rebellious American colonies in return for the promise of freedom: the British treacherously resold many into slavery in the West Indies, while others obtained freedom in Canada and Africa. Building on Quarles analysis of the latter group, Sylvia Frey studied the former slaves who emigrated to British colonies in Canada. According to Frey, these refugeesthe most successful of the African American Revolutionary War participantsviewed themselves as the ideological heirs of the American Revolution. Frey sees this inheritances reflected in their demands for the same rights that the American revolutionaries had demanded from the British: land ownership, limits to arbitrary authority and burdensome taxes, and freedom of religion. 1. According to the passage, which of the following is true about the African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Canada after the American Revolution? 2. Which of the following is most analogous to the relationship between the African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Canada after the American Revolution and the American revolutionaries, as that relationship is described in the passage? 3. The author of the passage suggests that which of the following is true of Benjamin Quarles work? 4. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage concerning Britains rule in its Canadian colonies after the American Revolution? (A) Although they were politically unaligned with either side, they identified more with British ideology than with American ideology.(B) While they were not immediately betrayed by the British, they ultimately suffered the same fate as did African American Revolutionary War participants who were resold into slavery in the West Indies.(C) They settled in Canada rather than in Africa because of the greater religious freedom available in Canada.(D) They were more politically active than were African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Africa.(E) They were more successful than were African American Revolutionary War participants who settled Africa.(A) A brilliant pupil of a great musician rebels against the teacher, but adopts the teachers musical style after the teachers unexpected death.(B) Two warring rulers finally make peace after a lifetime of strife when they realize that they have been duped by a common enemy.(C) A child who has sided with a domineering parent against a defiant sibling later makes demands of the parent similar to those once made by the sibling.(D) A writer spends much of her life popularizing the work of her mentor, only to discover late in life that much of the older writers work is plagiarized from the writings of a foreign contemporary.(E) Two research scientists spend much of their careers working together toward a common goal, but later quarrel over which of them should receive credit for the training of a promising student.(A) It introduced a new and untried research methodology.(B) It contained theories so controversial that they gave rise to an entire generation of scholarship.(C) It was a pioneering work that has not yet been displaced by subsequent scholarship.(D) It launched the career of a scholar who later wrote even more important works.(E) At the time it appeared, its author already enjoyed a well-established reputation in the field.(A) Humiliated by their defeat by the Americans, the British sharply curtailed civil rights in their Canadian colonies.(B) The British largely ignored their Canadian colonies.(C) The British encouraged the colonization of Canada by those African Americans who had served on the American side as well as by those who had served on the British side.(D) Some of Britains policies in its Canadian colonies were similar to its policies in its American colonies before the American Revolution.(E) To reduce the debt incurred during the war, the British imposed even higher taxes on the Canadian colonists than they had on the American colonists. Stop attacks on Immigration officers at borders - GIS Management cautions Graphic.com.gh May - 21 - 2023 , 17:32 The management of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has condemned an attack on a team of Immigration officers on patrol at the Aflao border last night, calling for an end to such acts. The officers, who were on patrol duties at Beat 6 of the Aflao border, were pelted with stones, resulting in three of them sustaining serious injuries and are currently receiving treatment at the Ketu South Municipal Hospital under stiff security. The GIS, in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs, C/SUPT. Michael Amoako-Atta said while they appreciated the cooperation and support from border residents and citizens, those attacks on officers by some members of the public should stop immediately. Management of the Ghana Immigration Service has received with great displeasure the report of an attack on a team of Immigration Officers on patrol duties at Beat 6 of the Aflao border by yet-to-be-identified assaulters at about 2325 hours last night. The assaulters were however dispersed by warning shots from the patrol team ahead of the arrival of a reinforcement team of Immigration Officers. One bystander however sustained injuries from a gunshot and is currently responding to treatment. We condemn the attack in no uncertain terms and advise border residents of Aflao, commuters and citizens, in general, to consider border officials as people working ultimately for the safety of our motherland," the statement read. It said the management of GIS would continue to keep a close eye on the situation at Aflao, and all necessary mechanisms would be deployed to keep border security uncompromised. It called on all Officers, especially at the Aflao Sector Command, to remain resolute and not be deterred by the unfortunate incident. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WENTWORTH After a two-week trial, jurors on Thursday found former Rockingham County Clerk of Court candidate Joseph Lynwood Irving, 40, guilty of 17 felonies, including assault with a firearm against law enforcement officers and making threats of mass violence against educational institutions. Senior Resident Supreme Court Judge Stan Allen handed down a sentence of more than 21 years in state prison, according to Rockingham County District Attorney Jason Ramey. Allens ruling, means Irvings prison term spans 258 months with no option for parole. Charges include: three counts of assault with a firearm against a law enforcement officer; three counts of communicating threats of mass violence on educational property; three counts of making a false report concerning a destructive device on any property; one count of making a false report of a destructive device on a public building; two counts of levying threats against court officers; and three counts of threatening phone calls. How Irvings crimes unfolded What began as a disturbing hang up call to the countys 911 call center on March 11, 2020, during which Irving threatened the lives of several elected officials, ended in a nine-hour standoff between Irving and law enforcement on Irvings Ruffin property, the district attorneys office said. During the standoff, Irving assaulted sheriffs officers with a firearm, the jury ruled. Deputies were dispatched to Irvings 145 Deodara Lane home during the early morning. Lt. Jason Hutchins, first on the scene, attempted to check on Irving to make certain he was well but found himself facing down the barrel of Irvings shotgun. A standoff had begun. Other deputies radioed for backup and help poured in, including Alamance County Sheriffs Office deputies who delivered an armored vehicle to give Rockingham deputies protection. Meanwhile, Irving, who barricaded himself inside his home, continued to point the gun at several law enforcement personnel, including Det. Angie Webster and Det. Tommy Underwood, officials said. During the standoff, Irving called in bomb threats to all of the high schools in Rockingham County, leading to the lock down of 22 district schools. Irving also levied bomb threats at several businesses. No bombs were ever found at any schools or businesses, and no one was harmed during the standoff. The Sheriffs Offices Special Response Team eventually took Irving into custody without further incident, Ramey said in a news release. For years, Joseph Irving has waged an unceasing campaign of harassment on local government officials to gratify his thirst for attention, Ramey said. Irving focused his harassment specifically toward former Rockingham County Clerk of Court, Mark Pegram, who Irving had run to replace. Bringing Joseph Irving to justice and protecting our citizens was truly a community effort, Ramey said. Page warned county residents to stay out of trouble. If you are thinking about making threats of violence to any of our schools, businesses, or government agencies or officials... DONT DO IT, Page said. Here in Rockingham County, we will use all of the local, state and federal resources at our disposal to identify you, arrest you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Trees planted along Boaz Creek Thanks to the Every Kids Outdoors Small Grants program from the National Park Trust, nearly 50 trees were planted along Boaz Creek in Stoneville. The Dan River Basin Association and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers partnered to pilot the Streamside Trees in the Classroom program in North Carolina this spring. The STIC program was provided to three schools in Rockingham County. The schools, Dillard Academy, Huntsville Elementary and Stoneville Elementary, are all within a 15-minute drive of Stoneville Memorial Park, where the trees were planted. More than 180 fourth-grade students participated in the STIC program by rooting native black willow trees in the classroom. The tree stakes were delivered to the classrooms in April where they rooted over the next four weeks. Students journaled the changes of the trees by recording growth of the roots and the leaves. They also created tree models to enhance their learning about tree parts. Finally, on their planting day in May, students took a field trip to the nearby park to plant them along the stream. In the classroom, students also learned about the effects of pollution on waterways and how human impacts cause issues such as erosion. The STIC program is a hands-on environmental education program that educates students on the importance of streamside vegetation, referred to as a riparian buffer, primarily for the positive impact it has on water quality. During the Planting Day, students took an all-day field trip to Stoneville Park where they rotated through environmental learning activities and planting their trees. Natural resource partners from around the basin joined in on providing hands-on learning for the young students. The stations included the Dan River Basin Association, Dan River Keeper, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, The Museum and Archives of Rockingham County, Agricultural Extension Agent for Rockingham County, Mayo River State Park and Stormwater SMART. Debbies Catering in Stoneville provided a discounted picnic style lunch for all volunteers. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. HIGH POINT Empathy. Courtesy. Information about what sights, sounds and experiences to expect. Quiet places to retreat if those experiences get overwhelming. In High Point, tourism leaders are betting if they can offer these basics for autistic people and their families, they can attract more visitors and dollars to the city while becoming more inclusive. Earlier this month, a group called the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards recognized the city as a "certified autism destination." It's the second city in the United States to receive the designation from the group, and the first in the eastern part of the country. That announcement came after more than a dozen local attractions, restaurants, hotels and organizations went through training with the Florida organization to become "certified" autism centers. It's a project that Visit High Point the city's nonprofit tourism arm has been working on since 2021, building an itinerary that's centered on family attractions like Q's Corner, the High Point Museum and the Nido & Mariana Qubein Children's Museum. "Its just so amazing to see that this is coming to fruition," said Kerry Magro, an autistic professional speaker, author and consultant who serves on the International Board of Credentialing's board. As of 2020, an estimated 1 out of every 36 children in the United States had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by the time they were eight years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "When you have statistics like that, all of a sudden it becomes a business plan really fast," said Melody Burnett, the president of Visit High Point. **** The story of how and why High Point tourism leaders sought certification for the city begins with the 2021 opening of the Q's Corner play place on North Main Street. Candace Humphrey and William Hayes, parents of an autistic child, created the indoor play gym as a business catering to the needs of children with varying abilities. Carlvena Foster, a Guilford County commissioner and a board member of Visit High Point, learned that many visitors to Q's corner were from out of town and looking for other places to go. So Foster asked Burnett to connect with Humphrey. Coincidently, a podcast that Burnett followed had aired an episode about Mesa, Ariz. the other city certified by the International Board. In the podcast, Marc Garcia, the CEO of Visit Mesa, talked about the vacation he and his family took to another city. Garcia explained that his son, who is autistic, had "meltdown after meltdown after meltdown" while the family faced whispers and stares from the staff of the restaurants and hotels they visited, which he said was "extremely uncomfortable." "I said, you know, this isn't right. This isn't how it should be. We are in the hospitality industry, for crying out loud," he recalled. "While I couldn't do anything about it there, I knew it was something I could address in Mesa, so that's what I set out to do." Based on that podcast, Visit High Point set out to follow Mesa's lead, working with the International Board to pursue certification. David Laxton, the director of communications for the Autism Society of North Carolina, said what's been happening in High Point and Mesa coincides with similar efforts in other places. That includes the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, and the South Carolina city of Myrtle Beach, which advertises its certification by the Champion Autism Network. Laxton said he's glad to see cities and attractions taking a look at how to better welcome and serve autistic people. He hopes that initiative can spread beyond tourism and hospitality to incorporate a wider variety of locations. There's so much more for communities to do, he added, in learning how to better understand and include autistic people. Still, with the example set by High Point and others, "we view this as progress," he said. **** To become certified by the International Board of Credentialing, at least 80 percent of staff that interact with guests must complete training on autism, which has to be renewed every two years. The training covers how to understand sensory and communications needs or differences. It also emphasizes that autistic people are not all the same. "We let them know not to say, 'Oh, I'm sorry that you are autistic!' or something like that," explained Meredith Tekin, who leads the International Board of Credentialing. Trainees, she said, also learn about behaviors they might see from an autistic person, such as flapping hands or vocalizations, and about requests they and their families might make, including food preferences. "At the end of the day you are going to have empathetic staff and some more tools at your disposal," Tekin said. For each area of an attraction, the group gives a rating from 1 to 10 with 1 being low sensory stimulation and 10 being high for touch, taste, sight, sound and smell. So, for example, the fire truck exhibit at the Nido & Mariana Qubein Children's Museum in High Point is a level 3 for touch, with opportunities to walk into the vehicle and handle the steering wheel. It's also a level 6 for sound due to the truck's siren and because it can be an active area. That information allows families to plan ahead for sensory experiences they think might be enjoyable or want to avoid. Peyton and Jason Davis of Colfax, the parents of an autistic five-year-old, have been advising Visit High Point. They said some autistic people are sensory avoiding and some are sensory seeking. But others, like their son, are more of a mix. "It really can vary. It's not like calm and quiet is the most ideal," Peyton explained. "Another part that is challenging some days he can really get a lot from his environment and love that and other days its overwhelming for him." Magro of the International Board said the work being done today on making destinations more welcoming is breaking new ground. He wishes it had been around when he was a child. Back then, he had to avoid public places because of how challenging it was for him to deal with overstimulation. "It was isolating at times," he described. These days, Magro is more comfortable in public, including speaking in front of audiences and traveling. The main thing he seeks for himself when traveling is just to book his hotel room away from a lot of foot traffic, elevator sounds or other noises. Both Magro and Tekin said that something autistic children and their families can typically expect at attractions that are certified like the ones in High Point is a designated "quiet room." Magro said it may include items many autistic people find soothing: fidget spinners, weighted blankets and noise-canceling headphones. At the children's museum in High Point, there is a quiet room available for whomever needs it. Most commonly it's children, autistic or not, who need a break, said Executive Director Megan Ward. But they've also had parents looking for somewhere to decompress. "Usually, if you are getting overwhelmed, you don't want a bunch of attention put on you, and so the low-sensory spaces can be good for that as well," Tekin said. **** Riley Hammond, the manager of Distractions Art Studio in High Point, said one thing that struck her about the autism training was discovering that 1 out of every 6 people, including those without autism, has a sensory need. Hammond said she realized that means her as well. She finds noisy environments distracting and prefers to use ear plugs in those situations. She said she was motivated to make her studio a "certified autism center" after recalling the accommodations she received for dyslexia in college. "I was like, OK, this is something that's changed my life," she said. "So when I think about me being able to accommodate another person, I feel really inspired to be able to help someone feel safe and feel comfortable and have a good time just like anybody else can. It's so important to me." Peyton and Jason Davis usually only have a handful of places they will go with their son, but earlier this month they decided to try dining at Sweet Old Bill's, a High Point restaurant that's one of the new certified centers. The service was prompt, they said, and no one asked that their son, who is uncomfortable in shoes, wear them. The best part, they said, was just knowing they were welcome. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. KERNERSVILLE Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker announced Saturday that he is running for governor, adding his name to the list of Republicans who think they can finally win a seat that has traditionally been out of the GOPs reach. We need somebody willing to engage, Walker said. And part of that engagement is holding our own accountable. Sometimes that is looking at our own side of the aisle and saying, No, we are going stand differently than this. Walker joins the gubernatorial race in whats becoming a crowded field. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and State Treasurer Dale Folwell, both Republicans, have previously announced their candidacies. Josh Stein, North Carolinas attorney general, looks to keep Democrats in control of the seat. Mike Ross, a Libertarian candidate, also is running. Walker announced his candidacy at Triad Baptist Church in Kernersville, an event attended by about 250 people, including family and friends. Whether its the swamp in (Washington) D.C. or Raleigh, its very easy to get there when you talk about all of the different things that you want to accomplish, said Walker, who turned 54 on Saturday. While Republicans have made huge gains in taking control of the state House and Senate, theyve only held the governors job four years since 1993. The only election victory during that period happened in 2012 with Pat McCrory. Walkers entry will give voters a choice somewhere between the establishment Folwell and the rising but controversial star of Robinson. Walker acknowledged to reporters on Saturday that the current GOP primary favorite is Robinson, who was elected the states first Black lieutenant governor in 2020. Robinson is a popular speaker at conservative churches and organizations. But some Republicans have questioned whether Robinsons aggressive style and blunt comments about LGBTQ+ rights and abortion make him the partys best choice to win a general election. A former pastor at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro, Walker won the 6th District congressional race in 2014 his first try at elected office and replaced elder statesman Howard Coble. Walker defeated Democratic challengers in 2016 and 2018. In 2019, Walker decided not to run for reelection after the General Assembly redrew his Republican-leaning district to one that favored a Democratic candidate. In 2022, Walker finished a distant third in the Republican U.S. Senate primary to eventual general election winner Ted Budd and the second-place McCrory. Walker and Robinson had been close allies the result of Walkers distribution of Robinsons 2018 gun-rights speech to the Greensboro City Council that went viral and vaulted Robinson to prominence. But Robinsons endorsement of Budd changed that relationship, Walker has said. What we need is a governor candidate that can withhold and withstand a level of scrutiny that weve never seen for the chief executive in North Carolina, Walker said during his speech, without mentioning Robinson. He added: Republicans are going to have to ask themselves at some point does character and integrity still matter to us. Walker said he is running to expand educational opportunities and economic freedom, targeting an educational system he said must be reformed. Until we are able to get in there and clean out the tenureship, clean out all of the different things that are programmed in this generation, we are going to keep dealing with the same problems over and over again, Walker said. We got to return power to the parents and the school boards and not the D.C. or the Raleigh bureaucracies. Walker also said he will fight against the intellectual pursuit of our elites promoting child mutilation through gender reassignment a familiar refrain echoed by many in the Republican Party of late. Its an abomination, and, as your governor, I will fight day and night to war against such evil, Walker said. During his speech, Walker asked the crowd for campaign donations to help him raise $500,000 by June 30. Still, unless hes able to be financially competitive, Walkers path to a primary victory seems narrow, said Erik Heberlig, a political science professor at UNC-Charlotte. Its not clear there is a unique constituency within the Republican Party that Walker would be able to tap into as a means of beating Robinson, Heberlig said. " " The Food and Drug Administration requires a warning label on antidepressants that they may increase suicidal thoughts. Grace Cary/Getty Images It's a common warning on the labels of antidepressant drugs: "may cause suicidal thoughts." Some people who are depressed may think about committing suicide. So, it seems counterintuitive that medications, which are specifically formulated to treat depression, could have this side effect. But why? "The name 'antidepressants' is kind of a marketing term that makes the problem of suicidality less understandable," explains licensed clinical psychologist Dr. David Godot, with Psych Lab Psychology Center in an email. "Antidepressant medications do not actually reduce depression they simply increase levels of certain neurotransmitters. Forty years ago, researchers imagined that depression was caused by a shortage of those neurotransmitters. However, research has not supported that hypothesis at all. The brain is much more complicated than that." Advertisement Indeed, it's a field where the brain seems to be constantly flipping the script. As a result, reactions to certain medications and treatments don't always make a lot of sense and vary widely from person to person. "As depression lifts, it can make a person feel more motivated. The vast majority of the time, this is a good thing," says Louis Laves-Webb, a psychotherapist in Austin, Texas. "It means they're motivated to engage in activities that make their life happy and meaningful. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case and, due to mechanisms we have yet to comprehend, a small minority of patients find the motivation not to play but to make a suicide plan." It's a phenomenon that holistic healing blogger Esther Louise knows all too well, having used antidepressants to successfully manage her lifelong battle with depression and anxiety. The benefits haven't come without some pitfalls, however. "I have been through the process of starting the SSRIs [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a common form of antidepressant] on three occasions now, and each time I have found it to be very difficult. When starting the medication I tend to experience an increase in the severity of my symptoms for a short time before they slowly start to get better," she recalls. "In my experience, this means that for about a week after starting the antidepressants I will feel very depressed and experience suicidal thoughts, even if I had not been suffering with them before starting the medication." She says that she still finds this experience to be very alarming, even though she's aware of what's going on. "During this time, I feel very out of character, more impulsive and not as stable," she explains. "It can be incredibly scary to feel like you are out of control in this way. However, I try to remind myself that it is only temporary and these feelings will go away soon in my case, they always have." This reaction probably occurs because it takes time for antidepressants to really kick in. "When you take Prozac, your serotonin levels will increase within about a half hour. But therapeutic benefits are not expected for at least two weeks," Dr. Godot explains. "Why? Because something else has to happen in the brain and body, in response to the elevated neurotransmitter levels. And frankly, no one in the world knows exactly what that something is." What was the question you set out to answer with this study? Image source: MGH Kuo: "ChatGPT, a new language processing tool driven by artificial intelligence (AI), provides conversational text responses to questions and can generate valuable information for enquiring individuals, but the quality of ChatGPT-generated answers to medical questions is currently unclear." What methods or approach did you use? "We retrieved eight common questions and answers about colonoscopy from the publicly available webpages of three randomly-selected hospitals from the top-20 list of the US News & World Report Best Hospitals for Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Surgery. We inputted these questions as prompts for ChatGPT for two times on the same day and recorded the ChatGPT-generated answers. We then used a plagiarism detection software to compare the text similarity among all answers. Finally, to objectively interpret the quality of ChatGPT-generated answers, four gastroenterologists rated 36 random pairs of questions and answers for the following quality indicators on a 7-point scale: (1) ease of understanding (2) scientific adequacy (3) satisfaction with the answer Raters were also asked to interpret whether the answers were AI-generated or not." Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune. Migrants wait in line adjacent to the border fence under the watch of the Texas National Guard to enter into El Paso, Texas on May 10, 2023. (Andres Leighton/AP) The mother of an 8-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody said Friday that agents repeatedly ignored pleas to hospitalize her medically fragile daughter as she felt pain in her bones, struggled to breathe and was unable to walk. Agents said her daughters diagnosis of influenza did not require hospital care, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks said in an emotional phone interview. They knew the girl had a history of heart problems and sickle cell anemia. Advertisement They killed my daughter, because she was nearly a day and a half without being able to breathe, the mother said. She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didnt do anything for her. The girl died Wednesday on what her mother said was the familys ninth day in Border Patrol custody. People are to be held no more than 72 hours under agency policy, a rule that is violated during unusually busy times. Advertisement The account is almost certain to raise questions about whether the Border Patrol properly handled the situation, the second child migrant death in two weeks in U.S. government custody after a rush of illegal border crossing severely strained holding facilities. [ As migrants move into shelters, surrounding communities respond: They have value ] Roderick Kise, a spokesperson for the Border Patrols parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, said he could not comment beyond an initial statement because the death was the subject of an open investigation. In that statement, CBP said the girl experienced a medical emergency at a station in Harlingen, Texas, and died later that day at a hospital. No parent should have to beg for their child to get basic medical attention and be forced to watch as their childs health worsens to the point where they cannot be saved, Jennifer Nagda, chief programs officer at the nonprofit Young Center for Immigrant Childrens Rights, said in a statement Saturday. Nagda urged the Biden administration to create welcoming centers at the border where immigration officials can process asylum-seeking families with children while non-governmental groups can offer food, clothing and medical care. The only way to stop these preventable deaths is to stop jailing families. To stop jailing children, Nagda said. [ President Biden says US-Mexico border will be chaotic for a while as migration curbs end ] Alvarez Benedicks, 35, said she, her husband and three children, aged 14, 12 and 8, crossed the border to Brownsville, Texas, on May 9. After a doctor diagnosed the 8-year-old, Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez, with influenza, the family was sent to the Harlingen station on May 14. It was unclear why the family was held so long. Anadith woke up her first day in the Harlingen station with a fever and had a headache, according to her mother, who said the station was dusty and smelled of urine. When she reported her daughters bone pain to an agent, she said he responded, Oh, your daughter is growing up. Thats why her bones hurt. Give her water. Advertisement I just looked at him, Alvarez Benedicks said. How would he know what to do if hes not a doctor? She said a doctor told her the pain was related to influenza. She asked for an ambulance to take her daughter to the hospital for breathing difficulties but was denied. I felt like they didnt believe me, she said. Anadith received saline fluids, a shower and fever medication to reduce her temperature, but her breathing problems persisted, her mother said, adding that a sore throat prevented her from eating and she stopped walking. At one point, a doctor asked the parents to return if Anadith fainted, Alvarez Benedicks said. Their request for an ambulance was denied again when her blood pressure was checked Wednesday. An ambulance was called later that day after Anadith went limp and unconscious and blood came out of her mouth, her mother said. She insists her daughter had no vital signs in the Border Patrol station before leaving for the hospital. Advertisement The family is staying at a McAllen, Texas, migrant shelter and seeking money to bring their daughters remains to New York City, their final destination in the U.S. [ Mayor Lori Lightfoot declares state of emergency over migrants arriving in Chicago: Weve reached a breaking point ] Anadith, whose parents are Honduran, was born in Panama with congenital heart disease. She received surgery three years ago that her mother characterized as successful. It inspired Anadith to want to become a doctor. Her death came a week after a 17-year-old Honduran boy, Angel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, died in U.S. Health and Human Services Department custody. He was traveling alone. A rush to the border before pandemic-related asylum limits known as Title 42 expired brought extraordinary pressure. The Border Patrol took an average of 10,100 people a into custody a day over four days last week, compared to a daily average of 5,200 in March. The Border Patrol had 28,717 people in custody on May 10, one day before pandemic asylum restrictions expired, which was double from two weeks earlier, according to a court filing. By Sunday, the custody count dropped 23% to 22,259, still historically high. Custody capacity is about 17,000, according to a government document last year, and the administration has been adding temporary giant tents like one in San Diego that opened in January with room for about 500 people. Advertisement On Sunday, the average time in custody was 77 hours. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Progress on a much-needed upgrade to Helena's Custer Avenue has stalled since March of 2022, but city staff is confident the city and state transportation department will come to an agreement within the next few months. For years, the city of Helena and Montana Department of Transportation have been in negotiations over the massive project that would widen Custer Avenue from three lanes to five lanes, provide improved pedestrian transportation travel and realign the spaghetti bowl of utilities under the thoroughfare from Montana Avenue to the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. That portion of road is under MDT jurisdiction. "The need for improvements on Custer Avenue is pressing. Traffic volumes are increasing on Custer Avenue, with congestion during peak times," MDT's project webpage titled "The Cluster on Custer" states, citing schools and local events, particularly at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds, as major contributors to congestion. MDT Traffic Engineer Shane Forsythe said in 2017 when the traffic study and long-range growth projections for the project were initially done, that long-term growth in traffic on Custer Avenue could be as high as 2% per year. However, Forsythe made it clear that traffic projections are something of a "crystal ball," and there is no way to know the exact amount of growth an area might see. "Everybody is on the same page now," Helena Transportation Systems Director David Knoepke said during a phone interview. "We hope to see the agreements signed in the next three or four months." Knoepke said getting this right as one of the main arteries in Helena's network is critical. He said the city has pressed Montana Department of Transportation on two main concerns: one, a design with a neighborhood feel, complete sidewalks, boulevards, accessibility ramps and vegetation; and two, the project's management. "The discussions have been productive about what the city is looking for," Knoepke said. "We'd like to see more of a neighborhood feel versus a field of asphalt." He said compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act is at the top of the list. Amenities such as "accessible facilities for all modes of travel," enhanced pedestrian crossings and a roundabout at the intersection of the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds and Benton Avenue are also proposed. "We want to build a corridor that can check off as many of those (pedestrian safety and accessibility) boxes as we can," Knoepke said. The other aspect to the project the city has pushed for is that the city administer the project instead of MDT. "MDT has a vast amount of experience, but we have that local perspective that is going to be important," Knoepke said. He said the local oversight can also "sometimes decrease the delivery date." City Manager Tim Burton said final decisions have yet to be made, but that MDT will likely have the city manage the project. Kristine Fife represents MDT as the contracted communications manager for the Custer Avenue improvement project. Fife confirmed MDT is willing to allow Helena to administer the project. The latest estimated cost to complete the work from Montana Avenue to Benton Avenue is about $20.7 million. Fife said the project is mostly funded through state and federal gas tax dollars, but about $300,000 of the tab has yet to be picked up. She said the "funding available doesn't meet the total cost," and without it, the project remains "in the vault." Fife deferred questions about whether Helena is expected to contribute the remaining funds to MDT Great Falls District Administrator Jim Wingerter, who did not immediately return a request for comment. She characterized the project as "currently on hold," and said "there is not a lot going on" since the project's feasibility study was completed and presented to the Helena City Commission in March 2022. Still Knoepke is confident agreements can be reached in the near future. "I think the work we've all done so far has been great," he said. "We hope to get the agreements in place soon." He said once that is completed, the next 12 to 18 months will be spent hammering out a design that works for the project stakeholders, which in addition to the city and MDT includes two Helena Public Schools, Lewis and Clark County, property owners, business owners and the owners of the Yellowstone Pipeline, a 10-inch steel line transporting oil 531 miles across three states and runs underneath Custer Avenue. Knoepke said recent work to remove vegetation and push back a fence line along Custer Avenue was related to the pipeline's easement, not the forthcoming road work. Though the public engagement process for the project has already begun, Fife said it's during the design phase those efforts ramp up. "Any time you're dealing with a project like this, there are always multiple needs to consider," she said. "Particularly with this corridor, there are a lot of interests to be considered." Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Nearly one-fourth of the students in Helena Public Schools are identified of having an elevated risk of behavioral and emotional difficulties, according to data recently presented to board members. Helena Public Schools health grant facilitator Lona Carter updated the board of trustees May 11 about where mental health services are at in the district. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Helena Public Schools is trying to address the rising number of students experiencing mental health struggles. Carter's position is funded through a planning grant with the Montana Health Foundation written by Josh McKay, assistant superintendent grades 6-12. "This all started a while ago when Mr. McKay and I had a conversation and said that we cant accept that we cant help students, what other options do we have? Superintendent Rex Weltz told the board. So Mr. McKay, in his wisdom, went out and started searching, knowing that my answer wasnt no my answer is How can we say yes to support students? And months later, a year and a half later, here we are. The main focus of the presentation was on district students experiencing suicidality and significant depression and/or anxiety. The Behavioral and Emotional Risk Index (BASC-BESS) was administered districtwide in October. Carter called the results sobering. She noted that there are 7,676 students in Helena Public Schools spread across 17 schools and alternative programs. The review showed that around 156 K-2 students were identified as having extremely elevated risk of behavioral and emotional difficulties and another 235 K-2 students were identified as having an elevated risk, which combined is around 25% of the K-2 students in Helena Public Schools. For grades 3-12, nearly 445 students rated themselves as being extremely elevated risk of behavioral and emotional difficulties with another 854 students rating themselves as having an elevated risk, which is a combined total of around 26% total 3- through 12-graders in the district. That is, for us, a fourth of our student population, Carter said. So getting to that 25-30%, its that line of kids that are just really struggling that we need to get some help to. In spring, sixth- through twelfth-graders shifted to the Rural Behavioral Health Initiative (RBHI) Mental Health Screenings Linked to Care. Middle school data (grades 6-8) showed that 14-18% of students reported previous or current suicidality and around 9-12% of students are reporting clinically significant depressive and/or anxiety symptoms. Carter said that Helena Middle School has a little more than 700 students, and based on the data, nearly 100 of those students are experiencing suicidality. C.R. Anderson Middle School has 1,055 students, which means over 150 students are experiencing suicidality this semester. The districts alternative programs Access to Success and Project for Alternative Learning have 115 students combined, and over half, 56%, of the students reported previous or current suicidality, 20% reported clinically significant depressive symptoms and 12% reported clinically significant anxiety symptoms. Between Helenas two high schools, Capital and Helena, theres about 2,300 students. Around 14-18% of students reported previous or current suicidality, 8-9% reported clinically significant depressive symptoms and 7-9% reported clinically significant anxiety symptoms. This means that over 190 students are experiencing suicidality this semester at Capital and over 130 students are experiencing it at Helena. It is an important check for us that we may see from the outside a student is doing great and we think that theyre doing great. Were not seeing any issues, but theyre really struggling, Carter said. Carter worked with Jane Shawn, president of the Helena Education Association, to administer a survey to district teachers and staff to see where they would like or need more training, and almost 85% of respondents said they needed more training on trauma-informed practices. The presentation also focused on some of the hardships surrounding students that are contributing factors to their mental health, such as housing and food insecurity. Around 2,000 students qualify for free meals or reduced meal pricing, meaning about one in four students in the district are surviving poverty and living with food insecurity. Carter said she thinks the number of students experiencing food insecurity is underreported because its not a normal experience for a middle school or high school student to want to come in and say I want to apply for free or reduced lunch. Cater said that as of April 28, the number of students experiencing homelessness or transitions is 365 with 132 sheltered, meaning living in shelters, 132 doubled up, meaning a student may be living with grandparents or other family members due to financial hardship, 45 unsheltered and 55 living in hotels and motels. The highest grade level experiencing this is Pre K-5 with 210 students. Carter noted that housing is very difficult to now find in the community and that she expects the number of students experiencing homelessness or transitions to rise as the weather gets better because families may move into trailers or camp to save money. So you think about that when little people get up in the morning, and they come to school, said Carter. Theyre a little bit disheveled, and theyre hungry, and we want them to be able to learn. Its a tough environment for any person to be in. Some of the programs, including K-12 Conscious Discipline, K-5 Second Step Lessons and K-5 PeaceBuilders Good Behavior Game, focus on self-regulation, empathy, friendship and learning how to create productive and peaceful learning environments. For grades six-12, theres Signs of Suicide presented by counselors, freshman year PE program Youth Aware of Mental Health presented by outside mental health professionals and sophomore year health class program Question, Persuade, Refer. These programs focus on recognizing signs of suicide and learning how to ask for help if you or a friend need it. It is a delicate balance being a teacher. It is a delicate balance being an administrator because you dont want to say something that might upset but you still want to hold kids accountable, Carter said. In many cases, I think kids are going the best that they can, and for them or for their families, it isnt good enough and thats when we start to see a decline. Carter said they will know if this work is helping students by looking at the data and seeing if the numbers go down. The K-5 BASC-BESS and the 6-12 RBHI are administered in the late fall and early spring. The district also alternates the administration of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the Prevention Needs Assessment to 8, 10, and 12 graders every other year. The three goals of Carters job are to formalize sustainable community health care provider partnerships with HPS to create on-campus and virtual support for students in need, to equip staff with best-practice trauma-informed training and to create a system to provide in-the-moment behavioral health interventions. Carter said in the past there haven't really been providers on campus, and theyre shifting this because having resources more readily available for students may lead to more access and less barriers. It is really important for us to know that we got a portion of our students who are really struggling, Carter said. We also have a portion of our staff that is really struggling because theyre working with students that are having challenging emotional, behavioral, mental times in their own personal lives and our staff is trying to help them but isnt necessarily trained to do so." Carter stated that in the coming school year, three school-based health clinics will open. Helena Indian Alliance and PureView, both federally qualified health care clinics, have agreed to worl with HPS to be at Helena High School, C.R. Anderson and Project for Alternative Learning. The first year, they will provide behavioral health and if that goes well, theyre interested in expanding to put an in-school clinic in the buildings. It is an amazing opportunity for us to take care of kids while theyre at school and keep them in school, said Carter. Having behavioral health in our sites is such a relief because oftentimes they will miss appointments or families cant get off or they leave for the appointment and never come back to school." Other things that have been implemented or that may be implemented in the district are a Safer Montana Tip Line through the University of Montana for the district, the Handle with Care program, on-site Deterra, which is an at-home disposals kit for medicine, and on-site gunlocks so theyre available to families in partnership with the Lewis and Clark Suicide Prevention Coalition. The district has signed a memorandum of understanding with Carroll Colleges new License Clinical Social Work program that will launch in 2023-24 to help provide more social workers for schools and the community. Carter highlighted that there are some pieces of the puzzle that the district is missing that hopefully will come together in the next few years. She said theres a need for school based health clinics at Helena Middle School and Capital High School. One of the last items Carter listed that would help HPS is the creation of a Mental and Physical Health Student Advisory Board with a diverse range of 8-12 graders on it to express their needs. Carter has submitted three grants recently that will hopefully bring in over $2 million per year to enhance the districts efforts to better support students and improve their mental health. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. DECATUR A man is facing preliminary charges of first-degree murder in the death of another man in Oakley this week. Scott Walston, 32, was arrested by Macon County Sheriff's Office deputies on Friday for the murder of Michael Cox, the sheriff's department announced Saturday. Deputies arrived at the 4700 block of North Oakley Road shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday in response to a report of an injured person down. They soon located the body of a 33-year-old man later identified as Michael Cox, according to a news release from the department. Investigators with the Macon County Sheriff's Office and the Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Services determined that shortly before his death, Cox had been involved in a physical altercation with a male later identified as 32-year-old Scott Walston. Cox was killed by blunt blunt force trauma to the head sustained during the fight, the sheriff's department said. Walston was apprehended and questioned by authorities on Friday evening, the news release said. The investigation is ongoing. No further information was available Saturday. All preliminary charges are subject to review by the state's attorneys office. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. CHICAGO As energy companies shift away from burning coal to generate electricity, many are leaving behind toxic waste that could endanger public health and the environment for years to come. New regulations proposed by the Biden administration would expand the number of coal ash dumps subject to federal oversight, a change intended to prevent spills that during the past decade wreaked havoc near power plants in North Carolina and Tennessee. One of the sites that would come under federal oversight is the Waukegan Generating Station on Lake Michigan, a former ComEd coal plant ringed by two unlined ash ponds and an unlicensed landfill. Another is a Joliet quarry where ComEd and other companies dumped coal ash until NRG Energy overhauled a nearby coal plant in 2016 to burn natural gas. Ten Illinois ash dumps pose a danger to the drinking water supplies of nearby communities, including the Joliet site and ash pits surrounding another NRG coal plant along the Des Plaines River in Romeoville. Another site that threatens Lake Michigan is a coal plant in Michigan City, Indiana, owned by the Northern Indiana Public Service Co., which has planned to excavate and safely dispose of only half of its waste. EPA Administrator Michael Regan noted that many of the leaking ash dumps are in or near low-income, predominantly Black or Latino communities. We are hopeful this rule will hold these industries accountable and send a message that community members and taxpayers will no longer be responsible to clean up their mess, said Dulce Ortiz, co-chair of the Waukegan-based group Clean Power Lake County. We all deserve healthy communities and environments that our families and future generations can enjoy. The Biden proposal, unveiled this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, would replace Obama-era rules thrown out by a federal court and even weaker standards adopted during the Trump administration. If the latest version survives political and legal challenges, it would require more protective measures from companies in Republican-controlled states such as Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. It also would add the prospect of federal enforcement in Illinois and other states that in recent years adopted regulations intended to force the clean up of largely unlined dumps leaching pollution into lakes and rivers. Despite well-documented dangers, dumps surrounding about 250 coal plants are regulated far more loosely than household garbage landfills. Environmental groups that sued the EPA demanding tougher rules welcomed the Biden administrations proposal as a major step forward but noted it would still exempt some coal ash dumps from federal oversight. The EPA is taking significant steps to address a massive loophole that let many coal plant owners off the hook from cleaning up the toxic mess they created, said Lisa Evans, senior counsel at the nonprofit Earthjustice legal organization. Power plants will finally lose their hall pass to leave coal ash wherever they dumped it. It took a federal court order to nudge the EPA to submit a new version of the regulations. Under the proposal, energy companies would be required to monitor their ash dumps and, in many cases, clean them up. Most of the waste in Illinois has been mixed with water and pumped into unlined pits, where testing shows harmful levels of arsenic, chromium, lead and other heavy metals are steadily oozing through the ground toward lakes and rivers, including the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, the states only national scenic river. After decades of scant oversight, Illinois in 2021 adopted its own regulations that require coal ash dumps to be sealed or excavated. It appears our rules are just as strong, if not stronger than the Biden EPAs proposal, said Andrew Rehn, senior water resources engineer at the Champaign-based Prairie Rivers Network, one of the nonprofit groups that has been pushing for years to clean up the pollution. Clout-heavy utilities and coal companies blocked several attempts during the 1990s and 2000s to classify coal ash as hazardous waste. Energy companies further delayed action by challenging regulations adopted by the Obama administration in 2015 and persuading the Trump administration to propose a weaker alternative in 2020. Regan, who led North Carolinas environmental agency before joining the Biden administration, helped broker a multibillion-dollar settlement with Duke Energy after major spills of coal ash from two of the companys power plants. Earthen berms are the only thing holding back coal ash at many of the sites nationwide. In 2008, 5.4 million cubic yards of waste poured into rivers near the Tennessee Valley Authoritys Kingston Fossil Plant after a dike failed. The disaster prompted Earthjustice and other groups to call for the removal of coal ash from every other site, something that could finally start happening if the new federal regulations are adopted. Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. ABINGDON, Va. Scott Socias motto could easily be have tools, will travel. The Abingdon man is making a living as the neighborhood handyman. When a friend recently needed a garbage disposal installed, he was there. When someone called about putting up cabinet trim, he was on it. As word of mouth circulated about Socias handy ways, people often would say, All you need is Scott. A business was born bearing the words, All You Need is Scott: Handy as a Pocket on a Shirt, a whimsical name suggested by Cathy Lowe, executive director of the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator, who consulted with Socia about establishing a business three years ago. In March, Socia was awarded first place in the existing business category for the 2023 Washington County Business Challenge. Money he was awarded will help him build his business and eventually hire an employee. The local handyman installs garbage disposals, dishwashers, toilets, window blinds, cabinet trim, bathroom vanities, and back splashes for kitchens just to name a few of his handyman jobs. Hes built custom shelves and even removed a wall to reconfigure a kitchen. Socia has joined the nearly one million people in the country who are bringing in steady salaries using home improvement and handyman services. It just so happens, the trade is among some of the fastest growing businesses in todays economy. Specializing in a wide range of home repairs and maintenance, the Abingdon handyman is doing the jobs that other people cant do or dont have time to tackle. While most of his jobs are located in town, he accepts work throughout the community. Socia confessed his business is not always glamorous, but it does pay the bills. With a catchy business name like that, Socias jobs are coming out of the woodwork, so to speak. Little did he know that his homegrown business would turn into a full-time job. He doesnt advertise. He doesnt have a Facebook page yet (hes working on that). And, he still has more jobs than he can get done some weeks. Like they say, word of mouth is the best form of advertising, he said. Socia believes hes answering a niche in the community and that makes him feel good about how he spends his days. Many days his work doesnt end until well after dark. Theres a need for handyman work in the area and in every community. People are always looking for someone to help with painting, hanging light fixtures, changing out toilets, or installing appliances, he said. This is work that big contractors usually dont want to fool with because the jobs are too small. But, no job is too small for this handyman. Some jobs may last an hour; others may go for weeks. Just this week, Socia changed the light bulbs in a chandelier in an Abingdon home. A lot of chandeliers are hung pretty high up and nobody really wants to climb to change the light bulbs or wash the globes. Although people who do handyman jobs may not be required to hold specific certifications and licenses, Socia plans to pursue more training in the construction field so that he can answer the call for more extensive work in the future. If I cant do the job, I can recommend someone who can. Nailing it, one job at a time A diverse job experience is setting the stage for a successful entrepreneurship for the handyman. Socia has always had a knack for fixing things. As a child, hed take apart some of his toys. And, sometimes not put them back together, he confessed with a laugh. Even when he was in high school, he worked at the local hardware store in his hometown in Mount Clemens, Michigan. After a four-year stint with the U.S. Navy after high school, Socia remained in Norfolk, Virginia, where he most recently repaired marine systems while living aboard a yacht. When Socia moved to Abingdon about 10 years ago, he no longer had access to the large sail and fishing boats he was used to working on. Yet, thanks to a talent for fixing things, the 41-year-old has created a job out of just being a jack-of-all-trades. While in high school, he enrolled in cooking classes while also working with a building contractor during after-school hours. He was a cook while serving four years in the U.S. Navy in Norfolk. After his stay in the Navy, Socia found jobs in restaurants, one of them being at a truck stop. I knew it was time to focus on a career, said Socia, who at age 25 earned an associates degree in an 18-month program for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, or HVAC, at his local trade school. While in school, he was hired by the owner of a yacht system service to put his skills to use on luxury boats in Norfolk. One of his jobs was to equip watercraft for cruisers, people, often retirees, who live on their boats and cruise to different countries. He doesnt sport the typical handyman appearance. Instead of using a belt to hold tools, Socia carries much of what he needs in a backpack. Its a habit he acquired when he repaired boats accompanied with a tuna tower, an essential part of a sport fishing yachts layout that provides extra elevation for spotting fish in the water. It was always something different every day, said Socia, recounting one of his best adventures. When one of their customers hired a captain to sail his boat to Antigua, the captain mistakenly left the boat hatch open one evening, allowing a rogue wave to flood and destroy the boats electronic systems. Fortunately, Socia and his boss were flown to Bermuda to make repairs on the boat. It was his first trip to Bermuda. After seven years of working on boats, Socia followed his girlfriend now his wife when her job relocated her to Southwest Virginia. Socia admits his life has changed quite a bit since living on the water. I miss the salt air, he said. But, the mountains are a good view, too. For more information, email Scott Socia at ssocia@yahoo.com. Watch for a Facebook page for All You Need is Scott coming soon. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. NEWTON The Wesley Bell Ringers will perform at First United Methodist Church in Newton at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, June 19. This will be the ninth concert on the choirs 57th annual summer tour and will feature 21 teenage ringers playing more than 150 handbells and hand chimes. In 1963, The Wesley Bell Ringers, a music ministry of Christ United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, began with nine youth ringers and 25 bells. The 21 current ringers are the most recent of more than 500 youth who have participated in the choir. The previous 56 summer tours have taken the choir to all 50 states and all but one of the Canadian provinces. The choir has participated as the featured choir at numerous handbell festivals around the United States and performed for The National Music Educators convention. Performances with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Utah Symphony Orchestra have been repeated honors over the choirs history. The 2023 concert includes Disneys "Beauty and the Beast," Bachs "Little Fugue," excerpts from its 2022 Christmas season and selections from noted handbell composers and arrangers. First United Methodist Church is located at 300 North Main Ave. in Newton. Admission to the concert is free, and a free will offering will be collected. Read more about the choir at www.thewesleybellringers.com. As with much of Greek mythology, there are several versions of Medusa's origin story. The oldest myths cast her as a monster from birth, while the later stories describe an innocent young maiden punished for the sins of the gods. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, writing in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E., Medusa was one of three sisters known as the Gorgons born to the primeval gods Ceto and Phorcys, who were mother and son. Medusa's fate was "a sad one," wrote Hesiod, because she was mortal while her sisters Sthenno and Euryale were ageless and lived forever. Advertisement "There's something monstrous and unfair in that Medusa's the only mortal," says Syropoulos. "Not to mention that she was born from a 'monstrous' relationship." Writing a century after Hesiod, Greek poet Stasinus of Cyprus described Medusa and her Gorgon sisters as "fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon, a rocky island in deep-eddying Oceanus." The word Gorgon comes from the Greek gorgos meaning "terrible." Greek playwright Aeschylus, writing in the fifth century B.C.E., filled in the details of the Gorgons' horrific appearance: "three winged sisters, the snake-haired Gorgons, loathed of mankind, whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath." Later stories doubled down on the unfairness of Medusa's fate. The Roman poet Ovid, writing around the time of Christ (first century C.E.), said that Medusa wasn't a monster at first, but a maiden with "lovely hair" who caught the eye of lustful Poseidon, god of the sea. Poseidon raped Medusa in the Temple of Athena, and the goddess of wisdom and war was so angry that she transformed Medusa's flowing hair into "loathsome snakes." "Instead of punishing the god, Athena punished the mortal, which was unfair," says Syropoulos. "But that's how the gods behaved in Greek mythology petty, vindictive and cruel." Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Sunday, May 21 The 55-voice Piedmont Choral Society will perform free concerts, with orchestra, at 3 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church, 950 Bradley St. NE, Concord. Monday, May 22 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. The Harrisburg Farmers Market will be open from 3-6 p.m. at the Old Post Office, 6960 Robinson Church Road. Tuesday, May 23 TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St., Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome. If you need help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member or friend, you are invited to join us for A GriefShare Support Group at Pitts Baptist Church, 140 Pitts School Road NW, Concord, weekly on Tuesdays through May 30 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. For more information, call Linda Bounds at 704-793-8155. The Rotary Square Concord Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 111 Union St. S., Concord. The Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary will hold its General Meeting at The Salvation Army of Cabarrus County headquarters at 216 Patterson Ave SE, Concord, NC 28025. Socializing and refreshments begin at 9:30 a.m. prior to the meeting at 10. At this month's meeting, the Auxillary will be presenting three scholarships for 2023 and will be installing officers for 2023-2024. There will be pre-owned books available for sale, with proceeds to be used to buy new books for the Christmas Angel Tree project. A community food drive will be held at Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church at 6841 Poplar Tent Road, Concord. The food drive benefits the food pantries of CCM (Cooperative Christian Ministries) in Concord, Kannapolis and Harrisburg. This will be a drive-thru event and will be from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Go to Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church's Facebook page (with the logo) for detailed information on CCM's needed items. The City of Kannapolis is hosting a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at City Hall, 401 Laureate Way. Appointments are encouraged for donors. If you would like to donate, please visit: Thursday, May 25 Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery, call 704-786-5500. The Kannapolis Farmers Market will be open from 4-7 p.m. at the corner of Vance Street and Dale Earnhardt Boulevard. Friday, May 26 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 27 The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products. Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union St. S., are offered on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call-in orders are welcomed at 704-782-1785 The Cabarrus Chapter of Disabled American Veterans and DAV Auxiliary will be replacing flags on veteran's graves at the West Concord Cemetery (331 Union Cemetery Road) starting at 10 a.m. Everyone is welcome to participate. Come out and help honor these men and women who served our country. Monday, May 29 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. The Harrisburg Farmers Market will be open from 3-6 p.m. at the Old Post Office, 6960 Robinson Church Road. Tuesday, May 30 TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St., Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome. If you need help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member or friend, you are invited to join us for A GriefShare Support Group at Pitts Baptist Church, 140 Pitts School Road NW, Concord, weekly on Tuesdays through May 30 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. For more information, call Linda Bounds at 704-793-8155. The Rotary Square Concord Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 111 Union St. S., Concord. Wednesday, May 31 Basics of Home Canning will be offered , from 5:15-9:15 p.m. .at NC Cooperative Extension Center, 715 Cabarrus Avenue , West, Concord, NC 28027. This hands-on workshop will include canning safely, equipment needed, and the use of both a water bath canner and a pressure canner. All produce and equipment will be provided and the class will preserve green beans and grape jelly. Cost is $18 per person and pre-registration with payment is necessary. You may register online at go.ncsu.edu/registercabarrus, or at the Cabarrus Center weekdays. If paying by cash, please bring the correct amount. Call the Cabarrus Extension Office at 804-920-3310 for additional information. Thursday, June 1 Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery, call 704-786-5500. The Kannapolis Farmers Market will be open from 4-7 p.m. at the corner of Vance Street and Dale Earnhardt Boulevard. Friday, June 2 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 3 The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products. Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union St. S., are offered on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call-in orders are welcomed at 704-782-1785 Monday, June 5 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. The Harrisburg Farmers Market will be open from 3-6 p.m. at the Old Post Office, 6960 Robinson Church Road. Tuesday, June 6 TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St., Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome. The Rotary Square Concord Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 111 Union St. S., Concord. Wednesday, June 7 The Cabarrus Senior Center Photo Club is alive and clicking away. If you like taking photos, come join the members on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 1:30-3 p.m. at the Cabarrus Senior Center, 331 Corban Ave. SE, Concord, and share your photographic creativity. Whether you are a seasoned photographer or strictly amateur, all are welcome. Thursday, June 8 Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery, call 704-786-5500. The Kannapolis Farmers Market will be open from 4-7 p.m. at the corner of Vance Street and Dale Earnhardt Boulevard. Friday, June 9 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 10 The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products. Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union St. S., are offered on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call-in orders are welcomed at 704-782-1785 Monday, June 12 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. The Harrisburg Farmers Market will be open from 3-6 p.m. at the Old Post Office, 6960 Robinson Church Road. Tuesday, June 13 TOPS #437 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (weigh-in begins at 9:30 a.m.) at Lakeview Baptist Church, 2532 Lane St., Kannapolis. Visitors are welcome. The Rotary Square Concord Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 111 Union St. S., Concord. Thursday, June 15 Epworth UMCs famous hot dogs and taco soup, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. For free delivery, call 704-786-5500. The Kannapolis Farmers Market will be open from 4-7 p.m. at the corner of Vance Street and Dale Earnhardt Boulevard. Friday, June 16 The Concord Duplicate Bridge face-to-face games through Concord Parks and Recreation at Hartsell Recreation Center, 60 Hartsell School Road, at noon. Cost is $5 per player. You must have a partner and provide proof of vaccination. Hot dogs at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, will be sold along with fried bologna and barbecue sandwiches and desserts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 17 The Piedmont Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to noon at 518 Winecoff School Road. It features lots of local produce, meat, flowers and other products. Hot Dogs at Center United Methodist Church at 1119 Union St. S., are offered on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dine in and take out. Call-in orders are welcomed at 704-782-1785. A Juneteenth Block Party will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Caldwell Park in Concord. Enjoy dancing, giveaways, vendors, food trucks and entertainment. For more information, visit concordjuneteenth.com, or email concordjuneteenth@gmail.com. Got news or events? Does your community group or nonprofit agency have an upcoming event that would be of interest to the public? Email it to mplemmons@independenttribune.com. Local telecom Aussie Broadband and the companys managing director Phillip Britt announced they have donated a total of $50,000 to the Gippsland Pride Initiative. "As a member of that community and as someone who has experienced those challenges firsthand, Gippsland Pride's work is critical," said Britt who is personally donating $25,000 to the cause. Aussie Broadband said the funding will allow the Gippsland Pride Initiative to facilitate training for health professionals and community educators to better address the needs of the Gippsland LGBTIQ+ community, as identified in the recent Rainbow Brick Road survey. The donations that Aussie Broadband and I have made will allow Gippsland Pride to move from their totally volunteer base, to having the support of a dedicated staff member to further their work, said Britt. We have no doubt Aussie Broadband will be walking alongside us in bringing this to fruition for our region, said Gippsland Pride Initiative president Caitlin Grigsby. The Gippsland Pride Initiative was launched in 2019 by the Gippsland Ranges Roller Derby. The Initiative conducted an extensive three-month consultation process across the Gippsland region, meeting with local community, LGBTIQ+ organisations and other related bodies, to develop and plan inclusive events for LGBTIQ+ people in the Gippsland community. Today, the organisation has grown dramatically, and is responsible for the organisation of several key LGBTIQ+ events across Gippsland, including the inaugural Gippsland Pride Festival held in January of this year. In 2022, the Gippsland Pride Initiative launched the Rainbow Brick Road Project. The project was a large-scale survey of the regions LGBTIQ+ people, to better understand the needs of the community, the urgency of support required, and to collect the data necessary to better allocate resources and funding to these communities. Grigsby describes the organisation as a grassroots movement fuelled by passionate volunteers and community sponsorship, that advocates and empowers the LGBTIQ+ community in Gippsland. Grigsby highlights the importance of the organisation within the community, particularly after the intense commentary and debate during the 2017 Marriage Equality Plebiscite saying, it was impossible to sit and do nothing for our bruised community, particularly in a federal seat that voted No. She describes the experience of forming the Gippsland Pride Initiative as a journey of shared learning and has brought the power and voice back to the community. The response from the community was overwhelming, signalling that greater resources are needed from the government and other services to support the regions LGBTIQ+ people. The Rainbow Brick Road Report 2023 has now been published; its key findings, and recommendations can be found on the Gippsland Pride Initiative site. Aussie Broadband have been key supporters of the Gippsland Pride Initiative since its formation. This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 19 May 2023. [Provisional translation] On May 21, commencing at 10:30 a.m. for approximately 10 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, held informal talks with the Hon. Anthony Albanese, MP, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia who was visiting Japan. The overview of the talks is as follows. Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune. The interior of the one-room home of a young woman, who said she went through her abortion here alone the previous year by taking pills, stands in an unidentified mountainous area of western Honduras, Sunday, March 19, 2023. With a cellphone as her only companion for chats with a friend and an anonymous guide, the then 27-year-old became one of the women who are terminating pregnancies across the country with the help of clandestine networks. (Ginnette Riquelme/AP) Inside a little wooden house among the pine and oak forests of western Honduras coffee-growing mountains, a woman opened a tiny package of pills, delivered to a nearby town. She didnt know it, but the medication had more than likely entered the country hidden in an activists suitcase, from Mexico. The woman, 27, was confident in her decision to have an abortion, but in the moment, she panicked. She knew she was breaking national law banning all abortions and could be prosecuted. Even more, she feared medical complications, or her religious family finding out. Advertisement Days earlier, an anonymous guide had asked her for an ultrasound; she sent it via encrypted message. Now, in her one-room house, empty and quiet except for the pings of her cellphone with messages from the guide and her closest friend, she studied the instructions on how to take the pills first the mifepristone, later the misoprostol. She was ready. She swallowed the first pill. Advertisement ___ In remote mountain villages, urban neighborhoods, along the Caribbean coast despite the national ban against abortions under all circumstances and amid suffocating social and religious opposition, women are terminating pregnancies across Honduras with the help of clandestine networks seeking to make the procedure as safe as possible. The one room home of a young woman who said she went through her abortion here alone the previous year by taking abortion pills, stands in an unidentified mountains area of western Honduras, Sunday, March 19, 2023. With a cellphone as her only companion for chats with a friend and an anonymous guide, the then 27-year-old became one of the women who are terminating pregnancies across the country with the help of clandestine networks. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) (Ginnette Riquelme/AP) Activists in the networks use code words, aliases, encrypted messages, burner phones. Most dont know one another, or any specifics beyond their role in the chain that ultimately provides information and the abortion pills endorsed by the World Health Organization and used safely and legally in dozens of other countries around the globe. Honduras has one of the worlds strictest abortion bans, with a constitutional prohibition on terminating pregnancy in all cases, even rape. Neighboring El Salvador and Nicaragua have similar total bans. Until March, Honduras was the only country in the region that also banned emergency contraception, the so-called morning-after pill. Some Latin American countries Argentina, Colombia, Mexico are widening access to abortion while many U.S. states are restricting it. Honduras doesnt enforce its ban as strictly as its neighbors, but the possible punishment of up to six years in prison is a constant threat. Advocacy groups say they believe no Honduran women are currently imprisoned on abortion-related charges, but national data are incomplete. The Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, estimates that more than 50,000 abortions occur in Honduras annually. Its unclear how many are medication abortions in the U.S., they account for over half of all procedures and complications are rare. Advocates say forcing abortions to take place in secret inherently creates more risk, though thats mitigated when women are provided proper instructions. Thats why guides of the networks in Honduras say theyre dedicated to helping as many people as possible. The Associated Press traveled throughout Honduras, interviewed more than a dozen women who have given or received help through activist networks, and documented places where abortions take place amid the ban and societal shame: from rickety bathrooms in crowded houses and sites surrounded by violence and poverty, to comfortable homes and even the occasional hotel. Advertisement All the women who had abortions or helped those who did spoke on condition of anonymity over fears theyd be reported or prosecuted. They also worry theyll be stigmatized or shamed, sometimes by those closest to them, because of social pressures and the enormous influence of the Catholic and Protestant churches. Many of these women are vocal activists on other issues the environment, land rights, social matters but they feel most afraid of speaking out on abortion. The women also insisted that details of the locations they shared be withheld. If something breaks, it blows up the network, said an activist who has been accompanying women getting abortions for 12 years. _____ To reconstruct how the secretive networks operate, AP drove highways and dirt roads in crowded neighborhoods and indigenous villages, from export-focused assembly-plant regions to banana plantations. Activists learn tricks of the trade little by little. Now there is less naivete and more technology, virtual phone numbers, disappearing messages, said the activist with 12 years of experience. A sign promoting the end of a ban in Honduras on the emergency contraceptive pill stands on a road leading to the airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. It references the rapper Bad Bunny and says in Spanish: You're right! Everything has complicated, as if being a woman were a sin." On March 8, 2023, Honduras' first female president, Xiomara Castro, ended the ban on the emergency contraceptive pill. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) (Ginnette Riquelme/AP) Allied organizations inside and outside Honduras help them; activists wont name them, to avoid legal issues. Advertisement Some women seeking abortions call a hotline publicized on the internet as La Linea. Theyre asked questions to try to confirm the request is real and not an attempt to track down activists. Later, calls are triangulated; sometimes phone chips are switched to avoid identifying numbers. Other women learn about the networks via hushed word of mouth. Either way, women seeking abortion help are ultimately put in touch with the person who will be her guide, introduced via pseudonym. The guide asks basic health questions, including how far along the pregnancy is, and requests that an ultrasound be sent through a secure application. Then the challenge is obtaining the pills never referred to as medication abortions, or with their pharmaceutical names, but as ordinary objects, code names that change from group to group. Misoprostol is sold in Honduras under prescription; its used for gastrointestinal issues and in hospitals for miscarriages. It can be bought on the black market, but activists warn of misinformation about use. Mifepristone isnt sold at all in Honduras. The networks often sneak both drugs in from Mexico. Sometimes activists buy them; sometimes theyre donated from aid groups. Guides ask for contributions from women who can afford it, about $50 to $60. Activists take advantage of every trip across the border, hiding the pills in suitcases. Then, packages pass carefully from hand to hand, delivered by taxi or via drops with a detailed time, place and description of the contact. Advertisement Once a woman has the pills in hand, the guide suggests finding a private place, away from prying eyes. When shes ready to take the medication, the woman is advised to have her cellphone near to ask any questions about bleeding or pain and to let the guide monitor the process through a safe app. Some women have the support of partners or can afford to escape to a hotel. Others find a private spot in houses with large families or ask for a friends sofa. For those with nowhere to go, some groups offer a safehouse in the capital, Tegucigalpa, a city spread over the hills. The grand historic basilica Our Lady of Suyapa stands on one of them. On the steps leading up to church sits a small statue called the Virgin of Life, inaugurated on Christmas Eve 2013 in memory of unborn babies, according to its plaque. _____ In a country of 10 million people, sometimes there are surprises. A young lawyer discovered that her own mother was part of a network when she sought help to get an abortion. She first asked her mothers friend. Her sister eventually encouraged her to approach her mother directly. When she did, her mother assured her there was a solution. Advertisement Her mom already was in possession of the pills, as part of her role in the network. Lying on a bed at her sisters apartment in the capital, the woman felt her mother massage her feet to ease pain from the drugs. Normally, the networks try to avoid having a guide help a relative or friend. But the experience of having an abortion often motivates those involved to help others. The young lawyer later offered her living room to a friend; her own husband didnt know what was happening on the sofa next door. Other women are conflicted, and their positions on abortion change. In a small community of unpaved streets in northern Honduras, a woman who ended her pregnancy years ago recently refused to help her daughter get an abortion. She said the girl hadnt been careful with contraception and must deal with the consequences. Once the baby is born, she can always give it away if she cannot afford to take care of the child, the mother told AP. But you can lose your life in an abortion. She feared for her own life during her abortion, nearly four months into the pregnancy. She said a married man impregnated her and she wanted to take the pills earlier, but it took longer than expected to get them. Now, she said, she supports abortion only in cases of rape or danger to the health of the mother or fetus. Advertisement For teens in this largely religious country, pregnancy and reproductive rights pose a particular issue. Honduras has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Latin America, more than double the world average, according to the U.N. Population Fund. Thats why some activists have specialized in accompanying girls for abortions. The minors, some just 12, are usually with their mothers or grandmothers who often need more comfort than the girls, the experienced guide said: The older people, we get more scared. Guides say they stay glued to their phones for more comprehensive tracking with girls. Minors also undergo more follow-up including reproductive health tips. The hardest part, the guide said, is when I have to give contraceptive counseling, because its like telling them that it can happen again. On a March day, two lines of women waited in the gynecological emergency corridor of the countrys main public health center, Hospital Escuela. Some were teenagers with fear on their faces. Dr. Zyanya Cruz consulted with a patient. It was 2 p.m. on a Monday, and eight women whose pregnancies ended had already been seen, two of them minors. Advertisement We dont inquire about what happened, whether it was induced or not, the gynecologist said. We only evaluate and do an ultrasound. Problems emerge when pills are found in the vagina, or there are incomplete abortions of women in advanced gestation. Thats clear evidence of an abortion, and doctors are obligated by law to report it to authorities. ___ Honduras total abortion ban dates to 1985. Previously, abortion was permitted in three instances: rape, risk to the mother or nonviability of the fetus. After the 2009 coup detat that removed then-President Manuel Zelaya, husband of current President Xiomara Castro, the emergency contraceptive pill was banned. It marked the start of several administrations linked to ultraconservative churches. In 2021, an amendment to add the abortion ban directly to the constitution was adopted. The measure also increased the number of lawmakers needed to change that part of the constitution. It cannot be repealed or modified by other legal provisions, according to the text. Advertisement The constitutional protection is unique in Latin America, according to the International Center for Reproductive Rights. It was appealed twice to the Supreme Court and upheld. Castro is Honduras first female president. Shes more liberal than predecessors and has integrated well-known feminists into her government. After 14 months in power, on March 8, she ended the ban on the emergency contraceptive pill just as thousands of women were demanding more rights in demonstrations nationwide. She pledged to legalize abortion again in the three instances previously allowed. But her administration doesnt have a majority in the legislature, and persistent issues with gang violence and organized crime have diverted much of her attention. The Honduras Gynecologists Association says the current legislation is inconsistent with science and leaves doctors vulnerable to accusations of violating the constitution every time they save a womans life. At Hospital Escuela, Cruz said she recognizes that some health professionals report women to avoid legal problems, but others do so because of religious convictions. Some quietly perform abortions at secretive clinics for those who can pay several hundred dollars. The Public Prosecutors Office did not answer APs request for abortion data. But according to the activist group Somos Muchas, six women were convicted for abortions from 2012 to 2018, the most recent period for which it has figures, and none is in prison. The Center for Reproductive Rights says there may be more but cites the lack of data. Advertisement There are criminal consequences outside prison. Some women may be banned from leaving the country or may be unable to obtain the criminal record clearance needed for most employment. In 2015, raids of clinics resulted in the arrest of several health professionals. More recently, some activists say they received intimidating and threatening messages, sent anonymously to their phones and generally coinciding with political instability. They also say some women have fled the country over harassment and legal complaints. Other women temporarily disappear from their communities and families while seeking a safe place to have an abortion. Or they land in a private clinic if theres an infection. A social worker who lives in a violent neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, the countrys economic capital, told AP she learned the hard way that the networks arent infallible. When a friend fainted and was bleeding heavily after taking the pills, she was gripped with worry the guide who was supposed to be on the other end of the phone wasnt answering. The social worker found information on the internet and was able to control the situation and help her friend. The episode motivated her to join natural medicine and Indigenous groups to learn about using plants for abortions. Its a practice used quietly in some remote communities taking herbs, often in the form of teas, to try to end early pregnancies. But it uses plants that can be toxic in the wrong doses, and some organizations consider it an unsafe method. Its not widely accepted in medical and activist communities. Advertisement Here nobody can know, a woman who provides the teas told AP. Its very dangerous. The woman, in her 50s, learned from experienced midwives when unwanted pregnancies among young women increased in her mountain community. Were not going to leave them that way, especially the girls who are not ready, the woman said. For her, its her duty to help, especially young girls and teenagers. She simply doesnt understand villagers who say an abortion is worse than killing an adult. ____ For the 27-year-old who took the pills in her home in the mountains, Honduras clandestine networks helped her successfully terminate her pregnancy. Per the activists protocol, the guide advised her to have a post-abortion ultrasound. Like most women, she went to a private clinic far from home. She felt much more relaxed than she did in her first ultrasound, and she was glad to get a healthy report. Advertisement Knowing her body was safe, she focused on saving money. Shed been unable to pay for the pills at the time, and she wanted to make up for that. She knew it was the only way for the guides to keep working. But the secrecy of the networks prevailed. The woman had no way to send a payment or find the person whod helped her. Her guide never answered the phone again. ___ Journalist Iolany Perez in El Progreso, Honduras, contributed to this report. Prime Minister Kishida expressed his pleasure at welcoming Prime Minister Chinh to Hiroshima on the historic milestone of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Viet Nam, and his desire to work closely with Viet Nam, an important partner in realizing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). In response, Prime Minister Chinh congratulated Prime Minister Kishida for the success of the G7 Summit, and expressed his pleasure at participating in the G7 Hiroshima Summit as an outreach country and his desire to further promote bilateral cooperation and cooperation between the two countries in both regional and international arenas. Regarding Russias aggression against Ukraine, Prime Minister Kishida mentioned the commitment to upholding the UN Charter principles such as sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the view that any unilateral change of the status quo by force is not acceptable anywhere in the world. Prime Minister Chinh welcomed the fruitful discussions in the G7 Hiroshima Summit on the peace and stability of the world. The two leaders confirmed that they will continue to cooperate in dealing with the situations in the East and South China Seas and issues regarding North Korea, including the nuclear and missile issues as well as the abductions issue. (1) Prime Minister Kishida expressed his pleasure at the signing of documents on the three ODA projects (see Note), including a loan for financial assistance, and his desire to continue to actively support Viet Nam through ODA in areas where Japans technology and expertise can be utilized. In response, Prime Minister Chinh stated that Japan is Viet Nams largest ODA donor and expressed his desire to utilize ODA for the socio-economic development of Viet Nam. (2) Prime Minister Kishida stated that many Japanese companies attach importance to Viet Nam, expressing hope for continued efforts to improve the investment environment in the country. Prime Minister Kishida also stated that under the new plan for FOIP announced in March this year, efforts will be made to foster highly skilled human resources, including those in the digital sector, and to promote industrial modernization and smart cities, among other areas. Prime Minister Chinh stated that Japan is Viet Nams important economic partner, expressing hope for further investment in Viet Nam from Japanese companies. Prime Minister Chinh also expressed his desire to further strengthen cooperation with Japan in the sectors of infrastructure, digital and human resource development, among other areas. (3) Prime Minister Kishida expressed his desire to further cooperate with Viet Nam to achieve net zero, including by promoting the concept of the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC). Prime Minister Chinh stated that Viet Nam aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and expressed his desire to cooperate with Japan and the rest of the international community. (4) The two leaders also confirmed that they will work together to promote initiatives regarding technical interns and the Vietnam Japan University. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. 100 years ago, May 21, 1923 MAGNET Work of cutting down the Magnet Hill has been somewhat delayed of late on account of the inability of the contractor to get materials as fast as they are needed. In order to bring the earth that is being cut away from the Magnet hill to fill the cut a distance of 3.3 miles between Paradise crossing and Etna it is necessary to extend a trestle through the cut from the point where excavations are being made. Until the trestle is constructed as far as is needed, work of excavating from the hill will be delayed. Lumber from southwestern points in Illinois is now overdue, due to recent rains in the section from where this lumber was to come...CHARLESTON Alleging that he had taken the revolver as security for a loan of five dollars to another, William Newland of Charleston tried to evade a charge of carrying concealed weapons in Judge Gibler's court Sunday morning. Newland was arrested Saturday night when he and a companion persisted in being boisterous on the streets. A .32 caliber revolver was found on Newland. When arraigned before Judge Gibler, Newland said as he was taking an interurban car from Charleston to Mattoon, a friend accosted him for a loan of five dollars, and gave him the revolver as security. The judge was not convinced, however, and Newland was fined $25 and costs. Newland paid the fine. 50 years ago, 1973 MATTOON Judge Harry I. Hannah, 82, of 3113 Western died at 7 p.m. Sunday in Memorial Hospital. He was admitted to the hospital at 5:30 p.m. A prominent Mattoon citizen he served as an assistant attorney general of Illinois several years ago and as chief judge of the 5th Judicial Circuit from 1970 to 1972. A 1913 graduate of the University of Illinois, Judge Hannah earned his doctorate in law from the same university in 1915...MATTOON During a bike-a-thon it's normal for most of the participants to ride bicycles. But in the recent Epsilon Sigma Alpha bike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, one participant decided to run the 15-mile course. Bill McCune, 16, of 114 Westview, a student of Mattoon High School, came in 11th among the 61 bicyclists. A distance runner at school, Bill was sponsored in the event by the Mattoon Senior Citizens Group. Oscar Mitchell, the group's treasurer, said, "We are too old to ride ourselves but want to do something for those sick children." Bill was a little tired and had a few blisters to show for his long run, but was happy to have earned the money for a good cause...HILLSBORO Charles Pier, whose house was leveled when a small plane crashed into it and exploded, said afterwards that at first he was upset over losing his home, "until I stopped to think that my whole family might have been in there." The occupants of the plane were killed in the crash Saturday. State police identified them as the pilot, Sylvester "Sonny" Burdell of Litchfield and his cousin, Charles Burdell of Hillsboro. The plane, a Cessna 150, took off from the Litchfield Airport about two hours before the crash. According to witnesses, the plane apparently was circling very low to the ground before it wen into a short turn and crashed into Pier's house in Schram City, a small community just east of Hillsboro in Montgomery County. 25 years ago, 1998 MATTOON Storm winds Tuesday night peeled back part of the roof membrane on the Mattoon High School gym and sent a tree from a city boulevard onto a home at 2809 Richmond Ave. The storm also brought down power lines, upended several trees and left debris scattered through parts of the Mattoon area. Weather spotters reported funnel clouds north of Mattoon at 8:38 p.m. prompting ESDA officials to sound the warning sirens and send 100 or so high school band members and parents at an awards ceremony into the restrooms at Peterson Park...LITCHFIELD Fumes identified as herbicide residues from a nearby farm field sickened dozens of students and teachers at Litchfield Middle School on Wednesday. Ninety-seven people went to the hospital and the school was closed. Students and teachers began complaining of watery eyes, burning skin and breathing difficulties Wednesday morning. Officials traced the complaints to herbicides being applied to a farm field about a quarter of a mile from the school, fire Capt. David Sumter said. Brisk winds carried the residues over a football field and into the school's windows, which were open because of the hot weather. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Five people face charges following an investigation into the sale of illegal narcotics and illegal possession of firearms at a residence in Winston-Salem, city police said Sunday. The police departments Firearms Investigations and Intelligence Division/Gun Crime Reduction Unit obtained a search warrant for the residence at 2944 North Patterson Ave., according to a police news release. The warrant was executed Saturday by members of the WSPD Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, Gun Crime Reduction Unit and Gang Unit. The investigators seized marijuana, cocaine, Tramadol, MDMA, Oxycodone, Xanax, U.S. currency, a Glock handgun, ammunition and drug paraphernalia. The following people were arrested inside 2944 North Patterson Ave. at the time the search warrant was executed: *Monte Dion Capers, 43, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine, felony possession of cocaine, misdemeanor possession of Schedule II Controlled Substance, misdemeanor maintaining a dwelling for the purpose of violating the NC Controlled Substance Act and possession Schedule IV. His bond was set at $40,000. *Daquan Terrell Aiken, 23, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine, manufacture cocaine, possession with intent to sell and deliver MDMA, simple possess of marijuana, misdemeanor maintaining a dwelling for the purpose of violating the Controlled Substance Act, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana paraphernalia. His bond was set at $20,000. *Barbara Patrick, 53, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her bond was set at $3,000. *Jermaine Thomas Mccoy, 30, was charged on an outstanding order for arrest for violation of public order. He was released on a written promise to appear *Levan Woodson, 43, was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. Anyone with any information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, or En Espanol 336-728-3904. You can also view Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem Forsyth County on Facebook. A Crime Stoppers Tip Form can also be located online at https://www.cityofws.org/FormCenter/Police-Department-19/Crimestoppers-Tip-Form-100. Information provided to Crime Stoppers may be provided anonymously. The Text-A-Tip Program can be reached at 336-276-1717 and allows you to text tips, photos and videos to the Winston-Salem Police Department. Please note that such text tips may not be made anonymously. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A bipartisan and controversial medical marijuana bill has been cleared to proceed in the N.C. House, potentially as early as next week. Senate Bill 3, titled NC Compassionate Care Act, was passed by a 36-10 vote on March 1 the second consecutive year that the chamber approved the legislation. With the 2022 version of the legislation shelved by House Republican leadership, it had been unclear whether SB3 would be placed in a committee, much less advance to a floor vote. On Thursday, SB3 was placed in the House Health committee. It also must clear the House Finance and gatekeeper Rules and Operations committees. Legislative analysts say it is likely that House members will amend SB3 to add language that reflects a more conservative perspective on the issue, which the Senate could choose to reject and lead to a concurrence committee for a compromise. The timing of the committee schedule comes as the 2023 session heads into whats expected to be its final weeks. Both House speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, have said that with the 2023-24 state budget entering the concurrence stage as early as next week, they are projecting a late June or early July end to the formal part of the 2023 session. Local lawmaker a sponsor Sen. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, is one of three primary sponsors of both marijuana bills, along with Republican Sens. Bill Rabon of Brunswick County and Michael Lee of New Hanover County. Potential opposition from Moore and House majority leader John Bell IV, R-Johnston, could derail SB3 in the House, said John Dinan, a Wake Forest University political science professor and national expert on state legislatures. However, the News & Observer of Raleigh quoted Moore as saying in February that SB3 has decent prospects of passage given new House members elected in 2022. Last year when we didnt take it up, it was overwhelmingly opposed by most of the caucus, Moore told the Raleigh newspaper. Attitudes have changed, and I think some folks have had an opportunity, once they were back home and met with folks, to see that theres some potentially legitimate uses for this. Heartstrings SB3 would permit the use of medical marijuana for individuals with ALS, cancer, epilepsy, Parkinsons disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments, but not for those experiencing chronic pain. It does not allow for recreational usage. Several significant changes were made to the bill in the Judiciary committee. Although Rabon did not use medical marijuana as part of his treatment for cancer, he said his own experience, coupled with discussions with other cancer patients, convinced him of the need for making the option available. Rabon has shared letters from North Carolinians whose family members used marijuana to provide relief in their dying days, or relied upon it as part of their recovery from serious illness, such as military veterans. It can help a number of people at the end of their life at a time that they need compassion what time they have left should be as comfortable and as easy as they can be, Rabon said. Theres not anyone in this room who has not had someone in their family, or a close friend, that could have benefited from this legislation. Opponents have expressed numerous concerns, including that the legislation would serve as a gateway to legalizing marijuana in North Carolina by 2024, and medical research isnt definitive on benefiting users. Moore told the News & Observer that for a medical marijuana bill to clear the House, there would need to be reasonable controls, and a balance to have enough distributors to prescribe and avoid a monopoly. Rabon called SB711 the tightest, best-written bill, seeing what other states did wrong and trying to omit those pitfalls. Bill changes SB3 has undergone three major changes since being re-filed. Perhaps the foremost change was exempting suppliers of medical marijuana products from criminal prosecution. Bill sponsors said the amendment assures that suppliers would not be subject to arrest for possessing, producing, delivering or transporting cannabis, or aiding and abetting in those actions, if their conduct fits within the proposed laws parameters. The bill would allow for up to 20 recommended applicants to fill the 10 licensee spaces, with suppliers being given priority if they commit to placing a medical cannabis center into more than one Tier 1 county. The amendment also would encourage preventing an overconcentration of medical cannabis centers in any one area. Bill opponents say the licensing fee for vendors is too low, while some proponents say SB3 doesnt provide potential North Carolina cannabis growers with dedicated or guaranteed sales of their crops. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. There was an honest and useful debate to be had this spring about abortion rights in North Carolina. Too bad we didnt get one. A 47-page bill adding significant new restrictions was rammed at warp speed into passage with limited discussion. Once the bill was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper, as expected, the veto was quickly overridden last week, also as expected. In the days leading up to his veto the governor had tried to appeal to Republicans who in the past had expressed opposition to further restrictions, but to no avail. They voted in lockstep with everyone else, in some cases blatantly contradicting earlier statements. Most notable among them was Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County, who ran for her seat as both a Democrat and a fierce champion of abortion rights. Now, more than ever we need leaders who will be unwavering and unapologetic in their support of abortion rights, she tweeted in May of 2022. Ill fight to codify Roe in the #ncga and continue my strong record of defending the right to choose. As it turns out, Cothams strong record of defending the right to choose had a sell-by date. In April Cotham suddenly switched parties, giving Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the House. She also switched her views on abortion, and, like every single other Republican, voted along party lines to override Coopers veto. As for why the drastic change, who knows? Cotham wouldnt say much, citing the reasonable balance talking point that many in her party invoked. Some call me a hypocrite since I voted for this bill, Cotham added. Is there a better word? As for the claims of the laws reasonableness, Republicans have tried to wrap this law in a misleading veneer of moderation. Dont believe them. Yes, effective on July 1, it only reduces the threshold for most abortions from what had previously been the first 20 weeks of pregnancy to 12 weeks. But they packed the law with obstacles that make it significantly more difficult to obtain an abortion: It bans the most commonly used form of abortion in North Carolina, medication abortions, after 10 weeks. It requires that medication abortions be given in person. It mandates three in-person appointments (two before, and one follow-up) for drug-induced abortions, which will be especially challenging for working women with limited means. It decrees that any abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will have to be performed in hospitals. And it contains burdensome new requirements for clinics, which the North Carolina Medical Society says are not evidence-based and will impede patient access to medical care. Theres a good reason Republicans preferred to concentrate on the deceptive 12-week window instead of the inconvenient truths about the bills fine print: Its not what the people want. In a Meredith poll in February, 57% of respondents in North Carolina favored keeping the 20-week ban or expanding it. A more recent poll commissioned by the progressive nonprofit Carolina Forward found that a majority of respondents oppose the bill itself. Among the bills opponents in this state were the Medical Society, the North Carolina Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians and the states affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Meanwhile, a party that has built its brand on supporting individual freedoms (guns everywhere all the time) keeps affixing asterisks to the ones it doesnt approve: the right to read certain books and hear certain class lessons; the right to local governance without incessant meddling from the legislature; the right to be gay or transgender. Then again ... We could be Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, which ban abortions throughout pregnancy. Or South Carolina, whose House on Tuesday passed a ban on most abortions after six weeks, when many women may not even know theyre pregnant. Or Georgia, which already has passed such a law. Hold a parade. We are a little less bad than somewhere else. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed, which just finished a physical expansion, will also be growing its collection of auto racing items. The museum announced Friday that it is merging with the Unser Racing Museum based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Unser family is one of the most storied families in automotive and racing history, Carson Smith, director of the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed, said in a news release. Weve had racing partnerships with members of the Unser family for over 38 years and are honored to welcome the Unser collection to our museum. The Albuquerque Journal reported that the Unser museums last day is May 29. Its not clear exactly when its collection will move to Lincoln and become available for viewing. The collection includes more than 40 race, pace and Pikes Peak cars original racing art, trophies and memorabilia belonging to the Unser family, which is one of Americas best-known Indy Car racing families. Al Unser Sr. won the Indianapolis 500 race four times, and his brother Bobby won it three times. Al Unser Jr. won the race twice. Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser both died in 2021, and Unser Racing Museum spokesman Bob Brown told the Albuquerque newspaper that relocation of the familys collection had been discussed before Al Unser Sr.s death. That didnt stop Albuquerque officials from trying to keep the museum from leaving, though. According to the Journal, the Albuquerque City Council voted to include $4 million for the Unser Museum in a general obligation bond package that will go before voters this fall. Brown told the newspaper that the move to Lincoln will give more room to display the Unser collection and also will make it available to more visitors. The Unser museum, which opened in 2005, has 20,000 square feet of space and averages 20,000 visitors a year. Speedways museum now has 240,000 square feet of space after its expansion and averages 100,000 visitors a year. It also was named the No. 1 best attraction for car lovers by USA Today earlier this year. In motorsports, the Unser name is recognized worldwide, and we believe merging with the No. 1 nationally ranked Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed will provide not only a larger national, but also international, platform for this collection of the Unsers iconic racing legacy, Susan Unser, speaking on behalf of the Board of the Unser Racing Museum, said in the news release. Susan Unser is the widow of Al Unser Sr. and the mother of Al Unser Jr. In Lincoln, the Unser collection will join a number of Unser-related vehicles already owned by Speedway, including the Johnny Lightning Special and Viceroy VPJ Special driven by Al Unser Sr. and the 1971 Gurney Eagle driven by Bobby Unser. Photos: Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Photos: Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Museum of American Speed, 3.26 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 Indy cars, 5.23 A Celebration of Life service will be held at 11:00 am Wednesday, May 24th, 2023, Roper & Sons Midtown Chapel, 4300 O St. Visitation will be one hour prior to service. Formal military honors will follow at Omaha National Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The neonatal intensive care units at Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln and Grand Island Regional Medical Center are celebrating a successful patient outcome in which both hospitals collaborated to provide lifesaving care to a mother and her premature baby. Ashley Morris is from Clarks, a small village in east-central Nebraska. Late in her pregnancy, she was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a complication that results in high blood pressure. Left untreated, it can have a negative health impact on both mother and baby. Early delivery is often recommended. On Feb. 3, Morris made the 40-minute drive to Grand Island Regional Medical Center for her scheduled induction. She was kept for observation that night and induced the next day. It was only a few weeks before her due date. The next morning, Morris began the birthing process. During labor, she suffered an unexpected reaction to an epidural. Doctors immediately noted she was in distress. Her baby was also experiencing complications, showing signs of acidosis and encephalopathy. At 9:10 p.m., Morris delivered a baby boy, Jackson, via emergency C-section. He was seven pounds, six ounces and immediately intubated on a ventilator. The NICU team at Grand Island Regional Medical Center recognized Jackson would need a higher level of care. Amy Sytsma, a neonatal nurse practitioner, reached out to the NICU at Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln. She immediately contacted Dr. Craig Sitzman, a neonatologist, who was on call. Sytsma relayed all of Jacksons crucial information. He recommended transferring Jackson to Lincoln. Within minutes, the NICU transport team at Bryan gathered its equipment, jumped into an ambulance and headed west. When members of the team arrived at Grand Island Regional Medical Center, they immediately tended to Jackson. Doctors believed his best treatment option was neonatal therapeutic hypothermia. This method reduces a babys body temperature in order to slow disease progression and improve health. Within three hours of birth, Jackson was in an isolette and actively being cooled. After the emergency C-section, Morris was moved to inpatient care at Grand Island Regional Medical Center. She was not well enough to leave the hospital and travel to Lincoln. Before the NICU transport team left, they wheeled the isolette into Morris' room and she was able to see her son for the first time. Moments later, he was on his way to the Capital City. Once Jackson arrived at Bryan Medical Center, he was placed in a room in the NICU. Sitzman and his team of neonatal experts took over care. For three days, Jackson remained in a cooled state, his body temperature being kept at 72 degrees. Slowly, they raised it, removed the ventilator and stabilized his condition. After five days in the hospital at Grand Island Regional Medical Center, Morris was well enough to be discharged. She immediately made the drive to Lincoln to be reunited with her son. They spent additional time in the NICU at Bryan while Jackson continued to grow. He hit his feeding milestones, and MRI images of his brain were promising. After a few weeks, Jackson was well enough to be transported back to the NICU at Grand Island Regional Medical Center for care that was closer to home. Morris and Jackson have returned to their home in Clarks. Jackson now weighs over 11 pounds. Morris has returned to work part time and spends every free moment with her son to provide him the help and care he needs to continue to grow. Doctors, therapists and medical professionals will continue to monitor Jackson and work with him to ensure he hits those important milestones in the future and overcome any obstacles. "Ashley is thankful for the collaborative care she received from the medical professionals at Grand Island Regional Medical Center and Bryan Medical Center," says a news release from Bryan Health. "It took several important steps to ensure a positive outcome, including a highly trained team, specialized equipment and statewide collaboration." Most popular boy names in the '00s in Nebraska Most popular boy names in the '00s in Nebraska #50. Cameron #49. Jayden #48. Landon #47. Owen #46. Blake #45. Thomas #44. Luke #43. Wyatt #42. Jonathan #41. Brandon #40. Christopher #39. Evan #38. Cole #37. Elijah #36. David #35. Christian #34. Isaac #33. Gabriel #32. Carter #31. John #30. Connor #29. Jack #28. James #27. Daniel #26. Gavin #25. Hunter #24. Mason #23. Anthony #22. Nicholas #21. Austin #20. Ryan #19. Nathan #18. Dylan #17. Caleb #16. Matthew #15. Benjamin #14. Joseph #13. Jackson #12. Michael #11. Zachary #10. William #9. Noah #8. Logan #7. Andrew #6. Tyler #5. Joshua #4. Samuel #3. Alexander #2. Ethan #1. Jacob Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. NEW YORK At the end of The Searchers, one of John Waynes most renowned Westerns, a kidnapped girl has been rescued and a family reunited. As the closing music swells, Wayne's character looks around at his kin people who have other people to lean on and then walks off toward the dusty West Texas horizon, lonesome and alone. It's a classic example of a fundamental American tall tale that of a nation built on notions of individualism, a male-dominated story filled with loners and rugged individualists who suck it up, do what needs to be done, ride off into the sunset and like it that way. In reality, loneliness in America can be deadly. This month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared it an American epidemic, saying that it takes as deadly a toll as smoking on the population of the United States. Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows," he said, and thats not right. He cited some potent forces: the gradual withering of longstanding institutions, decreased engagement with churches, the fraying bonds of extended families. When you add recent stressors the rise of social media and virtual life, post-9/11 polarization and the way COVID-19 interrupted existence the challenge becomes even more stark. People are lonely the world over. But as far back as the early 19th century, when the word loneliness began to be used in its current context in American life, some were already asking the question: Do the contours of American society that emphasis on individualism, that spreading out with impunity over a vast, sometimes outsized landscape encourage isolation and alienation? Or is that, like other chunks of the American story, a premise built on myths? Alexis de Tocqueville, watching the country as an outsider while writing Democracy in America in the mid-1800s, wondered whether, as social conditions become more equal, Americans and people like them would be inclined to reject the trappings of deep community that had pervaded Old World aristocracies for centuries. They acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands, he wrote. Thus not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but it ... throws him back forever upon himself alone, and threatens in the end to confine him entirely within the solitude of his own heart. This has been a recurring thread in how Americans perceive themselves. In the age before democracy, for better and for worse, People werent lonely. They were tied up in a web of connections. And in many countries thats more true than it was in the United States, says Colin Woodard, director of the Nationhood Lab at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. Theres this idea that going out into those vast spaces and connecting with the wilderness and escaping the past was precisely what made us Americans," Woodard says. Yet many frontier myths skip over how important community has been in the settling and growth of the nation. Some of the biggest stories of cooperation the rise of municipal organizations and trade unions, the New Deal programs that helped drag many Americans out of the Depression in the 1930s, war efforts from the Civil War to World War II sometimes get lost in the fervor for character-driven stories of individualism. Those omissions continue. Fueled in part by pandemic distrust, a latter-day strain of individual-over-community sentiment often paired with invocations of liberty and freedom occupies a significant chunk of the national conversation these days to the point where advocacy about community thinking is sometimes met with accusations of socialism. Let's not consign Americans to be the heirs of a built-in loneliness gene, though. A new generation is insisting that mental health be part of the national conversation, and many voices among them women and people of color are increasingly offering new alternatives to the old myths. What's more, the very place where the discussion about loneliness is being held today in the office of the surgeon general, a presidential appointee suggests that other paths are possible. Today, loneliness plays out on streaming TV all the time in the forms of shows like Severance, Shrinking, Beef and, most prominently, the earnest Ted Lasso, a show about an American in Britain who despite being known and celebrated by many is consistently and obviously lonely. In March, the show's creator and star, Jason Sudeikis, appeared with his cast at the White House to talk about the issue that the show is, in its final season, more about than ever: mental health. We all know someone who has, or have been that someone ourselves actually, thats struggled, thats felt isolated, thats felt anxious, that has felt alone, Sudeikis said. Solitude and isolation do not automatically equal loneliness. But they all live in the same part of town. During the pandemic, Murthys report found, people tightened their groups of friends and cut time spent with them. According to the report, Americans spent 20 minutes a day with friends in 2020 down from an hour daily two decades ago. Granted, that was during peak COVID. The trend, though, is clear particularly among young people ages 15 to 24. Perhaps many Americans are alone in a crowd, awash in a sea of voices both physical and virtual yet by themselves much of the time, seeking community but suspicious of it. Some of the modernizing forces that stitched the United States together in the first place commerce, communication, roads are, in their current forms, part of what isolates people today. There's a lot of space between the general store and Amazon deliveries to your door, between mailing a letter and navigating virtual worlds, between roads that connect towns and freeways that overrun them. And if Americans can figure out more about what connects and what alienates, some answers to the loneliness epidemic might reveal themselves. Young adults are the most lonely, data shows Loneliness among young adults How Gen Z compares to the rest of the population Overstimulation Changing family dynamics The pandemic hit young people especially hard Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Among the graduates walking across the stage this weekend to receive their degrees during commencement ceremonies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were more than 200 newly minted teachers. Included in that number are 34 members of the inaugural class of the Teacher Scholars Academy, an honors-style program focused on developing community-minded educators to bolster the workforce that launched in 2019. Three others in the first class graduated early last December. Thirty-one members of that cohort already have jobs lined up at schools in Nebraska and across the country, including Morgan Twiss, a Central City native who will teach second grade at Elliott Elementary in Lincoln starting this fall. Ive pretty much always known I wanted to be a teacher, Twiss said. I like to figure out what motivates each student and build a relationship with them and figure out the best way to help them learn, and I continue to choose teaching because of those relationships. The unique program, funded through a donation from the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation, put 40 students in close proximity as they started on their educational journey at UNL. They lived together on the same residence hall floor, took classes together immediately upon arriving on campus, and have participated in volunteer and service opportunities throughout the community. The experience was designed to emphasize community building among students, both within the Teacher Scholars Academy, as well as in the places where they will work and live, said Braden Foreman-Black, the programs coordinator. When they are able to build those relationships, they have more meaningful classes together and deeper conversations, both within the class and back in the residence hall, Foreman-Black said. Were hoping they continue to have those conversations even after they graduate. Twiss said as students socialized with one another, she gained a better understanding of the diverse communities she had little exposure to growing up in a rural part of Nebraska, as well as how to navigate those differences in a positive way. Teachers have a growth mindset and youre always learning and taking in new information about how to best serve your students, she said. I feel like the academy definitely equipped me with the skills to navigate that. Rowan Foort, who came to UNL from Mount Prospect, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, called the Teacher Scholars Academy a community of college students who are all really driven and engaged in the same thing I was engaged in. Foort, who will teach social studies at Goodrich Middle School next school year, said the program gave additional mentorship support, which in turn led to research opportunities studying how teachers can best honor the individual experiences of each student. Ive really learned how to approach differences with a skillful mind full of curiosity and inquiry and how to focus questions on building community, Foort said. The students youre serving probably shouldnt be the first people you are learning from, so it gave us a jumping off point to meet them where they are. Foreman-Black said the Teacher Scholars Academy was also designed to help new teachers manage the increasing politicization of the education profession and engage in those debates in a positive way. At the end of the day, whatever values you have, as a teacher your job is to support, mentor, and uplift all of your students, Foreman-Black said. Twiss and Foort started at UNL in the fall of 2019 and were among the millions of college students across the country that were forced to finish the school year remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the academy was founded to address an anticipated shortage of teachers in the state, that crisis has worsened in recent years as teachers have retired or left the profession entirely, creating vacancies in many school districts. According to the Nebraska Department of Education, there are 768 school positions that are unfilled with fully qualified personnel this year, and 208 positions left vacant altogether. The majority of those vacancies occurred in Southeast Nebraska, according to the 2022-23 Teacher Vacancy Survey Report. A total of 71 jobs remain vacant in the region, which includes Lincoln and Lancaster County. The second-largest vacancy 59 unfilled jobs was reported in the Omaha metro area, according to the survey. Foreman-Black said UNL designed the program to help build more resilient teachers to fill those positions and to develop a community where they can bounce ideas off one another and find solidarity when challenges arise. Were really hoping to battle that five-year timeline after graduation, when most people will change jobs or leave teaching, he said, so well be keeping an eye on those retention numbers. Graduating members of the inaugural cohort of the Teacher Scholars Academy say they plan to lean on one another as they enter classrooms across the state this fall. The biggest thing Teacher Scholars has given me is the realization that my support network as an individual educator and researcher is much wider than just the school Im at or my family or where I happen to be, Foort said. I have people who care about me and know what teaching is like and can make sure Im taking care of myself, too. Twiss said her experiences in the Teacher Scholars Academy have given her confidence, but added she also has dozens of other teachers to lean on, ask for advice, or voice concerns to as she enters the workforce. The community piece doesnt end even though we are graduating, she said. Top Journal Star photos for May 2023 Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune. Ukrainian soldiers fire a howitzer D-30 at the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, May 21, 2023 that Russian forces weren't occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow's insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and the comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. (Roman Chop/AP) The nine-month battle for Bakhmut has destroyed the 400-year-old city in eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people in a mutually devastating demonstration of Ukraines strategy of exhausting the Russian military. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground Sunday in the invasions longest battle: Russias defense ministry reported that the Wagner private army backed by Russian troops had seized the city. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said Bakhmut was not being occupied by Russian forces. Advertisement Regardless, the small city has long had more symbolic than strategic value for both sides. The more meaningful gauge of success for Ukrainian forces has been their ability to keep the Russians bogged down. The Ukrainian military has aimed to deplete the resources and morale of Russian troops in the tiny but tactical patch of the 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front line as Ukraine gears up for a major counteroffensive in the 15-month-old war. Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense does not lose its relevance, said Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander of Ground Forces for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This gives us the opportunity to enter the city in case of a change in the situation. And it will definitely happen. Advertisement About 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, Bakhmut was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines and home to about 80,000 people before the war, in a country of more than 43 million. The city, named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was known for its sparkling wine produced in underground caves. It was popular among tourists for its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions are all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland. Fought over so fiercely by Russia and Ukraine in recent months has been the urban area itself, where this week Ukrainian commanders conceded that Moscow controlled more than 90%. But even now, Ukrainian forces are making significant advances near strategic roads through the countryside just outside, chipping away at Russias northern and southern flanks by the meter (yard) with the aim of encircling Wagner fighters inside the city. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut. They lost part of the heights around the city. The continuing advance of our troops in the suburbs greatly complicates the enemys presence, said Hanna Maliar, Ukraines Deputy Defense Minister. Our troops have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy. Ukrainian military leaders say their months-long resistance has been worth it because it limited Russias capabilities elsewhere and allowed for Ukrainian advances. The main idea is to exhaust them, then to attack, Ukrainian Col. Yevhen Mezhevikin, commander of a specialized group fighting in Bakhmut, said Thursday. Russia has deployed reinforcements to Bakhmut to replenish lost northern and southern flanks and prevent more Ukrainian breakthroughs, according to Ukrainian officials and other outside observers. Putin badly needs to claim victory in Bakhmut city, where Russian forces have focused their efforts, analysts say, especially after a winter offensive by his forces failed to capture other cities and towns along the front. Some analysts said that even Ukraines tactical gains in the rural area outside urban Bakhmut could be more significant than they seem. Advertisement It was almost like the Ukrainians just took advantage of the fact that, actually, the Russian lines were weak, said Phillips OBrien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. The Russian army has suffered such high losses and is so worn out around Bakhmut that ... it cannot go forward anymore. Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of Bakhmut and in the city bore relentless artillery attacks until a month ago. Then, Ukrainian forces positioned south of the city spotted their chance for a breakthrough after reconnaissance drones showed the the southern Russian flank had gone on the defensive, Col. Mezhevikin said. After fierce fighting for weeks, Ukrainian units had made their first advance in the vicinity of Bakhmut since it was invaded nine months ago. In all, nearly 20 square kilometers (eight square miles) of territory was recaptured, Ukraines Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in an interview last week. Hundreds of meters (yards) more have been regained almost every day since, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraines Operational Command East. Previously we were only holding the lines and didnt let Russians advance further into our territory. What has happened now is our first advance (since the battle started), Maliar said. Victory in Bakhmut does not necessarily bring Russia any closer to capturing the Donetsk region Putins stated aim of the war. Rather, it opens the door to more grinding battles in the direction of Sloviansk or Kostiantynivka, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, said Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia Analyst at the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War. Advertisement Satellite imagery released this week shows infrastructure, apartment blocks and iconic buildings reduced to rubble. In the last week, days before Russia announced that the city had fallen into their control, Ukrainian forces retained only a handful of buildings amid constant Russian bombardment. Outnumbered and outgunned, they described nightmarish days. Russias artillery dominance is so overwhelming, accompanied by continuous human waves of mercenaries, that defensive positions could not be held for long. The importance of our mission of staying in Bakhmut lies in distracting a significant enemy force, said Taras Deiak, a commander of a special unit of a volunteer battalion. We are paying a high price for this. The northern and southern flanks regained by Ukraine are located near two highways that lead to Chasiv Yar, a town 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Bakhmut that serves as a key logistics supply route. The highway is dubbed the road of life and is used to transport critical troops and supplies into Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces passing this road often came under fire from Russians positioned along nearby strategic heights. Armored vehicles and pickup trucks driving toward the city to replenish Ukrainian troops were frequently destroyed. Advertisement With the high plains now under Ukrainian control, its forces have more breathing room. This will help us design new logistic chains to deliver ammunition in and evacuate the injured or killed boys, said Deiak, speaking from inside the city on Thursday, two days before Russia claimed it controlled the city. Now it is easier to deliver supplies, rotate troops, (carry out) evacuations. ___ Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln honored its largest-ever graduating class during graduate and undergraduate ceremonies Friday and Saturday. UNL conferred 3,753 degrees to 3,669 graduates from 47 states and 59 countries. The May graduating class earned 120 new Juris Doctor degrees, 602 other new graduate and professional degrees and 3,031 new baccalaureate degrees. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The Lancaster County Jail is full and officials are preparing for the possibility theyll have to transfer prisoners to other jails, a practice they havent had to consider since they built a new jail a decade ago. Were going to have to do something pretty soon or were going to find ourselves outside of jail standards, Lancaster County Corrections Director Brad Johnson told county commissioners last week. The average jail population for the first quarter of this year was 642, compared with 565 during the same three months a year ago, according to a corrections report. Thats a 13.6% increase and puts the average jail population for that quarter at 96.6%. The operating capacity of the jail is 665 inmates, though there is a reception unit and a 64-bed unit set aside for other uses that can be used for overflow, Johnson said. If theres no room in the general population, people stay in those areas until a bed opens up, Johnson said. Now, its just kind of a flow that weve been able to manage, but Im concerned as the summer proceeds if the pattern continues well lose the cushion of those other two units, he said. The daily population changes from day to day. One day last week, it was at 675. Corrections officials have been watching the numbers for months and worrying that the typical dip in cold weather months wasnt happening a trend that usually helps during an upswing in warmer months. While the average daily population did dip during some of the winter months, hitting a low of 623.4 in February, that number was 557.1 the previous February. And in March of this year, it jumped back up to 655.2. Johnson said hes included nearly $1.1 million in his 2023-24 budget request to pay to send people to nearby county jails if the upward trend continues. Although the budget wont be approved until fall, its likely the county board will allow that expense because there arent a lot of other options, said Dennis Meyer, the countys budget and fiscal officer. Whether that will be necessary or if it wont be enough remains to be seen, but the county board last week also authorized Johnson to begin work to contract for an outside needs assessment of the jail. Johnson said hed like to see a study of the whole criminal justice system, not just the jail, because all the different parts of the system law enforcement, courts, community corrections and probation contribute to the jail population. You can look at the jail and its population and whats driving that to a degree, but this is a larger, very complex system, he said. I think it would be a worthwhile endeavor to try and see what role each of those stakeholders have in my population. Are there ideas or suggestions we could all take a little bite out of and be in a better place? For instance, of trespassing cases handled by the Lancaster County public defenders office for a 15-month period beginning Jan. 1, 2022, about 53% of them ended with a jail sentence, said Public Defender Kristi Eggers. But looking just at the jail numbers can tell part of the story. Much of the increase in the jails population is people arrested for felonies and awaiting trial. They make up the largest percentage of people in jail, and the number increased from 333 during the first quarter of last year to 381 during the first quarter of this year. Those awaiting trial on less-serious misdemeanors increased 10% from 50 to 68. Johnson said the length of time people spend in jail has also been inching up. State laws can also impact jail population, such as a recent law designed to reduce prison overcrowding through supervised release programs. During the first quarter of the year, 23 people spent a combined total of 355 days in jail because they violated provisions of their state-ordered supervised release, according to county corrections records. Another 15 people had their post-release supervision revoked and were resentenced to Lancaster County Jail for a total of 3,219 days. An additional 41 people spent a combined total of 629 days in jail because they violated county corrections programs, though had they not been in those programs they likely would have been sentenced to jail. The amount of time people sit in jail awaiting space at the Lincoln Regional Center has decreased over the past year or so, but people awaiting placement there still waited an average of 94 days in March. Jail overcrowding had been a problem for years before the county opened the current jail at 3801 W. O St. in 2012. The county did at least two needs assessments before deciding to build the $65 million facility. One, in the early 2000s, recommended looking for alternatives to incarceration, and the county created its Community Corrections department in 2002, Johnson said. By 2007, the average daily population of the jail was nearly 100 over the state-rated capacity, and jail officials had put bunk beds in some of the cells, were using other areas to house people and were spending nearly $1 million a year to send people to jails in other counties, according to Journal Star reporting at the time. In 2008, another needs assessment made the case for a new jail, but Johnson noted todays average jail population is lower than the study anticipated it would be. The assessment predicted that by 2020, the jail would have an average daily population of 771, though it also over-estimated what the countys population would be. Still, Johnson told the board, population growth is impacting jail population. Corrections alternatives likely made a difference, though, he said, and hes hoping an assessment will highlight ways they could further reduce the jail population rather than begin a discussion about expanding jail capacity. During a meeting with the county board last week to discuss the jail population, he told commissioners he wasnt trying to sound alarmist. Board Chair Christa Yoakum said it seemed appropriate. It is time to sound the alarm, she said. Top Journal Star photos for May 2023 Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Earlier this month, more than 1,000 Nebraskans attended the first call-to-action event held by Justice in Action a nonprofit organization formed in 2022 by leaders of Lincoln and Lancaster County faith congregations dedicated to creating community change. "Our philosophy is that there are two types of power in the public arena," said the Rev. Kirstie Engel of First United Methodist Church of Lincoln, who is a Justice in Action co-president. "The first is money and the second is people. We believe in the power of organized people. Organized people have the power to build the collective will to transform our community. That is the core of Justice in Action. In October of 2022, faith congregations across the Lincoln and Lancaster County areas hosted nearly 90 meetings where Nebraskans could share problems they were passionate about and wanted to address in the community. From the eight issues that emerged from those meetings, two were selected by popular vote at a November assembly as the organization's first challenges to tackle: mental health and criminal justice reform. Two issues will be selected annually, allowing the organization to focus their resources more efficiently. "In my professional life, I study criminology and public health," said Lisa Kort-Butler, a member of Horizons Community Church in Lincoln and Justice in Action's research team. "When we, as an organization, decided that those were the things we were going to be focusing on, I thought, 'Hey, that's right in my wheelhouse, this is something I can help with.'" By December, Kort-Butler and nearly 200 other Justice in Action staff and community members were involved in the research process meeting with experts, looking through prior studies and attempting to form specific, measurable solutions to present at May's Nehemiah Action Assembly. "We started meeting with people who we identified as stakeholders in the community, who were experts on these processes," Kort-Butler said. "On the criminal justice side, we met with folks doing prison missionary work, a UNL law professor who specializes in restorative justice, the director of community corrections at the time, the county attorney, and so on." Kort-Butler said the meetings often took the form of large panel interviews where the research teams would ask questions, take notes and learn where Justice in Action could have an impact. "We were very pleased with the response from the different offices we reached out to," she said. "It's been exciting to see positive action for change and to bring people together from all parts of the county who have different points of view, centered around this core value of justice for our neighbors." When all the information was gathered, the two Justice in Action research teams created reports to present to elected officials at the Nehemiah Action Assembly on May 4. The organization invited County Commissioner Christa Yoakum, Councilwoman Sandra Washington, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, County Commissioner Rick Vest, Councilman James Michael Bowers, and County Attorney Pat Condon hoping to gain commitments to implement the proposed solutions and policies. We want everyone to leave here knowing where our elected officials stand and what can happen next, Engel said to the assembled crowd. "We didn't name this group Justice in Words, we named it Justice in Action." Yoakum, Washington and Bowers heard the solution from Justice in Action's mental health committee a navigation program modeled after one in Toronto to increase accessibility to existing mental health resources. Gaylor Baird was unable to attend but sent a representative in her place. "People experiencing mental health issues in Lancaster County are often unable to access timely and appropriate care and end up interacting with the criminal justice system, which is costly and robs them of the opportunity to receive the ongoing care they need to lead productive and positive lives," the report on mental health read. Engel said a navigation program would provide trained personnel to help Nebraska's families navigate available resources based on their specific situations and needs, a program that hasn't existed since the Community Mental Health Center closed in 2014. All three elected officials agreed to meet with Justice in Action and Toronto Navigation representatives in early June to further discuss the program and work to establish a working idea for a Lincoln program by early 2024. We have wonderful nonprofits doing really, really hard work, Yoakum said. But it is a tough system to navigate. On the criminal justice reform stage, Vest heard a proposal to increase the community corrections budget to add staff, eliminate fees for diversion programs and create a real-time online dashboard that publishes data on inmates and individuals in diversion programs. Condon was unable to attend. "County jails are the front door to mass incarceration," the criminal justice reform committee wrote in their report. "A growing number of people are placed or kept in the Lancaster County Jail for nonviolent offenses because the local system doesnt have sufficient tools, discretion, or community-based alternatives to address their needs while maintaining public safety." According to Engel, diversion refers to programs that offer an alternative to arrest, prosecution and incarceration. "Recidivism for those serving time in the Lancaster County Jail is around 60%, while recidivism for those successfully completing a Community Corrections diversion program is only 20%, which means these programs improve public safety, said Engel. Vest said some of the requests, like the dashboard, were already in progress and money for the rest will be there "when the time is right." While he said he couldn't make a commitment while the search for a permanent Community Corrections director continued, Vest pledged to address the budget proposals within 90 days of the new hire. And this won't be the last Lincoln sees of Justice in Action, though the topics may vary over the coming years. "Every year we'll decide on, as an organization, two topics to pursue," Kort-Butler said. "They may be brand new ones, or they may carry the torch forward and make sure action is happening. Our intent is to continue until we see change happening and to hold people accountable to that we're not disappearing in any sense, this is long work that requires endurance and we're in for pursuing this as long as it takes." Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Thirty-five states have fewer children than they did five years ago, a situation caused by declining birth rates nationwide, but also by young families migrating across state borders in search of cheaper housing. Even in the 15 states that gained children, all but North Dakota experienced greater growth in the adult population, meaning children now make up a lower percentage of residents. In states where the number of children has declined, school officials are facing the possibility of teacher layoffs or even school closures when pandemic aid expires next year. A decline in school enrollment could provide short-term cost savings and might be a benefit to children if there are more resources to go around, but it bodes poorly for future state workforces. In states where the drop in the number of children is part of a broader population decline, there will be additional fiscal, economic and political ramifications, such as diminished representation in Congress. The states with the largest drops were California, Illinois and New Mexico, where the child population declined by 6% between 2017 and 2022, according to a Stateline analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Idaho and North Dakota saw the largest increases, at 4%. The declines mostly are a reflection of historically low fertility rates, which have been below the replacement rate of two children per woman since 2010. Births increased in only a handful of states in 2021. But in the 35 states that experienced declines, high housing prices also are a factor. In California, jobs pay well but the states housing shortage has sent prices beyond the means of young families, said Hans Johnson, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank. People want to buy a house and have children, but they realize they cant do it here so they look in the vicinity, states close by, and work remotely so they can keep their California paychecks, Johnson said. Slow population growth cost California a seat in Congress after the 2020 census. The number of adults in California grew in the past five years, according to the Stateline analysis, but the decline in the number of children led to a lower overall population. California also has experienced a phenomenon shared by other Western states: The children of Hispanic immigrants have lower birth rates than their parents. Californias total fertility rate dropped from 2.15 per woman in 2008 to a historic low of 1.52 in 2020, the lowest since records have been kept, Johnson wrote in a January report. California, Illinois and New Mexico all have seen lower school enrollment in recent years, even as theyve tried to rekindle interest in public education after pandemic upheavals. In New Mexico, enrollment has dropped particularly sharply in the northwestern part of the state, where there are many Indigenous students, according to a January state report. Between 2012 and 2022, enrollment declined by 22% in the majority-Native Central Consolidated Schools in San Juan County, compared with a statewide decline of 7%, according to the report. Indigenous and other children in the mostly rural area struggle to stay in school because of long bus commutes and lack of internet access at home. The recent closure of a coal mine and the power-generating station it fueled forced many families with children to move away from San Juan County to find jobs, according to Central Consolidated school board President Christina Aspaas. A lot of Navajo workers who were employed had to relocate to Phoenix or elsewhere out of state to earn the same wages, Aspaas said. It affected the local tribes, Hopi and Navajo, Dine. Seeing the impacts makes my heart break. These are all my children, and they deserve the best in education and in life. In Idaho and North Dakota, annual school enrollment has increased over the past five years, except for temporary drops early in the pandemic. But Idaho is bracing for a decline starting in 2025, when children from a historic 2007 baby boom in the state start turning 18. Idaho has become known as a picturesque and affordable place to raise children, said Jaap Vos, a planning professor at the University of Idaho in Boise. He moved from Florida with his 3-year-old son in 2012, when it was still the middle of nowhere, he said. The number of adults in the state grew by 16% during the same period. Boise is getting a lot of new residents from California, and northern Idaho is seeing more movers from Northern California, Washington and Utah. It might be for ideological reasons, people looking for a more conservative lifestyle, Vos said. He added that some people have left Boise as it has grown more crowded. Even in northern Idaho, housing prices have risen rapidly. Writer Leah Hampton is moving from North Carolina to Moscow in northern Idaho to teach at the University of Idaho. But she said she is having trouble finding an affordable house even without children. Her husband is working remotely. Moscow is definitely a great place to raise kids. Its like a 1950s movie up here but more diverse and left-wing, Hampton said. All of my friends children seem really happy and well-adjusted. But cost of living is much higher than we expected. We have money and we literally cant find anything to buy. What it takes to be middle class in America's largest cities What it takes to be middle class in America's largest cities Cities with the highest middle-class ceilings What it takes to be middle class in the 50 states Data and methodology Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. On his way to see whether his expected presidential bid can play in Peoria, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis upstaged himself with a newsmaking tweet. We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny, he tweeted about the former Marine accused in the May 1 killing of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who had been shouting in the faces of other passengers on a New York City subway. Lets show this Marine ... DeSantis tweeted, Americas got his back. At least DeSantis does and hes not alone. When I last visited the sad case of the subway vigilante, as some are calling Penny, he was not yet arrested or charged, despite a groundswell of people calling for it after the video was broadcast. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, among others, wanted Penny charged with murder. But I agreed with Mayor Eric Adams that simple justice requires that we wait for police to investigate before jumping to conclusions. Penny deserved to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, I felt. Im kind of old-fashioned that way. But, by the time the Manhattan district attorneys office charged him with second-degree manslaughter, Penny found a bigger groundswell of financial and online support from high-profile Republicans such as DeSantis, Fox News personalities and other conservatives. Many hailed Penny as a hero and good Samaritan and raised nearly $2 million from Kid Rock and others for his legal defense through an online fund. DeSantis similarly joined many others on the right who sought to turn Penny into a martyr being punished by the deep state for supposedly defending public order. DeSantis in this fashion joined former President Donald Trump as a leading contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination celebrating vigilante justice in the fashion of Charles Bronson in Death Wish. Did we, as a country, ask for this? Like it or not, thats what we have in todays political world as tough on crime has taken on a particularly ruthless odor. Think of Kyle Rittenhouse, who claimed self defense after he fatally shot two men and wounded a third during a chaotic night of unrest in Kenosha in August 2020. He was acquitted of all charges, including homicide, and has become a folk hero in conservative media and fundraising circles. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, even offered a bill to give Rittenhouse the congressional Gold Medal, the institutions highest honor which she opposed granting to the Capitol police for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. And there are other cases, such as Edward Gallagher, the Navy SEAL accused by members of his own unit of killing multiple unarmed civilians. Trump pardoned him. More recently, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott promised to pardon a man convicted of the 2020 murder of a Black Lives Matter protester. It would be easy to cast these episodes of trial-by-media as election year excesses, except this isnt an election year. Not quite, although for some people it seems the election year never ends. So far, there is no evidence that Neely assaulted anyone on the subway, but Penny acted to restrain him in a chokehold anyway, and at least one other passenger acted to assist him by grabbing Neelys arms. Neely may also have been turned on his side in an effort to prevent him from choking on his saliva. But when he was taken to the hospital, he was pronounced dead. To prove guilt of second-degree manslaughter, prosecutors will have to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Penny recklessly caused Neelys death. Under New York state law, The New York Times reports, a person is deemed to have acted recklessly when he engages in conduct which creates or contributes to a substantial or unjustifiable risk that another persons death will occur. Considering the circumstances, theres a good chance that the outcome wont satisfy very many of us, regardless of which side were on. As a lawyer friend of mine put it, Justice? Youre not going to have any real justice as long as theres no way to bring that dead man back to life. Indeed, theres no way around the simple truth in these instances that the system has failed, especially for Neely, a homeless street performer who had a long sheet of arrests and treatments in a social service system that wasnt there when he needed it most. Now the states justice system must decide whether Penny was criminally reckless or just trying to help. The system needs to seek justice, not just revenge. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. 1873: A strawberry festival held by women of the Congregational Church was reported to have been successful as a social event, even though the strawberries being shipped by train did not arrive in time. 1883: A Beatrice murder trial juror was fined $50 for contempt of court when he was caught sucking "liquid refreshment" through a tube in a bottle in his coat pocket. 1893: The Lincoln Board of Education adopted plans submitted by T.C. Fisher for a new high school building at 15th and N streets. 1903: An Army board was considering the promotion of Capt. John J. Pershing for his campaigns in the Philippines. 1913: Nebraska-born boxer Luther McCarty was killed by a blow under the heart in a match in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. McCarty had claimed the world white heavyweight title. 1923: Mrs. Sidney Drew, a famous actress, was in Lincoln visiting Mrs. S.R. McKelvie. Mrs. Drew had been a student at Nebraska Wesleyan University. 1933: Judge W.H. Thompson, 80, of Grand Island was appointed by Gov. Charles Bryan to complete the term of the late U.S. Sen. R.B. Howell. Bryan and Thompson were Democrats; Howell was a Republican. Storms left nine dead in Nebraska, five in Kansas and five in the Dakotas. 1943: Nebraska Wesleyan University Chancellor Benjamin F. Schwartz attacked Lincoln's law enforcement and asked that the city's vice conditions be cleaned up. He said he would appear before the City Council, at its invitation, to give specific information on the corrupt conditions he believed prevailed. 1953: Lincoln banker Samuel C. Waugh was nominated by President Dwight Eisenhower to be assistant secretary of state for economic affairs. 1963: Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery was dedicated. On the University of Nebraska campus, the $3 million structure was described by architect Philip Johnson of New York as "the best museum in the country." 1973: Three thousand preregistered delegates, 2,000 Nebraska-resident, registered visitors and hundreds of others attended the biennial national convention of the American Baptist Churches in the United States at Pershing Auditorium. Dr. Peter H. Armacost, president of Ottawa (Kan.) College, was chosen president-elect. The National Guard's usual caravan to Colorado Springs, Colo., for summer training was canceled to save motor fuel. A few Nebraska service station operators reported they were out of gas or nearly so. There were concerns for farm operations and travel plans. 1983: For the first time in the history of Boys Town High School, there were girls among the graduates. Crab Orchard, pop. 79, held an alumni banquet to commemorate the town's 100th birthday. 1993: A special projects team from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District Office helped Russia design a massive underground facility to store plutonium cores removed from thousands of dismantled nuclear warheads. 2003: The owners of Crane River Brewery, one of the citys first breweries, announced its closing. The restaurant opened in 1992 and was the second brewery to open in Lincoln. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. MOUNT PLEASANT Four years after the village broke ties with Real Racine, officials say the tourism groups new rebranding represents an opportunity to rebuild relations. Whether the village will go so far as to resume funding of the group now known as Visit Racine County remains to be seen. But at least one local official supports such a move. Village Trustee Denise Anastasio said she thinks Mount Pleasant should join the Visit Racine County partnership and send local hotel tax dollars to fund the organization. If Visit Racine County is working to promote all destinations countywide, Anastasio said, Mount Pleasant should be part of the group alongside other municipalities. I personally think that would be a good idea, she said. We should look for ways that we can work together. Other village officials stop short of such a commitment, but they agree that Mount Pleasant ought to increase its involvement in countywide tourism promotion. Village Trustee Andrew Docksey said he envisions an arrangement in which Mount Pleasant works cooperatively with Visit Racine County on some things, while still operating independently as a village on other things related to tourism. Docksey, however, said he likes the idea of seizing this opportunity to improve relations with Visit Racine County. We shouldnt be adversarial; were trying to bring people to Racine County, he said. If people can work together, awesome. Visit Racine County is a Yorkville-based, countywide partnership that uses local hotel tax dollars to promote tourism events by enticing outside travelers to patronize events and destinations throughout the county. Mount Pleasant in 2019 grew dissatisfied with the group then known as Real Racine so the village created its own tourism commission. Officials also redirected $750,000 a year in hotel taxes to the new local entity. Real Racine responded by taking Mount Pleasant to court in a losing effort to salvage the lost tax dollars. Other municipalities soon followed Mount Pleasants lead, and Real Racine found itself with a withering financial base and a diminished role in the region. The organization then spent more than a year formulating plans to rebrand itself. In announcing the transition to the Visit Racine County name, tourism officials said Monday that Mount Pleasant had been supportive and had provided funding through its own tourism commission. The villages contribution of $39,500 constituted 50% of Real Racines cost for a new strategic plan, developed by private consultants. Village President Dave DeGroot said he is willing to provide more financial support to Visit Racine County in the future. DeGroot, however, said he is not in favor of rejoining the countywide group and resuming funding at the previous level of $750,000 a year. DeGroot said he envisions Visit Racine County seeking donations from the villages tourism commission on an as-needed basis, just like other groups do for special events that are worth supporting. Acknowledging that relations with Visit Racine County have improved since the days of breakups and court battles, DeGroot said, We are interested in their mission, and being partners in it. Under the new name and brand, Visit Racine County is aiming to reassert itself as a countywide promoter of tourism and events in all Racine County cities, towns and villages. Details of the groups new strategic plan have not yet been released. Mount Pleasant officials call the rebranding effort an encouraging sign and a chance to make a fresh start together. Village Trustee Ram Bhatia said he expects the Village Board to receive a report soon on the tourism groups new mission, as well as the villages role in supporting the countywide organization. The rebranding of Visit Racine County, Bhatia said, could mark the beginning a renewed relationship with the village. I would hope so, he said. We all have the same objective. Photos and videos from YMCA Mount Pleasant branch renaming to Image Management Family YMCA Cory Sebastian makes opening remarks at YMCA Mount Pleasant renaming ceremony Image Management Administrator Kevin Weslaski speaks about why his company made the gift Image Management President Claire Weslaski explains the importance of the YMCA family Paige Wood says the future is bright for Racine Jon Agnew and Brian Lee say closing remarks at the YMCA Mount Pleasant renaming ceremony Kevin Weslaski Paige Wood There was cake Family photo Brian Lee Group photo Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. RACINE Racine Habitat for Humanity is celebrating the completion of its first annual Community Build Week. According to a news release, nearly 100 local business, faith, civic and community leaders volunteered from May 15-19 to help build safe and affordable housing for Racine residents. The week aimed to draw attention to housing inequality and challenges families in Racine face as first-time homebuyers, the release said. Throughout the week, volunteers helped on a new build site at 1838 Roe Ave., assisting in installing floor joists and sub-floor and framing and raising walls. Theres something very special about a gathering of business, faith and civic leaders coming together for one purpose. I believe Community Build helps communicate to our city that unity is not only possible, but a powerful force for good, said Rex Hamilton, Racine Habitat for Humanitys director of development and communication, in the release. Volunteers included participants from a variety of local groups, agencies and companies. Racine Habitat for Humanity specifically recognized participants from the Racine Police Department, Caledonia Fire Department, Grace Church, Racine Unified School District, Educators Credit Union, Johnson Financial Group, SC Johnson Young Professionals, Andis, Baird Wealth Management and Merz, the presenting sponsor, in its press release. Our entire team is so grateful to everyone who has given their support, both financially and with their time. The difference theyre making represents more than a new house; it represents future strength, stability and self-reliance for one of our partner families, Hamilton said. Anyone interested in volunteering with Racine Habitat for Humanity in the future can email info@habitatracine.org or visit habitatracine.org/volunteer. In photos: Racine, Caledonia, South Shore firefighters begin building Habitat for Humanity home Father and son Chief at work Adrian Brooks Kevin Carton Jeff Buenger Racine Fire Department volunteers A young volunteer Firefighters collaborate for Habitat for Humanity Firefighters collaborate for Habitat for Humanity Firefighters collaborate for Habitat for Humanity Firefighters collaborate for Habitat for Humanity Firefighters collaborate for Habitat for Humanity Firefighters collaborate for Habitat for Humanity Firefighters collaborate for Habitat for Humanity 1. Yes. The charter calls for an appointment process, and the council will pick wisely. 2. Yes. Why spend money on an election? Let the city council do its job, as mandated. 3. No. Voters chose Wilkerson in the first place; they should be able to pick his successor. 4. No. Since theres nearly a year left on Wilkersons council term, the voters should have a say. 5. Unsure. An appointment would follow the charter, but an election seems fairer. Vote View Results Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune. A 24-year-old Lake Zurich man died after crashing his car into a tree early Sunday, according to a news release from the Lake Zurich Police Department. Police said the driver, identified as Kevin Rediger, was traveling east on Pheasant Ridge Drive at 2:07 a.m. when he lost control of his car and hit a tree. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened near Pheasant Ridge and Red Bridge Road, according to police. Advertisement A passenger in the vehicle was taken to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The Lake Zurich Police Department traffic safety division and the Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team are investigating. Advertisement oalexander@chicagotribune.com Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. KEARNEY Author Jim Minick depended on the accounts of survivors to tell the story of Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas. The Udall tornado is not really my story, he said in an interview from his home in Virginia. Ive never been in a tornado, Ive never lived in Kansas and I wasnt alive in 1955. To make this a successful piece of writing, the writer has to imagine his or her way back into the story. As part of the process of the book, Minick interviewed survivors, went home and worked on that section of the book. Sometimes he had to develop the ideas and fill in the details on his own, using background material from various sources. I would always bump into more questions, he said. Sometimes the person could not remember the details. There were parts of the stories that needed more development and so I would have to imagine those scenes. For the most part I was able to share those created scenes with the survivor who gave me the story and get their approval. I think its very important to share with the source what youre doing. Minick, a former English teacher at the college level and now full-time writer, will stop in Kearney to talk more about his book at a 7 p.m. reading and book signing on Tuesday at the Kearney Public Library. Admission to the reading is free. The author will also host a workshop at noon on Tuesday at the library. He will focus on using the stories of family members, or other people, as the basis of fictional or nonfictional stories. Admission to the two-hour workshop is $15 and includes lunch. Using the stories of other people requires an author to use great care. One, you dont want to get sued for libel or slander, and, two, you want to be fair, Minick said. You need to frame it through the experience. Minick first learned about the story of the tornado in Udall while visiting Kansas. The storm arrived without warning at 10:35 p.m. on May 25, 1955, destroying most of the towns buildings, toppling the water tower and killing 82 people. The tornado remains one of the most deadly storms in the country and the most deadly weather event in the history of Kansas. My sister and my sister-in-law lived in Wichita and we were visiting one time over a holiday, he said. I had just finished a novel and I was looking for a new project. One of my favorite writers here in the South is Fred Chappell and hes used the elements, fire, wind, rain and earth, to be frames for several of his books. I was fascinated by having one element be the main part of a book. Minick had finished a novel about fire and wanted to examine another element. His sister-in-law told him that her hometown, Udall, Kansas, had been wiped out by a tornado. That opened the door for me, Minick said. She grew up in the town but didnt experience the tornado. Her father, who was fortunately not in town at the time, did. He was a teacher at the high school and lived just a block away. His house where he was living was totally destroyed. She grew up with all these stories and she knew so many survivors. That just opened so many doors. The University of Nebraska Press published the book on May 1. For Minick, the power of tornadoes and the focus of the storms makes the events so memorable to people. Weather forecasting has really improved, but they are still unpredictable, he said. Were still fascinated by the unpredictability and the specificity of where a tornado goes and with such velocity of the wind. The north side of the town received the least amount of damage. There was a pocket of houses where one house in a group was totally destroyed and houses on both sides, within 30 feet, were not touched. In gathering the stories of the events in Udall in May of 1955, Minick kept one concept in mind the human element. Who survived? he asked. Just importantly, how did they rebuild, how did they decide to keep going? One of the key figures was the mayor at the time, Earl Toots Rowe, who was so instrumental in making sure that the government people would help rebuild. In the epilogue of the book, Minick steps back and looks at the relevance of the story to todays society. I tie it to climate change, he said. In the 1990s we only had 38 or 40 huge natural disasters per year. And now that number is 10 times that. There are easily 300 to 400 natural disasters from climate change. What can we learn from the Udall story to help us go through the future? When it comes to writing non-fiction, Minick understands that a strong story helps. You have to fashion a strong story out of what you have, he said. You dont have to be a movie star or have fallen off a 10 story building and survived to write a compelling memoir. Sure, that might make the job easier and easier to tap into the compelling part, but I think you can write memoirs about anything. You do need to have conflict and struggle, and that might just be internal. How do I get through this situation that seems very plain and ordinary on the outside, but inside it might be extremely traumatic. Tornado warning What: Jim Minick will read from his book, Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas. When: 7 p.m. Tuesday. Where: Kearney Public Library at 2020 First Ave. Admission: Free. Contact: 308-233-3282; KearneyLib.org. Jim Minick will also conduct a workshop on using factual sources in fiction and nonfiction at noon on Tuesday at Kearney Public Library. The fee is $15 and also includes lunch. Register in advance. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Im thrilled that thanks to Denver Air Connection, I can fly out of Kearney again, but our new airline has a few curiosities. Three weeks ago, I flew on DAC to go home to Cleveland for the weekend. I checked in online the night before my flight, but I couldnt get a boarding pass online. I fussed and fussed, but it wouldnt budge. I was a tad worried, but at the Kearney airport the next day, the woman at the terminal printed out that pass quicker than I could blink. That boarding pass came without a seat assignment. When we boarded, the flight attendants told us to sit where we wanted, with one caveat: They kindly asked us to fill the seats toward the back of the plane. I was suddenly yanked back to my flights in pea-sized planes 40-plus years ago when I was the editor of the Chessie System Railroads (now CSX) employee magazine and had to fly to railroad repair shops in mountain-hugging towns in Virginia and West Virginia. They assigned seats on those planes according to body weight. That principle seemed to be at play here, too. Anyway, I chose a single seat by the window, sat down and got settled. Then I noticed that there were no labels for this planes rows and seats. All those numbers are usually on the overhead bins, but they were gone. No wonder they didnt assign seats. The beverage cart was MIA, too. The flight attendant simply came down the aisle and asked each passenger what he or she wanted to drink, then returned with bottles of water or cans of soft drinks. Just cans. No cups, no ice. Just a can. She returned again with the bottom of a cardboard box filled with a glut of chips, granola bars, candy bars and peanuts and held it out like a waiter offering options for tea. The presentation was a bit tacky, but I loved having a choice. It was better than the gumdrop-sized, cellophane-wrapped cookie I got on my connecting flight later that afternoon. An hour later, I was hiking from one end of Denvers B terminal to the other end of the C terminal. My three-hour flight to Cleveland wasn't entirely smooth either. Ive always loved airline travel. I can see the world like Santa Claus. I look out the window and peer down at houses and shopping centers and college campuses no bigger than crumbs. I even take a little atlas so I can chart our route. Alas, theres always a predicament. I need a window seat to chart my route from on high, but too often especially now that airlines are charging extra for various seats, and I refuse to pay Im stuck in a middle seat. The person in the window seat always pulls down the shade, leans against the wall and falls asleep. My view is gone. I realize that people reserve window seats so they can nap, but I think those seats should be reserved for the dwindling few of us who want to watch the world go by far below. A flight is an experience, not just a hurried way to get from one city to another, but its slowly being drained of enjoyment. Flight attendants now ask passengers to lower the window shades as we deplane in order to maintain the interior temperature. No problem there, but when passengers board for the next flight, many dont raise the shades. I sit there in my middle seat, itching to lean across the passenger and lift that shade and let in the light, but I restrain myself. That would be rude. When I flew home from England in 2017, the flight attendants asked us to lower our shades for the movie, but I refused. The plane wasnt full; my patch of sunlight bothered no one. While everyone else watched a movie something I can do at home I stared down at Greenland, an enormous splotch of ice and snow sprawling down there like a giant white crocodile. Fabulous. While once-friendly skies have gotten ominously cloudy, there are patches of sunshine, too. I applaud DAC for its speedy method of getting luggage off the plane. I used to wait hours for my suitcase. Three weeks ago, I had it within 10 minutes. Nice. Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune. A 37-year-old woman is in custody after Chicago police said she shot a man on a CTA Red Line train near the Roosevelt station. The woman was arguing with the 35-year-old man on the train just after 8 p.m. Saturday when she pulled out a gun and shot him in the left arm and right hip, according to police. Advertisement After the shooting, the woman fled the train, and police said that officers took her into custody and recovered her gun about a block away, in the 1100 block of South Wabash Avenue. Area 3 Detectives are investigating. The Chicago Fire Department took the man to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said. He was listed in good condition. Advertisement The CTA temporarily suspended Red Line service between the Fullerton and 63rd stops due to police activity following the shooting. The service resumed by 9 p.m. with a reroute to the elevated tracks between Cermak and Fullerton, and the Red Line resumed its regular route before 9:30 p.m., according to CTA Twitter notifications. oalexander@chicagotribune.com Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The Kenosha History Center has a new display that honors the 14 soldiers from Kenosha County who are still listed as missing in action along with one who finally came back home in 2014. Kenoshas Missing, Not Forgotten tells the story of Staff Sgt. James VanBendegom, who was born in 1948 and then raised and educated in Kenosha. He volunteered for the Army in January 1967 and died in July 1967. After years of being listed as missing in action, he was identified and returned to Kenosha through the work of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. According to that agency, there are still more than 81,500 American service members who are missing in action since World War II. Through the agencys work and thanks to advances in genetics, along with the cooperation of former enemies and years of research the number of soldiers listed as MIA continues to shrink. In 2014, VanBendegom was laid to rest 47 years after dying of his wounds in a North Vietnamese field hospital in Cambodia. While his burial in Kenosha on Veterans Day in 2014 brought some sense of closure to his family, History Center officials said, many families are not so fortunate. Along with VanBendegoms story, the display also profiles one of Kenoshas missing soldiers, U.S. Marine Capt. David Leet of Somers, and one of Kenoshas found, Casimir Lobacz. Also included is a list of all of Kenoshas missing in action since World War I. The exhibit will run through the end of the summer. Please join us in remembering those who have not come home, History Center officials said. A family remembers At the 2015 Wisconsin American Legion First District POW/MIA Silent March, Bob VanBendegom talked about his brother, James. In their last conversation, Bob asked his brother if he knew why he was going to Vietnam. Without hesitation he replied with a resounding yes, Bob said. At the time, it seemed to be resonating more from a soldier than a brother. Bob VanBendegom, who served in the Air Force in Vietnam, said for his family, service was an unwritten code: Without hesitation, you served your country. Within less than a month of last seeing him, my brother had succumbed to his battlefield wounds and died a prisoner of war, Bob told the 2015 crowd. Like thousands of other POW/MIAs, he will always remain a friend, a son and a brother whose sacrifice must not be forgotten. Bob VanBendegom also urged those in the 2015 audience to serve, not necessarily in the military, but to serve by reaching out and helping others in need within the community. By doing so, the legacy of service goes on and honors those who remain unaccounted for, he said. The History Center, 220 51st Place, is open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free; donations are accepted. For more information, go to kenoshahistorycenter.org. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WASHINGTON Democrats looking at the 2024 landscape say abortion access remains a high priority for voters and they expect the issue that they used effectively during last years midterm elections to stay relevant on the campaign trail. Instead of fading away more than a year after the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade first leaked, Democrats say the rapid changes to laws in different states keep the issue in the headlines. Just this week, Republicans in the North Carolina legislature overrode a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper related to a 12-week abortion ban, while an appeals court heard arguments about whether to overturn federal approval of mifepristone, a common abortion drug. Democrats had already signaled they would keep the focus on abortion as they seek to win back control of the House next year, but the partys commitment to the issue was underscored when President Joe Biden made a surprise stop Tuesday night at a gala hosted by EMILYs List, which raises money to support Democratic women candidates who back abortion rights. Biden was there to honor former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who received an award at the event. He gave Pelosi a bouquet and said she would go down as one of the most consequential speakers because of her legislative record. In her own remarks, Pelosi said that focusing on abortion helped Democrats limit their losses in midterm elections last year, so that even though the party lost control of the House, it is well-positioned for the 2024 elections, when a net gain of five seats would flip control. The candidates believed that they could win. And they made a distinction in their districts between themselves and their opponents, especially on the issue of a womans right to choose and freedom and democracy in our country, Pelosi said. So thanks to all of your help, we held them to five. That means its very doable for us to take back that House. Freshman Rep. Andrea Salinas said abortion continues to energize voters. She said that she is making sure that shes regularly talking about the issue with voters, as well as the local Planned Parenthood group. Voters recognize that theres more on the line than ever, the Oregon Democrat said. I think were starting to see the effects of the Dobbs decision and all of these states who are actually implementing bad policies that will cut off access for women, that criminalize women, that basically tell women that freedom for their own autonomy over their own body is not available to them. Its becoming a reality. So the difference is, the conversation is nonstop now. Ohio Rep. Emilia Sykes pointed to her home state, where lawmakers are looking to change the rules to make it harder to amend the state constitution, a move viewed by advocates of legal abortion as an effort to thwart an amendment specifying a right to abortion. As we continue to see Republicans double down on taking away the freedom to choose, you have to wonder why dont they care about women, and it was such an unpopular position, she said. Republicans in the legislature passed a resolution raising the threshold for passing constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60 percent. The measure could come before voters in August. Democrats denounced the move. Its wrong, its a clear power grab, and we know what the end goal is to go around voters and pass unpopular policies like a total abortion ban, Sen. Sherrod Brown tweeted. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican who is considering running for Senate against Brown and an opponent of legal abortion, said any effort to amend the state constitution and bypass our legislative process should require broad consensus. Efforts to advance a similar provision in Missouri fell short last week, though Republicans there say they will try again in 2024. Changing the rules governing constitutional amendments is the latest strategy deployed by Republicans to limit abortion access. But it is far from the only one: Over the past year, Republican-controlled legislatures have sought to enact increasingly restrictive abortion policies. While 19 states have passed legislation banning or restricting abortion since the Dobbs ruling, other efforts have fallen short. Voters in Kansas last year rejected a proposed amendment that would have said there is no right to abortion under the state constitution, while in Michigan, voters approved an amendment guaranteeing the right to an abortion. Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, citing the number of Michigan State University students who registered and voted on Election Day, credited the Michigan referendum with helping her to win what was expected to be a tight race by more than 5 percentage points. One thing weve learned since Dobbs is that abortion is not a partisan issue, said Jessie Hill, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland who specializes in reproductive rights. Abortion rights are pretty popular even among Republicans, but what tends to happen in states like Ohio is that Republicans tend to win broadly because people dont vote just on that issue. Theres the gerrymandering plus this mismatch between what individual Republican voters think about reproductive choice and how the Republican politicians vote when they get in office. You might expect some type of compromise position to arise in some of these states, Hill said. I think that some of the Supreme Court justices imagined that was the world wed end up in and its been just the opposite, especially in red states, where politics has pulled those legislatures toward more and more extreme abortion bans. Abortion in America: How access and attitudes have changed through the centuries Abortion in America: How access and attitudes have changed through the centuries Pre-1850: Abortions in early America are commonplace Mid-1800s: Birth of the American Medical Association shifts abortion oversight from midwives to doctors; abortion is criminalized 1960s: 'Back-alley butchers,' birth control, and protests 1970s: Roe v. Wade protects women's right to abortion; politics shift 1980s-2000s: Legal challenges to Roe v. Wade introduce restrictions 2020s: Roe v. Wade is overturned; Postal Service allowed to mail abortion medication Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Who is to blame for the current partisan divide in our country? Its a challenging question. Our nation has gone through periods of severe division at various times in our history. In the 1860s we were embroiled in a deadly civil war. In the late 1960s, we were divided over the war in Vietnam. Yet most scholars consider the divide were experiencing today to be somewhat different from those in years past, more focused on principle rather than policy. As a consequence, there are growing concerns over the impact of todays divisiveness and it goes beyond politics. There are significant costs associated with our political divisiveness. Some of the most pressing issues, such as reducing gun violence and managing immigration, go unresolved because many viable steps are taken off the table at the outset. The political divisiveness has led to reduced trust in core institutions. In fact, one of the worst consequences of our current political climate is the spike in feelings of alienation many of us are experiencing in our relationships with family members, neighbors, former friends, and coworkers who differ from us politically. A 2019 Georgetown University poll found that more than two-thirds of respondents believed that the United States is on the verge of civil war. So, how did we get here? Lets look at three independent studies. Studies by Pew Research covered a 30-year period. They indicate the political divide in the United States evolved over the past three decades. In the period from 1994 to 2014, the views of members of the two major political parties began to migrate to the polar extremes. Pew found the percentage of Democrats whose views are liberal on all or most policy issues has nearly doubled (from 30% in 1994 to 56% in 2014). The respondents who who declared they are consistently liberal has quadrupled (from 5% to 23%) in the same timeframe. Meanwhile an ideological shift among Republicans also occurred, though at a lower level. In 1994, 45% of Republican respondents defined themselves as right-of-center, with 13% declaring themselves as consistently conservative. Those figures were up to 53% and 20% in 2014. In the decade following (2014 to today), Pew Research discovered the pattern had shifted. Though Democrats continued to become more liberal, Republicans moved much farther to the right. The most recent Pew Research analysis finds that, on average, Democrats and Republicans are farther apart ideologically today than at any time in the past 50 years. Additionally, they reported that in the U.S. Congress the middle ground Democrats and Republicans have virtually vanished. In a recent FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos study, it was determined that Americans blame politicians and the media for stoking divisions. When asked about what specific groups or ideas might be driving polarization, there was a fair amount of consensus from Democrat and Republican respondents on the four leading contributors: politicians, wealthy donors, social media companies and mainstream media outlets. However, the two parties differed in their views how these contributors drove increased polarization. Its interesting to note there was consensus among Democratic and Republican respondents regarding the lowest factor driving polarization people in our local community. Meanwhile, a comprehensive 2020 survey of 20,000 people by Gallop and the Knight Foundation found 84% of respondents believe bias in the news media is to blame for political division in this country. Given the size of the study group, this is a significant number to report. However, it is also important to note, the same survey showed that, despite the concerns about bias, 84% believe the media can serve as a healing force for the political divide. The expanded use of social media is a significant factor as well. The study by University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Public Relations concluded that in a polarized society, extreme voices disproportionately influence the conversation. In the social media environment, many politically motivated journalists prefer to report stories with sharply contrasting views, over ones that express the nuances of a complex issue. Furthermore, in their social media analysis, they found that the more polarizing the issue, the more likely it is driven by sources known to produce misinformation. They conclude that as long as the political extremes benefit from both traditional and social media promoting their agendas, polarization will continue. However, the Annenberg Center study also noted that positive change is possible when more rational voices enter the conversation in a non-confrontational manner. This is a key point. When the voices of the people in the middle are included, they can improve the divisive climate. So how do we encourage more from the voices in the middle? Many of us would prefer to remain silent rather than get caught in the middle of a conflict. Some of the major conflicts between political parties have migrated from the national and state arena to the local level. As a result, local school boards, county boards and city councils are charged with political conflict. Given this climate, it may be helpful to look for resources in conflict resolution. Peter T. Coleman, founder of the Political Courage Challenge, developed an online process to help shape new habits and norms for political tolerance and courageous compassion. He describes it as a personalized boot camp for building a healthier national culture and repairing broken relationships across differences. The national nonprofit organization Braver Angels is a also good resource. They offer public workshops focused on depolarizing our own views and becoming better able to engage in meaningful discussion with people who have opposing views. Braver Angels has a presence in most states, including Wisconsin. At the practical level, the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University introduced new guides, Strategies for De-escalating Destructive Conflict at School Board Meetings, which offer elected officials, law enforcement agencies, and members of the public concrete strategies to prepare for potentially contentious public school board meetings. These guides include techniques to recognize and de-escalate conflicts. So, looking back at the opening question: Who is to blame for the current partisan divide in our country? Assigning blame may be tempting but the answer falls back onto the shoulders of ordinary citizens. We all have a responsibility to step up to the challenge. The common theme in depolarization approaches is increased listening and speaking out in a non-confrontational manner. And this involves some practical preparation. It is recognized that one of the most dangerous aspects of polarization is moralization, a tendency to view the other side as less moral. But people do not respond well to persuasion that insults or demeans them. Although sometimes difficult, it is far better to look for the good that is there. The data indicate this approach can improve the situation, particularly at the local level. The voice from the people in the middle has the power if we choose to use it. China to further promote practical cooperation, cultural exchanges with Malaysia: top legislator Xinhua) 10:01, May 21, 2023 Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China and Malaysia have agreed to further promote practical cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, top Chinese legislator Zhao Leji said. During a three-day visit to Malaysia which ended on Saturday, Zhao, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), met with Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Speaker of the lower house of parliament Johari Abdul, respectively. At a meeting with the Malaysian supreme head of state, Zhao said China and Malaysia have developed sound and stable relations, and achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation under the strategic guidance of the two countries' leaders. He noted that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Malaysia comprehensive strategic partnership, and next year will be the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. China is ready to join hands with Malaysia to build a China-Malaysia community with a shared future at a high level and with high quality, Zhao said. Noting bilateral relations are at their historical best, King Abdullah said both sides should strengthen practical cooperation and deepen cultural exchanges so as to further promote Malaysia-China ties in the next 50 years. When meeting with Prime Minister Anwar, Zhao said practical cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges are the twin engines driving the development of China-Malaysia relations. He hoped that both sides will jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality and expand cooperation in various fields. China is willing to enhance cultural exchanges with Malaysia and boost mutual understanding between the two peoples, especially among the youths, Zhao said. China is ready to deepen friendship and mutual trust, and achieve common development with its neighbors including Malaysia by upholding the policy of neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, as well as building friendship and partnership with neighbors, he added. For his part, Anwar said Malaysia has attached great importance to relations with China, and is willing to further deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership and jointly build the Malaysia-China community with a shared future. The prime minister noted that Malaysia regards China as a trustworthy, good friend and is willing to continue to push for the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road, strengthen cooperation in various fields, including trade and investment, digital economy, agriculture, poverty reduction, culture, tourism and youth, and advance major projects of "Two Countries, Twin Parks," so as to bring more benefit to the two peoples. At a meeting with Johari, Zhao said developing bilateral ties should be guided by the joint efforts of building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, calling for closer mutually beneficial cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges as part of the endeavor to create a favorable external environment for the common development of the two countries. China's NPC is willing to strengthen exchanges with the parliament of Malaysia at all levels and share experience in order to provide policy and legal guarantees for the cooperation between the two countries, he said. Johari expressed the hope that the friendly exchanges with China's NPC will be strengthened, and the exchanges between the lawmakers of the two countries will be closer, adding that the two sides can exchange views on food security and other issues, and work for getting more Malaysian students to study in China. Zhao briefed the Malaysian side on China's modernization and whole-process people's democracy, among others. The Malaysian side said that the fruits of China's development will benefit the whole region and the world at large. During his stay in Malaysia, Zhao also visited the Asia-Pacific office of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, where he encouraged the Huawei staff members to work harder and strengthen technological innovation, making contributions to the China-Malaysia mutually beneficial cooperation. When meeting with Chief Minister of Malacca state Ab Rauf Yusoh, Zhao said the Chinese side is willing to further expand cooperation with the Malaysian side at the regional level. Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya, Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Malaysian Speaker of the lower house of parliament Johari Abdul in Malaysia, May 18, 2023. At the invitation of Johari, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, visits Zheng He Museum in Malaysia, May 20, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, visits the Asia-Pacific office of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei in Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Chief Minister of Malacca state Ab Rauf Yusoh in Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun) EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR SUNDAY MAY 21, 2023 G7 Summit Promotes War, as Others Seek for New Peace Zones May 20, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Today in Japan, the drums of shooting and economic war beat loudly for the leaders of the Group of Seven and eight guest nations attending the second of the May 19-21 G7 Summit in Hiroshima. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew in early, with great fanfare on a French government jet, for bilateral meetings with heads of state or government, and a formal presentation at the conclusion of the G7 tomorrow. U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders confirmed their backing for Ukraine to receive F-16 fighter jets, and for training Ukraine pilots on the rush. The G7 leaders released their 44-page G7 Hiroshima Leaders Communique pledging military backing for Ukraine as long as it takes, and a host of other NATO narratives and decrees from on high. From Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko denounced the F-16 move as a colossal mistake by the Western leaders. In tandem with the G7 militarization moves, came belligerence in the economic sphere. The featured concept is that the G7 will combat economic coercion wherever it appears, meaning from China and Russia. This and related tactics are discussed in the 66 points in the Communique, and in six Reference Documents issued alongside it. The G7 Leaders Statement on Economic Resilience and Economic Security states: We express serious concern over economic coercion and call on all countries to refrain from its use ... [as it] infringes upon the international order centered on respect for sovereignty and the rule of law.... The U.S. Treasury on May 19 announced 300 new sanctions against Russia and third party evaders wherever they may be, saying its act is in line with the G7. Today, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released an official reproach, stating that the United States is the one responsible for economic coercion in the world, by engaging in massive unilateral sanctions and acts of decoupling and disrupting industrial and supply chains. The statement asserted that gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. The truth of Beijings assessment is reflected in the large meetings of heads of state that have just concluded elsewhere, where new initiatives are underway to oppose economic warfare, and explicitly commit to peace, even to create zones of peace in the world, and zones of economic betterment. Such actions are acutely required in locations that were subjected to years of Global NATO occupation, including in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Syria. The 22 nations in the Arab League ended their summit on May 19 in Saudi Arabia, issuing a Jeddah Declaration. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said yesterday in his address to the League that this is an historic opportunity. He said, I hope that it marks the beginning of a new phase of Arab action for solidarity among us, for peace in our region, development and prosperity instead of war and destruction. In China yesterday, six Presidents from Central Asia and China together at Xian, at the conclusion of the first-ever Summit of China and Central Asia, held a joint press conference, announcing The six countries will take the 10th anniversary of Belt and Road cooperation as a new starting point. Their Xian Declaration commits to dramatic, new economic development plans that will support a thriving Central Asia-China community of peace. These are welcome, happy events. But we face an epic world crisis because, as is seen now in Hiroshima, the G7 and Global NATO militarization and madness has reached the point of provoking or accidentally setting off a nuclear holocaust. It is time for everyone, anywhere, to act. Sign and circulate the Schiller Institute statement: Urgent Appeal by Citizens and Institutions from All Over the World to the (Next) President of the United States! Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. ROCK COUNTY FATHER OF 5 VANISHES Tammy James has not seen or heard from her son in six months. She last spoke with Christopher Miller on Nov. 18 after he learned there was a warrant out for his arrest. James told her son to take care of his legal problems. But early the next day, the Wisconsin State Patrol tried to pull him over for speeding and Miller, 27, of Madison, tried to get away. After leading a trooper on a highspeed chase, Miller ran into the countryside off Interstate 90 just south of Janesville. He was wearing only a sweatshirt and jogging pants on a night when the temperature dropped to 19 degrees. He left his cellphone behind in the car. Confused about which way he ran, police missed their best chance at apprehending Miller. A coordinated, multi-agency search for him would not take place until more than 48 hours later. Whether he simply eluded police and is now in hiding or died that night, no one knows. He was never heard from again. Since that night, holidays and birthdays have come and gone. Miller missed the birth of his fifth child. James' happy memories of her son fixing her car or their plans to start a business together have become painful. Frustrated by what they contend was an inadequate response by police, family members have led search parties through rural wooded areas of Rock County. They've hired a private investigator, made media appearances and staged protests at law enforcement offices, the governor's mansion and the state Capitol. "I'm trying to stay focused and try not to break, literally," James said. "I've been more emotional now as the days continue to pass by." The family requested information on the case to learn as much as they could about law enforcement's handling of the case, including internal State Patrol dispatch audio and text messages. What they found only compounded their grief: The records show dispatchers appearing to get exasperated with the family's frequent requests for help. In texts on the phone of a State Patrol sergeant, someone said Miller's family should "work on their grammar" and that the family should look for him in "Chiraq," a slang term for Chicago that suggests its level of gun violence is equal to that of Iraq. The messages and documents have led James and her family to believe that authorities aren't looking as hard for her son because he is Black. "If Christopher was white, they would still be looking for him," she said. "The outrage would be tremendous. I just feel like they didn't care." Miller's family doesn't dispute his legal troubles. At the time of his disappearance, he had a warrant for his arrest because he hadn't submitted a DNA sample to comply with the terms of a plea he made to a previous charge of resisting arrest in April 2022. As part of the plea, charges of possession of marijuana, battery and disorderly conduct were dismissed. When he ran from the State Patrol in November, he also had about 2.2 ounces of marijuana in his vehicle. But that doesn't make him undeserving of efforts to find him, his family said. Rock County Sheriff's Office Capt. Mark Thompson, whose agency led the initial investigation into Miller's disappearance, said there is no bias against Miller or his family. He said the concerted search for Miller did not begin until days after his disappearance because it happened over a weekend when resources are thin. "Him not having contact with his family has always been concerning to us, but at this point we don't have much further to go," Thompson said, adding that a renewed search for Miller might start this spring. The chase It was just past 2 a.m. on Nov. 19 when State Patrol Trooper Derek Ketelboeter spotted Miller driving 94 mph in a silver Mazda. When Ketelboeter turned on his emergency lights, Miller sped away and turned off his vehicle's headlights, according to video of the chase given to the Wisconsin State Journal by his family. Miller's Mazda had fled from another State Patrol officer earlier that month, a sergeant said in dispatch audio. "I'm like, 'He's done this before. He ain't no scrub,'" Ketelboeter is seen on video saying to fellow Trooper Lawrence Horwood minutes after Miller had disappeared. "He knows what he's doing." The pursuit lasted about seven minutes and reached speeds of 123 mph, according to Ketelboeter's report and dashcam footage. While briefly getting off the interstate to change directions, Miller crashed into a stoplight. Back on the interstate, with one tire blown out, Miller's car came to a stop on the right shoulder just south of Avalon Road. Ketelboeter jumped out of his cruiser, gun drawn, and yelled at Miller to turn the engine off and come out with his hands up. Instead, Miller ran. Ketelboeter didn't run after him because he didn't know if anyone else was in the car, according to footage. "You ever wonder if it's things like this where, then they have to get out and suffer through the cold, that they start wondering whether or not they made the right choice in life?" Ketelboeter said to Horwood in the video. During a search of the vehicle, troopers found about 2.2 ounces of marijuana. While possession of marijuana is illegal in Wisconsin, Ketelboeter remarked that "it's not an insane amount of weed." Ketelboeter referred the case to Rock County prosecutors for possible charges, including possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, recklessly endangering safety, hit and run, resisting arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia and fleeing an officer. Miller was charged with a series of traffic violations which were later dismissed at the request of the Rock County District Attorney's Office. In response to a request for comment from the State Journal, the District Attorney's Office said prosecutors are still reviewing the 6-month-old case for possible additional charges. Miscommunication Rock County deputies arrived at the scene within minutes of Miller's escape and set up a perimeter to find him. But miscommunication between Ketelboeter, dispatchers and deputies about whether Miller ran to the south or west caused the perimeter to quickly get "busted," or compromised, Deputy Joshua Peterson can be heard saying in a bodycam video. "How did they not communicate that more effectively ? " Peterson, who had a search dog with him, exclaimed to other deputies after a few minutes of searching, according to the video. "It was called out poorly." In a letter to Miller's family afterward, State Patrol Supt. Tim Carnahan assured them that the search continued that night. Deputies with Dane and Rock counties looked for Miller for three hours, including with a drone, Carnahan said. But that wasn't true. Dane County deputies did not participate in the search at the scene. A drone was not flown that night, and the perimeter to search for Miller was broken down after an hour, according to State Patrol and Rock County documents. Rock County deputies did attempt to fly a drone. But department policy requires the pilot to clear the flight with air traffic controllers at the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport, and no one there answered the phone, so the aircraft never took off. In response to questions about the inaccuracies in Carnahan's letter to the family, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Office of Public Affairs said the letter was based on preliminary documentation and reports related to the search for Miller that had been filed with different case numbers. "Because of this, they were missed during the initial records query," the Department of Transportation said. 'Disheartening' Over the next two days, law enforcement showed a reluctance to look for Miller due to lack of resources and because he was a fugitive, not a missing person, according to dispatch audio. At first, a State Patrol dispatcher told Miller's family that troopers had had no contact with him and told them to call other law enforcement agencies. Later, the dispatcher told Miller's fiancee that no troopers were available for a search effort. In internal discussions, dispatchers and supervisors can be heard trying to sort out who has jurisdiction over the case and whether a search is being conducted while responding to increasingly anxious and tearful calls from James and Miller's fiancee, Mallory Duerst. But in one of the exchanges, the speakers can be heard laughing about sending U.S. marshals after Miller. "Yeah, go get him!" a female said. Another dispatcher later called Miller's mother "irate" and "not easy to deal with for everyone." Duerst called the dispatchers' tone and comments "unprofessional" and "disheartening." "I was disgusted," Duerst said. "To actually sit back and hear that. To hear them say that among themselves and almost laugh like it was a joke or that we were bothering them when we were concerned about our loved one's life." That weekend, additional efforts were made to look for Miller. About 24 hours after the chase, Ketelboeter checked a field by the interstate and walked along railroad tracks to the southwest of where Miller was last seen. In footage given to the family, Ketelboeter searched a culvert for about seven minutes and a ditch for about nine minutes. In the afternoon on Nov. 20, the State Patrol flew a plane over the scene for about two hours and Rock County searched a nearby subdivision with a spotlight. Effort builds The next day, Nov. 21, more than 48 hours after Miller disappeared, law enforcement launched their most robust search for him. In the next week, Rock County, the State Patrol and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources searched the area using drones, dogs and utility task vehicles, according to law enforcement documents. On Nov. 22, 28 law enforcement officers spent eight hours looking for Miller, Thompson said. The searches on those days combed through a subdivision, a pig farm, a railyard, other private property and more. In the end, the only piece of evidence collected was a piece of black fabric lodged in a barb wire fence about 200 yards from where Miller's Mazda came to a stop on the highway, according to Rock County reports. "I was actually surprised we were not able to find him," Rock County's Thompson said. "Usually when someone runs from us, they turn up a few days later." Miller could still be in the area, or he could have fled or been picked up by someone, Thompson said. After days of searching, Rock County detective Dwayne Shaw and Madison police Capt. Kelly Beckett agreed on Nov. 28 that Madison would be the primary investigating agency, since his last known address was in the city, according to Rock County reports. There were some efforts to find Miller after the initial search. The last documented search for Miller came on Dec. 19. That day, Rock County deputies searched a salvage yard in Janesville using a dog and UTV. They found nothing. In early December, text messages on the cellphone of State Patrol Sgt. Adam Zoch obtained by the family briefly discussed Miller's case. The exchange, which the State Patrol is now investigating for code-of-conduct violations, went as follows: "They need to work on their grammar." "Mallory (Duerst) is pregnant (laughing emoji). Dude dipped." "There is a find Christopher Miller Facebook group. They were supposedly doing a search yesterday." "They should start in chiraq." 'Good and bad days' Miller's family continues to look for answers and last met with representatives from Rock County, the State Patrol and Madison police in mid-December, which took place before the bulk of records from the case were released to them. Madison police closed the case in February in order to release documents to the family. "There's good and bad days," Duerst said. "We're trying to stay hopeful, but we know if he were somewhere safe and had access to a phone he would have called," she said. "At this point, we want him found regardless and we want to know really what happened to him." Searches of the area where Miller disappeared by family and volunteers continue, and a more than 1,000-person-strong Facebook group share tips and theories about the case. "He is more than just another Black criminal like they paint him out to be," Duerst wrote in the Facebook group recently. "He deserves more than this. The police failed him, his whole family and children. This shouldn't have happened." "If Christopher was white, they would still be looking for him. The outrage would be tremendous. I just feel like they didn't care." Tammy James,mother of 27-year-old Christopher Miller Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Today's beer labels have a lot to say about what is actually inside the beer can or bottle your eyes are drawn to. More often than not, fancy words are included on these labels and are being thrown around left and right with little to no avail in helping the consumer understand what they are reading. And in today's social media-dominated world, you would think more breweries would take advantage of the space to help educate their consumer. Some of these chosen words are as much a part of the packaging aesthetic and marketing toolkit as the brewery logo, color scheme and beer style but what do they mean? Read on for a few of the trendy words currently inhabiting the beer world and a small amount of discourse to help you understand just what it means for the beer you are about to enjoy. Decoction What it is:A traditional mashing technique used during the production of wort. Where you will see it:Most often as a part of the beer style like a "double decocted pilsner" or as a part of the description of process. The brewing process is far from simple, but at the heart of it all is the biochemical transformation of sugar to alcohol. The sugars necessary to create alcohol come from the malt during mashing, the process in which the grain is boiled and heated to specific temperatures in order to break down cell walls and expose the available protein and starches. The resulting sugar liquid is called wort and this is the glorious product that becomes beer once hops and yeast are added and the yeast eat the sugar and convert it to alcohol. Decoction mashing is a lengthy, traditional European technique used during the production of wort that is nowadays deemed by many as unnecessary due to the advancement in brewing technology and modified malt availability. When a beer has been once, double and even triple decocted, the thick part of the mash has been separated from the liquid and heated, recombined back with the liquid to raise the overall temperature of the mash, one, two or three times to initiate specific enzymatic activity. But why decoct your mash? According to Chicago-based Dovetail brewer Jenny Pfafflin, "A decoction boil with a direct-fire kettle allows for a Maillard reaction similar to the browning you get when you grill or toast which adds a further depth of flavor to the malt profile and a fuller body, making it enticing sip after sip." Thiolized yeast What it is:An engineered yeast strain meant to ignite the thiols naturally occurring in malt, hops and grapes. Where you will see it:Most often in the beer name, like 3 Sheeps Cosmic Punch or Cabin Brewing and Untitled Art collaboration Thiolized IIPA, in the description or in the list of ingredients. Thiols are organically occurring, aroma-driving compounds and can be most exciting for hoppy beer drinkers. Thiols have been recently discovered in certain hop varietals and contribute to the overall intensity of juicy, fruity aromatics of dry hopped beer. More specifically, tropical fruit scents like guava, pineapple and grapefruit. Chicago-based lab and industry partner, Omega Yeast, has contributed much to the working knowledge base of thiols and their precursors and has engineered a handful of yeast strains that help showcase these powerful palate pleasers by transforming the thiol precursors found in hops (and malt!) into free thiols for an imbibing nose party. "Thiolized yeast is a really neat innovation because it can act as another tool for brewers to add layers of fruit character (aka, thiols) into their beers," said Shana Solarte, technical writer at Omega Yeast. "[Yeast] strains with this capability can harness potential from raw ingredients and crank out tropical flavors so intense that brewers could even tone down their aroma hop rates and let the thiols shine." If you are a hazy IPA drinker, or someone looking for a beer with explosive tropical fruit notes, keep your eyes out for breweries making beer with Omega's Star Party, Helio Gazer and Cosmic Punch ale yeasts and Lunar Crush lager yeast they just might be indicated in the beer name itself. Terpenes What they are:A naturally occurring hydrocarbon chain found in plants. Where you will see them:Most often as a part of the beer style description or list of ingredients. The legalization of cannabis and the national rise in cannabinoid products, like CBD water, is having a positive impact on beer innovation. Terpenes the naturally occurring aroma and flavor driving chemical compounds found in both Humulus lupulus (hops) and Cannabis sativa, both species in the family Cannabaceae make beer danker by driving cush-like flavors of tropical fruit, pine and resin. You already know how deep my love runs for Fair State Brewing Co-op's Legalize Big Doinks, but it seems necessary to mention the beer again as it is a perfect example of terpene expression. "We love our terps at Fair State Brewing," said Phil Kuhl, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan market manager for Fair State. "Purified terpenes unlock a breadth of flavors that we would otherwise not be able to use. They expand the brewer's [artistic] palette and allow us to make much more interesting beverages from our THC seltzers and hop waters that use hop terps to the Grapefruit Cush and King Louis XIII terpenes we use in Legalize Big Doinks." So, not only do you have a beer exploding with dank aromatics from the hop bill alone, as obvious in year-round available Big Doinks, but you get a blast of keef stickiness from the additional plant-based terpene blend added to the liquid right before packaging to make it the older, much more chill big sister: Legalize Big Doinks. Terpenes are making your West Coast IPA more, well, West Coast and I am here for it. Bottle-conditioned What it means:The beer was naturally carbonated in the bottle. Where you will see it:As a statement on the label or in the description of process. Also sometimes annotated as bottle refermentation or package-conditioned, bottle-conditioning is having a moment with the rise in popularity of barrel-aged and farmhouse-style beers. Instead of being forced carbonated with CO2, beer that is bottle-conditioned is bottled still with a carefully dosed solution of sugar and live yeast that, over time, naturally carbonates in the package, much akin to Methode Champenoise, or how Champagne gets its bubbles. This allows the beer to carbonate at its own pace, develop a deeper flavor profile and mature over the course of several months. "At Supermoon we package condition 99% of the beer we make, including clean beers like our lagers for sensory (subjective) and quality (objective) benefits," stated Rob Brennan, cofounder and brewer for Supermoon Beer Co. in Milwaukee. "From a sensory standpoint, we find this process offers our final product a silkier, softer and more attractive head of foam and an unmistakably unique mouthfeel and carbonation profile. The beer is preserved in a definitively higher quality condition resulting from the oxygen scavenging yeast eliminating most or all dissolved oxygen in the package. Both of these resulting benefits are nearly impossible to replicate with a force carbonated counterpart." CTZ hops What they are: The acronym for Columbus, Tomahawk and Zeus hop varietals. Where you will see them:Most often in the list of ingredients. This trio of hops are virtually genetically identical to one another, can be used interchangeably, but are often seen being used together, most often in the bittering process of American style beers like West Coast IPAs and pale ales due to their high alpha acid content. Despite their bittering tendencies, CTZ hops are no stranger to being used additionally in the dry-hopping process and each will contribute a slightly different nose if used independently. Columbus exhibits a vibrant citrus fruit forward and herbal character, Tomahawk brings a mellow tropical and floral note and Zeus is pungent and spicy. You can see why these three get used together as often as they do. Go forth into the beer drinking world and imbibe with confidence, fellow beer connoisseur. Let me know if there is more beer terminology, lingo or styles I can help clarify for you. Got a beer you'd like the Beer Baron or draft Queen to pop the cap on? contact chris drosner at chrisdrosner@gmail.com or follow him on twitter @Wibeerbaron. contact Katie Herrera at cellaredkatie@gmail.com or on twitter @ cellaredKatie. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Heres how members of Wisconsins congressional delegation voted on major issues last week. Readers can visit www.VoteFacts.com to research other top issues and individual voting records in the current 118th Congress and recent 117th Congress. House Republicans Avoid Vote on Santos Expulsion: The House on May 17 voted, 221-204, to avoid a direct vote on expelling Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., from Congress. The freshman lawmaker is under federal indictment on 13 charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public money and making false statements to Congress. On this vote, the House adopted a Republican motion to refer a Democratic expulsion measure (H Res 114) to the Ethics Committee, which already is probing misconduct by Santos before and after his election to the House. Had the Republican motion failed, the House could have voted directly on expulsion, with a two-thirds majority required for adoption. A yes vote was to sidestep a direct vote on whether to expel Santos. Voting yes: Bryan Steil, R-1, Derrick Van Orden, R-3, Scott Fitzgerald, R-5, Glenn Grothman, R-6, Thomas Tiffany, R-7, Mike Gallagher, R-8 Voting no: Mark Pocan, D-2, Gwen Moore, D-4 Buying Federal Firearms for Civilian Use: Voting 232-198, the House on May 17 passed a bill (HR 3091) that would allow federal law enforcement officers to purchase firearms including handguns and AR 15-style assault rifles that federal agencies have retired from their arsenals. Officers could purchase retired firearms at fair market value for lawful civilian purposes. Current law requires agencies including the Secret Service and Customs and Border Protection to destroy or transfer to another agency weapons they retire from use. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where its prospects were uncertain. Voting yes: Steil, Van Orden, Fitzgerald, Grothman, Tiffany, Gallagher Voting no: Pocan, Moore Allowing Purchases of AR 15-Style Assault Rifles: Voting 218-217, the House on May 17 amended HR 3091 (above) to expand the types of retired firearms federal law enforcement officers could buy. The bill originally limited purchases to handguns. This amendment expanded the measure to weapons including shotguns and AR 15-style assault rifles, but it prohibited the purchase of machine guns. A yes vote was to adopt the amendment. Voting yes: Steil, Van Orden, Fitzgerald, Grothman, Tiffany, Gallagher Voting no: Pocan, Moore Good Standing for Firearms Buyers: Voting 216-219, the House on May 17 defeated an amendment to HR 3091 (above) that sought to require agencies to certify that law enforcement officers are in good standing before selling them a retired federal firearm. Such a determination would reveal, for example, whether the officer is under a domestic violence restraining order that would prohibit gun purchases. A yes vote was to adopt the amendment. Voting yes: Pocan, Moore Voting no: Steil, Van Orden, Fitzgerald, Grothman, Tiffany, Gallagher Deportations for Assaulting Police: Voting 255-175, the House on May 17 passed a bill (HR 2494) that would require deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act of any noncitizen, including lawful U.S. residents, who has admitted or been convicted of a serious or minor assault on a local, state or federal police officer performing his or her official duties. This goes beyond current law requiring deportation of undocumented immigrants convicted of serious assaults on law enforcement. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where its prospects were uncertain. Voting yes: Steil, Van Orden, Fitzgerald, Grothman, Tiffany, Gallagher Voting no: Pocan, Moore Innocent Until Proven Guilty for Lawful Residents: Voting 209-225, the House on May 17 defeated an amendment to HR 2406 (above) under which lawful U.S. residents could be deported only if they have been convicted of a serious assault on a police officer. The amendment sought to strike language from the bill allowing deportation of green card holders if they have admitted such a crime but not yet been found guilty in court. A yes vote was to adopt the amendment. Voting yes: Pocan, Moore Voting no: Steil, Van Orden, Fitzgerald, Grothman, Tiffany, Gallagher Senate Public Benefits for Children of Immigrants: Voting 50-47, the Senate on May 17 approved a resolution (SJ Res 18) that would nullify a Biden administration rule designed to protect the legal status of immigrants whose children receive public benefits including Medicaid and nutritional assistance. The rule applies to situations where the children are citizens because they were born in the United States and the parents are noncitizens with lawful U.S. residency. The rule provides that the childrens eligibility for benefits to which they are legally entitled does not render their immigrant parents likely to become a public charge and thus subject to deportation. Under immigration law, green card holders can lose their legal status if they become a public charge. A yes vote was to send the resolution to the House, where approval was likely. Tammy Baldwin, D, voted no and Ron Johnson, R, voted yes. Repealing D.C. Police Law: The Senate on May 16 voted to repeal a District of Columbia police accountability law intended to prevent the use of excessive force by the Metropolitan Police Department and crack down on officer misconduct. The Republican-sponsored and House-passed resolution of disapproval (HJ Res 42) was adopted by a tally of 56-43. A yes vote was to repeal the law. Baldwin voted no and Johnson voted yes. Key votes ahead: The Senate will be in recess during the week of May 22 but on call to return if debt-limit legislation reaches the floor. The House schedule was to be announced. VoteFacts.com News Reports is a nonpartisan, fact-based news service whose mission is to help civically engaged individuals and organizations track major actions in the U.S. House and Senate. Readers can visit www.VoteFacts.com to research other top issues and individual voting records in the current 118th Congress and recent 117th Congress. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. When a UW-Madison students racist rant went viral on social media recently, chief diversity officer LaVar Charleston condemned the hatred, discouraged violence and thoughtfully engaged with protesters on campus. I want our Black students to know that I do indeed stand with you, Charleston said. I look forward to working with you to help realize sustainable change that makes things better not for just students who are here right now, but for all of our future students as well. As the point person for ensuring that minority students feel welcome on Wisconsins flagship university, Charlestons words and actions have been helpful in lowering tension and seeking further progress on inclusion. The racist post on TikTok, apparently recorded in a private room, showed a young white student using a slur and saying she wants to return Black people to slavery. She also says shes going to kill herself. The context isnt clear, though her prejudice is vile. Some have called for the speaker of these racist words to be expelled, said Charleston, who is Black. Some have called for worse. Simply stated, the law does not allow the university to take punitive action for words like these spoken in private spaces, even when those words are racist and hateful. But that does not mean that we have to be silent, he continued. We too can use our voices to express our values. And we can use our voices to support each other and to articulate both our condemnation of hate and our support for diversity within our community. Thats a strong message, even if it disappointed student activists. Yet if Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, had his way, Charleston would be the one removed from campus. Just days after the video emerged, triggering outrage, Vos called for cutting all positions focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion across the University of Wisconsin System. That would be a terrible mistake. As the racist video shows, some students still harbor ugly beliefs. Moreover, Charlestons professionalism demonstrates the value of his position and others like it to counter bigotry and discrimination. Having a leader on campus advocating for greater diversity and understanding across cultures encourages a better learning environment for all. Despite significant effort, UW-Madison and other System schools have struggled to attract more Black students for decades. Only about 2.4% of students identify solely as Black at UW-Madison, compared to 6.8% of Wisconsins population. And when students of multiple races are included, the campus doesnt fare much better. UW ranks low among its Big Ten peers. Wisconsins universities should better reflect the communities they serve. Besides ensuring fair opportunities in higher education, a more inclusive campus better prepares all students for the increasingly connected and diverse world. OUR VIEW: State selloff in Downtown Madison makes sense Gov. Evers is right that half-filled buildings in prime spots can be better used While Charleston was working to improve a volatile situation on campus, Vos only inflamed tension by insulting Charlestons work. Vos told a conservative radio host he wanted to cut $14 million for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions on public universities because these workers are burrowed in like a tick on every single college campus. If we dont figure a way to take race out of every single conversation and go to the colorblind society that Martin Luther King talked about, Vos told WISN-AM, I think its going to make even more division than weve had in the past. I frankly think we have gotten to the point where instead of having an institute of higher learning, we have an institute of indoctrination. Thats absurd. Ignoring racism wont make it go away. And pretending that bias be it overt, hidden or subconscious doesnt exist will only allow it to perpetuate. Everyone needs a fair shot at a college degree so Wisconsins talent isnt wasted. Being open and welcoming also will keep our state attractive to talent from around the globe. Vos offers little if any evidence to back up his claim that diversity offices on campuses have contributed to the racial divide. Vos seems to be parroting presidential hopeful and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed a ban last week on DEI funding for public universities there. Wisconsin shouldnt follow DeSantis divisive political stunt. Charleston has shown hes doing just the opposite of what Vos alleges. UWs chief diversity officer strives to unify campus and remove barriers to success. That way, UW can better educate, innovate and compete. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. PERMITTED KILLINGS | BALD AND GOLDEN EAGLES ROLLING HILLS, Wyo. Criminal cases brought by U.S. wildlife officials for killing or harming protected bald and golden eagles dropped sharply in recent years, even as officials ramped up issuing permits that will allow wind energy companies to kill thousands of eagles without legal consequence. The falloff in enforcement of eagle protection laws which accelerated in the Trump administration and has continued under President Joe Biden was revealed in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data obtained by The Associated Press. It comes amid growing concern that a proliferation of wind turbines to feed a growing demand for renewable energy is jeopardizing golden eagle populations already believed to be declining in some areas. Dozens of permits approved or pending would allow roughly 6,000 eagles to be killed over several decades, government documents show. Most permits are for wind farms, and more than half the killed birds would be golden eagles. The AP's findings that significant numbers of eagles continue to die while fewer criminal cases are pursued underscore a dilemma facing the Biden administration as it tries to confront climate change. Pursuing that goal through clean power development is requiring trade-off s such as more dead birds from collisions with wind turbines that can tower 260 feet with blade tips spinning in excess of 150 miles per hour. "They are rolling over backwards for wind companies," said Mike Lockhart a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. "I think they are killing a hell of a lot more eagles than they ever anticipated." Companies often pledge to perform conservation work to offset the deaths. Some permits include direct payments for dead eagles about $30,000 per bird. Numerous permits allow the killing of bald eagles with no compensation required. A pending proposal from the Biden administration would further streamline permits making them automatic in some cases as they allow wind-energy projects and power line networks to harm eagles and disturb their nests. Since retiring from the wildlife service, Lockhart has continued researching wind turbine impacts on golden eagles under a government contract in central Wyoming. Migrating golden eagles routinely soar through the sage brush flats that define the region, where hundreds of wind turbines have gone up over the past 15 years. Turbines have killed at least six golden eagles Lockhart had previously trapped and tagged for research, including a male that bred successfully in five out of six years. The biologist said it was killed about two months after a wind farm in 2021 started operating about a mile from the nest. Conflicting mandates At some wind farms, companies have relocated turbines or reduced their numbers to minimize deaths. But Lockhart said turbines continue to go up in areas frequented by golden eagles, and the cumulative impacts could be disastrous for the birds. Many more turbines are planned. In Wyoming alone, anticipated wind energy projects could kill as many as 800 to 1,000 golden eagles, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist said during a March 28 meeting with eagle researchers, wind energy companies and government officials, according to meeting minutes. "They're going to more than double the (wind) capacity and in doing that, the impacts on wildlife, particularly golden eagles, are going to be exponentially going up," Lockhart said. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they are working to avoid such a scenario by working with companies to reduce bird deaths. "We expect the final number to be much smaller," spokesperson Vanessa Kauffman said. There have been a small number of high-profile prosecutions of wind companies that continued killing eagles despite prior warnings from wildlife officials including major utilities Duke Energy, PacifiCorp and NextEra Energy. Each company agreed to take steps to limit eagle deaths. At Duke Energy's wind farms in Wyoming, eagle deaths became more frequent after the North Carolina company reached a 2013 deal that included a $1 million fine and shielded it from prosecution for 10 years, according to government and court records. The company had to pay $29,623 for each subsequent eagle death. It says the collision rate has fallen since the installation of a camera system that spots eagles and triggers shutdown of nearby turbines. Eagle deaths at PacifiCorp's wind farms continued, although at a lower rate, after it paid $2.5 million in fines and restitution in a 2015 case, documents show. NextEra has not reported how many eagles have been killed at its wind farms since it was ordered to pay $8 million in fines and restitution last year. PacifiCorp and NextEra did not respond to questions about their cases. All three companies subsequently received or applied for permits that allow accidental killing of eagles without penalty, providing they took steps to minimize the number. Wildlife officials approved such permits for more than two dozen major wind projects across the country over the past several years, sometimes over opposition from Native American tribes that revere eagles. Despite objections from the Colorado River Indian Tribes, officials approved a permit last year for Tucson Electric Power Co., operator of 62 turbines in southern New Mexico, allowing it to kill 193 golden eagles over 30 years. Federal officials said a permit offered the "only available avenue to require ... conservation measures," such as minimizing or compensating for eagle deaths. The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota says the Biden administration should not go forward with its proposal to further streamline permitting. Chairman Robert Deschampe said wildlife officials had "abandoned" protections for eagle nests and ignored tribal concerns. Gun Lake Tribe Historic Preservation Officer Lakota Hobia said the Michigan tribe was worried about the long-term impact of more eagle nests being disturbed. "Eagles are sacred to us, and their nests need to be protected in the same ways our sacred sites and Tribal historic properties are protected," said Hobia. Several major environmental groups lobbied the White House with Duke energy and other utilities in support of streamlined permitting. Some environmentalists said regulating the wind industry through permits was preferable to having companies ignore or cover up eagle deaths out of fear of prosecution. "Part of the issue is that companies have generally not been requesting permits and they've been taking their chances and there hasn't been a lot of law enforcement," said Steve Holmer, vice president of policy at the American Bird Conservancy. Under the Biden administration, he said, the wildlife service has "conflicting mandates: They are being directed to advance renewable energy and then they have obligations to preserve eagles." Some conservationists say the changes as proposed are too reliant on companies monitoring themselves, with not enough oversight. "It's sort of doomed to failure if you don't have objective, neutral people with expertise going in and doing the monitoring," said Eric Glitzenstein with the Center for Biological Diversity. Falling case numbers Violations of the Eagle Protection Act rose during the second term of President Barack Obama, after wind farms had proliferated and an AP investigation found dozens of unprosecuted eagle deaths including at Duke Energy's Top of the World wind farm. Under Trump, new cases fell off sharply. At the urging of the oil and gas industry, utilities and other companies, political appointees in the Republican administration rolled back enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which protects more than a thousand species in addition to eagles. A Biden order reversed the rollback. However, cases continued sliding and hit their lowest level in a decade in the Democrat's first year with 49 recorded violations, after peaking at 232 under Obama in 2014. They averaged 67 annually under Trump. The figures do not include most of NextEra's violations because the case against the company which involved at least 150 eagle deaths at 50 wind farms dating to 2010 was not fully closed when AP submitted its data request. In response to questions about the falloff, Fish and Wildlife Service officials initially blamed it on the Trump administration's decision to end enforcement of accidental bird deaths under the migratory bird law. But the agency later retracted that, saying officials were "unable to identify a specific cause as to why violations and investigations dropped." Only about one in eight cases brought under the Eagle Protection Act from 2012 to early 2022 resulted in fines, probation or jail time, according to AP's analysis. Those cases include golden and bald eagles harmed or killed and nest disturbances and the taking of eagle body parts, such as feathers. Whether criminal charges are ultimately brought is up to prosecutors. Fines, jail time and other punishments are up to the courts and are outside the wildlife service's control, said agency spokesperson Christina Meister. "Not every criminal investigation substantiates evidence of a criminal violation of federal law," she said. Wildlife advocates have long said that the agency's law enforcement operations are understaffed and underfunded. In its 2024 budget request, the service revealed special agents were at historical low levels and that 47 agents will hit mandatory retirement in the next four years. 'Eagles fly ... blades spin' While bald eagle populations have grown exponentially over the past decade, there are only about 40,000 golden eagles, which need much larger areas to survive and hunt on the same windy plains where utilities have erected thousands of turbines in Western states. In the years since Duke Energy pleaded guilty to killing 14 eagles at wind farms in Wyoming, at least 61 more eagles were killed by the company's turbines in the state, records show. At Top of the World, at least 56 eagles have been killed since it started operating in 2010. The 110 turbines were installed before the company had an adequate process for siting them to avoid areas with eagles, said company scientist Misti Sporer. Several years ago, Duke deployed an elaborate, computerized camera system at the site to detect incoming eagles. A turbine in a bird's path can be shut down within a minute to keep it from being chopped by a spinning blade. Since the cameras were installed, eagle deaths have not stopped, although they declined by more than 60%, Sporer said. "Today, we would likely not put those wind turbines where they are," she said. "We are ... incidentally taking these (eagles) through otherwise lawful operations, and so it just so happens to be that eagles fly in the air and blades spin. And there's inherently a conflict when you have both in the same location." Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Magic Valley voters approved a school levy, a library levy, a revenue bond for water, and more, during Tuesdays consolidated election. In Hagerman, two issues were decided by razor-thin margins and, in Burley, a supermajority voted to support the library. Hagerman Joint School District passes plant facilities levy The Hagerman Joint School Districts request for a five-year plant facilities levy needed 55% to pass, and came out with 55% voting in favor. I thought it was going to be close, and it was, Hagerman Superintendent Jim Brown told the Times-News by phone. I was hoping it wasnt going to be this close. The levy authorizes $400,000 per year for five years, and will be used to renovate the Prince Memorial Gym. With the levy in hand, they will be able to renovate the space, replace heating and cooling, as well as making for additional classrooms, better utilization of space, and modernization to meet the school and communitys needs. We barely got it passed, but we got it passed, Brown told the Times-News. Instead of putting Band-aids on certain areas, we can move forward and provide a really quality facility for years to come. A plan will be presented in early spring 2025, with an expected groundbreaking in summer 2025. The project will take about a year to complete, and should be in use in 2026. Hagerman Water Voters in the city of Hagerman also voted for a special revenue bonds to the tune of $4.8 million. The decision was made by a one-vote difference, with 88 in favor, and 87 opposed. It is the second time Hagerman has voted on the bond this year, after it failed in the March election by a single vote. Hagerman Mayor Jared Hillier said he was glad it passed, but the issue is still contentious. Were very fortunate, but at the same time, its kind of a little bit of a controversy in the city of Hagerman, Hillier told the Times-News in a phone call. Half the town likes it, half the town doesnt. I hope we can manage that well. The money will be used for new infrastructure for storage tanks and infrastructure to resolve existing water pressure issues in the city, where some houses have very high water pressure, and others have very low water pressure. Hillier said he thinks the time the city and supporters spent informing the voters about the bond made the difference this time. I think ultimately we just tried really to get the correct information out there, Hillier said. I think (last election), the people didnt have all the information and all the facts. And I think we did a good job of getting that out there. Planning for the improvements will begin right away, and construction is anticipated to be underway by 2024 or 2025. Burley Public Library Burleys library override levy passed with a wide margin, with voters in Cassia and Minidoka counties casting 305 votes in favor of the levy renewal, to 121 opposed, giving it more than a 70% approval rate. Burley Administrator Mark Mitton told the Times-News that the two-year override levy renewal has been approved by voters every two years, and provides additional funds for library services and hours of operation, because the base property tax levy will not fund all that. Theres a lot of library users and a lot of library users from outside the city, Mitton told the Times-News by phone. It services probably the majority of the population of Cassia County. Burley Library Director Tayce Robinson told the Times-News that the levy, which supports 61% of operating costs, allows the library to, among other things, have a programs librarian who focuses on programming for children from kindergarten through high school. The library is here to support our community, Robinson told the Times-News in a phone call. Were here to strengthen our community, and make it a better place for everybody. Robinson said the library users are a wide range of people, from children attending story time with a parent or caregiver, homeschoolers, and teens. We have a good size group of teens that come in every other week and they play a game called Dungeons and Dragons, Robinson told the Times-News. This game helps them develop communication skills, math skills, and storytelling skills. Blaine County voters support workforce housing Residents in Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley voted to reallocate tax money toward workforce housing. The Idaho Mountain Express reported that each city passed measures to redirect money from marketing and air service into housing initiatives. Around 85% of voters in Sun Valley and Hailey backed the move, along with 75% of voters in Ketchum. Each of the measures required 60% support. Highway district elections Burley and Shoshone highway districts also held elections. Anthony Owens was elected to the Shoshone Highway District with 56.12% of the vote, edging out Mark R. Kime. Michael Glen Searle was elected to the Burley Highway District, with 596 votes or 52.46% approval. Searle beat out Gaylen Smyer, who had 540 votes or 47.54%. Car manufacturers welcomed the governments extension of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program for another five years. The extension of the CARS program is a very welcome development. The auto industry expresses its appreciation to the current administration for continuing the governments strong support to the industry particularly the auto manufacturing sector, said Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. president and Toyota Motor Philippines first vice president Rommel Gutierrez. The extension, approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., seeks to sustain the gains in local automotive manufacturing and encourage more automotive firms to set up assembly and manufacturing operations in the Philippines. CARS program is a significant government support as it helps the industry, among others, maintain and promote employment not only to the manufacturers but also parts suppliers and other allied industries. With continued industry-government collaboration, we can further attract more investments for auto manufacturing which is a significant contributor to the Philippine economy, Gutierrez said. The program is a result of the Industry Roadmapping Project launched by the Board of Investments in 2012. Under Executive Order No. 182, the thrust of the program is to provide time-bound and output- or performance-based fiscal support to attract strategic investments in the manufacturing of motor vehicles and parts. Total fiscal and non-fiscal support provided under the program amount to P27 billion for three registered participants, each with one model qualified to receive support of up to P9 billion, subject to Automotive Development Fund under the annual General Appropriates Act of the government. The fiscal support comes in the form of tax payment certificates. Participants can use the certificates in offsetting tax and duty obligations to the government specifically excise tax, income tax, import duties and value-added tax. Other non-fiscal measures provided by existing laws continue to be in place and are being implemented by relevant government agencies. Participants of the CARS program will have to comply with performance-based terms and conditions including the minimum output of 200,000 units over the six-year program period and local production of body shell and large plastic parts. The only registered participants in the program are Toyota and Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. which were given additional five years to deliver the required production output and put in the necessary investments critical to local vehicle manufacturing. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The bustling and vibrant Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan Based on a comprehensive list of the most sought-after destinations for the period between June and August 2023 by Google Flight Searches, Tokyo and Singapore ranked as top travel destinations for Filipinos. Tokyo, the bustling capital of Japan, entices Filipinos with its rich history, stunning architecture, world-class cuisine, and cutting-edge technology. Singapore, on the other hand, offers a blend of cosmopolitan living, iconic landmarks, and diverse attractions that attract Filipinos seeking a vibrant travel experience. Bangkok, Thailand, secured the third spot on the list, followed by local destinations Caticlan and Cebu. In the sixth spot is Hong Kong then Manila takes the seventh spot. In 8th place, Seoul, the capital of South Korea, attracts Filipino travelers because it blends ancient traditions and modern trends with historical landmarks, dynamic street markets, and vibrant K-pop culture. Kalibo, in the 9th spot, serves as a gateway to the scenic landscapes and warm hospitality of the idyllic Boracay Island. Rounding off the list is Taipei, Taiwan, offering visitors a blend of traditional temples, bustling night markets, and a vibrant food scene. Best time to snag a deal A question that is often on everyones mind: Whens the baest time to book a flight? By looking at historical pricing data on Google Flights for trips departing from the Philippines, prices have usually been their lowest at around four to five and a half months before departure, with average prices bottoming out four and a half months before departure. Good newstheres still time to find great deals on flights now. Asia is a hot destination The breathtaking view of Marina Bay in Singapore Nothing beats traveling in Asia, though, so our region is still the top destination for most of us here. The top countries Filipinos are searching for on Google are Japan, Thailand, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. The strong popularity of the Land of the Rising Sun is undeniable, appearing 22 times in the top ten lists of countries we studied and topping seven of those. With Japan, Thailand, and South Korea making up the top five countries, its no surprise that Asia Pacific is the top region for travelers, with 70 percent of the destinations they want to visit soon in the region. Of these, a third are in Southeast Asia, with Bangkok emerging as the top city, followed by Bali and Singapore a sign that travelers are looking forward to sunny beaches, vibrant cities, and amazing food. Travel picks up in 2023 Googles data also found the top inbound travel in the first quarter of 2023visits by non-residents to the Philippines were from the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. And if youre wondering where theyre heading when they visit, its probably one of these places: Sundowners Beach Villas in Zambales, Igorot Stone Kingdom in Benguet, Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati, and the National Museum of Natural History in Manila. These could make ideal trips if youre thinking about domestic travel instead of flying abroad. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Air strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the countrys warring generals kept up their struggle for control even as they agreed to a brief humanitarian pause. With heavy fighting raging in Khartoum, the rival sides struck a deal on a seven-day ceasefire beginning the evening of May 22, the United States and Saudi Arabia said Saturday in a joint statement after talks in Jeddah. The ceasefire shall remain in effect for seven days and may be extended with the agreement of both parties, it said. Multiple announced truces have been violated since fighting broke out five weeks ago, which the Saudi foreign ministry acknowledged in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency early Sunday. Unlike previous ceasefires, the Agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism, it said. It said subsequent talks will focus on additional steps necessary to improve security and humanitarian conditions for civilians such as vacating forces from urban centers, including civilian homes, accelerating removal of impediments to the free movement of civilians and humanitarian actors, and enabling public servants to resume their regular duties. The power struggle between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), erupted into fighting on April 15. The conflict has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, and displaced more than one million. The United Nations has warned of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Africas third-largest country, where one in three people already relied on aid before the war. Saturdays ceasefire announcement comes two weeks after representatives of the warring generals first gathered in Jeddah for talks. By May 11 they had signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid. But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told AFP on Thursday that there had been important and egregious violations of that agreement, which fell short of a ceasefire. Push for talks On Friday, Burhan sacked Daglo, giving his title of vice president of the ruling Sovereign Council to former rebel leader Malik Agar, and appointed three allies to top jobs in the military. A former rebel leader who signed a peace deal with Khartoum authorities in 2020, Agar said in a statement Saturday he was determined to try to end the war and press for negotiations. He also addressed Daglo directly saying Sudans stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army. Integration of the RSF into the regular armed forces has been the main bone of contention between Daglo and Burhan. The force, which traces its origins to the notorious Janjaweed militia recruited in the early 2000s to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups in Darfur, is highly mobile but has a reputation for being ill-disciplined. Its fighters have been accused of widespread break-ins and looting, including at diplomatic missions and aid group offices. Maximum restraint On Saturday, Qatars embassy was the latest diplomatic mission to be attacked, drawing condemnation from Doha. The embassy staff had previously been evacuated and none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm, the ministry said. It renewed calls for an immediate halt to the fighting. Qatar did not specifically identify Daglos RSF as responsible but a statement from the pro-Burhan authorities put the blame squarely on the paramilitaries. The embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under assault in recent weeks. Saturdays attack came a day after Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Saudi Arabia urged Sudans feuding generals to halt the fighting. Although the main fighting is being played out in Khartoum, the violence has also spread to the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, where the RSF has its roots. In South Darfur capital Nyala, fighting since Thursday has killed 22 people forcing civilians to flee for safer areas as shells crash on their homes, the bar association in Darfur has said. On Friday, the UN aid boss Griffith said he was allocating $22 million in emergency funds to help Sudanese fleeing the violence. The funds will help relief efforts in Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt and South Sudan where Sudanese have sought refuge, he said. The United States promised $103 million for Sudan and neighbouring countries to support displaced people. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The leaders of the Quad groupAustralia, India, Japan and the United Statesdelivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijings behavior at a summit in Hiroshima. US President Joe Biden and his three partners in the group did not mention China by name but the communist superpower was clearly the target of language in a joint statement calling for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain. We strongly oppose destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion, the statement said, using diplomatic language that appeared to refer to Chinas economic tactics to gain leverage over poorer countries and also its military expansion in the Pacific. We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coastguard and maritime militia vessels, and efforts to disrupt other countries offshore resource exploitation activities, the statement added, clearly referring to Chinese construction of bases on former offshore reefs and harassment of non-Chinese vessels in disputed waters. The Quad leaders held their meeting while already gathered in Hiroshima for a Group of 7 summit. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had been meant to host Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sydney next week. However, Biden pulled out, saying he had to return to Washington from Japan on Sunday to negotiate with Republican opponents on the US debt ceiling. Biden apologized for forcing the change in plans and has invited Albanese to make a state visit to the White House. In their statement, they stressed the Quads support for infrastructure improvements across the vast Asia-Pacific region, while saying, in another apparent dig at China, that they wanted to assist such investments but would not impose unsustainable debt burdens on recipients of assistance. China, for its part, expressed strong dissatisfaction with a communique issued by G7 leaders that took aim at Beijing on issues including the South China Sea, human rights and alleged interference in their democracies. The bloc issued a statement calling on China not to conduct interference activities and expressed concerns about alleged human rights abuses in China, particularly in the far-western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. They also said G7 countries were gravely concerned about territorial disputes in the South China Sea, indirectly accusing China of coercion. Beijing was also urged by the G7 to use its influence to put pressure on Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine. But Chinas foreign ministry hit back on Saturday evening, saying the G7s approach has no international credibility whatsoever. The G7 insisted on manipulating China-related issues, smearing and attacking China, a spokesman for the foreign ministry said in a statement. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition and has lodged an official protest with Japan, the host country of the summit, as well as other relevant parties. AFP Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. What should we make of the Kuwaiti governments recent move to suspend the entry of OFWs to the Gulf State that has strained our bilateral relations? It would appear this is nothing but a retaliatory act against the decision of our Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to stop the deployment there of OFWs, particularly household service workers, or HSWs, following the recent rape and murder of yet another Filipina in Kuwait. What Kuwait seems to be doing is to force our hand and make us lift the ban on the deployment of HSWs that they clearly need. Our HSWs keep the Kuwaiti economy humming by doing household work that would otherwise keep Kuwaiti families busy with daily chores. And what was the official reason for their action? The Kuwaitis apparently consider the shelter that our embassy has established there as an infringement on their sovereignty. But the shelter, like others established in places where there is a big concentration of OFWs, was created by law so that our government can protect the rights and welfare of our workers who have encountered problems in their places of employment. And yes, these shelters are there precisely to assist distressed OFWs who have been abused and mistreated by their employers. The shelter in Kuwait, called the Migrant Workers Resource Center and also known as Bahay Kalinga, now accommodates a total 466 OFWs. Thats one too many abused OFWs in one country. Our Department of Foreign Affairs sent a team of diplomats to try to get the Kuwaiti government to rescind their order denying entry to OFWs. The ban affected some 3,000 of our workers who had already spent considerable sums just so they could earn higher income in the Middle East than if they stayed here. Unfortunately, the two-day meeting between the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments ended last week with still no resolution in sight. It appears that Kuwaiti officials did not expressly demand the closure of the embassy-run shelters but only said that Kuwaitis should run such shelters. Beyond this, according to reports, the Kuwaitis did not explain which provisions of the 2018 labor agreement between our two countries were violated. The DFA deserves commendation for continuing to insist on the protection of our OFWs in Kuwait, which is part and parcel of its mandate and therefore non-negotiable. We simply cannot compromise on the safety and welfare of Filipino nationals abroad, whether in Kuwait or anywhere else, because it is the duty of our government to ensure this. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Its often been said in articles I consume on a weekly basis that regardless of income, many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. For many young workers half my age and making over six figures a year, there is apparently a new solution for these folks: TikTok. Frankly, the only thing I know about TikTok is that our government warns us against using it because its a Chinese spy tool. Im not quite sure what the Chinese could use from any habits I might form from the use of TikTok, if I used it, but I was curious about how these young earners are applying its use in their financial lives. In short videos, people begin by revealing their take-home pay, and in under 60 seconds whittle it down to near zero by enumerating the bills for food, rent, credit cards, utilities, saving and streaming, an article this week in the Wall Street Journal reports. They say the hashtag is #paydayroutine and it has 52.9 million views to date. Apparently, the trick for these high earners is watching videos of how people make it on only $2,000 or $3,000 a month. I immediately thought that maybe there might be an opportunity for many residents in Martinsville and Henry County to cash in on this opportunity by providing financial advice in 60 second soundbites to these learners who are soaking it up. I took a quick look at the Martinsville Economic Development Corporations website where they list household income for residents in Martinsville and Henry County. It shows a 2022 report from the Environmental Research Systems Institute and lists that 14.3% of all households in Martinsville and Henry County have an income of less than $15,000. If young people piling in the dough are trying to learn how to make ends meet with an excess of a hundred grand a year, Ill bet they could find a pot of gold of advice from people who are getting by on $1,250 a month or less. Another 15.7% of the households in Martinsville and Henry County are in the $15,000 to $24,999 range, and you can add another 12.4% that fall in the $25,000 to $34,999 category. It would appear from these numbers that four out of every 10 residents here are surviving on an income that puts them squarely in the target range of the 52.9 million people whove taken to learning the secret on TikTok. The premise behind this approach is that if you watch how other people struggle to pay their bills and succeed on less money than you, then you will find success by applying the same financial principles that are shared in these one-minute videos. Ive not watched any of the presentations because I dont want to leave my online habits for China to exploit, but if I did I would imagine I would see people using most of their money to pay for rent or a mortgage, groceries and utilities. There is just not much beyond these necessities that funds in this level for 42.4% of the population here will support. Some of my renter friends tell me new lease agreements around here have doubled and the new affordable housing on the horizon by recent projects reported in this newspaper are pushing $1,000 a month. The costs of simple living is outpacing our income, and I dont see an end to it anytime soon. Our community leaders have bragged about our area offering a cost-of-living that is less than much of the country, and Im always baffled at how these same people insist that in order to recruit qualified people to do the important jobs around here, we must pay them a comparable salary with these other areas that are far more expensive for one to live. A large banking enterprise advertises the three key applications for breaking free from living paycheck to paycheck is paying off your debt first, then making a budget to discover ways to save, and finally consider new ways to make money. Ah... now thats the one I read from virtually every secret solution Ive been able to uncover. If your cost of living exceeds your income, you either reduce your cost or you increase your income and ideally, you do both. Now you know the secret, and you didnt even have to download the TikTok app. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Calendar guidelines: Calendar items must be submitted at least six days before an event. Items are only guaranteed to publish once prior to the event. To guarantee placement in the paper on a particular day; organizations can purchase an ad by calling 559-4047.Email all items to news@mcdowellnews.com. MONDAY Democratic meeting The McDowell Democratic Party will hold its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, May 22, at the Marion Community Building. Meal and fellowship at 6, meeting starts at 6:30. A focus group workshop, event planning, group discussion, and active committee updates are on the agenda. To offset the cost for dinner, the party suggests a $10 donation. The McDowell Democratic Party meets the fourth Monday each month. Bring a friend. Visit mcdems.com for more information. TUESDAY Town hall The health equity town hall called What The Health!? will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, at the Marion Community Building. Dinner will provided at 5:30 p.m. This is part one of a two-part series, where organizers hope the local community can come together to see changes in the health care system. The sole purpose of the health equity town hall is to partner with structurally excluded communities and local health care system leaders to reduce racial disparities that exist in the quality of care received by communities of color and develop inclusive care delivery models to advance health equity. THURSDAY Art class The Arrowhead Artists and Artisans League will offer a class about needle felt a two-dimensional picture with Tina Kannapel as the instructor. The class will be taught Thursday, May 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (lunch break from 12:30-1:30 p.m.). The cost is $50 for AGS members, $60 for nonmembers, plus a $15 supply fee. You will be creating a beautiful 5-by-7-inch needle felted wool picture of mountains or flowers that can be framed or mounted and displayed on the wall. No experience required. To register, call Arrowhead Gallery at 828-668-1100 or stop in at 78 Catawba Ave, Old Fort. Blood drive The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive Thursday, May 25, from 2:30-6:30 p.m. at Bethel Baptist Churchs Fellowship Hall, 205 Bethel Church Road, Marion. 150 Project The 150 Project announces this Mays Historic Talk at the Old Fort Train Depot. The talk will be about the Old Fort School and presented by noted 150 Project Sesquicentennial Speaker Terry Wilson. It will take place Thursday, May 25, at the Depot. The talk starts at 6 p.m., and should wrap up after 7:30 p.m. Guests are encourage to bring family and community members to the event, and organizers are also looking for suggestions on ideas and speakers for upcoming talks. Email the150projectOldFort@gmail.com with suggestions. Additionally, The 150 Project is launching its oral history archive project from 2-4 p.m. Thursday. Interested parties can come to the Old Fort Train Depot and share the oral history of their lives or families to be recorded via audio and/or video. The content will be shared on Social Media and archived for a time capsule-like project within the Old Fort community. You can email The 150 Project with interest at the150projectoldfort@gmail.com, message them on Facebook, or show up in-person during the hours suggested. SATURDAY, MAY 27 McDowell Awareness Appreciation Day (MAAD) will be held Saturday, May 27, from 2-6 p.m. at West Marion Community Park at 169 Ridley St. MAAD offers various human resources that can help push the countys residents in a positive direction. There will be free food, live music, inflatables and more. The event is presented by hip-hop recording artist Dukesta and the Men of McDowell. MONDAY, MAY 29 Memorial Day holiday All seven convenience centers and the Transfer Station will be closed Monday, May 29, in observance of Memorial Day. On Tuesday, May 30, they will resume normal operating hours. All seven convenience centers will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Transfer Station will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. For questions, contact Pam Vance at 828-659-2521 or 828-460-9715. TUESDAY, MAY 30 The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive Tuesday, May 30, from 12:30-5:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Old Forts fellowship hall. WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive Wednesday, May 31, from 1:30-6:30 p.m. at the Corpening Memorial YMCAs training room in Marion. 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: Scanning electron microscope image of Vibrio cholerae. Credit: Wikipedia An outbreak of cholera has killed at least 10 people near South Africa's capital of Pretoria, health authorities said Sunday, urging the public to be "extra vigilant". The Department of Health in Pretoria's Gauteng province said 95 people visited a local hospital since Monday showing cholera symptoms, including diarrhea, stomach cramps and nausea. Lab tests on Sunday confirmed at least 19 were cases of cholera, the department said in a statement, adding 37 people were still undergoing treatment. The victims included a three-year-old child and nine adults. Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, the provincial head for health, said additional staff, including medics and nurses, were being mobilized to deal with the outbreak, which was centered in Hammanskraal, an area north of Pretoria. "We would like to reiterate and urge the public to avoid known or suspected contaminated food, water and surfaces and wash hands thoroughly with soap before handling food or after using the bathroom," said Nkomo-Ralehoko. Cholera is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water. Earlier, the city of Pretoria urged residents of Hammanskraal and surrounding areas not to drink from the tap, adding water tankers were being supplied. Cholera has experienced a global resurgence since 2021 after a decade of steady decline, according to the United Nations, which this week warned one billion people in 43 countries were at risk. The disease is not endemic in South Africa. But the country reported a few cases this year on the back of outbreaks in nearby Malawi and Mozambiquethe two most heavily affected countries in 2023, according to the UN. The World Health Organization has blamed the global rise in cases on poverty, conflict and climate change. 2023 AFP Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. BOZEMAN Growing up on a guest ranch near Emigrant meant that Cayden Rose had no doubts about his career aspirations when he arrived at Montana State University in 2019. Now a graduating senior from the College of Agricultures Dan Scott Ranch Management Program, hes confident he made the right choice. It was a perfect fit, said Rose of the new degree program, which was introduced during the 2019-20 academic year and graduated its first student in December 2021. I was excited about it when it came along. Rose was majoring in rangeland ecology at the time the new program debuted and was immediately intrigued by the Dan Scott programs ranching systems degree, which is housed in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences. Students apply for the program during their sophomore year and study everything from business communications and economics to natural resource conservation and animal production.They also complete a two-summer internship at a working ranch in Montana, applying their classroom studies in a hands-on fashion. The goal of the new program is to create well-rounded and well-prepared ranch managers, said director Rachel Frost. Todays ranch managers have to be versed in much more than livestock husbandry, said Frost. They have to track finances, expand market potential, deal with personnel issues and work with a variety of conservation partners and government agencies. Preparing a person for that diverse of a job requires a unique approach to education, which is what the Dan Scott Ranch Management Program provides. Rose is a member of the Dan Scott programs second graduating class and said the experience has been beneficial on several levels. He particularly notes his internship as a highlight. During the summers of 2021 and 2022, he worked on a cattle ranch outside of Twin Bridges, doing everything from driving cattle to implementing his own research for the ranchs benefit. The project I worked on was looking into switching their calving season from spring to fall and looking at, economically, which one was more viable and a better fit their resources, said Rose. I cant say enough about it. I learned more than I would have doing anything else. You learn the tools in college, but it was nice to be able to apply it somewhere and make that bridge. Rose said that during his internship, he found new avenues for answering questions. He was able to see the tangible results of management changes in a way that took theoretical knowledge and made it visible. He later had the chance to present his research on calving for other producers and industry experts at the Montana Nutrition Conference and Livestock Forum. During his second summer on the ranch, he implemented an intensive grazing program and was gratified to see results such as increased daily gain in cattle and faster regrowth of forage in their pastures. While Rose came to college with a background in ranching, elements of the ranching systems curriculum were new to him in a way that sparked his curiosity. As the agricultural industry changes and modernizes, he said the program has helped him prepare to be a multifaceted ranch manager, which he hopes will benefit the people, animals and natural resources that intersect in ranching. I think the thing that intrigued me about the Dan Scott program was the diversity of the courses that were offered, Rose said. All the different tools that you need to be able to successfully manage a ranch. Youre not just a steward of the land. Youre a businessman, youre an accountant, youre an animal scientist and everything else. It really does take everything and combine it all into one program, and that really drew me. Frost says that Rose has been a stellar example of why the program was created in the first place: to train a generation of ranchers and producers who are prepared to integrate science, business, conservation and production into continued success for one of Montanas largest industries and the communities it supports. Cayden is one of those students who asks the right questions, Frost said. He is always looking for ways to add to his knowledge and apply what he has learned. With that mindset, I have no doubt that he will grow into an exceptional ranch manager. Rose graduated earlier this month with a degree in ranching systems and a minor in his original area of study, rangeland ecology. He said he is ready and driven to join the workforce as a new ranch manager. I feel well prepared. Obviously, I still have a lot to learn, and I hope I never quit learning, he said. The connections Ive made through college have been the highlight, whether it be through academics or just personally, its been the best years of my life. Ive so enjoyed it. Without it, I wouldnt have made any of those connections. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. YMCA Yoga at the Library Missoula Public Library is thrilled to partner with Missoula Family YMCA to offer free yoga at the library! Focus on basic yoga postures, alignment principles, and breathing techniques that help balance, strengthen, and stretch the body. This class is recommended for those wishing to strengthen the foundation of their practice, or who simply want an ongoing practice in harmony with their level of strength, balance and flexibility. Join us on May 21 from 1 to 2:15 p.m. in Cooper Room A on Level Four for this program. Space is limited to 25 participants. This class is first come, first served. Participants must sign in on the day of the class; class sign up list will be posted by 12:30 p.m. outside of Cooper Room A on Level Four. Participants must sign a liability waiver prior to class by downloading and printing it or by signing a provided copy before class begins. Download the waiver (PDF) here https://tinyurl.com/2994wjww. Participants are welcome to bring their own yoga mats or use mats that are provided. For more information email Sarah at svelk@missoulapubliclibrary.org. Frenchtown Library: World Cinema Come to the Frenchtown High School Auditorium for an evening of world cinema. On May 22 from 7 to 10 p.m. the library will be showing, Taste of Cherry directed by Abbas Kiarostami. This film will be presented in Persian/Farsi with English subtitles. The Frenchtown Library is located at Frenchtown High School on 17620 Frontage Road. Read with therapy dogs Certified Therapy dogs are just waiting for your child to read them a book at Missoula Public Library. Your child can read a favorite book from home or pick one of the many picture books we have to offer. This program is held on May 23 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Imaginarium on Level Two of the library and is great for hesitant readers or kids who just love dogs. Organizing Your Genealogy Research Webinar Interested in discovering more about your family history? Join us on May 24 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. in Cooper Room A on Level Four of the library for a Legacy Family Tree webinar about Organizing Your Genealogy Research, presented by Billie Fogarty. Families First Learning Lab: Family Fun Night at the Library On May 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Imaginarium on Level Two of the library Families First Learning Lab will provide a night of parent-led activities for families to encourage spending time together and promote development. MakerSpace: Tinkercad Workshop - Making Stencils Come to the Makerspace on May 24 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Level One of the library to design and 3D print a stencil. All ages are invited to learn how to use Tinkercad 3D design software to easily create a 3D object file. Your finished design will then be 3D printed using the Makerspaces 3D printers. This event is free and no experience is necessary. Wednesdays with the Mayor All are welcome to join Mayor Jordan Hess for in-person discussions of current affairs and answers to your questions on all topics to do with City governance on May 24 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Cooper Room B on Level Four of the library. Missoula broadcast journalist Dennis Bragg will moderate. During the meeting, you may call us with questions at 406-552-6002. Visit the Citys website for the topic of the month ci.missoula.mt.us/2875/Wednesdays-with-the-Mayor. Watch the livestream or view meetings later on MCATs Facebook page or YouTube channel. Montana Racial Equity Project Book Club Missoula Public Library sponsors The Montana Racial Equity Projects Book Club in Missoula. On May 24 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Ellingson Room on Level Three of the library the group will discuss, The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai. Based on availability you may be able to place holds on Book Club titles through the library's online catalog, but often will need to purchase your own copy. Local bookstores Fact & Fiction in Missoula (factandfictionbooks.com/) and Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton (chapter1bookstore.com/) sell Book Club selections at a discount to participants. Tech Connect: Tech Time @ MPL Meet with a Missoula Public Library staff member during our drop-in tech help hour and get one-on-one assistance with basic technology issues and library services. Come to the Level Three Ellingson Room on May 27 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and bring your own device, or use a library laptop. No appointment required, first come, first served. Missoula Public Library Notice of Holiday Closures Missoula Public Library and its branches will be closed on May 28 and May 29 in observance of Memorial Day. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A Tennessee woman died Friday in a rollover crash on the interstate near Big Timber. The 21-year-old was driving west on Interstate 90 when she struck a median, according to a statement from Montana Highway Patrol. The fatal crash in Sweet Grass County was one of three across the state Friday. The woman, who investigators said was from Afton, Tennessee, was traveling alone in a Lexus SUV. At mile marker 371, just east of Big Timber, she hit the median and the SUV overturned multiple times. It came to a stop on its wheels in the eastbound I-90 lanes. While she was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, first responders pronounced her dead at the scene. Debris from the Lexus damaged a Subaru Outback carrying two people, according to MHP, but neither were hurt. The exact cause of the crash is still under investigation, but alcohol is suspected to be a factor. Later that same day, a woman was killed and an 11-year-old boy injured in a wreck on a secondary road west of Missoula. The two were traveling in a Chevy SUV, according to MHP, when the woman apparently rolled through a stop sign and into the path of an oncoming pickup truck. The collision sent the SUV into a ditch, and the pickup truck followed, resulting in the pickup truck ending up on top of the SUV. The driver of the SUV, a 34-year-old woman from Missoula, was pronounced dead at the scene. The 11-year-old boy was taken to a local hospital. Two people traveling in the pickup truck were no hurt in the wreck, per MHP. About an hour after the crash in Missoula, a woman died after a wreck south of Troy in Lincoln County. A pickup truck driven by a 77-year-old man was turning into a private driveway along Montana Highway 56 when a southbound Jeep Wrangler carrying two adults and three children hit the truck. The Jeeps driver and a passenger, a 31-year-old woman from Libby, were ejected following the collision. Emergency crews transported the woman to a Kalispell hospital, according to MHP, where she died of her injuries. A 9-year-old boy injured in the wreck was taken to a hospital in Libby. At least 49 people have died on Montanas roads so far this year, according to data from the Montana Department of Transportation. Intoxicated driving is suspected to be a factor in roughly half of those fatal crashes. Earlier this month, a 20-year-old Billings man driving a stolen pickup truck died while being pursued by a Stillwater County deputy. MHP, the state Division of Criminal investigation, and the Stillwater County Sheriffs Office are investigating the crash. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Last week, Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed our bill (HB 889) to strengthen the rights of Montanans living in mobile home parks. By doing so, he made clear that when its time to act, he stands with the wealthy and well-connected rather than with hardworking Montana families. Gov. Gianfortes veto is the latest of many decisions hes made that beg the question: is the governor out of touch with Montanans and their priorities and concerns, or does he simply not care? When we returned home from Helena to meet with constituents, attend school board meetings, and sit in on neighborhood council discussions, we saw the disconnect between the governor's decisions and the real issues facing our communities. In addition to vetoing HB 889, Gov. Gianforte has rejected bipartisan legislation for basic infrastructure in our districts; proposed a budget that failed to address critical needs in our state, from widespread closures of nursing homes to a lack of affordable childcare options; and offered a tax plan that largely tips the scales to the wealthy few. HB 889 garnered strong bipartisan support, after weeks of forging compromise. When the governor vetoed the bill, he sided with out-of-state private equity firms and a small number of landlords who want to keep the playing field tilted in their favor. Our bill was far from radical it would have given mobile-home park residents 60 days notice before rent hikes, adequate notice before land-use changes, and safeguards for resident associations to meet without interference, among other basic protections. In the rural parts of our districts, constituents are tired of dodging potholes deep enough to swallow a wheel and skidding on washboarded roads. The Legislature had a solution when it passed Senate Bill 442, which allocated funds to maintain county roads using a portion of marijuana tax revenue. The bill passed with support from 132 legislators of both parties, strong backing from 56 county commissions, and endorsements from a broad range of stakeholder groups. With his veto, the governor claimed its not the states responsibility to help maintain county roads. But he failed to offer a solution for our constituents who wear out their vehicles on trips to school and the grocery store. For many Montana families, Gov. Gianfortes misguided leadership has had more dire consequences. Hundreds of nursing home beds have been lost under his tenure because facilities can no longer afford to operate with Montanas Medicaid reimbursement rates. Rather than increase rates to the amount identified by a study commissioned by his own administration, his budget drastically undercut the rates. He did this despite the fact that fully funding the provider rates would have been a small portion of the budget surplus, far less than what was spent on tax handouts for the wealthy. To prevent additional closures of nursing facilities, Democrats brought legislation to fully fund provider rates. The final budget, passed by the Legislature, but not yet approved by the governor, includes millions of dollars in additional provider rate funding. As a result of the governor's tax bills, the Montanans who teach the next generation, keep us safe, and build our infrastructure will pay a higher state tax rate than an investment banker earning seven figures thanks to the capital gains tax cut he touts. The governors tax rebate plan excludes the roughly 50% of our constituents who are renters, even though they pay property tax through their rent. And his income tax reduction is equivalent only to a dinner and a tank of gas for most families, while amounting to thousands of dollars a year for the highest earners. We believe that, if Jeff Bezos lived in Montana, he should pay a higher state tax rate than working and retired Montanans. We invite the governor to visit our districts and ask mobile home park residents if they deserve 60 days notice before their rent is raised; ask the folks who drive county roads every day whether the state should chip in for maintenance; ask the Montanan whose mom has Alzheimers what theyll do if the nursing home closes; and ask the fifth-grader how shell pay her school lunch debt. And when Gov. Gianforte goes out to dinner, he might ask the server which one of them should pay a higher state tax rate. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Dear Majority Leader Vinton: Many people (Jewish, Christian, and those of other or no faith) got in touch with the Montana Jewish Project (MJP) last week to express their dismay and anger that representative and Rabbi Ed Stafman was not allowed to lead the invocation prayer on the last day of the session, despite having been scheduled to do so on several occasions. Each time he was deferred, a Christian legislator was given this honor instead. MJP has been troubled by a sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents and attacks across Montana in recent years. Last year had the most such incidents since the data began being collected in the 1970s. When individual members of Jewish communities around the state receive personal threats, when neo-Nazi groups run vicious leafleting campaigns in every Montana city, when Jewish students are bullied and swastikas are painted in their schools silence to what happened with representative and Rabbi Ed Stafman gives tacit approval (at the very least) to excluding Jewish voices and traditions from the Legislature. I wrote to Speaker Regier on May 3 asking for an explanation of what happened. In this letter, I did not to accuse him of antisemitism, but asked him to help us, and our Jewish and non-Jewish supporters, understand what happened. I noted in this letter that even unintentional acts of exclusion can signal exactly that exclusion and unwelcomeness, which is particularly dangerous in this time of rising anti-Jewish bigotry. Yet Speaker Regier has not responded to that request, nor to the invitation MJP extended to give him a personal tour of Helenas historic Temple Emanu-El to meet with us, learn more about our work, and understand the realities of being in Jewish in our state in 2023. His silence is unacceptable. MJP is a Montana-based nonprofit that reacquired Montanas oldest synagogue Temple Emanu-El here in Helena in August 2022. We use this 1891 landmark building as a space for Jewish worship and community. But we also serve as a statewide center for questions and concerns from Jewish and non-Jewish Montanans. We have great respect and much gratitude for our Christian friends and neighbors. Without the support of nearly 2,000 individual small donors and Montana-based businesses, as well as partnerships with Roman Catholic Bishop Vetter, ELCA Bishop Jungling and member churches around the state, Episcopal Bishop Stebbins, and many other Montana Christian churches and their members, we would not have succeeded in buying historic Temple Emanu-El last summer. We know firsthand that interfaith dialogue can cross political boundaries. Just last month, we welcomed fifteen of your colleagues to an open reception at historic Temple Emanu-El. In our conversations that evening, we strongly felt a mutual sense of welcoming and accepting one anothers faith traditions. We share a common goal: to work for this state we all love. Receiving no response to our letter to Speaker Regier exacerbates our communitys feeling of exclusion and our concerns about the scale of antisemitism in the Treasure State. We are therefore reiterating our request to Speaker Regier and broadening our request to other legislative leaders like you to use your position to publicly condemn antisemitism and the exclusion of Jewish voices in Montana in the strongest terms possible. We await your reply. Thank you. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Editors note: Calendar items must be submitted at least five days before an event. Email all items to news@morganton.com. MONDAY Business marketing class The Morganton Downtown Development Association, in collaboration with the Small Business Center at Western Piedmont Community College, will offer a business marketing training session on Finding Your Customers and Creating a Marketing Plan from 4-6 p.m. at the Morganton Community House at 120 N. King St. in Morganton. A second session will take place from 8-10 a.m. Tuesday, May 23, at the Community House called Dynamite Marketing for Small Businesses. The sessions are free to attend, but those interested must register in advance. To register for the first session, visit https://bit.ly/3ZTIPml. To register for the second session, visit https://bit.ly/3Fw3Hbb. Remembering Our Parents event Carolina Caring will hold a Remembering our Parents event from 6-7:30 p.m. at the organizations Newton campus, located at 3975 Robinson Road in Newton, to honor the memory of our parents. Participants are asked to bring a picture that can be used in an activity. Registration is required. To register, visit CarolinaCaring.org/support, contact wspurling@carolinacaring.org or call 828-466-0466, ext. 3201. THURSDAY Disabled American Veterans meeting Chapter 43 of the Disabled American Veterans, 2779 DAV Ave., Morganton, will gather at 5 p.m. for the social hour, 6 p.m. for dinner and 7 p.m. for its meeting. Officer installation and pins will be provided to anyone who missed last months meeting. Anyone with questions should call Dave at 828-437-0177. MONDAY, MAY 29 Memorial Day service The American Legion Post 234 Valdese Veterans will be hosting a Memorial Day Service at 9 a.m. The service will happen upstairs in the ballroom area. There will be a brief introduction followed by a video presentation and then a flag ceremony outside. Breakfast will be provided for free by the auxiliary including biscuits, fruit, juice and coffee from local sponsors. TUESDAY, MAY 30JUNE 1 Bus driver class Burke County Public Schools will host a bus driver class from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30, Wednesday, May 31, and June 1 at Central Office at 700 E. Parker Road. Call the transportation department at 828-437-4770 for more information. THURSDAY, JUNE 1 Ladies Bible study Gateway Bible Church, 222 Believers Way, Morganton, is hosting a free ladies Bible study from 9-11 a.m. It will be taught by Marlene Houk, a local speaker and author, and the group will be studying her book, Hidden in a List: Secrets from Bible women. Books are available at Gateway or on Amazon. Email gatewaybiblemorganton@gmail.com with any questions. NAACP meeting The Burke County Branch of the NAACP will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Mountain View Recreation Center, 111 Alphabet Lane, Morganton. All members are invited to attend, and COVID-19 protocols will still be followed. FRIDAY, JUNE 2 2023 Legislative Breakfast The Burke County Chamber of Commerce will host the 2023 Legislative Breakfast from 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the Morganton Community House, 120 N. King St., Morganton. Visit www.burkecountychamber.org for more information. MONDAY, JUNE 5 American Legion meeting American Legion Post 21, Post 322 and Post 506 as well as the new members of the Sons of the American Legion will meet Monday, June 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the Mountainview Recreation Center located at 645 1st St., Morganton. We are looking for new members to join as well as young men for the Sons of the American Legion. Contact stosh@burkecountypost21.com for further information. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 AARP meeting AARP Chapter 3262 will host retired FBI Special Agent Andy Nazworth, who will be speaking on the topic, Dont Be a Victim: 20 Ways to Protect Yourself. The group will meet in the lower level of the Collett Street Recreation Center with refreshments at 9:30 a.m. and the program starting at 10 a.m. New members are welcome. Annual dues are $5. THURSDAY, JUNE 8 Business 4 Breakfast Burke County Chamber of Commerce will host Business 4 Breakfast- Protecting Your Business from Financial Fraud from 7:30-9 a.m. at First Citizens Bank downstairs conference room, 217 N. Sterling St., Morganton. Visit www.burkecountychamber.org for more information FRIDAY, JUNE 9 Fundraiser The Burke County Literacy Council will host a fundraiser Literacy on Tap at Hillman Beer, 301 S. Sterling St., Morganton. Live music will be performed by Justin Clyde Williams from 5-7 p.m. Come join us, celebrate summer, and the last day of school while supporting the summer programs at the Burke Literacy Council. Hillman will donate a portion of sales to the Literacy Council. SATURDAY, JUNE 17 Summer Pop-Up Shop The Burke County Chamber of Commerce, 110 E. Meeting St., will host its Summer Pop-Up Shop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit www.burkecountychamber.org for more information. MONDAY, JUNE 19 Fire department meeting The Lake James Fire and Rescue Department will hold its annual meeting at 6 p.m. at the fire department. Prior to the meeting, elections for vacancies on the board of directors will be held from 4-6 p.m. The results of the election as well as a financial report and any necessary business will be discussed during the meeting. Anyone living in the Lake James Fire District and interested in serving on the board of directors should notify the president of the board no later than June 1. Two board vacancies will be filled at this election. All residents 18 years or older residing in the Lake James Fire District are encouraged to vote in the election of board members between 4-6 p.m. and attend the annual meeting at 6 p.m. Board President Jim Powers can be reached by email at jimpowers5137@gmail.com. ABC Board meeting The Valdese ABC Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Valdese ABC Store at 1018 W. Main St. in Valdese. THURSDAY, JUNE 22 Board of directors meeting Burke County Smart Starts board of directors meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Partnership offices located at 304 W. Union St. Board meetings are open to the public and are held in handicapped accessible facilities. COVID, flu and other health restrictions will be observed for in-person attendance. For anyone with a hearing impairment who may require the assistance of an interpreter or have other special needs, please call the Partnership at 828-439-2326 or us the NC Relay System at 1-800-735-8262. MONDAY, JULY 17 ABC Board meeting The Valdese ABC Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Valdese ABC Store at 1018 W. Main St. in Valdese. MONDAY, AUG. 21 ABC Board meeting The Valdese ABC Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Valdese ABC Store at 1018 W. Main St. in Valdese. MONDAY, SEPT. 18 ABC Board meeting The Valdese ABC Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Valdese ABC Store at 1018 W. Main St. in Valdese. TUESDAY, OCT. 10 ABC Board meeting The Valdese ABC Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Valdese ABC Store at 1018 W. Main St. in Valdese. TUESDAY, NOV. 21 ABC Board meeting The Valdese ABC Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Valdese ABC Store at 1018 W. Main St. in Valdese. MONDAY, DEC. 18 ABC Board meeting The Valdese ABC Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Valdese ABC Store at 1018 W. Main St. in Valdese. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A policy amendment will officially require school administrators and leaders to create a separate place for women who are lactating to express breast milk. Members of the Burke County Board of Education passed the amendment, which added a subsection for employees. The newly approved policy will require schools to give pregnant and nursing employees adequate accommodations, including reasonable break times to express milk for up to a year after the birth of an employees child. There also must be a place designated for the employees to use to express milk, and that place cant be a bathroom. Those accommodations are required by law after the Protections for Nursing Mothers Act was signed into law in December by President Joe Biden. School officials told The News Herald the lactation spaces also would be available for parenting students to use. The board also approved an application to get $1.3 million in funding from the state lottery to pay debt service for this fiscal year for Patton and Draughn high schools. Meal price increase The price BCPS pays per plate for its meals will be going up over the summer and in the next school year, but its not clear yet how that change will impact students. The board agreed to pay Chartwells $4.052 per plate for summer plates. Thats up about 10 cents from last years rate, and the increase is set to cover additional labor costs, according to information from the school system. The board also approved paying $3.2396 per meal during the next school year, an increase of 10.3% over the current school year. Those prices do not reflect the amount students will be paying for meals. Daniel Wall, director of child nutrition for BCPS, said staff expected to present more about prices for students at the June meeting. In other news, the school board updated its punishments for students caught on campus or at school functions with tobacco or vape products. For the first offense, a student will receive three days of in-school suspension, the products will be confiscated and theyll be enrolled in and expected to complete a cessation program. On the second offense, they could receive between one and three days of out-of-school suspension and theyll be expected to continue the cessation. For third-time offenders, students will receive three to five days of out-of-school suspension, and theyll be recommended for an intensive cessation program. On the fourth offense, students will receive 10 days of out-of-school suspension with the recommendation for long-term suspension. All of the punishments include confiscation of the tobacco or vape products. Speakers clash on books While the man who threatened school officials last month with a lawsuit over books he considered pornographic didnt speak at Monday nights school board meeting, books were still a hot topic for the meetings public comments session. Ron Baity, president of Winston-Salem-based Return America Inc., said at the April meeting the school system would be sued in 30 days if a list of books he considered to be pornographic were not removed. By Thursday afternoon, no lawsuits had been filed against the school system or the board of education at the Burke County Courthouse, according to court officials, and Baity didnt speak at Monday nights meeting. One person did speak in favor of banning some books, though. Ken Carico said he believes the education of children has waned nationwide, and that when he was in school, parental control wasnt questioned. Now, he said he thinks there are politicians and educators who think they know whats best for students. He said he thinks the books he considers to be sexually explicit should be removed from the school libraries, and that it should be up to parents to buy the books for their students if they want them to read the titles in question. He said the parents should also be expected to keep up with the books, because he felt if students were to pass the books around to each other, it could constitute a criminal charge. Caricos comments were met with some pushback. Two people spoke against banning books at the meeting, including Nicholas Scannell. He said he read synopses and reviews for each of the books, and that one of the books was one he recently read in full. Having read the The Bluest Eye as well as several other Toni Morrison novels, and having studied literature myself for years, I can tell you it would be a shame to prevent students from reading Toni Morrison, Scannell said. They do not hand out the Nobel prize in literature to pornographers. Romantic relationships and sexuality are a part of the human experience, and we read fiction to aid our understanding of the human experience. Unfortunately for many people, addiction, domestic violence, suicide, misogyny and racism themes that are taken up in these novels are a part of life as well. He urged the school board to leave the books in schools. The school board has a reasonable and well thought out system in place for taking up grievances with particular titles, Scannell said. Lastly, Ill just say, if we are to continue to pride ourselves on freedom in this country, that must include intellectual freedom. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. RALEIGH For the second year in a row, biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are asking for the publics assistance in helping them track chipmunks east of I-95 in North Carolina. While biologists have long known chipmunks were found in the state north and west of Wake County, a photograph of a chipmunk from Wilmington in 2021 got them wondering just how far east and south these tiny rodents have travelled. So, last year, they submitted a public appeal asking for observations. For this year, biologists are again asking anyone who sees a chipmunk east of I-95 to: Take a photo Note the location (GPS coordinates are preferred) Email the photo to hwi@ncwildlife.org Much smaller than squirrels, chipmunks are only 8 to 10 inches long (counting 3 to 4 inches of tail), with reddish-brown fur, two white stripes bordered by black on the sides and one black stripe down the center of the back. Their most distinguishing characteristic is their large cheek pouches, which they use to store and carry food. Although chipmunks can be found in both urban and rural habitats, they prefer open woodlands or forest edges, which provide plenty of cover and dry hillsides for digging burrows. Burrows provide protection from predators such as hawks, owls, foxes and snakes, as well as a safe place to sleep during the winter. The best times to spot chipmunks are early morning and late afternoon those are the times chipmunks are most active, gathering and storing food, usually nuts, seeds and berries, although these opportunistic predators will also snack on insects, small amphibians and birds, if given a chance. Also, look down and not necessarily up to spot one, according to Andrea Shipley, a mammalogist with the Commission. Unlike squirrels, chipmunks spend most of their time foraging on the ground, climbing trees only occasionally, Shipley said. We really want to encourage people to send us photos and information of any chipmunks they see in any county east of I-95, Shipley added. We will use this information to update our chipmunk distribution map, which we will then use to assess the animals conservation status in the state and any need for conservation planning or research we may do in the future. For more information on eastern chipmunks in North Carolina, visit the Commissions eastern chipmunk species page, www.ncwildlife.org/eastern-chipmunk. About the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Since 1947, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has been dedicated to the conservation and sustainability of the states fish and wildlife resources through research, scientific management, wise use, and public input. The Commission is the state regulatory agency responsible for the enforcement of fishing, hunting, trapping and boating laws and provides programs and opportunities for wildlife-related educational, recreational and sporting activities. To learn more, visit www.ncwildlife.org. Get N.C. Wildlife Update news including season dates, bag limits, legislative updates and more delivered free to your Inbox from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Go to www.ncwildlife.org/enews. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Katherine (Kathy) Alice McLean Jory March 31, 1955 - May 15, 2023 Katherine (Kathy) Alice McLean Jory, a loving wife, mother, and grandmother passed at her family home on May 15, 2023, surrounded by the of love her devoted family. Kathy was born on March 31, 1955, to William Donald (Don) and Alice (Lohman) McLean in Butte, Montana. She was born and raised in Butte, and as a young girl attended St. Ann's Grade School and graduated from Butte Central Catholic High School in 1973. During high school, Kathy met the love of her life, Anthony (Tony) Jory, and they married in 1974. They welcomed their first daughter, Tricia, in 1976 and three years later, their second daughter Toni completed their family. Kathy's greatest joy in life was her grandson, Xavier. Together they would take special road trips together. They enjoyed shopping, eating at restaurants, going on adventures together and playing their license plate game. Xavier was her motivation, reason to stay young and to try new things like riding motor bikes, eating sushi, going on roller coasters, trying the hoverboard, and learning about all the electronics. Together they were the best of pals. Kathy valued her family and friendships most in life. Nothing warmed her heart more than giving to others and will be remembered for the abundance of love she gave and received to everyone - even if she had only just met you. Kathy loved having her tea parties, family dinners, and never failed to miss an event, birthday, or celebration; she was always the first to arrive and last to leave providing a helping hand. Even during her health challenges, she continued to care for everyone else and put herself second. Kathy is preceded in death by her parents, Don and Alice McLean; sisters: Vicky Ernest, Shelly Gelling; brothers: William Donald McLean II and Michael McLean; father-in-law, Robert Jory; brother-in-law, Thomas Jory and sister-in-law, Nora Jory. Kathy is survived by her loving husband, Anthony (Tony) Jory; daughters: Tricia Jory, (grandson, Xavier Jory), Toni (Donald) Skwarlo; honorary daughter, Kim (Rob) Daugherty, (Kylee, Jozi, Liberty); sisters: Connie (Gary) Simon, Patti Voss, Lyssa LaVelle; brother, Tim (Lynn) McLean; brothers-in-law: Jim (Gail) Jory, Vic (Robin) Jory, John (Tana) Jory; sisters-in-law: Linda (Lynn) Lloyd and Janet Jory along with numerous nieces and nephews that hold a very special place in Kathy's heart along with many relatives. Kathy's family would like to thank everyone for their prayers, support, and warm wishes over this difficult time. It is truly amazing to see the outpour of love and how much Kathy impacted the lives of so many. She was a true warrior through the battle and always had the most positive attitude through the end. It is impossible to put into words how much she meant to her husband, children, grandson, friends, and family. We will always love and cherish the memories we have of Kathy and will continue the family traditions. We would like to extend our gratitude to all the family and friends who took time to visit and care of Kathy over the last few months as well as Doctor Readal, Doctor McDonald, the Medical Staff at Northwestern in Chicago, IL, the other nurses and doctors at St. James Healthcare, as well as her care team at Highlands Hospice for taking wonderful care of Kathy. A Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, May 23rd, at St. Ann's Catholic Church, 2100 Farragut, Butte, MT, at 11:00 a.m. There will be a one-hour visitation prior to the Mass starting at 10:00 a.m. Memorials can be made to Butte Central Catholic Schools or Easter Seals Hospice. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WARREN, R.I. A nearly 150-year-old stained-glass church window that depicts a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women in New Testament scenes has stirred up questions about race, Rhode Island's role in the slave trade and the place of women in 19th century New England society. The window installed at the long-closed St. Marks Episcopal Church in Warren in 1878 is the oldest known public example of stained glass on which Christ is depicted as a person of color that one expert has seen. This window is unique and highly unusual, said Virginia Raguin, a professor of humanities emerita at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and an expert on the history of stained-glass art. I have never seen this iconography for that time. The 12-foot-tall, 5-foot-wide window depicts two biblical passages in which women, also painted with dark skin, appear as equals to Christ. One shows Christ in conversation with Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, from the Gospel of Luke. The other shows Christ speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well from the Gospel of John. The window made by the Henry E. Sharp studio in New York had largely been forgotten until a few years ago, when Hadley Arnold and her family bought the 4,000-square-foot Greek Revival church building, which opened in 1830 and closed in 2010, to convert into their home. When four stained-glass windows were removed in 2020 to be replaced with clear glass, Arnold took a closer look. It was a cold winter's day with the sunlight shining at just the right angle and she was stunned by what she saw in one of them: The human figures had dark skin. The skin tones were nothing like the white Christ you usually see, said Arnold, who teaches architectural design in California after growing up in Rhode Island and earning an art history degree from Harvard University. The window has now been scrutinized by scholars, historians and experts trying to determine the motivations of the artist, the church and the woman who commissioned the window in memory of her two aunts, both of whom married into families that had been involved in the slave trade. Is this repudiation? Is this congratulations? Is this a secret sign? said Arnold. Raguin and other experts confirmed that the skin tones in black and brown paint on milky white glass that was fired in an oven to set the image were original and deliberate. The piece shows some signs of aging but remains in very good condition, she said. But does it depict a Black Jesus? Arnold doesn't feel comfortable using that term, preferring to say it depicts Christ as a person of color, probably Middle Eastern, which she says would make sense, given where the Galilean Jewish preacher was from. Others think it's open to interpretation. To me, being of African American and Native American heritage, I think that it could represent both people," said Linda AVant-Deishinni, the former executive director of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society. She now runs the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providences St. Martin de Porres Center, which provides services to older residents. The first time I saw it, it just kind of just blew me away, AVant-Deishinni said. Warrens economy had been based on the building and outfitting of ships, some used in the slave trade, according to the town history. And although there are records of enslaved people in town before the Civil War, the racial makeup of St. Marks was likely mostly if not all white. The window was commissioned by a Mary P. Carr in honor of two women, apparently her late aunts, whose names appear on the glass, Arnold said. Mrs. H. Gibbs and Mrs. R. B. DeWolf were sisters, and both married into families involved in the slave trade. The DeWolf family made a fortune as one of the nation's leading slave-trading families; Gibbs married a sea captain who worked for the DeWolfs. Both women had been listed as donors to the American Colonization Society, founded to support the migration of freed slaves to Liberia in Africa. The controversial effort was overwhelmingly rejected by Black people in America, leading many former supporters to become abolitionists instead. DeWolf also left money in her will to found another church in accord with egalitarian principles, according to the research. Another clue is the timing, Arnold said. The window was commissioned at a critical juncture of U.S. history when supporters of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and their Southern Democrat opponents agreed to settle the 1876 presidential election with what is known as the Compromise of 1877, which essentially ended Reconstruction-era efforts to grant and protect the legal rights of formerly enslaved Black people. The window also is remarkable because it shows Christ interacting with woman as equals, Raguin said: Both stories were selected to profile equality." Arnold hopes to find a museum, college or other institution that can preserve and display the window for academic study and public appreciation. I think this belongs in the public trust," she said. "I dont believe that it was ever intended to be a privately owned object. The Minnesota Senate has passed a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana for people over the age of 21, making it the 23rd state to do so. The measure has already passed the House. It now goes to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who has promised to sign it. Supporters say it would improve public health and safety and further social justice. Opponents counter that public health and safety would in fact worsen. The bill would allow marijuana use at home and establish a 10% tax on cannabis products. Minnesotans who have been convicted of misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor possession would also get their records automatically expunged. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) On a September day that he knew would be hard, 51-year-old Damone Presley marked the occasion with barbecue and balloons. He was commemorating the one-year anniversary of the day in 2021 that his daughter and her three friends were fatally shot in Minnesota by a man who left their bodies in an abandoned SUV in a Wisconsin cornfield. Presley gathered 50 friends to celebrate the life of his daughter, Nitosha Flug-Presley, who was 30 when she died. He went big on the anniversary because he felt sure thats what his daughter would have wanted. She would always do stuff big, Presley told The Associated Press. There have been 553 mass killings in the United States since 2006, and at least 2,880 people have died, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. Those include killings where four or more died, not including the assailant, within a 24-hour period. So far in 2023, the nation has witnessed the highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year. As the number of people who die in mass killings in the U.S. continues to rise, thousands more are left to handle the trauma of losing someone they love to a senseless act of violence. They struggle with a special kind of grief, haunted both by the loss and by how it happened. One of the hardest days they confront each year is the anniversary of the killing. This Wednesday, families in Uvalde, Texas, will have to face that one-year anniversary transporting them back to the day when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and fatally shot 19 children and two teachers as they gathered to celebrate the end of the school year. And last week, families of 10 people in Buffalo, New York, crossed the one-year mark from the day a white supremacist shot and killed them in a supermarket. People cope with these anniversaries in different ways. Some throw a party to get through the pain. Others prefer to be completely alone. Many fall somewhere in the middle, adopting little rituals to help get them through the day. But they all grapple with the same question, sometimes after many years have passed: What do I do with myself on the date that changed everything? On the same day Presley gathered with friends and family at his home, Angela Sturm whose children, Jasmine Sturm and Matthew Pettus, were killed in the same attack chose to spend the day alone. I turn down invites to celebrate because its not a celebration to me, she said. Instead, she honors her children privately by looking at their photos and remembering how their life together used to be. She writes, cries and practices self-care by reading a good book or taking a hot bath. She hopes people will understand that she wants to be alone, and that they shouldn't worry or be upset if she turns down invitations or doesn't respond to texts. Everyone deals with grief differently, said Jeffrey Shahidullah, a pediatric psychologist at UT-Austin Dell Childrens Medical Center. Shahidullah was part of a team that stayed in Uvalde for months after the shooting to operate a crisis walk-in clinic for first responders, community members, family and friends of victims. In the short and long term, mass shootings can traumatize entire communities, Shahidullah said. That can lead people even those who didnt know the victims personally to avoid situations that remind them of the event, feel constantly unsafe and experience intrusive flashbacks to when they first heard about the killing. A lot of these symptoms could be exacerbated or worsened around the time of these anniversaries, Shahidullah said. Over time, those symptoms do tend to subside. But everyone has their own timeline. By cruel coincidence, the first anniversary of the Buffalo supermarket shooting fell on Mother's Day. That made things especially hard for Wayne Jones, whose mother, Celestine Chaney, was among the 10 people killed by a white supremacist that day. Jones said some friends came over on the anniversary, and they talked about other things. 5/14 is every day to me still, he said. I watched my mother get killed on video. The video and a photo of the shooter standing with the gun he used, a vulgar racial slur scrawled on its barrel are ingrained in my brain," he said. Tirzah Patterson and her 13-year-old son, Jaques Jake Patterson who lost his father, church deacon Heyward Patterson, in the supermarket shooting left town altogether for the anniversary. They have not set foot in Tops Friendly Market since it reopened last summer and did not attend the memorial events in Buffalo for her ex-husband and the others who were killed. We dont want to go through that again, Tirzah Patterson said before the weekend. Were going to be gone. They spent Mothers Day weekend in Detroit and attended a church service there. While some are just crossing the one-year mark, others have been dealing with these anniversaries for years. Topaz Cooks marked the 10-year anniversary of her fathers death last September. She was a month shy of her 21st birthday in 2012 when her dad and several others were shot and killed at work by a man who was fired from the company in Minneapolis. I still cannot believe that happened to my family, she said. On the anniversaries, she likes to do things her dad, Rami Cooks, enjoyed. Last year, she went on a hike and ate dessert because her dad loved rugelach, birds and wind. She loves that her friends send her photos of their dessert that day each year with the caption: For your dad! She also has a journal she writes in once a year on that day, filling her dad in on the highlights, challenges and thoughts from the year that she wishes she could share with him. Seven years after the killing, Topaz Cooks said she experienced PTSD while working as a theater stage manager. She was surprised because she didnt expect it to hit so late. The production's plot may have triggered it the play was about a woman avenging her father's death. She said she would get exhausted at the end of rehearsals, lie down on the floor of her office and feel like she couldnt get up. At times, she felt like her skin was vibrating or that she was outside of her own body. It took months of therapy to feel like she was back in control. Talking about the loss isnt for everybody, but Cooks said its important to her. I wish that people talked about it more and normalized it, she said. Grief is just so lonely." A hint of fall hung in the air on Sept. 12, the day Presley threw a party to mark the day his daughter and her three friends were killed and left abandoned. He said he wanted to think about who his daughter was rather than how she died. She loved to throw exciting and glamorous birthday parties for her kids, friends and family. Presley placed a life-size cardboard cut-out of his daughter smiling in a pink outfit by the door. Guests wore T-shirts with photos of her and phrases like Never Forgotten and Daddys #1 Angel. At Presley's request, guests gave speeches about the funniest things they remembered his daughter doing. Late in the afternoon, they gathered around the front steps of his home, clutching red, yellow, pink and white balloons, some embossed with words like Forever in Our Hearts. Wide-eyed children, following the lead of the adults around them, listened quietly as a woman sang the gospel song Take Me to the King. Presley recited a poem his father had written years before, words Presleys daughter had adored. I meet the sunrise daily on the way to get mine, he recited. I dont play myself cause I dont got time. When he finished the poem, Presley gave the signal to release the balloons. They soared straight up, gently rising above the rooftops and disappearing into a clear blue sky. Aaron Morrison and Carolyn Thompson contributed from Buffalo, N.Y. Trisha Ahmed 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 under-covered issues. Follow Trisha Ahmed on Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15 Ahmeds father, Avijit Roy, was killed on Feb. 26, 2015, by religious militants in Bangladesh. Each year on that date, she throws a party because he loved celebrations and surrounds herself with people she loves. This February, they played games and gave a toast in his honor. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Older Americans Month is observed every May in the United States. Its primarily observed to recognize the contributions of past and present older persons to the country, particularly those who defended the country. Each year, Older Americans Month comes along with a different theme, such as Older Americans and the Family (1978), In the New Century The Future is Aging (2000), Age Strong! Live Long! (2010) and Age My Way (2022). The latter is focused on how older people can remain in and be involved with their communities. Older Americans Month was established in 1963, when at the time there were only 17 million living Americans that had reached their 65th birthday. Around a third of older Americans lived in poverty, and programs to meet their needs were not many. For that reason, there was a growth of interest in older Americans and their concerns. In April 1963, a meeting was held between President John F. Kennedy and members of the National Council of Senior Citizens, leading to the designation of May Senior Citizens Month, now Older Americans Month. Why do we love Older American Month? It helps us to appreciate, involve and learn. Older adults have made contributions to the country and many still do. Older Americans Month gives all of us a chance to honor them for their contributions. The month can be a time for older Americans who want to stay active to get involved with the community. They have an opportunity to lead an event or simply share their experiences with younger generations. Since older adults are involved in the communities, the younger generations can learn from them. Their contributions and experiences can inspire. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. PACARAIMA, Brazil As the sun rose, Miguel Gonzalez, partner Maryelis Rodriguez and their four young children got off a passenger bus after an 18-hour ride south from the eastern Venezuelan community they desperately wanted to leave. The parents, with minds still muzzy from sleep, retrieved two duffel bags and assessed needs before entering the station: Diaper change for the 1-year-old. Restrooms for the 2-, 4- and 6-year-old. Directions to Brazil. Taxi? Taxi? hawkish cab drivers asked everyone walking through the Santa Elena de Uairen station, where thousands of people every month walk through Venezuelan territory one last time. Roughly a half hour later, the Gonzalez family, like dozens of others every day, became migrants for the first time when they exited a taxi in Pacaraima, Brazil. More than 7.2 million people have left Venezuela since the countrys political, economic and social crisis began last decade. Most have gone to Spanish-speaking countries of South America with 2.4 million in Colombia alone and many to the U.S. and Spain. Further down the list of destinations has been Venezuelas Portuguese-speaking, next-door neighbor: Brazil. But Brazil has become a popular choice for many Venezuelans partly because of a 5-year-old program that offers eligible applicants work permits and even free flights to faraway parts of the huge country. Approvals into the program have surged in the post-pandemic period. I want to give well-being to my children, said Gonzalez, who began planning to migrate in October after witnessing violent clashes around the gold mine where he worked. There is no life in Venezuela, he said, because if the family stays there the children are not going to study, they are not going to have a future. The Gonzalez family is applying for Brazils interiorization program, launched in 2018 to ease pressure on the countrys far northern state of Roraima as it dealt with Venezuelans flowing across the border after food and medicine shortages at home became acute. The program moves the migrants to other cities with better economic opportunities, especially in the countrys rich southern states. It has taken in about 100,000 of the 426,000 Venezuelans who have migrated to Brazil during the crisis with the highest monthly rate so far in March of this year with 3,377. The Gonzalez family sold their fridge, fan, kitchen, bed and other furniture, stuffed clothes and diapers in duffel bags and backpacks, and began their migration journey from their community of San Felix with $500. They spent $90 to get to Santa Elena de Uairen and $20 to get to Pacaraima, where they applied for the program. They decided to migrate even though Gonzalez had one of the most lucrative jobs in Venezuela, earning about $600 in two weeks, and occasionally, up to $1,200 far more than the countrys $5 monthly minimum wage. But mining communities are dangerous, thanks to armed groups who are believed to collude with authorities. There is a lot of crime. Youre alive one moment and dead the next. You get me? Gonzalez said. Those accepted into the interiorization program receive documentation, temporary shelter, vaccines and relocation flights. It also offers classes on Brazils labor market, laws and rights. Brazils monthly minimum wage currently is $265. A survey of 800 households encompassing 3,529 Venezuelans living in Brazil in June and July of last year showed that 76% of them earned up to two minimum wages. Applicants must submit paperwork, and undergo a physical and interviews. On an early April morning, Maria Rodriguez, her father, husband, daughter, two sons, twin grandsons and four more relatives were among hundreds of people at the Pacaraima border crossing, navigating steps of the program. She laughed with an energetic grandson, but her eyes betrayed fatigue. At the crack of dawn, migrants form lines where they wait to get or provide information. They cheer when they or their new migrant friends are told they can hop on waiting passenger buses headed roughly 125 miles south to Boa Vista, where they will catch flights to their new communities. Rodriguezs group already had waited six weeks in Pacaraima. They had sheltered from the scorching sun under a makeshift tent and spent nights in a shelter. The family closed its unprofitable cheese-making business in Venezuela earlier this year and decided to join other relatives in the southern Brazilian state of Parana, where the men plan to work in construction. Rodriguez said another of her sons already living there has done well in just a short time. His children are studying in a good school, and meanwhile, I could see my other sons ... struggling, Rodriguez, 45, said while she waited for portable toilets to be cleaned for the day. As adults, we can last all day even with just an arepa, but with those kids, how do you tell a child theres no food? Venezuela was once one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America thanks to billions in oil dollars, but mismanagement by its self-described socialist government and a decline in crude prices plunged it into crisis over the past decade. International economic sanctions meant to topple President Nicolas Maduro have worsened conditions. Elsewhere in the hemisphere, Venezuelans are making their second or even third migrations as economic opportunities in initial host countries dry up. Most of those coming across the border into Brazil are migrating for the first time, said the Rev. Agnaldo Pereira de Oliveira, director of Jesuit Service for Migrants and Refugees in Brazil. They are people who held on until now and no longer could, Pereira de Oliveira said. Now come the last ones who had resisted in Venezuela out of attachment to their business, to their home. They say I had a job, but the living conditions no longer exist.' Todays top pics: Venezuela Protest Democratic leaders in major U.S. cities are finding themselves politically squeezed when it comes to addressing homelessness. Their constituents are tiring of seeing homeless encampments sprouting across communities. Advocates for homeless people are denouncing the hardline approaches being taken in large cities including New York and Los Angeles. A unanimous New York City Council has passed a Homeless Bill of Rights." It not only codifies a long-standing right to shelter but would establish the right to sleep outside. New York would be the first big U.S. city to establish the right if Adams allows the measure to become law. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. BALTIMORE A passenger walks up to an airport security checkpoint, slips an ID card into a slot and looks into a camera atop a small screen. The screen flashes "Photo Complete" and the person walks through all without having to hand over their identification to the TSA officer sitting behind the screen. It's all part of a pilot project by the Transportation Security Administration to assess the use of facial recognition technology at a number of airports across the country. "What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are," said Jason Lim, identity management capabilities manager, during a demonstration of the technology to reporters at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The effort comes at a time when the use of various forms of technology to enhance security and streamline procedures is only increasing. TSA says the pilot is voluntary and accurate, but critics have raised concerns about questions of bias in facial recognition technology and possible repercussions for passengers who want to opt out. The technology is in 16 airports. In addition to Baltimore, it's being used at Reagan National near Washington, D.C., airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Gulfport-Biloxi and Jackson in Mississippi. It's not at every TSA checkpoint so not every traveler going through those airports would necessarily experience it. Travelers put their driver's license into a slot that reads the card or place their passport photo against a card reader. Then they look at a camera on a screen about the size of an iPad, which captures their image and compares it to their ID. The technology is both checking to make sure the people at the airport match the ID they present and that the identification is in fact real. A TSA officer is still there and signs off on the screening. A small sign alerts travelers that their photo will be taken as part of the pilot and that they can opt out if they'd like. It also includes a QR code for them to get more information. Since it came out the pilot has been under scrutiny by some elected officials and privacy advocates. In a February letter to TSA, five senators four Democrats and an Independent who is part of the Democratic caucus demanded the agency stop the program, saying: "Increasing biometric surveillance of Americans by the government represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights." As various forms of technology that use biometric information like face IDs, retina scans or fingerprint matches have become more pervasive in both the private sector and the federal government, it raised concerns among privacy advocates about how this data is collected, who has access to it and what happens if it gets hacked. Meg Foster, a justice fellow at Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and Technology, said there are concerns about bias within the algorithms of various facial recognition technologies. Some have a harder time recognizing faces of minorities, for example. There's also the concern of outside hackers figuring out ways to hack into government systems for nefarious aims. Jeramie Scott, with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said that while it's voluntary now, it might not be for long. He noted that David Pekoske, who heads TSA, said during a talk in April that eventually the use of biometrics would be required because they're more effective and efficient, though he gave no timeline. Scott said he'd prefer TSA not use the technology at all. At the least, he'd like to see an outside audit to verify that the technology isn't disproportionally affecting certain groups and that the images are deleted immediately. TSA says the goal of the pilot is to improve the accuracy of the identity verification without slowing down the speed at which passengers pass through the checkpoints a key issue for an agency that sees 2.4 million passengers daily. The agency said early results are positive and have shown no discernible difference in the algorithm's ability to recognize passengers based on things like age, gender, race and ethnicity. Lim said the camera only turns on when a person puts in their ID card so it's not randomly gathering images of people at the airport. That also gives passengers control over whether they want to use it, he said. He said research shows that while some algorithms do perform worse with certain demographics, it also shows that higher-quality algorithms, like the one the agency uses, are much more accurate. He said using the best available cameras also is a factor. "We take these privacy concerns and civil rights concerns very seriously, because we touch so many people every day," he said. Did you know TSA prohibits these innocent items from being in your carry-on bag? 1. English Christmas Crackers 2. Ink and toner cartridges 3. Most sports equipment 4. Aerosol insecticide 5. Bang Snaps 6. Cooking spray 7. Foam toy swords 8. Wrapped gifts 9. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Download Napa Valley Register news app today! Your story lives in the Napa Valley. Get in-depth stories from the Napa region and beyond including news, sports, features and politics. The former Pope Valley school employee who is accused of sexually abusing children and teenagers over several years will go on trial in a Napa courtroom early next year. Benjamin Casas, 34, is scheduled to stand trial starting Jan. 22, 2024 in Napa County Superior Court on multiple felony charges of sexual abuse. Casas, who has been held without bail in the Napa County jail since his arrest Oct. 1 at his Pope Valley home, pleaded not guilty Monday to 27 felony counts of sexually abusing minors and committing lewd acts with children. While the individual charges against him carry state prison terms varying between one and 10 years, prosecutors have said a clause covering the abuse of children younger than 14 could result in a sentence of 25 years to life. In an updated complaint filed March 13, the office of county District Attorney Allison Haley alleges that Casas abused three girls and two boys all younger than 15 at the time between 2013 and 2017, while employed by the Pope Valley Elementary School. Casas worked at the school, which teaches just over 50 students from kindergarten to eighth grade, until at least April 2019, according to archived versions of the school website. One boy said Casas groped him at least five times, and another boy alleged that Casas hugged and inappropriately touched him, according to the complaint. A female accuser alleged that Casas had intercourse and other sexual contact with her both on campus in the library, a barn and the janitors closet and also in his car and even in her own bedroom, court documents state. Two other girls said Casas inappropriately touched them as well, the complaint states. Casas arrest last fall triggered an outcry among Pope Valley school parents, who demanded to know why school leaders had not told them about the allegations earlier. Four days after Casas was jailed, board members at the one-school district in rural northern Napa County called an emergency meeting, where parents attacked officials for lack of oversight and for allowing Casas to continue visiting campus even after leaving the staff. The Napa County Sheriffs Office earlier said it had investigated allegations against Casas going back as far as 2010, and that Casas also taught piano and dance to children in addition to his work with the Pope Valley school. Shortly after the arrest in October, Ken Burkhart, the Pope Valley school principal between 2015 and 2022, told the Napa Valley Register that the sheriffs office advised him in 2019 to put Casas on leave but refused to tell him why, leaving the school unable to give parents any solid information at the time. However, sheriffs spokesperson Henry Wofford disputed that account and said Burkhart himself was the first to report suspicions about Casas behavior to law enforcement. Authorities did not immediately act four years ago because they lacked enough evidence for criminal charges, Wofford said last fall. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A September 1889 Sacramento Daily Union newspaper article focused on an 1859 incident that occurred in Napa. It provides details about a dark side of Napas political scene and illustrates just how far errant political passions can go. However, the article does give a new and even amusing twist to the phrase dirty politics. In fact, the 1859 incident literally created quite a stink in Napa. The 1889 article was actually a retrospective titled, Thirty Years Ago - An Episode That Stirred Napa to Its Very Depths. According to the article, in 1859, Napa was a mere hamlet with a two-story, wood-frame Courthouse and jail that once stood near the present-day Courthouse site. One of its prisoners at that time was Jesse Whitton. This one-time Napa County supervisor with a very bad temper was a member of an early, land-rich Napa County pioneer family. The newspaper described Whitton as a big, strapping Missourian of intensively secession proclivities, a man of violent passions,... and, ...his mental abilities being of a very common order, said the Union. Apparently, on the night before the 1859 elections, Whitton decided to sway local voter opinion by any means necessary. His determination, violent passions and aggressiveness were further exacerbated by too much alcohol. The result was a tempest that came to blows when he bullied the mild-mannered Charles Marks into a political debate. It seems Markss opinions enraged Whitton to the point of severely beating Marks. The newspaper described Marks as an average-sized, very peaceable, inoffensive German who ran a bakery and candy store. The article added, He was a Republican, but not a noisy one. News of the lopsided and unwarranted assault quickly spread throughout Napa. A very large crowd rapidly gathered on Main Street. And, fueled by the rumor that Marks was dying, the expanding crowd became an unruly mob whipped into a lynching mentality. Then, while the level-headed local citizens attempted to calm the mob, Whitton sought refuge in William H. Jamess brick store secured with its iron shutters once located on Main and First Streets. Next, Napa County Sheriff John Stark slipped into the store and arrested Whitton before whisking him off to the nearby jail. While the jail was secure, the local law and judicial officers decided not to leave anything to chance. So, volunteer guards were posted outside the Courthouse and jail. Those volunteer sentries had more than an angry mob to be concerned about as they patrolled the Courthouse grounds before the days of streetlights and flashlights. That other hazard was an open 12x10x12-foot cesspool located on the Courthouse grounds. This vault had been opened in preparation for needed repair work. According to the newspaper, that open vault emitted a very strong and pungent odor that penetrated the air around the Courthouse and beyond. All of the volunteer guards had to endure that horrible stench, especially Charles Charley Van Pelt whose patrol area was around that open cesspool. The newspaper described this 39-year old-New York native as a prominent (Napa Valley) farmer, but a somewhat eccentric man, and was generally about three sheets in the wind. The newspaper added, He was so on this occasion. Although, at first, Van Pelt did manage to patrol his assigned area with his musket on his shoulder without any problems that dark night. The article continued, But as the hours of the night passed by, Charley frequently visited the nearest saloon, and along about midnight he had become somewhat oblivious to the air-piercing smell... Shortly thereafter, his fellow volunteer sentries heard a dull thud, said the article, followed by a muffled yell for help. Also, the air became affrighted with new and more appalling smells than before, added the newspaper. The men rushed to the site of the commotion and found Van Pelt floundering in the cesspool. With turned stomachs and groans, they fished Van Pelt out by thrusting two bayonets into the seat of his pants from opposite directions, and six strong men finally landed him on terra firma, reported the Union. While they were all concerned about Van Pelt, not one dared to approach him. They just slipped back into the darkness to their posts and left Van Pelt to find his own way back home. About a week passed before Van Pelt was seen again around town. While his friends were glad to see him, they were displeased to be in his odoriferous presence. Although his clothing had been washed repeatedly probably by his wife Mary and aired out for days, they still wreaked. In response, his fellow Napans unanimously granted Van Pelt the freedom of the city. The article continued, It was accorded him...and for about a week Charley Van Pelt virtually owned the town. The Union concluded its coverage with some final details. It said, Marks slowly recovered from his injuries, Whitton escaped serious punishment, and the town settled down to its usual quiet. It added, But let anyone mention Charley Van Pelts name to one of the old-timers in Napa to-day, and he will ask: By the way, did you ever hear of what befell Charley the night he volunteered to guard the jail from the mob? Eventually, Van Pelt, his wife and son left Napa for Ohio Marys natal state. There, Van Pelt enlisted in the Union Army Infantry. As for the post-Civil War era, not much historical information can be found on Van Pelt and family -at least for now. However, regardless of where they ultimately settled, Van Pelt did find his way into local history as an interesting footnote. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. When I set out to jog on the morning of Feb. 13 I was in good health. My body was doing just fine. Then I took my first step. Nothings been right with me since. That first step triggered a sharp pain in my right foot. Did I stop to inspect my foot? Did I submit it to Cheryl for clinical evaluation? Nope. I decided to run off my pain. Where this notion came from I do not know. All I can say is that the pain was still with me 4.7 miles later. By then I also had mental anguish. I sensed Id done something really dumb. Running is one of the most injurious activities. According to Yale Medicine, 65% of runners are injured each year. Hips, knees, shins, ankles, feet so many body parts ready to howl. That stat wasnt me. Ive rarely had running problems and when I do I heal fast. I hobbled around for a week before visiting my family doctor who said maybe it was plantar fasciitis. I got referred to a podiatrist. During the three-week wait to see the foot doctor, I tried to resume running, but had to stop after a block or two. A funk settled over me. I couldnt do the thing that really sets up my day. My body was slowly deconditioning. I was turning into a couch potato! Why me? Was it because Id stuck with a pair of running shoes long after the soles began showing wear? To save a few dollars, had I bought the wrong brand? Another explanation stared me in the face: Id gotten too old for running. Did you really think you could run forever, Kevin? Do you see people in nursing homes running? Does the Senior Center sponsor a running club? How old are you, again? Im 76, damn it, but I was born to run! I was embarrassed when the podiatrist had me remove my shoes and socks. Two days before Id jammed the big toe on my injured foot while wearing open-toe sandals. The damaged toe glowed like Rudolphs nose. The podiatrist ignored my big toe. My pain isnt plantar fasciitis, she said. I have Posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction, aka adult acquired flatfoot. The cause? Possibly too much running while wearing shoes with poor arch support. And yes, maybe aging has something to do with it. The cure? Because wed caught the problem early, I only needed to wear sole inserts with extra support for people who run. No physical therapy, no surgery. In a month or two I should be just fine. The cure came with a price. The doctor recommended Superfeet arch supports. With tax, a pair costs about $60. I bought three pairs. One for my everyday shoes, one for my house shoes (no more walking around barefoot or in slippers) and one for my jogging shoes. In essence, about the only times Im not wearing orange insoles is when Im showering or sleeping. Its going to be a long road back to 4.7 miles. Im having to recondition my entire lower body. Im back up to 2.5 miles and again able to daydream while my legs are churning. Im enjoying the crisp morning air, the birds that chirp and the wild turkeys that gobble-gobble. My fear of breaking down is fading. What has me excited is that in another six months Davis will hold its annual Turkey Trot races. By then I expect to be fully recovered and ready to kick butt in the 5K Geezer Division. Interview of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh Sergey Ghazaryan to the news agency "Artsakhpress" - Mr. Minister, for years the expert community of Artsakh and sometimes even certain officials have expressed the opinion that the methodology and philosophy of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process must be changed. Do you agree that the process should have been based not on the consequences of the conflict and the military developments, i.e. the issue of territories, but its root cause, which is the status of Artsakh? In your opinion, to what extent was the negotiating strategy of the mediators reasonable and justified? - The status of Artsakh has always been the key item on the agenda of the Armenian sides within the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict. Since the signing of the ceasefire between Artsakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1994 and throughout the negotiation process, the authorities of both Artsakh and Armenia advocated a peaceful and compromise solution of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, the core of which should have been the determination of the final status of Artsakh. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan was hiding behind the negotiation process and dragging out time, openly preparing for a military solution to the conflict. Statements made by the mediators over the years about the lack of a military solution to the conflict proved ineffective for the simple reason that the destructive position of Azerbaijan in the negotiations, the regular violations of the ceasefire and the use of force did not receive adequate condemnation and response from the mediators. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, as a member of the international community and a party to the negotiations, has made a clear commitment to resolve the conflict peacefully. Therefore, the claims made by Azerbaijan today that the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict has been resolved do not correspond to reality, which is also reflected in the positions of the international actors involved in the process. At the international level, the issue of the status of Artsakh remains unresolved, and we expect that the international community and, first of all, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries will make additional efforts to restore the negotiation process with the full participation of Artsakh, without which it is impossible to achieve a final and comprehensive settlement of the conflict. - How would you characterise the blockade of Artsakh? What is it? The blockade of the 120,000 people of Artsakh by the Azerbaijani authorities for more than 5 months is nothing but a continuation of the aggressive war unleashed by Azerbaijan in September 2020, which is aimed at driving the Armenians out of Artsakh and the withdrawal of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue from the international agenda through the use of force, coercion and a consistent policy of ethnic cleansing. It is obvious that by massive violations of fundamental rights of the people of Artsakh, creating unbearable conditions for normal life activity in Artsakh, and through a policy of military-political blackmail and coercion, the Azerbaijani authorities are striving to achieve one of their main and primary goals, namely, to force the population of Artsakh to leave their homeland out of uncertainty and fear. - How do you assess the international efforts for a political settlement of the conflict and, thereby, curbing the military ambitions of Azerbaijan? In particular, what do you think the international community should do in this case? - The international community has clear political and legal obligations and mechanisms to prevent mass violations of human rights, especially their extreme manifestations, such as crimes against humanity and genocide. The blockade of Artsakh is a red flag that should warn the international community of possible mass crimes. As part of the obligation to prevent possible mass crimes against the people of Artsakh, the international community, in addition to using political and diplomatic means, must give appropriate legal assessment of Azerbaijan's criminal actions. The efforts of mediators and other actors to ensure real progress in the negotiations cannot and should not replace the clear steps and actions that the international community, represented by the member states of the UN Security Council, must take to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing anywhere in the world regardless of political, economic, geographical or other considerations. The UN Security Council is also the body that should enforce the decisions of the International Court of Justice. On 22 February 2023, the highest judicial body of the UN indicated an interim measure to Azerbaijan, obliging the latter to ensure the lifting of the blockade of Artsakh and the freedom of movement along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. This decision was the logical continuation of the previous decision on interim measures taken on 7 December 2021, by which the Court ordered Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination, including by its officials and public institutions, targeted at persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin. By the same decision, the Court ordered Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration of Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries, etc. In this regard, we expect the appropriate actions of the UN Security Council to ensure the implementation of these decisions of the ICJ. - It can be stated that the ongoing blockade and all the crimes of recent years are the result of a lack of proper assessment and response to the aggressive and destructive policy of Azerbaijan, and if a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the conflict is not achieved, such crimes are likely to continue. In this regard, do you see any prospects, and what should be the solution to the conflict, on what principles and in what format, in order for it to be fair and effective? Can the negotiations on normalisation of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations lead to the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, and what is the position of the Republic of Artsakh on this issue? - The people and authorities of Artsakh have a common position on this issue. Only recognition of the right to self-determination exercised by the people of Artsakh can become the basis for a durable solution of the conflict and the establishment of just and lasting peace and stability in the region. We stand ready to start negotiations on a comprehensive and mutually acceptable solution to the conflict with Azerbaijan, in an agreed and internationally recognised negotiation format, based on strong international guarantees of the equal rights of the parties and the full implementation of their obligations. Before creating conditions for negotiations in a full-fledged format on a final and comprehensive settlement of the conflict, there is a need to establish a dialogue on humanitarian and technical issues between Stepanakert and Baku, which, however, should not and cannot replace political negotiations. In this context, it must be emphasized that the normalisation of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, delimitation and demarcation of borders cannot predetermine the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the final status of Artsakh. At the same time, without the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, i.e., with a half-hearted approach, it is impossible to imagine the final normalisation of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and the establishment of lasting peace. Despite the existing difficulties, it is extremely important for the Republic of Armenia to continue protecting the rights of the people of Artsakh. If it is not possible today to reach a negotiated solution on the status of Artsakh, then it is necessary to recognise the existence of this problem and postpone the adoption of a decision until favourable conditions are created for this, while at the same time providing effective and reliable international guarantees of the security and sovereignty of the people of Artsakh. Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute comments on scandalous video Serbia sends military units to Kosovo border Russian MFA: Russia expects Yerevan, Baku will be able to sign peace treaty Armenia MFA: Illegal abduction of 2 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan is attempt to deviate from its own obligations Iraq unveils Europe-Middle East road and rail project Germany: Russia to expel German diplomats in June Nairi MC: Nikol Pashinyan only came to see a patient Vucic nominates Milos Vucevic as ruling Serbian Progressive Party head How can a smartphone "spy" on you even when it is not connected to the Internet? 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RA MOD: Car operated by 2 servicemen delivering provisions found on inter-positional roa Car overturned in Shirak Province The President of The Artsakh Republic convened a session of the Security Council Cavusoglu: Turkey's EU membership still a goal, though process unlikely to revive Turkish interior minister sued for use of facial recognition app Belgium releases Iranian diplomat Asadollah Asadi Ukraine asks Germany for Taurus cruise missiles Clashes between Iran border guards and Taliban forces Communication with 2 servicemen of the RA Armed Forces supplying food to combat positions was interrupted YouTube will permanently disable one of its popular features 10 best budget smartphones of 2023 Pashinyan received American Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group Dollar, euro gain value New presidential decrees prohibit assemblies, curtail freedom of expression in Karabakh Cavusoglu: Turkey ready to take positive steps with Armenia if it signs peace agreement with Azerbaijan MFA of Armenia: Signing of the peace treaty is not included in the agenda of the Chisinau meeting An Android spy app has been detected and is recommended to be deleted from your phone immediately Ararat Mirzoyan, Louis Bono confer about Armenia-Azerbaijan relations normalization process (PHOTOS) Azerbaijan pursues policy of energy suffocation of Karabakh but says it provides electricity Karabakh medical patients transfer to Armenia by Red Cross resumes Azerbaijan deputy PM speaks about Zangezur corridor at Kazan forum Armenia opposition MP: Russia response to Azerbaijan should have been more decisive Pixels are invisible even at a close distance: What specs does the first 16K TV have? (photo) Ruling power lawmaker:Armenian side hears for first time that Russia supports Azerbaijan position on Zangezur corridor Armenia ruling force MP: There is clear position on unblocking of regional communications Azerbaijan ambassador to France sees chance for signing peace treaty with Armenia at European summit Armenia deputy FM briefs UN Secretary General special adviser on the growing humanitarian crisis in Karabakh Karabakh's bilaterally surrounded Lisagor village head: Youth want to leave the community, go to university Russia presidential spox: Azerbaijan-Armenia peace agreement signing possible in foreseeable future Armen Grigoryan, Louis Bono discuss Armenia-US relations agenda NATO special representative holds meetings in Azerbaijan Armenia President: War of 2020 was predictable back in 1990-1991 but we didn't want to face the truth Azerbaijan defense minister visits Georgia Armenia ombudswoman briefs Netherlands envoy on problems due to Lachin corridor blockade by Azerbaijan Armenia PM: Deepening of neighborly relations with Georgia is among priorities of our foreign policy Parliament speaker to Armenia graduating schoolchildren: Try to become your best version, not to be lazy WhatsApp has added a useful feature that will make it easier to find people in your contacts US State Department: We believe that an agreement is in reach between Armenia, Azerbaijan Philip Reeker: Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement must include various concepts Ronaldo: Im very happy at Al Nassr Wine Story: Yerevan Wine Days festival is full of surprises (PHOTOS) Elon Musk is finally allowed to test Neuralink brain implants on humans Newspaper: Armenia authorities prominent figures involved in illegal drugs import Liverpool do not qualify for Champions League for first time in 7 years Russia deputy PM: Azerbaijan, Armenia equally understand how transport corridors must be unblocked Premier League: Man United beat Chelsea 4-1 (VIDEO) Full speech of Pashinyan and Putin at 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principled agreements between Armenia, Azerbaijan regarding territorial integrity Peskov: No predictions regarding Putin, Aliyev, Pashinyan meeting yet Russia defense minister signs documents on deployment of nuclear weapons on Belarus territory Georgian Airways to launch transit flights to Europe for Russians Aliyev announces possibility of signing peace agreement with Armenia Overchuk: 89% of goods transactions within EAEU are carried out in our national currencies Czech Republic embassy in Armenia temporarily suspends Schengen visa applicants registration Armenia premier: EAEU-Iran free trade agreement entry into force is paramount to us Karabakh FM sends official letters to heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited to Armenia Armenia Investigative Committee: Detention chosen as preventive measure against Vardan Ghukasyan Putin: It will be difficult for other Eurasian Economic Union countries to reach Armenia Pashinyan: Armenia ready for dialogue to create single natural gas market within EAEU Armenia to hold several tourism festivals this year Armenia economic activity index up 12.2% in January-April Japan's Gitai wants to create robots that will work on the Moon and Mars instead of humans Tourism Committee head: 630,000 tourists visited Armenia in 1st four months of 2023 Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute comments on scandalous video Serbia sends military units to Kosovo border Russian MFA: Russia expects Yerevan, Baku will be able to sign peace treaty Armenia MFA: Illegal abduction of 2 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan is attempt to deviate from its own obligations Iraq unveils Europe-Middle East road and rail project Germany: Russia to expel German diplomats in June Nairi MC: Nikol Pashinyan only came to see a patient Vucic nominates Milos Vucevic as ruling Serbian Progressive Party head Syunik governor: border settlements have enough weapons for self-defense Nepal PM to hold talks with India's Narendra Modi Nubarashen landfill fire extinguished Iran, Russia, Syria, Turkey Deputy FMs to discuss Ankara-Damascus relations Kishida willing to meet Kim Jong Un over kidnappings of Japan citizens Iran calls Zelenskyy's statement 'worthless political show' Armenia MoD publishes names of soldiers disappeared on the border Russia reports two drone attacks on oil refinery Bordachev: Turkey is very poorly represented in Central Asia Erdogan accuses Germany of violating press freedom Explosion in Russias Pskov damages oil pipeline building Nikkei Asia: Japan and NATO increase cooperation to counter China, Russia RA MOD: Car operated by 2 servicemen delivering provisions found on inter-positional roa Car overturned in Shirak Province The President of The Artsakh Republic convened a session of the Security Council Cavusoglu: Turkey's EU membership still a goal, though process unlikely to revive Turkish interior minister sued for use of facial recognition app Belgium releases Iranian diplomat Asadollah Asadi Ukraine asks Germany for Taurus cruise missiles Clashes between Iran border guards and Taliban forces Communication with 2 servicemen of the RA Armed Forces supplying food to combat positions was interrupted Pashinyan received American Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group Dollar, euro gain value New presidential decrees prohibit assemblies, curtail freedom of expression in Karabakh Cavusoglu: Turkey ready to take positive steps with Armenia if it signs peace agreement with Azerbaijan MFA of Armenia: Signing of the peace treaty is not included in the agenda of the Chisinau meeting Ararat Mirzoyan, Louis Bono confer about Armenia-Azerbaijan relations normalization process (PHOTOS) Azerbaijan pursues policy of energy suffocation of Karabakh but says it provides electricity Karabakh medical patients transfer to Armenia by Red Cross resumes Azerbaijan deputy PM speaks about Zangezur corridor at Kazan forum Armenia opposition MP: Russia response to Azerbaijan should have been more decisive Ruling power lawmaker:Armenian side hears for first time that Russia supports Azerbaijan position on Zangezur corridor Armenia ruling force MP: There is clear position on unblocking of regional communications Azerbaijan ambassador to France sees chance for signing peace treaty with Armenia at European summit Armenia deputy FM briefs UN Secretary General special adviser on the growing humanitarian crisis in Karabakh Karabakh's bilaterally surrounded Lisagor village head: Youth want to leave the community, go to university Russia presidential spox: Azerbaijan-Armenia peace agreement signing possible in foreseeable future Armen Grigoryan, Louis Bono discuss Armenia-US relations agenda NATO special representative holds meetings in Azerbaijan Armenia President: War of 2020 was predictable back in 1990-1991 but we didn't want to face the truth Azerbaijan defense minister visits Georgia Armenia ombudswoman briefs Netherlands envoy on problems due to Lachin corridor blockade by Azerbaijan Armenia PM: Deepening of neighborly relations with Georgia is among priorities of our foreign policy Parliament speaker to Armenia graduating schoolchildren: Try to become your best version, not to be lazy US State Department: We believe that an agreement is in reach between Armenia, Azerbaijan Philip Reeker: Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement must include various concepts Newspaper: Armenia authorities prominent figures involved in illegal drugs import Russia deputy PM: Azerbaijan, Armenia equally understand how transport corridors must be unblocked Full speech of Pashinyan and Putin at bilateral meeting Overchuk: We will discuss many important details with Armenia, Azerbaijan deputy PMs in one week Trilateral meeting of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia ended Trilateral meeting of Aliyev, Putin and Pashinyan begins Putin: Azerbaijan recognizes full sovereignty of Armenia Putin: Russia trade with Armenia reached $5 billion in 2022 Putin: Russia has never changed its position on Lachin corridor Putin: Trilateral meeting will discuss unblocking of transport links Pashinyan and Putin meet in Moscow Pashinyan, Aliyev have war of words over Zangezur corridor term interpretation Russias Putin thanks Armenias Pashinyan for not opposing Azerbaijans Aliyev visit to EAEU meeting Putin: There are principled agreements between Armenia, Azerbaijan regarding territorial integrity Peskov: No predictions regarding Putin, Aliyev, Pashinyan meeting yet Russia defense minister signs documents on deployment of nuclear weapons on Belarus territory Georgian Airways to launch transit flights to Europe for Russians Aliyev announces possibility of signing peace agreement with Armenia Overchuk: 89% of goods transactions within EAEU are carried out in our national currencies Czech Republic embassy in Armenia temporarily suspends Schengen visa applicants registration Armenia premier: EAEU-Iran free trade agreement entry into force is paramount to us Karabakh FM sends official letters to heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited to Armenia Armenia Investigative Committee: Detention chosen as preventive measure against Vardan Ghukasyan Putin: It will be difficult for other Eurasian Economic Union countries to reach Armenia Pashinyan: Armenia ready for dialogue to create single natural gas market within EAEU Armenia to hold several tourism festivals this year Taking a stroll down memory lane, Esha dropped a story on Instagram remembering her film. "19 years of Yuva. Released on May 21, 2004", she wrote. The picture showcased the cast in the movie's poster. Directed by Mani Ratnam, the film features an ensemble cast, including Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Esha Deol. Each character represents a different perspective and experience and dilemmas in their journey. This political action film explores the lives of three young men from different backgrounds and their involvement in politics. It delves into themes of youth empowerment, political corruption, and the impact of social and political issues on individuals. 'Yuva' showcases the power struggles within politics and the ways in which the lives of ordinary people intersect with political dynamics. The film highlights the importance of youth participation in the political process and the potential for change. However, the movie received a negative response from the audience. Radhika (Esha Deol) who lives with her uncle and aunt is in love with her neighbour Michael (Ajay Devgan), an activist who wants to encourage students to enter politics. On the other hand, Esha made her acting comeback last year, with the thriller series 'Rudra: The Edge of Darkness' alongside actor Ajay Devgn which premiered exclusively on the OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar. She will also be seen in an upcoming series 'Hunter' alongside veteran actor Suniel Shetty, backed by the film arm of Saregama India. Rajesh M Selva of 'Thoongaa Vanam' and 'Kadaram Kondan' fame is helming the project. (ANI) Taking to Instagram, Sara dropped a few pictures from her sacred visit. https://www.instagram.com/p/CsgbLV4yz_q/?hl=en Dressed in a green suit, she exuded simplicity in ethnic wear. "Gratitude," she captioned the post. 'Zara Hatke Zara Bachke' also stars Vicky Kaushal. The film is helmed by Laxman Utekar and will be out in theatres on June 2. Sara recently returned to India after making her debut at Cannes Film Festival. She made her fans happy with her appearance at the 76th edition. In her speech at the gala, Sara highlighted Indian culture, cinema and art. She said, "I am so proud to be here celebrating women both in front of and behind the camera. I hope that we continue to do things like this worldwide. I hope that my country does more and more, has a louder and more felt presence globally and internationally." Sara made her Cannes red carpet debut in Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla's lehenga. Isn't it a perfect way to pay tribute to Indian culture? (ANI) Deepika Padukone, who has been an active advocate of mental health awareness and has battled depression in the past, reacted to Hollywood actor Dwayne Johnson opening up about his mental health. On Sunday, actor Deepika Padukone shared a post on Dwayne's statement about him suffering from depression, which was originally shared by a news portal. "'I didn't know what mental health was, I didn't know what depression was. I just knew I didn't wanna be there.'-DWAYNE JOHNSON, The Pivot podcast," the post read. Reacting to it, Deepika wrote, "Mental health matters." Meanwhile, on the work 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. She recently made heads turn with her Time Magazine cover. 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. (ANI) On March 14, Dr. Jack Gao, CEO of Smart Cinema and former president of Microsoft China, was left amazed after watching the livestream of GPT-4's press conference. He was stunned by what the chatbot is able to do. Jack Gao delivers a keynote speech on artificial intelligence during a summit forum before the 14th Chinese Nebula Awards gala in Guanghan, Sichuan province, May 13, 2023. [Photo courtesy of EV/SFM] "I was so excited and couldn't calm down for a whole week. During that time, Baidu also released its own Ernie Bot, and Alibaba followed with Tongyi Qianwen. There are more AI bots to come, such as the one from Google," Gao told China.org.cn, adding that he later engaged in conversations with insiders from various industries to get a clear understanding of the bigger picture. On May 13, he discussed this topic at China's top sci-fi event, the 14th Chinese Nebula Awards, where he also delivered a keynote speech and sought feedback from China's most prominent sci-fi writers, who have frequently envisioned the future and portrayed artificial intelligence (AI) in their novels. "The era of AI has arrived. I have an unprecedented feeling knowing that it can pass the lawyers' exam with high scores and even possess a common sense that was previously exclusive to humans," Gao said. "When AI becomes another intelligent brain in our lives and has the potential to develop consciousness for the benefit of the entire human race, its intelligence will expand infinitely." The profound changes will come quickly, according to his vision. AI could directly handle many aspects related to human life, from everything from translation to communication, medical diagnoses, lawsuits, and creative jobs. This could bring greater efficiency and upgrades to current industries, but it also raises concerns. Some have already recognized the threats, like Hollywood scriptwriters who went on strike in early May due to concerns about AI "generative" text and image tools impacting their jobs and incomes. Tech giants have also laid off numerous employees after embracing AI technologies. Geoffrey Hinton, widely regarded as the "godfather" of AI, departed from Google and raised warnings about the potential dangers of AI chatbots, emphasizing their potential to surpass human intelligence in the near future. Hinton also cautioned against the potential misuse of AI by "bad actors" that could have harmful consequences for society. "When I was a student 40 years ago, our wildest imaginations couldn't compare to what we have today. Technology has fundamentally transformed our lives," Gao said. The man has an awe-inspiring profile in both the tech and media industries, having served as a top executive at Autodesk Inc., Microsoft, News Corp., and Dalian Wanda Group. He has witnessed numerous significant technological advancements over the decades, from PC computers and the internet to big data, which have brought about great changes to the world. When Google's AlphaGo AI defeated the world's number one Go player, Ke Jie, people began to recognize the power of AI, although they initially thought its impact was limited to the realm of Go. "But what if there's an 'AlphaGo' in every industry?" Gao mused. "What can humans do, and how can they prevail? Imagine a scenario where you have your own 'AlphaGo' while others do not. This is the reality we are facing, and we must take it seriously." He believes that the digital gap between machines and humans has been bridged so that AI bots can interact with humans through chat interfaces without the need for programmers to write code. He also believes that when large language models reach a sufficient scale, new chemical sparks will ignite, leading to new miracles of some kind. "You have to understand that language is the foundational layer and operating system of human civilization and ecology." "Based on my experience using and learning from AI bots, I have also noticed an important factor: the quality of answers from chatbots depends on how you ask them. Our way of thinking will shift towards seeking answers because there are countless valuable answers in the world waiting for good questions," he said. He added that people should prepare themselves with optimism to understand, utilize, explore, and harness AI, making it a beneficial and integral part of their lives. Gao's speech caused a stir at the sci-fi convention. After he finished, many sci-fi writers, including eminent figures like Han Song and He Xi, approached him to discuss further. "They told me that after listening to my speech, they had a more personal understanding of how AI will truly impact our lives and work. The technology is already here, and we have no choice but to actively explore and embrace it, adapting to the changes." Actors Kriti Sanon and Tabu on Sunday, jetted off to Goa for the next schedule of their upcoming film 'The Crew'. Taking to Instagram, Kriti shared a boomerang video with Tabu in which they could be seen having tea inside the plane which she captioned, "Chai pe characha. Missing you @kareenakapoorkhan #TheCrew. #rheakapoor The Crew has boarded." Reacting to the video, Kareena wrote, "Where are the biscuits ladies? See you tomorrow." The 'Heroine' actor is all set to join the cast of 'The Crew' in Goa soon. Responding to Kareena's message, Kriti wrote, "Umm.. we will have to manage with Goa ke biscuits! @tabutiful finished the Dilli wala box. #CrewKiChai." Apart from their fuun banter, the 'Mimi' actor also shared a selfie on her story and captioned it, "Goa. #TheCrew." 'The Crew' stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tabu, Kriti Sanon and Diljit Dosanjh in the lead roles. It is a story of three women and is touted as a laugh-riot, set against the backdrop of the struggling airline industry. However, their destinies lead to some unwarranted situations and they get caught in a web of lies. Helmed by Rajesh Krishnan, the official release date of the film is still awaited. Meanwhile, Kirti will also be seen in the upcoming pan-India film 'Adipurush' opposite actor Prabhas. Helmed by Om Raut the film also stars Saif Ali Khan and Sunny Singh in the lead roles and is all set to hit the theatres on June 16. Apart from this, she also has 'Ganpath: Part-1' opposite Tiger Shroff. Kareena, on the other hand, will also be seen in director Sujoy Ghosh's thriller which is based on the book 'The Devotion of Suspect X'. It also stars Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat. Apart from that, she also has director Hansal Mehta's next untitled film in her kitty. Tabu, will also be seen in director Neeraj Pandey's next 'Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha' opposite Ajay Devgn. (ANI) A conceptual framework has been created by researchers to predict if a person with type 2 diabetes may develop renal damage. The study was published in the journal, 'Nature Communications'. It can help doctors prevent or better manage kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes. "This study provides a glimpse into the powerful future of predictive diagnostics," says co-senior author Kevin Yip, Ph.D., a professor and director of Bioinformatics at Sanford Burnham Prebys. "Our team has demonstrated that by combining clinical data with cutting-edge technology, it's possible to develop computational models to help clinicians optimize the treatment of type 2 diabetes to prevent kidney disease." Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide. In the United States, 44% of cases of end-stage kidney disease and dialysis are due to diabetes. In Asia, this number is 50%. "There has been significant progress developing treatments for kidney disease in people with diabetes," says co-senior author Ronald Ma, MB BChir, FRCP, a professor in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "However, it can be difficult to assess an individual patient's risk for developing kidney disease based on clinical factors alone, so determining who is at greatest risk of developing diabetic kidney disease is an important clinical need." The new algorithm depends on measurements of a process called DNA methylation, which occurs when subtle changes accumulate in our DNA. DNA methylation can encode important information about which genes are being turned on and off, and it can be easily measured through blood tests. "Our computational model can use methylation markers from a blood sample to predict both current kidney function and how the kidneys will function years in the future, which means it could be easily implemented alongside current methods for evaluating a patient's risk for kidney disease," says Yip. The researchers developed their model using detailed data from more than 1,200 patients with type 2 diabetes in the Hong Kong Diabetes Register. They also tested their model on a separate group of 326 Native Americans with type 2 diabetes, which helped ensure that their approach could predict kidney disease in different populations. "This study highlights the unique strength of the Hong Kong Diabetes Register and its huge potential to fuel further discoveries to improve our understanding of diabetes and its complications," says study co-author Juliana Chan, M.D., FRCP, a professor in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who established the Hong Kong Diabetes Register more than two decades ago. "The Hong Kong Diabetes Register is a scientific treasure," adds first author Kelly Yichen Li, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scientist at Sanford Burnham Prebys. "They follow up with patients for many years, which gives us a full picture of how human health can change over decades in people with diabetes." The researchers are currently working to further refine their model. They are also expanding the application of their approach to look at other questions about human health and disease--such as determining why some people with cancer don't respond well to certain treatments. "The science is still evolving, but we are working on incorporating additional information into our model to further empower precision medicine in diabetes," adds Ronald Ma. (ANI) As per the BRO statement, six people along with attendants, who were identified as sick were immediately moved further downwards to Darcha in Himachal Pradesh. "One critical patient was handed over to a civil ambulance at Darcha for further evacuation to District Hospital at Keylong," the BRO said in the statement. On May 18, at 11 pm BRO received information that a few tourists were stranded on the Sarchu side of Baralacha La Pass, approximately a kilometre short of the top. "Accordingly, 76 persons in total (15 females, 7 children and 54 males) were rescued from the pass and brought to the Zing-Zing bar location where they were checked by a doctor, provided hot tea and food, and housed in heated shelters," the BRO statement said. "The remaining persons were subsequently evacuated further down to the RCC location at Stingiri where they were provided comforts and a place to take rest," it said. In this act, BRO Karmayogis displayed a high level of service to rescue stranded people and went out of the box to help them, it added. (ANI) Lashing out at the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to "track the surge of incoming 2000 rupee notes", especially from the state's "Co-operative Banks/Societies and TASMAC." In his letter to FM Sitharama on Saturday, he anticipated that "notorious and corrupt" DMK leaders will use the "machinery at their disposal" to exchange their ill-earned 2000 rupee notes. https://twitter.com/annamalai_k/status/1659886546173186049?t=x30Q8fL9FarggxTEY5uWsA&s=08 His remarks came after the Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced the withdrawal of Rs 200 denomination bank notes from circulation and said the same can be exchanged till September 30, 2023 "We anticipate that the DMK politicians will use the machinery at their disposal, especially the Co-operative Banks/Societies and TASMAC, to exchange their ill-gotten 2000 rupee notes. Madam, we request that the Finance Ministry instruct the banks to track the surge of incoming 2000 rupee notes through the above sources", he said. He further said," The people of Tamil Nadu wholeheartedly welcomed the Reserve Bank of India's notification yesterday on the exchange of 2000 rupee notes, till September 30, 2023." He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for every decision that is being taken under his leadership. Annamalai said, "Our Honourable Prime Minister Thiru Narendra Modi avargal's every decision is backed with meticulous planning and detailing, and the people across the country acknowledge the same, as these decisions are always in the best interests of the common people of our country. (ANI) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that as promised, the Congress government has in principle approved the 5 Guarantees announced in the party's manifesto before the elections. The chief minister was addressing the media about the decisions taken in his first cabinet meeting after assuming office. It is estimated that Rs 1200 crore is required to implement Griha Jyoti scheme, to provide 200 Unit free power to every household. Rs 2000 per month will be transferred to the head woman of the family, 10 kg rice will be given under Anna Bhagya and Rs 3000/month will be given to unemployed graduates and Rs 1500 to diploma holders who have passed out during the current educational year for up to 2 years. Women, who are residents of the State would be given free bus pass to travel in Government Buses, he informed. Guidelines are being worked out in detail and will be discussed in the next cabinet meeting, he said, adding that Cabinet has also decided to convene a legislature session from May 22 to 24, and the Budget will be presented in July. According to preliminary estimates, Rs 50,000 crore is required annually to fulfill the 5-guarantees, he said. Chief Minister also added that information about Indira canteen is also being sought and they would be started soon. The newly sworn-in CM said that during the previous term, "We had fulfilled 158 out of 165 promises made in the Election Manifesto. We have kept our promises. Along with fulfilling the promises, we have implemented more than 30 new schemes such as Indira Canteen, loan waiver, Vidya siri, Shoe Bhagya, Pashu Bhagya etc., which were not included in the manifesto." "Opposition is misleading the people by stating that the Guarantee schemes we announced will make our state reel under huge debt and Prime Minister himself has stated in his Mann Ki Baat that the economy will collapse and State will incur huge debts by launching such schemes. But according to our calculations, Rs 50,000 crore is required annually to implement these schemes and it is not impossible to mobilise resources," the CM said. The State budget size is Rs 3.10 lakh crore and it increases by around 10 per cent every year. "We will present a 3.25 lakh crore budget in July. We will mobilise the additional Rs 15,000 crore by taking stringent measures to collect taxes," he said. It is stated that a mere Rs 50,000 crores have been allocated by the 15th Finance Commission in this year's budget, whereas "we were entitled to get Rs 1 lakh crore from the Central Government." The previous Government lacked the will to get the State's share of grants from the Central Government. Karnataka contributes Rs 4 lakh crore in taxes annually, he explained. The previous Government and the MPs of the State have failed to get the special Grant in Aid of Rs 5495 crores, recommended by the 15th Finance Commission in its interim report, he said. CM recalled when former PM Manmohan Singh left office, the debt of the country was Rs 52,11,000 crore. "Today it has been increased by Rs 155 crore. During the last 9 years Rs 102 lakh crore has been borrowed by the Government of India. By the end of our previous tenure in 2018, the debts of the State were Rs 2,42,000 crore. Our Government had borrowed Rs 1,16,000 crore during 5 years. But in 2023-24, the borrowings have increased to Rs 5,64,000 crore. During the 4 year tenure, BJP Government has borrowed Rs 3,22,000 crore. Our Government will ensure that all the guarantee schemes and other programmes will be implemented without causing a financial crunch to the State exchequer," he said. During 2023-24, Rs 56,000 crore is required to repay the interest and principal amount of the debts, he said. Chief Minister was confident of launching new programmes, without affecting the economy, by taking stringent measures such as efficiency in tax collection, controlling unnecessary expenditure, avoiding borrowings etc. Siddaramaiah on Saturday took oath as the chief minister of Karnataka and DK Shivakumar as his Deputy chief minister. Congress bagged 135 seats in the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ousting the ruling BJP, which got 66 seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) secured 19 seats in the results declared on May 13. (ANI) Rameshwar Coastal Security Group Police Inspector Kanagaraj received a tip-off that government-banned sea cucumbers were being boiled in a house at Serangottai village on the Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi route. "During a thorough search in the area, it was revealed that there was about 550 kg of government-banned sea cucumbers lying in the oven inside the house of S Lingam. The sea cucumbers were seized," the official said. Officials said that police are on the lookout to nab the absconding criminal. "Further investigation is underway," they said. In March this year, around 250 kilograms of processed sea cucumbers were seized by Mandapam Police during a joint search operation from Vedalai next to Ramanathapuram District Mandapam. Sea Cucumbers are essential for the marine ecosystem as they consume decomposing organic matter and convert it into recyclable nutrients for other marine life. (ANI) Amid Gehlot-Pilot tussle, Congress Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Saturday said that the grand old party has nothing to do with Sachin Pilot's Jan Sangharsh Yatra which culminated on May 15. "It's his Yatra. Congress has nothing to do with it. Discussions on the state level should be done, in front of the CM and other senior leaders. But conducting the Yatra before the Karnataka elections is not good to do," Randhawa said. He said that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics."We will talk with Sachin Pilot". Pilot recently ended his yatra and gave a 15-day ultimatum to the CM Ashok Gehlot to take action against corruption cases in the state. The Congress leader has also threatened to take to the streets and hold protests across the state if the CM does not take action till May 31 Sachin Pilot has put forward three demands - action against corruption charges on the previous BJP government, disbandment and reconstitution of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and its reconstitution, and compensation for those affected by the paper leaks - and demanded action by the end of this month. The Rajasthan unit of Congress is continuing to give a headache to the party's high command as the simmering tensions between Gehlot and Sachin Pilot have come out in the open just ahead of Assembly elections in the state scheduled to be held later this year. The Congress party is seeking another term ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls in 2024. (ANI) The searches were conducted on May 18 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. "ED has carried out search operations under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 on May 18, 2023, 8 residential and commercial premises in Bhubaneswar in bank fraud cases pertaining to M/s GDS Builders Pvt Ltd, M/s Surnag Builders Pvt. Ltd. and others," officials said. According to the officials, during the searches, cash amounting to Rs 15 lakhs, gold jewellery weighing 1.978 kgs worth Rs 1.13 crore, sale deeds of certain properties, various incriminating documents and certain electronic devices were recovered which were duly seized. Earlier in a different case, ED arrested a retired IAS officer Ram Bilas Yadav, the then Additional Secretary to the Uttarakhand Government, in connection with the ongoing investigation under the PMLA Act. The ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Vigilance Department of Dehradun against Yadav under the Prevention of Corruption Act, for possessing assets disproportionate to known sources of income. (ANI) Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party over the RBI's decision to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday said that "notebandi" would not help the people of the country and it is time for "votebandi" in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The TMC leader said that the Karnataka results, in which the BJP was ousted from power by Congress which returned with a thumping majority, will be repeated in next year's general elections. "Now it is the time for 'Votebandi', 'notebandi' won't do anything. 'Votebandi' will happen in 2024...Karnataka results will be repeated in 2024," Banerjee said while speaking to media after being questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore recruitment scam in West Bengal schools for over nine hours. He further took a swipe at the BJP over the induction of people who are being probed by the central agencies. "It is extremely unfortunate that the party at the helm of affairs in the country is inducting people against whom a probe is being done by central agencies," he said. Earlier on Saturday, he said that he answered all the questions hurled at him. "I was questioned for 9 hrs 40 minutes by CBI. This was a total waste of their time (CBI time) and my time. Arrest me if you have proof against me. We will not bow down to you," TMC MP said. Banerjee also alleged that this is being done by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the backdrop of his recently launched Jono Sanjog Yatra, which will resume again on May 22. "In the name of investigation, they are harassing me. They want to hamper my Jan Sanjog Yatra. This is done by BJP," he said, adding that he is ready to cooperate with the central agency. He further said that, however, CBI does not interrogate BJP leaders who are involved in many scams. Launching a strong attack at the Centre, he said, "I will not be a pet dog of Delhi. They (BJP) are not able to suppress us." The CBI summon came after the Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the central agencies to quiz the TMC leader in the recruitment scam in West Bengal schools. Central agencies previously questioned Abhishek, his wife and his sister-in-law in relation to a coal smuggling scam case. (ANI) The train (Up-22227-Down-22228) will run between New Jalpaiguri to Guwahati six days in a week, covering around 410 km within 6 hours. The train will depart from New Jalpaiguri in Siliguri and reach Assam's Guwahati, added the ADRM. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Odisha's first Vande Bharat train between Puri to Howrah via video conferencing. Following the launch of Odisha's first Vande Bharat train, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that PM Modi has set a target that Vande Bharat should reach almost all the states by June this year. Speaking with ANI in Howarh, Vaishnaw said, "PM Modi has set a target that Vande Bharat should reach almost all the states by June...Vande Metro is being designed for a distance of less than 100 km and for daily travel of passengers." After reaching Howrah by travelling on Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express later on Thursday, Vaishnaw termed the journey extremely comfortable. "The journey was extremely comfortable and the best part of the journey was interacting with youngsters and passengers," said the Union Minister. (ANI) A team of 12 Chinese medical experts returned to China on Friday after finishing their medical aid program in Ethiopia. The medical team, led by the Army Medical University's Southwest Hospital in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, is the eighth expert team that the Army Medical University (AMU) has sent to aid Ethiopia. The team featured experts from 12 hospital departments, including the oncology, infectious diseases, and radiology departments. The team arrived in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, in May 2022. During their stay, the team saw over 2,700 patients and performed or instructed more than 500 operations. The team also held 24 lectures and trained 25 local doctors. Since 2015, the AMU has dispatched a total of 85 experts in nine batches to Ethiopia. They have offered medical services to 22,000 people, performed or instructed more than 1,600 operations, and transported and installed over 60,000 ancillary facilities, signs and other supplies. The latest team departed for Ethiopia on May 10, and is offering services including clinical treatment, personnel training and technical support during the one-year aid program. "PM Modi has done unprecedented work in the last nine years. We will win all the five Lok Sabha seats from here and send them with more votes," said Dhami after the BJP State Working Committee meeting held on Saturday. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took part in Bharatiya Janata Party BJP's State Working Committee meeting in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The meeting held at the Survey Auditorium in Dehradun's Hathibarkala was called for discussions regarding the state's Lok Sabha elections. Uttarakhand has five Lok Sabha seats. The countrywide Mass Contact Campaign, which will start on May 30, was also discussed at the conference. (ANI) The Madurai bench of Madras High Court rejected the bail plea of a key accused arrested by the Crime Branch, Crime Investigation Department in connection with sexual harassment and extortion of several women in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari in 2020. The accused, identified as Nagercoil Kasi, allegedly blackmailed more than 100 women, including a female doctor, by threatening them to upload their pornographic photos on the internet and extorting lakhs of rupees from them. A case was registered against him in April 2020 and he was imprisoned. He had filed a petition in the Madurai branch of the High Court seeking bail in this case. Justice T.V Tamilselvi considering the seriousness and gravity of the charges against the petitioner, said, "The court was not inclined to grant him bail." The court observed that he became physically intimate with women, recorded the act and threatened them. It is said that he extorted several lakhs of rupees from the women. The court had elaborately discussed the bad conduct of the petitioner. The petitioner has been involved in five other cases and he has also spoiled life of the victims. The court observed that if the petitioner is released on bail, there is every possibility of him tampering with the evidence. (ANI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday held a meeting with his counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital and extended his support to the AAP chief against the Centre bringing an ordinance to give the control of 'services' back to Delhi Lieutenant Governor. Soon after the meeting, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav addressed the media. Speaking on the issue, Bihar CM said, "How can powers given to an elected government be taken away? It's against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal." Bihar CM who is putting in efforts to unite opposition forces against the BJP-led government at the Centre said, "Will hold meetings in the future as well, we are trying to bring together all opposition parties in the country." While addressing the media on the issue of the Centre bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi Kejriwal said, Nitish said that he stands with the people of the national capital. While the Delhi CM said, "Today, in a meeting with Nitish Ji, he said that he stands with the people of Delhi, on the issue of the Centre bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi." "In case, the Centre brings this ordinance as a bill, if all non-BJP parties come together it can be defeated in Rajya Sabha. If such a thing happens, it can send a message that the BJP government will be out in 2024," Kejriwal added. Taking a swipe at the BJP government, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said, "BJP is troubling the non-BJP governments. The central government is doing an injustice to Arvind Kejriwal. We stand with them. Discrimination is not fair. We will not let this happen," he said. On Friday, the Union government brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) regarding the 'transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters'. The ordinance has been brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the SC judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case. Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar has been meeting Opposition leaders to strengthen the bloc against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. (ANI) The accused have been identified as Baharul Ali, Liyakat Ali, Halibut Ali, Rafiqul Islam, Nizamuddin, Abdul Salem, Harmuz Ali, Abdul Matleb, Hanif Ali, Nur Amin, Rafiqul Islam, added the ASP. The accused were arrested from Tezpur Borghat, Chariduar, and Bhalukjarani of the district. "We have arrested 11 persons named Baharul Ali, Liyakat Ali, Halibut Ali, Rafiqul Islam, Nizamuddin, Abdul Salem, Harmuz Ali, all hailing from Chariduar area while Abdul Matleb, Hanif Ali are from Bhalukjarani area and Nur Amin, Rafiqul Islam from Borghat area. They are allegedly involved in fake gold smuggling activities," said the ASP. Police also recovered fake gold pieces from their possession. Assam police have arrested 71 persons from different parts of the state in the past 24 hours in connection with fake gold smuggling cases. Police are investigating the matter further. (ANI) PLFI is a splinter group of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). He was carrying a reward of Rs 30 lakh out of which, the reward of Rs 25 lakh has been declared by Jharkhand Police while Rs 5 lakh by NIA, they said. In December 2020, Jharkhand Police released a picture with the reward amount of seven wanted militants of the banned extremist outfit Peoples' Liberation Front of India (PLFI) including its supremo Dinesh Gope. In July of the same year, the NIA filed the supplementary charge sheet in the NIA Special Court against Shakuntala Kumari and Hira Devi, wives of Dinesh Gope, Jaiprakash Singh Bhuiyan, Amit Kumar, and Fuleshwar Gope pertaining to the seizure of Rs 25.38 lakh in demonetised currency, belonging to Dinesh Gope, self-styled chief of Peoples' Liberation Front of India (PLFI). (ANI) Ahead of The third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting scheduled to take place in Srinagar, the Chief Coordinator for India's G20 Presidency, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, on Sunday said the mega event will be an opportunity for delegates to see 'Paradise on Earth'. "The 3rd meeting of the Tourism working group in Srinagar will be an opportunity for G20 delegates to see 'paradise on Earth'," Harsh Vardhan Shringla said in a tweet. Shringla shared some pictures of the city being ready for the summit, and said, "Here's how Srinagar and its people are getting ready to welcome the delegates." The stage is all set for the third G20 tourism working group meeting scheduled to take place in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir from May 22- 24, 2023 under India's presidency. According to a report, there has been a resurgence of confidence among the youth that foreign tourists would soon start travelling to Kashmir in great numbers. Tourism, the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir's economy absorbs the labour force from unskilled to the unorganized sector, which gives impetus to educational unemployment. From ensuring that 120 Smart City projects are completed on time to beefing up security, the administration in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) is working round-the-clock to ensure that the summit in Srinagar, is a huge success and promotes Kashmir as a global tourism destination. With sustainable and inclusive development initiatives taken by the Modi government, the citizens in Jammu and Kashmir believe that the event (G20 Tourism Working Group meeting) can serve as a power booster for the local economy and a progressive factor for the business community in the region to explore multidimensional growth opportunities. Stating that G-20 was purely a peoples' event, Jammu and Kashmir's Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on April 15 said the event would provide a great opportunity to push J-K's handloom, handicraft, Pashmina, and dry fruit to international markets. Apart from the security situations, streets and flyovers have been painted in the G20 theme colours, while new walkways are being created throughout Srinagar city in preparation for the event. Delegates from different countries will envision the valley in terms of socio-economic development. The amalgamation of international organizations and Kashmir Valley is a golden opportunity for remote areas to foster limited tourism to large-scale tourism. The meeting will openly discuss the challenges coming in the way of tourism and development. (ANI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested the absconding self-styled supremo of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a proscribed Naxal outfit of Jharkhand. Dinesh Gope alias Kuldeep Yadav alias Badku was nabbed in New Delhi, said the NIA, adding "The accused had 102 criminal cases against him and carried a bounty of Rs 30 lakh." Gope, a resident of Khunti district in Jharkhand, was earlier chargesheeted by the NIA in the case relating to the recovery of demonetized currency of Rs 25.38 lakh from the operatives of PLFI. He was absconding in the case which is among one of the two cases being investigated by the NIA's Ranchi branch against the PLFI. According to NIA investigations, more than 102 criminal cases are registered against Gope in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha, and most of these cases relate to murders, abductions, threats, extortion, and raising funds for the PLFI, a Maoist outfit formed in 2007 in Jharkhand and also a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). The NIA had also declared a reward of Rs 5 lakh for leads on Gope, in addition to the reward of Rs 25 lakh announced by the Jharkhand Government. "Gope had been absconding for almost two decades," said the NIA. On February 3 last year, the NIA said, an encounter had taken place between a Gope-led PLFI squad and security personnel in the forest area under Gudri Police Station of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. "Several rounds were fired in the encounter before the rebels sneaked into the forest and Gope managed to escape. He had been absconding since then, and had been taking shelter at different places while making all efforts to re-establish the PLFI's stronghold in Jharkhand," said the anti-terror agency. The NIA said that Gope used to extort money and execute attacks through his PLFI team members to terrorize businessmen, contractors and the public at large. "Gope along with his associates was involved in depositing the demonetized currency in a bank account at a petrol pump to be later collected through levy and extortion. The illegal money was then invested through banking channels and dubious shell companies in the name of close associates and family members of the accused Gope," reveals the NIA, citing its investigations. The case was initially registered on November 10, 2016 at Bero Police Station in Ranchi, and re-registered by the NIA on January 19, 2018. The police had filed the first Chargesheet against four persons on January 9, 2017. The NIA filed the first Supplementary Chargesheet in the case against 11 accused, including Gope. Subsequently, the NIA filed the second supplementary chargesheet in the case on July 23 last year against five individuals and three private limited companies. The NIA had also attached 14 bank accounts and two cars alongwith cash and immovable property worth more than a crore in the case. Known previously as Jharkhand Liberation Tigers (JLT), PLFI is responsible for hundreds of terror incidents in Jharkhand, including several murders using firearms, as per the NIA investigations. "The outfit used to lure unemployed youth by providing them motorbikes, mobile phones and easy money and after imparting training, used to equip them with lethal weapons to carry out terror incidents." "Extortion is PLFI's major source of income and the outfit has been targeting coal traders, railway contractors and various private entities involved in developmental projects in various districts of Jharkhand. The naxal outfit had also formed alliances with different criminal gangs in order to spread their nefarious activities, and executed several incidents of murders and arson in Jharkhand," said the NIA. As per the central probe agency, Gope was part of a criminal conspiracy to channelize the extorted funds collected from the contractors and businessmen engaged in the developmental projects in Jharkhand. "Gope was involved in investing these funds in dubious shell companies like Palak Enterprises, Shiv Adi Shakti, Shiv Shakti Samridhi Infra Pvt Ltd and Bhavya Engicon, formed in partnership with other PLFI associates and his family members. The extorted money was also being transferred from Jharkhand to other places through a network of hawala operators." In July 2007, Masi Charan Purty, a renegade of the CPI-Maoist, along with several of his followers, had joined Gope in order to raise PLFI as a Naxal outfit, said the NIA. Though Masi Charan Purty was subsequently arrested, the federal agency said the PLFI spread its activities under Gope's command. He used to collect huge amounts of extortion money, which was further used to procure sophisticated weapons, including AK 47s and foreign-made Rifles, such as HK 33, said NIA. (ANI) After one of its senior scientists, Pradeep Kurulkar, was arrested for allegedly leaking sensitive information to enemy spies, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has issued a strong advisory to its personnel asking them not to take calls from unknown numbers and to avoid social media platforms. "We have been issuing advisories and holding lectures by experts on maintaining cyber discipline but this incident has happened," senior DRDO officials told ANI. "After the arrest of senior Scientist Pradeep Kurulkar, we have issued a strong advisory to all our personnel to maintain cyber discipline like not taking calls from unknown numbers or foreign numbers," they said. The personnel have also been asked to avoid presence on social media as this can lead to engagement with strangers and one can be a victim of such enemy intelligence operatives, the officials said. DRDO chief Dr Samir V Kamat has taken a strong view of the incident and has empathised that everyone in the defence research agency must behave and act responsibly while using the internet. The officials said all the personnel have to be responsible enough on social media and other apps as many such operatives have been trying to target individual officers using WhatsApp numbers mostly from outside the country. The DRDO works on strategic projects that are most of the time classified in nature. On May 3, the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad arrested top DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar on charges of leaking sensitive information to a virtual honey trapper suspected to be a Pakistani intelligence operative. He was allegedly honey-trapped by a woman whom he had befriended on social media last year. The DRDO had carried out a probe into his activities and was prima facie found to be leaking information after which he was sacked as the Director of the lab he was heading in Pune. He was head of the Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) in Pune. (ANI) An accused official, Ved Prakash Yadav, has been arrested in the case in which police seized over Rs 2.31 crores in cash and 1 kg of gold biscuits from a basement of the government office in Jaipur, police said on Sunday. "Ved Prakash Yadav, joint director and store in-charge of the Information Technology Department has been arrested in the case. In the CCTV footage scanned by the police, he is seen opening the cupboard and keeping the bag, and taking it out," Jaipur Police Commissioner Anand Srivastava told ANI. "Police teams involved in the investigation of the case reached out to accused Vedprakash after going through the CCTV footage of the last 30 days. Prakash was seen committing the dubious act in the footage, accordingly, he was interrogated in custody, then he accepted his crime," he added. Police further mentioned that after the interrogation by police, the accused Ved Prakash has been handed over to Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB). "Joint Director DOIT Vedprakash Yadav has been taken into custody by Jaipur Commissionerate Police and handed over to ACB after interrogation," he said. Police said that the accused Yadav had bought the recovered gold for Rs 38 lakh. "Yadav had bought the gold bullion for about Rs 38 lakh during demonetization in 2016. As the matter was related to bribery, the police sent the accused officer to the Anti-Corruption Bureau with a report. At present, ACB will investigate this matter and will also collect information from which people Yadav took bribes for what work," he said. Further investigation is underway in this matter. In this regard, Rajasthan Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas on late Saturday night said that no one will be spared, a day after state police seized unclaimed cash worth crores and a gold bar from a government building here. Speaking to the media in Jaipur, Khachariyawas said, "Action will be taken against those officials who were involved. Rajasthan Police has seized the cash and will not spare anyone. If anyone is found doing wrong, whether, in the Centre or Rajasthan government, they will face the consequences." (ANI) Amid talks on opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy, Tejashwi Yadav will meet Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday. This comes after the Bihar CM met his Delhi counterpart on Sunday amid the row over the Centre's ordinance regarding the 'control of services' in the national capital. Soon after the meeting, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav addressed the media. Speaking on the issue, Bihar CM said, "How can powers given to an elected government be taken away? It's against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal." "Will hold meetings in the future as well, we are trying to bring together all opposition parties in the country," Kumar added. The Delhi CM said, "Today, in a meeting with Nitish Ji, he said that he stands with the people of Delhi, on the issue of the Centre bringing an ordinance negating SC order in favour of Delhi." "In case, the Centre brings this ordinance as a bill, if all non-BJP parties come together it can be defeated in Rajya Sabha. If such a thing happens, it can send a message that the BJP government will be out in 2024," Kejriwal added. Taking a swipe at the BJP government, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said, "BJP is troubling the non-BJP governments. The central government is doing an injustice to Arvind Kejriwal. We stand with them. Discrimination is not fair. We will not let this happen," he said. To further gather support against the Centre's move, the AAP national convenor will also meet former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on May 24 and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on May 25, according to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). On Friday, the Union government brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) regarding the 'transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters'. The ordinance has been brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the SC judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case. Meanwhile, the Bihar CM had also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka's new Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru after Congress party's landslide victory in the state. After the results, Kumar had told reporters, "Efforts are underway to unite the opposition as it would be in the interest of the whole nation." "They (Congress) had a massive win (in Karnataka). If Opposition parties come together, that will be in the interest of the nation, efforts are underway for that," Kumar had said. Nitish Kumar has been meeting Opposition leaders to "strengthen the bloc" against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Kumar had caught the national imagination with his pitch for a "united opposition" which he believes, can take on and defeat the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha polls. (ANI) Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the Rehabilitation International Centennial Celebration on Sunday. On China's 33rd national day of assisting disabled persons on Sunday, Xi extended his greetings to all individuals with disabilities, their relatives, and the dedicated personnel serving them across the nation. He also expressed gratitude to all international organizations and personages from all walks of life who demonstrate care and support for the cause of empowering people with disabilities in China. Rehabilitation International is an international organization of great influence in regard to the cause of persons with disabilities, and has worked tirelessly in safeguarding the dignity of such individuals, protecting their rights and improving their well-being, said Xi. He added that China actively supports the organization's work. China pays particular attention to the well-being of people with disabilities in the country, Xi said, noting the country will continue to improve the social security and service systems for these people and promote the all-around development of relevant programs. China is willing to join hands with all countries worldwide to promote international exchanges and cooperation on disability, and continue improving the health and well-being of humankind, Xi said. Hosted by Rehabilitation International and organized by the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the centennial celebrations of Rehabilitation International kicked off in Beijing on Sunday. Amid high security, Srinagar is all set to host the three-day 'Third G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting' from Monday with the highest participation registered compared to the previous two such meetings organised at Gujarat's Rann of Kutch and West Bengal's Siliguri. The meeting will be held between May 22-24 deliberating on five key priority areas: Green Tourism, Digitalization, Skills, MSMEs and Destination Management. The meeting aims to strengthen economic growth, preserve cultural heritage and promote sustainable development of the region. Tourism Ministry secretary Arvind Singh, while addressing a press conference at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) here on Sunday, said the stage is set for discussions and deliberations on final deliverables. There are two key deliverables of the Tourism Working Group, which include GOA Roadmap for Tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and G20 Tourism Ministers' Declaration, he said. "This is the only working group meeting taking place in Srinagar as part of the G20 effort with excellent response from all the member countries, all the invited countries and the international organisations, having the highest participation registered compared to the first two Tourism Working Group Meetings at Rann of Kutch and Siliguri," said Singh. The officer further said G20 member countries, invited countries, and international organizations will give valuable inputs and feedback on these two draft documents and after negotiations with G20 Member Countries on these drafts, final versions will be placed in the 'Fourth Tourism Working Group Meeting'. Singh informed that the '3rd Tourism Working Group Meeting' will deliberate on the five key priority areas: Green Tourism, Digitalization, Skills, MSMEs and Destination Management. "These priorities are key building blocks for accelerating the transition of the tourism sector and achieving the targets for 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" The officer said that a side event on 'Film Tourism for Economic Growth and Cultural Preservation' will be organized on May 22-23, focusing on strategies to promote film tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. The event will witness the participation of G20 member countries, invited countries, international organizations, and industry stakeholders. Singh also said that a draft 'National Strategy on Film Tourism' will be unveiled to provide a roadmap for harnessing the role of films in promoting tourist destinations. Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Chief Coordinator G20 said, that it is the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the message of India's G20 Presidency is taken to the grassroot level through active Jan Bhagidari. Shringla appreciated the efforts of the Government to sensitise the people about the goals and purpose of G20 through multiple public activities. Chief Secretary Jammu and Kashmir, Arun Mehta said, the change in J-K is evident on the ground with the arrival of the highest number of tourists (18.8 million) in 2022. "300 new tourist destinations will come up in Jammu and Kashmir seeing the influx of tourists with each destination providing enough to the tourists," said Mehta. He further said the influx of the highest number of foreign tourists to Jammu and Kashmir is a healthy sign for tourism in the Union Territory. During the 3rd Tourism Working Group meeting, the delegates will also visit the Art and Craft Bazaar organized by the State Government showcasing local handicrafts, work of artisans, signifying the importance of community participation. The delegates will also have 'hands-on' experience through DIY Activities at the Craft Bazaar. During the press conference, it was also informed that the Ministry of Tourism is also promoting local products of Jammu and Kashmir by handing souvenirs to delegates from One District One Product (ODOP) like paper mache box, saffron from Pampore, Kawa Cups and brass spoon, walnuts from Anantnag, Shopian and Kupwara. The G20 event presents a unique opportunity to highlight the tourism potential and cultural richness of the region. (ANI) In a major development in the Antilia case, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday called former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh the "mastermind" of the whole case. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader's remarks have come days after Maharashtra Government on May 12 dropped charges against Parambir Singh and revoked his suspension by the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Addressing the press conference here in Pune, Deshmukh said, "When I was the Home Minister of Maharashtra during the Antilia bomb scare case, which was followed by Manshukh Hiren murder, I immediately suspended Parambir Singh and transferred him to low profile position. But under the pressure from some political party, he made accusations against me. After that, I was arrested but the cases against me were not proved in the court, and I was given bail. Parambir Singh in the affidavit in the court had said that he doesn't have any evidence to support his own allegations" "From keeping gelatin stick outside Antilia, to doing complete planning of that case was done under the mastermind Parambir Singh. Four other officers inside the CP office in Mumbai including Sachin Waze were involved in the case. Now the Suspension of Parambir Singh was revoked just to award him for making false allegations against me," Deshmukh added. Earlier on May 17, Anil Deshmukh had alleged that the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra had used Pramabir Singh to "frame" him and his suspension has been revoked as "reward". "The government used Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh to frame me and now as a reward his suspension has been revoked. I will raise this issue in the party's core committee meeting today," Deshmukh said. Anil Deshmukh was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November 2021, in an alleged corruption case. The ED had alleged that Deshmukh misused his position as state home minister and collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars in Mumbai through some police officers. He was released in December 2022 The case pertains to the murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiren and parking a car full of explosives outside Antilia, the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner on March 17, 2021, and was made the General Commander of Maharashtra State Home Guard after he levelled allegations against then-state home minister Anil Deshmukh. Singh, who was transferred from the top post, had alleged that then Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked suspended Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore for him every month. Param Bir Singh had made these allegations in a letter written to then Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. (ANI) After much uproar over the Congress's promise to ban Bajrang Dal in its election manifesto ahead of the Karnataka elections, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani on Sunday said that if the Congress had banned the right-wing organization 70 years ago, the country would not have been ruined. "In its manifesto, the Congress party had talked about banning Bajrang Dal. If they had taken this decision 70 years back, the country would not have been ruined. When they said this, there was a hue and cry that Congress made a mistake by including it in its manifesto. I understood that it was not a mistake but it was being corrected," Madani said at an event here. "If there was no anti-Muslim policy of Bajrang Dal, then the Popular Front of India (PFI) would not have emerged. PFI is not an action but a reaction," he added. Congress faced a major backlash from Hindu organisations after it announced a ban on Bajrang Dal in its manifesto for the Karnataka assembly elections. "We believe that law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and Organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities," read the Congress manifesto. The Bajrang Bali row had taken centre stage during the election campaigns in the run-up to the Karnataka Assembly polls. At a poll campaign rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lashed out at the Congress and said that the people of Karnataka should punish those who promised to ban the Bajrang Dal and urged people to chant 'Jai Bajrangbali' when they went to cast their vote. (ANI) Amid the row over the Centre's Ordinance with respect to the control of services in Delhi, Former Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Sunday left a piece of advice for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while recalling the tenure of the late Sheila Dikshit as CM. Maken asked Kejriwal to take note of the journey of the late Congress leader for the betterment of Delhi Taking to his personal Twitter handle, Maken reminded CM Kejriwal that she fought for the betterment of Delhi. https://twitter.com/ajaymaken/status/1660174394831011840?t=wY10vX8nOkKK91uK6EZMUA&s=19 "I hope the current Chief Minister takes note of this journey and learns from it," he said. Ajay Maken asked Kejriwal to engage with officers respectfully, hold dialogues, and persuade them for Delhi's advancement. "They will certainly align with your vision if it's sincere. Your past actions - summoning officers at ungodly hours, resorting to mistreatment and harsh words - are not constructive. It's crucial to recognize that such behaviour only contributes to the city's distress," he tweeted. "Reflecting on those years, I firmly believe, "Sheila Dikshit Ji's government's first six years were the most productive phase. She fought not for power, but for the betterment of Delhi. Power privatization, CNG conversion, Metro launch, construction of flyovers, hospitals, schools - they all happened because she fought tirelessly for Delhi," Ajay Maken tweeted. Recalling a particular incident, Maken said that during his tenure as the Transport Minister, the Transport Commissioner was removed without his Knowledge. The decision to replace the Commissioner was taken by the L-G who remained steadfast and refused to reverse his order. Maken further added that when he attempted to protest by holding a press conference, Sheila Dikshit advised against the same and refrained him from speaking about their failed attempt. She advised, "With a gentle wave of her fingers, she advised, "No, no, no... Don't tell anyone about our failed attempt. Officers shouldn't know that we tried and couldn't succeed. If they find out, they might stop taking us seriously." He further writes, her lessons of leadership and diplomacy continue to guide me, "She taught me to tackle obstacles skillfully, to serve with a clear focus on the city's welfare. To offer tea and pakodas when needed, and to stand firm when required. That's Sheila Ji's legacy, a guide to serving public interest above all else." Maken further writes, the turn of events was remarkable. "The new officer understood the gravity of the situation. We stood united against various lobbies and earned accolades from the Supreme Court and even the US Government," He added, "I say with pride." "We became the first city globally to fully convert its public transport system to CNG." Arvind Kejriwal will meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray this week in Mumbai to seek support against the Centre's ordinance on the transfer of bureaucrats in the national capital. Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday held a meeting with his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital and extended his support to the AAP chief against the Centre bringing an ordinance to give the control of 'services' back to Delhi Lieutenant Governor. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav was also present at the occasion. On Friday, the Union government brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) regarding the 'transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters'. The ordinance has been brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the SC judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case. (ANI) Two months after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia has put Karim Khan, a British prosecutor at the Hague-based court, on its "wanted" list, reported Politico, a German-owned political newspaper based in the US. In March this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian official Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova in connection with an alleged conspiracy to deport Ukrainian minors to Russia. The ICC held Putin "responsible for war crimes" committed by Russian forces in Ukraine during the war that has been ongoing for over a year. Apparently, Khan's photograph and personal details were visible in the Russian Interior Ministry's database, where he is labelled as "wanted on felony charges," Politico reported citing Russian independent media outlet Mediazona on Friday. Russia initiated criminal proceedings against Khan and three ICC judges in March on the grounds that they had committed "signs of crimes" under Russian law. This includes, in Khan's instance, knowingly accusing an innocent individual of a crime and, in the judges' cases, intentionally wrongful imprisonment, Politico reported. In March, the Hague-based court said in a statement that Putin "is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation." It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children's rights in the office of the president of the Russian Federation on similar allegations, according to Al Jazeera. The UN genocide convention defines "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" as one of five acts that can be prosecuted as genocide. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has severed ties with several prominent international organisations, deepening the country's isolation from the West. Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe, the continent's premier human rights watchdog, in March of last year for its invasion of Ukraine. (ANI) Prime Minister Modi was seen having a brief conversation with Australian PM Anthony Albanese as the invited countries were on their way to pay tributes to Hiroshima victims. PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. The prime minister is visiting the East Asian country at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida. Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to May 21. Prime Minister Modi reviewed the full range of relations between India and Japan during his bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida earlier on Saturday. The two leaders also discussed the focus areas of India's G20 Presidency and Japan's G7 Presidency towards making the planet better. The two leaders discussed ways to synergise the efforts of their respective G-20 and G-7 Presidencies. Prime Minister stressed the need to highlight the concerns and priorities of Global South. The G7 Summit is an international forum held annually for the leaders of the G7 member states of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada (in order of rotating presidency), and the European Union (EU). Japan under its G7 Presidency has invited leaders from Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam. (ANI) US President Joe Biden on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his autograph after discovering how he has been managing large crowds, according to sources. Yesterday during the Quad meeting, President Joe Biden came up to PM Modi and told that he's been facing a challenge with a deluge of requests from prominent citizens to attend the program of PM Modi. To this, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was also present on the occasion added that there is a capacity of 20,000 for the community reception in Sydney but he is still not able to accommodate the requests he is getting. Both President Biden and PM Albanese complained to PM Modi about their peculiar challenges. PM Albanese further remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium, more than 90,000 people welcomed PM Modi during the victory lap. To this, Joe Biden told PM Modi, "I should take your autograph." PM Modi is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. The prime minister is visiting the East Asian country at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida. Japan is hosting the G7 summit as the current chair of the powerful grouping. PM Modi is in Hiroshima for the G7 summit from May 19 to 21. PM Modi on Saturday said that India will be willing to host the next Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting in 2024. "We will be happy to host the Quad summit in India in 2024," PM Modi said in the opening remarks of the Quad meeting held on the sidelines of a Group of Seven Summit (G-7) meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. PM Modi was addressing leaders of the US, Australia, and Japan, which along with Japan constitute the informal strategic forum called the Quadrilateral Grouping whose primary objective is working for a free, open, prosperous, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. "Quad will continue to make efforts towards global good, welfare of the people, prosperity and peace," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. Earlier this week, the planned summit of Quad leaders from the US, India, Australia, and Japan in Sydney was cancelled after US President Biden withdrew from his visit due to ongoing debt limit talks in Washington. However, the White on Friday (local time) agreed to hold the summit in Japan's Hiroshima. "After President Biden had to postpone his trip to Australia, the Quad leaders agreed that they would hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year. So tomorrow, in addition to the G7, President Biden will participate in the third in-person Quad Leaders' meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India," read a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Biden scrapped his planned trip to Sydney as well as a historic visit to Papua New Guinea. The decision -- which prompted Albanese to cancel the scheduled Quad summit -- was seen as a self-inflicted blow to hopes of a more visible US presence in the Indo-Pacific amid its competition with China in the region. US President Biden thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Japan's prime minister Fumio Kishida for agreeing to participate in the Quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit here. The White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement on Friday (local time) said that Quad leaders agreed to hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad's progress over the past year. "Along with sharing strategic assessments, the leaders will welcome new forms of Quad cooperation on secure digital technology, submarine cables, infrastructure capacity building, and maritime awareness," the statement added. (ANI) The Japanese newspapers on Sunday were flooded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the G7 Summit. They also extensively covered Zelenskyy's visit to Hiroshima amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine that started on February 24 last year. "Democracy needs more. I think we need clear global leadership of democracy. This is the main thing that we provide with our cooperation," the Ukrainian president said. Earlier on Saturday, he invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and also thanked him for supporting the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy said, "Had a meeting with Prime Minister of India @narendramodi in Japan. I briefed the interlocutor in detail on the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and invited India to join its implementation. I spoke about Ukraine's needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals. I thank India for supporting our country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organizations, and for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine." In the meeting, PM Modi assured that he will do whatever is possible to help in resolving the Ukraine conflict. "India and I will do whatever we can for resolving the conflict," PM Modi said. Zelenskyy said that he believed that India will participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need. Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy shared a video where he said, "I spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I gave an update on the progress of our peace formula. We have already passed many stages of presenting the formula to leaders and countries from different parts of the world. The day before the formula was successfully presented to the participants of the Arab League Summit." "I believe India will participate in restoring the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need," he added. Notably, this was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders after the Russia-Ukraine war started on February 24 last year. Since the Ukraine conflict began, PM Modi has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as President Zelenskyy a number of times. Group of Seven talks culminated Sunday with a dramatic, in-person appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is pressing leaders gathered here to remain united against Russian aggression. In a striking morning photo-op, leaders in suit jackets lined up alongside the Ukrainian president, dressed in his usual military green, to show their sustained support for his country moving ahead, reported CNN. As they convened behind closed doors, it was almost certain Zelenskyy would continue his appeals for more powerful weapons and tougher sanctions on Russia. "Together with all of our allies and partners, we have achieved such a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected. There have been attempts to ignore and disregard what we value. But now it is impossible. Now our power is growing. Anyone who might want to wage aggression against a democratic country sees what the response will be. And the more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russia's insane path. But is this enough? Democracy needs more. I think we need the clear global leadership of democracy. This is the main thing that we provide with our cooperation," tweeted Zelenskyy. (ANI) All the allies and partners have achieved a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, adding that "Democracy needs more." Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy said, "Together with all of our allies and partners, we have achieved such a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected. There have been attempts to ignore and disregard what we value. But now it is impossible. Now our power is growing. Anyone who might want to wage aggression against a democratic country sees what the response will be." "And the more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russia's insane path. But is this enough? Democracy needs more. I think we need the clear global leadership of democracy. This is the main thing that we provide with our cooperation," he added. Ukrainian President arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UK PM Rishi Sunak, and Canadian leader Justin Trudeau. During his meeting with PM Modi, Zelenskyy invited him to join the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and also thanked him for supporting the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy said, "Had a meeting with Prime Minister of India @narendramodi in Japan. I briefed the interlocutor in detail on the Ukrainian Peace Formula initiative and invited India to join its implementation. I spoke about Ukraine's needs in humanitarian demining and mobile hospitals. I thank India for supporting our country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, in particular, at the platforms of international organizations, and for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine." Meanwhile, in the meeting, PM Modi assured that he will do whatever is possible to help in resolving the Ukraine conflict. "India and I will do whatever we can for resolving the conflict," said PM Modi. This is the first meeting between the two leaders since the Russia-Ukraine conflict that began last year on February 24. "For the past 1-1.5 years we have had telephonic conversations, but after Glasgow, we are meeting after a long time," said PM Modi. The Ukrainian President is attending the summit on an invitation by Japan, the current chair of the powerful grouping. (ANI) United States President Joe Biden on Sunday invited Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to hold a formal trilateral meeting, Kyodo News Agency reported. The invitation comes amid Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. Moreover, the G7 leaders during the Summit in Hiroshima agreed on the importance of the G7 having a unified approach on China, recognising the systemic challenge China poses to our collective economic security and regional stability. Biden commended Kishida and Yoon on their courageous work to improve their bilateral ties when he met with them together in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summits, according to the statement released by the White House. The leaders discussed how to take their trilateral cooperation to new heights, including new coordination in the face of North Korea's illicit nuclear and missile threats, on economic security, and on their respective Indo-Pacific Strategies. The leaders last held a three-way meeting in Cambodia in November and agreed to share missile warning data in real-time to cope with the growing threat of North Korea's nuclear and missile program. In the previous year's meeting, all three leaders reaffirmed the trilateral partnership guided by shared values, driven by innovation, and committed to shared prosperity and security. The Leaders commended the unprecedented level of trilateral coordination. Together, in their second trilateral meeting this year, the Leaders resolved to forge still closer trilateral links, in the security realm and beyond. "They recognize that the Indo-Pacific cannot be stable and secure while aggression rages anywhere; threats to territorial integrity and sovereignty undermine the fabric of the entire international order. They share condemnation in the strongest possible terms of Russia's indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure and call for the immediate restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty," the statement read. "They condemn Russia's nuclear threats to coerce and intimidate and state unequivocally that any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia would be an act of hostility against humanity and Russia shall never use it under any circumstances," it added. The leaders strongly opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific, including through unlawful maritime claims, militarization of reclaimed features, and coercive activities. The leaders reiterated their firm commitment to the rule of law, including the freedom of navigation and overflight, consistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). (ANI) As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Sunday, a rare moment was seen at the Port Moresby airport where PNG Prime Minister James Marape touched his feet and sought his blessings. PM Modi arrived in the Indo-Pacific country on the second leg of his three-country visit. Upon PM Modi's arrival, the Indian national anthem was played and the two prime ministers stood still in respect. PM Modi was also accorded a guard of honour on his arrival. This is PM Modi's first tour to PNG, as well as the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister to the Indo-Pacific country. Usually, Papua New Guinea doesn't give a ceremonial welcome to any leader coming after sunset. But the nation made a special exception for PM Modi, and a fully studded ceremonial welcome was given to him. https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1660259504876044289 A traditional folk dance performance was also staged outside the airport to welcome PM Modi to PNG. During his Papua New Guinea visit, PM Modi is set to co-chair the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) on Monday. PM Modi's Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape will also be there. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues. FIPIC was launched during PM Modi's visit to Fiji in 2014. Apart from the FIPIC engagements, PM Modi will also have bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae, Prime Minister Marape and some of the other PIC Leaders participating in the Summit. After his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will travel to Sydney at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. On Sunday, PM Modi wrapped up his fruitful visit to Japan and departed for Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister is on a six-day visit to three countries -- Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24. This tour comprises the G7 and Quad summits which were held in Hiroshima and the ensuing bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and hosting the third summit for the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) in Papua New Guinea. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a warm welcome from the Indian diaspora in Papua New Guinea's (PNG) capital city Port Moresby on Sunday. Hundreds of people waving the Tricolour were seen chanting "Har Har Modi," "Ghar Ghar Modi" as they interacted with PM Modi. Bharat Mata Ki Jai," echoed in the streets of Port Moresby as PM Modi approached to meet the Indian diaspora. He was welcomed by a crowd of hundreds of people of all ages including little kids who were waiting to meet and greet PM Modi. People were seen holding gifts to present to the Prime Minister while others clicked a selfie with PM Modi. Some members of the Indian community handed over a painting of PM Modi and his late Mother Hiraben. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Papua New Guinea (PNG), a rare moment was witnessed at the Port Moresby airport where PNG Prime Minister James Marape touched his feet and sought his blessings. PM Modi was also accorded a guard of honour on his arrival.This is PM Modi's first tour to PNG, as well as the first-ever visit by any Indian Prime Minister to the Indo-Pacific country. Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Baghchi said, "We have just landed at Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second leg of his three-nation tour. After having packed a day-and-a-half session in Hiroshima, the seven-half-hour flight has brought us to the island nation of Port of Papua New Guinea, where we are currently just looking at the arrival ceremony." "A very special gesture by Prime Minister Marape here, who has come personally to the airport to receive Prime Minister Modi. Tomorrow he's here only for the morning session, but the FIPIC III Summit will be in the morning apart from a bilateral meeting with the leadership of Papua New Guinea, as well as with the Prime Minister of New Zealand," he added. During his Papua New Guinea visit, PM Modi is set to co-chair the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III Summit) on Monday. PM Modi's Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape will also be there. The FIPIC Summit will see participation from leaders of 14 countries. Normally all of them rarely converge together due to connectivity and other issues. FIPIC was launched during PM Modi's visit to Fiji in 2014. Apart from the FIPIC engagements, PM Modi will also have bilateral interactions with Papua New Guinea Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae, Prime Minister Marape and some of the other PIC Leaders participating in the Summit. After his visit to Papua New Guinea, PM Modi will travel to Sydney at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. On Sunday, PM Modi wrapped up his fruitful visit to Japan and departed for Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister is on a six-day visit to three countries -- Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24. This tour comprises the G7 and Quad summits which were held in Hiroshima and the ensuing bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and hosting the third summit for the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) in Papua New Guinea. (ANI) 1,100-year-old breastplate to ward off evil may contain the oldest Cyrillic writing ever found We see a horizontal finger-shaped lead piece with writing inscribed on it against a white background. A 1,100 year-old inscription found on a breastplate unearthed in the ruins of a Bulgarian fortress may be one of the oldest Cyrillic texts ever found. "The text was written on a lead plate worn on the chest to protect the wearer from trouble and evil," said Ivailo Kanev, an archaeologist with Bulgaria's National Museum who leads the team excavating the fortress, which is on the border between Greece and Bulgaria. The inscription refers to two supplicants named Pavel and Dimitar, Kanev said. "It is not known who the supplicants Pavel and Dimitar were, but most likely Dimitar participated in the garrison, settled in the fortress, and was a relative of Pavel," Kanev said. The inscription dates to the time of Tsar Simeon I (also known as Simeon the Great) who ruled the Bulgarian Empire between 893 and 927, said Kanev. During this time the tsar expanded the empire, launching military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire . Related: Ancient inscription on jar found in Israel links kingdoms of Solomon and Sheba One of the oldest Cyrillic texts? The Cyrillic writing system, which is used in Russian and other languages across Eurasia, was developed during the Middle Ages. Based on how the letters are written and the location of the inscription within the fortress, "this text probably got into the fortress in the period between 916 and 927 and was brought by a Bulgarian military garrison," said Kanev. Prior to this discovery, the earliest surviving Cyrillic texts dated from 921. The newly discovered inscription is therefore one of the oldest Cyrillic texts ever found, Kanev said. Related stories Skeleton of ancient sports fan and head-shaped jar found in Bulgarian grave The story behind that 2,000-year-old Thracian chariot you saw on Reddit Ancient 'curse tablet' may show earliest Hebrew name of God Kanev said he was planning to publish a detailed description of the inscription and the fortress in the future. A researcher not involved with the excavation said that this is an important find but urged caution. The coast of Half Moon Bay, Calif. A small plane crashed Saturday in the ocean about 40 miles offshore, authorities said. (Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) A small private plane crashed Saturday in the Pacific about 40 miles west of Half Moon Bay following an emergency call for help, killing two people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane was a Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter, headed from Santa Rosa-Sonoma County airport to Honolulu. Two hours later it was forced to turn around due to what the pilot told air traffic controllers were "mechanical issues," a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said. The small turboprop plane is listed on aviation sites as typically having a range of about 700 miles, but FAA records show the plane had been outfitted with a tank system to allow longer flights. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane took off from Santa Rosa about 8:20 a.m., but turned back, headed for a small public airstrip at Half Moon Bay, crashing at 2:15 p.m. Tracking by Flightradar showed the Twin Otter turboprop turned around about 10:40 a.m. and was headed back to Santa Rosa until around 1:15 p.m., when it redirected toward Half Moon Bay, and began descending. Fifteen minutes later, it went down. The U.S. Coast Guard out of San Francisco broadcast an alert at 1:40 p.m. of a "small plane in distress" southwest of the Farallon Islands and advised mariners to look for people in a yellow life raft. But when a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter reached the location, the crew found the plane upside down in the water, its occupants still inside, said Petty Officer Matthew West. National Transportation Safety Board spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick said there were no other passengers on board, and that NTSB investigators are working to recover the plane. The identities of the pilot and co-pilot have not been released. The NTSB said it was still determining ownership of the plane. FAA records show it was registered to a trust managed by the Bank of Utah. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The roots of French cooking run deep. The foundations of the countrys culinary empire were laid as early as the mid-1600s when chef Francois Pierre La Varenne penned his hugely influential Le Cuisinier Francois recipe book, which emphasized regional and seasonal ingredients and highlighted complementary flavors. French cooking is, at its core, about making beautiful, refined food out of simple ingredients, said Maryann Tebben, author of Savoir-Faire: A History of Food in France. There is some mystery and magic to French cuisine that still draws people in. Even the basics a perfect baguette, flaky pastry, potatoes simmered in cream are astonishingly good even if we cant quite figure out what makes them so delicious. The cuisine of France keeps inspiring people. It is entertaining. It is delicious. It is accessible. It is possible, said Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud. Whether its country fare or haute cuisine that inspires, take a look at 20 classic French dishes: Boeuf Bourguignon Boeuf Bourguignon: Famed TV chef Julia Child called it the "stew of stews." - Deb Lindsey/The Washington Post/Getty Images Is there possibly a more French way to prepare beef than to marinate it in red wine? Named boeuf Bourguignon after the famed red wine from the Burgundy region of France, this dish combines a nice, fatty cut of beef with a dry pinot noir and plenty of fresh vegetables to create a hearty and indulgent stew. It has been the focus of many discussions over which cuts of beef and types of wine create the best flavor profiles. But the most important ingredient for success is patience like any good stew, boeuf Bourguignon is best when left overnight before serving. Not a fan of beef? Another French favorite, coq au vin, takes the Burgundian preparation and gives chicken the leading role instead. Bouillabaisse Bouillabaisse: This dish is an elevated take on the catch of the day. - Adobe Stock With a long name and an even longer list of ingredients, bouillabaisse is Marseilles gift to Frances culinary canon. The soup, once a poor mans dish and now a mainstay on many a Michelin-starred menu, elevates the catch of the day beyond your standard soupe de poisson. According to the Mediterranean ports bouillabaisse charter, in an attempt to standardize the ingredients and preparation of the classic dish, the soup must include at least four of six specific fish selections that are cut up in front of the diners. Alongside optional crustaceans and a spicy broth, no self-respecting bouillabaisse is complete without a topper of croutons dipped in rouille, a peppery garlic sauce. Tarte Tatin Tarte Tatin: The rustic upside-down caramelized apple tart has deep, buttery flavor. - Adobe Stock This list of classic French dishes would be incomplete without the inclusion of something from the countrys extensive repertoire of patisserie. Though not as refined or architectural as some treats seen in the windows of French sweet shops, the buttery, simmering tarte Tatin, essentially an upside-down caramelized apple tart, is famous around the world for its rich flavor and unique history. Legend has it that sisters Stephanie and Caroline Tatin were working in a restaurant in the Loire Valley of France in the late 19th century when Stephanie was overwhelmed in the kitchen by the influx of customers during hunting season. She accidentally left the apples in her apple pie cooking too long and tried to salvage it by covering the apples in pastry and baking. The resulting dish steaming apples under caramelized sugar with a flaky crust was so popular it was eventually named after the sisters: la tarte des demoiselles Tatin. Though tarte Tatin is sure to be delicious anywhere you try it, it might be best sampled where it originated. Northern France is very known for its apples, said David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris. They have spectacularly good cooking apples. French onion soup French onion soup: The cozy, brothy soup is topped with bread and melted cheese. - Tom McCorkle/The Washington Post/Getty Images Onion soup is not a new invention or even a dish that can be directly tied to France. Some of the earliest iterations of it can be traced back to ancient Rome. But the most famous version? The version you think of when you think onion soup? The version you order to start off your meal made with beef stock, onions, toasted bread and ooey-gooey Gruyere cheese? Thats all France. The element that really sets this soup apart from other, less indulgent onion-based options is the layer of cheese that tops the steaming broth. That comes from baking the soup in a broiler to melt the cheese and produce what the French call au gratin. The gratin technique (is) about making something in a shallow dish that will bake and get croute on top which means creating a crust and that crust can be cheese, can be bread, can be all kinds of things. But a nice crust, explained Boulud, who opened Le Gratin, an entire restaurant dedicated to highlighting the technique, in New York. The most popular dish at the restaurant is another cheesy French favorite, gratin Dauphinois, or gratin potatoes. Escargot Escargots: Snails with parsley and garlic butter are a French delicacy. - Natasha Breen/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Escargots are perhaps one of the most famous or infamous, depending on who you ask French dishes around. The delicacy, which can be traced all the way back to the Roman Empire, might not be for everyone, but its definitely worth a try for the adventurous eater. The classic recipe involves snails with parsley and garlic butter. The snails are served warm either inside their shells or in a specific dish fashioned with six to 12 small compartments. Often the dish comes with some bread to help soak up the rich, buttery flavor. These arent your average backyard snails either. The most popular snail species for escargots are the particularly well-regarded Burgundy snail, which is highly protected in France. Chocolate souffle Chocolate souffle: This rich yet lightweight dessert is a challenge to master but well worth the effort. - Adobe Stock Aptly named after the French term souffler, meaning to puff up, the experience of eating a chocolate souffle or one of its savory counterparts is a bit like biting into a cloud. The rich yet lightweight dessert has been gracing French tables since the 18th century, but was really perfected by esteemed chef and arbiter of haute cuisine Marie-Antoine Careme in the mid-1800s. Though notoriously difficult to prepare, the souffle has a relatively simple ingredient list. The distinctive airy texture comes from separating the egg whites from the yolk and whipping them into a stiff meringue before folding them back into the chocolate batter. The baking time and cooking temperature is specific, and easy to get wrong, but the payoff is immediate souffles are served hot and fresh from the oven. Crepes Crepes: Ultrathin pancakes can be filled with sweet or savory ingredients. - Adobe Stock Not every French dish can be served all day, but then again, the crepe isnt just any French dish. As Frances biggest-hitting entry to the global pancake catalog, crepes have a uniquely versatile quality. They can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They can be made with buckwheat flour, the tradition of the Brittany regions savory galettes, or with more widely used white flour. They can be folded into triangles or rolled into logs. The paper-thin pancake is prepared rather theatrically on large griddles at creperies. You can now find crepes made with any combination of sweet or savory ingredients, but crepes suzette are still a popular iteration, consisting of caramelized sugar, orange juice and, for a flash of drama, flambeed liqueur. Salade Nicoise Salade Nicoise: This dish is a celebration of fresh, colorful produce at its peak. - Adobe Stock Salade Nicoise is a celebration of the fresh, colorful produce available throughout the French Riviera, where the dish originated. Elegantly plated on a tray or large platter, the salad features a bed of lettuce and a simple olive oil dressing or vinaigrette that lets the real star of the dish truly shine the crudites, or raw vegetables. A purists salade Nicoise might feature a seasonal selection of fresh tomatoes, black olives, capers and green beans, all served cold, with the optional addition of anchovies or tuna. But as the salads popularity has grown outside of Nice, a number of ingredients have become common additions, such as hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, red bell peppers, fava beans and cucumbers. The sandwich version of this salad, pan bagnat, is also worth a try. Picture all the delicious ingredients of a Nicoise salad tucked into pain de campagne, or French sourdough. Creme brulee Creme brulee: Fire is required for this caramelized dessert. - Adobe Stock Every bite of a creme brulee is an exercise in opposites. The sweet vanilla custard flavor contrasted with the almost bitter flavor of the bruleed topping; the crunch of the caramelized sugar against the smooth, creamy texture of the custard underneath; the gentle water bath used to bake the custard compared with the dramatic blowtorch flame used to melt the sugar in this dish opposites definitely attract. Its hard to pinpoint when and even where the first creme brulee might have been made. There were similar recipes floating around France, Spain and England dating back as early as the fifth century. But one thing for sure is that humans throughout history have always loved a good, creamy dessert. And who are we to disagree with 1,500 years of good reviews? Cassoulet Cassoulet: The earthy stew is the heartiest of hearty French dishes. - Adobe Stock Perhaps the heartiest of hearty French dishes is the cassoulet. A bean-centric ragout that originated in the southern town of Castelnaudary, the cassoulet can have different ingredients, depending on the region. In Castelnaudary, the white beans are prepared with duck confit, pork and sausage. Carcassonne features gamey meat such as mutton. Toulouse adds a bread crumb topping. The general and historical premise is the same take all the hearty and edible ingredients available and put them in a pot or, more specifically, an earthenware cassole. This dish is so beloved by the French, Castelnaudary has its own brotherhood to defend it the Grande Confrerie du Cassoulet. The purpose of the Grande Confrerie is to honor, disseminate and defend the reputation of Cassoulet de Castelnaudary, ensuring respect for traditions and quality, a statement on the brotherhoods website explains. Quiche Lorraine Quiche Lorraine: A butter crust and savory egg custard make this a winning dish. - Adobe Stock Creamy eggs, smoky bacon, flaky pastry crust the quiche Lorraine is the quintessential French brunch item. But what has become a staple item at any decent French bistro or boulangerie had a rather tumultuous start. The term quiche originates from the German word for cake kuchen. This is because the first quiches were made in the Lotharingia kingdom of Germany which, during the Middle Ages, spanned several modern Western European countries. The egg-and-cream custard pie was beloved in the Lothringen region, which was later annexed by France to become, you guessed it, Lorraine. The borders changed, but the dish stuck around. Now, quiches are served worldwide with any number of delicious and inventive flavor combinations. Confit de canard Confit de canard: The slow-cooked duck will have meat so tender it falls off the bone. - Adobe Stock What was once a method of preserving meat or vegetables before the existence of refrigerators has become one of the most famous French food preparation methods. The confit process produces juicy, tender meat with crispy skin thats been enriched with the flavors of salt, herbs and its own fat. Whats not to love? Confit certainly isnt the easiest process, but its hard to conceive of a more delicious way to prepare duck. First, the raw meat is cured with salt and aromatics such as thyme or garlic, then its poached at a low temperature for several hours until the fat is fully rendered. The meat can then be stored with the fat in an airtight container for weeks or even months until youre ready to fry it up and eat it. This technique can easily go awry, but when done right, it produces a cut of duck thats nutty in flavor and fall-off-the-bone tender. Ratatouille Ratatouille: The colorful, tangy vegetable dish is a Provencal specialty (and also a great movie). - Adobe Stock Among so many heavy hitters featuring beef and poultry in the French culinary tradition, there is still one famous entree suitable for vegetarians: ratatouille. From the French word touille, meaning to toss, ratatouille originated in the Provence region but quickly gained popularity throughout France for its use of fresh summer vegetables. Featuring a colorful collection of eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onion and tomatoes, ratatouille can be prepared by either baking all the vegetables like a casserole or sauteing them with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. The resulting stew can be served hot or cold. It pairs great with a crusty baguette topped with an egg, Parmesan, or both, according to the James Beard Foundation. Profiteroles Profiteroles: What's better than a cream puff? A cream puff covered with chocolate. - Adobe Stock Beautiful, sweet and small enough to eat more than is probably advisable, profiteroles come in any assortment of flavors. Filled with vanilla custard, cream or even ice cream, these little cream puffs can be topped with chocolate sauce, fruit or just served plain. The airy, delicate pastry is pate a choux, or choux pastry. One of the backbones of French patisserie, choux is the dough used for eclairs, beignets, the Paris-Brest and more. Its made by cooking flour with water, milk and butter before mixing in the eggs. The resulting dough is wet and pipable and puffs up when baked. Because of their simplicity, profiteroles are a common dessert taught young in French homes, David Lebovitz explained. French cooking is very technique oriented and pate a choux is a very easy technique to master. Sole meuniere Sole meuniere: This fish dish showcases one of France's most iconic ingredients: butter. - Adobe Stock This fish dish is fit for a king literally. Sole meuniere is said to have been a favorite of King Louis XIV during the late 1600s. The deceptively simple dish has few ingredients, but the flavor profiles are complex due to the specific techniques used to cook the fish. For the most classic preparation, the Dover sole is the fish of choice because of its firm flesh and fresh flavor. The sole is breaded with flour and sauteed in butter until delicately crisp and golden, then topped with parsley and sizzling brown butter, or beurre noisette, which has a rich, nutty flavor. The flesh is transparent. Its absolutely delicate. Its one of the finest things in life, said chef Daniele Mazet-Delpeuch, former personal chef to French President Francois Mitterrand, in Julia, the CNN Film documentary about Julia Child. Perfect fish in butter. Its perfect! Terrine Terrine: A loaflike shape defines this dish, but you can experiment with many flavor combinations. - Adobe Stock A terrine is the great dish for the most creative of chefs. Named after the earthenware pot used to mold its distinctive, loaflike shape, this dish has a specific look, but the flavor combinations are almost limitless. Make a terrine rustic with ingredients such as pork and beans or go lavish with ingredients such as rare game and truffles. The dish can be made with poultry or fish, or even entirely of vegetables. The most important feature for any ingredient? Big flavor. Not to be confused with other popular charcuterie elements such as pate or rillettes, a terrine is made by layering forcemeat with any combination of additional ingredients in a terrine mold to cook slowly in a water bath. This dish can be dense enough to serve as an entree or makes a great hors doeuvre with crusty bread and cornichons, which are tiny crisp pickles. Steak frites Steak frites: This simple and universally loved meal of steak and fries pairs well with red wine. - Adobe Stock Try to name a more classic combination than steak and potatoes. Since its origins in France and Belgium, steak frites has been a centerpiece of brasserie and bistro menus throughout Europe and for good reason. The elements are simple and universally loved: a sizzling cut of beefsteak with a side of piping-hot, crispy fries. The steak is often served with a side of creamy bearnaise. Made from clarified butter, herbs and egg yolks, the sauce creates a rich accompaniment to the juicy cut of rib eye or porterhouse. Paired with a nice red wine to cut through the heavy flavors, this dish becomes the ultimate casual dinner entree. Jambon-beurre Jambon-beurre: Assemble good-quality ham, butter and a baguette -- nothing more and nothing less. - Adobe Stock The jambon-beurre is exactly what it claims to be: jambon, or ham, layered on a coating of beurre butter between two slices of bread, nothing more and nothing less. The simplicity of this sandwich forces its maker to use only the best ingredients because every element is as important as the last. The bread, always a baguette sliced neatly down the center, must be freshly baked to perfection with a crunchy crust and a chewy interior. The ham is best if its jambon de Paris, sourced directly from the French capital, sliced thin and free from additives and preservatives. The butter, ideally directly from the northwestern Normandy region, should be lightly salted and spread generously. Also known as the Parisien, the jambon-beurre is used as a marker of sorts for the popularity of classic French cuisine among the countrys residents. According to Maryann Tebben, an annual index measures the number of jambon-beurres purchased compared with the annual number of hamburgers, lest the country stray too far from its roots. Blanquette de veau Blanquette de veau: Tender meat in a creamy, comforting sauce is a go-to dish for French home cooks. - Adobe Stock A favorite of home cooks across France, blanquette de veau is a veal stew prepared en blanquette, meaning neither the meat or the butter is browned during cooking. This process produces a dish of tender meat and mellow flavors with a creamy, comforting sauce coating it all. The white sauce is made using one of Frances biggest contributions to cooking techniques worldwide combining melted butter with flour to create a roux. The flour acts as a thickening agent, creating a denser base, and also acts as a bonding agent between the roux and other ingredients such as cheese or cream. You can thank this technique for creating the base of dishes such as gumbo, some curries and creamy mac and cheese. Pot-au-feu Pot-au-feu: The beef and vegetable stew is the perfect cold-weather dish. - Adobe Stock Move over chicken noodle soup. Theres another dish that makes a strong claim for the perfect cold-weather dish. Pot-au-feu (meaning pot on fire) is a warm, simple and flavorful slow-cooked meal. Considered a national dish of France, pot-au-feu has no definitive recipe, and many regions of France have their own versions. Its generally made with meat, root vegetables, herbs, spices and bone marrow, which are prepared together but served in separate courses: the marrow starter, followed by the broth and then finally the meat and vegetables. A large helping of pot-au-feu is thought to epitomize the spirit of French cooking that sharing food, wine and conversation with a table full of loved ones is what makes life worth living. This article was first published in May 2022 and updated in May 2023. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Maeve McCaffrey and her family Courtesy of McCaffrey family People seeking fertility treatment face challenges beyond their medical conditions. Things like financial cost, shame, and accessing culturally-competent care can come into play. In the US, according to the CDC, about one in five women will need fertility treatments. Maeve McCaffrey knew that she wanted a child in the future. But when her doctor told her at age 35 to freeze her eggs, she wasn't able to spend the money. She later went on to conceive naturally at 44, after trying one round of fertility medications. But she still thinks about what her family might have looked like if she had access to affordable egg freezing more than 10 years ago. "If I had, I'd be the mother of two," McCaffrey said. For the nearly 20% of Americans who suffer from infertility, growing their family can be fraught. Research shows that cost is one of the biggest barriers to care for people who are interested in assisted reproduction or seeking treatment for infertility. Emotional ups and downs, including grappling with shame and stigma, can also make it hard to access care. So can messaging about infertility that's aimed at heterosexual, cis-gendered married couples. For people like McCaffrey, all those complications happen in a setting that already has a lot of pressure over it. "When you are trying to conceive, it feels that with every month that passes, that window closes just a little bit more," she said. LGBTQ+ informed fertility care can be hard to find For members of the LGBTQ+ community, seeking help from fertility clinics can be especially vexing. Research has shown that there's a constant lack of information targeted toward LGBTQ+ people, and many clinics approach treatment from a heteronormative basis. That can have medical and legal consequences, says Traci Keen, CEO of Mate fertility. "Many doctors are not highly trained in LGBTQ+ reproductive health, much less LGBTQ+ fertility," she said. "Most consents, conversations, and general materials are oriented towards heterosexual, married couples." Keen's own experience as a lesbian woman seeking healthcare has informed her approach to helping others access assisted reproduction. "As a young adult and even more recently, I've struggled to find OB-GYNs who understand that 'organ' care is the goal, and there should be no difference in the gynecological care that I receive versus a heterosexual woman," she said. "A cervix is a cervix." Poor bedside manners from doctors can add to shame For Cherry, who asked only to be identified by her first name, a doctor's poor bedside manner threatened to derail the fertility treatment that she hopes will one day help her start a family. She decided to freeze her eggs at 39, something she maintains was the right decision for her. "I was excited about freezing my eggs and felt like I was making the right decision, and my doctor just made me feel like I was an old hag and should have frozen my eggs at 25," Cherry said. Even if she had thought to freeze her eggs that young, there's no way she would have been able to afford it, she says. During her whole treatment, she was never fully comfortable with her doctor. "I remember thinking it was such a relief my eggs came back normal and I was able to store all of them, but it wasn't the best experience going through the process," Cherry said. McCaffrey also experienced poor bedside manners. "I had a doctor tell me at 40 I should be trying to get pregnant at that moment, but I was in a new relationship," she said. "He wasn't wrong, but his delivery was condescending and dismissive." Those feelings can compound the financial risk for people like Cherry, who has yet to become a mom. "It's like a high-stakes gamble with money that most struggle to obtain in the first place," she said. "You're just stuck praying that everything works out the first time around, so that your dream of having a family can happen without trying to scramble to afford anything additional. It's just not realistic." Read the original article on Insider One man was placed in custody early Saturday following a Friday night shooting in Lawrence, Kansas, according to the departments social media. At 10:30 p.m., officers were called to the 1900 block of Heatherwood Drive on multiple reports of gunfire in the area, according to a Facebook post by the Lawrence Kansas Police Department. Police located a 29-year-old man at the scene who told officers he had engaged in a shooting after a 48-year-old man had tried to shoot him. Neither of the men had been injured by the gunfire. An investigation determined the 48-year-old fled to a residence in the 1900 block of Heatherwood Drive following the shooting. Police staged a perimeter and the Lawrence Police Department Tactical Team arrived at the residence with an armored vehicle around 11 p.m. Using speakers, the tactical team tried to convince the man to walk out of the residence. By 4 a.m., police had entered the residence and arrested the man. The man was placed into custody and charges have been referred to the Douglas County District Attorneys Office, according to the police departments page. Yongsung Kim signs a painting during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News When Yongsung Kim was 20 years old, he prayed and asked God about the purpose of his life. Then, these words entered his mind: Have I not given you talent? Soon after that experience, Kim walked into an art store specializing in religious art. As he scanned the paintings, he noticed all of them were of Jesus suffering or on the cross. Even though those paintings were graceful, it was too heavy, too dark and too gloomy for me, he said recently. The tone didnt match how the joy he felt when he started believing in Christ. He wondered, How come we dont see any paintings of Christ depicting such a happiness and a joy? At that moment, Kim realized his purpose: He would paint a different kind of Jesus a happy Jesus. He had started painting in middle school when he became a Christian, but it took until the revelation at the art store for his career as a Christian artist began to take off. Today, Kim is a professional artist and his artwork is sold at places like Havenlight and Deseret Book. Although Kim is a Protestant, his artwork has become well-known in Latter-day Saint circles and hangs on the walls of Brigham Young University. Kim is far from the only artist of faith to have built a career around unique portrayals of Jesus. The Deseret News recently spoke with him and four others about what characteristics of Jesus they showcase in their work and why. Yongsung Kim paints a joyful Jesus On a sunny day in American Fork, Kim spoke to Deseret News through an interpreter at Havenlight, since English isnt his first language. He said when he started his artistic career, he was concerned with people who had a negative image of church. As a Protestant in South Korea, he saw people rejecting Jesus because of this image. He wanted to help. I want to paint a Christ who heals their pains inside and one who, you know, comforts those who are going through difficult times, he said. His audience has responded positively to this image, Kim said, smiling as he recounted how people have told him theyve resumed believing in Christ after seeing his images. Participants gather around a table as Yongsung Kim prepares to lead a class during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News While he said picking a favorite painting hes done would be akin to picking a favorite child, his painting Hand of God has special meaning for him. The painting shows Jesus reaching his hand into water a kaleidoscope of blues, purples and teals with a warm yellow light around Jesus piercing through the water. Hes reaching his hand out to Peter in the painting, but Kim hoped it would seem like Jesus was reaching his hand out to the viewer. For Kim, thats what Jesus looks like: Hes the one who reaches out and heals. He said even though hes not a missionary or a pastor, his artwork allows him to share the beauty of (Jesus) teachings and happiness. For Kim, that means he has no choice but to praise the Lord ... because Ive discovered thats what he wants me to do in my ministry. Maria Lang believes Jesus looks like the love she sees Artist Maria Lang felt the love of Jesus when a priest told her the story of Jesus urging a rich young man to sell everything he had and follow him. She rushed home after the conversation to paint her interpretation of the biblical story. Around the same time, Lang was diagnosed with COVID-19. Quarantine gave her more time to focus on capturing what she felt when she heard that story. The resulting painting, titled He Looked and He Loved, embodies what Lang tries to highlight through her work: Love is what matters when it comes to depicting Jesus. Growing up Catholic, Lang was surrounded by beautiful artwork, but it didnt speak to her, she said. Traditional Catholic artwork involves stained glass and idealized portrayals, which she didnt connect with. Thats one reason why she tries to paint in a raw, artistic way. Lang, who lives in Pennsylvania, said that, when painting Jesus, she focuses on capturing the love in his eyes. She said experiences like the one she had with the priest continue to inspire her painting today. I hope that my art depicts a raw humanity both in the people that we are and the God who came to be like us, said Lang, who sells her artwork on Etsy. And that his love can be found there. She added, I just watch as Im painting his eyes, I start to see him looking back at me and really feeling my life, my pain, my joy, whatever it is. Pam Rapier takes a picture of her daughter Christina Ellingson and artist Yongsung Kim next to a painting by Kim during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Twin Hicks paint Jesus through an Afrocentric perspective Alan and Aaron Hicks, who are also known as Twin Hicks, are a pair of twins who share a love of art and the Bible. They grew up going to church every Sunday, where they learned the stories of biblical characters. That upbringing helped lead them to become Christian artists, they said. Today, the Hicks brothers are Christians whose art has appeared in Ebony, Jet and Upscale Magazine. In addition to selling their artwork online and at various shows, they told Deseret News theyve also refurbished the mural at the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and had their art appear in films like The Equalizer. In their artwork, the Hicks brothers portray Jesus through an Afrocentric point of view. Its just a wonderful thing to be able to portray him in his original brown skin. ... People need something and someone to look up to and to identify with, Alan Hicks said. He added that when they paint Jesus as Black, people start asking them questions about who Jesus was and what he looked like. I like the fact that people are inquisitive and asking questions about who was Christ or what was the word of God?, he said. And thats just fulfilling to me, Alan Hicks said. To be able to use my artwork as a tool for conversation, no matter whos in the art piece or whether we paint them from an Afrocentric point of view. Its conversation again, asking questions about him. The brothers see their work as transformative, not only in terms of representation, but the way it could impact someones heart. Aaron Hicks said its important for their artwork to get the message out there the good news about Jesus death, burial, resurrection and that he came here, loved you and died for your sins. So it may be a painting that changes a person or a performance that changes a person. When theyre painting, they try to imagine themselves as if they were seeing the stories in the Bible first-hand and stick close to the text. I try to paint according to what happened in scriptures, I try not to add too many things, Aaron Hicks said. Alan Hicks added that their artwork is praise on canvas and they hope to see their artwork in peoples homes as they believe it can be transformative. Yongsung Kim signs a painting during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Jorge Cocco paints Jesus in sacrocubism Jorge Cocco said he first started painting Jesus when he wanted a painting for his living room. Up to that point, his artwork generally took the form of landscapes and portraits, but after he made the little painting for his living room, religion became an important theme. Cocco is a Latter-day Saint artist with studios in the United States and in Argentina. His art is in a permanent exhibit at The Museum of Biblical Art and has been acquired by a total of 16 museums. Additionally, 21 of his paintings were acquired by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He spoke to Deseret News with his interpreter and son Amiel Cocco, since English isnt his first language. He said while he admires the technical skills of many artists who have painted Jesus over the years, his work isnt inspired by them and his portrayal of Jesus is based on a different source. For me, the essence of who Jesus Christ is goes far beyond what he looks like, he said. I tried to eliminate as much as possible references to physical features. Using forms and colors, Cocco said he conveys spiritual feelings and the essence of his ministry through art. Coccos son and interpreter Amiel Cocco added, When Jorge takes away all these physical features and instead of making this perfect nose, he adds a triangle, at first, it provokes some frustration. ... But it forces you to search beyond the physical. Coccos uses a post-cubist style known as sacrocubism and focuses on portraying Jesus ministry as opposed to what he looked like. He compared his work to the way Jesus taught parables and said sometimes people would listen to a parable and miss the deeper meaning of the story because they were focused on the plot. Similarly, Cocco wants his artwork to portray a deeper meaning. Jesus ministry was very dramatic and some of the paintings make him look like a comic or a graphic novel. And I dont wish to enter into that, he said. The most important ministry was happening and there was a connection between heaven and earth. Often when Cocco sets out to portray Jesus, an image appears in his mind and he wrestles with putting into a physical shape using paint and canvas. It happens so frequently and often that even I am surprised, he said. At this point in my life, I cant stop painting Jesus. Participants gather around a table as Yongsung Kim prepares to lead a class during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Dan Noble points out a painting by Yongsung Kim as he decides which to purchase during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Dan Jolley of Gilbert, Arizona, at left, admires a painting by Yongsung Kim, middle, during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Participants gather around a table as Yongsung Kim prepares to lead a class during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Dan Noble talks to his wife Wendy as they decide which painting made by Yongsung Kim to purchase during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Yongsung Kim explains a painting during a gallery opening at Frame Works in Orem on May 5, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News Dozens of companies are racing to deliver electricity from fusion a form of carbon-free electricity often compared to a star in a bottle. While fusion power had been thought to be decades away, in May, Microsoft signed the worlds first contract to purchase fusion-generated electricity. Its a sign that the industry, long seen as akin to science fiction, is achieving a new level of commercial maturity. Helion, the company that signed the deal with Microsoft, is just one of the dozens of companies, backed by billions in venture capital, competing to bring the energy source to commercial use and under heavy pressure to begin showing results. The particular physics of fusion makes that a diverse field. Theres almost a staggering a variety of technological approaches to try to make fusion work, which has been part of the excitement of the last few years, said Dennis Whyte, director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told The Hill. Heres an overview of the main paths and the entities pursuing them starting with the only known example of successful fusion power: our sun. A star in a bottle? In a sense, virtually all electricity on Earth comes from fusion. The light and heat that warms the Earth, powers its wind and water cycles, and grows its plant life comes from the sun an enormous fusion reaction 94 million miles away. Because of the suns contribution to weather, all electricity that comes from wind, solar, biomass and hydropower is a product of fusion, as well. And because fossil fuels come from the unimaginably old, highly compressed bodies of ancient plants, that makes oil, gas and coal a product of fusion, too. Fusion energy is released when two atoms are forced together until they collapse into each other. Its an opposite process to the atom-splitting, or fission, that powers current forms of nuclear energy. But it takes a great deal more power to force atoms together than to split them, which is why so far the only place a continuous fusion reaction has been observed is in stars. In stars like our sun, the crushing gravity produced by their enormous size can keep the fusion fires burning. (The sun is 1.3 million times the size of Earth.) That crucial role of gravity (and size) poses a serious problem for earthlings attempting to generate fusion power. We say [fusion power is] building a star, but you cant literally replicate a star on Earth, because theres a reason stars need to be that size, said Whyte, the MIT fusion researcher. Thats why theres no small stars around, Whyte added. Tokamak: a magnetic donut Without access to the suns powerful gravity, the quest for Earth-based fusion requires another powerful force to drive atoms together. In most cases, that means magnets. The dominant form of fusion uses a donut-shaped reactor wound around with magnetic coils what the Soviet scientists who invented it called a tokamak. (The word comes from the Russian acronym for toroidal chamber with an axial magnetic field.) Inside that donut, which was first successfully operated in 1958, clouds of gas could be forced together to achieve temperatures sufficient to accomplish fusion, and that approach is now seen in projects from Europes ITER to Chinas EAST. Without access to the suns great size, fusion reactors also have to produce a lot more heat, which is where tokamaks have delivered. In 2021, the international team at EAST (the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) ran at 120 million degrees Celsius, or 216 million degrees Fahrenheit, for an unprecedented 101 seconds a runtime it increased by a factor of four in April. Thats also the approach that Whytes team at MIT is pursuing in conjunction with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a company that has $2 billion invested. Stellarator: twisting the donut The tokamak isnt the only piece of magnet-based Cold War-era fusion technology to receive a modern infusion of cash. In March, Breakthrough Energy Ventures an investment firm owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates provided $29 million in initial funding to Type One Energies. (Gates was also a funder of Commonwealth fusion.) Type Ones approach is built around the stellarator, an attempt to build fusion power designed at Princeton in the 1950s but largely abandoned in favor of tokamaks. If the tokamak is like a glazed donut, the stellarator which twists around itself like a Mobius strip is more like a cruller, a Type One spokesperson said. In theory, the twisted shape cancels out the instabilities in the circulating plasma, giving the magnetic cage that contains it far more stability than it would have in a tokamak, Type One CEO Christofer Mowry told The Hill. That makes it much easier to maintain a protracted fusion reaction and ultimately get power out. But modeling the complex physics to produce a stellarator was impossible until the last 20 years when supercomputing really came forward, and based on that, they were actually able to start designing these machines, Mowry said. In 2018, the publicly funded Wendelstein 7-X fusion in Germany achieved a record three seconds of fusion, inaugurating a new era in stellarator research that Type One plans to piggyback off. Lasers and beams: rapid ignition The particular physics of fusion represents an almost infinite number of methods to release power, Whyte told The Hill. Fusion is the product of two factors: the speed of the reaction, and the density of the available fuel. To see this principle in action, imagine a bonfire, Whyte said. For it to burn quickly, the wood cant be spread over half an acre: it has to be together, so each log burns the one beside it. By contrast, if its spread across the yard, the wood may still burn but it will take a lot longer. So the density can be rather modest, and energy confinement time needs to be larger, he said. At one extreme, the sun burns (relatively) slow and cold; at the other are pulses and lasers, in which a pocket of plasma 10 million times denser than that in a tokamak is fused over a period 10 million times shorter. That was the approach seen in the landmark results from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in December, in which a fusion reaction for the first time ever released more energy than had been put in. Fusion engine: skipping the hard part Somewhere between the steady power of a tokamak or stellarator and the flash-in-the-pan intensity of a laser is the hybrid approach Microsoft invested in last week: Helions fusion engine. Tokamaks and stellarators cant generate electricity directly. Instead, their fusion reactions release a flood of radioactive neutrons, which batter the metal walls of their container, releasing heat that can be tapped to boil water for a steam turbine. Thats the form of electricity generation that has run fossil fuel- and nuclear-powered thermal power plants for more than a century. Helion CEO David Kirtley has also long argued that it is unnecessary and, he has sometimes implied, a bit unimaginative. I thought, Youre catching a star and youre using it to boil water? he told Rolling Stone in 2017. Helions approach seeks to cut out the middleman by an unconventional means: generating electricity directly off the fusion reaction itself. It takes advantage of the fact that magnetic fields and electric currents are two aspects of the same phenomenon or more specifically, that disruptions in a magnetic field, caused in this case by a series of tiny fusion explosions, creates outpourings of electricity. Because that approach doesnt require a stable, self-sustaining reaction, weve been able to build fusion systems that are much, much smaller than any of the other approaches to fusion, Kirtley told The Hill last week. And that means you can build them faster, you can learn more, and you can build power plants sooner. How soon? In the 2017 Rolling Stone interview, Kirtley predicted fusion electricity within 10 years a prediction that he is now financially obligated to (more or less) fulfill. In early May, Helion committed to provide Microsoft with 50 megawatts of fusion power by 2028, and the company faces financial penalties if it fails. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. UVALDE, Texas Javier Cazares is haunted by the 30 minutes or so that passed after his 9-year-old daughter, Jacklyn, was shot and before law enforcement officers finally confronted the gunman firing an AR-15 inside Robb Elementary School. She wasnt shot in the very beginning. She was shot somewhere in the middle. If they had gone in 30 minutes, 40 minutes" earlier, he said in an interview, "maybe she could still have been alive. A total of 73 minutes passed before law enforcement stopped the 18-year-old armed with an assault rifle. The loss has been worsened, according to Cazares, by the refusal of people in power to take responsibility for their failures, to fill in the details for the grieving parents who need to know more about what happened each minute of that deadly day, to own up to fateful mistakes and remove those who made them, to make sure the families get the support they need when they need it, and to change gun laws. The first couple months, you know, it still seemed unreal," he said. "And now, its like betrayal. This week, the families of the 19 children and two teachers who were slaughtered May 24 last year are marking that day of death. But when the commemoration is done, they will go back to agonizing about how long law enforcement waited before finally confronting the gunman. A mural of Jackie Cazares is reflected in a window inscribed with the phrase Uvalde Strong, on April 25, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. (Jordan Vonderhaar for NBC News) The mural of Jacklyn who For them, time is a deep, dark black hole. My daughter, she was one of the victims who came out and went to the hospital. She did have a heartbeat, Cazares said. Thats where Im really the most hurt, because they could have done things and for whatever reason, it cost my daughter her life. She could have lived. Not just her, I mean one or two other kids in her class. After the shooting, Cazares sat stunned in an auditorium hearing Texas officials praise the swift law enforcement response. He knew better. I was there and heard the gunshots around 12:20 I didnt see nobody rush in. I saw it. I was in the school perimeter and I did not see anybody go in like they said ... I told that to the media and I told that to Abbott himself, he said, referring to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Cazares got to the hospital about 15 minutes after his daughter was taken there, but nobody in the facility knew where she was, he said. He showed pictures of her and messages from her, but got no answers. Three hours later, he was called in to identify her. He asked to see her wounds. He had to know how she died, he said. A report released last July after a Texas House committee investigation into law enforcement's response to the shooting concluded that it is plausible that some victims could have survived if they had not had to wait 73 additional minutes for rescue." The memorial to the victims of the massacre at Robb Elementary School on April 25, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. (Jordan Vonderhaar for NBC News) Jacklyn was a giver, and was a compassionate and emotional person, Cazares said. Every time the family went to San Antonio, she would find a homeless person and tell her mom or dad they needed to help the person. She once asked her brother for money so she could start a savings account for her sister, Jazmin, to go to college, he said. She had a heart of gold, just full of love and everyone that came across her, or crossed her path, they just felt it, he said. We dont want her death to be in vain. Initially, authorities had said that a school police officer had confronted the gunman. They gave conflicting accounts of how the law enforcement response made up of some 400 officers unfolded. Begging, pressuring and hoping Parents have been fighting for a full accounting, but a promised city investigation hasnt happened and a lot of information is bottled up in the district attorney's own investigation. As some facts have come out, they've often contradicted official versions of what happened. Jesse Rizo, Jacklyn's uncle, said he feels the trickling out of facts are the spirits of the slain children answering the questions of their parents and loved ones. Rizo, who has joined Cazares in his activism for accountability and reform, said the year after the massacre has been a series of letdowns. All of these things are coming down the pipeline and you are like, damn, thats a letdown, thats a letdown, thats a letdown. And so you begin to wonder if you have it wrong, he said. What am I doing? Why am I not good enough to convince these people that their actions are wrong. For a little bit, you start believing that. But Rizo said they somehow re-energize to keep up their fight, because they are trying to save somebody elses life, prevent someone elses grief. "Thats the reason to hope," he said. "Hope and faith is the only thing we have left." Jesse Rizo, Uncle of Jacklyn Cazares, on April 25, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. (Jordan Vonderhaar for NBC News) The Uvalde shooting was one of the deadliest in history since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. It was preceded in 2018 by a shooting at the high school in Santa Fe, Texas, in which eight students and two teachers were fatally shot. It was followed by this months mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, in which the shooter killed eight people. And yet, the Uvalde children and teachers families and some relatives of the Santa Fe victims had to beg their elected legislators to hold a hearing on a bill that would change the age for purchasing assault weapons from 18 to 24. They had to pressure those officials to vote the bill out of committee and they had to watch time run out on getting the bill scheduled for a vote. They had to witness their elected officials rebuff attempts to resuscitate the bill as an amendment to other legislation. Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, has been the families' advocate introducing and championing legislation to change gun laws and make other changes. "It is a shame the Legislature lacks the political courage to stop the killing of our kids," he said in a statement last Thursday after another rejection of a bill amendment that would raise the age for buying assault weapons. The puzzle remains unsolved Texas Democratic Rep. Joe Moody was the vice chair of the Texas House committee that investigated the response to the Uvalde shooting. His city of El Paso was the site of a mass shooting in 2019 in which 23 people were killed and 22 injured. He visited Robb Elementary for the investigation, he said at the April legislative hearing, where families learned the shooter had written "LOL" in his victims blood on a whiteboard. Art the children had made before the attack hung in the hallways. The art was interrupted by holes the size of my fist blown through the walls, Moody said. There were bullet holes through the TV that the kids were watching that day and desks turned over as makeshift shields ... That was a mass grave for the tiny bodies of kids who died screaming as they held on to one another. For those parents and families, the world ended that day, he said. The way time sits over them is a memory of when things made sense. Flowers sit on the ground around a memorial to those who died in the massacre at Robb Elementary School on April 25, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. (Jordan Vonderhaar for NBC News) As time passes, the picture is getting fuzzy, yet the puzzle of what happened remains unsolved, Rizo said. Getting deeper details from law enforcement and investigators would show my child mattered, he said. If you can give me that, it shows my child mattered to you. If you cant give me that, if you dont want any of that, it means my child is meaningless to you. How could I go to Jackie and explain to her when we see each other again in heaven? What if she were to ask me what happened? Rizo said. He finished his comments as a conversation with her: I say, 'I dont know, Jackie.' 'Did I matter?' 'I dont know. Guess we have to wait for Mr. Patterson or Mr. Harrell to get here.' Thats the stuff that plays in your head, he said, referring to Uvaldes interim school superintendent, Gary Patterson, and its retired school superintendent, Hal Harrell. Cazares told Texas legislators at the hearing last month that he thinks about what would be going through his daughters head as she observes the days since the shooting. Shed likely be asking, Why all the sadness? I try to tell everyone that Im OK. I raise my voice louder and louder but no response. Why cant anyone hear me? Is it because of the loud voices inside my classroom or is it the long beep coming from the heart monitor? These are the names of the 19 children and two teachers for whose families time has stopped: Nevaeh Bravo, 10 Jacklyn Cazares, 9 Makenna Lee Elrod, 10 Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10 Eliahna "Ellie" Amya Garcia, 9 Irma Garcia, teacher, 48 Uziyah Garcia, 9 Amerie Jo Garza, 10 Xavier Lopez, 10 Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10 Tess Marie Mata, 10 Maranda Mathis, 11 Eva Mireles, teacher, 44 Alithia Ramirez, 10 Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10 Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10 Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio, 10 Layla Salazar, 11 Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10 Eliahna A. Torres, 10 Rojelio Torres, 10 This article was originally published on NBCNews.com An octogenarian anglers quest to wade freely into the Arkansas River is making waves in more than just Colorado waterways, as the states highest court reconsiders century-old rules that govern who is allowed to enter a streambed. The Colorado Supreme Court is weighing in on whether members of the public can access waters that traverse private lands by evaluating the case of Roger Hill, who claims he was pelted by rocks for doing so more than a decade ago. Hill, an 81-year-old Colorado Springs resident, filed a lawsuit in 2018 against landowners Mark Warsewa and Linda Joseph, arguing that they had no right to exclude him from his favorite fishing spot which is located on their property, near the south-central Colorado town of Cotopaxi. I was 71 then, and I was about two weeks prior to a heart procedure to correct my AFib while I was on blood thinners. If Id been hit with one of those rocks, I would have died right there, the fisherman, a retired physicist, told The Hill. Since Hill filed his initial lawsuit, the case has gone through removals, dismissals, appeals, remands and more dismissals and appeals ultimately landing this past December in the hands of the Colorado Supreme Court. During a hearing before the states high court earlier this month, Mark Squillace, Hills attorney and a professor at the University of Colorado Law School, accused the state of denying that it has any responsibility to protect public access rights and stressed that Colorado is instead protecting wealthy private landowners. At the core of this ongoing dispute is the issue of navigability a federal government distinction that typically dictates the rules of public access by establishing whether a stream or river has been used for purposes of interstate or foreign commerce. Unlike most other states, Colorado does not have any law defining navigability, nor was any river officially declared navigable at the establishment of statehood in 1876. Because Colorado has never claimed ownership to any rivers based on the idea that they were navigable at statehood, Hill cannot make any such assertion on the states behalf, Colorado Solicitor General Eric Olson argued at the Supreme Court hearing. But the fisherman has a different view of the situation telling The Hill that the state has avoided its responsibilities for 150 years. Squillace echoed these sentiments, noting that in comparison to other Western states, Colorado has the narrowest of the rules. Hill acknowledged that certain century-old court decisions determined there were no navigable waterways in Colorado: a 1914 case, for example, found that the natural streams of the state are non navigable within its limits. But Coloradans at the time also generally associated navigability with the ability to run a steamboat up and down a waterway, which Hill stressed is by no means a legal definition. Having told you all that, yes, I was rather brazen fishing in that part of the river, Hill admitted. Hill said his quest to assert his right to streambed access began in the 1990s, when he started casually researching river navigability and the history of water use on the Arkansas River. He uncovered newspaper clippings from 1872-77 that discussed logging drives ahead of the Santa Fe Railroads construction, as well as the story of fur trapper Ezekiel Williams, who shuttled his wares by canoe to what was then Kansas. These historical details, Hill argued, demonstrate that the waters were navigable for commercial purpose at statehood. But he said he only decided to pursue a lawsuit after two other fishermen allegedly escaped gunfire while wading next to private land in 2015 or what Hill described as the moment when the infamous gunshot was fired. I said, this just has to stop before somebody gets killed over who has the right to fish where, he continued. Hills first interaction with the defendants in his lawsuit, Warsewa and Joseph, occurred in the form of a warning from Joseph while he was fishing one day in 2012. She told me, This is private land. You cant go in there, Hill recalled. And I replied, I have a right to be there. There are easements that provide me a right to be in this navigable river. When he was fishing in the same spot two weeks after Josephs initial warning, Hill said she began throwing rocks at him from their cliffside property. I just got to the other side of the river and said to my fishing buddy, We might as well go, he recounted. We fished another 10 minutes and left, because that kind of an interaction just spoils a day. In the several years prior, Hill said he had spoken to about five other landowners whom he met while fishing who didnt mind his presence on riverbeds that traverse their property, as long as he didnt kill his catches. But when Hill and his friend were fishing at the spot on Warsewa and Josephs land again in another two weeks, he said Warsewa came down to demand that they leave. Hill said he then tried to explain to Warsewa that the river is navigable, so he had a right to wade there. Years after that interaction, in 2015, Warsewa allegedly shot at two other anglers who were fishing in the spot, according to Hills May 2018 lawsuit. While the men were unharmed, Warsewa pleaded guilty to menacing and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. Warsewa and Josephs attorney, Kirk Holleyman, did not respond to The Hills requests for comment. Hills initial lawsuit sought both quiet title action a proceeding to determine property ownership and a claim for declaratory judgment, a ruling that would prohibit his exclusion from that segment of the riverbed. The idea of the declaratory judgment is that you should not have to put your person at risk for being prosecuted or for suffering some kind of harm in order to test your legal rights, Squillace told The Hill. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed by a federal district court, which at first led to an unsuccessful appeal. But Hill tried again, and in January 2022, the appeals court appeared to give his case a green light. While the judges rejected the quiet title claim, they determined that the fisherman does have grounds to pursue a claim for a declaratory judgment. Three months later, however, Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser submitted a brief to the Colorado Supreme Court, describing the decision as wrong. Weiser urged the court to resolve a matter that threatens to upset long-settled arrangements governing water and river access. This past December, the court announced it would step in and determine whether the fisherman has standing to sue Warsewa and Joseph. Presumably, thats the only thing that the court is going to rule on whether there is a right to be heard on the declaratory judgment, Squillace said. If the judges decide to affirm the appeals court decision, and Hill then goes on to win a lawsuit, a ruling in his favor could afford him unfettered access to this part of the riverbed. But Squillace said he is hoping the court might also rule on whats known as the public trust doctrine and whether it can be applied to the bed of navigable streams in Colorado. Such doctrines, which require the government to hold natural resources in trust for the public, often ensure free access to submerged lands under navigable waters. But Colorado, unlike most other states, has yet to adopt a public trust doctrine a point that Olson, the solicitor general, emphasized during the early May Supreme Court hearing. Absent such an adoption, Olson argued that even state ownership of the streambed would not give Hill a legally protected interest in fishing there. Yet federal law decrees that upon statehood, a state gains title to the streambeds of waters that were navigable at that time through whats known as the equal footing doctrine. If the state owns the title in trust for the people, then it seems to me that Mr. Hill has the right to stand on that bed, Squillace said at the hearing. Should the state Supreme Court choose to rule on the public trust doctrine issue, Squillace told The Hill that he thinks theres a reasonable possibility that we can settle the case, because then he would simply need to provide evidence that the waterway is navigable. In such a scenario, the judges would likely remand the case to the lower court to determine whether this particular stretch of the Arkansas River is navigable for title, Squillace explained. If we lose, I think its the end of the road for us, he said of the Supreme Court decision. A win, on the other hand, would bring the state more in line with its neighbors, while also instigating a big change in the way that Colorado treats public access rights, according to Squillace. Sharing a similar perspective, Hill recognized that a ruling in his favor would leave the regions landowners grappling with a shakeup of long-ingrained riverbed norms. The state is going to be in the position of explaining to a lot of people that you think you own that, because theres a blue line across the map, Hill said. But that blue line did not convey to you ownership. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Ursula von der Leyen She said there was clear evidence that these companies had violated the sanctions already imposed. Read also: Japan announces new sanctions against Russia media report "And that is why in the eleventh package of sanctions we have more than 90 companies around the world for which we have clear evidence that they are violating sanctions, that is, supplying sanctioned goods directly to Russia from the European Union via third countries," she said. Von der Leyen said some of these companies that will be banned are registered in China. "This does not mean that they are Chinese companies," the European Commission chief added. Read also: US expands sanctions on Russias military and technology sectors These are companies that exist partly on paper and have owners from other countries. But they are registered in China, and we will be clear here. The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, also commented on the new package of sanctions against the aggressor state. "The decision of the European Union to impose sanctions against more than 90 non-Russian companies that helped Russia to circumvent sanctions can only be welcomed," he said. There will always be attempts by the enemy to circumvent sanctions, but the punishment for helping them in this should be severe. 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 He was an absolute sweetheart: Neighbor remembers 23-year-old shot and killed in Mansfield Investigators were back on West Church St. Sunday morning, 24 hours after a fatal shooting on the quiet road. According to the Bristol County District Attorneys Office, police were called to 42 West Church St. Saturday at 11:11 a.m. Inside the home, they found the body of 23-year-old Samuel Waters. Investigators said Waters had been shot several times. I was shocked, absolutely shocked, said neighbor Mike Carr. When I heard it was Sam, I was absolutely devastated. Its such a tragedy. He was such a nice person, an absolute sweetheart, like I couldnt even think of one bad thing to say. Carr said Waters was always cheery and was interested in motorcycles and snowboarding. Its such a tragedy that this happened to him, Carr said. I know Sam lived there with three other gentleman who were all in their early 20s and they were all very nice guys, like very friendly, always said hi. They would come over, always willing to lend a hand if I needed help. Boston 25 News crews saw investigators searching a river next to the home Sunday morning. In a press release, Bristol County District Attorneys Office said William OBrien, 22, of Manchester-by-the-Sea, was arrested and charged with carrying an illegal firearm and carrying a loaded illegal firearm in connection to Saturdays homicide. I just pray for his [Waters] family and friends, that they can overcome this terrible tragedy, Carr said. He was just such a good person. Police reopened the road overnight but closed it with more crime scene tape Sunday morning. My mind was racing last night when I found out, said Addie Discipio, who lives across the street from the home. Im 24 years old. Im only a year older, so its kind of crazy to think that a kid my age was shot and killed like that down the road from me. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW The author at the Great Wall of China. I felt so accomplished after hiking and loved every minute of it, she writes. The author at the Great Wall of China. I felt so accomplished after hiking and loved every minute of it, she writes. The first time I was in China, I became one of her lost girls. As I was taken from my birth mothers arms and placed at a nearby train station, I became a statistic another baby uprooted by the countrys one-child policy. At 11 months old, I was plucked from Chinas embrace and placed into that of my parents. My roots began to grow in the soil of a different land. When I was old enough to comprehend the gravity of my truth, my parents sat me down and told me that I had been adopted from China. This supposed revelation did not alter the trajectory of my life as my parents feared it might. It was fairly easy, even as a child, to recognize that I did not look like those around me, especially my parents. In fact, I found it quite awesome to be different to have come from a country so rich with history and culture. However, the reality of living in a town with a predominantly white population is that many of its residents ostracize anyone who is different. I tried desperately to fit in with the other kids, but it became clear early on that despite my parents whiteness, my Chineseness would always make me an outsider. Growing up, I listened as friends discussed which parent they resembled the most, and I grappled with the guilt that came with wishing I could participate in those discussions. I laughed along with others as they asked me to talk to them in my language and proceeded to speak gibberish in a way that was supposed to imitate Mandarin. For years, I didnt know how to feel, or if my feelings were even valid. I didnt realize that these seemingly small acts of aggression were racist and that they would grow into hatred in the future. The now-abandoned train station where the author was left as a baby. The now-abandoned train station where the author was left as a baby. The first time I returned to China with my parents, I was 9 years old and longing for a place filled with people who looked like me. I was completely in awe of the country that created me, and this is when I first realized that I needed to embrace being Chinese. This proved nearly impossible. It was obvious that I did not belong to those who lived in China. From the way I dressed to the language that I spoke or couldnt speak to them, I was American through and through. As the trip went on, I found myself becoming increasingly disconnected from China and Chinese culture. I felt like a foreigner in a country that I desperately believed should have felt like home. This was the revelation that changed the trajectory of my life: My identity as a transracial adoptee seemed to define me everywhere I went. I was too Chinese to be American in America, and I was too American to be Chinese in China. As I grew older, it became more common for adults to ask me how lucky I felt to be adopted from China, and I became resentful at how their questions commodified me. If I did not respond with gratitude for being adopted, it was as if a switch flipped in their mind and they saw me as a selfish girl who owes her parents everything. I left an abundance of words unsaid. To these people, this topic seemed clearly black and white: I was adopted from China after being left at a train station and should be grateful for my parents generosity for the roof they put over my head and the food they put on my plate. Obviously, I love my parents. They have given so much to me and I would not be where I am today without them. My epiphany occurred when I realized that I am allowed to simultaneously love my parents and grieve what I lost. While transracial adoptees may be placed into amazing, loving families, it does not change the fact that their culture was stolen from them. I have always belonged to an in-between place: not quite Chinese, but definitely not white either. The spaces and resources available to transracial adoptees are few and far between despite how large our population is, especially in the United States. My parents never hid the fact that I was Chinese, and they did the best that they could to expose me to Chinese traditions, but their efforts had their limits. Still, I am lucky to have parents who wanted and pushed for me to be connected to the country in which I was born. The author with her parents in front of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. I remember that day being miserably hot, but I really enjoyed being there with my parents, she writes. The author with her parents in front of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. I remember that day being miserably hot, but I really enjoyed being there with my parents, she writes. When I came to them about wanting to feel more connected to China and Chinese culture, they searched for years to find someone who could teach me Chinese. Unfortunately this task proved immensely difficult, so instead I began teaching myself the basics. My parents promised to take me back to China as soon as possible, especially now that I was older and could understand the importance of the trip a little bit more. They could tell I was struggling to reconcile my identities and always made sure that I knew I could lean on them for support. Unlike others, my parents never held my emotions against me and were and still are pillars of support. The second time I returned to China, I was 15 and felt more in touch with my emotions. I wanted to build connections with other adoptees and hear their stories. This trip, which catered to adoptees from the same agency, allowed me to spend time with others who had been taken into white families. Together, we found and created a safe environment for each other where we could talk about our experiences and vent our emotions without fear of judgment. This visit was different for me. I felt seen and heard by others who experienced the same inner turmoil that I had. Together we laughed and cried and lamented what could have been. In another life, would we have been able to meet under different circumstances? It didnt matter, we answered. We realized that all that mattered was what we had now, a fragmented past blended with a found family, each other included. While we didnt all have the same goals for our return to China, we did share one: to reconcile our guilt and our curiosity. For me, I held no anger toward my birth mom for giving me up, especially when I understood the state of China and the one-child policy. But the curiosity of knowing about where and who I came from was there, and probably always will be. By the end of the trip, I cannot say that this goal was completely achieved. But while it might sound cliche, we adoptees did find each other, and in some way that was worth more to us than our original goals. When I returned to the United States, I finished high school with a different perspective than the one I entered with. I felt able to embrace my in-between identity and reconcile the parts of me that had always felt at odds. Still, I lean on those I have found on my journey and continue to search for others who help me feel whole. The author and the adoptee friends she made. We were having so much fun at that point in our trip and were always asking our parents to take pictures of us together, she writes. The author and the adoptee friends she made. We were having so much fun at that point in our trip and were always asking our parents to take pictures of us together, she writes. All transracial adoptees deserve to have a place where they can release their emotions and feel a sense of community. While I know not all transracial adoptees will want or be able to return to their country of birth and connect with others who have shared experiences, I hope they can find another way to build a community, perhaps through local groups or online. Being able to share my thoughts, emotions and challenges which I worried only I was thinking, feeling and facing with people like me has changed my life for the better. It has been a difficult adventure to reach a place where I feel comfortable with who I am Chinese, American and an adoptee but it has allowed me not only to deepen my roots, but also to make flowers bloom in my life today. Iris Anderson is studying biology and psychology at Columbia University and is part of the class of 2026. She loves to write in her free time and is inspired by her personal experiences and those around her. Iris would like to thank her University Writing professor, Emily Weitzman, and her Literature Humanities professor, Taarini Mookherjee, for their support of her writing endeavors. Do you have a compelling personal story youd like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what were looking for here and send us a pitch. Related... In this grab taken from video released by Prigozhin Press Service on Saturday, May 20, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group military company members wave a Russian national and Wagner flag atop a damaged building in Bakhmut, Ukraine. The head of the Russian private army Wagner claims his forces have taken control of the city of Bakhmut after the longest and most grinding battle of the Russia-Ukraine war, but Ukrainian defense officials have denied it. In a video posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP) A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to initiate a peace process," but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily-sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertilizer exports Africa desperately needs, a key mediator who helped broker the talks said in an interview with The Associated Press. Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what theyve characterized as a peace mission. The talks will likely be next month, Ollivier said. He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out "logistics" for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would likely have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Zambia. The talks also have the approval of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday. Neither side in the war appears ready to stop fighting, though. The talks were announced last week by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa just as Russia launched an intense air attack on Kyiv. On Sunday, Russia claimed to have taken the key eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after fierce fighting, a claim denied by Ukraine. We are not dreamers, Ollivier said on the chances the African leaders will achieve an immediate breakthrough with regard to stopping the 15-month conflict. Unless something happens, I dont think we are going to finish our first mission with a ceasefire. The aim was to make a start, said Ollivier, a 78-year-old Frenchman who brought opposing sides together in high-stakes negotiations in the late 1980s that helped end apartheid in South Africa. It starts with signs. It starts with dialogue. And this is what we are going to try to do," Ollivier said. No guarantee that we are going to succeed but, for the time being, Russia and Ukraine have accepted ... a delegation coming specifically to their countries to talk about peace. A key starting point for Africa is grain and fertilizers. The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertilizers from Russia, exacerbating global food insecurity and hunger. Africa has been one of the hardest-hit continents. Last week, Russia agreed to a two-month extension of a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. that allows Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea and out to the world, and the six African presidents would like to see that extended further. But they also need to broach ways of making it easier for African nations to receive shipments and pay Russia for fertilizers, Ollivier said. Russian fertilizer is not under international sanctions but the U.S. and some Western nations have targeted Russian cargo ships for sanctions. Russias access to the SWIFT global financial transaction system also has been restricted by the sanctions, leaving African nations struggling to order and pay for critical fertilizers. We will need to have a window whereby SWIFT will be authorized for this specific point, Ollivier said. That will be on the table and we hope that in that case we will gain the support of the Russians for the grains from Ukraine, and we will gain the support of the Ukrainians to find payments and shipments possible for the Russian fertilizer. The African mission is not the only mediation effort. China offered its own peace proposal in February and a Chinese envoy has been in discussions with Ukrainian officials. But China's plan has largely been dismissed by Ukraine's Western allies and is clouded by Beijing's political support for Moscow. Ukraine and Russia are far apart in terms of any agreements that might form the base of a peace deal. The African delegation still had a wide cross-section of backing, Ollivier said, after China also came to us and offered support on the basis it would be a parallel effort to Beijing's plan. More support, more weight will be put on the negotiation (with Moscow and Kyiv)," said Ollivier, the founding chairman of the London-based Brazzaville Foundation, an organization that deals with conflict resolution. If one party says no, they will consider to who they are saying no. Are they saying no only to Jean-Yves Ollivier? To the Brazzaville Foundation? To the six (African) heads of state? Or are they saying no to the United Nations, or to the Chinese, or to the Americans. To the British? To the European Union?" ___ More AP news on the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine AI: Can you tell that these 'photographs' are artificial? Whether it be artwork, literature, music or photography, content created by artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise. So advanced is the content being generated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine what is real and what is artificial. All of these images have been created using AI software on the website Night Cafe. None of the people depicted are real and each picture has been generated by a text prompt. A text prompt can be something as simple as "woman shouting" or "twins". The potential pitfalls of such content were recently demonstrated when German artist Boris Eldagsen entered this year's Sony World Photography Award with an AI-generated image and won. Mr Eldagsen refused the award and stated he was just being a "cheeky monkey" to see if any of the judges "knew or suspected that [the image] was AI-generated". "AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this," he added. Night Cafe founder Angus Russell said: "Five years ago, People were saying AI would take over the borings jobs, but things that require creativity will be safe for a long time. "But it's turned out the exact opposite. Creative jobs and knowledge-based work could be the earliest things to be replaced." BBC News picture editor Phil Coomes said that while fake or manipulated images were "nothing new", the growth of AI would "produce some challenges". "There are tools out there that can help us spot images that have been manipulated," he said. "And these can help with AI too. "But these are not fool proof, of course, and much still relies on close visual examination of the picture." Dr David Gyimah is an associate professor of innovation at Cardiff University's School of Journalism and is impressed by the hyper-realism of these images. "Everything that you would expect of a good photograph is there," he said. "There's nothing in these in these images that could lead you to believe that they were generated in any other way [such as AI]." Dr Gyimah thinks it is worth considering the potential ill-intentioned uses of AI imagery in journalism and factual content. "We've sort of entered a territory where technology has raced ahead of policy frameworks. And that leaves us in very precarious positions," he said. "It can be used for real maleficent purposes, [and] there may well have to be sanctions. "Otherwise, how do you enforce people not to use images which they purposefully know are not generated by a camera? So therefore may spur different narratives to the ones that are real as opposed to the ones that perpetrate falsehoods." As AI-generated imagery becomes more advanced and the code it uses becomes open source, we may be forced to ask the question more often than not: Is it real or is it AI? Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle announces arrival of Josephs Project A new program designed to help expectant and new families in the Texas panhandle officially arrived May 19. Josephs Project, a program of Catholic Charities of the Texas panhandle, offers free pregnancy tests, parenting education, adoption information and referrals, prenatal classes, mental health coaching, help and referral in aid applications for CHIP, SNAP, and Medicaid as well as material assistance such as diapers and formula. Studies show that adequate prenatal care is important not only for the expectant mother but for the baby as well. Unfortunately, a lack of insurance prohibits many women from getting the prenatal and postpartum care they need. In Potter County alone, where the teen birth rate is among the highest in the state of Texas, 42% lack health insurance. Maternal and infant mortality rates are also higher for those without proper insurance, especially among teens. Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle, 2004 N. Spring St., hosted a community baby shower and an open house, and monetary and material donations are being accepted. Josephs Project is for mothers and fathers in need with children up to 3 years of age. For more on Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle, visit www.cctxp.org or their page on Facebook. Wonderland hosting first responders nights in June Wonderland Amusement Park is excited to once again honor area First Responders by hosting two First Responders Nights at the Park on Wednesday, June 7 and Thursday, June 8 from 7 to 10 p.m. All first responders will receive a free WOW Ride Pass by presenting proper ID and a custom barcode at the gate. Their families will enjoy discounted WOW Passes by presenting a second custom barcode at the gate. Wonderland hosts this yearly event to pay homage to police officers, firefighters, and emergency responders who serve the panhandle region on a daily basis by inviting them out for two fun-filled nights, according to a news release. All discount codes are sent directly to local first-responding agencies. Agencies that would like to participate can do so by visiting WonderlandPark.com/FirstResponders and filling out the proper form. The public is encouraged to come out and visit with our local heroes and thank them for their selfless work to keep us safe. The Discovery Center and Wildcat Bluff part of 'Museums for All' initiative The Don Harrington Discovery Center and Wildcat Bluff Nature Center are both part of Museums for All, a signature access program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), administered by the Association of Childrens Museums (ACM). This partnership is in place to encourage people of all socioeconomic backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum-going habits. The program supports those receiving food assistance (SNAP) benefits visiting The Discovery Center by offering admission at $2 per person, up to four people, with the presentation of their valid EBT card. Museums for All is part of the Discovery Centers broad commitment to seek, include, and welcome all audiences. Museums for All helps expand access to museums and raises public awareness about how museums in the U.S. reach their entire communities. More than 700 institutions participate in the initiative, including art museums, childrens museums, science centers, botanical gardens, zoos, history museums, and more. Participating museums are located nationwide, representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. To see our hours of operation & explore all we have to offer, visit DHDC.org or follow us on Facebook at Don Harrington Discovery Center. Bill Young, architect of Respiratory Care at AC, named Professor Emeritus Bill Young, who helped establish the Respiratory Care Program at Amarillo College, where his teaching career spanned 36 years (1972-2008), has been named Professor Emeritus. The AC Faculty Senate will sponsor a reception in his honor from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Friday, June 2 in the 2nd Floor Gallery at the Amarillo Museum of Art on the Washington Street Campus. Bill Young I was shocked when I found out Id been named Professor Emeritus, and I am truly humbled, Young said. It was such a nice surprise, a much appreciated one. I spent 36 wonderful years at AC, and I always looked forward to going to work. During his impactful career, Young served on AC committees for Academic Affairs, Grants, Reaccreditation and more. Additionally, he visited numerous college campuses in many states to help establish standards for state licensure and registry credentials as a member of the national Joint Review Committee for Respiratory Education. All the while, Young worked a couple of weekly hospital shifts to remain abreast of the latest techniques and technologies, ensuring his ability to keep his students at the forefront of the latest respiratory know-how. In 2004, Young and his wife Susan established a scholarship for second-year respiratory care students. Young retired in 2008 but has remained active, both in the College the community. Among other things, he spent 11 years as president of the AC Retirees group, and just recently he completed a six-year stint as mayor of Timbercreek Canyon. WT faculty members earn development grants CANYON Nine West Texas A&M University faculty members earned more than $18,000 in grants through the Universitys Office of Academic Affairs. The development grants will finance travel and professional development for the faculty members. More than $6,000 in additional funds were awarded this year. The purpose of the awards is to improve teaching and the educational experience for WT students, said Dr. Bryan Vizzini, professor of history and director of WTs Teaching Excellence Center. We are looking for what these grants can ultimately help faculty bring back to the classroom, department, college and University. West Texas A&M University faculty members earning development grants include, from left, Dr. Amy Andersen, Dr. Jeremy Lewis, Darla Marcear, Zeth Collom, Bradley Behrmann and Dr. Paul Clark. Not pictured are Dr. Jeff Hatala, Emmanuel Lopez, Dr. Maitreyee Mukherjee, Dr. Vinitha Subburaj and Dr. Rebecca VanderLeest. Faculty members earning grants include: Bradley Behrmann, assistant professor of musical theatre, to attend the Edinburg Theatre Fringe Festival with WT theater and dance students; Dr. Paul Clark, professor of history, for multi-engine flight training essential for his Fundamentals of Flight class; Zeth Collom, instructor of communication disorders, for Estill Voice Training course; Dr. Jeff Hatala, assistant professor of health sciences and program director at the RELLIS Campus, for certification from Myers Briggs Strong Interest Inventory; Dr. Jeremy Lewis, associate professor of low brass, to record tuba repertoire from the University Interscholastic Leagues prescribed music list; Emmanuel Lopez, Permian Distinguished Artist and Harrington Lecturer in Cello, to participate as faculty cellist at the Interharmony Music Festival in Acqui Terme, Italy; Darla Marcear, clinical coordinator and instructor of communication disorders, to attend the Apraxia Kids National Conference in Plano; Dr. Maitreyee Mukherjee, assistant professor of biology, to attend the Tiny Earth partner symposium at the University of WisconsinMadison; and Dr. Rebecca VanderLeest, assistant professor of geology, to attend a workshop and construct a course entitled Geology in Our National Parks. Faculty members represent three of WTs six Colleges: the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities, and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Dr. Amy Andersen, associate provost and professor of education, and Dr. Vinitha Subburaj, associate dean of the College of Engineering and associate professor of engineering, also won an academic administrative development grant to attend the Harvard Management Development Program, which provides discussions, interactive presentations and immersive experiences. Grants were awarded during an all-faculty meeting May 4, before WTs May 13 spring commencement ceremonies. WT New Student Orientation sessions begin CANYON West Texas A&M University is already actively preparing for a new herd of Buffaloes to arrive on campus. Following commencement ceremonies held May 13, New Student Orientation sessions began May 19 and 20 for incoming freshmen. Eight sessions will be held between May and August, including two sessions for Spanish speaking families. NSO is the one of the first hands-on experiences our freshmen will have on campus, said Amanda Lawson, WT assistant director of new student and transfer orientation. The students can have their questions answered while getting to know the campus and making new friends. Spanish family sessions will be held June 22-23 and June 29-30. To attend, interested students must visit wtamu.edu/nso to complete a pre-orientation information module and select a date. Up to 150 students can be accommodated at each session. Sessions are a day-and-a-half long and can either include all six of WTs Colleges or three of the colleges at a time to offer students more flexibility in scheduling. Upcoming NSO sessions include: June 1-2 for Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business and College of Engineering; June 8-9 for Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences, Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities and College of Nursing and Health Sciences; June 22-23 for Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, College Engineering and College of Nursing and Health Sciences (Spanish family session available); June 29-30 for Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Engler College of Business, Rogers College of Education; and Harrington College of Fine Arts (Spanish family session available); July 20-21 for all Colleges; ` Aug. 1-2 for Engler College of Business, Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences, Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities and College of Nursing and Health Sciences; and Aug. 14-15 for all Colleges. Transfer registration days for students coming to WT from another institution of higher education will be held July 20 and Nov. 3. They are optional events transfer students can take part in following completion of online orientation sessions. Online orientation sessions also are available for high school students enrolled in dual-credit courses through WTs Pre-University Programs, and for students who wish to enroll temporarily before returning to their home institution. As Memorial Day fast approaches, NFPA offers grilling safety tips to help reduce fires and injuries Often considered the unofficial kick-off to summer, Memorial Day weekend is synonymous with outdoor celebrations and cookouts. With the holiday just around the corner and the warmer months upon us, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is working to ensure that people understand where potential grilling risks exist and ways to minimize them. Because outdoor grilling involves the use of a fuel source to generate an open flame, it inherently presents potential fire risks that needs to be taken seriously, said Lorraine Carli, vice president of Outreach and Advocacy at NFPA. NFPA offers a wealth of tips, recommendations, and resources for grilling safely, including these key messages: For propane grills, check the gas tank for leaks before use in the months ahead. (Watch NFPAs video on how to check for leaks.) Keep your grill clean by removing grease or fat buildup from the grills and in trays below the grill. Place the grill well away from the home, deck railings, and out from under eaves and overhanging branches. Always make sure your gas grill lid is open before lighting it. Keep children and pets at least three feet away from the grilling area. If you use starter fluid when charcoal grilling, only use charcoal starter fluid. Never add charcoal fluid or any other flammable liquids to the fire. When you have or are finished grilling, let the coals cool completely before disposing in a metal container. Never leave your grill unattended when in use. This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo area community news for May 21, 2023 America's birds are under siege. These are among the most at risk for extinction. If you enjoy watching cardinals or bluebirds at a feeder or seeing a great blue heron at the water's edge, it may not be immediately apparent but the nation's birds are under siege. "Birds are declining," said Ken Rosenberg, a conservation biologist with Road to Recovery, an organization that focuses on recovery of the nation's most rapidly declining birds. "It's death by a million cuts." Theyre imperiled by habitat loss, disease and other threats. Several incidents this spring illustrate a few of the hazards. In northern Arizona, at least 13 endangered California condors died after being infected by avian flu, and federal officials just approved an emergency vaccine. In Florida in April, state wildlife officials charged two men with shooting and killing colorful, migratory cedar waxwings, including a blueberry farmer trying to keep them off his bushes. Also in Florida, a man was charged with driving a golf cart into a flock of American black skimmers on the beach, killing five birds. California condors are among the nation's most imperiled birds, but recovery actions have built their numbers back to more than 500 birds. Scientists estimate more than 3 billion birds have been lost in the U.S. since 1970 and dozens of species are considered endangered, threatened or at risk. While extensive conservation efforts helped recover the condors, bald eagles and others, dangers remain for many species and climate change poses additional threats to habitats and food resources. Here's what we know about bird species of greatest concern in the continental U.S. Which bird species are most at risk? It's hard to quantify which birds are most threatened, said Rodney Siegel, executive director of The Institute for Bird Populations. Is it a measure of population, habitat loss, rate of decline or something else? A Florida scrub jay sits atop an oak at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida. The birds, endemic to Florida, are among the nation's most imperiled birds. Below is a list of the birds found only in the U.S. that have the lowest populations, based on two sets of estimates kept by Partners in Flight, a network of 150 organizations in the Western Hemisphere, and a list of most imperiled birds from the American Bird Conservancy . California condor: Largest and rarest, with an estimated 561 in 2022, including 347 birds in the wild, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Whooping crane : From fewer than two dozen whooping cranes in the 1940s, conservation measures have helped build the population to just under 1,000 cranes. Island scrub-jay : Found only on Santa Cruz Island off California, these birds have the smallest range. Once numbering more than 12,000, its population is an estimated 2,300 but recovering. Florida scrub-jay : It has vanished from 10 Florida counties and its habitat is fragmented. Available population estimates vary widely from 7,500 to 11,000. It thrives in the Ocala National Forest where conservation efforts have protected large areas of its habitat. Gunnison sage-grouse : This bird disappeared from roughly 90% of its range and is found in only 14 counties in Colorado and Utah. An estimated 4,800 remain, according to Partners in Flight data. Kirtlands warbler : On the endangered species list for 47 years before being delisted in 2019, it's "a success story," said Nicole Michel, quantitative science director for National Audubon Society. "But we still need to keep working to protect them." Estimated at 4,800, the nation's rarest songbird is found almost exclusively in stands of young Jack pine in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario. Cassia crossbill : These relatives of the red crossbill were named a separate species in 2017. Fewer than 5,800 remain, found only in Idaho's South Hills and Albion mountains, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Piping plover: With an estimated population of 8,400, its greatest threat is human activity, Michel said. People walking or playing on the beach where the birds nest on bare sand, or letting dogs run loose, can harm the birds and scare them off their nests. A Florida scrub jay feeds a chick in the nest at Lyonia Preserve in Deltona, Florida. The jay, found only in Florida, is considered one of the most imperiled birds in the U.S. Which other species are at a tipping point? An estimated 104 species are at greatest threat, according to Road to Recovery, an independently funded organization to collaborate and focus on recovery of the most rapidly declining birds. Rosenberg was lead author on the study that identified the loss of at least 3 billion birds, and Road to Recovery grew out of that effort. The group created three "alert" lists red, orange and yellow to target the cause of decline and develop recovery strategies. Why are birds declining? While general threats such as habitat loss, invasive species and human activities are broadly understood, many birds continue to decline without scientists being able to identify a specific cause despite decades of research and conservation, according to Road to Recovery. "A lot of things point to agricultural practices, and the intensifying of agriculture," Rosenberg said. Many fragments of native prairie and native grasslands important to birds have been cleared, he said. "Not too long ago, there were hedgerows and fallow fields, just sort of enough to sustain birds around the edges. Now it's just all gone." A juvenile whooping crane takes flight on the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Homosassa, Florida on March 4, 2010. Adult whooping cranes are nearly 5 feet tall. Birds with very restricted ranges, such as the Kirtland's warbler, are inherently at risk, Siegel said. Natural disasters and disease outbreaks could take out that population much more easily than a species that is more widely distributed." Without more successful efforts to identify why birds die and address those losses, scientists said many birds are on a trajectory that could lead to extinction.. Birds now considered extinct At least seven birds once found in the U.S. are believed to be extinct. The status of an eighth, the ivory-billed woodpecker, is debated. They are: Bachmans warbler Dusky seaside sparrow Passenger pigeon Carolina parakeet Eskimo curlew Great auk Labrador duck Search for the ivory-billed woodpecker The status of the ivory-billed woodpecker once referred to as the "Lord God bird" for its impressive stature and appearance remains controversial. While federal officials proposed it be listed as extinct, a group of believers insist the bird is still present deep in Southern swamps. A study released May 18 presented evidence that researchers said indicates the birds remain in unnamed Louisiana swamps, but The Associated Press reported some experts refuted the new evidence. Latest news: Videos show purported ivory-billed woodpeckers as US moves toward extinction decision How is climate change affecting birds? Nearly three-fourths of the nation's birds are vulnerable to losing large parts of their range as the climate changes and sea levels rise, on top of the other threats they face, Michel said. "It's a force magnifier," she said. Why birds matter "It's not just about the birds," Rosenberg said. It's a broader message. "If we're seeing the common birds around us declining, it's telling us that the health of our environment is also." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US endangered birds include whooping crane, condor, scrub-jays: List By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) -Governments should consider vaccinating poultry against bird flu, which has killed hundreds of millions of birds and infected mammals worldwide, to prevent the virus from turning into a new pandemic, the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said. The severity of the current outbreak of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, and the economic and personal damage it has caused, has led governments to reconsider vaccinating poultry. However, some, like the United States, remain reluctant mainly because of the trade curbs this would entail. "We are coming out of a COVID crisis where every country realised the hypothesis of a pandemic was real," WOAH Director General Monique Eloit told Reuters in an interview. "Since almost every country that does international trade has now been infected, maybe it's time to discuss vaccination, in addition to systematic culling which remains the main tool (to control the disease)," she said. The Paris-based WOAH is holding a five-day general session from Sunday, and will focus on global control of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI. A WOAH survey showed only 25% of its member states would accept imports of products from poultry vaccinated against HPAI. The European Union's 27 member states agreed last year to implement a bird flu vaccine strategy. France, which spent about one billion euros ($1.10 billion) in 2021/22 to compensate the poultry industry for massive cullings, is set to be the first EU country to begin a vaccination programme, starting with ducks. "It is our responsibility to use other tools that are now available such as vaccination. And this, for animal health, for public health but also to respond to societal challenges," French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said at the launch of the WOAH General Session. Eloit said the EU move towards vaccination could prompt others to follow. "If a bloc like the EU, which is a large exporter, starts moving in that direction, it will have a ricochet impact," Eloit said. The U.S. department of Agriculture (USDA) told Reuters on Friday that "in the interest of leaving no stone unturned in the fight against HPAI, USDA continues to research vaccine options that can protect poultry from this persistent threat". However, it still considers biosecurity measures to be the most effective tool for mitigating the virus in commercial flocks, it said in emailed answers. The risk to humans from bird flu remains low but countries must prepare for any change in the status quo, the World Health Organization has said. Eloit said vaccination should focus on free-range poultry, mainly ducks, since bird flu is transmitted by infected migrating wild birds. Vaccinating broilers, which account for about 60% of global poultry output, makes less sense, she said. The H5N1 strain that has been prevalent in the current HPAI outbreak has been detected in a larger number of mammals and killed thousands of them, including sea lions, foxes, otters and cats. ($1 = 0.9084 euros) (Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, additional reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Jane Merriman) I appreciate them thinking of me; Ga. Secretary of State banned from Russia Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger thanked Russian leaders Saturday after being on a list of 500 Americans who are banned from entering the country. The list released by the Foreign Ministry did not specify complaints against each individual. But the ministry said the offenses included spreading Russophobia, supplying Ukraine with arms, and officials who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called storm of the Capitol. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] While I was previously unaware of my anti-Russian activities, I accept the verdict of Russia, whose commitment to truth, justice and the rule of law speaks for itself, said Raffensperger. I can see where my commitment to free, fair and accurate elections, my tendency to speak truth to power and strong stance against war crimes would offend President Putins sensibilities. I accept that Im not their cup of Russian tea. Raffensperger added that he had no plans or intentions of going to Russia anyway. The ban also includes 45 members of the U.S. House, Sens. J.D. Vance, Katie Britt and Eric Schmitt, and former ambassadors to Russia John Tefft and Jon Huntsman. TRENDING STORIES: The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and companies involved in the war effort. The financial penalties have been primarily focused on sanctions evaders connected to technology procurement for the Kremlin. Former President Barack Obama and comedian Stephen Colbert were also named on the list. My inclusion on this list is deserved, and I appreciate them thinking of me, Raffensperger said. The Associated Press contributed to this article. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Iran says U.S., EU criticism of convicts' execution "meddlesome," "ridiculous" Xinhua) 10:07, May 21, 2023 TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday dismissed the U.S. and EU criticism against Iran's execution of three convicts who killed security officers in an armed attack as "meddlesome" and "ridiculous." "Instead of intervening in the internal affairs of other countries ... Western politicians had better listen to the voices of their own citizens' protests and meeting their demands," Nasser Kanaani said in a statement published on the ministry's website. "Europe and the United States do not have the legal, judicial and moral authority to comment on judicial issues and human rights of other countries," he noted. On Nov. 16, 2022, three men carried out an attack in the Khane Esfahan area of the central Iranian city of Isfahan, killing three security officers and injuring several others, according to the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary. The three men were charged with crimes including those referred by Iranian authorities to violations agasint Islamic codes and breaches of national security, Mizan said. In a statement on Friday issued in the wake of the execution, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemned the execution "in the strongest possible terms," calling on Iran to "refrain from applying the death penalty and carrying out future executions." The U.S. State Department on Thursday urged Iran to refrain from carrying out the executions, calling the proceedings "sham trials." "The execution of these men, after what have been widely regarded as sham trials, would be an affront to human rights and basic dignity in Iran and everywhere," said State Department Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel at a press briefing. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun) Flash Chinese tourists arrive at Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek, Namibia, May 19, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua] Namibia welcomed the first group of tourists from China over the past three years on Friday evening following the disruption of travel by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 20 tourists who departed from Hangzhou city in southeastern China made their first stop in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where they visited the Victoria Falls, one of the many world wonders before proceeding to Namibia. Namibia, like the rest of the world, was adversely affected by the pandemic and the government in February stressed the need to revive its tourism sector. During the week-long tour, the Chinese tourists will be hosted by Way-Way Travel Namibia and they will visit Namibia's Etosha National Park, the Quiver tree forest, and Sossusvlei, one of Namibia's most spectacular landmarks with its red dunes, white salt pan and Deadvlei, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park as well as the coastal area of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. "This is the biggest Chinese group we have received from China since China opened its tours for groups," said Lissy Lee from Way-Way Travel Namibia. Archaeologists discover a lost world of 417 ancient Mayans cities buried in remote jungle, connected by miles of 'superhighways,' WaPo reports A view of a Maya temple at the el Mirador archaeological site in the Peten jungle, Guatemala August 24, 2009. Reuters/Daniel Leclair Scientists in Guatemala have discovered "the first freeway system in the world," The Washington Post reports. Archaeologists have found ancient Mayans built 417 cities interconnected by 110 miles of "superhighways." Historians to rethink what they know of ancient Mayan civilization. Scientists in Guatemala have discovered "the first freeway system in the world," The Washington Post reports. In an interview with the Post, researchers from a joint US-Guatemalan archaeological study published in the Cambridge University Press in December said they had uncovered 417 cities dating back roughly 3,000 years, interconnected by 110 miles of "superhighways." This discovery is making historians rethink what they know of ancient Mayan civilization. The discovery of a network of roads and cities, hydraulic systems, and agricultural infrastructure suggests that communities living in Central America were now more advanced than given credit for, the Post reports. Per the paper, these findings reflect "socio-economic organization and political power." The lost world dates as far as 1,000 B.C. to the pre-classic epoch of the Mayans, which had previously been considered a nomadic, hunter-gather society. This discovery from the El Mirador jungle region in southern Guatemala is a "game changer," Richard Hansen, lead author of the study and affiliate research professor of archaeology at Idaho State University, told the Post. The find is in a remote tropical jungle on the Mexico-Guatemala border. It is only accessible by helicopter to a challenging 40 miles hike through dense, Jaguar and snake-filled rainforest, said the Post. "We now know that the Preclassic period was one of extraordinary complexity and architectural sophistication, with some of the largest buildings in world history being constructed during this time," said Hansen. The findings have unveiled "a whole volume of human history that we've never known," he told the Post. The team, with scientists from the US and Guatemala, has been mapping the areas in Central America since 2015 and has used lidar technology a key archaeological laser mapping technique to reveal the finest details, such as ancient vegetation. It allowed the scientists to see ancient dams, reservoirs, pyramids, platforms, causeway networks, and even ball courts, per the study. Archaeologist at San Carlos University in Guatemala City and co-author of the paper, Enrique Hernandez, told the Post that after further work on this project, it could be as influential of a historical discovery as the Egyptian pyramids. Read the original article on Business Insider Arizona student arrested and accused of bringing AR-15 and ammunition to high school A student in Phoenix faces a number of serious felony charges after police accused him of bringing an AR-15 weapon and ammunition to a high school, authorities said. Phoenix Police Department officers and two school security officers responded Friday afternoon to a call of a student with a gun on campus, the department said in a news release Saturday. School administrators called police after learning of a possible weapon at Bostrom High School shortly before 1 p.m., the Phoenix Union High School District said in a statement emailed to CNN. During our investigation, we discovered the report was accurate, and local authorities intervened and confiscated the weapon, the school district said in an email. Arriving officers detained the male juvenile student in the main office of Bostrom High School, authorities said. Police said they "acted quickly" Friday to arrest the student accused of bringing a semi-automatic weapon to Bostrom High School in Phoenix. - Mapbox Police said they acted quickly to arrest the student, who was found to have brought additional ammunition in his lunchbox and backpack, according to the statement. School administrators placed the campus on lockdown during the investigation, according to the high school district. The Phoenix Police Departments Crime Gun Intelligence Unit is assisting with the investigation, and the department said its working closely with school and district officials. We commend those who originally reported the possibility of a weapon on school grounds to adults on campus who immediately called police, police said in the statement. The police did not immediately release information on where the semi-automatic rifle came from and why the student allegedly brought it to campus. The students name and age were not released because he is a minor. His arrest comes days after an 18-year-old man in Farmington, New Mexico, used an AR-15-style rifle and two other guns to shoot and kill three people and injure six others, including two police officers, CNN reported. CNNs Andy Rose, Steve Almasy and Amy Simonson contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Atlanta gets almost $20M in federal funds for infrastructure, transport projects The City of Atlanta received extra funding awards from Georgias COVID recovery funds. According to a release from the city, Georgia allocated nearly $20 million more in funding from the states American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for a set of infrastructure and transportation projects. Atlanta officials said it would allow the city to deliver vital projects without affecting taxpayers with General Fund use. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] A release from the city said the grants were awarded to the following projects: $2,200,000 for the Atlanta Department of Transportation to construct sidewalk connections at Clark Atlanta / Atlanta University Center $2,165,093.70 for the construction of Washington Park sidewalk connections $2,103,560.80 for construction of the Westside BeltLine Connector sidewalk link $2,200,000 for updates to the Dunbar Neighborhood Center $2,200,000 for Atlanta BeltLines development of Enota Park $2,200,000 for improvements to the J.C. Birdine Neighborhood Center $2,200,000 for improvements to Worksource Atlantas Community Center $2,032,301.70 for the Department of Parks and Recreation for improvements to four City of Atlanta parks $2,199,561.10 for the Atlanta Downtown Improvement Districts Woodruff Park Accessibility and Activation Project TRENDING STORIES: We appreciate these allocations from Governor Kemp for investments in our parks, community centers, sidewalks, and other infrastructure, said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. This infusion of American Rescue Plan Act dollarsmade possible by the Biden Administration and our federal delegationworking alongside hundreds of millions in local and additional federal funds we have secured is a game-changer in our mission to make Atlanta a city built for the future. We value the continued partnership with the state in projects that benefit us all. According to city officials, the additional roughly $19.5 million was given to Atlanta in addition to $100 million from federal investments made by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The $100 million is aimed at projects involving the Atlanta airport and other road and transit initiatives. The funding, approved by Gov. Brian Kemp, was announced Thursday as part of a round of hundreds of millions in project funding for the state. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] OTHER NEWS: Atlantic system with slim chance to form impacts Bahamas. But what about South Florida? A disturbance near the Bahamas has a low chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm over the next few days and South Floridas weather forecast for this workweek features high chances of rain. The system producing a large area of scattered showers and thunderstorms in southern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands is extending a couple hundred miles as it moves at 5 to 10 mph over the southwestern Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Sunday afternoon. Increasing upper-level winds should prevent the systems development, said CBS Miami meteorologist KC Sherman Its formation chance this week is 10% while moving north-northeast, the NHC said. The @NHC is highlighting our first area of disturbed weather of the season near the Bahamas. Increasing upper level winds should prevent development, with the chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm at a low 10%. pic.twitter.com/E3aflfylCf KC Sherman (@KCShermanWx) May 21, 2023 The Atlantic hurricane season is from June 1 to Nov. 30, but tropical cyclone activity sometimes occurs before and after these dates. Now is the time to develop and make your hurricane plans, the National Weather Service in Key West cautioned via social media. A surface trough to the northeast of the Bahamas is not expected to develop into a tropical cyclone over the next 7 days. Remember, hurricane season begins on June 1st. Now is the time to develop and make your hurricane plans.#floridakeys #flwx #flkeys #marathonflorida #keywest pic.twitter.com/B2af58rsNu NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) May 21, 2023 According to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Miami, South Florida isnt forecast to be directly impacted by the disturbance but unrelated inclement weather guarantees a rainy workweek. It looks like it will stay offshore and just move north-eastward in the Atlantic, NWS meteorologist Ana Torres-Vazquez told the Miami Herald. Will South Florida get drenched? Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are expecting plenty of rain throughout the week due to high moisture levels, the National Weather Service says. Rainfall totals of two to four inches of rain are anticipated in the region, Torres-Vazquez said. Heres what the forecast looks like: Monday: Enjoy a mostly sunny day with temperature highs in the upper 80s followed up by 40 to 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. Lows are expected in the mid 70s. Tuesday: Look forward to a partially sunny morning with some showers followed by a 70% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Lows are forecast in the low to mid 70s. Wednesday: Showers are likely with a chance of thunderstorms with a 70% rain chance. Highs will be in the mid to upper 80s and lows in the lower 70s. Thursday: The likelihood of showers will increase throughout the day with highs in the mid to upper 80s and a 70% chance of rain. Expect lows in the lower 70s. Friday: The end of the workweek is forecast to be partially cloudy with showers, possible thunderstorms and a 70% chance of rain. Highs are expected in the mid 80s and lows in the lower 70s. Dr. Jennifer Thompson, center, and Dr. Jessica Wilson, right, meet before testifying against Dr. Aravind Sankar at his sentencing hearing Friday. A judge sentenced an Austin doctor accused of assaulting multiple women to six months in prison and 10 years of probation, rejecting a request from prosecutors who asked that he be locked up for a decade after they said he had violated terms of his probation on a previous charge. The decision by Judge Chantal Eldridge in the case against Dr. Aravind Sankar came after testimony Friday from several women who had been in relationships with Sankar and who said he abused them from at least two decades ago. They also asked that he be sent to prison as the only way to protect other women. Sankar still has multiple cases pending in Travis County related to domestic violence and is awaiting trial on those cases. 'I grabbed her and shook her': The fall of an Austin surgeon accused of repeatedly abusing women Separately, he had received deferred adjudication, a form of probation, in 2018 from an assault family violence case in May 2014. The agreement would have spared him of a criminal conviction had he followed the probation terms. He also was convicted on a felony charge of assault in Bexar County last year and sentenced to 10 years of probation. Sankar did not address the court Friday. But testimony on his behalf included that from Lisa Sheinberg, who was a hospital administrator at Westlake Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic and who said Sankar was "instrumental in helping the hospital navigate" the pandemic. "He was always available for consulting, always available for emergencies and took calls for other cases," she said. "He's an excellent surgeon." Dr. Aravind Sankar leaves the courtroom Friday. Prosecutors asked Eldrige to revoke the 2018 agreement in Travis County after his arrest in December on a drunken driving charge. They also said in their request that Sankar had not reported to his probation officer as required in 2018. Eldridge said that she considered multiple factors in deciding how to respond to prosecutors request, including testimony that he was a hardworking and excellent surgeon. She also acknowledged that he had sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and said she did not impose a harsher sentence because Travis County prosecutors were previously aware of some of his violence involving women when they negotiated a plea deal with him in 2018. The agreement occurred during a previous district attorney's administration. Sankars cases and the handling of them by the Texas Medical Board were the subject of an American-Statesman article published Thursday. The board suspended his license in December. You need some serious counseling on how to treat women, Eldridge told Sankar. I believe their testimony is credible that you put these women through acts of violence that they never should have experienced. If you cant change your behavior, then you will get prison time. Dr. Jessica Wilson is comforted before she testifies Friday against Dr. Aravind Sankar. A handful of women testified Friday about violence they said they faced from Sankar. That included multiple instances of strangulation. When he would get into these rages, it was so terrifying, said Rebecca Robinson, a nurse who said Sankar assaulted her while they were dating. He faces several charges in Travis County related to a 2018 incident. More: Chief of staff at Westlake Medical Center jailed after pleading guilty to assault charge Kelsey McKay, right, who had been the original prosecutor in Jennifer Thompson's case against Dr. Aravind Ankar, speaks to Thompson before she testifies against Sankar at Friday's sentencing hearing. Kelsey McKay, an attorney who represents some of the women, said she was surprised by the lenient sentence: The system is broken. There is nothing in it for victims, and it has to change. Victims have to have some voice in the system. First, they are silenced by the abuser and then silenced by the system that lets the case languish on and on. And today, they were silenced by a judge no cameras, no audio, no nothing. Eldridge did not allow cameras in the courtroom, despite a request from the Statesman. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin surgeon sentenced to six months in prison, 10 years probation The Axiom Space Ax-2 private astronaut crew smiles in their Dragon capsule Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission is the second-ever private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission is launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule on Sunday, May 21 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Flying to the space station are two members of Saudi Arabia's first astronaut class, Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni. Barnawi is now the first Saudi woman in space. Also riding along are record-setting former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson who will serve as commander and John Shoffner, a paying customer who will serve as Ax-2's pilot. The four crewmates will travel to and from the International Space Station in a Dragon capsule named Freedom. The mission will last 10 days, eight of them on the station. Launch webcast! | Ax-2 explained | Ax-2 mission photos | Meet the Crew Axiom Space 'Go' for Ax-2 launch on May 21 In a Flight Readiness Review (FRR) conference held Monday (May 15), mission managers from NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space said the upcoming Ax-2 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is currently on track to launch as scheduled at 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT) on Sunday, May 21. "Today we had a review where we brought together members of the team from Axiom Space, SpaceX and NASA to talk about the upcoming mission, and at the end of that review, the full team polled 'go,'" said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate. The mission will be the second-ever all-private mission to the International Space Station. The first, Ax-1, launched in April 2022 atop a SpaceX rocket and saw four private astronauts spend more than two weeks aboard the ISS. Read more: SpaceX to launch 1st Saudi woman to space on private Ax-2 mission Ax-2 crew shares excitement over upcoming launch The four astronauts who will be launching on Axiom Space's upcoming Ax-2 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) held a virtual press conference on Tuesday (May 16) to discuss their impending spaceflight. Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, Ax-2 mission specialists who are members of Saudi Arabia's first astronaut class, shared their excitement over being chosen to represent their nation as it sends its first humans to the ISS. "We are really honored and privileged to have you guys and to be part of this amazing mission," Alqarni said, adding that he and Barnawi "are really thrilled and excited for our mission and to represent Saudi Arabia on this journey." Ax-2 pilot John Shoffner, meanwhile, shared that "To say I'm excited to be here would be a gross understatement." It will be Shoffner's first trip to space. Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission is scheduled to liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday (May 21) at 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can watch it live here courtesy of NASA and SpaceX. Read more: Ax-2 private astronauts can't wait for their May 21 SpaceX launch to the space station Related: Meet the 4 astronauts of SpaceX's Ax-2 mission for Axiom Space What to know about Axiom Space's 2nd private mission to the ISS Axiom Space is still aiming to launch its Ax-2 mission with SpaceX on Sunday (May 21) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Want to learn more about the mission? Here's what you need to know about Ax-2 and how it fits into Axiom Space's ambitious plans in Earth orbit. Read more: Meet the 4 astronauts of SpaceX's Ax-2 mission for Axiom Space Two days until Ax-2 launch The Axiom 2 (Ax-2) mission is set to launch at 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT) on May 21 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. And the crew of the mission can hardly contain their excitement ahead of the eight-day-long mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Crew commander Peggy Whitson will be the first woman to lead a private space mission, following two commands of the ISS as a NASA astronaut. "We really feel like were prepared to go. We have a few more objectives to meet in the next few days, but we are so excited to get to space," she said in a press conference Tuesday (May 16). The crew includes Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Alqarni, private pilot John Shoffner and Whitson. Alqarni plans to bring Saudi coffee and dates as he and Barnawai become the first two Saudi astronauts on the orbiting complex. Rob Lea 1 day to launch: Ax-2 crew aces dress rehearsal The Axiom Space Ax-2 private astronaut crew in their SpaceX spacesuits SpaceX is one day away from launching four private astronauts to the International Space Station for Axiom Space and the Ax-2 mission's crew are more than ready for launch. On Friday, May 19, the Ax-2 astronauts -- commander Peggy Whitson (a former NASA spaceflyer); pilot John Shoffner, a paying customer; and Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni; -- performed a dress rehearsal for their planned launch on Sunday from NASA's Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. The four astronauts donned their sleek SpaceX spacesuits and rode out to the pad in Tesla electric cars, where they climbed inside their Dragon capsule Freedom. "We got to see our rocket up close today! And, yes, there are goose bumps of excitement!!" Whitson said on Twitter. Teams completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities with the @Axiom_Space Ax-2 crew pic.twitter.com/0xhqrf0SwLMay 19, 2023 See more Ax-2 mission GO for Sunday launch The Axiom Space Ax-2 private astronaut crew smiles in their Dragon capsule NASA, SpaceX and Axiom Space have officially cleared the Ax-2 private astronaut mission for launch, with liftoff set for 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT) on Sunday, May 21. You'll be able to watch the Ax-2 launch live online, including on Space.com. Officials for NASA and both companies met in a launch readiness review meeting today and signed off on the planned launch. This is the second all-private Axiom Space mission to the space station. "It's obviously a very, very exciting day," Derek Hassmann, Axiom Space's chief of mission integration and operations, told reporters in a teleconference this evening. "We worked a long, long time in collaboration with our partners at SpaceX and NASA to get to this point. The crew has been working very hard to get trained and they're certainly ready to go." Benji Reed, SpaceX's senior director for human spaceflight programs, said that a final check of the mission's Dragon capsule Freedom did reveal one issue that needed to be resolved. Nine fasteners on a panel near the top of Dragon spacecraft had less thermal protection filler material than expected, Reed explained, so a team is using a crane near the rocket to reach the site to fill the gaps in those fasteners in time for flight. "We're actually fairly confident that that would be okay that we could we could fly the dragon that way and then come back and reenter with the amount of fill that we have there. Those analyses are ongoing," Reed said. "However, in an abundance of caution, we've decided to go ahead and get those cells exactly to the amount that they need to be filled with this thermal protective protection material on those nine fasteners." Reed said the process will be completed tonight. "It'll have no impact, we expect, to the launch." Launch Day for Axiom Space! the sun rising behind Axiom Space's SpaceX Dragon capsule It's launch day for Axiom Space's private Ax-2 space crew on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is set for 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT). You'll be able to watch the Ax-2 launch live online, including on Space.com, beginning at about 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT) in a livestream provided by SpaceX. The Ax-2 mission is the second all-private launch to the International Space Station by Axiom Space. It will launch four astronauts to the station on a 10-day flight, eight of those days will be on the space station. The mission is commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will be the first woman to lead a private space mission. Serving as pilot is investor John Shoffner, who is a paying customer for Axiom Space. Two of Saudi Arabia's first astronauts, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, round out the crew. AlQarni and Barnawi will be the first Saudi astronauts to visit the International Space Station, with Barnawi to become the first Saudi woman in history to fly in space. As we prepare for launch, here's a few things to know about this mission: Meet the 4 astronauts of Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission Excitement builds for 1st Saudi astronauts to fly to space station Saudi Arabia's 1st female astronaut hopes kids will follow in her footsteps SpaceX Ax-2 private astronaut mission will grow 1st stem cells in space Axiom crews to use custom Fisher space pens on private missions Photos from the Ax-2 all-private space mission What time is the Ax-2 launch? We've got you. SpaceX diagram of the Ax-2 astronaut launch showing liftoff, rocket landing and separation. As SpaceX counts down to launch the Ax-2 mission for Axiom Space, the company has shared a detailed timeline how it will work. We've rounded it all up in our "What time is SpaceX's Ax-2 launch?" story, but here's a sneak peak. SpaceX Ax-2 livestream beginning! Will just over 3 hours to go until the Ax-2 astronaut launch, SpaceX is warming up its livestream for today's liftoff coverage. The company's webcast is live and is expected to provide live commentary through the launch countdown. You can see the webcast at the top of this page, but we recommend viewing it through the Space.com homepage or our Ax-2 webcast page. Weather 75% Go for Ax-2 launch SpaceX and Axiom Space have a new weather forecast for today's launch. There is now a 75% chance of good weather, down from 80%. The main concern is the formation of anvil clouds near the launch site. Ax-2 astronauts suit up, head to launch pad Ax-2 astronauts with their linked hands raised as they walkout in spacesuits The Ax-2 astronauts have donned their sleek SpaceX-issue spacesuits inside SpaceX's Falcon rocket support building and are on their way to the launch pad. They left the support building near Launch Pad 39A, and will ride in three black Tesla electric cars to their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule at the pad. Ax-2 astronauts begins Dragon ingress Ax-2 astronauts in spacesuits in Crew Access Arm white room preparing to enter Dragon. The Ax-2 astronauts have reached Pad 39A and taken the elevator up to the Crew Access Arm where the mission's commander Peggy Whitson and pilot John Shoffner have already entered their Dragon capsule. Saudi astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi will follow shortly. The private astronauts took some time to marvel at their launch vehicle, then took the elevator up to the Crew Access Arm. They had an opportunity to make final phone calls to loved ones and sign SpaceX's White Room wall before entering the Dragon Freedom capsule. Ax-2 astronauts in spacesuits giving thumbs up on the way to the capsule. Ax-2 crew all strapped in Ax-2 astronauts in spacesuits strapped in inside Dragon capsule Freedom Axiom Space's Ax-2 crew is all smiles as they await communications checks while strapped in their Crew Dragon Freedom seats. SpaceX will conduct a series of communications checks with each crewmember to ensure everything is ready for launch. Ax-2 astronauts in launch position The four Ax-2 private astronauts are now in launch position after SpaceX rotated their seats from the upright position for ingress into an upward-facing position for liftoff. A series of suit leak checks are underway right now. As we await the Crew Dragon side hatch closure, here's a clip of the crew heading out to the launch pad and meeting their rocket. Dragon hatch closed for Ax-2 launch SpaceX's close-out crew has closed and sealed the side hatch of the Dragon capsule Freedom ahead of today's launch of four Ax-2 astronauts for Axiom Space. The countdown continues to tick down toward a 5:37 p.m. EDT (2137 GMT) launch, and all systems and weather appear to be in good shape. SpaceX close-out crew leaves pad, weather good SpaceX's John Insprucker reports that the close-out crew has departed Pad 39A and the Crew Access Arm is being prepared to swing clear of the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. Weather continues to look good for launch. "Reporting no significant issues, everything continuing to look good," Insprucker said. Meet 'GiGi' the Build-a-Bear Zero-G indicator The Axiom Space Bear, a larger version of the Ax-2 zero-g indicator Axiom Space unveiled the zero-g indicator and it is a tiny version of an Axiom Space Bear called "GiGi." The adorable space bear is actually a Build-A-Bear creation (yes, you can order a larger version of it for yourself) given to the Ax-2 crew before launch. "GiGi was designed and built for the next generation of space explorers who will enable us to explore beyond, build a sustainable future in low-Earth orbit and realize the extensive science research that will be achievable with their involvement and active participation in STEAM," Sandra Nelson, vice president of marketing at Axiom Space, told Space.com contributor Robert Pearlman of collectSPACE.com. The Axiom Space Bear is available for order now from the Build-A-Bear Workshop and Axiom Space websites for $42 each. Crew Access Arm retracted for Ax-2 launch White SpaceX rocket on launch pad with crew access gantry retracted SpaceX's launch director has given the "go" to begin preparing to fuel the Falcon 9 rocket for the Ax-2 mission. Meanwhile, the launch pad's Crew Access Arm has successfully retracted away from the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. SpaceX has armed the launch escape system on the Dragon Freedom capsule, which is designed to pull the spacecraft free of its rocket in case of an emergency. Propellant loading begins for Falcon 9 SpaceX has begun loading the RP-1 rocket-grade kerosene propellant onto the Falcon 9 rocket. The process started about 35 minutes before launch. SpaceX completes RP-1 fueling of 2nd stage SpaceX reports it has completed fueling the 2nd stage of the Falcon 9 rocket with its RP-1 propellant. Stage 1 liquid oxygen fueling has been underway simultaneously. Stage 2 LOX loading will follow shortly. SpaceX is tracking a valve issue on the first stage manually to make sure its system is properly pressurized for launch, but is continuing with the countdown. A final check is expected at the T-35 seconds mark. SpaceX watching clouds, valve. Count continues SpaceX reports there's an anvil cloud about 5 miles away from the launch pad and it just needs to stay 3 miles away for launch. "Watching the clouds, thinking dry thoughts," Ax-2commander Peggy Whitson said. "We are honored to have you aboard Dragon capsule Freedom today," SpaceX's launch director told the crew. "We wish you a great mission. Good luck, Godspeed and enjoy the ride." "Let freedom fly", Peggy Whitson called back. Engine chilldown underway. Strongback retracted, Dragon on internal power SpaceX reports it's Dragon capsule is now on internal power and its Falcon 9 strongback support has retracted away. Fueling should also be completed for the Falcon 9 rocket in the next few minutes. Minutes remain until the 5:37 pm ET (2137 GMT) launch. LIFTOFF! SpaceX launches Ax-2 private astronaut mission SpaceX rocket lifting off from launch pad Ignition! SpaceX's Falcon 9 lifts off with a crew of four on the private Ax-2 astronaut mission for Axiom Space. Destination: International Space Station. MECO and Stage Separation SpaceX rocket returning to Earth while another stage heads to space SpaceX's Falcon 9 1st stage has shut down and separated from the upper stage. It has performed a boost back burn to return to Earth. The upper stage engine has ignited as planned and continues to carry its Ax-2 crew into orbit. "Copy, nominal trajectory," Ax-2 commander Peggy Whitson radioed to Mission Control. Spacecraft separation! Dragon Ax-2 astronauts in orbit SpaceX Dragon capsule floating free above Earth with glowing blue Earth beyond. SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom has successfully separated from its Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage. Camera views showed it flying free above a bright blue Earth. Meanwhile, the four Ax-2 astronauts are getting acquainted to zero gravity, playing with floating pens and their GiGi space bear. Ax-2 astronauts seated on Dragon spaceship watching objects float in zero gravity The Falcon 9 rocket's 1st stage aced a flawless landing at LZ-1, SpaceX's landing pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It was the first time the company has landed a rocket on land after a crewed launch. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket firing its engines for landing after launching into space. Ax-2 in orbit, post-launch briefing at 7 pm ET And that's a wrap for SpaceX's's Ax-2 private astronaut launch for Axiom Space. The two companies and NASA have ended their livestreams, but SpaceX and Axiom Space will continue to post updates on Twitter. You can read our wrap story here. It will take about 15 hours for the crew to reach the International Space Station, so they'll doff their spacesuits, have their first meal in space and try to get some rest. (They will probably plan to look out the window for a bit.) NASA, SpaceX and Axiom Space will hold a post-launch briefing at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT). You can listen to it live in the feed above. SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft Ax-2 crew doing well in orbit, launch a success SpaceX, Axiom Space and NASA report the Ax-2 astronauts are doing well after reaching orbit after a stunning launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. The four astronauts - commander and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson; investor and pilot John Shoffner; and Saudi national astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayannah Barnawi - are on track to dock at the International Space Station in just under 15 hours on the morning of Monday, May 22. Docking is set for about 9:24 am ET (1324 GMT). SpaceX reported that the astronauts may have time to talk live with mission control from orbit at 8:40 p.m. EDT (0040 GMT) tonight. If so, we'll be sure to post the link here. Joel Montalbano, NASA's program manager for the International Space Station, said the crew on the space station is preparing to welcome their new visitors. They are also gearing up to receive a new Russian cargo ship on May 24, so it will be a busy time. The Ax-2 astronauts will spend 10 days in space, eight of them on the station. They are expected to undock on May 30, Montalbano said. We'll continue to provide live mission updates here each day during the mission. Ax-2 astronauts thrilled to be in space The four astronauts of Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission are thrilled to be in space, but were so busy getting out of their spacesuits after reaching orbit, they almost forgot to look out the window. Ax-2 pilot John Shoffner, an investor and entrepreneur, said the experience of weightlessness after the ride into orbit was "an amazing feeling," during a short live video chat with SpaceX's Mission Control. "We were all pretty busy getting dressed and getting all of our gear out that we forgot to look out the window for a couple of minutes," Shoffner said. "But it's amazing feeling really enjoying it. We're going to have an awesome experience." Rayyanah Barnawi, who became the first Saudi woman to fly in space as a Saudi national astronaut, and her Saudi crewmate Ali AlQarni shared excited messages to home in Arabic, then translated them for their viewers. "Hello from outer space! It feels amazing to be viewing Earth from this capsule.," Barnawi said, as she thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their support. "And to the people around the world, well, the future is very bright and I would like you to dream big, believe in yourself and believe in humanity." Ax-2 astronauts waving while floating in weightlessness on SpaceX Dragon Docking Day for Ax-2 crew It's docking day for the four astronauts of Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission and their SpaceX Dragon capsule is now scheduled to dock at the International Space Station at 9:10 a.m. EDT (1310 GMT), NASA officials say. A live webcast is underway from NASA, SpaceX and Axiom Space and you can watch at the top of this page and on our docking webcast page here. The docking will end a 15 hour trip to the space station for Ax-2 astronauts Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi and begin an eight-day stay on the station. There will be live video of hatch opening between the two spacecraft at 11:13 a.m. EDT (1513 GMT), and the Crews welcoming remarks at 11:45 a.m. EDT (1545 GMT). New Ax-2 docking time: 9:10 am ET SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom flies with clouds of Earth behind ahead of docking SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom is on track for an earlier docking now, targeted for 9:10 a.m. EDT (1310 GMT), for today's Ax-2 astronaut crew arrival at the International Space Station. In the last 90 minutes, the spacecraft has passed a series of waypoints and is now less than 200 meters away from the International Space Station. Docking! SpaceX's Ax-2 arrives at space station SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom docked with space station as orbital sunrise begins SpaceX's Ax-2 Crew Dragon Freedom successfully docked at the International Space Station at 9:12 a.m. EDT (1312 GMT) as both spacecraft sailed 262 miles above and to the northeast of Japan. "That's the softest docking I've ever had," said Ax-2 commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who also flew to the station on a NASA space shuttle and Russian Soyuz capsule. The crew will now spend eight days docked at the station, performing science experiments, STEM outreach and other tasks. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg on the station welcomed Whitson back to the station, and her Ax-2 crewmates for the first time, including an Arabic greeting for Saudi astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayannah Barnawi. "We look forward to working with you guys this week," Whitson said. Hatches open between Ax-2 Dragon, Space Station Split screen showing astronauts inside Ax-2 Dragon capsule on left and space station on right The four Ax-2 astronauts aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom have opened the hatch between their spacecraft and the International Space Station. Hatch opening occurred at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) after astronauts inside the station opened their own hatch on the space-facing port of NASA's Harmony connecting node. The Ax-2 astronauts are expected to float inside the space station soon for a welcome ceremony that was originally scheduled at 11:45 a.m. EDT (1545 GMT). Ax-2 astronauts enter space station Astronauts welcome four new crewmembers from the private Ax-2 mission inside space station The four Ax-2 astronauts have officially entered the International Space Station, with broad smiles and handshakes welcoming them aboard. Ax-2 commander Peggy Whitson was the first to enter the station, a homecoming of sorts as she has previously commanded the station during earlier missions. Pilot John Shoffner, who is paying for his trip on Ax-2 to Axiom Space, was next. Saudi Space Commission astronaut Ali AlQarni was third, followed by fellow Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi. The four Ax-2 astronauts join a seven-person team already on the station as part of Expedition 69. They will have a full welcoming ceremony shortly to officially welcome the new group aboard. Astronauts welcome four new crewmembers from the private Ax-2 mission inside space station Ax-2 astronauts tackle first full day on ISS Eleven astronauts on International Space Station celebrate the arrival of four Ax-2 astronauts on May 22, 2023. The four private astronauts of Axiom Space's Ax-2 mission are spending the first full day on the International Space Station. Ax-2 commander Peggy Whitson, pilot John Shoffner (a paying crewmember) and mission specialists Ali AlQarni and Rayyannag Barnawi - both of the Saudi Space Commission - have a full plate of 20 different science experiments to perform, as well as in-space outreach events for students and the Saudi public. "My family and brothers in the Kingdom.. The sky is no limit to our ambition.. it is only the beginning," Barnawi wrote on Twitter after arriving at the station on May 22. She became the first Saudi woman to fly in space and the 600th person in space on this flight. Ax-2 astronauts complete second day on space station Ax-2 astronauts finished their second full day on the International Space Station yesterday (May 24) and worked on science, for the most part. Rayyanah Barnawi, a Saudi research scientist, performed DNA nanotherapeutics (medical) mixing operations, and worked together with fellow Saudi astronaut Ali Alqarni on an advanced microscope called Kermit. Commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut, worked with U.S. pilot John Shoffner, did stem cell research while Shoffner also had two live conversations with students in the United Kingdom. "I grew up wanting to be an astronaut," Shoffner said in an excerpt shared on Axiom Space's YouTube channel. "I was in love with the Space Race the moment it started ... It's an awesome experience. I'm here with a fabulous crew, enjoying a fabulous week of space science." Bakhmut echoes Hiroshima, Zelenskyy says as he thanks G7 for F-16 fighters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew parallels between the horror of Hiroshima and the destruction of the city of Bakhmut at the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Sunday. After Russia said it was in full control of battle-scarred Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine a claim denied by Zelenskyy the Ukrainian leader said it was unfair to compare Bakhmut to the first city to suffer a nuclear attack. But speaking in Hiroshima, which hosted the three-day summit for the leaders of the world's seven largest economies, he said photos of the city where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb in 1945 absolutely remind me of Bakhmut and other cities like it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Joe Biden during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images) He said there was absolutely, nothing alive there, all buildings are destroyed, there is even no understanding where a street is and where a building is. Absolute total destruction. Nothing left, no people left. Today, he said Hiroshima was a modern city that looks alive, with respect to people and values, adding that he believed the same would happen in Bakhmut and other towns and villages. Zelenskyy hadnt been expected to appear at the summit in person, but after he arrived on a French plane Saturday dressed in his signature green military fatigues, he was warmly welcomed by the other leaders, including President Joe Biden, whom he met with on Sunday. He said that Ukraine was expecting to receive high-quality weapons from all countries in the G7, which includes Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United States. We will get the jets, he said. So far, I cannot say how many of them, this is not a secret, I truly dont know that yet. His comments came after Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose fighters led the costly Russian push for Bakhmut, claimed Saturday to have finally captured the city. Russias Defense Ministry also said in a Telegram post that the citys liberation had been completed. Disputing the claims, Zelenskyy said his forces were holding on and fighting thanks to courage of our people and warriors, and thanks to our intelligence. Moscow focused on seizing Bakhmut over the winter in the hopes of a much needed success that could also serve as a stepping stone to the rest of the surrounding industrial heartland known as the Donbas. Ukraine sought to wear down Russian forces by forcing a protracted fight that turned into the longest and bloodiest of the war, buying time for its military to prepare a crucial counteroffensive. On Sunday, Zelenskyy refused to provide details on where Ukraine would strike. Russia will feel when a counteroffensive takes place, he said. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Chinas cybersecurity regulator has banned Chinese firms from buying chips from US memory manufacturer Micron Technology. Per Reuters , the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said Sunday it found that the companys products pose significant security risks to critical Chinese information infrastructure, including state-owned banks and telecom operators. The ban comes after China announced a review of Micron imports in late March in a move that was seen at the time as retaliation for sanctions Washington has imposed on Chinese chipmakers in recent years. Idaho-based Micron is the largest memory manufacturer in the US. The Chinese market accounts for about 10 percent of the firms annual revenue, though the majority of companies importing Micron products into China are manufacturers making devices for sale in other parts of the world. According to The Wall Street Journal, the CACs ban does not apply to non-Chinese firms in China. We are evaluating the conclusion and assessing our next steps, Micron told the outlet . We look forward to continuing to engage in discussions with Chinese authorities. The CAC did not say what Micron products would be affected by the ban, nor did it share details on what security concerns it had with the company's chips. Heres a roundup of the latest retail and restaurant activity in and around Whatcom County: Farmers market returns for summer The Rome Grange Farmers Market is returning for the summer, with Friday markets starting June 2. The market, which will have local produce, crafts and treats for the whole family, is put on by the Rome Grange, a non-profit social organization. The market will be open from 3-7 p.m. on Fridays from June 2 through Sept. 22. at 2821 Mt. Baker Hwy. in Bellingham. Mount Bakery undergoing renovations The Mount Bakery Cafes downtown Bellingham location is undergoing renovations and adjusting its business hours. The cafe, at 308 W. Champion St., is now open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday until further notice. The Mount Bakery Cafe in Fairhaven has not changed hours and will continue to operate from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily at 1217 Harris Ave. Bellingham hot sauce company expands Funkys Hot Sauce Factory of Bellingham announced its expansion in a Facebook post on May 18, expanding its company to also make BBQ sauce. The company bought out Trilbys Kitchen, a BBQ sauce, rub and dip mix business. Funkys Hot Sauce can be purchased online or at various stores across Whatcom County, Washington state, Oregon, California, New York, Massachusetts and parts of Canada. Midweek farmers market on pause The Bellingham Farmers Market announced on May 18 that it will no longer host midweek markets on Wednesdays during 2023. Although we have had much enthusiasm for the Wednesday market over its 20-plus-year history, this has not translated to the purchases we need to build the vibrant, bustling and sustainable market we want to see, the announcement stated. If you want to see a future mid-week market succeed, keep shopping at the Saturday farmers market! The Bellingham Farmers Market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday through the third week of December at 1100 Railroad Ave. How Beyonce Fans Reacted To The America Has A Problem Remix With Kendrick Lamar Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar The BeyHive is salivating after Beyonce teamed up with Kendrick Lamar to drop a remix of America Has A Problem. It was like Christmas morning for music fans when Beyonce dropped the surprise remix on Friday. Fans flocked to social media to thank the queen and Kendrick for blessing the world with their latest gift. THIS EEEEEAAAAAATTTSSSSS BeenTHIQUE (@demon_slime28) May 20, 2023 She did what now Aurore (@awe_rore) May 20, 2023 America Has a Problem is featured on Beyonces Renaissance album, which earned multiple Grammy Awards. When she expressed her thoughts about the album in 2022, Beyonce said the project allowed her a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving, she wrote on Instagram. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. The remix of America Has a Problem features the original beat, synced with new verses from Kendrick. The Grammy Award-winning rapper dropped some lines referencing the ongoing conversation about Artificial Intelligence. Hold up, wait a minute / Even AI gotta practice clonin Kendrick / The double entendre, the encore remnants / I bop like tin men, the opps need ten men, he rapped. Kendrick also declared himself as an honorary BeyHive on the track. The duo previously collaborated in 2016 when they performed the Freedom track from Beyonces Lemonade album, People reported. Beyonce and Kendrick also performed Freedom at the BET Awards in that same year. On May 10, Beyonce kicked off her Renaissance World Tour in Stockholm, Sweden. The European tour will continue in Belgium, England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Beyonce will perform in Toronto when she returns to North America on July 8. Flash People rally to protest against Japan's planned discharge of radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean in Seoul, South Korea, May 20, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua] Tens of thousands of South Koreans gathered in central Seoul on Saturday to voice their opposition to Japan's planned discharge of radioactive wastewater from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. "Stop Japan's dumping of nuclear contaminated water into ocean. Oppose the dumping from Fukushima," protesters shouted in unison with civic activists and politicians joining the rally. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, told the protesters that the South Korean government should not agree with Japan, which would "throw away" the contaminated water regardless of whether the neighboring countries would suffer the damage or the wastewater would contaminate oceans around the world. Lee said earlier this week that Japan should reuse the water from the Fukushima power plant as drinking water if Japan's claims are true that the contaminated water is safe enough to drink after being treated. The protesters also criticized the South Korean government's plan to dispatch a 21-member team of experts to Japan in a bid to review the contaminated water discharge process for six days from Sunday. Kang Eun-mi of the minor progressive Justice Party said it will be a "secret" briefing session provided by the Japanese side as private experts were excluded from the team, of which the list was undisclosed. The lawmaker noted that the team will not be allowed to collect even a drop of the contaminated water as a sample, while South Korean reporters were not allowed to accompany the team. "Anxiety and concern of our people are put on the back burner. It shows a terrible aspect of humiliating diplomacy, where (South Korea) accepts Japan's closed-door briefing gratefully," Kang said. Despite grave concerns expressed by Japan's neighbors and the Pacific island countries, the Japanese government has decided to release radioactive wastewater from the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean "in spring or summer." President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images President Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday and unveiled a new $375 million military aid package for Ukraine. During the meeting, which took place at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden pledged a package of "more ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles to bolster Ukraine's battlefield abilities," according to a readout of the meeting provided by the White House. The G7 previously announced a new series of sanctions against Russia in an effort to slow their war efforts, and Biden committed to new American sanctions as well. "The United States continues to help Ukraine respond, recover and rebuild," Biden said. "Together, with the entire G7, we have Ukraine's back. And I promise we're not going anywhere." Zelenskyy thanked Biden, while also dismissing reports that Russia had taken control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian president had acknowledged at the end of 2022 that the city was "destroyed," however, when asked at the meeting if Russia had indeed captured Bakhmut, Zelenskyy replied, "I think no, but you have to understand that there is nothing. They've destroyed everything." "But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," Zelenskyy added. "There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians. But they came to us." Continued U.S. support for Ukraine has gotten some pushback, especially from a faction of Republicans who have decried the spending amount. However, the Biden administration has remained steadfast in its support. Following Biden's meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release that the United States "will continue to stand with our Ukrainian partners as they defend themselves from Russia's war of aggression." Biden also said last week that the U.S. would commit to a joint effort with Japan to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on F-16 aircraft. You may also like Italy's Mount Etna erupts, forcing airport closure Dianne Feinstein and the problem of America's aging politicians College student who tracks Elon Musk's jet now doing the same with DeSantis Abandoned Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, May 11, 2023 "There is a discussion about Bakhmut whether or not its been lost or whatever," he said. Well, the truth of the matter is the Russians have suffered over 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut. That's hard to make up. So whether or not there are troops in Bakhmut occupying, there are not many buildings left standing in Bakhmut. It's a pretty devastated city. But they have been able to move in a direction that they've been able to lock down an awful lot of the Russian forces, including the Wagner Group. Biden made this statement in the context of the upcoming counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the possible transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. According to the U.S. president, F-16s "would not have helped (the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut)." Two days ago, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Russia's losses on the Bakhmut axis had reached 70,000 killed and wounded. What is happening in Bakhmut now On May 20, the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the complete capture of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, by his mercenaries. Read also: Ukrainian soldier claims Russians near Bakhmut being forced to attack by officers The Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense denied this information and said that fighting in the city continues. On May 21, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar reported that the Ukrainian military had employed a double envelopment in Bakhmut, while continuing to maintain control over part of the city. The commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, also said that the Ukrainian military controlled a small part of Bakhmut and were approaching the tactical encirclement of the city. At a press conference following the G7 summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asserted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces remained in the city. 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 HIROSHIMA, Japan When President Biden bailed on Fridays welcome dinner for G-7 leaders after barely an hour, the White House said he was returning to his hotel for another briefing on debt limit talks back in Washington. The chatter on the ground was that he was just jet-lagged. On Sunday, when Air Force One departed Japan and began the 14-hour journey home, there was a similar sense of ambiguity. Was the president leaving on a high after three days of substantive diplomatic achievements or beleaguered, returning to a high-stakes political drama back home that seemed to be deteriorating? The presidents trip to Asia was rife with dualities. Biden opened his closing press conference in Hiroshima by staking out a firm position in the debt talks. Republicans, he said, cannot strike a bipartisan deal solely on their partisan terms. He pivoted briefly to outline the foreign policy developments that emerged from meetings here, declaring that the summit showcased the unity of purpose within the G-7. Were addressing the challenges that matter most to the world, he said. But the question-and-answer session that followed focused largely on the mess in Washington. Presidents are often required to juggle several things at once. Before beginning his final day of meetings here, Biden was briefed again on debt limit talks and instructed aides to schedule a phone call with GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after his Sunday evening takeoff from Hiroshima. It was one of several instances during this truncated trip to the Pacific that illuminated some pressures facing Bidens presidency and the approaches hes taken to counter them: his outward calm in a moment of chronic chaos, his persistent belief that the big picture matters more than the fleeting controversies and, above all, his success in unifying Americas allies while laboring to bridge divides at home. The past few days have once more underscored how important Americas global leadership is, Biden said. The security and prosperity of the American people are substantially increased by working in concert with our closest allies and partners to build a future of greater economic strength and resilience and a world that is more peaceful and stable. Despite being overshadowed by domestic news, this summit was historic, characterized by clear momentum building behind several multilateral initiatives and an increasingly cohesive alliance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys unanticipated in-person attendance coincided with new G-7 endeavors to ensure his country withstands Russias aggression. The group articulated its strongest ever stance toward Chinas coercive economic practices while accelerating a broader shift to a new industrial policy an effort to reduce dependency on Beijing by bolstering manufacturing and diversifying supply chains, expanding commitments to tackle climate change and lifting the developing world. "There is no going back. This is an inflection point for a new and more relevant G-7, said Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan. He pointed to actions on supply chains, semiconductors and infrastructure funding to counter China as a matter of "economic security, national security and energy security, a response, he said, to the three C's that have upended the world: Covid, conflict and coercion. The summit ended Sunday with a flourish. Days after announcing the U.S. would reverse course and take part in a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircraft including F-16 jets, Biden met with Zelenskyy and announced a new $375 million defense aid package. "Together, with the entire G-7, we have Ukraine's back," he said. He preceded that by leading a historic trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The two long-time adversaries, jarred by North Koreas missile tests, have opened the door to coordination on economic and security matters, largely in response to Bidens encouragement and mediation. G-7 summits are usually nerd nirvanas, producing long statements on numerous issues that specialists mine to figure out in which direction the worlds leading democracies are moving, usually incrementally, said John Herbst, a former ambassador to Ukraine. Hiroshima was different. It was rich in substance and symbolism indicating that the worlds great democracies recognize the dangers, geopolitical and economic, posed by the two authoritarian revisionist powers, China and Russia. Allies moving more confidently in lockstep reflected not just a shared awareness of the threats posed by autocrats and a changing world, but also a trust in Biden. And yet, many remain somewhat concerned about the stability of American politics overall, riveted by and asking about the debt limit drama playing out back home and, more privately, wondering about the presidents standing as early polls show him no sure bet for a second term. Bidens relatively lower profile on the world stage offered a major contrast to his predecessor, Donald Trump, who roiled summits with his attention-craving theatrics, turning bilateral meetings into rolling press conferences that left little time for private, substantive talks. Throughout the summit, Biden shared warm moments with numerous heads of state, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. Among the European leaders, Italys new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni seemed the most eager to establish a personal rapport with Biden. Despite their ideological differences with Meloni being a right-wing leader shes an avowed transatlanticist, and her strong support for Ukraine came as a pleasant surprise to U.S. officials. According to Italian officials, Biden approached her, embraced her and said some really kind words about Italys recent fatal flood. But Bidens physical presence his late arrivals, stiff gait, the beatific smile he wore during group photos was keenly observed by his counterparts, other diplomats and the public. And some of the Japanese public following the summit and commenting in real time were not particularly lenient toward Biden, who sometimes appeared less energetic than his younger counterparts. During a group photo Saturday, Biden didnt hear when he was called to take his place on a mark, forcing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to yell to alert him. One European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, said Biden looked okay but noted that he had to stick to the script quite a bit, reading from large note cards when it was his turn to speak during meetings. Since hes still got another G-7 summit to attend [next year] before running for re-election, his future wasnt a big thing on the other leaders minds, the diplomat said. Bidens efforts to make inroads with smaller countries in the Indo Pacific, however, were set back by his having to cancel a planned stop in Papua New Guinea, en route to Australia after Japan. Ian Bremmer, the president of the Eurasia Group, a global risk assessment firm, said Biden made the right call to cut his trip in half. But pulling out of the Quad Summit shows a lack of reliability that the Chinese are only too happy about. Having said that, the G-7 is extremely well aligned, Bremmer said, attributing the cohesion to the crisis in Russia and shared concerns about China. Up close, this G-7 was not quite as unified as the lengthy communiques, numerous family photos and scripted White House background calls would have it seem. Leaders were occasionally at odds over the elements of certain initiatives and, at times, letting their frustrations slip beyond the surface. Behind closed doors, they squabbled over various aspects of the groups clean energy action plan, with Japan winning concessions on its desire to maintain several coal plants. The U.S. failed to win support for a proposed across-the-board ban on trade with Russia with exceptions (a so-called white list, as opposed to the current black list approach), although the U.S. and other nations did announce additional sanctions and export controls. Trudeau called out Meloni, at one point publicly chiding her governments stance on LGBTQ rights. And the final joint statements on numerous issues, including a broad condemnation of the economic coercion epitomized by the un-named China, made clear that, while G-7 countries share a set of values and principles, each would continue to determine its approach to Beijing based largely on national interests. Somewhat abashed over his own domestic politics, Biden apologized multiple times directly to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who attended the G-7 as one of several invited non-member nations, for having to cancel his scheduled trip to Sydney this week. And he continued to downplay the danger of a U.S. default, suggesting that the back-and-forth statements from McCarthy and his own increasingly combative aides were merely part of a familiar process that would eventually arrive at an agreement. Those comments were among the few unscripted utterances the president made over three days until his closing press conference Sunday evening when Biden gave several lengthy, at times hard to follow responses to questions about debt negotiations, China and Ukraine. Stuart Lau contributed to this report. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walks in the Capitol Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) WASHINGTON (AP) The White House and House Republicans wrapped up another round of debt ceiling talks Sunday as Washington races to strike a budget compromise along with a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit and avert an economy-wrecking federal default. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke by phone Sunday while the president was returning home on Air Force One after the Group of Seven summit in Japan. They plan to meet Monday at the White House. It went well, well talk tomorrow, Biden said of the phone call as he arrived back in Washington late in the evening. Upbeat, McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol that the call was productive" and that the on-again, off-again negotiations between his staff and White House representatives are focused on spending cuts. Negotiators for the Democratic president and Republican speaker met for 2 1/2 hours at the Capitol as talks appear to be narrowing on a 2024 budget year cap that would be key to resolving the standoff. We'll keep working, said Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, as the White House team exited. The Republicans were not seen leaving the speaker's office and offered no immediate comment after the talks. They all face a deadline, as soon as June 1, when the government could run out of cash to pay its bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that June 1 is a hard deadline. McCarthy said after his call with Biden that I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what were looking at." The speaker added, "But Ive been very clear to him from the very beginning. We have to spend less money than we spent last year. McCarthy emerged from that conversation sounding optimistic and was careful not to criticize Biden's trip, as he had before. He did caution, Theres no agreement on anything. Were looking at, how do we have a victory for this country?" McCarthy said. He said he did not think the final legislation would remake the federal budget and the country's debt, but at least put us on a path to change the behavior of this runaway spending. The White House confirmed the Monday meeting and late Sunday talks but did not elaborate on the leaders' call. Earlier, Biden used his concluding news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, to warn House Republicans that they must move off their extreme positions over raising the debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avoid a catastrophic default only on their terms. Biden said it's time for Republicans to accept that there is no deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms. He said he had done his part in attempting to raise the borrowing limit so the government can keep paying its bills, by agreeing to significant cuts in spending. Now its time for the other side to move from their extreme position." Biden had been scheduled to travel from Hiroshima to Papua New Guinea and Australia, but cut short his trip in light of the strained negotiations with Capitol Hill. Even with a new wave of tax revenue expected soon, perhaps giving both sides more time to negotiate, Yellen said on NBCs Meet the Press that "the odds of reaching June 15, while being able to pay all of our bills, is quite low. GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts with caps on future spending, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits in part with revenue from taxes. Republicans want to roll back next year's spending to 2022 levels, but the White House has proposed keeping 2024 the same as it is now, in the 2023 budget year. Republicans initially sought to impose spending caps for 10 years, though the latest proposal narrowed that to about six. The White House wants a two-year budget deal. A compromise on those topline spending levels would enable McCarthy to deliver for conservatives, while not being so severe that it would chase off the Democratic votes that would be needed in the divided Congress to pass any bill. Top Republican negotiator Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, speaking alongside McCarthy at the Capitol, said the numbers are the foundation of any agreement. Republicans also want work requirements on the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The GOP additionally introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states ability to waive work requirements in places with high joblessness. That idea, when floated under President Donald Trump, was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits. GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts in IRS money and, by sparing Defense and Veterans accounts from reductions, would shift the bulk of spending reductions to other federal programs. The White House has countered by keeping defense and nondefense spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and $1 trillion over 10 years. All sides have been eyeing the potential for the package to include a framework that would speed energy project developments. And despite a push by Republicans for the White House to accept parts of their proposed immigration overhaul, McCarthy indicated the focus was on the House's previously approved debt and budget package. I think that we can reach an agreement, Biden said, though he added this about Republicans: I cant guarantee that they wouldnt force a default by doing something outrageous. Republicans had also rejected various White House revenue proposals. Among the proposals the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs. Republicans also have refused to roll back Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Bidens own budget has proposed. For months, Biden had refused to engage in talks over the debt limit, contending that Republicans in Congress were trying to use the borrowing limit vote as leverage to extract administration concessions on other policy priorities. But with the June 1 potential deadline looming and Republicans putting their own legislation on the table, the White House launched talks on a budget deal that could accompany an increase in the debt limit. Biden's decision to set up a call with McCarthy came after another start-stop day with no outward signs of progress. The president tried to assure leaders attending the meeting of the worlds most powerful democracies that the United States would not default. U.S. officials said leaders were concerned, but largely confident that Biden and American lawmakers would resolve the crisis. The president, though, said he was ruling out the possibility of taking action on his own to avoid a default. Any such steps, including suggestions to invoke the 14th Amendment as a solution, would become tied up in the courts. Thats a question that I think is unresolved," Biden said, adding he hopes to try to get the judiciary to weigh in on the notion for the future. ___ Miller and Boak reported from Hiroshima, Japan. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri, Colleen Long and Will Weissert contributed to this report. US President Joe Biden boards Marine One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 21, 2023, as he travels back to the White House A top US Republican and President Joe Biden on Monday both said their first one-on-one talks in months to avert a calamitous debt default were "productive," but that disagreements were still blocking any potential deal. The White House meeting came after Biden returned from a trip to Asia early to hammer out an agreement ahead of the US Treasury's June 1 cut off date for Congress to authorize more borrowing. "I felt we had a productive discussion. We don't have an agreement yet, but I did feel the discussion was productive in areas (where) we have differences of opinion," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said after the talks. McCarthy told reporters that negotiators were going to "work through the night" to move the sides closer and that he and Biden would "talk every day to try to find a way to get this done." Debt limits are raised periodically to cover repayments on loans that have already been approved and spent, but House Republicans are insisting this time that averting a default must be paired with deep cuts to bring down the country's $31.8 trillion debt. As they sat down for the meeting, Biden said "I am optimistic we are going to make some progress," adding both sides understood they have "a significant responsibility" to solve the impasse. Afterwards the president used similar language as McCarthy in a statement, calling the meeting "productive," while adding that "areas of disagreement" remain. - 'Red line' - The on-again, off-again discussions sputtered through the weekend, with McCarthy's team and White House negotiators meeting for more than two hours on Sunday night and another three on Monday. Biden and McCarthy also spoke by phone Sunday as the president flew home from a G7 summit in Japan. After Monday's Oval Office meeting and McCarthy's description of the talks as productive, his team hardened its tone, with Republican congressman and negotiator Patrick McHenry telling reporters: "What I sense from the White House is a lack of urgency." Republicans insist on spending less money in fiscal year 2024 than 2023, calling it a "red line." The White House has offered a freeze for 2024 in exchange for Republicans supporting tax increases for corporations and wealthy Americans but McCarthy has rejected the idea. The Biden administration has proposed limiting spending on some domestic programs but wants the Pentagon to share in the cuts. Republicans have pushed for boosted military and border security spending, with major rollbacks to non-defense programs. Disputes also remain over what a White House official characterized as increasingly hard-line Republican demands for beefed-up work requirements for social welfare programs. Biden points out that Republicans raised the borrowing cap three times under his predecessor Donald Trump without threatening to default on the country's debt obligations. If lawmakers fail to raise the borrowing cap, the government will careen into default for the first time in history, with potentially catastrophic results. Many experts say that in a worst-case scenario global stock markets would melt down as the US economy lurches into a downward spiral, killing millions of jobs. - June 1 deadline - The president is being pressured by progressives in his party to rely on the US Constitution's 14th Amendment -- which states that the validity of public debt "shall not be questioned" -- to bypass Congress and increase the limit on his own. But he and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautioned that the courts would not be able to resolve any legal disputes quickly enough to meet the deadline. Yellen sent a letter to Congress on Monday warning again that the United States could find itself unable to pay its bills as soon as June 1. Even if McCarthy and Biden can hammer out a broad deal, anything they agree to will need to be shepherded through the House of Representatives, where they face pressure from hardliners on both sides not to make too many concessions. Further complicating the timeline, the Democratic-controlled Senate is out this week, while the House is slated to be in recess Friday ahead of Memorial Day weekend. McHenry, the GOP negotiator, described a "very challenging situation" to reach a deal that clears a divided Congress and gets signed into law in the next 10 days. "I don't want brinksmanship. It is not in America's interest," he said. bur-arp/mlm/nro Biden invited Kishida, Yoon to meet in Washington -U.S. official Biden invited Kishida, Yoon to meet in Washington -U.S. official G7 Summit in Hiroshima HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden invited his Japanese and South Korean counterparts for another meeting in Washington, following on from their trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit, a senior U.S. official said. "The leaders discussed how to take their trilateral cooperation to new heights", including with new coordination in the face of North Korea's "illicit nuclear and missile threats", the White House said in a statement issued after the meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday. They also discussed cooperation in sharing North Korea's missile data in real time, according to a statement by Japan's foreign ministry. Their discussions also touched on the Indo-Pacific, economic security, and engagement with the Pacific Islands, according to the statement. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met bilaterally earlier in the day, their third meeting this year, as the East Asian neighbours improve ties to counter regional security threats. Biden commended Kishida and Yoon on their "courageous work to improve their bilateral ties", saying the trilateral partnership is stronger because of their efforts, the White House said. After years of disputes concerning Japan's 1910-1945 occupation, relations between the two countries thawed earlier this year after Yoon announced a plan to compensate labourers who were forced to work during the war. Kishida and Yoon have pledged closer ties, as they seek to counter increasing security threats from North Korea and an ascendant China. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Sakura Murakami in Hiroshima, Japan; Additional reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Seoul; Writing by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Christian Schmollinger) House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Sunday that he and President Joe Biden will meet on Monday in person to discuss raising the nations debt limit. McCarthy, R-Calif., and Biden spoke by phone as the president was flying back from a trip to Japan. McCarthy said the call was productive. Talks to keep the federal government funded have been off-again, on-again for several days, and McCarthy indicated negotiations would resume later Sunday. Both sides have said progress was being made but that they remain far apart. The Treasury Department has said an agreement should be reached before funding runs dries early next month. =========================================================================== THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. APs earlier story follows below. HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) President Joe Biden said Sunday that Republicans in the U.S. House must move off their extreme positions on the now-stalled talks over raising Americas debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default only on their terms. In an effort to get negotiations back on track, Biden was set to call U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from Air Force One on the way back to Washington after a Group of Seven summits in Japan, where world leaders expressed concern about the dire global ramifications if the United States were to be unable to meet its financial obligations. Lets find a place where we can find common ground, McCarthy said a few hours later from the U.S. Capitol, adding he expected to hear from the president by late morning Eastern time. Biden made clear at his closing news conference before leaving Hiroshima that its time for Republicans to accept that there is no deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms. He said he had done his part in attempting to raise the borrowing limit so the U.S. government can keep paying its bills, by agreeing to significant cuts in spending. Now its time for the other side to move from their extreme position. Biden had been scheduled to travel from Hiroshima to Papua New Guinea and Australia but cut short his trip in light of the strained negotiations with Capitol Hill. Bidens Treasury Department has said it could run out of cash as soon as June 1, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday, I think that thats a hard deadline. Even with a new wave of tax revenue expected soon, perhaps giving Washington more time to negotiate, she said on NBCs Meet the Press that the odds of reaching June 15, while being able to pay all of our bills, is quite low. With that time pressure in mind, Biden said it was his guess that McCarthy would want to deal directly with me in making sure were all on the same page. A compromise remained within reach, the president said, despite their differences. Im hoping that Speaker McCarthy is just waiting to negotiate with me when I get home, he said. Im waiting to find out. GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits. Nothings agreed to at all. But all the discussions we had before, I felt that we were at a place where we could agree together that we would have compromise, McCarthy said on Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures. Now the president, even though he was overseas, thought to change places. The speaker later told a reporter: Weve got 11 days ago to go. We got a pass it in the House, in the Senate. Lets just be responsible. Republicans want work requirements on the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The GOP additionally introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states ability to waive work requirements in places with high joblessness. That idea, when floated under President Donald Trump, was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits. GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts in IRS money and asking the White House to accept parts of their proposed immigration overhaul. The White House has countered by keeping defense and nondefense spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and $1 trillion over 10 years. I think that we can reach an agreement, Biden said, though he added this about Republicans: I cant guarantee that they wouldnt force a default by doing something outrageous. Republicans had also rejected White House proposals to raise revenues in order to further lower deficits. Among the proposals, the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs and the closing of a dozen tax loopholes. Republicans have refused to roll back the Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Bidens own budget has proposed. Biden, nonetheless, insisted that revenue is not off the table. For months, Biden had refused to engage in talks over the debt limit, contending that Republicans in Congress were trying to use the borrowing limit vote as leverage to extract administration concessions on other policy priorities. But with the June 1 X-date and Republicans putting their own legislation on the table, the White House launched talks on a budget deal that could accompany an increase in the debt limit. Bidens decision to set up a call with McCarthy came after another start-stop day with no outward signs of progress. Food was brought to the negotiating room at the Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later. Talks, though, could resume later Sunday after the Biden-McCarthy conversation. The president tried to assure leaders attending the meeting of the worlds most powerful democracies that the United States would not default. U.S. officials said leaders were concerned but largely confident that Biden and American lawmakers would resolve the crisis. The president, though, said he was ruling out the possibility of taking action on his own to avoid a default. Any such steps, including suggestions to invoke the 14th Amendment as a solution, would become tied up in the courts. Thats a question that I think is unresolved, Biden said, adding he hopes to try to get the judiciary to weigh in on the notion for the future. ___ Miller and Boak reported from Hiroshima, Japan. Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Will Weissert contributed to this report. 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 Biden has not yet decided whether the US will transfer its F-16s to Ukraine US President Joe Biden has not yet made a final decision on whether the United States itself will transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, or whether allies will do it. Source: White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on CNN on Sunday, Politico writes Details: On CNN's State of Affairs, Sullivan was asked if the US would send planes directly to Ukraine. Quote from Sullivan: "I think given the numbers [of F-16s] that are currently available from the stocks of our European allies, and the fact that based on the money Congress has given us, there are so many other priorities for systems to give, it may be that we focus more on third party transfer, but the president has not made a final decision." More details: According to Sullivan, the US previously refused to provide fighter jets to Ukraine because they were not "critically important" to the expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, but conditions are changing. "The United States has mobilised an exceptional effort to deliver on time and in full everything Ukraine needs to launch this counteroffensive," Sullivan said. "Now that weve done that, we can look forward to the long-term capacity of Ukraine to be able to defend itself and deter Russian aggression. Fourth-generation fighter aircraft, Western fighter aircraft, F-16s are relevant to that fight," Sullivan said. Background: According to the media outlets, the US and its allies plan to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets as part of a long-term effort to strengthen Kyiv's security. President Joe Biden's administration has informed European allies in recent weeks that the United States will allow them to transfer the American F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. The US President's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, confirmed that Washington will join the efforts of other countries to train Ukrainian pilots, and in the coming months, the US and its allies will discuss when and in what quantity Ukraine will receive modern fighter jets. Sullivan stated that the F-16 fighter jets which Ukraine will receive from its allies will be provided on condition that they will not be used to attack Russia. US President Joe Biden said that he received a "firm assurance" from Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukrainian forces will not use F-16 fighter jets provided by the West to invade Russian territory. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Biden receives flat assurance that Ukraine will not use F-16 fighter jets on Russian territory Joe Biden, President of the United States, said he had received a "flat assurance" from Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukrainian troops would not use Western-provided F-16 fighter jets to invade Russian territory. Source: He stated this at the end of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, reports European Pravda Details: Biden also said F-16 fighter jets could, however, operate "wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine." Quote: "I have a flat assurance from Zelenskyy that they will not use it to go on and move into Russian geographic territory, but wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine in the area, they will be able to do that," Biden said. The US President defended his position against the provision of F-16 fighters to Ukraine until now, arguing that in the battle for Bakhmut, for example, these fighters would not have been decisive. Earlier, the White House said that the F-16 fighters that Ukraine will receive from the allies will be provided on the condition that they are not used for attacks on Russia. Earlier this week, the UK announced the start of an international coalition of countries aimed at training Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighters, including the F-16s. It already includes the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, the United States and Portugal. The White House also confirmed that in the coming months, the United States and allies will discuss when Ukraine will receive modern fighters, and how many of these will be delivered. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! President Joe Biden issued a stark warning Sunday that congressional Republicans could use a national default to damage him politically and acknowledged time had run out to use potential unilateral actions to raise the federal borrowing limit, a sharp shift in tone days before the deadline to reach an agreement. Characterizing GOP proposals as extreme and warning they couldnt gain sufficient support in Congress, Biden said he wasnt able to promise fellow world leaders gathered in Japan for Group of Seven talks the US would not default. I cant guarantee that they will not force a default by doing something outrageous, he said. Bidens remarks, delivered before he left for Washington, were the latest indication that talks between the White House and congressional Republicans remain far apart. He was expected to speak by phone with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after taking off aboard Air Force One, though it wasnt clear whether that conversation would break the logjam. My guess is hes going to want to deal directly with me in making sure were all on the same page, he said. Republicans have been seeking spending cuts in the federal budget in exchange for their support to raise the nations borrowing limit. On Sunday, Biden acknowledged significant disagreement with Republicans in some areas, insisting that while hes willing to cut spending, tax revenue is not off the table as part of the deal. McCarthy, in an interview later Sunday with Fox News, disagreed with that characterization, saying Biden previously told him that tax increases were off the table and that he wouldnt agree to them. Hes now bringing something to the table that everyone said was off the table, the California Republican said. It seems as though he wants to fault more than he wants a deal. At his news conference, Biden said that much of what Republicans have proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable. Its time for Republicans to accept that theres no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely on their partisan terms. They have to move, as well, the president said. Pressed on whether he would be to blame for a default scenario, Biden said that based on what hes offered, he should be blameless but conceded that no one will be blameless as he suggested some of his political rivals could be encouraging a default to sabotage his reelection efforts. I think there are some MAGA Republicans in the House who know the damage it would do to the economy, and because I am president, and a president is responsible for everything, Biden would take the blame and thats the one way to make sure Bidens not reelected, he said. McCarthy, in turn, blamed what he called the socialist wing of the Democratic Party for driving Bidens goals in the negotiations. The president keeps changing positions every time Bernie Sanders has a press conference. He gets reactive and he shifts, the speaker said as he arrived at the US Capitol in Washington on Sunday. President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, following the G7 Summit. - Susan Walsh/AP Meanwhile, Bidens top national security aide told CNN that the stalled debt ceiling and budget negotiations have not undercut American leadership abroad or undermined the G7 summit as it came to a close Sunday. When you look at the totality of the last three days, its actually a reflection of and an exclamation point on the way in which President Biden has led on the world stage. People understand democracies, and they understand that there are moments in domestic politics when you have got to look at the home front, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNNs Jake Tapper on State of the Union. Biden outlines shortcomings of 14th Amendment argument Biden in his news conference addressed the possibility of using the 14th Amendment to continue US government borrowing in the absence of a deal, suggesting he has the power but not the time to utilize the unilateral action. I think we have the authority. The question is, could it be done and invoked in time that it could not would not be appealed? Biden asked, calling the question of whether an appeal could be solved before the default deadline unresolved. Pressed by CNNs Phil Mattingly to clarify whether he thought he could invoke the 14th Amendment as a serious and tangible option, the president made clear that maneuver would not be successful given the short window remaining. We have not come up with unilateral action that could succeed in a matter of two weeks or three weeks. Thats the issue. So its up to lawmakers. But my hope and intention is to resolve this problem, he said. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Sunday a potential invocation of the 14th Amendment would be a dodge. The president needs to show leadership. OK, House Republicans, American people, youre concerned about spending, I will meet you there. As opposed to finding a dodge that tries to work its way around, Cassidy said. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the US could default on its debts as soon as June 1. Talks at a standoff in Washington On Saturday afternoon, McCarthy had said negotiators wouldnt be able to resume talks with the administration until Biden was back in Washington. Unfortunately, the White House moved backwards, he said. I dont think were going to be able to move forward until the president can get back. Biden had originally planned to stop in Australia and Papua New Guinea after the G7 summit in Hiroshima, he canceled those portions of the trip amid the debt ceiling talks. Biden asked his team to coordinate with the speaker to arrange the conversation on Sunday morning Eastern Time, which would be the two mens first conversation since debt talks appeared to stall amid disputes over spending limits. Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who has served as one of the chief negotiators during the debt ceiling talks, said Sunday that he was not at all optimistic that a deal can come together. Ive been pessimistic for a while, and something needs to change, he told CNN. Earlier Saturday, Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota confirmed that the White House had made an offer seeking to cap future spending at current levels, which Johnson called unreasonable. Johnson, a McCarthy ally and chair of the centrist Main Street Caucus, is one of several key players who has been getting briefed by Republican negotiators on the talks. Negotiations did not go well today, Johnson said. The paper that the White House provided was a major step backward. And it undermined all the progress that was made Wednesday and Thursday. It has endangered negotiations. Johnson warned, We are at real risk of default. This story and headline have been updated with additional developments. CNNs Morgan Rimmer, Kristin Wilson, Sam Fossum, Haley Talbot and Melanie Zanona contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com U.S. President Joe Biden listens as G7 leaders participate in an event on global infrastructure and investment during the G7 Summit on May 20, 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan. Susan Walsh - Pool/Getty Images President Biden said he received "flat assurance" that Ukraine would not use F-16s to enter Russia. The US president also announced another $375 million in military assistance to Ukraine. "Vladimir Putin will not break our resolve," Biden said at the G7 summit press conference on Sunday. President Joe Biden said he received "flat assurance" from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine would not use F-16 fighter jets to attack Russian territory. "I have a flat assurance from Zelensky that they will not, will not, use it to go into Russian geographic territory," Biden told reporters at the end of the annual G7 summit in Japan on Sunday, according to The Washington Post. It's the latest development marking a drastic shift by US President Joe Biden and US officials, who have long rejected authorizing F-16s in Ukraine. In February, Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, portrayed supplying F-16s to Ukraine as unfeasible. But on Friday, the US authorized Western allies to provide F-16 jets to Ukraine to defend itself, assist in training pilots, and possibly send fighter jets from American stockpiles, Insider previously reported. Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the UK and the Netherlands would build an "international coalition" to help the country procure the fighter jets. Ukraine sees the F-16s as indispensable to their cause, a defense expert recently told Insider. Two US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons US Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Matthew Lotz The US president also announced another $375 million in military assistance to Ukraine to help support its long-running and bloody battle with Putin's regime. Biden said at a press conference in Hiroshima that "Vladimir Putin will not break our resolve" and reiterated the G7 countries' "shared and unwavering commitment to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia's brutal war of aggression and the war crimes being committed." Zelenskyy appeared at the conference, the first in-person since Russia's invasion, in an appeal to seek more aid for the country, Insider reported. "I am here in Hiroshima so the world can hear the Ukrainian call for unity. Russia has trampled on everything that is civilized," Zelenskyy said at the summit on Sunday. Read the original article on Business Insider Biden wraps up G-7 summit with more aid for Ukraine, confusion on Bakhmut, optimism on China Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at Hiroshima Airport on Saturday to attend the Group of 7 nations' meetings in Japan, in a photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via Associated Press) Wrapping up a summit of the world's wealthiest democracies here Sunday, President Biden had domestic trouble on his mind the flagging U.S. debt talks but also addressed the administration's most pressing international concerns: Ukraine and China. Biden announced another package of military aid for Ukraine, including $375 million in armored combat vehicles and artillery. And he predicted U.S.-China relations, at one of their lowest points in decades, will soon improve. The Group of 7 nations used their annual gathering to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly 15 months ago, reiterate their solid support for Kyiv and implore China to be more constructive in ending the war and in reining in its own aggressive actions toward Taiwan. "Together with the entire G-7, we have Ukraine's back and we're not going anywhere," Biden said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky made a splashy appearance at the summit Sunday, part of a global campaign to plead for more support for his beleaguered nation's battle to eject Russian troops. Biden and Zelensky greeted each other with an embrace. Earlier Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and mercenaries from the Wagner Group for what he claimed was the conquest of Bakhmut, site of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. Zelensky initially seemed to lament the annihilation of the small eastern city and its fall to occupation forces, saying, "Bakhmut is now only in our hearts." Later, as his aides attempted to walk back the comments, Zelensky clarified to reporters that the contested city "is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today." It was impossible to determine the complete reality on the ground, but Russia has had the upper hand for some time. Both sides have taken massive casualties in the fighting. "People are the treasure," Zelensky said. "I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors." Biden also said he would permit Ukrainian pilots to train on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, equipment that the U.S. government has yet to supply to the Ukrainians to avoid the appearance of further escalation in the war. Biden said he had received "flat assurance" that Ukraine will not use any American-made equipment, including F-16s, to attack within Russia. Russian forces inside Ukraine including presumably the Crimea peninsula that Russia occupied in 2014 are fair game, Biden said. Turning to China, Biden reiterated his intention to "make sure Taiwan can defend itself" in case of a unilateral attack from Beijing. But he also said he envisioned an improvement in relations between Washington and the government of President Xi Jinping. "I think you're gong to see that begin to thaw very shortly," Biden said in a news conference. He voiced again support for the "One China" policy, a deliberately ambiguous relationship that recognized mainland China officially while acknowledging Taiwan as a self-ruled island. Biden's words may have been aimed at toning down stern language in a communique issued by the G-7 a day earlier that scolded China and angered Xi's government, which said the democracies were interfering in China's domestic affairs. During the three-day summit in the Japanese city that was obliterated by a U.S. atomic bomb during World War II, killing 140,000 people, Biden observed an evolving bit of diplomatic rapprochement between traditional rivals South Korea and Japan. Enmity has persisted between the two over Japanese treatment of Koreans during Japanese colonial rule and the war. But South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have taken steps towards reconciliation, and Biden invited both to a rare trilateral meeting in Washington at a date to be determined. Both men accepted, a senior administration official said. After pledging the danger of a U.S. default on its debt would not overshadow the summit, Biden returned to the topic again Sunday. He said he believed he had authority under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to unilaterally guarantee that debt payments are made, although he acknowledged there would likely be legal challenges to such an effort. Although unable to predict what House Republicans will do, he said he would be in telephone conversations with Speaker Kevin McCarthy later Sunday from aboard Air Force One on his return home. Later in Washington, McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) said on Capitol Hill that the two men had a "productive" call and would meet in person on Monday. Subramanian reported from Hiroshima and Wilkinson from Washington. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Biden: Zelenskiy has promised Ukraine won't use F-16 planes to go into Russia By Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday said he had received a "flat assurance" from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he would not use Western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory. Biden told reporters in Hiroshima, Japan, at the conclusion of a meeting of world leaders that F-16 warplanes could be used "wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area". He said it was "highly unlikely" the planes would be used in any Ukrainian offensive in the coming weeks, but that Ukrainian troops could need such weapons to defend themselves against Russian forces beyond their current reach. Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) richest democracies on Sunday said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, something Kyiv denied. Biden announced a $375 million package of military aid, including artillery and armoured vehicles, for Ukraine during the final day of a three-day G7 summit. Biden told G7 leaders during the summit Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s warplanes, although Kyiv has not won specific, public commitments for delivery of the fighter jets. Zelenskiy said on Sunday he was confident Kyiv would receive F-16 fighter jets from the West after months of lobbying for the planes. Biden told reporters he discussed the issue with Zelenskiy during their private meeting. He said F-16s would not have helped Ukrainian forces with regard to Bakhmut, for instance, but could "make a big difference in terms of being able to deal with what is coming down the road". (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason in Japan and Andrea Shalal in Washignton; Editing by Barbara Lewis) Netflix To All the Boys Ive Loved Before fans should have a bone to pick with XO, Kitty. The spinoff series is fun and charming, with a storyline and love interests nearly as great as Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) and Peter Kavinskys (Noah Centineo) whirlwind romance in the original movies. But theres something missingand its a glaring omission for XO, Kitty to have, considering how smart and enjoyable the rest of the show is. Where in the world are Kittys (Anna Cathcart) older sisters, Lara Jean and Margot (Janel Parrish)? The easy answer: Margot and Lara Jean are in college, so theres no reason for them to be in this show following a now high school-aged Kitty. But theres also no reason for us to see Kittys father (John Corbett) and step-mom (Saraya Blue), either, considering the entire series follows Kitty as she transfers to an elite boarding school in South Korea called KISS (Korean Independent School of Seoul). And yet, we see them at the beginning of the series and the end, where they send Kitty off, and FaceTime her while shes struggling in classes. No shade to John Corbettthough I was never Team Aidan on Sex and the Citybut who in the world wants to see Kittys dad? Though the main purpose of Jenny Hans TATBILB series and this new spinoff has always been the love stories (there are plenty, if not too many, in this show), the heart has always been the close connection between the Covey sisters. Peter wouldnt even be dating Lara if it werent for Kittys antics. She was the one who sent the love letters in the first movie, and she always pestered Lara to try things out of her comfort zone. XO, Kitty: To All the Boys Ive Loved Before Spinoff Makes the Grade XO, Kitty loses part of its To All the Boys charm by subtracting Margot and Lara from the equation. Though Margot graduates in the first movie and heads to college in the second, shes always around to FaceTime Lara Jean and Kitty. Where is that energy in this new spinoff? Im supposed to believe Kitty would journey to Korea, dabble with four separate romances, and immerse herself in an entirely new culture without any support from her sisters? Shes independent, of course. But Kitty would definitely call her sisters to gossip about boys. Without her sisters, most of Kittys close kinships become with other boyssome, she wants to date, others she trusts platonically. There is only one girl Kitty befriends, the principals daughter Yuri (Gia Kim). But Yuri quickly becomes Kittys enemy after Kitty finds out her new pal happens to be dating her online-turned-IRL boyfriend Dae (Minyeong Choi). Yikes! (Its all a ruse, though: Yuri is only dating Dae to hide her sexuality from her parents.) I miss the connections and friendships between women that TATBILB always had. In an interview with Netflixs Tudum, Han, who served as a creator of this show and wrote the original TATBILB series, explained why Lara Jean isnt in the showthough no comments on Margot. Netflix We all fell so deeply in love with Lara Jean and her story, Han said. So it felt like the greatest gift to give to Kitty was to let her as a character kind of set off on her own two feet and not put her in the shadow of either of her sisters. And Lana and Noah are both off and doing big things. The whole To All the Boys family couldnt be more proud of them and excited for all the things that come next. Were all excited to see Anna [Cathcart] really pick up the mantle and continue Kittys story. Okay, so it sounds a little bit like Parrish and Condor were too busy to make an appearance in XO, Kitty. Which is understandable: Both proved their skills in the original Netflix trilogy, so perhaps I should be happy theyre booked and busy rather than protesting their departure from the admittedly younger source material. But if, by any chance, the XO, Kitty team simply wrote Lara Jean and Margot out of the picture, Netflix will be hearing from me. One FaceTime in Season 2thats all I ask! Keep obsessing! Sign up for the Daily Beasts Obsessed newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. An Arizona high school student was arrested Friday after allegedly bringing an AR-15 and ammunition to his Phoenix school. The juvenile was arrested around 1 p.m. Friday in Bostrom High Schools main office after police were called about a student with a gun, the Phoenix Police Department said in a release. In addition to the semi-automatic rifle, he was also found with ammunition inside his backpack and lunchbox, police said. The school was placed under lockdown as soon as school officials were notified of the possible gun on campus, Donna Rossi, director of communications for the Phoenix police, told NBC News, which identified the student as a 15-year-old male. Three variations of the AR-15 assault rifles are displayed at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento. Police in Arizona said a male student is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly bringing an AR-15 and ammunition to his Phoenix high school on Friday. Three variations of the AR-15 assault rifles are displayed at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento. Police in Arizona said a male student is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly bringing an AR-15 and ammunition to his Phoenix high school on Friday. The boy, who was not identified because he is a minor, faces multiple felonies and remained in police custody as of Saturday, police said in their release. Authorities did not say how the child obtained the firearm or whether a motive for bringing it to school was known. A spokesperson for the police department told HuffPost Sunday that they are unable to comment on additional details about the incident as they remain under investigation. We commend those who originally reported the possibility of a weapon on school grounds to adults on campus who immediately called police, the police departments release states. The school district did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment Sunday. AR-15-style weapons have become popular firearms in mass shootings with them used in seven of the nations 10 deadliest mass shootings within the last four decades. Each magazine typically carries 30 rounds. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for a national ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines in an effort to curb gun violence. Related... (NEXSTAR) Those working in the food service industry are, in most cases, paid a lower wage than the rest of us. Its largely because they are expected to receive tips. But, as many have argued, paying a server the federal minimum wage for a tipped employee, paired with the tips they receive, sometimes isnt enough to reach the standard minimum wage of $7.25. This is pushing some restaurants to transition to a tipless style of business. Current federal regulations require tipped employees those who receive more than $30 in tips each month be paid a minimum wage of $2.13. That server must then average $5.12 in tips each hour, meaning they would make the federal minimum wage of $7.25. If a server doesnt earn enough tips in a shift to make $7.25 an hour, federal law says the employer must pay them the rest to reach that rate. Student loan forgiveness: What to know as the Supreme Court mulls case While this may differ for some states, others do follow that federal minimum requirement, including Indiana, where one business owner decided to stop accepting tips. In 2021, Kurtis Cummings, the founder and president of Switchyard Brewing Company, decided to eliminate tipping at his Bloomington, Indiana, craft brewery. Instead, Switchyard employees are now paid at least $16.25 an hour. Its the employers responsibility to pay their employees, not the customers, Cummings explained to Nexstar. He also noted how factors such as the servers gender or age, the weather, or the day of the week can impact how much or how little a server is tipped. Researchers have even found the vast majority of people arent basing the tip they leave on service quality, theyre actually just following a social norm. And when it comes to the quality of service, Cummings said that any issues you had shouldnt be taken out on the servers income. Social Security COLA to drop significantly in 2024, senior group predicts Its still more than likely the companys fault because its the companys job to train, right? he explained. Plus, the promise of a tip doesnt always guarantee good service. What does? Like any non-tipped job, its job security, according to Cummings. Cummings said Switchyards switch to tip-free has become a real job attractor. Staff no longer have to worry about missing a weekend shift shifts that typically are busier, increasing the chance at more tips and the company can provide other benefits like paid time off. While Cummings employees and most of their customers have taken to the idea of no more tipping, not everyone agrees. Cummings explained that after Switchyard transitioned to its optional-tipping policy, some people many from outside Indiana began leaving one-star Google reviews for the business. Its a relatively common trend, Mike Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at Cornell University, told Nexstars KTLA. Whether a restaurant adds a service charge or raises menu prices slightly, like Switchyard has, Lynn said that business will likely see their online ratings dip. Hobby Lobby doesnt use barcodes: Heres their explanation It turns out that when customers evaluate restaurants expensiveness, theyre pretty much looking at menu prices, and thats it, Lynn explained. We dismiss, or discount somehow, the fact that youre expected to tip. Switchyard has been tip-free for roughly two years. Some, like Triptych Brewing in Savoy, Illinois, recently joined the movement, while others, like Optimism Brewing (which inspired Cummings) in Seattle and Zazie in San Francisco have been tip-free for years. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Sometimes one person in a community can have an impact that continues to be felt for years afterward. Jovita Idar, a woman armed only with a pen and passion for helping those in need, would have an impact felt across Texas in her lifetime. She would run several newspapers, founded a school, and volunteered as a nurse in time of disaster. Jovita Idar was born in Laredo in September 1885, one of eight children. Her parents were active members of the community, and the importance of helping others became an important part of her upbringing. They emphasized helping those in need and speaking out against injustice and discrimination. Unlike many Hispanics in Laredo at the time, she and her siblings had access to education, and her parents emphasized all the children going to school. By the time she turned 18 in 1903, she had earned a teaching certificate and began teaching at the segregated Hispanic schools in the Laredo area. She and her fellow teachers struggled with inadequate supplies such as paper and pencils and how there were never enough desks or chairs for them. Bridges Her father, Nicasio Idar, began a Spanish-language newspaper in Laredo, La Cronica (The Chronicle), shortly after the eruption of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. She joined her father and two of her brothers in writing articles and editing the small paper. She became an outspoken proponent of the poor immigrant families living along the border. She called for equal rights for Hispanics and better educational opportunities. The paper also highlighted poetry and literature emerging in the Spanish-language community and the economic concerns of Hispanics across Texas and the Southwest. She also wrote a number of editorials calling for giving women the right to vote. In part because of the efforts of the Idar Family, Hispanics in Laredo organized to improve their community. In 1911, the League of Mexican Women was formed and named Idar its first president and worked to provide free education for all the Hispanic children of Laredo, whose families were mostly from Mexico. The League also called for civil rights, labor rights, and an end to the lynchings of Mexican immigrants. They also collected food and clothing for the victims of the war. Idar would later be active in the Primer Congreso Mexicanista (First Mexican Congress), which worked with Hispanic groups in many communities to promote civil rights. As the Mexican Revolution wore on and the bloodshed increased, more refugees streamed across the border from Mexico into Texas. Eventually, more than one million people would die in the decade-long civil war. In 1913, a fierce battle erupted in Nuevo Laredo, just across the border. Many civilians were killed and injured, with many more fleeing for safety in the United States. Idar and others went into Mexico to help with the wounded. Though she had no formal medical training, she volunteered as a nurse through the Mexican White Cross, an organization founded in Laredo to help the wounded and the refugees. She would continue to work with the organization periodically throughout the fighting. In 1914, she began writing for El Progresso (The Progress). When President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops to the border and discussed possible intervention in the war, Idar wrote a scathing editorial in the Spanish-language journal opposing the move. When Texas Rangers got word of the editorial, they attempted to shut down the paper. Idar stood in the doorway to prevent their entry. Texas Rangers returned several days later when she was not present and destroyed the printing press, ending the run of El Progresso. She returned to La Cronica. After her father died later in 1914, she continued to serve as editor in a time when few women could even get jobs working for newspapers. In 1916, Idar, started a new paper, Evolution. Her brother Edouardo, who had also worked with their father on La Cronica, helped with writing and editing. Idar continued her strident calls fro womens rights and civil rights for Hispanics. In the meantime, she married Batrolo Juarez in 1917. The paper would run for four years until it shut down in 1920. Shortly afterward, Idar and her husband moved to San Antonio. She served as a translator at the local hospital and founded a free kindergarten for Hispanic children, continuing her passion for education. In 1940, she began editing El Heraldo Cristiano (The Christian Herald), a Spanish-language newspaper run by the Methodist Church in South Texas. Idars health declined in the 1940s after she contracted tuberculosis. She died at her home in San Antonio in June 1946 at age 60. Since her death, her work has been studied extensively by scholars and has been a part of the National Womens History Museum. In 2023, she will be included in the U. S. Mints American Women quarter series, on the reverse side of George Washington. She will join such figures as astronaut Sally Ride, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and fellow Texan and African-American aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman. Ken Bridges is a writer, historian and native Texan. He holds a doctorate from the University of North Texas. Bridges can be reached by email at drkenbridges@gmail.com. This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Texas history column: Jovita Idar armed with pen, passion British author Martin Amis dead at 73, his publisher says British author Martin Amis, best known for the 1984 novel, Money, and 1989s London Fields, has died, his publisher Penguin Books UK announced Saturday. He was 73. (Amis) leaves a towering legacy and an indelible mark on the British cultural landscape, and will be missed enormously, the British publishing house said on Twitter. The author, who released his first novel, The Rachel Papers, when he was 24, died Friday, according to Penguin Books. Amis wife, author Isabel Fonseca, told the New York Times that his cause of death was esophageal cancer. CNN has reached out to Fonseca for comment. Amis is survived by Fonesca and his children Louis, Jacob, Fernanda, Clio and Delilah. For so many people of my generation, Martin Amis was the one: the coolest, funniest, most quotable, most beautiful writer in the British literary firmament, his former editor, Dan Franklin, said in a Penguin statement announcing Amis death. His publishing company remembered him as a novelist, essayist, memoirist, critic and stylist supreme who, for 40 years, bestrode the world of UK publishing, the statement said. Amis was born August 25, 1949, in Oxford, England. He was the son of English novelist Kingsley Amis, according to Penguin. As a writer engaged with current events and key historical moments, Amis work tackled big issues and questions, Penguin said, including The Second Plane, his collection of essays and stories about the events of September 11, 2001. His 1991 novel, Times Arrow, and 2014s The Zone of Interest, explored the Holocaust. The graduate of Oxford Universitys Exeter College served as a creative writing professor at the University of Manchester from 2007 to 2011, the publishing house said. Amis accolades included the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir, Experience, and his writings were twice listed for the Booker Prize, including a shortlisting for Times Arrow. His works were noted for their dark, wry satire and inventiveness, according to Penguin. Its hard to imagine a world without Martin Amis in it, his UK editor, Michal Shavit, said in Penguins statement. He was the king a stylist extraordinaire, super cool, a brilliantly witty, erudite and fearless writer and a truly wonderful man. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com California Gov. Gavin Newsom demands records from textbook companies to see which are caving to Florida's 'extremist' demands Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Gavin Newsom wants to know which textbook publishers caved to Florida's demands. Newsom said his office sent a public records request to the Florida Department of Education to see which publishers it asked to change their books. Florida rejected around one-third of social studies textbooks proposed for next school year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is demanding textbook publishers hand over records to show if any companies making reading materials for the state had caved to Florida's demands to remove some topics about race and other historical subjects. On May 15, the Florida Department of Education rejected around one-third of social studies textbooks proposed to the department for the start of the 2023-2024 school year, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Publishers can still make an appeal if their book was added to the list, and the list is expected to shorten. According to the outlet, officials from the department of education reached out to publishers and told them ahead of time not to submit books that included topics that would be off limits, such as social-emotional learning and critical race theory. Newsom sent a letter to book publishers on Saturday demanding to know if any of the textbook publishers making books for California schools had changed them to meet Florida's new curriculum demands. "California will not be complicit in Florida's attempt to whitewash history through laws and backroom deals; parents have a right to know what's happening in the dark to undermine our children's education and California deserves to know whether any of these companies designing textbooks for our state's classrooms are the same ones kowtowing to Florida's extremist agenda," he wrote. Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) May 20, 2023 According to the letter, Newsom's office also sent a public records request to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the DOE asking for all communication between them and textbook publishers that show all the revisions they requested in order to get a textbook approved by the state. The Florida Department of Education did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Sunday. Conservatives in Florida have been at the forefront of pushing to remove ideas that they disagree with from schools. Social-emotional learning, the teaching of critical race theory, and LGBTQ topics have all been on the chopping block as the state moved to ban books from schools and suspend teachers. Social-emotional learning which teaches self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills through social interactions soared in popularity when schools closed and children became more isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the books rejected by the Florida Department of Education, "Social Studies Alive! My School and Family," published by Teacher's Curriculum Institute, was rejected for containing "special topics," The Tampa Bay Times reported. The department did not give a specific reason for rejecting the book, but it includes an activity that teaches children what being a "good sport" means in an effort to teach cooperation and character, which are elements of social-emotional learning, according to the outlet. Read the original article on Business Insider California plans to spend more on Narcan, but it could lose workers who hand it out Volunteers from the Sidewalk Project hand out boxes of Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the next four years to provide Narcan, the nasal spray with naloxone that can yank someone out of an opioid overdose, to combat the deadly rise of fentanyl in California. But many community groups that routinely hand out the lifesaving medication fear their workers could soon be facing layoffs, with the disappearance of a key grant that helped pay for day-to-day expenses at "harm reduction" organizations across the state. If that grant money goes away, "we're dead," said Tom Ewing, executive director of the Sierra Harm Reduction Coalition in El Dorado County. Such groups hand out clean syringes and other supplies to help people who use drugs avoid dangerous and deadly infections. In California, they have played an outsized role in handing out Narcan and injectable naloxone to the people most likely to use it: As of early May, they had received 31% of the free doses allotted through a California program, but accounted for 60% of the overdose reversals using that medication that had been reported. "It's clear that they're the best people to do it," said Mary Sylla, director of overdose prevention policy and strategy for the National Harm Reduction Coalition, an advocacy group that received some of the funding to assist grantees. If California does not ensure funding for people who routinely get naloxone to those who need it, the risk is that "we're going to end up with a lot of Narcan sitting on shelves in Sacramento." The California Harm Reduction Initiative grant program provided $15.2 million to support dozens of programs after state lawmakers approved the money four years ago. The median annual grant was $112,500 nearly half the median budget for groups that received the money, an analysis by the research group RTI International found. Many harm reduction programs across the state have relied on the grants to pay for staff and other day-to-day expenses. In El Dorado County, Ewing said the state grant was the only funding that the Sierra Harm Reduction Coalition had gotten, save for small donations. It has just two employees, including Ewing himself, who works part time as its executive director. "It made us into a viable organization that effectively supported our community," providing mobile services such as Narcan distribution at least five days a week, Ewing said. "I am now giving out probably 2,000 to 3,000 doses of Narcan a month. I'm giving out 120,000 syringes a year" and collecting used ones to prevent litter, he said. The group has helped scores of people annually who decided they wanted to stop using drugs entirely and seek treatment, regularly assists people with getting health insurance, and has found places for them to live, Ewing said. It also provides test strips for people to check their drugs for fentanyl. "We take care of people every single day," he said. "We are the people on the street who actually listen to what's going on." Community programs that got the grant money trained more than 22,000 people to prevent deaths with naloxone between 2020 and 2022, according to the California Department of Public Health. They handed out naloxone to 73% more people than programs that did not get the state money, the RTI analysis found. That grant money runs out later this year, and Newsom has not suggested any new funding to replace the program in his budget plans. That is "counterproductive," said Braunz E. Courtney, executive director of the HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda County. His organization has used the grant money to pay workers for its Black Drug Users Health Hub, which connects people to a range of services including medications to help with addiction treatment. The result would be "to cut programs that are already funded to do overdose prevention, education and naloxone distribution," Courtney said. In the face of the overdose crisis, the governor has proposed spending more than $220 million over four years on the state program that provides free naloxone; putting $30 million into efforts to develop a cheaper, generic version of the nasal spray; and additional spending to expand access to test strips that detect fentanyl, among other efforts. The governor is working closely with the legislature to develop this years budget and fight the ongoing opioid epidemic," Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards said in a statement, pointing to a plan unveiled by the governor earlier this year to tackle the opioid crisis. When asked about concerns that harm reduction groups that hand out naloxone may have to cut employees because of the loss of the grant money, Richards pointed to state investments in training and supporting healthcare workers, including those focused on substance use disorders. Newsom ramped up his proposed spending on naloxone significantly when he revised his budget plan in May, compared to his initial proposal in January. As California stares down a budget deficit, Newsom has proposed paying for such programs with money from legal settlements with opioid manufacturers. Harm reduction groups rallied in Sacramento this month, arguing that the California Harm Reduction Initiative funding must be extended to save lives. To sustain harm reduction programs, the National Harm Reduction Coalition is pushing for California to devote $61 million to the community groups over four years, possibly by tapping the opioid settlement funds. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is one of the lawmakers championing the $61-million budget request. "I'm really appreciative that the governor is proposing to invest aggressively in Narcan," Wiener said, calling it "incredibly important." But "we need to get Narcan into people's hands. And you do that through community infrastructure" such as staff "that can push the Narcan out." Other groups and agencies do get free Narcan to hand out through the state distribution program, including police and fire departments and schools. But harm reduction groups have a specific mission of serving people who use drugs, aiding them without judgment, which helps them reach people reluctant to go elsewhere, said Jenna Haywood, co-chair of the End the Epidemics coalition, which is focused on HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis and overdoses. "Stigma is the No. 1 barrier for a lot of people to enter into any kind of service, to receive healthcare, or to get resources like naloxone," Haywood said. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The staff of Project Roomkey a pandemic-response homelessness initiative coming to a close provided homeless residents in the Vagabond Inn with a list of 160 affordable rental properties across the county, which they were encouraged to contact themselves. The Sacramento Bee called all 148 phone numbers on that list. Only three buildings had an immediately available unit. The list and its 145 dead ends drive home the staggering hurdles faced by the countys most vulnerable residents. Two of the limited available options came with significant restrictions. A few rooms were available in an SRO, but only for people who had a referral from a social services agency. One unit in another building was available only for two seniors over 55. The third option was the least restrictive: A couple of apartments were open in a complex in Meadowview. The Bee determined that at least 64 of the properties contacted had a waitlist, generally one that was months to years long. One staffer who answered the phone said that for units without age restrictions, Our waiting list opened in January and closed in January, and it may be another three years before it opens again. At a complex in a run-down neighborhood in north Arden Arcade, a property manager said there were no vacancies and the waitlist had been closed for over a year: Best I can say is just to check back periodically. Homelessness: Our urgent human crisis Follow our ambitious, newsroom-wide series examining the growing problem of homelessness across Sacramento and California in 2023, examining government policy, money, addiction, mental health and more. At a building near Fruitridge Manor, a woman explained that the waitlist was open but was extremely long. They were currently, she said, trying fill a vacancy with people who had applied for affordable housing there in 2015 yes, she confirmed, eight years ago. Dead-end calls In making 148 phone calls, The Bee only spoke to staff at seven properties who said they were not working off a waitlist. Four of those, though they did not use a waitlist, also had no units to offer the people on their interest lists. At least 33 phone numbers on the list maintained by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency did not lead to an affordable property at all. Three people who answered the phone said they actually only had market-rate units in their buildings. Another staffer said he had no record of the building in question. Two of the affordable properties were still under construction and wont exist until 2024. Another property had burned to the ground. The list contained 26 numbers that appeared to be disconnected or non-functional. Five of those numbers connected callers to scams, such as an offer to win a gift card or a $100 Walmart rebate. The Bee also left voicemails when calls went unanswered and outgoing messages were uninformative. Almost none of those messages were returned. The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency has not responded to questions about the list of properties. Benjamin Frazier, 26, said the list was all but useless and a prime example of the resources he had been provided as a resident of a Project Roomkey hotel. I feel like theyre just slapping us on the hand, he said, and saying, You figure it out. Campaigners in Devon and Cornwall join paddle-outs in sewage protests Campaigners in Plymouth were calling on water companies to reduce sewage discharges by 90% Campaigners in Devon and Cornwall took to the sea to protest against water companies discharging sewage into waterways. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) led paddle-outs at Plymouth Sound, Falmouth's Gyllyngvase and in Croyde. Rebecca Allen, marine conservation lecturer said: "This problem is killing marine and aquatic life globally." A South West Water (SWW) spokeswoman said it was "investing significantly" to reduce spills. But Kelsey-Michell Guy from SAS, who was at the Plymouth event on Saturday, said it was time for urgent action. Kelsey-Michell Guy from SAS was among protesters She added: "We've heard it all before, they've apologised before and they've told us that they are going to act before. "But instead of bringing forward those actions they're telling us it's going to take another few decades and it's just not good enough." Last month, SWW was fined a record amount of more than 2.1m after admitting causing pollution in Devon and Cornwall. SAS is demanding an end to sewage discharges into UK bathing waters and a 90% reduction in sewage discharges by 2030. Rebecca Allen, a marine conservation lecturer, says the problem is killing marine life The paddle-out was among 12 protests across the country. Cornwall College lecturer Ms Allen added: "We've got flushing toilets that were invented hundreds of years ago, we need new systems to reclaim our waste and treat it and make it safe." Barry Wall, a year-round swimmer at Tinside Beach in Plymouth, added: "I tend not to come if there's been heavy rainfall, I wait two or three days to come again, just play safe." There were more than 37,000 monitored sewage spills in the South West Water (SWW) area last year. The paddle-out in Plymouth was among 12 events across the country A SWW spokeswoman said: "We want everyone to feel confident about water quality across our region and proud of the performance of their water company. "We continue to reduce our use of storm overflows but we know there is more to do." She said they were "investing significantly" to bring down spills across 860 miles of coastline and had installed monitoring on all storm overflows ahead of target. "We have a plan, it is working and we won't stop until everyone can feel proud about the performance of their water company in the South West," she said. Water UK, the body which represents England's nine water and sewage companies, apologised on behalf of the industry this week as it announced a 10bn plan to tackle sewage spills. Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk. During a wide-ranging conversation for THRs Awards Chatter podcast at the Campari Lounge at the Cannes Film Festival, Oscar winner Alicia Vikander went through her career from her upbringing in Sweden and background in ballet to her Oscar-winning role in The Danish Girl and her latest film Firebrand, which will screen in competition at the festival. Vikanders big break in her native Sweden came with 2010s Pure. She then turned heads in the 2012 Danish film A Royal Affair, co-starring with Mads Mikkelsen, but it was her role in Alex Garlands Ex Machina that gained her notoriety in the U.S. Everything that needs to be there, is there and nothing else. A lot of it you had to understand by reading the action and understanding what is happening in the scene emotionally, she said of the Garland- written screenplay. For the self-tape audition for the film, she remembers pulling her hair back in a tight bun and putting a full bottle of sunscreen on her face in order to gain the shiny appearance of the robot, Ava, she would eventually play. More from The Hollywood Reporter The actress earned an Oscar for her role in the 2015 film The Danish Girl, in which she plays artist Gerda Wegener, the wife of Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne), one of the first known recipients of gender-affirming surgery. Its incredible to see where we are now in comparison to when Danish Girl came out. My journey making The Danish Girl was huge because I got to personally meet and become friends with so many people from the trans community, said Vikander. Obviously, with the way the conversation has gone now, that film probably would not have been that way now but it was one of the first steps. So, in that sense, it was an important one for the conversation. Following The Danish Girl, Vikander appeared onscreen with her now husband Michael Fassbender in The Light Between Oceans. She said, Hes my husband and best friend but I also consider him one of the greatest actors of his generation. In between indies and awards season features, Vikander has also had her turn in the occasional blockbuster, including Paul Greengrass Jason Bourne, in which she starred opposite Matt Damon. She says she took the role because I was a huge Jason Bourne fan, adding, Its funny going to work when you are the fan. Vikander also played Lara Croft in the latest attempt at a Tomb Raider movie, taking the role having played the computer game as a kid. Her latest, Firebrand, which is screening in competition at the festival and hails from director Karim Ainouz, sees Vikander star as Queen Catherine Parr, the final wife of Henry VIII, played in the film by Jude Law. Vikander did a historical deep dive on Parr, noting that she has received less attention in history than the to the ill-fated first wives of Henry VIII. No one really cared that she was the first woman in British history that published books under her own name, said Vikander. Adding that she was managing this danger and person next to [her] all the time. To survive that, you have to be very delicate and clever. In recounting her career, Vikander also spoke about the night of the Academy Awards at which she earned the Oscar for The Danish Girl. Vikanders date that evening was her mother, who recently passed away. Over the past few months, I have had tons of family and friends sharing photos, she said, tearing up. One of the most shared photos (was) of my mom and me that night. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Click here to read the full article. What shapes Americans' views on migrants from the border and southern states coming to their towns? It's not always where they live, but may depend on their politics. Democrats, including those in both cities and suburbs, are overwhelmingly receptive to the idea of temporarily accepting migrants in their locales. But the principle often collides with the practical: they're not always sure there's space. The number of Americans who think there is room in their town in the form of facilities or public housing is lower than the number willing to accept people. Among Democrats who live in cities, specifically, that gap between willingness and perceived space persists. Republicans, meanwhile, are mostly opposed to accepting migrants and think there isn't space, wherever they live. Who are the city people who would not approve of their locale at least temporarily housing migrants? They tend to think there isn't space; they tend to be older; more likely to be White than those who favor it; they're paying a little more attention to the story about migrants and the border, and, related to partisanship, they're much more likely to be moderate or conservative than liberal. Republicans in suburbs and cities are less likely than Democrats to say their town has facilities for migrants. And more generally, they tend to report feeling their area is "too crowded" with more people than it can handle already, more so than Democrats do. So all these assessments may be due in part to more micro-level differences in locale, but also to more subjective matters of perception. Views on sending migrants north All told, Americans split on the idea of sending migrants to northern cities from southern ones, and the border. Though the relocation of migrants has been spurred by some red-state governors, Republicans aren't universally behind the policy. The Republicans opposed are just more opposed to immigration generally, so perhaps are responding to the idea of the migrants being elsewhere, or anywhere, in the country. Those who approve of the policy see merit in involving other parts of the country, and think those places have more resources, while those who disapprove see it as a political statement more than anything else. The border and the administration An increasing majority of Americans are calling for the Biden administration to be tougher on immigrants trying to cross the border including a sizable 41% of Democrats and the Democrats' number is up from February. The president's handling of the border situation gets negative approval overall. Republicans in Congress aren't spared the public's ire either. And there's plenty of dissatisfaction within each party's ranks. Americans do tend to think the situation at the border is at least very serious, if not a crisis, with partisan differences on the degree of its severity. It's the Democrats who see the border situation as more serious who are calling for Mr. Biden to be tougher, and those who tend to be more moderate than liberal. Biden does get relatively better approval for handling jobs, more so than for handling the economy generally, and his overall approval is 41% is unchanged from last month, and more generally about where it has been for many months. This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,188 U.S. adult residents interviewed between May 17-19, 2023. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as past vote. The margin of error is 3.0 points. Toplines Extended interview: Dr. Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation," May 21, 2023 Full interview: New York City Mayor Eric Adams on "Face the Nation," May 21, 2023 Full interview: Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on "Face the Nation," May 21, 2023 CVS Pharmacy Inc. $6.15M CVS Pharmacy Inc. will pay $6.15 million to settle allegations that it overcharged for some prescriptions tied to workers' compensation insurance in four Massachusetts cities, including Worcester. The settlement was announced Monday by the office of state Attorney General Andrea Campbell. The assurance of discontinuance alleges that in some circumstances CVS failed to follow Massachusetts law and regulations that help keep costs low in the state workers' compensation insurance system. Under the terms of the settlement, CVS will work with Campbell's office to seek improvements to the Massachusetts workers' compensation billing system and establish procedures to prevent overcharges. UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus $1.2M A civil case stemming from a 2021 payroll data breach at UMass Memorial Medical Center was settled for $1.2 million. About 3,178 workers, who were shorted because of a cyber break-in in December 2021 that forced the shutdown of the payroll system, will be paid in the settlement, according to federal court documents. Workers filed a lawsuit in March 2022 against UMass Memorial and its payroll management systems Kronos Inc. and UKG Inc., criticizing the hospitals insufficient computer security policies and practices. A representative for UMass Memorial said the hospital would not release a statement about the settlement. Cozy Bakery and Cafe owner Nicoleta Comoli 1094 A new place to get a tasty treat is Cozy Bakery & Coffee, 1094 Pleasant St., Worcester. Nicoleta Comoli of Auburn celebrated a soft opening of the storefront in early April. Originally from Romania, Comoli came to the United States about 12 years ago. Shes a single mom who spent a lot of time researching steps on how to open a small business in the city, obtaining permits and location, doing it all on her own. Cozy Bakery & Coffee is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. Joeci Gilchrest of Lunenburg $500 Lunenburg resident Joeci Gilchrests lifelong goal has always been to be happy. She says she's successful at that as the owner of a two-person home-improvement company You Name It, which the 27-year-old runs alongside her husband, John, 30. Gilchrest was honored in April with the Andrea C. Silbert Rising Star Award by the Center for Women and Enterprise in recognition for her work in Central Massachusetts, for which she also got a $500 prize. The award, which she received in Boston April 26, provided motivation above everything, according to her. We all need motivation," said Gilchrest. Myran Parker-Brass 125 Myran Parker-Brass has been named interim CEO at Girls Inc. of Worcester, taking over a century-old agency that abruptly halted its services earlier this month. Parker-Brass, a consultant for a range of nonprofit organizations will take over until the organization maps a game plan for its future. Two weeks ago, Girls Inc., at 125 Providence St., announced it was "pausing" its programs because of staffing concerns that limit the ability "to safely and effectively" provide services. The directors placed Chief Executive Officer Victoria Waterman and Chief Operating Officer Allison James on administrative leave as it conducts an investigation into concerns raised around workplace equity issues. This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Business Matters: Central Mass. by the Numbers The United States and China are engaged in a fierce battle over access to advanced semiconductors US semiconductor giant Micron has failed a national security review, China's cybersecurity watchdog said Sunday, telling operators of "critical information infrastructure" to stop buying its products. It marked the latest escalation in the bitter chip war between the United States and China, with Washington looking to cut off Beijing's access to cutting-edge semiconductors. Chinese authorities launched a review in March of products sold in the country by Micron, one of the world's major chip manufacturers. Micron's products "have relatively serious potential network security issues, which pose a major security risk to China's critical information infrastructure supply chain and affect China's national security", the cybersecurity administration (CAC) said in a statement. "Operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing Micron products." China's broad definition of critical information infrastructure includes sectors ranging from transport to healthcare. "We have received the CAC's notice of conclusion of its review of Micron products sold in China," Micron said in a statement. "We are evaluating the conclusion and assessing our next steps." When asked if the company will appeal the decision, a spokeswoman for Micron said: "We look forward to continuing to engage in discussions with Chinese authorities." About 10 percent of Micron's $30.8 billion annual revenue last year came from China, according to company data. But a large portion of Micron products sold in the country were bought by foreign manufacturers, analysts had said earlier, and it was not clear if the cybersecurity watchdog's decision affects sales to foreign buyers. China in 2021 announced rules to protect critical information infrastructure with stricter data security requirements. It has recently also strengthened the enforcement of its data security and anti-espionage laws. - 'Bullying tactics' - The chip war between Beijing and Washington escalated last year when the United States imposed restrictions on China's access to high-end chips, chipmaking equipment and software used to design semiconductors. Washington also blacklisted Chinese firms, including Micron rival Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd. Washington cited national security concerns, and said it wanted to prevent tech that could help develop advanced military equipment from being acquired by China's armed forces and intelligence services. The United States imposed targeted controls on the ability of domestic industry leaders to sell their products overseas. It has also sought to persuade key allies to follow suit. The Netherlands and Japan -- both leading manufacturers of specialised semiconductor technology equipment -- have recently announced new restrictions on exporting certain products, but without naming China. Beijing has slammed the moves as "US bullying tactics" and accused Washington of "technological terrorism", vowing that such controls will only strengthen its resolve to achieve self-reliance in the sector. The development of a robust domestic semiconductor industry has been a longstanding goal of the Chinese government, which has invested billions of dollars in domestic chip firms. Chips are the lifeblood of the modern global economy, powering everything from cars to smartphones, and they are forecast to become a $1 trillion industry globally by 2030. Nowhere is their essential nature more visible than in China, the world's second-largest economy, which relies on a steady supply of foreign chips for its huge electronics manufacturing base. In 2021, China imported semiconductors worth $430 billion, more than it spent on oil. prw/qan The United States and its allies hoped to showcase their commitment to peace at the Group of Seven summit this weekend in Hiroshima, the Japanese city rebuilt from the irradiated ashes of an American atom bomb. But host Japan is increasingly stepping beyond the boundaries set by its history and playing a more assertive role on the world stage. Its not the only one, as some experts say North Koreas escalating nuclear threats and worries over Chinas sweeping territorial claims that have been sharpened by Russias war in Ukraine are pushing Washingtons friends in the region to embrace a more aggressive approach to security and embrace each other. Historically bitter enemies, Japan and South Korea are each host to tens of thousands of American troops and both are now seeking to build up their militaries and their cooperation. The Chinese government has condemned what it views as smaller countries in its backyard toadying up to their benefactor in Washington. By contrast, this development is music to the ears of the White House, which has long called for countries to join its geopolitical struggle against what it sees as Beijings nefarious rise. The United States has pressured its Asian allies to turn the page on history and cooperate on containing China while dealing with the threat from Pyongyang, Jeff Kingston, a professor of history and Asian studies at Temple University, Japan Campus, told NBC News. South Korea Japan Diplomacy (AFP - Getty Images) This all came ahead of the annual summit of G7 leaders, which runs Friday to Sunday. This is an informal club of rich democracies the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Japan which meet each year to discuss global politics. This time its being hosted in Hiroshima, a city which has recovered from the catastrophic damage by an atomic bomb and which continues to seek lasting world peace, according to the summits website. This makes it the most fitting location to express the G7s commitment to peace. Top of the agenda is Russias invasion of Ukraine, whose President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an in-person appearance at the summit to rally support. On Friday, the groups leaders made the direct connection between the citys history and Russias nuclear threats, which have helped drive Japans push to make arms control a major part of the gathering. We reiterate our position that threats by Russia of nuclear weapon use, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia, in the context of its aggression against Ukraine are inadmissible, they said in a joint statement. But close behind that grinding conflict is how to approach China, with allies still somewhat divided on how to balance cooperation economically with confrontation on Chinas alleged human rights abuses, authoritarianism and territorial expansionism. The Kremlins war has sharpened minds in Asia about what would happen if China invaded Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing sees as rightfully its territory. Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told another summit in Singapore last June. Some experts believe that, although North Korea's nuclear arsenal is seen as the most pressing threat in Seoul, growing concern about China has emerged as another factor behind a rapprochement between Japan and South Korea that comes as both countries embrace a more hawkish approach to defense. Image: Rishi Sunak Attends The G7 Summit In Hiroshima (Stefan Rousseau / Pool via Getty Images) Japan Hiroshima G7 (Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP - Getty Images) The former (a G7 member) has invited the latter as its guest to this weekends summit. The event follows two historic summits between Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, with both leaders visiting each others capitals for talks over sake and beer. This was a big deal. These were their first formal meetings for more than a decade, beginning the process of resolving bitterness from Japans colonial occupation of South Korea from 1910-45. President Joe Biden called it a groundbreaking new chapter at the White House in March. Without mentioning China by name, he couched the strengthening partnership as one of free and open democracies against authoritarianism a central theme of his administration. At at a trilateral meeting the G7 summit, Biden invited Yoon and Kishida for another meeting Washington, a senior U.S. official said. In a statement issued after the talks, the White House said the leaders had discussed how to take their trilateral cooperation to new heights, including with new coordination in the face of North Koreas illicit nuclear and missile threats. Japan announced late last year that its military spending will double to 2% of its gross domestic product a historic departure from its supposedly pacifist constitution. It ruffled feathers in Beijing with its decision to deploy Patriot missile batteries on islands close to Taiwan. And it is even considering opening a NATO liaison office, Koji Tomita, Japans ambassador to the U.S., said last week, a small but symbolically significant gesture of Western solidarity. In South Korea, the feeling that North Korea's arsenal is becoming ever more of a threat means that more than 70% now favor developing nuclear weapons of their own, a poll last year by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found. That prompted Washington to announce a new defense pact with the government in Seoul, which included the U.S. sending nuclear-capable submarines to the country so long as it reaffirmed its promise not to try to get its hands on nuclear weapons of its own. South Korea is heavily reliant on China for trade, so it has historically been careful with how it treats its giant neighbor. But relations between the two have dipped as of late, particularly after South Koreas president, Yoon, suggested China was attempting to change the status quo by force in Taiwan. This sparked a tit-for-tat summoning of ambassadors, with Chinas Foreign Ministry calling the comments erroneous and totally unacceptable. G7 Summit Hiroshima (Louise Delmotte / AP) Simon Chelton, a former British defense attache in Tokyo, said it would be wrong to chalk up the developments solely to concerns over China, North Korean missile tests or prompting by the U.S. but rather a more complex mix of all three that has been brewing for years if not decades. The reason that Japan is now increasing spending is not a knee-jerk reaction to what Biden is saying, its not a sudden whim, said Chelton, who is now an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London. It is a gradual buildup that goes back many years. Everything in Japan is always gradual. China sees these moves merely as an excuse for Japan and South Korea to toe Americas line on containing Beijing. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a briefing last week that the trio were using North Korea as a pretext to strengthen military cooperation. He blamed the U.S. allies for increasing the risk of bloc confrontation in the region and undermining the already fragile mutual trust between them and Beijing. The state-run news agency Xinhua wrote the same day that the US has been trying to put together an anti-China coterie for a long time, describing the alliance as a plot. Many experts agree that the strengthening trio is in part motivated by China and with good reason. Chinas military modernization over the past two decades, involving annual double-digit increases in military spending, combined with greater assertiveness about Chinas disputed territorial claims, generates unease about Beijings hegemonic ambitions, Kingston, at Temple University, said. That unease has produced an unlikely bonhomie that not only subverts the bitter rivalry of yesterday but also could shape todays geopolitical status quo starting this weekend. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com FILE PHOTO: A worker adjusts British and China national flags on display for a signing ceremony at the seventh UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue "Roundtable on Public-Private Partnerships" in Beijing (Reuters) - The Chinese embassy in Britain in a statement on Sunday asked London to stop slandering and smearing China to avoid further damage to China-UK relations. This comes after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said China represents the world's greatest challenge to security and prosperity but that other leading economies should not decouple from it after a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) nations. "The relevant remarks by the British side are simply parroting words from others and constitute malicious slanders in disregard of the facts. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns this," the embassy statement said. (Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue) A Christian advocacy group submitted a letter to the U.S. Congress this week urging action to help Armenians still cut off in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. "Washingtons lax approach has only emboldened Azerbaijan, who since December has been holding 120,000 Armenian Christians hostage in an attempt to extract concessions from Armenia in the long-delayed, oft-promised talks to normalize relations," Robert Nicholson, president and CEO of Philos Project, wrote in the letter. "It's done nothing to relieve pressure on the beleaguered people of Artsakh." The Philos Project submitted the letter to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) Friday, addressing Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, and ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. US WALKS BACK CLAIM IT KILLED MAJOR AL QAEDA LEADER IN DRONE STRIKE U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, speaks during the bilateral peace negotiation closing session with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov at the George Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Va., May 4, 2023. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars in the past 30 years over Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but home to a large Armenian population in the Caucasus Mountains. Tensions have spiraled between the two ex-Soviet neighbors over the blockade of the only road giving direct access to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The Philos Project made an appeal, alongside Armenian-Americans and other advocacy groups, directly to Biden for action to help the stranded Armenians, but the administration has provided only a "muted response," the group said. An Armenian woman prays in a church in Yerevan on October 17, 2020, for Armenians killed during fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. - Baku and Yerevan have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian region of Azerbaijan which broke away from Baku in a 1990s war that claimed the lives of some 30,000 people. The Caucasus neighbours have defied international calls to halt hostilities and accused the other of starting new clashes that began September 27 and have seen the heaviest fighting since a 1994 truce. "Instead of acting decisively in response to a clear crisis, one that many see as the unfolding of a second Armenian Genocide, the U.S. government has, by all appearances, treated the situation as business as usual," Nicholson wrote. "The President has been markedly silent, failing to acknowledge the current crisis even when issuing an anniversary message on the Armenian Genocide of 1915." President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of the European Council Charles Michel arrive to a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, May 14, 2023. Nicholson noted that following his previous letter to President Biden, the State Department replaced the senior adviser for Caucasus negotiations, which created "an unfortunate setback." One of the longstanding concerns surrounding the conflict is Turkeys involvement, seen to back the Azeri position. The day before the talks occurred with Blinken, Turkey closed its airspace to Armenian aircraft in a perceived response to a monument, a move the Philos Project argued "could easily be viewed as an attempt to further pressure the Armenian side and maximize Azeri leverage." GAZA MILITANTS FIRE ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL, CEASEFIRE TALKS COLLAPSE Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan attend a meeting held in Moscow May 19, 2023. A ceasefire brokered in 2020 by Russia between Armenia and Azerbaijan following a particularly violent clash left Armenia vulnerable to the political ambitions of longtime adversary (and U.S. ally) Turkey, which now seeks to use Armenia as land access to trade with Azerbaijan. That access also provides Turkey a stronger foothold in the Caucuses, bordering Iran and just a little south of Russia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this month hosted the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan for face-to-face talks, and Blinken claimed the ministers made "tangible progress." The secretary claimed a deal between the two nations to end the blockade was "within sight, within reach," but Nicholson said that no announcement materialized. "The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh has challenged administrations of both parties, but the Biden team is handling it with the unique indifference and slowness with which they've addressed other foreign policy disasters," Morgan Ortagus, founder of Polaris National Security and a former State Department spokesperson. "Their actions over the past five months show their apathy towards religious liberty and their fundamental misunderstanding of leverage." Nicholson urged the HFAC to help "reassert" American leadership by bringing immediate relief to the residents of Artsakh and no longer "turn a blind eye as purported partners and allies attempt to negotiate with another partner through violent or coercive means." TURKEY ELECTION: PRESIDENT ERDOGAN, CHALLENGER ARE HEADED TO MAY 28 RUNOFF "Negotiations toward peace made under these conditions are bound to foster resentments that will be their undoing in the long run," Nicholson argued. "America can do better." In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment on the blockade earlier this year, the Azerbaijan Embassy in the U.S. sent a "fact sheet" addressing "baseless claims on closure of Lachin road and humanitarian crisis faced by ethnic Armenians" in the region. "As repeatedly stated by Azerbaijan, no restrictions have been applied to movement on the Lachin road for humanitarian purposes," a statement from the embassy said. "However, the Armenian side and the illegal regime created by it in the territories of Azerbaijan prevent the movement of local residents in order to abuse the situation." In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment, the State Department pointed to Blinken's comments made following the May 4 negotiations. McCaul did not respond by time of publication. Clashes near hotel after alleged arrival of Lavrov's daughter in Georgia; multiple arrests Clashes in Georgia Reportedly, some protesters were detained near the Kvareli Lake Resort hotel at about 11 a.m. (10 a.m. Kyiv time). As of now, about 16 people have been detained, including members of the opposition parties Droa and the United National Movement. The Georgian Interior Ministry has reported that they are in administrative detention, according to local news agency Interpressnews. Read also: Ukrainian Presidents Office reacts to Georgias decision to allow another airline to operate direct flights to Russia Media report that the detainees were taken to the nearest police stations for questioning. Earlier, local outlets broke the news that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's daughter, Ekaterina Vinokurova (Lavrova), allegedly flew to Georgia to celebrate the wedding of her husband's brother, Alexander Vinokurov. The Georgian publication Mtavari reported that the celebration would take place in Kakheti. The couple got married in Tbilisi on May 20. A Mtavari correspondent called the Kvareli Lake Resort hotel, introducing himself as a courier, saying that he was to deliver a bouquet to Ekaterina Vinokourova (Lavrova), and the hotel administration confirmed the presence of the daughter of the Russian Foreign Minister. In turn, the Kvareli Lake Resort accused the journalists of spreading misinformation and said that they do not have visitors with the surname Lavrov. Reports about the possible stay of Lavrov's daughter or son-in-law at another hotel, Akhasheni Wine Resort & Spa where, according to the Georgian media, some of the guests might have stayed have been denied. Read also: Lavrov's sanctioned daughter comes to Georgia to attend wedding of relative, media report 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 Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has said that the army units continue to advance along the flanks in the suburbs of Bakhmut. Source: Syrskyi, quoted by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Quote: "Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defence does not lose its relevance. This provides us with opportunities to enter the city in case of a change of circumstances. And this will certainly happen. We continue to advance along the flanks in the suburbs of Bakhmut and are actually close to tactically encircling the city. Thanks to this, we will be able to control all multi-storey buildings occupied by the enemy and gradually destroy them. This deprives the enemy of control over the approaches to the city and gives us certain tactical advantages. " Details: Syrsky said that he and the commanders thoroughly analysed actions of Ukrainian forces as well as the order of killing hostile troops, and that "the situation is difficult, but under control." Earlier: Russian strikes have completely destroyed the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, but Ukraines defence forces continue to hold positions in the southwestern part of the city, said Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Hanna Maliar, Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister, has said that Ukrainian defenders have semi-encircled the city of Bakhmut, enabling them to effectively destroy the Russian army in that area. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has clarified that as of 21 May, Russian forces havent entirely captured the city. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Marco Bello/Reuters When families are exposed to horrific events shootings, lockdowns, threatsthey often turn to police and local officials for some form of clarity. But for the parents whose kids survived the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, law enforcement went silent. So a news organization stepped up instead. CNN made a rare decision to share the videos it obtained that depicted some of the officers responsesand those of the kids themselves, desperate to find safety and remain alive. The footage showed survivors Khloie Torres, Jaydien Canizales, and AJ Martinez as officers reached them more than an hour after the massacre began. The shooting last year at Robb Elementary School left 19 children and two teachers dead. Americas Tragedy Is Its Culture of FearArmed With Millions of Guns The videos were part of a series of evidence that has not been publicly released by the police department or the city of Uvalde. District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee said she would not release anything until the investigation was finished, even as Mayor Don McLaughlin defied her request and released some officer footage. Those videos, however, were before the officers breached the classrooms. CNN previously played the 911 calls made by Torres and Miah Cerrillo for their parents prior to releasing them, but the videos were specifically requested to be seen by the parents. Weve only been called once or twice to the DAs office at the beginning and now we havent been told nothing, Kassandra Chavez, Martinezs mother, told CNN. I mean, were having to find out later or through social media that something is going on. Why Texas Authorities Cant Be Trusted to Investigate Themselves Torres was shown covered in the blood of a classmate, which she rolled around in to play dead, while Martinez was shown in pain after he was shot in the thigh. Canizales was seen screaming as he was ushered to leave, having hidden under a table while covering his ears. If she went through it, I should be strong enough to see it, Jamie Torres, Khloies mother, told CNN. I want to see everything that hurt my baby. Kassandra Chavez, Martinezs mother, felt the same. We had to see it for ourselves, now we understand more, Chavez said. Im happy hes here, Im upset because of what he had to go through for 77 minutes, to see all his friends being carried out like rag dolls thats all the memories he has. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Column: Feinstein is not going to quit the Senate. Ever. Just ask her biographer California's Sen. Dianne Feinstein, seen Thursday at a Judiciary Committee meeting, has faced greater adversity than the pressure to retire, biographer Jerry Roberts notes. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Other than family and close friends, few people have a longer history with Dianne Feinstein or a better understanding of California's ailing U.S. senator than Jerry Roberts. The former political writer and newspaper editor now host of Santa Barbara's singular broadcast "Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts" first covered Feinstein nearly 50 years ago. She was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; Roberts was a reporter for the city's alternative paper, the Bay Guardian. In 1994, he published the biography "Dianne Feinstein: Never Let Them See You Cry." It remains a must-read for students of the 89-year-old lawmaker, who faces intense pressure to quit amid doubts about her mental and physical health and capacity to do her job in the Senate. Our conversation about Feinstein, past and present, has been edited for length and clarity. Start with a few words to describe the senator. Tough. Independent. Persistent. Courageous. Driven. She's had a remarkable career. But her life hasn't always been easy or happy, starting with an awful childhood. Her father was a very prominent surgeon at UC San Francisco. They were well-off and, outwardly, sort of this perfect family. But her mother was abusive, both emotionally and physically. She was an alcoholic. She used prescription drugs. And Dianne, as the oldest, was kind of put in the role of protecting her two younger sisters. There were a lot of incidents that her sisters described to me, one of which involved her mother trying to drown the youngest one in the bathtub when she was about 5 years old. Within the walls of the house there was a lot of trouble. But it was a secret no one was ever supposed to hear about. Feinstein's first marriage, at a young age, ended in divorce. Her second left her a widow in her 40s. Her second marriage was to a widely regarded surgeon, Bert Feinstein, whose name she has kept her whole life. That was a very happy marriage, but he died of colon cancer in 1978. He was really, I think, the singular love of her life, so that was difficult for her. That same year Feinstein was ready to quit politics, after two unsuccessful runs for mayor. Then she was thrust into the job, as board president, when Mayor George Moscone was assassinated. How do you think all the drama and tragedy shaped Feinstein? I'm not a psychiatrist, but I think it certainly steeled as well as gave her kind of an armor. That was the reason I called the book "Never Let Them See You Cry." It was actually a suggestion she made in a piece written for a women's magazine about how to succeed in the workplace. She always put on a very brave, professional and very polished public image, even when she was experiencing a lot of anguish and private pain. How do you think that background informs this particular moment? Independence is probably Feinstein's most salient character trait. But also a belief in herself to the point of stubbornness, where nobody is going to tell her what she can or cannot do. She has tremendous belief and confidence in her own strength and her own ability. And in fact, the best way to get her to do something is to tell her that she can't. That really goes back to her first election to the Board of Supervisors in 1969, when everyone told her including her father, whom she idolized a woman can't win. I think that just really made her dig in to prove people wrong. She was never what you would call a movement feminist, but she was a feminist in that she always wanted an equal opportunity to do stuff. And she wanted equal treatment. Do you think this pressure will make Feinstein even more resistant to quitting? She's always been an independent political force. She's never been a party regular, go-along person. So to have people say, "Well, the Democratic Party wants her to do this" it's silly. I mean, it doesn't matter what the Democratic Party wants or doesn't want in terms of what Dianne has decided she's going to do. Is there anyone in this world who could push her out, or would even try? Not that I know of. I think another thing that's contributing to this whole situation that doesn't get mentioned much is the death of Richard Blum. Her third husband, whom Feinstein married in 1980, passed away in February 2022. It was not an easy time. He was sick for a long time. She was flying back and forth across the country to be with him. She listened to his advice, both politically and personally. They were very much a team. But beyond that, I don't see anyone else that I'm aware of whose counsel she would seek on this. She's 89 years old. She's gone to a lot of funerals. A lot of advisers, a lot of counselors, a lot of allies aren't around anymore. You spoke of Feinstein as a feminist. Do you believe sexism is behind efforts to push her aside? Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has certainly made that point, and I find it hard to disagree with. Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was absent for months after being diagnosed with brain cancer, and I don't recall anyone saying, "Oh, Ted Kennedy should resign." And there's lot of other examples as well. So I think there's an element of that. I think there's also an ideological element. The left wing of the Democratic Party tried to get rid of Feinstein in 2018, when she ran for reelection and they endorsed Kevin de Leon. So when you see people like Reps. Ro Khanna and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stepping out there and calling for her to resign, that's a part of it. Will this sad ending tarnish Feinstein's legacy? Should it? I don't think it should. Look at all the things she accomplished politically as well as culturally. Look at the generations of women politicians that have come out of the Bay Area the vice president of the United States; the former speaker of the House; Sen. Barbara Boxer; women members of Congress. They all followed in Dianne's footsteps. Her work in the Senate desert protection, exposing the government use of torture to fight terrorism, the 10-year assault weapons ban speaks for itself. The role she played on complicated California issues: water, immigration, many things. There's a recency bias to this. People are seeing what's happening today and a lot of times don't really know everything she's accomplished. It will be a couple of lines in her obituary. But that's it. Pelosi's eldest daughter, Nancy Corinne Prowda, has been a constant at Feinstein's side. Some see politics at work, since Pelosi is backing Rep. Adam B. Schiff to succeed Feinstein. But you don't buy it. Start with the fact that Pelosi and Feinstein lived across the street from each other for 30 years. Nancy and Dianne have a personal relationship that predates their political relationship. Dianne knows all her kids. It was the two of them that really brought the Democratic National Convention to San Francisco in 1984. When Rep. Sala Burton died in 1987, Dianne briefly thought about running for Congress, but deferred when Nancy decided to run. If Feinstein were to quit, there's speculation that Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint Rep. Barbara Lee, a Schiff rival, as her successor, giving Lee an advantage in the 2024 election for the Senate seat. I don't see any politics. It's trying to be too clever by half, connecting dots. The idea this is all a plot to elect Adam Schiff seems the silliest kind of speculation. Agreed. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. British director Steve McQueen knows his documentary Occupied City, which premiered on the first day of this year's Cannes Film Festival, may not be what people expect. From him, or from a documentary. The form is well represented at this year's festival there are three in competition but none is as epic in scope or avant-garde in structure as McQueen's. Based on the Dutch-language book Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940-1945, by his wife, Bianca Stigter, it is a four-hour-plus, street-by-street, building-by-building chronicle of what happened in Amsterdam during the German occupation and what each of those places looks like now. As the camera captures modern scenes of specific locations all over Amsterdam, narrator Melanie Hyams describes how each figured in the invasion, occupation and deportation of 80% of the citys Jewish residents, many of whom were murdered in concentration camps. It is a challenging film to watch and not just because of its subject matter, or even its length. The normality of the modern scenes, gorgeously shot on 35 millimeter, inevitably offers a disturbing contrast with the narration a busy school that served as a torture center, a cozy apartment where a Jewish family was discovered and sent to a camp, people ice-skating on frozen canals where the bodies of those who died in hiding were dumped and where many died by suicide. One contrast after another after another pits your eyes against your ears until it is difficult to keep the images from distracting from the text, and vice versa, to know how to process the information. Are we supposed to be concentrating on the trees or the forest? This is precisely the effect McQueen planned. The way Bianca wrote the text was very factual, so I knew I wanted that not uncompassionate but matter-of-fact, and then were moving on, he said. The weight of what happened was so heavy you cant hold it in your head forever. If you forget things thats OK because of the magnitude.... Its a lot to juggle. Like a classical concert, you drift away in one place and come back into another and thats part of the experience. Occupied City is an experience." Not a history lesson, an experience," Stigter said. Seeing the film, you are aware of the past that is around you. You cannot activate it all the time, but sometimes its interesting to see past and present colliding. The two have joined me in the restaurant of the Hotel Martinez just off the Croisette. A power couple by any standards, they are thrilled by the film's reception at Cannes, and happy to be where, as McQueen says, "films are having conversations with each other." "Occupied City" was born of their shared, and separate, experiences; Stigter is a native of Amsterdam; McQueen has lived there for 25 years. Growing up in London, an unoccupied city, he said, it was a change to be living in Amsterdam, looking around on a day-to-day basis and realizing, 'Oh, heres where that happened.' It wakes you up. Steve McQueen in Amsterdam in 2021. (Chantal Heijnen/For The Times) The book, and by extension the film, began with a question from Stigters father. I was studying history and he wanted to know what actually happened when the Germans came to Amsterdam. How did they know where to go, what to do? And I didnt know the answer, she said. Although Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl made Amsterdam one of the wars most famous occupied cities and the house in which the Franks hid is now a museum, Stigter was surprised at how little information was available. I realized there were only a few places [where] people knew what happened during the war. I thought Id write a travel guidebook, house by house, floor by floor. She took on the daunting task piece by piece, reading a lot of books, going into archives of documents kept by the Germans as well as those of the Jewish Council, which included a 1943 guidebook detailing hiding places, council members' homes, headquarters of clandestine newspapers and other key locations of the Resistance. As Stigter was writing, McQueen first thought: Wouldnt it be interesting to get footage from the 40s and contrast it with today? Then I thought, how great to have the past as text and the living as presence. Our daughters school was headquarters of the SS the whole point, to have living and dead in same frame, to get the present to connect to the past. He began shooting in 2019 and, like the rest of the world, was locked down for a time by COVID-19. Indeed, much of the footage serves as a chronicle of the pandemic a city shutting down, early vaccination stations, anti-vaccination protests, and people partying in defiance. It seemed like in that three years, everything was going on, he said. Black Lives Matter, climate change, the Ukraine, COVID itself. At certain points of the film, the sight of police controlling protesters strikes an alarming contrast to the narration detailing how, in that very spot, Jews and others were rounded up for deportation. Thats what happened, McQueen said, objecting to the notion that he was in some way comparing the two things. Things change. You have people protesting and you cut to police standing around. The narrative has changed. You get to decide that its not the same, said Stigter. Our liberty did not come cheap, McQueen added. There is an amnesia about what happened for our freedom. This is to remind people of that. McQueen and his crew shot for three years, amassing 36 hours' worth of video that he says he will use for another presentation somewhere else. (Stigter is also hoping to publish an English-language version of her book.) Many scenes take place in peoples homes, often with the residents present in one a woman dances in her kitchen, in another a person works out on an exercise bike. Most of the people McQueen approached were happy to participate. They were interested in the subject matter, he said, especially the famine that struck the Netherlands during the last winter of the war. The Hunger Winter is not something people know about outside of the Netherlands. My grandmother had a recipe for tulip bulb soup, Stigter interjected. Its in the book. Only a few of those approached declined. Some people didnt want to know what happened in their house, McQueen said. Some people like to put blinkers on. But life is not Disneyland. All three of us, he said, including me in his statement, got here through blood and tears. Thats how we came to this table. A lot of beautiful things happened too, but we mustnt forget the blood and tears. Though not defined by blood and tears, McQueen has never shied away from them. Best known for "12 Years a Slave," he first came to Cannes in 2008 with "Hunger," a film about Bobby Sands and the 1981 hunger strikes in Northern Ireland; his 2021 docuseries, "Uprising," made with James Rogan, examined the 1981 New Cross fire and how it illuminated and sparked racial tensions in Britain. In "Occupied City," however, he is not challenging us to remember so much as to recognize the inextricable relationship between the past and the present. It is not easy to reconcile the ordinary sight of a jogger running through a park, tourists milling in front of a museum, or even a peaceful protest with the constant cataloging of families being yanked from their homes, groups of Jewish men being shot and babies being torn from their parents. Even with an intermission, four-plus hours of horror take a toll. Its the weight of the situation: Its too heavy, and thats part of the experience, he says. Film as a form isnt done. You could do your normal documentary, but Im using the material to see what I can do with it, pushing the form to communicate in a different way, to get people to engage. It shows you that the past is not stable, Stigter said. Its quicksand under us. If you can rest easy, Im not doing my job," McQueen agreed. "Because I dont want you to rest easy. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Robert De Niro, left, and director Martin Scorsese at the premiere of the film 'Killers of the Flower Moon' at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday. (Scott Garfitt /Invision/AP) Robert De Niro blew a hole in a rather careful conversation about racism and American history at the Cannes Film Festival when he described his most evil character to date as being like Donald Trump. Ruminating on the character he plays in Killers of the Flower Moon, Robert De Niro compared William Hale, who helped orchestrate a murderous reign of terror against the Osage nation in the 1920s, to the former president. I dont really understand why he did what he did, De Niro said, speaking to reporters the day after Killers of the Flower Moon, which is based on the nonfiction book of the same name, premiered Saturday night. Theres a feeling of entitlement [that] I guess you could say we became a lot more aware after George Floydsystemic racism. Its the banality of evil and we see it now with Im not going to say the name because that guy is stupid. A few beats later, he got more specific. Hale, De Niro said, was able to charm the Osage, who became rich when oil was discovered on their Oklahoma reservation, even as he stole rights to that land through a chilling system of marriage and murder. [Hale] felt he was loved by people, he said, and some people did love him. Look at Trump and there are people who think he could do a good job. Imagine that, how insane that is. De Niro has long been an outspoken critic of the former president F Trump became as famous a personal tag line as, You talkin to me? His Cannes commentary was, unsurprisingly, met with thunderous applause from the gathering of international journalists, and it lighted up what had been a rather solemn event, befitting the films horrific subject matter. Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Osage Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear described the evolution of the books focus from the role that the nascent FBI played in bringing to justice Hale and his cronies, including his nephew Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), to a cinematic story that dealt more with the crimes they committed against the Osage nation. Scorsese said he was aware of the risks of having a white man make a film about a little known and completely horrific chapter of American history more than 60 Osage were murdered, robbed of their land rights, or both before the U.S. government stepped in. When the book was presented to me, I understood that if we go anywhere near Indigenous nations, you have to be careful and respectful, he said. When we had a first meeting with Chief Standing Bear and the council, I was so moved by what I heard, their values about love and respect and loving the Earth, [and] really understanding how to live on this planet. I found that the values were so important to me; they reoriented me every time. In early talks about structuring the film, Scorsese said he did not want to make it a cop drama, or a story about how the FBI swooped in to save the day. I said the audience is ahead of us, they dont need to know who did it but who didnt. Leo, he added, was supposed to play [Agent] Tom White, which Jessie Plemons played, and he came to me and asked, 'Wheres the heart of this story?' The heart, he realized, lay in the relationship between Ernest and Mollie Burkhart (Gladstone), the Osage woman he marries, in part because Hale needs him to inherit her familys land rights. When we talked about it with the tribal council, thats what everyone talked about did he love her, did she love him?," Scorsese said. "So that became our story his betrayal of Mollie and the betrayal of the Osage. We took great pride in telling the story as best we could, said DiCaprio, and took great pride in having them here with us. What Marty does so incredibly well is hes able to expose the humanity of some of the twisted, sinister characters. The gamble was to take on this incredibly important story that was a reckoning of our past, much like the Tulsa massacre, that people are starting to learn about. Gladstone, who has Blackfeet and Nimiipuu ancestry, found inspiration from her own grandmother, who, she said, was Mollies contemporary, and emphasized that though the film was based on detailed research, Killers of the Flower Moon was art, not anthropology. Native people are used to having anthropologists curious about everything that we do," she said. " These artistic souls on this stage cared about telling a story that pierces the veil about what society tells us about what were supposed to care about or not. Who else is going to challenge people to challenge their own complicity in white supremacy on such a platform except this man here," she asked, motioning to Scorsese. "Other artists are doing that work; people listen to what this one says. Standing Bear and the tribal council had many concerns when the film was proposed. Early on, I asked Mr. Scorsese, How are you going to approach the story? He said, 'Im going to tell the story about trust, trust between Mollie and Ernest, trust between the outside world and the Osage, and the betrayal of those trusts, a deep betrayal.' My people suffered greatly and to this day, those effects are with us. But I can say on behalf of the Osage people, Marty Scorsese and his team have restored that trust and we know that trust will not be betrayed. He also thanked the director for using Osage people on the film as extras and behind the scenes and for featuring so much of the Osage language. "Our language is dying," he said. "You speak better Osage than some of our Osage," he added, nodding at De Niro. And, while DiCaprio, Scorsese and De Niro repeated the importance of revealing this story to the world, Standing Bear admitted that the process had been a revelation to his people as well. "We saw how hard these actors worked, how serious they were. We have preconceptions, that Bob De Niro wakes up and everything just comes out, but these are very hardworking people." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walked back comments Sunday that appeared to confirm earlier Russian claims that its forces captured the city of Bakhmut following months of bloody and intense fighting. "I think not," Ukraine's leader said after being asked by a reporter whether Ukraine still controlled the eastern city that has been under siege for eight months. Zelenskyy made the comments while speaking alongside President Joe Biden during an appearance on the final day of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and US President Joe Biden take part in a bilateral meeting during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place, Zelenskyy said. More: As Biden meets with world leaders at G-7 Summit, US puts new sanctions on Russia He said the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of dead Russians. However, Zelenskyy's office later denied that Russia captured the city. It said his comments were a reference to the complete destruction of Bakhmut. It is so far the longest and likely the bloodiest battle of the war. An estimated 20,000-30,000 Russian troops have died fighting there and Ukraine has also suffered heavy losses. Biden, during a press conference later Sunday, seemed unsure about the status of Bakhmut but said the toll on Russia has been damaging regardless. "Bakhmut is a discussion about whether or not it has been lost, or whatever," Biden said. "Well, the truth of the matter is the Russians have suffered over 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut. It's hard to make up." Biden said F-16 fighter jets "would not have helped" Ukraine fight off Russian troops in Bakhmut. In a shift, Biden told G-7 leaders Friday that the U.S. would assist with training Ukrainian pilots on modern fighter aircraft, including American-made F-16s, signaling that Washington is perhaps closer to arming Ukraine with the aircraft. February 16, 2023: A Ukrainian serviceman of the State Border Guard Service fires a mortar toward the Russian position in Bakhmut as the head of Russia's mercenary outfit Wagner said it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city and slammed Moscow's "monstrous bureaucracy" for slowing military gains. - Russia has been trying to encircle the battered industrial city and wrest it ahead of Feb. 24, the first anniversary of what it terms its "special military operation" in Ukraine. Zelenskyy's comments in Japan came just hours after Russia's Defense Ministry and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Moscow-backed Wagner private army, claimed Russian forces had fully seized Bakhmut. Bakhmut has become a symbol of Ukraine's grinding resistance to near-constant assaults by Russia's military along a 600-mile wending frontline. Some military analysts say the city is of little direct strategic value to Ukraine, but its capture by Russia would amount to a major psychological blow to Ukraine, and a boost for Moscow. "If the Ukrainians decide to reposition (to the west of Bakhmut) I would not view that as an operational or strategic setback," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, speaking to reporters in March. Austin said a Ukrainian withdrawal from Bakhmut would not mean Russia had "changed the tide of this fight." Still, that same month Zelenskyy said in an interview: "We understand that after Bakhmut they (Russian forces) could go further. They could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Slovyansk, it would be open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine, in the Donetsk direction." The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said in an analysis that if "Russian forces manage to secure Bakhmut they could then attempt renewed pushes toward one or both of Kostyantynivka or Slovyansk but would struggle with endemic personnel and equipment constraints." Biden on Sunday announced a new military aid package for Ukraine during his meeting with Zelenskyy, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere, Biden said. Contributing: USA TODAY White House correspondent Joey Garrison Ukraine: Biden backs international plan to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bakhmut: Ukraine's Zelenskyy appears to confirm loss of city to Russia New consulate in Oklahoma City will serve 'vibrant Mexican community' in Oklahoma About a dozen people received their Mexican passports, birth certificates and other government-issued documents Saturday morning as the new Mexican consulate was inaugurated in Oklahoma City. Dignitaries and elected officials, both local and from Mexico, lauded the consulate's opening as a commitment to continue supporting the growing Mexican American population in the state of Oklahoma. Citizens of Mexico living in the state no longer have to make the trek to cities like Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; or Kansas City, Missouri, to receive consular services. Javier Rivera, 21, was one of those receiving his Mexican passport on Saturday. He said this is the first major process he's taken on as an adult. "With the new consulate, the process was fast," said Rivera, who lives in Oklahoma City. "Before, we have to go to Dallas and Little Rock and ... the time to to get the appointment is too hard." Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt watch Saturday as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard hugs Javier Rivera, the recipient of the first document, at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Foreign representatives present Saturday included Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's minister of foreign affairs and 2024 presidential candidate; Consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City Edurne Pineda; Ambassador of Mexico to the United States Esteban Moctezuma; and Mexican Undersecretary for North America Roberto Velasco Alvarez. "This is not the beginning," said Ambassador Moctezuma of the new consulate, located just west of downtown at 1131 W Sheridan Ave. "This is the consequence of a vibrant Mexican community in Oklahoma and Oklahoma welcoming this community." Consulate will 'make a huge difference' for thousands of Mexicans in Oklahoma Mexican Undersecretary for North America Roberto Velasco Alvarez and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt speak Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. At one time, the Mexican American population in Oklahoma was "small but mighty," said Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. Today, it is "simply, poderoso," or powerful, he said. "Mexican Americans in Oklahoma City are entrepreneurs," Holt said. "They own restaurants and grocery stores and media outlets. They're teachers and priests, police officers, firefighters and elected officials. Mexican Americans are vital contributors to this dynamic city. "And yet this community is still young. We know its potential is great, and that its strength will only grow ... It will be heartening to know that the Mexican American community finally has this place. This consulate, a place the community can point to that bridges two national identities." Gov. Kevin Stitt joins Marcelo Ebrard, minister of foreign affairs of Mexico; and Edurne Pineda, consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City, on Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Oklahoma Sen. Michael Brooks-Jimenez, who represents the south side of Oklahoma City, shared the story of how his mother's Mexican family came to Oklahoma a century ago. His great-grandfather came to San Antonio to work on the railroads. His great-grandmother and their four children joined him after a few years, but he died shortly after. The 27-year-old widow and her children traveled in a covered wagon to Oklahoma City, where she had family. The Jimenez family has called Oklahoma City home ever since. Clients wait in line Saturday on the first day of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. It's not a unique story, said Brooks-Jimenez, who works as an immigration attorney. "I am flattered that the Mexican government has chosen to be able to give to our town, my hometown, a Mexican consulate," he said. "As an immigration attorney, I can tell you that I've seen thousands of people who are going through the same processes and the same journeys as my family. ... This is gonna make a huge difference for thousands of people in the state of Oklahoma." Oklahoma and Mexican values align Edurne Pineda, consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City, speaks Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Pineda, consul of Mexico in Oklahoma City, said she has been "amazed to learn about the richness of (Oklahoma's) society, culture and economic activity, and the potential and determination you show to continue moving forward." The support the state has shown of the consulate is a testament to the relevance the migrant community holds in Oklahoma, Pineda said. "A community that works hard, shares your values and commits to working shoulder to shoulder with you to build a better Oklahoma," she said. "There is also a large potential to grow the economic trade, cultural and tourist relations between Oklahoma and Mexico. We want to be a conduit for this. We want to be a bridge that helps Oklahoma understand Mexico better, and Mexico understand Oklahoma better." Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard on Saturday at the inauguration of Oklahoma City's Mexican consulate. Gov. Kevin Stitt who helped put the consulate in motion through 2021 trips to Washington, D.C., and Mexico City said Oklahomans and Mexicans "can learn so much from each other." "Oklahoma values are Mexican values," Stitt said. "It's hard working, entrepreneurship, family-focused, ... God-fearing." This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma City's Mexican Consulate now open for business Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) claimed on Sunday that President Biden is bending to progressives amid negotiations over the debt ceiling with the threat of default looming. You know, it really is unfortunate to see how Joe Biden is approaching this job. Its all politics all the time, and he consistently goes to the hard left. He is off in Hiroshima right now, in Japan. He should be in Washington, D.C. He should be sitting down and working out a deal, working out a compromise, Cruz said on Fox News Sunday. Biden was in Japan over the weekend for the Group of Seven talks in Hiroshima and had plans to visit Papua New Guinea and Australia afterward, but cut his international trip short to head home for in-person talks with McCarthy and others on the debt ceiling. Cruz also argued that the House did its job when it passed a GOP proposal to lift the debt ceiling and make spending cuts last month. And, unfortunately, Joe Biden has handed his entire agenda over to the radical left, to the Bernie Sanders and the AOCs of the world, Cruz said, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). McCarthy, meanwhile, argued on Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures that Biden has really shifted right after the more progressive, socialist wing of the party stood up and says they want to spend more money, and claimed the president wants default more than he wants a deal. Host Maria Bartiromo asked whether McCarthy thinks Sanders is among those leading this for Biden. Well, the president he really wags the dog. I mean, when Bernie Sanders or AOC says something, the White House shifts to the other way, McCarthy said. Sanders, during a separate interview, dismissed McCarthys remarks. They want to cut programs that the elderly the children, the sick and the poor need. If I have any role, thats great, he said, referring to Republicans, on MSNBCs Velshi. McCarthy and Biden had a phone call on Sunday as the president made his way back from Hiroshima. Staff-level talks are set to resume on Sunday, and the president and the Speaker are set to meet on Monday. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Sunday that President Bidens suggestion that he could use the 14th Amendment to unilaterally address the debt ceiling is legally frivolous. I think Bidens position on the 14th Amendment is legally frivolous, Cruz said on Fox News Sunday. Thats a provision that was put in place to say that were going to pay our Civil War debts, he added. It refers to the Civil War that we had just fought and paying those war debts off. Biden said earlier Sunday that he was looking at whether or not we have the authority to use the 14th Amendment, after debt ceiling negotiations with Republicans broke down the day before. The argument for such a unilateral move is based on a phrase in the amendment that the public debt shall not be questioned. I think we have the authority, Biden told reporters at a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan. The question is, could it be done and invoked in time that it would not be appealed, and as a consequence past the date in question and still default on the debt. That is a question that I think is unresolved. However, Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen has previously warned that invoking the 14th Amendment would cause a constitutional crisis. Cruz noted Sunday that former President Obama also rejected the use of the 14th Amendment when he encountered similar roadblocks to raising the debt ceiling. By the way, someone else who agreed with that was Barack Obama, he said. The left tried to convince Obama to do this, and Obama said, No, you cant do this under the Constitution, under the terms of the Constitution. The Texas senator suggested that Biden should instead vow to pay the interest on U.S. debt as a means of preventing default. As I said, Joe Biden can ensure that we dont default on the debt. He has ample authority to do that and to do that right now by saying were going to pay the interest on the debt, Cruz said. What they want is not to pay the interest on the debt, what they want to do is they want to pay the $6 trillion in other government spending, and theres nothing in the 14th Amendment that gives them the power to do that, he added. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The Cal State Fullerton campus received three reports alleging that students were inappropriately touched by President Framroze "Fram" Virjee. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) California State University officials were notified about reports accusing the Fullerton campus president of inappropriately touching students but never launched an investigation, according to internal records and statements. The first report, made in August 2019 to the Cal State Fullerton campus, accused President Framroze Fram Virjee of hugging a student and kissing her forehead, making her feel very uncomfortable. Two other reports, also made to the campus, involved separate incidents while Virjee gave a tour of the school one day in November 2021. One alleged that Virjee attempted multiple times to force himself upon a student, touching her and trying to hug her, despite her objections. The other accused the president of touching a students arm and rubbing her back without her consent behavior that she and a witness agreed was unacceptable. The campus official in charge of enforcing sexual harassment policy assessed the information and determined that the alleged conduct at face value did not violate university policy, CSU officials said in a statement. An investigation was unwarranted, and the campus official did not alert the chancellors office, according to the statement. The official followed CSU policy, the statement said. Virjee, who has announced that he is retiring in July, has said he did nothing wrong. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) The reports were submitted by campus employees who provided unverified and unsubstantiated allegations, according to the statement. The campus Title IX official sent emails to each of the students involved explaining how to file a formal complaint with the chancellor's office and offering to help if they wished to do so, a CSU spokesperson said. The campus official met with one student who declined to move forward with an investigation; the others did not respond to emails sent to their school and personal accounts, according to CSU. Experts who reviewed the records for The Times said the reports should have been sent to the chancellors office and investigated by parties outside the university because they involved the most powerful official on campus. When presidents are involved, theres no way it should be done on campus, said Sharon Reiter, a former associate vice president at Cal Poly Pomona who oversaw sexual harassment investigations before retiring in 2020. If something comes down and its not in his favor, youre in his crosshairs potentially. CSU officials said a campus employee told the chancellor's office about the reports in early 2022. The officials did not respond to questions by Times reporters seeking details on why the notification was made and who was informed. The chancellor's office took no action to review the accusations or contact the students, the officials said. Virjee, who has announced that he is retiring in July, said he did nothing wrong and was not made aware of the reports and their inaccurate descriptions until The Times asked for the records last year. Had he been told of the reports when they were made, he said in a statement, he would have been able to clarify what occurred from my perspective and, most importantly, to take steps to make sure that all involved were okay, which would have been my primary concern. At no time in his CSU career, Virjee added, have I ever been the subject of any verified or substantiated reports of misconduct. In a statement, CSU interim Chancellor Jolene Koester lauded Virjee as a leader who has excelled as a president and conducted himself with integrity. For more than three decades, she said, he has overseen hundreds of training courses on sexual harassment and championed diversity, equity and social justice. CSU initially refused to make the reports about Virjee public but relented after The Times threatened legal action. CSU is grappling with how it handles reports of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and retaliation across its 23 campuses. The previous chancellor, Joseph I. Castro, last year became entangled in a controversy over his handling of sexual harassment and retaliation reports against a top administrator when he was president of Fresno State. Amid public outcry, a group of campus presidents that included Virjee met with a top aide to California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, saying they had lost confidence in Castro, according to a spokeswoman for the lawmaker. Rendon is a Fullerton alumnus and sits on the CSU board of trustees. Days later, Castro announced his resignation. Since then, Times investigations have found inconsistencies in the way reports of sexual misconduct are handled by the nations largest public four-year university system and have detailed how accusations of wrongdoing against high-ranking men were resolved in various ways. Cases included the husband of a campus president who was not formally investigated for alleged sexual harassment and a vice president who was not disciplined after officials concluded that he had violated CSU sexual harassment policy. The chancellor and trustees have declined repeated requests from The Times over the past year seeking interviews to discuss how the system has dealt with sexual harassment and other wrongdoing. The reports from the Fullerton campus are the first records to publicly surface in which a CSU president is accused of inappropriately touching students. Virjee previously served in the chancellors office as general counsel for California State University and was charged with improving how the system handled sexual harassment and sexual misconduct allegations. He has been president of Cal State Fullerton since 2018. In the Aug. 30, 2019, report, a Cal State Fullerton employee said a student recounted that she had an encounter with Virjee that week while working at an information booth. President Virjee gave [the student] a hug and kissed [her] on the forehead, the report said. The report said the student "stated that this interaction made her feel very uncomfortable and that she does not want to be around President Virjee after what happened." The employee who wrote the report sent it to her supervisor, and it was forwarded to Sarah Bauer, the schools director of Title IX and gender equity. Title IX is a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination, and many CSU employees are required to report such allegations. Virjee said he does not recall that encounter, noting that it happened four years ago and that he deals with thousands of students each year. If I ever made anyone feel uncomfortable, that certainly was not my intent, he said. CSU is grappling with how it handles reports of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and retaliation across its 23 campuses. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) The chancellors office said it was inaccurate to describe the allegations in the three reports as sexual harassment. Until reports are investigated and any allegations sustained, we describe them as reports relating to potential policy violations, a spokesperson said. But both 2021 reports, which were sent to Bauers office, described the allegations as sexual harassment. One says Virjee showed up in the schools Titan Dreamers Resource Center with several officials, including former Assemblymember Jose Medina, who chaired the Assemblys higher education committee. "Virjee rushed to one of the students and touched her back without consent. He also rubbed her back and touched her arm for a couple of seconds," the employee reported, adding, "I noticed that the student froze and did not say anything." Afterward, according to the report, the student came to the employees office and mentioned the discomfort she felt when Virjee rushed to her side and touched her without her consent. The student, as well as another student listed as a witness, agreed that this type of behavior is unacceptable and agreed to be mentioned in this report, the employee said. CSU officials redacted the names of students, witnesses and the employees who filed the reports. The library at Cal State Fullerton. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Virjee said he entered the center with the group and stood next to a student who was eating and seemed startled that he and other officials had shown up. My hand may have touched the students shoulder or arm as I introduced her to members of this group, but nothing more than that happened, he said. If I made any contact with the student, it was only to show support. The other report alleged that Virjee attempted multiple times to force himself upon a student at the African American Resource Center. The student verbally declined to engage in a hug and even indicated with her hands that she did not want to be touched, according to the report. Virjee, according to the report, ignored her signals and verbal rejections and still engaged in physical contact with her. The report listed the names of three women as witnesses to the incident at the African American Resource Center. Virjee said three students were in the center when he arrived with Medina and others as part of the campus tour. Two of them knew me and greeted me with a friendly hug, Virjee said, adding that the third student asked if she didnt also deserve a hug. He said he hugged her and saw her again as the group left the center. Feeling bad that I had not acknowledged her at the outset in the first greeting, I offered her a hug goodbye, Virjee said. She teased back something to the effect of Not on your life. We then exchanged a quick hug, and I left with the group. Virjee said his interactions with the students in both centers took place in a matter of moments and that "it was never my intention to make anybody feel uncomfortable." Medina told The Times that he did not witness anything inappropriate during the tour. Without interviewing any witnesses, the Title IX officer questioned the credibility of the 2021 reports, which alleged misconduct in public places while Virjee was giving the tour. No other individuals came forward to report misconduct during the tour, the statement said. System officials said the Title IX officer determined that for all three reports, "even if true, the reported conduct would not be considered severe or pervasive, as defined in CSU policy." CSU officials said Bauer, the Title IX officer, declined to comment for this report. A spokesperson said the university system's policy requires reaching out to students to offer support "and empower[ing] individuals to pursue complaints without depriving them of agency to determine how they would like to proceed." Under CSU's policy, officials could have launched an investigation based on factors such as a power imbalance between the person accused and the accuser and whether there have been multiple or prior reports of misconduct against the same person. Title IX experts who reviewed the reports at the request of The Times said Cal State Fullertons handling of the allegations was problematic in at least two respects. The accusations should have been forwarded promptly to the chancellors office to avoid campus employees having to decide how to deal with accusations against the university's top official, and CSU should have launched an investigation to determine the veracity of the claims, especially given the similarity of the three reports, the experts said. Castro, who was CSU chancellor when the 2021 reports were made, said he was not told about them. I should have been informed, Castro told The Times, adding that he would have immediately gone to the Board of Trustees with a recommendation to investigate the complaints and to place the president on leave while the investigation was completed. The fear of blowback from accusing a powerful campus figure of wrongdoing can stop people from requesting an investigation. For example, after accusations of sexual harassment were made against the husband of Sonoma States former president , one accuser declined to go forward with an investigation because she feared retaliation, she told The Times last year. The accusations were brought forward by campus officials on behalf of several women and were reported directly to the chancellors office. A systemwide coordinator spoke to the women but did not formally investigate. In a background interview last year, a CSU administrator explained that the Sonoma State accusations were handled by the chancellors office because we're not going to have the campus Title IX coordinator investigate allegations against the president or the president's spouse." In response to the complaints, Castro barred the husband from visiting the campus, according to a letter from the chancellors office. In the Fullerton case, experts said, CSU officials from outside the campus should have reviewed the reports and determined how to respond. "Even if ... it doesn't arise to a Title IX violation, that doesn't mean they can't take other actions, said Shiwali Patel, director of justice for student survivors and senior counsel for the National Womens Law Center. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Cuban playwright Anton Arrufat poses with one of his books during an interview with AFP at his home in Havana, on September 15, 2022. Cuban poet and playwright Anton Arrufat, a renowned and multifaceted writer who won his country's top literature prize, has died at age 87, the culture ministry announced Sunday. Born in Santiago de Cuba, Arrufat, also a member of the Cuban Academy of Language, as a youth was keen on literature and theatre and then studied languages at the University of Havana. "Sad news for Cuba: the great poet, storyteller and playwright Anton Arrufat, National Literature Award (2000) has passed away," the culture ministry said. No cause of death was given. Author of numerous plays, novels, essays and poems, Arrufat won the literary award from the official Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba in 1968 for "Seven Against Thebes," an allegory of the island's political life of the time, currently considered a fundamental work of Cuban theater. But as a gay man he then fell out of favor due to the institutional rejection generated by this work, which was branded as counterrevolutionary and did not reach a stage in Cuba until 2007. At the end of the 1960s and part of the 1970s, during a five-year time known on the island as the "Grey Period," authorities established that the moral parameters for a reliable worker were to be revolutionary and heterosexual -- two things that Arrufat was not. "Yes, (I was) 'parameterized' (sidelined), that is the word that was used" and "I never was told why," Arrufat said in an interview with AFP in September 2022, shortly before Cuba approved a new Code of the Families that gave the green light to equal marriage rights. The writer, who was held for 14 years in the basement of a municipal library, unable to publish any text, then evoked that grey period that ostracized Cuban intellectuals, when the Soviet model was temporarily imposed on Cuba, the only one-party Communist state in the Americas. "I had to suffer through things that a writer in this country had not experienced," added Arrufat. He also recalled in the interview his adventures with great Cuban writers, also noted for their homosexuality, such as Jose Lezama Lima (1910-1976) and Virgilio Pinera (1912-1979), who died in isolation without seeing their texts in bookstores and theaters again. rd/mdl/mlm A man was reportedly killed and his two teenage children wounded after a hand grenade exploded inside their northwest Indiana home on Saturday. The family was going through a grandfathers belongings in Lakes of the Four Seasons when they found the explosive device and someone pulled out the pin, causing it to detonate, severallocalmediaoutlets reported citing the Lake County Sheriffs Department. The man, who was not immediately identified, was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead while his 17-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter were taken to a hospital with shrapnel wounds. A local bomb squad responded to the home to ensure no other explosive devices existed. The FBI last year shared these photos of explosive devices that were recovered and rendered safe by the FBI Eastern Missouri Bomb Tech Task Force. From left: A World War II-era Japanese mortar round, a Civil War-era cannonball, and a grenade. The FBI last year shared these photos of explosive devices that were recovered and rendered safe by the FBI Eastern Missouri Bomb Tech Task Force. From left: A World War II-era Japanese mortar round, a Civil War-era cannonball, and a grenade. It is illegal under the National Firearms Act to possess a live grenade. The FBI has warned that these explosive devices, known as military ordnance, can remain intact for decades and then explode without notice. Usually what happens is when a veteran passes away, and family members are cleaning out their items, usually in a basement, garage or attic, theyll come across something that they know or suspect is a military ordnance, Special Agent Patrick Carolan, a bomb technician with the FBIs St. Louis Field Office, said in a news release last year. They call their local police, and we work with the police departments bomb squad. The FBIs St. Louis Field Office said it receives about a call per week regarding suspected military ordnance. The frequency of these calls has risen in recent years due to elderly veterans dying, it said. Most of the devices found come from World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or the Gulf War, and were either brought home from combat service or purchased later, the FBI said. Carolan encouraged anyone who suspects they have such a device to call their local police department to be safe. Wed much rather come take a look at it and have it be nothing. We dont want anyone to get hurt, he said. Related... Daniel Penny speaks for first time after manslaughter charge over Jordan Neely killing on New York subway The man charged with second-degree manslaughter after fatally choking a homeless man on a New York City subway train has spoken publicly about the incident for the first time. Daniel Penny, who is white, toldThe New York Post that Jordan Neelys death had nothing to do with race and everything to do with a system that so desperately failed us. Neely, a 30-year-old street performer who was experiencing homelessness, was Black. Cellphone footage of the incident on 1 May showed Mr Penny wrapping his arm around Neelys neck and wrestling him in a chokehold on the floor of a Manhattan F train. Witnesses confirmed that Neely did not physically attack anyone on the train that day. Police arrived to find Neely was unresponsive, and he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. A medical examiners report issued two days later determined his death was a homicide, due to the compression against his neck. I judge a person based on their character. Im not a white supremacist, Mr Penny told The Post. I mean, its, its a little bit comical. Everybody whos ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures. You can tell by my past and all my travels and adventures around the world. I was actually planning a road trip through Africa before this happened. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg determined there was probable cause to charge Mr Penny on 12 May after several witness interviews, a review of photo and video evidence, and a discussion with the medical examiners office. Mr Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and released on $100,000 bond. He did not enter a plea. His next court appearance is 17 July. 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. Im deeply saddened by the loss of life, Mr Penny told The Post this weekend. Its tragic what happened to him. Hopefully, we can change the system that so desperately failed us. He suggested that he would have acted similarly if he faced a similar situation. Rev Dr Johnnie Green presides over the public viewing and funeral service of Jordan Neely at Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem on 19 May. (Getty Images) Mr Penny, a college student from Long Islands Suffolk County, served in the US Marines as a rifleman from 2017 to 2021 and reached the rank of sergeant, according to military records. Mr Penny, who lives in Manhattans East Village, was traveling to his gym on West 23rd Street when Neely boarded the train, according to The Post. 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. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass described the events similarly in a statement in Manhattan Criminal Court on 12 May. Jordan Neely entered the northbound F train at approximately 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. Several witnesses observed Mr Neely making threats and scaring passengers, he stated. The defendant approached Mr Neely from behind and placed him in a chokehold, taking him down to the ground, where Mr Penny held him for several minutes after the train reached the Broadway-Lafayette platform, according to the statement. Two other men helped restrain Neely by pinning his arms, and at some point Mr Neely stopped moving, Mr Steinglass stated. Attorneys for Mr Penny said in a statement shared with The Independent last week 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. The case surrounding Neelys killing 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. Mr Pennys case also has drawn support from right-wing media and pundits, helping raise his legal defense fund on a conservative Christian crowd-funding platform to more than $2.7million, as of 21 May. Neelys family held a funeral service at Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem on 19 May. Jordan was screaming for help. We keep criminalizing people with mental illness, the Rev Al Sharpton said during a eulogy. They dont need abuse, they need help. 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. David Zaslav delivered a commencement speech at Boston University amid the Hollywood writers' strike. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP) David Zaslav was met with boos and jeers while delivering a commencement address Sunday at Boston University amid the Hollywood writers' strike. In videos circulating on social media, graduating students and protesters can be heard chanting, "pay your writers," and heckling the president of Warner Bros. Discovery as he speaks about lessons he learned throughout his career. A photo of an airplane flying over the ceremony with a banner that read, "David Zaslav Pay your writers," was also circulating online. Outside Nickerson Field, where the graduation was held, demonstrators carried picket signs that read, "F*!# Zaslav! Solidarity with the writers." Inside the stadium, graduates held up posters that read, "Who wrote your speech? Chat-GPT?" and "Ew, David" a reference to the Emmy-winning sitcom "Schitt's Creek." At least one student had "BU students support Writers Guild of America," on their graduation cap. In addition to serving as the university's commencement speaker, Zaslav received an honorary degree. The film executive studied law at Boston University in the 1980s before rising through the ranks at NBCUniversal and Discovery. I am grateful to my alma mater, Boston University, for inviting me to be part of todays commencement and for giving me an honorary degree," Zaslav said on Sunday in a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times. "As I have often said, I am immensely supportive of writers and hope the strike is resolved soon and in a way that they feel recognizes their value. This isn't the first time Zaslav has faced public scrutiny. Last fall, the mogul came under fire for how he handled the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which resulted in mass layoffs and the abrupt termination of several projects. Among the casualties was the Warner Bros. and DC Studios film "Batgirl," which had already cost an estimated $90 million to make. Amid mounting criticism, Zaslav doubled down on the studio's controversial decisions to scrap upcoming titles such as "Batgirl" and remove existing content from its streaming platform. Let me be clear, Zaslav said in November. We did not get rid of any show that was helping us. Six months later, the writers' strike commenced after contract negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers stalled. The WGA is demanding better pay, residuals for streaming content and higher contributions to the unions health and pension plan for its members. At least one Warner Bros. Discovery property, HBO's "House of the Dragon," has continued filming through the work stoppage after stockpiling scripts ahead of the strike. Hit series like Netflix's "Stranger Things" have halted production until the conflict is resolved. Times staff writer Meg James and the Associated Press contributed to this report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. WASHINGTON Get ready for another week or two of negotiations on the debt ceiling, even as the clock ticks toward a possible government default next month. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy planned to meet again Monday as lawmakers recalibrated their arguments after talks broke down this weekend over GOP demands for spending cuts as part of a deal to increase the debt ceiling. The president and the speaker had a "productive" telephone conversation as Biden flew back Sunday from an economic summit in Japan, McCarthy announced. "Washington cannot continue to spend money we do not have at the expense of children and grandchildren," he tweeted. Speaking earlier with reporters at the Group of Seven summit, Biden cast GOP demands as "extreme," and added that "I can't guarantee that they wouldn't force a default by doing something outrageous." In a statement announcing the Monday meeting, the White House said that Biden and McCarthy staff members would meet Sunday evening "to discuss remaining issues." A political and economic battle with many moving parts, the state of debt ceiling play includes: Biden blames the GOP US President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference following the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota / POOL / AFP) (Photo by KIYOSHI OTA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) ORIG FILE ID: AFP_33FQ8PX.jpg Biden has raised the prospect of unilateral action to pay the nation's bills, but told reporters at the G7 summit in Japan that there probably isn't enough time before a proposed deadline of June 1. "I think we have the authority," Biden said. "The question is, could it be done and invoked in time?" While citing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which says the "validity of the public debt ... shall not be questioned" Biden also questioned whether enough time is left to try such a maneuver. Biden also said: "We have not come up with a unilateral action that could succeed in a matter of two weeks or three weeks. Thats the issue ... So its up to lawmakers." Biden also protested the fact that Republicans are unwilling to entertain the idea of closing the federal budget deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy. Biden says Republicans must move from 'extreme positions' in debt ceiling talks Is the deadline June 1 - or a little later? Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies in front of the Senate Committee on Finance on President Biden's 2024 budget, on March 16, 2023. There is some uncertainty as to the "real" deadline here. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, appearing on NBC's "Meet The Press," said the true deadline is up in the air and the government could conceivably pay its bills beyond June 1 (a week from Thursday) but not for long. "There's always uncertainty about tax receipts and spending," Yellen said. "And so it's hard to be absolutely certain about this, but my assessment is that the odds of reaching June 15, while being able to pay all of our bills, is quite low." Yellen also echoed warnings about a default that would gut markets worldwide and probably hasten a recession. Yellen told NBC that a default would cripple existing government programs, from Social Security and Medicare to military pay. "There can be no acceptable outcomes if the debt ceiling isn't raised, regardless of what decisions we make," Yellen said. What happens if the US defaults? What you need to know as the debt ceiling deadline nears. Republicans blame Biden Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is joined by Republicans from the Senate and the House as he leads an event on the debt limit negotiations, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Appearing on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," McCarthy said he would speak with Biden on Sunday about the way forward. While Biden was at the G7, White House and House Republican teams negotiated, but broke off talks over ongoing disputes. McCarthy accused Biden of backing off on spending cuts based on pressure from the more liberal members of his party. Biden would "rather be the first president in history to default on the debt than to risk upsetting the radical socialists who are calling the shots for Democrats right now," McCarthy tweeted over the weekend. McCarthy and other Republicans are also being pushed by ex-President and 2024 candidate Donald Trump, who has said the GOP should be willing to force default rather than give up the goal of reduced spending. Other lawmakers weigh in President Joe Biden walks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as he departs the Capitol following the annual St. Patrick's Day gathering, in Washington, Friday, March 17, 2023. Facing the risk of a government default as soon as June 1, President Joe Biden invited the top four congressional leaders to a White House meeting for talks. Members of Congress also appeared on the Sunday shows to warn about the consequences of default, and to blame the other guys for the impasse. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaking on ABC's "This Week," said Trump-like Republicans are trying to use the debt ceiling to extort unfair spending cuts from the Biden administration and other Republicans. "What we have right now is Speaker McCarthy and MAGA House Republicans saying that theyre going to push the default detonator and blow up our economy if they dont get their way on their budget proposals," Van Hollen said. "That would destroy the American economy." Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," said Biden needs to exercise leadership. Cassidy, citing different estimates by different administration officials, also said it would be helpful to know when exactly the government might default. "When," he asked, "is the drop-dead date?" This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Debt ceiling: Joe Biden, Kevin McCarthy talk; Yellen warns of default President Joe Biden asked his team to set up a call with Speaker Kevin McCarthy for Sunday morning to discuss the debt ceiling negotiations "following his meetings at the G7," a White House official said Saturday night. The official didn't say what time exactly the call would take place or where Biden would call from as he could call from Hiroshima or even from Air Force One. Biden "received an update from his team both last night and this morning on the status of negotiations," the White House official said. There were no meetings scheduled Saturday between White House and GOP negotiators, McCarthy previously confirmed. PHOTO: President Joe Biden answers questions on the U.S. debt limits ahead of a bilateral meeting with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh/AP) McCarthy told reporters on Saturday that negotiations are paused until Biden returns from his trip abroad as he left the Capitol this evening. "Well, the White House didn't come here and unfortunately, the White House moved backwards," McCarthy said Saturday. "I think the Bernie Sanders and the socialist wing of their party has had a real effect on the president, especially with him being out of the country. I don't think we're going to be able to move forward until the president can get back in the country," the speaker added. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to McCarthy and said McCarthy's team "put on the table an offer that was a big step back and contained a set of extreme partisan demands." "Let's be clear: The President's team is ready to meet any time. And, let's be serious about what can pass in a bipartisan manner, get to the President's desk and reduce the deficit," Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The latest proposal from the White House would have limited spending for military and some domestic programs, sources familiar told ABC News. Republicans rejected it -- calling for an increase to defense spending which would in turn, force deeper domestic spending cuts to secure a possible deal, sources said. The White House proposal would have held spending levels on education, housing aid and scientific research. The debt limit negotiations between GOP negotiators and the White House ended Friday night with no progress after meeting for roughly an hour and a half. "At the direction of the Speaker of the House, we re-engaged, had a very, very candid discussion, talking about where we are, talking about where things need to be, what's reasonable and acceptable," said Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, who is the top negotiator for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Graves said "it's indefinite right now" when asked if talks were planned to resume Friday night or Saturday. "We had a candid discussion," Graves added, saying "this was not a negotiation tonight. This was a candid discussion about realistic numbers, a realistic path forward and something that truly changes the trajectory of this country's spending and debt problem." Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina said "no" when asked if he's confident negotiators can reach a framework by the end of this weekend. PHOTO: Rep. Garret Graves at the Capitol in Washington, April 26, 2023. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP, FILE) Speaker McCarthy has said a deal needs to be reached by the end of the weekend in order for the House and the Senate to have enough time to pass it before the June 1 deadline. There had been hope that progress would be made after a day of stalled negotiations when McCarthy said on Friday evening that negotiators would be "back in the room tonight" to continue working on a solution to the impending debt limit crisis. McCarthy told Fox Business said that negotiators "took a pause" on Friday afternoon because of the "frustration" over the White House's negotiating position. MORE: McCarthy praises debt limit negotiators, but GOP hardliners say talks should stop A key sticking point in the negotiations is spending caps, two sources familiar with the talks told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott. Despite the snag, a White House spokesperson insisted Friday a deal was still "possible." "A responsible, bipartisan budget agreements remains possible if both sides negotiate in good faith and recognize that neither side will get everything it wants," the spokesperson said. "There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be difficult. The President's team is working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan solution that can pass the House and the Senate." PHOTO: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is joined by Republicans from the Senate and the House as he leads an event on the debt limit negotiations, at the Capitol in Washington, May 17, 2023. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) The apparent breakdown comes after the White House late Thursday night touted "steady progress" following a phone call between President Biden, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti. "The President's team informed him that steady progress is being made. The President directed his team to continue pressing forward for a bipartisan agreement and made clear the need to protect essential programs for hardworking Americans and the economic progress of the past two years as negotiations head into advanced stages," the White House tweeted. "He remains confident that Congress will take necessary action to avoid default," the White House added. MORE: How US national debt grew to its $31.4 trillion high President Biden requested and received an update this morning from his designated negotiating team on progress being made in their talks on Capitol Hill to arrive at a bipartisan budget framework and ensure that Congress acts in time to avoid default. The President's team pic.twitter.com/AQ22ZhZAgG The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 19, 2023 McCarthy, too, seemed more optimistic Thursday than at any other point in the process as he said they were in a "much better" place than a week ago. But on Friday, he said there had to be "movement over at the White House." He said he hadn't spoken to Biden, who is overseas meeting with G-7 leaders. Timing remains critical as lawmakers stare down a fast-approaching deadline to lift or suspend the debt ceiling or risk a default. McCarthy said Thursday he believed a deal would need to made in principle by this weekend in order for a bill to clear the House and Senate before June 1. ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Elizabeth Schulze contributed to this report. Biden to call McCarthy to discuss debt ceiling after G7 summit originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Biden and McCarthy set to meet again to try to close distance on debt As the threat of a potential U.S. default on its debt is growing ever closer. The same cant be said for the negotiators working to secure a deal to stave off an economic crisis. While debt ceiling talks broke down over the weekend, Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced on Twitter plans to meet with President Joe Biden on Monday after they spoke by phone on Sunday as the president returned from Japan. The upcoming sit-down comes after those deputized by the GOP leader and Biden remained hung up on basic budget matters like the topline spending numbers. There is hope that the Monday meeting can get them back on track, despite both sides accusing the other of moving the goalposts while heading into the week. But even before the expected call, the top two debt leaders publicly ramped up their criticisms of one another with McCarthy accusing Biden of backtracking their progress because he is beholden to progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Biden similarly accusing McCarthy of being unreasonable and inflexible because he is beholden to his right flank. "The pivot has really been after Bernie Sanders had his press conference. The president pivoted back, McCarthy said Sunday on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo. It seems as though he wants to default more than he wants a deal. I cant guarantee that they wouldnt force a default by doing something outrageous, Biden said during a news conference that closed his visit to Japan for the G-7 summit, while calling on Republicans to move from their extreme positions because much of what theyve proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable. The heated rhetorical back and forth comes as Washington is in a dead heat sprint to land an agreement before the June 1 deadline, the earliest date the nation could go into default. However, the markets could begin reacting and the nations credit rating could be downgraded before that date. Over the weekend, GOP negotiators dismissed an offer from the White House to limit spending on both defense and a series of domestic programs, two people familiar with negotiations told POLITICO on Saturday. Republicans pushed for more military spending and further cuts to certain domestic spending programs a position the White House refused. Some Democrats fumed that Republicans suddenly grew more aggressive in their demands during debt talks, including doubling down on work requirements and adding new immigration provisions from the GOPs recently passed border bill. The fine point details of these talks, however, largely remain out of public view. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she is treating June 1, which is the earliest date the country could go into a default, as a hard deadline. "We expect to be unable to pay all of our bills in early June, and possibly as soon as June 1st. And I will continue to update Congress, but I certainly haven't changed my assessment. So I think that's a hard deadline, she said on NBCs Meet the Press, while adding: The odds of reaching June 15th while being able to pay all of our bills is quite low. The window for a deal is quickly closing. And further complicating the timeline: While the Senate is out this week, the House is slated to be in recess on Friday ahead of Memorial Day weekend breaks both chambers may have to cut short if negotiators land a deal. But either way, even once a deal is secured, McCarthy would need to sell his conference on the compromise despite some conservatives vowing they wont support anything less than the plan Republicans passed out of the House. And he has also stated he wants to give his members 72 hours to review the debt deal, once it comes to pass. And Biden, too, will need to make sure Democrats can get behind the plan particularly if he agrees to GOP demands that Democrats have strongly opposed against such as adding stronger work requirements on certain social safety programs. Democrats and Republicans from both chambers of Congress served as messaging emissaries on Sunday talk shows, arguing who is being irrational and touting their side as the practical and rational. No lawmaker missed the opportunity to point the finger in arguing that the other side would be to blame if the economy goes haywire. What we have right now is Speaker McCarthy and MAGA House Republicans saying they are going to push the default detonator and blow up our economy if they don't get their way on their budget proposals, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) said on ABCs This Week. Unfortunately, Joe Biden has handed his entire agenda over to the radical left He is willing to tank the economy because he is unwilling to give even a penny in the trillions of spending, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Fox News Sunday. Yet, he nonetheless smiles and just blames the other side. Both McCarthy and the White House are trying to prepare to avoid blame and claim victory in the negotiations. McCarthy and Republicans have argued they have the upper hand after they were able to narrowly pass a GOP spending bill in late April, which they claim gave him the strong position of making the opening offer in the debt negotiations. So far, Democrats have been surprised by the GOP leaders strength and support from his party amid the debt fight, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell backing McCarthy at every turn. The question now is whether Monday's meeting will get the talks back on track. Negotiations did not go well today," GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson (S.D.) said in an interview late Saturday. We are hopeful that the president can engage because his staff does not seem like they want a deal." Gov. Gavin Newsom announces the CARE Court program in 2022. Seven counties are scheduled to launch the program on Oct. 1. (Karl Mondon / Associated Press) In four months, the gavel will fall, and the states first CARE Courts will be in session. Seven counties opted for an Oct. 1 rollout of the law that orders each county to create special courts, whose judges have the authority to order treatment plans for individuals with untreated schizophrenia and related disorders. Even though the plans are not compulsory, the courts hope for compliance as the law tries to straddle a line between voluntary and mandated treatment. The CARE Act, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September, requires counties to come up with the bureaucratic mechanisms that will support the goal of easing an epidemic of severe mental illness on the streets and in communities. Were deep in the weeds, thinking about what will be the daily lives of the people who engage in this work, said Luke Bergmann, the behavioral health director for San Diego County. Among the many challenges of the CARE Act is developing a manageable workflow for disparate groups. For every individual appearing in the court, there will be the clerks who processed the petitions that initiated the proceedings, the outreach teams that found the individual and served the paperwork, the psychiatrists who prepared a treatment plan, defense attorneys who will represent the individual, behavioral health clinicians who will present the plan and the judges who will negotiate its implementation. In addition, there will be insurance companies that pay for the plan, administrators who manage the paperwork associated with the plan and healthcare providers who execute the plan. The first group San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Glenn reflects the geographic and demographic diversity of California. Their courts will serve as a template for Los Angeles and the 50 other counties. (L.A. County will open its court on Dec. 1; the rest of the state has until Oct. 1, 2024.) Many counties will be playing catch-up with a crisis that has gone unchecked for decades. County supervisors and behavioral health directors describe a neglected system with an unknown number of people who may be eligible for a CARE Court. The state has estimated that 7,000 to 12,000 people will qualify for a treatment plan. The range is so broad, officials say, in part because the law allows roommates or family members to initiate an assessment of a family member suspected of having a severe mental illness. Some counties are concerned that they will be overwhelmed by families who have been unable to seek assistance caring for individuals with mental illness by laws that protect their rights and privacy. They are braced as well for the frustration from families whose requests are denied for not meeting the criteria specified by the law. Those brought into a CARE Court must be 18 or older, diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders and not currently being treated. Were just not sure who this law will bring to the door, said Veronica Kelley, Orange County's behavioral health director. Orange County estimates it will receive petitions for about 1,500 people the first year, with about 1,000 of them meeting the court's criteria. Of those, officials estimate, nearly 300 are expected to agree to a treatment plan without having to be brought into CARE Court, leaving 700 for the court to monitor for at least a year. Family members demonstrating at the state Capitol in support of the CARE Court proposal. (Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times) One of the smaller counties, Stanislaus, has identified 150 people who will qualify based on frequent emergency room visits. Beyond that, said county Supervisor Terry Withrow, its anyones guess. Such estimates are critical for counties needing to hire staff at a time when the state is experiencing a shortage of behavioral health workers. Meeting that need will be harder on rural counties, which have fewer providers capable of working with people suffering from acute mental illness. In a small county, its not like staffing will grow to meet capacity, especially when it comes to administration and management, said Joe Hallett, behavioral health director for Glenn County, 60 miles north of Sacramento. Instead, we just add these new responsibilities to the existing workload. Health directors like Hallett are looking to lawmakers in Sacramento for continued advocacy and support. Glenn County will receive nearly $1.4 million in early allocations. Startup funding for the CARE Act was $57 million. The state budgeted $26 million to be divided among the first group of counties as they work out whatever kinks arise in implementation. Another distribution of $31 million will be shared among all counties in advance of full implementation in 2024. While Orange County received one of the highest allocations $7.1 million Kelley is concerned about lawmakers resolve keeping the CARE Act fully funded. Thats good for one year, she said, but for the ensuing year, we dont know. Funding behavioral health services was one reason Riverside County signed up early, said Jeff Van Wagenen, the countys chief executive officer, who argues that it has not received support from the state commensurate with its population growth. The first allocation of $6.6 million will help, but what comes after the first year is unknown. One of the concerns of CARE Court is that it could be the latest unfunded mandate from the state, he said. Reflected in Sacramentos budget for CARE Court is the presumption that the initial counties will work out kinks in the legislation so that other counties can start up their courts at less expense. This means answering a number of mundane yet critical questions left unaddressed by the law itself. For instance, who should serve the petition and transport individuals to the court? While behavioral health departments may seem the logical choice, Bergmann is concerned that it creates a conflict of interest when the agency bringing the person to court represents the interests of the party who petitioned the court. Enlisting law enforcement for this task is equally problematic for encounters on the street that will likely require more trust than authority, he said. Building that trust is one reason why Orange County is making provisions for its staff to help family members fill out the petitions that the court needs to initiate the intervention. We imagine a loved one at wits end agitated, frustrated and tired for all they have been through getting to this moment, Kelley said. So, the court staff has to be ready for that. Were also trying to get the $433 filing fee waived. Thats a lot of money. To help families understand the process, Riverside County is developing an app that will chart individual progress through the CARE system. The county also might conduct remote civil hearings, so that someone living in Blythe, for instance, would not have to go to court in Riverside, 170 miles away. All we need is a table, chair and laptop, Van Wagenen said. So we could buy a van and convert it into a mobile courtroom. This would avoid the problem of having to store property or board pets for those who are experiencing homelessness. Homeless people create a unique dilemma for counties required to hold a case management hearing within two weeks of determining the validity of the applicants petition. We will need more than 14 days to find the person and to try to get them to agree to treatment, Kelley said. What if a person has moved to a different county? We cant extend all our resources, trying to find them. Were not investigators. "We're deep in the weeds, thinking about what will be the daily lives of the people who engage in this work," said Luke Bergmann, the behavioral health director for San Diego County. (Kristian Carreon / For the San Diego Union-Tribune) Hallett, with Glenn County, has similar concerns. The two-week window is really, really fast to find someone, do outreach and process a report, he said. A month would be more reasonable. Yet lawmakers wrote the law with the intention of pressuring counties to act quickly, leaving counties to meet that timeline or pay a price. The CARE plan is like a settlement agreement between the county and the respondent, said Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, chief policy officer for the California State Assn. of Counties. Once a plan is in place, the petitioner falls away, and an agreement to comply has to be struck between the county behavioral health department and participants in the court. The stakes for not meeting the 14-day deadline are high. If the court finds the county to be noncompliant, a $1,000-a-day sanction per case can be levied. Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, calls the counties efforts so far very promising. Not only does the legislation hope to change the arc of lives of some of the most vulnerable among us, but it also represents a culture shift in how we collectively as a system do business, which will take time and repetition. Frankly, he said, it is our responsibility to do better. As much as behavioral health directors welcome the CARE Act, they emphasize that additional work is required to address broader and deeper problems in the states behavioral health system. Were moving too quickly, Kelley said. Give us five years, which is how long the county needs in order to build anything. Without the infrastructure, these programs wont be as successful as the Legislature wants, and we might lose people whom we could be serving in the process. Newsom hopes to address this deficiency by creating new revenue streams for housing and services, but his proposals are contingent on voters and will take years to put in place. Were standing at the front door, Bergmann said. Were painting it, were putting in windows, were outlining it with mother of pearl, and yet when we walk in, we find a building without a roof. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Dem. congressman calls 'No Labels' presidential run by Sen. Joe Manchin in a race against Biden and Trump a 'historic disaster' Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has been floated as a potential No Labels candidate. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Democrats are nervous about a potential 'No Labels' presidential ticket, per The New York Times. Even moderates in the party are concerned that such an effort could siphon support from Biden. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have been brought up as potential candidates, per the report. Democrats, leery of anything that could put former President Donald Trump back in the Oval Office next year, have largely thrown their support behind President Joe Biden's reelection bid. But a push by the bipartisan political group No Labels to put forward a "unity ticket" in 2024 is already proving to be divisive among Democrats and ideological colleagues who might normally support more centrist candidates, according to The New York Times. National Democrats are still scarred by third-party votes that cost them critical support in the 2000 and 2016 presidential races when their nominees were then-Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, respectively. And the possibility of more moderate political figures like Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, or former Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland being part of a No Labels ticket has made some Democrats shudder, in large part because a third presidential option would create an additional opening for Trump to retake the White House. "If No Labels runs a Joe Manchin against Donald Trump and Joe Biden, I think it will be a historic disaster," Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota told The Times. "And I speak for just about every moderate Democrat and frankly most of my moderate Republican friends." Individuals with ties to Manchin are doubtful that he might surface as a No Labels candidate, per The Times. However, the West Virginian, who has recently ramped up his battles with the Biden administration over climate and energy policy, may still run for reelection to the Senate next year, a decision that he has said he'd make by the end of the year. Read the original article on Business Insider A new documentary about the fraught legal battles between Hollywood actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will air on Channel 4 this weekend. Depp vs Heard is a three-part series from Bafta-nominated director Emma Cooper, and investigates the defamation trial brought by Depp against his ex-wife last year, which gripped viewers for three months. The documentary is being billed as the first in-depth look at the case, which Depp won on 2 June 2022. Dubbed the worlds first Tik Tok trial, the legal battle which was broadcast live raised a number of questions about justice in the post-truth era, as well as the way society treats accusations of domestic violence. Depp vs Heard will blend courtroom footage with news sources, interview footage, and user-generated content to explore some of the trials biggest moments. Depp and Heard were once considered one of Hollywoods most glamorous couples. They are believed to have begun dating in 2012, after Depp split from his longtime partner, the French actor and singer Vanessa Paradis. She and Depp share two children, son Jack and daughter Lily-Rose. Depp, a film star known for his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as his many collaborations with director Tim Burton, met Heard on the set of 2011 film The Rum Diary, in which they both starred. He confirmed their engagement in 2014, joking during promotion for his film Trancendence that the chicks ring he was wearing was probably a dead giveaway. He and Heard married the following year, reportedly with one ceremony at Depps LA home and another on his private island in the Bahamas. A year later, in 2016, Heard filed for divorce and was granted a restraining order by a judge due to allegations of domestic violence on his part. Depp denied the allegations, and his lawyers accused Heard of attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse. A settlement was reached by the former couple in January 2017, with representatives for each stating that they were pleased to be able to move on with their lives. Heard withdrew the restraining order, and she and Depp released a joint statement stating that their relationship was intensely passionate and periodically volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm. Just over a year later, however, Depp sued The Suns publisher News Group Newspapers for alleged libel, over an article published in April 2018 that featured the headline: Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be genuinely happy casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film? Depp lost the case in 2020, with Justice Andrew Nicol saying the defendants proved their allegations were substantially true. The actor was denied permission to appeal the case. Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire) Around the same time as Depps lawsuit against The Suns publishers, in 2018, an op-ed by Heard was published by The Washington Post, titled: I spoke up against sexual violence and faced our cultures wrath. That has to change. Heard did not name Depp in the article, but spoke of how, in 2016, she became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our cultures wrath for women who speak out. Depps $50m lawsuit against Heard accused her of defaming him, with the complaint calling any claim of domestic abuse categorically and demonstrably false. Heard then filed a $100m countersuit, accusing Depp of orchestrating a smear campaign against her. Depp v Heard went to trial in Fairfax, Virginia, on 11 April 2022. Over six weeks, viewers were glued to the livestream, with Law&Crime Network reporting audience figures of 9 million each day, and CourtTV saying its viewership had practically quadrupled. Depp and Heard during the defamation trial (AP) Meanwhile, social media was flooded with clips of Depp and Heard, along with their respective attorneys and witnesses, taking the stand. Viral moments included Depp being amused by the description of him drinking a supposed mega pint of wine, and his lawyer Camilla Vasquez achieved internet fame of her own. Heard, meanwhile, gave emotional testimony where she made allegations of physical and sexual abuse against Depp, which he denied. Depp won the case against Heard on 1 June 2022, after two days of deliberating by the jury, and was awarded compensatory damages of $10m dollars (8m) and a further $5m dollars (4m) in punitive damages. Following the verdict, Depp said in a statement that he was humbled that the jury had given me my life back. From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome, he said. Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that. He continued: I am, and have been, overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and the colossal support and kindness from around the world. I hope that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up. I also hope that the position will now return to innocent until proven guilty, both within the courts and in the media. Amber Heard outside court following the jurys verdict in favour of her ex-husband, Johnny Depp (Getty Images) Depp was not present for the verdict, having joined musician Jeff Beck onstage for three nights in the UK. Heard, who was present, was awarded $2m (1.6m) in damages after her counterclaim against Depp over comments made by his lawyer Adam Waldman, who allegedly referred to her abuse claims as a hoax, was also found to be defamatory. Following the verdict, the actor said she was heartbroken, but even even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. The disappointment I feel today is beyond words, she said in a statement delivered outside the courthouse. Im heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband. Im even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. Since the trial, Depp has been embarking on a career comeback, and appeared at Cannes Film Festival this week to promote Jeanne du Barry, his first feature film in three years. Amber Heard was recently pictured in Madrid with her two-year-old daughter, Oonagh, amid unverified reports that she is planning on stepping away from the film industry. She is next set to appear in DCs Aquaman sequel opposite Jason Momoa in the title role. The film is scheduled for release later this year. The first episode of Depp vs Heard will air on Channel 4 on Sunday 21 May at 9pm. The following episodes will air on Monday 22 May at 10pm, and Tuesday 23 May at 10pm. A man was taken into custody Saturday in Miami County on an outstanding felony warrant at Upper Valley Medical Center. >>5 taken to hospital after crash in Darke County A Miami County Sheriffs deputy was dispatched around 9:34 a.m. Saturday morning to the 3100 block of N County Road 25A to pick up a male suspect on an outstanding felony warrant, according to the sheriffs public information log. David White, 42, was wanted on an outstanding felony charge of making a terroristic threat, according to online jail records. A deputy was led into Whites room, advised him of his warrant, and asked him to place his hands behind his back, the sheriffs office said. The suspect was placed in handcuffs and transported to Miami County Jail where he remains in custody. White is currently awaiting arraignment and no bail has been set at this time. Gen. George Washington encountered an icy Delaware River getting to the Battle of Trenton, and frigid conditions in Valley Forge. So soaking rain couldn't dampen the spirits of those who came out Saturday to Washington Crossing National Cemetery to see a large bronze statue of Washington be unveiled overlooking the cemetery near the site of his famous river crossing. The statue, "Washington Kneeling in Prayer," was made by sculptor Jennifer Frudakis-Petry of Plumstead at the request of the Guardians of Washington Crossing Cemetery who raised all the funding needed for the project. Before the unveiling, she beamed as she thanked the Guardians for "being wonderful partners" in her undertaking of making the statue. General George Washington re-enactor John Godzieba and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick watch as the statue of General George Washington is unveiled at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Upper Makefield Saturday. More: At 83, his 'Taps' salute is 'final goodbye' at Washington Crossing National Cemetery Gen. George Washington re-enactor John Goczieba and sculptor Jennifer Frudakis-Petry listen to the ceremony honoring the unveiling of the statue of Washington that Frudakis-Petry made at Washington Crossing National Cemetery. Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, former White House chief of staff, gave a moving speech about all those who are laid to rest in the nation's national cemeteries, and the 42 million Americans who have served in the military over the country's history and the 1 million who have died while serving. He said it was "a very good thing that we are honoring the father of our country in this way, but Washington would also want to honor his troops and all the brave men and women who fought and served the country." Kelly, whose two sons and son-in-law followed him into the military, lost his son, Robert, who was killed in Afghanistan. He said he once believed that America just needed a minimum force to serve, but warned that since he's left the military he's become concerned that is not enough. "May all of our revered war dead rest, may those of us who loved them find peace and understanding in their sacrifice and may the America they so loved and protected and gave their lives for be forever worthy of their sacrifice, of this I pray. Semper fidelis," he said. Many in the crowd stood or sat in what at times was a torrential downpour to hear the guest speakers and watch the unveiling ceremony unfold. Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly delivers the keynote speech at the dedication of a statue of George Washington in prayer at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery Saturday. John Heenan, chairman of the Washington Crossing Guardians Monument Committee, introduces Gen. John Kelly (seated at right) to the unveiling of the statue of George Washington at Washington Crossing National Cemetery. George Washington re-enactor John Godzieba is seated behind him. Members of the public and military veterans watch the ceremonies for the unveiling of the statue of George Washington at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Upper Makefield during a rainstorm Saturday. More: What to know about the new George Washington statue at Crossing cemetery Glenn Powers, deputy under secretary for Field Programs and Cemetery Operations at the Veterans Administration, supervises 155 national cemeteries and praised the Guardians of Washington Crossing for the work they do, as the raising the funds for the statue shows. "The Guardians do an outstanding job every day making sure veterans laid to rest are recognized for their service," he said. There are other good groups at other national cemeteries but "there is no one better," he said. John Heenan, chair of the monument committee, said that the Guardians raised funds from private citizens and organizations. Members of the Pennsylvania National Guard who serve in the First Troop Philadelphia City Calvary prepare for the Presentation of the Colors at the ceremony marking the unveiling of a statue of Gen. George Washington at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Upper Makefield Saturday. Powers said that most modern national cemeteries do not have the connection to history that the Civil War cemeteries do, but the community at Washington Crossing and the Guardians "have steadily built that connection to history. "Because of what happened here...in 1776, those who lie in the cemetery have a strong connection to the founding of this country and that is what this statue will remind everyone when they come to visit this cemetery. And that sacrifice has continued on and on for almost 250 years." This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Statue of Gen. Washington in prayer now overlooks national cemetery It was only a matter of time before feminist-minded Maria Grazia Chiuri designed a Dior collection inspired by Frida Kahlo, the Mexican artist who resisted being a victim of a debilitating accident; painted the raw experiences of women, including abortion, miscarriage and birth, and embraced her masculine and feminine sides. Cut to the Baroque courtyard of the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City where Kahlo met Diego Rivera when she was a high school student and Diors gorgeous 2024 cruise collection on Saturday night. More from WWD Just like the last time Dior presented a Mexican-inspired cruise show, in 2018 in Chantilly, France, with a performance by a group of escaramuzas (Mexican female rodeo riders), there was a downpour that just wouldnt quit not even for Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz to make their last-minute entrance. But once the show began, everyone was so caught up in the romance of sweeping maxiskirts over cowboy boots, charro-style embroidered vests and pants, delicate white lace tunic and skirt sets; floral-stitched taffeta Puebla dresses, and black-and-white tiered fiesta dresses, the rain was forgotten. Like she did in Mumbai, Chiuri collaborated with local artisans, having them embellish traditional Dior pieces, and styling their traditional work in a new context, tucking a red-and-white chain stitch huipil into a pair of high waist red jeans, for example, to show the younger generation how it can be modern. The ease with which the Mexican embroidery and weaving melded into the collection was a testament to Chiuri and her team, who avoided tokenizing the work, or veering into costume territory. Suiting with Spanish flair, in boxy silhouettes with high-waist pleated trousers, vests, shirts and ties, nodded to Kahlos gender role play, while offering a new take on fashions tailoring craze. And a butterfly-shaped black leather corset (worn over a billowy white shirt and pleated skirt) was a beautiful tribute to the corsets Kahlo had to wear for most of her life, after she was in a bus accident that broke her spine in three places. With loads of covetable cowboy boots on the runway, clearly that trend is not going anywhere, and if anything is just going to get more luxe. Also on the accessories front, handmade silver work, in collaboration with Rafael Villa Rojas of Mexico City, lent itself to chic butterfly-shaped rings, necklaces, carved wide belts and barrettes, clipped to the back of the models beautiful looped hair braids. The Book Tote, bucket bags and minaudieres were also decorated with colorful embroidery and thread work. Christian Dior has had a connection to Mexico since his first collection, in 1947, when one of the dresses was called Mexico. Other styles followed, named Acapulco, Soiree a Mexico and Mexique, a tulle dress embroidered with golden scales. In 1950, Dior signed a contract to allow El Palacio de Hierro, the Mexico City department store, to reproduce his collection with local customers in mind. It was such a success he signed Mexican actress Maria Felix to be a brand ambassador. Chiuri has had a love affair with Mexico and with Frida Kahlo for as long as she can remember. It was the first exhibition I saw in Italy of a woman artist, said the designer. It was really something that affected mebecause she used clothes to define herself.She mixed Mexican and European, but at the same time she maintained her personality. She was a genius. Many years later, Chiuri was first in line to see Frida Kahlo Beyond Appearances, the museum show about the trailblazing artists style featuring 200 of her garments, which began at her home and birthplace Casa Azul in Mexico City in 2012, then traveled to London and Paris (Chiuri saw it multiple times). When she started thinking about designing a collection inspired by Kahlo, she contacted the exhibitions curator, Circe Henestrosa, for guidance on artisan collaborators, a tall order considering Mexico has 68 Indigenous groups. I took Fridas Mexican pieces and identified the regions she had things from, some came from Oaxaca, some from Puebla and some from Chiapas.And then within those, there is a lot of diversity. But I looked for artisans who had the quality, who were innovative, who were serious about the research of the material culture of textiles, Henestrosa said. One of them, Hilan Cruz Cruz, is a 26-year-old Nahua weaver from Puebla and a social anthropology student. Hes the cofounder of Yolcentle Textile Workshop, which produced an embroidered poncho and Puebla dresses based on the local flora and fauna for the collection. The way we embroider is the heritage of grandfathers and grandmothers, generation through generation, said Cruz, who didnt even know it was Dior when he was first contacted. When they arrived in our town, it surprised us. What made us realize it was Dior is we saw several bags with the name, he told WWD. As the communication before their arrival was really transparent, that made us trust them, so much so that we prepared mole for them. About 10 artisans from his workshop worked directly on the Dior pieces. As weve seen in different moments, there are huge brands who have copied Mexican textiles without knowing the origins, how its done, the context. This has been a great collaboration, hand by hand, really transparent, he said. Mexico passed a law to protect Indigenous communities and their textile material culture in January 2022 after a long history of plagiarism from international brands, said Henestrosa. The law was established to make sure communities get remunerated for their work. You have to produce within the communityand if you use the iconography and credit the community, you can work with them, she explained. In this huge collaboration, Ive been very involved with communicating what we were doing, and they jumped on board with us and Maria Grazia and they trusted us. And the real work will come when Dior issues the orders, because then they will generate more income and this will be an example for us to follow in the future for other brands. (Also on the topic of representation, 45 out of 112 models in Saturdays show were of Mexican origin.) Another artisan collaborator, Pedro Meza, is a 30-year veteran of craft preservation, perpetuating the living heritage of Mayan culture with his Sna Jolobil workshop in Chiapas. His group produced a gaban square tunic and Book Tote. Overseeing the production of four huipils, Remigio Mestas is a second generation textile researcher who has worked with numerous communities in Oaxaca. His approach has been to look for the best materials around the world (silks from Thailand, cottons from Egypt) for artisans to work with, and sell in his luxe Remigio stores, including the one in Mexico City. And Narcy Areli Morales established Rocinante in Oaxaca in 2012 to oversee production of distinctive geometric patterned embroidery, which appeared on a Dior Bar jacket and skirt. This is couture, it really is couture, Chiuri said of the work and its parallels with French fashions handcraft tradition. Much of Mexicos artisan work is done by women, who are under siege as victims of the pandemic of femicide. It was appropriate to acknowledge them in the context of a womens fashion show in Mexico City, which just weeks ago held a Womens March where thousands took to the streets demanding an end to gender-based killings. So Chiuri asked Mexican feminist artist Elina Chauvet to create the finale. Chauvets work brings awareness to women lost to violence, most notably her Red Shoes installations featuring dozens of pairs of red shoes set up in public squares around the world in memory of those who have disappeared. For Dior, she created A Corozan Abierto (which translates to open heart), working on 1950s archival white cotton muslin dresses, with red thread forming words and symbols conveying the idea of loss. It was a sobering reminder of why Kahlo still matters, and how much work is still to be done. Chauvet said, Through those canvases, Im sending a message give women a voice. Launch Gallery: Dior Cruise 2024 Best of WWD Click here to read the full article. Atlantic tropical disturbance northeast of the Bahamas not expected to develop While the FOX Forecast Center continues to watch the Southeast coast for possible tropical development later this week, another disturbance is also being monitored in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. The tropical disturbance is currently producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms a couple of hundred miles northeast of the central Bahamas. HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER A disturbance in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean northeast of the central Bahamas is not expected to develop. On Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it does not expect the disturbance to develop into a tropical depression. "Environmental conditions have become more hostile, and development of this system is not expected while it moves north-northeastward at 5 to 10 mph over the southwestern Atlantic during the next day or so," the NHC said in a Tropical Weather Outlook on Monday afternoon. As the disturbance tracks toward the north-northeast, it could bring heavy rain to parts of Bermuda later this week. EXPERTS PREDICT SLIGHTLY BELOW-AVERAGE HURRICANE SEASON IN ATLANTIC DUE TO EXPECTED EL NINO INFLUENCES According to the NHC, only 3% of tropical cyclones form outside the official hurricane season, with May being the most popular month for out-of-season development. A FOX Weather analysis found at least 90 tropical cyclones have formed out of season since the mid-1800s, with nearly half of those occurring in May. The last tropical cyclone to form during May in the Atlantic Basin was Tropical Storm Ana in 2021. The brief storm developed east of Bermuda but quickly moved northeastward away from the archipelago and out to sea. Four other storms have formed during May since 2018, but none strengthened beyond tropical storm status. HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER Five named storms have formed during May since 2018. If a tropical cyclone does form off the Southeast coast, it would be the second system of 2023. A recent reanalysis of a low-pressure system determined that a subtropical storm formed off the East Coast in January. WHERE TROPICAL STORMS, HURRICANES TYPICALLY OCCUR DURING EACH MONTH OF ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON Average tropical formation dates. Development during the offseason is rare, and nearly all tropical disturbances before June 1 fail to develop due to a lack of sufficient ingredients. Meteorologists tracked an area of disturbed weather in the Gulf of Mexico in April that failed to develop into a named entity. The next tropical cyclone that gains enough organization to be classified as a tropical storm in the Atlantic Basin will earn the name Arlene. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urias throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, May 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) ST. LOUIS (AP) The Los Angeles Dodgers placed left-hander Julio Urias on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Thursday with a strained left hamstring and recalled RHP Wander Suero from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Los Angeles made the move Saturday just a few hours after manager Dave Roberts said he expected Urias to make his next scheduled start Tuesday at Atlanta. Urias was pulled from his start against St. Louis on Thursday night after allowing six runs on four home runs in the third inning. He's 5-4 with a 4.39 ERA in 10 starts this season after going 17-7 last season with a National League-leading 2.31 ERA. He also led the NL with 20 wins in 2021. Suero is 0-0 with a 5.79 ERA in three relief appearances for the Dodgers this season and has gone 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA in 11 appearances for Oklahoma City. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports In 2016, Alton D Mills was relieved from his life sentence by the Obama administration after serving 22 years in prison over drug charges (Twitter/ Illinois State Police) A former crack cocaine dealer who was granted clemency by former president Barack Obama has been jailed for allegedly shooting a car passenger on an Illinois highway, police officials said. The accused Alton D Mills has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, the Illinois state police department said on Thursday as it announced the 54-year-olds arrest and charges. He has been accused of firing multiple shots at another vehicle behind him on an Interstate ramp in Posen. Multiple shots were fired from the suspect vehicle, striking the victims vehicle. The back-seat passenger in the victims vehicle was struck by gunfire and was transported to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, the police said in a statement. The incident took place at a village roughly 30 miles south of Chicago. He is now held at the Cook County Jail with no bond, the police statement added. Mr Mills was arrested after an extensive probe led to the Cook County States Attorneys Office to approve three counts of attempted murder, the police department said. The public is reminded that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. ### pic.twitter.com/BFgFYkoL6L IllinoisStatePolice (@ILStatePolice) May 17, 2023 In 2016, Mr Mills was relieved from his life sentence by the Obama administration after serving 22 years in prison over drug charges. He was among the 95 individuals whose sentences were commuted by Mr Obama. The pardon document by the Department of Justice cites his offence as conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base and cocaine and conspiracy to use communication facilities in the commission of drug trafficking offences; use of communication facility to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base (two counts). This is in addition to the charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. He was found guilty of being part of a crack cocaine conspiracy on federal charges by the authorities in 1994, a news release from the Pritzker School of Law at Northwestern University shows. Mills is being held with no bond at the Cook County Jail. Police lights flash in the darkness. Three girls and two women are in the hospital after a crash with a driver accused of being under the influence on Friday night. The suspect was facing DUI and aggravated assault charges, police said. At about 10:30 p.m., officers responded to a crash near Interstate 17 and Indian School Road. According to the Phoenix Fire Department, two girls ages 6 and 16 and two women ages 21 and 24 who were in the same car had serious injuries and were taken to the hospital. Phoenix police confirmed a third juvenile was in the same car and was hospitalized. However, police declined to provide further information. As of Saturday, all five victims were in stable condition. The driver of the other vehicle, identified by police as 30-year-old Benjamin Felipe Liano, ran away from the scene after the crash, police said. Officers later found him and arrested him. Police said early information suggested Liano was going east on Indian School Road and crashed into the car with the five victims, which was going north on an Interstate 17 frontage road. Details about how the crash happened were being investigated, police said. Police believe Liano was under the influence of alcohol. He was booked into jail under multiple charges, including DUI and aggravated assault. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 people injured in crash with drunken driver, Phoenix police say Migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Eagle Pass, Texas, wait as they're processed by U.S. Border Patrol. (Allison Dinner / AFP/Getty Images) According to Republican lawmakers crafting border security legislation, the U.S.-Mexico border is teeming with criminals wearing backpacks full of fentanyl, drug cartels patrolling the area and impoverished migrants invading the United States. Its no wonder that such an exaggerated vision of the border has failed to produce viable legislation to fix the nation's broken immigration system. The latest bill passed by House Republicans to reform immigration and enhance border security seeks to close off the border to migrants and asylum seekers. Its an unrealistic strategy for dealing with the historic number of people around the world in search of jobs, shelter and safety. The conditions that many of these migrants are fleeing are so harsh that they will risk their lives to come to the U.S. to find the jobs. A failure to acknowledge this economic reality has doomed past efforts to control migration, endangering migrants lives and overwhelming border authorities. The Secure the Border Act of 2023 is an amalgamation of three separate bills. Congressional Republicans took trips to the U.S.-Mexico border for a look at the dynamics of the region. Members of the House Homeland Security Committee grilled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas and other border law enforcement leaders during hearings the last few months. These efforts should have produced more thoughtful, achievable policies. Instead, the resulting bill proposes a variety of measures that would severely curtail the right of migrants to request asylum, roll back protections for migrant children detained by border authorities, cut off funding to nonprofit organizations that help newly arrived migrants, increase Border Patrol staffing, add 200 miles of border wall, criminalize overstaying a visitors visa, and limit the ability of the president to offer temporary stays for humanitarian reasons, among other enforcement measures. Several measures contained in the bill would violate the human rights of migrants in direct contradiction of national and international laws and agreements designed to protect them. For example, the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, the result of a lawsuit, outlines protections for migrant minors by dictating the conditions for their treatment, detention and release. This bill would allow minors to be detained with their family members indefinitely, instead of the maximum 20 days under the agreement. And the bill would not require licensing of state facilities serving as detention centers for families and kids, potentially opening the door to more well-documented abuses in such facilities. On Wednesday, an 8 -year-old migrant girl died while in Border Patrol custody in Texas. Little is known about how she died except that she experienced a medical emergency and was taken to the hospital, where she died. Such incidents show the need to continue protecting migrant children. With so many draconian provisions, the bill has no chance of survival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Its a shame that Congress has failed for nearly 40 years to modernize the nation's immigration laws to address the historic levels of global migration or to even recognize the approximately 11 million immigrants in the U.S. who lack documentation. It's particularly frustrating because there are immigration reforms on which many Democrats and Republican could probably agree. For example, staffing at the border is an issue for discussion, with the number of migrants arriving there in recent months. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified earlier this year that he has had to shift agents from the Canadian border and less busy regions along the Mexican border to deal with busier areas along the southern border. Border crossings have dropped significantly since the pandemic-era restrictions known as Title 42 expired last week, though it's too soon to tell if that will continue. Republicans must move beyond party politics and acknowledge the most powerful incentive luring migrants to the U.S. jobs. Some GOP legislators who represent farm communities threatened last week to withdraw their support of the border bill because it contained a provision calling for all employers to use the federal E-Verify document verification system. The requirement would hamper the availability of labor in their communities, they argued, a tacit admission of U.S. dependence on migrant labor. Republicans want tougher border enforcement, but they need to be honest about the U.S. need for migrant workers. Unless those jobs disappear, migrants will continue to brave whatever barriers the U.S. puts up. Such acknowledgment will go a long way toward crafting more achievable and humane immigration and border security legislation. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. David E. Dix During her 22 years at Kent State University, Dr. Linda Robertson strengthened the Gerald H. Read Centers contribution to the universitys broad-based efforts to become a leader in international education. She expanded the mission of the Read Center, an endowed program in KSUs College of Education that welcomes and guides international scholars and students who come to the university to study. Her emphasis on hospitality included recruiting area families to provide opportunities for students to engage people in the area so they could see American families and how they function. Often in situations in which international students study as a group at Kent State, the living arrangements necessitate doubling up in rooms. Robertson encouraged scholars in such groups to room with someone from a different country. That way, the visiting international would learn not only about the United States, but about the life and culture of the person with whom he or she was rooming. Linda Robertson Robertson setup cultural dialogues whereby students working in teams would explain a holiday or an aspect of life in their own county or life in another assigned country to gain additional exposure. She opened her home to Kent State international students by inviting them to celebrate major American holidays. Due to academic calendars, this often required celebrating a festival like Thanksgiving in March or maybe Halloween in February. She helped counsel international students and scholars in working with KSU faculty, encouraging all to participate in the centers many activities. She worked closely with the International Institute of Akron that welcomes immigrants and refugees to the area. She developed ties with the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. She created an advisory board of internationals representing governments, businesses, universities and other organizations that continues to work with the Read Center. A year ago, her tireless efforts as well as those of many others resulted in Kent State receiving the prestigious Paul Simon Award, bestowed by the Association for International Educators, for outstanding innovation and accomplishment in campus internationalization. Robertson, who retired three years ago, credits her many successes in her international work to growing up on a remote Wyoming ranch in a family in which her parents were without prejudice and treated the people who worked for them with fairness and consideration. She has written a memoir about those years irreverently titled Bull Sh*t with Cream on It: A Leadership Memoir. The book is a collection of tales of growing up in situations that would one day help her to work effectively with international students. Until her father gave up ranching to take a water commissioners job, the family lived in homes without indoor plumbing where water for cooking and bathing had to be carried to the house. Robertson did not fold up in self-pity as a youngster. She had fun. She felt secure in a loving family and had a good imagination. She and her older sister Nancy played. She enjoyed listening to the men her father employed. Pat Mahoney who drove a sheep wagon enthralled her with stories of the green hills of Ireland so different from Wyomings dry prairie. She learned by watching her mother run the house and by watching her father manage the familys sheep ranch with his employees. Robertsons ability to see the bright side, to laugh and have fun, also enlivened Kent States Read Center. International students and scholars found it a cheerful home on campus. She always had something percolating. Stories of her work abroad reflected the same sense of fun. For instance, at a water sharing conference in Turkey that involved Turks, Iranians and Syrians, an Iranian asked if she thought Iran should have the atomic bomb. All ears awaited her answer. Explaining the electricity that lights her lights at home is generated in part by a nuclear power plant, she diplomatically answered, I think you should be able to light your lights. Everyone including Robertson laughed and she was able to guide the discussion back to the topic of sharing water. Tidy sayings, many those of Will Rogers, Americas folk philosopher, provide teaching moments in each chapter. They say success comes from loving what one does, having a good time doing it, and doing it well. That has been the Linda Robertson story. She packages it all up with her handy, easy to read memoir. David E. Dix is a retired publisher of the Record-Courier. This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Linda Robertson's journey from rural Wyoming to global stage with KSU Emergency crews spend hours battling flames at abandoned schoolhouse in Washington County Emergency crews spent hours battling a fire at an abandoned schoolhouse in Washington County. Washington County Dispatchers say crews were called to 15 School Street in California Borough at around 4:50 p.m. on Saturday. Emergency crews did not clear the scene until around 10:20 p.m. When police arrived they reported heavy fire coming from the abandoned Patten School. Eight fire companies were called to help. Investigators say they believe the building was being used for personal storage. There were no reported injuries. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Multi-car crash causes heavy traffic delay on I-79 Shell Cracker Plant in Beaver County will be in shutdown mode for weeks to come This home on Mt. Washingtons Grandview Avenue is for sale for almost $2.8M (photos) VIDEO: Officials warning parents about deadly infant sleeper still being sold on second-hand market DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Estonia and Latvia look to purchase mid-range air defence from Germany VILNIUS (Reuters) - European Union and NATO members Estonia and Latvia will begin negotiations with Germany's Diehl Defence for the purchase of a medium-range air defence system, Estonia's Defence Ministry said on Sunday. The cost of the Iris-T SLM air defence system and additional capabilities such as infrastructure, personnel, training, equipment, will be determined at the negotiations, which could be concluded during the summer, it added. Our objective is to ensure operational medium-range air defence capabilities for Estonia by 2025, which means that the first systems should arrive in 2024, Estonia's Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said. The purchase will be led by Estonia Centre for Defence Investment. Last October, Estonia and Latvia were among 14 European NATO partners to sign a letter of intent to jointly procure air defence systems as Russia's war in Ukraine highlighted shortages. (Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) Every state offers victim compensation. For the Longs and other Black families, it often isn't fair The cold formality of the letter is seared in Debra Longs memory. It began Dear Claimant, and said her 24-year-old son, Randy, who was fatally shot in April 2006, was not an innocent victim. Without further explanation, the New York state agency that assists violent-crime victims and their families refused to help pay for his funeral. Randy was a father, engaged to be married and studying to become a juvenile probation officer when his life was cut short during a visit to Brooklyn with friends. His mother, angry and bewildered by the letter, wondered: What did authorities see or fail to see in Randy? It felt racial. It felt like they saw a young African American man who was shot and killed and assumed he must have been doing something wrong, Long said of the decision from what was known as the New York Crime Victims Board. But believe me when I say, not my son. In this April 19, 2023 photo, Debra Long of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., holds the letter that explains why she was initially denied reimbursement for the funeral of her son, Randy Long, who was murdered in 2006. An AP examination of data from 23 states shows that Black people are disproportionately denied aid from programs that reimburse victims of violent crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Debra Long had bumped up against a well-intentioned corner of the criminal justice system that is often perceived as unfair. Every state has a program to reimburse victims for lost wages, medical bills, funerals and other expenses, awarding hundreds of millions in aid each year. But an Associated Press examination found that Black victims and their families are disproportionately denied compensation in many states, often for subjective reasons that experts say are rooted in racial biases. More: 4th death, more vision loss cases linked to tainted eyedrops The AP found disproportionately high denial rates in 19 out of 23 states willing to provide detailed racial data, the largest collection of such data to date. In some states, including Indiana, Georgia and South Dakota, Black applicants were nearly twice as likely as white applicants to be denied. From 2018 through 2021, the denials added up to thousands of Black families each year collectively missing out on millions of dollars in aid. The reasons for the disparities are complex and eligibility rules vary somewhat by state, but experts including leaders of some of the programs point to a few common factors: At her home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on April 19, 2023, Debra Long reflects on her years-long effort to get reimbursed by the state for the funeral of her murdered son, Randy Long. An AP examination of data from 23 states shows that Black people are disproportionately denied aid from programs that reimburse victims of violent crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) State employees reviewing applications often base decisions on information from police reports and follow-up questionnaires that seek officers opinions of victims behavior both of which may contain implicitly biased descriptions of events. Those same employees may be influenced by their own biases when reviewing events that led to victims injuries or deaths. Without realizing it, a review of the facts morphs into an assessment of victims perceived culpability. Many state guidelines were designed decades ago with biases that benefited victims who would make the best witnesses, disadvantaging those with criminal histories, unpaid fines or addictions, among others. As the wider criminal justice system from police departments to courts reckons with institutional racism in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, compensation programs are also beginning to scrutinize how their policies affect people of color. Debra Long walks near the tombstone of her son, Randy Long, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., April 19, 2023. An AP examination of data from 23 states shows that Black people are disproportionately denied aid from programs that reimburse victims of violent crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) We have this long history in victims services in this country of fixating on whether people are bad or good, said Elizabeth Ruebman, an expert with a national network of victims-compensation advocates and a former adviser to New Jerseys attorney general on the states program. As a result, Black and brown applicants tend to face more scrutiny because of implicit biases, Ruebman said. More: Saving the farm: Heartland clergy train to prevent agriculture workers suicides In some states examined by AP, such as New York and Nebraska, the denial rates for Black and white applicants weren't too far apart. But the data revealed apparent bias in other ways: While white families were more likely to be denied for administrative reasons, such as missing deadlines or seeking aid for crimes that arent covered, Black families were more likely to be denied for subjective reasons, such as whether they may have said or done something to provoke a violent crime. In Delaware, where Black applicants accounted for less than half of the compensation requests between 2018 and 2021 but more than 63% of denials, officials acknowledged that even the best of intentions are no match for systemic bias. Debra Long looks through documents about the murder of her son, Randy Long, and photographs from his life, at her home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., April 19, 2023. An AP examination of data from 23 states shows that Black people are disproportionately denied aid from programs that reimburse victims of violent crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) State compensation programs are downstream resources in a criminal justice system whose headwaters are inextricably commingled with the history of racial inequity in our country," Mat Marshall, a spokesman for Delaware's attorney general wrote in an email. Even race-neutral policy at the programmatic level may not accomplish neutral outcomes under the shadows that race and criminal justice cast on one another. The financial impact of a crime-related injury or death can be significant. Out of pocket expenses for things like crime scene cleanup or medical care can add up to thousands of dollars, prompting people to take out loans, drain savings or rely on family members. After Randy was killed, Debra Long paid for his funeral with money she had saved for a down payment on her first house. Seventeen years later, she still rents an apartment in Poughkeepsie, New York. Thousands of people are denied compensation every year for reasons having nothing to do with the crime itself. They are denied because of victims' behavior before or after a crime. Applicants can be denied if police or other officials say they failed to cooperate with an investigation. That can inadvertently harm people who are wary of retribution for talking to police, or people who dont have information. A Chicago woman who was shot in the back was denied for failing to cooperate even though she couldnt identify the shooter because she never saw the person. And compensation can be denied merely based on circumstantial evidence or suspicions, unlike the burden of proof that is necessary in criminal investigations. Debra Long looks through documents about the murder of her son, Randy Long, and photographs from his life, at her home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., April 19, 2023. An AP examination of data from 23 states shows that Black people are disproportionately denied aid from programs that reimburse victims of violent crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Many states deny compensation based on a vaguely defined category of behavior often called contributory misconduct that includes anything from using an insult during a fight to having drugs in your system. Other times people have been denied because police found drugs on the ground nearby. In the data examined by AP, Black applicants were almost three times as likely as applicants of other races to be denied for behavior-based reasons, including contributory misconduct. A lot of times its perception, said Chantay Love, the executive director of the Every Murder is Real Healing Center in Philadelphia. More: Charm Farm owner pleads not guilty to animal neglect charges Love rattles off recent examples: A man killed while trying to break up a fight was on parole and was denied compensation, the state reasoned, because he should have steered clear of the incident; another was stabbed to death, and the state said he contributed because he checked himself out of a mental-health treatment facility a few hours earlier against a doctors advice. Long scoured the police account of her sons shooting. She called detectives and pleaded to know if they had said anything to the compensation program that would have implicated her son in some kind of a crime. There was nothing in the report. And detectives said they hadnt submitted any additional information. At her home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on April 19, 2023, Debra Long reflects on her years-long effort to get reimbursed by the state for the funeral of her murdered son, Randy Long. An AP examination of data from 23 states shows that Black people are disproportionately denied aid from programs that reimburse victims of violent crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Every chance Long got, she reminded detectives and the state officials reviewing her claim that Randy had never been in trouble with the police. She wanted them to understand the injustice was also being felt by Randys then-toddler son, who would only know his father through other peoples memories. Long kept information about her sons case in a box near her kitchen. As more than 20 notebooks full of conversations with detectives piled up, Long tucked the states rejection letter inside a folder so she wouldnt lose it, but also so she didnt have to see it every time she searched for something. More: FBI arrests 2 Kansas City murder suspects in Sioux Falls tied to killing of 6-year-old What plays in their mind is that their loved one wasnt important, said Love of the Philadelphia-based advocacy group. It takes the power away from it being a homicide, and it creates a portion of blame for the victim. In recent years, several states and cities have changed eligibility rules to focus less on victims behavior before or after crimes. In Pennsylvania, a law went into effect in September that says applicants cannot be denied financial help with funerals or counseling services because of a homicide victims behavior. In Illinois, a new program director has retrained employees on ways unconscious bias can creep into their decisions. And in Newark, New Jersey, police have changed the language they use in reports to describe interactions with victims, leading to fewer denials for failure to cooperate. Posing for a photo at a cemetery in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., April 19, 2023, Debra Long is reflected on the gravestone of her son, Randy Long, who was murdered in 2006. An AP examination of data from 23 states shows that Black people are disproportionately denied aid from programs that reimburse victims of violent crime. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Long, who now works as a victims advocate, was in a training session in 2021 when a speaker began praising New York states compensation program. Long tried to stay quiet and get through the training session, but couldn't. She told the group about her experience and the weight of the letter. An Office of Victims Services employee approached Long after the meeting. She told Long the program had undergone an overhaul. There were no longer five board members who could make subjective decisions about claims. The program was now operating as a division, and there had been a cultural shift within the agency in the last decade including an increased focus to reach victims of color. She convinced Long to resubmit her claim. A few weeks later, and nearly 15 years after Randy was buried, Longs application was approved and the state sent her a check for $6,000 the amount she would have received back in 2006. She used part of that money to help Randy's son, who is now in college, pay for summer classes. Its not about the monetary amount, Long said. It was the way I felt I was treated. ___ Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey, and Lauer reported from Philadelphia. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Every state offers victim compensation. For the Longs and other Black families, it often isn't fair An attorney working Donald Trumps legal team has quit, citing in-fighting among the former presidents inner circle. Timothy Parlatore left his role this week, according to The New York Times, after working for Mr Trump for at least a year. In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Mr Parlatore explained that the reason for his departure was ongoing friction with Boris Epshteyn, another legal adviser to Mr Trump. Mr Epshteyn, according to Mr Parlatore, has been stonewalling the legal team in their attempts to ascertain whether all presidential records that Mr Trump took with him when he left the White House had been turned over to the National Archives. The removal of official presidential records by Mr Trump led to the Justice Departments raid of his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, last fall. Mr Epshteyn attempted to interfere with attorneys efforts to search Mar-a-Lago for more documents, Mr Parlatore said. The advisor also served as kind of a filter to prevent us from getting information to the client, feeding Mr Trump his own opinions instead, Mr Parlatore told CNN. The real reason is because there are certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be. In particular, there is one individual who works for him, Boris Epshteyn, who had really done everything he could to try to block us, to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president, said Mr Parlatore. In my opinion, he was not very honest with us or with the client on certain things, he added. Mr Trumps team denied Mr Parlatores characterisation of the events leading to his departure. Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team. His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false, a spokesperson told CNN. The legal issues of Mr Trump remain under intense scrutiny after he announced his third presidential campaign for the White House in 2024. Earlier this month, Mr Trump was found liable in a civil lawsuit over the sexual abuse of the writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s. At one point during his deposition, Mr Trump appeared to confuse an image of Ms Carroll with his ex-wife, Marla Maples after previously claiming that Ms Carroll was not his type. Mr Trump is facing a host of other legal battles, both criminal and civil, which threaten him and his business empire. New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating a civil fraud case against the Trump Organization and the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting him for hush payments he allegedly directed to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. In Georgia, Fulton Countys District Attorney Fani Willis is deliberating whether to prosecute Mr Trump or members of his team for their attempts to overturn the states presidential election results in 2020. Ex-White House Lawyer Says Evidence Is Stacked Against Trump In Documents Case Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb seems certain Donald Trump will go down for his alleged mishandling of classified documents. On Thursday, Cobb told CNNs Erin Burnett he thinks the Department of Justice has a tight case against the former president, who is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith over a laundry list of accusations. The attorney, who worked for Trump from July 2017 and May 2018, said he was confident The Apprentice star will go to jail for obstruction for refusing DOJ requests to return classified documents after he left the White House. Cobb told Burnett it wouldnt take much of a legal hurdle for Smith to prove his case against the politician. Attorney Ty Cobb (left) thinks his former employer Donald Trump (right) will go to jail for mishandling classified government documents. Attorney Ty Cobb (left) thinks his former employer Donald Trump (right) will go to jail for mishandling classified government documents. All they really have to do is show that Trump moved these documents at various times when DOJ was either demanding them or actually present, he said. That he filed falsely with the Justice Department, had his lawyers file falsely with the Justice Department, an affidavit to the effect that none existed which was shattered by the documents that they then discovered after the search and the many other misrepresentations that he and others have made on his behalf with regard to his possession of classified documents. Trump has staunchly denied any criminal wrongdoing in the matter. During a CNN town hall on May 10, he told moderator Kaitlin Collins he had the absolute right to take the documents under the Presidential Records Act. In addition to the documents case, Smith is investigating the real estate mogul for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots and his efforts to overturn 2020 election results in Georgia. New York Attorney General Letitia James also filed a fraud suit against Trump and his three eldest children in September. In late March, he was indicted by a Manhattan District Court for a hush money scheme involving porn star Stormy Daniels and former lawyer Michael Cohen. And earlier this month, he was found liable for sexual abuse in the case of columnist E. Jean Carroll. Watch Cobbs full remarks below: Related... Air defense destroyed all drones over Dnipropetrovsk Oblast "The enemy sent UAVs against Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The military from the East Air Command shot down all the drones. Brilliant work!" the message reads. Read also: Photos of the aftermath of Russian drone attack on Kyiv posted online The drones were downed over the oblasts Synelnykove and Pavlohrad districts, wrote the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration, Mykola Lukash. The rest of the night was quiet in the region, with no more attacks being launched. However, Russians shelled Nikopol District with heavy artillery in the morning of May 21, Lukash added. "They hit the Myrove area. The people are OK. The consequences of the attack are being clarified," he wrote. Read also: Seven killed in Donetsk Oblast, crucial infrastructure damaged in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Most of the rest of Ukraine had a quiet night, including Kyiv city and oblast, which has already experienced 11 overnight attacks in the month of May alone. 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 Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, center, attends a march marking Jerusalem Day, an Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, in front of the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) JERUSALEM (AP) A far-right Israeli Cabinet minister visited Jerusalems most sensitive holy site on Sunday, declaring that we are in charge, while the Israeli Cabinet held a rare meeting in Jerusalems Old City to celebrate its control of the area. The visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir to the disputed hilltop compound drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israels neighbor, Jordan. The site is revered by Jews and Muslims, and the competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ben-Gvir, a former West Bank settler leader and far-right activist who years ago was convicted of incitement and supporting a Jewish terror group, now serves as Israels national security minister, overseeing the countrys police force. The site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism, where the biblical Temples once stood. Today, it is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Under longstanding arrangements, Jews are permitted to visit the site, but not to pray there. But in recent years, a growing number of Jewish visitors have begun to quietly pray, raising fears among Palestinians that Israel is plotting to divide or take over the site. Ben-Gvir has long called for increased Jewish access. I am happy to come up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Israeli people, Ben-Gvir said in a video statement made during his early morning visit, with Islam's golden Dome of the Rock in the background. He praised the police presence at the site, saying it proves who is in charge in Jerusalem. Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvirs visit a blatant attack on the mosque. Jordan, which serves as the custodian over the mosque, called it a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation. Neighboring Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation. The visit comes days after Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israels capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Mideast war. Flag-waving nationalists marched through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalems Old City, some singing racist anti-Arab chants, while hundreds of Jews visited the sensitive hilltop shrine, including a low-level minister from Ben-Gvirs party, but not Ben-Gvir himself. Israel also captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as its capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move unrecognized by most of the international community and considers the city its undivided, permanent capital. Later Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Cabinet held a special session to mark Jerusalem Day at an archaeological site near the main area of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray and a remaining exterior wall of the biblical Temples. At the meeting, Netanyahu reasserted Israels claim to all of Jerusalem. He boasted of resisting international pressure to divide the city and said only a right-wing Israeli government could guarantee continued Israeli control. There are still those who want to divide Jerusalem and they say so openly, he said. Only the national camp led by us will safeguard a strong and united Jerusalem. He made no mention of Ben-Gvirs visit the minister's second public visit to the site since taking office. Palestinians consider the mosque a national symbol and view such visits as provocative. Most rabbis forbid Jews from praying at the site, but there has been a growing movement in recent years of Jews who support worship there. Tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence. Netanyahu formed his government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, last December. The government, which includes a collection of ultra-Orthodox and far-right nationalist parties, has made West Bank settlement construction a top priority. Most of the international community consider Israeli settlements, home to 700,000 people in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, to be illegal and obstacles to peace. In March, the government repealed a 2005 act that dismantled four West Bank settlements. Over the weekend, the top Israeli army general in the West Bank signed an order attaching the evacuated settlement of Homesh to a local settler regional council. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another settler leader, praised the general's move, saying it would pave the way for the reconstruction of a Jewish seminary at the site. Violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank has spiked in the last year, as Israel expanded near-nightly raids in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the spring of 2022. About 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants, but stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Earlier this month, fighting also erupted between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed 33, many of them militants but also women and children, and two people were killed in Israel by militant rocket fire. ___ Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report. When we get F-16s, we'll win this war Ukraine's Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat, the spokesman for the Command of the Ukrainian Air Force, has stated that with the arrival of F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine, it will win the war. These fighters can work with ground, air and surface targets, and will also cover the territory of Ukraine where there are no air defence systems. Source: Ihnat on air at espreso.tv channel Quote: "I will tell you more, when we have F-16s, we will win this war. If these aircraft come to Ukraine, they will be on combat duty in different regions at our operational airfields. We have emphasised to our partners the need for F-16s for Ukraine, because we cannot cover the entire territory of Ukraine with the air defence systems that have existed since Soviet times. We receive supplies of Western air defence systems: NASAMS, IRIS-T, Patriot and now SAMP/T, as well as air defence systems of the ground forces, including Crotale, Gepard and Avenger. The territory of the country and the length of the state border are large, and the contact line, including Belarus, Transnistria and the Black Sea coast, is more than 2,500 km. So, unfortunately, it will not be possible to cover the area with air defence systems alone. That's why we need an F-16, which has fighter cover and is also part of the air defence system. The fighter can work with air targets both from below and above. Where there is no air defence, the F-16s will work." Details: Ihnat has added that the Soviet-made MiG and Su jets are currently unable to effectively and efficiently work with kamikaze drones, such as Iranian-made Shaheds, as well as cruise missiles. According to him, the F-16 is designed to become part of air defence system and effectively intercept these types of air targets. In addition, this fighter will significantly increase the efficiency of the use of HARM missiles, JDAM guided bombs, and so on. The F-16 will help Ukrainian ground forces quickly liberate Ukrainian territories by striking Russian command posts, military groups, and logistics supply chains. These fighters are also equipped with anti-ship missiles. The air force spokesman stressed that the F-16 is a multi-purpose aircraft that can engage ground, air and surface targets, as it can be also equipped with Harpoon missiles. Background: Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! When Faith Mata's 10-year-old sister died at Robb Elementary, she became her family's caretaker UVALDE Tess Marie Mata dreamed of following in her older sisters footsteps and attending Texas State University after high school. However, the 10-year-olds dreams were cut short at the hands of an 18-year-old who killed her in a hail of gunfire from an assault-style rifle May 24 along with 18 other students and two teachers at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School. Tess likely would have studied for a career in health; she loved helping people, her family said. If you could depict a perfect child, I believe that was Tess, said Faith Mata, her 22-year-old sister, a Texas State senior studying psychology with a minor in criminal justice. She was helpful, loved her family, loved going to church. She loved everything. All the slain students were in the fourth grade. The victims were in two classrooms. Eight children were in Room 112 with the two teachers. Tess was in Room 112. The remainder of the victims were in Room 111. A mural in Uvalde honors shooting victim Tess Marie Mata. Mata was at her apartment in San Marcos preparing to go to work when she first started getting text messages from her family. I walked over to my phone, and it was blowing up with messages, Mata said. I read one in particular from my cousin that said, Call your mom. Somethings going on at Robb. Mata and her two roommates, also from Uvalde, were getting updates about the situation on social media. She learned through her roommates about the first teacher being shot. That teacher was Tesss. Thats when Mata realized it was not a normal situation. The drive to Uvalde from San Marcos is typically about two and a half hours, but Mata made it there in one, she said, arriving around 4 p.m. She ended up at the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center, where her parents were waiting and where uninjured children were being taken. The Mata family were put into a room with other Uvalde families who had been posting about their children being missing. Thats whenever I started connecting the dots, Mata said. There were Texas Rangers in the room. Our district attorney is in the room. You start thinking these kids arent missing something happened to them. The Mata family did not find out Tess was among the victims until 11:30 that night. My mom looked at me with this look I cant ever forget, Mata said. It was like her soul had just been ripped out of her. My dad didnt look like himself. A memorial stands in Uvalde Texas where where 19 students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. A switch flipped in Mata when she saw how impacted her parents were by Tesss passing. She took over everything. Mata planned Tesss funeral and designed her headstone. She greeted people the day after the service and talked to the media. She was the one who did it all, and she does not regret it. My mindset was my parents just lost their child; no one should ever have to lose their child this way, Mata said. If I cant protect Tess, Im going to protect my parents. Mata returned to Texas State University the following semester, fall of 2022, to continue her studies. She had to. That semester was rough. Her feelings were overwhelming. At the time, she lived in her sorority house. There were days where she would only leave her room to shower or eat, and she would only attend class if she had to. It was a really big struggle having to balance all of that and having things coming out about what was happening, Mata said. It was never ending. Mata graduated in May. She has developed a better understanding of how to handle her grief and sadness. Things have become a little bit easier. It sounds so odd coming out of my mouth to say that you have to balance grief and life, but its true, Mata said. I feel better about it now. Its difficult, but Mata is doing it for Tess. She talks to her parents daily about Tess. The Mata family is infuriated with the hesitance to change gun regulation laws, but its a battle they will not give up. Faith Matas mom, Veronica Mata, is the advocacy director for Lives Robbed, a nonprofit organization founded by the Uvalde families to garner support and bring justice for the victims. 'Did you think we would go home?' Uvalde families wait 13 hours to give heartbreaking testimony The Mata family, along with other Uvalde families, are fighting to limit the availability of assault-style rifles. Their goal is to raise the legal age to possess such guns from 18 to 21. Faith Mata wants students at Texas State University to understand that its OK to make their voices heard. She was a quiet student before her sister died, but she knows now that if she believes in something and wants change, she must speak up. Go out there and make change, Mata said. You might be too late, and youll end up like me. I was too late, and now Im having to speak on my sisters life. Dont do that. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Tess Mata's sister finds strength in family after Uvalde shooting Family of Fresno restaurateurs honored for Italian restaurants. Let no one outwork you Think about some of the best Italian restaurants in town and chances are, the LaRocca family had something to do with them. The family will be honored Monday with a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Best of the Valley Restaurant Awards. The event is hosted by the Fresno chapter of the California Restaurant Association. While all sorts of restaurants will be honored in various best of categories, the Lifetime Achievement Award goes to all the LaRoccas. The family has connections to FIVE Restaurant, Ovidio Italian Restaurant and DiCiccos Italian Restaurant. Today, many Fresnans know FIVE, the eatery thats a blend of contemporary Californian and Italian cuisines at Champlain Drive and Perrin Avenue. Pat LaRocca and wife Marina opened the restaurant in 2005. Despite a fire in 2018 that shut down the restaurant for a year and then the COVID-19 pandemic the business bounced back. Pat LaRocca is the son of Carmine and Giuseppina LaRocca, along with siblings Paul, Sonia and Virginia. Virginia runs Ovidio with her husband, Franco Paolilli. The LaRocca family Left to right, Carmine LaRocca chats with son Paul LaRocca at the longtime restaurant LaRoccas in this 2005 Fresno Bee file photo. It closed after 30 years in business. The LaRocca parents came to the United States in 1960, moving to Fresno in 1967 to be closer to Giuseppinas family. Her maiden name was DiCicco, and she was part of the family that ran the restaurants of the same name. Thats where the couple learned how to run a restaurant. They opened LaRoccas Ristorante Italiano in 1980. It operated for 30 years including with son Paul LaRocca serving pasta and other dishes in a dim and cozy atmosphere. Pat LaRocca said he and his family were honored and humbled to receive the award. His parents loved living in the United States and were not afraid of hard work, he said. My father just said, Keep in mind theres a lot of smart restaurant owners, and Im going to teach you to let no one outwork you. You got to keep working hard. He also thanked Fresno for its loyal support of their restaurants. Its been an amazing run, he said. I want to keep the faith in my heart that the best is yet to come. My family's stayed in a $2,570 room on a Disney cruise and a $6,000 one. We'd actually book both of them again. Our two rooms on the Disney Magic had some different amenities. Jill Robbins My family of four sailed on the Disney Magic twice within 12 months. We booked an inside stateroom on one cruise and a concierge ocean-view room on the other. Though the more expensive room was better, we made fun memories on both cruises. My family of four has gone on a few Disney cruises and each time, our experience is a little different. In May 2022, my family booked a deluxe inside stateroom on a three-night cruise from Miami to Nassau and Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. In March 2023, we returned to the Disney Magic for a four-night spring-break cruise in a concierge family ocean-view stateroom from New Orleans to Cozumel, Mexico. Though the ocean-view concierge stateroom had more space, lounge access, a dedicated team to see to our every need, and more, we still have fond memories of our cozy little windowless inside stateroom. Here's how each room compared, from price point to food to amenities. We stuck to a budget when we booked our cruise for May. Our inside stateroom came with a queen-sized bed. Jill Robbins Our three-night cruise in May staying in an inside stateroom was $2,570 for two adults and two kids. We spent almost no extra money on board and enjoyed a free day of fun at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas. We splurged on a concierge family stateroom with an ocean view in March. Our concierge stateroom came with a queen-sized bed. Jill Robbins Our four-night cruise in March was about $6,000 for the same four people. This time, we had a concierge stateroom with an ocean view. We spent minimal money on board but got passes for a beach club in Cozumel, an island in Mexico, that ran us about $300, including transportation and tips. The inside stateroom was a decent-sized space. We didn't have a ton of privacy in the inside stateroom. Jill Robbins Our 214-square-foot deluxe inside stateroom on deck two had a split-bath feature, which we liked. The room included a 22-inch flat-screen TV, Disney artwork, nautical decor, and plenty of storage. The concierge room was a little bigger than the inside stateroom. The concierge room was larger, but the balcony accounted for some of that extra square footage. Jill Robbins Our concierge family ocean-view stateroom on deck eight was 304 square feet, including a veranda. Though the concierge stateroom had what seemed like some elevated decor, including a fluffier carpet and premium linens, our in-room experience didn't differ drastically from what we had nine months earlier in our cheaper stateroom. It looked like we had the same amount of storage and the same 22-inch flat-screen TV in the living-room area, just like in the stateroom. We also had a larger flat-screen TV in front of the queen bed. However, watching both of the televisions at once was impossible because the sound traveled even with the privacy curtain closed. The deluxe inside stateroom came with bunk beds. The deluxe inside stateroom had just enough beds for our family of four. Jill Robbins My husband and I slept on the queen bed and our kids slept on bunk beds. The couch actually transformed into the bottom bunk so it fold up during the day. We closed the curtain to separate ourselves from the kids' sleeping area, but even so, there was very little privacy. The concierge stateroom had a somewhat-similar sleeping arrangement. We didn't have to turn the sofa into a bed in the concierge room. Jill Robbins The concierge room had bunks and a Murphy bed. One kid slept on the top bunk and the other slept on the Murphy bed, so we never lost our sofa in the evenings. Our inside stateroom came with a split bath. The bathroom had a separate area for the toilet and sink. Jill Robbins When I entered the bathroom in the inside stateroom, I noticed we had Disney H20 products and that the toilet and sink were separated from the tub, with a vanity. Our stateroom host also tidied our room twice daily and left us some chocolates and towels folded into the shape of animals each night. The bathroom in the concierge room also had a split bath. In my opinion, both bathrooms were small but efficient. Jill Robbins There might have been slightly more space in the concierge bathroom, but the difference was negligible to me since both amenities got the job done. However, this bathroom had Elemis products that Disney's on-board spa uses and a few extra toiletry items, such as a toothbrush holder, Q-tips, and cotton balls. Once again, our host tidied our room twice each day and left us towels and chocolates each night. The concierge room also included more perks than the inside staterooms did. We had lounge access throughout the cruise with the concierge room. Jill Robbins With the concierge room, we enjoyed a few pre-arrival services. We indicated our preferences and activity bookings via email before we even got on board. We also had a concierge team of three dedicated employees who checked on us throughout the cruise and handled things like chasing down our lost luggage or changing a brunch reservation. They quickly learned our names and our food-and-beverage preferences. The concierge room came with special lounge access and lots of snacks. There were some seafood options on our cruise in March. Jill Robbins Our concierge-class cabin came with access to a special lounge throughout the cruise. It had a private sundeck with luxury beach towels and sunscreen, special food and beverages, and evening cocktails, beer, and wine. We could also grab bottled water, sodas, juices, and premium coffee and teas throughout the day. I also thought getting on and off the ship when we had a concierge room was easier. The concierge room came with plenty of perks. Jill Robbins Non-concierge guests were assigned a boarding group, but concierge guests could get on the ship at any time during the boarding process. During debarkation, or getting off the ship, staff escorted concierge guests off the ship and we didn't have to wait in the staggered lines that the rest of the passengers were in. A concierge room is worth it for my family, but we'd have a good time on any Disney cruise regardless. I really enjoyed our concierge room. Jill Robbins Because I've sailed in a concierge room twice now, people often ask me if the extra money was worth it. If you're looking to assign a dollar value to every included concierge amenity and expect that to equate to the extra money you've spent, then no, I don't think concierge is worth it. No matter how many cocktails and tubs of popcorn you have, in my opinion, you won't make up the cost difference. But for us, it's worth it. My family has never been disappointed in our experience or regretted spending the extra money on the vacation. Still, I'm also happy in an inside stateroom and I wouldn't splurge on concierge class every time we've since booked two more Disney cruises, and neither is a concierge stateroom. Read the original article on Insider Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir says Israel 'in charge' during visit to Al-Aqsa compound also known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's hard-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited a site in Jerusalem holy to both Muslims and Jews on Sunday and declared Israel was "in charge", drawing condemnation from Palestinians after months of escalating tension and violence. The comments, during an early morning visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, sacred to both Muslims and Jews, who know it as Temple Mount, came days after groups of Jewish youths scuffled with Palestinians and chanted racist slogans during a nationalist march through the Old City. "I'm happy to ascend the Temple Mount, the most important place for the people of Israel," Ben-Gvir said during his visit to the compound, the most sensitive point between Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem and the site of repeated confrontations. In 2021, tensions around Al-Aqsa contributed to setting off a 10-day war with the Islamist Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip. Hamas has warned repeatedly that it would react to what it sees as Jewish incursions on the site, which stands in Jordanian custodianship under a longstanding "status quo" arrangement put in place to contain tensions. "All the threats from Hamas will not help, we are in charge here in Jerusalem and all of the Land of Israel," Ben-Gvir said. For Jews, Temple Mount is the holiest place, where the biblical King Solomon built the first Temple 3,000 years ago and where a second Temple was razed by the Romans. Today, the hillside site is the third holiest in Islam, holding Al-Aqsa mosque with the Dome of the Rock, believed to be where the Prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven. Under the status quo arrangements, non-Muslims may visit the site in the heart of the Old City but are not allowed to pray. However Jewish visitors have been increasingly defying the ban, more or less openly. Palestinians consider defiance of the ban on prayer as a provocation and fear that Israel intends to take over the site. A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Ben-Gvir's "incursion at an early hour, like thieves, into the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards will not change the reality and will not impose Israeli sovereignty over it." A Hamas spokesman said Israel would bear the consequences for Ben-Gvir's "savage assault" on the mosque and it called on Palestinians to step up their visits and "stand as a rampart in the face of all attempts to defile it and make it Jewish." Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem, which includes Al-Aqsa and the adjacent Western Wall, a sacred place of prayer for Jews, during the 1967 Middle Eastern war. Israel has since annexed East Jerusalem, in a move not recognized by the international community, and regards the entire city as its eternal and undivided capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. (Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) Universal Pictures (Warning: Spoilers below for Fast X.) Featuring just about every Fast & Furious alum and then some (hi, random Saturday Night Live vet!), Fast X is a nostalgic cameo-fest designed to help wrap up the franchise in the-gangs-all-here fashion. Thus, its little surprise that its post-credits scene also boasts a bombshell blast from the pastalthough in this case, that particular individuals participation is legitimately stunning, given the bad blood of the last few years. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Universal Pictures As has been widely spoiled by now, Dwayne The Rock Johnson returns to the Fast & Furious fold for the first time since 2017s The Fate of the Furious (not counting his 2019 spin-off, Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw) in Fast X, thereby squashing the feud with headliner Vin Diesel that spilled into the public arena and brought a supposed end to their partnership. With his cameo setting up a major role in the series forthcoming 11th entry, it seems that all is well between the two Hollywood titanseven if Johnsons homecoming carries a strong scent of desperation. To briefly recap what led us to this point: things got testy toward the completion of production on The Fate of the Furious, when Johnson posted a video in which he called out certain male co-stars as unprofessional chicken shit candy asses. Fast X Is Even More Ridiculous and Exhausting Than You Think It was widely assumed that he was referring to Diesel, and in the ensuing months, the two traded passive-aggressive alpha-male barbs in the press. Diesel eventually referred to Johnson as Uncle Dwayne and himself as Johnsons big brother, and pleaded on social media with the former WWE icon to rejoin him for the franchises 10th installment. That didnt ostensibly work, however, as Johnson admitted that hed privately told Diesel (whom he dubbed really manipulative) that he would have nothing to do with Fast & Furious closing chapters. Nonetheless, time evidently heals all wounds, as Johnson reneges on those statements by showing up in Fast X as unstoppable U.S. Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs. Following the pre-credits appearance of another familiar (wondrous) face, Louis Leterriers sequel delivers its stinger, with a squadron of secret agentsall of them dressed from head-to-toe in black tactical gear and outfitted with heavily artilleryentering an opulent, largely empty mansion. Making their way with flashlights through this underlit abode, one of them finds a room where an old television set is playing a clip of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing Happy Trails to You. Beside the tube sits a ringing cellphone, and when the agent answers it, the voice on the line is the films nefarious villain, Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa). Dante explains that, though Dominic Toretto (Diesel) may have cataclysmically injured his father Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) in the dragging-a-vault car chase that concluded Fast Five, it was this agent who pulled the trigger that ended his dads lifeat which point we see a flashback to that act, as portrayed in Justin Lins 2011 film. For fans of the franchise, this comment effectively gives away the agents identity. Fast X quickly follows it up by having Dante state, The devils coming for you, at which point the agent removes his mask to reveal himself to be Johnsons Hobbs, who snarls, I aint hard to find, you sumbitch! and crushes the cellphone in his fist. Cue applause, roll credits, and leave everyone hungry for Fast 11. Johnsons decision to re-up with Diesel and company is sure to be a net positive for the saga, which rose to its current stratospheric heights thanks to his involvement. Still, theres something a bit sad about this shocker, considering that Johnsons backtracking comes at precisely the moment at which his box-office-champ reputation has taken a few bumps and bruises. Fast X Is (Unintentionally) the Funniest Movie of the Year With Jungle Cruise coming and going without much impact, and Black Adam falling far short of expectationsJohnson proclaimed the latter would change the hierarchy of power in the DC universe, only to see it fizzle out and the character get sidelined in the upcoming, revamped DC movie universethe actors Fast X cameo feels less like a triumphant mending-fences gesture than an eating-crow capitulation that gets him temporarily back on steady blockbuster-series ground. Will Johnson happily co-exist with Diesel, oras he did on The Fate of the Furiouswill he refuse to shoot any scenes with the Fast & Furious star? Only time (and eagerly awaited set reports) will tell. Whats difficult to shake, however, is the impression that this reunion is less a case of family superseding all other concerns, and more an example of rocky marriages being maintained for the greater franchise (and personal) good. Keep obsessing! Sign up for the Daily Beasts Obsessed newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. A father of three children was shot and killed while attending a vigil for his murdered friend Saturday. >> TRENDING: Man hospitalized after shooting in Dayton overnight Cleveland Police were dispatched to the intersection of East 88th Street and Bessemer Avenue at 10:10 p.m. on reports of a shooting, a spokesperson for the law enforcement agency said, according to 19 News. As officers arrived and conducted their investigation, they discovered that a man was shot in the head while attending a vigil for Dawaun Drake, 29, who was murdered a few days before on Thursday. The unidentified man was rushed to University Hospitals for treatment; however, he was unable to survive past his gunshot wounds. Kelvin Clark, 25, of Cleveland, was identified as the newly deceased victim. The ensuing investigation found that Clark argued with others during the vigil. Following the argument, a man approached Clark, fired his weapon, and fled in a dark-colored SUV, the spokesperson said. The same suspect reportedly returned and shot his gun several more times at Clark. Family and friends held a vigil in Clarks honor. The vigil consisted of a picnic and a balloon release. Attendees who spoke with 19 News prayed for the gun violence to stop. Clarks dreams were to get our family out of here. Thats the main thing he wants us to do, all of us. We wanted to make it out, Robert Allen, the victims best friend of 15 years, said in reference to Clarks new job in Alaska. He was everybodys protector. If he loved you and had love for you he would protect you with everything within him, Taliyah Kiera, Clarks girlfriend, said. It needs to stop. But, I feel like its never going to stop. These moms are raising knuckleheads. But, I feel like these men need to come together and get the young generation to find things to do, instead of killing each other, Clarks sister, Chelsea Gresham, said. Clark was survived by his three young children and a mother who would have to bury her son. I fell in love with another married woman at my kids' school. My husband supported me through the whole relationship even the breakup. The writer and her husband. Leah Hamilton My husband and I have an open relationship, but I never had another serious partner. That changed when I fell in love with another mother at my kids' kindergarten. The relationship with her didn't work out, but my husband stuck by me the whole time. My husband and I met at university in New Zealand. He was a quiet, sensitive guy, and he won my heart with his kindness and thoughtful demeanor. I was so nervous on our first date that I could barely speak. We embarked on our relationship without many of the usual frameworks, because he moved away soon after we got together. I started dating him while I also dated a woman I had met at a party. I have always identified as queer, but it was the first time I had ever dated people who accepted both my sexuality and my desire for nonmonogamy. As time went by, he and I got engaged, moved in together, got married, and had children. Our relationship remained nonmonogamous; we even made out with other people on our wedding night. The adjustments of raising small children, however, radically changed our lifestyle and put our nonmonogamous lifestyle on hold until I fell in love with another woman. When we had kids, we were no longer out partying or fooling around Most of our days revolved around diaper changes and playdates. I missed my former self, and I missed the ways in which I used to express my sexuality. Motherhood was new, challenging, exhausting, and fun, but it was a completely different world than the one I was used to. When our daughter was 2 and our son was still a baby, we took a leap of faith and moved to Berlin. There, we discovered a very open culture and a lifestyle in which having children was no barrier to having a good time. It was hard to meet new partners, but I began to go out in the evenings with one of the other married mothers I had met at my children's kindergarten. She and I quickly became close friends; both of us were wild, adventure-seeking types, looking for fun. Our friendship quickly blossomed into something more, and my husband supported me One day, I noticed that my new friend from my kids' school was staring at me intently. "You look really fit," she mumbled. "And your eyes are so beautiful." I laughed, unsure of what to do. On another night, though, we found ourselves dancing in a club pulled together like magnets. As the days wore on, it became clear that it was more than just physical chemistry. I had no idea whether my husband would support me if I wanted to connect with her not just as a hookup, but as an actual relationship. This was a new step for us. But he was measured, calm, and accepting. "Why not?" he said when I asked him. She asked her husband the same thing. "Why not?" he replied in turn. From there, the relationship with my girlfriend grew quickly We spent time swimming in lakes, biking through the forest, and partying until 4 a.m. Our families intertwined: My husband and her husband joined us for dinner with all of our kids; we shared childcare; we supported each other in times of sadness; and we celebrated joys and successes together late into the night. For two years, we had a heartfelt connection and new experiences. It was also unpredictable, too intense, and ultimately unbalancing. My girlfriend and I were both very emotional, and we clashed in ways that slowly tore away at us. It was a fun relationship, but not a healthy one. The breakup was inevitable. When my girlfriend and I broke up, I was devastated; my husband was there for me I cried every day for weeks. My husband patiently delivered chocolate-chip cookies and red wine to me as I lay in bed. He listened to my sorrow and hugged me. He took care of our children and the household more than usual. After several months, I was doing better. My now ex-girlfriend and I reconnected and slowly began to rebuild our friendship. My husband was always steady, happy to move with me in whichever direction I was going. If she and I were dating and I was happy, he was on board. If I was sad, he would hug me until I felt better. If I wanted to reconnect with her, he trusted my decisions. With my husband's support, I felt empowered to be myself and to experience life in all its fullness, including the soaring heights of new love and the plummeting depths of heartbreak. I always say that my husband is the best person I know, and after 12 years together, I still believe it. My ex-girlfriend is now one of my best friends, and her husband is someone I care about and trust very deeply as well. Our relationship ended, but the love we built didn't. Read the original article on Insider The Ukrainian General Staff has reported that Russian forces keep conducting offensive operations on the Bakhmut front, and the fighting for the city of Bakhmut continues. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, information as of 06:00 on 21 May Quote: "The enemy keeps concentrating its main efforts on conducting offensive actions on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mariinka fronts. In total, 53 combat encounters occurred on these fronts in a day; the cities of Bakhmut and Marinka remain at the epicentre of hostilities." Details: Over the course of the past 24 hours, Russian forces launched 7 missile and 70 air strikes, and carried out 48 attacks using multiple launcher rocket systems on positions of Ukrainian forces and the settlements. On the Kupiansk front, occupiers are trying to improve their tactical positions. Russians carried out unsuccessful offensive operations in the area of Masyutivka during the day. They launched airstrikes and deployed mortars and artillery to attack near the settlements in Kharkiv and Luhansk oblasts. On the Lyman front, the Russians did not carry out any offensive operations over the course of the past 24 hours. Occupiers launched airstrikes in the area of the settlements in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. On the Bakhmut front, Russian forces are continuing to carry out offensive operations. Heavy fighting for the city of Bakhmut continues. Over the course of today, the Russians made unsuccessful attempts to advance on Bila Hora. Occupiers launched missile strikes near Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and airstrikes near Sloviansk, Druzhkivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Bila Hora, Kurdyumivka, and Toretsk. The settlements in Donetsk Oblast were affected by the attacks. On the Avdiivka front, the Russians carried out offensive operations in the areas of Novokalynove and Sieverne but had no success. Invaders launched an airstrike near Avdiivka, and deployed artillery to attack the settlements in Donetsk Oblast. On the Marinka front, Ukraines Defence Forces units repelled numerous Russian assaults near Marinka. Occupiers launched airstrikes in the area of Krasnohorivka and Marinka. At the same time, Hostre, Heorhiivka, Marinka, and Peremoha in Donetsk Oblast came under Russian fire. Over the course of today, Russian forces undertook unsuccessful offensive operations in the area of Novomykhailivka on the Shakhtarsk front; they also conducted airstrikes on Vuhledar, and Prechystivka. Paraskoviivka, Kostiantynivka, Novomykhailivka, Novoukrainka, Vuhledar and Prechystivka came under Russian fire. Russian forces are on the defensive on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts, but they attacked more than 40 settlements. Ukrainian aircraft carried out 10 airstrikes on areas where Russian military personnel and equipment were concentrated. Ukraines air defences downed four strike and seven reconnaissance UAVs of different types. Ukraines Rocket Forces and Artillery units struck four areas where Russian military personnel and equipment were concentrated, an ammunition storage point, four artillery units in firing position, an air defence system, and one more important Russian target. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Carter Bridge Day Use Area, the longtime host for the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival, looks different. What was once a lush, deep green forested canyon has since burned. Some bridges, campgrounds and access roads remain closed. Places cherished by generations of rafters and recreators have yet to reopen. Some things haven't changed. Those beautiful, multi-class rapids are still there. So are the people that ride them. The Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival kicked off its 37th year on Saturday in Estacada after a three year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and impacts from the Labor Day fires of 2020. Zach Collier of Northwest Rafting Co. moves through the halfway point of Carter Falls. The festival hosts numerous events, from conventional rafting and kayaking to stand-up paddleboarding and tubing. Each event is focused around cross-style gates, which hang above the river on cables. In each event, participants cascading through numerous sets of class three and four rapids and try their best to cross through each of the eight gates between the launch point at Fish Creek and the finish line at Carter Bridge. Competing on the Clackamas Saturday's events included the more traditional oar boat slalom, cataraft slalom and hard shell kayak race, while Sunday was set to be reserved for newer additions like the inner tube slalom and the giant stand-up paddleboard race. Two solo kayakers make their way through the class four section of Carter Falls on Saturday, May 20, 2023. "This is my first time in a pack raft, and going down class four rapids in it was a little scary," said Richard Rigby after a trip down Carter Falls in the inflatable kayak event. "Looking at the rapids from the bridge beforehand I was a bit scared, but I watched some other people do it and said why not? It paid off." During Rigby's heat, several kayakers went for an impromptu swim around gate three, but he stayed afloat and made it the finish line less wet than the rest. "I'm in a Kokopelli raft and its got a spray skirt, so I think it held up a little better and it didn't flip, so I'm pretty happy," Rigby said. The Clackamas' proximity to the Willamette Valley and Portland, paired with its climate, natural beauty and variety of rapids make it one of Oregon's most beloved rafting destinations. It may not be as well-known as the Rogue, Deschutes or White Salmon, but it's got something for everyone and a fierce local fanbase. "The Clackamas is a river that you can run 365 days a year," said festival event coordinator and chairman Luke Spencer. "The idea that you can come here any day of the year and run it is what makes it one of the more special rivers around. It's really scenic beautiful run, and, in my opinion, having run a lot of class fives, it's a very friendly river. It's high reward, low risk for what you're paddling." Whitewater festival provides community, stewardship For many, the festival has created community since its beginnings in the mid-'80s. "I think between COVID and the fires people were really itching to get back up here," said volunteer Justin Jessop. "It's been a pretty good showing, too. It's really good to see everybody and there's a lot of community and fulfillment that comes from getting to come to these events and be with friends and have these weekends where we can leave work behind and turn the phone off and enjoy. It's great to be here and be around river people again." For festival chairman Bob Mosier, he said the first time he came out he didn't know anything about whitewater rafting. "I taught myself how to row on the lower Clackamas, I met some people that introduced me to the river, and I just fell in love with this event. There's generations of people that have attended this event." One of the primary goals of the festival is to be stewards of the Clackamas. Mosier said the best way to do that is to get people out enjoying it. "The more we spread the word about it, the better," Mosier said. "We're all environmentalists, that's what rafters are, generally. So we want to grow the advocates for the rivers and to help maintain and protect them." A team of four passes through the fourth gate at Carter Falls on Saturday, May 20, 2023. Charles Gearing is an outdoors journalism intern for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at cgearing@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival returns after 3-year hiatus Four families were displaced in a two-alarm fire that roared through a large apartment complex Sunday morning in east-central Fresno, the Fire Department reported. It follows a fire Saturday night in central Fresno that displaced 30 residents of a seven-unit complex and continues a busy weekend. Firefighters were sent to North Maple and East McKinley avenues at 9:18 a.m., after a column of black smoke erupted from the Sunset Sands complex. Fire spokeswoman Christine Wilson said arriving firefighters quickly called for a second alarm, as flames tore through the roof of units in the central portion of the complex. Four units were heavily damaged by flames and two others were damaged by water and smoke. Displaced families will be assisted by the Red Cross, Wilson said. Firefighters were able to rescue four cats. Investigators remained at the scene looking for a cause of the latest blaze, and westbound traffic on McKinley from Maple was blocked by fire trucks. Director Ramata-Toulaye Sy poses for portrait photographs for the film 'Banel & Adama' at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (Photo by Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP) CANNES, France (AP) Most filmmakers in the Cannes Film Festival's top-rung competition lineup are well-known directors who have been around for decades. One dramatic exception this year is Ramata-Toulaye Sy, a French-Senegalese filmmaker whose first film, Banel & Adama, landed among the 21 films competing for the Palme d'Or. Its only now that I realize that being in competition means being in a competition, Sy said, laughing, in an interview shortly after Banel & Adama premiered in Cannes. Now that were really in the middle of it, I realize theres a lot of passion going around. Sy, 36, is the sole first-timer in Cannes' main lineup this year. She is also only the second Black female director to ever compete for the Palme, following Mati Diop, also a French-Senegalese filmmaker, whose Atlantics" debuted in 2019. For the Paris-raised Sy, it's not a distinction of significance. Im a filmmaker and I really wish we stopped being counted as women, as Black or Arab or Asian, said Sy. In Banel & Adama," also the only Africa-set film competing for the Palme this year, Sy crafts a radiant and languorous fable tinged with myth and tragedy. Banel (Khady Mane) and Adama (Mamadou Diallo) are a deeply in love married couple living in a small village in northern Senegal. In their intimate romantic idyll, they wish to pull away from the local traditions. Adama is set to become village chief but is uninterested in doing so. Banel dreams of living outside the village, in a home buried under a mountain of sand. While Banel and Adama slowly work to sweep away the sand, their yearning to live on their own causes angst in the village, especially when a drought arrives that some take as a curse for their independence. Though often opaque, the film stays largely with the psychology of Banel, whose single-mindedness grows increasingly dark. I was quite reluctant at the start to acknowledge that Banel is me, says Sy. Now I have to confess that its definitely me. I see myself, my questions, my struggle in her journey. How to do become an individual inside a community is really my own question. Sy began writing Banel & Adama in 2014 as a student at La Femis, the French film school. Sy, the daughter of Senegalese immigrants, says she was first drawn to literature. Novels like Toni Morrison's Sula and Elena Frenate's My Brilliant Friend inspired Banel & Adama. The love story was a pretext for to deal with myth, she says. I wanted to have this kind of mythological female character that you find in Greek tragedy." Sy co-wrote Atiq Rahimis Our Lady of the Nile" and Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanettis Sibel both of which played at international festivals. Her first short film, Astel," was well-received. But little prepared her for the stresses of shooting in rural Senegal. Along with heat, sandstorms and bouts of illness among the crew, Sy struggled to find her Banel. In the end, she found Mane while walking around. We had all the cast except for her. We started five months before shooting and one month before shooting we still didnt have her. One day I was walking down the street and my eyes locked on this girl, says Sy. It was the way that she looked at me. Her gaze had something a bit wise and a bit crazy. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP Josh Freese performs during the Forecastle Music Festival . (Amy Harris/Associated PRess) The Foo Fighters introduced Josh Freese as the drummer for their upcoming tour and performed new music on Sunday during a free livestream event. The virtual show took place more than a year after the death of the group's longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl kicked it off with Freese on drums after teasing fans with a string of cameos, including drummers Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue and Danny Carey of Tool. Freese, 50, is a veteran session musician who has played drums for the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Sting, Weezer and other major artists. He and his new bandmates took breaks to chat, jam and goof around between songs during the livestream, titled "Preparing Music For Concerts." Next week, the Foo Fighters are set to embark on their first concert tour since Hawkins died in March 2022 at age 50. The rock band was touring South America when Hawkins was found dead in a hotel room in Bogota, Colombia, and they immediately canceled all tour dates. The group's latest tour is scheduled to begin Wednesday in New Hampshire and conclude this October in Texas. During that period, the Foo Fighters are also slated to headline two California music festivals: San Francisco's Outside Lands (Aug. 12) and Dana Point's Ohana Festival (Oct. 1). Tickets for the tour went on sale shortly before the Foo Fighters announced plans to release their 11th studio album, "But Here We Are," which arrives in June. During the livestream, the band played "Rescued" and "Under You" from the forthcoming record, in addition to classics such as "All My Life" and "Monkey Wrench." Sunday's event was not the Foo Fighters' first live performance since Hawkins' death. In September, the band headlined a pair of star-studded tribute concerts to the revered percussionist whose teenage son, Shane, filled in for him on the drums, bringing audiences to tears. "As we say goodbye to the most difficult and tragic year that our band has ever known, we are reminded of how thankful we are for the people that we love and cherish most, and for the loved ones who are no longer with us," the Foo Fighters said in a statement in December. "Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were and without Taylor, we know that we're going to be a different band going forward." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. EVANSVILLE A former Burdette Park campground manager and his wife have been arrested and accused of stealing more than $40,000 in campground rentals. Scott Allen Thompson, 58, and his wife, 68-year-old Catherine Ann Thompson, are preliminarily charged with theft as a Level 6 felony, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's office announced in a news release Saturday. The couple was apparently taken into custody on Monday, when they turned themselves in at the Vanderburgh County jail after investigators issued a warrant for their arrest. They appeared in circuit court the next day, posted $500 bonds, and were released. Their next court date is scheduled for June 9. The sheriff's office and Indiana State Board of Accounts announced an investigation into Burdette Park's finances last year after officials discovered irregularities "relating to the accounting of campground receipts." More: County: Burdette Park investigation triggered by irregularities in campground receipts According to a sheriff's office news release announcing the Thompsons' arrests, investigators first became aware of a problem in December 2021, when cash payments for rentals reportedly weren't being deposited. Burdette Park Director Jerry Grannan contacted the Vanderburgh County prosecutor and sheriff's offices, which then roped in the SBOA. According to the release, the board of accounts "issued their forensic report" on April 24, even though it's not listed on their website. They reportedly found that only $965.00 out of $21,941.97 collected for various rentals had actually been deposited, the release states. In the course of the investigation, they reportedly discovered an additional $22,000 in missing funds. Thompson and his wife lived on the park's grounds. Although Scott Thompson was the manager, Catherine "took an active role in the management of the campground, including handling the intake and deposit of rental fees," the release states. "All of the missing money was cash collected by the Thompsons for campground rentals. Both Thompsons declined to speak with sheriffs detectives. Scott Thompson did mention paying back the funds when first questioned by Burdette officials." The Thompsons' arrest is just the latest controversy stemming from area parks. Former Evansville Parks and Recreation Director Brian Holtz faces 12 felony counts, including fraud, official misconduct, forgery and counterfeiting charges after an Evansville Police Department investigation uncovered "out of the ordinary" invoices. Holtz oversaw city parks but not Burdette, which is handled by the county. He resigned in June 2021 and has denied any wrongdoing. His jury trial is set for Aug. 14 in Vanderburgh Superior Court. This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Former Burdette Park campground manager accused of felony theft Former Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore is now publicly blasting a current lawyer for former President Donald Trump days after departing the legal team, alleging Boris Epshteyn attempted to interfere with additional searches for classified material at Trump's properties. "In my opinion, he was not very honest with us or with the client on certain things. There were certain things like the searches that he had attempted to interfere with," Parlatore said during an appearance on CNN on Saturday. Parlatore added that Epshteyn, who has served as somewhat of a liaison between the lawyers, made defending Trump more difficult. MORE: Top Trump attorney who played role in DOJ's documents probe departs Trump's legal team A Trump campaign spokesperson said in a statement that the assertions were "categorically false." "Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team," the Trump spokesperson said. "His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false." U.S. Navy SEAL Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher's defense attorney Tim Parlatore speaks to the media after opening arguments in the soldier's court-martial trial at Naval Base San Diego in San Diego, California, June 18, 2019. (Mike Blake/Reuters, FILE) Trump's legal team has been plagued with infighting, with many attorneys pointing fingers at the others blaming them for missteps. Parlatore told CNN on Saturday that he left due to infighting. "It had nothing to do with the case itself or the client," Parlatore told CNN. "The real reason is because there are certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be." Parlatore confirmed his departure from the Trump legal team in a statement to ABC News Wednesday. "It has been an honor to be a member of this legal team over the past year, and to litigate some very interesting issues," Parlatore said. MORE: Top Trump attorney appeared before grand jury last December in classified docs probe: Sources As ABC News first reported, Parlatore testified last year before the grand jury probing Trump's handling of classified material, per sources familiar with the matter. Epshteyn sat for an interview with the special counsel's office last month but only agreed to answer questions relating to Jan. 6 matters, according to sources. Former Trump lawyer accuses current Trump lawyer of interfering with classified documents searches originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Former White House lawyer says Trump 'will go to jail' as Mar-a-Lago probe gathers momentum, per CNN Former Trump attorney Ty Cobb. AP Photo/Susan Walsh A former White House lawyer believes Donald Trump will go to jail, he told CNN. Ty Cobb said there was "so much evidence of guilty knowledge," as investigations continue. The DOJ is probing whether Trump obstructed justice in bringing classified documents to Mar-a-Lago. A former Trump administration lawyer has predicted that Donald Trump "will go to jail" as the investigation into the former president's mishandling of classified documents continues. Ty Cobb, a White House attorney from 2017 to 2018, was discussing the recent news that the National Archives planned to send records to special counsel Jack Smith that showed Trump and his advisors were aware of the proper declassification procedure, according to an exclusive report by CNN. In a letter from May 16 obtained by CNN, acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote to the former president: "The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records." In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Cobb said he "would not necessarily expand the case to try to prove the Espionage Act piece of it because there's so much evidence of guilty knowledge." All officials have to do to prove their case is "show that Trump moved these documents at various times when DOJ was either demanding them or actually present" and that he "filed falsely with the Justice Department, had his lawyers file falsely with the Justice Department, an affidavit to the effect that none existed." This action was subsequently "shattered by the documents that they then discovered after the search and the many other misrepresentations that he and others have made on his behalf with regard to his possession of classified documents," he said. He said he thought it was a "tight" obstruction case before adding: "Yes, I do think he will go to jail on it." Charges connected with mishandling classified documents are punishable by up to 10 years in prison, per Reuters. Cobb had previously referred to his former boss as "a deeply wounded narcissist." Infighting within Trump's legal team Former President Donald Trump appears in court for an arraignment, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in New York. (Timothy A. Clary/Pool Photo via AP) In another CNN interview with a former Trump lawyer, Timothy Parlatore claimed that a member of Trump's legal team tried to block the others from conducting further property searches following the FBI raid, Insider reported. Parlatore said on Wednesday that he was leaving Trump's legal team. Parlatore singled out one of Trump's lawyers, Boris Epshteyn, who joined the former president's 2016 campaign as an aide and has remained in Trump's orbit ever since. "In particular, there's one individual who works for him, Boris Ephsteyn, who had really done everything he could to try to block us to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president," he said. Trump, who recently launched his 2024 presidential campaign, is currently fighting numerous legal battles. While the Justice Department is probing whether Trump mishandled classified documents, it is also examining his possible efforts to interfere with the 2020 election. Other investigations into his finances and his role in the January 6 insurrection also continue. Read the original article on Business Insider Kohns Corner is a weekly column about the challenges and opportunities of sustaining American film culture. This week, French minster of culture Rima Abdul-Malak came to Cannes, where she announced a new program to invest $350 million in the film and TV sector over the next seven years. The initiative is part of the larger France 2030 initiative unveiled by president Emmanuel Macron last fall, and will go toward the support of production studios and inclusive training programs throughout the country. When I sat down with Abdul-Malak at the Unifrance terrance at Cannes over the weekend, even she sounded stunned by the extent of the plan. More from IndieWire I dont know when I will be able to announce a budget like that again, she said. Its an extraordinary figure, especially for Americans. Not because the number is so large $350 million might not cover the budget of Fast X but because its a testament to the governments real-world support of film and TV. I first encountered Abdul-Malak at a Cannes screening last year, days after Macron swore her into the position, where she dictates everything from the board to the budget. The 44-year-old former mayoral assistant and New York embassy staffer wasnt prepared to do interviews at the time, but she agreed this year to sit down with me and a handful of European journalists this weekend. It was, Im told, the first time a cultural minister has given an international interview at Cannes. I started with a simple question: We dont have a cultural minister in the U.S. I know, she said, with a chuckle so can you explain why its important for the government to invest in the future of cinema? My predecessor used to say that cinema is an art and an industry, she said, referring to the first Minister of Culture, Andre Malreaux. For those reasons, its important to have a public policy to support the industry and innovation in the arts. This is how France has always considered the role of the ministry of culture not as controlling art, but bringing all the conditions you need to have so that they can take risks, innovate, and freely create. Cannes was an extension of that, she added. The history of Cannes is also very political, she said. Cannes was created in response to fascism and what was happening in Italy [during WWII]. Its the festival where we want freedom to be reflected. Sit with that for a moment. Its hard impossible? to imagine those statements coming from a presidential appointment who serves as an employee of the American government. In the United States, cultural initiatives tend to fall to the Secretary of the Interior and the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, but creative endeavors usually come second to other public policy issues. Making the rounds at Sundance is not part of their mandate. Meanwhile, the National Endowment for the Arts awards modest grants to small institutions, but nothing on the scale of what France can do. In the U.S., I feel it has always been the reverse way of thinking like, if we give this sector public subsidies, in a way, they would lose their independence, Abdul-Malak said. The U.S. is also much more federal than France. Its a much more centralized country, historically. [In France] if we invest in infrastructure, schools, venues like performing arts centers, movie theaters, concert halls, etc., were creating the conditions for cultural life to be as vibrant as possible. Were creating the conditions for art to be as free as possible. Abdul-Malak knows theres no guarantees on that $350 million investment. You can never predict what will be a good movie and what wont be, she said. Its like science. You need to support research and experimentation. Something will pop up. New forms, new artists, new stories. It will surprise us. That said, its not all paix, amour, et harmonie. France is facing many of the same right-wing political factions that shape American politics and Abdul-Malak expressed the fear that extremists are gunning for Frances cultural initiatives. Today everything you do in the cultural sector is actually political, she said. We have a far right that is targeting exhibitions, performances They have spoken at the Parliament to suggest that our support for cinema should be linked to only films that promote French history. France is currently in the midst of nationwide protests over Macrons decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. A few weeks before the festival, the electricians union even threatened to turn off the lights in Cannes to protest the pension plan. Our common enemy should be the far right and we shouldnt be threatening a festival like Cannes by cutting electricity, Abdul-Malak. However, she accepted some measure of turmoil would always be a part of the process. When you support a festival like this, you dont support it because people love you, she said. Emmanuel Macron is always booed somewhere. I have also had my moments. Over the course of an hour, Abdul-Malak held court on many other potent subjects. Heres a crash course on the many of the hurdles that a cultural attache must face, especially when the future of the arts are at stake. The Netflix Problem The Cannes policy requiring a French theatrical release for all competition films means Netflix still doesnt play movies at the festival, because French law requires a 15-month gap between theatrical and streaming. (Parliament lowered that from an earlier three-year requirement.) The streamer would rather serve its subscribers than get a red-carpet premiere and wait over a year to stream a movie. Abdul-Malak said she would like to further reduce the 15-month window. It has to be condensed, she said. My feeling is that the platforms are more and more understanding the value of theaters and they need them. Then the question is in what time, and the timeframe is maybe too far. Killers of the Flower Moon Apple She praised Apple for partnering with Paramount on Killers of the Flower Moon, which opens this fall after its Cannes launch. They know theres a value created there, she said. So lets be positive and not look at that as an obstacle but as a value. Netflix, meanwhile, has agreed to finance $200 million per year in French productions. With time, it is likely to outpace major European broadcast and streaming giant Canal Plus with its investments. But thats not the case right now, Abdul-Malak said. We need to preserve our network of theaters. We have 2,000 theaters in France in many, many cities and French people are very much attached to this network. French theatrical admissions in April were three percent higher than pre-COVID figures in 2019. No Diversity Quotas While Hollywood tries to diversify its products and the Academy creates inclusivity mandates for Best Picture, Abdul-Malak said France would never consider such a path. This wont work in France because we are against ethnic statistics, she said. Also, diversity is not only a question of skin color. Its a question of geography. Thats why we have projects in the West Indies. Its also about social diversity. You can be in a very rural area and be white and as far from this industry as someone in the north quarter of Marseilles it has to be this multi-diversity approach. She noted her personal feelings on the subject as a Lebanese-born woman whose family immigrated to France in her childhood. Im Lebanese, but I dont want to be labeled as Arabic because I feel our identity is much more multiple than that, she said. Diversity is a social question. Its not only an ethnic question. People can be white and be poor and be a priority for us in this program. This may sound rough on progressive American ears, but Abdul-Malak said that mentality is itself part of the problem. We cant do this by having to create categories of colors of skin and then putting people in these categories, she said. This, I think, is a very dangerous thing. Identity is not that. Oscars Are Not a Priority At the 95th Academy Awards site on March 9, three days before the 2023 Oscars winners list would be revealed. AFP via Getty Images France, which hasnt won an Oscar since Indochine in 1992, has long faced criticism for its submission process. For years, former submission committee member and Cannes director Thierry Fremaux wielded enough influence to force Cannes movies into shortlist consideration. (As much as I adored Titane, it wasnt destined for Oscar glory.) Last year, Abdul-Malak revised the committee to ensure that it included a range of industry influencers and would change on a regular basis. That process will soon be revised again, now that the Academy has announced requirements that 50 percent of all international committees be comprised of filmmakers or craftspeople. When asked about the importance of this process, Abdul-Malak seemed to echo Fremauxs recurring assertion that the Oscars should focus on American movies. I dont decide what the film is, she said. But the Oscar competition is really a lobbying competition. You need to invest in this lobbying strategy. And they have other priorities. Work With the World France has 50 international co-production agreements and these partnerships are seen throughout the Cannes lineup. Abdul-Malak has been meeting with many of the filmmakers benefiting from such work, including French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, whose poetic romance Banel & Adama is the only first feature in Cannes competition. These projects generally require some aspects of the production to take place in France. We have beautiful landscapes, beautiful cities, but more and more productions happening in studios [elsewhere], she said. We need to bring them back to France. The country provides up to 40 percent tax credit on domestic productions. Education Is Everything Abdul-Malak said the France 2030 initiative was a direct response to the concerns over the retirement age, particularly with respect to creative professions like filmmaking and related arts. I think the real debate should be now about training in the arts sector there are so many segments where you need to work on a reorientation of your life at an age way before 64, she said. Its about creating opportunities for the sector in 10 or 20 years to have more jobs for different ages. This is also a way to anticipate how many jobs we can create. Many of the studios opened under the new proposal will be located close to educational institutions. It means during their training, students can go work on a film, she said. It renews creativity through training. #MeToo Was the Start, But Not the End, of Cultural Change MeToo started with cinema, she said, in an oblique reference to Harvey Weinstein. There is still a lot of progress to be made. I am well aware of that. There are more women directors at Cannes, but we are far from parity, for example. We also see the budgets of films, when directed by women, has been less than when it is not directed by a woman. There is still so much to be done. But I prefer to see how far we have come and the collective will that is in place, because I am optimistic about life. French President Emmanuel Macron (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Getty Images She added that filmmaking itself could contribute to the discourse and cited the recent French release All Your Faces, which focuses on Frances Restorative Justice program. Cinema pushes, works on, and transmits so many social issues with humanity and sensitivity, she said. I expect the industry to move the lines on these subjects as it knows how to do with imagination. She added that France faces many battles in the years to come as more far-right political candidates emerged. So what will happen in three years with the local elections, the European elections, the presidential election in 2027? she asked. This is a huge, huge concern. Culture is already a political issue. Its not just pleasure and films. As usual, I welcome feedback to this column: eric@indiewire.com. Readers attending Cannes this year are invited to attend a live recording of our Screen Talk podcast at the American Pavilion this Tuesday, May 23, at 2:30 p.m. Reach out to me via Twitter if you need help with access. Best of IndieWire Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. French union demonstrators march to protest President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform during the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole) CANNES, France (AP) Protests over pension reforms have roiled France in recent months, but demonstrations have been kept largely at bay at one of the country's glitziest events, the Cannes Film Festival. On Sunday, dozens of protesters gathered in Cannes to oppose the raising of the reforms pushed through parliament by President Emmanuel Macron's government. Those protests, however, were far removed from the central hub of the festival, the Palais des Festivals, or Cannes' seaside boulevard, the Croisette. Instead, they gathered on the edge of the city, on the Boulevard Carnot. We are against the retirement reforms which will make many people die at work.," said Tomas Ghestem, one of the demonstrators. Ahead of the festival, local authorities in Cannes ordered a ban on rallies throughout much of Cannes. That move was part of increasing attempts throughout France to prohibit demonstrations in some high-profile locations. Unions have called for a new round of nationwide demonstrations on June 6. The ban has kept Cannes' famous red carpet clear of demonstrations and prevented one of the most divisive issues in France from disturbing the highly orchestrated flow of the festival. One exception was on Friday. Hospital workers skirted the ban by protesting on private grounds in front of the Carlton Hotel, a historic luxury hotel where many stars stay during the festival stay. Hotel and catering workers held up a banner reading No to pension reforms. Labor strife has colored much of this year's Cannes, which is happening while Hollywood screenwriters are on strike. Film and TV writers are seeking higher pay, reforms for the streaming era and safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence. Juror Paul Dano said he planned to join the picket lines when he returned home. Sean Penn called the studios' stance on AI a human obscenity. The board for SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, earlier this week voted to ask its members for strike authorization in its own negotiations with studios for a new contract. As a freelancer, I looked into how to get more maternity leave. These 4 things could give me extra time off. Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty Images As a freelancer, I panicked about how to take maternity leave once my baby was born. I started saving extra money as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I wasn't able to get a short-term disability plan ahead of pregnancy because I didn't know about it. A few months into my pregnancy, I started to panic that once the baby was born, my career would end. For the past seven years, I've been a full-time freelancer and content creator. Since I don't work for a company, I realized that I wouldn't have any maternity leave. Without any paid time off, I'd have no choice but to work as much as I could while also taking care of my newborn. When I started researching options, I realized that if I had planned ahead of time, there were ways that I could have received a traditional maternity leave, even as someone with an untraditional career. So if you're someone who is curious about how to get maternity leave or get additional paid time off, whether you're self-employed or work for a company, here are different options to explore. Get a short-term disability plan before you get pregnant One of the first options I wish I explored was taking out a short-term disability insurance policy. Depending on the plan you select, this insurance can provide 40% to 70% of your salary for a set time before and after you give birth. Some employers offer these policies as a benefit, but you can also purchase a policy on your own too. However, you can't receive paid family leave from your job and use this policy at the same time. As a freelancer, I could have taken out this policy on my own to receive the benefits. But I didn't know about this option until I was already pregnant, and at that point, I didn't qualify for coverage since pregnancy can be considered a preexisting condition. State-provided leave Some states, like New York and California, offer paid family leave, which allows employees to take paid time off for a set amount of weeks, even if this benefit isn't offered to them through their employer. For example, New York offers up to 12 weeks of paid family leave at 67% of a person's pay. Depending on the state, self-employed people are also eligible for state-funded paid family leave. However, in New York, for example, they have to purchase a Paid Family Leave policy, at least two years before they plan to use it. Negotiate with your employer or clients It can be really tough to have a newborn and even think about the day you have to return to work. If you feel like you need more paid time off, see if you can negotiate with your employer or with your clients. If you're an employee of a company, ask to chat with your boss and see if you can not only use vacation days from this year but also borrow days from next year so you can extend your maternity leave. If you're self-employed, and offer a service, see if you can push or stagger deadlines over a longer-than-usual period of time. That way, you can still retain your clients and receive payment while stretching out due dates for projects and work. Another route you can take is to hire temporary help, whether it's a virtual assistant or a freelancer, who can keep up the services you offer while you take time off. That way, income can still flow into the business, and you can satisfy the needs of clients. Start saving ASAP Whether you're self-employed or an employee at a company that's not offering you any additional paid time off, start saving money as soon as you can. If possible, you can use that cash reserve to help fund extra days, or weeks, of unpaid leave. You can also tap into that saved-up money to help with easing into childcare if you're able to start going back to work part-time and can bring on someone to watch the baby for a few hours a day to start. While this might not be a viable option for everything, having extra cash in your emergency fund could end up coming in handy for many different reasons once the baby arrives. Read the original article on Insider (Bloomberg) -- Nuclear power must be treated on par with renewable sources in all European legislation as the bloc pursues plans to speed up its switch from fossil fuels toward cleaner electricity generation, French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Sunday. Most Read from Bloomberg France has formed a large alliance to accelerate the development of nuclear power, Pannier-Runacher said, noting that 16 of the European Unions 27 member states support the fuel, while Austria, Luxembourg and Germany dont want to use it. If Germany manages to reduce its greenhouse gases with its energy choices, I think theres no difficulty, she told CNews television on Sunday. However, where France is very clear, and where Im very clear vis-a-vis other European countries, is that there needs to be technological neutrality in all European texts. We must have the same type of legislation for nuclear and for renewable energies, she said. Frances efforts to ensure similar treatment for nuclear in the EUs climate goals for industry, as well as opposition from some central and east European countries worried about green-transition costs, led to a delay in a key element of the blocs Green Deal package last week. France is in talks to reach a deal by the end of June. Germany retired its last reactors last month, forcing it to secure its energy supply without nuclear power or natural gas from Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. Berlin wants to phase out its coal-fired generation as soon as 2030. In France, the bulk of electricity comes from nuclear. Pannier-Runacher said France had lowered its greenhouse emissions by 2.5% last year thanks to nuclear, and especially due to reduced consumption while its neighbor managed to cut emissions by 1.9%. Now it needs to accelerate, she said, referring to Germany. If it sticks to its trajectory to lower its greenhouse emissions, its part of the collective. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Devastating floods pummelled the Emilia Romagna region in northeast Italy, leaving 14 people dead. Ludmilla distracts herself from the memories of rising flood waters by tidying up around her makeshift bed in a gym at Castel Bolognese sheltering some of those who lost their homes. The 66-year-old has befriended young volunteers, who have agreed to come with her Sunday to inspect her damaged house in the nearby village of Solarolo and start cleaning up. She doesn't expect to be able to move back in for at least a month though, after devastating floods which pummelled the Emilia Romagna region in northeast Italy this week, leaving 14 people dead. It happened "without warning," says Ludmilla, who moved to Italy from Ukraine 16 years ago, and who did not want to give her last name. "They said 'a little bit of water will come, a little bit'," she notes, but she and her 97-year-old husband soon found themselves up to their waists in water. "My husband said 'Ive seen three wars, but I've never seen anything like this'," she adds. "We were stuck there, without water, without food. I called the fire brigade, the police. "They were good people, as are the volunteers here," she says. "There's food, there's everything". - Three am alarm - Ludmilla's husband was taken to hospital. She can only wait here for the waters to recede, as volunteers move among the rows of beds, boxes of donated food and essential items. A few beds away, neighbours Alfonso Brocchi and Iolanda Soglia are going back over what happened. "At three am, the upstairs neighbour called me and said 'Alfonso, come up, the water is coming'," says Brocchi, 76, who rushed to help Soglia, who has muscular dystrophy. His son had called the fire brigade to get them out, but Brocchi was not sure how to reach them. "I could get a step ladder and get through the window, but she couldn't," Brocchi says. "So they (the firemen) said 'open the door'. And when I opened the door it was like a rushing river." The pair were rescued along with a 102-year-old woman, and taken by the fire brigade to the shelter. Other displaced people are expected to arrive in a few hours, but the beds are not only for them. Volunteers from the civil protection and rescue workers also take the opportunity to grab a few hours sleep between shifts, or wind down over a hot meal. - Feeling at home - Some 200 of the 10,000 or so residents in Castel Bolognese were evacuated Monday as a precaution, before the floods hit overnight. The muddy waters which swept through the streets left a trail of desolation behind. At the entrance to the gym, paper towels, blankets and bags of donated clothes are piled up along the wall in a line which lengthens as the day goes on. The general hubbub is soothing, lulling the weary to sleep. The shelter team hopes its efforts will help the freshly homeless to lead a life as normal as possible. "After this disaster, it is important that everyone feels at home here," says Paola Barilli, 52, who is in charge of some 60 volunteers. "Everyone is welcome, even animals", she adds. And as if to prove her right, among the guests is a family which brought its nine cats along. hdy/ide/bp (Bloomberg) -- The leaders of the Group of Seven were joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as they reaffirmed their resolve to back his nation and seek support from middle powers such as India and Brazil, which have taken more neutral positions on Russias war. Most Read from Bloomberg China and Russia both uninvited have loomed large as the formal meetings of leaders from the seven wealthy democracies ended Sunday. Host Japan invited guests from developing nations as the group tried to reach out to the Global South, while also looking to decrease its exposure to Beijing in supply chains for crucial materials needed to power their economies. While Russia has threatened to use atomic bombs against its neighbor, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said there were no winners in a nuclear war as he gave closing remarks at a park built on the ground zero site from the attack on Hiroshima in 1945 that left about 140,000 people dead. Zelenskiy toured a museum in the park dedicated to the bombing and said the images of the city in ruins reminded him of the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Latest coverage Zelenskiys Surprise G-7 Stop Unnerves Critical Brazilian Leader G-7 Seeks Stable China Ties While De-risking, Communique Says Ukraine Recap: Russia Claims Wagner Forces Seized Bakhmut Biden Plans McCarthy Call in Bid to Revive US Debt-Limit Talks G-7 Eyes China With New Joint Effort Against Economic Coercion (All times JST) Biden Says US-China Relations Set to Improve (7:59 p.m.) US President Joe Biden said he expected ties with China to improve very shortly after a spat over an alleged spy balloon earlier this year, Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the G-7, Biden said the USs move to shoot down a silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars worth of spying equipment undermined goodwill generated from his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November last year. Biden Says US-China Relations Set to Improve Very Shortly Zelenskiy Rebuffs Russia Claims on Bakhmut (7:38 p.m.) Zelenskiy downplayed Russian claims to have occupied Bakhmut after suggesting earlier in the day his country had lost control of the eastern city that had seen months of fierce fighting. He also said Russian losses there were enormous. Ukraine Leader, Brazils Lula Dont Meet (7:20 p.m.) Zelenskiy and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil scrapped plans to meet for one-on-one talks at the G-7. Although they had been expected to meet on the sidelines, the reasons for the change were unclear. The unannounced attendance of the Ukrainian president had unnerved the Brazilian delegation, according to Brazilian officials, with some in the delegation saying the presence of Zelenskiy was a trap to force a meeting. As opposed to G-7 countries, Brazil has taken a more neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, arguing at times Zelenskiy, the US and European countries shared blame for Russias invasion. Zelenskiys Surprise G-7 Stop Unnerves Critical Brazilian Leader Zelenskiy Tours Hiroshima Bombing Museum (6:00 p.m.) The Ukrainian leader finished a day of meeting leaders with a visit to museum that recounts the destruction caused on Hiroshima from the atomic bomb dropped by US forces. He was accompanied by Kishida as they offered flowers at a memorial site to the victims. Kishida Says Summit Helped Denuclearization (2:56 p.m.) Kishida, who hosted the event held in his hometown, said in closing remarks at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park that the G-7 meeting reaffirmed the groups desire to live in a world without nuclear weapons. It was important to prevent sanctions evasion and close loopholes that have allowed cash to flow to the Kremlin, he added. The Japanese prime minister said Zelenskiys appearance at the summit helped send a strong message about the situation in Ukraine, and the group will work for a fair and lasting peace to end the war. Meloni and Trudeau Spar on LGBTQ Rights (12:17 p.m.) The prime ministers of Italy and Canada took potshots at each other over LGBTQ rights, an unusual display of open disagreement between G-7 leaders. The spat started on Friday when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in front of television cameras ahead of closed-door talks. Meloni and Trudeau Spar on LGBTQ Rights in Unusual G-7 Disunity Macron Says G-7 Offers Chances to Speak to India, Brazil (10:16 a.m.) French President Emmanuel Macron said the G-7 meeting was a good opportunity to speak with the leaders of India and Brazil about Ukraine. India has been one of the prime buyers of Russian oil and weapons, providing hard currency to Vladimir Putins government at a time when the G-7 is seeking to starve it of funds. Scholz Says US to Make Call on F-16s (9:45 a.m.) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters it was a US decision to make on what would happen with F-16s after training is done for Ukrainian pilots to fly the fighter jets. US President Joe Biden has dropped his reluctance on sending F-16s to Ukraine after months of pressure from Kyiv and allied governments, announcing Washington would support efforts to train Ukrainian pilots. The decision about the actual sending of F-16s will come at a much later point, Scholz told reporters. In a separate interview, Scholz said he was sure that even those countries that havent publicly supported Ukraine, like Brazil and India, realized that Russia was the aggressor in the conflict. They know very well whats going on, Scholz told public broadcaster ZDF. US Allows Ukraine to Train On F-16s as Biden Eases Reluctance Yoon and Kishida Show Unity at Memorial (8:10 a.m.) Yoon and Kishida laid flowers at a memorial for Korean atomic bomb victims, a display of the warming ties that have helped cooperation with their mutual US ally. Yoon has taken steps to try to resolve disputes rooted in Japans 1910-1945 colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula so that the two can work more closely with the US to stave off threats from North Korea. The joint visit is seen as a show of willingness by Kishida to acknowledge Japans colonial past, as well as draw attention to the horrors of nuclear war. Yoon, Kishida Show Unity at Memorial for Korean A-bomb Victims Leaders Lay Wreaths at Bombing Memorial (9:00 a.m.) Kishida and leaders from countries invited to join the G-7 meeting laid wreaths at the monument to remember the victims of the US atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, which killed about 140,000 people and led to the end of World War II. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Group of Seven talks culminated Sunday with a series of dramatic, in-person appeals from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he pressed leaders gathered in Japan to remain united against Russian aggression. Zelenskys decision to travel halfway across the world to deliver his entreaties to the worlds major industrial democracies in person underscored both the unity and the uncertainty leaders find themselves in fourteen months since Russias unprovoked invasion of Ukraine began. It also came as Russias Wagner mercenary group claimed to have finally taken the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the scene of bitter fighting for months. In a striking morning photo-op in a city once obliterated by a nuclear bomb, leaders in suit jackets lined up alongside the Ukrainian president, dressed in his usual military green, to show their sustained support for his country moving ahead. Something of a sudden star appearance his presence was only confirmed at the last minute on Saturday Zelensky used the final day of the gathering to continue his appeals for more powerful weapons and tougher sanctions against Moscow. As long as invaders remain on our land, no one will sit down at the negotiating table with Russia, Zelensky wrote on Twitter, adding that the world has enough power to force Russia to restore peace step by step. Our world is vast, but we are all in it together, Zelensky added. From Japan to the Arab countries, from Europe to Latin America, we find support for our formula. And we continue this work, he added. Throughout the weekend Ukraines wartime leader engaged in a frenetic series of meetings, including with US President Joe Biden, their first since the latter visited Kyiv in February. Biden announced a new $375 million security assistance package to Ukraine. The United States continues to do all we can to strengthen Ukraines ability to defend itself, Biden said, citing his recent decision to allow F16 fighter jets to go to Ukraine and to train Ukrainian pilots on the aircraft in the United States. Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraines back and I promise were not going anywhere, he added. Bakhmuts fate is a stark illustration of what is at stake for Ukraine. In his meeting with Biden, Zelensky denied the city had been taken but said little remained. They destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity, its a tragedy, but for today Bakhmut is only in our hearts, he said. Ukraines military has also disputed Wagners claim that Bakhmut has been taken, saying the battle is still ongoing. Kyiv has been bolstered by ever-more-advanced weaponry weaponry from Western nations. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the United Kindgom will begin training Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets this summer to support Ukraines air force with what it needs for the future. Ukraine must not only win the war but win a just and lasting peace, Sunak told reporters in Hiroshima on Sunday. Waning support and political deadlock? But there are fears that fatigue and political pressure could eventually cause Western support to wane. Dysfunction in Washington, starkly illustrated this past week by deadlocked negotiations over raising the federal borrowing limit, also contributed to questions among G7 leaders over how much longer political support for Ukraine can be sustained. The debt ceiling talks have been a subject of interest in talks this week, said Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, as leaders seek out assurances that the United States wont default on its debt. Biden himself voiced optimism on avoiding default, brushing off statements from both negotiating sides as bluster and suggesting he expected a certain amount of posturing: This goes in stages. Ive been in these negotiations before. Biden is expected to take reporters questions at a news conference later Sunday. Against the nuclear backdrop of Hiroshima, which was destroyed by an American atomic bomb in 1945 during World War II, Zelenskys warnings of potential Russian escalation carried significant and symbolic weight. Earlier in the summit, G7 leaders agreed on a major new sanctions package aimed at tightening the noose on the Kremlins war machine. The picture was of utmost unity for a bloc that has been given new purpose by the war. It was less than a decade ago that Russia itself was a member of the G8, as it was known then, only to be expelled following its annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. Now it was Zelensky who joined the leaders around the summit table, a remarkable turn of events that underscores the isolation of Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. Still, there were reminders in Japan of the ongoing struggle to coalesce the rest of the world behind the Western initiative. A number of invited guests to the summit, including the leaders of India, Brazil and Indonesia, have been more reluctant to condemn the war in Ukraine. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who met Zelensky on Saturday, assured the Ukrainian leader he would do everything we can to find a resolution to the conflict. The war in Ukraine is a big issue for the whole world. It has also had many effects on the whole world. But I dont consider it to be just an issue of economy or politics. For me, it is an issue of humanity, Modi said. Nonetheless Modi has so far refused to condemn Moscows invasion and India remains a major purchaser of Russian oil. CNNs Alex Stambaugh in Hong Kong, Victoria Butenko in Kyiv and Angus Watson in Sydney, Australia contributed to this report For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Chinese vice premier stresses science popularization Xinhua) 10:22, May 21, 2023 Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attends the opening ceremony of China's 2023 National Science and Technology Week and Beijing Science and Technology Week in Beijing, capital of China, May 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Gao Jie) BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang Saturday encouraged scientific and technological workers to raise awareness of science popularization and actively promote the integration of science popularization work into economic and social development. Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks after attending the opening ceremony of China's 2023 National Science and Technology Week and Beijing Science and Technology Week in Beijing. Following the opening ceremony, Ding inspected innovations in the fields of artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, biomedicine, and nuclear power equipment in the exhibition area. He learned about the operation state of large-scale scientific facilities and the industrial application of independent innovation achievements, and interacted with scientific and technological workers. Ding urged efforts to promote public science passion and innovation dedication and boost high-level scientific and technological innovation via high-quality science popularization. Yin Li, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, and Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, also attended the opening ceremony activities. China's 2023 National Science and Technology Week, aiming to popularize science, runs from May 20 to 31. Activities will focus on the latest scientific and technological achievements in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, as well as carbon peaking and neutrality. Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visits the exhibition area following the opening ceremony of China's 2023 National Science and Technology Week and Beijing Science and Technology Week in Beijing, capital of China, May 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Gao Jie) (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun) Georgia deputy accused of punching inmate several times, GBI says A Camden County sheriffs deputy was arrested after officials say he punched an inmate multiple times. Jacoby Anderson, 25, of St. Marys, was charged with a count of simple battery and a single count of violation of oath on May 18. The investigation stemmed from a March 2023 incident. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney, Keith Higgins, asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on May 11 to examine allegations involving a use of force incident between Anderson and an inmate at the county jail. The GBI investigation revealed that Anderson hit the inmate several times with a closed fist, leading to the charges of simple battery and violating his oath. The deputy was booked at the Camden County Jail on May 18. TRENDING STORIES: According to the GBI, once the investigation is complete, the case will be given to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorneys Office for prosecution. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] OTHER NEWS: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger thanked Russia for putting him on 'Russophobia' list and banning him from the country: 'I appreciate them thinking of me' Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger thanked Russia for including him on a new travel ban. "I accept that I'm not their cup of Russian tea," he said in a Saturday statement mocking the list. The action comes as Russia continues to retaliate against the US over sanctions. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger thanked the Russian government after they included him on a list of 500 Americans who are now banned from entering their country for allegedly spreading "Russophobia." Raffensperger, the state's top election official who rose to national prominence in 2021 for rejecting then-President Donald Trump's repeated entreaties to overturn now-President Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia, roundly mocked his inclusion on the list. "While I was previously unaware of my anti-Russian activities, I accept the verdict of Russia, whose commitment to truth, justice and the rule of law speaks for itself," Raffensperger said in a statement. "I can see where my commitment to free, fair and accurate elections, my tendency to speak truth to power and strong stance against war crimes would offend President Putin's sensibilities. I accept that I'm not their cup of Russian tea," he added. "My inclusion on this list is deserved, and I appreciate them thinking of me." The list, which was released Friday by the Russian Foreign Ministry, named US citizens who aren't allowed to travel to Russia. With his inclusion on the list, Raffensperger is in the company of many American officials, including former President Barack Obama, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, several GOP senators, and former ambassadors to Russia, Jon Huntsman Jr. and John Tefft. The action comes as Russia continues to retaliate against a raft of Western countries over sanctions that have been imposed since the country first invaded Ukraine in February 2022. While the Foreign Ministry didn't specifically detail its gripes with Raffensperger, they indicated that their targets included "those in government and law enforcement agencies who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called storming of the Capitol." Diplomatic relations between the US and Russia have hit a low since the start of the war last year, with President Joe Biden having emerged as one of Ukraine's staunchest allies in the ongoing conflict. The Biden administration is currently working to bring Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich back the US, but Russia recently blocked a request for consular access to the journalist who they accuse of acting as a spy. Gershkovich was detained in the country in March and formally charged with espionage in April. The Journal has vehemently denied the allegations against Gershkovich. Read the original article on Business Insider By Felix Light TBILISI (Reuters) - The founder of Georgia's national airline Georgian Airways has banned the country's president from using its services after she said she would boycott the airline over its resumption of flights to Russia, Russia's TASS news agency reported on Sunday. Russia announced this month it was lifting a four-year old ban on direct flights with Georgia and removing a decades-old visa requirement for Georgians travelling to Russia. President Salome Zourabichvili urged Georgian authorities to thwart the Russian initiative, an appeal they ignored. Tamaz Gaiashvili, founder of privately-owned Georgian Airways, was cited by TASS on Sunday as saying that Zourabichvili was now "persona non grata" and would be banned until she "apologises before the Georgian people". There was no immediate reaction from Zourabichvili. Although Georgian officials welcomed the resumption of flights, some Georgians who want the South Caucasus country to distance itself from Moscow in favour of the European Union demonstrated against it in central Tbilisi on Sunday. Many Georgians oppose any rapprochement with Moscow whose troops garrison two breakaway regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - that make up around one fifth of the country's territory. Other Georgians are more open to the idea however, and the Georgian government has in recent years worked to improve ties with Moscow, declining to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. President Zourabichvili, whose position is largely ceremonial and whose relations with the government are strained, has warned that deepening ties with Russia could jeopardise the country's chances of the EU one day. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn) German police launch probe into possible poisoning of two Russian exiles Berlin police are investigating the possible poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference in the German capital, a spokesperson told CNN. A file has been opened based on the information available, a Berlin police spokesperson told CNN. We are aware that poisoning is a possibility, there are other potential causes too, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson declined to provide further information citing the ongoing investigation. German newspaper Welt am Sonntag first reported on the police investigation, writing that the two Russians took part in a conference held by Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Berlin on April 29 and 30. Berlin police did not name the Russian exiles. The police probe comes after Russian exile Natalia Arno, president of activist group the Free Russia Foundation, spoke publicly this week about falling ill after a trip to Europe. I have a suspicion that during my recent trip to Europe I was poisoned, probably by some nerve agent, she wrote on Facebook. Arno said she was on a visit to a European city, at the end of April or beginning of May, when she first had strange symptoms that she initially attributed to jet lag, lack of sleep and tiredness in general. She then traveled to a second European city where, on returning to her hotel room after a series of meetings, she found the door slightly open and detected the pungent smell of cheap perfume. Arno said she later developed a sharp pain and strange symptoms that led her to return home to the US early. On the flight the symptoms became very strange, spreading all over my body and with pronounced numbness, she said. I ended up in the emergency room, I was getting worse, but all my tests showed that I was an astronaut and could go straight into orbit. CNN has contacted Arno for comment. Russia has previously been accused of carrying out nerve agent attacks. In 2020, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is known for publicly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on a return flight from Siberia. It was confirmed as poisoning once he was medically evacuated to Germany where he was found with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group in his system. Novichok is a deadly chemical weapon and was also used in the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury in 2018. Both survived, but many others in the area were exposed to the military-grade nerve agent, and resulted in one fatality. The attack has long since been connected to suspected Russian military intelligence agents, claiming to be tourists. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com A gift to my ancestors: Meet the Palestinian-American authors bringing their culture to the heart of childrens books Hannah Moushabeck remembers the warm feeling of snuggling beside her two sisters under a heavy blanket, giggles filling their bedroom as they waited for baba to tuck them in and share another bedtime story. Today Im going to tell you a story about Palestine, he would say, as their eyes widened with anticipation. Their fathers stories were always about his homeland, and the funny and mischievous adventures he had there. Kan ya makan, fi kadeem al-zamaan, he would whisper, Arabic for once upon a time, before diving into a magical tale of ancient cities, souqs and olive groves or the war he said ultimately stole it all away. For Moushabeck, it was a welcome departure from the storybooks her teachers in western Massachusetts made her read. As a first-generation Palestinian-American, she couldnt relate to the protagonists, usually White girls with White-girl problems. Today, Moushabeck, 36, is part of a burgeoning movement of Palestinian-American authors publishing childrens books in English with Palestinians as the main characters. The goal, they say, is to give Palestinian youth characters they can identify with. They also want to teach the next generation in diaspora about their unique culture and history, and help children of all backgrounds understand what it means to be Palestinian. Hannah Moushabeck appears with her father, whose bedtime stories inspired her book, "Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine." - Courtesy Jack Pierson Growing up, my father always told my sisters and I that books are the gateway to a countrys soul and that as Palestinians, it is important that we educate people about the history, art, literature and beauty that our culture brings to the world, she said. Moushabecks book, Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine, takes readers on a voyage through historic Palestine, before the founding of Israel, successive Arab-Israeli wars and Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza changed the countrys name and landscape, and drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, including her father, into exile. This book is a gift to my ancestors, Moushabeck said. A reminder to preserve and celebrate our culture in the diaspora. And an ode to the power of storytelling. Letting Palestinian children be children Despite recent strides in the arts, Palestinian-Americans, along with other Arab-Americans, are still woefully underrepresented in books. Between 2018 to 2022, the Cooperative Childrens Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madisons School of Education found that less than 1% of childrens and young adult books released by US publishers were about Arabs. The only group with less representation was Pacific Islanders. Thats a serious issue, says Susan Muaddi Darraj, author of Farah Rocks, a chapter-book series about a feisty Palestinian-American fifth grader named Farah Hajjar who contends with bullies and school drama. Muaddi Darraj, 48, says she wrote the book series for her daughter, Mariam, after she asked why there were no Palestinian characters in the fifth-grade books she read. I wanted to create a Palestinian childhood experience that I did not have. I wanted her to have a joyful experience, being Palestinian-American and not having any negative feelings about that, said Muaddi Darraj, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. I wanted her to live in a diverse community where nobody thinks its weird that she speaks Arabic and brings Arabic food to school. Susan Muaddi Darraj, author of "Farah Rocks," reads with her daughter, Mariam, who inspired the series. - Courtesy Mike Morgan Farahs culture comes up in various ways throughout the series, from the food she eats to her relationship with her grandmother, who doesnt speak much English. Muaddi Darraj sprinkles Arabic words in the text for children who speak the language to recognize, as well as a glossary for those who dont. The books also feature activities related to Palestinian culture, including a recipe for hummus and a tutorial for tatreez, traditional Palestinian embroidery. For Muaddi Darraj, its important to normalize the Palestinian-American experience. She was born and raised in the United States, but her family hails from Taybeh, a small village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. As a child, she didnt have any books that mirrored her experience of being caught between two cultures, and so she sometimes felt like an outsider. She also struggled with moments of bias and discrimination, including the time a teacher told her there is no such thing as Palestinians and that its a made-up identity. Its important to write stories for children about finding your strength and your identity and combating racism, Muaddi Darraj said. But its also important to show children healthy depictions of themselves living healthy, normal lives, where the problem that they encounter in the book is not racism, its studying for a big test or dealing with a friendship issue. Children rely on books to help them make sense of the world and their place in it, she says. If you can hold up a book to people and say, this is who I am, thats a good feeling. Resisting the denial and erasure of Palestinian existence For Ibtisam Barakat, placing Palestinian characters at the center of her books is a form of existing. In Beit Hanina, the East Jerusalem neighborhood where she was born, public displays of Palestinian identity even just saying the word Palestine can land a person in trouble. After Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War, Palestinian flags were prohibited from flying, newspapers were censored and books confiscated. I never saw myself in books or in a flag or anywhere. I didnt really feel that I existed at all, said Barakat, 59. After immigrating to the United States at 22, she worked as a journalist but became disillusioned with the profession by how heavily policed her words were when writing or speaking about Palestinians. She ultimately turned to books, publishing three in English and four in Arabic. I was forced to understand the importance of art and language, that theyre real and their value is like food, that they are windows and doors to humanity, she said. Language can turn whats ugly and unbearable into beauty. Ibtisam Barakat, author of "Tasting The Sky: A Palestinian Childhood," is shown at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. - Courtesy Ibtisam Barakat Among her books is the memoir Tasting The Sky: A Palestinian Childhood. Written from the perspective of herself as a child, she details the traumatic experience of war, including the day bombs struck her home and forced her family to flee. My whole life has been a journey of attempting to heal the traumas of my Palestinian identity, Barakat said. The emotional territory of being Palestinian is great trauma, great loss. The book, which won numerous awards, has been included in school curriculums across the US, exposing children of all backgrounds to the Palestinian experience. My books are not written for the Palestinian child only, said Barakat, who now lives in Columbia, Missouri. I write about the Palestinian childhood experience. All children need to learn about one anothers experiences. The more they know about themselves and others, the richer their lives will be, and the kinder they will be toward others. Literacy experts tend to agree that the positive effects of children seeing themselves represented in books are undeniable, improving their grades, confidence and mental health. Ruba Marshood, CEO of Indy Reads, a nonprofit group that works to increase literacy, says diverse bookshelves also result in more inclusive communities for children of color. Its important for all of us to read about people who have different lives and cultures than our own, said Marshood, 41. When we read about others, we deepen our empathy and our ability to recognize that as different as we may bewe have a whole lot in common. Its crucial for children to build an awareness and appreciation for other cultures while theyre still developing their sense of self, she adds. It could help create a society thats free of negative and often harmful stereotypes Marshood, who is also Palestinian-American, says that without proper representation of Palestinians in childrens books, many will grow up being misunderstood The mainstream narrative of Palestinians is one that is often defined in relation to Israel, Zionism, occupation, and the violence of oppression. In this narrow context, the entire fabric of a culture is made invisible, she said. It would have been a lot less painful were my classmates able to see me as a Palestinian and not a terrorist. Helping Palestinian kids make sense of their communitys pain For many Palestinians, its impossible to teach the next generation about their culture and history without explaining the communitys collective trauma. War and military occupation are the reasons why so many now live in diaspora. To help them understand, Amahl Bishara, 37, traveled from her home in Medford, Massachusetts, to Aida Refugee Camp, a UN-administered camp between Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Jerusalem, where she enlisted dozens of Palestinian children to write and illustrate an alphabet book. Every Arabic letter in The Aida Camp Alphabet stands for a different aspect of life in the camp where children exist in the shadow of military watchtowers, snipers eying their every move. Here, kids learn words like occupation and refugee not long after mama and baba. Their bedtime stories are often marred by the violence and insecurity of daily life. Jiim is for jidaar, the wall that looms over our homes, and jaysh, the army that comes in jeyaab, jeeps, to terrorize and arrest, one page reads. Its accompanied by a childs collage of Israeli soldiers carrying guns by the large concrete wall that snakes through the West Bank, separating Israelis from Palestinians, as well as Palestinians from each other. To represent the letter "jiim" in "The Aida Camp Alphabet," a Palestinian child drew Israeli soldiers ("jaysh") by the separation wall ("jidaar"). - Lajee Center Noon is for Nakba, the big catastrophe of 1948 that displaced our grandparents and brought us to Aida, and the smaller catastrophes of violence and dispossession that we live every day, another page reads. More than 5,000 people live in the camp, which covers less than half a square mile. Most of them are the children and grandchildren of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes by armed Jewish groups during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Palestinians refer to the event, which saw roughly 700,000 people dispossessed and barred from returning to their homes, as al-Nakba, or the catastrophe. This month, Palestinians all over the world mourned the 75th anniversary of al-Nakba. Amahl Bishara helps Palestinian children at Aida Refugee Camp create an alphabet book about their childhood. - Courtesy Nidal Al-Azraq Of course not all the letters in the book are grim. Many also celebrate beautiful aspects of Palestinian culture and cuisine: taa is for tabla, the drum played on joyous occasions; faa is for falafel, every Palestinians favorite sandwich. Bishara, whose own family was expelled from the Galilee in 1948, says its important to teach Palestinian children raised in diaspora about every aspect of Palestinian culture and history, including those that cause great pain. In many ways, she says, its vital to keeping the Palestinian issue alive. These childrens books empower Palestinian kids in America with the knowledge of their history and heritage, but getting young people engaged and informed is also the foundation for them being active participants in the struggle for justice for Palestinians, Bishara said. Reclaiming their homeland through literature In many respects, these authors are carrying on an age-old Palestinian tradition of storytelling, only in a new land far from what was historic Palestines towering mountains, expansive deserts, ancient stone walls, and trees lush with oranges, pomegranates, mulberries and olives. Most attribute their work to the influence of Naomi Shihab Nye, the Palestinian-American poet and novelist behind the 1994 childrens book Sittis Secrets, one of the first with a Palestinian character to be published in the US. In the story, a girl named Mona travels to her parents homeland, where she meets her grandmother for the first time. Because neither speaks the others language, they make one up and use it to discover each others secrets and forge a lasting bond. Naomi Shihab Nye is shown with her grandmother, who inspired the book "Sitti's Secrets." - Courtesy Aziz Shihab A few years later, Nye published Habibi, a young adult novel about a Palestinian-American girl who moves with her family from St. Louis to the West Bank, where she falls in love with a Jewish boy. I feel so honored, so touched that all these wonderful writers and humans mention me, said Nye, 71. Im very, very, very happy that there are so many more books representing beautiful Palestinian life after we have suffered so much dehumanization. I love knowing that I have all these younger sisters, brothers, children, grandchildren out there, who are going to keep telling our countrys stories. For Barakat, these childrens books are necessary to keep the Palestinian dream of a homeland alive, especially for children born in diaspora who cant even find it on a map. Homeland is a created experience, and therefore can be created again, and experienced in many ways, she said. This is something they cant and will never erase or take away from us. Palestine doesnt exist on the map, but it can exist on the shelf. It can exist in peoples minds. For now, thatll have to do, she says, until those displaced and living in the diaspora are finally free to return. Correction: This article has been updated to correct a photo caption to more accurately describe where Ibtisam Barakat was photographed. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Star quality: Virat Kohli is congratulated by Gujarat's Rashid Khan after making his century Shubman Gill hit an unbeaten 104 to trump Virat Kohli's record century as holders Gujarat Titans knocked Royal Challengers Bangalore out of the IPL with a six-wicket victory on Sunday. The result allowed five-time winners Mumbai Indians to fill the fourth and final play-off spot after they hammered Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the first match of the day. Gill starred in the final group match with a 52-ball knock that steered Gujarat to victory with five balls to spare. Gill hit the winning six to raise his second straight ton. His hundred was the event's third of the day after Cameron Green's match-winning 100 for Mumbai and then Kohli's 101 not out. "As a bowler, Gill doesn't give you a chance," Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya said of his star batsman, who put on a key 123-run stand with Vijay Shankar, who made 53. "Other batters also get confidence from it." Kohli hit his second successive hundred and seventh in the IPL to overtake Chris Gayle's six and steer Bangalore to 197-5 in a match that started an hour late due to rain in Bengaluru. The effort was in vain as Kohli's wait for an elusive IPL title goes on for another year. "A lot of people think that my T20 cricket is declining, I don't feel like that at all. I think I am playing my best T20 cricket again," said Kohli after an innings which featured 13 fours and a six. "I'm just enjoying myself. This is how I play T20 cricket." - 'Unbelievable Virat' - Mumbai will play Lucknow Super Giants, who became the third team to make the play-offs on Saturday, in the eliminator next week. Table-toppers Gujarat and second-placed Chennai Super Kings will clash in the first qualifier on Tuesday. The winner of Qualifier 1 will head straight to the final in Ahmedabad on May 28 and the loser will play the winner of the eliminator. Kohli started strongly in a 67-run opening partnership with skipper Faf du Plessis, who made 28 to stay on top of the batting chart with 730 runs. Kohli, who made a match-winning 100 in Bangalore's previous game, had moved behind Du Plessis in the batting list with 639 runs but Gill toppled the senior star to take second spot with 674 runs. "Virat played an unbelievable knock to give us a chance and thought that was a good score," said Du Plessis. "But Shubman played incredibly well to take the game away from us." In the first match, Green starred for Mumbai with his first ever T20 century as he hit a 47-ball unbeaten 100 to drive his team home with two overs to spare. Green, a big buy for Mumbai for $2.11 million in the auction, stood out with eight fours and eight sixes. After Rohit Sharma's departure, Green kept up the charge and put on an unbeaten partnership with Suryakumar Yadav, who hit 25, to register their eighth win in 14 group matches. Medium-pace bowler Akash Madhwal set up victory with figures of 4-37 to check Hyderabad to 200-5, a total that looked to go bigger but for some disciplined bowling. Hyderabad, led by Aiden Markram, took the wooden spoon in the 10-team table. fk/dj Giro dItalia: Most attritional edition in memory becomes race of waiting and surviving This article originally appeared on Velo News The Giro dItalias grande casino span some tough numbers the past two weeks. COVID-19, crashes, woeful weather, and waves of sickness have made this Giro one of the most attritional in decades and boiled the race for pink into a waiting game of survival. After the exit of Remco Evenepoel, Tao Geoghegan Hart, and home hero Filippo Ganna, the Giro saw another jab at its flank Friday. Touted one of the races centerpiece tappone, Fridays high mountain triple-header into Switzerland was truncated by weather and - in the case of the GC group - decaffeinated by headwinds. Also read: The hulking shadow of an extra-hard final week of climbing and a delicately poised top-three produced the second classification no-show of the race Friday. The stage 13 stalemate mirrored the GC slog up the Appenine icon that is the Gran Sasso one week prior in a Giro still waiting for a GC firework. "The way the wind was at the end it made it hard for attacks," pink jersey Geraint Thomas said at the finish Friday. "I was waiting for some big attacks, but I think Primoz [Roglic] was probably happy to leave me in the jersey for a few more days and let us control the race and bide his time for the final week." Highest dropout rate in almost 30 years Evenepoel is the most high profile casualty of the Giros attrition rate. (Photo: Lorenzo Di Cola/ Getty Images) Giro dItalia boss Mauro Vegni is crossing every digit that his race makes it through the next week unscathed, and that drama comes from the racing rather than the numbers of DNFs and days of dark weather. It is a case of force majeure. I have to get the Giro to Rome, that is the most important thing, Vegni told Sporza of his races coronavirus curse. This bad weather absolutely doesnt help, and that worries me more at the moment. Only three of the pelotons rain-soaked squads made it to the third weekend of the race with all eight riders still on the bus. Just 135 riders started the shortened stage Friday, over 40 fewer than those that rolled down the start ramp two weeks ago. Per Spanish outlet AS, thats the most dropouts at this stage of the race in almost 30 years, making this the most attritional Giro in decades. As a comparison, last years Giro saw 27 dropouts, while 41 starters failed to finish in 2021. The October COVID-edition of 2020 tops the recent casualty list at 133 finishers of 176. We've seen so many guys going home with sickness, so if we want to get to Rome with at least 50 guys, it's a good decision, Thomas said of Fridays stripped-down Swiss stage. It's still going to be hard racing, so I think it's a decent compromise. Ironically, its Thomas and Primoz Roglic, two of the pelotons most disaster-addled stars, that have emerged from the Giros grande casino mostly upright and now leading the classification. Of the top-echelon of pre-race contenders, five-star favorite Evenepoel left with COVID, Geoghegan Hart is in hospital with a smashed hip, Aleksandr Vlasov is out sick, and Jack Haig crashed more times than he can count. Half of Roglics support crew didnt even make the Abruzzo start after COVID swept through its ranks in a portent of the carnage to come. Washed out but riding on Stage 13 was cut short as riders invoked the extreme weather protocol. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images) The COVID wave that spread its tentacles out of the Tour de Romandie was only the first half of this Giros problem as Italy faces its worst late-spring weather in decades. This weekends Imola Grand Prix was canceled due to foul weather and thousands have been displaced after record floods devastated the Emilia Romagna region. The Giros reintroduction earlier this week of strict COVID measures throwing back to the 2020 season seem to have stimied the tide of the virus, but theres no stopping the weather gods that derailed Vegnis kingmaker 13th stage Friday. The weather conditions experienced during this years Giro have been among the most intense. In response, the riders held a vote last night to invoke the extreme weather protocol, said Adam Hansen, leader of the CPA riders union. According to the regulations, which outline freezing rain as point 1 and extreme temperatures as point 4 during certain parts of todays route, the riders agreed to vote. Given the adverse weather conditions, especially on the Italian side, the Commission decided to meet the athletes requests by applying the Extreme Weather Protocol. Stage 13 will be shortened with the new km 0 being set at Le Chable, at the bottom of the Croix de Couer. The... pic.twitter.com/6VwMOw8enS -- Giro dItalia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2023 Two weeks of cold, wet weather put the peloton on protest Friday as riders called for the stage to be reconfigured. The grizzly weather through the front-half of the race ramped the corsa rosas attrition rate as sickness and G.I. issues culled riders that escaped the carnage of slick roads and frozen descents. It has already been a terrible Giro, Ineos Grenadiers rider Laurens De Plus told Sporza. Im glad the riders used one vote. Everyone crossed the line safely. Hopefully we still have some mountains left in the Giro Geraint Thomas is waiting for the attacks to come in week three. (Photo: Luca Bettini Pool/Getty Images) A breakaway or sprinter stage Saturday will see Thomas, Roglic, Joao Almeida, and the rest of the pink jersey hunters cool their jets ahead of Sundays tricky medium mountain stage through Il Lombardia country. Thomas and the GC stars are convinced the cursed start to this corsa rosa wont tint the action in the eight stages to come. "Weather-wise, it's been the worst, but it's kind of the norm in bike racing at grand tours to have huge crashes and GC guys crashing out," Thomas said earlier this week. "You get a list of favorites at the start, and it's very rare that they all finish the race, let alone finish in the top 10. Forecasts call for mixed conditions over the Alps and Dolomites in the coming days. The peloton seems likely to see cool, damp weather in the high mountains but none of the washouts that wiped the race so far. Riders that favor the long, hard tappone that make the Giro what it is are pinning their hopes on a third week free of stages decapitated by bad weather or derailed by any other disaster. Hopefully we still have some mountains left in the Giro, GC threat Hugh Carthy said Friday. We're tired, but the climbers and GC riders, there's been stress with crashes and weather, but there's not been many opportunities to test our legs, so I think most GC riders will be fresh and motivated. I don't think what's happened so far will change too much. With 4 more dropouts after s12 (40), Giro23 is on its way to become the GT with most dropouts since 2010. Share DNF after stage 12: 23% | Giro23 20% | Vuelta22 19% | Giro20 16% | Tour21 16% | Tour12 15% | Giro10 14% | Vuelta20 14% | Vuelta16 pic.twitter.com/NTP9b1nafQ -- Cycling Statistics (@StatsOnCycling) May 18, 2023 Some critics call for a full upheaval of the Giros model to prevent some of the carnage that scarred the 2023 edition. Suggestions have been made the race could be swapped in the calendar with the Vuelta a Espana to put the peloton into the mid-August Italian sun, while others want to put an end to the endless 200km stages and 2,000m climbs. But the old-school brutality of the Giro is what makes the race what it is. Its just the perfect storm of conditions has made the so-called hardest race in the most beautiful place that bit harder and a bit less pretty this time around. For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+ today. This article originally appeared on Velo News Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates) outkicked breakaway rivals Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost) and Marco Frigo (Israel Premier Tech) to score a sizzling first grand tour victory. There was a flurry of GC action in the breakaway through the final kilometers of the Il Lombardia style stage after Joao Almeida and Primoz Roglic surged up the steep cobblestone climb into the Bergamo final. Pink jersey Bruno Armirail lost 35 seconds in the final but did enough to retain his pink jersey. The stage win marks for victory well-earned for McNulty. The 25-year-old was let off the leash by UAE Emirates several times in this Giro but could make his aggression pay off. This time, McNulty played it cool. He marked the attacks on the final categorized climb of the stage and held his nerve when he was gapped by one of Healys haymaker attacks. McNulty, Healy and Frigo came together for the final sprint to the line, and the U.S racer made his move right on time to deliver one of the biggest results of his career to date. The remainder of the top-6 in the classification finished in each others wheels, while a few GC fringe players lost two seconds in the shake up. Sundays 15th stage took the weary bunch through the jagged hills and technical descents of Il Lombardia country. The stage stacked four categorized climbs into a threatening parcours loaded with nearly 4,000m ascent. All eyes were on the breakaway to have their day, and thats how it happened. A stage with a Classic soul. Will @BrunoArmirail manage to retain the Maglia Rosa? Una tappa con un'anima da Classica. Riuscira @BrunoArmirail a difendere la Maglia Rosa? @NamedSport #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/dVArdH70YT -- Giro dItalia (@giroditalia) May 21, 2023 Healy, McNulty, Frigo, and attacker aces Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) were among the 17 riders that went away in the first 10km. Back in the bunch, Ineos Grenadiers and Jumbo-Visma were happy to let Groupama-FDJ do almost all the pulling while it took care of the maglia, and Armirails team gave the escape group plenty of room to move. Healy, McNulty, Frigo and the remnants of the day's break dropped into the valley ahead of the kingmaker final climb of the Roncola Alto with more than five minutes over the peloton and 75km of racing remaining. The mix of rouleurs, sprinters, and climbers in the breakaway saw riders try to go away ahead of the 17 percent ramps at the base of the final Roncola Alta. Mollema had a go but was countered, and Niccolo Bonifazio (Intermarche) was next to try to get a gap. Healy throws a haymaker, McNulty and Frigo come back swinging Frigo, McNulty and Healy attacked on the final categorized climb, split apart over the summit, and came back together for the final. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images) Like expected, it was the uneven ramps of the Roncola that made the winning selection. Frigo attacked early, and Healy and McNulty bridged across in the gnarly mid-section of the climb. Healy launched a wattbomb around 4km from the summit, and it looked like the Irishman was set to repeat his solo feats of last weekends seventh stage. But McNulty stayed cool and descended back to Healys wheel on the sinuous descent and the two dropped into the most-flat 15km run toward Bergamo with 20 seconds over the hard-chasing Frigo. Frigo made the TT of his life and latched back to McNulty and Healy with just 10km to go. Each of the three attacked on the run toward the cobbled Bergamo ramp but couldnt shake their rivals. Healy launched a huge attack over the Italian berg but McNulty was like a limpet on the wheel. Frigo looked like he was dropped but made the catch in the final 800m. The Italian launched from the back but faded with the line in sight. McNulty marked Healys counter-acceleration and came out of the Irishmans wheel 50m out to score his first grand tour victory. Skirmish in the GC group Almeida and Roglic kicked to the front of the GC group on the short cobblestone climb into Bergamo, and Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) went backward. Thomas piled on in the twisting run toward the line and Hugh Carthy (EF Education EasyPost) also lost the wheels. However, Pinot and Kamna dug deep in a small group of GC chasers and came to the line just meters from the rest of the favorites an only lost two seconds.. Armirail was also dropped but limited his losses to retain pink through the rest day Monday. Whether he keeps it through the highest Alps of week three will be another matter. Results powered by FirstCycling.com For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+ today. Jean-Luc Godard's posthumous short film is showing for the first time at Cannes in 2023 Stars and film buffs turned out on a rainy Sunday at Cannes to see the last film by Jean-Luc Godard, one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century. Posthumous short film "Phony Wars" was presented alongside a new documentary about the Swiss director, who died last year aged 91 by assisted suicide. US director Jim Jarmusch and actor Salma Hayek were among those at the screening, along with China's Wang Bing who has a documentary in this year's competition. Godard's short film was a collage of images with text set to bursts of music -- characteristic of the director's beautiful but ever-more obscure late works. The documentary, "Godard by Godard", retraces the main chapters in Godard's long career, from his rule-breaking early movies "Breathless" and "Band of Outsiders" that have inspired generations of filmmakers, and shows his playful side at work and in interviews. There was spontaneous applause midway through when it showed Godard at Cannes in 1968, calling for the festival to be cancelled in solidarity with student protests. There have been fears of unrest at this year's edition linked to President Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms, though there has been little disruption so far. Godard's work "will continue to live in books, films, and find new audiences and young spectators," said Frederic Bonnaud, president of the French Cinematheque, who wrote the documentary's script. Godard made a turn to politics in the 1970s, and then stopped making features completely for several years as he experimented with different styles and technologies. When he returned to features in the 1980s and 1990s, his experimental style brought him both acclaim and derision. One scene shows a member of the public throwing a cream cake in his face at Cannes in 1985. eab/er/rox Guide Andrew Huffman shows guests a spirit safe modeled after the type used by Ronald Julius Michelone, grandfather of cofounder and lead distiller Ryan Lang, as part of a tour and tasting in 2022 at Middle West Spirits in Columbus. The business is one of the local distilleries featured in the Columbus Distillery Trail. For anyone looking to have a night filled with good spirits, Columbus is the place to be. The craft spirit industry is going strong in central Ohio as local distilleries bring unique flavors and innovations to devotees as well as newcomers. And what better time to explore the burgeoning scene than now, with National Craft Distillery Day being celebrated Monday? More: Columbus Distillery Trail encourages sampling of local craft spirits at seven stops To help guide you, there's even a Columbus Distillery Trail, launched by Experience Columbus, the destination marketing organization for the Columbus region. "There is a remarkable group of craft distillers in our community that are bringing a remarkable passion to the craft of spirit making," Michelle Wilson of Experience Columbus told The Dispatch when the trail launched in 2022. "They have such a passion for it and are each creating their own unique take on spirits and winning a lot of national awards." Kristen McMaster and Robert Cherry, both of Dublin, try a sample of Middle West Spirits' Michelone Reserve bourbon whiskey in a file photo. Those age 21 or older are invited to download the Distillery Trail's digital passport at experiencecolumbus.com/fun. After going to four stops, visitors will receive a custom Simple Times mixer. Participants visiting all seven stops will receive a Columbus Distillery Trail T-shirt. All check-ins and prize redemptions must be completed by March 31, 2024; the pass can be restarted annually. Read more: Middle West Spirits expansion underway for state's biggest distillery What businesses are on the Columbus Distillery Trail? The Columbus-area stops are: Echo Spirits Distilling Co., 985 W. 6th Ave., echospirits.com Endeavor Brewing and Spirits, 909 W. 5th Ave., endeavorbrewing.com 451 Spirits, 590 Oakland Park Ave., 451spirits.com High Bank Distillery, 1051 Goodale Blvd. in Grandview Heights and 1379 E. Johnstown Road in Gahanna, highbankco.com Middle West Spirits, 1230 Courtland Ave., middlewestspirits.com Noble Cut Distillery, 750 Cross Pointe Road, Suite D, noblecutdistillery.com Watershed Distillery, 1145 Chesapeake Ave., Suite D, watersheddistillery.com/kitchenandbar Andrew Huffman pours spirits taken directly from the still for guests to sample at the Middle West Spirits in a file photo. ThisWeek reporter Alan Froman contributed to this report. rsmith@dispatch.com @ReadRyanSmith This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 7 craft spirit distilleries to try in the Columbus area Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he does not believe former President Donald Trump can win in a general election for president. I dont think Trump can win a general election, Cassidy said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, when asked about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss claim that there are only three credible candidates for president in 2024 himself, Trump and President Joe Biden and only two (himself and Biden) who could win in November. Cassidy pointed out that the statement was also a way to dismiss formidable GOP opponents, like South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who filed paperwork to run on Friday. "You just have to take this as a competitor trying to dis others," Cassidy said. DeSantis has yet to officially enter the race, but the Republican governor is expected to launch his campaign this week. Trump is currently the front-runner in the growing GOP field. But his victory is anything but certain, Cassidy said, pointing to a poor performance from Trump-endorsed candidates in the midterm elections last year particularly in swing states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona. If past [is] prologue, that means President Trump is going to have a hard time in those swing states, which means that he cannot win a general election, Cassidy said. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said on Sunday that he does not think Donald Trump can win a general election in 2024. Hes the latest Republican to back out of supporting the former president in his effort to take back the White House. I dont think Trump can win a general election, Cassidy told CNNs State of the Union, after he was asked about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) alleged statement that there are only three credible candidates for president Trump, President Joe Biden and himself and that only the latter two could win in the general election. The Louisiana senator said that the alleged claim by DeSantis is a nice way for him to diss people like Tim Scott, whos a pretty formidable candidate. Scott, a Republican senator from South Carolina, filed paperwork on Friday to officially run for president. I dont think Trump can win a general election Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (LA) weighs in on former President Trumps chances in 2024. #CNNSOTU@CNNSotupic.twitter.com/NrugfySRxJ CNN (@CNN) May 21, 2023 DeSantis is expected to officially announce his presidential candidacy this week, though the Republican governor has already been considered Trumps biggest rival in a growing pool of GOP presidential candidates. DeSantis has garnered national attention for turning Florida into a hostile state for marginalized groups, including Black and brown residents, refugees, abortion-seekers and members of the LGBTQ community. While Trump who incited an insurrection at the Capitol in 2021 to try and stay in power is still considered the GOP front-runner, Cassidy said recent elections have shown that Trumps name is no longer associated with victory. The Louisiana Republican cited swing states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, where all Senate candidates who were endorsed by Trump lost their race in the 2022 midterm elections. If you had taken the votes that went to other Republicans and put them together, those Republicans would have won, the senator said. So I think the presidents kind of high-profile endorsement of those candidates actually hurt those candidates, at least in the general election. So, if past [is] prologue, that means President Trump is going to have a hard time in those swing states, which means that he cannot win a general election. Related... GOP wants unspent COVID funds for debt limit. Biden is open, but health experts aren't. WASHINGTON The trillions of dollars Congress approved since 2020 for fighting the coronavirus pandemic were piled onto the federal deficit as an emergency need that didnt have to be offset with spending cuts or revenue hikes. Now that the emergency is over, House Republicans want to take back the less than 1% of remaining funds. Its one of the demands theyve made in exchange for agreeing to avoid a default on the nations debt, which could happen as soon as June 1. And its something President Joe Biden has said hed take a hard look at it. We dont need it all, Biden told reporters earlier this month. Its on the table. But mayors are still counting on transit funding and other help. Some nursing homes say they still need their relief payments. And public health advocates worry rescinding funds will hurt efforts to prepare for the next virus and take money away from a persistently underfunded public health system. Its pennywise and pound foolish, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist who served on Biden's COVID transition team. Because there will be additional pandemics. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the money was intended for the COVID-19 pandemic which he said is over. "If the money was authorized to fight the pandemic but was not spent during the pandemic, it should not be spent after the pandemic is over, he said last month. Comparing plans Debt limit crisis has Biden and GOP divided. Here's how their plans to fix things compare. President Joe Biden walks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as he departs the Capitol following the annual St. Patrick's Day gathering, in Washington, Friday, March 17, 2023. The federal public health emergency declared at the beginning of 2020 ended May 11, though Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra emphasized fighting COVID-19 remains a public health priority. That includes protecting those at highest risk and monitoring the latest variants, Becerra said when the emergency declaration expired. The amount of funding remaining from six laws passed during the public health emergency is a moving target. When the GOP-controlled House passed a bill in April to raise the debt limit in exchange for cutting various types of spending, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated clawing back pandemic funding would save about $30 billion. The bean counters excluded $316 billion in remaining funds that the government is legally obligated to pay out. An additional $16 billion that CBO estimated would be committed before any deal was finalized was also excluded. The remaining $30 billion is dwarfed by the more than $31 trillion in debt the nation owes. But it would still help, says Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group. I don't think there's any scenario where one should dismiss $30 billion as not real money, she said. Even though much of the money would go to incredibly important causes, MacGuineas said, the pandemic is no longer an emergency so lawmakers should find a way to pay for the spending as part of the regular budget process. One of the largest pots of remaining funds is in a Department of Health and Human Services account to address a wide range of natural and man-made public health threats. House Democrats say the money is still needed to keep the Strategic National Stockpile full of essential medical supplies, to shore up hospitals and nursing homes, and to develop vaccines and treatments for future variants. A registered nurse fills a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a pop-up vaccination site in the Staten Island borough of New York, April 8, 2021. You dont stop funding the fire department when there havent been any fires, said Dr. Alonzo Plough, chief science officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the former public health commissioner for Boston and Seattle. Theres so much more to do that we cannot declare victory in protecting the public health around emergent threats and erode the funding. Even if the funds arent rescinded, the nations public health system would not have enough money, said Dr. Shelley Hearne, a professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University. Were cutting unspent funds that are absolutely needed, she said. We have shortchanged public health for over 20 years. The 14th Amendment explained Can Biden declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional? Katie Smith Sloan, the president and CEO of LeadingAge, the largest association for nonprofit nursing homes, said its wrong to equate unspent with unneeded. Nursing homes continue to struggle to recruit and retain workers while managing rising operating costs, she said, and the millions of dollars Congress approved in COVID-relief payments are critical. But a spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association, the nations largest trade group for nursing homes, said her organization is less concerned about the fate of the remaining provider relief funds and more focused on whether House Republicans and the White House can reach a compromise before the Treasury Department is unable to pay its bills. Nursing home residents primarily rely on Medicaid and Medicare, and any disruption of these lifeline reimbursements will result in devastating consequences for our nations most vulnerable, said Rachel Reeves, senior vice president of public affairs. In addition to HHS, the Transportation Department also has a large chunk of the remaining COVID funding. A program to protect aviation manufacturing jobs during the pandemic still had $2.3 billion of its original $3 billion left at the start of the year, according to a White House budget document obtained by USA TODAY. The document states the program is largely over. An additional $2.5 billion remained in grants to transit agencies, though the DOT was still processing applications totaling $1.1 billion. While most of the transit programs nearly $30.5 billion in relief funding has gone out the door, a spokesperson for the American Public Transportation Association said transit agencies are relying on the remaining dollars to address ongoing COVID impacts, such as restoration of ridership and farebox revenues. Albert Dowdell, wears a protective mask on a bus during the COVID-19 outbreak in Detroit, Wednesday, April 8, 2020. Detroit buses will have surgical masks available to riders starting Wednesday, a new precaution the city is taking from the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) ORG XMIT: MIPS102 An Emergency Connectivity Fund was intended to aid remote learning during the pandemic but is still distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to schools and libraries. Just this week, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District received $4.2 million its using to get about 3,000 people a years worth of free Wi-Fi from Cox Communications. Connectivity is not just a utility, said Kelvin Watson, the districts executive director. Its a necessity in todays time. Pandemic relief funding the district previously received paid for 2,000 Chromebooks, some of which were distributed to people living in low-income housing and residents going through the librarys literacy program. April 21, 2023; Alexandria, VA, USA; Daisy Andonyadis, a third grade teacher at Cora Kelly School, observes her students in the library Friday, April 21, 2023.. Mandatory Credit: Josh Morgan-USA TODAY [Via MerlinFTP Drop] Rental assistance and community development programs would also take a hit, according to CBO. The head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors said House Republicans plan would unravel cities ongoing pandemic recovery efforts. No debt limit increase should undermine the federal commitment to American cities, said Tom Cochran, the groups CEO and executive director. The White House declined to elaborate on Bidens comment that not all of the unspent funds are needed. Osterholm, the former member of Bidens COVID transition team, said some public health experts are hearing its all on the table. While Osterholm is worried that a rescission would hinder efforts to develop new vaccines and treatments, he said he understands the difficult spot the administration is in as it tries to avoid a default that would devastate the economy. Theyre basically stuck with very unfortunate choices, he said. So Im glad Im not in their position. 'The luxury of shuttle diplomacy' McConnell could use ties to McCarthy and Biden to end debt fight This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden open to GOP debt-limit demand to rescind COVID funding ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis claimed victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday, saying he had a mandate to form a strong autonomous government. Early official results indicated on Sunday that Mitsotakis' conservative New Democracy party was set for a big win in Greece's election, but was short of the majority needed to form a one-party government. "The ballot results are decisive. They show that New Democracy has the approval of the people to rule, strong and autonomous," Mitsotakis said. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou) (Bloomberg) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pummeled his opposition in Sundays national election, moving a step closer to getting another four-year term and sending markets higher on the prospect that the premiers investment-friendly policies will continue. Most Read from Bloomberg Mitsotakiss center-right New Democracy received almost 41% of the vote compared to about 20% for the leftist Syriza party of former premier Alexis Tsipras. The premier fell short of the threshold to immediately form a government on his own, meaning he will likely opt for another ballot in about a month rather than try to form a coalition. The Athens Stock Exchange General Index rose as much as 7.5%. Greek bonds edged higher, dropping the yield on 10-year debt to 3.82%, the lowest level since December. Moodys Investors Service said the outcome of the election was a credit-positive. Voters were convinced by Mitsotakiss pledge to build on one of the European Unions fastest economic recoveries that has Greece on the cusp of a return to investment grade. Even though the prime minister has the option to try to form a political alliance, he indicated he would prefer a new election since he seems to have the support to secure a single-party government. New elections should be held as soon as possible, Mitsotakis said on Monday, adding that it could happen as soon as June 25. Sundays election was the first under a new proportional representation system that effectively means that a candidate needs around 48% of the vote to be able to form a single-party government. If a second election is held, the winner will get a bonus of as many as 50 seats, meaning that the threshold falls to about 38%, depending on the number of parties that qualify for the 300-seat parliament. The results were well beyond market expectations with New Democracy being the clear winner, said Alevizos Alevizakos, managing director of Axia Ventures Athens branch. While its highly unlikely that a government will be formed after this election, the next two days wont be as volatile as previously expected. Voters were particularly focused on Greeces economic transformation, which has seen gross domestic product recover to just about where it was when Greece lost its ability to repay its debt in 2010. Unemployment has more than halved from its peak of 28% and the countrys stocks and bonds have soared. The risk premium on Greek government debt compared with Germanys has fallen by about a third over the past year. They trade with a similar yield to Italian bonds. The rebound in the economy has set the nation on track to recover its investment-grade status after 13 years. The economy is expected to reach 223 billion ($243 billion) this year, roughly what it was in 2010, estimates from Eurostat show. We rather expect a strong bounce with solid market volumes in the coming period, said Alevizakos, who expects that New Democracy will be able to form a strong single-party government in the second election that will be supportive of all Greek assets in the short and long term. The election was overshadowed by several incidents that weighed on Mitsotakiss campaign in the run-up to the vote. These included a train crash earlier this year that left 57 people dead and a scandal in which the prime minister confirmed that his intelligence agency spied on an opposition candidate. Still, New Democracys margin of victory was the largest since 1974 and its share of the vote rose slightly since the last election in 2019. Mitsotakiss party won in all but one of the 59 electoral districts. New Democracy has the peoples approval to rule alone, Mitsotakis said Sunday night. I know how much work we have ahead of us, which requires a government that truly believes in reforms and the ability to implement them. (Updates market moves in the third paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. By Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece's ruling New Democracy party stormed to a crushing victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday but fell just short of the threshold needed to form a government on its own, making a runoff election in a month more likely. With most votes counted, conservative New Democracy took a commanding lead of 40.8%, trouncing the radical leftist Syriza, which governed from 2015 to 2019, which polled 20.1%. Greece's interior ministry projected New Democracy could win 145 seats in parliament, six short of an absolute majority. From Monday, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give the top three parties - New Democracy, Syriza and the Socialist PASOK - three days each in turn to form a coalition government. If they all fail, Sakellaropoulou will appoint a caretaker government to prepare new elections about a month later. Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has repeatedly said he wants a strong one-party government, said he believed he was given a clear mandate. "The ballot results are decisive. They show that New Democracy has the approval of the people to rule, strong and autonomous," he told cheering crowds outside party headquarters in downtown Athens. The result was a stunning boost for Mitsotakis, whose administration had to contend with a wiretapping scandal, the COVID pandemic, a cost of living crisis and a deadly rail crash in February which triggered public outrage. In equal measure, it was a disaster for Syriza and its leader Alexis Tsipras, a firebrand catapulted to power in 2015 on the back of voters' discontent with other parties over their handling of the debt crisis which ravaged Greece's economy for more than a decade. The MeRA25 movement headlined by Yanis Varoufakis, a former Syriza finance minister forced to resign by Tsipras in the chaotic 2015 negotiations with lenders, failed to get a seat in parliament. MATH DOES NOT ADD UP Without Mitsotakis, the numbers for the outliers, should they be given a mandate, do not add up. Syriza has 72 seats, PASOK 41 seats, the Communist KKE party 26 and the right-wing Hellenic Solution 16. KKE has said it would not take part in any alliance, while Hellenic Solution has been critical of both New Democracy and Syriza. Tsipras, who said he telephoned Mitsotakis to congratulate him on his win, said the race was not over. "Battles have wins, and losses," he said. "The electoral cycle has not ended yet ... it is very possible there will be a second election." Greece almost crashed out of the euro at the peak of its debt crisis in 2015, forcing the country, under Tsipras' watch, to take a third bailout from international lenders. Mitsotakis, elected in 2019, had portrayed himself as a safe pair of hands in his campaign to win the votes of just under 10 million Greeks, promising to raise wages and pensions cut during the crisis. The result rewarded Mitsotakis' focus on trying to improve financial conditions for Greeks, said Panos Koliastasis, adjunct assistant professor of politics at the University of Peloponnese. "He also had a clear proposal of (how) he will be in power - that of an autonomous government. The alternative of Syriza, of a coalition government, wasn't that realistic because others refused to cooperate," he said. Elections in Greece are held every four years for the 300-seat parliament. (Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Deborah Kyvrikosaios and Tzina Kalovyrna; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Giles Elgood and Chris Reese) Military and police officers guard a restaurant where an armed group shot at customers and workers in Montanita, Ecuador Gunmen in Ecuador opened fire in a restaurant in a beach town popular with tourists, killing at least six people and wounding six more, prosecutors said Sunday. The attack happened Saturday night in a busy nightlife area of the town of Montanita on the Pacific coast, the prosecutors' office said on Twitter. It gave no information on the age or identity of the people who were shot. Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's top producers of cocaine, Ecuador is weathering the biggest surge in crime in its recent history. Crime linked to drug trafficking caused the murder rate to almost double from 2021 to 2022. A woman who was near the restaurant at the time of the latest shooting described hearing gunshots. "We heard the noise -- boom, boom, boom, and people said, 'run, run, it's a shootout,'" the woman told AFP. She declined to give her name, saying she feared reprisal. It was the second mass shooting in days on Ecuador's Pacific coast. On Thursday gunmen burst into a wake at a funeral home in the nearby town of Manta and started shooting, killing four people and leaving eight wounded. Conservative President Guillermo Lasso has tried to counter the crime wave by declaring a state of emergency in the hardest-hit provinces, such as Santa Elena, which includes Montanita. The measure allows for deploying soldiers in the streets and declaring curfews. The government blames the violence on fights between drug gangs battling for power and control of routes to ship cocaine and other drugs from the Pacific coast to Europe and the United States. These battles have also claimed lives in prisons, as rival gangs fight each other behind bars. More than 420 inmates have died in rioting since 2021. jss/dw/md A Cobb County man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of armed robbery and one count of violation of Georgia controlled substances act. Officials say Gregory Allen Scott, 36, robbed an Exxon gas station on Atlanta Road in Marietta in January 2022. Cobb County police officers responded to the scene and learned an unknown masked man entered the gas station requesting a pack of cigarettes at the counter. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Scott reportedly jumped over the counter, stole money from the counter, register and back office. He then fled on foot toward the mobile home park located next to the gas station. During their investigation, police learned Scott had been in the gas station only minutes prior without a mask and wearing the same clothing. He is also seen on surveillance smoking a cigarette by the front door. Police had help identifying Scott; a long-time employee of the gas station recognized him after watching surveillance video of the armed robbery attempt. She told officers that she recognized Scott, a regular patron of the BP gas station nearby on South Cobb Drive. TRENDING STORIES: Detectives obtained surveillance footage of the BP gas station, where Scott is seen the same morning in a black Chevrolet Malibu with a woman who officers learned was fired from the Exxon for stealing. Officers determined that the Chevrolet Malibu was owned by the mother of Scotts child. Detectives tracked the vehicle on FLOCK cameras and determined minutes before the armed robbery, the vehicle was two miles from the Exxon gas station and headed towards the store. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Police secured an arrest warrant and detained Scott without incident on March 3, 2022. During his arrest, police also found Scott in possession of methamphetamine. Superior Court Judge Kimberly A. Childs sentenced Scott to a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole based on his prior convictions for armed robbery and kidnapping. IN OTHER NEWS: NORWICH Local leaders and members of the Norwich community gathered outside city hall Thursday for the Haitian Flag Raising ceremony, recognizing Haitian Flag Day. About two dozen attended, some carrying their own Haitian flags as well. This was a part of the Haitian Heritage Month organized by the Greeneville Neighborhood Committee. Cynthia Jean-Mary, the group's vice president, gave a speech while it was translated from English into Haitian Creole by Jean Gerard Luc. Jean-Mary spoke about Haitian history, as it was the first independent nation in the Caribbean since colonization. The Haitian people fought against oppression and tyranny in the past, and prevailed. It is that indomitable spirit that courses through our veins today, she said. The Haitian Flag waving in Norwich. This is the first flag raising on the new flagpole at the city hall courtyard. The Haitian community should also build upon its traditions and share it with the world, Jean-Mary said. Our heritage has gifted us a rich tapestry of culture, art, music, and literature, she said. Haitian population is growing in U.S. The Haitian population has also been increasing around the country as part of an immigration plan the U.S. announced in January. This plan will accept 30,000 people monthly from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. People selected for the program can work in the U.S. for two years if they pass background checks and have eligible sponsors, the AP reported. While there may be challenges, Jean-Mary wanted to remind the Haitians who are coming now to the U.S. to maintain their culture, support each other, and remember that theyre resilient people. Your decision to leave your home in search of a new opportunity is a courageous one, and I want you to know that you are not alone, she said. Raising the Haitian flag was Maximus Baruch Bouilly, Jean-Marys son. He said its important that Norwich holds the flag raisings. If you are a part of a community, it makes you feel good that you are seen in the community, he said. Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom also gave a proclamation recognizing Haitian Flag Day in Norwich Norwich is home to a large Haitian community, which is integral to the fabric of the Rose City, and contributes immeasurably to the citys rich diversity, he said during the proclamation. Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom presents Greeneville Neighborhood Committee Vice President Cynthia Jean-Mary with a proclamation recognizing the Haitian community in Norwich during the Haitian Flag Raising on May 18. This was also the first of the Global City Norwich flag raisings to use the new flagpole installed at the city hall courtyard. A smaller, portable flagpole was used in prior ceremonies. A car was used to support the old flagpoles base. This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Norwich recognizes Haitian Flag Day in Haitian Heritage Month The oldest civil rights group in the U.S. is cautioning travelers to reconsider visits to Florida as they join other advocates in expressing distaste for the states openly hostile leadership. The NAACP issued a travel advisory Saturday in response to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attempts to ban books about race and LGBTQ+ identities, reject a new Advanced Placement African American Studies course and bar diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida colleges. The advisory was proposed to the national Board of Directors in April during the NAACP Florida chapters conference in Orlando. Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals, the advisory says. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color. As for NAACP President Derrick Johnson, he asserts DeSantis has launched unrelenting attacks on fundamental freedoms. Let me be clear failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all, Johnson said in a statement. The NAACP has pushed back against DeSantis and state lawmakers even distributing thousands of banned books related to race to communities of color across the state. Once again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people, chair Leon Russell said in a statement. Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority. Its nothing but a stunt take a look at Floridas record tourism numbers, Taryn M. Fenske, communications director of the governors office, told the Miami Herald in an email Monday. DeSantis will file paperwork Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission and formally announce his presidential candidacy for the Republican nomination via video on social media, sources say. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media during a press conference at Christopher Columbus High School on Monday, March 27, 2023, in Miami, Fla. The press conference was held to announce DeSantiss signing of a private school voucher expansion, HB1, which allows more Florida school children become eligible for taxpayer-funded school vouchers. MATIAS J. OCNER/mocner@miamiherald.com NAACP joins LULAC and Equality Florida The NAACP isnt the only civil rights organization to declare a travel warning for Florida in recent months. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), one of the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights group in the U.S., issued a warning Wednesday advising immigrants and their families to avoid traveling to the Sunshine State because of DeSantis recent crackdown on immigration. READ MORE: Civil-rights group issues Florida travel alert in response to DeSantis immigration crackdown The warnings follow DeSantis signing a bill earlier this month that limits undocumented migrant labor, ends community-funded programs that give undocumented immigrants ID cards and toughens penalties against those who transport undocumented immigrants into the state. If you bring your tia (aunt) to Disney World... to Miami or Universal Studios, they are going to charge you with a felony for bringing your undocumented friend or relative to Florida, LULAC President Domingo Garcia said during a press conference. Florida is a dangerous, hostile environment for law-abiding Americans and immigrants. Equality Florida, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, issued a similar alert in April, warning that going to Florida may pose a risk to peoples health, safety and freedom. Meanwhile, hundreds of tourists on Sunday swarmed South Beach, playing volleyball, day drinking at restaurants along Ocean Drive and basking in the afternoon sun. Miami Beach, known for its clear waters and LGBTQ+ friendly nightlife, welcomes more than 3 million tourists from around the world every year. The Herald went to the tourism hub to talk to visitors about the travel advisories. However, most people declined to comment and several said they were unaware of the advisories and why they were in place. Fireworks over the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS Will the travel advisories impact tourism? Tourism is one of Floridas major industries, with close to 138 million tourists visiting the state in 2022, according to Visit Florida, the states official tourism marketing corporation. In 2021, tourists spent almost $102 billion, supporting more than 1.7 million jobs. Between January and March 2023, Florida saw a record 37.9 million visitors, the largest volume of visitors ever recorded in a single quarter, DeSantis said Friday in a news release. Last week, The Walt Disney Company scrapped its plans for a billion dollar office complex in Florida as the company and DeSantis continue their ongoing feud. The companys determination to halt the project comes after Disney CEO Bob Iger recently questioned whether Disney should continue to invest in the state, The Hill reported. In a call to investors, Iger said that Florida was taking retaliation against free speech. Dana Young, President and CEO of Visit Florida, told the Herald via email Monday evening that partisan organizations are attempting to weaponize travel in pursuit of political ends. The saddest part of this political stunt is that the people who would be most impacted are the hardworking hospitality professionals in Florida who depend on tourism to support themselves and their families, Young said. READ MORE: How did the Disney-DeSantis feud develop? A timeline from COVID rules to culture wars For David Whitaker, the president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), the travel advisories are an invitation for visitors to learn more about the areas tourism and hospitality ecosystem and what we and our partners are doing in Miami to be welcoming and inclusive. GMCVB is the sales and marketing organization for Greater Miami and Miami Beach. Miami and by extension Florida would see a negative impact from less visitors, Whitaker told the Herald. The worst impact, however, would be the missed opportunity to empower diverse small businesses, entrepreneurs and employees. In the case of Miami, it is not so much a celebration of progress as it is a part of our DNA Diversity is in our cultural fabric, Whitaker told the Herald. Miamis authenticity in terms of the diversity of our people, experiences, neighborhoods and heritages is one of if not the key differentiators for us as a travel and event destination. The bureau, Whitaker said, aims to use this challenge to educate visitors and clients about the diverse offerings and experiences they can find in Florida. We respectfully invite anyone considering not traveling here to first learn of all of the programs and partnerships in place that celebrate our diversity, Whitaker said. We simply need to double down and make sure we get a chance to let visitors and potential visitors know their investment in Miami is an investment in our people. Elected officials weigh in Several Florida elected officials also used NAACPs sentiments to laud their respective cities diversity and inclusion efforts. Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade, said Monday via Twitter that the county has long been a place that celebrates its rich diversity and ensures all people feel safe and welcome. Our diverse cultural traditions have transformed our county into a global destination, and we stand against any efforts that undermine our strength and prosperity, Levine Cava said. Miami-Dade has long been a place that celebrates its rich diversity and ensures all people feel safe and welcome. Our diverse cultural traditions have transformed our county into a global destination, and we stand against any efforts that undermine our strength and prosperity. pic.twitter.com/7uVnl4LoWU Daniella Levine Cava (@MayorDaniella) May 22, 2023 Dan Gelber, mayor of Miami Beach, told the Herald that the Florida legislative agenda is intentionally offensive to people of color and the LGBTQ+ community. It feels like we have all become unwilling props for Governor DeSantis imminent primary bid, Gelber said. But it should be very obvious that not all communities agree with this agenda, especially mine. Ken Welch, mayor of St. Petersburg, said on Twitter that the Gulf Coast city is a shining example of bridge-building, collaboration, Intentional Equity, and respect for all and welcomes anyone visiting. We are intentional with our work to make @StPeteFL a shining example of bridge-building, collaboration, Intentional Equity, and respect for all. #WeAreStPete means EVERYONE is always welcome and will be treated with dignity and respect. #InclusiveProgress https://t.co/2U891fYX18 Ken Welch (@MayorKenWelch) May 21, 2023 Jane Castor, mayor of Tampa, said on Facebook that diversity and inclusion are central to what makes Tampa one of Americas greatest and friendliest cities and that will never change, regardless of what happens in Tallahassee. Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah carry out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, Sunday, May 21, 2023. The show of force came ahead of "Liberation Day," the annual celebration of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, and in the wake of a recent escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) AARAMTA, Lebanon (AP) The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise. Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel. The exercise came ahead of Liberation Day, the annual celebration of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, and in the wake of a recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, has long had ties with Hezbollah. The recent heightened tensions also come months after Lebanon and Israel signed a landmark U.S.-brokered maritime border agreement, which many analysts predicted would lower the risk of a future military confrontation between the two countries. The Israeli military declined to comment on the Hezbollah exercise. Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said in a speech Sunday that the exercise was meant to confirm our complete readiness to confront any aggression by Israel. On the other side of the border, Israeli forces have also occasionally invited journalists to watch exercises simulating a war with Hezbollah. Officials from both sides frequently allude to their readiness for conflict in public statements. On the ground, however, the conflict has been largely frozen since the two sides fought a brutal and inconclusive one-month war in 2006. Israel regularly strikes targets related to Hezbollah and its backer, Iran, in neighboring Syria. In Lebanon, while Israel and Hezbollah, as well as armed Palestinian groups, have exchanged periodic strikes in the years since 2006, they have largely avoided casualties on either side. Most recently, Israel launched rare strikes on southern Lebanon last month after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there, wounding two people in Israel and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it targeted installations of Hamas, which it blamed for the rocket fire, in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah derided the claim, saying the Israeli strikes had only hit banana groves and a water irrigation channel. Safieddine in his speech Sunday alluded to the groups possession of precision-guided missiles, which were not on display but which he said Israel would see later. Elias Farhat, a retired Lebanese army general who is currently a researcher in military affairs, said Hezbollahs symbolic show of strength on Sunday appeared to be in response to the recent escalation in Gaza. He said it could also be a response to a demonstration Thursday in Jerusalem by thousands of Jewish nationalists, some of whom chanted Death to Arabs and other racist slogans, in celebration of Jerusalem Day. The day marks Israels capture of the Old City 56 years ago. Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center who researches Hezbollah, said that in the past when there was an escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Lebanese armed group would sometimes fire off rockets or allow a Palestinian faction in Lebanon to do so. But he said Sundays military exercise was a lower-risk way to show force. Given that Friday marked the return of Syria an ally of Hezbollah and Iran to the Arab League, Hage Ali said, Hezbollah may not have wanted a clash on the border with Israel to distract from the Arab reconciliation. While the military exercise is showing how strong they are and sending a message to the Israelis, it also demonstrates that this time around, they dont want to escalate, he said. ___ Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed. (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee is planning to lead a one-week delegation to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in a bid to deepen ties with Asean member countries, the South China Morning Post reported. Most Read from Bloomberg The group will include top city government officials and local representatives from the financial, technology and professional services industries, the SCMP reported, citing sources familiar with the trip. Lee is expected to meet key leaders from the three countries he plans to visit, the newspaper said, citing one of the people. Hong Kong has been pushing to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a China-backed trade pact that includes Asean nations and is the worlds largest free trade agreement by members gross domestic product. Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan are also parties. China has said its been seeking support from other nations for Hong Kong to join the deal. Hong Kong exited recession in the first quarter of this year as the reopening of its borders revived spending after years of stringent pandemic controls. Lee has said growth for the second quarter is expected to be much better. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. No blanket rules The Overland Park, Sugar Creek and Kansas City, Kansas, city councils repealed their pit bull bans without petitions or public votes. Only three of the 90-plus cities and counties in the metropolitan area still have bans: Kearney, Leawood and Independence. (April 3, 7A, Independence must follow the facts on its pit bull ban) Breed-specific laws dont make Independence safer. Nearby communities, including Blue Springs, Kansas City and Liberty, dont have pit bull bans. Lees Summit never had breed-specific laws. They all use dangerous-dog ordinances instead. This kind of law curbs aggressive behavior whether the dog is a German shepherd, Doberman or pit bull. Dangerous-dog ordinances judge dogs by their behavior, not their breed. The Humane Society of the United States, the ASPCA and the American Veterinary Medical Association oppose breed-specific legislation. More than 100 Independence registered voters collected 5,679 signatures to repeal the breed-specific ban here. At least 3,740 were validated by the Jackson County Election Board. The City Council must either repeal the law or place it on the August ballot at a cost of $200,000. We encourage the Independence City Council to repeal the pit bull ban, strengthen the dangerous-dog ordinance and include stronger enforcement of that law. - Jason White and Lucy Young, Former Independence City Council members, Independence Real debt solutions In 2010, The Star published an opinion piece I wrote on how to whittle down the federal budget. I was concerned that the national debt was then approaching $13.5 trillion. Today, its $31 trillion. (May 18, 2A, America will not default, Biden says of budget talks) The Republican Party is guilty of hypocrisy and risking worldwide economic damage with its members treatment of debt. Since Ronald Reagan, the GOP has committed itself to tax cuts and more spending, including the largest unfunded expansion of a social welfare program in history. Never have Republicans challenged a debt increase under a Republican president. Currently, 77% of the $5.792 trillion budget covers four areas: Social Security, medical care, defense and interest on the national debt and these continue to grow. We now basically borrow money to do everything the government does except in these four categories. Under current GOP thinking, to balance a budget, we would have to eliminate agriculture supports, transportation, law enforcement, disaster support, veterans benefits and more. If Republicans really want to stop this cycle of ruinous budget deficits, they need to work with Democrats. This means they must support increased revenue with both program improvements and tax increases. Continuing to borrow money to carry out major functions of government is nonsensical and disastrous. - Bond R. Faulwell, Overland Park Air turbulence Straighten up and fly right. Thats really what Americans want the airlines to do. That goes for the Federal Aviation Administration, too. If it means re-regulation, then bring it back. And, perhaps for safety sake, schedule a trained and armed security person for every flight on a major carrier. The industry has become an international embarrassment. At 75, I have seen the glory days of flying, such as Braniffs service. After that, the industry took a nosedive to the cheap seats and passenger behavior acceptable only to back-alley cruisers. Its not just the insatiable discount mentality. It has to do with an oversight agency that has become unfit, bloated with Luddites in a holding pattern awaiting retirement, with no flight plan for the future. Maybe a two-tier industry would be a place to start until somebody with a clear-and-a-million vision could create a superior plan. Or, how about creating a national rail system designed for all Americans to use? Regardless, get in gear, Department of Transportation. If youre going to move America beyond tomorrow, youve got to get on board today. - Linda Ferris, Columbia Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images Just months ago, New York art maven Lisa Schiff was basking in luxury as a consultant for the ultra-rich. The 53-year-old kept up with her clientele by living in a $25,000 a month apartment, splashing out on couture clothing, and sending her son to a pricey private school, according to documents filed in a lawsuit this month. Her clients included Leonardo DiCaprio and Sprinkles Cupcakes founder Candace Nelson, and she was a regular at glitzy society galas and hip art hangouts. At Art Basel in Miami Beachwhere she sported rose-tinted glassesshe was lauded as one of New York Citys top art advisers. Then, this month, it all fell apart. In a dizzying fall from grace, Schiff was accused by a close friend and client of running a Ponzi scheme and misappropriating millions of dollars from art deals. Her website quickly disappeared from the internet, and on May 17, she filed a notice with New York Supreme Court that her business was defunct. Schiffs offices in New York and London are now empty. Two lawyers say she could face criminal charges if the allegations against her hold up. I always thought of her as one of the good ones out there, and I think a lot of people did, said Jason Patrick Voegele, a curator and art consultant based in New York. And all this news thats going on, its kind of like, whoa, wait a minute, maybe my perceptions have been misguided. Schiff did not respond to requests for comment and hasnt weighed in with her own set of facts in court. Heiress Accuses Art Adviser to the Stars of Ponzi Scheme A former cheerleader raised in Miami, Schiff began her adult life in the staid world of academia. She earned an art history masters from the University of Miami, according to a 2020 profile by the online marketplace Artsy, then started a doctoral program at the City University of New York, where she read a shit ton of Marxist literature. She later told CNN that she had planned to be a professor until her parents cut her off and she had to make a living. Schiff started her art consulting business, SFA Advisory, in 2002, after spending time working in auction houses and elite galleries. It was kind of ballsy. I had no idea what I was doing. I just couldnt function in the system. I was always feisty and frustrated, she later said. She paid a PR agency to promote her, which Artsy described as an unusual move for an art advisor. Over time, Schiff became a fixture of the art world: She hosted panels at Art Basel, served on the board of major New York City museums, and offered expert commentary for The New York Times, Financial Times, Bloomberg News, and more. Celebrity photography agency Patrick McMullan sent snappers to her events, attended by well-known names like designer Nicole Miller and actor Will Kemp. She also grabbed headlines for her work with DiCaprio, who enlisted her to orchestrate multi-million-dollar art auctions for his environmental charity. It was a huge treat, she said of that gig. He is 1,000 percent a real collector. He collects dinosaur bones, stuff from trips and travels, odds and ends. In 2019, she opened her first physical space in Tribeca, which combined her advisory firm with a concept store and exhibition space. The move was seen as a sign of Schiffs staying powershe signed a 10-year leaseand of her intrepidness. A Financial Times profile called the opening of the space unprecedented and declared that Schiff was disrupting the art advisory business. But there were signs of trouble even before this months drama. A spokesperson for the Bronx Museum told The Daily Beast that Schiff resigned from the museums board of directors in 2020 for personal reasons; the New Museum said she had not been involved with one of their membership councils since 2018. She appears to have been taken off listings for the Swiss Institute/Contemporary Art board as recently as this month. Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images A source familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that Schiff lived a lavish lifestyle even when finances were tight. She always flew business, always had cars set up in advancenot even using Uber, but car services, the source said. Everything was VIP, first class, yet somehow she still had to look to borrow money from people or postpone payments. It kind of seemed like the math wasnt adding up, the source added. The source also said Schiff had a habit of mingling friendship with business, and of leaning on friends who also were clients. This person said they observed Schiff putting off payments toand even borrowing money fromher wealthy clients. The fact that something like this happened to her in her inner circle wasnt really shocking to me, they said of the current cases. It could have happened to someone else soonerand maybe it did. Art Adviser to the Stars Hit With Even More Fraud Allegations Still, no one expected the bombshell claims that have been levied by her former close friends. The first lawsuitfiled on May 11 by real-estate heiress Candace Barasch and another Schiff client, Richard Grossmanclaimed that, around New Year, Schiff brokered the sale of Adrian Ghenies oil painting The Uncle 3 at Sothebys in Hong Kong for $2.5 million. She remitted a small fraction of the proceeds, the suit alleged, but failed to follow through on the remaining $1.8 million. According to the complaint, when Grossmans spouse confronted Schiff on May 8, she admitted she didnt have their money and then walked away. A week after filing the first suit, Barasch, her husband, and a trust set up for their kids filed a separate lawsuit outlining many more instances of alleged fraud. Among the most egregious: In 2020, Barasch allegedly wrote Schiffs company a $650,000 check to purchase a bronze sculpture from the Gladstone Gallery in New York. But this May, after the first fraud lawsuit was filed, Barasch said she discovered that the gallery was still owed $252,000. In a second, similar case, Barasch claimed she wrote Schiffs firm a $390,000 check in 2020 for another sculpture from the same gallery. This month, Barasch learned that the gallery never received any of those funds, she said. (The Gladstone Gallery did not respond to multiple requests for comment.) In total, the complaint alleged, the Barasches paid Schiff or her companies more than $6.6 million over 18 months, but much of that money was instead used to pay for Schiffs personal expenses, other debts, or acquisitions for different clients. The Barasches said they didnt catch on to Schiffs alleged shenanigans because they had given her significant control over their collection, including inventory management, storage, and acquisitions. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Leila Amineddoleh, a lawyer who specializes in art and cultural heritage law, appeared floored by the arrangement. Whats shocking here is they didnt just give her access to certain pieces of art under certain circumstances, but it seems like she had broad discretion to access their storage unit, to use their credit cards. I would never advise clients to do that. (Amineddoleh emphasized that Schiff may dispute these allegations.) In an interview with the Times last year, Schiff spoke about the financial vagaries of the art world. I tell new collectors: Art is not liquid. If you feel like you might need to get your money out for an emergency, do not collect art, because your transactable window is, like, two weeks longunpredictable, she said. And when its not there, do not try to sell. Yet everybody does, and they hate it, and theyre furious. Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images Amineddoleh noted that the first lawsuit against Schiff dropped just as the local art industry was commencing one of its busiest weeks of the yearthe TEFAF New York Art Fairwhere all of the opulence screams legitimacy. I was there this week. They have oysters, you can get champagne, you see celebrities at these events. So people really get caught up in the glamor, she said. And they forget there are criminals in the art world just like in any other area. Now, former business partners are struggling to make sense of Schiffs possible demiseand what it signals about their industry. Voegele speculated that Schiffs expenseseven those unrelated to her alleged personal spending habitmay have trapped her in a financial hole. I think this is a systemic problem in the art world where you make a certain name for yourself, and theres certain expectations of you. And then the bills start rolling in he said. Voegele has witnessed art businesses pay off liabilities using money from other clients, he addedeven if that money should have been earmarked for a different use. I use the term robbing Peter to pay Paul. I think that happens far more often than people are aware. Usually, however, these kinds of liquidity crises involve far smaller amounts of money than Schiffs dispute, said Voegele, who recalled selling multiple pieces to her several years ago. (He said she always paid on time.) Daniel Weiner, co-chair of the art law practice at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, attested that the industry is a natural target for fraudsters; massive deals are sometimes done in secret and wealthy buyers often operate through layers of advisers and LLCs. Money plus trust plus opacity equals trouble, he said. No one counterfeits $1 bills. If theres more money, then that attracts more people who can engage in misconduct. Weiner pointed to art dealers Inigo Philbrick and Larry Salander, and jewelry mogul Ralph Esmerian, as formerly respected figures in the industry whose reputations imploded after they were charged with separate instances of fraud. (Each of them received a prison sentence of at least six years.) The downfalls always come as a shock, he said; many art world criminals went to the best schools and wore the best clothes. But for whatever reason they crossed the line. Weiner added that, if the allegations against Schiff are true, she could be prosecutedalthough she does not face criminal charges at the moment, and it is not clear whether law enforcement are even investigating her. As the Barasches depicted her conduct, it sounds like fraud six ways from Sunday, Weiner said. You know, one or two examples [of misplaced funds], I think you could explain by miscommunication or temporary liquidity problems. But when you start to get this pattern of behavior like this, its really damning. According to Amineddoleh, financial disputes between collectors and their advisers arent unheard of, but they rarely involve someone as high-profile as Schiff. Many conflicts also remain private, she said, since the cost of litigation can easily outweigh the potential financial remedies and because wealthy collectors cant stomach the hit to their reputation and ego: They feel badly they were duped in some way. Schiffs attorney said in a court filing that she will respond to the first lawsuit by June 15. But no matter the outcome, the damage to her reputationand the industrymay be difficult to reverse. Thats the worst part of the whole thing, said Voegele, the art consultant. Whether she did this or not, the ripples of worry and the trust with art advisories and art consultants Thats going to be a big problem. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Gov. Jay Inslee signed several more pieces of legislation into law last week as bill signings from the 2023 legislative session begin to wrap up. But it is his vetoes that are drawing sharp criticism. On Tuesday the governor signed Senate Bill 5536, a bill that will replace the current drug possession law once it expires on July 1. Lawmakers needed to pass a permanent law before the expiration date to prevent drugs from becoming decriminalized. They failed to pass the legislation during the regular session, prompting a one-day special legislative session on Tuesday. The law passed and signed will increase the knowing possession of counterfeit or controlled substances to a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, lower than the penalty gross misdemeanors typically carry. However, if the defendant has two prior convictions for possession, they could potentially be confined for up to 364 days. The knowing use of controlled substances in a public place also was added to the new legislation and would be punishable by a gross misdemeanor with lowered financial and jail penalties. The law also provides treatment options for those who accept them, but prosecutors will get the ultimate say in whether the treatment option will be offered to a given defendant. At the beginning of the session, I asked the Legislature to produce a bill that would focus on treatment of people who suffer under the dark cloud of addiction and also maintain a criminal sanction as an incentive for people to get into treatment, Inslee said during the bill signing. The Legislature has produced a strong bipartisan bill that will do just that. But since then, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington have called the new law a huge step backwards in Washingtons fight against the ever-growing public health crises of substance use disorder and the opioid overdose epidemic. This special session offered the Legislature the possibility to move towards ending the War on Drugs by investing in proven public health responses, the ACLU said in a statement. Instead, the Legislature reverted to punitive approaches that have been tried for over 50 years and have done nothing to prevent the flood of fentanyl into communities nationwide. Budget action On Tuesday, the 2023-25 operating, capital and transportation budgets were all signed by the governor. The signing of the operating budget came with criticism from some House Republicans, as Inslee vetoed a section of the bill that would have required the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services to notify residents about the placement of sexually violent predators in their communities. In a press statement released Thursday by new House Republican Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, and Caucus Vice Chair Eric Robertson, R-Sumner, they called the move appalling. Ironically, the governor vetoed this proviso with no notice to us or the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Our communities deserve better, the release said. Washingtons sovereign Tribes deserve better. We will continue fighting to keep sexually violent predators from being placed in Enumclaw or any other neighborhood across the state without notice, collaboration, and meaningful participation from local officials, Tribal governments, and community members. This veto is not the end. It is just the beginning of our efforts to hold DSHS and the governor accountable for their mismanagement of this issue. But Inslee said the veto was necessary because the requirement would have delayed the creation of community-based options. These provisos are administratively burdensome for the Department of Social and Health Services Special Commitment Center program when siting Less Restrictive Alternatives in communities throughout the state, Inslee said. These additional administrative tasks will likely result in the delay in availability of placement options for individuals ordered by a court to be moved out of the McNeil Island facility. Inslee also vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have required the Department of Licensing to document odometer readings when registering a vehicle and renewing registration on a vehicle in Washington. Although voluntary, requesting this information from vehicle owners presupposes a future per-mile program as an alternative transportation funding mechanism, the governor wrote. Yet, there is a need to consider both a per-mile fee program as well as broader options for alternative funding sources for transportation. I encourage the legislature to continue considering a variety of funding sources, including but not limited to a per-mile fee before requesting odometer readings from vehicle owners. Here are some of the other bills signed last week by the governor: New airport House Bill 1791: This legislation ends the current search for another major airport in the state. The governor vetoed sections of the bill, namely an emergency clause in the bill that would have made the legislation go into effect immediately. The bill will instead go into effect on July 23. Jail reform House Bill 1169: This bill relates to legal financial obligations, and eliminates the crime victim penalty assessment for juveniles and indigent adults. Instead, a new Crime Victim and Witness Assistance Account is created to mitigate the financial impact from juveniles and those who cannot pay. Additionally, parents and guardians of juveniles cannot be charged any fees or penalties in connection with the juveniles court proceedings. Orcas Senate Bill 5371: This legislation is intended to protect southern resident orcas from vessels by preventing whale-watching boats and other boats from approaching within 1,000 feet of the whales. Currently, a 300-foot buffer is required. The bill goes into effect on July 23. Behavioral health House Bill 1134: The bill expands services provided through the 988 suicide and crisis hotline. An endorsement is created through the legislation for rapid response teams to help those who are experiencing behavioral health emergencies. The bill goes into effect on July 23. Senate Bill 5440: This legislation is in response to the 2014 Trueblood lawsuit, and is intended to improve the current system for restoring competency to stand trial for those defendants experiencing behavioral health issues. Under the legislation, clinical intervention specialists can consult with and provide services to defendants who are waiting for competency to stand trial. Additionally, the bill prohibits jails from discontinuing medication for individuals with severe mental health issues. Dental therapy House Bill 1678: This bill establishes and authorizes the profession of dental therapist in Washington state. The legislation is intended to give rural and under-served communities more access to preventative dental care services. Domestic violence survivors House Bill 1533: This bill exempts certain state agency employees from having their records disclosed under the Public Records Act if they are survivors of domestic violence. The legislation came under fire from media outlets that argued that the bill would essentially create ghost employees, so a provision was written into the bill that allows reporters to retain access to the information. The bill became law Monday after Inslee signed it, due to an emergency clause. Voter registration Senate Bill 5112: Under this legislation, Washingtonians who apply for an enhanced drivers license will automatically become registered to vote. The bill goes into effect on July 23. State Trooper recruitment incentives House Bill 1638: This bill creates the State Trooper Expedited Recruitment Incentive Program to help Washington State Patrol keep pace with the numbers of troopers that are needed. The bill makes it easier for law enforcement officers from other agencies to be expeditiously hired, while also authorizing new bonuses for cadets and lateral hires. The bipartisan bill went into effect on Monday after Inslee signed. FILE - A portrait of Mahsa Amini is held during a rally calling for regime change in Iran following the death of Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by Iran's notorious "morality police," in Washington, on Oct. 1, 2022. Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday May 21, 2023 summoned the Swiss ambassador, Nadine Lozano, after a Twitter account affiliated with the embassy in Tehran published a photo showing protest icon Mahsa Amini, reported YJC.ir, a website affiliated with Irans state TV. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Irans foreign ministry has summoned Switzerland's envoy in Tehran for a social media post showing Iranian protest icon Mahsa Amini, local reports said on Sunday. Months of anti-government protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Amini in September, after Iranian morality police detained her for allegedly violating the countrys strict Islamic dress code. A website affiliated with Irans state television called YJC.ir reported that the Swiss ambassador, Nadine Lozano, was summoned after a Twitter account affiliated with the embassy in Tehran published a photo featuring Amini. The Twitter account linked with the Swiss embassy in Tehran also posted an image of Iran's pre-revolutionary flag before its current theocracy came to power. The post added that the Swiss foreign ministry strongly condemned the recent execution of three Iranian protesters. Iran announced Friday the executions of Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi, without saying how the deaths were carried out. Authorities alleged they have killed a police officer and two members of the paramilitary Basij group in the city of Isfahan in November during the demonstrations. Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused Western powers of fomenting the unrest, without providing evidence. A controversial visit by Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound was denounced by the Palestinians and Jordan which administers Islam's third-holiest site -- which is also the most sacred for Jews Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound Sunday, a controversial move by the extreme-right politician amid heightened tensions in annexed east Jerusalem. The move came three days after Ben-Gvir and tens of thousands of Jewish nationalists marched through the Old City and just over a week into a fragile Gaza ceasefire. "Jerusalem is our soul," Ben-Gvir wrote on Telegram, alongside a photo of himself at the site in the heart of the Old City. "The threats of Hamas will not deter us, I went up to the Temple Mount!" he wrote, using the Jewish name for the site. Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is administered by Jordan. Non-Muslims are permitted to visit the site, but not pray there. The compound is also the most sacred site for Jews, who pray below it at the Western Wall. Hamas, the militant group that rules the blockaded Gaza Strip, denounced Ben-Gvir's last visit to the site in January and again slammed his action on Sunday. Israel will "bear responsibility for the barbaric incursions of its ministers and herds of settlers", the group wrote on Telegram. The move "confirms the depths of danger looming over Al-Aqsa, under this Zionist fascist government and the arrogance of its ministers from the extreme right", said Hamas. Israeli police confirmed Ben-Gvir's visit in a statement, adding that it passed without incident. - Old City cabinet meeting - Later on Sunday, Israel's top politicians held a rare cabinet meeting in the tunnels beneath the Western Wall. Palestinians fear their use as a vast museum threatens the foundations of Al-Aqsa mosque. "Time and again, my friends and I have been forced to repel international pressure on the part of those who would divide Jerusalem again," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. Some Israeli leaders "were prepared to give in to those pressures", he argued, but "we have acted differently," according to a transcript from his office, celebrating the expansion of Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem which are deemed illegal under international law. Israel considers all of Jerusalem as its capital, but the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which includes the Old City, as the capital of their future state. The Jordanian Waqf Islamic affairs council, which administers the mosque compound, described Ben-Gvir's visit as a "blatant storming and desecration of the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque". "No less dangerous is the call by the occupation (Israeli) government to hold its meeting this morning in the Western Wall area," a Waqf statement said. Jordan decried Ben-Gvir's actions as a "provocative step" and a "dangerous and unacceptable escalation". It "represents a flagrant and unacceptable violation of international law, and of the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites", said foreign ministry spokesman Sinan Majali. - 'Playing with fire' - Tours of the site by Jewish nationalists have long been criticised by Palestinians and Arab nations, while Ben-Gvir's visits have taken on added weight since he took office in December. The office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said "harming Al-Aqsa Mosque is playing with fire". "(It) will push the region into a religious war with unimaginable consequences that will affect everyone," said Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, in a statement published by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. The timing of Sunday's visit also holds significance, coming days after extremists marched through the Old City to celebrate east Jerusalem's capture by Israeli forces in the 1967 Six-Day War. Thursday's event was marred by incidents of violence against Palestinians and journalists, while the United States condemned "the hateful chants such as 'Death to Arabs'" during the rally. Ben-Gvir's visit also follows a Cairo-brokered truce reached on May 13 between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza, ending five days of cross-border fighting. Egypt's foreign ministry on Sunday pressed Israel to "immediately stop the escalatory practices which inflame the pre-existing state of tension in the occupied (Palestinian) territories". The Gaza violence killed 33 people in the coastal territory and two in Israel, a citizen and a Gazan labourer. dms-rsc/ami Italys Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited areas of northern Italy hit by deadly flooding on Sunday, cutting short her visit to Japan for the G7 in response to the disaster. Meloni went to the region of Emilia-Romagna, where more than 36,000 people have been evacuated and at least 14 people died in the floods. Of those evacuated nearly 5,000 are sheltering in government allocated centers such as cinemas and museums, according to officials from the regions Civil Protection Agency. About 16% of the regions territory has been evacuated so far, officials said. A resident speaks on his phone while walking a flooded street in the village of Carde, Cuneo, near Turin in northwestern Italy on Sunday. - Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images A worker stands by a collapsed railway bridge after deadly floodwaters hit the Emilia-Romagna region. - Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images Clean-up operations are in full swing, with video from the emergency services on Saturday showing the removal of mud from washed out roads after landslides. More than 20 rivers burst their banks across the region, causing 280 landslides, the Civil Protection department said earlier this week. Meanwhile up to 27,000 people were left without power, according to Enel, the Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. The flooding also devastated farmland and drowned livestock, in a region renowned for its gastronomy. A farming association called the damage incalcuable. A resident sits on the doorstep of a bakery in a flooded street on May 21, 2023 in Conselice, near Ravenna. - Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images A flooded street in Conselice, near Ravenna. - Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images The torrential rains come after months of drought that dried out the land which meteorologists say has reduced its capacity to absorb water, worsening the floods. Water levels on northern Italys Lake Garda fell to record lows in February, with Venice experiencing unusually low tides. From lengthy droughts to severe flooding, the intensity of water-related disasters around the world has increased over the last two decades as global temperatures climbed to record levels, according to recent research. CNNs Niamh Kennedy and Barbie Latza Nadeau contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com ROME (Reuters) -Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged to support the recovery of flood-hit areas of northern Italy on Sunday after returning early from the G7 summit in Japan to see the damage first hand. Meloni toured towns in the Emilia-Romagna region, where the floods have killed 14 people and caused damage estimated at billions of euros, after stopping off on her way back from the summit in Asia. "It has been a tragedy but we can always recover strongly from crises," Meloni told reporters in the city of Ravenna, one of the areas badly affected. She said it had been a moving experience to meet those caught up in the deluge. The prime minister, who leads a right-wing government, said the damage was huge but it was hard to put a figure on the financial impact. "We will find the resources needed," she added, saying Italy might call upon the European Union's Solidarity Fund for natural disasters. Fellow leaders at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima had also offered various forms of support, she added. Meloni left the summit in Hiroshima a day earlier than scheduled, saying her conscience would not allow her to stay away longer. The rain had stopped on Sunday and rescue teams and local volunteers were trying to pump out buildings and sweep away mud caking the streets before it could set hard under the sun. The Italian government will hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to decide on measures to respond to the emergency. Having witnessed some of the damage, Meloni said she would spend Monday reviewing plans to support recovery efforts. Around 36,000 people had been forced to leave their homes, and many of those who remained in flooded areas were left without electricity. Some 10,000 of those had been able to go home by Sunday evening. Agriculture has been hit hard in an area which grows fruit such as peaches, kiwis and apricots, as well as corn and grain. (Writing by Keith WeirEditing by Alexandra Hudson) Mount Etna erupts in 2021. Salvatore Allegra/AP Photo Italy's Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted Sunday, forcing the nearby airport to a standstill after the runways become covered in ash. The volcano, located on the eastern coast of Sicily near the city of Catania, began spewing ash Sunday morning, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) told The Associated Press. However, cloud cover and a rainy day obscured significant views of the eruption, which the AP noted "often serves up a spectacular display of flaming lava." The 10,925-foot-high volcano, the tallest in Europe, has been known to erupt multiple times per year, though the last major event was in 1992. As a result of the eruption, the nearby Catania Airport tweeted that it would be closed "until normal safety conditions are restored." The airport had already closed a sector of airspace due to the eruption, causing a number of delays in arrivals and departures to Sicily, one of Italy's most popular tourist destinations. The eruption caused ash to fall throughout the city of Catania and nearby settlements along the volcano, local officials reported. No injuries were reported, though local media images obtained by Reuters showed cars covered in a thick layer of soot. Residents throughout the nearby towns of Adrano and Biancavilla heard multiple booms as Etna began erupting, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The eruption did not come as much of a surprise, as volcanic activity had been reported for days. Italy's Civil Protection Service raised the volcano's seismic warning level this past week, saying there were signs of "low to medium eruptive activity." A prior eruption of Etna in 2021 lasted several weeks. Italy is already dealing with a separate natural disaster, as a series of deadly floods in the northern region of Emilia Romagna has killed at least 13 people and forced another 36,000 from their homes. You may also like Italy's Mount Etna erupts, forcing airport closure Dianne Feinstein and the problem of America's aging politicians College student who tracks Elon Musk's jet now doing the same with DeSantis Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo have married in front of friends and family in Spain. The Made in Chelsea stars officially tied the knot in an intimate ceremony at a registry office in Chelsea in April. However, their big wedding celebration came on Saturday (20 May), as the couple held a second ceremony in Seville. Haboo, 29, wore a long-sleeved white gown, with her hair tied into a low bun. Laing, 34, meanwhile, wore a black tuxedo with a bowtie, and showed up at the wedding wearing sunglasses. In clips shared on Instagram by wedding guests, the couple were shown kissing beneath an archway adorned with flowers after saying their vows. At the reception, they could be seen cutting into the cake while sparklers went off. The reception took place outside near a huge fountain, with guests sat at long banquet tables adorned with flowers and balloons hanging in the air. Guests were also shown cheering along to September by Earth, Wind and Fire at the dinner, and later dancing with Laing and Habboo on their shoulders as a live band performed Tina Turners Proud Mary. Former Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh was in attendance, as well as Sam Thompson and his girlfriend, Love Island star Zara McDermott. Spencer Matthews also attended the wedding, after not making the cut in Laing and Habboos first ceremony. The oversight was the subject of an episode of Habboo and Laings podcast NearlyWeds, where Laing explained why Matthews and wife Vogue Williams were not invited to the London civil event. Amongst the hectic-ness of getting people there and things like that, I thought Spencer and Vogue were away. Spencer got upset, which is fair enough, Laing said. So I sent Vogue a message hoping to get a bit of support and then she replied, To be honest Jamie, its not good. And I was like, F***. This Japanese city rose from the ashes. Now it welcomes millions The hollowed-out remains of Hiroshimas Genbaku (A-bomb) Dome look eerily the same as they did 78 years ago, when the American military detonated an atomic bomb over this Japanese city the first ever used in war. Unleashed early in the morning on August 6, 1945, it killed thousands of people instantly; some vaporized in temperatures reaching 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Celsius. Within the bombs hypocenter, only the half-exploded Genbaku Dome formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall was left standing as the bombing razed Hiroshima city to the ground. To this day, its a stark reminder to all who live and visit of the devastating impact of war. A man relaxes alongside the river on a bench overlooking the Genbaku Dome. - Emiko Jozuka/CNN Though the citys backdrop may serve as a symbolic reminder of the atrocities of warfare, tourists and delegates visiting for the G7 Summit between May 19 and 21, wouldve found a modern city teeming with shops, parks and businesses. From 2015 to 2019 the annual number of foreign visitors to Hiroshima surpassed 1 million, with the city welcoming 1.8 million overseas visitors in 2019. In the wake of the pandemic, numbers are quickly going up as tourists return to Japan. Meanwhile, Hiroshima has earned itself the title of Japans manufacturing prefecture, making everything from automobiles and ships to electric machinery and components. Indeed, with a population of one million people, Hiroshima embodies resilience against the odds. However, some locals say that though the city promotes a message of peace, its complex relationship with history must also be noted. When visitors from overseas come to Hiroshima, they tell me theyre going to the Peace Museum and Park. They have the idea that Hiroshima is a city of peace. Still, Id like them to be aware that this city also owed much of its initial development as a military hub, Hiroshi Ishida, a bar owner and third-generation A-bomb survivor in Hiroshima, told CNN. Castle town turned military hub Hiroshima was among several large castle towns of the Edo period (1603-1867). During the Meiji Restoration, Japan underwent a period of modernization, and in 1888, the city became the base for the Fifth Division Headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army. When a railroad was connected to Ujina port found on Hiroshimas southern coast the following year, the city became a strategic base to dispatch troops to the Korean Peninsula and Chinese mainland. Hiroshimas role as a military capital expanded and critical army facilities were erected in the city as the conflicts in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 to 1945) and the Pacific War (1941 to 1945) intensified. According to the citys prefectural government, that concentration of military facilities and its size and layout made it a testing target for the atomic bomb. Till then, Hiroshima unlike other major cities across Japan had escaped Americas firebombing raids during the last stages of WWII. That was partly because America wished to use Hiroshima to demonstrate the full potential of the atomic bomb, according to the website of Hiroshima for Global Peace. Reconstruction After the American military detonated its first atomic bomb at 8:15 a.m., Japan local time (7:15 p.m. ET), Hiroshima city lost roughly 40% of its population, which numbered around 300,000 people at the time. A new exhibition in Hiroshima Gate Park entitled Pride of Hiroshima highlights how quickly businesses in the city joined recovery and reconstruction efforts in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. For instance, just a day after the bombing, the Chugoku Electric Power Company started working to restore power to the people, repairing a damaged substation in the eastern part of Hiroshima city so the power would return to the port area. By August 20, 1945, the company restored power to 30% of homes left standing and the whole city by the end of November. Mazda's three-wheeled trucks became a familiar sight around Hiroshima after the bombing. - Courtesy Mazda Motor Corporation Three days after the bombing, Hiroshima Electric Railway which had lost 185 employees reopened a portion of a single streetcar line and worked steadily to restore the citys transport network. And in December 1945, just four months after the end of WWII, automotive manufacturer Mazda resumed production of its tricycle trucks affectionately dubbed batanko and made it a priority to get them to Hiroshima to help people transport essential items needed for daily life. But the path to recovery was no easy feat. Full-scale reconstruction only began in August 1949 after the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law was promulgated, allowing the national government to extend special financial support to Hiroshima. A city rebuilt As a child, Ishida, the third-generation A-bomb survivor and bar owner, grew up alongside senior citizens with burn marks on their hands and faces and heard stories of the A-bombs devastating aftermath. He said he and his friends are grateful for the effort made by their parents and grandparents to rebuild Hiroshima into the metropolis it is today. Still, they cant help but feel sad about the lost centuries of history. Its a feeling shared by 82-year-old Terao Okihiro, a stained glass artist and first-generation A-bomb survivor, who spends time in Hiroshimas Peace Memorial Park when he can, to tell visitors about his WWII experiences. When people said the Peace Memorial Park was beautiful, I couldnt help but feel a bit sad as I knew that before the atomic bombing, it had been the largest commercial district in Hiroshima, said Okihiro. Now, instead of feeling sad about it, I just explain that deeper history to them. Sofia Trommlerova and Dusan Brejka from Slovakia say the Genbaku Dome makes them reflect on the tragedy and hope of war. - Emiko Jozuka/CNN Near the Genbaku Dome, Sofia Trommlerova and Dusan Brejka were visiting Hiroshima from Slovakia as part of a six-day Japan trip. They recently helped Ukrainian friends flee the war and said the dome made them reflect on the dangers of history repeating itself. It makes me think about what will happen to Ukraine, and whether maybe 70 or 80 years later, we will visit a place in Ukraine and look at something similar like (the Genbaku Dome) ruins of old buildings that used to be there but because of the Russians dont exist anymore, said Trommlerova. Its impressive how Japanese people rebuilt the city from scratch again building a beautiful city full of green spaces. That gives me a very peaceful feeling. And yet in the middle of it, there is the reminder of what had happened I think it beautifully shows the terrible past and the beautiful present, she added. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Jay Leno won't complain about horrific accidents: 'I've got a lot to be grateful for' Jay Leno is fueled with happiness. The 73-year-old comedian revealed his positive outlook on life with Fox News Digital months after suffering third-degree burns to his face from a gasoline fire at his Burbank garage. Two months later, Leno was involved in a motorcycle accident in Las Vegas where he broke multiple bones. When asked why he never complains about any of his injuries or the extensive recovery process, his answers were simple. "First of all theyre accidents. If they were deliberate, I would be complaining," he said before joking, "Ya, the guy deliberately set me on fire." JAY LENO RECALLS MOMENT HIS FACE CAUGHT ON FIRE DURING GARAGE BLAZE WHEN HE SUFERED SERIOUS BURNS Jay Leno has a lot to be grateful for after a few serious accidents landed him in the hospital with broken bones and third-degree burns. When Fox News Digital caught up with Leno on the red carpet for the "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge" premiere, the car connoisseur found a silver lining in the last few difficult months. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "Look, Ive been extremely lucky in my life, you know, and even though the accidents werent fun, I was still pretty lucky. I didnt lose an eye, Im not horribly disfigured well, just regular disfigured. "Ive got a lot to be grateful for." JAY LENO SHOWS OFF NEW FACE AFTER SUFFERING THIRD-DEGREE BURNS The former late night talk show host suffered "significant burns to his face and hands" in addition to scarring on his chest when flames erupted while he was working underneath one of his vehicles on Saturday, Nov. 12. Leno said in a statement to Fox News Digital shortly after the accident, "I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am OK. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet." Leno had at least two surgeries during his 10-day stay at the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills, one of which was a "surgical excision and grafting procedure." He also required the use of a hyperbaric chamber to help provide better blood flow and decrease bacteria. Jay Leno said good-bye to The Grossman Burn Center Care Team in November after a 10-day stint. One of those surgeries included doctors creating an entirely new ear for Leno. When asked if it was true he had a new facial feature, Jay was excited to share, "Oh ya its a brand-new ear. When in a fire, ear is just flesh they kind of made a new one for me." Only months after he was released from the hospital, Leno was "knocked off" his motorcycle and broke two ribs, his kneecaps and collarbone. JAY LENO GIVES HEALTH UPDATE AS HE'S SEEN BEHIND THE WHEEL FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER BEING RELEASE FROM HOSPITAL He's still somewhat recovering. Leno showed facial scarring shortly after being discharged from the hospital. "First of all, in Hollywood its only how you look, nobody cares how you feel like," he joked. "I mean I still have a broken collar bone, two broken ribs and two cracked knee caps, but Im getting around." Leno recalled the motorcycle incident in January, and said that he went out for a test drive on a 1940 Indian motorcycle. He recognized the smell of a gas leak and maneuvered through a different road. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER "I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it," Leno told the Las Vegas Review Journal. "I didnt see it until it was too late. It just clothesline me and, boom, knocked me off the bike. The bike kept going, and you know how that works out." Jay Leno returned to the stage shortly after his garage fire accident. Jay Leno has hundreds of rare and collectible cars in his Burbank garage. Leno has long been a connoisseur of car culture . He worked as a mechanic while rising through the ranks as a stand-up comedian, and he now owns more than 280 unique vehicles. The impressive collection of rare, antique and vintage cars is reportedly worth from $50 million to $100 million, but estimates vary due to predictions in what some rare cars could sell for. On "Jay Leno's Garage," Leno chats with car enthusiasts about favorite makes and models, in addition to showing off his prized collection of cars, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. He'll suit up as a celebrity judge for the new "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge" series, where gear heads transform cars into real, life-sized versions of the No. 1 selling toy in the world. Jay Leno has hundreds of rare and vintage cars, and posed with a steam car. Jay Leno's love for automobiles will bring him to the new "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge" spotlight. Leno joining the show seemed like a no-brainer. Guest judges also include Anthony Anderson, Terry Crews and Joel McHale, to name a few. "Im kind of known as a car guy, and Ive got a YouTube channel and a car show, a line of car products," he said. "Its something I like to do. Its my hobby." He added, "We used to do it on The Tonight Show all the time, so it seemed like a good fit." Stephane Cardinale - Corbis - Getty Images The 2023 Cannes Film Festival red carpet has continued to deliver amazing looks. This Sunday, Jennifer Lawrence joined the fashion parade in a Christian Dior Couture gown in fire engine red for a screening of Bread and Roses. Lawrence is a producer on the documentary created by Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani, which follows Afghanistan women living under the Taliban. She actually sported two looks in one day by the fashion house designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri. Her gown for the evening was all glamor, with thin straps, ruffled neckline, and a cinched waist that opened up into a floor-length skirt. Over her arms draped a matching stole that formed a royal train behind her. Stephane Cardinale - Corbis - Getty Images Lawrence made the dramatic look shimmer with a Tiffany & Co. diamond necklace in an asymmetrical zig-zag pattern, and left her long blonde hair down. She had a bright red lip to match her ensemble. Stephane Cardinale - Corbis - Getty Images For her daytime photo call, Lawrence had a much more muted color palette, wearing a semi-translucent sheath dress in grey knit. The long skirt just showed the toes of her strappy silver sandals. Mike Marsland - Getty Images She had her hair swept into a regal updo and a pair of drop earrings. The dress featured an elaborate cut and tie design that plunged down the back to show her matching slip. Mike Marsland - Getty Images In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence said she was drawn to Mani's project because of the way the news cycle moves on so quickly, and she was struck by the director's 2019 film A Thousand Girls Like Me. Obviously, the Middle East is extremely complex and very far away and after you see things on the news so much, it can make something safely two-dimensional, said Lawrence. The fear of everyone moving on and forgetting led us to try to make something more permanent. You Might Also Like Jeremy Renner's 10-year-old daughter joins her dad as his 'date' in rare public appearance Jeremy Renner went on the cutest "date" with his 10-year-old daughter, Ava. On May 19, Ava stepped out with her father to help him judge UCLAs Spring Sing 2023, an annual variety show competition at the school. Ava wore a beautiful silver necklace and a blue dress while her dad wore a black jacket and grey turtleneck. Im on a date right now with my daughter, the Avengers star said at the event in video footage shared by the UCLA Alumni Association. This is awesome. I couldnt be happier to sit and watch these (performances). It takes a lot of courage to get up on the stage and do this, and I commend everyone thats come out here and done this. The father-daughter duo also posed for a picture at the event for the BASE Chicago, a community organization that Renner worked with in an episode of his Disney+ show, "Rennervations." Ava walked onto the stage with her dad at the event as the celebrity guest judges were introduced. Renner used a cane at the event, and at one point, raised it in the air as the audience applauded. Renner shares Ava with his ex-wife, Sonni Pacheco. He rarely shares photos of Ava on social media, and instead, shares throwback pics or conceals her face. Jeremy Renner and his daughter, Ava at 2023 Spring Sing. (@uclaalumni / Instagram) Renner's appearance at Spring Sing comes a few months after he was hurt in a snowplow accident in Reno, Nevada, on New Years Day, breaking more than 30 bones in his body. To mark Ava's 10th birthday, Renner recently thanked his daughter on Instagram for helping him during his recovery. Happy 10th Birthday to you!!!! he said on Instagram in March. So very proud of you in every way. Your hugs and your love, have healed me so incredibly fast. I stand up for you, and I am stronger than before because of you," Renner continued. "I am your Father, I am your protector, and I am only yours. I love you, Daddy. Ava was also by her dad's side last month for the premiere of Rennervations," which marked his first red carpet appearance since the accident. The actor and his daughter, Ava Berlin Renner, at the premiere of In April, Renner shared two sweet notes that his little girl left for him around the house amid his continued recovery. In one of the notes, she wrote, "Hi, beautiful," with a happy face and heart on it. Then, on one of the pieces of equipment, there was a post-it note that said, "Just keep running. Just keep running! My daughter inspires me. What inspires you?" Renner said when he shared the notes on Instagram. "She leaves me post-it notes all over to keep me going!! This article was originally published on TODAY.com Joe Geha's new book, 'Kitchen Arabic,' explores stories of his home country through recipes Author Joe Geha is also a prolific painter, a hobby he started after retiring from Iowa State University. Lentil soup with chicken simmers in the kitchen, filling Joe Gehas home with mouth-watering aromas of coriander, onions, garlic and leeks. In Arabic, the soup is called Rishta and its recipe is the first one featured in Gehas new book, Kitchen Arabic. The book explores the rich history of his familys emigration from Lebanon in 1946 along with his mothers recipes folded in. Its storytelling that readers can really savor. Rishta, our last meal in the old country, is served traditionally to observe fresh starts, like the setting off on a journey or the occasion of a childs first tooth, Geha writes as a preface to the recipe. Author, painter and a retired Iowa State creative writing professor, Geha settles into a living room chair in the Ames home he shares with his wife of 33 years, Fern Kupfer. Writing about recipes and how they were created is a seamless combination of his greatest interests. Stories are the basis of the food and the recipes that go with them, Geha told the Ames Tribune. A way of understanding the world is through stories. More: Good Neighbor's second annual block party is Sunday in Ames Joe's family which also included his brother and sister immigrated to the United States when he was two, leaving Beirut after World War II. His father orchestrated bribes to secure their passage on the Vulcania. Upon arrival at Ellis Island 15 days later, all passengers were required to undergo a mandatory two-week quarantine to prevent the spread of typhoid fever, which was rampant in Lebanon at the time. The family eventually made their way further inland, aimed at the Midwest. Author of "Kitchen Arabic," Joe Geha, holds his book in front of one of his paintings, "Hey Batter! Batter!" Joe Geha's family bought Lebanese ingredients from The Armenian The Geha family settled in Toledo, Ohio, where Joes father opened a grocery store. The family lived in the upstairs apartment until Joe was 6 years old. That was our first home in America. Then we moved to a neighborhood downtown on Monroe Street, Geha said. I write in the book of some sketchy people there. They were colorful, interesting people, but some were a little dangerous. The grocery store was located on the edge of an area known as Little Syria. Tracking down the proper spices and flavors often found in Lebanese dishes was rather tricky. But, the family found a trusty source. We in Little Syria would get the ingredients that we needed from a man called The Armenian, Geha said. He would come down in a truck from Detroit every week. The Armenian would open the side panel of his truck and people would line up to buy ingredients such as orange blossom water, pressed apricots and olives similar to those found in the old country. He wasn't only good for spices, either. The Armenian could bake, too. He would also have Syrian bread because very few people baked at home," Geha said. "In the old country, it was too expensive for fuel to heat the oven up, so people would make their bread and take it to the corner bakery, and the baker would throw the loaves in for you. So we were used to buying our bread, which we did from The Armenian also. More: Photos: Downtown Ames Farmers Market and Food Truck Showdown Food really is like a shortcut to home, Geha said It makes you feel connected again, he said. There's so much disconnection in immigrating. "Kitchen Arabic: How My Family Came to America and the Recipes We Brought with Us," is available from online sources and locally at Dog-Eared Books in downtown Ames. Geha did more than 25 years of cooking demos at Cooks' Emporium Geha quickly became dependent on Pammel Grocery in Ames for the necessary components of his family's traditional meals. That has been a great resource for me, he said. Some of the things I buy there the olives, the Jibneh cheese, the bread, the orange blossom water, rose water. Theres a rose liqueur, Jallab, that I buy there. Also, its not an ingredient, but the owner makes a great shawarma. Its a delicious lunch. More: Still unclaimed: $1 million Iowa lottery ticket bought in Ames is close to expiring Some of the hardest-to-find ingredients the most exotic are the ones used in Lebanese sweets. Theres one called Mahlab," Geha said. "Its the center of cherry pits that are broken open somehow and ground." As Geha experimented with various Lebanese recipes, his love for his home country continued to blossom. A painting by Joe Geha depicts his parents' grocery store in Toledo, Ohio, with his mom and dad shown in the doorway and a young Joe on the sidewalk. It took a distance for Geha to appreciate his heritage Geha did not grow up learning his mothers recipes, but he recalls how she was usually in the kitchen. Geha began writing about his heritage when he took his first teaching job in Springfield, Missouri. The cultural differences in the heart of the Midwest were eye-opening. For me, I had to get out of my heritage in order to see it. Its like a fish describing water, he said. So there I was in white-bread America, where there was not very much cultural diversity, and I started to write about my background. Dreams of his familys home on Monroe Street in Toledo, as well as his fathers store, provided Geha with instant inspiration. His imagination kicked into overdrive, drawing out a desire to re-create those cherished childhood memories through his tastebuds. I missed the food. I missed the people," Geha said. "I had a cookbook I got on one of my trips home from the ladies auxiliary of the St. Elias Syrian Orthodox Church. But I wanted the recipes to taste like my moms. The walls of Joe Geha's home office is filled with his paintings, a hobby he began after retiring as a creative writing professor at Iowa State University. So every week, he made a new recipe from the book. He would call his mom and read the recipe to her over the phone. They became a prolific team, bouncing ideas off each other and tweaking recipes as they went. She couldnt read or write. Shed listen to the recipe and correct it for me. No, we dont use garlic in that. We use lemon, he said. Id scratch out garlic and put in lemon. In the early 1990s, Geha started doing cooking demonstrations at Cooks Emporium in downtown Ames. He orchestrated two to three a year until the pandemic hit. The public performances emboldened his passion for story-telling. I did more than 25 years of demos. I learned that when you cook in front of other people, theres an awful lot of standing around waiting for the onions to turn brown, he said. Youre looking at them and theyre looking at you. So I began telling family stories while I was cooking and they were waiting. A few of Gehas students suggested he write a cookbook but with a twist. Add personal flavors and spices into the mix through story-telling. Dont forget to include the family stories, they said," Geha said. "And I thought that was a great idea." Copies of Kitchen Arabic at Dog-Eared Books on Main Street have been selling out. Dog-Eared co-owner Amanda Lepper said the book, especially for a title by a local author, has been popular with customers. Some of the books on the independent bookstores shelves are signed by Geha. The book essentially tells the story of our immigration here. I wanted to use it to create a memoir, Geha said. I thought what might be of interest to people is how we came here, especially with the political climate as it is now about immigrants trying to get into the United States. Joe Geha poses by his painting inspired by Grant Wood's "American Gothic," where he and his wife Fern Kupfer are depicted instead of the original pair. Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rlawless@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Retired Iowa State professor pens memoir that combines family recipes MAY DECEMBER Natalie Portman and Julianna Moore in 'May December' Credit - Francois Duhamel You never know exactly what to expect from Todd Haynes, which makes him one of our most valuable American filmmakers. He has a sense of humor, but he doesnt coast on any overt, adorable quirks. He thinks in layers, but he knows that even movies that make us think also have to hit us in the pleasure zone. The glorious Douglas Sirkian extravaganza Far from Heaven, a respectful but fully alive reading of Mildred Pierce, a documentary about the Velvet Underground that covers not just the bands history but a broad swath of the cultural history around it: if youre a certain kind of person, the more Haynes you get, the more you want. Haynes May December, playing in competition here in Cannes, wasnt what I was expectingbut then, I should have known better. In this twisty, tricky drama, shot through with dark, glittering threads of comedy, Natalie Portman plays Elizabeth Berry, an actor and producer researching her next role: that of Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore), a woman who, roughly two decades earlier, at age 36, had shocked the world with her romantic liaison with a seventh grader, whom she eventually married. Now Gracie and her husband Joe (Charles Melton) live in coastal Savannah, the place where the scandal occurred. Why should we be the ones to leave? Gracie asks Elizabeth incredulously, suggesting that she doesnt really care how her neighbors view her, though we come to see that deep down, she does. Moore and Portman in 'May December' Francois Duhamel Gracie and Joe have raised three children togetherone is already in college, and the other two are about to start. Gracie also has children from a previous marriage, including Georgie (Cory Michael Smith), a loose cannon with a sinister manipulative streak. Elizabeth arrives in Savannah to spend time with Gracie and her family, intending to soak up personal details about her subject as a means of shaping the performance shell eventually craft. She sees how Gracie approaches life, including the sordidness of her own story, with a kind of nervous wonderment. Gracie seems eggshell-fragile, and a bit dithery, but she believes so wholeheartedly in her union with her much-younger husband that we too begin to see it as a precious pre-ordained state of being. May December has obvious parallels with the story of Mary Kay Letourneau and the 12-year-old boy, Vili Fualaau, with whom she became involved. Letourneau served time in prison after being convicted as a sex offender, marrying Fualaau upon her release; the marriage lasted 14 years. But May December is its own fictitious creation, and it neither defends nor decries Gracies actions. Gracie and Joe began their affair after shed hired him as a part-time helper at the pet store where she worked. (In a late, sinister-hilarious scene, we see a re-enactment of just how the initial seduction might have happened. It involves a snake.) The romance upends Gracies life, tearing apart her marriage and alienating her from her children, though she adamantly claims shes still close with them. As Moore plays her, Gracie is both enigmatic and steely. She zigzags between weepily clinging to her husband and controlling him with her insistence that they were destined to be together, their hearts entwined until death do them part, and beyond. She wields her belief in true love like a hatchet. At one point she fixes Elizabeth in her icy gaze and explains, I am naive. I always have been. In a way its been a gift. Charles Melton, right, plays Moore's much younger lover Francois Duhamel Meanwhile, Elizabeth watches Gracie silently, taking mental notes, seemingly empathizing with her professed fragilityPortman makes a fine, doe-eyed detective of the psyche. But Elizabeth isnt what she seems either. In one scene, Gracie shows Elizabeth how she makes up her face each dayshe turns to dab some color on Elizabeths cheeks, a gesture thats both tender and proprietary. Suddenly, theyre sisters under the skin, trading silent secrets about their own treachery. Joe is the pawn caught in the middle. He distracts himself by taking tender care of butterfly chrysalises, which will eventually morph into monarchs. In an obvious metaphorical gesture, he sets one of these newly minted wonders free. Flinging off joyfully into the sky, its a fluttery placeholder for the life Joe has missed out on, having become responsible for Gracies emotional stateforget, even, the sexual componentat a far-too-young age. But May December isnt Joes story; hes practically a footnote. The real crackle, and the prickliest friction, is between Elizabeth and Gracie, who circle each other like wary warrior queens. May December is a story about what women take from one another, but also about how they connect, for better or worse. The movie wobbles a bit on the way to its wily, mischievous finish. Its as if Haynes cant quite decide if he wants the picture to be cagily cerebral or a juicy, soapy modern-day melodrama, so he splits the difference. Yet his attentive craftsmanship, plus the fact that these two actresses are clearly having a cheerfully perverse blast, keep the movie clicking. May December could have more fire; it could be even more twisted. But its seductive enough to keep us following along, one betrayal after another. It is to be expected that many of our citizen legislators approach their work in Topeka by using their own lived experiences and those of their constituents to determine the policies theyll prioritize in a given session. I am a mom, and my experience in my kids school during the Sam Brownback administration has led me to advocate for our public schools. I am a daughter who lost her mother to breast cancer, which is why I fight for better access to health care. And I am a Christian, which I believe calls me to humbly pursue justice and mercy. Reporting from the nonprofit Kansas Reflector over the past several weeks highlights that for leaders in the Kansas Republican Party, faith is a weapon to institutionalize harm against vulnerable Kansans whose own experiences do not fit into a narrow view of the world. As a leader in our state and as a Christian myself, I condemn the violent, extreme Christian nationalism rooted in white supremacy that has seeped into our statehouse. I call on my colleagues in leadership to do the same. The Kansas Constitution clearly states that free government is founded on the authority inherent in people, and that it exists for equal protection and benefit. History shows many terrible examples of what happens when we use government to benefit some people, then bless and sanctify inequality by a religious justification. Kansas proudly rejected the lie that slavery based on race is ordained by God as the rightful estate of a few. Brown v. Board of Education marked the end of the lie that separate could ever be equal. Faith that requires coercive political power to realize its own goals is faith built on violence. Following Jesus, who put away Peters sword and was executed as an enemy of the Roman state, and imagining violence as an acceptable way of cooperating with Gods kingdom leads to evils such as slavery, segregation, and death. We have seen the latest iterations of these evils this session. Republicans in the Legislature have taken to heart the call to create a hostile environment for LGBTQ folks, food insecure families and the 59% of Kansans who rejected a constitutional amendment to give politicians power over private, personal decisions. They suggest that Kansans who think or live differently from them are missing the right kind of Christian in their lives, and encourage the deputization of children in schools to do the right thing. They blame mental health and other systemic issues on critical theory or the degradation of the traditional family. And thats not just behind closed doors: When I carried an amendment expanding the child care tax credit, one colleague stood in opposition because he believes the state should not encourage women and mothers working outside the home. That same colleague offered to convert a young Muslim woman and a Jewish woman to Christianity when they questioned whether his faith allowed him to adequately represent their religious views. This rhetoric is deeply damaging to the individual Kansans it targets and to the social fabric of our state. But Christian nationalism also requires direct action, and its a call that has been heeded to disastrous ends before. When these extremists call on supporters to take up arms in defense and guard our churches from the latest scapegoat for problems in our community, they create a permission structure for supporters to assassinate abortion providers in their own churches or massacre families at a suburban Jewish community center. They fill supporters with hatred toward others and absolve them of their sins by declaring that theyve got God on their side. Today we need more people of faith who realize their highest calling is one of service. For us Christians, I think that looks like the kind of love that washes dirty feet and cares for widows and orphans. It is the kind of love that embraces others even when they are unlike us, understanding that each person is created in the divine image with inherent dignity. The moment legislators assume they can act in ways that do not protect and benefit all Kansans equally, they make themselves liars and betrayers of the oath they made to support the U.S. and Kansas constitutions. And when they do so in the name of God, they make those Christians with a different perspective accomplices to the harm they inflict on our fellow Kansans. Democratic Kansas Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes of Lenexa represents District 21. Darrell Missey is standing in a room of social workers who toil in Missouris beleaguered child welfare system, telling the story of a young boy. The 7-year-old lived in a loving home with his parents and two younger sisters. But his mom, who was a wonderful and brilliant person, suffered from mental illness. And one day, a severe episode from her bipolar disorder led to an incident that could have split the family apart. Had the state removed the children from the home because of concerns about instability within the family, it would have changed the trajectory of the young boys life, as well as his siblings. The 56-year-old Missey has told this story often since he was brought in last year to rescue Missouris long-troubled Childrens Division. He shares it with caseworkers and lawmakers, child advocates and community partners in every pocket of the state. When he does, he provides a glimpse of the system he envisions, one that prioritizes keeping families together. His words, spoken fast and with purpose, begin to sink in. The boy in the story isnt just any child its Missey himself. And the job hes held for 16 months is personal. I fully believe that in 1974 that if you had to come to my house, there would have been requests for custody, he told the group of social workers and other Childrens Division employees, meaning they would have recommended he and his sisters be put into foster care. Instead, we did a safety plan. Grandma came over and mom went to the mental hospital. Our family stayed together. Darrell Missey, right, in a family photo with his sisters. And thats the way it should work, if possible, Missey said. But too often in Missouri it does not. The state has among the highest number of children in foster care per capita nationwide. On the last day of 2021, there were 14,137 kids in care, which represented a 34 percent increase from a decade earlier. A former juvenile court judge, Missey wants to transform Missouris system, which has a rate double the national average for removing kids. He pitched a plan to the General Assembly this session to hire 100 new caseworkers who would focus on family preservation. Hes fought for and received substantial raises for workers to stave off high turnover. And hes hoping for the go ahead to hire 34 attorneys to give caseworkers support inside the courtroom as they fight for whats best for a child. As social workers and child advocates listen to Missey and see what he and his boss Robert Knodell, acting director of the Department of Social Services, have done in just 16 months theres a sense for the first time in many years that real change could be coming. Already, there are nearly 1,000 fewer children in care. We are in a better place right now than weve been in a long time, said Emily van Schenkhof, executive director of the Childrens Trust Fund, Missouris foundation for child abuse prevention. Because we have a director, a department that is looking this issue straight in the face and has recognized and articulated that preventing child abuse and supporting vulnerable families is the best strategy for improving outcomes. We cannot investigate our way out of this problem, we cannot use our court system to get us out of this problem. Missey knows the states child welfare system through the eyes of a judge, which he was for 19 years in Jefferson County in eastern Missouri where he grew up. From the bench, he saw families crippled by poverty, addiction or mental illness torn apart in the name of protecting the child. He knows it from the viewpoint of a young attorney who served as a Guardian ad Litem for kids trapped in the system. Missey remembers what a 15-year-old boy in foster care told him nearly three decades ago: Ive been taken by force. Ive been kidnapped. Those words are never far from Misseys mind. I think that when you come to this work from a place of experience, you are better at doing the work, said Lori Ross, a child advocate in Missouri for more than 30 years. Doing it matters to him in a way that it doesnt to someone whos just filling a seat. Its the third lens he sees through, the one where Missey views a system that could have easily split up his family in the 1970s, that at times brings him the most clarity. I mean it when I say this, Missey told The Star. As I do this work, I always have in my mind Leroy and Diane Missey. I think about my parents. I think about how fragile our circumstances were. I think of what would have happened to us, if somebody would have just charged in and taken the children, just in case. This is a system that deals with family trauma by busting that family apart, even temporarily. Is that the right way to do this? His familys story That day when he was 7, Misseys mother, Diane, called the family into the living room. She took out the family Bible, which was one of these big things that my dad got when he was in the military. You know, one of the big ones, where we write all the family birthdays, Missey said. She got it out, she turned to the Book of Revelation. And she told us about how the world was going to end, we were all going to die and we had to get ready. Thinking thats not right, the young Missey looked over at his dad, Leroy, the strong and patient family presence. She was thinking people were watching us, the neighbors were watching us, Missey said. She had stopped doing the things she used to do. You know, she stopped doing the dishes. The condition of the house got really bad. I mean, it was piles of clothes everywhere. Soon after that meeting, his mother called for another one. Again, in the living room. She said, Im sick, Missey said. She said, Some people have sicknesses that affect different parts of their body. And I have a sickness that affects my brain. And I have to go to a hospital to get it fixed. And Im going to be gone for a while. But she assured her son and 5-year-old daughter that Grandma would help and take care of the baby and Dads gonna be here, and its going to be fine. Darrell Missey and his sister, Michelle, in a photo from the early 1970s. Those three months were the darkest of my childhood, Missey said, referring to missing his mother. But he knew she was getting the help she needed, which back then was shock therapy and a mixture of drugs. He and his sisters couldnt see or talk to their mom during that time, but after one of his dads visits with her, he brought back two yarn dolls that she had made Darrell and his younger sister, Michelle. Missey still has the green doll with the big orange eyes and yellow hair, which he keeps in his office. For him, it signifies his mothers love and that when she was away for that time, she was thinking of him. She left not because she didnt love me, Missey said. She fought for her mental health and I knew part of that was for us. (The doll) signified not just her struggle, but her success and our relationship. It meant all that to me. As a kid he could have never known that he would use dolls like this, ones that he made himself, to show a system of overworked and overwhelmed workers that theyre appreciated. Darrell Missey still has the green yarn doll with big orange eyes and yellow hair that his mother made for him when he was a child. As an adult, he said he can empathize with every child and family hes encountered through his work in and around child welfare. And his resolve to improve the system in the state where he grew up only grows stronger. I always thought when I was a young lawyer, when I was a judge, and now I think, but for the grace of God, that kid is me. And that family is mine, Missey said. You change up anything in my familys makeup and it could have been very, very different for us. They would have destroyed us when what we needed was help. We work in a system that hasnt always valued the ability of families like mine to take care of themselves like we did, or to get them resources so that they can take care of themselves like we did. Chosen to lead Soon after his October 2021 appointment by Gov. Mike Parson to serve as acting director of DSS, Knodell set out to learn more about the real challenges facing one of its largest agencies, the Childrens Division. We were at a crossroads, said Knodell, who had been the governors deputy chief of staff. I think department-wide, you know, many, many of these programs Child Welfare chief among them have been under-invested in for a long time. That manifests itself in staffing issues as well as programmatic issues and the sum of those two really, really strain your culture. Robert Knodell As he met with people to get their take on struggles inside the child welfare agency, he kept hearing the same advice. Talk to Judge Missey. The judge had become known for his work in preserving families in Jefferson County and his knowledge of child welfare. Missey first ran for associate circuit court judge in 2002 after seeing how the judge at the time wanted to take everybody into state care. When the two met in November 2021, Knodell wanted to know Misseys thoughts on the system. And the then-judge laid it all out. He shared what he had seen from the bench and as a young attorney. I saw a system that was reactive, Missey told The Star. It was reactive and driven by fear. Its like we see some trouble in this family and were going to react to it based on our fear of the worst possible outcome. He said he often thinks of that 15-year-old boy who told him he felt hed been kidnapped by the state. He said to me, Darrell, I did not ask to be here, Missey said. My moms problems were being handled just fine before you all showed up. And I never forgot it. When he became a judge, Missey started asking children who came before him one question. If I could wave a magic wand and have something happen, what would it be? And they all wanted to go home, Missey said. I saw so many families that were like that, and that if only we could give them help, we would not have to do this thing, he said. I think we should come up with the resources to make removal only necessary in circumstances of real danger of abuse. That would be a different approach, wouldnt it? Darrell Missey has shared his story with caseworkers and lawmakers, child advocates and community partners in every pocket of the state. He spoke at a recent meeting at the Department of Social Services office in Raymore. At the end of that 2021 meeting, Knodell asked Missey if hed be interested in leading the Childrens Division. Within weeks, Missey would put retirement on hold, rent a one-room apartment with a futon in downtown Jefferson City and make regular weekend trips to Florida where his wife and three grown daughters live. Given what Ive seen, I could not say no to this, Missey said. This system is so important to so many people and Ive got the opportunity to help make it right. That is something that is the opportunity of a lifetime to me. A system in despair Missey was the seventh Childrens Division director in less than four years. When he took over, more than 14,100 kids were in state care. The states largest circuits, in Kansas City and St. Louis, were experiencing a critical shortage of investigators. Vacancies in most positions plagued offices across Missouri. And because of the turnover, especially in Kansas City where it eventually topped 100 percent, children faced a revolving door of caseworkers and were lingering in care too long. Overwhelmed workers, with caseloads two and three times the national standard of 15, said they were afraid children would be hurt before they could protect them. I knew every office was struggling, Missey said. They were all struggling in different spaces, different ways. To get to know his regional leaders, he held a virtual meeting. They were not sharing everything at that moment, Missey said. I was brand new. He also knew that everyone may not be embracing his thoughts on change. At one point, Brian West, the Kansas City regional director, spoke up. He said, I think itd be great if you came up with a new policy, that for the next year, we would have no new policies, Missey recalled West saying. Just let us do our job for a moment and get our feet on the ground and figure out where were at. And I thought, Thats exactly right. So Missey went on a listening and learning tour and spoke with staff in all of Missouris 46 circuits. Late into the night, for many nights, he read complaints and concerns that he asked them to submit in his vision box, which was in the shape of a house. And in an effort to fill vacancies, he spent one Saturday last year writing to 150 long-time employees who recently left the agency. He told them that Knodell had approved a hefty raise for workers, about other changes and that he thought more help is coming. I wrote out letters that said, Thank you for working with us. If you ever consider coming back, youd be very welcome, he said. I got reports that some people came back. Not all 150, that would have been great. (But) Im hoping that more will come back. Knowing that he wanted to be the right leader for this time, Missey also did his homework. He turned to David Novaks podcast and his book Taking People With You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen about how he turned companies like KFC around. He said he soaked in all the advice he could, especially what Novak said about recognizing the good work of his employees. Novak gave out a rubber chicken to signify someone had done really good work. They began to covet the chicken, Missey said. So I was thinking about what I could give. And he turned back to his own story and childhood and what he had kept all these years. Thats when the Yarn Doll Award was born. Darrell Missey presented a yarn doll to Laura Jerabak during a meeting at the Department of Social Services office in Raymore. Missey makes the dolls and gives them to employees who go above and beyond their work duties. He searched the Internet and figured out how his mom who passed away in 2018 made them. After buying a whole lot of yarn and materials for the eyes and noses, Missey spent his off time making doll after doll. So far, hes given out more than 50 dolls to workers and still more to family court judges, community partners and other members of the child welfare system. Every one of them I make Im thinking this is for somebody who is helping a kid like me, Missey said. It really is a piece of my heart when I give them a yarn doll. Amanda Hardy received her second yarn doll from Missey the day he visited the Cass County office in late March. She and a colleague were recognized for their work in returning a baby to Missouri who wasnt supposed to leave the state. Listening to Missey speak and seeing how he acknowledges that their job isnt easy makes her even more grateful that she returned to the division full time in November after several months part time. This is all very personal for him as it is for us, because were on the front lines, Hardy said, her newest yarn doll in her hands. So hes recognizing what we do. We havent had a lot of directors do that. Its nice to know that even though he didnt work the frontlines like we do, hes been in the field. He has his own personal story all of us have a personal story, thats why were here. Laura Farmer, executive director of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Southwest Missouri, said Missey has a great message for workers statewide. People are listening and excited about what he is saying and doing, Farmer said. To have a leader that is investing in them and supporting them and their role will make a huge difference. The yarn dolls are a good example, Farmer said. To take his own time to create something, she said, I think that speaks a lot to who he is. Acknowledging the problems Speaking to lawmakers a year ago in April, three months into the job, Missey rattled off the challenges his agency had been facing: the Childrens Division was down by 237 workers. Hiring blitzes werent working and staffers in every circuit statewide were overwhelmed and underpaid. Most caseloads were double and triple what they should be. He was just getting started. Theyre tired, Missey told a legislative committee about Childrens Division workers statewide. They are discouraged. And they are spread mightily thin. And they need our help. ... My perspective is, were treading water. Were doing our best to stem the bleeding. All eyes in the room stayed on him as he spoke bluntly about an agency that for decades has shielded itself from scrutiny and transparency. He said what lawmakers, advocates and attorneys across Missouri have wanted someone to acknowledge for decades. The biggest emotion I had was relief, said van Schenkhof, of the Childrens Trust Fund. The department was acknowledging the problems and the director was being candid. Because you cant solve problems when youre denying there is a problem. After reading media reports describing the April 5 hearing and listening to the shock in the voices of people who appreciated his transparency, Missey talked to his boss. I said, Am I OK? Missey said, smiling as he recalled his conversation with Knodell. He said, I gotta tell you Darrell, I love it! Rip the Band-Aid off and show the whole world whats going on so that they can help. Knodell said often in state governments the goal can be to try to accentuate the positive and distract people away from the negative or not confront it. But he doesnt see it that way. Not if you are trying to solve an urgent problem. Real change wont come until youre willing to, you know, have honest conversations, Knodell said. And for those that want to help, so that theyre not reaching in the dark or trying to figure out a way to be helpful, lets sit down and chart the course together. Rep. Sarah Unsicker, a Shrewsbury Democrat who is on the Children and Families Committee, said its unusual for any director to say his division has problems. I think division directors are afraid to go against the governor, Unsicker said. They dont want to say something that goes against what he wants. ... (But) its hard to find out what they need when they dont tell us and they often dont tell us. Missey has, she said, and she applauds that. Childrens Division cannot fix the problem by themselves, she said. We have to get resources throughout the state and just take care of people to help family preservation. Broken people dont make as good of parents. And its hard to fix that without fixing brokenness. A change in Kansas City The way Brian West sees it, Knodells and Misseys willingness to speak the truth gave him license to do the same. West the director of the Childrens Division Kansas City region had been hit with a turnover rate of workers that climbed to more than 100 percent about a year ago. At one point in 2022 he had as few as 10 trained investigators about one-fifth the number he should have. Other departments were crippled with vacancies, too. West didnt have enough parent aides last year for kids in care to have timely family visits. And because of a lack of staff and the churn of workers, some children were lingering in care longer than they should. I think what (Knodells and Misseys transparency) did was open the door for me personally to have very open discussions with my court partners, West said. To have open discussions with our community agencies that work with our families to say, Were struggling. We are really struggling right now. Angie Blumel, president and CEO of Jackson County CASA, has noticed a more open agency not only at the state level but locally as well. Just the willingness to say, We need help, created a culture in Jackson County anyway where we all wanted to step in and assist because really, its about the kids, Blumel said. Its not about pointing fingers and laying blame. Its about what is best for the children and we all want to do that. And a lot of people, they stepped up. Our community agencies stepped up and said, OK, what can we do? What can we do to help? What can we take off the workers plate? In the end, a group of organizations came together, partnered with Centennial United Methodist Church and trained volunteers to help supervise family time, Blumel said. The Jackson County office still has turnover, but not what it was. And new workers continue to come in. From January to the end of April 2022, the local office had 19 new workers start, West said. In that same four-month period this year, 38 workers started new positions. The more we get coming in the door, the better we do at retention, West said. His closing argument During his visit to the Cass County child welfare office, Missey leaned back in his chair as he spoke with The Star. He was ready to talk about our plan. He slid across a table a black folder with a plastic cover that contained 24 pages that make the case for real change and reform in Missouri. He wrote the report which he calls his closing argument leaning on discussions hes had all over the state. We are unable to recruit and retain front line workers, the first page of the plan reads. We lack essential personnel needed to operate a proactive and holistic child welfare system. On page three: Given the extreme expense of this system, it makes financial sense to invest in services needed to reduce the use of foster care. Missey outlines four critical steps that need to be taken, including increasing workers salaries, adding staff to lower caseloads and allowing some workers to concentrate solely on prevention to preserve family integrity and keep children out of foster care whenever possible. Late last year, Missey presented a rough draft of the report at a judicial engagement team meeting in Jackson County. Blumel was there. I was moved in that I hadnt seen something like that from the division before, she said. Its very forward thinking, specifically in terms of families being engaged in the system and also preservation of families. Child advocates and workers inside the system have been pushing for that for years. But there was often hesitation, the money wasnt there and child welfare experts say it was like they were too busy putting out fires every day and didnt have the resources or staff to actually focus on preventing the fires. We already knew before Darrell Missey came to the Childrens Division that kids dont have great outcomes in foster care, West said. Thats just what the statistics and the data show. But Misseys report and the plan he and his staff are selling hammers that home even more. For his part, Missey has worked his way through the Capitol, making sure legislators see the plan. Every chance I can, every chance I get, I give it to one, (saying) Have you read our plan yet? Here. The report A Plan to Rebuild & Reform Childrens Division takes a crucial step toward being an agency that does prevention, Missey said. We dont do any of it right now, he said. We dont have the people to do it. We didnt have the philosophy to do it. We did not have the tools to do it. This is the first step toward that. How successful that will be will depend on how much of the rest of the system we can bring with us. We have to bring the juvenile officers with us. We have to bring the courts with us. We have to bring the lawyers with us. The last two pages of the report are an email Missey received late last year from a caseworker that he says touched his heart and further fueled his desire to make lasting change in Missouri. I wanted to let you know we appreciate you and all of your efforts, wrote the worker, who started at the agency more than 30 years ago and has left and come back twice. I know you are doing everything that can be done to turn things around. ... Now the but, she wrote. I am so tired and discouraged. I bounce from emergency to emergency trying to keep kids alive because of the severity of mental health needs. I have never had so many kids that are suicidal and homicidal. The worker continued: You dont need a survey to tell you I am failing my families, I am failing my kids, and I am most certainly failing to keep up with documentation and paperwork. I do appreciate you. I completely agree with your goals. Eventually they will be attainable. She thanked Missey for reading the two-page email and indicated that his leadership is making a difference. My yarn doll, Hope, continues to have a place of honor on my desk, she wrote. Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival CANNES, FranceWealth and those who covet it has always been a subject of fascination for Martin Scorsese, whether he's making films about gangsters (Goodfellas, Casino) or adapting Edith Wharton (The Age of Innocence). And that fascination is once again on display in his remarkable new film, Killers of the Flower Moon, which just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Adapting the book from David Grann about the series of murders that plagued the Osage nation in the 1920s, Scorsese has made a towering movie about America's sins and the greedy men who perpetrate them. It's anchored by performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro that both rank among their best, but the soul of the movie belongs to Lily Gladstone, who broke out in 2016's Certain Women. Yes, Killers of the Flower Moon is about stupid and selfish white men whose egos and love of money drive them to heinous crimes. And yet Gladstone, a Native actress, consistently centers the story to remind the audience whose voices have been erased from history. She gives life to both her character's pain and her spirit. Scorsese and co-screenwriter Eric Roth have kept the large scope of Grann's reporting, but shifted the focus. Whereas Grann used his narrative to tell not just the story of the Osage people but the emergence of the modern day FBI, which ends up bringing the perpetrators to justice, the filmmakers allow us to watch the acts unfold knowing exactly who is behind them. One of the villains in question is Ernest Burkhardt, played by DiCaprio, a World War I veteran with a teenage boy's naivete. At the top of the movie, Burkhardt arrives in Oklahoma at the behest of his Uncle William Hale, played by de Niro. This is Osage country, where the members of the Native American tribe that calls this place home are some of the richest people in the nation, thanks to the oil on their land. Scorsese demonstrates this with newsreel style footage highlighting the Osage finery. (Its one of many ways he will play with historical mediums throughout the film.) Cannes Film Festival Hale, who tells Ernest he can call him King, immediately starts indoctrinating Burkhardt into his scheme, even if Burkhardt doesnt know it yet. De Niro, transforming his New York accent into a whispery Oklahoman drawl, is the best he's been in years as this genially nefarious patriarch, who is beloved in his community yet also undermining it at every turn. His plot is to have his family marry into Osage money and then systematically dispose of the Osage women to gain access to their head rights. Ernest falls right in line by becoming smitten with the reserved but vivid Mollie Kyle (Gladstone), who he meets chauffeuring around town. Gladstone plays Mollie as a savvy skeptic, who nonetheless finds herself charmed by DiCaprios wide-eyed dummy. She knows fully well he is tempted by her money, but she just cant help herself and neither can he. He meanwhile is truly captivated by her, at the same time coveting what she has. He thinks he can occupy two roles at once: That of Hales accomplice and that of Millies dedicated husband. One by one Mollies sisters begin to die, all the while Ernest and Mollie develop a growing family. DiCaprio has thrived in recent years playing men with deluded amounts of confidence, and his take on Ernest is more tragic than, say, Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Outfitted with a pair of terrible teeth, DiCaprio manages to turn on his classic allure while also portraying a true fool. You are repulsed but you also understand why Mollie believes in his care for her. It's a smart take on a dumb guy, who, on a broader scale, is representative of an entire history of white Americans who think they can embrace a culture that is not their own while also pillaging it. Leos Accent in Killers of the Flower Moon Is Already Controversial Gladstone, meanwhile, does absolutely brilliant work living in the gray areas of Mollie's emotion. In her wide eyes you can read the ardor of her love for Ernest, the sorrow of her lost family, and the intensity of her own sufferingshe has diabetes, an ailment that worsens over the course of the film. It's a performance of a woman trapped not just by her own emotions, but by a greater society that wants her to occupy two worlds at once. One that has granted her wealth, but also refuses to allow her to control it: Deemed "incompetent" she must request her own funds for use from a white man who determines whether she can have what she needs or wants. At nearly three hours and 30 minutes long, Killers of the Flower Moon never feels its length partially because of the bewitching nature of these two actors at its centerwith de Niro adding a layer of smooth menace to every scene he's in. At the same time, the runtime is justified by the way Scorsese fills every frame with detail of both Osage life and the casual evil of those who want to ruin it. The both joy and simmering terror is underlined by the thrumming guitar of The Band's Robbie Robertson, who composed the score. Cannes Film Festival When Killers of the Flower Moon is released in October, I am positive there will be debates that emerge as to whether Scorsese has focused too much on those doing the crimes rather than the victims. There will be intense discussions about the big swing he takes at the enda big picture denouement that is both striking and disorienting. But rest with the notion that this is another vital piece of art from an American master, who, at age 80, is grappling with his fixations in ingenious new ways. Liked this review? Sign up to get our weekly See Skip newsletter every Tuesday and find out what new shows and movies are worth watching, and which arent. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Martin Scorseses Killers of the Flower Moon received a nine-minute standing ovation at Cannes on Saturday (20 May), with critics hailing his sweeping American epic about the Osage murders in 1920s Oklahoma as a masterpiece. The US directors latest work, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro and stretches to a running time of three and a half hours, is an adaptation of David Grann's nonfiction bestseller, and cost streaming service Apple $200m (160m) to make. It was undoubtedly the most anticipated movie to premiere at Cannes this year, and has, according to the majority of early reviews, met the high expectations. Following the screening, Scorsese, 80, and his cast were met with a standing ovation and loud cheers from attendees, among whom were stars including Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Isabelle Huppert, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. Its taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us, Scorsese said, addressing the crowd after the screening. There was lots of grass. Im a New Yorker. Killers of the Flower Moon follows Granns character Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio, in his seventh collaboration with Scorsese), a WWI veteran who falls for Mollie Brown (Gladstone), the member of a wealthy Osage family. Since finding oil reserves on their land, the Osage were then the richest people per capita in the country. But that wealth is closely controlled by appointed white guardians. A series of murders prompts increased panic among the Osage, who are preyed on by a host of greed-driven killers. In a five-star review for The Independent, critic Clarisse Loughrey observed how Killers of the Flower Moon carries Scorseses tradition fixations: the rotted core of mans heart; how power breeds the impulse for destruction; the myths of cowboys and outlaws and the dirty truth to them. She also singled out Gladstones performance as Mollie Kyle, who marries DiCaprios character Ernest Burkhart, as one of the most extraordinary... by a woman in any of Scorseses movies. Read more reactions from critics here. Killers of the Flower Moon is being released on 6 October, before streaming globally on Apple TV+. Additional reporting by Associated Press Jane Barlow/Pool via REUTERS Welcome to this weeks edition of Royalist, The Daily Beasts newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. King Charles strikes deal with Angela Kelly What price keeping quiet? How about a nice house of your choice? The Mail on Sunday reports that Queen Elizabeths former dresser Angela Kelly has been presented with a new grace-and-favor home in the north of Englandafter she was forced out of her Windsor digson agreement that she wont reveal any more royal secrets. The Mail says a senior Palace aide acting for King Charles presented Kelly with a new non-disclosure agreement to sign as part of the deal. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II sits next to Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Caroline Rush, Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council, and royal dressmaker Angela Kelly as they view Richard Quinn's runway show before presenting him with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design as she visits London Fashion Week, in London, Britain February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Yui Mok/Pool A source told the Mail that the agreement was eseentially a gagging order, preventing Kelly from using the words king and palace for commercial purposes. Kelly was expected to write a third book about her royal role, but the Mail says the agreement may imping on, if not outright, torpedo that. Charles, the paper says, wanted to both honor his late mothers wishes by providing Kelly with a home, while stopping the leak of any more royal dish. Angela Kelly Opens Her Majestys Closets and Reveals Truth About That Touchy-Feely Meeting With Michelle Obama Charles fave holiday hideaway: Transylvania King Charles is heading for some R&R time, without Queen Camilla, in rural Transylvania. Camilla will stay home in Wiltshire. The king will sleep in a simple wooden bed, drink hand-pressed apple juiceand maybe even judge the local lawn-mowing competition, as he has done on previous visits, the Mail reports. Charles, distantly related to Vlad the Impaler, secretly bought a run-down former farmhouse in Zalanpatak, close to the Carpathian Mountains, several years ago with the help of local landowner Count Kalnoky, the Mail on Sunday reports. The property has now been restored with authentic textiles and antiques from the region as well as indoor toilets. But it still retains a simple, Transylvanian authenticity, with heating provided by wood-burning ceramic tile stoves and tap water sourced from springs. Low on tech, it also gives Charles the opportunity to for lots of walks in the fresh air. One source told the Mail was the village as the land that time forgot There are no private secretaries accompanying him and very little in the way of staff generally, in fact. There's certainly no valet or chef that travel over with him. The local produce and cooks are too wonderful. Subscribe here to get all the latest royal news and gossip with Tom Sykes and Tim Teeman. Meghan and Harry, and the car chase that wasnt And so to the extraordinary tale of the great car chase that wasnt that unfolded this week. The story erupted after the Sussexes issued a press release, saying that they had been involved in a, near catastrophic car chase through the streets of Manhattan on Tuesday night after Meghan, Harry and Meghans mom Doria had all attended the Ms Foundations Women of Vision Award, where Meghan was being honored. Early Wednesday morning, it had looked like the event was going to be chalked up as a PR hit, and a handy little mini-relaunch of the Meghan brand after several months out of the public eye. The duchess appeared resplendent in a stunning gold dress and made some syrupy remarks about service and grace and fairness that went down well with her base. Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, arrive at an awards ceremony in New York, U.S. May 16, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Twitter/anDrew/via REUTERS That wouldve been that were it not for the extraordinary statement that the couple then issued a few hours later, saying they had been the object of a relentless pursuit, by a ring of paparazzi photographers, and memorably described the episode as near catastrophicsummoning up images of his own mothers demise in Paris, and his own words about being traumatized by pap flashbulbs. However, almost immediately, the narrative put forward by the Sussex camp began to be questioned. The NYPD didnt help the Sussex cause, describing it as merely a challenging transport moment. And the taxi driver who had conveyed the group for a short while, said that they were always safe, and added that, you know, Its New York. However, he also said that Harry and Meghan seemed nervous and scared in the vehicle. CNN reported that Chris Sanchez, who was part of the royal security detail, said Harry and Meghan were followed from the event by a dozen vehicles. Sanchez said hed never seen [or] experienced anything like this, and that the public were in jeopardy at several points. The couple switched cars more than once during the incident, he added. CNN also reported that Thomas Buda, who runs a private security business contracted to help the couple, corroborated Sanchezs account. Buda told CNN that the couples convoy took a circuitous route from 23rd Street to 96th Street before security brought the couple to the 19th police precinct on East 67th street. From there, the couple were moved to a yellow cab but it ended up circling the block and returning them to the police station. The couple eventually made it back to their New York digs later in the evening. Harry and Meghan have demanded photos from the pap agency Backgrid, which so far the agency has refused to hand over. We hereby demand that Backgrid [photo agency] immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos, and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours, a letter from their lawyers read. In response, Backgrid told them: fuggedaboutit! In America, as Im sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do, Backgrids legal team wrote back. Some have even speculated this was a PR stunt by Meghan and Harry given Harrys ongoing legal battle over paying for his own security, and why they, as the New York Times put it, did not pull into a garage at one of the many hotels celebrities frequently use to ward off pursuing photographers. Their representative denied it was a stunt orchestrated by the couple to the New York Times: Respectfully, considering the dukes family history, one would have to think nothing of the couple or anybody associated with them to believe this was any sort of P.R. stunt. Quite frankly, I think thats abhorrent. Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, arrive to celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, U.S. July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo The royals did not seem sympathetic. There were no statements from the palace. A friend of Williams told The Daily Beast, I thought they were leaving the royal family for a quieter life. If flashbulbs give Harry flashbacks, I dont understand why he is going to award ceremonies. Everyone understands his anger at the photographers, but making hysterical statements doesnt help matters, especially when, as the queen might have said, recollections may vary. Journalist Omid Scobie, known to be close to the Sussex camp, criticized the king and William for their disappointing lack of response on BBCs Newsnight, and claimed that their car was forced to drive at 80mph, only for Buda to say that it was not a high-speed pursuit. A London-based PR executive who has worked for the royals, who gave this succinct summary to The Daily Beast, thinks they have the answer: If I had to guess, I would say this is Harry going, This is unacceptable, Im going to say something, and no-one having the balls to say, Well, maybe not, sir, that would be really fucking stupid and it is going to totally overshadow everything your wife has been doing tonight. This is what happens when people do their own PR. This week in royal history Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819 in the dining room at Kensington Palace. It seems a strange choice, but here hot water could be brought up more easily from the kitchens, the Historic Royal Palaces website explains. Unanswered questions Will more emerge in the story of Harry and Meghans NYC car chase? Will the paps hand over the images (not likely), and will Harry ultimately be successful in obtaining the security he says he and Meghan need? Love The Daily Beasts royal coverage? Sign up here to get Royalist newsletters sent straight to your inbox. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. A bronze sculpture of Alfred Kinsey, a sex researcher who founded Indiana University's branch of sex research, the Kinsey Institute, sits outside the institute's research facility, Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Arleigh Rodgers) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) Unfounded claims about Indiana Universitys sex research institute, its founder and child sex abuse have been so persistent over the years that when the Legislature prohibited the institute from using state dollars, one lawmaker hailed the move as long overdue. The decision, largely symbolic, does not halt the Kinsey Institutes work, ranging from studies on sexual assault prevention to contraception use among women. But researchers tell The Associated Press the Republican-dominated Legislatures February decision is based on an enduring, fundamental misunderstanding of their work a false narrative that they, despite efforts to correct such misinformation, cannot shake. Funding from the university remains unclear, but Zoe Peterson, senior scientist and director of the Sexual Assault Research Initiative at the Kinsey Institute, will continue her inquiries into consent and those who perpetrate sexual assault. Contrary to what conspiracy theorists claim about the institute, Ive devoted my career to reducing sexual violence, she said. The Kinsey Institute, about 50 miles (82 kilometers) from Indianapolis on Indiana University's Bloomington campus, is named for Alfred Kinsey, a former professor who established the institute in 1947. He died in 1956. Kinsey's major works, published in 1948 and 1953, disrupted cultural norms around sex, achieving commercial success and drawing praise, as well as sharp criticism from conservatives who continue to deride the institute. In part, critics blame such research for wrongly contributing to a greater acceptance of homosexuality and pornography. But they also say there is evidence of child abuse in Kinsey's work, specifically a research table they unfoundedly claim resulted from sexual experiments on children. We have child rapists in Indiana prisons right now, yet were willing to give Indiana University, Bloomington campus, over $400 million as they protect the legacy of this sexual predator, said Republican state Rep. Lorissa Sweet, who on Feb. 22 proposed the amendment to prohibit the institute from state funding. Who knows what theyre still hiding? Sweet added. Such accusations have lingered nearly since the Kinsey Institutes inception 76 years ago, said Director Justin Garcia. Threats and harassment directed at staff and alumni over the allegations have become frequent, forcing the university to boost security that is already greater than most campus buildings, Garcia said. We've long been called ... perverts and sexual predators, he said. Its just so far from reality, and its so far from the research practices then, and its wildly far from the research practices today. The move to block the institute's state dollars was based on old, unproven conspiracies, said Democratic Rep. Matt Pierce of Bloomington. "These are warmed-over internet memes that keep coming back, he said before the House vote. The institute's website touts a lengthy Frequently Asked Questions section to tackle misconceptions, including the sex abuse allegations against Kinsey and contentions of hidden materials in the library. After the February vote, a new page requests support, such as posting on social media or donating and, where necessary, rectifying false information. Professor Carolyn Halpern teaches her students about Kinsey in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, she said. When she heard about Indiana curtailing Kinsey Institute funding, she thought, Here we go again. Sexuality research tends to get targeted, often for political reasons, Halpern said. Its another attack on legitimate research. Senior scientist Cynthia Graham, who studies sexual behavior among older adults as well as contraceptive use in women, returned to the institute this year after departing in 2004. Back then, when her husband John Bancroft was the director, attacks were frequently rooted in the same kind of misinformation about sex and health that the institute's research has helped dispel, Graham said. It reinforces, for me, the importance of the research being done here," she said. And that research, along with the work of other public colleges and universities, could be at risk as the Legislature uses funding to dictate what questions can be asked within a specific program, the institute's director said. Its a chilling precedent," Garcia said, a sentiment shared by Indiana University President Pamela Whitten. The university is firmly committed to academic freedom," Whitten said in an April 28 statement. A "thorough legal review is underway to determine if the university can comply with the law while ensuring research continues, she said. Garcia said about two-thirds of the institute's funding comes from grants and donations that are subject to change annually. The university would typically fund the rest. As officials work to understand the law, researchers pursue their projects, gathering in a space where erotic art often adorns the walls of most rooms. The building boasts explicit sketches and sculptures, while vivid photographs of mothers in labor lead into an exhibit featuring a 1984 turquoise poster: Great Sex! Don't let AIDS stop it, it reads. Life-sized Kinsey himself clad in bowtie, cuffed pants and suit jacket reposes in a chair just beyond the institute's entrance. Frozen in bronze, he gazes at an empty, transparent resin chair across from him, an inquisitive expression on his carved face, an indecipherable research table in his left hand. Theres a lot of openness and transparency," Graham said. But theres some people that arent going to look at that. ___ Arleigh Rodgers 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. FILE PHOTO: A general view shows an empty street and buildings damaged by a Russian military strike in Bakhmut KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian forces have partly encircled the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut along the flanks and still control a part of the city, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Sunday congratulated the Wagner mercenary force and the Russian army a day after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his group had captured the city. But Maliar said Ukrainian troops are continuing their advances along Bakhmut's outskirts and have claimed part of the heights overlooking the city. "Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy," she wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Therefore, the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls." Maliar added that Ukrainian troops are still defending industrial and infrastructure facilities in Bakhmut as well as a private sector of the city. (Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, William Maclean) A Layton Police officer crosses police tape at the scene of a triple homicide in Layton on Friday, May 19, 2023. | Ryan Sun, Deseret News The Layton man who police say killed three members of his family Friday his wife and his in-laws visiting from Nevada had been "thinking of doing this a few days ago," according to a police booking affidavit released Saturday. Jeremy Bailey, 34, called emergency dispatchers about 9:45 a.m. Friday and reported that there would be a murder-suicide. He stated that he had just killed his wife, his mother-in-law, his father-in-law and three out of four family dogs "after engaging in a domestic violence incident with his wife," the affidavit states. "The suspect estimated he had killed everyone approximately 20 minutes before calling Layton police dispatch," Layton police wrote. Bailey said he had stored firearms at his friend's garage "because he was thinking of doing this a few days ago." He also told dispatchers that he was armed with a Springfield 9mm firearm that had belonged to one of the victims, and "he had forgotten about it" until Friday, the affidavit states. Officers arrived at the home of Bailey and his wife, 36-year-old Anastasia Stevens, at 1832 E. Gentile Street, where Bailey was ordered to exit the house and was taken into custody without further incident. Layton Police Lt. Travis Lyman said Bailey was still on the phone with dispatchers when officers arrived at the home. Instructions were relayed to Bailey to go outside. Lyman described Bailey's demeanor as being "upset" but cooperative. After Bailey was in custody, "officers immediately entered the home to confirm no additional dangerous individuals were present, and to render medical aid to any injured individuals inside," according to the affidavit. Officers found two deceased dogs at the base of a staircase upon entering the front door of the home. Upstairs, police found the bodies of Stevens, 61-year-old Becky Stevens who was Anastasia Stevens' stepmother, and 73-year-old Donald Stevens, Anastasia Stevens' father. Becky and Donald Stevens were visiting from Nevada. Neighbors say they may have been intending to stay for the summer to help with marriage problems between their daughter and Bailey. Police found one victim's body in the southeast bedroom of the house, another body in the south bedroom and Donald Steven's body was located in the southwest bedroom. All were found with "apparent gunshot wounds," according to the affidavit. "Layton Fire Department personnel determined all three victims were deceased. Officers further cleared the residence and located a third deceased dog in the basement of the home," the arrest report states. Officers reported finding spent cartridge casings near each of the victims and deceased animals. A black handgun with the slide locked to the rear and magazine removed, an opened box of handgun ammunition with missing cartridges and two cellphones were found on the kitchen table, the affidavit says. That wasn't all officers found. "During a search of Bailey's truck, a receipt was located which shows a purchase of a box of ammunition," police wrote, adding that Bailey was captured on video surveillance just after 9 a.m. Friday making the ammunition purchase. Bailey was booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of three counts of aggravated murder, three counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and three counts of felony discharge of a firearm. After being taken into custody and placed in a holding cell, police say Bailey was recorded saying, "I can't believe I did it." Bailey allegedly told police there was a brief argument earlier in the morning, prior to the killings, but the arrest report does not provide any other details about that. "We've been given some information that they may have been planning to stay the summer here at this house," Lyman said the couple may have been planning to stay at the house for a while because they put their recreation vehicle in long-term storage. The affidavit notes that one of the victims had contacted a therapist "earlier in the day" and sent a message that read, "I think we may have a very real problem. So I uncovered the Megan load of his shady (expletive). And it's really bad. Like scary. I think it may be time for legal interference I know I definitely need to find an attorney and He's still at the house so I can't talk." The booking affidavit does not identify which victim had contacted a therapist. Upon being taken into an interview room, police say Bailey requested that the surviving dog not be taken to the pound. "He asked investigators if the death penalty and firing squad was still an active punishment. He stated, 'Probably not what you guys want to deal with today, a three-person murder.' The suspect made an utterance stating he'd rather get the death penalty than life in prison," the affidavit says. Furthermore, investigators said they were able to contact the friend who had taken possession of Bailey's firearms and confirmed that he was given the firearms "on or around" Wednesday. On Anastasia Stevens' Facebook page, a message was posted at 9:43 a.m. two minutes before Layton police were called stating, "MASSACRE SUICIDE Jeremy Bailey JUST KILLED EVERYONE Becky Stevens Don Stevens AND 3 OF THE 4 DOGS 1832 EAST GENTILE STREET LAYTON." The arrest report notes that the post was made "at the approximate time of when the suspect contacted Layton dispatch." Lyman said Friday that investigators are aware of the post and were trying to determine who made it. Neighbors say they have heard yelling coming from the house in the past, but Lyman said police do not have a history of responding to the home. Aaron Cotrell, a neighbor, said Bailey and Anastasia Stevens moved into the neighborhood a couple of years ago and that the couple was known for putting elaborate displays in their yard for Halloween and Christmas, including a donation jar he said Anastasia Stevens put out for pet shelters. "From time to time, they would come up and we'd have them in our backyard. We thought they seemed totally normal, just a young couple, and they'd been together for years. He was a military guy and just absolutely seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders," Cotrell told KSL-TV. "He never seemed like the type to be able to pull like somebody like that off, ever." Another member of the Cotrell family said he recently saw Bailey and Donald Stevens having a "heated argument" as he was driving by. The Cotrells weren't the only ones surprised by Friday's tragedy. Neighbor Duane Porter said as far as he was concerned, the couple appeared to be "two of the happiest married kids in the world." And DelMar Stevens said "they seemed like ordinary people, neighborhood people." Flagler-Palm Coast High School senior Christina Nguyen had a pleasant surprise waiting for her at the principals office. When Nguyen walked in, she received the good news that Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt chose her to receive the first-ever Florida prepaid Superintendent Scholarship. The scholarship is possible thanks to a partnership between Florida Prepaid College Savings Plans and Flagler Schools. Nguyen will have a 2-year Florida College Plan Scholarship of about $8,000. I cant breathe! Nguyen said after she saw the check. She is excited to begin her college journey after being accepted into the University of Central Florida to pursue a medical career. Read: Heres when Central Florida high school graduations happen Acquiring these degrees will show the world that everyone has what it takes if they want it enough, Nguyen wrote in her application. Not only will I be helping underprivileged individuals seeking medical attention, but I will also advocate for students wishing to pursue an education. Viki White is one of Nguyens teachers. She is proud of her student and wrote a recommendation letter for the scholarship. During this time, I have had the pleasure of watching her grow and mature as a student and as a leader among her peers, she said. From the start, it was clear that her classmates liked Christina, and since then, she has developed into a leader. Nguyen has a GPA of 5.0769 and more than 200 hours of community service. She is also involved with school organizations such as the Student Government Association and the National Honor Society. Read: Changes coming to social studies textbooks in Florida Also, she created Village Bridges, a platform to help Vietnamese students through college admission. Mittelstadt said she is impressed by how Nguyen gives back to her culture and community. Christinas story is a powerful one. Shes a child of Vietnamese parents and has been able to embrace that culture as well as her American culture successfully, Mittelstadt said. What made her application stand out from the other 15 submitted was her humility and passion for helping others who may feel marginalized. 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 group of conservative Muslims held prayers at the beach in Sidon as security forces deployed to the area Lebanese activists protested Sunday at a beach in the coastal city of Sidon after a woman said she was harassed there over her allegedly indecent bathing suit, an AFP correspondent said. Defying a municipality ban on their demonstration, dozens of protesters, mostly women, gathered briefly in the Sunni Muslim-majority conservative city, the correspondent said. "We have all come to support women's right to be in public spaces, whether in a bikini or a burkini," said Diana Moukalled, a journalist and women's rights activist. "Public spaces don't just belong to certain people as a function of their beliefs, but to everyone. It's a constitutional right," she told AFP. In last week's incident, a group of conservative religious Muslims reportedly assailed a bather and her husband at the public beach in Sidon, accusing them of not respecting local norms due to the woman's attire. The incident sparked a wave of solidarity on social media, with some women posing in bathing suits with the hashtag #Sidon. Others instead praised the conservative intervention. The Sidon municipality on Saturday had banned both the women's protest and a planned counter-demonstration that had been called "in favour of modesty, virtue and against nudity". A group of conservative Muslims later arrived to break up the pro-swimwear protest and held prayers at the beach as security forces deployed to the area. Sheikh Houssam Ilani decried the "provocations" of demonstrators flouting the protest ban. A sign at the beach entry indicates alcohol is prohibited and requests "decent attire". Lebanese law does not ban bathing suits in public, but women in the conservative coastal city often prefer to attend private beaches while wearing such dress. str-jos/at/lg/ami Fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah Iran-backed militant group hold military drills in southern Lebanon including mock raids against Israel Lebanon's Hezbollah movement simulated cross-border raids into Israel Sunday in a show of its military might, using live ammunition and an attack drone, AFP correspondents said. Around 200 Hezbollah fighters took part in the raids, part of large-scale military exercise in Aaramta, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Israeli border. Dozens of journalists were invited to the event which took place ahead of the anniversary next week of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. One simulated raid involved a drone attack against a target inside Israel, while in another, fighters attacked vehicles across a mock border, retrieved a dummy's body from one of the cars and whisked it back across the "frontier". Snipers shot at targets adorned with the Star of David while other fighters jumped through flaming hoops, during the largest demonstration of the group's military muscle in years in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah also put on display heavy and light arms, including anti-aircraft weapons and rocket launchers as well as rocket-propelled grenades. "If some people in the Zionist entity (Israel) dream of doing something foolish... we will rain down our precision missiles and all the weapons at our disposal," senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said at the event. Hezbollah, founded in 1982 to fight Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, is Iran's main regional proxy. Considered a "terrorist" organisation by many Western governments, the Shiite militant group is the only Lebanese faction that kept its weapons after the end of the country's 1975-1990 civil war. It now has an arsenal that some say rivals that of the national army, justifying this by emphasising its role of "resistance" against the Israeli enemy. Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating war in 2006 after the group captured two Israeli soldiers. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, and operates in the south near the border, a Hezbollah stronghold. UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack. The two countries remain technically at war and the border remains the scene of sporadic skirmishes. Hezbollah is also a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and has officially been fighting alongside his forces since 2013. bur/lg/hkb Letters to the Editor: Is Dianne Feinstein stubborn, or is something else keeping her in Washington? Sen. Dianne Feinstein arrives for a Judiciary Committee meeting in Washington on Thursday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) To the editor: The hubris of everyone involved in allowing Democrat Dianne Feinstein to continue serving in the U.S. Senate boggles the mind. My mother suffered with dementia not related to encephalitis, which Feinstein reportedly had as a complication from shingles, but dementia nevertheless. I have great compassion for anyone suffering from any kind of diminution of mental capacity. When it was beyond clear that my mom didn't have the brain power to serve as a co-trustee of my family's estate, my father appointed a new trustee. If Feinstein does not even know that she has been gone from the Senate for months as The Times' own reporting makes clear then please, it's time to relieve Feinstein and select a new senator. Now. Mitzi Schwarz, Los Angeles .. To the editor: As a daily reader of The Times since 1982, I feel that your reports and opinions regarding Feinstein's health lack facts essential to understanding her position. In fact, they obscure the real issue with hearsay and sidebar speculation. To wit: Feinstein knows Republicans will block a Democrat from replacing her on the Senate Judiciary Committee, thereby obstructing President Biden's judicial appointments meant to moderate a federal judiciary packed by his predecessor with radicals. That is the issue a fascist takeover, not age, senility, selfishness or Gov. Gavin Newsom's promise to appoint a Black woman. Cries to resign play into the Republican agenda to force a resignation. Instead, as the wolves circle, Feinstein and her able staff have once again put the country's well-being before her own, discreetly and strategically keeping her seat and casting essential votes despite obvious discomfort. God bless her for sticking around. Pamela Horner, San Clemente .. To the editor: This is truly a sad ending for Feinstein, who has undertaken an otherwise stellar career. In my reading, I have not been able to ascertain if Feinstein has ever received vaccination against shingles. Still, her current plight should be a teaching moment for those who have not been vaccinated against this disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone over age 50 as well as those over age 19 with an immune-compromised condition receive two doses of Shingrix. The vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing shingles. John T. Chiu, M.D., Newport Beach .. To the editor: California voters elected Feinstein to serve a six-year term ending January 2025, so she has every right to finish. But, this situation would not happen if we had term limits. The debate should not be about Feinstein or her personal health. The national debate should be whether we, as voters, should continue reelecting the same incumbents three and four times, in addition to systemic electoral reform like a limit of two terms for U.S. senators. I have served on appointed municipal commissions, and I know from experience that when one person steps down, it encourages another to step up. Term limits could help with that, along with an electorate that does not vote based on simple name recognition helped by incumbency. Aaron Kohrs, Alexandria, Va. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Thank you for voting On behalf of the pro committee for Proposition 1, proposing to merge the Olympia and Tumwater fire departments, wed like to thank everyone who took time to learn about this critical issue and vote. While the results were disappointing to our committee, we believe the work done was worthwhile. We now have a great resource describing the capabilities and status of not just the Tumwater and Olympia fire departments, but also several surrounding fire districts. And we now know some of the challenges our fire departments have in continuing to provide a high level of fire and medical response for our communities. The need for sustainable funding for our fire departments is real and we encourage both City Councils to continue to search for a solution as our populations continue to grow. During the campaign, we heard broad support for the work our firefighters do. We also heard a lot about community pride in our individual city fire departments. We hope our firefighters are encouraged by that support. Our firefighters truly are talented, caring individuals that are asked to do a very difficult job. They are the ones that run into burning buildings when we are running out, respond to gruesome accidents, and provide medical care to those in need treating everyone equitably, professionally, and with compassion. They deserve our respect and support, now and in the future. Pete Kmet, Tumwater Laurie Dolan, Olympia Cheryl Selby, Olympia We have a chance to do more There are many arguments as to why the United States should support foreign aid efforts to combat global poverty. The first is, as the most powerful country, we have the resources to invest in countries abroad. The second is we have an ethical obligation to help those we can. In this round of national budget talks, we are presented with an opportunity in which the US can lead a category. Now, the United States ranks towards the bottom in international assistance, with the leaders being Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, and the Netherlands, with 0.7% of their Gross National Income going to foreign aid. The US allocates only 0.2% of its Gross National Income. We have the chance to change the narrative. The Borgen Projects work on behalf of the worlds poor has made great strides in changing this disproportionate allotment. Their efforts led to the passing of the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act and the Global Food Security Reauthorization Act during the 117th Congress. Their fight is the good fight and support for them means those who live on less than $1.90 dollars a day have a chance to live a life of fulfillment and happiness. Stephanie Roestel, Lacey Money talks and so does hospitality The dry land has disappeared under a tsunami of hospitality. Friends of politicians funnel money through various channels such as SuperPAC donations, dark money loopholes, contributions, save this fund, stop that fund, dummy corporations and charities, offshore accounts, etc. The hospitality is creative, generous, widespread and under the table. In short, mums the word. No disclosure required. The US Supreme Courts hands have been caught in the hospitality cookie jar. But no ethics are warranted or needed over a cookie or two. What a dream job it must be to sit on the Supreme Court. A lifetime appointment without fear and with lots of friendly hospitality guiding you through the tough decisions. Im not talking about being invited over for dinner, but rather being gifted lavish trips, a friend paying for your moms house or a relatives college education or your wifes compensation, but no direct payment is made because people will get the wrong impression. What did you expect? Why conceal or hide payment if its all legit? But I asked a friend, and he said hospitality is expected and appreciated around these parts. These people have law degrees to interpret complex legal and social issues, but cant determine right from wrong for themselves. I sure could use some hospitality in my life. But then again, I dont have billionaire friends, and I do have some ethical standards. David Cahill, Olympia Dedicated in May 1923, a memorial to U.S. troops stands at Rose Hill Burial Park in Fairlawn. The Battle of Elm Hill is a forgotten conflict in Akrons history. Although the city was overrun by invading forces, prompting defending troops to retreat in a cloud of smoke, not a single casualty was reported. The guns fired blanks. In a strange turn of events 100 years ago, Akron residents solemnly dedicated a monument to their war dead and then presented an epic reenactment of military combat attended by tens of thousands of spectators. First, the monument. Organized in 1919 with 50 charter members, Joseph E. Wein Post No. 288 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars led a campaign to build a memorial shaft to honor local heroes of World War I. Nearly 9,000 Akron men had served in the war, and more than 300 had died. The VFW raised money for the project with the sale of 40,000 red poppies in 1922. The column would rise at the new Rose Hill Burial Park several miles beyond the end of West Market Street on Akron-Medina Road in an unincorporated area of Bath that is now Fairlawn. Standing 25 feet tall, the gray marker was carved from Barre granite quarried in Vermont and cost $6,000 (more than $150,000 today) to erect. The Akron Monumental Works on West Exchange Street designed the landmark and topped it with a bronze eagle, wings spread, perched on a large granite orb. A bronze plaque on the war memorial at Rose Hill Burial Park in Fairlawn lists the 1922 officers of the VFW post that led a drive to build the monument. War memorial dedicated in 1923 Thousands of people, including veterans of the Civil War, Spanish-American War and Great War, rode to the cemetery for a dedication service at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, on Memorial Day 1923. The motor procession included trucks, jitneys, automobiles and 10 buses. A U.S. flag fluttered at half-staff as the crowd assembled. Speakers included Akron Mayor D.C. Rybolt, Idabelle Firestone and Gertrude Stadelman. Boy Scouts unveiled the shrouded monument and the audience sang America. Reciting the poem In Flanders Fields, Annabel Walker noted: In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below. Veterans sounded taps, raised the flag to full staff and fired a rifle volley. The Rev. John J. Scullen, pastor of St. Vincent Church, gave a benediction. Adjutant General R.W. Elton of New York, representing the national VFW headquarters, delivered a speech of acceptance. Then the crowd broke up and rode to West Akron. It was time to go to war. The Battle of Elm Hill was a sham A sham battle, hailed as the greatest Memorial Day spectacle ever seen in Akron, was staged at 2 p.m. on West Market Street near Rose Boulevard. More than 20,000 people watched from the hills as 2,000 veterans, national guardsmen and ROTC cadets lined up for conflict. Organizers arranged to have 30,000 blanks for rifles and machine guns, 100 rounds of trench mortar ammunition, canisters of imitation gas and 400 rounds of artillery rockets for the occasion. According to the script, enemy troops had invaded Ohio from the west, conquering every town en route to Akron. The Battle of Elm Hill was the citys valiant attempt to repel the attackers. ROTC cadets perform a drill at the University of Akron in 1923. Many of the enemy troops, some riding horses, were actually World War I veterans only a few years removed from the real battlefield. The defenders, vastly outnumbered, were played by ROTC cadets from the University of Akron. Other participants included the Battery B 134th field artillery of Akron, the Battery A 135th field artillery of Canton and Hospital Company 13 of Barberton. The war started at 2 oclock with a preliminary attack by machine guns and trench mortars, the Beacon Journal reported. It was followed by an infantry advance and ended with a spectacular charge of cavalry. When the attackers arrived at their objective, a masked artillery battery, they found that the defenders had withdrawn behind a smokescreen that had screened their movements for nearly a quarter of an hour. It was a downbeat ending, really. When it became apparent that they couldnt hold their positions, the Akron defenders retreated. Spectators were left to guess whether the invading hordes would conquer the city or whether the defenders would regroup to fight another day. Oh, well. Cant win them all. The Battle of Elm Hill ended in a cloud of smoke. The crowd broke up and went home. A week later, the Strand Theater in downtown Akron showed a newsreel featuring the Rose Hill monument and sham battle. The old battleground is now a residential area. The Herberich-Hall-Harter and D.W. Kaufman real estate companies transformed the land between West Market and West Exchange streets into a vibrant neighborhood. A bronze plaque is on the base of a war memorial dedicated in May 1923 at Rose Hill Burial Park. Monument stands at Rose Hill The memorial shaft still stands at Rose Hill Burial Park in Fairlawn, although it might not be as apparent to modern visitors because the cemetery has grown so much over the past century. Its located in Section 4, surrounded by the graves of 200 veterans who fought overseas. For decades, the VFW post held its Memorial Day services at the site. According to bronze plaques, the monument was erected by patriotic citizens of Summit County and dedicated to the memory of U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines who served their country in time of war. A U.S. flag flutters over the site 100 years later. The landmark will quietly mark its centennial this month without a sham battle to follow. Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com Local history: The torrid truth of Climax Park More: Sword in the Stump removed from Wallhaven neighborhood in Akron This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Rose Hill Burial Park war memorial unveiled in 1923 before sham battle A 61-year-old man was injured when an unknown explosive device blew up in the village of Kamianka, Kharkiv Oblast. Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine Quote: "On 21 May, another explosion of an unknown explosive object occurred in the village of Kamianka in the Izium hromada [an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories ed.]. The incident happened on the territory of a private household. As a result of the explosion, a 61-year-old man has lost his right foot. The victim is currently being treated at a medical institution in the city of Izium." Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Mongolia's President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh and France's Emmanuel Macron inspect a guard of honour Emmanuel Macron on Sunday made a brief but symbolic visit to Mongolia, the first by a French president to the country nestled between China and Russia that is of growing strategic interest in the West. The French head of state was greeted by a traditional Mongolian guard of honour after landing in the capital Ulaanbaatar following the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Macron then attended a reception at Sukhbaatar Square, which contains a large statue of Mongolian revolutionary hero Damdin Sukhbaatar and a monument to Genghis Khan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was the star guest at the G7, where he addressed Western allies and leaders of non-aligned nations like Brazil and India. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, France has stepped up diplomacy with countries that have not explicitly condemned it -- of which Mongolia is one. In Ulaanbaatar, Macron attended a state dinner at the museum of Genghis Khan, named for the 13th-century Mongol conqueror. The institution will lend part of its collection to the Nantes History Museum in western France for an exhibition scheduled for October. - 'Diversify' - "The fact that Mongolia will be on the route back allows us to make this historic first (visit) and gives it a special meaning," an Elysee source said. Mongolia was looking to "diversify its partnerships in order to be more robust and able to deal with its large Russian and Chinese neighbours," the source added. Paris is seeking to "loosen the constraint exerted on Russia's neighbours" and open up their choice of options, the French presidency source explained. Mongolia can also be part of European efforts to diversify supplies "to guarantee our energy sovereignty," the source added. The vast north Asian country has been the subject of growing interest in recent years from the United States as part of a strategy to thwart the rise of China. Eighty-six percent of Mongolia's total exports go to China, half of which is coal. Mongolia has struggled with political instability since its first democratic constitution in 1992, when it emerged from the Soviet orbit. fff/ka/qan/st Abortion ban While 200 N.C. businesses opposed the abortion ban and supported the governors veto, weve yet to hear from the major corporations that took a bold stand against the discriminatory bathroom bill in 2016. Their silence on this equally crucial issue is conspicuous and concerning. These large companies, operating in a global marketplace, should remember that todays talented individuals, especially younger generations, have choices. By staying silent, N.C. employers tacitly support a law devaluing half of our population. Their silence could cost us talented individuals, lost payroll tax revenues, and the invaluable contributions of those whod prefer to work where their rights are respected. I urge these significant employers in North Carolina to break their silence and actively oppose this law. Its more than just the right thing to do. Their silence carries consequential, tangible costs that we cannot afford to ignore. Laurie Ruettimann, Raleigh Why 12 weeks? At least Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmuns Roe decision had some substantive basis behind it the third trimester can mark the potential viability of the fetus outside the womb, and by that point it has a functioning brain stem and produces its own brain waves. In contrast, the Republican 12-week ban is completely arbitrary it denotes neither the beginning nor the end of anything other than when a woman loses her individual freedom and becomes a ward of the state. That Republicans would make such an arbitrary decision is, however, precisely the point of their legislation. Its arbitrariness is meant to remind women that its the men who are in control they make the rules even when those rules are capricious and cruel. Most any date will do for that. Leo Sadovy, Wake Forest NC Bar As a member of the N.C. Bar Association, I am deeply disappointed by the decision to cancel the drag event. This sends a message in stark contrast to its stated commitment to promoting diversity and opposing discrimination based on gender identity or expression. We shouldnt grant a hecklers veto to those wishing to limit human rights, dignity and equality. We need to stand with our colleagues. An organization that champions diversity and inclusion should be prepared to stand firm in its convictions. James Charles Bryan, Chapel Hill Tax cuts We have seen round after round of tax cuts in recent years for the states businesses and its wealthiest citizens. At the same time, we have seen actual tax increases for many low income people in the state. For example, taxing things like utility bills, haircuts, etc. actually raised taxes for the poor. Now our legislature is proposing another round of tax cuts for the rich. At the the same time it proposing radical legislation that would have taxpayers subsidize the private education of rich children. It is great to be rich in North Carolina not so great if you are poor. Walter Weathers, Durham NC health care Its safe to say that 100% of Republicans in the legislature oppose anything that even vaguely resembles the British single-payer National Health Service, but they seem determined to push us in that direction (NC Senate: Tie hospital licenses to State Health Plan savings, May 17). They threaten to close urban hospitals that dont cut costs enough to suit them. Cut costs too much, and eventually well see nurses striking to get their well-deserved pay raises and emergency departments turning away all but the worst cases like in Great Britain. Hospitals will delay getting updated equipment, causing even longer wait times for the best care like in Great Britain. Heck, why not just adopt single-payer for North Carolina and be done with it. Bill Erwin, Durham Sen. Tillis, the debt In an email to Sen. Thom Tillis, I urged him not to allow a default. In his response to me, he noted that there has been out-of-control spending: For too long, Congress has failed to rein in reckless spending, allowing our federal outlays to dramatically exceed revenue. Does he need to be reminded that he voted for corporate tax cuts during the Trump era? Instead of only focusing on where to cut services from hard-working Americans, how about also looking at increasing revenue from corporations. I benefit from my investments in these organizations, but I dont have to benefit so much at the expense of my fellow Americans. Large corporations have been doing quite well of late. Janice Woychik, Chapel Hill Compromise Though a conservative at heart, Ive registered and voted unaffiliated for over 20 years. If Congress and the president do not get their heads together soon, we are on a path of fiscal irresponsibility for sure. President Bidens line in the sand will not stand and he should stop. The root platforms of both parties are rising to the surface of this slugfest with a need for compromise. I predict the House speaker will not yield to Biden and will gain political points over the short term. Biden will finally yield, as Obama did, or else the stalemate will fall at his feet for the 2024 elections. And maybe that is exactly where it ought to be. The people want a balanced budget in Washington. Theron Few, Raleigh Man sought in Santa Maria stabbing captured in SLO County, police say A man sought for attempted murder in Santa Maria was captured in San Luis Obispo County on Friday afternoon, according to the Santa Maria Police Department. At approximately noon Friday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Fugitive Apprehension Team located and arrested Eddie Ray Dominguez, 35, in the Arroyo Grande area, said Sgt. Daniel Rios. Dominguez was wanted for an outstanding warrant in connection with an early morning stabbing on May 6 in Santa Maria. The assault happened on the 200 block of East Tunnell Street, and the victim sustained several stab wounds, Rios said previously. Dominguez was turned over to Santa Maria police detectives investigating this case before being booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on his outstanding warrant for attempted murder. Police announced May 12 that they were seeking Dominguez in connection with the stabbing. Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact Detective Hesch at 805-928-3781, ext. 1349, or the police communications center at 805-928-3781, ext. 2277. Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com . Man trying to save dog vanishes in freezing, turbulent creek, Canada authorities say A man died in a rushing British Columbia creek while trying to rescue a dog swept away by freezing, turbulent waters, Canada authorities told news outlets. The man and his wife were walking the dog at Cypress Falls Park in West Vancouver at about 9 p.m. Friday, May 19, when the dog fell in a creek, police told the Vancouver Sun. The man went in after the dog but was swept away by the swift current, police told the publication. His wife called 911. Firefighters and rescuers searched into the night for the man, Daily Hive Canada reported. Family members found his body at about 6 a.m. Saturday, May 20, while the search continued, CBC News reported. The dog also died. It was horrendous, Paul Markey of North Shore Rescue told the publication. Probably the worst possible thing you could imagine. The mans body was recovered at about 8 a.m., the Vancouver Sun reported. This was not the outcome we had all hoped for and it is an enormous tragedy for the family of the victim and our community, Sgt. Mark McLean said in a statement, Daily Hive Canada reported. Our hearts go out to them. West Vancouver is about 5 miles northwest of downtown Vancouver. Puppy plunges 15 feet down storm drain during walk with owner, Georgia rescuers say 39-year-old slips in Arkansas river and vanishes after being swept away, officials say 15-year-old girl drowns during PE class, Indiana school says. Profoundly upsetting Martin Scorseses Killers of the Flower Moon hailed as masterpiece by critics after Cannes premiere Martin Scorseses latest film Killers of the Flower Moon has become one of the most feted films at Cannes, with early reviews hailing it as a triumph. The western true-crime thriller casts Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone in Scorseses retelling of the Osage murders of the 1920s. Co-written by Eric Roth, the movie premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (20 May) night to the biggest standing ovation of the festival so far, at nine minutes. In a five-star review for The Independent, critic Clarisse Loughrey observed how Killers of the Flower Moon carries Scorseses tradition fixations: the rotted core of mans heart; how power breeds the impulse for destruction; the myths of cowboys and outlaws and the dirty truth to them. She also singled out Gladstones performance as Mollie Kyle, who marries DiCaprios character Ernest Burkhart, as one of the most extraordinary... by a woman in any of Scorseses movies. She is serene but not saintly; a figure of tragedy with fire in her belly, Loughrey writes. The first time we dive into Mollies perspective, its with a force that could suck the breath out of your body. The Guardians Peter Bradshaw also gave the film five stars, writing how Scorsese and Roth have crafted an epic of creeping, existential horror about the birth of the American century, a macabre tale of quasi-genocidal serial killings which mimic the larger erasure of Native Americans from the US. Writing for The Telegraph, Robbie Collin said that Scorsese had outdone himself with Killers, noting that DiCaprio and De Niro are on terrific form. Some critics were less keen on the length of the film. Variety called the project compelling but criticised its running time of three-and-a-half hours. The Sunday Times was also unimpressed, with critic Kevin Maher calling it a damp squib in his two-star review. The film itself, alas, is quite the dirge, he wrote. He later commented: Worst of all, for a film that is ostensibly about reclaiming the Osage story, the only major Osage character, Mollie, is a passive cipher whos essentially sedated (against her will) throughout... she stares, she sweats, she groans, she faints. Read The Independents review here. Killers of the Flower Moon is being released on 6 October, before streaming globally on Apple TV+. Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon Martin Scorsese , the legendary filmmaker behind classics like Goodfellas andTaxi Driver is back for his 26th narrative feature directing effort, Killers of the Flower Moon. Scorseses latest film had its glitzy premiere at Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, and it received a nine-minute standing ovation from its first big crowd. But what exactly did critics think about the Leonardo DiCaprio-led upcoming book adaptation ? Well, we now have our answer on that front. The 80-year-old filmmaker has a rather squeaky clean reputation when it comes to critical reception of his work. Pair that with acclaimed actors and frequent collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, do we have a winner this time around? Overall, the movies first reviews are praising Killers of the Flower Moon. Lets start with Tomris Lafflys words via The Wrap : DiCaprios performance is titanic here in a role that asks a lot of him. Thanks to his commitment to the layers of Ernest, you buy the character both as a money-crazed, murderous and power-hungry pawn of Hales and someone who actually did fall in love with his wife once. That dichotomy is everywhere in DiCaprios acting and guilty body language; its even in his hairdo that swiftly loses its silly middle-part in due course and becomes a menacingly slick and subtle side-sweep. It sounds like Leonardo DiCaprio might as well be up for another Academy Award at next years Oscars considering the actor is definitely a standout as Ernest Burkhart, a real person who was a figure in the Osage murders that happened in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. Tomris Laffly singled out the actor for giving a nuanced performance, especially in terms of the dynamic created between Ernest and his Native American wife, Mollie, played by Lily Gladstone. The Atlantic s David Sims also applauded Leonardo DiCaprio among other cast members. In his words: De Niro is magnificently unsettling in the filmit might be the best work hes done with Scorsese since Goodfellasbut the emotional powerhouses are DiCaprio and Gladstone. Their characters romance embodies the evil yet engrossing tragedy of the Osage murders far better than a procedural crime film ever could. Robert De Niro plays William Hale, a convicted murderer and the uncle of DiCaprios Ernest. Hale conspired to kill several Osage Native Americans at the time for their oil headrights, as the novels author (who visited the set and was overwhelmed by it ) wrote about in the true crime novel of the same name. In terms of how Killers of the Flower Moon handles its delicate subject matter, Deadline writer Pete Hammond had this to say: Scorsese, with an authentic cast in which Native Americans have more than 40 speaking parts (not to mention countless extras), changes things up on an epic scale everything about this movie is big and attempts to bury the transgressions of Hollywoods shaky past in telling these kinds of stories. Killers of the Flower Moon is a landmark motion picture achievement, if only for the care and handling of how it tells the story of the Osage Nation. Seems like a lot of cinema lovers are really digging the crime drama thus far. However, Therese Lacson wrote on Collider that she felt like there wasn't enough focus place on the movie's Native American characters. In her words: I have to wonder how this story would have been written and directed in the hands of a Native American director. It certainly wouldn't have focused so much of the runtime on Ernest and Bill. The other Indigenous characters beyond Mollie don't have distinct personalities or true development. It's a disappointing aspect of Killers that sticks out after sitting through the full 206 minutes. While I question some decisions Scorsese made with Killers, there's no doubt that this film is a triumph for its leading cast. Thats right, Killers of the Flower Moon is over three hours. If youre a fan of Martin Scorsese, whose last movie The Irishman was four minutes longer, that's probably not a surprise. Lets cap things off with a quote from The Hollywood Reporter s David Rooney, who spoke more on the runtime. [T]he three-and-a-half-hour running time is fully justified in an escalating tragedy that never loosens its grip a sordid illustration of historical erasure with echoes in todays bitterly divisive political gamesmanship theres a different, more chilling feel to the reign of terror depicted here, a trail of slaughter that weighs heavily on the heart and mind at every step. Theres also a suggestion of a filmmaker reflecting on guilt and atonement, a notion strengthened by a strategic and unexpectedly moving cameo from the director. As mentioned Martin Scorsese rarely disappoints, and this latest outing seems to be another solid cinematic outing for him. He produced the movie and co-wrote the script and, on top of that, he's assembled a skilled cast. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro are joined by Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow and more. It'll be a little while before audiences will actually get to feast their eyes on the movie and, if these reviews are any indication, the wait will be worth it. Natalie Portman in May December' (May December productions 2022 LLC) What on earth would make a woman in her mid-thirties have an affair with a teenage boy? This is the question asked in Todd Hayness May December (which received its world premiere in competition in Cannes on Saturday 20 May). The new feature is another of the US directors probing and torrid melodramas. It has a plot that could come straight from a prurient TV soap opera but the US director behind Carol (2015) and Far From Heaven (2002) comes at his material with an intensity which rekindles memories of some of Ingmar Bergmans most fraught and closely focused character studies. He elicits superb performances from his two leads, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Portman plays Elizabeth Berry, a movie star who travels to Savannah, Georgia, to research her new role. In her next film, she is going to play Gracie (Julianne Moore), a woman who, two decades before, was at the centre of a tabloid scandal after having an affair with a seventh-grader (thats to say a boy who was 13 years old). Gracie was arrested when the affair became public. She subsequently divorced her husband and married the boy, Joe (Charles Melton), who is over 20 years younger than her. Theyve started a family, have children of their own who are college age, and are now a beloved part of the community. However, Elizabeths arrival stirs up some very uncomfortable memories and reveals the still lingering resentments toward her. Portmans character radiates bad faith. She pretends to be sympathetic toward Gracie when she is really just looking to exploit her. This is not a story. Its my f***ing life, Gracie exclaims at one stage as Elizabeth inveigles her way into her world in predatory fashion. The Hollywood star interviews everybody she can, from Gracies ex-husband to the son from her first marriage. (It ruined my life, of course, the son tells her of his mothers illicit affair.) Elizabeth begins to dress like Gracie. She mimics everything about her from her make-up to her way of talking. Elizabeth is a chameleon-like figure whose true emotions are impossible to read. In one telling scene, she turns up at the school Gracies children attend and speaks to the drama class. A student asks her about doing sex scenes on camera. She admits her ambivalence about such scenes. Sometimes, she is pretending to enjoy them but, on other occasions, the reverse applies: she is pretending not to enjoy them when actually she does. Moores Gracie combines steeliness and vulnerability. She spends her days baking cakes which she sells to neighbours and exudes cheerfulness but it doesnt take very much to reveal her insecurity and her selfishness. Much of the pleasure of the film lies in its clash of styles. At certain moments, it is trashy and voyeuristic. At others, for example when Elizabeth and Gracie are alone together, it becomes closer to Bergmans Persona, with its famous shot in which the faces of the actor played by Liv Ullmann and her nurse Bibi Andersson seem to merge. Marcelo Zarvoss strident musical score adds to the jarring effect of the film. Natalie Portman and Charles Melton (May December Productions 2022 LLC) As the two women shadow each other, Haynes also devotes time to Joe, the young husband who married a woman 20 years older than himself. Joe is obsessed with caterpillars and butterflies. He is a friendly figure but is stunted emotionally. Its as if by marrying Gracie so young, he has skipped an entire part of his life and stumbled into middle age prematurely. It is never quite clear who is exploiting whom. Gracie has presumably invited Elizabeth into her family home because she is being paid for it. There wouldnt be any other reason for raking over such painful memories. She was shamed for her affair with a teenage boy but tells herself he was the one who initiated it. Elizabeth is a method actor, so relentlessly devoted to researching her new role that she seems to have lost any sense of compassion or ethical responsibility. May December is a film without frills or special effects. Its a closely focused character study, galvanised by the tremendous performances from Portman and Moore, which delves into areas more conventional dramas dont go near. Dir: Todd Haynes; Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore. UK release date tbc. Some of the world's leading media outlets are reporting that on Sunday, during his visit to Japan, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was not sure that Ukraine's Armed Forces were still in control of the city of Bakhmut, which has now been destroyed by the Russians. Later, his press secretary denied this. It is not clear from the president's answer which question he was answering. Source: DW; AP; The Guardian; Serhii Nykyforov, spokesman for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Facebook; Financial Times correspondent Christopher Miller on Twitter Details: The media reported that when asked during the G7 summit in Hiroshima whether Ukraine controlled the city, Zelenskyy replied: "I think no." Quote from Zelenskyy: "You have to understand that there is nothing [left]. They [the Russians ed.] have destroyed everything. For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts." Update: Later, Serhii Nykyforov, Zelenskyy's press secretary, posted that the president had actually denied the loss of Bakhmut. The spokesman wrote that Zelenskyy had been asked whether the Russians had captured Bakhmut, to which he replied: "I think no." The international media are still reporting that Zelenskyy was asked whether Bakhmut remained under Kyiv's control. Judging by the video, the question was: "Mr President, is Bakhmut still in Ukraine's hands? The Russians are saying they took Bakhmut." Zelenskyy's reply was: "I think no". Financial Times correspondent Christopher Miller tweeted that the Ukrainian president's entourage has a different explanation for Zelenskyys answer. They say Zelenskyy was talking about Bakhmut being lost in the sense that it has been completely destroyed. Background: On 20 May, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin posted a video near the railway station in the centre of Bakhmut, claiming that his mercenaries had seized the city completely and that on 25 May, they would hand over its "defence" to regular Russian army units and leave. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry denied that Bakhmut has been captured, as despite the "critical situation" in the city, Ukrainian soldiers control some sites. Afterwards, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner and promised the occupiers state awards. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China and Malaysia have agreed to further promote practical cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, top Chinese legislator Zhao Leji said. During a three-day visit to Malaysia which ended on Saturday, Zhao, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), met with Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Speaker of the lower house of parliament Johari Abdul, respectively. At a meeting with the Malaysian supreme head of state, Zhao said China and Malaysia have developed sound and stable relations, and achieved fruitful results in practical cooperation under the strategic guidance of the two countries' leaders. He noted that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Malaysia comprehensive strategic partnership, and next year will be the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. China is ready to join hands with Malaysia to build a China-Malaysia community with a shared future at a high level and with high quality, Zhao said. Noting bilateral relations are at their historical best, King Abdullah said both sides should strengthen practical cooperation and deepen cultural exchanges so as to further promote Malaysia-China ties in the next 50 years. When meeting with Prime Minister Anwar, Zhao said practical cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges are the twin engines driving the development of China-Malaysia relations. He hoped that both sides will jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality and expand cooperation in various fields. China is willing to enhance cultural exchanges with Malaysia and boost mutual understanding between the two peoples, especially among the youths, Zhao said. China is ready to deepen friendship and mutual trust, and achieve common development with its neighbors including Malaysia by upholding the policy of neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, as well as building friendship and partnership with neighbors, he added. For his part, Anwar said Malaysia has attached great importance to relations with China, and is willing to further deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership and jointly build the Malaysia-China community with a shared future. The prime minister noted that Malaysia regards China as a trustworthy, good friend and is willing to continue to push for the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road, strengthen cooperation in various fields, including trade and investment, digital economy, agriculture, poverty reduction, culture, tourism and youth, and advance major projects of "Two Countries, Twin Parks," so as to bring more benefit to the two peoples. At a meeting with Johari, Zhao said developing bilateral ties should be guided by the joint efforts of building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, calling for closer mutually beneficial cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges as part of the endeavor to create a favorable external environment for the common development of the two countries. China's NPC is willing to strengthen exchanges with the parliament of Malaysia at all levels and share experience in order to provide policy and legal guarantees for the cooperation between the two countries, he said. Johari expressed the hope that the friendly exchanges with China's NPC will be strengthened, and the exchanges between the lawmakers of the two countries will be closer, adding that the two sides can exchange views on food security and other issues, and work for getting more Malaysian students to study in China. Zhao briefed the Malaysian side on China's modernization and whole-process people's democracy, among others. The Malaysian side said that the fruits of China's development will benefit the whole region and the world at large. During his stay in Malaysia, Zhao also visited the Asia-Pacific office of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, where he encouraged the Huawei staff members to work harder and strengthen technological innovation, making contributions to the China-Malaysia mutually beneficial cooperation. When meeting with Chief Minister of Malacca state Ab Rauf Yusoh, Zhao said the Chinese side is willing to further expand cooperation with the Malaysian side at the regional level. Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya, Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Malaysian Speaker of the lower house of parliament Johari Abdul in Malaysia, May 18, 2023. At the invitation of Johari, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, visits Zheng He Museum in Malaysia, May 20, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, visits the Asia-Pacific office of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei in Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with Chief Minister of Malacca state Ab Rauf Yusoh in Malaysia, May 19, 2023. At the invitation of Speaker of the lower house of parliament of Malaysia, Johari Abdul, Zhao paid an official friendly visit to the country from Thursday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) Melissa McCarthy has recalled how she once worked for someone who created such a hostile set environment that it made her physically ill. The US actor, screenwriter and producer currently stars as the evil sea-witch Ursula in Disneys live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. In an interview with The Observer, McCarthy, known for her comedy roles in hit films including Bridesmaids (2011) and The Heat (2013), recalled how shed experienced her share of egos in Hollywood. I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill, the 52-year-old told the publication. My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness. Asked about what she witnessed on set, she remembered: There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person. And I think thats why the manipulation worked, because to get to me, this person would fire people I loved, which kept me quiet. It was very effective. Then one day, I was like, It stops today! I just kept saying to them, it stops, it stops. And I know now Ill never keep quiet again. McCarthy did not name the person in question. Her comments come after her The Little Mermaid co-star Halle Bailey, who plays the lead role of Ariel in the film, praised McCarthy for encouraging her to speak up for herself on set. She was telling me, Yeah, I had to learn. I wasnt always this way, and when youre young, youre timid, Bailey, 22, told CNN. She added that MCarthy told her that as she got older, shes learned how to speak up and (say) what works for her. Bailey said that it was really cool to watch McCarthy come onto set and be just so comfortable with who she was in her skin and (to see) her standing up for herself, admitting that she initially found it intimidating to do the same. Melissa McCarthy as Ursula in The Little Mermaid (Disney) Early reactions to The Little Mermaid have been largely positive, following its premiere in Los Angeles on 8 May. Many have compared it favourably to the 1989 animated original, with particular praise for Bailey. Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in the original version, hailed Bailey for her purity of heart, vulnerability and bravery in the role, adding that she was so proud of her. Writer Zoe Rose Bryant was similarly appreciative, tweeting: The Little Mermaid is a live-action remake that retains the heart and soul of the story we know and love, and its elevated even further by a note-perfect star-making performance from Halle Bailey she was born to be on the big screen, and shes why this new take is worth watching. The Little Mermaid will be released in cinemas on Friday 26 May. The Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City resumed operations on Saturday after flights were suspended due to volcanic ash. The ash was the result of activity in the nearby Popocatepetl volcano, according to Reuters. "After removing the volcanic ash, checking the runways and verifying favorable wind conditions, we resumed takeoff and landing operations starting at 10.00am," the airport reported on Twitter. "Check with your airline the status of your flight." Operations at the airport ceased around 4.25am, leaving flights suspended for more than five hours. Some flights were delayed while others were canceled. The volcano is approximately 45 miles (72km) from Mexico City. It has been active since 1994, and is regularly monitored by scientists due to its proximity to the 22 million residents in Mexico City and the surrounding region. Airport officials were not the only ones closing up shop due to the volcanic activity - 11 villages in the region were forced to cancel school due to the falling ash, according to the Associated Press. The volcano known as "El Popo" locally became active in 1994 after a long period of dormancy. Since then, it has occasionally launched toxic fumes and rock into the air during periods of activity. The monitor team uses a network of sensors and cameras to keep watch over Popocatepetl. That system includes 12 seismological monitoring stations, six cameras operating 24 hours a day, and a command centre in Mexico City staffed by 13 scientists who work on shifts. The command centre is run by the nation's National Disaster Prevention Centre CENAPRED and is the first line of defense for the city. Unlike earthquakes, which strike without warning, the monitoring team can use readings from the volcano to predict when there might be trouble like flight-disrupting ash clouds and issue warnings to city officials. The Popocatepetl Volcano spews ash and smoke as seen from Puebal, state of Puebla, Mexico, on May 18, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images) The city uses a "stoplight" method to alert residents to the threat level posed by the volcano on a given day. Green means safety, yellow is a warning of potential activity, and red means the volcano poses a danger. The stoplight has typically been in a "yellow" state since it was introduced. CENAPRED and the National Autonomous University of Mexico issued a statement on Wednesday saying they were anticipating increased activity at the volcano, noting the activity was not necessarily indicative of anything especially worrisome. The explosions taking place inside Popocatepetl are a normal phenomenon and not necessarily indicative of increased volcanic activity, the institutions said in a joint statement, according to Mexico Daily News. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) dodged questions on Sunday about whether he would run on a 2024 presidential ticket alongside former President Trump. Its flattering to be in any discussion for the vice presidency or the presidency, Suarez, who is considering his own White House run in 2024, said on CBS Face the Nation. My parents came to this country at 12 and 7 from Cuba, exiled from their country of birth, he added. I never thought in a million years that I would ever be on Face the Nation with you, talking about the possibility of running for president. I think that demonstrates the greatness of this country. Politico Playbook reported last Saturday that longtime Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway had suggested Suarez as a running mate to the former president. Francis Suarez can be POTUS one day. It is up to the voters when that day is, Conway said in a text to Playbook. Ive not been shy about telling President Trump that Suarez should be on the short list for VP should Trump be the nominee. Suarez has previously made less-than-positive comments about the former president, including that he declined to vote for Trump in the 2020 election. What Ive said is that Im aspirational and inspirational, and that if I do run for president, people should vote for me because I represent something different and I can appeal to a different segment of our country, Suarez said on Sunday, when asked about some of his previous remarks. The mayor of Miami also indicated that he is getting much, much closer to making a decision about his potential 2024 run. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. American Patriot air defense systems He noted that before receiving the Patriot, it was expected that the system would be able to shoot down Iskander and Kh-22 missiles, but there was no mention of its ability to down more sophisticated missiles such as the Kinzhal and S-400. Read also: Ukraine does not confirm Russian plane downed by Patriot system Kyrychevskyi said that Saudi Arabia has 200 Patriot launchers, the appropriate infrastructure, and U.S. instructors to help them. "The story is that about once every two to three months, the Yemeni Houthis fire on Saudi Arabia with combined strikes using Shahed 136, rather primitive ballistic missiles, and very primitive copies of the Kh-55," he said. Read also: Russian Kinzhal missile production ramps up fivefold - Defense Express But Saudi Arabia, with its anti-aircraft gunners trained by American instructors, sometimes even failed to repel such attacks. According to Kyrychevskyi, this had caused the Patriot's reputation to plummet around the world. Russia even tried to sell the Abakan system to Saudi Arabia, claiming it could shoot down ballistic targets. "It was literally Allah who saved Saudi Arabia from doing such a stupid thing and buying these missile systems from the Russians, and not completely ruining the reputation of the American Patriot," the expert said. The Americans thought for a long time, and they were in two minds: to give us the Patriot or not. It turns out that our anti-aircraft gunners, with a short training course, squeezed out of the Patriot literally something that the Americans themselves did not even realize. Read also: Air defense forces shoot down 20 Shahed drones, 18 targeting Kyiv and region In the early hours of May 16, the Air Defense Forces shot down six Kinzhal missiles fired from six MiG-31K aircraft. On May 6, Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk confirmed that Ukraine had shot down a Russian Kinzhal airborne ballistic missile for the first time near Kyiv in the early hours of May 4. On May 13, AFU Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said that the Patriot was operating in autonomous mode when it shot down the Russian Kinzhal missile. 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 F-16 fighters in Poland If we all pull our weight and decisions are made quickly, Sak said, I would estimate that (at the) end of September, early October, we could see the first F-16s flying in the Ukrainian airspace. The newspaper wrote that decisions on transferring fighter jets to Ukraine are being made with "head-spinning speed." Some of the allies have declared the readiness to send aircraft as soon as they are given permission to do so by the U.S. However, logistics also have to be established, and Ukrainian pilots and technical staff need be trained in order to be able to use and maintain the warplanes. Read also: Poland has handed over nearly all of its MiG-29s, but cant provide F-16s, says Duda The shift in the U.S. position on providing Ukraine with F-16s was the result of sustained pressure from the allies, the U.S. Congress, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S., European and Ukrainian officials said. The United States decided to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets amid doubts on to which extent an upcoming and long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive will be decisive in this war. Washington and other Ukrainian allies fear that the war could last until the end of 2023 or even longer, the Washington Post wrote. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was the main advocate of providing Ukraine with modern fighter jets, U.S. officials said. Blinken played a similar role when the decision to supply Ukraine with tanks was made. The Washington Post wrote that it was he who pushed the White House to approve the transfer of M1 Abrams tanks when Germany was in doubt about whether to transfer Leopard 2 battle tanks. Read also: Ukrainian pilots need less time to master F-16 fighters, says Air Force The newspaper noted that Ukraine may not receive the F-16 as soon as it hopes, as the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Poland countries that can supply them need time to test their equipment. Ukrainian pilots also need to undergo training. President Zelenskyy confirmed on May 19 that U.S. President Joe Biden had supported the international coalition of fighter jets. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that in the coming months, the allies will work in order to determine when, who, and how many aircraft will be delivered. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on the same day that his country, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark would participate in training Ukrainian pilots to fly Western fighter jets. 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 missing Texas woman has been found dead and a man is in custody on suspicion of murder, police say A 20-year-old woman who had been missing for more than a week in western Texas was found dead Saturday, and a man has been arrested in connection with her killing, police said. Madeline Pantoja was reported missing on May 11, vanishing with her phone and car still at her home in Midland, according to the Midland Police Department. Her disappearance kick-started a dayslong search that involved multiple law enforcement agencies. Her remains were found in a rural area southeast of the city limits nine days after she was reported missing, police announced Saturday. Hours after the discovery, 24-year-old Mario Juan Chacon, Jr. was arrested on suspicion of murder in Pantojas death on Saturday afternoon, according to Midland Police. Mario Juan Chacon, Jr. is seen in a booking photo. - Midland County Sheriff's Office He is being held without bond as of Saturday night at the Midland County Jail, police said. CNN is working to determine if Chacon has an attorney. Few details were made available by authorities Saturday, including what led police to suspect Chacon in the womans death or whether he knew the victim previously. The investigation into Pantojas death is ongoing and an autopsy will be performed in Dallas, Midland Police said. The search for Pantoja had been operating on a 24-hour basis over the past week, Midland Police Chief Seth Herman said in a press conference Friday, with the FBI, the Texas Rangers, the Department of Homeland Security and the Midland County Sheriffs Office joining the investigation. Air and ground crews racing to find the young woman had searched about 60 square miles of remote property, Herman said. Over a dozen search warrants were also issued and more than 25 people were interviewed as investigators searched for Pantoja, the chief added. Before Pantoja was found dead, Midland Mayor Lori Blong announced Friday a $20,000 reward for information that would lead to her whereabouts. I cannot imagine the stress and the concern and worry of Madelines family and friends as theyve gone through this ordeal, the mayor said during Fridays news conference. Police did not say Saturday whether that reward is being claimed. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com A Mississippi transgender high school student will not attend graduation after a federal judge said on Friday the school district could bar the teen from wearing a dress to walk across the stage and collect her "long-awaited diploma." The 17-year-old transgender girl and her parents filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Mississippi this week against Harrison County School District after school officials told the girl on May 9 that "she could not attend or participate in her high school graduation ceremony while wearing a dress and heeled shoes," court documents said. Administrators at Harrison Central High School informed the teen less than two weeks before the event there was a dress code policy for the May 20 graduation which states girls "must wear a white dress and dress shoes," and that boys "must wear a white button-down shirt, black dress pants, black dress shoes, and a tie or bowtie," according to court documents. Administrators said the teen must adhere to the boys' dress code. Our client should be focused on celebrating this life milestone alongside her friends and loved ones. Instead, this ruling casts shame and humiliation on a day that should be focused on joy and pride. ACLU of Mississippi (@ACLU_MS) May 20, 2023 The lawsuit stated that school administrators refused to back down from implementing the dress code even though the teen "had entered high school as a girl and has lived every aspect of her high school career as a girl." There is "no legitimate interest or justification," to deny the teen from wearing a dress on "the final and perhaps most important event of her high school career," the lawsuit read. After a hearing Friday, the judge's ruling denied the teen's motion for a temporary restraining order against the school district's decision for "reasons stated at the hearing." "Our client should be focused on celebrating this life milestone alongside her friends and loved ones," said the ACLU of Mississippi in a social media post. "Instead, this ruling casts shame and humiliation on a day that should be focused on joy and pride." Graduation at Harrison Central High School a public high school in Gulfport, Mississippi with more than 1,500 students was scheduled to take place Saturday evening at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, according to the district's website. A request for comment to administrators at Harrison Central High School was not returned immediately. "CBS Weekend News" headlines for Saturday, May 20, 2023 Spanish fighter pilot unhurt in F-18 crash Peggy Whitson, NASAs most experienced astronaut, set to return to International Space Station As the Missouri legislature limps out of a disappointing session, Republican voters have to wonder, whats missing? Republicans control every statewide office in a state Donald Trump won by 15 points. Both chambers of the legislature have two-thirds Republican supermajorities, and Democrats are bystanders to the policymaking process. Yet youd look at the results and wonder if Republicans are actually in charge. For starters, the explosion in government spending is hard to fathom in a Republican stronghold. In 2018, our state budget was $28 billion dollars. Last week, the legislature closed the books on a jaw-dropping $51 billion budget. Even as deep-blue Democratic states like Illinois grew just 25% over the same five-year period, Missouri nearly doubled government spending. While massive government spending increases united Jefferson City lobbyists and politicians, the massive threat from China seems to be uniting Republicans and Democrats in Washington. It was just a few months ago that a Chinese spy balloon flew over Missouri, was allowed to continue gathering intelligence by the Biden Administration and was then shot down off the Atlantic Coast. Recognizing the threat here in Missouri, the House passed legislation that my office helped write to prevent China, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and North Korea from buying or owning Missouri land. But in the final weeks of the session, the Senate added a loophole, with support from Senator Bill Eigel, inexplicably allowing each of these countries to buy as much Missouri land as they want as long as they dont use it for farming. That loophole blew up the bill and ended our chances to protect Missouri land in 2023. While the legislature did pass a ban on biological males competing in womens sports, they allowed it to expire in four years. As the father of a young daughter, I testified before the legislature for a permanent ban because I think every female deserves to have their rights and opportunities protected. As governor, this will be a priority. The legislature also advanced a flawed bill to ban sex changes for children, allowing it to also expire in four years. If we believe these things are wrong, why would we add provisions that allow these protections to end? As governor, Missouri parents will know they have an ally who will make sure our kids are protected from this contagion. The legislature also let our kids down by failing to pass an open education enrollment bill giving parents more flexibility in putting their children in schools and academic settings that best serve them. The education bureaucracy is too focused on inputs and not enough on outputs, and it is time we gave parents more say in their kids educational development. Republicans have long carried the banner of school choice advocates, but when push came to shove, it didnt get done. Ive been a longtime advocate for school choice and will prioritize it in my administration. When Republican voters look at the long list of failures in Jefferson City this legislative session and ask whats missing, it is the conservative leadership that those who voted for us expect. Republicans cannot continue to fumble the ball when so much is at stake. Im running for governor to lead Republicans in creating more opportunity for Missouri families, better jobs for Missouri workers, stronger schools for Missouri children, while defending time-tested values that have made America the greatest country in the world. Jay Ashcroft is Missouris 43rd secretary of state and announced his candidacy for governor last month. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri's Republican legislature passes watered-down bills Moderate Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) said on Sunday that he sees wiggle room in the proposed June 1 deadline to raise the debt ceiling and prevent default. The June 1 date was probably, according to Secretary [Janet] Yellen, the earliest possible date, Fitzpatrick, who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said on CBS Face the Nation. A technical default would mean that we dont have enough cash flow to pay the interest on our debt, he added. We do have enough cash flow to do that. Were gonna start to see the state tax revenues come in about the second week of June, so I think we are okay on that. We will have time, and I really do think that we should allow leeway and flexibility for the Speaker and the president, who both understand the gravity of this situation, to work this out, Fitzpatrick said. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has repeatedly warned lawmakers that the U.S. could default on its debt as early as June 1. With less than two weeks before the so-called x-date, negotiations between President Biden and Republicans broke down on Friday but then quickly resumed. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accused the White House of moving backwards, while Biden called on Republicans to move from their extreme positions. The two are set to talk on the phone on Sunday, as Biden returns from the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Japan. Fitzpatrick noted that while lawmakers should assume that the default deadline is June 1, he added, I think the math tells us that there is a little bit of wiggle room. Its incredibly time sensitive, Fitzpatrick said. Theres no question about it. The conversations cant come soon enough. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold talks on Monday with Chen Wenqing, member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo who oversees police, legal affairs and intelligence, the Russian RIA state news reported. This would be Patrushev's first meeting with Chen Wenqing, RIA reported. In October, Chen Wenqing was named the party secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, China's top security post with oversight of the police, judges and spies. Patrushev, a former chief of the FSB internal security service, is widely seen as one of the most hawkish members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. While the bilateral security talks are an annual event, Russia and China have moved to further strengthen their economic, political and military ties since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Chris Reese) JERUSALEM, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A multinational study has proved the existence of the Ethiopian wolf about 1.5 million years ago, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) said on Sunday, ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity, which falls on May 22. As one of Africa's most endangered carnivores, there are fewer than 500 Ethiopian wolves remaining in six isolated enclaves in the Ethiopian highlands at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. In the study published in the journal Nature Communications Biology, HU researchers and their colleagues from Spain, the United States, Italy, and Ethiopia made a joint study on a lower jaw fossil of the Ethiopian wolf found in 2017 at the Melka Wakena site complex in the highlands. According to the study, the specimen, the only discovered Pleistocene fossil of the Ethiopian wolf, dates back to about 1.5 million years ago, which contradicts previous claims that the Ethiopian wolf came from Eurasia to Africa about 20,000 years ago. The endemic Ethiopian wolf, also known as the red jackal, is threatened by loss of habitat mainly due to an ever-depleting number of prey and the spread of dog diseases such as rabies. Bioclimatic modeling applied by the researchers suggested that the species lineage faced severe survival challenges due to consecutive drastic geographic range contractions during warmer periods. Using these models, the team projected that a significant reduction of the already-deteriorating territories suitable for the Ethiopian wolf increases the threat to its future survival. The findings highlighted the urgent need to preserve the ecological habitats of the species to ensure their survival, the researchers concluded. Nearly four years ago, a family heard a weird sound coming from the woods near their house in northern Georgia. They thought it might have been a wild animal, but the familys two teenage daughters were convinced it sounded like a baby crying and couldnt let it go, authorities said. It was the middle of the night and a severe storm was about the hit the area, but the daughters convinced their dad to go investigate the sound with them. Their search led to the discovery of a newborn tied up in a plastic bag and left in a remote area of the woods to suffocate and die on June 6, 2019, according to the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office. The infant now called Baby India was rescued and survived. Back then I called it divine intervention and I truly believe that still today, Sheriff Ron Freeman said during a news conference posted to the sheriffs offices YouTube. Now, nearly four years later, the childs mother has been arrested, the sheriffs office said in a news release on May 19. Karima Jiwani, 40, is facing charges of criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, reckless abandonment and first-degree cruelty to children. It was unclear as of May 21 if she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf. Finding baby India Evidence suggests Jiwani gave birth to Baby India in a vehicle, Freeman said during the news conference. She then drove around with the baby for a significant period of time before she tied the baby in a plastic bag and threw her into the woods to die, Freeman said. Investigators believe Jiwani was alone when she left the baby in the woods, Freeman said. Freeman explained that Georgia has a safe haven law. It allows a parent to leave a baby with a staff member or volunteer of a medical facility, fire station, or police station if the child is no more than thirty days old with no criminal consequences, according to the states Department of Human Services. But Freeman said Jiwani made no effort to leave this child at any safe place where there was any remote possibility of her being located. This child was wrapped up to suffocate in a plastic bag, thrown 20 yards in the woods in an isolated area with one house nearby, Freeman said. That family happened to arrive home when they werent supposed to and happened to go back outside because it was going to rain to empty their car when they had earlier decided they were going to do it the next morning. Thats divine intervention. This babys supposed to be here. Jiwanis arrest Freeman said calls poured in from people wanting to foster, adopt or help baby India after she was found. But the few leads investigators got on the case didnt amount to much, Freeman said. Then, 10 months ago, investigators used DNA to identify the babys father, which began an even more concerted investigation, according to Freeman. Investigators were soon able to identify Jiwani as the birth parent using DNA. She was fittingly arrested by Deputy Terry Roper who helped rescue Baby India nearly 4 years ago, the sheriffs office said in the release. Freeman said there is no evidence to suggest the father knew of the pregnancy or the babys abandonment. He said deputies are investigating Jiwanis history of unknown or concealed pregnancies. Freeman said the child is now prospering and is happy and healthy. I was telling my team I said, Man, isnt it going to be cool to watch this little girl grow up and see her do some great things, in spite of these beginnings, he said. Baby in carjacked vehicle is found abandoned on porch of home, Nebraska cops say 19-year-olds murder remained a mystery for nearly 40 years until now, officials say Missing girls remains identified 8 years after they were found near Texas oilfield Cold case went unsolved for over a decade. Now, former NC soldier charged with murder The NAACP issued a formal travel advisory for Florida on Saturday, saying the state has become hostile to Black Americans under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss (R) leadership. On a seeming quest to silence African-American voices, the Governor and the State of Florida have shown that African Americans are not welcome in the State of Florida, the travel advisory reads. Due to this sustained, blatant, relentless and systemic attack on democracy and civil rights, the NAACP hereby issues a travel advisory to African Americans, and other people of color regarding the hostility towards African Americans in Florida, the group added. The advisory points to several of DeSantiss controversial policies, including legislation he signed Monday to prohibit colleges from spending public funds on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The Florida governor also previously signed the Stop WOKE Act, which restricts how workplaces and schools can discuss race during required training or instruction, and blocked an Advanced Placement African American Studies course in the states public schools, claiming it lacked educational value. Let me be clear failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. Under the leadership of Governor Desantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon, Johnson added. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The NAACP has warned Black people planning to visit Gov. Ron DeSantis' Florida that they would be traveling to a 'hostile' environment Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reacts after signing HB 7, the "Stop WOKE" bill, at Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, on Friday, April 22, 2022. Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Major civil rights organization issues a travel advisory for Black people planning to visit Florida. The NAACP said it was "hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals." Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration have overseen a swathe of controversial laws and policies. A prominent civil rights organization has issued a travel advisory warning for Black people and LGBTQ+ planning to visit Florida, saying the sunshine state had become "openly hostile." The NAACP announced the advisory on Saturday was the result of "unrelenting attacks on fundamental freedoms." It took aim at "Governor Ron DeSantis' aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools." The travel advisory warns that those traveling to the state should be aware that "Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals." The advisory also described DeSantis and his Florida government as on a "seeming quest to silence African-American voices." NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson said, "Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon." Chair of the NAACP Board of Directors, Leon Russell, said, "Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority." Russell added "hate-inspired state leaders" were putting politics before people. The LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Florida announced a travel advisory in April, saying, "Florida's slate of laws and policies targeting basic freedoms and rights pose a serious risk to the health and safety of those traveling to the state." These advisories come after DeSantis and his administration have overseen a swathe of controversial laws and policies, including the "Don't Say Gay" bill, book banning, and the "Stop Woke" act. Recently, DeSantis also signed a slew of anti-transgender rights bills into law that will limit access to healthcare, public restroom usage, and measures aimed at the school curriculum. On Friday, PRIDE in St. Cloud became the latest LGBTQ+ community in Florida to cancel its festival, with organizers citing a "climate of fear," reported Orlando.com. It follows several others, including Tampa, that have abandoned celebrations, said the outlet. Read the original article on Business Insider Rocket Lab is set to ferry two small satellites into space for NASA early Monday morning. As part of a mission called Coming to a storm near you, the companys Electron rocket will lift off from New Zealands Mahia Peninsula at 1:30 a.m. ET, carrying the satellites to their orbital parking spot approximately 340 miles (550 kilometers) above the Earths surface. From this vantage point, the small, shoebox-sized satellites will provide new insights into how tropical storms form and evolve. Once the satellites reach orbit, they will join two others that launched earlier this month to make up the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (or the TROPICS) constellation. Originally intended to be a constellation of six, the four satellites will work in tandem to provide frequent updates of hurricane and typhoon development. NASA is hopeful that data collected by the satellites will help improve forecasts and models of these storms in order to save lives and better understand how climate change is affecting storm evolution. Each pair of satellites will operate in specific orbital planes that are equally spaced to maximize the resolution and data they provide. This position will also allow them to pass over potential storms once an hour, providing a wealth of data not possible with traditional weather satellites, which make passes about once every six hours. The extra data collected is expected to help scientists understand the processes that place within the storms that determine how they intensify. NASA originally contracted Astra to launch the TROPICS constellation, however, a launch anomaly that led to the loss of the first two satellites caused the space agency to make a switch. Rocket Lab, a dedicated small satellite launcher, swooped in and took up the charge. The companys flagship rocketthe Electrondeposited the first batch of satellites into orbit on May 8, as part of a mission it called Rocket like a hurricane. In order to make sure the satellites were operational before the impending Atlantic storm season, NASA required Rocket Lab to launch both sets of satellites within a 60-day period. The company originally intended for the second launch to lift off on May 15, but had to push launch efforts back a week. The TROPICS constellation has the potential to save lives by providing more timely data about storm intensity and advance warning to those in a potential storms path, said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO. Its an immense pleasure to ferry these spacecraft to their precise orbit before the upcoming storm season. Each of the satellites is equipped with microwave radiometers, which can measure temperature and moisture over tropical cyclones as well as take imagery. Combined with the rapid revisit rate, the satellites will be capable of monitoring rapid changes that take place within the storms. William Blackwell, TROPICS principal investigator, explained that the team hopes to improve our understanding of the basic processes that drive these storms, which will ultimately improve our ability to predict the path and intensity with more accuracy. The ability to view these storms in the microwave wavelength as they form and intensify, means we will get data weve never had before, he said. Blackwell also said that while six satellites would have been nice, they can still complete their science objectives with only four. Having four instead of six does make a difference because the revisit times will be longer than we had hoped, but will still be better than other satellites, he said. Each year hurricanes are intensifying, with more catastrophic storms being produced. Researchers attribute this uptick to climate change as hurricanes and other tropical cyclones feed off of warm waters out in the Atlantic. Climate change is a hot button issue for the Administration, with President Joe Biden announcing an Ocean Climate Action Plan in 2022. Data collected from the TROPICS constellation as well as other satellites in orbit will be valuable tools to understanding how climate and rising temperatures will affect our oceans and in turn, us. Coming to a storm near you will mark the fifth mission so far in 2023 for Rocket Lab, and the companys 37th mission overall. The company, which was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California has dedicated its Electron launcher to ferrying smaller satellites into space that may not normally have a ride. To date, the company has launched 161 small satellites into space, and does not plan on slowing down anytime soon. Rocket Lab operates two launch pads in New Zealand and recently opened a third on U.S. soil at NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, where it plans to expand its operations with the addition of a larger, medium-class launch vehicle called Neutron. Rocket Lab officially opened Launch Complex 3 earlier this year and plans to use all three launch pads on a regular cadence. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. NCs new photo ID requirement could cause confusion in the 2024 election | Opinion During a Feb. 3 North Carolina Supreme Court hearing, a lawyer referred to how Pennsylvanias Supreme Court rejected gerrymandered voting district maps because they did not comply with that states constitutional guarantee of free and equal elections. But Chief Justice Paul Newby, leader of the North Carolinas courts new 5-2 Republican majority, noted that there was a difference between the Pennsylvania and North Carolina constitutions. Misquoting the Pennsylvania constitution, Newby said: We have free. We dont have fair. They have free and fair, correct? There you have it from the states top jurist: He thinks North Carolinas governing document is silent about whether elections have to be fair. Given that perspective, its not surprising that Newbys court promptly reversed rulings by the previous courts 4-3 Democratic majority. The reversals give the Republican-controlled General Assembly wide latitude to gerrymander voting district maps and upheld a voter photo ID law that the previous court had rejected as racially discriminatory. Since Democrats will have to boost their turnout to overcome gerrymandered districts, anything that suppresses voters who generally vote Democratic gives Republican lawmakers a stronger defense against being ousted. The voter ID requirement will be in effect for this years municipal elections, but the real test of how it affects turnout will be in the 2024 general election. Republican state lawmakers say the voter photo ID requirement is about preventing fraud and building confidence in the election process. But since fraud involving impersonating another voter is exceedingly rare and already a felony opponents think that requiring a valid photo ID to vote is really just about winnowing votes for Democrats. Whether it will do that is unclear. A study in states that have introduced the photo ID requirement found effects ranging from slight to none. In some cases, passage of a voter ID law has motivated Democrats to make more voters eligible and Democratic turnout has actually increased. The latest study, led by Notre Dame political scientist Jeffrey Harden, and published Feb. 6 in PNAS, a journal of the National Academy of Sciences. Harden, who conducted the study along with graduate student Alejandra Campos, said the research found little immediate reduction in turnout. When you zoom out it doesnt look like it has a huge effect, but that is because Democrats are working so hard to rebuild the baseline conditions by getting people the IDs they need, Harden told me. The strict photo ID requirement could take a toll if Democrats and their affiliated groups dont keep pushing to get IDs to voters, he said. If those groups let off the gas or run out of money, maybe youll see an effect on turnout, he said. In 2024, requiring a photo ID to vote in North Carolina could have a measurable effect if resources to smoothly make the change are not provided and the new requirements are not clearly explained. A problem is looming on that front as the state House and Senate are split over providing funding to implement the new law. Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, has asked the legislature for $6.5 million over the next two years to carry out the photo ID requirement. The money would be used to educate 25,000 poll workers, send a targeted mailing to voters who lack a photo ID, pay for an advertising campaign aimed at all 7.2 million of the states voters and cover the cost of printing photo IDs. However, the recently passed House budget includes only $3.5 million for this fiscal year, funding that will end before voting begins in the 2024 general election. The Senate budget passed last week includes none of the requested funding. In a May 12 letter to legislative leaders, Brinson Bell asked for full funding to prepare poll workers and voters for the photo ID requirement. She wrote, I ask that you prioritize the unique role the State Board of Elections plays in building confidence in our government, supporting our counties, and safeguarding the right of North Carolinians to vote in fair and accessible elections in 2023 and 2024. If many voters go to the polls in 2024 not knowing what theyll need to cast a vote, or dont go because they dont know how to get a valid ID, that would not be a fair election. But maybe thats the point. Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com A housekeeper sent her boyfriend to cash a few of her winning lottery tickets at a Kwik Star convenience store, and while he was there, he bought more Iowa lottery tickets. The next day before work, we were sitting there having coffee and I was scratching them and scanning them, Ivy Wilson told lottery officials. Thats when the 27-year-old Clear Lake woman realized she had won the top prize with her $30,000 Crossword scratch game ticket, according to a May 19 news release from the Iowa Lottery. I thought that I had won on that one, but I didnt think I won that much, Wilson said. I didnt believe it, really. But she really had won the $30,000 prize, officials said. Before her big win could sink in, Wilson was off to work, where officials said she had a hard time concentrating. I didnt want to say anything to anyone quite yet because I kind of wanted to process it first, Wilson said. It was very distracting, thats for sure. The adrenaline was definitely going all day long. Wilson claimed her prize on May 17, though she wasnt sure how shed use her winnings. I definitely want to take some time and think about it, because thats an amount of money that can turn your life around, she told lottery officials. It can definitely change the direction of your path, so I want to make sure I do smart things with it. Clear Lake is about 115 miles north of Des Moines. 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. Lottery winner nearly throws ticket away then scans it while at store for sandwich 75-year-old grandma wins big Iowa lottery prize and family cant believe it. No way! Retired cop woke up thinking hed hit the lottery sometime. He won big the same day Newsom appoints two justices to Sacramento County Superior Court, one coming from Yolo Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Peter Williams and Michelle Igra, both of Sacramento County, to serve as Sacramento Superior Court judges. The appointments, announced Friday, were among 30 total new justices and judges. Three of the appointments were assigned justices to the California Courts of Appeal, which divides the state into six districts. The other 27 appointments were Superior Court judges to 17 counties across the state, according to a news release from the governors office. The news release said compensation for all Court of Appeals justices is $264,542 and Superior Court judges is $231,174. Peter Williams Before his appointment, Williams served as a judge in Yolo County Superior Court, general counsel at the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and several roles in the Department of Justice for 14 years. Two of his roles at the DOJ included supervisor of the fraud and special prosecutions unit and as a special federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Eastern and Central districts of California. He practiced law at multiple firms for roughly five years before that. He earned his juris doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. Willams is a registered Democrat and will fill the vacancy created by Judge Stacy Boulware Euries promotion to the Court of Appeal in August 2022, Newsoms office said. Michelle Igra Prior to her appointment, Igra was a supervising deputy attorney general for the DOJ for 12 years and has been with the office since 2006. Igra will take the position left open by Judge David De Albas retirement in November 2022. She practiced law for seven years across two firms before her stint at the DOJ, and she holds her juris doctor degree from the Seattle University School of Law. Newsoms office said she is registered without a party preference. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) called out Republicans in the state for ignoring the will of the people after a GOP supermajority overrode his veto of a 12-week abortion ban on Tuesday. (Check out his remarks in the clip below.) In an interview with MSNBCs Jonathan Capehart, Cooper ripped GOP lawmakers for the ban in a state thats seen the highest percentage increase in abortions since the fall of Roe v. Wade, an increase attributed to those traveling from out of state due to other bans in the South and Midwest. Its amazing how theyve ignored the will of the people here, said Cooper. Most North Carolinians do not want right-wing politicians in the exam room with women and their doctors, he added. This legislation slaps women in the face. Its an insult. The people of North Carolina are mad. State Rep. Tricia Cotham switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP in April and was crucial to Republicans gaining a veto-proof supermajority to override the governors veto. Cotham, once an outspoken supporter of abortion rights, has avoided questions from the media as to how she reconciles the vote with her past stances. The ban is due to go into effect on July 1. Cooper, who referred to Republicans overriding the veto as an assault on womens reproductive freedom, criticized lawmakers for pushing through the ban quickly. It took them 42 hours to turn back the clock 50 years, he said, and they did it in the dark of night because they didnt want anybody to know what was in this legislation because they know the people dont support it. The override of the bill in North Carolina came as Republicans advanced restrictive bans in several other states, including Nebraska, where lawmakers tucked a 12-week ban into a bill that restricted gender-affirming care for those under age 19. The South Carolina House passed a six-week abortion ban on Wednesday, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantissigned a six-week ban into law last month. Cooper warned that women will die due to the bans across the country and predicted that abortion will be a front and center issue for voters in the 2024 elections. People are ready for the elections coming up next year. Every single House and Senate seat is up for grabs right now, and we will never, ever give up in our battle to protect womens health, Cooper said of his state. Related... Bob Baffert is officially back. On the track back. Triple Crown-race back. Like it or not, back. For better or worse, horse racings most recognizable and controversial trainer is officially back in the spotlight of the winners circle. Whether thats a good thing for horse racing is clearly up for debate. Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Baffert won his record eighth Preakness Stakes when National Treasure wired the seven-horse field under jockey John Velazquez in the 148th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown. It was Bafferts first Triple Crown race since 2021 after he was handed a two-year suspension by Churchill Downs following the disqualification of Medina Spirits Kentucky Derby victory after the colt flunked a postrace drug test. Saturday was a roller-coaster day for Baffert in Baltimore. His 3-year-old colt Arabian Lion won the fourth race of the day, the Sir Barton Stakes. Two races later, however, Bafferts Havnameltdown was euthanized on the track after suffering a catastrophic leg injury in the Chick Lang Stakes. Finally, in the $1.5 million, Grade 1 Preakness, National Treasure took advantage of the slow pace to beat Blazing Sevens in a thrilling stretch duel that also ended the Triple Crown hopes of Kentucky Derby winner Mage, who finished third. This business is twists and turns, the ups and downs, an emotional Baffert told NBCs Kenny Rice after the race. We start out great, we had a horrible race, weve really been totally wiped out after that horse got hurt. . . . Its been a very emotional day. The Baffert victory is yet another plot twist for a sport under scrutiny for all the wrong reasons. Seven horses died, including two on Kentucky Derby Day, at Churchill Downs in the lead-up to the Run for the Roses. An eighth equine fatality at the Louisville track was suffered in the week after the Derby. A ninth was suffered Saturday. So to have yet another horse death this one on Preakness Day and to have that horse be trained by Baffert, fresh off suspension, only brings more of the wrong kind of headlines. True, Baffert owns a clean safety record in California since he returned to training at Santa Anita last year after the track reciprocated his 90-day suspension from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. And Baffert returned with a bang. Going into Saturday, his horses had won 30 of 115 starts with earnings of a nation-leading $38,048 per start for trainers with 50-or-more starts. As well, Baffert is among, if not the most, media-friendly figures in the sport. At least before the Medina Spirit controversy, he rarely turned down an interview, was quick with a quip, and promoted the sport whenever he could. Love him or hate him, Baffert is one of the few trainers non-racing fans recognize. To a sizable slice of the public, however, Baffert is the personification of racings problems. He is a repeat offender when it comes to medical violations. He has experienced multiple mysterious equine deaths in his own barn. And he continually used the legal system to challenge the Derby disqualification and Churchill Downs suspension to the point where it kept the story in the news far too long. Now thats Bob is back, now that hes won yet another Triple Crown race, the real question is what will we see from Baffert moving forward. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authoritys anti-doping and medication control rules take effect Monday. Under HISAs stricter and more uniform guidelines, can Baffert prove hes not the (at best) careless or (at worse) cheating trainer his critics believe him to be? Either way, Saturday proved that Bob isnt going away. Hes sure to be at what is shaping up to be an interesting Belmont Stakes in three weeks. Todd Pletcher will be there too with Forte and Tapit Trice. Brad Cox could be there with Angel of Empire. And despite Saturdays disappointment, Mage is likely to make the trip to New York, as well. Bottom line: Bob Baffert is back. And hes not going away. Its good to be back. Bob Bafferts return to Triple Crown delivers record Preakness win. 2023 Preakness complete order of finish and payoffs for second jewel of Triple Crown Health and safety concerns cause scratch of top contender for Saturdays Preakness Bob Baffert can run in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. What did his suspension accomplish? FanDuel TV host apologizes for tweet that appeared to excuse equine deaths There is a way to stop the insanity that is the current state of horse racing One dead after small plane crashes in North Carolina Multiple North Carolina law enforcement agencies are investigating a deadly plane crash and fire in Orange County, North Carolina. WTVD reports that Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood confirmed a small plane crashed Sunday morning in the Rougemont community. Sheriff Blackwood tells told WTVD that one person died in the crash. ALSO READ: Engine failure led to planes crash landing into Catawba River, pilot says Blackwood said the plane caught fire and was still burning when first responders arrived at the scene around 11:30 a.m. The plane had taken off from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Blackwood confirmed to WTVD. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol is assisting at the scene and the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to take over the investigation. Sheriff Blackwood said the investigation is ongoing. VIDEO: No injuries after plane crash lands into Catawba River TEHRAN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Iranian intelligence minister said on Sunday that a "terrorist team linked to Israel" was arrested on Iran's western border, according to the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary. Esmaeil Khatib made the remarks at a conference in Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad, elaborating on the achievements of the Iranian security and intelligence forces in foiling hostile plots against the country's national security. He added the "terror" group had entered the country through the western border, without revealing the timing of the arrest or giving any other detail. The minister warned that any attempt to cause insecurity in Iran or along the country's borders will receive a "decisive and crushing" response from the Iranian armed forces and security apparatuses. Khatib expressed hope that Iran would be able to ensure full security along the western border and prevent the recurrence of such incidents in cooperation with the Iraqi government. Israeli media, including the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post, reported the Iranian minister's remarks. The Israeli authority has yet to respond to it. One person died in a plane crash in northern Orange County on Sunday morning, according to law enforcement. The plane crashed near North Carolina 157 and Breeze Road in northern Orange County, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said. Orange County Sheriffs Office deputies and fire officials found the plane engulfed in flames, Blackwood said. One person was found dead, he said. The single-engine Beechcraft 35 crashed near Rougemont around 12:15 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Only one person was on the plane, a FAA spokesperson wrote in an email. The plane departed from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Blackwood said. A witness indicated that the plane appeared to be having trouble just before it crashed. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. A second North Carolina plane crash was reported around 2:45 p.m. in Warren County, which is northeast of Orange County near the North Carolina and Virginia border. A single-engine Cessna 182 crashed while departing from Nocarva Airport in Macon, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. One person was on board. The board didnt provide any information about whether the person was injured. (This is a breaking news story that will be updated as more information is available.) Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism. In museums of the future, there will be exhibits dedicated to the literary hero, artifacts from a time when novels were mass entertainment. These celebrated writers were the subject of long-form profiles and occasional tabloid scandals, treated as cerebral rock stars and voices of their generation. John Avlon - John Avlon Martin Amis was one of our last literary heroes and his death at age 73 from the esophageal cancer that also claimed the life of his best friend Christopher Hitchens feels like a bookend to an era. An impossibly cool and erudite observer, he chronicled transatlantic culture from the rise of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan through 9/11 to the whiplash between Barack Obama and Donald Trump in novels and essays. Everything he wrote was worth reading. He was not an overtly political writer his markers were literary, from his father Kingsley Amis to Philip Larkin to Vladimir Nabokov and Saul Bellow, all of whom made frequent appearances in his work, with Martin acting as both witness and keeper of the flame. His voice was unmistakable, the sound of all synapses firing with nicotine precision, diamond sharp and darkly funny. Gazing through shades, he could capture the sweep of skylines and dark alleys simultaneously. The opening paragraph from his novel The Information shows Amis in full plume: Cities at night, I feel, contain men who cry in their sleep and then say Nothing. Its nothing. Just sad dreams. Or something like thatSwing low in your weep ship, with your tear scans and sob probes, and you would mark them. Womenand they can be wives, lovers, gaunt muses, fat nurses, obsessions, devourers, exes, nemeseswill wake and turn to these men and ask, with female need-to-know, What is it? And the men will say, Nothing. No it isnt anything really. Just sad dreams. Beneath the virtuosic riffs, you could hear an author trying to defy the undertow of despair. It drove him from tragicomic stories of modern folly in pursuit of sex and money to the subjects of Hitlers Holocaust and Stalins gulags, in his works Times Arrow, Koba the Dread, House of Meetings and Zone of Interest. Ideology brings about a disastrous fusion, he wrote, that of violence and righteousness. As a reader, the music of Amis best sentences stuck with me. As a writer, I took his work off the shelf not just for pleasure but for renewal, recharging the creative adrenal gland when I was blocked and pacing the floors. The prose from his non-fiction collections The Moronic Inferno and Visiting Mrs. Nabokov does not feel dated, despite being written decades ago. It is the rare journalism that inspires regular re-reading, unlocking new insights, while waging a war against cliche. Like earlier eras of literary heroes, Martin Amis traveled in a generational pack. They were a post-punk crew that migrated from the UK to the US, including Hitchens, Tina Brown and Salman Rushdie. Writers who came up in their shadow and were later lucky enough to work alongside them found their brilliance matched only by their willingness to raise a glass with young people of a similar spirit, if less blessed with raw talent. I once had the surreal experience of traveling with Amis on a reporting trip to Iowa covering a 2012 GOP debate and having him read my second book Wingnuts on the flight as homework. As I sat in the seat next to him, trying to stay cool while listening for any hint of approval, I wondered if he could hear how many sentences were influenced by his work. In his final book, Inside Story, part memoir and part novel, Amis returned to his friendship with Hitchens in the 1970s, prior to their becoming famous. It chronicles a doomed affair, flashing forward at times to the decline of their friend Saul Bellows from dementia, as well as Hitchens death. It seemed to hint at a long goodbye of Amis own. But the door closed faster than Id imagined. Amis received honors and fame, as well as some jealous disdain but no Pulitzer or Nobel. He got a lot and deserved more. As I got word of his passing from an alert on my phone, I happened to be watching my children run around at a playground and I recalled one of the many Amis lines that kicks around my cranium this one from perhaps his most celebrated novel, London Fields. Watching children in the parkit occurs to me as I try to account for childish gaiety, that they find their own littleness essentially comic. They love to be chased, hilariously aware that the bigger thing cannot but capture them in time. In true Amis fashion, those sentences are about death as well as love with flashes of laughter punctuating the space in between. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Orlando Fire Department Lt. Ben Wootson was honored on Hero Day Sunday morning for rescuing a Seminole County deputy trapped in his wrecked vehicle. In March, Wootson rushed in to save the life of Deputy Matt Luxon from his burning patrol car after he crashed into a bridge. Surrounded by colleagues and family, Wootson was presented the Hero Award at the Orlando Baptist Church for his bravery as a first responder. Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith and Orange County Sheriff John Mina also attended. Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV, and stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. How Pacific Islanders in the US are keeping their culture alive through dance In a dance studio nestled inside a building next to New York City Hall, Tamara Bejar Hernandez counts to the beat of a traditional Tahitian dance song as a group of ladies shake their hips from left to right and gracefully glide their hands up in the air and down their arms. One, two, three, Hernandez, founder of the Pacific Islander dance group Lei Pasifika, yells out. Pretend youre smelling flowers. They are rehearsing choreography for the song Te Pua Noa Noa, which tells a story about the flowers spread throughout the island of Tahiti. Its the same dance I learned a few weeks ago when I decided to join Lei Pasifikas weekly Tahitian dance classes. But on this Saturday morning, the ladies are gearing up for Luau season, a typically large, vibrant feast featuring live island music and cultural performances from Hawaii and the greater Polynesia region. Hernandez says the group is booked with performances for the next two months. FaArapu, she calls out over the song chorus, which means to rotate the hips in fast circles. Its not the public performances that bring the ladies each week to this humid Manhattan studio. Many tell me its their way of staying connected to the Pacific. Some, like me, moved to the city from the Pacific Islands either from the Marshall Islands or Hawaii, while others, like Hernandez, grew up around a fairly large Pacific Islander community elsewhere. They come even though theyve never danced before, but because their parents or family danced before them and they have that connection, Hernandez tells me. It makes them less homesick. According to the US Census Bureau, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders were the fastest growing ethnic population in the US from 2020 to 2021. The Oceania region made up of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia is home to roughly 10 million people, many of whom have migrated from their home islands to the US mainland due to economic reasons, climate change and better education. But once in the mainland US, theres always a sense of yearning for Indigenous culture and traditions. And in big cities with a large Pacific Islander presence, like New York, Portland, Oregon, and San Diego, many US-born Pacific Islanders as well as transplants are keeping their culture alive through dance. The first question I always ask when anybody who asks to join my hui, which means group, is whats your connection? Hernandez says. What brought you here? Lei Pasifika member Miyuki Daniels, left, of Brooklyn with her son, walks with Tamara Bejar Hernandez, right, to head to the subway station after practice. Daniels said she attended practice while pregnant with her son, who still accompanies her to the studio now. - Erica Lee/CNN Dancing as a form of storytelling and discipline Fix your fingers, Hernandez tells her dancers, noting that every movement of hands and hips must tell a story. Aparima, which means movement of the hand, is a dance style where the hands are the storytellers. When the song theyre rehearsing mentions aina or land, for instance, the dancers elegantly bring their hands up, palms down, to form land in front of them. Vise Mann, the cultural arts chair for the Sacramento, California-based Pacific Islander group called Toutupu oe Otu Felenite Association (TOFA), or Youth Leaders of the Pacific, says dancing is a form of storytelling. Mann, who is Samoan and born in California, teaches cultural dances for TOFA in the Sacramento region. Its a way for Pacific Islanders, especially young people, to find themselves and get connected with their ethnic identity and cultures, she notes. The dances are an expression of gratitude, of love, of family, the story behind what our ancestors faced and all that they have done to get to where we need, Mann tells me. Its a beautiful thing when you see it being performed. In the centuries since the Pacific region was colonized, Pacific Islanders, including the CHamoru, Samoans, Maori, Tongans, Native Hawaiians and more, have lived largely insular lives, separated from the rest of the world by a vast ocean. This distance taught them to naturally live in harmony with land and sea. Those of us who grew up on the islands always heard stories of their long voyage, during which they danced and sang. They hopped from one island to another by canoe and used only the stars, the currents and the wind to guide them. Lisa Hafoka, who is Tongan, took over as the president of TOFA in 2022 after the death of her mother, TOFA founder Catherine Ofa Mann. Her family moved to Sacramento from New Zealand in the 1990s and started the organization in 2000 to break down the language and cultural barriers many Pacific Islanders, especially youth, faced in the US at the time. When a lot of our Pacific Islander youth were having run-ins with the law, there needed to be a Pacific Islander nonprofit organization that can be like a moderator or go-between for these youth and provide a resource for them to do better in the community, Hafoka tells CNN. While TOFA provided resources including counseling and scholarships for young Pacific Islanders, theres no Pacific Island organization without a cultural piece, or a dance piece or cultural arts, Hafoka says. At the TOFA Scholarships Fundraiser Luau in 2019, the Heartbeats group performs the Maori haka. - TOFA Inc. Now, the group has become a regular presence at the California State Fair in Sacramento, with more than 100 dancers performing traditional dances on stage. Mann says they noticed a growing number of Pacific Islanders, including those who arent Native Pacific Islanders but grew up in the islands, wanting to learn more about the culture and participate in dances. Dancing has become an emotional and cultural outlet for many younger kids, Hafoka says. We have found that Pacific Islander children, when they come together, theres a bond, she adds. When they dance together, its stronger and they enjoy each others company, and they bring in others. It feels like Im back home Having been born and raised on Saipan in the North Mariana Islands, a US territory just north of Guam, I find myself occasionally feeling homesick after moving to the mainland US. While I am not Indigenous Pacific Islander, I grew up in a close-knit community of Micronesians on Saipan. I dance their dance, sing their songs, and eat their food, so when I do feel homesick, I turn to dancing, listening to island music, and cooking CHamoru food. Moving to Portland, Oregon, for college, I was thrilled to find my university had Hawaii and Guam clubs that would put on cultural shows spotlighting traditional dances like the hula and the haka, which I took part in. When I moved even farther away to New York City, where the Pacific Islander population is sparse, it became much more difficult to find community. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders make only 0.18% of New York Citys total population, according to the US Census Bureau. Washington, California, and Texas are among the top states, besides Hawaii, with the largest NHPI population. The Pacific Islander community in New York is not that big, so this feels like a safe space where I can connect with culture and feel like Im back home, my friend Liza Atalig, who is CHamoru and also moved from Saipan to New York, tells me. Linda Peralte practices her hand movement and dance in New York. "Aparima" tends to be slower, focusing on more graceful movements, set to stringed instruments with the dancers' hands telling a story. - Erica Lee/CNN She was the one who introduced me to Lei Pasifikas dance classes. And it wasnt until early this year that I decided I wanted to get back to dancing that I joined and met other dancers who felt the same way. Kathleen Malpica, 34, another dancer with Lei Pasifika, was born and raised in Hawaii and grew up dancing hula and Tahitian. Like me, she too moved to Oregon before moving to New York City, where she sought after the same community and eventually came across Hernandez and Lei Pasifika. The best part is knowing that dance and music and the art of it is so ingrained in the culture and so youre dancing with a lot of intention and authenticity, Malpica says. And the community is why I continue to dance, because the sisterhood of it is really amazing. The need for community was the reason Hernandez started the group in the first place. I started meeting other girls who looked like me, she tells me. Moving from Florida, where she grew up in a big Tongan community, to New York, she says, was a big culture shock for her. But one night, at a tiki bar in the city, she met someone from Guam who asked her if she wanted to teach traditional Polynesian dances. Since 2008, Lei Pasifika has expanded from a small group of girls dancing in New York City parks to a full dance studio, where dancers reserve their spot on a first-come-first-serve basis. This becomes your family, it becomes personal, it becomes a part of your every day, Hernandez says. Even though I dont see the girls every day, I think about them every day. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com This Morning has regularly won best daytime show at the National Television Awards (Schofield and Willoughby pictured in 2020) If a casual viewer of This Morning had turned on the show at any point last week, it's unlikely they would have noticed anything was wrong. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were presenting as normal, with the usual revolving door of celebrity guests balanced with regular items on cooking and consumer advice. But viewers who had been following the tabloid stories about an apparent behind-the-scenes feud between the presenters could tell something was up. There was less eye contact between the pair, less arm-touching, less general camaraderie. On Saturday, Schofield announced he would be leaving the show after 20 years - referring directly to the "very difficult last few days". The show had limped on throughout what we now know was Holly and Phil's last week together, as viewers and media pundits watched with interest to see if the pair could leave any personal drama at the door and still give the appearance of friendship on screen. However, in the end everybody involved knew the headlines surrounding the increasingly strained relationship between the daytime TV's golden couple were becoming too much of a distraction. When you can't convince the viewers at home of your authenticity, the whole show crumbles. Schofield began presenting This Morning in 2002, with Willoughby joining him as a co-presenter in 2009 It is worth remembering how great Schofield and Willoughby were together before their relationship went off the rails. Excellent on-screen chemistry and an easy, affectionate relationship is precisely the dynamic needed on mid-morning television. They regularly went viral for their propensity to crack up at mishaps or sexual innuendo. One of their most famous corpses, when Gino D'Acampo told Holly "if my grandmother had wheels, she would've been a bike", has 12 million views on YouTube alone. Viewers loved it when the pair showed up, apparently still drunk, the morning after the National Television Awards in 2016, having partied most of the night. For all the air miles they clocked up, Schofield and Willoughby were involved in scandals only occasionally. In 2012, Schofield was deemed to have gone too far by presenting then-prime minister David Cameron with a list of alleged Conservative paedophiles he had found online. But broadly speaking, the duo maintained a healthy relationship for well over a decade - which is no mean feat. They brought in healthy viewing figures, rarely upset the apple cart, and even went on holiday together. Alison Hammond, who presents This Morning on Fridays, recently covered for Schofield while his brother was on trial The wheels began to come off as early as last September with what became known as queue-gate. When Holly and Phil visited Queen Elizabeth II's lying-in-state, their actions were interpreted by many as skipping a queue outside of up to 20 hours. The pair had not technically done anything wrong, they were granted press access to visit the late Queen's coffin just as hundreds of other journalists had been that same week. But because they were two of the most famous faces to have done it, there was suddenly a target on Willoughby and Schofield's backs. When other stars like David Beckham had dutifully queued outside, it was not a good look. ITV's chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall admitted the whole affair had taken a toll on the duo. Schofield appeared to reference the backlash as he collected the best daytime trophy the National Television Awards several weeks later, telling the crowd: "This means so much to us every year, especially this year." Unfavourable headlines and gossip continued over the following months. There was much speculation about Phillip's personal relationships since coming out as gay in 2020, and no shortage of unsubstantiated rumours surrounding the split from his wife. The pair also present ITV's Dancing On Ice together But the relationship between ITV's second most popular presenting pair really appeared to turn sour in the early part of this year. In April, Schofield's brother was found guilty of sexually abusing a boy. According to reports, Willoughby was upset that her co-star had not warned her in advance about what Timothy Schofield was accused of or that the trial was coming. Phillip Schofield had to take time off from presenting This Morning for the duration of the court case, which is always a risk in broadcasting. There's a motto in the media industry to "never go on holiday" - in case your cover presenter is more popular than you. Bear in mind that it is rare to see one half of a successful presenting duo without the other. Although both had hosted other shows without the other, when it came to This Morning they were very much a double act. They took their holidays at the same time, so the show's viewers were used to seeing them either both together, or not at all. Sure enough, the guest presenters who temporarily took Schofield's place were hugely popular with viewers. Alison Hammond in particular worked well with Willoughby, and it was not long before fans were calling for them to host the show together permanently, sparking another flurry of media stories. Those headlines would have put additional strain on the already fragile relationship between Schofield and Willoughby. This Morning was previously presented by husband-and-wife duo Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley Last week, Schofield tried to get ahead of the feud story by releasing a statement, in which he admitted the last few weeks "haven't been easy for either of us". That was only one sentence in a statement which otherwise praised Willoughby to the hills ("Holly is my rock, we're the best of friends", he also said), but it was the only sentence that mattered. It was seized upon. Willoughby was reportedly "blindsided" by the release of his statement, but kept quiet. To this day, she has not acknowledged any fallout on the record, unlike Schofield. However, certain journalists in certain newspapers seemed curiously well informed about her feelings. This Morning itself had become the story. Other ITV daytime presenters such as Ruth Langsford began to make jokes and comments about behind-the-scenes feuding. (Langsford previously had her own on-air clashes with Schofield.) Twitter users noticed Willoughby had recently changed her biog to remove a previous reference to Schofield, who had introduced her to the platform. Meanwhile, stories appeared in the tabloids claiming she had made clear to bosses she would want to stay on the programme if Schofield was to exit. By this point, the writing was on the fake digital backdrop of the Thames. This Morning was extended by half an hour after The Jeremy Kyle Show was taken off air 2019 It is telling that Schofield, rather than Willoughby, has been the one to leave. They are, after all, a 50/50 partnership. If a double act has to be broken up, why should Schofield automatically be the one that has to go? There are several reasons, but perhaps one of the most significant is their respective ages. Schofield is 61, Willoughby is 42. That is a hugely important factor in the world of broadcasting and talent management. Given his older age, it is likely Schofield would be seen as nearer the end of his career, and therefore might be less of a priority for a TV network to hang on to. Willoughby, on the other hand, is two decades younger, and far more ripe for poaching by other TV networks. She is very well connected in the industry herself, having hosted many non-ITV programmes including the first two seasons of The Voice UK, when it was on BBC One. Her husband Dan Baldwin is a renowned TV producer, whose company Hungry Bear is behind big hits such as Michael McIntyre's The Wheel. At a time when Willoughby was clearly unhappy at This Morning, keeping her sweet in an attempt to stop her going to a rival broadcaster would have been a high priority for ITV bosses. Having said that, ITV would ideally want to keep Schofield too. The broadcaster was at pains to say in their statement on Saturday that he will still host The British Soap Awards in June, as well as a brand new peak-time series on the channel. Bosses will be hoping a new co-presenter will be able to build an authentic on-screen relationship with Holly When The Jeremy Kyle Show was removed from the ITV airwaves in 2019 following the death of a guest, bosses filled the gap in the schedule by giving an extra half hour to Good Morning Britain, and an extra half hour to This Morning. Schofield and Willoughby's viewing figures vary between 500,000 and one million based on all kinds of factors - the time of year, that day's content, the weather outside. Many viewers dip in and out, rather than sit down to watch for the full three hours, which means it is hard to make sweeping statements about any rise or fall. Nonetheless, there were some headlines last week about a drop in viewing figures of around 100,000, which many media outlets chalked up to the controversy. In reality, all ITV daytime shows declined last week, including Lorraine and Loose Women, likely an effect of the sunshine. But as unfavourable media coverage continued, network chiefs would have been aware that the likely direction of travel for This Morning was downwards, and keen to pre-empt any further drop. The show relies on advertising and sponsorship to keep it afloat. Schofield's departure appeared to be welcomed on Saturday by other TV stars who reportedly weren't fans of his, including Eamonn Holmes and Amanda Holden. All eyes will now be on whoever is hired as Schofield's permanent replacement, to see whether he or she can build a convincing relationship with Willoughby. That is ultimately what will rescue the show. In pointed dissent, Justice Kagan accuses fellow liberal Justice Sotomayor of hypocrisy in Warhol decision, says the court is 'trying too hard' and anti-artist ruling will 'stifle creativity' and 'make our world poorer' In pointed dissent, Justice Kagan accuses fellow liberal Justice Sotomayor of hypocrisy in Warhol decision, says the court is 'trying too hard' and anti-artist ruling will 'stifle creativity' and 'make our world poorer' The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled on a case regarding copyright law featuring art by Andy Warhol. In her dissent against the 7-2 majority, Justice Kagan accused her colleagues of hypocrisy. Kagan said Sotomayor's ruling, written for the majority, will "thwart the expression of new ideas." In her scathing dissent of the Supreme Court's Thursday ruling against artists in a copyright case featuring a Prince portrait by Andy Warhol, Justice Elena Kagan took aim at her colleagues, accusing them of hypocrisy and stifling creativity, all while quoting the beloved Julie Andrews film "The Sound of Music." The Court ruled 7-2 against the Andy Warhol Foundation in the high-profile case, determining that the iconic artist had infringed on Lynn Goldsmith's copyright of her portrait of Prince by creating an orange silk screen print of the photo. Warhol's print was later licensed to the media giant Conde Nast for $10,000 and was used on the cover of a magazine, and the print's commercial use was the basis of the copyright claim. Warhol Foundation lawyers, and the dissenting justices, Kagan and Chief Justice John Roberts, argued the artist's interpretation of the photograph altered the original enough to be considered "fair use," and not subject to copyright claims. The majority, in an opinion written by liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, disagreed. "The use of a copyrighted work may nevertheless be fair if, among other things, the use has a purpose and character that is sufficiently distinct from the original," Sotomayor wrote in her opinion for the majority. "In this case, however, Goldsmith's original photograph of Prince, and AWF's copying use of that photograph in an image licensed to a special edition magazine devoted to Prince, share substantially the same purpose, and the use is of a commercial nature." Representatives for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Lynn Goldsmith's photograph of Prince; Andy Warhol's silkscreen print of Prince, featured on the cover of a Conde Nast magazine. Supreme Court documents Kagan, with Roberts concurring, took issue with the majority's characterization that the Warhol print was not substantially different than Goldsmith's photograph, pointing to the social commentary ascribed to Warhol's works and the labor-intensive process of screen printing as defining factors of the work. "There is precious little evidence in today's opinion that the majority has actually looked at these images, much less that it has engaged with expert views of their aesthetics and meaning," Kagan wrote. Anyone, Kagan said the majority suggested, could have cropped, flattened, traced, and colored the photo as the iconic artist Warhol did. Instead, she argued, Warhol did as artists do, and built upon existing materials to create their own, new works. "The majority attempts to minimize the visual dissimilarities between Warhol's silkscreen and Goldsmith's photograph by rotating the former image and then superimposing it on the latter one," Kagan wrote. "But the majority is trying too hard: Its manipulated picture in fact reveals the significance of the cropping and facial reorientation that went into Warhol's image." Quoting the 1965 film "The Sound of Music," Kagan wrote: "'Nothing comes from nothing,' the dissent observes, 'nothing ever could.' So somewhere in the copyright statute, there must be an 'escape valve' to create something good." Kagan also pointed to a 2021 ruling, Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., where the same group of justices referenced Warhol's artwork as protected by fair use, only to walk those arguments back in this latest ruling. "The majority claims not to be embarrassed by this embarrassing fact because the specific reference was to his Soup Cans, rather than his celebrity images," Kagan wrote. "But drawing a distinction between a 'commentary on consumerism' which is how the majority describes his soup canvases and a commentary on celebrity culture, i.e., the turning of people into consumption items, is slicing the baloney pretty thin." While Sotomayor for the majority argued the ruling was made due to Warhol's superstar status and his print being used for commercial purposes, Kagan argued its impacts would reach far beyond major names and instead squash innovation over any artists' fears of running afoul of the law. "It will stifle creativity of every sort," Kagan wrote. "It will impede new art and music and literature. It will thwart the expression of new ideas and the attainment of new knowledge. It will make our world poorer." Read the original article on Business Insider SALEM, Oregon The driver of a semi-truck involved in one of Oregons deadliest highway crashes that left seven people dead and injured four others on Interstate 5 is being charged for allegedly driving under the influence of intoxicants, according to Oregon State Police. Lincoln Smith, 52, of North Highlands, California, was arraigned on Friday at the Marion County Court Annex for charges including manslaughter, driving under the influence, reckless driving and assault. He was being held without bail in Marion County Jail. Smith, who was driving in the northbound lanes between Salem and Albany at about 2 p.m. local time Thursday, crashed into a van killing seven people and injuring four others. All victims were passengers in the van. Six people died at the scene and one victim was later pronounced dead at a hospital, Oregon State Police said in a news release. Four others were hospitalized with various injuries. PCUN, the state's largest Latino farmworkers union, and Mexican officials said the 11 people in the van were all farmworkers. The crash is one of the deadliest in Oregon in recent years. Indiana grenade explosion: 1 dead, 2 teens injured after grenade explodes at a home in Indiana How police say the crash happened Police said Smith's 18-wheeler left the northbound lane of Interstate 5 and hit a Ford Econoline van with 11 people inside. The impact pushed the van into the trailer of another 18-wheeler. The driver of the other truck was not injured. A district attorney said witnesses reported the truck had been weaving on and off the road and hit the van without applying the brakes. The white van at the scene was crushed. Straw sun hats and shovels could be seen among the wreckage. Six people who were in the van were declared dead at the scene. Another person was taken from the scene in a helicopter and died while they were being taken to a hospital. Police said the other four people in the van suffered various injuries and were transported by ambulance to hospitals. The victims in the crash are not being named, police said, until their families have been notified. Lincoln Smith looks at the judge through the glass as he is being arraigned at the Marion County Court Annex on Friday, May 19, 2023 The husband of one of the dead told the judge through an interpreter that their 1-year-old son asked for his mother on Friday. "My future is destroyed," he said. Driver charged for allegedly driving under the influence Smith was transported from the scene for medical treatment. Police said he was then arrested and taken to Marion County Jail. The charging document alleges he was under the influence of a controlled substance and an inhalant. At his Friday arraignment, a district attorney said he refused a field sobriety test and was unable to focus and answer basic questions. The district attorney said Smith admitted to taking "speed" on Wednesday and was in possession of methamphetamine and inhalants. Smith had been arrested at least 17 times in California and has nine previous convictions ranging from burglary to providing false information, deputy district attorney David Wilson said. His next scheduled court appearance is May 30. The judge did not set bail. Arizona teen brings gun to school: Arizona teen arrested after bringing AR-15 to school with ammunition in backpack, police say Victims identified as farmworkers, union says The union, the Woodburn-based PCUN, said in a statement late Friday that the 11 people in the vehicle were farmworkers and it is in touch with some of the families to understand what kind of support they need. PCUN said it will also help identify any needs the community can help with. "PCUN, and our members, would like to send our sincere condolences to the families and the workers impacted by this tragedy," executive director Reyna Lopez said in a statement. "At this time, families are asking for safer roads for workers commuting after a hard day's work." The Mexican Consulate in Portland also said the victims were farmworkers in a statement in Spanish posted on Facebook and Twitter. According to information provided by the office of the Oregon State Police, seven dead were reported in the accident and four people injured, all of them apparently agricultural workers of Mexican nationality, the statement said. Semi-truck drivers must adhere to lower blood alcohol limits The threshold for criminal charges for someone driving a commercial vehicle is lower than for a passenger vehicle, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. Driving a commercial vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .04 is a federal violation. In Oregon, the legal limit for drivers of standard vehicles is below .08. According to Oregon Department of Transportation data, 159 people have died in traffic crashes in Oregon so far this year. In 2022, 600 people died in crashes in Oregon. Contributing: The Associated Press Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Driver in Oregon I-5 crash that killed 7 charged with DUI, manslaughter Pope Francis The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, told Vaticannews on May 20 about Cardinal Zuppis appointment. "I can confirm that Pope Francis has entrusted Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, with the responsibility of leading a mission, in agreement with the Secretariat of State, that contributes to an easing of tensions in the Ukraine conflict, in the hopes that this can initiate paths of peace, something never abandoned by the Holy Father." Earlier, the Catholic portal Il Sismografo reported that Pope Francis wants to send envoys to Kyiv and Moscow to discuss the possibility of "starting truce talks." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Pope Francis in the Vatican on May 13. He asked the Pope to condemn the Russian crimes in Ukraine and shared the Ukrainian Peace Formula with him the Pontif. The president said that Ukraines plan was the only effective algorithm for achieving a just peace. Zelenskyy also believes that no negotiations are possible with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as he is "a terrorist who does not keep his word." Following his visit to Hungary on April 30, Pope Francis claimed that the Vatican was taking part in a secret "peacekeeping mission" to try to end Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. An official close to the President's Office told CNN that Ukraine is unaware of this "mission." 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 Pope Francis delivers the Regina Coeli noon prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) CAIRO (AP) Pope Francis on Sunday called on Sudan's warring forces to lay down their arms, expressing dismay about the ongoing fighting and worsening humanitarian situation in the African country. The popes call comes a day after the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces agreed to a seven-day cease-fire due to take effect Monday evening. There have been numerous shorter cease-fire deals since the conflict began on Apr. 15, and all have foundered. Its sad that a month after the explosion of violence in Sudan, the situation continues to be grave, he told the faithful who'd gathered in St. Peters Square for his weekly appearance. For over a month, the Sudanese army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have been locked in a violent power struggle that has killed more than 800 civilians, the Sudan Doctors Union said. Please, lets not get used to conflicts and violence, and lets not get used to war, please, Pope Francis said during his appeal. According to a joint statement issued by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia the brokers of Saturdays deal the upcoming truce hopes to facilitate the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance and restoration of essential services. The cease-fire could be extended if both sides agree. Unlike the previous cease-fires, the week-long truce will be backed up by a "U.S.-Saudi and international-supported cease-fire monitoring mechanism, the statement said. Few further details about the function or role of the mechanism were provided. Over the past month, law and order and basic services have broken down across much of the country. In Khartoum, several districts are without electricity and running water. Looting is widespread. The U.N. and rights organizations have accused both sides of human rights abuses, calling out the army for bombing residential areas and hospitals, and condemning RSF troops for attacking civilians and turning residential homes into operational bases. The violence has been most acute in the capital, Khartoum, and the western region of Darfur. Ongoing fighting that flared up Thursday between the army and the RSF in South Darfurs regional capital of Nyala has killed at least 25 civilians, the Darfur Bar Association said, a legal group focusing on human rights. Last weekend, more than 280 civilians were killed when RSF and other affiliated militias stormed the city of Geneina, also in the Darfur region, and clashed with armed residents, the Sudan Doctors Union said. ___ Associated Press writer Frances DEmilio contributed to this report from Rome. The YMCA Family Pool Club in Plainville is destroyed after a heavy fire engulfed the building on Saturday evening, according to Fire Chief Richard Ball. The Plainville Fire Department responded to the popular clubhouse on Berry Street around 5 p.m. The building was currently under renovation. Multiple fire agencies from Massachusetts and Rhode Island responded and knocked down the heavy fire in just under two hours, officials said. There were no injuries reported. Fire officials said the clubhouse is a popular swimming spot for local residents and families. The pool club is a beloved community gathering spot for many families here in Plainville during the summertime, Chief Ball said. Thankfully no one was hurt, but its very unfortunate that the fire resulted in a total loss of the building. The cause of the fire is now under 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. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW TEHRAN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Six Iranian border guards were killed on Saturday night in armed clashes with members of a "terrorist" group in Saravan County in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday. According to Tasnim, five border guards were killed by the "terrorists" at the scene, and another succumbed to his wounds at the hospital later on Sunday. The report identified the six fatalities as Hossein Badamaki, Ali Ghani Batadbir, Reza Borji, Mohammad Jamalzadeh, Younes Seifinejad, and Nasser Heidari. The armed clashes occurred after the Iranian border guards detected the "terrorist" team's members, who sought to enter the country through the southeastern border, the report said, adding that their entry attempts were eventually foiled. It said the "terrorists" escaped the scene after being outpowered by Iranian forces. The "terrorists" were identified as members of the "Jaish al-Zulm" group, a separatist group that Iran says is linked with al-Qaeda, Iranian Students' News Agency reported, citing Sistan and Baluchistan prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi. Shamsabadi added the "terrorists" launched the armed attack on the border police station in a bid to cross the border and enter the country, saying necessary judicial orders have been issued to arrest them. Prince William has joined the crew of a team of Royal Navy submariners who have taken on a transatlantic rowing challenge to raise money for mental health causes. On Sunday (21 May), the Prince of Wales who is the commander-in-chief of the submarine service released a YouTube video of his visit to Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire. In the video, which came out as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, William joined the members of the HMS Oardacious as they took part in a training session on the lake. HMS Oardacious was set up in 2019 to fundraise, with submariners taking on the challenge of rowing across the Atlantic. A total of 110,000 has been raised so far. In January 2020, four serving Royal Navy submariners became the fastest military team in history to row across any ocean. They spent 37 days, 6 hours and 40 minutes battling across the North Atlantic to reach Antigua as part of the annual Atlantic Challenge. In the short film, William meets HMS Oardacious co-founders, Lieutenant Commander Callum Fraser and Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs. He also met Chief Petty Officer Jon Norfolk, who took part in the 2022 team, and Lieutenant Isobel Rawlinson, who is looking to captain an all-female team in 2024. The prince then takes to the water and does his bit rowing as he chats to the members of HMS Oardacious, who have crews lined up for this years event and for 2024. A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: Together they discuss the importance of managing our mental health and how exercise can be used as a tool to help manage it. Chatting everything from teamwork to food rations and just what it takes to look after your mental health when rowing across the Atlantic. https://t.co/WcqXAMBfWr pic.twitter.com/4fhoE2TPOy The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) May 21, 2023 The crew also share their experiences of crossing the Atlantic, the challenges they faced and the impact it had on both their physical and mental health. Back in the boathouse, William hears from the crew in more depth about how they manage their mental health, the support they provide to each other as a team, and the work HMS Oardacious does to raise awareness and combat the stigma associated with talking about mental wellbeing. Speaking during the film, William said: Understanding our support networks is crucial because a lot of people dont have those support networks and being able to form close bonds and realise that the only way we are going to get through all of this is to support each other and pull each other through. Also as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, the Princess of Wales has visited The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in Bath, and the Anna Freud Centre in London to highlight the event. Additional reporting by Press Association. Kids at need get left out The Legislatures school choice bill would provide state funds for students to attend private schools. Money is an issue, but not the biggest one. Many, if not most, private schools will not enroll special-education students and students with behavior problems. Most charter schools do not have special-education programs. Charter schools remove students over behavior problems. So if the bill is passed and funded, traditional public schools will become schools for special-education students and students with behavior problems. I speak from a background of 57 years in public education and watching parents unhappy because the private schools would not allow their children to attend. - Harold L. Smith, Arlington Gun violence is all our own I am stunned that Cynthia M. Allen thinks we cant do much about the mass killings in every corner of our nation. (May 17, 17A, Yes, its the guns. But theres also more to mass shootings) Faced with the same social media platforms and mental illness, most nations dont come close to the killing rate that the United States has. They do not have more guns than inhabitants, nor an abnormal number of murderers under the age of 21. Its the guns. - Ron Tyler, Fort Worth Use the tools God gave us Like any person with feelings, I was sick at heart and soul to hear news of yet another mass shooting in Allen, with casualties young and old. But the most sickening thing is that the mealy-mouthed politicians of the community cannot bring themselves to address the fact that a young man full of hate had an AR-15-style rifle to blow out the brains of innocent people. He was dressed in tactical gear with a patch advocating white supremacist sentiments. Yet our politicians who are so spineless and hapless talk about thoughts and prayers. God gave us brains and spines. Its time to use them. - Carolyn Clark Sawyer, Fort Worth What help do we give mothers? Sundays commentary from Nicole Russell, Women should have kids early, and a lot of them; heres why, (5C) was as sweet as a Mothers Day card. But I have questions. Is America family friendly? Are there family leave policies? Available and affordable child care? Great public schools in neighborhoods where homes cost less than a million dollars? Do we welcome LGBTQ children and those of color? America sacrifices families to policies that favor big business, the super-wealthy and a minority of religious and political bigots. Too many children lack the nurturing they require. - Loveta Eastes, Fort Worth Remember dark parts of our past Kaley Johnsons well-written front-page story People of color fearful after Allen mass shooting Monday linked old racist events to the Allen shooting, and rightfully so: Ku Klux Klan activity in Dallas and a lynching in Fort Worth are real history. But what comes to my mind is the idea that erasing history by removing statues of Confederate generals and renaming schools and military bases would help remove racism in society. Hows that working out? We should add information explaining how these monuments can serve as reminders of a dark time in our history that all of us need to see and learn from. What kind of hate will rise when there are no more reminders of that history? Hate doesnt go away. It festers and boils over when it is ignored. Lets learn from our mistakes instead of hiding them. - Corky Douthitt, Hurst Bipartisan budget pain needed When President Joe Biden and House leadership finally get to the bargaining table on the debt ceiling and spending, it will be important to differentiate the talks as negotiations as opposed to a shakedown. I suggest that for every dollar of the Biden agenda that is rescinded, an equal amount of the Trump tax cuts is taken away. This should help ensure that the pain is equally shared and that the Republican Partys co-responsibility for decades of budget deficits is acknowledged. And it would cut deficits twice as fast. - Dennis Novak, Fort Worth No worries about breaking laws The May 14 commentary Drivers licenses for all makes roads safer for us all, (5C) advocating drivers licenses for immigrants here illegally is flawed logic. It states that they are already driving illegally and when they are involved in an accident, they flee the scene to avoid interaction with police. The idea that they wouldnt flee if they were licensed is garbage. How many would have comprehensive insurance? These immigrants have already proved they dont care what the law is. - Randy L. Weeks, Roanoke By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of Moldovans rallied in the capital Chisinau on Sunday to support their pro-Western government's drive towards Europe amid what officials have said are Russian efforts to destabilise their country. Moldova has been badly hit by the impact of Moscow's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, which Chisinau has repeatedly condemned, and applied to join the European Union. President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of seeking to sabotage its European integration by fuelling anti-government protests and propaganda. Moscow denies meddling in Moldova's affairs. "Moldova does not want to be blackmailed by the Kremlin," Sandu said at the rally, which was organised by her government and packed a central square. Police said more than 75,000 demonstrators were present. "We don't want to be on the outskirts of Europe anymore," she said, pledging that Moldova would become an EU member by 2030. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, on a visit to Chisinau, also addressed the rally, saying Europe would welcome Moldova "with open arms and open hearts". "This is about the both of us: You will bring a piece of Moldova to Europe, and you will make Europe stronger," she said. Demonstrators called on Moldova's political leaders to amend the constitution to specifically mention the country's European orientation. "I believe in a European Moldova and want for my country a future with advanced economic and socio-political development," said 18-year-old attendee Alexandrina Miron. "Right now we are a little behind, but we will slowly catch up and stand on par with Europe." The leader of the pro-Russian opposition Shor party, exiled businessman Ilan Shor, told his supporters at rival protests in several cities via video link that he would seek a referendum on Moldova's foreign policy. Shor, sanctioned by the U.S. as an agent of Russian influence in Moldova, was handed a 15-year jail sentence in absentia last month for his role in the 2014 theft of $1 billion from Moldovan banks. (Reporting by Alexander Tanas and Dorin Scobioala; Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Giles Elgood) A wounded Ukrainian serviceman receives treatment at a stabilization point near Bakhmut - SERGEY SHESTAK Vladimir Putin has claimed his first battlefield victory in a year with the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The Russian president congratulated Wagner troops as well as the regular Russian army for seizing the ruined city, which has been the site of the longest and bloodiest battle of the entire war. Ukraine has denied that Bakhmut has fallen but Russian propagandists have started celebrating one of the greatest battle victories in the 21st century. The Kremlin issued Mr Putins statement early on Sunday morning, half a day after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin declared the capture of the city after 224 days of fighting. Mr Putin said that he congratulated Wagner assault detachments as well as all the servicemen of the units of the Russian Armed Forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover. All those who distinguished themselves will be given state awards. The careful reference to regular Russian soldiers appeared to have frustrated Mr Prigozhin, who has accused the Russian Ministry of Defence of deliberately undermining his mercenaries and said that Russian soldiers routed from their positions. During the taking of Artyomovsk, practically no one from the army helped us, he said in a voice recording posted to his Telegram channel shortly after Mr Putins statement. Artyomovsk is the Soviet name for Bakhmut. The city has been the site of the longest and bloodiest battle of the entire war - SERGEY SHESTAK bakhmut - Libkos But at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Volodymyr Zelensky denied that Russian forces had captured Bakhmut, which he had previously pledged to defend at all costs. They are in Bakhmut but Bakhmut is not occupied by Russian forces, he said, before comparing the devastation of the town to the destruction of Hiroshima after the US dropped atomic bombs on it in 1945. The photos of Hiroshima remind me of Bakhmut. There is absolutely nothing alive, he said. Mr Prighozin later said that Mr Zelensky was wrong and that his fighters had captured Bakhmut to the last centimetre. The battle for Bakhmut has been referred to as the meat grinder with Russian commanders sending waves of infantry against well-defended Ukrainian positions. Analysts have also compared it to the battle for Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest of World War II between Soviet and Nazi soldiers, and on Sunday, at a G7 press conference, Joe Biden said Russia had suffered over 100,000 casualties in the fighting. Although Russian forces led by Wagner have steadily captured Bakhmut street by street over the past seven months, the fall of the entire city to the Kremlin would still represent a reversal for Ukraine and its allies who have been promoting battlefield successes there over the past 10 days. Despite its relatively low strategic value and size, only around 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut before the start of the Kremlins full-scale invasion, and fighting along the frontline has focused on the town. It has become a major prize for Russia to capture and symbolically important for Ukraine to defend. On Sunday, the Ukrainian army said although it only controls an insignificant part of the city, its forces are still advancing on the suburbs for a possible flanking manoeuvre. The importance of its defence does not lose its relevance," the commander of Ukraines ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, said. Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy, Hanna Maliar, Ukraines deputy defence minister, wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Analysts said Mr Prigozhins conflict with the ministry of defence may present Ukraine with an immediate opportunity to strike back because he has now promised to withdraw his mercenaries and hand over control of Bakhmut to the regular army. If Wagner actually leaves Bakhmut in four days, it may present Ukraine with an opportunity to retake it quickly before the Russians build substantial defensive fortifications there, said Dmitri Alperovitch, a Russia analyst. Even so, pro-Russian propagandists celebrated what they consider to be Russias first battlefield victory since Mariupol was declared conquered exactly a year earlier. They reposted videos of Wagner mercenaries raising Russian flags over various destroyed buildings in Bakhmut at sunset and photographs of grinning fighters posing against a sign marking the entrance to the city. Members of Wagner group waving a Russian national flag and Wagner Group's flag on the rooftop of a damaged building in Bakhmut Bakhmut now goes down in the list of legendary places. This battle was won by those who were stronger in spirit, Semen Pegov, a Russian military blogger, told his 1.2 million subscribers on his Wargonzo Telegram channel. Russian military analysts hope that the Kremlin can now use Bakhmut as a springboard to capture the larger cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which lie on one of the Donbas regions main railway junctions. It needs to conquer both cities to achieve its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region. Western analysts disagreed and have said that the conquest of Bakhmut is a pyrrhic victory for the Kremlin that has been won at a huge cost and diverted vital military resources from other parts of the Russian frontline which has become increasingly stretched. Anyone claiming that Russia taking all of the city limits of Bakhmut is some kind of victory has no idea of war, said Phillips OBrien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews. Ukrainian has taunted Russian forces about the prospect of a major counteroffensive, although it has not said when or when this will be launched, and has said that the defence of Bakhmut was designed to exhaust and deplete Russias military reserves. 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. Weather radar recently captured a strange cloud bearing down on Ohio, but it wasnt rain or hail, officials say. It was a tremendous swarm of bugs. Theyre baaaaack, the National Weather Service in Cleveland said in a tweet, sharing images of a cloud-like formation shifting over a large swath of northern Ohio, nearly covering three counties. Midges are the culprit, officials said. The small, winged insects are a species of fly, and theyre invading the region in great enough numbers to appear on radar. Neighboring Michigan is also being bugged, tweets show. Though midges are astonishingly abundant, and form humming clouds that annoy many across the upper Midwest and other parts of the northern hemisphere they are harmless, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. May is their peak month, with midge larvae emerging from lakes in their winged adult form as the water warms, according to the university. With just days to live, the midges partake in a mad dash to reproduce before they die. The midges seen on radar in Ohio have coated peoples homes and garages, Cleveland.com reported. While they may be a gross nuisance to some, they are also a great seasonal source of food in the ecosystem, and a sign that Lake Erie is healthy. Eleven Wichita officers have been honored for their bravery or response in 2022, including incidents where they resuscitated an infant, saved children from a burning home, rescued people who planned to jump off a bridge and a parking garage, and stopped an armed man during a domestic violence call. More than 65 officers including ones in Andover, Butler County, Belle Plaine, Park City and Valley Center received awards during the annual Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police conference in May at the Kansas Star Casino. A chiefs award for officers who died in the line of duty honored Sidnee Taylor Carter, a Sedgwick County Sheriffs Office deputy who died in a car crash less than one week after she went on patrol. Here are the stories of Wichita-area officers who were recognized: Gold Award: Facing down armed men This award recognizes uncommon valor in the line of duty. Wichita officers Alex Gregerson, Roberto Martinez and Sgt. Jason Bryant were recognized for stopping an armed suspect during a Jan. 3, 2022, domestic violence call. The victim, who had injuries to her face and throat, told police she had been beaten by her boyfriend. She told police where they could find him. Police were told he might be armed and would not cooperate. Police circled the home. Gregerson was at the front when the suspect came out, holding a gun to his head. The officers yelled for the man to put down the gun, but he wouldnt. Martinez, at Bryants order, put away his gun and pulled out his Taser. He fired both cartridges from the Taser. Bryant then shot both of his Taser cartridges, with the second sending the suspect to the ground. He fell against a fence with his gun pointed to the sky. Martinez grabbed the gun, which fired one shot in a safe direction that didnt hit anyone, the associations award narrative says. The suspect was taken into custody. Butler County Sheriffs Office deputies Wesley Stewart, Thomas Maloney, Nicholas Treantafeles and the departments SWAT team were awarded for stopping an armed man trying to enter a bank on March 17, 2022. The person had two guns one in his hands when he tried to enter Vintage Bank in Leon. The deputies, and an officer identified in the association notes only as Sergeant White, told the man to stop. When he didnt, they opened fire, hitting the man. The subject was partially inside the front door of the bank, the notes say. The suspect still would not drop his weapons. Officers, including Maloney, went through the back of the bank and disarmed the man, who was treated by EMS and then taken to the hospital. Silver Award: Braving dangers, saving babies This award is for extraordinary action that contributes to the saving of a life. Andover police officer Robert Garland II was awarded for helping get a boy and woman away from a burning home on Oct. 2. Garland was the first person to arrive to the 911 call. He found the two on the roof above the porch. The fire was on the back side of the house on the second story. Garland told a neighbor to get a ladder. As flames made it to the awning, he told them they needed to jump. The boy did. The woman would not. Garland then got on the hood of his car in the driveway and tried to help. When the neighbor returned with the ladder, Garland set it up and the woman climbed down. Moments later, flames engulfed the awning. The boy and woman spent several days in the hospital for smoke inhalation, but they survived. Belle Plaine officer Prida Poulima was awarded for pulling a person from a burning vehicle on Nov. 6. Police were on the lookout for a reckless driver when the vehicle passed him, ran a stop sign and hit a Pizza Hut. The vehicle went airborne and landed upright against the southeast corner of the business, the association notes say. The front of the vehicle was on the Pizza Hut roof area, and the engine area of the vehicle caught fire rather quickly. Poulima tried to use his fire extinguisher, but couldnt reach the engine or roof where it was on fire. He thought the driver was unconscious. Officer Poulima called out to the male driver but the drivers injuries made it impossible for him to assist himself in getting to safety, the awards notes say. Officer Poulima grabbed the driver under his arms and pulled him to safety. Wichita officer Hector Gonzalez was awarded for saving an infant on June 26. Gonzalez was finishing up a call and heading back to his patrol vehicle when a woman ran out of a home holding her infant. She said her baby hadnt been breathing for about a minute. The officer took the baby, but couldnt find anything blocking his airway. He turned the baby over and started to do the Heimlich maneuver. After several tries, Gonzalez was able to force mucus from the infants airway, allowing the baby to breathe again. Wichita office Jason Lane was awarded for pulling an unconscious woman from her vehicle running in her garage on Sept. 27. Police were contacted by a Kansas City woman who said her mother had called to say she was going to kill herself. The caller said officers had pulled her mother from her running vehicle in the garage just two weeks earlier. When Lane arrived, he had to jump the chained and padlocked fence. The back door was barricaded. He looked into the garage and saw the vehicle running with the woman inside, unconscious. Lane kicked in the door to get to the garage. Power had been disconnected to the garage door opener. Lane turned the car off and then opened the garage door with the emergency cord or by physically unlatching the lock on the door itself, the notes say. He had been exposed to the exhaust for over five minutes before he was able to open the garage door. The unconscious woman was removed from the vehicle and taken to the hospital. Wichita officers Travis Cox and Jerrad Daniels were awarded for rescuing children from a house fire on Dec. 21. The officers were responding to a domestic violence call when they noticed a 4-year-old boy out in the cold, crying for help. Officers knocked on the door, but opened it after no one answered. Smoke poured out when they did. The officers found a 2-year-old boy sitting on the couch and a 3-month-old girl crying from a back room. The minor children were left unattended and would have succumbed to the smoke had officers not found and removed them, the notes say. The childrens mother, who left to go Christmas shopping, was later arrested. Outside of the Wichita area, an unusual case involved Rice County deputy Cameron Beakley, who saved an Ellsworth County deputy who had been gored by a bison on Aug. 7. Beakley was responding to a call of a loose bison that had already killed its owner. He saw the bison gore and throw deputy Jerry Slaight in the air and removed his patrol rifle from his vehicle. He told the injured deputy to move toward him while he provided cover. The bison started to charge the injured deputy. Beakley fired several rounds before the bison fell. Beakley saw a four-inch hole in Slaights leg and applied a tourniquet. He also put a battlefield dressing on the wound, radioed for help and calmed the deputy while they waited on EMS. Hospital staff later advised the first aid measures provided by Deputy Beakley added to the saving of the injured deputys life as the bison horn had penetrated further into the Ellsworth deputys leg than what Deputy Beakley could see, the notes said. Bronze Award: Pulling people from bridges, buildings This award recognizes outstanding achievement above and beyond normal law enforcement duties. Wichita officer Erik Landon and Valley Center officers Rasheed Berry and Liliana Garcia were awarded for pulling a man from a bridge near Meridian Avenue just north of Rio Vista Drive on May 4, 2022. Its about a 40-foot fall down to the river or bank of the river, the notes say. Berry and Garcia noticed the man standing on the outer part of the railing, squatting down, and apparently getting ready to jump. They grabbed onto him and held on until Landon arrived, then the three pulled him over the railing. Wichita officers Lacey Ezell, Cody McCall and Travis Kilpatric were awarded for pulling a person off the top floor ledge of a city parking garage on Sept. 4. The officers found the person with one foot on the outside of the metal railing. He was yelling that he wouldnt be in that situation if they listened an hour ago. The officers tried talking him down and reaching out to help him back over into safety, but he wouldnt, the notes say. McCall and Kilpatric then grabbed him and pulled him to safety. All three officers worked to restrain him and calm him. He was then taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. Valley Center Sgt. J.C. Kirk and Park City officer Jordan Whitfield were awarded for pulling a suicidal man from a bridge on Feb. 28, 2022. Officers were originally called to a QuikTrip about a man with cuts on his forearm saying he wanted to kill himself. Kirk found the man walking on 1-135 north of 61st Street. Whitfield arrived soon after. When the officers caught up to the man, he was sitting on the railing of the bridge over Chisholm Creek. He was rocking back and forth and slapping his hands against his head. Kirk talked to the man while Whitfield moved into position. They grabbed the man and pulled him to safety. The officers also stopped the man from banging his head against the ground while they restrained him. He was taken to a Wichita hospital for mental health and medical treatment. Awards around Kansas Here are highlights of some of the awardees outside of the Wichita area: I replaced my stolen iPhone 14 Pro Max with a 12 and feared my content would be way worse but Beyonce helped prove me wrong Beyonce on stage in Stockholm, Sweden. Sam Tabahriti/Insider I downgraded to a cheaper iPhone 12 after my 14 Pro Max was stolen in March by a thief on a bike. I feared the videos I planned to take at Beyonce's concert in Stockholm wouldn't be good enough. However, the quality of the content I captured at the show proved me wrong. I knew when my iPhone 14 Pro Max was stolen by a thief on a bike, I wouldn't be able to afford another $1,199 to replace it (and no, I didn't have insurance). I decided to downgrade to a used iPhone 12 Pro Max that cost just under 500, or about $620. Its camera is not as sophisticated as the latest model. Knowing I was soon going to see Beyonce on her Renaissance World Tour, I feared I wouldn't be able to capture images and video for Instagram in the best quality. But after traveling from London for the opening night of the tour in Stockholm, Sweden, I realized I was wrong. In the past couple of years, I've regularly experimented with my iPhones when I take photographs or videos, playing around with the brightness, angles, color filters, and even the black point. I'm no professional photographer and I'm not claiming to know the best tricks but I've found what appears to work for me. And it seems some people have taken a liking to my content, too. One person who responded to one of my TikTok videos that's had more than a million views messaged me to say it's the best video she'd seen of the concert. Another TikTok user called @lazytauruss_ said: "Omg they might as well place you on the camera crew." I have to thank Beyonce, though, for putting on a show that lasts almost three hours. Her masterful use of the stage gave me endless opportunities to create great content with my iPhone even if it's not the latest model. I also went to see the Renaissance World Tour in Cardiff, Wales. While I thought Beyonce killed it in Sweden, I feel I got even better content the second time as I was in the "Club Renaissance" area closest to the stage. Using an iPhone as your main camera is nothing new. Even directors are using them to make films after all: Vishal Bhardwaj shot "Fursat" on an iPhone 14 Pro. But speaking as someone who's always had to have the latest iPhone, I realized that last year's model can be more than just fine. And if Beyonce's people are reading, I'm waiting for your DM... Read the original article on Business Insider The actor and his girlfriend recently welcomed daughter Gia Virginia Chen De Niro Victor Boyko/Getty Images Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen are enjoying a night out together! The actor, 79, and his girlfriend attended the Vanity Fair x Prada party at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in France on Saturday evening. For the night out, the pair who recently welcomed a baby together, daughter Gia Virginia Chen De Niro coordinated in dark ensembles, with De Niro wearing a classic black suit, while Chen sported an all-black look composed of a zipper jacket and black shirt underneath. The actor is currently in Cannes to premiere his latest project, Killers of the Flower Moon, which received a nine-minute standing ovation during the annual film festival. Earlier in the day, De Niro had posed on the red carpet with his collaborators, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese. 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. Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Related:Robert De Niro Premieres New Movie with Martin Scorsese at Cannes After Welcoming Baby Daughter De Niro first revealed that he welcomed Gia in a sit-down with ET Canada, where he corrected the interviewer who asked him about his six children by saying he had "Seven, actually." He then spoke about his new arrival with Gayle King on CBS Mornings not long after, with King saying that the couple is "over the moon" about the newest member of the family. BACKGRID, Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Tiffany Chen; Robert De Niro The actor has six other children from previous relationships. De Niro and his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, are parents to daughter Drena, 51, and son Raphael, 46. In 1995, he welcomed twin sons Julian and Aaron, 27, with his former girlfriend, model and actress Toukie Smith. De Niro also shares son Elliot, 24, and daughter Helen, 11, with Grace Hightower. RELATED VIDEO: Robert De Niro Shares First Photo and Reveals the Name of His Newborn Baby Girl: 'Over the Moon' Apple Original Films debuted the first trailer for De Niro's new movie which is an adaptation of David Grann's 2017 book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI on Thursday. The movie centers around the serial killings of members of the Osage Nation, who became wealthy because of the oil discovered on their land, in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese, 80, co-wrote the movie with screenwriter Eric Roth (Dune) and produced the film, while DiCaprio, 48, who marks his sixth collaboration with the filmmaker in this role, is listed as an executive producer on the movie as well. Along with DiCaprio and De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon's cast also includes Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, Scott Shepherd, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson. Killers of the Flower Moon premieres exclusively in select theaters Oct. 6 and goes wide Oct. 20, before streaming globally on Apple TV+. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. DiCaprio praised Scorsese's 'ferocity to tell the truth' Robert De Niro couldn't help but take a jab at Donald Trump in Cannes on Sunday, saying his character in the new film embodied the same kind of "evil" as the ex-president. The legendary actor, 79, stars alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's epic "Killers of the Flower Moon", which premiered to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday. He plays a real-life dignitary from 1920s rural America, William Hale, who built trust with local Osage Indians and then orchestrated dozens of murders in order to steal their oil-rich land. "I don't understand a lot about him -- why he betrays them," De Niro admitted to reporters in Cannes. "But we became a lot more aware after the murder of George Floyd with systemic racism and that's what this is," he said, referring to the police killing that sparked the Black Lives Matter protests. "It's the banality of evil, it's the thing we've got to watch out for. We all know who I'm going to talk about -- I won't say his name," De Niro continued. But a few moments later, the long-time Trump-hater couldn't hold back. "It's like with Trump -- I had to say it," he said to laughter from the reporters. "There are people who think he could do a good job. Imagine how insane that is." DiCaprio has received particular praise for his performance as a weak-willed man torn between his love for his Osage Indian wife and the evil plot in which he becomes embroiled. - 'Love, trust and betrayal' - Calling the three-and-a-half-hour film "a reckoning with our past", the star was gushing with praise for Scorsese, saying: "He's able to expose the humanity of even the most twisted characters you can imagine. "Marty's perseverence and ferocity to tell the truth, no matter how ugly... is masterful." Scorsese said the film, which is due for general release in October, was not "a whodunnit -- it's a who didn't do it". Adapting a best-selling nonfiction book, he chose to focus less on the criminal investigation which helped forge the FBI, preferring to focus on the central, poisonous love affair between DiCaprio's character and his wife, played by Lily Gladstone. "It was a template for that tragedy of love, trust and betrayal of the indigenous people," Scorsese said. Asked about still taking such risks in his filmmaking at the age of 80, Scorsese drew laughs from the crowd by saying: "What else am I going to do?" De Niro said the world had seen enough films where "the good guy goes south or to Indian country and saves the day. This is much more important." er/cw Andrew Warren, whom Ron DeSantis suspended as Hillsborough County, Florida, prosecutor last August, knows what it's like to be targeted: Andrew Warren, whom Ron DeSantis suspended as Hillsborough County, Florida, prosecutor last August, knows what it's like to be targeted: "The governor picked a fight with me, so I'm fighting on behalf of everyone who cares about these issues." MONTGOMERY, Ala. Of all the places Andrew Warren imagined his career would take him, it was never here: the lobby of an upscale chain hotel in downtown Montgomery, huddling with his legal team and preparing for a hearing that maybe within a year if hes lucky will result in him getting his job back. I didnt ask to be the tip of the spear in this fight for freedom and democracy, Warren said, settling into a tall wingback chair on the morning of May 2, several hours before he was due in a federal appellate court just down the street. But the governor picked a fight with me, so Im fighting on behalf of everyone who cares about these issues. It has been over nine months since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Warren, accusing the twice-elected Democratic prosecutor for Hillsborough County of incompetence and neglect of duty in a scathing 29-page executive order last August. The Florida Constitution gives the governor the power to remove elected officials in cases of extreme misconduct. But those powers have rarely, if ever, been used in a case like Warrens. This is something youd expect to see happen in Turkey or North Korea or China. This is not something youd ever expect to see happen in the United States, said Warren, whose general measured demeanor during our interview sometimes gave way to a quiet rage about the whole episode. The governor is the one who did wrong here, Warren told me, and no one else should have to adjust their behavior to the whims of the dictator. Frothing with the polite but pointed anger of a clean-cut attorney, Warren described the surreal events of the past year, which has included: Learning of his suspension in the middle of grand jury proceedings for a decades-old cold case. Being escorted from his office with his belongings by armed sheriffs deputies. Watching the governor brag about his suspension on Fox News. Reading about his suspension in the governors book. Hearing about his suspension in the governors stump speeches. Reliving this episode of his life over and over again in court, in interviews, in conversations with friends and strangers. Having his career and life essentially frozen. Receiving death threats against his family because of the bright spotlight that DeSantis put him under. This has been very difficult for me professionally, said Warren, who is still living with his family in Tampa, because I care so much about the office. Its been very difficult for me politically, because the most powerful Republican in the country is targeting me specifically, as an individual. And its been very difficult for me personally everything from just the huge disruption its had on my life with my family, to getting death threats from people who tell me that my children deserve to die for the things Ive done. DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, suspended Warren last August for what he characterized as DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, suspended Warren last August for what he characterized as "neglect of duty." In his lawsuit, now winding its way through federal courts and currently being heard by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here in Montgomery, Warren argues that DeSantis violated his constitutional right to free speech and removed him without cause. It will likely be decided as DeSantis is running for president on his record of governing the free state of Florida. DeSantis is expected to announce his campaign for the Republican nomination in the coming days. He has already made Warrens firing a staple of his stump speech, using the episode to show how hes crushed foes using his executive fist. [These state attorneys] want to weaponize the power of their office to target people they dont like, DeSantis said last month in Manchester, New Hampshire. And when we had an attorney like that, a district attorney in Tampa who had been funded by [George] Soros and said he would not uphold the laws of the state, I removed him from his post. Hes gone. Warren was never bankrolled by Soros, the Democratic mega-donor who is a perennial target of conspiracies and hate on the right but he likely benefited from contributions Soros made to the Florida Democratic Party at one point or another. DeSantis, perhaps projecting, also misrepresented the argument he used to fire Warren, who has never been accused, in either the executive order suspending him or in subsequent court filings, of going after people he didnt like. The governors office, which generally only interacts with certain friendly news outlets, never responded to a request from HuffPost to provide a comment for this article. Warren has taken his battle against DeSantis to the courts, hoping the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rule in his favor. Warren has taken his battle against DeSantis to the courts, hoping the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rule in his favor. Although its easier to describe Warren as having been removed or fired, hes technically in a state of suspension that could be reversed or made permanent pending a hearing by the Florida Senate. But given the heavy Republican makeup of that body, Warren is exploring other remedies. Warrens suspension came two months after he co-signed a letter with more than 80 other progressive prosecutors opposing the criminalization of abortion and transgender health care, in the wake of the Supreme Courts reversal on abortion rights. In his executive order, DeSantis cited both the letter and what he characterized as a blanket refusal to prosecute some low-level crimes, such as the aggressive ticketing of Tampa bicyclists, most of whom were Black. Warren disputes that his office had blanket policies that endangered public safety, as DeSantis tried to argue in his order and his case hinges on whether a panel of majority-conservative appellate judges see it the same way. The governor has his talking points, which are divorced from reality. From the day I was suspended, I said this was a publicity stunt, the allegations are false, this is un-American, said Warren, on the edge of his seat, his legal team hovering nearby. A trim 46-year-old with light salt-and-pepper hair, Warren sometimes doesnt blink when hes talking. During an interview, he comes off as a deeply focused person who has spent the last nine months of his life consumed by two overlapping objectives getting his job back and sounding the alarm on DeSantis, whom he sees as a threat to democracy. Powerful people without a moral compass are dangerous, Warren said. Politicians who are willing to break the law to get votes or to get applause are dangerous. Politics aside, however, the two men have, if not a lot, at least some major things in common. They are both Florida natives in their mid-40s. They followed similar paths into public service after graduating from elite law schools (Warren from Columbia, DeSantis from Harvard). As young lawyers, they both worked for the Justice Department as federal prosecutors. And theyve both confronted family tragedies in recent years Warren, after his pregnant wife was involved in a car crash and the couple lost their baby, and DeSantis, after his wife was diagnosed and underwent treatment for breast cancer. Their paths diverged dramatically once DeSantis became a congressman and joined the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, and Warren, having moved from Washington to Tampa to raise his family, decided to challenge a longtime GOP incumbent for state attorney. The job of chief law enforcement officer, by its very nature, relies heavily on the discretion of the individuals doing the job to determine how crimes are prosecuted and sentenced. Thats why Warrens case is so tricky and precedent-setting. Its also why, in nearly every state, prosecutors are locally elected and therefore not subject to the political whims of a faraway official the same principle behind a governor not picking the members of your city council or school board. DeSantis isnt the only Florida governor who has kneecapped a prosecutor. Sen. Rick Scott, the Republican who preceded DeSantis, got a judge to allow him to reassign murder cases from an Orlando prosecutor who was opposed to using the death penalty. But Scott didnt try to get that prosecutor fired. When I was there I was very clear you have to prosecute your cases, Scott told HuffPost, declining to comment on whats happening now between DeSantis and Warren. "Politicians who are willing to break the law to get votes or to get applause are dangerous, Warren said. Warren came into office in 2016 after upsetting a longtime Republican in the purple west-central Florida county that encompasses Tampa, the states third-largest city. He says his backers were both Republicans and Democrats drawn to his mission of more equitable criminal justice outcomes amid a national reckoning over police brutality. Accusing his opponent of being too heavy-handed when the times demanded the opposite, Warren won a surprise victory followed four years later by his reelection to a second term. At a time when Florida Democrats are desperately trying to build their bench, Warren has been floated as a possible U.S. Senate candidate against Scott in 2024. His close friend Nikki Fried, the newly elected chair of the Florida Democratic Party, told HuffPost that Warren would make a great candidate for any number of Republican-held positions that Democrats are hoping to contest. Hes a true leader with a big heart, and unfortunately in politics right now you dont find a lot of those, Fried said. Warren can also raise money. While he declined to give an exact figure, he said hes brought in several hundred thousand dollars through a nonprofit for his legal defense. But Warren isnt interested in another office, at least not right now. Its wonderful to have people who are so confident in your leadership to encourage you to run for different positions, he said. But my focus is on the state attorneys job. Running statewide in Florida wont be easy for any Democrat. So far, no serious candidates have emerged to challenge Scott in what was once a Senate battleground. A bellwether for these times, Warrens own swing county, Hillsborough, lurched to the right in the last election, shedding several Democratic officeholders. DeSantis cites his own blowout reelection last year to justify the heavy leverage of his executive powers. The governor has single-handedly spearheaded measures such as banning transgender medical therapy for minors and expanding the states controversial Dont Say Gay law into high schools. He also amped up his feud with a beloved American corporation that happens to be one of his states largest taxpayers. DeSantis wears these battles as a badge of honor. My view is simple, he told an audience last month at Liberty University, uttering a line thats become a staple of his speeches and the overriding ethos of his governorship. I may have earned 50% of the vote, but that entitled me to wield 100% of the executive power. DeSantis might even be going after another Democratic prosecutor. Monique Worrell, Orlandos state attorney, said this month that she believes DeSantis is building a case to target her next, accusing the governor of seeking to exploit his political agenda against me. Fried, Floridas former agriculture commissioner and the last Democrat elected statewide, said DeSantis has created a climate of fear in Florida. Weve got a governor who believes hes the ultimate ruler of the state. Hes taking away peoples freedom of speech and hes removing officers who have been elected by their constituents at the local level, she said. Warren prepares for a TV interview at his home in Tampa. Warren prepares for a TV interview at his home in Tampa. Warrens best shot at reversing his suspension lies with the appellate court, which is reviewing his challenge to an earlier ruling from a federal judge in Florida. This ruling was both good and bad for Warren good in that it seemed to generally side with Warren that DeSantis violated his free speech and removed him from office without citing even a hint of misconduct; bad because despite all that, the judge still found he didnt have the constitutional authority to restore Warren as a local prosecutor. Documents unearthed in discovery support the argument that DeSantis doled out a punishment driven overwhelmingly by his political agenda. An early version of the executive order made numerous references to Soros, the political lightning rod, which DeSantis ultimately struck out with a blue marker. Beyond that, the governors attorney struggled to build a case showing that Warren had undermined public safety, according to a New York Times analysis of the discovery documents. That didnt stop DeSantis from declaring, in an Aug. 4 press conference announcing the suspension, that Warrens tenure had been devastating to the rule of law. He made similar comments that night to then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Tucker, youve documented the destruction that weve seen with these Soros prosecutors around the county, where they basically take it upon themselves to determine which laws should be followed and which laws should not be followed, a grinning DeSantis said, with photos of Warren proceeding to flash across the screen. Warren disputes that his policies had any negative impact on crime, noting that, by the state of Floridas own crime reporting metrics, overall crime declined in Hillsborough County under his watch. This isnt a Portland or San Francisco scenario, he said. Republicans blame soft-on-crime policies, and the woke district attorneys they say promote them, for the visible homelessness and addiction in places like Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, an idea thats been relentlessly reinforced by conservative media. I asked Warren to define a woke prosecutor, and he didnt know where to begin. In general, the term has become a catchall on the right for anything deemed too liberal or politically correct. You have to ask the people on Fox News [what it means], Warren said. Im a moderate prosecutor from a moderate county. I have done things that have frustrated the far left as much as the far right. Warrens suspension was a direct result of DeSantis war on woke, his attorneys argue, a pretext the governor has used to go after schools, government agencies and businesses in a way that Democrats, at least, find chilling. The animus here toward woke ideas and woke viewpoints was a motivating factor, Warrens attorney David ONeill argued to the appellate panel. Republicans have made the word so pervasive that its being used now in a deadly serious manner in federal courts. DeSantis was represented in Montgomery by two young attorneys for the state of Florida who returned to a single, much-examined line in the abortion rights letter that Warren signed last June. The sentence in question seems to signal, beyond just the general opposition to the criminalization of abortion, that the co-signers would go a step further and refuse to prosecute abortion crimes altogether. Warren, as far as he knows, is the only prosecutor from the letter who lost his job over this single sentence. In the chaotic and emotional days that followed the Supreme Courts abortion ruling and the letters release, Warren said he attempted to clarify that he didnt mean he would disregard abortion law in its entirety. At the time, Florida lawmakers had just passed a 15-week abortion ban. Since then, theyve passed a six-week ban, which DeSantis put his signature on last month but hasnt said much about since. The governor has made it clear that if he disagrees with who you are or what you said or what you stand for, then youre at risk for being attacked, Warren said. The governor has made it clear that if he disagrees with who you are or what you said or what you stand for, then youre at risk for being attacked, Warren said. Warren can expect a ruling sometime within the next year. It may not be the ruling hes hoping for. The appellate panel is composed of three judges: one Democratic appointee and two Republicans, including a Trump nominee. And beyond this panel of judges in Alabama, there are only dead ends the Republican-controlled Florida Senate and equally conservative Florida Supreme Court underscoring how entrenched Republicans have become in Florida under DeSantis and throughout the age of Donald Trump. Warren, who might violate the terms of his suspension if he were to take another legal job, has had a lot of downtime to reflect on this battle and what it all means. For himself and his future. For Florida. For the country, if DeSantis beats both Trump and Joe Biden and tries to run the federal government like the state of Florida which hes promised to do. The governor has made it clear that if he disagrees with who you are or what you said or what you stand for, then youre at risk for being attacked, Warren said. I mean, look at the people hes gone after. Disney, obviously. The Special Olympics. Hes attacked businesses. Hes attacked teachers. Hes attacking the LGBTQ community. Hes attacked universities and professors and boards of regents. Hes attacked elected officials. If you dont say what he wants you to say, then you are at risk. My final question for Warren was whether he regrets signing the abortion letter after all, had he not, he might still be employed. Would he risk this all over again? Or would he try to find another, less out-there way to signal his opposition to the abortion climate? Warren shifted uncomfortably in his seat. For the first time in our conversation he became a little less lawyerly and a little more pissed, channeling, in a certain sense, his nemesis. Your question to me is should I have done something differently and not spoken my mind so as not to annoy the governor of Florida? Should I not have exercised my constitutional right to free speech? So I didnt run the risk of the governor breaking state and federal law? he said. Americans dont need permission slips to exercise their constitutional rights. No, I wouldnt change a thing, and I shouldnt have to change a thing. Related... China cultural center hosts salon to promote tea culture in Fiji Xinhua) 10:26, May 21, 2023 Tea art specialists perform a traditional Chinese tea ceremony during the "Tea for Harmony Yaji Cultural Salon" in Suva, Fiji, May 20, 2023. A tea cultural event was held in Suva, capital of Fiji, on Saturday, enabling the island nation's people to get a taste of Chinese tea and tea culture. (Photo by Sang Qinlong/Xinhua) SUVA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A tea cultural event was held in Suva, capital of Fiji, on Saturday, enabling the island nation's people to get a taste of Chinese tea and tea culture. The event included a traditional tea ceremony, a tea art performance and other activities like music, paper-cut art and photography exhibition. Entitled "Tea for Harmony Yaji Cultural Salon," the event was organized by the China Cultural Center in Fiji, Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, as well as Fiji-China Friendship Association. Yaji, literally "gathering of elegance," was a common way for ancient Chinese literati to enjoy a collective cultural life. China is the hometown of tea, said Chinese Ambassador to Fiji Zhou Jian. "Chinese tea culture has promoted the exchanges and mutual learning of different civilizations." The ambassador said China advocates for countries around the world to transcend civilization barriers through exchanges, rise above civilization conflicts by mutual learning, and overcome the sense of superiority by promoting coexistence of civilizations. The event was held on the occasion of the upcoming International Tea Day on May 21. The day aims to "raise awareness about the importance of tea in poverty eradication and make significant contributions to the preservation of human heritage and the promotion of dialogue between civilizations," said Han Xiaoyan, director of the China Cultural Center in Fiji. Katriena Wong, a Fijian girl who once studied in China, told Xinhua that she loves Chinese tea very much. "Tea helps you rest your heart and have a pause in your life," Wong said. The Chinese people often say "to make friends with tea," she said. "Likewise, Kava is an important social activity and ceremonial drink in Fiji, representing the hospitality and friendliness of the Fijian people." Wong said she hopes students who have studied in China could use tea and Kava as a medium to enhance exchanges of Chinese and Fijian cultures, and contribute more to China-Fiji friendship. People prepare to taste Chinese tea during the "Tea for Harmony Yaji Cultural Salon" in Suva, Fiji, May 20, 2023. A tea cultural event was held in Suva, capital of Fiji, on Saturday, enabling the island nation's people to get a taste of Chinese tea and tea culture. (Photo by Sang Qinlong/Xinhua) (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun) A dancer performs during the National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon, May 20, 2023. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) This photo taken on May 20, 2023 shows a square of Cameroonian cultural diversity marching during the National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) This photo taken on May 20, 2023 shows a view of the presidential podium during National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) Students from the Inter-Army Military School (EMIA) march during the National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon, May 20, 2023. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) Cameroonian President Paul Biya (front) arrives at the May 20 Boulevard to preside over the National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon, May 20, 2023. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) Army and police troops march during the National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon, May 20, 2023. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) Soldiers of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) march during the National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon, May 20, 2023. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) Army and police troops march during the National Day celebration in Yaounde, Cameroon, May 20, 2023. Cameroon marked on Saturday the 51st anniversary of its National Day with a military and civilian parade in Yaounde. (Xinhua/Kepseu) By most measures, a new progressive movement in Maine ought to be taking hold. Democrats control the Blaine House, the Senate by a robust margin and the House by a comfortable one as they have now for three legislative terms running. The LePage years of acrimonious divided government are fading into the past. Douglas Rooks Yet progressivism is nowhere to be seen as the Legislature hones in on adjournment a month hence. Start with the basics. Maine has the opportunity to help adopt a fundamental voting reform: electing the president by popular vote. Yes, it can be done. Its called the National Popular Vote Compact (NPVC), and its already passed in all other states with durable Democratic trifectas. Imagine: Americans get to elect the president on equal terms. No more red states and blue states on election night. No more swing states. No more Bush v. Gore decisions, with the Supreme Court installing a president without counting all the votes. Youd think Maine Democrats would jump at the chance to avoid these undemocratic outcomes. Had the NPVC been in place, George H.W. Bush in 1988 would have been the last Republican to win a first term. But you would be wrong. In 2019, the Senate passed the bill but the House rejected it. In the 2021-22 session, it never got out of committee. And this year LD 1578 has not even been scheduled for public hearing as of this writing. Somehow, Maine Democrats do not favor a democratic outcome for the most important vote any of us cast. It goes on from there. We know all about Democratic stances on abortion rights, on racial prejudice, on religious bigotry, on rights for stigmatized and historically oppressed groups, and these are honorable, highly defensible positions. But where are the voices and the bills on core economic issues that have always provided the backbone for progressive movements going back to the 19th century? The standard is Franklin Roosevelts New Deal, greatly amplified by the Congressional New Dealers who pushed the agenda beyond Roosevelts own inclinations. Labor, which had virtually no legal protection at state or federal levels, suddenly was free to organize and win contracts under the Wagner Act, followed by minimum wage laws incorporating time-and-a-half for overtime. For the next quarter century, the distribution of wealth and income became dramatically more equal progressives would say fairer as wages rose, one job could support a family of four, and many more Americans went to college. During World War II, to pay for the immense expenditures involved, federal income taxes became steeply progressive, with the top rate exceeding 90%. It was patriotic to pay taxes. Then it all went into reverse. In the 1970s, Republicans began packing the judiciary, winning a majority of the Supreme Court and tilting decisions in favor of business. The Reagan revolution gutted the progressive income tax, and business tax preferences bloomed, especially at the state level. Were now faced with a situation where the working poor pay a higher proportion of their incomes than the super-rich; as Warren Buffett memorably put it, his secretary pays more than he does. Elizabeth Warren, and to a lesser extent Bernie Sanders, emphasized these issues during the 2020 presidential campaign, but despite other legislative accomplishments, President Biden has so far succeeded only in installing a corporate minimum tax though even that wasnt easy. As a result, we face a future in which generational wealth continues to compound, while millions of people will depend on government aid simply to eat, go the doctor, and keep a roof over their heads. Maine lawmakers dont have a Senate filibuster or national disinformation campaigns preventing them from acting, yet little progressive has emerged here either. A modest bill last session to allow farm workers to organize was derided as a threat to family farms. You will hunt long and hard among the dozens of bills the Taxation Committee hears to find anything modifying the essentially flat income tax Maine now has after years of chipping away. The national minimum wage remains $7.25, which brings in a weekly paycheck of $290 in many red states. Why this isnt a scandal, or at least front-page news, is hard to understand. Individual rights are important, but politics at its core revolves around who pays and who benefits, who holds economic power and who is denied it. The vast distance weve drifted from New Deal economic principles and toward a winner take all world is clear enough. Whats still unclear is whether a new progressive movement can craft a meaningful response, in Maine and the nation. Douglas Rooks has been a Maine editor, columnist and reporter since 1984. His new book, Calm Command: U.S. Chief Justice Melville Fuller in His Times, 1888-1910, will be published later this year. He welcomes comment at drooks@tds.net This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Rooks: On economic issues, progressives missing in action Russia and China hit back at a G7 that saw them as a threat Moscow and Beijing lashed out against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, where leaders of major democracies pledged new measures targeting Russia and spoke in one voice on their growing concerns over China. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday slammed the G7 for indulging in their own greatness with an agenda that aimed to deter Russia and China. Meanwhile Chinas Foreign Ministry accused G7 leaders of hindering international peace and said the group needed to reflect on its behavior and change course. Beijing had made serious demarches to host country Japan and other parties over their decision to smear and attack China, it said. Both Russias brutal assault on Ukraine and how to handle an increasingly assertive Beijing have loomed over the three-day gathering of the worlds leading industrialized democracies taking place in Japan just across regional seas from both countries where Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise, in-person appearance. G7 member countries made the groups most detailed articulation of a shared position on China to date stressing the need to cooperate with the worlds second-largest economy, but also to counter its malign practices and coercion in a landmark joint communique Saturday. Leaders also pledged new steps to choke off Russias ability to finance and fuel its war, and vowed in a dedicated statement to ramp up coordination on their economic security a thinly veiled warning from members against what they see as the weaponization of trade from China, and also Russia. The G7 agreements follow a hardening of attitudes on China in some European capitals, despite differing views on how to handle relations with the key economic partner, deemed by the US as the most serious long-term challenge to the international order. Countering Chinas coercion Beijings retort later Saturday urged the G7 not to become an accomplice in American economic coercion. The massive unilateral sanctions and acts of decoupling and disrupting industrial and supply chains make the US the real coercer that politicizes and weaponizes economic and trade relations, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The international community does not and will not accept the G7-dominated Western rules that seek to divide the world based on ideologies and values, it continued. G7 member countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union also joins as a non-country member. A number of non-G7 leaders also attended the summit, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Albanese on Sunday said he has been concerned for some time over Chinas actions, including its military activities in the South China Sea, and called for transparency by Beijing over the detention of Australian journalist Cheng Lei. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also on Sunday said China presents the greatest risk to security and prosperity, adding its behavior is increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad. Chinas image in Europe has taken a severe hit over the past 15 months as leaders there have watched Chinas Xi Jinping tighten ties with fellow authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as Moscows invasion sparked a massive humanitarian crisis and Moscows leader was accused of war crimes by an international court. Beijings increased military aggression toward Taiwan the self-ruling democracy the Chinese Communist Party claims as its territory but has never ruled and economic penalties against Lithuania following a disagreement over Taiwan have also played a role in shifting sentiment. Concern about such incidents was reflected in the G7 statement on ensuring economic security and countering economic coercion, which did not explicitly mention China. The G7 leaders ability to sign onto a statement so specifically directed at Beijing would have been hard to believe two years ago, according to Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Councils GeoEconomics Center. The bottom line is that the G7 has shown it will increasingly focus on China and will try to maintain a coordinated policy approach. Thats a major development, he said. War in Ukraine The G7 agreements land as China has been marshaling its diplomats in a concerted attempt to repair ties with Europe, largely by recasting itself as a potential agent of peace in the war in Ukraine, even if that claim has been met with widespread skepticism among Western nations. Last week as European leaders headed to Asia, Chinese special envoy Li Hui began his own European tour billed by Beijing as a means to promote peace talks. Li, who was dispatched after Xi late last month made his first call to Zelensky since the Russian invasion, visited Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he fronted Chinas vision of a political settlement. That calls for a ceasefire but not for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory first a scenario which critics say could serve to cement Russias illegal land grab in the country and runs counter to Ukraines own peace plan. Zelenskys travel to the G7 in Asia is also a way of putting pressure on China, according to Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an emeritus professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University. The message to China is for it to be more more outgoing in its support for a solution that aligns with Kyivs interests in terms of its territorial integrity and Russian troops pulling out from Ukraine, he said. When asked about the possibility of China playing a role in ending Russias war, a senior White House official on Saturday said the US hopes that Xi views this weeks summit as a signal of resolve. We would hope that what President Xi and the (Peoples Republic of China) extract from what theyve been seeing here is that theres an awful lot of resolve to continue to support Ukraine and that China could have a meaningful role in helping end this war, the official said. CNNs Sugam Pokharel and Darya Tarasova in London, Shawn Deng in Toronto, Alex Stambaugh in Hong Kong, Angus Watson in Sydney and Betsy Klein in Washington contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Russian forces launched an attack on the city of Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast on the evening of Sunday, 21 May. Source: Oleh Syniehubov, Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram; map of air-raid warnings in Ukraine Quote from Syniehubov: "Attention residents of [the city of] Kharkiv and of Kharkiv Oblast! The occupiers are carrying out another attack! Do not ignore air-raid warnings. Remain in shelters!" Details: An air-raid warning has been issued in Kharkiv Oblast. Updated at 20:00: Syniehubov later said that Russian forces carried out another missile strike on the village of Tsyrkuny in the Kharkiv district. "One of the missiles an S-300, according to early reports hit the ground; another one damaged a private house. Unfortunately, one man, a civilian, was injured. Medics are currently treating him," Syniehubov wrote. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's top lawmaker on Sunday called for a ban on Polish trucks transiting Russian territory and for Poland to compensate Moscow financially for what he said was the Soviet rebuilding of the east European country after World War Two. In a statement, Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said that Poland needed to be punished for having "betrayed the historical memory" of the Soviet Union's liberation of the country from Nazi Germany with a series of hostile acts against Moscow. In comments certain to deepen a feud with Warsaw, Volodin said Poland existed as a state only "thanks to our country", said Warsaw should pay Russia over $750 bn to compensate it for Soviet investment in the country after World War Two. He said Poland should also hand back territory it received after the war. There was no immediate reaction to his comments from Warsaw. Volodin said a parliamentary committee would begin considering a ban on Polish trucks entering Russian territory as soon as Monday. Such a move, he said, would cause Poland significant financial pain and job losses. Strained Russian-Polish relations have deteriorated further since the war in Ukraine - something Moscow calls "a special military operation" with Warsaw positioning itself as one of Kyiv's key allies. Russia last month promised it would respond harshly to what it said was Poland's illegal seizure of its embassy school in Warsaw, an act it called a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. In March 2022, Poland said it was expelling 45 Russian diplomats suspected of working for Moscow's intelligence services. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Russians increase missile number in Black Sea and might attack against G7 background Ukraine's military official Russian occupiers have increased the number of missile carriers in the Black Sea and intensified the work of reconnaissance drones; the occupiers may resort to another missile attack against the background of the G7 summit. Source: Natalia Humeniuk, Head of the Joint press centre of the Defence Forces of Ukraine's south, on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast on 21 May Quote: "Yesterday evening [20 May ed.], the enemy increased the presence of missile carriers in the Black Sea. There are two submarines, and two missile carriers, that is, 8 Kalibr missiles. They are trying to keep the tension for now. The enemy always tries to increase the tension during significant world events, such as the G7 summit, and then, quite likely, uses a missile attack as a reaction to the pressure of the world community on the aggressor country. We draw everyone's attention be very attentive to air raid sirens and monitor enemy aircraft activity." Details: According to her, Russian drones became active on the night of 21 May, including both reconnaissance and strike UAVs. She noted that over the past day, five drones were destroyed in the area of responsibility of the southern forces, two of which were reconnaissance drones. Humeniuk emphasised that occupiers are actively gathering information, but this practice has become typical for Russians after statements about Ukraine's preparation for a counteroffensive. The invaders are scouting where Ukrainian air defence systems and other targets of Russian attacks are located. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Experts say Russia's claim to capture frontline city Bakhmut may not be much of a win Whether Bakhmut has fallen or not, Moscow is being pulled deeper into an ever more costly fight for the frontline city as Kyiv readies a major offensive, experts said. Russia's claim to have conquered the destroyed city, which Ukraine rejected Sunday, does not mean significant new terrain from which to launch attacks nor harden defences. But Moscow has made the eastern city's capture a key aim and has fought the war's longest battle, as well as one of its deadliest, to try to win what it would like to bill as a significant success. US President Joe Biden, speaking from the G7 summit in Japan, noted Russian casualties in Bakhmut alone numbered over 100,000, including both dead and injured. Rattled by the possibility of not winning Bakhmut after Ukraine this month retook kilometres of ground to the north and south of the city, Russia brought in significant numbers of additional troops. "The redeployment represents a notable commitment," the UK Ministry of Defence said on Saturday, noting the reinforcements could number in the thousands. The US-based Institute for the Study of War reported that Ukraine's attacks on Bakhmut's flanks "forced Russian troops to allocate scarce military resources... as Ukrainian command likely intended." Ukraine has tamped down speculation that the advances are its long-awaited offensive but drawing growing numbers of Russian troops into the deadly fight in Bakhmut carries significant advantages for Kyiv's fightback. - 'Buy time' - "What they (Ukrainians) needed to do was to, one, weaken the Russians as much as possible before they do that counteroffensive, and secondly, buy time to get that force ready," said Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at St. Andrews University in Scotland. "They calculated -- I believe it was the right choice -- that in fighting for Bakhmut, they could do both," he told US media outlet NPR in an interview aired Saturday. The timing and focus of Ukraine's offensive have been the subject of months of speculation, while Kyiv has said almost nothing except that it needs more weapons from its backers. At the same time, Russia has been reinforcing hundreds of kilometres of front line with tank barriers, trenches and troops. Given that the battles would come after a significant influx of Western armaments, success or failure could undermine future support or increase pressure on Kyiv to negotiate. It's hard to know the degree to which the troops reinforcing Bakhmut have left gaps in Russia's defences, but O'Brien said the Ukrainians could be waiting to attack "where they think the Russians are weakest". The speculation regarding timing has cycled through several issues, including the particularly wet spring that left parts of the nation sopping. Viscous Ukrainian mud is not an ideal surface for fast moving tanks or troops, but the weather has been mostly dry for weeks. It is also difficult to imagine the nation launching a major offensive while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is out of the country. - 'All just waiting' - He has been on a rapid succession of major foreign trips in recent weeks, pushing his case for more and bigger weapons. He won a pledge of more missiles from Britain and a multi-billion-euro package from Germany, as Europe intensifies its backing. Zelensky also made a high-impact trip to Hiroshima to press his case in-person to G7 leaders, whose support is essential to Kyiv. The G7 summit ends Sunday, which would mean Zelensky could soon be back home. In Kyiv on Sunday soldiers received the news about Bakhmut with shrugs and scepticism. They have heard claims before of the city's capture and they have other things on their minds. "Everyone is trying to figure out when the offensive will start already. We know we have the equipment already and the machinery," said staff sergeant Volodymyr, who spoke on the condition that his family name not be used. "We're all just waiting for the decision from command," he said while rifle shots cracked in the background at a Kyiv-area shooting range. jmm/dt/jm The Sacramento Police Department hosted its first gun buyback of 2023 on Saturday. The event brought in 128 guns from the community, according to a news release from the department. That number is less than half of the guns collected at the departments October buyback and six less than the same event from one year ago. People could exchange handguns for $50 and privately manufactured ghost guns without a serial number for $100, police said. The firearms will be safely stored and destroyed at a later date, according to the department. As was the case with the previous buybacks, no questions were asked. But among those who gave a reason, according to the department, many cited a lack of knowledge or inability to safely store a weapon as reasons for participating. Different from the previous two events: Sacramento police offered just cash rather than gift cards on Saturday. In October, the reward was a $50 Amazon gift card because the department wanted to help people with holiday shopping. The May 2022 event gave away $50 gas gift cards due to high fuel prices at the time. Saturdays event lasted about five hours and the department said it gave out over $10,000. Sponsors included the Northern State Ecumenical Conference and the Knights of Columbus. In October Dr. Garen Wintemute, a UC Davis Medical Center emergency room physician and director of the universitys Violence Prevention Research Program, told The Bee that 400 million guns are in circulation in the United States and 25% of all households in California have at least one gun. He said that gun buyback events will not significantly reduce the number of guns in circulation or even the number of gun crimes; however, they give individual people and communities a sense that gun violence is not somebody elses problem to fix. The Sacramento Police Department recognizes that community safety is a shared responsibility between the police department and the citizens we serve, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said in Sundays news release. We will continue to use innovative ideas to address gun and violent crime in our community. Sacramento wants more bike, scooter racks. Heres how to help decide where theyll be built The city of Sacramento is asking for help in deciding where to put new bike and scooter racks. An application on the citys website allows residents and business owners to pinpoint the best areas for new racks. The city said in a news release Friday that it will install racks and shared-rideable drop zones where there is a demonstrated need. The city said hundreds of racks already exist, but it needs to add on as more people engage in active transportation that reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Bike parking and drop-zone site applicants must suggest sites that are on public property, demonstrate a need for site construction, and have a sponsor that can sweep up and otherwise maintain a site, according to the city. Buildings or businesses required to provide bike or scooter parking as a condition of a planning entitlement or building permit do not qualify, according to the application. Sarah Jessica Parker reflects on 26 years of marriage with Matthew Broderick in sweet anniversary post Sarah Jessica Parker reflects on 26 years of marriage with Matthew Broderick in sweet anniversary post Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are celebrating 26 years of marriage. In a sweet Instagram post dedicated to Broderick May 20, Parker reflected on how they marked the occasion and the years they've spent together. "Happy 26th anniversary my husband," she captioned a photo of champagne cork. "That sure was a nice celebration and a real nice bottle of champagne. And a gorgeous walk home. Oh the miles we have strolled together. I love you." She then signed off, "XOX, your SJ." Parker's friends expressed their congratulations to the couple in the comments of the post. Her New York City walking buddy, Andy Cohen, commented four red heart emojis. "Happy Anniversary to both of you!!" Parker's "Sex and the City" co-star Mario Cantone wrote. One fan referenced Parker's "Sex and the City" spinoff, which returns for Season Two June 22, in their well wishes. "And just like that 26 years went by," they commented. Parker and Broderick share three children, James Wilkie, 20, and twin 13-year-old girls, Tabitha and Marion. While they often keep their family life private, the family of five did step out in New York City together to attend the premiere of "Some Like It Hot" on Broadway in December. The couple, who usually keeps their marriage out of the public eye, took the stage together last year to play a married couple together in the Broadway play "Plaza Suite." Broderick said that playing a role that invited the media to ask questions about their relationship was "a very scary thing." Ive always said one of the reasons weve had success is because we dont talk about our marriage, Parker told The Hollywood Reporter in the rare joint interview. Im not flattering myself that anyones discussing my marriage, but were certainly not going to add to it by saying, Well, this is why it works. Next thing you know, therell be a very public divorce. So we just try to respect each other. While the pair have been married since 1997, Parker said that before "Plaza Suite," she and her husband had "never spent this much time together, ever." Even when we were just dating," she told the outlet. "But its a very different kind of time. Its not like were spending more time together talking. Were spending time together working in an alternate universe. Were not ourselves." This article was originally published on TODAY.com Gov. McMaster's office says 'hunt them with dogs' comment was 'joke.' SC Dems want apology. The Anderson County Democratic Party issued a statement Sunday, May 21, following Gov. Henry McMaster's comments during Saturday's South Carolina Republican Party Convention. According to The State reporter Joseph Bustos, McMaster said: "I look forward to the day that democrats are so rare, we have to hunt them with dogs." In a 2018 event in Anderson, McMaster compared democrats to 'dogs.' In an emailed response to the Greenville News, McMaster's communications director, Brandon Charochak, said the governor meant the comment as a 'joke.' "Governor McMaster has been making this joke at GOP conventions for years, and everyday South Carolinians understand that it's a joke," Charochak said. "If South Carolina Democrat partisans can no longer bear light-hearted jokes made at their expense, then maybe they should focus their energy on winning and not whining." The News has reached out to McMaster's office for comment. As of Sunday at 1:45 p.m., McMaster's office has not issued a statement in response to the backlash. Chris Salley, left, is shown in this 2022 photo. Chris Salley, chair of the Anderson County Democratic Party, said in a statement: "Yesterday, Governor Henry McMaster threatened me, my family, and thousands of other Anderson County residents who are Democrats when he said he looks forward to the day he can "hunt us with dogs." If the Governor is not willing to apologize and retract this racially-tinged dog whistle, Anderson County Democrats join the Charleston County Democratic Party in asking the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to open an investigation into this threat and incitement of political violence. The Democratic Party stands for a SC where no one is above the law and expects the same of SLED and our Governor." The Charleston County Democratic Party also released a statement regarding McMaster's comments: "We cannot continue to normalize threats of political violence from the leadership of the Republican Party. If the governor does not retract and apologize, SC State Law Enforcement Division should investigate this threat." Check back for updates. This article originally appeared on Greenville News: SC Democrats want McMaster apology after 'hunt them with dogs' comment BAGHDAD, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani and visiting Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Faraya agreed on Sunday to promote bilateral security cooperation, especially in the field of drug control. During their meeting held in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the two sides discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations and security cooperation, facilitate the entry of citizens between the two countries, confront terrorism, and combat drug trafficking, said al-Sudani's media office's press release. Al-Sudani stressed that drugs "pose a significant threat to our youth and undermine the social fabric of our societies", calling for close coordination between Iraq and Jordan to combat the growing challenge of drug trafficking. For his part, Faraya expressed his country's determination to collaborate with Iraq across various security sectors, with a primary focus on combating drug trafficking through joint efforts and cooperation. On May 9, al-Sudani vowed to fight a "war on drugs" at the opening ceremony of the first Baghdad International Conference on Drug Control, emphasizing that it is no less important than the fight against terrorism. Illicit drug trafficking in and through Iraq has been increasing since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. In recent years, drugs are mostly sold and distributed in poor areas in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and the southern part of the country, prompting the Iraqi authorities to adopt rigorous measures to curb the spread of drugs. By Andreas Rinke and John Irish HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Potential allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets were a message to Russia not to expect to succeed in its invasion of Ukraine even in a prolonged conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday. Kyiv has not won commitments for delivery of the planes, but President Joe Biden and senior U.S. officials told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. The issue of Ukraine acquiring and using the advanced fighter jets is a delicate challenge for the G7, which has gradually stepped up its support for Kyiv in the 15-month-old war but is wary of provoking Moscow too far. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Saturday that Western countries would run "colossal risks" if they supplied Ukraine with F-16s, TASS news agency reported. "The training of the pilots is a longer project," Scholz told reporters before leaving the G7 summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. "The U.S. has not finally decided what stands at the end. The project has a message for Russia: Russia cannot count on winning if it bets on a long war. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his country would work with the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark "to get Ukraine the combat air capability it needs." Training on the U.S.-made jets will take place in Europe and take time, U.S. officials have said, estimating at least 18 months was needed for training and delivery. A French military official briefing reporters at the G7 was cautious about the process, saying that in the case of France, the offer was for basic pilot training. Discussions with Kyiv were ongoing and no Ukrainian pilots were now being trained in France, the official said. France does not have F-16s, only French-made Rafale warplanes and previous-generation Mirage 2000 jets. The official said training a person from scratch to operate a NATO-made warplane could take as long as four years, while an experienced pilot used to Ukrainian jets would need four to nine months. "It's not the immediate priority for Ukraine. We are in a counteroffensive stage and this training won't be ready in the coming weeks, but for the long term," the official said. The official said talk of F-16s was grabbing headlines, as the issue of German-made Leopard tanks had done before, while insisting the current request was just for training. "It's the logo to show the initiative. It's an initiative to train pilots without putting a plane behind it," he said. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke and John Irish in Hiroshima; Writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and William Mallard) School choice won big in states this year. Is the movement about to hit a wall? The school choice movement is riding high this year with multiple GOP-led states handing it legislative victories, but opponents are shrugging off the advances and predicting a tougher road ahead. At least eight states have put new school choice policies on the books in the first five months of 2023, with some of them expanding to all K-12 students. Other measures are still up in the air. The victories have been heavily celebrated by Republicans, but they may be running out of friendly territory. So far this year, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah and Florida have enacted education savings accounts (ESAs) for all K-12 students, giving families a set amount of money they can use to put their children in other educational settings if they dont want them to go to public school. I am not interested in being a caretaker of the failed status quo. I vowed to be a change-maker for our people, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) said. Today, I am delivering on that promise, and will sign into law my transformational education plan, unleashing a new era of freedom, opportunity and prosperity for all. But in Texas, advocates have fought tooth and nail this session to get ESA legislation through only to get tripped up by their own party. Rural Republicans in Texas have been hesitant to back school choice, a common trend for politicians in areas where there are elevated concerns about funding for public schools and fewer facilities for families to choose among. We dont have the same economy of scale as larger districts, Aaron Hood, president of the Texas Association of Rural Schools, told NBC News. If we lose five or 10 students, thats a teacher salary. But we cant afford to have one less teacher, so now were cutting academic programs, were cutting sports, were cutting the things that this community relies on. This legislative session is the closest Texas has been to getting ESAs passed, but the eligibility for the program has severely dwindled as it moved through the legislature. The Texas Senate approved a version that would give the program to 5.5 million students, but the House Committee on Public Education attempted to scale it back to approximately 800,000 students. In Texas, bills that pass the Senate are then sent to the respective committees in the House. Those committees must then approve the legislation before it is presented to the full House for a final vote. The bill died in the House after the committee failed to approve the legislation for a full House vote on a Saturday deadline, but the governor has signaled this is not the end of the fight. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has stayed firm on his want for a more expansive school choice bill and threatened to veto the potential House version and bring the legislature into special sessions over the issue. Meanwhile, in Georgia, proponents failed altogether this year to pass an expansive school choice law, despite Republican control over the state government. Alex Ames, founder and current chairperson of the board for the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, said activists made three key moves in stopping the legislation: planning ahead after the 2022 session, working with the media to get their message out and making sure to put students in front of state legislators, especially when it came time to vote. We knew we needed to pick off at least six to eight Republican votes on the statehouse if we wanted to defeat this bill. It was getting harder and harder, the 20-year-old said. We had rural students in the offices of these lawmakers. We were sending thousands of phone calls from across the state to their offices, and we had data to show them exactly how their district is hurt by these cuts. And school choice advocates are quickly running out of states welcoming to their policies. I dont see the types of programs that have been passed in red states this year theres no demand for them in blue states, said Jennifer Berkshire, a professor in education studies at Yale University. School choice, in some ways, had more bipartisan support in the past, particularly regarding charter schools, said Jon Valant, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy. But as Republicans have moved past charter schools to more private school options, Democrats have chilled on the issue and now dont show a whole lot of interest in advancing new school choice policies, really of pretty much any kind, Valant said. The looming roadblocks for school choice advocates have put the minds of some Democrats at ease about the recent wins for the movement. At least for the DLCC, we are not concerned in the slightest that we are losing ground, as it relates to education, because Democrats have decades on decades of trust built with our communities, because we are the party, frankly, that sees the true value on public education, said Gabrielle Chew, communications vice president for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Others, however, caution against a lackadaisical attitude on the issue. Democrats should be concerned because really the fight against vouchers is our biggest opportunity to bring a group of people together who can agree that those funds and our state legislature should belong to us, not sneaky privatization efforts, Ames said. While there could be some struggles ahead, school choice advocates still have plenty of opportunities as well. North Carolina could be the next state to get ESA legislation on the books: The measure has passed the Republican-controlled state House and is heading to the GOP Senate. While the states Democratic governor might veto the bill, Republicans have a supermajority to override the opposition. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Scorsese on why he kept out of Cannes competition Scorsese said it was 'time for others' Martin Scorsese told AFP on Sunday that he had kept his film out of the main competition at Cannes because it was "time for others" to shine. The legendary director, 80, wowed critics on Saturday night with his Native American epic "Killers of the Flower Moon" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. Up to the last minute, it was unclear if it would be entered in the race for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, which Scorsese won back in 1976 with "Taxi Driver". Asked by AFP why he had ultimately opted for an out-of-competition slot, Scorsese said with a laugh: "It's time for others. I got to go. There are kids around." "I like the golden statues. I like them very much," he added. "But now I think of time and energy and inspiration -- that's the most important thing." The new opus charts the true story of a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s, and was hailed as "searing", a "triumph," and a "masterpiece" by critics. Scorsese said he didn't think of it as a period piece, and that the treatment of Native Americans was "still a wound that needs healing". "Maybe by knowing our history and understanding where we are, we can make a difference and live up to what the country is supposed to be," he added. Scorsese has long dreamed of making a Western. "I was very excited when I saw horses," he said. "I didn't want to get near them, of course!" He had one disappointment because the film was set during the prohibition era: "I always imagined going to a saloon or a bar, that I was going to have great scenes... but that wasn't there." Scorsese had considered postponing his last film "The Irishman" to focus on "Killers of the Flower Moon". But he changed his mind, since "The Irishman" involved some expensive special effects to de-age De Niro, Al Pacino and other stars. "Bob pointed out that we had to de-age everyone... If we wait another two years... we were going to have a much tougher job," he said, laughing. er/fb/gil A second new cookie shop opens in the metro-east, this time in Madison County. What to know Alibi Cookie opened this month at 200 S. Buchanan St. in Edwardsville and offers cookies, cookies, more cookies and other sweet treats. Cookies on the menu include oatmeal raisin, peanut butter chip, sugar, red velvet, double chocolate chip and multiple others. Alibi also offers iced cookies, ice cream, cookie cakes, shakes and cookie sandwiches. Alibi Cookies was founded in 2020 by Mike Evans in the kitchen at Pilgrim Congregational Church in St. Louis, according to the business website. The St. Louis-based business started as a way for Evans to share his love of cookies. The business started as a vending machine operation. The machines, known as CookieBots, distribute various flavors of warm, individually-wrapped cookies. Evans told Sauce magazine in fall 2020 that he got the idea from a Facebook video. In Japan, you can get almost anything you want in vending machines, stated Evans in the article. He told Feast Magazine in January that when he saw the Japanese vending machines, he thought, What if I put cookies in a vending machine that could keep them warm? He brought the idea to St. Louis, starting with a CookieBot inside Tamm Avenue Bar in Dogtown. I just think theres nothing else like it. People walk up [to the cookiebot], and they see this giant white machine, and theyre like, Holy crap, what is that? Warm cookies? Evans said in the Sauce article. Today, Alibi Cookies has CookieBots at its three brick and mortar locations in Missouri: Dogtown in St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson City. The Edwardsville store is the fourth location. About Alibi Cookies Alibi Cookies - Edwardsville is located at 200 S. Buchanan St. Hours are noon to 10 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday, and noon to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. For more information, call 618-307-5294 or visit alibicookies.com. Sedgwick County has officially abandoned an Emergency Medical Services staffing plan and internal study that contributed to a massive paramedic shortage, dangerously slow response times and burnout among EMS employees. County Manager Tom Stolz is asking county commissioners to approve adding 31 paramedics to the EMS budget at a cost of $568,644, a move that would reverse a 2018 staffing plan that sought to replace 35 paramedics with lower-paid and less-qualified EMTs to save money. The cost-cutting maneuver spurred a public safety crisis across Wichita and surrounding areas, as reported in The Eagles Unresponsive investigative series in 2021. That investigation spurred the resignation of two EMS leaders and a restructuring of the department. The county has been slowly moving away from the staffing plan for two years. But county leaders did not officially dismiss it until this month. County commissioners will decide whether to fund the change in August. EMS Chief Kevin Lanterman said the move is expected to help boost morale in the department, reduce paramedic burnout and return the department to its former reputation as one of the premier ambulance services in the United States. We want to keep our people healthy, and we want to keep them here, Lanterman said. The reversal is significant because it allows Sedgwick County EMS to add paramedics to its staffing table, giving the department budget authority to hire the number of paramedics it had before former director Dr. John Gallagher took over in 2019. Gallagher had endorsed the paramedic cuts when he was the EMS medical director, writing in the study that eliminating 35 paramedic positions by 2021 would be expected to have no effect, or perhaps a positive effect, on patient care within our county, records show. Instead, emergency patients found themselves waiting longer for life-saving care. A mass exodus and open revolt by EMS workers against Gallagher ensued. Many of the paramedics who remained on staff were overworked, burnt out and fed up. Gallagher was forced out in July 2021. He has since moved to Hawaii, where he works as a financial planner for physicians at Integrated Wealthcare. Lanterman, a longtime Sedgwick County paramedic, took over as EMS chief in June 2022. EMS response times improving slowly Since Lantermans appointment, response times have slowly improved, although they remain worse than in 2019, records show. Staffing numbers have also improved, but Lanterman said it could be at least two more years before the county can hire enough paramedics to replace those who left under Gallagher. County Manager Tom Stolz said at a May 10 budget hearing that EMS has been in a tweener situation on its ambulance crew configuration, as it does not have enough paramedics to staff each ambulance with two paramedics. We never said we wanted to do it that way, Lanterman, who was a paramedic when the county made the switch, said of the EMT-paramedic crews. We were kind of forced to because we had no paramedics to hire. Stolz announced the reversal after Commissioner Ryan Baty asked whether the county was officially abandoning the paramedic-EMT staffing plan. Were clearing the air on that today, Stolz said. The chief wants to go to a two-paramedic system, so yes, were making philosophical changes. EMS study didnt take into account the human factor Lanterman said the 2018 study may have looked good on paper but it made little sense to paramedics in the field. My perspective is that study I dont think took into account the human factor of the people working, Lanterman said. They were solely looking at outcomes, and Im not sure what they base those on. On calls, you have critical calls that need multiple advanced-life support procedures done at the same time. If you have one paramedic there, they have to choose: Am I going to start that IV and give the patient the medication they need, or am I going to take care of that airway they need? I have to choose. I dont have another paramedic there to do the advanced skill. Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell, who spearheaded efforts to reform EMS in 2021 and whose daughter-in-law works for EMS, said he never agreed with the 2018 study and he supports moving back to dual-paramedic ambulance crews. We were just being cheap, Howell said. We had some tough budget years, and this was a way to reduce the budget in those years by not paying paramedics. So the $500,000 request gets us back to what we should be. Since Gallagher stepped down in July 2021, Sedgwick County EMS has hired an additional eight field paramedics, bringing the total to 113, according to records provided by the county. The department plans to hire at least 11 more paramedics within the next year. The goal is to fill the Sedgwick County EMS field staff with 151 paramedics and 10 EMTs, which Lanterman said could take a couple of years to realize. The county budget currently allows 120 field paramedics, 20 EMTs and 15 EMT-to-paramedic recruits. We really havent added (full-time positions) since 2017, and our call volume has gone up almost 6,000 calls since then, Lanterman said. Lanterman said its important to continue employing full- and part-time EMTs to help fill in for paramedics and to establish a long-term pipeline of paramedics. County changes plans to address EMS crisis The change back to dual-paramedic ambulances is the latest about-face by Sedgwick County in response to the EMS crisis. After the Eagle report, Stolz dropped the physician-led model the county adopted in 2019 against the wishes of a majority of EMS employees, who circulated a petition in an attempt to block consolidation of the Office of the Medical Director and the EMS Service Director into a single leadership role held by Gallagher. The county later established an EMT to paramedic scholarship program, increased paramedic pay and added $2,500 sign-on bonuses for new hires. Under Lanterman, EMS also began publicly reporting its performance metrics, something Gallagher stopped doing when he took over. The Sedgwick County EMS dashboard, created in late 2021, is one of the most transparent online portals in Wichita-area local government. It provides detailed monthly updates on a wide range of EMS performance metrics, from how much the department spends on baby aspirin to response times to cardiac arrest outcomes. But response time data continues to under-count how long it takes to receive emergency care from the time a person calls 911. The data only shows how long it takes an ambulance crew to arrive on scene after it is dispatched. It does not include how long it takes a dispatcher to assign an emergency call to a crew and how long it takes a crew to make contact with a patient after arriving at an address, two key components that can add several minutes to an EMS response. County officials have argued that EMS has no control over how soon calls are dispatched, so it would be unfair to add that time to ambulance response times. But EMS staffing affects the number of ambulances available at any given time and how many calls 911 dispatchers have to place on hold while they wait for an ambulance to become available. Selma Blair is joining the Race to Erase MS. The actress has been open about her struggles living with multiple sclerosis since being diagnosed in 2018. Earlier this month, she revealed she went undiagnosed for 40 years despite showing symptoms. "If youre a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI. If youre a girl, youre called crazy," she told British Vogue. "I looked like a normal girl to them, but I was disabled this whole time." She has since partnered with Race to Erase MS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing treatment options for patients and ultimately finding a cure. Founder Nancy Davis told Fox News Digital how proud she is of Blair, noting how far she's come. Selma Blair has partnered with Nancy Davis to become part of the Race to Erase MS charity geared toward finding a cure for the disease. SELMA BLAIR POSES WITH CANE ON VOGUE COVER AMID MS BATTLE: WISHED MYSELF DEAD "It's been challenging for her, but to look where she is today and that she actually went through this whole treatment. And then she was on Dancing with the Stars.' I mean, most people, no matter how young and agile you are, you could never do Dancing with the Stars, especially somebody who has MS," Davis said. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "Hats off to Selma Blair for being such an iconic role model for so many people who feel like, because they have MS, they can't achieve that dream. They can, because Selma did." Selma Blair, who was diagnosed with MS in 2018, often walks with a cane. Davis started the charity in 1993 after she was diagnosed with MS, an autoimmune disease that damages nerves, which interferes with brain signals reaching certain parts of the body. She recalled receiving "such negativity" when she was first diagnosed. Davis was 33 years old with three kids and said she was essentially told "I would never walk again." She went for a second and third opinion and "listened to the research going on at the time" by doctors from Yale, Harvard, Cleveland, San Francisco and Johns Hopkins. She soon realized they "were all doing identical research but were convinced they were the only one doing that study." The doctors, however, couldn't accept that as truth when Davis told them. Davis started Race to Erase MS after she was diagnosed with the disease in 1993 and realized doctors weren't sharing their research with one another. "Shortly after I started the Race to Erase MS, we created something, virtually 30 years ago, called the Center Without Walls, where all of our doctors had to come together and meet in person four times a year. They had to communicate monthly via a database about all research. Good and bad." Davis has noticed a lot of positive changes since she was diagnosed. She said early medications came with a lot of side effects and only worked on around 40% of patients. Now, there are over 25 medications that help prevent MS flare-ups. SOPRANOS STAR JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER REVEALS HOW MS PREVENTS HER FROM GIVING HER KIDS ALL THEY WANT "Today, there's these B-cell depleting drugs that are completely knocking everything out of the ballpark," she explained. "If you are newly diagnosed with MS and you go on right away that suppresses your B cells. It stops the MS in its tracks. It's pretty darn exciting." The medications do not help those who have had the disease many years, but Davis is excited to provide "a whole different future" for young people who are diagnosed today. Throughout the charity's 30-year existence, much has changed with treatments, most recently a drug that stops the disease in its tracks. "It's such a devastating thing to say: 'I'm going to never be able to live my life. I can't be a parent. I can't have my job. I can't seek all the things I've been dreaming about forever,'" Davis said. "Today, you can. There's so much hope, and it's really exciting." MS is difficult to diagnose because "different people have different kinds of MS," and no two people will necessarily exhibit the same symptoms. Symptoms generally include loss of vision, weakness, numbness, imbalance and chronic fatigue. Many celebrities have rallied behind the cause. Earth, Wind & Fire, Avril Lavigne, KISS, Elton John and other musicians have performed at an annual gala in the past. Stars like Kris Jenner, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Paris Hilton, Rumer Willis and Victoria Justice have attended. Many celebrities support the Race to Erase MS mission and attend the annual gala. Kris Jenner, Paris and Kathy Hilton and Rumer Willis have all attended the Race to Erase MS Gala over the years. Sharon Osborne became a supporter of the charity when her son Jack Osborne was diagnosed in 2012 at the age of 26. OZZY OSBOURNES SON JACK TELLS SELMA BLAIR SHES NOT ALONE IN MS BATTLE "When he was first diagnosed, Sharon contacted me, and she was very frantic because her son was newly diagnosed. And she had me really help them out in the very beginning," Davis explained. "And now Jack is fabulous. Jack's doing really, really well. They have both been so supportive." Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack was diagnosed with MS in 2012. Davis also recalled the very first Race to Erase MS event, which Dustin Hoffman attended. "His mother-in-law had MS, and they were in the very first years, and we did an Olympic event at the UCLA stadium," she said. "It touches lots of families, and it's one of those diseases that a lot of people don't want to talk about. But it's out there, and there's a lot more to be talked about and not be ashamed." Dustin Hoffman at the 4th Annual Race to Erase MS Gala. Davis is also excited to have removed some of the stigma surrounding an MS diagnosis, saying when she was first diagnosed, people were worried about hugging or kissing her because they were afraid she was contagious. She remembered initially not wanting to let anyone know about her diagnosis. But once she did, she felt "validated" because she no longer felt like people were talking behind her back. Davis recalled Dustin Hoffman attending one of the first Race to Erase events at UCLA. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER "I've been so lucky with my MS. I'm doing really, really well," Davis explained. "I thank God every day for that. I'm very positive. I do every positive kind of affirmation you can possibly do, because I have to see this through. And I'm excited [about] where I am today and where we are today and that we're, gosh, having our 30th race." Davis is excited for all the performances at this year's gala. This year's event is scheduled for June 2 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles and will feature performances by Flo Rida and Siedah Garrett and a fashion show by the clothing brand Cinq a Sept. "You can't not have the best time when Flo Rida is in the room. He makes everybody dance, and he throws them all on the stage. He even throws people in wheelchairs on the stage," she said excitedly. "He just picks them up, and you're like, Really? Can you do that? Is that OK? But he does, and he's fabulous." Senate Bill Would Create Intellectual Diversity Centers at Ohio State and the University of Toledo This article was originally published in Ohio Capital Journal. An Ohio state Senate bill is trying to create new centers at Ohio State University and the University of Toledo that expand and affirm intellectual diversity. Senate Bill 117 introduced earlier this month by Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, and Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon would create the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at Ohio State and the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership at UTs College of Law. There is a structural preponderance of one line of thought in our universities today, Cirino said during a recent Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee meeting. One of the ways to change the structural preponderance of one line of thought is to set institutes like these up to assist our universities in moving forward with more intellectual diversity. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter He went on to say that university faculty are predominantly liberal. This causes a single ideological perspective to dominate academia, Cirino said. With the passage of this legislation, we are giving students and their parents options within the market to choose an education that is best suited for them. Both centers would begin this fall if the bill is able to pass quickly enough, McColley said. Im hoping that our institutions will embrace this as something that is going to help them move the dial just a little bit in favor of true intellectual diversity, Cirino said. He said using public funds to create centers at colleges is not unheard of. Both Arizona State University and the University of Florida have created similar centers to aide in establishing diverse viewpoints at their respective universities, Cirino said in his testimony. SB 117 would give UT $1 million in fiscal year 2024 and $2 million in fiscal year 2025 for the Institute, and Ohio State $5 million in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 for the Center. University of Toledo The Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership would be housed in the universitys College of Law and it would expand the intellectual diversity of the universitys academic community, according to the bills language. The institutes mission would be to create and disseminate knowledge about American constitutional thought, and form future leaders of the legal profession through scholarship, teaching, collaboration, and mentorship, according to the centers concept overview. UT Law Professor Lee Strang first got the idea for the institute in 2019 after visiting the Georgetown Center for the Constitution and Princeton Universitys James Madison Program. Those places provided the resources in an intentional space for people from a wide variety of perspectives to respectfully and civilly present their views, present their research, present their arguments on whatever the topic was, Strang said. He wanted to bring something similar to UT, so he got approval from UTs president to move forward with the institute and he has been working with McColley on the bill, who graduated from Toledos College of Law in 2010. It seems to me that in many of these law schools across the state of Ohio and across the country, there is no longer as much intellectual diversity among the faculty, particularly in the area of constitutional law as there once was, McColley said. This has a critical role to play in the training of future lawyers, but also its a potential recruiting tool. He said has has been in talks with UTs president and the dean of the law school about SB 117. The institute would bring in more money for the law school which would allow UT to invite more law scholars, judges and lawyers from across the country to symposiums and classes, said Professor Rebecca Zietlow, the associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Law. That spices things up for students, she said. The institute would also give the law school more resources to teach additional courses. For example, Strang said this would help give him the resources to teach a class on Ohio constitutional law. (The institute is) a mission of academic excellence, its a mission of a wide variety of viewpoints debating, discussing these important constitutional issues, role modeling vivid debate and discussions for future leaders in the legal profession in Ohio, Strang said. He emphasized SB 117 is separate from Senate Bill 83, a massive higher education bill that has received lots of pushback. Both bills were introduced within a couple months of each other by Cirino and have language that includes intellectual diversity. One thing Im trying to avoid is wrapping this up in SB 83, Strang said. Ive been working on this independent of and without knowledge of SB 83 since 2019, he said. Ohio State University The Salmon P. Chase Center, named after Ohios 23rd governor, would be an independent academic unit and would affirm the value of intellectual diversity in higher education and aspire to enhance the intellectual diversity of the university, according to the bills language. Cirino said in his testimony that the center would introduce a new level of debate that would allow students to receive broadened viewpoints. Chris Nichols, a history professor at Ohio State, is skeptical. Theres a lot of things that already do a lot of what they are wanting to mandate through the Salmon P. Chase Center and it seems like a bit of a mistake to reinvent the wheel when you could actually just work with the existing faculty, staff and student centers and institutes that are pledged to do a lot of this kind of work, Nichols said. He wonders what problem the bill is trying to solve. It looks like building a very small parallel university within a university, Nichols said. This is frankly dropping down a center that duplicates some of whats already happening and also doesnt have an organizational structure that makes sense. The center would have a director that would report directly to the provost and university president. Ohio State already has more than 70 centers, and Cirino said he has had general discussions with Ohio State about the center. We expect to have further discussions with them regarding the implementation, he said. When asked about the bill, Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson said we look forward to discussing the proposal with the sponsors. Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on Sunday called the looming potential of default a manufactured crisis, pointing to previous debt ceiling increases under former President Trump. This is a manufactured crisis, Reed said on Fox News Sunday. For three times, President Trump came to the Congress and asked us to pass a unconditional debt ceiling increase. Even after he had increased the debts dramatically by his tax cuts, we did that, because we understood the risk of the economy, the risk of the American people, the risk of our national security standing, he added. There are less than two weeks left until the so-called x-date the date that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has marked as the earliest possible time that the U.S. could default if lawmakers do not raise the debt ceiling. Negotiations between the White House and Republicans broke down on Saturday as both sides accused the other of a lack of movement, heightening concerns about a potential default. This is completely avoidable, Reed said. All the Speaker has to do is what Democrats did Senator [Chuck] Schumer, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi pass a clean debt ceiling and then sit down and negotiate a budget and put everything on the table there. Republicans have insisted that a debt ceiling increase be accompanied by widespread spending cuts, while Biden and Democrats have pushed for a clean increase of the debt limit. This is reckless and thats exactly what theyre trying to do, Reed added. And again, the best point to reference is the fact that under President Trump, we understood the dangers of default, and we acted responsibly and reasonably. Reed was one of 11 Senate Democrats who urged President Biden earlier this week to prepare to exercise your authority under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to act unilaterally on the debt ceiling. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Sheriffs wife arrested after Tesla shes driving slams into home, California cops say A Tesla crashed into a Santa Rosa home, injuring a woman inside, California police reported. Natasha Whittinghill, 47, of Santa Rosa, faces a charge of driving under the influence causing injury in the crash at 12:51 a.m. Saturday, May 20, city police said in a news release. Sonoma County Sheriff Eddie Engram identified Whittinghill as his wife in a Facebook post later Saturday. As a husband, I am greatly concerned about my wifes well-being, Engram wrote. As a citizen and Sheriff, I am also concerned about the well-being of the person inside the home who suffered injuries. The gray Tesla left the road, hitting a tree and fence before slamming into the home, Santa Rosa police said. Flying glass injured a woman in her 50s inside the home, police said. She was taken to a hospital. Several people, including the homeowner, notified 911 of the crash, police said. After an investigation, officers arrested Whittinghill. Calling the matter personal and painful, Engram called his wifes arrest appropriate but said he would have no further comment to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Santa Rosa is a city of 177,000 people about 55 miles north of San Francisco. Apple engineer steals secrets on self-driving cars and flees to China, feds say 18-year-old shoots and kills man on a walk with his dog, California police say Severed hand found on sidewalk, California police say. Then man reports sword attack Small businesses could be required to accept cash under new bill Small businesses in North Carolina could be required to accept cash under a new bill. The bill, called the Cash Commitment Act, would ban extra charges to customers who pay with cash. Some representatives believe not accepting cash discriminates against people without bank accounts. ALSO READ: I really didnt want to go this far: Small business owner sues LaserShip If approved, businesses that violate the bill would face fines. The bill is now in a Senate committee. VIDEO: I really didnt want to go this far: Small business owner sues LaserShip *The Group of Seven (G7) ended its three-day gathering on Sunday in Hiroshima amid protests. *G7 statement and other documents hype up China threats, make a truce out of reach regarding Ukraine crisis. *Analysts said that the United States and some of its G7 partners are the major rule-breakers on the world stage. HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Group of Seven (G7) ended its three-day gathering on Sunday in Hiroshima as crowds of protesters took to the streets against the U.S.-led bloc's latest steps to undermine world peace. Analysts have said that absolute U.S. dominance only creates deeper cracks among the group and beyond. Unity and consensus were elusive during the G7 summit held in the western Japanese city. The summit covered many topics but unfortunately ended with a focus on interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and hindering their development. HYPING UP CHINA THREATS The G7 Hiroshima Leaders' Communique, which was rushed out on Saturday, spilled much ink on China, unwarrantedly depicting the country as a trouble-maker, only stopped short of directly naming it. Japanese scholar Kazuteru Saionji found it absurd to demand China playing by international rules while the United States and some of its G7 partners are the major rule-breakers on the world stage. "In my opinion, it is better to return the exact same words to the G7," he told Xinhua. "It is the United States and G7 nations that should take a responsible attitude and abide by international rules," said the visiting professor at Higashi Nippon International University. A demonstrator holds a placard at Hiroshima's Funairi Daiichi Park in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) The joint statement and other documents adopted at the summit also contained comments on the Taiwan Strait and accusations regarding the East China Sea, the South China Sea, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the G7's attempts to smear and attack China and brazenly interfere in China's internal affairs and has objected to the summit's host, Japan, and other parties concerned, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Saturday. "China's internal affairs should be solved by China itself. Intervention is a violation of international rules," said Saionji. Days before and during the Hiroshima summit, U.S. government officials continually mentioned so-called "economic coercion" and "de-risking," alleging that the G7 leaders would adopt a unified approach by releasing "a statement on China." "By dragging the G7 bloc to suppress China under the pretext of de-risking, the country is deliberately undermining free trade and the global economic division of labor system," said Saionji, who expressed the belief that the country is peddling imaginary threats in its own version of world order. According to the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, the United States is the true coercer in weaponizing economic and trade relations through unilateral sanctions, decoupling efforts, and disrupting industrial and supply chains. The spokesperson urged the G7 to refrain from becoming an accomplice. AGAINST CURRENT TREND Local observers said that with significantly weakening economic heft, the G7 cannot represent the world. Yet, they still cling to a Cold War mentality and fail to acknowledge current global trends toward peace and stability. A recent report from the International Monetary Fund showed that the contribution of BRICS countries to world economic growth has surpassed that of G7 nations, and the upward trend will continue in the foreseeable future. The BRICS countries will guarantee 32.1 percent of world economic growth this year, compared to G7's 29.9 percent, according to the organization's estimates. Atsushi Koketsu, emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University of Japan, said that with the international community moving toward pluralism, the G7 should take note. "I believe the major developing countries will not act according to the United States. They hope for world peace and stability," said Saionji commenting on Japan's invitation for the so-called "Global South" nations to the summit. People rally in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who holds the G7's rotating presidency, has been criticized for hosting the summit in Hiroshima, a city once devastated by U.S. atomic bombing, as a political stunt. In the eyes of Saionji, raising the Taiwan question is an unwise move by Japan. "The Taiwan question is one of China's internal affairs. U.S. intervention complicated the situation," said the scholar, adding that meddling in the Taiwan question will surely damage China-Japan relations. Saionji believes East Asian countries are against creating regional tensions and provoking confrontation. Therefore, the United States and Japan's attempt to play the Taiwan card is doomed to fail. LOOMING DISPUTES Rallies and demonstrations against the U.S.-manipulated G7 were held for days at multiple locations across the nation. Placards and banners, such as "U.S. out of Asia Pacific," "Crush the G7 Summit," "No War-themed Conference" and "Hands off on Ukraine," were seen at the demonstration on Sunday in downtown Hiroshima, where clashes between the police and protesters were reported. Protesters rally at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in a protest against the Group of Seven (G7) summit, in Hiroshima, Japan, May 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) During the summit, G7 nations, with the United States taking the lead, vowed to escalate sanctions against Russia and intensify diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military support for Ukraine in the leaders' communique. "The U.S.-centered bloc's non-stop military support to Ukraine will only make a truce out of reach. I strongly condemn this kind of act," said Koketsu. (Video reporters: Li Guangzheng, Zhang Yiyi, Ji Ze, Yang Yiran, Yu Fuqing, Yao Bing, Shen Danlin; Video editors: Wu Yao, Zhu Jianhui) WEST WENDOVER, Nev. In April, Mark Lee Dickson arrived in this 4,500-person city that hugs the Utah-Nevada border to pitch an ordinance banning abortion. Dickson is the director of the anti-abortion group Right to Life of East Texas and founder of another organization that has spent the last few years traveling the United States trying to convince local governments to pass abortion bans. Sixty-five cities and two counties across the United States have passed similar restrictions, he told members of the West Wendover City Council during a mid-April meeting. The majority are in Texas, but recent successes in other states have buoyed Dickson and his group. Were doing this in Virginia and Illinois and Montana and other places as well, he said. The quest to enact local bans has become particularly acute in small towns, like West Wendover and Hobbs, N.M., which are situated by borders between states that have restricted abortion and states where laws preserve access. They are crossroads where abortion advocates and providers have looked to establish clinics to serve people traveling from the large swaths of the U.S. where states have banned or severely restricted abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nearly 50-year-old nationwide abortion protections established by the courts decision in Roe v. Wade. Residents and leaders in West Wendover and many other towns and cities are grappling with the arrival of outside advocates, including Dickson, who now claim a stake in the governance of their small and otherwise quiet communities. Dicksons proposal to the West Wendover City Council came after council members voted against issuing a building permit to California-based Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in March. Officials from the Planned Parenthood affiliate told the local board the facility would offer primary care services in addition to abortion and other reproductive care. The vote followed hours of heated debate during public comment. Then, Mayor Jasie Holm vetoed the councils decision, leaving the request for the permit in limbo. Located in northeastern Nevada, West Wendover is more than 100 miles by car from Elko, the county seat, 120 miles west from Salt Lake City, and 170 miles south from Twin Falls, Idaho. The city has been a strategic location for casinos and a marijuana dispensary, which are legal in Nevada but restricted in Utah and Idaho. Similarly, its proximity to states that moved to restrict abortion access following the Dobbs decision overturning Roe has put a spotlight on the city. A statue of a cowboy named Dicksons anti-abortion proposal has drawn support from the towns more conservative residents. But brothers Fernando and Marcos Cerros have challenged the anti-abortion efforts. In addition to wanting to protect and expand access to abortion, they both saw the primary care clinic that Planned Parenthood Mar Monte was seeking to establish as a potential victory in their rural community, which is designated a medically underserved area by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Fernando Cerros, 22, said Planned Parenthood offered a solution to the areas health care shortage on a silver platter. And it was denied. I need to do what I can do to get it here, he said. The Cerros brothers have tried to organize a group to support abortion access and establish the Planned Parenthood clinic in West Wendover, but have found it difficult to sustain. They said they feel outnumbered by residents who support Dickson. Marcos Cerros, 18, said he attends Catholic mass every Sunday in West Wendover and that parishioners there are regularly exposed to inflammatory anti-abortion language. Abortion up to 24 weeks is protected in Nevada law and the state legislature recently approved a bill to enshrine the law in the state constitution. To become law, the measure will need to pass once more during Nevadas next legislative session, in 2025, and be approved by voters in 2026. Brothers Marcos and Fernando Cerros have challenged the anti-abortion efforts. (Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez / KFF Health News) Last year, following the Dobbs decision, then-Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, issued an executive order similar to ones in other states protecting patients who seek abortion care from facing prosecution by states where it is not legal. Across Nevadas eastern border, in Utah, abortion is legal up to 18 weeks while challenges to a trigger ban and a move to clamp down on abortion clinic licensure continue through the courts. Idahos laws against abortion are among the most restrictive in the country. Currently, the state allows abortion only in certain cases of rape and incest or to save the mothers life. In April, the state made headlines after lawmakers there passed an abortion trafficking law that criminalizes helping minors cross state borders to receive an abortion or obtain abortion pills without parental consent. Extreme variations in abortion policy from state to state are the new normal, and local challenges are what were in for, said Rachel Rebouche, dean of the Beasley School of Law at Temple University and co-author of a recent research paper examining the post-Dobbs legal reality. The theaters of conflict are multiplying, and this is the complex legal landscape that we live in. Dicksons strategy in creating what he calls sanctuary cities for the unborn involves invoking a 150-year-old federal law that restricts the mailing of abortion pills. But Dickson argues the law goes further, banning any paraphernalia, including anything that could be used to perform an abortion, such as certain medical devices and tools. Federal officials contend that although the abortion provision in the law has not been amended, previous court decisions have limited the reach of the Comstock Act. The Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion in December concluding that the law does not prohibit the mailing of abortion medication. Dickson argues that the Comstock Act should supersede any state law or state constitutional protection. Rebouche said shes unsure how it will shake out in the courts. Theres a number of jumps a court would have to take, the most significant of which would be that Comstock is still good law and it preempts abortion law, she said. Thats a controversial holding because Comstock has not been enforced or applied for decades. A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte declined to comment on whether the organization would continue to pursue the clinic in West Wendover, citing legal issues. Dicksons proposal now sits in the hands of the West Wendover City Council. He assured local leaders that, should they proceed with implementing the ordinance, his attorney will represent them at no cost. That attorney, Jonathan Mitchell, is a former solicitor general of Texas and is credited with helping shape the law that allows civil lawsuits against people and providers aiding and abetting pregnant women terminating a pregnancy. Mark Lee Dickson (Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez / KFF Health News) An anti-abortion ordinance was walked back in at least one Ohio city, and other local bodies have voted against such ordinances or chosen not to put them to a vote, according to Dicksons website. Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, said theres an irony in Dicksons multistate effort to stop people from crossing state lines for reproductive health care, including abortion. It would be laughable if it were not so tragic, Miller said. Its an incredibly cynical, politically motivated effort largely aimed at sowing confusion and stigmatizing abortion care. Miller also pointed to other municipalities in the U.S. urban centers like New York, Seattle, Philadelphia, and more that have approved local ordinances protecting and expanding access to abortion care. The West Wendover city manager, mayor, or council members would need to request that consideration of the proposal be added to a meeting agenda for it to move forward. Holm, the mayor, said she would not include the ordinance for consideration at any time. City Council member Gabriela Soriano, the only woman on the council, said in late April that she was unsure whether other council members would pursue the ordinance. Holm said she was unaware of any outreach to the city from Planned Parenthood Mar Monte about moving forward with the clinic. If the anti-abortion ordinance in West Wendover were instituted and prevented the opening of a clinic in the city, it would have far-reaching implications for residents. Currently, they face more than an hour drive in either direction to the nearest hospital. For some community members, the decision isnt so clear-cut. The Cerros brothers said their mother, who is Catholic and Hispanic, is against abortion but in support of the Planned Parenthood clinic opening in West Wendover. Years ago, she had a miscarriage after driving an hour and a half to Salt Lake City for emergency care. Theres a big divide between people who think youre killing babies versus people who think pregnancy is not black and white. Things come up, Fernando Cerros said. Sometimes you need emergency care. And a clinic like that would help. 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 at KFF the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Georgias best hole-in-the-wall restaurant is just a little more than an hours drive from Jacksonville. Love Food this week published a list of the best hole-in-the-wall restaurant in all 50 states. From historic spots that started out as literal holes in the wall to basic diners that always offer a warm welcome and wonderful plate of food, weve rounded up the best hole-in-the-wall restaurants across the US, Love Food wrote in its report. Southern Soul Barbecue on St. Simons Island, the Georgia entry on Love Foods list, is no stranger to recognition for its food. In October, it made Southern Livings The Souths Top 50 Barbecue Joints for 2022. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] In 2017, it was also featured in Southern Living among The Souths Best BBQ of 2017. Love Food talked about how Southern Souls building used to be a gas station in the 1950s. Now, the publication wrote, instead of gas, servers dispense tender beef, pork, turkey, and wild game to devoted customers and lucky passers-by every day. Southern Soul Barbecue is located at 2020 Demere Road on St. Simons Island. Its open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Tuesday. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. SpaceX launch: A private mission is set to lift off to the International Space Station SpaceX is set to launch four passengers including three paying customers toward a weeklong stay aboard the International Space Station. Their journey, put together by the Houston-based company Axiom, will be the second all-private mission to the orbiting outpost. The mission, called AX-2, will also make history as stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi is set to become the first woman from Saudi Arabia to travel to space. A live stream of the launch will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday, with liftoff expected at 5:37 p.m. ET from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Officials will be keeping a close eye on the weather. Brian Cizek, a weather official with the US Space Force, noted that Florida is entering the summer wet season when daily thunderstorms tend to roll through the area. Though, he added, Sundays weather is looking pretty decent. Really the only thing were going to have to watch for is the anvil coming off the top of those thunderstorms, Cizek said. If the mission does not lift off Sunday, SpaceX can make another launch attempt on Monday, though theres an 80% chance the weather wont be clear enough for launch. More extensive delays could follow after that because NASA needs to get a SpaceX cargo mission off the ground. This mission is the next in a lineup of flights that Axiom Space and NASA hope will continue to spur private sector participation in spaceflight particularly in low Earth orbit, where the space station lies. The AX-2 crew will be led by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, 63, now an Axiom employee. With this mission, Whitson will become the first woman to command a private spaceflight. Joining her will be three paying customers, including John Shoffner, an American who made his fortune in the international telecom business and founded the hardware company Dura-Line Corp. Saudi Arabia also paid to fly two citizens: Barnawi and Ali AlQarni, a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force. I am very honored and happy to be representing all the dreams and all the hopes of all the people in Saudi Arabia and all the women back home, Barnawi told reporters last week. The Crew Dragon capsule, which is fully autonomous, is expected to dock with the space station early Monday, with its passengers joining seven astronauts already aboard the orbiting laboratory. The AX-2 crew will spend about eight days on the space station. During that time, theyll work through a lineup of more than 20 investigations and science projects including stem cell and other biomedical research. The AX-2 crew Whitson will be returning to the space station for the first time since 2017. Her extensive experience on the station made her a US record holder for the most cumulative days logged in space. The Axiom Ax-2 Prime crew members, from left to right: John Shoffner, Rayyanah Barnawi, Peggy Whitson, and Ali Alqarni, will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Photo by Shutterstock - Shutterstock Whitson has flown on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as well as NASAs space shuttle, but she said preparing for this mission was obviously different because it involved training to operate SpaceXs Crew Dragon, which has only been flying astronauts since 2020. Thats been one of the biggest challenges for me is learning this particular spacecraft, she said. But Ive really enjoyed it. Barnawi and AlQarni will be only the second and third Saudis to travel to space. The first was Prince Sultan bin Salman, who spent about a week on a NASA space shuttle mission in 1985. Saudi Arabia has faced a barrage of criticism from the Biden administration and Congress over its human rights record, though the ties between the US and Saudi Arabia remain strong. AlQarni said he believes Arabs participation in spaceflight is a great opportunity that can inspire the region. It will hold a big message. We are holding hands, we are working together for the betterment of humanity and just trying to innovate, he said during a news briefing Tuesday. The future of private spaceflight It isnt the first time private citizens have paid their way to space. A company called Space Adventures brokered several such missions to the space station in the early 2000s, booking rides for wealthy thrill seekers on Russias Soyuz spacecraft. Axiom brought that business model to the United States, partnering with SpaceX to establish a framework for getting an array of customers to the space station. The companys first mission, AX-1, launched in April 2022 and marked the first time private citizens traveled to the space station from US soil. Axioms goal is to make these missions routine, offering more opportunities for people who are not professional astronauts to experience spaceflight. During a prelaunch news conference, Derek Hassmann, chief of mission integration and operations at Axiom Space, said his company expects to see more customers sponsored by governments similar to the AX-2 passengers from Saudi Arabia. Government astronauts are indeed a key piece of our business plan, he said. Early in the program it wasnt clear to us what the balance would be between private individuals and government astronauts since nothing like this had ever been done before. But its become clear to us that the government market is key, and were pursuing that actively. Axiom leadership envisions private spaceflight will continue even after the space station is retired, which NASA anticipates will happen in 2030. Axiom is one of several US companies gunning to create a new, privately owned space station. Its an effort supported by NASA, which aims to bolster private sector participation closer to home so the agency can focus on investing in deep-space exploration. The AX-2 crew will work alongside the professional astronauts on the space station, though they will operate under different schedules. Once on board, theyll rely on existing crew to show them the ropes, including the kitchen and bathroom. And certain areas will remain off-limits, such as the air lock that astronauts use to conduct spacewalks, according to Hassmann. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Spain has produced enough renewable energy to power its entire country for a 9-hour work day This photograph shows photovoltaic solar panels and windmills in the background around the Spanish Navarre town of Milagro. ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images For nine hours on Tuesday, Spain was able to power itself entirely with renewable energy. Wind, solar, and water energy powered mainland Spain from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. one day last week. The record shows the expanding use of renewable energy. Spain is among a handful of countries leading the world in the push toward renewable energy. And last week it reached a new milestone. Energy generated from wind, sun, and water managed to meet the needs of mainland Spain from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, El Pais reported. Renewable energy has grown in the past few years, according to Scientific American. It now accounts for about one-third of electricity generation worldwide. And that share is growing. The shift to green energy not only helps address the climate crisis by reducing emissions, it is also profitable and reduces costs. El Pais reported that in Spain, the addition of solar panels has had a dual effect: it adds energy into the gird system while reducing the demand for other sources of energy when the sun is out. While not every oil and gas company is making the shift towards more renewable energy, some are already seeing increased profits from the move. Insider reported that over the past two decades, rsted, a Danish company, had slowly been making the switch from black to green energy and has so far raked in billions in profit. The company, which had a net profit of $2 billion last year, produces 90% of its energy from renewable resources. In the United States, the push toward green energy continues to pick up momentum. President Joe Biden's administration recently approved a multibillion-dollar transmission line that will send wind energy from New Mexico into cities along the West Coast, the Associated Press reported. While these advances in green energy like in Spain do not eliminate the need for oil and gas, they are a way to reduce it and help ease carbon emissions. "What is relevant is that this is not something cyclical, but on the way to being structural, both because of the fall in demand and, above all, because of the increase in photovoltaic generation," Natalia Fabra, a professor of economics at the Carlos III University in Madrid, told El Pais. Read the original article on Business Insider Dotdash Meredith and Yahoo Inc. may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Ill be wearing it over tees, tanks, and dresses. Amazon / InStyle For many years, I exclusively considered button-down shirts as workwear. The only time I ever wore one was on my rare office days, and other than that, it was strictly T-shirts and sweatshirts. But, when I went on a trip to Morocco this past February, I needed light layers that still looked nice, and I fell in love with styling an oversized button-down over tees, tanks, and dresses. Now that its starting to feel like summer in New York City, Im bringing my vacation style to everyday life and stocking up on this $24 button-down shirt in as many colors as I can get my hands on. Made from a blend of cotton and polyester, the slouchy blouse comes in 25 colorways, including neutral tones and bright shades, and sizes XS through XL. It has functional buttons down the front, so you can wear it both open and closed, along with buttoned cuffs that you can roll up or leave down. Amazon Shop now: $24 (Originally $30); amazon.com Now that Ive figured out how to wear a button-down shirt for more than just work, I find myself throwing one on with almost every outfit. On the weekends, Ill wear it casually over a simple tee with denim cut-offs and white sneakers. And if Im heading to brunch with friends, Ill layer a button-down over a flowy midi dress for extra warmth and style. I do still wear button-downs to the office, too, tucked into high-waisted jeans or trousers. More than 3,000 Amazon shoppers are fans of the Big Dart oversized button-down, and hundreds of those shoppers left glowing reviews. One shopper called the material perfectly crisp, adding that you can machine wash and dry [it] without wrinkles. A second reviewer said the fit is perfect, and they confirmed the shirt is so flattering with jeans and looks great with a pencil skirt. Related:Summer Blouses Are Taking Over Amazons Best-Sellers List, and These Are the 10 Styles Shoppers Love Most Another shopper called the button-down as a staple piece for summer, since its such a great light shirt to throw on over dresses or tank tops. That same person said the white version isnt see through at all, and noted that they ended up ordering the oversized shirt in three more colors. I dont know about you, but Im confident Ill be wearing the Big Dart button-down shirt over tops, tees, and dresses all summer long. Check out more colors of the oversized blouse on sale at Amazon, below. Amazon Shop now: $24 (Originally $30); amazon.com Amazon Shop now: $24 (Originally $30); amazon.com For more InStyle news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on InStyle. No one knows what to say following the devastating murder of a 6-year-old on St. Helena Island but, for his community, Bishop Kenneth C. Doe of Bethesda Christian Fellowship Church tried. Lets keep the family in our prayers, Doe said Sunday during regular services. Sometimes, in tragedy, we ask where was God? I challenge you to also ask where God is in the good times. Jamie Bradley-Brun, 37, of St. Helena, was accused of murder and attempted murder after she allegedly drowned one child and tried to drown another at the familys Sam Doyle Drive home Friday. The tight-knit community on Sam Doyle Drive, many of whom are related to Bradley-Brun, attend the same church about a four-minute drive away. News of the crime shocked the community and the disbelief was plainly seen, according to previous reporting. Neighbors and other community members held their faith close to their chests as details about the drownings continued to be released by police. Were praying for the family, and the father, even the mother, said Will Smith, a neighbor and school board member for the Beaufort County School District. Thats the mentality of this community: People are praying. What happened? A 16-year-old, the oldest of Bradley-Bruns three girls, woke up around 1:20 a.m. Friday hearing her 8-year-old sisters cries for help from the bathroom. Police believe Bradley-Brun was trying to drown the child when her older sister stepped in, according to the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office. The two ran to a relatives home nearby. When police arrived about eight minutes later, they found 6-year-old Mackaya Bradley-Brun, who died around 2:15 a.m. at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. Police have not released a motive for the murder and, when asked at a press conference if mental health issues were a factor, Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner said he is not a mental health expert, according to previous reporting. The names of the two surviving girls have not been released. Attorney information for Bradley-Brun was not immediately available and, as of Sunday morning, she remained in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center. The Beaufort County Sheriffs Office is continuing to investigate the crime along with the Department of Child Fatalities, which investigates suspicious, unexpected or unexplained deaths of children as part of the SC Law Enforcement Divisions Special Victims Unit. The family has set up a GoFundMe. Is St James's Place really worth the fees? With 148bn in assets under management, more than 900,000 clients, and over 4,600 advisers, St Jamess Place is the biggest wealth manager in the UK. It is therefore often the first company that comes to mind when people search for an established firm to help them manage their money. There are a number of reasons why St Jamess Place appeals to potential investors. Unlike some wealth managers, which only accept clients with a minimum portfolio of 1m, St Jamess Place has a relatively low barrier to entry, and takes on clients with pots worth at least 50,000. Client retention rates are also very high at 96.5pc, signalling a strong vote of confidence in the firm. However, there is no shortage of controversy around the 32-year-old company. St Jamess Place has been embroiled in numerous scandals throughout the years in relation to how its advisers are remunerated, as well as its divisive exit fees. Here, we lay bare the firms charging structure and the long-term performance of its funds to help you determine whether the wealth manager is worth the fees. How much does SJP cost? St James's Place charges a fee of 4.5pc for initial advice and then a recurring 0.5pc fee for ongoing advice. On top of these advice fees, you will then pay separate initial and ongoing product fees for your investment, as well as any transaction charges. For Isas and unit trusts, the initial product charge is 0.5pc. The ongoing charge varies depending on the funds you invest in. St Jamess Place said the ongoing charge for a typical portfolio ranges between 1.6pc and 1.9pc, with initial and ongoing advice, product, fund manager and administration fees added in. For a 1m portfolio, 50,000 would be immediately lost to that initial charge (4.5pc plus 0.5pc). This means it can take years before your investment delivers returns high enough for you to recover your loss. The initial product charge is even higher for investment bonds and pensions, at 1.5pc. There is then a 1pc annual management charge, waived for each of the first six years after your investment. St James's Place also charges an early withdrawal charge of 1pc for bonds and pensions. There are no exit fees on its Isas and Unit Trusts. Such early withdrawal charges are virtually unheard of in the wealth management industry. Justin Modray of Candid Financial Advice, a financial adviser, said exit fees were outdated practices that most of the industry scrapped years ago. St Jamess Place said independent research has shown that the total charge its clients pay is below the market average. However, the research was produced by an external consultancy for use by St Jamess Place. The introduction of the FCA's Consumer Duty in July 2022 could change things for St James's Place. This regulation is meant to strengthen consumer protection and ensure products are offered at fair value. The firm has said that the Duty will require it to make changes to the way it operates to meet regulatory expectations. However, it is unclear whether it will change its charging structure; it has previously said that it would not scrap exit fees in the wake of the Consumer Duty. How do St Jamess Place funds perform? High charges drag on investment returns. Of the 29 funds available to UK clients with a track record going back over 10 years, only five have performed better than their Investment Association peer group, according to analysis carried out by the investment research firm Morningstar. They are the SJP Global Equity, Corporate Bond, North America, Property and Strategic Managed funds. All of the others have underperformed within this timeframe. The best performer SJP Global Equity Income has delivered excess returns of only 1pc. Meanwhile, the worst performer, Global Growth, was down 9pc. St Jamess Place said it has made changes to its investment funds over the past three years with the aim of improving long-term performance. This includes changing the [external] investment managers that run our funds, bringing down fees and embedding responsible investment principles across everything we do. However, a look at its Value Assessment Reports shows that not all funds have become cheaper (during the three year period between 2019-22 the average weighted fee for external fund managers reduced from 0.36pc to 0.3pc saving clients over 90m). In fact, a handful have become more expensive, like the Alternative Assets fund (this fund no longer exists and was merged into Global Absolute Return fund), which saw its Ongoing Charges Figures go up from 1.78pc to 1.96pc between 2020 and 2022. What are the other options? If you are mainly looking to invest, then it is probably not worth paying extra for a wealth manager. DIY investment platforms such as Interactive Investor and AJ Bell offer a wide range of funds at a fraction of the cost. The main advantage of getting a wealth manager like St James's Place is getting access to full financial planning. A financial planner can not only help you invest, but also plan for retirement and find the best strategies to avoid inheritance tax. St Jamess Place seems to be well-received by its clients. It has 4.9 stars on average on the financial adviser review website VouchedFor, from over 24,000 reviewers. A spokesman for St Jamess Place said: On average, clients invest with SJP for 14 years and our solutions are designed to build wealth over the long-term. Clients typically invest in a diversified portfolio, with performance being one of several factors considered in its construction. There are more than 5,000 financial advice firms in the UK, and it is important to weigh up your options before you choose one. Other wealth managers include Rathbones and RBC Brewin Dolphin. You can use findawealthmanager.com to find managers who have been in business for at least five years, and who manage at least 500m in assets. This may be a good option if you have a bigger portfolio and you want the security of going with a business that has stood the test of time. Alternatively, you could go with a local financial adviser. Most financial advisers and wealth managers will offer you an initial meeting free of charge, so it is worth setting up meetings with several in order to work out whether the adviser and their charges are right for you. Now read: The UK's largest wealth management companies, and how to pick one 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. A federal judge recently overturned a portion of the Affordable Care Act that makes preventive services, such as some cancer screenings, free to enrollees, a decision that could affect health insurance policyholders nationwide. The decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas could open the door for insurers or employers to reinstate copayments for some of those preventive services, although many may be reluctant or unable to do so, at least immediately. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor builds on a September judgment in which he also said the ACA requirement that employers cover preexposure prophylaxis treatment to prevent HIV violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. His ruling is the latest shot in the legal battle over the ACA. Previous cases threatened the very existence of the law and fundamental protections. This decision does not do that, said Larry Levitt, KFF executive vice president for health policy. But it strikes down a portion of the law, albeit a very popular one, that is used by a lot of people. It is almost certain to be appealed, possibly by both sides: the conservative groups that brought the case and had hoped the decision would be broader, and the Biden administration, which supports the ACA. The stakes are really high, because the ultimate decision could affect millions of Americans, said Andrew Twinamatsiko, associate director of the health policy and the law initiative at the ONeill Institute at Georgetown University. Americans should have peace of mind there will be no immediate disruption in care coverage, said Matt Eyles, president and CEO of AHIP, the health insurance industrys leading lobbying group. Now, the Department of Justice must decide whether to seek an emergency order putting the ruling on hold during the appeal process. Potentially impact free, preventive screenings The decision could affect the no-copay screenings and similar preventive services that most insured Americans have as part of their health plans. But consumers may see little impact initially. The word prevention appears a couple of hundred times in the ACA, said Timothy Jost, law professor emeritus at Washington and Lee University School of Law, who closely follows the ACA. Part of the idea of the ACA was we thought to try to prevent disease or at least identify it earlier when its more curable. Making such carefree to enrollees was a way to encourage screening for disease. But OConnors ruling said one of the ways those no-cost services are selected by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a nongovernmental advisory group is unconstitutional. In his September opinion, OConnor wrote that members of the task force, which is convened by a federal health agency, are actually officers of the United States and should therefore be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The judge said his decision specifically does not apply to no-copay contraceptives or vaccines, which are selected by other agencies, although the conservative groups that brought the case had sought their inclusion as well. Mammograms are among those preventive services that may be in a special category because they, too, are recommended by one of those other agencies, so experts at KFF say they will probably continue to be covered without patient cost sharing, even with this ruling. OConnor issued a summary judgment in the case in September. At the time, the decision applied only to the employers that brought the case. Impacts all employers and insurers OConnors recent ruling expands that to all employers and insurers nationwide. For now, consumers, especially those who buy their own coverage through the ACA marketplace, are likely to continue to get no-cost preventive care in many plans, experts said. Thats because most such plans run on the calendar year and enrollees have essentially signed contracts which will cover those services through the end of the year, said Jost. Still, depending on the outcome of the appeals, over time each insurer will likely weigh the pros and cons of reinstituting such patient cost sharing. They will start to make business decisions to either continue to cover without cost or to impose cost sharing, said Twinamatsiko at Georgetown. In job-based plans, through which most insured Americans get their coverage, the initial impact may also be muted. Would companies reinstitute co-payments? Eighty percent of human resources directors said they would not restore cost sharing for preventive care, according to a recent nonscientific survey of 25 human resources directors at companies with a collective total of about 600,000 workers. Doing so could upset employees, noted Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, which ran the survey. And fully covering enrollees preventive care, without requiring copayments, is relatively inexpensive. In a separate study, he found that even one of the more costly preventive care treatments the nearly $14,000-a-year PrEP, to prevent HIV adds only 0.4% to annual employer spending on health care. Even if an employer were to add a 20% copayment for the worker, it would reduce overall spending by less than one-tenth of 1%, according to the study. Outside of a few employers that might want to restrict no-cost coverage on religious grounds for treatments like PrEP, James Gelfand said, he doubted many companies would reinstitute copayments. Gelfand is president of the ERISA Industry Committee, which represents large, self-insured employers. Services endorsed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force were selected because they work and can prevent more acute conditions later, which are far more costly, said Gelfand. While most of the task forces recommendations are noncontroversial, a few have elicited an outcry from some employers, including the parties to the lawsuit, who argue they should not be forced to pay for services or treatments they disagree with, such as HIV-prevention drugs. OConnors ruling upheld the contention by plaintiff Braidwood Management, a Christian for-profit corporation owned by Steven Hotze, which objects to providing free PrEP to its 70 employees, saying it runs afoul of its religious beliefs to do so. The judge agreed, saying that forcing Braidwood to provide such free care in its self-insured plan violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The ruling eliminating preventive coverage without cost sharing for PrEP on religious grounds shows clear bias, said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. Some states have passed laws that will continue to require coverage of ACA-mandated preventive services even if the federal protections are eliminated. At least 15 states have laws requiring insurers that sell individual plans to cover the preventive services that the ACA requires, according to an analysis by researchers at Georgetowns Center on Health Insurance Reforms. Like the ACA, those state laws mandate coverage at no cost to consumers. In some of the states, workers in group insurance plans regulated by the state called fully insured plans also receive those protections, the analysis found. Those state laws do not apply to the 65% of covered workers nationwide whose employers pay their health care claims directly rather than buy insurance for that purpose. Overall, preventive services can lead to better outcomes, said Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Millions of people get screened for breast, colorectal, lung, or cervical cancer each year, she said, adding there is evidence showing any kind of copayment or deductible deters people from getting such testing. Lacasse said she hopes insurers will continue not to charge copays because such a sharp change midyear would be disruptive, and that enrollees should keep going in for preventive care. If you have a screening, you should move forward with that, she said. 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. Unique Nicole - Getty Images Star Trek: Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green has landed her next lead role in a dark comedy/drama. She's been cast alongside Westworld and Top Gun: Maverick star Ed Harris and The Morning Show's Natalie Morales in My Dead Friend Zoe, where she'll play a female veteran who has a mysterious friendship with her friend from the Army, Zoe (played by Morales), who just happens to be dead. Martin-Green's character is summoned to the lake house of her estranged Vietnam veteran grandfather (Harris), and tasked with providing him with help, which he is very reluctant to accept. Unique Nicole - Getty Images Related: Star Trek: Discovery season 5 release date and more My Dead Friend Zoe will be the directorial debut of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, himself a veteran, having served in the US Army as a paratrooper and convoy commander. The film is based on his experiences in the military, and is based on Merit X Zoe, a short film he co-wrote and directed last year. Hausmann-Stokes said (via Deadline): My fellow veterans and I often get reduced to archetypes and melodramatic tropes. Were much more dynamic, funny, complex than that. This will be a story about veterans we havent seen before; one that anyone, military/veteran or not, can relate to and enjoy. Taylor Hill - Getty Images Producers Ray Maiello and Mike Field of Radiant Studios who are producing alongside Paul Scanlan and Terri Lubaroff of Legion M and Richard Silverman said: We are honoured to support Kyles vision and bring attention to the mental health challenges facing our nations veterans. This is an inclusive story with an outstanding cast and were gratified that our renewable energy investments can help bring these important stories to light. My Dead Friend Zoe doesn't have a confirmed release date just yet. Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1-4 are now available on Paramount+. A fifth and final season has been confirmed, and is expected to premiere in early 2024. You Might Also Like This is a locator map for Iran with its capital, Tehran. (AP Photo) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday. The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate. State TV originally reported that six guards were killed but later said there were five fatalities. Two border guards were also wounded in the clash. It did not blame the attack on any group and no group immediately claimed responsibility. There were no additional details. The area is one of the least developed parts of Iran. The relationship between the predominantly Sunni residents of the region and Irans Shiite theocracy has long been fraught. On Thursday, the top leaders of Pakistan and Iran inaugurated the first border market as relations warm between the two countries. Located in the remote village of Pashin in Pakistans southwestern Baluchistan province, the marketplace is the first of six to be constructed along the Pakistan-Iran border under a 2012 agreement signed by the two sides. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also inaugurated an electricity transmission line, which will provide some of Pakistans remote regions with Iranian electricity. CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Sunday condemned Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Jerusalem. "Such provocative behavior is inconsistent with the wisdom and responsibility of officials," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement. Egypt also called on Israel to immediately stop the escalating practices that fuel the tensions in the occupied territories of Palestine. Earlier in the day, Ben-Gvir, escorted by heavy police presence and the internal security agency Shin Bet, visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, holy to both Muslims and Jews. The Israeli minister said he was glad to come up to the compound and thanked the police officers at the site. The visit came days after the Flag March, an annual march by tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists to mark the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem. Israel gained control of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and occupied it despite international criticism. Under a long-held status quo, the site is supervised by the Jordanian Waqf, allowing only Muslim worship. Sunak says China is the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called China the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan on Sunday. China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity, Sunak told reporters at the end of the summit, saying the country is increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad, according to Politico. While he stopped short of calling for a de-coupling of China and the West, Sunak added that hell support the de-risking of tension between China and other countries, Politico reported. Sunak stepped into his role as prime minister after winning the leadership of the Conservative Party in the process and replacing former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who resigned from her role after spending 45 days in office. We will work together as the G7 and other countries to make sure that we can de-risk ourselves and the vulnerability of supply chains that we have seen from China, take the steps necessary to protect ourselves against hostile investment and do so in a way that doesnt damage each other, Sunak added. Sunaks remarks come a day after G7 leaders have urged China to pressure Russia to end its war with neighboring Ukraine. February marked a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, which has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, tens of thousands of military casualties on both sides, and the displacement of over 8.2 million Ukrainian citizens. We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, the leaders wrote in their joint statement. We encourage China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, including through its direct dialogue with Ukraine. Relations between Russia and China have gotten closer recently, as tensions between the U.S. and China have heightened over the years. U.S. officials earlier this year raised concerns that China could give Russia lethal aid during the war. In response, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused the G7 member countries of interfering with Chinese internal affairs. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made serious demarches to the summits host Japan and other parties concerned, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Hi Quartz members! What time of day do you enjoy your Sunday Reads? And what else would you like to see in this newsletter? Let us know. Read more 5 things we especially liked this week on Quartz Goodbye to the god pod. Goodbye to the Anigre wood paneling and staircases from Africa. Goodbye to the gleaming French floors, with limestone lifted from the likes of Lyon. Goodbye to what one real estate developer tells the Dallas Business Journal is the best corporate campus that no ones ever seen. Gabriela Riccardi reports on ExxonMobils plan to scale down its executive digs, and the wider movement to redesign spaces for senior leadership teams. A rebalancing in Brazil. Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned oil company, reportedly earmarked billions of dollars for oil exploration near the origin of the Amazon river. But the countrys top environmental regulator has spoiled the plan. Diego Lasarte examines a pivotal ruling and what it says about the shifting priorities of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Wither Bollywood? The big stars of Indias major film industry are no longer the reliable box-office winners they used to be, and the countrys biggest movie-theater operators are noticing. Niharika Sharma connects the dots between the just-announced closures of 50 PVR-INOX screens and the dimming popularity of Bollywood. How to get kids to love math. Hannah Fry was 10 years old when she discovered the flywheel that helped her stick happily with a subject so many people loathe. In this Quartz video, the mathematician and popular UK television presenter advises parents and teachers on how to create positive spirals and avoid the traps that hold students back. Serbias definitive response to gun violence. After the US and Yemen, Serbia has one of the worlds highest ratios of firearms to residents. Yet lobbying in Belgrade after two mass shootings in Serbia this month quickly led to new gun regulations. Clarisa Diaz charts out the data, which practically asks its own question: Why is the US taking so long to figure out gun control? Reads for your ears An image of plasticware spread out on a table Its 2023, in case you hadnt heard, and among all the things it feels like we really should have figured out by now, two stand out to us: Single-use plastic: Its often the consumers duty to figure out what to do with a plastic product, but what could manufacturers doand what should they be told to doto make a real dent in the problem? Online voting: Casting a ballot from ones own device would theoretically increase participation, but its a lot more complicated than it sounds. Will we get there in our lifetimes? Listen to the latest two episodes of the Quartz Obsession podcastout now! Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | YouTube 5 great stories from elsewhere Photo: Cristobal Saavedra Escobar (Reuters) Money moves. The biggest transfer of wealth in US history is taking place. Over the next decade, an estimated $16 trillion will be passed down from baby boomers to Gen X and millennials. But as the New York Times explains, its not going to solve issues of economic inequality. Leafy nemesis. Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant species in the UK, is a menace. Quartzs Samanth Subramanian writes in the Guardian about knotweeds tenacious ability to grow (not unlike kudzu) and the fierce battle by UK homeowners and landscapers to eradicate it. From the lagoon. The monster from the cult classic Creature From the Black Lagoon is a pop culture icon. But not many know about Ricou Browning, the man behind the mask. The Baffler dives into the career of the Florida native who went on to work as a director and screenwriter, but never left his watery roots behind. Glow hunter. Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, are not actually flies. Nor are they bugs. The luminous insects are actually classified as beetles, and are among several living things on Earth able to glow, thanks to a compound called luciferin. Smithsonian goes on a fascinating glow-quest with ornithologist Christopher Heckscher. Conan, fooled. Before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle penned the Sherlock Holmes novels, he was duped by school kids into thinking that fairies exist. If youre not convinced that story is true, LitHub lays out the entire tricksome tale. Katie Spalding, author of Edisons Ghosts, explains that though Mr. Holmes was a rational genius, his creator Dr. Doyle was anything but. Surprising discoveries Each weekday in our Daily Brief newsletter, we share five surprising discoveries, taken from all over. In case you missed them, were showcasing our top five favorites from the week. Check out this weeks picks, which include peanut allergy solutions, mosquito repellants, and asteroid relief. What to watch for this week Closeup of an Amazon delivery person's vest with company logo These are some of the events our newsroom will be paying attention to in the week ahead. Monday: Rayyanah Barnawi becomes the first woman from Saudi Arabia to travel to the International Space Station. Earnings to watch include Ryaniar and Zoom. Tuesday: The winner of the International Booker Prize is announced, and the latest data on new home sales in the US gets released. Wednesday: Amazon shareholders meet for the e-commerce giants annual shareholder meeting. Thursday: Several US retailers report earnings, with Costco, Dollar Tree, Ulta, and Best Buy among them. Sunday: Voters head to the polls in Turkeys runoff election Thanks for reading! Heres to the week ahead, and dont hesitate to reach out with comments, questions, feedback, math tips, or movie monsters. Sunday Reads was brought to you by Susan Howson, Morgan Haefner, Heather Landy, and Julia Malleck. More from Quartz Sign up for Quartz's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Suspect arrested in connection with fatal March shooting in Atwater, police say A suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 26-year-old man in Atwater, according to authorities. The suspect, identified as 18-year-old Aryas Simpson of Atwater, was arrested Sunday by the Merced Police Department, according to an Atwater Police Department news release. According to authorities, an investigation into the March 11 shooting of Kamare Bailey led Atwater police to identify Simpson as a suspect in the homicide. Atwater officers responded to Green Sands Avenue and Comrose Street just after 7 a.m. that day for a report of a traffic collision. Officer found a single vehicle in the intersection and Bailey in the drivers seat with a gunshot wound to the head. The homicide was the first in the city this year. Authorities said Simpson was booked into Merced County Jail on a warrant for murder. Anyone with information is asked to contact the department at 209-357-6384 and ask for Detective-Sgt. Brum or Detective Vargas. The 23-year-old suspect in Februarys murder of Hershy Schwartz at a Wendys in North Miami Beach is from Jacksonville but hes spent most of the last three years and three months behind bars. Louis Redmon aka Busta spent Feb. 3, 2020 through last Sept. 27 with the Florida Dept. of Corrections after convictions on fleeing law enforcement with reckless disregard and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Since his arrest Thursday by Jacksonville police on warrants related to Schwartzs murder, Redmon has been in the Duval County jail, awaiting extradition to Miami-Dade County. Redmons charged with first degree murder, armed car jacking, armed robbery and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. READ MORE: Brother of man found slain in North Miami Beach wants killer found The New York native Schwartz was a week from getting married when he was found shot to death in the drivers seat of his car, parked at the Wendys on the morning of Feb. 19. Our detectives believe Redmon targeted Mr. Hershy Schwartz to steal his car, North Miami Beach Chief of Police Harvette Smith told assembled media Thursday, according to NBCMiami video. Finger print evidence and ballistic evidence is what linked Redmon to this crime. In addition, it was good, old-fashioned detective work. Taxi driver turns in passenger to occupation authorities in Melitopol for criticizing Russia's child abduction The taxi driver recorded the man's phone conversation on the recorder The outlet also released a video from inside the car, allegedly proving the Ukrainian passenger's "guilt". Read also: Panicking, but not yet fleeing Melitopol Mayor on Russian moves in occupied city Having overheard a telephone conversation in which a man was outraged by the kidnapping of children from local residents under the guise of "evacuation," the taxi driver decided to inform on his passenger. "(Russkie scum) have built a time machine: it's the year 1937 again in the occupied territories," the journalists from the Telegram channel noted in a comment under the published video, referring to the year when the Great Terror of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, in which 750,000 people were ordered killed, was at its height. Read also: Former Yanukovych-era minister now advising Moscows puppet governor in Zaporizhzhya Oblast The fate of the passenger who was unlucky enough to get into a collaborator's car is unknown. 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 Sen. Ted Budd Regarding Budd breaks silence with Senate speech on NC values, (May 18): Sen. Ted Budd does not speak for North Carolina values. Having attended a graduation at UNC-Chapel Hill earlier this month, I can assure Budd that our younger generation is not being indoctrinated with a sense of victimhood, as he says. They want to work to make this country better. Like many in his party, Budd promotes lies about who won the last presidential election, supports a government that takes away freedoms from women to make their own decisions about their health care, and protects weapons that are killing our kids and grandkids. Budds words are meaningless, until he earns respect like his predecessors did. Daryl Solomonson, Troutman Controlling women Its obvious the Republicans who supported North Carolinas abortion ban on May 16, did not read the Washington Post article that same day about abortion bans triggering serious health complications. Nor did they listen to the hundreds of doctors and health-care workers who told them their bill would only hurt women. They didnt listen to women. Instead, they were focused on making women jump through hoops to access care all in the name of life. Yet these same Republicans voted to loosen gun laws, even though guns are the leading cause of death of actual living breathing children. Maybe Im naive, but it seems to me Republicans are more interested in controlling womens decisions rather than being concerned about life. Laura Reich, Charlotte Defending Cotham Yes, Tricia Cotham changed parties. No, she should not be ashamed as The Observers May 18 editorial stated. I am an unaffiliated voter because Thank God we live in a country that allows the freedom to change political parties if so desired. Cotham has right to change parties and not to want abortions (except in certain circumstances) to be extended beyond 12 weeks. Where do we draw the line when it comes to a babys life? Cotham has served Charlotte very well for years, even if she did change parties. Barbara Bell Kerr, Charlotte A terrible example I supported Rep. Patricia Cotham because for years she supported the right to safe abortions. Then, she stabbed voters in the back by switching parties and reneging on campaign promises. She has endangered the lives of many N.C. women. Shes infamous now a terrible example for young women on how to lie in a campaign and then sell your soul to the devil. Mary Murchison, Charlotte NC school funding I am ashamed of the N.C. General Assembly. Public schools are not failing; collectively, we are failing our children. If you took all the children out of a failing school and sent them to a successful school, guess what? That school would be failing, too. Children are entering public schools with health deficits, food insecurity, housing instability, and from drug/crime-ridden environments, etc. Did your child start school with those burdens? Public schools are doing a tremendous job of helping students make up for some of these deficits, but its not enough. These students are still not proficient there is too much ground to make up. Schools should not be judged primarily on proficiency. Schools cannot make up for all of societys ills. Public schools are woefully underfunded and students need more services. Cheryl Milam, Concord Gun laws I am a mother of three in Gaston County. The number of families torn apart by gun violence just this year is mind boggling. I almost want to ignore it or grow numb to protect my sanity, but I refuse to remain silent. I urge my U.S. senators, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, to vote for universal background checks as a nationwide standard. I demand that they do not remain silent. Nobody is immune to the reign of terror guns have in our country. Not even my elected officials. Caroline Ross, Mount Holly The debt As the debt ceiling draws near our fearless leaders cannot seem to quit bickering. They are holding the nation hostage and risking the economy for partisan legislative demands. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hopes for spending limits that will undoubtedly throw some of Americas most vulnerable citizens deeper into poverty and food insecurity. Reducing the pay for members of Congress to $35,392 would save the taxpayer $74.2 million a year, a tiny fraction of the deficit but a promising gesture towards a shared goal. Our lawmakers ran the government on a deficit since 2002, gave themselves several pay raises, and had 10 election cycles to share the financial burden of spending cuts with constituents. The American people deserve lawmakers who are willing to walk alongside them to decrease the nations debt. But it feels as if Congress has one suggestion for the American public: Let them eat cake! Bek Hartman, Boone Tell us whom youre working for, Mayor Suarez. Clearly, its not the people of Miami | Opinion Its clear Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has several masters. But the only ones who seem to be getting short shrift are the very people who elected him to serve them in public office. Its an office, by the way, that he has enthusiastically leveraged for his own political and financial gain. Unfortunately, he has shown far less enthusiasm for keeping his constituents top of mind when it comes to keeping them informed about wealthier constituents and whether he is putting their interests above those of residents. As reported in the Herald, he has let the lure of freebies, the chance to peddle influence, well-paying side hustles and a potential turn on the national stage blind him to the imperative by law that he act ethically and with transparency. The Miami Herald has reported that among the gifts Suarez received were two VIP tickets for himself and his wife, Gloria, each worth a whopping $14,000 for entry to a luxury viewing suite at Formula 1. Suarez also attended as a guest swanky Miami Beach dining satellite events, where fine foods were served by celebrity chefs. The Suarezes mingled with Jeff Bezos, for instance, as they listened to Diana Ross perform. But he still has not reported who paid for his good time. His silence became more troubling when it looked to be a bad habit of his. A lawsuit recently filed against a local developer revealed that Suarez had a secret side gig. As reported in the Herald, Suarez, for eight months, quietly worked as a consultant for a developer building a Coconut Grove high-rise, yes, while serving as mayor of the city permitting this developer. The mayor earned $80,000. Again, we had no clue. Business as usual Were not naive. Politicians schmooze, they show up to be seen, they consort with big-wigs. But as always, this is about access. Access ordinary Miamians do not have to their elected officials. Access that sometimes is accompanied by rude and disrespectful treatment from the City Commission dais. Access that they cant buy and shouldnt have to. The mayors spokeswoman told the Miami Herald Suarez attended the Formula 1 events as part of his mayoral duties and as a local cheerleader. Regardless, state law is clear. Jose Arrojo, head of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust, told the Editorial Board. It mandates that elected officials declare and report any gifts over $100, be it cash or the face value of a ticket or event. Any other arrangement is considered suspect, and thats the way it should be. An official can be fined or reprimanded for failing to disclose the source of the gifts in quarterly forms. Elected officials also must abide by county and municipal laws. I doubt these public officials at this point are unaware of the gift rule, Arrojo said. Within 90 days of the election, newbie pols must attend a seminar. This week, the commission will host one in Miami Shores. Maybe Suarez should attend. These revelations hint at how Suarez attempts to compartmentalize his work as a private-equity executive, an attorney and Miami mayor. He cant get away with such thinking. Hes using his elected office for his own professional gains, both financial and political, as he, for some reason, thinks hes ready to seriously contemplate a run for the White House. According to state records, Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel hedge fund, who has financially supported Republican campaigns across the country, contributed $1 million to Suarezs political committee on March 7. According to the Herald, Griffins donation had not been previously reported. Suarez has long declined to disclose his private clients to the public while holding an office that pays a salary of $97,000 a year and an expense stipend of about $33,000, the Herald reported. Though Suarez spokeswoman acknowledged the mayors consulting deal with Rishi Kapoor, the CEO of Location Ventures, there were no details revealed about the nature of the mayors work. It appears the mayor wants us to believe that Suarez, the private citizen, worked for the developer, not Suarez, the two-term mayor of Miami. But Miamians arent that gullible. The mayors position comes with limited power he has no vote on the commission, though he can veto legislation and hire or fire the city manager. Still, that does not mean he doesnt have clout and hes using that to make bank. Mayors unmet goals When the Editorial Board reluctantly recommended Suarez in his 2021 reelection bid, we said that Miami needed a leader who can help map out a future that includes everyone in the city, not just the well-off. Were still waiting. At the time, the mayor mentioned his goals for his current term: revamping the Gusman Theater downtown, getting the years-long fight over the Coconut Grove Playhouses future resolved and turning the Miami Marine Stadium back into the gem it once was. Oh, well. Suarez seems bored with the city now that cryptocurrency, his biggest cheerleading push, has gone bust; he failed to stand up for an embattled police chief that he foisted on the city to great fanfare; and he looks at jumping into the Republican presidential primary. Miamis mayor also seems bored by those of us who put him in office, dismissing the publics trust, while using that office to enrich himself. The optics of his behavior are bad. The reality of his actions are much worse. A Texas man who was part of a self-proclaimed militia was sentenced on Friday to serve a nearly five-year term in prison for his role in the Jan 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol. Donald Hazard of Hurst, Texas was sentenced to prison for assaulting Capitol Police officers during the riot, according to the Justice Department. Hazard, who labeled himself the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Patriot Boys of North Texas, gathered protective gear and supplies in preparation to attend the Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6. Hazard brought a military-style helmet, knuckle gloves, goggles, body armor, and pepper spray, prosecutors said. At approximately 2:00 p.m. Hazard, who positioned himself under scaffolding that had been erected over the stairs on the northwest side of the building, encountered Capitol Police officers as he and other rioters tried to climb the steps. As one of the officers engaged with Hazard to force him back from the area, Hazard grabbed the officer and continued to fight with the officer as the two fell down the stairs, DOJ said. The encounter resulted in the officer, who was not identified by DOJ, being knocked unconscious, also sustaining injuries to his head, foot, and arm, some of which required surgery. At approximately 2:56 p.m., Hazard, who entered the building through the Parliamentarian door, began posting selfie-style videos inside and outside the building, making statements such as Were here at the nations capitol and were storming it. Were taking the Capitol. . . This is America baby, DOJ said. Authorities added that a newspaper photographer recorded a video of Hazard marching to the Capitol, where Hazard stated Make sure you get my face and everything on your news channel. I want the enemy to know exactly who is coming after them. Hazards sentencing comes as authorities have arrested more than 1,000 individuals for their involvement in the Capitol riot, which resulted in the deaths of five people. More than 320 people were charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement on that day as well. Hazard, 44, was arrested by authorities in December 2021, pleading guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers charge in February. Following the end of his prison sentence, Hazard will pay restitution of $2,000 and be placed on supervised release for three years, according to the Justice Department. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Drug gang-related murders are on the rise in the French port city Three men were shot dead with assault rifles on Sunday in the French port city of Marseille, which has seen a surge of drug-related gang murders, police said. The trio were part of a group of five men in their 20s who left a nightclub shortly after 5:00 am (0300 GMT) and were driving away when their car was attacked by unknown assailants with Kalashnikov rifles, they said. The two survivors were unharmed after the attack in a residential neighbourhood of Marseille, France's second-biggest city. One of them fled the scene, as did the shooters, police said. Police found the getaway car burning nearby, a modus operandi consistent with previous drug-related killings in Marseille where the perpetrators often torch their vehicles to destroy evidence. Early indications were that the men who were attacked lived in a council estate with a high incidence of drug trafficking and some of them were known to police, according to departmental police prefect Frederique Camilleri. The estate, called Felix-Pyat, was currently "coveted by a certain number of rival networks", Camilleri said. She also told reporters at the scene "the entire police force has been mobilised to find the perpetrators of these despicable crimes and to dismantle the networks of the traffickers behind this violence". Over the weekend, police had arrested five people for possession of firearms linked to the drugs trade, and seized three Kalashnikov assault rifles, a submachine gun and a handgun, she said. - 'War... going on too long' - The latest attack brings the number of drug-related homicides in Marseille since the start of the year to 21, according to an AFP count. The victims are typically young men low in the hierarchy of drug gangs and targeted by killers working for rival gangs. Camilleri and the city's chief prosecutor Dominique Laurens had already warned last month that competition between rival organisations for control of the city's most lucrative drug-dealing spots was turning into a "vendetta". That statement came after a night of violence early April when three people were killed by gunfire, including a 16-year old, and eight people injured. Laurens had spoken of a worsening "blood bath" in Marseille and predicted it would "continue in the coming months". Special police forces were deployed at key drug flashpoints in the city following that killing spree. Marseille's mayor Benoit Payan said this month that "this war has been going on for too long" and called on the French government to act "in a firm and strong way" to stop the violence. "The killers don't even bother to hide anymore," Payan said. so-iw/jh/bp From left: Socialist leader Nikos Androulakis, former left-wing premier Alexis Tsipras, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Greece votes on Sunday in a general election that promises to be the closest in more than a decade, with three main parties competing for seats in the 300-member parliament. Outgoing prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of conservative New Democracy, former premier Alexis Tsipras of leftist Syriza and ex-European lawmaker Nikos Androulakis of the Socialists are aiming to lead their parties to victory. During the last election in 2019, New Democracy unseated Syriza. While Mitsotakis is heading into the election with opinion polls giving him a clear lead, the surveys also suggest that he is unlikely to garner a lead wide enough for an outright majority in parliament. This means that at least two of the parties will need to cooperate to form a government to avoid a fresh election by July. Here is a look at the leaders of the main three parties. - The scion - Mitsotakis, 55, is seeking a second four-year term as prime minister on the strength of his record of economic growth, fiscal management and a robust foreign policy that includes a pair of key alliance deals with the US and France. "We have much more experience now... to boldly move forward in order to carry out the changes that will make Greece a modern European country," he said in a televised interview earlier in May. A Harvard graduate and former McKinsey consultant, Mitsotakis has warned that the country needs a "strong hand at the helm" amid the war in Ukraine and other challenges, and that failure to re-elect his conservative New Democracy party will undermine Greece's economic rebound after a near-decade debt crisis. A scion of a Greek political dynasty dating to the late 19th century, Mitsotakis has long struggled to shake off his elitist image. His father Constantine Mitsotakis was also prime minister three decades ago. His sister is former minister Dora Bakoyannis, the first woman mayor of Athens. The current Athens mayor, Costas Bakoyannis, is her son and Mitsotakis' nephew. Leader of the conservative New Democracy party since 2016, Mitsotakis is married to entrepreneur Mareva Grabowski, co-founder of the Zeus+Dione luxury clothing brand. They have three children. - The ex-radical - Tsipras, who was prime minister from 2015 to 2019 during some of Greece's rockiest crisis years, is asking voters for a second chance to show what his labour-friendly leftist Syriza party can truly do without the austerity shackles of EU-IMF supervision. "Enough is enough," the 48-year-old told a rally in Larissa, central Greece during the campaign hustings. "Enough with profiteering, inequality, nepotism, indifference, arrogance, injustice," he said, accusing Mitsotakis of showering billions of euros on political and family allies. A sovereign debt crisis that began in 2009 plunged Greece into financial turmoil, with the country requiring three bail-outs from the EU and the International Monetary Fund, in return for severe austerity measures that upended the economy and impoverished many. The first avowed atheist prime minister in deeply religious Greece and the youngest in over a century, Tsipras is broadly remembered as the anti-austerity radical who took on the country's creditors and nearly crashed Greece out of the euro, before reversing course and accepting a third bail-out. Greece ultimately exited its austerity constraints on Tsipras's watch in 2018, and he has since pulled his party towards the centre to broaden its appeal. The former Communist is also credited with untangling a 28-year diplomatic dispute with Greece's northern neighbour, which was renamed North Macedonia in a landmark deal opposed by nationalists in both countries, including Mitsotakis. Tsipras first appeared on the Greek political scene in the early 1990s at the tender age of 16 as an organiser of school sit-ins, sporting an Elvis-style ducktail. Ironically, the prime minister whose education policies he was challenging was Mitsotakis's father. Tsipras rapidly rose through the ranks of his party, then called Synaspismos, after being handpicked as a fresh face to run for Athens mayor in 2006. Two years later, he was elected party leader. He has two children with his high-school sweetheart Betty Baziana, an electronics engineer. - The novice - The head of Greek Socialist party Pasok-Kinal, 44-year-old Nikos Androulakis, had been seen by analysts as a potential coalition partner for Mitsotakis after his election as party chairman in 2021. But chances of cooperation took a nosedive after Androulakis last year discovered that he had been under state surveillance shortly before becoming party leader. A trained civil engineer and former party youth organiser, Androulakis was previously a two-term European Parliament lawmaker. He sat on the committee investigating the Volkswagen emissions scandal. He was elected chairman in December 2021 after the sudden death of previous party leader Fofi Gennimata. The novice leader raised eyebrows in March after declaring that he would only lend support to a coalition government if neither Mitsotakis nor Tsipras became prime minister. Because he was not an elected member of Greece's parliament, Androulakis was the first party leader who could not participate in debates in the chamber. The Socialist party was instead represented by another senior cadre. In past weeks, Androulakis has accused Tsipras of copying the slogans of the Socialist party's founder Andreas Papandreou. Three-time premier Papandreou famously stormed to power in 1981 under the campaign motto of "Change". Androulakis's slogan for May 21 is "make change possible". Like Mitsotakis, Androulakis hails from the island of Crete and is a single father. jph/hmn/cdw KABUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A military helicopter of the Afghan Air Force crashed in Afghanistan's northern Samangan province on Sunday, leaving two pilots dead, Afghan Defense Ministry has confirmed. "An MD-530 model chopper of the Air Force was on patrol mission when it struck a power transmission line in Khalm district of Samangan province at 09:00 a.m. local time today and crashed and resultantly two pilots were martyred," the Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on its Twitter account. In addition to launching an investigation into the accident, the Defense Ministry offered condolences to the grieved families. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to put his full endorsement behind Sen. Tim Scotts (R-S.C.) bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, a source familiar confirmed to The Hill. In a show of trying to move the party away from former President Trump, Thune will attend the South Carolina senators formal campaign launch on Monday. As the No. 2 Senate Republican lawmaker, Thune is set to become the highest ranking congressional GOP leader to back Scott. Thunes endorsement was first reported by Politico. Scott officially declared his candidacy on Friday, filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. Thune has been known to be a backer of Scotts presidential aspirations, encouraging Scott to jump into the 2024 race earlier this year. I think hed be a great candidate. Im excited about it. Ive been encouraging him, Thune told The Hill back in April. I think hes getting a lot of encouragement from his colleagues. Hes really well thought of and respected and I think hed be a really interesting candidate for president. [I] told him to let me know when he wants to come to Northwest Iowa. Its right next to South Dakota and I tell him Ill come out for him or against him whichever helps him the most, he added. Fellow South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds (R) said on Wednesday that he would back Scotts bid for president, becoming the first Republican senator to endorse a candidate other than former President Trump. Scott is facing an already crowded field for the Republican nomination, including Trump, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been the only potential candidate so far to make headway on Trump in the polls, is also expected to announce his bid next week. Scott is so far the only senator vying for a bid for the White House in 2024. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Sen. John Thune, the Senates No. 2 Republican, is endorsing the presidential campaign of Sen. Tim Scott, according to a person familiar with his plans. The South Dakota senator will appear at Scotts presidential launch on Monday in South Carolina, the person said. Scott will announce his presidential run on Monday in North Charleston and has already launched an ad blitz. In backing Scott, the Senate minority whip becomes the highest-ranking congressional Republican to back the South Carolina senator. And he joins his South Dakota colleague Sen. Mike Rounds in backing Scott, who is popular among Senate Republicans. Some members of House leadership have already indicated they support former President Donald Trumps campaign. But Thune is making good on his hopes of turning the GOP away from Trump and presenting a more forward-looking vision for the party. Thune recoiled from Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election, famously declaring that his election challenge would go down on the Senate floor like a shot dog. That drew a political threat from Trump, but Thune easily won reelection last year. Since then, Thune made clear he did not think Trumps style was suitable for the party, and said in November that its clear that running on relitigating the 2020 election is not a winning strategy. He has also praised Scotts strengths as a candidate, concluding last year that Scott has obviously helped a lot of people around the country in the last year, raised a lot of money and built a lot of relationships that can be very useful if he does run. Scott could pick up more Senate endorsements in the coming days because of his throwback style of conservatism and optimistic rhetoric, particularly for Republicans looking for a non-Trump candidate to get behind. Maurice Washington, Charleston Countys first Black Republican chairman, sits in Hampton Park near his home in Charleston, S.C., on May 19, 2023. (Travis Dove/The New York Times) Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., addressed the Charleston County Republican Party at a dinner in February, offering a stirring message of unity and American redemption that has become the center of his stump speech. The next day, he called the chair of the county party to ask for his support. Scott told the chair that he was considering a presidential run. The chair, who had planned to endorse former President Donald Trump, told the senator he would switch allegiances and back him instead. The exchange was, in some ways, traditional party politicking as Scott works to build support in his home county and in his home state. But it also underscored a subtle change shaping GOP politics both men are Black Republicans. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Im pretty locked in helping Sen. Scott in every way that I possibly can, said the former county party leader, Maurice Washington, who stepped down from his role as chair in April. It was Washington, Charleston Countys first Black Republican chair and a longtime ally of Scotts, who first encouraged him to run for a county council seat nearly 30 years ago. Scott, who plans to formally announce his presidential campaign on Monday, will become one of a handful of Black conservatives to run for president in recent years. Herman Cain made a bid for the White House in 2011 and Ben Carson did so in 2016, but neither garnered widespread support. Scott will be the second Black conservative to enter the 2024 race: Larry Elder, a talk radio host who ran unsuccessfully for governor in Californias 2021 recall election, announced his long-shot campaign last month. As a U.S. senator and a former member of the House of Representatives with roughly $22 million in campaign funds, Scott will begin as more of a contender than most of his predecessors, and he will be one of the best-funded candidates in the 2024 presidential primary. His support is currently in the low single digits, according to public polling. But his candidacy could raise not only his profile, but those of Black conservatives across the country. Black Republicans are a small group of voters and politicians who say they often feel caught in the middle ignored and subtly discriminated against by some Republicans, ridiculed and ostracized by many Democrats. Those elected to office have expressed frustration that they are viewed not simply as conservatives but as Black conservatives, and they often decry what they describe as the Democratic obsession with identity politics. I think the commonality of virtually all Black conservatives is that we dont think were victims, said Elder, who has emphasized his roots in both California and the segregated South. We dont believe were oppressed. We dont believe that were owed anything. He and Scott share a belief in hard work and education and self-improvement, Elder added. So it would not surprise me that he and I are saying the same things, if not in different ways. Other Black Republicans have won state races and primaries since the 2022 midterms. On Tuesday, Daniel Cameron defeated a well-funded opponent in Kentuckys Republican primary for governor. Cameron, the first Black man to be elected attorney general in Kentucky, is the Trump-endorsed protege of Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. Last year, a record number of Black Republican candidates ran for state offices. With Scott in the Senate and four Republicans in the House, there are now five Black Republicans in Congress the most in more than a century. Still, the number of Black Republicans who won seats last year is a fraction of the total number who ran for state and local office under the GOP more than 80. And the Republican Partys inroads with Black candidates have yet to overcome enduring feelings of distrust among Black voters toward the party. The ascension of Black Republicans such as Scott and Cameron comes against the backdrop of a Republican Party that has largely stood by as some of its members have employed overtly racist rhetoric and behavior. Shermichael Singleton, a Black Republican strategist and a former senior adviser to Carson, said that he spent a lot of time in 2016 determining how Carsons hyper-conservative campaign message could remain in step with the party line without alienating critical voting groups. The challenge was twofold: overcoming Black voters negative perceptions about Republicans while building a winning coalition that could include some of them. Its just more unique and more challenging if youre a Black person because of our unique experiences politically and the distrust that most of us have for both parties, but the overwhelming distrust that we have is for Republicans, Singleton said. Because they are perceived as being anti-progressive on race. Much of the partys base and its presidential contenders have become focused on opposing all things woke, using the term as a catchall pejorative for the broader push for equity and social justice. In the partys embrace of being anti-woke, several Republican-led state legislatures have aimed to ban books written by Black authors and limit conversations about slavery, the civil rights movement and systemic racism in the classroom and elsewhere. For many in the Republican Party, its members of color are proof of its inclusivity. The success of a candidate like Scott the first Black Republican to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction helps in part to rebut claims that the GOP is inherently racist or, more broadly, that systemic racism remains an issue in America, Republicans say. In speeches, Scott has criticized the victim mentality he believes exists in American culture, and has blamed the left for using racial issues as a means of further dividing the electorate. Elder said racism has never been a less important factor in American life than today. What Black Republicans have to do is they either have to lean all in and just be an unapologetic, uncritical supporter for where the Republican Party is now, or they have to find a way to walk that tightrope of not alienating the party, but also not alienating their community, said Leah Wright Rigueur, an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Somebody like Scott has to find a space to navigate those worlds. J.C. Watts, who was the first Black Republican to represent Oklahoma in Congress, said he believed Scott could be a great asset to the partys presidential primary, based on his personal experiences. Whether or not the party listens, he added, thats something else. He will have some that will try to force him to be the Black Republican, Watts continued. While I dont think you should run from being Black, or run from being conservative, some will try to force him to play that role. Nathan Brand, Scotts spokesperson, pointed to the senators remarks at the dinner in Charleston in February, in which he acknowledged the devastation brought upon African Americans before extolling America as defined by our redemption themes that have formed the base of his campaign message. The campaign declined to comment further. Like many Black Republicans, Scott has been reluctant to discuss race as it relates to his party, preferring to focus on policy matters. In recent years, however, he has been called on to weigh in further. In 2020, he was the lead Republican in negotiations on failed police reform legislation. The senator was also a leading conservative voice against Trumps comments about a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when the president said there were people to blame on both sides. Scotts criticisms later spurred Trump to invite him to the White House. After a series of police killings in the summer of 2016, Scott gave a detailed speech on the Senate floor about instances when he was racially profiled by law enforcement, including by U.S. Capitol Police. These were moments, he said, when he felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted. Now, as he becomes a presidential candidate and the nations highest-ranking Black Republican, Scott will likely have to answer questions about how he and the rest of his party navigate a tenuous relationship with Black voters. It could be a little bit of a problem to me down the road, said Cornelius Huff, the Republican mayor of Inman, South Carolina, who is Black. You have to have somebody in the family that calls it what it is and straightens those things out. At a recent town hall in New Hampshire, Scott told a mostly white audience of supporters that he saw an opportunity to increase the partys gains with voters of color, particularly men. Despite winning reelection by more than 25 points in 2022, Scott lost to or narrowly defeated his Democratic challenger in nearly all of South Carolinas predominantly Black counties. Policy conversations about school choice and economic empowerment, he said, could create an opening with men of color, a group that polling shows has been more open to supporting the Republican Party in recent election cycles. When we go where were not invited, we have conversations with people who may not vote for us, Scott said at the event. We earn their respect. If we earn their respect long enough, we earn their vote. What is disrespectful is to show up 90 days before an election and say, We want your vote. The senator appeared to be speaking to a common grievance among Black voters that Democrats often count on and court their votes before major elections, and then fail to deliver on their policy promises. Yet, even as some Black voters bemoan what they see as Democrats empty promises on the issues they care most about, they remain the partys most loyal constituency. More than 90% of Black voters voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. Washington, 62, the former Charleston County Republican chair, helped found South Carolina State Universitys Republican Club while in school there nearly four decades ago. Although he has run for office as a Democrat before, Washington says his values, and those of many in Black communities, are more conservative and thus more aligned with Republican values. The weeks after Scott starts his campaign will amount to a waiting game, he added. Lets see what happens, Washington said. Well know sooner rather than later whether or not that message of unity, of working hard towards rebuilding trust in our nation in America and its citizenry and in its race relations is going to be one that is embraced or rejected. c.2023 The New York Times Company A top Ukrainian commander fighting around Bakhmut says military experts who portray Russian soldiers as only 'stupid and miserable' are wrong Ukrainian artillery teams fire toward Russian positions in Bakhmut. Madeleine Kelly/Getty Images A Ukrainian commander has contradicted suggestions of the poor state of Russian troops. Andriy Biletsky, of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, said Russian soldiers were not "stupid." The comments come as President Zelenskyy said that Bakhmut was completely destroyed. The commander of a Ukrainian brigade fighting on the frontlines in Bakhmut has dismissed the notion that Russian soldiers are ill-equipped and unhappy. In a video posted on Telegram, Andriy Biletsky, a commander with Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, said recent victories had not come at "an easy price." The enemy is not as stupid and miserable as some experts show him to be," said Biletsky. He added that "The enemy is stubborn and cruel. But we are moving forward. We gnaw out every meter of Ukrainian land. Slava Ukraini!" Biletsky's comments contradict a lot of previous analysis on Russia's military, which has tended to suggest that troops are poorly equipped, lack training, and suffer from low morale. Albina Fella (@albafella1) May 18, 2023 The Telegram video comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy conceded that Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been waging a particularly brutal battle, had been completely destroyed. "They've destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's tragedy," Zelenskyy said during a Sunday meeting with President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he added. Zelenskyy's office later made it clear that he had not meant that the city had fallen to Russian troops, the BBC reported. Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade in action Helmet camera footage of Ukrainian fighters on the frontlines. @11Knuk123 Twitter screenshot Meanwhile, Ukraine said it had made advances on the flanks around Bakhmut, where Biletsky's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has seen action. Recent helmet-cam footage from the brigade represents the reality of the fierce fighting, showing a smoky ruin of Russian trenches littered with corpses after the unit mounted a series of surprise counterattacks. Insider's Isobel Van Hagen reports the video depicts Ukrainian soldiers throwing grenades, firing their weapons, and advancing toward Russian positions. In his video, Biletsky described battles earlier this week against Russia's 72nd Brigade and the so-called "Storm Z. " He called it "an analogue" of the Wagner Group units made up of released convicts, operated by the Russian Ministry of Defense. He described hard-won victories that left "more than 50" Russians dead and the capture of "a lot of trophies: equipment, weapons, and prisoners." The British Ministry of Defence announced additional Russian troops had likely been deployed to Bakhmut to fight against Kyiv's advances. The intelligence briefing stated that Russia's leadership will "likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim," which will "allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict." Read the original article on Business Insider The St. Johns County Sheriffs Office is mourning the death of Sergeant Michael Kunovich following an altercation with a suspect. Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, 18, is charged with felony murder in connection to the sergeants death and there are questions if he was in the country legally. Authorities are looking into the suspects background as Homeland Security is involved in the investigation. Its just a tragedy, Action News Jax Law and Safety expert Dale Carson said. The St. Johns County Sheriffs Office said the two fought on the ground for about 6 minutes and 19 seconds outside a closed business on State Road 16. At one point, the suspect tried to take Kunovichs taser as he violently resisted. The Sheriffs Office said after he was handcuffed, Mendez managed to arm himself with a pocketknife, which was forcefully removed by deputies. Kunovich collapsed shortly after and relentless lifesaving measures were initiated by St. Johns County Fire Rescue and Flagler Health+ personnel, SJSO said. He was ultimately pronounced dead shortly after being taken to Flagler Hospital. RELATED: St. Johns County sergeant dies after struggle with suspect, who is now charged with felony murder St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick released the following statement: This has been a difficult time for our agency with the loss of one of our own. I want to thank St. Johns Fire Rescue, Flagler Health+, and our agency personnel for their lifesaving efforts on Sergeant Kunovich. I ask that you please respect the family and members of the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office as we mourn the loss of Sergeant Kunovich. Carson says there are no routine arrests. When you investigate things like this in the dark and encounter someone you dont know, theres always a tremendous risk they may take exception to your interrogation or interview of them and their purpose, Carson said. READ: Suspect wanted in South Florida murder investigation shot and killed by JSO officers in Clay County Carson explained why Mendezs felony murder charge was added and said it can carry a life sentence. In a circumstance where, because of criminal behavior by an individual, someone as a consequence of that expires, they can and in this case were, charged with felony murder, Carson said. At the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, the flag is at half-staff and a memorial has been put up to honor Kunovich. He was a father and 25-year veteran with the Sheriffs Office, promoted from detective to sergeant in 2019, and all across Northeast Florida, theres been a show of support. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters shared the Jacksonville Sheriffs Offices condolences in a statement: On behalf of the men and women of the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office, I want to extend our deepest condolences to Sergeant Kunovichs family and friends and our brothers and sisters of the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office. Sergeant Kunovichs line of duty death is a tragedy that we all feel and sends ripple effects in our Northeast Florida law enforcement community. While our prayers and thoughts go out to Sergeant Kunovichs loved ones at this difficult time, JSO also vows to provide any needed resources and support to Sheriff Hardwick and his agency. At time of great sadness, we honor Sergeant Kunovichs life of public service and his commitment to serve his community until his end of watch. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook offered her condolences along with the agencys, saying: Please keep the family of this fallen sergeant in your prayers. On behalf of the men and women of the Clay County Sheriffs Office, we offer our deepest condolences. Action News Jax was told the Sergeant was a great deputy, friend, and father. His funeral is scheduled for May 26 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. The reasons for the event are not specified As a result of the accident, train traffic was canceled, in particular, on the Vladivostok-Moscow route. Russian emergency services have not specified the cause of the accident. Read also: Blast in Russias Bryansk Oblast destroys locomotive, causes massive fuel leak "Seven empty railcars and one loaded with soybeans overturned," Russia's Investigative Directorate for Transport said. This is not the first such incident in Russia in the last few weeks. Similar incidents have been reported both in Russia and in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea. Read also: Second railway attack in 2 days in Russias Bryansk Oblast derails 20 cars In some cases, the Russian authorities blamed the incidents on "Ukrainian saboteurs." 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 transgender high school student in Gulfport, Mississippi did not join her classmates at her graduation ceremony on Saturday after a federal judge allowed her school to force her to wear what the boys are wearing to the event. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi said in a statement that the courts decision to uphold the school districts explicit discrimination of our client is deeply disappointing and concerning. Our client should be focused on celebrating this life milestone alongside her friends and loved ones, the organisation added. Instead, this ruling casts shame and humiliation on a day that should be focused on joy and pride. The ACLU filed an emergency request for a temporary restraining order against Harrison County school officials and Harrison Central High School on behalf of the parents a 17-year-old student identified in court documents as LB, who argued that she was prohibited from wearing a white dress and heels she purchased for the ceremony. LBs parents, Samantha Brown and Henry Brown, accused the school district of discrimination on the basis of sex and gender and violating the teens First Amendment rights, according to the complaint. On 9 May, Harrison Central principal Kelly Fuller told LB that she would have to wear what the boys are wearing if she wanted to join the ceremony, according to the complaint filed in US District Court on 18 May. LB has been openly transgender since she began attending the school in her freshman year four years ago, she said. She wore dresses to classes and extracurricular events throughout high school, including prom, without issue or repercussion, LB stated in her filing. School superintendent Mitchell King told LBs mother that she would be required to wear pants, socks, and shoes, like a boy, if she wanted to attend the ceremony, according to court filings. Mr King also testified in court documents that the district relies on birth certificates to record whether students are boys or girls. An attorney for the school district responded in a filing stating that participating in a voluntary graduation ceremony when you are no longer a student and wearing a cap and gown and complying with the dress code you agreed to abide by does not infringe on protected rights or justify extraordinary injunctive relief. LB ultimately skipped the ceremony on 20 May, hours after US District District Judge Taylor B McNeel denied her motion for a temporary restraining order to block the schools enforcement of the dress code. For LB, high school graduation signified the beginning of a new chapter in her life, and a celebration of what she achieved in the past four years, ACLU staff attorney Linda Morris said in a statement after the ruling. LB chose a dress that made her feel beautiful and confident. Thats how she wanted to feel when she took her diploma in hand. The Independent has requested comment from Wynn Clark, the attorney for Harrison county schools. Its deeply offensive that the school would choose to take a celebration of our daughter and her accomplishments and attempt to ruin it with such discriminatory action, LBs mother Samantha said in a statement accompanying the filing. Mississippi is among several states that have filed a wave of legislation aimed at LGBT+ people, particularly trans youth, in recent years. The state does not have a law explicitly prohibiting discrimination against LGBT+ people or bullying LGBT+ students. Republican Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill into law earlier this year that prohibits trans youth from receiving affirming healthcare, against guidance from most major medical organisations supporting age-appropriate, medically necessary and potentially life-saving care. More than a dozen other states have enacted similar laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for young trans people. Court injunctions have blocked bans from going into effect in three states. More than half of all trans youth in the US between the ages of 13 and 17 are at risk of losing access to such care in their home state, according to the Human Rights Campaign. A trans teen in Mississippi missed her graduation after school officials demanded she dress like a boy for the ceremony DBenitostock/Getty Images A Mississippi high school tried to force a trans girl to wear boy's clothes for graduation. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Harrison County School District on the student's behalf. The trans girl skipped her graduation after a district official told her parents she had to dress "like a boy." A trans girl in Mississippi skipped her high school graduation because school administrators tried to make her dress like a boy to attend the ceremony, her attorney said on Saturday. U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel in Gulfport, Mississippi said on Friday he would not block the school's decision to force the girl to wear boys' clothing. McNeel wrote in his ruling that taking part in a graduation is voluntary, and therefore not a constitutionally protected right of any student. The girl was set to graduate from Harrison Central High School in Gulfport on Saturday. The ACLU sued the Harrison County School District on Thursday on behalf of the 17-year-old and her parents after Harrison Central principal Kelly Fuller and school district superintendent Mitchell King told the student she must follow the boys' clothing rules for graduation. Graduating boys in the school district are expected to wear white shirts and black pants. Graduating girls are expected to wear white dresses. According to the lawsuit, King told the girl's mother that the student could only participate in graduation unless she wore "pants, socks, and shoes, like a boy." Linda Morris, staff attorney at the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, told The Associated Press that McNeel's ruling was "as disappointing as it is absurd." "Our client is being shamed and humiliated for explicitly discriminatory reasons, and her family is being denied a once-in-a-lifetime milestone in their daughter's life," Morris said. "No one should be forced to miss their graduation because of their gender." According to the lawsuit, the student had selected a white dress to wear to graduation and had worn dresses to school previously in classes and extracurricular events throughout the school year, including to prom last year. Harrison Central High School and the Harrison County School District did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Sunday. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Read the original article on Business Insider The following is the transcript of an interview with former Defense Secretary Robert Gates that aired on "Face the Nation" on May 21, 2023. MARGARET BRENNAN: It's good to be back here with you. FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: Thank you. MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, President Biden is with the leaders of some of the largest democratic economies in the world, the G7 in Asia. But as the New York Times put it right now, the major potential threat to global economic stability is the United States. How damaging do you think this domestic dysfunction is with the debt ceiling- ceiling standoff? FORMER SEC. GATES: I think it's a real problem. It- it feeds the narrative from China in particular, that our system doesn't work, that it's broken, it's paralyzed, it can't get things done, that- that their model is more stable, and- and actually more effective than ours. So- so, sort of having these episodes of great crisis, and then some solution at the last second, really feeds the notion that- that the U.S. political system isn't working at all. MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think it is working? FORMER SEC. GATES: Not very well. You know, I mean, the truth is, in the last year or so some fairly, fairly major legislation got past some of it with bipartisan support. And so, there, there is the possibility of some things being done. But on something like the debt ceiling, and, and so on, the inability to get some of these big things done, I think is a real problem. MARGARET BRENNAN: What do you think the biggest threat to United States is right now? FORMER SEC. GATES: I think it is the polarization in the country. And- and, you know, we've always had polarization in America. The, if you go back to the Jefferson, Adams presidential race in 1800, the things that were said in that election would fit right into a current political environment. But what's been different, more recently, is not just a measure of paralysis, as indicated by the debt ceiling, but a level of meanness and a lack of civility among our politicians, or the- the sense that somebody who disagrees with you is not just somebody you disagree with, but is an enemy, is a bad person. This lack of civility is- is, I think, something new and- and really is pretty pervasive in the Congress. And it sets a pretty bad example for the rest of the country. MARGARET BRENNAN: I mean, I think a lot of people listening would agree with you on that, but the solution doesn't seem clear. How do you change that? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, I think it starts with- with leaders, and- and you don't have to demonize people to disagree with them. You can say, you know, my opponent has a different point of view. I totally disagree. I think that that would be a terrible mistake, but I also believe that he or she also is trying to do what he thinks, he or she thinks what is best for America. It's pretty simple actually. It's just- it's just treating each other with more civility and- and the- and the reality that as Americans, we're all in this together. And it doesn't matter whether you're from a red state or a blue state. Whatever happens to the country happens to everybody. MARGARET BRENNAN: Agreed. You recently wrote a letter along with other former defense secretaries to Senate leaders criticizing Tommy Tuberville, the Republican senator, for placing a hold on senior military promotions until the Pentagon reverses its policy in regard to covering expenses for service members who travel to have abortions. What do you think the impact is of that hold? FORMER SEC. GATES: I think there are several impacts. One is that there's criticism in some circles that the military is becoming politicized. Doing this further politicizes the military. It makes the military a pawn in what is otherwise civilian political debates. And- and so that's one consequence. The other consequence is the one pointed out by Secretary Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and others, and that is the impact on the chain of command, on- on having an orderly process of succession and command positions that really matter. MARGARET BRENNAN: It's like 200 positions? FORMER SEC. GATES: It was 200. It will be 650 by the end of the year, but it's- it's significant command positions, you're going to have a significant turnover in the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All those positions are being held up. If there- this is a civilian political debate, and it ought to be settled in the political arena, not by holding hostage career military officers. MARGARET BRENNAN: The senator argues it's a matter of principle, that abortion shouldn't be in any way federally subsidized. FORMER SEC. GATES: That's a- that's a fair point for him to make, but it ought to be resolved in the political process, in the Congress, and- and not in the Pentagon. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we'll watch how that gets resolved. But to your point about broader military readiness and the environment we're in, you know, President Biden's decision to go to Asia was partly also to show some muscle-flexing to China. And he cut short that trip because of what's happening here at home. Do you see that failure to follow through as having a broader impact? FORMER SEC. GATES: Clearly, it's had a negative impact, and Papua New Guinea, which he was supposed to visit, be the first president to visit one of the Pacific islands like that. He was supposed to visit Australia, and the Australian press is really critical of not being able to have the visit. So, this domestic crisis, frankly, I think he's- he's right to understand that he needs to be in Washington to get this crisis resolved. But it is an example of where this debt crisis has foreign policy and national security implications. MARGARET BRENNAN: We're now over two years into the Biden administration, and no cabinet member has traveled to China to date. There are some signs that there may be a bit of a thaw coming here. But the two presidents need to talk. What has to happen before they can get on the phone to each other? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, I was encouraged by the- the day-long talks that the National Security Adviser had with his Chinese counterpart a week or so ago in Vienna. Our ambassador, Nick Burns, is now being allowed to see some more senior officials than he's been able to see in the past. But this- this lack of communication is a real problem. You know, even in the worst days of the Cold War, we had the hotline with the- with the Soviets, and then even in the 90s with the Russians, we had agreements on how to deal with incidents, like incidents at sea, and how to make sure they didn't escalate and get out of control. We don't have any of those kinds of communications with the Chinese today. So my highest priority, frankly, would be direct communications linked between our commanders in Hawaii and the Chinese commanders in eastern China. So given all of the military activities in the South China Sea, in the- in the Taiwan Strait. But it's also important for the leaders to talk and to begin to figure out You know, we are going to be in this contest for a long time and let's just face that reality. And how do we keep it from becoming a military confrontation? How do we limit this to an economic, political, technological contest and avoid a catastrophic conflict between these two countries? MARGARET BRENNAN: You say limited to economic and technological competition? I mean, that- that seems pretty head on right now. Recently, Beijing reportedly appointed their state security czar to start cracking down on U.S. firms that do business in China. It's getting- it's getting tough on that front. FORMER SEC. GATES: It is tough. And, and what Xi Jinping made very clear at the party congress a few months ago was that security was going to trump the economy (CROSSTALK) in China. MARGARET BRENNAN: Isn't that incredible? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, for him, it's all about the power, maintaining and sustaining the power of the Communist Party of China. And that's his highest priority, and he is willing to sacrifice economic growth for that. MARGARET BRENNAN: And that has so many implications. FORMER SEC. GATES: Absolutely. MARGARET BRENNAN: If he's willing to put the economy second to state security. I mean, that doesn't necessarily seem the most rational choice for the betterment of the people that FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, I don't think the betterment of the people has ever been the highest priority of the Chinese Communist Party. But the policies that they followed, until Xi Jinping came along, actually did improve the quality of life MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. FORMER SEC. GATES: of the Chinese people. They brought hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, but basically, he is saying now, the security is more important. And obviously, he- he wants and will, and will do what he can to get economic growth, because that's really the sole source of legitimacy for the party among the people today. But- but on the margins, and maybe even on core issues, they're willing to sacrifice economic growth for control. MARGARET BRENNAN: And we see now the Commerce Secretary from the U.S. is expected to meet with her Chinese counterpart in Washington, not on Chinese soil, but here. There's the start of some kind of potential opening. But you also have the Biden administration saying they're going to put that national security lens on Chinese investment in the United States, and start tightening that. What do you think of what the administration has done to date? And how dangerous is it to start putting limits on U.S. investment in China? FORMER SEC. GATES: Sure. Well, first of all, I think that, you know, the political rhetoric is one thing, the economic reality is another. And the trade between the United States and China last year was the biggest in history, ever, despite what the politicians say. So the notion of completely decoupling these two economies, or China from the rest of the global economy, is completely unrealistic. So, I actually think the administration's adoption, the European phrase, of de-risking the economic relationship makes a lot of sense. And what- and what national security adviser Jake Sullivan talks about, is very high fences around a very small yard. So you identify- and this is basically the approach we took with the Soviet Union, ultimately. You identify those technologies that could significantly advance their national security strength, and their military power, and you are very tough on investment on- from them, or our investment going there, or on exports, and of those kinds of technologies to China, you're very tough on those. But then you have these concentric circles, where you have recognized that there's an economic relationship that actually makes sense and benefits both countries. So, I think the approach of- of, and I use this phrase back in the Cold War, was high fences around small yards, and I think that's the right approach. Also, frankly, from the standpoint, speaking to an old intelligence guy, that's- data enables you actually to monitor more carefully, what's actually going and what- and- and to make sure that you can enforce the rules that you're putting in place. If you have 2000 items, 2000 kinds of technology on- on the list, that's impossible to monitor on a global basis. But if it's- if it's a significantly smaller number, but very important technologies, then you're in a much better position to actually enforce the restrictions that you want. MARGARET BRENNAN: On the more sort of conventional clash, the one you say we need to avoid, a military one, President Biden told "60 Minutes" that he would send U.S. troops to defend Taiwan in the event of Chinese aggression. For years, the policy has been arming the Taiwanese to defend themselves. Is that too outdated of a policy? Does it need to be more muscular, like Biden articulated? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, what's interesting to me is, I think the President has now made that quote unquote, slip, four times. And each time the White House spokesman and- and staff have walked that back, that our policy of strategic ambiguity hasn't changed. I think that the most important thing is less what you call our strategy, than what we do. And the important thing is to strengthen our military presence in the region, so that it sends a signal to the Chinese that no matter what the circumstances, any effort to try and take Taiwan by force would- would result in defeat, a significant defeat, for China. So building up Taiwan's strength, military strength, building up our own deterrent capability out there, is important. I think- I think, strategic ambiguity if you will, preserves a greater freedom of action for the United States. Do we really want to commit in advance that we will go to war with China? What if- what if the Taiwanese down the road were to declare independence unilaterally? That's- that's opposed to our policy, we're against that, we've been against that ever since the normalization of relations. We've been telling Taiwan, don't do anything that would imply you're moving in the direction of independence. So, I don't see a reason to- to tie our hands if you will, but it has to be against the backdrop of a significant increase in our military power out there, as a deterrent to China. MARGARET BRENNAN: Japan's Foreign Minister, excuse me, Japan's Prime Minister said, Ukraine today, maybe East Asia tomorrow. It seems to be there's this increased reference to Taiwan or some kind of military expansion by China as- as looming, as almost inevitable. Do you see the potential for a head to head clash here? Or are we thinking of it in- incorrectly? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, there's always that potential. I mean, the Chinese have- have been building ships like crazy. They now have more ships in the Pacific than we do, and- and they're still building. They are building naval bases in places like Djibouti and looking for them in Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Cambodia and elsewhere. So they are looking to increase the ability of their blue water navy to operate on a global basis. There are even reports that they're looking for a facility on the west coast of Africa. So the Chinese military buildup is a very real thing, and their investment is- is a- is a very significant one, and it began well before Xi Jinping. So I think we have to take it very seriously. And I think- I think the disparity in the size of our navies, even though our ships may be bigger and better technologically, at a certain point, the numbers really matter. MARGARET BRENNAN: At a time we're talking about cutting spending, potentially, what you're talking about is a huge investment in the defense space. FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, don't get me started on Congress and the budget. I mean, the fact is, right now the Pentagon is operating under a continuing resolution. They have had continuing resolutions, like, 15, out of the last 16 years, the Congress failing to have an appropriated budget for the Defense Department at the beginning of the fiscal year. We're halfway through the fiscal year, more than halfway through the fiscal year now. What that means is, they can't start anything new, they can't significantly increase the size of programs or buys. And so at a- at a time, when so many in Congress are talking about the importance of- of- of our military strength, and they're- and they're talking about buying more and adding more to the budget, they have put impediments in place that make it almost impossible for us to do that in any sensible way. They- they have all of these rules, and all these things that they talk about with acquisition reform, and procurement reform and so on. But when you have a continuing resolution, what's the point of any reform? So unless they can get the budget fixed so that the money that they appropriate actually can be spent, our ability to compete with China's really- is really hampered. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, part of that's being negotiated now, alongside the debt ceiling, the budget, we'll see where it ends up. FORMER SEC. GATES: We'll see. MARGARET BRENNAN: You famously said that Joe Biden was wrong in foreign policy for 40 years, and I know you get asked about this all the time. But at this point in his presidency, how do you assess his performance? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, first of all, on the thing that's most important right now, which is Ukraine, I think that the way that administration used intelligence to alert the Europeans and others to what the Russians were about to do was very important. And I think the way that- that the administration was able to assemble the alliance, bring the alliance together in support of Ukraine, has been very impressive. My problem is that- that they have been, I think, slow in approving the various kinds of weapons systems going to the Ukrainians. And- and- and so you know, there's a debate for a long time: do we send tanks? Well, finally, we sent tanks. Do we send things like the HIMARS and other kinds of capabilities? And we finally did it, but only after months and months of indecision. They've been worrying-- MARGARET BRENNAN: And now it's F-16s. FORMER SEC. GATES: They've been worrying about, talking about F-16s for many, many months, and now we hear well, we're going to go ahead and allow the training on the F-16s. Well, that's a decision that could have been made six months ago. Truth is, if they had begun training pilots on F-16s six months ago, then those pilots would be able to get into those airplanes this spring. So it's the delays in the decision making process and in getting the- and finally approving the weapons for- for Ukraine. I understand the need to avoid a direct confrontation with the Russians, but we've- I think we learned pretty early on that as long as we weren't providing things that could attack Russia proper, that Putin was not going to retaliate. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, there was just this report, the Ukrainians, and then U.S. officials confirmed that it was a U.S. Patriot missile system that shot down some Russian jets over Russian airspace. That's significant. FORMER SEC. GATES: Yes. But you know, if they launch it from Russian airspace, then they have to be prepared to have the remains fall on Russian- on the Russian territory. MARGARET BRENNAN: But things like that start to raise questions about, you know, the weaponry being provided, and escalation, you don't see that as-- FORMER SEC. GATES: I'm- I'm-- MARGARET BRENNAN: Crossing a line? FORMER SEC. GATES: Given the nature of the weapons that have been provided, and I think you can have agreements with the Ukrainians about the kinds of things you're going to attack. For example, the British are now providing some longer range missiles and they're- they're saying to the Ukrainians, yeah, if you want to use these on any target in your territory, which includes Crimea, go ahead. But they're not saying, go ahead and use these to attack targets deep inside Russia. MARGARET BRENNAN: A year ago when we spoke, you told me the one glimmer of hope you saw was that Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin had united Democrats and Republicans in Washington. There was strong consensus. Do you actually think that's holding? FORMER SEC. GATES: I do. I think that, in fact, there's kind of a competition on the Hill to see who can be tougher on China. And- and it makes a more nuanced policy by the administration more difficult, because anything that the administration does to try and put a floor on this relationship gets criticized on the Hill as conceding something to the Chinese. But I think by and large, that there is very broad bipartisan support for what the U.S. is doing for Ukrainians, and I think it's also in terms of China. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yet, there are some loud voices raising concerns about U.S. military readiness in terms of drawing down, in particular, U.S. stockpiles to quickly provide arms to Ukraine, or to Taiwan. And the connection to this concept that- that weakens the United States. Donald Trump said last week, we're giving away so much equipment, we don't have ammunition for ourselves right now, we're giving away too much. Is that legitimate? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well I think you have to look at the kinds of things that we're providing and in- in many respects, the kinds of equipment we're giving Ukrainians for this ground war against Russia, are not necessarily the kinds of weapons we would rely on, if we ended up in a confrontation, for example, with China. I think there also is a realization that we have let our production capabilities wither since the end of the Cold War. And finally, people are getting behind the notion we're gonna have to make some long term investments there. I also think that the military, and one of the reasons for the hesitancy, probably, in terms of some of these weapons systems, is that the military is watching very carefully to make sure we don't draw down our stockpiles and some of these weapons too far. And I think they're monitoring that on a very- very closely. MARGARET BRENNAN: So somewhat of a legitimate concern, but more nuanced, you would say, than just ammunition. FORMER SEC. GATES: Yes. MARGARET BRENNAN: But there is arguments, there are arguments being made by Republican senators, I think of Josh Hawley, for example, who said it- it's hard for the U.S. essentially, I'm paraphrasing, but to do two things at once. That by staying focused on Ukraine, that in some way it's a benefit to Xi Jinping's ambitions elsewhere on the planet, that if you look one place, you can't be as robust in the other. Do you think that question of being overstretched is worth a conversation? FORMER SEC. GATES: I don't think that's the case. MARGARET BRENNAN: Because the last few administrations brought that up in reference to Afghanistan. FORMER SEC. GATES: I think- I think that we're- we're not overstretched. We're- first of all, it's equipment we're providing to Ukrainians, not troops. So that there is no drawdown of American forces, as there was in Iraq and Afghanistan, dramatically large numbers of American troops on the ground. Second, I think it's really important to understand that a weakening- I think getting this right is important, weakening what we're doing in Ukraine actually creates greater danger for Taiwan. If the Chinese believe we can out- be outlasted, if the Chinese believe that we can- that we can be forced out of Ukraine by our domestic divisions, and stop helping Ukraine, I don't understand how anybody thinks that strengthens our position vis-a-vis China when it comes to Taiwan. The reality is, and most- a lot of the critics of- of our support for Ukraine make the point all separately, that the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan had a huge impact on Russia and China and everybody else. Well, if that's the case, then what is the impact of pulling back in Ukraine, where the stakes are even larger than they were in- in Afghanistan? So I think showing strength and resistance to the Russians in Ukraine actually strengthens our position in terms of support for Taiwan, and in deterring China. MARGARET BRENNAN: I think there is an interesting conversation, though, about America's role in the world. And we're seeing some of the Republican candidates in particular, take some pretty different positions on this. You had Governor DeSantis say Ukraine was a territorial dispute, not necessarily core to U.S. interests at all. Donald Trump won't say he wants Ukraine to win, or call Vladimir Putin a warlord or a war criminal. And those two men are the front-runners. And then over on the other part of the Republican ticket, you have a Mike Pence, you have a Nikki Haley, who talk about this fight in Europe, and winning it as necessary to deterring Xi Jinping in Asia. Do you think where a candidate stands on this issue of Russia and Ukraine really should matter to people at home? Like, what does it say about the candidates? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, I think it should matter, I think it's very important where a- where a candidate stands on issues related to core national security interests. And MARGARET BRENNAN: Because you believe Ukraine is core to U.S. national security interests? FORMER SEC. GATES: Absolutely. Because if- we have these NATO obligations. If- if Vladimir Putin wins in Ukraine, there's no doubt in my mind, that Moldova is next, that Belarus will be incorporated into the original Russian Empire, which is what Putin's trying to recreate. And it creates great danger to the Baltic states and to Poland, where we have treaty alliances, that would require American forces to confront the Russians, so I think- I think this is important. And there are differences of view. And frankly, there are some differences of view on these issues in the Democratic Party as well. But I think- I think what that puts a premium on, is- is the leaders, from the president to the congressional leaders, for explaining why what we're doing is in America's interest. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. FORMER SEC. GATES: Why this is important. And I think this is a continuing need for education and explanation to the- to the American people, of why are we doing this? Why is this really matter? And I think, frankly, that neither party has done a very- that leaders in neither party have done a very good job of- of explaining that, and- and particularly the focus on our interests. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. And- and I take your point on both parties, there's often this- it's either existential or it's at the cost of something domestic, right? That somehow arming Ukraine takes away from the potential to invest at home. That argument is made in both parties. When you look at someone like Ron DeSantis, he has said, you know, that the U.S., when he talked about the Bush administration, had a messianic impulse, talking about promoting democracy around the world. They didn't have a clear-eyed view of American interests. Narrowing the definition of American interests seems to be kind of at the core of this debate within Republican circles right now. Some would call it Jacksonian worldview. Just what do we get? FORMER SEC. GATES: Sure. I think- I think my own view is that- that we, in some cases, were too ambitious in our aspirations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And it was clearly important that we take out the Taliban after 9/11. I've- I've written, I think we should have in 2002, basically, pulled back in Afghanistan. So I think- I think that the- the- the challenge is that in trying to make these countries better, we got involved in nation building that was beyond the time limits that an administration was going to have and beyond the resources that America should actually invest in, trying to make those things happen. So I think- I think I come back to what's a- what's a realist view of our- of our actual national interest. And that's where we ought to place our bets. Because that's also, I think, where you can rally significant support on the part of the American people. MARGARET BRENNAN: On the issue of Ukraine, the Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, testified that the U.S. assessment is that Vladimir Putin is, quote, very unlikely, to use a tactical nuclear weapon. But the bravado continues. Do you still have concern that this could escalate? Or are we entering this sort of slow, grinding, war of attrition? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, I think that the chances of Putin using a tactical nuclear weapon are not zero, but they're very, very low. First of all, there's no military value in it. The way the wars- the way the troops are dispersed and so on, a tactical nuclear weapon has only a very limited and localized impact. But the opprobrium that would fall on the Soviet- on Russia, for using a tactical nuclear weapon. Countries like India, and others that have kind of been on the fence would get off that fence immediately. And- and the potential for NATO's retaliation, NATO wouldn't retaliate with a tactical nuclear weapon. But it would engage Russia much more directly I think, if there were the use of a tactical nuclear weapon. He also has his partner without limits, Xi Jinping, twice, publicly telling him not to use tactical nuclear weapons. So there's just- there's no- there's no money in it for Putin. And I think his ability to escalate is- is pretty limited. I mean, the- the Russians have pretty much thrown what they got into this fight in Ukraine now, maybe they could undertake some kind of sabotage or other kinds of actions in Western Europe and so on, I suppose those- those are options, but they all have similar risks for Russia. So I think that the risk of- of- of a significant escalation on the part of the Russians is pretty limited at this point. MARGARET BRENNAN: But not necessarily at a point where we're tipping towards negotiation. FORMER SEC. GATES: No, and I think- I think, first of all, the- the- a negotiation will depend on the situation on the ground. And- and it remains to be seen what this Ukrainian counter offensive, when it will start and what it will accomplish. I personally think that negotiations are pretty far in the future, I think this fight will continue, and particularly where I mean, either way, if the counter offensive is really successful, or if it's not, the fighting will continue, until one side or the other is exhausted. And- and- and Putin's bet is that he can outlast the Ukrainians, outlast the Europeans, and outlast us. And Xi Jinping is watching this very carefully. So this is another reason I think, for us to stay the course, and supporting- and supporting Ukrainians. At some point, there may be a- a willingness to, in effect, freeze the conflict, and have some sort of- I think- I think the idea of a peace treaty or of a permanent solution, if you will, is very unlikely. What you might have is a situation where the Ukrainians have recaptured much of their territory, although not all, and- and the Russians are willing to settle for holding on to some piece of eastern Ukraine and- and things stop, and then you probably have a situation that looks a lot like what we saw between 2014 and 2022, between the invasion of eastern Ukraine and Crimea in 2014, and the all out invasion. And under those circumstances, that's the point at which I think NATO and Western countries led by the United States have to decide what kind of long term security assurances are we prepared to give to Ukraine to make sure that Putin or his successor doesn't start up the war again, that the cost would be so high that they wouldn't start the war again. MARGARET BRENNAN : What should cross that line in terms of unacceptable Chinese support for Russia's war? FORMER SEC. GATES: Oh, I think- I think any provision of actual weaponry- MARGARET BRENNAN: Ammunition. FORMER SEC. GATES: --to- to Russia would be a problem. Whether it's ammunition or missiles, you know- you know, anything along those lines. We know that they're providing dual use things for Russia, they're doing- they're providing them a lot of semiconductors, they're providing them with drones and- and things like that. And- but the Chinese are- have been very careful so far about what they've provided to the Russians so that they don't end up crossing our- our line on sanctions and getting the secondary sanctions imposed on- on China-- MARGARET BRENNAN: But they're financially benefiting from this war. FORMER SEC. GATES: I think that it- I think there are both upsides and downsides for China in this, you know, you got the impression of this great alliance, their partnership without limits and so on, in terms of opposing democracies, and especially the United States, but- but I think Putin has gotten himself into trouble. And the truth is, Russia is going to end up much weaker when this war stops than it was before it started. So- so Xi's partner has been significantly weakened by this war. And that's got to worry him as well. MARGARET BRENNAN: What do you make of this feuding that appears to be happening among Russian fighters, you had that video released by the- by Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary group, Wagner group, really criticizing the defense minister of Russia, saying he's not giving me the ammunition, and he's lying about the war. What's happening here? FORMER SEC. GATES: My view is, this is all taking place, with Putin's approval. MARGARET BRENNAN: A theater? FORMER SEC. GATES: This is- this is Putin, dividing and conquering. Putin, given how badly the war has gone, has to worry, at some point, that his military decides he's a problem. By giving Prigozhin power and strengthening Prigozhin and letting him criticize the Ministry of Defense, Putin keeps them divided. If the two came together and decided Putin was a problem, then Putin would have a really big problem. So, my view is that- that Putin is sort of orchestrating this to a degree in the sense- or at least letting it go forward, because it serves his interest in keeping these two powerful forces at each other's throats, rather than potentially beginning to collude against him. MARGARET BRENNAN: Because it's about his survival. FORMER SEC. GATES: It's all about his survival. MARGARET BRENNAN: I was looking at an interview you gave to "Face The Nation" back in 2014, to my colleague at the time, and it was after Vladimir Putin had initially invaded that eastern portion of Ukraine, and you were talking about, well, the U.S. doesn't really have a lot of leverage to stop Russia. You said, "as far as I'm concerned, that's a done deal. Nothing we can do to change that situation." I heard a few echoes of that in what you were talking about with how this war ends. Is your assessment that Crimea will have to stay with Russia, that the Donbas, or large parts of it, will have to stay with Russia? Is that what you're saying? FORMER SEC. GATES: I think in the- in- in for the foreseeable future, that Crimea will be a heck of a reach for the Ukrainians. I- I don't think- I think that's going to be very, very difficult for them. The Russians are deeply entrenched there. They've spent the last- the whole winter preparing for a counteroffensive in that area. And- and they are- they have to hold on to Crimea, if for no other reason, their huge naval base, that's their only major naval base in the Black Sea. But down the road, I can see an agreement in which, first of all, that- where the first stage is, even if there's a cease-fire, where the Ukrainians never concede, and the West never acknowledges Russian sovereignty over Crimea. I can- and that's a situation similar to when Stalin seized the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We never recognized that those countries were part of the Soviet Union MARGARET BRENNAN: But they had effective control. FORMER SEC. GATES: For 50 years. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. FORMER SEC. GATES: So my- what I'm saying is, I think you could have a situation where we never recognize that, and at some point down the road with a different kind of Russian government, you could have a negotiation fostered by the West, in which, for some price, the Russians agree to vacate parts of Crimea, or you know, they're going to keep that naval base regardless. But I think you could have a negotiation years from now, after a cease-fire, where Ukraine could get back those parts of Ukraine that Russia has occupied, but I think that's in the- in the pretty distant future. MARGARET BRENNAN: Distant future. Not in Vladimir Putin's lifetime? FORMER SEC. GATES: Probably not. MARGARET BRENNAN: Not in the next decade potentially. I want to ask you a little bit about something you said last year, when I was asking you about the state of the country. You said it would concern you if President Trump ran for office again. He is currently the front-runner for the Republican nomination. What's your level of concern now? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, I'm concerned because, among other things, because- he has- he has been very clear that he wants to dramatically change, if not dismantle, some major institutions in the American government. And, you know, my attitude for a long time has been, many of the institutions in our government need dramatic reform. But those institutions are critical to the preservation of our democracy, preservation of our economic well-being, and, frankly, our freedom. And so, the- my view is the- the platform should be these institutions need real reform, and some ideas on how do you reform them? How do you make them more responsive? How do you make sure that there aren't people doing wrong things? MARGARET BRENNAN: In other words, don't defund the FBI, are you saying? FORMER SEC. GATES: I think defunding the FBI would be a crazy idea. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. But you're talking with a degree of nuance and understanding of intricacies of government that's just not where the rhetoric is. FORMER SEC. GATES: Oh, totally not. MARGARET BRENNAN: So is your concern limited to that? I mean, it's- it's truly- you believe that the institutions of our democracy are at risk if Donald Trump gets reelected to the presidency? FORMER SEC. GATES: I'm just reading what he says. I think that that's a- that's a very real risk. And that's just based on, again, what he says. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. But he may be the nominee for the party. FORMER SEC. GATES: That's true. MARGARET BRENNAN: What does this next two year period look like for us? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, the interesting thing to me is- is the polls that suggest that significant majorities of the American people across the board would rather have two very different candidates for president than the choice they're likely to be given. And- and the question is, you know, it is a long time between now and November of 2024 so who knows what will happen, but it- I think a lot of people are discomfited by that possible choice. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, President Biden is 81 and Donald Trump is 76. Do you think that their age is an impediment? Or do you think that there's risk in crowding out, for example, the next generation? FORMER SEC. GATES: So- so when- when I did this interview with you all in 2016, in May of 2016, I said then that I thought the two candidates were too old. And I said, you know, I'm basically Biden's age. And I said, you know, and this was five years ago, I said, my fastball isn't what it was. My energy level isn't what it was. I still think I'm pretty with it. But- but yeah, I mean, here is this incredibly vibrant, young country, the United States of America. And- and these are the candidates that we're going to get. And I think young people in particular look at that and say, whoa, those people don't really represent what I- what I believe or the kind of modern approach to governance that- that I think we ought to have. I think it- I think it discourages a lot of people. MARGARET BRENNAN: Discourages people from- from showing up to vote? Discourages people from entering government? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well potentially- well, the voting has actually not been bad in the last few elections, but I think it discourages them about the prospects for getting at some of the problems that we talked about earlier, about how do you get past this paralysis? How do you get past this lack of civility? Maybe you need a new generation of people who have a different approach to dealing with others. MARGARET BRENNAN: Is there any glimmer of hope there that you see on the horizon or new talent? FORMER SEC. GATES: Well, I think- I think there- there is actually, I think there are several caucuses in the House in particular, that- that are looking for ways to have more pragmatic problem solving in Congress, to have more bipartisanship. There's- there's one caucus that's comprised almost entirely of former military people who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, the For Country Caucus, that's now got two dozen members, that basically, to- to get the support, they have to agree to a number of steps in terms of cooperating on a bipartisan basis, and about half of them are Democrats and half are Republicans. And you've got several other caucuses along those lines. So yeah, those give me- those give me hope, and- and- and I think- but I think- I think it's got to start- we can't start solving some of these big problems until we have some restoration of civility and where people actually respect each other. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, thank you for the civil conversation today, Mr. Secretary. FORMER SEC. GATES: Thank you. Always my pleasure. Thank you. Nature: Beavers in New Jersey Architectural Digest's 2023 "Works of Wonder" list Are white noise machines effective? Hoping to travel this summer on a budget? With a few helpful tips, price increases dont have to derail your vacation plans. If you plan to travel this summer, you might be shocked at how expensive ticket prices have become. Every aspect of traveling has dramatically increased: airfare, hotels, rental cars, and of course, gas. But dont think just because the cost of vacationing has gone up, you cannot still save money or be on the lookout for great deals. Photo: AdobeStock Follow these tips on how to save money on travel so you dont break the bank this summer. 1. Shorter could be smarter. You may feel compelled to use all of your time off, but you might make the most of your vacation by scaling back a few days. Instead of going for seven days, go for five. Instead of 14 days, go for ten days. This way, you can travel, stay and experience your destination in a manner that keeps you financially comfortable. 2. Membership has its privileges. You get VIP treatment when you are a member of loyalty programs, so sign up for members-only travel websites and follow travel sites on social media. VIP treatment can include room upgrades, concert tickets, or discounted spa services. Look out for deals offered by members-only sites, as this is the time when brand loyalty will pay off. Also, many hotels and airlines will tweet out deals for the weekend or to specific destinations, so following your preferred hotel or airline on social media can pay off. 3. Timing is essential. It will always be cheaper to book a hotel in the middle of the week than on the weekend, or, for example, go to St. Barts in August instead of December (when everyone goes). Think about traveling at 6 am instead of 2 pm; airfare will be cheaper. Also, research the shoulder season for your desired destination. Shoulder season is the time between a destinations high and low seasons. This could be a perfect time to go; prices of hotels have dropped, the weather is still good, and the crowds have decreased. If you can be flexible about when you travel, these adjustments alone can save you a great deal of money. 4. Use plastic when you travel. Although it may seem counterintuitive, this is the one time you may want to use plastic for everything. Using a credit card offers travelers protection; if there is a problem with a merchant, most credit cards will intercede on your behalf. Also, when you return, you will have a complete record of where you went, how much you paid, and every vendor used on your trip in case of mishaps. There is also an advantage to a credit card designed for those who like to travel. Many travel cards offer a variety of perks to those who use them: earning miles as you go, baggage waivers on checked bags, and earning miles for money spent on purchases. Those perks can definitely make travel easier and more budget-friendly. 5. Get into going all-inclusive. There is nothing like traveling and knowing every aspect of your vacation has been taken care of. The all-inclusive deal has gotten an upgrade over the years; many now include spa treatments, chefs, and even high-end villas and penthouses. It is a great way to enjoy a fabulous trip for one package deal. 6. Build your budget first! This is the most crucial part: Be honest about your budget. Oftentimes, people decide on the place and then overspend to get there. Instead, be honest about how much you have to spend, and build a vacation that fits that budget. With these tips and a little planning, you can ensure your vacation does not break the bank. Jennifer Streaks Jennifer Streaks is Senior Personal Finance Reporter and spokesperson at Business Insider and a financial contributor at The Grio. A nationally recognized expert on money and affordable lifestyle living, Jennifer is an established financial columnist who has been featured on CNBC, Forbes, ABC, MSNBC, CBS, and more. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. TheGrios Black Podcast Network is free too. Download theGrio mobile apps today! Listen to Writing Black with Maiysha Kai. The post How to travel this summer without breaking the bank appeared first on TheGrio. KATHMANDU, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A woman was killed and two others went missing in an avalanche on Sunday in Bajhang district in far-western Nepal. Five people who went uphill searching for yarsagumba, a caterpillar fungus, was hit by the avalanche at around 10:00 a.m. local time. Two were recused alive by locals, and the dead body of a woman was uncovered. "Two are still missing. A joint team of the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police have been deployed for the search and rescue," Satya Kumari Joshi, the assistant chief district officer, told Xinhua. This is the third similar incident in Nepal this month. Seven pickers of yarsagumba were killed in two avalanches in two districts early this month. Memorial Day weekend washout possible for Carolinas, Southeast coast regardless of tropical development The FOX Forecast Center is tracking a complex weather scenario off the Eastern Seaboard through the Memorial Day weekend, which could lead to a tropical disturbance developing over the western Atlantic that causes a holiday weekend washout for parts of the Carolinas and Southeast coast. Computer forecast models show a cold front that has stalled near Florida this week could interact with spin developing in the upper levels of the atmosphere. The combination of both features means a period of heavy rain, rough surf and gusty winds will impact coastal regions of the Southeast. If the development of a low-pressure system occurs over a warm pool of water off the Southeast coast, it's within the realm of possibility that a weak tropical feature could spin up off the coast. According to the FOX Forecast Center, both water temperatures and upper-level winds appear marginal for the potential of slow development. Ocean temperatures range from the lower to mid-70s to near 80 degrees right on the edge of needed warmth and upper-level winds dont appear to be strong enough to completely prevent development. EXPERTS PREDICT SLIGHTLY BELOW-AVERAGE HURRICANE SEASON IN ATLANTIC DUE TO EXPECTED EL NINO INFLUENCES No matter whether the coastal low is tropical, some Florida communities are in store for several inches of rainfall over the next few days. The low-pressure system is then expected to curve westward into the Carolinas over the Memorial Day weekend. Periods of heavy rain, rough surf and gusty winds are likely along parts of the Southeast coast, dampening some holiday weekend beach plans. Additionally, the combination of gusty winds and rough seas will likely lead to an enhanced threat from rip currents that could stretch from the Carolinas through the Sunshine State. According to the NHC, only 3% of tropical cyclones form outside the official hurricane season, with May being the most popular month for out-of-season development. A FOX Weather analysis found at least 90 tropical cyclones have formed out of season since the mid-1800s, with nearly half of those occurring in May. The last tropical cyclone to form during May in the Atlantic Basin was Tropical Storm Ana in 2021. The brief storm developed east of Bermuda but quickly moved northeastward away from the archipelago and out to sea. Four other storms have formed during May since 2018, but none strengthened beyond tropical storm status. HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER Five named storms have formed during May since 2018. If a tropical cyclone does form off the Southeast coast, it would be the second system of 2023. A recent reanalysis of a low-pressure system determined that a subtropical storm formed off the East Coast in January. WHERE TROPICAL STORMS, HURRICANES TYPICALLY OCCUR DURING EACH MONTH OF ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON Average tropical formation dates. Development during the offseason is rare, and nearly all tropical disturbances before June 1 fail to develop due to a lack of sufficient ingredients. Meteorologists tracked an area of disturbed weather in the Gulf of Mexico in April that failed to develop into a named entity. The next tropical cyclone that gains enough organization to be classified as a tropical storm in the Atlantic Basin will earn the name Arlene. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. U of Is purchase of University of Phoenix fraught with red flags. Here are ones we know | Opinion On Thursday, a day after the public learned of the proposed deal, the Idaho State Board of Education authorized the creation of a not-for-profit to purchase the for-profit University of Phoenix on behalf of the University of Idaho. Moving this quickly from idea to action after State Board executive sessions that are closed to the public and a very strict nondisclosure agreement, in U of I President Scott Greens words is bad government. There are major risks associated with this deal that the public had no time to consider. The University of Idaho will provide an annual guarantee of $10 million, should the entity set up to run the University of Phoenix be unable to service the $685 million in sub-investment-grade bonds that will be issued to finance the purchase for $550 million. U of I will extend a $25 million line of credit to ensure the University of Phoenix remains liquid. U of I will carry insurance with a $40 million deductible in case the University of Phoenix tanks. U of I expects its credit rating to be downgraded, likely increasing its future borrowing costs. These are the known risks, which are significant, and which the public should have had time to weigh. There are also many questions that remain unanswered. For example: If this is a great investment, why does the group of private equity investors that owns the University of Phoenix now want it off its books? (Just last month, the investors attempted to sell to the University of Arkansas, but the deal was blocked.) The private equity firms, which generally specialize in business turnarounds, purchased the University of Phoenixs parent company in 2016 for $1.1 billion ($1.4 billion in 2023 dollars), as Reuters reported. Now they want to sell for $550 million and are willing to kick in $200 million in cash to unload it. So this has not been a good investment for them. One enormous and highly unclear risk is future action by the federal government to either further pursue penalties against the University of Phoenix or restrict its access to revenue. As USA Today reported in March, The University of Phoenix has continued to receive more GI Bill funding than any other institution of higher learning, despite its history of government scrutiny for misleading military veterans. As Reveal reported in 2015, the University of Phoenix has a history of aggressively marketing itself to active duty service members and veterans. That could come back to bite Idaho in the pocketbook. Whether or not the University of Phoenix is misleading veterans now, it is highly dependent on federal education funding infrastructure including the GI Bill and federal student loans for its financial viability. So are there any regulatory risks on the horizon? There are. Earlier this month, six U.S. senators wrote to the U.S. secretaries of education, defense and veterans affairs alleging that the school had again engaged in misleading advertising to prospective students, based on a report from David Halperin, a lawyer and longtime critic of the university. The University of Phoenix settled its last case with the feds for $191 million a third of the current proposed purchase price. Could this letter be the beginning of another massive federal investigation that could lead to a loss of tens of millions? Could it be the beginning of a push to cut off GI Bill funding, which came close to happening in 2020? Hard to say. But either could be financially catastrophic. A letter sent to the State Board of Education by Halperin, the American Federation of Teachers and others points out another risk. Thousands of former University of Phoenix students have filed claims to have their student debt relieved, alleging they were deceived. In August, the U.S. Department of Education decided to go after for-profit DeVry University to recoup similar debt relief claims. Could it do the same to the University of Phoenix? And what assurances are there that liability for that debt would stop with the new not-for-profit entity formed to own it, and not fall onto the University of Idaho? It may be the case that all these concerns are overblown. It takes time to investigate things like this fully, and we, along with the rest of the public in Idaho, learned of this massive deal only a day before the State Board acted. It may also be the case that this does not even scratch the surface, that there are many worse devils in the details. That takes time to investigate. And this is the central problem. Public institutions are supposed to be accountable to the people. The people cannot hold government to account when it develops plans in secret for months, only to spring them and act in one day. This kind of thing would be illegal for a city or a county to do. Idahoans and especially the thousands of people closely associated with the Moscow university should have the right to give input on a major decision like this, not simply be led around by the nose. Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesmans editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe and newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser. Will the U.S. send F-16s directly to Ukraine? No final decision yet, Sullivan says The U.S. will support a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on modern fighter aircraft but whether any of those jets will be sent directly from the U.S. to Ukraine is still up in the air, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday. President Joe Biden announced support for the coalition, which has pledged to train pilots on the long-requested F-16 fighter planes, during the G-7 summit in Japan over the weekend. I think given the numbers [of F-16s] that are currently available from the stocks of our European allies, and the fact that based on the money Congress has given us, there are so many other priorities for systems to give, it may be that we focus more on third party transfer, but the president has not made a final decision, Sullivan said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, when asked whether the U.S. would send the aircraft directly to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long pleaded with Western allies to send their modern fighter jets, but the U.S. has repeatedly rebuffed those requests. Instead, the U.S. has sent tanks, artillery and ammunition. The reason, Sullivan said, was because fighter jets were not critical for the anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. But conditions are evolving. The United States has mobilized an exceptional effort to deliver on time and in full everything Ukraine needs to launch this counteroffensive, Sullivan said. Now that we've done that, we can look forward to the long-term capacity of Ukraine to be able to defend itself and deter Russian aggression. Fourth-generation fighter aircraft, Western fighter aircraft, F-16s are relevant to that fight. On Friday, Zelenskyy applauded the U.S. move on Twitter. I welcome the historic decision of the United States and @POTUS to support an international fighter jet coalition, Zelenskyy wrote. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky. I count on discussing the practical implementation of this decision at the #G7 summit in Hiroshima. A bus that brought migrants to the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, N.Y. on May 11, 2023. (Gregg Vigliotti/The New York Times) The story seemed tailor-made for opponents of outsiders. VETS KICKED OUT FOR MIGRANTS, blared the front page of The New York Post, one of many outlets that last week carried the tale of homeless military veterans being expelled from their temporary hotel rooms north of New York City so that people coming from the Mexican border could stay there. The sensational story grew out of claims by a veterans advocacy group and was immediately seized upon by local Republican elected officials. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Rep. Mike Lawler called the ousting of the vets a debacle. A state assemblyman, Brian Maher, went on Fox News to denounce the action and announced a bill that would prohibit the displacement of veterans in response to the migrant crisis that has pushed them out. Problem was, the story was a sham. It began unraveling when reporters could not locate any displaced veterans. It fell apart further when managers of the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, New York, said they had no record of the veterans staying there. And the story flopped for good Friday with an article in The Mid Hudson News that quoted a group of homeless men who said they had been recruited by the YIT Foundation, a veterans advocacy group, and its founder, Sharon Toney-Finch, who asked them to pose as the ousted veterans. Their tale was a doozy. They told reporters from The Mid Hudson News and The Times Union of Albany that they had been approached at a homeless shelter in Poughkeepsie, New York, and then wined and dined before being propped up to the news media as ousted veterans. They added that they had been stiffed for the $200 payment they were promised for cooperating. The Mid Hudson News work in debunking a highly charged nationwide tall tale drew praise for the importance of local coverage and underscored the papers motto: Were the news source where other reporters get their news. Its interviews with several homeless men Thursday night described an odyssey that began in a Poughkeepsie shelter. Two people showed up with a strange offer: They needed 15 middle-aged men to meet an elected official for a discussion on homelessness. Officials at Webster House, an emergency housing center in Poughkeepsie, said a man and a woman had appeared at the shelters entrance and announced that they were from the YIT Foundation, a local advocacy group for needy veterans that is formally known as the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation. They said, We have work for anyone who is interested, said Christa Hines, CEO of Hudson River Housing, which runs Webster House. The pair was offering money and bags of toiletries. Roughly 15 residents took them up on the offer, Hines said in an interview Friday with The New York Times. Some of the men told The Mid Hudson News that they had been taken to the Daily Planet Diner in LaGrange, New York, and had been joined by a veterans advocate who said they could order anything they wanted, including drinks, the paper reported. We ate like kings, one of the men told the paper. After that, Toney-Finch told the men they were headed to a nearby veterans center where they would pose as veterans who had been kicked out of a local hotel, one of the shelter residents, William, 52, said in an interview Friday with The New York Times. At the center, Heather Bell-Meyer, who heads the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, apparently believed the men were actual veterans and asked them to consider appearing before news cameras at a future date to speak about being displaced, said William, who said he would give only his first name because he feared reprisals from relatives who were military veterans. Bell-Meyer did not respond to messages Friday. These folks are definitely struggling, unhoused and down on their luck; they were clearly preyed upon, Hines said. We were told that they were asked to go and offered money, but they were never paid. Republicans had used the concocted tale to denounce both the Biden administration and Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, who, facing limited space for hundreds of migrants arriving each day, has plans to send migrants to other towns. Maher, the assemblyman, had even called for food donations for the chimerical veterans and encouraged local schoolchildren to write thank you for your service cards. After the story fell apart, both Lawler, the congressperson, and Maher blamed Toney-Finch for inventing the false narrative. Lawler put out a statement denouncing it and Toney-Finch as appalling. Her decision to exploit our veterans and the genuine admiration and love our community has for them could have turned an already tense situation into something much worse, he said. But Toney-Finch, in a phone interview with the Times on Friday, said she had not made anything up and had been surprised herself by the displaced veterans story. She said she had taken a small group of legitimate military veterans to the diner and to the event at the veterans center and had been joined by a larger group of men whom she did not know. She said she had not known that the outing would result in the spreading of a displaced-veteran story. In fact, she said, she had no idea where her group of veterans had been staying at the time. We never hired anybody, she said. I was used as a pawn. On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul called the situation deeply troubling. She said the hotel had a legal contract with the city to house migrants, and if people want to fabricate stories to undermine the whole process, I think its reprehensible. c.2023 The New York Times Company Ukraine aims to encircle Bakhmut as Russia says it captures city FILE PHOTO: A general view shows an empty street and buildings damaged by a Russian military strike in Bakhmut KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine said on Sunday that its forces were still advancing around the edges of Bakhmut, aiming to encircle the ruined eastern city after Moscow congratulated the Wagner private army and Russian troops for capturing it. Russia said on Saturday it had completely taken Bakhmut, which, if confirmed, would mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his regular troops and the Wagner group. On Sunday, however, a top Ukrainian general said Kyiv's forces still controlled what he accepted was an "insignificant" part of Bakhmut, although that would allow them to enter the city when the situation changed. General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Telegram post that Kyiv's troops were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs and getting closer to a "tactical encirclement" of the city, formerly home to 70,000 people. Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, said on Sunday he had visited front-line positions near Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for more than nine months. Syrskyi's assertion that Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance along the flanks of the city was echoed by Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar. "Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy ... the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls," Maliar said on Telegram. Ukrainian troops were still defending industrial and infrastructure facilities and had claimed part of the overlooking heights, Maliar said. In the past 24 hours, the Russian offensive around Bakhmut has not let up, including air strikes on the city and the village of Ivanivske on its western approaches, said a statement by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Later on Sunday, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message on Telegram that his group's job was done and his forces would leave the conflict zone within days. "Wagner today captured no territory. We have captured all the territory we promised to capture, right up to the last centimetre," Prigozhin said. "As we stated yesterday. We are handing over our positions to (Russia's) Defence Ministry and on the 25th (of May) we are leaving the conflict zone." Bakhmut has no strategic value according to military analysts, although Moscow has said that capturing it would be a stepping stone towards advancing deeper into the industrial region of Donbas it claims to have annexed from Ukraine. Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports by either side. ZELENSKIY COMPARES BAKHMUT TO 'RUINED HIROSHIMA' Over the past week, Ukrainian forces have made their most rapid gains for six months on Bakhmut's northern and southern flanks, with Russia acknowledging some setbacks for its troops. Kyiv says its aim has been to draw Russian forces from elsewhere on the front into the city, to inflict high casualties there and weaken Moscow's defensive line elsewhere ahead of a planned major Ukrainian counteroffensive. U.S. President Joe Biden said Russia had suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut, the destruction of which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy compared to the U.S. World War Two atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, in Japan. "I'll tell you openly: Photographs of ruined Hiroshima absolutely remind me of Bakhmut and other similar settlements. Nothing left alive, all the buildings ruined," he said as he attended a Group of Seven summit in the Japanese city on Sunday. "Bakhmut has not been captured by the Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of this," he told reporters. In his nightly video address, on Sunday aboard an aircraft, Zelenskiy said: "The world hears our position. Defence, security guarantees, the recovery of all our territories and all our people, justice, the implementation of our peace plan." Taking Bakhmut - which Russia refers to by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk - would represent Moscow's first big victory in the conflict in more than 10 months. The battle for Bakhmut has shown a deepening split between Wagner, which has recruited thousands of convicts from Russian prisons, and the regular Russian military. For two weeks, Prigozhin has been issuing daily video and audio messages denouncing Russia's military leadership, often in expletive-laden rants. Leaders of the world's richest democracies at the G7 summit said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine. Zelenskiy, who held a private meeting with Biden in Hiroshima, said he was confident Kyiv would receive F-16 fighter jets from the West after months of lobbying for the planes. Biden said F-16s would not have helped Ukrainian forces with regard to Bakhmut but could "make a big difference in terms of being able to deal with what is coming down the road". (Writing by Alexandra Hudson, Giles Elgood and Grant McCool; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, William Maclean and Bill Berkrot) Volodymyr Zelensky and Joe Biden meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima - AFP Joe Biden said the delivery of F-16 jets to Ukraine represents a "colossal risk" to Russia as he directed the Kremlin's own words back at Vladimir Putin. On Sunday, leaders of the G7 richest democracies said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, after the US approved the possible transfer of Western jets. When Mr Biden was asked at the summit in Hiroshima whether he agreed with Russias statement that supplying F-16s is a "colossal risk", he replied: "It is, for them." Earlier in the day, the US president said Volodymyr Zelensky, his Ukrainian counterpart, has given Washington a "flat assurance" that F-16 fighters will not attack Russian soil. The US offer of F-16s constitutes a significant upgrade from Kyiv's Cold War-era fleet for MiGs and Sukhois but some warned their use could cast into question the defensive nature of weapons the West is now providing to the war-torn nation. "I have a flat assurance from Zelensky that they will not use it to go on and move onto Russian geographic territory, but wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area, they would be able to do that," Mr Biden, the US president, told reporters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. F-16s, which are made by Lockheed Martin in the US, have long been at the top of Mr Zelensky's wish list from the West. A small number of European countries have them, including the Netherlands which is willing to export some to Ukraine, while the UK has said it could help with training. The F-16 fighter jets, made by Lockheed Martin in the US, have sensitive technology on board - Ahn Young-joon/AP However, the US has to approve any such third-party transfer to Ukraine because of the jets sensitive technology. Mr Biden had been initially unwilling to allow European countries to re-export them to Ukraine. The assurances came as Mr Zelensky secured more arms, munitions and "unwavering" diplomatic support from allies after two days of talks in the Japanese city. The White House unveiled a $375 million (301m) package of US aid that includes ammunition for Himar rocket launchers, artillery shells, anti-tank guided missiles and thermal imaging systems. We will not waver, Putin will not break our resolve as he thought he could," said Mr Biden. We have Ukraines back and were not going anywhere. The West faces "colossal risks" if it delivers F-16s to Ukraine, Russia's foreign ministry said in regards to the apparent breakthrough. Mr Zelensky's unannounced trip to Japan has been a major diplomatic coup, putting his country and Russia's invasion firmly at the top of the agenda. In another breakthrough, Mr Zelensky met on the sidelines of the summit with Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, their first face-to-face talks since the war. He briefed him on Ukraines peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the worlds largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russias invasion. Mr Modi told Mr Zelensky: "I understand your pain and the pain of Ukrainian citizens very well. I can assure you that to resolve this India and, me personally, will do whatever we can do." West 'encouraging the war' However, Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has accused the West of "encouraging the war", did not meet his Ukrainian counterpart. While Mr Lula condemned the "violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity" and called for dialogue in group discussions, he also took aim at members of the UN Security Council with one official present describing the exchange as "frank". "Permanent members continue the long tradition of waging unauthorised wars, whether in pursuit of territorial expansion or in pursuit of regime change," an apparent reference to the US-led Iraq War. Mr Zelensky said scheduling conflicts had prevented the pair from meeting. Asked if he was disappointed to miss talks with Mr Lula, he replied: "I think he is disappointed." Overall, Mr Zelensky secured firm backing for key elements of his 10-point peace plan, centred on the need for a Russian withdrawal. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, said the message from Ukraine and its allies was clear: "Russia must withdraw troops". Any peace plan, he said, "can't simply be linked to a freeze of the conflict. However, Russia accused G7 leaders of turning the summit into a "propaganda show" for Ukraine. "The leaders of the G7 brought to their meeting the ringleader of the Kyiv regime they control and turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show," said the Russian foreign ministry. The West's decline in global influence "is forcing the members of this body to put all their efforts into whipping up anti-Russian and anti-Chinese hysteria", it said. 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. (Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy suggested his country was losing control of Bakhmut after months of fierce fighting in the eastern city. Most Read from Bloomberg He met with leaders from the Group of Seven nations in Japan over the weekend though there was tension over Brazils discomfort at seeing him there. At a news conference he was asked directly if Bakhmut was still in Ukraines hands. His answer: I think no. Zelenskiys mission was to rally support ahead of a widely anticipated counteroffensive. He was able to leave having secured US President Joe Bidens nod to receive F-16 fighter jets though the timing is unclear as well as which countries will provide them. Latest coverage Zelenskiy Signals Bakhmut Falling, Russian Casualties High Zelenskiys Plans to Meet Brazils Lula at G-7 Fall Through G-7 Struggles to Win Over Swing Nations Courted by China, Russia Moldovans Rally to Support EU Entry, Shift Away From Russia Biden Opens Way to Give Ukraine F-16s Under Allied Pressure Coming Up Zelenskiy departs from Japan --With assistance from Isabel Reynolds. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Ukraine war live: Kyiv aims to encircle Putins troops in Bakhmut as Russia claims to have captured city Ukraine is seeking to encircle Russias troops in Bakhmut, as president Volodymyr Zelensky rejected counterpart Vladimir Putins claims to have finally captured the city after nine months of Europes bloodiest fighting in decades. Mr Putin congratulated his troops after the Wagner Group claimed its mercenaries had seized the frontline Donetsk city on Saturday afternoon with practically no help from the Russian army. But speaking from the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Mr Zelensky was insistent that Bakhmut where US president Joe Biden claimed 100,000 Russian troops had died in recent months has not been captured by Moscow. The commander of Ukraine's ground forces, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, also claimed Kyivs troops were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs and were getting closer to a tactical encirclement of the city. Echoing these claims, Kyivs deputy defence Minister Hanna Maliar said: Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy ... [who] has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls. Key Points Ukraine seeking to encircle Vladimir Putins troops in Bakhmut, Kyiv deputy minister says Russia is not in control of Bakhmut, Volodymyr Zelensky insists Putin congratulates troops as Wagner Group claims control of Bakhmut Kyiv denies Putin has taken Bakhmut but warns situation is critical Ukraine at centre of G7 iconic photo as Zelensky condemns Russias insane path' Situation critical in Bakhmut Saturday 20 May 2023 15:28 , Matt Mathers Ukraine has denied claims by Russia that it has taken full control of Bakhmut but warned the situation in the key battle town is critical. Hanna Maliar, Ukraines defence minister, pushed back on the claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin that his Wagner Group of mercenaries had seized the town around lunchtime. Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical, she said on the Telegram messaging app. As of now, our defenders control some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector. Modi promises whatever is possible to find solution on Ukraine to Zelensky at G7 05:02 , Andy Gregory Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has assured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of whatever is possible to find a solution to bring an end to the continuing war amid Russias full-scale invasion as the two leaders met in Hiroshima along the sidelines of the G7 summit, my colleague Arpan Rai reports. Over the past one-and-a-half years, we have spoken on the phone but after a long time, we have an opportunity to meet. The war in Ukraine is a very big issue for the whole world. It has had many different impacts on the whole world, Mr Modi told the Ukrainian president as the two leaders sat down for their first face-to-face talks with their delegation on Saturday. Mr Modi added: But I dont see this as a political or economic issue, for me this is an issue of humanity, an issue of human values. Modi promises whatever is possible to find solution on Ukraine to Zelensky at G7 Russia says F16 transfer to Ukraine would raise questions of Nato's involvement 04:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta Russia has warned of a response and said that the transfer of F16 fighter jets to Ukraine would raise the question of Natos involvement in the conflict. In remarks published early on Monday, Russias ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on the embassys Telegram messaging channel: There is no infrastructure for the operation of the F16 in Ukraine and the needed number of pilots and maintenance personnel is not there either. What will happen if the American fighters take off from Nato airfields, controlled by foreign volunteers? He added: It is important that the United States be fully aware of the Russian response. The remarks come days after US president Joe Biden on Friday endorsed training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F16 fighter jets. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky assured Mr Biden that the aircraft would not be used to go into Russian territory. (Ukrainian Armed Forces/Reuters) Watch: Ukrainian president Zelensky arrives in Japan for G7 summit 04:05 , Andy Gregory Russia indicts ICC prosecutor and judge who issued Putin arrest warrant 03:02 , Andy Gregory Russia has announced indictments in absentia for a judge and prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who issued a war crimes warrant for president Vladimir Putin. A statement from Russias national Investigative Committee said the judge, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and prosecutor Khan Karim Asad Ahmad are both charged with preparing to attack a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations. The committee also said other ICC officials are being investigated. The March warrant against Mr Putin accuses him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine, and the court also charged Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian presidential commissioner for childrens rights. Russian victory in Bakhmut opens door to more hard-fought battles nearby, says analyst 02:02 , Andy Gregory Russias claimed victory in Bakhmut would open the the door to more grinding battles nearby, an analyst has said. These would take place in the direction of Sloviansk or Kostiantynivka, 12 miles away from Bakhmut, Kateryna Stepanenko of the US-based Institute for the Study of War think-tank, told the Associated Press. Gains around Bakhmut make it easier to deliver supplies, says Ukrainian commander 01:00 , AP The flanks regained by Ukraine around Bakhmut in recent days are located near two highways that lead to Chasiv Yar, a town 6 miles from the city that serves as a key logistics supply route, one dubbed the road of life. Ukrainian forces passing this road often came under fire from Russians positioned along nearby strategic heights. Armoured vehicles and pickup trucks driving toward the city to replenish Ukrainian troops were frequently destroyed. With the high plains now under Ukrainian control, its forces have more breathing room. This will help us design new logistic chains to deliver ammunition in and evacuate the injured or killed boys, said Taras Deiak, a commander of a special unit of a volunteer battalion, speaking from inside the city on Thursday, two days before Russia claimed it controlled the city. Now it is easier to deliver supplies, rotate troops, [carry out] evacuations. Ukraine may have taken advantage of weak Russian lines outside Bakhmut Sunday 21 May 2023 23:59 , Andy Gregory Some analysts have said that Ukraines tactical gains in the rural area outside urban Bakhmut could be more significant than they seem. It was almost like the Ukrainians just took advantage of the fact that, actually, the Russian lines were weak, said Phillips OBrien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. The Russian army has suffered such high losses and is so worn out around Bakhmut that ... it cannot go forward anymore. Watch: Biden pledges 'unwavering commitment to stand with Ukraine at G7 summit Sunday 21 May 2023 23:02 , Andy Gregory Prigozhin claims practically no one from Russian army involved in Bakhmut capture' Sunday 21 May 2023 22:01 , Andy Gregory Claiming the capture of Bakhmut, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, insisted that practically no one from the [Russian] army helped us. In a braven display of insouciance towards the Kremlin, the mercenary chief has repeatedly attacked Russias military leaders over their logistical ineptitude and lack of support in Bakhmut, which Western analysts have suggested reflects Vladimir Putins weakening grip on power in Moscow. In remarks on Sunday, Mr Prigozhin said his forces would hand its territory in Bakhmut over to the defence ministrys troops on Friday. We have captured all the territory we promised to capture, right up to the last centimetre, he said in an audio message on Telegram. As we stated yesterday. We are handing over our positions to [Russias] Defence Ministry and on the 25th we are leaving the conflict zone. ICYMI: Ukraine says troops still engaging Russian forces in Bakhmut after Moscow announces victory in city Sunday 21 May 2023 21:00 , Matt Mathers Ukrainian soldiers were still engaging Russian forces in fierce battles in and around Bakhmut on Sunday, military officials said, hours after Moscow and the private army Wagner announced that their troops had taken full control of the eastern city. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minsiter Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. Susie Blann and Elise Morton report: Ukraine says troops still engaging Russian forces in Bakhmut after Moscow announces victory in city Ukraines insignificant territory in Bakhmut still a vital foothold, top general insists Sunday 21 May 2023 19:58 , Andy Gregory Kyivs troops are advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs of Bakhmut and are getting closer to a "tactical encirclement" of the city, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces has claimed. General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Telegram that he had visited frontline positions near Bakhmut and thanked troops defending the area. Accepting that the area still controlled by Ukraine was insignificant, the top general insisted the foothold would be enough to enter the devastated city when the situation changed, Reuters reported. ICYMI: Russia warns of colossal risks if F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine Sunday 21 May 2023 19:00 , Matt Mathers Russia has warned Western countries that supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets would carry colossal risks, after US president Joe Biden announced the US would support the delivery of warplanes. As G7 leaders met for the second day of the summit in Japan, Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko accused Western countries of still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves colossal risks for themselves, he added. In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the goals we have set. Katy Clifton reports: Russia warns of colossal risks if F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine Opinion: Are the economic sanctions on Russia yielding desirable results? Sunday 21 May 2023 18:00 , Matt Mathers They have long been the weapon of choice of political leaders wishing to curb a rogue countrys behaviour the problem is, they rarely work, writes Chris Blackhurst. Read Chriss full piece here: Are the economic sanctions on Russia yielding desirable results? | Chris Blackhurst ICYMI: Modi promises whatever is possible to find solution on Ukraine to Zelensky at G7 Sunday 21 May 2023 17:00 , Matt Mathers Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has assured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of whatever is possible to find a solution to bring an end to the continuing war amid Russias full-scale invasion as the two leaders met in Hiroshima along the sidelines of the G7 summit. Over the past one-and-a-half years, we have spoken on the phone but after a long time, we have an opportunity to meet. The war in Ukraine is a very big issue for the whole world. It has had many different impacts on the whole world, Mr Modi told the Ukrainian president as the two leaders sat down for their first face-to-face talks with their delegation on Saturday. Mr Modi added: But I dont see this as a political or economic issue, for me this is an issue of humanity, an issue of human values. Arpan Rai reports: Modi promises whatever is possible to find solution on Ukraine to Zelensky at G7 Wagner chief says he will pull fighters out of Bakhmut after capturing city Sunday 21 May 2023 16:40 , Matt Mathers The leader of a Russian mercenary group has said he will pull its fighters from Bakhmut after claiming to have captured the Ukrainian city. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk-Oblast region, had been captured by his private army on Saturday afternoon - a claim Ukraine continues to dispute. Volodymyr Zelenskys deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar instead claimed Ukrainian forces have partly encircled the besieged eastern city along the flanks and still control a part of the city. Full report: Wagner chief says he will pull fighters out of Bakhmut after capturing city ICYMI: Putin will not break our resolve, Joe Biden tells G7 Sunday 21 May 2023 16:20 , Matt Mathers Joe Biden has insisted Russian president Vladimir Putin will not break our resolve as he vowed America would show unwavering commitment to Ukraine in a speech at the G7 summit. Speaking on the last day of the summit in Japan, the US president called for peace that respects Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also said Volodymyr Zelensky has given the US a flat assurance that Ukraine will not use F-16 jets to attack Russian territory after the US gave the green light for Western allies to hand over their F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv to bolster defences. Martha McHardy reports: Putin will not break our resolve, Joe Biden tells G7 Russian mercenary chief plays down regular army's role in claimed capture of Bakhmut Sunday 21 May 2023 15:39 , Matt Mathers The founder of Russias Wagner mercenary force on Sunday played down the role of the regular Russian army in capturing Bakhmut, the east Ukrainian city that Moscow claimed to have taken a day earlier. In a voice message published by his press service on Telegram, Yevgeny Prigozhin said: "During the taking of Artyomovsk, practically no one from the army helped us", referring to Bakhmut by its Soviet-era name. Kyiv denies Russia has taken full control of Bakhmut and says its forces have partly encircled the city. Wagner fighters have long spearheaded Russias campaign to take the city, taking heavy losses in the process. In the same message, Prigozhin praised individual Russsian army units, while restating long-standing criticism of the leadership of Russias defence ministry, which he has accused of hampering the war effort via incompetence. Russia Ukraine Wagner (PRIGOZHIN PRESS SERVICE) South Korea and Germany to sign defence pact Sunday 21 May 2023 15:20 , Matt Mathers South Korea and Germany will soon sign an agreement aimed at protecting military secrets to boost defence cooperation, South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol said on Sunday as he met with German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Seoul. The military information agreement will help "smoothly operate the defence industry supply chain", amid global economic and political instability, Yoon told a briefing. South Korea, which recently pursued a similar information-sharing pact with Canada, has moved to expand its defence industry amid rising demand driven by the war in Ukraine and other global tensions, but has so far refused to provide weapons to Kyiv. Yoon said respect for freedom as a universal value was "very vital" in the face of authoritarianism challenging democracy, unstable global supply chains and the war. "From now, I expect South Korea and Germany will further expand reciprocal and future-oriented cooperation and strengthen the solidarity for peace and prosperity of Europe and Asia," Yoon said in opening remarks at the meeting with Scholz. The two leaders also discussed deepening cooperation in production of semiconductors, among other areas. Yoon Suk Yeol with Scholz Pro-government rally in Moldovan capital draws tens of thousands Sunday 21 May 2023 15:00 , Matt Mathers Tens of thousands of Moldovans rallied in the capital Chisinau on Sunday to support their pro-Western governments drive towards Europe amid what officials have said are Russian efforts to destabilise their country. Moldova has been badly hit by the impact of Moscows invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, which Chisinau has repeatedly condemned, and applied to join the European Union. President Maida Sandu has accused Russia of seeking to sabotage its European integration by fuelling anti-government protests and propaganda. Moscow denies meddling in Moldovas affairs. "Moldova does not want to be blackmailed by the Kremlin," Sandu said at the rally, which was organised by her government and packed a central square. Police said more than 75,000 demonstrators were present. "We dont want to be on the outskirts of Europe anymore," she said, pledging that Moldova would become an EU member by 2030. Russia calls G7 summit incubator for anti-Russian and anti-Chinese hysteria Sunday 21 May 2023 14:35 , Matt Mathers Russias foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed the G7 summit in Japans Hiroshima as a "politicised" event that it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements and accused the forum of undermining global stability. Moscow lashed out after the leaders of the worlds richest democracies said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Russian president Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, something Kyiv denied. In a statement posted on Telegram, the Russian foreign ministry said that the G7 had "irreversibly deteriorated" and that the forum had become "an incubator where, under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxons, destructive initiatives that undermine global stability are prepared". The statement accused the G7 of fanning anti-Russian and anti-Chinese "hysteria". Estonia and Latvia look to purchase mid-range air defence from Germany Sunday 21 May 2023 14:10 , Matt Mathers European Union and NATO members Estonia and Latvia will begin negotiations with Germanys Diehl Defence for the purchase of a medium-range air defence system, Estonias Defence ministry said on Sunday. The cost of the Iris-T SLM air defence system and additional capabilities such as infrastructure, personnel, training, equipment, will be determined at the negotiations, which could be concluded during the summer, it added. Our objective is to ensure operational medium-range air defence capabilities for Estonia by 2025, which means that the first systems should arrive in 2024, Estonias defence minister Hanno Pevkur said. The purchase will be led by Estonia Centre for Defence Investment. Estonias defence minister Hanno Pevkur (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Zelensky likens Bakhmuts devastation to Hiroshima after World War Two Sunday 21 May 2023 13:45 , Matt Mathers President Volodymyr Zelensky likened the destruction of Ukraines eastern city of Bakhmut to that of Hiroshima in World War Two, as he attended the G7 summit in the Japanese city on Sunday. Russia said on Saturday it had captured the ruined city of Bakhmut after the longest and bloodiest battle of its full-scale invasion, though Ukraine denies Moscows forces have full control of the city. "Ill tell you openly: Photographs of ruined Hiroshima absolutely remind me of Bakhmut and other similar settlements. Nothing left alive, all the buildings ruined," he told reporters. Zelensky told the press conference that Ukrainian forces were continuing to fighting inside the city of Bakhmut and were carrying out "important tasks". "Today they are in Bakhmut which places, I wont share. But this speaks to the fact that Bakhmut has not been captured by the Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of this." The photos below show the scale of some of the destruction in the city, which has become the longest-running battle in the war. (Maxar/Reuters) (Maxar/Reuters) (Maxar/AP) Ukraine controls insignificant part of Bakhmut, advancing on flanks - general Sunday 21 May 2023 13:20 , Matt Mathers A top Ukrainian general said on Sunday that Kyivs forces controlled an "insignificant" part of the eastern city of Bakhmut, but that the foothold would be enough to enter the devastated city when the situation changed. In a Telegram post, general Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kyivs forces were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs of Bakhmut and that they were getting closer to a "tactical encirclement" of the city. Ukraine says troops still engaging Russian forces in Bakhmut after Moscow announces victory in city Sunday 21 May 2023 13:00 , Matt Mathers Ukrainian soldiers were still engaging Russian forces in fierce battles in and around Bakhmut on Sunday, military officials said, hours after Moscow and the private army Wagner announced that their troops had taken full control of the eastern city. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. Susie Blann and Elise Morton report: Ukraine says troops still engaging Russian forces in Bakhmut after Moscow announces victory in city Watch: Zelensky and Fumio Kishida lay wreaths at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima Sunday 21 May 2023 12:35 , Matt Mathers (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag) (EPA) (EPA) Watch: Zelensky takes part in family photo with world leaders at G7 summit Sunday 21 May 2023 12:10 , Matt Mathers Bakhmut not occupied by Russia - Zelenksy Sunday 21 May 2023 12:05 , Matt Mathers Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia as of today, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Answering questions from the media at a press conference following the G7 leaders meeting in Japan, Mr Zelensky was asked whether the battle for the city was still ongoing and whether its defence was worth all the lives that have been lost. He said: We dont have simple questions any more, as well as we dont have simple answers. Because we have a very complicated neighbour, who is a criminal and terrorist, a complicated enemy. We are keeping young, fighting thanks to the courage of our people, our warriors, and thanks to our cleverness. We are not throwing people to die. Mr Zelensky added: Bakhmut is not occupied by Russian Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of those words. Russian-installed official says Kyiv struck port city with British Storm Shadow missiles Sunday 21 May 2023 11:40 , Matt Mathers A Russian-installed official in Ukraines southern Zaporizhzhia region said on Sunday that Kyiv had struck the Russian-held port city of Berdyansk with British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. In a statement on Telegram, Vladimir Rogov said that seven missiles had been fired at the city, four of which were Storm Shadow missiles. He said six of the missiles had been intercepted and one had fallen on the edge of the city but had not caused any casualties. The claims could not be immediately verified independently. Putin will not break our resolve - Biden Sunday 21 May 2023 11:28 , Matt Mathers Vladimir Putin will not break the revolve of the West in its support for Ukraine, US president Joe Biden has said. He made the remarks in a speech at the G7 summit in Japan which has been dominated by Russias illegal invasion of its neighbour. Russia started this war and Russia can end it today by withdrawing its troops from internationally recognised borders, Mr Biden said. This morning I once more shared and assured President Zelensky that we will not waver. Putin will not break our resolve, as he thought he could two years ago, almost three years ago. Japan G7 Summit (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Kyiv - Ukrainian troops have partly encircled Bakhmut, still control part of city Sunday 21 May 2023 10:52 , Matt Mathers Ukrainian forces have partly encircled the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut along the flanks and still control a part of the city, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday. Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier on Sunday congratulated the Wagner mercenary force and the Russian army a day after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his group had captured the city. But Maliar said Ukrainian troops are continuing their advances along Bakhmuts outskirts and have claimed part of the heights overlooking the city. "Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy," she wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Therefore, the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls." Maliar added that Ukrainian troops are still defending industrial and infrastructure facilities in Bakhmut as well as a private sector of the city. Russian parliament chief proposes Polish truck ban, says Warsaw owes Moscow billions Sunday 21 May 2023 11:07 , Matt Mathers Russias top lawmaker on Sunday called for a ban on Polish trucks transiting Russian territory and for Poland to compensate Moscow financially for what he said was the Soviet rebuilding of the east European country after World War Two. In a statement, Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said that Poland needed to be punished for having "betrayed the historical memory" of the Soviet Unions liberation of the country from Nazi Germany with a series of hostile acts against Moscow. In comments certain to deepen a feud with Warsaw, Volodin said Poland existed as a state only "thanks to our country", said Warsaw should pay Russia over $750 bn to compensate it for Soviet investment in the country after World War Two. He said Poland should also hand back territory it received after the war. There was no immediate reaction to his comments from Warsaw. Vyacheslav Volodin (The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation) UN chief says its time to reform Security Council and Bretton Woods Sunday 21 May 2023 10:15 , Matt Mathers UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that it was time to reform both the Security Council and Bretton Woods to align with the "realities of todays world". Speaking at a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan, where the G7 summit meeting had been held, Guterres said both institutions reflected the power relations of 1945 and needed to be updated. "The global financial architecture is outdated, dysfunctional and unfair," he said. "In the face of the economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has failed to fulfil its core function as a global safety net." Kenya UN Sudan (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Company linked to Wager shares photo of troops raising Russian flag in Bakhmut Sunday 21 May 2023 09:45 , Matt Mathers This video grab is taken from handout footage posted on 20 May, 2023 on the Telegram account of the press service of Concord --a company linked to the chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin . It purports to show members of Wagner Group waving a Russian national flag and Wagner Groups flag on the rooftop of a damaged building in Bakhmut, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Prigozhin says Wager has claimed control of Bakhmut - Ukraine denies this. (AFP) UK support for Ukraine will never waver, Rishi Sunak tells Zelensky Sunday 21 May 2023 09:14 , Matt Mathers after meeting Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The prime minister said he was glad the group of allies have agreed on the importance of providing the Ukrainian president with the advanced military equipment he needs as he pushes for F-16 fighter jets. Sam Blewett reports: UK support for Ukraine will never waver, Rishi Sunak tells Zelensky Zelensky seeks G7 support for Kyiv's 'peace formula' Sunday 21 May 2023 08:43 , Matt Mathers Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought global support on Sunday for Kyivs plan to end Russias war in Ukraine, telling G7 leaders it was "an obvious expression of rationality". Zelensky, who is attending the G7 summit in Japan in person, has in recent months been promoting what his administration has billed as a "peace formula". "Were united by one more principle of rationality," he said in a speech to the leaders, the text of which was posted to the presidents website. "We always act practically protecting our values. And the Ukrainian Peace Formula is an obvious expression of rationality. I thank you for supporting our Formula." In a separate social media post, Zelensky said he had presented the plan to G7 leaders at the Hiroshima summit. "We have developed the Peace Formula in a way that ensures each of its points is backed by UN resolutions," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "And in a way that everyone in the world can choose the track they can contribute to. From Japan to the Arab countries, from Europe to Latin America, we find support for our Formula." Zelensky appears to confirm Russia has taken Bakhmut Sunday 21 May 2023 07:53 , Matt Mathers Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have confirmed that Russia has taken control of the city of Bakhmut after a bloody eight-month battle by Moscows Wagner private army. Mr Zelensky said he thought Ukraine had lost the city, but added, "You have to understand that there is nothing," saying of the Russians, "They destroyed everything." "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he said. "There is nothing in this place." Mr Zelensky was speaking alongside President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Zelensky with Biden at G7 summit in Japan (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Russia takes control of Bakhmut - Wager Group Sunday 21 May 2023 07:50 , Matt Mathers Russia claimed on Saturday to have fully captured the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which would mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war. The assault on the largely levelled city was led by troops from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier in the day that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. Taking Bakhmut - which Russia refers to by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk - would represent Moscows first big victory in the conflict in more than 10 months. "As a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed," the Russian defence ministry said in a one-line statement. Russian media reported that President Putin had congratulated his troops. Russia using long-strikes for more timely battle damage assessment UK MoD Sunday 21 May 2023 07:11 , Arpan Rai Russia has restarted frequent long-range missile strikes deep into Ukraine. They are likely primarily aimed at degrading Ukrainian air defences since early this month, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today. Innovating on earlier waves of deep strikes, Russia has started more frequently integrating unarmed, surveillance uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) into operations. These have included Russian-produced SuperCam UAVs which are relatively cheap and have sufficient range to fly over the cruise missiles targets, it said in its latest intelligence update. Moscow has highly likely adopted this tactic in an attempt to obtain more timely battle damage assessment and improve its targeting cycle, the ministry added. The Russian militarys slow and inefficient targeting process has been a major weakness in its performance in Ukraine. However, slow surveillance UAVs are highly vulnerable to Ukrainian air defences, it said. No peace talks while Russia forces remain inside Ukraine, says Zelensky Sunday 21 May 2023 06:43 , Arpan Rai Volodymyr Zelensky has said there will be no peace talks while Russian forces remain inside Ukraine as he pitched Kyivs peace formula to the world at the G7 summit. Our world is vast, but we are all in it together. And this is our shared cause peace. proposed its Peace Formula to the world. As long as invaders remain on our land, no one will sit down at the negotiating table with [Russian flag]. The coloniser must get out, Mr Zelensky said in a tweet. He added: And the world has enough power to force [Russian flag] to restore peace step by step. We have developed the Peace Formula in a way that ensures each of its points is backed by UN resolutions. And in a way that everyone in the world can choose the track they can contribute to. From Japan to the Arab countries, from Europe to Latin America, we find support for our Formula. And we continue this work. Our world is vast, but we are all in it together. And this is our shared cause peace. proposed its Peace Formula to the world. As long as invaders remain on our land, no one will sit down at the negotiating table with . The colonizer must get out. And the world has enough pic.twitter.com/USO3zHpf72 (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023 Russian minister slams G7 for isolating Moscow Sunday 21 May 2023 06:09 , Arpan Rai Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has panned the G7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor. As a matter of fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the world alignment will also be to suppress a competitor, the top minister said. He added: Look at the decisions that are now being discussed and adopted in Hiroshima, at the G7 summit, and which are aimed at the double containment of Russia and China. F-16 offer is basic pilot training, says France Sunday 21 May 2023 05:46 , Arpan Rai For France, the offer made on F-16 jet was for basic pilot training, a French military official briefing reporters at the G7 said cautiously about the process. Discussions with Kyiv were ongoing and no Ukrainian pilots were now being trained in France, the official said. France does not have F-16s, only French-made Rafale warplanes and previous-generation Mirage 2000 jets. The official added that training a person from scratch to operate a Nato-made warplane demands as long as four years but an experienced pilot who has a grip on Ukrainian jets would require four to nine months to finish training. Its not the immediate priority for Ukraine. We are in a counteroffensive stage and this training wont be ready in the coming weeks, but for the long term, the official said. The official said talk of F-16s was grabbing headlines, as the issue of German-made Leopard tanks had done before, while insisting the current request was just for training. Its the logo to show the initiative. Its an initiative to train pilots without putting a plane behind it, he said. Ukraine at centre of G7 iconic photo as Zelensky condemns Russias insane path' Sunday 21 May 2023 05:04 , Arpan Rai Volodymyr Zelensky was flanked by the worlds top leaders today in Hiroshima as they gathered for a photo on the last day of the G7 summit. On his right were Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and US president Joe Biden and on his left were French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in the powerful photo op. Together with all of our allies and partners, we have achieved such a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected. There have been attempts to ignore and disregard what we value. But now it is impossible, Mr Zelensky said, adding that the power of the worlds top countries is growing. He added: Anyone who might want to wage aggression against a democratic country sees what the response will be. And the more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russias insane path. Together with all of our allies and partners, we have achieved such a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected. There have been attempts to ignore and disregard what we value. But now it is impossible. Now our power is pic.twitter.com/OFB1MSu6CZ (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023 Zelensky and Trudeau discuss cooperation in security and defence at G7 Sunday 21 May 2023 04:45 , Arpan Rai Ukrainian president Vlodymyr Zelensky met with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima today and discussed security and defence matters. We discussed further cooperation in the security and defense sphere, the situation on the frontline, training of Ukrainian officers within the UNIFIER Canadian training mission, the war-time president said on Twitter. He added: I am grateful to Justin Trudeau and Canada for the assistance in demining our territories and for the prompt processing of our requests by the Government of Canada and Canadian manufacturers. Hiroshima. Started another day of the #G7 Summit with a meeting with Prime Minister of Canada @JustinTrudeau. We discussed further cooperation in the security and defense sphere, the situation on the frontline, training of Ukrainian officers within the UNIFIER Canadian training (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023 Bakhmut makes divide between Putins troops and Wagner public Sunday 21 May 2023 04:30 , Arpan Rai The battle for Bakhmut has exposed the widening rift between military forces deployed by Vladimir Putin to capture the Ukrainian city, visible in the declaration made by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin yesterday. In yesterdays video claiming victory, he said that because of the whims of defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, five times more guys died than they should have. He thanked Putin that he gave us this chance and great honour to defend our motherland. For two weeks, Prigozhin has been issuing daily video and audio messages denouncing Russias military leadership, often in expletive-laden rants. The differences have also been visible in their separate claims over the city as Russia acknowledged losing some ground around Bakhmut in the past week and denied assertions by Prigozhin that the flanks around the city guarded by regular troops have collapsed. Kyiv says its aim in Bakhmut has been to draw Russian forces from elsewhere on the front into the city, to inflict high casualties there and weaken Moscows defensive line elsewhere ahead of a planned major counteroffensive. Moscow, on the other hand, has made capture of Bakhmut a symbolic target despite the town dubbed as grinding meat for the heavy losses inflicted on both sides. The town will have little strategic value in the course of war, experts have argued. This has been acknowledged by Prigozhin, that the former city of 70,000 people, has little strategic significance, despite its huge symbolic importance because of the scale of losses in Europes bloodiest ground battle since the Second World War. Putin congratulates Russian troops on capturing Bakhmut Sunday 21 May 2023 04:08 , Arpan Rai Russian president Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russian troops on capturing Bakhmut and said those who had distinguished themselves would be given awards, domestic Russian news agencies reported. The Russian defence ministry has claimed that the Wagner private mercenary group backed by Russian troops seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut yesterday despite refusal by Kyiv. The claims came after a week in which Ukrainian forces have made their most rapid gains for six months on Bakhmuts northern and southern flanks. Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has repeatedly denounced Russias regular military for abandoning ground captured earlier by his men, said his own forces would pull out of Bakhmut in five days to rest, handing the ruins over to the regular military on 25 May. Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken, Prigozhin said in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. We completely took the whole city, from house to house. ICYMI: The secret network of tunnels under paranoid Putins bunker Sunday 21 May 2023 04:00 , Natalie Crockett Vladimir Putin has a secret network of underground tunnels that run beneath his palace hideaway by the Black Sea, unearthed plans suggest. Mr Putin had a huge underground bunker built beneath Gelendzhik Palace, according to plans posted online by the engineering firm in charge of the project, with a network of tunnels lying around 50 metres under the surface. The complex, first reported by Business Insider, is thought to have been constructed for protection in the event of a revolution or war and was built before Russia took over Crimea in 2014. Tara Cobham has more: The secret network of tunnels under paranoid Putins bunker F-16 deal message to Russia to not bet on winning lengthy Ukraine conflict, says Scholz Sunday 21 May 2023 03:48 , Arpan Rai Potential joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s is a message being sent to Russia that it should not look to succeed in its invasion of Ukraine even if it counts on a prolonged conflict, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said today. Ukraine has not yet won commitments for delivery of the planes, but senior US officials said Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates troops on Bakhmut capture' Sunday 21 May 2023 03:30 , Natalie Crockett Vladimir Putin on Saturday congratulated troops for capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Russian news agencies said those who had distinguished themselves would be given awards. The assault on the city was led by troops from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier in the day that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. But Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi denied the reports, telling news agency Reuters: This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut. Ukraine denies reports Bakhmut has been captured by Russia (REUTERS) Sunday 21 May 2023 02:45 , Natalie Crockett Britains support for Ukraine will never waver, Rishi Sunak has pledged after meeting Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The prime minister said he was glad the group of allies have agreed on the importance of providing the Ukrainian president with the advanced military equipment he needs as he pushes for F-16 fighter jets. Mr Zelensky will address the leaders of the major Western democracies during meetings on Sunday. He is on course to receive the boost of being donated advanced jets after US President Joe Biden authorised Western allies to transfer them to Kyiv. Read more here: UK support for Ukraine will never waver, Rishi Sunak tells Zelensky Zelensky is right the sanctions arent working Sunday 21 May 2023 01:44 , Natalie Crockett The Russian economy has suffered from its isolation, and from the sudden withdrawal of Western trade and investment, but it has certainly not been strangled. If nothing else, Volodymyr Zelenskys presence at the G7 summit sends a powerful message, not least to the Kremlin, that he retains the support of the Wests largest economies. Despite signs of wobbling from Emmanuel Macron during his recent trip to Beijing, President Zelensky should be reassured that he can still rely on the West to resist Russian territorial expansion in Europe. Read our Editorial here: Editorial: As Zelensky flies in to the G7, oily Russia is once again slipping the net ICYMI: Its the safe haven surrounded by jihadist radicals, Russian mercenaries and madcap dictators. Can it cling on? Sunday 21 May 2023 00:45 , Natalie Crockett In a region beset with violent strife, Islamist insurgency, Russias Wagner mercenaries and unstable military regimes, the Sahel state of Niger has become a focus of Western interest as a security and economic partner. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has visited recently, and the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, is due to follow. The countrys president, Mohamed Bazoum, has met Emmanuel Macron in Paris, and was one of the few notable non-Commonwealth African heads of state in London for King Charless coronation. Mr Bazoum spoke to The Independent about the issues facing his country, including the threat of Wagner, a jihadist surge being fuelled by the climate crisis, the need to attract foreign investment to help drive education and employment, and efforts to foster relations with the West and Britain. Kim Sengupta has more: The safe haven surrounded by jihadist radicals, mercenaries and madcap dictators What would capture of Bakhmut mean for Wagner group? Saturday 20 May 2023 23:45 , Andrew Osborn, Reuters The capture of Bakhmut would be a boost for Russias most high-profile mercenaries - Wagner - and their publicity-hungry founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. The 61-year-old former convict and catering tycoon, who is sanctioned in the West, has been seeking to parlay his outfits battlefield success into political influence. While mounting evidence suggests the Kremlin has moved to curb what it sees as his excessive political clout, nobody could dispute that Wagner mercenaries, including convicts recruited by Prigozhin, have played a major role as assault troops. Some Western military experts believe Ukraines goal was to destroy Wagner as a fighting force in Bakhmut and Prigozhin has admitted that his mercenary force would need extra support from the regular army to keep advancing beyond Bakhmut. (AP) Toll of the fighting in Bakhmut Saturday 20 May 2023 22:45 , Andrew Osborn, Reuters Ukraine and Russia have both said the battle for Bakhmut, which Moscow calls by its Soviet-era name Artyomovsk, has been important to destroy and distract each others forces ahead of an expected major Ukrainian counter-offensive. Reminiscent of World War One, fighting involved trenches and relentless artillery and rocket strikes across a heavily-mined battlefield as well as house-to-house clashes and air attacks which destroyed much of the city. Most of the pre-war population of 70,000-80,000 had long since fled. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said those left were eking out an existence in underground shelters under heavy shelling. Images of battlefields strewn with corpses from both sides surfaced on social media. Casualty figures are classified, but U.S. officials estimate that tens of thousands of Russian soldiers - many of them convicts recruited by Wagner were killed. Russian officials alleged high Ukrainian losses too. Reuters is unable to verify battlefield casualty figures. Prigozhin, whose Wagner forces led the battle for the Russians, published numerous pictures of his own dead fighters, often as part of an attempt to lobby Russias defence ministry for more ammunition. Zelensky portrayed Fortress Bakhmut as a symbol of defiance which he said was bleeding the Russian military dry. His aide Mykhailo Podolyak said the battle had pinned down some of Russias best units and degraded them ahead of Ukraines planned Western-backed spring push back. Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut, an eastern city where fierce battles against Russian forces have been taking place (AP Photo/Libkos) How important is the claimed capture by Russia's Wagner Group of Ukraine's Bakhmut? Saturday 20 May 2023 21:45 , Andrew Osborn, Reuters Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that his pro-Putin Wagner mercenary group fighters had completed the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after months of intense fighting a claim denied by Ukraine. A regional transport and logistics hub, Bakhmut is in Ukraines Donetsk, part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialised Donbas region which Moscow wants to annex with its self-declared special military operation. US Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and NatoO alliance head Jens Stoltenberg have played down its potential fall as symbolic, as have Western military experts. But Bakhmuts capture, if confirmed, would put within easy range of Russian artillery two bigger cities in the Donetsk region - Kramatorsk and Sloviansk - that Russia has long coveted. Moscow needs to control both to complete what it calls its liberation of the Peoples Republic of Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told CNN in March that he feared Russian forces would have an open road to the two cities if they took Bakhmut, and said his order to hold it was a tactical decision. The nearby town of Chasiv Yar, west of Bakhmut, would probably be next to come under Russian attack, though it is on higher ground and Ukrainian forces are believed to have built defensive fortifications nearby. Western analysts and diplomats are sceptical that Russian forces would be able to swiftly capitalise on Bakhmuts capture given that they began shelling the city a year ago, launched a ground assault in August and have suffered major losses since. Russias chaotic withdrawal from Ukraines northeast last year also deprived it of territory that would have made it easier for its forces to seize cities like Sloviansk once they had control of Bakhmut. (AP) UN official criticised after meeting Russian sought by ICC Saturday 20 May 2023 20:44 , Natalie Crockett Rights groups and the top US justice envoy have criticised a meeting between a UN official and a Russian ombudsman who is wanted by the worlds war crimes court. An arrest warrant was issued in March by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russias ombudsman for childrens rights, who it has accused of deporting hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia. Lvova-Belova said on her website on Friday that she held a working meeting with Virginia Gamba, the special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict and that they discussed the protection of children in conflict. But that has not gone down well with the West. Ukrainian victims deserve to see Lvova-Belova behind bars in The Hague, not meeting with high-level UN officials, said Balkees Jarrah, associate director in the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. US ambassador for Global Justice Beth van Schaack, said on social media on Friday night that such a meeting would be deeply concerning. Pope asks cardinal to carry out peace mission on Ukraine war Saturday 20 May 2023 19:45 , Natalie Crockett Pope Francis has asked the head of the Italian bishops conference to carry out a peace mission to try to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine. According to a Vatican diplomatic source, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi would try to meet separately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Vatican said in a statement on Saturday that Cardinal Zuppi, 67, would carry out the mission to contribute to reducing tensions of the conflict in Ukraine, in the hope, never given up by the Holy Father, that this could start peace processes. Returning from a trip to Hungary on April 30, Francis made an intriguing but puzzling comment about the Vatican being involved in a mission to try to end the war. There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it, he told reporters. The Vatican said the timing and specifics of the mission were still being worked out. Pope Francis first spoke cryptically of his intention to launch a mission when he was returning from a trip to Hungary last month but he gave no details (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Zelensky invites India PM to join Ukraines peace formula Saturday 20 May 2023 19:00 , Natalie Crockett Volodymyr Zelensky said he had invited India to join Ukraines peace formula during his talks with prime minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Saturday in Japan. Mr Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app that the two had also discussed Ukraines needs in mobile hospitals and removing land mines during their first face-to-face meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Mr Modi told Mr Zelensky he was keen to help and that for him the war was an issue of humanity and human values. I assure you that for its resolution India, and I personally will do everything within our means, he said. New Delhi and Moscow have enjoyed a close relationship for decades, and India has refused to condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine. The countrys trade with Moscow has risen to a record high, driven largely by India ramping up imports of Russian oil. Several Western leaders have criticised Indias close ties with Russia as they try to isolate Moscow. Zelensky arrives in Hiroshima for the G7 summit Key moments in the Battle of Bakhmut in Ukraines east Saturday 20 May 2023 18:25 , Natalie Crockett The battle for the small city of Bakhmut in Ukraines eastern Donbas region has become the longest and bloodiest of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Here is a timeline of key events there: May 8, 2022 - Ukraine confirms its forces have withdrawn from Popasna, a town around 15 miles (24 km) east of Bakhmut, with a major road running between the two settlements. Russian forces can now advance towards Bakhmut and pound it with artillery. Aug. 9, 2022 - British defence intelligence says the Bakhmut axis has been Russias most successful front over the last 30 days and troops have advanced about 10 km (6 miles) in the region. Oct. 8, 2022 - The date pinpointed by Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin as the start of the assault on Bakhmut city by his Wagner fighters. Oct. 15, 2022 - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the situation in Bakhmut is the most difficult of all the front lines. We are holding our positions, he says. Dec. 20, 2022 - Zelenskiy pays a surprise visit to the city, where he hails his superhuman troops and urges them to fight on. Jan. 25, 2023 - Ukraines military says it has withdrawn from the town of Soledar, north of Bakhmut. Two weeks earlier, Prigozhin posted a photo of him and his fighters in what he said was one of Soledars salt mines. Feb. 3, 2023 - Zelenskiy says Ukraine will fight as long as we can for Bakhmut. Nobody will give away Bakhmut ... We consider Bakhmut our fortress, he says. March 22, 2023 - Zelenskiy makes a surprise visit to troops near Bakhmut to thank them for their bravery and hand out awards. April 2, 2023 - Prigozhin hoists a Russian flag by what he says is the Bakhmut city hall. He says taking the building means Bakhmut has been captured by Moscow from a legal point of view. Ukraine rejects his claim, saying it is not clear where Prigozhin raised the flag. April 11, 2023 - Prigozhin says Wagner control more than 80% of Bakhmut. Ukraine denies this, saying it controls considerably more than 20% of the city. April 26, 2023 - Britains Ministry of Defence says fighting has reached Bakhmuts western outskirts over the past week, especially around the settlement of Khromove on its northwestern edge, as Ukraine seeks to retain control of the main access road. May 1, 2023 - Ukraine claims to have ousted Russian forces from some positions in Bakhmut amid fierce battles. May 10, 2023 - Ukraines ground forces commander says Russian units in some parts of Bakhmut have retreated by up to 2 km (1.2 miles). May 19, 2023 - Ukraine says it has repelled attacks by Russian forces trying to recapture ground around Bakhmut. Prigozhin says heavy, bloody battles are continuing and his men are close to completely capturing Bakhmut. May 20, 2023 - Prigozhin says Wagner have completed the capture of Bakhmut. Ukraine says the situation there is critical, with its troops still defending the southwestern part of the city. (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Wagner troops climbed into Bakhmut like rats into a mousetrap' Saturday 20 May 2023 17:45 , Natalie Crockett Whether the Ukrainian forces have left Bakhmut or not, they have been slowly pulling back inside it, to clusters of buildings on the citys western edge. Meanwhile, to the north and south, they have made their most rapid gains for six months in the surrounding area, seizing swathes of territory from Russian troops. Russia has acknowledged losing some ground around Bakhmut in the past week, while denying assertions by Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin that the flanks around the city guarded by regular troops have collapsed. Kyiv says its aim in Bakhmut has been to draw Russian forces from elsewhere on the front into the city, to inflict high casualties there and weaken Moscows defensive line elsewhere ahead of a planned major counteroffensive. Wagner troops climbed into Bakhmut like rats into a mousetrap, Oleksander Syrskyi, commander of Ukraines ground forces, told troops at the Bakhmut front this week. A satellite image shows burning homes and damaged buildings in Bakhmut, Ukraine on 15 May (Maxar/Reuters) Russia warns of colossal risks if F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine Saturday 20 May 2023 17:10 , Natalie Crockett Russia has warned Western countries that supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets would carry colossal risks after US President Joe Biden paved the way for Kyiv to receive the warplanes. As G7 leaders met for the second day of the summit in Japan, Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko accused Western countries of still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves colossal risks for themselves, he added. In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the goals we have set. Katy Clifton has more: Russia warns of colossal risks if F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine Russia putting International Criminal Court prosecutor on wanted list deplorable Saturday 20 May 2023 16:36 , Natalie Crockett International Criminal Court member states have condemned Russias placing of the courts prosecutor and several judges on a wanted list. The ICCs British prosecutor, Karim Khan, has been added to the Russian Interior Ministrys wanted list, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Friday, citing the ministrys database. On Saturday, member states said the move was deeply concerning and deplorable. The comments came from the presidency of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC, the courts management oversight body, comprised of its 123 member states. Are the economic sanctions on Russia yielding desirable results? Saturday 20 May 2023 16:05 , Natalie Crockett Sanctions have long been the weapon of choice of political leaders wishing to curb a rogue countrys behaviour the problem is, they rarely work. By now, Russia should be in economic ruin. So much so that public pressure would have demanded a negotiated settlement with Ukraine. It simply hasnt happened. Instead, the countrys economy is ticking along, and has done so pretty much ever since Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine. The rouble fell at first, then soon bounced back. Russia has been able to take advantage of higher oil and gas prices, caused by its own aggression. Imports dipped for a while, but now theyve returned to their pre-war levels. Chris Blackhurst has more: Are the economic sanctions on Russia yielding desirable results? | Chris Blackhurst G7 summit afternoon catch-up contd. Saturday 20 May 2023 15:00 , Matt Mathers Economy, climate and nuclear proliferation Italys prime minister Giorgia Meloni is set to leave the G7 summit in Hiroshima a day earlier than scheduled to lead the response to flooding which hit the north of her country this week, two sources said. G7 leaders agreed on an initiative to counter "economic coercion," pledging action to ensure that any actors attempting to weaponise economic dependence would fail and face consequences. The G7 called for the development and adoption of international technical standards for "trustworthy" artificial intelligence (AI) as lawmakers of the rich countries focus on the new technology. G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a highly decarbonised road sector by 2030 and committed to the goal of achieving net-zero emissions on roads by 2050. The G7 must take the lead in phasing out fossil fuels, the leaders of seven countries including the Netherlands and Chile said, attempting to build momentum for a global deal this year to gradually quit oil, coal and gas. The G7 believes that publicly supported investment in the gas sector can be temporarily appropriate while countries are accelerating the phasing-out of their dependency on Russia, a draft communique seen by Reuters showed. Leaders of the G7 called for a "world without nuclear weapons," urging Russia, Iran, China and North Korea to cease nuclear escalation and embrace non-proliferation, a statement released by the White House showed. US President Joe Biden (R) and Indonesias President Joko Widodo at the G7 Summit (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of J) G7 summit afternoon catch-up Saturday 20 May 2023 14:45 , Matt Mathers China G7 leaders outlined a shared approach towards China, looking to "de-risk, not decouple" economic engagement with a country regarded as the factory of the world. The G7 is looking to bridge a vast gap with emerging economies in the "Global South" by focussing on infrastructure and debt relief, officials say, part of a strategy to blunt Chinas influence in lower-income countries. US President Joe Biden and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida have discussed ways to strengthen defence cooperation and counter coercive behaviour by China, the White House said. China is gravely concerned about recent signs of "negative" China-related moves at the G7 summit and urges Japan not to turn it into a "political show" against or to curb China, the countrys embassy in Japan said. Its embassy in London warned that any words or deeds harming Chinas interests would be met with "firm and resolute countermeasures". World leaders at the G7 summit (AP) Ukraine Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said decisions taken by the G7 countries at their summit in Japan were aimed at the "double containment" of Russia and China. G7 leaders said they had ensured that Ukraine had the budget support it needs for this year and early 2024. "Today we are taking new steps to ensure that Russias illegal aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine fails and to support the Ukrainian people in their quest for a just peace rooted in respect for international law," they said in a statement. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky received a warm welcome in Japan after arriving to attend the G7 summit for back-to-back bilateral meetings with world leaders. The United States announced sanctions on more than 300 targets, aiming to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and intensifying one of the harshest sanctions efforts ever implemented. During the summit, US President Joe Biden will announce a $375 million military aid package for Ukraine that includes artillery, ammunition and HIMARS rocket launchers, a US official said. Biden informed G7 leaders that Washington will support a joint effort with allies to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, CNN reported, citing a senior US administration official. German chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government wanted pragmatic measures to prevent the circumvention of sanctions imposed on Russia. Britain published plans to ban imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminium and nickel and announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia, targeting companies connected to the alleged theft of Ukrainian grain. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he invited India to join Ukraines peace formula during talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit, their first meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. G7 leaders called on all participants of the Black Sea grain deal "to continue and fully implement its smooth operation at its maximum potential and for as long as necessary," it said in a statement. Zelensky invites India PM Modi to join Ukraines peace formula Saturday 20 May 2023 14:29 , Matt Mathers President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had invited India to join Ukraines peace formula during his talks with prime minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan. Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app that the two had also discussed Ukraines needs in demining and mobile hospitals during their first face-to-face meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Modi told Zelensky he was keen to help and that for him the war was an issue of humanity and human values. "I assure you that for its resolution India, and I personally will do everything within our means," he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Peter Nicholls/PA) (PA Wire) Ukraine rejects Progozhins claim to have taken Bakhmut Saturday 20 May 2023 14:25 , Matt Mathers Ukraine has denied that Russias mercenary Wagner Group has taken full control of Bakhmut. A spokesperson for Ukraine Military East Command was responding to a claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin that his forces took the key town around lunchtime. The fight for Bakhmut has become the longest-running battle since Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine last February. Russias Prigozhin claims full control of Bakhmut Saturday 20 May 2023 14:06 , Matt Mathers The head of Russias Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Saturday claimed full control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the focus of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. The claim could not be independently verified. Prigozhin made the claim in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. "Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken," Prigozhin said. G7 flags Chinas accelerating nuclear arsenal growth as Zelensky arrives in Hiroshima Saturday 20 May 2023 12:20 , Matt Mathers The Group of Seven nations took to the world stage to warn against China s accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal but added that the rich nations cohort is not turning inwards, as the biggest global leaders met in Hiroshima on Saturday with the war in Ukraine playing in the backdrop. Chinas accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency (or) meaningful dialogue poses a concern to global and regional stability, the G7 leaders said in a joint statement, taking aim at Beijing and Moscow separately. We are not decoupling or turning inwards. At the same time, we recognise that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying, the statement said. Arpan Rai reports: G7 flags Chinas accelerating nuclear arsenal growth as Zelensky arrives in Japan Sunak meets Zelensky at G7 summit as hopes rise of Ukraine getting fighter jets Saturday 20 May 2023 11:49 , Matt Mathers Rishi Sunak has met Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit in Hiroshima after the Ukrainian president closed in on obtaining the F-16 fighter jets he wants to fight off Russia. Good to see you, the Prime Minister said, slapping him on the back after they greeted each other with an embrace. You made it. Asked by reporters if it was a good day for Ukraine, Mr Zelensky smiled, nodded and said thank you so much. Sam Blewett has the full report: Sunak meets Zelensky at G7 summit as hopes rise of Ukraine getting fighter jets Russia says supplying F-16 jets to Ukraine would carry 'colossal' risks for West - TASS Saturday 20 May 2023 11:23 , Matt Mathers Western countries will be running "colossal risks" if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, TASS news agency quoted Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Saturday. Grushko was responding to a question about the implications of providing the jets, which Ukraine has been requesting from NATO countries. It has not yet won commitments to deliver the planes, but US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, senior US officials said. "We see that Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves colossal risks for themselves," Grushko was quoted as saying. "In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the goals we have set." An F-16 Fighting Falcon from Colorado Air National Guards 140th Wing takes off from Buckley Air Force Base (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) A year after Mariupols fall, Azovstal survivor recalls surrender with pain and a sense of purpose Saturday 20 May 2023 10:45 , Matt Mathers Mikhailo Vershinin was a shadow of the burly Mariupol policeman he was when he emerged after four months in Russian captivity. The head of Mariupols Police Patrol, he was among hundreds to surrender from the Russian siege of the Azovstal steel mill on the orders of the Ukrainian president a year ago and was close to death on the day he was exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. He experienced first-hand the day the final square of the besieged city fell and now recalls it with both deep sadness, but a sense of purpose for Ukraines future. Mstyslav Chernov reports: A year after Mariupols fall, Azovstal survivor recalls surrender with pain and a sense of purpose Sunak meets Zelensky at G7 Saturday 20 May 2023 10:17 , Matt Mathers Rishi Sunak met Volodymyr Zelensky with an embrace at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The prime minister said: "You made it." Asked if it was a good day, the Ukrainian president smiled, nodded and said "thank you". (Getty Images) Independent editorial: As Zelensky flies in to the G7, oily Russia is once again slipping the net Saturday 20 May 2023 10:15 , Matt Mathers The Russian economy has suffered from its isolation, and from the sudden withdrawal of Western trade and investment, but it has certainly not been strangled Read the full editorial below: Editorial: As Zelensky flies in to the G7, oily Russia is once again slipping the net Zelenksy holds meeting with Italys Meloni Saturday 20 May 2023 10:10 , Matt Mathers Volodymyr Zelensky has held talks with Italys prime minister on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The UK president spoke with Giorgia Meloni after arriving at the gathering in Hiroshima, Japan, earlier this morning. Mr Zelensky is at the summit to drum up support from the worlds rich democracies and sound out "Global South" leaders with long ties to Russia. (POOL/AFP via Getty Images) Sanctions against Russia and what the G7 may do to fortify them Saturday 20 May 2023 09:45 , Matt Mathers The Group of Seven advanced economies are expected to announce a new set of sanctions against Russia to try to further hinder its war effort in Ukraine during their summit in Hiroshima, Japan. In traveling to Japan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will help to drive home the need to better enforce measures meant to stifle Moscows war machine. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about their effectiveness. EU Council President Charles Michel said the plan was to close loopholes and ensure the sanctions are painful for Russia, not for the countries enforcing them. Elaine Kurtenbach reports: Sanctions against Russia and what the G7 may do to fortify them Watch live: Zelensky arrives in Japan for G7 Saturday 20 May 2023 09:15 , Matt Mathers Peace will become closer today - Zelenksy Saturday 20 May 2023 08:45 , Matt Mathers Peace will become closer today, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenksy said ahead of his visit to Japan for the G7 summit. Mr Zelenksy touched down in Hiroshima earlier for the gathering of the worlds largest economies in meetings set to be dominated by Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine last February. Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine, Mr Zelenksy said in a tweet. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today. Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today. (@ZelenskyyUa) May 20, 2023 Zelensky arrives in Japan Saturday 20 May 2023 08:15 , Matt Mathers Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed Saturday in Hiroshima for diplomatic talks with the leaders of the worlds most powerful democracies who have tightened sanctions meant to punish Moscow and change the course of its 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Japan says Zelenskyys decision to visit Hiroshima stems from his "strong wish" to participate in talks that will influence his nations defense against Russia. An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. The first session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. The second session will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on "peace and stability." (AP) (BBC) White House: Biden to discuss Ukraine with Brazils Lula, Indias Modi Saturday 20 May 2023 07:20 , Matt Mathers US President Joe Biden aims to speak this weekend with Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, about Ukraine and the "sacrosanct" issue of sovereignty and territorial integrity, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday. Lula and Modi are attending a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations in Hiroshima at the invitation of Japan, this years host of the G7, which also includes the US., Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. Asked if Biden would pressure or urge the two leaders to toughen their approach on China and Russia, Sullivan said, "I think pressure is just the wrong word. I mean, thats not how President Biden operates with these key leaders with whom he has deep relationships, like President Lula and President Modi." Instead, Biden would "look for the opportunity to speak with both of them about the constructive role that each country can play in supporting the most basic and fundamental element of any outcome, which is sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is sacrosanct in the (United Nations) Charter," Sullivan told reporters in Hiroshima. Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Japan Putin redeploying several battalions to Bakhmut as capture remains key war aim UK MoD Saturday 20 May 2023 07:02 , Arpan Rai Russia has highly likely redeployed up to several battalions to reinforce the Bakhmut sector in the last four days, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today. Russias leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict, the ministry said in its latest intelligence update on the continuing war. It added that the amped up redeployment of several troops follows Ukrainian tactical gains on the flanks of the contested Donetsk Oblast town through mid-May and publicly aired doubts about the commitment of Wagner Group forces to continue fighting in the sector. With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command, the MoD said. Key developments on May 21: Russian attacks kill 3, injure 7 in Kherson, Donetsk, Kharkiv oblasts U.S. to start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16, says Biden Russia hasn't captured Bakhmut, says Zelensky Ukrainian troops may soon encircle Bakhmut, top general says U.S. President Joe Biden on May 21 pledged support for Ukraine's Air Force, saying the U.S. would start training Ukrainian pilots to fly fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16 fighter jets. "I assured President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, together with all G7 members, our allies, and partners around the world, we will not waver. (Vladimir) Putin will not break our resolve as he thought he could two years ago, almost three years ago," Biden said during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Zelensky assured that Ukraine's military would not use Western-provided fighter jets to attack Russian territory, Biden told reporters. Biden's pledge followed the decision to allow its allies to provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. The move was welcomed by several European countries, who committed to training Ukrainian fighter pilots. Ukraine endorsed the move after Kyiv had been campaigning for F-16s to be provided for months. It's unclear when Ukrainian pilots would start training and when Ukraine could receive Western fighter jets. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko expressed Moscow's concerns, claiming that Western countries would face "colossal risks" if Ukraine were to receive the F-16s. When asked about whether the supply of F-16s is a "colossal risk," as Russia claims, Biden said, "It is. For them (Russians)." The U.S.-built F-16 has been in service since the 1970s and is operated by over 20 countries as it provides enhanced situational awareness, precision targeting, and overall combat effectiveness. Providing Ukraine's Air Force with F-16s would represent a substantial upgrade in the country's security capabilities. Critics argue that allies' reluctance to supply F-16, Typhoon, and Dassault fighter jets and long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine will prevent Ukraine from launching a counteroffensive and liberating the rest of Russian-occupied territories. Editorial: Arming Ukraine wont escalate war. Reluctance to do so will First it was the tanks, now its the fighter jets. As Ukraine braces for another possible major Russian offensive in the upcoming weeks, Western leaders are yet again coming up with a variety of excuses why this time, they cannot justify supplying F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to Ukraine. Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent As Bakhmut allegedly falls, Ukraine advances near As Russia claimed its forces "captured" Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine's forces keep advancing on the flanks and are approaching a "tactical encirclement" of the embattled city, Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's Land Forces, reported on May 21. Tactical encirclement is a strategic maneuver aiming to trap the Russian forces, limiting their movement and reinforcement. Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade reported an advance in the area of 1 square kilometer near Bakhmut on May 21. Syrskyi also said that Ukraine's military controls an "insignificant" part of Bakhmut, but this foothold would be sufficient to enter the ruined city "if the situation changed." Russia's Defense Ministry and the Kremlin-controlled Wagner mercenary outfit claimed complete control of Bakhmut on May 20. The claim was unequivocally dismissed by Ukraine's authorities and the military. Zelensky said on May 21 that Russian troops had not captured Bakhmut. "The situation is difficult, but it's under control," Syrskyi said on May 21. For nearly a year, Bakhmut has remained the epicenter of intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Russian artillery fire and airstrikes turned the city with a pre-war population of 72,000 into scorched earth. The Wagner mercenaries have served as the primary shock troops in Russia's attempts to expand control over the entire Donetsk Oblast, more than half of which it currently occupies. "Let them (Russians in Bakhmut) feel a constant threat. Either we surround them now or a little later, but that (Wagner) group will be defeated to the end," Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi told national television on May 21. Ukraine strikes back around Bakhmut as Wagner reaches last streets in the city On the evening of May 9, just half a day after a single T-34 tank rolled through Red Square during Moscows subdued Victory Day celebrations, something unexpected happened. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russias Wagner mercenary group, announced that units of the Russian regular armys 72nd Separat Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell Russian attacks Russian May 21 attacks in Kherson, Donetsk, and Kharkiv oblasts killed three civilians and injured seven others, local authorities reported. A residential building was hit in the village of Kozatske in Kherson Oblast. A 55-year-old man was killed, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin. Kozatske sits on the west bank of the Dnipro River, just across from the occupied Nova Kakhovka, used as a base for Russian troops in the region. Russian forces also shelled settlements across Donetsk Oblast with artillery and guided bombs, killing two civilians and injuring six others, the regional prosecutor's office reported. A civilian was injured when Russian forces launched an S-300 missile on the village of Tsyrkuny in Kharkiv Oblast, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. In addition, Ukraine's Air Force reported on May 21 that it downed four Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones that Russia launched against the country overnight. The Air Force did not reveal more information about the overnight attack, only indicating that Russian forces launched the drones "in the eastern direction." Russia has resumed its intense waves of missile strikes deep inside Ukraine, targeting cities such as Kyiv, likely to degrade the Ukrainian air defense, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on May 21. Meanwhile, Ukraine showed an exceptional air defense capability in May, downing Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time. One of the two Patriot systems suffered minor damage during the May 16 attack, but the Pentagon said it has already been repaired and is "fully back online and operational" by May 18. The 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has advanced another 700 metres on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Source: 3rd Assault Brigade Quote: "The 3rd Assault Brigade continues to push the invaders out of positions near Bakhmut! 1,730 metres of territory in width and another 700 metres in depth were cleared of the enemy. When trying to return the positions previously captured by Ukrainian fighters, units of the 72nd Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces were defeated, they were torn to shreds. During yesterday's battles a total of 23 occupiers were killed, and more than 40 were injured. Enemy equipment, including tanks, was destroyed." Details: The brigade specified that the task was completed by the soldiers of the 2nd Assault Battalion. "[We are] confidently moving forward, successfully repelling the attacks of the enemy," the message reads. For reference: The 3rd Assault Brigade performs combat missions at the front as part of Tactical Group A. This is a group with a base consisting of fighters of the 3rd Assault Brigade. Tactical Group A also includes other special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The group commander is Andrii Biletsky. For several months in a row, the personnel of the group have been jointly destroying the Russians on the front line in Bakhmut. Previously: The 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported a breakthrough on the western outskirts of Bakhmut; the defenders advanced 2,000 metres in width and 700 metres in depth. On 21 May, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the army units continue to advance along the flanks in the suburbs of Bakhmut. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! MANILA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Several passengers sustained minor injuries after their ferry collided with a cargo vessel on Sunday afternoon in central Philippines, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. The PCG said the accident happened at around 3 p.m. local time (0700 GMT) on Sunday while the ferry was sailing along Mactan channel near Mandaue-Mactan bridge. The PCG added the fast craft with 185 people on board departed from Ormoc City in Leyte province, heading for Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines. The PCG in Cebu said the passengers were all accounted for, while the ferry sustained damage in the front. Ukraine's Special Operations Forces post video of them hunting down Russian occupiers in Marinka Special Operations Forces (SSO) have posted a video of Russian invaders being killed with UAVs in the city of Marinka, Donetsk Oblast. Source: SSO Quote: "Completely destroyed, but deadly for the invaders. This is Marinka, Donetsk Oblast. There, the operators of the SSO of the Ukrainian Forces are carrying out a real hunt for the enemy. They [the Russians ed.] try to hide in the ruins that were once the homes of local residents." Details: SSO fighters emphasise that they are constantly watching the movement of Russians, and having found them, they strike with drones. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! On the evening of 21 May, Ukrainian air defence forces shot down an attack drone launched by the Russians over the Black Sea on Odesa Oblast. Source: Operational Command Pivden (South) on Facebook Quote: "The enemy launched an attack UAV at Odesa Oblast. Air defence forces destroyed it over the sea." Details: Operational Command Pivden (South) also reported that there are currently two missile carriers on combat duty in the Black Sea, the firing capacity of which is up to 12 Kalibr missiles. "The level of missile danger against the background of the activity of strategic and tactical aviation is very high," the command noted. Earlier, it was reported about explosions in Odesa during an air-raid alert. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Ukrainian military near Bakhmut The enemy was unable to encircle Bakhmut and has lost some of "dominating elevations" around the city, according to her. Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers are continuing to move along the flanks in Bakhmut's suburbs, complicating the "life" of the invaders in the city. "Our troops have half-encircled the city that enabled us to eliminate the occupiers. That's why the enemy is forced to defend its position in the city," her message reads. The Defence Forces are still controlling industrial and infrastructure facilities and private houses areas in Bakhmut as well as Litak District, Malyar said. However, the city has been almost completely destroyed by Russian attacks, Operational Command East spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi said. Nevertheless, the south-western part of the city remains under the Ukrainian army's control, he said. Commenting on the situation in Bakhmut to Suspilne TV, Cherevatyi said that capturing the ruined city would be of no use for Russia, either militarily or politically. Read also: Ukrainian army releases video of devastation in Bakhmut The Ukrainian forces are trying to push the invaders back along the flanks, do not give them any rest and launch limited counter-offensive efforts, when possible, he said, explaining the current state of the battle for Bakhmut. Numerous media reports appeared on May 21 that the Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy had allegedly confirmed that Bakhmut had been captured by Russia. The presidential spokesperson Serhiy Nykyforov clarified that journalists had misunderstood the state leader's words. Yevgeny Prygozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group mercenary company, has also claimed to be in full control of Bakhmut. However, his statement was refuted by the Ukrainian military. Mediazone publisher Petro Verzilov also denied that the city had been seized by Russia, posting a video shot in a trench in one of the western neighbourhoods. 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 Hanna Maliar, Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister, has said that Ukrainian defenders have semi-encircled the city of Bakhmut, enabling them to effectively destroy the Russian army in that area. Source: Maliar on Telegram Quote from Maliar: "Russia failed to surround Bakhmut and lost some of the dominant heights around the city. This means that the advance of our troops in the suburbs on the flanks, which is still ongoing, makes it very difficult for the enemy to remain in Bakhmut. Our troops have semi-encircled the city, allowing us to destroy the Russian forces. Therefore, the enemy has to switch to defence in the part of the city it controls." Details: Maliar stressed that Ukrainian troops retain control over industrial and infrastructure facilities and the private sector in Bakhmut's Litak area. Background: Russian troops have completely destroyed the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, but Ukraines Defence Forces continue to hold positions in the southwestern part of the city, said Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! A house in Kreminnaya damaged by Russian shelling Read also: UN Commission accuses Russia of war crimes in Ukraine During a conversation with a woman he calls granny, the Russian war criminal brags that they went "on an assault" that night. "Today, when we came in, we started whacking civilians and all the f***ers, just whacking everyone, just shelling the holy f*** out of them," the soldier says. Read also: Former Wagner commanders confess to massive war crimes, including killing children Granny, I'm telling you, we popped at least 400 people at night. ... We also have machine gunners, and they mowed down everyone: children, women, men, locals, non-locals. They just mowed everybody down. We went into the houses and just shot them, we were just sick of everything. We were just given an order - guys, take Kreminna - and we just mowed it all down, gran. "Damn right," the woman replies. The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine assured that there will be a just retribution for every war crime committed against Ukraine. At the end of April 2023, Ukraines spy chief Kyrylo Budanov promised that Russians who committed war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine would be found and destroyed in any part of the world. 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 Editors Note: This is issue 88 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from May 13-19, 2023. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Ukrainian SOE Weekly is an independent weekly digest based on a compilation of the most important news related to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state-owned banks in Ukraine. This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union within the project Supporting Ukraine in rebuilding and recovery implemented by the KSE Institute. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the editorial team of the Ukrainian SOE Weekly and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union. Corporate governance of SOEs The Cabinet approves a draft law aimed at launching the corporate governance reform of GTSOU criticized for not meeting obligations to the IMF. On May 12, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a draft law aimed at launching the corporate governance reform of the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), the Cabinet of Ministers said in its release. Neither the Cabinets decision to approve the draft law nor the draft law itself has been published on the Cabinets website at the time of this writing. The draft law was not registered in the Verkhovna Rada at the time of writing, either. The GTSOUs current model does not accord with the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of SOEs, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko said in the Cabinets release. According to the Ministry, the draft law introduces an improved model of corporate governance at GTSOU through the merger of Main Gas Pipelines of Ukraine (MGU) and GTSOU and proposes a new model: Ministry of Energy GTSOU (with an independent supervisory board and a collegiate executive body). Apparently, the Ministry of Energy meant that GTSOU will be directly owned by the ministry after the proposed merger. Today, GTSOU is owned by MGU, which in turn is owned by the Ministry of Energy. The GTSOUs former CEO Sergiy Makogon criticized the draft law. He called it a profanation, not reform. According to Makogon, this draft law does not fulfil Ukraines commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The commitments clearly state that GTSOU should be transferred to the Ministry of Energy, and a new GTSOU charter should be adopted, which should envisage an independent supervisory board at GTSOU, he said. However, according to Makogon, MGUs current supervisory board remains in place, although it will work until Oct. 31. A new board must be elected by this date, but this is not feasible if the competitive selection starts later than July 30, he said. In turn, this requires changing GTSOUs charter upfront to provide for a supervisory board as a governing body of GTSOU. According to Makogon, the main purpose of this draft law is to create an appearance of reform for international donors, as well as maintain the status quo and control over the management of GTSOU. The Ministry of Energy simply transplants the right people into the right seats with the hands of the Cabinet and MPs, Makogon wrote. On May 19, lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Voice faction) reported that the Cabinets decision on the previous version of the draft law would be cancelled, and an updated version would be adopted instead (in the Cabinets meeting on May 19). He also said that these changes do not solve the problem (that Makogon raised). Later, on May 19, Taras Melnychuk, the governments representative in the Verkhovna Rada, said that the Cabinet approved this draft law. In the afternoon of May 19, it was registered in the Verkhovna Rada as draft law No. 9311, although its text was not yet available at the time of this writing. In SOE Weekly (Issue 82), we reported that the IMFs recently approved $15.6 billion EFF programme for Ukraine set a structural benchmark for GTSOU, as well as a number of other requirements. Specifically, the authorities have committed to implement the following steps: Transfer all shares of GTSOU from MGU to the Ministry of Energy and adopt GTSOUs new charter which was developed and agreed upon with the Energy Community Secretariat (EnCS) by the end of July 2023 (structural benchmark); Select and appoint a supervisory board for GTSOU by the end of October 2023; Subsequently, appoint a new CEO and eventually liquidate MGU. In Issue 80, we reported that MGUs supervisory board appointed Dmytro Lyppa as the CEO of GTSOU in March 2023. In Issue 79, we reported that in its Priority Action Plan for 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers declared plans to bring the corporate governance of GTSOU in line with the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of SOEs. According to the Plan, GTSOU must be transferred to the Ministry of Energy, get a supervisory and executive board, and a new version of its charter must be approved. The deadline is December 2023. In Issue 71, we also reported that European Pravda revealed the conditions that Ukraine must meet to receive the EUs macro-financial assistance (MFA) package. One of these conditions is to launch the corporate restructuring of GTSOU by June 2023. In Issue 67, we reported that on Oct. 4, 2022, the EnCS wrote a letter to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko, urging the government to immediately implement GTSOUs corporate governance action plan: transfer the ownership of GTSOU from MGU to the Ministry of Energy; adopt a new charter for GTSOU, establishing an independent supervisory board; run a competitive selection for GTSOU supervisory board members; have an executive board elected and appointed by GTSOUs new supervisory board. This Week in Ukraine Ep. 8 How Ukrainian air defense denies Russia air superiority This Week in Ukraine is a video podcast hosted by Kyiv Independents reporter Anastasiia Lapatina. Every week, Anastasiia sits down with her newsroom colleagues to discuss Ukraines most pressing issues. Episode #8 is dedicated to the work of Ukrainian air defense, and how it denies Russia the ai Kyiv IndependentAnastasiia Lapatina HACC will consider NABUs motion to extend the pre-trial investigation of the Kobolyev case again. On May 17, the law firm Miller, which represents former Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev, reported that the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) will consider the prosecutors motion to extend the pre-trial investigation in the case involving Kobolyevs bonuses. According to Miller, on May 17 the prosecution asked to cancel the previous ruling (which was to leave the detectives motion without consideration) and schedule a new hearing on the motion to extend the pre-trial investigation. The HACCs Appeals Chamber satisfied the prosecutors motion. At the same time, the pre-trial investigation has been officially completed, and Kobolyev and his defense are currently reviewing the materials of the criminal proceedings. Kobolyev commented on this ruling on his Facebook page, saying that Ukrainian law does not provide for the right of investigators to appeal in such cases. In SOE Weekly (Issue 83), we reported that the HACC dismissed the motion of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) detective to extend the pre-trial investigation against Kobolyev. Shortly after the ruling to dismiss the NABUs request, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) said that the pre-trial investigation was completed, and its materials were available to the suspect (Kobolyev) and his defence (see Issue 83). As we reported earlier, on Jan. 19, NABU and SAPO notified Kobolyev that he was suspected of misappropriating (illegally awarding himself) over Hr 229 million ($6.3 million) in 2018, which was part of the bonuses granted to Naftogazs team in May 2018 for the companys historic victory against Russias Gazprom in Stockholms court of arbitration. For an extended background on the Kobolyev case, see SOE Weeklys Issues 71, 72, 73, 77, 78, 79, 83 and 84. The court increases bail for one of the suspects accused of involvement in the theft of Hr 500 million ($) from UMCC and the Odesa Portside Plant. On May 16, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) partially satisfied the motion of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) and changed the bail amount for one of the former acting CEOs of the Odesa Portside Plant (OPZ). According to the ruling, the bail was increased from Hr 5.9 million ($161 million) to Hr 20.1 million ($550 million). At the same time, the procedural duties assigned by the HACCs investigating judge were left unchanged. SAPO did not name the suspect, but the media identified him as Mykola Synytsia. According to the prosecutors, Synytsia is one of the members of the criminal organization that stole more than Hr 500 million ($13.7 million) from OPZ and United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC) between 2019 and 2021. In SOE Weekly (Issue 80), we reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and SAPO said that they exposed a criminal group run by former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) Dmytro Sennychenko. See more about this case in Issue 80. The court issued a warrant for the arrest of Sennychenkos former adviser Yuriy Lypko and OPZs former acting CEO Mykola Synytsia. The bail was set at Hr 5.9 million ($). According to SAPO, the prosecutor disagreed with the courts ruling on Synytsia and planned to file an appeal (see Issue 81). The suspects in this case were placed on the wanted list. (See more in Issue 83.) Ukraine strikes back around Bakhmut as Wagner reaches last streets in the city On the evening of May 9, just half a day after a single T-34 tank rolled through Red Square during Moscows subdued Victory Day celebrations, something unexpected happened. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russias Wagner mercenary group, announced that units of the Russian regular armys 72nd Separat Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell Defense Ukroboronprom and Germanys Rheinmetall to establish a joint venture. On May 12, Armin Papperger, the CEO of the German company Rheinmetall, one of the world leaders in the defense industry, said that his company had signed an agreement with Ukroboronprom to set up a joint venture to repair tanks in Ukraine. According to media reports, Papperger discussed the details of the deal with President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Ukraine. The contracts have already been signed, he said in an interview with Handelsblatt. According to the agreement, Rheinmetall and Ukroboronprom will set up a joint venture in which the German side will hold 51% of the shares and the management rights. The co-operation will focus on the maintenance and repair of armoured vehicles in Ukraine, while preparations will be made for the construction of tanks. On May 17, Ukroboronprom officially confirmed the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Rheinmetall. The joint venture is scheduled to begin operations in mid-July 2023. Rheinmetall AG, headquartered in Dusseldorf, is one of the largest manufacturers of military equipment, weapons, and vehicle components in Europe. The group consists of five divisions: Vehicle Systems; Weapons and Ammunition; Electronic Solutions; Sensors and Actuators; and Materials and Trade. With some 28,000 employees working in 132 locations worldwide, Rheinmetalls sales were 6.4 billion euros in 2022. The groups sales are distributed geographically as follows: Germany (34.1%), the rest of Europe (30.8%), Asia (18.4%), the Americas (8.2%), and other regions (8.5%). Rheinmetall has a large institutional investors base (280 institutional owners and shareholders). As of Dec. 31, 2022, 69% of its shares were owned by institutional investors and 21% by private shareholders. The largest shareholders were Harris Associates LP (11.6%), Wellington Management Co. LLP (5.08%), Capital Research & Management Co. (4.99%), and BlackRock Fund Advisors (2.35%). In SOE Weekly (Issue 74), we reported that Ukroboronprom announced that it had begun producing 120-mm mortar shells jointly with an undisclosed NATO member state. According to the company, the 120-mm mortar shell is the first product to be jointly produced by Ukraine and a NATO member state. Recently, Ukroboronprom signed a contract with Ukraines Defense Ministry for the supply of these munitions. In Issue 79, we reported that Ukroboronprom had begun producing 125-mm shells for tanks jointly with a NATO member state. The first batch of 125-mm shells for T-64, T-72, and T-80 tanks, which are used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has already been delivered, according to Ukroboronprom. In Issue 80, we reported that Ukroboronprom announced that it shipped the first batch of domestic 122 mm shells to the Armed Forces, which it had produced abroad. Why Ukrainian writers refuse to share stages with Russian authors at festivals Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, many Ukrainian writers have refused to participate in any cultural events that featured Russian writers. Despite thousands of civilian casualties, billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, and countless stories of human rights abuses committed Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan Infrastructure Ukraine to raise 200 million euros from the EBRD for Ukrzaliznytsia. On May 12, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide 200 million euros to rebuild Ukraines railway. According to Shmyhal, the decision was approved by the Cabinet at a meeting on May 12. These funds will be used to purchase equipment needed to restore railway corridors with the EU, improve passenger traffic, and purchase additional locomotives, Shmyhal explained. No further details were released, including whether this funding is provided as a grant or an EBRD loan. In SOE Weekly (Issue 68), we reported that after Russias full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian government effectively gave Ukrzaliznytsia new tasks. We also provided details of the financial support that the government, Ukrgasbank, and international partners provided to Ukrzaliznytsia throughout 2022. In Issue 72, we reported that Ukrzaliznytsia took losses of Hr 10.8 billion ($295 million) in 2022. The loss from passenger transportation was Hr 13.3 billion ($364 million), [suggesting that the companys other segments, such as cargo transportation, made a profit of 2.5 billion ($68 million). Ukrzaliznytsia also expected to lose Hr 20.2 billion ($552 million) in 2023 due to the large social burden and restrictions on cargo transportation. HACC extends the pre-trial investigation in the Pyvovarsky case. On May 15, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) extended the term of procedural duties imposed on the former Minister of Infrastructure Andriy Pyvovarsky for two months. Pyvovarsky was charged with abuse of power. According to the courts ruling, the ex-minister must: appear at the request of the investigator (detective), prosecutor, or court; notify the investigator (detective), prosecutor, and court of any changes in his place of residence and place of work, travelling outside Kyiv and Kyiv region; and refrain from communicating with the persons specified in the investigating judges ruling. Pyvovarsky commented on this ruling on his Facebook page, saying that the case remains in the same state as it was: In two months, the prosecution has only added information about his crossing the border of Ukraine twice during this period. On May 16, the HACCs Appeals Chamber partially satisfied the motion of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) and extended the pre-trial investigation to six months (that is, until Aug. 22). Pyvovarsky wrote that the prosecutions motivation for continuing the investigation was to conduct an economic examination and interrogate witnesses involved in the decisions for which he is charged. According to the ex-minister, his lawyers have never found a request from the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority (USPA) to recognize it as an injured party in the case files. Despite this, his assets and those of his wife remain seized. Last week, the appellate court refused to lift these seizures, Pyvovarsky added. As we reported in SOE Weekly (Issue 85), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and SAPO served Pyvovarsky with a notice of suspicion for allegedly causing over $30 million in damage to the state in 2015. This damage resulted from an allegedly illegal order issued by him as the Minister of Infrastructure: The order allowed private companies to charge half the harbour dues at Pivdenny seaport. Pyvovarsky then argued that the charges were unfounded, because according to the law On Sea Ports of Ukraine, proceeds from tonnage tax are distributed between the user of the ports harbour (in this case, USPA) and the owner of the operational harbour (in this case, private company TIS). He posted bail of Hr 10 million ($273,000), as ruled by the court. Pyvovarsky has also been handed a request to extend the pre-trial investigation until May 22, with the amended suspicion accusing him of causing $43.6 million in damage. For a detailed overview of the Pyvovarsky case, see SOE Weeklys Issues 76, 77, 79, 80, 82, 83 and 85. By Katya Golubkova HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - China represents the world's greatest challenge to security and prosperity, but other leading economies should not seek to fully decouple from it, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Sunday after a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) nations. "China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity. They are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad," Sunak told reporters after the G7 summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Sunak said Britain and other G7 countries would pursue a common approach to reduce the challenges posed by China. "This is all about de-risking - not de-coupling," he said. "With the G7, we are taking steps to prevent China from using economic coercion to interfere in the sovereign affairs of others," he added. Last week Sunak's predecessor as prime minister, Liz Truss, became the best-known British politician to visit Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s, where she said the West should not "appease and accommodate" China. Tensions have risen as China has become increasingly assertive about the self-governed island, which Beijing claims as its own. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Truss represents a more hawkish wing of Sunak's Conservative Party that opposes his approach to China, which involves seeking to engage in areas such as trade and climate change while trying to limit national security threats. Sunak also said Britain would start training Ukrainian pilots this summer to support its air force in its war with Russia. Joined by Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Sunak said no one wants peace more than the Ukrainian president but that peace conditions should be based on Ukraine's principles. At the three-day summit the G7 signalled to Russia their readiness to stand by Ukraine for the long term. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova in Hiroshima, Japan; Writing by Kantaro Komiya and David Milliken; Editing by William Mallard) Eighteen months after April Adcox learned she had skin cancer, she finally returned to Charlestons Medical University of South Carolina last May to seek treatment. By then, the reddish area along her hairline had grown from a 2-inch circle to cover nearly her entire forehead. It oozed fluid and was painful. Honestly, I was just waiting on it to kill me, because I thought thats what was going to have to happen, said the 41-year-old mother of three, who lives in Easley, South Carolina. Adcox had first met with physicians at the academic medical center in late 2020, after a biopsy diagnosed basal cell carcinoma. The operation to remove the cancer would require several physicians, she was told, including a neurosurgeon, because of how close it was to her brain. But Adcox was uninsured. She had lost her automotive plant job in the early days of the pandemic, and at the time of her diagnosis was equally panicked about the complex surgery and the prospect of a hefty bill. Instead of proceeding with treatment, she attempted to camouflage the expanding cancerous area for more than a year with hats and long bangs. If Adcox had developed breast or cervical cancer, she likely would have qualified for insurance coverage under a federal law that extends Medicaid eligibility to lower-income patients diagnosed with those two malignancies. For female patients with other types of cancer, as well as pretty much all male patients, the options are scant, especially in South Carolina and the 11 other states including Florida that havent yet implemented Medicaid expansion, according to cancer physicians and health policy experts who study access to care. In the face of potentially daunting bills, uninsured adults sometimes delay care, which can result in worse survival outcomes, research shows. The odds of patients getting insurance to help cover the cost of treatment play out a bit like a game of roulette, depending upon where they live and what type of cancer they have. It is very random thats, I think, the heartbreaking part about it, said Dr. Evan Graboyes, a head and neck surgeon and one of Adcoxs physicians. Whether you live or die from cancer shouldnt really be related to what state you live in. Big difference in states that expanded Medicaid, and those that didnt The Affordable Care Act gave states the option to expand Medicaid eligibility and cover more people. Shortly after the law passed, just 2.6% of adults ages 18 to 64 with a new cancer diagnosis lacked insurance in Medicaid expansion states versus 7.8% in nonexpansion states, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology in 2018. Researchers at the American Cancer Society, who conducted the analysis, estimate that about 30,000 uninsured people are diagnosed with cancer each year. But in all states, lower-income uninsured patients with breast or cervical cancer may have another route for coverage, even if they dont otherwise qualify for Medicaid. Adults with cancer detected through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program can enroll in Medicaid for the duration of their cancer treatment, as a result of advocacy efforts and federal legislation that started more than three decades ago. In 2019, 43,549 breast and cervical cancer patients were enrolled, according to a Government Accountability Office report published in 2020. If youre lucky to be diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, youre good, said Dr. Fumiko Chino, a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, who studies cancer treatment access and affordability. But otherwise, you may have some significant obstacles. High costs of cancer treatment The total amount billed to the insurer during the year following a cancer diagnosis can be steep. For instance, costs in 2016 averaged $168,730 for lung cancer and $137,663 for colorectal cancer, according to a 2022 study that calculated insurance claims for several common malignancies diagnosed in privately insured patients. Since uninsured adults can struggle to afford preventive care, their cancer may not be identified until its more advanced, making it costlier for the patient and the health system, said Robin Yabroff, an author of the study in JAMA Oncology and a scientific vice president at the American Cancer Society. Patients who cant get financial assistance through a safety-net facility sometimes rack up medical debt, use credit cards, or launch fundraising efforts though online sites, Yabroff said. We hear stories of people who mortgage their homes to pay for cancer treatment. Cancer patients can purchase insurance through the ACA health insurance marketplace. But they often must wait until the regular enrollment period near the end of the year, and those health plans dont become effective until the start of the next calendar year. Thats because the federal law was designed to encourage people to sign up when they are healthy, which helps control costs, said MaryBeth Musumeci, an associate teaching professor of health policy and management at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. If a new diagnosis were a qualifying event for new coverage, she said, then it would incentivize people to stay uninsured while they were healthy and they didnt think they really were going to need coverage. Meanwhile, the on-ramp to Medicaid coverage for lower-income patients with breast and cervical cancer is a story of successful advocacy, dating to a 1990 law that created the national breast and cervical screening program. Mammography started to be widely recommended in the 1980s, and advocacy groups pushed to reach more underserved individuals, said Katie McMahon, a policy principal at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the organizations advocacy arm. But research showed that some uninsured adults struggled to get care for those cancers detected through the screening program, McMahon said. A 2000 law allowed states to extend Medicaid to them, and by 2008 all 50 states and the District of Columbia had done so, according to the 2020 GAO report. For other cancer patients, one of the remaining avenues to coverage, according to Chino, is to qualify for disability through the Social Security Administration, after which they can apply for Medicaid. The federal agency has a lengthy list of criteria for cancer patients. It also has a Compassionate Allowances program, which offers faster reviews for patients with certain serious medical conditions, including advanced or aggressive cancers. Catch-22 in getting treatment for curable cancers Although the rules vary, many patients dont qualify until their disease has spread or the cancer requires at least a year of intense treatment, Chino said. That presents an inherent catch-22 for people who are uninsured but have curable types of cancer, she said. To qualify for Medicaid, I have to wait for my cancer to be incurable, she said, which is very depressing. For example, the Compassionate Allowances program doesnt list basal cell carcinoma, and it covers head and neck cancer only if it has spread elsewhere in the body or cant be removed surgically. Adcox said that before her 12-hour operation last June, her financial assistance application with the Medical University of South Carolina was still pending. Someone from the hospital, she recalled, estimated the bill would be $176,000 and asked how much Adcox could put down. She cobbled together $700 with the help of loved ones. But she did qualify for financial assistance and hasnt received any bills, except from an outside lab services provider. Its over, Adcox said. Shes since undergone radiation and will have more reconstructive surgeries. But shes cancer-free. It didnt kill me. It didnt kill me. Still, not everyone finds a safety net. Brian Becker, of El Paso, Texas, was uninsured and not working when he learned he had chronic myelogenous leukemia in summer 2021, said Stephanie Gamboa, his ex-wife and the mother of their young daughter. His cancer physician required an upfront payment, she said, and it took several months to borrow enough money. He started chemotherapy the following year, and over months lost weight and became weaker, returning to the emergency room with infections and worsening kidney function, Gamboa said. The last time their daughter saw her father, he couldnt get out of bed. He was literally skin and bones, Gamboa said. Becker started the process to request disability benefits. The text he sent Gamboa, which she shared with KHN, stated that review of his application began in June 2022 and was expected to take six months. The denial letter, dated Feb. 4, 2023, arrived more than a month after Beckers death in December at age 32. It read in part: Based on a review of your medical conditions, you do not qualify for benefits on this claim. 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. ABOARD THE USS PAUL HAMILTON IN THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ The Mideast-based commanders of the U.S., British and French navies transited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday aboard an American warship, a sign of their unified approach to keep the crucial waterway open after Iran seized two oil tankers. Tensions in the Persian Gulf have been volatile since Irans nuclear deal with world powers collapsed, following the U.S. unilateral withdrawal five years ago. The incredibly rare, joint trip by the three navy chiefs aboard the USS Paul Hamilton, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, saw three fast boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard approach the vessel at one point. Navy to boost rotations of ships, aircraft in Strait of Hormuz Guardsmen stood by uncovered machine guns on their decks, while sailors aboard the Paul Hamilton similarly stood by loaded machine guns as others shot photographs and video of the vessels. An Associated Press journalist also accompanied the allied naval commanders. While the Guard kept its distance from both the Paul Hamilton and the passing British frigate HMS Lancaster, their presence showed just how tense passage for vessels can be in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of global oil supplies passes. Iran has seized or attacked 15 ships in the last two years. Eight seizures and seven attacks, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who oversees the U.S. Navys Mideast-based 5th Fleet, told the AP. So the shipping industry is mindful of what the security posture looks like in the region. We have the ability to positively impact that influence and thats what were doing now. Cooper said Irans Guard ships Friday came within 1,000 yards (915 meters) of the Paul Hamilton, which is based out of San Diego. The U.S. has viewed securing the Middle Easts waterways, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, as key since then-President Jimmy Carters 1980 speech vowing to use military force to protect American interests in the wider Persian Gulf. While focused then on the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan, the Carter Doctrines vow to allow the free movement of Middle East oil now pits the U.S. against Iran, which has seized a series of oil tankers since the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers. U.S. Navy sailors work in the Combat Information Center of the guided-missile destroyer Paul Hamilton in the Strait of Hormuz Friday, May 19, 2023. (Jon Gambrell/AP) Last week, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists that America planned to make a series of moves to bolster our defensive posture in the Persian Gulf, while criticizing Irans recent seizures of tankers. Cooper said the joint trip on the Paul Hamilton represented part of that push, with the aim of having more coalition ships passing through the strait on a regular basis. The volume of commerce that flows through the Strait of Hormuz it is critical to the worlds economy, he said. For its part, Iran long has bristled at the American presence in the region. After Kirbys remarks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani issued a lengthy statement accusing the U.S. of creating and intensifying instability and insecurity in the Persian Gulf region for decades with its interventionist and destructive policies. However, Kanaani also specifically mentioned the U.S. seizing and confiscating some Iranian oil cargoes in international waters. The suspected American seizure of the Suez Rajan, a tanker linked to a U.S. private equity firm believed to have been carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil off Singapore, likely sparked Tehran to recently take the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Advantage Sweet. That ship carried Kuwaiti crude oil for energy firm Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California. There was no immediate reaction in Iranian state media nor from the Guard about the Paul Hamiltons trip from the Persian Gulf out through the strait to the Gulf of Oman. However, it was unlikely the Iranians immediately knew that the American, British and French commanders had been aboard the vessel, though at least one Guard member aboard the fast boats was studying the Paul Hamilton with a pair of binoculars. Irans mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the trip. On the trip through the Strait of Hormuz, at least one Iranian drone watched the Paul Hamilton. Meanwhile, an U.S. Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon also was overhead. U.S. forces also routinely fly drones in the region as well, while a Navy task force also has put some drones out to sea. Securing the Strait of Hormuz has been a challenge since the Carter Doctrine and deadly. The so-called 1980s Tanker War involved American naval ships escorting reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the gulf and the strait after Iranian mines damaged vessels in the region. The U.S. Navy even fought a one-day naval battle against Iran at the time, as well as accidentally shot down an Iranian commercial airliner, killing 290 people. Former President Donald Trumps decision to unilaterally withdraw from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers sparked new challenges from Iran in the region. Tehran seized tankers, while the Navy also blamed Iran for again using mines against shipping. The Trump administration came up with its Sentinel program, which also involved it and partner nations escorting ships in the region. But tensions with Europe after the nuclear deals collapse didnt see a wide buy-in with the program. This renewed effort under President Joe Biden does not appear to involve escorting individual ships, but trying to put more allied forces in the region. Already, the U.S. has brought A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and a submarine in the region to try to deter Iran. America also could bring more ships into the Persian Gulf. The end of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the war in Ukraine and American concern over Chinas expansion in the South China Sea, has halted routine carrier deployments in recent years. For now, Cooper pointed to the presence of his British and French colleagues Commodore Philip Dennis, the commander of the United Kingdom Maritime Component Command, and Vice Adm. Emmanuel Slaars, the joint commander of the French forces deployed in the Indian Ocean as a sign of the resolve of America and its partners. This is part of our increase in presence in the region, which was described by the White House last week, and thats now in execution, Cooper said. US announces $375 million in military aid for Ukraine, as Zelensky meets Biden in Japan The U.S. Department of Defense on May 21 announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $375 million, aimed to help Ukrainian forces "push back against Russia's unprovoked war of aggression." The latest package includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS rocket launchers and artillery rounds, as well as Javelin anti-tank missiles and AT-4 anti-armor systems. In a statement, the Pentagon said that the U.S. would continue working with allies and partners to help Ukraine meet "its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements." The announcement of the new military aid package comes after U.S. President Joe Biden met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Zelensky said in a Twitter post that the two discussed further cooperation to bolster Ukraine's defense, as well as the Ukrainian Peace Formula and reconstruction projects. Zelensky thanked Biden for the announcement, which he said adds up to a total of $37 billion in military aid since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. In a statement, the White House said Biden underscored his country's readiness to help Ukraine meet both immediate battlefield needs and a long-term capacity to defend the country against Russian aggression. It added that they also discussed the American support for a joint effort with allies to train Ukrainian pilots on Western jets, including the F-16s. A few days earlier, Biden signaled that he would authorize a third-party transfer of the Western F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine which needs U.S. approval given the sensitive U.S. technology incorporated in the aircraft. He supported the international fighter jet coalition and reportedly told G7 leaders that he supported a joint initiative to train Ukrainian pilots on modern fighter jets, including F-16s. The shift in the U.S. position regarding the F-16s comes after Ukraine has spent months pleading for Western fighter jets to better protect its people from Russian air strikes and to ramp up its attacks on the battlefield. DHAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Experts here on Saturday said there is no scientific evidence of the electromagnetic field emissions from cellphone towers causing adverse effects. The opinion was come up in a roundtable organized by Telecom and Technology Reporters Network Bangladesh, with Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Shyam Sunder Sikder being the chief guest, and senior officials and telecom vendors participated in the discussion besides government policymakers. Mentioning some people have fictitious fear that mobile towers cause various diseases like cancer, experts stressed the need for more awareness-building efforts to brush aside such misconceptions in order to help the expansion of the telecom network. According to experts, mobile phones, mobile towers, and routers are non-ionized. Therefore, there is nothing harmful in them. US presents new aid package to Ukraine after Zelenskyys meeting with Biden at G7 summit Zelenskyy and Biden "We discussed further cooperation to bolster the defense capabilities of our country, the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula and the projects on Ukraine's reconstruction and recovery," Zelenskyy wrote. Read also: Zelenskyy to meet with Biden at G7 Summit in Japan He also thanked for the already provided support, which totals $37 billion already. One of the main decisions made was the U.S. President's decision to support the international fighter jets' coalition, the Ukrainian leader said. Read also: Zelenskyy tells G7 principle of preventive security will protect democracies from aggressor states The U.S. Department of Defence has announced on May 21 additional security assistance for Ukraine worth $375 million. It includes the following: Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS); 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles; Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems; Laser-guided rocket system munitions; Demolition munitions; Armored bridging systems; Armored medical treatment vehicles; Trucks and trailers to transport heavy equipment; Logistics support equipment; Thermal imagery systems; Spare parts and other field equipment. Biden added that new sanctions which were discussed during the G7 Summit will put additional pressure on the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and will help to hold his supporters to account. Read also: G7 leaders pledge to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes The U.S. president also called for a just peace for Ukraine, while stressing that the territorial integrity and state sovereignty of Ukraine are not negotiable. "What you've achieved is a matter for the entire world and were in awe of what you've done so far, Biden said after the meeting with Zelenskyy. Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine's back, and I promise we're not going anywhere." 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 vehicle crashed into a Harrison Township home Sunday overnight. >> TRENDING: Robbery suspect reaches 100 mph while leading authorities on high-speed chase through Miami Valley Harrison Township Police and Fire were dispatched to the 100 block of Burgess Avenue at 1:51 a.m. on reports of a vehicle into a structure, Montgomery County Regional Dispatch confirmed. When officers arrived on scene, they found a single vehicle crashed into a three-story home, causing moderate damage to the building, dispatch informed. There were no reported injuries, according to the initial 911 call. However, the American Red Cross was called to the incident to provide additional support to the victims. During the cleanup process, water and gas supplies to the home were cut off to prevent hazardous working conditions to fire crews at the scene. Harrison Township Police led the investigation into the crash. The Ventura City Council on Monday will discuss next steps for a major housing development proposed for midtown. The Ventura City Council will consider first steps in the possible approval process for a midtown housing development with 225 apartments, 90 townhomes and 79 single-family homes on Monday night. The KB Home-proposed project, at 2325 Vista del Mar Drive, includes buildings up to five stories tall on a 14.5-acre site. The project is located directly across the train tracks from the 72-townhome Haley Point project approved in 2021. Monday's consideration of project terms is an opportunity for the council to express concerns or set guidelines for the developer. The city will also consider whether to initiate a local coastal program amendment, which is necessary for the project to move forward. Such an amendment would allow residential use at the industrial site, a city staff report says. The site is currently used by a citrus company for industrial and manufacturing uses, according to KB Home. Existing industrial buildings and paved areas would be removed for what the developer calls the Del Mar project. City staff recommend the council deny the requested changes unless KB Home agrees to set aside 20% of for-sale units for residents with moderate income. According to the pre-application submitted in December 2021, the project had no affordable units. At a March meeting about the project, a KB Home representative was asked whether the development would follow the city's inclusionary housing ordinance, which mandates a certain percentage of homes be affordable. The representative said KB Home would agree to it. If the City Council gives its OK, the site also needs California Coastal Commission approval to designate the property as high-density residential, according to the city report. The commission could deny the land-use designation, require a redesign or want additional changes. KB Home and the city have already reached agreement on access across the railroad crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists and the preservation of mature street trees along Vista Del Mar Drive. Both sides have also agreed to include a public park and open space and to make street improvements including sidewalks, on-street parking, trees, bicycle lanes and curbs and gutters. When the council last discussed the project on March 27, KB Home asked the city to initiate the coastal program amendment to start the process. Council members expressed concerns about affordable housing and rezoning. Councilman Bill McReynolds, a residential builder, gave the strongest support for the project. Haggai Mazler, a vice president for KB Home, said the project could deliver much-needed housing to Ventura. Many residents at the March meeting voiced worries about the proposal, with some demanding the city reject it and others wanting affordable units. Council members in March directed staff to negotiate a so-called term sheet with KB Home to lay out key topics under discussion. On Monday, the council will weigh in on the term sheet and how to proceed. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St. Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes. This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura City Council to discuss midtown housing development President Musevenis passing of this bill will have deadly consequences (AP) When I arrived in England, I knew it was safe for me to finally come out. Struggling with your sexuality is a big deal, especially when youre in a homophobic country like my own. But finally, I was here, having left everything behind: the extreme religion that abhors homosexuality, the culture that believes that homosexuality is a curse, friends that would only be around you as long as you pretended to be a straight man, and my family that consider homosexuality to be a disgrace. Family, friends, culture, and religion are very important until they are against who you are. If they are against you, you need to choose yourself over them, and thats exactly what I did for my own survival. Uganda is a very gifted land in a lot of ways. It is a country of unique natural beauty and soulful music; I was a proud Ugandan until the day the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB23) returned to parliament. I became one of the faces associated with LGBT+ community, as calls of Gays Must Die echoed from all corners of the country and Ugandan society. There was nothing I could do about it, nothing could soothe the pain, but my skin thickened by necessity. Strangely, all my fears turned into fierceness, and now that I have escaped to safety, I have an obligation to speak out on behalf of my community back home. Moreover, I owe it to all those worldwide facing discrimination and violence because of their sexuality. President Musevenis passing of this bill will have deadly consequences: 20 years in prison for promoting homosexuality, the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality, and seven years in prison for anyone using their premises for homosexual acts, are just some of the provisions in a bill that has already emboldened homophobes to commit hate crimes. As well as an assault on our human rights, the bill is a serious public health threat that would decimate the HIV response. My community back home would be pushed to the shadows of society and fear afraid of accessing services for fear of being reported. The solidarity myself and my community have felt is immense; on 25 April a global day of action against the bill took place, with actions in New York City, Washington DC, New Delhi, London and elsewhere. Despite this solidarity being called for by my community in Uganda, Museveni tries to spin this solidarity as imperialism; anything to excuse or justify his attack on our human rights. Whilst activists have our back, I am saddened that businesses have not been as vocal against the bill as they were to similar legislation in 2014. UK-Uganda trade stands at 478m over the last year and from their workforce to their supply chain, big business has obligations to ensure gay lives are protected and should be putting their economic investment on the table as leverage. British and global consumers have a right to know, particularly as we enter Pride month, if their choice of petrol, bank or other product or service is masquerading as an ally or standing with us. Moreover, it is vital that countries worldwide stand for human rights and use all diplomatic and economic pressure to demand Museveni shelve this bill for good. They have a responsibility, not just under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but due to their part in this: the British Empire introduced criminalising laws to Uganda and US evangelicals are funding anti-gay groups and legislation across the continent of Africa. My community would love to contribute to the real issues Uganda faces: ongoing poverty, lack of job opportunities, poor infrastructure, poor health, domestic violence and corruption. Rather than tackling these issues together, Musevenis government wants to attack us as a distraction from his own failings. No matter what happens with this abhorrent bill, we will not be silenced until equal rights are universally enshrined in law and upheld by everyone. WA lawmaker rejoins Republican caucus after issues with leadership caused her to leave State Rep. Michelle Caldier has returned to the Washington State House Republican Caucus. Documents obtained by the Gateway through a public records request indicate that Caldier left the caucus last year because she felt leadership was not making adequate accommodations for her as a legislator who is legally blind. Caldier confirmed that to be the reason in a recent phone call with the Gateway. She represents the 26th Legislative District, which goes from Gig Harbor to Bremerton and includes parts of Pierce and Kitsap counties. She said she left the caucus during its reorganization meeting in Spokane on Nov. 17. I have very good working relationships with almost every single member in the House, Caldier told the Gateway in January. But sometimes theres issues that come up and you have to take a stand to make a difference. She declined to explain the issues that caused her to leave at the time, saying she wanted to keep the matter internal. A progressive glaucoma robbed Washington state Rep. Michelle Caldier of her eyesight in 2016. She has been asking for accommodations that allow her to do her job. She is shown in Olympia, Washington, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox also declined to say what issues caused Caldier to leave the caucus when he spoke to the Gateway in January. Michelles been a very effective legislator over the years, he said at the time. I think in the long run, were going to come to a place where everybodys happy and Im looking forward to that time. Wilcox, of Yelm, had been the House Republican leader since 2018. He announced his resignation from the leadership role in a video April 23. The same day Caldier returned to the caucus. In the video Wilcox said his decision to step down was to make room for new leadership. If you dont have any turnover in leadership, then you dont have any opportunity for new people, Wilcox told the Gateway in a phone interview May 5. I thought that the fact that Ive been leader for five years and weve got some awfully good new people coming meant that it was the right time to go. Rep. Drew Stokesbary of Auburn was elected the new leader of the Washington State House Republicans on April 24. Caldier said recent meetings with new leadership and Wilcoxs decision to step down led to her decision to return to the caucus. Rep. Stokesbary and Rep. (Mike) Steele are willing to sit down with me, the attorney and human resources to get the disability accommodations I need over the interim, Caldier said. She said they told her providing her with accommodations is a priority for them. They have said theyll do everything they can to provide me with accommodations and that it will be a top priority, Caldier said. And I trust them. Asked for comment, Stokesbary said in an emailed statement to the Gateway: Yes, Michelle has asked to rejoin the House Republican Caucus. She is a fierce advocate for the 26th District and I am glad shes decided to rejoin the caucus. I hope to find as many ways to support her as are possible, but will defer any further specific comment to her. Transportation Shortly after being elected in 2014 Caldier lost complete sight in her left eye, almost overnight, she said. In 2016 she was diagnosed with glaucoma. Shes had many surgeries and now wears a prosthesis in her left eye. With limited vision in her right eye, she can see about a foot in front of her. Anything further than that she cannot see. Caldier said shed like to see the caucus allow reimbursements for a private driver. This would ensure she always has a ride and is not stranded on late nights, she said. Sometimes discussions go until 2 or 3 oclock in the morning, Caldier said. She budgets $500 a month for a private driver, she said, and a trip to Olympia from Gig Harbor on top of that is about $80. Before the pandemic, the Chief Clerks Office provided Caldier with shuttle transportation to and from a nearby hotel. If she wasnt staying in a hotel she was rooming with colleagues in Olympia. Once the pandemic hit, shuttle transportation stopped. I started to freak out because I didnt know what I was going to do, Caldier told the Gateway. She said leadership suggested she ask her colleagues for a ride or use a ride-share app. Uber and Lyft werent an option during the pandemic, Caldier said. After COVID-19 restrictions cleared up she said it was hard to find drivers at such late times. She added that using Uber and Lyft in Gig Harbor is a challenge because drivers do not want to cross the bridge. Its not covered in their rates, she said. When her colleagues arent available to give her a ride she hires a private driver. Legislators also attend off-campus events, such as recent rural healthcare tour that took legislators around the state. She said leadership suggested she fly to Wenatchee from Seattle, hop in a colleagues car who is a representative in Quincy, travel with him on the tour, fly back to Seattle, then find an Uber to Gig Harbor. Caldier said she cannot travel through an airport alone without assistance. Instead, she said a taxi service to take her to Bellingham for the rural healthcare tour was more than $2,000. Who handles accommodations? Early on when she began losing her vision, Caldier said she was told to go to leadership if she needed anything. In January of 2021 that changed, and she was supposed to direct concerns to a newly hired caucus human resources employee, she said. She said she was not immediately told that and continued to refer to leadership. Everyone in the legislative staff and members are employees of the House of Representatives, Wilcox told the Gateway. They are all administratively overseen by the Chief Clerks Office and thats the place accommodations are managed. Those discussions have been going on for many years with the Chief Clerks Office. The institution is responsible for responding to accommodation requests, not leadership or individual members within the House, Chief Clerk Bernard Dean told the Gateway May 8. Accommodation requests for staff and members are handled by the House Human Resources Office, which reports to the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, he said. Dean said that previously Caldier had not made accommodation requests to the proper office. The Chief Clerks Office does not handle any accommodation requests related to non-official legislative events, like receptions hosted by various interest groups or organizations, he said. Caldier is not the first Washington state legislator to be legally blind. Former Lieutenant Governor Cyrus Habib is blind. He announced in 2020 that he would not run for re-election and that he was entering the Jesuit religious order to become a priest. Habib is a former Democratic member of the House, who was elected in 2012 to represent the 48th District, including Bellevue, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point, Kirkland, Medina, Redmond, and Yarrow Point. Then he was elected to the Senate in 2014, and he was elected lieutenant governor in 2016. Caldier said that, in conversations between Habib and Caldier, he told her he had a different experience with accommodations and that his were met. It is my understanding that Cyrus was provided a person to walk with him and drive him to work locations, Caldier said. Emails the Gateway received as part of a public records request show Caldier reaching out to Wilcox to meet to find appropriate accommodations for her. One email shows Wilcox responding by informing Caldier he had passed it on to the Chief Clerks Office. On Dec. 16, 2022 an attorney and director of advocacy for Disability Rights Washington, David Carlson, sent Wilcox a letter. The letter provided details of transportation and communication accommodations Caldier had asked for and not received. The Gateway met with Caldier May 3 at the Olympia legislative building, where she talked about challenges she faces as a legislator with vision loss. Caucus documents and communication Accessing and viewing caucus communications has been an issue, Caldier said. Inside the Republican caucus room is a large screen that displays bill numbers and other information. Sometimes presentations are shown on the screen that Caldier said she cannot see. Shes asked leadership to either print out presentations or convert them into a version compatible with her phone for viewing purposes, but that request has often been ignored or forgotten, Caldier said. Instead, she nudges her colleagues for further clarification or stands over the shoulder of the person running the presentation. If people had to deal with the limitations that I have to deal with, I dont think they could do this job, Caldier said. On the House floor is another big screen to display bill numbers that Caldier said she cannot see. Shortly after she was elected, she said there was an incident during a voting session where she mixed up bill numbers and voted in a way she did not intend to. She said she doesnt recall what the vote was for. I was listening and mixed up the vote, Caldier said. Everybody came over to me and asked why I voted for it ... and I had to say I mixed it up and it wouldve been helpful if I could have seen the bill number. She said Wilcox was floor leader at the time and helped her get a personal screen that sits at her seat displaying bill numbers. That screen has been at her seat since 2016. Wilcox said the screen was already being discussed in the Chief Clerks Office and that his conversation with them only sped up the process, if anything. Anyone, regardless of what their disability is, should be able to serve. Other than the physical limitations of me not being able to drive, I can do this job, Caldier said. She also said that the Microsoft Teams chat feature is used by legislators on the House floor for quick communication, and that she cannot see the icons needed to use it. Not being able to use the chat feature left Caldier out of critical, real-time discussions and decision making, she said. The Capitol Campus Caldier said she also faces challenges to getting around the Capitol Campus. At one point during this past legislative session, three elevators were not working, she said. Caldier doesnt use the stairs. She said the marble steps are hard for her to see. At one point when she discovered elevators were down, she called up to the rostrum and asked them to wait to hold a vote until she could find another way up. Legislators can only vote if they are physically present. Security helped her find another elevator, but when she got on the floor she discovered they started without her. If I was just even a few seconds later than I was, I would have missed the vote, Caldier said. She said her two saving graces are her colleagues on both sides of the aisle who help her when needed and her legislative assistant, who plays a big role in helping Caldier get around campus. Caldier has memorized most of the legislative building now, but needs her legislative assistants help for meetings around the campus. Sometimes Caldier needs to go over to the Senate building for bill hearings. Her legislative assistant, Loujanna LJ Rohner of Steilacoom, walks her there. Caldier stands to the right of her assistant and holds onto her shoulder. I take for granted her disability because she does so well, Rohner said. Russian troops have taken control of Bakhmut, Kremlin says Smoke billows from Bakhmut - ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP Russian troops have been congratulated by Vladimir Putin after the Kremlin claimed they had on Saturday taken control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Referring to Bakhmut by its Soviet-era name, Artyomovsk, the Russian defence ministry said: "As a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed." President Putin on Saturday said troops who had distinguished themselves in the battle would be given awards. Victory for the Russians would mark an end to ferocious and bloody fighting that has raged for months and come at significant cost to Moscow. Earlier on Saturday, the head of Russias Wagner mercenary group said his troops had captured the whole of the city, a claim that Ukrainian officials immediately denied. Yevgeny Prigozhin also said on Saturday that his forces would begin withdrawing from the destroyed city in the Donbas region, eastern Ukraine, from Thursday. Mr Prigozhin has previously claimed victory in Bakhmut by raising the Russian flag above important buildings, but Ukraine has insisted it is holding on and the fighting has continued. The operation to capture Bakhmut, The Bakhmut meat grinder, lasted 224 days, he said in a speech posted on his Telegram channel. For 224 days the guys stormed the city. There were only Wagner mercenaries there. Within minutes, Ukrainian officials, who have said for the past 10 days that they have been taking ground from Russian forces in Bakhmut, denied Mr Prigozhins claim. Central Bakhmut from the air on May 15 - AFP Its not true. Our units continue to fight in Bakhmut, said Sergei Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukraines eastern military group. Fighting is believed to be concentrated around a handful of streets in Bakhmuts northwest. Mr Prigozhin recorded his six-minute speech standing near a row of destroyed buildings. Artillery could be heard booming in the background and nine impassive mercenaries stood around him holding Wagner and Russian flags. Mr Prigozhin, who has previously admitted that Bakhmut holds little strategic value, had promised to hand Vladimir Putin his first notable battlefield victory against Ukraine in more than a year. Analysts have said that Wagner has lost tens of thousands of men fighting in Bakhmut, mainly convicts recruited from Russian prisons. Mr Prigozhin, considered to be one of Mr Putins most trusted allies, has rowed with the Russian ministry of defence over the last six months. On Saturday, he once again blamed Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian military, for causing excess deaths. He had previously threatened to quit the battle for Bakhmut if the defence ministry did not send his fighters more ammunition. We fought not only with the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Bakhmut, but also with Russian bureaucracy, military bureaucracy, he said. Earlier, the British Ministry of Defence said that Ukrainian advances around Bakhmut were sucking in Russian forces and exhausting them before Kyiv goes on the offensive. In the last four days, Russia has highly likely redeployed up to several battalions to reinforce the Bakhmut sector, the British ministry said. With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command. 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. Wagner Group fighters implicated in the killing of hundreds of unarmed civilians in West African village: UN report This undated photograph handed out by French military shows Russian mercenaries boarding a helicopter in northern Mali French Army via Associated Press The Wagner Group is linked to a massacre of 500 people in a village in Mali, a UN report found. The vast majority of those who were killed were unarmed civilians, The Guardian reported. The Russian paramilitary organization has a long-standing presence across Africa. The Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, is linked to the massacre of 500 people in a village in Mali, a recent UN report found. In March of 2022, government forces descended on the village of Moura in the Mopti region of Mali, ordering men into the center of the town and shooting those who tried to escape, according to an in-depth analysis of the UN report by The Guardian's Africa correspondent Jason Burke. Most of those killed were unarmed civilians and a dozen alleged members of an al-Qaida-affiliated Islamist group. Over five days, hundreds of people were killed in the village during the atrocity. The UN report, published last week after months of research, found evidence that 500 people were killed by the Malian military and foreign Russian troops, underscoring the extent of the human rights abuses at the time. Outside the war in Ukraine, the event is the worst atrocity associated with the Wagner Group, The Guardian reported. According to the UN report, witnesses of the tragedy said they saw "armed white men" speaking a foreign language working with the Malian military. A Malian government spokesperson called the report "biased" and "based on a fictional account." The spokesperson said a Malian investigation found only "armed terrorists" and "not a single civilian in Moura" were killed during the military operation, per The Guardian. The Russian mercenary troops, founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, have supported Putin's military invasion of Ukraine. But the military group also has various ties to African countries, according to the Associated Press, and has been accused of supporting other violent military operations in the region, per The Guardian. While in many cases, it is difficult to categorically link the private Russian troops' involvement in these operations, there is exhaustive evidence in the UN report providing an hour-by-hour account of how Wagner Group soldiers were behind the March 2022 attack, per The Guardian. "These are extremely disturbing findings," said Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, according to The Guardian. "Summary executions, rape and torture during armed conflict amount to war crimes and could, depending on the circumstances, amount to crimes against humanity." In the past few years, Russia has had a commanding presence in multiple African countries, with the assistance of the Wagner Group, to advance its global power. More than a year ago, the Kremlin-linked military contractor group began working with Malian armed forces to quell Islamic extremism in the country, per the AP. Since the Russian soldiers arrived, violence against civilians and human rights abuses have only grown. Read the original article on Business Insider The closing arguments from lawyers on opposing sides of Republican Kari Lake's election challenge delved into the details of data and signature comparison procedures, but also something bigger: trust in elections, and who was chipping away at that trust. The 80-minute arguments on Friday saw lawyers exchanging barbs, with Lake's team alleging Maricopa County's failures led to "fraud" and distrust, while the opposing side faulted misinformation and Lake's refusal to concede her race. Kari Lake lost this election, and she's clearly unhappy about it," said Elena Rodriguez Armenta, a lawyer at Elias Law Group, who is representing Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in the case. Every second that this contest continues without any actual evidence is an attack on election integrity, on democracy and on Arizonas strong public policy favoring the stability and finality of election results. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson began weighing the evidence in Lake's request to set aside her loss to Hobbs following the arguments that capped a three-day trial. Thompson did not rule immediately and is likely to issue a written ruling in the coming days. How the judge will decide the case The key issue for the court to determine is whether Maricopa County followed state law in how it verified that voters' signatures on ballot affidavit envelopes were consistent with the signature in their voter records. The relevant state law says county recorders "shall compare the signatures thereon with the signature of the elector on the elector's registration record." If signatures are "inconsistent," the law directs counties to contact voters to try and correct the signature, a process known as "curing." Lake, the Republican nominee for governor and a former television news anchor, argued the county didn't follow the law. She attended part of the third day of trial on Friday, declining to comment as she left the Mesa justice center. Kari Lake exits Maricopa County Superior Court after hearing closing arguments by attorneys at her election challenge trial in Mesa on May 19, 2023. Her case, as presented by lawyers Kurt Olsen and Bryan Blehm, largely rested on testimony and data analysis disputed by the county that some signatures were compared in just 2 or 3 seconds and that the rapid review didnt meet the standard in the law for comparison. Olsen told the judge that whether he considered the 70,000 signatures compared in 2 seconds or less, or the 274,000 signatures compared in 3 seconds or less, either would have changed the outcome of the election and it should be set aside. "There are simply too many early ballots that must be verified in too limited a period of time, thus leaving the system vulnerable to error, fraud and oversight," Olsen said. Those numbers are based on an analysis by a hired signature verification examiner, Erich Speckin, who used keystroke data provided by the county in response to a public records request to the We The People AZ Alliance, a political action committee, to calculate how long it took workers to verify signatures. The county urged the judge not to trust Speckins math on those numbers, which Tom Liddy, the civil division chief for the Maricopa County Attorneys Office, said were irrelevant. The judge needs only to find that verification took place, Liddy said, arguing that Lakes own witnesses made the countys case. Two of those witnesses, Jacqueline Onigkeit and Andrew Myers, both testified they worked to verify signatures as part of the 2022 general election. So did Maricopa County Elections Director Rey Valenzuela, the county's chief witness, who said he personally reviewed 1,600 ballot envelopes last year. Liddy also took exception to something Olsen repeated at least three times in his argument: that Maricopa County did not dispute Speckins testimony or data analysis by calling an expert witness of their own. The county had objected to the inclusion of Speckins work and Liddy said the court ruled Speckins analysis could not be considered evidence in the case. Asked following the trial if he was laying the legal groundwork to seek sanctions for Olsens statements, Liddy declined to comment. Olsen and Blehm already were fined by the Arizona Supreme Court for similar prior statements in the Lake case. The court imposed a $2,000 penalty after they repeatedly claimed it was an undisputed fact that 35,000 ballots were added to the November tally. Those claims were repeated even after the states top court found no truth to them. Closing arguments go beyond the courtroom Lake in December filed her lawsuit challenging her loss to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes. Her team presented evidence during a two-day trial in December, and Thompson found no grounds to declare Lake the winner. The state Court of Appeals affirmed his decision, and the Arizona Supreme Court largely did as well, though it sent the single signature verification issue back to Thompson for reconsideration, saying he used the wrong legal reasoning to dismiss the count. That is what led to the trial that began Wednesday and concluded Friday. After three days of at times heated exchanges and a flood of legal objections, the lawyers for Lake, Hobbs, Maricopa County and the Arizona secretary of state took turns delivering closing arguments. Those were not devoid of tension, especially over the issue of casting doubt upon elections. Election officials wield enormous power, Olsen said. With that power comes responsibility, a responsibility to follow the law. Because if those laws are not followed, the people lose trust. It's well known that a majority of the people today do not trust our elections. That's in large part due to election officials not following the law. But Liddy rebutted that claim, saying Maricopa County verified signatures and did it correctly. Reasonable people can differ, unreasonable people can differ and spew garbage on the internet, Liddy said, adding that "misinformation, lies and filth being broadcast all over the internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week" are what is rupturing trust in elections. The fact that some people in Arizona, and some people in America, don't have confidence in our elections is not evidence as suggested by Ms. Lake's team that the many counties across this fruited plain are not doing their job," Liddy said, "but it may just be that people are reading the stuff that they write. Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669. Follow her on Twitter @sbarchenger. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake election challenge in Arizona governor race in judge's hands The four-person crew training ahead of their ISS mission. Axiom Space is gearing up for the launch of its second private crew to the International Space Station (ISS). The four astronauts will spend a little over a week conducting experiments within the orbital lab. A Falcon 9 rocket will send up the crew inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule nicknamed Freedom. The rocket is scheduled to blast off Sunday at 5:37 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Live coverage of the liftoff will begin at 5 p.m. ET on NASAs website, as well as the agencys YouTube channel, while Axiom Space will also broadcast it live through its website. You can tune in at the feed below. Read more NASA Live: Official Stream of NASA TV The Dragon capsule is set to dock with the ISS Harmony module on Monday at 9:24 a.m., according to NASA. The Axiom Mission 2, or Ax-2, crew includes Commander Peggy Whitson, a veteran NASA astronaut, Pilot John Shoffner, a space enthusiast who purchased a ticket for the mission in 2021, and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, members of Saudi Arabias first class of astronauts. The crew will spend about eight days on board the space station, working alongside the ISS crew members. Ax-2 crew members will conduct a variety of scientific research and experiments, including one to examine the effects of microgravity on the production of stem cells. Ax-2 is a follow up to Axiom Spaces first mission to the space station, which launched in April 2022. The private company is already planning for the launch of its third mission to the ISS, currently scheduled for later this year. For more spaceflight in your life, follow us on Twitter and bookmark Gizmodos dedicated Spaceflight Spaceflight page. More from Gizmodo Sign up for Gizmodo's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. As the West surges toward electric cars, heres where the unwanted gas guzzlers go Standing on the stony ground in the bustling Fifa Park car lot, Rokeeb Yaya is haggling over the price of a dark red car. It is one of a couple hundred vehicles, parked in long lines stretching out across the vast lot some shiny and new-looking, others dented and dusty. The car Yaya has his eye on, a 2008 US-built Ford Escape, is on sale for around $4,000. Its relatively affordable US cars are cheaper than most other brands in the lot and he wants to upgrade from his motorbike to a car. He is not interested in the history of the vehicle, he said, only that he can afford it. But how this Ford ended up here in one of the biggest car lots in the port city of Cotonou helps tell a bigger story about how many of the Wests gas-guzzling cars are starting second lives in West Africa. The 14-year old Ford arrived in Benin from the United States last year, after being sold at an auto auction. Car records reviewed by CNN show it had three previous owners in Virginia and Maryland, and has logged over 252,000 miles on the road. It had one previous recall for its power steering, but unlike some of the other cars on the lot, it arrived in a relatively sound condition it hadnt been in any reported accidents. This aging SUV is just one of millions of used cars that arrive every year in West Africa from wealthy countries such as Japan, South Korea, European countries and, increasingly, the US. Many of these end up in Benin, one of Africas top importers of used vehicles. Ships in the Autonomous Port of Cotonou in Benin, West Africa. Cars arrive here from Western countries, including the US. - Prosper Dagnitche/AFP/Getty Images The stream of used cars heading to West African ports is only expected to increase with the Wests shift to electric vehicles. As wealthy countries set aggressive goals to move consumers towards electric vehicles to cut planet-warming pollution, gas-powered cars wont necessarily go away. Instead, many will be shipped thousands of miles away to developing countries like Benin, where populations are growing, along with demand for used cars. Experts say the effect will be to divert climate and environmental problems to countries that are the most vulnerable to the climate crisis, undermining their own attempts to cut planet-warming pollution. Exploding demand The global market for used light-duty vehicles grew nearly 20% from 2015 to 2019, when more than 4.8 million were exported. There was a slight dip in exports in 2020 when the Covid pandemic started, but numbers are now growing quite rapidly, United Nations Environment Programme official Rob de Jong told CNN. The US exports about 18% of the worlds used vehicles, according to UNEP data. These travel all over the globe, including to the Middle East and Central America, but many go to Nigeria, Benin and Ghana. Some of these are salvaged cars that have been in accidents, were flooded, or are just too old which get auctioned off for parts. Others are whole used cars that US car dealers are looking to offload. An imported car that has been in an accident is awaiting repair. - Nimi Princewill/CNN A lot of them are going to be two- to five-year-old Hyundais, Toyotas, sedans, said Dmitriy Shibarshin, marketing director for West Coast Shipping, a company that specializes in shipping cars internationally. Its mostly the economy cars that get shipped there. Shibarshins company and others are like FedEx for cars, he said. His company usually specializes in higher-end vehicles, but also ships cheaper cars. In major African countries like Kenya and Nigeria, more than 90% of the cars and trucks are used vehicles from overseas. In Kenya, where de Jong is based, the vehicle fleet has doubled every eight years; streets that used to be devoid of cars are now jammed with traffic, he said. There is a tremendous appetite for these used vehicles. You have a very young population thats getting richer and richer by the day, said Etop Ipke, the CEO of Autochek Africa, an online marketplace for cars. The first thing they want to do, as they can afford things, is some mobility, he said. But, unlike in the US, few prospective buyers have access to credit, so new cars are often out of reach. That is fundamentally the reason why were not able to improve the quality of cars sold, Ipke said. Its not like people want to drive used cars; its an affordability issue. Experts say demand for used cars could explode further as the take up of electric cars in the West increases the supply of used cars to African countries. Nearly one in five vehicles sold globally this year will be electric, according to the International Energy Agency, compared to less than 5% in 2020. China, Europe and the US are leading the EV market, the agency said. In states like New York and Florida, where consumers are buying more EVs, dealers are increasingly looking overseas as a place to sell their older gas-powered models, according to Matt Trapp, a regional vice president at the huge auto auction company Manheim. Those states also have robust port operations, making them an ideal place to ship used cars to Africa. Its setting up a really complementary dynamic, Trapp told CNN. Im not surprised to see how robust the export game is becoming, Trapp said. Were going to see this dynamic more and more. When [auto dealers] see demand in other markets, they will find a way to move the metal there. From UNEPs perspective, not all gas-powered cars are concerning its the older ones, which tend to pollute more and be less safe, De Jong said. Theres evidence that the increasing demand in Africa for vehicles is actually resulting in more old and salvaged cars being shipped to the continent recently than there were 20 years ago. What we see at the moment is a wide variety of used vehicles being exported from the global north to the global south, de Jong said. Not only is the number increasing, but the quality is decreasing. Polluting or unsafe In one section of Fifa Park, CNN finds a 16-year-old Dodge Charger, worn by age. We just sold it for 3 million XOF [around $4,500], its seller, who did not wish to be named, said of the vehicle that arrived in Benin from the US two years ago. Parked across from the Charger is a 24-year-old Ford Winstar that was shipped to Benin from the US last year. Its a cheaper alternative for low-income car buyers who cannot afford newer models. Car dealer Abdul Koura said that US and Canadian cars are very desirable to importers, who often bring in cars that have been in accidents, he told CNN. They repair these cars and resell them to make a profit, said Koura, whose space at Cotonous Fifa park includes more than 30 used vehicles imported from Canada. Abdul Koura is a car dealer at Fifa Park car lot. - Nimi Princewill/CNN Victor Ojoh, a Nigerian car dealer who frequents Fifa Park, told CNN that its often possible to tell the origin of a car by whats wrong with it. The cars that smoke are mostly from the US, said Ojoh. The cars from Canada are mostly flooded cars that start developing electrical faults. Some imported vehicles are missing their catalytic converters, an exhaust emission control devices which filter toxic gasses. Catalytic converters contain valuable metals including platinum and can fetch up to $100 on the black market. Some of the cars are shipped without catalytic converters or have them removed by dealers upon arrival, Ojo said. Millions of cars shipped to Africa and Asia from the US, Europe and Japan are polluting or unsafe, according to UNEP. Often with faulty or missing components, they belch out toxic fumes, increasing air pollution and hindering efforts to fight climate change. Regulations aimed at reducing pollution and increasing the safety of imported cars into West Africa have tended to be weak. But attempts have been made recently to tighten them up. In 2020, Benin and 14 other members of the Economic Community of West African States bloc agreed a set of vehicle emissions regulations in the region, including an age limit of 10 years for used vehicles and limits on the amount of carbon pollution cars are allowed to produce. But its unclear how strictly they are being enforced. Lines of used cars at Fifa Park. - Nimi Princewill/CNN UNEP officials, including de Jong, have also had conversations with US and EU officials about putting in new regulations that would crack down on shipping very old or junk cars to developing nations. Those conversations are in early stages and have yet to result in any commitments. Still, de Jong said climate change and global emissions have made the conversation around used cars a different ballgame. Increased shipments of older and more polluting cars are just as much of a problem for developed nations as they are for the developing countries where they are being driven, he added. Today with climate change, it doesnt really matter where the emissions are taking place, de Jong said. Whether in Washington, DC, or Lagos, it makes no difference. Ipke doesnt think that it is inevitable that Africa will accept all the old gas-powered cars the West no longer wants. He hopes that the transition to electric vehicles will come to the African continent as well, although that will require significant improvements to the charging infrastructure. In terms of where Africa goes, the transition shouldnt necessarily be from used cars to brand new combustion engines, it should be from used cars to EVs, Ipke said. I think the continent has to be prepared for EVs, used or brand new, because thats the direction the world is taking. For Yaya, however, this all seems a long way off. What brought him to Fifa Park, and to the old Ford SUV, was a lack of other options. I can only purchase what my money can afford, he said. Nimi Princewill reported from Benin, Ella Nilsen reported from Washington DC For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com DHAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A new journalism competition will be held in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka to encourage more and better-quality investigative reporting to bolster Bangladesh-China ties in trade, commerce and investment. An agreement on the Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCCI) - the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) Journalism Award was signed here Saturday. Both sides have decided to jointly hold the journalism award event. The "BCCCI-ERF Journalism Award" will cover five areas, including the trade and investment ties between Bangladesh and China, how the high-quality development of China has helped Bangladesh, science and technology, the Belt and Road Initiative and others. Noting the professional significance of such an event, Al Mamun Mridha, secretary general of BCCCI, hoped that it would further encourage the economic journalists to analyze the topics of bilateral relations between Bangladesh and China. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Attends Iowa GOP Reception In Cedar Rapids Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks with attendees during an Iowa GOP reception in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on May 13, 2023. Credit - Stephen MaturenGetty Images In the year-long feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney, both parties are standing their ground. What originally began as Disneys public criticism of Floridas so-called Dont Say Gay lawwhich originally barred schools from discussing gender and sexual orientation through the third grade, but was recently expanded to impact students through grade 12has turned into a series of legal battles and displays of political power. Disney filed a court case on April 26 against DeSantis and the five-member board that oversees Walt Disney Worlds self-government powers, after the governor spent months stripping the company of its special authority like new constructions without county permission. The First Amendment lawsuit was filed in federal court. On Friday, DeSantis attorney filed a motion to disqualify U.S. District Judge Mark Walker from presiding over the lawsuit. (The judge previously referenced the fight between Disney and DeSantis in two unrelated suits about free speech and fear of retaliation, which the governors attorney says brings Walkers impartiality into question.) The motion came a day after Disney, the states largest tax payer, announced that it would no longer construct a billion-dollar office complex that would have brought 2,000 jobs to the area. DeSantis, who last week said that there is zero chance he would be backing down from the fight, is set to announce his presidential bid in the coming weeks. Heres what to know about the ongoing battle between DeSantis and Disney. A brief timeline The feud began in March 2022 when Disney openly criticized the governor for Floridas Parent Rights in Education Act, or Dont Say Gay law, after Disneys workers protested against the new legislation. Amid pressure from his employees, then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed the companys stance on the matter, saying that Disney was opposed to the bill from the outset and did not initially make their stance public because the company felt it would be more effective working behind the scenes. Conflict between DeSantis and Disney became tense, leading the Florida governor to ask state lawmakers to revoke Disneys self-governing privileges on April 19, 2022. DeSantis signed legislation stripping the company of its special governing and tax jurisdiction just three days later. That law was designed to go into effect beginning June 1, 2023. Because the district held $1 billion in bond debt that taxpayers would have been liable for, a special legislative session in February 2023 allowed Disney to keep their special tax district status, but still exempt them from choosing who can sit on their board. DeSantis expanded on his control over Disney in February 2023, when state legislators gave him the power to handpick members to the board that oversees Disney Worlds government services. The new governor-selected members were appointed on Feb. 27, but before they could take power, previous board members signed a contract that limited the powers of the board to maintaining roads and basic infrastructure, board member Ron Peri said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Were going to have to deal with it and correct it, board member Brian Aungst Jr. told the Sentinel. Its a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature and the governor. It completely circumvents the authority of this board to govern. Disney filed a suit against DeSantis and his newly-appointed board members in late April, saying that the governor was targeting Disney in a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint. The new district board then countersued the Orlando company in an attempt to reinstate the boards powers. Florida lawmakers, however, later passed a law that gave the new board the power to void the contract that made the board powerless. On May 16, Disney asked an Orange County judge to dismiss the countersuit. What were Disneys self-governing powers? In 1967, Florida lawmakers created the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), a local government entity which presides over Walt Disney World and whose purpose was to administer the economic development and tourism within its jurisdiction, according to an archived version of the RCIDs website. The district rules over 25,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties. Since Walt Disney World owns most of the property in the district, it is responsible for administering public services like fire protection, emergency medical services, water and more to the area, The Hill reports. Under this special tax status, Disney had the freedom to construct roads and buildings without asking for permission from the county and run as its own county government. RCID board members were previously selected by Disney. In April 2022, Gov. DeSantis signed into law a rule that sought to dissolve the RCID beginning on June 1, 2023. (A million-dollar bond debt prevented the district from fully being abolished, though the district is still being impacted by other changes). Under that law, the governor renamed the RCID to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, with a five-member governor-appointed board. Board members can not have any affiliations to Disney. What does Disneys first amendment lawsuit allege? Disney CEO Bob Iger had long expressed turmoil in the fight against the Sunshine States governor, calling his policies not just anti-Florida but anti-business. That anger eventually pushed Disney to sue DeSantis and his newly-appointed board members in late April, saying that the governor was targeting Disney in a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint. The governors actions, the lawsuits say, are impacting Disneys business and economic future, and is a violation of the companys right to free speech. DeSantis has repeatedly threatened Disney with retaliation including creating a state prison, state park, or increasing taxes on Walt Disney World. Theyre gonna live under the same laws as everybody else, theyre gonna pay their fair share of taxes and theyre not gonna govern themselves, DeSantis said on Friday according to the Hill. And to put one corporation on a pedestal and let them be exempt from the laws is not good policy. Its not free market economics, and its not something that our states gonna be involved in. The White House is aiming to arrange a phone call between President Biden and Speaker McCarthy (R-Calif.) to try and get talks over avoiding a default back on track once the president has wrapped up his meetings at the Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Japan on Sunday. A White House official said in a statement that Biden had directed aides to coordinate with McCarthy to schedule a call for Sunday morning in Washington, D.C. The call will likely take place as Biden is flying back from Hiroshima, where he has been attending the G-7 since Thursday. President Biden has continued to closely track negotiations on a bipartisan budget framework and the pressing need for Congress to act to avert default, the official said. He received an update from his team both last night and this morning on the status of negotiations. The pending phone call between the two leaders comes as the White House and McCarthys team spent much of Saturday trading criticisms over who was to blame for a breakdown in negotiations on spending talks and raising the debt ceiling. McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol earlier Saturday the White House had moved backwards and suggested progress was unlikely until Biden was back in the United States. In a subsequent tweet, McCarthy claimed the socialist wing of the Democrat Party was dictating negotiations. The White House responded by blaming Republicans for holding the economy hostage by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. It is only a Republican leadership beholden to its MAGA wing not the President or Democratic leadership who are threatening to put our nation into default for the first time in our history unless extreme partisan demands are met, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. White House officials have further highlighted how Republican spending proposals would result in steep cuts to government programs. Negotiators for the White House and McCarthys team have been meeting in recent days in hopes of reaching an agreement to avoid default. The Treasury Secretary has warned the U.S. could default as early as June 1 if Congress does not act to raise the debt limit. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. US President Joe Biden met with his Ukrainian counterpart President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima on Sunday. Source: As European Pravda writes, the meeting topics were discussed in the White House. Details: During the meeting, Biden confirmed the commitment of the United States to support the people of Ukraine, who are defending their sovereignty and democracy against the Russian invasion. Reuters photo "President Biden underscored U.S. readiness to continue delivering security assistance to meet Ukraine's immediate battlefield needs, including today's announcement of an additional $375 million in ammunition and equipment, as well as to build Ukraine's long term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression", the message says. The leaders discussed U.S. support for joint efforts with our allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter jets such as the F-16s. They also discussed ongoing efforts to strengthen Ukraine's air defence system as Russia continues its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. In addition, President Biden emphasised the support of the United States and other G7 countries for the recovery of Ukraine, including efforts to rebuild its energy infrastructure and Ukraine's implementation of the reforms necessary to live up to its Euro-Atlantic aspirations. "President Biden also welcomed President Zelenskyy's commitment to a just peace based on fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter," the White House said. The latest U.S. aid package reportedly includes additional munitions for HIMARS systems, artillery shells, optically-tracked and wire-guided (TOW) missiles, Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank systems, and more. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! (Bloomberg) -- Saturdays What the Folkstival outdoor concert was meant to kick off in the early afternoon in a Beijing suburb near the airport, with 10 live acts, including foreign performers, playing acoustic music to soothe your soul. Most Read from Bloomberg It never began. Near booths selling barbecue skewers and craft beer, festival-goers had begun to gather on blankets or folding chairs, enjoying the breeze and freedom from Covid-era restrictions, when police officers appeared, lights flashing, to speak with the organizers. Minutes later, a volunteer took to the stage and said the event was being postponed because of unforeseen reasons. Organizers said the police had ordered them to vacate the premises. The incident is one of an unusual spate of sudden cancellations or shutdowns in the past week across the country that seem unrelated, spanning arts, business and equality. One explanation is a scandal in which authorities fined production company Xiaoguo about $2 million and suspended its performances in two major cities indefinitely after comedian Li Haoshi joked about a Xi Jinping military slogan last weekend. Authorities later arrested a woman for defending the comedians joke. Yet some of the cancellations seem to have little to do with perceived criticism of the government, such as a convention for female tech entrepreneurs in Shanghai or a concert by a Japanese band in Guangzhou. Force Majeure Organizers of the scrapped events issued apologies that are thin on detail, citing a variation of unforeseen circumstances, when writing in English, or force majeure, a legal term to waive liability in the event of circumstances outside a suppliers control. In the Chinese context, its considered a euphemism for higher powers police or other government bodies that enforce rules or apply pressure to stop activities deemed harmful to the state or society. One Beijing-based musician, who asked for anonymity when discussing politically sensitive issues, said she believes the crackdown on live shows and cultural events is a result of the Xiaoguo incident, but that when such sweeps occur, foreigners and more popular bands and performers often become primary targets. Read more: China Fines Talk Show Firm $2 Million After Comic Teases PLA Japanese, Buddhism-influenced chorus group Kissaquo abruptly pulled its show in the southern city of Guangzhou on Wednesday night. A statement on the bands official Weibo account said the cancellation was ordered by government agencies out of force majeure. Kissaquo did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Ladies Who Tech convention, scheduled for May 14, also cited force majeure. The women-focused group says its aim is to raise awareness of the lack of females in science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries and to help companies increase diversity. Its one-day event had some 1,700 sign-ups, according to a person familiar with the organization. The speaker list included both Chinese and foreign nationals, mostly female, who planned to discuss topics ranging from artificial intelligence to entrepreneurship to ESG. On May 15, the Beijing LGBT Center announced it was shutting down, also citing force majeure. A musician scheduled to perform at the folk-music event in Beijing said shows in China technically have to be approved ahead of time by the local bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, but in the past enforcement was not so strict and many shows went ahead without prior approval. The musician, who also asked to remain anonymous discussing politically sensitive issues, attributed the recent cancellations to the comedians case and said they expected it to subside eventually. The Chaoyang District branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau did not immediately reply to a fax for comment on the cancellation of the concert. The folk festival organizers also could not be reached immediately for comment. In a WeChat message to ticket holders they said: Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have to postpone the event today. Were very, very sorry! --With assistance from Lucille Liu, Dan Murtaugh and Jing Li. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Why melanoma is so deadly for men, and why it doesnt have to be As his patient sat on the examining table, dermatologist Jeremy Brauer explained the pathology report, letting him know that the lesion on his chest was skin cancer and that minor surgery would be required to remove it. Id like to try to get this done before the weather gets nice, the patient, himself a physician, told Brauer, so I can get back out into the sun. Brauer, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Health, says he was stunned. I said to him, You are exemplifying a very big part of the problem for men when it comes to skin cancer. Theres just a massive disconnect in mens perception of the sun and sun damage and skin cancer, says Brauer, who has a dermatology practice in Purchase, N.Y. In 2023, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, 97,610 cases of invasive melanoma will be diagnosed in the United States; of those, 58,120 will be in men, and 39,490 in women. Of the 7,990 people who will die of melanoma, 5,420 will be men. Quick-growing cancer, melanoma can spread into blood vessels and lymph nodes and attack other organs, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. What makes men so vulnerable to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer? Some men may actually see sunscreen use as more of a feminine behavior, Holman adds. Men are uninformed about sun damage Men tend to work and play outdoors more than women, says Ida Orengo, professor and chair of dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. So, they tend to get more cumulative sun exposure over their lifetime. Men also seem to know less about the risks of the sun. Fewer men than women gave correct answers in an American Academy of Dermatology survey on sun exposure and the risk of cancer. Men more often believed that you can have a healthy tan (all tans signal sun damage to the skin, Orengo says), a base tan can protect you from the sun (it cannot), and you cannot get skin cancer in out-of-the-way spots such as the skin between your toes (you can). One of the best ways to avoid skin cancer is to avoid the sun, experts agree. But if youre going to spend time outdoors, protect yourself. Lotion, cream, stick or spray sunscreen can be applied in many ways. Find one you like and use it, Orengo says. Some studies suggest that mens skin may not retain antioxidants the way womens skin does, which could heighten skin cancer risk. Others suggest that womens higher estrogen levels may offer skin protection. But men like Brauers patient show the effects of behavior. Surveys show that men tend to know less about skin cancer risks than women and consequently are less likely to use sunscreen. Dawn M. Holman, a behavioral scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has studied sunscreen use in the United States. About half of women say they regularly use sunscreen when theyre spending time outdoors on a sunny day whereas only about a quarter of men say they do, she says. And more than 40 percent of men say they never use sunscreen when theyre out in the sun. Cover all exposed skin, Holman says, including your ears and the back of your neck. Reapply every two hours or when you come out of the water or are sweating. And if youre a hairy man, be sure to carefully rub in the sunscreen, says Stacy P. Salob, clinical assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dont count on hair to protect your skin. Holman adds that sunscreen is not enough: Stay in the shade when you can, and wear a hat and sunglasses. You should also avoid the suns harshest rays: If your phones weather app has a UV index, consult it, Holman says. Avoid outdoor activities in the middle of the day when the index is above five. If it is 11 or higher, stay indoors. Lastly, consider UV protective clothing. Im such a fan of the sun-protective clothing, Salob says. It offers the equivalent of a 50 SPF and you dont have to wear sunscreen for that whole large part of your body. And then you dont need somebody else to put it on your back. Partners can help Another challenge for men is that they often get melanoma on their backs and the tops of their heads, places they cant see. As a result, men often miss the changing moles that are the hallmark of melanoma. That may explain why some studies show that men with partners have earlier detection of melanoma and healthier outcomes than single men. Brauer says many male patients come in with things circled in pen all over their bodies. Their wife or partner is very much paying attention to them, which is great. Dermatologists would rather reassure you that youre fine than discover a melanoma too late. Were great at treating melanoma when we catch it in the early stages when its just on the skin, Salob says. And were terrible at beating it when it has spread inside the body. So early detection is key. One of the biggest risk factors for melanoma is previous sunburn. If youve had even just one of your sunburns blister, it automatically puts you into a higher risk category, Salob notes, as does having blonde or red hair, blue eyes, fair skin and more than 50 moles on your body. It may be hard to believe, but a sunburn you got in your teens could be responsible for the skin cancer you develop in your 50s. Each time you burn, you elevate your risk. And according to Holmans study, more than one-third of Americans say they had a sunburn in the past year. In addition, while white men are more likely to be diagnosed with melanoma, Black men are more likely to die of it once diagnosed perhaps because their diagnoses tend to be at a later stage. When you get sunburned, the ultraviolet light goes into your skin and damages the DNA in the skin cells, Orengo says. Then your immune system goes in there and says, Oh my gosh, we have to fix this damage before cancer starts, The immune system fixes the damage. That may happen again and again until you get into your 40s, 50s and 60s when your immune system naturally starts to be less effective. When the DNA breaks down again, your immune system cant fix it, and the cancer grows. To ensure early detection, see a dermatologist for a yearly skin cancer check. In between, Brauer says, check yourself out. He recommends standing nude in front of a full-length mirror once a month. Scan your body, and grab a hand mirror to check out your back. Look for anything new, changing or unusual, Brauer says, and if you find it, consult your physician. The ABCs of protecting yourself from Melanoma An ABCDE guide has been developed by dermatologists to help patients identify melanoma on their bodies: Asymmetry: A melanoma lesion often is oddly shaped Border: It has an irregular border Color: It has varying color Diameter: It is usually 6 millimeters wide, about the size of a pencil eraser Evolving: It changes quickly on the skin. The ideal bedroom temperature for people to fall asleep is relatively cold between 63 to 69 degrees. A drop in our core body temperature is essential for us falling and staying asleep because it simulates drowsiness. (Getty Images) Nick Obradovich couldn't fall asleep, again. And now he was getting grumpy. It was October 2015, and San Diego was experiencing historically warm fall temperatures in the mid-70s. The normally cool and dry city logged its three warmest October nights on record at the time during an unprecedented heat wave. The area had experienced its warmest October on record at about 7.7 degrees above average. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Obradovich was living with his wife in a condo with no air conditioner, which isn't unusual given the typically mild weather year round. He said a lot of places don't have air conditioning, especially in more bare-bones living spaces, including ones that graduate students like himself at the time can afford to live in. He tried coping by placing a wet towel on himself while falling asleep, but he would get too cold. He covered himself with a blanket but then would run too hot. It was like a demented version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" but "there was no 'just right,'" he said. For about a week during the heat wave, he struggled to fall asleep. The sleep deprivation left him too tired to continue his daily exercise routine. He and fellow graduate students weren't able to focus on their work. "I was grumpier. My friends were a bit grumpier. We just kind of all have dour outlook on things because we weren't sleeping as well," said Obradovich, who is now principal investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. At the time, he was studying for his PhD in political science at the University of San Diego at California. Maybe he was annoyed from the scant slumber or just having many wet towels around, but Obradovich decided to investigate if his heat-induced cheap sleep was commonplace. He wanted to put this thought to bed, even if he couldn't do so himself. His findings were nothing to sleep on: Humans are already losing shut-eye in warm environments, especially at the beginning of the night. Models predict a solid sleep will further decrease as temperatures rise, especially in lower-income and elderly communities. In his study looking at 47,000 adults in 68 countries, Obradovich and his colleagues found a notable change in sleep duration when nighttime temperatures rose above 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius). On nights above 86 degrees, people slept about 14 minutes less on average. Over longer chunks of time, the loss is stark: They estimate people are already losing an average of 44 hours of sleep per year - and as the warming continues, people will be hard-pressed to find a good night's rest. Nights have warmed faster than daytime temperatures in many places around the globe. By 2100, individuals worldwide could lose about 50 to 58 hours of sleep per year. "Right now, we're not perfectly adapted to the climates in which we live," Obradovich said. Hotter temperatures "harm our sleep kind of across the board but that relationship increases in steepness. It becomes more significant in size the hotter the temperature gets." We often take sleep for granted, but not getting enough shut-eye can increase our risk for many serious health issues such as poor mental health, obesity, heart problems or even early death. For instance, Rebecca Robbins, a physician and instructor at Harvard Medical School, said our blood pressure dips to its lowest point in the day during our sleep. But without that natural dip, people are more likely to have elevated blood pressure, which can accelerate into hypertension, heart attack or stroke. We can even see the effects of decreased sleep each year around daylight saving time in the spring in the United States, when most people fast forward their clock an hour and may lose sleep for that night. In the week following, Robbins cited more incidents of heart attacks, car crashes and injuries at work skyrocket. "When we're not meeting these sleep health targets, a lot of things start to go wrong," said Robbins, who was not involved in the study. "With more than just a night or two, this can become pretty problematic pretty quickly, putting stress on our vital organs, increasing risk for adverse outcomes and chronic conditions." The ideal bedroom temperature for people to fall asleep is relatively cold - between 63 to 69 degrees. A drop in our core body temperature is essential for us falling and staying asleep because it simulates drowsiness. Our bodies primarily cool our core by sending heat to our extremities, which is why our hands and feet are sometimes warmer when we are asleep. Obradovich and his colleagues found unusually warm temperatures had the largest effect on people's bedtime duration by delaying sleep onset. Short sleep durations were the worst during the summertime and among the elderly, probably because they have more difficulty regulating their body temperature. The team also found warmer locations experienced the most sleep loss, suggesting people's bodies haven't adapted to their geographic location. Lower income countries are also heavily affected, which Obradovich hypothesizes could be because of a lack of air-conditioning. But he plans to investigate further. Projections show global warming also will have the biggest sleep loss in the Middle East, southeast Asia and Australia. By the end of the 21st century, people in the warmest regions are expected to lose an additional three nights of sleep per year due to higher nighttime temperatures. While warming trends are negatively affecting sleep, research shows the story isn't quite the same with colder temperatures. Kelton Minor, co-author of the sleep research with Obradovich, said our bodies are seemingly better at adjusting to the cold than excessive warmth. "People appear to sleep more when it is cold outside (controlling for seasonal differences in day length, etc.)," said Minor, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University. "Our study suggests that people may be much better at adapting their sleep to cold temperatures than hot ones." But dozing off for too long is also unhealthy, said Jerome Siegel, a sleep researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles. He was not involved in the study. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says elderly adults should get seven to nine hours of sleep. Overall, Siegel said the study's findings are not surprising and are in line with his previous work, which showed how temperature regulates sleeping patterns dating back to hunter-gathering communities in preindustrial times. He agreed that global warming is going to disturb people's sleep, "but you can't assume that they're not going to do anything about that." Obradovich said his team's findings could help communities or policymakers better improve the sleep environment for people, such as helping to cool bedrooms more effectively. On an individual level, Robbins said people also need to practice generally good sleep behavior. For instance, reducing screen time 15 to 20 minutes before falling asleep as the blue lights from cellphones or computers can emulate the sun and throw off our circadian rhythm. She suggested meditation before bed can drastically help people unwind and relax, making it easier for people to fall asleep. Another good practice: It's important to have consistent bedtimes, she said, otherwise our body can get confused on when we're supposed to be alert or tired. "There's still kind of the lingering belief that 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' kind of attitude towards sleep," Robbins said. "There's so much work to be done to improve our collective view of sleep." Related Content College is remade as tech majors surge and humanities dwindle The short life of Baby Milo End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty In the last 37 years, there have only been two Senate vacancies in the solidly blue state of Maryland. So when Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) announced his retirement earlier this month, he instantly set off a scramble among ambitious Democrats. The race was always going to be a blockbuster, considering a safe Senate seat is one of the ultimate prizes in politics. But the cast of characters who have entered the race, or are considering a run, could make Maryland an unlikely center of drama in the 2024 Senate battle royale. Theres Angela Alsobrooks, the chief executive of populous Prince Georges County, who has already racked up endorsements and would attract national support as a rare Black woman frontrunner for a Senate seat. Theres Will Jawando, a progressive councilman in Montgomery County, positioning himself as the underdog favorite of the activist left. Sen. Ben Cardin Retires, Setting the Stage for a Competitive Election in Maryland Theres Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a figure beloved by liberals nationally for his tenacious opposition to Donald Trump and his GOP allies, who is mulling a run. And then theres Rep. David Trone (D-MD), a deep-pocketed booze baron who has pledged to pour millions of his own money into the campaignand has already won tough races by doing just that. As the owner of Total Wine & More, Trones presence will almost certainly elevate the amount of money any candidate hoping to win the nomination will have to spend, and hes already putting it to use in early advertising and travel around the state. Whoever wins the May 2024 primary is all but a lock to win the seat in November, with the GOPs only viable candidate, former Gov. Larry Hogan, passing on the race. That means the Democrat-on-Democrat race will be intense, expensive, and potentially nastysomething that party leaders surely arent relishing as they try to defend their Senate majority amid a brutal 2024 outlook. Still, Democrats in Maryland and Washington may be excited about the prospect of injecting some fresh energy into their long-running Senate representation. Maryland Democratic operatives who spoke with The Daily Beast said Alsobrooks has some advantages off the bat. In many states, someone from the county level wouldnt necessarily play well in a statewide race. But in Maryland, a smaller constituency, theyre relative power players. Her seat has given Alsobrooks a following in Prince George County, a Black-majority county that is very influential on the state level. Alsobrooks would have to be considered the front runner, said Maryland Democratic strategist Len Foxwell, who cautioned its still early. Because of her established name recognition And youre seeing the pillars of the Democratic establishment come out for her. Her diversity both as a woman and a woman of color, plus her geographic diversity and in the state being from Prince Georges County, she can put together the coalition that can win. Its not easy, but she has the profile to do it, said Andrew Feldman, a Democratic strategist with experience in Maryland politics. There are currently no Black women in the Senate. Alsobrooks could potentially leverage that fact to appeal to national donors and Democratic voters in the state. But in the same beat, Democrats cautioned not to count Trone out, for his sheer spending advantage alone. David Trone is willing to spend whatever it takes, regardless of what that number is, to win this race. And that is not to be taken lightly, Foxwell said. USA-BIDEN/ Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz Trone doesnt have the same name ID as Alsobrooksbut hes already up on the air with advertising. He doesnt have to spend time fundraising like other candidates. And hes working to counter the rich-guy persona by playing to his upbringing, with ads focusing on his childhood and familys economic struggles. Hes also highlighted his work on the opioid crisis in his district and criminal justice reforms. In an emailed statement to The Daily Beast, Trone touted his success of getting bills on mental health, opioid treatment, and criminal justice. Im willing to do the work, and right now were spending an incredible amount of time in every corner of the state, from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore, Baltimore and everywhere in between talking about our states future, Trone said. For Trones opponents, its a daunting thing to be so out-raised from the get-go. But they insist theyre undeterred. After all, being the owner of a business empire with millions to blow can come with baggage. The Spectator this week unveiled a police report in which Trone allegedly told a Total Wine employee he would execute and fucking end them during an argument over merchandise. Gina Ford, a spokesperson for Alsobrooks, told The Daily Beast the campaign is confident she will raise the necessary resources to be competitive in this race. Jawando, whos running on a platform he dubbed as pragmatic progressivism, exuded the same confidence. I expect [Trone] to spend a lot of money. I dont think thats whats going to win this race, Jawando said in an interview with The Daily Beast. I ran in 2016, Jawando continued. Congress when I was elected, at that time, was the most expensive primary in the history of the country. And David Trone was in that race and he didnt win. That part is true. Trone lost to Raskin in 2016 after the wine impresario poured $12 million into his candidacy. Raskin remains the major question in the race. Hes a strong fundraiser, beloved within the party, and has built widespread recognition in the state and nationally. He completely disrupts the chessboard. One-hundred percent, Foxwell said of a potential Raskin run. Jamie Raskin is a progressive darling, and in many circles within the Democratic Party, hes an American hero Its impossible to overstate how much his entry into this race would disrupt the dynamic. Rep. Jamie Raskin Is in Remission From Cancer Raskin says he intends to make a decision in the next few weeks. His candidacy is by no means a shoo-in. Hes been battling cancer for months and just entered remission, making the challenge of a statewide campaign more complicated than it might be for other candidates. Hes also already positioned himself as a leader in the House and earned the top Democratic spot on the Oversight Committee, a coveted gig. In other words: he doesnt necessarily need the Senate to wield more power. He has such an important role right now on oversight, right? said one Democratic operative with experience in Maryland politics. The operative continued that Raskin is the whats going to happen factor here that will definitely shape the race. Republicans are not expected to make a major play in Maryland. Hogan, the last statewide Republican to be elected in Maryland, has already ruled out a run. And Maryland went to President Biden over former President Trump by more than 33 points. The Democratic primary field isnt necessarily closed off yet though. Democrats insist theres specifically an opening for someone from Baltimore to jump in. But Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewskione of the rumored nameshas already bowed out and endorsed Alsbrooks instead. Coincidentally, Trone has popped some not-so-subtle Baltimore imagery into his early ads, like literally sitting on a bench that says Baltimore. Theres so many dynamics at play here. And I think its gonna get tense and expensive, and youll probably have people jump in and then jump out, said Feldman. And probably finally narrow to a final two or three by the end, he said. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. In the 1980s, the specter of Satanists influencing society sparked widespread alarm all across America. The press reported thousands of claims of Satanic ritual abuse, nearly all of which were later shown to be fabricated. The Satanic Panic, as historians now call it, arose in a culture threatened by rapid change and was deliberately stoked by religious leaders who recognized the value of a religious awakening it tended to provoke in response. It strikes me that a similar Woke panic is infecting our culture today. Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently invoked the prevalence of woke ideology to justify elected officials telling professors what to teach in universities and how school administrators should serve their students. 2024 Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump are joining DeSantis by trying to ride an anti-woke wave right into the White House. Their imagined opponent is a woke warrior, who hopes to impose their socialist/atheist agenda on the rest of America through an intolerant fury of leftist strong-arming, silencing anyone who stands in the way of their attempts to indoctrinate the sleeping masses, especially unsuspecting students. The Woke Panic I want to assure my conservative friends that the imagined woke warrior is mostly a straw man, a caricature intended more as a rhetorical political weapon than a thoughtful social critique. The woke panic is just as unreal as the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. My academic space a liberal arts college at a California university is probably the paradigm of the woke breeding ground imagined by conservatives. While we undoubtedly have a handful of far-left activists in the classroom and sometimes they wield undue influence most of my colleagues primarily want to share with our students Thoreau, Plato, Churchill, or whoever inspired them to dedicate their life to learning. Across the university, my colleagues spend their days searching for obscure lizards, testing the stability of new concrete formulations, and doing market research not conspiring to incorporate woke messaging into their labs and discussions. At least in my observations, 99% percent of the time, 99% of my colleagues are consumed by research and teaching important questions, not advancing some woke political agenda. Viewers of Fox News mostly think the reverse. Defining academia by its extremist wing is like defining Islam by ISIS or the Catholic Church by the Inquisition. While no group should ignore its unfortunate history or the vocal extremists at its fringes, we should not allow them to define us. The conservative caricature of woke does not define me or hardly anyone I know on my campus. Conservatives point to instances where invited conservative speakers have been shouted down or had invitations rescinded due to the woke mob and I have no doubt that these events occur and agree they can have a chilling effect on public discourse but the fact that universities across America collectively invite literally hundreds of thousands of speakers a year onto their campus and there are a few dozen instances of unfortunate silencing suggests this is a contained outbreak, not a pandemic. I am not trying to suggest that higher education has no problems needing addressing. I am only saying that the woke/anti-woke paradigm is not helpful in solving them. When the educational culture of America gets mired within the political crossfire, the measured dialogue needed to construct helpful solutions cannot rise above the din of political pugilism. This is not a call for no labels (as seems to be fashionable in some moderating circles) but rather a call to useful labels that reflect actual reality instead of poll-testing labels to discover the ones that induce the most fear. So what should we do? I know some of my liberal friends will want to rehabilitate woke as a term, pointing to its long history of especially inspiring African American civil-rights movements. However, for too much of America, woke has been so warped and twisted that retrieving it from the abyss of political weaponry seems impossible to me. Like the terms fake news and cult, we should be comfortable retiring words when they misrepresent more than they reveal. At this point, it is probably better to hold a wake for wokeness rather than try to resuscitate it. College degree not worth it How did we get to this point? While much of the fault lies within the conservative political machine that regularly churns out new ideas to scare their constituents to the polls (see sharia law and critical race theory), part of the responsibility undoubtedly stands with those in the university who do not regularly communicate to the wider public why we exist. Those of us at the university need to do a better job of sharing our research and teaching, reminding the wider society how our work improves lives. When 56% of America thinks a college degree is not worth it, we are losing the communication contest. If the university gets defined by the fear-mongering imagination of Breitbart and the Daily Caller, then it is no doubt that broad swaths of society question our value. This means showing the public that the age-old mandate of the university to be open to debates, dialogues and discussions about truth, science, goodness and beauty is still alive. Lets be honest: There are so few examples out in society where people listen to each other anymore, particularly in terms of politics and religion, that there is a market opportunity to remind the world that conversations can be productive and that we can disagree without being disagreeable. I share the sentiments of the dean of Stanford Law School who recently wrote to her staff and students after an unfortunate incident involving activist students and administrators attempting to silence an invited speaker: The cycle of degenerating discourse wont stop if we insist that people we disagree with must first behave the way we want them to. Nor will it stop if we try to shame each other into submissionit stops when we choose to replace condemnation with curiosity, invective with inquiry. The best response to the weaponization of wokeness is to demonstrate on campus and to the public that a university is a place that replaces condemnation with curiosity, invective with inquiry. This woke panic will only recede when we heed these words and embody their spirit. Satan never totally disappeared from conservative rhetoric after the 1980s, but the threat diminished over time through education and communication. Lets hope that the same will occur with the imagined woke boogieman today. Contributing columnist Stephen Lloyd-Moffett is a professor of religious studies at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California. Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky are still going strong after the events of the third and final To All the Boys film, Always and Forever. The high school sweethearts' relationship status was confirmed in XO, Kitty, Netflix's To All the Boys spin-off series centered on youngest Covey sister Kitty (Anna Cathcart) and her year abroad at a prestigious boarding school in Seoul, South Korea. In episode 3, titled "Kiss," Kitty references the pair while trying to convince new pal Q (Anthony Keyvan) that Dae's (Minyeong Choi) relationship with Yuri (Gia Kim) is fake. "I know what I'm talking about," she tells Q, who isn't quite convinced. "Life ain't a K-drama," he says. "Trust me," Kitty continues, "My sister, Lara Jean, was once in a fake relationship with her boyfriend, Peter. It's actually kind of my fault, then it turned real, and they're still together." We got confirmation that Lara Jean and Peter are still together and NOBODY TOLD ME?! Shame on all of you! #XOKitty pic.twitter.com/IFD55r65hF Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@iWatchiAm) May 21, 2023 Lana Condor and Noah Centineo played the couple in the movie trilogy based on Jenny Han's young adult novels of the same name. In the third and final installment, their relationship is put to the test when Lara Jean decides to attend New York University for college after she's rejected from Stanford, where Peter is set to attend. Though Peter has reservations about a long-distance romance, he crafts a new relationship contract a nod to their contract in the first film and proposes that the two will still love each other despite being miles apart. Lara Jean signs it. To All The Boys: Always and Forever Katie Yu/Netflix Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) and Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) in 'To All the Boys: Always and Forever' The stars don't make cameos in the spin-off series, nor does eldest Covey sister Margot (Janel Parrish), but Kitty references the sisters who are both off at college, with Margot in London as she makes her mark at the school her late mother attended. Han, a co-showrunner and series writer, explained the absences in a conversation with Netflix's Tudum. "We all fell so deeply in love with Lara Jean and her story," she said. "So it felt like the greatest gift to give to Kitty was to let her as a character kind of set off on her own two feet and not put her in the shadow of either of her sisters. And Lana and Noah are both off and doing big things. The whole To All the Boys family couldn't be more proud of them and excited for all the things that come next. We're all excited to see Anna really pick up the mantle and continue Kitty's story." XO, Kitty is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite...stars, and more. Related content: (Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida together laid flowers at a memorial for Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima, in a display of the warming ties that have helped cooperation with their mutual US ally. Most Read from Bloomberg Dressed in somber colors, the two leaders and their wives bowed silently at the monument Sunday after laying bouquets of white flowers. The brief ceremony took place on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, where 78 years ago the worlds first atomic strike killed an estimated 140,000 people including Koreans. Yoon praised Kishidas courage and resolve in becoming the first Japanese premier to pay respects at the monument jointly with his South Korean counterpart. This is extremely important not only for relations between South Korea and Japan, but to pray for global peace, Kishida said, as the two held bilateral talks after the visit. It was their third summit in about the span of two months as the two resumed shuttle diplomacy that had been suspended for about a dozen years due to political acrimony. Why South Korea-Japan Ties Are Plagued by History: QuickTake The 1945 atomic blast took place during Japans 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula. Disagreements over compensation for Koreans conscripted to work at Japanese factories and mines during that period had turned relations their coldest in decades. Yoon has taken steps to try to resolve the issues so that the two can work more closely with the US to stave off threats from North Korea. The joint visit is seen as a show of willingness by Kishida to acknowledge Japans colonial past, as well as draw attention to the horrors of nuclear war. Earlier in the week, Yoon became the first South Korean president to formally meet Korean survivors of the bomb. Kishida, who has family roots in Hiroshima, used his role as summit host to press for the revival of international momentum toward nuclear disarmament, as Russia escalates atomic threats in its war against Ukraine, while China also builds its arsenal. The leaders issued a statement calling for progress on disarmament on Friday. The friction between Seoul and Tokyo, which threatened military and trade ties, caused headaches for the US. The Biden administration has been seeking help from its partners to impose sweeping curbs on the sale of advanced chip equipment to China in a policy aimed at hampering the countrys progression in a range of cutting-edge technologies. --With assistance from Heejin Kim. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. SOFIA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The 3rd Chinese Bridge-Chinese Show for Foreign Primary School Students in Bulgaria was held here on Saturday. As many as 13 children from four schools participated in the event, which was held in the Multifunctional Hall of the Confucius Institute in Sofia. Due to his excellent performance in the show, Yanis Enchev from Sofia's private school "Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi" will represent Bulgaria at the global finals. The nine-year-old Enchev told Xinhua that he has been studying Chinese for four years, and liked it very much. He said he started learning Chinese because he wanted to learn the Chinese language, go to China, talk to Chinese people, "and because I like Chinese culture very much." New York City has a right to shelter, but will it establish a right to sleep outside? FILE - Sotero Cirilo stands near the tent where he sleeps next to other homeless people in the Queens borough of New York on April 14, 2021. The City Council unanimously approved a Homeless Bill of Rights in April 2023 that would make New York the first big U.S. city to establish an explicit right to sleep in at least some public places. If Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, allows the measure to become law, it could be a notable departure for the city which has for years sent police and sanitation crews to clear homeless encampments as they arise. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) NEW YORK (AP) New York Mayor Eric Adams has hailed his citys right to shelter as a hallmark of compassion for its most destitute. Now he must decide if he will extend that compassion by bestowing homeless people with the right to sleep outside. The City Council unanimously approved a Homeless Bill of Rights last month that would make New York the first big U.S. city to establish an explicit right to sleep in at least some public places. If Adams, a Democrat, allows the measure to become law, it could be a notable departure for the city, which has for years sent police and sanitation crews to clear homeless encampments as they arise. It also would run against the prevailing political headwinds in other places that have struggled with large numbers of people living in tents and other makeshift shelters. The Los Angeles City Council passed a broad anti-camping measure two years ago. Then last year, the city outlawed tents within 500 feet (150 meters) of schools and day cares and banned sitting, lying, sleeping or storing personal property that would disrupt the flow of traffic on sidewalks, streets and bike lanes. The changes were billed as a compassionate way to get homeless people off the streets and restore access to public spaces for other people. Sonja Verdugo, an organizer with the Los Angeles advocacy group Ground Game LA, called the measure inhumane. Basically, you cant rest anywhere outdoors if youre unhoused, she said. Earlier this year, a Right to Rest proposal in Oregon died quietly after its sponsor could not muster support. It would have granted the right to use public spaces without discrimination and time limitations that are based on housing status. Attempts to establish a similar Homeless Bill of Rights in California, including a right to sleep outdoors without fear of being confronted by police, also have faltered. Some hope Los Angeles' newly elected Mayor Karen Bass will make good on a campaign promise to move people out of tents and cardboard shanties and into permanent housing. Bass vowed to eliminate encampments lining entire blocks and have made the city's notorious Skid Row the embodiment of the countrys homeless crisis. Bass also promised to house 15,000 people by the end of her first year in office. The number comprises more than a third of the estimated 42,000 Los Angelenos without permanent shelter. The increasing visibility of homeless camps has fueled public frustration and prompted politicians, including some moderate Democrats, to push to reduce their prevalence to the chagrin of some advocates for homeless people. More and more, its simply illegal to be homeless all across the country in Republican and Democratic cities, said Mark Horvath, CEO of Los Angeles-based nonprofit Invisible People. But its not like we can arrest our way out of this crisis. Aside from establishing the right to sleep outdoors, the Homeless Bill of Rights passed in New York would also codify the city's longstanding right to shelter, the only one of its kind among the country's biggest cities. Among the nine rights in the measure are safeguards against being forced into facilities that dont correspond to a persons gender identity. It also gives people the right to apply for rental assistance and requires parents staying in shelters be given diapers for their babies. This is a sensible and compassionate policy response to unprecedented homelessness, said Taysha Milagros Clark, a policy and data analyst for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City. "The bill of rights really encompasses an understanding that homeless people do have rights. They havent violated any laws or anything of the sort just by virtue of their homeless status," she said. "It is a stark departure from what this administration has done." Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for Adams, said the mayor was still evaluating the measure. Since Day One of this administration, Mayor Adams has been focused on helping New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and connecting them with a clean, safe place to rest their heads at night," Levy said. The mayor's subway safety program has resulted in more than 4,600 New Yorkers experiencing homelessness being connected to the help and shelter they need to stabilize their lives, Levy said. It is uncertain how the proposed right to sleep outdoors might work in practice. New York City has rules limiting the ability to set up a campsite. Most city parks close at 1 a.m. Privately owned spaces are off limits. Sidewalks and roads are required to be free of obstructions. People are forbidden from lying down on benches or seats on the city's subway trains, though enforcement is lax. New York City is required by law to guarantee space in its huge shelter system to anyone who needs it, but the system has been bursting partly due to an influx of migrants, many of whom crossed into the U.S. along the southern border. Nearly 81,000 people were housed in the shelter system in the past week. City officials scrambled to find more space, including renting out entire hotels for families without permanent housing. Some people choose to live on the streets because they find the city's shelters dangerous or too crowded, don't like their rules or curfews, or have trouble being around other people. Jumaane Williams, New York Citys elected public advocate and a sponsor of the homeless rights measure now before Adams, said he would like the city to focus less on preventing encampments and more on addressing what he says are the roots of the crisis: rising housing costs, joblessness, racism, addiction and mental illness. I think were in dire situations for things that have been decades in the making, Williams said. The concept of a bill of rights for homeless people dates back more than a decade. In 2012, Rhode Island was the first state to adopt one, soon followed by Connecticut and Illinois. So far none of them have explicitly protected the right of a person to be able to sleep outside, said Eric Tars, the legal director of the National Homelessness Law Center. Five years ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the city of Boise, Idaho, could not stop people from sleeping outside if there was nowhere else for them to sleep. Doing so, the court suggested, would criminalize homeless people. The right to sleep outside only exists, the court ruled, if there is no shelter space available. ___ Weber reported from Los Angeles. By Hyunsu Yim SEOUL (Reuters) - Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he met South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and discussed Kyiv's efforts in its war with Russia. The meeting, on the sidelines of a summit of Group of Seven (G7) leaders in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, marks the first time the two leaders have met. "Thanked (Yoon) for the humanitarian and non-lethal assistance to Ukraine, in particular, for demining vehicles. I look forward to continued cooperation," Zelenskiy tweeted. Yoon was briefed on the situation at the front and how Ukraine is repelling Russia's "full-scale aggression," Zelenskiy said of Moscow's 15-month invasion of his country. The Yoon-Zelenskiy meeting was arranged at Ukraine's request, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing Yoon's office. The two countries agreed to exchange visits of delegations, Zelenskiy's office said in a statement. Last week, Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska visited South Korea to attend a media conference. She met with Yoon and asked for non-lethal military assistance for her country, according to South Korea's presidential office. A day after that request, Seoul announced an agreement with Ukraine on a plan to provide $130 million in financial aid. South Korea, a major producer of artillery shells, has said it was not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its relations with Russia. But in an interview with Reuters last month, Yoon said his government might not "insist only on humanitarian or financial support" if civilians in Ukraine come under a large-scale attack or because of a "situation the international community cannot condone". (Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and William Mallard) KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought global support on Sunday for Kyiv's plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, telling G7 leaders it was "an obvious expression of rationality". Zelenskiy, who is attending the G7 summit in Japan in person, has in recent months been promoting what his administration has billed as a "peace formula". "We're united by one more principle rationality," he said in a speech to the leaders, the text of which was posted to the president's website. "We always act practically protecting our values. And the Ukrainian Peace Formula is an obvious expression of rationality. I thank you for supporting our Formula." In a separate social media post, Zelenskiy said he had presented the plan to G7 leaders at the Hiroshima summit. "We have developed the Peace Formula in a way that ensures each of its points is backed by UN resolutions," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "And in a way that everyone in the world can choose the track they can contribute to. From Japan to the Arab countries, from Europe to Latin America, we find support for our Formula." Zelenskiy has pushed Western allies and other countries to go further on both economic and military measures to support Kyiv as Russia's 15-month invasion drags on. (Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, William Maclean) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared the damage in Bakhmut to the destruction wrought on Hiroshima after it was hit by an atomic bomb, as he denied Russia had captured the frontline city. Zelensky who traveled to Japan for a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) said pictures of Hiroshima really remind him of Bakhmut and other Ukrainian towns. Just the same, nothing alive left, all of the buildings have been ruined, Zelensky told a news conference. There are conflicting claims over who controls Bakhmut. On Saturday the chief of the Russian private military group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed to have captured Bakhmut after months of brutal fighting, saying he would hand it over to Russia later in May, Zelensky used the conference to again deny that that Bakhmut is Russian as of Sunday and Ukrainian soldiers remain in the city. We are keeping on, we are fighting. Zelensky said. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cant share the tactics of the military, but a country even bigger than ours cannot defeat us. A little time will pass and we will be winning. Today our soldiers are in Bakhmut. Ukraines Armed Forces (AFU) said they were continuing to counter Russia in the city, and that they were advancing in the suburbs, making it very difficult for the enemy to remain in Bakhmut. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his congratulations for the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk, Russian state news agency TASS reported the Kremlin as saying, using the Soviet-Russian name for Bakhmut. CNN is unable to verify either sides battlefield claims. Zelensky rallies allies If confirmed, the capture of Bakhmut would mark Russias first gain in months, but the citys symbolism always outweighed its strategic importance. Moscow has thrown huge amounts of manpower, weaponry and attention toward the city but largely failed to break down a stubborn Ukrainian resistance that had outlasted most expectations. Bakhmuts fall would also be an undoubted boost to Prigozhin, who recently announced his men would pull out entirely because dwindling ammunition supplies and mounting losses meant there was nothing left to grind the meat with. Prigozhin is a former catering boss who has grown in prominence throughout the war, and his forces have been heavily involved in the fighting. Zelensky talks to Kishida during their bilateral meeting on Sunday. - The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images Zelensky made a surprise appearance at the G7, traveling halfway across the globe to address the worlds major industrial democracies in person. The Ukrainian leader used the final day of the summit in Japan to appeal to G7 leaders for more powerful weapons and tougher sanctions against Moscow. He left having won a clear boost after the Biden administration dropped its objections to sending advanced fighter jets to Ukraine. I cannot now tell you how many aircraft well be able to get. I cannot tell you definitely when it takes place but we will speed it up because its important for us every day. Were losing peoples lives, he said. At the G7 Ukraines allies reiterated their support, with British Prime Minister RIshi Sunak saying Ukraine must not only win the war but win a just and lasting peace. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Russian forces do not occupy Bakhmut, despite Moscows assertions that the city had been taken. Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today, Zelensky said in response to a reporters question at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. We are not throwing people [away] to die, Zelensky added in Ukrainian through an interpreter. People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian leader said at the summit that for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. Russias Wagner group said over the weekend that it had taken the eastern Ukrainian city with assistance from Moscows troops, and Russian state news agency TASS reported on Sunday that the city of Artyomovsk has been completely liberated, referring to Bakhmut by its Soviet-era name, and that Zelensky didnt acknowledge the loss. The fighting has made it difficult to confirm the situation on the ground. Bakhmut is roughly 34 miles north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk. At the G7 on Sunday, President Biden announced a new $375 million military assistance package, including ammunition, artillery and armored vehicles, to help Kyiv in its second year of fending off Russias invasion. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Zelensky paid tribute to victims of the Hiroshima atomic bombing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrapped up a triumphant diplomatic offensive in Hiroshima on Sunday, heading home bearing new arms, munitions and the "unwavering" diplomatic support of G7 allies. He leveraged the powerful symbolism of Hiroshima, synonymous with the horrors of war, to press partners and sceptics alike to back his defence against Russia's 15-month onslaught. The need for his bold diplomatic gambit in Japan was underscored by setbacks on the ground back home, where Russia claimed to have taken control of the eastern city of Bakhmut after months of bloody battle. Still Zelensky can claim victory on several fronts, having won US backing for the supply of advanced fighter jet, and the chance to woo powerful unaligned nations such as India that have not condemned Russia's invasion. He used the emotional history of Hiroshima to drive home his despair over the destruction of his country, including the frontline city of Bakhmut, which Russian troops claim to now control. "The photos of Hiroshima remind me of Bakhmut," he said after a visit to the city's museum, which documents the suffering caused by the 1945 US nuclear bomb attack. "Absolute total destruction. There is nothing. There are no people." But he vowed that like Hiroshima, Ukraine would rebuild, and joined Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a sombre ceremony to lay flowers at a cenotaph commemorating the 140,000 people killed by the bomb. Zelensky denied that Russian troops now occupy Bakhmut, although he acknowledged they were in the city, which has been ground into ruins in months of brutal fighting that shows little sign of slowing. He left Japan with reassurances, however, that his allies will see out the fight, with US President Joe Biden insisting that Ukraine's backers "will not waver." "Putin will not break our resolve as he thought he could," Biden told reporters after meeting Zelensky. - Russia slams 'propaganda show' - The White House earlier unveiled a $375-million package of US aid that includes ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers, artillery shells, anti-tank guided missiles and thermal imaging systems. It came after the United States lifted a veto on Ukrainian access to advanced US-made F-16 fighter jets, a significant upgrade from Kyiv's Cold War-era fleet of MiGs and Sukhois. Beyond the promised supplies, the trip has been a major diplomatic coup for Zelensky. It prompted an angry Moscow to denounce the entire G7 summit as a "propaganda show" that whipped up "hateful anti-Russian and also anti-Chinese messages". Separately, the foreign ministry in Beijing said it had summoned G7 host Japan's ambassador on Sunday to protest against what it described as efforts to "smear and attack" China at the gathering. Zelensky put his country and Russia's invasion firmly at the top of the agenda and secured firm backing for key elements of his 10-point peace plan, centred on the need for a Russian withdrawal. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the message from Ukraine and its allies was clear: "Russia must withdraw troops." Any peace plan, he said, "can't simply be linked to a freeze of the conflict". "Russia should not bet that if it holds out long enough, it will end up weakening support for Ukraine." The summit also afforded Zelensky a rare opportunity to make his case to a handful of nations who have pointedly offered little or no condemnation of Russia's invasion. Leaders from India, Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia were among those invited to attend the summit as non-members. After a one-to-one meeting, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Zelensky: "I understand your pain and the pain of Ukrainian citizens very well." "I can assure you that to resolve this India and, me personally, will do whatever we can do." - 'Emotional' - African Union chairman, the Comoros President Azali Assoumani, told AFP that Zelensky's meeting with G7 leaders and other invited countries had become "emotional" when the Ukrainian president recalled his country's travails. "We condemned the war, we supported Zelensky, and I personally and sincerely saluted his courage," he said. But there was one rumple in Zelensky's diplomatic charm offensive. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has accused the West of "encouraging the war", did not meet his Ukrainian counterpart. While Lula condemned the "violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity" and called for "dialogue" in group discussions, he also took a swipe at nations on the United Nations Security Council, whose permanent members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. One official present described the exchange as "frank". "Permanent members continue the long tradition of waging unauthorised wars, whether in pursuit of territorial expansion or in pursuit of regime change," Lula said, in a seeming reference to the US-led Iraq War. Zelensky said scheduling conflicts had prevented the pair from meeting. Asked if he was disappointed to miss talks with Lula, he replied: "I think he is disappointed." burs-sah/arb/qan/gil Zelenskyy denies that Russia is in control of Bakhmut: 'There cannot be 2 or 3 interpretations of this' Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut on May 15, 2023. Libkos/AP Russian forces have been waging a monthslong battle in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine. The fighting has reduced the city to rubble and claimed thousands of lives. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied Russia was in control of the city at the G7 summit on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday denied Russia had taken the key eastern city of Bakhmut. "Bakhmut is not captured by the Russian Federation today. There cannot be two or three interpretations of this," he said, according to Fox News. Zelenskyy appeared to be clarifying comments he made earlier at the G7 summit in Japan regarding Bakhmut, where a more than 8-month-long battle has reduced the city to rubble and claimed thousands of lives. During a meeting with President Joe Biden on Sunday at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Zelenskyy seemed to tell reporters that he believed Ukraine had lost control of the city. His statement came hours after Russia's defense ministry backed claims by the head of the Wagner paramilitary group that Russia has seized the city. "I think no," Zelenskyy said. "But you have to understand that there is nothing. ... For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts." Since August, Russia has waged a bloody battle in the eastern Ukrainian city and, for months, Ukraine's resolute determination to stay and defend Bakhmut appeared to be paying off, as the leader of Russia's for-hire military group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, appeared to consider pulling his troops out of the city. Experts told Insider that, although the battle has been costly for both sides, Ukraine was right to stay and defend the city, denying Russia a symbolic and tactical victory. Ukraine "tied up a lot of Russian troops in Bakhmut, making it impossible to deploy them to other battle zones" in the wider Donbas region, Rajan Menon, a nonresident scholar in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank, previously told Insider. Earlier on Saturday, Prigozhin claimed that Wagner had taken the city. However, according to CNN, in a Telegram post shared shortly after Prigozhin's, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that though the situation was "critical" the battle was ongoing. Read the original article on Business Insider Zelenskyy and Biden to have meeting in Japan on Sunday US President Joe Biden will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Hiroshima on Sunday, 21 May. Source: CNN Details: A senior US presidential administration official has said that Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy "a little after 14:00 local time (01:00 Kyiv time). Biden, according to the official, "will continue to reaffirm the United States' strong and resolute support for Ukraine going forward". He has also pointed to the "powerful statement of unity" by the G7 countries that spoke out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the summit, including sanctions and the announcement of joint efforts to train Ukrainian pilots in F-16 fighter jets. When asked whether China could play a role in ending the war with Russia, the US official said the US hoped that Chinese leader Xi Jinping saw the G7 summit as a signal of "resolve". Quote: "We would hope that President Xi and the (People's Republic of China) extract from what theyve been seeing here is that theres an awful lot of resolve to continue to support Ukraine, as the G7 continues to say, for as long as it takes, and that China could have a meaningful role in helping end this war." More details: The G7 includes the world's most advanced industrialised democracies: the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Italy. Tokyo has also invited several other growing economic powers and regional players to the meetings. Background: US President Joe Biden plans to announce a new US$375 million military aid package for Ukraine after meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 leaders' summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima this weekend. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! HIROSHIMA, Japan Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces werent occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscows insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporters question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today. Ukraines Zelensky at G7 summit as world leaders sanction Russia We are not throwing people (away) to die, Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. People are the treasure. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. I cannot share with you the technical details of what is happening with our warriors. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasions longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Zelenskyys response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut suggested that he believed the city had fallen to Russian forces, and he offered solemn words about its fate. When asked if the city was in Ukraines hands, Zelenskyy said: I think no, but you have to to understand that there is nothing, Theyve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity. Its tragedy. In this grab taken from video released by Prigozhin Press Service on Saturday, May 20, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company shakes hands with his soldiers, in Bakhmut, Ukraine. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP) But, for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing on this place, so just ground and and a lot of dead Russians, he said. Zelenskyys press secretary later walked back those previous comments. Ukrainian defense and military officials said that fierce fighting was ongoing. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops took the city in a semi-encirclement. The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city, Malyar said. That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemys presence in Bakhmut. And the spokesman for Ukraines Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway, he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk, which is Bakhmuts Soviet-era name. Russias Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units completed the liberation of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.), Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a flat assurance that Ukraine wouldnt use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. How US support for pilot training could pave path to F-16s for Ukraine Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is not tactically or operationally significant, a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations, nor to to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isnt clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmuts fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldnt prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscows illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscows troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the citys suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called fortress Bakhmut. Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels, Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters marched on the bodies of their own soldiers according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Elise Morton reported from London, and Susie Blann from Kyiv, Ukraine. Elaine Kurtenbach and Adam Schreck contributed to this report from Hiroshima. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Hiroshima where the G7 summit is underway. Source: Office of the President of Ukraine Quote from Zelenskyy: "[We] discussed topical issues of the bilateral agenda: further cooperation in the field of security and defence, the situation at the front, the training of Ukrainian officers within the framework of the Canadian UNIFIER training mission, the importance of implementing all steps of the Ukrainian peace formula, and the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. [I] highly appreciate that friendly Canada is one of the leaders in supporting Ukraine in resisting Russian aggression. But now is a critical moment for us and the whole world, and Ukraine needs increased assistance." Details: Zelenskyy also thanked Trudeau and Canada for their practical help in demining territories and for the prompt processing of Ukraine's requests by the Canadian government and producers. Canada's consistent strengthening of sanctions pressure on Russia was highly praised as well. The meeting also discussed training Ukrainian junior officers within the framework of the Canadian UNIFIER training mission. Apart from that, Zelenskyy focused on the issue of Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. He noted that specific decisions on Ukraine's membership in the Alliance should be made at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, and clear signals should be given that Ukraine will become a NATO member. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Chinese embassy donates relief supplies for cyclone victims in Myanmar Xinhua) 10:39, May 21, 2023 YANGON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar on Saturday donated relief supplies for victims of Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar, according to a statement released by the embassy. The supplies included instant noodles, biscuits and drinking water, the statement said. Jia Junjie, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, attended the ceremony and said the donation reflects friendly relations between the two countries and China-Myanmar "Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship, adding that he believes the Myanmar people will be able to overcome the difficulties. China will continue to provide support within its capacity to help the Myanmar people resume their normal production and life as soon as possible, he said. Myanmar's State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing presented a certificate of appreciation to the embassy, expressing gratitude to China and other friendly countries and organizations for their provision of disaster relief for Myanmar. Chinese enterprises in Myanmar including POWERCHINA, CITIC, PetroChina, VPower and Conch Cement have also donated relief supplies and cash to the cyclone victims. They were also providing assistance for the restoration of roads, electricity, communications and other infrastructure in cyclone-hit areas, according to the Chinese embassy. Mocha made landfall near Sittwe in western Myanmar's Rakhine state on May 14, with winds of up to 130 mph (about 209 kph), and raged across the country, killing at least 140 people. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Kou Jie) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) Ride-hailing company Grab Philippines has released the remaining customer refund worth 6.66 million, and qualified users have until mid-July of this year to claim their rebate vouchers. If you are one of these users, your rebate is waiting to be claimed via your in-app GrabRewards catalogue, the company said in a statement released on Sunday. Grab added that some of its customers have yet to claim their three-year-old PCC-approved rebate vouchers. To claim the rebate, Grab users should follow the instructions on its website. According to a resolution released by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), unclaimed amounts will be remitted to the Philippine National Treasury. Last May 15, the PCC slapped Grab with a penalty worth 9 million for failing to fully refund 25.4 million to its customers over three years after the order of reimbursement was released. Never po namin tinalikuran ang aming obligasyon na ibalik po ang P25 million na ito sa pasaherong affected, said Sherielysse Bonifacio, Grab Philippines director for public affairs. [Translation: We never neglected our obligation to return the 25 million to affected passengers] Buti ngayon po, finally klaro na po kung ano po yung gagawin natin dun sa remaining P6.66 million. Hopefully after this, ma-resolve na po natin yung isyu na ito at matuldukan natin, she added. [Translation: It's good to be finally clear about what to do with the remaining 6.66 million. Hopefully, we can end this issue once it is resolved.] Zelenskyy making his appeal in person to G7 leaders in Japan could be a 'game changer' as the Ukrainian president seeks more aid and hopes to persuade on-the-fence countries like India Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, as he attend G7 Leaders Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 20, 2023 Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday for the G7 summit. He urged G7 leaders for steadfast support during Russia's war with Ukraine. His visit came as Russia's Wagner group claimed to have gained control of Bakhmut. Days before leaders of the most powerful democracies met in Japan for the annual G7 summit, Ukrainian officials expressed uncertainty about an in-person appearance from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing ongoing conditions of the war with Russia. "Everything will depend on the situation on the battlefield. The final decision will be made after a careful analysis of the situation on the battlefield," Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, told Kyodo News. But on Saturday, Zelenskyy made the visit to Hiroshima, dressed in his expected muted green outfit, to urge G7 leaders, face-to-face, to continue providing steadfast support for Ukraine. "Together with all of our allies and partners, we have achieved such a level of cooperation, which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected," Zelenskyy said on Twitter, sharing a video of his photo-op with G7 leaders. Zelenskyy's last-minute appearance was the first in-person visit to a G7 summit from the Ukrainian leader since the Russian invasion began last February. Previously, he was a virtual attendee at the summit, during which he said he hoped that the war would end by the end of 2022, CNN reported. The visit also gave Zelenskyy an opportunity to sit down with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines. India has so far shied away from providing support for Ukraine and has even tried to convince G20 countries not to call the Russia-Ukraine conflict a "war." "The war in Ukraine is a big issue for the whole world," Modi said, according to CNN. "It has also had many effects on the whole world. But I don't consider it to be just an issue of economy or politics. For me, it is an issue of humanity." French President Emmanuel Macron said Zelenskyy's visit "can be a game changer," and that it was a "unique opportunity" for Zelenskyy to have "exchanges with a lot of countries from the south and express your situation, express a message, and share a view," The New York Times reported. Zelenskyy's visit came just as Russia's defense ministry and the head of the paramilitary group, Wagner, claimed to have seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, The Associated Press reported. The defense ministry released a statement on a Telegram channel about eight hours after Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin made the claim of Bakhmut's capture. Ukrainian officials called the situation "critical," earlier on Saturday according to CNN, but said that Ukraine's forces still hold part of the city. By late Saturday night Pacific Time, early Sunday Eastern Time, Zelenskyy seemed to confirm that the city had fallen: "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts." Update: May 20, 2023, at 11:31 p.m. PT This story has been updated to reflect Zelenskyy's latest comments about Bakhmut. Read the original article on Business Insider Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with his Indonesian colleague Joko Widodo during a working visit to Japan where both participated in the G7 summit. Source: Office of the President of Ukraine Details: Zelenskyy informed Widodo about the course of the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian president drew his attention to the shelling of the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine. He called on the President of Indonesia to support Ukraine's efforts to bring back illegally deported children. Reportedly, Widodo welcomed the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. During the meeting, the parties also discussed the implementation of the Ukrainian peace formula. Apart from that, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to Indonesia for its willingness to support efforts aimed at Ukraine's recovery and thanked Widodo for the invitation to participate in the G20 summit in November 2022, at which the Ukrainian peace formula was presented to the world. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Zelenskyy says he did not meet with Lula at G7 summit in Hiroshima Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he never had a chance to meet with his Brazilian counterpart Inacio Lula da Silva at the G7 Summit in Japan. Source: Zelenskyy during a press conference Quote: "I met with almost all the leaders, but everyone has their own schedules, because of this we could not meet with the Brazilian president." Details: When asked by the journalist whether Zelenskyy was disappointed that he had not met with his Brazilian counterpart, he replied: "I think this disappoints him", smiling. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, currently in Japan to participate in the G7 summit, has clarified his recent words about Bakhmut, stressing that Russian forces have not entirely captured the city. Source: Zelenskyy during a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan Quote from Zelenskyy: "We are holding on and fighting thanks to the courage of our soldiers and our sanity. We do not leave people to die, people are a treasure to us, and they are the most important thing we have. There are no misunderstandings. I clearly understand what is happening in Bakhmut. And we all clearly understand why all this is being done. I can't share the tactical views of our military with you... but we understand that just a little more and we will gain victory... The military has been performing crucial tasks, they are in Bakhmut, [and] I will not disclose where exactly, but this suggests that Bakhmut is not currently captured by Russia. There can be no two or three interpretations of this." For reference: Journalists had asked for clarification of Zelenskyy's response, as on the morning of 21 May, the president said that the Russian invaders had not captured Bakhmut, but leading international media misinterpreted his statement, thinking he had said that "the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not control Bakhmut". Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Zelenskyy: We have an understanding of every important point with majority of the world President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated at the end of the week that Ukraine has an understanding with the majority of the world on every point that is important for the country. Source: President's evening address Quote: "We are finishing this very difficult yet very important week. On Friday, we had [a meeting with] the Arab League. On Saturday and Sunday [a meeting between] G7 plus Ukraine and [it was held in] an expanded format seven plus partners, including the Global South, plus Ukraine. It was intense. The world hears our position. Protection and security guarantees, the return of all our territories, all our people, justice, the implementation of our Peace Formula... We have an understanding with the world majority on every important point for Ukraine. And together we will increase Ukraine's potential." Details: Zelenskyy noted that on Sunday in Hiroshima, Ukraine was a truly honored participant in the work of the G7. "The topic of Ukraine is principal, the respect for all Ukrainians is special. I am thankful to the G7! [I had a] meeting with President Biden and, as always, we become stronger after such talks. Meeting with the leader of Indonesia meaningful. Meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea there is potential for strong relations. Meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau thank you, Justin. I also spoke with the leaders of Vietnam and Australia. We spoke separately and in detail with the Prime Minister of Japan we will enhance cooperation," the president said. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Volodymyr Zelenskyy The Ukrainian leader was speaking at a press-conference in Hiroshima on May 21. "We have been working really hard with our partners to get the desired result... Zelenskyy said. Today, the training mission has opened up for us. This is the first step. Then our pilots will have to train for the next few months. We will work to ensure that these people are as experienced as possible to shorten the training process." Read also: Ministerial advisor shares his opinion on when Ukraine will receive F-16s Ukraine's leader named neither the countries that are ready to supply aircraft, nor the exact terms from the jets delivery to Ukraine. "I can't tell you right now how many planes we will get and when it will exactly happen. But we will accelerate it," Zelenskyy said. Meanwhile, the White House has confirmed U.S. participation in the fighter jets for Ukraine coalition. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that in the coming months his country would work with the allies "to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many." Ukraine will receive F-16 fighter jets on condition that they not be used to attack Russian territory, Sullivan added. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that his country would work together with the United States and the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark in order to provide the proper training for Ukrainian pilots on modern aircraft. Earlier, Advisor to Minister of Defence of Ukraine Yuriy Sak said that Kyiv expects to receive F-16 fighter jets this fall. 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 Meeting of Zelenskyy and Biden at the G7 summit Western media earlier reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy supposedly acknowledged the loss of Bakhmut during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. However, Nykyforov said this was untrue. Read also: Ukrainian army releases video of devastation in Bakhmut (When) the president was told (the) Russians said they have taken Bakhmut, Zelenskyy replied I think no, Nykyforov wrote. Read also: Zelenskyy tells G7 principle of preventive security will protect democracies from aggressor states "Thus, the president denied the capture of Bakhmut (by the Russians)." Earlier, Reuters and German broadcaster DW reported that Zelenskyy had confirmed the loss of Bakhmut before a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Japan, reporting that he had said that "today Bakhmut is only in our hearts." On May 20, the leader of Russias Wagner mercenary company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed the destroyed town of Bakhmut was completely under the control of his mercenaries. The Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine denied this information and said that fighting in the city continues. Read also: Ukraine threatens Bakhmut encirclement, Wagner forces may end up trapped In a video message published by Prigozhin's press service, he claimed that Bakhmut was completely captured at noon on May 20, 2023 "the last section of the so-called high-rise building in the Litak (district)." Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told Reuters: "This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut." Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar said on her Telegram channel that heavy fighting was taking place in Bakhmut and the situation was critical, but Ukrainian troops continued to hold the line in the area of Litak. On May 18, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that the Defense Forces were in control of the southwestern part of Bakhmut, and had advanced up to 1 kilometer in the suburbs. Ukrainian defenders from the 3rd Assault Brigade also reported offensive actions on the western outskirts of Bakhmut, which allowed them to create a bridgehead for a further counter-offensive. 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 Federal High Court in Abuja last week ordered the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to account for the spending of $460 million Chinese loan to fund the failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project. The Court also ordered the government to publish the total amount of money paid to Chinese and local companies and contractors and specific details of the names of the companies and contractors and status of the implementation of the project. Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite made the orders while delivering judgment in a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/1447/2019 brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). The suit followed the disclosure in 2019 by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed that Nigeria was servicing the loan, adding that she had no explanations on the status of the project. She reportedly said, We are servicing the loan. I have no information on the status of the CCTV project. In his judgment, Justice Nwite agreed with SERAP that there is a reasonable cause of action against the government. Accounting for the spending of the $460 million Chinese loan is in the interest of the public. It will be inimical for the court to refuse SERAPs application for judicial review of the governments action. Justice Nwite also said that, The Minister of Finance is in charge of the finance of the country and cannot by any stretch of imagination be oblivious of the amount of money paid to the contractors for the Abuja CCTV contract and the money meant for the construction of the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). Justice Nwite also ordered the government to provide the details clarifying whether the sum of N1.5 billion Naira paid for the failed contract meant to construct the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) was part of another loan obtained from China. Justice Nwites judgment, read in part: SERAPs core objectives are to promote human rights, transparency and accountability and anticorruption in Nigeria. I am of the humble view that there is a reasonable cause of action against the government [through the Minister of Finance] and I so hold that SERAP has made out a case to be entitled to the reliefs sought. The law is well settled that where a document or letter is sent by post, it is the law that same is taken or presumed to have been delivered. Following this principle of law and relying on exhibit OS2, SERAPs Freedom of Information request sent to Ms Ahmed is deemed to have delivered. Therefore, the averment by the government [through her] that they were not served with the letter is hereby discountenance. I so hold. Joined as defendants in the suit are Ms Ahmed and the Minister of Police Affairs. Justice Nwite granted the following orders of mandamus against the Nigerian government: AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS is hereby made directing and compelling the government [through the Minister of Finance] to provide and make available to SERAP information on the total amount of money paid to contractors, with specific details of names of companies local contractors involved, from the $460 million loan obtained in 2010 from China by the Federal Government of Nigeria to fund the failed Abuja CCTV contract. AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS is hereby made directing and compelling the government [through the Minister of Finance] to provide the details of the local companies and Chinese contractors that have received funds from the $460 million loan for the finance of the Abuja CCTV contract as well as details of the status of implementation of the project. AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS is hereby made directing and compelling the government [through the Minister of Finance] to provide the details clarifying whether the sum of N1.5 billion Naira mobilisation fee reportedly paid to the contractors for the construction of the Headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau in Abuja was part of another loan from China. This is the judgment of the court. SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare said: The onus is now on President Buhari to immediately comply with the courts orders. We commend Justice Nwite for his courage and wisdom, and urge President Buhari and Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to immediately obey the court orders. This is a victory for justice, rule of law, transparency and accountability. The judgment shows the way forward in the fight against corruption and impunity of perpetrators. We will do everything within the law to ensure full compliance by President Buhari with this ground-breaking judgment on Chinese loans. We call on President Buhari to use the judgment as the basis for publishing details of spending of all Chinese loans and other loans obtained by his government since May 2015. Nigerias total borrowing from China climbed from $1.39 billion to $4.29 billion between June 2015 and December 2022, according to data from Debt Management Office (DMO). Nigerias 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) revealed earlier in the year that the federal government will spend N6.31 trillion on debt servicing in 2023, which amounts to about 74.6% of the governments projected revenue of 8.46 trillion for the year. Nigeria risks losing key national assets to China in the event that it defaults in paying back loans obtained from China. According to a report, Nigeria may have defaulted on Chinese loan repayment and stands the risk of paying a penalty amounting to N41.31 billion. The report quoted the Debt Management Office (DMO), which said Nigeria has failed to fully service its debt to China, which has accumulated to N110.31 billion in the last two years. It would be recalled that SERAP had in December 2019 filed a lawsuit against Ms Ahmed over failure to disclose information and specific documents on the total amount of money paid to contractors from the $460 million loan obtained in 2010 from China to fund the apparently failed Abuja CCTV project. The suit number, read in part: Servicing Chinese loans for failed projects is double jeopardy for Nigeriansthey can neither see nor benefit from the projects; yet, they are made to pay both the loans and the accrued interests. The $460 million loan got for the failed Abuja CCTV project and the N1.5 billion for the construction of CCB headquarters, which may be part of another Chinese loan, may have been mismanaged or stolen, and in any case, remain unaccounted for. Transparency in the spending of Chinese loans is good for everyone, as this would help to increase the effectiveness, legitimacy, and contribution of the loans to the development of public goods and services, and the general public interests. The information being requested does not come within the purview of the types of information exempted from disclosure under the Act. The Respondent has no legally justifiable reason for refusing to provide SERAP with the information requested. VANGUARD Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. If the first depositors at TS Bank (originally Treynor State Bank) were afraid it might not be there the next day, they neednt have worried. The bank was incorporated in May 1923 with a mission to Ignite Prosperity and is now celebrating its 100th birthday. The celebration will be kicked off with a ribbon cutting Tuesday at 2 p.m. at its downtown branch and office building at 43 Scott St. in Council Bluffs. A Zaltes ice cream truck will be on site from 2 to 4 p.m. Sweet treats will also be offered on Wednesday at its branch in the Madison Avenue Hy-Vee and its West Broadway branch. Additional festivities will be held later in Corning, Ames, Atlantic, Macedonia and Treynor. At the century mark, TS Bank has eight locations in southwest and central Iowa, employs more than 90 people and has $393 million in assets. It has three full-time locations in Council Bluffs at 43 Scott St., 3201 W. Broadway and in the lobby at the Hy-Vee Food Store at 1745 Madison Ave. along with branches in Treynor, Macedonia, Atlantic, Corning and Ames. Its TS Prosperity Group, the largest Iowa state-chartered C-Corp trust department in western Iowa, has $260 million in assets under management and about 140 employees. The group now includes brands of TS Ag Finance, Callahan Financial Planning Co. and Collins Consulting. We just feel totally blessed to be where we are today and a lot of that is just because of the people of the community, said Mick Guttau, chairman of the board. TS Bank is dedicated to community reinvestment and gives 10% of its pre-tax income back to the community, Guttau said. Weve done that for many years and are seeing results from that, he said Friday. The reason its easy to do that is they took a chance on me. Harry Holst served as the banks first president which was not a paid position then from 1923 to 1952, according to information on the banks website. He was followed by Joseph Gronstal, who had been a full-time employee since 1923 and served as president from 1952 to 1972, and then Robert Gronstal, who was president from 1972 to 1978. Guttau started his career at TS Bank in 1972 after flying Cobra attack helicopters for the Army in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971. When I came back from Vietnam, I was in California and I was yelled and spit at, and I came back home and it was totally the opposite of that, he said. People would walk in and say, Mickey, its great to have you back home. They treated me just like they had before. When I got over Vietnam, I wanted to repay that do that for them, Guttau said. Its been a fun experience seeing what some of the things are that have been done being part of their success and helping that any way we can. In 1978, he got a generous offer from First National Bank of Omaha and told Bob Gronstal he had decided to leave TS Bank. He tried to talk me out of it, Guttau said. He said, We want you to buy the bank. Guttau talked to his parents and his family. I told Judy what was going on, and we talked and we prayed, he said. My father said, I thought thats what was going to happen. I talked to him, and he said, Whatever you can get out of the farm to buy the bank, you can have it. Guttau and Gronstal worked out a down-payment and contract for the Guttaus to purchase a controlling interest in the bank, and Guttau was named CEO, president and chairman of the board. He said it was amazing that Gronstal was not only willing to sell the bank to a young, inexperienced banker but to finance the deal. We appreciated the opportunity, he said. At that time, the bank was housed in a building on the southwest corner of the main intersection known as Treynors Four Corners. Judy Guttau remembers it as cramped and the data storage as low-tech. Back in those days, I can remember we didnt have computers, we had microfiche, she said. We went from adding machines to microfiche. There were some scary times during the farm crisis, Mick said. It was two years after we bought the bank, he said. I was still highly leveraged and inexperienced. Besides seeing farmers who came into the bank, Mick, who had earned a bachelors degree in farm operations at Iowa State University, was working as a consultant for the Southwest Iowa Farm Bureau and talking to a lot of farmers. They were educating me, in a lot of ways, he said. Mick helped some farmers stay in business by doing what he called in-house bankruptcies. He would go over a plan with the client, then tell them to talk to their attorney before signing. I told them if you file for bankruptcy, youre going to come up $10,000 short and I will come up $10,000 short because of legal fees. Instead, Mick would work out agreeable terms with them so they could afford to repay their loan. In the Treynor area, those who did leave farming could still stay in the community and commute to Council Bluffs or Omaha for work, he said. From 1982 to 1983, a new building was constructed at 15 E. Main St. in Treynor. Since then, a new addition was built to add another level of office space and additional parking. When we moved to the new bank I can remember the first ATM, Judy said. Under Micks leadership, the bank introduced expanded wealth management services, now known as TS Prosperity Group, and added other professional services, including a law office and travel agency, the website states. The bank opened its first branch office in 2000 in Macedonia. Im a forward-looker, Mick said. I just saw it as a way to keep growing. Macedonia was losing its only bank, Judy said. The bank had started out as State Bank & Trust and become Hawkeye Bank, then Mercantile, then Firstar, then U.S. Bank. Now, it was closing. I called Tom Whitson and talked to him about it, Mick said. He said, Mick, you can make it work. In 2005, TS Bank added a branch in the Madison Avenue Hy-Vee in Council Bluffs, and the others followed. Its newest location is the Ames branch, which opened in April. One of the joys weve had is working with our own children in the family business, Judy said. Their daughter, Heidi, worked at the bank part time and summers as a student and went on to become an attorney. Their son, Joshua, was interested in veterinary medicine. But he joined the bank in 2003 after working at First National Bank of Omaha for three years and was named CEO in 2014. We never thought he would be in banking, Judy said. He went to grad school and discovered he loved finance. Kevin Forristall joined the bank in 2008 and was named president in 2021. The bank is committed to teaching financial literacy and hosting educational events, and partners with local organizations and nonprofits. Since 2007, TS Bank has granted nearly $5 million through these efforts and impacted more than 140,000 students and adults through financial literacy programs. It operates part-time branches in four schools. They are the Cardinal branch at Treynor Elementary School, Junior Jacket branch at Rue Elementary, Junior Jacket branch at Franklin Elementary and Little Lynx branch at College View Elementary. As part of TS Banks 100-year birthday celebration, the bank gave more than 100 books to first-graders at the four schools in April. It marked the 20th year of National Financial Literacy Month, and an elementary book reading highlighted ways students could save, spend and share their money. More recently, TS Bank donated $10,000 to the Charles E. Lakin YMCA Family Park at 235 Harmony St. in Council Bluffs. The bank placed a plaque in the park stating, At TS Bank, it is our desire to ignite community prosperity and help build up one child, one family at a time. TS Bank is part of TS Banking Group, a multi-charter bank holding company across seven states with $1.5 billion in banking and fiduciary assets. Morocco has called for a coordinated mobilization of leaders and intensive action to safeguard Africas interests in the global response to pandemics. The call was launched from Geneva by Omar Hilale, Moroccos permanent representative to the UN in New York, in his capacity as the UN General Assembly facilitator for the high-level meeting and political declaration on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response to be held on September 20 in New York at the level of Heads of State and Government. Hilale, who was speaking at the Special Session of the Health Working Group of the Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Health and Population, co-organized by the African Union Commission and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Africa (CDC Africa), described the event as a historic opportunity to defend African interests and priorities in this health context, especially in view of the presence of an African director general at the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Moroccos role as facilitator of the political declaration of the high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Hilale stressed the need to mobilize African heads of state so that the continent does not face gaps and failures as in the past, as well as the imperative to remain united to achieve better results for the continent, which is called to reinforce the central role of WHO as a central player in the global health architecture. The diplomat commended CDC Africas wise and timely initiative to establish the Informal Committee of African Negotiators on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response. He also expressed his gratitude and honor to be a member and chief political negotiator of the Committee. Regarding the high-level meeting, scheduled for September 20 in New York, Hilale noted that it is the first of its kind to be held at the UN General Assembly. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 20) Baguio City has declared 59 structures in Camp 7 along Kennon Road unsafe and unfit for occupancy, and has asked owners to demolish them. The local government said Saturday that the structures were built within public land, and were found to have encroached the road-right-of-way. At least 20 of them were built within creek easement of Bued River, a protected land under the Environmental Code of the City of Baguio. "The structures are hanging and it is very dangerous especially during the rainy season. The creek walls where the structures were grouted were not meant to support structures," Charles Dumasi of the city's legal office said. "Since easements are public land, it is a non-habitable area where construction of structures therein is absolutely prohibited and considered unsafe," the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO) added. The CBAO also said most of the structures were made of wood, steel and GI sheets, while others were built using reinforced concrete. Owners have also been using the structures for commercial purposes without business permits. The oldest stall was built in 1972, the CBAO noted. "Some of the occupants agreed to the maximum of 15 days grace period for them to remove their structures," the local government said. They will given "livelihood assistance in the form of skills training" by the City Social Welfare and Development Office. Nephew of Polisario Chief of Staff arrested in Panama over money smuggling Panamas customs services arrested, on May 11, Mohamed El-Wali Akik, a nephew of the polisario chief of staff, for smuggling foreign currency valued at $65,000. The arrested individual was brought before the Panamanian Public Prosecution which decided to ban him from traveling until the court hearing, scheduled for June 9, 2024. The Algerian embassy in Panama, as well as the Polisarios envoy to Cuba contacted a number of political figures to intervene on behalf of the smuggler and hide his identity. The troublemaker owns, alongside his brothers, a business company operating in illicit markets, including imports and exports between China, Panama and Cuba. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Lincoln County commissioners will consider closing the courthouse on Juneteenth when they meet on Monday morning. The holiday, which occurs on June 19, was first recognized as a federal holiday in 2021 and a Nebraska state holiday in 2022. Also called Emancipation Day, it celebrates the official end of slavery in the United States. June 19 falls on Monday this year. The commissioner meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the east end of the courthouse. Commissioners will also consider granting three right-of-way applications. Consolidated Companies Inc., Allo Communications Inc. and McCook Public Power District have all submitted the requests for work in Lincoln County that requires them to cross roads. At 9:30 a.m., County Sheriff Jerome Kramer will swear in Ty Staman and Jeremy Parker as deputy sheriffs. At 10 a.m., Valerio Jansante, community liaison for Congressman Adrian Smith, will make a report to the commissioners. At 10:15 a.m., District Court judges and County Court judges will discuss attorney fees with commissioners. At 10:45 a.m., Commissioners will consider interlocal rural ambulance agreements with certain villages and rural fire districts. In other business, commissioners will consider: An agreement with Marcia Trego for referee services for 2023 property valuation protests. Certificates of correction and refund as submitted by the county assessor. A motor vehicle tax exemption application submitted by the county treasurer. Authorizing the chairman to sign the grant award packet for the 2024 community-based Juvenile Services Aid grant. Setting June 12, at 9:30 a.m. to amend the 2022-2023 county budget. Acceptance of asphalt pricing for the OFallon Road culvert project. Commissioners allow time for a closed session, if needed, to discuss litigation or personnel issues, and time at the end of the meeting to hear concerns from elected officials and department heads or their representatives. A detailed agenda, including time breakouts, is available online at lincolncountyne.gov. Click on Meeting/Agenda. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP Recently, some of the most attention-getting debates in Washington have been outside Congress. As in literally just outside Congress. Thats where New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman has had a number of widely shared interactions challenging and heckling some of his Republican colleagues over the past few months. Unlike the debates that happen inside the House chamber, these have not been encumbered by rules of parliamentary procedure. Instead, they are more like the everyday debates that Americans have with each other about politics, be they at the end of the bar or over a dinner table. They are impassioned and they are messy. On the steps of the Capitol, Bowman has gone back and forth with his friend and fellow native New Yorker, Byron Donalds teasing each other about the state of the 2024 campaign. This week, an encounter ended with Marjorie Taylor Greene shouting talking points at Bowman and later accusing him of threatening her. Bowman, a progressive who was elected to the House in 2020 after defeating a longtime Democratic incumbent, insists this wasnt all pre-planned but a public demonstration of his ongoing evolution as a legislator. During my freshman term, you know, I was just learning the ropes. Just learning where the bathroom is, learning how to write a bill and introduce a bill. I guess Ive not found my voice, because this is naturally who I am. But Im still learning and figuring out how to use my voice in this space to have an impact. Youre just seeing Jamaal Bowman authentically be himself. The black male educator, husband and father of three, trying to work with others to change the world, you know? The first viral encounter was on an unseasonably warm March day with Donalds, a Republican who represents southwest Florida. The two normally discuss sports, but this time outside the Capitol in full view of reporters, they went back and forth over what they saw as the respective flaws of their partys likely presidential standard bearers. DeSantis doesnt have a shot, argued Bowman, hes a white nationalist. Donalds, a longtime DeSantis ally who has since endorsed Trump, pushed back. Bowman started touting Bidens record. Thats like saying Josh Allen is better than Patrick Mahomes, come on now, Donalds replied. When Bowman insisted Biden would wipe the floor with DeSantis, Donalds eyes rolled. In what world? Bizarro world? The good natured debate even led to primetime televised rematches on CNN. As Bowman puts it, the discussions were serious in terms of the topics and content but lighthearted in terms of we are colleagues and we are peers. Another viral exchange happened just outside the House chamber in the aftermath of the March 27 school shooting in Nashville that left six dead. Bowman, a former school principal, was imploring reporters to ask Republican lawmakers about gun violence. At that moment, libertarian-leaning Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie walked by and the two began debating the issue. Massie approached the topic with a somewhat amused detachment while Bowman earnestly argued states that have open carry laws have more death. Massie responded that there had never been a shooting in a school where teachers were allowed to carry guns. He also asked Bowman to calm down, to which the New York congressman Bowman responded: Calm down? Children are dying. Bowman kept repeatedly asking him, Have you ever worked in a school? as Massie moved away to make his case to reporters instead. Bowman says another part of whats driving these encounters is his unique background. Im not a lawyer. Im not a business person. Im not a millionaire. Im not a lifelong politician. Im an educator, and, you know, a person raised in New York culture but also hip hop culture. And I think what everyone is seeing is an authentic representative whos not overly concerned with presenting as a traditional politician. He argued that this approach is important because the regular everyday American can connect with what Im saying, because Im very serious. The most recent debate was perhaps the least rewarding. Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came across George Santos giving a press conference on the steps of the Capitol, explaining why he should remain a member of Congress despite facing more than a dozen federal charges. As the presser broke up, the pair told Santos you gotta go. With Santos walking back towards his office, pursued by reporters, Bowman ended up exchanging words with Representative Greene about the New York Republican. She didnt respond to anything about Santos or Bowmans repeated point that the Republican Party was hanging by a thread. Instead, she mostly repeated impeach Biden to the assembled television cameras before telling her colleague, youre not very smart, Jamaal. Ocasio-Cortez then pulled Bowman away, telling him, She aint worth it, bro. Both reporters and fellow legislators had their cell phones out recording the scene. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who heckled George Santos mid Santos-gaggle moments ago, in a tiff with MTG outside the Capitol steps. AOC comes up at the end: She aint worth it bro pic.twitter.com/R5L20WvhFK Ursula Perano (@UrsulaPerano) May 17, 2023 The next day at a press conference, Greene claimed that Bowman had somehow threatened her and insisted, falsely, that the New York Democrat had called her a white supremacist during the exchange equating that to calling a person of color the N-word. Bowman has sharply criticized the loaded language Greene used to describe the encounter, which was witnessed by half the Capitol Hill press corps. Speaking to reporters the next day, Bowman said the Georgia Republican was not even using a dog whistle, shes using a bullhorn to put a target on my back. He also says it wont change him and his approach with colleagues. I like people, he told me in our interview. I like talking to people, I like debating people. I like learning from people. And I think its through the process of dialogue and debate, in learning, that we build a better country and better world. But, as for Greene herself, my next move is to stay as far away from her as possible. The impoverished South American micro-state Guyana is in the midst of an epic oil boom which has seen the former British colony emerge as the hottest frontier offshore drilling region. The ensuing economic boom created by surging oil production saw Guyana emerge as the worlds fastest growing economy reporting stunning double-digit GDP since 2020, which hit an incredible 62% for 2022. Guyanas petroleum production has expanded at a stunning clip, growing from less than 100,000 barrels a day in early 2020 to nearly 400,000 barrels per day by the end of March 2023. Despite recent negative developments, Guyanas epic oil boom will continue gaining momentum for at least another decade with the country on-track to be pumping 1.2 million barrels a day by 2027. Recent events point to further oil discoveries being made and that energy investment will continue growing both of which will boost Guyanas reserves and oil production. It is U.S. energy supermajor ExxonMobil, and consortium partners Hess and CNOOC, which is at the heart of Guyanas burgeoning oil boom. The integrated oil company has made over 35 oil discoveries in the 6.6-million-acre offshore Stabroek Block where it holds a 45% working interest and is the operator. Those have endowed Exxon and its partners with estimated oil resources of over 11 billion barrels. The supermajor continues to make discoveries in the Stabroek Block as it progresses its latest drilling campaign. The last discovery, which is the second for 2023 after the Fangtooth SE-1 well, was announced toward the end of April 2023. Exxon found oil with the Lancetfish-1 wildcat well which is located approximately four miles to the southeast of the January 2022 Fangtooth-1 discovery. Lancetfish-1 was drilled to a depth of 5,843 feet or 1,780 meters and found 92 feet, 28 meters of oil-bearing sandstone. According to Alistair Routledge, president of ExxonMobil Guyana, the discovery demonstrate(s) the Stabroek blocks continued exploration potential. It points further oil discoveries being made despite the Kokwari-1 exploration also completed during April 2023 coming up dry. Related: Warren Buffett Buys Up Even More Occidental Petroleum The energy supermajor continues to prioritize development of the prolific Stabroek Block committing to investing $12.7 billion in the Uaru project, the fifth such operation to be developed by Exxon in the block. The Uaru project has been approved by Guyanas government in Georgetown. The operation will have 10 drill centers with 44 production and injection wells targeting over 800 million barrels of oil resources. It is anticipated that Uaru will commence production during 2026 with the capacity to pump 250,000 barrels of oil per day. Earlier in April 2023, the Prosperity Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading vessel, known as an FPSO, arrived in Guyanas waters. Prosperity will develop the Payara oilfield is located to the north of the Liza field, which analysts have described as the worlds most exciting frontier oil play. It is anticipated that Payara will start operations later this year to exploit a resource containing 600 million barrels of oil through 10 drill centers with 20 production and 21 injection wells. Payara has planned capacity to pump 220,000 barrels per day which will boost Guyanas total production to over 600,000 barrels a day. Exxon also has the 250,000 barrel per day Yellowtail project planned, although a final investment decision, or FID, has yet to be made. If approved, Yellowtail is expected to commence operations during 2025 and will boost Guyanas oil production to nearly 900,000 barrels per day. These developments indicate that the former British colony is on track to be pumping at least 1.2 million barrels of oil by 2027, securing Guyanas position as the third largest oil producer in Latin America and the Caribbean. The prolific nature of the Stabroek Block with over 35 oil discoveries and 11 billion barrels of oil resources is why Exxon prioritized its development and has chosen to exit higher risk South American jurisdictions such as Colombia to concentrate on Guyana. While the Exxon led consortium operating the Stabroek Block is the key driver of Guyanas massive oil boom it isnt the only game in town. CGX Energy, a 78% owned subsidiary of Frontera Energy, announced in January 2022 the discovery of oil with the wildcat Kawa-1 well in the northern tip of the offshore Corentyne Block. Despite delays and drilling problems the Wei-1 well spudded during January 2023 has drilled to 19,142 feet compared to a planned depth of 20,500 feet with completion expected by the end of May 2023. The well to date has encountered multiple oil-bearing intervals in the Maastrichtian and Campanian formations with the presence of medium sweet 24.9 API oil. CGX has stated however that It is not yet certain that the hydrocarbons encountered to date in the Well are yet sufficient to underpin commercial development on the Northern portion of the Corentyne Block. The northern section of the block is believed to contain the same petroleum fairway that runs through the Stabroek Block and into neighboring Block 58 offshore Suriname where Apache and TotalEnergies have made five commercial discoveries. The ongoing development of the Stabroek Block by the Exxon led consortium will deliver a tremendous economic and financial windfall for Georgetown. The IMF has forecast that Guyanas economy will expand by a notable 37% for 2023 and then an incredible 45% next year securing the South American micro-states position as the worlds fastest growing economy. Oil from the Stabroek Block is delivering a tremendous financial windfall for Georgetown. According to Guyanas central bank petroleum royalties and profits generated $201.5 million for April 2023 alone. The Ministry of Finance in January 2023 forecast that Guyanas combined oil royalties and profits for the year will total $1.63 billion, which is a 31% increase over 2022. There is speculation that the former British colonys revenue from oil could be even greater with the Lisa field now pumping around 400,000 barrels a day, well above nameplate capacity of 340,000 barrels daily. By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com ADVERTISEMENT More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Nebraska Public Media Wins Two Regional Murrow Awards Nebraska Public Media earned two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association. The awards are among the most prestigious in broadcast and digital news and are given to honor outstanding achievement in electronic journalism. Awards for small radio market included: "Farmers in the Plains Are in 'Dire Straits' Due to Drought, Wildfire Conditions" in the hard news category and "Keystone Pipeline Leaks Oil into Kansas Creek South of Steele City Terminal" in the continuing coverage category. The region includes Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. These winners will now complete for national Murrow Awards to be announced this summer. The Radio Television Digital News Association has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that Murrow set as a standard for the profession of electronic journalism. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Dr. Meenakshi Vishwanath Elected to the Board of Directors of The American Board of Orthodontics Meenakshi Vishwanath, B.D.S., M.D.S., M.S., of Lincoln, Neb., has been elected to the board of directors of the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO). The election took place April 21 at the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) of Delegates meeting in conjunction with the 2023 AAO Annual Session in Chicago. The ABO directors are responsible for establishing policy with regard to the board certification of specialists in orthodontics. Each ABO director represents one of the eight constituent organizations of the AAO and serves an eight-year term, which culminates in the position of president. Dr. Vishwanath, who represents the Midwestern Society of Orthodontists (MSO), will become president of the ABO in the 2030-2031 year. Dr. Vishwanath is currently an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry, with an anticipated promotion to associate professor with tenure in July 2023. She is also the program director of the graduate orthodontic program. She joined the university in 2017 and became program director in 2021. On being elected to the ABO board, Dr. Vishwanath said, "It is an honor and a privilege to be selected to serve as a director for the American Board of Orthodontics. It is humbling for me to join the leadership of this distinguished group which has carried forward the mission of elevating the quality of orthodontic care for the public for over 90 years. I look forward to collaborating and learning from my fellow board members and adding value to the board's critical work through my dedication and devotion to promoting excellence in orthodontics." "I believe I am the first director to serve the board as a director from my university and the state of Nebraska, as well as the first director of Indian descent. It is an honor to represent my university, state and my heritage," she added. Educated in the U.S. and India, Dr. Vishwanath earned her B.D.S. in dental surgery from Pondicherry University-Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences in Pondicherry, India, and then completed her M.D.S. in orthodontics from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences-SDM College of Dental Sciences, Dharwad, India. For the next four years, she served as an assistant professor in the Department of Orthodontics at The Oxford Dental College & Hospital as well was in private practice in Bangalore, India. In 2009, she earned the membership in orthodontics from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, U.K. Dr. Vishwanath came to the United States in 2012 and completed fellowships in orthodontics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and the University of Connecticut. She obtained an M.S. degree and certificate in orthodontics from the University of Connecticut in 2017. She has been ABO certified since 2018. Her research interests include orthodontic biomechanics, impacted canines, orthognathic surgery and interdisciplinary care of cleft lip and cleft palate. She has authored or co-authored numerous research articles. She is a member of the editorial board of Seminars in Orthodontics and is a reviewer for Progress in Orthodontics, BMC Oral Health, International Journal of Medical Sciences, Angle Orthodontist, Clinical Anatomy and Orthodontics and Craniofacial Research. Dr. Vishwanath also maintains a faculty practice at UNMC and she currently serves as treasurer of the Nebraska Society of Orthodontists. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Seventy-five years ago, Ray Coffey graduated first in his class from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Army ROTC program. On Friday, his grandson followed in his footsteps and did the same. "I'm excited to see a lot of chapters closing and a lot of doors opening," senior Jordan Coffey said. "It feels like I'm a part of something bigger than myself, which is the story of being in the Army, and I can't be thankful enough for that, but then to also have the support and legacy that my family's been a part of, it's an honor." Jordan Coffey said there was no singular moment where he knew this was what he wanted to do it was a culmination of little moments over the years. "I didn't know what I wanted out of the Army when I first joined ROTC my freshman year," he said. "I didn't contract until my sophomore year, so before that I could've dropped it at any time. But as I spent more time in the program and met the people in my class, I was motivated again and again to be better and that's so instrumental to where I am today." In the years between the two graduates, Jordan Coffey's father and two uncles also graduated from the Army ROTC program at UNL and another uncle enlisted as a soldier in the Nebraska Army National Guard. "We have quite the military history and I'm thrilled to continue to be a part of it," Jordan Coffey said. "In our family, service is important, and it's gratifying to carry that mantle now." When he walked across the stage Friday evening, he did so as a commissioned officer and ranked among the top 2% of all graduating ROTC cadets nationwide. A commissioned officer is a military officer who has achieved a rank before officially assuming their role, holding higher authority than a non-commissioned officer. "I don't really belong in the same company as my dad and my son," Greg Coffey, Jordan's father, said. "I see so much of my dad in my son my dad was kind, he was gentle, he was strong and incredibly hardworking. And that's what Jordan is." Although Ray Coffey passed away in 2009, when Jordan was only 8 years old, the graduate continues to look up to his grandfather. "Everything I know about my grandfather has been instilled into me by my father," Jordan Coffey said. "I grew up hearing about all these great things he had done for our family and our nation, and I found that selfless service and determination inspiring." Greg Coffey, holding back tears, said Jordan inspires the same feeling in him. "I am so incredibly proud of him," Greg Coffey said. Jordan's uncle, Doug Coffey, swore him in during UNL's Army ROTC graduation ceremony Friday, administering the Oath of Office and awarding him the Major Dan C. Kingman Memorial Award for Superior ROTC performance, named in honor of a Nebraska ROTC graduate who was killed in action in Vietnam. Doug Coffey graduated from Nebraska and received his commission in 1972. He spent 26 years in active service to the Army, before retiring as a Colonel in 1998. After the service, the Coffey family gathered at Ray Coffey's memorial tree outside UNL's Pershing Military & Naval Science Building to re-create a photo of Greg Coffey and his brothers with their father in the 1980s. Jordan has been assigned to the Infantry branch and will soon leave Lincoln for Ft. Brenning to attend the Infantry Basic officer Leader Course, after which he will be sent to Ranger School and Airborne school before moving onto his first duty station. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. WASHINGTON Vending machines that have long been stocked with snacks are getting repurposed to distribute lifesaving supplies to help fight the opioid epidemic. A growing number of cities and local governments are making so-called "harm reduction" items, including the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, available for free via machines. Interest in the approach is expected to grow after U.S. regulators recently approved Narcan, the leading naloxone brand, to be sold without a prescription. That switch allows the nasal spray to be stocked in convenience stores, supermarkets and vending machines. Machine supplier Shaffer Distributing, which also sells arcade games and pinball machines, is one of the companies that has worked with U.S. communities to put the medication in machines even before the FDA's over-the-counter approval. Marty Turner, the Columbus, Ohio, company's director of vending sales, explains that many other items for promoting public health can be stocked and distributed this way. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Q: How do these machines work and what types of items do they dispense? It's a basic vending machine that we've modified to dispense the products that health departments, harm-reduction groups or other nonprofits are looking to get into the neighborhood. We've worked on machines that dispense Narcan nasal spray, fentanyl testing strips, HIV testing kits, prescription disposal bags and then even some first aid kits and safe sex kits. Really anything that they're looking to get into the hands of the public. Q: How many have you sold? We've probably sold close to 200 or more machines to the harm-reduction community. They've put them everywhere from public libraries to city hall. There've been a couple delivered to post offices, college campuses, sheriff's offices almost anywhere that you have 24-hour public access. Q: What's the advantage of using a vending machine for this effort? The vending machine just gives the end user the opportunity to walk up without being judged or having to have the money to purchase the product. And in the case of Narcan, where it's now an over-the-counter drug, we feel the vending machines are going to be just as popular and in-demand, because your next-door neighbor might not want to walk into Walgreens and have you standing in line behind him wondering "OK, why is this guy buying Narcan?" It kind of takes away the stigma and offers 24/7 access. Q: How much do these machines typically cost? The naloxone machines sell for anywhere from $4,500 to about $7,400 for an outdoor machine. The outdoor machine is resistant to the rain and it has a compressor so that it can maintain its temperature in the summer that's safe for the product. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Nebraska parole officer Jeremy Orescanin last week checked back in with a parolee who had been lapsing back into drug use. Orescanin had earlier determined that a bad living arrangement and loneliness had put this client in contact with some bad influences, and perhaps on a pathway to reoffending and back to prison. So the parole officer had worked with a community partner organization to find a new, more structured living arrangement. As Orescanin now did another in-person assessment of the former inmate, he could see the plan was working. I saw a lot of change in his life, said the military veteran with a degree in social work. He was working, had the support and was doing well. Would Nebraskans feel safe if the state started releasing former prisoners into the community without that kind of oversight and assistance? No testing to ensure theyre not using drugs. No one making sure they keep a job. No one seeing if they have the support they need to avoid returning to a life of crime. Well, thats pretty much whats happening today with nearly four out of every 10 inmates who leave Nebraskas prisons. Out of 2,252 inmates released in 2022, 829 37% walked out with no parole or probation supervision, according to new state corrections data analyzed by The World-Herald. Prisoners call it jamming out fully exhausting their sentence while behind bars. Criminal justice experts call it a recipe for reoffending and a return to prison, saying post-release supervision is a critical part of public safety. You are taking someone with no money, putting them on the street and saying Good luck, said Brian Lovins, president of the American Probation and Parole Association. We create these huge barriers, and then we are surprised when they fail. Nebraskas rate of unsupervised release of prisoners is among the highest in the nation, the World-Herald analysis found. Theres also a dichotomy in Nebraskas current system of transitioning inmates back to society. The Legislature eight years ago passed a law requiring post-release supervision of inmates, but it applies only to those convicted of lower-level felony crimes. That means many of those coming out of prison unsupervised today were convicted of the states most serious felonies, with most of those crimes involving violence, drugs, sex or guns. Exclude the low-level supervised offenders from the release figures, and in 2022 just under half the remaining, more serious offenders left prison unsupervised, including more than 50% of those convicted of assault. Those jamming out included 112 who had been imprisoned for felony assault, 57 sex offenders, 233 drug offenders, 35 who had committed robbery, and 89 imprisoned on weapons offenses. Thats shocking, and that is very dangerous, said State Sen. Justin Wayne, chairman of the Legislatures Judiciary Committee. We should not be having people jam out with no supervision. Wayne called jam outs a disservice to everyone the offender, the justice system and the public that the system is supposed to protect. The ironic thing is, its been widely acknowledged in Nebraskas justice system that supervised release is preferable to jamming out. Still, crafting a system to assure that all released prisoners receive supervision has proven elusive. It would require changes to the sentencing system for serious felons, and that has often sparked controversy. But Wayne said he now has hope the Legislature can take a step toward addressing jam outs yet this year. A package of criminal justice reforms set to come up for debate in the Legislature Monday includes a provision aimed at reducing jam outs by giving most inmates a window of parole eligibility as they near their mandatory discharge date. The package of reforms set to go before lawmakers is also more broadly aimed at confronting conditions in Nebraskas chronically overcrowded prisons. Nebraskas prison population has been rising faster than in any other state over the past decade. Between 2011 and 2021, Nebraskas prison population grew 21% while prison numbers fell nationally by 24%. Nebraska lawmakers appear poised this session to address the growth and overcrowding by spending $366 million to build a 1,500-bed replacement for the Nebraska State Penitentiary. But based on current projections for the states prison population, Nebraska would be faced with building another new prison before the decade is out at a time many other states around the country are closing prisons. The data points are clear that the day that prison opens, its going to be full, Wayne said. We have to look at whats going on. * * * Omaha parole officer Alyssa Hanks had a number of new clients last week who were fresh out of prison. As required, within 24 hours of leaving their institutions, she was meeting with them to begin orientating them to the parole process. She also assessed the risk they posed for reoffending as well as their needs for help. She frankly discussed with them any triggers in their past history that could again lead them down the wrong path. Every parole certificate issued by the state the ticket for early release requires the parolee to be drug- and alcohol-free. So depending on the level of assessed risk for relapse, parolees may be tested as often as twice a month. Some may even be fitted with ankle monitors that can detect alcohol use. If they are former gang members or sex offenders, they will be fitted with an ankle bracelet that will allow the parole division to track their movements. Their parole officer will also typically meet with them face-to-face every month, either in the office, at their home or on the job. If they are considered high risk for reoffending, its twice a month. There are random checks with family members and employers, too. Its all individualized and intended not only to help the parolee get off on the right foot in starting a new life, but also to protect public safety. Thats the No. 1 priority for us, Hanks said. When times get tough for a parolee, the parole officer is also there to offer counsel, encouragement or referrals to counselors, therapists or treatment. They should know we have their best interest at heart, Orescanin said. If you do slip up, please call me. I can help you through this negative time. Figures from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services show that 875 inmates were released last year to such parole supervision. Another 548 lower-level felony offenders were released from prison to supervision under the states probation department. But another 829 inmates completely exhausted their sentences and were then mandatorily discharged without supervision. You wake some guy up in the morning, give him his clothes, wish him luck and he goes out the door, said Spike Eickholt, who lobbies on criminal justice issues for ACLU Nebraska. Its always better to have a period of supervision and transition. To be sure, there are risks of failure whenever former criminals are released into the community, supervised or not. About three in 10 prisoners released in Nebraska are back behind bars within three years. But its also true that some 95% of people sentenced to prison will one day return to society. Theres broad consensus in criminal justice that its best for public safety to give those transitioning offenders the tools, assistance and supervision needed to succeed. Those who are coming out of prison face countless challenges to a successful new life. Many have been locked up for so long they dont know how to function in todays world. Some have never operated a cellphone. One of Orescanins recent clients didnt understand the self checkout lanes at the grocery store, standing around waiting for someone to help him. Parolees can face difficulty finding housing, especially if they are a sex offender. They have little, if any, financial resources. They most likely have a history of drug abuse or mental health problems that directly contributed to their incarceration, and which may well still shadow them. And they may be returning to a neighborhood where there are many of the same bad influences that got them in trouble in the first place. Anybody coming from prison and entering into the community is in crisis mode, said Jasmine Harris of RISE, an Omaha-based reentry program. If theres no support and preparation, its very difficult. RISE works with individuals in prison to prepare them for release. Its also there to help them once theyre on the outside, regardless of whether their release was under supervision or not. The Corrections Department also works with inmates before they leave, regardless of post-release status, to help them establish a foundation for success on the outside. But once they walk out the door, whether they connect with supportive services or not and stay on course is more haphazard if they dont have parole or probation officers monitoring and helping them. Most states supervise higher percentages of prisoners as they transition back into society than Nebraska. According to federal data for 2021 the most recent available Nebraskas rate of unsupervised release was the 13th highest among the states. Florida led the nation with more than 60% of released inmates unsupervised. In Kansas, less than 4% of inmates were released without supervision. In California, it was less than 1%. The national rate was just under 20%. There are a number of reasons that so many Nebraska inmates leave prison unsupervised. Some inmates intentionally serve out their full sentence, not wanting to deal with parole officers. Some were denied parole, with the parole board deciding that their criminal past, behavior behind bars or other considerations made them unworthy of early release. Some were paroled, slipped up, were returned to prison and then jammed out. More than 150 of those who jammed out in 2022 had previously been paroled. Other jam outs can be directly attributed to the sentences the offenders were handed before they even entered prison. For most serious crimes involving violence, drugs, sexual assault and weapons, Nebraska uses indeterminate sentencing that sets a minimum and maximum penalty. The minimum determines when the offender becomes eligible for parole, and the maximum determines when the offender will be mandatorily released. The time between those dates is the time the offender can spend under parole supervision if released by the parole board. That structure creates a balancing act for sentencing judges, and then later the parole board. The longer they choose to keep a prisoner locked up, the less time there is for supervision on the back end. Additionally, if a judge hands down a sentence where the minimum and maximum are the same number say, 20 years to 20 years the offender has no opportunity for parole or supervision. Under what is often called a flat sentence, by the time offenders hit the minimum number and become parole eligible, they have served their maximum sentence and are set free. Looking at inmates released from Nebraska prisons in 2022, it appears more than 300 had flat or nearly flat sentences that left them little or no window for parole release. Sometimes it was because the sentencing judge threw the book at them. Sometimes it was because the states laws requiring mandatory minimum sentences for certain serious crimes left the judge little choice but a flat sentence. Sometimes the overall sentence was so short the offender had already almost served it by the time they were sent to prison, considering credit for time served in jail awaiting trial. Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley has seen cases where prosecutors argued for flat sentences, wanting to maximize the time served behind bars. But the prosecutors might as well have argued that they wanted the offender released without supervision, too, because thats what happens when sentences are flat. A sentence that provides a reasonable window for release on parole is not being soft on crime, Riley said. Thats being smart on criminal justice. Nebraska has seen in the past that jam outs can also lead to tragic consequences. After serving 10 years in prison for a pair of carjackings, Nikko Jenkins was released from prison directly into society in July 2013. Within three weeks, he went on a 10-day killing spree in Omaha that left four people dead. It was later discovered Jenkins had received little preparation for release and no supervision upon leaving prison after having spent months in solitary confinement, which experts say can exacerbate behavioral and mental health problems. The Jenkins case sparked efforts at reforming Nebraskas parole, prison and legal systems. But a decade later, the state has yet to arrive at a system that assures each offender serving a prison sentence also receives a significant period of post-release supervision. The Nikko Jenkins example has yet to be resolved, said Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson, who has been active in recent state discussions on criminal justice reform. It has never been addressed. The Jenkins case and the states fast-growing prison population did spark a reform movement a decade ago, including efforts to prevent unsupervised releases. But policy differences between advocates of criminal justice reform and those in law enforcement have kept the state from stopping jam outs. In 2015, lawmakers passed a law generally reducing criminal sentences but coupling the change with at least a year of required post-release supervision under the states probation system. But the change applied only to lower-level offenses, those today carrying prison sentences of four years or less. The change had the effect of reducing the total percentage of inmates jamming out without supervision, which at one point had exceeded 50% of all releases from Nebraska prisons. But it also created the current dichotomy where the vast majority of low-level felons are supervised, while many convicted of the most serious and violent felonies arent. Prosecutors, then-Gov. Pete Ricketts and others that same year opposed a provision that would have capped minimum sentences to make more serious felons eligible for parole sooner. In 2020, Ricketts vetoed a bill that would have made most prisoners eligible for parole within two years of their mandatory release date. Last year, a state commission recommended a number of changes aimed at reducing the states prison population growth, including provisions aimed at reducing jam outs. But Ricketts and the states prosecutors balked at any changes that reduced sentences or made inmates eligible for parole sooner, with Ricketts calling them soft on crime. With lawmakers and Ricketts unable to reach any compromise in the final days of the session, nothing passed. Looking back, Wayne said theres lots of blame to go around for the failure to deal with jam outs. Its easier for state lawmakers, governors, the parole board, judges and prosecutors to keep the status quo because of what Wayne calls the fear of the one fear of being blamed for the one inmate released on parole who reoffends in a spectacular way, creating a public outcry and political fallout. But if the public truly comprehended the system, he said, they would understand the inmate who isnt paroled and then is released unsupervised in many cases poses an even greater threat. What we should fear is the one who jams out, he said. The package of criminal justice measures that Wayne hopes to push in the Legislature beginning Monday includes a specific provision seeking to reduce jam outs. Similar to the bill Ricketts vetoed in 2020, it would generally create a mandatory window of parole eligibility beginning at least two years before an inmate would be mandatorily discharged. Release decisions would remain up to the parole board. But Wayne and Hanson said the ultimate solution to jam outs will likely require a complete overhaul of the states sentencing laws. Also part of the criminal justice package recently negotiated with new Gov. Jim Pillen is the creation of a state commission that would spend the next two years studying the entire sentencing system. Both Wayne and Hanson said they would prefer to drop Nebraskas system of indeterminate sentences for one providing more set prison terms, followed by a significant term of post-release supervision. Not only has the current structure resulted in many unsupervised releases, they said, theres a lack of transparency, too. Lets add post-release supervision to all felonies, Wayne said. We have to at least agree that jamming out is a bad thing. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. One of two surviving pilots from the famed World War II-era Tuskegee Airmen has been invited to Omaha for the citys downtown Memorial Day parade and festivities on Saturday. Retired Lt. Col. George Hardy, 97, of Sarasota, Florida, served 28 years in the Air Force and flew 136 combat missions during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He twice was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Hardy grew up in Philadelphia and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943, at age 17. He was commissioned a year later following pilot training with the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American pilots who trained and served together in the segregated U.S. military of the era. Hardy will be given a place of honor near the end of the parade route on Farnam Street, said Evonne Williams, co-founder with her husband, Bill, of Patriotic Productions, the nonprofit that is putting on the downtown Memorial Day event for the third year. Bill Williams said he is working to find someone with a private aircraft to fly Hardy from Florida to Nebraska so that the elderly veteran can avoid the rigors of a commercial flight. Evonne Williams said more than 80 entries are expected in the parade. A mounted Army color guard from Fort Riley, Kansas, will lead the parade, followed by a riderless horse and Gold Star family members of fallen U.S. service members. Local military veterans and a 47-member Marine Corps Marching Band from New Orleans will also take part. Children from American Heritage Girls and Trail Life USA Scout-like youth groups with a Christian focus will celebrate American history and ingenuity, carrying signs or wearing costumes representing important U.S. inventions and historical figures such as Ben Franklin, Davy Crockett and Harriet Tubman. Some veterans will also drive military vehicles dating back to World War II. Its kind of going to be a brief history lesson in a one-hour period, Evonne Williams said. The parade will start at 10 a.m. at 10th and Jackson Streets. From there, the route will run: West on Jackson to 12th Street; North on 12th to Howard Street; East on Howard to 10th Street; North on 10th to Farnam Street; West on Farnam to 13th Street. After the parade, the Marine Corps Band will perform patriotic songs in a concert at the Gene Leahy Malls outdoor performance pavilion. Parked along the mall at 11th and Douglas Streets will be a free exhibit called RISE ABOVE, celebrating the legacy of both the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), who flew important training and aircraft-delivery missions during World War II. The exhibit, sponsored by the Commemorative Air Force, is a mobile theater inside a semitrailer truck. It features films on the women and African American pilots who overcame prejudice and institutional barriers to serve their country. George Hardy will greet visitors there, Evonne Williams said. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday. A fully restored P-51C Mustang flown by the Tuskegee Airmen will be on display at Signature Flight Support near Eppley Airfield from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. As a fundraiser, Patriotic Productions is auctioning off two flights aboard the P-51C Mustang. To bid, visit HiBid.com, search for Mustang Plane, and click on the Auctions tab. Bids can be entered until Thursday. Evonne Williams said the idea for the downtown parade and concert is to create a family-oriented patriotic event that is also fun a change from the more somber, adult-oriented events on Memorial Day Monday. We want to raise the level of patriotism," she said. "We want to see the streets lined with kids, waving their flags. Besides the downtown celebration, other events will be held on Memorial Day, May 29: American Legion Post No. 1 will hold a ceremony at 10 a.m. at Forest Lawn Cemetery, 7909 Mormon Bridge Road. Rep. Don Bacon and Post Commander Paul Taylor will be the speakers. Catholic Cemeteries will celebrate a Catholic Mass at 10 a.m. at each of its five locations: Calvary Cemetery, 7710 West Center Road; Resurrection Cemetery, 7800 West Center Road; St. Mary Cemetery, 3353 Q St.; St. Mary Magdalene Cemetery, 5226 S. 46th St.; and Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, 4912 Leavenworth St. Two of the cemeteries, Holy Sepulchre and Resurrection, have dedicated sections for veterans. Omaha National Cemetery, 14250 Schram Road, will hold a ceremony at 11:30 a.m., featuring the laying of wreaths and a flyover by a KC-135 tanker from the Nebraska Air National Guard's 155th Air Refueling Wing. Keynote speaker will be Dr. Franklin Damann, director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base. Parking will be limited and some distance from the site of the ceremony, so those attending are encouraged to arrive early. The Prospect Hill Historic Cemetery and Arboretum will celebrate Memorial Day with music, a history presentation and Civil War reenactors. The free program starts at 10:45 a.m. In addition to music by the Prospect Hill Preservation Brass and Woodwind Band and the presenting of colors by the First Nebraska Volunteers, Terri Sanders, publisher of the Omaha Star newspaper, will speak about the importance of Prospect Hill to the city's African American community. Photos: The Tuskegee Airmen who called Nebraska home (CNN) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied claims Bakhmut has fallen to Russia after the chief of the mercenary Wagner group said his forces had taken complete control of the eastern Ukrainian city following months of brutal fighting. The operation to capture Bakhmut lasted 224 days, Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video posted to Telegram on Saturday, seeking to claim a final victory in the city. CNN could not independently verify Prigozhins claim and initial responses from the Ukrainian side disputed it. The president has denied Bakhmut has been taken over, Sergiy Nykyforov, spokesperson for Zelensky, told CNN later. Zelensky met US President Joe Biden on Sunday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan, where he was asked by reporters whether Russia had taken the city. I think no, he replied, but he conceded little remained. There is nothing. They destroyed everything. There are no buildings. Its a pity, its a tragedy, but for today Bakhmut is only in our hearts, Zelensky said. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, in a Telegram post less than an hour after the Russian mercenarys claim was published, admitted the situation in Bakhmut was critical but said Ukrainian troops were still holding the defense in a district on Bakhmuts western-most edge. As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector, she said. In a later update the Armed Forces of Ukraine said: The battles for the city of Bakhmut continue. Moscow has thrown huge amounts of manpower, weaponry and attention toward the city but for months failed to break down a stubborn Ukrainian resistance that had outlasted most expectations. In his latest message Prigozhin said his forces will hand control of the city to the Russian military on Thursday. Until May 25, we will completely inspect it, create the necessary defense lines and hand it over to the military so that they can continue to work, and we ourselves will go to field camps, he said. Wagner received a message of praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all units of the Russian Armed Forces, which confirmed the presence and closure of the flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk, Russian state news agency TASS reported the Kremlin as saying, using the Soviet-Russian name for Bakhmut. But French President Emmanuel Macron struck a more skeptical tone over the latest claims. I think it is up to the Ukrainian authorities to state the developments of their forces on the ground and so I will stay at this stage extremely cautious, Macron said in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, on the sidelines of the G7 summit which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also attending. The operation shows the difficulty the Russian army had in advancing on the city, Macron added. Battle that became a meat grinder Bakhmut sits toward the northeast of the Donetsk region, about 13 miles from the Luhansk region, and has been a target for Russian forces for months. Since last summer the city has been a stones throw from the front lines. Donbas the vast, industrial expanse of land in Ukraines east, encompassing the Luhansk and Donetsk regions has been the primary focus of Russias war effort since last spring, after its initial lunge toward Kyiv and central Ukraine failed. The battle has been compared to the kind of fighting seen in World War One, with soldiers fighting in a hellish landscape of mud and trenches, trees and buildings mangled by artillery fire. While Russian forces have continued their slow street-by-street advance in Bakhmut for many months, over the past two weeks Ukrainian forces have managed to re-capture small pockets of territory held by Russian troops to the northwest and southwest of the city. If confirmed, Russia Bakhmuts capture would mark the countrys first gain in months, but the citys symbolism always outweighed its strategic importance. Russian forces, bolstered by members of the Wagner mercenary group, have taken heavy losses trying to capture the city. There are no official casualty figures, but earlier this year a NATO source told CNN they estimated that for every Ukrainian soldier killed defending Bakhmut, Russia lost five. The battle has also highlighted an extraordinary rift among Russian forces, with Prigozhin at one point accusing a Russian brigade of abandoning its position in the city and railing several times at the Defense Ministry over a lack of ammunition. Prigozhin, a former catering boss who has grown in prominence throughout the war, compared the battlefield to a meat grinder. If Bakhmuts fall is confirmed it would be an undoubted boost to Prigozhin, who recently announced his men would pull out entirely because dwindling ammunition supplies and mounting losses meant there was nothing left to grind the meat with. Over the early part of 2023, the routes into Bakhmut had gradually come under the control of Russian forces and the battle for the city turned into an inch-by-inch grind, with Ukrainian forces repelling dozens of assaults each day. Rather than drive directly toward the city center, Wagner troops sought to encircle the city in a wide arc from the north. In January they claimed the nearby town of Soledar, and later took a string of villages and hamlets north of Bakhmut, making Ukraines defense of the city increasingly perilous. But even as Moscows troops closed in and most residents fled through dangerous evacuation corridors, a small group of Ukrainian civilians remained in the ruined city. Before the war, around 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut, a city once famous for its sparkling wine. As of March the population stood at less than 4,000 and most of the once thriving city has been reduced to ashes and rubble. This story was first published on CNN.com. "Ukraine denies Wagners latest claim that Russian forces have captured Bakhmut" Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded early Sunday to a help an officer call for shots fired that resulted in one arrest in western Douglas County. A 21-year-old Waterloo man was arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace after shots were fired at a residence in Lake Platteview Campground near the Platte River. Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson said Sunday that two deputies responded to a report of three shots fired about 3:15 a.m. just north of Two Rivers State Recreation Area. It appears a rambunctious gathering had been going on, Hanson said. No one was hit by gunfire, and none of our deputies were injured. Deputies stopped a vehicle leaving the area with several people inside and noticed one person covered in blood who appeared to be bleeding from the nose. During the investigation, a shot was heard coming from a nearby trailer. The deputies put out a help an officer call and several law enforcement agencies responded, including police officers from Omaha, Waterloo and Valley. An Omaha police helicopter also arrived at the scene. The 21-year-old resident of the trailer was contacted by phone and was placed under arrest after he exited the trailer. Deputies located a 9 mm shell casing outside the trailer and a 50-gallon garbage can full of empty alcohol bottles, Hanson said. Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of May 2023 Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina made it official Friday: He's running for president. Scott, the Senate's only Black Republican, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission declaring his intention to seek his party's nomination in 2024. His candidacy will test whether a more optimistic vision of Americas future can resonate with GOP voters who have elevated partisan brawlers in recent years. The deeply religious 57-year-old former insurance broker has made his grandfathers work in the cotton fields of the Deep South a bedrock of his political identity. Yet he rejects the notion that racism remains a powerful force in society, and he has cast his candidacy and rise from generational poverty as the realization of a dream only possible in America. Scott, who last month formed an exploratory committee allowing him to raise and spend money while weighing a White House campaign, has scheduled a formal announcement on Monday at Charleston Southern University, a private Baptist college and Scotts alma mater, in his hometown of North Charleston. Scott already has scheduled TV ads to begin airing in the early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire early next week, the most significant advertising expenditure by a potential or declared candidate in the early stages of the 2024 nominating campaign. Scott tries to focus on hopeful themes and avoid divisive language to distinguish himself from the grievance-based politics favored by those leading the GOP field, such as former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who hasn't yet entered the race but is expected to do so soon. The senator refuses to frame his own life story around the countrys racial inequities. He insists that those who disagree with his views on the issue are trying to weaponize race to divide us, and that the truth of my life disproves their lies. During a February visit to Iowa, which holds the first GOP presidential caucuses, Scott spoke of a new American sunrise rooted in collaboration. I see a future where common sense has rebuilt common ground, where weve created real unity, not by compromising away our conservatism, but by winning converts to our conservatism, he said. But Scott has his limits. During that same trip, he railed against political correctness in much the same fashion as Trump and DeSantis. If you wanted a blueprint to ruin America, youd keep doing exactly what Joe Biden has let the far left do to our country for the past two years, he said. Tell every white kid theyre oppressors. Tell Black and brown kids their destiny is grievance, not greatness. Scott speaks often about his hardscrabble roots. He was raised by a single mother who worked long hours as a nurses assistant to provide for him and his brother after her divorce from their father. Scott, who describes himself as a lackluster student, graduated from Charleston Southern University with a political science degree before opening an insurance business. Scotts faith is an integral part of his political and personal story. Describing himself as a born-again believer, Scott often quotes Scripture at campaign events, weaving his reliance on spiritual guidance into his stump speech and using "Faith in America to describe his series of political appearances before joining the race. On many issues, Scott aligns with mainstream GOP positions. He wants to reduce government spending and restrict abortion, saying he would sign a federal law to prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy if elected president. But Scott has pushed the party on some policing overhaul measures since the killing of George Floyd, and he has occasionally criticized Trumps response to racial tensions. Scott called it indefensible after Trump retweeted a post that he later deleted containing a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. In the days that followed Trumps widely criticized response to a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Scott said Trumps principles had been compromised and that without some introspection, it will be hard for him to regain ... moral authority. Throughout their disagreements, though, Scott has maintained a generally cordial relationship with Trump, saying in his book that the former president listened intently to his viewpoints on race-related issues. A potentially more awkward rival for Scott will be Nikki Haley, Trump's former U.N. ambassador who helped fuel Scott's political rise when she was South Carolinas governor and appointed him to the Senate in 2012. In filing the seat that had been held by Republican Jim DeMint, Scott became the first Black senator from the South since just after the Civil War. In a 2014 special election to serve out the remainder of his term, Scott became the first Black candidate to win a statewide race in South Carolina since the Reconstruction era. He easily won reelection last year and had long said his current term, which runs through 2029, would be his last. As a senator, Scott has been a go-to Republican voice on issues including policing and was the GOPs chief negotiator on legislation that ultimately stalled in 2021. He has also spoken on the Senate floor about his personal experiences as a Black man in America. I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness and the humiliation that comes with feeling like youre being targeted for nothing more than just being yourself, Scott said in 2016, recounting how he was pulled over seven times in a year. He was once stopped by a U.S. Capitol Police officer who recognized the Senate lapel pin that Scott was wearing but did not recognize Scott. Scott rejects the notion that the country is inherently racist and has repudiated the teaching of critical race theory, an academic framework that presents the idea that the nations institutions maintain the dominance of white people. Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country, Scott said. Its backwards to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination. And its wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present. Scott believes parents should have more oversight over what their kids learn in public schools about race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Scott has twice addressed the Republican National Convention in 2012 as a first-term congressman and in 2020 as a senator. At the last GOP convention, he praised Trump for building the most inclusive economy ever and for supporting funding for historically Black colleges and universities. After Bidens White House victory, Scott was tapped to give the GOP response to the new presidents first address to Congress. Others in the GOP 2024 race include entrepreneur and Woke, Inc. author Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and radio show host Larry Elder. DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are among those who are expected to announce campaigns soon. If Scott is successful, he would be the first Black person to win the Republican presidential nomination and the second elected to the presidency, following Barack Obama in 2008. Scott frequently mentions that his family made it from cotton to Congress in one lifetime a reference to his grandfather who left grade school to pick cotton in the Deep South. Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report. Traveling, without a doubt, provides some wonderful experiences. You will have a great time if you travel in a group. However, if you go alone, especially in a European country like Greece, your delight will be multiplied. Read: Manchester United Captain, Harry Maguire Arrested For Attacking Police After A Fight In Greece You can learn about different cultures, ride in a luxury Santorini taxi, sample Greek specialties, buy some souvenirs, and so on However, if you have no prior experience traveling alone, gather some ideas. Otherwise, you may have to go through some terrible events. So, before you embark on your Greece trip, consider the best ways to travel alone. Make a thorough plan. Half of the task is completed by planning. To visit this country, you must have a precise strategy. Begin by making a list of your destinations. Make a list of places you want to visit. You must also establish a central place from which the locations are easily accessible. You can also expand the list by adding more convenient places to visit. Places should be prioritized, and you should visit them in order. At the same time, organize your detailed travel documents, such as your passport, flying ticket, and Santorini taxi booking, among others. Pack your belongings After you have finished planning, you must pack your belongings. You must exercise caution so that you do not rush at the last minute. Most individuals forget to bring the most important items, such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, underwear, slippers, travel documents, and so on. These, however, are available in every Greek grocery or shopping mall. As a result, you must exercise caution when packing. Check that you have taken all necessary stuff and that your suitcase is not overloaded with extraneous items. Pack only what you will need the most. Furthermore, if you can buy something on your route to your destination, do not pack it. Inform your loved ones. Because this is a single journey to Greece, you must exercise extreme caution regarding your safety and security. The best course of action is to keep your family informed. Tell them where youre going and how long youll be there. It will also make them feel more at ease and less concerned about you. Furthermore, you must always have your phone with you. This is the only way to reach you directly. If you are in any kind of trouble, you should notify Greek law enforcement and your loved ones. Read: The Reason Why Greece Tourist Destination Santorini Has Been Trending In Nigeria Lately Get some safety advice Simultaneously, when you get at your destination, ask the hotel staff for some safety advice. It may not always be possible to survive an unfavorable scenario when you are alone. Instead, staying a safe distance from areas where you may be a victim is the best option. Make use of taxis. When traveling alone in Greece, you need a reliable communication system. Regular transit is time-consuming and not necessarily safe, so using a Santorini cab could be a fantastic choice. You may also miss your destinations if you are unfamiliar with them. However, taking a taxi will be more convenient in every way. Related The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) on Monday described alleged military interference in the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State as treasonable felony. We make bold to say that Buratais brazen use of armed soldiers to attack officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission and upturn electoral process were testing grounds for his plot to truncate Nigeria s democracy.The coalitions national spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere, said this in a statement in Abuja Ugochinyere claimed that with the militarys action, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, had shown that he was nursing an agenda of returning the country to military rule. He described the soldiers action as an assault on democratic institutions, asking all lovers of democracy to resist it. He said, The Coalition of United Political Parties has reviewed the performance of the Nigerian military in the just-concluded governorship election in some parts of the country and has come to the conclusion that the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, is nursing a secret agenda to return the country to a military rule We hereby raise the alarm loud enough for all lovers of democracy to hear that an electoral war is looming in states like Rivers over the desperate moves by the Nigerian Army and the All Progresives Congress to announce fake governorship election results in Army Barracks in favour of an unknown and non-existence party called AAC. We condemn in unequivocal terms President Muhammadu Buhari and his Chief of Army Staff over this reckless overthrow of electoral process in Rivers State with the APC thugs and security agents. We hereby say without mincing words that the undemocratic activities of the military and other security agencies in Rivers State are tantamount to treasonable felony and should be viewed and treated that way. Advertisement By Joshua Chibuzo Andrew, Owerri The Indigenes of Orsu Local Government Area have issued a quit-notice to the bandits terrorizing the entire 26 (twenty six) autonomous Communities of the area. Community also came up with a proposed amnesty programme for the repentant bandits for the sake of peace and to arrest the Insecurity menace which is said to have taken over the entire Local Government for over three years. Their notice came after a stakeholders summit aimed at finding a lasting solution to the lingering security challenges in the community, convened by the leadership of the Odimma Orsu Initiative which is the Apex social-cultural group of the Orsu People in Imo State. The summit held on Saturday 13th May, 2023 at Rockview hotel in Owerri, which recorded the presence of traditional rulers, Political Office holders, captains of Industries, professional and bureaucrats who are indigenes of the community. However, the stakeholders summit critically analyzed the lingering Insecurity menace in Orsu Local Government which have led to wanton loss of human lives, destruction of property/infrastructures and destabilization of economic activities of the people for the past three years. The quit-notice issued to the bandits was contained In a press statement jointly signed by (Eze elect) Ezekiel Nwokedi who was identified as the president of Odimma Orsu Initiative and the secretary, Barr. Remi Ezedioramma-Agwuezie, made available to newsmen on Saturday, 20 May. The statement partly read; the summit came out with the following Communique, Stakeholders summit formally adopted the interim executives and admin to pilot the affairs of Odimma Orsu Initiative in the course of our struggle to bring back peace in Orsu Land. The armed bandits operating and illegally occupying Communities in Orsu Local Government Area are not welcome and totally unacceptable within Orsu Land and are therefore requested to quit our Communities with immediate effect. Our brainwashed locals who have been working for these criminal gangs are requested to take advantage of amnesty already granted by the state government, surrender their arms and submit themselves to local authorities within two weeks. Our people have resolved to partner with the state government in whatever capacity to put an end to the insecurity in Orsu land. We resolve to request government to assist us in removing the burnt down and abandoned vehicles, gates and trenches used by these miscreants as barricades on our roads. The summit also resolved to request government to consider the gazetting of our proposed amnesty programme for the repentant youths to give it the needed legal backing. The Communities in Orsu to bring up the names of the repentantUmuoma to the Odimma Orsu Initiative, for onward submission to Government for the purposes of amnesty programme. The summit adopted the template presented by the organizers of the summit to tackle the Insecurity which included the setting up of a United vigilante outfit that will partner with the security agencies to restore peace in Orsu land. Related Advertisement Bola Tinubu, the President-elect of Nigeria, has returned to Nigeria. Hw returned to the country eight days to his inauguration as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of The Federal Republic of Nigeria. The incoming president returned to the country on Saturday after a week in Europe. His latest trip had raised eyebrow, with some reports saying that he was battling an undisclosed ailment. But Tunde Rahman, his spokesman, had said he went abroad to rest ahead of his inauguration on May 29. While abroad, Tinubu met with Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, Presidential Candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), and former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi. The meeting had generated tension, with some Kano APC chieftains threatening to withdraw support for the president-elect if he implements one of the decisions arrived at in France. Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano had also expressed reservations over the meeting as was heard in a leaked audio conversation. But Ganduje was among the dignitaries who went to the Abuja airport to welcome Tinubu back home. Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Vice-President-elect Kashim Shettima, and GodswillAkpabio, anointed candidate for president of the 10th senate, were among those who welcomed Tinubu. The president-elect returned amid the storm generated by the endorsement of some lawmakers as leaders of the 10th National Assembly. During a protest by aggrieves aspirants, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, National Chairman of the APC, had said the National Assembly leadership list would be reviewed, but the action was not taken in Tinubus absence. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has requested three weeks to call 100 witnesses to prove his case against the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. Atiku and his party, at the proceedings through his legal team led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, before the Presidential Election Petition Court, sitting in Abuja, on Saturday, May 20, 2023, revealed that among those he has lined up to testify in the matter would include expert witnesses and those he would ask the court to compel to mount the witness box. We may not even exhaust the three weeks because the issues are getting narrower, the lawyer said. The President-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress has said he would only require two days to discredit Atikus case. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), through its lawyer, Abubakar Mahmood, SAN, also told the court that it would only call two witnesses. The All Progressives Congress (APC) through its lawyer, Mr Solomon Umoh, SAN, noted that it would also need two days to produce 39 witnesses. Tinubus lead counsel at the proceedings, Mr Roland Otaro, SAN, further disclosed that the 39 witnesses will not exclude other persons he may apply to be subpoenaed to appear before the court. Former President Goodluck Jonathan has identified insecurity as his worst nightmare during his time as Nigerias leader. Jonathan, who spoke during the commissioning of a 22-kilometre road project in Taraba State, said he had sleepless nights trying to address the problem. He urged the people of the state to live in peace for more development to thrive. Washington (CNN) A pair of Democratic lawmakers from California have asked US President Joe Biden to once again raise the case of a US Navy officer jailed in Japan with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida while at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima. In a Friday letter addressed to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, US Sen. Alex Padilla and US Rep. Mike Levin said that while we understand the sensitive nature of this case around Lt. Ridge Alkonis, it is important to resolve this situation promptly to prevent further irritants in the U.S.-Japan relationship. Lieutenant Alkonis has served almost a year in Japanese prison after being involved in a tragic and unforeseeable car accident due to a medical emergency he suffered while driving. Despite your repeated interventions from your Administration, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Ambassador Rahm Emanuel. Lieutenant Alkonis case remains stalled in the Japanese system, the pair wrote. CNN has reached out to the White House for a response. Alkonis, who was stationed in Japan, was sentenced to three years in Japanese prison in October 2021 for negligent driving resulting in the death of two people and injuries to a third person in May 2021. CNN previously reported that Alkonis said he suffered from acute mountain sickness as he was driving with his family from Mount Fuji, which caused him to lose consciousness. That argument was rejected by the court, and his appeal was denied in July 2022. Biden raised the Alkonis case with Kishida during the prime ministers visit to the White House in January, and the two countries agreed to establish a working group to solve the problem. But Alkonis has since expressed despair about his situation, according to a handwritten note to his wife. Im not doing that good, he wrote in a letter dated April 30, which was shared with CNN. The walls and bars seem to be making my cell even smaller as of late. His family has requested that he be transferred back to the US under the Council of Europes Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, which would allow him to serve out his sentence there. Alkonis wife, Brittany Alkonis, told CNN earlier this week that parts of the US government have been incredibly proactive on that request but claimed that the US Department of Defense as well as the Japanese government had not productively engaged. Ridge Alkonis has not been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department. Prison has always been a hard place. You know, he talks about how just anything that would bring you happiness is not allowed. He says its just soul crushing, Brittany Alkonis told CNN. Lieutenant Alkonis service records make clear that he is an extraordinary officer, and we believe he deserves better, the Democratic lawmakers wrote. We ask that you insist on a prompt prisoner transfer under the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, so that he, his wife, and their three young children can be reunited in California. Brittany Alkonis and her children have been able to visit Ridge Alkonis every few weeks in prison, with the current setup allowing for five half-hour visits per month, she said. Her children all under the age of ten years old are the ones who are paying the price for this challenging situation, she said. Theyre hurting. They try to make sense of this. We talk about it all the time, Brittany Alkonis said. But my son asked me the other day, he said, Mommy, you said the president is getting daddy home, then why isnt he home yet. This story was first published on CNN.com, "First on CNN: Democratic lawmakers ask Biden to raise issue of jailed Navy officer with Japanese PM" About nine days before the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, as the successor of the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, a leaked audio has surfaced which indicated that Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje is infuriated by the meeting between Tinubu and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Progressives Party in the 2023 presidential election, Rabiu Kwankwaso, which held in Paris, France. Ganduje known to be one of the loyalists of the President-elect was recorded venting his anger about the meeting. The PUNCH had reported that the duo met in Paris in preparation for the start of the new administration and were reported to have resolved to hold subsequent meetings as they could not conclude on that day. Meanwhile, Ganduje reportedly had a phone conversation about the meeting with the former vice presidential candidate (placeholder) of All Progressives Congress, Ibrahim Masari in the leaked audio published by Daily Nigerian. Ganduje was heard expressing his grouse about the meeting, stating that Tinubu was unfair to him for meeting with his rival Kwankwaso. However, Masari, in the telephone conversation, urged Ganduje to keep calm and not be angered by the situation at hand. Related News He also noted that Tinubus move to see Kwankwaso behind them was a wrong signal that could prevent people from trusting him. Ganduje further referred to the fallout between Kwankwaso and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan over issues bordering on corruption. Confirming the antecedent of the meeting between Tinubu and Kwanwaso, Masari said, I spoke with Mr President earlier and I lamented to him about the issue. He (Tinubu) told me that it was SLS [Sanusi Lamido Sanusi] who arranged the meeting through Gilbert Chagoury (a Franco-Lebanese business tycoon and ally of Mr Tinubu). And I asked whether you were informed before the meeting, and he (Tinubu) said no. I will adequately brief you when we meet, you know phone calls are not safe. Just keep exhibiting your maturity by keeping mum, he added. A senior officer of the Nigerian Army recently received more than one-quarter of a billion naira from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). A copy of the two-page letter written to the Army authority and the screenshot of the N270,000,000 credit alert were enclosed as evidence. Colonel MS (surname and service number withheld) addressed a memo dated April 14, 2023, to the Commandant of the Army War College (WU Bassey Barracks) in Asokoro, Abuja. Titled Request For Investigation Into The Payment Of Large Sum of Money Into My Salary Account, he recalled receiving the money on April 3. The Colonels bank account was credited with N270,000,000 paid through the CBN Alert System (reference number withheld). The officer explained that he decided to call the attention of his superiors due to the alarming rate of fraud perpetrated in some government institutions. Sir, to the best of my knowledge, my emolument is by no way close to the amount paid, and I am not entitled to such payment from the CBN. Additionally, going by the current trend of financial fraud and sharp practices by various institutions, this raises alarm and concern for me, he wrote. The Colonel urged the Commandant to uncover the motive behind the payment to formally reverse it to the Federal Government coffers. Source: Daily Post Related Spread the love Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have busted a drug kingpin and his suspected accomplices in Lagos, sealing the suspect Lekki Mansion after a raid of the place. This followed the intercept of a large consignment of methamphetamine concealed in powdered custard containers as part of a consolidated cargo going to London, United Kingdom, at the SAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos. The illicit drug consignment, weighing 30.10 kilograms, with a street value of N567 million, was detected and seized by NDLEA operatives at the airport on Tuesday, May 16. READ ALSO: NDLEA seizes 8,852kg illicit drugs consignment amidst heavy shooting in Lagos Femi Babafemi, the spokesman for the anti-narcotic agency, said this was swiftly followed by a series of follow-up operations that led to the arrest of a freight agent, Nwobodo Chidiebere, a female suspect, Chioma Lucy Akuta, and ultimately the drug lord behind the shipment, Charles Chinedu Ezeh, who was arrested at Sotel Suites, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, on Thursday, May 18. According to Babafemi, Ezeh claims he is a businessman and deals in articles in Onitsha, Anambra State, but investigations revealed he lived with his wife and children in London until December 10, 2022, when he fled to Nigeria after his involvement in a drug-related offence in the UK. He added that though Ezeh claimed to have been living in hotels since his return to Nigeria last December, operatives were able to locate his mansion at No. 1 Hawawu Abikan Street, Lekki, on Friday, May 19, where a search was conducted and his travel and property documents, among others, were recovered. READ ALSO: NDLEA uncovers illicit drugs hidden inside imported car Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Adamawa arrested a 32-year-old notorious drug dealer, Prince Ikechukwu Uzoma, on Monday, May 15, in the Mubi area of the state with one kilogram of skunk. Ikechukwu had twice been arrested and convicted of the same offence in the past. In 2017, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment, and in 2019, he was again sent to jail for two years. Advertisement In the same vein, a trans-border trafficker, Faisal Mohammed, 27, was arrested on Wednesday, May 17, in Mubi following the interception of a truck from Onitsha, Anambra State, where a total of 2,376 sachets of tramadol, comprising 23,760 pills, were found concealed in three blue rubber Jerry cans that were hidden underneath the body of the trailer. The suspect admitted the opioids were to be taken to Cameroon. (CNN) As the Colombian military frantically searches for four children missing after a jungle plane crash over two weeks ago, new details are emerging about the planes history and local concerns over the safety of air travel in that part of the Amazon. The single engine Cessna 206 HK-2803 that crashed into the rainforest on May 1 was carrying seven people, of which four were children. Search and rescue teams have located three adult bodies, but only traces of the children, aged 11 months to 13 years old: a baby bottle, hair ties, a make-shift shelter and even what appeared to be small footprints. Indigenous activists who mourned the deaths in a statement earlier this week said the crash was no surprise, accusing airline companies operating in the Amazon of chasing profits and the Colombian government of failing to uphold safety standards. The Colombian state is responsible for this tragedy and all those similar, indigenous advocacy group OPIAC said, alleging an absolute negligence of controls and procedures for air safety in the area, and pointing out that indigenous people in the area have few alternative travel options. Speaking to CNN, OPIAC president Julio Cesar Lopez pointed out that the ill-fated plane had previously crashed in the same region, on July 25, 2021. Its clear there are responsibilities to be investigated, and that will probably fall onto a judge. Everything were asking is for clarity, and we want to raise these issues with our Indigenous representatives in the institutions of the state, Cesar Lopez told CNN. According to the Colombian civil aviation authoritys final report on the 2021 crash seen by CNN, the plane had been operating as an air ambulance in the Vaupes province when it came down in the middle of the jungle after experiencing engine problems shortly after takeoff. The report states that the plane was built in 1982 and, prior to the 2021 crash, had accumulated over 10 thousand flight hours. The three crew on the plane at that time only suffered minor injuries and were rescued by indigenous scouts, however the plane suffered considerable damage to the propeller, engine and wing section, the report states. Aviation engineers had to replace the entire front and left wing of the aircraft to make it airworthy again. Its true that [the] plane crashed in the jungle, but nothing happened, said Giselle Lopez, owner of Avianline Charters SAS, the charter company that owns the aircraft, which also has a contract for air ambulance services in the Amazon region. Those planes are all insured, we repaired it and put it back to fly. Both the engine and the propeller were replaced, and the aircraft passed all the inspections by the Colombian civil aviation authority, Lopez told CNN. CNN reached out to the Civil aviation authority and is awaiting comment. The 2021 report issued nine recommendations to both the airline and the Civil aviation authority to prevent similar accidents from taking place, including adding extra inspections to the engine and propeller of the planes and further training to pilots operating in the jungle. Missing for nearly three weeks The missing childrens wellbeing has become a national concern in Colombia. President Gustavo Petro drew global attention to the incident earlier this week with a tweet prematurely celebrating their rescue; he later deleted it, saying the news had not been confirmed. Colombias military has taken pains to highlight its search and rescue efforts to the public, with Air Force General Pedro Sanchez on Friday saying that over 150 uniformed men had been deployed to saturate the jungle. We will search inch-by-inch until we find them, he vowed in an appearance on the militarys Instagram page. On Friday, the military released a map of the area of operation, covering a stretch of jungle of over 300 square kilometers (115 square miles), roughly six times bigger than the island of Manhattan. In addition to canine and search teams, rescuers have tried to make contact with the four children by broadcasting a recording of their grandmothers voice speaking in the indigenous Huitoto language, their native tongue. Relatives say the children knew the jungle well, and are holding out hope that they will be found alive. Maybe they are hiding, said Fidencio Valencia, the childrens grandfather, speaking to Colombias Caracol TV on Thursday. Maybe they dont realize that they are looking for them; they are children but we hope that they are alive and have access to water, because water is life. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Search for missing children in Colombia puts spotlight on air travel in Amazon" Hamisu Wadume, the Taraba man recently identified as a kidnap kingpin by the police, has denied any involvement in abduction-for-ransom schemes, saying the police were wrong in their categorisation of his activities. Mr Wadume told police chiefs during his initial interrogation at the Force Headquarters Tuesday afternoon that he acquired his wealth primarily from fishing, which he said he did for decades, according to multiple sources familiar with the questioning. But he also admitted to being a 419 by deceiving people with traditional medicine to get millions from them, police sources told PREMIUM TIMES. He insisted that he was not involved in kidnapping and the 419 was only a fraction of his large wealth. Mr Wadume was arrested on Monday night in Kano and brought to the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, ending weeks of a manhunt for him. His skirmish with the police has gripped the country since August 6 when he was rescued by Nigerian soldiers in a fatal deadly encounter with a police team. The team from Inspector-General Intelligence Response Team (IRT) had gone to Taraba to apprehend Mr Wadume in alleged connection to a series of kidnapping incidents across central Nigeria. Three police officers and a civilian were killed by soldiers from 93 Battalion, who subsequently freed Mr Wadume from the beleaguered police team. The Nigerian Army admitted its personnel killed the police officers but denied it was deliberate, attributing the tragedy to poor communication by the detectives. The aftermath of the attack left a broader national security bad blood, with the military issuing an advisory to personnel to be wary of police officers across the country going forward. President Muhammadu Buhari sued for calm amongst concerned authorities and urged a thorough investigation into the attack, an exercise that had since commenced and a report expected in about two weeks. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that no fewer than 143 election observers have been accredited to cover both Bayelsa and Kogi states governorship elections. Yakubu, in his remarks during the quarterly separate meeting with Civil Society Organisations and media practitioners in Abuja, urged the observers comprising 135 domestic and eight foreign observers, to submit their reports after the elections. As we approach the Bayelsa and Kogi governorship elections, the Commission has already accredited 135 domestic observer groups for the two States (67 for Bayelsa and 68 for Kogi) and 16 foreign observer groups (eight for each state). We wish to remind the observer groups of the imperative of submitting their reports in line with their terms of accreditation, he said. I want to reassure you that civil society organisations will continue to play an important role in our democratic process. Through your diligent observation of elections, you provide valuable assessment of the strength and weaknesses of the processes that in 2019 took place in 176,996 voting locations and 10,367 collation/declaration centres nationwide. We value your engagement with the commission and will continue to deepen it. For the 2019 General Election, the commission accredited a total of 159 observer groups out of which 120 were domestic and 39 foreign. Collectively, they proposed to deploy 73,562 observers: 71,256 domestic and 2,306 foreign. However, seven months after the General Election, the Commission has so far received reports from only 72 observer groups (45.2 per cent) out of 159. I wish to remind those that are yet to formally submit their reports to the commission to do so in earnest in both hard and soft copies as required of them under their terms of accreditation, he said. The INEC boss reiterated that the commission has directed both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the ICPC to be on the watchout for the source of the money used for vote-buying during the polls. He also warned that the ban on using phone in the polling boot is still very much in place, revealing that the Nigerian police has handed over the case file of those involved in electoral fraud during the 2019 general election. We have already engaged with the security agencies to ensure unimpeded access to voting locations and collation centres for accredited observers and the media in addition to adequate protection for all, including election officials and the voters. We also agreed that the rules of engagement for security officials on election duty should be reprinted and made available to the security personnel and stakeholders. Governor Yahaya Bello The Governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has directed the security agencies in the state to fish out perpetrators of Tawari attack for justice. In a statement by the Governors Chief Press Secretary, Mr Onogwu Muhammed, in Lokoja on Friday, the governor said the security agencies should swing into action and ensure that those who carried out the dastardly act face the law. The governor, who condemned the attack and warned that anyone nursing the ambition of causing crisis in the state would have himself or herself to blamed assured that his administration would do everything possible to protect life and property of the people of the state. He, therefore, urged the people to be calm and law abiding, assuring them that his administration was determined to flush out bandits and criminals out of the state. Meanwhile, the Police Command has disclosed that about 28 houses and vehicles were razed by the attackers in Tawari community located in Kogi Local Government Area of the state among other destruction. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the command, Dsp Williams Anya, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview. Anya, who also disclosed that some lives were lost during the attack, said the Commissioner of Police, Mr Ede Ayuba Ekpeji had visited the community for on the spot assessment. Tawari community which is about 30 minutes drive from Gegu town on Lokoja-Abuja road, Kogi Local Government Area, came under a heavy attack by unknown gunmen on Thursday night. He also said that the Commissioner of Police had deployed Special Police Force and Police Tactical Squad, led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, to immediately unravel those behind the heinous act with a view to bringing them to book. The publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore has claimed that the Federal Government is making plans to re-arrest him for exposing the Coronavirus test result of Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the President Muhammadu Buhari. In a message posted on his Facebook page on Thursday, Sowore said the government is planning to use the Nigerian Army to allegedly arrest him at his Abuja residence. According to him, his lawyers had informed him of a delegation sent to the Federal High Court in Abuja to obtain a detention order. Folks, it is important to inform you that we are facing some unusual circumstances, and the days ahead might be very tense and difficult, but we will conquer, he wrote. Following the revelation by SaharaReporters that the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, contracted Corona Virus and subsequent revelations about the criminal conducts/negligence that has brought Nigeria to the nadir of this global pandemic The Buhari regime today sent some high powered delegation to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of NIGERIA to help procure a judge to grant a detention order against me. The courts are reportedly on break due to COVID-19 pandemic. This was leaked to our lawyers a few minutes ago. They plan this time is to use the Nigerian Army for the sinister plot. The plan is to obtain a court order and then send soldiers to shoot up my residence in Abuja by claiming that I resisted arrest with armed colleagues, if I am arrested alive they would take me to an Army Barracks in Abuja to be tortured and /or infected with COVID-19. I am not raising the alarm to scare anyone, it is to inform our compatriots that we should brace for difficult days ahead. However, rest assured that we are in high spirits and are totally convinced that we may be turning a historic corner in the face of brutal repression. I am urging all to stand firm, unbowed and unbroken. KanyiDaily recalls that Sowore was in detention for a few months after he was arrested for planning the #RevolutionNow protest, which the government said was aimed at overthrowing the administration of President Buhari. Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State has announced that the state has discharged its first patient of COVID-19 in the state from the hospital after testing negative twice. It gives me great pleasure to announce that we are discharging one of our earliest cases from one of our facilities here in Osogbo, after testing negative twice in line with the prescribed protocol of the NCDC. The Governor, while addressing journalists on Sunday evening at the Government House in Osogbo also sought for a total lockdown of the country for a month to save the country from the ravaging of disease. According to the governor, total lockdown is the best option to save Nigeria from going the way of Italy, USA, Spain and Iran who were severely hit by the deadly disease. Oyetola said the two weeks lockdown is not only in the interest of the masses but the entire country, stressing the need for the Federal Government to extend it to all the states of the federation. If I have my way, I would suggest that the Federal Government shuts the entire country for a month to avoid Nigeria plunging into situations like those of US and many other European countries battling seriously to save their citizens. This not a childs play, the lockdown is not for the interest of government officials but for the teeming populace to stay healthy and safe. Chinese government locked down the country for a month before it could defeat the deadly virus., he said. The Governor added that the index case in the state was released from the hospital after testing negative to the virus twice as directed by the National Centre for Disease Control. He added that the second case would also be reunited with his family soon. While pleading for the federal government intervention in caring for the patient of the deadly diseases, Governor Oyetola said the result of some of the patient revealed high virile load which indicated high infectivity if the necessary measures are not taken. He also assured the residents not to panic as there was no community spread of the virus, saying those infected were from a controlled group isolated from the community. His words, Considering our peculiar circumstance, there is the urgent need for the Federal Government to assist us in our efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Our call is predicated on the fact that some of the samples that were tested indicated high level of viral loads, suggesting a strong capability to infect massively if necessary measures are not taken. To our people in Osun, rest assured that what we have is not a case of community transmission, but of infection within a controlled group; one which we are actively and effectively addressing. The ones who had earlier escaped from the facility never had contact with their relatives because those ones (relatives) shut the doors against them because of the level of enlightenment and that was why they returned to the facility. According to the governor, the 109 whose results came back negative have been released to join their families. Among them are: 11 to Oyo State, two are going to Lagos State, One to Ogun State, three each to Edo and Abia states, four to Delta State and one to Imo State while 85 will remain here in Osun. They have been advised to observe all the prescribed safety and preventive measures and to call our helplines if they start to feel unwell, he said. Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has charged the National Media Commission to crack the whip on media stations that contravene the media laws and ethics. The Minister, in an interview with host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo", was asked why his Ministry has allowed some TV stations to show contents like money doubling, ritual money and X-rated programmes among others. "I, as Minister, what I can do is to make noise about it and raise awareness. But I, as Minister, cannot go and shut down a TV or radio station that their content is bad," he responded. He explained that it is not his duty to monitor the stations but rather the responsibility of the National Media Commission (NMC), the constitutionally mandated body. He stressed; "I don't have oversight responsibility over National Media Commission. I don't! It's an independent constitutional body. I have no oversight over it; I can't tell them what they should do. That's what people don't understand, because the moment I do that it means a Minister can dictate to them to shut down a certain station...I very much uphold the freedoms in this industry." He, however, revealed that he together with the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful have had meetings with the National Communications Authority (NCA), NMC, National Security, Bank of Ghana and other stakeholders to clamp down on such offenders. He noted that in order to sanitize the stations, a Media Monitoring Center has been established at NCA but what is left is for the National Media Commission and the NCA to collaborate to utilize the facility. "We have created the infrastructure. Let's press on them to put it into use," he urged the two regulatory bodies to commence the process of monitoring and evaluating media contents and take punitive action against those whose contents violate the laws and ethics. 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. Featured Video Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has asked Parliamentary Service staff to uphold the essential values of honesty, integrity, and hard work that define the Parliamentary Service. Speaking at a ceremony in Parliament to honor retiring service personnel for their remarkable contributions to the legislative process, Mr. Bagbin stated that staff employees needed to improve their knowledge and skill sets by participating in capacity-building programmes. A total of 14 retiring employees of the Parliamentary Service were honoured for their exceptional dedication and contributions to the work of Parliament. Speaker Bagbin commended the retiring staff for their work ethics and sacrifices, and pledged his unwavering support for initiatives in recognizing the work and contributions of staff. He emphasised the importance of continuous learning and professional development in order to ensure growth and effectiveness within the Parliamentary Service. He encouraged the retiring officers to document their experiences so that they might be used to advise and motivate current staff, as well as to build a culture of excellence and continuity in the service. Speaker Bagbin called upon the existing staff members to embrace their role as mentors, providing guidance and support to their successors. By sharing your wisdom and expertise, you will help uphold the principles of the service and ensure a smooth transition for future generations of parliamentary staff, he said. As symbols of appreciation for their essential efforts, retirees were honoured with certificates of service, citations of honour, and gifts. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Newly elected Presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, this afternoon arrived in Kumawu in the Ashanti Region to canvas for votes. The former President is leading a delegation to the Constituency to campaign for the partys parliamentary candidate in the Tuesday by-election. Already the leadership of the NDC is in the constituency supporting the candidate, Akwasi Amankwah, and his executives in the campaign. Former President Mahama is joining the national chairman and others already on the ground to lend his support to the campaign. Mr. Mahama is expected to call on the chief of Kumawu, before meeting various groupings to campaign. The by-election is slated for May 23, 2023, followings the death of the MP for the constituency who will be buried on Saturday. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video (CNN) Russias deputy foreign minister has warned Western countries of enormous risks if Ukraine is provided with F-16 fighter jets, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday. The comments come after US President Joe Biden gave his backing for Ukrainian pilots to be trained to fly F-16s, reversing his previous position. F-16s are considered high performance weapon systems with a range of 500 miles (860 kilometers), and would be an upgrade to the aircraft currently in Ukraines fleet. Responding to the move, Alexander Grushko said: We see that the Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves enormous risks for themselves. In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the set goals. Earlier this week, the UK and the Netherlands were reportedly building an international coalition to help Ukraine procure F-16 fighter jets. A handful of European countries have a supply of US-made F-16s, including the Netherlands, which has signaled a willingness to export some of them to Ukraine. But the US would have to approve that third-party transfer because of the jets sensitive US technology. Since Russias invasion started, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has struggled to get F-16s to aid his fight, over fears they could be used on Russian soil, potentially triggering an escalation between NATO and Russia. After saying Kyiv did not need the fighter jets earlier this year, US President Joe Biden reversed his objections by signaling to European allies that they would allow F-16 exports to Ukraine. Bidens top national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters Saturday in Japan Biden believes in equipping the country for a long-term fight against Russia. In March, the US hosted two Ukrainian pilots at a military base in Tucson, Arizona, to evaluate their skills using flight simulators and assess how long it would take them to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including F-16s. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Russia warns West of enormous risks if Ukraine is supplied with F-16 jets" " " German dictator Adolf Hitler announced a declaration of war against the United States to the Reichstag Dec. 11, 1941. Wikimedia/Used Under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 License ... the [individual] is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone ... - Mussolini, "Fascism," the Italian Encyclopedia, 1932 While the fascist State is the center of the universe, the primary goal of fascism is social regeneration the lifting up of a particular group of people. Regeneration is achieved through national unity and a rejection of individualism. This requires the people's initial support. A fascist regime generally gains this support by promoting a series of ideas through the media, public rallies and other forms of propaganda. These ideas include: A nation in crisis : The State is in decline, and it's only getting worse. There are two primary causes for this decline the variety of racial or ethnic groups in the State, which makes the State "impure" and weakens it; and a : The State is in decline, and it's only getting worse. There are two primary causes for this decline the variety of racial or ethnic groups in the State, which makes the State "impure" and weakens it; and a conspiracy by certain racial, ethnic or national groups to keep the State down. An idealized past : The State is currently damaged but was once supreme. Fascism aspires toward the renewal of the State and its primary ethnic group to some mythical past era of glory. A need for social change: The people must submit to major changes, a new social structure and way of life in order to achieve a revival. Fascism arises from poor socio-economic conditions like those of post-World War I Europe or post-World War II Japan. The countries that were defeated in World War I suffered greatly from the restrictions placed on them after the war. In Germany, a fascist government promised a return to a better life and a better position in the world. Advertisement In fascism, remember, individuals exist only in relation to the State. The principles of democracy and capitalism, which stemmed from the European Enlightenment of the 18th century, stood in the way of the power of the State. In fascist terms, these trends based on concepts of individuality, equality and positive self-interest limited the unity and the drive for survival necessary for social renewal. Mussolini wrote in 1932, "Fascism denies [...] the absurd conventional truth of political equality [...] the myth of 'happiness' and indefinite progress'" [source: Fordham]. By dispelling the idea of happiness, the fascist society is able to constrain its people and convince them to submit for the greater good. People cannot gather without permission, and they can't say anything negative against the State. Instead, they are submerged in extreme nationalism and ethnic unity. Political youth groups recruit the youngest members of society, teach them about the State and entrust them with its survival and its power. Fascism glorifies youth, which makes sense if you consider the ideal of survival of the fittest the young are the strongest and the fittest. State-sponsored rallies and parades dominate social life, national flags and imposing monuments loom over the landscape, and State holidays fill the calendar. These symbols and celebrations have a religious quality. They encourage absolute faith; in the State, not in God. Fascism, in general, is against any religion. Unity and Power "Fascism" comes from the Italian term fascio, meaning "bundle." Mussolini first used the word fascism in 1919. It has its roots in the Latin fasces, a bundle of sticks tied to a single axe a symbol of unity and righteous power in ancient Rome. One might say the fasces embodies the essence of fascism: The people are the sticks, tied to the state to form a strong, single unit. The State is the axe, which has the power to create, to enforce and to obliterate. Tourists love to ask if they can "park the car in Harvard Yard" or rather, "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd." This question illustrates the stereotypical Boston accent, whose origins date back to the 17th century. Beantown's famous dialect is a melting pot, bearing the influence of Quakers, Puritans and Algonquin Indians alike. By far, the Boston accent's best-known quirk is a tendency to drop the "R" sound. This is exchanged for an "ah," turning beer into beeah. Until recently, historians attributed the custom to good old Anglophilia. Supposedly, Massachusetts colonists were trying to emulate the high-brow norms of England's elite, who always made a point to ditch their R's. However, this explanation might have it backward. Advertisement The dropped "R" habit first showed up in southeastern England, where it wasn't originally seen as prestigious. In 2012, linguist Richard Bailey used phonetically written records to show that the trend later became popular in pre-Revolutionary Boston. And yet, according to his research, Britain's well-off wouldn't embrace the practice until the mid-1800s. So, in other words, it's possible that English socialites were copying Beantown and not vice-versa. Oh, and for what it's worth, Harvard Yard has very strict parking policies, so you might want to leave your vehicle elsewhere. Just saying. " " Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, women have lost most of their rights. Here they wait in a queue with a Taliban fighter watching over them during a World Food Programme cash distribution in Kabul. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images While something bad could happen to you in even the statistically safest countries, there are places in the world that are best to avoid if you want to lead a safe, peaceful existence. One highly regarded source on the subject is The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an international non-partisan thinktank based in Sydney, Australia, that focuses upon peace as a positive, achievable and tangible measure of human well-being and progress. As part of that mission, for the last 15 years, IEP has been analyzing data on 23 different indicators from homicide and violent crime rates to terrorism, political instability, violent demonstrations and weapons imports. All that information goes into compiling its annual Global Peace Index, which ranks countries on how peaceful or conversely, how dangerous they are. Advertisement In IEP's Global Peace Index 2021 report, issued in June, the organization concluded that the world became less peaceful overall, with peacefulness improving in 87 countries but deteriorating in 73 others, with the declines generally steeper than improvements elsewhere. While a low rating on the index doesn't directly equate to the risk of violence, "being ranked amongst the 10 least peaceful countries almost always means that a country is involved in an ongoing conflict, has high levels of violence or is highly militaristic," Thomas Morgan, IEP's associate director of research, says via email. So what are the 10 most dangerous countries in the world? Here they are ranked from least to most dangerous according to the IEP index. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The greater peacock awl butterfly (Allora major) is descended from the first butterflies to reach Australia some 72 million years ago. Credit: CSIRO Publishing, Author provided How old are butterflies, and where did they evolve? And perhaps more importantly, how and when did they reach the isolated continent of Australia? Answers to these simple questions have baffled scientists for decades. Until recently we had very little idea when butterflies evolved, and hypotheses concerning their place of origin were largely educated guesses. In recent years, however, several studies have indicated butterflies most likely arose sometime during the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs dominated the Earth. Now, an international collaboration (of which I am a member) has placed the time of origin much more precisely: 101.4 million years ago, give or take 1.2 million years. These early butterflies were different from nocturnal moths, their ancestors. They flew during the day, rather than at night, and were attracted to brightly colored flowers for their rich nectar. A 100-million-year history To reach this conclusion, researchers from dozens of countries needed to construct the world's largest "family tree" of butterfly species. This tree of life was assembled with DNA from 2,244 species representing all butterfly families and 92% of genera. There are roughly 19,000 butterfly species in the world, and piecing together the 100-million-year history of the group required assembling the world's largest dataset of butterfly DNA sequences, geographical distributions and larval host plants. Underlying the analysis were 11 rare butterfly fossils, without which the analysis would have been impossible. Butterflies are rarely preserved in the fossil record, and those that are preserved are frequently difficult to identify. These fossils served as calibration points on the evolutionary tree. Once the tree was calibrated researchers could then estimate the timing of key events in butterfly evolution, starting with their origin. North American origins Not only did this latest study determine the age of butterflies, it also discovered where the butterflies first originated. By assembling a database of the distributions of all modern species and the plants on which they lay their eggs, the scientists were able to trace the movements of butterflies through time and space. The Regent Skipper butterfly (Euschemon rafflesia), found only in the rainforests of Australias east coast, is the last remaining species of the Euschemoniinae subfamily. Credit: MF Braby, Author provided The study tells a dynamic storyone rife with rapid diversifications, faltering advances, and improbable dispersals. Some groups traveled over what seem impossibly vast distances, and others seem to have stayed in one place while continents, mountains and rivers moved around them. According to this latest research, butterflies first appeared somewhere in Central and western North America. At that time in the mid-Cretaceous, the continent of North America was part of eastern Laurasia, and it was bisected by an expansive seaway that split the continent in two. Present-day Mexico was joined in a long arc with what is now the United States, Canada and Russia. North and South America had not yet joined via the isthmus of Panama, but butterflies seem to have had little difficulty crossing the water gap into the Southern Hemisphere. Once they reached South America, the early butterflies diversified to an astonishing degree. From there, many groups not only moved back into North America, but they also dispersed to Australia via Antarctica. At the time, the three continents were still connected to form Southern Gondwana, a remnant of the supercontinent Gondwana. Credit: The Conversation The path to Australiaand the rest of the world Two of the earliest butterfly lineages to reach Australia via Antarctica were the subfamilies Coeliadinae (awl skipper butterflies) (around 72 million years ago) and Euschemoniinae (around 65 million years ago). The Euschemoniinae are a group of butterflies found only in Australia, containing just a single remaining speciesthe spectacular regent skipper (Euschemon rafflesia)restricted to the rainforests along the east coast. To reach Australia, butterflies must have once lived in Antarctica in the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleogene periods when global temperatures were considerably warmer than today. They would have made their way across the continent to Australia before the two landmasses separated some 34 million years ago. Other groups of butterflies entered Australia much later via the islands of South-East Asia. They had earlier reached Asia from North America across the Bering land bridge. From there, they quickly covered ground, spreading and diversifying across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. They even made their way to India, which was then an isolated island, separated by kilometers of open sea on all sides. Once butterflies had become established in Central and North America approximately 101 million years ago, they quickly diversified alongside their plant hosts over the next 25 million years, with the last two families (Riodinidae and Lycaenidae) evolving around 76 million years ago. By the time dinosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago, all six modern butterfly families had arrived on the scene. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. 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: Motorists wait for a red light on westbound 18th Avenue at Park Avenue as smoke shrouds the skyline Friday, May 19, 2023, in downtown Denver. Smoke from numerous fires in the Canadian province of Alberta has rolled into Colorado Friday, giving Denver a ranking of third worst air quality of all major cities globally. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Education has issued an air quality health advisory alert as a result of the inflow of smoke across the Centennial State. Credit: AP Photo/David Zalubowski Smoke from dozens of raging wildfires in western Canada has drifted south into the United States and prompted the states of Colorado and Montana to issue air quality alerts. Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment put out alerts and advisories for Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon for much of the eastern half of the state, including Denver. It warned that air quality may be unhealthy during that period. "People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion; everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion," the department said. Particle pollution led the air quality index along parts of the Front Range to reach 168 on Saturday, the department said. A reading between 151 and 200 indicates unhealthy conditions that can affect sensitive groups as well as some members of the general public. An air quality alert was also in effect Saturday in Montana, with the greatest smoke concentrations in central and eastern parts of the state, according to the Department of Environmental Quality. Utah's Department of Environmental Quality said Friday that it was starting to see the smoke on its monitors in northern and eastern parts of the state. It urged residents to avoid outdoor exertion in areas with visible smoke or haze. Heavy smokeshrouds the terminal at Denver International Airport Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Smoke from numerous wildfires burning in the Canadian province of Alberta has rolled into Colorado, triggering air quality health advisory alerts across the state and giving Denver the ranking of third worst air quality of any major cities across the globe for the day. Credit: AP Photo/David Zalubowski Jetliners taxi in heavy smoke at Denver International Airport Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Smoke from numerous wildfires burning in the Canadian province of Alberta has rolled into Colorado, triggering air quality health advisory alerts across the state and giving Denver the ranking of third worst air quality of any major cities across the globe for the day. Credit: AP Photo/David Zalubowski The skyline is obscured as smoke from wildfires in Alberta rolls south early Friday, May 19, 2023, in Denver. Credit: AP Photo/David Zalubowski The smoke created widespread haze across Idaho earlier in the week, according to its Department of Environmental Quality. The fires in Canada have been burning mostly in the province of Alberta, where thousands of residents have evacuated and regional officials have issued state of emergency alerts. There have also been fires in British Columbia. In Calgary and Edmonton, the two biggest cities in Alberta, the health impact was determined to be of "very high risk" on Saturday by the Canadian government's Air Quality Health Index. Sensitive groups such as children and older people were advised to avoid outdoor physical exertion and the general population was urged to limit outdoor activities. 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: CC0 Public Domain Both the geometric and spectral information of the target are available with the hyperspectral light detection and ranging (LiDAR) in a single measurement. This advanced technique extends the scope of imaging spectroscopy to spectral three-dimensional (3D) sensing. However, two major geometric radiative effects exist in hyperspectral LiDAR, namely, the distance effect and incidence angle effect, which seriously restrict its quantitative remote sensing applications. A research team led by Prof. Niu Zheng from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has proposed correction algorithms while studying the geometric radiative effects existing in hyperspectral LiDAR. The researchers discovered that the analysis and correction of the distance effect and incidence angle effect can be carried out independently. They proposed a piecewise function model that couples a quadratic function and an exponential decay function to analyze and correct distance effect and developed an improved Poullain algorithm to analyze and correct the incidence angle effect. The results were published in ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. They found that distance effect originates from the system itself, and all wavelengths have a unified distance effect function. Based on this, they proposed a piecewise function model that couples a quadratic function and an exponential decay function to analyze and correct distance effect. For different types of vegetation leaf targets, they usually exhibit different incidence angle effects due to their different surface microscopic physical structures and internal biochemical parameters. This effect is closely related to the bidirectional reflection characteristics of the measured target species under hyperspectral LiDAR conditions. Therefore, the team pointed out that the more accurate expression of incidence angle effect of hyperspectral LiDAR should be "the incidence angle effect of a certain target under hyperspectral LiDAR." They developed a new improved Poullain algorithm to correct the incidence angle effect of the target. Compared with the traditional Lambert cosine law based on the assumption of isotropic scattering and the original Poullain algorithm, this algorithm considers the heterogeneity of the target roughness factor and diffuse reflection coefficient under different incidence angles and wavelengths, which is more in line with the reflection characteristics of natural target echoes. The results of different vegetation leaf experiments showed that the standard deviations of the correction results were reduced by 30% to 60%, compared with the echo intensity and reflectivity under the standard 0-degree incidence angle. The algorithm provides an important theoretical basis and technical support for accurate inversion of 3D biochemical parameters of vegetation in the future. Currently, the research team has completed the design and development of the second-generation hyperspectral LiDAR system with high-speed acquisition capability, which is undergoing performance testing and is expected to be put into use by the end of 2023. More information: Jie Bai et al, A Novel Algorithm for Leaf Incidence Angle Effect Correction of Hyperspectral LiDAR, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2021). DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2021.3070652 Jie Bai et al, An exploration, analysis, and correction of the distance effect on terrestrial hyperspectral LiDAR data, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2023.03.001 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: Emergency vehicles head to join efforts to put out a blaze believed caused deliberately. Spanish authorities said Saturday that firefighters and soldiers were managing to contain a blaze in the country's west that has forced hundreds of people to evacuate from nearby villages. "Today, we're hoping to strike a blow against this fire... It's a very intense task," said civil protection coordinator Nieves Villar, adding that conditions had improved as the high wind-speeds of recent days dropped back. That prompted regional forest fire prevention and extinction services to declare the situation "stabilized" by late evening. "The situation with the forest fire in Pinofranqueado is better than yesterday and the change in the weather conditions can help as the hours go by," regional government leader Guillermo Fernandez Vara said in a post to social media. Winds are only expected to finally calm on Sunday, when there is the possibility of light rain. Local authorities have blamed arson for the wildfire that broke out Wednesday near the village of Pinofranqueado in the sparsely populated region of Extremadura bordering Portugal. The flames have ravaged some 3,500 hectares (8,500 acres) of forest and scrubland and forced the evacuation of around 700 people from several villages, the regional government said. Data from Europe's Copernicus satellite system showed as much as 12,000 hectares had been affected by the blaze across the affected province of Caceras. Villar said 600 firefighters had been deployed overall, including Portuguese colleagues. Backing them are 14 water-bombing aircraft, the regional agriculture ministry said. Heatwave and drought Fernandez Vara lashed out Friday against the "bastards" who had set the fires that caused "irreversible damages that take decades to recover, if they ever recover". The strong winds of up to 60 kilometers (35 miles) an hour had made controlling the flames "extremely difficult", he added. But he expressed hope Saturday evening that more clement weather conditions in the hours ahead would make it easier to douse the fire. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez canceled his participation on Friday at a rally in Extremadura ahead of regional elections on May 28 because of the blaze. Spain, which is experiencing long-term drought after three years of below-average rainfall, has already experienced multiple wildfires this year. The drought was made worse by an unusually early heatwave at the end of April that brought exceptionally high temperatures normally seen only in summer. Temperatures hit 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southern city of Granada on April 27, the highest ever recorded in mainland Spain during that month. In 2022, a particularly bad year for wildfires in Europe, Spain was the continent's worst-hit country. Nearly 500 blazes destroyed more than 300,000 hectares, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. Scientists say human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events including heatwaves and droughts more frequent and more intense. They increase the risk of fires, which emit climate heating greenhouse gases. 2023 AFP This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Almost 40% of forest area burned by wildfire in the western United States and southwestern Canada in the last 40 years can be attributed to carbon emissions associated with the world's 88 largest fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers, according to new research that seeks to hold oil and gas companies accountable for their role in climate change. In findings published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the authors concluded that the emissions generated in the extraction of fossil fuels, as well as the burning of those fuels, have increased the amount of land burned by wildfire by raising global temperatures and amplifying dry conditions across the West. This growing dryness, or aridification, has caused the atmosphere to become "thirstier" for water, draining moisture from trees and brush and causing them to become more vulnerable to fire, the researchers say. The study is the latest in a growing body of research known as extreme event attribution, or attribution science, which seeks to determine how much global warming has contributed to events such as heat waves, droughts and wildfires. "We hope that people who are in communities that have been affected by wildfires will see this work and think about whether they want to hold these companies accountable," said study author Kristina Dahl, principal climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. To quantify the impact of the fossil fuel industry on wildfires, Dahl and her colleagues built on previous research that has shown that carbon emissions traced to the top 88 fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturersincluding Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron and Shellhave contributed significantly to the average temperature by which the Earth has warmed. (Cement production is responsible for 8% of human-generated carbon dioxidesignificantly less than the burning of fossil fuels.) The researchers found that changes in global mean temperature are positively linked with changes in the Western North American vapor pressure deficit, a measure of how effectively the air can dry out plants and vegetation that ultimately become fuel for wildfires, Dahl said. "I actually laughed because I've never had such a strong correlation in my data before," she said. The researchers were then able to estimate that emissions from the major carbon producers contributed to 48% of the increase in the vapor pressure deficit observed over the last 120 years. Previous research has shown that this rise is strongly associated with an increase in burned forest lands in the western U.S. and southwestern Canada. From there, the researchers found that the emissions were responsible for 37% of the 53 million acres of forest areaor 19.8 million acresburned by wildfire since 1986. The results don't account for the effects of non-climate factors, including fire suppression, the prohibition of Indigenous burning and increases in human-sparked fires associated with more people moving into wilderness areas, which have played a role in driving the size and severity of individual fires, but have not affected the relationship between climate and burned area, the study notes. Asked to comment on the findings, a spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Assn. said that "demonization" of the fossil fuel industry would not bring solutions. "We all want the same thing: affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy and fuels," Kevin Slagle wrote in an email. "A press release from a well-funded activist group with a long history of attacking energy industries is unhelpful to the serious and realistic climate and energy policy discussions needed to get us there." Up until relatively recently, the public posture of the climate science community was that no individual extreme event could be attributed to global warming, said Noah Diffenbaugh, climate scientist at Stanford University's Doerr School of Sustainability, who was not involved in the study. That changed in the early 2000s, and extreme event attribution has since become a robust sub-field of climate science, he said. Although the sub-field does not exist to provide data for legal actions, it in some ways arose from questions of law, he said. Some of its earliest examination in scholarly literature was in law review articles about the need to quantify the contribution of historical global warming to individual events for the purposes of assigning liability, he said. Since then, attribution research has served as a foundation for liability lawsuits filed against fossil fuel companies. Last month, in what was seen as a major victory for plaintiffs, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from oil and gas companies that were seeking to have lawsuits over climate change filed by state and local governments moved to federal courts. The decision cleared a path for dozens of similar lawsuits to be heard in state courts, where communities that are suing are believed to have better chances of winning sizable damages. "What this study shows is that using existing peer-reviewed methods, it is possible to rigorously trace the contributions from the source of emissions to the impacts," Diffenbaugh said. Another scientist who was not involved with the study said the authors' methodology appeared sound. Rong Fu, the director of the UCLA Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, has also studied the link between global warming and increasingly destructive wildfires. If anything, study authors might have underestimated the impacts of the companies' emissions because they included aerosol emissions in their calculations, Fu said. Aerosolssmall particles in the air that can come from the burning of fossil fuelstend to cool surface temperatures, she said. But these emissions have shorter lifetimes, and they tend to decrease as technology improves, she said. As that happens, we are likely to see a stronger warming, she said. "This paper really takes to the next level that linking of these increases in wildfires to the main emitters in the world," Fu said. When considering the connection between fossil fuels and extreme events, Dahl said it was important to recognize that the impacts of climate-driven disasters have not been borne equally. As wildfires in the western U.S. have grown in size and intensity, and wrought unprecedented levels of damage on communities, the public has been left to cover much of the cost through higher taxes and utility bill surcharges, she said. "But at the same time, we know the fossil fuel industry has known for decades what the impact of their products would be on our climate, and that emissions associated with those companies have significantly altered our climate," she said. "We really wanted to put a spotlight on the fossil fuel industry's role in driving the West's worsening wildfires so they can be held accountable for their share of the costs." "I think a lot of us in California are used to thinking about corporate accountability for wildfires as just being limited to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the immediate utility failures that have sparked some of the state's largest and deadliest wildfires," she added. "But the reality is there's this much bigger set of corporate actors who have not been held accountable at all." More information: Kristina A Dahl et al, Quantifying the contribution of major carbon producers to increases in vapor pressure deficit and burned area in western US and southwestern Canadian forests, Environmental Research Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/acbce8 Journal information: Environmental Research Letters 2023 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The cannabis industry may be legal, but that doesnt mean its desirable at least in the eyes of many landlords looking to fill commercial space. Thats what some of the first adult-use dispensary licensees in upstate New York say they are finding out as they search for locations to open their state-sanctioned weed stores. Landlords are reluctant to rent to cannabis shops. Tenants in bigger retail plazas especially national chains often have language in their own leases that bars landlords from renting space to certain types of businesses, including cannabis shops. It all complicates the hunt for space by cannabis license holders, like Aaron Van Camp. Van Camp, one of four entrepreneurs approved for retail weed dispensary licenses in western New York, had hoped to be open by last month, but his search for a location has been one disappointment after another. He still hasnt found a spot for his store one of the first licensed to open in the Buffalo-Niagara region. We are lowering our standards daily and still not finding anything, he said. Van Camp had settled last month on a property he liked, but as time went on, he saw signs the Realtor was being more hesitant with him than it would have been with other tenants. We didnt feel like meeting with the company CEO was something everyone was going to have to do, he said. For weeks, Van Camp has been given the extreme runaround by commercial real estate agents, he said. He is adamant about not trying to finagle his way into a space where his line of business may not be wanted. Im not bamboozling anyone, he said. Its my third question: Will you accept a state licensed recreational marijuana shop? So far, the answer has been no. The state has not been much help, either. From the beginning, sites for legal cannabis dispensaries were supposed to have been developed by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. The authority was supposed to secure properties, build them out, then lease them to licensees in a turnkey operation. But when that process fell far behind the necessary timeline, the state reversed course in December a month before the first retail stores were initially supposed to open and told licensees they would have to secure their own spaces, or be prepared to wait an uncertain amount of time for the authoritys services. Now, as licensees throughout the state search for their own properties, some have complained that they find themselves in competition with the dormitory authority. Sometimes the state is already considering opening a dispensary in a conflicting area too close nearby, or sometimes in competition for the same properties licensees want to secure for themselves. Van Camp was interested in another site, but was steered away from it by his real estate agent over rumors that the dormitory authority was looking at sites nearby that could put his potential location within the states exclusivity zone. Last week, a group of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries, or CAURD, licensees sent a letter to Dormitory Authority and Office of Cannabis Management officials, complaining about long delays in site approvals, lease agreements lacking basic information as well as much higher than market rate construction costs and rental rates. As experienced business owners, we are accustomed to performing a deep financial analysis of our business endeavors and participating in competitive markets with accessible information, the licensees said in the letter, which was published by NY Cannabis Insider. By contrast, in the CAURD program, we are cosigned to a process that is monopolized by DASNY and the [Social Equity Cannabis Investment] fund by way of financial information, service providers and access to real estate. With so much about the budding cannabis industry up in the air, and so little transparency from the state, dispensary hopefuls and licensees are leaning on each other to figure things out as they go along. I feel like we are winging it because theres not a lot of guidance, said Gina Miller, who was recently granted a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary license with her husband Glen. Most of the useful information were getting is from other CAURD applicants, and other people whove done it before. Miller said she has been doing as much research as she can on her own and with her attorneys help. She also joined the New York CAURD coalition, a group meant to provide resources, training and networking for those navigating the licensed cannabis market. Were learning as we go, she said. Millers search for a western New York dispensary location has led her out of prime retail sites and into out-of-the-way locations. Ive heard those bigger plazas dont want to risk losing their national tenants for a 3,500-square-foot store, even though it brings traffic, because of the federal regulations, she said. She has sought out smaller developers and plazas, and honed in on standalone locations, which she heard are more favorable to dispensaries. She has found a few properties that make good possibilities. That ultimately suits the Millers purposes, since they are hoping to stay out of the fray in larger, busier locations in Buffalo or points north. We dont want to go too big and not be able to sustain it because of competition with the legal market opening up and the illegal market, she said. We want to find our little niche in a community that is warm and welcoming, and stay there. Real estate developers also face their own set of challenges when deciding which tenants to accept and where to put them. Its a tricky situation, certainly, when dealing with something as polarizing as dispensaries, said Eric Recoon, vice president of development and leasing at Benderson Development. Our approach, always, is to err on the side of caution with regard to our existing tenants. Thats not just the case with dispensaries but with any retail use that might raise concerns among pre-existing tenants. Something the company encountered during the COVID pandemic is a great example. When the push was on to roll out COVID testing sites, Benderson was quick to offer vacant space to health care providers for COVID testing sites. We were not charging for any such use, but rather providing a community benefit during a time of need, Recoon said. But before it could even take its first steps, the company received immediate and vocal reactions from on-site tenants. They, along with their customers, were worried about bringing in people who were potentially infected with the virus, and being in close proximity to them. Benderson went back to the drawing board and instead found some free-standing locations to donate to local health care, where tests could be performed away from other tenants. I think the situation with dispensaries is analogous, Recoon said. The potential for existing tenant resistance exists. A multi-tenant plaza setting is probably the wrong location, in most instances, for the use. Particularly with the uncertainty about potentially large crowds and parking needs especially for the first local openings. In addition, as Miller learned, the companys larger shopping centers with national tenants often have language prohibiting certain uses they consider undesirable, such as vape shops, pornography sales, automotive repair, vehicle sales and yes dispensaries. Weve experienced legalization in many other states in which we have properties, Recoon said. Local reactions have varied. Its clear that the acceptance and reaction to such meaningful change from illegality to retail sites is evolving. (CNN) The Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces the two warring factions in Sudan have agreed to a ceasefire agreement for seven days, the first such agreement between the groups since fighting broke out last month, the US State Department announced Saturday. It is past time to silence the guns and allow unhindered humanitarian access. I implore both sides to uphold this agreement the eyes of the world are watching, Blinken said in a tweet. Blinken had spoken with the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces earlier Saturday as talks between the two groups took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The ceasefire, which was brokered by both the US and Saudi Arabia, will go into effect Monday, according to a State Department statement. Previous ceasefires have failed to stop the fighting between the rival factions in various parts of Sudan, CNN reported. Failed negotiations between the head of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo broke out into intense clashes between both sides in mid-April, sparking a mass exodus of refugees from the conflict-ridden country and leading to the deaths of at least 528 people. Thousands of foreign nationals have escaped Sudan as Western powers stepped in to evacuate their own citizens, while thousands more local families have risked perilous journeys from the capital Khartoum as they have been left to fend for themselves. The ceasefire, according to the text of the agreement, will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism, acknowledging that previous ceasefire agreements between the two groups have not been observed John Godfrey, the US Ambassador to Sudan, called on both groups to observe the terms of the cease fire shortly after it was announced. The 7-day ceasefire agreement signed by SAF and RSF today in Jeddah will allow desperately needed humanitarian aid to reach the Sudanese people and provide a pathway to a permanent cessation of hostilities. I call on both parties to honor the agreement, Godfrey said in a tweet. The State Department said in its statement the US believes subsequent talks in Jeddah will address steps needed to reach a permanent cessation of hostilities. We look forward to leadership by Sudanese civilian stakeholders, with the support of the regional and international community, on a political process to resume a democratic transition and form a civilian government, the statement said. This story was first published on CNN, "Leaders of Sudans warring factions agree to 7-day ceasefire, US State Department says." Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. CAMBRIDGE Legal costs for Cambridge Central Schools appeal of a state order to retire its Indians nickname and emblem exceeded $51,000 through the end of February, the school district reported. In June 2021, after months of controversy, the Cambridge Board of Education voted to retire the Indian. The following month, with one new member, the board reversed the vote. Several district families who opposed the mascot appealed State Education Commissioner Betty to Rosa in August 2021, claiming that the reversal, with no new information to support it, was arbitrary and capricious. The board engaged the Honeywell Law Firm PLLC of Albany to represent the district in the case. Rosa officially annulled the July vote in late November 2021, agreeing with the petitioners that the second vote was arbitrary. Although she noted that the New York State Education Department has discouraged Native American mascots since 2001, her ruling was specifically against the boards lack of justification for the reversal. The school was ordered to retire the Indian by the following July 1. At its December 2021 meeting, the school board discussed whether to file an Article 78 appeal in state Supreme Court against Rosas decision. Records obtained under a recent Freedom of Information Law request show the first payment to Honeywell for the appeal was in December 2021, with a bill of $1,840 for 9.4 hours of work, based on a fee of $200 per hour. Honeywell charged $4,160 in January 2022 and $4,340 the next month, when the board voted to proceed with an appeal to the Supreme Court in Albany County. Honeywell filed the papers on the districts behalf in March 2022. That months bill from Honeywell, $16,440, was the highest to date. Bills for the next three months were $3,840 for April, $400 for May 2022 and $1,580 for June. That month, Acting Supreme Court Justice Sara McGinty upheld the education commissioners decision. The board, at its July meeting, voted to file a notice of appeal, but not the appeal itself, while it explored its legal options. Cambridge school board will appeal judge's ruling upholding removal of Indian mascot The Cambridge Central School Board of Education will go ahead with an appeal of the judges ruling upholding removal of the schools Indian mascot. Honeywell submitted bills of $3,940 for July and $3,200 for August. In September, when Honeywell presented the legal options to the district, it billed $540. Bills came to $620 for October, when the board cleared Honeywell to file an appeal, and $980 for November. Charges dropped to $160 for December, then rose to $1,380 for January. They shot up to $8,060 for February, when the law firm filed the appeal with the state Appellate Division, Third Department. Thats the most recent month for which legals cost information is available. Total hours from December 2021 to February 2023 were 253.1 and total costs were $51,120. District Clerk Kate Canini said the February bill was the most recent available as of late April, when she responded to the Freedom of Information Law request. The document from her office does not cover any legal fees the district incurred responding to the August 2021 petition to have the July 2021 vote invalidated. Canini said the law firm has had some billing problems, so the school has not received the March or April bills. The status of the appeal comes at a time when school districts around the state, including several in the southern Adirondacks, are moving to retire Native American-themed nicknames and imagery because of a statewide order recently put in place. On April 18, the state Board of Regents ordered all school districts with Native mascots to retire them by June 30, 2025. That technically does not affect Cambridge since its under a separate deadline from Rosa. However, it does mean that no matter how the appeal goes, the district wont get the Indian back. New York State prohibits use of Native American names and logos in schools The Native American imagery must be eliminated by June 30, 2025, the New York State Board of Regents said. Members of the board and District Superintendent Douglas Silvernell did not respond to an emailed request for comment on whether continuing the appeal makes sense, given the regents ruling. The board discourages members from speaking individually to the press. At meetings, board members and members of the public complained that Rosa was singling out the district and that she exceeded her authority by demanding removal of the districts mascot. In late 2020 and early 2021, as debate over the mascot roiled the Cambridge community, the board hired a mediation firm in hopes of finding a middle ground. The mediation process ran for several months but ultimately failed, in part because some mascot supporters were suspicious of it. They claimed that the professional mediators were manipulating the process to support a liberal agenda. The district paid $53,000 for mediation, with $5,000 covered by a grant from a foundation. At later school board meetings, a number of people from the community offered to help pay legal fees for the appeal. However, there has apparently been no organized effort to raise funds for the purpose, nor have any donations been noted at school board meetings. The impact of the regents order on Cambridges appeal is an issue the state is currently evaluating, according to a filing in the appeal made last week by the state Attorney Generals office. Since the district filed its full appeal, the state has asked for and received two 30-day extensions to file its answer. And on May 17, the most recent deadline for the answer, a new filing asked for 16 additional days. The additional time is needed due to the press of other matters and to review more fully the impact on this proceeding of a recent regulation adopted by the New York State Board of Regents prohibiting school districts from using Indigenous names, logos, or mascots, without written tribal approval, the document said. The appeals court has not ruled on that request. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. FORT EDWARD Washington County will increase its contribution to SUNY Adirondacks annual operating costs so that the local share rises from 26% to 33% of the colleges budget in 2027-28. The Washington County Board of Supervisors approved the higher share unanimously Friday at its regular monthly board meeting. There was no debate. The resolution is contingent on Warren County passing a similar resolution. The local share of the schools budget comes from Warren and Washington counties and non-resident operating chargebacks. Before the vote, Argyle businessmen Juan Gonzalez, chief financial officer of Hunt Companies Inc. General Contractors, and Jared Humiston, owner of ADK Tech Solutions, described the importance of SUNY Adirondack students and graduates to their businesses. The college supports local businesses by training students for local jobs and running a support group for startup businesses, Gonzales said. This is our college, Gonzalez said. We should invest in them like we ask them to invest in us. Humiston, whose company did technical support for Januarys FISU World University Winter Games, said he turned to SUNY Adirondack when he found himself short of employees before the event. The college provided nine tech students with no previous work experience. Working without supervision, they connected all six of the sites across northern New York on time and ran their part of the event without cyberattacks or interruptions, he said. Humiston urged the board to invest in SUNY Adirondack, the areas young people, and the future of Warren and Washington Counties. For the future of our county, this is probably the biggest thing we have on the table, said Hebron Supervisor Brian Campbell. The biggest challenge for many local businesses is finding qualified employees, he said. This looks like the right thing to do. After the vote, board chair Robert Henke, the Argyle supervisor, said he was really pleased with the college resolution today. It makes me feel very good. In other business: The board recognized May as Older Americans Month by issuing a proclamation and recognizing Washington County Senior Citizens of the Year Lorraine Bowen, of Kingsbury, and John Fillmore, of Argyle. Bowen and Fillmore were chosen for their many years of volunteering in their communities. State Sen. Jake Ashby, R-Castleton, was on hand to congratulate them. Asked to say a few words, Fillmore listed his guidelines for recruiting and keeping volunteers: Never turn down a volunteer, tell people what they should bring, dont be rigid about start and stop times, and make it fun. Volunteers are true patriots, he said. Bowen, who runs the kitchen at Whitehalls Skene Manor, suggested people come to the historic houses tea room if you want a nice Reuben. The board adopted the recommendations of the finance committee for a second disbursement of $5.94 million in American Rescue Plan funds. The allocation is $600,000 for the tourism program, $258,000 for sheriff equipment, $3.58 million for broadband and $1.5 million for water and sewer improvements. The board added $263,500 in opioid settlement funds to the county mental health offices 2023 budget. The money adds to what the county has already received from the state. The board set a hearing at 10:05 a.m., June 16, at the supervisors chambers for a proposed local law that would create a property tax exemption for enrolled members of incorporated volunteer fire companies, fire departments, or incorporated voluntary ambulance services, or their spouses. The board approved new rates for reimbursement of indigent burial expenses, beginning Jan. 1. Putnam Supervisor Darrell Wilson said that under the current rate schedule, funeral homes that handle indigent burials for the Department of Social Services are just covering their costs. This is fair. Based on past average numbers of indigent burials, the countys cost for those services would increase by $120,000 per year. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. GRANVILLE Spring bird walks, lectures, a catered lunch with cider tastings and a live raptor demonstration were on the program Saturday when the Grassland Bird Trust held Raptor Fest 2023 at Hicks Orchard. Participants had their choice of birding walks either through the orchard or through the woods to a hilltop, at 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Spring migrants have returned, and northern orioles, wood thrushes, catbirds and a variety of warblers were singing and flitting through the trees and brush. Birders helped each other locate the birds: See that tree behind this one? Go up the trunk and out the limb at two oclock. The black and white warbler is on that branch. They traded notes on how to identify bird calls: A mocking bird repeats phrases five times. A brown thrasher only repeats them two or three times. Big spotting scopes helped bring distant birds into closer view. Some people had smart phone apps, such as Merlin from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, that could identify birds by calls and show an image of the bird. The Grassland Bird Trust promotes the conservation of the Fort Edward grasslands, a vast expanse of open grasslands in Fort Edward, Kingsbury and Argyle. One of the star spring migrants on the grasslands is the bobolink, a red-winged blackbird relative that nests only in grasslands. Its vanishing from New York as its habitat disappears. The birders hoped they might hear a few in a big open field at the top of the hill, but the buzz was that the bobolinks havent returned yet. After the walks, birders could pick one of three lectures: What Makes a Birder a Birder? by conservation social scientist Jody W. Enck; A Meadow for Bobolinks, by Martha Leb Molnar, author of Playing God in the Meadow; or Inner Bird Beauty, on bird anatomy and physiology, by retired college professor and avid birder Richard Blunt. Molnar and her husband purchased an abandoned apple orchard when they moved to Rutland, Vermont. The apple trees couldnt be salvaged so the couple had them all removed. Grasses sprouted in the former orchard the next year, followed by wildflowers that drew butterflies, bees and bobolinks. We thought we wouldnt have to do any maintenance, Molnar said. Its not true. The third year, the wildflowers were invaded by brambles, poison parsnip, Canada thistle, knapweed and goldenrod. Grassland birds wont nest in those plants, she said. It became clear that trying to eradicate all the unwanted plants was futile. Molnar began to question what shed been told about the threat of invasives. Are non-native weeds really bad? she asked. Given the state of the earth, we cant expect to have a native landscape. Native and non-native plants can live together to create a functioning habitat, which has happened on former agricultural land in Puerto Rico, she said. Molnar and her husband eventually decided to focus on controlling the most damaging plants and learning to live with the rest. Historically, grasslands were rare in the Northeast. What were trying to do by maintaining grasslands is really unnatural, Molnar said. They eventually become forest. On the other hand, grasslands are at least as effective at sequestering carbon as forest, Molnar said. They provide ecosystem services such as purifying air and water, and support native birds and insects. And they are beautiful, Molnar said. The event at Hicks Orchard was something a little different for the Grassland Bird Trust, said board chair Keith Swensen and board member Katherine Roome. Until 2019, the organization did an annual Winter Raptor Festival at the Washington County Fairgrounds, with live birds, presentations and mock-up habitats with real plants. We would have up to 2,000 people at the fairgrounds, Roome said. The event took months of planning and the better part of a week to set up. Then COVID happened, Roome said. The trust tried a virtual event in 2020 but attendance wasnt very good, she said. In 2021 and 2022, Hicks Orchard hosted a spring birding event for the trust. This year we changed the format, Roome said. We called it the Raptor Fest and changed it to a fundraiser. We have the Boralex challenge, referring to a proposal by a Canadian solar developer to put a large solar power installation in the Washington County grasslands, and we need to do some fundraising. Tickets to the event were $100 each. Roome estimated that 40 to 50 people came. Boralex has options to lease or buy 2,000 acres in a section of the grassland thats critical to a number of threatened grassland birds, Roome said. The projects footprint panels, roads, fencing, and infrastructure would be 800 acres. Recent changes in state law have reduced the amount of land Boralex would have to conserve to mitigate the impact of the project, from three acres of conserved land per acre of development to a fraction of an acre per acre developed. We want them to conserve more than theyre legally required to conserve, Roome said. Well find the land. We want them to fund the purchase or conservation easements on 500 acres. The trust has hired a lawyer and is working with National Audubon and the American Bird Conservancy on strategies, Swensen said. Were grateful to Hicks Orchard for hosting us, Roome said. The orchard and Slyboro Cidery, part of the Hicks operation, also donated 10% of their sales that day to the trust. Lunch was catered by Shift Wood Fired. Sponsors were Stewarts Shops, REC Solar, the Sandy Hill Foundation, and Glens Falls National Bank and Trust. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Events Sunday, May 21 NEIL SIMON'S 'LOST IN YONKERS': 2 p.m.; Fool Moon Theatre presents Neil Simon's story of two young boys who learn the meaning of family; Margate Community Church, 8900 N. Ventnor Ave., Margate; $30. 609-457-0903 or eventbrite.com. Monday, May 22 ESL CAREER READINESS LAB: 9:30 a.m. to noon Mondays through July 31; learn how to use the Engen Language Upskilling platform, which provides ESL classes and tutorials with a focus on job interview skills, and the food and beverage industry and hospitality industry; Public Library, 1 N. Tennessee Ave., Atlantic City. 609-345-2269 or acfpl.org. HOUSEPLANTS: 2 to 3 p.m. Mondays through May 22; learn how to plant, propagate, and care for a variety of popular plant species; Ventnor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 6500 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor. 609-823-4614 or atlanticlibrary.org. LINE DANCING - WITH SUSAN PENNYPACKER: noon to 12:45 p.m. Mondays; no meetings May 29, Sept. 4, Oct. 9; Wildwood Crest Branch, 6300 Atlantic Ave., Wildwood Crest. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org. MEDITATIVE DRUM CIRCLE: 5 to 6 p.m. Mondays; bring your own instrument or borrow one; no meetings May 29, Aug. 28, Sept. 4, Oct. 9, Nov. 6, Dec. 25; Cape May Court House Branch, 30 Mechanic St., Middle Township. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org. Wednesday, May 24 BORED? GAMES!: 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Aug. 31; for ages 10 to adult; games are family-friendly classic board games meant for at least two players; Ventnor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 6500 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor; registration required. 609-823-4614 or atlanticlibrary.org. ONE-ON-ONE COMPUTER BASICS: 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through May 31; for adults; Brigantine Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 201 15th St. S., Brigantine. 609-266-0110 or atlanticlibrary.org. WEDNESDAY FAMILY GAME NIGHT: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Aug. 30; for all ages; board games provided; Pleasantville Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 33 Martin Luther King Junior Ave., Pleasantville; registration required. 609-641-1778 or atlanticlibrary.org. For kids Monday, May 22 PRE-K CLUB AND CRAFT: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays through May 22, June 5, 12; Galloway Township Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 306 E. Jimmie Leeds Road, Galloway. 609-652-2352 or atlanticlibrary.org. PRESCHOOL STORYTIME - ABSECON: 10 to 11 a.m. Mondays; Absecon branch/Atlantic County Library System, 305 New Jersey Ave., Absecon. 609-646-2228 or atlanticlibrary.org. PRESCHOOL STORYTIME - EGG HARBOR CITY: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Aug. 28; Egg Harbor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 134 Philadelphia Ave., Egg Harbor City. 609-804-1063 or atlanticlibrary.org. Tuesday, May 23 FURRY BUDDIES: 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, May 23, June 13, 27, July 11, 25, Aug. 8, 22; for ages 6 to 14; read a story to therapy dogs; Galloway Township Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 306 E. Jimmie Leeds Road, Galloway Township; registration required. 609-652-2352 or atlanticlibrary.org. ROBOTICS CLUB WITH NATE: 6 to 7 p.m. May 23, June 20, July 25, Aug. 22; for ages 8 to 15; Egg Harbor City Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 134 Philadelphia Ave., Egg Harbor City. 609-804-1063 or atlanticlibrary.org. WONDERBOOK STORYTIME: 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, May 23, June 6, 20, July 18, August 1, 15, 29; for ages 4 to 11; kids will press play to read along with their favorite books and then switch to learning mode for literacy learning; Pleasantville Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 33 Martin Luther King Junior Ave., Pleasantville; registration required. 609-641-1778 or atlanticlibrary.org. Wednesday, May 24 PLAYDATE AT THE LIBRARY: 10 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays through Aug. 9; for ages 6-36 months; enjoy stories, rhymes and songs designed to develop early literacy skills; Mays Landing Branch/Atlantic County Library System, 40 Farragut Ave., Hamilton; registration required. 609-625-2776 or atlanticlibrary.org. STORIES AND SONGS: 10 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays through May 31; join Miss Linda for stories, songs, and rhymes; for ages 3 and younger; Public Library, 235 32nd St., Avalon. 609-967-7155 or avalonfreelibrary.org. Groups Monday, May 22 AL-ANON FAMILY GROUPS: 11 a.m. Mondays; for those troubled by someone else's drinking; Egg Harbor City Senior Center, 351 Cincinnati Ave., Egg Harbor City. AL-ANON.org. LONGPORT NEEDLERS: 10 a.m. to noon Mondays; bring your needle/crochet craft project and join us for a time of crafting and socializing; Longport Public Library, 2305 Atlantic Ave., Longport. 609-487-7403 or LongportPublicLibrary.org. MYSTERY AT THE LIBRARY BOOK CLUB: 6:30 to 8 p.m. fourth Mondays through December; virtual mystery and thriller book club for ages 18 and older; each month a new murder mystery book is picked and a book discussion will be held; presented by the Cape May County Library 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org. Tuesday, May 23 INTERMEDIATE SPANISH CONVERSATION VIRTUAL CLASS: 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays; intermediate-level Spanish Conversation class via Zoom; Atlantic City Free Public Library, 1 N. Tennessee Ave., Atlantic City. 609-345-2269 or ACFPL.org. YARNBENDERS CROCHET AND KNITTING CLUB: 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Aug. 29; Egg Harbor Township/Atlantic County Library System, 1 Swift Drive, Egg Harbor Township. 609-927-8664 or atlanticlibrary.org. Wednesday, May 24 LIFE IN WAVES - ONLINE WORKING WOMEN'S GROUP: 7 to 8 p.m. second and fourth Wednesdays; support and discussion group for women in the workplace; hosted by Mental Health Association in Atlantic County. 609-652-3800 or MHAAC.info. Health, fitness Sunday, May 21 MEDITATION - ONLINE GROUP: 7:15 to 8 p.m. Sundays; offered by The Mental Health Association in Atlantic County; staff offer a guided calming meditation or breathing exercise; to receive a link by email and join the group online, email btrendler@mhanj.org. 609-652-3800 or MHAAC.info. Monday, May 22 CHAIR YOGA - WITH LYNNE CATARRO: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays; no class 5/29, 9/4, 10/9, 12/25; Cape May County Library/Wildwood Crest Branch, 6300 Atlantic Ave., Wildwood Crest. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org. 'GOT STRESS?' ONLINE GROUP: 4 to 5:30 p.m. Mondays; online group meets to discuss daily wellness, coping strategies and tools to relieve stress and reduce anxiety; offered by The Mental Health Association in Atlantic County; free. 609-652-3800 or MHAAC.info. Tuesday, May 23 DEALING WITH DEPRESSION SUPPORT GROUP: 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays; hosted by the Mental Health Association in Atlantic County; online support group for those living with depression. 609-652-3800 or MHAAC.info. MINDFULNESS & MOVEMENT: 1 to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through December; Cape May County Library/Wildwood Crest Branch, 6300 Atlantic Ave., Wildwood Crest. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org. ZUMBA WITH KELLIE WOOD: 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays; Cape May Court House Branch, 30 Mechanic St., Middle Township. 609-463-6350 or events.cmclibrary.org. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A 19-year-old man was arrested Friday in connection with a February shooting after shell casings found at the scene were examined through the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network and linked to the gun found in his possession, Davenport Police said. Jeffery Dewayne Miller Jr., of Rock Island, is charged with one count of intimidation with a dangerous weapon, a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years. According to the arrest affidavit filed by Davenport Police Detective Nate Thomas, at 11:56 p.m. on Feb. 19, officers were dispatched to 1323 Ripley St. to investigate a report that the home was being struck by gunfire. A crime scene with 11 spent shell casings was located north of the residence. There were two adults and two children in the home at the time of the shooting. As officers arrived on the scene, a white 2001 Cadillac El Dorado with an Iowa license plate was seen driving in the area. The cars headlights were turned off. Officers attempted a traffic stop on the vehicle, but it fled at a high rate of speed. Officers were able to use a precision intervention technique to bring the Cadillac to a halt in the 2100 block of Vine Street. Miller was identified as the driver of the Cadillac. After police had gotten a search warrant for the car, officer located and seized a stolen Smith & Wesson MP Shield 9mm handgun. The gun was hidden under the drivers seat. A National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, or NIBIN, lead was generated as test-fired casings from the gun matched the MP Shield 9mm casings located at the scene of the shooting. A warrant was issued for Miller, and he was taken into custody Friday. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, website, the NIBIN Program automates ballistics evaluations and provides leads that investigators can use in a timely manner. It is the only interstate automated ballistic imaging network in operation in the United States and is available to most major population centers in the country. Before the NIBIN Program, firearms examiners performed the process manually, which was time consuming and labor intensive. To use NIBIN, firearms examiners or technicians enter cartridge casing evidence into the Integrated Ballistic Identification System. These images are correlated against the database. Law enforcement can search against evidence from their jurisdiction, neighboring jurisdictions and others across the country. For court purposes, a firearms examiner will conduct a microscopic examination of the actual physical evidence to confirm a NIBIN lead as a hit. During a first appearance on the charge Saturday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Stephen Wing scheduled a preliminary hearing for May 30. Miller was being held Saturday night in the Scott County Jail on a bond of $10,000, cash or surety. East Moline house where 15 people were found squatting with nine dogs Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. CROWN POINT, Ind. A Chicago man whose murder conviction was overturned in 2021 was sentenced to 10 years Thursday for a September armed robbery at the Hammond, Indiana, Walmart. Gerald Reed, 59, was originally charged with armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon and resisting law enforcement. The firearm possession and attempted armed robbery charges were dropped. Reed will serve nine years in the Department of Corrections for the armed robbery charge, and one year in Lake County Community Corrections for the resisting law enforcement charge. The sentences will be served consecutively. A jury found Reed guilty March 29. On Sept. 29, Reed approached a woman in the Walmart parking lot and started asking her a question. She testified during trial that she said "no" to him because she only speaks Spanish and didn't understand what he was saying. She didn't realize what was happening until Reed showed her a handgun under his shirt and motioned for her to be quiet. Reed took the woman's keys and wallet, but ultimately did not steal her car. Reed testified he went to Walmart to buy cat food and was only meandering around the parking lot because he had misplaced his marijuana. He said he ran from the police because he didn't want to get in trouble for weed possession. Reed still faces burglary, theft and criminal mischief charges in an unrelated case. Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Racism and misogyny are in a race to dominate American politics. Each is an animus with deep historical roots. The latter is the older. Men have worked to keep women under control for as far back as we have records. In modern times, it has been a quiet assumption in social structures and practices. Lately, it has been an outspoken force dominating Republican legislatures. Racism is built on animal herd instinct and mans hormonal drive to dominate. It is only in recent centuries - and primarily in the United States - that it came to be so vicious and violent, and concentrated on skin color. Scratch the surface of todays conservative populism and youll find racism piously denied, but very much at the root of it: deep-boned and muscular. (Conservative populism is a what one might call an oxymoron. A public declaration of public concern for the welfare of the average citizen and a private practice of serving only the wealthy.) It is in todays Republican states that one finds both isms earnestly employed, undergirding an endless series of new laws designed to feed citizens passions and fears to distract them from real issues, while limiting their ability to vote. Immigration and transgender hysteria are subsets of both, along with anything else that helps alarm average voters, and blind them to the fact that they are being manipulated. Its an old advertising technique: play on feelings to keep them from thinking. Cool reason is no match for flaming passion. How did we come to this? How is it that the worlds greatest democracy, the country that fought to obliterate fascism in World War II, now stands on the brink of becoming what it once spent blood and treasure to defeat? There are a number of things one can cite, beginning with our chest-bumping contest with the Soviet Union at the wars end. Both nations had invested heavily in sprawling military forces that they didnt know how to rein in. So, the former allies started to compete for domination, ideally without having to actually shoot at each other. Fortunately, each happened to have thinking leaders, John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, who somehow resisted the generals eager for war, to work out a compromise. Then came our fatal mistake of taking on a French colonial war in Vietnam, a devastating exercise in futility which divided America along generational lines. This was followed by a mindless decision to overthrow Irans democracy for the benefit of British and American oil companies. We followed this by encouraging Iraqs dictator, Saddam Hussein, to invade Iran, once Irans obliging Shah had been deposed. When that conflict came to a standstill, Saddam was asked to pay for the help we had given him, something he supposed had been a gift. When he decided to recoup his losses, he suggested to our ambassador that he might occupy oil-rich Kuwait, formerly a part of his country. When told we had no position in the matter, in he went. To his surprise, we objected and rallied allies to defeat him in a quick war, leaving him in power to reassemble his country. The final blow came years later when we undertook an unwarranted invasion of Iraq, on the pretense that he had nuclear weapons, setting off 20 years of mismanaged warfare. The result of all this was an accumulated loss of confidence in our governments judgment. In the decades when all this occurred, we saw the rise of a drug culture, and a replacement of the human interaction that binds a society together with self-isolation; induced, first, by television and later by social media. During the long course of our military misadventures, the country was being forced to address the long-simmering problem of racism. Civil Rights to redress civil wrongs drove another wedge in the nation. Black citizens had been largely denied New Deal efforts to focus on individuals rather than corporations. After patriotic service in World War II, they began to demand equality. Southerners - and many northerners - assumed that treating Blacks as full citizens must entail loss of privilege. And there were many opportunists ready to tell them so. As voting rights began to balance the scales, other citizens living in the shadows of social opprobrium began to step forward, beginning with homosexuals and extending to those of fluid gender. Wedges multiplied. Add to this the dawning awareness - amid strenuous denials - that the material advantages we enjoy are changing the worlds weather for the worse, raising oceans, poisoning the atmosphere, driving insects, birds, and animals toward extinction - and taking us with them as they ride into the sunset - and you can understand why everyone is so tense. It is, as the Oscar-winning film title suggested, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. In these stressful days, we need thoughtful political leaders instead of the con men, performance artists, and aspiring Fascists who seem to on the rise. We must identify those ready to heal our divisions, not opportunists who drive the wedges deeper. This next election is crucial. It can be a turn toward sanity or a second assault on Fort Sumter. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. The debt ceiling was first implemented in 1917. The debt ceiling is a limitation on the federal government's ability to manage and borrow funds. Failure of Congress to authorize an increase in the debt ceiling could result in a severe financial crisis. Prior to 1917, there was no debt ceiling in force. However, there were certain parliamentary procedural limitations on the amount of debt that could be issued by the government. For every budgetary year, except for 18351836, the United States has had a fluctuating public debt since the U.S. Constitution went into effect in 1789. Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation resulted in a debt of over $75 million in 1791. Expressed in absolute dollars, the national debt has steadily increased under every presidential administration since Herbert Hoover. Before 1917, Congress either authorized specific loans or allowed the Treasury to issue certain debt instruments for specific purposes. Occasionally, Congress gave the Treasury Department discretion over what type of debt instrument would be issued. In addition, Congress authorized each bond issue by the United States Treasury by passing a legislative act that approved the issue and the amount. It was in 1939 that Congress instituted the first teal limit on total accumulated debt. The debt ceiling was established by Public Debt Acts passed in 1939 and 1941 and later amended. The United States Public Debt Act of 1939 eliminated separate limits on different types of debt. The Public Debt Act of 1941 raised the total debt limit to $65 billion, and consolidated nearly all federal borrowing under the U.S. Treasury. Over the years, newly enacted Public Debt Acts raised the total debt limit. In an outlier, the debt limit was reduced to $275 billion in 1946. This ceiling remained until the fall 1953. Even though the Senate refused to raise it until summer 1954, the federal government avoided default by employing various measures, such as monetizing leftover gold. Prior to the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the debt ceiling was very significant because Congress had few opportunities to hold hearings and debates on the budget. Five years later, noting the potential problems of hitting a default, Congress adopted the "Gephardt Rule," a parliamentary rule that deemed the debt ceiling automatically raised whenever a budget was passed. This addressed the problem of voting for appropriations but not voting to fund them. The Gephardt Rule remained in place until it was repealed by Congress in 1995. It is estimated that the U.S. has raised its debt ceiling in one form or another at least 90 times during the 20th century. Except in 1946, the debt ceiling has never been reduced, even though the public debt itself may have reduced. The No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 suspended the debt ceiling from Feb. 4, 2013 until May 19, 2013. On May 19, the debt ceiling was officially raised to nearly $17 trillion to accommodate the borrowing done during the suspension period. But this ceiling was raised only to the actual debt at that time, forcing the Treasury Department to once again take extraordinary steps to avoid a default. Only Denmark and the U.S. have a debt ceiling. By June 1, the United States will not be able to pay its bills. Will this result in a fiscal abyss, or will this crisis be avoided at the last minute? Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. As rural communities across Montana grapple to balance the need for affordable housing with the loss of agricultural land, increasing land-use conflicts raise questions of how to create more homes while protecting as much working land and wildlife habitat as possible. They are questions that have pitted neighbor against neighbor in families that have farmed alongside each other for generations in deeply personal battles of land, history and heritage. These battles are nothing new for fourth-generation Bitterroot Valley rancher Alan Maki, whose family has worked their farm near the proposed Sapphire Heights subdivision northeast of Hamilton for more than 100 years. His family has worked to protect their land from neighboring proposed developments in the past and recently spent five years in court defending their water rights. When you grow up in the Bitterroot, you grow up learning how to protect your ranch, he said outside of this weeks meeting of the Ravalli County Planning Board, while carrying a three-ring binder full of information regarding the subdivision proposal and statistics related to local wells surrounding the development. We've stopped subdivisions in the past that wanted to build on top of us. We have a private property right to protect our farm and that's what we're exercising. Maki recognizes the need for housing in the valley and is on the record in support of a past subdivision in Corvallis that used city water. We need houses, I'm not arguing that, he said. We need houses, but this is not going to solve the affordable housing crisis...there's places that you could put a lot more houses, and this solves nothing. It takes away open space, open lands, agricultural ground and makes it harder for the farmers and ranchers. The Maki family opposes the proposed Sapphire Heights development and believes the subdivision will have a negative effect on existing water rights in the area. Water rights on the property owned by the Makis were established in the 1860s. We believe that it will negatively affect our surface water rights, Maki said. We believe it will negatively affect our neighbors groundwater rights, as well as groundwater that's intercepted that turns into surface water, therefore affecting more surface water rights in the whole Willow Creek drainage. We're not the only ones in the Willow Creek drainage. All of the water rights holders that we've spoken to thus far have been completely against it. A crowd filled the Ravalli County commissioners chambers in Hamilton on Wednesday, May 17 for the third meeting of the Ravalli County Planning Board regarding the proposed 121-acre, 12-lot Sapphire Heights subdivision. Ten lots are proposed to be built on 84 acres on the north side of Hamilton Heights Road, and two lots would be built on 37 acres on the south side. Members of the Planning Board moved to continue the meeting for a third time after questioning the proposed subdivisions possible impacts to existing wells and water rights, and possible mitigations available to address these issues. Planning Board member Edward Adkins suggested adding a 50-year drought plan to the proposal and monitoring existing wells for draw down or changes during the development, while Planning Board member Tom Stringham was interested in more information regarding existing water rights in the area specifically the nearby Maki farm. We're continuing this meeting once again, because we have a lot of questions that we need answers for, said Planning Board member Penny Howe-Canton. We don't feel that we can rightfully deliberate this subdivision without the answers on the water and the water rights. So, until we can get more answers on that we're going to continue this meeting until June 14 at six o'clock. As with the previous two meetings, many of the community members present were there to voice opposition to the proposed subdivision of what has historically been working agricultural land in the Bitterroot Valley. The acreage proposed for development was formerly part of the Foley Ranch and borders other historical agricultural lands, including the 472-acre Weber Ranch which is preserved under a conservation easement. Its also less than a mile from the Calf Creek Wildlife Management Area, a primary winter range for local elk. The proposed lots are to be served by individual septic systems, and individual wells to provide water for domestic use as well as irrigation. In addition, the proposal states that irrigation water will be provided from an existing ditch system that traverses the subdivision. Community members who live in the area have individual wells, some running more than 300 feet deep, yet many rely on cisterns in addition to their wells so that they do not run out of water. Existing residents have voiced concerns as to whether enough water currently exists in the Calf Creek Basin and the unnamed basin to the south to support additional development as well as the current agricultural practices in the area. Both basins are contained within the larger Willow Creek Watershed. Residents have also expressed concerns about how the additional septic systems would affect water quality in the area. Kathy Matranga, whose property borders the proposed subdivision, has voiced concern about water scarcity and the distance between her well and septic systems slated for the new development. Her well currently pumps 1.6 gallons per minute, and she has resorted to installing a cistern. Matranga and her husband have invested much of their retirement into the property they bought along Gray Fox Road four years ago. We were very sad to hear of a major development occurring right along our fence line, as we thought we were moving to the country, farmland, Matranga said at a recent meeting. My property borders numerous parcels that are in this development. Parcel nine has four septic tanks on it. It's about 100 feet from my well. That really alarms me, and no pun intended, that's pretty friggin crappy. Representatives of WGM Group suggested mitigation proposals designed to address community concerns related to water usage and wildlife at a previous meeting, held on May 10. Mitigations include low-yield wells with flows limited to 2-3 gallons per minute, restricting the discharge of firearms and fireworks, and securing garbage cans in animal-resistant containers. Additional modifications to the subdivision covenants include requiring pet food and livestock feed to be stored indoors, barbecue grills stored indoors, and boundary fencing with a limitation of no higher than three and a half feet. Developers of the proposed subdivision include John Giuliani of Missoula and Gary Chilcott, brother of Ravalli County Commissioner Greg Chilcott. Community members at the May 10 Planning Board meeting were informed that Commissioner Chilcott has recused himself from comment on matters related to the subdivision. Some community members raised the issue as a conflict of interest at the May 10 meeting, and asked that the commissioner recuse himself in all matters related to the development of the property. The Ravalli Republic has reached out to Commissioner Greg Chilcott for comment, but has so far received no response. Residents have also voiced concern that once the road has been built to access the lots within the northern portion of the proposed Sapphire Heights subdivision, that the road will then be used to unlock another 80-acre plot of the Foley Ranch for additional development. The plot adjoins the proposed subdivision currently under deliberation. Developer Gary Chilcott and representatives of WGM Group have declined to comment at this time. The Planning Boards continuation of deliberations related to the subdivision to their June 14 meeting means that the proposal will not move forward for consideration at the June 6 meeting of the Ravalli County Commissioners as previously planned. A new date for the proposal to go before the county commissioners has yet to be announced. The Virginia State Farm Prison was located on over 4,000 acres of land on both sides of the James River in Goochland and Powhatan Counties. The facility opened in the 1890s. A 1923 Times-Dispatch article described the facility as A place of ideal beauty, with its lovely old trees, its green lawns and well cultivated fields, its rolling pastures, through which the James River winds, and its neat, well kept buildings. At the time, the Powhatan side of the farm was used primarily for chicken raising and on the Goochland side; there was a dairy with a herd of over 200 cows which resided in the fields. The 1923 article described the dairy as quite modern and efficient. In 1931, female prisoners were introduced to the prison farm. The Virginia Correctional Center for Women (VCCW), a medium security prison in Goochland, Virginia, was founded when female inmate populations were getting too large for local jails. In 1950, an industrial laundromat was opened at the womens prison facility where an average of 10 million pounds of linens were washed per year. By 1963, what became known as The Womens Farm Laundry, washed linens for the Medical College of Virginia, Beaumont School for Boys, the Virginia Treatment Center and over 330 farm inmates. The main compound of the State Farm facility, later known as the James River Correctional Center, closed in 2011. Other parts of the prison are still active today. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. MEXICO CITY Mexico is flying migrants south away from the U.S. border and busing new arrivals away from its boundary with Guatemala to relieve pressure on its border cities. In the week since Washington dropped COVID-19 restrictions on seeking asylum at its border, U.S. authorities reported a dramatic drop in illegal crossing attempts. In Mexico, officials are generally trying to keep migrants south away from that border, a strategy that could reduce crossing temporarily but experts say is not sustainable. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported Friday that in the week since the policy change, Border Patrol averaged 4,000 encounters a day with people crossing between ports of entry. That was down dramatically from the more than 10,000 daily average immediately before. Shelters in northern border cities currently find themselves below capacity. In southern Mexico, however, shelters for migrants are full and the government is busing hundreds of migrants more than 200 miles north to relieve pressure in Tapachula near Guatemala. The government also said it deployed hundreds of additional National Guard troops to the south. On Friday night Mexico's immigration agency offered to fly migrants camped in the center of Mexico City most of them Haitians to Huixtla, a city near Tapachula, to lodge them and expedite the processing of documents, said Alma Rubi Perez, a representative of the immigration agency in the country's capital. The Associated Press confirmed Mexican flights from Matamoros, Reynosa and Piedras Negras carrying migrants to the interior over the past week. A Mexican federal official, who was not authorized to speak publicly but agreed to discuss the matter if not quoted by name, said approximately 300 migrants were being transferred south each day. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. A winding road just off West Broad Street near Innsbrook leads to a large brick road and an even larger plot of land an unassuming spot where culture and cuisine are exchanged. For 38 years, St. Anthony Maronite Church in western Henrico County has held its three-day Lebanese Food Festival, welcoming hundreds of thousands of people from across county and state lines with the promise of good food and great friends. For Sandra Joseph Brown, one of five steering committee members and a longtime volunteer for the festival, the many hours that go into the yearlong preparation for the event are well worth it. We always see new people every year, but we have some people who come year after year and some who come all three days, Brown said. Everything we make is authentic, home-cooked food. Every weekend following Mothers Day, the church welcomes thousands to its festival. Before it opens its doors at 10 a.m., a line of cars has already formed. By 11 a.m., the parking lot is nearly full. As guests make their way to the large white tents where they can order food, the smells of grilling meats and baked pies fill the air. By the time they make their way under the makeshift pavilions and grab their trays, nearly every station has a line. From grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat and falafel to kebabs and shawarma, there is plenty from which to choose and no one leaves hungry. It is a yearly tradition that began with a small group of people cooking up authentic Lebanese cuisine, and it has continued to grow each year. According to Brown, the church, with a congregation of 300 members, begins preparing its most popular dish its meat, cheese, spinach and feta pies in January and then freezes the pies ahead of the event. Everything else, including the hummus, tabouli, cucumber and yogurt sauce and kebabs, are prepared in the days leading up to and on the days of the event. In total, church members prepare 40,000 pies, skewer thousands of pounds of chicken and beef, and roll enough grape leaves to reach the Goochland County line, Brown said. Despite serving roughly 40,000 people each year, both on-site and through its to-go options, the church never runs out of food, Brown said. Were always prepared, she said. Being Lebanese, itd almost be embarrassing for us to run out. With more than 100 volunteers ranging from young kids and teenagers to older churchgoers pitching in, the church has gotten its operations down to a science. From directing traffic to cooking and serving the food and pouring wine and beer, the event is a well-oiled machine. All of the funds earned for the festival go to the church, to numerous fundraisers (including one that helps aid Lebanon) and to a scholarship program for some of the churchs youth. After first learning about the festival in 1988, Jim and Kathy Wiggins have made it a part of their yearly Mothers Day tradition. Every year, they find a shady spot under the trees near the playground, lay out a blanket and set up their lawn chairs. They gather nearly one of every item on the menu and enjoy each others company. For Kathy, it is the grape leaves and stuffed squash that keep her coming back year after year. For Jim, its just about everything. Weve come when its cold and weve come when its hot, but weve always come, Kathy said. Its great food and just a nice way to spend a day. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. KAITLAN COLLINS: CNN announced Wednesday that Kaitlan Collins will host a new show in the prime-time lineup, filling a slot left vacant since the firing of Chris Cuomo and as the network's ratings are at a low ebb. "She is a smart and gifted journalist who we've all seen hold lawmakers and newsmakers accountable," CNN Chairman Chris Licht said in a memo. NEW APP: ChatGPT is now a free smartphone app. It became available on iPhones in the U.S. on Thursday and will later be coming to Android phones. Unlike the web version, you can also ask it questions using your voice. The company that makes ChatGPT, OpenAI, said it will remain ad-free. RUBY SLIPPERS: Federal prosecutors in North Dakota said Wednesday that Terry Martin was indicted by a grand jury on charges of stealing a pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz." The shoes were stolen in 2005 and recovered by a 2018 FBI sting operation, but no arrests were made at the time. Garland wore several pairs of the shoes while filming the 1939 musical, but only four authentic pairs remain. Over 300 row in 15th edition of Riviera Mayas Sacred Mayan Journey Riviera Maya, Q.R. The Sacred Mayan Journey of 2023 began early Saturday morning as more than 300 canoeists left the Port of Pole. The Port, which is located in Playa del Carmen, was the starting point at dawn for Mayans who began their five-hour rowing journey to the island of Cozumel. Once there, they were received by the Goddess Ixchel or Moon Goddess, who is believed to have the ability to control the cycles of the moon. Canoeists disembarked at the Chankanaab Ecotourism Park, where they participated in pre-Hispanic dances and the delivery of offerings made by the Mayan canoeists to the Goddess Ixchel. Cozumel Mayor Juanita Alonso said Cozumel is the sanctuary of the Goddess Ixchel, and that is precisely why the Mayan canoeists came to the island, to worship their deity, bringing their offerings. Mayans dance and deliver offerings to the Goddess Ixchel. Photo: CPTQ May 20, 2023. We have organized this representation with the Oracle of Ixchel festival, which will take place in the Benito Juarez park on May 19, 20 and 21, which we hope will generate more visitors and above all, reinforce the long-awaited overnight tourism, so we invite all islanders and visitors to enjoy this beautiful program, she said. A group of 349 people in 35 Mayan canoes participated in this years event. Photo: CPTQ May 20, 2023. This year is the 15th edition of the Sacred Mayan Journey, which is organized by Grupo Xcaret. The purpose of the three-day event, which runs from May 19 to 21, is to promote the cultural identity of the region. A total of 349 people in 35 Maya canoes participated in the rowing sea journey that took them from Port of Pole, Playa del Carmen to Kuzamil, Cozumel. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. FREDERICKSBURG Dr. Edward Walsh, an emergency room physician with Mary Washington Healthcare in Fredericksburg, decided to switch careers at age 27 when he witnessed his beloved mother being treated for breast cancer. His mom, Connie Walsh, was 51 at the time and understandably anxious, both about the disease and its aftermath, including life after a mastectomy. Her son was working in clothing design at the time, which he admits was a cool gig for a 20-something. When he saw the way health care workers doctors as well as nurses, technicians, social workers and everybody who got involved in her care demonstrated both excellence and compassion, it changed his life. That was pretty transformative for me, he said. I was in a job associated with glamour, but it was largely unfulfilling, and felt like I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life. Thats how Walsh came to be a college freshman at age 29 and entered medical school at 33. Hes 56 now and thrilled to say that his mother is a feisty 82-year-old whos still going strong. She lives in Virginia Beach, where he was raised, but is ever a New Englander at heart (she grew up in Maine) and an ardent fan of the Boston Red Sox. The doctor said he didnt have any recent photos of him and his mother because neither is big on pictures. One he submitted is more than 30 years old and shows a young man with Hollywood good looks standing next to his mother. The Spotsylvania County husband and father is regularly reminded of how much of her I bring to the bedside with the patients he sees in the emergency department. He remembers the way her experience impacted him and keeps that in mind with every person he treats, knowing that the illness or disease also affects spouses, children, grandchildren and other family members and friends. He compared life in the ED to a waterfall that never shuts off and said that every patient there is broken in some fundamental way physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. My colleagues and I have a front row seat to some heartbreaking and devastating days. We see patients on their worst days. We sometimes see them on their last day, he wrote in a questionnaire for the newspaper. It takes a toll. Nevertheless, each day brings renewed hope, renewed opportunities and new challenges. Walsh also said how rewarding it is to be a physician and have access to amazing tools and scientific advances in health care. Equally powerful is the healing that can occur with a kind word or a gentle touch. Sometimes, its just a sympathetic ear, he said. When physicians are able to reach across that sacred space between doctor and patient and truly touch another human soul, Walsh said its a magical and transformative experience. I wouldnt trade it for anything. Likewise, on this second Sunday in May, hes grateful that Connie Walsh was always his biggest advocate, like moms everywhere. While he had worked at several jobs in his 20s, including as a clothing buyer for Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales, he had other big dreams as a young man, which he hadnt pursued. After his moms battle with breast cancer and 12 years later, she survived another, with uterine cancer he announced he wanted to shift gears again and go to medical school. But first, he needed $500 to enroll in the local community college and get an associates degree. He didnt have the money to enroll and went to his mother. She was a single mom at the time, and looking back, he realizes how easy it would have been for her to hit the pause button and say, Why dont we think about this? Like moms since time memorial, she was the first one to believe in me, he said. Shes been with me through a lot of disappointments and downturns, and her unending belief and faith has always been a thread in my life and Im sure it will continue for as long as were together and Im just so grateful. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. FedEx Ground said it hopes to begin using a newly built, 251,000-square-foot distribution center in Montgomery Countys Falling Branch Corporate Park this fall. There was no word on how many people the company will hire. It said it needed time to prepare hiring plans but expected to need full and part-time personnel. The site was chosen because of its ease of access to major highways, proximity to customers distribution centers and a strong local community workforce for recruiting employees, a company statement said. FedEx Ground, officially FedEx Ground Package Systems Inc., is a service of FedEx Corp., a Memphis, Tenn., provider of transportation, e-commerce and business services. SunCap Property Group of North Carolina built and owns the facility. Job-finding help available Continuing with the subject of local employment, a new area jobs listing has launched at Get2KnowNoke. Get2KnowNoke. The site complements efforts of the Roanoke Regional Partnership to attract and develop talent for the Roanoke Valley and nearby communities. When it went live in early March, it contained 8,164 job listings, an announcement said. The site uses JobsEQ by Chmura software to obtain content. Crooked Road will market itself more The Crooked Road received $15,000 for advertising from the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Printed materials will be created and placed in visitor centers to spread the word about the trail, a 300-plus mile route through Southwest Virginia passing by venues, festivals and attractions. The money will be matched by the organization, a nonprofit founded in 2004. Details appear at https://thecrookedroadva.com Quarter century in business celebrated CNC Fabricators LLC in Roanoke announced it is celebrating its 25th year in business. The company began as Clark Brothers Welding in Covington in May 1998 and grew ever since, a company release said. It moved into its current home in Norwich in 2013 and adopted the CNC Fabricators name in 2019, the release said. It also announced two equipment purchases, a press brake and a part finishing and deburring system, to expand its capabilities in laser cutting, shearing, bending, rolling and forming of various types of metal. Study ranks Covington affordable An examination of housing affordability in Virginia communities of at least 5,000 people ranked Covington No. 1. SmartAsset, which describes itself an information service that links consumers and financial advisors, said it crunched numbers including home prices, taxes, insurance and mortgage to create its list. The others in the top 10, from most affordable to least, were Pulaski, Martinsville, Wyndham, Collinsville, Woodlake, Danville, Hollins, Ettrick and Chamberlayne. Croquet for a cause Friends of Mountain View and the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation will stage a croquet fundraiser to raise money for the preservation of this historic Fishburn mansion in Roanoke. Tickets for Wickets & Wine, scheduled June 3 from 1 to 4 p.m., cost $30 apiece. Lunch is available for $15, announcement said. The Fishburn mansion, formerly the Mountain View Recreation Center, is a 42-room Georgian-revival home built in 1907 by publisher, banker and philanthropist Junius Fishburn. The property was donated to the city for public recreation use. Registration information is available at www.playroanoke.com/activity/wickets-and-wine-at-mountain-view. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. GLADE SPRING A first-generation farmer who started out bottle-feeding bull calves when he was a child has forged a new path in farming, creating a cattle empire like no other in Southwest Virginia. Craig Hammond even his name around his home in Glade Spring is synonymous with cattle has taken farming to a whole new level, buying and selling as many as 100,000 head of cattle each year to some of the nations largest cattle feedlots. During the fall when sales are at optimum levels, Hammond can ship anywhere from 50 to 80 tractor-trailer loads of cattle each week to feedlots in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, with a majority of his livestock going to Fredin Brothers, a feeder cattle procurement operation in Springfield, Minnesota. His success and know-how in the cattle industry are daunting, especially since the livestock dealer and cattle farmer comes from parents who never farmed. My dad was an education administrator. He was never a farmer, said Hammond. He still sometimes helps me on the farm and hes 82 now. But, I had a few relatives and neighbors who farmed when I was a kid. My grandparents had a small farm with a few cows. Im so proud of what he has accomplished. Hardly anyone today starts out without any inherited land. He started out from scratch with nothing, said Hammonds wife, Lori, an integral part of the business. Now, he eats, breathes, and sleeps cattle, she said. Hammond grew up in the Plum Creek community of Washington County, just two miles from where he and his wife and three daughters live. Ever since I was a little kid, Ive wanted to be a farmer. I guess I was just born with it. After Hammond got a taste for raising the first two bottled-fed calves, the next year he bought four calves to fatten. My whole life, it just seems like I always wanted to double my herd, he said. By the time he was a high school senior in 1989, Hammond was growing four acres of Burley tobacco. Ten years later, that number had increased to more than 100 acres of tobacco. In the mid 1990s, he focused on renting small farms in the area. More land meant more cattle he could buy and sell. By1998, Hammond purchased his first tract of land from the former Allison dairy farm, nearby property that had been split into different tracts and sold individually. His first purchase of 127 acres continued to grow as he eventually was able to buy more tracts and put the original farm back together. Growing up, I dreamed of owning this farm just down the road from where I was raised, he said. I rode by it on the school bus every day. I rode my bicycle by it. I kept up with what was going on with the dairy farm my whole childhood. The 550-acre farm that took him 20 years to put back together now serves as the main headquarters for his cattle business, and also where Hammond and his family live today. The cattle farmer started out making a name for himself by purchasing and grazing weaned stocker calves that weigh 400 to 500 pounds. The next step, he said, was to become a supplier for the feed lots in the western parts of the country which buy the fatten cattle once their weights double. It was a big jump for the cattle farmer, but one that would pay off in the end. I had always wanted to ship cattle to feed lots out West, said Hammond, who as a young farmer began traveling thousands of miles every year to the sites to make connections with people who would eventually become his business partners. Turns out, those connections became the foundation for his business today. CH Cattle Company was built by Hammond from scratch in 1999, a diversified cattle operation that offers buying, selling, and grazing programs. The cattleman embarked on a new way of selling livestock in 2010. In alliance with Fredin Brothers, the cattle company formed a local buying facility at Hammonds Glade Spring farm, allowing cattle producers to bring their cattle directly to Hammonds facility instead of selling them at the livestock market. The cattle are unloaded, sorted, and weighed from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Wednesday throughout the year. All calves, yearlings, and slaughter cows and bulls are accepted. The weigh-up program has been a big success, said Hammond. The program allows local producers to sell their cattle as well as purchase farm-fresh cattle to take home for grazing. We feel this process is such a great benefit for the producer and for the feeder calves because theres less stress on the cattle. It prevents health issues that can occur during marketing, Hammond said. Hammond credits perseverance for getting him where he is today. You gotta love it, he said. Ive always said Harvard doesnt teach what we do. You cant get this education at school. You learn it on your own. He laughed and added, You cant pay somebody a million dollars to do this kind of work, but for me, I love it. I look forward to getting up and doing this every day. If Im not productive, Im failing. Im always thinking about the next deal. Even when Im on vacation, Im on the phone trading cattle. Thats my job and thats my hobby, too. Hammond wakes up early, drinks a cup of coffee, and heads to the farm office where he and his employees make a plan for the day. His wife Lori helps to manage the financial side of the business. We have a lot of long days and put in a lot of hours on the farm. Its not a 9-to-5 job. My employees and I enjoy it. Its what we like to do, said the cattle farmer. Ive had some of the same employees for years and years. Were just like family. I wouldnt be where I am today without them. Another of Hammonds hobbies is buying land for the many head of cattle he accumulates. I guess I have a land-buying addiction, he said with a laugh. I love taking mismanaged land thats grown up and turning it back into something productive. Pretty much, Im restoring land, said Hammond, who owns more than 2,000 acres locally and leases several thousand acres. Some of his employees serve on a construction crew for the cattle operation, remodeling barns on newly purchased land. Other employees build roads and fences, install water systems, and sow grass over cleared land for cattle to graze. Theres always something that needs to get done making hay and planting corn for the livestock, he said. As he surveyed the farm behind his house and the cattle that grazed on the hill, Hammond reflected on what its taken to grow the farm in leaps and bounds throughout the years. I just turned 51. Im not sure how much more growing I want to do, laughed Hammond. I guess Ill keep on buying land and keeping cattle until Im dead. Thats about what it will be. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. On May 22, 2020, Garland Lawton walked into a Roanoke gun store called Doomsday Tactical Supply, passed a background check, and purchased a Taurus 9 mm pistol. What happened next happens all too often. Lawton, who attested on federal paperwork that he was the actual buyer of the gun, had in fact purchased it for a convicted felon barred from possessing firearms. Later that day, the 25-year-old went to Jermaine Drummonds house, turned over the small handgun, and was paid $220 in cash for his trouble, according to court records. Drummond, who authorities say had a voracious appetite for illegal gun trafficking, then sold the weapon to an unknown buyer. Eventually, the 9 mm pistol wound up in Prince Georges County, Maryland, where a man used it to kill himself on Sept. 10, 2020. People like Lawton known as straw purchasers are feeding an underground market that is one factor behind rising gun violence in Roanoke and beyond. In U.S. District Court for Western Virginia, at least 20 people have been charged with making straw purchases of guns since January 2021, according to a review of court records. Eleven of the defendants have been charged in the courts Roanoke division, which includes the Roanoke and New River valleys, over the same time period. Collectively, authorities say, they have put about 50 guns into the wrong hands. With straw purchases, we know the firearms are almost certainly going to be used in additional crimes, U.S. Attorney Chris Kavanaugh said. Kavanaugh said there has been a huge surge in prosecutions in recent years. Each one of these straw purchases is an opportunity for us to prevent a violent crime that was going to occur, he said. From 2010 to 2020, federal authorities brought only one or two charges a year. The more recent uptick is not necessarily due to more illegal purchases of guns, Kavanaugh said, but rather a change in priorities by law enforcement. You cant prosecute your way out of a problem, because a lot of times the crimes have already occurred, he said. But straw purchases are one of the few cases where you can move the needle, to use it [prosecution] as a deterrent for the crime happening in the first place, or to prevent that firearm from getting to someone else who is going to use it for a crime. Earlier this month, Lawton was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison. What do we all read about on a daily basis? U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon asked rhetorically from the bench, shortly before she imposed a term that exceeded what sentencing guidelines called for. Shootings. Shootings. Shootings. Shootings. That has got to come to an end, Dillon said. So I take this crime very seriously. How guns reach the streets When Doomsday Tactical Supply opened in 2015, it was a small shop that sold outdoor gear, survival food and other items that might appeal to preppers, or those who want to be prepared for whatever kind of disaster might strike. Now, as a sign proclaims on its Orange Avenue Northeast building, Guns sold here! When he went to the store in 2020, Lawton fulfilled the paperwork requirements to purchase a gun from a federally licensed dealer. On a Virginia State Police form, he indicated that he had not been convicted of any felonies or other charges that would prohibit him from having a gun. That much was true. On a second transaction record required by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Lawton listed himself as the actual buyer of the firearm. That was not true, as he knew a convicted felon had arranged for the purchase and was waiting for the gun, a federal indictment later charged. Lawton and 10 other people charged in Roanokes federal court with making straw purchases went to a total of six gun stores in the region and purchased about 50 firearms, according to court records. Nearly half of the guns came from Doomsday Tactical. No charges were placed against the gun store, as the legal burden rests on buyers to be honest about their intentions. The owner of Doomsday Tactical did not respond to calls last week from The Roanoke Times. Many gun dealers are conscious of the law and report any suspicious activity to authorities, Kavanaugh said. However, there are some that dont, and turn a blind eye to it, he said. This is their livelihood and its a sale they want to make. The prosecutor declined to comment when asked about Doomsday. While rare, there have been charges against gun dealers brought by federal authorities in Western Virginia. A federal grand jury last year charged the owner of a gun store in Kentucky with delivering guns he had purchased from a distributor to an unlicensed dealer in Virginia, who then sold them at a flea market in Wise County. Other recent cases involving straw purchases include a sale at a Front Royal gun store, in which a man admitted to making a false statement when he bought a 9 mm pistol. Four days later, the gun was used by someone else in a shooting in Washington, D.C. that killed one person and injured three others, according to court records. In Roanoke, Jermaine Drummond was sentenced late last year to seven years in prison for arranging straw purchases that were made for him by Lawton and two other people. Drummond attended Norfolk State University on a music scholarship and later found a manufacturing job that paid $25 an hour. But this did not satisfy Mr. Drummond, who soon began supplementing his income by trafficking guns, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Johnson wrote in court documents. There was no direct evidence to whom Drummond sold guns. But many of the weapons were later connected to criminal activity in Brooklyn, New York, Washington, D.C. and six jurisdictions in Maryland. The impact of Mr. Drummonds conduct on multiple communities in multiple jurisdictions cannot be overstated, Johnson wrote. How to reduce the flow Whats happening in Roanoke is a problem nationwide. Surveys of a random sample of 1,600 federally licensed gun dealers in 43 states, conducted in 2013 and 2017, showed that 67% of them had a customer in the past year that attempted a straw purchase. The research conducted by Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine professor at the School of Medicine at the University of California in Sacramento estimated that there were more than 30,000 attempted straw purchases each year. Actual numbers are likely much higher, said Allison Anderman, senior counsel and director of local policy at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Thats a lot of diverted firearms to prohibited people, Anderman said of the survey findings. And obviously, we have laws that prohibit certain categories of people for a reason, because they are at a heightened risk of committing violence with a firearm. So the fact that people are still able to get them through straw purchases is a real problem. Straw purchases are the most common channel identified in gun trafficking investigations, according to the law center. Other ways that guns illegally enter the market are through sales from dealers directly to prohibited purchasers, sales by people who dont have a federal license, and theft. Gun legislation passed by Congress last year includes tighter restrictions of straw purchases. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act clarifies the law and allows for stiffer sentences when someone has a reasonable belief that the gun they buy could be used to commit a crime. Kavanaugh said his office plans to take advantage of the new law. In the meantime, he has found other ways to crack down on gun violence, which usually falls to the province of state courts. Gun violence prosecutions in federal court have increased by 157% over the past year, he said. In one case, a man was convicted of using a gun in a drug deal that left his potential buyer dead. The conviction came after a jury in Roanoke Circuit Court acquitted the drug dealer of murder after he said he shot in self-defense. In another case, two men are awaiting sentencing in a wild shootout that killed a teenager outside the Eastern Avenue house where they were selling drugs. Facing the consequences Three months after he pleaded guilty to buying a gun for a convicted felon, Garland Lawton was in court May 10 to face the consequences of his first felony conviction. Johnson, the federal prosecutor, asked for a sentence of at least 30 months the maximum under voluntary sentencing guidelines based in part on the young mans tendency towards violent and assaultive behavior his entire life. Although Lawton had more than 50 encounters with law enforcement between 2016 and 2023 many of them stemming from allegations of domestic violence against his family members and girlfriend there were few charges, and ever fewer misdemeanor convictions. Fear prevented some victims from bringing charges, evidence showed, and even Lawtons mother would not tell him where she lived. To be sure, Lawton has an extensive and well-documented mental health history, Johnson wrote in court records. But he has consistently failed to take advantage of counseling and other forms of help for his bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal and homicidal ideations. Its hard to think of a more violent and dangerous situation, Johnson said in asking the judge to impose a stiff prison term. Defense attorney Jimmy Turk argued that more time behind bars would not help his client, who began a downward spiral at the age of 11, when he found the body of his father in a bathtub following his suicide. Like many of the people charged with making straw purchases, Lawtons struggles with mental illness and poverty made him vulnerable to finding an easy way to make a little bit of extra money, Turk said. Can we honestly say that giving him this extra time is going to solve the problem? the Radford attorney said in his arguments to Dillon. I would say no, your honor. When asked if he had anything to say before the sentence was pronounced, Lawton became too emotional to speak and handed a page of written comments to Turk. Reading from the notes, Turk said the Lawton was sorry for fighting with his family and was willing to seek mental health treatment. In explaining her sentence of 42 months in prison, Dillon cited the seriousness of the crime and the extent of Lawtons prior record while saying she was glad to hear that he wanted help. Sending me to prison is not going to fix anything, Lawton interjected. Dillon cut the defendant off, saying it was time for him to listen. I dont want to see you back here again, she said. You need to listen to the people who are trying to help you. If you cant find a way to do that, Mr. Lawton, I will see you back here again. And I hope thats not the case. " " A South Korean soldier watches TV footage of North Korea's July 2017 test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country's second ICBM test demonstrated its ability to strike the United States. JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images In August 2017, North Korea and Kim Jong Un brought the world to the brink of nuclear war when Kim threatened to attack the U.S. territory of Guam. At the time, former President Donald Trump answered the North Korean leader by saying he'd respond with "fire and fury like the world has never seen" if Kim continued to intimidate the United States and its allies. Rhetoric between the two leaders lasted for days while citizens of Guam and other nations worried if Kim actually had the capability to launch a nuclear attack on its neighbors, let alone had a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on to a missile that could reach the United States. Advertisement But four years later, the United States has a new president Joe Biden and analysis completed in July 2017 by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency shows that North Korea has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit inside its missiles. But do those missiles have the capability of reaching the United States? And is the rogue state on the verge of testing more missiles after being silent since Kim himself declared its nuclear mission a success in April 2018? It's quite possible. "North Korea traditionally has done some kind of strongly provocative action early in both U.S. and South Korean new administrations," Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told CNN. " " A man in South Korea watches a broadcast of the October 2020 military parade in Pyongyang commemorating the 75th anniversary of North Korea's ruling Workers Party. During the parade, North Korea unveiled a much larger, never-before-seen ICBM (seen here). JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images Bigger Solid-fuel ICBMs What's more, North Korea also appears to have a much larger ICBM than ever before. "In October 2020, North Korea unveiled a new ICBM considerably larger and presumably more capable than the systems they tested in 2017, further increasing the threat posed to our homeland," Air Force General Glen VanHerck said in a statement before the Armed Services Committee March 16, 2021. "The North Korean regime has also indicated that it is no longer bound by the unilateral nuclear and ICBM testing moratorium announced in 2018, suggesting that Kim Jong Un may begin flight testing an improved ICBM design in the near future." The move, he said, would increase tensions between Pyongyang and Washington. The ICBM VanHerck is referring to is a solid-fuel ICBM North Korea displayed at a military parade in October 2020. Since 2006, North Korea has tested nuclear explosive devices in 2006, 2009, 2013, twice in 2016 and once in 2017. According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the DPRK is also capable of enriching uranium and producing weapons-grade plutonium, and believed to possess biological and chemical weapons. The regime also successfully tested three intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), two Hwasong-14s, and one Hwasong-15 that could potentially reach the United States. The first Hwasong-14 test was July 4, 2017, which North Korea's state media said flew 580 miles (933 kilometers), reached an altitude of 1,741 miles (2,801 kilometers) and was airborne for nearly 40 minutes. The second Hwasong-14 was launched from Mupyong-ni on July 28, 2017, and traveled about 621 miles (1,000 kilometers) into the Sea of Japan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released a statement condemning both ICBM launches and calling for the international community to stand strong against North Korea by maintaining and strengthening U.N. sanctions. "The United States strongly condemns North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, the second this month, in blatant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that reflect the will of the international community," Secretary Tillerson said. The Hwasong-15 ICBM was launched Nov. 29, 2017 from Sain Ni, North Korea. In a statement, the U.S. Department of Defense said it "detected and tracked the missiles that traveled about 1,000 kilometers [621 miles] before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America, our territories or our allies." Reports show that the Hwasong-15 reached a maximum altitude of 2,796 miles (4,500 kilometers) and that it flew for about 54 minutes. According to David Wright, physicist and co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program, this missile would have a range of more than 8,100 miles (13,000 kilometers), a significantly longer range that previous missiles. It would also have more than enough range to reach Washington, D.C., and any part of the continental United States. Earlier in September 2017, North Korea also conducted a test of what it claimed was a thermonuclear weapon. The test released 140 kilotons of TNT equivalent, according to The Diplomat, making it larger than all previous tests combined, though other analysts estimated it may have been as large as 250 kilotons. North Korea has also continued to test its short-range rockets, including the submarine-launched ballistic missile SLBM-Polaris 1, which it launched in 2014 and 2015, as well as a failed test of the KN-11 SLBM in 2015. On March 24, 2016, it conducted tests of a solid-fueled rocket motor, and on April 23, 2016 a successful test of what experts believe was a genuine solid-fueled SLBM that flew about 18 miles (30 kilometers). But a few months later in August, North Korea launched a second solid-fueled SLBM, which traveled 310 miles (500 kilometers) landing in Japan's air defense identification zone. So North Korea's clearly advancing its nuclear arsenal. What now? And what countries are most at risk? " " The 'cats' in the Yale team's experiment were actually entangled subatomic particles linked by a superconducting channel. Korionov/Designs Stock/Chaiwat Photos/Thinkstock A team of physicists from Yale University divided Schrodinger's cat into two separate boxes and the darned thing survived. Well, it did and it didn't, simultaneously, until someone observed it. Then it either lived or it died. Advertisement Welcome to quantum physics, where the rules of the visible world don't apply, and microscopic particles seem to operate on a level all their own. The research out of Yale University, published in the journal Science on May 27, 2016, built on the principle of superposition, long symbolized by the cat in a 1935 thought experiment by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger. One of the better-known head-scratchers in quantum theory, the principle basically says that subatomic particles are in all possible physical states simultaneously a state of superposition until someone tries to observe them. They only occupy a single, measurable state (orientation, location, energy level) when someone tries to observe them. So, for instance, an electron theoretically occupies every possible location in its orbital until you try to find it. Then it's in just one spot. A (first) weekend plug for Season 1 of "Drugs on the Docket" podcast | Main | Marijuana legalization in Minnesota includes creation of expungement board to aid reforms and collect data May 20, 2023 Based on state's new Racial Justice Act, state judge throws out gang enhancements after finding significant statistical disparity This local article, headlined "Judge finds Contra Costa DAs filing practices are racist, dismisses gang charges in murder case," reports on an interesting new ruling from a California state judge relying on an interesting new California law. Here are some details: In an unprecedented ruling statewide, a Contra Costa judge on Friday dismissed gang charges against four men under the California Racial Justice Act, ruling that county prosecutors have disproportionately targeted Black people with sentencing enhancements that open the door for life in prison without parole. It is a case already under heavy scrutiny because two of the defendants were directly referenced in racist text messages sent by Antioch police officers who investigated their alleged crimes. The texts part of a much larger scandal involving racism, alleged civil rights violations and dozens of impugned officers made light of injuring the men during their arrests and referred to Black people in explicitly biased, hateful ways. Contra Costa Judge David Goldsteins Friday ruling did not take into consideration any of the racist texts. Rather, Goldstein based it on a decade of data what he called a significant statistical disparity showing that gang charges are more often filed against Black people. The stunning development clears the way for any Black person who has faced or is facing those charges in Contra Costa over the past decade to challenge them in court.... In making his decision Friday, Goldstein relied on data that both prosecutors and defense attorneys largely agreed upon that showed that Black people were from 6 to 8 percent more likely to be charged with special circumstance gang enhancements than people who werent Black. Those enhancements, alleging gang membership and added on top of the underlying criminal charges at issue in a case, can greatly increase the sentence a defendant receives. Goldstein threw out the gang enhancements against four East Bay men Eric Windom, Terryon Pugh, Keyshawn McGee and Trent Allen who are accused of fatally shooting a man to benefit an Oakland gang. His ruling does not affect the murder, attempted murder and conspiracy counts against them. Friday marks the second time that prosecutors in Contra Costa have made California history for violating the Racial Justice Act. Last October, Judge Clare Maier ruled that a county prosecutor used racially coded language that evoked racial stereotypes of African American men during a two-defendant murder trial and threw out murder convictions for both men. Maiers ruling dealt specifically with a portion of the act that refers to the prosecutions statements during trial, while Goldsteins ruling cited a different subsection that covers the charging practices of an entire DAs office. Evan Kuluk, a lawyer with the countys Alternate Defenders Office and an attorney in both cases, told this news organization that the impact of todays ruling is an acknowledgement that racial bias infects every stage of the criminal legal process. Goldsteins ruling calls into question dozens of other similar cases filed in Contra Costa, going back 10 years. Contra Costa DA Diana Becton the first Black person and first woman ever to serve in that role in the countys 173-year history says her office now plans to look back at some of those cases with this new ruling in mind.... For many defense attorneys in Contra Costa, Fridays ruling was a seen as vindication after years of calling on Contra Costa prosecutors to audit their own filing decisions. In 2019, Becton partnered with the Vera Institute for a project intended to identify implicit bias in the way cases are prosecuted but has yet to release the underlying data. Chief Public Defender Ellen McDonnell said Goldsteins ruling drives home the unfair charging practices that too often result from the role of implicit bias in our legal system. May 20, 2023 at 03:04 PM | Permalink Comments Wow. Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 8:59:14 AM Is this the kind of ruling you think would be constitutionally required by the EPC clause in every state, federalist? Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 9:28:47 AM Absolutely not. In fact, my view is that it violates the EPC. Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 9:49:32 AM Well, I am confused yet again about federalist feelings. In other threads, you seemed to be arguing that disparate prosecution patterns meant that some could claim, based on rational basis review, that the EPC was violated by some prosecutions. Now, after a judge has found significant racial disparity in prosecution patterns, you believe the EPC precludes the remedy that California has provided in state law? To quote you, "Wow." I suppose at this point I should stop thinking there is some logic or consistency to your musings about your feelings, federalist. But I suppose I do find it interesting how you make this stuff up without concern for logic or consistency. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 11:27:06 AM Oh good grief--disparate impact by itself is not a violation of EPC and acts to remedy it, e.g., race-norming punishment in public schools, can constitute disparate treatment. Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 11:30:33 AM Oh good grief, I thought some semblance of logic and consistency applies to federalist comments -- the text of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment says "No State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." I do not see any part of that language that says proof of significant "disparate impact" is not enough to show a lack of "equal protection." Of course, ignoring inequalities shown by data has been a non-textual gloss given to the EPC clause by SCOTUS, but I thought you were a supposed textualist, federalist? (Then again, you do not address the reality that the Constitution does not have textual support for a SD right, so maybe you have all sorts of Ninth Amendment feelings or substantive due process feelings.) Moreover, even with the ways SCOTUS has applied strict scrutiny only to intentional discrimination, your feelings about EPC rational-basis limits on disparate prosecution patterns would see to apply here, no? Even more to the point, how does a state violate the EPC claim when it says it will not conduct state action (prosecution) of people of a certain race if other people of other races are not subject to similar state action? We are not talking about public school admissions that may be viewed as a zero sum game, and so it seems you are claiming that state efforts to be equal in the use of prosecutoral power somehow violates the EPC. Hmmm. Ah, yet again, your feelings are the only compass through the illogical and inconsistent things you say in the space. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 11:56:32 AM Doug, you really make a hash of this. You can't give one racial group a criminal law discount because the numbers/optics don't work. That's unequal treatment based on race, and it's barred by EPC. That's why I brought up the race-norming school discipline issue. Or do you think a school district can use race in terms of setting punishments? What is the Second Amendment for, if not for self-defense. Plus self-defense falls under natural rights and the Ninth Amendment--e.g., the right to direct the upbringing of one's child. So your textual argument re: self-defense actually fails on the basis of the text of the Constitution. Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 12:15:10 PM federalist: nobody is getting a "criminal law discount," as the data shows now that black defendants are getting hit with an extra state hammer. All the ruling does, applying the state's Racial Justice Act, is hold that the state cannot be hitting black defendants with a hammer that's NOT being used on white defendants in similar situations. (I am assuming the research is controlling for other relevant factors, just as you do in your assertions about a rational-basis EPC limit on prosecutions.) And if a school district had data showing that it was expelling for a semester only black kids while just suspending for a week white kids for the same behavior, I think the EPC clause would call for (and certainly would allow a state to decide) to only suspend the black kids for a week when that's how similar white kids are getting treated. The Second Amendment is for a lot of things, and how can felon disarmament (or disarming people under 18) be justified if you think armed 2A rights = common-law self defense rights. If your claim is that SD is a right protected by the text of the Ninth Amendment, what are its contours? This has never been established by SCOTUS or lower courts, but I think it is a strong argument because I think there are lots of rights rightly located in the 9th A (including abortion rights). For SD as a constitutional right under the 9th, what are your feelings about the burden be placed on defendants? Is the initial aggressor exception/limit to SD constitutional? How about duties to retreat? Could Kim Potter and Derrick Chauvin press their defenses in constitutional 9th Amendment terms? Because I am a fan of both textual and non-textual rights, I like the idea of SD being a constitutional right. But it is certainly a non-textual one, federalist, and one whose scope as a constitutional right has rarely been formally recognized or its reach well-defined. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 12:34:05 PM Re: Ninth Amendment--it doesn't grant rights, it merely debunks your textual argument. There are rights that are so obvious as not needed to have been written down--there's self-defense, necessity ("he's not to be hanged that he would not have been burnt"), right to direct the upbringing of one's child (and I would argue the right to grow your own food on your own property--obviously, there are contours there, but Wickard was f'in wrong) Doug, this is the use of statistical disparities and looks like disparate impact analysis, not disparate treatment. Derek Chauvin is a murderer. Full stop. I don't have a problem with the initial aggressor exception--you can't pick fights, then blow people away. But lawful activity, only very very rarely should be held to fall under "initial aggressor." Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 1:15:54 PM Ahh, still more federalist feelings about all sorts of stuff rather than any doctrinal analysis of how SD is grounded or works as a constitutional right. You say some rights are "not needed to have been written down" --- so you acknowledge they are NOT in the text of the Constitution, but should be recognized. Fine, recognized as non-textual rights (like lots of others), that are can been "found" in the constitution through the Due Process Clause or the 9th A or some other way. I won't both to ask about your feelings on this front as you will probably just chatter about other stuff you have feelings about. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 1:39:50 PM OK, so I whipped you on the Ninth Amendment stuff---the Ninth simply embodies the rejection of expressio unius, exclusio alterius when it comes to rights, but you still yap at me about non-textual rights found in the Constitution--but these rights are not found in/created by the Constitution, they are inherent rights that are protected by the Constitution. For example, we all have the right to eat. We all have the right to breathe. Prisoners have the right to escape a burning prison. You'll look hard in the Constitution to find these rights, but no one debates that people have these rights. Self-defense is one of these. As for the EPC, I've whipped you there as well. It shouldn't be hard to see how remedying disparate impact can cause a disparate treatment issue. Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 2:38:59 PM "[W]e do think that Heller and McDonald point toward at least two metrics: how and why the regulations burden a law-abiding citizens right to armed self-defense." Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 2:52:40 PM You say so many confusing things, federalist, I never quite know where to start. First, I can't even understand if you are claiming the Ninth Amendment provides a textual (or non-textual) basis for SD rights and other rights AND you have not addressed where you claim to locate SD rights and other "inherent rights that are protected by the Constitution." Are they part of Due Process (which is often where non-textual rights are tethered)? Are they part of "privileges and immunities"? Are they somewhere else? Do you invent them based on your feelings or do the Justices? Are they enforceable in state court? If they are, how do you explain that SD rights are different in every state without any clear constitutional floor ever being discussed? Why do SD defendants who lose in state courts not state or pursue constitutional claims in federal courts? And so on and so on. Of course, there are all sorts of widely accepted "rights" --- eg, common-law rights, international human rights, moral rights, statutory rights (some would also say natural rights) --- that are not addressed by the Constitution. Are you claiming every imaginable "inherent right" that you (or others?) might conjure is "protected by the Constitution" and subject to protection/enforcement by state and federal courts? And if so, aren't such rights sensibly described as "non-textual rights"? How else can they be described? And here I thought you were a Scalia fan, but he often stressed that the Constitution does not cover every possible right or issue that is of personal concern. As he put it once: "The Constitution means what it says. You figure out what it was understood to mean when it was adopted and that's the end of it, Scalia said. If you want more rights, create them by statute, if you want more constitutional rights, create them by amending the Constitution. http://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2007/apr/scalia043007.html As for EPC, we're not discussing it generally. You have been foolishly yapping in multiple threads that even RATIONAL BASIS approaches to EPC could demand blocking some otherwise lawful prosecutions. But here with race involved and a statute seeking to prevent unequal prosecutions, you no longer stick to your prior claims. Because your feelings are so illogical and inconsistent (and so far divorced from anything resembling law), I am getting tired of highlighting the many failing of your many silly statement. But if you want to believe your doltish feelings, because they are so confusing and absurd, leave me "whipped," enjoy being a legend in your own mind. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 3:15:41 PM In your view, federalist, is the constitutional right to self defense limited only to the "law-abiding"? If so, that suggests the innocent person wrongly incarcerated can shoot his way out of prison, but the guilty person even if held way too long has no SD rights because of prior law breaking. Is that your view of how the supposed "constitutional right to self defense" operates? These issues actually get hard if you try to think them through rather than just blurt out your gut feelings. The 2A to SD "rights" is like the 4th A to privacy "rights." There are connections, but the details get messy because a whole lot of (NON-TEXTUAL) factors come into the analysis. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 3:20:27 PM First of all, the very existence of the Ninth Amendment presupposes unenumerated rights---e.g., the right to direct the upbringing of one's children. Self-defense is another, and necessity is another. Scalia's view is not to the contrary. Second of all, the state does NOT get to look at gang enhancements and say, well, African-Americans are overrepresented (that's what the statistical analysis is all about) in terms of gang enhancement and then decide to pluck a few out and say you can't do the gang enhancement due to the overrepresentation. It's like declining to prosecute certain African-Americans because they are overrepresented in terms of murder convictions. This isn't hard. If there's a general rule that white guys get lenience, different issue . . . . But that doesn't seem to be the case. Rather, it seems to be disparate treatment used to remedy disparate impact, which generally is a no-no. As for SD, there is a constitutional floor (and of course, there's the DP fair notice issue as well). No one would think it constitutional to pass a statute that says that someone cannot fight back if attacked. No one would think it constitutional to pass a statute that forbade a woman from self-defense against rape. You don't dispute this at all. Once again, you seem to think that there are no self-defense rights as against the government, but yet cannot bring yourself to say that a woman doesn't have the right to stop a prison guard or cop from raping her. And yes, if someone is involuntarily committed under an ex parte civil commitment order obtained by abuse, that person certainly has the right to resist being forcibly medicated with Haldol. Your question about the law-abiding is silly. That felons don't get arms, doesn't mean they lose the right to self-defense. Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 3:57:43 PM Sort of working backward, since your thinking it so backward. 1. If the 2A is about SD, then the reach of the 2A defines the reach of SD. Since you now say their reach is different, stop suggesting the 2A serves as your constitutional text/source for SD rights. It now seem you get that, so let move on to what other source for SD rights might be in the Constitution. 2. The right to child rearing has been grounded in substantive due process, not the 9th A. You can ground both unenumerated rights (on other words, non-textual rights) in the 9th A if that's your feeling today, federalist, but it entirely contrary to what Scalia said about how constitutional rights should work. Indeed, no SCOTUS ruling/Justice has yet to find enforceable rights in the 9th A. I hope they will someday --- perhaps the right to grow and consume a weed on your property --- but this is not existing law. I would readily ground a SD defense in the 9th A, but then the contours of the defense become a matter of constitutional right. I am fine with this, but it becomes a "non-textual" endeavor to figure out exactly what the Constitution demands for this and other unenumerated rights. 3. Of course there are SD rights against government actors, but they are based on law. A prisoner --- whether guilty or innocent, serving her first day or a day after due to be released --- can reasonably right back against a guard's rape attempt. A person being arrested --- whether on a valid warrant or an invalid warrant --- has a right to resist a pistol whipping. You are the one who is suggesting (but not really explaining in any clear way) why you think the (debatable) status of the prisoner or the person being arrested matters for claims of SD under law. 4. "If there's a general rule that white guys get lenience, different issue . . ." THAT IS EXACTLY THE ISSUE, which the data reveals. Of course, nobody says out loud, "let's just go after the black guys for gang enhancements." Similarly, nobody says out loud in DOJ, let's just go after the little people for lying. But just as you complain about Hunter and a "pattern" of others getting lenience from DOJ, here there is a study showing similarly situated white guys are getting lenience relative to similarly situated black guys. You came up with this whole Hunter-based EPC RATIONA BASIS theory, but the moment is getting actually applied in other setting, you balk. Of course, this is not a constitutional ruling (though you seemed to advocate for one), we just have application of a statute looking to limit application of unequal criminal hammers. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 4:17:26 PM And you haven't been able to cite a single case that says EPC is limited to race in the area of prosecutions . . . . Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 4:17:39 PM I never said EPC was limited to race, so why do you keep bringing that up? Man, you are so dense sometimes I do not know why I bother. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 4:19:05 PM 1. If the 2A is about SD, then the reach of the 2A defines the reach of SD. Since you now say their reach is different, stop suggesting the 2A serves as your constitutional text/source for SD rights. It now seem you get that, so let move on to what other source for SD rights might be in the Constitution. That just does not follow. The 2A is a means to vindicate one's SD rights--it does not mean that the rights are coterminous. Self-defense is a natural law right not taken away by the adoption of the Constitution and is protected by it. 2. I NEVER said grounded in 9A--I just said that 9A presupposes unenumerated rights and is a textual anti-textual argument. 3. So at last we agree---but how do you say there's a right to resist a pistol-whipping (illegal conduct) but not a right to resist an arrest warrant procured by an ex-cop with his buddy the magistrate? If the rule is that only the actor doing the illegality can be resisted, then where is that in the law? Don't see it anywhere. How do you draw the line? 4. No it's not the issue--and it's not clear from the article that white guys are getting lenience--more that African-Americans are overrepresented. Do you really think that--the difference with Hunter, of course, is that the political evidence is manifest. Do you really think that Contra Costa County is hooking up white murder defendants? I think we need more. But the linked article speaks in terms of statistical disparities, not different treatment of similarly-situated people. Hence my take. If racial is infecting charging decisions, it's a problem. I don't know how you deal with that in terms of violent crime--you obviously have to vindicate victims if the system is going to have legitimacy. Going lenient on a murderer doesn't work in the real world . . . . Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 4:45:17 PM I never said EPC was limited to race, so why do you keep bringing that up? Man, you are so dense sometimes I do not know why I bother. My bad--you seem to think that a rational basis challenge to going easy on Hunter (due to politics) cannot be challenged on a rational basis especially given the FBI's thumb on scale actions when it comes to party politics. I think there's enough evidence to get the discovery . . . . you don't, and you've been screaming that there's no case law. My retort is that EPC deals in classifications, and there's plenty of evidence that the DOJ is playing partisan politics with going easy on Hunter. And partisan politics isn't a rational basis to pick and choose defendants . . . . Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 5:11:16 PM I am mostly off line until tonight, but your assertion of a textual anti-textual argument" would make Orwell and Kafka blush together. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 5:22:00 PM https://www.thecollegefix.com/no-prison-time-for-black-man-who-set-asian-berkeley-students-on-fire-with-homemade-blowtorch/ Re: Ninth Amendment--it says that you can't point to the text and say it ain't in there to disparage, for example, the right to breathe. Hence the jibe. Posted by: federalist | May 22, 2023 6:17:39 PM So much messiness and fuzziness in federalist feelings: 1. You say "Self-defense is a natural law right not taken away by the adoption of the Constitution and is protected by it." So are all natural law rights "protected" by the Constitution? Just some? What provisions tether and shape our understanding of what "rights" do not appear in the text and yet are "protected by it"? The preamble? The Ninth Amendment? Due Process? P&I? penumbras? And what does "protected" mean here? Can a state defendant asserting SD under state law also claim a federal constitutional rights defense? (We know, of course, that defendants can and regularly do make claims in state prosecutions based on other federal constitutional rights.) Is a duty to retreat as a SD limit a violation of the US Constitution? How about defense of others and defense of property, are they "rights" protected by the US Constitution? How about putting the burden on the defendant to prove SD? And why have constitutional questions like these gone mostly unlitigated and seemingly unaddressed if the SD right is "protected" by the Constitution? 3. The law of defensive force has always been defined and limited by objective reasonableness. Also, as a subset of necessity, it often involves a judgment as to whether there is a safe/legal way to avoid using force. Forcefully attacking the dirty cop seeking to turn a stop into rape is likely to be deemed objectively reasonable. Forcefully attacking a polite cop unknowingly ordered to make an arrest based on a suspect warrant or a polite prison guard who does not know a prisoner believes he is past his lawful release date does not strike me as objectively reasonable. Again, we have had centuries of encounters between law enforcement and individuals, but I am unaware of any common law or constitutional cases indicating individuals generally have a broad "right" to forcefully attack law enforcement engaged reasonably in their duties. 4. I have not seen the study that is grounds the ruling in CA, but I assume it shows (statistically) that white people are often not facing a gang enhancement when black people do for the same behavior. This is not about "hooking up" as much as prosecutors just deciding not to apply the same severe enhancement hammer to white defendants being applied to black defendants. In other words, based on my understanding of how these studies are typically done, the data show that racial bias IS infecting charging decisions. Perhaps it is unconscious racial bias (though there is other evidence suggesting it could be conscious bias), but the key idea is that data show white people are repeatedly getting breaks from the prosecution that black people aren't. That's what the CA law seeks to remedy and that seemed to be the heart of your Hunter-based/Dem-bias EPC assertions. To be clear yet again, the EPC clause plainly applies well beyond race. What I said has been lacking in caselaw support are any EPC cases saying (or even suggesting) that a decision NOT to prosecute person A provides an EPC constitutional bar to an otherwise lawful prosecution of person B. That's what I have never seen -- eg, an otherwise lawful prosecution of, say, a felon found with a gun in his home for self protection (see, e.g., Wooden v. US) successfully subject to an EPC challenge because many millions of other felons are not prosecuted for having guns in their homes. And what kind of "discovery" do you envision in this context? Does everyone ever charged with any of Hunter's (or Epstein's or Judge Camp's etc.) reported crimes get to demand seeing the full FBI file and all prosecution notes concerning every rich or famous or partisan person allegedly not charged or undercharged? I highlighted data in another thread about how few background checks/docs lead to firearm charges out of millions of checks. Can the "discovery" you imagine include demanding files for millions of records/declinations yearly? Heck, if the claim is favorable treatment of Dems, can everyone who is not a registered Dem who gets federally charged --- alert for George Santos --- demand discovery on every federal criminal case file for at least the last 2+ years? Does Derrick Chauvin and the folks who killed Ahmaud Arbery get to bring 2255 claims on this basis and at least get some discover according to the federalist EPC theory? Yet again, your feelings take you all sorts of strange and senseless places. But I should learn by now that trying to logic this through will not change your feelings. Posted by: Doug B | May 22, 2023 8:50:22 PM "Yet again, your feelings take you all sorts of strange and senseless places. But I should learn by now that trying to logic this through will not change your feelings." And so it goes that the DOJ can put an obvious thumb on the scale when it comes to crime and partisan politics, and the polity is defenseless. And let me fix the Due Process Clause while I am at it: It shall be unlawful for any State to: make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; and deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Except in the most extreme of circumstances, a person subject to the unlawful behavior of the State only has the right to protect himself against such unlawful behavior as the State shall provide by law. In addition, the State need not provide any remedy for any person subject to such unlawful behavior. Posted by: federalist | May 23, 2023 12:15:37 PM And you can't even figure out a workable rule for "acquitted conduct" because defining it is extremely difficult. Posted by: federalist | May 23, 2023 12:16:45 PM The polity is not at all "defenseless," federalist -- the people can (and should) call for the passing of laws in Congress to demand much more transparency and accountability for DOJ and even for some version of CA's Racial Justice Act (call it the Partisan Justice Act). The polity can also vote out those who appointed/confirmed certain biased people to DOJ and vote out members of Congress that fail to pass laws to check a partisan DOJ. As for your 14th Amendment draft, why don't you try to write up the "rule of federalist" that you still have not adequately explained? If your feelings about forcefully attacking law enforcement officials are enduring, you should be able to readily produce a draft amendment (or a draft statute or a draft jury instruction) so we might better understand your (seemingly ever-shifting) feelings about the "rights" of prisoners to forcefully attack prison guards. And you are quite right that developing a workable constitutional rule for "acquitted conduct" is difficult, which is one reason some of this work should be done by statute by Congress. The House last year voted, by a margin of 405 - 12, to enact the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/601/text. I would like to see that bill make it through Congress, though that will not entirely obviate the need of the Justices to address this difficult matter. But the fact it is a difficult matter does not justify its continued avoidance, and that it why I have authored numerous amici briefs explaining why I believe SCOTUS should take this issue up. Have you, federalist, authored anything I should read about your feelings on all the topics on which you opine? Posted by: Doug B | May 23, 2023 1:25:54 PM Given that the DOJ/FBI put its thumb on the scale of two national elections and one mid-term, I'd say the polity is pretty defenseless, other than after the fact fixes. Never said attack. My hypo was an unlawful attack by a prison guard. Posted by: federalist | May 23, 2023 1:53:24 PM "but I assume it shows (statistically) that white people are often not facing a gang enhancement when black people do for the same behavior." Given that the language of the article smacks more of disparate impact, rather than disparate treatment, I woouldn't bet a lot of money on that. Posted by: federalist | May 23, 2023 1:54:46 PM If your hypo is only about an "unlawful attack by a prison guard," why would it matter if the prisoner was still serving a lawful sentence or claimed he'd finished his term based on how credits should be calculated? And the article referenced data that "Black people were from 6 to 8 percent more likely to be charged with 'special circumstance gang enhancements' than people who werent Black." Isn't being more likely to be CHARGED by prosecutors with a sentencing enhancement a form of "disparate treatment" rather than just "disparate impact"? Again, to be meaningful, a study would have to control for other relevant factors. But assume it did --- are you claiming it is unconstitutional for a state law to remedy people being subject to racially disparate sentence enhancements by prosecutors through charging? I thought your prior assertions suggested the EPC demanded a remedy in the form adopted here. And I am still awaiting your accounting of the "discovery" you feel Rep Santos and Oath Keepers and others should get to explore DOJ's biases. Since it seems you see bias back into the Obama years, do they get 15+ years "discovery" of DOJ files of ALL criminal investigations? Can all federal defendants get that "discovery"? (Your EPC feelings would also seem to allow 2255 claims for tens of thousands now incarcerated.) Can you provide some account of the scope/reach of the Hunter-based discovery you now think justified by your EPC feelings? Posted by: Doug B | May 23, 2023 2:42:51 PM If your hypo is only about an "unlawful attack by a prison guard," why would it matter if the prisoner was still serving a lawful sentence or claimed he'd finished his term based on how credits should be calculated? Not true--prisoners' right to self-defense is truncated under the law. "But assume it did --- are you claiming it is unconstitutional for a state law to remedy people being subject to racially disparate sentence enhancements by prosecutors through charging?" Your assumption is just that, an assumption. Until I see evidence that similarly situated whites (or Hispanics) are getting favorable treatment, the remedy is a huge problem. Doug, even you cannot deny that there has been significant political machinations by the DOJ--at a minimum, this caused three unfair elections and wrongfully hamstrung a duly elected president. So I think, yeah, there needs to be discovery. Posted by: federalist | May 24, 2023 9:25:06 AM https://conservativebrief.com/fbi-over-73548/ Is this remotely ok? Posted by: federalist | May 24, 2023 9:27:21 AM I am so confused when you now say: "prisoners' right to self-defense is truncated under the law." Under which "law"? Is this a constitutional matter if SD rights are protected by the US Constitution? Are you now saying some actual prisoners are not really prisoners? Is this an "prisoner anti-prisoner claim" as a variation on an "textual anti-textual argument"? Are there also anti-guards and anti-wardens who can help figure out which anti-prisoners have special rights to attack guards? You tip your hand that we are stuck in "rule of federalist" land when you say things like "Until I see evidence ... the remedy is a huge problem." You are not articulating any meaningful EPC principles, you are just setting forth the way you'd like to see your preferred rules applied when you "see" what you want to see. This is not a dispute about "significant political machinations by the DOJ," as I am just asking you who gets "discovery" that you say "needs" to be provided given your purported EPC claims based on asserted "machinations." So I will ask again: How can/should folks subject to DOJ prosecution like Rep Santos and Oath Keepers and others explore DOJ's "machinations" in light of your EPC claims; do they get "discovery" of DOJ files of ALL criminal investigations for many years? Can all federal defendants get all this "discovery"? (Indeed, can tens of thousands now incarcerated seek such discovery in 2255 actions?) Can you provide ANY account of the scope/reach of the Hunter-based discovery you now think justified by your EPC feelings? Your link to a "Conservative Brief" article is a timely reminder that you really are just a partisan with feelings, not a serious legal thinker eager to develop serious legal ideas. The issue we're discussing is not whether the current FBI head (who is a GOP blue blood with Bush/Christie history) that was selected by Trump and confirmed by a GOP Senate might be engaged in "political machinations." What we're discussing is your claim that any such machinations limiting DOJ prosecutorial zeal could provide a constitutional basis under the EPC clause to block otherwise unrelated prosecutions. Perhaps realizing how legally unfounded such a claim is, you are now yapping only that "there needs to be discovery." But discovery of what and by who? Does every person subject to DOJ prosecution get discovery of every DOJ case file over the last 20+ years to look for political bias since Wray was confirmed as AAG in 2003 and he started working for DOJ in 1997? Posted by: Doug B | May 24, 2023 10:12:25 AM Just stop. Wray is stonewalling Congress regarding a whistleblower. Wray was a mistake by Trump. You really ok with this? Posted by: federalist | May 24, 2023 10:45:00 AM Okay with what? Are you calling to "defund the FBI"? Are you complaining about bias in law enforcement? I have spent much of my career complaining about a wide array of what I often see as self-serving, politicized (and constitutionally problematic) activities by DOJ and its agents (Bill Otis' work on appeal waivers included). But that's not the topic, rather we are talking about your various assertion regarding EPC claims based on prosecutorial declinations serving to block other unrelated otherwise-lawful prosecutions (and now your latest assertion that "there needs to be discovery"). And so, I will ask yet again: How can/should folks subject to DOJ prosecution like Rep Santos and Oath Keepers and others explore DOJ's "machinations" in light of your EPC claims; do they get "discovery" of DOJ files of ALL criminal investigations for many years? Can all federal defendants get all this "discovery"? (Indeed, can tens of thousands now incarcerated seek such discovery in 2255 actions?) Can you provide ANY account of the scope/reach of the Hunter-based discovery you now think justified by your EPC feelings? If your feelings have no answers to these basic questions in response to your assertion that "there needs to be discovery," just say that. I suppose I should realize I am foolish to think you will reply with law-based answers to law-based questions. Posted by: Doug B | May 24, 2023 12:20:30 PM Post a comment Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. SIOUX CITY On a Tuesday night, Jerry Forbes was singing about a girl whose hair was red and whose eyes were blue. Forbes was leading the all-male Siouxland Discovery Chorus in a spirited rendition of Gene Autry's classic, "Sioux City Sue," for a special mother-daughter dinner at Riverside Lutheran Church. "We don't sing that song very often," Forbes explained, "but it always gets a great reaction." This mini-concert at the 1817 Riverside Blvd. church was just one of the appearances that the Siouxland Discovery Chorus -- a Sioux City-based group specializing in barbershop harmony -- will perform during any given month. A part of the national Barbershop Harmony Society, the Siouxland Discovery Chorus regularly performs at more than 40 churches as well as at several retirement homes. They even present Singing Valentines every Feb. 14. Sports fans may have seen this volunteer choir performing the National Anthem at many of the Sioux City Explorers home games at Lewis and Clark Park. "There are only two forms of music that can be said to have originated entirely in America," Forbes, a retired Western Iowa Tech Community College instructor, said. "That's jazz and barbershop. With our chorus, we're trying to keep the tradition of barbershop harmony alive." The Siouxland Discovery Chorus will host a "Bring a Friend" membership night at 7 p.m. Monday at the Elevate Community Church, 305 Sergeant Square Drive, Sergeant Bluff. "We have periodic membership nights as a way to bring in a few people," Sharon Ocker explained. "We need to have new blood in case us old guys get too old to sing." Actually, Ocker possesses a very strong singing voice, though the now-retired Morningside College professor has been with the Siouxland Discovery Chorus for much of its 45-year history. Fellow chorus member Gene Kai has been involved with barbershop harmony for well over half a century. "I think I started singing barbershop about 52 years ago," he said. "I've just always liked the way the music sounded." Kai must really like barbershop harmonies. He makes an 80-mile round trip from his home in Pender, Nebraska, to attend Monday night rehearsals in Sergeant Bluff. "You'd be surprised at how many of our members travel a great distance to be a part of our group," Paul Roberts said. "Barbershop harmony is very addictive. Once you start, it is difficult to stop." One of the younger members of the Siouxland Discovery Chorus, Roberts is also knowledgeable about the origins of barbershop harmony. Simply put, barbershop is a form of close harmony a cappella singing that can be performed as part of a full chorus or split up in a quartet made up of a tenor, lead, baritone and bass. Currently, the Nashville-based Barbershop Harmony Society said it has approximately 20,000 members and has around 700 chapters in the United States. "People think only America has barbershop music," Roberts said. "There are barbershop groups around the world." In case you're wondering, barbershop music did actually start with barbers singing in their shops, he added. "It happened very informally," Roberts said. "A few guys started to sing and, then, a few more guys joined in." That was actually similar to the way the Siouxland Discovery Chorus started, Ocker said. "The reason we get involved is because we love the music," he said. "What keeps us coming back is the friendships we make along the way." This sense of camaraderie was very evident during the mother/daughter dinner concert. In addition to "Sioux City Sue," the Siouxland Discovery Chorus sang a very traditional barbershop song with "My Wild Irish Rose," contrasting it with a more unusual choice in "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" from Disney's "The Lion King." As its leader, Forbes is both the group's music director as well as its emcee. "I love the way the music makes me feel," he said. "Then, I look into the audience and see all of those smiles. It's a great feeling." A member of the Siouxland Discovery Chorus for more than 30 years, Forbes said there are certain things he has given up as he's gotten older. "But I'll never give up music," he said. "You can sing forever." The mission of the Barbershop Harmony Society is to bring people together in harmony and fellowship to enrich lives through singing. "We want to keep the whole world singing," Forbes said. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Meetings and events Ancestry and Family Search help is available from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Tuesdays and from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, at the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints Family Search Center, 1201 W. Clifton, Sioux City. For more information, email ldstreesearch@gmail.com. Lions Club meetings are first and third Mondays of each month, excluding holidays, at 12 p.m. at Active Generations located at 313 Cook St Sioux City. If interested in a strong service club helping sight and hearing impaired individuals we are the people to join with. Dakota County Historical Society meets at 7:30 p.m. on third Thursday of the month, Dakota City Library. Contact Dennis Reinert at 712-253-1609 for more information. Top O Morning Toastmasters Club, Mondays, noon to 1 p.m. Contact LeAnn Blankenburg, 712-870-1120, for meeting information. The Siouxland Ostomy Support Group, find us on Facebook. For more information and meeting times contact Dick Lindblom at 712-251-2453. Southside South Bottoms former residents, 6 p.m. potluck, second Wednesday of the month at Goodwill Industries cafeteria, 3100 Fourth St. Gert, 258-2227. Siouxland Metal Detecting and Archeology Club, 6:30 p.m., first Tuesday of the month in the Gleeson Room at 4510 Buckwalter Drive. Visitors welcome. Ray Turner, 712-899-2114. American Legion Post 64, 7 p.m. last Thursday of the month at 4021 Floyd Blvd. 712-258-3986. Marine Corps League, 6 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at Elks Club on TriView Ave. All marines welcome. For more information, call Cathy Moreno, 712-899-8441. Sioux City Chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 7 p.m. fourth Tuesday of the month at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. 712-203-2052. Sioux City Duplicate Bridge Club, 12:30 p.m. Mondays (open); at the Senior Center. Mary 605-670-9613. Siouxland Fly-Fishing Club, 10 a.m. last Saturday of the month at the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center on Hwy 12. All interested in fly fishing; beginners welcome. Monthly programs provided. For more information, call Bob Gillespie, 712-251-9463, or Diana, 402-987-3945. Siouxland Coin Club, 7 p.m. first Tuesday of each month at First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 1915 Nebraska St. Bob, 255-4829. The Siouxland Pride Alliance, peer support group, 5:30 p.m. Fridays; Youth Pride group, 1:30 p.m. second Sunday of the month; potluck, 5:30 p.m. third Sunday of the month. First Unitarian Church, 2508 Jackson. Call 712-223-0931 Siouxland Samplers Quilt Guild, 7 p.m. second Monday of the month at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St, door #2. Visitors and new members welcome. Siouxland Sewing Guild, 6:30-8 p.m. first Thursday of the month at South Sioux Public Library, 2121 Dakota Ave., South Sioux City. For anyone interested in sewing. Denise, 402-922-1822. Sooland RC Modelers, 7 p.m. second Thursday of the month at Morningside Lutheran Church. Non-profit club that flies remote control aircraft. Anyone interested in RC is welcome. Retired Educators, 10:30 a.m. third Tuesday of the month, at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St., door #6. Mid-Step Services for Handicapped, meal at 5 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month, at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St., door #6. Confirmation Instruction and Midweek Lessons, 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3204 S. Lakeport St., door #6. Open to all kids 5 years old through 8th grade. Primetime (Potluck), 12 p.m., second Thursday of each month, at Whitfield United Methodist Church, 1319 W 5th. For more information call 252-3261 Tuesday-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Abundant Life Fellowship, 809 S. Alice St., in Sioux City will distribute food boxes after their 11 a.m. Sunday services. For additional information contact Pastor Bob at 605-205-0718 or Donna at 605-205-0719. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. 125 Years Ago Fiftieth Leaves Today: The Fiftieth Iowa Infantry of volunteers will leave Camp McKinley for Tampa, Fla., at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Most of the baggage has been loaded, and nothing is preventing the scheduled embarkment. The men who enlisted since April 26 received $10.15 a piece when they were paid today, the first taste of Army pay for them. The Wine Rooms Must Go: The mayor and chief of police meant it when they issued the order to the keepers of saloons to remove boxes and wine rooms from their places of business. Some saloon men made no move to comply, interpreting the order as they were not to be used and simply locking the doors and refusing customers entry. Chief of Police OShonessy visited the noncompliant places and gave the same response to their protests and complaints the rooms must go, as it would be unfair to compel some proprietors to remove their partitions whiles others retain theirs by only closing off the rooms. 100 Years Ago Trade Tourists to Bear Gifts: Paraphernalia to be used by the 100 or more Sioux City businessmen going on the fellowship tour through northwestern Iowa is being assembled in the Chamber of Commerce rooms. New white canes will be carried by the members of the delegation while they parade the business streets of the towns, and ribbons labeled Sioux City Chamber of Commerce will be attached to each cane. Supplies of candy and other articles for children along with various souvenirs be also be assembled for distribution. Bad News for Moonshiners: Operators of illicit stills are likely to suffer double prosecution and punishment in the future. Heretofore the owners or operators of stills have been prosecuted in the United States Courts for violation of the national prohibition act, but now violators, or at least certain classes of them, will be prosecuted under the revenue act. The theory these prosecutions shall be conducted under is that every owner or operator of a still is a distiller in the view of the internal revenue department, and if such person has not taken out a permit, he has therefore defrauded the government. 50 Years Ago Church Man of Year to be Named Tuesday: Steve and Barbara Snyder will present a Message in Music at the annual banquet for the United Church Men and their ladies at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at Morningside Lutheran Church. The Snyders can be heard regularly on KTFC-FM radio in Sioux City and have made appearances across the country. A plaque will be presented to the Church Man of the Year based upon service to his church and to the cause of religion. Heelan High Straight A Duo Tell of Education By-Products, Goals: Speeches were made Sunday afternoon at Heelan High School commencement exercises for 288 graduates at the Sioux City Municipal Auditorium by two graduating seniors who tied for the honor of valedictorian. Joseph Henchal and Steven Erlemeier both maintained perfect 4.0 grade averages. Henchal spoke of the by-products of his education, which have determined the direction the students live will take in the future. Erlemeier spoke of having a purpose and goals to strive for and those that help attain those goals, and those that helped him achieve his goals. 25 Years Ago Probe Begins Today of Livestock Exchange Fire: Sioux City fire inspectors will get their first close look at the ruins of the historic Livestock Exchange Building today. Demolition crews spend Wednesday tearing down remaining walls and making the building safer for the inspection into the cause of a fire Friday that destroyed the 1894 building. Because of the damage, the process will be quite slow, and the building will remain off-limits to the public during the inspection. For Non-Profits, MRHD Funds Like Hitting Jackpot May 21, 1998 The Missouri River Historical Development Inc. (MRHD) gave away $198,233 to 27 non-profit regional organizations. MRHD President Betty Strong commented it was made possible by the people who visited the Belle alluding to the gambling connection since the MRHD holds the riverboat gaming license from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. Grants were used for many things, including encyclopedias for Sioux City Schools, firefighting equipment, small animal kennels, museum expansions, and more. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS A grenade explosion Saturday left one person dead and two injured, Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez said. A family searching through their grandfather's belongings around 6:30 p.m. at a residence in the 3400 block of West Lakeshore Drive reportedly found a hand grenade, Martinez said. One of the family members pulled the pin on the device and it exploded. A man was found unresponsive and declared dead at the scene. Two of his sons, ages 14 and 18, were taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries from shrapnel. The Porter County Bomb Squad was requested on scene to search for other explosives. The sheriff did not say whether any were found. The case is under investigation, Martinez said. Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. I dont remember who spoke at my high school graduation. It wasnt memorable. The class before us, had Dick Clark as the speaker. It wasnt the Dick Id give it a 5, because its got a good beat, and easy to dance to Clark. Instead, it was Dick Clark, the Iowa U.S. Senator. But that class had 24 members and a newly minted gym to celebrate. We had 13, and by then the new gym smelled old. No senator in sight. I know I was there, because I remember my graduation hat didnt fit, and it kept falling forward, so I saw only the pomp, and missed the circumstances. I did keep the tassel, but it faded to a weird pink color from hanging on my rear-view mirror too long. I wasnt valedictorian or salutatorian, but I was in the top 10. But being in the top 10 of 13, doesnt earn a graduation speaking gig. So, 48 years later, I offer my unsolicited graduation speech. Since this is the Tik Tok generation, this will be a Tik Tok speech complete with a challenge. No Tide Pod eating here. Just thank the people who got you to graduation. It may be those you consider family, or it may be a teacher, a lunch lady, a bus driver, custodian, or principal. Dont do it by email. These thanks should be face to face. Now, some Tik Tock advice. Its a short walk from the hallelujah to the hoot. Bask in the hallelujah and ignore the hoot. When you run into numbskulls treating everything as ironicrun away. They think theyre always the smartest in the room. Theyll drain your soul. No prince is going to give you a million dollars if you send them $1,000. Be on the side of those who dont seem to have anyone by their side. Theres history before you were born. Study it and learn from it. Read banned books like Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Bluest Eye, and the Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Watch Breaking Bad. Its a morality play. Practice compromising. Its an art that will serve you well. Be woke. If youre not woke, youre asleep to injustice, intolerance, and hate. (Moms for Liberty may leave now to prepare the tar and feathers.) If your religion teaches you to hate, maybe find a new religion. If you have kids and youre helping them with story problems about two trains traveling at different speeds, talk about who are on the trains and what theyre going to do when they get to where theyre going. Shun grievance politics from both parties. Vote, even if you hate politics. If you think there arent good candidates, run yourself. If you have kids, cover your fridge with their art. You dont have to go to college to be smart, but you might need more training to earn more legal tender. Find something you love and learn the skills to do it well. Challenge authority by speaking truth. Be kind. Get in some good trouble. Stand for something. if you dont stand for anything, youll stand for everything. Politicians who say, I never Back Down, think theyre always right. They arent. If you have kids, show up at their sports, dance, plays, and music concerts. Finally, Kiss slowly. Forgive quickly. Enough said. Thanks for letting me speak. save your tassel, throw your hat in the air. You give me hope. Bruce Lear, who lives in Sioux City, He has been connected to public schools for 38 years. He taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. A look at some of the top performers from Siouxland at the Iowa high school state track and field meet in Des Moines, which concluded on Saturday. The decisions taken at the summit of the G7 group in Hiroshima, Japan, are aimed at trying to control Russia and China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to the conclusions of the leaders of the seven most economically developed countries. China has accused Western countries of interfering in its internal affairs. At the press conference, Lavrov repeated Moscows claim that the West is using the war in Ukraine as a strategic defeat for Russia. The task was set loudly and openly to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not only that, to eliminate it as a geopolitical rival, said the head of Russian diplomacy. Sergei Lavrov PHOTO: AP G7 ignores Chinas concerns The Chinese Foreign Ministry also responded to the G7 statements and complained to Japan as the organizer of the meeting. The ministry said the G7 is ignoring Chinas concerns and attacking it and interfering in its internal affairs, including Taiwan. READ MORE G7 summit to reduce economic dependence on China The G7 ignores Chinas serious concerns and persists in manipulating China-related matters, slandering and attacking China, and grossly interfering in its internal affairs, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced. The G7 sings the song of a peaceful world but holds back the development of other countries and affects peace and regional stability, he warned, describing the G7 as a small group that serves the selfish interests of the US. At the Hiroshima summit, the G7 leaders agreed to strengthen sanctions against Moscow and advocated reducing economic dependence on China. Beijing, however, was urged to pressure Russia to end its military aggression and withdraw its forces from Ukraine. American CyberSystems Inc., operating under the name Innova Solutions, has come under fire for discriminatory hiring practices, according to a recent announcement by the Justice Department. The Georgia-based IT staffing and services companys case offers a crucial lesson for small business owners on the importance of understanding and adhering to federal hiring regulations. Following a thorough investigation, the department revealed that American CyberSystems was in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The company had been recruiting for two distinct positions and had unlawfully excluded potential candidates based on their citizenship statuses in its job advertisements. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, emphasized the gravity of this violation: Employers cannot unlawfully discriminate against individuals based on their citizenship status when they advertise job opportunities, plain and simple. She added that this settlement demonstrates their commitment to ensuring employers toe the line with legal requirements, and that any form of citizenship-based discrimination will not be tolerated. One of the discriminatory advertisements from the company was specifically targeting U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents for a role that would require access to materials subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The investigation concluded that the company had no justification for excluding U.S. nationals, refugees, and asylees, who are permitted equal access to export-controlled items under the same regulations, without needing specific authorization. In another instance, American CyberSystems ran an unrelated advertisement, which selectively sought out workers with temporary work visas, thereby discriminating against immigrant and U.S. citizen workers. This landmark settlement necessitates that American CyberSystems provides training to its recruitment and human resources staff concerning the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The company must also review and modify its policies to ensure compliance with all relevant laws and will be subjected to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements. As part of the settlement, the company will be required to pay a civil penalty due to its discriminatory ads. The case stands as a stark reminder to small business owners about the importance of thorough understanding and implementation of hiring laws and anti-discrimination practices. The Justice Departments Civil Rights Division provides a multitude of resources to assist employers in understanding their responsibilities. This includes a newly released fact sheet that clarifies employers obligations under the INA and emphasizes that these requirements do not change when in compliance with export-control laws and regulations. All businesses, regardless of their size, must ensure their hiring practices are non-discriminatory and inclusive. A clear understanding of the federal laws and regulations, coupled with regular staff training and diligent monitoring of compliance, can protect businesses from legal repercussions and foster an environment of fairness and inclusivity. As the Justice Department reinforces their commitment to ensuring legal hiring practices, this case study should prompt all business owners, especially those operating small enterprises, to take a comprehensive look at their hiring policies to ensure theyre inclusive, fair, and within the legal framework. For the latest, follow us on Google News. Google has introduced a unique opportunity for small businesses to stay ahead of the curve with its latest offering, Google Labs. This innovative platform allows users to test Googles early-stage features and products, gaining a first look at potentially transformative tools. The new Google Labs, inspired by the original version, is a space for bold and responsible experiments from all corners of the company. Starting from today, users can sign up for limited spots in a broad range of experiments. The most exciting part of this platform is the opportunity for direct feedback to the development teams, thus fostering a collaborative environment between users and creators. The experiments that small businesses can look forward to include: Search Labs : This lab presents new ways to explore information in Google Search. One standout feature is the SGE (Search Generative Experience), which offers AI-powered overviews, pointers, and follow-up suggestions. This feature could potentially revolutionize how small businesses gather information and make informed decisions. : This lab presents new ways to explore information in Google Search. One standout feature is the SGE (Search Generative Experience), which offers AI-powered overviews, pointers, and follow-up suggestions. This feature could potentially revolutionize how small businesses gather information and make informed decisions. Workspace Labs : This lab introduces new features that enhance the creation and collaboration processes within Google Workspace. These include writing suggestions in Google Docs and Gmail, data organization in Google Sheets, and text-generated images in Google Slides. Such features can significantly streamline workflows for small businesses, allowing more time for strategic activities. : This lab introduces new features that enhance the creation and collaboration processes within Google Workspace. These include writing suggestions in Google Docs and Gmail, data organization in Google Sheets, and text-generated images in Google Slides. Such features can significantly streamline workflows for small businesses, allowing more time for strategic activities. Project Tailwind : This experiment introduces an AI-first notebook that is powered by your notes and sources. For small businesses, this tool could be invaluable for managing and organizing information efficiently. : This experiment introduces an AI-first notebook that is powered by your notes and sources. For small businesses, this tool could be invaluable for managing and organizing information efficiently. MusicLM: Weve discussed this tool in a previous article. Its an AI tool that converts text descriptions into music, potentially a great tool for businesses involved in the creative industry. Some of these innovative ideas may evolve into full-fledged features or products, while others may not. The fate of these tools greatly depends on user input, making the feedback from small business users crucial in shaping the future of Google Labs. With Google Labs planning to rotate different ideas frequently, it encourages users to check back often to discover whats new. This platform could be an exciting opportunity for small businesses to experiment with potential game-changing tools and have a say in their development. Get the latest headlines from Small Business Trends. Follow us on Google News. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230520/russia-opens-criminal-probe-into-kiev-instigated-quran-burning-1110492121.html Russia Opens Criminal Probe Into Kiev-Instigated Quran Burning Russia Opens Criminal Probe Into Kiev-Instigated Quran Burning On Saturday, Russian authorities announced a criminal investigation into a recent burning of a copy of the Quran in Volgograd after a video of a man committing the act appeared online. 2023-05-20T21:02+0000 2023-05-20T21:02+0000 2023-05-20T21:02+0000 russia investigation russian investigative committee quran islam volgograd ukraine crisis /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/103189/89/1031898913_0:233:4455:2739_1920x0_80_0_0_69909e453dc7a63ba03f25e96ec699a6.jpg "Nikita Zhuravel, a local resident, has been arrested on suspicion of committing a crime under Section 2 Article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code," the Investigative Committee told Sputnik. Russian investigators launched a manhunt after a video of a man burning a copy of the Quran in front of a mosque in Volgograd was uploaded online. If found guilty, Zhuravel faces up to three years in prison on charges of offending religious feelings. volgograd Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International quran, quran burning, investigation, russian authorities, russian investigators, criminal probe, volgograd https://sputnikglobe.com/20230520/sudanese-rivals-agree-humanitarian-ceasefire-from-saturday---reports-1110492361.html Sudanese Rivals Agree to Humanitarian Ceasefire From Saturday - Reports Sudanese Rivals Agree to Humanitarian Ceasefire From Saturday - Reports Sudans warning parties have agreed a week-long ceasefire that will allow for humanitarian access to conflict zones starting Saturday. Negotiators of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF struck the deal in the city of Jeddah. 2023-05-20T23:10+0000 2023-05-20T23:10+0000 2023-05-21T04:09+0000 military sudan rapid support forces (rsf) world health organization (who) jeddah antony blinken sudanese army /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/04/0f/1109561263_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_0aea1ba99dabb7d7b150e09a751fb9b4.jpg Negotiators of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Force struck the deal in the Saudi city of Jeddah, according to Al Jazeera news network. The agreement can be prolonged. "The parties to the conflict pledged to open humanitarian corridors to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilian population. They reaffirmed their commitment to withdraw their forces as far as possible from hospitals and medical institutions," an informed source told Sputnik after the talks in Jeddah concluded.Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Sudanese Armed Forces chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan to discuss progress in Jeddah talks. 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. The parties have since introduced a number of temporary nationwide ceasefires, but the conflict has not been settled yet.The World Health Organization estimates that some 705 people have been killed and at least 5,287 others injured in fighting since mid-April. Both sides have traded blame for the ensuing humanitarian crisis, with dire shortages of food, water and fuel, and limited power supply. sudan jeddah Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International sudan, sudan conflict, sudanese armed forces, rsf, ceasefire, ceasefire in sudan, jeddah, who, antony blinken https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/bahrain-returning-ambassador-to-lebanon---foreign-ministry-1110496275.html Bahrain Returning Ambassador to Lebanon - Foreign Ministry Bahrain Returning Ambassador to Lebanon - Foreign Ministry Bahrain is returning its ambassador to Lebanon amid a general improvement in relations in the region, the Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs. 2023-05-21T06:16+0000 2023-05-21T06:16+0000 2023-05-21T06:16+0000 world lebanon bahrain saudi arabia ambassador /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/103249/09/1032490943_0:134:3000:1822_1920x0_80_0_0_10a26fa6b6ed8b7b949faa4f5d97c957.jpg In October 2021, Bahrain recalled its ambassador from Lebanon after a Lebanese minister criticized the actions of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. On Saturday, the Bahraini foreign ministry said on Twitter that the Kingdom had "decided to restore diplomatic representation" at ambassador level in Lebanon to "strengthen the fraternal relations between the two countries." Saudi Arabia and a number of other Persian Gulf countries announced the withdrawal of their ambassadors from Lebanon for consultations in late October 2021, and gave Lebanese ambassadors 48 hours to leave the respective countries. The decision came amid the scandal caused by the comments of a prominent Lebanese journalist and TV host, George Kordahi, who was later appointed Minister of Information. Before this appointment, the journalist told Qatari news agency that the war in Yemen was pointless and that the campaign of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia was an act of aggression, while Ansar Allah rebels (Houthis) were fighting in defense of their country. In early December 2021, Kordahi resigned. In April 2022, Saudi and Kuwaiti ambassadors returned to Beirut half a year after being recalled from Lebanon. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230412/qatar-bahrain-announce-restoration-of-diplomatic-relations---state-media-1109452753.html lebanon bahrain saudi arabia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International ambassador to lebanon, bahrain ministry of foreign affairs https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/biden-says-default-on-debt-not-an-option-congress-leaders-must-live-up-to-commitments-1110500068.html Biden Says Default on Debt 'Not An Option,' Congress Leaders Must Live Up to Commitments Biden Says Default on Debt 'Not An Option,' Congress Leaders Must Live Up to Commitments US President Joe Biden said on Sunday amid ongoing debt limit negotiations that the US defaulting on its debt is not an option and congressional leaders must live up to their commitments. 2023-05-21T10:50+0000 2023-05-21T10:50+0000 2023-05-21T10:52+0000 world joe biden ukraine china us /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/04/0c/1109373875_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_d80121564afffe7d98cf790c22e2a965.jpg "It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely on their partisan terms. They have to move as well. All four congressional leaders agree with me that... default is not an option," Biden said during a press conference in Japan. He said he would speak with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on his flight back to Washington.Biden added that he believes a deal can be reached with Republican lawmakers on raising the US debt limit.Biden added that he could not guarantee that the Republican leadership would not create a default by force by "doing something outrageous."US President Joe Biden and Republican lawmakers are currently engaged in ongoing negotiations to reach a deal to raise the debt limit before the US government risks defaulting as early as June.Debt ceiling talks have been ongoing for months but only within the last few weeks have matters intensified with both parties appearing to make some movement to a looming deal; however, an official confirmation has not yet been made.China-US RelationsThe United States is not seeking to decouple from China, however, it wants to "de-risk and diversify its ties within Beijing, Biden stressed.The US President expects the relations between the United States and China to "thaw" following the incident earlier this year when the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon in its airspace, he said.Biden said that he was not willing to trade certain things with China due to Beijing's building its military."We are more secure, we all have talked about Chinas building its military, and it is building its military and thats why I made it clear that I am not prepared to trade certain items with China," Biden told a press conference.The United States does not expect Taiwan to declare independence, but Washington will continue to help improve the island's ability to defend itself, Biden said.Biden further said there was a clear understanding among most of the US allies that if China were to act unilaterally against Taiwan, there would be a response.US Aid to UkraineThe United States will continue to provide both economic and security aid to Ukraine as long as it requires, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday."We are going to continue to provide economic, humanitarian, and security assistance to Ukraine, so it can stand strong as long as it needs to," Biden said.Biden said that having F-16 aircraft would not have helped Ukraine with Artemovsk (Bakhmut).Western countries have been supplying military aid to Ukraine since the start of hostilities in February 2022. The aid evolved from artillery munitions and training in 2022 to heavier weapons, including tanks, later that year and in 2023. The US has committed over $30 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office, according to a tally on the Pentagon's website, last updated on May 3. The Kremlin, in turn, has repeatedly warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230520/white-house-says-has-serious-differences-with-republicans-on-debt-limit-talks-1110476281.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230511/china-eu-ramp-up-high-level-exchanges-amid-noise-from-us-1110265676.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230520/biden-oks-training-ukrainians-on-f-16s-but-timeline-remains-uncertain-1110474001.html ukraine china Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International us president joe biden, us defaulting on its debt https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/biden-unveils-new-military-package-for-ukraine---reports-1110496549.html Biden Unveils New Military Package for Ukraine - Reports Biden Unveils New Military Package for Ukraine - Reports US President Joe Biden on Sunday announced a new package of military aid to Ukraine, which includes ammunition artillery and armored vehicles, media reported. 2023-05-21T06:32+0000 2023-05-21T06:32+0000 2023-05-21T08:15+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine us department of defense (dod) pentagon russia ukraine kiev volodymyr zelensky joe biden /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/04/16/1109759783_0:0:3071:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_9c1a071c8cd151713879e3ce8374f44e.jpg The report says Biden unveiled the military aid package, comprising "ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles," after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Hiroshima.The assistance package includes additional HIMARS ammunition, artillery rounds, anti-armor capabilities and vehicles, the Pentagon said.The United States has committed $38 billion in security assistance to Ukraine by the Biden administration, including more than $37.3 billion since February 24, 2022, the statement added.Western countries have been supplying military aid to Ukraine since the start of hostilities in February 2022. The aid evolved from artillery munitions and training in 2022 to heavier weapons, including tanks, later that year and in 2023.The Kremlin, in turn, has repeatedly warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia.Russia has been conducting a special military operation in Ukraine since February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the operation aims to "protect people subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." https://sputnikglobe.com/20230424/us-should-not-send-more-aid-to-fund-proxy-war-in-ukraine---congressman-gosar--1109801174.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230519/what-could-shoot-down-ukraines-hopes-of-getting-us-f-16s-1110457442.html russia ukraine kiev Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International military package for ukraine, us president joe biden, military aid to ukraine https://sputnikglobe.com/20230521/g7-leaders-zelensky-discuss-ukraine-at-working-session-in-hiroshima-1110493529.html G7 Leaders, Zelensky Discuss Ukraine at Working Session in Hiroshima G7 Leaders, Zelensky Discuss Ukraine at Working Session in Hiroshima Zelensky participated in a G7 working session dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine held on Sunday in Hiroshima. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden are set to meet with Zelensky at the G7 Summit. 2023-05-21T03:38+0000 2023-05-21T03:38+0000 2023-05-21T03:38+0000 world g-7 ukraine g7 summit hiroshima japan fumio kishida world health organization (who) volodymyr zelensky joe biden /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/15/1110493372_0:110:2088:1285_1920x0_80_0_0_a245d3c8295b020d3f9db05fe9b6e1c1.jpg The Sunday working session was broadcast at the international press center. G7 leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as the heads of the European Council and the European Commission, took a joint photo before the start of the event. Zelensky arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday. The South Korean Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday that South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is set to meet with Zelensky at the G7 Summit, at the request of the Ukrainian side. Zelensky is also expected to meet with US President Joe Biden on Sunday.Later on Sunday, Zelensky is set to participate as a guest in an expanded meeting of G7 leaders and the leaders of invited states, dedicated to issues of peace and stability. The G7 Summit is being held in Hiroshima from May 19-21 and focuses on the Ukrainian conflict, economic security, green investments, and developments in the Indo-Pacific region. The leaders of India, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Comoros, and the Cook Islands have been invited to participate in the G7 Summit as well as the heads of seven international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO). On Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska in Seoul and promised to actively support Kiev's close coordination with the world community.On Wednesday, South Korea and Ukraine signed a preliminary agreement on providing Kiev with low-interest loans worth $130 million in the future.In 2022, South Korea provided $100 million of financial aid to Ukraine and promised further support in the amount of $130 million, according to South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance. ukraine hiroshima japan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International g7 summit, hiroshima, volodymyr zelensky, joe biden, yoon suk-yeol, fumio kishida